Every week I receive multiple CD’s from multiple bands, covering many different styles of rock. Occasionally, I receive CD’s from bands like Insomnium, who do me the favor of combining multiple musical styles on to one disc.

Since the Day it all Came Down is the second album from Finnish rockers Insomnium. While at its roots the album is Swedish melodic death metal, the band begins throwing curve balls right out of the gate. In fact, the first few minutes of the album contain more piano than blast beats. In the long run, Insomnium does little to add to the style of music that fans of Opeth and In Flames are already familiar with. But what they do manage to do is crank out a solid album that neither embarasses the genre or the band in any fashion, and give us just a little taste of a band that’s beginning to break out of a mold and begin creating their own.

For those not familiar with the term “melodic death metal”, I’d describe the sound as “death metal plus”. All the basics of death metal are there: duel guitar leads, blast beats and kick drums galore, and plenty of screaming. On top of the that, the band adds plenty of extras, like keyboards intros and a varied pace. It’s almost like mixing death metal with doom metal. It’s heavy, but it’s not 100 miles per hour straight forward the entire time. There’s plenty of growling and screaming, but there are some (gasp) harmonies here too. The guitars can be exchanging leads one minute, and acoustic the next.

Insomnium’s first album sounded like every other Swedish band playing melodic death metal. While Since the Day it all Came Down doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, it does show that the band is beginning to develop their own style and sound. The longer these guys are together the more original they are going to become.

Ok, I’ll admit it. I downloaded and watched Rob Zombie’s new horror film House of 1000 Corpses early. I’ll also admit to being a huge Zombie fanboy, and to being extremely excited about this movie and this soundtrack. House of 1000 Corpses (the movie) has Rob Zombie’s fingerprints all over it. The movie looks like his music sounds — rough, gritty, and full of samples from other horror flicks. With a musician behind the project, it only makes sense that the film’s soundtrack would receive strong focus and promotion as well. It has, and as if the horror film everybody’s been waiting two years to get to see needed any more hype, Geffen has now released the soundtrack to the film two weeks before the movie’s debut. Offering a little something for everyone, the soundtrack contains a mix of new songs, old songs, soundtrack pieces, film samples, and “a big surprise” at the end (spoiled for you in about four paragraphs).

First up is Rob Zombie himself, who brings to the table five brand new songs: “Everybody Scream,” “Run Rabbit Run,” “Pussy Liquor,” “Little Piggy,” and the title track. Most of the tunes are slower paced than what we’re used to hearing from Zombie. Just as the film is a nod to 70’s horror, most of Zombie’s original songs on the soundtrack are a nod to 70’s horror music. Never before has Rob Zombie sounded so much like Marilyn Manson than on the album’s title track — maybe it’s that same, eerie keyboard sample they both use. And if you think that’s weird, both the title track and “Pussy Liquor” both remind me of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” in different ways. Go figure. Anyway, Zombie’s five new tracks are much closer pace-wise to “Living Dead Girl” than “Dragula.” Those waiting for a new White Zombie album can keep on waiting.

Several classic tracks found their way onto the track list as well. For those who haven’t seen the movie, track selections such as Slim Whitman’s “I Remember You,” Buck Owens’ “Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass,” and particularly Helen Kane’s “I Wanna Be Loved By You” will seem out of place. And even to those of use who have seen the movie, the songs seem more like speed bumps than additions to the set list. The best classic track (and maybe the best song of the album) is the Ramones’ “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue.”

In between songs, listeners are treated to movie samples and musical pieces from the film. The movie samples consist of 30 second clips from the film of people saying creepy stuff. “Oh I remember now,” one begins, “Doctor Satan! Goddamnnit everybody got to know about Doctor Satan. You know what I’m gonna do boy? I’m gonna do you a favor. I’m gonna let you meet the old bastard. It’s all true. The boogeyman is real. And you found him.” The musical soundscapes, while slightly longer in length, are similar in quality. While I admit to being a card-carrying Rob Zombie fan, and the musical pieces are okay to listen to once or twice, Dean Kamen or Danny Elfman he ain’t.

