Music I Enjoy.muse

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