[B]Muse - Stockholm Syndrome[/B]
I've never heard anything from these guys.

The opening riff is pretty cool, after the first measure them drums and bass come in. The bass is extremely loud.

At about 00:20 the vocals come in, the vocals are ok, i'm not particularly fond of them. I'm not sure why.

00:50 the song gets louder, literally. This makes the song pick up a little.

Around 1:25 the music gets heavy for a few seconds before a piano/bass/vocals part comes in. I like this part.

2:02 the song gets heavy again, then returns to the opening riff, then returns to the verse. The verse is different this time but yet still the same, it's played in different spots but sounds good either way.

Around 2:50 the song goes back to the piano/bass/vocals part, i'm not liking it as much the second time around, but still not bad.

At 3:20 the song gets really punky for a few seconds and then returns to the opening riff, with what sounds like chorus.

At 3:40 there is a short solo, nothing special but fits well with the song. Then returns to the bass/piano/vocal part this time with drums (maybe they were there before but i wasn't paying attention.)
Then it gets pretty punky around 4:30, and the song ends with this punk riff.

I give this song a 8/10. I enjoyed it, though i know alot of people dislike muse. I would look into other stuff by them, hoping it was this good.

[B]Songs...[/B]
Vintersorg - Ars Memorativa (Progressive folk black metal-ish)
Persuader - The Hunter (Power Metal)

Blah I hate my stance against P2P programs, makes it so I cant participate.

Dibs y0.

[B]Vintersorg - Ars Memorativa [/B]
Alright, so this is my forced listening. :eek:

Teh song starts right away with double bass and some melodic death metal riffage, which is really catch for about ten seconds. Then after those few seconds, it stops and teh vocals come in with some different riffage which is dominated by teh keys. Nice groove from teh drums as well. Teh singing is clean singing. I was somewhat disappointed in this, as I was expecting some black metal shrieks. Then teh opening riff is played again and now it's getting bad. Argh, teh vocals over that riff are horrible. It's this static-robotic vocals that I can't stand. It's not really a big deal, but why Vintersorg put that in? Another riff follows, its gets better. This is played for awhile, it's a good catchy riff. Now a guitar solo. Meh, it's nothing great really. Hmm...I really enjoy teh drumming. There's some nice groove in this song. Teh song progresses pretty nicely, except I hear teh dumb static voice again. Soon after, oh man, terrible. A small breakdown with a drum machine and keys. Argh, no! But good thing it's short. Then it goes back to teh main part with some solid melodic riffage. Teh song ends with a small keyboard (?) solo over teh guitars and drums.
Hmm... this song was alright. I'd give it a 6/10.

Recommendations:
Atheist - "I Deny" (Jazz-death metal)
Symphony X - "****ation Game" (Progressive power metal)
Mahavishnu Orchestra - "Birds of Fire" (Fusion)

Ze dibs!

Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire

Begins with a gong which remids me of old crappy kung-fu movies. Backround guitar part that isn't to the same tempo as the gong. Strings come in. This is overall cool but is like techno in the sense that it adds and subtracts parts but never all changes at once. A solo-y guitar comes in which isn't great because the distortion is crappy. The Drums are all pretty cool. Best part of the song. The strings aren't in tune with the guitars.... Super repetitive. It's just like old blues where one guy solos over the same chord progression for hours. at 2:50 it changes. It is awesome a breakdown. Then the crappy strings come back in. A guy yells in the backround I think. The solo is back. It's a decent solo but too much of it and he isn't good enough to go for this long. GAH! The strings suck balls. The doubled guitar is cool at 4:15. Now don't get me wrong, strings can be great but these suck. Too repetitive and bad intonation. This chord progression is pissing me off. It's too out there for me to enjoy (this coming from a prog fan). Half as much would be fine. A fade out! How anti-climactic. Oh well.

5/10 It would be cool but too much of it and not nice sounding. I won't be downloading more.

