Album Openers

The opening song of an album is more important than you might think. It's the first thing you hear when you stick it on the stereo and it often decides whether someone will listen to the rest. Essentially it's got to hook the listener and get them to leave the album on. But what makes a good opening track? Here's a list of a few songs that I think work really well as album openers and I'll explain why in each case.

Kill the Rhythm - Gallows

The crushing first song from their debut album Orchestra of Wolves, Kill the Rhythm is fast paced and fierce. The listener is immediately drawn into the catchy song and can't help listening to the rest of the album. It's easily one of the best songs on the album and is my second favourite Gallows song, after London is the Reason from their 2009 album Grey Britain. Recently Frank Turner, who had fronted the band for both their albums, announced that he was leaving the band. He has since been replaced with ex-Alexisonfire singer Wade MacNeil. A third album is in the works and their latest Twitter post says:

"Drums and guitars for the new songs are tracked and sounding huge!"

I'm really looking forward to the new album and to see what the new singer produces. They've released one track with their new singer (available from www.gallows.co.uk) called True Colours, and it's rather good but at only 37 seconds long it's way too short. Whenever they next hit the UK I'll be there, I've seen them twice already (the most recent being Sonisphere 2011, the day after Frank's announcement of his imminent departure) and they were fantastic.

Since We've Been Wrong - The Mars Volta

The Mars Volta are renowned for their individual brand of music full of mesmerising intricacies and complex melodies. One result of this however is that their music isn't all that popular in the mainstream musical community, and I think that this is because people find it hard to connect with it. The good thing about Since We've Been Wrong, the opening song of their latest work Octahedron is that although it has many of the features typical of the band, it has a consistent vocal part that reappears throughout. This repeated chorus has the effect of bridging the gap and as a result I think Octahedron would be a good album to start with for anyone looking to get into The Mars Volta. Another element of the song that I like is a piano trill which has a nice effect.

Aces High - Iron Maiden

If this isn't a classic then nothing is. Having stood the test of time Aces High remains popular today with millions of people. This fast paced, action packed song is the first track from the 1984 album Powerslave which also contains the famous Maiden songs: 2 Minutes to Midnight and Powerslave. Centring on the Battle of Britain and the pilots flying the Supermarine Spitfire planes the song makes you feel like you're in the cockpit as the music twists and turns like a plane in a dogfight. For years the band opened with this song, only changing it recently for their tours where they're playing more songs from recent years. I predict however that it'll return to their performance at its rightful place: the first song on the setlist.

New Born - Muse

Even if you don't know Muse at all you may well have heard this song. The first track of their 2001 album Origin of Symmetry, it has appeared on television advertisements in the UK at least. The riff to this song is fantastic, and Matt Bellamy's vocals are great as usual. Like Aces High it's fast paced, a quality I think helps create a good album opener. The band played the album, Origin of Symmetry all the way through at their shows at Reading and Leeds Festival 2011 and I've heard it was a fantastic gig (sadly I couldn't be there). I prefer this, their second album, and Absolution, their third, to their newer material as it's less produced. I feel their current genre, especially their latest release, The Resistance, has too many effects and that this obscures the music.

One More Time With Feeling - Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly

The opening song from his debut album Get Cape's One More Time With Feeling is a masterpiece. Featuring the picked guitar melody technique that Sam Duckworth (the man behind Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly) is so good. It's a short song like most of the rest on the album, but it's a really lovely piece. The lyrics are thoughtful and make the listener think. This is true throughout the album. Overall the album is my favourite of Get Cape's releases.

Duckworth has also released an album under his real name which came out at the end of August. I quite liked it, it's has many parallels with the work on The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager, the album that One More Time With Feeling features on. You can read my review of it here: http://malfunctioning-musical-madness.blogspot.com/2011/09/mannequin-review.html

Enter Sandman - Metallica

This is a really interesting choice of album opener. It works very well, its fast, powerful and extremely catchy. It's debatably the band's best known song. However I think that's a problem. An album opener should be a hook, but having the album's main hit right at the start is risky. It means that the rest of the piece may not live up to the opening track. For me this isn't an issue with this particular album because it isn't my favourite song. My album highlight (and in fact my favourite Metallica song full stop) is the eighth track (out of twelve) on the album: Nothing Else Matters. Enter Sandman has a fantastic riff and a chorus that demands crowds' to sing along with no regard for the condition of their vocal chords. A really good song.

