English Angora Rabbits

I love cute furry animals, but these rabbits are a little over the top for me. Not to mention all the grooming required!

Yet another music-related posting:

The iPod Observer – Now Playing – Apple vs. Apple Case Opens in the UK

Y’know, even though I don’t listen to the Beatles anymore, except when waxing nostalgic, I have a great respect for who they are and what they did for the music world. An immensely talented group of four men who helped change the young face of rock music.

I don’t think we’re dealing with those guys here.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think we’re dealing with some stuffed-shirt corporate execs in the Apple Corps music biz who are losing money because their record catalog isn’t bearing much fruit nowadays (pun intended!). So they want to go after a similarly named company because that one is selling music hand over fist!

I dont think The Walrus would’ve approved of these actions. What do you think, dear readers? Koo-koo-ka-joob!

Back in the beginning of this year, I started listening to Pyramaze, a progressive metal group in the vein of power/epic metal. I got hooked on their particular musical style and fantasy-based lyrics, so I bought their “Melancholy Beast” album in the beginning of February. That album was impressive, to say the least. Then I heard their new album, “Legend of the Bone Carver”, was due on Feb 21st. From what I had heard, it was supposed to be better than MB, so I got excited at the idea of acquiring it. I didn’t get a chance to get it until last night as an iTunes download. I took the time to listen to it from beginning to end, and I thought it’d be good to write my first impressions of the songs as I listen. From what I gather, reading up on other reviews, it’s a concept album that tells an intriguing story of a boy who’s destiny is to fight a particular evil ravaging the world. Track-by track, here are my first impressions:

Era of Chaos: Good spoken intro, nicely done. I dare say the singer has a handsome speaking voice.

The Birth: Another good intro to what you can probably expect from the album. A solid, mid-tempo jam. Brilliant choruses to be had here!

What Lies Beyond: Started nodding my head thru the first few seconds… forty seconds into it, my jaw dropped and I was saying “Hell yes!!”. What a blazing rocker! “It cannot be undone!”
(Second impression: the middle interlude sends chills down my spine!! I can’t stop listening to this song!)

Ancient Words Within: Another mid-tempo prog-metal offering. Meaty riffs (especially halfway into the track) and some wonderful accentuating keyboard work. Man, can this guy sing!

Souls in Pain: Their feature track (would be called hit single in another era). The bell tolling through the silence in certain parts really makes it hit home. A very radio-friendly song, even with the tempo changes.

She Who Summoned Me: A beautiful, not-quite-formulaic ballad done as a duet between the singer (the hero’s role) and a female singer (as the summoner). All the sounds between the guitars and keyboards are wonderfully arranged and very uplifting. The ending lets you down nicely.

The Bone Carver: Starts out as a straightaway jam, then goes into a gallop rhythm for the verses, then picks it up in the choruses. This is another awesome jam any musician would appreciate!

Bring Back Life: One of the quirkier tracks in the album. It switches off between two different rhythms and keep you guessing. The slow middle is interesting, if not a little formulaic. It picks back up and keeps jamming until the end.

Blood Red Skies: The beginning features some doom drumming with a spoken word intro and female singing. Then just his speaking the story with moody synth string work, then the drums pick up again. An interesting way to tell a part of the story. “Let the war begin!”

Tears of Hate: Wow! They pulled out all the stops for this last track. No quarter given here! a very epic-sounding, pure power metal song with a slow, spoken word middle and mid-tempo outro to help bring closure to their story.

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I get the feeling, after listening to this album, that their last offering was just their way of noodling around and seeing what they could do. This time, they seemed to know exactly what they’re capable of, and decided to pull no punches. No fooling around this time!

After listening to the whole album, I went back to “What Lies Beyond” and cranked it up a notch! Again… wow!!

One of the cool things about having an portable music player, not just an iPod, but any PMP with a large storage capacity, is the kind of library you can have. If you love a variety of musical genres, these players comes in handy. Sometimes, I like to put my iPod in shuffle mode through the entire library just to see what variety comes up. Good for when you don’t quite know what you’re in the mood for, and also to relive some old memories.

I’m doing this right now as I type. The player will play random picks through 1,702 songs. I’ll write a brief one to three sentence comment on each track. Let’s see what comes of it!

Dokken – Alone Again: One of those heart-wrenching power ballads that 80’s rock groups like Dokken are famous for. Solid lead guitar work by George Lynch!

The Ramones – Teenage Lobotomy: Songs by this punk group are always catchy and amusing! This one’s bouncy, with the group chanting “Lobotomy! Lobotomy!”. Pure stupid fun!

