aye, I'll have another go. might get back into the Other music fl some time too..

Yeah, we seem to have abandoned that really badly :(

yeh, I got discouraged after trying about 4 times to send a song to PAAA, without success, and I'm sure he got the sh'ts with me about that...

Well, I got borked by the Zao download restarting, from zero, twice! Already know the Coldplay song, so here's ..

[b]Skillet - Forsaken[/b]

Distorted guitar intro, very nu-metal in style. Other instruments (bass/drums) then vocals come in. He sounds like the Nickelback singer... and there's also digital vocal corrections... :(

Very typical sounding, Evanescence level, nu-metal verse, it's not very heavy. Christian lyrics I guess, thats fine, he can sing about what ever he wants to.
There's a softer pre-chorus with some synth strings/keyboards in there too., and then a typical heavy (on the nu-metal scale) chorus.

The song goes through melodic passages of heavy-not so heavy-heavy, with an even heavier bridge in there, it's a predictable pattern of rises and falls, it seems longer than it should... I guess its not following the simple verse-chorus-verse thing exactly.

At least the intstruents sound gutsy when played, the girl on drums sounds powerful.

I'm sure it's popular with the younger teen crowd, just a Christian take on what's popular in pop/rock music. Fairly melodic, easy on the ears, though theres a few screams in it.

Sadly this type of thing offers very little inspiration to me musically, I like my music interesting, defiant, and unafraid to do something different. This was just to simple, too common

I can't say I hated it, but I'll take a whole point off for that vocal correction.
It ends up about 4.5/10

____________________________
Now I have to back myself up with some interesting music...

any of the songs listed in my previous FL's on this page, bar Alarum and Broken Social Scene

plus some linkages

[i]The Grand Silent System - Champion[/i] - experimental ethnic rock
[url]http://www.thegrandsilentsystem.com/av/[/url]

[i]Hot Rubber Glove - Mud Elephant[/i] - trancy dub, instrumental
[url]http://www.hotrubberglove.com/_dl/mp3/hot_rubber_glove_mud_elephant.zip[/url]

[i]Breakeven - En Vogue[/i] - ska hardcore
[url]http://files.mp3.com.au/MP3/Breakeven/Breakeven-None-En%20Vogue.mp3[/url]

yeah those digitals get me.....blah. thats the only song with them there.

dibs

[U]Hot Rubber Glove - Mud Elephant[/U]
First things first, oooo techno. This should be tough.

Starts with a beep-like thing, brings in very electronic sounding drums, doing a lil bit of randomness to the beat. Then piano and vocals, reminds me of DDR.

The vocals drop out, so we are left with a beat from the beep, the drums, and piano. Then a xylaphone/metalaphone comes in, and a synth. Its got me into it now, its trance, and i love trance. The xylaphone is an awesome addition to the song.

About 4 min or so into the song, vocals come in, in a foreign language. theres a little bass in the back that is getting repetitive, as are the drums.

Then a saxaphone. Its really getting boring, i must say. Thank god its over.

overall: no more then a 4. It really was not that great for trance/techno at all.

Both my rec.'s are techno in some sort of sense.
_______________________________
DJ Shadow - Organ Donor (Organ Techno....) (4.5 Meg)
[url]http://s31.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0EPV5I4DHYJ0A0WQ1BGK6UVDOZ[/url]

The Dust Brothers - Psycho Boy Jack (Rock/Techno) (4ish meg)
[url]http://s18.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0IH0ADT4C2ARF016NYKHX6C9L5[/url]

yeah, what I heard of the Zao song sounded alright, I wish it had worked fully.. but whats done is done now.

also I noticed some hypocrisy on my part. that Grand Silent System song has some vocal corretion too :s

Mebbbe I'll start doing Other FLs. Pit and R&M are good but a 3rd would be great

Dibs.

I own [i]Endtroducing[/i], so it has to be the Dust Brothers. I get the feeling I'll already have heard this in passing though, on Fight Club.
[b]The Dust Brothers - Psycho Boy Jack[/b] - 2:57

Okay, I've listened through this a few times now, and have discovered a couple of things; firstly, it does sound familiar. Secondly.. as far as Forced Listening goes, it's an awful song. I actually quite like it overall, it's pretty good, but for Forced Listening, it sucks a lot, simply because not much happens.

