Powerslave: Iron Maiden's 80's Masterpiece

Post #64 Poll Winner: Favorite Iron Maiden album from the 80's.
As the 1980's began, Iron Maiden embodied the (New) Wave of British Heavy Metal. The movement had begun a few years earlier with bands like Judas Priest & Diamond Head, but Iron Maiden seemed to symbolize the perfection of this metal style. Dave Murray & Adrian Smith, quickly became one of the tightest guitar tandems in heavy metal in the 1980's.

Maiden's '84 release, Powerslave, may be the apex of their golden years. After years of alternating guitar solos in one of the world's most popular heavy metal band, Murray & Smith are again at the top of their game on this album. This is, coincidentally, the last album Iron Maiden recorded without any accompaniment by keyboards or synthesised guitars. The World Slavery Tour that supported this album was the most extensive tour the band had done by this point. It resulted in their first live album, Live After Death.

This great album contains many songs that are both fan-favorites and concert staples. Here are my top picks from Powerslave:
-Aces High
-2 Minutes to Midnight
-Powerslave
-Flash of the Blade (This one is a bit more obscure than the first 3, but it's a personal favorite of mine, driven by a fast, lead guitar riff. This song was also recently covered by Avenged Sevenfold on their "Diamonds in the Rough" CD)
-Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Perhaps the greatest epic, progressive metal song Iron Maiden have ever written; this song parallels the story told in the classic epic poem of the same name. The riff that Steve Harris gives this story-turned-song masterpiece is one of the best on the whole album!)

PANTERA: The Full Review

Post #63
PANTERA: They were almost single-handedly responsible for the rise of hard-core heavy metal in the 90's. My discovering of their music represented a phase-shift in my taste in heavy metal at the time. I had heard a few of their songs hanging out with friends who were into them; "5 Minutes Alone" and "Cemetery Gates" were probably the first songs I ever heard. One day I was at a music store and I was pissed off for some reason, and I just grabbed "Far Beyond Driven" off the shelf and purchased it. Man, there's no better time to listen to a little Pantera than when you've got a bit of anger to unleash!

Ever since, Pantera has been an essential part of my collection of Metal music. I count myself as lucky to have had the chance to see them live in concert for 2 obvious reasons: first; because they eventually broke up; and second because Dimebag Darrell (lead guitarist) was brutally shot to death (December 8th, '04) by a deranged person claiming to be a "fan". Any great metal songs he may have gone on to write, or shows he would have performed with whatever band he chose to be in were senselessly stolen from us, the fans, by one violent person with a gun.

I'll try not to dwell on that depressing subject, but rather celebrate the glory of the excellent metal music that is Pantera!


Metal Magic ('83) I don't know much about this album, other than it exists and is hard to find since it was independently recorded. I mean to track it down someday, even though it is probably not nearly as good a recording as any of the albums to follow...



Projects in the Jungle ('84) Pantera's 2nd independent release. This is the earliest album that I have in my collection, and it's combined on a CD with the next album. It is apparent on this recording that Dimebag Darrell was allowing 80's metal bands like Van Halen to influence Pantera's music.

Tracks I recommend:
-Out For Blood
-Blue Light Turnin' Red (An instrumental that displays Dimebag's skills on lead guitar. Only drawback: it maybe sounds a little too close to Van Halen's "Eruption")
-Takin' My Life (This one is some sort of ballad, following the same formula as "Cemetery Gates" would a few years later...)


I Am The Night ('85) Again, more Hair-Metal influence is present here. The fledgling incarnation of Pantera have established a consistent sound with this album. However, the direction of their sound would soon begin to change...

