MustBeDreaming1's Last.fm Journal

100000!!!

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:05:48 +0000

Diablo Swing Orchestra albums reviewed and rated.

Mon, 3 Sep 2012 22:18:40 +0000

I like Diablo Swing Orchestra since ~2008, when they had only one album released. But the final understanding and adoration of their music came to me only this year (2012), and now DSO is not "just a lovely band" for me. Maybe it won't last forever, but now I can honestly call them my favourite band. (Sorry, Nightwish and Garbage!)

Any comments are highly appreciated.

The Butcher’s Ballroom (2006)
Well, I don’t even know what to start with. The first thing I want the reader to know that The Butcher’s Ballroom is one of the most solid and original debut albums I ever heard. If you know a band that did the same thing (and the level is so high), let me know, please. Because I can hardly imagine such an eclectic band: metal riffs, boogie rhythms, operatic vocals, catchy melodies, crazy diabolic moods and outstanding charisma of the band. It’s extremely hard to describe the album and all its elements, because there are so many things combined together, but eventually we have an ear-candy album which is pretty easy to get into, which is a rare case for avant-garde metal. The Butcher’s Ballroom makes you dance, increases your mood to infinite level and leaves you shocked right like after the Devil’s Party in Bedlam. This music has no borders, it’s purely artistic and the album is just EPIC. Now take a bit closer look at the elements of the record. A special word should be said about Annlouice Loegdlund’s vocals. Being a professionally trained opera singer, Annlouice haven’t thrown away her large backpack of emotions to take the heavy bag of perfect technique, as it happens with some singers (god knows, I didn’t want to mention Tarja in this review, but I can’t help to :D). Behind Annlouice’s parts I clearly see a person, but not a mechanical voice generator. Sarcastic, yet cheerful, edgy, yet delicately feeling person with a perfect sense of humour and genuine charm. The album has some male vocals performed by the band’s main composer and guitarist Daniel Håkansson, but his vocal potential is undisclosed yet, so he a bit ‘hides’ behind Annlouice. As for the instrumentation: it’s a crazy combination between metallic guitars, bass and drums and swingy trombone, trumpet and cello. Extremely creative, eclectic and artistic, music proudly wears the name of avant-garde metal.
10/10
Highlights: Porcelain Judas, Heroines, Balrog Boogie, Wedding March For a Bullet, Pink Noise Waltz, Velvet Embracer, Zodiac Virtues, Poetic Pitbull Revolutions.
Lowlights: none.

Sing-Along Songs for the Damned and Delirious (2009)
3 years ago, when the album was released, I didn’t get into it. I didn’t get into it from the first listening, I didn’t get into it from the second listening, the same thing with the third one, so I gave up. The time for this album came not so long ago, already in 2012. I decided to re-listen it, and was just blown up. This album is even more eclectic than the debut one, I feel that if any creative borders remained after the Ballroom, they were destroyed before the Sing-Alongs. The songs’ structures became more complicated, though the melodies became even clearer and more varied. There are new influences like tango or Russian folk music. The vocal performance is just beyond perfection! Annlouice is breathtaking (listen to New World Widows) and versatile as never. Daniel has grown more mature, and his performance is more vivid on this album. Also the band invited another professionaly trained opera baritone vocalist Kosma Ranuer: his deep low voice can be heard on A Rancid Romance and Vodka Inferno. I really like his performance and extra-dimention he adds to the album. On this album the band’s artistic level is high as never: theatricality of A Rancid Romance, drive of Vodka Inferno, pure insanity of Bedlam Sticks, progressive vibe in complicated Lucy Fears The Morning Star, crazy outro of Stratosphere Serenade, seriousness and monumentality of New World Widows, sickness of A Tap Dancer’s Dilemma… even this strange experiment with country music in Memoirs Of A Roadkill! All these elements form the best album of Diablo Swing Orchestra, and possibly one of the greatest pieces of music in the last 100 years. Sing-Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious is a pure masterpiece.
11/10
Highlights: Vodka Inferno, A Rancid Romance, New World Widows, Bedlam Sticks, Stratosphere Serenade, Lucy Fears the Morning Star, A Tap Dancer’s Dilemma.
Lowlights: Memoirs of a Roadkill.

