Rate It

[fallenangel]

Most other forums have something like this. Give your thoughts on your most recent album purchases. It can be ones that were released decades ago, obviously, but something you just bought. First impressions.

Mine that just came in the mail today...

[b]"Hey, That's What I Call Sludge!"[/b]
Artist: compilation
Available at Metal Sludge

Normally I wouldn't bother mentioning something like this, but there's enough contemporary artists that contributed (several of which I've heard mentioned here before) that I think some of y'all might really like it. So, here's my initial thoughts after giving it a few spins...

First of all, the track listing is as follows:

Metal Sludge All-Stars (aka Metal Skool) - Rainbows and Witches (skit)
Pain For Pleasure - Reign In Pain
Lit - No Turning Back
Bowling For Soup - The Bitch Song
40 Ft. Ringo - Inside Your Head
Tuff - Dear Jani Lane
Drill 187 - 187
The Wildhearts - You've Got to Get Through What You've Got To Get Through To Get What You Want, But You Got To Know What You Want To Get Through What You Got to Go Through (yes, that's the title)
The Thornbirds - Elephants and Tangerines
Supersuckers - Someday I Will Kill You
Metal Sludge All-Stars - LSD (skit)
Jizzy Pearl - Do You Wanna Get High?
The Brightness - Diamonds Are a Boy's Best Friend
London Calling - Chasing The Satellites
Killingbird - Beat The Bullet
Firehouse - Crash
Metal Sludge All-Stars - Making Up (skit)
Funny Money - Good Boy Gone Bad
Glory Hole UK - Misery
Billy Morris Band - Killing Time
Wednesday 13 - Your Mother Sucks Cocks In Hell
Kevin DuBrow and Little Women - I Can't Resist You
Metal Sludge All-Stars - Heavy Shit (skit)
Metal Sludge All-Stars - Death To All But Metal (song)

Phew. If that isn't worth $13, I don't know what is!

Now for my thoughts on the songs...

This shit's cool! Not a huge fan of some of the "heavy" punkish/metal stuff. Drill 187, Supersuckers, and London Calling I could do without. Decent songs, just not my thing. Wednesday 13 stays on the good list purely for lyrical reasons.

Ok, individual impressions, since I can't really give an overall with it being all different bands...

Pain For Pleasure is ok. Never heard of them before. EDIT: It's Sum 41's alter egos. Dude. That's just...wrong. Go back to your pop punk ya lousy dipshits.

No Turning Back's not really my thing, but it's not bad. The singer's good. Pretty modern sounding. Never been much of a fan of shouted choruses.

Bowling for Soup - Meh. I know a few people here like them. Not a horrible song, but a bit too pop punk for me. The vocalist has too much of that whiny teen punk sound.

Been seeing banner ads for 40 Ft. Ringo's CD but never heard their music. This song's really cool. Has a bit of an 80s sound in the guitar tone but the vocals and melody is a lot more modern. Singer's awesome. It's a fun song.

It should go without saying, but Stevie Rachelle is a genius and "Dear Jani Lane" is friggin' hilarious. Probably not as funny to someone not familiar with Jani/Warrant, but a good song nonetheless. Got a bit of a groove to it, and I've always liked Stevie as a frontman.

Wildhearts...meh. Not a big fan. Fans of 'em will probably like it, though. It's another in the heavier column.

Never heard of the Thornbirds, but the song is good. Odd, but good. Completely different than anything else on here. Lyrics...different.

Jizzy Pearl is another funny mofo. How can a song called "Do You Wanna Get High?" not be funny? It's a little faster than I'd like, but still hilarious. And anyone who names himself Jizzy gets bonus points.

Don't know who The Brightness are? Neither does anyone else! But this is a great cover. Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend....gone metal! You just gotta hear it.

Killingbird is awesome. Never heard any of their stuff before, but "Beat The Bullet" rocks. Slightly 80s sounding guitar but heavy and with good scratchy vocals. It'll get your head banging.

Never heard any of Firehouse's stuff before, but Crash is most awesome. A little pop-ish but plenty of distorted guitar to balance it out and very "rock n' roll" vocals.

