New Bands/CDs

[Petrucci914]

Hello everyone,

This is what I've been listening to lately and digging a lot of it. Have you guys listened to any of this and what are you currently listening to?

Pure Reason Revolution - The Dark Third
Kaipa - Angling Feelings
Blackfield - Blackfield
Blackfield - II
Pain of Salvation - Scarsick (a disappointment, mostly)
Bullet for my Valentine - The Poison
Symphony X - Paradise Lost
Andromeda - Chimera
Dreamtheater - Systematic Chaos (They're back!)

 

[Soundscape]

A number of bands I've discovered this year (not with new albums necessarily) that I've been meaning to blog about soon. Namely, The Dissociatives, Annuals, Kunek, Karnivool among others...

here is my Midseason albums of the year report
http://tinyurl.com/348urz

Here's an abridged version.

1. Kaddisfly
2. Fair To Midland
3. The Dear Hunter
4. 3
5. House of Fools

The Next Group

Kiss Kiss
Bloc Party
Silverchair
Pain of Salvation
Fields
Aereogramme
Stateless
Blackfield
The Pax Cecilia - Blessed Are the Bonds
Paulson
Deas Vail
The New Pornographers
The Apples In Stereo
Between Two Skies - A Thousand Conscious Moments EP
Editors
St.Vincent

Disappointments, uncertainties, and lower interest albums:

Battles
Porcupine Tree
Dream Theater
Marillion
Rush
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Chick Corea And Bela Fleck
Abigail's Ghost
Circa Survive
Portugal the Man
Menomena
Dominici
Slavior
Glory Opera

EPs
The Apex Theory
Portugal the Man

Haven't Heard:
Alan Morse - Four O'Clock And Hysteria
The Bad Plus - Prog
The Aliens - Astronomy For Dogs
Amaran's Plight - Voice In the Light
Machinehead - The Blackening
Thought Chamber. Angular Perceptions

The 2nd Half's biggest anticipations:
Coheed And Cambria - No World For Tomorrow
The Receiving End of Sirens - The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi
King's X - Go Tell Somebody
Oceansize - Frames
The Apex Theory - Faces
The Mars Volta - The Bedlam In Goliath

Questionable:
Superior - New World Order
dredg
Pure Reason Revolution
Mew
Anathallo
Enchant
Doves
In Reverent Fear
Ours - Dancing For the Death of an Imaginary Enemy
Margot & the Nuclear So And So's - Animal!
Klimt 1918
Imogen Heap
Andre Matos
Shaaman
Karnivool
Opeth
Orphaned Land - ORWarriOR
U2
Peter Gabriel - I/O, The Big Blue Ball
Janus
Bend Sinister
Revere
Kaura
One Republic

 

[|ngenius]

Hey, on the lines of reviewing some albums... does anyone like at all new's Symphony X? Because I don't merely find the music quite unsatisfying, but I feel robbed and mistreated by the bonus DVD that comes along with the special edition of the album, which is an INSULT to anyone who cares about purchasing for the album instead of downloading it.

It looks like a live show, so you get misled by another good reason to buy it, and when you put it on: just a bunch of songs whose video is taken from one edge of the stage and you see just Romeo's ass and part of the audience. You would expect some sound coming straight away from the mix table, being this an official DVD... but that's far away from reality, where the sound is recorded by the same hand-camera that tapes it all.

If the progressive metal band that plays in the garage at the corner of my street sells something similar, I would understand, they're a bunch of kids trying to promote their music. If Symphony X does that, I feel outraged.

And it's a fan of "Odyssey" and "V" who speaks here...

/|ng.

 

[Ze Dan]

Hi all
Ingenius I agree with you about the "Bonus DVD" which goes along with the Symphony X album… it's just… LAME enough said

New records which kicked my @$$
Threshold - Dead Reckoning
Silverchair - Young Modern … Album of the year in my opinion

 

[Squall45]

Hey, on the lines of reviewing some albums... does anyone like at all new's Symphony X? Because I don't merely find the music quite unsatisfying, but I feel robbed and mistreated by the bonus DVD that comes along with the special edition of the album, which is an INSULT to anyone who cares about purchasing for the album instead of downloading it.

It looks like a live show, so you get misled by another good reason to buy it, and when you put it on: just a bunch of songs whose video is taken from one edge of the stage and you see just Romeo's ass and part of the audience. You would expect some sound coming straight away from the mix table, being this an official DVD... but that's far away from reality, where the sound is recorded by the same hand-camera that tapes it all.

