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It's very rare that I'll come across a band that manages to maintain my interest through out the years. Usually bands will come out with maybe 1 or 2 interesting albums, than I'll start to lose interest real fast. But it's not the bands' fault for that, well... yeah it is. The tricky thing about being in the music industry is having to stay original without straying too far away from your roots, so it's like a double edged sword. If a band sticks with it's usual formula and doesn't try anything new or different... well then the music becomes boring and we don't care anymore. Usually these bands will end up just becoming cliches of themselves (Metallica Saint Anger). But then again if a band tries to change but goes too far then it just becomes a big fucking disaster (Avenged Sevenfold Self Titled Album). Sure we'll tell ourselves, "Well at least they're trying something new and not just sticking to the same old formula" but after a while we realize how fucking horrible it really is and how far the band has sunk (Marilyn Manson). The point I'm trying to make is that bands need to be careful. They can't just keep doing the same thing over and over again, but at the same time they cant stray too far away from what made them great in the first place otherwise they'll lose respect. Chevelle is one of the few bands I know of that manages to pull this off with flawless execution. They almost lost me with their last album, but the new one (Sci-fi Crimes) holds much promise in being something both new and familiar at the same time. You can tell they're doing something right when you listen to the same songs 12 times in a row. I fucking love Chevelle. Wonder What's Next, is one of my favorite albums of all time. Sure they're not the most technical band out there, but you know what, playing fast and complicated riffs on your guitar doesn't make you a good writer. Chevelle has simple riffs but they're well written and entertaining. Family system is one of the heaviest songs I've ever listened to and it's not even that hard to play on guitar. But it accomplishes it's goal by conveying the emotion behind the lyrics, and that's what makes it successful. The same can be said about the new album. Sure the songs aren't that heavy or that hard to play, but they were written with a goal in mind. To convey an emotion, and they succeed in doing so. So if your one of those people out there who say it's not good music because the riffs aren't that hard to play or because it's not heavy enough or because they don't straighten their hair, then I'm afraid you've missed the point entirely. Music isn't about how fast you can play or how technical you can be, it's about expression, and they're are many different ways you can do that. Chevelle found a way and they stuck to it, but have managed to keep their sound fresh with each album. Anyway, enough ranting, I'll end this blog with two music videos off their latest album Sci-Fi Crimes. Thanks for reading!
Hey ya'll! It's Christmas Eve, and I couldn't be more excited about tomorrow. What a better way to end my semester than with a good ol' fashioned family together-ness... thing, I don't know. I was up till 3 in the morning last night so I'm not making any sense. Anyway some updates are going to be made to the site soon. I've added a new drawing to the graphite section so be sure to check that out. I have a new photo series I want to upload but unfortunately I ran out of disk space on my web host provider so I'll have to look into getting that fixed. In the mean time have a Merry Christmas everyone and I'll see you soon (boy that sounds creepy lol).
- Joseph Buehrer
Well, once again faced with the tediousness of my everyday life, I am forced to find reprieve by going to the only place on the planet that offers an abundant library of oddities and phenomena, not normally seen in the everyday occurances of our lives. I am of course talking about the internet. The following I came across while browsing the ol' youtube. It's a short film by animator Don Hertzfeldt. A cute little collaboration of fake rejected commercials for something called The Family Learning Channel. The humor in the cartoons is reminiscent of something Jhonen Vasquez might write for one of his books but the psychological elements are taken to another level especially toward the end when it inadvertently turns into a bad acid trip gone worse, with Don's entire animated world collapsing in on itself, but I digress. Just watch for yourself!
-Joseph Buehrer
Going through the steps of your daily life can sometimes feel mundane and not too invigorating. Each day it seems you're just recycling the steps you took yesterday with no real difference in their form or execution. However, every once in a while you'll come across something so bizarre and different it's strong enough to break down the barriers that keep you within the drudgery of your everyday life. That something that makes you stand or sit there totally speechless, your jaw drops and your tongue feels paralyzed and your vocal chords beg them to function normally so you can utter the phrase, "What the **** was that!?!?" The following video is one such occurrence of mine, that I had when I was browsing Spill.com last night. Watch, and tell me you don't have the same experience.
Hey everyone. As an artist, I find it is my duty to present to you other works from artists that branch outside the usual borders of the brush and pencil. The music video you are about to watch, A New Game by Mudvayne, is one such work. Although I am unable to find out who the director is, I must say he has a great visionary style, that I both envy and applaud. So with that said, sit back and enjoy!
I decided to develop a rating system to properly explain how I felt about each song. Each song will receive a 1 to 5 star rating, along with a little explanation as to why I gave that song its rating. This will become a regular part of my reviews and will either appear several days after I post my reviews or they’ll just be part of the initial review.
Now to explain the ratings…
RATINGS
5 STARS: A perfect song. This is truly an accomplishment of musical genius and talent, which will inspire young artists for generations to come. If there’s any song you should listen to before you die, make it this one.
4 STARS: A kick-ass song that’s just a few points below being perfect, composed by a band that has the potential to be great and legendary.
3 STARS: An entertaining song that you and your buddies can kick back and listen to when you’ve got nothing else going on. Not the best song you’ve heard, but good enough that you all can sit through it and still have a good time.
2 STARS: Truly a waste of production costs and editing. There’s nothing special here. Listen to it on the radio or online if you have to, but other than that, don’t bother.
1 STAR: F*** THIS SONG!!!
Now for what I gave the songs on the album
SONG: We Won’t Back Down
RATING: 2 STARS
Such a shame really, the song started out strong, it even has a decent chorus, but there are points after the first chorus and second choruses where Craig’s voice just cracks like you wouldn’t believe, that’s unforgivable. Seriously he sounds like a pubescent 12-year-old boy to singing for his school play. I was set to give this song 1 star after that bulls*** but then the solo kicked in and I bumped it up to 2.
SONG: On to the Next One
RATING: 2 STARS
This was probably the most disappointing song on the album. I really dig the opening guitar line and the solo is amazing but the chorus riffs are nothing special, and the lyrics are synonymous with something a heartbroken teenaged emo boy would write in his diary. If there’s any song I wish someone would not just cover but totally remake, it’s this one.
SONG: Ashley
RATING: 1 STAR
God I hate this song. I tend not to like songs that are about one particular person. First of all, unless you know someone just like the person in the song with the same name, it leaves no room for lyrical interpretation. Plus I hate it when anyone tries to use the word “baby” in a rock song. It’s just a pet peeve of mine. Other than that the lyrics are really cliché and obvious. I knew what the singer was going to say next before he even finished the line. This is just a generic love song, no better than anything the Backstreet Boys would write.
SONG: Something
RATING: 2 STARS
The song is just dumb. The music’s okay, but other than that, there’s nothing poetic about this song, it’s just a cluster-f*** of words and phrases you’d hear in teen dramas or Twilight. I seriously think Craig should go back to school and take some sort of creative writing class.
SONG: The Flood
RATING: 4 STARS
Finally, a good song! I’m so glad this is one of the songs they decided to use for a music video. The guitar lines are sweet, I really dig the chorus, and the lyrics aren’t half bad. But mainly this is a good song cause every time I play this song in my car, everyone joins in on singing it. It don’t matter if you suck at singing or not, it draws you in. Craig’s voice still sucks but I’ll forgive him this one time.
SONG: Let it Go
RATING: 1 STAR
I already hated this song after the first two lines… “I’m on the verge of a breakdown, I’m on the brink of an epic meltdown.” Seriously? F*** THIS SONG MAN!!!! I just can’t believe they wasted a guitar solo in this song. A really good guitar solo too! Despite that, it wasn’t enough to turn this SH** STAIN (not even worthy of being a piece of sh**) into a decent song.
SONG: You Are So Beautiful
RATING: 2 STARS
I don’t even know where to begin. It’s just another shitty love song, but this time they mix in hardcore screaming, and while I do enjoy the extreme guttural vocal style, it just doesn’t fit here.
SONG: This War is Ours
RATING: 4 STARS
While this is the song that made me want to buy the CD, listening to it again made me realize it has no place on this album. This was my biggest problem with the album; the band doesn’t seem to know what direction it wants to take with its music. They keep writing all these depressing love songs yet some of them will be mixed with some pretty heavy riffs. And then out of no where they have a song like this which is the exact opposite of what they’ve been writing and I’ll just be sitting here thinking, “This doesn’t fit.” It’d probably work better if it wasn’t the title track, because that right there is just misleading the listener. By itself it’s a really good song, but on this album it takes it down a peg.
SONG: 10 Miles Wide
RATING: 4 STARS
The only reason this song is good is because Josh Todd came in and added some masculinity to it.
SONG: Harder Than You Know
RATING: 1 STAR
Blah blah blah, ANOTHER FREAKIN' LOVE SONG!!!!!!
SONG: It’s Just Me
RATING: 5 STARS (holy sh**, really?)
Yes really, this is the only song on the album I consider to be a Perfect Song. Musically it’s very creative. If you were to close you’re eyes and listen to this I guarantee you would come up with a lot of creative images in you’re head. It’s just that type of song. The kind that makes you feel like you’re in another realm of existence while you listen to it. This is the song I recommend the most for downloading off of iTunes!
Well that’s it for the ratings. KEEP IT HEAVY GUYS! Peace!
- Joey B.
I was first introduced to the "band" Escape the Fate at the Black on Black tour, a couple years ago. I had never heard of Escape the Fate before and after that show I wish I hadn't. Don't get me wrong, Escape the Fate is okay if you're into that kind of music (post- hardcore/screamo/grind-core), whatever you want to call it, but for me It's very rare that I like a band from that genre. Ever since that show I never heard from that band again until recently when my friend Thomas played me a song from their new album, which was the title track, This War is Ours. I have to be honest when I say I loved it. It was heavy, it was brutal, it was technical, it had some outstanding sweep picking solos, and the vocals were even pretty decent. It was everything I could want in a song, all rapped up in a neat little package. I knew from that moment that I had to buy that CD, and a few days ago I did. Did I like it? Well... let me just say that if you're gonna shell out 15 dollars for a cd, be sure you're either A) already a huge fan of the band, or B) you've at least heard more than 5 songs off that album beforehand.
The album was utter sh*t! Never before have I tried so quickly to get rid of an album I had recently purchased. I mean for God-sakes, even Plagues lasted 2 months before I got sick of it. So before any of you Escape the Fate fans start bashing me for not liking the album I'm going to be fair and give my reasons for not liking it, I'll even go out of my way to talk about some things I did like, though there are few.
First off, and let this be a lesson to all of you, just because you hear one song off an album that you like, or you think is creative, doesn't mean the rest of the album is going to be like that. I've done this several times now where I've purchased CDs based on only hearing one song (Minutes to Midnight, Eat Me Drink Me, Avenged Sevenfold, etc). Now some of those albums surprised me and I did end up liking them, but not this one, there is little to like here. The songs are nothing more than a bunch of recycled and bland hardcore/punk riffs, slapped together with what I guess are supposed to be edgy vocals, and a thrown in guitar solo here and there. It's nothing I haven't heard before, and done way better than this, so it's not very creative. There are maybe one or two moments in a couple of the songs where they do something interesting with their guitar work, but even so, those moments just seem overshadowed by the rest of the song. It's like the guitarist had a genuine moment of inspiration and creativity and then went back to strumming the same generic power chords again and again to the point where the repetition just gives you a headache. And since we're on the subject of unoriginality, there are no original lyrics on this CD, save for 2 songs. Every song is either about a girl that broke the singer's heart, or it's about not having a girl he's in love with, or it's about a girl that gets him through his dreary life, and I'm thinking to my self "COME ON MAN! You're in a band that has million's of fans, a good portion of which are girls, and you could have anyone of them at the drop of a hat, and you want to bitch to me about some chick that more than likely dumped you in high school?" Do any of you have that friend who wont stop talking about his ex, and how much he misses her and how much he wants her back. Well that's pretty much what this album is. Oh and I almost forgot to talk about the vocals on the album, sung by none other than Craig Mabbit, former singer for BlesstheFall, which oddly enough, was the band I went to see at the Black on Black tour. Now the one thing I always hated about this style of music were the vocals. To me they sound too whiny, too high pitched, and lead me to question whether or not these singers were castrated at a young age like the boy sopranos back in the good ol' days of theatre. But Craig's vocals never bothered me for some reason, in fact I rather liked them. They had an operatic quality that I could appreciate and that's why Blessthefall was such a kick-ass band in my mind. With that said, I don't know what the f**k happened to him. Craig's vocals are terrible on this album, save for one song. It's like he got face-raped before going into the recording studio, and didn't bother to wash out his mouth afterwards. I was very disappointed. I hoped that I could at least get the BlesstheFall experience on this CD with him on lead vocals, but I was mistaken. There's a line in one the songs where he sings, "Cut it out of my mouth, put my tongue on pole, I won't sing anymore..." I know he was just using poetic irony but seriously this needs to happen to him after this album!
Well, no more cons, time for the pros (What I liked). All in all this cd maybe has two or three songs worth checking out (Download them off iTunes). This War is Ours, is a definite, and the other two would have to be The Flood, which is pretty entertaining, and It's Just Me, which is kind of a creepy jazz like song. In my opinion the whole CD should of been like these songs. They're the only ones that are creative, that have nothing to do with bullsh*t relationships, and have semi decent vocals, especially "This War is Ours," which has some of the best death metal screams I've ever heard. Another thing to like are the guitar solos on this CD, though there aren't many, and not on two of the songs I recommended. Their guitarist is definitely talented, and it kills me that he comes up with such bland unimaginative riffs, but awesome badass guitar solos, that really don't fit well with the rest of the song.
I'll give this album a D minus. It's barely passing, just a notch above "F**k this CD!" If you're an Escape the Fate fan, what am I gonna tell you, you're gonna bash me for not liking the album and giving my honest opinion, you're gonna go out and buy it, and probably f**king love it just because it's Escape the Fate, but if you're not a fan, if you're like me and is into good, well thought out, creative music, don't buy this CD, it'll just be a waste of time and money.
KEEP IT HEAVY EVERYONE!!!
- Joseph Buehrer