King Crimson is a classic 70s progressive rock band with a unique jazzy sound that makes their music very fun and interesting. If you have heard of King Crimson at all, you probably at least know of their first album, In the Court of the Crimson King , and its popular song, "21st Century Schizoid Man". Although that album is undeniably great, I actually prefer this album, Larks' Tongues in Aspic .          The first song on the album, "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part I", begins with a peaceful soundscape made by the sound of wooden wind chimes. Eventually, this transitions into the sound of frantic fiddles. The tension slowly builds as the fiddles get louder and some guitar and improvisation on what sounds like a found object drum kit is added in. Suddenly, a loud, sludgy guitar riff blasts through, completely taking you off guard. Like a lot of king Crimson songs, this one is full of interesting exp...

        Ahhh... I love reviewing albums by my favorite bands. Melvins is an amazing band of many faces. Their music ranges from slightly bluesy hard rock, to harsh noise, to thick sludge and drone. This particular album is mostly sludge and drone, with some bluesy hard rock mixed in. In addition, the frontman, and singer, of the Melvins is a guy with crazy hair named King Buzzo, so they've also got that going for them. Some quick facts about this album: it was originally called Lysol (as seen here), but the Melvins were sued by the Lysol corporation for using their name, and was forced to change the name. The Melvins opted to just remove the word Lysol from the right side of the album, and make it self titled. Despite this, fans still refer to the album as Lysol . The cover art is a painting of a sculpture named "Appeal to the Great Spirit". This image also appears on the cover of a Beach Boys live album, The Beach Boys in Concert . You may no...

Man, its been a long time since I've posted on this blog. This doesn't necessarily mean that I'll be back to posting regularly, but this is something I've been wanting to do for a while. Pink Floyd is one of my favorite bands, and I've been listening to them a lot recently, so I decided to make the official, definitive list of Pink Floyd albums from best to worst. That's right, if you disagree with me you are wrong. Just kidding, but enough joking around, here it is! One of the few photos of all members of Pink Floyd together. (Left to Right, Top to Bottom) Nick Mason, Syd Barret, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, David Gilmour #1 The Wall Yes, The Wall is my favorite Pink Floyd album, come at me Floyd purists. The Wall is one of those albums that fans like to say is bad/overrated retroactively because it got too popular, also maybe because it has a sound that is much different and more accessible than a lot of their albums. But regardles...

Listen Here         Q ueens of the Stone Age (QOTSA) is an interesting band because each of their albums is like a new experience; Songs for the Deaf is very hard rock, Villains is more dance rock, and Lullabies to Paralyze is softer, stoner rock. Despite this, I'd say QOTSA is a stoner rock band since that is their most common sound. The band is led by Josh Homme who also is a founding member of Kyuss and the Eagles of Death Metal. Homme formed the band after the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, and a short tour with Screaming Trees. The band started named Gamma Ray, and released an EP of the same name, but after being threatened with a lawsuit by a German power metal band, Gamma Ray, they changed the band's name to "Queens of the Stone Age". They took this name from a nickname given to Kyuss by the band's producer, Chris Goss; "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone A...

Listen Here         I t's October, and Halloween is around the corner, so I thought I'd celebrate with some spooky, Halloween themed bands, or maybe just a band that has a name that sounds like Halloween. If I feel up to it, I might even make a second post this month on Halloween with a second Halloween themed band.          Helloween is one of the original power metal bands, and is credited with creating the genre which is modern European power metal. Despite the band's name, Helloween isn't really a Halloween themed band, although the do have a few songs on the topic. Helloween's music is often very grand and whimsical in nature with fantastical themes. Considering Helloween is a band that helped found power metal it's not very surprising that the genre is also characterized by fantastical themes and  grand melodies. In addition both also feature singers with clean vocals and large vocal ranges. Hello...

Listen Here         Y ou might notice that I'm trying out a new format for my posts, based on suggestions I received. Instead of putting the album art and link at the bottom of the review, I'm putting them at the top so you can easily look at the art and listen to the album while you read the review. I haven't decided if I like this new format yet, so I might change back in a few weeks, I don't know, we'll see. Anyway, lets get to the review.         I mmortal is what I'd call an important band: they aren't necessarily the best, the founding, or even the most famous band of the genre, but they without a doubt had a lasting impact on it and music in general. Immortal is a Norwegian black metal band, which stands out due to their good recording quality, relatively accessible sound, and unusual melodies. Immortal's early albums were still in the style of traditional, second wave black metal, but At the Heart of Wi...

Here's a great band: Muse. Muse is one of my favorite prog/ alt rock bands. They often have catchy, melodic, symphonic songs and dramatically sang vocals that remind me of opera. Their music is always unique and interesting, with each track being a new experience and each album a new journey. Their song styles range from electronic, disco esque, songs to dramatic ballads, to head banging hard rock tracks.         This is one of my favorite Muse album covers because there is a lot to wonder about when you look at it. We can see the shadows of people who are flying overhead with some kind of divine or paranormal power and a man who is looking up at them in wonder/terror. There are a lot of ways to interpret what is happening here. Maybe this is the rapture and the "true" Christians are flying to heaven as the apocalypse is beginning, maybe some ancient power has been unleashed and has given humans the power of flight; They seem to be flying symmetr...