Some music on August 24, 2011.

Alright, today I will kick off the music section of my blog. I will throw on iTunes and shuffle around, writing as I go for 2-3 albums. Hopefully some good stuff comes up! I have also included some of my favorite memories, lyrics, etc of the albums.

Between the Buried and Me - Alaska
Release Date: September 6, 2005.

WOW, what an awesome first album to shuffle up first. I actually just listened to this CD during work yesterday. I got into BTBAM somewhere around December 2006 and this was their most recent album at the time and the one I got into first (simultaneously with The Silent Circus). I remember walking around UMass Amherst in the freezing cold listening to this on my headphones, or late at night in the library Learning Commons. There is so much to say about this album and it will definitely come out in a jumbled fashion, sort of like some of BTBAM's music, jumbled but beautiful. I would have to say the unusual songwriting is one of the things that really attracted me to their music in the first place. The interplay between catchy fast leads, oddly timed chugging, grind riffs, clean vocals, brutal screams, jazz sections, non-sense, tempo changes and endless genre influence is what really impresses me about BTBAM and this album the first time I listened to it. They somehow seem to write music that brings together a sickening blend of influences into a powerful metal experience. They do it better than any other band I can think of, while were at it.

Alaska starts off with 'All Bodies'. It is probably one of the best opening tracks of all time and one of their best songs. This song was amazing live at the Webster Underground when the crowd literally rushed the stage and sang the chorus ("Keeper of the stars, I hope to never find, We are just mortal souls left to die") louder than the whole band combined, an impressive feat. This chorus has a great chant ("All Bodies, Contortion") and an awesome, catchy lead following it. This song just goes so many places in such a great way.

'Alaska' comes up next and brings some carnage to the table. The song starts off with a classic lead and rhythm riff but quickly turns into one of the most layered, loud, violent sections I have ever heard. It seems like there are 3-4 screaming tracks at once at some point. It really doesn't stop from there. This song caused 1/2 of the crowd at House of Blues Boston to fall over, it was truly scary/awesome.
"The idea of control...Yes, creepy...Controlling death with alertness...Controlling death with alertness"

'Croakies and Boatshoes' is one of the shortest BTBAM songs at just over 2 minutes, fast and brutal. It also has hilarious lyrics about, well, people who wear croakies and boatshoes. "I've got something to fucking prove man, I've really gotten something to prove. Dude... Brah... let's go party tonight...Maybe start another goddamn fight...But it's all right... my coach knows the sheriff." (just read them all).

'Breath in, Breathe Out' is a well placed 1 minute instrumental, calms things down before returning to the action.

'Selkies: The Endless Obsession' is probably considered their greatest track overall by many people. I would have a hard time picking a favorite but this would be near the top. It really embodies the album as a whole and what they were as a band at the time, and where they were going as well. It starts off with a classic harmony between Tommy's keyboard and the lead guitar. This really sets up perfectly for the grinding, brutal riffs to follow. Which somehow leads perfectly into a long soft section that climax's with Paul Waggoner's sweeping guitar solo, a lead that might be responsible for putting BTBAM "on the map" back in 2005. It is truly beautiful, everyone knows the Selkies sweeps.
"No Judgement", "God damn television god, corrupt me," "separate us...", "This is human life at it's best...We'll televise this event...You can learn how to live, breathe...And finally die.", "The sweet relief is a must." I remember seeing this one live a few times, my friends filming the sweeps on their phones, a great time.

'Roboturner'. The first 4 minutes are classic grind riffs and the last 3 minutes is a great ending that progressively gets slower and really heavy. Heavy, beat down madness. "Crush us, over and over again",

'Backwards Marathon' comes next, 8.5 minutes of pure awesomeness. This has always been a favorite of mine and my good friends. The blues-y riff and claps that lead into the "chorus" have always been a highlight. A great clean section is sandwiched in the middle of the song, "it's raining." One of Tommy's great high-notes leads the clean section back to the beginning riff, backwards indeed. The song ends with an awesome clean singing section.

'Medicine Wheel' is another clean, sort of intermission song. It has always been my least favorite track, I am always waiting for it to end to get back to the action, seems like filler to me.

