Thoughts Without Words: Trifecta albums

Remember when I used to blog? Anyway, it has been awhile.

So I was thinking the other day about bands that released 3 albums in a row that are just "all killer, no filler". And as I thought about it more, I realized that making 3 great albums in a row is very hard. This post will look at some of my favorite bands and see if they every had a trifecta.


Metallica: definitely. I would say they hit 4 in a row. Their 1st 4 albums are all classics. But if you were to narrow it down to 3 I would say Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, and And Justice for All. 

Megadeth: Yes. They actually could lay claim that their first 5 albums are all classics. But I would also go with their 2nd half albums, The World Needs a Hero, The System has Failed, and United Abominations. 

Trivium: Nope. This hurts cause I love Trivium. Their debut and Ascendancy are good, but The Crusade ruins that run. Shogun and In Waves started it up again, only to be stopped by Vengeance Falls. And their last two albums aren't the beginning of a trifecta run either.

Shadows Fall: Yep. Of One Blood, The Art of Balance & The War Within. In fact, if not for Threads of Life, Shadows Fall could have had the perfect run.

Killswitch Engage: Nope. Alive or Just Breathing & End of Heartache are classics. As Daylight Dies kills that one though. ADD doesn't bring anything new to the game so to speak. And the songs, just don't compare. They almost did it again with Killswitch Engage II & Disarm the Descent, but Incarnate was just above average.

All That Remains:  Nope. Their debut & The Fall of Ideals are classics. Their sophomore album is just blah. Sounds too much like KsE. Overcome is ok, but For We are Many is the beginning of the end of this band.

Into Eternity: Nope. Buried in Oblivion and Scattering of Ashes are solid, but Incurable Tragedy is too short and Dead or Dreaming suffers from some poor production.

In Flames: Yes. Whoracle, Colony, and Clayman are classics in Swedish Death Metal. Come Clarity & Sounds of a Playground Fading are great as well, but unfortunately that middle album A Sense of Purpose is just mediocre.

Nevermore: Yes. Like Shadows Fall, they come close to running the table. Their debut is un-listenable to me. But Politics of Ecstasy through This Godless Endeavor are all great examples of modern thrash metal.


Those are basically most of the bands I listen to and you can see only 5 really have done it. If I went to rock I would say Aerosmith and Guns N Roses.

Who Decides: Mid-Albums of the Year 2011

This will probably be the hardest year for me putting together a Top 10 list.  If this list isn't already packed, I have Trivium, In Flames, Sepultura, Dead by April, Blood Stain Child, Unearth, Anthrax and who knows what else.  It's an awesome year for metal music, so let's get started;

1(tie).  Mercenary - Metamorphosis: I talked about this album HERE already.  And there isn't much I can add.  It's near perfection. Each song is heavy & catchy with killer vocals.  I'm not sure what else you could ask for in a metal album.

1(tie).  Times of Grace - Times of Grace: Reviewed HERE.  This isn't a more "metal" album than Mercenary, but it is a more complete album.  You have some acoustic tracks, some doom-like tracks, and some classic metal tracks.  It's a great album.  The worst part for both of these albums is that they might not end up number 1 at the end of the year.

3.  Cavalera Conspiracy - Blunt Force Trauma:  I was not a fan of Infliked or the last two Soulfly albums, but this one hits the spot for me.  It is very light on the whole "tribal metal", but Marc Rizzo definitely makes up for it with his guitar work.  For some reason I feel like I am listening to some NWOBHM with harsh vocals thrown on top of it.  Right now, this is my surprise album of the year.

From here on out, these albums can change from day to day.  It's not like they aren't good, they are so good it's difficult to put them in order.

4.  Before the Fall - Antibody: brutal modern industrial style metal.  I have always had a soft spot for bands like Fear Factory, Strapping Young Lad, and Divine Hersey, and Before the Fall are in that same vein.  Don't hold your breath waiting for that clean chorus...cause it ain't coming.

5.  Lazarus A.D. - Black Rivers Flow: a more mature Lazarus A.D. shows up this time around.  Still thrash-oriented, but they aren't afraid to slow it down and push the envelope.  Some real solid metal here for classic metal fans.

6.  Sylosis - Edge of the Earth: this one reminds me a little of Machine Head's The Blackening.  It is a long album and takes some time to digest.  Musically it sounds a lot like Metallica's classic albums of MoP, RtL, and AJFA.  Vocally, mainly harsh screams.  It works, but I think the lack of variety hurts this just a bit.

