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Nevermore - Obsidian Conspiracy

Once upon an MP3-eary, while I worked, weak and weary,
Over many a deprecated code and compiled kernel’s core
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly double bass came a tapping,
As if rapid machine gun rapping, rapping at my eardrum’s door.
“Tis ass kickery,” I muttered, “slapping at my eardrum’s door –
Only this and so much more.”

Ah, distinctly I remember it was the music beginning to dismember,
Obsidian Conspiracy’s embers wrought a ghost crafted by Nevermore.
I listened til the morrow – vainly I had no time to borrow,
Work forgotten without sorrow—no sorrow because of Nevermore
For it was the talented quartet who named themselves Nevermore
Who fled from grunge for evermore.

“The Termination Proclamation” bore Warrel Dane’s vocal modulation,
Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors rarely felt before.
So that following with the beating of “Your Poison Throne” I stood repeating,
“Rise! Rise! Rise! Tis much more than a standard reaping of my eardrum’s door—
Tis no ordinary album this Obsidian Conspiracy thrashing me to the core;
It’s progressive, tech, thrash, and so much more.”

Jeff Loomis’ beguiling riffs, with mastery of the circle of fifths,
“Emptiness Unobstructed” lifts above erstwhile dark narrative lore,
An earworm eating, “Without Morals” beating and beating,
Repetitive treating without fleeting the constant beating of my eardrum’s door.
This is the essence of Nevermore.

Deep into the darkness peering, their lyrics weave a tale of fearing
The human psyche, eerily leering dreams of mortals dark to the core.
Each song tells a tale of sadness, beckoning me to the edge of madness,
But Obsidian Conspiracy contrary to any concept album of yore—
This was something new and so much more.

Twisting sound into new contortions, but keeping echoes of past distortions,
Nevermore’s growth epic in proportions, will rap, tap, tap on your eardrum door
Masters of their craft steadfast, consistent but building on albums past
Never falling for trends amassed, of faddish incongruity like metalcore
Obsidian Conspiracy is wonderfully dark, beautiful, and hard to the core
Quoth the reviewer, “I give it a four.”

Author’s Note: If none of the above made any sense to you, drink your milk and stay in school. Also I highly recommend you buy this album, as it’s Nevermore’s best work to date.

Watching Rock Star: INXS made Dave Navaro appear human. I mean I knew he was human, but I only imagined faceless guitar riffs. Incredible singers, who lived in cars, sang for their lives only to win, coke it up, and eventually leave the band to live in a car. But that's how rock works and I digress. During Rock Star: INXS, Dave announced he was forming a new band, The Panic Channel. Since I watched Dave all season, his voice in my head told me to buy the CD. So I did, and then burned Tower Records to the ground. I can't remember if Dave told me to do that.

Anyway, The Panic Channel's (One) (2006) shot 13 earworms directly into canals ill prepared for the attack. Embedded in secret locations in my lobes, they get violent if I don't calm them with (One) periodically. The earworms especially love "Bloody Mary". I play that song over and over until that bitch gets pissed and climbs out of the mirror and goes home.

Steve Isaacs' vocals with Dave Navarro's straight out, balls to the wall rock riffs seem reminiscent of Foo Fighters, which is not a bad thing. But when you listen deeper, you know there is more going on. The songs are all put together lovingly and continued listening exposes hidden complexity.

The Panic Channel is not currently together as Steve Isaacs is in New York. Wikipedia says that other band members have asked Twitter to hound Steve to move to the West Coast so they can rock again. I say, Steve, make another album. You have some vocal chops. To Dave, I say do another Rock Star. It was way better than American Idol and had judges tell contestants to smash their guitars. I think you should find a vocalist for a death metal band this time. Just a suggestion.

They'll make it happen. Don't worry. The Panic Channel is coming back.

