Heavier Music

I think this is the last genre listing I'm going to do for a bit so that I can start on track by track full album reviews. I am pumped.

Alexis On Fire- Watch Out!!
This is the only Alexis On Fire record that I still love. It seemed to be the one in which Dallas Green's and George's vocals seem to collide in a mess of beauty and confusion. The math like guitar playing must be mentioned as well, for it seems to be one of the things that got them famous in the first place. Alexis On Fire did a lot to thrust this genre into the lime light, bringing a lot of good bands (and yet soo sooo many shitty ones) into the publics eye. They were a huge influence for the few years they were hugely popular, and I find this album solidifies their right to be given the voice they had.
Notable Tracks- Control, No Transitory and Happyiness By The Killowat.

At The Drive In- This Station Is Non-Operational
First off, this is a REALLY good title for a compilation album that was made after the bands break up, especially considering that it is a lyric from one of their most popular songs "One Armed Scissor" (Don't even get me started on how I believe Billy Talent ripped this song off, made it suck and got famous off of it. Fuck You "Try Honesty"). This album has a lot of energy, I'm a huge fan of the very wide range of tempos used across each song, the variety is very much something I can get used to in the post hardcore genre. The amount Cedric voice improved once he entered the Mars Volta is just astounding though.
Notable Tracks- One Armed Scissor, Metronome Arthritis and Fahrenheit.


Buried Inside- Chronoclast
This is just one wonderful concept album. Heavy as shit. Drummer is incredible. The vocals consist of only screaming, which I'm usually not a fan of. HERE is what makes this difference. The vocals are mixed into the tracks quieter then normal, almost as if it was just another guitar sound. This makes this album blend so much more then it did before. The frantic drumming matched with the melodic guitar just makes this an epic masterpiece. The fact that this band is loud, and they ARE very loud, and they don't depend on the fact that they are loud to be good makes me really happy. Too many people depend on writing loud music that they assume is good because it sounds good in their jam spaces, but this does not translate very well to record.
Notable Tracks- Every Song is written to blend into eachother, so as this album is just one giant track, I couldn't really choose any notable tracks.

Circa Survive- Juturna
My My My, I find this vocalist to be very very powerful. The heavily distorted background just seems to bring out his vocals that much more, as oppose to bury them which is standard with louder music. For me this album truely starts at track 2, Act Appalled. I think it gets off to a misleadingly weak starting with the first track, but the rest of the album is very very solid. Some nice guitar playing as well, but I usually focus on the vocals for this one.
Notable Tracks- Act Appalled, The Glorious Nosebleed and In Fear And Faith.

Coheed And Cambria- Burning Star IV Albums
Vol 1- Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness and Vol 2- No World For Tomorrow represent this band for me. I am not a fan at all of their albums prior to these two, and seeing as Vol 2 appears to be a sequel of Vol 1, I feel as if I can put them under the same listing (really i just can't decide which one is better). The moment this band decided to make an album that was a bit slower and a bit heavier was the moment they became embedded in my mind. Enjoy!
Notable Tracks- Vol 1- Welcome Home, Vol 2- No World For Tomorrow and Feather.

Deftones- White Pony
This is the Deftones at their prime. It is missing a couple essential tracks in their catalogue, but overall it is the one I find myself throwing on the most. Honourable mention to "Around The Fur" though, that album tends to rock shit too. Anyway, if there are any Deftones fans out there who don't have the full copy of this album, I just don't understand how you sleep at night. The Maynard Keenan guest vocals are a really nice treat as well.
Notable Tracks- Passenger, Digital Bath and Knife Party.

Horse The Band- The Mechanical Hand
This band constantly switches between being incredibly good to just hillarious, somehow without there ever being a moment inbetween. This is a very very fun record. I love the nintendo keyboards, they warm up my heart.
Notable Tracks- Manateen, The Black Hole and Octopus On Fire.

Isis- Panopticon
This album could have very easily landed in my post rock section, but for some reason it feels more at home here. Such good build ups and evolution of repitition throughout all the tracks. Vocals are only used WHEN they should be, which I love. I hate vocalists who sing all the time just because they can. This scarcity of vocals in this album make them just so much more effective when they are used.
Notable Tracks- In Fiction, So Did We and Altered Course.

The Mars Volta- Deloused In The Comatorium
This album has two sides too it. Half of it is some of the best and most complex song writing I have ever heard. Cedrics voice grew leaps and bounds since his days in At The Drive In and creates some of the most epicly written songs of all time (in my mind of course). Problem, the OTHER half of the album is experimental noise, which I am really really not a fan of. Randomn Noise has its place, and I don't believe that it is on this album. Still good though.
Notable Tracks- Cicatriz ESP, Televators and Drunkship Of Lanterns.
Honourable mention the their album that succeeded this one though, Frances The Mute. That shit is good.

Neurosis- A Sun That Never Sets
Let me just say that I don't have enough experience with this band to claim that this is by far my favourite record of theirs, but I do really enjoy it. They do include a lot more clean vocals on this record from what I have heard of their other stuff. How slow and heavy this album is makes it perfect if you have a long walk ahead of you, almost all the tempos are at walking speed and yet its so heavy it gives you the energy needed to do the trek. The album ends with what you think is your cd screwing up constantly and skipping, but its just built into the cd. I find that to be a damn cool concept.
Notable Tracks- From The Hill, Stones From The Sky and The Tide.

Opeth- Damnation
This is by no means at all a heavy album. The rest of Opeth's music is, this album is just a tangent into the realm of calmer music. I wouldn't feel right putting Opeth in any other section, and yet this album doesn't really fit here. Oh well, no matter, this album is just grand. You can hear a lot of middle influences in the guitar structure and song structure, and yet it is nowhere NEAR a metal album like the rest of their discography. Also, he has a really nice voice when he's not screaming (his scream is still pretty sick though).
Notable Tracks- Window Pane, Death Whispered A Lullaby and Hope Leaves.

A Perfect Circle- Thirteenth Step
While I like Tool much better, Maynard Keenans voice shines throughout this record like it never could in Tool. This band offers more of a solid rock sound then his other while still keeping their experimental roots. This band line up works damn well, too bad they released Emotive after.
Notable Tracks- The Noose, Blue and The Package.

Thursday- War All The Time
The energy released from this album gets me going every single time. Chances are you lump Thursday in with a million bands that they should not be associated with, but alas, they are deffinitly a worth while listen.
Notable Tracks- Marches And Manuevers, War All The Time and Division Street.

Tool- AEnima
I found this album to be released between the times that Tool was just an odd sounding rock band and to when they became more experimental, laying nestled between these two times in Tools career lies AEnima, a perfect blend of the two worlds that have created this band. Damn good musicianship all across the board on this one (especially the drummer), props to to the odd time signatures and time changes, it keeps me on my toes trying to tap along. I like it.
Notable Tracks- Eulogy, Stink Fist and Pushit.

Thats it for now