I apologize for this being a day or so late, but you know how it goes.
1) Coheed and Cambria - Time Consumer
I could probably go on for hours about how Coheed and Cambria is my favorite band, but I'll save that for an album review...or five... Anywho. This one goes back to their debut album, The Second Stage Turbine Blade, and this is actually the first track (excluding the instrumental intro) on the album. Every instrument part is technically sound, but not one manages to overpower another. There is a tremendous balance that creates a situation akin to when one reads a book or watches a movie over and over and notices new things each time. You can decide to listen to a particular instrument at a certain point and realize that there's a movement operating almost covertly inside the whole of the song. The vocalist, Claudio Sanchez, has an impressive vocal range, and uses it to its fullest extent. That being said, his voice is often the catching point when I try to introduce Coheed to friends. I didn't care for it at first, either, but now I have difficulty comprehending that mindset, so please don't write them off. Listen to some other songs and really give them a chance.
Time Consumer starts at roughly 0:55. The first 55 seconds is the title track, and is instrumental. Feel free to listen to it, but I figured I'd point you to the song itself for those who would just like to listen to that.
2) Silversun Pickups - The Royal We
When I picked up Swoon, their most recent LP, I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew I liked what I'd heard from them, namely "Lazy Eye" and "Panic Switch," but that was the extent of my knowledge of this band. I had a gift card that had just enough left to buy the album, and I didn't have anything else I really wanted to buy at the time so I picked it up. Turns out it was an excellent move. It's rare to find an album where all but one or two of the tracks is good, and this album goes beyond that to the point where I enjoyed every single song. That, of course, made this choice a bit tougher, but this song stuck out to me from the first playing.
It's incredibly powerful, both lyrically and instrumentally. The main riff is more or less an eighth note rhythm, but its simplicity serves the song just fine. The build-up from the verse and chorus to the bridge, and the explosion in the bridge are perfectly timed and really add to the anger and energy of the song. While the video's a little odd, it shouldn't take away from the song. If it does, just change the window and listen without watching.
3) Dream Theater - Learning to Live
As a heads up, this video actually cuts off a couple seconds early, but with Youtube limitations, and the fact that this is an 11-and-a-half minute song, I can't really complain, especially since the quality is fantastic.
An interesting line-up. Having listened to these songs in full, here's my perspective:
ReplyDelete1.) I wanted to like this. I really did. But I'm sorry, this...this just didn't click with me. I had heard beforehand that there were some audible similarities between C&C and Rush, and while that's immediately who I thought of once the song built up momentum, it also came across as something of a blander, paler shadow of a much greater band. It's not explicitly bad, mind you, but nothing here strikes me as something I haven't heard before and better, nor does anything here seem to warrant the "progressive" label they receive.
Then again, popular consensus leads me to believe that C&C perform some experimentation on every album, so maybe something else of theirs will leave a stronger impression? Maybe I just need some direction and guidance before I can properly approach this band? I dunno...
2.) This also failed to gel with me. The vocals are weak, the lyrics are laughable, and while there is some rather "spacey" guitar-work in the second half that generates interest, the production is so distant and inorganic that it really sucks the power out of the whole enterprise. Or maybe I'm just being biased because the last person who recommended this band to me is the same guy who lists The Killers and Lostprophets as some of his favorite bands. Take that fact as you may.
3.) Octavarium? Superior? My friend, as far as my knowledge extends, Octavarium is actually one of the more divisive and controversial DT albums in prog-metal circles; I imagine most of the individuals who name it as their magnum opus are riding high on the "Rock Band 2" train.
The point is, you're most assuredly right to name Images and Words as the definitive DT album; it's not my personal favorite of theirs (that would have to be the strangely overlooked Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory), but it's the work that sprung them into the spotlight and showcased their more diverse, progressive capabilities (whereas most of their later releases like Octavarium are more one-dimensional and straightforward). Not much else to say, really; Dream Theater is a group of solid, talented musicians, period.