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Yes, the School of Rock is back. The flu is gone after stomping each member of my family into the dirt and then it followed my mother home and beat her too. But we survived like rebels fighting the machines in Terminator Salvation. Our victory will be short-lived as some harvester robot virus is waiting in the wings to stomp on us and collect us for cruel science experiment slavery. But I digress. The real reason you're here is to get a rock-u-cation.

Ben Harper's Burn to Shine (2000) is a must have because this is the kind of rock all rock is built on. Good song writing, excellent hooks and melodies, and an overall quality to each song you don't normally hear. Burn to Shine is one of my favorite albums for the fact it's simple, folksy rock, you'll be singing along with. No, you can't stop yourself. It will happen and you will have the window rolled down next to some girls 20 years younger than you as you belt out "Steal My Kisses". So just go with it.

Stone Temple Pilots 3/20/2010 from Isle 3 at Winstar Casino

Having just seen Stone Temple Pilots on March 20, I was disappointed to read this story at Blabbermouth.net.

According to several eyewitness accounts from fans who attended STONE TEMPLE PILOTS' Milwaukee, Wisconsin concert last night (Friday, March 26) at the Eagles Ballroom, vocalist Scott Weiland forgot the words to at least a couple of the songs and seemed to be completely lost during "Dead and Bloated", forcing his bandmates to leave the stage in apparent embarrassment and disgust.

While Scott Weiland seems hellbent on being Jim Morrison, it doesn't take away from the fact that STP is a great band and when they're on they're incredible. But I can't sum it up any better than this comment by kazrog:

The DeLeos [brothers] have tried twice to replace Weiland, once with "Talk Show" and again with "Army of Anyone." Sadly, though both are amazing records, they didn't perform very well commercially, so they are stuck with Weiland, who is as terrible as he is great.

So true.

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Them Crooked Vultures via Amazon

I know Them Crooked Vultures' self titled debut (2009) is new but I know an important album when I hear it. This album is very important. Now let's forget for a few minutes that I have a completely straight non-stalker middle-aged fan-boy man-crush on Dave Grohl. Let's also forget that if I had Queens of the Stone Age albums when I grew up, my Winnie the Pooh record player would have completely melted into a pile of steamy poo, pun and all.

Them Crooked Vultures is probably the best rock album of 2009 and one of the best of the whole decade. I say this as a rock historian and founder of my own School of Rock, which you are attending right now. So what I say goes regardless of any hyperbole you perceive.

Right now as my ears are surrounded by Them Crooked Vultures' greatness, I hark back to a better time, a golden time of rock, if you will. This album goes back to rock fundamentals when people knew the meaning of properly breaking a guitar on stage or completely destroying a hotel room just because they were there. This was a time when rock hadn't sold out to The Man; it more or less sublet some space to him.

To put it another way, the album is raw rock as I like it, but that only takes up one line and I want to make sure you get your money's worth from today's lesson.

(Note below that I've linked to some metalsucks.net articles related to Them Crooked Vultures even though their apparent editorial stance is that TCV is boring. I respectfully disagree with them only because I know metal snobbery when I read it. My mom used to tell me that people would make fun of me because they were jealous. And in a way, aren't we all jealous of Dave Grohl?)

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Leslie West. Do I need to say more? The dude can play some guitar. Now I know Mountain is still around and I respect that. I'm also not even remotely suggesting they peaked in 1971 when The Best of Mountain (1971) was released. But "Mississippi Queen" and "Never In My Life" have rocked me me since I owned this record in the mid-70s. This is one of the best of "best of" albums you can own. Every one of the songs can be covered by more modern rock bands and sound current. It's timeless rock from one of the pioneers of hard rock.

I also just noticed later releases of this CD and MP3 downloads have four extra songs not included on my record and CD I purchased upon first release. Regardless, this is a must-have in my School of Rock.

By the way, no, "Mississippi Queen" does not need more cowbell.

