Band: For Today
Song: Fight The Silence
Album: Breaker
Genre: Metalcore
I feel like I've said this once or twice before, but as far as the Hardcore scene goes, the Christian community really had a strong hold. It's a shame that so much of the community decided to shun "the devil's music" like they did, but the trend of older people actively trying to put down young people is an age old tradition.
This song has a really strong message though, as do many of For Today's songs. I'm pretty sure that everybody can agree human trafficking is a bad thing.
Band: Black Mask
Song: Bottomfeeder
Album: Black Mask
Genre: Grindcore
Bandcamp: blackmaskpa.bandcamp.com
I mean, I suppose I'll post one of these guys songs without talking about the time I got to see them live, but honestly any band that you can walk into without ever having heard before and leave a fan is a good time.
Any band that intros there set with some sort of happy Pop style tune then rips into a nasty mess of noise is straight up fantastic in my book. The singer was right in the pit with everybody else too, so that was rather intense.
Shoutout to my boy Steve for inviting me to the show that these guys played at, I couldn't think of a more solid band to round out May-Grudergrind with. Speaking of Steve, be on the lookout cause they've got a music video in the works that I'll be posting soon, so... hype.
Everybody loves a little AC/DC. I find myself enjoying them a little more every time I listen to them, and that usually corresponds with when I listen to some of their lesser known hits.
Now I don't mean to imply that this song is one of their underground hits or anything. Like, yo, this is actually the first AC/DC song I'd ever heard. But at the same time this is a really fun song that always was something I enjoyed. I hope you like it too, next time I'll try to pick a deeper cut song, eh?
Artist: Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz, Young Dolph
Song: Both Eyes Closed
Album: Droptop Wop
Genre: Rap, Trap
Language: Strong
The more I listen to Gucci's newer work the more happy I am. I just purchased "Everybody Looking" the other day cause my car doesn't have an aux cable and I really really love it. Like, my goodness, his albums are freaking solid. I don't know what he decided to change while he was in prison, but it's really working for him.
The dude is surprisingly smart. He managed to dodge murder charges by managing to prove it was self defense, which is something that I don't feel like too many rappers would be able to manage.
I know that a lot of rappers are a lot smarter than most people think they are, but I'm always happy to find that they're smarter than people think they are. My tattoo artist has a dope story about 2 Chainz doing that exact thing.
But I suppose I should be talking more about Gucci's new album, Droptop Wop right now. The whole thing is straight up amazing honestly. The beats are primarily made by Metro Boomin', though there's some featured producers on here as well.
But yeah, I've listened through the whole thing about 2 or 3 times now and I'm incredibly happy with how solid it is. I've chosen this song as the one we'll listen to today since it has my man 2 Chainz on it. I do love me some 2 Chainz.
The whole album just flows really well though. It's got smooth bass lines, but goes hard when it needs to as well. There's a couple songs that are a little much in my opinion, but I really can't expect less from Gucci. On that note too, his voice is spot on in this project. Really though, he's just smooth as silk.
If you have a spare 37 minutes please take the time to check this album out if you're a Rap fan. It's more than a little good.
Band: Hatebreed
Song: Something's Off
Album: Concrete Confessional
Genre: Nu-Metal
I hadn't really listened to Hatebreed ever for ages. I had kinda wanted to look into them, but for some reason I never actually got around to listening to them at all. I really enjoyed Jamey Jasta's voice on the one 5FDP song he was a part of, but for whatever reason I hadn't managed to convince myself to actually do it.
Well I finally listened to them since my friend told me a specific album. I have to say, I'm rather happy with what I've listened to. It's really solid music that's mostly exactly what I'm looking for in a Nu-Metal song.
Artist: Chief Keef
Song: I Don't Like
Album: Finally Famous
Genre: Rap
Language: Strong
I remember thinking I would post this song with a list of things I didn't like at one point. I quickly realized not only does that just make me way to whiny, it's also probably hella cliche.
I will say one thing I don't like is that I never got to see Chief Keef even though I bought tickets to his show since he didn't show until like, 2.5 hours from when he was supposed to be there. That bummed me out a bit.
But that's not too important I guess. The dude is already almost washed up and he's 2 years younger than me. I envy people who can be that successful, like, dang. I should have been a rapper, eh?
Band: The Vandals
Song: My Girlfriend's Dead
Album: Hitler Bad, Vandals Good
Genre: Punk Rock
My favorite discovery of the Punk kick I was on the last few weeks right here. Other than having a generally large amount of good tunes they're rather amusing as well.
Take this song. Not only is it a musically solid song, but the lyrics are freaking hilarious. The song is about a guy who is too embarrassed to admit that his girlfriend doesn't love him anymore so he just tells everybody that she died. I just feel like the whole thing is stupidly funny, ya know? It's just good.
Plus they're the kind of Punk band to really feature the bass guitar, which is obviously a plus for me.
I really couldn't really have a Grind themed month without mentioning Pig Destroyer. Originally toying with the names Cop Killer and Cop Destroyer, they decided to switch it up to a slightly more subtle option. Though active since '97, they really hit it off in 2001 when they released their album Prowler In The Yard.
Basically every year that goes past their sound tightens up a little and the group improves. Personally I would say dropping the political stance of earlier music is a good thing since they won't make an impact so much in a scene like this.
The really cool thing is that they were operating as a 3 piece outfit for several years, just drums, guitar, and vocals. They picked up a guy on electronics in 2006, but it wasn't until like 2014 they even got a bass player.
Band: The Agonist
Song: Thank You, Pain
Album: Lullabies Of The Dormant Mind
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Alissa White-Gluz is probably my favorite female Metal vocalist. She's able to scream with the best of them while also singing as well as anybody. Seriously, it's highlighted heavily in the first 30 seconds of the song, it's freaking dope.
