Quick sidenote to this morning. I rolled into work and it was a nice, sunny morning. Flash forward about 15 minutes - BAM! It's storming like crazy! Looks like 2 in the morning out there. Nuts. Anyways, it's music time! And time to get to a band I'm semi familiar with - but not a ton. I probably would have done them at some point anyways, but reader Christina asked that I look into this one, as she's a fan of the track 'So Far Away'. The band was formed in Huntington Beach, California around 1999 or so. The band name is a reference to the Kane and Abel story from the Bible. Although they aren't a religious band, they all took a quasi-religious moniker as well. This is their fifth studio recording, with their first coming in 2001. They have one platinum selling record - which was their third drop (and the only one I have). This record was their first without one of the founding members, Jimmy 'The Rev' Sullivan. Looks as though he passed officially of natural causes, but he also had a pretty odd cocktail of drugs and alcohol in his system upon passing. Sad. This actually debuted at number one on the charts, taking over Eminem's reign on the top spot - selling over 150k copies. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. It's got that metal quality I sometimes enjoy, but it's not really amazing. It's almost poppy, if those two genres can mix. Maybe a better word is theatrical - which can be common for metal. I'm just not sure it works here. While it's certainly radio friendly, that isn't a quality I look for in my music. I won't give it a bad rating, but I won't endorse it either. This one is totally up to you guys to make your call on it.
TRACK LISTING:
1. Nightmare
2. Welcome to the Family
3. Danger Line
4. Buried Alive
5. Natural Born Killer
6. So Far Away
7. God Hates Us
8. Victim
9. Tonight the World Dies
10. Fiction
11. Save Me
Listen To Samples
Top 3 Tracks:
1. So Far Away
2. Nightmare
3. Natural Born Killer
FINAL RATING:
2 out of 5 stars
avenged sevenfold always seemed like the poison of their scene to me. ive seen them a few times on warped tour and at mayhem (or ozzfest? i can't recall - maybe both) and i've just never been super impressed. they have some good songs but not my favorite either. i would have liked to catch some of their recent shows, with mike portnoy and vinnie paul filling in on drums. that would have been awesome. i've always felt like if a band could take the good parts of this band and combine them with the best parts of atreyu, then THAT would be a really kick ass band. on that note, i have something for your suggestion box.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I could roll with them on a regular basis. They just don't have the "it" I look for in my metal. I'd just as well stick with Pantera all the time. I mean come on. Stack this up against 'Vulgar Display'? Get serious.
ReplyDeleteagreed, and that's exactly why they feel like the poison of today to me. poison is still around, sure, and they've got some classics, ok, but they're not iron maiden or van halen or even motley crue. they're not a "standard," so to speak, and i can't see them becoming one.
ReplyDeleteon a side note, i think my brother and i successfully polka'd to "domination" off cowboys from hell the other night. there may have been liquor involved.
I agree. At least they're better than Hollywood Undead. Yikes. Or ICP.
ReplyDeleteWow...what an odd combination.
hollywood undead is a so terrible! i would take ICP for 20 days in a row over hollywood undead. yet, i could not believe the crowd they had at summerfest (i was enjoying 311). it's sad when you can actually SEE that many people, collectively, all in one place, and know that they have terrible taste.
ReplyDeleteWhich band? I assume you're talking about the undead. I don't think ICP played summerfest.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah. Garbage. It'd be a shame if a tornado ripped through a hollywood undead show some day. Tragic that all those fans would be whisked away to their eternal resting place.