Saturday, May 28, 2011

Turn On the Lights

Hey guys,

HAD to come back yet again and post this.

Taking a brief break from Opeth, I noticed that one of my absolute favorite musicians had posted some of his new stuff on SoundCloud.

The musician is Matthew Good. Any longtime readers of this blog have already read about him. Any of you who've ever been around me and brought up the briefest notion of asking what my favorite music is have heard me mention him.

His new album "Lights of Endangered Species" drops this coming Tuesday, May 31 and it will be amazing because the man doesn't put out bad records.

Here's a few tracks from it (that I heard tonight for the first time and immensely enjoyed).

Lights Of Endangered Species by Matthew Good

Peace...

First Reveries

Hey guys,

Told ya I'd be back soon.

Keeping on with my latest obsession of the band Opeth: I spun their eighth album, 2005's "Ghost Reveries" tonight for the first time.

Kneejerk reaction: I'm fucking blown away...

Anyway... Like "Damnation", this album spawned a music video. The only single from the album was called "The Grand Conjuration". Here's the music video.

The Grand Conjuration



So, there's that. The only single from "Ghost Reveries" and quite the disturbing and spooky video to go with.

Also, I found it interesting to learn that Gene Hoglan (of Strapping Young Lad and many other projects) played drums on only this track of the album. One final note about the song is that it's actually about twice this long on the album. Ahhhh, radio singles, huh?

The only other thing I have to share with you guys about this album (at the risk of sacrificing my manhood) is that it brought me to tears at one point. From the video for "The Grand Conjuration" above, you might think that I was scared to death and crying for my mommy, but I was actually MOVED to tears.

There's a song on the album called "Hours of Wealth". I'm not gonna post it now (because it's almost certainly going to be one of my faves for the mini-review), but it's a kind of sad, almost bluesy kind of song (which goes to show you the versatility of this band) and it's absolutely beautiful.

Anyway, now that you've all discovered I'm an artsy pansy, I'll take my leave of you. Just wanted to throw those couple things out there about "Ghost Reveries".

I should be back soon. Any of you that were privy to my chronicles here on the blog of my time in London last year will hopefully be getting the same treatment for the city of New Orleans beginning in just over a week. I wanna try and get back here with maybe even some other things before that, though.

A few of you have tweeted at me and Facebooked me to let me know you're reading and I thank you wholeheartedly. It means the world. Take care and...

Peace...

Friday, May 27, 2011

Damnation 101

Hey guys,

Welcome to the 101st post of The Llog! I know, it's really not that stellar since it's taken me 3 or 4 years to post that many, but still... 101 posts!

Anyway, since resuming regularly on The Llog, I've been posting about the music of a band called Opeth. I can't stop listening to them.

About a week ago I posted a small review for their sixth album ("Deliverance") and then let you guys know that I was moving on to the seventh ("Damnation") for listening. I've been spending about two weeks on each album as I listen through the band's catalogue, but the combination of this being a short album and pretty straightforward compared to their others and also the fact that I've got massive driving time coming up this weekend... I wanted to delve into a new album for listening.

Soooo... This will serve as my little mini-review for "Damnation".

I've gone from thinking this might be my favorite Opeth album (before listening), to thinking it might be my least favorite (upon the first couple listens) to thinking it's a pretty damn good album (now).

The reason I thought it might stand out to me before listening was the fact that I knew going in that there were no growled, grunted, or screamed "death metal style" vocals. While I really don't mind the growled vocals (Really. I don't at all.), I love Mikael Akerfeldt's clean singing voice. Love it.

Still, though, there was something about this one... It's nice, it's mellow, the songs are magnificent, but I think I really like the mix of the heavy and soft music on all other Opeth releases just a bit better.

That said, I'm not going to take anything away from "Damnation". Equal parts beauty, melancholy, and genius, this is a great offering from Opeth.

Let me post for you below the track that's probably become my favorite on the album. Enjoy "To Rid the Disease" below.



To Rid the Disease



I love that song. Though, it's pretty mellow, there's just something eerie behind it. Beautiful... but eerie. And the chorus. It's so good that Mikael has used the vocal melody in two songs. The other tune is actually by a side project of his called Sorskogen and is sung in his native Swedish. YouTube that one if you're interested. It's the only song Sorskogen has to my knowledge.

Also, I LOVE the melody in just that one little line of background vocal that appears for the first time at 2:49. "I have lost all trust I had in you..." There's just something about it.

And well... I'm not able to do my usual and post a heavy song and a mellow song from this release since they're all pretty laid-back, so let's do a song with vocals and one without. I'll post the instrumental "Ending Credits" below.



Ending Credits



I absolutely love the tone of the lead guitar in that track. So smooth and almost bluesy. Mikael said in the DVD "Lamentations" that the song was "totally ripped of from a band called Camel" who have been said to be one of his major influences. I may have to check them out.

Anyway... There are my thoughts on "Damnation". I'll be moving on to the eighth album "Ghost Reveries" now. I'll be back with some things about that and perhaps some other things... maybe sooner than you think.

Peace...

*-Note: The above video for "Ending Credits" was not an official video for the song, but it was the only one I could find with audio of the song. Thanks to YouTube user grossheria for putting that one together and posting it.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Lamentations

Hey guys,

I made it...

If you've read the last two posts since I've started going regular again with The Llog, you've noticed that one of my current obsessions is the band Opeth.

One of the reasons I've been listening to the band nonstop (aside from absolutely loving their music) is that one of their concerts is streaming instantly on Netflix. I've been trying to listen to and get to know the first seven albums as quickly as I can so I could watch the concert, be familiar with the music and enjoy it (to make sure I got it before it might possibly stop streaming).

And tonight that's what I did.