So there you have it, a selection of my favourite album openers. Out of that list I'd say Aces High is the best at introducing the album. In my humble opinion it's the best album opener of all time. A good album opener is important and if a band gets it wrong they can lose a lot of potential fans that won't listen to the rest of the piece. Musicians, take not,

Iron Maiden: Live Review

Having seen the famous British heavy metal band at Sonisphere 2010, where they headlined the Sunday and brought the festival to a close, I was expecting great things from Iron Maiden this year, and I wasn't disappointed. Their Final Frontier World Tour finally reached the UK where they played an extensive stadium tour ending in two dates at the London o2 arena. I saw them at Cardiff International Arena when they played on 1st August.

Opening with Satellite 15... The Final Frontier (after UFO's Doctor Doctor was played on the PA system) their set began, with the low key first half of the song teasing at the crowd as they waited for the curtain to drop when the second half began. Before the gig I had my problems with that song, I felt that the first half was too long and was something you had to sit through in order to hear the better second part. I still feel that way but I really enjoyed the song live, but my view is that it only works as an opener, if they were to play it in the middle of a set a lot of the crowd's energy would be lost.

Afterwards they moved onto El Dorado, a track from their newest album (The Final Frontier), which I include as one of their classics. Next up was my highlight of the gig: 2 Minutes to Midnight. This song was like a shot of adrenaline for the already pumped crowd. I remember being very close to the front (which I was for the entire gig) and leaping as high as I possibly could into the air. I enjoy the studio version of the song, but I feel that it works much better as a live track.


Later on the crowd was graced with the beautiful, flowing, chorus of Coming Home; one of the songs that, I'll be honest, makes The Final Frontier, worth listening to. Not that it's terrible, it's no The X Factor, but many of the songs, while entertaining, are in the dangerous category of "filler". Coming Home, however, is a masterpiece, both on CD and in concert.

The opening notes to the next song, Dance of Death, put a massive smile on my face that lingered for a long time. Possibly the best ballad Maiden have ever written, it's subtle acoustic parts are directly contrasted with heavier riffs, and the lyrical content gives the song a darker edge with it's talk of the devil and things rising from hell. This is one of the songs that I've now seen live twice, as the played it at Sonisphere 2010, and I loved it both times.

By Scott Penner [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31648498@N00/4771190892



A couple of tracks later they played The Wicker Man. Personally I thought this was the weakest song of the whole set. I never thought it was that good a song; I feel that the chorus is boring and repetitive and that the overall song is just uninteresting. However the crowd loved it, so I suppose this may be one of the opinions that few people share. For the record I have similar feelings about Run to the Hills, although not to the same extent.

The 10th track they played was the epic ballad from their 2010 album. When the Wild Wind Blows was a change from the heavier songs that had gone before it but the crowd loved it just the same; and so did I. The soft vocals talk of the end of the world with such grace that the song seems to rise and fall with ease to the delight of the audience. A great song.

Next up was The Evil That Men Do, a classic from the album: Seventh Son of a Seventh Song, which I loved. There's a small part of the song which I like even more than the rest; when the lyrics go:

"And I will pray for her,

I will call her name out loud.

I would bleed for her,

if I could only see her now"

Something about those lines always gets me and it really defines the song for me; speaking about the nature of humanity.

Finally the band ended the gig the way they usually do; by embarking upon a storm of classics. Fear of the Dark had it's guaranteed effect of making the crowd sing out louder than ever before. Their self titled track featured a giant Eddie (their mascot) head which appeared behind the stage and glared around at the audience. They returned for their encore which began with The Number of the Beast. Hallowed Be Thy Name showed Bruce Dickinson's vocal talent once more as he soared through the extended notes and really brought across the plight of the song's narrator; a prisoner waiting for the gallows. The studio version, on the album The Number of the Beast, is in my opinion Dickinson's finest performance of his career with Maiden. Finally the band left the stage after playing through the ever-popular Running Free.

By Mike Lawrence (Flickr: Iron Maiden) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98945462@N00/5970616949


Overall it was a fantastic gig, in fact it's the best I've ever been to I think, with Mastodon at the o2 Academy in Bristol last February in second place. I enjoyed every song and I felt that the setlist for this gig was better than the one they played at Sonisphere 2010 which had too many rarities and not enough classics. This time they added 2 Minutes to Midnight, The Trooper, and The Evil That Men Do which improved the ratio of rarities to classics (6:10). The band have already hinted at a new album, which I'm guessing will be released in around September of 2012 since they seem to average an album every 2 years. Roll on the next tour!

