Hey guys, the Entity of Darkness here, I decided that album reviews would be too time consuming considering school, but I still wanted to look at music. So I decided to look at songs, one group of posts for songs I hate (Auditory Abominations) and the other for songs I like (Ace Audio).
This should be fun.
Or, why OK Go is more than just a group that makes awesome music videos.
Yeah, anybody who knows OK Go most likely knows them for they're utterly amazing music videos. I mean, when I eventually do my best music videos list, it will be a damn near impossible task to select one of their videos, and you can damn sure it will be top five. However, that is not the point of this review, I want to showcase why they are more than just guys who make amazing music videos, and are also good musicians.
Picking one of their songs was itself a challenge, I could've gone with "Here it Goes Again" as that was the video that got them famous. I could have picked "This Too Shall Pass", and I even thought about doing "Needing/Getting", but then there was this song, which was attached to one of the best music videos I've ever seen, and I thought that the video might be overshadowing the song.
So, I think the first thing I should say is that, the instrumentals are a weird techno-rock kind of style. I'm not talking about Daft Punk's Human After All where they included more rock elements, this is something entirely different and quite honestly, I like it. The opening instrumentals are very energetic and upbeat which is an immediate hook to any good song, really if you are bad at making an impression with your opening, or you completely change styles from your opening your song won't really go far, and this opening makes a nice impression.
The instrumentals do shift into a less energetic sound at some points in the song, but it's welcomed because the instrumentals themselves are always loud and upbeat. I think this is a good song to highlight something I don't like about a lot of songs, when they mistake being loud and obnoxious for being loud and upbeat. "Call on Me" had this very same issue, so what is the main difference? Something that is loud and obnoxious is just that, annoying and sometimes painful, and even though some upbeat songs can be annoying, it's never to the point where it physically hurts to listen to a song, "Call on Me" gives me a headache after just thirty seconds, "Mr. Blobby" and "Bananaphone" were both just annoying, with the latter song also being repetitive, and "Hello Kitty" was actually very close to giving me a headache with it's dubstep wub-noxious beat that took over the whole song.
"Upside Down & Inside Out" does not have either of those problems, even though, in some cases, it really should. Why does this song not give me a headache? Maybe because it doesn't sound like a drill going through my head nor like the song is causing my brain to vibrate uncomfortably. Why is this song not annoying? because, unlike "Mr. Blobby" or "Starships" when it does shift it's tempo and tone, it doesn't come out of nowhere and is actually a very welcomed change, the other two songs almost randomly switched into a completely different genre which makes it harder to really attach myself to those songs. Then we have the harder question to answer, why is this song not repetitive? Well, I think it is because, although the chorus is repeated a lot, each one is usually different from the last, take the ending part as an example, it begins slowly and then ends like any good upbeat song should, with a bang! Whereas in a song like "Bananaphone" the only change we got was changing a couple letters in the verse, which lost it's charm quickly.
I'd also like to talk about the lyrics, but I can't really find anything about this song. Wikipedia only has information about the music video, you know how I said the video was overshadowing the song? So, I'm going to give you what I think the song is, and honestly, it's not very easy to decide. A part of me thinks it's a break up song, maybe it's about making a personal change, maybe it's about being confused, or maybe it's about nothing at all. I don't really have much of a starting point to jump off from here. Although despite this, I do like some of the lyrics, especially this verse: "So when you met the new you/Were you scared?/Were you cold?/Were you kind?/Yeah when you met the new you/Did someone die inside?"
I wouldn't say this is my favourite OK Go song, it does lack some of the lyrical quality of a song like "Skyscrapers" or "The Writing's on the Wall", but I would say it's up there. It does a lot of things that usually annoy me in music, but in this case it actually does them correctly and not as badly as the songs I cover on the other part of my blog. I know that in the end OK Go is going to be known for their amazing music videos, but once the novelty of those fade, it's nice to know we're going to have good songs to go with them.
I'm the Entity of Darkness, and next time is another look at the pop punk scene... hooray...
No, I'm not joking, this is one of the better songs from SpongeBob, not my absolute favourite, but top five hands down.
However, that is not the reason I want to talk about this song, no I want to talk about this song because of something I brought the last time I reviewed a song from SpongeBob. Yes, I went on a little rant about why the song "I Can't Keep My Eyes Off of You (Oh, Baby)" from the episode To Love a Patty didn't work, and then it hit me, or I learned it by watching someone on the internet talk about it. SpongeBob always did songs like this.
Don't get me wrong, that song is still an awful abomination, but I made a mistake in that review, and I'm going to use this one to clear it, funny how fitting it is that I use the same show to fix a mistake, right?
So what was the mistake I made in that review? Well, here it is:
"I should also mention that this was apparently supposed to be a parody of a song from High School Musical, which doesn't work because that would require the audience member to A). Have seen High School Musical, and B). Have liked it enough to know all the songs. C). actually watch SpongeBob, and D). Actually dislikes that particular song to find this parody funny. I have never watched High School Musical, and I have no intents to, so if the audience doesn't get the reference than the parody is dead."
Yeah, I think now I'm going to start eating my words, I hear they make a nice addition to smoothies. So, what makes that sentence a mistake? Well, this song does, but what do I mean by that? Well, let's go through the list and take a listen to the song shall we?
So, I think that the first two are obvious as they are dependant on the other, and the third is also rather obvious since, uh-doi. So, what part of being a parody did this song get right where that one didn't? Yes, this song is a parody, of the song "A House is Not a Home" originally by Dionne Warwick in 1964, and also by Luther Vandross in 1981, I haven't heard either version before doing this review, but it's apparently how memories and the like can make a home become more and moving house can sometimes not feel right.
So, why does this parody work instead of the other awful parody? Well, first and foremost, the parody could actually work. Anybody who knows their music, or at least knows this song, might get a kick out of the parody and how they're using it for a similar meaning.
Which actually brings me to the big reason this song one-ups the other, this song actual serves a purpose to the story. The other song I covered took a lot away from the actual story and gave us a really annoying, not very entertaining song instead. This song on the other hand, actually does what a musical number should do, tell the emotional side of the scene with music and singing.
So, I guess ultimately the problem with the previous song had little to do with it being a bad parody. With that said, I think that this song also kind of proves why the other one is such an abomination. This episode came before To Love a Patty.
I also have to say, SpongeBob's and Mr. Krabs' voices are, although not perfect, still really good. They hit the keys they need and, since these are voice actors doing these roles, get the emotions down really well.
Surprisingly though I also like the lyrics. SpongeBob, now working at the Chum Bucket, feels sad since he loves working at the Krusty Krab. Mr. Krabs, likewise, hates the fact that SpongeBob isn't around, and the lyrics they sing really show their feelings. I'm not going to lie, this was one of two songs in this show that made me tear up as a kid, hell it almost makes me tear up now.
This song is the exact opposite of "I Can't Keep My Eyes Off of You (Oh, Baby)", as this one is a parody that works, actually adds to the story instead of takes away from it, is a good song on it's own, and doesn't have a scene of SpongeBob murdering a bunch of scallops to protect a sandwich.
Sorry that this wasn't a particularly big review, but I think it's important that if I make a mistake I should rectify it at some point, and honestly I felt like it should have been now. I won't be editing the other review, nor taking it down, that would kind of defeat the purpose of this review.
With that being said, next time will be a return to the songs that didn't originate from cartoons, so keep an eye out for that. I'm the Entity of Darkness, and next time will be nothing but GIRLS!
With my last post talking about two songs that really show the power of music, I thought it would be fitting to talk about a song that, while may not be a classic, really resonates with me on a personal level. I remember the first time I heard this song was when I got a compelation CD of 80's British classics from my step-dad, although it was not the last song on the disc, I usually stopped the CD after it.
