Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Kittie - Into The Darkness

Canadian all girl band Kittie return after a long hiatus with a new album "Until The End" and two new members. Vocalist guitarist Morgan Landers and her sister drummer Mercedes Landers return with new members Jennifer J. Arroyo on bass replacing founding member, Telena, and guitarist Lisa Marx replacing guitarist Fallon Bowmem who quit the band several years back before the second album "Oracle" was released.
If you never heard them before, Kittie may be an all girl band, but they also were one of the heavyiest sounding bands around. And they hit the big time when they were only SIXTEEN!
This new video sees the band jamming in a black background, with scenes of them Morgan under water and the band lying on a bed of nails and dripping tears of blood. The two new members fit right in too.
The song itself is s mix of Morgan's growling and singing voices, which will be interesting to see how reproduce live. And since the video has both her voices going on at the time, I wonder if there's an option on the CD to use left or right audio to listen to the song in either growling voice or singing voice? That would be a neat option, and the song sounds good either way as it shows alot of growth from the band.
Hopefully, the new album will be available here soon. It was released 7/27/2004. Until then, I recommend this video.
Video Rating: ****

On a related note, since Kittie's new album is titled "Until The End", the Band Until The End will name their upcoming new album "Kittie"!

Friday, August 27, 2004

Resident Evil Apocalypse soundtrack

The movie definately looks to be better than the original, and now you can listen to the soundtrack online for FREE!!! Just click on the link below.

http://www.flashenhanced.com/residentevil/index2.htm

Here is a track listing:
Slipknot - Vermillion
The Used - Just A Little
The Cure - Us Or Them
A Perfect Circle - The Outsider (Resident Renholder Mix)
Lacuna Coil - Swamped
Killswitch Engage - The End of Hearthache
Rammstein - Mein Teil
DevilDriver - Digging Up The Corpses
Cradle of Filth - Nymphetamine
CKY - Escape From Hellview
Deftones - The Chauffeur
HIM -Join Me In Death
Demon Hunter - My Heartstrings Come
Thrice - Under A Killing Moon
36 Crazy Fists - Bloodwork
Cold - End Of The World
Rob Zombie - Girl On Fire (Renholder's Apocalypse Mix)
Massive Attack - Future Proof

Thursday, August 26, 2004

Rammstein - Amerika

Another awesome Rammstein video! Though they were the last band I expected to make an anti-war video like this one. It also features some english in their lyrics for a change, mainly in the lyrics. The main theme of the song and video is that the whole world is American influenced, from the clothes we wear to the food we eat, like the chorus goes, "Were all living in Amerika!" (Can't really deny that, can we?).
Throughout the video, we see the band goofing off as astronauts on the moon, mixed with scenes of various locales around the world that show how much influence America has over world trends.
Overall this is another killer video and song from Rammstein, and I can't wait for the new album (Titled: Reise! Reise!) to come out! And just so you know, their first single, Mein Teil, is featured on the soundtrack of the upcoming Resident Evil: Apocalypse movie. And like Mein Teil, this is a MUST HAVE music video!
Video Rating: *****!

Credit: HDPVidz.com for the video

Sunday, August 22, 2004

Fear Factory - ArcheType

Fear Factory's newest video and the title track of their current album is a breath of fresh air after the dissapointment that was their previous video, CyberWaste. This video sees the band going back to their video roots of a cybernetic future where machines dominate.
We see singer Burton C. Bell running through an empty city, chased by 'zombies' I guess, in a scene reminiscent of the movie 48 Hours After. We also see him in a hospital type setting levitating off his bed with electrodes and stuff stuck to him, laced in with scenes of him and the band jamming in various locales, from an empty warehouse type environment, to a rooftop in fron of a sunrise.
The song itself will satisfy all Fear Factory purists like myself as they go the classic route of the genre they created with the heavy riffs, and vocals that mix heavy growling with almost choir like singing that Bell is the originator of.
Definately the best Fear Factory video in a while and this is a killer track.
Video Rating: ****

Credit: BurnedMediaVideos for the video

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Some quick notes

I've noticed alot of good compilations and best of CDs have come out recently. Mostly from RoadRunner records who've issued a bunch of greatest hits albums from their former artists under the label. These include:
- The Best of Coal Chamber
- The Best of Deicide
- The Best of King Diamond
- The Best of Mercyful Fate (fronted by King Diamond)
- 311 Greatest Hits.

Also available is the 36 Crazy Fists debut album also under RoadRunner. They sound kinda like what Alien Ant Farm would be like if they were serious and didn't sniff their armpits all the time. And they scream more. Am planning on getting it unless something better comes out.
Original version of Soulfly's "Prophecy" CD are also available, since prior to this only bootleg pirated copies are out.
Also out is "Beneath Between Beyond" by industrial metalheads Static-X. It's a compilation of demos and B-sides. A special collectors edition of "Shadow Zone" is also available, comes bundled with a special DVD with live performance and other footage. I'd probably get this if I didn't already have the CD I bought in Singapore.

