07.25.08

Hammers of Misfortune - The August Engine - Images

Posted in Music Reviews, Technology at 7:11 pm

One of my biggest complaints about the Internet has been the disturbing lack of quality images of the cover of Hammers of Misfortune’s album, The August Engine. The August Engine claw is by far one of my favorite logos, and is probably my favorite t-shirt too.

To see what this eclectic, bizarro metal band is all about, go to the Hammers of Misfortune Myspace Page and listen to the second track, A Room and a Riddle, which is off of the August Engine album.

If this band sounds familiar, it’s because their latest album, The Locust Years, scored #6 on my Top 15 Albums of 2006. I like The August Engine even better.

Hammers of Misfortune will always hold a sweet spot in my heart. During my Ohio State college days, I drove up to Cleveland to meet up with Brian and see them play at the Grog Shop in 2004. To our dismay, only 7 people were in attendance (this type of thing happens when a west coast metal band plays in a punk venue and there is absolutely no promotion). And you know what happened? They played their asses off in what was one of the best concerts I’ve seen to this day. I love this band and can’t wait for the new album.

ANYWAY, I decided to solve this problem today. Right here, right now.

The best bet I had was to take a picture of my t-shirt and clean it up a bit. The pic at the top is a JPG of my shirt after it’s been cleaned up. You can see the white part of the claw is whiter than the words. Go ahead and clean those up if you want.

To the left is a vectorized PNG image of the claw with a nice circle around it. Since it’s vectorized, it’s not based off of a geometric formula and can be stretched to your desire. I also have EPS, SVG, and PDFs of it if you like - just contact me.

Finally, here’s a link to the original unmodified August Engine Claw picture from my t-shirt. And here’s a non-vectorized JPG image with the black circle claw.

Why did I do this? Why spend all that time vectorizing it (vectormagic.com RULES, btw) so that I can stretch it out? That’s a secret for later…

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01.02.08

My Top 15 Albums of 2007

Posted in Music Reviews at 2:27 pm

Happy New Year everyone! It’s time for my favorite blog post of the year, one in which I’ve spent more time pondering than is healthy. The Top 15 Albums of 2007. (Top 15 Albums of 2006 can be found here)

Before I begin, I would like to declare Melodic Death Metal to be officially dead. This genre of music is what has throttled me through the past 8 or 9 years of my life. It’s biggest replacement is a subgenre known as metalcore, which features far too much whining for my liking.

I am not sad, since we saw the end coming. As music has changed, so have I — but the departure of melodeath has left us all in search of something new.

After a slow start, 2007 turned out to be an incredible musical year, and I honestly don’t see 2008 competing with it. Enjoy:

1. Sixx : A.M. - The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack (reviewed by me here)

   A shocker, no doubt. Is this musically the best album of the year? No. But it is my best album.

   In a year where I moved to the foreign world of Los Angeles, Nikki Sixx connected with me in an unexpected way. This city can eat you alive, and it’s good to know that you’re not the only one.

   When I hear about Nikki Sixx, Sixx: AM, or Motley Crüe, it will bring me back to this album, the album I somehow identified with in 2007. Because I now know why nobody wants to die in Van Nuys.

   A companion for the incredible Heroin Diaries book.

2. Alabama Thunderpussy - Open Fire

   Wow. Death metal - out. Whatever this is - in.

   A bone-crushing mixture of balls-out hard rock, stoner metal, punk, and southern edge, Open Fire was probably played during 20% of my workouts this year. One listen to Words of the Dying Man and I was hooked for the year. If you are not an intense person, stay away.

3. Antimatter - Leaving Eden

   This is, without a doubt, the most beautiful album of 2007. Filled with acoustic guitars, cello, and pianos, the melancholy tone of this album is a stark but necessary contrast from the two albums mentioned above. Such intricately sad music, I find it hard to believe that a man composed it.

4. Blackfield - Blackfield II (reviewed by me here)

   I will be truly depressed if Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen do not get together for a Blackfield III. These guys are the best project team in the business right now.

   See my Blackfield concert review here

   I have nothing further to say that I haven’t already written in the reviews above.

