Tirades of Truth: Lulu

Wow...just wow. That is probably the best way I can describe the new Metallica/Lou Reed collaboration. I can see why so many people turn it off after the first song. Seriously. Lou Reed doesn't sing, he talks with a little bit of tone. I guess the best way to describe his vocals would be to say it is reminiscent of Johnny Cash's vocals for Hurt.


Now clearly, James Hetfield's vocals would have made this project a lot better. It would have been similar to Load/Re-Load, but a little bit more metal and less rock. He makes a couple of appearances as a background vocalist. It is a welcomed changed and you can almost hear how great this album could have been if he would have just done them all. I am sure that is what people thought when Dave Mustaine did his MD.45 project and then put Lee Ving on vocals. I guess the one positive thing for those people is that Dave eventually released the album with him doing all the vocals. But I don't see Metallica ever doing that. Heck, while every band has re-released albums with "bonus tracks", Metallica never has, ever. So while it would probably sell more and get a better reaction, I don't see it happening. By the way, someone re-edited The View and took out anything relating to Lou Reed. This is what I mean...it's not horrible. It is probably better than the Loads now that I listen to it.


I am a huge Metallica fan. Everything they touch is great. As I listen to this now (it is streaming HERE), there are times that I find myself laughing out loud because of the vocals or lack there of or I am laughing at the horrible lyrics (If I waggle my ass like a dark prostitute, would you think less of me) and there is more where that came from. I understand this is a concept album, but wow this story is difficult to follow for me. I just keep getting distracted by those lyrics.


Now for the positives, yes they are there. The music is great. Solid all the way around. I would love to hear this as an instrumental album. Like I said earlier, it isn't Master of Puppets or Kill Em All, but more in line with the Loads. There are times where it is pretty thrashy, Mistress Dread, but overall it stays within what we know Metallica to sound like.

Overall, it was better than I thought it would be. I kept hearing snippets of the songs and vocals and thought it would be horrible. Well it isn't. Is it great? No, and during this year of great albums, it probably make my top 10 list. But it definitely deserves a spin. Skip around sample here and there. I was able to almost tune out Lou Reed's vocals and just enjoyed the music. Someone get around and make this an instrumental.

Tirades of Truth: Iced Earth - Dystopia

So let me be up front of my fondness of Iced Earth. Before Shadows Fall, Trivium, Killswitch Engage, and all the other bands, there was Iced Earth. They were the first metal band I got into after the classic metal bands like Metallica and Megadeth. In fact, it was because of their tour opening for Megadeth that I heard of Iced Earth.

My first Iced Earth album was Something Wicked This Way Comes, which I picked up mainly because of the album artwork. I was blown away by both the music and vocals. The guitar riffs were totally amazing. I couldn't believe how heavy they were. It was like Iron Maiden on steroids, instead of Harris' galloping bass, we had a guitar doing the same thing...awesome. Then of course were the vocals. Matt Barlow's vocals were incredible. They could go heavy, but not anything as raw as John Bush or James Hetfield, but more of a powerful heavy. Of course, the crowning moment of the album was the Something Wicked Trilogy. I knew I found a great band.

I picked up most of their back catalog and was impressed by everything I heard. Jon Schaffer's guitar playing dominated every song and when you put Barlow's vocals on top of it, it was magical. Well as we all know, Barlow left the band after 9-11 to become a police officer. He was replaced by Tim Owens of Judas Priest fame. They released a couple of albums with Ripper and they just didn't feel like Iced Earth. The Glorious Burden was solid, but mainly because it was a concept album and it was totally different than anything they had done before. However, when they started to do the double album based on Something Wicked, I was worried. And with good reason. Ripper just wasn't Barlow. He was good, in fact Ten Thousand Strong is the best song off of Framing Armageddon and it's so good that I don't even think that Barlow could do it justice.

Long story somewhat shorter, exit Ripper enter Barlow (again). The second album of the Something Wicked story didn't suffer from the vocals, but from the music. Which in hindsight was present on the last 3 albums going back to The Glorious Burden. Schaffer went for this mid paced grandiose sound. And while it worked for The Glorious Burden, it didn't work for the other albums. Sure there were faster songs, but they were far and few.


So exit Barlow (again) and enter Stu Block. Now both vocalists were in my top 10 list years ago and after this album, Stu probably moved up a couple of notches. The first thing I noticed about Dystopia was how much Stu sounds like Barlow in his mid-range. Schaffer was quoted about finding Stu's mid-range vocals and I put it off as hype, but he definitely found something he didn't have with Into Eternity. Stu could do the death screams, clean, and Halford-esque screams, but this new mid-range is impressive...most impressive.


He doesn't sound like a Barlow clone, you can tell subtle differences between the two, yet he fits the music better than Ripper did. Speaking of Ripper, Stu also goes into his Halford/Ripper vocals during the album (Equilibrium, Boiling Point). When Ripper did it on his two albums it bothered me, here it works. The only thing I can tell is that he doesn't stay high forever, just for a moment, then it's back to the mid-range.

So what about the music? Well the album starts off with the title-track and the first thing I noticed was the return of the classic galloping guitar. Now there are some mid-paced songs on here, End of Innocence, Anguish of the Youth, Anthem for example, but they work. Kind of like the way Melancholy worked on Something Wicked, musically it's a great song.

