What's Playing Right Now?

Posted by prla1983 on May 12, 2006 • 0 commentsEmail This Post

I guess I'm bored so I decided to break the cycle of reviews. So I'll go out on a limb right now and just let you know what has been insistently coming out of my room's speakers as of lately.

Vanden Plas - Christ 0
This German band plays a true brand of progressive metal and they're probably the best example of binding melody and heaviness together. They also seem unable to disappoint with every subsequent release and "Christ 0" is absolutely no exception. I still need to give this one a lot more spins but from the get-go this album reeks of heavy beauty, in a manner of speaking. Plus, being a concept album loosely based on Dumas' "Count of Monte Cristo" story gives it nothing but extra points I guess.

Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
I wonder why I never got into these guys before. Hailing from Sweden, all I know about them is that they're familiar with Opeth and that both bands used the same studio to record their respective last albums last year. Finally, I got hold of "The Great Cold Distance" and oh my. Rarely I like an album so much upon first spin but this one totally succeeded. I still need to give it much more love, but it sounded like a much more metallic Chroma Key. Also, reading the AMG review for this album, I learned that Katatonia's singer had to drop his so-called Cookie Monster type voice for medical reasons, and from listening to "The Great Cold Distance" I feel like saying that some evil comes for the good.

Adrian Belew - Side Three
All I knew about Adrian Belew up until yesterday was that he played with King Crimson at some point. Shame on me. Since then I learned he has played not only with the Crimson but also with David Bowie and Frank Zappa among others while having a pretty extensive solo discography to show for. From a recommendation on the Mike Portnoy Forum I decided to pick this one up and it didn't disappoint. Belew is not overly self-indulgent and that helps for pleasant listening. Oh yeah, and Tool's own Danny Carey gives a helping hand (or rather, hands and feet) on the drumset for a couple of tracks. Great! Now I need to get Sides One and Two, which together with Side Three make up for a trilogy which Belew managed to produce and release in the short span of a single year!

Pearl Jam - Ten
Following the self-titled released of Pearl Jam a couple of weeks ago, I decided to go down memory lane and unearth their seminal debut "Ten". Boy, this is a great album and it doesn't really need an introduction, or does it? Just pop this one in, listen to "Once", "Alive", "Even Flow", "Black" or "Jeremy" and you'll know (or recall) what I'm talking about.

Tool - 10,000 Days
Last but most definitely not least, I've been spinning Tool's latest opus quite a lot recently. Having a release every five years tends to help building up excitement and hype around it. As always before, this one takes some time getting used to but once it does, it does with a bang. "10,000 Days" is hard to put in perspective alongside Tool's previous efforts but the thing is that this one will easily be one of the best releases of 2006. I love the way Tool crams so many concepts into a single album and how they interplay heaviness and moody pieces. I can't wait to check out these guys live, too.


Well, more to come next week. Until then, tune in!

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