Ratt – Got Me On The Line: Another popular 80’s hard rock group! This song’s about, of course, calling up a date for a night out… or is that in? I like the spoken end line “Nobody hangs up on me!”

Chi-A.D. – Myopic Spirit: I also like trance music. This kind of music is great for working out or when you want to have some background music. May be repetitive, but they keep it interesting nonetheless.

Kamelot – Farewell: This is one of my recent favorite prog/power-metal groups. I did a post on them a while back. This track is fast, furious and a scorcher to listen to.

The Cars – Tonight She Comes: Good old 80’s pop rock! An infectious beat and chorus that sticks in your thoughts. The guitarist, Elliot Easton, is seriously underrated!

Danger Danger – Saturday Nite: One of those good time, again 80’s, hard rock groups singing about… what else?… having a good time!

Billy Squier – All Night Long: You know, I really dont have a lot of 80’s music on the iPod, but evidently that’s what keeps popping up. Another feel-good rocker.

Metallica – Sad But True: The title of this song echoes what I think of where Metallica is now in their history. They’re still the metal kings, even though their recent stuff leaves a bad taste in my ears. This song is a good mid-tempo jam to listen to.

The Honeydrippers – Young Boy Blues: From Robert Plant’s side project in the early 80’s. I got hooked on the album when my parents had it on vinyl. Done in a kind of a slow 50’s ballad feel and very good, indeed!

Lita Ford – Shot of Poison: One of the few women that paved the way for more female rockers. This song’s a rocker, but kinda sappy. Some of her other stuff is better, but the ending chorus in this song makes up for the boredom.

Pink Floyd – Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2): Man, this is such a classic! I don’t think I need to explain this song, since everybody in the civilized world should have heard this by now. I like the screaming headmaster at the end!

Steve Vai – Dirty Black Hole: The premier rock instrumentalist/composer and guitar wizard extraordinaire, in a off-beat project starring him and guitarist/vocalist Devin Townsend. This song’s a wild jam!

Pyramaze – Mighty Abyss: More on this group later. This is some serious prog/power metal. Starts off slow, then it just takes off! A real treat for people who love this kind of music.

Neuroticfish – Neurocaine: My wife got me into some of this kind of music. Some cal it goth, but more specifically it’s dark electronica. Very catchy dance beat with clean, dark vocals.

Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer: Another classic! The lyrics are catchy, if not a bit on the weird side. “I wanna be your sledgehammer / Why don’t you call my name?”. Huh?!

The Guess Who – No Time: Classic 70’s rock! This is an excellent jam. ‘Nuff said!

Razed in Black – Blush: More goth/dark electronica music… with some heavily distorted meaty guitar rhythms. Good for some hard-core dancing.

Information Society – What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy): This is very infectious 80’s pop dance music, along the lines of New Order. The lyrics get you thinking about relationships. I like this track and a few others because of the sound samples from “Star Trek” interwoven in the music. (I’m a trekkie!)

Solitary Experiments – Miracle (Omega Attraktor Remix): A hardcore darkwave/goth dance track. My wife absolutely loves this music. I listen to it sometimes for something really different.

Variety is really the spice of life! My point in all of this is: Don’t be afraid to open half an ear to what others listen to. Turn on a strange radio station, give a listen to what other family, friends and co-workers are jamming to… whatever! You may be suprised at what you like! Also, it’s good to revisit some old favorites, even if your tastes have changed. My wife, for the longest time, absolutely hated Dream Theater, one of my absolute favorite groups. She recently shocked, and I mean shocked, me by listening to Dream Theater’s new music and actually liking it!! I returned the favor by having more of her favorites on my iPod and listening to them on occasion. (BTW, hon, is there any chance of giving Rush another try? Pretty please?)

Yes, after not having a MySpace account for so long, I decided to open a new one. Christine has had one for a few years and she has met tons of people online. Mainly just to chat with of course, but I don’t mind and I want in on the action, too! I deleted my old account a while back because it seemed like MySpace was going stagnant and it seemed like too many immature minds were infecting it. Now, there’s still immature minds, but you can report objectionable content with greater ease and more mature people are joining it.

Also, there’s a slew of new features. I especially like how bands of all popularities (small-time to world-renowned) have their own pages on MySpace and you can add (with their permission) one of their featured songs to your page! My MySpace page was just started today and I have a link on it to Christine’s page, as well as a song from the band Pyramaze (an awesome new power metal band who I’ve been following for a couple of months) playing in a mini player on the page!

I’ll be updating it more in time, but I’ve also got all my other projects going on. Like two websites – one I’m updating as much as I can and the other I’m building, my full-time work life, my home life, learning programming (and anything else to make my life easier)… as you can see, I like to keep busy!

Cheers!