Eddy_S's Last.fm Journal

Goodbye 2010... Goodbye My Long-Time Idols...

Fri, 24 Dec 2010 00:14:17 +0000

This time I'm not gonna write a list, review the best releases of this year, no. I just feel that I absolutely HAVE to talk about a few things that made heavy metal fans everywhere sad.

Yes, one of these things was the death of Dio, an old king of heavy metal, the first to talk about mythological stuff, which made possible the rise of the power metal genre. His voice can't be replaced and, as such, both his solo band and Heaven and Hell are now gone. His impact on heavy metal music can be seen everywhere. Power metal? Symphonic metal? Hell, even many artists of good ol' heavy metal? You've got it all thanks to this man. At least we can all say he died a hero. He was fighting an almost already lost battle against cancer, and he fought until the end against such a powerful foe, where many would just wish to die he embodied the same heroes he sang about. Rest in peace, my god*. We will miss you.

Also, Peter Steele, singer and songwriter for Type O Negative left us this year. He wasn't just any songwriter, but a poet. Yes, most of his songs were kind of jokes, but deep inside he was a poet. During his life he fought against depression, going so far as to question existence, something that most people think is so futile today. Also, he served as a major inspiration for most gothic metal artists. Farewell, my good sir, you deserve to rest.

Another one that left us was Steve Lee, frontman of the Swiss band Gotthard. A good man, as many people said, he was just minding his business, traveling with friends and having fun, when death came. Such a bizarre accident took from us one of the greatest voices of hard rock. If you didn't know how he died, I'll left the decision of learning about it up to you, but a word of advice: it is something so dramatic, not to talk about how impossible it seems, you wouldn't feel it out of place on an action or horror movie.

Rest in peace, all of you, you deserve it.

But besides deaths, this year also comes to our attention as the end of great bands. Scorpions, who blessed us with their songs for about 40 years, is waving a goodbye to their fans. We can't say they didn't do enough to have their place among the stars. Such an extensive career and with a singer with such a powerful voice in his sixties, that can't be matched easily. And, sadly, they're not the only ones. Judas Priest, another big band of the heavy metal genre, is also going. Possibly they are coming back in the future, as they did before, but they, too, aren't young anymore, no doubt they wouldn't last much longer on stages anyway. Let them have the deserved peace. Let them rest and enjoy their life for once.

That's about everything I have to say for now. Hope you guys read this with the respect these people deserve.

*Dio's last name (Dio, in case you're wondering) is italian for God. The reference I made about it wasn't a joke or sarcasm. He really was a god among men, with such an influence on so many people.

Pick a song and answer the questions (yes, I'm doing this too)

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 13:56:44 +0000

So... Found it on a couple of people's profiles, decided it's a nice thing to try out:

Pick your favorite singer or band and answer the questions with names of his / her songs. That's a good way to discover new music from your friends.

Chosen Artist: Scorpions

1. Are you a man or a woman? Robot Man

2. Describe yourself: Raised On Rock

3. What do people think about you? Deep And Dark

4. Your last relationship: Lonesome Crow

5. Your current relationship: I've Got To Be Free

6. Where would you like to be right now? Alien Nation

7. What do you think about love? No Pain, No Gain

8. How is your life? Crazy World

9. Make a wish: Send Me An Angel

10. A wise quote: Love'em Or Leave'em

11. To finish: Let's Rock!

Ranting Time!

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 00:16:04 +0000

I was thinking a little bit here earlier...

Most people think metal fans are assassins that kill everyone in sight when most murders lately have been caused by rap fans...
Most people say that metal fans hate everyone else, when I've seen that metal fans don't care if other metal fans like different bands; as long as it's metal, they try to socialize, while with pop music or rap, if someone doesn't like the same artists as the other, most of the time it results in fights...
And not to forget that people think metal fans go against the law, when clearly it's RAP that "teaches" us to go against it, not help solving crimes, and so forth.

