I'm Here Today, Expect It To Stay On - Ki's Journal of Music

Key · 10-20-2013, 10:16 PM

Updated as of 10/20/2013

Hit:
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Coheed & Cambria - The Afterman: Descension
Killswitch Engage - Disarm The Descent
Rob Zombie - Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor
Black Sabbath - 13
Tesseract - Altered State
Children of Bodom - Halo of Blood
Megadeth - Super Collider
City & Colour - The Hurry And The Harm
Avenged Sevenfold - Hail To The King
Dream Theater - Dream Theater
God Is An Astronaut - Origins
David Bowie - The Next Day
Riverside - Shrine of New Generation Slaves
Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action
Trivium - Vengeance Falls
Joe Satriani - Unstoppable Momentum

Miss:
Bullet For My Valentine - Temper Temper
Bring Me The Horizon - Sempiternal
Streetlight Manifesto - The Hands That Thieve
Sigur Ros - Kveikur
Depeche Mode - Delta Machine
Asking Alexandria - From Death To Destiny
Deep Purple - Now What?!

Still need to listen to:
Blackfield - Blackfield IV
Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)
Omnium Gatherum - Beyond
Linkin Park - Living Things
Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP 2
A Day To Remember - Common Courtesy

Key · 10-22-2013, 12:20 PM

Finally getting around to putting something Nirvana related in my journal, because as far as I can tell, it's lacking in that department. Being from Seattle, I figured a "worth the hype?" of Nirvana would be more than appropriate. However, it's not all that easy, since I hold the opinion that only one out of their three studio releases are even worth a listen more than once. Perhaps that changes my perspective on the band, but I don't really see any reason to listen to any of the other releases after hearing Bleach for the first time. Fantastic album, definitely the grungy garage rock feel that I really would have come to expect from a band like this. It's unfortunate that Nevermind gets held up to such high standard and Bleach just gets left in the dirt, since for me personally, Bleach does a much better job at portraying what the band was going for instead of sounding overly polished, cough cough In Utero. But enough about that, i'm ready for the flame war on that.

Anyway, as a band, Nirvana were incredible successful, and they still lead one of the popular arguments of if they were really the guys behind the structure of grunge, and they are also behind the popular argument of if Kurt Cobain's death was a suicide, or a murder, but who can know for sure. Perhaps somebody does, but I don't. They're a fantastic introduction to grunge if you're looking to get into one of Seattle's most successfully crafted genres, along with many other bands of course. As far as it goes for the hype they receive, it's a tough one, since most of the hype they receive comes along with people holding Nevermind and In Utero in such high regard and leaving Bleach behind. I was once caught in that hype and thought Nevermind would be the best album I ever heard, but then once I heard Bleach, that opinion changed quickly. But unfortunately the verdict comes to this...

I find them worthy of a listen if you're planning to start with Bleach, and then lead into their other albums to see the changes that were made production wise, but in terms of whether or not the hype for Nevermind and In Utero are worth it? Don't even bother. I mean, yeah, they're great albums, but like i've said before, it's a shame that the band is hyped up so much due to those album instead of being hyped up over the one album that really introduces the sound of grunge. Anyway, that's that.

Key · 10-22-2013, 12:50 PM

Woke up with this beauty stuck in my head.

I've been hearing this song everywhere lately. And I also know that they added it into the soundtrack for GTA V. Everything about it is awesome and beautiful.

Key · 10-26-2013, 12:09 AM

Number 9 our of 15: Porcupine Tree - Signify

Honestly, as far as Porcupine Tree goes, it's very hard for me to pick a number one favorite album, seeing as how Steven Wilson has always found a way to make each album better and better both musically and lyrically. This one in particular is a very good example of how musically and lyrically it's top notch. A lot of PT's albums have that strong point that I just cling onto, like with Deadwing and Arriving Somewhere But Not Here, and Fear of a Blank Planet with Anesthetize, though that's always up for debate. Signify has the beautiful duo of Waiting Phase One and Waiting Phase Two. Again, all up to personal opinion, but I find those two songs to be the strong points of the album, though as a whole, the album doesn't exactly lack in the strong department. Like i've said before though, it's difficult to say where I would put this album in terms of favoritism, because I could listen to another PT album that I like and it would exceed that favoritism right then and there, so i'll just say that at the moment, Signify is my favorite PT album. If I were asked which PT album I would take on a stranded island, I would probably say Fear of a Blank Planet in that respect, only because I could listen to Anesthetize over and over again and still get chills. Anyway, enough rambling for me.

