Shiragirl Demand Our "Rights Back Right Now"

In 1986, The Beastie Boys were telling us we need to fight for our right to party. We were still in the days of Reagan telling us the country was a "shining city on a hill", and our history had been that of a nearly unbroken streak where progress was slow, yet always moving forward. Fighting for the right to party seemed like the most important thing in the world to a young generation, because we couldn't imagine things ever going backwards. Optimism abounded, because all we knew was a world that was getting more open, more accepting, and more free. (Or so I've been told - I'm not old enough to actually remember the Reagan years I lived through.)

That is not the world we live in anymore. Now, we know first-hand what it's like to have our rights begin to be stripped away. We know what it's like to step backwards in time, to experience regression in ways that our fore-bearers would be ashamed of. The centuries of progress have for the first time stalled, and the promise of a country where all people are free to pursue their happiness is one we have to work to keep.

What once seemed like doom-saying is now reality, because The Supreme Court decided that rights can be taken away on a whim, and that a particular strain of religious belief can become the dogma we all must be shackled to. The decision to overturn Roe vs Wade was not just a setback for women, but for the entire idea of freedom.

Shira Yevin, and her Gritty In Pink group, have been on the front lines screaming into the madding crowds about the dangers we are facing. One year ago, they took to the streets of Los Angeles to use music to protest the way a batch of unaccountable 'scholars' used the idea of 'originalism' to go back to the days when our founding documents didn't recognize women as full and equal people under the law. They were stabbing the country in the back trying to make room to shove the rib back into Adam's torso.

Today, Shiragirl return with this call to arms not to forget, not to become complacent, and not to accept that where we are today is where we must wind up.

The lyrics prod us that the forces against us "are never gonna roll back fifty years of progress", with enough snarl in the vocals you can almost hear Shira's bared teeth. Rather than scold all those who have sat by and said nothing as our political landscape has become a hellscape akin to an asshole measuring contest, Shira instead prefers to use this as a rallying cry to remind us we can be better than this. Let's be clear; the rights that are on the line today are not the end of the story, and it will only be too late that the next group figures out they didn't mobilize early and strong enough to stop the rising tide of hate.

After the choruses, electronic bits come in and serve as a breakdown. They have that glitchy, skittering sound, which is a perfect metaphor for the glitch in the system we hope this period of time is going to be. "Defeat is temporary," she reminds us, although that is dependent on us making it reality. I was rather surprised, and disappointed, that these recent years of tumult never resulted in a swath of political music fighting back against a society that didn't give a damn whether any of us lived or died. It's rather depressing that "American Idiot" is the last major, mainstream piece of political protest music. (I'm as guilty as anyone of this. I haven't written a single political song in my life. I did try once, but I couldn't get past the inevitable 'Agent Orange' pun.)

It's easy to get worn down by the endless negativity of the news cycle, and how it can feel inevitable that evil is going to win out, because evil is willing to burn everything down to get its way. That's why we need people to stand up, speak out, and remind us that those people who are trying to recreate a past that never existed only have the power they do because we grant it to them. If we stick together, if we make clear equality is not up for negotiation, the authority that comes with a black robe can easily be replaced by the realization those people have nothing underneath but shame and fear.

It's fitting this song comes out on the last day of Pride, because we know which rights are going to be in the cross-hairs next. Those people have not been subtle about how much of society they want to erase, which requires an equally unsubtle rebuttal. Ok, that was a terrible rhyme, but you get the point.

Shiragirl, and all their friends and collaborators, are on the front lines fighting for justice. We don't get proper civics education, and Shira is doing us all a favor by being our teacher, slapping us upside the head with a ruler for not having learned that history only stays in the past if we keep moving forward. It may take us a bit of time to get our rights back, but so long as we have artists harnessing the power of punk to speak to us, we're not going to go quietly into that good night.

The Best & Worst Of 2023, So Far

Every year is its own experience, even if it's an arbitrary way of looking at things. All it really does is make it easier for us to organize our thoughts, and move certain things from our short-term to our long-term memory. Once we write these things down, and put them in some order, we can shift our thoughts to what is to come. Tomorrow has more hope than yesterday, so we look to the future for everything today has not given us.

That's my way of saying the first half of 2023 has not exactly been overflowing with music I'm in love with. It has been a rather disappointing year, and I'm ready to move on to a second half that will hopefully have a few more records I can say I love. That will have to wait for then. For now, let's talk about what we've already been given.

In alphabetical order...

The Best:

Ad Infinitum - Chapter III: Downfall

They have finally reached the potential the first two records hinted at. Melissa Bonny is a fantastic singer, and for the first time she has the material to make an impact. Easily their hookiest set of songs, this album is about as clean and perfect as metal can get. It might be a bit too sanitized, from a production standpoint, but I can't deny the great melodies after great melodies. It isn't a record to 'connect' with, but it's a heck of a good time.

Katatonia - Sky Void Of Stars

It's funny. I loved "The Fall Of Hearts" when it came out, but quickly tired of it. I didn't like "City Burials" when it came out, but now I do. Both are due to this record, because Katatonia has finally made the record I've been hoping for. They have always had the most beautiful and melancholy sound, but for the first time they give us an energetic and almost upbeat batch of songs. For them, at least. This is where "City Burials" was headed, and it's a glorious city on the hill. They have never done better. Truly.

Rexoria - Imperial Dawn

I love when a power metal record is able to win me over, because it reminds me of how I got here. Rexoria's album delivers a compact set of songs that delivers great vocals and great hooks. It's not a complicated formula, but it's hard to do. They are masters of it, with "Fading Rose" being one of the best songs of the year. Power metal can be the best time you can have with metal, and this is as good as it's gotten this year.

Royal Thunder - Rebuilding The Mountain

Maybe I'm getting old, but I love the narrative of this album being about the band getting sober and making the effort to mature. That this represents a group of people who want to better themselves, who want to build the foundation to make this band last as long as it can, is the sort of thing we should be celebrating. This album works through those issues in a way that makes it a bit moody, and requires some time to fully dig in, but there's a lot of charm to be found. This isn't a huge, loud rock record that treats volume as if it's saying something important. This record is nuanced, but passionate. It's subtle, but still hits hard. Mature is a good way to describe it, and that's what makes it so appealing.

Sarah & The Safe Word - The Book Of Broken Glass

I didn't even know that 'cabaret emo' was a thing, but I'm glad I found out about it. Their blend of jazzy nightclub violin with rousing emo rock is something completely beyond my expectations, and it works so much better than I could have imagined. "Old Lace" is the standout sing-along, but from top to bottom this is an anthemic record that recalls the jauntiness of "The Black Parade", but with its own unique spin. We hear plenty of experiments with new sounds that don't work, but this is why it's worth taking risks.


The Worst/Most Disappointing:

Avenged Sevenfold - Life Is But A Dream

Take a band that isn't trying to write songs, and have a singer whose voice is shot, and the result might be the worst album I've heard in years. I truly don't understand what anyone involved in this was thinking, because it is so remarkably ill-conceived I can't put it into words. It almost sounds like listening to the recordings of a band's jam session before they found a real singer. And yet, it's still a successful record....

Motive Black - Autumn

We waited years for this? Ugh. An album years in the making, this is a collection of bland and hookless songs mostly made up of songs from the singer's previous band. So what took this long? I hate this even more because of the wait, as I was actually excited when I first heard "Broken". I loved that song, and then spent a couple of years not realizing it was going to be a complete fluke. What a waste.

Paramore - This Is Why

Why is the operative word here, because I don't understand why Paramore is still so successful when they are making records like this. I don't care that they moved in a more indie-pop direction. What bothers me is the repetitiveness of many of these songs, the annoyance of the non-lyric vocal tics, and especially the message where Hayley seems to be telling us not to pay attention to what is going on in the world. It all rubs me the wrong way, and leaves me wanting to hear hooks and songs that are enjoyable. Isn't that what pop is supposed to be?

