Ace Audio: "General of the Dark Army" - Unleash the Archers

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.

I think the first thing I should mention is that this is a power metal group leaning more on the fantasy /medieval metal side, which should be obvious by the band name. However, the soft opening should also be obvious to this. It actually sounds nice, a touch cliché for power metal, but it still sounds nice, especially when the electric guitar kicks in. Then of course, the harsher instrumentals kick in, but it doesn't sound jarring like it did with "Doris", it actually sounds natural. Although I can't help but feel like I've heard this opening bit in other songs, maybe by Helloween or Iced Earth or something I don't know, but then again it may be power metals equivalent of the Gallop.

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.

I'm the Entity of Darkness, rock on! \m/

Ace Audio: "Atlantis" - Angel Witch (80's Marathon Part 5/6)

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...?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Auditory Abominations: "Doris" - Suicide Silence

So, how about that new Suicide Silence huh? Yeah, as I can definitely say that I don't think the band thought this one through that much. I mean, if it was just the fans who despised the album, that would be one thing because, fans often give knee-jerk reactions that are often unfair, but give them time and they often warm up to the product, see The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker for example. No, when everyone hates your new direction, that is another thing, and I don't think I have found a single person who actually likes their new album. Granted I don't like them that much because I hate the genre they're a part of, so I don't really care. However, I chose one of their newer songs because, one; it seems like some of the fans won't insult me over it, two; I'm always willing to cover more current songs, and three; gotta ride the wave when it's high man, although I may be a bit late to the party though. Oh well, let's talk about "Doris".

So, how about this song eh? it is not an easy beast to slay that is without question, because I don't like Grindcore I doubt I can remove a lot of bias, but I understand that it is such an acquired taste. So here is my compromise, I'll talk about the Grindcore elements, but I'll more focus on the song as a whole.

The song itself though is, not really good. The opening riff begins, kind of like a Hair Metal Ballad, Then transitions into a more hard rock sound, before finishing with heavy distortion. If this is what we are in for than I think I can end the review here. Almost sporadically does the song actually begin, like those songs that don't have fade ins or build ups and just dive straight into harsh instrumentals or vocals, except this did have some kind of build up, and if it didn't, what was the point of that bit in the opening?

OK, so my distaste for Grindcore. Overall, my biggest problem with it is that is sounds similar to me. I could exchange one Suicide Silence song for a F*ck the Facts song and I wouldn't tell the difference. The vocals often make the lyrics very muddled and confused and the instrumentals follow no real rhythm. Over all the genre to me sounds like what happens when you throw death metal into a blender and chose to record the sound. I am glad that the genre appeals to some people, but it just isn't my thing. So it's a good thing that they don't focus on the style for very long.

The opening bit barely even sounds like Grindcore, there is a rhythm I can follow, and I don't even know if that is a positive because the vocalist still sounds like a goat suffering from laryngitis while being mutilated and gutted alive. It also doesn't help that the song shifts into a different style, sort of. The vocals change pitch and there is a different style for some of the instrumentals, but the drums barely sound like they changed, they may have but they sound the exact same.

I don't get why they keep shifting from style to style, I understand they wanted to try new things, but the styles aren't explored in this song, like what Between the Buried and Me does with a song like "Telos", or like with what Tool does with a song like "Lateralus", I mean we get a slower instrumental piece, for less than half a minute, I'm not expecting them to give me five minutes with this slow piece, but at least thirty seconds, and for a four minute song I think you can expend at least eight more seconds in this part before you go back to you loud style.

About now what we should have as a good solo, ends up being a solo that has some kind of sound over it, I want to say it's feedback, but whatever it is, it's just as annoying. It also doesn't last, and then goes into another slow part, each of these pieces could serve as the end of the song and I doubt anybody would care, but we are only three and a half minutes in. Where is the Aspirin?

This slow part has frontman Hernan "Eddie" Hermida growling into the microphone, and then goes back to the Grindcore-light stuff. I don't think Suicide Silence really wanted to expand a bit more, because every time they do, they just go back to their sound before they have any chance to explore the new direction they're taking.

Wikipedia labels this album as Nu Metal and Alternative Metal, which I would never categorize Suicide Silence as, but you know what? Whatever you want to label this as, it's a mess. It's to afraid to try a new genre and still tries to step outside with slower segments that don't last very long, a vocalist who sounds awful and the strangest opening instrumental ever.

If they wanted to make a Grindcore album, they could have and I probably would have let it be, but what they gave us was, messy and not in a good way. Be a fan of what you like and keep yourself open to the opinions of others, if you like this song, that is fine. However, I think that this song could have used a few more rewrites and play tests to get it right.

