Friday, June 3, 2011

Dogs Of War, They Call For Blood. But It Will Not Be Mine.

Wow, so I almost forgot my blog existed... this will be the first post in a fair few months. And holy shit, how much my life has changed.

I think last time I wrote, I was unemployed, unmotivated and undecided about what I wanted to do. Well, I got my shit together.
About a month back now, I started my new job as a Traffic Planner for a certain Traffic Management group, and I'm loving it. I'm constantly challenged everyday with everything I do, and it is just so fulfilling. I don't think it could ever be one of those jobs where you are constantly doing the same thing over and over again. Because, hey, it's traffic, some people can't drive, and you have to take into account those sorts of things.
Anyway, talk about my career is boring shit.

I'm going to talk about music for a bit here, and how I have opened my mind in the way of Metal. I believe I said once that I couldn't listen to Deathcore/Goregrind/Black Metal... well that has changed. I have come to appreciate some of the artists in those genres, despite most of it being the same, there are a few gems.
Speaking of gems, I uncovered 3 artists through personal research that I absolutely fucking LOVE, and I recommend to anyone willing to try out something a bit different and progressive, but most of all EXTREMELY FUCKING TALENTED. These three bands, from the first songs I listened to from each of them, have continued to amaze me with every new song I come across.
These three bands would be The Human Abstract, Between The Buried and Me and The Dillinger Escape Plan.
Now, I have my own name for these bands. I call it Technical/Progressive/Experimental/Metalcore. Most people call that Mathcore, but I call it Wizardcore.
Why Wizardcore you ask?
Well that's easy.
All of the guitarists in these bands are fucking wizards when it comes to note and chord progression and composing songs. In this era of metal, every song is realised as being guitar driven. And I am bloody loving it.
Namely, A.J. Minette (The Human Abstract). He is my pick of the bunch. He composes all of THA's songs and finished them off with such finesse and brutality, it is unmatched in modern guitar playing (with the exception of Mastodon's Brent Hinds and Animals as Leaders' Tosin Abasi).

A.J. has such professionalism and technicality about him that he is easily and quickly becoming one of my favourite Modern Guitarists (1990- onwards). Which is no mean feat. (Is competing with the likes of Dimebag Darryl Abbott, the aforementioned Brent Hinds, John5, Synyster Gates and Scott Hull from Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Pig Destroyer fame). If I could play anywhere as near as well as Mr. Minette, well, I would jizz-a-gallon then keel over and die. That's how good he is.
If I were to suggest a song that you should listen to, that isn't absolutely perfect for anyone wanting to get into Wizardcore or the "Technical Melodic Shit" as I also call it, I would pick Polaris by The Human Abstract. This video here is of a guitar cover from my favourite YouTube Cover Guitarist (Who also has some great original songs). His name is KillrBuckEye, and I urge you to subscribe to his channel.
The Human Abstract - Polaris (Guitar Cover by KillrBuckEye)

For anyone who doesn't feel like checking it out, that's cool, but you're missing out.

Speaking of guitars (yeah, I'm going off-topic for the remainder of the post.. which means its a new topic... OMG), uhh.. where was I... yeah, Speaking of guitars, I have recently seriously considered maybe possibly buying myself a Schecter C-1 35th Anniversary Limited Edition guitar. This guitar is special. It isn't a run of the mill Schecter (which aren't run of the mill at all). This guitar... I worship. I'm not religious, but I would worship this. It is truly amazing. Only 70 have been made, and only 4 are being shipped to Australia, of which 3 have been sold. And if I nod my head, I get this guitar, sent to me, instead of some unlucky fella in Darwin. Just because I know people... and I'm nice to guitar company HR people.

Schecter C-1 35th Anniversary Limited Edition

That's it. I am not worthy. But I think I'm going to buy it anyway. I will own it and cherish it for the rest of my life as my son.

I think I have come to the end of this post now, I ran off topic from the modern metal thing, but I will continue that in my next post (which won't be in 6 fucking months).

Other News: I'm seeing Avenged Sevenfold at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in late July. i urge anyone and everyone to go see them. The only better live bands than them are Iron Maiden and Metallica.




Sam was listening to the album Nocturne by The Human Abstract while writing this post.