I'm going to change the way I do CD reviews because my former way of doing it was much too time consuming for someone who is as busy as I am. So here is my new review for Dark Tranquillity's We Are The Void.
Track List: 1. Dream Oblivion 2. Shadow In Our Blood 3. The Fatalist 4. In My Absence 5. The Grandest Accusation 6. At The Point Of Ignition 7. Her Silent Language 8. Arkhangelsk 9. I Am The Void 10. Surface The Infinite 11. Iridium
Best Track: Surface The Infinite
Worst Track: Her Silent Language
Overall Review: We Are The Void is a solid example of melodic death metal. My only real problem with this album is that Dark Tranquillity doesn't bring anything new to the table. We Are The Void sounds a whole lot like most other Dark Tranquillity albums. Nothing really wowed me. If I was going to choose an album from this band to listen to I would go for The Gallery and Haven for full album listens and We Are The Void for a few tracks here and there.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
And for you serious and curious Dark Tranquillity Fans the bands have posted several videos on youtube containing them making this album. I've included them below for your viewing pleasure.
This band is awesome! I love every song on their self titled CD. This video seems a little cheap and worn down with metal cliches, but you can't really expect Mastodonic production values from budding artists so I won't complain anymore. Another great thing about this band is that they are from Mexico. I barely ever see metal music bursting forth from the beard of the United States. If all Mexican's are as brutal as Here Comes The Kraken then I think I may move there.
1. Olympus Is Forgotten - Sons of Aurelius 2. This Day We Fight! - Megadeth 3. Beneath A Black And Boiling Sky- Sothis 4. The Mountain - Krallice 5. Lithograph - Epicurean 6. Death Voices - Gallows 7. State Of Decay - Rose Funeral 8. Of Ice And Movement - Gorgoroth 9. Swim To The Moon - Between The Buried And Me 10. Desensitized - Diecast
...and the non-metal track of the week is: Act Nice and Gentle - The Black keys
These are just some songs I've really been into lately, hopefully it can help others find something worth listening to. Enjoy!
Man I love this band. Its just something about how they have a female singer that sounds more brutal and manly than some male singers. Post hardcore singers should maybe look into this....
1. Double Ahhnold 2. I Need Your Clothes, Your Boots, And Your Motorcycle 3. Let Off Some Steam Bennett 4. Who Writes the Songs? (The Real Bomb Track) 5. It's Simple, If It Jiggles It's Fat 6. See You At The Party Richter 7. Hey Cookie Monster, Nothing Is As Brutal As Neaahhh 8. Who Told You You Could Eat My Cookies? 9. Come On Cohaagen, Give Deez People Ehyar 10. Who Is Your Daddy, And What Does He 2? 11. Come On, Do It, Do It, Come On, Come On, Kill Me, Do It Now 12. Allow Me To Break The Ice 13. Conan, What Is Best In Life?
Disk 2
1. Intro To The Intro 2. T2 Theme 3. Hell Bent For Leather (Judas Priest) 4. Time Travel: The Metallica Conspiracy 5. Trapped Under Ice (Metallica) 6. Iron Fist (Motorhead) 7. Recalling Mars 8. I Turned Into A Martian (Misfits) 9. Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good (Megadeth Cover) 10. Tactically Dangerous - Cannibal Commando 11. Gotta Go (Agnostic Front)
1. Double Ahhnold
Moderately funny opening track. Not music.
2. I Need Your Clothes, Your Boots, And Your Motorcycle
Wooo! Another song inspired by Terminator! This song is a masterpiece of thrashy goodness. From the opening riff I knew that I was going to love it. It, of coarse, uses the classic ADM song structure, Arnold voice, Arnold quote, a cascade or brootality unrivaled. I could listen to this stuff all day. I like this line in song better than the movie due to the fact that I don't have to see Arnold naked.
9/10 Awesome
3. Let Off Some Steam Bennett
This track is inspired by the movie commando. And I, not being a big fan of Commando, was disinclined to enjoy the song as much as I would a track with one of my favorite quotes. Ever since I saw the track listing for double brutal though I knew that Tim Lambesis was really grasping at straws for quotes. He kind of used all the best lines on Total Brutal. Overall this song was mediocre.
5/10 Average
4. Who Writes the Songs? (The Real Bomb Track)
Another comedic interlude. I feel as if the person doing the Arnold voice isn't as good as in the first album.
5. It's Simple, If It Jiggles It's Fat
This song is pretty brutal, but in a fun sort of way (as apposed to bone crushingly brutal). Its a Very short track is inspired by Pumping Iron. I really have no idea what Pumping Iron is... but this quote is hilarious and makes for great ADM lyrics.