Actually it's like Metallica's "St. Anger". Oh no! this is the "St. Anger" of the decade, a big name band releasing something that should have been one of the best things the band released, but ended up being one of the most hated.

I'm the Dark Entity, and if you excuse me, I have to go listen to something easier to wrap my brain around.

Auditory Abominations: "Hero" - Skillet

And now, back to the foray of bad heavy metal, last time I looked at bad heavy metal tracks I looked at two songs by big named bands, and one song by a band I did not like. I don't think that it's any coincidence that both Skillet and P.O.D. are Christian Metal bands. Honestly, Christian music should not be so bad, I mean the messages are usually fine, but the performances are usually so tasteless, it's like watching Kevin Costner in Waterworld, not a whole lot of anything really.

Actually, that may also be my biggest problem with Skillet, that there is really just no flavour to them, I mean when you think about heavy metal bands, there is always something that makes them stand out, System of a Down has Serj Tankian, GWAR has their personas, Alice Cooper has his stage act, Metallica has their songs, and Rammstein is Rammstein. Skillet has none of that, no incredible frontman, no enjoyable personas, no on-stage antics, no really amazing songs, nothing, but hey, I picked this song at random, maybe this one is okay.

The song opens with one of the weakest riffs I have ever heard. Compare this opening riff to something like "Du Hast", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Ace of Spades" or "Back in Black", you know how all those riffs just get you immediately hooked? This one doesn't, and even has some weird stopping effect to it, kind of like Metalstep, the fusion genre of Heavy Metal and Dubstep. The riff also reminds me of a weaker version of "The Diary of Jane", which sounded like a slower and sludgier version of the opening riff to "Sweet Child O' Mine", jeez do we have enough of the ripping-off here?

Out of nowhere, the instrumentals just kind of die and shift into the rest of the song, where I really have no comment to make on the instrumentals, they just sound, meh. The big problem with this song is the vocalist, if you took Chester Bennington, David Draimen, and Ian Gillan, threw them all into a blender and sifted out any vocal power, than you'd get something like John L. Cooper. The track also has backing vocals by his wife Korey, and she sounds like Ke$ha, I have no other thing to compare her to, she sounds like Ke$ha, that's it.

Like I said, a lot of messages in these kinds of songs are not terrible, although this one is kind of obvious, talking about how mankind needs a hero. Insert Castlevania: Symphony of the Night reference here. The message is not terrible, although since this is Christian metal you can assume whom the hero they are reffering to is.

Thankfully, the lyrics aren't total trash, I mean they are quite preachy, and I think they aren't using some metaphors properly, I mean in this context what does "Just another war" mean? Like, another war on religion? A war on Christians? Another war in general? And then it ends with the usual "I'll stand up and fight" lyrics that were so much better in a song like "Stand Up and Shout" because that song actually makes me want to stand up and shout, where tis makes me want to shut it off. But the lyrics are about average, I'm not expecting Freddie Mercury levels of writing here anyway.

Really, the song itself is bland, but the song also has uninspired instrumentals, rather blah vocalists, and meh lyrics. I wonder if this truly is the best we can get from Christian Music, even if not, this genre may be a recurring one on this blog.

I'm the Entity of Darkness, and believe what you want to believe in, that's what I say.

Ace Audio: "The Sound of Silence" - Simon and Garfunkel / Disturbed

A good song never ages, it may even get better over time. These are not just good songs, these kinds of songs are masterpieces. Typically, I don't talk about these songs on this blog, because everybody already knows that these songs are amazing and classics, but there is another reason I wish to talk about this particular song. When an amazing song gets covered, the cover runs the risk of being not only inferior, but also really bad, see my Auditory Abominations on both Pat Boone's "Smoke on the Water" and Richer Cheese's "Guerilla Radio" for more proof of that. At the same time, not only could the songs be good, but there are times when they could be better than the original, and I am not talking about songs that are mostly just good or meh, like "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails. I am talking about songs that are not only unrivaled, but also masterpieces in their own way such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "More Than a Feeling" and of course "Stairway to Heaven", the songs that very few artists would ever try to cover, yet in 2015 a cover of this song appeared from a heavy metal band no less.

Disturbed not only did a good cover of the song, but they also did a version that was as good, and even debatably better than the original. Personally I like both versions equally, but both versions have their strengths. I'm going to compare both versions to talk about what each version does better over the other.

To begin, let's start with the vocals. There is no doubt that David Draiman has much deeper vocals than Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, but at the same time they had the voice that worked for the style that the original song was in. It was much softer and lighter, but David's voice works for the heavier cover. Really, the vocals match each song for what they are, the lighter vocals for the acoustic ballad, and the heavier vocals for the heavy metal cover.