5. Clutch - From Beale Street to Oblivion

   Upon the release of Clutch’s latest album, Stoner-metal fans simultaneously rejoiced and cursed. Every Clutch album is remarkably distinct from its peers, and this one is no different. The bluesy feel of From Beale Street to Oblivion put Clutch into an entirely different musical world, and they do it in studly fashion.

   Vocalist Neil Fallon’s lyrical delivery continues to shine, as we have my favorite verse of the year, from the hit song Electric Worry:

   Doctor or lawyer, I’ll never be.
   Life of a drifter - the only life for me,
   You can have your riches, all the gold you saved.
   Cause’ ain’t room for one thing in everybody’s grave.

   Now here’s a scary thought: At the end of the day, this is one of Clutch’s worst albums. While incredible, the riffs get tired over time, and some tracks wear on me.

   See my concert review here

6. Helloween - Gambling With the Devil

   I never gave these power metallers much of a chance, and I’m not sure why. This album came late in the year, but it rips fast and hard. I haven’t heard a power metal album like this for quite some time, and now have the pleasure of going back in time and discovering what I’ve been missing out on.

7. Ensiferum - Victory Songs

   Peter Lindroos from Norther teams up with Markus Toivonen and Sami Hinkka to put out the first Ensiferum album sans Jari Mäenpää.

   Victory Songs features a style of music known as viking / folk metal, which means that you’ll be dealing with very fast music and braveheart-style war chants with swords clashing in the background. Just look at that album cover to the left! It sounds lame, but it seriously rocks.

   I enjoy listening to this music while drilling sniper bullets into scores of Nazis in my favorite online video game.

8. Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild Soundtrack

   A phenomenal musical album to an exquisite motion picture rendition of one of my favorite books.

   Eddie Vetter bares his soul and gives justice to a difficult subject. I’m sorry Pearl Jam fans, but the band is long dead. The future is with Eddie Vetter going solo.

   And at the end of the day, I still cannot decide whether I love or hate Chris McCandless. Perhaps that’s what draws me to him, but that’s for another blog post.

9. Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Black Planet

   For anyone else, getting two top 10 albums in the same year would be a shock. For Steven Wilson, it’s simply expected.

   This album touches upon the isolation and disillusionment that technology brings to our lives, from TV to X-Box to prescription drugs. While deep and dark, I find myself getting lost somewhere between tracks 2 and 4, and by the time the album is done, I end up wondering where the last hour of my life has just disappeared to. A true progressive gem.

10. Ministry - The Last Sucker

    I’ll put it simply - no album has ever given me nightmares. Until this one. Ministry’s final album (this is their 11th) is one of my favorites. Their viewpoints of anti-establishment ring true in a year where we’ve been overrun by crooks and liars.

    Industrial metal will never be the same without Ministry, whose raw chaos will often be imitated, but never at all duplicated.

11. Witchcraft - The Alchemist

    Retro rock? Stoner jams? I have no clue what to call this music, but when I listen to it, I end up feeling like I’m listening to music that was created before I was even born. It’s technical, it’s psychedelic, and it’s a feel-good album from back in time.

12. Alcest - Souvenirs d’un autre Monde

    Souvenirs d’un autre Monde is an atmospheric, drudgy album that will compete with Agalloch (see last year’s review) for music time when I enter the Contemplation Chamber¹. I have a feeling that over time, it will get more listens than most albums on this list.

    Mentally crushing and overwhelming music. This is the type of album that creates a doom-and-gloom atmosphere yet makes you invincible from it.

13. Apocalyptica - Worlds Collide

    Violins and cellos mixed in with metal? I’m a fan. Some of the music is delightfully haunting, but there’s a few tracks that throw off the momentum of the album. That momentum is never regained.

14. Megadeth - United Abominations

    Yet another anti-establishment album. Megadeth is back with solid riffs, raw delivery, and solid production. Mustaine pulls no punches and I should be a bigger Megadeth fan that I am.

15. Nightrage - A New Disease is Born

    
    There are many albums that could have taken this spot, but Nightrage gets in because it was great workout music all year long. It’d have finished stronger if they’d quit it with the intermittent whining.