What Makes a Great Live Show?

Bands now make a lot of their income through live performances, with ticket sales paying better than album sales. Seeing a band live is an entirely different experience to listening to a studio recording, or even listening to a live album. A myriad of different factors affect the feeling that you walk away with from a gig. But what exactly makes a great live show? In this entry I'll try and answer that question, using examples from past gigs I've attended.

Great Music

This seems obvious, and it is, but that doesn't make it any less important. Good studio releases are crucial to enjoying a band live. After all, if you don't like their music, you're not going to enjoy watching the band live. For me, and many others, really knowing the bands music well, being able to sing along to all the classics, makes the experience even more intense.

A Talented Frontman/Frontwoman

In bands that aren't instrumental, the person who sings the main part, or the frontman, is a focal point for the crowd. It's not that the other members of the band aren't noticed or appreciated, but it's the job of the vocalist to get the crowd going and to make sure that the metaphorical gap between the band and the audience is bridged by the strength of their stage presence. An example of a frontman who has no shortage of this stage power is Iron Maiden's singer, Bruce Dickinson. I saw Iron Maiden at Sonisphere 2010 (see my articles on Sonisphere 2010 for more information), they headlined the Sunday night and brought the festival to a close. Iron Maiden were fantastic, and this is in no small part due to Dickinson's immense stage presence. He's very energetic, never in one place for very long, enjoying leaping about the stage scenery. Furthermore he'll get the crowd going. A notable instance of this was when Iron Maiden played Sanctuary on their Live After Death live album. Part way through the song they paused save for the basic riff of the song; Bruce then went on to split the audience in two and pit them against each other in a contest to see who was the loudest. While this isn't a technique unique to Iron Maiden, it does take a certain calibre to pull off. So it's an example of the need for a skilled frontman to make the crowd scream.

By Scott Penner [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31648498@N00/4770564075


Energy

Having energy in studio work and having energy on stage aren't necessarily the same thing. If a band has really great music, as described above, it really helps their live performance. However even if their music is fantastic the live show can suffer because they lack the stage presence necessary to deliver a great performance. A band that has such sheer power and presence the audience is blown away with gale force winds is Gallows. Having currently released two studio records, Gallows are one of the best live acts in the UK. They're that good. The raw tenacity of the vocals and riffs tears the ears of the listeners... in a good way. I saw them back in 2009 and I still consider it to be one of the best gigs I've ever been to. They're playing Sonisphere 2011 (blog posts to come) and I won't be missing them for anything. This year they're playing on the second stage which isn't their usual environment, they're used to playing in small indoor venues and tents, so it should be interesting to see how they fair on a large stage. I have no doubt whatsoever that they won't do anything but rule the stage.

An Amazing Show

Many bands try to put on a show for the crowd. This is often done with a simple light show that's in time with the music. However some bands go further. For instance Alice Cooper often has a whole horror performance with his songs integrates within it, making his live shows more like a musical. He calls it his "Theatre of Death". He played Sonisphere UK 2010 and it worked very well. Another band who specialise in putting on a show while they play are German Industrial metallers Rammstein. For their show at Sonisphere UK last year they brought in 200 tonnes of pyrotechnics. The heat from the stage was intense and could be felt metres away.

By =Gustavo Rivas Valderrama from temuco, chile (Rammstein - feuer) [CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24890185@N05/2503149979

A Good Crowd

If the band are rubbish you less likely to enjoy the gig, that much is obvious. But what about the crowd? Imagine if you've been waiting for ages to see your favourite band and when that day finally arrives the crowd around you won't stop booing for no reason, are constantly heckling the performers, and fights are always breaking out. This will ruin the atmosphere and affect the extent to which you can appreciate the live performance. If the crowd are the opposite, if they enjoy the music, don't heckle very much, and are generally very friendly, the atmosphere can be great. One of the lovely aspects of going to see live music is the people you meet. Before you meet them you know that you'll have a shared interest, the music you're going to see, and you can have some great conversations and make new friends. Festivals are even better at this element as you spend several days surrounded by people who like similar music to you. So the crowd can play a large role in determining how much you enjoy the whole experience.