Another thing to consider is indeed the instrumentals, as they too play a large roll in both songs. One starts with a nice acoustic guitar strum and the other begins with a heavy piano. The instrumentals in both set the moods for each song perfectly, one being slower, but at the same time it is much more somber and yet has a tone of optimism in it. "The Sound of Silence" is not a happy song at all, but it indeed carries a very pleasant tone with the instrumentals.

Now the cover on the other hand is a lot more somber and at the end, very uplifting. Both versions have this weird feeling by the end where they dispatch the melancholic tone from the beginning and adds a little bit more positive energy by the end, although both with different means. Simon and Garfunkel accomplish this by simply, but effectively raising their voices which, in the 1966 remaster at least, matches perfectly with the instrumentals and creates an interesting experience. The Disturbed cover does this the sae, but differently, as not only does David's voice raise, but towards the end he also starts belting, which gives the song it's own experience.

In the end, I guess it only matters which version of the song you enjoy, the melancholic but hopeful one, or the kind of depressing but strangely uplifting one.

Personally, I love both. Simon and Garfunkel not only made an amazing song, but they mad a masterpiece. However, Disturbed not only made an incredible version of the song, but they also made a masterpiece. It depends on what you yourself prefer, the folk tune or the metal tune.

I'm the Entity of Darkness, and gun to my head I would indeed choose the Disturbed cover, mostly because I like the sound more, but I can not deny that it is only by a very narrow margin.

Ace Audio: "Aerials" - System of a Down

How did it take me this long to get to my favourite band? Not even looking at my Auditory Abominations, this is my thirteenth Ace Audio, and the first one I did was of one of my favourite songs, but not my favourite. Also, while I'm on the subject, I did do my first Auditory Abomination on a song by my most hated music artist, so in all fairness, this was a bit overdue.

System of a Down is my favourite band, they are rough, political and oh so blunt, that is the best way I can describe them, although they have polished their sound quite a bit, especially for songs like "Chop Suey!" and "Soldier Side", which is a contrast to a song like "BYOB"  or "Sugar". The song I'm looking at is one of these polished songs, but it is my favourite System of a Down song, although I may do one of their rougher songs in the future.

The song begins with a slow, orchestral build up, followed by a simple but melodic guitar riff. After a heavy drum beat, the vocals kick in loudly. This is the moment the song really kicks up, as the electric guitars and drums kick in and Serj's vocals burst in with some amazing opening lyrics. Not as good as "The Sound of Silence", but it still has a nice simile, and is followed by some incredible guitar work by Daron Malakian.

What makes this my favourite System of a Down song though? It is simple really. The guitar work is rough, but very smooth, Serj has quite clean vocals, but they match the instrumentals perfectly. I also love the lyrics, they are drenched in beautiful simile and feature plenty of good metaphors and images. The lines "We drink from the river, than we turn around and put up our walls." Which could mean so many things. It could be a metaphor for segregation or even something as easy as country borders.

I also love the lyrics "We are the ones that want to choose/Always want to play, but you never want to lose", which could refer to war, riots, or again, even something as simple as getting placed in prison.

Although, I am not sure what the chorus is more or less about, it does sound really good though. The entire song sounds really nice, something like a traditional rhythm, although I myself am not particularly versed in traditional music of any culture, aside from folk music of Ireland and Eastern Canada, so I am not an expert. But the instrumentals just make this song, and there is an odd keyboard sound in the second chorus, but it also sounds really nice.

And speaking of traditional songs, the album version of this song has a bonus addition, an instrumental known as "Arto". It sounds nice, but I am kind of annoyed at how it is sort of tacked on at the end of the song. When My Chemical Romance had a bonus track in "Blood", they had it play as it's own song, instead of tacking it on at the end of "Famous Last Words". So, what I'm saying is, that a band I don't like a whole lot, actually did something better than my favourite band.

But as a whole, the song is beautiful. "Chop Suey!" may be a close second for my favourite SOAD song, but this one outshines it by a lot. It was not only an amazing song, but a great way to end the album on. Songs like this and "Question!" are the reasons System of a Down is my favourite band, and I loved looking at this song.

I'm the Entity of Darkness, and next time will be something fun.

Ace Audio: "Stargazer" - Rainbow

Considering my previous posts, I figured it was time for me to do a song that I liked. Pat Boone was a lot worse than I thought he would be and I really don't feel like doing another Auditory Abomination for now. Listening to good music really helps me relax after an atrocity of a song like Pat Boone's "Smoke on the Water", it often gets me into a mindset to do an Abomination.

