Live-Throwing Copper

On Throwing Copper, Live tightened their sound, added crashing crescendos for dramatic effect, and injected some anger into their sound and songwriting. They also eased up a bit on the Eastern philosophy; the result is a more cohesive, memorable record overall, and quite an improvement from the sometimes overly precious Mental Jewelry. And for all of Mental Jewelry's ideologies, Throwing Copper is ultimately a more passionate and successful album, thanks to tracks like "I Alone," "Selling the Drama," and "All Over You," all of which received heavy radio play. The rebirth-themed "Lightning Crashes," the album's biggest hit, was written in memory of Barbara Lewis, a classmate who was killed by a drunk driver in 1993. Other standouts include the Kurt Cobain/Courtney Love-inspired "Stage," the apocalyptic "White, Discussion," the bass-driven, obsessive "Iris," and the dark "Dam at Otter Creek." Of course, Ed Kowalczyk couldn't resist throwing in a song like "T.B.D." (for the Tibetan Book of the Dead), based on Aldous Huxley's slow descent into death, aided by heroin. Its melodrama is a bit much, even for Live, and is just a sign of things to come on their next album, Secret Samadhi. But Throwing Copper is still a huge improvement from Mental Jewelry, and is the least overtly preachy Live album to date.

Band:Live
Album:Throwing Copper
Genre:Alternative rock,Post Grunge
Year:1994
Rating:7/10

Wolfmother-Wolfmother

Just say the name Wolfmother.Go on.Do it slowly,let it roll around your mouth,savour it and then spit it out.Good.Now,didn't it feel menacing and somehow reassuring and comfortable and even spiritual?

From start to finish,Wolfmother's debut album is a perilous knapsack journey by three men over craggy mountains to rock Bethlehem.And the gifts they offer are of golden guitars,sonorous organs and lyrics which thankfully make no sense whatsoever.It is true that much of the band's sound and lyrical vision are rooted in the kind of stoner mysticism favoured by led zeppelin and their kin.

On the Grammy winning track "Woman",guitarist/vocalist Andrew Stockdale's voice recalls a young Robert Plant.There is also no doubting the flower child mentality beaming through tracks like the transcendent "Mind's Eye" and "Colossal" where Stockdale barks "She's talking to the trees again".The song "Witchcraft" features the best flute solo heard since Jethro Tull's last tour."Joker and the Thief" is all tumbling drums and louder than love guitar bites.

This band makes you want to pick an instrument and thrash yourself into a frenzy.Play it loud and howl.

Band:Wolfmother
Album:Wolfmother
Genre:Hard rock,Psychedelic rock,Stoner rock
Year:2006
Rating:9/10

Stone Sour-Come What(ever) May

What sets Stone Sour apart from others of their breed is the band's ability to create smooth, radio-friendly alternative metal songs while simultaneously not boring the people who have heard way too much from post-grunge groups. The secret to this lies in guitarist James Root's unique style and drummer Roy Mayorga's unyielding intensity. Root and singer Corey Taylor re-created Stone Sour after the success of Slipknot in the late '90s; the band was meant to serve as a more introspective, melodic, and creative outlet for them, while not disenfranchising the fans of Slipknot. Stone Sour are more fierce than most alternative metal groups, incorporating brash heavy metal into many of their songs. The band's aggressive self-titled debut was far more reminiscent of Slipknot, but Come What(ever) May is moving further and further away from the shock rock, rap-rock aspect that originally brought Slipknot into the mainstream.Taylor lets loose his nearly metal growl (which is nearly untouchable compared to most of his contemporaries) on occasion, but maybe not as often as he should. The album's better moments are felt when his relentless, vicious pipes -- coupled with distortion-heavy riffs and double bass drum -- forge their way through the immaculately produced sound. Come What(ever) May starts out strong with the bass drum-heavy "30/30-150." The song explodes out of the speakers; it's a solid metal start for an album that dips between alternative rock, heavy metal, and post-grunge. Unfortunately, the album isn't always interesting. Songs like "Through Glass" are your average run-of-the-mill alternative metal tunes, and after a certain point the album seems to have little new to offer. "Sillyworld" follows along the same lines, but still has more in common with Alice Cooper's "Only Women Bleed" than a Godsmack song. Still, Come What(ever) May has plenty of shining moments and it rocks hard, channeling heavy metal and blending it with alternative melodies. It's an unyielding effort from a promising talent -- one that might just help save alternative metal from becoming deeply generic.

