A Chronological History of my Music Library

Two weeks after my last release and two years since "Invitation To The Dance", 40 Below Summer released their third album "The Mourning After" on October 28, 2003. 40 Below Summer continue to play the same style of nu-metal and this album was their most successful commercially and spawned two singles. Let's check it out!  The album kicks off with it's lead single "Self Medicate" and they jump right into a nice hard-hitting main riff with both Jordan Plingos and Joey D'Amato playing some different, cool guitars. Max Illidge sounds solid singing for the most part and he mixes in some nice high screams to keep things sounding fresh and solid. The chorus is pretty catchy and solid and I can see why this was the lead single. After another round Hector Graziani plays a cool new bass riff and everyone follows suite with a pretty banging new part that sounds really sweet! They close it out with a final chorus and this was a great opener I thought! Up n...

A new band joins my library, but to introduce them we've got to go way back to the 80's! On July 1, 1987 Napalm Death released their debut album "Scum", and I'm just discovering it in 2026! Who is Napalm Death? They are pioneers of a genre known as grindcore and while they started as a 3-piece this album is unique in my library in that the two sides of the album are performed by two different line-ups! Side A was recorded nearly a year before this album's release as a 3-piece with Nicholas Bullen on lead vocals and bass, Justin Broadrick on guitar and Mick Harris on drums. Side B was recorded just a couple months before the release as a four-piece and drummer Mick Harris is the only remaining original member, and we're not even done their debut album yet! He's joined by bassist Jim Whitely, guitarist Bill Steer and lead singer Lee Dorrian. Both sides play the same grindcore style, but what is grindcore? It's extremely, blindingly fast music that is...

Two weeks after my last release a new band joins my library when Trivium released their debut album "Ember To Inferno" on October 14, 2003. But who is Trivium? They are a 3-piece thrash metal band from Orlando, Florida consisting of Travis Smith (drums, percussion), Brent Young (bass) and frontman Matt Heafy (lead vocals, guitars). Trivium draw inspiration from Metallica and other 80s thrash metal bands, but Heafy does a fairly even split of singing and screaming so it's a heavier style of thrash. Let's see what Trivium is all about! The album opens with a short intro called "Inception: The Bleeding Skies" and it's actually a 35 second snippet of the album's final track, but played in reverse! The cymbals and slow, epic guitar sound interesting in reverse for sure and this sets the stage for "Pillars Of Serpents" where Heafy comes out firing with some fast, thrash-y guitar that sounds loud and heavy. Smith's drums are fast and solid as ...

Six days after my last release a new band joins my library when Oceansize released their debut album "Effloresce" on September 29, 2003. But who is Oceansize? They are a five-piece progressive/alternative rock band from Manchester, England consisting of Mike Vennart (guitar, lead vocals), Steve Durose and Richard Ingram (guitars), Jon Ellis (bass, keyboards) and Mark Heron (drums, percussion). Oceansize play a style of rock that definitely falls under alternative, but there are several long songs and at over 75 minutes they are pretty progressive as well. Let's see what Oceansize is all about! The album kicks off with "I Am The Morning" and it's got some space-y guitars that are slow and smooth as we hear all three guitarists and some keyboards combine for a psychedelic/progressive opening. When the drums kick in one of the guitarists goes a bit heavier and it's an interesting mix of sounds that all sounds pretty cool! This opening song is actually instr...

A week after my last release and two years since "Silver Side Up", Nickelback released their fourth album "The Long Road" on September 23, 2003. I'm still not a huge Nickelback fan, but I do have a few songs off this album, all of them pretty succesful singles. The first one is "Someday" and it's driven by a pretty catchy acoustic guitar riff and Chad Kroeger sings a solid post-grunge verse overtop. The loud, electric guitars come in for the chorus and Kroeger sings a decently catchy, very accessible chorus overtop. It's easy to see why this was a huge single as it's very easy smooth and easy to get into. After the next round we even get a brief guitar solo, and while it fits the mood nicely it's pretty basic. Still an undeniably catchy tune! My next big single is "Feelin' Way Too Damn Good" and it's also driven by a catchy acoustic guitar. Kroeger sings about how something has to go wrong because everything is going s...

It's a double release day! On the same day as my last release and over three years since "Mer De Noms", A Perfect Circle released their second album "Thirteenth Step" on September 16, 2003. Billy Howerdel does just guitars on this album as Jeordie White (aka Twiggy Ramirez from Marilyn Manson!) joins the band as their full-time bassist. Troy van Leeuwen and Paz Lenchantin are still credited as members, though the former only plays on three songs and the latter on only the final track! This album was written as more of a band collaboration as opposed to their debut which was largely written by Howerdel and it's got a softer, more atmospheric sound than their more hard rock debut. Let's check out the latest from A Perfect Circle! The album kicks off with the near eight-minute "The Package" and Billy Howerdel plays a light but pretty cool guitar riff to drive things and Josh Freese follows along with some solid drumming as well. Van Leeuwen adds s...