Death Magnetic (music CD)

Band Name: Metallica
Music Type: Heavy Metal
Release Date: September 12, 2008

I used to be a pretty big Metallica fan. Actually, I still am; just of their early years. After the "Black Album", as fans have dubbed it, it was all downhill for the band. Load was completely mediocre while ReLoad was just plain bad. Let's not even get into the complete mess that was St. Anger; I know it was important to the band but they really screwed the pooch there and the band became something of a bad joke to me at that point. I'm not going to mince words; idiotic fanboys who eat any crap handed to them can kiss my ass because that album was garbage.

But hey, this past decade has been very kind to both metal and regular old rock and roll. One could call it a decade of comebacks. Iron Maiden reunited with Bruce Dickinson and Judas Priest reunited with Rob Halford; both went on to make fantastic albums since the reunion. Megadeth has sowly pulled itself back from it's mistakes with "Risk". Rush kicked ass with "Snakes and Arrows". Whitesnake is back and actually doing well. Hell, in the biggest shock of them all, Van Halen has reunited with David Lee Roth. Everyone seems to have picked this decade to get their acts together. So was it time for Metallica to make a return to their former glory? Can a band that completely sold out come back from the pit?

The answer is yes.

Don't get me wrong; this album is not perfect by a longshot. But Metallica has finally shed the desire to cater to the mainstream and gone back to the roots that got them so far to begin with. Death Magnetic is harder, faster, better structured and simply more cohesive than anything the band has done in years.

In some ways, this particular album seems to echo "Ride the Lightning"; high praise from me considering the aforementioned album is a personal favorite of mine. The album is structured similarly, for instance. The first several tracks rock the doors off the joint, then the fourth track kicks in, a power ballad of sorts in the same spot "Fade to Black" was on "Ride to Lightning". While it's not a great track, it helped me hearken back to the glory days just a bit more.. Then things pick up once more. Eventually we get to an instrumental, something the band hasn't done since "... And Justice for All", before we get to the closing track.

The albums a bit uneven in overall quality, however. The first half of the album is arguably the better of the two. The first three tracks - "That Was Just Your Life", "The End of the Line" and "Broken, Beat & Scarred" - simply rock hard. Seriously, Metallica hasn't sounded this good in years. "That Was Just Your Life" is probably the best off the entire album, starting out with what sounds like a heartbeat and powering forward. "The Day That Never Comes" is decent enough, but aside from it's placement echoing the better "Fade to Black", it just doesn't get the job done. I got a major "modern Green Day" vibe from the track, of which can I just say yuck? Then we hit "All Nightmare Long", which is back into the harder feel of the first three albums with a very high sense of speed to the instruments.

The second half, however, feels weaker. "Cyanide" is fine, continuing the harder tone of the album. "The Unforgiven III" however, is not quite there. On a personal nitpick, I don't know why the band is fascinated with naming songs as sequels to "The Unforgiven" in name, but it really needs to stop. That aside, the song really is nothing special and is definitely the worst track of the album; it reminds me way too much of the sort of things the band did post-Black Album and that's not a good thing. Even Hetfeilds vocals suffer. The original "The Unforgiven" was a pretty decent track; neither of it's sequels are. On top of that, this weaker song goes on for about seven plus minutes; way too long for a song without any noteworthy points to it. If we're truly past the "Bob Rock" era, can't we leave relics inspired by it behind? This song is the definite weak link of the album and the album would have been better off if it had been cut; it barely even sounds like Metallica, or at least the badass Metallica that has resurfaced with this album.

The Judas Kiss is better, but something about it doesn't quite click. The song is a return to the harder edge most of the album carries after the last track, but it doesn't quite have the chops other songs on the album do. Said song is quickly forgotten, however, once we get to "Suicide & Redemption". Said song is the return of the instrumental to Metallica's albums, something I've been waiting for ever since they went with their radio friendly image. It's a fantastic song that you wish would go on longer; this is despite the fact that the song runs for close to ten minutes! The album then closes with "My Apocalypse". This is definitely one of the stronger songs on the album, though I don't believe it to be the best. Still, it's a thundering track that closes the album well.

One of the problems I had with the album, however, had to do with the production. I mean, why are the drums so damn loud? Also, what the hell happened to the bass? Yeah, it's there, but what happened for it to be shuffled so far to the background? Hopefully the band realized the bass was kicked to the background and keep it in mind, because it's just baffling.

