Just a short one- I wrote already on my facebook a short summary but it was a fake one.
This year was rather hard for me compared to the last one, but I want to thank those most important to me, a new addition to my friends mrs. Potato Alicia Kartoffler and of course Juliet, probably the most interesting person I've ever come across. Karol and Gunsen for being distant and close friends and Queen of Awesomeness for being awesome.
Cheers! Stay healthy in 2016. I hope I will still be around meeting 2017 with You next year
I once said that I won't take another Dragon Ball Powerlevel request, but since I was asked so nicely + surprisingly large audience is interested by it + it's Christmas soon I will do one more.
The question I was given was about human power levels in manga/anime. Some people put them extremely low, while in my list they are much stronger, comparable to first Freeza forms. Now I will show You how I estimate their powers, step by step since they died in Saiyan Saga.
First, let's look at Goku's training at King Kai's planet:
Goku dies on October 12, starts training April 29, around 23 May he mastered the gravity, ends his training November 2, after mastering Kaioken and Spirit Bomb for a long time. He needed ~200 days to get to King Kai, and trained for ~150 days, getting ~15 times stronger with 2 new techniques.
Now Z Fighters died on November 3, start training at December 18, after 6 days Piccolo comes back to life, on May 3 Yamcha comes back to life, and September 9 Tien and Chaotzu come back as well. It's cannon that none of them know about Kaioken or Spirit Bomb, and they demanded much harder training than Goku had. So it took them ~45 days to get there, Yamcha trained for ~135 days, so same amount of time as Goku, because he mastered the gravity faster. Tien and Chaotzu trained for ~290 days which is insane.
On a Piccolo example we can see that after the journey it took him only a 6 day meditation to master the gravity and get ~20 times stronger. Maybe he arrived earlier than the rest but still it's something.
So, in my take: humans arrived much faster than Goku, needed less time to master the gravity with heavy clothes, trained together so it went much faster, under King Kai who just had a student so he was a better master than with Goku + they don't learn hard-to-master techniques like Spirit Bomb and Kaioken + Tien stated in his mind that they need to focus on their own techniques so they can get closer to Goku. With all that in mind I hope we can agree that the power boost they get after this training is beyond massive.
So, everytime I see online someone saying that humans after King Kai training have 10,000 power level, or 300,000 in Cell saga I smile a little bit.
In my new take at power level list they arrive like this:
Tien: 2306
Yamcha: 1628
Chaotzu: 769
We skip Piccolo as he leaves fast, isn't human and trains in his own way.
I also gave Chaotzu a small boost because he usually uses flight to move around, so the gravity and a long journey is a bit harder for him. I also do that because his power level is so low compared to others, I don't understand why Akira went with Yamcha power level from 177 to 1480 in Saiyan Saga and only from ~140 to 610 with Chaotzu.
he has one fight in Dragon Ball Z, is 10 times weaker than his opponent, blews himself up without damaging even the armor of the guy. So fucking unfair
It took ~24 days for Goku to master the gravity, I guess they did it twice as fast, so after 12 days:
Tien: 57,650
Yamcha: 40,700
Chaotzu: 19,225
I know it was a filler but with those power levels just after getting used to 10*gravity they really wouldn't have problems with Ginyu force.
Now it's hard to estimate their further training and now someone can call me a fucking idiot for giving them so much power. But remember that it's my version, it clearly collides with Toriyama's vision:
Yamcha ends his training at double Ginyu which sounds fair to me, then trains a bit on Earth, while getting back to using 10*gravity again. After Yamcha's departure Chaotzu trains not as intensely as Tien. Now there is almost a year before Freeza arrives, so they keep training, Tien as hard as ever, Yamcha and Chaotzu not as much. Their bodies get used to Earth gravity again, which of course is a good thing, like a good rest after the training.
Tien: 988,000
Yamcha: 389,400
Chaotzu: 236,200
They are of course terrified to learn how strong Freeza is, and about androids stronger even than Freeza. They all, except for Chaotzu, train their asses off in the next 3 years. Tien develops a super strong version of Tri Beam, which uses his own version of Kaioken to boost the power of the attack + it's safer to use than the original Tri Beam.
guy trains non stop through entire Dragon Ball Z, loses his arm after first punch from an opponent from his first fight in DBZ, then loses every fight he's in, only managing to stall opponents for a bit. Oh, he's also weaker than kids, 5 years old Gohan is stronger than him in Saiyan Saga, 7 years old Goten is stronger than him in Buu Saga.
Tien is aware that Chaotzu will do no good in battle so he doesn't come with him. Yamcha got way stronger, but even without Gero draining his energy he would still lose the battle. Tien got a lot stronger, but still can't get close to Saiyans. Gohan after training with Goku and Piccolo is ahead of him.
What about Krillin? Well, it was stated that during the battle with Freeza his power level was ~75,000 and still rising. He died arround 195,000 in my opinion and we no longer consider the Guru power up. He died probably in a different Galaxy so he wasn't allowed to train at King Kai (not sure about that but just think about possibilities- he could easily match Vegeta's power level with gravity training!). Still, he had almost 1,5 a year to get used to his powers and try to close the gap between him and Gohan/Tien/Goku so he won't die again. So, when Freeza comes again Krillin is much stronger, but still outclassed.
Krillin: 310,000 ?
No, I will cheat a bit, and I'm sorry for that. Krillin is like Vegeta in Namek saga, not only he gets from ~2500 to 75,000 with one power up and a bit of fighting, but also is generally considered stronger or slightly weaker than Tien. While I disagree that he's ever stronger than Tien (who does nothing else but train with a partner in extreme environments), he is stronger than Yamcha. So I cheat, I give him *2,5 for heavy clothes/gravity training, even though there is no statement about it. I'm sorry. I can only say that he felt how strong Freeza is, not like the others, so he knew very well how big gap he has to jump.
I'm really, really mad at Toriyama that he didn't tell more about humans training, focusing instead on Saiyans. Such likeable characters from Dragon Ball left behind struggling to catch up.
So, Krillin faced Freeza again at:
Krillin: 775,000
And he trained hard for the Androids:
Krillin: 1,950,000
Which is fair by me. If I were Krillin I would train under 100 times gravity, in three years it would be a piece of cake, he could bring Yamcha and try to convince Tien how useful that could be. Then they could give a shot at Room of Spirit and Time. I know it wouldn't help them much with Cell or Androids, but maybe they would see much more action, catching somebody off-guard with new techniques, fighting in pairs or Tien devastating Cell even further with Tri Beam. So many possibilities ruined by Toriyama. But I still love that man and wish him the best there is.
P.S. In Buu Saga powerlevel skyrocket again, and they start getting old, my guess is that Krillin trained himself a bit before he started dating 18, so he was around 3,500,000, Yamcha kept going for a while but decided that it's time to retire, so he got to around 1,700,000. Tien and Chaotzu kept training, with Chaotzu getting to ~1,000,000 and Tien getting close to Goten and Trunks levels (~9,000,000) in terms of pure strength, but being able to defeat them one on one with Neo Tri Beam (yes, even their Super Saiyan levels, as they are probably weaker than Semi-Perfect Cell)
For people unfamiliar with the subject I'm sorry for posting that. I am considered an expert in Dragon Ball (in general) + I'm crazy obsessed with power levels from that franchise, as You can clearly see.