Redemption - I Am The Storm

This was always going to be disappointing, if for no other reason than I don't like Tom Englund's voice in this band. For me, he sucks all of the life and color out of the proceedings. But what's even more disappointing is that what still could have been a passable record was ruined with a terrible rollout. I've heard the band say the two covers and the remix are 'bonus tracks', but they were never listed that way. We were all led to believe they were part of the actual record, which the sequencing would also indicate, and putting that much non-original material on a record means it's basically starting out with a failing grade. And so it failed.

Sermon - Of Golden Verse

I'm glad I don't write press releases, because I'm not sure I could bring myself to lie like that. This record was sold to me in terms I couldn't say no to, and it was nothing of the sort. This is one of those 'mysterious' bands, and this time I can see why they want to keep their identities a secret. This tuneless slog is so boring I literally cannot remember a note of it as I write this. The only memory I have is the searing frustration of realizing I had wasted forty minutes of my life, because I got suckered by someone who knew what buttons to press in their praise. Damn them.

The Conversation: 2023 Mid-Year

CHRIS C: My inner monologue at some point this year started thinking about time as a mobius strip, and endless loop taped together to show there is no beginning and there is no end. I find that rather appropriate for this year, because as we take the bank through the curve, the stretch ahead looks exactly the same as the stretch behind us. I'm not sure if we've traveled all the way back to the start, or if we never started off the begin with.

Maybe my thoughts on the first half of 2023 are a bit clouded over, since you are aware I went through a rather intense period of feeling like absolute crap. Even when music was coming out during that, I doubt I was in the right frame of mind to appreciate any of it. In fact, what I've noticed so far is that other than the first album I really heard this year, everything I've come to appreciate has taken time to grow and displace my more tepid initial reactions.

Ok, the thing that really has stood out to me is how much 80s music still gets played on the radio stations I am subjected to for short periods of time. I've never quite understood how the stations that played 'the 70s, 80s, and today' when we were kids evolved into 'the 80s, 90s, and today' at the turn of the millennium, and then never updated themselves ever again. I swear, I hear Journey more often than any of the actual hit-makers of today. Is there any clearer illustration of how stagnant our culture has become?

Before I get too far down a one-way street, I will throw things over to you. What has 2023 looked like from your vantage point? Do you see less of a swirling vortex pulling us down into the blackness of a drowning pool?

D.M: letthebodieshitthe.....FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!  Sorry, you said Drowning Pool.  I couldn't let it go.

Dealing with the sheet nuts and bolts of the radio question - the radio just doesn't attract the kids at the ol' soda fountain like it used to.  And the remaining music audience that takes their cues from the airwaves isn't generally interested in what's new and different.  So, if you're a rock station, why bother playing anything new, when you can just play the three Journey songs that have been in rotation for forty years?  What's old is...well, still old, but still good?  Something like that.  That's the going theory, anyway.

But I'm glad you brought all that up, because it allows me to get into the two points that werre so important to me I wrote them down in my ongoing 'music of interest' document that I keep throughout the year.  And in fact, it's the only two notes I've made for 2023 so far that isn't directly related to a single album.

We (I) talk a lot about the cycles of music and trends that come and go over time.  We mentioned this at the end of last year as well, but it finally seems the '90s have come home to roost.  What's important here is that I think I'm coming to realize my own bias.  For however many years now, I assumed the grand re-ushering of that oh-so-memorable decade, particularly the first half of it, would feature a return to the sensibilities (if they could be called such,) of grunge, which burned so brightly, even if so quickly.

I was wrong!  I started to sense a theme at the end of last year, permeating even through my album of the year from 2022, Rxptrs "Living Without Death's Permission."  Finally, in this first half of 2023, I've nailed it down - the overarching influencer from decades past isn't Pearl Jam or Soundgarden or even the lofty legacy of Nirvana.

It's the Offspring.

I probably should have seen this coming.  The Offspring always had that clever and deft blend of anti-establishment rock and pop-rock appeal.  They've long had a melodious streak in their music that couples nicely with baseline ideals of rock music, applicable across multiple eras.  And it doesn't hurt that the band has been around for a long time now and has manifested several permutations of their own music.  As such, it sure as hell seems like everyone I hear these days, rock or metal or punk or anything in between, sounds somewhere between "Come Out and Play" and "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)".  Am I the only one who thinks so?

Second thing - you know what I'm weary of?  Looking at promotional music or other material that we get from around the country and around the world in the various veins of rock and other aggressive music, and I look at the band's photo, and I say "well, looks like another bunch of old fucks!"  Like, seriously.  Sorry, that's not terribly scholarly of me, but seriously.  When did rock get so fucking old?  And don't we have any new rock bands we can promote?  I understand that rock and metal are, by any metric, at the nadir of popularity right now - the reins were given over to rap and hip hop with Eminem, and have never been up for grabs again - but it gets damned repetitive to pull up band of band of silver-hair, leathery-looking geezers in studded jackets who are dishing out the same re-constituted musical ideas over and over like Lunchlady Doris and mashed potatoes.  Maybe this is why I've invested so much time in The Warning lately - It might be a stretch to call their brand of crossover rock revolutionary, but it's at least novel and honest and fresh.  Is that too much to ask?  Did anyone really want another Extreme album, or whatever?  I dare say no.  The entire family of genres under the rock umbrella are starting to eat their own tail, and it gets longer and longer since I've heard anyone (besides me,) cranking a metal song out of their car windows that was written after 1995.

Okay, deep breath.  I better stop.

CHRIS C: I think we all know the actual reason for our cultural slog - Boomers ruined everything. Ok, that's not entirely serious, but it's not entirely facetious either. Our technological advances paved the way for this. When the old classic movies and albums came out, you experienced them in the moment, and then they faded away. There wasn't a readily available way to go back and hear an old favorite if you didn't buy the record, or see an old movie if it didn't happen to be playing on the local tv station during the weekend.

Streaming has changed everything, as now we have access to everything at all times, so people who feel nostalgic never have to move past their teenage years. It's great for us to never have to try to remember a song we haven't heard in decades, but it's terrible that we've destroyed the artistic cycle. Old art never fades away to make room for new art. I know we've talked about this many times in the past, but it hit me in the fac realizing what I said about Journey. How is any band supposed to become that big again when half the airtime they need for promotion is going to bands that have been members of AARP since we were kids?

That segues into what you were saying about rock and metal getting so old. I'm not sure I've noticed that, but I have had my own experience looking at band photos and wondering if style has been outlawed. Look, I say that as someone who doesn't have any of my own, but I'm reminded of a quip I heard made about how you know a band are never going to be stars if they show up on stage wearing sneakers. It seems like every band these days is made up of guys in t-shirts with unkempt beards. I'm not saying image is everything, or that we need to go back to the days of slick presentation, but it doesn't make for the most appealing culture all the time. And as we all know, metal already has an issue with being uninviting to outsiders.

I don't know if it's that older people are the only ones involved in rock, or if the older ones are those in five different bands, trying to make a few more bucks before they retire. There are certainly less newer bands out there to be excited about than I would like. Heck, in the rock world Halestorm is still considered a newer band, and Lzzy is our age. We're not exactly young anymore. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I can even think of a band right now in their 20s I'm a big fan of. Damn, that's a depressing thought.

Hmm... I can't say I hear much Offspring influence out there. I'm not even sure there are many people out there who still look back at them very fondly. They've done a good job of killing their reputation. I would say if there's a band from that time with a bigger influence today, it would be Faith No More. How many bands have we heard recently who throw diverse influences together, stitching pastiches of wildly divergent sounds? All of them owe something, whether intentional or not, to Faith No More for paving the way of making confusing music possible in the mainstream. I also probably wouldn't call this a good development much of the time, but it is more interesting than the rehash bands. I'll give you that much.