7.  Deadlock - Bizzaro World:  I talked about it HERE.  It's solid, nothing new, but nothing bad if you liked their last 3 albums.  I said they were going into that KsE path of writing the same music over and over again.  I'm not sure another album like this will work.

8.  Soul Cycle - Soul Cycle: Soul Cycle play instrumental classic thrash metal.  It's good.  I talked about the high amount of solid instrumental albums HERE earlier.  If you like thrash and don't need vocals to enjoy the music...this is a must.

9.  Amaranthe - Amaranthe: I talked about them last year and finally the album is here.  This is pop metal at its best.  Female, clean male, and harsh male vocals really works well here.  If you don't mind keyboards playing a big part of the music, then try this.

10. Tyrant of Death - Dark Space: another instrumental album.  Think SYL meets Fear Factory without the vocals.  It's great heavy metal...the guitars and drumming are insane.

This can change any day because bands like DevilDriver, The Haunted, Protest the Hero, The Human Abstract, Inside It Grows, Titans Eve, Degradead, Arch Enemy, Izegrim, Artas, Circles, and Mygrain have all released solid albums.  Each one of the bands mentioned could easily end up in the top 10.

But just do some quick math, there are 10 above, plus the 12 that barely missed out, and the 7 known albums that haven't been released.  That's 29 albums I am looking at trying to narrow to 10.  good luck to me.

Music Non Stop: one more In Flames song

Enter Tragedy.

This album isn't too bad. I know I wasn't expecting too much after A Sense of Purpose, but from the 3 songs I have heard so far, the album is shaping up to be better than A Sense of Purpose and Soundtrack to Your Escape.

I really like that guitar tone they have on these songs. It sounds more like Come Clarity than anything else.

Music Non Stop: New In Flames - A New Dawn

Well maybe this song will stay on youtube longer than Deliver Us did. Anyway, another solid song. I can't find anything to complain about here. After A Sense of Purpose, I had lost hopes for another solid album, but this one is shaping up to be something special.

Music Non Stop: In Flames - Deliver Us video

I played the song already, but they released a video for it now. I actually think this one song is better than a majority of A Sense of Purpose, enjoy.

Music Non Stop: New Dead by April

This has been a fun year for music. It started off pretty strong and slowed down a bit the last month or so, but it looks like it will pick up the next few months again. Anthrax, Trivium, In Flames, Nightrage, and more are set to release albums still. And speaking of Nightrage, their former lead vocalist's band Dead by April will be releasing their album this summer too. I have heard some demos of the new album and another song, Within My Heart, was just released and it seems a little heavier than More Than Yesterday.

These guys are pretty good at making metal that has a super catchy chorus. I would have liked to seen the keys moved to the back a bit more and the guitars up more, but I guess that didn't happen.  Another album to look forward to.

It's going to be tough to do a Top 10 mid albums of the year this year...easily the toughest list so far.

Music Non Stop: In Flames - Deliver Us

I like In Flames. I can't deny it. They were one of the first bands that got me into the heavier type of metal with Clayman. If I had to describe that earlier sound it was almost like Iron Maiden with harsh/death vocals. Well like other bands, their sound evolved. The band that put out Whoracle & Clayman is pretty much gone. They came close to recapturing that early sound on Come Clarity. Sense of Purpose, their last album, was bland...and I think that is being nice. That was probably their first album since Whoracle that I just couldn't "get into". Reroute to Remain & Soundtrack to Your Escape were solid with Reroute to Remain actually being one of my top 3 In Flames albums.

Well enough rambling about the past. They have a new album coming out, Sounds of a Playground Fading. Not the most metal sounding title, but it's In Flames, I'll give it a chance. Their first single, Deliver Us, came out and it has a sort of Reroute to Remain/Come Clarity feel to it. I know it is one song, but it's not as bad as I was thinking it would be.

