A to Z 2k18: A is for Avatar

Band:  Avatar
Song:  Let It Burn
Album:  The Black Waltz (2012)
Genre:  Groove Metal

Welcome to the A to Z, April Fools Day, and Easter!  Hot dang, what a pile of things that kick off today, amirite?  Looking at it now, I feel like this is a more popular band for me to be posting, but they're also a niche genre, so I'm sure it'll be fine.

Avatar is a band that has a fantastic stage presence.  I love their look so much, there's something about a band that has a designated look they stick to.

One of the things that's great about them musically though are the fantastic guitar riffs.  This song is a solid example of that with the intro riff and how it transfers great throughout the song.  And the vocal work, my goodness.  He's got highs, he's got lows, and he's able to sing as well.

A lot of Groove Metal bands have that feeling though.  Rob Zombie is a fantastic example of that actually, so if you're familiar with his music you might like these guys.  Either way give it a check.

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Avatar - Hail The Apocalypse

Band:  Avatar
Song:  Hail The Apocalypse
Album:  Hail The Apocalypse (2014)
Genre:  Groove Metal

So my brother and I actually liked this song enough to incorporate aspects of it into one of our new tunes.  The main riff with that little rev up thing, that's so freaking cool.

Once again, as per the my usual criteria, bands with a good gimmick work.  In this case, their gimmick is just a really strong frontman.  Like, look at this dude, this is amazing.  The only real downside I've seen is that his vocal work, while really good, doesn't always hold up well live.  I'm willing to accept that though, as I'm not likely to see them, haha

Looking into them, it kinda looks like they picked up a following by making a song about The Queen Of Blades from Starcraft.  So yeah, that's a good way to pick up some people, that's a huge community.  I'm planning on giving it a listen, I'll let you know someday how I like it.

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DevilDriver - Clouds Over California

Band:  DevilDriver
Song:  Clouds Over California
Album:  The Last Kind Words (2007)
Genre:  Groove Metal
Language:  Strong

As we count down to the best week of the year, we're gonna hit DevilDriver.

I'd heard these guys cover of Sail and had kinda written them off.  I knew the singer came from Coal Chamber and, while I like a lot of what they have going on, I didn't feel like trawling through DevilDriver simple because of the Sail cover.

Apparently I was wrong though, cause I really love this song a lot.  Maybe I'll take the time to check out more of their stuff, eh?

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Rob Zombie - Superbeast

Artist:  Rob Zombie
Song:  Superbeast
Album:  Hellbilly Deluxe
Genre:  Groove Metal

So I went to see Korn and Stone Sour on Wednesday and it was a fantastic show.  I went there with a friend of mine who had seen Korn the year before when he was touring with Rob Zombie, and we talked about it a little.

I figured Rob would be a great way to round out this little live show dealio.  After all, while his music is fun, most of his draw when you see him live is the psychotic show he throws up.  I even got a video with the same song for you to reference.  Not gonna lie, this is a show I would love to catch live.  The man is a master showman.

I might have another entry into the live show series, but that depends on when I get an email back from a guy.  Till then, hope ya had fun.

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Rob Zombie - Living Dead Girl

Artist:  Rob Zombie
Song:  Living Dead Girl
Album:  Hellbilly Deluxe
Genre:  Groove Metal

A friend of mine the other day told me that he could always tell a Rob Zombie song right away.  Not from the vocal work though, but because of the music.  I kinda thought that was a weird thing to say cause like, anybody can recognize a song by the music.  Thinking about it after a while though I get what he actually meant.  What he had meant is that he can pick a Rob Zombie song out of a lineup without having heard the song before.

Honestly his music is really recognizable.  Not too many other bands manage to pull off a sound that's similar to him.  There's some of Coal Chamber's older stuff and some of the other industrial bands of the era, but for the most part he stands alone.  Nobody's still doing his sound anymore, that's for sure.  The genre has evolved to a different point, Industrial is a lot more on the wayside than back in the 90s and early 2000s.

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White Zombie: Black Sunshine

Band:  White Zombie feat. Iggy Pop
Song:  Black Sunshine
Album: La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol. 1
Genre: Groove Metal

I love Rob Zombie's flow in all the music he's been a part of.  He has a couple dud songs here and there, but all in all the things he does are just really solid.  He has this talent of picking up really solid band members and throwing them into a great stage show, just drawing it all together.

This isn't just Rob though, this is White Zombie.  This was the band he was in before he was calling all the shots.  For the most part the sound is incredibly similar.  A little more slide guitar, but that's about it.

One thing I find funny though is that these guys managed to swing the "Female Bassist Stereotype" right on the head.  These guys were in a little before the Nu-Metal craze started full force considering they were around in 85, but they were part of the beginning of it, ya know?  A surprisingly large number of bands in the style have female bassists.  Coal Chamber, Kittie, and of a slightly different style Bolt Thrower and The Acacia Strain all have Female bassists.  Heck, even my brother's band.  This isn't a bad thing or anything, but on the whole that seems to be the most prevalent position.

I just find it funny generally since the Metal scene is really male dominated so whenever there's a chick up there making waves people tend to talk about it more.

