Sugar's Musical Reflections

Arya Stark · 10-14-2009, 12:52 PM

I think any metal band, or any band in general, should be able to slow down sometimes and write a mellow song. Not everything is thrash and hate and death. Most people have emotions, most musicians begin writing because of the emotions they have, and I think that they should be able to express their emotions in more than just fact-paced music or just slow-paced music.

When I first discovered Killswitch Engage, I was at a concert and my friend and I decided to stop and listen some bands we didn't know. I realized that the frontman (Howard Jones) had a way with the crowd, and I was also intrigued with the idea of a (for lack of knowledge of his actual ethnicity) coloured man for a singer. I was excited. I was intrigued.

And then I heard their music.

Killswitch Engage – My Last Seranade

Let’s be realistic, I don’t listen to a lot of metal or metalcore or whatever you want to call it. Don't correct me. I don't care.… I don’t listen to a lot of rock that the people I went to school with listened to. I don’t listen to music that a lot of people like in general. This ISN’T because I’m attempting to be different or because I hate mainstream, it’s because I find a lot of music interesting… sometimes this music is mainstream, sometimes this music is classical, you never really know.

At the time of My Last Serenade, the singer wasn’t Howard Jones, but another singer who’s name I cannot currently recall. Anyway, the song starts off slowly. A lot slower than any of the other songs I had heard by Killswitch up until then. I was actually really excited. I had just heard Metallica's Nothing Else Matters, and although the two have almost nothing in common, I was excited to hear slower songs from bands who's music is usually... well... not slower. I'm not a huge Metallica fan... at all. It's not them, it's the style of music, and I just happen not to be amazed by it. Anyway, I had heard Nothing Else Matters and I was excited that a band I wasn't particularly interested in could change their sound that way, I like that. So when I heard Killswitch Engage's almost change in sound, I was glad that they weren't playing only one type of music.

I hear a cymbal roll and wince, knowing what's coming up next. ALL OF A SUDDEN the song breaks from the light singing and the guitar strumming to a loud, generic, Killswitch Engage song. Needless to say, I was not impressed. The song wasn't even thirty seconds in before the cymbal roll... I wasn't going to turn off the song just yet, because I enjoyed the band either way, I was just a bit disappointed, I actually really like this song. When I got to the chorus, I was surprised to hear his usuaal singing voice back, and not his evil scary monster screaming voice. =3... One which I also happen to like.

ANYWAY. Are you still reading?

Watching the video, I'm kind of... disgusted by the way the singer looks when the song breaks into it's usual loudness. He doesn't look like an experienced singer, he looks like a 15-year old auditioning for a metal band. Once again, I'm not impressed.

Later, you can see in the singer's face that this song isn't just a song, it probably means something.... or he has light in his eyes and he's squinting.

I don't know where I'm going with this anymore.

Enjoy the song, either way. Don't be fooled by my rants, I really do like it, it's just... nothing new.

Arya Stark · 10-16-2009, 08:56 PM

Coheed and Cambria – Mother Superior
Coheed and Cambria – Once Upon Your Dead Body
Coheed and Cambria - Willing Well IV

Here, sleep, at the bottom of hell
Your time has come to pick the road you'll walk in this tale
Turned and as a coward you've learned
Through sickness and health, there's only one
Now go and bite your tongue

You'll just say the worst of me, with a hope they'll understand
No, they know you're just a boy, so grow up and be a man

Little baby, kicking, you scream and whine
Victims pay the price eventually
The cost, let's see... your life

You've got nothing to prove
Stay afraid young brother
You've got nothing to prove

Your answer is in there, just stare down the barrel
Your sincerest apologies, won't write you out of this one
Tonight... you'll find the right
In the pull of the trigger, now bite
Oh young fools, don't cry... anymore

A fear sleeps, inside your stomach... it swells
A torn boy alone in need of fix and the pinch that cures the itch
For too long, this little baby has cried on
For tomorrow we'll sing the words and song
Of a time we're glad is long gone

Coheed and Cambria has a tendency to write with a sharp tongue. For almost every one of their songs EVER, I have been more than glad the song wasn’t about me. You never want someone writing this way about you... at least I hope not. This song, to me, sums up everything I love about Coheed and Cambria. Claudio's voice sounds better than ever. It completely enhances the bands sound.