Pandora's Piñata (2012)
One of the most-awaited releases of this year. Many people now say that this album is the best one of the three, but unfortunately I can’t agree with this statement. The album is great, DSO can do no wrong, but there are some things that were just embodied in different way on two previous albums. First: what has happened to Annlouice’s great vocals? No, the voice is still there, and songs Aurora or Of Kali Ma Calibre clearly show it. But compare live and studio versions of Guerrilla Laments, don’t you hear any difference in choruses? I do, and I honestly can’t understand why the band decided to exclude some operatic parts from the album. In this one or in Kevlar Sweethearts I just physically miss those opera breaks, and that’s a little imperfection of the album for me. Second: Sing-Alongs conquered my heart with fantastically artistic duet songs (A Tap Dancer’s Dilemma, A Rancid Romance, Stratosphere Serenade, Vodka Inferno, Bedlam Sticks). Here on Pinata almost all songs can be called Daniel’s or Annlouice’s ‘solo’ ones. Annlouice is stunning, Daniel is a great vocalist too, and he has grown technically and emotionally since the debut, and their voices fit so great to each other! No need to separate them, I think :-) Summing these summands up, the band haven’t lost anything that can be considered as its trademark, but some extra things that highlighted Sing-Alongs for me are not presented on this album. But that’s all the imperfections of this album. The songs themselves and the instrumental performance is just… flawless. It has everything that makes DSO such a special band: crazy mixture of genres, extreme energy, unexpected musical progressions and a healthy dose of humour. From the traditional swing opener song Voodoo Mon Amour to the bombastic, epic ending of the closing Justice For Saint Mary there is a long road through creative minds of Diablo Swing Orchestra.
8.5/10
Highlights: Justice For Saint Mary, Of Kali Ma Calibre, Guerrilla Laments, Voodoo Mon Amour, Black Box Messiah, Mass Rapture, Exit Strategy of a Wrecking Ball.
Lowlights: Kevlar Sweethearts.

90000!

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 18:57:58 +0000

It's breakfast time, My Music Tournament.

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 07:55:29 +0000

Sorry for a totally meaningless entry, but I think it can be fun for me :-)

The concept is stolen from steviesrk.

Take your top 32 artists and pit them against each other in a knock-out style tournament. For each "match", randomly shuffle the artist's tracks and play the first track, that comes up. After you play both artist's tracks, the artist with the track you preferred goes forward, and so on and so forth.

Some other rules about tracks:

1. No track can be played twice
2. No live versions of a track to be played if there are album versions

And my own rule: one battle per day.
(add: I decided to break this rule, because I'll be absent for a week, and I'd like to finish the tournament before leaving)

The winner is... Garbage!

Here's how my tournament went (artist play rank in brackets):

Final Round:

~~Diablo Swing Orchestra (26)~~ vs Garbage (2)
Honey Trap Aftermath < A Stroke of Luck
Damnit! I really wanted DSO to win this tournament, but when my favourite song came up in semi-finals, I felt that they won't. A Stroke Of Luck is not so easy to beat. Honey Trap Aftermath is a really good, catchy song, but it can't fight the most depressive Garbage ever.
So... the winner is GARBAGE!

Fourth Round:

1. ~~Within Temptation (4)~~ vs Diablo Swing Orchestra (26)
Final Destination < Vodka Inferno
A good WT song vs thef&%kinggreatestDSOsongever. Nuff said. Thank you, foobar shuffle.

2. Garbage (2) vs ~~Mylène Farmer (16)~~
My Lover's Box > XXL
One of those tasty dirty songs of old Garbage vs one of the greatest hits by Mylene. I love both songs, but the choice is easy.

Third Round:

1. Within Temptation (4) vs ~~Tristania (12)~~
The Last Time > The Modern End
It's funny how two additional tracks came together. WT b-sides always were better then their regular songs, and The Last Time is the case. Too bad it wasn't finished and ended up as only a rough demo. The Modern End is a dark, electronic, atmospheric, and totally non-typical for Tristania, cover of the Seigmen song. The choice is hard, but I choose WT song.

