I want it, I need it, revenge is dripping from my teeth

There is no way i would believe you at all if you were to tell me five years ago that i would like Avenged Sevenfold, let alone turn into my favorite band. That's sort of the conundrum that i've put myself into and always feel sort of guilty when it comes to A7X because of it. Don't get me wrong, i'm extremely glad that i like them as much as i do, but i feel bad that i once used to hate them and think they were crappy.

Surprisingly to me though, City of Evil is the only album from any band or artist that i can think of that has both pushed me away from them, and made me love them later on. When i first heard stuff from City of Evil it was the three singles Beast and the Harlot, Bat Country, and Seize the Day, all from the radio and i thought they were alright; Seize the Day was pretty catchy and would get stuck in my head often. I decided to give the full album a listen and i vividly remember laying on my bed listening to it, and after a little bit of Blinded in Chains i turned it off. I didn't really like any else of what i had heard and thought it was boring. After that i never really came back to it until about two years later when A7X's self-titled album was released in '07. I can't explain what happened, or what changed in my mind, but all of a sudden when i listened back to it, it sounded amazing. There are a couple things about it that i don't really like, but the good far outweighs the bad and it's now one of my favorite albums of all time.

1. Beast and the Harlot. It was very first song I heard from these guys and it's a good one. It's one of their more poppy songs, but that's not a bad thing at all. Can't help but get cheered up from the chorus whenever I listen to it, and can't help but headband during the bridge.

2. Burn it Down and Blinded in Chains - They aren't bad songs by any means, but nothing in them really stand out to me besides a few cool riffs and melodies. Besides that though, the main problem i have with these two songs is they don't seem to have much focus to them. There are parts to them where i feel they should end, but they go on to a different part.

3. Bat Country - It's always been a favorite of mine but the soft part always sounded weird to me. Really nice solo though; one of my favorites.

4. Trashed and Scattered - it's always felt like another filler song like Burn it Down and Blinded in Chains, but better because it actually has some memorable parts to it.

5. Seize the Day - The ballad of the album and it's a good one. It's always been one of my favorite song of Avenged Sevenfold's period lyrically and the solo is one of my favorites by Synyster Gates.

6. Sidewinder - This is where the album gets really good and epic. This song also has a couple solos that are a favorite of mine on the album, the first being the one at about 3:30 and the second being the dual flamenco style solo with Synyster's dad Papa Gates at the end of the song.

7. The Wicked End - The best song vocally by Matt Shadows i think. I've always loved how he sang "As if we haven't swam enough in this life of misery."

8. Strength of the World - one of the best songs on City of Evil, and one of the best Avenged Sevenfold songs period. I love how they incorporated orchestra into it and did it extremely well. the song is a little more than 9 minutes but feels a lot shorter than that.

9. Betrayed - a very groovy song, which makes sense seeing as it's dedicated to Dimebag Darrel. I can appreciate this song, and it is good, but it's never been a favorite of mine.

10. M.I.A. - The last song and it goes out with a bang. This is one of my favorite songs of their ever. Just about everything about it is good; the chorus is awesome, so are the riffs, and the solo is just mind blowing. The only thing that brings it down is Matt's vocals at the end, but that isn't that big of a problem. The acoustic solo to end the song and album is a nice touch.

There are a couple negative things that keep this album from being perfect. The production isn't the best, mainly the drums, and is my main complaint about City of Evil. I like my drums to song big and beat your head in, but on here they sound sort of thin. Another thing is the vocals. They aren't they best, but they're no where near as bad as people make them out to be. I can cut Matt some slack though because this is his first album of only singing, and he has gotten a lot better since. He's actually now one of my favorite vocalists. Other than those two things this album is absolutely amazing. Any guitarist should love it, there's tons of riffs, fills, and harmonies, which i'm a sucker for.

Here's hoping they go back to this sort of style of writing a bit on their new album Nightmare, which comes out July 27th!

We're Going Down, In A Spiral To The Ground

I owe a lot to System of a Down. I've always liked hard rock and heavier stuff, but I put the blame on them for leading me down the road to metal. Even before I liked metal there was just something about System of a Down that drew me in, regardless of how heavy they got. It's a shame that they went on, and still are, on hiatus now because they were, and still are unfortunately one of the most unique bands the have come out in recent years. And even more unfortunate, I think they released their best CD yet in Hypnotize.