8/10 Scintillating
6. See You At The Party Richter
I was really excited for this track. Total Recall is my favorite Arnold movie and the first ADM CD only had one Total Recall song (Screw You Benny). I knew it was going to be awesome from this first couple seconds. Any song that has the first line of, "I'm holding your bloody stumps" gets an A+ in my book. The song keeps me riveted to it with it's awesomeness, especially in the middle with the guitar solo.
9/10 Awesome
7. Hey Cookie Monster, Nothing Is As Brutal As Neaahhh
Lol dying moose. Arnold apparently thinks the singing sounds like cookie monster.
8. Who Told You You Could Eat My Cookies?
Its what we've all been waiting for, a Jingle All the Way track. I was very disappointed on the Christmas CD when all they had was Jingle Bells and not a Jingle All the Way quote. This song isn;t really something I expect from ADM. It was mostly low guitar jugga juggas instead of the high meedly meedlies I love. There was a nice solo in the middle though. I assume this was in an effort to make the song sound different than the rest (this issue was addressed in the first album).
7/10 Tasty
9. Come On Cohaagen, Give Deez People Ehyar
Yes! Another Total Recall quote. The opening was so awesome I felt it was an actually serious As I Lay Dying song. This song did have a small issue with repeating the quote a bit to many time though. It is a trend in the songs so far though. It doesn't bother me enough to make the song bad though.
8/10 Scintillating
10. Who Is Your Daddy, And What Does He 2?
I was scared that it was going to be another version of Who Is Your Daddy, but it was just another comedic interlude. I do think these are kind of funny but also that they are breaking into the flow of the record. Also they just become tracks to either delete to save space or just skip over when I listen to ADM .
11. Come On, Do It, Do It, Come On, Come On, Kill Me, Do It Now
This one is coming at you from Predator, which of coarse is one of the most brutal sci-fi movies ever. I was hoping it would be as brutal as the movie but was sadly disappointed. I'm not saying this track is bad, it just didn't live up to my expectations. Great shredding though, I definitely appreciate the guitar work that goes into these songs. It really makes up for the lack of lyrical diversity. My favorite part would have to be the line, "There is one more thing I'd like to say, and that is: NEEeeAAahhHHHuuUUUaaaUUUahhhH!"
6/10 Good
12. Allow Me To Break The Ice
Holy crap a Mr. Freeze pun. I loved Arnold in Batman and Robin, he was freaking hilarious. They gave him the most ridiculous ice jokes. This track really lived up to my expectations. Classic structure and great instrumental work equals solid track.
7/10 Tasty
13. Conan, What Is Best In Life?
Conan the Barbarian is coming to crush his enemies, see them driven before him, and hear the lamentation of their women. I do believe this is the best Arnold quote ever. Also one of the best ADM songs. This Conan line makes me feel like this is some sort of epic fantasy metal instead of ADM. Its just great.
9/10 Awesome
Overall: 7.55 out of 10 Worth the buy I'd say. If it didn't have the second disk of cover songs I might be a little more iffy about a purchase due to there being only 9 tracks of actual music. Stupid interludes.
1. Cloudwalker 2. Desperate Living 3. The Failure of All Things 4. HORSE the Song (ft. K-Slax) 5. Science Police 6. Shapeshift (ft. Jamie Stewart) 7. Between the Trees 8. Golden Mummy Golden Bird 9. Lord Gold Wand of Unyielding (ft. Lord Gold and His Purple Majesty) 10. Big Business (ft. Ed Edge) 11. Rape Escape (ft. Valentina Lisitsa) 12. Arrive
1. Cloudwalker The First Track of HORSE the Band's latest album gives a strong start to this work. I somtimes find HtB songs to be grizzly bears meandering through a forest of LSD, confusing and trippy. Cloudwalker seems to moderate that somewhat and became enjoyable. My least favorite parts of the song are the occasional breaks that bring forth a deep voice talking. I feel that it breaks the continuity of the song. Overall it feels like a filler song. 5/10Average
2. Desperate Living Title tracks bring high expectations. This did not disappoint. At first I was thinking, not so great with the clean vocals and the ambient sounds, but then the keyboard came in and I remembered why I love this band. They Always surprise me with excellent melodies that are always lacking in metal bands. Melodic metal is not a crime. The best part of this track would have to be the spoken word at the end: hilariously deep, awesome oxymoron.
Interesting Fact: This track contains drummer Jon Karel from the band: The Number Twelve Looks Like you. I just want to know why he isn't given his own (ft.) thing on the track listing....
