Blog Archives
Theme Thursday – Workout Tunes
This theme Thursday is going to be a little shorter than normal due to my work requirements. I have a lot of homework and little time to do it. I am going to revolve this week’s theme around music to listen to while exercising, specifically while doing cardiovascular exercises such as running, biking, or elliptical.
Running is something that I have to do as part of my job, but in order for me to have an effective run I have to do it to good tunes or it’s just not getting done. it may seem silly and a bit of metal thing, but it’s just the way I am with exercise and music…it’s a package deal. I have actually walked up to a treadmill before and realized my batteries were dead so I left and went home. Listening to music while keeping fit is a must for me.
Tonight is a good example of what I mean. I had to run, I didn’t want to because it was the end of a long day and around 8pm, but the music motivated me. I limited my run to about 30 minutes and toward the end when I felt like stopping, another song came on to motivate me. So if you exercise because you like to or you have to, then this playlist I am about to talk about might help you out…until it gets old and needs updating. Here is what I listened to this week in order.
1. 1,320 – Megadeth
2. Faster - Within Temptation
3. The Sage, The Fool, The Sinner – Helloween
4. The Last Fight – Bullet For My Valentine
5. Destroyer of the Universe – Amon Amarth
6. Warlord – Cavalera Conspiracy
7. Insurrection – Trivium
8. Northpole Throwdown – Children of Bodom
It’s short and sweet this week. If you like to workout or have to, what music do you like to keep you going? Have a great week!
Album Review: Cavalera Conspiracy- Blunt Force Trauma
The review for the Cavalera Conspiracy album is here.
I have had this album for a little while now, and I have made every effort to listen to it whenever I can.
First, I want to give a quick overview of Cavalera Conspiracy’s first album, Inflikted, released in March of 2008. The Inflikted album was great, and it really was a solid groove metal album. But there was something I didn’t like about the album. I guess the biggest problem I had with the Inflikted album was that most of the songs had a bunch of atmosphere-type add-ons to the songs, artificially lengthening the song without substance. It became a little frustrating when it came to making a mix for running or working out. There would be this great song, but it would end with a minute of noise. Other than that, the album was great.
Fast forward three years to their newest release, Blunt Force Trauma, releasing this month. I was very excited to get a hold of this album. It was definitely one of my top five anticipated albums of the year (so far).
The first thing I will say about this album is that it is a good album. There are some groove metal songs as well as a lot of thrash metal riffing. Cavalera Conspiracy must have had a lot of people tell them to knock off all the atmosphere stuff on a thrash album, and they listened. There are no songs with any of the long-winded atmosphere, which means it is straight music from beginning to end.
The album has 11 songs, 1 of those songs being a 1:51 thrash snippet (Torture). The album itself is only 34 minutes long, with the longest track being “Genghis Khan” at 4:23. Whether you think this is a good or bad length for the album is up for debate, but I think they could have squeezed another song or two on the album.
When I say this is a good album, it is mainly because there is 34 minutes of music, and all the music on the album is good. That being said, every song has parts that I really like, but every song has parts that I don’t like. It’s kind of a weird feeling listening to a song only to wait for the part of the song that I like. Overall, though, I liked the album. The musicianship on this album is great, and it shows an improvement from the last album, almost like they went out of their way to make it a little more technical. Some specific parts on the album that I like- 1) the voiceover-type lyrics in “Genghis Khan” is reminiscent of old Sepultura stuff, 2) the guest vocals of Roger Miret of Agnostic Front on “Lynch Mob” (who I have never heard before but I like,) 3) the syncopated vocals in the title track. Like I said, parts of songs were great for me.
So, in conclusion, I give Cavalera Conspiracy’s Blunt Force Trauma 4 out of 5 devil horns. A solid album, but I guess I just expected more.
Agree or Disagree? Chime in. All are welcome.
Have a great day.
Quarterly Release Update
In addition to the album release announcement in a previous post a few days ago, there will be two more this quarter. To recap, the following albums we knew about are:
Stratovarius – Elysium Out now – 18 Jan 2011
The Bronx Casket Company – 25 Jan (D.D. Verni of Overkill side project)
Children of Bodom – 8 Mar
Cavalera Conspiracy – 29 Mar
There are two more releases I just read about. Well, at least two more that I care about anyway as far as major releases are concerned. There may be more, but for now this is all I know of coming out this 1st quarter 2011. If you know of others please let us know.
DevilDriver’s Beast is being released 22 Feb – so that prevents Feb from being a dry metal month.
29 March will be a good day in metal due to the release of not only Cavalera Conspiracy, but new Amon Amarth as well…just in time for my 9th Wedding anniversary 
I think 2011 is shaping up to surpass 2010 for metal.
