Thursday, March 30, 2006

Bleed the Sky - Paradigm in Entropy (CD)

I had been highly anticipating this debut album from Bleed the Sky (under Nuclear Blast Records) ever since I first saw the Minion video, and I'm glad to say the overall album doesn't dissapoint.
Their sound ranges from early industrial Chimaira to modern melodic Mudvayne, and it all works together really well. I've also noticed quite a few religious references in their lyrics.
So if your into heavy & fast beats, mixed with a big of melody here and there, than you definately need to check out Bleed The Sky!
CD Rating: ****

Monday, March 20, 2006

KoRn - Coming Undone

Give KoRn credit for hiding a crappy song with a cool video, a proper video mind you, not the sucktacular live version.
Starts with KoRn jamming out in the dessert, with their beats so hard that the sky cracks up and collapses (ala Chicken Little?) till we're left with the band jamming in the night. They continue to jam and it cracks up the night sky, and the ground too, leaving the band in a plain bright white background.
As they jam on, their own bodies begin to unravel and they become completely undone as the video comes to an end. Nice vid. Crappy album still.
Video Rating: **

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Trivium - Dying In Your Arms

This is one of those "life on the road" videos, where we see clips of the band performing at various concerts, as well as backstage antics, meeting the fans and other promotional work. This stuff usually gets redundant, but can be entertaining if done right, like it was here.
They might have drop the ball here though as the song had a good story to build a video around instead of using archived tour footage like this, but it's still passable. This song is rather reminiscent of those old hair-metal bands from the '80s too, showing more of singer/guitarists Matt Heafy's many influences and styles he's good at.
Video Rating: ***

Friday, March 10, 2006

As I Lay Dying - The Darkest Nights

Christian metalers As I Lay Dying return with their latest video offering where they "up the production budget" by a bit. Aside from the usual shots of the band jamming, there's a bit of a story involved and circles around their Christianic beliefs if I'm not mistaken, as the video features what looks to be Moses & Mary (with baby Jesus?) fleeing from a town being invaded by marauders (who bare resemblance to the Wraiths from Lord of the Rings) that slash away at villagers and set fire to buildings.
Once they are out of the town, for some reason the Moses-type dude leaves behind Mary and the baby, and after running out on his own for a bit runs into the cloacked baddies who proceed to slash him up. So Mary is now all alone and she races up the hill till she comes to the seaside. The baddies catch up to her and chase her accross the beach until they run into the cavalry, a bunch of Arabian-Knights looking warriors all decked out in white.
So both sides go at it with poor Mary hunched down in the middle of it. When she finally looks up after it's all over, the good guys in white have won. They take her to their camp where she meets up with other survivors from the town and everyone gathers around, oogling the baby as a sign of future hope. Aww.
Great video overall for one the best tracks of their Shadows Are Security album. Some good production value so I guess their label is pushing them since they do deserve all the exposure they can get.
Video Rating: ****

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Fireball Ministry - Their Rock Is Not Our Rock (CD)

Now this is another interesting change. Fireball Ministry give a unique old-school sound, and they do such a good job of it at times you think your listening to an old Motorhead or Ozzy album! Vocalist/Guitarist James A. Rota II's voice bears an uncanny resemblance to the legendary Lemmy or Ozzy that you'd think they were doing guest vocals or something!
While there's a distinct southern flare to their sound, and it does feel like it could have been better mixed, it's also quite catchy and some of the tracks stick in your head after a while.
If your tired of all the nu-metal, extreme-metal, etc. that's out there now, and yearn for something from the old days but with a modern twist, than I recommend paying a visit to this Ministry and find out why their brand of rock is different and worth rocking out to!
CD Rating: ***1/2