Ok, I didn't expect another request this year but here we go.
First of all I'm not a thrash metal fan, or a good video reviewer. Having said that, the video shows us the band playing + some woman covered in paint dancing (?). Quite simplistic when it comes to imagery, but I'm unable to find some deeper meaning about it- painted woman has something to do with the sense of life? The zoom on the woman is a bit too much, in my opinion they should show more of her body, not just close ups all the time. Also the cuts are a bit fast, it doesn't really bother the viewer but also doesn't help the video. But let's talk about music.
Well, I heard some other Wolf Spider songs, and I have mixed feelings about them. While they avoid the typical thrash metal vocals style recently (which is good for me as I dislike classic thrash vocals), they try to fit many progressive elements, to the point where melody shifts totally and it's really hard to keep headbanging to the rhythm. And this song shows the worst side of it. Drums jump all around, to the point where we no longer have complex drumming but mostly pure noise. Guitars don't help, with riffing jumping in quality, from rather complex one to really primitive playing. Vocals, while not really thrashy, also shift the style through the song, sometimes it work, sometimes it doesn't, but adds some diversity. But I can't help but think that the vocalist shifting the style all the time doesn't stay as invented in singing as if he could be when sticking to one style, especially when comparing to their promo material "It's Your Time".
His pronunciation didn't really improve, so I still have no idea what's the sense of life.
The worst part of this song is the build, it tries so hard to be progressive, but also to have softer blues elements, but also let's squeeze a guitar solo there, ominous vocals mixed with soft ones and also some sing-along bits for guitarists to shout somewhere in the middle. You know what they say- jack of all trades is a master of none.
Mixing isn't perfect as well, with vocals being too quiet sometimes. Background could also use some more sounds in about 1/3 of this song.
So there you have it, I don't particulary like it, but it's not a torture to watch or listen to. Fans of the band like it, and I guess that's what important, that the band can come back after so many years and still entertain some people.
Score:
Guitars: 6/10
Vocals: 6/10
Bass: do they even have one of those?
Drums: 4+/10
Best melodic death album of the year: Swallow The Sun- Songs From The North I (for me it counts as melodeath, since so few was released this year)
Nothing else came even close.
"And for us who tread in the dark
The road goes on forever
From sunrise to sunset and all through the night"
Best power metal album of the year: Cain's Offering's Stormcrow
Runner up was Gloryhammer with Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards. Exceptionally good, but Jani's second album had an extremely high bar to jump over, and it did.
Best folk metal album of the year: I wasn't really into folk this year, so Korpiklaani Noita has to do.
Listen to new Swallow The Sun album- it's sad, it's beautiful, it's a monumental achievement for the band to release 21 extremely good songs at once.
2016 will be a very interesting year for music as well. Enjoy this song while moving there. Stay safe, wherever you are, whoever you are.
"Wounded in the hands of winter, I froze to death for her
Sharp, intense thrash-like intro misleads us to very classic melodic death song, the riffing sounds like Insomnium (Gunsomnium?), as well as whispered vocals after first verse. Tempo of the songs is varied, from fast, slightly monotonous riffing to mid tempo elements. Guitar is probably the most varied element here, with many different solos, sweeps, an instalove song to every guitar enthusiast. Drums go along pretty well, less varied than with Super Pig or Fly, but still rich enough to get a high score.
The only element that doesn't really keep up are the lyrics, vocalist tries his best to sing them in an awesome-as-always way, but maybe I listened too much to Insomnium, Swallow The Sun and Omnium Gatherum to enjoy them fully. They are not bad, the meaning behind them is very positive, but somehow a tiny bit simplistic, in comparison to other elements of the song. Still, I don't count it as a flaw, it only keeps the song from being perfect. Gunsen doesn't stop to impress me, with this track he shows that not only he exceeds at his own "Super Melodic Metal" genre, but can also play very rich classic, Melodic Death Metal,
The only thing that gets me sad is that he didn't release his album this year. With so many great tracks it could be an album of the year. Easily.
Keep it up Gunsen, I expect to see more awesome tracks from my favourite guitarist number V.
I "Hope"!
Score:
Vocals: 9/10
Guitars: 11/10
Bass: no hope/10
Drums: 9/10
Additional:
+super rich background, with tons of guitars
+intense as fuck
+style and mood shift compared to previous tracks
Ostre, intensywne, prawie że thrashowe intro zmyla słuchacza, i przechodzi do dość klasycznego, ogólnie pojętego melodic death metalu. Gitary brzmią podobnie do Insomnium (Gunsomnium?), tak jak szeptany momentami wokal.
Tempo piosenki jest zmienne, widać Gunsen próbował grać klasyczny melodic death, ale znudził się w trakcie i dodał sporo solówek i sweepów- istny raj dla fanów gitarowych brzmień. Perkusja współgra całkiem nieźle, mniej urozmaicona niż w Super Pig i Fly ale nadal na bardzo wysokim poziomie.
Jedyny element piosenki który trochę odbiega poziomem to tekst, wokalista daje z siebie wszystko by to zaśpiewać tak dobrze jak w poprzednich piosenkach i mu się udaje, ale może za dużo słuchałem Insomnium, Swallow The Sun i Omnium Gatherum by być w pełni zadowolonym.
Tekst nie jest zły, jego znaczenie jest bardzo pozytywne i znając zdolności językowe Gunsena to i tak jestem pod wrażeniem, ale jak dla mnie jest odrobinę zbyt prosty w porównaniu do innych elementów tej piosenki. Dalej nie uznaję tego za wadę, jedynie element który nie pozwala piosence być doskonałą.
Gunsen nie przestaje mnie zadziwiać, z tą ścieżką pokazuje że zajebiście gra nie tylko swój "Super Melodic Metal" ale i potrafi grać bardzo bogaty klasyczny Melodic Death Metal.
Jedyna rzecz która mnie smuci, to że nie udało mu się wydać albumu w tym roku. Z takimi ścieżkami to pewnie mógłby być mój album roku. Ale nie poddawaj się, Gunsen! Spodziewam się więcej wyjebanych w kosmos piosenek od mojego ulubionego gitarzysty numer V!
I bet everyone in their life enjoyed a comic strip or two. I decided to gather some info about the comics I enjoyed through my life, mostly for myself, but I bet someone can find something interesting here
1. Donald Duck was the first comic I remember enjoying, but since it's a rather childish stuff I wanna talk about way more mature comics connected to it- The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. Now this is not only much more mature but also way more epic and meaningful.
