Album Review: Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory

Oh joy, another band in the rap metal genre. Thankfully Linkin Park is actually a good band that I actually grew up with, unlike P.O.D. who I've already talked about. This album was technically a request, well I say technically since she picked it out for me, so thank you for that.

Hybrid Theory was the band's debut album released in 2000, I have done a whole lot of albums from this decade, damn. It topped the New Zealand Albums Chart and reached the second position on the Billboard 200 and four other charts, it also made number 5 on the Canadian Albums and reached its lowest on the French charts reaching number 17.

I really do have to say that the opening tracks are really good, with "Papercut" showing off the good rap part of the band and "One Step Closer" Showing off the Hard Rock aspect of the group. "One Step Closer" was the first single off the album and had some good chart success reaching Number 5 on the Modern Rock Tracks, Number 4 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks and it even reached Number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Papercut" also had some chart success being the third single from the band, but not a whole lot.

It really does seem to me that Linkin Park put the best stuff on the album as singles, because the other single "Crawling" is also really good, even if it is a bit whiny. Seriously, find anybody who grew up in the 2000s and see if they can recognize "Crawling". The song itself is slower and clearer than most of the album, which is fine as it offers a bit of variety but the other slow songs like "Runaway" are just, meh really.

I think most songs on this album were gave me a "meh" reaction, the only one I didn't really like was "By Myself" and that is mostly because I can't separate that from other rap metal crap, like P.O.D. or and please don't kill me when I say this but... Limp Bizkit. I feel so dirty for typing that.

"In The End" is debatably the best song on the album as it perfectly showcases both Mike Shinoda's talents as a rapper, and Chester Bennington's abilities as a vocalist. It is also the most successful topping the US Alternative Songs Chart and reaching on a whole lot of others which I did not write down in my notes, so here I guess.

It was by the last song that I got tired of this album, so I'm just going to skip it and talk about the previous track "Cure for the Itch" which has an opening that sounds like Daft Punk's rejected album filler scraps, I also feel dirty for typing that Daft Punk had Album Filler.

Overall, I have heard worse and it is clear that Linkin Park put their best songs on the album as singles, but I don't really think this album offers a lot on its own other than the four songs which aren't even my favourite Linkin Park Songs. I do think this album is worth listening to, but if you are expecting a lot of great career defining tracks that helped shape the music industry of the 2000s, well you'll get four of them.

I give it a 6/10.

Album Review: Nickelback - All The Right Reasons

I REGRET NOTHING!

Okay, so Nickelback, often credited as the worst band of all time and to me, they aren't. I'd much rather listen to Nickelback rather than a band like Creed or Chicago or Foreigner. Although this is mostly is due to the fact I grew up with Nickelback and I am Canadian. I think most of the people who like Nickelback are people who grew up with them. Of course, I didn't have a whole lot of control over the music I listened to as it was often either the radio or whatever my Mom or Brother had on CD. So I often did listen to a couple of Nickelback songs from this album.

All The Right Reasons was released on 2005 and had a lot of chart success topping six charts, the US Rock Albums, Hard Rock Albums and Alternative Albums Charts as well as the UK Rock and Metal chart, New Zealand Albums and Canadian Albums Charts and went 2x Platinum in the U.K., 4xPlatinum in New Zealand and Australia, 7x Platinum in Canada and 8x Platinum in the U.S.

I will say that the album does start off strong with the first track "Follow You Home" even if it does sound a bit stalker-y and the following track sounds really similar. Usually I would just skip a couple tracks but the third, fourth and fifth tracks are all songs I have to talk about, not only are they points I need to talk about on the album, but they were all singles, this album had seven singles, and this is an eleven track album. The majority of this album is singles and the first of these is "Photograph".

Now this has been said to be one of the worst songs of all time, being brought up by many music critics like Todd in the Shadows and Rocked Reviews, and honestly I do see why as it is not a good song. Chad Krouger's voice does not work for these kind of softer songs and I did laugh at the beginning. Although, I will say I did actually enjoy the song, probably mostly due to the fact that I do have a soft spot for songs like this, even thought I do have my limits. Also this song was hugely successful topping four separate charts, making top 5 on nine others, top 25 on five other and top 50 on the other five charts it made.

