[[MDB]]

Originally Posted by Kizza

Yep, it's fucking awful.

As are BMTH's new ones.

. . . I still can't believe I was a BMTH whore just a few years back there new songs are straight up horrible. The only saving grace is the clean vocals, Oliver vocals are totally unbearable.

[Foreshadowed]

After a couple of more listens of Linkin Park's new album, A Thousand Suns, it's growing on me more and more after each listen. I like the fact the band have gone more mature. The lyrics have drastically improved on this one and the fact the band have created a more electronic sound on this album is another plus. The only downside like I mentioned before is the lack of guitars, drums and screaming. A lot of the songs are really amazing but besides Wretches And Kings, there needs to be some more heavier tracks as I believe the band could have really expanded on their heavy sound. Hopefully they do that on their fifth album.

Album highlights for me are: The Requiem, Burning In The Skies, When They Come For Me, Jornada del Muerto, Waiting For The End, Blackout, Wretches And Kings, Iridescent, The Catalyst and The Messenger. I was unsure of Waiting For The End at first but it has really appealed to me the more I listen to it and Chester is incredible throughout the song. Especially when he sings/screams towards the very end of the track. Finally, my favourite track overall is Blackout with Wretches And Kings as a close second.

A Thousand Suns gets a 9/10 from me for now.

Also, I decided to pick up a couple of CD's today. Seeing as Play.com were taking forever in getting The Devil Wears Prada Zombie EP in stock, I decided to get in from town. An absolutely flawless album. I really love the direction they have gone in with this, adding elements of thrash metal in there and the overall flow of the EP album is perfect. All the tracks are really fast and in your face with the vocals both clean and screamed being phenomenal. Mike Hranica has outdone himself on this EP, with his lower screams especially being fascinating and unbelievably brutal. I've always been a fan of Jeremy DePoyster's clean vocals and that remains the same here. The man has an awesome voice. My favourite tracks from this album are Escape, Anatomy and Survivor.

Finally, I checked out a new band called Woe, Is Me. I decided to pick up their debut album, Number[s] and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The band is post-hardcore/metalcore/electronica and are for fans of such bands like Of Machines, Sleeping With Sirens, I See Stars, Jamie's Elsewhere or We Came As Romans. The main positives about this album are the vocals; the screams performed by Michael Bohn, are brutal and done really well on each track. However, the cleans steal it for me as Tyler Carter has an amazing voice. Some of the high notes he can hit is incredible and he really adds to each track. This album contains the usual breakdowns but a couple have some really creative breakdowns. Some other good points for this album are the drumming, which is brilliant and is done by the former drummer from Of Machines. The lyrics are really meaningful on this album and surprised me for such a young band.

Great debut album that I wish went 10 minutes longer as it's only 28+ minutes.

[New Blood]

I just preordered this which is coming out on October 5th. It's coming autographed and with a t-shirt.

[TaylorFitz]

Originally Posted by Kizza

New Alter Bridge song out called Isolation.

I really liked it. Alter Bridge is pretty much the only band that I care about and I am really excited for their new album. It's just annoying that it doesn't get released in the US until a month after it's released in the UK. I was actually going to buy it but there is no way I'm waiting an extra month for no reason.

[Hohenheim of Light]

‘Poetry for the Poisoned’
~ Kamelot, 2010

Following the band’s memorable release of Ghost Opera, an album that dealt in totality with life and death, they deliver their next studio release. The follow up album took three years to produce, and is titled ‘Poetry for the Poisoned’. The title itself indicates a much darker note to the whole album, which shouldn’t bring it down in the slightest. A more progressive sound indicates the evolution of the band, which is quite admirable since they reaped their greatest success with their two-part concept album five years ago.


