Foxy Shazam – Introducing… (5 out of 5)

Foxy Shazam is a band that you need to know about.  Their first album, The Flamingo Trigger, was a low-budget, widely appreciated album that they toured their asses off with.  With that album they instantly gained a cult following involving fans of several genres.  From hardcore fans, to rock and roll fans, to comedy fans, to funk and soul.  Foxy is a band that is hard to categorize, but very easy to get into.  After years of touring they landed in the laps of Ferret Records, instantly getting to work on their label-debut, Introducing, produced by Casey Bates of the Chiodos and Heavy Heavy Low Low fame.  They are very piano-driven with spazztastic vocals, motown-rock guitar, and funk-metal bass.  This is music for superheroes.  Especially this new album.  It opens with a short-babble delivered by singer Eric Nally, only a taste of what crazy rants he spits on stage in between songs.  His stories make no sense but give you fantastic images in your head.  I have been awaiting this album for what seems like years and I am very, very satisfied with it.  The key songs to listen to would be “Introducing”, “The Rocketeer”, and “Red Cape Diver.”  If you are not a fan after listening to these songs then are either close-minded or simply have no taste in music.  The production is a tad lacking at times, but they easily make up for it with energy and pure originality.  Many people say that this band is too similar to Tub Ring, but trust me, no one sounds like Tub Ring and no one sounds like Foxy Shazam.  This is easily going to be one of my favorite albums of the year, and a great way to start of listening to 2008.  Five out of five stars.  I am happy.

Dillinger Escape Plan – Ire Works (4 out of 5)

Dillinger has always been known for being the kings of the math-metal genre.  They have influence on nearly every hardcore and metal band out there, yet still holding true to their style and continuing their onslaught of ridiculous riffs, crazy-changing time signatures, and confusing solos.  However, this album is a bit different than you would find with their previous works of Calculating Infinity or Miss Machine.  I get the vague impression that lead singer, Greg Puciato, is being heavily influenced by a certain industrial-metal god known as Trent Reznor.  It’s actually really interesting once you notice the similarities; the two frontmen seem to parallel each other.  

Marj – Marj

I am telling you to listen to this album because, simply, I fucking made it. This band out of Nashville is the first band to have an album released on Cake Or Death Productions, which is the company I started about eight months ago. I saw this band once and instantly signed them. They are that amazing and unique. Each of them has a strong underground punk influence, but has grown beyond it to make truly artistic noise-rock. It’s like listening to The Clash or even The Sex Pistols if they were on acid and influenced by Pink Floyd. So it clearly isn’t punk, but you can definitely tell the influence. It’s trippy in some songs, but not overbearingly. It’s catchy, its confusing, but more importantly, its intriguing. All you want to do when you listen to this album is to see them perform it live, which they do in an absolute haze of noise and sweat. If you don’t buy this album, at least check these guys out. They deserve the listen.

Dethklok – The Dethalbum (5 out of 5)

Many of you know of this band, but a lot more of you don’t. If you’ve ever seen the show Metalocalypse on Adult Swim, then you know of this band. Dethklok is comprised of the main characters on the show, which takes the stereotype of heavy metal to a comedic extreme. I am a fan of the show so I bought the album to support it. When I listened to it, I literally didn’t even get done with the second song until I was thinking, “holy shit, this is amazing.” I am very much a metalhead at heart, and it is really hard for a metal album to really catch my attention and impress me. The last one, that I can recall, that truly impressed me before this was the Human Abstract album. And that was almost a year ago. The vocals on this album are the best part. It’s the stereotypical low grunts, but its amazing. The lyrics are even better. “Many years ago today something grew inside of your mother…that thing was you! RSVP please, to the death party, you have little time, and you’re running out of life.” How awesome is that? Well, to answer my own question, it’s pretty fucking awesome. There is even a song that runs through a checklist of all the things you need for battle, and all the things you need your opponents will have for battle, and after every thing on the list, they all yell “check!” This album amazed me and exceeded all of my expectations. It truly blew me away. I hope the show goes on for at least three more seasons. If you don’t have the dvd set of the first season, get it, because it just came out and its amazing as well. Five out of five fucking stars for this one. Fuck yeah. *****

Kanye West – Graduation (4 out of 5)