The thrash songs are here as well. Boiling Point, Days of Rage bring back memories of early Iced Earth. Sure the songs are kind of recycled, but they still work. When I listen to Days of Rage, I get Disciples of the Lie in my head which then turns into Violate. Maybe it's the guitar work and pacing of the song, but they sort of all blend together, which is fine for me.


This album definitely threw me for a loop, almost the way Blaze Bayley's & Charred Walls of the Damned's last albums did. Out of no where a classic metal album comes out and it shows me that down inside I am still a classic metal guy. This thing is a definite "return to form" album for the band, easily the best thing since they put out Horror Show. Where would I rank this? It's not their best, but top 5? Probably.

What does this do to my Top 10 list? Throws a huge wrench into it. I still don't think it can top Trivium's album, but heck who would have said Blaze Bayley would have made number one on my Top 10 last year?

Music Non Stop: Anterior - Echoes of the Fallen

This is a surprise for me. Now don't get me wrong, but I liked their debut and was mildly interested in this follow up...but holy crap! This is a lot better than I thought it would be. In terms of newer metal bands (Sylosis, Lazarus A.D., and Anterior), Anterior was probably the one album I didn't really care about. With that said, they might have made the best album out of the three, in all honestly all 3 should make the top 10 this year.

The guitar work on this album is awesome. I have seen this band listed as a metalcore band and while they do have a few breakdowns, there is more melodic death metal/thrash here. The guitar intro for Blood in the Throne Room is a dream for air guitarists everywhere. In fact most of the songs have that similar style, which is great for me. I will also add that most of the breakdowns come towards the end of the album. I am not sure if it was planned that way or not, but it is kind of interesting.


Vocally it is your standard harsh screams, at times it is understandable others...it's not. There really isn't much variety going on, but like Sylosis' latest, the music definitely makes up for it. Take a song like Tyranny, it is your standard song, then all of a sudden it goes into this classic sounding solo that makes you think you might have switched on Iron Maiden. It has that technical feel to it without showing off.  I can't praise this album enough when it comes to the guitar work.


Last song recommendation, Of Gods and Men. This really reminds me of The Autumn Offering's song Ghost. A mind boggling solo that bleeds into a sweet breakdown. I go nuts for stuff like that. I have to admit I am shocked at how much more guitar leads were put in this album compared to their debut.


This album is streaming HERE and it is one of those albums that makes me want to keep listening to it over and over again.

One thing that these 3 bands have in common on their sophomore albums is the great guitar work. While some bands are afraid to play solos, these bands aren't. All 3 are very similar in that they put the guitar work in the front...very guitar driven bands.

Tirades of Truth: Trivium - In Waves

So here is Trivium's follow up to Shogun, which as I said before is one of those "instant classics", if nothing else the title track is epic.

There seems be a lot of people saying that this album combines the best of Ascendancy and Shogun, basically forgetting all about The Crusade. The Crusade gets a bad rap because they threw out all screams and went for a more commercialized sound. But there are times as I listened to this album that I couldn't help, but think "this is what The Crusade could have been." Some of the songs have that simple song structure that was present on The Crusade, but this time the vocals aren't one dimensional. Listen to A Gray So Dark, that song could have easily been on The Crusade...even down to the vocals.


I don't really hear a lot of the Ascendancy references that I keep reading. Maybe it's in the vocal delivery? I'm not sure. I think Ascendancy is where the band found their sound. They simplified & commercialized it too much for The Crusade, but for the most part it has stayed the same.

A quick note about the title track, In Waves. Holy crap! This song is killer. One thing I have noticed with Trivium is that their title tracks have gotten better and better with each album. The Crusade had that insane instrumental, Shogun was epic...that build up amazing. Now with In Waves, they wrote a song that was definitely catchier and easier to sit through (those other title tracks were 8 minutes and 12 minutes respectively), but that doesn't take away from how great it is. In fact, if not for that stupid intro, this song would easily make my Top 10 lead off tracks.


While not as good as Ascendancy or Shogun, it's definitely a solid album. This would be a good album to introduce people to Trivium. It has their catchy writing, diverse vocals, and does a good job of displaying their playing abilities.

I don't think this will be my number 1 album of the year, Mercenary's latest is just that good.  But it just came out so maybe it will grow on me.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Thundercats

Rebooting 80's shows and movies seems to be in vogue right now. Whether it's Battlestar Galactica, The A-Team, He-Man, or Voltron 80's shows are coming back. The best of these, so far, was BSG. They took the basic foundation of the show and turned it into something so much better and interesting. But that might change with the latest reboot Thundercats.

The change up things a bit on the reboot. First off, their planet of Thundera doesn't explode. They are on 3rd Earth to begin with. And here on Thundera they (the cats) are rulers of the planet. They do a good job of walking that line of ruler versus dictator. Lion-O is in line to be king, but doesn't seem mature enough. He is interested in technology, which in this version is supposed to be a myth. Which is another opposite of the original series, considering they needed a rocket to leave the planet. Watching the first few minutes I felt like I was watching a version of The Little Mermaid...stay with me. Lion-O is supposed to be with his dad going over the process of becoming King, but he is out in the "slums" trying to buy technology for his collection. Sounds pretty familiar, even down to when he realizes he is late...classic.

The show is written really well and there appears to be some pacing going on. Panthro is assumed dead right now, but of course will appear in the show. The second episode felt like a filler almost because you were expecting this huge battle with Mumm-Ra and it doesn't happen. Instead we get an episode that feels like a re-telling of Moby Dick. At first I was disappointed, but then I realized that the writes are adding depth to these characters and giving some sort of back story for later on.