So let me just ask you the big question I've been facing; Has this year just flat-out sucked?

I'm going to say yes, but I'll let you chime in before I sound too jaded and bitter.

D.M: See, I think there's no two things that tie together here - the concept that everyone is withered and old (Bruce Springsteen most of all!) and still trying to project youthful virility, and the argument that we made previously about Dio making it cool to express your inner over-the-top Dungeons & Dragons fan.  That period seems to have waned, and we're back to guarding our image with great jealousy and concern.  Probably a lot of factors in there as to why, but one wonders of the influence of social media.  The internet seems to have no other pastime than making an individual feel worse than itself (oh, if only the GWAR storyline where they killed The Internet Troll could have been true!) so now we're all guarded beyond all reasonable sense.  Which spins into this, which you alluded to: now that everyone has access to everything, there seems to be some impetus to try and maintain as safe an image as possible. since marketing to just one audience, while still attempted, doesn't really seem possible anymore - there's a leak in the boat somewhere, inevitably.  And so, what we end up with is bands projecting as 'safe' an image as they can, and thus a huge spate of, to steal the pejorative, a bunch of Pacific Northwest-looking beardwieners, who will not only tell you why your beer is bad, but is, in fact, wrong.  It's a safe image, and meshes nicely with the current cultural zeitgeist of specialized men's facial hair, comfortable clothing and a rejection of anything that is not feasibly "independent."  Which is fine.  Nothing wrong with shifting cultural appreciations, that's the history of the human race.  They'll shift again.  But in the mean, we're left without artists who took Dio's lesson to heart at a baseline level - you're either all out (as mentioned in the image of previous sentences,) or all in (Lord of the Lost.)  The overwhelming majority of artists seem to be all out.

As you mention bands in their twenties.  Let me begin by saying I am a bad judge of these things.  There have been dozens of bands that I thought would take off who, for one reason or another, either never caught on (Graveyard,) or totally fell apart (Lazarus A.D, even before Ryan Shutler's unfortunate death.)  So don't take anything I say without chewing on a rock of unrefined salt.  But I saw The Warning in concert a few weeks back.  If this band doesn't catch on, I don't know who will.  The show was packed.  The audience ate it up.  And the band has the talent and the look and the sound, and is working with good songwriters and seems to be backed by enough resources to make this thing happen.  Cliche though it sounds, whatever 'it' is, they would seem to have 'it.'  So have faith!

The larger question to me, and there may be no answer other than 'time,' is what it is going to take for rock to come back to popularity?  I suppose there's an argument to be made that pop music springs eternal because production techniques continue to evolve - every two years, pop music re-invents its own sound, because someone develops autotune or finds some new way to Pro Tools fart noises into an effect we've never heard before.  Rock is rooted rather inexorably into guitar/bass/drum, and unless that dynamic is altered in some way, maybe we've seen the ceiling?  I find that hard to believe.  But it's worth exploring.  I mean, I love rap, but it has to give up the throne at some point, right?

And I'm going to throw one more horrible question onto the fire: as fans, how much do we want?  And is how much we want and how much we actually want two different things?  Sorry, that's a mess, let me clear that up.  Take Metallica.  Easy target.  "72 Seasons" came out, and it's not bad, it really isn't.  And people are appropriately excited/mad/whatever the nouveau reaction to Metallica is.  But it's all rather rote now, isn't it?  It feels almost mechanical.  Metallica releases an album, people froth at the mouth one way or the other, rinse, repeat.   

And I use Metallica as the example because they're still thought of as vital and important.  I could have gone with Blue Oyster Cult, who I think just signed a new record deal, and frankly with all respect, who gives a shit?  And please, don't misunderstand me - this is not another re-hash of the conversation about how far should artists go and when should they call it quits.  This is an examination of the other side.

Fans will keep saying they want new material, forever and ever, amen.  But do we really?  I was as curious about "72 Seasons" as anyone, and I rushed out and listened to it when it came out, same as so many others.  And I think it's pretty good, on the whole.  The more I contemplate the Metallica question though, did I need another Metallica record?  Not really.  For me, they could (should?) have called it a day with "Death Magnetic."  That record would have completed their Homerian epic, right?  A play in three acts: the opening promise of "Kill 'em All" through "...And Justice for All," the challenging middle act taking on adversity with The Black Album running through "St. Anger," and the final, short redemptive arc of "Death Magnetic."  Curtain.  As a fan, nothing that comes after that, good bad or indifferent, alters my opinion of the band, or changes their story in any way.  So I'm forced to surmise, I don't really want more Metallica.

Is Rage Against the Machine better off being done?  Are you truly better for leaving the audience wanting more?  There was certainly an appetite for it, as we chased the band through Audioslave (which, let's face facts, was not as good as we remember them being,) and then Prophets of Rage.  I don't think bands do this kind of thing intentionally - Nirvana certainly couldn't have planned Kurt's suicide, for instance.  (Caveat: I think My Chemical Romance may have stumbled into limited releases as a sort of half-planned action.  But they're the only one I can think of.)  That said, the speculation about what could have been seems to fuel the legacy among fans where we think we always want more. 

I am coming to realize I do not always want more.  Take Turisas, who seems to be well and truly done.  What did I really expect from them after their magnum opus of "Turisa2013?"  I wanted more from, but did I need more?  This is where the difference between how much we want and how much we think we want may diverge.  Better yet: I am a huge Rob Zombie fan.  Still.  Now, what does that mean?  That means I love White Zombie's last record, and Rob's first two solo ones.  I don't really want or need more than that - everything that happened after is sort of one mottled fever dream.  So what I'm really asking is: what's the point as fans where we say 'I'm done here, I have all I need?'

Anyway, now that I've thoroughly confused everyone, let me answer your direct question - no, 2023 hasn't sucked!  Not for me, anyway.  I am sitting on ten albums right now that if I had to ride with them as my top ten, I would feel okay.  It wouldn't be the strongest top ten I've ever done, but I would be able to defend all of them in public with at least a factoid or two.  I feel like every year there's an album that sneaks into my end of year list that I know I will have forgotten about in four months' time.  And I don't feel that way about any of these, there's no prisoner-of-the-moment here.  So that's something!  Also, shout out to Overkill, who released another pretty damn record, doesn't sound tired at all, and somehow has defied all logic of how long their career should have been.

CHRIS C: Hmm... so is it a matter of everyone trying to be safer with their image, or has culture weeded out many of the worst of us? I still hear older fans pining for the days when rock had 'edge', but they always seem to do it completely oblivious to the fact that 'edge' was just a nice way of saying those people were assholes through and through. Yes, it would be nice to feel like we're getting a more honest look at these people, if they are going to talk at all, but I don't mind the sanitized version if the alternative is gettnig a dozen more Ted Nugents. I would much rather have the beard warriors than more people who write songs about underage girls. Social media has plenty of faults, but if it cleaned that bit up, I'll be thankful.

To go a bit further; culture has also changed from young people drinking and skateboarding (or such things) to mostly playing video games. It is a quieter, more insular culture, so perhaps what we're seeing is a natural extension of how things are. This just isn't a very 'rock' time in our history.

You mention The Warning, but if I'm not mistaken, they've already put out three records and assorted singles. I don't know what the odds are of a band suddenly becoming bigger after getting that far into their career. I thought they had that potential when I heard their first record, but here we are years later, and I'm not sure how much they've grown. And yes, part of that is how narrow the definition of 'rock' music can be. I will also admit to fully being as bad about that as anyone. I felt just as queasy about Imagine Dragons being the most successful 'rock' band for a period of time. Since we now live in a time of rhythm over melody, rock isn't going to stand much of a chance. Right now the audience wants beats, and classic guitar riffs are actually more about melody than that. Rock is a poor fit for the current tastes. That's kind of the entire reason djent was born, except the mainstream never thought it was cool or fun. It was too much 'nerd music'.

