• 4Oct 08

  Two Months Later

  Long time no see guys.

  I haven't bothered to update this in a long time. Quite a bit has been going on in my life lately, and its been difficult to find time for this site. God has been good to me, and he's been working in my life a lot in the last two months. I took a huge step forward in my relationship with Him at camp last August, and a lot has happened since. At the current time, I have left my school's football program and I find myself learning how to play bass so I can play on my youth group's worship team. God has also blessed me with the opprotunity to get a great deal for a good bass plus a practice amp and tuner.

  I've recovered from my surgery and everything is in working order, but I went and got myself a concussion during football practice about three-and-a-half weeks ago. I missed a couple days of school thanks to nasty headaches, but I'm doing a lot better now, and I'll be able to get cleared as long as I make it through today without getting any headaches (I have to go 72 hours without meds without getting a headache). Then I can stop being bored in gym class.

  Also in the recent weeks, I've found myself gaming a lot less, almost completely bored with the activity. Part of it is the wait for the big new titles on their way, but I've just been bored ever since I quit WoW. Not that WoW was exciting, part of the reason I quit was because I was bored, but I just haven't been playing much since. I don't have a reason to be as hardcore as I used to be.

  Despite this, I have had some gaming activity. My friend and I completed Halo 3 on Legendary, and I know hate the game's single player with all my heart and soul. It's one of the worst gaming experiences I've ever had. Thanks to downtime with my concussion, I decided to plow through GRAW2 in a single day, since I hadn't touched it since basically the day after I got my 360. It was a solid game, with a few minor issues, but I was kind of depressed that the whole game ended up being the same thing as the first act of Call of Duty 4. It makes me worried that we'll end up replacing WWII shooters with games set in modern times involving third-world nations in desert locations in the process of civil war with a nuclear threat tossed in for good measure. I also purchased Geometry Wars 2, which is fun, and Halo 2, which has better multiplayer than Halo 3 imo. I also intend to purchase Dead Space for my 360 this month, assuming i have the $$.

  Also, I had promised quite a few music reviews, and I haven't gotten to listening to most of the albums I intended to review, nor do I have the time to write full reviews for all of them. So here's some brief reviews for a few new albums you might care about:

  "All Hope Is Gone" by Slipknot
  It's a solid effort from the band, though it doesn't really try anything new. It boasts the band's cl@ssic intensity, plus some of the creativity found in Volume 3, and some much better guitar parts, and manages to not sound the same as it's predecessor. "Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses" is still the band's best, though, while "All Hope Is Gone" somehow manages to sound like neither progression nor regression.

  SCORE: 8.5/10
  TOP TRACKS: "Gematria (The Killing Name)", "Sulfur", "All Hope Is Gone"

  "Death Magnetic" by Metallica
  Post black album, Metallica gave into greed and popularity, and stopped making music that didn't suck. It's as simple as that. While "St. Anger" was definitely an improvement, it still had major flaws that held it back from being a revitalization of the band. Metallica promised with "Death Magnetic" (lame title, by the way, but the cover art isn't half bad) that they'd return to their old ways of thrash. And they delivered. "Death Magnetic" is a satisfying album that sounds like it could've fit in their catalog back in the '80s. Worth a look.

  SCORE: 9.0/10
  TOP TRACKS: "That Was Just Your Life", "The Day That Never Comes", "All Nightmare Long", "My Apocalypse"

  "Scars On Broadway" by Scars On Broadway
  System of a Down guitarist/vocalist Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan started this band as a side project for System's off-time. It features the quirky lyrics and songwriting you'd expect from Daron, but the band also takes a shift from a metal focus to more hard rock. What we end up with is an interesting album that SOAD fans would do well to check out, but may not appeal to most others.

  SCORE: 7.0/10
  TOP TRACKS: "Stoner-Hate", "Kill Each Other/Live Forever", "They Say"

  That's all for today. Hopefully I'll be posting more often again. Thanks for reading.

  -infect999

  SONG OF THE POST: Metallica - The Day That Never Comes

  • Posted Oct 4, 2008 11:17 am PT
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• 28Jul 08

  New Music Reviewed: Opeth's "Watershed"

  Artwork:
  

  Genre(s):
  Scandinavian Metal
  Progressive Metal
  Black Metal

  Track Listing:
  1. "Coil" - 3:10
  2. "Heir Apparent" - 8:50
  3. "The Lotus Eater" - 8:50
  4. "Burden" - 7:41
  5. "Porcelain Heart" - 8:00
  6. "Hessian Peel" - 11:25
  7. "Hex Omega" - 7:00

  Length:
  55:00

  Released:
  May 30, 2008 (EU)
  June 2, 2008 (UK)
  June 3, 2008 (US)

  The Review:
  I had intended to review this album several weeks ago, but never got to it in wake of other events, and eventually I just kept putting it off to do other things. I really wish I hadn't. Opeth's ninth album, Watershed, is about as good as music gets. To be honest, I never really listened to Opeth prior to learning of this album, since it can be hard to find good bands in the genre without people telling you about them beforehand. Going into this, I had little to no knowledge of the band, but I did expect a black metal epic.

  Instead, I was met with a constant shift between shredding guitars and soft acoustic movements, sometimes harmonized by an orchestra or piano, and surprisingly delicate vocals. In fact, the band rarely turns to growls, with only three songs featuring them, one of which consists of only them ("Heir Apparent"). But these two entirely opposite sounds create for some incredible songwriting from Mikael Akerfeldt. The songs twist within themselves as the mood constantly changes. Beautiful instrumental parts drive the songs, and come together to give the album an atmospherical effect unlike any other. "Porcelain Heart" is an outstanding example, featuring instrumental sections with grinding guitars and vocal sections backed by mere piano and soft singing, shifting between the two concepts continually throughout the song.

  Akerfeldt's singing vocals are hard to describe outside of saying they're "simply amazing". Definitely one of the more talented vocalists in the genre, the emotion from his vocals empowers the unique atmosphere, and takes it to new levels. Especially effective are his constant shifts from ear-piercing high notes to the deep, low, demonic growls in "The Lotus Eater". And he isn't just singing a bunch of jumbled up words either; this album sports outstanding lyrics (which tends to be a norm for the genre). Meanings may not be found without some digging thanks to metaphors and symbolism, but it shows the writer's outstanding work with poetry.

  I'm at a loss for words for this album, so I'll sum it up here: This is a powerful display of outstanding songwriting, talent, and skill, and just and incredible display of how to make a fantastic album. This album goes places few have dared to go and shows us that it's a journey worth taken. So far, this is the best album of 2008. I don't care who you are, you need to listen to Watershed.

  SCORE: 10/10

  TOP TRACKS: "The Lotus Eater", "Porcelain Heart", "Hessian Peel"

  SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT: For being the most calming metal album I have ever heard

  -infect999

  SONG OF THE POST: Opeth - Porcelain Heart

  • Posted Jul 28, 2008 5:37 pm PT
  • Category: Music
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• 22Jul 08

  Boom.

  The bomb blew up. My username is infect999. Add me.

  I will continue to post this blog on this site as well as giantbomb for the time being.

  -infect999

  • Posted Jul 22, 2008 10:29 pm PT
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