2. ~~The Cranberries (21)~~ vs Garbage (2)
Sorry Son < Can't Cry These Tears
OMG, not just two songs I don't like, there are two songs I really hate! Sorry Son is one of those dull Cran-songs about Dolores's family (which are always boring as hell), and Can't Cry These Tears is the worst song from the worst G-album. But anyway, it doesn't make me want to spit the song out because of its mawkishness, like Sorry Son does. (BTW, Sunday came up the first, but it was already played in previous round.)

3. ~~Avril Lavigne (19)~~ vs Mylène Farmer (16)
Complicated < Agnus Dei
I never was a huge fan of Complicated, but it's a good, pleasant song, and Avril can be proud of it. Agnus Dei is one of the darkest Mylene songs, it's really a haunting, chanting song with a special mood, definitely a highlight of her L'Autre album. Really a hard choice, songs are equal to me. Agnus Dei.

4. Diablo Swing Orchestra (26) vs ~~Aerosmith (29)~~
Mass Rapture > Temperature
One more good song from DSO (actually, they have no bad songs) vs an Aerosmith song I hear for the first time, and absolutely not impressed... The choice is obvious.

Second Round:

1. Within Temptation (4) vs ~~Epica (8)~~
Jane Doe > Mother of Light
Aaaaah, do they want to kill me? Jane Doe is one of the most unique, original songs of WT, Mother Of Light is my favourite from Epica's Consign To Oblivion, it's extremely hard to choose! Well, Jane Doe seems to be more special to me.

2. Garbage (2) vs ~~Evanescence (3)~~
As Heaven Is Wide > Imaginary (EP version)
If Imaginary came up in Fallen or even Origin version, I'd give it a second thought, but the way it is, the choice is obvious.

3. ~~P!nk (5)~~ vs Avril Lavigne (19)
Private Show < Not Enough
Private Show is not a bad song (despite it being from her worst album), Not Enough is simply good, and I choose it.

4. ~~a-ha (14)~~ vs Aerosmith (29)
The Bandstand < Angel
Angel, of course! On of the greatest Aerosongs! The Bandstand is a pretty good solid song, but...

5. ~~Lacuna Coil (7)~~ vs Tristania (12)
To the Edge < Of Ruins and a Red Nightfall
An average Lacuna song vs the worst song of Tristania's best album :D And I have to sat that this worst song is better.

6. Mylène Farmer (16) vs ~~Anastacia (28)~~
Je Te Rends Ton Amour > Beautiful Messed Up World
After a plenty of live tracks, the studio version of JTRTA eventually came up, and it marked the win of Mylene, because it's one of her best songs ever. Especially, comparing to BMUW, which is just an average bonus track to an average album.

7. ~~The Gathering (13)~~ vs The Cranberries (21)
Forgotten < I Don't Need
Two songs that never meant anything to me, actually. But I think I prefer The Cranberries' one a bit more.

8. Diablo Swing Orchestra (26) vs ~~Stream of Passion (25)~~
Guerrilla Laments > In the End
Another case: I REALLY like both songs. But In The End is a ordinary gothic metal, and I got a bit tired of it after three years of listening, while Guerrilla Laments is one of the most catchy, positive (only music, not lyrics), and solid tracks not only from the latest DSO album, but also from their entire discography, and this Latino from Sweden sounds extremely fresh and it's just impossible to sit still during the song :-)

First Round:

1. ~~Nightwish (1)~~ vs Within Temptation (4)
Forever Yours < Murder
Not a fair fight: a Nightwish song I never really liked and my favourite one from the latest WT album.

2. Garbage (2) vs ~~The Birthday Massacre (20)~~
You Look So Fine > Kill the Lights
OMG, when YLSF (the greatest G-song for me) came up, TBM lost any chance... Plus I never was really into Kill The Lights, so the winner is obvious.

3. Evanescence (3) vs ~~Guano Apes (15)~~
Call Me When You're Sober > Counting the Days
Ha-ha, two songs I don't like. But CMWYS is a bit better.

4. P!nk (5) vs ~~Paramore (32)~~
18 Wheeler > The Only Exception
One of the most underrated P!nk songs and one of the most overrated Paramore songs.

5. ~~Unwritten Law (6)~~ vs Aerosmith (29)
On My Own < Something's Gotta Give
Okay song vs good song.