So, is it just me or is media today controlled by rap?
Everyone that likes something opposite of it is treated like an idiot that wants to kill everyone, but without reason for such a thing...

Just thought I should share what I think with you guys...

Ressurrecting This Blog: Sci-fi Time!

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 19:38:00 +0000

I've been listening to Doctor Who's soundtrack again lately (in preparation for the 2009-specials and 2010's series 5 Soundtrack CDs coming out later this year) and I've got to say Murray Gold is a friggin' GENIOUS!
I KNOW I will be in love with last year's specials' soundtracks, as I was almost praying for an album while watching it, The End of Time had the best music in the series so far, and the song playing while Tennant regenerated was awesome.
Anyway, let's talk about the albums released so far:

The Master's Tape deserves credit, easily one of the best tracks of the currently released albums, though surpassed by This is Gallifrey - Our Childhood, Our Home. Also, it seems Murray Gold will create a series of songs of what I call the "This is Gallifrey" series, as there's another one whose title begins like that in this year's soundtrack.

But the best part about Doctor Who's soundtracks is that Murray Gold is able to effectively mix orchestrated sounds with electronic bits. So far, all openings deserve credit as being one better than the preceding one, with this year's opening taking the cake (barely winning over 2008-09 opening).
Watch and listem to them here:

Series 5 (2010) opening:

A great use of synthesizer, bringing back the electronic/sci-fi feel of the classic series' opening songs.

Series 3-4(2007-09) opening:

It's an improved version from the 2005-06 theme. More orchestrated than the current theme and with more drumbeats (probably foreshadowing the drumbeats in the Master's head at the 2007 season finale)

Series 1-2 (2005-06) opening's also nice:

So, yeah, i'm hooked up for the two CDs coming out later this year, there are good tracks on them, as always.
Keep on, Murray Gold, you rock!

Other songs worth of note:
Peter Davison (fifth Doctor) and Tom Baker (fourth Doctor) opening theme:

Sylvester McCoy (seventh Doctor) opening theme:

This is Gallifrey - Vale Decem
Clearly based on This is Gallifrey - Our Childhood, Our Home
It was recorded from "Doctor Who at the Proms 2010" either part of 2010's soundtrack or the 2009 specials' soundtrack, I'm not sure

Tenth regeneration (David Tennant - Matt Smith)
Listen to the song in the background, it's beautiful and moving. And sad. (We'll miss you, DT!)

Another Year Ends - A Year In Reviews #1

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:33:53 +0000

OK, to add to the list of cliches I'm folowing, a series of reviews on bands that either I started listening to this year, that started their career this year or that launched a new album in 2009,

So, let's start this with...

DELAIN

As I said earlier, I hate myself for only listening to them and learning about them this year.
A very nice band with beautiful vocals (both in appearance of the singer and the sound of her voice), Delain started in 2002 as a project of Matijn Westerholt. At first, on each album new guest stars would play and sing with him, but in 2005 they met Charlotte Wessels, who previously singed in Exsecratus (I may be mistaken here, correct me if it's another band), and hired her to sing for the band. Martijn was so impressed that decided that his idea of new guest singers should go burn in hell and Delain became a 'true' band.

At first, I didn't think I'd like Delain that much, in fact I didn't, when I listened to them for the first time around May. But then, around September, I decided to give it a try again, since my taste changed a lot this year, and guess what? Got myself a new favorite band! Sorry, Kamelot, but you've just been replaced in my heart.

April Rain, launched this year, is an awesome album with very addicting songs, such as April Rain, Go Away, Stay Forever and Lost. The band's style changed a lot from their previous work, Lucidity, and for the better, I dare to say. Not that Lucidity is a bad album, it's actually very good, but with April Rain, the band decided that old cliches of symphonic metal bands should go to hell and made a lot of innovations for the style... such as vocals that aren't soprano or mezzo-soprano. OK, OK, other bands also do that, but not that many, and the most famous band of symphonic metal was famous when a certain soprano singer called Tarja Turunen sang for them (yes, Nightwish, I'm looking at you!).