Also, those lower songs of the album really do detract from it. When the songs rock, they really rock. But when they flounder, man do they ever flounder. Had "The Day That Never Comes" and "The Unforgiven III" been cut from the album it would have felt much, much stronger on the whole. Take out the solid but forgettable "The Judas Kiss" and what was left would have made for a suitably kick ass album that clocked in at a respectable fifty some odd minutes. Sometimes it's best for the chaff to be cut from the album; after all, cut songs hardly stay gone these days anyways what with reissues and collections of such songs.

The Score: Dramatic Thumbs Up

Finally, the old Metallica has resurfaced to rock the world once more. No matter how good they get from here on out, it's never going to wash to stain of those awful three albums away, but even the best bands have low periods; even if they never get quite as low as Metallica did. This album is a true return to form for the band; it's not perfect and cracks show through the lesser songs, but it's the album we've been waiting for ever since Metallica sold out. Welcome back guys; your true sound was greatly missed.

Fozzy (music CD)

Band Name: Fozzy
Music Genre: Heavy Metal
Release Date: October 24th, 2000

Anyone who pays attention to World Wrestling Entertainment at all probably knows who Chris Jericho is. A very talented wrestler, he's easily one of the better wrestlers they have, without a doubt. Not quite as many know about his love for rock and metal; not to mention the fact that he's frontman for his own band, Fozzy.

I'd heard of the band and I quite enjoyed a cover of Iron Maiden's "The Evil That Men Do" that Jericho did vocal work on for a Maiden tribute album, so I decided to check out his bands own work, starting with the first album.

To be honest, I've got mixed feelings when it comes to this album. This is from back in the days when Fozzy was more of a gimmick band than anything else, complete with it's own fictional backstory that the band was away in Japan for twenty some years being huge rock stars unknowing other bands had ripped off their songs. As such, much of the album consists of covers of popular metal songs from such talents as Motley Crue, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and so on. There are only two original song of Fozzy's own design on the album, the in-character explanation being that they were new and bands hadn't gotten the oppourtunity to rip them off yet.

Good cover songs generally have a few criterion that generally must be followed for them to be acceptable, much less any good. They need to keep the spirit of the originals in some way, keep to the same genre and put a new spin on it. Deviating from those general rules is subject for disaster; see Britney Spears mockery of a cover of "I Love Rock and Roll" for proof. Fozzy sticks to all three, thankfully, so it's a matter of whether the cover is of great quality. With this album, it's something of a half and half affair. A little more than half of them are good, while the other half range from decent to bad.

Chris Jericho's vocals are unique in their own ways; you're not going to mistake him for some other band leader like much of the rock of the 2000's have wrought. This is both good and bad; Fozzy covers songs from quite a few different bands on this album and Jericho's vocals don't quite work with some of them.

The album kicks off with a very strong rendition of Dio's "Stand Up and Shout". This particular cover is one of the better ones on the album, keeping to the original while sounding distinct thanks in part to Jericho's vocals. "Eat the Rich", a Krokus cover, is decent but somewhat unremarkable. The third cover is of Twisted Sister's "Stay Hungry"; this cover is one of the more enjoyable ones.

The fourth track, however, is probably the worst of the album. It truly highlights the problem I mentioned earlier moreso than anything else on the album. The track in question is a cover of Iron Maiden's "The Prisoner", a classic track from the Number of the Beast album whoms subject material is on a fantasic british television show known as, aptly enough, The Prisoner. Jericho's vocals just never click at all. It feels like the tones and pitches are too far off to be effective and the chorus, one of the best parts of the original, is just somewhat grating here, with the rest of the bandmates joining in instead of simply Jericho singing it. It's a very weird sounding cover of a classic; and not in the good way.

Number five is far, far better though. It's a cover of Motley Crues "Live Wire". This is arguably the finest cover on the album and the one most worth going out of your way to listen to. The guitarwork and instruments in general follow the original song fairly well, but it's Jericho's vocal work, which was a major strike against the last song, that works so much better with this song. It's quite possibly as good as the Motley Crue original in it's own way; high praise indeed.

The sixth track is the first of the two original songs on the album I mentioned earlier, "End of Days". It's definitely a style of Fozzy's all their own. All instruments in the song work together well along with Jericho's vocals, which feel so much more free here without needing to attempt to emulate another bands vocalist in some respects, such as the vocal range of a man like Bruce Dickinson. Listening to this song was probably the point where I was convinced to go looking into the two furthur albums so far; Fozzy moved towards more of their own material after this after all.