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Yeah, I have a Kansas fan-boy deep inside me. Kansas' Masque (1975) is the album that introduced me to progressive rock. Masque is one special albums. I'd say it's probably one of favorite 100 albums of all time. Convenient huh?

What's great about this album is it clearly showed the difference in writing subject and styles between Steve Walsh and Kerry Livgren. Walsh's "It Takes a Woman's Love (To Make a Man)" opens the album and is not corny; it's a great song. Naturally Steve Walsh sings it two octaves above what a normal man can actually sing so there's that irony. Still, it's a solid start to this incredible album. The second song, "Two Cents Worth", a Walsh and Livgren collaboration, is written as a brilliant drunken ramble.

Suddenly, "Ircarus-Borne on Wings of Steel" starts and the listener is taken out of the bar and dumped into a surreal Greek mythos landscape. As only Kansas can do, these different songs all mesh into an album with infinite playability.

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Mass - New Birth at Amazon

Ah, nostalgia. You are such a siren calling us back to things we dismissed and then letting us destroy ourselves on the rocky shores. You make us remember Def Leppard fondly only to temp us to listen 20 years later and vomit. You make us remember the time White Lion opened for Aerosmith and think maybe, just maybe White Lion didn't suck ass until we hear that song "Wait" again and realize ass was only one of the many things they sucked. Nostalgia, what did I ever do to you?

Thankfully, my objective ear for rock confirmed one album I loved from 80s pseudo-metal was great and still holds up well today. Mass' New Birth (1985) was and is still a standout album. It is epic and accessible. Mass is actually a band that is still around and didn't receive that much mainstream play. I should take the time to explore them further just to see if their other albums measure up to the quality of New Birth. When they released New Birth on CD a few years ago I bought it immediately and thanked Baby Jesus that my MP3s I ripped from the cassette tape were no longer necessary.

Veteran producer Tony Platt helped New Birth become a fusion of pop metal and progressive artistry. Songs like "Too Far Gone", "Do You Love Me", and especially "Watch Her Walk" were obviously products of the time. However other songs like "Voyager (Look for the Edge)" and "Time" have the construction only certain Canadian progressive rock bands can engineer.

I firmly believe this album is more important than the credit it has received. And since it's my own personal School of Rock, I'm right.

Read more about Mass at No Life 'til Metal.

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On the Road to Freedom available from Amazon

Part of the responsibility of running my own personal School of Rock is that I have to go back and rethink what I loved the most, even when I haven't heard it in years. Alvin Lee and Mylon Lefevre's joint project On the Road to Freedom (1973) is an album that capitvated my imagination in a way only early 70s non-suck rock could.

First, you have Alvin Lee, the ground-breaking guitarist from Ten Years After who by '73 had a library of diverse and brilliant collection of releases in his wake. Leaving Ten Years After, Lee want to experiment and play around with different styles. He crossed paths with Mylon Lefevre, a Christian songwriter who penned Elvis Prestley's "Without Him" in the 1960. (Note: "Without Him" is now a standard him in many hymnals.) Lefevre was a consistent talent who worked behind the scenes and impressed many artists with his song-writing capabilities. The agreed to make On the Road to Freedom and it was recorded in Lee's newly constructed recording studio at  his manor in England.

Contributing to this album are some other names you might recognize: George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Ronnie Wood and Mick Fleetwood. This little-known gem from the early 70s deserves much more recognition for the incredible song-writing and session recordings. If you are an Alvin Lee fan and don't own this album, well there's not much I can do to help you.

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Audioslave's debut album

There was a time I was an aspiring vocalist. I took voice lessons even and sang in my high school choir. The reality was I  had a really good vocal quality but a major pitch problem. As much as I tried, I wasn't cut out to sing any place else than in my car, alone. Very alone. With the windows rolled up and with a 50 feet perimeter around the car. It's also recommended I sing in my car at night as to not look like a moron to other people at traffic lights.

