Here is my first in a never ending series of posts of Bands That Bring The Thunder. These will be me spotlighting bands I think people should know about. The story of me knowing about Grand Magus starts with a band practice a couple of months ago when the drummer of my band Justin shows up to practice with a album he got from Dreadful Sounds, a record store on North High St. in Clintonville go there. Anyway, he showed me the album and told me that the band sounds like all of my favorite bands put together. As tall an order as that is, I gave it a listen. Justin was right on the money.
Grand Magus is a band of three Swedish dudes making some of the best heavy metal I have heard. The album Justin showed me was Iron Will, the band's 4th official Release. Right away I heard some subtle Iron Maiden influence and a definite taste of Black Sabbath. Janne Christofferson's voice sounds like he listened to a lot of Deep Purple. The riffs are catchy, the solos are tasteful and there are big epic choruses.
Grand Magus started out as more of a doom band and on Iron Will came into their own on as an amazing heavy metal band. The group just released the album Hammer of the North and it is the best thing I have heard from them or any other band. The songs are perfect.
Above is the video for Hammer of the North, one of my favorite songs right now. enjoy
Here is the video for At Midnight They'll Get Wise, also off of Hammer of The North
Above is a youtube video of As The Oar Strike The Water, from Iron Will. Not a music video but the cover art is amazing and it's a great song.
So concludes the first of Bands That Bring the Thunder, stay tuned for many more
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Official Thunderpost
I plan on making my posts more frequent so stay tuned...
Did you know that the Rolling Stone used to be a credible music publication? It's true. The magazine that validates Coldplay's music and puts Justin Bieber on the cover used to be the magazine that music groups wanted to be on the cover of, let alone mentioned inside. I use the terms 'music groups' and 'used to' because neither are true any more. Granted there are people regularly featured in the magazine who's music is composed and recorded with actual musical instruments, it's usually indie bands or U2 or Areosmith type bands whose music is more the background of commercials than anything else.
The Rolling Stone just put out their latest 'Collectors Edition' cash grab The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. I knew I was going to be disappointed before I even picked it up, but I did anyway. I flipped through it for the same reason I DVR That Metal Show, I just like to hate things I guess. Anyway, the bottom of the list was pretty predictable, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones and so on, but I was more than usually disappointed in the absence of metal.There were only two metal bands on the list Metallica ( 50-something) and Black Sabbath (10 or 20 spots later in the list).Not to mention the amount of rap groups on the list. Including Public Enemy at number 14, that's right the group Flavor Flav was in.
There are many metal bands from any of the sub-genres of metal that easily belong on that list. I don't see why all of the "Greatest Artists of All Time' should be only from the past 60 years and be, for the most part, all of the same genre. No Beethoven, no Mozart, no Bach, no Paganini. I am to assume that the artists in this list have done more for the art than these fine composers. And all of the blurbs about these artists are written by other artists. Just the most popular patting themselves on the back.
The Rolling Stone should be ashamed of themselves. Print is an endangered species on its way to extinction. Many magazines over the years have closed up shop, Metal Edge, Metal Maniacs and Hit Parader for example. All legitimate music publications now out of print. Thank goodness Revolver is hanging in there. It is the best widely available American metal magazine covering a pretty wide stretch genre-wise. So, pick up Revolver or, if you have the money, Metal Hammer or Kerrang to get any decent extreme music cover and leave The Rolling Stone, or as I now refer to it as, Mtv the Magazine, to extinction.
Did you know that the Rolling Stone used to be a credible music publication? It's true. The magazine that validates Coldplay's music and puts Justin Bieber on the cover used to be the magazine that music groups wanted to be on the cover of, let alone mentioned inside. I use the terms 'music groups' and 'used to' because neither are true any more. Granted there are people regularly featured in the magazine who's music is composed and recorded with actual musical instruments, it's usually indie bands or U2 or Areosmith type bands whose music is more the background of commercials than anything else.
The Rolling Stone just put out their latest 'Collectors Edition' cash grab The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. I knew I was going to be disappointed before I even picked it up, but I did anyway. I flipped through it for the same reason I DVR That Metal Show, I just like to hate things I guess. Anyway, the bottom of the list was pretty predictable, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones and so on, but I was more than usually disappointed in the absence of metal.There were only two metal bands on the list Metallica ( 50-something) and Black Sabbath (10 or 20 spots later in the list).Not to mention the amount of rap groups on the list. Including Public Enemy at number 14, that's right the group Flavor Flav was in.
There are many metal bands from any of the sub-genres of metal that easily belong on that list. I don't see why all of the "Greatest Artists of All Time' should be only from the past 60 years and be, for the most part, all of the same genre. No Beethoven, no Mozart, no Bach, no Paganini. I am to assume that the artists in this list have done more for the art than these fine composers. And all of the blurbs about these artists are written by other artists. Just the most popular patting themselves on the back.