The song begins with one of the greatest drum lines in heavy metal history. This drum line is up there with songs like "Your Betrayal" and "L'Enfant Sauvage", and it is followed by a great opening riff. The opening of this song is awesome, it really does give of a fantasy sound, which yeah, Rainbow was one of the first Power Metal bands. They focused a lot more on fantasy inspired lyrics and lighter guitar work. People often point to Dio as the influential Power Metal band, especially with the album Holy Diver, but I would choose Rainbow.

And hey, speaking of Dio, that is indeed Ronnie James Dio on vocal work. This was the band he did after Elf but before Black Sabbath. As usual his vocal work is incredible, especially those long notes, hot damn I would kill to have a singing voice like Dio's, it's just so majestic, it invokes power, royalty and force, there is no doubt why he is one of the greatest heavy metal vocalists of all time.

I think my favourite thing about the song as a whole is the story within the lyrics. The song is about this group of workers who build this large tower of stone for this wizard who believes he can fly. The lyrics really do focus on the hardship of it all, with the chorus having lyrics like "In the heat and the rain/With whips and chains/Just to see him fly/So many died", it really hits home how rough the situation must be for the workers. Although, I have learned a little interesting thing about the construction of the pyramids, which was probably an inspiration for this song, apparently the construction of the pyramids was seen as holy work and it was a great honour to build them, maybe that is the same thing here.

Although, much like with "Octavarium" my favourite part of the whole is not my favourite piece. My favourite piece of the song if the guitar solo. Oh sweet Dio on a throne of gold and holy fire surrounded by succubi this solo kicks ass. It's just jaw dropping, sometimes when I hear it, I can imagine myself flying over a forest away from a cascading waterfall beneath an orange sky with a flaming rainbow to top it all off. When it ends, I just see the entire scene that the song set up, the large tower of stone, the stargazer, the workers, the dead bodies with their corpses destroyed by heat and rain. The imagery of this song is very clear, you can just picture all of the parts of the scene, and each vision is different, I myself often see the seen in a forest, but another may see it in a desert, or a mountain, I don't think very many other songs do this, create images that are different to other people, the song gives enough details to make the scene easy enough to picture, but not too much as to be overtly specific.

The song ends with a bit of a downer, there is a good metaphor in this song. The tower is built, as high as it can go and the wizard jumps, but instead of rising, he falls and dies. He had a vision, a dream and he went for it, but failed, or alternatively, he had all of this power and influence and it ultimately lead to his demise. Not a whole lot of songs I know of have these different interpretations, I mean I know people can interpret any song different from another, but with a song like "Purple Haze" there was really only two meanings attributed to the song, and then there are songs like "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Loser" that are given meaning without actually having any. Personally, I see it as the latter, the wizard had all of this power, all this influence and he believed what he was doing was for the greater good or was essentially a holy quest, but what happened was he plummeted towards the ground and had no more power or influence, a metaphor for falling out of power and the danger of gaining to much of it, but that's just my interpretation of it.

I don't know what else I have to say, this is one of my favourite songs of all time, up somewhere in my top 20, top 15 at least. Everything about this song works, from the guitar, to the drums, to the vocals, to the lyrics to everything. What I would give to see this live.

I'm the Entity of Darkness, and Dio, Rock in Peace man. \m/

Ace Audio: "Symphony of Destruction" - Megadeth

As I said before, it's harder to talk about a song that everybody knows and loves without tying it to a specific theme. I honestly think it's easier for me to talk about songs I hate than songs I like, especially when those songs are loved by lots of other people I know. Sure I could tie this song to the theme of political power especially with the political climate in the U.S. right now (note: I support neither, but then again I don't live there), but I won't because I want to talk about the song, something I have not done properly since I reviewed "The Show Must Go On".

Megadeth is another band that doesn't really need an introduction, they are one of the big four of thrash metal and proof that older is often better. They have been going strong since 1986 and have been going steady since. To me, they hit a similar level of quality with most of their songs, some are better and some are not, but they aren't really like System of a Down or dare I say Metallica, where the songs aren't always of similar quality on the album. I'll admit, I am not too fond of "Bounce" by System of a Down. Even though some songs are better than others, Megadeth never really had that much of a dud, with the exception of "Crush 'Em" and while some may say that makes them a better band, I think that it also works the same backwards as they don't really have many "Amazing" songs, excluding this one maybe.

"Symphony of Destruction" is my favourite Megadeth song, from the opening instrumentals to the ending line it is just a magnificent song. Seriously, the opening guitar is awesome, it's rough, it's rhythmic and it's oh so stylish. Mustaine's opening vocals are gruff and mean business, which is perfect for this kind of song.

The lyrics have a strong opening talking about taking an average person and giving them power, the stanza's are not very long and lead to a few repeats of words and sounds, which is my only problem with the song, well one of two anyway, but thankfully it does serve as a decent bridge to an awesome chorus.

