Corey_Lazarus

I only have Leprosy and The Sounds of Perseverance. I feel ashamed. Ah...Nevermore...anybody actually pick up This Godless Endeavour after that atrocity known as Enemies of Reality? Amazing return. I'd say it's on par with Dreaming Neon Black and Dead Heart in a Dead World, if not better. "Born (Retribution of Spiritual Sickness)" is such a perfect fucking Nevermore song it's hilarious.

Ugh... 1. Angle is the biggest name to ever - EVER - appear in a TNA ring. Jarrett should be glad Angle even said "yes" to coming in. 2. Wow...who fucking cares? This isn't going to lead to anything, considering both men are professionals in the ring. Jarrett's already not a huge favorite amongst long-time TNA fans (who remember his awful run as top heel from late '03 until his last departure), and Angle's overexposed, so why should I give two shits if one of the guys who started the company has heat with its top star for something they said in an interview (which was likely regarding the booking, which has been awful for a long time)?

Slayer, Acid Bath, Skinless, Exodus, White Zombie. No real order, just depends what I want. If I'm in the mood for simple anger and anti-Christian thoughts? Slayer. If I want to hear what it feels like to be dying or murdering somebody? Acid Bath. In the mood for a moshpit of brutal groove? Skinless. Wanna hear some sarcasm and steady thrash? Exodus. In the mood for horror with a little bit of everything else previously mentioned? White Zombie.

**smacks you** Dead Eye sucked. Their best album is probably Made Me Do It, though I do have love for One Kill Wonder, specifically the last half or so of the album. rEVOLVEr falls off after "All Against All," for the most part, but the first 5 songs are tight, and the last half is just meh at best. Dead Eye is too far of a removal from what people expect from The Haunted, so I'm not too big a fan. Somebody sell me on why Crowbar is so highly regarded. I don't mind their songs when covered by Kingdom of Sorrow, but I just can't stand the originals. Singer's voice is too doom-y for a lot of their heavier stuff, IMO. It's like Solitude Aeturnus, at least when it comes to Downfall: the singing is so different from the music that I just can't dig it.

^True to about everything between this post and my last. The Barnes-era was better musically, but Fischer's the better vocalist in every which way. Seems like he's the better frontman, too, considering all the footage I've seen of Barnes has him just with one arm one holding his ribs the whole time like he's Aaron Lewis about to shit out bad Thai food. Picks for AotYC? Only one I've heard that even impressed me beyond "wow, didn't know they could still do that" was the new Zimmers Hole. I need to pick up Assassins though, especially after seeing them last Friday and falling in love. Was the new Black Dahlia this year or last?

I just find them boring LIVE, really. My favorite parts are when Akerfeldt does his little comedy routines in between songs. I've always been entertained by that. If High on Fire wasn't so awful (and my girlfriend wasn't being a drunk fuck and ignoring me all night) I'd have probably enjoyed it a lot more. Didn't help that I was exhausted and just wanted to go home and sleep, either. 10/10 and 10/11 are Rock and Shock, which should be good. Half of the people that I was going to go with had to drop out for various reasons (read: not enough money), so it looks like the hotel room me and my girl rented will mostly be devoid of post-show partying. And then GWAR's coming back up in December with a different tour than Rock and Shock this year (2 years ago they played with Red Chord and Municipal Waste up here, and then toured with them, so hopefully they ditch Mushroomhead and get the Waste back with them, considering the bands are friends with each other). Sooooooo...Barnes or Corpsegrinder?

real man would've said "You're excused... YA CUNT!" while kicking her as she walked by. Ya, she should've deduced that all as she checked out how smooth you looked in your Shadows Fall t-shirt, torn jeans stretched out, as the smoke sexily exhaled from them hardcore lungs. The sidewalk's for regular walking... You know what makes me happy? This post. I gotta say that it does make me happy to post stupid shit and almost immediately be made fun of for it. And there's not even a hint of sarcasm there. It's amusing to me.

