Dorcel - Closer

I found this band online, when I heard their song Move Away on a music website, and it I really enjoyed it. The rest album is pretty good, but Move Away is easily the best song. I thought it was a pretty good album overall though. It's a pretty short album, so I'd recommend giving it a listen. Plus, they have a free download for it on their website, so won't be wasting any money if you don't like it.

Rating: 3/5 

Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire - Oh! The Grandeur

I just recently discovered this album and was very impressed with it. I would describe it as Swing mixed with Indie rock. Andrew Bird is an extremely talented musician and I have been listening to his music every day since I first discovered him a few weeks ago. I love his own unique style he has. He is also a great lyricist, which really compliments his great music. I would recommend this to you if you want to hear some good music.

Rating: 4/5 

Radiohead - The Bends

Radiohead is one of my favorite bands, and The Bends is (if I had to choose) my favorite album by them. Thom Yorke is a great singer and lyricist. I also really like some of the guitar riffs on some of these songs. This album was a big hit in the UK, but not so much in the US. Though not popular at the time it became more of a classic by them. If you haven't heard Radiohead, this album would be a great place to start.

Rating: 5/5

Sick Puppies - Tri-Polar

Tri-Polar by the Sick Puppies is a great hard rock album. You can really feel the singer's emotion in a lot of these songs. I also really some of the bass riffs. In fact the bassist has some good parts in songs on this album. I like that considering in most modern hard rock, the bassist doesn't really do much other than play along with the main guitarist. Going back to the singer and such, I also really like the lyrics. Overall the album is pretty good.

Rating 3/5

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

I'm not this biggest fan of a majority of Today's Hip-Hop, but this album is amazing. I've always thought Kanye's music was alright, but I've taken much interest in it. This album seems to be his best work yet, though. I've been listening to it a lot these past few weeks and I love it. I'd recommend this album to anyone, even if you're not a big fan of hip-hop. It's amazing and is a good example of pop music that actually deserves to be popular.

Rating: 4.5/5

Neutral Milk Hotel - Aeroplane Over The Sea

I just discovered this album recently, despite it being out for over ten years, and I must say that I wish I had heard it sooner. This album is great and I'm glad I discovered it. Most of my thanks goes to an online music community that considers it one of the best albums ever made. I can't say I necessarily disagree either. When I first heard it, I listened to it from beginning to end, and was amazed. It's so calm and melodic. If you haven't heard this album yet, you should. That's really all I have to say.

Rating: 5/5 

Billy Talent - Billy Talent

A friend showed me this band a few years ago and I took an instant liking to them. The album I'll be talking about here is their first, and in my opinion, best album. Billy Talent is one of the better bands in today's "Alt Rock" scene. This album was more of an underground hit, but the first single "Try Honesty" gained some mainstream success. Pretty much all of the songs on this album are awesome, and even the ones that aren't are still pretty good.

Rating: 4/5

Beck - Modern Guilt

To start off, let me say that this album is awesome. It's been one of my favorites as of late. Out of the albums I've heard by Beck, this one is my favorite. It's great to listen to when you just want to sit back and chill. All the songs on this album are great, there's no filler tracks. Beck is an extremely talented musician and this album really shows it.

Rating: 5/5 

Subatomicglue - Selling Your Friend (For Cash)

This album is pretty good. It isone of the better electronic/synth albums I've ever heard. You can tell they put some effort into it and it's great. One of the big things is that it's not nearly as repetitive as most modern electronic music. Not all the tracks are that great, but overall it's a good album.

Rating: 3.5/5

Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God

Twilight of the Thunder God is the seventh album by Swedish melodic death metal band, Amon Amarth. It's one my favorite metal albums. I'd recommend it for any metal fans. My favoite song off the album is "No Fear For The Setting Sun". It's heavy and has darker lyrics, but is still pretty melodic and too monotonous like typical death metal.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Disturbed - Ten Thousand Fists

Ten Thousand Fists is probably Disturbed's best, at least in my opinion. I do like The Sickness quite a bit, but Ten Thousand Fists shows a more mature and talented side of Disturbed. It's hard for me to pick a favorite song off the album, but I'll say "Stricken". Most of the songs would appeal to a general audience. It's an all-around good hard rock album.

Tankard - The Beauty and the Beer

The Beauty and the Beer is a great album by the German thrash metal band, Tankard. It's their twelfth album and one of their better ones. Most bands start to lower in quality after a few albums, but apparently not Tankard. My favorite song off the album is "Metaltometal". It's fast, heavy, and just a great metal album. I'd recommend this album to any thrash metal fans.