In terms of the characters designs, I really can't complain. Here is a photo of the old versions;

Nothing bad there...classic 80's animation. Here are the new versions;

I have read some people complain about the anime style, but that doesn't really bother me. Panthro having mutton chops is a little weird, but oh well. The other thing that is tons better is that Snarf doesn't talk. Now as a kid, Snarf didn't bother me that much, but when I watch those episodes now...Snarf is annoying. Finally, I really like how they kept the same design of Mumm-Ra. He has a little bit more reptile in his design, but that goes with the new story. By the way, there was a definite shout out to the original series with the original voice of Lion-O voicing the King in the new series...everyone knew about that. However, Lynx-O (the blind Thundercat) makes an appearance and has a line in the new series. He is presumed dead, but maybe he will come back.

There is so much to like about this new series. I could talk about how different it is that Tygra is now Lion-O's step brother or Cheetarah is a cleric. This show has a lot of potential so I will sit back and enjoy the ride.

Tirades of Truth: Deadlock - Bizarro World

This year started off pretty fast for new music. There are a ton of good to great albums that have already come out and we haven’t even hit the half way mark. One of these albums that came out that peaked my interest was Deadlock’s Bizzaro World. I talked about it earlier and have finally had some time to sit down and give it a good listen and give a review of it.

I have been listening to Deadlock since Earth.Revolt. They were a standard melodic death metal/black metal band. Nothing special. Then they added Sabine Scherer on vocals to give them the male/female combination that other bands have. They hit their stride with their first full length album, Wolves, with the dual vocals. It was a breath of fresh air in the stale world of melodic death metal. What stood out on that album was End Begins. They added in a straight techno bridge into the song and it was really amazing to hear for the first time.

On the follow up, Manifesto, they experimented a bit more with a saxophone solo (Fire at Will) and some rapping (Deathrace). I think they pushed the proverbial envelope a bit too much there. They brought back the techno elements for the opening “track” (The Moribund Choir vs. The Trumpets Of Armageddon) which was really cool to hear it blend into Martyr to Science. But overall it felt like a let down compared to Wolves.

So that brings us to Bizarro World. This album feels like Killswitch Engage’s Daylight Dies album. It’s not a bad album, but it’s got the whole “been there, done that” feel to it. They cut back on the experimenting a bit, leaving it on basically one track, Renegade. They incorporate drum & bass into the song. Some have said it is too much, but this song is classic Deadlock. Lyrically they go away from the “save the world” lyrics of Manifesto, but some are pretty rough. Listening to Brutal Romance is painful at times. The whole “it takes two to tango”…ugh.

So what do I mean by the “been there, done that” feel? Deadlock is falling into a pattern with their writing. They will go blazing fast with the guitars & drums while the death vocals are going, but when Sabine comes on, they slow down. It’s predictable for this genre of mixed vocals. There are a few songs where the music doesn’t completely slow down, Virus Jones is one of them and it works nicely as an opener.  It stays in a more of a rock feel, but still no where near the metal just played seconds before.

You want an album to be memorable and this one has a couple of memorable songs, but once again falls short of Wolves. It is better than Manifesto though. I would love to see them speed up while Sabine sings. This is a tough year for my top 10 list, but this still has a solid chance of getting in.

Tirades of Truth: Mercenary - Metamorphosis

Holy crap! I thought when Times of Grace released their debut, that it would easily be my favorite album of the year. If not Times of Grace, then maybe Trivium or DevilDriver, but Mercenary? Never. They dumped their "clean vocalist" and keyboardist (not that big to me) and their first single didn't really do much for me. I was worried about the production. Well they are streaming the entire album HERE and let me tell you...it's amazing. By the way, while you are listening to the stream, check out THIS. A nice explanation of the songs and their origin. Funny see the explanation of The Black Brigade.

I have listened to this stream a couple of times and I can't believe how good this is. The loss of the clean vocalist isn't even noticed. There are a couple of times I thought he came back to record a couple of songs, Velvet Lies anyone? And well...keyboards? Who needs them? They even put in a cool orchestral piece in In a River of Madness. Rene has such a range and would probably make my top 10 list of vocalists if I redid it. He goes from singing, to growls, to death, to almost a rock voice. It's amazing.

One thing that makes Mercenary one of my favorites is the pure "heaviness" they are able to create. I mentioned The Endless Fall before, and Metamorphosis is no different. There are parts of songs that make my speakers almost explode. I used to think Fear Factory or even DevilDriver were the heaviest band I had, but I am wrong. Mercenary takes it easily.

So is there anything wrong with this album? Not sure. I would probably have to listen to it more, but the one thing that caught my attention was that the solos weren't too impressive. But honestly when you can create riffs that would probably scare a little kid I can let the super Eddie Van Halen solos slide.

I can't wait to get this on CD so I can hear a better quality than a web stream.

One last thing...their new logo. I have their old logo on the top of my page, under Metallica. But the new one is pretty cool a lot better than their old one. Seriously, how cool is this thing?

A lot more "in your face" than before. Another nice touch. Do I dare call the album of the year now? It's kind of hard not to.

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.

Tirades of Truth: Tron - Legacy

Holy crap! I actually went out and saw a movie. I think the last movie I saw before this was Star Trek. Anyway...

Tron Legacy is a sequel to the original Tron from the 80's. It was somewhat a cult hit and still has legions of followers. I really didn't see the big deal of the original, but I figured I could take my dad to see the new one, since he liked the original so much.

