Post #24
Sometimes I find that I've collected a vast amount of excellent, shredding metal music in a relatively short period of time that I have difficulty thoroughly enjoying each title. Sometimes it's moments like these that drive me to burn another good mix CD, allowing a balanced sampling of newly acquired music. This was the case when I compiled "Metallic Catastrophe!"- A really rippin' mix of some excellent (mostly) new heavy metal tunes.
Here's an annotated list of the songs I chose for this mix:
1-Bruce Dickinson-"Abduction" This is from Bruce's most recent solo album, "Tyranny of Souls". I have this song on a sampler CD I got in Classic Rock magazine. I've yet to collect the whole album, but if "Abduction" is any indication of the rest of the CD, then I'm missing out on some good metal!
2-Black Tide-"Shockwave" I've said plenty about Black Tide already on this blog, the reason I've included this song on this mix CD should be obvious... this song kicks ass!!!
3-Trivium-"Anthem (We Are The Fire)" I'm still listening to The Crusade 3-4 times a week. I had to put a song from this album on this mix. "Anthem" is true to it's name; an anthem for heavy metal. You feel an urge to scream along, "We are the Fire!" when you're hearing this song!
4-Avenged Sevenfold-"Chapter Four" This is one of the older songs on this mostly brand-new song collection. From Waking the Fallen, this is probably my favorite song.
5-Megadeth-"Gears of War" From their newest album. I could have easily chosen "Washington Is Next!" or "Sleepwalker", but I think I chose "Gears of War" because I had a lyric from this song in my head while I was making this mix. The lyric... "Smart bombs, precision guided armaments. A more sophisticated way to end up dead!"
6-Serj Tankian-"Sky Is Over" I got Serj's Elect The Dead CD as a gift this past Christmas. This song jumped out at me after my first listen. I still think it's one of the best songs on this solo project from the System of a Down front-man.
7-Iced Earth-"The Clouding" I mentioned this song in my Iced Earth post. I include it on this mix for the same reasons; it's a great epic song that transforms from melodic to thrashy about halfway through. I placed it in the middle of this mix because of its length (if not, I fear I'd run out of room on the CD!)
8-Trivium-"Becoming the Dragon" Another Trivium song. I'm still very into this CD! I couldn't help but to put another selection from "The Crusade" on this mix. I chose this particular song for the intentional play-on-words I utilized with the following song...
9-DragonForce-"Through the Fire and Flames" Wow! How can I describe DragonForce? I'll have to figure it out before I complete my upcoming post on them. I chose this song to put on this mix because it's not only their best know song (with their performing & promoting it on their Ozzfest appearance, as well as its appearance in the game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock), it is also a great example of Herman Li & Sam Totman's unfathomable lead soloing skills. You'll find about 2 minutes worth of non-stop guitar soloing in this song!
10-Lordi-"The Kids Who Wanna Play With The Dead" It's almost unfair to any song I would have follow a DragonForce song. However, since I elected not to have DragonForce as the closing song, someone had to follow. I really dig Lordi. Their horrific visions depicted in their lyrics are very entertaining. Again, you have to keep a horror-movie frame of mind while listening to Lordi. "Kids" is also a great rocking-metallic song.
11-Dokken-"Drown" Of all the songs on this mix, this one is the curve-ball. "Dokken?" you may ask? But trust me, this one is worth a listen. It comes from one of the better of their many come-back efforts throughout the late 90's- "Erase the Slate". This also features the great Reb Beach on lead guitar, replacing George Lynch. Reb brought his intense ripping lead guitar style into the Dokken sound quite smoothly. And Don's songwriting wasn't so bad either. "Drown" features a dark and haunting riff that really stuck in my head...
12-Dream Theater-"Constant Motion" Dream Theater are such a great band. They're quite heavy but also are top-notch musicians, and it's apparent in their ambitious music. The only downside is probably that they almost put out albums faster that I can keep up with. I put a selection from their newest album, "Systematic Chaos" on this mix so that I can get some more exposure to their music. I can't wait to write a full post about them. It might take me awhile though...
13-Demons & Wizards-"Crimson King" A Stephen King inspired song (from The Dark Tower series!). This band is a side project from members of Iced Earth & Blind Guardian. This heavy and fast song comes from an album highly influenced by King's Dark Tower series. If you're a Dark Tower reader & enjoy this song, check out the album "Touched by the Crimson King"
14-Lordi-"They Only Come Out at Night" Another Lordi song. Again, it's filled with great haunting imagery backed by heavy rock guitar riffage!
15-Iron Maiden-"The Longest Day" I had to have at least one song from Maiden's "A Matter Of Life And Death" album, and this was my favorite at the time. Listening to this song always makes me feel like I'm watching the opening sequence of the film, "Saving Private Ryan"- where they're storming the beaches under heavy fire. I also like having Bruce Dickinson singing on the last song here; it book-ends this collection well.
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