I've asked the same question you have about wanting more. I came to the conclusion I don't really mind if my favorite band never releases another album, because there's nothing wrong with going out before you go down. That being said, I think it really comes down to what kind of band we're talking about here. If it's a band that keeps doing the same thing, then yes, there is going to come a point where all but the most die-hard will grow weary. That even circles back to our old discussion where I asserted the classic albums aren't really that much better than what came out later, but remain beloved because we grew tired and can't hear those bands with fresh ears anymore. Do I really need to hear another Iron Maiden double album at this point? No, the first four reunion albums are all the indulgent Maiden I'll ever need.

Not only do I believe we have a limit to how much music we can absorb in a given year (which for me is lower than a lot of fans/critics I see), but also a limit to how much of the same thing we can absorb in a lifetime. Metallica's smartest move was changing drastically. If they kept making records that sounded like "Justice" all through the 90s, I don't think we would look back as fondly on the 80s as we do, nor do I think they would have maintained their juggernaut status as a live band. We crave something different, which is why they make air fresheners that rotate scents. Just as we got immune to one after exposed to it for too long, the same happens to a band's sound. That's the reason I gave slightly tepid reviews to a few otherwise excellent albums in recent years; they were identical to the albums that came before, and thusly they couldn't catch me by surprise.

The reason 2023 has sucked for me goes back, I believe, to what I said the last time we summarized things. I have been looking for more than merely music that is enjoyable to listen to, I want to feel some kind of connection to it. That's on me, not the bands, but very little music has moved me on a level beyond being a nice diversion. Sure, there are some records I like, even like quite a bit, but I suppose that saturation point I was just talking about has set in. Even those good records don't seem as important, since I already have my lifetime's worth of enjoyable enough records to listen to. It's the first time I've seriously considered that pearl of wisdom about how people stop listening to new music. I'm not there, but I'm definitely at a point where I have less room than ever for music that isn't on the top level.

Right now, that level is only one album deep. I'm hoping the second half of the year will have more to show for it, which leads into the question of what we're looking forward to in the coming months. There are a couple rumored thing that haven't been announced, but all of my hopes are pinned on the just announced Soen album. If anything is likely to hit that sweet spot and dislodge my top album so far, it would be that. It will also be a rather interesting test of the fatigue factor, since this will be the fourth album in this run, and that is the point where it can really start blending together. Also, where the hell has Graveyard been? I heard talk about them being in the studio almost three years ago now. Don't make me listen to Rival Sons instead!

D.M: Oh man, Graveyard.  I'm also curious where they are and what they're up to, but I'm also nervous - this band was demonstrably on the rocks once before, are we sure they still aren't after re-forming?  Secondly, this gets into the point we're already talking about.  How much Graveyard do I want?  They've already given me four killer albums (I know you and I differ on the greatness of "Lights Out," but I agree that it is a great album,) dare I hope for a fifth?  How many more apex records can they make?  This is what I've come to simply accept about Turisas - their last album was such a magnum opus, where could they have gone?  Hope sprang that they could re-create something of that magnitude, but was it really ever possible?  I've become so numb to a world where most 'great' artists can only turn the crank twice (and maybe not even that,) that it seems unbelieve to think Graveyard could hit paydirt five straight times.

Man, I didn't think I would be the one of us in this position, but let me come to the defense of Imagine Dragons a little.  And let me begin by saying that I'm surprised I'm here, because of the two of us, you're the one with the ear for pop music.  And really, isn't that what Imagine Dragons is?  Insufferable or no (and I'm not a fan, but I do think they've got a couple very catchy tunes,) it's damn hard to pen that many hits with that kind of reach.  Even Muse, for all their following, didn't break through like that.  (Neither did Cage The Elephant, who let's face it, has written a couple groovers in their own right.)  I can't but tip my cap.  Especially for an artist who has held such attention without having, or having to cause, a single real controversy.

Which brings me to something that came up at work the other day.  Not only did a have a young co-worker who is a music fan but professed to having never heard of The Ramones, but a fistful of under-25s tried to convince me that I should go with them to a Nickelback concert this summer.  Has the moratorium on Nickleback ended?  For me, Nickelback not only appeals to the basest level of the lowest common denominator, but also is accompanied by so many awful memories of chin strap beards, Von Dutch trucker hats, jagerbombs and Michael Bay movies.  Such a regrettable era for popular culture.  But are the kids now young enough that they can redeem a band by having selective memory of that which came before?  And am I okay with this?  If it had been one or two people, I would have credited it to insanity or youthful hysteria, but it was five or six people!

Also, dear, sweet, merciful Jesus, why hasn't someone come along to unseat Nickelback?

CHRIS C: I suppose this goes back to the point I try to make every so often that the one thing a band owes the fans is a bit of honesty. They don't owe it to us to make the music we demand, on the schedule we demand, or to play the songs live we demand. But I do believe they owe it to us to be straight. So if Graveyard has gone this long and they have no plans of making another record, tell us. Or if it's taking far longer than usual, just tell us you're at work on something. Leaving us in limbo for years only invites needless speculation.

Where we truly diverge on Graveyard isn't on "Lights Out", but on their debut. I say their 'golden era' was the first three records, while you say it's albums two through five. The chunk of the guitars on "Don't Take Us For Fools" is one of my favorite tones ever. Just wonderful. To my ears, there was a shift before they put out "Innocence & Decadence". Those latest two records are still great, but in their own ways.

I do agree, though. While I would like another Graveyard album, I don't actually NEED one. I always worry when bands take extra time between records that it means they're losing the spark. We never know how many songs we have in us, and once it becomes harder to draw them out, it's easy to think the well is running dry. I'm not saying that's what is happening here, but the gaps are undeniably getting longer. That is concerning.

Imagine Dragons are a pop act, but I don't think they're a very good one. But maybe I just heard that song too many times where he repeats "the thunder" eighty or ninety times, and part of my brain has melted. I've been reconsidering that old axiom that the hardest thing to do in music is write a three minute pop song that catches on. It's probably still true, but the way that music and the charts have evolved, the songwriting part of songwriting doesn't exactly seem important anymore. I believe there are studies that have shown pop hits have been getting more repetitive for most of the last fifty years, and I hit a breaking point somewhere along the line. Imagine Dragons was probably the band that did it for me. I hate to say it, but I think I would defend Maroon 5's music over theirs.

Everything that was once kitch or hated eventually becomes retro-acceptable. Nickelback is no different, and it might be that those people are too young to remember what an affront they were to the memory of Nirvana, Soundgarden, and the like. Rather than being a pale imitation of what we grew up listening to, today's music is a pale imitation of Nickelback. Scary to think about, eh? Nickelback are sort of the elder statesmen of mainstream rock (other than Foo Fighters, but they exist in a different world), so I sort of understand why the younger generation would be more generous towards them. That said, I'm not interested in rehabilitating them. Go at your own risk!

D.M: Can I stand on my pedestal for a minute about Graveyard?  How special is it that in all the years we've been doing this, I can't recall another band that we've been able to agree everything in their catalogue in unilaterally great, and our only disagreement is about which parts are the greatest.  This amazes me.  I only have encountered something like this once before, which is my brother and I on Soundgarden - we both love everything, but have different aspects that speak to us.  And addressing the elephant in the room, yes, you and I have gone back and forth about Iron Maiden a thousand times, but I don't know that I would call the post-reunion albums 'great,' and I don't know that you would say the same about the 'classic' albums.  (Do we at least agree that the Blaze Bayley era was awful?  I can't remember.  If we don't agree, lie to me and tell me we do.)