The chorus talks about how the masses are being lead to destruction by the political leaders Pied Piper style, and the simile of comparing the Pied Piper to political leaders is a good simile to have. I also like the line "We dance like Marionettes/Swaying to the symphony of destruction" as it describes the scenario in perfect metaphor, and leaves a nice mental image as well, reminds me a little of the Metallica song, although that was about a different subject matter.

Unfortunately the second stanza is my other minor issue with the song as it has a few kind of strange word choices, but it leads to another chorus line which gets a repeat, and gives us an awesome guitar solo. I find most guitar solos leave me at a loss for words, but this guitar solo kind of shows why Megadeth is a superior band to Metallica.

The song ends after one last verse and chorus, capping off at four minutes and seven seconds. I think if the song was longer it would've over stayed it's welcome a bit. Lyrically the song is basic, but the lyrics are really powerful and are drenched in metaphor and imagery, two things I love in writing.

The song was also a huge hit for Megadeth as well as it was played on the radio and on MTV plenty of times, giving mainstream success to the band, even peaking at number 29 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. Megadeth released the following album Youthanasia in '94 two years after Countdown to Extinction and it did just as well reached number 4 on the Billboard 200. Megadeth would do a lot in the following years, and their newest album Dystopia sounds pretty good.

I'm the Entity of Darkness, and next time I'll go a bit out of my comfort zone.

Ace Audio: "Black Sabbath" - Black Sabbath

Opinions change overtime. Some people can look back on something they said and consider it a moment in their life that they were being stupid. That is the problem with doing these reviews as well as my opinion may change and something will cease to be an Ace Audio or an Auditory Abomination. Something that was at first hated by many, can soon become one of the best things in that particular medium. The Nostalgia Critic did a video about when critics are wrong, and you should definitely check it out before you read this blog. [Link]

Bands that are some of the biggest names in the world started off as bands that were panned by critics, such as AC/DC, The Sex Pistols and even Led Zeppelin didn't get the best reviews when they released their first albums, and although AC/DC tops my list of bands that critics got wrong initially, Black Sabbath is definitely my second pick.

Now, when I talk about changing opinions, I have to ask one very simple question: Why was this song, and album for that matter, critically panned and a commercial failure?

Remember, this is from 1970, the year that followed the 1960s with the race riots, protest shootings, the summer of love, John's misunderstood quote about Christianity and Rock music, The Vietnam War, the dreadful Altamont Free Concert, Woodstock and plenty of other historical events. This could've been a victim of poor timing, remember this was still at the end of the 1960s. It can also be noted that a band like Black Sabbath just was not ready to really be listened to, remember the earliest form of heavy metal we got before this was "Helter Skelter" and "Born to be Wild", and this was a far cry from both those songs.

This song has tuned down guitars, slow almost moaning vocals and dark lyrics. The tuned down guitars are actually pretty cool, giving the song a horror vibe that makes it more chilling. It did not sound like the upbeat "Born to be Wild". The subject matter itself is also very dark being about a weird figure the band's bassist Geezer Butler saw one night.

When we ask why the song was hated at first, we can not say for sure, although I myself guess that 1970 was not the year to introduce a genre like Heavy Metal.

However, we also have to ask the question: What changed? Why did a song that was originally hated, become not only recognizable, but celebrated? It's hard to say because people often praise the band's second album Paranoid on bringing heavy metal to a mainstream audience. The times have changed and with it our ideas of what is acceptable in music. From Black Sabbath we got amazing bands and songs from the thrash metal scene to the grindcore scene, so in some respects it can be said that Black Sabbath doesn't qualify as heavy metal anymore.

I guess it wasn't the attitude towards the song that changed, but the times that have, because there is always going to be somebody discovering this song for the first time, and whether they like the song or not is their own choice.

When I'm talking about a highly important or well known song it's hard for me to talk about the song itself, because many people have heard it before, so it's hard to say something that other people don't know, so I often have to tie Ace Audio posts to a single theme. However, I know that there is somebody out there who has never heard these songs before and makes their own judgment themselves.

Black Sabbath helped create a genre that brought many of us together, and we have all heard their influence, from the tuned down doom metal to the fantastical power metal. Times are different from 1970, and some people enjoyed this song at the time, and some people enjoy it today. It makes me wonder how many songs I liked or disliked at one point ended up being a song I loved or hated, I guess it can be the same with bands as well.

I'm the Entity of Darkness, and I have nothing to say here so, Happy Halloween.