The big “surprise” at the end of the album is Rob Zombie’s cover version of the Commodores’ classic, “Brickhouse,” complete with guest performances by Lionel Ritchie, a rapper named Trina, and some chick who screams “harder, faster, oh yeah baby, give it to me!” long enough and loud enough to make even ME blush. And just when you think a nu-metal version of “Brickhouse” featuring both Lionel Ritchie and Rob Zombie on vocals couldn’t get any worse, the song breaks down to a female (Trina, I assume) rapping. “When I walk, nigga’s whistle/I keep ’em harder than a missile/when I’m doing my thisso.” I’m guessing this is the first Zombie track to include the words “my thisso” in it.

I’m sure there will be many people like myself who buy this soundtrack just to support Rob Zombie. The rest of the masses, who will pick this up either because they were looking for “Rob Zombie Solo Album Number 3” or perhaps just liked the film, will undoubtedly dump this CD into the nearest used bin by the thousands, where it will sit next to the thousands of “Beavis and Butthead Do America,” “Howard Stern’s Private Parts,” and “Airheads” soundtracks I see at every pawn shop. The original Zombie songs aren’t that good and the other songs are weird, which just leaves us with musical soundscapes, samples, and Lionel Ritchie.

Say you, say me. Say pass.

01. Howdy Folks
02. House Of 1000 Corpses – Rob Zombie
03. Saddle Up The Mule
04. Everybody Scream – Rob Zombie
05. Stuck In The Mud
06. Holy Miss Moley
07. Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass – Buck Owens
08. Run Rabbit Run – Rob Zombie
09. Into The Pit
10. Something For You Men
11. I Wanna Be Loved By You – Helen Kane
12. Pussy Liquor – Rob Zombie
13. Scarecrow Attack
14. My Baby Boy
15. Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue – Ramones
16. Investigation And The Smokehouse
17. The Bigger The Cushion
18. I Remember You – Slim Whitman
19. Drive Out The Rabbit
20. Mary’s Escape
21. Little Piggy – Rob Zombie
22. Ain’t The Only Thing Tasty
23. Dr. Satan
24. Brickhouse 2003 – Rob Zombie
25. To The House

Agoraphobia is Holy Mother’s fifth album in ten years.

Yeah, I know. I hadn’t heard of them either.

In Holy Mother’s bio, they refer to this album as “dynamic power metal with a license to bang your head.” Combine that with the two following facts. One, the band includes members and ex-members of Messiah’s Kiss, yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Virgin Steele, Gothic Nights, and Victory. Two, lead singer and founder Mike Tirelli cites his influences as “Dio, Halford, Coverdale and Tate”, and also plays in a Dio cover band.

I’ll continue the review for the sake of tradition, but you should probably know by this point if Agoraphobia is for you.

“Dynamic power metal” translates to “sounds like Skid Row” — and while that might sound good to a few of us, most metal heads are looking for a bit more modern and heavier these days. Fans of classic Judas Priest and Armored Saint will be in heaven, as Holy Mother’s classic metal sound stays pretty much true to the godfathers of the genre.

Agoraphobia means “an abnormal fear of open or public places.” Expanding on that idea, each song on Agoraphobia deals with a different fear or phobia, spanning from anxiety to schizophrenia to nymphomania. While tracks like “Hungry for Exxstacy” and “Sheer Erotica” probably won’t take the place of a trip to the psychiatrist any time soon, the effort put forth is noted. It is CDs such as this one that make me think that the “album” format isn’t going away any time soon. Sure, you could download individual tracks from this disc, but in this case, the sum is greater than the parts.

Even though Agoraphobia contains tuned down guitars, listeners will have no trouble distinguishing the difference between Holy Mother and nu-metal. Rockin’ guitars, plenty of kick drums, and wide open vocals establish Agoraphobia as a listenable but overall uninspired power metal album.

Up until the mid-1990s, local bands were for the most part just that: local. Prior to the Internet, YouTube and MySpace, there was no free global market for local bands to pimp their music.

Back in 1996 (originally through computer BBSes and later, the Internet) I struck up a friendship with a fellow from Columbia, South Carolina. While our common interests initially revolved around computers, we soon discovered we had similar tastes in music as well. Based on that, my friend mailed me a four-song demo from a local, unsigned band: Hollow Kriez. I may be the only person in Oklahoma with a copy of this tape, which is actually a shame; Hollow Kriez is a pretty decent band.

The Time Has Come…, the four-song demo from Hollow Kriez, is a solid early offering from the four piece Columbia metal band.

