Corey_Lazarus

Pick up the first LP, Against the Elements. I dunno what the second one sounds like since I keep putting off grabbing it, but Against the Elements sounds almost exactly like what the phrase "Americanized Gothenburg style" would fit to. Behemoth...they're good. But when I think "BRUTAL," I think Skinless.

Albums I bought that came out this year: Shadows Fall - Fallout From the War Mastodon - Blood Mountain Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death Unearth - III: In the Eyes of Fire Bleeding Through - The Truth MC Lars - The Graduate Wednesday 13 - Fang Bang Johnny Cash - American V Slayer - Christ Illusion Skinless - Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead Gwar - Beyond Hell (technically, girlfriend bought it) Strapping Young Lad - New Black Hatesphere - The Sickness Within Kataklysm - In the Arms of Devastation The Haunted - The Dead Eye Of them, the only ones I'd say should even be considered for "Best album of '06" contenders are Mastodon, Unearth, Kataklysm, and Slayer. MC Lars may have released the album I'd consider the most FUN of 2006, but it ultimately remains forgettable due to the abundance of filler tracks. Beyond Hell was a solid Gwar album, much better than Carnival of Chaos (though every Gwar album is), with a good tour to support it, but it's shit compared to War Party (although, truth be told, that's one of the best Gwar albums, right up there with Scumdogs of the Universe and America Must Be Destroyed). I wish the Summers End's s/t LP, Municipal Waste's Hazardous Mutation, and the Zombie Apocalypse/Send More Paramedics split Tales Told by Dead Men weren't all released in '05, because they would've easily made it onto my "best of '06" list.

Municipal Waste - "The Thrashin' of the Christ"

Move every show I listed back one peg, because Gwar/Municipal Waste at Lupo's this past Friday was the best show of the year. Tony (vocals) of Waste hurt his leg (doing his "boogeyboarding the moshpit" routine, IIRC) a few shows ago, and so was a gimp during the set. A wall of death erupted during, I believe, "Bangover," which pitted the white shirts (half of the crowd wore white since it WAS a Gwar show) against the black shirts. That then turned into a vicious circle pit where I got the wind knocked outta me good. Rested out for a song or two, then got back in for the closer. Red Chord...sucks. Gwar put on an even better show than at Rock and Shock, and I've had "Meat Sandwich" stuck in my head ever since.

Comix Zone for the Genesis is still a favorite. I've brought it up a few times in one or two of the "favorite past games" threads. Me and my buddy Drew were obsessed with this game Project Horned Owl for the PS1. Literally OBSESSED. We played it for hours a day, every day. Typical lightgun shooter (though they're more fun at home with the controller and the crosshairs) with mechs and robots and fun shit like that. Ghosthunter is a really good, and really fucking hard (annoyingly so), game for PS2 that didn't get enough love. It's like a ripoff of the Ghostbusters premise, which is why I got it in the first place, but it's a good game in and of itself.

For the last year and a half or so, I haven't watched a whole ton of TV. South Park and Impact, mostly. Me and my girlfriend have been watching the SVU and House reruns on USA, and we started watching the first-air's on Fox with the re-run of the 3 stories, and now we're fucking hooked. "Care to go for a spin" is a great, GREAT line. And yes, that dwarf was hot.

Nobody in their right mind would pay $90 to see a show featuring Sebastian Bach without Skid Row.

How the fuck can I forget Ringworm? Some solid stuff, though a little generic compared to modern bands (then again, almost all crossover is considered "generic" by today's standards). Re: "Brutal" You're absolutely right. It's way too overused. And, the worst part, is that's used wrongly. Many things can be said about Arch Enemy: they're heavy, they're fast, they're melodic, "I can't believe that's a chick growling" (at least for every album after Burning Bridges)...but I've heard them called brutal. They're not. The very use of the term "brutal" in metal negates melody, and they're very melodic. Brutal is Skinless. Brutal is Nile (especially Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka, which is still my favorite by them). Brutal is Cannibal Corpse. Brutal is DS13. Brutal IS NOT Shadows Fall. Brutal IS NOT Children of Bodom. Brutal IS NOT In Flames. Brutal IS NOT The Black Dahlia Murder. Stay the fuck away from Candiria. I know it makes no real sense to use the term "every song sounds the same" with any one style of music, since of course it sounds the same otherwise it would be a different style, but literally: if you can find ANY difference between two Candiria songs, I'll be vastly impressed. Jazz and metal sounds like a good idea, but in practice it is annoying tripe.

