Lamb Of God - Walk With Me In Hell

I'm not sure what kind of music I should call these guys really.  On one hand I want to call them early Metalcore, cause they heavily influenced that, but I also kinda want to call them Southern Metal.  Eh, I suppose it's not really important, right?

So apparently most of the vocals on this album were recorded on a Shure SM58 mic without a pop filter.  This is a reasonably impressive feat I gather from all the metal vocal forums I looked at talking about it.

Lil Jon feat. Tyga - Bend Ova

This song has been stuck in my head all week after I made a Rum Ham.  After making this stupid ham (which was amazing) I drove to my friends house to cook it.  On the way I put this song on and my brother and I sang along...  But we changed it to be about Rum Ham.  Yes, we were excited.

It's an interesting video too, so that's good, right?

Iron Butterfly - Inna Gada Da Vida

Gotta love hippie rock music, right?  This is one of those songs that you'll recognize parts of because you've heard it almost everywhere.  It's 17 minutes long though, and has a giant drum solo in it.  I hope you enjoy it, it's mostly good.

Sorry, I don't have too much to say about this cause it's not a style that I usually listen to.  Eh, whatever.

 

Kanye West - Gold Digger

The first time I heard anything from this song it was in a Weird Al song.  It was one of his Polkas if that means anything to ya, and it was amazing.



I originally started liking Kanye because he's got the biggest ego and most hilariously self centered attitude I've ever seen.  Then I started listening to some of his old stuff and I realized he's actually got a bit of a reason to have an attitude.  I may not have heard his name before he did that stupid thing with Taylor Swift at the Grammys that one year, but I had heard a decent number of his hits before.

This song is really catchy and has entered my slowly expanding list of "Music By Kanye That I Really Like"

Primus - Golden Ticket

Primus Sucks.  I saw this picture once, it went like this.  "Non Primus fans:  'Primus Sucks.'  Fake Primus fans:  'Primus rocks!'  Real Primus fans:  'Primus sucks!'"

I don't get where this came from other than their weird sound, but they do tend to grow on you a little bit.

This album though, this is weird.

I'll touch on it more later, but I wat you to listen to this song knowing that they remade the entire soundtrack from the 1971 Willy Wonka movie.

Enjoy the bass gank.

Saloon Piano Music

I've been watching my brother play Red Dead Redemption and one of his favorite past times is killing the "Pie-ano" man.  In the town of Armadillo and in the city of Blackwater there is a man playing that nice Old West saloon music.  As somebody raised on John Wayne westerns this is the kind of music that really makes me happy.

Hollywood Undead - Lump Your Head

I may have said this before, but I like this band a lot more then I probably should.

One of the things I like though is that this song is almost in an old style.  It's amusing to me at least.  I also like how Funny Man does that Louis Armstrong voice in the chorus part.

Fun fact, the verse of this song is the same as the verse to Green Day's song Hitchin' A Ride.  Other songs too, but that's the only one that comes to mind.  In face, both Green Day and Hollywood Undead do this a lot.  The simple chord progression that is, not copy each other stuff.

Five Finger Death Punch - My Heart Lied

This is a wonderful example of what good old 5FDP has turned into.  It's a decent song, but it's all definitely bro metal now.  It's really a disappointment cause they could have gone a lot further if they had managed to stick closer to the first and second albums. stuff.  I still like their new stuff well enough, but I will say that it's really not as good.

Eminem - Kill You

I, as a white guy, love Eminem.  Apparently it is a requirement for white guys that like rap to enjoy Eminem's music.

Unfortunately though I don't know too much of his material outside of singles for the most par since the only album I've listened all the way through was The Marshal Mathers LP.  The first one, not the newest one.  It has some good songs on it though and it opens up with this lovely song.

As he raps about all the things he's not allowed to rap about anymore all you can really think is "This is what's wrong with the kids today."  Well it's not, there are many more problems than an angry guy from Detroit.