Pros:

The first thing I saw was this logo...How cool is that? Disney always puts the castle in the beginning and they went ahead and imagined it as part of the Grid. Then within the next five minutes you see a bunch of references to Disney's other sci-fi movie The Black Hole (which I hear is up for a remake if Tron does well).

Before Sam (Flynn's son) goes into the Grid, there is a nice little 15-20 minute action/stealth sequence. But the real magic happens when they go into the Grid. By the way, the Grid is a place where programs live. They have little clubs and Gladiator type games between programs.

The action sequences are awesome. There was a great storyline going on, but the action was just fantastic. The light cycle battles were breath-taking. So much of an upgrade from the original battle from the 80's. Speaking of upgrades, in addition to the new light cycles, they also through in a new light plane/jet.

The whole movie was beautifully done. I didn't see it in 3D because I'm not into the hype of 3D, but I think this would have been one heck of a movie to see in 3D. The colors are crisp and the three colors (white, red, orange) really stand out and look great. Not to mention how they were able to digitally alter Jeff Bridges to look like he did in the 80's...great! And to me it looked pretty good, not like CGI.

The cast was awesome. But that goes along with the script. The whole time I am watching this movie I am trying to figure out who is good and who is bad.

The two main girls both had me thinking for awhile they were bad, but only one turned out to be. After seeing some of the previews I thought they would try to sex up the movie, but it really didn't happen. The girl in white had the tightest suit, but it wasn't any different than a guy's suit, it's just that it fit differently on her. With the girl in black...couldn't tell a thing.

The guy that stole some scenes for me was this guy. He played an over the top club owner. When I first saw him I he reminded me of two characters, David Bowie from Labyrinth and The Riddler from Batman Forever (I guess it was the cane and the way he used it). He was great...turned out to be an ass, but still solid performance. I also liked Clu's assistant, he also had a solid performance.

The best thing was that you really didn't need to see the original Tron to understand this one. I'm not sure if I ever saw the original Tron from start to finish, but it didn't matter. This was a great self-contained movie...kind of like the first Star Wars movie. There are rumors that if this movie is a hit then there will be 2 more movies and a cartoon as well. I say bring it on.

This movie isn't going to win any Oscars (except for visuals), but it is a great science fiction/action movie with a great storyline that pretty much anyone can follow.

Cons:

Actually, I really couldn't think of any. It was an enjoyable movie. Don't go in expecting a masterpiece of film, go in expecting a fun action packed sci-fi movie with a solid storyline.

Tirades of Truth: Bullet for My Valentine - Fever

I've already done reviews of Arcania, Blaze Bayley, and Charred Walls of the Damned, so here is the next in line.

Back in May I talked a little about the new Bullet for My Valentine album, Fever. It was mainly because their lead track, Your Betrayal. But as the year comes to a close it's obvious to me that this is a great metal album.

Their last album Scream, Aim, Fire was great as well. In fact, when they started talking about the follow up they said it wouldn't be as "thrashy" as Scream, Aim, Fire. I believe they said it would be more rock oriented. Well, Fever is far from rock.

The one place you see a difference is the vocals. There aren't as many screams or growls, but BfMV was never known for the screams. There are still plenty of thrash moments in Your Betrayal and The Last Fight. I would say the material is a lot catchier than anything they have ever done. Every song is memorable from the get go. Every song has that hook that you look for, that sing along chorus (Your Betrayal), that memorable riff (Alone), or memorable drum pattern (Begging for Mercy). The music goes from thrash to groove/mid paced metal to ballads.

The title track is pretty good as well. The song has that sort of dirty 80's glam rock feel to it. Seriously, I could have easily have seen Poison doing this song because of the lyrics. The difference between Poison and BfMV is that BfMV has a heavier guitar sound.


The one thing that left a somewhat bad taste in my mouth was the song, Bittersweet Memories. Not that it's a ballad, I have no problem that. It's just that it reminds me so much of Forever and Always off of Scream, Aim, Fire.

There is absolutely no filler on this album. There was always a couple of songs I would skip off their last one, but this one is a play straight through album. Add onto it that every song is memorable, you have a winner.

From start to finish this is one of the most complete albums of the year and will place very high on my Top 10 list this year.

Music Non Stop: Arcania - Sweet Angel Dust

2010 is quickly coming to a close and I thought that my Top 10 was pretty much set, then Arcania had to come in a through the proverbial wrench into it.

First off I gotta say one of my new favorite sites for metal reviews is The NewReview. Without this site I wouldn't have found Arcania and Eye of the Enemy. Great site and is probably my first go to site now for metal reviews.

So onto Arcania. What is their style? I would say modern thrash with a touch of progressive metal thrown in for good measure. The album starts off with the title track and you are treated to a classic Metallica intro ala Fight Fire with Fire before the magic starts. The music is completely break neck speed, but it has that perfect groove.



I won't go song by song because I might do that for the Top 10...just kidding. For a debut they did a nice job of making the music and songs so memorable. The title track, No End, Against My Fear are all great examples of the music being instantaneously being remembered. Something that is hard to say about a lot of other albums these days. There are plenty of thrash out aggressive moments through out the album and tons of progressive elements added to enhance the material. I really liked how they didn't just try to copy the thrash style of the 80's, but rather took a lot of that influence and added their own style to it. Top it off with a 10+ minute song to finish the album and you have yourself one heck of debut album.

