My Top 10 Albums of 07 and 06

Over the last couple of years I have posted my top ten albums of the year on MySpace. While preparing this year's list I decided to go back to my two previous list and see if I still agree with my choices. For the most part I still agree with my earlier choices. With the exception of a few glaring omissions. I should have defiantly placed Nine Inch Nails "Year Zero" on the 2007 list. I can remember that at the time the album was released I wasn't really feeling it. But over the last year I have listened to album quite a few times and become very fond of what Reznor has done lyrically with the CD. The other CD that should have been on the list but wasn't was "Tenshi no Revolver" by Buck-Tick. The CD came out late in the year and being a Japanese band it took me awhile to get the CD. So I can see how I missed it.

My Top CDs of 2007

1. Against Me! - New Wave

2. Poison the Well - Verisons

3. Blaqk Audio - Cex Cells

4. The Horrors - Strange House

5. Daft Punk - Alive

6. Between the Buried and Me - Colors

7. Marilyn Manson - Eat Me, Drink Me

8. She Want Revenge - This is Forever

9. Tiger Army - Music From the Regions Beyond

10. VNV Nation - Judgement


My Top 10 New CDS from 2006

1. AFI – December Underground

2. She Wants Revenge – She Wants Revenge

3. Placebo – Meds

4. Miyavi - Dokusou

5. Tool – 10,000 days

6. Heavens – Patent Pending

7. Mastodon – Blood Mountain

8. Brand New – The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me

9. Bleeding Through – The Truth

10. Against Me! – Americans Abroad!!! Live in London

Cradle of Filth - Godspeed On The Devil's Thunderl

I found Cradle of Filth albums to hit or miss with me over years. One album will blow me away the next will make me wonder why I bought it in the first place. "Godspeed On The Devil's Thunder" reminded why I like this band. The CD is a concept album about Gilles de Rais. The infamous serial killer who fought along side Joan of Arc. The songs on this CD are much more cohesive than past Cradle of Filth albums. All of the songs flow well together to tell a pretty intertwined story. The album should please long time Cradle of Filth fans as well attract some new ones. I highly recommend the tracks "The Death of Love" and "The 13th Caesar". The band will also be playing the House of Blues in Dallas on Feb. 17. www.myspace.com/cradleoffilth

December Concert Picks

December is traditionally a slow month for tours. There are few things going on this month that would like to try to make. But I am pretty busy this month with finals and what not so I probably won't be able to make it to that many showes. This December is really heavy on the electronic acts. So if your a fan of that style of music it should be a good month for you.

Gwar - December 4 - Palladium Ballroom
Eagles of Death Metal - December 12 - The Door
The Crystal Method - December 13 - Lizard Lounge
Oghr - December 18 - The Granada Theater
Darude - December 20 - Lizard Lounge
Unsilent Night - December 28 - Plano Centre
Fischerspooner - December 31 - Lizard Lounge

Live Music Review - Dir en Grey @ The Palladium Ballroom

Dir en Grey is a very interesting band. It amazes me that have such a large fan base in the United States. Given it is mainly anime fanboys and fangirls who love all weird things that are Japanese. But hey, if it wasn't for the support of these people I would probably never have been given the chance to see the band preform live. This isn't first time I've seen Dir en Grey preform. I saw them a couple of years ago when they were on tour for the "Marrow of the Bone" album. I was blown away. Dir en Grey gives one of most intense live preformances I've ever seen. I was a little disturbed also because they kept looping video footage of the atom bomb drooping on Japan. That seemed like a strange thing for a Japanese band to be showing an American audience. This time around they didn't show any thing quite that messed up. But they did show some pretty bad ass pictures of Ukiyo-e style samurai's committing seppuku. I was really impressed by the set the band played this time around. They played a good mix of heavy songs and some of their more experimental songs. They played every song wanted to hear but Jesus Christ R' n R'. My understanding of the Japanese languge is very minimal. This allows me to focus on the singers voice as another instrument. Which adds more to the over all experience. He has very impressive vocal range and can produce a varity of sounds with his voice. Hopefully Dir en Grey will continue to have success in the United States because over the last couple of years they have become one of my favorite heavy metal bands.

