CD Review: Korn – The Path of Totality

I’ve been listening to Korn for a long time, ever since some stoned out metal head my sophomore year gave me a cassette recording of his original Korn album. I couldn’t understand a word John Davis said for weeks, but I listened to it several times a day, until I could pick out every syllable. By the time I knew everything he wanted me to know, I was pretty much hooked. On Y2K night, I listened to Follow the Leader in my room in the dark, with flashing Christmas lights strung up everywhere to give the place kind of a club cave feel. I listened to the live broadcast of the Issues release concert on my Walkman while I scrubbed nasty greasy dishes at Checkers, and remember feeling very disappointed by all but one or two songs.

Five Artists I Like (In a Genre I Hate)

Everybody who knows me knows how I feel about hip-hop, rap, and R&B. I dislike it immensely. I think that the subculture surrounding it is misogynistic, narcissistic, chauvinistic, and excessive. I dislike most topics touched upon in modern rap, and think it adds nothing at all to us, as a people, or as a culture.

CD Review: In Flames – Sounds of a Playground Fading

I love In Flames. I am a complete homer, and can say nothing bad about them.

The truth is, though, I came into their music late, around their eighth and ninth albums, Come Clarity and A Sense of Purpose. So, of course, I expected their music to all sound the same. To my surprise, as I went back through their catalog, their evolution as a band seemed to be similar to that of All That Remains; they went from being super growly and brutal to being more melodic and lyrics-oriented.

Five Songs (That Depress The Hell Out Of Me)

Before we get in to the article at hand, I need to address the lack of posts over the last month. As the 808 knows, I am no longer in the area due to the loss of jobs my wife and I suffered, and the loss of our home in Honolulu. We went back to the mainland, lost access to the internet for about three weeks, then escaped Redneckville, TN, where we were in a dangerous situation, and are now in the middle of nowhere in Georgia, trying to catch our feet again.

Why Do We Play?

Everybody has a reason for nigh everything they do. One of the most common questions asked of bands and other performers is, “What inspired you to start ?” Today we’ll explore some reasons why we do the crazy crap we do on stage.

Why The Scene Devours Itself

Music is a business, whether you’re an amateur band, playing for nothing, or a big ticket national act playing for millions. There is always someone somewhere who is trying to profit from your endeavors as an artist.

Five Songs (That Piss Me Off)

Every so often a band comes along and writes a song that is so bad, so ill-conceived, and just flat out WRONG, that when it becomes a hit single and gets played over and over and over again, you just lose all concept of reality and justice in the world. This is a list of just those songs.

Five Songs (That Saved My Life)

When I was a teenager, like almost all teens, I was chronically dissatisfied, felt tread upon, and was totally mopey and rebellious. Unlike a lot of teens, I actually had a few outlets for my frustration. As a nerd, I was always in to computers, and studying languages and anatomy (gnehehe…) and stuff, but when that just wouldn’t cut it, music was what soothed the beast inside.

WHAT SCENE? Band Review: Before Fire

I’ve been playing and spectating and promoting in the Honolulu scene for a couple years now, and there are only a few bands that come to my mind when someone uses words like ‘brutal’ or ‘metal.’ Foremost among those bands is Before Fire.

Musicians’ Forums

One of the great thing about living in today’s world is the wealth of information at your fingertips. Any topic you could ever want to learn about only ever requires a few keystrokes and a a couple mouse clicks. Craigslist, forums, EBAY, Google, Twitter, Blogs, etc – all these resources are readily available at almost any time of the day.