6. Lacuna Coil (7) vs ~~Katatonia (30)~~
Stately Lover > Saw You Drown
Both songs are great, but I decided to choose Lacuna's. Sorry, Kata.

7. Epica (8) vs ~~After Forever (11)~~
Resign to Surrender > Attendance
RTS is obviously better.

8. ~~Poets Of The Fall (9)~~ vs a-ha (14)
Rewind < The Sun Always Shines On TV
Rewind is good, but The Sun On TV is a classic directly from my childhood :-)

9. ~~Madonna (10)~~ vs Mylène Farmer (16)
Give It 2 Me < Beyond My Control
Ha-ha, I really wanted to hear BMC, because it's my favourite MF song and I haven't heard it for ages... Thank my foobar's random, it was really unexpected when it came up!

10. Tristania (12) vs ~~Mandragora Scream (27)~~
In the Wake > The Calling from Isaiah
Two songs I never really liked. But In The Wake turned out to be really good this time!

11. The Gathering (13) vs ~~Theatre Of Tragedy (22)~~
Leaves > ...A Distance There Is...
The choice was extremely hard, both songs are gorgeous!

12. ~~Alanis Morissette (17)~~ vs Avril Lavigne (19)
So-Called Chaos < Tomorrow
Two songs I don't really like... Hard choice again :-)

13. ~~Tori Amos (18)~~ vs Anastacia (28)
Wednesday < Pieces Of A Dream
Easy choice.

14. The Cranberries (21) vs ~~Lunatica (23)~~
Sunday < Silent Scream
I never liked the debut albums of those bands, but the choice wasn't really hard, because Sunday is much better than that first version of Silent Scream.

15. Diablo Swing Orchestra (26) vs ~~Delain (31)~~
Bedlam Sticks > Go Away
The craziest DSO song ever versus a good, but totally generic track by Delain, the choice is easy :-)

16. ~~Leaves' Eyes (24)~~ vs Stream Of Passion (25)
Northbound < This Endless Night
Both songs are really good, but the choice is easy, because I like This Endless Night obviously more than Northbound.

My Garbage Top-40 (Version 2.0)

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:27:33 +0000

The first version of the top is here.

40 ^(new) Driving Lesson (Garbage, 1995)
39 ^(new) The One (Not Your Kind of People, 2012)
38 ^(-13) Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!) (beautifulgarbage, 2001)
37 ^(new) Queer (Garbage, 1995)
36 ^(new) Butterfly Collector (Garbage, 1995)
35 ^(-7) Shut Your Mouth (beautifulgarbage, 2001)
34 ^(new) Control (Not Your Kind of People, 2012)
33 ^(new) Only Happy When It Rains (Live) (Garbage, 1995)
32 ^(new) Sugar (Not Your Kind of People, 2012)
31 ^(new) Beloved Freak (Not Your Kind of People, 2012)

30 ^(-7) Cup of Coffee (beautifulgarbage, 2001)
29 ^(new) Hammering in My Head (Version 2.0, 1998)
28 ^(new) Blood For Poppies (Not Your Kind of People, 2012)
27 ^(-7) Milk (Siren Mix) (Garbage, 1995)
26 ^(-24) Androgyny (beautifulgarbage, 2001)
25 ^(-6) Parade (beautifulgarbage, 2001)
24 ^(-2) My Lover's Box (Garbage, 1995)
23 ^(-9) #1 Crush (Garbage, 1995)
22 ^(new) Confidence (beautifulgarbage, 2001)
21 ^(-6) Special (Version 2.0, 1998)

20 ^(-3) Dog New Tricks (Garbage, 1995)
19 ^(new) Automatic Systematic Habit (Not Your Kind of People, 2012)
18 ^(-6) Boys Wanna Fight (Bleed Like Me, 2005)
17 ^(-10) A Stroke of Luck (Garbage, 1995)
16 ⁽⁺¹³⁾ Right Between the Eyes (Bleed Like Me, 2005)
15 ^(new) I Hate Love (Not Your Kind of People, 2012)
14 ^(-3) Nobody Loves You (beautifulgarbage, 2001)
13 ⁽⁺⁵⁾ Push It (Version 2.0, 1998)
12 ^(-2) I Think I'm Paranoid (Version 2.0, 1998)
11 ⁽⁺¹⁵⁾ As Heaven Is Wide (Garbage, 1995)

