Top Albums of 2011...A Little Late...

So I have been meaning to post my top albums list. I'm late. Surprise, surprise. I don't feel like leading into this very much, nor do I feel like elaborating much, so without any extra further ado, here is my list.

1. Machine Head - Unto the Locust
   I've liked Machine Head since I first heard the song "Imperium" on MTV2 or something in high school, but I was simply a casual fan until I went to go see them with Megadeth (more importantly) in Richmond. It was my second time seeing Megadeth, but my first with Machine Head, and there there just isn't a powerful enough adjective to describe how much that show was stolen right out from under Dave Mustaine and co.'s feet. Since then, The Blackening has become a strong favorite album of mine, and they have naturally ceased to put out any new material after that. Until late 2011. Oh yeah, and they've toured a decent amount, cementing themselves as one of my favorite live bands. I know I am only a little liberal with my usage of the word "favorite," but I ACTUALLY mean it with MH: they are really one of my favorite bands to see live, just like their new album is solidly my favorite album of the year (only maybe less concrete than that). In fact, I'm seeing them on Monday! Darkest Hour is also playing, who is another of my favorite live bands, and whose 2011 album was on the short list for the top ten as well. After I finish typing up mini reviews, I'll probably post that as well.
   
   Holy shit I ramble. That's enough background. As i said, it took Robb Flynn and the guys what, four years to put out a new album? There's taking your time, and there's jerking off. But masturbation has its advantages, I suppose. And If I'm taking this analogy and running with it (...?), actually, I'm not. I don't even know what that fuck I'm talking about anymore. The album, "Unto The Locust," is just written so fantastically. It isn't masturbatory at all, actually: the solos and fills all seem to fit so well; the lyrics are some of the best I have ever read; songs like "Who We Are" make brilliant use of CHILDREN'S choirs, of all things. I could go on and on, but I think it's time to take the figurative cock out of my mouth and move on to something else.
   
   Standout Songs: Who We Are, This Is The End, I am Hell (Sonata in C#)
   
2. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
   Like the figurative vagina. I was NEVER really a Foo Fighters fan until my best friend, Mike, showed me the Foo's new single, "Rope." Sure, I had heard lots of Foo Fighters songs before, but this one was weird and different. So when I got back to school, I downloaded the album, and holy shit-tits, I loved it. And a half. For what it's worth, the album has my favorite song of the year, "I Should Have Known," Which is about Kurt Kobain, by the way (RHCP?). Anyway, the album itself just flows extraordinarily well, especially from my standpoint, since I am a Metal guy glancing into a rock world. It is similar, but other things are different. I could go on, but fuck you, reader(s???), I don't feel like typing.
   
   Standout Songs: I Should Have Known, Back & Forth, Miss the Misery
   
3. Protest the Hero - Scurrilous
   Scurrilous came out in February. It was my favorite album of 2011 virtually the entire year until late November/early December, when I heard the two other albums I've already blathered on about. I don't know why I keep track of this stuff or why I feel emotions for INANIMATE FUCKING ALBUMS, but there ya have it. I felt bad for this phenomenal CD getting pushed down two slots for (admittedly phenomenaller) albums, but oh well, at least it wasn't for fucking LULU. Also, fuck you, I can make up my own words. Anyway, This band, unlike Machine Head, is fairly masturbatory in their playing, but it still fits. Mostly because they're Canadian, so it's fine. But the music is both obscenely high-energy and energetically obscene, which makes for a hilarious combination. Sadly, this doesn't translate live, as I was expecting them to be fantastic live, but NOPE. They all just sorta stand around, which is exactly the opposite of what their music would suggest. But a poor live performance does not a bad record make. Or however that sentence structure should be. Whatever.
   