Key · 10-28-2013, 11:18 PM

It's nearing the end of October, which means only two months left of 2013. I've been really pleased with the amount of albums put out this year, the amount of good albums is far higher than the amount of bad. I've already done a few reviews of some of my favorites so I figure it's time to give the albums I have enjoyed this year a proper rating. It will be done as follows:

I don't want to put too many images into one post, so I will have an album with a rating in the next post.

Key · 10-28-2013, 11:21 PM

I may as well do this the ol' fashion way and take albums from top to bottom in my Hit and Miss list, and rate them accordingly. So...first off we have the wonderful, the beautiful, the big hitter...

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

I fell in love with this album the minute I heard Give Life Back To Music, in my head I thought..."wow, this is going to be a great album", and that it was. One of the best of 2013. And so with that, it gets the highest rating of...

No surprise really. This album exceeded my expectations for what I would want to hear from new Daft Punk material. It's definitely one that has received many mixed reviews, but it blew my mind the first time I heard it, and it continues to do so.

Key · 10-30-2013, 11:43 PM

Killswitch Engage - Disarm The Descent

I know i'm skipping Coheed and Cambria's new album from the list but that's only because I want to give it one more listen before I rate it, so I went to the next one in the list, and it happened to be the next album that I will be giving a highest rating of...

Just like Daft Punk, Killswitch Engage was a band that I was fully expecting to hear a great album from. I figured from the news that they are going to be with the old singer again would disappoint some people, but it really opened my eyes to how great of a singer he was and is. I can listen to this album fully and never be disappointed. I was very pleased with it the first time I heard it, and that remains to this day to be of the same opinion.

Key · 11-01-2013, 11:34 AM

Updated as of 11/1/2013

Hit:
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Coheed & Cambria - The Afterman: Descension
Killswitch Engage - Disarm The Descent
Rob Zombie - Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor
Black Sabbath - 13
Tesseract - Altered State
Children of Bodom - Halo of Blood
Megadeth - Super Collider
City & Colour - The Hurry And The Harm
Avenged Sevenfold - Hail To The King
Dream Theater - Dream Theater
God Is An Astronaut - Origins
David Bowie - The Next Day
Riverside - Shrine of New Generation Slaves
Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action
Trivium - Vengeance Falls
Joe Satriani - Unstoppable Momentum
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP 2
Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks
A Day To Remember - Common Courtesy
Paul McCartney - New
Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here

Miss:
Bullet For My Valentine - Temper Temper
Bring Me The Horizon - Sempiternal
Streetlight Manifesto - The Hands That Thieve
Sigur Ros - Kveikur
Depeche Mode - Delta Machine
Asking Alexandria - From Death To Destiny
Deep Purple - Now What?!

Still need to listen to:
Blackfield - Blackfield IV
Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)
Omnium Gatherum - Beyond
Linkin Park - Living Things
Panic! at the Disco - Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die!
AFI - Burials
Ayreon - The Theory of Everything

Key · 11-03-2013, 10:22 PM

A bit late but I wish a big happy birthday to the wonderful and beautiful Steven Wilson.

There isn't a whole lot I can do in response to being one of my all time favorite artists's birthdays, so i'm spending most of the night listening to my favorite albums that he has crafted, with right now being In Absentia. There's really nothing i'd rather be listening to right now anyway, since it's a great way to end the day regardless of if it was his birthday or not. And can you believe he's 46? He doesn't look a day over 30. Rock on, Wilson!

Key · 11-03-2013, 10:44 PM

Number 10 out of 15: Blackfield - Blackfield

Yeah yeah yeah, I already did a Steven Wilson project, but hey, I can't put a Porcupine Tree album on a best list without having Blackfield included as well, especially with such a fantastic album as "Blackfield", and even better, I decided to choose the song of the same name as the two mentioned already:

If this album was just this one song, i'd still find it as enjoyable as I do with all the other songs included, this is one of the first songs I heard from Steven Wilson, so I was instantly hooked. The intro sort of hits me in a sensitive spot each time because it just has that emotional feel to it, as does the rest of the song, but the intro most of all.

Lyrically, of course, the album is strong, when isn't an album strong lyrically when it involves Steven Wilson, um...never? I mean come on....

"River glass, cycle past, overcast
I saw it all in the blackfield
Copper sky, shadows rise, bridge of sighs
We had all in the blackfield"

This song is really cool in the way that each time something is said, it's followed up with "so and so in the blackfield" but it's done in such a way that it makes perfect sense. Definitely an album worth listening to if you've got some time, or even if you've never even heard of this Steven Wilson guy that i'm always going on about. It's worth your time, i'll tell you that much.

