| 1 | I have a [[http://www.last.fm/user/unknown_lamer/][last.fm]] account. |
| 2 | |
| 3 | * The Bands I Like the Most |
| 4 | |
| 5 | ** Skyclad |
| 6 | |
| 7 | Skyclad is incredible folk metal. The first two albums (*Wayward Sons |
| 8 | of Mother Earth* and *Burnt Offerings for the Bone Idol*) are Testament |
| 9 | style thrash with a bit of fiddle and keys and a heavy dose of |
| 10 | NWOBHM. The third album, *Jonah's Ark*, blunts the edge of the guitars |
| 11 | and adds a lot more fiddle and is really where the band goes from |
| 12 | making good to incredible music. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | *Prince of the Poverty Line* is about as 'heavy' as the first two |
| 15 | albums, but the the song structures are far more worked out and there |
| 16 | is an interesting infusion of folk and power metal into the sound. The |
| 17 | songs are mostly scathing social critiques of the state of society at |
| 18 | the time. The follow up, *Silent Whales of Lunar Sea*, is a decent album |
| 19 | but is scarred by terrible recording quality and mixing. It has |
| 20 | listenable songs (with "The Present Imperfect" and "Another Fine Mess" |
| 21 | standing out), and the only really noteable aspect is the slight |
| 22 | change toward a much less thrashy riff structure. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | *Irrational Anthems* more than made up for *Silent Whales of Lunar |
| 25 | Sea*. The less thrashy and slightly more punkish riffing structure |
| 26 | takes over here and the songs are all fast paced with guitar and |
| 27 | fiddle duels taking place often |
| 28 | |
| 29 | The next two albums see the electric guitar deemphasized and the band |
| 30 | making something more like heavy rock than heavy metal. The EP *Oui |
| 31 | Avante Garde a Chance* starts out with a fast paced fiddle oriented |
| 32 | song, moves into a nearly entirely fiddle and acoustic guitar song, |
| 33 | and then goes into a few slow songs dominated by keys and fiddle. The |
| 34 | albums picks up in intensity with *Bombjour*, and then has an acoustic |
| 35 | version of a song from the previous album. The new material ends with |
| 36 | the slow and intense *Badtime Story*. A couple of covers and an |
| 37 | instrumental version of a song follow to pad the EP to album length. |
| 38 | |
| 39 | *The Answer Machine?* was once my favorite album in my entire |
| 40 | collection. Most of the songs have a fuzzy electric guitar and an |
| 41 | acoustic guitar going at the same time, and the album is music that I |
| 42 | have found is listenable to people who don't like metal. The fiddle, |
| 43 | violin, and piano dominate and are backed by interesting bass and just |
| 44 | the right amount of guitar. The album is a pseudo-concept album; each |
| 45 | song is about a different quest for the answer to life. Unfortunately, |
| 46 | here is also where the influence of their producer can start to be |
| 47 | felt--a lot of things seem to be done for the sake of *sensibility*. |
| 48 | |
| 49 | The last two Skyclad albums with Martin Walkyier (the original singer) |
| 50 | see a two step return to a more metal style, but this time something |
| 51 | resembling *Powerslave* era Maiden with heavy folk overtones rather than |
| 52 | Testament. Both albums are fairly strong, and have a few songs that |
| 53 | are among the best Skyclad has ever done: "Cancer of the Heart" and |
| 54 | "Vintage Whine" on *Vintage Whine*, and "The Antibody Politic," "The |
| 55 | Disenchanted Forest," and "Think Back and Lie of England" on *Folkémon*. |
| 56 | |
| 57 | Alas, after *Folkémon* Martin left, and the band seems to have lost its |
| 58 | magic. It is much like At the Gates; the core members meshed quite |
| 59 | well together and lost some magical chemistry upon a major component |
| 60 | leaving. Skyclad's first album with the new singer was ok, and the |
| 61 | followup was a bit better. Unfortunately Kevin Ridley appears unable |
| 62 | to sing aggressively. |
| 63 | |
| 64 | ** Kevin Moore |
| 65 | |
| 66 | Kevin Moore is the first keyboardist of Dream Theater who left after |
| 67 | *Awake*. His work since then has surpassed the quality of everything |
| 68 | Dream Theater has produced since then for he posesses a unique |
| 69 | songwriting style and wonderful artistic ability. |
| 70 | |
| 71 | *** Chroma Key |
| 72 | |
| 73 | Chroma Key is (was?) Kevin Moore's primary project. It is mostly |
| 74 | electronic and fairly mellow. Secretly I like it (don't tell anyone I |
| 75 | listen to anything not metal). |
| 76 | |
| 77 | *** OSI |
| 78 | |
| 79 | OSI was originally a collaboration between Kevin Moore, Jim Matheos |
| 80 | (guitarist of Fates Warning), Mike Portnoy (drummer of Dream Theater), |
| 81 | and a few other prog rock/metal people. The first album, *Office of |
| 82 | Strategic Influence* was a moderately heavy and good album that sounded |
| 83 | quite similar to *Disconnected* Fates Warning with Kevin Moore on vocals |
| 84 | and complicated drumming. |
| 85 | |
| 86 | *Free* followed three years later and is completely different from the |
| 87 | first. This time the album was done with Kevin Moore and Jim Matheos |
| 88 | alone, and it finds a much nicer balance between keyboard and |
| 89 | guitar. The first OSI sounded too much like Fates Warning with more |
| 90 | ambient keyboarding; this one has a sound of its own. My ears have |
| 91 | heard this album many times, and will listen again many more. |
| 92 | |
| 93 | I'm not really digging *Blood* that much, but it's not bad. |