You can add "brutal," "-core," and "progressive" before it becomes total gibberish.

There should just be a band called -core. Nothing more, nothing less. Yes, Inc, "fashioncore" is almost always thrown around as a derogatory term. It's meant most often to describe bands who play what they play not because that's what they truly want to sound like but because that's what's popular. It's the same as late 80's/early 90's hair bands and mid-to-late 90's pseudo-grunge acts. Or like the bulk of these Faint rip-off's that permeate the airwaves today. Yes, Banky, there are stupid terms for everything. "Fashioncore" happens to be the term with the best sound to it that describes bands of that sound.

Alright, dub...some recs... Unearth (metalcore): Goes without saying that they're one of the best metalcore bands...screw that, METAL bands out there today. Beyond The Embrace (Gothenburg-style melodic death metal): The "death" only comes from the fact that they play stuff like In Flames. More clean singing and screaming than actual growls, but they're a good band with a three-guitar attack. Municipal Waste (thrash): AMAZING thrash band. Everything they do is fast, tongue-in-cheek, and full of energy. Summer's End (metalcore): What would happen if The Misfits (Graves-era, who also sings on their tune "Headwound") decided to try their hand at Unearth and Beyond The Embrace tunes. Watch Them Die (metalcore): Bathory meets Chaos AD-era Sepultura. Decent stuff, not mind-blowing, but a-okay. Bleeding Through (gothic metalcore): Only for the first two albums. The Truth is only good for the videos released thus far and the guitar riffs. Everything else about it is awful. Portrait of the Goddess is their most straight-forward heavy album, but I'd say pick up This is Love, This is Murderous for a good mix of heaviness and good songs. Plus, it's the only album of theirs where Brandon's clean vocals don't sound awful. The Atomic Ballroom Calamity (mathcore): Think Converge only much more fun. The main guitarist, Ilya, used to be the guitarist in my band TDR. Big upgrade, even if the songs aren't as accessable. Search for 'em on MySpace. Pro-Pain (crossover/hardcore): The earlier albums are very solid. The rest are "meh" with some brightspots here and there. I'd say just pick up their "best of" album, as it has the best tracks off of their first 6 albums and two originals written for it. Stormtroopers of Death (thrash): Better than Anthrax. Godfathers of crossover, and perhaps the most popular crossover band of all-time (even if they only have two studio albums and one live).

No, they really don't. Fashioncore is a term used by fans/critics of heavy music to describe the sound that bands get when they try their best to sound like what's popular, which is emo-laden pseudo-hardcore. They're trying to sound hardcore, but only in the style that's in fashion. Thus, fashioncore. PTW I fucking hate. Could never get into 'em. Darkest Hour, on the other hand, are amazing. Hidden Hands is great, and, surprisingly enough, Undoing Ruin has grown on me a lot. I used to hate "Convalescense," and now it's one of my favorite DH tunes. I was going to see them at Rock and Shock night one this year, but I can't stand Soilwork or Norma Jean, so I decided to save my money and just see Gwar.

