Otep - Buried Alive

Otep is probably one of (if not THE) most pissed off women in metal. Her songs are mostly based on her real life accounts of being abused as a child, with very convincing screams of anger which are enough to make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end!

This video showcases that rage. Shot in a gloomy yellow grainy style (like Insision), it features Ms. Otep in a dark empty type room as she whispers on the verge of screaming her heart out about how she hates her life (which is the chorus of this really spooky track).
As the video progresses, shots of the band jamming are shown, as well as Otep scribbling on a screen, and clawing and scratching away at it in anger. The video climaxes with a sudden shift in direction and they blast away at full speed for the final 40 seconds of the video.
It ends with Otep ripping her face off (!) revealing a hallow shell and the camera pans out to show her stuck in somekind of hour-glass thingy. The part where she rips off her face is actually based on the cover art for their album, House of Secrets.

Overall, this is a very spooky video and I'm sure there are many angry teens out there that can identify with the very angry message this song conveys. This song might sound like an album closer, but it really does have a very dark and gloomy ring to it and well worth checking out.

Video Rating: ***1/2

More info at: www.OTEP.com

DevilDriver - Nothing's Wrong?

It's over a year later and DevilDriver finally release their second promo video!
The video itself is as simple and low budget as you can get, featuring the band jamming in a garage studio. This was probably taped during a practice session, but it's still fun to watch. Lots of close-ups of the band jamming, and they even included a blooper where the cameraman falls off the ladder he was standing on to get a better angle for the shoot!
This is very simple, but effective!
Video Rating: ***

Have a Ball!

MTV2 HEADBANGER'S BALL VOLUME 2 is available now! Much like last years edition, this is a killer double disc compilation of some of the best metal tracks of the year, and I highly recommend getting it since it comes at the low low price of just RM47.90!
Heres the track List:
Disc 1:
Slipknot - Duality
KoRn - Right Now
Killswitch Engage - Rose of Sharyn
Megadeth - Kick The Chair
Atreyu - Right Side Of The Bed
Drowning Pool - Step Up
A Perfect Circle - Weak And Powerless
Shadows Fall - What Drives The Weak
MachineHead - Imperium
Superjoint Ritual - Waiting For The Turning Point
Kittie - Into The Darkness
HIM - Your Sweet Six Six Six
Avenged Sevenfold - Unholy Confessions
Lamb of God - Laid To Rest
Soulfly - Prophecy
Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society - House of Doom
Damageplan - Breathing New Life
In Flames - The Quiet Place
Fear Factory - Archtype
Probot - My Tortured Soul (Live)

Disc 2:
Cradle of Filth - Medusa & Hemlock
Unearth - Great Dividers
God Forbid - Antihero
The Agony Scene - We Bury Our Dead At Dawn
Children of Bodom - Needled 24/7
Bleeding Through - Love Lost In A Hale Of Gunfire
Trivium - Like Light To The Flies
Satyricon - Fuel For Hatred
Himsa - Rain To The Sound Of Panic
3 Inches of Blood - Deadly Sinners
The Black Dahlia Murder - Contagion
Everytime I Die - I Been Gone A Long Time
Blood Has Been Shed - She Speaks To Me
Eighteen Visions - Waiting For The Heavens
Deicide - Scars Of The Crucifix
All That Remains - Deepest Gray
Twelve Tribes - Venus Complex
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Panasonic Youth
Martyr A.D. - American Hollow
Dimmu Borgir - Progenies Of The Great Apocalypse

Spreading the wealth!

Check out the Metal Videos Links I added to the sidebar.
These are the sites I get most of my metal videos from that I review here, and everything I've reviewed in the past few weeks should still be available on most of them.
Best part of course is that all the videos are FREE for download! So get them for yourselves and see if you would agree with my reviews.
ENJOY!!!

Dry Kill Logic - Paper Tiger

This was a plesant surprise. I never bought DKL's firts album, but I just might pick up there new album "The Dead and Dreaming" should it become available here thanks to this killer track.

Since their first album, "The Darker Side of Nonsense" came out over two years ago, the band have gone through some changes. They now have a new guitarist and bassist, and from all reports, the guitarist brought a breath of fresh air to the group in the form of more melody and guitar solos. And it's put to effect here in this cool video.

The video starts out with this stoned Japanese chick wandering aimlessly through the city streets till she hears the band jamming in an abandoned theater. As the band jams, she walks around the rafters watching them, till she makes her way to the main floor which is littered with scraps of paper. As it goes on, she starts collecting the paper scraps and starts folding them (origami) and at the end of the video she's sobered up and in a kimono. She takes a bow and walks off as the camera zooms in on a paper tiger she made out of all the paper scraps.