You know, I'd never thought linearly about the time between albums signifying that an artists has lost their spark, but it makes a lot of sense.  Quick cursory rifle through my rolodex of bands, and I can only think of two who took an unusually extended period off and came back the same (or better!) than they were before - Indestructible Noise Command and Death Angel.  Both of those, it should be noted, had mitigating circumstances that led to their hiatus, as opposed to 'we're tired.'  Now I'm starting to think about who besides Graveyard I'm waiting on that could be headed downhill after a long creative process (and might feasibly release another record.)  Combichrist?  Shawn James & The Shapeshifters?  Red Fang (hopefully not?)

My biggest hit of the year so far is that everyone has lived up to expectations.  That doesn't mean that albums I was anticipating have all blown me away with their depth and magnificence, but it does mean I'm not carrying the baggage of 'dammit, why wasn't that better?'  Overkill, Blood Ceremony, Powerwolf, all good.  Even perennial disappointment InFlames released a record that was, by their recent standards, decent.  My favorite of them all so far might be Lord of the Lost's "Blood and Glitter," which is really quite good, catchy as hell, and a fine bounce-back after the ho-hum "Judas."

Shocking though it may seem, I don't know that I have one stunning low mark yet this year.  Some minor letdowns - Turmion Katilot essentially released the same album again, and some other 'blah' moments, but nothing so far that's made me actively angry or embarrassed or whatever.  I find myself wishing that Dave Lombardo had done a little more with his solo album - a full record of his (admittedly sublime) drumming is incredible, and he's never been one for drum solos, so hearing him in his own spotlight is a unique treasure, but listening to a full record of nothing but percussion loses the thread before too long.  I can't knock it, because it's a drum album made by a master for drum people, but I find myself wishing there had been some guest appearances or something.

How about you?

CHRIS C: I don't need to spend much time thinking to know you're right, with a slight caveat. Graveyard is indeed the only band that would qualify as that shared experience for us, which is due to our different taste of course, but also the fact that I am one fickle listener. When I look at all of my favorite bands and artists, they all have albums (or entire periods) I can't even bear to listen to. It's why I struggle to understand the mentality when I hear some people talk about certain bands as if they had entire decades, if not careers, that are 'perfect'. I know I seem to be hard to please, but are some people that easy? Man, I wish I was. It must be interesting to be happy with just about anything you're given.

As to the caveat; I would never slag "Peace" as less than a good record, but I really can't say it's quite at the 'great' pantheon. I'm still with for "Innocence & Decadence", but there's something about "Peace" that feels like they tried to rough themselves up just a bit too much.

It was only a theory, although pulled from my own experiences. I feel like the majority of the work I've done that sticks in my mind the longest, which might mean is my best, came from a time when ideas were flowing far faster than they are now. It's definitely more work to pull them out of the ether, and I'm less certain there will be another one after I'm finished. There's part of me that believes the classic rock era was what it was because those bands were putting out albums practically every year. They weren't over-thinking the songs, and they never stopped writing. Inertia is the devil of everything.

"Virtual XI" is awful, absolutely. "The X Factor" has a few good songs. Not enough for me to defend those record, other than to say I think I would take them over the Judas Priest albums with Ripper.

My hits this year are bands that surpassed my expectations. Katatonia is one of those bands I've always admired, but never loved. Well, this time they finally gave their melancholy enough 'oomph' to hit a bit harder. That record was an eye-opener, and in fact, it made me re-evaluate "City Burials" in a way where now I appreciate that one a lot more than I did at the time. Also, after a couple of promising but forgettable records, I love Ad Infinitum's record. They've honed their songwriting, and I think Melissa Bonny finally has an album to showcase herself as one of the best 'new' metal singers.

My misses are bands that failed to meet my expectations. That would include Matchbox Twenty taking a decade off and coming back as the same boring adult-pop group I didn't like last time, and Dave Matthews Band putting out a good album that still feels half unfinished. But the biggest miss is..... no, not Metallica. I still haven't given that one a full listen yet. The biggest miss is Avenged Sevenfold, which is the most bizarre and bullshit record I've heard in years. I was hoping it would at least be an interesting mess, but it was the sort of thing that screamed 'contractual obligation' louder than my voice can scream in horror. If I had ever been a fan, I would wish they quit as hard as M Shadow's voice has.

And with that being said, do you have anything else to add about these six months? Otherwise, we'll regroup for something in the Fall, and do this all again when this year ends up in the rear-view mirror.

D.M: The only thing I would add is this: as much as I'm enjoying the musical year so far, I am missing one piece.  Each year, there's an album that floors me through sheer force of will.  A powerful dynamo of distortion and blast beat and nothing but end-to-end catharsis, i.e, Alien Weaponry's first album.  I haven't heard that yet.  I tend to find it, or should I say, it tends to find me somewhen in my travels.  And as good as this year has been to me so far, it won't be quite complete unless I stumble across it.

And maybe, just maybe, I'm looking so hard for it, because I need that catharsis as much for myself as for anything.

CHRIS C: Continuing the search is the perfect way to conclude for now. We never stop, do we?

Album Review: Kelly Clarkson - Chemistry

Pop music is a different beast to most anything else. If the rock bands we listen to keep going with their signature sound, they can have long and fruitful careers. Just think about all the jokes we made about AC/DC, Motorhead, and the like. Staying true to your identity never hurt them in the slightest. That isn't true of pop music, though, where the fashions (and the audience) change so quickly you have to keep up with the times if you want to stay relevant. Pop artists who don't adapt find themselves falling out of favor with all but their most ardent fans. It's a tough business, for sure.

Kelly Clarkson has adapted over the years, which is both praise for her as an artist, and disappointment for me as a listener. I know the moment in time that let "Since U Been Gone" become a massive hit are gone, but it's still sad to hear little from those days still exist in the music she is now making. It isn't that diversions are being taken, as I still loved "My December", but the very nature of what pop is today makes it hard for me to embrace records like this.

That's natural, though. Over nearly twenty years, we change as people, and Kelly Clarkson today is not the same person she was back then. To make records that sound just like that would be dishonest. Growing apart is simply part of the process, and this record reminds me that other people seem to grow, while I tend to stay the same. So maybe it's all my fault.

The one thing I can't deny is Kelly's voice, which is as strong and rich as ever. Whether she's belting with all her heart, or hitting falsetto notes with a striking amount of body to them, she hasn't lost a step. Say what you want about pop music, but there are some truly fantastic singers who could succeed in any genre, and she is one of them. If anything, the experiences of life have only given her more colors to play with.

My problem is, as ever, the synthetic sound and feeling of much of the album's production. When you have such an amazing human instrument, wrapping it up in chintzy sounding instrumentals is close to a sin. This record calls out to sound big and open, with depth to the mix where we can hear the powerful echo of her voice as it moves the world around us. Instead, the music feels as thin and plasticine as the conventional criticism warrants.

Also, for being pop music, there isn't much 'pop' to it. These songs don't build to bopping hooks and saccharine melodies. Much of it plays out as a singer-songwriter album with drum loops working underneath. It makes for an odd experience, as it feels like two worlds that haven't figured out how to mesh together. I get the sense this was meant to be an 'adult contemporary' record, but modern pop got sucked in to make it more marketable. How else am I to explain those truly awful sound effects that come in on "Favorite Kind Of High"? Dear lord, they're terrible.

In a lot of ways, this record gives me the same impression Pink's did earlier in the year. They're two fantastic voices that produced a string of hits I still adore, but they don't translate to the modern version of pop music with nearly the same appeal. If they can't get me to care, what chance does any pop artist have these days?

Singles Roundup: Neal Morse, The Gems, Spanish Love Songs, & Any Given Day

This week brings quite the eclectic mix of songs.

