metalmaniac777

Latest acquisition...

INSIDE (Unrated)--brutally violent French horror film about a widowed pregnant girl terrorized by a strange women who will stop at nothing to get the child the girl is carrying. Haven't watched the whole thing yet, but what I have seen will make even the most hardened horror fan's jaw hit the floor. The killings are savagely bloody, but not cartoonish; the gore is graphically realistic as opposed to amusing (I was reminded of another French horror film, High Tension, at times). And I defy any man not to cringe at the scissors-meets-crotch scene...damn, that hurt to watch...

"Get that Ranch off my lawn!"

The band is attempting to shoot for a rawer sound as opposed to the overproduction that the Elefante brothers injected into the mix. My fear, from hearing the rough mixes, is that they are going too far the other way. Some of the first mixes they threw up there were absolutely horrid. I really think that they should leave the test mixes at home and show us the final product. That being said I do believe this is going to be released fairly soon, probably in the summer.

Kind of cracks me up that the band bitches about the overproduction of the Elefantes, 'cause I'll bet you dollars to dimes that back in the day when they were first signed, X-Sinner was absolutely thrilled to be working with John & Dino. Why wouldn't they? At that time, the Elefante brothers were the hottest, most highly-sought producers in the Christian rock/metal realm. Everybody wanted 'em. But decades later, X-Sinner says they overproduced the albums. Sorry, but you knew what you were getting; John & Dino have always been slick, polished, glossy producers. Getting them to produce your record and then griping about it is kind of like hiring McDonalds to cater your kid's birthday party and then bemoaning the fact that they brought hamburgers...

This is right at the top of my list of CDs to buy, but I need to come up with some cash first. So, uh, anyone wanna buy a kidney? Gall bladder? C'mon, ya never know when yer gonna need a spare gall bladder...

"I'm too old for this Ranch!"

"Shut up. Just shut up. You had me at 'Ranch.'"

Wow, we've come to the "W"s. As usual, quite a few solid choices got cut in my quest to whittle things down to 20 choices, so write-ins welcome.

My vote--and I'm sure it won't be the only one--goes to Wig Wam. I swear if you look up the word "catchy" in the dictionary, you'll find photos of their albums right next to it. Great band.

So who do you like?

Latest acquisition...

STORM WARNING (Unrated)--directed by Jamie Blanks (I Know What You Did Last Summer), this is a pretty solid survival-horror movie about a couple lost in the Australian backwoods and tormented by a deranged trio of psychotic killers. No, the plot's nothing you haven't seen before, but what makes this a total keeper is the last 25 minutes where the gore comes fast & furious and is guaranteed to make even hardened horror fans cringe at least once or twice. More than once I gaped at the screen thinking to myself, Oh that is just so wrong. In a good way, of course.

They're okay...not a huge fan though.

I personally think their 2nd album ("Blind Faith") falls into the good-but-not-great category, but their self-titled debut is fantastic. Geoff, how can you not like it? It's got everything you love: big guitars, commercial hooks, catchy choruses, and stacks of backing vox.

I only ever had their 'Blind Faith' album...didn't even know they had another album...I'd like to hear it now. Can you make this happen asap? Thanks.

I suspect the debut will be a bit more up your alley. I just emailed you an MP3 of the opening rocker, "Friendly Fire," which gives you a good taste of the album's sound/style. If you like it, there's more where that came from. Let me know.

"Leave the gun. Take the Ranch."

"At my signal, unleash Ranch."

They're okay...not a huge fan though.

I personally think their 2nd album ("Blind Faith") falls into the good-but-not-great category, but their self-titled debut is fantastic. Geoff, how can you not like it? It's got everything you love: big guitars, commercial hooks, catchy choruses, and stacks of backing vox.

Your ambivalance has left me in a state of shock. SHOCK, I say!

"Ranch smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back."

Seeing as Robby Valentine is missing (the sacrelige) then:

 

Van Halen

I left him off on purpose just to piss you off. How'd I do?

Actually, you'll see "Valentine" is included on the poll...I just forget to write "Robby" when I created the poll. Doesn't matter anyway, the only folks that like his keyboard-drenched fluff are you sissy AOR fans. Us badass hard rockers think he's a powder puff.

Vee 'ave come to da vees. Had to do a little whittlin' to get it down to 20 choices, so as always, write-ins welcome if you don't see your personal fave.

