Cue the critics of over-saturated Bowie compilation albums. Cue the all Canadian wonder that is Nickelback (at least that's what the rest of the world will have us chalked up to be). Cue the emo bands that compile their favourite pop songs to resemble something worth listening to (IMO). Cue the controversy that is The Ghost Inside's album cover (coughthedillingerescapeplancough). But most of all, cue the awesome amount of great music that is being released this week!
I am sort of getting the feeling of Fry of Futurama right now when it comes to my visit at the local record store. That being said, I did want to start this post off with a bang and state that I am a Nickelback fan. Despite the stereotype that every Canadian likes em, I actually think their overplayed music is catchy and filled with good riffs and hooks. I saw them for the first (and only) time at Bayfest 2007 and was completely blown away by their performance (not to mention them shredding some Pantera and Metallica in the process).
But not all the focus should be on them this week. POD's SoCal Sessions has been literally playing nonstop on my headphones this week, which will be followed closely by In This Moment, The Ghost Inside, and newcomers XTRMST (AFI lead vocalist Davey Havok and guitarist Jade Puget). Monster Magnet's "Last Patrol" was such a great hit for the group that they redesigned the cover, remixed, and new tracks titled "Milking the Stars: A Re-Imagining of Last Patrol". You can check out the rest of the notable reviews below as well. So if not the local record store, then an online retailer, or a trusted digital source. Cheers!
(David Bowie - Nothing has changed.)
Despite cramming in a walloping 39 tracks on what Wikipedia suggests is Bowie's forty-eighth compilation, nothing really has changed with regards to the 2CD standard edition, which begins with ‘Space Oddity’ and ends a couple of hours later with the expected new song, ‘Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)’. The music is extraordinary, but the format is yer basic pre-Chrimbo best of (and the same goes for the 20-track 2LP). -Drowned In Sound
No Fixed Address was written and recorded in far-flung locales like London, Berlin and Budapest, and it's easy to draw a line between Nickelback's globetrotting and the material's genre hops. Yet, the album's best song, "Get 'Em Up," finds the band sticking closer to its wheelhouse, with Kroeger detailing a robbery-gone-stupid ("It was Sunday and the goddamned bank was closed") over a low-end groove that recalls present-day ZZ Top. It's a loose-limbed and lighthearted moment from an act that tends toward heavy and humorless. It's also a more appealing modification than, say, funky Nickelback or synth-pop Nickelback -- either of which could launch a thousand crowdfunding campaigns. -Billboard
"Pretend the music is a river and the audience is on this boat and it’s going to go down this river and the river is going to go inevitably. There’s no stopping it. Sometimes it’s going to get a little bumpy and sometimes it’s going to get a little incomprehensible, but what I want to do is I want to take you on a journey. I want to take you on a journey that you haven’t been on. And, I want to take you on an adventure. And it’s not a science class. These days we’re being fed nothing but information, but emotionally, I think we get less and less experience in anything because … everything is so cleaned up and we’re losing the edge … the mystery of things." -Zimmer
The main draw for E Street fans here is the fact only Born To Run and Darkness On The Edge Of Town have previously been re-mastered. Although this collection does include contemporary E Street ephemera in the form of a 60-page book, there’s no additional previously unreleased music to supplement these albums, but given they’re some of popular music’s all-time finest, that’s not too much of a setback. -The Line of Best Fit
(POD - SoCal Sessions)
P.O.D. starts a new chapter of their long and storied career with SoCal Sessions. Their first album on new label home T-Boy Records, SoCal Sessions is both a precursor to their next original album and a sort of greatest hits album, all at the same time. As with any acoustic/cover album, the fate of this album rests with the listener’s love for the band in general. No single song eclipses the original version, though the album is very well done and will please long-time fans.
The lack of older P.O.D. tracks (only one song from Fundamental Elements and nothing before that) is a shame, though most of the band’s best songs are represented. In the end, SoCal Sessions will please fans of the band and give them something to chew on while awaiting their next full release. -Indie Vision Music
AFGM: "Punk Goes Pop 6" Streaming In Full
Punk Goes Pop 6 is the best Punk Goes… in years. Though it’s almost impossible for an uninspired cover to hurt someone’s career, the ability for a great twist on a familiar hit to change the course of an artist’s career is unlike anything else found in music. This compilation is far from the perfect mix, but the good far outweighs the bad, and I can see this record bringing a lot of great attention to some hard working bands that can always use a little more attention from press/media/critics/etc. The amount of replays this record gets will vary greatly from listener to listener, but anyone with the slightest of interest in any of the bands included should make it a point to give the full compilation a chance to impress. There are several great covers here, and it’s not just the current headliners who are responsible for them. -Under The Gun Review
When the plan for Milking The Stars was first announced, I (and imaginably others as well) scratched my head and asked what the point was. But now, after a few good playthroughs with it, I can sincerely say that there is one, and it's well executed at that. I would advise anyone who's been following these guys for a while to sit down whenever they get the chance, and spin Last Patrol and this album back to back. You will quite likely see the difference, and maybe, like me, the experience will pique your interest for more reimaginings from Monster Magnet. -Metal Storm
AFGM: In This Moment - Black Widow
And, like Hail to the King, Black Widow is mostly successful: even the band’s most passionate haters won’t be able to argue that songs like “Sick Like Me,” “Big Bad Wolf,” “Dirty Pretty,” and the title track aren’t catchy. And the album’s two ballads, “Sexual Hallucination” (which features guest vocals by Shinedown’s Brent Smith) and the Evanescence-esque “The Fighter,” add breathing room that, frankly, even albums by the bands who so clearly influenced this record could have used. -MetalSucks
(The Ghost Inside - Dear Youth)
With this record, the band not only rose up to the bar set by their contemporaries, they raised it to a new level - which is a good thing, because if this record is the new standard for the metalcore genre, then the future is looking incredibly bright. It would be a misstep for any fan of heavy music to skip over this record without listening at least a few times. This record will make you feel something, it’ll make you want to keep going when you’d rather not - it stands at a massive encouragement to those that really need it. At one point in the past, I had a hard time fathoming The Ghost Inside making a better record than Returners or Get What You Give - however, I am always willing to be wrong. -Absolute Punk
(XTRMST - XTRMST)
"Jade and I have been talking about starting a straight edge hardcore band for years. We started writing and recording in early 2012 and chose the name XTRMST because it expresses the messages represented on the record. The straight edge movement is not one of moderation. It's based in undeniable objective truths." -Havok
"The straight edge philosophy is something that Davey and I gravitated towards at a young age, drawn by concepts and ideals that seem almost foreign in modern society. Like much of the other subcultures we were a part of growing up, it put us at odds with 99% of the people around us, which was something we embraced. Being sXe for over 20 years and being musicians, it seemed natural that this crucial ideology would find a musical expression." -Puget
I think I will pick up the new Bowie compilation. LOL Of course I will. I have plenty of compilation stuff already, and somehow it never gets boring when it comes to Bowie. This compilation looks interesting with a new unreleased track.
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