New Drummer and DtKevin’s Economic Crisis!

Well important news first, and I’ll get right to the point. Conversations with our current/past drummer Taylor has made us realize that perhaps we’re not the best fit for each other. While I think she’s great at drums, Lifting Shadows and her just doesn’t match up stylistically. While she enjoys and respects progressive metal she enjoys alternative and mainstream rock more. This made it more challenging for her to work with us when it’s not necessarily what she’s used to playing. And due to reasons totally not her fault she has missed pretty much all of our practices.

So on completely good terms we’re parting ways and luckily Patrick (the bassist) has already in talks with a drummer who I have not met yet but seems to be promising. Hopefully, he will come to our practice on Sunday, and if all goes well he’ll be our new drummer. There’s been some difficult decisions over the last few days regarding Lifting Shadows but I think that the result is only going to make the band better.

On a slightly less serious note, THERE IS TOO MUCH GOOD MUSIC! I’m literally going broke and the only thing I’ve been buying recently is CD’s. Let’s see in the last few weeks I have bought Death Magnetic and preordered Chaos in Motion (comes out tomorrow!), Colors Live and Traced in Air. On top of that a new Buckethead album was released today that I just ordered (go to TDRS music’s website), two other Buckethead albums were announced, and I was planning on buying the reissue of the first Dillinger Escape Plan EP “Under the Running Board” that comes out in a couple weeks. Not to mention I’m on the edge about buying the new Marillion album… And it would be nice if I didn’t have to spend all of my money on music. 

Well…busy few days, for sure.

Ugh…

I’ve been sick the last few days, and while certainly not anything life threatening it has been very annoying and going to school has been a challenge. Making sure there’s enough tissues around and having a constant supply of juice has risen ahead of music in priority this week. That being said I did join the newly started Rock Ensemble at my school and the first rehearsal went well.

“Chaos in Motion”, originally scheduled for release on the 23rd, has been pushed back to the 30th. I still expect to have a review up within a few days after that, once I’ve gone through the wealth of material on the DVD and given the CD’s a few spins.

Static Light Update

Well it’s been almost a month since I released the Demo EP “Fading” and I’ve received a good amount of feedback. Thanks to everyone who has given suggestions! That being said, I’m ready to announce that work on a full length album, a serious release, has begun.

“Fading” was nothing more than an experiment. I had never seriously recorded anything before, never mind something to be released, so it didn’t come out terribly well. That’s not to say I don’t like it, there are some moments on it that I think are fun to listen to, but it’s certainly nothing to be proud of.

That being said, I learned a lot from the experience. Work on the full length has been much more productive. It sound quality is much better, the music itself is more thought out (mostly everything on the demo was written on the spot), and I’m ditching the vocals (well, mostly).

I’ve already got one song finished and am working on a second. And these aren’t the one to two minute ideas that the demo was filled with, these are fleshed out songs. 

I don’t have any release date in mind since I’ve just recently started and it’s going to be a long term project, but I’ll make sure to post anything of interest on this blog. Check back often!

Concert: Opeth (Worcester, 9/19)

Date: September 19th, 2008

Venue: The Palladium in Worcester Mass.

I had been looking forward to this concert for quite a while, for Opeth is one of my favorite bands. The night started off on a sour note, as the drive to the venue took longer than expected and we did not arrive until 7:45, 15 minutes before the first opening act was scheduled to come on. Our worries quickly vanished, however, when we got to the venue. I had never been to the Palladium before and I quickly relieved, the venue was great.

My friend and I quickly worked our way to the front of the venue (to those who were there, we were on the left side of the stage about 15-20 feet back). Quickly enough, Nachtmystium started the show. I was slightly disappointed with the Nachtmystium set. Before the show I had been looking into their material and was impressed with the variety they infused into the standard black metal sound. Their show however, was repetitive and the sound quality left much to be desired.

Nachtmystium played for about 45 minutes, and High on Fire started their set around 9:00. I was much happier with their performance. It sounded better and I quickly found myself headbanging. The crowd had also been sufficiently warmed up, so moshing started that lasted for the rest of the show. High on Fire also played for around 45 minutes.

Finally, shortly after 10:00, Opeth took the stage, and the crowd went wild. They opened with “Heir Apparent” which worked great as an opener. They went on to play for 2 hours, going through quite a bit of their catalogue. The setlist included fan favorites “The Night and the Silent Water”, “Serenity Painted Death”, “Deliverance” and more.

