Various Artists - "Rock Power Praise Vol. 2, Christmas Hymns"

Various Artists - Rock Power Praise Vol. 2, Christmas Hymns

1991, Pakaderm

1. Joy to the World

2. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

3. What Child is This?

4. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

5. Little Drummer Boy

6. O Come All Ye Faithful

7. Silent Night

8. For Unto Us a Child is Born

9. O Holy Night

10. O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Hey, it's dang near the end of June! Why not update with a Christmas album? As the title implies this disc is the second in the Rock Power Praise series which took old church hymns and glammed 'em up a bit for us young whipper-snappers. This disc isn't quite as heavy as the We Wish You a Metal X-Mass... album but it's still a great holiday listen. Jamie Rowe (Guardian) and Robin Kyle (Die Happy, Red Sea) put in some stellar vocal performances on their respective songs. Sara Tennison provides some powerhouse female vocals but I'm not sure if she was from a band or not. Since this record was released on Pakaderm it's got that super clean Elephante sheen, production wise. I confess that I totally downloaded this one and probably will never buy a CD copy of it (I owned the tape for the longest time). Why? Because last time I checked Amazon it was $90!

Useless Fact: In all there were three Rock Power Praise discs. The last one featured gospel songs.

Grave Robber - "Be Afraid"

Grave Robber - Be Afraid

2008, Retroactive

1. The Exorcist

2. Skeletons

3. Burn, Witch, Burn

4. Bloodbath

5. Rigor Mortis

6. Buried Alive

7. Screams of the Voiceless

8. Golgotha

9. Reanimator

10. Schizofiend

11. Dark Angel

12. I Wanna Kill You Over and Over Again

13. I, Zombie

14. Army of the Dead

15. Rigor Mortis (Team Cybergiest Remix)

Grave Robber's sophomore album, Inner Sanctum, has been getting more and more playtime on my ipod lately. So naturally I wanted to check out the band's debut. Be Afraid is exactly what I was expecting it to be - fast, raw punk rock that's fun to listen to and makes you feel good inside. This disc is a little more on the punk side of the spectrum than Sanctum but the hooks are still there. I think this one has more horror imagery as well. "I Wanna Kill You Over and Over Again" is a 50's doo-wopish song that was obviously the precursor to "Tell Tale Heart" on Sanctum. I hope this becomes a little Grave Robber tradition because I love those songs! "Army of the Dead" includes a bit more of the metal chugging that would also be on the band's next album. While I can't say this one is as good as Sanctum, that's okay. It was their first album which means they showed improvement. Oh... and it's still loads of fun to listen to .... "WHOA OH OH!"

Useless Fact: My old college buddy Chuck Thomas has some writing credits on here. I wonder if he played on this one any? My version of this album comes with a remix of "Rigor Mortis" which is okay but I've never been able to sit through it all the way if that tells you anything.

Once Dead - "Visions of Hell"

Once Dead - Visions of Hell
2008, Open Grave

1. Body Parts
2. Devotion
3. Visions of Hell
4. Grave Diggers: The Forgotten Genocide
5. The Contract
6. Loadicea
7. Feeding My Addiction
8. Rise Above
9. Flesheater
10. Defy Man

I ended up enjoying this thrash disc a lot more than I thought I would originally. At first, I thought I would love it. After all Once Dead features Doug Theime, Larry Farkas, Glenn Rogers, and Jim Chaffin. The first three guys were part of the original Vengeance Rising lineup and Jim Chaffin was from the Crucified. However, after hearing some samples I didn't think I would like it that much. I took a chance on it when I saw it for five bucks online and my first impressions were wrong. This is a pretty awesome album. One thing that comes through for me is the sheer power - both in the chugging guitar riffs and the brutal vocals of Devin Scheaffer. The songs are 100% old school thrash in the vein of the old Vengeance Rising with some metalcore vocals. The leads are amazing and the drumming of Jim Chaffin is similarly enjoyable. He adds some rolls and fills that remind me a lot of the original drummer for VR (can't remember his name). Also, I usually hate metalcore vocals but Devin Schaeffer's don't...so that's saying something.

While the music is a maelstrom of metal fury, the packaging of the CD could have been better. The artwork on the cover is very dark and doesn't allow you to see a lot of the detail that is more visible on the picture above. Also the track list on the case and in the liner notes is wrong, the one above is correct - the track list is even wrong on Itunes (thanks to Scott Waters [Ultimatum, nolifetilmetal.com] for the warning and correct track listing). Finally, the mastering is terrible. There's distortion, the sound is uneven, ugh... I'm not even sure this was mastered AT ALL. It's not so terrible that I can't listen to it, but I think the music would be better served by properly mastering it. On the other hand, the raw vibe does fit the music and made me think of Sacrament's Testimony of Apocalypse. So yeah... it just seems like Open Grave did a crappy job on the packaging.

Useless Fact: Most people know that Once Dead started out as a reunion of the old Vengeance Rising crew (minus roger) and featured Scott Waters on vocals. They made a DVD called Return with a Vengeance in which they played material from the first two VR discs. Eventually, most of the VR guys left and at this point I'm not sure who is in the band anymore except Jim Chaffin and Devin Schaeffer!

The Prayer Chain - "Mercury"

The Prayer Chain - Mercury

1995, Rode Dog

1. Humb

2. Waterdogs

3. Grylliade

4. Creole

5. Sky High

6. Mercury

7. Shiver

8. Manta Rae

9. Bendy Line

10. Sun Stoned

Um... yeah... what happened here? I've heard that the record company wanted another Shawl but the band pretty much gave them the finger (figuratively speaking) by producing Mercury. The band trades in their catchy alternative songs for these long, sprawling, complex compositions that have little in the way of hooks. "Waterdogs" and "Grylliade" probably sound the most like the old Prayer Chain, but the rest of the disc is psychedelic and demanding. It gives the listener little to latch on to. Some of the songs contain Eastern scales and other assorted experimental stuff. I remember seeing these guys in concert when this album came out and man... were they ever boring. Mercury is NOT the kind of music you play to a crowd wanting to have fun. Mercury is the kind of music you play alone in your room while staring at those velvet posters they sell at Spencer's that glow under ultraviolet light. Yeah... I was bored, the crowd was bored, heck - even the band looked bored. Never really got into this one but now as I'm writing this I'm thinking I need to go back and check it out....

UPDATE!... and check it out I did. I don't know if it's my age or the fact that I went through a huge Pink Floyd phase a few years ago, but I liked this a lot better. Granted it's still not "groovin' in the car" music but it's good background chill-out music. There are a lot of layers here and it takes some getting used to, but overall the experience was more positive than I thought it would be. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time to really listen to something like this (much the same as Pink Floyd).

Useless Fact: This was the band's last official album. They came out with Antarctica but I think that was just a live album with a few unreleased tracks on it. Steve Hindalong (The Choir) produced this album as he had with the others and wrote the lyrics to "Bendy Line."

The Prayer Chain - "Shawl"

The Prayer Chain - Shawl

1993, Reunion

1. Crawl
2. Dig-Dug
3. Fifty-Eight
4. Like I Was
5. The Hollow
6. Never Enough
7. Wrounde
8. Grin
9. Big Wheel
10. Pure
11. Worm
12. PsychoFlange

After hearing and absolutely loving their Whirlpool EP my friends and I were going out of our minds waiting for their full length album. When I first heard it, I was not disappointed. It sounds like an extension of Whirlpool for the most part. I reacquired a copy a few years ago but hearing it now... it just doesn't do it for me like it used to. It reeks of the early 90's alternative, which isn't bad but somehow annoys me. Some of the sad-sack lyrics in this one irritate me. I guess when I was a young, introverted, sensitive teenager it really resonated with me, but now I laugh at songs like "Dig-Dug" - so FULL of angst! So much doubt! Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. It's just having worked through a lot of my issues (and still continuing to) I just can't rage at the sky anymore. I'll probably give this another spin at some point and if my opinion changes I'll update this entry.

