Welcome to Weaponized Wisdom, a blog I've created to share relevant news and updates from the world of hard rock and heavy metal, as well as promising artists, excellent songs, album reviews, and concert reviews and photos.
I came across this guy's cover of "The Song of Storms" from the N64 game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time yesterday and was really pleasantly surprised. I expected a computerized remix track, but instead got a well-recorded and beautifully arranged guitar cover in a metal style with great guitar tone:
That track was just recorded earlier this week.
Today, I heard that he had already released another cover, this time of "Bolero of Fire." The Bolero was one of my favorite songs from the game, and it really seems to jive well with metal instrumentation:
Both songs are very true to the originals, but I feel like they suffer a bit from their length and eventually getting a bit repetitive. Perhaps he'll work in some extra flourishes and play around with the melody a bit more on future covers.
I guess we'll find out, as I've subscribed to his youtube channel and can let you know when he adds more tunes.
There you have it. Here at Weaponized Wisdom we keep you on the cutting edge of N64 game song cover version releases. You're welcome.
I recently picked up Volbeat's newest album, and the bluesy, heavy, thrashy "7 Shots" immediately caught my attention. The song's intro is reminiscent of a Johnny Cash tune, and then it transitions into a fast, heavy, and melodic thrash tune featuring the vocals and guitarwork of Kreator's Mille Petrozza.
The song sounds like a collaboration between Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and Metallica. Enjoy:
I'll be reviewing this album in the coming days; gonna be rocking out to it pretty much constantly until then.
Nightwish: Metal has always been, and remains, a boy's club. Though the female population in metal has been growing steadily, it is still a genre dominated by men. Never entirely won over by the likes of Lita Ford or Amy Lee, I felt like female vocalists just did not mix well with the low strum of an electric guitar. Then, Pandora reminded me of a band I had briefly heard about from ytmnd.com by the name of Nightwish, and soon, almost every one of their songs were getting thumbs up on my station.
Many of their songs (Wish I Had an Angel, Wishmaster, End of All Hope, and so many more) offered me something that I called the "yin yang" of metal which I have been attracted to since I got into rock music (more on this later). This yin yang was something I first noticed this in Killswitch Engage, where the singer would switch from guttural screams to clean vocals (I am well aware they were not the first band to do this), forming a light/heavy mesh that worked wonder on my ears. Nightwish's yin yang came in the form of Tara Turunen's divine voice and the classic metal sound that came from the rest of the band--in addition to folk music roots and some stellar lyrical work--and it was extremely addictive.
After about a month or so of listening to a Nightwish station at work, I decided to go look for some of their music videos half-expecting some fat, stereotypical opera singer on vocals. I was dead wrong:
A raven-haired beauty had captivated me and only made a great band not only enjoyable to listen to, but very easy on the eyes.
Unfortunately, Tara's ego and the egos of the rest of the band clashed, resulting in Tara being fired from the band with each side pointing at the other for blame. The end result spawned two entities: Tara Turunen, Tara's side project (which I'm not too fond of, honestly), and Nightwish with a new singer (Annette Olzon). My initial reaction to the new singer was negative, not only because I didn't like her singing style--which seemed more pop-ish and not as exotic--but also because I missed Tara's second-to-none voice. As time goes on, I've begun to accept the new singer and I enjoy a decent amount of the new album (see Sahara below). Tuomas (hard to spell Finnish last name omitted), who has been the band's primary songwriter since day one, was still the songwriter for the new album, so the song's didn't lose any of their merit.
The band does plan to release a new album in a year or two, and I strongly believe it will be good, because Tuomas has curved his writing style ever so slightly to match with Annette's voice in a more suitable manner. I'm hoping Tara will pull a Bruce Dickinson/Rob Halford and set aside her differences with her old band, leaving the possibility of her triumphant return should things go sour with Annette.
I originally planned on discussing one or two more female-fronted metal bands to which Pandora introduced me, but for the sake of length, I will simply list these bands and my personal recommendations for a song(s) by each band. Girl power!
Additional Nightwish recommendations - 7 Days to the Wolves, Dark Chest of Wonders, Nemo, Ghost Love Score (the YTMND song) Within Temptation - See Who I am, What Have You Done Epica (the singer of this band is FINE with a capital F-I-N-E) - Never Enough, Dance of Fate
The Yin Yang I referred to earlier is best represented, in my opinion, in the genre of Melodic Death Metal. Bands in this genre often exhibit traditional Death Metal styles of singing, while adding melody to their music either through lighter or more melodic guitar work or clean vocal interspersed with the growls/screams. Think Killswitch Engage, only more screaming and occasional clean vocals. Exhibit A:
Dark Tranquillity (yes, for some reason, it's spelled with two Ls) is by far my favorite band from the genre, and while not all of their songs have clean vocals like Misery's Crown, the songs with all growling is complimented fittingly by melodic guitar work and piano/keyboards. Oddly enough, two other bands I enjoy very much, AmonAmarth and Dethklok, feature almost no clean vocals (unless it's a guest vocalist like Pickles the drummer) and both of these bands are also lumped into this genre, I'm thinking because you can actually enjoy their guitarists rather than listening to a clusterfuck of strums found in a traditional Death Metal band.