2. Garfield was with me for a very long time, not very serious but had it's moments. Later books were much more interesting, with Jon finally getting along with Liz and presenting more stuff about relationships
3. Dilbert, office driven humor isn't for everyone, but I read this stuff as a kid, didn't understand more than a half of it and I still enjoyed the shit out of it. So many memorable characters and some one time characters were so good I wished to see them again.
4. Kid Paddle was the first comic I read about video games (gamers), while itself it was rather childish and no longer appealing to me it was fun "back then"
5. Człowiek Paroovka was the last comic I read on paper, only in Polish. Not very popular but it parodies many superhero stereotypes, has some funny moments for adults and some characters got their own comics later (Gang Wąsaczy). + Some action takes place in my actual town :D
And just how awesome is defeating evil Apocalipso by making him applause?
For years I was into webcomics, to the point where I myself wrote some scripts for smaller artists. I probably forgot to mention many great comics here but let me gather what I remember
1. Rotflpg was and still is the most important comic in my life. It came back a year or two ago now also in English. A team of dwarf, paladin and necromancer trying to fight an unwinnable battle against cruel Dungeon Master maybe lost the impact that it had on me years ago but still is fun to read. In English it loses a bit of the original humor but Greger is trying to make it funny anyway.
2. Concerned, a comic about Gordon Frohman, a lovable idiot and asshole in a world of Half Life 2. But many people unfamiliar with the game can still enjoy it to some level. Finished and never continued is still the best, funniest webcomics I've ever seen.
3. Bug City, another dead webcomic that is quite hard to find today, very vulgar, brutal and only in Polish, a comic showing a bit darker side of the Polish society. Still managed to be funny about it.
4. VG Cats is well known to video game fans, also connected to it Super Effective about Pokemon
5. Awkward Zombie, another mostly about video games, or the life of the artist, Katie
6. Manly Guys Doing Manly Things, ANOTHER comic about video games, I think I need a life :P
Internet is full of great webcomics, you can always find something for you. I grew tired of writing this lazy November post so I will end this here :P
Not much going in the music territory- Swallow The Sun soon (get it?) releases their monstrual album, some gigs in December. So lemme just write a bunch of random stuff from my mind:
- fashion is going really weird recently, I bet You all are aware how should a modern man look. And I can't help but wonder how did it happen that some men really go for it. Ey, pssst, remember one thing? WE ARE MEN, WE DRESS IN WHAT THE HELL WE WANT. Some people really need to check their gender sometimes.
- found out a manga and anime One Punch Man. I usually don't care about stuff like that, as I'm comfy with what I know (Full Metal Alchemist, Dragon Ball, Hellsing, Attack on Titan, Detroit Metal City, you know, the awesome-but-not-that-perverted-and-weird stuff, unlike some anime about a guy having a demon in his penis), but I was unable to skip this stuff- this is the best parody manga I've read for a long time. It's really something original and funny, I highly recommend checking this one out.
- looping this over and over, some kind of cyberpunk influenced modern melodic progmelodeath. I have no idea, but I dig it so hard.
- I'm back into gaming a bit, first refreshing very old memories with Gothic I and II, Rayman 2 and 3 and kicking some ass in Killing Floor and Worms. A bit into Rocket League, but I still suck in it (Bronze I league)
- New Adele song broke down the Internet. Well, fuck that- it might be sung ok, but the lyrics are fucking crap- another song like "so yeah, I was a bitch and I'm sorry for breaking Your heart. I wonder why You are not responding to my calls, guess it doesn't effect You as I thought, You never loved me. Well, at least I tried to apologise"- thanks Adele for ruining new generation of young girls with that crap. Fucking fat cunt.
And that's it for now, before 2016 get ready for my favourite picks in best album of 2015. Not that anyone cares, but hey, I write my blog for myself, I'm just kind enough to share :)
When meeting musicians one should always be aware that the expectations can be a little too high. But before I met Mr. T. I was fully aware how reserved, calm and hard to read person he can be, especially with those piercing eyes :)
And I gave him a hug, like a promised in Cain's Offering review.
I'm still unable to think after that night, not everyday one can meet his favourite bassist on the street, have a shot of vodka with one of favourite keyboardist while the favourite one is near, hug his favourite vocalist and meet other great musicians while having a love of his life next to him.
Thanks to everyone who made my life brighter for that one evening :)
don't feel bad if it's Your favourite band, really
Gloryhammer is still a fresh band project by male Lady Gaga Christopher Bowes from Alestorm that mocks Power Metal in a beautiful way- first album was about an invasion of undead unicorns and was pretty decent, yet I didn't feel like writing a review of it.
But now Gloryhammer comes back IN SPACE, fighting wizards with nukes and one cannot simply ignore such absurd topics like that.
So we dive in an instrumental track Infernus Ad Astra, that tells about distant future in 1992. I was alive back then as a nineties kid and I can tell you everything said on this album really happened, those crazy days.
Track goes without stoping into the album track, Rise of the Chaos Wizards. Most important notice on this album is way more complex drumming and riffing, still behind greater bands in the genre but it finally sounds like a band trying to make an impact, not only a joke. I just hope that it won't end like Stratovarius, with only first tracks making a difference, and the rest barely trying. Vocals are just as amazing as on the first album, the strongest point of this band. Well placed solo, background vocals and build really take the mind off the lyrics, that are stupidly fun and memorable.
Legend of the Astral Hammer starts strong just behind it, and I can't stop smiling while listening to serious vocals about Intergalactic great hero of steel.
Not only the vocalist is skilled and talented, he can keep the serious tone even when singing about unicorns and lunar dragons.
Track is a typical sing along with a nice walking tempo, including a nice solo on unindentified instrument, probably some new techology from futuristic 1992.
Shockingly well placed guitar solo really made me rise my eyebrows. If this space shit keeps happening Cain's Offering may need to give the album of the year award to Gloryhammer, and I might need to make a place on my favourite 13 bands for Gloryhammer. But we will see.
Goblin King of the Darkstorm Galaxy starts as fast as the previous track. While at first not as appealing as the last 2 it has a noticable riffing and very catchy chorus, I can't stop thinking that Trollfest would sound like that if they played power metal.
Third track on this album and the builds and solos are still great and fresh, I really didn't expect this album to be this good.
The Hollywood Hootsman starts with heavy guitars and still fast tempo. Interesting lyrics, even though I don't think I get the full joke in this song. Very noticable drum work after second chorus and a bit waah-overloaded guitar solo, but it's the first on the album and fits the Hollywood feel.
...
And I had a super strong chills after the screamed vocal outro, holy fuck.
Victorious Eagle Warfare starts with great keyboard solo, but I still have the previous scream in my mind, give me a minute..Since every song so far is another story about something, I can't help but imagine a scottish junkie with space hat and a bottle of whisky in his hand telling a story to anyone who would want to hear it.
This song has a moments that sound like the vocalist is drunk. So far the weakest song of them all, but I take it as a joke. Not a joke guitar solo though, I didn't read who wrote those solos but
A nice outro, and I didn't notice I'm 23 minutes in.