I love Funny Money, and they don't disappoint here! "Good Boy Gone Bad" is great. New favorite song of the week...along with "Dear Jani Lane". A very 80s pop drum beat but good guitar riff. You'll end up singin' along.

Never heard of Glory Hole UK. Interesting name. If you like really distorted vocals you'll love it.

He may be a douchebag, but Billy Morris ain't half bad. Not crazy about the vocals, but they could be much much worse. Lyrics are pretty good.

Never been a Murderdolls fan, but Wednesday 13 is a huge hairband fan! He was a member of the Tuff fanclub. So he gets points for admitting that. And the lyrics are awesome.

If you like Quiet Riot, you'll like Kevin DuBrow's song. Not much to say other than that. And being as I do like Quiet Riot, I love this song. A tiny bit cliche, but what about the 80s wasn't? And his vocals make up for it.

And now, the group I have saved for last... METAL SKOOL! (formerly Metal Shop) Their skits will nearly make you piss yourself. They're such funny guys. If saying fuck every other word annoys you...well....you'll be annoyed, but their skits are so funny. And their song at the end, Death To All But Metal...hell yeah! Basically Metal Sludge crammed into a single song, insulting all the mtv pop, punk, and rap artists.

If you've got a few spare dollars, definitely check this out. Don't let the 80s direction of Sludge turn ya off. It's a lot heavier than you'd expect, and there really aren't any pussy bands on here (yeah, I'll admit Poison, Warrant, etc. are pussy bands...there's none of that on here). If you like really tough stuff (no, not Tuff Stuff), there's definitely some tunes on here for you.

9.5 out of 10

So what have YOU bought...?
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[ChrisFox]

I'll be honest right now, I really [i]really[/i] suck at these kinda reviews. But I'll give it a shot.

The two most recent bands' cd's I bought were Oysterband and The Levellers. Both are from somewhere in Europe, one of 'em is definitely from London don't remember which. Either way, that doesn't matter. Both are very, eh.. 'artsy'? kinda bands..

The Levellers are awesome. They have a punkish feel to them, but add some folkish instruments into their stuff. And as always a plus, their lyrics actually have a meaning (Earns a band Big Points from me). Sometimes it's obvious "There's only one way of life and that's your own" othertimes it's not.. The lead vocals does the artwork for the covers and t-shirts and stuff, too.. all around goodness, check 'em out. Levellers Website

Oysterband was the other band. They're great as well. Not as heavy as the Levellers, but it's a good thing to listen and mellow out to. Again, the lyrics aren't just some mindless words scribbled on a scrap of paper like a lot of the more popular bands' lyrics are. Oysterband Website

The best part about both of these bands is that they don't really fit into one specific genre. They've got a bit of almost everything mixed into their styles.
_________________
"I've got a sticky Darodo!"
"You might want to see a doctor about that."
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/kaymando/gandyhands.jpg[/img]

[ragingflea002]

New CD I just got; "Live At The Grand Olympic Auditorium" by Rage Against the Machine. It includes "Bullet in the Head", "Guerrilla Radio", "No Shelter", and "Bulls on Parade". The bass amplifier was a little too fuzzy, and the recording had some feedback on it, but if you over look all of that and realize that you're listening to the final performance of a great band, you come to respect it.
_________________
Not all who wander are lost.
"The separation between spirit and logic is reasonable because spirit is defined by faith and logic forces others to think about what they have faith in."

[BAMFManiac]

sounds like a cool compilation fallen. wow haven't heard lit do anything in a couple years! and yea bowling for soup sucks. it sounds like a great compilation, tho

yea, having meaningful lyrics is important to me, too, chris. do you like harvey danger? their lyrics are so beautiful.

meh i haven't bought a cd in a while... hmm about two weeks ago i got too short notice's cd at their show. they're a relatively popular local ska band, so yay the cd was only $8. lol uh it's kinda pointless to rate it since i doubt any of you guys would be able to get it, but it's good! they have a female lead singer, so it's kind of a save ferris-type feel, but they're more upbeat and punk-ish. she has a pretty voice, and the lyrics are sometimes funny and sometimes poetic.

i think i'm gonna buy modest mouse or sleater-kinney's call the doctor next time i get cds. or perhaps veruca salt's resolver
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i fought the war, but the war won