10 ^(-1) Soldier Through This (Version 2.0, 1998)
09 ^(new) Use Me (beautifulgarbage, 2001)
08 ^(new) What Girls Are Made Of (Not Your Kind of People, 2012)
07 ⁽⁺¹⁾ Never Be Free (Bleed Like Me, 2005)
06 ^(new) The World Is Not Enough (Version 2.0, 1998)
05 ^(-1) Stupid Girl (Garbage, 1995)
04 ⁽⁺²⁾ Happy Home (Bleed Like Me, 2005)
03 ⁽⁼⁼⁾ Why Do You Love Me (Bleed Like Me, 2005)
02 ⁽⁺³⁾ The Trick Is To Keep Breathing (Version 2.0, 1998)
01 ⁽⁼⁼⁾ You Look So Fine (Version 2.0, 1998)

Totally:
Garbage - 178 pts
Version 2.0 - 234 pts
beautifulgarbage - 129 pts
Bleed Like Me - 157 pts
Not Your Kind of People - 122 pts

Garbage rules the world.

Garbage albums reviewed and rated.

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:20:10 +0000

Garbage is my totally favourite band for about four years. Though I didn’t listen to them much last year, the new album (amazing!) and attended concert (beyond amazing!) made me come back to them. So, the new portion of reviews is here :-)

Garbage have a great collection of b-sides, so I decided to include the list of the best ones into each album’s review.

Garbage (1995)
“I wish I had not woke up today, everyone I know has gone away.”
The first G-album. It's hard to believe that it was released almost 20 years ago, it still sounds contemporary... Though it was predictable that an album, recorded by a band, consisting of three famous producers, won't suffer from lack of production :-) The sound is truly fantastic! I know I'm not into electronic music, and maybe I can't judge, but for me G (along with Version 2.0) is the perfection in this genre. Those scratches, samples, loops, effects, underlayers... it all sounds so complicated, it's hard to imagine how much work and professionalism is invested in this album! The sound is flawless. As for the songs themselves, G is a really dark, dirty, depressive album, kind of a soundtrack to whole 90s. Despite all those sound complications, the songs are pretty simple, melodic and easy-listening. And I can't help to say about the vocals. Shirley Manson is a Goddess! Okay, maybe not a Goddess, but a really gifted, versatile singer, which makes #1 in my top female vocalist list.
Well, the album is a flawless masterpiece, and I think I didn't need to say anything else :-)
10/10
Highlights: Stupid Girl, A Stroke of Luck, As Heaven Is Wide, My Lover's Box, Dog New Tricks, Milk.
B-Sides highlights: #1 Crush (of course), Driving Lesson, Butterfly Collector.
Lowlights: It used to be Supervixen, but after the concert I got into this song.

Version 2.0 (1998)
“Ending with letting go, let's pretend happy end...”
One more masterpiece from the band. The album continues the music direction of its predecessor, but generally in a more positive, uplifting way. Every word I wrote about “Garbage” can be related to “Version 2.0” too. It's really a second part of the debut :-) Depending on my mood I can temporarily prefer one of those albums, but generally they are equal masterpieces for me. But Version 2.0 is the “home” of my most listened (and most favourite.. at least, off the Garbage catalogue) song ever, You Look So Fine...
10/10
Highlights: You Look So Fine, The Trick Is To Keep Breathing, I Think I'm Paranoid, Special, Push It, Hammering in My Head.
B-Sides highlights: The World Is Not Enough (technically not a b-side, but it’s not released on this album anyway), Soldier Through This, Get Busy With the Fizzy, Deadwood.
Lowlights: also none, but I think I've a bit over-listened to Medication.

beautifulgarbage (2001)
“Nobody wants to feel alone, everybody wants to love someone.”
Well, I don't know what exactly happened with Garbage, but the album is not a half as good at two previous ones. It still contains some great songs, but the quantity of fillers is striking. Beautiful Garbage is the poppiest G-album. Sometimes the music even gets tasteless, which never happened to Garbage before or after. The arrangements are still great, but the album itself is too glamorous, too pink, to squeaky... This album is just a one huge hyperbole. Maybe it must be taken as a joke, but sometimes I lose my sense of humour :-(
5.5/10
Highlights: Nobody Loves You, Androgyny (don't understand why everyone including the band seems to hate it, but anyway), Cup of Coffee, Parade.
B-Sides highlights: Use Me, Confidence, Enough Is Never Enough, April Tenth.
Lowlights: Can't Cry These Tears, Til the Day I Die, Silence Is Golden, So Like a Rose, Breaking Up the Girl, Untouchable.