Questlords of Inverness, Ride to the Galactic Fortress is like a joke title, but after an intro it changes into yet another fast song. Not that boring though, guitar helps us with that.Chorus is a bit trying too hard with the heavy drumming, but keyboards after it help to balance the song.
Choirs singing about an unicorn are a great touch though and make a great entry to another interesting guitar solo.
Again the song is build very well, with a last chorus leading to a prolonged outro fading with keyboards.
Universe on Fire is already known to me, as it was a lyrics teaser track before the album release. An amazing mix of disco/electronic music and power metal. The most hit track on the album so far, lesser focus on vocals really got me worried before the album was released but now after hearing more than a half of the album it's really an enjoyable pause, since there was no slower track so far to take a breath.
Putting a hit track so far on the album was a gutsy move and it profits a lot, this album is way better than the new Stratovarius and Helloween, I have yet to decide if it's better than Cain's Offering.
Heroes (of Dundee) starts slow with epic background and a bit of sadness, but the tempo goes faster in seconds. Very interesting lyrics, simplistic yet with some catchy tricks. Guitar solo strikes very fast for a moment.
I wonder if "An epic war is fight" is a some kind of a joke I don't get.
Great keyboard solo reminds me that Christopher Bowes is still the best keyboardist I've ever seen life (hope that changes tomorrow with Stratovarius gig) and fitting guitar solo arrives soon, with solid drumming arriving in a climax.
Another well played track, and I can't believe it's next to last.
The only "serious" track- Apocalypse 1992.
Long outro leads to vocal prelude. I don't usually like those, but it's said with such passion that wow.
The track really sounds like warriors from Gloryhammer are facing a battle with Space Alestorm.
It's hard to list all ideas put in this song, some elements are so catchy I thought they were choruses, before the real one kicked me in the balls. The song is about destroying Earth to save the Galaxy and I don't think they can get more epic than that.
Melody from the first track makes an appearience in the outro, fucking awesome.
Dundax Aeterna is a solid instrumental outro song, I'm glad some people still make outros like that.
Well, it might be the second greatest surprise this year, after Swallow The Sun releasing 3 in 1 album. And with all the honesty and sympathy in the world I didn't expect this album to be such an amazing piece of art.
Not only all songs are interesting in their own way, build with caution, well placed on the album and with funny yet catchy lyrics, the skills behind this music are also top notch.
Amazing vocalist, one of the best keyboard players I know and suprisingly good guitar compared to the first album. We have orchestrals, rich background, space noises and really- power metal about medival knights fighting a space wizard with plasma guns and laser axes is just stupid, like who would release such amazing music about dumb subjects like that :D
It's not a breakthrough in the genre, but this album is no joke, even if it tries very hard to be one.
I can't find a single thing they did wrong here (except for bass that I never hear and not enough keyboard solos for my taste).
There were 2 or 3 moments where I just stopped typing, amazed by the sudden sounds of vocals and guitars. I never do it mid review but Gloryhammer MUST BE in my top bands, so I extend it to 14 favourite bands and place it on number five. It's the only right thing to do after I greatly underestimated this album, so glad I bought it.
Additional:
++fucking stupid concept of an album
++ mocking the power metal with extremely well power metal
+ absurd and catchy lyrics
+ synths, choirs, background
+ songs are built extremely well
+ great song placement on an album
+ very consistent in quality, no lazy songs
+ interesting and not exhausting even with no slow songs
+ interesting and not exhausting even though basically singing all the time about the same god damn fucking thing
Quite a weird name for a song, something a "depressed" thirteen years old girl would write on her blog, after sixth boyfriend this week broke up with her.
Soft, distant intro to this song doesn't help the image, as well as the lyrics sung by a sad male voice
see the gost i have become
save the prayers for the living ones
feel the dark that i've become
send your crows into the light
TO FILL THE SKIES AND DIM THE SUN
...
I heard the glass shattering with that line, winter coming through the open window and freezing my body, yet the music didn't change, it continues slowly, and this is still the first minute of this ~8 minute monstrosity.
cast the shadows on my side
fullfil the oath of the broken ones
hallowed halls of setting suns
lost in the vacuum of this heart
It's hard to notice the mood changing, music going heavier and heavier with every second.
hear my heartstrings shattering
as tombs open before me
and she sang
It happens again, this time it's my heart cracking, not glass.
bury my heart
cover it with the coldest stones
so it will suffer longer
like i did in your arms
like i did in your arms
like i did in your arms
your arms
female vocals on Swallow The Sun, I don't even know who sings that, but I fall in love with the sad and soft voice.
I'm not going to spoil the song anymore, check it out.
Swallow The Sun are messing with our brains, releasing a emotionally unstable mix of a sad, soft "pop" song perfectly blended with everything there is to love in Melodic Death/ Doom Death Metal. Fading outro coming back to the last chorus, like her last breath on this realm is incredible, and with it fading away I'm finally getting my own back.
Score:
Vocals: /10
Guitars: /10
Bass: /10
Drums: /10
Additional:
Final score: % , it's beyond my abilities to review this track
It is going to be sad and beautiful at once :) I hoped a few albums were schedluded for 2015, but it seems all the melodeath in the world is coming out 2016. A short list of bands that plans to release their shit in 2016:
- Omnium Gatherum, with Skyline leading as a teaser track. We can expect some more vomit-like vocals singing about peace, love and carebears with a nice progression
- Kalmah tries to throw another one from their swamp, I hope they're gonna mock another bands again, Seventh Swampony and Pikemaster are still close to my heart
- Whispered teased our anuses with Sakura Omen , we can expect another supersolid piece of samurai's shit. Hoping for some Dragon Ball influenced music, might happen
- some argue Dreamshade isn't really melodeath, but for me it's close enough. They're trying to produce their first independent album, and with singles like Dreamers Don't Sleep it is a sure success in metalcorish audience and I will probably like it too. This bands helps me move some girls from BVB, BMTH, BFMV, AA fanbases to some actually decent music.
- Insomnium was silent, but new album might happen in late 2016, it's been a while since their last release.
but the hottest shit is of course Wintersun with Time II !!
Don't believe me? Yea, me either.
The hottest shit is Aephamahemrehrmr with first, debut, full band album (not just Nif showing off his guitar skills). I just hope that vocals won't ruin the climate Nif was keeping strong in his solo work and we might have another supersolid melodic death metal group :)
And who knows, maybe some new bands will pop up in this departament? Probably not, since I still don't know how to growl :P
PS. Some power metal comes out too, Enceladus with their second album will be the biggest treat in 2016. Some Pathfinder/Titanium action might happen, but as usual it's not really for sure. No polish guy ever releases music if he still has some leftover vodka to drink, aYYYYYYYYYYeeeeeee!!
Ok, for the last time, I know that the subject is not music related, but let's talk about Brolly Super Saiyan transformation, or how I like to write it (with an error, I guess) Super Sayajin.