Weather

I thought I'd give the elements an honourable mention. Now this may not be a problem for those of you who life in places where the weather is consistently warm and dry and the sky sparkles in the sun and everyone's smiling all the time. Well that's not always the case here. In the UK outside events always run the risk of being rained on. While it's still possible to enjoy gigs in the rain, it's a fact that they're easier to enjoy if it's at least dry. At the moment I'm currently hoping that the beginning of July will be warm and dry for Sonisphere Knebworth. It was hot pretty much right the way through last year, and was dry apart from one shower on the Sunday that only lasted three or so minutes. To summarise, gigs benefit from good weather as you'd expect.

So I think that its a combination of all these things that makes a great live show. That's all for now. Thanks,

big_friendly_letters.

Please note that the inclusion of images in this entry does not mean that the authors are affiliated with, or endorse, me or my work. Effort has been made to attribute the images included to their original author, please see the caption next to each image for this.

Followup to "Musical Binges"

This is just a short update on the previous post. In the last entry I discussed the idea of "musical binges", and how I was having an Iron Maiden binge at the time of writing it. Since then the mass listening turned into a full marathon. By this I mean that I listen to all 15 studio albums in just 5 days. I could have done it quicker but I was out one of the evenings preventing me from listening to much.

Anyway the reason I thought this was interesting was the fact that even after listening to all those albums in 5 days of basically listening to nothing else I'm still not bored of Maiden. I realised when the marathon was drawing to close on Friday that this was a sign of just how much I like them. There aren't many bands that I could intensively listen to without getting sick of them after a while. In fact I can't think of any other bands that I could do that for.

Should you wish to, leave me a comment saying what bands you could listen to in a marathon, if you could, and why.

That's all for now, the as promised regular post that actually talks about something is coming. Soon...

Thanks,

big_friendly_letters

Musical Binges

I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this particular habit, the listening to one band over and over again in a short period of time. I thought I'd bring it up since I'm having a musical "binge" at the moment. The band that I'm overindulging in (although I would argue this point) is Iron Maiden. I doubt you're surprised since they're my favourite band but there you go. In the last three days I've listened to four of their studio albums all the way through as well as other bits and pieces. As I type this I'm on my fifth. The currently completed albums in this binge are:

• Dance of Death
• Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
• Somewhere in Time
• Piece of Mind

The album I'm playing now is A Matter of Life and Death. Anyway, so I'm enjoying that. But Iron Maiden aren't the only band that I've seen fit to listen to in superabundance. Many times I've done the same with HIM. However there's a problem with this one: last time I couldn't listen to any of their songs for several months. I very much wanted to, but every time I tried starting one I had to turn it off after a few seconds. So there are dangers to this drug, take heed.

The moral of this story? Use music responsibly and in a safe environment...

Cheers,

big_friendly_letters.

Songs I've been addicted to... I

Pretty much everybody gets addicted to songs, it's the way it is. I am not exempt from this. I think it's an interesting distinction to make between a song that gets stuck in your head, and one that you listen to all the time. I propose that there is a difference, although there can be some crossover.

I'll elaborate. So on the one hand a song can get stuck in your head. This can be because you recently heard it, and it's catchy or maybe you just remembered it. The thing with this is, the song might stay in your head even if you don't listen to it, and you don't have to like the song for it to stay there. In my experience it's often the songs I hate that stay on replay in my head the longest. On the other hand you can have a song that you like so much that you feel that you want to play it again and again, so it stays in your head, but the difference is you want to play it again and again. So it seems that the latter is the more positive one. All this is probably pretty obvious, but I thought I'd have a ramble about my musings before I start listing tracks that I've been addicted to in the past, after all, this is a malfunctioning guide to the world of music. I did warn you, it says so in the title.

So, songs I've been addicted to. This probably won't be in chronological order, but I'll list try and put the most recent songs last.

Rip Out The Wings Of A Butterfly- H.I.M
I listened to this a lot, and I mean a lot. I can't listen to it any more, in fact there are a fair few of this band's songs that I either can't listen to at all, or have to limit the amount of plays, simply because they got overplayed. One day I'll be able to listen to all of their songs again. I can still listen to their latest album yet, that hasn't been overplayed yet. I reckon in about a year's time I'll be able to listen to this track again. I recommend you listen to it though, it has one of the most iconic and memorable guitar lines I have ever heard. On playing the song it will be immediately apparent why I became addicted to it.

