CD Review: Metallica and Lou Reed's Lulu

Oh boy...... where do I begin? *Facepalm*

Metallica is one of my favorite bands, but what the hell is this crap? Metallica decided that they wanted to do something a little different by producing a concept album with another artist. Lulu is based on a series of two plays (Earth Spirit and Pandora's Box) by Frank Wedekind, a playwright who lived in the late 19th, early 20th centuries. They decided to record the album with Lou Reed, an old experimental rock musician who honestly has no business doing anything with a group like Metallica! This collaboration would be nothing more than a big mess, like mixing water and oil, and that is exactly what happened on Lulu.

Musically, the album is just pure noise! It sounds like Metallica came up with a bunch of rushed metal riffs and gave it to Lou Reed for him to make shitty songs. Metallica on this album sounds generic and boring, almost like the equivalence of nails on a chalkboard for metal listeners! But of course the worst part of this project are Lou Reed's vocals! He doesn't sing, instead he simply talks over the music and it sounds terrible and out of key. Everything just sounds so annoying on this album! Even some of the lyrics are laughable. In their single, "The View", James Hetfield sings lyrics such as "I am the Table", which has now become a big Internet meme as of late! Actually, I find that line pretty humorous myself and it seems that people are now calling James "The Table"! Unreal!

For a concept album, this was extremely horrible, awkward and poorly executed! It's one thing to try to be original, but please make it at least listenable! Why did Metallica sign up for this? What was the reason for creating this horrible album? Why would Metallica release this garbage after releasing a fairly decent album in Death Magnetic? What were they thinking?? Normally, I would do a song by song review, but this album was so bad that it did not deserve that! I would honestly rate this among the top 10 worst albums of all time! Seriously, it is THAT BAD! I have been looking for an album to give 0 stars and a DOUBLE horns down for, and that is exactly what this album deserves! /w\ /w\ Absolutely horrible! Do not buy or even listen to this, and this is coming from a long time Metallica fan! Metallica is going to have to do something really amazing in the future to make up for this garbage!

I am honestly ashamed to be a Metallica fan after listening to this..

Rating: 0/5 Abomination!

Within Temptation's new single

Couple of days ago WT annouced on thier site new single. I am so damn happy coz it is Sinéad, which is my beloved track of The Unforgiving album! As for now only cover of the single was revealed but the band promised to update us pretty soon.

Imaginaerum by Nightwish

According to Anette's blog click the mixing of Imaginaerum began on Wednesday. Yay! Can't wait to hear it! Still there are some months of waiting in front of us...sadly.

Also according to Troy Donockley's update (the guy with bagpipes) he's going on the tour with them and is singing backing vocals. For more info click

CD review: The Unforgiving by Within Temptation

I know that Canuck already posted here her review but I will post my one as well. I must say that I agree in most of the things she wrote. Sharon sounds great! I read many comments bitching about the new direction of WT. But I absolutely don’t mind it. In my opinion the best what band can do is to try new things. Sometimes they fail but this is not a case for WT I reckon. They idea of an concept album was good after all. Also the orchestra fits in the songs very well. But I was like “here we go again” when I read, that there are at least 3 different releases of  the album. So I will wait some time, before I will buy this album. I don’t want to swear all over the place again if they release another "super deluxe version" after couple of months. And the cover? Well I was like wtf???? when I saw it for the first time. But as an album based on comic book series it is a logical consequence.

Why Not Me –  just a prologue.  

Shot In the Dark – this one belongs to one of my favourites ones. Very nice opening track with catchy chorus and about 30 sec long guitar solo.

In the Middle of the Night – when I heard this track for the first time I was a bit confused. It reminded me of a dance band and not metal band with very long and diverse history. But since it was said many time, that The Unforgiving is going to be different I am not surprised with all the new elements of WT’s sound and I like them.

Faster – the first official track, but second I heard from the album. I like it very much. In my opinion this is a rock song and not metal. Anyway Sharon has stated many times, that they consider themselves “a symphonic rock band” so I have no probs at all with this song. Acutally I would love to hear it live one day. It has a lot of  energy. Love it!

Fire and Ice – one of the slower tracks. I wish they made this one only as an acoustic/orchestral piece. It would be very nice in my opinion.

Iron – I can’t help myself, but this one sounds to me as some kind of warrior’s song at least the chorus sounds so. Ready to take the weapons and start the fight. :D

Where Is the Edge – I heard it many times now so I skip it but it doesn’t mean that it is bad. I like the acoustic version which was already posted here.

Sinéad – this is my favourite of all! I love the feeling of this track and chorus of course. It lights up my mood anytime I hear it. Also I think that this one will be a blast live.

Lost – another slower piece. I like the graduation of this track and the acoustic opening. Another favourite track of mine.

Murder – I don’t know how they did it, but the chorus of most of the tracks are so catchy. And this one is not an exception either.

