Remember back when bands used to stop releasing albums after they broke up? These days, you can almost count on bands to squeeze out an “unreleased tracks” or a “best of” compilation after breaking up. Some bands like Alice in Chains and the Jimi Hendrix Experience have turned it into an art form, releasing more discs after dying than before! I just read that a new collection of Kurt Cobain unreleased material is on the way just in time for Christmas. And don’t even get me started on Tupac. What’s he released, ten albums since dying? They’re either using a sound-alike, or the man simply ain’t dead.

In the tradition of such releases comes Megadeth’s latest album. For those keeping count, four of Megadeth’s last five releases include Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years (a greatest hits package), Killing is my Business (a remastered re-release), Rude Awakening (a two disc live album), and now Still, Alive … and Well?, a combination of live tracks and pre-released studio tracks.

As stated, the album is being billed as a “combination of live tracks and pre-released studio tracks.”

The “live tracks” referred two are six songs recorded at the Web Theater in Phoenix, Arizona November 17, 2001, which was Dave Mustaine’s last show with Megadeth. The shows were being recorded for the band’s Rude Awakening album. The biggest disappointment here is that four of the six tracks ARE on Rude Awakening — only “Time/Use the Man” and “Conjuring” aren’t duplicates. Now I might go as far as to call myself a Megadeth fan, and I can’t remember ever lamenting the fact that I didn’t have a live version of “Time/Use the Man” lying around the house. So, recap: six live tracks, four of which appear on Rude Awakening.

The “pre-released studio tracks” are six tracks from 2001’s The World Needs A Hero. That’s it. No remixes, no remastering, not even a thin coat of glitter to make these things appear shiny and new.

Wow. It feels like this review is over before it ever really began. For your $14, you can expect to get two new live versions of two old (and not particularly good) Megadeth songs. I can’t recommend this CD to anyone. I think Behind the Music should have stuck around and filmed this part of Dave Mustaine’s life, where he relapses back into drugs so bad that he thinks anyone would buy this. It’s so obvious that Megadeth is trying to milk the cash cow with this disc that you can practically smell the cow shit from here.

Or maybe that’s just the CD.

Tracks:
(Live Tracks)
01. Time/Use the Man
02. Conjuring
03. In My Darkest Hour
04. Sweating Bullets
05. Symphony of Destruction
06. Holy Wars
(From “The World Needs a Hero”)
07. Moto Psycho
08. Dread and the Fugitive Mind
09. Promises
10. The World Needs a Hero
11. Burning Bridges
12. Return to Hangar

Eric Schultzenberger was the coolest stoner I knew in school. From his Slash-like curly mop top to his fringed Mocassin boots, Eric Shultzenberger was everything my parents would never let me be. In retrospect, that’s probably a good thing, because I think both the Schultzenberger brothers did some time in the early 90’s, but that’s another story.

On the first day of seventh grade, Eric Schultzenberger came to school wearing a Metallica “Metal Up Your Ass” shirt — which not only got many of us listening to Metallica, but also got him quickly sent home. Being the little followers we were, we ditched our REO Speedwagon and Blue Oyster Cult duds and headed down to Happy Daze Records to pick up our new Metallica and Motley Crue concert shirts.

Like little soldiers, we marched back to school with our new “uniforms” on, ready to impress Eric the next time we saw him (which may have been a few days later; his attendance was less than stellar). When we finally ran into him, he had ditched the Metallica Tee for a Megadeth shirt. So, allowance in hand, we high-tailed it back out to Happy Daze Records for another round of apparel shopping …

The first Megadeth album I actually heard was their second effort, Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?, and believe me, I thought it was some pretty heavy shit. I played it for several friends before someone finally told me they had a previous release out. A quick trip to Sound Warehouse and ten bucks later, I was the proud owner of Megadeth’s debut album, Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good!. Although I rarely listen to it anymore that album was one of my favorites of the time, and along with Metallica, Anthrax and Slayer, Megadeth began dominating the world with a brutal metal attack that hasn’t let up yet.

Almost twenty years later, I have found myself falling in love all over again with Megadeth’s Killing Is My Business album, thanks to Loud Records’ release of an all new remastered and remixed copy of the album.

“Remastered and remixed,” you say? Indeed, and we’re not just talking “louder” here, this CD sounds great! Of course, I’m comparing this to a fifteen year old cassette tape, but regardless, this new mastering brings these songs to life. No longer stuck in a muddy mix, Mustaine’s solos spring to life, practically leaping out of the speakers and into your lap.

So what are you getting for your money this time? Remastered tracks, four unreleased bonus tracks, and a great booklet.

The remastered tracks are worth the price of admission alone. While listening to this CD I kept wondering what some other albums from this era would sound like remastered (ie: Kill ‘Em All). If you’re a fan of this disc at all, or if you want to see who every speed guitarist has been copying for the past 17 years, you should give this remaster a spin.

The four bonus tracks are OK. The extra tracks included are demo versions of “Last Rites/Loved To Deth”, “Mechanix”, “Killing Is My Business”, and “The Skull Beneath The Skin”. They will probably be enjoyed more by long time fans than casual listeners, because as demo tracks they don’t contain the quality of the rest of the CD. Listening to Megadeth’s demo of “Mechanix” leaves no question as to whether Metallica or Megadeth have the best chops. (Dave Mustaine wrote “Mechanix”, which later became “Four Horsemen” on Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All album. Dave Mustaine rewrote the lyrics and recorded the song as “Mechanix”. Mustaine and co. also crank out the tune basically in double-time. Youch!) Dave has been quoted as saying, “I set out to make my new band faster and heavier than their’s,” about forming Megadeth after leaving Metallica, and one listen to this demo will prove to listeners that he succeeded. The one thing the songs do is lengthen your listening time, because the original album only ran 31 minutes long.

The third thing you get with this package is a great little booklet. Among other things, the booklet talks about why the original 1985 Combat release had different artwork and incomplete mixes. Both Daves (Mustaine and Ellefson) have comments about each song on the disc as well, so there’s plenty to read while listening to this classic disc, and there’s even a nice forward written by Scott Ian. Mustaine’s original artwork is included on this release.

Depending on when you bought your original cassette or CD of Killing Is My Business you may or may not have “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'” on it. While it was included on the original Combat release and on early pressings of the CD, it was eventually removed due to copyright reasons. A “bleeped” remastered copy appears on the CD. The liner notes tell why and basically explain that it was either a censored copy or no copy, and due to overwhelming response from fans they wanted to include it.

Should you rush out and buy this album? If you’re a Megadeth fan, YES. These songs have never sounded better. If you don’t own a copy of this album at all, YES. This is a CD that should be in your CD player, or at least on your shelf. If you already own a copy and don’t like it, well, you probably shouldn’t buy it then.

Tracks:
01. Last Rites/Loved to Death
02. Killing is My Business…And Business Is Good!
03. The Skull Beneath the Skin
04. Rattlehead
05. Chosen Ones
06. Looking Down the Cross
07. Mechanix
08. Last Rites/Loved to Deth (1984 Demo)
09. The Skull Beneath the Skin (1984 Demo)
10. Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good (1984 Demo)
11. Mechanix (1984 Demo)

2004 has been a good year for Megadeth fans.

Almost two years to the month after announcing the end of Megadeth, Dave Mustaine announced that Megadeth would rise again. Along with a new album (The System Has Failed), the complete Megadeth back library is also being remixed, remastered and re-released. Hell Wasn’t Built In A Day contains a taste of that library, and damn does it taste good.

I know Megadeth. I grew up on Megadeth. I’ve bought at least one copy of each of their cassettes, two of the ones I wore out. I own all their CD’s as well, and I can honestly say this — Megadeth has never sounded this good before. Period.

“Peace Sells”, the titular track from the 1986 album sounded so different to me I had to dig out both my old CD to compare the two. Compared to the original CD, the song sounds completely different. The instruments have more depth, more clarity, and more definition. You can tell the two apart simply from the sound of the opening kick drums. Mustaine’s voice is much clearer in the newer mixes. The cymbals sound clear and clean. Any muddiness in the mix has been completely eliminated. The aural facelift (“earlift”?) is more noticable on older tracks like “Anarchy in the U.K.” and even Symphony of Destruction.

Hell Wasn’t Built In A Day also contains a couple of remastered ‘deth bonus tracks, like “Crown of Worms” from Countdown to Extinction and “Absolution” from Youthanasia. I swear the “Crown of Worms” opening riff is from a Metallica song (“The Prince”, maybe?). Neither song sounds particularly impressive following “Hanger 18”.

Both Alice in Chains’ Nothing Safe – Best Of The Box and Iron Maiden’s – Edward the Great served as samplers and greatest hits releases for their multi-disc box sets, and in both cases I felt no remorse in recommending those discs to fans over the actual box sets. I can’t do that here though. Ten tracks doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of Megadeth’s discography. There are literally SO many good Megadeth tracks out there that I can’t in good conscious recommend this over any of the early Megadeth discs. This promo sampler did exactly what it was supposed to do — it got me behind these releases 100%.

If you don’t own albums like So What?, Peace Sells, Countdown to Extinction or Rust in Peace, these are the versions you’ve been waiting for. And even if you do, if you’re a fan you’ll want to replace your old discs with these releases. They’re that good.

When a guitarist writes, performs, and engineers his own solo album, you can be pretty damn sure you’re going to get one hell of an axe-slinging album. Such is the case for Music For Speeding, Marty Friedman’s latest solo album.

The ex-Megadeth six-string slinger wastes little time kicking off the album, opening the disc with “Gimmie a Dose,” which does exactly that. My initial impression was, this is the kind of music you used to hear in the background of all those “extreme sports” shows before nu-metal came along. Blazingly fast guitar licks, million-note-per-second guitar solos, and catchy grooves — maybe the next generation of surf music?

While a couple of the tracks wink at Megadeth style riffage, any hint of main man Dave Mustaine has been replaced by guitar solos, front and center. The guitars are usually doing at least two different things at any given time, occasionally three. The riffs and leads remain interesting enough to carry the album — a tough feat to do on a disc with thirteen tracks and no vocals. And not only are they interesting, but they flow. The tracks seem like songs, not just an endless chain of solos.

With all the focus on guitars, I expected a fairly generic drum line. Fortunately I was very pleasantly surprised. Except for the few moments where the album flips into some alternate drum machine/video game influenced universe (“Cheer Girl Rampage” and “Nastymachine” in particular), the drums are as aggressive as the guitars are. Don’t expect any Bonham-esque solos, but the skinwork as a hole is more than average.

On slow tempo songs like “Lust For Life” and “Lovesorrow,” Friedman shows a different side of his talent. Those who are more impressed by musical compositions than smoking fret pounders will appreciate the effort. For the rest of us though, tracks like “Ripped”, “Catfight”, and “Fuel Injection Stingray” rock, rock fast, and rock hard.

Friedman’s guitar style could be compared to Slash’s or Buckethead’s. Every song on the disc is an example on how to shred and use the instrument to its fullest, whether it’s pouring out sadness like in “Corazon De Santiago”, or aggression like in “Salt in the Wound.” This album is the reason I slam solo discs like Dave Navarro’s and Tommy Lee’s. Playing guitars is what Marty Friedman does best, and on Music For Speeding, he proves it.

Tracks:
01. Gimme A Dose
02. Fuel Injection Stingray
03. Ripped
04. Its The Unreal Thing
05. Cheer Girl Rampage
06. Lust For Life
07. Lovesorrow
08. Nastymachine
09. Catfight
10. Corazon de Santiago
11. 0-7-2
12. Salt In The Wound
13. Novocaine Kiss

I recently watched part of VH1’s “One Hit Wonders of the 1980’s” series. Alongside each video on the countdown they also presented a quick bio of the song and the artist. 99% of them started the same way. “Rocker X became huge after his video received MTV airplay …” In the early 80’s, that was THE method of becomming huge. You made a video, or you went nowhere. The 21st century version of that story involves the internet. In a few years, all the big bands on television will be saying, “we became huge after we were discovered on mp3.com/farmclub.com/garageband.com/whatever else is out there.” I know this, because every band’s bio now mentions how big they are/were on www.mp3.com, www.farmclub.com, or www.garageband.com.

Twenty second history lesson — Lollipop Lust Kill released a three song EP in ’97, won a local battle of the bands in ’98, were discovered in ’99 on mp3.com, self-released a full-length debut album in ’00, discovered by Artemis Records via AntiMTV.com, and has now released their second album (their first national release) entitled My So Called Knife. Cut to present, fade in.

For some reason, I had imagined Lollipop Lust Kill would sound like My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult — despite the fact that they only share the word “Kill” between the two bands. In retrospect, I suppose that could also mean the band might have also sounded like Killing Joke, Bikini Kill, Ghostface Killah, Masta Killa, Killer Dwarves, Dry Kill Logic, Gravity Kills, Killswitch Engage, Overkill, or even Kill Allen Wrench. But, they don’t sound like any of those people. Jesus Christ I’ve got to cut back on the coffee.

LLK (who changed their name from “The Candy Killers” because “it didn’t roll off the tongue well”) are on tour right now with Coal Chamber and American Head Charge, and I’m sure they fit in great there, kind of like a big muscle head hard rock sammich with mustard and lettuce and tomato and a slice of Lollipop Lust Kill in the middle. And white bread. Fuck all these places who try and give you wheat bread, wheat bread is so ghey, and double fuck these places who make tomato bread and jalapeno bread and cheese bread and whatever kind of friggin’ bread they’re trying to pass off on sandwiches these days. Fuckin’ bullshit man. WHITE BREAD, Wonderbread and Rainbo have it down pat, call them up if you don’t know how to do it right. Sheesh. (On my second cup of coffee now.)

So where was I? Oh yeah. Lollipop Lust Kill. Their second album, My So Called Knife, rocks pretty hard. Not in a Meshuggah kind of way, but in a “hey we’re almost Pantera but have keyboards” kind of way. Maybe not Pantera, but … Disturbed, or heavy Staind, or Union Underground, or … uh, I dunno, some heavy stuff that still sounds poppish. The vocals go all over the map, covering whispering, singing and screaming regularly. The guitars are perfect. The bass is perfect. Come to think of it, everything’s perfect. A little “too” perfect. It’s almost formula rock. It’s heavy, it’s got songs about murder and sex and creepy guys … and it’s been nicely packaged and placed on a shelf at a store near you.

When I sat down to write this review I couldn’t decide if I liked this album or not — I guess my true feelings just kind of crept out. There’s nothing bad about this album, in fact it’s very good, very melodic, very professional, very nu … and very polished. I’d like the chance to see them live and see if they can back this up with some sweat.

Final note: this band and coffee do not mix. I’m ready to kill.

Tracks:
01. Intro
02. Black All Over
03. Like a Disease
04. Father
05. Knee Deep in the Dead
06. Everything I
07. Sad Excuse for a Grip
08. Perfect Woman
09. Bury You
10. Personal Jesus
11. Can’t Get Away
12. Kill Greedy
13. Outro

Life of Agony is a band without a label. They’re funding their current tour out of their own pocket with no label support. Their last studio album was released seven years ago in 1997. There’s no logical reason that kids should be lined up outside the Diamond Ballroom in 20 degree weather an hour before the doors open, but they are. A few of them are patrolling the area between the tour bus and the rear entrance with posters and CDs in hand, hoping for an autograph. This is loyalty. This is what Life of Agony means to its fans. This is the Underground.

In 1998, shortly after lead singer Keith Caputo parted ways with the band, Life of Agony decided to call it quits. In January of 2003, the band performed two reunion shows (which sold out in 20 minutes!). Those shows were recorded and released on both CD and DVD late last year. Response has been overwhelming, and in February of 2004 the band launched their US tour.

Local metalheads Element kicked off Friday night’s show. Despite being broken up for the past two years, Element put together a decent set and began working the crowd early. Next up on the set were Apartment 26, followed by Flaw. Apartment 26’s sound varied between Faith No More and Jane’s Addiction, and didn’t do much for the crowd. Flaw’s nu-metal performance was louder and heavier, but there was no question that night who the crowd was there to see.

My press pass allowed me backstage/sidestage access for the first three songs. Although I was supposed to be taking pictures, when the band came out and kicked off the show with “River Runs Red”, I dropped the journalism act for a few minutes. It’s hard to take pictures while you’re singing at the top of your lungs with both hands in the air. By the beginning of “This Time” I had composed myself, and shot as many pictures as I could during both that song and “Bad Seed.”

Throughout the night, the band sounded tight. TIGHT. All night. This would be the fourth time I’ve seen the band live, and they’ve never sounded better. Every song played sounded as good, if not better, then their album counterparts. Life of Agony is hungry, passionate, and dedicated, and it showed throughout their set. The songs played reflected both the fans’ favorites and the band’s finest moments. “Weeds” was the only song to sneak in from Soul Searching Sun; the rest of the band’s hour+ long set list was composed of material from River Runs Red and Ugly. There were no cover tunes that night, no solos and no bullshit — just straight up metal the length of the show.

Near the end of the set, the band snuck in “Love To Let You Down,” an as-of-yet unrecorded track planned for LOA’s new album. If this song is any sign of what’s to come, Life of Agony is returning to the scene with a bang. The song has a thrashy bridge and verses that show of Caputo’s maturing voice. Can we go ahead and prepay now guys?

On February 13th 2004, Life of Agony was back in full force. This band has suffered, learned, and grown over the years, and it shows. While the band’s live DVD is a must have, it’s no replacement for catching the band live. Hopefully, we’ll get many more chances to do so over the years.

Life of Agony once sang, “if you won’t walk with me, I will walk alone.” On February 13th, 2004, they didn’t have to. Hundreds of kids are standing out in the cold, waiting for the Diamond Ballroom’s doors to open. My wife and I aren’t with them — we’re sitting in the rear of the Life of Agony tour bus, hanging out with Joey Z (guitar) and Alan Robert (bass). Here’s what the two of them had to say about the band, the tour, and their future.

ME: So when did you guys roll into town?

Joey: Yesterday. We had a day off here yesterday.

ME: Did you all do anything here?

Joey: We went to the mall. (Laughter — the Diamond Ballroom is located right next to Crossroads Mall).

ME: You guys have been here a few times. Have you ever been down to the bombing memorial or anything?

Alan: No, we don’t really do a lot of sightseeing …

Joey: We’ve got a lot of work to do, believe it or not, you know a lot of bands do a lot of stuff but we’re trying to work on a new album right now …

ME: Yeah, I read that you’re working on some new material.

Joey: Yeah, well, writing, we’re in the process of writing, and that takes up a lot of time. It’s very time consuming when you have ideas all over the place.

ME: So when you’re working on the album on the road do you have a way to record material?

Joey: Yeah we have numerous ways of recording out here with us. We have two home studio machines and we have Pro-Tools out here with us that we set up daily …

ME: Really!

Joey: Yeah, so we’re out here working hard, both individually and as a band, we’re working hard. We also try and keep the website updated for the fans.

ME: Yeah, we checked it before we left the house.

Alan: We just put up a new Tour Diary section yesterday, a whole new section. We did it from here.

ME: You do it from the road?

Joey: Alan does most of the artwork for the band, all the cool images you’re seeing like the border stuff and symbol stuff, that’s all Alan’s work. And colors, all the cartoon characters, that’s all Alan’s stuff.

ME: Yeah, I saw the new Instant Messanger Icons you put online …

Joey: And there’s new merchandise out, Alan did a new shirt that’s selling like crazy. The cartoon shirt, the same image that’s on the site.

ME: The one with Keith standing behind the three of you holding the mic stand?

Joey: Yeah, that shirt is selling like crazy.

ME: So tell us what the new album is going to sound like.

Alan: Well, we’ll be playin’ one song tonight off the new album.

Joey: We all really, really want to do this. We’re lookin’ … we’re hungry. The only word that comes to mind is hungry and aggressive. We’re not Slayer and everyone knows that, but at the same time, the band … we had some polite music on Soul Searching Sun, and I think we’re going to try and stay away from politeness and go with more dementia and hungry sound and aggressive.

ME: It seems like casual fans say Soul Searching Sun is their favorite album, but the more hardcore fans seem to like the albums best in the order they were released.

Joey: So far what we’ve been doing is taking the better qualities of the band and bringing them forward. You know, the aggression of some of the guitar riffs, the passion of the vocals, the realness of the vocals and where that’s coming from. That’s being brought up to the table, all the great qualities. You’ve got to pull some stuff out, like the politeness. It was never really Life of Agony, that polite sound.I don’t know, I think we got kind of distracted.

Alan: Sometimes you gotta go back to the masters, and see what really influenced you.

ME: It’s hard when your fans are used to a particular sound and then you change that sound …

Joey: We did drastically. If you listen to Soul Searching Sun it doesn’t sound like the same band. Literally, like if you put one record after the next.

Alan: It wasn’t done intentionally, that’s the thing. We just grew and grew. And we really didn’t have anybody telling us “well you can’t do that,” so we just went with it, whatever we felt like.

ME: Do you have anybody telling you that now?

Joey: No.

Alan: No. We tell ourselves now actually, we’re a little more conscious of it now.

ME: Are you aiming for radio play with the new album?

Joey: I don’t think we think about it.

Alan: I think … radio is at a certain state that I can’t even turn it on. So you know, if we get radio play doing something that we wanted to do, that’s a different story.

Joey: If it’s bad ass, and they can’t help but to play it ‘cuz so many people like it, then that’s cool.

ME: I’m curious to see if the new Headbanger’s Ball will sway the radio back towards heavy music. It’s different living in Jersey than living in Oklahoma, here you have limited outlets to see and hear new music. Kids are going to see stuff on Headbanger’s Ball.

Alan: Tomorrow night, Saturday night, they’re playing River Runs Red from the DVD at 11 o’clock eastern time.

ME: And where will you be tomorrow night at 11 o’clock?

Joey: In front a TV, hopefully! (Laughter) Actually, we will! ‘Cuz we’ll be playing with Sevendust and we’ll be going on early so we will be able to see it.

ME: Are you excited about that?

Joey: Yeah! They played “Through and Through” a few months back and gave it a grand introduction. Jamey from Hatebreed gave it such a cool introduction. “This band is classic, from 10 years ago, this is Life of Agony. They’re on tour again, this is ‘Through and Through’.” It was a real nice introduction.

ME: “Through and Through” was the first Life of Agony song I ever heard. I was at a party when it debuted on Headbanger’s Ball, and I literally made everyone at the party stop talking while it was on so I could hear it. I bought the album the very next day and have been a fan ever since.

Joey: Wow. Awesome man, that’s great.

ME: So talking about life on the road, is it wild or is it calm?

Alan: Calm.

Joey: It’s like, the wild days are all behind us.

ME: How old are you guys getitng to be now?

Joey: I’m 32

Alan: We’re both 32, Keith just turned 30 …

Joey: We’re both 32 but we feel young when we get up stage, and as a matter of fact I think we’re in the best playing condition we’ve ever been in. As far as the band sounding, if you don’t mind me saying, we sound fucking awesome right now. I mean, we’re sounding better than we’ve ever sounded. So as far as our playability, we’re in the prime of our game and we’re only getting better by the day, by the show.

ME: And how has the turnout been for these shows?

Joey: Great!

ME: Are you surpsied by that?

Joey: Unexpected, yes, very.

Alan: We didn’t know what the expect.

Joey: No album, no video, no radio song, nothing.

ME: But people are dying to hear what you have coming out, and they’ve been waiting a long time.

Joey: Yeah, and people want to hear those songs. They want to hear their favorite songs, they want to see the band play them, they want to see if we can play them live.

ME: I noticed a lot of people singing along with your songs on DVD, is that common at your shows now?

Joey: The other night in St. Louis, it was crazy. The place was jam packed.

Alan: It was the 14th anniversary of Life of Agony’s very first show … we had a nice toast on stage.

Joey: 14 years exact to the night, February 11th.

ME: It’s weird when you think like, almost half of your life has been dedicated to doing one thing. So tell us about your website, it’s constantly being updated.

Alan: People should check out our website and sign up for the message board. We have a whole mess load of people out there, a nice little community.

Joey: We interact, we answer questions as much as we can. Again we’re busy … I tend to go online a lot more when I’m at home.

ME: Do you get online at all when you’re on the road?

Joey: Occasionally. It’s very hard, kind of slim, for me like twice. Now Alan has his computer out and he’s dong a lot of work with the Tour Diary and keeping the website current which is very important.

ME: It’s very important. Like 10 years ago, we all got our information from magazines and the info was so dated, and now it’s like you can see what the band was doing last night …

Alan: To give you an idea, I posted the new Tour Diary section last night at 2:30 or 3am, posted it on the newsboard, and checked it 15 minutes later and there were already 4 or 5 messages … that’s in the middle of the night.

ME: It’s a totally different connection to the fans now.

Joey: And the problem with a lot of bands that aren’t running their own website I noticed, is you go out there and the last time it was updated was (six months ago), and it’s the same graphics, the same pictures, and it’s like, why should I come back here?

ME: You end up losing visitors and fans over it.

Joey: You discourage people, right!

Alan: Well a lot of times the label takes it over, that’s the problem. Then all the news filters through them and it’s when they get around to doing it …

ME: But you maintain control over your site, right?

Joey: Yeah. we’re doing all of this on our own. I thnk there’s something to be said about being out here with no tour support …

Alan: … No real label support, you know, obviously the DVD just came out but it’s just a one off for us. But we’re basically an unsigned band right now.