Ace Audio: "Moth Into Flame" - Metallica

As much as I hate to say it, Metallica has not been doing well at all in the modern era. Fans have been thrashing (No pun intended) albums since Ride the Lightning, but after ...And Justice For All, it seems that very few fans are ever being pleased. Sure they released some good stuff here and there but many fans were flat out displeased with Load, Reload, and St. Anger and plenty of other things have not been very good on the band. After the entire Napster debate that killed off a good chunk of the band's fan base, it seemed like Metallica was doing nothing but going down hill. To give you some perspective, in 2013 Metallica released a movie called "Into the Never" which costed around $32 Million dollars to make, and it flopped hard, making back only $7 Million at the box office, despite good critical reception. What I'm saying is that Metallica was on a downhill, and whether you like St. Anger or not, we can agree it is nowhere near the quality of Metallica's older stuff like "Master of Puppets", "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "One".

I say this because Metallica decided to release another album, and they have already released a few singles from it, the first one was alright, nothing to amazing, but good. This one is however a much better sounding song.

The opening instrumentals definitely have a Metallica sound to them sounding like "Master of Puppets" but I think that the similar sound is very welcomed here. Really the song just sounds like the Metallica many fans wanted during St. Anger, and I feel like this song can easily fit alongside "Master of Puppets" and "Battery".

I also got to say, the instrumentals are awesome, especially that guitar solo. Hot damn I haven't heard a good guitar solo from Metallica in a while, and James Hetfield's vocals still have the power of the older days.

This is the newest release from their upcoming album, and if the rest of the album has awesome songs like this, I really think Metallica is going in the right direction. I do think this is also better than the previous released track "Hardwired" which to me sounded a bit more like Megadeth. After almost a decade of displeasing fans, Metallica could have and quite honestly should have thrown in the towel after "Through the Never", but they kept pushing and this is the kind of stuff you can get if you keep pushing. I have high hopes for the album when it comes out, I may not get it on release, but I will get it eventually.

Sorry this review came off a bit short, but I really wanted to talk about this song. I wanted to talk about how Metallica are heading in the right direction. Because this song is so recent, I really didn't have a whole lot to say about it, and this also took the place of another review that I was planning on doing. Considering my last Ace Audio, this is kind of fitting as well, and honestly, I think now I can forgive "St. Anger".

I'm the Entity of Darkness, and keep moving, whether it is forward, backward or sideways, just keep moving.

Ace Audio: "To Hell and Back" - Sabaton

War has always been a subject in music, especially since the Vietnam war in the 1960s and the protest shootings, giving us some of the most notable protest and anti-war songs. A lot of these songs focus on the inhumanities of war, how we are doing wrong and should spend more time with loved ones. Not to bash songs like "War Pigs" or "BYOB", but they really only look at one part of war, enter Swedish power metal band Sabaton and their song "To Hell and Back".

Where many war songs talk about things like the bombings and attacks on innocent people, this song talks about a different victim, one that is often glossed over by the public. The soldiers themselves, often they return to their home country, they just want to go home and spend time with their families, only some of them can't and many of them suffer from PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and it really messes people up.

This is the angle the song looks at and it is much better off because of it, because if it didn't it probably would have fallen by the wayside to songs like "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" and others like it. The song itself is based off of the life and writings of Audie Murphy who fought in World War II and is a well known sufferer of PTSD, the title of the song is a reference to his autobiography of the same name, which I haven't read, but it's been made into a film, which I haven't seen. War is not really my interest when it comes to history.

The song is also a really good song if we take out the meaning. Even though the meaning of a song is highly important, to me it isn't the be all or end all of a song. There are songs I like that have very little important meaning and songs I despise that have fair and well-meaning messages.

The song itself is really well made, with some great instrumentals and an awesome guitar solo, and it even includes some whistling, which opens the song. The lyrics also add to the song, with one of my favourite lines being "Let them fall face down if they must die/Making it easier to say goodbye" which says far more than "War/What is it good for?/Absolutely nothing!".

In my opinion, this is one of greatest Heavy Metal songs of the decade, while it isn't in my top ten, it is in my top twenty favourite songs. I don't want to here more songs about he evil of war on the countries we attack, but more on the horrors that it has on the people who fight the war, they need our help just as much as the countries do.

I'm the Entity of Darkness, and not every victim of war dies in battle.

Ace Audio: "Octavarium" - Dream Theater

Music is one of my favourite things, and with Auditory Abominations, I feel like I'm just talking about one half of what I enjoy. I really do enjoy music and I wanted to talk about the music that I liked, almost since I started Auditory Abominations. I felt like starting with my favourite band, but anybody who has read my review of Octavarium, will know that I think that it is a perfect album, so I decided to look at my favourite song from that album.