Neal Morse - Like A Wall

It looks like Neal's next album with be another religious concept album. Oh boy. This one has a 'cast' of characters, and appears to be following in the dad-rock footsteps of his recent Jesus the exorcist record. As I recall, I found that to be among the worst things Neal had ever done in his career, so I'm not exactly excited to hear more of that kind of material about a subject I'm not interested in. I didn't mind his religious stuff when the songs were great, but this one just isn't at that level. It's bland, doesn't hook me at all, and feels corny all around. If this is the best way they thought to promote the record, I'm thinking it will not be a pleasant time for me when I get my promo copy of it. Neal and I continue to drift apart.

The Gems - Like A Phoenix

The members of Thundermother who were fired from that band have started this one, and honestly, there isn't that much difference between them. This song could have easily fit on any of Thundermother's albums, which is a good thing. IT does show, though, that the band was perhaps being given too much credit. If they can split apart, and it looks like both sides will be able to pretty much replicate what was going on, then just maybe Thundermother was a bit like a paint-by-numbers sort of affair. That being said, this group has Guernica singing, which puts them ahead of Thundermother for the time being. This is a far more promising song than the one she released to introduce her solo career.

Spanish Love Songs - Clean-up Crew

Last year, Ghost took heavier inspiration than ever from 80s hard rock. Then we just got indications Creeper is going full-on 80s with their new album, and Spanish Love Songs give us our second look at how 80s they are going with their album. I really don't understand the affection people have for reverb and pleastic synths. I hated that sound when I was just young enough to remember it, and I hate it now. I also think it doesn't work at all with the depressing lyrics and more modern emo vocals Spanish Love Songs trades in. For as visceral and wrenching as "Brave Faces Everyone" was, this feels far too clean and polished. It's sort of like using a mirror set in pure silver to do your drugs off of. You might feel classy, but it's all an illusion that doesn't mask the truth.

Any Given Day - Get It Done

This seems to be another stand-alone single, as I didn't see any indication an album will be coming out anytime soon. That's a shame, since they are among the best out there right now at making the metalcore formula sound vibrant and vital. That comes down to their ability to write hooky choruses that make the heavier verses feel like a true push-and-pull, rather than a gimmick they don't quite know how to put to proper use. That being said, this one gets a bit hokey in the lyrical department, so I can't say this is among my favorite songs they've put out. In a down year, it's always nice to get something powerful to distract me, but this one isn't going to endure if it has to stand on its own.

Quick Reviews: Pyramaze & Joel Hoekstra's 13

Two albums, two problems, one shared takeaway.

Pyramaze - Bloodlines

This is another case of a band I should like, but have never been able to care for. Very similar to Dynazty in the modern power metal world, this new Pyramaze album has a lot of good things going for it. It sounds great, it's well-played, and there are a lot of really good melodies to be found throughout. There is also a duet with Melissa Bonny on the album's best song, which is both a good and bad thing. It's a great track, but it's probably not a great idea to bring in someone who can outshine your own band. Listening to it, I wonder how much better the album could be with her singing the whole thing.

The other problem is this doesn't really feel like an album. The good songs are good, but the album has opening and closing time wastes, so it's only eight real songs. None of them are overly long, so we're looking at not much more than half an hour of proper songs. The shorter a record is, the harder it is to give it a pass for things, and this one just doesn't give me enough of anything to make me feel satisfied when it's over.

Joel Hoekstra's 13 - Crash Of Life

This is a case of an album being brought down by forces out of its control. While I am not a fan of the 80s rock sound, Joel manages to do it about as well as it can be done. His playing is great, I don't mind the guitar sounds, and he pens a set of mostly very good melodic hard rock. Taken purely on its own, I would say this is an easy recommendation for a pleasant summer afternoon diversion.

The problem is that this features Girish on vocals, who is the latest singer to be wildly over-exposed by the label. He's a good singer, and he does a fine job here, but I'm already so tired of hearing him. What differentiates this album from any of the others Girish has been on, or Joel for that matter? Not very much. I realize I go on and on about this quite a bit, and it's because of exactly what happens with albums like this one. I should like this quite a bit, and instead I find myself thinking about all the times I've heard something that sounds nearly identical. Neither Joel, nor Girish, nor the genre, seems to have an individual identity anymore.

It's hard to recommend an album when another one just like it will probably come out next month.

Album Review: The Nearly Deads - We Are The Nearly Deads

I don't remember how I discovered The Nearly Deads, but I was glad I did. Their "Revenge Of The Nearly Deads" EP is one of the few over the years I've been doing this I loved enough to go back to, satisfied that five songs were enough. The singles they started putting out afterward were even better, with "Freakshow" being a nearly perfect example of a style of music I have become a bit of a sucker for. So over the last number of years, we've gotten an album of truly great melodic hard rock from The Nearly Deads, just not all at once. That is about to change.

The album kicks off with "Suffocating", which we heard as an advance single. The song is pure Nearly Deads, with some almost Munsters energy to the little guitar line through the verse, with TJ singing in a rhythmic pattern before opening up to a wonderfully melodic chorus. She sings in the bridge that she's "still trying to find [her] voice", as the band drops out. I would say she has more than done that, and it happened a while back.

There's an air of optimism that permeates these songs. TJ's voice has a natural sweetness to it anyway, but then we get "Wonderland" imploring us to take the journey to that fantastical place, whether we belong there or not, because it's worth the risk. Then "Believe" tells us to keep trying again and again, even if the work we are putting in isn't working out for us. Resilience is a difficult thing to have, and I know I have a severe lack of it. This year especially, the idea of trying in the face of failure's inertia has worn me down. The pep talk is very much welcomed.

Later, on "Home", TJ sings to us about having "midnight mass on the side of the road". With the band in full flight, and the melody soaring, it sounds like the kind of hymn worth singing. Music, at it's best, it a bit of a spiritual experience. There is something to hearing a stirring melody and singing along that brings us together, that can make us feel less alone. The communal aspect of music is unique in art forms, and it's why bands with charm are so important. Make no mistake; The Nearly Deads ooze charm.

These ten songs are all the good things the melding of pop and rock bring together. Propulsive guitars and hooky melodies work together to make music powerful enough to break through our jaded exteriors, then sharp enough to grab hold and not let go. Both sides bring energy to the mix, which makes this record a wonderful bit of sugar to push us through a hard day.

The Nearly Deads hadn't disappointed me since I first heard them, and they keep up their winning streak with this album. Getting a bigger dose doesn't dilute their power at all. If anything, hearing more of them only reinforces all their best qualities. We followed the break crumbs over these few years, and the reward is the gingerbread house that will satisfy our sweet tooth.

Clearly, The Nearly Deads still have plenty of life in them.

Singles Roundup: Soen, Alicia Witt, Lucifer, & Eclipse

There's one obvious big story this week.

Soen - Unbreakable

Not quite like clockwork, because of last year's live album, Soen nevertheless is back with a new album on an odd numbered year. With their previous three albums all being Album Of The Year winners, expectations for what comes next could not be higher. The first taste indicates Soen is continuing down the same path, streamlining their sound into a killing machine. Their trademark rhythmic riffs are still here with as much odd groove as ever, but with each passing album the band has gotten better at adding bigger and bigger radio style choruses. Joel has become a stronger and more confident singer, and that allows this song to explode into a massive chorus which does what most radio rock simply can't. Needless to say, the date is circled on my calendar, and Soen's new album is the absolute highlight of the second half schedule I'm looking forward to in the coming months. This is what modern metal should be.