[fallenangel]

[quote="BAMFManiac (Alex the Great)"] wow haven't heard lit do anything in a couple years! [/quote]
The guitarist did an interview two years ago. Click click

Actually, their personal page was just updated. Click again Looks like they're playin' here on Friday. Meh.
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[ChrisFox]

Chumbawamba is surprisingly good compared to what was mass produced of theirs in the early nineties. I havent bought it yet, but I plan to, like I plan to buy Samantha 7 and a bunch more..'till I get the cash, though...they'll have to be on the wanted list.
_________________
"I've got a sticky Darodo!"
"You might want to see a doctor about that."
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/kaymando/gandyhands.jpg[/img]

[fallenangel]

Yeah, then you can review it. I would, but I bought it, like, 3 years ago, and my opinion may be a tiiiiiiny bit slanted in favor of a certain Brooklyn blonde. *cough* I'm proud to be one of the 4,980 sold.
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[ragingflea002]

Dave Matthews' solo album "Some Devil". Has cool acoustic playing and the lyrics are more haunting than usual. "Gravedigger" is one of the coolest songs on the album. I know not a whole lot of people here are into Dave Matthews but he's still an awesome guitarist.
_________________
Not all who wander are lost.
"The separation between spirit and logic is reasonable because spirit is defined by faith and logic forces others to think about what they have faith in."

[BAMFManiac]

oo thanks for the links to jeremy's interview and lit's info, fallen! gah i haven't listened to them in so long. they used to be one of my favourite bands. their more recent albums are a sort of pop/punk/rock fusion, and their 1st album is a lot heavier. that's great that they're coming out with a new album- i gotta find the video or some mp3's of their new stuff...
_________________
i fought the war, but the war won

[ragingflea002]

Tenacious D......funny skits and their songs make fun of everything. I borrowed the DVD and I finally laughed. I haven't been laughin ever since I found out I was being dragged to Harry Potter 3.................
_________________
Not all who wander are lost.
"The separation between spirit and logic is reasonable because spirit is defined by faith and logic forces others to think about what they have faith in."

[fallenangel]

[b]Once Upon A...[/b] (greatest hits)
Artist: Cinderella

Cover: Um.... it's certainly no Night Songs cover. It's a light tangerine orange with yellow spots, their logo in bright pink, and a couple chicks in....creative outfits. Just Look For Yourself. (the logo's more pink) Other than the horrible color scheme continued, the back is slightly better. Circular, slightly fish-eye picture of the boys and tracklisting in pink. Not a very attractive cover (unlike Night Songs... ), but I'll forgive them.

Inside: Oy, the CD has the same horrid yellow and orange pattern. It's an eye sore in my CD case, but oh well. Under it is a nice pink-toned picture of the boys all wet and probably drunk. Eric's giving the finger.

Booklet: For how ugly the cover art is, it's a pretty decent booklet. Eight nice color pictures of the members, though lacking any good ones of Eric's famous palm tree hairstyle. It's a little flat. And his face looks like someone's giving him head in the one group picture, but uh...I'll assume they aren't... The other side is all black and white, and after the visual assault on the outside of the album, it's a nice change. Two panel black and white picture of the boys sitting against a wall looking much more attractive than usual. Eric's hair is matted, and he's got a cig in his mouth and a shirt you can just makeout under his hair as saying "What are you staring at dickhead". Six other nice live shots, tracklisting, and credits/thanks. Overall a nice booklet. It's a greatest hits, so there's no real need for lyrics. They'd be nice, but I'm glad they at least took up the space with pictures instead of a lame two panel booklet. (if you notice all specifics are about Eric, it's 'cause he's the only one I really care what he's doing. Tom, Jeff, and Fred are great, but Eric's my palm-tree-sportin' favorite)

SONGS: The whole point, and after such an ugly cover, they'd better have some kickass stuff on here. Overall a very good collection of their best.

