Saturday, May 29, 2004

Nightwish going "Alone In The Dark"

On the heels of releasing their new album "Once" on 6/7/04, Finnish band Nightwish will be filming the lead single for the upcoming "Alone In The Dark" movie soundtrack. The music video for the video game based movie will be directed by Dr. Uwe Boll, who also directed the movie, as well as previous game based movie "House Of The Dead". It's no secret director Boll is a big fan of video games, and his next movie, already in the planning stages, will be based on the vampire game "Blood Rayne".

Music Video Reviews

Nightwish - Nemo
From the upcoming "Once" album. This is a really great song and video, though severly cut down from the original album version, which is about NINE MINUTES long. The video features the band, fronted by the beautiful Tarja Turunen, playing in the middle of a frozen wasteland as we see clips of a girl crawling through various obstacles. I really like this song as Tarja's angelic, operatic voice blends so well with heavy, melodic music.
Video Rating: ****

Evanescence - Everybody's Fool
Why Nightwish don't get as much international attention as Evanescence is beyond me. This video is obviously a stab at ex-guitarist and founding member Ben Moody who walked out on the band awhile back during the band's European tour, featuring singer Amy Lee in various "commercials" selling "Lies". Fun that we get to see Amy in various ways we never really do, like smilling, and dying her hair blonde, and being a diva! Also features the usual depressing shots of her as she sings her heart out. Good stuff though.
Video Rating: ***

A Perfect Circle - The Outsider
ALOT of eye-candy in this one as it revolves around the "Bikini Bandits" DVD as we see a foursome of bikini clad beauties causing all kinds of havoc in a small town. The lead bandit just gets released from jail and immediately goes on a crime spree with her fellow bandits. This is an unusually upbeat video for a depressing sounding song from a band known for depressing music. Still fun though.
Video Rating: ***

Friday, May 21, 2004

Latest issue of Revolver!

I got the latest issue of Revolver today and as expected, with their new album just days away from release, Slipknot are the cover boys! Corey Taylor, Joey Jordison and Shawn Crahan, each member who formed a side project during Slipknots hiatus. A very good article in the mag about the Evil Army and I hope to God the album gets released locally, and UN-EDITED!

Unfortunately, everything else didn't seem as interesting other than the article on Zakk Wylde. There was one on the new Killswitch Engage album, but come on, Revolver sponsor their shows! Of course they'd run a lengthy article on one of their investments.
There's also an interview with Velvet Revolver and a look at rock star rides, what cars rockers are driving as well as fond car related memories.

They also hinted the new Guns 'n' Roses album should be out sometime before Hell freezes over! Hah!

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Music Video Reviews

Crematory - Greed
- A long established German band. Fun video featuring the band in a house in the middle of a storm, suddenly a giant 50ft woman comes out of the darkness to watch the band play! She then tears the house apart as the band plays on. I've always enjoyed bands that mix grindcore vocals with melodic vocals, and these guys (and one gal) do a good job of it. Good song, good video!
Video Rating: ***1/2
Crematory official website

Ektomorf - Destroy
- Another German band. The singer looks like Burton Bell of Fear Factory, the band looks like KoRn, and they sound like Soulfly! Yeah, takes a while to digest all that, but these guys sound really good. Video is simply them jamming in a dark room, looks like an attic, mixed with some black 'n' white screens. Still good however and this is definately a band to keep an eye on. Could they get as big as Rammstein?
Video Rating: ***
Ektomorf official website

Impaled Nazarene - Armageddon Death Squad
- Death thrash speed metal at it's best. Features the band playing in the dark so you can't really get a clear look at them as a group of cheerleaders dance with guns! By the end of the movie, the cheerleaders turn firing squad and blow away the band! Complete with blood as they get blown away!
Video Rating: ***

Morbid Angel - Enshrined by Grace
- One of the pioneers of death metal return with their newest video. The band jams in a circle of fire as four women tied to poles are forced to watch war, riot and other forms of violent footage on a brick wall screen. Pretty good.
Video Rating: ***

Moonspell - Everything Invaded
- This is a great video, as it's filmed in the style of a horror movie trailer! Hints of Blair Witch, the Omen and the Prophecy, with a hint of zombie movie influence! Great stuff, great song!
Video Rating: ***1/2

Saturday, May 15, 2004

The Punisher Rocks!