All of this is completely reaffirmed by the existence of Chris Cornell. He is the kind of singer that American Idol wannabes imitate much to their own demise. Who else could take Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" and make it a serious rock song? Chris a dude with chops.

Now let's talk for a second about Rage Against the Machine. Rage is the most holy shit band I can think of. They are violently political, anarchist, offensive, and musically knee-capping. So for the brief history when Chris Cornell married Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine, I thought it was either too awesome to be true or the worst thing to happen to rock since Ween's "Push Th’ Little Daisies".

Audioslave's self-titled debut (2002) was fortunately one of the best rock albums to grace my ears in a long, long time. Audioslave was everything I could have hoped. It was a mixture of the best musicianship from Rage with one of the best vocalists to sing in modern rock. And there it was, 14 songs of pure rock and roll. It's what it's all about. The guitar riffs, the outrageous vocals, and the completely off-the-wall lyrics.

The best part of Audioslave is the appreciation you get for Cornell's journey from Soundgarden to be able to mesh with Rage Against the Machine. By the time they did their live album from Cuba, Cornell was singing old Rage songs and Audioslave was doing old Soundgarden songs and it worked.

While Audioslave is no more, get Audioslave and appreciate the fact that the cover was designed by Storm Thorgerson, best known as the guy who made so many righteous Pink Floyd album covers. Appreciate the fact the songs are all equally excellent. And finally, appreciate the fact that Audioslave is important rock history making you deaf in your car as you fail to hit Cornell's high notes.

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Heavy Metal Soundtrack at Amazon

Some people have Eraserhead. Others have The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And I think a couple of people in Denmark like Gigli. However, my favorite cult movie is Heavy Metal. I'm taken back to a time when my grandmother would take me to the grocery store with her and I would stay in the magazine isle reading Heavy Metal magazine and feeling like I was getting by with something. To be fair, this grocery store in North Little Rock, Arkansas also had Playboy out in the open too and I never once read any of the articles.

The Heavy Metal Soundtrack (1981) is the perfect soundtrack. The movie itself was nothing more than a random smattering of adolescent boy daydreams as if they jumped off the cardboard cover of a doodled spiral bound notebook. But the music tied it all together. The soundtrack from the Heavy Metal film is kick-ass arena rock and oh yeah, here are some aliens, violence, and naked warrior women to go with it.

I highly recommend driving in the middle of the night between Dallas and Little Rock with the windows down and trying to belt out Sammy Hagar's "Heavy Metal" or Nazereth's "Crazy". Not only will you stay awake, but your car will transform into a 1960 Corvette that can reenter the atmosphere.

Let's get a few things straight. I bathe daily. I am a super carnivore. I don't smoke pot. I can't normally keep a hacky sack in the air for more than one kick. Most of my clothes fit. Did I mention I bathe? With soap and shampoo? But….

I love, love, love Rusted Root's When I Woke (1994). I continually go back and play When I Woke.  It's world, pop, and rock all fused together by bodily odor and hippie lettuce. The songs take me away to a place where nobody has a job and trust funds pay for endless Taco Bell runs and protest signs. And I like it!

"Send Me On My Way" was their big single from the album and reminded me of David Byrne with hiccups, but in a good way. Like all great albums to be studied at my own personal School of Rock, all the songs matter. When I Woke is tangled mess of dreadlock goodness. From the opening "Drum Trip" your senses will be overloaded with bohemian overdrive followed by moody feelings of free love.   If you don't enjoy  "Food & Creative Love"  then you are dead inside.

Ironically, I first bought this CD at Walmart.  That is all.

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Metal graphic by Mat Giordano

Every decade, some music journalist somewhere declares rock and roll dead and buried. This has been going on since the '60s. You know the spiel: corporatism, prima dona artists, greedy producers, the entire industry, take your pick, are all villains.  Somehow rock and roll survives. I'm not a music expert. I'm a fan. I love music and have with a passion since my past life as a bush near the crossroads where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil so he could kick the blues' ass. Even as a young tot, there was something about rock that pulled me in. I clearly remember spinning Elton John, AC/DC, Three Dog Night, Steppenwolf, and Nazareth on my Winnie the Pooh record player. No, I'm not exaggerating and yes, Walt Disney's head is spinning in its cryogenic jar.