The next two tracks are both an Album low point and an Album Highlight for me respectively, the low point being "Animals" where I really am annoyed at Krouger's voice and the generic riff which I described in my notes as being "Smoke on the Water" meets "Layla". Now the following track "Savin' Me" is more of a favourite of mine due to nostalgia over anything else, it is my favourite song on the album and by Nickelback. The next two tracks aren't really worth talking about, "Far Away" is another slower song that sucks and "Next Contestant" is really rapey and stalkery. "Side of a Bullet" is the other song I really like off this album as it sounds a lot more like hard rock than the rest of the album and is the only song on the album to actually be complimented by Chad Krouger's vocal work.

The eleventh and final track on this album is "Rockstar" and I really have no feelings on this song. I don't like it and I don't hate it. I have no real thoughts on this song, so I guess my thoughts on the album.

Overall, I can't say this is a good album. It has plenty of faults, but I do enjoy listening to a couple of songs. There are a couple of songs I do despise but I think the album has the same amount of Low Points and Highlights, I.E. two. If you like this album, like it and if not feel as you do about it.

For the equal amount of good and bad songs and the decent amount of good and bad, I give this a 5.5/10.

Bad Album Covers - Volume 1

As someone who really loves to collect albums, I find it a treat to see all the incredible album covers there are, from Wish You Were Here to Hybrid Theory to Holy Diver, and hell even some bands I don't like have some pretty decent album covers. However, for every Bat Out of Hell II, there is usually something that is really, really bad. Sometimes they are lazy, bland, uninspired or just plain weird, and other times, they are really, really hilarious. So here is a collection of some pretty bad album covers, and to start things of, let's look at a band I've already discussed on this blog.

Now on the surface, this album cover isn't too bad. It's just the band standing around underneath a bright star. The cover may be generic, but nothing too bad. So then, why is it here? Well, this might not be for the cover itself, but let's take a look at the same cover with inversed colours.

Are you guys seeing what I'm seeing? I seriously can not be the only one who thinks that star now looks like a butthole, I mean, I'm sure it was all coincidence, but the blue sky creates a skin colour and the star's points become defined over the rest of it, and it really looks like that. I really have nothing else to say, aside from the album itself also sucks.

But that was only looking at the album from a certain perspective, I'm mostly looking at album covers that suck when you look at them on their own. So, what else are we to see other than some of the strangest images that bands and artists would have ever thought to be able to sell their albums. Such as in the case of Canadian folk band Moxy Fruvous.

What is even going on here? Is this an album cover or something John Callahan would draw? I mean, the cover is essentially the drawings of a kindergartener with inattentive parents during Woodstock. I really want to know who designed this, and if this was somehow tied to Jian Ghomeshi. Oh yeah, Jian Ghomeshi was a part of this band. I am going to have to review this album someday, aren't I?

Of course a particular brand of normal can be seen a lot with bad album covers or sometimes just plain weird ones, such as with AFI.

Okay, so this album I will review as I do own a copy, but I really want to say that this cover is awful. I don't know what is happening and I don't want to know. Is she spinning the man around? Is she trying to catch him? If so, what is he running from? And for an album called Very Proud of Ya, was this really the best image for that title? I really have nothing this cover blows.

But what about the bizarrely bad? The unnatural oddities? Well, there are a lot of those, but we can't get to them all. Mostly because I do have my limits, so with that said:

What the living Hell is this? The guy playing the piano is normal, it is very common for people with singular instrument talents to be featured on the album cover playing, or at least posing with, their instrument of choice. No, my real questions start with the naked woman on top of the piano. I mean, what!? Who thought of that? Why is that a thing? How did this album not cause any controversy? If it did why didn't I hear about it somewhere online? I tried looking up the name Eddie Mack, but all I found were more images of this album cover, so I think this is the ultimate legacy of the artist, album photographer and woman on the piano. Isn't that depressing?

This album cover is glorious in not only how lame it is, but also in how flat out geeky it is. I mean, they are obviously holding toy laser guns, wearing less than competent costume pieces and uhhh... That is a panty shot. Also, am I reading that right? SIR Adrian Boult? this guy was a sir? Somehow that really makes me lose hope for British knighting.

Aright, one more absurdly bad album cover and I think I saved the best, and most offensive, for last.

I... I have no words. The jokes make themselves. I can show this to some of my friends and they would just say, "Nope! Too easy" and my friends are pun masters, they can really dole out the Pun-ishment. But seriously, this album cover is just bizarre and you would be forgiven for thinking that this was an album from the 1970s or late 60s, but this is a recent album, as in 2013. I feel really bad that I did not ever see this album at my local HMV.

Now heading back to the bad, we have...