Tracklisting:

Shake Me
Nobody's Fool
Somebody Save Me
Gypsy Road
Don't Know What You've Got (Till It's Gone)
The Last Mile
Coming Home
Shelter Me
Heartbreak Station
The More Things Change
Love's Got Me Doin' Time
Hot And Bothered
Through The Rain
War Stories
Move Over

Their ballads were always a little too corny, except Nobody's Fool is great and much more arena rock than the painfully sappy Don't Know What You've Got and Through The Rain. It's mostly the lyrics. But the rest of the album is pure ballsy rock with some great tracks like Shake Me and War Stories. Love's Got Me Doin' Time has a cool groove to it, and Hot and Bothered is just fun. How could a song about bein' Hot and Bothered not be great? The vocals are distinctive (think Brian Johnson of AC/DC distinctive) but capable of being "normal", like on Nobody's Fool. Cinderella were always good at big riffs and catchy melodies, and overall for someone that just wants the best without having to buy three separate albums, it ain't bad. Missing a few songs I really love (like "Night Songs"), but a good collection nonetheless.

On a sidenote, I've seen it mentioned that Avril Lavigne has a song called Nobody's Fool. Cinderella did it first, bitch, and they did it better. <_<

(I'm sure my love of the "Night Songs" album doesn't show at all...*ahem* Not my fault it's one of the best glam metal records of all time. "Long Cold Winter" and "Heartbreak Station" are both great as well, but...)
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[fallenangel]

Oh...my...god... (Scroll down and read my review of the extras if nothing else)

[b]Contraband[/b]
Artist: Velvet Revolver
Available: Online at bestbuy.com or your local music store

Cover:

Pretty cool. You have your choice of red, black, or white packaging. A rather cliche color scheme, but a good one nonetheless. The actual design is a bit Charlie's Angels for my taste. The silhouette of a girl with a gun on her hip with "Velvet Revolver" along the side. Not bad, though. It's good in that, especially with the three different packages, it's very eye catching on the shelf. The back cover is a black and white band photo with the tracklist. Nice picture. Duff has aged damn well. Slash looks the same as he always has, and even Matt looks pretty good here. Scott looks like Scott, with my favorite hairstyle he's ever had. Nice leather jacket. All in all a nice job. The photo's contemporary enough to not make kids pick it up and put it right back down. The boys all look "hip n' cool". Even Duff has his hair done!

Booklet:

Now this is how a booklet is supposed to be done! There's the usual thanks and credits on the innermost page, and this baby is thick! Lots of pictures, but they're very artsy. Kind of grungy (and with Scott in the band it's not surprising). It's all in black and white and slightly abstract. Each band member gets their own page and are silhouetted except for a square section of their face. Meh. I'd prefer to see it all, but it's a nice design. I'm just a sucker for pictures, especially when it's Duff and Slash coming out of hiding. Their name's on each page, as well as some scratchy hand written lyrics. The middle folds out to a four panel spread of lyrics. Very nice! Always a good idea for new bands to include lyrics, of course. More photos... All in all a much nicer design than most, and it shows some real thought and effort! They weren't kidding in the newsletter when they claimed the packaging would be good.

Songs:

And now the part you probably care about. It's been awhile since I've bought a new record I instantly liked. It usually takes a few listens for me to warm up to it. This is how hard rock is supposed to sound. It's current music done right. Duff sounds awesome, and Slash is on top of his game. The tunes aren't retro, but they're not trend-whorey either. Really they're a mix of early Gn'R and STP (wonder why). The tunes themselves have excellent production, cool lyrics, and Slash puts the solos back in modern music! Weiland does a great job. I've seen some people complain that his voice doesn't fit their sound, but I think it's fine, perhaps just not what some people imagine for the band to be? I personally like it. He's not screaming or whining, as most modern rock "singers" do, but he's also not over the top with the opera act. It's a nice happy medium.

Did I mention Duff and Slash sound good? If you like hard rock, definitely check these guys out. There's a couple ballads on there, too. They were right when they claimed Slither isn't a single that represents the entire album. It's definitely a good song, as are the rest of them, but they don't all sound like Slither (which was the name of the snake I had when I was 8. random fact). Are these guys the saviors of rock? Nah, probably not. As great as they all still are, and Weiland still has a nice young following, I think they're a little too old unfortunately. Duff and Slash already saved rock once, but at the time they were young and new. Even though Guns still gets a decent amount of respect from the kiddos (I think), they'll still be labeled retro. But one can always hope they won't be. The way they look you'd never notice.