Bleed Like Me (2005)
“Don’t care what they have to say, you shouldn’t listen to them anyway!”
The rockiest G-album to date. Many people blame Bleed Like Me for its simplicity and straightforwardness, but for me those two qualities are more virtues than vices. The album is extremely energetic, melodic and full of hits. That’s what I always need in alternative rock (yes, it’s alt rock, the electronica is left behind) and that’s what makes the album so great. The general mood is still positive, but I don’t get sick of this positivism, like it happens with beautifulgarbage. The production is not as perfect as always, though: the album suffered a bit from loudness war, so all “S”-s, coming from Shirley’s mouth, cut my ears.
8.5/10
Highlights: Why Do You Love Me, Happy Home, Boys Wanna Fight, Right Between the Eyes.
B-Sides highlights: Never Be Free (their greatest b-side ever!), Space Can Come Through Anyone, Honeybee, Badass.
Lowlights: Bad Boyfriend, Bleed Like Me (heavily overlistened).

Not Your Kind of People (2012)
“When we’re gone, we will remain.”
So, after 7 years of break (of 5 years if we take Absolute Garbage into account), Garbage are back with the new album! At first listen I liked it, but wasn’t impressed as much as I wanted. But now I really got into it, and want to listen to it over and over and over again. The most interesting thing about Not Your Kind Of People for me is the way all the other albums are combined in this release. There are dark, moody songs, coming from G (What Girls Are Made Of, Sugar), positive electronic tracks, performed in the style of Version 2.0 (Automatic Systematic Habit, Control, Beloved Freak), glamorous, poppy (in a positive way, though) things from beautifulgarbage (Blood For Poppies, The One), driving rocky songs from Bleed Like Me (Battle in Me, Man on a Wire). Even Angelfish, the previous band of Shirley is presented - in Big Bright World. Some new vibes appear here too, of course: shoe-gazing Felt, bluesy Show Me… But the album has its own feeling, I don’t feel like it’s divided into parts. Arrangements are complicated again, electronica is back. Haters gonna hate, but I think it’s a true old-school Garbage, I’m totally satisfied with the album and think it’s a worthy successor of the thing Garbage created almost 20 years ago.
9/10
Highlights: What Girls Are Made Of, I Hate Love, Automatic Systematic Habit, Blood For Poppies, Sugar, Beloved Freak, Control.
Lowlights: Big Bright World is a bit weaker than others for me.

4 years with last.fm!

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:10:45 +0000

Ha-ha, it's hard to believe that four years have passed since I signed up on Last.fm. It's still the most important social network for me :-)

82528 scrobbled tracks during these 4 years.

Don't think I need more meaningless stats in this entry :-)

80000!

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:22:27 +0000

Lacuna Coil albums reviewed and rated.

Thu, 2 Feb 2012 22:57:17 +0000

I found it really interesting and useful to write those series of mini-reviews, so I think I will continue doing it. The next band I’ve chosen to review is Lacuna Coil, I think that release of the brand new Dark Adrenaline album is a good reason to write a long journal about them.

Standard Disclaimer: it’s all my own opinion. Feel free to comment, but no trolling and offence, please.

Lacuna Coil (1998)
Lacuna is definitely not the first band that has started with an EP. Financial problems or what, but anyway, the self-titled extended play was released more than a year before the first full-length album In A Reverie. Well, I have to confess: those 6 songs (one of which is a good instrumental) made me fall in love with the band some years ago. Comalies and Karmacode didn’t impress me at that time, but this one.. mmm! The songs are beautiful, melodic, emotional and even bad quality of recording doesn’t spoil them. This debut EP is definitely one of the absolute successes of the band.
8/10
Highlights: Soul Into Hades, This Is My Dream, Falling, The Secret.
Lowlights: No Need To Explain.