Music Non Stop: "Should Own" metal albums part 1

So I will now start taking a look at some albums which are really good albums, some of them are what I like to call "genre definers"... meaning they define that genre of metal, duh. Now I don't think they deserve to be in the Must Own category I did awhile back, but they are great albums and if you are a fan of metal you should own them.
In Flames - Clayman; This, to me, is an album that defines what Swedish Death Metal is. I can't remember what got me to pick up this album or get me into listening to In Flames, but I am glad I did. Every song on this album is perfect or near perfection. The strong guitar harmonies almost gives you the impression you are listening to British Heavy Metal, listen to As the Future Repeats Today's solo. But in case there was any doubt the vocals come in and it definitely isn't Bruce Dickinson singing. And Anders Fridén does a great job of going from death to some what clean on this album. On the subsequent albums he adds more clean vocals into the harmonies. He is a great vocalist, in fact I put him on my list of top metal vocalists. The keyboards are present on this album, but for atmosphere purposes only. Don't expect a keyboard solo on this album. Some say this is their best album. I would put it in the top 3 for sure. Reroute to Remain is great as well as is Come Clarity. I will probably hit those later.




Lacuna Coil - Comalies; Once again not sure how I picked this one up or what got me to listen to a band with a female lead singer, but I am glad I did. When I hear someone say they are "Gothic Metal" I immediately compare it to this album. You know when you pick up an album and start listening to it waiting for that first song to skip? Well you won't hit that here. The music is beautiful. It is the perfect combination. The guitars are heavy enough to let you know it is metal, but the keyboards and some symphonic elements are used to enhance the overall feel of the album. The combination of a female vocalist, Cristina Scabbia, and a male vocalist, Andrea Ferro, really strengthens the dynamic of the album. You have guitars, keyboards with a slight symphonic feel, angelic vocals, and masculine vocals. The first time I heard the album it was almost too much to take in.

In addition to this, there is no guitar solos. They aren't needed here as the music takes care of it. When you get used to Cristina's vocals as the lead then you get a song like Daylight Dancer which splits them almost equally, if not more for Andrea. Lacuna Coil would go away from this sound for their next album, Karmacode. That album brought the nickname La'Korn'a Coil. Despite the change, it too, is a great album, but not as important and good as this one. By the way, I talked about this album years ago...HERE. Funny to see how I still view it as a huge part of music.

Soulfly - Dark Ages; This to me captures the feel of what "Tribal metal" should be. I am sure there are those who think Sepultura's Roots is the birth of tribal metal and it probably is. I talked about both Sepultura's Roots and Soulfly's Dark Ages before and after I went back and read them, they still hold up well. For those who don't want to click the link...I will say that Soulfly's Dark Ages is a continuation of where Sepultura was with Chaos A.D. After Chaos A.D., Sepultura released Roots, which was so different. I'm not talking just the tribal chants and musical direction (some of that was present on Chaos A.D.), but the guitars downtuned and it was really had a nu-metal feel to it. Whereas with Dark Ages, the tribal influences are still there. Take a look at I and I, it goes from blistering thrash to this serene calm interlude then back to the thrash. Or Staystrong with its perfect bleed into Soulfly V. This seems to be the last of the "tribal metal" from Soulfly with their next two albums going back to more of a punk/thrash metal. I would hope that they would return to this style sooner rather than later.


So that's my first part of "Should Own" metal albums. I still want to finish my reflections of teaching this past year...focusing on the students. But I have to do something first before I can move forward with it.

Futureal: 2010 albums

New year...new tag. Futureal tags will be for predicting things, like upcoming albums, shows, or whatever hasn't happened yet.

So with 2009 closing and 2010 just starting, what am I looking forward to? Well here is a quick "wish list" if you will.

Anthrax: they were supposed to release Worship Music in October, but dumped there lead singer, Dan Nelson. From the videos I saw, the new album was a lot heavier than anything they had done before... think Testament's Low through The Gathering (yes include Demonic). Supposedly they are back with John Bush, which is great, but I hope they don't sacrifice the music.

As I Lay Dying: their albums have gotten better with each release. An Ocean Between Us was great. No filler at all. I don't want to have too high of hopes, but I already do. I really want this one to be great. It is one of those things you try to avoid, but like I said this one is way up there for me.

Fear Factory: Dino is back and from what I have heard it is classic FF. I thought the last album was too much of a metal rocker type album instead of industrial metal.

Beyond the Embrace: maybe? Their first two albums are great, but then nothing. On their Myspace page, there was a hint of a new album this year. Crossing my fingers here.

Trivium: no brainer here. Shogun was great and I hope the follow up is a lot better than The Crusade was to Ascendancy.

Into Eternity: haven't heard anything, but I am hoping for a new one from these guys.

All That Remains: see above.