Pop music is what happens to good rock. Elton John, Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, and Kenny Loggins, for example, morphed from straight-up rock to light, adult-rock pussies. (Note: Phil Collins started out as one so he is not included.) "Selling out" is what people say happens to artists after a while. I don't think it's that as much as plain old burning out. Once they've burned out, it's not rock anymore.

Now that you know where I'm coming from, I'm going hypothesize that we are in the midst a musical dark age. Since everything is a formula and everything has to be about money, music has become canned, uninspired. So-called "alternative" music is just pop music with fake English accents. The hard rock radio stations play bands like Nickelback and 3 Doors Down with straight faces. It's still pop but with formulated guitar riffs and Eddie Vedder impersonators. Sure there are good rock bands, but in the big scheme of things it's a dark time. Producers and corporate suits call the shots. They are all about making music that sells. So for bands to be successful, they play by the rules and become distanced from their own fans and illiterate in the ways of true art. I'm imagining meetings where a group of suits examine a band to see if the hooks in their songs make 14 year old girls scream.

Just like the Irish saved civilization by remaining one of the last literate places on earth during the Dark Ages, metal is going to save rock. Metal is the last bastion for musicians who want to do whatever the hell they want to do and if they succeed great, if not, there are always other bands. The musicianship of bands like Gojira, Revocation, Melechesch, Suffocation, and Obscura demonstrates a new wave of serious musicians making bad ass music. While there is interesting things happening in the indie music scene, the metal scene is breaking out and leading the way for rock to follow.

As a huge fan of rock, I've become the biggest fan of metal in the past few years for the simple reason that it's just good rock music. Today's metal is the way rock is supposed to be. People talk about the quality of the bands and argue technical proficiency and lyrics and stage performance and song-writing quality. The reason people argue so fervently about those things is because it's art. Metal is connecting to fans today like no other type of music.

There's symphonic metal, death metal, thrash, hardcore, metalcore, progressive (or math) metal, folk metal, fusion metal… You get the idea. There is something for everybody. Support your local metal bands and become metal literate. Today's metal artists are blazing trails while other mainstream musicians are still trying to figure out how to get airplay for the love ballad their producer made them record.

See also: Mat Giordano's post "Happy Metal Friday", which is where I got that kick-ass graphic. Also on Twitter, start paying attention to the #metal and #metalfriday hashtags.

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Queen's The Game (1980) is one of those albums I wore out until you could see through the vinyl. The Game is Queen at the beginning of a change to less experimental but still incredibly strong songs. From the opening track "Play the Game" the controlled power of Queen is on full display.

My favorite track on the whole album is "Dragon Attack". Probably the most played song from any album I've owned. Roger Taylor's outrageous drum solo makes me want to break things (in a good way).

This was one of the last albums to feature all members of Queen singing vocals on various songs. Remember after Freddie Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS and became ill, the band chose him to front most of the newer material, which is understandable. But don't forget that Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon all sang their own songs on most previous Queen albums.

While the radio overplayed "Another One Bites the Dust" (or as Southern Baptist ass wads thought it was called "Decide to Smoke Marijuana" when played backwards) or "Crazy Little Thing called Love" I had already dug into "Coming Soon", "Need Your Loving Tonight", "Sail Away Sweet Sister," and "Save Me", which still gives me chills. When I played The Game, it always received my full attention.

The School of Rock requires six hours a week with The Game until you're absolutely certain you won't try suicide, because nobody gives a damn.