Although the song begins with a fast percussion beat, it really starts with a nice ringing of bells and a musical style that accompanies this. This is interesting because the bells could be Church bells, signifying a wedding, a funearl or the passage of time, and neither are surprisingly the less cheery option as you will find as the song goes on.
Lyrically, the singer is remembering someone, most likely somebody he loved. Whether they just drifted apart or if worse happened, it's not clear, but what is clear is that the memory remains, in a sense she'll always be a part of him.
That is the part that resonates with me the most, and this is where the song becomes an Ace Audio for me. This is going to get a little personal.
You see, as a child I moved to three different schools, and I spent the longest time at the second one, that's where I met a lot of friends. Even though it has been literal years, possibly even a full decade since I've last seen them, I'm always going to remember them, my time with them has become mere memory to me, but they are very strong memories and I could never forget them.
I guess this song really brings forth the memories of my friends and the things we did. Although I have made more friends in the past, some of which may be stronger than my friends of childood, I can never let the memory go, and I personally don't want to.
This is what makes the song special to me, and I know that the point of the song is not what I ascribe to it, but that is what the song means to me, and isn't the interpretation of the listener just as valid as the interpretation of the writer?
To give you an idea of how personal this song is to me, it's currently in my top ten favourite songs of all time. To give you some perspective, "Tom Sawyer", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Octavarium" and "Stairway to Heaven" are also in my top ten, they all rank higher than this song yes, but they are still in my personal favourite songs list.
That really goes to show the power that music has, it makes me remember things, feel things, learn things. Music is the mixture of writing, performace and audience centered art, and this is in my opinion, one of the songs that perfectly captures that. It is not a perfect song, hey, it might not even be a good song, but I would be lying if I said it isn't a personal favourite.
I'm te Entity of Darkness, and it's fitting that this is the end to my Ace Audio mini-marathon.
When this decade ends I plan on doing a worst songs list, this is because there are a lot of songs that I don't think I can really talk about on this blog on their own. I'm telling you this because I also plan to work backwards through the decades and do best and worst songs for each, and there will be two decades that will be near impossible to actually rank properly when it comes to the best list, and those are, unsurprisingly, the 1970s and the 1980s, although, the 70s wil probably be the easier of the two. It's not hard to imagine what songs would make my list of the best songs of the 70s. The 70s was a decade where everything was recorded, Punk Rock, Progressive Rock, Disco, Heavy Metal, and Arena Rock, which I am not the biggest fan of, but there are the songs I think everybody needs to hear, and Boston has two completely amazing songs that everybody needs to hear, and those are "More Than a Feeling" and "Foreplay/Long Time", and the latter is my favourite of the two.
Why is it my favourite of the two? Because of the god damn intro. Holy damn, this is how you begin a song. The escelating keyboard opens this song beautifully, and when the guitars kick in, oh man. Really, the whole song is worth t, just for the intro with the amazing keyboard and guitar work, and the drum work is also nothing to scoff at either. This could have been the whole song and I doubt anybody would have compalined. This is the "Foreplay" part of the song, it only searves to get us pumped for the "Long Time" part. It starts with an amazing guitar, it's so energized and just real. There is a lot of passion in just the guitar work alone that it sounds so, beautiful.
Although the "Foreplay" part is my favourite, the "Long Time" part is also really interesting. It's not easy to pin down what this song is about. The line "Well, I'm takin' my time, I'm just movin' on/You'll forget about me after I've been gone" always makes me think though, will I be remembered if I'm gone? Not even in death but like, when I leave school, when I leave the city, when I leave my home, will I be remembered. It really goes to show the strength of music to bring such thoughts to my head, even if it is just one lyric.
But, I said two songs that everybody needs to hear, and the other one may just be a perfect example of a rock song, alongside "All Along the Watchtower" or "A Day in the Life", yes, "More Than a Feeling" is one of those masterpiece songs that I try not to talk about a lot, but I want to look at what makes this song a masterpiece.
Well, let's begin with that beautiful fade in. The guitar fading in really works and gets you intrigued in the song. It's not a song that quickly goes into the fast and harsh instrumentals though, as even the opening vocals are calm and smooth. It's at the end of the first set of lyrics that the song goes into a more rock volume, but even then it sounds nice, I can not do the instrumentals on either of these songs justice, I reccomend you listen to them yourselves.
I also really love the chorus, I mean, damn is that a chorus I'll be humming or what? It's so simple and yet so powerful at the same time, and that really shows the power of music as well. Both these songs showcase the inherint power in amazing music, that is part of the reason I actually started to look at songs I liked too, because these are songs that not only resonate with me, but also showcase some of the best music has to offer, from a really important song to a song that is just really good, to a masterpiece like this, there is just something magical about music that makes it, as this song goes, more than a feeling.
This song is about the power a good song has, at in the song itself the narrator sings about the memories and thoughts he has when the song plays. It lets me think about the songs that have strong emotions or memories attacthed to them, it's like how I'm never going to listen to David Bowie's "Let's Dance" without thinking of DDR, or how I'm not going to listen to "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" without thinking about that Daft Hands video, or "Living in the Sunlight" without thinking about SpongeBob, these kinds of memories I have made with the music I listen to in some respects make the songs stronger.
These two songs really show off what kind of power music has, and that is what I really love about the medium. Music is a showcase of thoughts, emotions, feelings and stories told within rhythm, harmony and the playing of instruments, and I want to highlight, if not the best, than some of my favourite songs.
I'm going to leave you with a playlist of some of my favourie songs, there are over 300 as of this blog writting, and yes, that is my real username, don't bring it up. By the way, this playlist works a lot better when you shuffle the order around: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtYQf8cnBeCXebDofDyLLeWcwiMW3WBgI
I want to know, what are some songs that resonate with you, either because of memories, feelings or emotions, even if it's a song I can't stand, I still want to know what you see within the song and why it resonates with you.
I'm the Entity of Darkness, see, told you it was my username, and I would like you to comment about what songs resonate with you.
There are two decades that have some of the weirdest music, the first and obvious is the 1980s, I have done a marathon of 1980s songs and still did not cover some of the weirder songs. The next is the 1990s, although this was more for different reasons than the 1980s. Weird in the 1990s was more the odd one-off hits that were popular for a while but faded as the time went by, see the Latin dance craze for more proof of that. To put this in perspective, in 1996 the number one hit song of the year was "Macarena", it beat out "One Sweet Day" at #2, "You Oughta Know" at #29, and "1979" at #44. Actually, it was a remix that topped the charts, the actual "Macarena" only made #98, six spots below "Until it Sleeps" by Metallica. The 90s were weird, and in the midst of Vanilla Ice, MC Hammer, and Hanson, is it any wonder that this is one of the better decades for music? Yeah, there was garbage, but there was Grunge, Heavy Metal became more experimental giving us Marilyn Manson and Rammstein, Daft Punk released Homework, also we got Garbage, and we also got this song, which is one of the best songs released in the 1990s.
This is a Hip-hop, Dance Pop song sung mostly in Scat, only in the 90s right? For those who don't know, Scat is a singing style that is mostly nonsensical and random syllables and improvised melodies. Scat has a long history, dating back to Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway if not further. But don't worry, if that still confuses you, the song itself starts with a good portion of it.
Even though the opening is Scat, as is a lot of the song, the song itself is not A Capella, there is a synth riff in there and it sounds great. You know "Axel F", well the synth is kind of like that in sound, as in the sound of the synth itself, the actual synth beats are different, but are still energetic and upbeat. The drums in the background also keep a nice discernible rhythm and the Scat singing is actually really catchy. If you want to make a dance song, this is a good song to learn how to do openings.
