en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal The Last.fm journal for Shattered354. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2007/11/12/2emv_ten_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:57:19 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2007/11/12/2emv_ten_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time I read a friend's journal who covered the same topic, and it got me thinking about who I classify as the greatest guitarists of all time. I must stress this is personal opinion, so while I relish mature discussion over my choices, comments such as "lol @ a best guitartists list without eddie van halen on it." wont be best appreciated.


10. Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)
9. Dimebag Darrel (Pantera, Damageplan)
8. Chuck Schuldiner (Death, Control Denied)
7. Buckethead (Buckethead, Praxis)
6. Jeff Beck (Jeff Beck Group, Jeff Beck)
5. Robert Fripp (King Crimson, Robert Fripp)
4. John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra)
3. Nels Cline (The Nels Cline Singers, Nels Cline Trio)
2. Frank Zappa (Frank Zappa)
1. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (The Mars Volta)


Oh, and who could forget the world's actual best guitarist, who is so obviously number one it'd be pointless to add him to the list, as he goes without saying. Yes, it's Herman Li of DragonForce. Because fast and needless wankery is where it's all at.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2007/05/17/2emu_ephel_duath_gig_review Thu, 17 May 2007 11:44:18 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2007/05/17/2emu_ephel_duath_gig_review Sun 13 May – Ephel Duath, Negurã Bunget, Bossk, Enochian Theory

Turned up to the venue at 7:30, expecting to quickly enter the warmth of the Bar area, however sound-checks over-ran by about half an hour, so my friend and I were treated to a thirty minute wait in the cold and rain. Not letting this dampen our spirits, we remained as positive as we could, looking forward to the experimental overload that was to come. It also appeared that the gig would turn out to be pretty intimate, as only about thirty people turned up. We made it indoors just before eight, and ten minutes later, the first band promptly took the stage.

First up were locals Enochian Theory. Prior to finding out about the gig, I'd not heard of these guys, but after listening to a few online samples, I was quite looking forward to their brand of Tool-esque prog metal. However, they were slightly disappointing; their onstage presence didn't really match their epic sound. The music was technically sound, and the vocalist had an awesome voice (sounded better live than recorded), however they didn't really interact with the crowd to well. They front-man ruined the feel somewhat by cracking jokes between his songs. That said, for a local support, they're by far one of the best I've seen.

Next up were experimental post-metalers Bossk. I knew from listening to them previously that we were in for something special, and watching them set up really did confirm this. After sound-checking, the bassist/frontman lit a number of incense burners, filling the stage with a hazy smoke. They played only three songs (although each lasting in excess of ten minutes), but to keep the atmosphere going, they joined them perfectly into one, with sludgy riffs and ambient noise filling the gaps. The frontman acted with a shoegaze like manner, making no excessive movements, and spending the first five minutes of his set with his back to the crowd. It really did fit with the musical style, and did captivate the crowd. I thought I had the band down as being purely instrumental as the set drew to a close, however I was immediately proved wrong as a fifth member took to the stage at the end, and provided screaming vocals, in the style of Isis' old work. It really did bring a perfect end to their set, a climax at the end of a perfect build-up. After their set, I talked to the frontman, who told me they had the incense was because their smoke machine was broken, and he'd feel naked onstage without smoke. Needless to say, they are one of the coolest bands to have seen live.

Next up were the band I'd really been waiting for, Negura Bunget. Their fourth album, Om, was easily one of the best releases of 2006, so I was really looking forward to hear the music live, and they really didn't disappoint. Just from their set up, you could tell the set was going to be epic. The sound guys began unpacking a variety of instruments, ranging from two seven string guitars, a double tiered keyboard, a set of xylophones, a double necked bass guitar and to top it off, a ten foot long horn. They started the gig off with ambient noise, with the horn being played by Huppogrammos, the guitarist and vocalist. This was soon followed by a typical black-metal barrage of rolling blast-beats, tremolo picking and screeching vocals. The contrast in their styles as shown in their CDs also was seen in their live performance. Mellow, folk sounding instrumental passages followed unrelenting black metal, only to slip back into an ambient sound once more. Their fourty minute set left the 30 strong crowd wanting for more, and it's a shame they couldn't have had longer.

