The official rock thread

[keithbishop]

found something yall might like, I know I did.

DragonForce

their music sounds very old school, but its amazing. click the music video through the fire and the flames, sit back, let it load, watch watch these guys. the guitarists are FAST. while their technique is only decent, the sheer friggin speed that they play at is insane, and the two lead guitarists go into a solo battle, its awesome. I think you need Yahoo music player for it.

enjoy.

Pretty cool. The guitarists are impressive..... and the drummer was pretty good, too. Take no offense at this....... I'm just a long-time Metal Head (for what it's worth, I played bass in a black/death Metal band for a 10-year period in the 1980's and 90's, still my favorite period of music)............... but the vocalist is HORRIBLE. Admittedly, I'm looking at this as a Metal fan, not a Rock fan (which , outside of Punk, I'm not). OK, the guy has a good voice...... probably popular among the faeries and elves (R.I.P. Bill Hicks).......... but they drain the power out of the music and leave me hoping they would go primarily instrumental, like Yngwie's first album.

Gamma Ray was listed as a "similar band"........... Gamma Ray's lead guitarist/vocalist is Kai Hansen...... Kai Hansen came from a band that obviously influenced DragonForce, Helloween. Helloween's "Walls of Jericho" remains one of my top-10 favorite albums. Hansen's voice wasn't as refined as the singer for DragonForce....... or as refined as the subsequent singers in Helloween...... but he was METAL. Helloween began losing steam on their 2nd full length, the nevertheless enjoyable "Keeper of the 7 Keys". "Keeper.... 2" left me disgusted when it came out...... a major step backward for the band on an album I had highly anticipated. Listening to "Keeper.....2" years later, there are some good songs...... and there are some pathetic songs...... but I haven't been able to fully trust Helloween since then.

I was suckered into buying an album of theirs 6 or 7 years ago..... I don't remember which album it was. The first song was great (I believe the song was called "Push").......... the rest............. pahetic. I'd look up the album name, but it would only serve to further anger me at how the mighty have fallen. I'll still take "Ride the Sky" from "Walls of Jericho" over ANY song within that style of Metal. I don't know what it's called these days ("Power Metal" ??)......... Helloween just called themselves Heavy Metal........ but if you took a pinch of Judas Priest...... a pinch of Iron Maiden....... stirred in a touch of thrash...........melodic yet aggressive dual-lead guitarists......... you'd have early Helloween. I've seen commercials for "Keeper of the 7 Keys, the Legacy" (I believe that is the title)..... and I'd like to dream it is a strong album........ but fear I would end up smashing it into a wall midway through the first listen..... angry at what they have become.


Check out "Walls of Jericho"

[keithbishop]

Speaking of, here's a brief review I posted a while back
************************************************** ************************************************** ***********************

Lay off the bad reviews of Kai Hansen's vocals, July 22, 2004
Reviewer: "METAL HEAD" (Hutchinson, Ks) - See all my reviews

Although a fan of "Keeper of the 7 keys Pt. 1" (forget the lame "keeper pt. 2" or anything thereafter) THE MUST-HAVE release from Helloween is "Walls of Jericho". This is, quite simply, one of the best speed metal albums of all time. OK, Michael Kiske had a "better" voice, technically, at least than Kai...., but, as in the case of NEMESIS vs. CANDLEMASS... the vocals on "Walls" are simply more METAL than any of Helloween's other releases... I keep hearing IRON MAIDEN references in the reviews I have read.......but what about JUDAS PRIEST??? Let's keep things in perspective...NO JUDAS PRIEST = NO IRON MAIDEN = NO HELLOWEEN (the ONLY thing worthwhile Helloween did after "keeper pt. 1" is their spine-chilling cover of "Electric Eye" on a Judas Priest tribute.......but I digress).

"Ride the Sky" may be one of the top 10 METAL songs ever written.... and there are simply NO WEAK POINTS on this album.... the guitar and overall song writing are unbelievable... any criticism of Kai's vocals are just nit-picking (and probably don't come from anyone who has been a metalhead for 20+ years, as has this reviewer. Yes, the lyrics may be a tad juvenile.... but who, beyond JUDAS PRIEST (or Metalucifer), still writes songs about HEAVY METAL??? NO listener of METAL... be it Death, Black, Speed, Doom... could fail to find something appealing about this album.

