Archive for October, 2014

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REVIEW: Lordi – Scare Force One

Posted in CDs, Music, Uncategorized on October 30, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

So people. Lordi is back after a bit more than a year since the release of “To Beast or Not To Beast”. This time around, the theme is scarier and darker, and in case you have a fear of flying… well, let’s just say it won’t be cured. So – all aboard the aircraft Scare Force 1, and I’ll be your stewardess throughout the journey.

We’ll start the whole journey by having the choir of doom singing chanting to us in “SCG7” before it all evolves into the openintrack, which also happens to be the openingtrack. This track… this track people. It brings me all the way back to the Deadache era, and even more precisely, the song “Deadache”. It got this…. melancholic vibe to it, like, slower and more powerful with strong pre-choruses and creepy verses. An amazing start, despite the turbulence.

And this is pretty much the vibe that follows through the whole album. We got a few more intense songs – such as “How To Slice A Whore” and “Hell Sent in The Clowns” and in the stop over we got… calm songs, such as “House Of Ghosts” that immediatley makes me think of “The Ghost of the Heceta Head” off Deadache and “The United Rocking Dead” which reminds me of “Give your Life for Rock n Roll”. Even Amen has got another few more minutes in the spotlight in the shape of “Amen’s Lament to Ra II”.

When talking to peers in the past, we always said that Lordi had to do Deadache + The Monsterican Dream 2.0 in order to recover from “To Beast”, and that is precisely what this album is. A little darker, more melancholic themes, yet with the more humorous lyrics we all remember from “Babez For Breakfast”. Basically – it’s the best of Lordi’s catalouge, made into new material.

Something I wanna shed some extra light on this time around is the mixing. I’ve always been a little gutted off the last two albums hearing the keyboards being mixed extremely low, which is kinda sad since the keyboards is what adds the creepy feelings, so hearing that the keys got a little more prominent place this time warms my heart even more. This is what I call good arrangements.

As your cabincrew I can only say one more thing before landing – if you, like me, fancies The Monsterican Dream and Deadache a little more than the others, you will not under any circumstances be disappointed.

Thank you for flying Monsterican Air.

lordiscareforcecd

// Sara

CDON.com | Amazon | Ginza

 

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Day 26 – A song that you can play on an instrument

Posted in 30 Day Song Challenge, Uncategorized on October 29, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

I didn’t even need to write an intro for this one. It was waaay too easy. I play two instruments the least – The flute, and I do fingerplay on the piano. I have yet to learn chords, haha. BUT – when playing the piano I always find myself going back to this song “The Bells of Notre Dame” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame released in 1996. Written by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, performed here by Mikael Grahn (Clopin), Stefan Ljungqvist (Frollo), Håkan Hagegård(Archdeacon) and Monica Forsberg(Quasi’s mother), plus a few more.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of my favorite Disney movies, which should come as no surprise to you. A large part of why I love it so much is the music. Alan Menken is my personal GOD when it comes to compositions, and this is no exception. That’s literally the only thing I wished for Frozen – that it had been Menken who composed the music.

But yes. A song I can, and repeatedly play on the piano as well as the flute is this one.

// Sara

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Day 25 – An acoustic song you love

Posted in 30 Day Song Challenge, Uncategorized on October 28, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

Oh oh oh!

The acoustic version of “Amaranthine” by swedish metalband Amaranthe. Here’s the deal. I’ve found myself listening more and more to this version of the song lately, and I think there are many reasons why. While I do love the arrangements in the original version, I just LOVE this scaled down version where you hear their voices work a lot more. And also… can we talk about Andy’s clean voice? When he doesn’t scream? He got that kind of Ich Troje vibe going on, and guess what.

If there is any voice, beside Jason Ritter’s, that I’m weak for in this world, it’s Ich Troje. The… harshness, or how to say it… I can’t even tell you. I remember I almost flipped around when I heard it in “Amaranthine”. Jesus Christ. Now THAT’S a voice like no other. Mhm.