This is a good video, but the song is the main selling point. As I mentioned above, there's a real melody here to go with the heavy guitar chugging, and the best part is the vocals! Vocalist Cliff Rigano not only screams here, but he SINGS! And he did a really good job of it. Imagine the screaming voice of Hatebreed's Jamey Jasta mixed with the singing of System Of A Down's Serj Tenkian! It was definately this sweet vocal mix that caught my attention and makes me highly recommend this video and song.
Video Rating: ****

More info at: www.DryKillLogic.com

New KoRn CD available

KoRn's Greatest Hits Vol.1 CD is now available locally. The CD contains all the bands singles and a few other classics (depending on how you look at it), and two new cover songs. Track listing is as follows:
1. Word Up!
2. Another Brick in the Wall Vol. 1-3
3. Y'all Want A Single
4. Right Now
5. Did My Time
6. Along I Break
7. Here to Stay
8. Trash
9. Somebody Someone
10.Make Me Bad
11.Falling Away From Me
12.Got the Life
13.Freak on a Leash
14.Twist
15.A.D.I.D.A.S.
16.Clown
17.Shoots and Ladders
18.Blind
19.Freak on a Leash (Dante Ross Mix)

Right now the only thing stopping me from getting this CD other than I already have all the songs on the other CDs is my budget. Guess I'll get it later.

Megadeth - Die Dead Enough

Returning from a severe hand injury that almost cost him his guitar playing career, Dave Mustane and Megadeth are back with a new album, The System Has Failed, which is available locally now. This is more or less Dave on his own since the rest of the band quit, but that's not stopping Diamond Dave!

For some reason, when Metallica decided to change their direction, it sucks on so many levels. But when Megadeth change their way of playing, it still works! This song and video are a good example.

The video basically features Dave by himself sitting in a chair locked in a room with monitors around him. While he's singing and playing guitar, scenes of two kids flash on the monitors. They kids play on the beach till they dig up some bones and start playing and digging some more with those, till ultimately they find the door to the room Dave is locked in and let him out. Dave exits the room to a sunset and the kids walking off. Good stuff!
The song itself is also kinda catchy. Dave definately sings better than James Hatfield of Metallica. When I hear James sing, it sounds like he's bored and would rather be somewhere else. Dave on the other hand can sing AND growl. That's talent for ya.
Video Rating: ***1/2

H-Blockx - Leave Me Alone

I was still in school the last time I heard of H-Blockx! I think it was '96 or '97 when H-Blockx did a live performance at the MTV Europe Music Awards that I first saw them. They were then one of the first Europena rap-metal acts around, and their performance kinda puzzled the lived crowd since they actually moved out of the way when the singer tried to stage dive! Then again, maybe he deserved it since he doused water on the crowd during the performance? The band also did a really cool hardcore cover of Snap's "The Power".

Fast forward to present day and the band are no longer rap-metal! They seem to have taken a straight forward hard-rock direction. I don't even know how many of the original members are left as I only recognise the one guy that missed his stage dive. There was a second vocalist back then, but he's no where to seen now.

Anyways, the video is a really good effort by the band. It features the band jamming out in some techno-type background, with scenes of the now lone vocalist driving his car through a futuristic highway with all kinds of weird passengers occupying the passenger seat as the video goes on.
They also use a cool "x-ray" effect so you only see the skeletons of the band as they jam, as well as the goings on in the video, cleverly hiding things to make you think some dirty is going in the video, but when it comes back to normal view, it's not really anything objectionable. Smart stuff!
The song is also really catchy and you can really hear the emotion in the vocals. I recommend you give this video a shot, if not download the MP3.
Video Rating: ****

Superjoint hits stores

Superjoint Ritual's long released album "A Pure Dose of American Hatred" is finally seeing the light of day here. The band fronted by former Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo is a Hatebreed type hardcore band dishing out 2-3 minute long songs.
I like Hatebreed, but I'm not big on Superjoint. I've heard the CD at a test station in Singapore and wasn't really impressed. Give it a shot if you want. Just remember this is the band that broke up Pantera.

New Manson CD available

Marilyn Manson's new CD, Less We Forget...The Best of, is now available locally. If you haven't guessed from the name, it's a compilation of Manson's greatest hits, or at least singles. It also includes the new cover of Depeche Mode's "Personnal Jesus".
I am thinking of getting it, but I do wonder if the local version is censored like his past albums. I also would have preferred if the some of not so famous tracks like "Rock 'n' Roll Nigger" were included.

Insision - We Did Not Come To Heal

I havent heard a good death metal song in a while, and THIS is a good death metal song! Death metal videos are usually simple shots of the band jamming with a few morbid visuals thrown in, and this one follows that simple but effective formula.
The video basically just features the band jamming in the corner of what looks like an abandoned warehouse or factory, with shots of some retard staring blankly into the sky.
The first thing that will probably catch your attention is the way the singer's eyes just pop out of the darkness at you! And he has a good voice to boot. Rather than the straight unintelligible Cookie Monster growls, his vocal style borders on a deep growl to a whisper, which is really cool and matches the thrashing music.
I also like that this video is about 65% instrumental as the vocals don't chime in till about a minute into the video, and is filmed in a cool grainy black, white and yellow old film style. Great head-bangin' stuff here!
Video Rating: ****

Credit: HDPVidz for the video