Album of Arbitrary Time Period

Hello my good friends. I hope this entry finds you in a good time in your life, health and spirituality. This entry is going to be pretty short as I covered so much in the last entry. I am writing because I did pick up the new album by Dragonforce. "Ultra Beatdown". Dragonforce is one of those guilty pleasures, thanks to their uplifting yet power metal sound. The easiest way to describe them is if Journey and Slayer formed to make some sort of super group.

This album showed a most definite progression in the band. Sure they still play fast but there's a lyricism in it now as the group matures. The keyboards are bit more prominent and another excellent metal ballad (a forgotten art these days, the power ballad) graces this album. Overall, I think they still have a lot of room to grow, composition wise, as their songs still sometimes sound the same. If you're looking for a happy album, but still want to get your metal on, Dragonforce's "Ultra Beatdown" is the way to go.

Summary
Uniqueness: 8
Composition: 7
Vocals: 8
Instrumental: 9
Value: 8
OVERALL: 8.5

Just as a side note, also on that shopping trip, I picked up Rock Band 2 and some vinyl. Rock Band 2 is of course, cool. Great song selection. And if you own Rock Band 1, you can download just about all the tracks for $5 from the original disc. Also all your downloaded tracks still work in Rock Band 2.

As for the vinyl I bought, I found some great stuff, as I bulk up my AC/DC and Journey vinyl collection. I even found my favorite Journey album, "Frontiers" which features "Separate Ways" and "Open Arms". I also found Queen's "Jazz" album. Very cool. I love Bicycle Race. Its interesting that the cuts on that album are slightly different than the ones on the Queen's Greatest Hits album.

Alright my friends, I wish you a good night. Please, October 5th at the Catonsville Library, 2pm. The brass quintet will be rockin' the house! No cover. We'll have treats! Let me know if you need directions!!!

Explorations

Hello friend(s). I write to you with fond greetings and a grasp at being entertained.

In my quest to find myself entertained, I took a journey to the local Super Walmart which just opened its doors to my Baltimore suburb. It is a bittersweet thing. As much as I despise walmart for censoring song lyrics on albums, thus making me go to a local record store to get my new copy of the Avenged Sevenfold CD. But they did happen to have, set up in demo mode, "Rock Band".

"Rock Band" is a new game coming out from the original designers of Guitar Hero, that not only allows you to play guitar, but drums, bass, and even be a vocalist! I played this demo for an hour, mot of it with a complete stranger on guitar. We became an amazing band. It will be coming out for PS2 on December 11, so I have started saving my pennies already. I may even...trade in....Guitar Hero III to help pay for it.

As I mentioned above about having to go to a local record store to pick up a CD. Thanks to the Walmart policy of censoring, it helped me rediscover the coolness of the "Record and Tape Traders" store in Catonsville. A whole section dedicated to metal. I'm in heaven. While picking up Avenged Sevenfold's new CD, which is incredible, as they continue what they did last album with amazing arrangements, and great vocals, with wonderful lyrics. Its a must buy. Back on topic though, I was able to also pick up another Dream Theater album, and an actual album by Dragonforce. This store not only had the albums I wanted and uncensored, but the CDs were a dollar cheaper. I spent 45 minutes in this little store just browsing. I was never bothered nor did I get odd looks for browsing metal, or buying the groups I was buying. It was a great shopping experience. Not to mention that the CDs I bought, all three of them, stellar.

Well my friends, I hope you find your drum heads tuned and your fills even and intriguing.