Dir en Grey - Uroboros

Dir en Grey are back again. This heavy metal has become one of the most popular bands to come out of Japan. Dir en Grey has built up a allegiance of fans across America and Europe. The band's newest album "Uroboros" won't disappoint those fans. "Uroboros" shows the bands more experimental side. While the songs are as heavy as ever. The band uses a wider range of sounds such as the mandolin. Even the singer Kyo's vocals a little softer on this album. This isn't a problem. All the songs flow well together. I'm always happy when I see bands try different things and evolve there sound. I've never been a fan of artist that just keeping making the same the CD year after year. I feel as though the band is cheating themselves when they don't try new things. If your already a fan of Dir en Grey "Uroboros" is a must buy. If you've been interested in them and haven't listened to them yet I would suggest starting with album "Withering to Death." For info on Dir en Grey checkout the bands Myspace. http://www.myspace.com/direngrey

Live Music Review: Chuck Ragan & Tom Gabel @ The Prophet Bar

This show turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. For many different reason. First I was surprised by how many people showed up. We had to wait in line for nearly an hour and half to get. The Prophet Bar isn't a very big place. There for a little while it didn't look like we were going to get. There was so many people at the show that the bar ran out of all beer on tap before we even got in. This show was a little different than the typical concert I like to attend. There were no electric instruments. Only people with acoustic instruments and there voices. I which I liked because one person with a wooden instrument, something to say and a voice can be just as powerful as an entire band on a stage with lots of flashing lights and a elaborate set. There really wasn't set times. The musicians would rotate between group performances and solo performances. While I am a Chuck Ragan fan the main reason we wentto the show was to see Tom Gabel (the lead singer of Against Me!) preform his solo stuff. I had only heard a handful of his solo songs. So I was really looking forward to hearing some stuff I had never heard before. His performance was awesome. LIke I mentioned earlier its amazing how much energy one man with a aucustic guitar can produce. Now on to Chuck Ragan. I've heard a lot about Chuck Ragan over last couple of years. I have a couple of his cds. But after seeing him prefrom live I understood why I had to wait in line for over an hour to get. He is that good. He has a very distinctive voice that people can gravitate to. Plus he plays the harmonica. You can't go wrong with that. Below are some videos of the show we recorded. Enjoy!!!!

Live Music Review: Danzig @ the Pallidum Ballroom

I cant even begin to count how many bands I have seen over the years that have been influenced by Danzig. The Misfits themselves spawned the horror punk genre. This was the second time I have seen Danzig live. The first time was many years ago in San Antonio. Unlike that time Danzig actually had some good bands opening for him. Moonspell was alright. Nothing to great. Dimmu Borgir on the other hand was a band I had been hearing a lot about lately. They are very big with fans of Norwegian death metal. They were quite good. Dimmu Borgir gave quite a spirited performance. The perfect warm up the crowd needed before Danzig came on the stage. Danzig's performance was I expected. He played all of his hits like Twist the Chain and Mother. Danzig had gotten a little older and a little bigger. But that didn't take away from his stage presence one bit. One thing that did surprise me was how aggressively security was going after people who took pictures with there phone. They would grab you and drag you out of the crowd. If you are a fan of punk rock or metal you should really try to see Danzig next time he comes around. Like I mentioned earlier he is getting older and probably doesn't have many tours left. You owe it to yourself to see one of the most in influential performers of punk rock and metal of all time.

November Concert Picks

These are my picks for the best of shows in the DFW area this November. Hopefully I will be able to attend them all. See you there!!!

Chuck Ragan & Tom Gabael – November 8 – Prophet Bar

H20 - November 10 – the Door

Ill Nino & Walls of Jericho - November 22 - Ridglea Theater

Dir en Grey – November 26 - Palladium or The Misfits @ the Granada (haven't decided yet)

Live Music Review: The Matches @ The Loft

I believe that The Matches are one of the best bands that no one knows about. They are one of countless bands I have stumbled across at Warped Tour while looking for some shelter form the heat. Since that Warped Tour performance The Matches have gone on to become one of the few bands to hit the scene in the last couple of years that have really grabbed me. There music is a little odd and jumps around a bit. But its hard to find a band that gives as much as they do when they perform. I have never been to a Matches show were the band didn't play their hearts out on stage. Even there roadie comes out and plays guitar and the triangle on a handful of songs. It didn't matter if there was ten or a hundred people in the crowd The Matches played like there was thousand people in attendance. I would like to take a moment to talk about the venue. This was the first time I had ever been to the Loft. Its the venue above the Palladium Ballroom. It could hold may be 200 people. The perfect size for a Matches show. The most impressive thing about the venue was the view of the Dallas sky line from the balcony. I kind of wish they would have more shows at this place. Now back to the Matches. They were on fire this night. They played there best set list by far. I think it was because they had a 40 minute set which gave enough time to play all the songs people wanted here. They played all my favorite songs from E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals, Decomposer and A Band in Hope. Every other time I have seen them they had much smaller set times. I'm telling you the Matches are the best band no one knows about. If you don't believe me check them out for yourself. http://www.myspace.com/thematches

