In The Court Of The Crimson King

Today I've decided to go with one of the most influential Prog Rock albums ever. 'In The Court Of The Crimson King' is widely hailed as King Crimson's masterpiece and landmark album in the Prog Rock movement. Originally released in 1969 the album stands up to the test of time combining elements of rock and jazz and blending it into a wonderful Prog Rock album. King Crimson were in the company of Prog Rock bands such as Genesis and Yes after this albums release. The band continued to make incredible records up until the mid 2000's. This album is definitely a headphones record. Set aside some time, put on the big ol headphones and space out to this record.

I got into this band in two different ways. Some years ago during my first tour of St. Louis I saw Saxon live. They had just released their album 'Killing Ground' which featured a cover of 'In The Court Of The Crimson King'. They played the song live and it blew me away. I went and cheeked out the original version. And while I found it to be trippy I didn't really go much further than that. Some years later when I moved back to California my Dad asked me to track down a copy of 'In The Court Of The Crimson King' for him. I did and as soon as I gave it to him he threw it on the stereo and turned it to 11. This time around perhaps with my mind a little more open I realized what a great album this really was. I listened to it when I wanted a break from the heavier and darker stuff I was into at the time. Few years later once I moved to Arizona I started to seek out their other albums. Albums like 'Red' and 'Larks Tongue In Aspect' cemented my love for the band. Even the later albums were good. Amazing live albums too. Great band that more people should really listen to.

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In The Arms Of Devastation

New week and another short run. Up to K now. This week will feature some different metal so be prepared. Starting the week off with some Northern Hyperblast from Canada. Kataklysm have been putting their spin on death metal for twenty years now. Their brutal assault has even branded them their own genre 'northern hyperblast'. One listen to any of their albums and you'll see why. Excellent metal drumming on display here. Over the years the band has released some quality albums,but for the selection here I'm going with 'In The Arms Of Devastation'. Now some people won't agree with my description of a good album here. But for me this along with 'Shadows And Dust' is their best work to date. Feature appearances by members of fellow Canadian bands Kittie and Into Eternity, this is simply a brutal album start to finish. Got way to get that aggression out on a Monday.

It seems that this album is a perfect fit for my Monday mood, dark and brutal. I got into this band around the time of their 'Shadows & Dust' record. It was brutal and perfect for getting the anger out. I got the chance to see Kataklysm few years back opening for The Haunted. Short and sweet set that made me want more. The drumming here is outstanding. What good death metal drumming should be.

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British Steel

Closing out the week with some Judas Priest. Priest along with Sabbath are credited as the Godfathers of Heavy Metal. Led by the Metal God himself Rob Halford, 'British Steel' marked a high point in the bands career as a definitive heavy metal band. Originally released in 1980, 'British Steel' kicks off with 'Rapid Fire' and from there the album doesn't look back. Containing the fan favs 'Breaking The Law' and 'Living After Midnight' this was every metal heads go to album. The band of course continues on today and continues to tour all over the world despite losing KK Downing. This is one of the albums every self respecting metal head needs to own. The version uploaded is one with the two bonus tracks of 'Red, White and Blue' and 'Grinder (Live)'.

Priest was one of those metal bands I got into very early on in my metal youth. There is no one who can match Halford's scream or voice. I saw Priest live last year on the Epitaph Tour and the band still has it, Halford still has the pipes. Priest just stands as one of the timeless metal bands. Always a good choice when you driving down the road in your Camero. Perfect for that drunken evening too.

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Maniacal Renderings

Lazy days of Summer means another round of double postings. Starting things off with some Power Metal. Jon Oliva's Pain picks up where Savatage left off in the mid 90's. Featuring the mainman of Savatage, Jon Oliva's Pain can be seen as sort of what if Savatage never broke up. Of course Jon claims Savatage never did break up it just simply morphed into Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Which given the direction the bnd was headed at the time is sort of true.'Maniacal Renderings' is JOP's second album and features songs based off riffs from the old days of Savatage, hence why the late Criss Oliva gets writing credits on the tracks. This album is really a good slice of American Power Metal. It still shows off Jon's vocals mixed with epic imagery and solid guitars. If ya dug the mid period Savatage records then this is one you should check out.

Like the majority of Americans I really like Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I've seen em on a few occasions and always marvel at the level of work they continue to do with the live shows. And most people don't realize that TSO basically came out of Savatage. Albums like 'Hall Of The Mountain King' and 'Gutter Ballet' paved the way for TSO. So naturally picking up something like JOP for me is a natural progression. It's good epic American Power Metal and while it may not have the epic chorus parts like the Euro counterparts in the genre, it's still meant to be played in front of a large crowd. The band has released a few more albums and continues on despite the recent passing of their Guitarist. Given the immense talent of Criss Oliva and the tapes left behind, I'm sure there will be plenty more JOP albums in the future.