The song really kicks in around the 21 second mark, and this is where the song becomes really difficult to talk about, since a large portion of the instrumentals are Scat singing, and it is already difficult to describe instrumentals in the first place, this becomes an extra challenge. However, to put this simply, the Scat singing changes in beats and tone and becomes even more upbeat than before, and catchier as well.
Now the lyrics kick in, and if the song itself wasn't awesome before, well it's definitely awesome now. You see, Scatman John was a stutterer, think The King's Speech if that helps. However, singing actually takes place in a different part of the brain from normal talking, so this did not really have much negative effects on his career, and the Scat singing may have actually helped his career. I bring this up because, one, it is amazing to know, and two the first actual lyrical verse is well... "Everybody stutters one way or the other /So check out my message to you /As a matter of fact, I don't let nothin' hold you back /If the Scatman can do it, so can you".
You remember what I said in my "Johnny B. Goode" review, where I said that even though the song had one set of lyrics that meant one thing, the song itself could actually become kind of inspiring? It's kind of the same for this song, it's pretty much saying, "I can do this, so can you", and it is really encouraging.
There are other lyrics, but honestly, I don't think I could explain them if I tried, so I'm not going to bother, which is good because it will let you come to your own conclusions about the song.
Of course, between each bit of the lyrics we get some more really upbeat and really catchy Scat singing and damn does this become one of the most energetic songs ever, seriously this could easily make my list of best party songs.
Honestly, I think that is all I can really say about this song. It's funky, fun and oh so catchy. I seriously mean it, you will be humming the beat to this song after you hear it, it's that catchy. On top of that the instrumentals themselves add to the upbeat tone of the song, and the vocals are solid, not the smoothest, but they are rather nice.
Well, I think next time I'm going to look at a classic, I'm the Entity of Darkness and keep watch, next time I'm thinking about Boston.
This is going to be tricky, Steven Universe is currently my favourite show of all time. I love it's characters, animation, music, even many of the arcs are interesting, but that is not what will make this tricky. You see, when I reviewed that awful SpongeBob song, the largest problem with that song was that it took away from the episode, things that could have made the episode stronger. This song is almost the exact opposite of that, it adds to the episode and adds to the character that is singing it. So, here is my compromise, I will first discuss the song on it's own merits, since this is a song review blog, however, I will also talk about what makes this song work within the episode after all of that, so if you have not seen Steven Universe and you are so interested in it, then let that be your spoiler warning, if you are curious but not to much, well I will still ruin a lot of the surprise of this episode, but hopefully I'll get you interested. Although this is no longer my favourite song from Steven Universe, I may get to my favourite eventually, this was my favourite for the longest time, and I want to do it proper justice.
A large chunk of what makes this song awesome is Garnet, I just love her character in the show, and her awesomeness can be heard in quite honestly, the first line of the song, it shows her determination where the animation alongside the song can show her overall attitude.
I think there is one thing that makes this song work is also Garnet's singing voice, this may be because Estelle does her voice, oh who am I kidding? It is because Estelle does her voice, and I just love her voice.
The instrumental accompaniment is very nice, Steven Universe uses music quite strongly in the series and it can really show-off the best in a musical segment, this is the reason this is not my favourite song in the show, that would be "Here Comes a Thought" because it's music and vocal work were honestly stronger, but in this song, the music itself surprisingly works. I say that because it is not a track you would consider putting on to fight, it begins softly and escalates, but it uses strings rather than full club/house beats or rock, and it sounds nice and different.
The lyrics are going to be tricky to talk about because a lot of them work when you consider the rest of the show and episode, on it's own the song might give you some idea of what happened, but it really becomes stronger when you watch the whole episode. However, there are some lines that are just awesome on their own as well, including the sickest of sick burns "But I think you're just mad 'cuz you're single".
Yeah, but to really elaborate, this song really works because of what happened preceding it. In other words, this is where the spoilers start.
Garnet is not really one person, she is a fusion of two other gems, and this kind of fusion on the gem homeworld is not accepted. Essentially, the lyrics are Garnet saying to Jasper (the orange one), this is who I am, and you can't change me. That is basically said in the song as well, although only half of it was said directly.
I think my only major complaint about this song is that, it technically is an entire episode sub-plot, as you also see Steven save Amethyst and Pearl and have their own confrontation with Peridot. Although this doesn't interrupt the "funky flow" of the song itself, but if you're listening to this song on it's own it does kind of become a little annoying.
Honestly though, that is an issue that can be easily fixed by getting the song from somewhere other than the show, and it is a problem that a lot of music videos have as well. Overall, there really is not that much of an issue with this song, and it goes to show not only how well music can be implemented in any show, not just a cartoon, but it also gives no excuse to people who think they don't need to try because they're writing for a TV Show, much less a cartoon.
I honestly wish I could say more about the song, but this is what it is, a simple song. It is not as lyrically complex as "Take Me to Church", musically interesting as "Road of Resistance", nor as iconic as "Take on Me", but if you're expecting any of that, you are going to be let down. For what this song is, it is pretty amazing, and I may get to "Here Comes a Thought" some other time.
Steven Universe is my favourite show for many reasons, not the least of which is the music, and this song is a good example as to why.
I'm the Entity of Darkness, and I am so sorry this one was late, I'll make it up by doing a mini Ace Audio marathon, with my next song being a lot of scat... That did not sound right, it's "Scatman" next.
I find that Heavy Metal is one of the most divisive genres of music ever, maybe more so than Nightcore and Dubstep, but it is often times an acquired taste, and some times it's a taste you actually can acquire on your own. I remember the song that made me a metal head, which was "Enter Sandman", and since then I have been listening to lots of metal bands, Even some of obscurer metal bands, such as Dir en Grey. Although I would not really say Unleash the Archers is really obscure, I don't hear many talk about them. I'm going to take a look at one of their songs, and hope this gets some people to listen to their other stuff.
Then we get the opening vocals, which are gorgeous. Seriously, Brittney Slayes has an amazing voice, and the way she sings "Beware the general" is just gorgeous. While I am on compliments, Scott Buchanan does amazing work on those drums, and the unclean vocals from Brayden Dyczkowski and Grant Truesdell mesh perfectly with the music and clean vocals. Unleash the Archers may have some of the best mix of clean and unclean vocals I've ever heard.
The lyrics are, fantasy metal, I can't describe them in anyway because there is no clear answer to what this song is about. The heretic executions of the dark ages, witch huntings, or maybe it is just about this badass general of a dark and damned army, or the Grim Reaper. The lyrics do set the song up for that interpretation, but then goes into "Stone the innocents/ Know they deserve it". Despite this, the lyrics are pretty cool, describing this general as a badass.
In fact, let's talk about that bit, because it's quite different from the rest of the song. The song itself transitions into that part so well that it doesn't bother to change notes or tempo, which is something that a lot of songs do when they change the way they sing the lyrics. That isn't a bad thing, but that just makes it more impressive when it can be done without changing anything major about the instrumentals.
The only time the instrumentals really change after the song begins is before the last chorus, where it goes softer again, but it is welcomed. It offers a brief (And I do mean brief), pause before you get another full blast of pure energy.
I think that is the perfect way to describe this song, a full blast of energy. Very little about this song takes a break, the instrumentals, singing even the ending goes on to hit that perfect note. I find that metal often tries to end with a perfect note and will go on indefinitely to reach it, this song does it well, but others do it poorly. Essentially, doing that is a gamble if it will work or not, but this definitely worked.