Band:Stone Sour
Album:Come What(ever) May
Genre:Post-grunge,Alternative metal
Year:2006
Rating:9/10

Iron Maiden-Dance of Death

Drummer Nicko McBrain kicks off Iron Maiden's 13th studio record with an uncharacteristic one-two-three-four before launching into the rousing opener, "Wildest Dreams." This bar-band sensibility permeates Dance of Death's first three refreshing yet unremarkable tracks before shifting into the more familiar fantasy rock of previous releases. That shift begins with the remarkable "Montsegur," a brutal, melodic assault that recalls the group's glory days and showcases lead singer Bruce Dickinson at his venom-spitting best. The anthemic "New Frontier" is a musical sibling to the band's 1982 classic "Number of the Beast" and eclipses any doubt about the band's ability to keep up with the phantom specter of age. Despite the dark imagery and the ferocity of the performances, there's a looseness to the record that conveys a surreal sense of fun. They enjoy playing together, and that more than anything shines through on old-fashioned rockers like "No More Lies" and "Gates of Tomorrow." No Iron Maiden album would be complete without a Dungeons and Dragons-style epic, and they deliver on the hammy title track and the lush closer, "Journeyman." The group's innate ability to consistently cater to its fans' stubborn tastes, while maintaining a level of integrity that other veteran bands displace with unintentional Spinal Tap zeal, is a testament to its talent and experience. While the keyboard-heavy sound of their previous release, the excellent Brave New World, creeps into some of the more indulgent tracks, Dance of Death is a triumphant return to form for these heavy metal legends.

Band:Iron Maiden
Album:Dance of Death
Genre:Hard rock,Heavy metal
Year:2003
Rating:9.6/10

Ashes Divide-Keep Telling Me It's Allright

Billy Howerdel is a name that most fans of Tool and A Perfect Circle have heard of. Howerdel famously worked as a guitar technician for Tool in 1996 after the release of Ænima before forming A Perfect Circle in 1999, which included Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan. The band would go on to record three successful albums and tour the world before they went on hiatus in 2006.

This hiatus allowed Howerdel to pursue a solo career, and with the help of Josh Freese, producer Danny Lohner, and a collaboration between a few fellow musicians, Ashes Divide came into fruition and Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright was the result. The album is similar to A Perfect Circle, but in a sense, is also radically different from what A Perfect Circle was doing in the early part of the 00’s.

Howerdel has always been praised for his guitar work, and Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright is no different. Howerdel is able to keep the music grounded, with his guitar adding to the dark and emotional lyrical content. His riffing can go from quick to steadfast to calm ambivalence all in the same song. The same is said about his bass work, which sounds up front and organic in the mix and drives many of the song’s melodies.

The keyboard/piano is a tool that Howerdel uses several times to his advantage to increase the tension. “Sword” is a perfect example of this, with a single piano playing a beautiful, yet repetitive, piece with Devo Keenan’s cello following along with the piano in the background. The song then builds steadily into some of the heaviest playing on the whole album. The piano ends the song the same way it began; depressing, repetitive, and magnificent.

Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright mixes a solid blend of alterative rock bordering on hard rock melodies with softer, acoustic driven songs that could almost count as ballads…just very depressing ones. “Stripped Away” hits you like a Shinkansen Bullet Train (yeah, I just used that reference), while impressing you with the way that he can use a guitar to create a moodful sonic landscape. “Enemies” is another fast one with Howerdel almost shouting the vocals and Freese pounding the shit out of the drums, leading to the fastest ending of any song on the album.

Most people have heard of the single “The Stone,” which is one of the best songs on the album. It is hard hitting and has a few great solos packed into its tight four minute running length. “The Prey,” which features Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba, keeps the intensity at a high level and perfectly leads into the epic closer “Sword.”

There are a few songs that, like I said earlier, could be considered “ballads” in the loosest sense of the word. “Forever Can Be” starts off with an acoustic guitar before the whole band comes in, with the song showing off Howerdel’s vocal skills. “A Wish” is a short number that has a dreamy atmosphere boosted by keyboards and slowly-played electric guitar.

I do want to highlight one particular characteristic about the album that I have just briefly touched on; Howerdel’s vocals. In a recent interview with Matt Pinfield, Howerdel told Pinfield that doing vocals was a challenge and that he practiced in his studio by himself for a while to try to get them down pat. I think all the work that Howerdel put in definitely paid off, as he has a deep, airy quality to his vocals that allow him to hit everything from an angry shout to high notes. You can hardly tell that this is his first time doing lead vocals.

