metalmaniac777

Yeah I think they're okay too. Nothing I'd buy, but I kinda like their better songs. I can certainly see why people like 'em, and I'd sure as hell take them over stuff like Nickleback that gets over-hyped. Green Day has one good song ("Boulevard of Broken Dreams"), a few radio singles that are tolerable, and miles of crappy tunes. Tim, did you just infer that Green Day is better than Nickelback? Brother, you have no idea how far you just plummeted in my eyes. Luckily, since you are a fellow modern thrash-metal fan, I shall try to move past this.

Well, you have now. I like Heavens Edge just fine, but that song is overhyped as hell, and I just don't understand people's love for it. Talk about the most obvious hook imaginable. And those lyrics are the stuff of trite, banal nightmares. "Turn around / Love is right behind you"...really? Oh, how original. I turned around once and all I saw was my fucking shadow, a little girl trying to sell me Girl Scout cookies, and a pug-faced mutt mistaking my leg for a fire hydrant. I can listen to every song on this CD except that one; it's the one time I reach for the Skip button as frantically as Rosie O'Donnell reaches for the last Twinkie. (Kidding, of course...that song is commercial metal perfection!!)

Latest acquisitions... Fast & Furious Last House on the Left (2009)

Latest acquisition... Mudvayne: "The New Game"

Latest acquisitions... Strike Twice: s/t Felony: "Helltown Hotel" Thousand Foot Krutch: "Welcome to the Masquerade"

Haven't heard the finished product yet (my copies should be arriving this week), but based on the samples I was provided in order to write the band's bio, I think Roger is spot-on in his assessment that this is Eonian's best release to date. I haven't heard it yet but I know for sure it'll be a spot-on assessment. These Strike Twice guys kick ass. My copy of Strike Twice arrived in the mail yesterday and personally, I think it destroys anything else Eonian has released like a Viking berserker rampaging through a village full of helpless maidens. Very much in the Jesse Strange/Jones St./McQueen Street vein. A bunch of cool songs, but the one that really knocked my socks off was "D.F.W.M.," which stands for "Don't f*ck with me." Pure hard rockin' attitude on that puppy!! Ya'll need to buy this.

Yes, definitely still pick up "Unseen Power," as it's right up there with "Beyond Belief." I warned you the rest of their stuff was patchy (though I'm a bit surprised at your dislike of "Jekyll & Hyde," which I think is really good). You honestly rated "Praying Man" and "Marks of the Cross" the best songs on "Wake up Call"? I would easily rate "Underneath the Blood" as not only the best song on this album, but one of Petra's overall best. Next up would be the opener, "Midnight Oil," followed by the title track. "Praying Man" and "Marks of the Cross" are middle-of-the-road tracks to me. As already expressed, your distaste for "Jekyll & Hyde" catches me off guard. "Woulda Shoulda Coulda" is catchy as hell, yo!! I just really like the balls on this CD. The killer riff on "I Will Seek You" never fails to get me moving. As I told you in our other conversation, I grew up with Petra as part of the soundtrack of my youth and therefore they hold a special, nostalgic place in my collection, so I probably cut them way more slack than the average listener--like yourself--would.

You're not the lone horse, buddy, there are two of us (still, no mating will be taking place). Neither album is anything special, and neither resides in my collection, but between the two, I would pick "High N' Dry" over "Earthshaker." But really, why bother, when there are about ten thousand better albums out there to listen to. ...and just when I thought I had you figured out, you throw me a curve. To know me is to love me, and I refuse to be loved, hence the curves.