// Sara

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Knotfest Day 2

Posted in Concerts, Uncategorized with tags , on October 27, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

My friends! This morning I went up at 4:30 to catch SlipKnot’s second livestream from Knotfest in California. First of all, I apparently went up an hour too soon. With my calculations, it was supposed to being at 5am, and even the official page had written so. But when checking the timezone site, it was indeed at 6am it should begin. Damn it. I could have used that extra hour of sleep!

But no worries – I took the oppurtuniy to move around everything in my room, switching my computerchair for my more comfortable sparebed so I could at least have a cozy place to sit at while watching the stream.

Eventually, it began AND THANK GOD – THEY OPENED WITH “XIX“! My only complaint from last night was the fact that they didn’t open with “XIX”. I loved the song on the album, and as I said to my friend – it’s the ultimate song of doom, basically, and would cut it perfectly as an entrance song. Gladly, they finally did it.

Over all, I’m pleased. I’m a lot more pleased with the setlist for this night than the previous, and I noticed Corey didn’t have to adjust his mask as often as he did yesterday, which is good. On the other hand, his voice seemed a bit sore. I guess it happens. And while I loved the selections of songs, the energy seemed a bit missing. I wonder why.

Regardless – I’m glad I went up to see the stream, and I’ll spend a few days being bitter over not being there in person.

Here’s the full show, for all of you who didn’t get to see it this morning:

// Sara

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Knotfest 1

Posted in Concerts, Uncategorized on October 26, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

Peoples! AS WE SPEAK Knotfest is happening in the California, and you can follow the show live on Knotfest.com (unless there are technical difficulties, which it has been on and off during the night). Of Mice and Men are currently on!

The only shows I managed to catch last night however was the ones of female-fronted Butcher Babies and Black Label Society. Both shows were fine, and I was might impressed by Butcher Babies, a band I never heard of before! Sadly, I missed out on the Knot because of the timezones, but I saw a video of “Custer” earlier today and I literally died. So fucking great. Therefore, I’m going to bed earlier tonight with the plan of getting up in time for the stream tomorrow, which starts at 5 am all you Europeans (that carries GMT + 1)

So far today, up until now I’ve been able to see Devil Driver and Whitechapel. Both bands did a good job, but I’m not sure if I’d call either of the bands my cup of tea. I had hoped to be able to see Avatar, but not only did the stream go offline for me, but they also streamed Killswitch Engage instead.

With all this being said, I’ll leave you here with “Custer” and me myself, I’m heading to bed. Good night people, and see you tomorrow!


// Sara

(The whole show of the Knot from yesterday is available on youtube as well!)

 

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Day 24 – A song that you want to play at your funeral

Posted in 30 Day Song Challenge, Uncategorized on October 25, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

Oh wow… I’ve never given it too much thought, in all honesty. But a song that I do know I’ve said to people, you know, quickly, that I’d use would be this one:

“Days Gone By” by american rockgroup Slaughter. I love this song, beyond everything really, I can’t tell you enough. So I guess it might feel a bit odd I’d choose it for my death song, but some how it just fits, you know. When you are dead and gone the days has gone by… I don’t know. Can’t explain. But yes, this is the song I’d love for them all to hear while they are there. But you know, this might change. Haven’t given it too much thought, like I said…

// Sara

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Bonus Tracks

Posted in CDs, Music, Uncategorized with tags , on October 24, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

So folks! Today I’ve finally taken myself the time to sit down and really go through all the extra tracks on both my new Olly Murs album as well as The Gray Chapter. I figured I’d tell you a bit about them.

THE GRAY CHAPTER

So, let’s start off with SlipKnot. First of all – it made me very uneasy seeing they had three extra “bonustracks” on the album than what was written on the cover, and they had these “odd” titles as “-Silent-” “-Talk-” and “-Funny-” and while I’ve been a metalhead for a very long time, things like this still creeps my mind. I know they are harmless, but yeah.

But, starting off with “Override“, the first of the two original bonustracks. The song is somewhat similar to “Killpop”, or at least in the verses. I like the song a whole lot though, Perfect amount of heavier beats, enough melody and good arrangements. I want to write about the lyrics, but I’m gonna have to confess something. I had gotten the lyrics for “The Devil in I” sooooo wrong, so I rather not speak too much about it before I actually see it written down, because for all I know he might be singing something completely different…

The next song is “Burden” which starts off a lot heavier than the previous one, heavy riffs and beats, and then they have this thing in the verse where it sounds as if the vocals go up in the sky or something… It’s haunting, in a way. Similarly to XIX. It’s pretty good, but I prefer “Override” of the two.