What can I say about this song? It's badass, it kicks ass and it showcases some real talent. The guitar work and drums are just plain jaw dropping, but the vocal work is what steals the show. It's really all of that stuff that makes this song truly admirable, and definitely one of the best metal songs of the decade, yes this is recent, the album this song is on was released in 2011. Whoever said metal was dead is clearly listening to too much Limp Bizkit.
Hey, I never said all the odd stuff was bad, did I? Also, a joyous noise because this is the first song from 2009 that I'm covering on Ace Audio!
So what exactly is this? Well, this is a song from the album Act II - The Father of Death, a rock opera inspired by Mega Man, you read that right, inspired by Mega Man. So if you think that this is going to be some nerdy techno rock song, than think again because these guys know what they're doing.
The first sound of this song is actually a western style guitar sound. You know, lots of western themed movies and games use this kind of sound, you can hear something similar to it in the game Red Steel 2. It continues to go on with slow guitar and heavy bass, and it just sounds beautiful. The drums kick in around the twenty second mark, but stay for a short bit. It's a bit distracting, but not too much so.
As I said, the album is based on the Mega Man series of video games, and makes it a rock opera, not to dissimilar to Tommy. This song is basically the catalyst for the series. For those who don't know, Mega Man is about a robot (Aptly named Rock, and titled Mega Man), who fights the other robots from Dr. Albert Wily, with help from his creator Dr. Thomas Light. Wily and Light were originally colleagues and this song focuses on that aspect, and also why the robots were created in the first place. It's show cased beautifully in the opening lyric. "My father worked the mines until the day it took his life/It stole him from his only son, and it stole him from his wife." this is Thomas Light's first verse and it suddenly gives things a perspective.
The third verse is also really good, and it really does show Tom's side of the situation. "They've waited so long for this day/Someone to take the death away/No son would ever have to say/"My father worked into his grave"." The drums really kick in around this point and have a kind of military beat to them, which I think compliments the rest of the instrumentals.
Next is Albert's verse, and gives a good metaphor "If you replace the working parts, you get a different machine" which could mean many things, even in the context of the song.
Since I talked about these verses separately, I think I should talk about the vocalists. The first one playing the part of Dr. Light is very heavy and it works well, Dr. Wily's singer is a bit off for what I would consider his voice to be, but the singer isn't bad at all, and it does create a nice contrast between the two.
The instrumentals are also nice, and not just the drums and guitars, but also the horns, yes horns. They have horns in this song and they just add something right, I don't know but they just add to the song. It's really nice.
Light continues the song with probably my favourite lyrics of the song. "I never said that men should bow. I never said that men should break."
I also like how the lyrics give Light some good motive and they really make us side and sympathize with him. I don't want to give away all the lyrics to this song, but then again you always have the chance to listen to it. Speaking of the lyrics, if you do look up the lyrics to this song, you'll also get descriptions of what goes on before the verse. I also like the conversations that the two have. Debating about human nature, what the robots would be used for, and ethics.
Overall, I think that this is an amazing song and shows a lot of promise for the album. The instrumentals, lyrics and story all work beautifully and create a unique song, the likes of which I haven't ever head in any song before, not even in the rock scene. Would you guys believe that this album and it's previous one have yet to be reviewed by major reviewers and have still gained a bit of a cult following? Well, if I ever find a copy of either album, I'm going to buy them. This song was just to good to pass up.
I'm the Entity of Darkness, and rock on my friends.
The 1980s were one of the best decades for Heavy Metal. From the beasts of Metallica and Slayer, to the badass levels of Motorhead and Dio, to the delightful hair bands of Def Leppard and Van Halen, to everything else like Candlemass and Manowar. So, inevitably I was going to talk about one of these metal songs during my marathon, but which one though? Well, I decided that I should go with a relatively obscure band to even the playing field a bit, since my last Ace looked at a song everybody knows and loves. This is also one of the times I picked a song literally at random, so if I am not reviewing their best song, that is why. I chose this song because, while listening to the whole album, I was not too impressed by the first song, and this was the song that did get me hooked on the album. Second track too, not bad.
The songs kicks off with a mix of drums and an awesome guitar riff and then kicks into a more early heavy metal sound, not like Steppenwolf or Black Sabbath, more like Judas Priest. The instrumentals themselves are pretty great, and really do add to the song. The frontman Kevin Heybourne doesn't do too bad a job with his vocal performance. Granted it isn't the most metal thing in the world, and it can be a little distracting, but I think it works.
The lyrics do a fine job as well, being about apocalypse, and the rise of Atlantis, one of the more intriguing cities of mythology. The chorus is especially awesome, every time I hear it I also want to chant "Atlantis to rise" along with the band.
We get a pretty good guitar solo, and some of it is actually just the guitar, which is a nice touch. Jay Evans does an amazing job on this track, and Dave Hogg's drum work is also superb. The song then ends with one more yell of the chorus and some more amazing instrumental work.
The album this song was on received some positive reviews, although one person hated it for it's production and weak vocals. Honestly, neither of those were issues with this song, as the instrumentals were solid, and vocals worked although were not the best, and the chorus was anthemic when it needed to be. Some have even said that this was one of the most important albums of the 1980s, and you can hear some Thrash Metal in this song especially. The funny thing is that this album was released in 1980, and it wouldn't be until 1983 that Thrash Metal would get decent footing with Metallica's Kill 'em All. Although this album wasn't why Thrash Metal took off, Hell it's debatable if it even is Thrash Metal, I can definitely hear it as early thrash and I think it is an underrated gem from the 1980s, a bit rough and maybe needs a bit of polish, but still of some value.
The band is actually still around as of now, although not the same line-up. So if you like what you heard, check out more of their stuff, the album is actually pretty good to, I'm going to have to find a copy. As for this song, I know it isn't the best the band has to offer, so I may come back to them eventually, but this was the point where I knew the album was going to be good, so I felt like this was the right song to choose.
I'm the Entity of Darkness, and this marathon is almost over, just one more song to go. I don't even care what song I'm doing, let's get it over with. Wait, what's this...?
The 1980s gave us a lot of music that was, very much reminiscent of the time. This is true for all decades, and most of the songs that are, let's say representative of their respective decade, aren't always the best. The problem with many of these songs is that they are outdated, which does not make an interesting review. Songs like "We Built This City" are bad songs, but not the most interesting kind of bad songs. A dated song that "Glycerine" is more interesting because it's problems were not common to songs of the era, "We Built This City" is a song that has problems that were common for the time, which makes it less interesting to review, and in some cases listen to. Songs that are outdated are generally those songs you put in the background for noise while you work, not to dissimilar to a podcast or a video review you've seen before, even I was watching a few reviews while writing this review.
Anyway, I bring this up because, one of the more interesting things to review are dated songs that are actually good.
"Take on Me" is a song that practically defines the 80s, you take one listen to this song and you immediately think 1980s, similar to how you hear "Eve of Destruction" and think 1960s. This is something you can do in any decade, at the risk of making your song dated. This is the surprising thing about this song though, although it is dated by a long time, it has also never aged a bit. Unlike a song like "Johnny B. Goode" which you can tell is from the fifties and yet also hasn't aged a bit, this song could not have been as successful as it was before or after the 1980s. The fact that it does not sound dated, and yet is completely dated is a baffling thought that could only have been pulled of in the 1980s. "Take on Me" is my favourite of these kinds of 80s songs, but there is also "Safety Dance", "Whip It", "Land of Confusion", "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", "Mexican Radio" among many others. These are the songs that are obviously from the 1980s, and so unashamed of being from the 1980s that in a strange way, they actually become sort of timeless.