Saw Opeth/High on Fire/Nachtmystium last night. Nachtmystium is fucking amazing. The only song I knew was "Assassins," and that's because it was announced before they played it. Just amazing black metal with a solid thrash undertone, and just a little bit of sludge thrown in to muck it up. Wonderful shit, and I can't believe black metal could actually translate this well live. High on Fire are fucking horrible. If I just didn't like them before, after their 45-minute set last night I abso-fucking-lutely hate them. The opening song was alright...primarily because it was the only tune that didn't sound identical to everything else. Literally: I-FUCKING-DENTICAL. They close with "Devilution," and people go crazy. By now I'm not in the best mood. I'm not a fan of Opeth, and High on Fire were so terrible that I didn't want to be there anymore. Alas, my girl loves Opeth. Opeth...blech. Never been too much of a fan to begin with (not a huge fan of prog in general), but I pinpointed exactly what I dislike about Opeth: their songs are all long with no rhyme or reason. It always starts amazing, goes into a decent verse, and then breaks into some going nowhere clean noodling with an ambient pseudo-lead over it. It doesn't help that Akerfeldt just stands still while playing, and the only person really getting into the songs at all was the keyboard player (everybody was still save for him and the drummer, who cannot stay still simply due to the nature of his job in the band). Better than the time I was dragged to Tool, but that's only because I somewhat like "Deliverance" and a song or two off of Blackwater Park. I did get a nice chuckle over Akerfeldt admitting that "Black Rose Immortal" is a bad song. When somebody in the front row yelled out for it in-between songs, Akerfeldt just flat out went "no, you only like 'Black Rose Immortal' because it's a long song...it's a SHIT song." That made me happy. Now, if they take away most of the clean parts that serve as nothing more than to break up the flow of their songs? Opeth would increase their quality tenfold, easily. You can be technically skilled on your instruments and with your song structures without being dull and boring. Chuck Schuldiner figured it out with The Sounds of Perseverance, and he had brain cancer. What's your excuse, Akerfeldt? Stick to Bloodbath, please. Drive home, blast music I would've rather seen, and just smile at the knowledge that my girlfriend bought my ticket since she knows I'm saving my money for Rock and Shock in a few weeks. Speaking of which...the lineup for the first 2 nights is great. Friday night is focused on Children of Bodom, The Black Dahlia Murder, and Obituary. Night two is all about GWAR. Unfortunately, night 3 is ICP, which will bring about the bulk of the people who should be prohibited from reproducing.

The absurdity is lovely.

I was sitting out front when I got home this afternoon, smoking a BUTT with my girl, and these two chicks who work at the bank up the street from us come walking by. Side-by-side. Average width sidewalk. One of them just looks down at me and goes "excuse me" and doesn't go around me. She would've tripped over me if I didn't pull my legs back onto the front walkway of my building rather than leave my feet planted flat on the sidewalk. What, bitch? I'm supposed to move for YOU? You're a cunt whose job consists of counting. My job consists of counting inventory, lifting heavy shit, operating a forklift, dealing with annoying customers, dealing with the idiots that run the place, and dealing with my (possibly mentally retarded) coworker. Fuck you, bitch: I was here first. You go around ME.

The same reason that Cliff Burton, Euronymous, Chuck Schuldiner, Jon Nodtveit (sp.?), and Dimebag Darrell are dead: the best die first, having lived their purpose, and the worst stick around to remind you how good the best really were.

TV never seen or want to: Firefly, Angel, Supernatural, Confessions of an American Teenager (or whatever that show is that prompted the pair of WDI chats that CWM dragged me into), Colbert Report, and just about everything on Fox that isn't House or on Sunday night. Movies: Wow...way too many. Most epics seem annoying and lame, most modern horror does too. Too many to really list, honestly.

Doesn't USA usually show the latest episode the Friday after they air? Like others have said, good opener. I'm starting to like the new team, if only for Kal Penn and 13.

More essential Celtic Frost: SOD's "Celtic Frosted Flakes" pretty much explains the entire history of CF until their first break-up. Well, comedically, of course. Haws: 1. Yes, Lars is back to using an actual drumset. 2. "Unforgiven III" is probably the weakest song on the entire album. It's better than "Unforgiven II," but the original is the best of the three. James' voice has gone so downhill in the last 5 years, even, that it ends up hurting the song. The instrumentation is fine, but Hetfield's voice...man, it's sad. And what's wrong with Rubin? He seems to know how to at least produce a metal/rock album. I would've gone more for the Lightning style production here instead of Kill 'Em All, but it's still not that bad.