Opeth played pretty much spot on for the whole show, and I didn’t notice any mistakes. I felt that Mikael’s voice was a tad weaker than normal but didn’t detract from the experience at all. The crowd was also great. The mosh pit got large at times but never was annoying to anyone like me who didn’t want to partake in it, and there wasn’t any jerks in the audience. Mikael was hilarious in between songs. The crowd interaction was also superb. At one point, my friend screamed for them to play one of our favorite Opeth songs “Black Rose Immortal”. Mikael then went on a tirade against it calling it “shit” and saying the only reason we wanted it was because it was “long” (which for the record wasn’t true, but very funny all the same). Someone near the front screamed Dream Theater in between songs and Mikael then proceeded to play a soft lullaby like song to poke fun at them. It was all in good humor and drew many laughs from the crowd.

The two hours went by very quickly and before I knew it, the band left the stage. After a couple minutes of chanting they returned to the stage to close the show with an encore of “The Drapery Falls” from Blackwater Park, which worked great as a closer. At exactly midnight, they left the stage for the final time.

Overall it was a great show and a great experience. I highly recommend anyone who can see them on this tour to do so.

EDIT: Found a setlist:

Heir Apparent
Grand Conjuration
Serenity Painted Death
Hope Leaves
The Lotus Eater
Bleak
Night and the Silent Water
Deliverance
Demon of the Fall
The Drapery Falls

New Solo Material, Opeth Concert

After getting some feedback on the solo EP I released a short time ago, I’ve started recording some new material with a slightly different approach. The instrumental aspect of the album (especially “Fading Light” and the first half of “Departure Forever”) won me some praise, but the vocal aspect of the album was widely panned.

I can’t say I’m surprised, I’ll be the first to admit I have a completely wretched singing voice. So for the new material, I’m focusing on making it more instrumental. I’m hoping the next release will be closer to a half hour long, and I promise that almost all of it will be devoid of my horrible vocals. Rejoice! So far I’ve recorded some really cool stuff (much better than the first release IMO). I’ve got a weird happy upbeat song with some abrasive electronic interludes and I’m working on a song that starts off at a plodding sixty beats per minute before jumping into a heavier 120bpm. It’s pretty cool. I also plan to record some more piano stuff soon.

If Rock Band 2 hadn’t come out, I would probably have more done <_< God damn that game’s addicting! It’s kind of awkward that even though I play multiple instruments competently that I’m still drawn to these types of games. Nevertheless, I’ve already poured hours into RB2, and if you like music rhythm games know that it’s definitely worth picking up. 

I’ll be attending the Opeth concert tomorrow night in Worcester Massachusetts, any one else going? I’m pretty excited, this is my first time seeing them live so I’m looking forward to the performance. It doesn’t hurt I’m a fan of the opening act Nachtmystium. I’ll post a review of the show on Saturday.

Dream Theater’s “Chaos in Motion” will be coming out next month. I ordered the 5 disc limited edition. That’s a lot of material to sink my teeth into, so it will take me at least two or three days to go through it all, but I will post a review of it. I’m looking forward to this set, DT is an impressive live band.

I’m depressed as hell right now but all this music stuff is keeping me going. So let’s hope the end of this year and the start of the next are as filled with awesome releases as the last few weeks have been.

Review: “Death Magnetic” (Metallica)

I can’t believe how excited I am about this album. Bluntly put, Metallica’s last album, “St. Anger”, was a complete piece of shit. It was sad how one of the best metal bands of the eighties had become a mere shadow of their former self. Because of this, I approached “Death Magnetic” with apprehension. I reminded myself that Metallica hadn’t put anything good in almost two decades and that the claims it would be a return to form was probably just marketing hype.

Therefore I was completely blown away within minutes of my first listen. This album actually sounds like Metallica! Their signature sound of the eighties, fast and heavy thrash weaved into seven minute suites, was back and sounds fresher than ever. Guitar solos were almost entirely absent on “St. Anger”, but they’ve returned with some incredible riffage on the side. Also an improvement is Hetfield’s singing, which fits great with the music. Musically speaking, this truly is a return to form.

Before the album came out it was said that it would sound like what could have been recorded after “…And Justice for All” if they hadn’t sold out with the self titled ‘Black Album’. This claim is true, it sounds like the classic Metallica we all love but it does so without sounding rehashed. While it’s true that it certainly has the same feel of their first albums, it also is an evolution of the sound. Metallica wisely knew that we didn’t just want a copy of their early albums, and delivered us something unique yet still distinctly Metallica.