Bright Eyes

Is it just me or is Bright Eyes a pretty overrated band? I like some of their stuff, but to be honest they aren't that great, yet there are quite a few people who just love this band so much. I guess I just don't see the appeal... I mean, there's nothing special about them instrumentally, and and the singer's voice is way too whiny sounding in most of their songs. The good thing I can say is that their front-man/founder, Conor Oberst, is an exceptional lyricist. Maybe I just need to listen to more of their stuff.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers is one of those bands that pretty much everybody likes. I can't say I've ever heard a song by them I can't stand. Not only that, but they have some great songs too. Though, I would say they've gotten a bit stale. Their earlier stuff had a more diverse sound, while a lot of their more recent stuff kind of sounds the same, though that does tend to happen when a band goes mainstream. Though I'm not saying their recent stuff is bad. Stadium Arcadium is a great album. Also, their bassist, Flea, is pretty damn good. Anyways, yeah they're a great band.

A quick post about Ice-T

I don't have much to say at the moment, but I thought I'd put out a short post. Also, this marks my first rap related post.

I just thought I'd give one the better rappers out there a mention. Though, his rap career is pretty much done, he put out some good albums in the early nineties and one or two in the late eighties. Rap's not really my thing most of the time, but Ice-T is pretty good. The guy can tell a story. He put most of, if not all of, today's popular rappers to shame.

It's not music related, but Ice-T is one of the stars of Law & Order: SVU, which is a pretty good TV show, and I must admit he's an alright actor. 

The Pink Spiders - Teenage Graffiti

I've been listening to this album quite a bit recently so I thought I'd give it a review. It's their third release and their major label debut. It put them out in more into the mainstream and introduced them to a lot of people, including me.

The only single released off the album, "Little Razorblade" was the first song I heard by them. I know I stated this in the blog I wrote about them last week, but this song didn't really give me the best first impression of them. As time passed I started to like it, and I'll admit it's a decent song, but definitely not their best.

Anyways, later on I would actually listen to the whole album and I was pretty impressed. There's some great songs on the album like, "Modern Swinger", "Hollywood Fix", "Easy Way Out", and "Pretend That This Is Fiction". I kinda thought, "Woah, the same guys who made that mediocre pop song made a great rock album?". It's a pretty impressive album, in my opinion.

I give it a 4 out of 5!

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, is the debut album by the Arctic Monkeys, and was released back in early 2006. It's one of the fastest selling debut albums of all time in the UK.

I was introduced to them and this album probably about a year ago. My friend would constantly be playing this album and a Bright Eyes' album, while we were in his car. I quickly took a liking to the Arctic Monkeys. Not only is it great music, but when I listen to it, it also reminds me of some fun days and nights spent with friends.

This is an excellent album in my opinion. These guys are great musicians and they put together a great album. My favorite song on the album is a tie between, "Riot Van", "When the Sun Goes Down", & "From Ritz to Rubble". All three are excellent songs. I would honestly recommend you listen to the whole album if you've never heard them before.

Rating: 5 out of 5

"From The Ritz to The Rubble"


Track Listing

1. The View From The Afternoon
2. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
3. Fake Tales Of San Francisco
4. Dancing Shoes
5. You Probably Couldn't; See For The Lights But You Were Looking Straight At Me
6. Still Take You Home
7. Riot Van
8. Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured
9. Mardy Bum
10. Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But...
11. When The Sun Goes Down
12. From The Ritz To The Rubble
13. A Certain Romance

The Pink Spiders

The Pink Spiders are a garage rock/pop punk band from Tennessee. I discovered them through a friend a couple years ago, though I didn't really get into them until earlier this year. The first song I heard by them was "Little Razorblade", which is much more poppy than most their songs. So, my first impression of them wasn't that great. I eventually started to hear some more of their stuff and decided that they were actually pretty good. I feel like they could easily attract fans of mainstream music, while also getting some people that generally stay away from it. My favorite song by them at the moment and one I'd recommend listening to if you'd like is, "Falling with Every Step".

Alter Bridge - Blackbird

Blackbird is the second studio album by the hard rock band Alter Bridge. It was released on October 9, 2007. It peaked at 13 on the Billboard 200 charts.

This is, in my opinion, their best album. It's pretty heavy and the songs are well written. There's some soft songs on there that are good too. The guitar riffs are pretty awesome. This album shows what a talented hard rock band Alter Bridge are. The first single I heard from them was "Rise Today. It's a great song and it introduced me to them. This whole album is excellent in my opinion. 

Rating: 4 out of 5

The single for "Rise Today", the first single off the album.

Track Listing

1. "Ties That Bind"
2. "Come to Life"
3. "Brand New Start"
4. "Buried Alive"
5. "Coming Home"
6. "Before Tomorrow Comes"
7. "Rise Today"
8. "Blackbird" 
9. "One by One"  
10. "Watch Over You"
11. "Break Me Down"
12. "White Knuckles"
13. "Wayward One"

The Birthday Massacre

The Birthday Massacre is a synthrock band from Canada. They've got quite a unique sound. The best attempt I can give at describing it would be electronica mixed with metal-ish hard rock. You'd really have to listen to a song by them to understand. I'd recommended you check them out only if you're pretty open minded when it comes to music. I don't have much to say about them at the moment but I'll probably post a review of one of their albums in the future.