Most of it is almost impossible to describe without sounding like you have the vocabulary of a child, e.g. I could say "well it starts off with this weird pulsing sound, which carries on for a while, and then this funny weedle-eedle-eedle sounds comes in. That goes on for a while, and then we get some "real" instrumentation (i.e. some drums and guitar playing), over which this noise continues weedle-eedle-eedling." etc.

I just don't know what to say, since it seems to be based a lot on repetition and practically indescribable sounds. It's good though, none of the noises get annoying (except perhaps this very deep bass sound that repeats itself for a while). Only real complaint is that it's short, and it makes bad Forced Listening fodder.

7/10 Sorry for the short review.

[b]Songs;[/b]
[url=http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1ATR27HZU9ORW28AC2R1IGQB3B]Mr Bungle - Girls of P*rn[/url] (funky experimental stuff. Will probably be a slight advantage to have some knowledge of po[font=verdana]r[/font]n)

[url=http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=05V44QN5L8RTV3ATQKHVS7304M]Mr Lunt - Cheeseburger[/url] (a touching love song, about cheeseburgers)

[url=http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0AJ424C49M1DK20VPO68P8D47V]Einsturzende Neubauten - Ende Neu[/url] (industrial/experimental)

Copy-pasted from Forced Listening;
That Neubauten track is a live version, with an air compressor solo at the beginning. It's a great piece of music, but unfortunately a lot of it's appeal also lies in it's lyrics, which are in German, and other aspects. The song is very carefully written, both in lyrics and structure, and becomes much greater than it already is if you know it's circumstances and such...not much can be done about that though, so this is just my futile attempt at explaining the inexplicable.

Bump.

dibs

[b]Mr.Bungle - The Girls of [SIZE=4]P[/SIZE]orn[/b]

Been meaning to try and find some music by this band, so had to do the FL on them.

Also, I'm glad I did this review before a youngster decided to.

The track opens with some fitting sound effects, I'm guessing from one of Patton's favourite videos, shortly accompanied by what I guess is a marraca and a funky, but quiet, guitar diddle. After the brief speech telling us about the competion, and a scream of '666!' we get some overdrive and what is essential a rockin' riff. Not uber heavy, but very bang your headish.

A nice drum bridge brings you into the verse and the first sounds from what I guess is a Sax. The guitar, bass and sax mix wonderfully, with the sax dropping out when Patton begins to sing. This song reminds me of Vice City, even though it wasn't on the soundtrack I believe. Patton's vocals are great, funny/good lyrics aswell.

The interlude allows for a bit more of the audio from the video, with the name Mr Bungle appearing in it too. The part which I would call the chorus is not a let down, the 'whomping' bass line is excellent. Patton's voice is brilliant and it all sound funky as together. The intro piece is repeated again, with a little extra percussion to bring you out of the chorus part.

The verse is repeated again, this time with different lyrics, and at the end we get a brief solo on the guitar, which is over powered by the audio sample, which isn't too good. Patton has a vocal solo after this, using lots of different styles to describe all the various styles of **** he knows.

4:00 brings back the 'whomping' bass, and it's brilliant. The song plays again until a break where you here a female voice say "Mr Bungle" and it comes back with the intro riff, this time with far more going on, a guy saying 'I'd buy that for a dollar!'. The song carries on in this vein until the end, with some frantic sax to finish, and a few shouts of 'yeah!'.

Brilliant song. Maybe a bit offensive, so I will give it a 9/10.

Ephel Duath - The Embossed (Eperimental/Industrial Metal?!)([url]http://www.elitistrecords.co.uk/audio/ephelduath2.mp3[/url]

Novembre - Distances (Doom Metal)

Porcupine Tree - Sleep of no Dreaming (Prog Rock)

I can email the other two songs, but I can't upload to [url]www.yousentit.com[/url] for some reason.

Dibbums

[B]Porcupine tree - Sleep of No Dreaming[/B]
Prog Rock - Approx. Running time = 5:24.

The song kicks off with some broken chords on an organ, is joined by windchimes and is promptly followed by drums and bass. A very Chilled and relaxed start to the song. Clean vocals join around the 20 sec mark and add to the relaxed, laid back feeling.
A short drum fill leads us in to an epic chorus which picks up the pace a 'lil. Clean guitar w/reverb enters, imitating the organ intro. Emtional vocals soar over the top of this.
1:30 mark and we move back into the intro section, this time with a nice guitar solo, also laid back. The vocals join back in around the 2 min mark, and this section is essentially the same, bar the odd organ variation.
Another drum fill takes us back into the chorus section, which then repeats it's self with slight overdubs and no vocals. The momentum of the song has really built up by the end of the second repeat before being cut back again by entering a drum and bass section. Which is also, I hasten to add, laid back. Vocals also come in on top of this. Eerie overdubs barely audible in the background create a nice sense of ambience.
The Chorus is again revisted after this at the 3:46 mark, and it also does the repeat with overdubs. This time the overdubs ascend towards the end of the section and give a great sense of climax.
At 4:31 the chrous is altered by throwing in some atonal notes, which dispel the sense of Climax. However this sense is then continued with an ascending feel which draws the song to a dramatic close.

