life, and a little more

Best Music of 2008

Dec 30

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[viddler id=d6ec4d57&w=437&h=392]

Metallica Lyrics to Live By?

Nov 17

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Stop what you are doing and take a minute to listen to the song below. As you listen, scroll down and read the lyrics that go with the music.  Even if you don’t like metal, listen to the song!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxgc4PCklnI]

Metallica - Broken, Beat & Scarred lyrics

You rise, you fall, you're down then you rise again
What don't kill ya make ya more strong
You rise, you fall, you're down then you rise again
What don't kill ya make ya more strong

Rise, fall, down, rise again
What don't kill ya make ya more strong
Rise, fall, down, rise again
What don't kill ya make ya more strong

Through black days, through black nights
Through pitch black insides

Breaking your teeth on the hard life coming
(Show your scars)
Cutting your feet on the hard earth running
(Show your scars)
Breaking your life, broken, beat and scarred
But we die hard

The dawn, the death, the fight to the final breath
What don't kill ya make ya more strong
The dawn, the death, the fight to the final breath
What don't kill ya make ya more strong

Dawn, death, fight, final breath
What don't kill ya make ya more strong
Dawn, death, fight, final breath
What don't kill ya make ya more strong

They scratch me, they scrape me
They cut and rape me

Breaking your teeth on the hard life coming
(Show your scars)
Cutting your feet on the hard earth running
(Show your scars)
Breaking your life, broken, beat and scarred
But we die hard

Breaking your teeth on the hard life coming
(Show your scars)
Cutting your feet on the hard earth running
(Show your scars)
Bleeding your soul in a hard luck story
(Show your scars)
Spilling your blood in the hot sun's glory
(Show your scars)
Breaking your life, broken, beat and scarred
We die hard
We die hard
We die hard

Lyrics | Metallica - Broken, Beat & Scarred lyrics

If nothing else, you have to give James Hetfield credit for the poetic force of his lyrics. This is one strong song and the music that is delivered behind the lyrics pushes the song into metal legend.  It energizes the listener and makes him just want to lift something heavy or do some feat of greatness!

But beyond that, believe it or not, this song actually reminds me of some words written by the Apostle Paul, the guy that wrote two thirds of the New Testament (bet you weren’t expecting that, eh?)

In the book of  Second Corinthians, chapter 6 Paul says this:

3 We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry. 4 In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. 5 We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. 6 We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. 7 We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense. 8 We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors. 9 We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. 10 Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.

One might wonder how in all that is good and holy could I connect a Metallica song with the Sacred Scripture?  Well, I have come to finally understand that all truth is God’s truth and I can take the poetic lyric of Metallica and yes, it can help me ruminate and meditate on what God has done for me!  Crazy, eh?

Even though we might go some through some crazy stuff in this life, it makes us stronger and
can actually bring us into a closer relationship with our Creator.

Is there a bigger point to this blog? Not really. Just a very cool secular song reminded of
some very cool sacred writings!

Iron Metallic Ivory

Nov 12

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I’m a hypocrite…I’ll admit it.  Yesterday I wrote that I was taking a break and yet, here I am posting a new entry today!  What gives?

Well, as you might know, I’m rebuilding my music library, and as I was looking over music to put back into iTunes, I ran across two albums that really caught my eye (ear?)

The first album is entitled Pianotarium: A Piano Tribute to Metallica by Scott D. Davis.

This is from Mr. Davis’ official website:

Pianist/composer Scott D. Davis has been referred to as “the rocker of new age/contemporary classical music”. Perhaps New Age Reporter best described him by saying “his exuberance and originality are invigorating and his upbeat attitude contagious.”

Interestingly enough, if you ask Scott about his musical background he might surprise you. He comes not from a background of polished piano music, but grew up a typical 1980′s teenager strongly under the influences of such progressive rock artists as Rush, Queensrÿche, and Metallica. Scott pursued rock music as a career throughout his college years, playing keyboards for a number of local bands

I have to say that Mr. Davis really captures the mood and emotion of the songs he covers.  The piano is actually quite haunting at times.  Below is Master of Puppets, piano style:

[audio=https://dl-web.getdropbox.com/get/Music/03%20Master%20of%20Puppets.mp3?w=323166e5]

Davis does choose a good variety of songs to cover, as well as adding three original compositions.  Here is the track listing for the album.

1. “Enter Sandman” – 5:39
2. “Until It Sleeps” – 4:27
3. “Master Of Puppets” – 8:44
4. “The Unforgiven” – 6:06
5. “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” – 6:23
6. “Nothing Else Matters” – 6:02
7. “One” – 6:17
8. “Fade To Black” – 6:49
9. “The Renewal – I – Lament” – 2:28
10. “The Renewal – II – Inner Battle” – 3:50
11. “The Renewal – III – Return to Sanity” – 3:53

The second album is another piano tribute, but this album gives tribute to metal gods Iron Maiden.

