[QUOTE]i would like to hear kalmah or immortal but can't find them anywhere. i tried searching on msn, google, altavista. to bad i don't have kazaa or winmx. i don't think it's compatible with my computer either because i use a macintosh made 1998 or sometime around then.[/QUOTE]

limewire is compatible with macs: [URL=http://www.limewire.com]www.limewire.com[/URL]
it's what i used when i had a mac

EDIT: and i had OS 9 so it'll prolly work with your comp because i believe you can dl a patch from OS <9 up to 9... i think...

props to bartender for supplying me with the song
[I]Thirst- State of High Piss Off[/I]

song specs:
cd: state of high piss off EP
length: 4:41
genre: alternative/punk

play by play:
starts with a weird echo of a guy 'saying loudly' something unintelligible... real beginning of song with a clean electric guitar chord progression (rather high notes), then at 0:16 we get the same notes an octave or two lower overlaid with light fuzz distortion... we get a loud drum clap, then at 0:27 the fuzz guitar is a little louder and more distorted plays a slightly different chord progression and the guitar playing the first chord progression begins playing lead with wah-ed high notes... this goes on until 0:43 when a heavily flanged note on the lead guitar rings and ocassional drum fills occur until 0:50 when another drum clap signifies a transition into... more of the lead+rhythm guitar part! at 1:05 the rhythm guitar lets its note ring and the lead guitar stops altogether... this part is dominated by bass and drums... bass line is catchy and the drummer plays some nice fills and this lack of guitar leads into the vocals at 1:15... at this point they're like spoken words, which doesn't detract from the song at all, in fact, it sounds about right for the music... now at 1:29 one of the guitarists begins some high-note progression that repeats... adds a good new dimension to the verse... when this starts the vocalist raises his voice a little, as to signify that this is a new part of the song... enter the chorus at 1:40, with yet another drum transition, but, in this song, it works well... the vocalist uses a singing voice now, which makes this song sound very non-repetitive... this chorus uses drawn out chords and a new bass line that instead of matching the chords it actually builds off of them... at 2:07 we have a short bass and drum fill transition into what seems to be another verse... yup its another verse... at 2:43 we have another chorus... and now we get a bass solo thing... leading into a... a guitar solo!? jeez i didnt expect one of these in here! o well its a pretty d[B]a[/B]mn good solo... starts at 3:17, ends at about 3:55... after we get another chorus and then we let the last chord ring out till the end at 4:41

reflections:
vocals: 8/10- they fit in very well with the song, and with the different ways he delivers his lyrics it keeps the song original
guitars: 9/10- very catchy and varied riffs... lead guitar balanced nicely on top of the rhythm, even during the solo. the solo itself was just about the right length, was decently complex, sounded nice (went with the song as well) and in newer music (non metal) it's commendable just to have a solo...
drums: 9/10- very nice additions to the song- good fills and such
bass: 9/10- the bass in this song actually has a nice presence, does nice transitions and really kept the verses going
overall: 9/10

final thoughts:
i don't normally go in for british alt/punk bands, but this song was surprising in its goodness... i'd definitely listen again, most likely burn to some CD for more listening goodness

recommended songs:
Opeth: Blackwater Park (death metal)
Tool: Lateralus (almost mainstream metal)
Mushroomhead: Never Let it Go (metal with odd influences)
A Perfect Circle: The Hollow (alt rock that kicks some @$$)
Dream Theater: Fatal Tragedy [scene 3] (prog metal)

[QUOTE]psx - good review, by the way[/QUOTE]
more props to bartender!

bumppppp!

Another good review. I'm glad you liked the song by the way; it's all I've heard of the band, but I really like it. I thought it was varied enough to make for a good FL review.

I'll take dibs, just finally found a source.

Never heard Mushroomhead before, and it's the only song I hadn't heard (well, only one I also didn't mind hearing - I also haven't heard Blackwater Park), so here we go.
[b]Mushroomhead - Never Let It Go[/b] - 4:38

Starts off with a riff which isn't anything interesting, but is nicely (suprisingly) heavy. Soon joined by rhythmic, strange noises at the end of each repetition - could be distorted drums, or a turntable type thing, or maybe something else. Vocals come in; sounds like multiple vocalists - so far they're just saying "Never let it go" over and over, with slight delivery variations.