At eleven, headliners Ephel Duath come to stage, but sadly inform the crowd that due to the delays at the beginning of the evening, they'd have to cut their set a little short, because the venue was obliged to close by 11:30 (close to residential area). This really was a shame, but the band continued with vigour, shouting to the crowd "Are you ready for 30 minutes of *bleep*ing great music?!", really getting the crowd involved. Luciano, the vocalist, brought all the crowd right to the front of the stage (no fences in a venue so small), so he could get us more involved. They really did put on an amazing show, the flawless technical precision of their recorded works was recreated perfectly live, and the vocal work was awesome. Luciano really mixed up his styles, frequently dropping to a whisper in the more jazzy parts only to continue the aural assualt in the technical sections. The few of us at the front were headbaning along as best we could to the erratic time signatures, with the band looming over us, less than a metre away. They really did make the best of the time that they had, and performed one of the best live acts I've seen, it was really a perfect end to an awesome evening of music.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2006/11/17/2emt_albums_of_the_year_2006_-_a_rundown_so_far Fri, 17 Nov 2006 23:46:12 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2006/11/17/2emt_albums_of_the_year_2006_-_a_rundown_so_far We're fast approaching the end of the year, so I've begun to think about the best albums that have been released so far this year. This of course is not a final list, as there's still a couple of months to go, and I'll undoubtedly buy more music by then, but I want to get the beginnings of a list sorted out already.

I'll sort the albums quite loosely. I'll have a few "Album of the Year Contenders", and then go down in ranking with "Great Album", "Very Good Album", "Good Album" etc. I wont be numbering it at the moment, as that will be pretty tricky, so I'm putting that off for as long as possible =P

Album Of The Year - Possible Contenders:
Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain
The Adversary
The Mars Volta - Amputechture
Blood in Our Wells
Novembre - Materia
Gorod - Leading Vision

Excellent Albums:
i - Between Two Worlds
Axamenta - Ever-Arch-I-Tech-Ture
Reinkaos
Ruun
Borknagar - Origin
Ljå - Til Avsky for Livet
Xasthur - Subliminal Genocide
Vesperian Sorrow - Regenesis Creation
sunnO))) & Boris - Altar

Great Albums:
Anaal Nathrakh - Eschaton
Amon Amarth - With Oden On Our Side
Kill
The Stench Of Redemption
A Line of Deathless Kings
Draconian - The Burning Halo
Murder Nature
Martyr - Feeding the Abscess
Blood Mountain

Good Albums:
Disintegrate
Unleashed - Midvinterblot
10,000 Days
Spawn of Possession - Noctambulant
Sombre Chemin - Notre Heritage Ancestral
1349 - Hellfire
Arsis - United In Regret
Frost* - Milliontown
Iron Maiden - A Matter Of Life And Death
Sleep Terror - Probing Tranquility
Gazette - NIL
Moi dix Mois - Beyond The Gate

It's been a very good year for albums, and so there's alot of tough competition for the top spot. Although I've only classed many albums as "Good", this is only relative to some of the exceptional releases we've had this year, and they're still amazing albums.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2006/10/13/2ems_emo_classification Fri, 13 Oct 2006 23:09:42 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2006/10/13/2ems_emo_classification I've been reading a few journal entries as of late, and many of them have been disputing the issue of whether various bands are deserving of the "emo" descriptor or not, and what bands are truely emo, and which have merely been mislabelled. After deliberating over this for a while, I've come to a conclusion. Whether these bands are classed as emo or not is totally inconsequential, as all these bands can easilly be classified under one larger genre. They're all just shit.

Perhaps I should justify the outburst? To be honest, I'm just tired of seeing people trying to deny that what they're listening to is emo. It shouldn't matter if it is or not, and it hardly makes a difference, as the emo descriptor is such a shitty way to classify a style of music anyway. The dispute is nearly as pointless as much of the genre debate between "tr00" metalheads is.


And just to get the journal noticed:
Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Dashboard Confessional, Death Cab for Cutie, Jimmy Eat World, Panic! At the Disco, The Used, Brand New, Bright Eyes, Funeral for a Friend, Hawthorne Heights, Thursday, Something Corporate, Senses Fail, Finch, Motion City Soundtrack, Matchbook Romance, The Get Up Kids, Saves The Day, Alkaline Trio, The All-American Rejects, Yellowcard, The Early November, Mae, Thrice]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2006/10/07/2emr_how_did_i_get_here%3F Sat, 7 Oct 2006 17:02:13 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2006/10/07/2emr_how_did_i_get_here%3F After recently attaining the rather large figure of 25000 tracks scrobbled to last.fm, I thought I'd look back at how my tastes in music have progressed over my time here. Since August of last year, my tastes in music has changed incredibly, and this is in no small part due to last.fm.

Looking back, I still enjoy much of the music I listened to back when I joined. The Mars Volta, Oceansize and Coheed and Cambria have dominated my charts from the beginning. I still enjoy listening to all three bands (although I've gone off of Coheed as of late), with TMV still being my favourite band.

However, I cannot look so fondly over all I listened to back then. There's a pretty large spread of generic rock bands (Gorillaz, Feeder, The Killers, The Kaiser Chiefs, Coldplay) and I'm almost ashamed to see pop-punk bands such as The Offspring making appearances in my weekly charts.