In a Reverie (1999)
But after the very, very good debut EP something went wrong, and the album In A Reverie is one of the weakest albums in entire Lacuna Coil discography. It was always easier for me to blame the album than to praise it, but it’s another case. I really have nothing to say about this one, because it’s just a collection of bad songs for me. Only Falling Again (which is a new, more dynamic and dramatic version of Falling from the EP) shines on this album. And Stately Lover. As for all the other songs, I couldn't find anything listenable on this album, though I tried hardly many times. They are just… not melodic, not recognizable and not different from each other for me.
PS. Forgot to say, the artwork (original one, with Cristina and Andrea) is absolutely fantastic.
3/10
Highlights: Falling Again, Stately Lover.
Lowlights: Circle, Honeymoon Suite, My Wings, Cold, Reverie, Veins of Glass.

Halflife (2000)
Between two full-length albums the band decided to release one more EP, and Halflife was born. Containing only three original songs (one of which will be re-recorded for the album), plus a cover and an extended intro, Halflife could become an insignificant release, but eventually it’s not. And there are two reasons. 1. The original version of Senzafine is pretty similar to the main version, released the next year, just the sound is a bit more rough. But for me this little difference in sound makes a drastic difference in getting the song. I’m not that into the Unleashed Memories version, but the Halflife one blows me away. 2. Stars, the Dubstar cover, has a meaning for me, because it introduced me into the original song, which I consider as a masterpiece, but I wouldn’t have known about it without Lacuna Cover :-) These two songs are the reason I appreciate the EP. Hyperfast has a fantastic chorus, but Andrea’s poor attempts to growl/scream/cough/don’t-know-what-kind-of-sound-he-tried-to-produce-and-why-the-band-was-sure-it-would-sound-good just make me laugh. Halflife is an average LC song, and Trance Awake is just a common intro, it’s neither good, nor bad.
6/10
Highlights: Senzafine, Stars.
Lowlights: none.

Unleashed Memories (2001)
Well, there are not so many albums, almost fully consisting of masterpieces. But Unleashed Memories is definitely one of them. For me it has absolutely no lacks! Cristina and Andrea’s voices complement each other well as never, songs are heartbreakingly beautiful, recording is absolutely clear… At that time the band was on top of composing and performing skills. Well, I don’t think LC is a genial band like Nightwish, but this album deserves to be a classic of gothic metal.
PS. No, really, I still can hardly understand how such songs as Distant Sun, Cold Heritage, Purify, When A Dead Man Walks and so on, and so on ended up on the same record. LC has great songs on every album, but never SO much :-)
10/10
Highlights: Distant Sun (best LC song imo), Cold Heritage, Purify, When a Dead Man Walks, To Live Is to Hide, 1.19 (even those strange sounds provided by Andrea sound great), Wave of Anguish, Senzafine.
Lowlights: what are you talking about? :-)

Comalies (2002)
Musically it’s a follower of the previous album, but for me it’s a bit less strong and a bit more repetitive. Well, I don’t know what to write about it, Comalies is one of those albums you just love, without long explanations :-)
PS. The album cover is so simple, but damn… it’s magnificent!
9/10
Highlights: Entwined, Unspoken, Angel’s Punishment, Comalies, Daylight Dancer, The Ghost Woman and the Hunter, Swamped.
Lowlights: The Prophet Said, Heaven’s a Lie (never really liked it… would it be so fan-favourite if it wasn’t released as a single?)

Karmacode (2006)
With this album LC marked their switch to another genre: from gothic metal to alternative. Actually, I always used to hate it, but after the horrible Shallow Life came out, I gave it some “one more tries” and realized it’s not so bad as I always thought! Well, it’s not so melodic as two previous releases, but it has its own charm and a standard portion of very, very good songs. And the most important of them is the Depeche Mode cover, Enjoy The Silence. It’s my favourite Lacuna’s recording ever (I said the same about Distant Sun? No, I didn’t.) And even more, it’s the most inspiring and artistic cover I’ve ever heard. Apocalyptic keyboards, thick (almost touchable) atmosphere, overwhelming energy, Cristina’s vocal passages make this brilliant song an ultimate masterpiece. And on the other hand, one more favourite song, Closer. Short, simple, but breathtaking and energizing piece of music. There are some more good songs, but many of others are just fillers. I listened to this album many times, but I still hardly remember what is The Game and absolutely dislike Fragments Of Faith.
6/10
Highlights: Enjoy the Silence, Closer, Without Fear, Without a Reason.
Lowlights: Fragments of Faith, The Game, In Visible Light, Fragile, Our Truth (the same thing that was with Heaven’s A Lie).

