soulfly

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 My Enemyz Blood And Now Welcome…Pain

CD-Cover

In this Unknown Music Thursday blog, we are going to get into a new and unknown band, which is My Enemyz Blood.  This is their first record and it is called “And Now Welcome…Pain.”  There is not much history on this because it is a young and upcoming band.  This band was formed in the summer of 2012. This record, which is their first one, was release this year. Their second guitar, who is Rudy, joined in June the same year. They mix a few different styles of Metal.  They talk about it on their Bio on ReverbNation.com which is Groove Metal and Thrash Metal.  I cannot see Lamb Of God and Zakk Wylde sound.  I hear more Pantera type of style with heavier feel that we received in the 2000’s.  Let us get into the music.

Track List:

And Now Welcome…Pain

I love the sampling and the heavy guitar with some solid drumming at the beginning of the song.  The singer is classic in your face extreme metal vocals.  He does more singing than the old school guys.  He is more like Shadowfalls and Pantera.  I love his singing and the lyrics.  The guitar playing is heavy and solid.  The drumming and bass are a perfect support to this band.  I love the guitar break and into a nice solo towards the end of the song.  This is a great opening track.  I love the ending of this song.

Sick

I love the guitar work at the beginning.  I love the singer’s singing at the start of the song.  It is perfect for the song.  I love the lyrics on this song.  There is some solid drumming and bass playing on it.  I love the guitar playing.   Damn that is one awesome drum beat with some sick playing on guitar.  I love the guitar solo towards the middle of the song.  I love the in the face that this song gives the listener.

Eternal Hell

I love the start of this song with a nice church bells.  This reminds me a classic Slayer song called “Rain Of Blood” with that guitar riff.  I love screaming from the singer and the singing.  There is some solid lyrics and drumming with support from the bass player.  The guitar playing has a nice grove to it.  I love the guitar breaks between the singing.  There are parts of this song reminds me of old school Pantera.  I love the ending.

Face Your Fears

I love the sampling of the guitar and drumming.  It just snaps forward with the lead singer right in your face.  I love the pace of this song.  He has written some nice lyrics.  He is the modern-day Phil Anselmo of Pantera.  There is some solid music from the bass, guitar and drums.  My Enemyz Blood did a great job writing some killer music on this song.  I love the guitar work.  Holy shit!   I do not say that too much about guitar players work since I am a bass player.  I love the ending of this song.

Oblivious

I love the guitars, bass and drumming right in your face at the beginning of “Oblivious.”  I love the classic Megadeth break and the guitar playing and right into the main riff with the singer singing over the top.  I am not much a fan of this singing I have to say he has put his twisted on it that I like.  There is some over the top guitar playing on this song.  I will have to say these two guitar players have taken this band’s music to the next level.

Redacted

I love the screaming and drumming to guitar work.  I love how they have two guitar players that give a solid and thick sound to all their songs.  I love his singing but I am having a hard time understanding what he is singing.  I love the sample from the news and there is a killer bass playing.  This band needs to bring him out more often.  I love the build up to the end of the song.

Ultimate Revenge

I love the drumming at the beginning of the song.  There is a killer riff on the guitars.  I love the guitar break before the singer comes into the song.  There is some solid singing from the singer.  I love the lyrics.  They wrote some awesome music on this song.  I love the music towards the end of the song.  They did a great job on the back up vocals and they are well placed.

When I Leave Here

I love the fade into the song.  I love the music and the pace of this song.  I love drumming and the bass playing.  There is some sick guitar riffs on this song.  I love the rhythm on the singing and the melody from him.  I love the lyrics he is singing on “When I Leave Here.”  This is a nice driving song from start to finish.  I love the guitar break to a nice guitar solo towards the end of the song.

Flowz Like Blood

I love the drumming and guitar playing on this song.  The bass playing is pretty solid and the singer seems like he is loss on this song.  I am not fan of the melody and rhythm of his singing that is what I mean loss.  I love the music on this song.  Singer has written some solid lyrics.  I love the well placed back up vocals.  I love the guitar break between the singing.  There is some nice time changes on this song.  There is sick guitar solo towards the end of the song.  I love how they ended that song and the record.