Songs you should listen to:
April Rain
Stay Forever
Go Away
Lost
I'll Reach You
Come Closer
The Gathering
Frozen
Daylight Lucidity

Best Album:
April Rain

Another Year Ends - The Best and the Worst of 2009

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 12:45:36 +0000

Here we are, another cliched list, everyone makes a post like this when the year comes to an end, but who cares? Those are nice, so whatever, let's continue, shall we?

2009 is ending. For most people in my country it was one hell of a sh*tty year, even one of the richest Brazilians lost one of his best friends this year, music suffered with the death of Michael Jackson and the world never saw so many people dressed as a zombie Michael in Halloween.
But hey, I'm a metalhead, so let's talk about METAL!
This year was full of nice surprises and terrible disappointments, so, let's go see the best and the worst of this year.

Oh yeah, before I forget, I'm no expert, I'm only 17 years old, so don't try to kill me or my family if you don't agree with what I say, all right?

So, first let's see...
THE BEST

1. Delain's April Rain (both album and song)

I have to admit that I never heard about Delain before, and god knows how angry I am at myself for never hearing about them before.
So, I listened to both of their albums and a single at once, and I have to say: THEY ARE AWESOME!
Charlotte Wessels went from unknown to my favorite singer in a matter of minutes, I got addicted to both of their albums and I still listen to their songs every week even when I'm addicted to other bands.
Also, their videoclip for April Rain was very good, it reminds me of some videoclips from Kamelot, such as Human Stain.

2. Epica's The Classical Conspiracy and Design Your Universe

The first one I am proud to say that is the best live album I've ever listened to. The orchestra was great and the band even gave their own 'twist' to an old song known by nerds, geeks and young padawans everywhere: The Imperial March of John Williams, wich sounded awesome with guitars and drums. Not to mention Simone Simons' voice, that was beautiful as ever, on the songs that had vocals (mostly songs from Epica).
Also, Design Your Universe proved to be a better album than I could've anticipated. To me, it was the best Epica album so far.
Certainly, this was Epica's year; I have only one minor complain: NO DVD LAUNCHED WITH THE CLASSICAL CONSPIRACY?!

3. Hammerfall's No Sacrifice, No Victory

One of their best albums, it doesn't shine to me as Threshold did, but it's still a very nice album that shows their evolution.
Cans still sings as good as always, backing vocals still sound nice, and this album has one of the best covers they made so far: My Sharona.
If you are a fan of power metal and HammerFall, LISTEN TO IT NOW!!!!

4. Helloween's Unarmed - Best of 25th Anniversary

So far, the album was released only in Japan, but everyone already listened at least to this album's version of Dr. Stein, wich sounds awesome.
I was never a great fan of Helloween, specially the vocals, but this album shines amongst their best. Once you are able to do so, buy this beautiful album! It's definetly worth your money AND time.
I was even forced to change my opinion about Andi Deris, who sings very well here.

5. Rammstein's Liebe ist für alle da

Well, I can't say this album was beautiful because... well.... the first single was called Pussy and we're talking about Rammstein, who doesn't do things in a beautiful way.
But, the album was awesome. Some very catchy songs and it has heavier songs than previous Rammstein albums. Definetly an album worth the wait.

Now, the things that people didn't like very much, prepare yourself for...
THE WORST

1. Rammstein's videoclips

While the album was worth the wait, we can't say the same about the videoclips. The videoclip of Pussy can be found in porn sites and has sex, sex and more sex. Women won't like it AT ALL. At least it shows that they still are controversial.
Also, more recently, they released the videoclip for Ich tu dir weh, wich seems very uninspired for Rammstein's standarts, but at least Till Lindemann put some LEDs inside his own mouth and had to make a hole in his cheeks to pass the wiring, a hole that was talked about in metal news sites everywhere.