The Mars Volta - Eriatarka (Prog)
Prong - Controller (Metal. Just plain metal with maybe a little prog thrown in there)
Chevelle - Closure (Top notch nu-metal)

Dibs.

Not heard these guys before, and I figured I had to see what top-class nu-metal sounds like.
[b]Chevelle - Closure[/b] - 3:38

Starts off with a rather mellow guitar bit, soon joined by clean vocals. The music isn't so bad so far, but I don't like his voice. He's doing that breathy, urgent thing that everyone seems to do to make themselves sound "intense". 0:50 I think we get the first chorus; I heard the word Closure, anyway.

1:20 or so, we're back to the breathy, urgent bit of before, before a little bit of faux-heavy riffing, and another chorus.

Ah, now this verse I like a bit more (around 2:30) - both his voice and the guitars have a bit more edge..but we're soon back into te chorus, which I really don't like. Repetitions of the chorus until around 3:55, when we get just the music. It's slightly heavier than it has been for the rest of the song, but not hugely so, and it finishes at around 4:08 anyway.

Well, I didn't really like it. The only thing nu-metal seems to have going for it is the energy, and this song seemed to lack even that. Some of the music was alright though, I just didn't like his vocals at all.

5/10

[b]Would I listen to more of the same band?[/b] Probably not.

Songs:
Arghoslent - [i]The Purging Fires of War[/i] (melodic death metal)
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)

All available from me via Soulseek or MSN.

Bump.

and i have the dibs!

...the day is mine!

okay i don't really know anything about this band but here goes:
[I]Arghoslent: The Purging Fires of War[/I]

play by play:
kicks in with a nice hard guitar riff with some variety, makes me think there's two guitarists. blastbeats abound... then at 0:23 some growled vocals come in... really low sounding and I like 'em. drums fills occur but its mostly blast beats... guitar is varied enough that it doesn't sound repetitive, yet it plays essentially the same riff throughout the beginning (except palm-muted during the verse). heavy blastbeating followed by a decent fill at 0:39-0:45... vocals cease again for the opening riff at 0:34, repeat again till 1:19 when the guitar slows down and we lose the tension from the opening parts. here we have a new riff, this time with one guitar playing the same high notes over and over (sort of repetitive, not really), some sporadic drum fills, a rhythm guitar playing essentially drawn out chords, and some more growls... overall a nice part of the song as it gives it some more flavor... then at 2:25 we learn that this band has a bassist as he does a transition until 2:42 when a new riff kicks in with more growls... its more passive than the first riff (i.e. the chords are more drawn out), then a guitar transition with descending notes and growls... repeat from 2:42... then at 4:12 we get some ascending notes to signify another riff change which sounds cooler than any of the other ones because its higher pitched and has more variety... then at 4:38 we have a new riff again that sounds cool like the previous one... at 5:20 we get a darker riff with some 'soloing' (as in 2-3 high notes played after a main riff segment, repeat), at 6:08 we get a riff that sounds like the opening one but is more frantic... end at 6:29 with a final growl.

reflection:
vocals: 7/10- cool sounding low growl but very little variety in the way he delivers his lyrics... lyrics are on topic (see title) but not genius by a long stretch
guitar: 9/10- very well done riffs, they were varied and energetic enough to keep me hooked, easily the best feature of the song
drums: 7/10- nothing too special here, blastbeats and short fills are all that's here, but they play a nice complement to the rest of the song
bass: 5/10- I'm not sure if this is part of the band, but it didn't detract from the song and it's a pretty good song
overall: 8/10

final thoughts:
The song pulls you in and doesn't let go... It's too bad that death metal isn't completely my cup of tea, otherwise this song would probably have scored higher.

edit: I know that the avg of the scores don't add up to 8- other factors such as enjoyability went into my total decision

ack forgot my reccommended songs:
Opeth: Blackwater Park (death metal)
Tool: Lateralus (almost mainstream metal)
Mushroomhead: Never Let it Go (metal with odd influences)
Nine Inch Nails: The Wretched (industrial metal)

bump

i got dibs on nin's the wretched i'm workin on it right now

You can't review it if you've already heard it, you know?

i've not heard the song before when i started reviewing it about 30 minutes ago. godd**n i just erased my review .