Once I cared what was official info and what wasn't, but that's no longer the case. My Super Sayajin transformation multiplies power 5 times, not 50. A few arguments behind it:
- they fight too damn many times in their base form. The movies are absurd in that matter, but they are non cannon. Beginning of a fight with Brolly 1st time? Base forms. Base Gohan vs SSj Brolly in the second movie, even though Gohan was weaker than in the first movie? Battling Android 13,14,15 in base forms for a long time? If SSj2 Vegeta was not able to land a decent hit on Kid Buu then how can he survive any punch when in base form? Super Sayajin 2 is oficially 100* stronger than base, so Vegeta should be fucked with one punch.
- even if he trains with Goku for 3 years then how the hell can Piccolo fight Android 20? He was around 1,3 mln when on Namek, and now what, 100 mln after 3 years?
- not only Piccolo, every human is fucked in this scenario, in addition to being generally fucked. Tien fighting Semi-perfect Cell is a prime example. In my list Tien is at ~3mln, Cell at ~70 mln and yet Tien can stall him for a while. And the official guides want to tell me that Tien was way below 3mln and Cell was around 700 mln? Yeah, sure.
Oh, and while we are at it- while I can agree that Super Sayajin 2 doubles the power of a Super Sayajin (*1,64 in my list) I won't agree that Super Sayajin 3 is 4 times stronger than SSj2. This the biggest bullshit in the whole official info. If it was so powerful then how come Vegeta never tried to achieve it? How was it possible that in Battle of Gods he was for a while stronger than Super Sayajin 3 Goku?
I have the answers that are more logical than any official info: Super Sayajin 3 wasn't that strong, was flawed and Vegeta just decided to master the previous transformation, so he could power up to some extreme levels, especially when emotions came in.
And don't get me started about Super Buu being like 5 times stronger than Majin Buu and Ultimate Gohan being able to transform further to Super Sayajin. Grand Kai told him to rise his power to a Super Sayajin while in Ultimate base state in the manga so now don't make up stupid bullshit like that
Yes, I love this picture and I will keep reuploading it
I've always wanted to review albums of this band, yet being so serious and important in my life I always had troubles making funny, lighthearted reviews of it. Including my cheap, sexual jokes seemed unproper for a band like Stratovarius. But years fly and I decided finally to show some support towards one of the best bands I know.
We all know Stratovarius won't let anyone down with this album, so no suspense here. But can Rhodi write a decent and maybe funny review of it? Let's find out!
Album starts with My Eternal Dream, typical Strato "Let's start with a bang" song. Impossible keyboard solos from the start open for a serious, fast paced song with lyrics so good I started laughing at classics such as Eagleheart, Hunting High and Low and others. Some people may bitch that Stratovarius and Cain's Offering are now basically the same, but is that a bad thing to have such as good writer as Jani behind it?
After the chorus most Stratovarius fans are already creaming themselves, and I doubt any power metal hater would try to make a comment how gay the genre is. Solos after that make Pathfinder guys look like silly children and Helloween hide in their pumpkins. Everything is so good that the rest of the album will have a great challenge to keep up with this track, as everything is polished to the limits. Rich drum patterns, both solos and riffs on a guitar and keys are just a big fuck you to every fan who would love to try playing the track. Vocals aren't as powerful, but they do their job with some fancy choirs in the back. Song is build perfectly, everything fits and the outro is like a split orgasm after a long, satisfying sex. Let me add that the song has a very fitting music video, weird as it was always the case with Stratovarius, yet makes more sense than all of the rest.
Vocals will Shine in the Dark in the second track, which I reviewed before. I can only add that I take vocal lessons for 2 months now, yet I'm still unable to do the high part of this song, Kotipelto you wonderful asshole :/
So, let's dive into something new in Rise Above It. The intro screams Galneryus, and it's a funny thought to think how Galneryus was admiring Strato for years and now Stratovarius would do the same towards Galneryus :) But that's probably only a coincedence. Track is similar to Stand My Ground from Nemesis, but has a very progressive turn in the middle, before crazy solos. And fuck me it sounds like Galneryus, which is never a bad thing- combine technical playing style of Galneryus and mix it with good lyrics and you have a perfect band.
Lost Without A Trace starts with somewhat Infinite/Elements touch. Kotipelto sounds so sad I wanna give him a hug and ice cream. Written by Lauri Porra, the only guy I didn't hear well so far, but thats mostly because of my shitty headphones and bad bass chearing. Clearly heard here, and I was assured I won't be disappointed by one of my favourite bass players. Solo really tries to match Milion Light Years, but sadly not close, fat fuck Tolkki had some impressive solos back in the day.
Feeding the Fire is something new, starts fast, slows down with some fancy bass lines in the background and dives through so many changes it's hard to keep up. It's a mess like Pathfinder's Chronokinesis, a song that tries a lot of different ideas but not all executed without flaws- Jack of all trades, master of none. But with the musicanship behind it it's impossible to say that the track is bad, might grow on you, especially with that powerful outro. Personally only the chorus start hurts my eyes: The fire that will rise The die is cast Open your eyes, here the dreams burn And light up the skies
I would write something like
That fire will outlast My body and my mind Free your soul from past and fly Just leave it all behind
So a bit lazily written if a dumb shit like me can do better :P
In My Line Of Work with a gentle start is a first disappointment on the album. Mediocre song with simple lyrics, while it doesn't damage the album I think it would do better without it.
Man In The Mirror fixes it in a second, with weird intro that sounds like it was coming from a different dimension. Many interesting ideas here, the only thing I dislike is the way Kotipelto sings, but that might just be jealousy. Lyrics are good, catchy and weird. Outro is a bit streched but it's so catchy and headbang-worthy then I let it pass and enjoy the ride.
Few Are Those is that cheerful catchy song with a bit cheesy elements. Again as with In My Line Of Work I have the problem with a bit too simple lyrics even though it's catchy. Repeating of the chorus like 3 times before the end doesn't help. Maybe it's the Whispered curse that now I expect amazing lyrics all the time?
Fire in Your Eyes is a ballad which again- bores me with repetition of the lyrics. What happened, Stratovarius? The beginning of the album was perfect, but the second half of the album is actually pretty lazy and unimpressive.
The Lost Saga hopefully fixes that with near 12 minute running time. Quite adventurous and epic song that tells the story with rather simple yet catchy rhymes, but sung in a way it doesn't distract. Risky experimental track overall but it works- that was the Stratovarius I was waiting since Man In The Mirror and Shine in The Dark. It isn't enough to make it the best power metal album of 2015 but helps after 2 previous tracks.
I have a very mixed feelings about this album, and it might take a while to connect the thoughts into one logical chain. This album is a mess, just like the previous one, but not in a good was (as Nemesis was). Nemesis was a bit experimental and progressive, but had so many different styles and ideas mixed it was sure to make many people happy with at least parts of it. The album was way more balanced and the songs were better placed.