There should be a thread like this over in the TNA folder, too. And "Misc." for the various indies and MMA promotions. Wrestler of the year: Edge. He was, IMO, the single most watchable talent in all of WWE this year. The feud with Foley was great (Edge going face-first into the flaming table is STILL a great visual, and in my top 5 WrestleMania spots). Tag-team/Stable of the year: MNM. Nitro rules, Mercury isn't as good as I remember him being when he teamed with Christian York (though the chants of "Hardy Boyz" during their matches always made me smile), and Melina is flat-out hot. Nitro's going to be a star one day. Match of the year: Mick Foley vs. Edge - WrestleMania 22. Foley is my favorite, and Edge is my pick for the best of '06. Best heel: Edge. He's just gonna sweep my picks. Best face: CM Punk. Only because I've hated nearly every other face on the roster this year. Most improved wrestler: Edge. He went from being acceptable in the main event when given the ball, to proving he could run with it and make some great television. Quote of the year: "OH MY GOD!" Just because it was fun to hear that again. Markout moment of the year: Edge Spearing Mick Foley off of the ring apron through a flaming table. The fact that Edge still has sight in both of his eyes after going face-first through the table amazes me. Funniest moment of the year: HUNTER: THE BARBARIAN. HHH's entrance at WrestleMania was great. Worst moment of the year: The realization that the new ECW isn't the real ECW at all. Big Show as champion, disqualifications, wrestlers being told to slow it down, half of the roster being nothing but WWE b-teamers...yeah. Worst wrestler of the year: John Cena. His only interesting streak, IMO, was the feud with Edge towards the beginning of the year. Best brand: SmackDown due to the workrate. Worst brand: ECW since it's not fucking ECW. Best PPV: WrestleMania 22, as it was the only PPV I watched outside of One Night Stand II that didn't disappoint me all over the card. Worst PPV: N/A since I only got 2 of 'em, so voting for the other one would be stupid. I guess I'll say December to Dismember, but I didn't actually SEE it. Biggest disappointment: ECW in general. I hope the contracts of RVD and Sabu are up soon so they can go to TNA.

Wow...I think it's kinda funny how the one band on the show you didn't care for at all, American Nightmare, is the only band on that bill I wouldn't mind seeing.

I stand by my prior regret as my biggest mistake, though that was certainly a mistake as well.

Leo's accent really isn't too far off. I had a friend who graduated with me from South Africa, and he talked a lot like that. Not as faux-British, but if you're not from somewhere the accent's usually going to sound forced. Didn't see a single movie here. Semi-surprised to see Happy Feet knocked out of #1, though.

