The Weekly Shuffle

This is a new weekly feature I'm going to do where I put my iPod on shuffle mode and review the first ten songs that pop up, it will maybe shed some light on artists that fall between the cracks in the album reviews and give a more comprehensive look at some who I might reference when reviewing artists. Ok so here it goes first up

"Repeating the Circle" by Ceremony. Off their "Zoo" album this song is a little darker than some of the more straightforward punk moments, the bass drives it and the wandering guitar melody would appeal to fans of more goth inflected post punk, and I tend to stray for the simplistic nature of most punk rock so for me to like these guys there has to be more it.

"My Death" by David Bowie, this is a b side from and import disc and is a more recent take on the song which originally appeared on the live "Ziggy the motion picture soundtrack" which is one of the best live albums ever. This is a cover of a song by Jaques Brel, but Bowie owns it , I like his version of "Let's spend the night together" better then the Stones original. To Brel's credit the lyrics are some of the best written ever.

"the May Song" by the Gathering , Night Time Birds remains my favorite album by the Gathering, despite people telling me to listen to "Home" I downloaded "Home" and this album still wins out because it's still in the realm of being considered metal, the chorus to this one has a nice punch to it and one of Annke's better hooks in my book.

"Duchess" by Genesis, the twilight of the acceptable Phil Collins years, here the descent into pop was well underway, but if you are going to do pop they were still using their thinking caps, the programmed drums creeping into play, this song takes it time and builds atmosphere two and a half minutes before the vocals set in isn't bei a slave to radio play and Collins was breaking away from being a Peter clone but sang with some balls to his voice...for Phil Collins, it's pretty majestic stuff.

"Here I Dreampt I was an Architect" by the Decemberists, "Castaways and Cutouts" was before they really entered their proggy phrase, but still some great songwriter and wry dark lyrics, though this is one of their rare non murder ballads for this time period of their career. Sure they are sellouts now, however hipster and graceful they managed to spread to the masses and water down their sound, the old stuff is not tainted by this enough to not keep its place on my iPod, this song hs a nice sway to it and interesting keyboards.

"Crucifixtion" by Deiphago, in the process of getting around to reviewing their album "Satan Alpha Omega" it's roughly produced raw black metal that hits with its blown speaker intensity. It might be a little too straight forward for me but we will get around to that when I review , if you like your black metal as raw as a bloody steak in the meantime check these guys out.

"the Accusation Chair" by King Diamond, while my love of the King has never been hidden opportunity to review anything hasn't presented himself , I wrestle with my self over which is better "Abigail" or "Them, and rather than resolve that here I can say this little four minute ditty is one of the heavier moments on this album and recaptures the darker vibe of "Abigail" particularly at the solo section midway through, and the " no where to hide" vocals influenced tons of black metal singers the keys are cool on this one too I always forget that part.

"As the Bell Rings the Maypole Spins" by Dead Can Dance, "Aion" is an under rated album by them that I have come to appreciate more over the years, it has a more ritualistic feel than there other lumps that went more cinematic in scope, Lisa Gerrad sounds great as she does, the percussive elements are toned down on this one and the vocals we've their around the song so not one of their more belly dancing inspiring songs.

"Necrophiliac" by Slayer, "Hell awaits" was at one time one of my favorite albums but as a whole didnt stay the test of time ,but this one is classic, the riff that comes after the line" I feel the urge the growing need to fuck this sinful corpse" is mean as fuck, the variation of it doesn't hold as much weight later in the song but hey we can hear bass, how many times did that happen after this album?

"the Ocean" by Led Zeppelin, ... The fact this song still brings to mind the sample of it used in "She's Crafty" , attributes to a slight burn out of it and while its not my favorite Zeppelin song of the thrity five songs of theirs which made it onto my ipod this one made it cut, the guitar on this is what brings it on home.