Eternal is a mix between old and new Stratovarius, and made many old fans happy. But I guess I'm a fan of the new, experimental Strato. I expected a lot from this album and was disappointed, mostly because the incredibly amazing singles. After them there isn't much more on the similar level, maybe Man in the Mirror. It still isn't a bad album, but it bores me with simple lyrics and repetition, even with amazing skills they put into solos and others. Their biggest mistake was the song placement on the album, if they separated the boring songs and put them between those epics then it would be far better. But being amazed by the first good songs and bored in the second half? Cut the running time by 10 minutes and deliver a shorter, more interesting album, or readjust the placement.
Remember me laughing while listening to the first song about poor lyrics back in the day? And praising Jani for lyrics writing? Well, guess the joke's on me..
Additional:
= weak lyrics in a few tracks
= boring repetition on too many tracks
- not diverse enough for that running time
- bad song placement
+ I still love you guys
Final score: 87,5% - better luck next time
If the high score is a surprise remember that repetetive songs and simple lyrics are not something unusual for power metal, but I really had much bigger expectations. You can tell I was bored by it by giving less and less details about the songs as the albums was proceeding.
Before anyone asks- I reviewed My Eternal Dream Track, it had 132% score in my system, highest score I ever had.
I got a nice question recently, about Wacken Open Air festival, let me translate it with way more correct grammar than it was originally
- if You're such a metalhead then why weren't You on Wacken Open Air? Fucking poseur!
Well, the answer is sweet and short- I'm poor and pathetic, I can't afford it and I will go throw all my cds through the window and become a die hard funk fan.
The real reason being of course that the tickets are sold out instantly after they are available. This year I had money for 2 tickets frozen in my budget for WOA 2016, and yet one day after they were out I was unable to buy a ticket.
Why? Did 75,000 of metalheads buy them out instantly? No. There are companies that buy tickets for WOA, and sell them for double the price, triple or more. It's the most famous metal festival on this planet, so there will always be people desperate enough to pay that much. 75,000 people is a huge crowd, but compared to 6+ mln fans of Scorpions alone are just adorable
Same with most things connected to WOA, everything there is expensive to absurd levels.
I might go once to WOA, in like 10 years. But I won't buy any tshirts, any drinks and I will be eating only enough to survive. Those greedy assholes responsible for prices won't suck all my blood.
It's that special (literally) time of the year when Gunsen releases another retarded music video. Am I ready for this after being repeatedly mentally violated by the Super Pig? Let's see.
Oh, starts pretty epic when it comes to music, with an image of a forest and.. uhm.
uhm, hello? O__O
An eagle with sneakers on it's claws.. Since I already know that the visuals will make my brain shrink and bleed let's talk about music, as long as I can trust all my senses.
Starts with distant choirs and orchestrations, until it dives through some electronics to extremely fast melodic death, but I'm sure I'm wrong and it's some kind of animalistic speed horrorcore with elements of vegetarian ambient and there are many adult metalheads that will be extremely happy to inform me about it and add some details about my mother's weight if I disagree.
"Now I believe there have always been stupid people, but the Internet provides greater opportunity for stupidity to be expressed and paraded" - Filthy Frank
Lyrics are mostly motivational, teaching us to kick the ass of the fuckers trying to get us down. For the sake of censorship it's duckers instead of fuckers, as a duck lover I'm forced to be upset about it.
Compared to Piggy there are more progressive elements, the tempo is faster and guitar is much richer with a juicy main sweep. There are no unfitting solos, only a very solid one. Bass is as unheard of as on the Piggy with drums being far more intensive, like a pneumatic hammer being stuck in a working washing machine. Vocals are as great as in Piggy, maybe some words are hard to hear because of the speed, but that's quite normal.
Song is built pretty well, with intense verses, lighter choruses, break before extremely well made outro. I tip my fedora to Karol Mania for mixing, as always.
So, now I can focus on the visuals.
Gunsen put the bar pretty high with Super Pig, but here it's even better, as the animation is shot on a semi-natural background. More serious tone of the lyrics didn't make the video more serious, I think quite the opposite, but I'm not sure if I think anymore. Is that saliva running down my face?
SPOILER ALERT
I'll be brief. We see a motherducker throwing a stone at the eagle, which falls and dies, but rises as a terminator eagle, hunts the ducker, kicks it in the ass and sings.
First thing I don't like in this abomination is the video blinking very fast in a few moments, I'm not epileptic but someone can be.
After a while we see the eagle presenting us news on a news channel with videos sent by fans. There are many more than with Super Pig and the first one is mine, so I will forgive the duck abuse :P
As with Super Pig the audio-video synchronization is flawless, pure joy to watch except for mentioned epileptic slide shows.
Outro shows us some very disturbing imagery, which I don't remember now, but I bet they will come back in my nightmares to haunt me.
I wanted to write some summary but my brain left with my battery, so I will write a final score before I shut down. I can only say that it disturbs me more than a video about making a cake out of vomit and eating it (thank you Filthy Frank).
++better animation than on Super Pig
+ more progressive elements
+ rich background, synths, choirs
+ one for terminator eagle
+ great sync and mixing
++great videos from fans, very creative ones too
- animal abuse, even if it's animal abusing animal
- some very disturbing imagery
- epileptic nightmare
- next time share those drugs with me
Final score: 107%, my new favourite track from Gunsen
-------------------------------
WERSJA POLSKA BY GUNSEN NIE PŁAKAŁ ŻE NIE ROZUMI
Ah, to ten specjalny (dosłownie) czas gdy Gunsen wypuszcza kolejne upośledzone video. Czy jestem gotowy na to po wielokrotnych, mentalnych torturach Super Pigiem? Zobaczymy.
Oh, zaczyna się całkiem epicko jeżeli chodzi o muzykę, z widokiem na las i.. uhm.
w-witam? O__O
Orłem z trampkami na szponach.. Jako że spodziewam się już że video zryje mi banię i skurczy mózg to pomówmy o muzyce dopóki mogę zaufać wszystkim zmysłom.
Zaczyna się odległymi chórkami i orkiestracjami, po czym nurkuje przez elektronikę do ekstremalnie szybkiego melodic death metalu, ale jestem przekonany że jestem w błędzie i że tak naprawdę jest to zwierzęcy speed horrorcore z elementami wegetariańskiego ambientu i że znajdzie się kupa (dosłownie) dorosłych metali, którzy będą zachwyceni możliwością wytknięcia mi tego rażącego i niedopuszczalnego błędu w kategoryzacji i dodadzą parę szczegółów ekstra na temat wagi mojej matki jeżeli nie przyznam im racji.
"Jestem przekonany że głupi ludzie byli zawsze, ale Internet dostarcza więcej okazji dla wyrażania i gloryfikowania głupoty" - Filthy Frank
Tekst piosenki jest motywujący, uczy nas kopania w dupę zjebów, którzy próbują nas wgnieść w ziemię. Ze względu na cenzurę zamiast fuckers mamy duckers i jako miłośnik ptactwa a szczególnie kaczek i kawek jestem zmuszony wyrazić niezadowolenie z tego powodu.