Vocally the guy is good. A lot of people compare him to James Hetfield and I can hear the similarities, but he does his own distinguished style. Obviously, if there are similarities to Hetfield, I'm not going to complain. If anything I hear a little more Sully from Godsmack, which is fine too because I actually like Sully's style.

This is a great debut and I hope to hear more from them. I hope to see Arcania be more a DevilDriver, Trivium, or All That Remains instead of a Beyond the Embrace and Blistered Earth. If you don't know the last two bands, check them out they were awesome!>

I expect to see Arcania grace the Top 10 list this year and hopefully years to come. By the way, go to iTunes to buy the album, it's only $4. If you can't spend $4 to support a new band, then there is something wrong.

Music Non Stop: 2010 surprises

As the year comes to a close I will go ahead and share with you two bands that almost came out of nowhere with great albums that will most likely be in the Top 10 and one of these looks like it will end up #1.

First up is Charred Walls of the Damned, what a mouthful right? Anyway, this has been labeled a "super-group" by some. Richard Christy left Iced Earth to be a side kick for Howard Stern, cool and weird at the same time I guess. So he decided to go ahead and make an album after about 6 - 7 years. So you put Richard on drums (known for work in Death and Iced Earth), Steve DiGiorio on bass (from such bands as Death, Iced Earth, Sadus, and Testament among others), Tim "Ripper" Owens on vocals (from Iced Earth, Judas Priest, and his solo band), and you round it off with Jason Suecof on guitar. Who? you might ask. Jason is more known for his producing skills Trivium, DevilDriver, God Forbid, The Autumn Offering) than his guitar playing, but he is a fine musician. In fact it's his solo on The Autumn Offering's Embrace the Gutter that made me pick up the album.

Ok so onto the album. What can I say... this is the album that Iced Earth should have released after The Glorious Burden. I don't mind the continuing of the Something Wicked Trilogy, but in terms of music, this is what Iced Earth could/should have sounded like. I mean it shouldn't surprise anyone, look at that line-up, 3/4 of them played in Iced Earth. The music is crisp and beautifully played. Ripper does a great job here. Let me say this, I am by no means a fan of Ripper. He's good. His best album for me was TGB because he showed some variety and wasn't trying to copy Halford (not his fault either). His solo stuff was average. But here he shines again. It's enough of the mid-range and enough of the high stuff for me. I love this album. And it came as a welcomed surprise when most bands are starting to sound alike, these guys stand out. Check out their Myspace, HERE.

Next up is Blaze Bayley. He of course came from Wolfsbane and more known Iron Maiden. He got screwed in Maiden and was forced out after two albums. So when I heard stuff from his solo debut I was shocked. I was so much better than Maiden, it was up there with Bruce Dickinson's solo material. Here is the lead track from the debut;

awesome. Anyway, the follow-up was good as well, but their 3rd album was pretty bad. I gave up on the band when everyone left. So when they released The Man Who Would Not Die, I didn't look at it (big mistake). This year came Promise and Terror. I caught the lead track and video and was instantly hooked. I sounded like it was right off the earlier albums.

The album is full of great tracks. God of Speed has one of the best riffs I have ever heard in a song and Comfortable in Darkness sounds like it was off of Iron Maiden's X-Factor, dark and brooding. This is a great album and it's great to see Blaze get some credit for it. Check out his Myspace, HERE.

Just a couple of surprise albums this year and there is one more, but not as good as these. Top 10 is just around the corner.

Tirades of Truth: Phineas and Ferb - Summer Belongs to You

So I have already talked about this classic show awhile back, but this was only their second hour long episode, Christmas special being the first. Most episodes are 15 minutes long, expect for a few which have run 30 minutes. You can tell you are watching a good show when you don't realize you have been watching for an hour. In fact, I was watching the clock wishing it was even longer. So much to talk about, but I will just do some bullet pros/cons.


Pros:

• hour long (duh), but it didn't feel like the story would be out of place for a normal episode.
• watching Doofenshmirtz interact with Major Monogram
• Vanessa joining the gang for most of the trip
• Candace and Vanessa talking about Ferb's name
• Perry, Major Monogram, and Doofenshmirtz teaming up to find Vanessa
• O.W.C.A., classic
• JPop song with the cast drawn in anime was hilarious
• watching Phineas give up. Seems simple, but it was really well done to watch him sort of break down and give up.
• Isabella motivating him to get up and find a way out

Cons:

• Clay Aiken and Chaka Khan was kind of stupid, but it was nice that they kept referring back to it since Candace wasn't there
• Rubber Band song was too long
• Candace becoming Jeremy's girlfriend, not too bad but wasn't necessary
• poor Isabella

All in all a great episode. It's hard to list cons because it was so well done. I am looking forward to the next special/movie where Phineas and Ferb discover Perry is a secret agent and have to help him out. Sounds awesome!

Tirades of Truth: Team America

So this is another post that has been in draft mode for awhile, was meant for the 4th of July...obviously.


Team America. The name itself is awesome. This was a movie put together by the creators of South Park and like South Park, they go to extremes to get their point across. The plot itself is pretty basic. Turns out that there exists a secret squad ala the Delta Force that takes out terrorists called Team America. Their leader is killed so they need someone else to come in and take his place as an undercover specialist. So they get an actor. It all turns out predictably in the end like you think it would, but the journey to get their is memorable.

