Caught In The Whirlwind
Posts tagged muse
Top Albums of 2009
Dec 23rd 2009
Traditionally, this is the time of year where I pick my favorite musical releases of the past 365 days (366 on leap years). This year will be no exception. And…man was this year a gigantic change from last year. Whereas 2008 was kinda slow for music, 2009 was a flood, especially the second half of the year. Quality release after Quality release just kept right on coming.
So without further delay, lets get right into it:
#1 – Transatlantic – The Whirlwind
Transatlantic - The Whirlwind
My number 1 this year is one of my most anticipated albums of all time, which is a followup to my absolute favorite album of all time (Bridge Across Forever). After spending most of the decade on hiatus after Neal Morse turned his energies to writing christian inspired music full time, The members of Transatlantic got back together and came right out swinging again with The Whirlwind.
It’s not nearly as good as Bridge Across Forever, and the sound has progressed from what it used to be, but honestly so have the members of the band. The lyrics, too, have evolved, from being simply spiritual to actually having some religious overtones. I don’t find that distracting enough to count it as a knock on the wonderfuly constructed musical content of this album.
The best parts are when the guys just seem to jam. There isn’t a band out there that has the writing chemistry that this guys do. the 77 minute title track feels cohesive, with themes introduced in the Overture coming back again and again through the song.
Transatlantic is back in busniess and I’m immensely excited to be seeing them live in April.
#2 – Dream Theater – Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings
If you asked me at the beginning of the year whether the upcoming Dream Theater album was going to be making my top list this year, I would have been doubtful after 2007′s Systematic Chaos fell (very) flat. After it was released though…wow. I was taken totally by surprise, often randomly saying to Wassy things like “Man, I can’t believe the new DT album is so good!”. It was my surefire number 1 until Transatlantic came out.
What we have here is a continuation of the sound of Systematic Chaos but with the missing elements of the Dream Theater sound and, more importantly, song structure added back in. John Petrucci owns this album with his solos, especially The Best Of Times. And Jordan Ruddess, prone to overplaying, reins himself in and plays for the song, not to see how many notes he can squeeze into a bar of music.
That’s not to say the album isn’t technical. It is. But it’s renewed focus on song structure and melody are what makes it work 1000x better than Systematic Chaos did. The only song that falls flat for me is Wither, which just sounds like a dated power-ballad. The Piano version is much better.
I want to specifically mention The Best Of Times which is a song written by Mike Portnoy as a tribute to his father who has recently passed away. Just hearing it for the first time gave me chills (and I even teared up towards the end). The epic guitar solo is one of the best solos I’ve ever heard. Ever. There’s so much emotion and feeling that was poured into the song and it really shows.
#3 – Muse – The Resistance
Muse - The Resistance
This album was a sleeper for me. Released the same day as the latest Porcupine Tree release, I expected it to get passed by as I spent most of my time with The Incident. However…that’s not how it turned out at all.
I loved it on first listen, and every listen after that caused it to grown on me even more. I find it very interesting that Muse is a mainstream band, and yet their sound (especially on this album) has so many progressive rock elements to it. They’re geniuses. They’ve managed to trick the mainstream into listening to prog!
Muse wears their influences on their sleeves on The Resistance, inspired by bands such as U2 and Queen. But instead of a straight up copying of their influences sound, they take it and add to it something that’s uniquely Muse. The United States of Eurasia is clearly Queen inspired, but it’s also very Muse like.
Also they’re not afraid to throw even classical influences into the mix, including the likes of Chopin. Not to mention the Exogenisis Symphony that closes the album. The entire thing feels like it’s Muse sticking it to the entirety of mainstream music, and they’re being embraced for it.
#4 – Long Distance Calling – Avoid The Light
Long Distance Calling - Avoid The Light
This album was also a bit of a surprise for me. I’m not normally one for purely instrumental music as I feel a lot of the time the song structure isn’t interesting enough to really differentiate one song from another. But on a tip from the members of Mike Portnoy.com forums, I went and checked this band out.
What I found was quality instrumental progressive rock, with definite song structure and pacing. They understand how to build a song up from the beginning to a climax and make it interesting. Furthermore, the drumming is really good, probably my favorite part of the album.
It’s not entirely instrumental though, as there’s one song with lyrics which is also enjoyable. The vocalist sounds a lot like the guy from Katatonia, actually.
My only complaint is that it’s a very short album, but I’ll take quality over quantity any day. If you’re a fan of instrumental rock, you own it to yourself to check out these guys.