I've liked everything I've heard by Porcupine Tree, and this song is no exception. It's very laid back and is great for relaxing to.
8/10

[B]Recommendations:[/B]

Arcturus - Ad Astra(Avante Garde metal, I think):[url]http://s26.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1BRGH0LGLK1DN2T9JFT2FYO8AF[/url]

Badly Drawn Boy - Disillusion(Alt/Indie):[url]http://s28.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=22YMPOVLVX02E0N35040B3AYC6[/url]

Dark Tranquility - White Noise/Black silence(Melodic Death): [url]http://s24.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0KXEV4P9MES153B6OM78J1UJKU[/url]

Extreme - He-man Woman Hater(Funk Rock):[url]http://s11.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2N9W1ART3J8C70CIHC2AXWVWMX[/url]

Gilby Clarke - Tijuana Jail(Rock n Roll): [url]http://s18.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=07PA9ITF59ZC01FLJN95MA2R7H[/url]

tenative dibs (how long do I have to write it once I dibs? I can do it in about 3 hours)

Unless someone is absolutely desperate to do it take your time :)

[b]Arcturus - Ad Astra[/b]

Wow, eight minutes to review, hope this is awesome.

Yeah...actually, it's really good. I'm going to need several more listens to even give this a decnt review heh...

The strings make this song. I love them. I love classical music, and this has all the trappings of a classical composition piece and...well, I never knew I would be able to call a metal piece truly beautiful, but it really is. Starts out with some strings (I think Cellos) and a beat being held contant on the bass drum. Some more strings are added (violins?) and snare comes in as well, finally a real drum beat starts, and there is some brass work faintly in the background, the strings still dominant. The guitar comes in backed by the strings and it is phenomenal. Then it drops back to the intro again, which might be my favorite part of the song, it is magnificent.

Much as I usually like drums to be mixed a little higher, they fit very well as is, and are well suited to the song. The strings finally fade out near the middle and a (harpsichord I think?) comes in with the strings soon accompanying. I love the emotion the strings manage to convey. Vocals come in around 5:30 in. A little distorted and very background, not so much a fan of them the way they are done, but still interesting. Then comes the fantastic guitar solo, absolutely amazing. Nice and long too :)

More distorted vocals, off beat drums, and some heavy guitar chords backed by strings follow the solo, and very harmonic guitar riffs back the second solo-type thing, that really, unfortunately has a brief climax.

I would love to mark it down for the vocals and (imo) poor ending, but I really can't take off much because there is so much good so...
9.5/10

[url=http://s30.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2ZSAWOYXMIP4P02VTS4AE7YSFQ]Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe - Themes[/url] (Progressive Rock)
[url=http://s30.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1WIPXQ50WH2IS2F6IUL4A0FF81]Project 86 - Pipe Dream[/url] (Metal of some type, maybe Nu?)
[url=http://s30.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1N407W4NMASLS1X77J76O36CYQ]Mod Flanders Conspiracy - Such is the Wrath of the Thrice Angered Manatee[/url] (Hardcore ish)
[url=http://s30.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0999KAQRRTW21372C24B1JF7GA]Blindside - Teddy Bear[/url] (Hardcore)

All mp3s this time :)

Dibs. Thanks for changing them to mp3s :)

I know some of the music of each of these guys (most notably One of a Kind by Bill Bruford), so I'm kinda looking forward to hearing this.
[b]Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe - Themes[/b] - 5:58

Starts off with what I assume are keyboards playing a repetitive melody, with the occasional deeper, more resonant note, alternated with a noise that could be any number of things; different work on the keys, a synth, maybe even a very high note on a guitar. Whatever it is, I like it.

A really cool drum intro brings us into the song proper just after the minute mark, and it's really upbeat. High pitched vocals, but not in a bad way, I like it. The bass is kicking it all over the place too, along with the drums, and the whole thing is surprisingly catchy. This is really good so far, I was expecting something a lot less energetic, but this works.

