Friday, June 30, 2006

AFI - December Underground

I've heard a lot of hype behind AFI but was never really impressed by anything of their's. Despite the word that their style of punk is darker and heavier, and singer Danny Havok lets out a shriek or 2 here and there, their latest album mostly sounds like what you'd expect to hear from a Simple Plan or any other pop-punk inspired group. The only tracks that stand out are the fist pumping, anthemic "Miss Murder" and a cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Head Like A Hole", which is a bonus track at the end of the album.
CD Rating: **

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

KoRn - Live & Rare 2006

After the really dissapointing debacle that was "See You On The Other Side", KoRn return and win back some praise with this collection of live tracks mostly recorded from CBGBs as well as their performance from Woodstock and the MTV Icons show.
First thing you'll definately notice is the simply AMAZING quality of the live tracks on this CD. You sometimes think that it's not really live, but rather a re-recording of some of your favorite KoRn tracks. The only thing I would have to complain about is the rather lackluster playlist. I really would have preffered more live songs, as the two "rare" tracks are really nothing much to shout home about. "Earache My Eye" was the bonus track off the Follow the Leader album that you had to wait about a half hour after the final track to get to, and "Proud" was the band's contribution to the I Know What You Did Last Summer movie soundtrack. No biggie, but easilly could have been left out to make space for more live tracks (I've still never heard or seen KoRn perform Clown live).
Overall this live compilation brings you back to KoRn's old school days before Head went off to become the next Jesus and they could still rock it like the nu-metal innovaters they were.
CD Rating: ***1/2