Weekly Shuffle

Ok I kow the last one was on Friday but this originally was an every Wednesday thing so I a, getting back to that this week so every weds I will be clicking through the iPod and reviewing the first ten songs that pop up

"Wired" by New Model Army... I think this song really show cases what they do best. It has a punk drive but is still brooding in its melodic nature, the vocal almost feels like a Nick Cave. The bassist has skills that keep them from being punk even at their rowdiest is he weaves around the drums and guitars with artful grace.

"Children of the Sea" by Black Sabbath ...Ntil he died Dio Sabbath got a bad rap, then when he Dio every one claimed to be old school Dio fans. Ronnie is a better singer than Oxxy. Ozzy just has more manical charisma to his voice which is a Sabbath staple, but the Dio albums are still classic I think Iommk started soloing like he had something to prove and is some of his best work. The drumming is a little sluggish and the weak link. I like how dark these albums feel much darker than Mever Say Die or Technical Ectasy for sure.

" Let's not wrestle Mt. Heart Attack " by Liars ... I have a feeling this is a band a lot of you are missing out on. Sure they would be filed under experimental indie rock.Bit have enough dark weirdness to make fans of metal or goth take notice. This song has a noisy drone to it and sounds like if Radiohead decided to conduct a voodoo ritual or an indie rock take on Alice Cooper'a Black Juju.

"Epitome VIII" by Blut Aus Nord...part of their whole 777 trilogy, these guys make the black in the black metal blacker than it is metal. The drumming is really cool beaneaters the murk, with these guys I wouldn't be surprised if it was programmed. The French seem to have more dissonance more often than not amd the dissonance is what makes this song so heavy as it creeps along. The chords ring with dirty evil.

"Once upon the Cross" by Deicide ...the title track from the album I consider the bands last real moment of greatness as after this everything began to sound the same and the anger from Glen Benton began to disparate the closer he came to the day where he claims he was going to kill himself. The production on this album was great for the nineties. Their song rioting wasti notch , it was back hen death metal still retains enough thrash in it to hook you in rather than just throw a bunch of flat blasting at you.

"Inheritance" by Katatonia ... Though I like this album, this song displays how the band sifted away from metal into a weird mix of Depeche Mode like ballads by way of Opeth. The melancholy drift and the tasteful guitar work really all me on it, but Viva Emptiness is my favorite album by these guys and I wish they would have rocked out a little more on this one as having gone too far in this direction their new album suggests they might have forgotten the way back.

"Black Hands of Death" by Von...wow more metal this week. I like this album and this song in particular showsa user range of dynamics, wheni go back and listen to I can hear a ambiance I. The production that adds a cool feel to the songs hitch are pretty much straight forward, this one is more like Rotting Christ rather than their normal raw last feet, that they helped innovate . I think I owe this album more night time listens or rainy morning writing back ground plays.

" the devils hand" by Vried ...like the Von I reviewed this album. The guitar still sounds just as tight and catchy as en I first have this a shot , the bass has more of role In the mix than most black metal which could be why this almost has a thrash feel. By todays standards I think it presses the boundaries of what would be labelled black metal but it's alot of fun. The end stomp is a real head banging moment to look forward to.

"For her Light" by Feilds of the Nephillim ...they are becoming a weekly fixture, granted I have their discography on my iPod. This one has a little more melody a cool bass line that rolls around in the back ground. They have always had more of a rock feel than their other counter parts, like if the Cult got darker instead of cock rock. The guitar is taking the nineties middle ground here and not getting as metal as it some times ventures.

"100,000" by Nine Inch Nails ...Has a cool drive even if for them it's straight forward, it steers clear of so of the jazzercise they stepped into on With Teeth. Trent really weathered a lot of trends and managed to still remain relevant . The more fuzzy lo if production I think helped with this if it had been produced Ina way to try and recreate say Downward spiral then he would had come across sounding dated. So he knows what's up and doesn't make me too worried about the revamping of nine inch nails to come.