Scott Lavender has released The Piano Tribute to Iron Maiden.  Lavender takes some very classic Iron Maiden songs and translates them into piano interludes that, for the most part, capture the magic of Iron Maiden.

Information about Mr. Lavender was hard to find, but here is what I did scrounge up:

Scott Lavender is a both a talented conductor as well as a fantastic pianist, he has worked with the National Symphony, Detroit Symphony, The Los Angeles Philharmonic and many more. He holds a Bachelors Degree for Music in Piano Performance from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. After this he was awarded a Masters Degree in Instrumental Conducting from California State University. (found here)

Mr Lavender selects some wonderful Iron Maiden covers.  The tracklisting is:

1. Two Minutes to Midnight [6:33]
2. Wasted Years [5:11]
3. Can I Play with Madness [3:46]
4. The Trooper [4:54]
5. Brave New World [5:04]
6. Run to the Hills [3:49]
7. Caught Somewhere in Time [5:55]
8. Aces High [4:46]
9. Hallowed Be Thy Name [6:55]
10. Flight of Icarus [3:55]
11. Number of the Beast [6:02]
12. Eddie’s Lament (Original Track) [4:49]

I do like this album, but the piano sounds a little thin and tinny at times.  It sounds like Mr. Lavender has done an almost note for note translation of music, which normally wouldn’t bother me.  But after hearing Pianotarium and hearing the heart of the songs revealed with much passion and vigor, The Piano Tribute to Iron Maiden could seem a little lackluster.  The album artwork for this album is much better than the Metallica Tribute though!

Listen for yourself.  Below is the track Two Minutes to Midnight:

[audio=https://dl-web.getdropbox.com/get/Music/01%20Two%20Minutes%20To%20Midnight.mp3?w=91076491]

The Monster that is Death Magnetic

Sep 04

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As you’ve probably heard by now, Metallica’s long awaited album, Death Magnetic, was leaked onto the internet yesterday.  Being the eager fan that I am, I of course downloaded it, just to make sure it wasn’t craptastic like the last album, St. Anger.

I’m so glad to say that Death Magnetic has surpassed all my wildest expectations!  And yes, Lars, I’ll still be buying the album when it is released in 2 weeks.

Death Magnetic is one of those rare albums where every song is a masterpiece.  There is no filler here.  I’ve been listening to it for 2 days straight now and can’t get enough!  The real test will be listening to Death Magnetic with head phones while I work out.  I can guarantee it will get my blood flowing.

If you are interested in checking out the lyrics, you can find them here.

See the new video below:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlahvvymkxc]

Cyanide – Metallica’s New Song

Aug 15

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzxoMpfNwEM]

Found this on youtube and got me excited for the new album.  Not exactly a return to Master of Puppets, but sure is light years better than St. Anger!!

I love the bass from Robert Trujillo.  He is turning into one of my favorite bass players!

Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden

Jul 29

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So I’m in my car yesterday and I catch the tail end of the local DJ saying “And that was Metallica’s new single, a cover of Iron Maiden’s Remember Tomorrow”.  Craptastic! How’d I miss that?  Metallica covering Maiden?  Can you say freakin’ awesome!

I do a quick Google search when I get home and find the album on which this song resides.  It is called Maiden Heaven:  A Tribute to Iron Maiden. Now this is a monster tribute album!  It is mostly great, with a few sucky covers thrown in for good measure.

Black Tide starts us off, and boy do they.  Their cover of Prowler is amazing.  Black Tide pulls off the energy and feeling of the song.

Next up is Metallica, covering Remember Tomorrow.  Awesome song!  Metallica stomps and pushes and thrashes their way through it.  Great to hear Metallica on top of their game again.

Avenged Sevenfold nails Flash of the Blade.  I’m liking them more and more as I listen to them.

Glamour of the Kill (who?)  tries to cover the classic 2 Minutes to Midnight and just can’t pull it off.  They sound like some bad 80′s glam band trying to sound tough. 

Coheed and Cambria step things up with their cover of The Trooper.  Although the singer’s voice is, um, unique, it still fits with the song.

Devildriver delivers one of the worst covers on the record.  Those cookie monster vocals just don’t give the song what is needed.

Maybe I spoke to soon….as Sign slaughters Run To the Hills.  How the crap did this band get onto the record?  I know covers are tricky.  You want to stamp the song with your own touch, but you have to pay homage to the original.  You would never ever in a million years recognize this song as the Run To The Hills that all Maiden fans love.

Thankfully Dream Theater does a phenomenal job on the next song, To Tame A Land.  Dream Theater is a natural fit on this cd.  They have their own bootleg album, where they covered the entire Number of the Beast record.  That is a must own for any DT or Iron Maiden fan!