Fear Of The Dark, The Clansman, Aces High, Powerslave, and many more- Iron Maiden
I have been addicted to many Iron Maiden songs over the time I've been listening to them, I won't go into detail but I thought I'd list a few of the songs I've been addicted to.

Within A Mile Of Home- Flogging Molly
This is a great song, and the great thing is I'm not sick of it. I'm not sure I ever will be. Sure I don't listen to it as much as I used to, but I still love it. I imagine it's great live, and it sounds it from the live recordings I've listen to. I have yet to see this band, as they haven't been to the UK in a while. When they next play in the UK I will try very hard to get to see them. They are at present (and have been for a while) my second favourite band.

I Hear The Bells- Mike Doughty
This is probably the most recent song addiction of mine. When I first heard it I didn't know the song title or artist, so I looked up some of the lyrics I remembered and found out what it was. Since then I've listened to it a lot. It's a great track, I particularly like the chorus, although there is one bit of the song which occurs twice or so in the the whole track that I wasn't keen on. Although now I'm beginning to warm to it. But as a whole track it is very good. Check it out, but be warned, it's addictive.

So there you have it, a few of the songs I've been addicted to. I didn't list them all, because that would have taken ages and I would have inevitably forgotten a fair few. Why not comment and tell me a few of the songs you've been addicted to. If you have read this, or any of my other entries, you have my thanks, and my apologies.

Thanks,

big_friendly_letters.

The Final Frontier: Review

Recently I managed to get hold of the new Iron Maiden album- The Final Frontier, in fact I went and got it the day it was released. In this entry I aim to review it in full. As you may well know I am an Iron Maiden fan, so I will be biased, but I will try and make this an accurate critique of the album.

Ok, here goes. The album starts with a track called Satellite 15..... The Final Frontier. This is a two part song. The first part (Satellite 15) is a very atmospheric song, with roughly the first half being instrumental. It's not bad, but I feel it is too long. It should be shorter, acting as an into to The Final Frontier. The second half of the song, The Final Frontier is a straightforward Iron Maiden classic, it's got the clear chorus, and would easily fit into a live set.

El Dorado, the second track of the album, was previously released as a free download from the Iron Maiden website. I downloaded this the day it was available I believe, but it took me a couple of listens to really get into it. After about two or three times through it dawned on me that this is actually a fantastic track. The lyrics are tight, creative, and the vocals are well delivered. Overall this is one of the best tracks on the album.

The next two tracks: Mother of Mercy and Coming Home are both good tracks. The former is solid track with a lovely intro. The lyrical content is alike to something from A Matter Of Life And Death, with a war related subject. It's a good track, not a classic, but I quite like it. Coming Home is one of the songs that Maiden do very well, those that start dark and slowly, picking up pace as they go. The chorus to this track is brilliant, well suited for live performance in my opinion. A really good track, very catchy.

The next three tracks are The Alchemist, Isle of Avalon, and Starblind. All of them are the tracks that are not designed to be hits, rather they are meant to fill the album while still being solid tracks. These manage that task well. I particularly like Starblind, it's my favourite of the three at the moment.

After that the next two tracks are The Talisman and The Man Who Would Be King. The Talisman starts slowly with a lovely guitar part creating a melody to work in conjunction with the vocals. After a couple of minutes the heavier riff begins and the song picks up speed. I have to admit that the chorus gets a little repetitive after a while, which you notice because it's a very short line. It's a pretty solid track, a good song. The Man Who Would Be King is another track that is up there with the best tracks of the album. Like so many others on this album it starts with a lovely intro. It's a bit of a weird song, but it's especially good towards the end.

The album ends with an 11 minute epic called When The Wild Wind Blows. It is, for me, hands down the best track on the album. It takes a ballad like form, with a lyrical content of an impending disaster. The lyrics fit in beautifully with the guitar to form a fantastic song. It's definitely one of the best tracks of it's type Iron Maiden have written, a great way to bring the album to a close.

Overall it's a fantastic album, it's a little different to what they usually produce, but it's still a brilliant piece of work. My top three tracks of the album have to be (in order of appearance): Satellite 15..... The Final Frontier, El Dorado, and When The Wild Wind Blows. If I had to give it a rating I'd have to say it hovers around the 9/10 mark. It's one of their best albums, but it's not quite on the same level as The Number of the Beast, but then that's not really a fair criticism because I think that it's nigh impossible to match that album. So in my opinion this album is one of the best I've heard in a long time, certainly the best so far this year.