Useless Fact: The opening track contains the lyric "Shine is dead" because the band was so sick of playing that song from the EP.

Petra - "Petra Praise...The Rock Cries Out"

Petra - Petra Praise...The Rock Cries Out

1989, Dayspring

1. I Love the Lord
2. King of Kings
3. Jesus, Jesus Glorious One
4. the Battle Belongs to the Lord
5. Take Me In
6. Salvation Belongs to Our God
7. The King of Glory Shall Come In
8. No Weapon Formed Against Us
9. I Will Celebrate/When The Spirit of the Lord
10. I Will Sing Praise
11. Hallowed Be Thy Name
12. Friends (All In the Family of God)
13. I Will Call Upon The Lord
14. We Exalt Thee

Not really too much to say about this one. Back in the day this was the coolest worship album ever. The opening rocker, "I Love the Lord" is awesome. I've always been quite partial to "The King of Glory Shall Come In" as well. My old youth group actually got the whole Petra Praise set that came with tracks, song books, the whole nine yards. I don't know if we actually performed anything from it though. These days I don't really play this much. Of course, it's just not the same without playing Bad Dudes on the old Nintendo.

Useless Fact: Petra made a couple of these "Petra Praise" deals but I don't know if they were any good.

Favorite Albums of 2009

I put this up on my main writing blog, but that was before I started this one. I've been thinking about my favorite albums of 2010 (so far) and I thought I'd post this list from last year just for fun. See if mine match any of yours! Probably not...


Now that the year is winding down, it’s time to recap some of my favorite albums of this year. Keep in mind, some of these discs came out this year and some of them didn’t, it’s just albums that I found this year that I’ve enjoyed.

1. The Devin Townsend Project – Ki: This is the first part of a four disc series that sees Devin Townsend (formerly of Strapping Young Lad) creating music sans drugs. Good news is, he does not need drugs to write good music. This is a quiet and mellow album as opposed to the pummeling metal masterpieces he usually produces. It’s also amazing.

2. Balance of Power – Perfect Balance: Mmmm… tasty, tasty power metal. Imagine if Dream Theater actually wrote songs and had a better vocalist - that’s kind of what Balance of Power sounds like. Lance King is an awesome vocalist!

3. Daniel Amos – Mr. Beauchner’s Dream: I’ve been listening to Daniel Amos a lot this year since I’ve been able to gain access to their back catalogue. I picked Dream though because it is the culmination of dang near thirty years worth of work by the band. It’s a double CD packed with 32 tunes and out of those 32 I can only think of one or two I don’t care for. If that’s not amazing I don’t know what is. I should also add that I’ve really been getting into Alarma!, Doppelganger, Vox Humana, Fearful Symmetry, Darn Floor-Big Bite, and Bibleland. I didn’t want this whole countdown to be about Daniel Amos though!

4. Megadeth – Endgame: Come on! This is Megadeth. Metallica had the spotlight last year, now it’s ‘Deth’s turn. Endgame is a technical metal monster, I’d say better than Death Magnetic.

5. Paramore – Brand New Eyes: It just came out, I know, but it’s pretty good. “Misguided Ghosts” is probably one of the finest songs they’ve done. It’s got that Sixpence None the Richer/ The Sundays sort of vibe that gives the album some variety. I guess they’ve been getting some crap about the new album but I don’t know why. Haley’s voice has improved and the whole album is a great listen from start to finish.

6. Crashdog – Humane Society: Crashdog is Christian punk. Real punk. Not radio watered down punk like Green Day or Blink 182. Real punk. Though on second thought, the guitar work is way too awesome to really be punk so maybe not. Can punk even have guitar leads?

7. Believer – Gabriel: Believer is back, and they still rock. Solid technical thrash with industrial elements. It’s almost like they never broke up! Also includes the vocalist from Killswitch Engage.