My picks from this album:
-I Am The Night (A few songs on this album really start to sound like the material they would soon record for their major-label debut. This is one of those songs.)
-Down Below (Another great pre-CFH-era song, this one is subtly referenced in the lyrics of "Cowboys From Hell")
-Valhalla

Power Metal ('88) This album, though still independently produced, sees the debut of Phil Anselmo on lead vocals. The hair-metal influence has begun to fade, as the songs take on a harder edge than the previous material. It would not be long for Pantera to become a force in metal to be reckoned with...
My top songs from Power Metal:
-Rock The World
-Power Metal
-We'll Meet Again (The next step in the evolution of Pantera's ballads; this song improves on the elements from "Takin' My Life" and progresses to the point that it could have been "Cemetery Gates"... But with a record deal, the band was poised to write the metal music they were destined to)

Cowboys From Hell ('90) Pantera's major-label debut. This album is packed with shredding riffs and no-holds-barred lead guitar solos that truly establish "Diamond" Darrell as one of the best young guitarists in all of heavy metal. Anselmo blends dark melodies with tempered screams and guttural roars on vocals. As a band, they've begun to establish a new, heavier style of metal that in the next several years would become known as Nu-Metal.
The great songs you can't afford to miss:
-Cowboys From Hell (Undeniably the band's signature song, this is also their mission statement!)
-Cemetery Gates (A modern heavy metal classic, this is an essential song for any fan of metal!)
-Domination
-Clash With Reality
-The Art of Shredding (A title that embodies what Dimebag Darrell was to heavy metal...)


Vulgar Display of Power ('92) Regarded by many fans as their best album, Vulgar Display was the album that truly established Pantera as a titan in the world of heavy metal. They took the most aggressive elements from "Cowboys" to new heights of brutality with this album.
I recommend:
-Mouth For War
-Walk (As well know as any Pantera song-don't miss it!)
-F***ing Hostile
-This Love (Pantera's ballad becomes even more brutal...)
-Hollow (A surprisingly personal song of loss and mourning.)


Far Beyond Driven ('94) This album is where the planets truly aligned for Pantera: it became the first heavy metal album to debut at #1 on the Billboard charts. It is a non-stop display of relentless brutality that seems to never let up... until you reach the final track... a cover of Black Sabbath's head-trippy "Planet Caravan".
Possibly my favorite of all Pantera's albums, I have many favorite songs to recommend:
-Strength Beyond Strength
-Becoming
-I'm Broken
-Shedding Skin
-Use My Third Arm
-Planet Caravan (A cover of Black Sabbath's often overlooked melodic head-trip of a song)


The Great Southern Trendkill ('96) With this album Pantera kept rolling with their own style of metal, going against the trend of bending toward the alternative/punk-pop metal (like Metallica did?). However the irony of this album's title is that by this time, other bands had begun to follow Pantera's trend for the more extreme style of heavy metal. By this time you could say they were trend-setters, not trend-killers.
My favorite songs from this album:
-Drag The Waters
-10's
-Suicide Note Pt. I & Pt. II
-Floods


Official Live: 101 Proof ('97) Finally a live album from Pantera! This albums captures the band's live-performance energy at the peak of their success. It is also at this time in their career when I finally made it to see them in concert myself. I'll be sure to review that show in another post soon!
My top picks from this album:
-New Level
-5 Minutes Alone
-Cowboys From Hell
-Where You Come From (One of 2 new studio tracks)


Reinventing the Steel ('00) Pantera's final studio-album before they would part and go their separate ways... and fate would steal Dimebag from us all and end any chance of hearing this band play together again. The songs on this album may not be the best of Pantera's career, but they are consistent with what fans would expect from Pantera. There are plenty of good songs to hear on this album.
-Hellbound
-Goddamn Electric
-We'll Grind That Axe For A Long Time
-I'll Cast A Shadow

The Best from Judas Priest in the 80's...

Post #62 Poll Winner: Favorite Judas Priest album from the 80's.
The 1980's saw a rise in the popularity of heavy metal music. The genre diversified into Pop/Hair Metal on the more mainstream end of the spectrum, and Thrash and Death Metal at the other, more extreme end. For most of the 80's Judas Priest stayed right in the middle of the road, clinging to the fundamentals of heavy metal music.