In Flames: A Sense of Purpose was ok. That's it. Come Clarity was great. Maybe they rushed with A Sense of Purpose who knows. I am hoping for something like CC or even Reroute to Remain.

That's about it. I think this should be a good year. Last year was so slow until June or July then it got crazy. Hopefully, I won't have to wait until June to hear something great.

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Now playing: Brides of Destruction - Life
via FoxyTunes

Spotlight: In Flames - Reroute to Remain

So last week we listened to some Swedish death metal and we didn't listen to this album at all because I wanted to listen to the whole thing. Now this isn't In Flames' best album, but it defintely is in their top 3 for me. This was one of the last In Flames albums I picked up because most reviews said they went nu-metal and sounded like Korn. That right there is enough to keep me away from it. I just remember thinking one day... what the heck? and picked it up. I really was surprised how different it sounded from Clayman (which was their previous album before this one). Gone were the Iron Maiden twin guitar harmonies, in its place was a thick bass/guitar tone. And yeah there were parts that reminded me of some nu-metal and Korn. But there was no rapping and no beat box goin on here.

There were still some fast songs, in fact there are alot. But the missing harmonies I think really pissed off a lot of older fans. The harmonies were now in the vocals. For me there is absolutely no fillers on this album. I think it is the big choruses that get me. From Cloud Connected to Free Fall they are just great sing a long type choruses.

With Soundtrack to Your Escape (their follow-up) they added a little bit more of their traditional sound. And with Come Clarity, most of the nu-metal sound is all but gone. But the nice thing is that they kept the great choruses.

In Flames have a new album coming out in a few weeks...I will defintely be getting this one ASAP.

Playlist for the week:
Entire album

New albums....2008

Is it too early to talk about my favorite albums of the year? I am so impressed by about 3 albums that right now could easily be in my top 10 this year. Protest the Hero's Fortress, Biomechanical's Cannabilised, and from what I have Mercenary's Architect of Lies. And this year we will also see a new In Flames album. I have heard the first song from it and it really didn't hit me like Take This Life did, but who knows right? A new Metallica album by the end of the year.

I am a little disappointed in Bullet for My Valentine's latest Scream Aim Fire. It's ok, but nothing great. A little too commercial sound for me. Ya know. I am also pulling for Guns N Roses to finally release Chinese Democracy. Beyond the Embrace is due for a follow-up to the Insect Song as well.

You might be thinking "that's only 5-6 albums...not even close to 10." Keep in mind it's only February. And these are albums by bands I know. I didn't know about Lazarus before last year and that album is still in heavy rotation on my ipod. Cavalera Conspiracy should be good because I keep hearing it being compared to older Sepultura. So who knows. You never know about music. Keep an open mind and see what comes your way right?

Spotlight: Swedish Death Metal

So after a week from hell, we finally get back to some music. So how did I get into SDM? I really can't remember. I think it was after listening to some Shadows Fall, I was ok with the death vocals. So I read about In Flames touring with someone...can't remember, and I decided to pick up an album. The album I picked out(Clayman) was probably their best album ever... or a close 2nd. Why? Because of the album cover....cool huh?
Some great songs on this album. In fact, I would go ahead and say there are no fillers on this thing. It's that good. After I got this album, I checked out their others and they are all good albums. I picked up Reroute to Remain last because I read that it was a nu-metal album. Now we will be listening to that album next week, so I will get to that later.

In Flames is releasing a new album this year, A Sense of Purpose. Come Clarity was a great album, better than Soundtrack to Your Escape so expectations are high. Seriously, just watch the video for the first song on the album Take this Life. Fast drums, tight guitar playing, and a catchy chorus. What else could you ask for in a song, right?

If you like In Flames, Soilwork is a natural fit as well. The two bands are pretty identical except Soilwork uses more keyboards and super clean/catchy choruses. I got into them from A Predator's Portrait on. All the albums are pretty similar, which can be a bad thing, but not if it is done right. And Soilwork does it right. Sworn to a Great Divide came out at the end of last year and I haven't had a lot of time to check it out...unfortunately.

For me Swedish death metal is different than Gothenburg metal because of the use of keyboards. Some say a band like At the Gates or The Haunted play the same style of music as In Flames...uhhh no they don't.