I gave my vote to Vamp Le Stat. Sure, they're indie, and not particularly well-known, but I love their brand of heavy, aggressive, ballsy, in-yer-face hard rock. Their song "Bitch" is one of the greatest sleaze-rock anthems of all time as far as I'm concerned.

But enough about my "Bitch"...who do you like?

I can't believe I'm the only vote for Love Machine; I always seem to vote with the majority in these polls. BR ripped it up on that release. Love Machine was to me a terrific last gasp effort...letting go of the mainstream AOR sound of the previous releases and going a bit more metal.

 

Still The One is a great ballad and the rockers Mr. Mistreater and Nightcrawler are amazing. I know the album hasn't been heard by as many people as the first two, but it's worth searching out for.

Yeah, I'm a little surprised by the lack of love for "Love Machine"; thought that bad boy would be a little closer in the polls. At one point I owned all the Brighton Rock albums, but over the years as I've whittled things from my collection that I didn't feel were essential, the first two CDs went bye-bye, but "Love Machine" still remains to this day. I still find it hard to believe that after the safer-than-safe AOR of "Take a Deep Breath" they managed to turn around and deliver a hard-hitting ass-kicker of an album. An interesting decision to say the least, but I for one am glad they made it.

Latest acquisitions...

Death Angel: "Killing Season"

In Flames: "A Sense of Purpose"

Boff uv em kik azz!!!

I like the debut, and still own it, but it didn't have much staying power for me, and by that I mean I rarely find myself reaching for it. Matter of fact, I think I listened to it 2-3 times when it first came out, then slotted it into my collection and haven't spun it since. Might have to rectify that in the near future...

Anyway, judging from the new songs I heard, this is superior to the debut, going straight for that modern hard rock sound while eschewing (most of) the trappings of the nu-metal movement. Good guitars, good power, solid hooks, solid choruses...ahhhhh, sweet aural pleasure to these ears.

Now I just need to find out if this is getting an actual physical release...

OK, after checking out the samples, this is simply too lite for me. Paul's got a great voice, and for those who enjoy the lite/pop/aor side of CCM this should more than satisfy, but it's just not where my musical interests lie. I need my stuff to hit harder, pack more of a punch. No disrespect to some of the previous posters, but I don't hear much Nouveux influence in this at all. Anyway, it's cool that Paul is still making albums, but aside from that Nouveux debut, none of the albums he's been involved with will be making their way into my collection.

I figure its time for a new topic on this album coming soon. On their myspace page they have been putting up a few rough mixes of some of the new songs. Today they put up a new song "World Covered in Blood". It sounds pretty good for a rough mix. They appear to be in the final mixing stages on this one so it should be out within the next few months.

I know it's only a rough mix--and make no mistake, the song is solid--but to me it doesn't sound as good as the songs that were on "Get It" & "Peace Treaty." That said, it IS good enough to make me buy the CD when it comes out...whenever that is (if it takes much longer, I'm going to start referring to it as the "Chinese Democracy" of Christian rock/metal).

"I may not be a smart man, but I know what ranch is."

Uh, we've come to the "U"s. Not the greatest letter, but if you happen to feel I slighted your favorite band and left them off the list, feel free to write it in and let the world know about your poor musical taste--um, I mean, your excellent discernment of the musical arts.

Frankly, this is an easy one for me--Unruly Child. Their debut is melodic rock perfection, one of my all-time favorite CDs. Lush production from Beau Hill, stellar vocals from a still-got-my-dick Mark Free, more hooks than a tackle box...that album just had it all, a total masterpiece.

But enough talk about Mark/Marcie's Free dick (or lack thereof)...which band do you place "u"p at the top?

Do you take food stamps? I've already made plans to blow my stimulus check on cheap booze, cheaper women, and my disturbing need to complete by Smurfs collection...

Seriously, just PayPaled a donation.

Now, here's a prize suggestion--a Get Out Of Baneed Free pass. It works like this: if you cross the line and Dan "banees" you, you can whip out your Get Out Of Baneed Free pass and be allowed to continue to roam the boards. It was looking like Matt (Phaffas) was going to be needing one of these a week or so ago...

Or how about this--Baneeing powers. Winner would have the right to banee anyone of their choice for 30 days. Oh, the endless possibilities... (be afraid, Geoff, be very afraid...)

All joking aside, this is a great site and deserves everyone's support. So git yer wallets out, ya bastids!

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Barren Cross: "Rock for the King"