   Standout Songs: The Reign of Unending Terror, Dunsel, Tongue-Splitter
   
4. The Black Dahlia Murder - Ritual
   Alright, nothing but good things to say here. Except maybe have set times that last for six hours? I don't know. I can't think of too much of a negative thing to say about these guys or in particular the new album, "Ritual," except that some of the songs ran together a bit. But there were some redeeming factors: Brian Eschbach has been one of my favorite guitarists for a long time (not to discredit Ryan Knight, but he gets all the credit anyway) because DANG he writes song incredible rhythm parts. And always has. And then (you're all expecting it!), there's Shannon Lucas, drummer extraordinaire. I don't understand how he gets better with each album or (in particular) how he is able to escape the typical DOUBLE BASS and BLAST BEAT chokehold of a death/black metal record. One of my favorite parts on Ritual that made my mouth quite literally DROP open was from 2:30-2:45 in "Malenchantments of the Necrosphere," where Shannon plays a fill as his regular drum beat and it just fits so fantastically well. It's shit like that, that makes this album so strong.
   
   Standout Songs: Carbonized in Cruciform, Blood in the Ink, Malenchantments of the Necrosphere
   
5. Revocation - Chaos of Forms 
   So if I had to rate my two favorite bands, Revocation would be #2. Hell, even if I didn't have to, Revocation is still there. Anybody who knows me knows that Arsis is on top, of course. So what the hell is my second favorite band doing all the way down at #5, anyway? The short answer is: tough competition. The slightly longer is: REALLY tough competition. I CAN'T SAY ANYTHING OF SUBSTANCE. Basically, This album was awesome and I especially loved the new things the guys did with the vocals (I hope the do more melodicy/gang vocals in the future) and there were certainly some strong songs, but not all of them were as memorable to me - the album seemed to lose steam as it neared the end. Not to say they were bad songs, but I just didn't like the album personally quite as much as "Empire of the Obscene" and particularly "Existence is Futile," which to this day is one of my favorite albums of all time (I guess that might be a little tough to follow up, too). Like I said, "Chaos of Forms" is still a great album, and the first half and a few outliers are more than enough to make up for any unmemorable songs.
   
   Standout Songs: Conjuring the Cataclysm, No Funeral, Dissolution Ritual
   
6. Megadeth - Th1rt3en  
   Megadeth rocks, everyone knows it, everyone loves it. I wish I had more to talk about. Mostly everything short of the title was pretty spot-on with this record. Oh, and the video with the chimpanzees....WHAT THE ASSFUCKING *plural noun* WAS THAT ALL ABOUT? I don't know, musically the album was strong. Dave's vocals sounded great, if not a bit processed. The songwriting was fun, Shawn Drover did the same thing he always does, Chris Broderick was Chris Broderick, Dave Ellefson was there, so that's cool. Most people who listen to Megadeth aren't going to be expecting anything revolutionary, so when there is something slightly new-sounding, it makes it that much better.
   
   Standout Songs: Black Swan, 13, Whose Life (Is It Anyways?)
   
7. Opeth - Heritage
   SPEAKING of new sounding, this album was so fucking controversial it wasn't even funny. Wait. Yes it was. Internet Metalheads are so closed-minded and outspoken and rowdy so OF COURSE it was hilarious! In case you are unaware, Opeth (A well-known death metal band) announced that there would be no harsh vocals on their new album, creating an uproar among the Internet Metalheads. Because Metalheads, of course, can only like Metal and if they like anything else, they're FALSE.
   
   Luckily, around this time, I was starting to get into some funk and jazz and stuff like that, which this album turned out to be very heavily-rooted in (jazz mostly). The drums were great, piano/keyboards, guitars, blah blah blah instruments were earlicious. Etc. You guys get the picture. Now it is my #7 album of the year.
   