Hypnotize came out in late 2005 and has since gotten a lot of negative responses from fans, but i'm of the opposing side and think it's one of their strongest albums. It has the quirkiness, the chaos, the deep and thoughful lyrics, and the beautiful melodies and harmonies that you'd come to expect from System of a Down, and sometimes combined them all in one.

1. Attack - Pretty basic System of a Down song all in all. Soft verses that burst into fast heavy choruses. Nothing really stands out in this song, but it's still a solid song.

2. Dreaming - One of the highlights of Hypnotize and is System of a down at their best. The verses are what I mean about them being chaotic, yet it all somehow works and sounds great. One of my favorite tracks vocally; the harmonies between Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian are so simple yet so effective, especially the end "Dreaming of Screaming/Someone kick me out of my mind/I hate these thoughts I can't deny" part.

3. Kill Rock & Roll - The one thing you can expect from System of a Down are Serj and Daron's vocal harmonies and they save this song. This song is another basic System of a Down song, but the vocals make it memorable.

4. Hypnotize - The title track and a very good one. Very simple, and it doesn't stray much, but it's still very memorable somehow.

5. Stealing Society - Things get kind of weird with this song, especially the bridge, but overall this is good song.

6. Tentative - The closest song resembling System of a Down's Toxicity days. Serj takes over singing on this song mostly, and reminds us why he is such a good singer. Very eerie song coupled with the lyrics "We're going down/In a spiral to the ground/No one, no one's going to save us now/Not even God.

7. U-Fig - Another weird and quirky song that has always been a favorite of mine. Gets kind of repetitive after awhile, but ultimately gets easily stuck in your head.

8. Holy Mountains - The second best song on the whole CD. I can't say how good this song is apparently about the Armenian genocide, and this song conveys the sadness, and anger towards it perfectly. Great song all around.

9. Vicinity of Obscenity - Things get really weird now with this song and the next one. This song is okay, but i can never take it seriously. Starts off System of a Down-like, but cuts into an almost smooth jazz section. If i didn't know them better, i'd think they really like their banana terracotta pie, but the song is a bit different than that...

10. She's Like Heroin - Equally weird, apparently Daron wrote this song, and wasn't that great of a decision. This song isn't anything but weird.
11. Lonely Day - Another song wrote by Daron, and it contains one the worst, and laughable lyrics grammatically in the chorus with "The most loneliest day of my life." The vocals and their harmonies absolutely save this song.

12. Soldier Side - First hearing a little bit of this song in the intro to Mesmerize, this is easily the best song ever written by System of a Down, and makes listening to the last three songs worth it. Just listen to the vocals! The Harmonies! The guitars! This song is perfect, yet very depressing.

While this album does contain some questionable filler, it more than makes up for it with the good songs. The best songs on Hypnotize all happen to be the more serious ones, which I don't think is a coincidence, so if System of a Down does ever come back from their hiatus, I will definitely be looking forward to hearing more songs like those because they write them beautifully.

Taste Me You Will See; More Is All You Need

Is music really addictive? I've been led to believe that it's nothing more than a myth but i've found there some studies that say otherwise, where music could really be addictive.

In an article by Rick Nauert, Emotional Music Triggers Addictive Brain Activity, it was found by a Canadian research group that the "the pleasure centers in the brain that respond to drug craving are also active when we listen to emotionally powerful music that gives us 'chills' or 'shivers-down-the-spine.'" They also found that the music that caused chills "led to a release of dopamine in the reward centers of the brain," the same thing that happens when you smoke cocaine.

There was also a study by Northeastern University back in 1999 testing if people really could be addictive to music. They took 90 people and asked them questions similar to the ones asked to people with alcohol, like instead of "Do you feel you are a normal drinker?" they asked "Do you feel you listen to music at normal levels?" Eight out of the 90 people were found to suffer from an addiction, but many of the participants were recruited at a record store, so that whole study seems invalid to me.

I am not one to argue against music not being addictive. I wouldn't go as far as to say it's as addicting as cocaine, though i'm sure in some cases people could be, but if i hear a song that i really like, or is stuck in my head, i'll want to listen to it. Heck, i was listening to my iPod while writing this.