The album starts off fast and furious with “That Was Just Your Life” and doesn’t let up one bit for “The End of the Line”. It’s been a long time, but Metallica is actually playing thrash metal again, not the slower hard rock they sold us in the 90’s. The third track, “Broken, Beat & Scarred”, makes one think of “Enter Sandman” if it had been recorded during their thrash era. It’s certainly slower than the first two songs, but it still rocks hard, and certainly isn’t the sell out single that the aforementioned track was. 

“The Day That Never Comes” is the first song that will really divide fans. From the instant I first heard it I immediately thought of “One” because it follows a very similar structure. The first four minutes are fairly slow and ballad-esque, about halfway through it starts getting heavier, and it features some great solos at the end. If that sounds appealing to you, you’ll like this song, if it doesn’t, you’ll accuse it of being the album’s attempt at a popular song. I personally think it’s a good song. It’s not a highlight but to be honest the album needed a slower song after three fast tracks. Metallica has made much worse songs and I don’t think this song hurts the album at all.

Next is my favorite track of the album, “All Nightmare Long”. This song fucking rocks. It’s fast, it’s heavy, and it riffs hard. The second half of the song in particular really blows me away. Next up is “Cyanide”, which I was pleasantly surprised with. It’s a solid song from start to finish.

“The Unforgiven III” is the only song on the album I was worried about even after I started listening. The first two were basically a summary of their 90’s albums, poppy hard rock. And to be perfectly honest, it is the poppiest song on Death Magnetic. However, like with “The Day That Never Comes”, I feel that this song doesn’t really take away from the album. Many people will skip it, some will hate it, but for people who think that the ‘Black Album’ is Metallica’s finest album, it may be the reason that they pick up this album, in turn exposing them to the band’s real sound. And for that, it’s almost necessary.

To keep this review under a thousand words let me sum up the last three songs of the album in four words; great, heavy, fast, and fun. “The Judas Kiss” is already becoming a favorite among fans of the album, “Suicide & Redemption” is a welcome return to the long instrumental that would always be present on their first albums, and “My Apocalypse” ends it with a bang.

This album has been divided the fanbase quite a bit. Critics have (for the most part) been praising this album, as have a lot of fans. However, many are expressing discontent, even hatred, for this album. Personally, I think they’re just being a bit stuck up in the past. Metallica isn’t ever going to make another “Master of Puppets”. But the question is, do we want them to? I honestly think that “Death Magnetic” is the best album that they could have put out at this point in the career, it’s all I could have hoped for and more. 

Don’t get me wrong though, this album isn’t perfect. Not close. I feel it goes on a bit too long (74 minutes is a long time to headbang), and the lyrics border on laughable at times. “The Unforgiven III” is a forgivable mistake, but one that should have probably been left in the nineties. Despite all of this I can finally stop saying that Metallica was a great band and start saying that they are a great band. Strongly recommended!

Rating: 4/5

Track Listing:

1. That Was Just Your Life [7:08]

2. The End of the Line [7:52]

3. Broken, Beat & Scarred [6:26]

4. The Day That Never Comes [7:56]

5. All Nightmare Long [7:58]

6. Cyanide [6:40]

7. The Unforgiven III [7:47]

8. The Judas Kiss [8:01]

9. Suicide & Redemption [9:58]

10. My Apocalypse [5:01]

New Project…?

Despite having hours of homework every night and already juggling two musical projects (my band and my solo work), I’m considering starting another musical project with one of my friends from school who I share similar musical taste with and plays bass. I’m thinking of asking him over soon to jam, write, record, and have a good time. I don’t think it’ll be a serious project but playing with any musician and learning their playing style is fun. It’s good to broaden your horizons.

I don’t know if I can do that this weekend though since I (should) be having a Lifting Shadows practice on Sunday. Oh, and I’ve been working on a song by myself with some great beats made from a drum machine I had, so I’ll see what comes of that.

Basically I’m busy as hell but having so much music to work on and experiment with is great. If only I could say my social life was as good…:( But I won’t burden anyone here with that. 

So check back for updates

:(

Well it’s that time of year again, back to school. Unfortunately it looks like it will be quite a challenging year as well. I’m still going to try and write as much as I did over the summer, but there’s no question that I’m going to get pretty stressed as the year goes, due to both academic and social reasons.

But thankfully fall also means a number of music releases that should be worth checking out. I plan to review Metallica’s “Death Magnetic”, Dream Theater’s “Chaos in Motion 2007/2008″, Between the Buried and Me’s “Colors Live”, Cynic’s “Traced in Air” and more! That’s a lot of great bands releasing stuff, let’s see what lives up to the expectations!