6/10Good
3. The Failure of All Things This track, despite its name, was everything but a failure. As I have come to expect from HtB, a masterpiece of Nintendocore goodness. Going so far as including the Super Mario Bros. running out of time sound. It's nice to have something familiar to hook onto when you are listening to something new. I have a feeling that this track will be one of my favorites from this album and all of HtB discography. Their keyboardest is full of win. 9/10 Awesome
4. HORSE the Song (ft. K-Slax) My first thought before listening was, "Seriously, featuring another artist? What is HtB, a Hip-Hoppin' pop singin' crapload? Of coarse all that changed when I I began listing. Lyrically strong, guitaring that holds my attention, keyboard that reminds me of Megaman, and video game sounds? Total Awesome. The end kind of slows down to a fade which I find unnecessary. Now I just have to hit the next button on my iPod when listening to the song.
K-Slax whom I never heard of before provides guest vocals apparently. I'm not really sure where he comes in and my only guess is that he is the one yelling obscenities in the background for 2 seconds....
8/10 Scintillating
5. Science Police
This song has a poppy beat that make me want to jump up and down like a teenage girl at her first concert. While not really what I was looking for from a HtB song I did find it a pleasant listen. I feel like I might want to put this in a playlist that I would play for friends who aren't really metal fans.
6/10Good
6. Shapeshift (ft. Jamie Stewart)
Shapeshift brought high expectations due to it being the first music video from the album. It gets off to a slow start but it keeps me listening enough that I would wait through the noise to get to the bulk of the song by breaking into it with some blast beats and screams. Most of said noise that takes place throughout the song I assume is brought forth by featured artist Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu. Had I been in charge of picking, Shapeshift would have had no video. I feel like other songs were much more deserving.
5/10 Average - Saved from a 4 by the line "like dinosaurs"
Shapeshift Video: 10/10 on the weirdness scale. I don't believe I will be finding myself bored and saying, "Yo, Dawg! Lets go watch that HORSE the Band music video! Oh Well...
7. Between the Trees
(Rant)I hate long boring intros. Are artists just trying to take up more time and make their tracks longer? Do they feel the need to make me skip ahead to get to what I want to hear? Does it give them sick pleasure? (/Rant)
Once I get to the meat of this track I am amused if slightly bored. Nothing really stuck out at me in this track. It wasn't bad, I wouldn't skip it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to it.
4/10 Meh.
8. Golden Mummy Golden Bird HtB has a real thing for the word Gold. Lord Gold Throneroom, Golden Mummy Golden Bird, Lord Gold Wand of Unyielding. Is it a metal fetish? I'm a little upset with this track because it has a great beginning really catchy and emotional. But then it grabs my dreams and smashes them onto the pointy rocks of mediocrity. I just lose intrest by the end. It might have something to do with the spoken word of that strange voice that seems like it just doesn't belong. Also upsetting because that makes 3 songs in a row that make me lose interest. Album dip.
5/10 Average
9. Lord Gold Wand of Unyielding (ft. Lord Gold and His Purple Majesty)
Starts out with a some mellow sounding vocals that I'm liking a little. Good thing they break off that and mix it up with some screams and cleans. The lyrics are very strange, not that I wasn;t expecting that since it features Lord Gold and His Purple Majesty who are from past songs in past albums. Not to shabby a song overall.
6/10 Good
10. Big Business (ft. Ed Edge)
I would describe this track as totally fun. At about 2:07 the real fun begins. I think one of the major pluses of Big Business is the AMAZING triangle work of Ed Edge. If this song was a sentence, Ed's triangles are the exclamation points. This song includes everything I love about HtB and successfully pulls it out of the Album dip.
7/10 Tasty
11. Rape Escape (ft. Valentina Lisitsa)
"...possibly the most powerful song we've ever written." says the bands Keyboardist Erik Engstrom. I can't find any reason to disagree. Just remember that "powerful doesn't mean "best". It is another song with an annoyingly long, soft intro. The main song though is, for the most part, worth the wait. I feel as if the soft part breaks up the emotionality of the vocalists ravings. The guest piano from Valentina Lisitsa is amazing. Both the solo part and when she is joined by the others is a sound to hear. Highly enjoyable.
7/10 Tasty
12. Arrive
Great ending to a good album. I would fight some huge dude to the death in a mosh pit to this song. This song had good structure. It had the expected HtB wanderings, but they were wandering into a place I wanted them to go. Alright!
7/10 Tasty
Overall: 6.25out of 10 Good album, couple of average to not so good songs ruined its rating but I feel it is still worth a listen if not a buy. The album will be released on Vagrant Records on October 6th.
Track List:
