Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Adema - Tornados

I've been handing out alot of big points for my recent reviews, but I finally found a big dissapointment in this new one from Adema. In late 2004, founding member and vocalist Mark Chavez (aka half brother of KoRn's Jonathan Davis) quit the band, and so did one of the guitarists who's name escapes me at this time. Anyways, the remaining members signed to a new label and hired a new singer.
Now the problem is the band seemed to have completely dropped the style that made them what they were to begin with in favour of the rock crap that crams the airwaves. And this is another one of those videos that features a guy a who either breaks up or is having relationship problems. BORING and DULL.
Whatever happened to the Adema videos with that had the band jamming in natural disasters and video games? And the new singer isn't all that good either. A real big dissapointment in my book.
Video Rating: *

Mastadon - Blood and Thunder

Now this is a really interesting and fun video, as it features the band jamming in a club full of clowns and sideshow freaks! Yes, you heard me! Moshing clowns = greatness!
So the video sees the band wearing fezzi hats jamming on a club stage as the clowns and freaks party down. The main focus being this clown in a sailor-suit with a wild green goatie, going around the club getting drinks and checking out the entertainment, like the bearded stripper girl XP
The best part being when the sailor clown picks up the mic and starts barking vocals! His voice sounds really familiar, though I can't picture him without the makeup.
Definately a fun video worth checking out.
Video Rating: ****

Sunday, April 24, 2005

A Static Lullaby - Stand Up

A fun video from this hard-rockin' fivesome. The video starts of with the band's singer giving some money to a homeless guy, and then gets to rocking with the rest of the band. Interesting to note that the guitarist and bassist take the lead vocal duties in this song, so there are three guys singing throughout!
Anyway, a kid snatches the money from the homeless guy and uses it to get some snacks from a convinience store. The clerk pockets the money only to pay it off to some guy in an RV, possibly buying drugs? The RV driver then uses the money to pay off a hot-looking hooker. The pro later gets pulled aside by a cop, and she uses the cash to bribe the cop. The cop than passes the money to this teen on a bike, and the guy goes to gamble it on a street side game of dice when this other guy in wins it away, and as he makes his way to his car, we see the money is laying on the road in a puddle of water. What a journey money can make in one day :)
This was a really interesting story video, and the song is really good too as the three singers have great harmony and melody to match. Definately worth checking out!
Video Rating: ****

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Trivium - Pull Harder on the Strings of My Martyr

All I can say about this video is "Wow!". From this video alone you can see that Trivium put on a Hell of a live show as they got that old school Slayer speed thrash thing going on, including an awesome dual-guitar axe attack. There's also very good vocal work as the singer growls like old-school James Hatfield before he wimped out and he transitions his voice into singing really well. And the guy is just eighteen! The guy definately has a future if he can sing AND play guitar the way he does at his age.
The story of the video as we see the band jams is this bald guy in an oversized diaper dipping his hands in paint and painting a canvas, as well as tying himself up in string before using it to paint his masterpiece, which in the end turns out to be the band's logo and album cover.
This was a really good video, and I can't believe I almost passed it up! Definately worth getting as I believe it really gives you the feel of what the band's live show is like. I would have preffered if it didn't have any of that retard with the body paints in it, but nobody's perfect.
Video Rating: ****

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Mudvayne - Happy?

The second single off the "Lost and Found" album sees the band jamming in green field in the middle of nowhere surrounded by yellow flowers and butterflies flying around. Awww. But as the video progresses, stormclouds start to form ain the sky above which turns into a storm, which then escalates into a full blown tornado! The band continue jamming as the storm goes by and there's a cool visual of the band in the eye of the tornado. The storm ends as the song does and the video closes with a fade out as we see one butterfly that survived the natural disaster fly accross the screen.
This was a really good video where you get to see the band do thing, again minus the paint and make that originally helped them make a name for themselves. But I don't have a problem with that as they look better and more natural jamming as themselves.
Great video worth checking out!
Video Rating: ****

Friday, April 01, 2005

Fear Factory - Archetype CD

I've finally gotten my hands on this most wanted gem of a CD, and it totally met every expectation! Actually, I downloaded it off the net, but hey, it still rocks! I would even go as far as to say this is their best overall work since 1995's Demanufacture, and that's saying ALOT!
Christian Olde Wolbers rocks a seven string just well as well as Dino ever did. Heck, he even had his own signature guitar from Jackson released recently. He may have switched from bass, but the signature Fear Factory guitar sound is definately maintained.
Raymond Hererra is probably still the fastest drummer I've heard, even beating out Slipknot's Joey Jordison in my opinion. It's amazing the speeds this guy can achieve as he sticks to challenging himself by coming up with the hardest beats he can think of and then pulling it off!
And Burton Bell may have reached new heights with his unmatchable vocals in this one. I still consider him the best growler/singer in the business, beating out guys like Corey Taylor (Slipknot) and Martin Cock (American Head Charge).
I really can't understand why Revolver would rate this CD so low when it's obviously their best work in a decade. Fans of the band and their unique mix of speed metal, thrash metal, death metal and industrial styles should know what I'm talking about as everything from the highspeed riffs to the use of a cybernetic future as song themes. This is vintage Fear Factory right here and is definately recommended! And if you've never heard Fear Factory before, this isn't a bad place to start!

CD Rating: ****

Must hear tracks:
- Slave Labour
- Cyberwaste
- Archetype
- Default Judgement