One last hurrah for my CDs

[Rudie]

Yeah was real sad to have that The Format come back because you only gotta scratch the surface to find out that guy is not speaking in metaphor. Garbage Human.

[eska]

wait what are you two talking about

[daphaknee]

i was saying the song sucks and makes me want to die

[Rudie]

Dude preyed on underage girls and then gaslighting them that he was tricked into dating them. As expressed in the song “She doesn’t get it”

[eska]

ohHH wait i see. the song ‘Tie the Rope’ by The Format, posted immediately before my post. ok i’m with you now

[spoiler]spoiler tags look like this[/spoiler]

[Mikey]

Oh damn what a bastard, guess that CD isn’t surviving the purge

[Mikey]

Today’s album was The Agony Scene by… The Agony Scene. I kind of dislike self-titled albums tbh. Anyway! This one still gets me pumped up, the whole thing is very cohesive, including some good transitions between tracks that sadly I don’t think will work correctly in a YouTube playlist so you just have to believe me ok. I guess I listened to a lot of metalcore back in the early aughts.

I Will Go To Bat For
Pretty much the whole thing, here’s a fave though:
“Judas”

Bonus embed, a very fun cover of “Paint it Black”:

[Mikey]

After days of not driving, I was back behind the wheel and today’s commuting soundtrack was Traveling Without Moving by Jamiroquai. Jay Kay wears all his Funk/R&B influences on his sleeve and I don’t know if all the songs live up to those influences. I still think the video for “Virtual Insanity” is awesome but it’s not my favorite song on the album, I think it overstays its welcome a little bit tbh.

I Will Go To Bat For
“Use The Force”
This one’s a solid groove.

[Mikey]

Today we had New Medicines by Dead Poetic.

So you know how sometimes a piece of media will get a review that’s like “this is okay, probably easiest to recommend to fans of the genre”? That’s what this one is. At the time of this Album’s release I had a bottomless appetite for Melodic Screamo or whatever you might want to call it. I always just wanted Another One, and this is another one. It’s not bad though! Lyrically kinda vapid but these kids did know how to rock. I mean this as a compliment: These songs seem like great fodder for AMVs. In a different universe I put one of these on top of some edited footage from Gundam Wing or something.

I Will Go To Bat For
“New Medicines”
Yeah the title track is a good one

[Mikey]

Last one for a few days as I’m not commuting all weekend and then some:

Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow, by Down. Down being probably the most successful of Phil Anselmo’s non-Pantera projects.

I got into Pantera right before they released their last album Reinventing the Steel which was pretty mid, and I turned to Down in hope of scratching the Pantera itch. This album sorta delivers although it is a different sound overall, being a bit more fuzzy and stonery. From what I understand this particular album wasn’t so well received. I also didn’t realize they released a few more albums after this one but I’m disinclined to look into it much because Phil has turned out to be Probably A Racist and I’m only going to overlook it for the sake of listening to some old CDs for this project.

I can see what I liked about this back in 2002 but it doesn’t have the same impact on me these days.

I Will Go To Bat For
“Doobinterlude”
A little instrumental track I completely forgot about

[Mikey]

Yesterday was Synkronized by Jamiroquai. The song you probably know off of this one is “Canned Heat”, and that is a fun little song. There’s a few good ones on here, but there’s an instrumental track on here which is my favorite, and maybe one of my favorite Jamiroquai songs of all:

I Will Go To Bat For
“Destitute Illusions”

This one always has me like

[Mikey]

Yesterday:

A self-titled album by Manmade God, a one-and-done band from 2003. The sound is kinda like, latter-day Grunge? Maybe that’s just the singer’s voice. Honestly I popped this CD in prepared to find this one hadn’t held up but you know what there’s still some toe-tappers in here.