A lot of you know that I am much more of a metalhead at heart and I love eclectic rock and anything that is out of the ordinary and strange. Every now and then I need to relax to something catchy though. I’m a big fan of Kanye West. His confidence and egoism is completely comical to me and I think that the samples he uses in songs are genius. Well, maybe not genius… but still pretty awesome stuff. His first album, College Dropout, threw him onto the scene and stuck him at one of the head spots. That was his proof that he could do something other than just produce and mix. With Late Registration he proved that he could stay on top, and it was arguably his best performance to date. Even if you despise rap, there was no way you couldn’t get into the song “Gold Digger.” With his new album, he tries to have his catchy samples, taking in from places such as Daft Punk and Coldplay, but he falls short of his previous achievements. Don’t get me wrong, the album is great, but there are just too many little things that stick this album underneath the previous two.

The beginning track is one of my favorites, but I also can’t listen to it for too long without getting a headache. You can imagine my frustration. It’s because the snare hit he uses in the song sounds like an aluminum baseball bat tapping against a metal pole, which sounds cool at first, but never stops repeating through the entire song. After a while, it feels like an aluminum bat against my skull. Even if he had turned down the volume of it in the mix, I think it would have worked better. It stands out when I listen to it and even as I write about it now, it brings back my headache. And it’s still a good song! It’s so frustrating! I want to listen to it but I have to change songs halfway through!

Secondly, and more importantly, is Lil’ Wayne. This guy gets something around fifty thousand dollars a track. A lot of people look up to him but I’m not sure why. He comes close to ruining the entire album when he is featured in the song “Barry Bonds.” When I first listened to it, the whole scenario of what may have caused his shittiness played out in my head. What I think happened is that even a big time rapper like Lil’ Wayne was in awe of Kanye West and felt lucky to even be in his presence. He then wanted to impress Kanye by taking on his style and mannerisms in the studio. In the song, he raps curiously a lot like how Kanye would rap. It doesn’t sound like Lil’ Wayne’s style at all, like he was trying to be Kanye on Kanye’s album. What came out was utter bullshit. “I’m all about my Franklins, Lincolns, and Reagans. When they make them, I shall have (he says is like he is rhyming it with cave or save) them, oops I mean have (says it normally) them. I’m so crazy.” What the fuck?! Fuck you Lil’ Wayne! Go back to Cash Money Records and the Hot Boys, because that was the only time I even thought you had a damn fingernail’s worth of talent. GOD you suck on this record.

The other little things don’t quite amount to the shittiness of Lil’ Wayne. It seemed like Kanye didn’t want to do as many samples in this album because he thought that he was outplaying himself with them. I’m not too sure, but songs like “Drunken Hot Girls” could have been a lot more badass with a sample of some kind. The beat just lacked something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

So in conclusion to this review, I say that the album is definitely worth getting, and you shouldn’t even compare it to the new 50 Cent. You shouldn’t even get me started on that guy. He is worse than Lil’ Wayne in my mind, if you can imagine that. Kanye hits hard and big with this album, but his previous two albums were such big home runs that even though this one was out of the park, it still isn’t as impressive as the others. To make the analogy that much more annoying, I’m going to say that he hit hard, but there was so much wind resistance (Lil’ Wayne), that the ball fell short of the back row in the stands. The key tracks on the album are “Flashing Lights” and, of course, the two singles. I give it four out of five stars, I am tempted to give it only three because of Lil’ Wayne, but I’ll just forget that his verse ever existed and give it four.***

The Smashing Pumpkins – Zeitgeist (3 out of 5)