Device - Vilify

I can't remember if I've posted any Disturbed songs yet, but this is the side project of the singer, David Draiman.  It's not too bad if you enjoy the vague style of Nine Inch Nails, though there are some things I feel like the group could do better.

I feel like they need an actual bass player personally, but hey, I'm  not famous though so what do I know.

The more you listen to Device the more you'll realize that Draiman really needed Disturbed to hold him in place.  He kind of goes all over the place on this album turning it into the "Draiman Show" in a way.  Basically the group sounds like Disturbed but with more singing and less guitar riffs.

Dread Zeppelin - Immigrant Song

I was considering putting these guys on during cover week, but I realized that they are really a lot more that that.  They are a mashup group really, so it makes sense for them to be by themselves.

Dread Zeppelin is a group that plays Led Zeppelin songs with a Reggae beat, with Elvis lyrics thrown in for good measure.  Not gonna lie, I consider that to be really cool.

Fronted by a fat Elvis impersonator, they have an absolutely wonderful stage presence.

I hope you enjoy them, they have a lot of really good music to check out.

DMX - Where The Hood At

DMX is a rapper who thinks he's a dog.  That's about it actually, so yeah, song.

Update 3-7-17:  So I'm returning to this post while I'm achieving a list of my posts, and man.  I'm really pissed that I used one of my favorite DMX songs is such a throwaway manner.  Geeze.

Marilyn Manson - This Is The New Shit

Vevo is a funny thing.  They will censor the song, but the songs title is uncensored.  Like, I don't get the pile of double standards there.  Get it together Vevo.

More on point though, Manson has some reasonably good videos, assuming he keeps his clothes on that is.  I maintain that I really don't care for much of his music, but there are some catchy tunes he has, and he manages to hire amazing musicians.  And he can put on a killer show.  Sometimes.

Cover Week: Tenacious D - The Last In Line

 

You know what's great about Jack Black?  He is a parody of himself.  Think about it, his acting is over the top, the roles he plays cater to this, and if you just listen to him sing you realize that there is nothing "serious" about what he's doing.

This entire tribute album is reasonably good, so if you have the time I'd recommend listening through the whole thing.  The Judas Priest cover and the cover with Corey Taylor are really good.

I really am not too familiar with a lot of Dio's own music, just some of the stuff he did with Sabbath.  Still though, if you're a fan then this album is good.

Cover Week: Godsmack - Come Together

I feel like I would get strung up as a music fan if I didn't do the obligatory "O.M.G.  The Beatles a the best musicians ever to grace the earth." thing.  Well you know, they were good pop rock musicians that experimented with psychedelic music.  Good for them.

This is a cover though, so it's obviously garbage, right?  I mean, nothing can possibly match up to the mighty Beatles, right?

Nah, this is still good.

Godsmack may not be the best band ever, but they do a decent rock song, and they also do a decent cover song.

On a side note, happy Valentine's Day everybody.

Cover Week: Liatopad - Before I Forget

*logo un-find-able apparently*

I know nothing about this band either come to think of it.  I know they are a foreign band, I know they don't usually sing in english, and I know they have a YouTube channel.  That's it.

This is a sweet cover though since they have turned a reasonably heavy song into a really nice sounding acoustic cover.  You'll remember how "hate-y" some of Slipknot stuff is, so you should be really impressed at this.

Cover Week: TÝR - Cemetery Gates

I know literally nothing about TÝR.  I actually just found out that they were not the band I had thought they were seeing as I had actually confused them with a different band with a "T" name.

Still though, I also don't know much about Pantera.  I know what I need to know to make juses about the fact that their sound has no low end, that Dime made his guitar squeal like a pig, and that Phil Anselmo has a huge ego.

So yeah, listen to this song then.

Cover Week: Pillar - Shine

One of the best things about covers is when the band can make it sound like enough of their own material that you don't know it's not theirs.

