News, and some music

As I sit here at my kitchen table, typing away on my laptop, I can hardly believe what a crazy summer this has been. I've put on a garage sale, worked in a government cubicle, washed cars, and even received a car of my own. More importantly, I'm adjusting to the reality that my family is finally selling my childhood home. I've known for a while that this would happen eventually, but foreknowledge has done little to ultimately lessen the strangeness of the situation. Moving out of the home I've lived in for as long as I can remember is a frankly surreal experience, and certainly not one I know how to process. Getting ready to move has occupied my time and thoughts this summer, but now that the house is actually going on the market I think it's time I try and get on with my life. For all the memories I associate with this house, it's still just stuff in the end. No sense in getting so hung-up about it, I suppose. Anyways, on with the music. Introducing Alestorm, a Scottish metal band with a pirate fixation. There's a curious tendency of some metal bands (especially power and folk metal groups) to intentionally restrict their lyrical and thematic content to a single topic. From what I've seen, that topic is generally either the medieval ages (the typical setting of high fantasy) or vikings (which makes sense considering how many great Scandinavian metal bands there are). Alestorm, on the other hand, is the only metal group I've seen to have pirates as their central thematic element. The group hammers out well polished power/folk metal, with accordion synths adding to the band's pirate-esque feel. There are more straightforward metal numbers (the guitar harmonics on the track Heavy Metal Pirates reminds me of some classic Judas Priest numbers), but the vast majority of Alestorm songs are littered with faux-accordion, Bowes' gruff Scottish accent, and a certain lightheartedness that separates Alestorm from the crowd. The lyrics, despite being limited to pirate-y things, are genuinely clever and often hilarious ("You put your faith in Odin and Thor, / We put ours in cannons and whores"). At first glance, Alestorm has put themselves into a very narrow box by restricting themselves to songs about pirates. In truth, the band exercises more flexibility than most metal groups I've come across, switching freely between tropes of power metal, folk metal, thrash metal, and even death metal without leaving the listener behind. Alestorm brings well-polished production, creative lyrics, and enough love of fun to the table for me to heartily recommend them. They just released their fourth album (Sunset on the Golden Age) little more than a week ago. Give it a listen, and you might see why I love this group so much.

Soul Cycle

It's been a while since I've been this completely floored by free music. Remember my previous post about Sonorant? It seems that its frontman (also only-man), guitarist Chris Catharsis, has been busy with his more recent project, Soul Cycle. This time, however, Chris brings more than Meshuggah-esque djent rhythms and alternately looming or brutal melodies. Soul Cycle's modus operandi is a bit harder to pin down than that. Take the opening of the song Heartless from Soul Cycle's eponymous debut album. The first minute or so features cheery, chorus-soaked arpeggios of the sort one generally does not expect to find on an album this heavy. While similar elements are present in some of Sonorant's works, here these interludes feel more strongly integrated into the music, and with spectacular results. Chris Catharsis has matured as a songwriter, and it shows. The music on Soul Cycle and Soul Cycle II is thoroughly splendid throughout, with brutal rhythms, searing leads and spectacular melodies. Moreover, the music reaches emotional heights previously lacking from Chris' work in Sonorant. Rather than simply beating down the listener with brutal riffs, the offerings here feel significantly richer and more dynamic. As an added bonus, Soul Cycle and Soul Cycle II are full length albums, as opposed to the EPs produced by Sonorant. While the music is available free, I must say that audio quality is fantastic with. One. Glaring. Exception. I understand that not every group can afford to staff a drummer. Really, I get it. Soul Cycle is, after all, only two people: Chris Catharsis doing triple duty on lead, rhythm and bass guitars, and Mark Hawkins also on lead guitar. However, there are moments when my ears feel violated by the sheer tinniness of the programmed drums. These moments, while few and far between, manage to seriously detract from the guitars, which are the obvious main attraction of Soul Cycle. Don't let my criticism dissuade you from giving them a listen, however. Soul Cycle is packing some of the most blisteringly intense and searingly delicious shred I've heard in a while. Not too many groups can actually pull off that magical combination of impressive guitar chops and songs actually worth hearing. Either you get "good enough" guitar-playing or "merely passable" songs. I certainly am not hearing compromises from Soul Cycle. The melodies are strong, well-executed, and leave your guitar-nerd of a host feeling absolutely ecstatic. It's just that good.

All in all, Soul Cycle offers some stupendous guitar carnage for the low, low price of free. The music is incredibly precise while also being emotive. The recording quality is, for the most part, top-notch. The songs are diverse and technically impressive. This, ladies and gents, is some grade-A face-melting material we have here. You can find Soul Cycles two currently-released works here: http://soulcyclemetal.bandcamp.com/. You can choose how much (or whether) to pay them for both albums. If you enjoy the music (I certainly do), then please support the artists responsible. Until next time! Guitarman, out.

I'm not quite dead yet!

Well, it's certainly been a while since I've last posted. School and personal matters have been holding my attention fairly firmly lately. Anyways, I only have a few more weeks left before I head back home for the summer. It's certainly been a long first year of college, with plenty of unforgettable (for better or worse) memories. I hope to return to a more frequent posting schedule once I no longer have to worry about schoolwork hanging over my head. In any event, I should probably spit out what I came here to say. Well, Slayer... ...wait, Slayer? Yes, Slayer. Slayer apparently has some new material in the form of the single "Implode." This is the first piece of new content they've released since the tragic death of Jeff Hanneman. I'd give you my opinion of the track, but I'd much prefer to have you judge it for yourselves before I taint your view of it. There's no sense biasing you beforehand; enough people are already angry at Slayer for moving on past Jeff. Anyways, you can download the new track "Implode" from here: http://www.slayer.net/us/implode. Just sign up for the mailing list, and they'll send you a download link. For the record, the track has absurdly high audio quality. The song file is about 50MB, and it's not even particularly long! Anyways, I'll try and get some more posts out before too long. See you then!