1. The Great Pandemonium: The urgency of the album shows from the get-go. It goes without saying that this is a war-song, entailing the chaos that comes with the violence and human disregard of reason in times of war. Musically, the song goes all over but the bulk of it, mainly the chorus, is truly haunting. As war permeates the mind of the soldier, so too does this song. It is dark, glorifying war and a complete satire. Off the list of tracks, it is definitely the best one to get the ball rolling.
Rating – 3.75

2. If Tomorrow Came: The tempo just keeps increasing with the second song as blaring and rushing as the first one. This love-inspired melody is an easy listen, especially with the really timid chorus. The lyrics of the song are by far its strongest asset. From the oddly philosophical “God made flesh perfect alibi” to the enormously subjective “You saw her walking over poisoned ivy leaves | Nobody knows her name”, the song is crafted with the mightiest of pens.
Rating – 3.75

3. Dear Editor: The third song acts as an intro to the album’s masterpiece, ‘The Zodiac’. It clearly notes the mindset of the singer come the next track. The voice itself is creepy, in a pseudo-mechanized sort of way, and screams without screaming. Obviously, as a sole track this lacks all musical technique. So I will consider the intro part of the next song.
+
4. The Zodiac: The murky story of a serial killer, where the musical note is in perfect harmony with the emotion. From the most beautiful five seconds in musical history to the chorus that follows it and the growls that carry the song, it is nearly perfect for its worth and one of the standout performances from the band in their musical career. The numerous guest performances finally start making a difference in this album, four songs in. It’s just fantastic, whichever way you look at it. The individual bits are all enticing but in perfect combination, the song serves as the first true landmark in this album.
Rating – 4.5

5. Hunter’s Season: From such mastery of music, we move to the longest single track on the album. This is the song that is all about the vocals, where everything else they throw at you simply accentuates the words being sung. The musical backing is truly fantastic but it is a tool to carry the vocals with all its power and emotion. For its length, the song feels relatively short and it’s not even the pace. It is how the song continually bridges the gap between the familiar and the unfamiliar. One that note, the chorus is amazing. “All I ever really wanted was for you | You to die in the arms of someone”.
Rating – 4.25

6. House on a Hill: And so shows the ballad of the album. House on a Hill is a perfect duet, something which Kamelot haven’t done so far, at least as far as vocalists are concerned. The majestic mix between love, distance and the dark tone of the album is a fascinating detail to explore in this album. The band never fails in delivering a ballad, as they seem to just blow up their engines to full steam every time a slow song comes along. From the likes of ‘A Sailorman’s Hymn’ to ‘Abandoned’, they deserve a gold medal in writing ballads.
Rating – 4.75

7. Necropolis: Heavy and bustling, the intro is as heavy as Kamelot are willing to get … at least so far. However, its harshness seems just a cover to shroud the song from its insides, a way to preserve the song’s originality even after multiple listens. Once in a while, the band produces songs like these. ‘Feast for the Vain’ comes to mind. The song is clear and shows evil intent, but it definitely requires some getting used to.
Rating – 3.5

8. My Train of Thoughts: The sound of a train in a song titled ‘My Train of Thoughts’ is really clichéd but the use of it before the vocals consume the speakers seems somehow innovative in this situation. The band makes it a point to have throwbacks to their very last album, and this song pays amazing homage to two amazing songs from Ghost Opera: ‘The Human Stain’ and ‘Pendulous Fall’, in structure, lyrics, subject and vocals. This is the sleeper song on this album, one that can only get better with age. This is the only song on the album which uses a doubled chorus, but since it’s so good, I have a feeling nobody will mind.
Rating – 4.5

9. Seal of Woven Years: Experimentation in ‘Poetry for the Poisoned’ reaches its zenith with this song. The orchestral symphony that acts as an intro to this song takes a minute and a half, more than a quarter of the song. The deviant lyrics and vocals continue to surprise the listeners. Trust me. The song isn’t going in the direction you’re thinking of, but once it plays through, you’ll find it all too familiar. Additionally, this song has the task of setting the stage for the classic namesake of the album that’s about to follow. The subjects which they seem to deal with have a lot more diversity than their recent albums, almost in the vein of ‘Karma’. This song would fit right into that album without a fault, but its current placement works to its benefit too.
Rating – 4