Pillar managed to do this with Collective Soul's song Shine.  It's actually a song that I really like originally, although I did hear Pillar's version first.  Eh, it's still really good.

In the spirit of cover week though I have to show it to you cause it's a solid cover.

Cover Week: Alestorm - Hangover

You mar remember last time I posted these guys.  Pirate Metal band?  Yep, that's who this is.

This is a cover of that one Taio Cruz song, and I'll say that this is a surprisingly easy song to imagine Alestorm to have written.  I mean, it's all about booze and stuff, it kinda fits.  Other than some mild tweaks to the writing style of the original I would have called this just another one of Alestorm's songs.

Cover Week: Wormrot - Rich

You know what's a great song to open the cover week with?  One that doesn't sound anything like the original at all.  I would usually say that's a good thing, make it your own and all, but in this case I wouldn't even know the song had been a cover unless somebody told me outright.

Wormrot is a Grind band, and their stuff is....  Grind-y.

You probably will hate them, but that's ok, cause it's just a fun little cover to have an amusing opening to the week.

The thing about Grind is that it's good live, but not really as good to just sit and listen to.

Another thing about Grind is that it is the music people think of when they think of "Heavy Metal" music.  It's used in shows and movies all the time actually, which is mildly ironic since that alone makes it more popular then it has any right being.

Stone Sour - Blotter

This is a band that was a side project of Jim Root and Corey Taylor of Slipknot up till recently (meaning Root quit this band) and they have some pretty good music.  It's a way for Corey to display his vocal talent better, and Root got to work with guitarist Josh Rand with different things going on.

The band also has Roy Mayorga on drums, who is a freaking beast.  He manages to keep the drum sound full without overplaying up the wazoo.  It's pretty cool.

This song starts with a voice mail that was left on Taylor's phone one night from a couple members of the band who were up late drinking and keeping an eye on the band's equipment.  Though they doubted he would do this, he managed to save the voice mail and had it put at the beginning of this song.  It's amazing.

Isosine - Taylor Swift vs. Nine Inch Nails - Shake It Off (The Perfect Drug)

Yep, I still love Isosine and he still manages to make fantastic music with other people's music.

This is his (?) most recent addition to the "Mashup Manifesto"s, though it's not actually part of one yet.  I'm hoping it's on Manifesto 4.

The Bandcamp.  The music is all free if you want it for free.

Sabaton - Ghost Division

I feel like it's poor form to talk about a band that's "like evil Sabaton" without actually showing you Sabaton.

This is Sabaton.  They sing about war and tanks.  The singer has actually said in an interview that he "Likes tanks so much that (he) figures if (he) sings about them enough (he'll) tun into one."  It's an interesting strategy, let's see if it plays out.

They're from Sweden if that means anything to you.

Also Power Metal is some of the best music.  It's right up there with Symphonic Metal for making epic situations more epic cause of things and reasons.

Studio:

Live:

I included the live version so you could see something very important.  Nuclear Blast.  Again.

Powerwolf - Sanctified With Dynamite

"Die.  Die.  Die tonight.  Sanctified with Dynamite.  Dy. Dy. Dynamite.  Hallelujah!"

With a chorus beginning in this way you know there's no way this isn't the best music ever.

I had Powerwolf described to me as "Evil Sabaton", which really doesn't mean anything to you if you don't know who Sabaton is, but that's not the point.

Powerwolf is a Power Metal band from Germany and have been around since 2003.  Their primary themes are Werewolves and Satan.  There we go, boring facts out of the way.

I want you to watch this stuff and seriously tell me that you don't like it.  At the very least you should find it amusing, I mean they're dressed like what a bunch of Cardinals would look like if they turned Goth.

On a side note, this would be the kind of music video filmed "live", which are really fun to film, but also kinda tedious since you will hear the same song something like 10 times in a row and you have to go crazy for it each time like it's the first time.