Alicia Witt - Clever Mind

Life is complicated, and it's easy for us to reduce it to unreasonable yes/no, black/white decisions. Alicia's new song looks at a relationship from the perspective of 'the other woman', which as we all know, usually gets no concern at all. We can ask questions about where our morality comes from, and who is actually responsible, but perhaps all we need to do is take a moment to realize things are not always as simple as we tell ourselves they are. What is simple, however, is enjoying this song. Alicia has found her stride as a songwriter, and the only way I can describe the feeling her recent songs evoke is 'charm'. There's something about the way her voice rises and falls, blending with the notes of her piano, that is just charming. That's more than enough for me.

Lucifer - A Coffin Has No Silver Lining

Oh, Lucifer. This is a prime example of a band I want to love, a band I should love, and a band I just don't love. This song is a perfect example of why all those things are true. Teasing a new record, this song plays into their sense of atmosphere. There's an ethereal, sinister vibe that plays out like a rock seance. That's great. Johanna's voice has that soft delivery that soothes you into forgetting what you're dealing with. That's great. The problem is that with the production being fuzzy in that stoner way, and her voice blending into the sound, the songs never jump out and grab me. Lucifer is great to listen to, but hard to remember. I fear this song is another chapter in that same story.

Eclipse - The Hardest Part Is Losing You

I've always maintained Eclipse is my least favorite of the projects Erik Martensson is involved in. They're the one project that felt too slick, trying too hard to be something more than they are. This first single for their upcoming album is rather interesting, even if it is still trying too hard. In this case, that effort is a blending of Eclipse's usual sweet melodic rock with hints of "Black Parade" era My Chemical Romance. There are elements to the melody, and a particular phrase Erik sings, that echo loud enough I'm not sure it can be a coincidence. For this reason alone, it might be the most I've been intrigued by Eclipse since I started listening to them. I don't know whether this will carry through the rest of the record, but looking at the track listing, I'm led to think this could be a version of Eclipse with a different perspective, and that's an Eclipse I want to hear more from.

Album Review: Royal Thunder - Rebuilding The Mountain

We can't stop the aging process, but we are in control of our maturity. Unfortunately, it seems a lot of us have never taken the idea of maturing to heart. We are still faced with a rock culture that is all about drinking and anger, where people still foolishly argue that drugs make you a more creative musician. So I find it rather interesting to encounter this new Royal Thunder album, because their story is one of maturity. They got sober, and they worked through their issues, before trying to come back as a band again. They put in the work to be better people, who are better equipped to be a band, and that's something to commend them for. Maturity might not be as easy to sell as hedonistic immaturity, but it makes much more of a statement.

Getting older and wiser isn't fun, and the music Royal Thunder are giving us on this album would not be described as being fun. It's meditative, it's reflective, and it carries the weight of understanding when it bursts into a loud rage. This isn't music playing up anger for the sake of sounding edgy, it's music that balances calm and rage in the same way we try to find balance in our lives. Some of this might be projection on my part, but our impressions are how music becomes alive.

There's also something to having an album about the struggles we face as humans being recorded live in the studio. Nothing is polished, nothing is following a rigid guide, it's all flowing in the manner it needs to. Even if it's imperceptible to us, the honesty of it is unmistakable.

"Rebuilding The Mountain" is not an easy listen, but nothing working through our issues is ever easy. There are moments, particularly when the band kicks into high gear, that are among their more vital. When the guitars ring out, and Mlny's voice roars with her echoing bellow, there is a tangible power to their sound. She has the ability to make us feel through her voice. When she lets out the long note before the climax of "Pull", I swear I can almost hear her vocal cords slowing down to echo the weariness of the song. It's one of those magical little moments in an already great song.

I consider this to be one of those 'mood' albums. It won't be right for every moment, but it's fantastic for when those times come along. It might not sound quite as good on a sunny summer day, but when the rain cancels your plans, it will be a fitting soundtrack to watching the dark clouds roll on by.

Royal Thunder are clearly trying to find their way back from painful times and self-destructive choices. I'm not in a position to say whether they have achieved that on a personal level, but they certainly have on a musical level. "Rebuilding The Mountain" is more than a first step back up out of the hole they were in, it's a powerful record that proves the work was all worth it in the end. Kudos to them for getting to this point.

Album Review: Scar Symmetry - The Singularity Phase II: Xenotaph

Conceptual albums are hard to get right, and when you try to stretch those ideas over more than one album, that task becomes nearly impossible. In the case of Scar Symmetry, we are getting the second chapter of this "Singularity Phase" a full nine years after the first chapter. This isn't as mind-bending as when Iced Earth switched singers in-between the two chapters of their "Something Wicked" set, but taking so much time between releases that are tied together is incredibly difficult. It worked for the "Avatar" movies, but only because people wanted to see if the biggest movie of all time could be followed up. It isn't quite the same thing for another Scar Symmetry album.

That is to say, I'm not even going to try to parse through the scientific language of these songs. If they are adding to the theme and story of the last record, it will be completely lost on me. I just don't happen to believe I should have to remember every detail about a record from nearly a decade ago to get the gist of something new right now. But that's me.

"Chrononautilus" flies out of the gates by delving into the band's mechanical death metal within seconds. The robotic precision of the band has always been impressive, albeit cold. They haven't lost any of that over the years, but I have found them to sometimes lose track of the balance after the original lineup shift. This song is an illustration of that, as it blends that hard-hitting death metal with some nice melodic sections... except the volumes aren't balanced out. The death metal is noticeably louder, and when the melodic hook comes in, the mix pushes the vocal down so it recedes at the exact moment the song should be building.

Scar Symmetry's thing has always been a commentary on technology, but I find myself being worn down by the inhuman perfection of their music. You can tell everything on the record is played in absolute lockstep with the grid, and as impressive as it is if they pulled that off without recording in one or two bar increments, it leaves the music devoid of anything I could call 'feeling'. The music has no groove, no swing, and really no personality either.

That carries over to the vocals, where the growls are well done, but obviously not conveying much in the way of emotional information. The clean vocals don't pick up the slack either, bot because of the mixing issue that runs throughout the album, but also because the delivery comes across rather flat. It doesn't sound to my ears like these songs had any meaning the singer was working hard to get across. They're notes he's singing because they're the notes, and the lack of passion contributes to the blankness the album lives within.

That's the danger in focusing on topics that are devoid of humanity. The music starts to mirror the message, and you're left with the metal equivalent of the whirring fan keeping the system from overheating. Scar Symmetry are incredibly impressive players, but what are they playing? In trying to make their music as plasticine and robotic as possible, they've turned themselves into a musical sex robot. There are people out there who own one, and enjoy using it, but they're never going to replace everything that a real person can be. I feel that way about Scar Symmetry's music. There is much to like, and much to be amazed by, but it's in that 'uncanny valley' where I hear it more as a digital replication of good music rather than as that music itself.

We are now living in the age of AI, which is exactly the sort of thing this band has been talking about in their songs all along. What is ironic is that they are, by their focus, exactly the sort of band AI could most easily replace.

All of that is just the long way of saying I'm sure this record is good, but that doesn't really matter when I'm given no reason to care about any of this.

Avenged Sevenfold & The Problem Of Prog

Here's all you need to know about the new Avenged Sevenfold album: It's terrible.

I could break down exactly why, but you don't need a detailed treatise to get the point, and I don't need to waste any more of my time listening to that record. One sentence will suffice as a review, but there is something we need to talk about.

'Prog' has a problem.

The main takeaway I had from listening to the record is growing frustration with prog. The very foundation of how much of the prog I find myself exposed to not only leads to music I don't enjoy, but with music I fundamentally think is lazy. Let me explain.

There are two sides to the art of songwriting. One of them is to come up with compelling ideas, and the other it to turn them into compelling compositions. If you can only do one of those things, you're not going to reach the absolute heights as a songwriter. Prog, partly by its nature as being such a niche element in the music scene, doesn't require both of those things. That also explains why prog doesn't seem to ever be a growing genre.