Before I really got into it, back when all I listened to was power metal and the Bay Area bands (so replace "power metal" with "death metal" and you pretty much have most of my music right there, but there was a time when I was big into Helloween and Rhapsody), I thought all death metal sounded like that awful "LEMME CALL YOU SWEETHEART, I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU" horseshit from this mix-CD commercial back in the late 90's. I blame Six Feet Under, primarily. Now? It seems like people are hearing shit like Job For A Cowboy (again, AKA Skinless Lite), Devil Driver, and Otep, and suddenly they're into "death" metal.

People who call my branch of the company looking for our Albany, NY branch...just after 7am or just before 5pm...and claim they're always calling the Albany office. Yeah, pal, if you were, then you'd know that it doesn't open until 8:30am, and closes at 4pm. Douches.

Cats. All kinds. I think I said this before, but it needs to be reiterated: cats fucking rules. Little bastards and bitches, the lot of them, but if you can't just smile when you see them and they rub against your leg then you have no fucking heart.

To rep the very early 90's, why not some Anthrax/PE with "Bring the Noise"?

Why not just call them iwrestledaCRYPTOPSYonce. Only, you know, without the odd curiosity attached to hearing this little petite cute scenester chick out-growl most male contemporaries.

Check out: -Comeback Kid -Evergreen Terrace -Bleeding Through -Darkest Hour Only bands who sound remotely like the rubbish you seem to like that I can even stand.

The songs actually don't feel that long. Most have pretty long intro's, but that's about it, really. They're rather complete, outside of a couple, but considering what we've been handed for the last 13 years? It's pure gold. Not amazing, but it's a better return to form than Slayer's Christ Illusion or even Cannibal Corpse's Kill.

Killswitch Engage no, but I do remember people here maybe even Corey, liking Lamb of God. I mean, for fuck's sake, Corey was all obsessed with Shadows Fall for the longest time and their biggest appeal is that their lead singer has ridiculously long dreads. Certainly wasn't me that liked Lamb of God. I remember saying that they were good live when I saw them in '03, but the only songs by them that aren't complete and total shit (think Coal Chamber with poorly-done Slayer/Pantera riffs thrown in) are "11th Hour" and "Redneck" (which I only like because it's grown on me due to the rest of my band loving it). But Shadows Fall? Sir, listen to Of One Blood and the second half of War Within: they're a band who CAN be fucking incredible, but choose to just play lame pseudo-thrash/generic metalcore to attract the masses. Good for them, they chose that path, but it pisses me off when a band can do more than just rest on their laurels. There's 3 or 4 songs off of each of their albums that are really worth listening to, and everything else is pretty much just filler. That describes practically every "hard rock/metal" (or as I like to call it, Ozzfest metal) band out there! They have a couple good songs and the rest is just filler on every album. I have listened to Shadows Fall and I totally agree with you; but their sound gets really annoying and repetitive after a while. And this comes from someone who thoroughly enjoys thrash metal, too! The thing that made my head explode about War Within was that the B-sides album from its recording sessions was infinitely better. The problem with nu-metal (faux metal, fashioncore, whatever you want to call it, it's all just glorified nu-metal with better instrumentation) is that it's mostly made up of people who WANT to be in a metal band, and just AREN'T. Devil Driver, Otep, Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage...they all have their positives, but these are greatly outweighed by the massive negatives. And Shadows Fall? They went from the leader of the pack to 3rd or 4th place in quality in terms of the NWOAHM (a term I dislike, but considering many of the metalcore bands have become much more thrash/death metal with later releases, it does fit) in the span of 2 albums. Of One Blood is genius: it has only a few moments of hardcore, some minor groove, but mostly 80's thrash riffs with Gothenburg-esque melody and harmony. Fair's vocals were also at their peak all too early, as he screamed, growled, sang, and just spoke at all of the right moments. I defy anybody to find many better songs released in 2000 from US metal bands than "The First Noble Truth," "To Ashes," and "Crushing Belial." KSE, who were also at their peak at this period, were vastly overrated, with the bulk of their fanbase being shared with the likes of KoRn and Slipknot (read: false metal). Shadows Fall was cut from a similar mold (which is natural, as bands from the same time period and area of the world tend to sound alike), but geared themselves more towards diehard "true" metal bands (not the complete underground elitists, but those who preferred REAL metal). Then KSE continued to become more pop-friendly, to the point where it was hard not to turn on rock radio stations nationwide without hearing "The End of Heartache." And Shadows Fall? They soon followed this. "Destroyer of Senses" is insulting in its simplicity, as is the bulk of the Art of Balance album. War Within isn't much better, but at least "The Light That Blinds," "The Power of I and I," "Ghosts of Past Failures," and "Those Who Cannot Speak" are worthwhile listens. Really, Shadows Fall needs to focus more on hitting constant doubles and triples, the occasional homerun, and not just throw out a song to get themselves walked over and over again. When they're motivated to write a good song, they can do so (like Stevie said, Fallout has quite a few of them, and even Threads of Life has "Forevermore" and "Burning the Lives" to save it from being completely worthless), but they're resting because they'd rather get by on the now-outplayed "this generation's Metallica" than on our own merits. But really? Unearth is the best of the metalcore/NWOAHM crop, at least in my eyes. Every other solid modern metal band can fit into another niche (I'd consider Black Dahlia Murder much more death metal than they are metalcore, considering they blatantly rip off At The Gates left and right, and Skinless and Engorged are both solid death metal acts, whereas Municipal Waste and Bonded By Blood are, quite obviously, thrash metal), but then there's Unearth's thrash-laced melodic metalcore, and it's just perfect. The breakdowns, albeit all interchangeable, fit perfectly into the song, and are almost never the focus, nor do they disrupt the flow of the song at all. Trevor's vocals, simple screams and shouts, are perfect contrast to the music, and the guitar work of both Buz and Ken helps Unearth stand out from the rest of their scene. The drumming is almost pure old-school thrash metal, with an obvious dose of Dave Lombardo inspiration, but with the kickdown style that has embodied hardcore following Hatebreed and Biohazard.