But what is a claim without a fact to back it up, short answer a YouTube Copyright claim. So, is this song still an 80's classic, or should we leave it in a box alongside Simon and our unsolved Rubik's Cubes. Seriously, who actually solved them in that day and age?
The song opens with a very catchy faux drum beat. I don't actually hate drum machines, sure I prefer real drums, but honestly, they don't bother me too much because they aren't often a big part in songs. Especially in a song like this, or something by Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker. Then, we get one of the most iconic and memorable synth lines of the 80s, NEIGH, of all time. How memorable is it? Pitbull sampled it for "Feel this Moment", to absolutely no avail, that was one of the worst songs of 2013.
Although the instrumentals give the song a very nice beat to it, the vocals are not to be overlooked. Morten Harket can range from very smooth to incredible high notes. The chorus is one of the most recognizable and memorable parts of the song. Everybody who has heard this has tried to replicate the very high notes Morten has used.
The instrumental break is also a very nice touch, I especially love the piano that kind of gives off a vibe that escalates into something tense. However, after that we get the iconic bit of the song once more, that synth riff is so good, and it's so damn catchy. It makes the song even better, one of the best songs of the 1980s, in my opinion.
I guess I should also talk about the lyrics, well, it's a love song and what don you expect it was an 80's pop hit. Not that they can't have lyrical depth or anything, I mean "Born in the USA" was a hit as was "Welcome to the Jungle", but the majority of them are songs about love, or related to love. It's telling when one of the songs that the 80's is known for is called "The Power of Love".
Yes, this song is dated, but it's dated in all of the best ways. Any generation can listen to it, and even if they will know it came from a different decade, it summarizes all of the best parts about said decade. The upbeat pop music, the unique vocalists and some of the catchiest music of all time.
Yes, this song holds up, even if not in the ways most songs hold up. I'm the Entity of Darkness, and the 80's marathon is just starting.
If you were to ask me what my favourite song of the decade is so far, I would probably choose "Eyes Wide Open" or one of Aurelio Voltaire's songs. Yet, at the same time I could very well place this song up there as well. Back in my review of "I Hate U, I Love U" or as I call it, "Drone on and on the song", I called this song "Drone on the song done right". Well, the more I thought about the more I thought that this would be a good review to do, because in a decade that gives us so many amazing gems, it's always fascinating how we focus on one gem over many others.
This is going to be a difficult song to talk about because, I know that some people don't like this song, and that it can make some people uncomfortable, and yeah, it does make me a bit uncomfortable too, although I think it is more the music video rather than the actual song. Yeah, if I do a list on the best music videos, telling you right now I'm not going to be talking about this one. However, to me the feeling of discomfort is not a strong one, and dare I say, it is an interesting one.
The sound of this song is very depressing, and that makes sense, as the song came from a place of anger and frustration, with the Catholic Church specifically. This isn't the first song I've talked about with religious themes, I did a review on the musical atrocity "Dorbees - Making Decisions" a while ago, and I've done "Hero" by Skillet as well. However, those were both abominations, as they were both songs I took a dislike towards. The songs from Dorbees were annoying and poorly done, Skillet is bland and dull. Notice how neither of those criticisms were based around the fact that they were religious songs. However, this is my first Ace review where I talk about a song that is against the Catholic Church.
The lyrical content is not entirely based around this though, and if it was then it would most likely be an Abomination. It actually uses clever metaphor of comparing somebody's lover to religion, and when you analyze the lyrics, you see how demanding the lover can be. Lines like "To keep the goddess on my side/ She demands a sacrifice/ Drain the whole sea/ Get something shiny..." are all things people have said they would do for their loved ones, you know "Grenade" by Bruno Mars, but that song tried to use that in earnest, and this song more uses it to show the compassionless lover, or the demanding nature of religion. This is one of those lyrics over music songs like "Innocent".
The great thing about lyrics over music songs is that they are essentially poetry put to music, or maybe even poetry made for music. The problem is that they can usually be either too simple, or too complex, which is tricky to gage because everybody understands things differently. Have any of you read the poem "Introduction to Poetry"? I'm not going to give away what it's about, but it took me until I was eighteen to understand what it actually was about, and I read it while in middle school. It's not that it's a difficult poem to understand, but I can be a bit slow on the uptake. On the flipside, some songs and poems, and even movies get a little too close to home with their metaphors, symbols, and personifications. See the Nostalgia Critic's review of The Matrix to truly understand. I think this song strikes a middle ground, once you get the main idea of the song, the metaphor and meaning come easily.
Since I'm talking about a song and not poetry, I should mention the musical aspect itself, because in honesty, this is the part that really ties it together. I know I criticized the piano in "I Hate U, I Love U", and although it is kind similar here, it works because 1). It is not just one key left to drone, 2). It fits with the mood of the song and 3). importantly, it isn't the only instrument in the song. The piano only opens the song, and then before the chorus, we get some nice drums that come into full swing by the chorus. There is also some kind of droning "Ooh!" in the background, but it adds to the song instead of detracts from it. Letting sounds drone on is not immediately a bad idea, much like how using all your speed boosts at the beginning of a Time Trial is not immediately a bad idea, but it can become one if you don't know what you're doing.
Hozier's voice is very nice on this song, I can't really explain it, his voice just sounds nice on this song. It's also much more different than some of the whispery or whiny male voices we have in pop like Ed Sheeran, Passenger and Lukas Graham.
Although this is not in my top 10, I do think that it's in my personal top 20. If you want to make a song that sounds like it's droning on, this may be a good place to start. On the other hand, if you want a song that has strong lyrical content and some really good instrumentals, than you may want to add this song to your collection, but then again with all the success it has gotten, I think you already have.
I'm the Entity of Darkness, and I'm feeling in a bit of an 80's mood next time.
Holy shit! Did you guys hear that Chuck Berry died on the 18th? Oh boy, I know that I promised another review, but Chuck Berry is one of the most important figures of Rock and Roll. I couldn't do this for George Michael, but I can do this for Chuck Berry. I'm going to look at his 1950's classic "Johnny B. Goode" to showcase how he defined what rock and roll meant. How fitting, my first review of a 1950s song is in memorial to one of the most influential men, not just in the genre, but in the industry.
The 1950s were an interesting time for the music industry, in fact it may have been the most important time. You see, before the 1950s, we still had music, but we didn't have mainstream music like we do today, most of the music before the 1950s was blues artists like Robert Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson. This lead into the 1950s where we got rock and roll thanks to many artists, notably Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats who made "Rocket 88" which is often considered to be the first rock and roll song, being released back in 1951 predating "Rock Around the Clock" which was released in 1954. The rock and roll sound was derived from the blues sound prior, hence why Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters are important names in rock history. From this, we got teenagers, yes the teen age group actually dates back to the 1950s, maybe a touch further back or so. Of course, just like today, marketers found dollar signs in their eyes and started making more music that was different from the Doo-wop and Jazz that was popular at the time. This is really where the advent of rock and roll, teen idols and pop stars begins.
Of course, in 1959 we got the iconic Billboard Hot 100 that has become the measuring stick for charting popular music for future generations, and before than it was Top 50 or Top 40. Believe it or not, Rock and Roll was one of the first, if not the first popular genre of music. Rock and Roll is an ever changing genre, there was a time when Johnny Cash was considered Rock and Roll, and The Everly Brothers and Fats Domino even though by today's standards they are not really rock and roll. Rock and Roll reflects the time period it was in, but sometimes a song falls out of that time period and into the realm of being timeless.
With all of that context, remember that rock in the 1950s, sounds more like "Jailhouse Rock" instead of "Twist and Shout", the use of the electric guitar didn't become a staple of rock and roll until the 1960s, even though it existed since the 1930s. This is where Chuck Berry comes in, because although it was the Blues and Skiffle that made Rock and Roll popular in England, it was mostly Chuck Berry who helped it come through in America. Without Chuck Berry, we wouldn't have gotten many of the groups we have today.