10. (band I forget the name of) - Rock and Shock Festival They opened up the second night of the Rock and Shock Festival in Worcester. I thought they were December Aeternalis, but a quick MySpace search discovers that December Aeternalis is a black/death metal band, and this band was playing horrorpunk with a SSSSSLIGHT metal edge. I wish I could find out who this band was, because they were good. 9. Gwar - Sounds of the Underground My first Gwar concert. Been a fan since I first heard "Saddam A Go-Go" about 8 years ago, and it's taken me THIS long to see Gwar. Show was great, with "Immortal Corruptor" and "Bring Back the Bomb" being the best songs on the list, and Oderus slaying a fucking T-Rex was mint. Plus, the first victim - a fucking pig (dressed like a cop, how fitting) that said he couldn't let Gwar play - sprayed fake blood all over me and my girlfriend, who both wore white shirts to celebrate the occasion. 8. Behemoth - Sounds of the Underground I'm not a Behemoth fan at all. I don't like black metal, so that eliminates most of their earlier work, and Nergil's (or whatever the fuck his name is) growl sounds atrocious (as in just grating on the ears) on their album. Plus, I always felt they were just sorta Krisiun with corpsepaint (listen to the music and the production on it, and you'll see where I'm coming from). But fuck...GREAT live show. Tons of energy, and there was just insanity in the pit. 7. Bad Ash - Rock and Shock Festival Local punk/ska group, their live show was better than any of their songs. The trombone player was nuts, the bassist had a lot of pseudo-nerdy stage presence, and there was a fucking dreadlocked luchadore running around doing random backup vocals. They covered "Astro-Zombies," which was terrific, and they nearly stole the show from the REAL headliners of Gwar. 6. Children of Bodom - Lupo's (w/ Chimaira and Through the Eyes of the Dead, March) I'm not even a big Bodom fan. I'm usually the first one to talk about how they're pretty lame compared to other metal from the same area, same style, etc. But FUCK can they put on a great live show. It certainly helped that Lupo's is a great club to see bands live in considering its size (not too big, not too small, JUUUUUUST right). Seeing two drunken skins threaten to beat down a 14-year-old kid for stealing their bottle of Jager and handing it to security (although the guard asked the kid to get it for him) was funny, too. 5. Mastodon - Unholy Alliance Tour First time seeing Mastodon live. I wish I'd seen them on their own headlining tour in a smaller venue, because almost none of the people at this show were interested, which is a damn fucking shame. Brett's mannerisms onstage are great (the little bird-like head-bob during instrumental parts of the songs had me laughing), and I don't think there was a single flaw in the whole set (and there's usually a flaw in every band's set). 4. Children of Bodom - Unholy Alliance Tour This is here for comedic purposes. They were HORRIBLE. Alexi was either stoned off his ass or drunk as shit, because he kept fucking up in EVERY song. The lead melody to "Needled 24/7" came in about three seconds too late, and everything was just off-time incredibly. 3. Municipal Waste - Rock and Shock Festival My introduction to one of the finest thrash bands around today. Everything about their set had me with a woody. The chosen attire (denim vests with band patches sewn on, which I have adorned since early spring), the pure thrashy goodness (and I've loved thrash more than any other style of metal or hardcore for as long as I can remember), the fucking BOOGIE BOARD (literally: the frontman takes a boogie board with, I believe, a shark painted on it, throws it into the crowd, and then jumps on top of it)...jeez. Pure fucking energy. Tons of hot, sweaty punk/hardcore chicks going in and coming out of the pit, plus this drunk-off-her-ass cunt that was just rambling on and on to some 13-year-old about how much she loves metal and punk and how she hasn't gotten laid in a few months...wow. That provided a shitton of entertainment when the band wasn't playing. Made me fall in love with 'em, and I can't wait to see 'em open for Gwar AGAIN this Friday. 2. Slayer - Unholy Alliance Tour The worst Slayer concert I've been to. And that doesn't say anything, because it was still one of the best concerts I've been to. The setlist was nearly perfect (better than when they played Reign in Blood in its entirety, even) with the introduction of "Cult," "Eyes of the Insane," and "Jihad" from Christ Illusions to it, plus one of the best tracks from God Hates Us All (that, of course, being "Disciple," even if "Payback" is my personal favorite on that album), along with the classics ("Dead Skin Mask," "War Ensemble," "Hell Awaits," "Seasons in the Abyss," "Mandatory Suicide," "Angel of Death," "Raining Blood," "Altar of Sacrifice/Jesus Saves," and "South of Heaven"), and the only reason this isn't #1 is because of how great #1 was. 1. GWAR - Rock and Shock Festival I'd seen them at the SotU tour, as read earlier, but this show kicks that one's ass. Not for the live show itself (I preferred the SotU performance in terms of what happened onstage), but for the setlist. I'd been told for a few years that Gwar only played their newer, heavier stuff live, so I'd likely not hear "Saddam A Go-Go" or "Sick of You" live unless it was a Gwar-only show that was going to last a few hours. Well...I got into the flow with a couple of songs off Beyond Hell, and then BAM! "Saddam A Go-Go" kicks in as Gwar goes to Hell (the theme of this show was Gwar is killed and sent to Hell, where they must slay their way to the Beast himself, Jewcifer, and then prove to him that they are the heaviest, most evil band in the universe). The victims were the usual for the past few years - Nazi Pope, the Leader of the Gwar Fanclub, President Bush - and Hitler Christ was Gwar's guide through the inferno. Oderus' reaction to witnessing Satan for the first time - "HOLY SHIT, THE DEVIL'S A JEW!" - still make me fucking laugh. My vest is stained from Gwar taint, my girlfriend got an ear infection from fake blood and semen getting shot deep into her ear, and overall the day was great. Autographs from Jeffrey Combs (Herbert West in Re-Animator), Bill Moseley (Otis in The Devil's Rejects), and Sid Haig (Capt. Spaulding in The Devil's Rejects), plus GWAR? Fucking awesome day. This list is subject to change, as I'm seeing Municipal Waste and Gwar again this coming Friday night. Hopefully they both blow me the fuck away again.