Different lyrics around 0:43, sounds like he might have some minor effect on his voice. Drums change up around 1:00, the whole thing gets faster. Vocals are now closer to hardcore than nu-metal, and there's definitely multiple vocalists, or multiple vocal tracks at least.

Clean singing from one vocalist around 1:47, underlaid by the hardcore-ish of the other. Subtle change of rhythm as well, which is the main thing I'm liking in the song so far.

2:58 or so, the whole song quiets down as the last chord rings into near silence, before a shout of "Never let go" brings us back to where we were near the start - slower, and with those odd noises at the end of each riff. Clean singing soon starts after; I can't say I like the actual singing, but I appreciate the variation they're getting by juxtaposing different sections of their song to different other sections of the song.

3:38, the whole song stops for a second, and then comes back in; again around 3:48, and then a pause from 3:55 to 4:01. The rest of the song is this pausing-playing bit (about four big pauses in all). The pauses themselves were a nice addition, but the vocals the guy does after each pause - he sounds like a squealing pig :-/

Anyway, this pause-play bit has the effect that the song loops rather well. In all, above average nu-metal - I can't say I loved it, but some parts were pretty cool, and I liked the effort to be different, at least.

7/10

[b]Would I listen to more of the same band?[/b] Yeah. Not a priority though.

Songs:
Ben Harper - [i]When it's Good[/i] (blues/jam)
Blues Traveler - [i]Optimistic Thought[/i] (blues/rock)
Immolation - [i]Those Left Behind[/i] (mid-paced technical/brutal death metal)
Kalmah - [i]Heros to Us[/i] (CoB-esque metal)
The Meads of Asphodel - [i]A Healer Made God[/i] (metal)
Thirst - [i]State of High Piss Off[/i] (surprisingly enjoyable hard rock)
Orange Goblin - [i]The Astral Project[/i] (stoner rock)
Immortal - [i]At the Heart of Winter[/i] (black metal)

All available from me via Soulseek or MSN.

I apologise for the complete lack of variation in my song recommendations. I should have a fair few more suggestions if/when my new CDs arrive.

Ill try a dibs. Never even herad of The Meads of Asphodel

[B]The Meads of Asphodel - [I]A Healer Made God[/I][/B]

Intro starts out pretty mid paced with some bell sounding keys. Goes for about 4 measures then the vocals come in. The verse is pretty basic, and overall kinda eh in my opinion. Its not bad, it's not great, it's just eh. There are about 2 lines of vocals, then 15-20 seconds or so of music, then more vocals come back in.

After about another two lines, the song breaks down, and becomes a bit atmospheric. This part i like. After about two lines into it, the vocals become clean.

After the vocals end there is another kind of breakdown which sounds pretty metalcore-ish, but i think that's mostly in the drumming.

When the drums change the playing gets a bit sloppy. After a few measures of that the intro riff (i think) comes back in. A brief pause and back to the verse.

Clean guitars are inserted after the first line. I really just dont dig this drummers style at all. I think he kinda kills this clean guitar part. More musical interludes followed by verse vocal lines.

Atmospheric breakdown repeats itself, good stuff second time around too. Unfortunately it is followed by the same metalcore-y breakdown.

After the pause, it comes in to clean guitars, talking vocals, and hi hat hits with a guitar lead in front of all of it. The drums pick up and for once I actually enjoy what the drummer is playing. It almost sounds like if Opeth played folk rock (ala james taylor) instead of pink floyd sounding stuff.

This is followed by a blast beat, and a quickened up drum part. No real lyrics hear, just a bunch of screaming and wailing. Not bad though, i like this part of the song as well, but it's too short in my opinion.

Atmospheric keyboards follow, almost something like what you would hear on a Nightingale album. It fades out here.

