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.

Right Now: Howard Jones out of KsE

What a crappy way to start off the new year with the news of Howard Jones leaving/fired from Killswitch Engage. I am a huge Jesse Leach fan, but if you have to have another singer for KsE it was Howard. End of Heartache is a classic and easily is up there with Alive or Just Breathing. I have always said those two albums were so much like Metallica's Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. Meaning the songs were similar and how both albums were at the top of their game.

What sucks is that their last album was a "return to form" so to speak after the mediocre Daylight Dies. I was really excited to see what they were going to come up with, especially with everyone sort of doing their own thing. It would have been interesting to see what they could have produced after being apart for so long.

Now this opens the door for Jesse to return to KsE, but who knows if he will. He did the Times of Grace project with Adam D. and the touring version of the band features a couple of KsE members. I hope he does. Times of Grace was awesome and at times was reminiscent of KsE.

If I couldn't get Jesse back there is only one singer off the top of my head that could pull it off and that would be Jimmie Strimmell of Dead By April/Nightrage fame. I think he would be great in that role. He isn't allowed to do the clean vocals anymore for DbA so why not?

Tirades of Truth: Times of Grace - The Hymn of a Broken Man

So this past Saturday I got a late Christmas present in the form of a sign copy of the debut album from Times of Grace. Who? Jesse Leach and Adam Dutkiewicz that's who. Jesse was lead vocals of Killswitch Engage for their first 2 albums, which includes their ground-breaking album Alive or Just Breathing. I can't talk enough about how great that album is, you can read my thoughts on it HERE. And as far as Jesse is concerned, he is an awesome vocalist. He's in my top 10 vocalists...that's how good he is. And after this album, he is definitely moving up. Adam is still in KsE and according to interviews these songs were written while Adam was recovering from a surgery.

Onto the album. I have listened to this thing pretty much non-stop since Saturday and I gotta say it doesn't disappoint. If you are a fan of KsE, you will like what you hear. Parts of the album are very reminiscent of KsE (Strength in Numbers, Fight for Life, Live in Love, Hope Remains), you get the double bass, the weird vocal distortion that was used on AoJB. The lyrics are totally a throw-back to AoJB. They are powerful that's the best way I can sum them up. AoJB had some uplifting lyrics, and The Hymn of a Broken Man takes that concept and builds on it. Check out the lyrics from Live in Love;

Just live in love, believe in love

In my life I have seen all the ways they tried (to destroy mankind)
Break societies system, change the mercy, there's no compromise
Don't mistake kindness and compassion for weakness
It takes so much more strength to be selfless and live in love

I trust you live in selflessness and live in love

Through all the days, just live in love
Through all the pain, believe in love

(I change to think you not, it tries to function if this world...)
Take the time to think about your life, live righteous

I trust you live in selflessness and live in love

Through all the days, just live in love
Through all the pain, believe in love

The words we speak, the ones we don't say
Power you don't know you could say
Through all the days, believe in love

Don't you see, we are all
Don't you see, we are all
Brothers and sisters, we are one
Brothers and sisters, we are one
WE ARE ONE

And I pray this is not in vain, all that you know about, all you can hide
All that you feel inside (Live in love)
All that you know about, all you can hide
All that you feel inside (Live in love)
All that you know about, all you can hide (Through all the days)
All that you feel inside (Live in love)
All that you know about, all you can hide (Through all the pain)
All that you feel inside (Live in love)

When this project was announced, both Jesse and Adam tried to distance it from KsE, for obvious reasons. I was expecting a rock album, but the dual vocals from Jesse are back stronger than ever. Adam's vocals are present as well, but it's Jesse that really shines on this album. His clean vocals were developed more over the years through Seemless and they work great here. His death metal screams are as good as ever if not stronger than his previous albums. The first track Strength in Numbers could have been on any KsE album and it really sets the pace for the entire album.