2. Uhhmmm.... well... er..... can't think of anything else......

The Bands of the Year

Delain proved to be better than before
Epica had their best year so far
Eluveitie ventured into the acoustic lands and did one hell of a great job, almost becoming a completely new band
Amaranthe became suddenly famous when announced to be opening a few Kamelot shows in Europe
Queensrÿche launched a very pariotic album that many people talked about at the time of it's launch
Sons of Seasons, Oliver Palotai's solo project, launched it's debut album with the guest appearance of Epica's Simone Simons and proved to be one hell of a good band

Video Wednesday #4 - Super Freddie Mercury World...?

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:54:51 +0000

Today the video isn't from youtube, sorry, but I HAD to post this thing here.

http://screwattack.com/videos/Mario-Queen-Awesome

Video Wednesday #3 - April Rain... On November!

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:54:18 +0000

I was gonna title this post "November Rain", but Guns & Roses' fans would try to kill me, so....
Anyway, video!

I'm still alive... I think...

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:17:06 +0000

Well, I'll be busy as hell in the next few days, so don't hope for new entries on my journal until wednesday (video wednesday will continue to exist).

Anyway, on to today's subject.

With each passing day, I want more and more to get the hell out of Brazil. Why? GOD DAMN IT, Delain DOESN'T COME OVER HERE!!!!! *cough*
Errrr... well.... yeah, my favorite bands only go on tour on Europe and the US, so my country is forsaken by ye olde european bands.
BUT, Korpiklaani is coming here next year, it seems, for a few shows in march, and I hope these shows will not be expensive, so I can go there.

But why the hell do only bigger bands like Rolling Stones and Iron Maiden come here? Well.... most Brazilians will hate what I'll say, but here we go...

First of all, metal isn't strong here as it is on Europe or even the US. Sure, there are bands like Dr. Sin, Sepultura and Angra, but these are just the tip of the great "Heavy Metal" iceberg.
Second, Brazilians like Brazilian music. Simple like that. Well.... sort of... The styles that most people around here listen to are samba, pagode and funk carioca, all of them typical Brazilian styles. Do I like them? Not even in a thousand years (I was born in the wrong country, I swear...)
Third, the most controvertial topic on this entry: most Brazilians are FREAKING IDIOTS!!!!
Well... OK, there are nice Brazilians, but most have almost no culture. I mean, they don't read good books, listen only to music that everyone else listen to, same thing with the clothes they wear... Also, they say the US is a horrible country, that it sucks, blahblahblah, but in the end they are exact copies of people that live in the US. We've got rappers whose pants are below their knees, women that use almost no clothes and keep tempting men but say that sexual abuse is a bad thing, men that we can see from far away that they are up to no good and most of the times are criminals indeed... But our beloved "metalheads"? Well, in Brazil we're almost treated as if we smoke weed, only want to have sex with everyone we see in the streets, people call us names, and I'm not even talking about gothic people (much like me and a couple of friends).

So, summing everything up, what makes my 'beloved' country suck is it's people. Man, do I hate the place where I live...

To end this entry, a song from a great Brazilian that isn't amongst us anymore since a long time ago: Raul Seixas.
Hope you're enjoying heaven, Raul, because here on Earth it's definetly hell...

Video Wednesday #2 - No music this time, sorry!

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:35:30 +0000

Yeah, you read it right, no music this time, but this is a video I HAD to put here, I laughed too much.

It's from the american version of an improvisation comedy show called "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" and these guys are GENIUS, I always laugh a lot with videos from that show, too bad the show got cancelled a few years ago.

Anyway, this is a game called Living Scenery, where they need to use some items to complete the scene but they don't have them, and so they need to use other people as the objects. And one of these "other people" is Richard Simmons.

Wait! Wait! Don't go away! It's funny, really!