Some lyrics about demons and devils (unfortunately his not believing in them, but still), and the vocals stop for a while for an instrumental break. It's getting perhaps a little too cheesy with the keys, but not for long, everything else I still like. Actually, now that I think about it, this whole section seems to be one big keyboard solo, bookended by less spastic and very cool guitar (I think) solos.

The drums again mark a change of pace, and the song slows down slightly.

And in fact the rest of the song is all instrumental, which was a little unexpected, I thought the vocalist would come back in at some point. Not much I can say about the rest of the song really, as it was basically just more or less repetitions of what previously went on in the song, I think. It was all good, though, especially the drums and bass (and keys, I suppose, but I don't have that much of a taste for this style of keyboards).

8/10 Would have been higher if the vocals came back in, I think. Sorry again for the relatively short review.

[b]Songs;[/b]
[url=http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2GSQNO9UZRNKW24676GWS28ONY]The Levellers - Just the One[/url] (Irish folk/rock)

[url=http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1L5Y07IWMRXIT2HLUIGNFO0GOD]The Levellers - Celebrate[/url]
[url=http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1D8JJNJUELACJ0UMOO52OPNZZW]The Levellers - Rain and Snow[/url] (Irish folk/rock)

If you do Celebrate or Rain and Snow, please do both of them together (i.e. add them both to your media player and play Celebrate, letting it just run into Rain and Snow). Rain and Snow is a 1:30 folkier piece which is just led right into from the end of Celebrate.

[url=http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2V7FUMEZ3JTFJ1ZBCBOIIIXIEZ]Einsturzende Neubauten - Ende Neu[/url] (industrial/experimental)

dibs: and my review for Ende Neu.

First off, wow. an air compressor solo. Thats seriously the oddest intro to a song (live or not) i have ever heard. Yet in a way, it was very cool. Not to many people would be able to pull it off.

The air compressor solo ends to either bongs played with sticks, or some other intrument i dont know. It has an awesome sounding riff, then a vocalist (with a slightly eary voice) comes in. Then drums, and the part he plays is amazing. The vocals keep going in the verse, then go into the chorus without any additional instruments. The German lyrics are amazing, the way they rhyme and fit the music. I speak some german so i know that hes is almost using perfect grammar, very awesome.
At smoe parts through the song, there is a synth, just adding to the eire effect of the vocals. The song at parts sounds very complex, but after hearing it a few times, you realize that is the same thing over an over again, but the way it is played with so much passion is great.

Overall, this song is an 11/10.

[B]Songs:[/B]
[URL=http://s22.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2JM8I9R8P58QI2XTH0RFTXPHJR]Nonexhist - Ebony Towers (4.2 Meg)[/URL]
[URL=http://s24.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1PUBR0LSM9J9P3K8HD1MPQVB43]Slipknot - Confessions (1.75 Meg)[/URL]

dibs.

[b]NonExist - Ebony Towers][/b] 4:58

Intro riff, quite a good riff, but the guitar tone is not very good.

4:45, song kicks in with leads and rolling toms. again, the leads need to be more smooth, and less disodant.

the main riff is quite good at 4:27 ,the lead parts are quite nice. this helps you forget the not so good intro before.

4:12, vocals come in, the guitars remind me a little of in flames. From this part, it sounds quite ok.

for around 1 minute, the some remains the same, without any dynamics, just the same atmosphere. it gets a little boring. the leads come in at 3:05, which entertains, from the almost boring verse now.

2:40, wow! They slowed down the song, to chorused guitars. very nice atmosphere here. 1:58, solo, nice solo here. 1:34, starts to speed up.


The song gets better, after the solo, its just the same as the verse before (but it sounds better suprisingly), and it ends.

The first minute of the song was not too good, but it got better towards the end.

7.5/10

Recommendations :
Judas Priest : Rock Hard Ride Free (heavy metal)
Sonata Arctica - Full Moon (super melodic power metal)
Kamelot - The Spell (symphonic power metal)
Testament : Disciples of the watch (thrash metal)

dibs

[B]Sonata Arctica - Full Moon [/B] 5:08

The song starts off with a very light melody on the keyboard. (Probly my favorite part of the song)

Then comes the power metal in all its clory with the singer (that can actually sing) and melodic guitar riffs. It gets somewhat predictable as it moves between the verse and chorus with the background vocals echoing the lead singer like other 80's power ballads. The melody of the song hardly changes until the solo.