A Demon’s Fate – this one is missing on my list of favourite pieces. It’s too long and I got bored after first chorus. Another track with “long” guitar solo.

Stairway to the Skies – the third slow track on this album and also the last one for the standard edition. I like it and in my opinion very nice track to finish the album.

The Last Dance – an amazing song in my opinion. The atmosphere is simply magnific! I wonder why it ended up only as an bonus track. Probably didn’t fit the concept after all.

Empty Eyes and I Don’t Wanna are another bonus tracks. Unfortunately I was not able to find them and just heard the sample. But they sound promising.

So all in all I LOVE this album! It was definitely worth waiting for it. Now I hope that I will be able to see them live soon. I do not expect them to play any near my country but as soon as I'll be in Britain and them too I'll go no matter what. This is a must go.
Here is the video of bonus tracks samples.




                

                   

CD Review: Within Temptation's "The Unforgiving"

After so much hype and so much promotion, finally, Within Temptation's The Unforgiving is in stores - if you're in Europe. If you're anywhere else, you're SOL. Unless you have the internet, then you can download a leaked copy, which is exactly what I did yesterday. To be clear, I have ordered the physical CD, but I won't get it until May, when the new Leaves' Eyes is released; this is because I combined a bunch of orders together to save shipping costs. I just couldn't wait to hear this after all the previews that have been posted on YouTube, Facebook, and WT's site.

My gut reaction right off the top: FUCKING AMAZING! I am so impressed and thrilled I barely know where to start and what to say. WT has said from the star that this release would sound very different from all their previous stuff, and very different it is indeed. The Unforgiving shows a definite evolution in the band's sound. It's faster than anything before, for one thing. You can hear the influence of 80s and 90s sountrack music in it, which I love because I have always loved rockin' soundtrack tunes. There are a lot of symphonic elements in the songs, which are woven in so seamlessly and so deftly you might you cannot compare them to the symphonic elements to previous WT CD's at all. Sharon den Adel's voice is also a big change here; she's very powerful, and I can tell that she is utilizing a completely different vocal style than she has before. She's a rock belter in this case, and it works so well, reminding me somewhat of Heart's Ann Wilson. In a way, too, this album has a much heavier overall sound. Before, I wondered why they had a second guitarist; he never seemed to add much to the sound and at times I wondered why they even had him - he was barely evident in most songs. The music The Unforgiving makes full use of their rhythm guitarist, Robert Westerholt; his parts are more discernable and add a richness to the band's sound and vibe. Lead guitarist, Rudd Jolie, gets way meatier material and there are some great solos to be heard on this album.

The Unforgiving is a concept album based on a comic book written by Steven O'Connell and illustrated by Romano Molenaar. Accompanying the comic book are a series of short films that play into the concept. The first one, Mother Maiden, introduces us to some of the characters and gives some insight into the overall plot. It also includes the video to "Faster", the album's first single - unedited as opposed to the official "Faster" video which had to be dumbed down for those with shorter attention spans. Upon watching this first short film, "Faster" took on new meaning for me, and I started making connections already as I had just seen the second short film, Sinéad, a few minutes previously. The music video for "Sinéad" of course tells more of the story.

All in all, as an experience, this is great shit! There is an epic background story with a discernable plot (Tobias Sammet, take notes here; your concepts are shite in comparison) and when you see all the parts combining into a whole through the videos, mixed with the music, The Unforgiving is pure win in terms of overall concept, vision, and writing. I used the word "experience" pointedly; that's what putting all these pieces together creates, and I am loving it to bits.

My personal favourites on the CD are "Faster"; "Sinéad", which has as cool club music feel in the background, which makes sense if you watch the video; "Where is the Edge" which was made into this music video for the Dutch movie Me & Mr Jones; and "In the Middle of the Night". But honestly, there isn't a weak song on this album at all, IMHO.

I can't say enough positive things about The Unforgiving. I can't wait for my CD to arrive in the mail; I I have the special edition coming, which includes a DVD with a bunch of videos. So excited! I hope WT comes to a bigger centre in western Canada because they are another band on my bucket list I'd kill to see live!

CD Review: Avantasia's Angel of Babylon

Well, I can give you a much more definitive assessment of Avantasia's Angel of Babylon.

It's bad. Really bad.

With this album, I feel like someone just stuck a sharp object in Tobias Sammet & crew and deflated them into something vaguely resembling a flat tire. The energy just isn't there in any song. It's bland, it's boring, it's almost bizarrely lame & cheesy. The only song I remotely thought was OK was the first track, "Stargazers," but even that was one of Sammet's weaker offerings here.

I didn't have super high expectations after listening to TWS, but this was surprisingly awful. Holy shit, Tobias: what were you thinking?