"Octavarium" starts off almost orchestral and has a beautiful build up. The song does kick up a little before it dies down and enters the first of five lyrical movements. This first one is subtitled "Someone Like Him" and tells the story of someone who wishes to not be an ordinary person and succeeds, but he looks back and wishes that he was an average person instead. It is a beautiful part of the song and it has some nice soft vocals from James LaBrie. The vocals don't stay soft though and they kick up when James sings "As far as I could tell" and it drops again.

Each movement starts with an instrumental solo and each one is beautiful, from the opening lap steel guitar solo to the elastic sounding bass in the second part. This second part is called "Medicate (Awakening)" and also tells a story, and is the last movement that tells a coherent story that reflects the theme of the song. This was also the only movement written by James LaBrie himself, where the other movements were written by John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy, the guitarist and drummer of the band respectively.

My favourite movement is definitely the third movement as it is Mike Portnoy's ode to progressive rock and it really shows. There are many references within the song to other songs and bands including Genesis, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Doors and Yes. The movement is called "Full Circle" and is in reference to the bridge it has where it is the final line of it. This is also the last movement to have this kind of bridge, the other being "Medicate (Awakening)". This movement also feels more lively than the last two and adds to the build up of the song as it transitions perfectly into the next movement "Intervals".

Although "Full Circle" is my favourite movement of the song, "Intervals" may have my favourite part of the song. It is when the movement is almost finished and James is just repeating the line "Trapped inside this octavarium." However, each time he says it, he puts more strain on his vocals and the last time he says it, the music cuts out during the word "This" and pretty much explodes at the end, creating a nice piece of falling action and transitioning to the final movement "Razor's Edge".

The whole song's theme is that everything comes around full circle, the story ends where it begins, we are born in a hospital, we die in a hospital. "Razor's Edge" is where the message really sinks in as it ends as soft and as slow as the opening movement. It does lose some points with subtlety as the last lines of the song are "This story ends where it began" but the ending instrumentals add much to the song as they are also a reference to the album as a whole, being the same note that the album's first song "The Root of All Evil" started with.

To me, there is no other perfect song than this. I have been feeling that in looking at songs I don't like, I'm really not doing my passion any justice. It's songs like this, and bands like Dream Theater, Pink Floyd, System of a Down, Gotye and Megadeth that I love music, and I feel like I should look at the songs I like as well as songs I don't like. I should look at why songs don't work as well as songs that do work and why they work as well as songs that aren't known as much about as others.

I'm the Entity of Darkness and this has been Ace Audio.

Auditory Abominations: "Satellite" - P.O.D.

Let's talk about mixing genres, such as rap and metal. This is not a new concept, in fact if you consider the old school 70s hard rock bands as heavy metal, than Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" is kind of the frontrunner to it all, and than we also had Anthrax doing their crossover with Public Enemy and other bands like Rage Against the Machine and Old school Linkin Park. The idea of mixing genres has always been around and it often creates some odd combinations, such as P.O.D.

P.O.D. is a Christian Rap Metal band with a touch of reggae. So this is technically the first religious abomination, but as I said when I reviewed the album, nothing is bad on it's own because of the fact that it is religious, there are some songs by religious groups that I actually like. I say this now as a statement to save my own behind because, I think P.O.D. is one of my least favourite metal bands, alongside groups like Skillet and a few Grindcore bands.

The song I chose is Satellite, which I don't think is their worst song, but was the only song I thought was worth remembering off of the album.

Immediately we are hit with drums and guitars and they don't sound bad, a little generic but not terrible, unfortunately the same cannot be said about the rapping, as it sounds ubber generic. In fact that is the problem with the song on it's own.

The whole song feels like one of those songs you'd have in a video game soundtrack that just kind of blends in with what's happening, but unlike something like "Pedal to the Metal", it wouldn't stick out and just be over when it stops, you know the ones that I'm talking about they plague a lot of racing games.

Really I think the biggest problem with the song isn't even the song itself. This was the sixth track on the album and it was the point where a lot of the songs and instrumentals especially, started to sound very similar and generic.

Really this song is just dull and boring. It offers nothing and the chorus is just repeating the song title, Because That Worked Out Well Before*

I think maybe I'll take another crack at this group at a later time, but right now I'm finished with Metal Abominations. What's Next?

God, Damn it all.

I'm the Entity of Darkness and I really hate the upcoming song.

*Each word is a separate link to click on!

Auditory Abominations: "Crush 'Em" - Megadeth

Like I said, this review will be a Megadeth song, not just because I want to discuss this song, but also the comparison to Metallica they get. Honestly, I don't think either band is really better, because although Metallica doesn't hit the highs of Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction", Megadeth doesn't really hit the lows of Metallica's "St. Anger", although I would think this song comes close.

