Late post, holiday week madness. The new releases on 11/15 actually sucked, so I went back to the beginning of the month and picked up Megadeth's latest, and loaded a whole bunch of Rough Guides in.
New Releases:
Megadeth - Th1rt3en
Label: Roadrunner
Released: 11/1 2011
Genre: Metal
Titling your 13th studio album Th1rt3en is either clever or a sign that you just ran out of album names. Past that littel bit of absurdity though, this is a solid metal record. Not the pure speed of the early thrash stuff from the 80s, but also not the generally over worked stuff of the 90s. The band here is evolved, precise, still thrash and definitely awesome. There's nothing particularly suprising here, it's a Megadeth album and sounds like a Megadeth album through and through. Better than some of the stuff offered up in the first part of the 2000s though, this feels and sounds like a Megadeth from around the Rust In Peace era, just solid guitar word, Dave's snarl, and songs that linger about 30 seconds too long. If you're a long time fan, you'll probably like it, in fact I'm pretty sure you will - I certainly do. Not the best they've ever done, but certainly not the worst.
Adding To The Collection
Rough Guide To The Music Of Scandanavia
Label: World Music Network
Released: 2000
Genre: Traditional (various nordic countries)
The collection takes from six countries, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, and Greenland, a wide collection of artists and bodies of work. This is one of Rough Guide's earliest offerings, and isn't very tightly focused, which is also why I like it so much. Nordic folk music has a certain quality of sound that I really enjoy and this collection of 22 tracks goes all over the place with that. From very traditional music to modern takes on traditional sounds. Lots of songs to dance to (assuming you don't mind the occasional polska), the fiddle is everywhere, and strong voices accompany most tracks. Some tracks are slower, some are faster. If there's a downside to the compilation it doesn't really flow within its own context, good for putting on a random selection though.
Rough Guide To Arabic Lounge w/ Bonus Album: Introducing Akim El Sikameya
Label: World Music Network
Released: 2010
Genre: Loung, Traditional
Of all the Rough Guides, the 'Lounge' ones tend to be my least favorite. Partly because I'm not a huge fan of loung-style music, laid back and non-intrusive without being good background music. Partly because it tends to not showcase traditional works enough, they're kind of an 'almost modern' take on regional sounds. This one, not really an exception to that. Falls lock step into light sounding almost elevator music. Nothing jumps out, nothing sits in the background as good audio-tapestry. It's just there. It's not bad, there are some really nice tracks on here, and it's very light music. But, it also doesn't really flow very well. It's an average collection of music that seems to be missing a few spices. Individually, mant of the artists put out works with more punch to them, though, and each artist here is a slightly different sound, not surprising since this spans both Arabia and Northern Africa. Which is possibly it's problem - the geography is too wide, it's not quite focused enough. The bonus album is nice, light and airy, good to put on with other albums of this style if you need to sustain a relaxed mood for a few hours.
Hidden Track
Celldweller - Metallica + Black Sabbath Mashup "Disposable War Pigs"
Label: self released (found on Dubstep.net)
Released: November 2011
Genre: Dubstep, Metal
Celldweller took Metallica's 'Disposable Heroes' and Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs' and smashed them together (with snippets of For Whom The Bell Tolls and Iron Man for added punch). None of the metal was removed, a lot of dubstep drops were infused. The two songs fit amazingly well together and this track is a monster, pure and simple. A heavy dancefloor banger full of crunchy bits to get down with. This song really needs to be played at high volume. Nice little gem to stumble across for sure.
Next Week: new singles from Caustic and Pop Will Eat Itself (the first single off their new album), both are digital only available from Metropolis Records. And a bunch of Iggy Pop (with and without the Stooges) albums to smash into your ears.
Listen Hard
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