Like my South Park post I will repeat the same warning;
*If satire and going to the extreme to prove a point offends you...don't go on! This post might be offensive to some, read on at your own risk*

The South Park guys like to sing. Seriously, their first South Park movie was a musical at the core. This one starts off the same. The first song we hear is Everyone has Aids...seriously. With a line that says "come on everybody we got some quilting to do" you know what you are in for.




Some of the other great songs include Kim Jong Il's I'm So Ronery. They manage to take one of the most dangerous people on the earth and turn him into a nerd, loser, whatever. And you know what...most of the people view him as that now and maybe this song had something to do with it.



Of course, like in any good movie there is a montage scene. The guys knew exactly the song for it...Montage. It has that classic 80's rocker montage song and a catchy course describing the movie exactly.



Fun side note, they ended up using this song again in a South Park episode in which Stan learns to ski...classic.

And finally, the song that everyone knows from this song...the theme song America. It is so catchy and so over the top I can't put it into words. Once you listen to this song all the way through, the next time you hear someone say "America", you will follow it up with two choice words. The song lists all the good and bad things America is known for...listen at your own risk.



The other great thing about this song is how they took on Hollywood actors. Actors are always against war and defending the enemies and they took it to them. First off, the actors, led by Alec Baldwin, are part of the Film Actors Guild...you can put together that acronym.


Classic...seriously, if you have one conservative bone in your body you will love that.

If you didn't laugh at that, here is the shoot out and death of all of the actors...Susan Sarandon's death is great.




Of course, like South Park, there is this "got it" moment at the end. And like South Park they go to the extremes to make it. I played this for a few non South Park people and they were amazed at how clear the point was in the video and how it actually made perfect sense.

***Don't watch if foul language offends you!!!***

That sums it up I guess. Team America is an over the top comedy. There is more surprises for you if and when you watch it. It's memorable...let's just leave it at that.

Tirades of Truth: Superman II - The Richard Donner Cut

I reviewed Superman Returns awhile ago and called it a sequel to Superman 2, which I loved. I heard about the Richard Donner Cut, but never saw it...until now. For those that never heard about what happened, basically in a nutshell Donner was making Superman 1 and 2 at the same time. They stopped filming on 2 to see how the first one did. It was a success, so of course they decided to mess with it and dumped Donner.

Well not only did they dump him, but they wanted him gone from the credits as well. So they needed to shoot 51% of the movie with another director. They did, but Donner had shot about 80% of his version already. That material was finally put together and released. Going into this movie I knew it would be choppy because of how it was made. It was basically taking bits and pieces of 2 films and pasting them together.

The end result? A movie better than before. I loved Superman 2. I considered it to be one of my favorite comic book movies of all time. There were a few things though that I never liked though. The first was the campy street people during the main fight in Metropolis. I don't want to see a guy on roller skates getting blown away or a man on the phone getting knocked over. It really took away from the overall tone of the film. Well my friends...that's all gone! It makes the scene much more powerful and entertaining...the distractions are gone.

For a list of all of the differences head over to Wikipedia, there is a nice list there (go down to The Mankiewicz script/original Donner shoot)

The Good

The Eiffel Tower scene that opened the movie is also gone. That scene was used to set up how Zod and his buddies were released from the Phantom Zone. Well in Donner's version, it is one of Luthor's missiles from the first movie that does it. I think that works better because it really ties the two movies together. The original was supposed to end with Zod and friends being freed from the Phantom Zone, setting up a cliff hanger for number 2.

Instead, this one opens with Lois figuring out Clark is Superman by drawing Clark over a Superman picture. Corny, but kind of like Superman Returns when the kid realizes Clark is Superman too. So what does Lois do to prove it? She jumps out of a window of the Daily Planet. It's great to see how Donner shows off his super speed to get down there and stop Lois from hurting herself and then back up in a flash. Great...better than firing a white laser from his finger (more on that later). It's a scene like this that really sets the pace that this version was going to be a bit more serious than it turned out to be.

Did I say more serious? How about how Lois finally discovers Clark's secret is done better here too. In the original version, Clark trips over a bear rug and drops his glasses into a fire and he gets them out. There is no burn, so Lois knows he is Superman. Cute. But in the Donner version, she shoots Clark with a gun! Really?!? Yep. This is probably the scene most people complain about because it was used with test footage. You see Christopher Reeve's hair change style a couple of times and the set is pretty...empty (look at the photo). It would have been great to see this done, but to be honest it really didn't bother me that much. Like I said though, most people complain about this one scene the most. Take it for what it is, a major plot element that never made it to the final shoot, but was necessary in the Donner version.

Marlon Brando's scenes are all back in place. They dumped him as well to save money and boy was that a mistake. I can't describe how much better he does of conveying the messages to Superman than his mom did in the original. Also what makes these scenes better is Lois is wearing Superman's shirt and Superman flies in his clothes...awesome!

The final confrontation in the Fortress of Solitude is shorter, but better. Gone is the stupid finger lasers, giant S getting thrown, and everyone having the ability to make a clone of themselves. I was/am a huge comic fan and this never sat well with me. Nowhere in the comics did these powers exist and yet there they were. It's a short sweet version that wraps up the film nicely.

One final note on the good, Gene Hackman and Terrance Stamp were much better in this version. The banter back and forth was better than the original. This is probably because Hackman wasn't brought in for the new director after Donner was dropped. So they had to paste a story with old footage.

