I will admit that I listen to my iPod when I go to bed, until I fall asleep. It may seem weird that I listen to heavy stuff to go to sleep, but when it comes down to it, I get really tired! So, I'm able to fall asleep despite the energy of what I'm listening to. This doesn't imply anything sleep-inducing about the music! Just, like I said, I get really tired by the time I go to sleep! Anyway, the other night, out of nowhere I got a part of the opening song on Tom Warrior's Triptykon's full-length album, Goetia - "lord, have mercy upon me" - so I put on the song, and realized quickly that I had forgotten how ridiculously heavy most parts of this song are.
After a very gloomy intro, at 1:40 "Goetia" starts to at the heaviness to come with a quieter build up, before 2:08 when the song erupts into a very doomy riff and furious double-bass drumming. The first line of Tom Warrior's atonally delivered lyrics, even, is "Satan". Doesn't get much more metal than that. After a growled bridge, at 3:20 the song breaks into one of the heaviest choruses I have ever heard - the aforementioned "lord, have mercy upon me!" section. Not much more I can say about that chorus. The song eventually gets to its outro consisting of the repeated spoken line: "Lie upon lie, mankind shall die". The chorus as well as this outro really give a doomy feeling. Tom Warrior's classic band Celtic Frost was kind of a lot of sub-genres from thrash and black to doom and death, and this really builds on the doomy elements, but also has thrash-ish vocals and growled death-ish vocals and intense, fast parts. UNFORTUNATELY I didn't find the rest of the album, except for an odd quieter track, "My Pain", nearly as memorable as "Goetia". Since I've pretty much reviewed the track, I'll give the track "Goetia" a 9.25/10, but the album would probably get a decent (but could be better) 7.25/10. I probably won't be reviewing the full album anytime soon, just because I had recently listened through it without reviewing it and would probably need a break before going through it again. It's kind of that kind of album. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad and has its moments, but just lacked memorability aside from "Goetia" and "My Pain".
On another note, I had a birthday recently, and received a Barnes and Noble gift card that was enough to buy two CDs (I don't really read books or watch movies in my spare time). The store also had a nice buy-two-get-one-free deal. However, I quickly found that Barnes and Noble's metal selection kind of... sucked. I did find a few rock albums that I had some interest in: Foo Fighters' "Wasting Light" (which I reviewed), Tenacious D's "Rize of the Fenix", and Tool's oldish EP "Opiate". Read my review for my opinion on Foo Fighters' most recent album! I have yet to listen to the other two but should be getting around to that soon. Review may or may not follow.
As I said in my introduction post, I've been eagerly awaiting the new Testament album, "Dark Roots of Earth". I've been checking its web page occasionally in hopes of song samples they said they might post, but they haven't come out with anything since the great thrashfest "True American Hate". Meanwhile, Katatonia finally opened up pre-orders of CDs and CD + shirt bundles of their upcoming "Dead End Kings", coming out at the end of August. Of course, I pre ordered a CD and shirt bundle; I will more than happily pay for an album from my 3rd or 2nd favorite band. Speaking of pre-orders, I also have a CD and shirt bundle for Testament coming; as with Katatonia, I will gladly pay for an album from my favorite band.
On a note unrelated to other peoples' music (but still music I guess) I recently got a new guitar amp head, cabinet, and a few pedals. The amp head is the Jet City JCA50H; the cabinet would be a Mesa/Boogie rectifier 2x12 horizontal; and the pedals include the Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9, Dunlop Crybaby original wah, and a Boss digital reverb. With the reverb pedal (on the "modulate" setting) I get really nice cleans, and while the amp on its own can't really do really heavy tones, the TS9 gives it the edge that a really heavy tone would need. That said, the amp can do stuff like classic "heavy" metal or older thrash really well on the overdrive channel. I'll note that I usually play a Schecter Jeff Loomis 7-string with active EMG 707s through it. Overall I'm very satisfied, but I know this won't be my last amp, if only because I'd still like something for Ola Englund-ish tones. When I graduate college I think I might accumulate enough money for my dream amp, a Mesa Mark V (from what I've heard, the Mark IV and extreme settings handle heavy stuff with ease).
Anyway, I still have quite a few albums to try. I'll be posting reviews for some albums, too. I'm seeing my late-childhood favorite System of a Down in early August, and may also see: Dream Theater later this month; Lamb of God, Dethklok, and Gojira at the end of August; Katatonia, Devin Townsend, and Paradise Lost in September (actually on my dad's birthday >_>). I have yet to get any of these tickets except SoaD; hopefully they won't sell out by the time I finally decide to act! I will be reviewing any of these concerts that I end up going to.
Thanks for reading!
Now listening to: Random metal
Recent top song: Triptykon - Goetia (if you want to skip the atmospheric gloomy intro, skip to 1:40 as it starts to build up to a song that was accurately described somewhere on the internet: "if it were any heavier, it would have a moon")
Recent Acquisitions: Tenacious D - Rize of the Fenix, Foo Fighters - Wasting Light, Tool - Opiate, Bloodbath - Resurrection Through Carnage
Recently been playing on guitar: Baritone/7-string version of Slayer - Angel of Death, rhythm parts and Dave's solos of Megadeth - Hangar 18, originals
