Music I Enjoy.html

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  13     <h1>Music I Enjoy</h1>
  14    <div class="contents">
  15 <dl>
  16 <dt>
  17 <a href="#sec1">The Bands I Like the Most</a>
  18 </dt>
  19 <dd>
  20 <dl>
  21 <dt>
  22 <a href="#sec2">Skyclad</a>
  23 </dt>
  24 <dt>
  25 <a href="#sec3">Kevin Moore</a>
  26 </dt>
  27 <dd>
  28 <dl>
  29 <dt>
  30 <a href="#sec4">Chroma Key</a>
  31 </dt>
  32 <dt>
  33 <a href="#sec5">OSI</a>
  34 </dt>
  35 </dl>
  36 </dd>
  37 </dl>
  38 </dd>
  39 </dl>
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  41
  42
  43 <!-- Page published by Emacs Muse begins here --><p>I have a <a href="http://www.last.fm/user/unknown_lamer/">last.fm</a> account.</p>
  44
  45 <h2><a name="sec1" id="sec1"></a>
  46 The Bands I Like the Most</h2>
  47
  48 <h3><a name="sec2" id="sec2"></a>
  49 Skyclad</h3>
  50
  51 <p class="first">Skyclad is incredible folk metal. The first two albums (<em>Wayward Sons
  52 of Mother Earth</em> and <em>Burnt Offerings for the Bone Idol</em>) are Testament
  53 style thrash with a bit of fiddle and keys. The third album, <em>Jonah's
  54 Ark</em>, blunts the edge of the guitars and adds a lot more fiddle and is
  55 really where the band goes from making good to incredible
  56 music.</p>
  57
  58 <p><em>Prince of the Poverty Line</em> is about as 'heavy' as the first two
  59 albums, but the the song structures are far more worked out and there
  60 is an interesting infusion of folk and power metal into the sound. The
  61 songs are mostly scathing social critiques of the state of society at
  62 the time. The follow up, <em>Silent Whales of Lunar Sea</em>, is a decent album
  63 but is scarred by terrible recording quality and mixing. It has
  64 listenable songs (with &quot;The Present Imperfect&quot; and &quot;Another Fine Mess&quot;
  65 standing out), and the only really noteable aspect is the slight
  66 change toward a much less thrashy riff structure.</p>
  67
  68 <p><em>Irrational Anthems</em> more than made up for <em>Silent Whales of Lunar
  69 Sea</em>. The less thrashy and slightly more punkish riffing structure
  70 takes over here and the songs are all fast paced with guitar and
  71 fiddle duels taking place often</p>
  72
  73 <p>The next two albums see the electric guitar deemphasized and the band
  74 making something more like heavy rock than heavy metal. The EP <em>Oui
  75 Avante Garde a Chance</em> starts out with a fast paced fiddle oriented
  76 song, moves into a nearly entirely fiddle and acoustic guitar song,
  77 and then goes into a few slow songs dominated by keys and fiddle. The
  78 albums picks up in intensity with <em>Bombjour</em>, and then has an acoustic
  79 version of a song from the previous album. The new material ends with
  80 the slow and intense <em>Badtime Story</em>. A couple of covers and an
  81 instrumental version of a song follow to pad the EP to album length.</p>
  82
  83 <p><em>The Answer Machine?</em> is my favorite album in my entire collection. Most
  84 of the songs have a fuzzy electric guitar and an acoustic guitar going
  85 at the same time, and the album is music that I have found is
  86 listenable to people who don't like metal. The fiddle, violin, and
  87 piano dominate and are backed by interesting bass and just the right
  88 amount of guitar. The album is a pseudo-concept album; each song is
  89 about a different quest for the answer to life.</p>
  90
  91 <p>The last two Skyclad album with Martin Walkyier (the original singer)
  92 see a two step return to a more metal style, but this time something
  93 resembling <em>Powerslave</em> era Maiden with heavy folk overtones rather than
  94 Testament. Both albums lack any weak songs, and have a few that are
  95 among the best Skyclad has ever done: &quot;Cancer of the Heart,&quot; &quot;A Well
  96 Beside the River,&quot; and &quot;Vintage Whine&quot; on <em>Vintage Whine</em>, and &quot;The
  97 Antibody Politic,&quot; &quot;The Disenchanted Forest,&quot; and &quot;Think Back and Lie
  98 of England&quot; on <em>Folkemon</em>.</p>
  99
 100 <p>Alas, after <em>Folkemon</em> Martin left, and the band seems to have lost its
 101 magic. It is much like At the Gates; the core members meshed quite
 102 well together and lost some magical chemistry upon a major component
 103 leaving. Skyclad's first album with the new singer was ok, and perhaps
 104 the next one will be better. Sadly Martin Walkyier decided to abandon
 105 music forever.</p>
 106
 107
 108 <h3><a name="sec3" id="sec3"></a>
 109 Kevin Moore</h3>
 110
 111 <p class="first">Kevin Moore is the first keyboardist of Dream Theater who left after
 112 <em>Awake</em>. His work since then has surpassed the quality of everything
 113 Dream Theater has produced since then for he posesses a unique
 114 songwriting style and wonderful artistic ability.</p>
 115
 116 <h4><a name="sec4" id="sec4"></a>
 117 Chroma Key</h4>
 118
 119 <p class="first">Chroma Key is Kevin Moore's primary project. It is mostly electronic
 120 and fairly mellow.</p>
 121
 122
 123 <h4><a name="sec5" id="sec5"></a>
 124 OSI</h4>
 125
 126 <p class="first">OSI was originally a collaboration between Kevin Moore, Jim Matheos
 127 (guitarist of Fates Warning), Mike Portnoy (drummer of Dream Theater),
 128 and a few other prog rock/metal people. The first album, <em>Office of
 129 Strategic Influence</em> was a moderately heavy and good album that sounded
 130 quite similar to <em>Disconnected</em> Fates Warning with Kevin Moore on vocals
 131 and complicated drumming.</p>
 132
 133 <p><em>Free</em> followed three years later and is completely different from the
 134 first. This time the album was done with Kevin Moore and Jim Matheos
 135 alone, and it finds a much nicer balance between keyboard and
 136 guitar. The first OSI sounded too much like Fates Warning with more
 137 ambient keyboarding; this one has a sound of its own. My ears have
 138 heard this album many times, and will listen again many more.</p>
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 169 <p class="cke-footer">unknownlamer: Hail Satan
 170 unknownlamer: And do drugs
 171 urbanbohemiac: are you wearing underwear
 172 </p>
 173 <p class="cke-timestamp">Last Modified:
 174     March 13, 2008</p>
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