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Selling Your Soul

Another genre jump here back into some Blues. Robert Johnson is one of the most influential Blues musicians to have graced the genre. While his career was short, he died at 27, his works remain an influence across multiple genres of music. His entire career can be summed up in two recording session. The first one taking place in a hotel room in San Antonio Texas in 1936. Those sessions yielded such tracks as 'Cross Road Blues' and 'Last Fair Deal Gone Down'. In 1937 he traveled to Dallas Texas for another session, yielding more cuts. Most of the songs that survived were multiple takes. Just a year later he would die. Although no official cause of death was ever listed, the rumor that fills the mystery is that he was poisoned with Strychnine in a whiskey bottle after flirting with a married woman at a bar. Of course the larger mystery that surrounds him is the Faustian legend of him selling his soul to the devil in exchange for become a great Blues musician. 'The Complete Recordings' features all original 29 tracks and 13 alternate takes that survived the 36-37 recording sessions. This is a 2 CD set a pretty much should be in every blues/rock fans home.

Robert Johnson's music has been widely influential across all genres. To give a reader a small example, 'Cross Road Blues' years later was reworked and made famous by Cream. Further reaching Clapton released a record called 'Me and Mr. Johnson', the album focused on covering his songs. Swedish death/doom/gothic metal band Katatonia named one of their records 'Last Fair Deal Gone Down'. Even Porky Pig can be heard singing 'They're Red Hot' in a Looney Tunes cartoon. This isn't necessarily where the Blues began, but it in fact is a rather important part of Blues history.

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The Audacity Of Hype

Double posting but on two different ends of the spectrum today. The first post deals with one of the more iconic punk frontman if you will. Jello Biafra of course was the outspoken frontman for the legendary Bay Area punkers, The Dead Kennedy's. After releasing a handful of seminal records and turning the world on its ear, Jello went on to do several spoken word records, found a record label in Alternative Tentacles, oh and run for office. Needless to say the man is always outspoken and busy. Someone in 2009 though he manged to release a new studio album under the moniker Jello Biafra And The Guantanamo School Of Medicine. Yes, that's actually the bands name. The band consists of some unknown musicians, but does feature Faith No More bassist Billy Gould. 'The Audacity If Hype', a play on an Obama phrase, is what you might expect from Jello. Political topics set to some punkish up tempo music. While it's not a bad record, it does have it's moments, mainly the hidden track which should have never been put on the record. Nevertheless it's a great album for fans of the Dead Kennedy's.

I've been a fan of the Dead Kennedy's for some years now and I've always loved how outspoken Jello has been. The is some truth to his madness and it's usually a good laugh. One of the better frontmen to emerge from the Punk movement of the early 80's, he made the Dead Kennedy's the band they became. I found this album prolly on some punk news board and decided to give it a listen. It's not bad, but it's not great. In a weird way it makes you long for a true Dead Kennedy's reunion. But seeing how that's probably never gonna happen, this will do in a pinch.

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Thane To The Throne

New week and new letter. Time for a week long run of the J's. Short run again this week as I appear to be lacking in the J department. Mix of genres this week, ranging from Power Metal to Blues and some whatever thrown in there. Starting off this week with Jag Panzer. A power metal band hailing from another unlikely spot, Colorado. Starting off in the early 80's as Tyrant, the band soon changed their name to reflect that of a WWII era German tank. Jag Panzer released the critically acclaimed album 'Ample Destruction' in 84. However the band would wait ten years before releasing their next album. Of course the next album 'Dissident Alliance' featured a new singer and the album bombed outright. The band reunited with singer Harry 'The Tyrant' Conklin and spent the rest of the 90's honing their power metal sound. In 2000 the band released 'Thane To The Throne' which was based on Shakespeare's play 'Macbeth'. Released to high praise the band continued on until they unexpectedly called it a day in 2011, shortly after releasing their new album.

'Thane To The Throne' remains as one of my favorites in the power metal genre. It took some balls to put out an album like this. As crazy as it sounds, this album really did work really well. The vocals are strong and the guitar work of Mark Briody and Chris Broderick is nothing short of stellar. I got into the band solely based on this record alone. I was finishing up High School and was deeply immersed in Brit Lit at the time. The concept fascinated me and after a spin I was sold. Jag Panzer has released some solid records over the years and sadly gets overlooked sometimes in the Power Metal discussion. I was bummed to see them call it a day. If the name Chris Broderick sounds familiar it's cause he's currently shredding in a little band called Megadeth. By the way he is an amazing guitarist both live and on the record. This is an album for people who dig the US Power Metal scene and for those curious to see how a band can pull of a concept record based on Shakespeare.

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