Okay, I was just checking. The way you said it sounded like you already knew the song is all :)

starts in with little piano "riff" with bass notes. vocals come in at 0:17. 0:38 guitar plays the piano part a little different. at 1:10 it gets a little louder for the chorus. at 1:38 the piano comes back in also the guitar has this weird sound that ounds like feedback but i don't know. at 1:51 vocals come back in for the second verse a minor third higher than the 1st at 0:17. about 2:15 starts the pre-chorus. about 2:44 starts the 1:10 part again for the chorus. about 3:12 starts a slow solo type thing. at 3:30 a
pipe type, wind-sounding instrument starts a little solo. though i think it is more of an african or south american percussion instrument. at 3:45 a (wah-infested?) slow guitar solo starts. about 4:10 it starts the 1:10 part again for the last chorus. about 4:35 starts the beginning type piano part again with the guitar feedback type sounds also with vocals. about 5:00 starts the little pipe sounding instrument's part. end song at 5:20.

sorry if that sucked. i know. i accidentally erased my first one and had to hurry.
overall:7
vocals and guitars: 9
5<everything else<9
i wouldn't listen to that song everyday occaisionally though.



my songs are:
texas cries ~ element eighty (rock/metal from texas)
broken promises ~ element eighty
slackjaw ~ element eighty

they might be hard to find though but they're really great songs everyone should love
i'm sure they're somewhere. persevere (you'll find them). or i could go tell some others if no one can get to the songs just let me know if you have any trouble

bump

Bump

Dibs.

psx - good review, by the way.

Haven't heard these guys before. I've heard the name, but I've still no idea what to expect.
[b]Element Eighty - Broken Promises[/b] - 3:19

Starts off with just guitar, soon joined other instruments; the riff is nice enough in a hard rock/nu-metal way. The vocals come in..aww, man. Just refer to my previous review. All the same things; play-by-play urgent, breathless vocals. Gah.

The guitars are higher quality than many other such bands, which is a good thing. The main riff is pretty catchy, if nothing amazing, so that's what I'm concentrating on to enjoy the song. This review isn't going too well so far, but the song isn't giving me anything to work with - I can talk about how I like the elements (vocals and instruments), but not what's happening - it's just regular song structure so far.

Ah, now that's interesting. 2:20 or so, he tries his hand at harsher vocals. I don't just mean yelling, or increased volume, he's going for a harsh effect. It's not exactly death metal, though it's not trying to be; maybe hardcore vocals with more melody.

Anyway, they only last 15 seconds or so, before the main riff is played through one channel only, and distorted, which, I've got to admit I kinda like. His previous vocals are back in all their lacking glory though.

Extra melody is injected for the last repetitions of the chorus; I was expecting this song to end with a fade, but instead we get a quick rendition of the main riff, and then a high pitched guitar sting.

5/10 Gimme a break people, I already reviewed that Chevelle song :(

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

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)

All available from me via Soulseek or MSN.

[QUOTE=Bartender]
5/10 Gimme a break people, I already reviewed that Chevelle song[/QUOTE]

Hey.....

I lied, undibs.

It's just that this song reminded me strongly of that Chevelle song. Especially the vocals.