The DVD of the concert is called Lamentations: Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire and I believe the whole of the concert is featured on Netflix. My only sadness at the whole ordeal is that none of the bonus footage of the DVD is streaming on Netflix. Included in that is a "making of" feature for the "Deliverance" and "Damnation" albums that I'd really like to see.

The band played the concert in two sets. The first set was the mellow side of the show and included the whole "Damnation" album, as well as a couple of extras.

Why don't we take a look at one of the songs that's become a favorite from the album as I've been listening. Enjoy "In My Time of Need" below.



In My Time of Need



The second half of the show (after a brief intermission) was definitely the heavy side, including tracks from "Deliverance" and "Blackwater Park". It featured tracks from these albums somewhat more typical of the band's sound (ten minutes plus in length, varying heavyness, epic). Here's an example of one of those tracks, one of my favorites from "Blackwater Park". Enjoy "The Leper Affinity".



The Leper Affinity



Man... I love this whole song, but that part with the clean vocals starting at 5:08 really gets me. Nice...

Anyway, guys... There's another post on Opeth. Wanted to share a bit about that performance after enjoying it and really all of the music of this band so much. Comment or drop me a line on the listed social media to rap about any of these things.

Be well, guys.

Peace...

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Quick Damnation

Hey gang,

Back two days in a row on the Llog! How 'bout that?!

Anyway...

If you read the very last post, you'll know that I've finished my listening of Opeth's sixth album "Deliverance". Now that I've moved on to the seventh album, "Damnation", I thought I'd throw a thing or two up about it.

Firstly, don't let the title fool you. Judging by Opeth's past albums and especially the album before it being perhaps the heaviest in the Opeth catalog, you might expect an album with a name like "Damnation" to be an all-out, face-smashing, blistering, death metal album. It's not. In fact, it's exactly the opposite.

"Deliverance" and "Damnation" were originally intended be be released as a double album, but due to record company restraints, they were released separately. "Deliverance" was to be the heavy portion of the release, with "Damnation" exploring the more mellow side of the band's work. It happened that way, but just on two separate releases.

This album is like none other so far by Opeth. The are absolutely NO death metal style vocals, and after listening once, I'm hard pressed even to remember a heavily distorted guitar. I don't really think there are any.

What we do hear has been called an exploration of the band's 1970's progressive rock interests. Whatever you'd label it, it's definitely different for the band.

To examine that a little and to show you the second music video ever spawned by the band, let's take a look at "Windowpane" below. There's a little bit of an MTV's Headbanger's Ball intro on it, but it's the only version I could find of the official video. Enjoy.



Windowpane



So there you have it.

I'll post a review and a couple of favorite tracks probably in a couple weeks when I'm ready to move on to the next album, but wanted to throw this info up for personal record and anyone who might be interested.

Be well, all...

Peace...

Friday, May 20, 2011

Deliverance (the kind that doesn't involve dueling banjos)

Hey guys,

I know, I know...

If any of you are even still checking here for updates, it's been over six months since I've posted anything here. I've still been taking things in, but I've been posting about them over at my Facebook page.

Upon thinking and thinking about returning to the Llog, though, and some inquiries about it by new acquaintances in the realm of social media, I've decided to come back here, post and TRY and keep it semi-regular if I can. I mean, if someone's asking for more of my input on the things I take in and is actually listening to what I have to say... Well, then call me vain, but I feel the urge to get on it. :)

Anyway, in a capacity that almost scares me, I've been listening to a band called Opeth. I've listened to almost nothing else for, oh, probably a couple of months now. I've done a little "mini-review" of each one of their albums and have posted those on Facebook. If you're interested, you can dig through my wall or if anyone cares THAT much, leave a comment here on the Llog and maybe I'll revisit some of those reviews here.

Now then, I've finished up my listening of Opeth's sixth "observation" (album) this evening. What I've been doing on Facebook is posting some of my favorite tracks and saying a bit about them. Here it goes for "Deliverance".

*-NOTE: I know I say this on almost every post where I'm referencing videos and such, but the names of the tracks I post will appear ABOVE the songs. Just in case you wanna go listen to or buy them or whatever...

From the very first time I spun this album I've gotta say that the title track "Deliverance" just slapped me in the face. In a good way. Take a listen below.



"Deliverance"



With Opeth songs, though I love mostly ALL parts of every song, it's always the parts with the clean (not the growled "death metal vocals") vocals that are playing over and over again in my head all day. I enjoy them in this song, as well. There's a nice, mellow part at 1:50 that has some of these and also another heavier part at 5:00.

The one that really gets me for this song, though, is the part at 8:58. There are a few vocal lines (you'll hear them starting with "Deliverance...") that have a reverb on them and kind of bounce back and forth over each other, echoing eerily. I've been in love with that part since first hearing it.

At 9:58, we start a nice heavy jam devoid of vocals. It's got a heavy groove with staccato guitar parts and speedy double bass driving them along. This too, really caught my hear, even from first listen. I love it.

The last minor thing that I love about this one is just the presence of a couple of piano chords at the end. The piano kind of backfades (comes up in volume) until the actual chord is hit and then fades back away. Something minor, but a genius touch, in my opinion. You can hear it at 13:00 into the song.

And now, contrasting (as I usually do) I'll throw up one of the more mellow pieces from the album. This is one of the shortest Opeth offerings in their catalog, but a beautiful short instrumental that I think will stick with you. Enjoy "For Absent Friends" below.



"For Absent Friends"



I love this one. And if you cant afford two minutes and seventeen seconds to listen to pure beauty, the thing that really wows me on this one is the simply gorgeous lead guitar work, starting at :50.

Well folks...

The Llog is back and I've said my piece about Opeth's "Deliverance".

I'll try not to stay away so long this time.

Peace...