Ke$ha pretending to be Lady Gaga? or maybe a Lady Gaga, Katy Perry mesh that was abandoned on a purple planet. Is she on the Planet Namek? What is she wearing, a stained glass dress? I have no words, this album cover is just... just... WHAT!?

Okay, last two, and I think I saved the best for last. These covers don't suck per say, but they are really hilarious I think it would be a tragedy to not include them with this. No they are not good album covers but they are not terrible, and to start this off;

Words fail me. This album screams in the best way it can, gay. There is no other word to describe this, it is actually really amazing. I think the only complaint I have is the guy on the right. Who is that guy? Why does he look like if Tim Burton put Edward Scissorhands in Marty McFly's Jacket? He really looks as if My Chemical Romance and Misfits had a flamboyant gay son. Also, to protect my ass from the approaching French horn of comments, I just want to say I have nothing against being gay, but that doesn't mean when you see something that there is no other word to describe it you can't criticize it, especially if it wasn't intentional.

Now this is an incredible cover. I mean, look at that band, they are all so chiseled and muscular, it makes a pretty boy like Prince turn away in shame. There outfits are like, loincloths and their 80's hair. I can not describe this in any other word but homoerotic. Seriously, they are all sweaty and half-naked and it is just glorious. Let us bask in the glory of this amazingly hilarious cover.

So yeah, those last two weren't too bad, but they were really funny. I was actually laughing when I put the images on here. I'm also quite surprised that these albums didn't cause a whole lot of controversy. I don't think album covers that are controversial are also bad alongside it. I mean, a lot of the time it is just the public overreacting, but every so often...

Yeah....

I'm the Entity of Darkness, and next time will be an album review. This was just a fun distraction for the time being. With any luck I may be able to do this again.

Album Reviews: Boston - Boston

Can I level with you guys? I am not the biggest fan of arena rock. It is a fine genre on its own, and I do know that a lot of it sounds better live, but that isn't why I am not the biggest fan of it. It's almost like Pop Rock with how simple it can be. A good example is Journey, a band I can't really bring myself to listen to more than one or two songs from them. Journey was the group that popularized the four-chord pop song, one of the most annoying and simplest song writing clichés ever. I do like some arena rock, but if you really want to grab my attention you do what Boston does here.

Okay so, starting with something that isn't even a proper part of the album, I love that cover. It isn't in my top ten album covers, but it is still incredible. Like, holy crap, is that an image or is it not? Anyway, this was Boston's debut album and was released in 1976. It peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200, Number 4 in Germany, number 7 on the Canadian RPM 100 Albums Chart and reached it's lowest at number 26 on the Sweden Top 60 Albums. It has since been certified Diamond in Canada, 17x Platinum in the US and Gold in the UK.

The album kicks off with a good mesh of acoustic guitar and drums in the opening track "More Than a Feeling" which starts off pretty soft, but builds at the chorus and features some awesome guitar work by Tom Scholz. The song itself peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the following track also mixes acoustic guitar with electric guitar and it peaked at number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100.

However, the album really picks up with the third and, in my opinion, best song on the album, "Foreplay/Long Time". It starts with a really nice Keyboard and follows with a sharp electric guitar. The first few minutes are just instrumental and it sounds incredible. Even if the second part of the song wasn't there, it would still be my favourite song on the album. The second part is traditional 70s rock, but the song itself is pretty catchy, but isn't an earworm, which is really good because earworms can be super obnoxious.

"Smokin'" is a song that has a good riff and rhythm, although I do feel like I've heard it before in a different song. it was pretty much this point on the album that I realized that nothing really sounds mismatched or out of place, the album molds with itself perfectly. Also, because I know many of you are going to want me to say it: Here you go. After this song, the album gives us "Hitch a Ride" which has a pretty good opening being very slow, and I also really noticed Sib Hashian's drum work on this track. Aside from that there isn't much to say, it isn't a memorable song, but it isn't terrible.

Brad Delp's vocals did however bring up the seventh track a bit. The instrumentals in "Something About You" are also really good and definitely kick up the album a bit. Although the eighth and final track "Let Me Take You Home Tonight" is pretty, meh. It wasn't a terrible way to end the album, but I feel as though they played their trump card a bit to early. "Foreplay/Long Time" either should've been the last track, or the first. Then again, maybe things would sound out of place, I'm not sure if there is a proper way to solve the issue here, or if it bothers anyone other than myself. Oh and the lyrics also sound very stalker-ish, so there is that.