The problem with "St. Anger" was mostly Lars Ulrich's drumming and the lyrics that made very little sense, if any at all. However, I can say this about "St. Anger"; even though it was a terrible song, it still sounded like Metallica. That is the first problem with "Crush 'Em", it doesn't sound like a Megadeth song.

The opening sounds pretty close to something like a song The Police would do, and when the song does pick up, it doesn't really have a whole lot of energy to it. I mean, compare this song to a Megadeth song like "Peace Sells" or "Tornado of Souls" which have awesome guitar solos and sound way better than this, because they don't sound restrained, giving them a natural sense of energy.

Thankfully the Lyrics aren't a big problem, they're just kind of generic anthem lyrics, right down to the most basic of choruses. Seriously, was "Roll the dice, Don't think twice/and we crush, crush 'em" really the best chorus you could write? From the band that gave us "Just like the Pied Piper lead rats through the streets" and "if there's a new way, I'll be first in line/but it better work this time" comes "And we Crush, Crush 'Em".

When people talk about the worst of the big four, they usually only talk about "St. Anger" and I can see why as I do think it is a worse song, but I still think that this is one of the worst Heavy Metal songs of all time, mostly because it sounds so watered down and dull.

I will say that the instrumentals did not annoy me like "St. Anger" did, but they didn't add a whole lot to the song, again from the group that gave us "Tornado of Souls" and "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" we got this generic, boring schlock.

This was intended to be a sporting anthem, but honestly there are so many better songs that can be and are used as sports anthems that this kind of falls into the background. I get the idea and even the audience, but it has to be good for other people as well, which by the way is often why religious music doesn't work either, because it only really works for people of that religion.

I can't say that this was one of the worst songs I have ever heard, I can honestly say that it is not in my personal top 10, but I still think that this is the worst Megadeth has to offer, but hey, we still got "Peace Sells" right?

I'm the Entity of Darkness and speaking of religious music and heavy metal, oh yeah, I looking at them again.

Auditory Abominations: "St. Anger" - Metallica

With my previous posts, I've been complaining about general pop music. Sure Pop music has some of my least favourite songs of any genre, but that isn't the entirety of it, so for this and the next two posts, I'm going to look at the worst that my favourite genre has to offer.

I don't think I really stated that I love Heavy Metal before, it is really a combination of the instrumentals and the lyrics. Often the lyrics are deep and have some meanings and the instrumentals have power and skill behind them and aren't just some faceless person on a keyboard making the rhythm. My dislike towards a lot of Pop Music, is not spawned from my love of Metal, but I won't say that it is helped by it either.

Now we are looking at one of the worst metal songs of all time, and I got to say, there is good reason for it to be called that. You can hear the problems of all the song at the beginning. Actually, you can hear every problem this song has at the start, such as Lars Ulrich's obnoxious use of cymbals and snares and how poorly structured the song is.

I'll get to the first problem later, but I really want to talk about the song's structure and flow. If you want to know how bad it is, the verses are usually fast paced with James Hetfield's raspy singing voice, the chorus does not sound like that at all, it is slow and calm, which does not seem to be the tone the song is going for since the lyrics describe a suicide and the music video takes place in a prison.

Also, while I'm on the subject, the lyrics don't do this song any favours either. If the repeat of the words "Flush it out" don't annoy you, I think you'll enjoy this song. Also "I'm Madly in Anger with you"? What does that even mean? It's like a whiny teenage emo kid wrote this song about his first break-up, which I doubt is the theme of this song.

Really, the song gives me nothing to grab on to. Like when I look at some of the best metal songs of all-time there is a meaning I can grab, such as System of a Down's "BYOB", talking about the middle eastern war, or Sabaton's "To Hell and Back", which focuses on the damaging effects of war on the people who fight it, or Metallica's "Master of Puppets" which is about drug abuse and how damaging it can be to one's psyche. I have no idea what this song is about, nor what it is even possibly about.

And yes, Lars' drumming is the worst part of this song. It sounds like he is drumming on kitchen pots and pot lids. It's even worse because I'm fairly certain that the drumming is above the actual music, so I can't tell if the guitar or bass work is actually solid or anything.

With some rewriting, and more bass drums than snares, I think this could be a decent track, not one of Metallica's best, but better than the song we actually got. It's a shame when a good band like Metallica gives us a song that feels rushed and broken. It's the equivalent of a jackhammer pounding in your ears. I'll give Chicago this, at least they didn't give me a headache like this song did.

But thankfully, no other amazing group as popular and long lasting as Metallica has given us anything worth calling an Auditory Abomination... well, except for maybe Megadeth.

I'm the Entity of Darkness, and yes, next time will be a Megadeth song.