The Smashing Pumpkins – Zeitgeist. Finally! Billy Corgain has put his ego on hold and reunited with the one music project that he will ever be good at! The Smashing Pumpkins are back (though with a different lineup)! Yay! But wait… fuck!… there are, like, three different versions of the album?! Each version is a single track different from the next, and you can’t buy all the versions at once? FUCK! Best Buy has one version, iTunes another, and Target another. If you want every new song that The Smashing Pumpkins have to offer, you’re going to have to either rip it online somehow, or pay for every version of the album at the corresponding stores. The band has been severely criticized for this move. People actually posted videos on YouTube of themselves actually destroying some of their albums in disgust. I’m not sure why they thought this was a good move, but they lost part of their fan base because of it (I’m sure there are billions left to make up for the loss). The new album is a breath of fresh air. From start to finish, it really gives you that 90′s nostalgia that you’ve been longing to feel. You can’t help but think of the first time you saw the “1979″ video, or the first time you were blown away by the pure rock badassness that was “Bullet With Butterfly Wings.” This album proves that they are able to pick up where they left off and make you forget about the Machina albums. HOWEVER, and this is a big HOWEVER, I feel that the mixing needed work. Some songs sound perfect, the toms panned and leveled nicely, the guitars booming and crunching, the vocals blending well, but on the other hand, there are some songs that feel as if they were ignored after about three mixes. “Doomsday Clock” is the perfect example of what I am talking about. The song is powerful, very heavy, and a perfect introduction to the album, but the vocals seem to sit on top of the rest of the music. Never in the song do they seem to blend in with the rest of what is going on. And when the background vocals kick in, it becomes even more apparent. The flow of the album is very good. From beginning to end it seems to start heavy and pumping fast, eventually slowing down to their softer side. Overall, the album is a great comeback for the band and if Corgain will just continue to put his ego aside, I think this band should become one of the heavy hitters again. Three out of five stars, because it’s a good album, not a revolution. ***

The White Stripes – Icky Thump (4 out of 5)

Honestly, what has NOT been said about this band? “Holy shit, they totally revolutionize music with every album!” Really? Do they? Everyone seems to jump on the White Stripes bandwagon, worshipping every inch of Jack White’s body, from his ghostly pale skin to his stringy, greasy hair. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read a review where the author glorifies Jack’s use of old-school recording equipment, saying how brilliant he is and how Jack is single-handedly saving rock and roll. To this I shout “BULLSHIT!” Jack White is a magnificent musician. I really do love the White Stripes. However, can you really say that he is saving rock and roll? Can you honestly believe that he is revolutionizing music with every album? Take their first album. Listen to it from front to back, and then listen to Icky Thump (their fifth album) front to back. Is it really that different? If he is revolutionizing music with every album, then it seems that we are constantly reverting back to our old ways, and he is constantly coming out with the same revolution. It’s the same scratchy, analog-sounding, vintage sound that you would find in ANY Jack White song. Now, with that said, I must also add that although it is the same style with every album (with only a hint of a differing influence each time), we are not tired of it… yet. The White Stripes are certainly original, and this album is really, really good. In one song he actually battles mariachi horns with his guitar. How awesome is that? And speaking of mariachi, the whole album is very Latin-influenced. My favorite song so far is “Conquest” in which the beat resembles a Mexican shoot-out. It gets your heart pumping as if you are about to have a duel. Pretty much the only thing I would change about this album is how the drums are tracked. With old recording equipment comes both a strong vintage sound and problems. Recording equipment has evolved for a reason. The drums give a great feel, but the cymbals need to be separated more. The mid-level frequencies in the track are almost too much for me to handle, and barely enough for me to get by. Their first single “Icky Thump,” is a great example. The crash and the ride are too concentrated in the middle, and need to be panned out more in order for my ears to stop popping halfway through the song. Other than that, the album is close to perfect. Dedicated fans of the band will give it four out of four stars, but I have to be blown away to do something like that. Four out of five. ****

Tub Ring – The Great Filter (4 out of 5)

If you know don’t know who Tub Ring is, then just move to my next review. You don’t deserve to read this. This is a great album, but tainted by its delivery. If you know Tub Ring, then you know that they have given great albums from low budgets. For the money they had, the sound quality was amazing. Every album they have done has gone beyond my expectations, but this new album made me take a step back. Where did they record? What shitty engineer did they use? Did they even use one? The guitars need to be pumped up, and the vocals need to be leveled. You almost have to listen carefully to grasp the feeling of the vocals, unlike their previous albums, where the clarity of the vocals is what helped make the songs amazing. The songs themselves, however, are amazing. As far as writing goes, it seems Tub Rings gets better and better. You really feel them growing as musicians and as a band. I LOVE the new album, but I HATE the way it was recorded. It sounds more like a local demo than an actual professional album. In all honesty, it sounds like there was a mistake when they handed in the final copy of the album, as if they handed in the unmastered version instead of the finalized, mastered version. Whatever studio The End Records uses, I will submit my application as an engineer, because the recordings I do in my apartment put this album to shame. No matter how great the songs are, for me it just can’t push past the lack of engineering. But I still love it. To get the best experience of the album, see them live. It really is fantastic. I give this album four out of five stars, because the band is fantastic, the songs are amazing, but the quality is simply lacking. I honestly feel like four is pushing it. This type of quality is unacceptable. ****