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The only reason you probably don't have Pushmonkey's self-titled album (1998) is because you weren't listening to WONC in Naperville, IL in 1998. They started playing "Caught My Mind" and I was hooked. I special ordered the CD from a music store in Austin, TX, the band's home base. This album is everything a good rock album is. While over-produced by some standards, the songs are fantastically arranged. Every song on Pushmonkey is an earworm waiting to eat your brain.

Pushmonkey is Pushmonkey's second album, but they had been around since 1994 and by the time the album was recorded, they were tight."Handslide" was the single that made some mainstream radio playlists, but I think they were a little too weird to see much success from it. But that's fine by me.

Tony Park, the lead singer, also plays trumpet. His trumpeting is showcased in "Maybe", a remake of "Sweet Caribbean Bungalow" from their debut album, Maize (1994). "Maybe" is one of those tracks I've actually put on repeat alone during one of my sociopathic song obsession episodes.

The School of Rock commands you to buy this album and listen to it until those little earworms make it to your hypothalamas, at which point you will need to put on some Metallica to kill them.

Ah the 1980s. AOR ruled the airwaves and mullets were acceptable. People actually drank beer from cans and cruised in muscle cars up and down streets in order to demonstrate who coud play Dokken louder from their Fieros, 280 ZXs, and barely bolted together American muscle cars. Before our culture circled a drain of stoner burn out rock, one band came down from the heavens to show us how music didn't need to be all about Sweet Connie or boys coming back to town.

Rock takes on many forms and The Smiths' Louder than Bombs (1987) is required listening at my School of Rock. American angst in rock took a nose dive in the mid-80s and if it wasn't for Enlish new wave, then Warrant's Cherrie Pie might be the only contribution from that time.

The Smiths brought rock back to its core of guitar-oriented rock framed around angsty lyrics written with a sense of humor.

Louder than Bombs is a compilation album originally intended for American distribution but was so popular, it eventually became available in the UK. The Smiths set the gold standard for alternative bands who wanted to wright about more than drinking and boobies. Even today, Louder Than Bombs stands out as a finely crafted collection of masterful songs that don't take themselves too seriously.

Your assignment is to listen to Louder than Bombs and identify The Smith's influence in about every performer playing complaint rock since the late 80s. They're still the best. Get your angst from the source and forget Blur and James.

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This pick has nothing to do with Molly Ringwald or Emilio Estevez or any '80s teen coming of age movie. This pick is based purely on the incredible song writing included in Simple Mind's Once Upon a Time (1985). Simple Minds really came together to form a tight band with great songs. Once Upon a Time is one of those albums from the '80s that transcends the pop synthesizers and that high-pitched screech of my particular version of the cassette. It was many years later through magic of digital music I wold discover that "Ghost Dancing" had no deafening screech interlude.

My crazy friend, Kelly, introduced me to this band at a time in high school when I had burned out on classic rock. Bob Segar and Thin Lizzy can only carry you so far. He said you have to listen to this tape. He let me borrow it and I wish to apologize here to Kelly: I don't think you'll be getting your tape back as I think I left it in my Camaro when I sold it. Also I always thought you had the best blond mullet I've ever seen.

Simple Minds, overall, is prolific band with 15 studio albums and a incredible library of solid, Irish flavored rock. Their chemistry is held together by Jim Kerr's vocals and Charlie Burchill's elegant guitar work. Since One Upon a Time Simple Minds has continually evolved with a contemporary sound and solid song writing.

Your School of Rock assignment is to listen to Once Upon a Time for a full week straight, right before finals. Afterward dig deeper into Simple Minds' catalog and give  yourself a chance to become a fan.n Molly will be glad you did.

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If you've ever been to a local music store guitar solo contest, you know when it comes. You hear the first chord and know you're about to hear yet another sixteen-year-old grind out "Eruption" in hopes of winning the free guitar. No guitar solo contest would be complete without "Eruption" rehashed by too much testosterone.

