Next up on Audioeclectica.com’s 2018 End Of The Year Lists, the Top 10 Drummers. The stipulation is that, an album/EP had to have been released this year.
Vote for your favorite in the comments section. At the end of the month, I will release the results of the readers poll.
This list is also in NO PARTICULAR ORDER!!!
01) Sean Kinney- Alice In Chains
02) Mike Miczek- The Atlas Moth
03) Kellii Scott- Failure
04) Jimmy Chamberlain- The Smashing Pumpkins
05) Ben Koller- The Armed
06) Jon Syverson- Daughters
07) Jon Boecklin- Bad Wolves
08) Dan Searle- Architects
09) Riley Breckinridge- Thrice
10) Casey Hansen- Cult Leader
Well, the end of the year is fast approaching and that means all the year end best of lists are coming out. So, that means mine are too.
First up on Audioeclectica.com’s 2018 End Of The Year Lists, the Top 10 Album Covers. The stipulation is that, they had to have released an album/EP this year.
Vote for your favorite Band/Album Cover in the comments section. At the end of the month, I will release the results of the readers poll.
The other day Ozzy celebrated his 70th birthday. Funny enough, while I was on my way home that day, I had my iPod on random and the Rob Zombie song “Iron Head” came on and there was Ozzy singing on it. I had totally forgotten about Ozzy guesting on that song, so of course when I got home I looked up all the songs he’s guested on over the years. So, here’s a bunch of those songs.
Rob Zombie- Iron Head (from The Sinister Urge):
Black Label Society- Stillborn (from The Blessed Hellride):
Coal Chamber- Shock The Monkey (from Chamber Music):
Slash- Crucify The Dead (from Slash):
Tony Iommi- Who’s Fooling Who (from Iommi):
Alice Cooper- Wake The Dead (from Along Came A Spider):
Ringo Starr- Vertical Man (from Vertical Man):
Busta Rhymes- This Means War (from E.L.E.- The Final World Front):
One of the albums I’m anticipating for 2019 is the debut by the band Fact Pattern. They have already released the single/video for the song “My Guard Down.” Now they have unleashed another gem called “A Form To Be” from their upcoming album. This three piece band led by singer/guitarist Ian Flux along with drummer Rannen Bozzio and bassist Jack Lowd have really done the industrial sound justice and gave it an interesting electronic twist. This new song reminds me a bit of Orgy’s Candyass album and Deadsy’s debut album. Check out the track and video, you’ll quite enjoy it!
Fact Pattern- A Form To Be:
Back in the year 2000, there was an album that was released that left a mark on heavy music at the time. We all know about the albums by Korn, Deftones, Slipknot and more. Those bands really left a lasting impression with their debuts and helped steer the course of the heavy music genre. The album and the band that I’d like to delve into is Mudvayne and the album I’m speaking about is their debut album L.D. 50.
After releasing their Kill, I Oughtta EP, Mudvyane signed to No-Name Records/Epic Records. Their debut for the label would be produced by Garth “GGGarth” Richardson (Rage Against The Machine, The Melvins). Recording took place up in Vancouver, Canada. The recording process for the album was excutively produced by Steve Richards (No-Name Records/Management) and Shawn Crahan aka Clown aka #6 of Slipknot. The sessions for L.D. 50 would prove to be very intensive. The band would be working around the clock as Garth Richardson ran a very tight ship. There were a couple songs that weren’t completed till the 11th hour like “Nothing To Gein” and “Pharmaecopia.” Stylistically, L.D. 50 was much more than just your run of the mill heavy record. Mudvayne incorporated a lot of different styles including death metal, hardcore punk, speed metal, prog rock and bits of jazz. Critics began referring to the bands as “Math Metal” due to their intricate time signatures.
L.D. 50 is one of those albums that still holds up to this day and is still praised by fans of the band and genre. For example the song “Dig” is still one of those songs when you hear it today, you can’t help but get excited. Plus the scream of vocalist Chad Gray in the beginning has become a sort of legendary scream. The video for “Dig” also won the MTV2 Awards for best video. Other songs that have always stood out to me on this record include “Internal Primates Forever,” “-1” “Death Blooms,” (which is my favorite song on the album. And when I saw them live many moons ago, this song was so damn good live), “Cradle,” Nothing to Gein,” “Severed,” “Pharmaecopia,” and “(K)now F(orever).” The album itself feels like an album. The songs are separated by interludes that pull all the songs together. These interludes also provide an extra amount of atmosphere that is needed to break up the pummeling of riffs and rhythms.
L.D. 50 was more than just a “metal” record. It was also a showcase of how talented each individual in the band is and how well they worked together. Drummer Matt McDonough and bassist Ryan Martinie are an absolute force of a rhythm section. Guitarist Greg Tribbett had a knack for writing interesting riffs to compliment the off time of Matt and Ryan. The three of them working together created something that has stood the test of time. Then when you add vocalist Chad Gray into the mix it all comes together. Chad’s lyrics and vocal delivery on this album were superb. His ability to go all out guttural with his screams and then quickly deliver genuine melodic vocals was stunning, especially on “Death Blooms.”
This album is a classic among the albums released since the turn of the century. If you ever read the comments section on any music news site that Mudvayne is mentioned in, you’ll most definitely read a slew of comments of fans of L.D. 50. It’s one of those albums that people pine for due to the rawness and aggression. Just like fans of bands like Metallica pine for the sound of their first 4 albums. It’s a shame that Mudvayne isn’t around at the moment. They were always a top notch live band. Their follow up albums seem to be hit or miss with a lot of their fans but, there are still some very excellent songs among those. I personally really dig on the follow up to L.D. 50, The End Of All Things To Come as well as their “final” album which is technically untitled. I genuinely hope that the four of them can put away any ill will and get back to making great tunes again as Mudvayne. Until then, at least we still have the music and the great debut album in L.D. 50.
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