It took me a while to get into Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright, as the album has so much going on in it that it takes multiple listens to really grasp what Howerdel has put on display. Some people may find themselves disappointed that there aren’t more songs in the vein of “The Stone” and “Enemies.” The album is softer than expected, but that is where Howerdel seems to be the most comfortable. Whether Ashes Divide is a solo project or the beginning of a long term band, Howerdel has made an album that could make it as big as any of the albums from A Perfect Circle. While we were all sad that A Perfect Circle went on hiatus, at least it gave a talented musician like Howerdel a chance to spread his wings and show off his songwriting skills.

Band:Ashes Divide
Album:Keep Telling Myself It's Allright
Year:2008
Genre:Alternative rock
Rating:7/10

10 Years-The Autumn Effect

The Autumn Effect opens with "Waking Up," a surgically perfect union of Tool and Incubus. 10 Years vocalist Jesse Hasek wails with the earnestness of Brandon Boyd, but also draws from the persistent tension in Maynard James Keenan's delivery. Musically, 10 Years' songs do much the same thing. They feature echoey, dripping-water guitar lines that splash into giant choruses, combining the arty darkness of Tool or Deftones with post-grunge's need for a big melodic payoff. "Cast It Out" is a great example of this, as is "Half Life." Staind and Static-X producer Josh Abraham gives Autumn Effect a serviceably crisp sound, and 10 years is enamored enough of their big payoff choruses to focus more on them than the mental darkness permeating the verses. "Through the Iris" is another highlight; the band also gets ambitious with the closing title track, which clocks in at nearly ten minutes and implodes into a primordial ooze of proto-Coil gloom.The best song in the album is probably "wasteland"(its got an amazing chorus).The lines are poetic in their torment and there's promise in 10 years playing.All in all its a decent effort.

Band:10 Years
Album:The Autumn Effect
Year:2005
Genre:Rock,Alternative metal,Post Grunge
Rating:8.3/10

Korn-See You On the Other Side

Korn first talked reinvention with 2003's Take a Look in the Mirror. Self-produced, it was a muscular, effectively brief record that nodded in some intriguing new directions. After that they talked celebration -- 2004's greatest-hits set looked back on a decade of influence and intensity. And yet, it's 2005's See You on the Other Side that's Korn's real reinvention celebration. It's their first album as a quartet after getting left behind by born-again guitarist Brian "Head" Welch. It's also their first venture for new label Virgin. But really Other Side is Korn's acknowledgement that their life isn't all that bad, and it's time to party. It's a heavy record that swings, an album that takes Korn's rap-metal template toward the red-light swagger of the Dirty South's rap revolution. Is it really surprising that Lil Jon plays Jonathan Davis in the video for "Twisted Transistor"? That song's one of eight on Other Side produced and co-written by the Matrix, and it shows. It's Korn all the way, cocky and funky. But it's slick too, concerned more with the shock value of groove than trying to be some poor kid's slap bass confidant, his surrogate therapy session. And it works. It's cool to hear the Matrix getting down with Korn; they keep each other honest, balancing the sheen with the sleaze. Davis, Munky, Fieldy, and David Silveria still bring it, but in a way that's aware of the manufacturing. And that's key, since after ten-plus years, their act was getting a little tired. Why not embrace the cash, embrace the slinkier side of Fieldy's vertical rhythms? The target of "Politics" is obvious, and "Hypocrites" rails against organized religion. But beneath the polemic is the Korn sound stripped, made truly economized and catchy. Diehards are going to gnash their teeth, and clog the message boards with dismissive comments. But isn't it about time for them to move on, too? Other Side is a little too processed at times -- "Love Song" says "Motherf*cker!" just to know it's alive. But then there's "Open Up," running a NIN influence through weird processing, and "Getting Off," which wavers and lurches like Korn chopped and screwed. If rap-metal were ever meant to evolve, See You on the Other Side is the record that does it.