10-20-2013, 10:16 PM	#91 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	Updated as of 10/20/2013 Hit: Daft Punk - Random Access Memories Coheed & Cambria - The Afterman: Descension Killswitch Engage - Disarm The Descent Rob Zombie - Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor Black Sabbath - 13 Tesseract - Altered State Children of Bodom - Halo of Blood Megadeth - Super Collider City & Colour - The Hurry And The Harm Avenged Sevenfold - Hail To The King Dream Theater - Dream Theater God Is An Astronaut - Origins David Bowie - The Next Day Riverside - Shrine of New Generation Slaves Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action Trivium - Vengeance Falls Joe Satriani - Unstoppable Momentum Miss: Bullet For My Valentine - Temper Temper Bring Me The Horizon - Sempiternal Streetlight Manifesto - The Hands That Thieve Sigur Ros - Kveikur Depeche Mode - Delta Machine Asking Alexandria - From Death To Destiny Deep Purple - Now What?! Still need to listen to: Blackfield - Blackfield IV Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories) Omnium Gatherum - Beyond Linkin Park - Living Things Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP 2 A Day To Remember - Common Courtesy

10-22-2013, 12:20 PM	#92 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	Finally getting around to putting something Nirvana related in my journal, because as far as I can tell, it's lacking in that department. Being from Seattle, I figured a "worth the hype?" of Nirvana would be more than appropriate. However, it's not all that easy, since I hold the opinion that only one out of their three studio releases are even worth a listen more than once. Perhaps that changes my perspective on the band, but I don't really see any reason to listen to any of the other releases after hearing Bleach for the first time. Fantastic album, definitely the grungy garage rock feel that I really would have come to expect from a band like this. It's unfortunate that Nevermind gets held up to such high standard and Bleach just gets left in the dirt, since for me personally, Bleach does a much better job at portraying what the band was going for instead of sounding overly polished, cough cough In Utero. But enough about that, i'm ready for the flame war on that. Anyway, as a band, Nirvana were incredible successful, and they still lead one of the popular arguments of if they were really the guys behind the structure of grunge, and they are also behind the popular argument of if Kurt Cobain's death was a suicide, or a murder, but who can know for sure. Perhaps somebody does, but I don't. They're a fantastic introduction to grunge if you're looking to get into one of Seattle's most successfully crafted genres, along with many other bands of course. As far as it goes for the hype they receive, it's a tough one, since most of the hype they receive comes along with people holding Nevermind and In Utero in such high regard and leaving Bleach behind. I was once caught in that hype and thought Nevermind would be the best album I ever heard, but then once I heard Bleach, that opinion changed quickly. But unfortunately the verdict comes to this... I find them worthy of a listen if you're planning to start with Bleach, and then lead into their other albums to see the changes that were made production wise, but in terms of whether or not the hype for Nevermind and In Utero are worth it? Don't even bother. I mean, yeah, they're great albums, but like i've said before, it's a shame that the band is hyped up so much due to those album instead of being hyped up over the one album that really introduces the sound of grunge. Anyway, that's that.

10-22-2013, 12:50 PM	#93 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	Woke up with this beauty stuck in my head. I've been hearing this song everywhere lately. And I also know that they added it into the soundtrack for GTA V. Everything about it is awesome and beautiful.

10-26-2013, 12:09 AM	#94 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	Number 9 our of 15: Porcupine Tree - Signify Honestly, as far as Porcupine Tree goes, it's very hard for me to pick a number one favorite album, seeing as how Steven Wilson has always found a way to make each album better and better both musically and lyrically. This one in particular is a very good example of how musically and lyrically it's top notch. A lot of PT's albums have that strong point that I just cling onto, like with Deadwing and Arriving Somewhere But Not Here, and Fear of a Blank Planet with Anesthetize, though that's always up for debate. Signify has the beautiful duo of Waiting Phase One and Waiting Phase Two. Again, all up to personal opinion, but I find those two songs to be the strong points of the album, though as a whole, the album doesn't exactly lack in the strong department. Like i've said before though, it's difficult to say where I would put this album in terms of favoritism, because I could listen to another PT album that I like and it would exceed that favoritism right then and there, so i'll just say that at the moment, Signify is my favorite PT album. If I were asked which PT album I would take on a stranded island, I would probably say Fear of a Blank Planet in that respect, only because I could listen to Anesthetize over and over again and still get chills. Anyway, enough rambling for me.