So… let’s talk about the three mystery songs. Or songs. They are literally what they are named – -Silent- is two minutes complete silence. -Talk- is starting off with Sid and the gang working some piece, and eventually changes to a conversation between some guy bragging to either Clown or Corey or them both. Maybe Jim too, not sure. -Funny- is a clip of someone playing some instruments, not sure if I can identify them all, and Corey singing a little something in the background. Funny? Yes, haha.

grayis

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

So, let’s continue on to Olly Murs.

The first song off the bonuses is “Stop Tryna Change Me“, which I fell for immediatley. It’s a very typical Olly song. Positive, honest song about breakups (I still wonder what would happen if Olly and Taylor Swift dated and broke up…). The melody in the chorus is just… ahh. I love it. Just love it. Good start!

“That’s Alright With Me” is the next song, and it reminds me directly of The Ark’s “All I Want Is You”. Same kind of thing going on in the verse.  Cute love song, but it’s a bit overshone by the previous one.

The third song is actually a christmas song, “I wish it was Christmas Everyday” that he performed at BBC at some point. The song immediatley makes me think of Christmas. It brings me that Xmas feeling, and I just… ahh. This will be played a lot this Christmas.

“Inner Ninja” is a little funkier song. It’s amongst his littler more cocky songs, but seriously, the RYTHM! THE RYTHM PEOPLE! This is one of the tunes you’ll find me ugly dancing to. Love it. Love it. It’s a collab with Classified.

As the fifth song, we find “Did I Lose you?” which he did as a duet with Giorgia. Again, about a break up or how to put it. About how they lost each other, or did they? Well that’s the question. The song is sweet though, but no favorite.

The 6th extra track is a alternate version of “Dear Darlin‘” which he turned into a duet with Alizée. I was excited to hear this version, and imagine my surprise when I heard that her parts are sung in French! Never did I think you’d hear this song in French… But I really liked it. It added a whole new feeling to the song, like, not only did they break up, but it’s also distance related… Sorry. My storytelling brain kicked in there.

The last track on this extra CD, is the radio version of my all time favorite Murs song – “Hand on Heart“. The choirs in the beginning…. damn. I love it. The thing with this song is that, or perhaps this is the case with ALL of Ollys songs – the lyrics are what matters the absolute most. While I love the choirs in the beginning, I don’t care too much for the upbeat tempo in the verses. Not that it’s going faster, just the beat itself. BUT. The additional strings… ahh. This song NEVER EVER fails me. It’s still his best song to date. Regardless of version.

OllyPoly

Well, that’s a bit about that. Now I’m gonna go and dry my tears after listening to “Hand on Heart”.

// Sara

 

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REVIEW: Korzus – Legion

Posted in CDs, Uncategorized on October 23, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

My friends, I suppose some of you have heard of Korzus. Brazilian thrash-metalband formed in 1983 starting off their career a little odd, you’d say – by releasing a livealbum first. So far they’ve released eight albums spread over the years, and it’s been four years since they last had an album out, “Discipline of Hate”, which was praised by the press.

The album opens up with the aggressive tones to “Lifeline” – both musically, and lyrically. And this sets the tone for the whole album. Continuely, throughout the album, the theme gets heavier and heavier, and I would imagine it would when your lyrics seem to reflect the political nature of where you are from, especially thinking about the song “Broken”. The whole album is a lot heavier and darker, more intense than “Discipline of Hate”, which I must say I personally don’t find all too good.

The overall production of the album is good – the material is wellcomposed and arranged, but it’s just something that’s lacking on the album. Perhaps it’s the darker theme – but it just doesn’t speak to me.  But all in all – it’s a job well done, and I’m sure the fans will be satisfied.

