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| 16 | <h1>Music I Enjoy</h1> |
| 17 | <div class="contents"> |
| 18 | <dl> |
| 19 | <dt> |
| 20 | <a href="#sec1">The Bands I Like the Most</a> |
| 21 | </dt> |
| 22 | <dd> |
| 23 | <dl> |
| 24 | <dt> |
| 25 | <a href="#sec2">Skyclad</a> |
| 26 | </dt> |
| 27 | <dt> |
| 28 | <a href="#sec3">Kevin Moore</a> |
| 29 | </dt> |
| 30 | <dd> |
| 31 | <dl> |
| 32 | <dt> |
| 33 | <a href="#sec4">Chroma Key</a> |
| 34 | </dt> |
| 35 | <dt> |
| 36 | <a href="#sec5">OSI</a> |
| 37 | </dt> |
| 38 | </dl> |
| 39 | </dd> |
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| 46 | <!-- 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> |
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| 48 | <h2><a name="sec1" id="sec1"></a> |
| 49 | The Bands I Like the Most</h2> |
| 50 | |
| 51 | <h3><a name="sec2" id="sec2"></a> |
| 52 | Skyclad</h3> |
| 53 | |
| 54 | <p class="first">Skyclad is incredible folk metal. The first two albums (<em>Wayward Sons |
| 55 | of Mother Earth</em> and <em>Burnt Offerings for the Bone Idol</em>) are Testament |
| 56 | style thrash with a bit of fiddle and keys and a heavy dose of |
| 57 | NWOBHM. The third album, <em>Jonah's Ark</em>, blunts the edge of the guitars |
| 58 | and adds a lot more fiddle and is really where the band goes from |
| 59 | making good to incredible music.</p> |
| 60 | |
| 61 | <p><em>Prince of the Poverty Line</em> is about as 'heavy' as the first two |
| 62 | albums, but the the song structures are far more worked out and there |
| 63 | is an interesting infusion of folk and power metal into the sound. The |
| 64 | songs are mostly scathing social critiques of the state of society at |
| 65 | the time. The follow up, <em>Silent Whales of Lunar Sea</em>, is a decent album |
| 66 | but is scarred by terrible recording quality and mixing. It has |
| 67 | listenable songs (with "The Present Imperfect" and "Another Fine Mess" |
| 68 | standing out), and the only really noteable aspect is the slight |
| 69 | change toward a much less thrashy riff structure.</p> |
| 70 | |
| 71 | <p><em>Irrational Anthems</em> more than made up for <em>Silent Whales of Lunar |
| 72 | Sea</em>. The less thrashy and slightly more punkish riffing structure |
| 73 | takes over here and the songs are all fast paced with guitar and |
| 74 | fiddle duels taking place often</p> |
| 75 | |
| 76 | <p>The next two albums see the electric guitar deemphasized and the band |
| 77 | making something more like heavy rock than heavy metal. The EP <em>Oui |
| 78 | Avante Garde a Chance</em> starts out with a fast paced fiddle oriented |
| 79 | song, moves into a nearly entirely fiddle and acoustic guitar song, |
| 80 | and then goes into a few slow songs dominated by keys and fiddle. The |
| 81 | albums picks up in intensity with <em>Bombjour</em>, and then has an acoustic |
| 82 | version of a song from the previous album. The new material ends with |
| 83 | the slow and intense <em>Badtime Story</em>. A couple of covers and an |
| 84 | instrumental version of a song follow to pad the EP to album length.</p> |
| 85 | |
| 86 | <p><em>The Answer Machine?</em> was once my favorite album in my entire |
| 87 | collection. Most of the songs have a fuzzy electric guitar and an |
| 88 | acoustic guitar going at the same time, and the album is music that I |
| 89 | have found is listenable to people who don't like metal. The fiddle, |
| 90 | violin, and piano dominate and are backed by interesting bass and just |
| 91 | the right amount of guitar. The album is a pseudo-concept album; each |
| 92 | song is about a different quest for the answer to life. Unfortunately, |
| 93 | here is also where the influence of their producer can start to be |
| 94 | felt—a lot of things seem to be done for the sake of <em>sensibility</em>.</p> |
| 95 | |
| 96 | <p>The last two Skyclad albums with Martin Walkyier (the original singer) |
| 97 | see a two step return to a more metal style, but this time something |
| 98 | resembling <em>Powerslave</em> era Maiden with heavy folk overtones rather than |
| 99 | Testament. Both albums are fairly strong, and have a few songs that |
| 100 | are among the best Skyclad has ever done: "Cancer of the Heart" and |
| 101 | "Vintage Whine" on <em>Vintage Whine</em>, and "The Antibody Politic," "The |
| 102 | Disenchanted Forest," and "Think Back and Lie of England" on <em>Folkémon</em>.</p> |
| 103 | |
| 104 | <p>Alas, after <em>Folkémon</em> Martin left, and the band seems to have lost its |
| 105 | magic. It is much like At the Gates; the core members meshed quite |
| 106 | well together and lost some magical chemistry upon a major component |
| 107 | leaving. Skyclad's first album with the new singer was ok, and the |
| 108 | followup was a bit better. Unfortunately Kevin Ridley appears unable |
| 109 | to sing aggressively.</p> |
| 110 | |
| 111 | |
| 112 | <h3><a name="sec3" id="sec3"></a> |
| 113 | Kevin Moore</h3> |
| 114 | |
| 115 | <p class="first">Kevin Moore is the first keyboardist of Dream Theater who left after |
| 116 | <em>Awake</em>. His work since then has surpassed the quality of everything |
| 117 | Dream Theater has produced since then for he posesses a unique |
| 118 | songwriting style and wonderful artistic ability.</p> |
| 119 | |
| 120 | <h4><a name="sec4" id="sec4"></a> |
| 121 | Chroma Key</h4> |
| 122 | |
| 123 | <p class="first">Chroma Key is (was?) Kevin Moore's primary project. It is mostly |
| 124 | electronic and fairly mellow. Secretly I like it (don't tell anyone I |
| 125 | listen to anything not metal).</p> |
| 126 | |
| 127 | |
| 128 | <h4><a name="sec5" id="sec5"></a> |
| 129 | OSI</h4> |
| 130 | |
| 131 | <p class="first">OSI was originally a collaboration between Kevin Moore, Jim Matheos |
| 132 | (guitarist of Fates Warning), Mike Portnoy (drummer of Dream Theater), |
| 133 | and a few other prog rock/metal people. The first album, <em>Office of |
| 134 | Strategic Influence</em> was a moderately heavy and good album that sounded |
| 135 | quite similar to <em>Disconnected</em> Fates Warning with Kevin Moore on vocals |
| 136 | and complicated drumming.</p> |
| 137 | |
| 138 | <p><em>Free</em> followed three years later and is completely different from the |
| 139 | first. This time the album was done with Kevin Moore and Jim Matheos |
| 140 | alone, and it finds a much nicer balance between keyboard and |
| 141 | guitar. The first OSI sounded too much like Fates Warning with more |
| 142 | ambient keyboarding; this one has a sound of its own. My ears have |
| 143 | heard this album many times, and will listen again many more.</p> |
| 144 | |
| 145 | <p>I'm not really digging <em>Blood</em> that much, but it's not bad.</p> |
| 146 | |
| 147 | |
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| 176 | <p class="cke-footer">Jessie: i thought your beard took the oxygen from the air and made it |
| 177 | breathable for you |
| 178 | </p> |
| 179 | <p class="cke-timestamp">Last Modified: |
| 180 | January 21, 2013</p> |
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