10. Poetry for the Poisoned, Part I – Incubus: Here starts the four-piece classic the album is titled after. Multiple callbacks and recollections take place throughout the four songs, but each track by itself has an identity, which is hard to accomplish in this scenario. Still, it is best listened to in order. We get the voiceover, ushering us into the second song at the end, which sets the stage ready for the biggest asset of this collection.
+
11. Poetry for the Poisoned, Part II – So Long: We get an amazing duet in this segment. The story really is reflected with this track, firing on all cylinders. Like ‘Hunter’s Season’, everything comes together perfectly, only this time it all feels much bigger. This segment also becomes the only orthodox song of the four, structured and sung in actual traditional fashion, even if it is Kamelot tradition.
+
12. Poetry for the Poisoned, Part III – All is Over: Being the shortest track on the album, it is merely scene rendering, with a beautiful ending, almost in preparation for the end. By itself, it isn’t much, but then again detached from a story, no single component shines its brightest.
+
13. Poetry for the Poisoned, Part IV – Dissection: The complexion of the song changes completely with the fourth and final piece. The vocal finale is perfect and the instrumental sensation that follows feels just as ultimate. By the end of this song, you almost feel as if all the darkness the album bore is washed away.
Rating – 4.75

14. Once Upon a Time: The failsafe culmination of the album is not something I expected to be the closing of the album. ‘Ghost Opera’ with ‘Silence of the Darkness’ followed up ‘When the Lights Are Down’ from the ‘The Black Halo’ both musically and conceptually. ‘Once Upon a Time’ beats the same in regard to ‘Snow’, a bonus track from their album ‘Epica’. The urgency and rush, which seemed to have been compromised with the four tracks of Poetry for the Poisoned, return with utmost fervor. Perhaps it is the start of something new, or better yet, something which could not be resolved. And for being that way, it doesn’t have the air of finality that previous closers such as ‘Elizabeth III: Fall From Grace’, ‘III Ways to Epica’ and ‘Lunar Sanctum’ had, but like ‘Serenade’, it serves as a solid aftermath to the epic that preceded it.
Rating – 3.5


Overall, Poetry for the Poisoned is a worthy addition to the classic collection which Kamelot has built up. Though it has failed to achieve the same glory that ‘Epica’ and ‘The Black Halo’ did, Poetry for the Poisoned is another step in a different direction, something they signaled they would be doing with ‘Ghost Opera’. The album has no tracks that are anything less than great and depicts a very versatile collection of stories and songs, their most diverse album yet.

Album Score – 5/5

[Jon Staley]

The release of Crossfade's new album, We All Bleed, has been pushed back until 'early 2011' according to the bands Facebook page. Originally slated for an October 12th release, it was then changed recently to October 26th, but has now been pushed back even further into the new year. No reason has been given for this as of yet, they simply changed the date in the info section on the left-hand side and haven't commented on why yet. As much as I love them, they seem to be very unorganised. Their label haven't exactly been any better either. They posted their lead single 'Killing Me Inside' on YouTube in June and it got over well, but to my knowledge they haven't even put it on iTunes and are thus losing out on money as people are just downloading it for free.

Apparently the drummer, Will Hunt, isn't with them any more but that's not confirmed.

[StraightEdge]

Originally Posted by TaylorFitz

I really liked it. Alter Bridge is pretty much the only band that I care about and I am really excited for their new album. It's just annoying that it doesn't get released in the US until a month after it's released in the UK. I was actually going to buy it but there is no way I'm waiting an extra month for no reason.

I'm on the same page as you. Love Alter Bridge, huge fan but as much as I want to buy their CD and support them, I highly doubt I can wait a month (or how ever long it will be, as they STILL haven't announced a North American date). It's a shame they are not looking out for their North American fans.

Edit- New Alter Bridge Song released. It was released as a free download for 48 hours, sadly I missed it. but it's on Youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc0xQStQxfc

I like it quite a bit, but with that said, I do expect more from the album than "Words Darker Than Their Wings" and "Isolation".

[Tony777]

@Kamelot album rating on page 207 , how the hell do you individually rate the songs as less than perfect but then the album as a whole a perfect rating? That doesn't make any sense really shouldn't the individual ratings be added up then divided by the # of songs to get the overall total?

[BkB Hulk]

Not necessarily. Each song can bring something different that may not be perfect, yet it can still make for that perfect whole when it is all considered together.

With that said, I haven't listened to the new Kamelot album. I do intend on getting to it, although I have to listen to Linkin Park first.

[Renegade™]

Save yourself the disappointment and avoid the new Linkin Park album BKB, its a toss.