I finally picked up this CD the other day and it rules! I was suprised though that despite the thunderous opening track by the new Drowning Pool, theres alot of melow and accoustic rock on this album. How many of them are actually in the movie is beyond me, but this is definately a must have album. Other than the metal of Drowning Pool, theres Hatebreed and Damage Plan feat. Jerry Cantrell. Then theres the commercial rock outfits like Puddle of Mudd, Nickleback, Trapt, Finger Eleven, and Seether, who also do a great track with Amy Lee of Evanescence.
Also on hand are a bunch of new rock acts like Edgewater, who were hyped alot, but didn't do much for me here. Other new faces are Strata, Seven Wiser, Submersed, and Atomship. There's also a very good solo effort by Ben Moody of Godhead.

Must Hear Tracks:
Drowning Pool - Step Up
Seether feat Amy Lee - Broken
Smile Empty Soul - Finding Myself
Damage Plan feat Jerry Cantrell - Ashes to Ashes
Ben Moody feat Jason 'Gong' Jones - The End Has Come
Finger Eleven - Slow Chemical (AKA Kane's current WWE Theme!)
Seven Wiser - Sick

Again, I highly recommend getting this CD!
CD Rating: ****

Sunday, May 09, 2004

Return of the 'Knot!

Slipknot - Duality
Finally! After Stone Sour, The Murderdolls and To My Suprise, It's the return of SLIPKNOT! The first video from the upcoming Vol.3:(The Subliminal Verses) album, coming May 25th, we get a look at the nine-man wrecking crew's new masks and a change of pace sound-wise. The video sees the band jamming in an abandoned house surrounded by moshing teens. But unlike the Fear Factory video that used a similar concept, everyone is more packed together here. The song itself sounds a bit change of pace from where IOWA left off, going back to the sound of the original Slipknot album. Still, this is a very good video (like most Slipknot videos are) and I highly recommend getting it!
Video Rating: ****

Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Which Mag has better taste?

If you remember a while back, I kinda blasted Revolver magazine for their pretty lame top 20 albums of 2003 list. I even went so far as to send them hate mail! I thought it was that bad in comparison to Metal Edge magazines picks. So I thought I'd post both lists here for your reading pleasure to compare you guys think have better taste in Rock and Metal.

Revolver Magazine's Top 20 Albums of 2003:
1. Lamb of God - As The Palaces Burn
2. The Darkness - Permission to Land
3. The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
4. Opeth - Damnation
5. Killing Joke - Killing Joke
6. Dimmu Borgir - Death Cult Armageddon
7. Turbonegro - Scandanavian Leather
8. Billy Talent - Billy Talent
9. Rancid - Indestructable
10. The Blood Brothers - ...Burn, Piano Island, Burn
11. The Distillers - Coral Fang
12. Lighting Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow
13. Metallica - St. Anger
14. AFI - Sing The Sorrow
15. Brand New - Deja Entendu
16. Strapping Young Lad - SYL
17. Dysrhythmia - Pretest
18. Thrice - The Artist In The Ambulance
19. Poison The Well - You Come Before You
20. Pelican - Australasia

And now Metal Edge's top picks of 2003 in no particular order:
A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step
AFI - Sing The Sorrow
All American Rejects - All American Rejects
Anthrax - We've Come For You All
Black Label Society - The Blessed Hellride
Cold - Year of the Spider
The Darkness - Permission to Land
Devil Driver - Devil Driver
Dope - Group Therepy
Evanescence - Fallen
Godhead - Evolver
Godsmack - Faceless
House of 1000 Corpses soundtrack
Jane's Addiction - Strays
Jet - Get Born
Korn - Take A Look In The Mirror
Lo Pro - Lo Pro
Marilyn Manson - The Golden Age of Grotesque
John Mayer - Heavier Things
Memento - Beginnings
Metallica - St. Anger
Ministry - Animositsomina
Murderdolls - Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls (Digipack)
Nickleback - The Long Road
Oleander - Joy Ride
Powerman 5000 - Transform
Puddle of Mudd - Life on Display
Queensryche - Tribe
David Lee Roth - Diamond Dave
Sevendust - Seasons
Static-X - Shadow Zone
SuperSuckers - Motherf***ers Be Trippin'
Superjoint Ritual - A Lethal Dose Of American Hatred
To My Suprise - To My Suprise
Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me

So there you have it. Metal Edge had more choices, and kinda smooth things over by not giving them more importance with an actual numbering system, but I still prefer their picks over Revolver's. What do you guys think?