Hope ya like this song, it has a clutch bass intro that I love a lot.

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Demon Hunter - Jesus Wept

Band:  Demon Hunter
Song:  Jesus Wept
Album:  Outlive (stylized Ovtlive)
Genre:  Metalcore, Groove Metal

So while all this A to Z nonsense went down my all time favorite band dropped yet another amazing album.

So I suppose it was technically released on March 31st, but even with me getting access to it a little early since I helped back the album I wasn't able to get a solid review thrown together for April 5th.

Since my general rule for reviewing an album is keeping within 1 week of release date I'm not gonna review this one fully afterall, but I will tell you that the album is straight up amazing.  It takes Extremist, the album previous, and just makes it better.

Every Demon Hunter album has at least one song that grinds and burns itself out in a massive way.  Extremist had Death, Storm The Gates Of Hell had the title track, True Defiance had Crucifix, and for this album that song is Jesus Wept.  It's just such a wonderful song.  When they released it as a single it was such a stark contrast to what had been put out previously.  It made me so freaking happy honestly.

I hope you like it.  If you don't still check some of the rest of the album, it's a very nice melodic thing.  Much more singing than albums past.

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CoverWeek: Skinlab - Bullet With Butterfly Wings

Band:  Skinlab
Genre:  Nu-Metal, Groove Metal

I decided that it would be time for another Cover Week to pop up, yeah?  We really need to get into some good covers cause I still love them a lot.

This is a song that turned up in a suggested song list I had a while ago, and surprisingly enough it wasn't too bad at all.  I liked how it changed it up just enough to make it what I kinda feel like is a better song.  Not that the original wasn't good.  While I really The Smashing Pumpkins singer's voice to be kinda annoying, I also realize that it fits their music pretty much perfectly.  This song just happens to be more in the range that I tend to listen to.

Hope ya like, is a pretty good cover.

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Lamb Of God - Blood Of The Scribe

Band:  Lamb Of God (LoG)
Genre:  Groove Metal, Metalcore

Any time I really need some solid Metal type of stuff I always turn to Lamb Of God.  Randy Blythe's vocal work is some of my favorite in the industry so honestly it's really hard for me to not be happy with their music.  As long as they keep up freaking groovy riffs like there are in this song coupled with Blythe's wonderful voice I'll be happy with them forever.

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A t Z Challenge: W is for White Zombie

Band:  White Zombie
Genre:  Groove Metal
Language:  Strong

Who loves White Zombie?  You love White Zombie.  Everybody loves White Zombie.

Well fine, you don't have to like them but you can at least appreciate their contribution to the music scene with the popularization of Groove Metal.  Ya know, Metal with some groove.

This has always been one of my favorite driving songs though, for real.  It used to be that I could start this song and right when the slide guitar intro would hit I'd be hitting the main road and getting some speed going.  It was a blast.

This song is, to me, the epitome of Zombie's sound.  His new solo stuff is good, but this song just makes me think of his stuff every time.

Superjoint Ritual - Personal Insult

Band:  Superjoint Ritual
Genre:  Groove Metal, Hardcore Punk

You know what you need more of in your life?  Probably still 2 Chainz, but I'm gonna give you Phil Anselmo instead.

This is one of his many bands he's been apart of called Superjoint Ritual.  They're not too bad really, but it's not something I could usually get into.  This song is pretty slick though, I like it a lot.  It really grooves and since I've been into Lamb Of God a lot recently that's something I'm really enjoying.

Side note, I added 11.75 hours of work at church this week.  I literally doubled my usual work amount in addition to working 45 at my main job.  Total of 65.  I'm really tired, but I also feel really good about this since my brother and I recorded some song loops that will help things sound better.

Music is, as I hope you've noticed, a passion of mine.  It was really cool that I was able to use stuff I've learned in a recording sense though since all I've ever recorded before was vocals on some songs in the past, never really bass.

Lamb Of God - Laid To Rest

Band:  Lamb Of God
Genre:  Groove Metal, Metalcore, Thrash Metal
Language:  Strong (censored)

And at long last we finally get to the last band of my top 10 list.

Like I said before, this list was in no particular order which is why there were some of the heavier bands earlier in the list as well as later on.  I didn't really want to rate them all like that, but if you want me to I can link to a Spotify playlist with them in what I would consider to be a decently good order.

I didn't know if I would include these guys on my list or not honestly because while they're heavy enough, I feel like a lot of people don't think of them that way.  They don't tune low so they can't cheat that way, and they don't play slow to create the impression of heaviness there either.

But despite these facts I added them because they qualify, in my opinion, to be on this list.

Listen to the breakdown in this song.  It's one note.  Just one note repeated for like 20 seconds or whatever.  Most times I would say that that's a really boring breakdown (like this) but these guys manage to not only pull it off, but keep the rest of their material to the same level.

I also absolutely love Randy Blythe's vocal work.  He's a freaking beast and a huge inspiration to me.  I know I'm not likely to ever be able to sound like him, but it's a goal anyway.

Enjoy the last song of the Top 10 Heaviest list, Laid To Rest.