Honorable Mention: Amorphis - Silent Waters, Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold, Trouble - Simple Mind Collection, Tub Ring - The Great Filter

Would be Top 5 If That Queer Geddy Lee Wasn’t The Vocalist Award: Rush - Snakes and Errors

Best Cover Album: Shaw Blades - Influence

Biggest Disappointments - Soilwork - Sworn to a Great Divide (these guys are done), Iced Earth - Framing Armageddon (thankfully, Matt Barlow is back), Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos (is anyone surprised anymore?)

Worst Album of the Year - Devin Townsend - Ziltoid the Omniscient. It’s over for Devin, he’s officially lost it after so many years of teetering on the brink.

¹ - More on this later

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08.25.07

Album Review: Sixx: A.M. - The Heroin Diaries (2007)

Posted in Music Reviews at 3:14 pm

Nikki Sixx, the bassist and key songwriter of Mötley Crüe, has lived a life far more insane and indulgent than you, me, or anyone we know. Here’s a guy who was raised by a single mother and her insolent boyfriend, abandoned by his father, moved all over the continent, and eventually became a petty thief and drug dealer. After learning the bass guitar, he moved to Los Angeles at age 17, joined a band, and soon thereafter started Mötley Crüe with Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, and Vince Neil.

Within a few years, they would rise to the top of the Sunset Strip circuit, and a couple years later, sign with Elektra Records, elevating the band to monstrous success and fame.

Now, imagine being a deadbeat kid from a deadbeat family living on the filthy streets of a deadbeat city and suddenly becoming an international rock icon of God-like status. All of the sudden, thousands of people worship you; you have more money and women than you know what to do with, and it’s all fueled by a record industry that feeds you whatever you need to keep it going so that they can suck your life dry like the vultures they are. Yeah, your life would be a mess too.

Sixx’s life turned into such a cocaine- and heroin-filled saga that his excesses eventually killed him — was declared dead after an overdose, but was revived by two adrenaline shots to the heart. After this, he cleaned up through rehab, and went on to produce Mötley Crüe’s most successful album, Dr. Feelgood.

The Heroin Diaries, written by Sixx’s new band Sixx A.M. is the story about the crippling drug addictions that Sixx suffered through, and his heroic return to sobriety. It is the soundtrack to the soon-to-be released autobiography with the same title. The album is an outpour of feeling from the heart, and is one of the finest concept albums I’ve heard in the past few years.

The album starts with an introductory monologue in the song titled X-Mas In Hell:

December 25, 1986. Van Nuys.
Merry Christmas. Well that’s what people say at Christmas, right?
Except for normally they have somebody to say it to. They have friends and family, and they haven’t been crouched naked under a Christmas tree with a needle in their arm like an insane person in a mansion in Van Nuys. They’re not out of their minds, they’re not writing in a diary, and they’re definitely not watching their holiday spirit coagulate in a spoon.

I didn’t speak to a single person today. I thought, “Why should I ruin their fucking Christmas?”

I’ve started a new diary and this time I have a feeew new reasons. One, I have no friends left. Two, so I can read back and remember what I did the day before. And three, so if I die, at least I leave a nice little suicide note of my life. It’s just you and me diary, welcome to my fucking life.

The album looks back on life, and takes you through the highs, the lows (”X-Mas in Hell”, “Intermission”), and the dramatic resurgence of life in the song “Girl With Golden Eyes”, where Sixx catalogues the day-by-day withdrawal and recovery in rehab. He then goes through the post-recovery steps of apologizing in “Permission”, and relives hope of the future in “Life After Death.” Most important is the hit song “Life is Beautiful”, in which Sixx looks back and pleads to “Just open your eyes and see that life is beautiful”.

Sixx really put himself out there in this one. He lived excessively, he learned too slowly, but he (barely) made it out alive and was able to turn it all into a chilling story for everyone to understand and enjoy.

The Heroin Diaries (album) can be sampled and purchased here, and the book can be found here.