Thanks for reading, as usual leave a comment if you want.

Cheers,

big_friendly_letters

Sonisphere: After

Well I'm back, I'm barely awake, but I'm here to give my thoughts on Sonisphere UK 2010. I arrived on the Thursday, as I had chosen early entry as opposed to arriving on the friday, which turned out to be a good thing as the campsite was much quieter and it mean that those of us in our group could get a good spot to pitch our tents. As there were no bands on the Thursday and none on the Friday until 5pm, we sat in our tent circle and spent a little while exploring the festival grounds. Ok, but what about music? Well here's my report:

Friday:

The first band I saw on the Friday was Delain, in fact this was the first act of the festival. The genre of this band was had a sort of symphonic rock/metal feel to it, similar to H.I.M., I thought they were ok, a couple of their songs were quite good. The next band I saw was Turisas, they are classified as battle metal, and perform dressed as war painted warriors. I really enjoyed their set, they got the crowd moving and their music was great, I loved the presence of an accordian in their band, I think I have a soft spot for rock and metal bands that have accordians, I'm not sure why. After Turisas was Europe. I was somewhat surprised by their set, as I didn't know their music very well. I quite enjoyed it, but the last track was the best, as it was the track I, and doubtlessly a lot of the crowd had been waiting for: The Final Countdown was awesome, it had the audience leaping into the air and was a great end to their set. The next act was Gary Numan. His set was just awesome, again I didn't know his music but I enjoyed it all the same. The final act I saw on the Friday was Alice Cooper, Friday's headline act. He put on a great show, he performed his Theatre of Death performance where he dies several times whilst delivering all the hits of his career. He started and finished with School's Out, it really was a great gig.

Saturday:

I saw many acts on the Saturday, so I shall only describe a few in detail. I thought Anthrax were brilliant, they were really tight musically and seemed on even better form than at the Big Four Show at a European Sonisphere that was broadcast in cinemas. Joey Belladonna showed his skill as a frontman once again. One of my favourite acts of the day was Skunk Anansie. This band were the first metal band I ever listened to and I never expected that I would see them live until they reformed last year. At Sonisphere they played for about 45 minutes, with Skin the lead singer performing with such skill and energy. It was a truly awesome performance. The headline act of the Saturday was Rammstein. Their stageing consisted of 200 tonnes of stuff that had to be hauled in several lorries. They put on a show of staggering pyrotechnics that you could feel on your face even far from the front row. The frontman of Rammstein- Till Lindemann, captivated the audience and his talent was obvious. The music was faultless and the show was entertaining to say the least.

Sunday:

Sunday began with me catching the last half of Karnivool's set. I hadn't heard them before, but I had heard many good things about their music, it turns out that the rumours were correct, they were pretty good. I also saw The Fab Beatles, a Beatles tribute as you might expect, they were pretty good, I quite liked it when they played I'm Fine and then changed into Run to the Hills half way through. Another band I saw on Sunday was Skindred, and they were utterly brilliant. Their frontman Benjy has such a stage presence and they are fantastic. I predict that they will make it big as a live act in the future. Later on it was time for the thrash gods Slayer, and they did not dissapoint, their set, while short, was brilliant. With Tom Araya delivering great vocals and Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman, and Dave Lombardo playing to an excellent standard the gig was great. Later on that day I got to see Alice in Chains, one of my favourite bands, and they did not dissapoint. This was a band that I had been hoping would be announced for Sonisphere this year as they played last year when I wasn't there, so I was very pleased when they were announced. They played a fair bit from their latest album with songs like Check My Brain and Your Decision, all in all a really good performance. I saw many other bands that day that are worth a mention: Iggy and the Stooges, Pendulum and Converge as well as others. But now the matter of Sunday's headline act must be addressed. Yes, Iron Maiden played brought Sonisphere UK 2010 to a close. Their stageing was a futuristic space set with a starry background. They played a lot of tracks from their last few albums, so while a few of the classics were missed, for example Can I Play With Madness, The Trooper, Aces High, 2 Minutes to Midnight and Run to the Hills, they did play a lot of awesome tracks that they wouldn't normally play, for instance: These Colours Don't Run, The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg, Dance of Death, Ghost of The Navigator, Brave New World and many others. It was a fantastic gig, with all members playing to the best of their ability (including Eddie the eight foot tall mascot at one point), I throughly enjoyed it, but then they are my favourite band, so I'm a little biased.

