Mechanic Hippies

...And Oceans were a Finnish metal band that evolved from a symphonic black metal act to a hodgepodge of industrial/electronic metal. An interesting band to say the least. Think along the lines of KMFDM meets Ministry. Today's selection is the album 'The Symmetry Of I - The Circle Of O'. Regarded as the bands best album, the album features some amusing song titles. Worth a listen if you wanna expand the metal horizons.

Download

Air

Continuing with the A-Z marathon of music with another week of A's. Starting this week off with some mellow rock. 'Air' is the debut record from Agua De Annique. Fronted by former The Gathering singer Anneke Van Giersebergen, the album isn't too far off from what fans of The Gathering have become used to over the years. A mix of beauty and heartfelt soul. Recommended for fans of The Gathering and mellow rock fans.

Download

So What

Closing the week off with some dirty ol UK Punk. You may recognize the band as being one of the many Metallica has covered over the years. That's right it's The Anti-Nowhere League. Putting up the expanded verison of 'We Are..The League' for your pleasure or simply something to play to scare off the neighbors. The band made a small splash in the punk scene. Most notably with the obscenity laced 'So What', which of course Metallica covered and recently played live with Animal during their 30th anniversary gigs. So if ya like the crusty ol punk, grab this one.

Download

Acoustico

With the first snow of the year finally hitting us, today's album in a way seems fitting. Going with something a little more mellow and acoustic. 'In Parallel' is a live album from Anneke Van Giersbergen (ex-The Gathering/Aqua De Annique) and Danny Cavanagh (Anathema). Recorded in Holland back in 2009, this CD features the duo covering material from their own bands. This is simply stripped down back to basics rock. Perfect for a change of pace or fans of The Gathering.

Download

Peachy

Southern Classic Rock time. Going back for some influential southern rock blues. The Allman Brothers were one of the early classic rock groups I got into during my early days. The band has released some amazing records over the years and despite tragedy continues to tour in many off shoots of a band. Going with the best of 'Decade Of Hits' for the post. The title of the blog tonight refers to their classic 'Eat a Peach' record. Side note, there is a Space Ghost episode named after one of the tracks here. Which one? I'll leave that up to you to find out.

Download

Standards

So for today's post I'm gonna take things in a Jazz direction. Well sort of. Today's offering is 'Goodbye To Romance: Standards For A New Generation' from The Alex Skolnick Trio. Now some of you may recognize the name, Alex of course currently shreds it up in Testament. He's also played with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, as well as Savatage. This showcases Alex's other side, Jazz. Simply a 3 piece that started out covering metal/rock songs and interpreting them into Jazz pieces. Sure you could throw this into a novelty category, but it's really not. Bands covered here include KISS, Aerosmith, The Scorpions, The Who, and the mighty Black Sabbath. Recommended for a change of pace and Jazz fans.

  Download

New Endings

New year and time for some new changes. I've decided to make this a dedicated music blog, not just one I randomly update. I'm going for the M-F feel of things. So from here on out, every Mon-Fri I'll post something up, maybe with a little backstory about the record or what not. Every year or so I rummage through my ever expanding music collection and go A-Z. I stumble across stuff I forgot about, lost classics and stuff I haven't even listened to yet. So I decided to take it a step further posting some stuff you may have heard and stuff you may not have, everything from Metal/Rock/Punk/Jazz/Blues and the occasional wtf. So we start with the A's. Might stretch it out over two weeks see how things fly.

First up is the band Age Of Silence. A sort of prog/avant garde supergroup. I really hate to use that word, but when it fits. The band hails from Norway and features Hellhammer (Mayhem/Winds/Dimmu Borgir/etc) and Andy Winter (Winds/Sculptured). It's not what you may expect from a Norwegian Metal band, but it definitely has it's moments. Releasing only a full length and an EP so far since 2004, safe to say everyone is busy with their other bands. I'm posting the debut 'Acceleration'. Production wise it's done really well. However the vocals and the keys are the standouts here. Recommended for the open minded metal head and for fans of prog.

Download