Sunday, August 15, 2004

Slipknot - Pulse of the Maggots

This is actually a live video taken from the Jaggermeister Tour. It still looks very good as they edit various scenes together mixed with a pretty good live track of the song. I could probably rank this as one of those songs that sound better live than album version, eventhough the album version itself was made out to sound almost live. Great video overall. I still hope they put out Vermillion Pt.1 or Opium of the People as a video.
Video Rating: ***

Thursday, August 12, 2004

Lo Pro - Sunday

I don't really know how old this video is, but this is a really catchy song. Lo Pro is made up of former members of the now defunct metal group Ultraspank, this new incarnation is described by Revolver magazine as space-age rock. Whatever it is, it sounds good to me! As soon as they video starts up, the melody catches your attention. This is one of those anti-boredom, anti-depression songs, and that's probably why I like. Another way of describing the sound is the whisper to a scream type songs made popular by the likes of Staind and Deftones.
The video itself features the band playing in an empty theater, mix in with some live performance footage. The big selling point of this is definately the song over the video. Definately worth checking out. If not, then getting the mp3 is good enough.
Video Rating: ***

Credit: Videopimp.com for the video

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Annihilator - All For You

This was a bit of a surprise. I always thought Annihilator were an old-school metal act in the veins of Iron Maiden, etc. But like Paradise Lost, they've changed their look to fit modern times and I think they also altered their sound to sound more "new-metal-ish".
This is a good video which sees the band jamming in a room with scenes of a guy working his ass off to get his kid back from his divorced wife. Nothing special there, but it's the song that gets my attention more. I'm a sucker for songs that mix rage with melody in both the music and vocals. Get the CD or look for the mp3 first as this is probably one of those songs that sounds better than it looks.
Video Rating: ***

Credit: HDPVidz for the video

Monday, August 09, 2004

Satyricon - Fuel For Hatred

This was really dissapointing. As a long running black-metal band, this was a highly anticipated release, but unfortunately falls short since there really isn't anything special about this video. Just the band jamming in what looks like a stall wrapped in barb-wire, and occasional shots of the vocalist by himself dressed all in white in a white room which slowly drips blood as the video goes on. It wouldn't be that bad if the song was good, but even the song here doesn't sound like anything that hasn't been done by dozens of other black metal bands. Big dissapointment this.
Video Rating: *1/2

Credit: HDPVidz for the video

Tuesday, August 03, 2004

Rammstein - Mein Teal (My Part)

Till and his pyromaniac gang are back!!! The first single from Rammstein's upcoming new album (I don't know the name, but it's at the top on my most wanted list right now!). If their is one thing Rammstein has always been known for, it's putting out some of the most creative and best music videos EVER, rivalled possibly only by Tool.
Simply put, this is yet another MASTERPIECE from Germany's biggest musical export EVER! Like many of their past videos, this one shows the six band members in various roles (cross-dressing, begging, ballet dancing, fighting a mirror image, and EATING ANGELS!) throughout the rather creepy and freakish video. There's even a real sinister tone in the way Till sings here which would probably give young kids nightmares, that is, if the visuals don't do it first!
This song and video really heightens my expectations for the upcoming album. All I can say is YOU MUST GET THIS VIDEO!!!!
Video Rating: *****!!!!!

Credit: UrbanChaosVideos.com for the video. Go get it now!

Sunday, August 01, 2004

Changes

I'm gonna make some changes to this blog. Instead of waiting to get a bunch of music videos to review in one shot, I'll intead just post the reviews one by one. It'll be short, but at least they'll be more posts here. Now check out the Killswitch Engage CD review below!

No Heartache here!

Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache
This is the first CD I've bought since Slipknot last month, and it totally kicks ass! Seriously, I dare say this is even better than the Slipknot CD since they don't mess about experimenting with different sounds and instead going with the formula that works for them.
Surprisingly, this is a totally listenable CD from start to finish, which is very rare these days. Guitarist/song writer/producer Adam Dutkiewicz made some real magic here, and singer Howard Jones is a great vocalist to say the least. I'm not too high on his screaming ability, which sounds like he's stretching his vocals to the max. Not a good thing unless he's looking to end up like the band's previous singer, who had to quit because he strained his vocal cords too much. On the other hand, his singing voice is one of the best I've heard in a while and shows some emotion that you can really feel.
The only downside I've gathered so far is that CD seems to just fly by rather quickly. They list 12 tracks on the CD, but two are only instrumentals that barely last a minute! Not good.
The whole album is listenable, but the standouts are definately "Rose of Sharyn", "The End of Heartache", and "Hope Is..."
I HIGHLY recommend this CD!
CD Rating: ****