10-28-2013, 11:18 PM	#95 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	It's nearing the end of October, which means only two months left of 2013. I've been really pleased with the amount of albums put out this year, the amount of good albums is far higher than the amount of bad. I've already done a few reviews of some of my favorites so I figure it's time to give the albums I have enjoyed this year a proper rating. It will be done as follows: I don't want to put too many images into one post, so I will have an album with a rating in the next post.

10-28-2013, 11:21 PM	#96 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	I may as well do this the ol' fashion way and take albums from top to bottom in my Hit and Miss list, and rate them accordingly. So...first off we have the wonderful, the beautiful, the big hitter... Daft Punk - Random Access Memories I fell in love with this album the minute I heard Give Life Back To Music, in my head I thought..."wow, this is going to be a great album", and that it was. One of the best of 2013. And so with that, it gets the highest rating of... No surprise really. This album exceeded my expectations for what I would want to hear from new Daft Punk material. It's definitely one that has received many mixed reviews, but it blew my mind the first time I heard it, and it continues to do so.

10-30-2013, 11:43 PM	#97 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	Killswitch Engage - Disarm The Descent I know i'm skipping Coheed and Cambria's new album from the list but that's only because I want to give it one more listen before I rate it, so I went to the next one in the list, and it happened to be the next album that I will be giving a highest rating of... Just like Daft Punk, Killswitch Engage was a band that I was fully expecting to hear a great album from. I figured from the news that they are going to be with the old singer again would disappoint some people, but it really opened my eyes to how great of a singer he was and is. I can listen to this album fully and never be disappointed. I was very pleased with it the first time I heard it, and that remains to this day to be of the same opinion.

11-01-2013, 11:34 AM	#98 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	Updated as of 11/1/2013 Hit: Daft Punk - Random Access Memories Coheed & Cambria - The Afterman: Descension Killswitch Engage - Disarm The Descent Rob Zombie - Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor Black Sabbath - 13 Tesseract - Altered State Children of Bodom - Halo of Blood Megadeth - Super Collider City & Colour - The Hurry And The Harm Avenged Sevenfold - Hail To The King Dream Theater - Dream Theater God Is An Astronaut - Origins David Bowie - The Next Day Riverside - Shrine of New Generation Slaves Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action Trivium - Vengeance Falls Joe Satriani - Unstoppable Momentum Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP 2 Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks A Day To Remember - Common Courtesy Paul McCartney - New Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here Miss: Bullet For My Valentine - Temper Temper Bring Me The Horizon - Sempiternal Streetlight Manifesto - The Hands That Thieve Sigur Ros - Kveikur Depeche Mode - Delta Machine Asking Alexandria - From Death To Destiny Deep Purple - Now What?! Still need to listen to: Blackfield - Blackfield IV Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories) Omnium Gatherum - Beyond Linkin Park - Living Things Panic! at the Disco - Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die! AFI - Burials Ayreon - The Theory of Everything

11-03-2013, 10:22 PM	#99 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	A bit late but I wish a big happy birthday to the wonderful and beautiful Steven Wilson. There isn't a whole lot I can do in response to being one of my all time favorite artists's birthdays, so i'm spending most of the night listening to my favorite albums that he has crafted, with right now being In Absentia. There's really nothing i'd rather be listening to right now anyway, since it's a great way to end the day regardless of if it was his birthday or not. And can you believe he's 46? He doesn't look a day over 30. Rock on, Wilson!

11-03-2013, 10:44 PM	#100 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	Number 10 out of 15: Blackfield - Blackfield Yeah yeah yeah, I already did a Steven Wilson project, but hey, I can't put a Porcupine Tree album on a best list without having Blackfield included as well, especially with such a fantastic album as "Blackfield", and even better, I decided to choose the song of the same name as the two mentioned already: If this album was just this one song, i'd still find it as enjoyable as I do with all the other songs included, this is one of the first songs I heard from Steven Wilson, so I was instantly hooked. The intro sort of hits me in a sensitive spot each time because it just has that emotional feel to it, as does the rest of the song, but the intro most of all. Lyrically, of course, the album is strong, when isn't an album strong lyrically when it involves Steven Wilson, um...never? I mean come on.... "River glass, cycle past, overcast I saw it all in the blackfield Copper sky, shadows rise, bridge of sighs We had all in the blackfield" This song is really cool in the way that each time something is said, it's followed up with "so and so in the blackfield" but it's done in such a way that it makes perfect sense. Definitely an album worth listening to if you've got some time, or even if you've never even heard of this Steven Wilson guy that i'm always going on about. It's worth your time, i'll tell you that much.