A Chronological History of my Music Library

A little over two years since their last album Napalm Death released their tenth album "Order of the Leech" on October 21, 2002. After 7 albums of the same line-up we have a change as guitarist Jesse Pintado is no longer with the band. He is not replaced as Mitch Harris takes over all the guitar duties and Napalm Death return to being a four-piece. Let's see if less is more on this latest effort! The album begins with "Continuing War On Stupidity" and Harris leads the way with a cool sliding guitar riff while Shane Embury and Danny Herrera provide your typical grindcore rhythm section: that means they're going insanely fast and things sound pretty heavy! Barney Greenway comes in with his usual barking vocals and he is just belting his head off with tons of nice high screams. The chorus has Greenway screaming "Thatcher, Reagan, Bush - that's one three-headed beast. It's the loathing behind the eyes!" and it's a short but to the point cho...

On the same day as my last release and about two and a half years since their debut EP "Three Neuron Kings", Disillusion released their first album "Back To Times Of Splendor" on April 6, 2004. Disillusion fully embrace their progressivesness on this first full-length release with no song shorter than 4:53 and two that are over 14 minutes long! Let's check out their first full album! The album kicks off with "...And The Mirror Cracked" and Vurtox is of course in the spotlight with a pretty sweet lead guitar riff while Rajk Barthel plays some nice heavy rhythm guitar as well. Jens Maluschka plays some pretty fast and cool drums as well and once Vurtox starts to scream overtop in a solid low voice everything sounds pretty headbangingly sweet! Vurtox sings in the chorus and his singing is just decent still, but the music continues to sound great. After a couple pretty cool rounds they show off some nice progressiveness with a smooth segue into a softer ne...

A year since their cover EP and two years since "Words From The Exit Wound", Napalm Death released their ninth album "Enemy Of The Music Business" on September 25, 2000". Napalm Death have finally moved away from their experimental 90s period and return to more of their traditional grindcore sound. Sounds good to me, let's check it out! The albul kicks off with the short "Taste The Poison" and they jump right into a not grindcore, but pretty fast-paced main riff and Barney Greenway sounds pretty great alternating low and high screams. It doesn't take long for them to switch to an even faster riff though and it's nice to hear Napalm Death firing on all cylinders once again! Shane Embury's bass sounds distorted and solid in the background and this is a fitting way to kick off their return to their roots! Up next is "Next On The List" and Danny Herrera is playing a pretty cool drumbeat that is slightly offbeat but still super fa...

Two weeks after my last release and about five years since his last appearance in my library, DJ Tiësto released his second album "Just Be" on April 6, 2004. I'm still not a fan of trance music for the large majority, but there is one song off this album that I like, and it's called "Adagio For Strings". It's got a really annoying electronic drum beat, but what makes this song cool is that it starts with just one beat/rhythm going on and they slowly add more and more until there's about 10 different things happening simultaneously and by that point things actually sound pretty cool! Then things quiet right down and we move into a super trance-y, psychedelic part that is also pretty space-y and crazy, albeit a little repetitive. Then he somehow combine these two very different riffs into one, and that is a whole other beast in itself! This is probably the beat trance song I've ever heard! It's got that club, headbanging vibe, but there's s...

It's a triple release day! Just six months since the EP "The Sea & The Rhythm" and a year and a half since his debut "The Creek Drank The Cradle", Iron & Wine released their second album "Our Endless Numbered Days" on March 23, 2004. While both previous releases were recorded by just Sam Beam, this is the first album where Beam has some help and a full band with him! Joining Beam is Brian Deck (drums, percussion, keyboards), EJ Holowicki (bass) and Patrick McKinney (electric guitar). Obviously going from just Sam and his guitar to a whole band is going to give Iron & Wine a different feel; let's see what a full line-up can do! The album begins with "On Your Wings" and Beam plays a soft acoustic riff to keep the pace then sings a soft verse in his typical high voice. He adds some banjo to the mix for some twang that I'm not a big fan of, but his guitar and singing sound good as you'd expect. After almost three minutes b...

Somehow I missed this song last year, but on October 21, 2003 there was a compilation album released called "Punk Goes Acoustic" where various punk bands played acoustic songs. One of those songs is a new song by Rise Against called "Swing Life Away" and the main acoustic riff is pretty catchy. Tim McIlrath sings a catchy, pop-y verse overtop and the chorus is even more catchy and relatable: "We get by just fine here on minimum wage. If love is a labor i'll slave till the end". This is a pretty simple song, but it's really well done and it's undeniably catchy, a worthy addition to the library I somehow missed last year!