children of bodom

New Unknown Music Thursday First Reign As The Dead Lead The Dead

In this Unknown Music Thursday blog, we are going to get into a band that comes out of the northern part of Canada.  The band is called First Reign and the record is “As The Dead Lead The Dead.”  I have played their songs when I had a radio show on www.stfu.fm before the station shut down.  I have talked to these guys from their twitter feed and they are really nice and down to earth dudes.  I have been wanting to do a review on their record on my blog but I have been so far behind.  I now have a chance to do it and I am going to write it.  There is not much history on this death metal from Canada.  I know they are working on their second record.  Let us get into the first record.

Track List:

Inception

The opening track is “Inception.”  This track is intro to the real opening track.  I have to say I love the music from the guitars.  The drumming is pretty good.  I love how they are using the bass on this song.  It is a nice build up song.  I feel this song is great display of an opening song.  Most bands should take some notes from this song and band on how to write a good opening track.

This Ghost Of Ours

I love the insane and in your face drumming.  It is a nice step up for the fast pace music.  The guitar and bass playing is really good.  I really love the singing on this song.  They have written some nice lyrics.  There is a nice guitar solo in the first quarter of the song.  I love the lead singer’s death metal vocals.  It is pretty than most death metal singers.  There is another pretty good short guitar solo almost to the half way point of the song.  There is a nice groove to this song.  I love the music change in the back half of the song.  I love the singers screaming.  There is a nice long extended guitar solos towards the end.  I love the trade-off from the two players.

Where The Ocean Meets The Sky

I love the drumming and bass playing at the beginning.  I love the nice guitar riff with the guitar solo over the top.  This is some awesome music.  I love the singing from the singer.  I love the switch off from clean to death metal singing.  There is a nice guitar solo in the first quarter of the song.  The drumming so far on this record is off the charts.  I would put him in the same class as Richard Christy of Charred Walls Of The Damn and Iced Earth.  I love the music change in about the half way point.  Nice touch on the acoustic guitar with some nice singing over the top.  This music on this song is mind-blowing.  First Reign took the idea of Opeth to the next level.  I love the guitar works towards the end of the song.  There is some nice exiting guitar solos at the end.

Wretched Flesh

I love the drumming and guitar work at the beginning.  The bass playing is simple and there is nothing wrong with that writing.  I love the singing and the lyrics.  There is a nice pace on this song.  There is a nice guitar solo in the first quarter of the song.  I love the change in the music about the half way point of the song.  There is some awesome singing about this point of the song.  I love how they pick up the heaviest of the music after that point.  I love how they are ending this song.  It is a very good ending.

Thistle

Here is another intro song to the ending track of this great record.  I love the acoustic guitars.  The drumming is calming but still heavy enough to be a metal song.  I love the dancing bass line with an awesome acoustic guitar solo over the top of the music.

As The Dead Lead The Dead

I love how the acoustic guitar playing at the beginning of the song but yet echoes the intro song.  I love the heavy guitar and the screaming vocals in the main part of the song.  I love the melody and the singing on this song.  There is a some insane drumming on this song.  I love the music on this record.  I love the guitar solo towards the mid-point of the song.  The drumming in the last-minute of the song is off the charts.  I love the distance effects on the music at the end of the song.  This is a perfect ending to the song and the record.

Line Up:

  • Russ O’Shea – Bass
  • Sean Lang – Drums
  • Dallas Erickson – Lead Vocals
  • Chris Holtz – Guitar
  • Ryan Macdonald – Guitar

Here is their website and twitter addresses:

Website:  www.firstreign.com

Twitter:  @firstreignband

In closing, I enjoyed the music on this record and I find myself going back and re-listening to this record at least every two weeks.  I love the length of these songs.  They are long and have a ton of thought behind them.  The drumming from Sean is off the charts.  This guy practiced a ton and he is extremely talented drummer.  I love the bass playing from Russ.  I am a bass player and I could not picture myself playing that fast.  I would have to work myself up to it.  This rhythm selection makes this band what it is as far as music side. The guitar playing is off the charts from Chris and Ryan.  The guitar solos are well written.  The singing from Dallas is really good.  I love his death metal vocals and his clean vocals.  First Reign taken the idea of Opeth and took it to the next level.  I really love this band and I cannot wait to see what their next record is going to be like.  I highly recommend you checking out this band.  Go get some!  Drink it!  Enjoy it!  Metal it!  \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email:  djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter:  @djweiser

New Unknown Music Thursday Blog Mad Architect Journey To Madness

In this Unknown Music Thursday blog, we are going to get into some music that most of the readers on this blog have never heard of before.  The band is a Swedish Dark Power Metal band called Mad Architect.  Their new record called “Journey To Madness” with their new singer Snowy Shaw.  After a ton of research on the internet, I can not find too much information on this band.  Let us get into the music.

Track List:

Echoes From Beyond

The keyboards and guitars start the song.  It is slow and mystery.  The guitar riff is pretty good.  Nice intro to the record.

Dreamworld

The opening track has some killer drumming and guitar work.  I love the singers vocals.  I am not really a fan of the back up vocals.  I believe it will grow on me.  I love the movement on the guitar playing.  Snowy wrote some solid lyrics on this song.  There is a nice guitar solo towards the middle of the song.

Universal Law

I love the guitar playing at the beginning of the song.  I love the melody from the singer.  This song has a nice pace to it.  The keyboards are simple but it fits this song.  I have to say this is my favorite song off this record so far.  I believe this song should be their first single.  I love the singing between the lead and back up vocals.  The drums have a good beat and bass playing is perfect.  I love the acoustic guitar about quarter into the song.  I really do not like the singing over the acoustic guitars.  The drums are calming with a nice simple bassline.  The pick up after the acoustic part.  It comes with a nice guitar break.  I am not a fan of the singing at this part of the song.  To me, it does not really fit the music, however, it is still good and this is their music style.  The back half of the song has some really killer guitar work along with some solid drumming.  I love the guitar solo towards the end with some great singing over the top.  The drummer really made this song great.  I love the ending to “Universal Law.”

Mad Architect

I love the driving pace of this next song.  The drums and guitars are solid.  Bass player has a nice, simple but perfect bass line.  The singing on this song fits the theme and the music.  I love the time changes on this song.  There is some nice lyrics on “Mad Architect.”  I love the keyboard playing.  It really adds a nice element to this band’s sound and style.  There is a nice guitar solo towards the end of the song but I just felt it was too short.  Nice touch on the ending.

Transitions – Part 1

Here is another instrumental song on this record.  I love the guitar work and keyboard playing.  It sounds full not like most instrumental songs without the drums and bass.

Sailing Away

I love the guitar, drums, and bass playing at the beginning.  I can barely hear the keyboards.  I love the singing and the lyrics on “Sailing Away.”  Snowy’s singing is extremely strong on this song.  The music is awesome.  The drumming is off the charts.  Snowy’s singing style is starting to grow on me.  I can now hear the keyboards on this song.  I just feel at the beginning they turn it down.  There is a nice guitar break towards the middle of the song.  It turns into a nice guitar solo.  This is one of their best songs off this record.  “Sailing Away” needs to be one of the singles off this record.  Damn!   I love the drumming at the end of the song.

Floating

There is some good acoustic guitar work with some nice effects on the guitar.  I love simple drum beat when Snowy comes in singing.  Snowy’s singing is by far the best on this record.  I love the lyrics.  “Floating” has some great music on it.   This song might be the slowest song on this record but it is pretty powerful one on this record.  They did a great job on the music and how they used the keyboards to push the limits of the song.

Strange Machine

I love the music at the beginning of the song.  I love the pick up on this song.  I love the singing with some great back up vocals.  They put some thought behind this song.  There is some nice lyrics on “Strange Machine.”  There is an awesome guitar solo towards the end of the song.  It is the best solo off this record.  There is a nice ending to this song.

Altered States

This is the bonus song off the CD version. I love the music at the beginning of the song.  There is some great guitar work with some nice support from the bass playing.  The drums have been off the charts throughout this record.  There is some great singing and well written lyrics on “Altered States.”  Snowy has a nice melody.  This song has a nice pace to it.  There is a nice guitar break towards the end that turns into a nice guitar solo.  This solo fits and flows nicely in and out of the song.  I love the acoustic guitar exiting and ending of the song and the record.  The keyboards and distorted guitar fading in and out.   Nice ending!

Current Line Up:

  • Snowy Shaw – Vocals
  • Magnus Daun – Guitars
  • Erik Ferentinos – Bass
  • Zven Lindsten – Drums
  • Jorgen Oscarsson – Keyboards

Here is their website and twitter addresses:

Website:  www.madarchitectofficial.com

Twitter:  @MadArchitect777

Here is their management team:

Website:  www.metalrevelation.com

Twitter:  @metalrevelation

In closing, I do not get into too much of the dark, extreme, or death metal.  However, I will listen to it, I love the music these bands come up with but I can do without the singing.  I do love some of the singing from these bands.  I am not saying that about Mad Architect is in any sub genre of the metal universe.  They put out a great record that will have me listen to more these styles. Snowy’s singing comes close to that area of the metal world.  As I listen to “Journey To Madness” more and more, I found myself loving his singing and style.  He has a different pace and sound to other singers.  The guitar playing is really good on this record and Magnus wrote some great guitar solos on this record.  I love the work from the bassist and the keyboard player.  The drumming is off the charts from Zven.  This drummer makes this record from good to great.  I was pretty impressed with his playing.  I recommend you checking this band’s music out and let me know what you think of it.  Go get some!  Drink it!  Enjoy it!  Metal it!  \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email:  djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter:  @djweiser