I'm back by popular demand! Well, actually I'm back because Geoff specifically asked me to respond to his post. So get ready for more ramblin'... Part of the problem is that people think of "good" in solely human terms, but based on the Bible, even our "righteousness" is as filthy rags in the eyes of God. God could not truly be God if He wasn't absolutely holy, and His holiness cannot tolerate anything other than pure holiness from the humanity He created. When people say, "I'm a good person, so God should let me into Heaven," they fail to understand that what they consider "good" is still tainted next to the absolute holiness of God. It also amuses me that people question God's "rules." God is God and therefore He makes the rules, not us. People sometimes ask me, "Why did God set up salvation this way?" Because He's God, that's why. Being God, He gets to make the rules. Just 'cause you don't like those rules doesn't mean they're not the rules. My 2 year-old daughter doesn't understand why she has to wear a helmet when she rides the 4-wheeler with me and protests about it all the time, but just because she doesn't understand or like the rules I have established doesn't mean she gets to ignore them and still be allowed to ride the 4-wheeler. I don't force her to ride the 4-wheeler, but neither does she get to ride it unless she follows the rules. Surely the analogy isn't that hard to grasp. Telling God, "I don't understand or like the way You've set up the rules for redemption, therefore I'm not going to abide by them, but You still have to let me into Heaven" is kind of retarded. As for people in Hell...I tend to steer away from the literal interpretation that insists Hell is a place of fire & brimstone and think it is more the total absence of God. I also reject the allegation that God sends people to Hell; God offers Himself to everyone, the price paid by the sacrifice of Christ, but people have the free will to choose or reject the gift. If, using your free will, you choose not to let God into your life, then you have chosen a life away from God. Hell is simply the consequences of your action, God giving you exactly what you wanted: life void of His presence. I believe this is Hell, when your soul is completely severed from the presence of the Creator, and once lost souls experience that absence, they will turn to God and, as I said in my previous posting, be reconciled to Him. It is not God punishing people to force them to Him...the punishment is self-inflicted, and the reconcilation will be by personal choice. So, no, God doesn't "send" anyone to Hell; they use their free will to make that choice to separate themselves from Him. Every choice has consequences, every action a reaction...why do we expect matters of faith & eternity to be any different? Geoff asks why God demands people follow Him and live the way He demands. I simply circle back to the beginning of this post. He's God, and therefore makes the rules. A preacher at the funeral of my 8 year-old niece a few years ago (the older members here may remember that tragic event) said something I'll never forget, and it kind of echoes what Matt (Phaffas) posted: "Humans trying to understand the mind of God is as futile as a one-celled amoeba trying to understand Einstein's Theory of Relativity." Again, to hammer my point home, just because you don't understand or like the way God has set things up doesn't mean you get to ignore it all, live the way you want to, and then get what you wanted from God in the end anyway. Life doesn't work that way, and neither does eternity.

Geoff, you rang? I'll offer my thoughts on the subject and try to keep it to novella length rather than a 300 pg. book. (I think I just heard Pete utter a "thank God"). Do I believe that you can get to Heaven without believing in Christ? To put it bluntly, no. I believe that Christ was the Son of God and His sacrifice on the cross was the price for mankind's redemption and without accepting/acknowledging that sacrifice, you will not see Heaven. But here's where I split off from traditional Christian theology. You see, I believe in Universal Reconciliation, the belief that everyone will eventually believe and be reconciled to God in Heaven. Yes, I believe if you die without accepting Christ, you will go to Hell, but I simply do not believe the soul's journey ends there, that God gives up on the lost simply because their mortal life has expired. In the end, according to the Bible, Christ defeats death & hell once and for all, and I believe it is at that moment in time when all souls will be reconciled to the Father. When the Bible tells us, "Every knee will bow, every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father," I do not believe this is some forced confession from the damned in the bowels of Hell...where would the "glory to God" be in that? No, I believe this is when every soul will understand who God/Christ is and reach out for Him, at which time He will reconcile them all to Him. We are all God's children, we are told, and I find it impossible to believe that He will allow even one of His children to be lost forever. Look at it this way: if the bulk of humanity never accepts Christ in this lifetime and is damned to burn eternally in a lake of fire, then that would mean God's plan--the cross--was a monumental failure, that when the score is tallied at the end of the ages, Satan will have about 90% of God's beloved children in Hell, which would make God one hell of a big loser. The best plan He can come up with to save His children results in all but a few burning forever? Sorry to the traditional Christians out there, but that just doesn't make sense and conflicts mightily with the Bible's teachings on God's infinite love, grace, & forgiveness. So, in my usual long-winded expository way, I am saying I believe that in the end, everyone gets to Heaven. Some just choose to believe in this lifetime and will be spared any taste of Hell, others will refuse to believe in this lifetime and will have to face temporary (not eternal) punishment which will ultimately lead them to belief. As for Heaven itself...from what we can grasp from the Bible (would Heaven truly be Heaven if our human minds could fully understand it?), I think we are ageless and given a perfect "body" or "form." According to scripture, we will recognize one another and interact, but we will no longer be brother/sister or husband/wife...we will all simply be the children of God, living in perfect paradise. OK, I think I've rambled on long enough. Geoff, you're probably the only person who actually read this far. But for what it's worth, that's a rough summary of my beliefs on salvation/eternity/Heaven/etc.

