A Chronological History of my Music Library

A week after my last release a new band joins my library when The Trews released their debut album "House Of Ill Fame" on August 19, 2003.  But who are The Trews? They are a four-piece rock band from Antigonish, Nova Scotia consisting of frontman Colin MacDonald (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards), his brother John-Angus MacDonald (lead guitar), Jack Syperek (bass) and Sean Dalton (drums). I'm not a big Trews fan but they did have a couple succesful radio hits off this album and I have both of them, starting with "Not Ready To Go". It's got a pretty catchy drum beat by Dalton and is driven by a pretty catchy guitar riff by MacDonald as well. It's easy to tap your toe along to this solid and accessible rock riff and Colin's voice sounds like a pretty solid made-for-radio rock voice as he sings a nice verse overtop. The chorus has a super catchy guitar riff and it's just them shouting the name of the song over and over, which definitely drags a...

Three weeks after my last release and just four months since "The Blessed Hellride", Black Label Society released a live album titled "Boozed, Broozed & Broken Boned" on August 12, 2003. I'm not a fan of live albums, but I do have one song off this one called "Guitar Solo & Band Intros" and it's because of the former, not the latter. This song is just under ten minutes, but with the last couple being the band Intros it's still over seven minutes of Zakk Wylde soloing! Worde could never do justice to some of the crazy parts of this lengthy solo, he goes jaw-droppingly fast and is absolutely shredding it, it's really quite something! After about five minutes(!) of wicked soloing Zakk changes gears and delivers his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Like Jimi Hendrix's version, I'm not a fan of the actual Anthem, but of course Zakk's version has some pretty awesome shredding mixed in throughout. After the anthem finally...

A day after my last release and a little over two years since "Wages Of Sin", Arch Enemy released their fifth album "Anthems Of Rebellion" on July 23, 2003. Arch Enemy are still playing the same style of melodic death metal, but they add a member and become a six-piece on this album with Per Wiberg joining as their first keyboardist! I'm interested to see how Arch Enemy play with keyboards in the mix, let's check it out! The album begins with a short introduction called "Tear Down The Walls" and it's the sound of an army of people chanting that keeps growing louder until they slam into the next track "Silent Wars". As usual I'm not sure which Amott brother is playing what on guitar (Michael and Christopher), but whoever is on lead fires right into a fast-paced, stop-and-start main riff that sounds pretty cool and the rhythm section nicely and heavily backs it. Angela Gossow eventually comes in to scream the first verse and she sou...

It's a double release day! On the same day as my last release and sixteen months after "The Illusion Of Safety", Thrice released their third album "The Artist In The Ambulance" on July 22, 2003. This would be Thrice's major label debut, but they still play the same mix of heavier, hardcore punk and a pop-y, catchier side. Let's see what the latest from Thrice has to offer! The album begins with "Cold Cash And Colder Hearts" and they jump right into a pretty heavy and cool main riff with Teppei Teranishi playing some nice stop-and-start guitar and Dustin Kensrue singing a solid verse overtop. Kensrue and Teranishi both play some great guitar on this shorter song and midway through the second round they quiet things down very epicly as Kensrue sings nice and high, then they return to the heavy main riff and close out the song with a fantastic heavy part with Kensrue screaming at the top of his lungs  and sounding awesome! A pretty good way to wra...

Two weeks after my last release a new band joins my library when Three Days Grace released their debut album "Three Days Grace" on July 22, 2003. But who is Three Days Grace? They are a 3-piece post-grunge/rock band from Norwood, Ontario consisting of frontman Adam Gontier (lead vocals, guitars) bassist Brad Walst and drummer Neil Sanderson. Three Days Grace range from hard rock to more made-for-radio rock and this debut was quite successful, spawning four singles. Let's see what Three Days Grace are all about! The albuk begins with "Burn" and it starts with a long crackling that's a little dull, then they slam into the main riff led by some loud and solid guitars by Gontier. Walst is playing some cool bass in the verse while Gontier sings his first verse and his voice isn't heavy but he sounds pretty decent overtop. Everything sounds very smooth and made-for-radio and this is pretty good opener in giving you the perfect idea of what Three Days Grace are...

Six days after my last release a new band joins my library when The Darkness released their debut album "Permission To Land" on July 7, 2003. But who are The Darkness? They are a four-piece glam rock band from Lowestoft, Suffolk, England consisting of drummer Ed Graham, bassist Frankie Poullain, guitarist Dan Hawkins and his brother Justin Hawkins (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards). I'm not a big Darkness fan by any means, but I do have the most succesful single off this album, titled "I Believe In A Thing Called Love". It's driven by a fairly simple but pretty rockin' main guitar riff that's easy to get into and Hawkins sure has a one of a kind voice and he hits high notes with no trouble at all it seems. The chorus is pretty undeniably catchy I think and he's definitely a great singer. The real highlight is the guitar solos though: one in the usual slot between the second and and third verse, and another fantastic one to close out the song! All i...