A Chronological History of my Music Library

On the same day as my last several releases and a little over two years since their last album "The Changing Of Times", Underoath released their fourth album "They're Only Chasing Safety" on June 15, 2004. There's a lot of turnover since that last album with half(!) of the band now gone. Bassist William Nottke was only around for one album and is replaced by new bassist Grant Brandell. Original members Octavio Fernandez and Dallas Taylor are also gone and they are replaced by new rhythm guitarist James Smith and new lead singer Spencer Chamberlain. That's a lot of turnover! Underoath continue to move away from their progressive death metal beginnings and build off their more radio-friendly previous album, while still being plenty heavy. Let's check out the latest from Underoath! The album kicks off with "Young And Aspiring" and they jump right into a hard-hitting and heavy main riff led by some pretty cool lead guitar by Timothy McTague. We...

It's a triple release day, and all with new artists to the library! Matthew Good released his second album "White Light Rock & Roll Review" on June 15, 2004 as well. But who is Matthew Good? He is a singer and guitarist from Burnaby, British Columbia and he's joined on this album by Christian Thor Valdson (guitar), Rich Priske (bass) and Pat Steward (drums). I'm not a big Matthew Good fan at all (this is the only song I have by him in my library), but the one song I have was a very successful single called "Alert Status Red". It's driven by a pretty cool lead guitar riff and Good's voice is nothing special for me, but he sings a solid enough rock verse and things sound pretty catchy. The chorus Good sings is decent but a little repetitive but he does play some cool guitar. There's a decent little guitar solo midway through and Priske plays some decent bass in the background and all in all I think this is a worthy addition to the library e...

On the same day as my last release a new band joins my library when Seether released their second album "Disclaimer II" on June 15, 2004. But who are Seether? They are a three-piece rock band from Pretoria, South Africa consisting of drummer John Humphrey, bassist Dale Stewart and lead singer/guitarist Shaun Morgan. I'm not a huge Seether fan and I only have one song off this album: arguably Seether's most famous song. It's called "Broken" and it features guest vocals from Amy Lee of Evanescence! It's a slow and pretty sad song driven by some nice acoustic guitar by Morgan and his low, grunge-y voice sounds pretty smooth and solid overtop the acoustic riff. Amy joins in for the sappy but very well done chorus and the two of them together sounds pretty good. Amy sings the second verse and she sounds pretty great in this setting as well. Things are certainly sad, but they do an excellent job of keeping things epic. Throw in some epic strings for the lo...

A week after my last release a new band briefly joins my library when The Killers released their debut album "Hot Fuss" on June 15, 2004. But who are The Killers? They are a four-piece rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada consisting of drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr., bassist Mark Stoermer, guitarist Dave Keuning and lead singer/keyboardist Brandon Flowers. I'm not a huge Killers fan, with only two songs of theirs in my library, but they're both off this debut album and were both mega-singles that helped propel this album to #1 in the charts! The first one is easily their most popular song, "Mr. Brightside", and it's driven by a pretty undeniably catchy guitar riff. Flowers shows us his unique voice as he leads the way with a catchy verse overtop and there's a similarly catchy bridge that takes us to a pretty damn catchy chorus; that's a lot of catchiness, it's no wonder this song was a massive hit! Keuning plays some solid guitar throughout this son...

On the same day as my last release and a little under two years since "Alexisonfire", Alexisonfire released their second album "Watch Out!" on June 8, 2004. Alexisonfire are still playing the same post-hardcore style as their amazing debut, but there's definitely a bigger emphasis this album on Dallas Green's melodic singing and also a bit more experimentation. Let's see what that all sounds like!  The album kicks off with "Accidents" and it's deiven by a pretty catchy, albeit not that heavy guitar riff. The rest of the band joins in as the pace picks up and George Pettit sounds great screaming the verse overtop in his wonderfully high voice. George and Dallas combine nicely in a short bridge before Dallas takes over the chorus and he sounds pretty epic singing the chorus with a bunch of catchy "whoa-oh-oh"-ing in the background. After another unique and interesting round they quiet things right down as Chris Steele plays some pre...

A week after my last release a new band joins my library when Velvet Revolver released their debut album "Contraband" on June 8, 2004. But who is Velvet Revolver? They are a hard rock supergroup formed by former Guns 'N' Roses members Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass) and Matt Sorum (drums, percussion), former Wasted Youth member Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar), and formerly of Stone Temple Pilots, Scott Weiland (lead vocals). This album went straight to #1 on the charts upon release and was very popular, sporting four singles, all of which got significant radio airplay. Let's see what Velvet Revolver are all about! The album opens with "Sucker Train Blues" and McKagan is the backbone of the main riff with some cool bass as the rest of the band builds around him with a decent rock riff. Weiland sings quickly overtop in a solid verse and he sounds decent in the chorus holding lots of longer notes. Slash's guitar is solid but nothing too flashy unt...