Korn is Korn is Korn is Korn is Korn. Despite slight adjustments to their sound over the years, Korn’s basic approach to music has been the same. Take a Look in the Mirror, the band’s latest effort, is yet another attempt to capture the raw energy and aggression presented to us on the band’s debut release. With lead singer Jonathon Davis acting as producer, this album suffers a bit from a lack of direction, but does slightly move the band away from radio friendly territory (even if only a few inches) and back towards the anger that originally propelled them into the spotlight.

The disc kicks off with “Right Now”, the band’s current single. Along with “Did My Time”, these two tracks carry much of the weight of the disc. Other songs on the album may be heavier, but none are as cohesive as these two.

“Break Some Off” shows a glimmer of hope for the band. The first half of the song is garbage, with Davis swapping back and forth between screaming and whispering — however, the guys turn it up a notch in the second half. Were it not for Fieldy’s signature bass sound, you might mistake the second half of “Break Some Off” as … oh I don’t know, someone else. But heavier.

Despite hanging on to their instantly identifiable (and somewhat nerve-grinding) bass tone, the guitars have progressed from 2002’s Untouchables. Long gone are the squealing and screeching noises that once imminated from the group’s guitarists. Most everything here is tuned-down open chords, creating big sheets of tone with bass slaps stabbing through.

There are good and bad reasons for producing your own record. Without a producer in the studio to guide bands, pop egos, and provide brutally honest feedback, songs often become unfocused. You can feel this a bit in “Here It Comes Again” and “Deep Inside”, two tracks that have good parts but eventually meander off the path. The good news is, without a producer, bands are often more likely to experiement and release something closer to their personal vision without the pressures of glossing everything over.

Take A Look In The Mirror unfortunately contains “Play Me”, yet another attempt to incorporate rap into Korn — this time with NAS on vocals. It just doesn’t work. It was a bad idea three albums ago when they did it with Ice Cube, and it’s still a bad idea now. Nobody wants to hear this. The only good thing about this entire track is it doesn’t contain 2Pac.

After “When Will This End”, one of the discs heavier tracks, comes Korn’s cover of Metallica’s “One”, first unveiled on MTV’s Icon: Metallica tribute. As my neice explained to me, “that’s one of their OLD songs.” Thanks, I needed that stab in the heart.

Overall, Korn has listened to their fans, dropped the thick production and returned to their roots with some aggressive, angry, and agressive songs. While Few of the songs hit the bullseye, most of them manage to at least stick in the dartboard somewhere. The radio singles and angrier songs are a step in the right direction, but the wimpy tracks have got to go.

01. Right Now – Dirty Version
02. Break Some Off
03. Counting On Me
04. Here It Comes Again
05. Deep Inside
06. Did My Time
07. Everything I’ve Known
08. Play Me (featuring Nas)
09. Alive
10. Let’s Do This Now
11. I’m Done
12. Ya’ll Want A Single
13. When Will This End
14. One

Black Like Sunday is a collection of long forgotten King’s X material that the band recently dug up and re-recorded. Black Like Sunday is also the reason that some things that are long forgotten should stay long forgotten. King’s X’s latest release has so many problems to discuss that it’s hard to decide where to start.

Fans of the band who have grown to love the trio’s unique sound of interesting guitar riffs, progressive basswork and Beatle-esque vocal harmonies will be confused from the word go. Musically, the songs on Black Like Sunday aren’t just bad, they’re boring and lacking any foresight or planning. There’s not a catchy riff or hook to be found anywhere.

Doug Pinnick, according to the band’s website, is 54 years old. That makes hearing songs like “Danger Zone” all the more embarassing. “Mom says she don’t understand, says I’m just a problem child, I’m always gettin’ into trouble, I hurt her all the time. But I don’t know who I am, and sometimes I don’t understand, we get in a lot of fights, then I’m on the street again.” Assuming Pinnick’s mother had him when she was 21, that would make Mrs. Pinnick 75 years old at this point — it’s time to throw the boy out, ma’am. “Rock Pile” reads like it was written by a bored junior high student in detention. “All of us rockers, keep pushing on. We rise, then we fall. No one stays on top forever, what goes up must come down.” Even “Dreams”, one of the heavier songs on the disc, has this earth shattering revelation; “Dreams do come true, yeaaaaaaah yeaaaaaah.” Thank you, Kermit.

