Metal Reviews

311 is from Omaha. Too bad they suck.

Hahaha. I'm a super-biased fanboy! I met them in 1993 when my band Camp Suicide (yes, waaaaaaay before CKY, those pricks!) opened up for them. We've been friends ever since. If I were ever in a band that would fit on a tour with them they'd take me out. I should really considering doing that! Hahaha.

Geffen finally do something right. I thought AAF had died and gone to Shit Band Hell years ago, but they're making another comeback? "Get the table, D-Von!"

Rhapsody - Power Of The Dragonflame
Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side

Considering you've probably heard no more than three songs by them I doubt you can judge. Still, my point was that it's fucked up that a label can drop you and still keep your music. I've just always found that to be shady. The label should be able to keep those specific recordings because they paid for them, but not actually be able to keep the band from re-recording them. That is fucked up.

I had "Anthology" for a while, and heard most of "Truant", so have heard a lot more than three songs of theirs.And can judge. And they are shit, and labels by definition are shit, so nothing new there. Fucked up, yes, but what can you do, Dark Funeral haven't been paid for seven years, apparently.

Well, then...ain't I the asshole?

Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Blind Guardian - A Night at the Opera

Just got these in the mail:

Roland Grapow - Kaleidoscope
Shadowdance - Ageless

I only had the chance to listen to the first two songs on Kaleidoscope and they're both better than anything on The Four Seasons Of Life. Those two songs would have done well on a Helloween disc. I also notice he gave vocal duties to someone else, good move.

The Shadowdance CD is one I've been looking for for awhile now. It's on a label called The Monumental Group, which made it very hard to find. Finally I just found it on eBay. Travis Smith did the artwork, and I've always liked it. It's not his most amazing piece, but there's something about it that's always grabbed me.



I briefly listened to a few songs on the way to work and it seems like a decent melodic, prog-rock/metal album.

Devin Townsend - Ass-sordid Demos I
Devin Townsend - Ass-sordid Demos II
Devin Townsend - Official Bootleg 2000
Devin Townsend - Devlab
Devin Townsend - Christeen (single)

I can't really consider myself a fan boy, unless I own these.


BTW, so far that Christeen single is fucking AWESOME!!!

Hell yeah, buddy! Can you fucking believe Devin considers those unfinished fucking demos?!?! :shock: Unreal. There are some really good tunes on the Ass-Sordid CDs, and listen to Devlab loud, or with headphones. It's definitely a mood CD, but it's good. My review:

DEVIN TOWNSEND – DEVLAB

When this arrived on my doorstep courtesy of HDR Records and found its way to my CD player I started to realize that I would have a difficult time commenting on it! It's just plain weird. It's not a bad CD, but it's definitely not for every Devin Townsend fan. Devin calls it "heavy metal ambience," but there's really no metal in it at all. It is definitely ambient music, but more in line with Japanese noisecore than metal, though that's a stretch in itself. It is, however, exactly what I think Devin intended it to be: an experiment in sampling and loop-based music. In that respect I think it succeeds, and probably surpasses all my expectations. Some of it is very mellow and sounds like the backing tracks to songs from Devin's various solo albums, while some of it is noisy and very disjointed, some both. There is not much in the singing department, at least not in the foreground. Devin seems to more or less hum and whisper his way through the disc.

All in all it was exactly what I expected. It neither blew me away nor disappointed. This is a background CD. It's unobtrusive and subtle, but interesting in it's own quietude (listening with good headphones is the best way to listen to this disc). I give Devin credit for putting this out there, it is ambitious and it'll surely shock—and possibly turn off—the ignorant fans that didn't listen when Devin and Tracy (his wife) told us what to expect from this CD over and over again for the past year. But he should be applauded, nonetheless, for his willingness to once again try his hand at something different. The genius never sleeps, I suppose. Give this CD a chance if you're open-minded, you might be pleasantly surprised.

My review of "Ass-sordid demos I"



"Ass-sordid Demo I" is brilliant. Holy crap it is awesome.



Obviously I would not make a good reviewer.


Anyway, I could see myself listening to the "Devlab" in the morning at work. That is the point in my day where I feel like being isolated and free (mentaly). I'll give it another shot next Monday when I go back to work.

Yeah, Ass-Sordid I is excellent. Ass-Sordid II is more of a mixed bag and it amazes me that people actually complained about it. Devin said he would never release any really early material including the Noisescapes demo.

The Noisescapes demo is the demo he mailed out to label attached to a pair of his underwear! Hahaha. Anyway, that's the demo that got him the vocal job with Steve Vai. So, he finally releases it and some old material from when he was in High School and people complained! WTF? He released it because the fucking fans BEGGED him for it. No, it's not all amazing, but that's the point, right? Devin at 17 years old surely isn't going to be the genius he is today. Damn.

Anyway, there's some good stuff there. Plus, the worst song is actually still not bad at all. It's cool to hear that shit, plus the picture included is hilarious!

People complained? That is messed up.


I have actually heard all of them before. My brother is also a huge Devy fan, so he bought everything a while back and played a few tracks for me. I don't know why I held off so long to buy these. Oh well, My Devy collection is almost complete. I still don't own Punky Bruster or S.Y.L. - S.Y.L.

Punky Bruster is awesome, though my version the sequencing is fucked up and three songs are one. It's a bit annoying, but I don't have the HevyDevy version so they may have fixed that.

SYL is a great album, but a lot of people dislike it. It's got some killer tunes on it. I like it more than Alien.

Just got the Leaving All Behind demo. Good stuff.

HELL YEAH!!!!!!

By whom?

Cellador, duh.

Well, I wouldn't know, would I? Pffft!

The UPS guy made my day today:

Dead Soul Tribe - The Dead World
Paradise Lost - Paradise Lost (w/Bonus Tracks)
Richard Andersson - The Ultimate Andersson Collection (w/Bonus Tracks)
Metal Massacre - Vol. I
Metal Massacre - Vol. II
Metal Massacre - Vol. III
Metal Massacre - Vol. IV
Metal Massacre - Vol. V
Metal Massacre - Vol. VI
Metal Massacre - Vol. VII
Metal Massacre - Vol. VIII & IX
Metal Massacre - Best Of

I got the Metal Massacre CDs over at http://www.sentinelsteel.com for $29.88. That's a killer fucking deal!