The opening song is probably all most people would need to decide if Hollow Kriez is for them. After a pounding introduction full of double bass, the song divides itself into equal parts thrash and groove metal. In early press material the band compared themselves to Slayer and Pantera, and while there are whisps of those bands floating around, the breakdown in the middle of the first song is all Crowbar.

None of the tape’s four tracks are filler. “Hatred” features a galloping drum track with grooved guitars sprinkled over the top; “Heaven’s War” is probably responsible for those “early Metallica” comparisons — some of the vocals are a bit rough and the main riff may be the tape’s most forgettable; album closer “Fate” redeems the package, starting with another brutal drum attack and bringing the pace of the album back with a bit of respectable thrash.

Over the years I lost contact with my Columbian friend and I’ve often wondered what happened to Hollow Kriez. This week, twelve years after originally receiving this cassette, I found out. They became Undefined. They’re still making and recording music, and even kept a few old Hollow Kriez tunes in their set list. If you’re closer to Columbia, South Carolina than I am, be sure to pick up a copy of their latest CD.

01. Hollow Kriez
02. Hatred
03. Heaven’s War
04. Fate

Every now and then a band comes along and reminds us what rock and roll is all about. It’s not spending ten thousand dollars on the right microphone, wasting two weeks in a studio getting a guitar solo just right, or having all the red M&M’s picked out of your candy dish backstage.

It’s about rocking. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Hog Molly.

Tad Doyle (yes, from TAD!) is back and he’s not taking names this time. After his first band got dropped from Warner Brothers in ’94, Tad’s been regrouping. The band, even without a major label deal, continued to grind until 1999 when they finally called it quits. Tad (the band) was known for being loud, sweaty, slow and low rock and roll. Hog Molly is all that and more.

I love albums that sound like they were recorded live. I know that “Kung Fu Cocktail Grip” probably wasn’t, but it sounds like it was. It has the same production sound that Rollin’s “The End of Silence” did – like four guys just showed up in the studio, kicked ass, and left. The guitars are loud and loose, the bass drives right up the middle, the drumming is frenzied, and of course Tad’s vocals are right out front. The songs are mostly riff-driven, with the riffs divided up between guitar and bass.

So what does a band with a 300+ pound lead singer/bass player sound like? Exactly how you think it would. Heavy, sweaty, sticky, sludge rock. Don’t expect samples or drum machines on this disc, Hog Molly is bringing straight forward rock and roll back to the masses. The lyrics are fairly light-weight – there’s songs about racing, drinking, partying, fighting, and a few other vices. One of my favorite songs is “Short Bus,” where Tad points out that there’s “No stress on the short bus,” so just “take a tip from the kids on the short bus, they always wave.”

I always felt Tad’s biggest problem was that they got thrown in with the grunge scene because they were from Washington. There’s nothing in this music that sounds like Pearl Jam or Nirvana.

Rock is coming back, and Hog Molly is leading the charge. Definately pick this disc up – it’s perfect music to dance, drive, and fight to.

Just after hearing Scott “Wino” Weinrich’s vocals on a Probot demo track a couple of weeks ago, I really started craving some new music from the man. Fortunately for me, two days later Divine Propaganda by The Hidden Hand appeared in my mailbox. Woo hoo!

The Hidden Hand is Wino’s (Saint Vitus, Obsessed, Spirit Caravan, Place of Skulls) latest project. If you haven’t heard of any of those bands, put down the mouse and drive to the nearest record store. Wino created the stoner rock/doom bandwagon being ridden by bands everywhere today.

That being said, The Hidden Hand’s Divine Propaganda doesn’t far too fall from the tree which he planted. Lyrically, the album is more political and less religious than Place of Skulls’ album. Musically, the CD is dead on. While the style and songs themselves tip their hat to the masters of reality, the band never comes off as a Sabbath cover band. In fact, the band injects several different music styles into their music – including lots of blues and progressive moments, all wrapped in warm fuzz. A few of the tracks get a little long in their extended “freak-out” sections, but eventually they are roped back in and the rocking continues.

There’s so much here that it was tough for me to make it all the way through this CD the first time. Some of the songs are so interesting and heavy that I ended up listening to them two or three times before moving on. Any fans of stoner rock, doom, 70’s rock, good ol’ rock and roll or just Wino himself should check out Divine Propaganda.

When I opened this album, my first thought was, “please don’t let this be yet another tribute disc consisting of unknown death metal and industrial bands doing bad covers.” Fortunately, the CD turned out to contain a pretty even split between known and unknown bands, with a noticable lacking in the “bad death metal and industrial covers” department.

Some of the covers like Electric Frankenstein’s “High Voltage”, Fukemos’ “Thunderstuck” and Honky’s “Dirty Deeds” stick true to AC/DC’s originals, while others like Upper Crust’s “Back in Black”, Dwarves’ “Big Balls” and Ironboss’ “Whole Lotta Rosie” pump some originality into these classic songs. Regardless of the takes on the songs, all the bands seem to encompass that whole “AC/DC rock and roll” attitude, which is what this disc is really about.

I’ve sat here for an hour, listing to this disc and trying to think of something more to say. Check out the track listing. If you like what you see, pick it up — it’s definitely $10 well spent. Other than that, I can’t really think of anything else of say. Chalk this up as my shortest review ever.

No applause, please.

01. Chapstik – Beating Around The Bush
02. Upper Crust – Back In Black
03. Electric Frankenstein – High Voltage
04. REO Speedealer – Rocker
05. Ironboss – Whole Lotta Rosie
06. Zeke – Downpayment Blues
07. Dwarves – Big Balls
08. Chrome Cranks – Dog Eat Dog
09. Honky – Dirty Deeds
10. Supersuckers – Rock and Roll Singer
11. Lollipop – Girl’s Got Rhythm
12. Voltage – Riff Raff
13. Fuckemos – Thunderstruck

Despite Hearse’s claims of being a “Swedish melodic death metal” band, there’s a hell of a lot more to them than that. During my first listen to Armageddon, Mon Amour, the sophomore offering from the band, I also heard a lot of Gorefest, Entombed, and good old-fashioned thrash thrown in the mix for good measure as well.

Don’t get me wrong; I can see where the melodic death metal comparisons come from. “Mountain of the Solar Eclipse”, the opening track of the disc, is filled with double bass and death-like single stringed riffs. But when the solos kick in, the track takes a serious turn toward the thrash metal genre. And that’s really the basis of this CD — 11 kick ass heavy tunes with a death metal sound and vocals combined with thrashy riffs. The songs have so many little parts and influences that it would be hard for me to classify this as anything but simply “heavy”.

Johan Liiva (ex-Arch Enemy) delivers his patented gravelly howls constantly throughout the disc which probably adds to the death metal comparisons. Listen to Liiva’s performance, and you’ll realize what so many other bands have been trying to do over the years. In fact,the whole album’s like this — it’s simply a guide on what to do “right” for so many other bands who have failed trying. The vocals are just one of the great performances on the disc. A couple of minutes into “Crops of Waste” there’s a breakdown that will show you just how tight these guys really are. Tracks like “Cambodia” and “Tool” show off the band as a whole.

I haven’t written much this week for the simple fact that I’ve had Hearse’s Armageddon, Mon Amour stuck in my car CD player for the past several days. Hearse hasn’t tried to reinvent the wheel; rather, they’ve taken classic metal influences and combined them rather perfectly into something new.

01. Mountain Of The Solar Eclipse
02. Turncoat
03. Crops Of Waste
04. In Love And War
05. Ticket To Devastation
06. Tools
07. Cambodia
08. Sodi
09. Play Without Rules
10. Determination
11. Armageddon, Mon Amour

Despite whether or not you personally enjoy his work, Rob Zombie knows how to tell a story. Whether through music, movies, or simply speaking, the guy does a good job of stringing together interesting tales. The soundtrack to Zombie’s latest film, a remake of the 1978 classic horror film Halloween, is no different.

What is different this time around is the lack of original material. (Then again, I’m still trying to forget Zombie’s version of “Brick House 2003” from his House of 1000 Corpses Soundtrack (Review.) Zombie’s Halloween sountrack consists of twelve tracks: two Tyler Bates scored tracks from the film (“Halloween Theme 2007” and “The Shape that Stalks Laurie”), and ten classic hits from the 70s. Each of the twelve tracks are preceeded by a short sample from the film, bringing the overall number of tracks to twenty-four.

The first half of Zombie’s remake takes place in the 1970s, focusing on Michael Myers’ childhood. Songs from that era have been pulled and used to connect the samples and tell a complete story. After seeing the film and listening to the soundtrack I doubt you’ll think of Nazareth’s “Love Hurts” and KISS’s “God of Thunder” in the same light. In that regard, Zombie is able to breath new life into old tunes.

Production quality varies among the presented tracks, with some of the older tracks such as The Misfits’ “Halloween II” and Iggy Pop’s “1969” sounding muted and under produced compared to the others. Then again, I’m pretty sure both of those artists would take that as a compliment. Most of these songs originally appeared on 8-tracks anyway; I’m guessing “high”-fidelity had a completely different meaning back then.

Although the music presented here is all essentually kid-friendly, the in-between movie samples are definitely not. While some of the soundtrack’s songs (like Alice Cooper’s “Only Women Bleed”) may have been controversial when they were originally recorded, there’s nothing offensive contained within. That stands in direct contrast to the audio samples, which contain f-bombs aplenty.

01. These Are the Eyes (Dialogue)
02. Halloween Theme 2007 by Tyler Bates
03. Is the Boogieman Real? (Dialogue)
04. (Don’t Fear) The Reaper by Blue Öyster Cult
05. Are You Saying Michael Did This? (Dialogue)
06. Love Hurts by Nazareth
07. I Hope She Likes Cripples (Dialogue)
08. Baby, I Love Your Way by Peter Frampton
09. A Taco Deluxe Supreme (Dialogue)
10. Tom Sawyer by Rush
11. Driven By Pure Animal Instinct (Dialogue)
12. Let It Ride by Bachman Turner Overdrive
13. Trick or Treat, Baby (Dialogue)
14. God of Thunder by KISS
15. Satan’s Mother (Dialogue)
16. 1969 by Iggy Pop
17. Talking About The Anti-Christ (Dialogue)
18. Only Women Bleed by Alice Cooper
19. Needs to Get Laid (Dialogue)
20. Halloween II by The Misfits
21. Was That the Boogieman? (Dialogue)
22. The Shape That Stalks Laurie by Tyler Bates
23. The Scream (Dialogue)
24. Mr. Sandman by Nan Vernon

This CD had me saying “Ho Ho Ho” from the very beginning — and not just because of the three ho’s found in the CD artwork. We Wish You A Hariy Christmas is the perfect holiday gift for that mullet wearing, Camaro driving man in your life.

We Wish You A Hariy Christmas sports a sticker on the front which reads, “80’s Metal Rules!” and “Contains Absolutely No Nu-Metal”. True to its words, this holiday disc from Koch contains eleven Christmas hits performed by some of the greatest hair bands of the 80’s.

Several of the songs are Christmas classics, like Warrant’s version of “Father Christmas” and Gilby Clarke’s rendition of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” Other tracks, like Danger Danger’s “Naughty Naughty Christmas” and Pretty Boy Floyd’s “Happy Family” were songs I’d never heard before.

And in fact, I believe most of these songs were recorded specifically for this compilation. While “Naughty Naughty Christmas” found its way to The Santa Claus 2 soundtrack, I don’t think I’ve heard any of these versions before. And that’s a cool deal — nothing sucks more than buying a compilation album only to find that you’ve already heard half the tracks on other albums.

The only bone I had to pick with this album was with the liner notes. While Koch does give us the band, website, lineup and studio information for each song recorded, they don’t tell us when they were recorded, or who did the original versions.

Still, that doesn’t take away from this fun holiday album. Ten of the eleven tracks are old school rockers, with only Faster Pussycat’s version of “Silent Night” ending up as some techno-drum machine nightmare. Everything else here sounds like it could have appeared on the first season of the Headbanger’s Ball — just what the elves ordered.

We Wish You A Hariy Christmas is a perfect stocking stuffer for the dude in your life who still uses Aqua-Net, or the chick you know who just hasn’t let go of those ankle-high pointy black boots. Should work good as the soundtrack for your late night egg-nog drinking parties, or just as background music while your little headbangers open presents.

01. Father Christmas (Warrant)
02. Naughty Naughty Xmas (Danger Danger)
03. Happy Holiday (Enuff Z’Nuff)
04. Run Run Rudolph (LA Guns)
05. Everyday Should Be Like Christmas (Bullet Boys)
06. Jingle Bell Rock (Tuff)
07. Won’t Be Home for Xmas (Every Mother’s Nightmare)
08. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (Clarke, Gilby)
09. Happy Family (Pretty Boy Floyd)
10. Santa’s Back in Town (Roxx Gang)
11. Silent Night (Faster Pussycat)