Line Up:

  • Richie Z – Lead Vocals
  • Kevin Mendenhall – Lead Guitar
  • Allen Blackwood – Drums
  • Mike Zimmerman – Bass
  • Rudy Gutierrez – Rythm Guitar

Here is their website and twitter addresses:

Website:  www.myenemyzblood.com

Twitter:  @MyEnemyzBlood and my guys @myenemyrudy and @MyEnemyMike

In closing, I have to say this is a pretty solid record from start to finish. The drummer and the guitar playing made this record the way it is from start to finish.  I love the pace of all the songs.  They are in your face and they will not let up.  They are killing your ass from the start of the record to the end.  I am not a fan of this kind of singing but the singer is pretty good.  They have master the art of writing some nice driving songs.  My Enemyz Blood is great at starting out all their songs.  There are not many bands that can get that right.  This band has found a way to do a good job on that part of song writing.  The only knock I have towards this band.  There is really no ending to any of their songs.  They just stop.  There is nothing wrong with that but the record sounds like one big song.  I know there is not what they are trying to get at because they are not like Mastodon or Rush.  Overall, this is a band is growing into their selves.  I believe adding the second guitar player and another mind to this mix.  I believe they will solve problems and come out with new ideas.  I pretty excited to see how this band turns out in the future.  I am hoping to see and meet these guys in person one day.  It was an honor to listen and write to this review.  Thanks My Enemyz Blood and Rudy for sharing this with me.  I recommend you checking their music out if you are a metal person.  Go get some and pass the word around!  Drink it!  Enjoy it!  Metal it!  \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email:  djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter:  @djweiser

New Music Monday Blog Drowning Pool Resilence

In this Music Monday blog, we are going to get into the new release from a 2000’s hard rock and metal band, who is Drowning Pool.  The record is called “Resilience.”  We are going to get into the history of the band and then into the music.  Let us get into the history of Drowning Pool.

History

Drowning Pool was founded in 1996 in Dallas, Texas founded by C.J. Pierce, who is the guitar player, and Mike Luce, who is drummer.  They met Stevie Benton, who is the bass player, and then Dave Williams, who is the original lead singer.  Their first record, which is “Sinner” was released in 2001 and band went into the mainstream when they played Ozzfest. Dave Williams was founded dead in his tour bus.  He had some heart problem that he did not know about.  In 2003, Drowning Pool replace Dave Williams with Jason Jones.  They shift the music style from the dark to more of mainstream sound.  They band release their second record called Desensitized in 2004.  They band had success with a single called “Step Up” however, the record did not do that well.  Jones band left the band in 2005.  Ryan McCombs, who is the former ex singer of Soil at the time, replace Jones on vocals in 2005.  In 2006, the band recorded a new song for The Saw movie.  The band then signed a record contract with Nikki Sixx’s new record label, which is Eleven Seven Music.  Drowning Pool released their third record called “Full Circle” in 2007.  In 2009, the band released their first live record called “Loudest Common Denominator.”  The band started working on their fourth record which would be self-titled.  The record was released in 2010.  This mark a first in the band’s history that the band had the same lead singer on two records in a roll.  The band started working on their fifth record, however, Ryan McCombs left the band to reunite with his former band, who is Soil, in 2011.  Drowning Pool replaced McCombs with Jasen Moreno in 2012.  That same year, they released their first single, which was called “In Memory Of,” for their up coming record on the ten anniversary of their original lead singer’s death.  It was a tribute song for Dave Williams.  “Resilience” was released in 2013.  This is the record that will be featured on this blog.  Let us get into the music.

Track List:

Anytime Anyplace

The opening track is in your face and driving music.  There is some nice heavy guitar, drums and bass.  I love the singing from the singer.  It kind of reminds me of their first lead singer.  The drumming is pretty solid.  This is a pretty heavy song and reminds me of the music from their first record.  Jasen singing is solid and lyrics are very good.  This is a great opening song to “Resilence.”

Die For Nothing

I love the beginning for the music.  There is some soild guitar, bass, and drumming playing here.  I love Jasen’s singing on “Die For Nothing.”  He wrote some solid lyrics.  This is a pretty solid song and straight in your face.  I love the guitar break towards the end of the song.

One Finger and a Fist

I love the start to the song.  It is just Jasen singing.  I love the pace of this record and song.  I love the drumming, bass and guitar playing on this song.  This song is clearly going around the singer which was the case on most of their songs on the first record.  I love they have gone back to that for their roots.  This is Drowning Pool music.  Jasen has written some nice lyrics and his singing is pretty solid.  There is a quick guitar solo towards the end of the song.  This is song is in your face from the start to the finish of the song.  I can understand why this was a single off this record.

Digging These Holes

I love the guitar riff at the beginning of the song.  I love the drumming and bass playing.  The singer is singing is spot on with some great lyrics.  I love the guitar and bass playing towards the end of the song that lead into a pretty good guitar solo.  This is a pretty solid song.  It is in your face but in a nice way.  The ending could have been better.