Another scenario: at some point in your life, you've substituted one your friend's names for Jamie's name in "Jamie's Cryin'", especially your overly dramatic friend named Jamie. How can you not? Here's a fun fact: the one-second drum intro at the beginning of "Jamie's Cryin'" is one of the most sampled pieces of music. Ever.

Van Halen's first and self-titled album (1979) is, without a doubt, one of the most influential rock albums of all time. Just forget for a minute that David Lee Roth has an IQ of 55 and Eddie Van Halen has thrown away nearly every good thing he had for the sake of his own ego. Also forget that Sammy Hagar added a much needed element to Van Halen that, at least to me, made them a perfect band. (Please let's not argue Roth versus Hagar; it's about as pointless as Apple versus Windows.) Van Halen is required listening at the School of Rock. You cannot pass without basic Van Halen 101.

Like a lot of things that get ruined by too much exposure, you may not appreciate Van Halen. Think of it like Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". You know the story because it's been imitated, remade, rehashed, brutalized, butchered, taped back together, and overplayed. However, if you clear your mind and go back read the actual "A Christmas Carol" story without all of the current pop culture associations, one thing is clear: it's a damn good story. Van Halen is a damn good album.

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Gojira is a more recent discovery for me, but their sound wiped its feet in part of my brain I didn't know I had. I've never heard anything like them until a friend sent me a link to a video of theirs. Gojira's The Way of All Flesh (2008) is a must have. Gojira a French progressive death metal band. Yeah, I know but just go with me on this because they kick serious ass and do things a little differently than most death metal bands. While other death metal bands relish in the blood and guts of cats, dogs, people, and cattle Gojira's death descriptions are about the Earth.

You see Gojira is an environmental death metal band. Again, just keep going with me on this. They describe in vivid detail the destruction of the earth by mankind and it's refreshing. Their songs are serious and they have the musical chops to back it all up. It's progressive death metal that is tighter than anything I've heard. The guitar is insane with melodies that fry my brain.

The Way of All Flesh is their fourth album and my favorite. From the School of Rock perspective this is required listening. If you've never heard Gojira, then your assignment is to listen to it a minimum of five times in different situations: the car, at work, at your mom's house, while cutting the grass with your grass-blood-soaked lawnmower, and finally while on Ambien. Note: if you still live in your mom's house get a job and move out so you can complete the whole assignment.

Check out the video for "All the Tears". It's probably my favorite ever.

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When I need to clean out some cobwebs and get some work done, I have some go-to albums. Static-X Wisconsin Death Trip (1999) does the trick. This is best-in-class industrial metal that makes White/Rob Zombie sound like kids banging on trash cans (which I think is how those recording sessions go for him).

"I'm with Stupid" is one of my favorite songs ever, but the whole album is serious web development music. I've tested it and it's passed the VIM, PHP, mySQL yes-this-is-a-production-server-but-oh-well, on-the-fly,  overnight test on many marathon sessions since 1999. So I can vouch for its productivity enhancing ass kickery.

Metal.

Seeds of Change by Kerry Livgren

Kerry Livgren of Kansas is probably one of the greatest rock song writers of the twentieth century. If you look at the library of Kansas' music alone, his signature progressive rock sounds make up the best of their music. Around 1978 Livgren began to have issues with personal faith and there was a conflict within the band. Lead vocalist, Steve Walsh walked away from Kansas while Livgren was working on a solo project and pressing the band to update their sound. Most Kansas fans are familiar with the two efforts Vinyl Confessions and Drastic Measures with singer John Elefante that followed this period.

Before those releases, Livgren produced a solo album named Seeds of Change (1980). This was an important album because Livgren created songs that didn't sound like Kansas. If you go to the Amazon link, you'll see the CD is already a high-priced collector's item. Of the few LPs I kept, this is one of them.