The Bad

The ending isn't as good. The whole turning back time doesn't work for me. And it wasn't supposed to be used here either. When they went with the turn back time in number one, they were going to make a different ending for number 2, but it was never shot. I never was a huge fan of the "super-kiss", but it worked better than the turning time thing. In addition, by turning back time a few things were messed up.

Superman bringing the flag back to the White House is one of the best scenes in all of comic book cinema, now it is gone. He gives a great quote too;

Good afternoon, Mr. President. Sorry I've been away so long. I won't let you down again.

Sends chills down the spine as he is saying this over the White House with the American flag. This is probably the scene I missed the most.

It also messed up the continuity of the film. Clark still gets beat up by the diner bully. And he goes back and kicks his butt in the end, but if he turned back time then no one would remember Clark coming into the diner before because it never happened. Now I believe Donner would have done something to explain it (maybe having a different ending than the time thing again) because he shot these scenes and is actually an extra in the diner! It just doesn't work. Plus that's the last scene! Huh?!?!? that's how it ends? Yep.

I also missed some of the quotes. I mentioned the ending quote, but also the quote right before the big fight is changed. In the original version, Superman asks Zod; "General? Would you care to step outside?" Classic. He comes off as being confident and knows it annoys Zod. You know that this is going to be on big fight too. Has the throwback to the old westerns when they would ask this.

In the Donner version we get; "Haven't you heard of freedom of the press?" Really? That's just bad.

Final Thoughts

The Donner Cut is the better version overall. The story might have more bumps in the road, due to the lack of finishing the movie, but taking out all of the "campy-ness" and stupid powers makes this the definitive version of Superman 2. I really wish they could have finished this movie the way it was supposed to, I would have loved to see how it was going to end.

Tirades of Truth: Superman Returns

So Superman Returns was on the other night and I decided to review it. I will try to keep this review more focused than other ones.

Plot:
Well the main story is that Lex Luthor wants to create an island to live on out of a crystal found in the Fortress of Solitude. I know it's pretty weak, but is it any weaker than the first Superman where Lex bought desert land and then wanted to trigger a massive earthquake so the desert land would be beach front property? Allowing him to sell it off and make millions?

This movie came out after Batman Begins, so I think people were expecting a more "mature/dark" storyline. But for me it works. Lex Luthor is about greed and power. And this was another way he tried to do it.

The subplot involves Superman, Lois, and Lois' fiance. It doesn't work at all. I think the entire idea of a super-kid killed this movie. This movie was in effect a sequel to Superman II. So the idea was that Lois got pregnant by Superman during the second movie when they got a little crazy in the Fortress of Solitude. I don't know why they went this route. It was pretty easy to see that he was Superman's kid from the first second it was mentioned.

It's like Anakin and Jar-Jar in The Phantom Menace. If you take them out, it's a pretty good movie. Try watching it without the super-kid and you will be impressed at the improvement.

Cast:
Brandon Routh was made to play Superman. First off Christopher Reeve is Superman and the first still I saw of Routh, I thought it was a still from the first Superman movie. He does a good job of going from "mild mannered" Clark Kent to Superman. The first lines he has as Superman are funny too. After he saves the plane from crashing he tells everyone inside that flying is still the safest way to travel...classic.

They are rebooting the series again and I hear that Routh isn't going to be attached anymore. And that is a real shame. He did a great job with what he was given. He shouldn't be punished for a script like this one.

Kevin Spacey does a great job as Lex Luthor. Once again, I think people were expecting more. There are times that I feel like it is Gene Hackman up there. When he backs away when the crystal starts to destroy the basement...that's classic Lex. He is only looking out for himself.

He actually is a lot darker than Hackman's Luthor. He actually stabs Superman with a piece of Kryptonite to kill him. Hackman's Luthor put a Kryptonite necklace on him to kill it...which is more violent?

I guess I would compare it Nickolson's Joker and Ledger's Joker. They are both good, but one is just a little darker than the other.

Kate Bosworth is horrible as Lois Lane. I mean horrible. She looks like she should be on 90210 or some teen show. She is too young to be a believable reporter like Lane. Add on the fact, she is supposed to have a 5 year old son? When did she have the baby? When she was 15? She was a horrible choice. It was like DC didn't learn anything from the backlash of Katie Holmes being a DA in Batman Begins. In addition to that, she looks nothing like Kidder. This is supposed to take 5 years after Superman II and while Routh might pass off as being the same age, Bosworth looks just too young. If they wanted to go young, then start it as a new movie not a continuation.

She also comes off as annoying. When she starts asking questions on the plane, it was like shut up. Who cares only 1 network is covering the launch, what are you doing there then? She tries to be tough, but it comes off as annoying. Watching her get thrown around the plane was funny though.

The rest of the cast did a fairly nice job. The new Perry White was good, but not memorable. Actually, he gets screwed over by fans because he says the line "see if he (Superman) still stands for truth, justice, and all that other stuff." Now we all know he is supposed to say "the American way", but the studio didn't want Superman to be Americanized since we were seen as "the bad guys" in 2006.

Luthor's girlfriend, Kitty Kowalski, is great as a comical relief and does a great job. She is very reminiscent of Eve Teschmacher from the first film. She could have gotten some more screen time and it would have been ok with me.

Jimmy Olsen was ok. He was modeled after the old Jimmy and seemed a little out of place at times in this newer version.

Marlon Brando comes back from the dead as Jor-El. This just sort of cemented the fact that this was a sequel to Superman II. I can't really comment on his role because it was left overs from the original. Now it is a digital Marlon Brando and that is kind of cool to see.

