A Chronological History of my Music Library

A week after my last release a new band joins my library when Skillet released their fifth album "Collide" on November 18, 2003. But who is Skillet? They are a four-piece Christian rock band from Memphis, Tennessee consisting of the only remaining original member John L. Cooper (lead vocals, bass), his wife Korey Cooper (keyboards), Ben Kasica (guitars) and Lori Peters (drums, percussion). I'm not a huge Skillet fan by any means, but I do have three songs off this album, all of them singles. The first one is "Open Wounds" and it's got a pretty catchy and smooth main riff and Cooper sounds solid overtop singing in a quiet voice. Once he gets louder he sounds much more mainstream and average (but still decent) and the heavy shift from the guitars in the chorus sounds great as Cooper sings a catchy chorus overtop. It's easy to see why this one was a single, it's catchy the whole way through and everything sounds pretty cool. It's the perfect mix of ...

A week after my last release and nearly two years since "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence", Dream Theater released their seventh album "Train Of Thought" on November 11, 2003. Mike Portnoy said that due to the positive live response of their heavier songs he wanted to make this album as dark and heavy as possible. I definitely like the sound of that! It's still very progressive with 5 songs over the 10 minute mark. Let's check out the latest from Dream Theater! The album kicks off with "As I Am" and they do a great job with this super slow opening as Portnoy plays some epic drums and John Petrucci enters with a slow, but super loud and heavy guitar riff. Things build and build until they shift nicely into a faster version of this same riff as John Myung plays some nice faster bass in the background and Jordan Rudess echoes Petrucci with some epic keyboards. James LaBrie finally joins the mix over a minute and a half in and he sounds like his typical...

Two years since their last album "From Enslavement To Obliteration" and just under a year since the EP "Mentally Murdered", Napalm Death released their third album "Harmony Corruption" on July 30, 1990. With the change of the decade comes a lot of personnel changes as lead singer Lee Dorrian and guitarist Bill Steer have left the band. Napalm Death becomes a five-piece for the first time as Mark "Barney" Greenway becomes the new lead vocalist and there are now two guitarists: Mitch Harris and Jesse Pintado. Napalm Death continue to build off their last EP with a mix of grindcore and slower heavy metal, but how will all these changes affect their style? Let's find out! The album kicks off with "Vision Conquest" and the music on this one is still very typical with some super fast guitars, bass and of course some crazy fast drums from Mick Harris. Greenway is definitely a different singer than we're used to as he yells in a low voi...

A day after my last release and two years since "Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live Forever", Explosions in the Sky released their third album "The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place" on November 4, 2003. Explosions are still playing post-rock and like their last album there are lots (all really) of long songs, with the shortest song being over eight minutes still! Let's check out the latest from these Texas soft rockers! The album begins with "First Breath After Coma" and it starts with an echoing, pinging guitar riff that turns into a kind-of trippy and cool background riff. Chris Hrasky plays some slow, epic drums to match the mood, and the other guitarist (either Munaf Rayani or Mark Smith) adds a pretty epic riff of his own. This all combines for a very space-y and typical Explosions sound and as the volume increases things sound even better with some nice loud drums. Things quiet down again after about four and a ...

Just under a year since their last album, and their last EP "The Curse", Napalm Death released their second EP "Mentally Murdered" on August 29, 1989. This is the first release to show signs of moving away from their grindcore style as Napalm Death dabble in a more standard heavy metal style at times. Let's check out another EP! This EP kicks off with "Rise Above" and it begins with a solid metal riff that is still decently paced, just slow by Napalm Death standards until they eventually shift into a more typical, furious style. Lee Dorrian goes really low with his vocals on this one and my head was banging the whole way through this pretty heavy tune! Words will continue to not do proper justice as all these "typical" riffs are unique and pretty sweet! Up next is "The Missing Link" and Bill Steer plays an interesting stop-and-start riff in between all of the constant Insanity and Mick Harris's drums are just batshit crazy as us...

On the same day as their last release, and physically released with the album "From Enslavement To Obliteration", Napalm Death included a bonus EP called "The Curse" on September 16, 1988. It's only just over five minutes long and the title track is over three of those five minutes! The EP kicks off with the title track "The Curse" and it's driven by some super slow and loud guitars and bass with Mick Harris adding some cool slow drums as well. It sounds like a cannon is being fired on slow repeat as well and this song is very atypical for Napalm Death with it's super, super slow pace and no vocals! The final minute is just the cannon with no more music and it's honestly a pretty boring song. Up next is "Musclehead" and it's much more typical at just 50 seconds long and the grindcore style we're used to! Lee Dorrian is screaming his head off in a very high voice and I love how long he holds the final scream of the song, he...