   Standout Songs: Folklore, Nepenthe, The Lines in My Hand
   
8. Giant Squid - Cenotes
   Now here is a band that is just weird. You think you have heard every sort of band, but then someone is all like "Hey brah, have you checked out this Giant Squid?" And you just sit there, dumbfounded, because you think you're about to see a ginormous cephalopod. Then he reaches into a bag, and pulls out a mere CD. You're angry. Pissed even. On the verge of strangling him, perhaps. You wanted to see that damned squid! But then he pops the disc into the player (don't ask why this is 1995 for a CD that came out in 2011, I don't fucking know) and the first notes begin, and your anger subsides, becoming transformed into a morbid curiosity. Actually, that was already there, what with the squid and all. Anyway, the first notes on the album are from a cello. Played by a woman, who does vocals and is also married to the guitarist/lead vocalist and there are other instruments here and there. Like oboes and stuff. The songs typically are over 7 minutes and have a sort of middle-eastern feel to it, and everything just sounds fantastic. If the releases of the year weren't so damned great, this would have been higher on the list. Honestly, if I had to recommend a new band for anybody (not necessarily Metalheads), this would likely be it. I really think people need to check these guys out.
   
   Standout Songs: Tongue Stones, Snakehead, Cenotes
   
9. Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events
   What an aptly-named album! No more Mike Portnoy, yet despite him being him being probably my biggest drumming influence, I feel Mike Mangini (the new DT drummer) fits the band better. That's the thing: he fits the band better, as opposed to telling everyone what to to. I love MP's style, but for the first time in a veeeeeeery long time, a DT album seemed like a real concerted group effort, and it shows. There are parts where everybody gets to shine and it isn't as driven toward metal as it had been in the past, which is a hugely welcome change. I just love how varied the album is on a whole.
   
   Standout Songs: Lost Not Forgotten, Breaking All Illusions, Outcry
   
10. Mastodon - The Hunter
    FINALLY, the last album. Typing is annoying. This album rocks, but I did NOT like the change of style compared to what they were doing before. Still sounds great, but I loved the progressive/pseudo-psychedelic/doomy edition of Mastodon as opposed to the doom rock whatever the hell it is now. Which is still great, a fact I cannot stress enough. The songwriting is still much better than many other bands,' but much like what I mentioned in Revocation's album, Mastodon has such a strong (recent in particular) album backlog that it makes it difficult to like the newest album as much when you know what else they're capable of.
    
    Standout Songs: Dry Bone Valley, All The Heavy Lifting, Curl of the Burl
    
    Honorable Mentions
    Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising
    Darkest Hour - The Human Romance
    In Flames - Sounds of a Playground Fading
    Lazarus A.D. - Black Rivers Flow
    Decapitated - Carnival is Forever
    
    I don't feel like writing about those individually, so I won't. All awesome albums, but MAN, In Flames used to be my favorite band and they can't even make it onto my top ten. Still better than "Come Clarity." This was the first Decapitated album I heard and I loved it. Again, all of these  would have made it onto my top ten if it weren't such a strong release year. One thing for me to note is that Arch Enemy released a new album last year and. Um. I only put it on my short list because they're fucking Arch Enemy. I guess that's what it's like to be super rich/privileged. Anyway, those who earned it, earned it. They get medals and trophies and everything!
    
    SO the first theoretical contender for the 2012 list is about to be released. Goatwhore's "Blood For The Master" comes out on Valentine's Day, and you better believe I am going to buy the shit out of that! They're likely gonna be a big force to be reckoned with, as with their last album ("Carving out the Eyes of God") was one of my top picks in 2009. Christ, I treat this like a fucking sport.
    
    Anyway, I have said three mouthfuls over here, so I'm shutting myself up.

Spheres of Influence

I wrote these lyrics when I first really met one of my best friends, Valerie. She used to love using this star projector and the night we met (at a party) we were talking a lot and she decided to bust it out once it began dying down. We were lying down and I was inspired greatly by it; I wrote this entire set of lyrics in one sitting on my smartphone. Based on yesterday's events, it seems exceedingly pertinent to the situation. Anyway, check it out, this is "Spheres of Influence."

Colliding, burning spheres of influence

Wandering about the vast unforgiving quadrants of space

And time

Moving about in cold, uncalculating trajectories

The random nature of the universe breaking apart the monotony of everyday life-

Or so it is called

The fabric of existence

Torn away from its path

Painting an unpredictable, immaculate image on the canvasses of our minds

Twisting what little truth there is present-

Wringing it out of the collective knowledge

Weaving baskets of wonderment of human straws

Shaping the willing minds of doomed generations

Empowering those with the thirst for education

Yearning for the desire-

The desire to learn.