Vocals: 7/10 - not amazing, but definately not bad. Well created vocal lines that fit the music well enough
Guitars: 4/10 - They never seem to do anything too interesting, and the fact that they get sloppy at points is a big no no in my book.
Bass: 5/10 - couldn't really notice it, but it's better to not be noticed and be okay than to be noticed for being bad.
Drums: 3/10 - I just don't like this guy's style at all.
Keys: 6/10 - Nothing interesting going on here, but the guy can create an okay atmosphere to the song.

Overall: 5/10 - I'd never go out of my way to listen to this band again, but if they came on the internet radio, i probably wouldn't turn them off either.

Suggestions:
Arcturus - Kinetic (Avant Garde metal, and aside from Hellhammer's drumming, it's barely metal)
Vintersorg - A sphere in a sphere (to infinity) (Prog with black metal influence and tendencies)
Solefald - Dionysify this Night of the Spring (Avant Garde/post black metal)
and just for the hell of it, a suggestion from the band that ties these three bands together;
Borknagar - Relate (Dialogue) (Black Metal with Prog Tendencies)

Dibs

undibs
going to bed.

dibs, will post after i've eaten

undibs, my **** bearshare isn't working.

Dibs

Vintersorg - A Sphere in a Sphere

The beginning.... I'm not so sure. Oh there the song is. The lead guitar has a wierd tone. Synth strings come in. Very synthy. Overall the musicianship is really good (drummer is good as are guitars) but the production is wierd. I can hear the progness. Not alot of bass. I really like the "chorus" with the voice samples in the backround. I like how the vocals are doubled, one growling and the other singing. It adds a nice texture.
Wow! Acoustic guitar at 2:39. Very cool but simple. Then it picks back up but still acoustic. This song is very impressive thus far. The singer has a strange voice but it isn't unpleasant. Piano at 3:29! Now I can hear bass. Very jazzy feel here. I really dig this. At 4:05 growled vocals come in. I don't like his growling voice. Sounds too evil. It is cool how it's over jazz. At 4:58 the growled vocals are back. This guy pronounces his words wierd but he's foreign. The ending is pretty awesome with the reversed recording and piano.

Overall this song was awesome. The singer is the weakest link here but still not bad.
9/10 go download this song.

Opeth - Harvest
Tool - Aenima
Muse - Hysteria
Maudlin of the Well - Gleam in Ranks

I have all of them on soulseek (Fast Fingers)

Dibberssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Opeth - Harvest

For the first minute it's just acoustic and a soft drum beat, I'm expecting them to do an Opeth "break-out-in-to-death-metal" stuff. Around 1 minute the singer starts to sing. There not great, but not good. It continues like this for a good while. More of the singing, I get more use to it and starts to sound good.

The song continues to drag on like this, it's good for the first few minutes, then it just kinda gets boring. The guitarist has a smidge of a solo in there, it's pretty neat. Then the vocals come back in. I'm actually starting to like the vocals a lot, but the song does the same thing all the way through. Then it just ends...

It's 6 minutes long, I will give it a 6/10 because the singing was good and I like the sound of the snare drum.

I expected more from it because it was Opeth, and I probably won't check out other songs from Opeth, I have a few, but I haven't heard that one.
---------------------------------------------

Superjoint Ritual - The Underflesh

Testament - Down for Life

Coal Chamber - Loco

note on mushroomhead: it's a very large band, anywhere from 8-12 people i think
oh what the h3ll i'll take the dibs

edit: revoked cuz im dumb

[QUOTE=psxmage]note on mushroomhead: it's a very large band, anywhere from 8-12 people i think
oh what the h3ll i'll take the dibs

edit: revoked cuz im dumb[/QUOTE]

???

Bumped because people aren't dibsing

Just a bump, for now.

dibs

[b]Coal Chamber - Loco[/b]
Has a cool sort of "eerie" beginning before it lead into the heavy and fast part which was pretty good. They sort of drag on the beginning riff for a while before leading into the verse, which I didn't really mind, hell my favourite songs are over 10 minutes long.

I found the vocals annoying at times, sort of has a Mudvayne feel to them (in my opinion). Also they remind me of another band's vocalist... can't think of it at the moment though, ****.