So the question comes up, is this just KsE without Howard on vocals? And the answer is no. First off, Adam throws in some pretty nice guitar solos, which are never present in KsE (for whatever reason). Secondly, the music does stray away from that metalcore sound that KsE helped create. Take a song like The Forgotten One. It is an acoustic ballad, with a country feel to it. No screams, just some beautiful music. And it's not alone, The End of Eternity never kicks into full speed and has some killer vocals on top of it, but parts of it are just breathtaking. Fall from Grace is similar to The End of Eternity in terms of tempo, but once again it's Jesse's vocals that make this track shine.



I can't forget to mention the fact that all of the instruments were played by Adam Dutkiewicz. I knew he played drums in KsE before moving to guitar, but the fact that he wrote the entire album speaks volumes of his talent. On top of that, he also produced the album. Now he has produced some great albums (All That Remains, As I Lay Dying, and Killswitch Engage to name a few), but he might be the most under-rated man in music today. He gets a bad rap for running around on stage with cape playing guitar, looking like an ass at times, but he is one talented man.

This is a solid album. From start to finish it is everything I was hoping and so much more. I loved their work on KsE, so why would I want them to stray too far from it? This is the KsE that should have been after The End of Heartache. It is enough of the old KsE, yet it takes some chances and pushes those boundaries that we fans put up. As I said in the beginning, if you are a fan of KsE, pick this up you won't be disappointed.

I hope this isn't a one time collaboration between these two. I am curious to see where this progresses from here. If I had to speculate, I would say probably more of the slower tempo songs. Anyway, it's been a long time since I started off the year with such a strong album, it will be interesting to see where it ends the year.

Who Decides: Top 10 Albums of the Year

Ok, so another year is coming to an end, so here is my top 10 metal albums of the year. I will try to keep it to ten, unlike last year. This year started off very slow for me. Nothing really caught my eye, until around June or so. I talked about it back then, and I said I doubt if any of those albums would make my final top 10...and well let's see.

Before we get to the list, I took out Arch Enemy's Root of All Evil (even though it is a great album) because it was just re-recording old songs with a new singer. If I could have 11 albums, I would have probably thrown in The Sorrow's Origin of the Storm. That was a classic metalcore album in the same vein as Killswitch Engage. Onto the list;

#10 - Threat Signal: Vigilance; much better than the Arkaea project which was Fear Factory light. This album has lost a lot of the FF influence and has gone for more of a straight thrash approach. The solos on this album as killer, check out The Beginning of the End for a sample.


# 9 - DevilDriver: Pray for Villains; a big let down overall from The Last Kind Words. I talke about this earlier in the year as well. A lot of solid songs, but overall just doesn't pack that punch that The Last Kind Words had. Check out Waiting for November, Bitter Pill, Teach Me to Whisper, and the title track.

# 8 - Evita: Minutes & Miles; the surprise of the year for me. Evita plays some crazy progressive metalcore music not unlike Protest the Hero. It's very good and deserved to be on this list. All of their songs are good, but if you check out one listen to Willing to Wake it's a good sample of the album.

# 7 - Dirge Within: Force Fed Lies; when I first hear this album I thought it was DevilDriver. Seriously, at times the lead singer sounds so similar it's eerie. Anyway, if DD would have put out this album DD would be higher up on the list. Musically, you know what you are getting. They pull out some nice solos especially on Complacency (2+ minutes of trading off solos).

# 6 - Nightrage: Wearing a Martyr's Crown; I listened to this album I didn't think it would make my top 10. It was lacking something for me, but over the last few months it has caught on big time. Descent into Chaos was a classic for me and evern though this doesn't beat that album it is solid. The guitar work is unmistakably Nightrage and the new singer does a fine job. He doesn't stand out like Tompa or Jimmie, but he works. Check out A Grim Struggle or the title track for a good feel of the album.

# 5 - Animals As Leaders: Animals As Leaders; did I say Evita was my surprise of the year? This is. First off, it's instrumental (something I really don't like). The guitarist, Tosin Abasi, is great. The music goes from thrash to metalcore to eletronic to acoustic. It is a wild ride to be sure. Check out CAFO.