Playlist for the week:
Monday(last week): Warpath, Fearless from Virus by Hypocrisy
Tues./Wed.: Take This Life, Dead End, Vacuum from Come Clarity by In Flames
Thursday: The Flameout, Nerve from Natural Born Chaos & Stabbing the Drama by Soilwork
Friday: My Sweet Shadow, Only for the Weak, Touch of Red from Come Clarity, Clayman, and Soundtrack to Your Escape by In Flames.

In Flames - Come Clarity

Wow... 2 posts in one day!!! What is the world coming to? Anyway let me continue from this mornings In Flames post. First off, I kept quoting the "death metal" category because In Flames to me is Swedish Death Metal. They really started that whole sound. Now you will also see it as Gothenburg Metal, but for me Swedish Death metal.

Ok so I left off with their last two albums Reroute to Remain and Soundtrack to Your Escape. RtR was a huge experiment for the band after the successful Clayman. Despite what most fans think, I personally loved the album for it's daring change of style. Soundtrack to Your Escape kept some of the elements from RtR, but also mixed in some of the speed from earlier albums.

So last year they brought us Come Clarity. This album was a natural follow up to StYE. It continued to mix the styles, but with more of an emphasis on Clayman. Why? How about the return of the twin guitars, speed, and awesome solos...while keeping the vocal melody they started with RtR and StYE. When I first heard the single Take This Life I was floored. The intial speed and brutality was unmistakable, then the chorus was so beautiful it shocked the hell out of me. So what you get on this album is that perfect combination of Clayman's speed & solos with RtR/StYE melodies. The album on the whole is a very solid album, minus the sing-a-long Scream. There is also a female vocalist on one song, Dead End. It is a nice change of pace and she doesn't overshadow the rest of the band so it's not a big deal. In fact it's one of my favorite songs on the album.

In Flames' Myspace (Take This Life, Leeches, Come Clarity, A Touch of Red)

In Flames...my first "death metal band"

Well after all of those depressing posts it's time to get back to work with what I always imagined this blog to be about...music. So a few days ago I mentioned how I had been listening to female fronted metal for awhile. Well as it would happen that day when I was working out I happened to listen to some In Flames (they have a song with a female guest vocalist on their latest album) and realized just how great of a band this is. So how did I find out about this band? To be honest I can't remember, but I do remember picking up Clayman for the first time. Check out that cover. Sweet. Now as I said this was my first "death metal band"...I really couldn't understand anything they said, but the music was awesome. It sounded like Iron Maiden on steroids. Twin guitars, beautiful solos, rapid drumming...just too awesome. The first song I heard from In Flames was Only for the Weak, this song is more of a mid-tempo metal song. So when I started listening to the rest of the album I was blown away.

Now when I started listening to In Flames, they had already released 2 more albums. I decided to look at some reviews to see what they thought. Reroute to Remain was the follow-up and most fans bashed it left and right as a nu-metal sell out album. Soundtrack to Your Escape was next, the reviews were a little bit better. But the common theme was that they couldn't match up with Clayman. Well I didn't pick up any of those albums until I was watching Headbanger's Ball and saw the video for A Touch of Red and My Sweet Shadow. Those songs were pretty solid and so I decided to bite the bullet and pick them up. As I listened to it, it sounded like a combination of Korn and Clayman. I defintely heard some nu-metal, but it wasn't all nu-metal. I was totally different than Clayman. So after enjoying that album I felt like I wanted to try Reroute to Remain. Highlights of Soundtrack to Your Escape include A Quite Place, A Touch of Red, My Sweet Shadow (my personal favorite), and Dead Alone.

Now RtR is defintely more nu-metal. But there is no rapping on it. The first time I listened to it, I turned it off and bashed it on some metal boards like everyone else. Now if I had to compare it to Metallica, I would say RtR is like Metallica's Load albums. They are solid albums, but they aren't metal like Metallica's albums. In fact, years later I find RtR to be one of my favorite In Flames albums. The mood is different. The twin guitars are gone, most of the solos are gone. There is more of an emphasis on song structure and melodies. There is even a super ballad...kind of a country feel to it. When I listen to this album now, I pretty much listen to it from start to finish. There isn't alot of filler on it. I think it's because the music is so different from everything else they have done it makes it more enjoyable. Hands down my favorite song on this album is Free Fall.

This has gotten pretty long...I think I will save their latest album for another day. But I will say this about it, it is more of a return to Clayman than RtR or Soundtrack.


In Flames' Myspace (Take This Life, Leeches, Come Clarity, A Touch of Red)