Costume:
There is only one costume that matters and that is Superman's. Let's look at a side by side of the new and the old.There are a few things I like on the new suit. The cape is longer and I actually like the Superman 's' on the belt. But that's where it stops. Why is the suit darker? Is this the gritty Superman? The colors in the original suit were perfect. Why was there a need to change it? The red definitely reminds me of the "evil drunk" Superman in Superman III. Need to explain the "evil drunk" Superman? Maybe later.

The 'S' is so much smaller now, why? That's the best part of the costume. And what's up with the 3-D 'S'? I know they did it for effects, but it isn't needed at all.

I still like it though. The longer cape does it for me. If they had a bigger 'S' I might say it is better than the original.

Overall:
Good movie. It's a lot better than Superman III or Superman IV. If you go in expecting something like Batman Begins you aren't going to get it. If you go in with an open mind you are going to enjoy yourself. Skip the super-kid scenes and it's a lot better.

It could have used more action scenes, but the ones that were there were pretty good. The plane crashing was nicely done with some actual physics being used this time. And when that guy tries to shoot Superman in the eye...uncomfortable, but visually it was superb.

Tirades of Truth: The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Beginning

Ok, so let's take a look at the sequel to The Little Mermaid 2 (LM2), The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Beginning. Now you can read about the first horrible sequel HERE. I don't want to bring it up too often, but unfortunately I think I will have to.

This movie takes place before the first movie and tries to explain a few things about Atlantica and Ariel's early years. It's kind of funny that in all 3 movies Ariel looks the same.

So the movie starts off and Ariel looks to be around 4-5 years old and we see Ariel's mom for the first time. The mer-people hang out on the surface, which if you watched the first movie is forbidden. Well, it doesn't take long into the flashback to see why King Triton doesn't like humans and thinks the surface is dangerous. Ariel's mom is killed by pirates. This is when I knew I was in for a good movie. The fact that they were willing to just put it out there in the first 5 minutes...amazing.

Actually, I knew I was in for a better movie when I saw the animation. As we all know the LM2 animation was just pitiful. Right away you can see a difference. Let's take a look at an actual screen shot from the LM2.

That's the actual artwork...it just sucks. So here are some shots from Ariel's Beginning;
See a difference? I can. The animation in this movie is great for a non-theatrical release. The best movie I can compare it to is Tarzan. The way the computer generated backgrounds are used are identical in this release. Watch this clip from Tarzan, pay attention to the tree scenes and the fluid motion used.


Now watch this clip (around minute 7) for the swimming effect used with Ariel as she swims. It really is beautiful.

Some other things that I noticed was the songs were much better. The first song we hear is the villain's. Marina Del Ray performs a song worthy to match Ursula's Poor Unfortunate Souls. It's funny, catchy, and everything that LM2 couldn't do.

A little fun fact, when she is trying on the different outfits at the end of the song, one of the outfits is an early design for Ursula. Nice huh?

Ariel's main song can't compare with anything from the original, but it does hold it's own. I Remember is about her mom and Jodi Benson does an excellent job of creating a powerful song and beautiful atmosphere for the movie. The last few notes rank up there with Part of Your World.


Like Ariel, Sebastian gets a new song. Now it definitely doesn't come close to Kiss the Girl or Under the Sea, but like Marina Del Ray's it is catchy. And they do a wonderful job of "hamming" up Sebastian's personality within the song.


The other thing that I noticed right away and loved was the little tribute to the original movie. After Ariel saves Eric, she sings a little bit and the classic "rock scene" was born. Now in the sequel, Melody walks on the rock, but that was it for the tribute.

In this movie, they go for it all. After Sebastian is jailed (watch the movie it's worth it), Marina takes over his job. So she is singing around the ocean and where does she go? Except in this version, the water splashes down on her and a seagull (maybe Scuttle) comes near her and she yells at it. Any movie that throws that in is a winner.

Finally, Ariel's sisters get some air time. Now they were barely in the original, forgotten in the sequel, but are a pretty big part here. The writers did a nice job of giving each one their own little personalities and quirks. It must have been hard to balance 6 other mermaids, but the writers made it seem effortless.

Now it is not all roses. There are some things that bother me about this movie. Enough to ruin it? No, but they do stick out. Why does Flounder seem all tough in this movie, but by the time the original rolls around he is a "scared little guppy"? He does some things that are totally out of character for him, like the way he taunts the guard fish when he is being chased. No fear. Or in the end with the eels. No fear.

Marina Del Ray is a good character. She was a welcomed change of pace from Ursula and Morgana. No magic, just jealousy and greed. I would have liked it someway if the writers could have had her somehow be connected to Ursula. I mean in the original Ursula talks about her time in the palace. What happened? What did she do? If you are going to do a prequel, answer all the questions. You let us know why King Triton hates humans in the first 5 minutes, but you can't explain Ursula?

Finally, the guards. In the original and sequel, we had the mermen with helmets. In this one they are swordfish. Why? I know it's a little thing, but still was it necessary to make that switch? For me it opens another question, why did Triton dump the swordfish guards?

These are all minor complaints and pale in comparison to the movie as a whole. Superior artwork, kid friendly storyline, and catchy songs makes this movie a winner. In fact, I might go as far as to say to show this one first to your young child first. There isn't much in there to scare them and they will enjoy the bright colors and songs.

Now I just have to see Cinderella 3, which I have heard is the best dvd movie ever released.