Exact opposite for me. I like "Buzz" but thought "Bottle Rocket" blew donkey balls.

Checked out this band a while back but never got around to commenting... Solid stuff, but nothing I felt I needed to own, and a loooooooong way from Disciple's caliber. Maybe I'm biased because I'm a huge Disciple fan from way back when, but I didn't hear anything that came close to touching "Scars Remain." Glad you like it though, Glen.

I used to own it...before I got tired of how majorly it sucked and gave it away to some poor unsuspecting soul who is probably still cursing me to this day for foisting such a musical abomination upon his ears. But no, when I did have the misfortune of owning it and attempting to listen to it, it never skipped. Still can't believe you actually own that CD though. Aren't you the bloke that had never heard Skid Row or Kix? Jeez, man, how can you have "Bottle Rocket" in your collection but not Kix or the Skidsters?

Here's hoping they--ahem, deliver--what their fans want and dish out a ripping heavy/thrash metal album instead of the progressive-tinged stuff they've been diddling around with for so many years.

According to the band's website, their keyboardist, Rick Macias, died on 2/7/09. I wonder if this is partly to blame for the delay in the new album?

Good to hear. I haven't heard any full songs (except for "Head Crusher," which I really like), but I checked out the 30 second snippets on Amazon.com and it sounded like a pretty typical Megadeth album, which ain't a bad thing. I'll pick it up.

Thanks for taking my hopes and crushing them like a lipstick-smeared cigarette butt under the boot heel of a 300 lb., cottage cheese-thighed biker momma. For a band that used to be all "hits," they sure are missing the mark these days. Maybe if I take the 5 good songs of this newie and combine them with the good songs off "IV," I'll actually have...well, I'll have 5 songs, 'cause there were no good ones on "IV"! Seriously, I'll have to spin it myself when the time comes, but Dan's comments have killed my hopes for something as awesome as "In the Heart of the Young" or "Pull."

You're not the lone horse, buddy, there are two of us (still, no mating will be taking place). Neither album is anything special, and neither resides in my collection, but between the two, I would pick "High N' Dry" over "Earthshaker." But really, why bother, when there are about ten thousand better albums out there to listen to.

Geoff, this is the "What CDs did you buy this week" thread, not the "What CDs did someone pay you to take off their hands this week" thread.

Yo, jackass, look at the very first post in this thread: "a couple of Christian bands." Please do at least a minimal amount of research prior to opening your pie-hole, you heathenistic Christ-hater. Doesn't a couple mean two? Two Christian bands, one non-Christian band. Jesus is messing up your head, mate. Well, if you want to take it that way... And if I was your typical Christian zealot, I would say something like "Jesus isn't in my head, He's in my heart," just to watch you gag. Luckily for you, I'm one of those liberal Christians who doesn't spout shit like that at every opportunity.

Yo, jackass, look at the very first post in this thread: "a couple of Christian bands." Please do at least a minimal amount of research prior to opening your pie-hole, you heathenistic Christ-hater.

I do believe you are correct. My bad. But at least I knew Jamie Rowe didn't sing on the debut...

Um...what? Seriously, I have no idea what this post means. Whatever. Thanks for calling. I think he was referring to using the magazine to catch the clippings when cutting your nails. Personally, I just do mine in the aisle at Wal-Mart and leave the clippings for the janitor to sweep up. Don't give me that look. It's what they get paid to do. Thanx for the assist, Mark. Obviously I left my Troo Arcane Steele Vinyl Warrior-To-English dictionary in my other jacket. Is fluency in Sharatanese considered a second language? I'm thinking about listing it on my resume...

Um...what? Seriously, I have no idea what this post means. Whatever. Thanks for calling. I think he was referring to using the magazine to catch the clippings when cutting your nails. Personally, I just do mine in the aisle at Wal-Mart and leave the clippings for the janitor to sweep up. Don't give me that look. It's what they get paid to do.

1. Mass: "Voices in the Night" ~ Half-hearted thumbs up. Not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but a solid slab of 80s commercial metal, given that Stryper-esque vibe by Michael Sweet's production. 2. Guardian: "First Watch" ~ Thumbs up. Much more polished--again, thanks to Michael Sweet producing--than later albums, but still pretty darn good. 3. King of the Hill: s/t ~ Not quite sure why this is being labled a Christian band? Regardless, it's decent enough, but nothing special. I gave it a thumbs-up in the poll, though in reality I would have voted neutrally if the option had been available.