Disturbed - Ten Thousand Fists

To me, the third album by Disturbed was going to be a make-or-break moment. It was either going to be great album, signalling that they were to be around for a while, or it was going to be a mediocre, repetetive affair highlighted by singer Dave Draiman leaning on his bag of monkey vocal tricks like a crutch. I don't mind telling you that I was giving even money on both outcomes. I am happy to report, though, that Ten Thousand Fists is a mighty fine album. Bookended by my favorite tracks, Ten Thousand Fists and Avarice, (so nice to not end an album with filler), the band proves that they are here to stay. Draiman does such a great job that I daresay he is turning out to be one of the finest voices in heavy metal, nicely filling the void that James Hetfield left when Metallica went all sucko on us. Disturbed even do a rocking, albeit straightforward, cover of the Genesis song Land of Confusion (of course, the original rocked, too).

Antimatter - Planetary Confinement

If ever an album cover matched the material inside, this is the one. Gray skies and barbed wire. That's the new Antimatter album in a nutshell. It's called Planetary Confinement and while I would hesitate to call it rock, just calling it music seems inadequate. Gray skies and barbed wire is much more descriptive. My introduction to Antimatter came a couple of years ago when they released an album, Unreleased 1998 - 2003, only on the internet and for free. It was hard to get a handle on the album at first. Finally I just had to stop and let the music sink in. Spare to the point of lonely, it is what it is. Now that Autumn is just around the corner and the top is on the convertible, my thoughts turn to quieter music that I am once again able to hear in my car. This is a good start. Check out Legions.

Heavy Bones

A few months ago on VH1 Classic's "Metal Mania" show, I saw a video I had never seen before by a band I had never heard of before. I'm watching it and it's all one long shot--no cuts. That was interesting and then I saw that the drummer kinda looked like Frankie Banali (Quiet Riot, W.A.S.P.) but it couldn't be him, could it? Turns out that it was him and on guitar was Gary Hoey. What the heck is going on? How did I miss these guys? Well, those two musicians and two other fellows did get together and formed a band called Heavy Bones. The album they released is pretty good. Some really good cuts and some filler--definitely a product of its time. So why had I not heard of them? Because the album came out in 1992 and these guys were not wearing flannel. They weren't a hair band but traditional hard rock quickly went out of fashion in '92 and Heavy Bones was one of the casualties. Again, this isn't some great masterwork but it's a good hard rock album from the era that you might not have heard of before. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a rarity so it can get pretty pricey at both Amazon and eBay. Here are a couple of tracks to check out. 4:AM T.M. was the video I saw. The Light of Day is my other favorite track.

Mediæval Bæbes - Mirabilis

The Mediæval Bæbes are back with their special style of Mediæval period-influenced music. Their new album, Mirabilis, is my favorite of the five I have. I've gone back to the other four to try and figure out why. I thought maybe it is because the vocals are more upfront and less atmospheric. Problem with that is my favorite song on the album, Lhiannan Shee, is as atmospheric as you can get. Maybe it is just the newness. Whatever the reason, it is good stuff. If your ears are looking for a rest from all that rocking out, and your brain would like to lose itself some lush and very feminine sounds, the Bæbes have what you are looking for. Check out Trovommi Amor.

Krumble - thirteen

In my last CD Baby order the bonus disc was Thirteen, the 2001 debut by Cleveland band Krumble. These bonus discs, as you might imagine, tend to suck but I always give them a listen because you just never know. Turns out it's pretty good stuff. Rocking sound with an edge. Solid female singer. A good first effort from a local band. I wanted to find out more about them so I went to CD Baby to read the album's page. No band listed there by that name. Huh? I tried a few variations but nothing came up. Odd. I did the Google thing and came up with their site. Turns out the lead singer on that album, one Theresa Carroll, has been replaced but you can click to listen to a couple of tracks with their new lead singer. Problem is, the link is broken. Search on Theresa Carroll--nothing. The band does have thirteen for sale on their site, so it appears that that is the only game in town. Problem is, I go to write this tonight and the band's site is pretty much gone now, replaced by a The future home of Krumble page. So here's this local band with some potential and, for whatever reasons, just disintegrates. I don't get to hear them get better. I don't get to hear their lead singer develop. Even CD Baby doesn't carry their album anymore and they carry anybody's album. For some reason it just struck me as sad, that's all. Take a listen to Vow and Awful Truth to hear what you missed.

UPDATE 2020: Theresa Carroll was also in a band called Spider Lilies around the time she was in Krumble. They reunited a few years ago and have an album called Everything on iTunes.

Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil

There's been a lot of hype and noise surrounding City of Evil, the latest released by Huntington Beach's Avenged Sevenfold. "The most anticipated release of the year" or some such nonsense reads the sticker on the CD. "Sellout" and "I'll never forgive them for stealing Overkill's bat!" (which they did) reads postings on the message boards of heavy metal sites. I picked the album up and...it's okay. Nothing revolutionary. It doesn't suck. It's okay. This album is a slicker affair then their previous two albums, Waking the Fallen and Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, but I really question whether moving from screaming to singing is selling out or whether it is trying to stand out from the crowd. Have you seen Headbangers' Ball lately? Hardcore, death metal, and Pantera/Machine Head wanna-be's are wall-to-wall. How do you stand out from that? By sounding like every other band on the Ball or do you swing the pendulum the other way and try singing for a change? These are things I think about while fast-forwarding my DVR through most of HBB. Back to Avenged Sevenfold, the vocals, at times, reminded me of somebody but it took a while to figure out who: a less raspy John Bush (Anthrax, Armored Saint). Not always but on cuts like Blinded in Chains he sure does. City of Evil is a heavy, interesting album that you should check out and not just blow off based on what you've read on the boards. Check out Bat Country.

AFI - Sing the Sorrow

I saw a video on Headbangers' Ball that really caught my eye. It was for AFI's song The Leaving Song Pt. II. Very interestng video--keeps you off balance. So I do some digging on the band and get their latest CD, Sing the Sorrow. First off, this was released in 2003 and yeah, yeah, yeah, this isn't exactly a cutting edge article. So sue me :-). This album is quite a departure from AFI's previous albums, which were definitely punk. That's a drag for their old fans (with the expected cries of "Sellout!") but to my ears this sound better suits AFI. Their punk sound was more Offspring than hardcore, and I don't much care for The Offspring (not enough edge). This new sound is edgy enough for rock and with the punk influence still there, it's a fresh sound. Also check out Miseria Cantare - The Beginning and I promise that the next time I write about AFI, it will be more timely.