I blame growing up with around a lot of female vocalists as the reason that I don't generally care for them as a general rule. There's a lot of good ones out there, but I'm always going to pick the dude over them because I'm just kinda tired of the sound as a general rule.
The Agonist manages to swing having pretty vocals in with the hard edge of their sound though, which I think benefits them greatly. They have a new singer now as Alissa has moved to Arch Enemy, and while I'm not as big a fan of her I can't deny that she's at least doing well with the material.
Artist: Brad Paisley
Song: Online
Album:
Genre: Country
Despite what it may seem like from what I have to say about Country for the most part, I did like it for a while. Then my mom and sister picked it up and ruined it, as is typical in family type stuff.
This song is hella funny though, and it's really catchy. I don't tend to listen to Brad too much, but when I do it's generally this song or Alcohol.
Band: The Clash
Song: I Fought The Law
Album: The Cost Of Living (EP)
Genre: Punk
Every now and then I get launched on a Punk kick again. This one was started with that MCR song a week or so ago, so I suppose that's a good streak to be on. I don't usually get this caught up on styles so it's nice when a theme sticks around for long enough to try and get into new songs.
This of course is not a new song though. The Clash is a group my dad introduced me to back when I first started listening to music. While I don't own any physical copies of their albums I plan on rectifying that soon. Like, I really only stream music anymore, but there's something about having a physical copy that just is nice to me, ya know?
Band: Stryper
Song: To Hell With The Devil
Album: To Hell With The Devil
Genre: Heavy Metal
I would love to find who told Stryper that their eyesore of a color pattern was a good idea so I can hurt them. It's hideous, like, my goodness.
But their music is surprisingly solid for being Christian music that originated in the 80s and such. Most all Christian media is absolute trash until you hit fringe stuff. The Worship music, the Rap music, and the Hardcore/Metal music.
Stryper's vocalist is straight amazing though. Like, he can still hit these notes, which is straight up amazing. Not a lot of the 80s vocalists still have the pipes to manage that trick.
Band: The Rolling Stones
Song: Paint It, Black
Album: Aftermath
Genre: Classic Rock
So I went to watch the new Guardians movie on Tuesday and I have to say, I'm reasonably happy with it. I have reasons not to enjoy it, but it's not like it's terrible.
But we aren't here to talk about the movie. If we were I'd be playing some godawful 60s to 80s pop music.
Nah, we're here to talk about the trailer for The Mummy.
Firstly to the people who are mad that Brenden Fraser isn't in the movie. Shut up. His acting in it wasn't incredibly good, and there's no argument that Tom Cruise won't be able to handle the movie in a darker way than Fraser ever could.
But here's what I actually want to talk about. The trailer of a movie is something you will judge most of the movie on, so it makes sense to have it be good, yeah? I've personally always had a little bit of a issue with licensed music as the soundtrack for movies. There are some that can pull it off reasonably well, and there's Suicide Squad.
Suicide Squad's second trailer took the movie from being a mildly edgy dark thing to just another joking comic book movie by using Bohemian Rhapsody, but The Mummy took the trailer to a much darker place, and I like it a lot.
I found out recently that Insect Warfare has broken up, and that bums me out. I mean, they broke up in like 2009, but it still makes me sad cause I won't get to catch this straight insane sound that these guys have.
They're surprisingly tight for a Grind act. Obviously there needs to be a lot of coordination in stuff like that but Insect Warfare happen to be better at it than some other people. There's less noise in these guys sound than a majority of Grind groups. I don't think that's a bad thing, but one of their guitarists has said that if the band were to reform and do another album it'd be much more on the noise end of things than the tight riffs of this album.
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.
Artist: ScHoolboy Q
Song: Groovy Tony
Album: Oxymoron
Genre: Rap, Hip Hop
Language: Strong
One of my favorite artists I found last year, ScHoolboy Q has a flow that I don't see too many other places. There's this dark gritty sound to all of his music that really draws me in.
I'm not sure why, but I always feel like I have to defend why I like certain songs. For no reason whatsoever I feel like I need to ad some sort of disclaimer to most all Rap and Hip Hop songs as to why I like them. I feel like this is because I don't know as much about the artists as I post, I generally only like a couple songs.
Rock stuff on the other hand I have generally more information on as a general rule.
Well I like this song a lot because it makes me think of Hotline Miami, one of my favorite video games of all time. There's this really heavy 80s vibe through the whole game's soundtrack and a lot of this song's beat just makes me think of the HM tunes. Lyrically even it could be talking about the game, since the game focuses on various masked killers and the song has such lines as "Groovy Tony no faced killer" and the phrase "Blank Face" a lot. Granted the song is more about a guy that falls down the slippery slope of crime, but I like to attach it to Hotline Miami.
Band: Green Day
Song: Bang Bang
Album: Revolution Radio
Genre: Punk Rock
I suppose it's fitting that I talk about a lot of Punk Rock on the month I decided to rant about some of my favorite Grind bands, considering Grind is straight up descended from the Hardcore Punk scene. Not Green Day's style of Punk, more the angry side of Punk. Just thought I'd drop that tidbit though, we'll talk about it more later I'm sure.
I've said it before when I posted another song from this album, but my goodness this album wasn't bad at all. All in all the songs were a return to the Green Day sound that I personally liked more, so obviously I enjoyed it more, ya dig?
This is probably one of my favorite tracks on the album, it's got a nifty Saint Jimmy vib to it. Saint Jimmy was hands down my favorite track on American Idiot so having something that reminds me of it is just straight gold for me.
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