"Johnny B. Goode" is Chuck Berry's most well known song, and although I would usually avoid talking about it, I may as well cover it now, it would feel wrong to do this at any other point.
The song is partly autobiographical, mostly about Chuck Berry himself, although he also noted somebody else when it comes to song inspirations. The lyrics don't make this to much of a big deal though, and mostly just talk about this "Country boy" who plays a guitar "like ringing a bell", which can either mean the guitar sounds like a ringing bell, or that playing the guitar to him is as easy as ringing a bell. I also like the ending verse, "His mother told him 'someday you will be a man'/ 'And you will be the leader of a big ol' band/... Maybe someday your name will be in light/ Saying Johnny B. Goode Tonight." and the chorus itself also is on the same lines. Although the song may be partly autobiographical, the song itself can actually be pretty uplifting if you listen to it.
Chuck Berry is also a master guitarist. Just listen to the opening riff and you can practically hear rock and roll history. It's amazing to think that hundreds, if not thousands of bands and songs can trace their inspiration all that way back to this opening riff. Although his vocals are not the greatest, this was the 1950s, so I do give it a little bit of leeway, and besides he didn't have the worst voice at the time, and there are vocalists who should not be singing at all. Let's just say, Chuck Berry isn't the best singer, but neither is John Mellencamp and both are pretty good.
I don't care if you are a rock fan, a rap fan, a pop fan or a fan of any other music genre, you have to hear "Johnny B. Goode" at least once. Yeah, this is similar to my "Back in Black" review, where I talk about why the song is important over the actual song itself, but you know what? Rock and Roll needed a place to start, and Chuck Berry defined so many things about the genre, that he has earned the status of rock god.
I'm the Entity of Darkness, and Chuck, you will be missed. Rock in Peace man, rock in peace.
The internet is simultaneously the best and worst thing to happen to the music industry. I mean, thanks to stream sites like YouTube and the like, we can literally find any music we want and anyone can share their own music. This is where we get artists like Gotye, and although this does mean that there will be plenty of talentless folks trying to get famous online, there are still a number of talented musicians on the internet that often get overlooked, such as Aurelio Voltaire.
If you know any Voltaire, you will know that two of his songs were bumpers for the Nostalgia Critic, those are "When You're Evil" and "Death, death (Devil, devil, devil, devil, evil, evil, evil, evil song)" or for any fans of Mr. Enter you may know "The Dirtiest Song that Ain't", well that's how I was introduced to him anyway. You may have also heard the song "BRAINS" if you grew up with The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, but I never saw that episode. I would've done any of those songs and any of his others songs, but I chose lyrical content over personal preference this time. I can't say that this is my favourite Aurelio Voltaire song, that would probably be "Raised by Bats" or "Straight Razor Cabaret", but the lyrical content makes this song stand out.
Unlike most of my blogs, I'm not really going to go into the actual music, although whenever I do this, you can pretty much assume that the music itself if really good, since I am much more of a music guy before a lyrics guy. If I don't like the way the song sounds, I will dislike the song as a whole, even if the lyrics aren't to bad, and even then I can stomach some pretty bad lyrics or even a lack of lyrics if the music itself is good. This is what made "She's a Beauty" a song I didn't like as the lyrics mostly just passed my limit of bad lyrics I can tolerate. I will talk about the music and vocals briefly, but the focus of this review is going to be the lyrics, and oh boy what lyrics they are.
This song is about bullying, like the poem "To This Day", which is one of my favourite poems of all time, up there with "The Raven" and "In Flanders Fields". Although this isn't a subject I know well, it's not a subject that is foreign to me, and not just from media portrayals.
The song's opening lyrics set the tone nicely, by describing bullying as evil pushing down on you, and that is actually cutting most of the opening lyrics off. However, I would say that it's the third verse that really gets the ball rolling so to speak. "And all the venom in their words" describing the pure vitriol some bullies spew out, often times going beyond name calling. Aurelio Voltaire then goes further asking "What kind of ignorance/ Causes them to be so, / So sick and vile and evil?" which is a question lots of people ask, and although the song doesn't really delve into this, it isn't a song that analyzes bullying, but more a song that tries to inspire and encourage the victims of bullying.
The chorus of the song is nice, it's nice for people to hear that it is not their fault that they are being bullied, and I feel like this is something that people need to believe, it is never the victim's fault. He goes on to add "It's the world that's wrong" to the chorus, which is a lyric I both like and dislike. On one hand, sometimes yes, the system a lot of countries, especiallyAmerica, use often encouraged people to think they are better than another because of class and wealth mostly, but on the other hand, I don't think it's fair to exactly blame the world as a whole. I don't know, see what you think about it. The second and third chorus add some more lyrics, stating that "Someday the world will belong/ To the innocent", which adds a bit of hope to the song, that someday everything will be alright.
Although, I think my favourite part of the song lyrically is the part after the second chorus. Since Voltaire is a part of the goth scene, he mostly wrote this song with gothic interests in mind and goes on to name a few, wearing black, listening to The Cure and Siouxie Sioux and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. As someone who isn't a goth but loves the gothic culture, I love hearing tiny references like these, and it also let's others know that it's okay to like what you like and be yourself. If you want proof, you can easily replace each of those things with stuff you like, such as Great Big Sea or Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. The song basically still works, whatever you put in there, whether it's your biggest guilty pleasures (for me that would be Aqua) or a song that you legitimately love, I know people who love songs I hate, and I let them know that it's okay because it makes them who they are, and a lot of them, I like as people.
But as I said, I am a music guy before a lyrics guy, let's actually talk about the music because it is beautiful. Voltaire himself is a guitarist and mostly plays acoustic on this track, but the band behind him does and amazing job, especially the violinist. The violin just makes the tone of song and no instrument ever feels out of place, nor sticks out in a negative way. Voltaire himself is a talented singer as well, and he is one of very few singers who can make the "moaning over a microphone" sound actually not sound like utter shite.
As I said, I'm more of a music guy before a lyrics guy, but some songs do have lyrics that really resonate with me, and although this isn't in my list of songs with favourite lyrics, they really did strike a chord with me, pun intended. If all you know from Voltaire is the music you heard from Nostalgia Critic, Mr. Enter, or Billy and Mandy, I must insist you check out more of his work, he is a talent and hosts a pretty cool web series on YouTube as well.
I'm the Entity of Darkness, and being serious again, if you see somebody getting bullied, tell somebody because bullying is wrong and should not be tolerated by anyone.
I'm gonna be honest, when people tell me to "get over 2016" I will always reply to them, "Sure, let's see you how you handle the loss of one of the people who inspired you." I understand that everybody dies, right now anyway, but that doesn't mean that we can not feel sad about it, especially if that person helped you become who you are, even if indirectly. 2016 stands to me as a year that many of the most iconic musicians died, but the year began with the passing of one of my biggest inspirations, one of my idols and the one artist who kick started my passion for music, I don't think I'll get over David Bowie's passing.
I've wanted to review a song by David Bowie for a while, but the problem was picking the song. Remember, Bowie is often called a 'Musical Chameleon', meaning that he often switched musical styles between albums and songs, we get more pop sounding songs like "Let's Dance", punk with "Rebel, Rebel", funk with "Fame", and a more slower style with "Life on Mars?", all of them amazing tracks. However, Bowie is not the first musical chameleon I've talked about, as by definition, Queen and Pink Floyd are also musical chameleons and I've looked at both of the previously, and that actually helped me decide on a song to talk about.
