The Architecture of Loss

Look! Depressing music! New Funeral review is [here].

Apparently, the bassist in that band killed himself, and the guitarist died somehow. So does playing depressing music depress you, or is it the depression that leads to the depressing music? Or is it a vicious cycle? Food for thought. Or not. Up to you, really.

Purple Neon Dream

I'm not dead, I swear! Went on vacation, and then things just caught up on me. I have a couple really good rants brewing, but I need to collect my thoughts before I post them.

For those interested, the new Outburn can be purchased at your local newsstand. Lots of Jeff stuff in there, including a two -page 69 Eyes spread. For those of you who have the magazine, and are wondering what's up with the weird ending of the Megadeth review, I was under the impression that it was 150 word limit as opposed to 200. Oops. Oh well. I'm pretty proud of my work overall in this issue. So far, it looks like I'm going to have at least nine reviews in the next one. Some good stuff. Keep an eye out!

As for stuff available on the inter-web, you can find my Campus Circle live review of Lamb of God [here].

There's also a review of the new Hidden Hand at Transform. You can read that [right here]. Good album. Some of the songs feel incomplete, but there's enough great Wino riffage on it for me to recommend it.

Stay tuned, more stuff coming.

Electric Requiem

Okay, back to the concept album discussion. In college, I took a class on Broadway musicals. In that class, we discussed the purpose of the songs in those musicals. At first glance, it might seem like the songs were used to convey plot. However, in the very best musicals, they are used for the characters to really express their emotions. The plot can be conveyed through the songs, but even then the songs are more about the characters' reactions to the plot. What's important about the songs is that they get across the characters' inner feelings.

For example, look at The Nightmare before Christmas versus Corpse Bride, two musicals that people reading this blog are most likely familiar with. In Nightmare, even the tunes about the story (like "This Is Halloween") contain what the characters think about what is going on, and how they feel about that. In Corpse Bride, the songs are about making a dress or some crap like that, and they just don't work. What does this have to do with concept albums?

Everything. Let's look at Queensryche's Operation: Mind Crime, a classic metal concept album if there ever was one. Just thinking off the top of your head, what are the tracks that you can call up in your head immediately?"Revolution Calling," "Breaking the Silence," "I Don't Believe in Love," and "Eyes of a Stranger." That's what I come up with, at any rate. Why are these the most memorable? Besides the obvious answer of "good songwriting," they represent the emotional peaks of the record. There are, certainly, emotions presence in the other tunes, but a lot of the other songs represent plot delivery, and so they just don't stick in your head. The very same tenets that apply to stage musicals are just as valid for concept albums, if not more so since you don't have the visual aspect to carry you through the boring parts.

Going back to the prompt for this entire mini-essay, Rob Halford has been talking in interviews about how they have a lot of research and material about Nostradamus's life and prophecies. I'm just afraid they're going to concentrate too much on the details, like Therion did on their latest album, Gothic Kabbalah, and not enough on the emotions, which are what most people listen to music for anyway. I don't want to sound, you know, emo, but the neat thing about music is how it can stir up feelings through mere sounds. If I want a story, I'll read a book.

The Foreshadowing Furnace

I'm not sure if this falls more under my personal blog or my music blog, but since it's music related, I'm going to go ahead and post it here. Basically, on Tuesday I attended a listening party at the Key Club downstairs lounge for the new Dimmu Borgir record. The invite alone made me feel like I'm a real music writer! I'm good at self-delusion like that, though. As far as the party itself goes, it was very productive. I met Blasko, who used to play bass for Rob Zombie and now plays for Ozzy Osbourne. For those keeping track, those are two of my favorite artists. He also represents In This Moment, whom I review very positively in the upcoming issue of Outburn. That probably put me on his good side. I asked him about the next Ozzy Osbourne record, and he said that it basically sounds like Black Label Society with Ozzy on vocals. I'm fine with that. I also met Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha, the creators of Metalocalypse, one of my current favorite TV shows. Very cool, and very funny, guys. Chatted with Tommy for a while, which ended up being beneficial for my screenwriting career, but that is for another blog. They also had a chocolate fountain there! Good times.

But you want to know about Dimmu Borgir, right? I obviously can't give a very detailed review but my impression was positive. It seems like a good mix between the old kvlt/grim stuff, and the newer overblown symphonic stuff. Less immediately catchy and far more brutal than Death Cult, but it did have pristine production and symphonic elements, for whatever that's worth. Sounded good, overall. More details when I can sit down with the thing.