I have already posted this to Facebook before, by the way. It just REALLY meshed with me right now. This has been enough blogging for one night, though. Time for bed!

A Step in the Right Direction

My life was changed today.


Yesterday, some guy in a Metal band named Justin Foley posted a response to the University of Melbourne's claim that Metalheads tend to have higher rates of depression on Metal Sucks. Today, the professor that published the original article, Dr. Katrina McFerran, posted a response to it. and I feel its response to him has changed my life. Let me first give you a bit of background (I'll try and keep it as short as possible).

I'm (obviously) a Metalhead, and I have been since roughly middle school. I have also struggled with depression for about as long as I can remember, with the past several years in particular being the worst. Since I was a little kid, I've always just imagined I was going to be working with animals without giving anything else much of a thought up until I started seeing my therapist a couple years ago (long story short, she has really inspired me to get into psychology), and now I'm changing majors. By the way, I'm a senior at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.

I have been seeing various therapists throughout my life and I've been with the first (and only) one I've ever liked for about two and a half years. Because of her input and my own personal interest in psychology, I know that a huge part of overcoming depression is simply being aware of what's going on. However, that just didn't really mean anything to me before, and thusly I have remained depressed fairly consistently. 

Fast forward to today. I am currently taking elementary statistics and wasn't much of a fan of it until today, when we began discussing hypothesis testing. Prior to that I didn't see any real point to stats, but then all of a sudden we're writing sentences in class! That seemed odd to me, but for the first time in class for a while, I really understood what was going on for a change, which felt nice.

Once I returned home from classes today the first thing I did, as per usual, was hop on my computer and get on Metal Sucks. However, the response to Justin was the first post on there at the time. I read the first little bit that Metal Sucks usually posts of any given article, and instantly it resonated with me a lot more. I delved deeper. While I was reading the response, it seemed different than the standard post on MS; something in it really struck a (power) chord with me (pardon the pun). There was more substance to it than normal (not that I'm trying to bash on MS, but it felt more academic in a way). I could see how to apply the statistics I learned today to psychological testing and I found that absolutely thrilling.

As I read on, it seemed more and more clear that changing my major is the right path for me, and also it looks like I may be deciding on pursing applied statistics as a minor), which gives me an actual direction for really the first time ever. Then something happened. I smiled. And I felt genuinely happy for the first time in months. To slightly alter an Arch Enemy lyric: "Behind the Smile, I feel something." It got to the point where (I feel silly for admitting this, but this is a huge deal for me) I cried tears of joy. This is the first big break and sight out of my depression I'd seen in years, despite all my hard work trying to escape it.

I feel, and have felt, that while I love music and Heavy Metal - listening to and playing music is my greatest passion in the world - I agree that it can definitely lead to depression. The musical aspects of it are phenomenal, and music certainly can play a role in healing as many people are aware, but the psychological portions (hearing particularly violent lyrics, for example) I'm sure can have a negative effect on the psyche. All these events today allowed me to see that and it blew my mind, especially the huge coincidence that they happened on the exact same day.

Check out the response if you can, please. I can't wait to read the actual peer-reviewed article. And by the way, I've been listening to mostly non-Metal today.

Introductory Post!

Well well well....looks like I've got yet ANOTHER blog on my hands. I guess the seventeen LiveJournals, two DeadJournals, and whatever the hell else I've had JUST wasn't enough for me. Blogger to the rescue it is, I presume.


There will be some changes in my blogging habits, though. Less will there be random spouts about  whatever the hell I did on any given day; I care only slightly more about that than my (as of now) zero readers do. And given that, I don't even give a shit if I even gather any readers at all...this blog is mostly just to catalog my ever-morphing listening and playing habits.


If I gain readers, that's spectacular, but this is really really just for me. I've always liked reading music blogs and always envisioned myself as somewhat of an amateur music critic. So here goes...