The icing on the cake is the disc’s production. At best, it sounds like an old cassette tape. Much of the vocals have that “I’m singing through a cheap mic” effect. Maybe they were. The drums have no punch at all, and the guitars aren’t the wall of sound I’m used to hearing from the King’s.

A few of the songs on the disc, like “Bad Luck”, show minor hints of what was to come from the band. The rest of the song is a jumbled mess of bad songs with bad production. “Save Us”, the last song on the disc, and a punk influenced track that contains a solo so bad that I wondered if someone didn’t get injured while recording it. Instead of words of wisdom, the band leaves us with a minute of “Na na na na, hey hey hey hey.” Change that to “No no no no, way way way way,” and you’ve summed up my reaction.

Everytime I sit down to write my big “Rock is Dead” article that every journalist feels compelled to write once a year, a band comes along, kicks me in the teeth, and reminds me that rock is very much alive and well. I’d like to thank Killswitch Engage for that kick to the choppers. I’ve listened to this album twice in a row and I’m so excited that I’m dying to call all my friends and tell them about this disc. Unfortunately, it’s 2AM.

With nods toward Slayer, Pro-Pain, and Pantera, Killswitch Engage tears through Alive Or Just Breathing and takes no prisoners. When they’re not heavy, they’re heavy — when they are heavy, they’re heavier.

Killswitch Engage’s songs are built on semi-complex structures, with lots of tempo changes and very interesting and catchy rhythms. They’re no Meshuggah, but the overall sound is a lot more complex than most bands out there today. That’s not meant to make these guys sound like progressive metal, because they’re not — this is straight forward, balls to the wall rock. Punchy kick drums and crunchy palm-muted guitars make no mistake about this band’s intentions – THEY WILL ROCK YOU!

I’m sorry for all the cliches. I don’t quite know what to say, except that I’m pretty pissed off that no one has told me about this band sooner. Anyone who knows me and has heard this band should have said, “Flack, you’ve GOTTA check out Killswitch Engage!” Poop on you for not doing so.

The vocals on Alive Or Just Breathing are mostly gutteral screaming, although they are occasionally backed up by clean vox which just add to the fullness of this band. Guitars are a fairly equal blend of palm muted crunches mixed with open, melodic riffs. The bass is mixed in pretty close to the drums so it’s a bit tough to discern it as a seperate instrument, but that’s how this style of music is normally mixed. In “Self Revolution”, a guitarless moment confirms that the bass is indeed present and just as complex as the rest of the instruments. The drums, a significant ingredient in this style of music, are top notch. Beats stop and start on a dime, go from zero to 60 to zero several times, and often change from a groove to a blast beat seamlessly.

These guys mix it up in an old school Vision Of Disorder type of way. For example, “Self Revolution” begins with a pretty heavy groove. More guitars fall into the mix, more noise comes in, and just when you get the overall feel of the song … suddenly the bottom drops out, and the riff turns into almost an 80’s style thrash riff. The chorus brings in big, airy open guitar chords and some clean vocals, only to quickly morph into a Slayer-esque power crunch guitar assault with (singer) screaming over it. After another clean chorus, we’re back to the original, galloping riff, followed shortly by a double bass kick drum attack near the end of the tune. This all happens within three minutes. Ladies and gentlemen, please keep your arms and legs inside the coaster for the duration of the ride.

A few of the songs, “My Last Serenade” and “Just Barely Breathing” for example, begin softly to trick you — but AHA! the trick is on you, for the songs still rock! It just takes them a few moments to get rolling. Many of the songs have that whole “heavy verse/clean chorus” thing going on, but KSE do it better and more seamlessly than most bands are able to (see: Korn, Sevendust, etc). They also don’t do it exclusively like those bands — you might hear some screams in the chorus, or some clean vocals in the versus. I know, they’re just crazy like that.

I don’t know how many more positive things I can say about this CD without sounding like I have some Killswitch cock in my mouth so I’ll stop here. Needless to say, I liked the album. Killswitch Engage is just what I needed to hear after sifting through this pile of crap sitting on my desk and hard drive.

Rock is not dead. I recant.

01. Numbered Days
02. Self Revolution
03. Fixation On The Darkness
04. My Last Serenade
05. Life To Lifeless
06. Just Barely Breathing
07. To The Sons Of Man
08. Temple From The Within
09. The Element Of One
10. Vide Infra
11. Without A Name
12. Rise Inside