Other Melo-Death bands I recommend: In Flames - Trigger, Take This Life, Drifter Poisonblack - Rush Sonic Syndicate - Affliction
This last chunk of article is in response to One of Alex's older articles on music videos. I don't think music videos HAVE to serve a purpose, rather, I feel they can merely suggest a point. Music videos can also cause you to perceive and listen to songs in a whole new way and give you a new interpretation of the lyrics. My favorite music videos of all time are the ones that make me think the most and the ones that make me laugh the most. To conclude this post, I will post my two favorite "non-serious" music videos.
Here's Iron Maiden telling the world that they don't always take their music seriously, giving the audience a good chuckle with silly British humor, a guitarist in a pool and a ridiculously pink shirt. The song is definitely not one of Maiden's best, but if you're a fan of the band, you might enjoy seeing the gents of the band (the 1990 line-up; JanickGers' first video with the band) actin' a fool:
This next one is a fairly recent discovery, but numerous things in this video are worthy of a good chuckle (listed below the video, best read after viewing video). CHALLENGE MODE: try to watch this without smiling or chuckling, I sure as Hell couldn't do it:
The first thing that made me laugh out loud was "Wodka!" (LOL different cultures), followed by the faded chorus line of "Drinking is good for you!" I also thing the singer looks like James Hetfield's swamp brother, with his hilarity emphasized when the camera spins around but he stays centered. Also, I just love looking at the violinist looking like he's having a "pretty good time" when he's supposed to be feeling awesome! This song would, beyond a shadow of a doubt, make an amazing drinking/partying song, which I think was its true purpose (Alex, I demand you get this song for my next visit to Madison).
I also think this video is simply "better" than Beer Beer--another of their party songs--both in terms of lyrical hilarity and of course in the silliness-to-awesomeness ratio, even though I am a staunch opponent of Wodka.
Sorry this post was a bit of a scatter-brain on several different topics, but I had numerous ideas for this article, and I figured "all of them would be better than one of them!" I'm more than open to other suggestions or opposing arguments for any of the previous topics, because with all of the bands and genres I've talked about, I have only begun to scratch the surface of each.
This piece of news took me by surprise, as I have been listening to and following Volbeat for over a year now and this is the first I'm hearing of a new album.
Volbeat's sound is quite unique when compared to nearly all of the other hard rock/heavy metal sounds I've listened to - their songs have a Swing sound to them, reminiscent of early 60s/late 50s rock, and the vocals have clearly been influenced heavily by the stylings of Elvis Presley and other early rock vocalists.
Ultimate-guitar.com reports that "VOLBEAT will release its fourth album, "Beyond Hell/Above Heaven", in Germany on September 10 and in most parts of Europe on September 13 via Vertigo/Universal. The CD was once again recorded at Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark with producer Jacob Hansen. The cover artwork was created by illustrator Karsten Wrysand and can be viewed below.
"Beyond Hell/Above Heaven" track listing:
01. The Mirror And The Ripper
02. Heaven Nor Hell
03. Who They Are
04. Fallen
05. A Better Believer
06. 7 Shots
07. A New Day
08. 16 Dollars
09. A Warrior's Call
10. Magic Zone
11. Evelyn
12. Being 1
13. Thanks
"Beyond Hell/Above Heaven" features guest appearances by MERCYFUL FATE guitarist Michael Denner, NAPALM DEATH's Mark "Barney" Greenway and KREATOR's Mille Petrozza. Additionally, Jacob Oelund of the Copenhagen rockabilly outfit TAGGY TONES and songwriter Hanrik Hall swung by the studio to lay down some seriously swinging double bass and harmonica."
I am sincerely looking forward to this album, because this band is seriously a ton of fun to listen to. See what I mean here:
Dream Theater plans to continue playing/recording without recently departed drummer Mike Portnoy.
The band released the following statement regarding Pornoy's departure:
"To all of our loyal fans and friends: It is with profound sadness — regret — we announce that Mike Portnoy, our lifelong drummer and friend, has decided to leave Dream Theater.
"Mike's stature in the band has meant the world to all of us professionally, musically, and personally over the years. There is no dispute: Mike has been a major force within this band
"While it is true that Mike is choosing to pursue other ventures and challenges, we can assure you that Dream Theater will continue to move forward with the same intensity — and in the same musical tradition — that you have all helped make so successful, and which is truly gratifying to us.
"Fans and friends: File this episode under 'Black Clouds and Silver Linings.'
"As planned, we begin recording our newest album in January 2011, and we'll follow that with a full-on world tour.
"'The Spirit Carries On.'
"All of us in Dream Theater wholeheartedly wish Mike the best on his musical journey. We have had a long and meaningful career together. It is our true hope that he finds all he is looking for, and that he achieves the happiness he deserves. He will be missed."
Looks like we'll be seeing a new album in early-mid 2011 from the Dream Theater boys, sans-Portnoy. Black Clouds and Silver Linings was alright, but it was no Octavarius. I hope the boys can continue to pump out quality music that progresses the rock and metal sound, while at the same time impressing with their mastery of their instruments and genre.
Personally, I hope Portnoy sticks with Avenged Sevenfold and takes their sound to the next level. Jimmy Sullivan was an excellent drummer, but I think Portnoy can bring the experience and maturity to the band that they need to progress their music past the pop/nu-metal sound they currently espouse.
Blind Guardian will officially be touring the US and Canada this fall, and we have the full set of dates here at Weaponized Wisdom! They are listed below. Looks like they'll be in Minneapolis the Monday after Thanksgiving. I'm gonna be taking a long vacation for Thanksgiving and going to see them! Can't frickin wait!