Repeats verse again before going into a chorus, then breakdown, back into the eerie intro before jumping back into the main riff... then the verse again. The song isn't very complex and just repeats over the four or five main riffs that they have in this song.

This song didn't really impress me at all, it was very basic. The guitar was anything special and I couldn't really find anything about it that stood out and was overly good. 5/10

[b]Listen to:[/b]
Led Zeppelin - Achilles Last Stand(Classic Rock)
Cradle of Filth - Born in a Burial Gown(Metal)
Opeth - The Drapery Falls(Metal)
Evergreen Terrace - In My Dreams I Can Fly(Screamo/Metalcore)

dibs

undibs, cant find it.

*bump*

Dvg.

dibs

Led Zeppelin - Achilles Last Stand

Starts off with a cool guitar intro, slightly distorted, then it explodes into a cool riff with the bass gallopping in the background. Drums are a bit high in the mix but otherwise its cool. Vocals come in, and I'm not sure... I don't really like his voice, but there are moments that its good. Hmm, nope don't like him.

Instruments keep playing the same thing, now they chance into a cool little riff with the vocalist singing with the guitar before he meshes into the guitar line which was pretty cool. Back to verse again.

Here comes a mini solo, I like it. He does a nice job of staying in key and keeping it melodic. Back to verse again, which I'm starting to dislike.

Here comes the breakdown, and a new solo. Slow and nice, I don't know why people call Page a pentatonic wanker, because this is very good. He solo's over just the drums, then the other instruments enter again. Long solo, but its not repetitive. I like it alot. Still not over... There we go back to the verse. Bleh.

I'm trying really hard to like the vocalist but I just can't, everything else is great though. Another mini solo, before we vocals enter again, but the guitar keeps playing which is a nice touch.

Breakdown is pretty good. What the f[size=3]u[/size]ck... This is the corniest thing I've ever heard. The guy is just screaming Aehah, aehuh, aehah.... Sometimes screams can be cool but this dude just sucks at it.

Song ends with some clean solo guitar.

Okay 6/10, everything except for vocals were top notch but unfortunetly they were so bad that I couldn't ignore it.

Opeth - Bleak (Progressive Death Metal)
In Flames - Man Made God(Death metal)
Dragonforce - My Spirit Will Go On(Power metal)

Sh[b][i][/b][/i]it never mind

dibs

Dragonforce - My Spirit Will Go On

This song is definitely my favourite from them. Has a cool guitar intro before the drums kick in and just grow more intense, harder and heavier before going into a cool little guitar riff for a while. Leading into the verse they maintain the speed and intensity which is really good.

It continues and flows into the chorus, then there is sort of a second chorus... post chorus or interlude or whatever but anyways it's good... or maybe the first chorus is the interlude and oh nevermind, lol. Anyways, it moves into a different little riff before leading into the next verse.

Goes through the same order back into the chorus(es). Everything is so well put together... just an incredible song, sort of a happier song. Something that lifts my spirits when I'm down. It goes back into a cool riff before into the building intro. The instruments build up and then explodes into an awesome guitar solo.

The solo is very well put together, changing into little riffs of it's own throughout it. It seems to begin slowing down into more of a quick interlude riff near the ending. They go into a bridge/interlude type thing and everyone chants "Woah-oh" Before leading back into the chorus(es).

Repeats a small part of the chorus before going into the outro guitar riff. Awesome song!

9/10 Awesome song.

[b]Recommendations:[/b]
Iced Earth - Dragon's Child
Children of Bodom - Downfall
My Dying Bride - For My Fallen Angel

Opeth- Bleak

Starts off with some good guitar riffage. Guitars slow and Low vocals start. Vocals are very dark, but not too loud to disturb the guitars, which pick up again and slow. Everything blends in very well. About 3:30 an acutal understandable voicing starts in, guitars still firing away. Slows down at 4:30 with some notes held out forever, and a good actuistic melody going. Guitars pick back up at 6:00. Vocals again at 7:30, dark vocals at 8:30, guitars ripping it up the entire time. Ends in some wierd funky static thing at around 9:15.

Good song, I enjoyed the guitars a lot, the bass didnt really shine and they drums and vocals just blended in with the guitars. I usually dont liek the growling vocals but they didnt do it too annoyingly in this song.

8.5/10 I'll Find some more songs by them :thumb:

[B]Recomendations[/B]

Cold: Confession
Cold: Strip Her Down
Megadeth: Tornado of Souls

bump

Dibs.

Sadhappy fu[B][I][/B][/I]cked it up.

Yeah, I know, I'm reviewing one song from each of them to pull it back together. Just starting the actual reviews now.

Bartender is one smart guy. Always on his toes.

Sorry for the wait, my computer crashed.

Megadeth are one of my sister's favourite bands, and I've heard and liked a fair bit of them myself (mostly from Capital Punishment).
[b]Megadeth - Tornado of Souls[/b] - 5:22

Starts off with a choppy riff and sporadic drum beats, which sounds pretty good, and soon settles into a fairly melodic, decent riff. Vocals come in at 0:25 - he sounds young. I like his vocals old and young (so far - waiting for evidence to the contrary), so tis no problem.

Backing vocals come in on what might be the chorus, or a bridge, I can't tell. Wait, I heard tornado - looks like it was the chorus. Back to the riff from before; a different one had come in for the chorus.

Another chorus around 1:40 - I think I prefer this riff to the song's main riff. I'm not sure why, it just sounds better. Vocals and most instruments cut out around 2:15, and get some nice riffing from the guitars, accentuated by drum stings at the end of each. Other instruments gradually come back in (including the drums in a more complete form).

Vocals re-enter around 2:45, and we get a solo from about 3:09 to 4:09. It's nothing spectacular (apart from being much longer than I thought it would be, which was pretty cool), but it's suitably interesting, and fit the song well, so that's okay.

Vocals come back in straight at the end of the solo.The riff that was for the chorus seems to have become the main riff now, which is good. The song ends with Mustaine sneering something about a kiss of death, followed by a pretty cool little bit of riffing to finish.

Overall, a good metal song - I've heard worse, but I've heard better. 7/10

[b]Would I listen to more of the same band?[/b] Already have.

[b]Children of Bodom - Downfall[/b] - 4:33

Starts off with twinkling keyboards, soon interrupted by some guitar. 0:24, a yelp from Alexi marks the start of the song, and the fast double bass comes in.

0:46, the whole thing slows down for a few seconds, to allow the keyboards to play a slower riff of their own for a little bit, before tearing right back into the song with Alexi's rasping vocals around 0:54.

Vocals stop around 1:15, to allow the guitars and keyboards to trade phrases for a few measures, before we get just keyboard until around 1:32. The other instruments do come back in, but at a slower pace than before - until a scream from Alexi and a resumption of the earlier frantic double bass speed the whole thing up again.

This carries on until around 2:56, when the piano plays a few notes in a deeper, more serious tone than it has been. The whole thing gets a little melodramatic for a while, before the inevitable solo at 3:18. It's a good one, fast and notey, and with some good play on the themes of the song, rather than just random wankery.

And the song goes out on a final verse, the same quick double bass and guitars, with Alexi's vocals over the top, that we've been hearing all song.

7.5/10 Typical CoB. The solo pushes it up the .5 above Tornado.. though.

[b]Would I listen to more by the same band[/b] Already have.
Songs:
Ben Harper - [i]When it's Good[/i] (blues/jam)
Blues Traveler - [i]Optimistic Thought[/i] (blues/rock)
Immolation - [i]Those Left Behind[/i] (mid-paced technical/brutal death metal)
Kalmah - [i]Heros to Us[/i] (CoB-esque metal)
Thirst - [i]State of High Piss Off[/i] (surprisingly enjoyable hard rock)
Orange Goblin - [i]The Astral Project[/i] (stoner rock)
Immortal - [i]At the Heart of Winter[/i] (black metal)

All available from me via Soulseek or MSN.

Bump.

dibs

[QUOTE]Blues Traveler - Optimistic Thought (blues/rock)[/QUOTE]

You sly boots ;)

I need to reccomend some more of them soon.