Municipal Waste - Waste 'Em All Fucking HELL YES! Thrash 'til you can't thrash no more. Saw 'em open for Gwar, and decided to grab the first Municipal Waste album I saw. Saw this and the other one, dunno how many they got out (might just be these two), but they're amazing throwbacks to 80's crossover, back when thrash, hardcore, and speed metal butted heads for the first time and produced DRI, SOD, and old-school Corrosion of Conformity before they went swamp. Municipal Waste - Hazardous Mutation Better than Waste 'Em All, but it really is more of the same. If you don't like thrash or crossover, stay far the fuck away from this band. Me? I love it. I love the fact that I'm getting more and more into it. I really need to check out more Cryptic Slaughter besides Money Talks, a ton of DRI, Cro-Mags...shit, there's so many bands I need to check out. One track starts off with a sample from one of the greatest mindfuck horror flicks ever, Phantasm (specifically the scene where Jodie and Michael decide to investigate the mortuary while at their house), and goes into an all-out thrash assault. If you can see this band live and don't mind thrash, hardcore, or speed metal, do so. You won't be bored, trust me, as they have a stage presence that must be seen (but won't be until the first song starts). The boogie-board, the beer-bong midway through a song, "trippin' balls"...it's all worth it.

Full results? Worth ordering the replay? Worth buying the DVD when its released in...oh...6 months?

My BIGGEST one I don't talk about, but after that...I really don't know. I'm gonna go with not seeing my grandfather one last time before he died, but I did see him a couple of days before but didn't wanna go the day before when my mom went again. I've regretted that every day since it happened over 3 years ago.

Certainly helps that Devin Townsend is pretty fucking solid, to say the least, on guitar, too. You all admire the dreaded skullet! You know you do. baron, I can get you with the Opeth one. They're a band I respect through and through, but I can't sit down and listen to a full song. Amazing musician that Akerfeldt is...just, as is the problem with most metal musicians, needs to learn to write a song that is both long and attention-getting throughout.

Few are. My girlfriend really wants to be double-teamed, and I've gotten over the whole "she's mine and mine alone" thing considering she's shared me with other girls, but the only one that's ever actually said he'd do it lives in Boston and has roommates that suck (check the last post in the "MySpace Would You" thread over in LSD, and look at the first candidate).

Oh, be fair...XGB wasn't THAT bad of a cartoon. In some aspects it actually owned the original's. I liked the re-done theme, I found the Eduardo/Kylie relationship to be some decent writing that actually grew throughout the show's existence, and the re-imagining of the gear was nifty. Plus, the effects given when the blasters are going off (with the changes in color and such) was a nice touch. Of course, the character design was lame and the plots weren't usually as good (but there were some damn fine ones), but hey. I wish it'd been on longer and not in syndication, but rather on a network that didn't suck like UPN (at least that's where we got it up in MA). Milking a dead franchise...I'ma have to say Police Academy. Oh yeah, I went there. And every Revenge of the Nerds sequel after Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise. 3 and 4 were the drizzling shits.

I got my girlfriend to watch tonight. She liked Eric Young and thought AJ Styles threw some convincing punches and elbows during the pull-away with Rhino. Hopefully she'll start watching with me. Williams/Homicide was decent, but the ending felt botched. I would've preferred even a botched run-in from LAX leading to Williams pinning Homicide with the CD'er, but that wouldn't've furthered the angle much. Williams has certainly come a long way from his debut in TNA at the X-Cup back in March '04.

Hopefully getting drunk at my pal Adam's house - just like last year - and bringing another ladyfriend to bed along with Steph - just like last year. Only this time I hope I don't wake up with the freezing windowsill up my ass.