I Will Go To Bat For
“Revolution”

Though honestly I like a lot more tracks than I expected to. Big ups to the chorus from “Million Dollar Gun” sounding like it’d be remixed for a video game trailer:

[Mikey]

Today:

Reinventing the Steel by Pantera. Their last studio album and definitely the weakest one. Also a stupid album title imho, but whatever. Themes of self destruction pervade this album, and that definitely meshed with my nihilism as a 20-something. Nowadays I’m channeling Twitter like “Men will write multiple albums about destructive tendencies instead of going to therapy”.

I Will Go To Bat For
“Revolution is My Name”
Honestly if nothing else I like how Pantera songs switch things up, it falls short of being like actual Prog Rock but a lot of them feel like they have a few acts and I dig that

[Mikey]

Today, The Chinese Album by Spacehog. I think when I bought this it was my first exposure to like, the Weird Second Album. It doesn’t sound very like the previous album and I clung tightly at the time to the songs that kinda sounded like what I was expecting. Now I appreciate the more experimental tunes more.

I Will Go To Bat For
“Skylark”
I’m highlighting this one because it’s a lighthearted goofy song that sounds like it could be in a Monty Python joint

[Mikey]

Got a few albums to write about, so here we go:

The Darkest Red by The Agony Scene reels in the screaming from the first album by about 15% (which honestly, finally makes them intelligible) and adds in some Melodic™ vocals, which I’ve always suspected was label tampering, in an effort to chase suburban scene kid money.

The effect is hit or miss, some songs the sound really works, others it comes across at least halfway corny. The lyrics could be the culprit in some of those cases. But overall I’ve always enjoyed this album it’s perfect for a bit of drumming on your steering wheel.

I Will Go To Bat For
Whole album is pretty good but “Screams Turn to Silence” feels like an ideal Representative Track

[Mikey]

They’re Only Chasing Safety by Underoath feels like another one where the label insisted on toning the second release down a bit in an effort to increase accessibility and commercial success. It worked I think, I’m pretty sure this album is considered iconic/important in The Scene.

It’s quite good and the sound is solid, bar one major issue I’m amazed nobody did anything about: The singer has a habit of screaming certain words (particularly those beginning with vowels) with a bit of a “rrrrrrrrr” windup. So “eyes” sounds like “rrrreyes” and now you’re listening to Scooby Doo’s Screamo Band.

I Will Go To Bat For
Again, pretty much the whole thing but let’s pick a fave: “It’s Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door” does a lot of cool stuff

I’ve always liked how Underoath incorporates light electronic elements in some songs.

[Mikey]

With The Hands Of The Hunter It All Becomes Dead by Summerbirds in the Cellar is one of the more obscure albums I’ll post. I’ve literally never heard anyone I know talk about it or encountered the music “in the wild”. It’s Indie Rock with a very slight tinge of electronic. The singer does the thing where he sings melodic-but-monotone.

Whereas a lot of the albums I’m writing up ITT I haven’t listened to in years, this one has literally never left my active rotation since I bought it, uh, 21 years ago. Good job guys. They disappeared for years and then released a followup that I never really listened to, I should probably try to find it and check it out.

I Will Go To Bat For
“Strange Answers” which is better to listen to on the whole album as the intro track leads into it really nicely but this is probably one of my most-listened-to songs ever. I nearly never skip it when it comes on.

[Mikey]

Now, we finally arrive at an album that I simply do not care for anymore, and I can say with confidence I’ll never go out of my way to listen to again: Good News For People Who Love Bad News by Modest Mouse.

I could barely sit through most of the songs. It was all grating to me. Either my tastes have changed or I talked myself into liking this (or perhaps just enjoyed it as a novelty) back at the time of release.

I Will Go To Bat For
“Interlude (Milo)”
A little instrumental track punctuated with recordings of a cooing/gurgling baby. When this album released I liked it, and was pretty sure I disliked babies. Now I don’t care much for this album and I like babies a whole lot. Frankly I think this is a change for the better.

[Iammadmak]

Underoath Rips. Their run of chasing safety, define the great line and lost in the sound of separation is an all time run.

[Mikey]

I’d go further and say that their run of good albums started with The Changing of Times. That was my introduction to them and I was pretty instantly hooked.