8. Fall Out Boy – Folie a Deux: Fall Out Boy wins with another catchy emo album. Can’t help it, love me those hooks!

9. Ultimatum – Into the Pit: It’s so nice to hear some good plain ol’ thrash. No frills, no epic anything, no artsy-fartsy crap, just pure adrenaline fueled thrash. Like grandma used to make. “Heart of Metal” alone fills me with glee.

10. Flyleaf – Memento Mori: This isn’t out yet and I haven’t heard it all, but based on the single “Again” I guarantee it will be something that my wife and I will be listening to at the close of this year.

11. The Devin Townsend Project – Addicted: Here’s another one that’s not out until November, but I will be buying it and will, most likely, be loving it. In contrast to Ki this record is going to be an epic, dense, layered hook laden slice of rock/metal. Oh, and it will also feature vocals from Anneke van Giersbergen who did vocals for a few of Ayreon’s albums. Devin himself described it as “Enya-core.” I’m totally down with that!

Music Musings: UR DOIN IT RITE - Music Availability

If you're a regular here it's pretty obvious that I like older music. Someone once said that one's favorite music is usually between the ages 12 - 14. Yep... sounds like me. I went through a period where I wasn't listening to any music at all and got rid of a TON of music that I wish now I would have kept. Yeah... hindsight. Anyway, I've been having a blast over the years reacquiring all this music and even checking out bands that I missed along the way.

Naturally with all of this music gather my biggest problem is finding the CDs to buy. A lot of great stuff is ONLY available by download (illegal, by the way). I'm not really opposed to this as usually the market has long past and the band has long since seen any money from them. My personal download policy is to only download stuff that is out of print and at least 10 - 15 years old. I won't hesitate to buy stuff that's new and the only reason why I don't buy the out of print stuff is that I can't hardly find it anywhere!

But that's not really what this edition of Music Musings is about. See some bands complain a lot about downloading. That's understandable. Absolutely. However, occasionally these same bands have no way to access their material at all. They don't offer it on their own websites nor is it available to purchase. Now this entry isn't really about justifying illegal downloading. What I wanted to do is highlight a couple bands who I think are helping us help them by having their music (all of it) available for us to purchase so we can support them.

The Choir - This band has been around for a long time and remains one of my favorites to this day. One of the things I'm most thankful for is that they have almost all of their catalogue available. Their official store carries a decent selection but you can find their earlier and more obscure stuff on both Itunes and their download store. If you want actual CDs, their stuff is plentiful on Amazon. There's pretty much no excuse to drop some coin on this band. You may have some trouble finding Chase the Kangaroo but that's only one album out of several.

Mortification - Morty main man, Steve Rowe, has been VERY vocal about downloading. He once even compared illegal downloading to fornication. Yeah... I don't necessarily agree with him on that point but no one can say that his stuff is hard to find. Almost every album is available on Itunes. Also, all the early Intense Records discs have been reissued either by Soundmass or by other labels. These aren't crappy KMG two-disc-in-one-with-some-songs-cut-out either. These are high quality editions that include liner notes, photos, and extra tracks. While I disagree with some of Steve's rhetoric in regards to downloading, he's practically bent over backward making sure that ALL of his music is available legally and for that I salute him. I also purchased a bunch of Morty CDs too!

I'd love to provide an example of a band that's doing it wrong but the best example I have is one of my favorite bands so I think I'll refrain for now. I will say that their store is testing my patience.

I'd also like to take an opportunity to compliment Matthew Hunt and his Amazon store, Massive Groove. Matthew, I think, runs Retroactive records and by extension, Massive Groove. I have never once had a problem with ordering from him. The shipping is quick and the service is always great. Most times I'll get little extras in my package like compilation CDs (I may review one or two of them...) or posters. One time we had a little snafu with Deliverance's River Disturbance reissue. It took forever to arrive but Matthew was always quick with his communication and went out of his way to take care of me. I don't know how many River Disturbances he sent me, but I'll always be thankful for the way he took care of me. Now whenever I have to get any Retroactive or metal stuff, I always see if I can get it from Massive Groove. You're the bomb Matthew!