EXTRAS: Now this is the really cool part I wanted to write about. Y'know how we had that whole downloading music discussion? Well now this is just cool. Ok, you've got your CD right? And you think "hey, I wanna listen to this while I'm on the computer." So you pop it in and wait a few seconds for your media player of choice to open, but what's this? Your screen just went black! What the hell?! Oh...oh wait...it says velvet revolver and says it's loading licenses. Hmmm. Waiting...still waiting... A menu? For what? That's right, it's not just a little video, fact sheet, or some other bonus you get on some CDs. Velvet Revolver gets it. You buy the CD and you get this awesome little selection of features. Could you do them all other ways? Sure, but this is cooler. You can play the songs. Save them to your computer. Or even email them to someone! That's right. Check the box, fill out the little form, and click send and off it goes. How cool is that?!

Much respect to Velvet Revolver for actually putting effort into their debut all around. Great packaging, great songs, great bonus material. Oh, and if anyone wants to help me try out this little Tuneshare feature, post your email address and what song you'd like to hear.

Track Listing:

Sucker Train Blues
Do It For The Kids
Big Machine
Illegal i song
Spectacle
Fall To Pieces
Headspace
Superhuman
Set Me Free
You Got No Right
Slither
Dirty Little Thing
Loving The Alien (no, not a Bowie cover. ripped off title, though)
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[ragingflea002]

I gotta get that C.D. Heard the solos were major kick-ass.
_________________
Not all who wander are lost.
"The separation between spirit and logic is reasonable because spirit is defined by faith and logic forces others to think about what they have faith in."

[fallenangel]

Yeah, Slash tears it up. Great stuff. You wanna hear a track or two? Chris was my guinea pig, and it sends you a link to a download page where you can download the song and have it for 10 days, limited use capabilities. Real cool, especially for those that want to share the songs without completely giving someone the files they can burn.
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[ragingflea002]

Yes please, fallen!
Slash kicks ass.
_________________
Not all who wander are lost.
"The separation between spirit and logic is reasonable because spirit is defined by faith and logic forces others to think about what they have faith in."

[fallenangel]

Ok, I just sent ya a few.
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[BAMFManiac]

wow that sounds awesome! lol i love how you reviewed the cover and booklet, too. and that song-sharing thing is an excellent idea! i hope more artists try that. may i have a couple songs? my email is dumbshutterbug@yahoo.com
_________________
i fought the war, but the war won

[fallenangel]

Sure! I just hit send. A few rockers n' one of the ballads. :)

N' I think packaging is almost as important as the songs, since it takes good packaging to even get people to buy the album (besides people who are already big fans). And I'm a picture whore, so I love booklets with lots of pictures and lyrics. Even if I don't care for how they did the band photos in this one.
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[BAMFManiac]

thank you sooo much! they're great!

haha and i guess i'm a "picture whore" too, as you so eloquently put it, because i love those thick booklets with billions of pictures and (sometimes) lyrics. plus since some bands i like aren't as "mainstream", it's a lot harder to find pics of them. i like to have something to look at while i listen to the cd, instead of just a little two-page thing with credits and thank yous (heh tho i'll read those too)
_________________
i fought the war, but the war won

[ragingflea002]

"Nirvana"-Nirvana

Awesome contemplation. Features the perviously unreleased "You Know You're Right", Cobain's final recording before his suicide. Uses the best songs from the band's C.Ds; Bleach, Insecticide, Nevermind, and In Utero.

1. You Know You're Right
2. About A Girl
3. Been A Son
4. Sliver
5. Smells Like Teen Spirit
6. Come As You Are
7. Lithium
8. In Bloom
9. Heart Shaped Box
10. Pennyroyal Tea
11. Rape Me
12. Dumb
13. All Apologies(Live)
14. The Man Who Sold The World

Booklet features pictures, not too many, though, as well as a statement that documents Cobain's work on the contemplation, from the beginning and end of Nirvana.

My rating: 9/10 (10= highest)
_________________
Not all who wander are lost.
"The separation between spirit and logic is reasonable because spirit is defined by faith and logic forces others to think about what they have faith in."