Lied about what?

hey bartender i looked all over the web 30 or so minutes and i could not find any of those songs in full

Orange Goblin - [i]The Astral Project[/i] (stoner rock)
Immortal - [i]At the Heart of Winter[/i] (black metal)
Necrophagist - [i]Fermented Offal Discharge[/i] (brutal technical death metal)

That last one is available from Necrophagist's website, if you can't find any others.

i will take dibs for Necrophagist - Fermented Offal Discharge

0:00-0:03 cool little guitar run with band in background. 0:03-0:09 band plays what sounds like might come out of killswitch engage or related massachusetts metal. 0:09-0:12 little bass doodle. 0:12-0:16 back to the 0:03-0:09 part. sounds good so far. 0:16-0:17 vocals come in with scream. 0:17-1:45 this is where it gets montonous for me. just a bunch of low-pitched growling. the vocals didn't really show that much texture or range. just growl, growl, growl, growl, etc.
1:45-2:02 band goes on without vocals. it all sounds good. fast guitar parts. bass good. double-bass drum pedalling. is that the proper term? i think so. not sure.
2:02-3:02 not that much development on the vocals. guitars and all, i can't classify it into sections(chorus, pre-chorus, verse, etc.). it just is all different things going on that go on at various points through the song. (sort of like verses, choruses and what have you). i just can't classify them.
3:02-4:28 guitar solo. i like the solo. at certain points it sounds like possibly 2 guitars WITH rhythm in background. the 2 guitars sound like they're harmonized in minor thirds. not sure on that one but i realize the possibilities in the use of minor thirds and also the part it plays in many metal bands with two(or more) guitarists.
4:28- 4:38(end) vocals back in. bands still goes on playing parts that sound randomly chosen to the untrained ear.

overall: 8/10~good song
my thoughts manifested in a score: 4/10
solo: 10/10~i'd listen to it many times over and maybe take a lesson for it when i start to write one myself.
guitars: 7/10~complexity, yes. interesting, not really. it's nice to know these guitarists can play their instruments well, but those riffs aren't that memorable.
bass: 9/10~the bass was good. it's pretty hard to make a bass sound bad. unless, you're meshuggah and you don't have a bassist anymore because you play 8-string guitars that substitute a bassist (that's the last i heard)
drums: 9/10~drums sounded fine.
vocals: 7/10
my thoughts on vocals manifested in a score: 2/10~those kind of vocals have never been appealing to me. i prefer screaming. growling vocals like those on this track ward me away from otherwise good music.

in retrospect, i will probably never listen to that song in full again. i might like to skip to 3:02 to hear that awesome guitar solo again. besides the vocals, it was a good song.

here are my songs:
"texas cries" or "slackjaw" by element eighty (rock/metal). (these two are probably their best songs. if you don't like either, you will 99% for sure hate this band. but please give one of them a chance. they are two of the best songs i've heard in my entire life.)
"ether" by nothingface (it's some kind of R/M category not sure though)
"bother" by stone sour (slipknot's singer's band. it's a soft piece considered rock)

if you can't find these i will tell more.
to bartender: now that i think about it, i don't even know why i recommended broken promises, that song sucks. it is their single and it was a creative strategy used by the record company to have it played on the radio. though broken promises sucks, texas cries is their best by far(with quite a bit more screaming and unforgettable guitar parts and vocals).

Dibs. Necrophagist is just one guy, by the way.

Giving them another chance. Couldn't find Texas Cries though.
[b]Element Eighty - Slackjaw[/b] -

Starts off with another decent riff; I like their guitars more than a lot of other poppy metal bands. The vocals come in; they're alternating between the melodic hardcore type, and some new type. The new type isn't as annoying as the urgent ones of before, but it's getting there.

Chorus around 0:45, alternating between something closer to normal singing, which is good, and the harsher ones. The lyrics are kinda corny, but the way he switches from one vocal style to another is catchy.

After another chorus around 2:00, the rhythm, and then the riff, changes, for what is a bridge, I guess. It switches pretty smoothly back into another chorus, before finishing on some of the harsher vocals.

Another difficult song to talk about, so I apologise for the review. It was definitely better than the other song I've heard by them, but it still hasn't convinced me that they'd be worth checking out further. Bonus points for better-than-average guitars though.

6.5/10

[b]Would I listen to more of the same band?[/b] Still probably not.

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.