A Chronological History of my Music Library

Happy New Year! Five weeks since my last release and 16 months since their last EP "Mimi Kajiru", Maximum the Hormone released their third EP "Kusoban" on January 21, 2004. Maximum the Hormone are still the same crazy nu-metal band they've always been, they still don't have a full-length album, but it's EP #3, here we go! The EP kicks off with "Koi No Sweet Kuso Meriken" and Nao sings the first part which makes things sound very light and pop-y, then Maximum the Ryokun takes over with his classic singing style and the heavy guitars are front and centre. They segue nicely into the first verse where Daisuke-Han sounds great screaming his head off, hitting some low and high notes! It's overtop a nice headbanging riff and Things sound pretty great! Things briefly return to the pop-y opening, which turns out to be the chorus and it's a clash of different styles that they make work pretty nicely! Obviously I like the heavy verse better, but t...

A little over a year and a half since their last album "Fear, Emptiness, Despair", Napalm Death released their sixth album "Diatribes" on January 26, 1996. Napalm Death continue the experimentation that dominated their last album as they delve deeper into this more standard, less grindcore metal style. Let's see what their latest has to offer! The album kicks off with "Greed Killing" and it's got a cool stop-and-start main riff leading the way. Things are still solidly heavy, but it's the same muted, toned down style of production as the last album which takes away from the excitement of things. Barney Greenway sounds solid shouting overtop and this song is a little repetitive, but still a solid choice for the opener. Up next is "Glimpse Into Genocide" and Danny Herrera is playing some fast and cool drums right from the get-go to back a slower main guitar riff and they work fairly well together. Greenway's vocals are very monotone...

Six days after my last release a new band joins my library when Riverside released their debut album "Out Of Myself" on December 15, 2003. But who is Riverside? They are a four-piece progressive rock/metal band from Warsaw, Poland consisting of frontman Mariusz Duda (vocals, bass, acoustic guitar), guitarist Piotr Grudzinski, keyboardist Jacek Melnicki and drummer Piotr Kozieradzki. Riverside are more rock than metal, but they can be heavy at times and they are pretty progressive and space-y most of the time with a very epic style of prog-rock. Let's see what Riverside is all about! The album kicks off with the twelve minute song "The Same River" and it begins with someone flipping through the radio (including a snippet of "Hotel California") before they settle into a space-y main riff. Melnicki plays some epic droning synths, Duda plays some pretty cool bass and Grudzinski adds some slow, epic guitar to this pretty epic and cool opening. Eventually th...

Two years since their last album "Utopia Banished", Napalm Death released their fifth album "Fear, Emptiness, Despair" on May 2, 1994. This would be Napalm Death's most experimental album so far and while there is of course still some grindcore elements, there are a lot of slower-paced (by their standards) songs and different, atypical styles for Napalm Death as these guys try to branch out a bit. I loved their return to grindcore last album so I'm not sure how I feel about experimentation, but let's listen before we judge! The album begins with "Twist The Knife (Slowly)" and immediately we're hit with a much different sound than we're used to. It reminds of the difference between Slayer's sixth album "Divine Intervention" and their following studio album "Diabolus In Musica": just like Slayer, Napalm Death have decided to slow things down a bit and (in my opinion) overproduce the music. Shane Embury's bass i...

Two weeks after my last release and three years since "Conspiracy Of One", The Offspring released their seventh album "Splinter" on December 9, 2003. This is the first Offspring album that I don't have, I found it to be a big step down from even their last album, but I do have the album's lead single "Hit That". It's got a techno-y beat that I usually don't go for, but they make it work on this catchy song and it still has some cool guitars by Noodles and some catchy piano! Dexter Holland sings a pretty catchy verse and it leads into a pretty damn catchy chorus as well! They stick to this main drag, but it's a no-brainer for a single and an undeniably solid song. It's too bad the rest of the album was nowhere near as good. 

Three days after my last release and two and a half years since "One Day I'll Be On Time", The Album Leaf released their second EP "Seal Beach" on November 24, 2003. Jimmy LaValle is still playing the same style of post-rock and after a long break we get another EP. Let's check out the latest from The Album Leaf! The EP begins with "Malmo" and it fades in quietly before a lead piano riff takes over. LaValle's piano is slow but pretty space-y and cool and it's backed by some electronic drums, which are usually not my favourite, but they actually sound decently catchy here. As the song flows on the drums get faster and more involved with more weird percussion noises and this all sounds pretty cool as LaValle continues to lead the way on piano. Things slow down after a couple minutes as an echo-y new keyboard riff takes the lead, with the piano still going in the background and this adds an extra trippy element to things before the drums retur...