Shallow Life (2009)
I don’t know how to start talking about this album. Well, I think that’s a shame for a band that had released Unleashed Memories and Comalies, to release THIS. And the matter is not in final change of style (now it’s a pure alternative rock), good albums can be produced in any field. But it’s all about poor songwriting, lazy vocals from Cristina and simply bad ones from Andrea, awful sound (where is any depth? it’s all so flat…), trivial arrangements… The album is a total fail. Poor, underdone, shameful FAIL. Though there are a couple of good songs, but even they don’t save the situation. I didn’t give the album many tries, but I regret about every single minute I’ve spent on listening to this s__t in its entire.
2/10
Highlights: Oblivion (bonus track is the best song, how funny), I Like It, Not Enough.
Lowlights: I’m not Afraid (I dislike Linkin Park), The Maze, Unchained, Underdog, Survive, The Pain, Spellbound (and that’s the first single? bleh), Wide Awake (and that’s the main ballad? bleeeeeeeh).

Dark Adrenaline (2012)
Actually, I didn’t expect anything good from the band after that disgusting shallow thing they’ve released two years ago, so I wasn’t looking forward to this album. But… I’ve listened to it four times in a row, got lots of pleasure, and already can say that it’s their best release since Comalies. It’s still alternative, but they’ve improved sooo much! Melodies are catchy as hell, Cristina is over the top of her voice… The album is really great! The only big flaw is recording, the sound is still too flat (another loudness war victim, I guess). But it doesn’t really matter, because I’m so glad to hear something new and good from Lacuna :-) Don’t know what else to write :-) If you turned your back on the band after Shallow Life, give Dark Adrenaline a try, I think you won’t be disappointed :-)
PS. Oh, since my favourite LC’s recording is a cover, and Losing My Religion is one of my favourite songs ever, my expectations were very high, but they are not fulfilled. I think that parts of the song being messed up and Andrea’s performance ruin it all :-( And I definitely wanted them to make it more dynamic, but they’ve done it pretty boring.
7/10
Highlights: End of Time, Intoxicated, Kill the Light, Trip the Darkness, Fire, Upsidedown.
Lowlights: Against You, Losing My Religion

PS. English is not my mother tongue, so sorry if mistakes made it hard to read. Feel free to correct them, I’ll be thankful :-)

My The LoveCrave Top-20

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 23:51:41 +0000

Fantastic The LoveCrave unfortunately have a really small amount of songs - only 20, but they all are so amazing, that I decided to include them all in this top-list :-)

20 - Dark City (The Angel And The Rain, 2006)
19 - The Other You (Soul Saliva, 2010)
18 - Nobody (The Angel And The Rain, 2006)
17 - My Soul (The Angel And The Rain, 2006)
16 - Outsider (Soul Saliva, 2010)

15 - Vampires (The Light That We Are) (The Angel And The Rain, 2006)
14 - Fading Roses (The Angel And The Rain, 2006)
13 - Thriller (Soul Saliva, 2010)
12 - Runaway (The Angel And The Rain, 2006)
11 - Tru Blood (Soul Saliva, 2010)

10 - And Scream (Soul Saliva, 2010)
09 - Warriors (Soul Saliva, 2010)
08 - The Chauffeur (The Angel And The Rain, 2006)
07 - Leon's Lullaby (Soul Saliva, 2010)
06 - Your Fire (Soul Saliva, 2010)

05 - Can You Hear Me? (The Angel And The Rain, 2006)
04 - Fade (Soul Saliva, 2010)
03 - The Angel And The Rain (The Angel And The Rain, 2006)
02 - Little Suicide (The Angel And The Rain, 2006)
01 - Get Outta Here (Soul Saliva, 2010)

Totally:
The Angel And The Rain - 96 pts
Soul Saliva - 114 pts