Killswitch Engage no, but I do remember people here maybe even Corey, liking Lamb of God. I mean, for fuck's sake, Corey was all obsessed with Shadows Fall for the longest time and their biggest appeal is that their lead singer has ridiculously long dreads. Certainly wasn't me that liked Lamb of God. I remember saying that they were good live when I saw them in '03, but the only songs by them that aren't complete and total shit (think Coal Chamber with poorly-done Slayer/Pantera riffs thrown in) are "11th Hour" and "Redneck" (which I only like because it's grown on me due to the rest of my band loving it). But Shadows Fall? Sir, listen to Of One Blood and the second half of War Within: they're a band who CAN be fucking incredible, but choose to just play lame pseudo-thrash/generic metalcore to attract the masses. Good for them, they chose that path, but it pisses me off when a band can do more than just rest on their laurels. There's 3 or 4 songs off of each of their albums that are really worth listening to, and everything else is pretty much just filler. If anything, hate my taste for absolutely loving everything Unearth does. Best band I've ever seen live besides Gwar and maybe Slayer (one of the few bands that have opened for Slayer and NOT been jeered by a good portion of the crowd), and the music has so much raw thrash energy with the guitar work of European melodic death and the crunching breakdowns of US hardcore. There's not a song by them (besides on the first album, which is really just a big demo of what's to come) that I don't like in some way, shape, or form. Even the piano instrumental "Aries" is so haunting and beautiful it works perfectly in contrast to the rest of The Oncoming Storm, and the instrumental "Big Bear and the Hour of Chaos" at the end of III: In the Eyes of Fire is great.

It's a good bridge between the more recent stuff and their 80's heyday. "The Day That Never Comes" is actually a decent sample of the whole album: parts are embarassingly lame, particularly Hetfield's aged voice, but once it hits its stride it's full-on old-school metal, and done very, VERY well.

Getting hassled by my girlfriend to figure out something to do tonight when there's a plethora of different options, and it's only 5:30 when nothing good happens until around 8 anyway.