Does that make me an addict?

"Hello, I'm Lucas...and i'm addicted to music..."

I have a feeling it'll be a long time

I have a question that i want answered: Why does it take so long for bands to come out with new albums?

I wish there was some way to find the average length nowadays compared to 20-30 years ago, but just looking through some older bands discographies, some of them would come out with two a year and even three sometimes. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones both did it in the 60's.

I know times have changed a bunch since then, but things have gotten out of hand now.

I guess the reason why i bring up this whole issue is because one thing that has been going on lately and one i just remembered. The one i just remembered is with The Offspring. I got really big into them around the beginning of my sophomore year of high school which was in '05 so their latest CD out at that time, Splinter, had been out almost two years. That's perfectly fine with me, but the problem i had was i kept hearing about a new CD coming and you should expect it out next spring or a certain amount of time, only to be pushed back and would no longer have a set date. Next thing you know it's three years later and i've forgotten all about The Offspring entirely until pretty close to it being out. That in itself means that there was pretty crappy promotion but i don't remember seeing any advertisements around outside of news articles.

Today though, Avenged Sevenfold is the issue at hand now. In a couple weeks it'll be two years since their last album came out so you'd think a new album would be out or soon to be out? Wrong. There really hasn't been any news about a new album except for a few sentences, and there really hasn't been any updates on how the new album is coming along (if there is one actually being written, that is). This wouldn't be all that bad, but Avenged Sevenfold is a band that toured basically the last two years straight, and their set list remained basically the same for those two years, which makes me wonder if they lost any people as fans due to that. or money at least. Certainly if you went to go see them say a couple months after their last album came out, you would be all that motivated to go see them again just to see them same thing basically, right? Unless you were a fanatic, but that wouldn't be the same and you would go no matter what.

Now i know it's a lot to ask to come out with record after record, i'm not, i see no problem with it taking two years for a new one to come out, but there has to be some point where it gets to be too much, which begs the question; what is the best formula to releasing new albums?

Metallica

It's been 5 months but hey, better now than never right?

I've always had an appreciation for Metallica ever since i was a wee little guy (still am...), which was around the time their self titled album, or better known as the Black Album, but i never heard the album in full, just the singles like Enter Sandman and Sad But True but i remember Enter Sandman having a big effect on me. In recent years though the Black Album has grown to be one of my favorite albums even though many "true" Metallica fans point to it as the time they "sold out." Contrary to that though, i think the Black Album has more cohesive, straight to the point songwriting. Gone are the days of the 7-8 minute epics shown on Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets, and in come a more radio friendly approach to songwriting. But as i've always said, radio friendly doesn't necessarily mean bad. In fact it's quite the opposite on the Black album.

I like almost every aspect of the Black Album. The production, the drumming, the vocals, the guitar: all are top notch. The production on this album i think is some of the best ever. You can ear everything crystal clear, and most importantly, you can hear the bass! Listen to their previous album ...And Justice For All and then the Black Album right after and it's like night and day, productionwise. The sound of the drums are some of the best i've heard. I'm a guy who likes his drums loud on recordings and that's exactly what you get, best shown on their track Sad but True. James Hetfield, who does the vocals for Metallica is the best he's ever been, showing his voice is very versitle on Nothing Else Matters and his usual, and much improved i might add, raspyness also on Sad but True. Kirk Hammett provides some more memorable riffs and solos that i still find stuck in my head from time to time. Who doesn't remember the main riff to Enter Sandman?