W porównaniu ze Świnką mamy tutaj znacznie więcej progresywnych elementów, szybsze tempo i bogatsze gitary z soczystym, głównym sweepem. Nie ma niepasujących solówek a jest jedna bardzo solidna, basu nie słychać jak we śwince a perkusja jest znacznie bardziej intensywna- brzmi jak młot pneumatyczny, który utknął we włączonej pralce. Wokal jest ponownie bardzo dobry, może niektóre słowa są wydzierane trochę niewyraźnie ze względu na tempo ale to dość normalne.
Piosenka jest zbudowana bardzo solidnie, z intensywnymi zwrotkami, lżejszymi refrenami i przerwą przed szybkim, ciężkim i efektownym outro.
Chylę hipsterską fedorę przed Karolem Manią i jego mixingiem raz jeszcze.
Dobra, mogę się skupić na obrazie.
Gunsen sam sobie postawił wysoko poprzeczkę Super Pigiem, ale tutaj jest jeszcze lepszy, no i umieszcza swoje animacje na pseudonaturalnym tle, więc jest ciekawiej. Poważniejszy ton tekstu wcale nie przekłada się na poważniejsze video, myślę że wręcz przeciwnie, choć nie jestem pewien czy nadal myślę. Czy to ślina ścieka mi po twarzy?
SPOILER ALERT, OGLĄDAJ PRZED CZYTANIEM DALEJ
Będę zwięzły-widzimy zjebanego kaczora jak rzuca kamieniem w orła, ten spada i umiera, lecz wstaje jako terminatorzeł, poluje na kaczora, kopie go w dupę i zaczyna śpiewać.
Pierwsza rzecz która mi przeszkadza w tej abominacji to szybko mrygający obraz w niektórych momentach, nie mam epilepsji ale ktoś może mieć.
Po chwili widzimy jak orzeł przedstawia nam najnowsze wiadomości na kanale informacyjnym, które pokazują filmiki podesłane przez fanów. Jest ich znacznie więcej niż na Super Śwince a pierwsze jest moje, może więc zapomnę o wcześniejszym niezadowoleniu :P
Jak przy Super Pigu synchronizacja audio-video jest bez skazy, czysta przyjemność w oglądaniu poza wymienionym wcześniej epileptycznym pokazem slajdów.
Outro pokazuje bardzo niepokojące obrazy, których teraz nie pamiętam, ale jestem przekonany że wrócą w moich koszmarach dzisiaj w nocy.
Miałem napisać jakieś podsumowanie, lecz mój mózg już uciekł razem z baterią, podam więc ostateczny wynik zanim ciało przestanie działać. Mogę tylko dodać że zszokowało mnie bardziej niż video o robieniu ciasta z wymiocin i jedzenia go (dzięki ci Filthy Frank).
++lepsza animacja niż na Super Pigu
+ więcej progresywnych elementów
+ bogatsze tło, orkiestracje i chórki
+ plusik za terminatorła
+ świetna synchronizacja i mixing
++świetne filmy od fanów, sporo kreatywnych
- znęcanie się nad zwierzętami, nawet jeżeli to zwierzę nad zwierzęciem
- bardzo niepokojące obrazy momentami
- koszmar dla epileptyków
- następnym razem się podziel tymi narkotykami co brałeś
Ostateczny wynik: 107%, i mój nowy ulubiony kawałek od Gunsena
didn't expect to see me again, did You? They rose from the night, shouldn't ever been born
Well, I'm glad as hell that this band was born, and returned with another album, sadly without a keyboard player and 2 different guys on bass and drums. But hey, Pyrypekka is still there.
It's a name, really.
It took them 4 years to return with a new material, with smaller band and shorter running time? I bet this album's gonna suck, let's see..
Jikininki? Probably another instrumental intro track to stretch the running ti-*BAM BAM PARAM BAM BAM*
huh? wha-*crazy guitar sound* *BAM BAM PARAM BAM BAM*
oh, so, as I was saying th-*pure music madness*
Heh, nice try, but I still have my an-*bass solo*
Well, there goes my anal virginity ;_;
Yeah, samurai are back with way more extreme approach to metal than before, vocals are also way better, less saliva driven and more pure fucking devil shinigami. Jikininki as a song name may sound silly, but everyone who met me in a line to KFC knows there's nothing funny about it.
Second track, Hold the Sword has a way lighter intro and, as a whole album, has way more japanese folk elements than the debut album.
As with 1000 swords it's mostly about some legendary warrior, but the chorus is basically the best and most catchy chorus the band made to this point (except for Sakura Omen), too bad it's only repeated once.
Fallen Amaterasu is NOT about a guy that fell on a mattress and can't get up, instead it's about some goddess of sun. Didn't know Svarog had a sex change once, but who am I to question Gods? Actually the only track on this record I dislike, guitar during "fallen" in the chorus annoys me, even after many listens the track seems a bit inconsistent to me. But I'm just a pawn trying to question the way of the samurai, if they follow Bushido then I can skip that one song and go to
the man once strong, feared and bold, now just tired, weak and old
One Man's Burden, which starts with a growl not even close to the marvelous Tombstone Crusher scream, but
As many Whispered tracks, the song has a very solid lyrics, and my personal favourite from this album, about a murderer struggling with his burden. When I read the lyrics I thought it will be a slower tempo song with a heavy mood- they turned it into a headbanging choir mid-tempo song but surprisingly it works pretty damn well, especially the fast killer riff during the verses. Also some solid bass is heard, way more than on the first album- me gusta.
for every victim of his blade, for every selfish act of hate
Kappa.
I first saw that monster while being a kid and reading some Donald Duck comic. I'm older now but still scared of Kappa after listening to this track. The worst is the festive approach and extremely harsh vocals. This song is a damn mood swing and I love it, especially the blues elements after the scary chorus. This band clearly has too much fun making music.
Savaging the last of the women,
crunching remains of the men
Ripping remaining pieces of their flesh
leaving living ones choking in their own blood
Sounds almost like my song about Easter Bunny, coming April 2016 if the heavens bless me.
Lady of the Wind, ah yes, they left the best for the last. From the climatic intro, straight to whispers and vocals wrapped in a velvet-like instrumentals, female choirs and diving into a beautiful riff guiding the chorus through the vile powers of the Lady of the Wind. And when you think they can't get it any better we dive into various guitar solos with a juicy bass and guy fullfilling revenge on his drum kit. I won't spoil the ending, experience it yourself.
Phew, they can't get any better than-*crazy guitar solo* oh come on, not aga-*Whispered screams at me ;_;*please be gentle senpai.. Unrestrained (like my sex drive) is a crazy 3 minute long song that is a slap in the face of Kalmah when it comes to crazy fast, overpacked with solos catchy melodic death metal songs. So basically my favourite track on the record by default, nothing more to add, except for more lube to my ass.
