Pure Undiluted Guitar Awesomeness (And A Few More Reviews)

I'm gonna start this entry off by urging you, as if your life depended on it, to seek out and support some absolutely incredible music - in this case, that of a guitarist named Dave Weiner.  Dave has gotten most of his exposure from being a rhythm/backup guitarist in Steve Vai's live band, but if you do just a bit more digging on the Internet, you'll find that he's created some amazing music on his own.  His latest album, On Revolute, is one of the best guitar-focused instrumental albums I think I've ever heard, and it's a shame more people haven't had the chance to listen to it.  It really runs the gamut of sounds, too, from epic, heavy progressive rock to relaxing acoustic music - and even at its heaviest, it's a long way from being just another blindingly fast, emotionless shred record.  These are great songs, first and foremost, and they will get in your head (or at least they've gotten in mine).  Take a listen to the samples here if you need to hear it for yourself; I'd recommend ordering from his official website rather than Amazon, though, because A) it's cheaper and B) it automatically enters you to win some cool free stuff.  However you do it, though, get this CD - you'll be glad you did.


. . . Okay, I know that was a little more biased and fanboy-ish than usual for me, but I just had to get that off my chest.  Now on with your regularly scheduled programming.


Filter - The Trouble With Angels (August 17, 2010)

The thing to remember when comparing Filter's newer output with the band's well-known hits from the '90s and '00s is that, aside from ever-present frontman Richard Patrick, the band's lineup is constantly changing form record to record.  Put simply, the Filter that recorded Short Bus back in 1995 is almost a completely different band than the one that released The Trouble With Angels in 2010.  That said, there's a lot about this album that harkens back to the band's stripped-down, aggressive early material - most of the tracks here are built around monstrously simple-yet-effective guitar riffs that are some of the heaviest in Filter's catalog.  This is quite a welcome change from 2008's Anthems For The Damned, which saw Patrick lightening his songwriting and lyrical approach in a questionable attempt to make a more accessible, socially-conscious record.  Patrick wisely returns to the vitriol-filled methodology that made his band famous in the first place on Angels, dredging up all his old demons and screaming in their faces like he hasn't in almost a decade of recorded material.  This is a loud, angry, in-your-face hard rock record, and it's what Filter has always done best.  (Check out the deluxe edition of the album, if you can find it, for a bonus disc with some quality extra material not found on the standard, 10-track CD.)


Rating:  4/5


Standout Tracks:  "No Love," "Drug Boy," "Down With Me," "The Trouble With Angels"


Stone Sour - Audio Secrecy (September 7, 2010)

Stone Sour will probably never get rid of its association with Slipknot - which is natural, since the bands do share two members in vocalist Corey Taylor and guitarist Jim Root - but it's kind of a pity, because the bands are so different from one another in musical approach and target audience that it's really an apples-to-oranges scenario.  Audio Secrecy, the third Stone Sour record, highlights the differences between the two bands' sounds more boldly than either record that preceded it.  There's still plenty of heavy material here, so it's not like they've gone completely soft; the focus has simply shifted to being very song-centered and melody-driven, as opposed to churning out riff after jackhammering riff.  This makes for a slightly lower-key album, and it might come off at first as being more mainstream or watered-down than its predecessors, but the songwriting here is really as good as Stone Sour has ever managed to put to CD - almost all of the album's tracks feature at least one or two sections that are guaranteed to get stuck in your head.  And yes, there are a few lighter, bluesier ballad tracks, but the band's improvement in songwriting ability extends to those songs as well, so the lightening of the band's approach can be forgiven.  Sure, Audio Secrecy is nothing revolutionary or mind-bogglingly great, but if you're looking for a solid hard rock album with plenty of memorable songs, look no further.


Rating:  3.5/5


Standout Tracks:  "Digital (Did You Tell)," "Hesitate," "Unfinished," "Miracles"


Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns (September 14, 2010)

It seems that the more popular a band gets, the louder their fans protest when the band attempts to evolve or change anything about their signature sound.  When you're as popular as Linkin Park, you can expect the outcry to be a loud one indeed - which has happened twice so far in the band's career, once following the release of 2007's Minutes To Midnight, and almost like clockwork, again after the release of their latest, 2010's A Thousand Suns.  This most recent record finds the band straying almost unrecognizably from the blueprint they laid down with Hybrid Theory; detuned guitar riffs, turntable interludes, and the signature dueling-rap-and-sung vocal approach are all but nonexistent here.  Instead, Linkin Park has gone headfirst into much more experimental territory, ramping up their electronica and ambient influences to the point where it's undeniably the least heavy album of their career.  The upside of this experimentation is that it yields results that are at worst, at least interesting, and at best, some of the most musically satisfying songs in the band's career so far.  Mike Shinoda actually sings much more than he raps on A Thousand Suns (although the tracks that feature Shinoda's rapping are actually some of the album's best); Brad Delson's guitar playing is much more textural (think The Edge from U2) than riff-driven; and Joe Hahn contributes much more keyboard work and sample-driven textures than turntable scratching.  And somehow, it almost always works.  There may be a few awkward patches and failed sonic experiments, but Linkin Park's willingness to stretch their boundaries as musicians and songwriters has, for the most part, yielded some very enjoyable music.  And I'd take an interesting new sound from a beloved band any day over a tired retread of played-out ideas.


Rating:  3.5/5


Standout Tracks:  "Wretches And Kings," "Burning In The Skies," "When They Come For Me," "Iridescent"