Madina Lake (again, who?) gives us crap with a version of Caught Somewhere In Time that is sucky and horrible and should never have been made.

Gallows covers one of my all time favorite Maiden songs, Wrathchild.  This version is punky/hardcore, but still lets you know it is an Iron Maiden song.  Personally, I like Ultimatum’s cover way better.

Fear of the Dark is covered by a band named Fightstar. It isn’t bad.  They keep the feel of the song pretty well.

Machine Head rumbles in with Hallowed Be Thy Name and they rip it up (in a good way!)  This is a straight cover, almost note for note, and it sounds great!

Trivium brings us Iron Maiden and they do a good job too.  Again, the sound of the song is mostly kept, but with a lot of the growling vocals that Trivium is known for.

Year Long Disaster tries to cover Running Free, but like all of the alternative bands, they just can’t pull it off.  Sounds like a bad sleaze band trying to sound cool.

This last song, Brave New World, is performed by Ghostlines and it is soooooooooooo horrible that it barely deserves mention.  Sounds like The Cure or some crap like that.  How the heck did this even make it on the album?

All in all, this is a great tribute to one of the greatest Metal bands that has ever graced our planet.  It is worth the download!

Back To the Front with some fantastic Metallica news

Jun 06

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I subscribe to a blog entitled Sleaze Roxx which is all about classic metal news.  Today they posted two awesome news items for us long time Metallica fans.

First, an initial review of the new album!  Here is the story:

METALLICA PREVIEWS NEW SONGS TO CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE:

June 4, 2008 Classic Rock was among a select band of rock journalists to hear a taster from the new Metallica album today. At present untitled, the band’s new record has been nicknamed by management “Nine epics and one song”. We heard six of ‘em – unmixed and all unnamed (we guess at some of the titles in our track by track, below).

Classic Rock was one of the few magazines to give the band’s last album, St. Anger, a bad review on its release, Philip Wilding giving it 2/5. “It’s unfettered hell-for-leather nonsense pretty much from beginning to end,” he wrote. “Forget nuance or gravitas – or Metallica, for that matter – this is latter-day heavy metal pulverised into a risible mush that owes as much to rock music’s deviation in the last three years, as to the credible legend that Metallica have built and cultivated since the early 80s.

“This, you reason, must be the sound of a mid-life crisis…”

The following year’s documentary Some Kind Of Monster let fans see exactly that – the creative and personal meltdown that occurred during the creative process.

So is the new album the sound of conquering heroes? Or just the sound of some multi-millionaires with a franchise to exploit? Does it try too hard to please – or is it the sound of a band who know they’ve got everything to prove and the year is their’s for the taking?

Maybe it’s the one multi-million-selling triumph that will actually get some radio airplay without resorting to Chili Peppers-style bland-outs. Maybe it’s a re-hash of former glories. Maybe it’s too little too late. Or maybe it’s some metal masters showing the young pretenders how to do it (with riffs and solos and, y’know, singing – not growling).

Are the lyrics the work of a middle-aged doofus with a rhyming dictionary? Or are they the work of thrash titans who’ve found a voice and created fittingly intense music for these intense times?

The jury is out until we can spend some quality time with the album. Until then, this is what we heard…

Track one – (working title ‘Flamingo’)

Opens with a lightly chorus guitar riff, slightly reminiscent of Sandman, a hugely long intro before a gruff, Hetfield patented “three four” breaks down into a Slayer-ish thrashy riff barrage.

The drum sound is infinitely better than St Anger. Includes a serious wah-wah breakdown and several, distinct melodic chorus refrains. Could be a good radio bet – there’s no mistaking that it’s a Metallica song.

Which is more than could be said of St Anger. Back in the early 00s, of course, Nu Metal producer/overlord Ross Robinson famously banned guitar solos from albums by the likes of Slipknot. That Metallica – metal’s biggest band – seemed to toe the line with this philosophy in order to win the kids over beggared belief.

The good news? The guitar solos are back. With a vengeance. Hammett has been let back off the leash – this track even sees him breaking open the whammy pedal again for a spot of Tom Morello-esque tomfoolery.

Its false ending even fooled the guy from management who has heard it several times before!

Track two – (aka The Single)

It’s an eight-minute behemoth. Intro has elements of techno metal, vaguely reminiscent of Queensryche’s Silent Lucidity clean picked guitar sound (think Martha & the Muffins’ Echo Beach on downers).

It’s a Metallica power ballad – whoever thought a Met song would ever feature the line ‘Love is a four-letter word’? – and it follows more traditional lines than their previous forays into balladry.

Just when you think it might be a little meandering, The Single breaks down with a Battery-style riff and Hammett and Hetfield let rip with a twin-guitar Thin Lizzy-style solo. Nice.

