Periphery

These guys are somewhat of an up-and-coming band, and boy are they intense. They've actually been around since 2005 or so, but their first studio album was finally released in April of this year. Periphery is definitely my favorite discovery of 2010 so far.

They've had some trouble with vocalists in the past, and have gone through at least two or three before recording this album, but the one appearing in the current lineup (Spencer Sotelo) is an excellent choice. I'm enjoying this album pretty much every day and remain very excited about what the future brings for them.

"Djent" is apparently one of the genres that Periphery subscribes to, or so I think. I've never even heard of it until discovering them. I'm assuming it's a newer form of the really technical kind of metal that they play. They do have three guitarists, after all.

Check out one of the songs from the album, "Light":

My rating for Periphery's self-titled album: 4.5/5

(I took away .5 because of that really long and annoying part with the guy talking after "Icarus Lives". I had to edit that part out of my copy of the song, because I couldn't stand it after listening to it a few times. Other than that, this is a perfect album!)

Kamelot's Live Performances

One thing I've noticed that seems to be common for many metal bands is that their live performances are nowhere near as good as their studio recordings. Although it's usually just the vocalist performing poorly, they are arguably the most important part of the live show. Before going to a concert, the majority of the audience has already memorized the lyrics and melodies that will be sung (at least, I've usually been a fan of a band for a while before going to see them), so it's pretty easy to spot the discrepancies.

This is not the case with Kamelot. They have some of the most powerful and accurate live performances I have ever seen. You'd seriously think you were listening to the album version of the song when hearing them live. Vocalist Roy Khan is an especially outstanding singer, which alone makes Kamelot one of my favorite live metal acts.

Check out these songs from their 2006 live DVD, One Cold Winter's Night. Each song on the DVD really was executed flawlessly, if not better than the recorded versions, simply due to the massive amounts of energy they exude in their act.

Christian Älvestam

A true musician in every sense of the word, this Swedish gentleman is known to frolic about various bands and musical acts, usually lending his astounding talents as a vocalist. He is perhaps best known for being a former member of the band Scar Symmetry, but has been seeking greener pastures since 2008 with several other groups such as Miseration, Solution .45 and The Few Against Many, to name a few.

There is no doubt in my mind that he possesses one of the greatest voices in music today. He is renowned for being able to switch between death growls and harmonious, clean vocals with amazing ease.

Christian Älvestam can also be heard as a guest vocalist on countless bands' albums. In the following video, where he is recording some for Universum's upcoming Mortuus Machina album, we get a glimpse of what he does best. And some funny sounding guys making funny sounds.


By not being completely loyal to only one band, Älvestam sometimes puts himself out of his element, which normally would test one's capabilities, but I think it only proves his incredible versatility. Here, we have him providing vocals for some kind of house/ambient track for a fellow named Henrik B. Not only is it really odd and surprising for a metal singer to venture into a genre like this, but I think he could actually pull off a career in that one, too.


If you like what you hear in these videos, I highly recommend checking out his work in Scar Symmetry and Solution .45. For starters, try this and this. You won't be disappointed!

Mechanize by Fear Factory

The first thing I would like to discuss is the newest album of a fantastic band that has, in my opinion, made a huge comeback. I was also inspired to name this blog after one of the songs, called "The Oxidizer". The band is none other than Fear Factory, and their album, Mechanize, was just released this month.

I heard Fear Factory for the first time in the late '90s, shortly after the release of their critically acclaimed third album, Obsolete (1998). The combination of Burton C. Bell's clean vocals with his death vocals was just amazing. It was like heaven vs. hell in an audio format. Backing that glorious voice was also some of the heaviest and grooviest music that ever graced my prepubescent ears.

For some reason, I was not at all interested in the three albums that followed: Digimortal (2001), Archetype (2004) and Transgression (2005). Looking back on them now, though, I realize that they are all great albums. When I was younger, there was just something about Obsolete that grabbed my attention. Perhaps it was due to the lineup changes the band experienced throughout those later recordings, causing them to sound different.

When I gave Mechanize the initial listen, it definitely felt nostalgic. I was 13 years old again and hearing Fear Factory for the first time. I'm thinking it's probably because of Dino Cazares' return as guitarist. Those brutal guitars and drums booming behind Bell's melodic vocals were something I hadn't heard in a while.

Fear Factory really puts a huge amount of thought into their work, and as a result they produce some highly intriguing (and also addicting) compositions. Bell and Cazares have great some synergy. It almost seems like less is more when they are writing together. At least, this appears to be the case with Dino Cazares; he tends to make great use of fairly simple playing. I'm also a sucker for catchy/clean vocal hooks, and I wish they included just a little bit more of them in this album.

Be sure to check out one of my favorite songs from Mechanize, "Designing the Enemy":

My rating for Mechanize: 4.5/5

An Introduction

If there is one thing that I've been doing for a long time, it's listening intently to music. I grew up on heavy rock music, especially bands like Rage Against the Machine, Deftones and Fear Factory. Over a decade later, this music still moves me the same way it did back then, except now I have a much broader spectrum of bands and genres that I appreciate.

I am making this blog to share, rate, review, and discuss the music that I love. Hopefully, I will also discover some new stuff along the way. The best thing that could come out of this would be to introduce people to a band they've never heard of before, therefore helping the band's support grow so that they can continue to make great music.