One of the few (N)WOBHM bands to perservere throughout the decade, Priest stayed true to a classic style of heavy metal. Rob Halford's versatile voice gave them the freedom to write heavy metal songs of a broader variety than many of their peers. Many of their songs are credited as being the groundwork upon which thrash metal grew, while others seemed to sound like they were pushing for the mainstream of pop-metal.


Whether you like the harder edged music of Judas Priest, or the radio-friendly hits they created during this era, it is hard to argue against their consistency in the 1980's. The band seemed to grow more confident with each album. As a result, some of their best work can be found on these albums. When it came time for you to choose a favorite Judas Priest album from the 80's, the poll ended in a tie. Screaming For Vengeance and Defenders Of The Faith are both deserving of this award, so I'll recommend songs from them both!


Screaming For Vengeance:
-The Hellion/Electric Eye
-Riding on the Wind
-Screaming for Vengeance
-You've got Another Thing Coming
-Devil's Child


Defenders Of The Faith:
-Freewheel Burning
-Jawbreaker
-Eat Me Alive
-Love Bites
-The Sentinel

Scars On Broadway

Post #61
When System of a Down announced they would take a hiatus after headlining Ozzfest in '06 it left many of their fans wondering what the band members would do. Would they simply take time off and enjoy an extended vacation having become successful rock-stars? Quietly take their time to work on another album without pressure from a record company's deadline? Or maybe pursue other projects? In this case it would turn out to be the pursuit of solo-projects.

Serj Tankian was the first to release a solo-album (see my review in an earlier post). Daron Malakian would form a new band and call it Scars On Broadway, bringing Jon Dolmayan from System Of A Down with him on drums. Like Serj's "Elect The Dead", "Scars On Broadway" retains many elements of System's sound, though neither project sounds exactly like their previous band.

Some may say that "Scars" sounds like it's missing something (the presence of Serj's vocals), however in many ways this new band offers the chance to hear a different side of Daron Malakian's musical influence. Most of the album carries a vibe that is more hard-rock and less metal. His lyrics still pull no punches, taking shots at many political and social issues. Though part of me also feels like this album could benefit from some of the vocal tag-teams between Daron & Serj that are employed on the System Of A Down albums, I still find the music from Scars On Broadway is worth checking out. It should satisfy many System fans who are waiting for them to make a come-back.

The songs I would recommend:
-Serious
-Funny
-Insane
-Stoner Hate
-Babylon
-ENEMY
-3005

Reader's Polls in Review (the first year: 12/'07-11/'08)

Post #60
[This post is a little later than I originally wanted to post it, but here it is! Enjoy!]

Soon after I started writing this blog, I thought to add a monthly reader's poll feature. I thought I could utilize this tool for a number of reasons: it would provide myself with a catalyst to ensure I post on at least a monthly basis, it would provide some opinion feedback from readers of the blog, and it would keep my mind working to think up new topics frequently. So far, I think this feature has helped keep this blog interesting, and I hope you agree. I remind you again that I welcome reader input on this front, so feel free to suggest topics for these polls. For now, allow me to review the monthly polls up to the November '08 poll, where you voted for the symbolic "president" of this blog. I'll denote the winner of each poll in bold BLUE text, and my own vote in bold with a star*. I'll also briefly explain my reasoning for my vote.


January '08: "Who's your favorite 70's rock band?"
The results
1-Aerosmith
1-Kiss* (Of course I couldn't vote against my all-time favorite-see my previous posts about KISS, they've been a favorite of mine for so long...)
1-Black Sabbath
2-Led Zeppelin
0-Judas Priest
0-Scorpions
1-The Rolling Stones
1-The Who
3-Other

February '08: "Who's your favorite lead-guitarist?"
The results
4-Jimi Hendrix
0-Jimmy Page
2-Eric Clapton
1-Eddie Van Halen
1-Herman Li
1-David Gilmore
0-Dimebag Darrell
1-Yngwie Malmsteen* (This was a very tough choice. I went with Yngwie because I don't think he gets the appreciation he deserves, simply because he's not as popular as some of these guitarists.)
0-Other