As for the lyrics, they are somewhat decent containing the sad and lonely story of a girl who should have locked the door when her man sees the full moon. Werewolf maybe?

The solo is almost as predictable with the lighter, more upbeat riffs with lots of reverb.

This song was refreshing to hear after hearing all of the static filling the airways these days.

Overall I give it an 7 out of ten because of it's predictability. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys serious power metal.

[B]Songs:[/B]

Soilwork - Soilwork's Song of the ****ed
Joe Satriani - Attack
In Flames - Moonshield
Alterbridge - One Day remains

dibs

[B]In Flames - Moonshield[/B]

Before I did this, I checked what album it was from. It's off Jester Race, a gothenburg album. So far things are not looking good; Gothenburg is what fu[I]c[/I]ked up the new Kreator.

Starts off acoustic with the bass drum in the background. The riff is nothing special. It changes around 0:30. Still sounds kinda folky, nothing great. Goes distorted just before 1:00. What I would expect gothenburg riffing to sound like.

The vocals are alright, similar to most melodic death I've heard.

So it just goes on, mid-paced like this, until 2:50, where we get a random and sudden acoustic break. One minute later, I'm sleeping happily away, when the distortion cuts in and wakes me up. Same riff that was used earlier. It keeps going on with the same or vaguely similar riffs until the end.

So: Acoustic wank, no aggression or headbanging value, ruining the new Kreator: I'll chalk this one up for a 4/10.

My sh[I]i[/I]t:
Darkthrone - Natassja in Eternal Sleep (raw black metal)
Sauron - Thrash Assault (unholy thrash metal)
Protector - Delirium Tremens (thrash metal)
Holy Terror - Christian Resistance (thrash metal with NWOBHM influences)
Insision - Imminent Vision (brutal death metal)

The Insision can be accessed at the band's site, if you can't find the others.

Bump.

I have them all on slsk, Lord Dargon, but that Darkthrone should be easy to find.

definitley not a bump

Dibs

Darkthrone - Natassja In Eternal Sleep

The song starts with constant repeating guitars backed by a just as repetitive drum beat. Shortly you hear the vocals come in. There kind of echoey. They stay that way through the whole track, and I kinda like the effect. THe drums and guitar does the same thing thoughout the whole song, but the vocals kinda fit it. The only change I heard was around 2:35, the guitars and drums were still playing the same thing voer and over, but this time the guitars played a differen't repetitive riff, and the drummer moved his hand to the ride cymbal.

That's pretty much it. Very, very simple song. I like the growl, but incredibly repetitive and short. I can't give this more than a

4/10

songs:
Meshuggah - New Millenium Cyanide Christ
Primus - John the Fisherman
Rammstein - Feuer Frei!

dibs

[b]Rammstein - F.F.[/b] 3:12

An electronic intro, prob keys

then distortion SUDDENLY comes in. and i mean suddenly. if you're about to sleep during the intro, this will definately wake you up.

The some electronic stuff is done during the distortion fade.

Vocals come in. The guitars are very soft on the background, but the riff can be heard. from the intensity of vocals and drums, you can tell its building up straight from the first verse. esp at 2:42

at 2:32, finally the guitars come in, although industrial metal, its a good riff to headbang too. Much engery here too.

2:11, the song tunes down again, and builds up again.

Chorus comes in again, and the rocking starts once again. The much electronics throughout the song is really unnecessary, but well.

1:33, turntable solo i think.

1:18,a weird song can be heard, sounds like overbent guitars.

1:08, sounds like building up, but it suddenly stops.

1:01, everything goes silent, but if you hear carefully, you can hear some singing.

0:43, A great build up again, esp the drums. back to chorus! bang bang!\

Sorry about my timing, its the timing "left" and not the "real timing"

which means

0:43's timing is equal to 3:12 - 0:43.

A great song overall, nice buildups, energetic.

Recommendations
Sonata Arctica - My Selene (super melodic power metal)
Gamma Ray - Lake Of Tears (power metal)
Scorpions - You And I (classic hard rock/heavy metal)
Arcturus - Radical Cut (Avant-Garde, Atmospheric, electronic black metal)

Does anyone have a copy of htat Sonata Arctica song? I can't find it. I checked out their homepage and what not, but I don't have kazza or anything like that, so if someone can please yousendit, or host it somewhere it would be greatly appreciated :thumb: