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October 24, 2000 - Linkin Park and Hybrid Theory

Two weeks after my last release a new band joins my library when Linkin Park released their debut album "Hybrid Theory" on October 24, 2000. But who is Linkin Park? They are a five-piece nu-metal band from Agoura Hills, California consisting of Rob Bourdon (drums, percussion), Brad Delson (guitars, bass), Joe Hahn (turntables, samples), Chester Bennington (lead vocals) and Mike Shinoda (rapping vocals, keyboards). Linkin Park are yet another nu-metal band and they would find instant success with this debut album that had four very successful singles and would end up reaching #2 on the charts. With a full-time rapper and and DJ, Linkin Park definitely incorporate lots of hip-hop elements, but are also pretty heavy when they want to be. Let's see what Linkin Park is all about! The album kicks off with one of it's many singles "Papercut" and Shinoda plays a catchy keyboard riff to keep the pace, Hahn adds some cool turntables and when Delson's guitar comes
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October 10, 2000 - Blender

It's a double release day! On the same day as my last release and a year and eight months since "Dosage", Collective Soul released their fifth album "Blender" on October 10, 2000. Collective Soul continue to play the same style of pop-rock but they've gone down and up throughout their career so far, and their last album was solid. Does that mean we're headed back down? Let's give it a listen and find out! The album kicks off with "Skin" and it's got a light and pop-y main riff that is pretty catchy with Ross Childress playing some decent guitar to lead the way. Ed Roland sings a solid verse in his usual pop-y voice  and I'm a little surprised this wasn't a single with it's very pop-y and accessible music. There's a super catchy "ba-dup ba-dup" vocal part that I'm describing terribly, but this seems like a great choice to open the album; it's a little repetitive, but still solid. Up next is "Vent&qu
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October 10, 2000 - Symphony X and V: The New Mythology Suite

A new band joins my library when Symphony X released their fifth album "V: The New Mythology Suite" on October 10, 2000. But who is Symphony X? They are a five-piece progressive metal band from Middletown, New Jersey consisting of lead vocalist Russell Allen, guitarist Michael Romeo, keyboardist Michael Pinnella, bassist Michael LePond and drummer Jason Rullo. I'm not a huge Symphony X fan (this is my only album by them), but this album has some good progressive metal similar in style to Dream Theater and others in the genre. Let's see what Symphony X are all about! The album fittingly starts with "Prelude" and it's a pretty exciting short intro song with some epic choir-like vocals and some cool fast keyboards by Pinnella. They set the stage very nicely and segue perfectly into "Evolution (The Grand Design)" where we hear sole nice fast drums by Rullo as well as some pretty sweet guitar by Romeo that leads the way. Allen comes in to sing for t
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October 2000 - Every Time I Die and The Burial Plot Bidding War

A little after my last release a new band joins my library when Every Time I Die released their debut EP "The Burial Plot Bidding War" in October of 2000. But who is Every Time I Die? They are a five-piece metalcore band from Buffalo, New York consisting of drummer Mike Novak, bassist John McCarthy, guitarist Andrew Williams and brothers Jordan (guitar) and Keith (lead vocals) Buckley. Every Time I Die are another early metalcore band, but they aren't quite as heavy as say Killswitch Engage and instead play a more erratic and unpredictable style of heavy metal. Let's see what ETID is all about! The EP kicks off with "The Emperor's New Clothes" and they kick right into a pretty heavy main riff with some nice chugging rhythm guitar by Williams, some nice higher lead guitar by Jordan and Keith screaming right from the get-go in a pretty high voice. Keith's high screams sound pretty shrill at times, but he's pouring out his emotion with every scream
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September 26, 2000 - New American Gospel

Three weeks after my last release and about a year and a half since their debut "Burn The Priest", Lamb Of God released their second album (and first officially as Lamb of God) "New American Gospel" on September 26, 2000. Original rhythm guitarist Abe Spear has left the band and replacing him is Willie Adler, brother of drummer Chris Adler. Lamb of God are still playing the same style of groovy and creative heavy metal, but their recording quality has gone up a lot and things sound generally cleaner and tighter. Let's see what the new Lamb of God is all about! The album begins with "Black Label" and Chris plays some cool drums as the guitars and bass come in with a nice and heavy main riff. Randy Blythe comes in screaming overtop in his wonderfully heavy voice where he hits some really high high notes, as well as some great lower notes as well. Mark Morton and Willie sync up for a really heavy riff midway through, then it's back to the punishing ma
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September 5, 2000 - Machina II/The Friends And Enemies Of Modern Music

Two weeks after my last release and a mere seven months since "Machina/The Machines Of God", The Smashing Pumpkins released their sixth album "Machina II/The Friends And Enemies Of Modern Music" on September 5, 2000. Billy Corgan wanted to release Machina as a double album, but after "Adore" didn't do great commercially Virgin records wanted to wait on a double album. Following more poor sales of "Machina", Virgin refused to release this album under their label, so The Smashing Pumpkins put it on the internet for free! This is a pretty crazy decision, especially during the Napster era, but Billy felt that this album was good enough to be released even though Virgin didn't. It's also the last album to feature the original line-up, which is a little sad! Let's listen to the last we'll hear for a while from the Pumpkins! The album opens with a short song called "Glass" and Corgan starts singing quickly right away and th
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August 22, 2000 - Zebrahead and The Hell That Is My Life

On the same day as my last release a new band briefly joins my library when Zebrahead released their third album "Playmate Of The Year" on August 22, 2000. But who are Zebrahead? They are a five-piece punk-rock band from La Habra, California consisting of lead singer Ali Tabatabaee, lead guitarist Greg Bergdorf, rhythm guitarist and singer Justin Mauriello, bassist Ben Osmundson and drummer Ed Udhus. I'm not a Zebrahead fan at all, but they do have one super catchy song that makes my library and it's called "The Hell That Is My Life". Bergdorf plays a super catchy lead guitar riff that drives this whole song and Ali sings a pretty pop-y verse overtop about how he and his girlfriend are always fighting. He picks up the pace with a pretty fast, almost rapping part that leads into the chorus and the chorus is also really catchy. Everything has a very upbeat feel to it and it's hard not to happily bop your head along to the catchy music. After another round
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