# 4 - Megadeth: Endgame; it's Megadeth, it's better than their last album, and dare I say better than Death Magnetic? Mustaine brought his A game this time and wrote some killer riffs for this album. So why isn't it higher? Probably because his vocals are wearing on me. I can't explain it, but Dave's singing has gone downhill a bit. This Day We Fight and Headcrusher could have easily been on R.I.P. check them out.

# 3 - Susperia - Attitude; once again Susperia releases an album that is heavy, catchy, and has great musicianship. I can't add anything else, if you liked Carved in Stone or Unlimited you will like this one. All the songs are great. Check out The Urge, Sick Bastard (with Dimmu Borgir vocalist Shagrath), or Live My Dreams (with Testament vocalist Chuck Billy).

# 2 - Killswitch Engage: Killswitch Engage; I have already talked about this one and Shadows Fall's latest albums awhile ago. So I won't add anything else to this. Check out the entire album, definitely worth it.

# 1 - Shadows Fall: Retribution; like KsE I already talked about it, so I won't repeat anything. This album renewed my faith in SF. The guitar work is top notch and memorable. I can't find anything to complain about on this album.

So why is SF #1 and KsE #2? The difference is minimal. I would probably say the solos put Shadows Fall #1, even though KsE has better choruses. I was very happy to see two of my favorite bands rebound from sub-par albums and step up.

That's it. I want to try and do weekly postings next year. So let's see how that goes. I want to talk about the new Scrubs, The Middle, and some movie talk. Cross your fingers for a fun 2010.

Return of the King: New England Thrash Metal

So it's been over 2 months since my last post...thanks Webwasher. A lot of great albums have come out during that time; Megadeth, Nightrage, DevilDriver, Shadows Fall, and Killswitch Engage. For this post, I am going to focus in on the last two.

Now I put KsE & Shadows Fall in the same category of New England Thrash Metal, simply cause they (All That Remains, too) all sort of came out during the same time & are from the same area. On top of that, the members have done projects together (Overcast) or have been in other bands (Phil in Shadows Fall before Brian).

Both of their last albums were very unispired. It was like they were going through the motions. KsE's Daylight Dies was ok, nothing special. It was like you we thinking "Well it's sounds just like AoJB & EoH, but not as memorable." With Shadows Fall's last one Threads of Life, you kind of felt they took the safe way out. Meaning, they took their ideas from The War Within and softened them up a bit. Tried very hard to be catchy and well it was just alright. Once again, nothing memorable.

Fast forward to 2009 and both albums are great "return to form" type albums. In fact, even though the year isn't out I can pretty much guarentee that one of these albums will be #1, that's how good they are.

Let's start with Shadows Fall first. They went back and sped up the music a bit and didn't try to make a catchy song. So what happened? Some of the best songs since Art of Balance. Add of to that the guitar work on this album is fantastic. You can YouTube most of the album to hear it, I would recommend...well everything. War has a great chorus, Embrace Annihilation has an awesome solo, A Public Execution is a geat work out song with a chorus that needs to be heard. I can go on about every song, that's how solid this thing. Throw in some guest vocals by Randy Blythe and you have a winner.

Killswitch Engage's latest was a sort of make or break album for me. Alive or Just Breathing and End of Heartache are classics in the metalcore genre. In fact, I put AoJB in my top 5 metal albums of all time...yeah it's that good. So with this album, they brought on board a co-producer for the first time and it really pays off. With Daylight Dies it seemed so formulated; verse, clean slow chorus, breakdown, repeat. With Killswitch Engage, the songs are thrashier and while some of the slow clean choruses are there, they don't seem to distract. Add in the fact, the first song has a solo (they don't do solos normally). That's when it hits you that this isn't going to sound like Daylight Dies. The intro solo in Take Me Away is so good it makes you wonder why these guys don't do more of it. Anyway, like Shadows Fall, there isn't a lot of filler on this album. This album is a great continuation of what was established on AoJB & EoH.

I was worried about these albums since their last ones were so mediocre. Both albums met and exceeded my expectations. When I was doing my top 10 list in June and I saw both of these albums coming out, I was hoping they would make the top 10, now they will be topping the list. Why couldn't DevilDriver's latest have been this good?

