Author: audioeclectica

Album Review: Metallica- Hardwired…To Self Destruct

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Metallica is one of my top 3 favorite bands of all time, right behind Nine Inch Nails and Alice In Chains. I’ve been eagerly anticipating a new album from Metallica for a while now. And I can honestly say that the wait was well worth it. Metallica really delivers the goods on their new album Hardwired…To Self Destruct. This album has everything Metallica fans love about the band. It’s thrashy, riff driven with lots of groove, and harks back to their more raw intense days of say Kill Em All and Ride The Lightning, with bits of the Black album and dashes of Load era blues. Let me simplify that for you, this new album is as though Kill Em All and The Black Album fornicated and did a few lines of Load.

Now here is a track by track rundown of the album:

From the start of the album with “Hardwired,” you know you are in for a ride. The anger and intensity that comes from everyone in the band comes alive on this song. “Atlas, Rise,” is a borderline epic jam that has flashes of Ride The Lightning influence to it as well as an Iron Maiden feel.”Now That We’re Dead” is very groovy, and musically there is a tinge of Alice In Chains to this song. “Moth Into Flame” is one of the best songs Metallica has ever written. There is nothing about this song that isn’t awesome. The melody, the riff, the drums and rhythm, it simply rocks. “Dream No More” is a very “black album/Ride The Lightning” influenced song, with some more grunge rock melody, making for a very gritty track. There is even a mention of Ktulu, which is a nice little ode to the Ride The Lightning era. “Halo On Fire” is  one of the more somber and mellow tracks on the album but, by no means does it lose the edge the rest of the album has. Kirk Hammett’s leads on this song add a sense of melancholy in a good way. “Confusion” keeps with the melodic and heavy riffs. “ManUNkind” is thrashy and heavy. This is one of those songs that really has the Kill Em All/Ride The Lightning feel to it. Plus the video for it is absolutely awesome. “Here Comes Revenge” is another heavy track but, this one has lots of dynamics to it, that separate it from the rest of the pack. “Am I Savage” starts off with a very epic drawl then transforms into a groovy track. “Murder One” is one of my favorite songs on the album. There is something really rocking and cool about this song, as it’s a tribute to the great Lemmy of Motorhead. Closing out the album is the heaviest track on the album “Spit Out The Bone.” This is the type of song many Metallica fans have been waiting for, for many years. This is a song is going to be one of those songs live that will leave you with whiplash from headbanging.

Metallica have delivered a truly great album. From the songwriting, production, artwork, and marketing, Hardwired…To Self Destruct is going to go down as a classic for the band. James Hetfield sounds great on this album. His lyrics are top notch and full of insight and imagery. Kirk Hammett’s solos are tasteful and full of melody. He even manages to lay off the wah-wah pedal enough to showcase his playing. Robert Trujillo provides a layer of thunder with the bass that hasn’t been heard since The Black Album. Lars, well Lars actually brings a speed and intensity that he has lacked in recent years. Sure he’s not playing like he did all those years ago but, he’s giving the songs what they need.

I for one am glad that Metallica took their time and didn’t rush to put out an album. Among their peers in the metal community, they have always done what they wanted and it pays off in the end, with the exception of St. Anger. That was just wretched but, necessary to get the band back to where they need to be, heavy and ruthless in their approach. Take a listen to the entire album and let this album encompass you and make you fall in love with Metallica all over again.

Overall Rating: A

 

Metallica- Hardwired…To Self Destruct:

 

New Metallica!!!!

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Today Metallica are releasing a few videos from their upcoming album Hardwired…To Self Destruct. They made a video for every song. Over the next two days, all the videos will be released a few hours apart from each other. Here is the schedule of how it will go down.

I will keep updating this post as the videos are released.

Wednesday, November 16th:

12pm EST/9am PT – “Dream No More” (Directed by Tom Kirk) – Gshow Globo, Brazil
2pm EST/11am PT – “Confusion” (Directed by Claire Marie Vogel) – Rolling Stone, USA
4pm EST/1pm PT – “ManUNkind” (Directed by Jonas Åkerlund) – Bravewords, Canada
6pm EST/3pm PT – “Now That We’re Dead” (Directed by Herring & Herring) – Pitchfork, USA
8pm EST/5pm PT – “Here Comes Revenge” (Directed by Jessica Cope) – Triple M, Australia
10pm EST/7pm PT – “Am I Savage” (Directed by Herring & Herring) – Ro69.JP (Rockin’ On), Japan

Thursday, November 17th:

12a EST/9pm PT – “Halo On Fire” (Directed by Herring & Herring) – BiLD / Metal Hammer, Germany
2a EST/11pm PT – “Murder One” (Directed by Robert Valley) – Le Parisian, France
4a EST/1am PT – “Spit Out The Bone” (Directed by Phil Mucci) – NME, England
6a EST9am PT – “Lords of Summer” (Directed by Brett Murray) – Aftonbladet, Sweden

Hardwired:

Moth Into Flame:

Atlas, Rise:

Dream No More:

Confusion:

ManUNKind:

Now That We’re Dead:

Here Comes Revenge:

Am I Savage:

 

Halo On Fire:

 

Murder One:

 

Spit Out The Bone:

 

The Lords Of Summer:

Album Rank: 10 Years

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I’ve been going back to bands I haven’t listened to in a while and rediscovering what made me get into them in the first place. One of the bands I went back to was 10 Years. They’ve always been a good go to for some solid rock music with lots of melody. During the course of listening to all their albums I thought that it would be a good time to do an album rank of their records. So here it is from not their best to their best.

 

From Birth To Burial:

 

Division:

 

Feeding The Wolves:

 

Minus The Machine:

 

The Autumn Effect:

 

Cover Comparison: Trivium vs Lacuna Coil (REM)- Losing My Religion

I haven’t done a cover comparison in a bit. I was searching for covers to share with you all and came across these two bands, Trivium and Lacuna Coil doing covers of R.E.M.’s classic “Losing My Religion.” I’m interested to hear what you all think about these renditions and whose is good and whose isn’t.

 

Trivium- Losing My Religion:

 

Lacuna Coil- Losing My Religion:

 

R.E.M.- Losing My Religion:

 

Album Review: Vanishing Life- Surveillance

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When I first heard about Vanishing Life, I already knew, without hearing a song, that this band was going to be something I’m going to enjoy. Having one of my all time favorite drummers in Jaime Miller from Snot behind the kit and Walter Schreifels of Quicksand singing, this was sure to be something special. Joining them on guitar and bass, are Zach Blair of Rise Against and Autry Fulbright of And You Will Know us by the Trail of Dead. The first 7″ they put out was two songs of pure energy and unrelenting aggression. Now on their first full length album Surveillance, Vanishing Life has put together a record that harks back to the days when music had something very important to say.

From the urgency of the first song “Realist,” you can tell that you are in for quite a ride. “Outlier,” has a really cool melodic tinge to it without losing the “vibe” of what the band is. “Painter” is the type of song you’d expect from Walter, which has a sort of Rival Schools feel to it. “Pretty Ruined” has a post-hardcore vibe. “Exile” is a great punk rock track. “Image” is a pretty poignant song lyrically. “Vanishing Life” is full of the energy you’d want from a band in this style. “Thinking Weightless” is a really cool song that has great dynamics. “People Running” was featured on their first 7″ and the first song I heard from Vanishing Life, and this song is raw and full of punk ferociousness. Closing song “Big Other” has an epic vibe to it. I could almost see this as a pre-cursor to what the band might evolve into.

There is something beautiful about the simplicity of these songs. These guys are all great musicians and can play the hell out of their instruments, but they understand the need to play according to the song. Everyone in Vanishing Life lives in different areas but, I really hope that doesn’t cause this to be a one off project. This debut album really shows promise of what the four of them can do together and I’d love to hear more.

Overall Rating= B

Vanishing Life- Surveillance:

Cover Song: The Unseen (Rolling Stones)- Paint It Black

I really dig when friends of mine make suggestions to me (hint hint wink wink). Yesterday during the chaotic aftermath of the election, my friend Kevin passed this cover of the Rolling Stones “Paint it Black” by underrated punk band The Unseen. This isn’t the best cover, but it is pretty decent. So check it out, and let me know what you think. And thank you Kevin!

 

The Unseen- Paint It Black:

 

 

Bands That Should Return: Rage Against The Machine

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I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Zach De La Rocha, get back in front of the microphone with Tom Morello, Brad Wilk, and Tim Commerford. Knock off this Prophets of Rage junk, and do the right thing.

The world really needs Rage Against The Machine now more than ever.

Rage Against The Machine- Live at Woodstock 99:

 

Rage Against The Machine- Live at Grand Olympic Auditorium:

 

 

 

Greatest Political Songs

Today is election day. Probably one of the most important elections in the history of the United States. I thought that today I should put together a list of the greatest political songs. This is open to all who would like to contribute a suggestion to the list. I will be updating this a lot!

Neil Young- Rockin In The Free World:

 

Creedence Clearwater Revival- Fortunate Son:

 

The Beatles- Revolution:

 

Rolling Stones- Street Fighting Man:

 

Bob Dylan- The Times They Are A Changing:

 

Bob Dylan- Only A Pawn In Their Game:

 

Bob Dylan- Masters Of War:

 

Rage Against The Machine- Sleep Now In The Fire:

Rage Against The Machine- Killin In The Name:

 

Buffalo Springfield- For What It’s Worth:

 

U2- Sunday Bloody Sunday:

 

The Clash- Clampdown:

 

The Clash- Know Your Rights:

 

John Lennon- Imagine:

 

Marvin Gaye- What’s Going On:

 

Bruce Springsteen- Born In The USA:

 

Gil Scott Heron- The Revolution Will Not Be Televised:

 

The Doors- Five To One:

 

Green Day- American Idiot:

 

Rise Against- State Of The Union:

 

Black Flag- Rise Above:

 

Bad Religion- American Jesus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Second Look: Trivium

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There are times that when a band first comes on the scene people tend to be very cynical. Especially when the band is made up of teenagers. About 12 years ago, Trivium was thrust onto the heavy music scene, and was met with mixed thoughts. These kids could play their instruments and shred, but that wasn’t enough for most people. Trivium’s first couple albums Ember To Inferno, Ascendancy, and The Crusade, were barely showing the full potential of what the band could be. I first took notice of Trivium when Ascendancy came out. I bought the album and enjoyed it for what it was, a solid piece of metal, that played off the “metalcore” genre that was big at the time. I saw them twice on that cycle, and they did put on a great live show, and were very gracious and humble guys. When it came to The Crusade, I didn’t bother with it. It didn’t seem to have a sense of real depth, and it lacked a real direction of what the band was. Fast forward a few years, to a night when I was searching for something to listen to, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Trivium had put out a new album. So naturally I was curious to see and hear what they had become, and I was genuinely intrigued with what the band had become. For the first time I really thought that Trivium had come into their own.

I took the time to go back to all the albums I missed, and I have to say, since their album Shogun, Trivium has really found their sound, and honed their songwriting craft by leaps and bound. Shogun, was thrashy and heavy, with moments of melody that didn’t let it get too extreme. The follow up the very epic In Waves, is an album that really took it up a notch. You can really hear the amount of work and passion in this album. The next album Vengeance Falls, is somewhat of an experimental album for the band. They chose to work with David Draiman of Disturbed (who is a big fan of Trivium), and the results of their work turned out to be quite interesting. The vocals on the album featured a more dramatic singing approach, which seemed to have given singer/guitarist Matt Heafy, better control and understanding of what to do. Their latest album and the one that got me to listen to them again, Silence in the Snow, is everything you would hope the band could evolve into. The songwriting, playing style, vocals, lyrics and all around performance, shows a band that has really come into their own.

Trivium has defied the critics and have finally matured into a band that can really deliver. Not that they couldn’t before, but with anything, time and growth can make things that much better. I highly recommend taking a second look at Trivium.

 

Shogun:

 

In Waves:

 

Vengeance Falls:

 

Silence In The Snow:

Band Of The Week: Car Bomb

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Being original isn’t easy these days. There is a sense of “it’s been done before,” but, there are some bands out there that have been inspired to create music that takes it up a notch. One band in particular that the inspiration bug has hit is Car Bomb. They have released a new album called META that is spectacular, and the footage I’ve seen of their live shows, makes them really something to watch. If you were to take a bit of Meshuggah, a bit of Gojira, a little Deftones (more of their atmospheric sound), and a dash of The Dillinger Escape Plan, what you get is Car Bomb. This band packs one hell of a punch. From the technical instrumentation, to the scathing vocals, Car Bomb is quite the band to look out for. They are punishing in their delivery, yet have a keen sense of space and bits of melody.

 

Car Bomb- Meta:

 

Video for “Black Blood:”