Quick, name all the truly great singers WHO ALSO PLAYED LEAD GUITAR...can't do it either???? Back off the Kai Hansen vocal criticism... AS A FAN OF "KEEPER OF THE 7 KEYS Pt. 1" "WALLS OF JERICHO" IS EASILY HELLOWEEN'S BEST ALBUM..........as for the reviewer who didn't like the "predictable" double-bass on this album... your age must be less than 30....... what else would fit with the music?? Grind core/blast beats??? Get real. Don't you DARE compare Hypocrisy with this album...........Hypocrisy is OK AT ABSOLUTE BEST............WALLS OF JERICHO IS A CLASSIC << >> ALBUM... good enough to rise above any category of METAL.... and, quite simply, be one of the BEST ALBUMS EVER.... what, honestly, can top "Ride the sky" or "how many tears"........ not much.................

[muse]

Has anyone here heard of Lightning Bolt? It's a drum/bass band and those guys are INSANE. Infectious riffs and they're just incredibly talented. It's about as noisy and I like really.

[Jewels]

Pretty cool. The guitarists are impressive..... and the drummer was pretty good, too. Take no offense at this....... I'm just a long-time Metal Head (for what it's worth, I played bass in a black/death Metal band for a 10-year period in the 1980's and 90's, still my favorite period of music)............... but the vocalist is HORRIBLE. Admittedly, I'm looking at this as a Metal fan, not a Rock fan (which , outside of Punk, I'm not). OK, the guy has a good voice...... probably popular among the faeries and elves (R.I.P. Bill Hicks).......... but they drain the power out of the music and leave me hoping they would go primarily instrumental, like Yngwie's first album.

I agree that the vocalist should NOT be with that band!
The guitarists are what makes the band, I think.

AND ALL THAT HAIR!!!! WOW!!!

I haven't seen that much hair flying around since I watched a cat fight at a Motley Crue concert. Overall, I would have to say that they do sound pretty good.
I like the drum set.

[Broncofan-13]

Now its not really fair to say that he's horrible. I for one can stand the way he sings (I cant stand people who just scream and then call themselves vocalists.)

the guy has talent, and I just see it as an old-school metal band (For the most part, I cant stand new-age metal, although there are a few bands out there whom I like)

just my opinion, though.


and everytime hear the keyboard FX, I start laughing.

[Jewels]

Now its not really fair to say that he's horrible. I for one can stand the way he sings (I cant stand people who just scream and then call themselves vocalists.)

the guy has talent, and I just see it as an old-school metal band (For the most part, I cant stand new-age metal, although there are a few bands out there whom I like)

just my opinion, though.


and everytime hear the keyboard FX, I start laughing.

Yeh, he sounds good. He has talent, but doesn't belong with that band.
And the keyboards make me giggle a bit, too.

[Broncofan-13]

Yeh, he sounds good. He has talent, but doesn't belong with that band.
And the keyboards make me giggle a bit, too.

I agree that he doesnt sound like he should be with that band. everytime I hear him, I think back to when the scorpions first came out. guess thats why I dont mind his voice.

[Jewels]

I agree that he doesnt sound like he should be with that band. everytime I hear him, I think back to when the scorpions first came out. guess thats why I dont mind his voice.

Who sings "Final Countdown"? That's who this guy sounds like. It's an 80's song.

[Broncofan-13]

I honestly cant remember, but now that you mentioned that song, I saw this video on the net that made me laugh my ass off. this band was covering that song, but they didnt do very well, and thats just putting it midly. the drummer seems to know the basics, but everyone else need alot of work, and the vocalist just needs to be shot.

Ill see If I can Find the link.


EDIT***- here it is. itl make you laugh your ass off. final countdown

[BroncFanInPA]

Who sings "Final Countdown"? That's who this guy sounds like. It's an 80's song.

I probably shouldn't admit knowledge of this, but the band Europe made that song

[Jewels]

I honestly cant remember, but now that you mentioned that song, I saw this video on the net that made me laugh my ass off. this band was covering that song, but they didnt do very well, and thats just putting it midly. the drummer seems to know the basics, but everyone else need alot of work, and the vocalist just needs to be shot.

Ill see If I can Find the link.


EDIT***- here it is. itl make you laugh your ass off. final countdown

HA!!!!!!!! OMG!!!

[Jewels]

I probably shouldn't admit knowledge of this, but the band Europe made that song

There's no shame in your game. I won't hold it against you.

[Broncofan-13]

HA!!!!!!!! OMG!!!

WE LEAAHVING TOOOGHEATHA!!!

[Jewels]

WE LEAAHVING TOOOGHEATHA!!!

That made my day....OMG!

HAHA!!

[JayhawkBronco]

Bump...I don't want the rock thread to go away.