For some reason, I have always grouped 'The Primer' and 'Autodidact' together. From the albums track's they seem like the most "radio ready" (even though they would never play on the radio). They are sort of compacted tracks that contain everything awesome about BTBAM. I like them both but they are never the songs I bring up when talking about this album. The Primer has an epic pre-chorus and chorus, "we have to be you, we have to be you, 2005 welcome to perfection" is fun to sing at the shows. 'Autodidact' has one of the coolest chugging, "breakdowns" that I can think of, just an awesome rhythm to it started off by the lyric "impossible thoughts, stay on this cruise." There is also a really cool lead-driven mid section and a very cool ambient high-hat lead part directly following it, cool mood swings. The insane breakdown is led into perfectly with Tommy screaming "piss it all away," an extremely heavy chug closes out the track.

'Laser Speed' closes the album out and is exactly opposite of what you would think. It is a nice, relaxing song that sounds more like something that Paul Waggoner wrote for a Jazz class.

Songs to Add to the Ultimate Playlist:
All Bodies
Alaska
Selkies: The Endless Obsession
Backwards Marathon
-Four songs that I really, really love


Originally this wasn't one of my favorite BTBAM albums but with time I have gained a huge admiration for it. Just writing this up, I realized more than ever how intensely brutal some points and and how awesome the clean stuff works in tandem with it. Any metal fan should listen to this album, a true example of it's "genre" (is there one?). The album is bipolar to me, it is all over the place but somehow comes together beautifully. It contains destruction and soft delicate clean sections. Dare I call it a masterpiece...

***** (All time Hall-of-Fame, one of the best albums)

That was long-winded and detailed, whatever...

A-Team - Sewer Rats
2001

Straight from the recent to an album I really loved 6-7 years ago. Back when I was a freshman-sophomore in high school and was really into punk and hardcore. A hard album to find details about nowadays,  A-Team has been gone for many years. I still love most of the music I revered back then but just don't listen to it quite as often. A-Team was a pretty local band to me during that time and I had seen them 4-5 times during that era. They were from Worcester while I was living in Agawam (40 miles). I remember seeing them at the Palladium (amazing Gang Green 'Alcohol' cover) during some punk-fest and then in the center of Easthampton with Last in Line (that show was fucking insane). A vivid memory of the huge singer of A-Team doing a Boston Headstomp during Last in Line still exists in my brain today. A-Team was always brutal live and so was the crowd.

This album starts off with an amazing adaptation of "Am I Evil" into a song about Euro-Trash, "CLOSE THE DOOR!." Many awesome chants on this one, so much fun to rush the singer and yell during the shows. 'Boyband Bloodbath' is a quick one about, well, see the title. "BOYBAND BLOODBATH!."'Busch League' was one of the first A-Team mp3s I had, I remember it to this day on my WinAmp before I got the rest of their stuff. 'Sewer Rats' is an awesome track, great riffage and lyrics... "Sewer Rats, on my back, Sewer Rats, will attack, no escape, sewer rats are always coming after me, RATS! RATS!,"to the water or to the ground, rats weighing over 25 pounds, when your alone you better watch your back, before the posse of sewer rats try to attack," classic. 'Stuck' always had a great feel and an awesome rant. 'Your Annoying' has a nice chorus, "dont tell me what to do cause I'm not you, don't think that what you say means a little god damn thing to me".

The A-Team always impressed me with their ability to combine brutal hardcore, groovy rock-metal riffs and cool leads. They also had a knack at having short intros to most of their songs that would just give them a great feel and pump you up when the main riff kicks in. Most of the songs here are just over a minute but they seem longer and have many unique, groovy parts. This would provoke you to always wanna circle-pit/move around/cause destruction/yell along at the shows. The singer was also a master at mid-song ranting, some are absolutely hilarious. The straight-forward hardcore lyrics, groovy metal-rock rhythms and leads make for a great mix that anyone who likes punk or "oldschool" hardcore should check out. The A-Team will always be classic to me and many MA people into this music in the early 2000s but will never have been known for anyone else, a beautiful thing. (some of the above lyrics are not 100% accurate, I don't quite remember them even when listening like I did back in the day)

Songs for the Ultimate Playlist:
Prelude to a Mosh/Euro-Trash Hate Anthem
Sewer Rats
Skulls

**** (Great album)