The solo doesn’t stop there, Hammett takes centre stage and ramps it up with a very technical, Iron Maiden fret melting solo.

Track three (suggested title: ‘Scars’ or ‘We Die Hard’)

A take-no-prisoners bludgeoner, with its repeated refrain of ‘What won’t kill you makes you more strong’. Is this the sound of Metallica reacting to their troubles of recent years (St A’s bad reception and their struggles documented on Some Kind Of Monster)? “You rise, you fall, you’re down and you rise again”. Features a very abstract Hammett solo.

Track four (suggested title: ‘The Judas Kiss’ or ‘Bow Down’)

‘When you think it’s all said and done/Sell your soul to me/Bow down to me/I will set you free.’ Hetfield takes on the role of an alter-ego demon in this monster Maiden-esque bruiser.

Lots of traditional Metallica stoppy-starty stuff, wrapped around Lars’ military tattoo-style drum work.

Track five (suggested title: ‘To End This War’)

Opens with a clean rolling bassline (with a slight Motley Crue Dr Feelgood vibe to it?). Lot more of Trujillo on this record, with some sneaky fills/solo bass stuff.

Breaks down into a old-school chuggy riff. It’s sorta Iron Maiden meets Born To Be Wild. Massive guitars.

Then, after an extended instumental break a new mid-paced melody appears over the top of more clean guitar section.

Hammett is keeping up with OTT solos, and there’s more dual soloing between him and Hetfield than there has been for a while (shades of Lizzy, maybe UFO).

Track six (‘The Song’ says the management guy. Suggested title: ‘Into The Crypt’ or ‘My Apocalypse’ or ‘Crossed That Line’)

The shortest song on the album, clocks in a about 6 minutes (the rest average at about 8 minutes apiece).

A Reign In Blood-style riff monster,it’s probably the most ‘catchy’, and submits to the most traditional verse/chorus/breakdown format, but there is an awful lot going on.

Big drums on this one, coupled with out-of-control, “mere mortals will never play this”-style soloing from Kirk.

Will Metallica reclaim their position as metal gods? We’ll see at the end of the summer – rumours are that the album will be out mid September.

Courtesy of www.classicrockmagazine.com

 

Please oh please be a killer album!  Show these young guys how its done! 

If Metallica doesn’t put out an outstanding album, they are finished.  There are just too many up and coming thrash bands eager to make their mark on the metal scene.  Newer bands like Hatchet and Warbringer and Perzonal War are probably just as good as Metallica was back in the day. Older bands like Megadeth and Testament and Overkill and Helloween are still releasing incredible music.  Metallica HAS to put up or go home.

The second article that caught my eye is told a story of the ultimater merger:  Guitar Hero and Metallica!  Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is just being released and it is an all inclusive play on Aerosmith songs.  Now think of the same concept, but with Metallica songs!  I could possibly rock out to Blackened or Master of Puppets or Whiplash or Motorbreath!  That would be awesome!  Here is the article (originally found here): 

METALLICA MAKING THE VIRTUAL BAND:

June 4, 2008 And justice and video games for all…

Metallica has quietly teamed up with Activision to develop its own signature Guitar Hero, giving fans the opportunity to thrash along to many of the headbangers’ greatest hits.

The news first surfaced when an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities found a listing for Metallica’s version of the interactive title in a Securities and Exchange Commissions filing by game maker Activision, according to Billboard.

Then the San Francisco-based outfit dropped a few hints about its plans on the band’s official website.

“An all-Metallica Guitar Hero game…fact or fiction? Idle Internet gossip, wishful thinking, or the real deal?” read a post. “Let’s just say that perhaps, just maybe, if you’ve already mastered ‘One’ on GHIII there might be a pile of ‘Tallica songs in your future.”

Metallica said it will release more information this summer, but a 2008 release appears unlikely, with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith due out June 29 and Guitar Hero: On Tour (aka GH4) being targeted for the holiday shopping season.

In any case, the Metallica-minded Guitar Hero will probably follow the lead of the Aersomith edition.

Unlike previous band-branded GH installments, which simply include songs by the featured artists, the Boston band’s title not only features cuts from Aerosmith’s catalog, but also features animated versions of Steven Tyler and mates and a storyline in which players work their way up from small Beantown clubs to stadiums.

With Guitar Hero: Metallica taking a similar narrative approach, we can only hope to see a virtual Lars Ulrich smacking down Napster users. Now that’s entertainment.

Courtesy of www.eonline.com

 

 

I’ll buy this game the day it comes out!  That would be cool if they released their new album the same day as the game, with all the tracks doubling as Guitar Hero tracks!  Talk about interactive.

One last thing.  I was doing some yard work the other day while listening to Justice for All.  Am I the only one that thinks this album needs to be remastered and remixed?  Where the heck is the bass?

Did they hate Jason Newsted that much to just take him out of the mix?