Plankton

Who? Who said this? Tell me who it is and I shall smite them!


doesn't flow... weak tracks my ass.

grumble

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Unknown Soldier

I for one, it's one of the most disjointed classic albums ever recorded.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

Oceanic --- Vangelis --- 1996

Despite what some might think, not all of Vangelis's music is fast and electronic, though much is, typified by film scores such as "Blade runner" and "Chariots of fire". I'm a big fan of the man, but where I like him best is when he slows it down to the sort of atmospheric, spacey or lush instrumentals that just make you want to close your eyes and let yourself sink into the music's warm embrace.

"Apocalypse des animaux" is one such album. "Oceanic" is another. One of my favourite Vangelis recordings, it's not surprisingly based around a theme of the sea, with the sound of mermaids singing in "Sirens' whispering", soft Spanish guitar adding its flavour to "Spanish harbour", and joyous slightly uptempo beats in "Aquatic dance", before the whole thing finishes with an orchestral flourish.

When I reviewed this I noted it's hard to review instrumental albums, though not impossible, and how I approached this was to consider the music representing different stages of a sea voyage, a travelogue of the ocean, and indeed this is what it was used for in the documentary "Deep sea, deep secrets", to which it formed the soundtrack. Perfect, as they say, harmony. I always feel like I've gone on a journey when I listen to this album, and I imagine that's how it's constructed, with its booming, big orchestral fanfare opening leading into quieter, more reserved moments along the way, and always the heartbeat of the album, the sound of surf and wind, seagulls and creaking timbers keeping you company so that you really do feel like you're aboard some ancient galleon, sailing the seven seas.

To listen to this album properly, I think you need to slap on a decent set of headphones or at least play the album on a good sound system. It doesn't have to be loud, but just use a system that can pick up on all the nuances and sound effects, and the little musical tricks Vangelis uses. Make sure to dim the lights or switch them off entirely, grab your favourite drink (before you turn off the lights, sorry about that!) and just sit back, close your eyes and drift away on an odyssey of musical ecstasy.

TRACKLISTING

1. Bon voyage
2. Sirens' whispering
3. Dreams of surf
4. Spanish harbour
5. Island of the orient
6. Fields of coral
7. Aquatic dance
8. Memories of blue
9. Song of the seas

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Plankton

You have been smote.

For the given time, and what they were during that time, it was revolutionary (for me).

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Trollheart

You can all think I'm kissing ass here but I'm bloody serious! I started listening to this for review purposes, at his request, but it easily deserves a spot here, and as time goes on I'm going to find myself returning to this album more and more.

(Plus, someday it may be worth a pile of cash!)

Krill --- Plankton's Odyssey --- 2013
There's just one word to describe this album: amazing. Everything on it is composed, played and produced by our man Plankton (okay, some keyboard parts apparently excepted but come on!) and it's easily, easily the equal of anything you can buy in your local record store or on itunes. From hard-hitting metal anthems to laidback guitar etudes, this album has it all. It's entirely instrumental, and therefore even more of a surprise that it didn't lose me along the way. Let me put it like this: I listened to the solo album by Neal Schon of Journey for this same year and I was bored to tears by about track three. I couldn't stop listening to this and I know all the tracks by heart now (by which I mean I can hum along with them, as I couldn't play a geetar to save my life!).

If you haven't heard his work yet get ye to Home - Planktons Odyssey and download the album, then just sit back and shake your head in amazement at the talent this guy has. I truly expect him to be discovered some time in the next few years and to rise to great heights. If not, there is no justice in this world. Tracks like "Lights of an unknown city", the scorching "Son of soothsayer", the frankly manic "Screaming at an empty canvas" all sit alongside gentle ballads like "Canadian mist" and "Fields of youth". Oh yeah, then there's the title track, both parts of it.

Stunning stuff. Incredible to think I know someone with this level of talent and creativity. I just hope he gets something new out next year, otherwise this file is going to end up getting corrupted from too much playing! Which reminds me: better make a backup!

TRACKLISTING

1. Flustraxion
2. Waiting impatiently
3. Shoveled
4. Lights of an unknown city
5. Canadian mist
6. Son of soothsayer
7. Here we go again
8. Xphereblotish
9. Screaming at an empty canvas
10. Krill part 1
11. Krill part 2
12. Fields of youth

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Plankton

Wow TH, I had no idea this impacted you in such a way. Recognition for one's work can be very uplifting as well as humbling, and right now I'm thoroughly humbled. I can't thank you enough for your continued support for my modest contribution to the music world, and fear not! I have better things in the works and will be releasing it out into the world soon.

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The Batlord

Alright I'm gonna do this track by track just to spite you.


1. Invaders - Awesome opener. I wouldn't say it's one of their top songs, but it's still an awesome song that pretty much sets the tone for the rest of Maiden's career.

2. Children of the Damned - Why some bands decide to open with a belter and then follow it with a ballad I have no idea. It's a metal album. And not an "avant-garde" metal album either. It's just a straight up metal album. It needs to set the tone for such an album with more than one headbanger. It doesn't help that it's a rather dull song either.

3. The Prisoner - More like it. Again, not one of their best songs, but it's enjoyable. Still, on any other Maiden album this would be within shouting distance of filler.

4. 22 Acacia Avenue - Why this is such a famous song I will never know. After you get over the lyrics you're left with a dull song.

5. The Number of the Beast - Love this song. Brilliant atmosphere, brilliant build up, and a "brilliant" music video.

6. Run to the Hills - One of those songs that's just quintessentially Maiden in all ways possibly to be quintessentially Maiden.

7. Gangland - Filler. Not bad filler, but I wouldn't have missed it.

8. Hallowed By Thy Name - One of the best songs any band has ever done.


So, as far as I'm concerned we're left with three actual, honest-to-god classic songs ("The Number of the Beast", "Run to the Hills", and "Hallowed By Thy Name") a couple songs that show Maiden's progression and their potential without being the finished product ("The Prisoner" and "Gangland"), and two moderately crap songs ("Children of the Damned" and "22 Acacia Avenue"). And then of course there's "Invaders" which is, again, awesome, but not quite classic.

Bam. Your move.

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Plankton

From the standpoint of actually learning and playing the entire album when first starting out as a guitar player, I have to say my take on the entire thing is quite different. Picking apart the rhythms alone was enough to make me wanna punch a wall, but I had to learn the solo's too, and in doing so it created a strong bond for me with each song. So, for me there isn't a bad song on the album.

This is one of the type of comments that comes from having a preset opinion formed from exposure to other elements (bands) that have permeated into ones mind. When the album came out, there was nothing like it and thus this was what was presented in it's intended form. Why does this "HAVE TO BE" a metal album, and not avant-garde? Who made that rule? NO ONE. The peaks and valleys of the tracks were what made this special for me.

The rest of your review is pretty much on par with that quote, so instead of repeating myself, I'll just say that you can have your opinion, but it's really subjective to ones environment.

And remember... opinions are like *******s. Everybody's got one. Even me.

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Trollheart

OK then, my move is pawn --- they're the little knobbly ones down the front, right? ---

Spot on. Great opener, sets the scene, gets you rockin' right away.

What? How many bands do this? I know few albums that even use ballads near the beginning, which makes it a little unique in and of itself. Also, it's not a ballad: don't you hear it kicking up in the last few minutes? And it ends on a big "Woh! Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!" with killer guitar and a big scream from Brucey. Hardly "Strange world" now is it? Maiden don't really do ballads, and this is not what I would call a ballad.



Love this song. Powerful, iconic, fast and heavy with such interesting subject matter. Never filler, in any world or galaxy.

See above. The boogie guitar near the end makes this song, but I love the way it chugs along and while it may not be the greatest Maiden song ever written, let's not forget that it's originally an Adrian Smith song, adapted for Maiden when he joined.

Nothing to add here. Agree 100 percent.
Or here. Weakest track on the album and closest it comes to filler.

Not in any way an overstatement or hype. Simply one of the very best metal songs ever recorded and probably among the top ten best closers on any album. Has true classic written all over it even the first time you hear it.
Basically we don't disagree that much. I just think the tracks you see as potential filler are not, and CotD is not a ballad.

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The Batlord

Because they're Iron Maiden. They're a metal band and not an avant-garde metal band. They've gone more progressive and they've experimented, but they've always been a pure metal band at heart and their albums are at their best when they reflect this. On later albums, and earlier albums in fact, they rectified this mistake.

And you've pretty much illustrated one of the great points many have said over and over again. With regard to the history of metal it is certainly an important, even a landmark album. But with hindsight and without the obscuring lens of nostalgia we can see that this isn't as great an album as it was once made out to be. Even you've said as much...


If you have to preface it with "For the given time" then you are tacitly admitting what I've already been saying. That in the present it's overrated.

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