Livgren pulled together some of the best musicians he knew. Various members of Kansas performed on the album, of course. Even Steve Walsh did vocals on "How Can You Live". But my favorite tracks are sang by Ronnie James Dio. Yes, you read that right. "Mask of the Great Deceiver" and "To Live for the King" are fantastic tracks and Dio kills on the vocals. Also of note are the songs "Whiskey Seed" where Livgren actually sang (I believe it's the only time) a duet with Mylon LeFevre and "Ground Zero" sang by David Pack of Ambrosia.

You can go on a quest for Seeds of Change and maybe pick up a used CD on eBay. Also the album is included in a compilation CD by Livgren called Decade released on a Christian label. Included are cuts from other post-Kansas efforts and they aren't bad at all. In addition, on Livgren's website he has pulled a George Lucas and has remixed and re-recorded the Seeds of Change album, which I find strange, but it's his prerogative. I haven't listened to it, but I'm kind of a purist with albums and think it stands on its own.

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I find myself quoting songs from Cake's Fashion Nugget (1996) quite a bit. There is something about that album Cake hasn't quite recreated since. Fashion Nugget is a finely crafted album of art rock with poetic vision and catchy pop and rock hooks. It's solid from the opening track, "Frank Sinatra" to the bizarre, introspective "Sad Songs and Waltzes".

As I write this I'm listening to the album again and thinking how Cake is so beatnik. I want to snap my fingers and say "yeah man" in a mellow, luded out voice. I don't know any other group that could have pulled off a cover of "I Will Survive" and still be taken seriously.

Then there is my favorite track of all on Fashion Nugget: "Nugget". There have been so many people I have wanted to dedicate this song to. I'd probably have it as a ringtone if I didn't have young children.

Yeah man.

I was going to put this album in my list next week, but with the passing of The Rev today, I thought I would dedicate this post to him. Avenged Sevenfold's City of Evil (2005) has been one of my favorites since I heard it four years ago. It is the perfect example of a good band becoming great. I was familiar with their previous two albums, but City of Evil was above and beyond them in both maturity and musicianship.

M Shadows' vocal coaching was the best thing to happen to them. While I like some good metalcore, I don't think most metalcore bands can pull it off and the results are usually mediocre. Avenged Sevenfold's first two albums were okay and more palpable than most new metalcore efforts. There was good song writing and arrangement. However City of Evil demonstrated that Avenged Sevenfold wanted to grow up and be a serious metal band.

While their self-titled follow-up is a good album and I like it a lot, City of Evil is a great album which I never tire of hearing. Avenged Sevenfold found their sound and pace and it may be their peak album. "Bat Country" is obviously a great song, but "Burn It Down", "Sidewinder", and "The Wicked End" are just as good and the other tracks hold the album together as a consistent rock masterpiece.

Obviously their future is uncertain with The Rev's death, but Avenged Sevenfold is a great band and City of Evil is a worthy addition to your collection.

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Admit it: you like Def Leppard's Pyromania (1983) as much as everybody else in the world. Yes their newer stuff is embarrassing and they can't pull off the old stuff like they did the first time. However, Pyromania was that one defining moment some bands have where they have relevance. They created a sound that ushered in a new era of rock, the one we now refer to collectively has hair rock.

Pyromania is as playable today as it was in the 80s, even if you play it in your rusting 2000 Ford Focus instead of, say, your freshly tuned up and restored 1976 Camaro. I can also attest to the album being enjoyable if you no longer have feathered hair or any hair for that matter.

There's a lot of power in Pyromania. My favorite tracks happen to be "Action Not Words" and "Foolin'". But I will turn up the radio for "Photograph" and "Rock of Ages". Unlike other rock that suffers from severe overplay, the songs of Pyromania never bore me like the songs from other DL albums like Hysteria or Adrenalize.

Personal Note: I did see Def Leppard in Dallas at Reunion Arena in 1987 on their Hysteria (a.k.a. "hey our drummer my have one arm but he can still play) Tour. Tesla opened up for them and, while Def Leppard was good, Tesla ruled.

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