Throughout the first few months, my tastes stayed pretty much the same. I discovered a few new bands, most notably a few Japanese Visual Kei bands such as DIR EN GREY and Moi dix Mois. This was the start of my introduction to metal. These two bands were generally heavier than most of what I listened to normally, and soon after, I began to listen to a few nu-metal bands such as Disturbed and Slipknot, with a little metalcore like Avenged Sevenfold now and then.

From the looks of my charts, there was a gradual progression towards heavier music throughout October to December, when I began to listen to some proper metal bands. Opeth, Sectenced, Metallica and Tarot made appearances in my charts for the first time. Although I rarely listen to the latter few, Opeth have remained one of my favourite bands. I think it was at this time when I really began to get into music more seriously.

In subsequent weeks, Progressive Metal began making larger appearences on my charts. First bands like Dream Theater and Ayreon, and gradually more week by week (Symphony X and Liquid Tension Experiment). I've always had a love for progressive music (bands such as King Crimson and Rush) probably stemming from listening to my Dad's old CDs, so it wasn't surprising that I'd listen to so much Prog Metal.

As of February 06, basically all traces of my old tastes for mainstream rock bands had disappeared, with Prog Metal filling my charts, with the occasional appearance from a few heavier metal bands (Lykathea Aflame and Children of Bodom), although it was mainly still just the more proggy stuff.

In the following months, I was on the constant lookout for new bands to listen to. In this time I discovered so many Progressive Metal bands, but also began listening to Avant-Garde metal, with bands such as Arcturus and Winds.

From then, the next major change for me came with me searching for heavier and heavier music. I properly started listening to extreme metal bands towards the end of April / beginning of May. I'm going to have to go from memory now, as my charts from this time have stopped working. I believe I began listening to Black Metal out of curiosity. I started with the famous bands such as Mayhem and Gorgoroth. I also went back to a few of the death metal bands I listened to off and on before, and began searching for their material in more detail. I listened to Nile and Behemoth first, and progressed from there. I just continously searched for more and more extreme bands, and it was pretty much all I listened to at the time.

It's slightly ironic that after having listened to progressively heavier and heavier music that I went back to again listening to a lot of more mellow music. I suppose I've just reached a stage where I like to listen to everything. I now listen to a large range of Post-Rock (from Godspeed You! Black Emperor to 65daysofstatic), a larger range of prog rock bands (like Tasavallan Presidentti) and even some electronic music (Hybrid and Infected Mushroom).

Looking back, I'm pretty impressed to see how much I've changed my tastes, and how many great genres I've expanded to. If someone told me last year that I'd hate listening to The Killers and be listening to an extreme death metal band called Cannibal Corpse, I'd probably have laughed...]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2006/06/26/2emq_recommend_me_music! Mon, 26 Jun 2006 21:08:18 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2006/06/26/2emq_recommend_me_music! Pretty self explanitory. I just want to find some bands that sound similar to any of the following, or bands you think I'd like because of the following:

Enslaved
Vintersorg
Arcturus
Borknagar
Ulver
Taake
Mayhem
Darkthrone
Emperor
Immortal
Gorgoroth
Nargaroth

I'd prefer some bands more like the first few listed (more post-black) but names of any decent black metal bands would be appreciated.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2006/04/15/2emp_guess_the_lyric_game. Sat, 15 Apr 2006 12:25:21 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2006/04/15/2emp_guess_the_lyric_game. I've seen this done a few times by a couple of people, and it seemed like pretty good fun, so I'm giving it a try too. I'll take 20 tracks at random, and post up a line from each of them. Oh, and please don't use Google or any other search engine for this, it takes the fun out of it.


1. Engage monster/Wreaking vengeance/Assault with all martial rage
Iron Tusk

2. And in the darkest hour of my existence/Vanity was still my demise
Reason's Desire

3. But I'm still right here/Giving blood, keeping faith/And I'm still right here.
The Patient

4. Fearing the hurt of things to come/you dwell in the days left behind
Cry

5. Without emotion, your heartstrings break/Snapped and severed to the tune of a tragic, sad cliche
No Love Lost

6. Drowning in betrayals river/The freezing cold will make you shiver
A Touch of Blessing

7. He Who Crawleth Amongst the Sacred Waters./And Devoureth the Flesh of That Which is Sacrificed unto Him.
Sacrifice Unto Sebek

8. Do you believe in what you do or is it just for money/So if the world all does the same no wonder things are funny
Ground Control

9. When bereft of common ways,/He strides before you on water/He makes clowns of kings,/charms the guests, rides the ball
Master Of Disguise