#5 – Redemption – Snowfall on Judgement Day
Redemption - Snowfall on Judgment Day
Redemption was one of my discoveries from 2007 after seeing them open for Dream Theater in Buffalo, NY. I’ve had my eye on them since. These guys are a progressive metal band fronted by Fate’s Warning’s Ray Alder, backed up by a quality group of players. I really like Ray’s vocals on these releases as I think this type of music fits his style more than Fate’s Warning.
Anyway, this particular release is nothing really new or pushing the boundaries of the genre or even their previous releases. What it is, though, is a rock solid progressive metal album in a genre full of dream theater wanna-be’s who are very much not putting out interesting or quality music. Redemption clearly is influenced by the giants in the Prog Metal field, but they put their own spin on it and make it their own. This album also features some excellent lyrics, another thing that’s hard to find in the Prog Metal genre.
Throw in a track featuring a Duet with James LaBrie of Dream Theater and you’ve got a great album. Don’t mistake me when I say it’s nothing new. It’s still quality material.
Other Releases
- Porcupine Tree – The Incident
A solid, if disappointing release from PT. It clicked after seeing it live, but I need to be in a certain frame of mind to really listen to it. - Epica – Design Your Universe
A little too reliant on the growling, but this is one of Epica’s strongest releases Musically yet. - 3 – Revisions
A collection of redone and re-recorded songs from 3′s past, this release is good, but not great. The new version of The Game is a bit dissapointing, but I’m really happy with the rest of the songs. - Jordan Ruddess – Notes on A Dream
Jordan records his own piano versions of several Dream Theater songs. I like his focus on the songs that pre-dated his joining the band. His versions of Another Day and Hollow Years are stellar. I love having this on in the background. - OSI – Blood
The weakest of the OSI releases. Just didn’t grab me like the other ones, but it’s got some good songs too it. I think they tried to be a little TOO heavy and that’s not where OSI shines. The best parts are the more ambient songs like Terminal and Radiologue. - Umphrey’s McGee – Mantis
Part prog, part jam band release. This group was one of my new discoveries this year. Very nice for when I’m in the right mood. Some songs lose me a bit, but the first half of the album is very good. - Riverside – Anno Domini High Definition
An album that’s a lot less dark than their previous efforts. Some good stuff here, but it doesn’t quite capture the magic of Second Life Syndrome. Feels a little too short too. - Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Night Castle
The instrumental parts are awesome. The lyrical songs are terribly, terribly generic. Lots of filler here. Somebody needs to make a TSO lyric generator. It’d be pretty easy. Just throw in lots of children, dreams and people singing “on this night” - Scale The Summit – Carving Desert Canyons
This one is good in small doses, but all of their songs sound very similar after a while.
Honorable Mention
Bigelf – Cheat The Gallows was an album that was released last year, but one which I discovered this year. Take The Beatles, Pink Floyd and a liberal dose of evil and throw them in a blender and you get Bigelf. Really cool retro sounding music with a modern twist. Go see them live for full effect…the studio recordings just don’t capture them adequately.
The Music Explosion Begins!
Sep 15th 2009
Muse - The Resistance
The section of the year which I’ve been looking forward to/dreading the most has arrived. From now until the end of October there’s a parade of new music that I’m looking to buy. I’m going to be a very poor individual indeed.
First up this week, was Muse’s new Album, the Resistance. I’ve spun it a few times so I think I can make a coherent mini review.
Muse continues their arc from the more guitar driven songs of Absolution into the invasion of synths and more electronic elements in Black Holes and Revelations to the much more synth driven The Resistance. It’s a very solid album with a couple of dissapointing spots in it which hold it back.
The opening track Uprising firmly establishes it as as Muse album. It’s a straight ahead rocker with lots of energy and it’s something that Muse is very good at. There’s some analog synth action to be had on this track which sets up the tone of the album to follow. The same vibe seems to flow forwards into the second track Resistance, but the chorus is something that’s pretty different for Muse. This song has a bit of a U2 feel to it at times.
These two songs pave the way for my least favorite song on the album, Undisclosed Desires. There’s no guitar at all and it’s very…pop-y. It’s the weakest track to me. I don’t hate it, but I have a hard time getting into it. That may change as time goes on.
However, the album makes up for it with United States of Eurasia next. There’s some epic piano work on this one. The song structure reminds me very much of Queen. By far my favorite track of the album so far. Guiding light returns back to the heavy synth style and I think it’s quite cool. I think I need some time for this song to really click with me, but it’s promising.
Unnatural Selection is another more guitar driven rocker with some very strange and proggy sections and then there’s MK Ultra which switches back to a heavier synth sound while keeping up a higher energy level.
I Belong To You is a strange song. Some very nice piano throughout breaking in the middle to insert a piece of music by a french composer (Saint Saens) and after a short reprise of the main theme, it heads into the final 3 tracks of the album: the Exogenisis Symphony.