Many of the songs on the new Avenged Sevenfold record are 'experimental', in the sense that they throw away the rules of traditional songwriting. That is a dangerous game to play, because those rules exist for a reason. If you are going to step outside the box and challenge listeners, there is no room for error. You have to deliver your absolute best ideas to keep the listener engaged enough to take the journey with you. Otherwise, you're only speaking to yourself.

What passes as experimental these days is to randomly throw divergent ideas together. I say 'randomly', because in cases like some of these Avenged Sevenfold songs, or like what Poppy did with her breakthrough, there is almost no songwriting put in place to explain why the styles are mashed together, or why the song moves from one sound to another. The entire idea of transitions gets lost amid the throng of ideas, and if you try to follow the through-line, you'll find it only exists in brief segments.

But this is not a new thing. My favorite prog musician is just as guilty of being a lazy songwriter. He regularly puts out prog 'epics' that stretch for half an hour at a time, but if we're being honest, they aren't songs. They're pastiche medleys of ideas being thrown together just to make something long. Look, I know it's hard to write a very long song. Having enough musical and lyrical ideas to sustain one concept through ten, twenty, or thirty minutes, requires a lot of work.

What doesn't require work is to take three or four shorter songs, stick them together, and then call it one big piece of work. If you have four sections to a song that not only don't share a musical theme, but don't share a lyrical theme either, then you don't have a cohesive song. The absolute worst was during one of the concept albums this guy made, which was supposedly one hour-long song, there was a section in the middle about his father. The album had nothing to do with that, before or after, so am I supposed to give this person artistic credit for not following his own plan for the album?

There is another aspect to prog with their insistence that time signatures and complexity are more important than doing anything memorable, which was brought to the extreme when Tool's entire promo cycle for "Fear Inoculum" centered on the songs being written in seven, but at last Tool writes songs. I don't like most of them, but they're putting in the work.

Avenged Sevenfold didn't, and a lot of other prog music doesn't either. When I hear music that doesn't try to make sense, that sounds like the musicians dumped their bag of riffs out and played whatever fell next to each other, I feel like I've wasted my time. I can't think of anything worse to say about music than that.

All that is a long-winded way of saying Avenged Sevenfold may just be the front-runner as the worst album of the year. It's the only one that has genuinely made me mad.

Album Review: Ray Alder - II

It's an age old question that doesn't have a definitive answer, and yet we keep asking it anyway; Does the singer make the band? Of course, we know that depends on how much importance you place on the vocals and the melodies, as opposed to the music the rest of the band is playing. If you're like me, and the vocal line is 90% of the song to you, the singer absolutely makes the band. Changing singers doesn't just change the tone of the voice, it changes everything about the way melodies are written, delivered, and heard.

When Ray Alder left Redemption, the result was a complete collapse in my interest in that band. Tom Englund's voice is heard by many people as being in the same emotional realm, but not to me. They became something completely different, and something I haven't given a second of thought other than the reviews I have written. Ray, however, put out a solo album called "What The Water Wants" that perfectly blended his time in both Redemption and Fates Warning, and sounded more like those bands than much of their own material.

Coincidentally, just weeks after Redemption released their latest effort, Ray is back with his second solo album. While the title "II" is as weak as it gets, the contrast between the results proves everything I've always thought about my own mentality.

When the chorus of the opening "This Hollow Shell" hits, and Ray's voice explodes through the speakers, there is an anguish and melancholy imbued in his voice that sounds unlike nearly any other singer. Heck, it doesn't even sound like the younger version of himself. It's something he found later in his career, and is what makes this album's shift into darker territory sound so comfortable. Listening to him, I believe the emotion is real, not something put on as a stage effect. He is emotional, not emoting, to draw a fine distinction.

In a bit of an ironic twist, while Tom is now in Redemption, "My Oblivion" borrows the seven-string chunkiness of mid-period Evergrey. Ray's voice lacks the bass of Tom's, and that is the difference between the melody blending in with the guitars versus soaring above them. There is just enough light in Ray's voice to give the song a soothing feeling, even though it is a crushing wall.

"II" is a very different record than "What The Water Wants", drawing more from the heavier parts of metal. Both records are somber affairs, littered with uplifting choruses to balance the tide, but this time the guitars are thicker, heavier, and less inclined to swirl in atmospheric backgrounds. The songs are a bit longer, but they hit harder. They give Ray more time to work with, and he delivers choruses among the best work of his career. Seriously, why has there never been a Fates Warning album with this much great melody?

That being said, the second half of the album does fall off a bit. As the three consecutive songs clocking in at 5:51 unfold, the melodies get toned down just a bit, as the hard-hitting metal recedes to a softer dynamic. I know the record needs to have ebb and flow, but the first half establishes so much momentum, I wish the second half could keep it going. Even if the record was more monotone for it, I think it would have been the best kind of getting your ass kicked.

So what do we make of "II"? It's a bit of a tough album to put in perspective, because it fits into that category of being both a step up and a step down, where the highs are higher but the lows are lower. The heaviness blended with melody on the album's best songs are fantastic, and I absolutely love it. The more expansive bits don't work as well for me here as they did on "What The Water Wants". This record is just as good, but in a different way. What I can say with certainty, though, is that Ray's two solo albums are far more interesting to my ears than either of the albums Redemption has made without him. The voice really is the key, and Ray's unlocks plenty of great music here.

Album Review: Foo Fighters - But Here We Are

It doesn't seem fair to be passing judgment on this record. Clearly, the band is still going through the grieving process, and making this record was their way of getting to the other side of it. I'm surprised this is the route they chose, but that's no criticism. Everyone has their own way of dealing with these things, and none is more correct than any other. What it does, though, is make saying anything about the result a bit delicate. If the band is pouring their hearts out into these songs, who am I to sit here and say their raw emotions aren't any good?

But that's the job, and it's what we're here to do.

When the first single, "Rescued", was released, I was caught completely off-guard. Not only was I not expecting the band to return so soon, but doing so with a song that sounded like a complete return-to-form was the last thing I expected. It did make sense, once I thought about it, but a decade of being disappointed washed away hearing those chords and tones that brought "There Is Nothing Left To Lose" back into my mind.

Unfortunately, that didn't last very long. As more singles came out, my enthusiasm was dampened with each one. "Under You" was still a solid track, but then the band's penchant for experimentation get the worst of them. "Show Me How" has been described by others as 'dream pop', while I would just say it's dull. It tries to set up an echoing atmosphere, but that sound is a bit like pouring a bunch of herbs and spices on a plate. They might have color and flavor, but there's no substance to them. That's a bit of an extreme analogy, but the slow burn that never ignites is one of my least favorite musical tropes. It isn't entirely a waste of time, but there isn't much to carry with me once it's over.

And I suppose that's what I find odd about this record. For everything they are dealing with, these songs don't feel any more passionate or emotional than the last few records did. They aren't going through the motions, but if you didn't already know about the emotional tumult, you wouldn't find much of it in these songs. The tame version of Foo Fighters is not the one that should be showing up in this moment. To hear them is rather disappointing.

There are a few echoes of the past that warm my heart, but when even those often get bogged down in washes of tuneless fuzz that build to repetitive choruses, it does feel like a dying echo. I'm remembering what Foo Fighters used to be, and this sounds to me like that bad with all of the muscle and sheen stripped off the bone. Was the band always relying on such a flimsy structure? I'd like to think not.

This record, just by virtue of sounding more like a Foo Fighters record, is better than the last couple of albums. I haven't cared for anything since "Wasting Light", and the difference between that record and this one is night and day. Despite everything they had going on to pour into this record, it doesn't have a fraction of the power or passion "Wasting Light" bristled with.

I hate to say it, but this record is dull. That's so, so sad to say.