This CD and TWS were released together, but I don't think that was a good idea. My sense it that Tobias ran out of steam and just wanted to get this over and done with, because the quality of this album is just not up to his usual standards. It's half-assed-ness is very apparent in each track. I think all of Tobias's creative energy went into TWS and when it came to AOB, there wasn't anything left in the tank.

At least, that's how it felt to me.

And if there was any iota of a concept in this so-called trilogy, it is now as clear as sludge.

There is a female presence here, in the form of a certain Cloudy Yang. I had never heard of her before this album, and I am not terribly inspired to hear any more. Her song on AOB, "Symphony of Life" is one of the weakest songs on the CD. And that is all I'm going to say about that.

So, this is one unfortunate release, I am sorry to say. Even the cover art is not up to par with the previous two albums! I feel like I've wasted an hour of my life listening to this and I am upset!

A definite horns down. /w\

CD Review: Atargatis's "Wasteland"

Allow me to preface this review by saying that I have never done a real CD review before. In one of my other lives, I am a book reviewer and also have a degree in creative writing, so when I review a book, I can be pretty specific with my critiques and the language I use to express my feelings about writing. Similarly, I am a trained baker/pastry chef, so when I go to a bakery or a restaurant, I can be just as specific in how I describe food, baking, and desserts. I am not a musician; I don't know all the lingo and I don't know how to pick apart a piece of music on a technical level. Music for me is primarily emotional; I can talk about how something makes me feel, but I can't talk about chord progressions and techniques. My CD reviews here will be based on what I know and can describe: emotional impact, complexity, lyrics, resonance, and how it sounds to my untrained ear.

So, my inaugural review here is of a little-known band from Germany called Atargatis. I discovered them on Last.fm when I heard the track "Angels Crying" playing on some band's station (I can't remember which one). It really stood out for me because of the unique tonality of singer Stephanie Luzie's voice, the heavy riffing, and the complexity of the song. I thought it was so beautiful, and I wanted more. After listening to all the songs on the Wasteland album on YouTube, and several from its follow-up, Nova, I found the CD on Sonic Cathedral and ordered it. I am now officially addicted to it, and am soon going to put an order into Amazon that will include Nova (it's not available on Sonic Cathedral).

Wasteland is a concept album with a fairly heavy-handed environmental theme. Opening with an ominous instrumental intro entitled "Desert," it moves on to the title track, which describes a futuristic earth as a desert wasteland, destroyed by man, devoid of water, and inhabited by "wretched creatures" who were once known as men. It's an impressive first track because it is not only lyrically powerful ("Dried up earth and only fruitless soil/Every look you take shows that they have lost control") but the full power of this band's sound smacks you upside the head from the very beginning. Luzie's voice, the heaviness of the guitars, and a haunting violin melody make this song so memorable. Following it is a song about the power of the moon, but it's the third track that always chokes me up. In an album about the power of the earth and man's relationship with it, "Thy Crystallic Ascension" is a very personal song about someone related to the band who died in the south Asian tsunami of 2004. This again is a heavy, powerful song, showing off Luzie's range, and features another mournful violin solo that always sends chills up my spine.

I claimed this was a concept album, and I stand by that. As the CD progresses, we see a healing of the earth and man's relationship with it, echoed in the album art, which starts out with pictures of a desert wasteland, cracked & parched as described in the title track, and becoming more verdant and lush. The counterpoint starts with "Cradle of Fern," a song about a baby that brings man back in touch with nature - and water. Turn the page in the booklet, and we see waterfalls. The next song involves mists. Redemption, forgiveness, and rejuvenation follow.

The tracks "My Solace" and "Circle of Life" represent the weakest elements of Wasteland. These songs are not as strong, and "Circle of Life" in particular has an annoying intro, a kind of cliche concept, and it digresses into some Greek mythology that seems a bit out of place given the rest of the lyrical themes on the CD.

Ending with "Angels Crying," Atargatis leaves the listener with a warning: "don't do this again," basically. Following this, still my favourite track on the album, there is an outro featuring the sounds of thunder and rain, birds and insects, and the much longed-for rush of water so desperately missing at the beginning of the story arc.

Take a listen to "Angel's Crying":



Apart from the two weaker songs I mentioned, the only other down side to this CD is the male vocal, that appears from time to time, trying to sound way more bad-ass than it really is. It's not really a growl, but it's not clean, either, and I think the album could have been improved had they left it out altogether.

I do love this CD and am very much looking forward to getting Nova in my hands.

I don't have a rating scheme the way Metal Archives does, and when I review books, they fall into either "recommended & worthy of space on your bookshelf" or "not recommended so don't waste your time." I am uncomfortable assigning number values to things like books and music (I do rate movies on a scale from 1 - 10, however). Perhaps I shall just give CDs I review a simple horns up (\m/) if I like it, and Atargatis's Wasteland definitely gets a huge horns up from me.