In another one of their songs, Once Upon Your Dead Body, they say- once again with a sharp tongue:

I hope you die right now when you drink my chemical.

Personally, I listen to this song when I'm mad at my mom, but let's not tell her I said that...

In yet another one? I think it’s… The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut

If I had my way, I’d crush your face in the door.

I think in any other context, this line would sound absolutely corny. It would make the song sound horribly writter. In this context, it fits perfectly. The mix between Claudio's voice and the music supporting it sounds absolutely amazing. For the rest of the song, it's entirely instrumental. The thing I personally respect most about Coheed and Cambria is that they take the time to play. They don't rush into lyrics or insane drum and guitar solos. They don't mind slowing down, letting you breath for a bit..

Primarily, I was introduced to Coheed and Cambria by a friend through the album Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV: Volume I From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness.

I instantly fell in love with the album, I couldn’t stop listening to the band. It wasn’t until recently that I was on one of the threads in MB and saw that… I’m going to say Terrible Lizard or Sidewinder, I don’t remember who- posted the song Mother Superior. I was amazed. Yet ANOTHER song I loved by the band, I couldn’t wait to hear the rest of the album. Now I have a problem:
When I’m introduced to an album through a song ON that album, I tend to listen to that one song more than anything else, and I don’t get to know the rest of the album very well… I guess that’s why I’m here posting songs one by one instead of the albums they’re on.

Anyway, the songs I posted are absolutely amazing, I love them. End of story.

P.S. I really wish more people would give me feedback. I try really hard to write good entries and I only get one post for most of them. =\

Urban Hat€monger ? · 10-17-2009, 02:14 AM

I hate all this stuff but you're doing a good job here.

FETCHER. · 10-17-2009, 10:57 PM

i like the lyrics alot, im not familiar with the artists. but those lyrics are memorable.
they are so pessimistic.

Arya Stark · 10-18-2009, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban Hatemonger

I hate all this stuff but you're doing a good job here.

Thank you!

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayleigh.

i like the lyrics alot, im not familiar with the artists. but those lyrics are memorable.
they are so pessimistic.

For which one of the songs? The Coheed and Cambria ones?
They tend to have really depressing lyrics, but they're more stabbing than anything, you know? They're not the regular "My girlfriend broke up with me and I'm really sad now. My life sucks" lyrics.
Instead, they're more poetic.

FETCHER. · 10-18-2009, 11:43 AM

yeah the review you just done.
thats why there memorable, as its not the usual **** artists write about.
its as if its a personal thing they're writing about, which i like.

jackhammer · 10-18-2009, 05:15 PM

After hearing quite a few members raving about Coheed, I checked them out a few months back and couldn't stand them but keep up the good work with the journal. My favourite part of MB these days.

Arya Stark · 10-18-2009, 07:00 PM

The Member Journals are your favourite part? ^_^

Thank you for posting. [=

Anteater · 10-18-2009, 08:49 PM

I don't care much for Killswitch Engage, as Shadows Fall does the whole "mainstream for 13-year old boys" metalcore thing a less cringworthily, but I love the Coheed review!

(even if I have the album already =P)

Keep up the good work Sugah!

Arya Stark · 10-19-2009, 09:00 AM

^_^ Killswitch is a weird band, it's hard to get into.

You have the Coheed album or the Coheed review? xD

Edit: Oh okay. xD

Thank youuu. [=

10-17-2009, 02:14 AM	#23 (permalink)
Urban Hat€monger ? The Sexual Intellectual Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Somewhere cooler than you Posts: 18,605	I hate all this stuff but you're doing a good job here. __________________ Urb's RYM Stuff Most people sell their soul to the devil, but the devil sells his soul to Nick Cave.

10-18-2009, 05:15 PM	#27 (permalink)
jackhammer Ba and Be. Join Date: May 2007 Location: This Is England Posts: 17,331	After hearing quite a few members raving about Coheed, I checked them out a few months back and couldn't stand them but keep up the good work with the journal. My favourite part of MB these days. __________________ It be my music and film collection. “A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”