The Rolling Stone should be ashamed of themselves. Print is an endangered species on its way to extinction. Many magazines over the years have closed up shop, Metal Edge, Metal Maniacs and Hit Parader for example. All legitimate music publications now out of print. Thank goodness Revolver is hanging in there. It is the best widely available American metal magazine covering a pretty wide stretch genre-wise. So, pick up Revolver or, if you have the money, Metal Hammer or Kerrang to get any decent extreme music cover and leave The Rolling Stone, or as I now refer to it as, Mtv the Magazine, to extinction.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Unleash Thunderbox
In this, my first post I would like to explain why I started this blog. I started this mainly to explain why I like or dislike things, granted it will mostly be music. Saying that I would fist like to point out that I am a musician, and have been for the past fifteen years and believe I have enough knowledge to make by points valid.A lot of people I know who don't share my opinions in music basically think that I hate everything, or dislike anything because on the radio or popular. This is not true, just a mere coincidence. The music I like, as I explain to these people, is either music most people don't like or music they have never heard of. So, I'll update when I think people should know about something or to rant about why I'm upset that a lot more people like or don't like something.
I really wish technology was where it is now when I was13, it would have been a lot easier to find new music. With the limitless internet and all of the people making music all over the world it bothers me when somebody tries to sell why Slipknot is so awesome, or how good the drummer to the Deftones is. I just can't feign interest in mediocrity. I have a few theories when to comes to music; The first one being that music fans settle for what they think sounds good based on what is told to them or people base their tastes on laziness. Again going back to how easy technology makes finding anything. Ignoring this tool to find something that better suits your taste is just dumb. Listening to the radio is possibly the worst thing for any music fan, just like watching Mtv. The music on the radio, every station, is just recycled. Since music has been profitable it has been the same thing, if only adjusted to match the trends.
Country music has stayed the same, save for being watered down to be more accessible. Any kind of pop or R&B is just disco and rap is a music negative. No instruments, no music. An all popular rock, Nickleback, Linkin Park and alike, is just new disco played by instruments. This is where a lot of people give me the 'you only don't like things because it's popular', sound just but only a coincidence. I bring anyone's attention arguing this to any fad that has ever existed, namely the Pet Rock. Somebody took rocks and put them in to boxes and people bought the shit out of them. Rocks people. Does that mean everyone who bought a Pet Rock is stupid? Yes, yes it does.
My second theory is that musical taste deteriorates with age. This can, I guess, also be attributed to laziness. A lot of people I know who where fans of respectable music in their formidable years, seem to just accept whatever is thrown at them in their later 'boring' years. I make it a personal mission not to get bored with any kind of music I like. This is why i subconsciously go through phases, be it rock, doom, punk, death, or power metal I do my best to re-examine why I like these types of music. Allow my musical taste to mature as it were.This blog will allow me to present my argument with some dummy pissing me off by just say the opposite of what I'm and thinking they won the argument. Sorry about the length of the post, but reading this is better than me shouting all of it at you.
I really wish technology was where it is now when I was13, it would have been a lot easier to find new music. With the limitless internet and all of the people making music all over the world it bothers me when somebody tries to sell why Slipknot is so awesome, or how good the drummer to the Deftones is. I just can't feign interest in mediocrity. I have a few theories when to comes to music; The first one being that music fans settle for what they think sounds good based on what is told to them or people base their tastes on laziness. Again going back to how easy technology makes finding anything. Ignoring this tool to find something that better suits your taste is just dumb. Listening to the radio is possibly the worst thing for any music fan, just like watching Mtv. The music on the radio, every station, is just recycled. Since music has been profitable it has been the same thing, if only adjusted to match the trends.
Country music has stayed the same, save for being watered down to be more accessible. Any kind of pop or R&B is just disco and rap is a music negative. No instruments, no music. An all popular rock, Nickleback, Linkin Park and alike, is just new disco played by instruments. This is where a lot of people give me the 'you only don't like things because it's popular', sound just but only a coincidence. I bring anyone's attention arguing this to any fad that has ever existed, namely the Pet Rock. Somebody took rocks and put them in to boxes and people bought the shit out of them. Rocks people. Does that mean everyone who bought a Pet Rock is stupid? Yes, yes it does.
My second theory is that musical taste deteriorates with age. This can, I guess, also be attributed to laziness. A lot of people I know who where fans of respectable music in their formidable years, seem to just accept whatever is thrown at them in their later 'boring' years. I make it a personal mission not to get bored with any kind of music I like. This is why i subconsciously go through phases, be it rock, doom, punk, death, or power metal I do my best to re-examine why I like these types of music. Allow my musical taste to mature as it were.This blog will allow me to present my argument with some dummy pissing me off by just say the opposite of what I'm and thinking they won the argument. Sorry about the length of the post, but reading this is better than me shouting all of it at you.
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