After that is a cover of an Ozzy Osbourne song, "Over the Mountain". It holds up well and Jericho does well here considering Ozzy songs aren't the easiest to cover well; they often don't quite sound right without Ozzy's distinct vocals. The next song, a cover of Scorpions "Blackout", is another matter entirely. This song divided me more than anything else on the album. There were parts I liked and parts I didn't. Like the earlier Maiden cover, it's Jericho's vocals that don't quite work as well. On regular verses, he does just fine for the most part, except that for the second line of each one he raises the pitch of his voice and it simply doesn't quite work. The way they did the chorus, however, is what ultimately nearly ruined the song; the way it was sang just sounded completely weird and offputting. It's an interesting listen, but I honestly cannot say it was a strong cover.

From there we go to the second original song, "Feel the Burn". This song is much heavier on the whole than End of Days. It works for the song though and it's an enjoyable listen, one which makes me glad Fozzy eventually went for creating more original material than covers. The album closes with a cover of Judas Priests "Riding on the Wind". To be honest, it's nothing to really write home about; the guitar work is strong and Jericho keeps up well enough, but it sounded like his vocals weren't quite as loud this time. It's still a decent cover though and not a bad way to cap things off.

The Score: 6.5 out of 10

This album is a bit better than "middle of the road". Regardless, it's definitely more for fans of cover bands interested in hearing a take on classics with Chris Jericho on vocals. The original tracks are the highlight of the album along with the cover of Live Wire; all three are worth a listen at the very least. It's not a bad album, honestly, but I wouldn't highly recommend it as a purchase until you've at least listened to it and know if you'll like it or not.

Nostradamus (music CD)

Band Name: Judas Priest
Music Type: Heavy Metal
Release Date: June 17, 2008

Sometimes, even one of your favorite bands can surprise you.

I've been a fan of Judas Priest since I was a little kid; they're one of the many bands I grew up on. It wasn't until around the turn of the century that I became really attached to the band and noticed them, however. Since then, I've reveled in the music of one of the true masters of metal, bar none. Even Black Sabbath has a hard time competing with these guys for the best of all metal in my eyes; and they practically founded the damn genre.

So of course I entered their latest album with anticipation. I had heard of the subject matter a good deal before it's release; after all, the band made no bones about the fact that it's latest effort would focus on Nostradamus. This didn't bother me as much as I think it should have. I generally look at Nostradamus as something of a hack from a bygone era of superstition and beliefs in things such as prophecies. Many of his so called prophecies were so horribly vague that they could apply to almost anything, reaping any meaning they might have. Not to mention the people who actually believe in them, who come off borderline stupid at times. But, like many figures I do not believe in or think much of, I find him and his legacy to be suitably fascinating; which probably helped temper my reaction. So going in, I suppose you could say I was all for it. Nostradamus is suitably metal enough, I think.

As always, Judas Priest did not disappoint me for my faith. This two disc album is by far the best they have done since Painkiller, the infamous album where Priest found themselves at their very heaviest and quite possibly their best. It's also hands down the most musically cohesive album they have ever done, a big plus. The best possible way that I could ever describe this album is that it is something of a Heavy Metal Opera, rife with an epic feel and subject matter without any of the wailing or fat chicks.

The first disc is the better of the two in this album. It focuses mainly on the prophecies Nostradamus gave over his lifetime and many of the songs are suitably epic. At least three quarters of the disc focuses on the Legendary Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The original four, mind you. There's no Famine to be found here; only Conquest. The rest mainly focuses on other prophecies and Nostradamus himself, leading to persecution.

"Dawn of Creation" opens the album, a suitably low key lead in to another song; like how The Hellion was to Electric Eye. It sets something of a tone before we're launched into the first relatively heavy piece of the album, "Prophecy". The album immediatly grabs you with this song, sounding suitably epic in scope and introducing us to the concept of the album, Nostradamus himself. Before the song is through, there is a positively epic twenty seconds of guitar solo that was enough to get my heart racing before the song closed and flowed into the next. "Awakening" followed, another short lead in to the next song and setting aside any doubt that this would be a pattern throughout the album. Then, it seemlessly transitioned into the next main song, "Revelations". The song has a wonderful throughline throughout to keep you enthralled. Already we have winners out of everything so far in the album.