Who Decides: Top 5 "Must Own" Metal Albums

So just what are the best of the best metal albums? Well obviously, it's purely subjective. But I am going to give you, what I consider, the best metal albums ever. These are the must own metal albums. If you consider yourself a fan of metal, these albums should be in your collection.


1. Metallica: Master of Puppets - Is there really any explanation needed here? This is their masterpiece. It all came together on this album. The heavy riffs, melodies, solos, and the progression in the song writing. It's as if the stars aligned perfectly for this one.


2. Megadeth: Rust in Peace - This is Megadeth's shining moment for me. It was the debut album of the "classic" line-up and they brought their A game. From the start it's apparent that this isn't going to be another So Far, So Good, So What. Production is better, lyrics are more politically charged, and the guitar work between Dave and Marty is so great they still haven't been album to reproduce it. I know everyone knows Hangar 18 from Guitar Hero, but this entire album could be made into a Guitar Hero game...simply insane.

Now, people will argue about these two albums. In all honesty, the first 4 albums from both Metallica and Megadeth are metal classics and should be owned by any metalhead. These are my favorites and show the best of what 80's/90's thrash was all about.


3. At the Gates: Slaughter of the Soul - This is melodic death metal at it's finest. Bands are still trying to duplicate the sound and style on this album. Whether it be Tomas' vocals or the Iron Maiden-esque guitar work, they are still trying to get it right. This was my first "death metal" album and I was blown away by the overall thrash feeling I got from it. What also makes this album a "must own" is the fact that the band broke up after they released this album. Imagine Metallica breaking up after MoP...yeah just like that.


4. Into Eternity: Buried in Oblivion - If you were to combine the first 3 albums on this list, you would come close to creating the sound of Into Eternity. A band that really created it's own genre, combining thrash, death metal, progressive metal, and some soft rock thrown in for fun. Now when this album was made, Into Eternity had 3 vocalists...yes I said 3, screamer, death growls, and a clean singer. The vocal harmonies alone are a reason to own this album, but there is a ton more. Do you want the guitar harmonies or solos which are insane or do you want the quick hitting tempo changes? Most songs you know whats coming next, but the first time I played this album everything hit me from out of nowhere. Perfect example, after an entire album of controlled chaotic metal, in come a ballad that sounds like it was left off of Peter Cetera's solo album...seriously, but it works - perfectly.



5. Killswitch Engage: Alive or Just Breathing - huh? a metalcore band? Yeah, a metalcore band. Just like At the Gates, KsE created a genre which bands are trying to copy to this day. Stop me if you heard this before, brutal drumming, screaming vocals, heavy riffs with clean choruses and some breakdowns...sounds like every metalcore band in the last 5 years. Well, it all started with KsE and no one has been album to beat them at it. I will never forget the first time I heard the verses being sung with such anger and forcefullness and then...such beauty in the choruses. This band, along with Shadows Fall, helped bring metal back to the mainstream after the disaster that was nu-metal.

There they are...5 must own metal albums.

Spotlight: Killswitch Engage - Alive or Just Breathing

Well after all the chaos of having another baby and trying to finish the year, I haven't posted as much as I wanted too, but I knew I wouldn't be able too. Just a couple more weeks to go and we are done. Nice.

So this week, we are looking at one of my favorite albums of all time Alive or Just Breathing by Killswitch Engage. I talked about this album before and since I am always crunched for time nowadays I will let you go read it HERE. Real quick though, this album is a masterpiece. It was one of the first albums to incorporate that hardcore/death scream singing with the super clean melodic singing. Jesse Leech pulled it off perfectly. Musically, the riffs and drumming drove this album and it wasn't until I listened to it two times that I realized that there wasn't one guitar solo! That's pretty impressive to me.

Playlist for the week:
the entire album!

BTW, pick up the Roadrunner 25th Anniversary Edition of this album. It comes with a 2nd disc which has 4 new songs. It's worth it and that's the one we are listening to this week.