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06.06.07

Concert Review - Clutch at the Roxy Theatre, Hollywood CA - 05/24/07

Posted in Music Reviews at 4:46 pm

Some bands never cease to amaze me, and Clutch is one of them. I will be honest and say that during their May 24th concert at the Roxy Theatre in Hollywood, CA, I was actually disappointed with the performance. Something wasn’t right. Neil Fallon did not seem to have the energy that he had when he came to Austin last year and tore Emo’s down. It is only after the concert when I learned new respect for the band. I was told that lead singer Neil Fallon had strep throat earlier on tour, and had to cancel a few shows before this one.

Now here’s what gets me: Even with a sick Fallon, Clutch still blows nearly every other band in the world off the stage. It is apparent that they have been playing together forever, and when one man goes down, the rest pick up the slack. I should never need to be reminded again how great of a drummer Jean-Paul Gaster is. It was also a pleasure to see Eric Oblander of Five Horse Johnson on stage with the harmonica as well. While Fallon sounded great, he still needed longer breaks, and these guys plugged the holes effortlessly. I’m proud to be a fan of Clutch - we waited for them to come, and they showed up when other bands would have canceled the entire rest of the tour. Not Clutch.

Due to the illness/recovery, the setlist was abbreviated. In true Clutch style, I will simply copy it off of the actual setlist:

1. Promoter
2. Never be Moved
3. Progress
4. Player
5. Animal Farm
6. Slow Hole
7. Regulator
8. King of Az
9. Mice and Gods
10. Devil and Me
11. Gotro
12. Big 1
13. PRF
14. W. Ferry
15. Cypress
16. E.Worry

The Roxy Theatre was a nice venue, I enjoyed the low stage and vibes of the room, and the sound quality was above average. As far as the crowd goes, everyone I spoke with was from the Midwest or East Coast. Clutch isn’t your typical Los Angeles style of music, and I sometimes wonder if this band should even go anywhere west of Central Standard Time. These people out here just don’t get the working-class mentality of a band like Clutch, which could explain why the show didn’t sell out.

And since you all enjoy rants on opening bands, let me tell you that you will get none complaining about Year Long Disaster. These guys were quite a talented, technical three-piece, and I’d love to see them open again.

So if you were at this show and wanted to hear more old stuff - come back next time. Neil will be healthy, the setlist will be longer and with an encore, and they’ll play a bit of everything. But with Clutch, we’ll take whatever we can get, and odds are, it’ll still be one of the best shows you’ve ever seen.

For a full photo album of this show, click here. You can also check out Clutch’s latest album, From Beale Street to Oblivion, here

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03.19.07

Guest Writer Brian - Music Review: Dark Tranquillity - Fiction

Posted in Guest Writers, Music Reviews at 9:49 pm

Tonight I’ve decided to post the first of a few different rants from my friend, Brian. We often discuss music and sports via e-mail, along with the usual conversations about Life, The Universe, and Everything.

And now, for Brian’s take on this album:

I’ve tried hard to like it, but it’s the same exact thing as their last 3 cds. I’ve listened to it 3 times in the past week, and nobody home. I’m just not getting it. This band couldn’t write a hook if their lives depended on it. They are the masters of forgettable songs, I can listen to these songs 50 times in a row and not remember anything about them.

They just play it way too safe for me. They really need to mix it up and try and expand on their sound. They are the opposite of a sell out thats for certain. You know exactly what you are going to get with a Dark Tranqullity record. I feel exhausted after listening to them, 60+ minutes of music that I have tried my best to ‘get’ but I just don’t. Maybe Im getting old, but there has to be some hook to a song. Something has to make me want to come back.

For some reason, I really want to like that band. I keep buying their cds, I keep hoping their songs will click, but they just never do. At some point, I have to accept the fact that they are a boring heavy metal band. Nice guys, true to their art, hard working,etc, but at the end of the day, boring. Too much work for me. I shouldn’t have to work to like something when there is music like Blackfield II out that knocks you on your ass from the very first note.

The Gallery, The Minds I, Projector, they all had hooks, all of sudden they released Haven and it was all over, since that cd, every song has sounded exactly the same.

And there you have it. Thanks Brian!

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