So there you have it, my review of Sonisphere UK 2010. I have tried to mention most of the bands I saw, but I have only scratched the surface of what went on, I haven't mentioned any of the banter we had in our tent circle at all. But I leave you with a quote from Bruce Dickinson, which I think sums up the whole experience:

"SCREAM FOR ME KNEBWORTH!"

Cheers,

big_friendly_letters

Sonisphere: Before

Gosh, it's been forever since I last posted. Apologies, I've been very busy. Anyway, on with the post.
This post is the first of a two part series about Sonisphere festival which I will be attending next week. It runs from the Friday to the Monday morning and is being headlined by Rammstein and Iron Maiden. I write this article before the final announcement of the last few bands so I won't be able to talk about any of them.
As you may well know, my favourite band is Iron Maiden, so already I'm excited about going to Sonisphere, I get to see my favourite band live that I've never seen before. Yes, it's safe to say I'm looking forward to it. I'm also quite interested to see what they'll play, because during their latest tour they have played a lot of rare tracks, I have no problem with this as I love a lot of their lesser known tracks. However, I wonder whether they'll keep these rarities for the Sonisphere gig, or whether they'll go back to their usual set of mostly classics. The problem is that at a normal Iron Maiden concert it's safe to play lots of rarities because the crowd will be mostly die-hard Maiden fans, but this won't be the case at festivals, so it'll be interesting to see what they do. Their recent concerts have included tracks like Dance of Death and These Colours Don't Run which are some of my favourite tracks of theirs, but on the other hand they haven't been playing classics like Aces High, Two Minutes To Midnight, and Powerslave. I don't mind much either way, but I can imagine that some people would.
Another band I'm really pleased about seeing at Sonisphere UK is Skunk Anansie. Skunk Anansie were the first metal band I ever listened to, and I grew up listening to their music. So when they reformed last year I was very pleased as I never thought I would get a chance to see them. The song Twisted from the album Stoosh is my favourite track of theirs.
I'm also looking forward to lots of other bands, including: Alice in Chains, Slayer, Iggy and the Stooges, Pendulum, Anthrax, Papa Roach, Skindred, Apocalyptica, Alice Cooper, Polar Bear Club, Gallows, and so many more. In short, it is going to be an awesome three days of music.
Also, this is my first proper festival, so I am very much looking forward to the atmosphere of it all, and the excitement and atmosphere.

I'll be back sometime after the festival with a review of it, where I'll talk about the various bands and the general feel of the festival. Anyway, thanks for reading and your comments are welcome as usual.

Thanks,

big_friendly_letters

Where to Start?

Where do I start? The world of music is complicated and utterly massive, so it would be crazy for me to start at the beginning, although I do like the idea of cavemen banging on rocks with other rocks to some sort of rhythm. The rock would certainly have been all the rage as a musical instrument back then. To be honest I can't think they would be able to experiment with many different genres.
Anyway, back to the present day. I think in this first proper post I'll just talk about my music taste a little. I invite you to comment with your own favourite bands and criticise mine as you see fit. Ok, my top five bands, um... You see the problem with this is that after my utter favourite band the order becomes a little hazy. The fact that I have an extremely varied music taste doesn't help, in fact it makes it a lot more difficult because I would like to give a balanced view of my music taste as well as just listing bands that I like. Well I'll try, no promises but here goes:

1. Iron Maiden

A few years ago I bought my first Iron Maiden album, Dance of Death. I had first heard their music a couple of years before that but at the time I hadn't given it much thought. So I purchased my first Iron Maiden album in a second hand shop in the town closest to where I live. The shop was one of those that sold second hand CDs, DVDs, and books, but also sold new musical instruments and various hippy paraphernalia. So, on to the album itself. At the time I didn't know much about the band, other than the fact that they were famous. The album art drew me in, I love the image of the hooded figure beckoning. I listened to the album in the car on the way back. My reaction was that the music was good, but I still did not merit it as anything more than Ok. It was the beginning of this year, or thereabouts that I began to listen to them once more. This time their music really grabbed me, and I began to put that album on a nearly constant loop when I listened to music whilst travelling. I think it was soon after this that I went out and purchased my second Iron Maiden album, again going by which artwork I liked most and what I could afford. This time I bought A Matter of Life and Death, I remember loving the image of the skeletal soldiers on the dark battlefield. Incidentally now the same image occupies a portion of my bedroom wall. Anyway this album went on to share the intensive listening that I was putting Dance of Death through. This album I liked very much, my favourite track being Brighter than a Thousand Suns. I then heard about the release of the film Iron Maiden: Flight 666. I was very enthusiastic about going to see this and so I did. At this point Iron Maiden were probably up near the top of my favourite bands but their exact position wasn't clear. The film changed that, I came out and whilst waiting for my lift home I came to the realisation that Iron Maiden were my favourite band. This has stuck over the year, and I suspect Iron Maiden will be my favourite band for years to come.

2. Flogging Molly

This is another band I discovered this year, I think I first heard them in May. I was recommended them by a friend. At first listen I smiled and chuckled. I don't believe this was because I thought their music was humorous as such, but because the concept of the type of music they play is so unusual but works so well. I love they way that they combine Traditional Irish Folk with the raw power of Punk Rock. After a few songs though I began to realise that as well as the concept of the band's music working, the standard of the music they played was phenomenal, their musicians are of a very high level of talent. I particularly like the prominent violin parts on their songs. I have found the music this band plays to be a helpful remedy for sadness and anger, their music just makes me smile. Over the last year they have worked their way into my list of my favourite bands, they are one of the bands I want to see live the most, second only to Iron Maiden.

As I have said before from hereon in this list becomes a little uncertain. The list that follows may not be in order, and may not be exactly correct as I will probably forget a band or two. Into uncharted waters we plunge.

3. Alestorm

This band I recently heard, and when I first listened to this band, I probably did laugh. This band's genre is Pirate Metal, an entirely ridiculous concept, but a very entertaining one. Every lyric of every song is some thing pirate-related. As time went on I did start to appreciate the band for its musical talent, they are indeed a talented set of musicians. I highly recommend that all people who are sceptical of such a genre of music go and actually listen to some of this band's music. When I first heard about this genre I was indeed astonished, but once I listened to the band I no longer thought that Pirate Metal was such a weird genre. This band are highly entertaining and well deserved of this place in my favourite bands.

4. Muse/Frank Zappa

No Muse/ Frank Zappa is not some crazy hybrid band (undoubtedly it would be good though), no, I just couldn't decide who I liked more, and here's why. Muse I like because I can listen to them when I just want to listen to some basic rock, or when I want to listen to something with good lyrics but is still heavy enough to rock to. Frank Zappa on the other hand is my second favourite guitarist of all time (Hendrix being number 1), and I love the fact that his music is full of raw talent but also much that is experimental and different from anything else. So because they are two very different I find it near impossible to compare them, so I have placed them at an equal level.

5. Foo Fighters/Blur/H.I.M

Again here is evidence of my indecisiveness, I cannot decide what order to put these bands in. Foo Fighters I very much like for their Nirvana-ish tones, and their guitar lines. Blur is a band that I have grown up with, and I had the pleasure of going to see them live in July. Lastly H.I.M. are another band that I really like, their lyrics are very creative and are extremely emotive.

Well there you have it, my five favourite bands. I apologise for the lack of decision in terms of which bands should be there, if you're like me you'll have the same problem.

A few bands that deserve a mention, in no particular order are:

• Nirvana
• Led Zeppelin
  
• Slayer
• Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. (This was nearly in the top five, in fact it would be but it was too hard to place)
• Them Crooked Vultures
• Fleetwood Mac
• Captain Beefheart

I could go on and on...

Anyway, that's all. Thanks very much for reading, I applaud you if you managed to sit through reading half of this, I know that it isn't fantastically written. I will aim in future to make my posts more themed and more interesting.

Let me know what you think, and tell me your favourite music if you want.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

big_friendly_letters

Edit 11/06/11: My current top five bands are not reflected in this post. At some point between the above post and now my tastes have changed somewhat. I still like all the above bands, but there have been some drastic changes to the list. I won't detail it all now since I may dedicate a future post to this subject or incorporate it into another. However I will say that apart from the top two, most of the bands mentioned are not in my top 5 anymore. Thanks as always, big_friendly_letters.