Next is where the main subject of this half of the album begins. "The Four Horsemen" is slow, telling the rise of the Horsemen, slowly leading us into "War", the next major song in the album and obviously representing the first of the Horsemen. "War" grabs you by the throat right off the bat with a pounding drum beat as Halford sings of the coming of War. Like much of the album, this is a heavy sound, but a slower one, which many may not be used to, especially considering Priests often fast paced songs. But it still does it's job handily. Again we transition to a slower, lower beat with "Sands of Time", the next lead in song to set the stage after War. Then comes "Pestilence and Plague", driving us forward again with another heavy piece, this one moving a bit faster than the ones before it.

From there we go right to "Death", one of the two songs to quite possibly be the best of the album. It's opening from "Pestilence and Plague" on into it is positively gloomy before a guitar slowly riffs onward. A slightly growly Halford begins to sing in the first person, as though he were the voice for Death himself. It's almost chilling. Halfway through the song, we move into one of the most infectious verses I've heard in a long time. When Halford begins to sing of Death riding out from the storm, you feel the incessant urge to sing along as the song kicks into a higher gear, signaling "Death" arriving to do his merciless deed. Cue in a positively epic guitar solo before the last verses of the song. From there we move onto "Peace", another lower piece for the purpose of setting up the next song, before we go into the final song representing the Horsemen, "Conquest". This song is as good as any of the other four, giving something of a more positive, hopeful sound after the relatively gloomy "Death". After "Conquest" we move to "Lost Love", a slower paced love song that sounds positively beautiful and reminds me of "Before the Dawn" from an album years previous, though with more verses than the short aforementioned song. Then the first disc closes with "Persecution", which is a much faster song than anything heard so far on the album, far more like their usual work. It's a nice closer for the first half, at which point it's time to switch discs.

The second disc is far less gloomy than the sound of the first, and one could make the case that it's not quite as driving either. By no means is it bad in any way, in fact, I think it's very strong as well and wouldn't cut anything from it. But by now we are past the gloomy, dark prophecies of Nostradamus and his persecution, which drove the first disc of this album. The second disc opens with another lower lead in called "Solitude" before we move on to "Exile", a great drum beat opening the song with the subject of, obviously, Nostradamus in exile. "Alone" is next, which is a personal favorite of mine from this album. It's catchy with a great chorus, the kind you would usually hear in typical Priest songs. From there on we get a much more upbeat sound in "Shadows in the Flame" and "Visions". This continues through "Hope" and the song it leads to, "New Beginnings". After this four song reprieve, things go back to a slower, lower beat with "Calm Before the Storm", the lead in to the next song, the albums title track, "Nostradamus". "Nostradamus" is like the earlier "Persecution" in that it's a much faster song. From there, it's on to the closer, the epic "Future of Mankind". This one is a competitor for best from the entire album, with an awesome sound throughout as Halford sings of Nostradamus and his death.

Overall, this album as a whole is unbelievably cohesive. Each song leads into the next in a way Priest is certainly not known for. Their traditional fare is more of a typical, broken set; each song is it's own being and it's own unique sound that does not always blend with the others. Of course, said work has always been excellent, but I found this album refreshing because it turns that traditional mold on it's head. This is a cohesive concept album from start to finish with a wonderful flow.

In a way, it's something new from the band. They've gone on for well over thirty years with their perticular sound and it's gotten them far. For me, that means they've earned the right to experiement a bit, trying something with a suitably more epic, flowing scope. For others, I know this is unfortunately going to be a sticking point. I've been around metal fans enough to know many of them have a stick up their ass in regards to this sort of thing; they want their traditional fare and that's that. But this is the case with most of the fanboy sort of any media, is it not?

Musically, I don't care what anyone says. Thirty years later, Judas Priest is as top of their game as they have ever been. They are the the true legends of metal, the original leather clad badasses. Since the reunion with Halford, they've pressed forward with two great albums, including this one, and I look forward to where they go from here. I hope they never retire. The day they do is the day I cry for metal, because it would be the day it lost one of it's truest legends.

This album is one of the finest works I've heard come from the heavy metal scene in a while. In an age where legends of metal are returning to glory left and right, Judas Priest set themselves apart from the pack once more, as they always have. This is something different for them, but it works wonderfully. I honestly would not mind if they did more of this sort of thing every now and then. This comes with my highest reccomendation for anyone who likes their metal with something of an epic feel; but those with an open enough mind should still find plenty to love. For me, this is another Judas Priest classic, hands down.

My Opinion: Buy It