Upon My Honor is yet another outro track, way shorter than Blade in the Snow, with a slightly stretched intro evolving into a catchy riff and remains of the drumset being desecrated. Lots and lots of japanese folk stuff here. After giving it some thought there's a lot of everything here. Sorry, I think earlier music rape fucked me silly, I even started hearing the same old voice in my head I heard the last time I reviewed Whispered outro track. I go rest now.
Damn I walk funny now.
Well it's obvious Whispered evolved after 1000 Swords, the direction they took got a lot of positive appeal. Everything is more polished, mature and complex, at no point you can say that tracks sound similar. While myself I prefer 1000 Swords because of slightly lighter approach, keyboards and less diverse tracks I must say that Shogunate Macabre is superior to the great debut, which of course got them a place in my top 13 bands. Way to go guys, you have a fan in me.
First some Dragon Ball, then some D&D and then a nice evening seppuku while listening to Whispered
I don't know at which moment in life you wake up thinking "I know what the world needs. The world needs a samurai melodic death metal sung in English. And I will deliver it" but I bet this moment must be pretty awesome. Or maybe in Finland something like this is normal. Anyway, it happened, and the music was created.
The story would probably end here if not for overly obsessive musicians, forever in a race with other obsessive musicians to create even more absurdly good melodic death. Kalmah, Norther, Ensiferum, Omnium Gatherum, Swallow The Sun, Wintersun, Insomnium- the competition in Finland is strong, so strange gimmick ideas like that samurai crap can be a key to success. The true winners are us, listeners, who get to witness something new every now and then.
Whispered, because that's the band name, is hungered for famed, so they delivered meloded deathed metaled in japaned climated. kill me
2 albums so far, third on the way, single is out and its delicious
Lets review what we have already out, shall me? me shall, I hope it will be shorter than my normal reviews, as my lame jokes and comments are very tiring on the long run (all my ex gfs agree on that one).
Oh, the band had a lot of lineup changes, and I'm too lazy to check who played where on which record, forgive me. The only major thing that changed is the absence of keys on the second album, me sad.
Thousand Swords debut starts with Hajimari, and I won't translate any Japanese to English because I suck. Typical intro track, instrumental, I suck at reviewing instrumentals (in particular to general sucking at reviews) so no comment here, skip!
To Thousand Swords. Choirs at the beginning show that we are in for a ride through great guitar riffs fighting with synths, even some bass is heard! When vocals enter with first guitar solo you are allowed to fall in love. But vocals are quite saliva driven, it's hard to understand the lyrics through the whole album. And it's a real shame, lyrics are a very strong part of this band.
The band on the disc is clearly extremely talented so it has a lot of progressive elements here and there to keep them from falling asleep. But it's an easier listen than Persefone, songs are built rather solid and except for chosen few the style is still melodic death metal, not some prog melodeath and such. Chorus in 1000 knives has some epic choirs and the song is mostly about some devilish warrior looking for a challenge in fighting 1000 swords to tell if he's weaker than some random_human or if he's above the gods.
As I said, lyrics are strong, even if I find some voice of a wiseman telling a story pretty annoying the vocals still make up for it. At least in this, the last song on the album- Blade in the Snow- is an example of a too long epic song, that starts yarround 3rd minute and it's great for 2 minutes when the annoying voice returns and shows here and there through the song. The main riff though is what you want to hear everytime you ride a horse into a battle, so basically every Tuesday afternoon for me.
Between those two we have the main juice- few fast songs with one slow in the middle (Dead Cold Inside), medium fast hit song Blindfold (from the music video), great lyrics, much meaning, such samurai, wow. Solos are solid in every song, but the riffs are where the guitars shine the most, and Fear Never Within must be the most progressive of the bunch, after many listens it still surprises me with some elements. Blindfold is your choice if ya want to show the band to someone. Also, keys. Oh, keyboards are just wonderful, like a Kalmah with even more power. I didn't do the review song by song because recently I'm not in a mood for writing- I forced myself because they renewed my inner flame of passion towards music and I feel like I own them something in return.
Additional:
+synths, orchestrations, background
+weird idea but almost flawless in execution
+lyrics, oh those lyrics
+good song placement on the album, rare thing
+nice running time, artwork, booklet, it's worth your money
+ I never skip thanks: "if we forgot you, please be offended, punish us by buying us a beer and paying our rent, we hate it" - seriously, truly a band for me.
- some annoying voice in my head, telling me that earth, mountains, rivers are hidden in the nothingness, and in the nothingness they are revealed- no shit sherlock
- another annoying voice in my head (I have a bunch of these on a daily basis) telling me that samurai are just as ninjas and should be slain with a bottle of rum and a yo ho ho! #pirate4lyfe
Final score: 100,5% - fav track still Dead Cold Inside, but I will post Blindfold under
whoops, pirates pirated my review D:
PS: I wanted to review both of them at once but only one arrived for now, so I will do it in 2 parts, third will arrive with their third album.
PPS: I'm not making fun of Finnish guys singing in English about a Japanese culture. I myself am an emperor penguin from Canada living in Poland reviewing in English an album of a Finnish group making japanese-influenced music sung in English. What a beautiful world we live in.
Usually I don't like vandalism but Stratovarius blew my mind (and a toilet)
These are rare, right? Requests. I almost forgot I take them. Stratovarius next album Ephemeral Toilet Eternal is coming out soon, so they released a lyric video track for Shine in the Dark track.
Lemme grab my inner asshole and review it. The video is mostly Kotipelto with his headphones, looking sad because I still didn't hug him (coming soon with pictures maybe) so I will focus on lyrics and the music.
Intro is very solid and heavy but soon fades away and.. well, that song is surprisingly cheesy for Stratovarius. Actually sounds like I Will Build You A Rome with slower tempo. Stratovarius with old Sonata Arctica? Well, I like it. There are some very slight progressive elements, mostly with the song structure. By comparing to mentioned above CO song it's more progressive in the beginning but later follows the pattern,, CO one shows progress after second chorus and solos.
Well I won't hide that I expected something different, but I'm not disappointed or shocked. Maybe only a bit worried that they took that soft turn, but I'm rather sure I will like the full album as last 3 ones.
It's a soft song so I won't expect mind-blowing solos, but I'm not fully satisfied with the keyboards. Guitars however are riffing almost through the whole song with a lot of diversity, so 10/10 here.
The worst in this song is mixing- guitars and drums are pushed way too much in the background, r.i.p. bass and choirs are too loud
I never speak about You
Never say Your name
It's not that I don't care
It's just that I'm not there
The lyrics however are daamn, cheesy yet with great meaning. I won't post them whole, but they match the Cain's Offering ones, truly beautiful and cheesy, yet with Kotipelto on vocals it's 11/10. His sad&powerful voice fits those strong&sad lyrics perfectly.
Final score
Vocals: 11/10
Guitars: 10/10
Keys: 8/10
Drums: 7/10
Bass: toilet/10 (get it? BECAUSE IT BLOWS! HACHAHACHA! kill me)
Additional:
++lyrics
+nice structure
-mixing
Summary: 95%. I like it, solid, just don't have another 3 similar songs on Eternal