The symphony is really cool. Very beautiful and atmospheric and very different from anything Muse has ever done before. It retains a few signature Muse stylings of course, but it’s a sign of a band that doesn’t want to get pigeon-holed into a certain style after achieving some success with it.
Very solid album and it grows on me with each listen. One other thing I wanted to mention was that the bass work on this album is very nice. Muse has always had interesting bass lines, but these are out of the park good.
Next up, I’ll be picking the new Porcupine Tree album up on my way home from work (and scribblenauts for the DS…couldn’t resist that). I should have some thoughts on Porcupine Tree tomorrow. I’m a bit apprehensive because that album has gotten some mixed reviews.
QotD: Top 5 In ’06 – Music
Nov 29th 2006
What are your top 5 CDs/albums of 2006?
Submitted by eliz. s.
Barenaked Ladies Are Me
- Barenaked Ladies – Barenaked Ladies Are Me
If we’re not counting live releases, the new Barenaked Ladies CD would have to top my charts for the best release of 2006. They went independent and it shows, when them taking the time they needed in the studio to perfect this group of songs. They take the band in some new directions and mash up a whole bunch of different musical styles into a cohesive package.
My favorite tracks include the very funny “Bank Job”, “Everything Has Changed” and “Maybe You’re Right”.
I was hoping to go see them in concert again this year, but unfortunately, things didn’t work out.
- OSI – Free Coming back from their debut album, this side project of Kevin Moore, Jim Matheos of Fates Warning and Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater deliver a slightly heavier album, mixing electroinca influences with heavy guitar riffage. I ended up liking this effort a lot more than their self titled debut album.
- Frost* - Milliontown This is my pick for the best new discovery of the year. I wrote a blog post about them earlier, so I’ll refer you to that for the full details, but just in short, this is Progressive Metal without a lot of the progressive metal cliches. It’s a really fresh sound, and really original. It’s really too bad they called it quits recently, as I was looking forward to the next album from these guys. Hopefully the breakup is temporary because it was time related.
- Spock’s Beard – Spock’s Beard Here’s one I didn’t think I was going to be listing so soon, but I really can’t stop listening to this album. It’s started to really grow on me. I still don’t enjoy the instrumental track on it, but I’m getting more and more into it.
- Muse – Black Holes and Revelations Muse can be a hard band to get into. Musically, this effort is probably the most interesting thing that I’ve heard from them since I got into them with Absolution. However, I’m getting a little bored with the vocal lines which don’t vary much from song to song. They become almost predictable at times. Still, a good album by a good band.
If we were to include Live albums, Dream Theater – Score would be my number one pick. Dream Theater + Orchestra = goodness.
Runners up also incuded Iron Maiden’s A Matter of Life and Death and The Flower King’s Paradox Hotel.
Black Holes and Revelations
Aug 24th 2006
Muse - Black Holes and Revalations
I just picked up Muse’s new album (well not really new at this point exactly) the other day and got a chance to listen to it a few times.
If you’re not familiar with Muse or how they sound, you’re probably going to want to click the image there over to the Amazon page and check out some samples, because I really can’t describe them. Not that I’m good at describing music anyway, but this is one of those times where that’s epically true. The word “Different” come to mind, really. Like Radiohead crossed with some Queen thrown in. Which is a really bad comparison, but it’s all I got. Listen for yourself!
Anyway, I got turned onto the band by the members of the mikeportnoy.com forums, with Absolution, so I’m not an old school fan by any means. This also usually isn’t the kind of stuff I generally listen to (things with a cleaner production, for example)
One of the main things that the band seemed to want to do with this album is to branch out and experiment with some different sounds. Heavier rock, lighter balads, a little electronica thrown in there with “Supermassive Black Hole”, etc.The last one is the only track where the influence is very obvious and somewhat overbearing. If you only hear “Supermassive Black Hole” before purchasing, know that the rest of the CD is more in the Muse style.
My initial impressions of this CD are very positive. I like all the different angles they take on their base sound and don’t seem afraid to branch out a bit into other genres. My only complaint, if you can call it that is that the vocals on a lot of the tracks seem to kinda run together. Matthew Bellamy‘s a very technical singer with a lot of inflection and pitch changes (and all that good stuff) in his vocals, but it seems he can get in a rut at times which makes the vocal lines on every song sound pretty similar. It’s just a minor criticism though and doesn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the album. Overall, I like it more than Absolution.
Favorite tracks include “Starlight” which is a more straight ahead pop type song and “Assassin” which is probably the heaviest song on the CD. “Knights of Cydonia” also rocks. Hard.
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