March '08: "What's your favorite epic rock song from the 70's?"
The results
5-Stairway to Heaven* (Well, here I finally agreed with the majority. To put it simply: Has there ever been another song as great as "Stairway"?)
2-Hotel California
0-Shine On You Crazy Diamond
0-Freebird
1-American Pie
0-Won't Get Fooled Again
0-Other

April '08: "Who's your favorite grunge band?"
The results
10-Nirvana
5-Pearl Jam
5-Alice In Chains* (Here, I voted AIC. I've always thought Nirvana were overrated as a band. They were good, but I've always liked the other grunge bands more. For me it was down to Alice In Chains or Soundgarden...)
2-Soundgarden
2-Stone Temple Pilots
2-The Smashing Pumpkins

May '08: "What's your favorite 'Unplugged' album?"
1-Nirvana-Unplugged in New York
5-Kiss-MTV Unplugged* (MTV Unplugged is easily one of my favorite Kiss albums. In fact whenever artists do an "unplugged" album it is usually one of my favorites. Many of these are great albums too. I chose Kiss because of the band-reunion that took place during the show.)
2-Eric Clapton-Unplugged
1-Bob Dylan-Unplugged
3-Alice in Chains-Unplugged
2-Rod Stewart-Unplugged... and Seated!
1-Tesla-5-Man Acoustic Jam
1-Other

June '08: "Who's your favorite thrash band?"
1-Anthrax
2-Megadeth* (Always a tough call to choose my favorite thrash band. Here I chose Megadeth, today I might say Metallica, tomorrow maybe Anthrax...)
3-Metallica
2-Slayer
0-Exodus
0-Testament
0-Other

July '08: "Who's your favorite female heavy metal lead singer?"
4-Amy Lee
2-Christina Scabbia
1-Tarja Turunen* (I posted this poll while I was on a big Nightwish kick. I still say Tarja's opera-trained voice is more than a cut above any other female metal singer I've ever heard. I think anyone who didn't vote for her on this poll has simply never heard her.)
3-Other

August '08: "What's your favorite rock album from 1976?"
3-Aerosmith-Rocks* (Okay, here is the first time I took advantage of the 'vote more than once' feature I usually allow on my monthly polls. Unable to pick just one favorite album from this year I voted for 3 on this poll. Aerosmith's Rocks album I think is very underrated- it's every bit as good as "Toys In The Attic", listen for yourself!)
4-Kiss-Destroyer* (To this day this is Kiss' greatest album. How can I not vote for an album from my favorite band?)
2-Boston
4-Eagles-Hotel California
5-Rush-2112* (I must admit I was surprised that Rush won this one. However, being one of those who also voted for this great concept-album, I think it is deserving of the winning votes it received.)
1-Bob Dylan-Desire
1-Ramones
0-Blue Oyster Cult-Agents of Fortune
0-AC/DC-Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
0-Other

September '08: "Vincent Furnier is the real name of which heavy metal icon?"
0-Ozzy Osbourne
5-Alice Cooper* (Okay, this one was straight trivia. You could have googled the name to find the right answer, but thank you for guessing off the top of your head-that's the challenge after all! Alice Cooper is the right answer. More trivia will be coming up as a monthly poll before too long...)
3-Marilyn Manson
1-Gene Simmons

October '08: "Who's your favorite bassist?"
5-Cliff Burton* (Here, I had to vote for Cliff. His contributions to the early work of Metallica are monumental. Heavy Metal itself would be different if it weren't for Cliff.)
4-Geddy Lee
3-John Myung
5-Flea (In the first tie so far on a reader's poll, I reviewed both winners. Flea is a great bassist also!)
4-Nikki Sixx
3-Steve Harris
4-Other