Previously, I talked about the Queen song "The Show Must Go On", talking about how it was like Freddie Mercury's Epitaph, for although he was dying, he still knocked the ball out of the park with the song, which made it Queen's best song looking at it from a technical point of view. So, I felt that it was fitting to look at one of Bowie's last singles for this blog, which in some ways is similar, but different in the right ways, so let's talk about "Lazarus".
The beat does begin familiar, sounding like "1901", but "1901" had a more electronic beat to it where this is more slow rock, kind of like something from Coldplay's Viva La Vida. The instrumentals at the opening are actually pretty good despite this, and there is some trumpet or something that kind of drones adding a very melancholic sound to it. As for the opening vocals, they sound very much like Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down" in tone, like this guy who lived this full life and is ready to lay down, he may have been ready, but we weren't.
There is this kind of cool, but also kind of distracting electric guitar sound that happens almost every time Bowie sings a verse. I don't know what it is, but it just kind of adds and also takes away from the mood, but that is just one bit. The instrumentals almost entirely make this song by setting the mood and atmosphere of the song nicely. However, the other thing that makes this song are the lyrics. Lyrically, this is more like Johnny Cash's "Hurt", a more depressing look upon life and quite melancholic. The opening lyrics also help with the mood and tone of the song brilliantly, with the line "I've got scars that can't be seen" being one of those lyrics that can mean many things, I feel it more means that he has pains we never focused on, which at the time could have been his cancer, but could go further than that.
I also don't know what it is about drums and drum machines, but they somehow add to the really melancholic sound. I mean "The Sound of Silence" and similar songs always somehow seem to benefit from having soft drum beats, I don't know why.
I feel like this was David Bowie's epitaph, similar to "The Show Must Go On", although where that one was more "I accomplished this and I'm not going down easy" tone-wise, this one is more "I'm ready" tone-wise, again similar to Johnny Cash's "Hurt". It's so weird to think that it's already been a full year since his passing, but Major Tom has sadly taken off, and although I wouldn't call "Lazarus" his best song, it was definitely a good song to leave on.
I'll miss ya Bowie. I'm the Entity of Darkness, and my best music memory, is playing "Let's Dance" on DDR.
It's sometimes amazing the things we hold on to as we grow older. For me, I'll never forget sitting in my Mom's car just listening to whatever song she had playing, and although I don't remember every song that I heard, I remember quite a few and they still stick with me today. "Goodbye Earl" is one of those songs, I remember it quite a bit, and although it's not one of those songs I actively go out to listen to, I still find it an enjoyable song, but let's be fair here, my taste in music has changed quite a bit from that time I was sitting in my Mom's car, so let's take a look and see if I have to say goodbye to this song.
First, the opening instrumentals, and I have no idea what that kinda keyboard sounding... sound is, but I love it, it actually reminds me a lot of the music for Spyro. The rest of the instrumentals have a kind of rock, kind of pop, kind of country sound which is nice. I like hearing a song that can easily fit into multiple separate genres.
This song tells a story about Mary Anne and Wanda, two best friends who go on different paths, one searches through the town and finds a man, who becomes quite abusive after marriage. So of course, she and her best friend work out the obvious plan of killing the bastard. I'd make the "Boy, that escalated quickly" joke, but no, and when you hear the lyrics, you can see why I find that this is, not acceptable nor moral, but... Well, if you find the solution wrong you should at least see the truth in the fact that there may not have been another solution.
The lyrics do an amazing job of describing the abuse Wanda went through, telling about how she had to hide her bruises and how Earl, the man she found, went right through a restraining order and put her in the hospital. The song also goes in the right direction in not having the two leads get caught in the end, it really does make it look more like the right decision. I also like how she actually went for a divorce and restraining order before hand, which does make the options quite limited. Granted, the scenario is a bit black and white, but this is more for black comedic purposes.
The instrumentals really do remind me of the soundtrack to the first three Spyro games, or at least the second one, and the Spyro games have some of my favourite video game soundtracks ever, probably only rivaled by the classic Mega Man Games. I also like Natalie Maines vocal performance, it really does sound southern, which I will be honest, one of my favourite accents, not really top ten, but top twenty at least. Of course Emily and Martie also shine with some vocal harmonies on this song.
The bridge is a nice transition to the chorus, and I do like the emphasis on the certain words. The chorus itself is quite upbeat despite the first chorus is literally the two drugging or poisoning Earl and wrapping him up in a tarp, wow, I should not have been listening to this as a kid. Seriously though, I can't help but enjoy the upbeat sound of the chorus, it really does show the juxtaposition between the lyrics and subject, and the music and performance. Yes, I am using that word properly.
For a late 90's country song, not only do I find that I love this song, but I find that it holds up quite nicely. I love the vocal performance, instrumentals and the lyrics. Really, I love this song, and I really do wonder what the rest of the album sounds like... After Metallica folks, after them.
Also, I should probably mention that I, and the Dixie Chicks for that matter, don't advocate murder, not even the pre-meditated kind. However, the same can not be said for getting even.
I'm the Entity of Darkness and I think I'm ready for another abomination.
Wait... Did I post any links in this blog? I did not, Well, that is a first!
Very rarely do songs really "Speak" to me, I mean there are songs that have messages and themes I can get behind such as "BYOB" and "Eyes Wide Open", but neither of those songs are really songs that really hit me with how poignant they are, but Pink Floyd's Time does.
Time is not my favourite Pink Floyd song, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't in my top 5, in fact it may be my third favourite followed by "Comfortably Numb". To me, "Time" is one of those Masterpiece Songs that is pretty much perfect and can be enjoyed to anyone of any generation. I've already done one of these songs before with "The Sound of Silence", and normally I wouldn't do a song like that on this blog, but I don't think this song get's the recognition it deserves as a masterpiece.
To be fair, my only nitpick is at the beginning of the song with the bells and alarms, but when they fade out it opens with nice instrumentals. That heavy bass especially gets me hooked, and the keyboard that accompanies it is pretty nice as well, whatever the ticking thing is in the background is slightly annoying, but the song only gets better from here.
"The Dark Side of the Moon" dealt with concepts about greed, mental illness, war and the passage of time, which is obviously what this song is about. Very rarely have I ever found a song with lyrics that hit me hard, and these lyrics do. One of my favourite lyrics of the song is "And then one day you find ten years have gone behind you" which very often I find, describe how time moves fast for my life, like as I am writing this it is the beginning of 2017, and on New Years I was literally thinking about how the year just flew by, Father Time is a strange being. My other favourite line of the song is "The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older / Shorter of breath and one day closer to death." Which again can be very true, not often do we notice how time effects other things, only us.
As much as I love the lyrics, the vocal performance is just as good. David Gilmour has a great voice for this track, although it doesn't sound as raspy as someone like Barry McGuire, they still sound as though the singer has been through a lot and has stood through time, and Richard Wright does some great vocal work on the bridges as well, being a lot smoother.
The instrumentals on this song are also great, with a rock sound in the beginning and main verses that compliment the vocal work very well, and then changing into a slower sound with a choir of "Oooh"s. The instrumental work compliments the vocal performances beautifully and the solos as well are great, seriously Gilmour is a very talented guitarist, but very few people talk about what a talent he is behind the instrument.
The final bit of the song is a completely different tone, more like the track "Breathe (in the Air)" prior to the album, but the instrumentals transition into it nicely and it does have some rather nice lyrics. The overall tone of the song does seem to be "effected by time" with the more rock sounding "morning" parts of the song being the main verses, and the "nighttime" portions of the song being the bridges, and then ending with the final rest, relaxed, tired and being warmed by a nice warm fire. Well, that is how I hear the song anyway, what you hear in it may be something completely different.