CDON | Ginza |

KZ_L-C_1500x1500

// Sara

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5. – The Gray Chapter – SlipKnot

Posted in CDs, Uncategorized on October 22, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

TODAY IT FINALLY CAME. It was originally released yesterday, but I didn’t get it until today. Really though – it doesn’t matter. FINALLY.

Alright, so The Gray Chapter. It’s been six years since the Knot gave out an album, and this marks their fifth with the name being a homage to the late Paul Gray. I can’t tell you enough how excited I was for this album, and even now when I have it I can’t seem to grasp it’s actually HERE! My lord!

Anyway, with all this being said… let’s talk music, shall we?

I have always said, at least to my friends ever since “Custer” was released, that this album was going to be an absolute killer. And that’s what you’d expect you know, after six years of complete silence.

And you know what?

It is a fucking killer, excuse the french.

I’ve had the album on repeat ever since it came, and I just can’t stop listening to it. All from the terrifying “XIX” (yes, terrifying, I get chills, it feels like Corey’s gonna come and kill me or something) into the aggressive “Scarcastrophe”  to the sweeter “Killpop” to madness in “Custer” and eventually dropping out in “If Rain is What you Want”.

When “The Devil in I” came out I expected the album to be almost like “All Hope Is Gone” – more to the “soft” spectra, rather than their self-titled, but I was dead wrong, and I’m glad I was. Now, “The Devil..” has grown a lot on me ever since, but. The album is like a fine mix between “Iowa” and “Vol 3” with some small, small tiny elements from “All Hope Is Gone”, which is just fine in my opinion. It’s heavy, it’s raw, and the lyrics are as mesmerizing as always. I may have my opinions on Corey, but seriously. That man knows how to write lyrics alright. And I do like to think that the chorus in “Skeptic” is refering to Paul. It breaks my heart a little.

The only thing, if I may say so, that bothers me a tad bit, is that parts of “AOV” reminds me too much of “Dead Memories”. I found myself going “Dead memories in my heart…” when they started chanting in the chorus. The song is good, but perhaps the arrangement was a little too close to the previous one.

Alwaysmaggot asked on Tumblr what your favorite songs of the album was, and I had a hard time choosing. I’m so stuck between “Custer” and “Killpop” mostly, but you know. “Skeptic” is also good. “The Negative One” too. And “Goodbye”. You get the point. I could continue on forever about it. If we talk about the production for a while, I like what they have done with everything. Aside the little… “mishap” in “AOV”, I think it’s a well arranged album, not only in the songs themselves, but also the way they built the CD, the song order. It’s almost like a journey, if you’d like.

Well. As you’ve understood by this entry, I’m mighty impressed by the album. While I did think the album was going to be a killer, I sure as hell didn’t expect it to be THIS good.

Thanks SlipKnot, truly. Thanks.

 

Killipoppi 015

// Sara

 

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Day 23 – A song that you want to play at your wedding

Posted in 30 Day Song Challenge, Uncategorized on October 21, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

Haha, this one, unlike many others were simple as hell. I know exactly what song I want to play at my wedding.

“Hearts of Iron” by Sabaton. I had a specific idea of what I want for my wedding – if I ever have one, that is, but I won’t write it out here. Call me selfish if you want, but it’s such a bulletproof and perfect plan I don’t really want anyone to snitch it from me. Is it possible someone comes up with the same idea? Absolutely, but yeah, doesn’t matter. I wasn’t even gonna talk about that.

“Hearts of Iron”. As I’ve said before – songs to dance to, is a lot more about finding the rythm in the song rather than what genre it is. And this one works just fine. I love the song, and in a weird way, maybe it’s my weird view on relationships – even though these songs are about war, I still associate the lyrics with how a relationship works, at times. In my belief, you should only get married to someone you can truly see yourself with for the rest of your lives  – meaning you’ve overcome all the differencies, and you’ve learned to live with them and all that – thus “On the other shore, it’s the end of the war” – meaning, we’re there. You know.

Maybe I’m the only one who see it this way, maybe not. I could elaborate on it some day, but not right now. I need to study for audio engineering exam next week. On the same day as I have my globalization exam. On the same day I leave for Lordi.

Wish me luck people.

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