November '08: "Election '08! Who's your favorite heavy metal vocalist?"
3-Ozzy Osbourne
10-James Hetfield (Here, it's James Hetfield winning favorite vocalist, and the honors of becoming the "President" of the blog. I had to have a little fun with the excitement of the real Presidential Election going on! I hope you all voted, in the real election as well as this poll.)
3-Rob Halford* (Halford was my personal choice for this poll. My reason is simple: his vocal range is amazing. He can sing complex melodies in the highest screaming falsettos as easily as he can in a deep growl. His vocal control is excellent as well. He has a vibratto that sounds effortless when many other metal singers can sound like they're trying too hard...)
7-Bruce Dickinson
1-James LaBrie
3-Corey Taylor
4-Write-In

One-Hit-Wonders of the 90's (part 1)

Post #59 Poll Winner: Which 'Coming Soon' topic should I write next?The 90's were a time when "Alternative" became the cool new sound in music. But what exactly was "Alternative"? The name itself could encompass many styles of rock music. It seemed to be a blanket label that covered grunge, jam-bands, pop-rock, and neo-punk all at once. Overall the main musical element of "alternative" seemed to be a blending of clean, acoustic, and distorted guitar sounds set in a rock or pop drum beat.

Alternative was cool. It was "in". It was enormously popular. And every week there seemed to be a new "Alternative" band with a hit song on main-stream radio. This was a recipe doomed to yield a plethora of one-hit-wonders, and the majority of these bands failed to last much longer than one or two albums. In a way it's a shame because many of these bands produced a great album or two, and most of the music on each one was generally overlooked in favor of the band's one big hit.

So rewind with me here and let's check out some hidden gems from this era of rock music:

Dishwalla-Pet Your Friends (1995)

The song you probably know: Counting Blue Cars. This song was a great hit about spiritual self searching.

The other good tunes on this album:
-Charlie Brown's Parents (this is the lesser known follow-up single, a heavier, faster song)
-Pretty Babies
-Moisture (a head-trippy sounding song, a bit like Pink Floyd at the beginning, but they speed up the tempo in a couple spots)

Chalk Farm-Notwithstanding (1996)The song you might have heard: Lie On Lie. This song features a great blend of acoustic and electric guitars, and lyrics focused on social-psychological issues. Although I find this band to be good songwriters the critical part of me has to admit their vocalist doesn't have much range, and sometimes comes off as monotone. Still, the songs themselves are good enough to track down and add to you i-pod library.

The other songs worth checking out:
-Live Tomorrow (a self-aware criticism of a busy lifestyle with misplaced priorities)
-It's Up To You
-Sunflower

Caroline's Spine-Monsoon (1997)The song you might have heard: Sullivan (either the electric or acoustic version- they both rock!) This song pretty much tells the same type of story as the film "Saving Private Ryan" did, except from the mother's perspective. This song is more of a tear-jerker than that movie was, and it was released a year before the film, in case you were curious which came first.

More great songs from the same album:
-King For a Day
-You & Me
-Monsoon
-Psycho

Happy listening!

[While trying to compose this post I gathered many more artists than the three mentioned here. Rest assured there will be a "One-Hit-Wonders of the 90's-part 2" a couple months down the road, and probably a part 3 and 4... Keep checking back!]

Trivium- Shogun

Post #58
You may recall my post about Trivium's previous album, "The Crusade", and how impressed I was with it. Needless to say the quality of metal on that CD had my expectations set pretty high for their follow-up, "Shogun". Should I have worried about a potential letdown? Would they have set an example too tough to follow for themselves?

As high as my expectations were, "Shogun" really impressed me. Trivium have managed to take their music to a higher level yet again. On "Shogun", the songs seem to have even more focus than most of "The Crusade" did. This is most apparent on the epic, closing title-track. This album will assail your ears with the brutal, sonic cacophony of thrash/metalcore fusion that has become Trivium's trademark sound.

What may be the most significant point of this album (on a personal level) is the fact that it has changed my opinion of the metalcore sub-genre. I feel like "The Crusade" hooked me with how much it resembled classic/thrash metal, with Matt Heafy primarily using his mid range and melodic vocal style while his screaming was used sparingly. Now, as a new fan hearing "Shogun", Heafy embraces the metalcore-screams with a fresh vigor and crams it down listeners' throats, while still retaining enough melodic vocal elements to keep listeners like me (more fond of classic metal, and not really into metalcore) captivated by the songs on this album. I am tempted to say that Matt Heafy is like James Hetfield and Phil Anselmo rolled into one. It is an interesting mix of vocal styles, switching back and forth several times within songs, making the overall listening experience quite satisfying for most headbangers. There are some places throughout the album where Heafy layers several vocal tracks on top of each other, sometimes blending as many as 3 different vocal styles at once!

Finally I must mention that the technical skill of Matt Heafy's and Corey Beaulieu's guitar soloing has remained consistent as well, if not improved. I believe I mentioned my love for Trivium's guitar solos on my previous review, but it deserves reiterating here. Again Trivium's influence from the golden era of thrash metal is blatantly apparent in their soloing techniques. Beaulieu & Heafy trade off solos back and forth in artful tandem like many thrash metal guitarists before them. They make their guitars shred like the original thrashers used to... I'm reminded of albums like "Peace Sells", "Ride the Lightning", "Rust In Peace" just to give you a little hint of what to expect...

Now for my recommended tracks for Shogun:
-Kirisute Gomen
-Down From The Sky
-Into The Mouth Of Hell We March
-Insurrection
-Of Prometheus And The Crucifix
-Shogun (this epic track showcases a little bit of every side of Trivium's music; from dark, clean melodies to furious shred-fests, this song has it all...)

The Voice of Van Halen...

Post #57 Poll Winner: Favorite singer from Van Halen.

Multi-platinum selling albums are a great achievement for any rock band, but few get to such a consistent level as Van Halen. Even when they had to find a new lead singer in the mid-80's they never missed a beat. Although they were able to maintain a similar level of success with Sammy Hagar on lead vocals, there's always something special about the songs recorder with David Lee Roth as the band's singer.

David Lee Roth was the prototype for the energetic 80's rock-band front-man. His flamboyant showmanship, and vocal style helped bring Van Halen's style of pop-metal to the forefront of rock music in the early 80's. The band was an instant success, and broke open the door for the Hair Metal era of the 1980's. Van Halen's hits from the David Lee Roth era have become essential classic rock songs from that time period.

For some of my favorites from this portion of Van Halen's career check out the following...
From Van Halen:
-Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
-Jamie's Crying
-Atomic Punk
-You Really Got Me



From Van Halen II:
-Dance the Night Away
-Somebody Get Me a Doctor




From Women And Children First:
-And the Cradle Will Rock
-In a Simple Rhyme




From Fair Warning:
-Mean Street
-Unchained
-Hear About it Later



From Diver Down:
-Cathedral
-Little Guitars





From 1984:
-Panama
-Top Jimmy
-Jump
-Hot For Teacher
-House of Pain

Aerosmith-Get A Grip

Post #56 Poll Winner: Favorite Aerosmith album since 1990.
In the midst of the wave of alternative-rock and grunge, Aerosmith came out with another great rock album, Get A Grip. This album featured several hit singles, most accompanied by successful MTV videos (some of which featured vocalist Steven Tyler's daughter Liv). The band seemed to carry the momentum of their last two albums, Permanent Vacation & Pump, with much consistency throughout this album.

In comparing Get A Grip with anything the band has recorded since, you (faithful readers of this blog) have decided that this one is the best. Still, I hope you all continue to follow Aerosmith and keep up with their new material as it comes out. I find them to be a very consistent band, and full of energy and the will to rock. Their longevity should serve as a testament to the world of hard-rock music that some things can still get better with age.

My recommended tracks from Get A Grip:
-Eat the Rich
-Fever
-Livin' On The Edge
-Cryin'
-Amazing (this song has alot of biographic lyrics, inspired by the band's history...)

Reader's Polls to come...

Post #55
Hello readers, one and all!
Just checking in to let you know I have the next 3-4 months of reader's polls plotted out in my head. This should get me through late-summer before I need to think up some new poll topics.