Band:Korn
Album:See You On the Other Side
Year:2005
Genre:Alternative metal,Industrial metal
Rating:8/10

Jimmy Eat World-Chase This Light

It’s a tough world out there for pop bands. In order to make the best of their lot, and appeal to the masses, they usually have to be billed as “guilty pleasures” or are forced to parade around under some genre hybridization for the sole sake of avoiding the dirty p-word. Yet somehow, through it all, Jimmy Eat World has managed to navigate through all of this fog and mudslinging to the point where they have transcended traditional criticisms. Perhaps it is because they are one of the few multi-platinum groups to still do club tours, or maybe just because they have so consistently upheld their own high standard for the past decade and a half. Either way, the band has attained a position of prominence in modern music and it is from this perch that they release their sixth studio album, Chase This Light.

It is fair to say that most everyone to visit Jimmy Eat World’s latest offering has a solid frame of expectations. From the universally adored Clarity to the breakout success of Bleed American, and onto the more ominous Futures, the boys have been distributing catchy, thoughtful, and enjoyable tunes of the same brand for a long while. As such, it is easier to anticipate reactions to the tracks on Chase This Light. To be brief, fans of the band will be extremely satisfied.

After the darker undertones of Futures and Stay On My Side Tonight, it is almost jarring to be greeted by the upbeat, frantic pace of the Bleed American-ish “Big Casino.” With its huge hook and exuberant energy, it is a great opening track. But as the tracks that follow reveal, it is a questionable choice for a single – not because the song is weak at all, but because there are tunes on Chase This Light that handily surpass its appeal. Case in point – see its follower, “Let It Happen.” A slightly less sunny cut from the outset, the song is more in the vein of its Futures brethren, but flexes its dynamic muscle when the explosive chorus hits, ending with the triumphant line, “Say whatever you want, ‘cause I can laugh it off.” Such snippets offer up some of the most telling insights into the nature of Jim Adkins’ lyrics – they are never terribly involved, or dressed up in flowery syntax, but they resonate in their simplicity and tendency to be so endearingly empowering. Jimmy Eat World is the master of the underdog anthem, and Chase This Light only cements that trophy.

The rest of Jimmy’s studio cache hands out a refreshing bit of diversity. There are cotton-candy sugary pop tunes in the snappy-intro’d “Always Be” and the chanting gang vocal hook of “Electable (Give It Up)” (think a slightly smarter, sharper-edged version of “Sweetness”). But we don’t get overdosed on rainbows and butterflies, as the middle of the record exposes a darker tint to the group’s trademark pop sound. “Carry You” is a more subdued acoustically-centered number that yields enough to let Adkins’ lyrics and vocals shine – fitting since the tune was originally slated for use in his side project. When Jim belts out, “I could never be the one that you want/ Don’t ask/ So here’s to living in the moment/ Cause it passed” his angst and emotion are palpable in a perfectly inflected voice – ingredients that let a small-time pop number become so much more than it otherwise might have been. “Gotta Be Somebody’s Blues” could have been stripped right from the cutting room floor of Stay On My Side Tonight, with its pensive string accents and brooding vocals. The song is ultimately less likeable as a result, but is still a fair respite from the bubble-gum tone otherwise set by the record.

Thankfully doom and gloom is not the name of the game for the Arizona crew, and they seem to know it. They kick it into peppy gear once more thereafter, with the bouncy straight-forwardness of “Feeling Lucky” and “Chase This Light” – which bookend perhaps the catchiest song Jimmy Eat World has ever written with “Here It Goes.” An unexpectedly dancy number, the tune is just one of those sublime pieces that is an unquestionable hit from first listen – the type that brightens up your mood and makes you sing along, no matter how pissed off you are at the world. In fact, it is the most addicting song I have heard since All American Rejects’ “Move Along”, and quite possibly the song that will drive Chase This Light into platinum territory.

It is unfortunate that Chase This Light loses its momentum in the final tracks, as “Firefight” is really rather boring, but “Dizzy” picks up the pieces to some extent for a grandiose album exit. The abundance of string tracks might put off minimalists who are looking for clutter-free assertions, but Chase This Light is a big record, and it is fitting that it gets a big closer. The album ends triumphantly for a band that is itself a triumph – the type of troupe that reminds us it is okay to love pop music and not be embarrassed by it. It is tough to rank Chase This Light among a largely adored catalog, and really, it serves little purpose. All that anyone needs to know is that this record will make you feel good about music and life, and if the staying power of the bands’ past records is any indication, it will continue to do so for quite a while.

Band:Jimmy Eat World
Album:Chase This Light
Year:2007
Genre:Alternative rock,Pop rock
Rating:7.5/10