10. Always the same/My tired eyes have seen enough/Of all your lies/My hate is blind
Slaughter Of The Soul

11. I’m sick of this goddamn darkness,/Sick of sadness and tears I throw it all up every single day
After

12. Still scalping these ticketless applause/And when they drag the lake there is nothing left at all
Cicatriz ESP

13. I'm following the mistress of night/Through the gates of snow we'll fly/We'll fly
Winter Madness

14. Lost in the darkness/Tried to find your way home/I want to embrace you/And never let you go
Somewhere

15. I grant to you/no privilage of person/no sense of self/denial of choice
Am I 1?

16. Facing the gates of my world,/Only the pure, the stainless eye/May enter or may die
Underworld

17. Woods bleak and stony, unlit,/there my mind rests./There I will forget the pain,/stars and moon us bless.
Native Land

18. When I am king, you will be first against the wall/with your opinion which is of no consequence at all
Paranoid Android

19. He hears the silence howling --/Catches angels as they fall./And the all-time winner/Has got him by the balls.
Locomotive Breath

20. I cannot see with these eyes/my world is dark/like a cold eternal night
Eyes of Time

Bands:
Radiohead
Dark Tranquility
Riverside
Threshold
Korpiklaani
Mastodon
Jethro Tull
Tool
Ayreon
Nile
Arcturus
Winds
Norther
Wintersun
Evergrey
Adagio
The Mars Volta
At The Gates
Within Temptaion
Carcass

Good luck.

Edit: I've decided to add in a points table aswell...

Leaderboard:
BerkMolla: 4
Xaroot: 2
Azrael667: 2
Icedevi1: 2
Lunarsight: 2
NoDDiE: 2
tanelijarva: 1
cross37: 1
headlocker: 1
GrugIsJensWord: 1
sirwoland: 1
Wakabajashij: 1]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2006/04/04/2emo_weekly_chart,_sunday_march_26_-_sunday_april_2 Tue, 4 Apr 2006 12:52:32 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2006/04/04/2emo_weekly_chart,_sunday_march_26_-_sunday_april_2 10. Isis - Just started listening to them this week, and I'm pretty impressed. Has an ambient feel to it in places, while still retaining a heavy beat.

8. Evergrey - Been wanting to get their new album, but haven't had the money, so had to tide myself over this week by listening to what I have.

8. Galneryus - Pretty interesting band. Japanese power metal. Discovered them while searching for more Japanese metal bands after having listened to Shadow.

7. Black Widow - Some classic prog. I've been obsessed with the song "Come to the Sabbat". It's Satanic, but it doesn't sound it, it sounds quite light hearted.

6. Riverside - Awesome Prog Metal band I came across when searching for bands similar to Pain of Salvation. Love the sound of them, probably moreso than Pain of Salvation

5. Threshold - After seeing them at ProgPower, it renewed my love for the band.

4. Therion - Saw them at ProgPower too, although had only listened to Secret of the Runes, so I bought Sirius B/Lemuria. Love the genre. Choir vocals in metal = awesomeness =P

3. Dark Tranquility - Not much to say. One of my favourite bands. Great melo-death.

2. Arcturus - Another one of my favourite bands. Great avant-garde metal, with awesome drumwork in it.

1. Ayreon - Finally got round to buying The Human Equation, and I wasn't disappointed. Arjen Lucassen is god. Fully deserves the top spot in my charts.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2006/03/10/2emn_progpower_uk Fri, 10 Mar 2006 20:00:21 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2006/03/10/2emn_progpower_uk Well, at the end of this month, I'll be off with a few friends down to Cheltenham to go see the ProgPower festival, which is being held in the UK for the first time. I simply cannot wait... going to be seeing some awesome bands down there. The seven playing are:
- Therion
- Threshold
- Pagan's Mind
- Freedom Call
- Orphaned Land
- Secret Sphere
- Firewind

I'm especially looking forward to seeing Orphaned Land, seeing as they're one of my favourite prog metal bands... Anyone else going to it this year?]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2006/01/30/2emm_a-z_*jumps_on_the_bandwagon* Mon, 30 Jan 2006 21:24:37 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Shattered354/journal/2006/01/30/2emm_a-z_*jumps_on_the_bandwagon* Well, first journal entry, so why not make it like everyone elses...

A - Ayreon, Avenged Sevenfold
B - Black Sabbath
C - Children of Bodom, Coheed and Cambria
D - Dream Theater, DIR EN GREY
E - Evergrey
F - Frank Zappa
G - Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Gordian Knot
H - Hanoi Rocks, HIM
I - ?
J - Jimi Hendrix
K - Kamelot, King Crimson
L - Liquid Tension Experiment, Led Zeppelin
M - The Mars Volta, Moi dix Mois
N - ?
O - Opeth, Oceansize
P - Porcupine Tree, Pain of Salvation
Q - Queensrÿche
R - Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine
S - Symphony X, Sunn O)))
T - Threshold, Trivium
U - ?
V - Voice Transmissions With The Desceased
W - Warmen
X - X JAPAN
Y - Yngwie Malmsteen
Z - ?

I had thought there would be more question marks... =P]]>