Saturday Night

This is another single off this record.  I love the music at the beginning of the song.  I love the singing from the lead and back up singers.  I love the lyrics  on “Saturday Night.”  I love the guitar break between the singing.  The drummer is playing his ass off on this song.  What was that?  That was a great guitar riff that should have been explored at the end of the song.

Low Crawl

I love the music at the beginning.  The drumming is off the charts with some nice support from the bass player.  I love the singing from Jasen with some great lyrics.  I love the pace of the guitar playing.  There was some great guitar work at the middle part of the song.  I love the drop off on the heaviest of the song to a nice calming music just to be built back up to main riff.  I love the ending to this song with some music in your face with the singer screaming.

Life Of Misery

I love the guitar playing at the beginning.  I love the drumming and bass playing.  I am not fan of Jasen’s singing at the beginning of the song.  It does not fit but it starts to fit deeper in the song.  There is some solid music and great lyrics.  I love this song but I did not like the beginning on the singing side.  I guess it is one of those songs that needs to grow on me.   There is an awesome guitar solo with some awesome hard-hitting drumming at the end of the song.  I love how the guitar player echos the singer.   The bass player is right in your face.  This is a great song.  I am glad Drowning Pool is back.

Broken Again

This is classic Drowning Pool guitar riff at the beginning with the effects on it.  The drumming and bass playing is solid.  During the main riff it drops off but the singing puts it in your face in a nice way.  Jasen wrote some nice lyrics on this song.  I love the pace of this song.  He has a pretty good range on this song.  I am glad they let the bass go to front line at the end of the song.  I love the well placed back up vocals on this song.

Understand

I love the sound sample that they use with a nice drum intro.  The guitar playing is solid.  The music drops off into versus.  I just do not like all the effects on the singer vocals.  They put it off pretty quickly to some nice singing over some heavy music.  They wrote some awesome music on “Understand.”  Jasen wrote some great lyrics on this song.  I am glad they let the bassist run front before it was covered back up by the guitar player.  I love the ending.

Bleed With You

I love the nice heavy gutiar riff to a nice acoustic guitar riff.  The music is pretty solid on this song.  There is some nice music and great lyrics.  I love pace and theme of this song.  This song, which is “Bleed With You”, should be their next single off this song.  I love the meaning of this song.  I love the singing towards the end of the song.  This band knows they have a great singer and they are using him in all the right ways.  This song is a great example.

Skip To The End

I love the guitar and drumming work with the bass echoing at the beginning.  I hate all that reverb on the singer’s vocals.  The music is OK.  It is kind of let down for being the last song.  Jasen wrote some great lyrics on this song.  I am not a fan of this song. It is kind of disappointing song before the bonus tracks.

In Memory Of

This song is memory of their first lead singer, who was Dave Williams.  It is first song they record with Jasen.  I have to say  they put some thought behind this song.  The music is pretty solid.  I love the lyrics.  I love the guitar work on this song.  The semi guitar solo throughout the song.  Drowning Pool did a great job on this tribute to their first singer and long time friend and music brother.

Blindfold

I love the Black Sabbathish guitar riff with effect at the beginning.  I love the drumming and bass playing on this song.  The drumming is off the charts.  I love the singing and lyrics.  For being a bonus track, “Blindfold” shows the world that this band has some great unreleased songs.  I love the ending of this song.

Original Line Up:

  • Dave Willians – Lead Vocals
  • Mike Luce – Drums
  • C. J. Pierce – Guitar
  • Stevie Benton – Bass

Current Line Up:

  • Jasen Moreno – Lead Vocals
  • C.J. Pierce – Guitar
  • Stevie Benton – Bass
  • Mike Luce – Drums

Former Lead Singers:

  • Jason Jones (2003 to 2005)
  • Ryan McCombs (2005 to 2011)

Here is their website and twitter addresses:

Website:  www.drowningpool.com

Twitter:  @DrowningPool

Closing, I am glad this band has went back to their roots.  I love the last two records with Ryan McCombs of Soil.  Jasen Moreno has taken to band back to their roots and to another level.  I also love the record they did Jason Jones and I understand why he was let go from singing.  This record from start to finish ids solid from the music, lyrics, and singing.  They have a great singer and I hope he is around for a while.  I am really looking to seeing this band live.  I grew up listening to this band when they had Dave Williams.  I love their performance on WWE or WWF Summerslam PPV.  I was sad to hear of his death.  I thought it was death of the band too.  I loved their next record but it was not Drowning Pool.  I came back to the band on Ryan’s second record and loved it.  I was pretty upset when he left for his crappy band called SOiL.  I love this record and I love Jasen’s singing which is better than Ryan.  The music is Drowning Pool and they found ways to work with their new singer.  This is a solid record and I believe this record is just the start for this great band to return to the mainstream.  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