Overall, I think Boston has earned there place in Rock and Roll history. Sure not every song is perfect, but when there is a high powered song, it really shines. There also aren't very many bad songs, if any at all. So, for this album, I really think that it has earned a full 8/10.

Album Review: Dream Theater - Octavarium

Many of the problems I have had with some of the previous albums were that the songs ran together, the songs weren't distinct enough from each other or that the vocals don't match the music. These will be complaints with albums later, but if you want to know of an album that I think has very few, if any, problems at all, especially those three; I say, look no further.

Octavarium is the eighth studio album by Progressive Metal band Dream Theater and was released in 2005. Also, fun bit of trivia, it was the last album recorded at The Hit Factory, which was a famous recording studio known for albums such as Paul Simon's Graceland and most of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA, and was allegedly the studio John Lennon was walking home from the evening he was murdered. The album itself did very well, reaching number 2 on both the Finnish and Italian album charts, number 10 on the Japanese Albums Chart, number 15 on the Canadian Albums Chart and number 36 on the Billboard 200, but reached its lowest on the UK Albums Chart peaking only at number 72.

If you want a perfect way to start your album, take notes on the opening track "The Root of All Evil" which does have a pretty techno opening, but give it time and it will kick in. The guitar work by John Petrucci is just incredible and James LaBrie's vocal work, although a little quiet, is still showcased well in the song. It is then followed by "The Answer Lies Within" which offers a bit of variety, and this is only the second track. It is very calm and soft, but it is still a great song.

It is around the fourth track "I Walk Beside You" that I really start to notice the amazing thing about this album. It isn't that the songs are just incredible, but that no song ever meshes with another. Something similar happened when I was listening to the following track "Panic Attack" when I realized how perfectly suited James LaBrie's voice was to the music Dream Theater made.

But what really makes this album all the most amazing for me are the final two tracks. The first of them being "Sacrificed Sons" which begins with what I guess is terrorist attack reports. It is followed by slow instrumentals and soft vocals, but then transitions really nicely into a harder song, going into a lovely instrumental with good bass work by John Myung. The song itself builds on itself and drops occasionally, but I like when some songs drop, because that often gives the chance to build higher. However, my favourite song on the album was the eighth and final track, the titular track "Octavarium".

Not only is it my favourite song on the album, it is one of my favourite songs period. it is in my top ten and for good reason. The song can be very mind melting, especially towards the beginning with the slow build up of the instruments and a swift kick with an amazing guitar riff. The following acoustics give the listener a breath while the song builds up again with five separate movements, kind of like classical music. Each movement builds upon the last and transitions using instrumentals. The first two movements tell a story while the third is kind of an abstract collection of progressive and classic rock references. The third movement is in my opinion, my favourite of the five movements. Even though the fourth movement has my favourite moment in the song. It's when LaBrie is singing the lines "Trapped inside this octavarium" and there are a lot of little touches and details that really stand out. It is hands down the longest song on the album being exactly 24 minutes in length, but I personally felt as if just a few minutes went by, at the vey least five or six.

I can not stress how much I love this album. So far, it may be my favourite album of all time, and considering that I have Holy Diver, Dark Side of the Moon and Dark Sky Island, that is saying quite a bit, and I barely touched upon some of the other great tings like Mike Portnoy's amazing drumming and Jordan Rudess on the Keyboards. If you haven't heard this album yet, go do it.

For the awesome instrumentals and pure talent of the band members, I give this album a 10/10.

Album Review: Jefferson Airplane - Surrealisitc Pillow

As someone who is a huge fan of the music of the 1960s, I often find it a treat to find albums from that time period in places like the Library or a Thrift Store. To me, the 1960s is probably my second or third favourite decade for music, not only did it give us some of the most iconic bands and songs, but also some of the most important. From the folk scene with Bob Dylan to the slowly emerging Heavy Metal scene with Steppenwolf and Led Zeppelin. The 1960s were a treasure trove of amazing music. Of all the eras of music, my favourite was the Psychedelic era of the 1960s, as some of the sounds were very unique and some of my favourite songs came from that time period, from "Purple Haze" to "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Of course, everybody has their preferences to which bands they like from this era, I love The Jimi Hendrix Experience, but there are people who like Jefferson Airplane, which I do understand.

Surrealistic Pillow was the second studio album from the band and was released in 1967. It is also notable for being the album to introduce the talented Grace Slick on vocals. I can only assume that she is the reason that the album was successful, as it reached Number 3 on the Billboard 200, and that is about it.

