Cop/Young God - Swans (The)

Advantages: Original, intense, powerful, melodic, epic
Disadvantages: An acquired taste for those who don't like a challenge!

...guitar, and singer Aaron's guttural death-metal vocals accompanying the almost shocking strength and heaviness of the music... before all becomes peaceful again- he abruptly changes vocal style to a what amounts to a plaintive cry of despair. Everything about this album is epic. The song titles say it all- beautiful but haunting names such as "The Songless Bird", "Black God", "The Snow In My Hands", "Your River"... This album is also one of contrasts- between a dark, uncomfortable solitude and sudden fury. "Turn Loose the Swans" showcases My Dying Bride at their very best. If you're a fan of progressive doom-metal, goth-metal or even the older death-metal, your collection deserves this album. (Just adding a bit more!) - the album also stands up very well against the band's other releases- almost of which are great. The band have a sound... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Different
Disadvantages: Too much going on

...This is a review of City, the 2nd album of Strapping Young Lad the Canadian Progressive/Extreme metal band. This album is often critically acclaimed as the best work of Strapping Young Lad, to add to that Devin Townsend is often cited as a genius. Made in 1997, the album should appeal to me but doesn't impress me anyway near as much as it should do, I've tried to get into it several times and the mixture of different styles messes it up a bit for me. I'm also not a big fan of the "clean" vocals, some songs on the album like Detox are pretty good but others like Oh My F***ing God just sound like progressive industrial metal with a muffled sound that represents a result similar to a heavier version of what Mike Patton is up to these days (if you've seen it), which is basically just making a racket! Maybe it's my simple mind but I prefer... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Changed the sound of music in the seventies
Disadvantages: Died young so where would the music have gone if he lived?

...unfit she never returned to England to face the charge. This means that a young man who had a lot to live for and a lot of music to make died and no one paid for his death. Shortly after he died fans of Marc Bolan broke into his home and stole most of his possessions. How sad for his family and friends to have this done. My first memory of T Rex then called Tyrannosaurus Rex was early in the 1970’s when a friend and I used to regularly go dancing. There we were, sweet sixteen, although I wouldn’t say never been kissed, in our hot pants, our high heels, catching the bus to the nearest town to dance the night away. There were many songs but one of my favourite, which was played over and over, was Ride a White Swan, something completely different, with undertones of love and lust. Teenagers all over, wearing satin and sequins to dances... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful