The Economist's Cookbook

Artist: Antimatter
Album: Planetary Confinement
Genre: Dark Atmospheric Rock (Mostly Acoustic)
Review: Antimatter is in the vein of Anathema and, to a certain degree, Katatonia. It's a dark, depressive, yet well constructed and frankly a beautiful musical journey. It's relatively slow, but it is cerebral and each stage of the music seems to be very well thought out and considered. It's not heavy. It's not groovy. It's simply very pretty, while being rather dark. The work has some Prog influences but it's not a huge part of the album. Highly recommended for those that like a creative work of rock.


Rating: 4/5

Artist: Anathema
Album: We're Here Because We're Here
Genre: Atmospheric/Progressive Rock
Review: This album hits stores May 31st. I happened to have found it before said release date and snapped it up to give you all a review. They are just fantastic musicians. Sure it's not heavy, Sure it's not Avant-Garde, but they always are just different from everyone else out there, and the music itself is just beautiful. This album is no different. The construction is almost symphonic in the way each song just builds and builds on itself until it's this gorgeous crescendo of awesomeness. This album really kind of shows how they have fully left the "metal" movement and are building quite a following in the Progressive/Atmospheric Rock genre. The one thing that I'm worried about is that Steve Wilson is the producer for this album. Wilson is the brain behind the Prog Rock band Porcupine Tree. The problem is that Wilson has a habit of making bands sound more and more like PT the more he works with them. Fortunately this doesn't seem to be the case for this album. It's really really awesome. Anyone who loves good music construction should love this album. It is simply stunning. I'm not sure it's a 5/5, but goddamn it is really really close.


Rating: 4.5/5

Artist: Borknagar
Album: Universal
Genre: Viking/Progressive/Black Metal
Review: Wow. I don't really like Black Metal as a genre, but this album got so much buzz I figured I'd see what was up. SputnikMusic kind of trashed it but I noticed that the votes seemed to be very split in the "love it or hate it" camps. I think it's amazing. It has some of the tones of Ulver and Solefald, both bands I really love. It pushes some envelopes but is nothing groundbreaking. But even if it's not groundbreaking it's still very very good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRHyNPPOJ44

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcC_PIF7rak

Rating: 4/5

Artist: Persefone
Album: Shin-Ken
Genre: Progressive/Melodic Death Metal
Review: Persefone hails from the tiny European nation of Andorra and is starting to make their mark on the metal scene in the world. Influenced by the like of Arcturus, Opeth, and a little dash of some symphonic bands, they've got a good blend. I listened to this album expecting this to be one of those "I've heard this before" kind of things, but it wasn't. While I could draw similarities to other bands that I know and love, they do produce something unique and engaging. It's heavy where it needs to be and then at times they break off into something that is much more melodic to keep things interesting. the band apparently has a large following in Japan, while their rep is more slowly growing in the US and Europe. It's good stuff and I hope the band continues to evolve and improve.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm4EbeNjKdA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4Jr5w6FU-c
Rating: 3.5/5

Chickenfoot is a rock band featuring vocalist Sammy Hagar (ex-Van Halen and Montrose), bassist Michael Anthony (ex-Van Halen), guitarist Joe Satriani and drummer Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers). Chickenfoot has completed an album that was released on June 5, 2009.

Now I'm not a huge Van Halen fan. But I have a lot of respect for Satriani and Smith. Their debut album is just ... fun. It has a lot of echoes of Van Halen when they didn't suck, face it, David Lee Roth was complete garbage. Now I am NOT a hair metal or glam rock fan...

...but this album isn't either of those. Seems like these four guys are actually interested in making good music.

If you're a rock fan or just get nostalgic for having a bunch of great musicians get together and make a good album, hit up the debut album of Chickenfoot.

Their First Single:

Draconian makes dark music. They play a blend of Gothic Doom Metal, so it's not terribly fast, but it is melancholic, dark, heavy, and beautiful. They deftly blend the lower growls usually found in other Doom Metal groups like Avec Tristesse and My Dying Bride. So what comes out is dark, heavy, and beautiful.

This song is titled Not Breathing off of their latest album 'Turning Season Within' (2008)

ASG just ... kick ass. In an era when Nickelback is constantly being played on "rock" stations (how anyone can stand that awful crap is beyond me), and Pink gets more press than real musicians like OPETH, ASG refuses to go mainstream. They play a blend of Southern Stoner Rock, Alternative Metal, and Sludge Metal (ala Mastodon). These guys are amazing and what I love is that they have four albums, are relatively not known on the national stage (though they did play a portion of the '04 Vans Warped Tour), and they like it that way.

These guys are out to play music and damn do they play good music.

This is from their fourth album Win Us Over (2007)

Time for another music sampling post.

I was watching Black Hawk Down last night and that Irish song at the end grabbed me. So I had to go troll the internet and go find it. It's the product of the former Clash frontman Joe Strummer and his support band The Mescaleros. I love this song. I may not agree with all of Strummer politics (He used to be involved with the anarchist group Class Warfare (Let's face it, anarcho-communists and anarcho-capitalists don't make the best of bedfellows.)

So here it is, punch it up and enjoy it.

It's been a while since I did a Music post.

Behold Ulver! I love this band. They are all over the map musically having gone from black metal releases in the early 90s to experimental electronica and ambient music.

Since their first, folklore-influenced black metal release in 1993, Ulver’s musical style has been fluid and increasingly eclectic, blending genres from avant-garde rock and trip hop through symphonic and chamber traditions, right to noise and experimental music, with heavy reliance on electronic recording techniques.

Via Wiki:

Volbeat was formed in 2001 after frontman Michael Poulsen split up his former band, Dominus. Volbeat plays a fusion of heavy metal and rockabilly. They are inspired by the rock n' roll legends Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.
...
Volbeat lists their influences in their own recognizable way:

"Everything from Elvis Presley to Napalm Death .. hail: Johnny Cash, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Ramones, Social Distortion, Motörhead, Black Sabbath, Dio, Megadeth, Metallica, Manic Street Preachers, Iron Maiden and bla bla bla bla..."

Yes another music post.

Now I don't know if this fits people's tastes.
(Sorry for not using seeqpod, couldn't find it so youtube will have to suffice.)


Brazilian Progressive Dark/Doom Metal. I just love their vocalist's clean vocals and the arrangement of the song is just gorgeous. I recommend the whole album How Innocence Dies very highly!