Live Music Review: Alkaline Trio and Thrice @ Red 7 in Austin, TX

A couple of friends and I embarked last Sunday on the trek down to Austin. Hoping to catch the Rise Against, Alkaline Trio and Thrice tour. When we walked up to the Austin City Music Hall a sign on the front door said tonight's show was canceled. during the long walk back to the car we met a couple who said that Alkaline Trio and Thrice were going to play at Red 7 a few blocks away. So we jumped in the car and made our way to the club. First thing I would like to point out is that Red 7 is not a very big place and there was no way was no way every person who wanted to was going to get it. Luckily after standing in line for about 45 minutes we were able to get in right as Thrice was walking on to the stage. This is the first time I'd seen Thrice preform live. I had tickets to see them once before but my appendix ruptured and I had to give them away. They were awesome. They lived up to every thing I had heard about there live show. The Alkaline Trio gave an amazing performance as well. The Alkaline Trio are one of my favorite bands of all time and I have seen them a number times before. Overall the show was awesome. It was a rare treat to see two such amazing bands in a small intimate club environment.

Live Music Review: Polysics @ The Prophet Bar

I've managed to see a hand full of Japanese bands over the last couple of years in various cities. The thing I've noticed about Japanese bands is that no matter what style of music they are playing they give great live shows. Always happy to be preforming for you that day. This show was along those lines. The Polysics have this strange electro-clash pop punk sound that would only come out Japan. The band had outstanding stage presence. Any band who is popular enough to travel the globe has to. They used a variety of unique dance moves and talked to the crowd quite a bit through out there show. I was especially entertained by the keyboardist Kayo. Whose performance was similar to that of a robot's. If you are in the mood for some music that's a little different I highly recommend you see them live if you can. That might be hard for some because the band doesn't make to many American appearances. At the very least you can check out some of the bands music on there myspace page. www.myspace.com/polysics

Bleeding Through - Declaration

I have been of a fan of Bleeding Through since I saw them open for AFI down in Austin in 2003. While I was a fan of the the groups previous album "The Truth" it didn't grab me quite the same way that there metalcore masterpeice "This is Love, This is Muderous" did. Bleeding Through amped up the aggression on this album. The lead singer Brandan Schieppati used his growl more than his medolic voice this time around. The patent Bleeding Through melody is still there on a couple of songs. But not as many as there previous album 'The Truth." When I first put the album in wasn't expecting such a fierce sound. I found it freshing to hear a band become harder as grew older. Instead of the older the softer. This album is a must for any Bleeding Through fan.

Senses Fail - Life is Not a Waiting Room

I when I tell my friends that I’m a fan of Senses Fail I always get puzzled looks. The reason being I’m not normally a fan of screamo/emo type bands. But Senses Fail manages to infuse the screamo sound with a steady dose of post hardcore rifts. Which makes their music a little more aggressive than your average screamo band. The bands lyrics are the one of the first things about Senses Fail that caught my attention. They are about things that just about every body has experienced at some point in their life. This cd slows things down a little bit more (but not a whole lot) than its predecessor "Still Searching". The band takes a more introspective look at the changes a person goes through as they grow older and begin to look at life differently. I don't think this cd will win you over if your not a fan already. But if you are fan and you haven't picked up "Life is Not a Waiting Room" you need to.

Live Music Review: Against Me! at the Ridglea Theater

Against Me is one of those bands I stumbled across by accident. They were playing support for the Alkaline Trio a few years back. Man, am I glad I showed up early to that show. Since that day Against Me has gone on to become one of my favorite bands. I have seen them five times in three different cites over the last couple of years. One of those shows being a very memorable show in Chicago last year. This time around Against Me was on tour for their outstanding album “New Wave”. The thing the gravitated me to this band was how energetic their live show was. Their songs are tailor made to jump around too and sing along with. They also have something to say. Something that I believe missing from most bands these days. Their performance on September 27 at the Ridglea Theater in Ft. Worth had all these attributes. The crowd was far more entertaining than one they had at Warped Tour earlier in the year in Dallas. But Dallas has been know to disappoint. If you haven't heard Against Me yet I highly recommend you give them a listen. You can sample a some of their songs on their MySpace page. www.myspace.com/againstme. If you’re a fan and you haven’t gone to see them live yet; your missing out. Here a couple of videos my brother recorded from the show. Beware though the sound quality isn't so good. Enjoy!!!