Marilyn Manson – Eat Me/Drink Me (3 out of 5)

Marilyn Manson’s “Eat Me/Drink Me.” I have been a Marilyn Manson fan since I first thought he was a really ugly girl in his “Sweet Dreams” cover. Once I found out it was an actual dude, I became more of a fan. He was genius, and he truly understood what it was to fuck with people. Sadly though, his last great album was in 2000 when he came out with “Holy Wood.” In my opinion, it was his greatest album yet. Still, if I were to sit back and write down the top 10 albums that changed my life, that album would definitely be up there. He had SO MUCH to write about for that album. He was at the top of the mothers’ most hated list, he was being blamed for Columbine, and people were actually burning his albums. The album came out at the perfect time with his most perfect songs. His follow up to “Holy Wood,” which was entitled “Golden Age of Grotesque,” was by far his WORST album to date. Seriously, I almost cried when I heard it. Lyrically, it didn’t even seem like he tried. Because of lyrics like “the grass is always greener on the other side, we burn it down in flames and have no reason why,” I eventually, and literally, threw the CD out of my car window while on the interstate. That’s how angry I was. When news came that he was putting out a new album, and allegedly his most “personal” album, I got a little hard-on. He got rid of Dita Von Teese, and though I am a fan of hers and think that she is VERY beautiful, my overall opinion was that she was bringing Manson down musically. She actually left him in the middle of the album, which made everything better in my mind. I thought half the album was going to be very sad and the other half to be angry. What I got was certainly better than “Golden Age of Grotesque,” but almost up to par with “Mechanical Animals;” meaning that though this is not his worst album, it certainly isn’t his best. Actually, if “Golden Age of Grotesque” didn’t exist, then it certainly would be his worst album yet. But I must say that though its his second-worst, its still not a bad album and definitely worth the listen. It really is his most different. It is his most personal, but only because a lot of it is kinda emo. It is very love-influenced. The bad part of it being love influenced is his voice on the album. A lot of people have tried to comically imitate his dreary gothic voice, and this is the epitome. It’s quite frustrating at times. Two things highlight this album: one being that there are GUITAR SOLOS. No, I did not just have a typo, there are seriously guitar solos in these songs. Never have there been guitar solos in ANY Marilyn Manson song. Not only that, but they are actually really good guitar solos. I was VERY impressed. The other highlight of this album is the song “Mutilation Is The Most Sincere Form Of Flattery.” This song is actually about Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance. You’ve seen Gerard sport the black dress suits, the white powder face with the black stripe across his eyes. It’s pretty obvious that many of these emo faces come from Marilyn Manson. This is his vent on these faces, but more specifically Gerard Way. Though I am a personal fan of Gerard, I like this song and think its funny. Three out of five stars. It is worth the buy simply because of the guitar solos and the refreshment from Golden Age. ***

Linkin Park – Minutes to Midnight (3 out of 5)

Linkin Park. What else can be said about this band? They are on the coat tails of the rap/metal phase, which should have died long ago and never brought up until Rage Against The Machine got back together. I had low hopes for this album when I heard the first single. It sounded like the same ole’ Linkin Park with the unoriginal lyrics and the four-chord progressions. It wasn’t until I heard the rest of the album that I thought, “well at least they are TRYING to evolve.” The best decision they had for this album was getting Rick Rubin to produce. He has the magic ear. He doesn’t even know how to play an instrument; he simply sits back, listens, and pretty much just says “yes” or “no.” This album sounds a lot more raw than their previous ones. You don’t hear so much synth and catchy chorues about how Chester is depressed and thinks the world is against him (didn’t Jonathan Davis start that?) But at the same time, there is pretty much only one song on the album that I can really get into, and its primarily because of the drums. He really stepped it up on that song, but then let it go back to normal on others. Though I am glad that they are going in a new direction, I feel that this album is only a demo of what is to come from them. For me, it is more listenable than their previous two, but I still can’t get into it. I give it a rating of three out of five stars. I feel its pretty fair. ***