If the progressive metal band that plays in the garage at the corner of my street sells something similar, I would understand, they're a bunch of kids trying to promote their music. If Symphony X does that, I feel outraged.

And it's a fan of "Odyssey" and "V" who speaks here...

/|ng.

A statement from the band's management regarding the bonus dvd:

"June 27, 2007

World Management would like to clear up any misinformation about the attached "free Bonus dvd" that is shrink wrapped to the new Symphony X CD "Paradise Lost". The Free Fan Bonus DVD attached is and was always intended to be an extra fan bonus for a small limited run of digis. It was shrink wrapped onto the actual disc and is a bonus home video style collection of a few shows from the band's archives. Please enjoy these clips for their intent.

A lot of intense effort has gone into the writing, recording and packaging of this new CD and we are all very happy with the result. It is after all, about the new music. For all the DVD fans, the band will make a professional DVD sometime in the future and rest assured we will spend lots of creative energy when the time comes for that. In the meantime enjoy Paradise Lost and we shall see you all hopefully out on tour in 2007 / 2008. Thanks for your support."

Basically it wasn't meant to be any thing too special. I also have to disagree with the fact that Paradise Lost was unsatisfactory, I found it to be the best record I've heard this year, and have heard for a while. Also, I thought scarsick was pretty decent, not PoS's best work, but fun to listen to.

 

[|ngenius]

The fact that, after quite a big fuss around this matter, the label makes a statement just remarking the unprofessional results of a bonus DVD, doesn't help the album to reach the excessive 18 € I had to spend for it. If you look at this digipack edition, it's hard to see anything that exposes the painful bad quality of image and sound. Next time, instead of throwing out excuses, just print "HOME-MADE VIDEO" on it, so I can think twice before wasting extra money, and go buy the standard edition for 12 € max.

Glad to know they're gonna charge me 25 € more for the professional DVD anytime soon...

|ng.

 

[mark b]

I don't think dream theater are back, they will never regain there former brilliance . Check out an awesome band called sun caged, you wont be dissapointed

 

[Petrucci914]

I dunno. I didn't like Train of Thought and I didn't like Octavarium except for the "Octavarium" track. I think Systematic Chaos is great, though. Most of the songs are very progressive and I find it in my CD Player quite often.

 

[Wilbur Crandall]

I don't think dream theater are back, they will never regain there former brilliance . Check out an awesome band called sun caged, you wont be dissapointed

Huh? No offense, but sun caged are not even fit to shine DREAM THEATER's shoes...IMO, that is.

 

[mark b]

Huh? No offense, but sun caged are not even fit to shine DREAM THEATER's shoes...IMO, that is.

Ah no offence but these days dream theater should be opening up for sun caged IMO

 

[Ascension]

Huh? No offense, but sun caged are not even fit to shine DREAM THEATER's shoes...IMO, that is.

Agreed...l like Sun Caged, but DT is the band every band strive to be like. It is what it is...like it or not. Systematic Chaos is great...I enjoy the diversity on it. Alot of bands have forgotten what that is.

 

[Danilo]

I remember when I first listened to Sun Caged back in 2001. They were a very good band. It was when they released a demo called Dominion I guess.
They had songs like "Curiosity Kills" and "Killer Banshee" that were outstanding. Now, I'm trying to listen to their new album, but I don't really think it's as good as what they did in the past.

 

[mgirishfan]

I remember the early Sun Caged too - I relaly enjoyed them back then, and still do today - although the new singer is a dead ringer for Ted, vocally anyway. The new disc is pretty cool if you give it some time!

Another new one I'm all over right now is Serenity - the disc title is too friggin long to remember but it totally rocks!!! Check them out, melodic metal lovers!

And you can't miss the new Circus Maximus either - quite the masterpiece!

Cheerios, all!

 

[slowhand]

at the moment:

porcupine tree: fear of a blank planet (nearly the best of them - and i'm a supporter from the early days on)
blackfield: II (just stunning)
sylvan: posthumous silence (great concept - superb music)
porcupine tree: nil recurring (everything besides 'cheating the polygraph' is fine)
a.c.t.: silence (imho their best)
talk talk: live in london 1986 (STUNNING!

little dissapointments from

dream theater (nothing new under the sun)
pain of salvation (even if there are striking songs on 'scarsick')
sylvan (the new one with shorter songs called 'presets' suffers from a voice that is always doing the same trick)

 

[ProgMetalFan]

Blank Planet just isn't doing it for me (sans the haunting "Sentimental")

New PoS is a PoS lol utterly terrible... what has happened to them?

New Symphony X is relentlessly heavy...

New Riverside album is another masterpiece