For next month's poll I'm going to choose a couple of my "coming soon" topics that have been sitting on that list for too long, see which one you all are most interested in, get off my lazy butt, and actually write it! Following that I have a series of polls in mind pertaining to Iconic heavy metal bands during the 80's, so get ready to ponder some old-school metal!

After that, I'm not sure where I'll go, but I'm always getting ideas! As always, I'm open to suggestions, so feel free to post your thoughts in a comment on any post, or if you see me in person somewhere, just let me know...

Catch ya later!
JAB

Alice Cooper-Along Came A Spider

Post #54
The original Shock-Rocker returns with a creepy concept-album!

Along Came a Spider is Alice Cooper's 25th studio album (I think), and this time Cooper fleshes out a concise story of a spider-themed serial killer. You get to hear much of the story from the psychopath's perspective, and it creeps you out like old-school Alice used to do.

Stylistically, the music follows Cooper's recent trend of retro-rock as he continues to stick to a more stripped-down, classic rock feel like he utilized on The Eyes of Alice Cooper & Dirty Diamonds. This fits Alice well, although part of me misses his heavier sound he employed on the Brutal Planet & Dragontown albums. For the most part, much of this album sounds right at home with some of his mid-70's material.


As for Along Came A Spider, this is a pretty cool concept album. There's a clear plot, and the songs develop it well. There's also a prologue and epilogue that sort of set the context of the story, so there are no loose threads, or strands of silk if you'd rather... Long time fans of Alice may also recognize the main character of Steven from some of Alice Cooper's previous material. Basically, if you enjoyed either of Alice Cooper's last 2 albums, you should like this one too. Just be prepared for a twisted and haunting tale!

Here are my recommended tracks:
-Vengeance Is Mine
-Catch Me If You Can (this track contains a lot of the story's plot development)
-Killed By Love (this is the token ballad on this album, but again it fits in with the album's theme- although it may sound pretty, if you catch the lyrics you'll find it just as dark & twisted as the rest of the album)
-I Am The Spider/Epilogue

Aerosmith-Pump

Post #53 Poll Winner: Favorite Aerosmith album of the 80's.
The 1980's were a rough ride for Aerosmith. This decade saw the band break up, fall to new lows as they gave in to substance abuse, former members tried to launch solo projects, the band eventually reunited, committed themselves to rehab, got clean & sober, and resurrected their career in stellar fashion. Their '89 release, PUMP, was the cherry-on-top.

From my personal perspective, Pump was the first album the band released since I became a fan. Myself, like so many others of my generation, I thought I'd discovered a great new rock band, and would later discover that these guys had actually been rockin' since '73! Nonetheless, it was the songs from Pump that truly made me a fan for life. Aerosmith had found a way to thrive in the late 80's without selling out completely to the hair-metal fad, but more importantly, had gotten through rehab with their "band-of-brothers" mentality intact.

After their reunion, they recorded Done With Mirrors; a mediocre album where they pretty much went through the motions but had not yet gotten sober. Permanent Vacation was their first clear-headed effort in years, and reeled in a ton of new fans. Pump was the perfection of their new-found creativity, their crowning achievement of the decade.

My recommended songs from this hits-packed album:
-Love In An Elevator
-Young Lust
-F.I.N.E.
-What It Takes
-The Other Side
-Monkey On My Back
-Janie's Got A Gun

Slipknot/Stone Sour - I stand corrected....

Post #52
I need to point out a recent correction I've made to a previous post. I've made an amendment to my first post about Stone Sour when I reviewed "Come What(ever) May". I've left the original post as-is, but added a dated note explaining a mistake I made while reviewing the album the first time. I firmly believe nobody's perfect, and I'm no exception. I'm humble enough to point out my mistakes when I make them. Please forgive the inaccuracies I may have made, or might make in the future. I have no problem correcting myself. Let me know if you notice an error on my part. As much as I write this blog just for the fun of it, it'd be nice that it was also accurate!
;-)
later,
JAB