Beatallica - Fuel On The Hill

Beatallica is something special.  Starting as a joke that "went too far", they combine classic Metallica sound with lyrics and riffs from The Beatles.

They are truly unique in what I've found so far and they are completely backed by Metallica in their endeavor.  The surviving Beatles want nothing to do with them however.

If you aren't fairly familiar with both artist material this is probably not going to be as amusing to you as it is to me, so I'd say check both songs separately before listening to this stuff.  In this case, the songs would be "Fuel" by Metallica and "The Fool On The Hill" by The Beatles.

Demetori - ネクロファンタジア (Phantasm Boss - Yukari Yakumo's theme)

I have no idea where this is from.  I don't know who the people in the video are.  I don't even know for sure if I got the artist and song name in the right order.  Basically the only thing I know for sure is that I enjoy this song.

I wouldn't even know about it except that a friend of mine on Facebook posted this to my wall after I posted a link to that Epica song from a couple days ago.  Go figure, people can provide me with music, haha.

Please ignore the fan art of whoever this is if it bugs you.  I'm not sure exactly what all is in it cause I had it running in a different tab.

Rage Against The Machine - Bombtrack

Rage Against The Machine was a very early member of the whole Rap/Rock/Hip-Hop/Metal combination movement.  They had drums and distorted guitars, but they also had rapping and funky bass.

I wouldn't call this Nu-Metal (i.e. Korn, Limp Bizkit, Motograter, Coal Chamber, etc.), but it was definitely early in the era of it.  Let's say the fathers of it?  Eh, I don't really care that much, but it's a good thing to know that these guys were part of the good era of that music.

Another actually really cool thing to know about them is that their album "Rage Against The Machine" is considered by many audiophiles to be perfectly (or near perfectly) mixed.  One guy told me once that this song, "Bombtrack" is what he always uses to test how well new speakers will handle music in a metal capacity.  I find this to be really cool since I'm sure that when RAtM started they never thought their music would be used in that way.  Anti-Political rallies maybe, but never as "perfect" testing music.

Also, note the edgy album cover.  This is a picture of Thích Quảng Đức who burned himself alive in protest of the way that the south Vietnamese government treated Buddhist monks.  During the demonstration he never moved a muscle or said a word.  

I would say that using such a moving and significant moment as a mere album picture is saying a lot about what you think you music stands for.

Let's Talk 2-1-15

New thing we're gonna be doing.  At the beginning of each month unless circumstances make it impossible I'm gonna have a basic "normalish" blog post.  I'll talk about things that are gonna be happening here and such and stuff.

I'll still have a song attached to these kinds of posts, but it will be whatever I happen to want to post regardless of whether I posted the band within the last month or not.  Believe it or not I actually do have rules to how I make posts and stuff.

A: I'm gonna start embedding all videos cause I like the way they look on the blog better.  If you can give me a better reason to or not to, I'll listen.

2:  As you may have noticed from the last couple days miss posting pictures on G+, I am joining the A to Z Challenge during April.  I figure that since I post on the daily anyway it shouldn't be that hard to keep up with it.  Since I post every day though I will not be taking Sundays off as the challenge stipulates.  Instead they will be clearly labeled as a non alphabet related post and I'll put up whatever I feel like.

*  I've been reading in the comments recently and I see that a lot of you have been asking for......  Nothing.  There have been like zero comments.  I don't want to beg, but this does make me a little sad and I'd love to hear back from you guys about whether I'm doing a good job or not, ya know?  I read anything that comes up and I will reply to anything you send me, even if it's just to say something dumb.

Finally: I'm going to be doing more themed weeks as an excuse to post certain music in batches.  It'll be a great time up till I hit "Sudo-Symphonic-Blackened-Tech-Grind" week.

Side note, more freaking Nuclear Blast putting out good music.  Just throwing that out there.

Also Epica is a lot like Nightwish but with occasional harsh vocals, so if you liked them you like this as well.