As a whole, the Black Album ranks high up there as one of my favorite Metallica Albums and here's how each song ranks within:
1. Enter Sandman - Kicks off the album with arguably Metallica's most famous song which reached gold certification. If this song doesn't get you pumped, i don't know what will.
2. Sad But True - One of my favorites on the album. I love the dark tone of the song. This song is the measuring stick to determine how good the drum production is. Vocals are some of Hetfield's best.
3. Holier Than Thou - Never been one to love this song. Really fun to play along with on guitar though.
4. The Unforgiven - Another one of Metallica's classics and it's a good one. Really love the melody and the solo is awesome. One of my favorites and oozes soul and feeling.
5. Wherever I May Roam - I've always though of this as the indian song of theirs. Pretty good song. Not the best, but memorable.
6. Don't Tread On Me - Has a nice groovy main riff. Another than that it seems like a filler song and a pretty forgettable song. Not bad by any means but I usually skip over it.
7. Through the Never - Another filler song. Nothing really stands out to me in this song.
8. Nothing Else Matters - Can't you just hear the hearts of the fans of old Metallica fans breaking? I myself really like this song. The lyrics are great, the vocals are great and the solo is superb. Like The Unforgiven it oozes feeling. There's a reason why it's a favorite to many people.
9. Of Wolf And Man - They puck up the pace again and pick up with a good one. I really like the lyrics. It's about shapeshifting into a werewolf, what's not to like?
10. The God that Failed - I've always treated this song as a filler. Most of the time i skip it. Nothing draws me in.
11. My Friend of Misery - By far the best song on the whole album. Starts of with a great bass intro. The vocals make this song; James is a his best. The solo is the best of the album and is my favorite.
12. The Struggle Within - Ends the album well. Simple but effective riffs along with more excellent vocals. Great solo followed but an amazing riff that makes me headbang everytime.

Overall, even though there's a few filler tracks the classics more than make up for it. Old Metallica fans give it so much unneeded grief it's amazing. I definitely recommend it. Listen to it, enjoy it, blast it!

Jumping off the deep end.

Hello! I've finally decided to give in and create one of these to get in the swing of things and for some practice for a job field i'm aiming to join, which is to be a music/film reviewer. But first things first, here's a bit of info about me!

• I'm Lucas and i'm 18 years old.
• I just recently shaved down all my hair to a half inch after having longish hair for about 5 years and i'm amazed at how it doesn't feel as weird as i thought it would. Everything seems a lot easier too.
• I live in Minnesota and i really can't see myself living anywhere else but i can see myself living in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, or any of the big cities in Canada.
• That being said i love the cold. Winter is my favorite season and i'm happy that this past winter was perfect. I do love spring just as much though and am ecstatic that it's finnaly seems to be starting and is getting beautiful out
  
• I can play guitar, trumpet and baritone but i really want to learn piano and drums.
• I'll be the first to admit that i'm a metal head: i really love the heavy stuff, but i love so much more. I enjoy anything from Metallica to Mozart to John Mayer to Between the Buried and Me to Simon & Garfunkel and then some.
  
• I don't let anything worry me...at all, almost. If you ever see me anxious or genuinely worried then somethings wrong. Same thing with me being angry.
• I've become a real movie/tv buff these past couple months. I'm often left with nothing to do so i try to find shows or movies that i'll like and nothing beats sitting down for a few hours watching your favorite shows.
• Angel, Supernatural, Dollhouse, How I Met Your Mother, are shows i'm big into lately.
  
• That said, one of my guiltiest pleasures are DVD's. It'd be a wise bet that down the road i'll have a huge collection. I'm always getting new ones and one of my goals is to get every superhero/comic book movie on dvd.
• I'm super anal about having things on my ipod organized. If i have like 4 sections in the artist section for the same artist it really bugs me. Same goes for albums. And same goes for my backpack; if it's unorganized and has papers everywhere i feel weird.
• I'm a huge Minnesota Wild and hockey fan. I watch almost every game of the season on tv. And if nobody has noticed, if you're ever wondering if theres a game, just look if i'm wearing a Wild shirt. Another one of my goals in life is to get season tickets.
  
• Only on rare occasions do i finish homework before the day before it's due. If it's a big project then i'll work on it before then but it's just my way of working and it works for me; why change?
• I have too many books that i want to read but haven't because of that same problem: i have too many that i've gotten and haven't started. I've sort of fixed that and have set up an order of the ones i'm going to read. Almost done with the first!
• I'm a big geek when it comes to Greek mythology. Greek Myths have always interested me since i was little but after reading a really good and really old Trojan War book that i wish i had now really got me into the whole story and is now one of, if not my favorite story ever.
• And finally: I'm currently going to school at Minnesota School of Business in their Music Business program and i'm very excited to graduate and hopefully get a job in Audio Production. I think it'd be really really fun working with bands trying to help them get the sound they want. Nothing bothers me more than crappy production on an otherwise amazing CD.

Hope that helps a bit! If not, i'm an open book - ask away!

Stay tuned though, music, movies, and tv show reviews coming up!