I know that when it comes to a band like Pink Floyd everybody is going to have a song they like over another, which is fair, my favourite Pink Floyd song is "The Great Gig in the Sky", but I personally think that "Time" should be recognized as on of those masterpiece songs alongside "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "More Than a Feeling".
I'm the Entity of Darkness, and time may be a strange thing, but even it can't make my Abominations part of this blog easier.
This may be a very interesting list, because on one end, I have not done as many Ace Audios as I quite honestly wanted to do this year, but on the other hand, the songs I have for this list are all very good. Even though I have only done eighteen Ace Audios, plenty of these songs are amazing and could easily have topped this list on their own, but alas, I have a choice to make and not an easy one. So, this is pretty much the same as my last list, except that now these are the songs I actually liked. So, on with the show.
Kicking off my list is a song that I didn't even think would make this list, I mean I love AC/DC, they are in my top 15 favourite bands, but Back in Black just didn't seem to be as good as some of the other songs I covered. With that said, I was instantly hooked in while listening to it. That guitar riff is just so good and hot damn do I love Brain Johnson's vocals.
To me, this was also a very important song for the band as a whole considering that Bon Scott died shortly after the album began production, so the fact that the band could continue while still getting a frontman who sounded close to Bon Scott is quite impressive. I understand people are mixed about Brian Johnson, some loving him and others thinking that the band is not as good. To some respects I can see where some people are coming from, but honestly they sound pretty similar, not the same, but similar. I do like to chuckle at the people who complain that it sounds entirely different though. I mean, it's still AC/DC, it's not like when Ronnie James Dio took over Black Sabbath and made it pretty much just another Rainbow. The fact is, this song not only proved that the band could still go strong, but also continue staying strong whilst remaining largely unchanged. Rock on guys, rock on.
Usually, I try to avoid talking about politics as much as possible, not that I am against talking about it, but I usually try to avoid subjects that polarize people so much. This is what makes a song like this a little bit more special to me, as it makes me feel comfortable listening to a subject I don't really feel comfortable with.
"Symphony of Destruction" has a beautiful simile in the chorus, stating "Just like the pied piper / Led rats through the streets" which is a really chilling comparison, especially if you have read the Pied Piper story, seriously after the king refused to pay the piper he kidnapped all the children. Let that be the moral folks, overthrow the king before he allows somebody to steal your children from you.
I'm putting both of these versions together because it's easier than putting them separately. Seriously, if they were separate the Simon and Garfunkel version would just have been one spot below the Disturbed version. I like the lyrics of the song, but that is not really an interesting thing to say about either song, so I'm going to talk about what I like about each song.
The Simon and Garfunkel version is a classic folk rock tune from the sixties, one of the best decades in music history, third or fourth best hands down. I like the vocal harmony and the very somber tone to it, but it has a sort of melancholic cheer to it, it is a very interesting sound. On the other hand, the Disturbed version (which is my personal favourite of the two) has the better instrumentals, the piano in the beginning is just breathtaking and the orchestral backing builds upon itself until it climaxes and it just sounds beautiful. This version has a more depressing sound to it, but it kind of sounds very hopeful towards the end, especially with the building orchestra and David Draimen's roaring vocals. Really, both these songs are amazing, and I recommend both of them highly, now, back to the entries that aren't shared.
War songs are usually hit or miss with me. I like songs like "One", "Zombie" and "Orange Crush", but other songs are not really songs that I would be listening to given the choice like "War" by Edwin Starr. This is what I love about "To Hell and Back" though, it isn't an anti-war song in the usual sense as there are no metaphors comparing the people who start wars as demons, no lyrics about crusades or atrocities, it's just a song about this one guy who suffered.
In some respects, yes this can be seen as an anti-war song, it does talk about the horrors of war and the effect it has on the soldiers who fight it, but the song isn't directly about that, it's more about Audie Murphy, who was a famous sufferer of PTSD. I like a song that can take a different look at things, because while thousands of people are treating veterans like murderers, we are ignoring the issues they have. I support troops, not war, there is a difference.
My favourite song in the rap & hip hop genres is this one, and considering what else has made the list, can you really say that you're surprised?
The subject of this song is very different compared to the subject of most modern rap songs, mostly about making money, getting ladies and getting high. This song is different, it talks more about alcoholism and the effect it has, both directly and indirectly. The song is a very melancholic but strangely relaxing tune, especially with it's beats and instrumentals, and yes digital beats still counts as instrumentals. The opening especially gives you a feeling of being afloat on your back gazing at the sky. It's a very calming song despite it's not very calming lyrical content.
Sometimes, all you need is a musical fence. Seriously, watch the making of this song, Gotye has it on his own channel, it's actually really interesting, but I digress. The instrumentals of this song alone could have placed it on this list, especially that amazing slide guitar, oh man I love that slide guitar. Gotye's vocal performance is also incredible, for those of you who only know him for "Somebody That I Used to Know", you aren't getting the full experience, he can really put a lot of power in his vocals. The theme of apocalypse is also an interesting one, not very often do I hear a song that has lyrics that perfectly match the tone of the instrumentals. More songs about apocalypse need slide guitar.
Ronnie James Dio didn't die, he just left to fight the evil in some other dimension and is out there riding a dragon into fierce battle.
The story that "Stargazer" tells is a very good story, about a stargazer who has this tower built up to the skies but instead of flying like he wanted to, he just falls and dies. It's a very sad ending, but the instrumentals and lyrics make it more bitter-sweet. I love a song that can play with feelings like that as if they were putty. Since I'm talking about feelings let's also talk about that guitar solo. Hot damn that is just amazing. I seriously feel as though I'm flying when I listen to it, and then at the end I just land at the foot of the tower. Legends never truly die, they just leave the mortal world.
Speaking of legends. This song is pretty much Freddie's epitaph, it's a very operatic song, but behind the power and energy is a dying man. What really makes this song special is indeed Freddie's vocal performance, being sick and dying and he still knocked the ball out of the park. The rest of the band also do an amazing job with their instruments, Brain May especially deserves an honourable mention as his guitar playing compliments the tone of the song so well, it just matches the majesty and epic-ness of the song and adds so much to it. This is an entire rock opera squeezed into a few minutes and it doesn't even sound as though it's compressed, it sounds like it took the right amount of time it needed to, it's so beautiful.
This and my number one pick are both some of my favourite songs of all time, and although this ranks higher on my personal top ten, my number one pick was overall the better song. "Aerials" is my favourite song from my favourite band, but why? Well, for starters, I love the instrumental work, like seriously, the guitar work by Daron Malakian is just perfect, and John Dolmayan just kills it on the drums. I also like the lyrics, the metaphors could really be about anything, about prejudice, about borders, about war, about anything, and that's what makes a song like this so good, that it can be about anything, not that it has one specific meaning. As much as I love the upcoming song, it does really have just one meaning, this could be about anything. So, what tops this track, from my favourite band? well...
There is a reason this was my first Ace Audio. Octavarium is a twenty-four minute song, and every time I hear it, it only feels as though a couple of minutes passed by, never anywhere close to half an hour. On top of that, the inspiration from classical music can not be missed, even being in separate movements, and each instrumental solo between the movements transitions each one perfectly. The third movement is my favourite, but every movement of this song hits bulls eye. I could gush on and on about this song, from the opening to the ending, to the theme to the stories of the first two movements, to the fourth movement which has my favourite bit, oh man this is one of my favourite songs, and objectively looking at it, it really was the best song I reviewed this year.
And hey, here are my selected honourable mentions, consider these the songs that could've made the list, but just didn't.