The album overall has eleven songs, with one of the most notable being the second track "Somebody to Love". The song is very energetic and really does show off the talent of the band's lead guitarist. The lyrics are pretty basic but the chorus itself is nicely catchy, and the following track "My Best Friend" is lighthearted and soft, it isn't a good song to follow up "Somebody to Love", but it isn't too bad.

Unfortunately, as much as we all like to deny it, Grace Slick is not actually the lead singer of the group for this album, that honour goes to Marty Balin, who showcases his talents in "Today", one of the dullest songs I've ever heard. Seriously, I can barely remember the song and every time I think about it, I always think to The Smashing Pumpkins song of the same name, which might I add is a better song.

That is the main problem with this album, not the weird sounds and stuff, but it is the fact that it introduces Grace Slick, one of the most powerful female singers of the time and the majority of the album is sung with either Marty on his own or with Grace in a duet, in which she doesn't have any chance to shine. Songs like "Comin' Back to Me" and "How Do You Feel" are good examples, as while they may have good instrumentals and such, Marty ruined those songs by making them dull and boring. I'm not saying he is a bad singer, but when we have been introduced to a unique voice on the second track, it kind of makes the other songs duller in comparison.

The ninth and tenth tracks however, bring the album up a lot more than previous tracks. The ninth track "Embryonic Journey" is an instrumental that is nice and relaxing and does show off Jorma Kaukonen's abilities, and is a good example of what I like about instrumental tracks, although it is a bit short. However, what is arguably the most iconic track on the album is the tenth track, "White Rabbit" which is also my favourite song on the album. Not only is it inspired by and references Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Which is one of my favourite books of all time, but it also builds on itself. This is what I love in music, not just that they are good songs, but also that they build on themselves. "White Rabbit" really does showcase why Grace Slick should have been the lead singer on this album instead of Marty Balin.

Overall, the album as a whole was rather disappointing. Anybody going in expecting songs like "White Rabbit" will be severely disappointed. Sure "White rabbit" is an amazing song, but aside from two other songs, the rest of the album is rather dull and boring. I do recommend it to anybody who either likes psychedelic rock or enjoys soft and relaxing music, but I personally had my expectations pushed off a cliff.

For the three goods songs, but the other dull songs, I give it a 6/10.

Album Review: Wolfmother - Victorious

Now for probably the most recent album I have reviewed thus far. Often times I find some really interesting things at places like the Library which is where I got the My Chemical Romance album I reviewed a while back.

The fourth studio album released by Australian hard rock band Wolfmother, Victorious was released on February 19, 2016 and topped the UK Rock and Metal Album Charts and reached number 2 on the US Top Hard Rock Albums, but only reached number 33 on the Canadian Albums Chart and number 71 on the Billboard 200 and reached the lowest on the French Albums Chart at number 129.

The Album opens with a decent song in "The Love that you Give" and then heads into the titular track "Victorious". The first track had some issues with the vocals kind of falling behind the music, but "Victorious" fixes that problem and has some pretty good instrumentals as well. "Victorious" is so far the only song to be released as a single and only peaked at Number 26 on the US Mainstream Rock Charts.

The third track is also a good song, although "Baroness" has some simple lyrics, but the song itself could either be about a one sided love, or more likely a bit of jealousy or disdain. Unfortunately it is followed by so far my least favourite song on the album "Pretty Peggy" which offers a good mix up with the song sounding more folky than hard rock, but the song doesn't work. Not because of the fact that a hard rock band is singing it, but because it sounds more comfortable by a band like The Lumineers or Lukas Graham rather than a hard rock group like Wolfmother.

Honestly, after the fifth track "City Lights" the album kind of starts to blend together for me, sound like one song melts into another. Songs like "Best of a Bad Situation" and "Gypsy Caravan" have similar problems and Andrew's vocals at this point are starting to annoy me.

The final track on this album "Eye of the Beholder" has vocals that sound like they follow the same rhythm as the rest of the album. The album doesn't really separate itself from itself, which I had a problem with P.O.D.'s Satellite.

Overall, I can't really say this is a bad album. My biggest problem is that a lot of the album sounds the same when it comes to the vocals and the rhythm they follow, however the instrumentals are pretty good. Andrew Stockdale's vocals can annoy me, but I think the album really works at it's best in small doses, unless you are a Wolfmother fan.

I give it a 6/10 for the vocals, and the tracks with the exception of a few, being very meh at best.