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There are a few gems here and there that you can find either on the internet or talking to someone you know. Some of the songs are so catchy that it's just something you need to hear more than once, and something you need to share with your friends and possibly family. I'm going to share a few that I have in mind...



When you say "manly", you've got to think of this song. Can you tell me what's better than hearing a guy with a full beard and long hair in a deep monotone voice talking about what he's talking about in this video? That's right, you can't, because there is nothing more manly than this, or so I thought...



I know, this isn't anything near the original video that goes with this song, but someone had the idea to add he-man to this song, and it just works perfectly. Like honestly, if I hadn't known better, I really would've thought this was the original video that the creators of he-man made for this song that they made, but obviously they didn't do either of those.



I'm just putting this song, because why not? It's perfection.

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The more time that I do this section, the more soundtracks that I forget when I post, which is a good thing because that just means this section isn't dying any time soon.

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Not only is Goat Simulator a fantastic third person simulator of a goat, it's always got a surprisingly catchy soundtrack to go along with it, and the creators really nailed it when they put these the game and the soundtrack together. It just adds to the awesome that is this game...



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Some games I play don't have an official soundtrack, but they only have one or two songs that are used for the menu screens, or things like that. 7 Days To Die is an example of that. As far as I know, I don't think there really is any other music found within the game except at the menu screen, but man, the song is so ****ing good that it really sets the mood for what you're about to experience in a game like this.



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With Borderlands 2, there wasn't a whole lot that had to be done to make the game as enjoyable as it was, but the soundtrack really gave the game the true feel that it had. Every track that you'd hear when you're traveling from place to place really felt like the song belonged there, as if it were meant to be, even though I guess it was.



This song really captures this area of the game so perfectly that it's almost depressing to have to leave the area every time you want to do a mission, but it's made up for when you come back and hear the calming sounds of this song when you're just ready to pack up your supplies and head out again. Truly a remarkable soundtrack for an already great game.

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I did a "song of the day" section a while ago but it was more of a collaboration effort. I can't quite remember if I've done a solo song of the day section. I may have, but I feel like it'd be fun to bring it back. The only difference this time, is that it won't be a traditional song of the day, wherein it won't be a daily update. I'll just be posting every now and again when I either have a song stuck in my head, or whenever I feel a song is worth posting for whatever reason. I suppose that's enough intro, let's get right into it.


The Doors - Riders On The Storm

I wouldn't say i'm a humongous Doors fan, but I am quite fond of Jim Morrison and what he left in terms of music. There are a few times where I feel it's necessary to listen to an entire Doors album, but admittedly that comes a bit rarely. However, there are times when I get into a mood where The Doors fit the mood i'm in perfectly. Riders of The Storm is among one of those reasons as to why i'm posting it. Another reason is that I heard part of the song in a video that I watched a while ago, and it's been stuck in my head since then, and so that's probably the bigger reason for me posting it. It's a great song, and probably one of my more favorite Doors songs, but unfortunately I don't really have a lot of other favorites. Still, it seems worth it to post it here anyway.

So, the fact that i'm doing a "Worth The Hype?" on The Doors, after posting a Doors song for my song of the day, is purely coincidental. I had actually decided to do this last night, but I thought i'd save it for the next day, which is today, or tonight. Anyway, The Doors are being put up to the test to see if they are worth the hype.

Now I want to safely assume that anyone who is reading have at least heard one Doors song, or maybe even one Doors album. But what is the first thing you think of when you hear someone say "The Doors?" "Jim Morrison." Correct, imaginary voice in my head. From what I see, people seem to put ahead of anything else when talking about The Doors, how great Jim Morrison was. No mention of any of the other band members at all, or rarely ever. Maybe that's just what I see, but I really don't see people going out of their way saying "man, Ray Manzarek is perfect for The Doors", you instead hear "man, the Jim Morrison's vocals are perfect for the band," which is ok in it's own right, but for so many people to think the same thing, just seems a tad excessive.

Now to get to the music side of things: The Doors were put into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, which in itself is pretty cool, but nowadays it's just a title for what it's worth. Album wise, they released albums by the name of Strange Days, Morrison Hotel, and L.A. Woman, but with those three albums already mentioned, would you even be able to think about any of the other albums they released before and after them? Probably not without looking at a list, or if you're a humongous Doors fan. But from what you hear from other people, those three albums are the three top most talked about when people are talking about the band, and...from my own personal standpoint where I was told to listen to L.A. Woman as my first album, I was left unimpressed, severely. It's not so much that it's a bad album, but I was being told to listen to an album that came out after 5 other albums had been released prior to it, which for me, it's not really all that great, since I will instantly get a feel for their later sound and won't be able to appreciate what they sounded like years before, and that still remains to be that way now. Which is a shame in it's own right, but it's my fault nonetheless. Coincidentally, my song of the day in the post before this is the track I would've chosen to showcase here, but I won't bother since it's already posted on my journal.

One last thing I want to mention before we reach a verdict: I talked about a lot of people fangirling over Jim Morrison and his "wonderful vocals", but from a personal opinion, I really don't find his voice to be all that spectacular. They are unique, sure, but at the same time, I really don't see why he's put ahead of everyone else, especially when Ray Manzarek was also part of the equation. If I had it my way, i'd make everyone talk more about Ray Manzarek over Jim Morrison, I mean, just listen to the killer solo he does on Light My Fire (fast forward to 1:15) or just listen to the whole song since you really get a good feel for what he did for the band:



Anyway, with all that said and done, I think it's time we reach a verdict, and that verdict is...

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Yeah, I hate to be that guy, but I really don't see how The Doors are deserving of the hype that they receive on a day to day basis. They're a good band, even great. But I just think they receive the wrong praise, and what people are talking about excessively aren't the right things to be talking about excessively. I do want to point out once again that this is purely my own opinion and I urge you to disagree. I will say, that just because a band is classic, doesn't necessarily mean they're worth that title.

Keep in mind, they didn't have a bass player. Manzarek played keyboard bass with his left hand. So that solo sounds even better when you realize it's being played with one hand, while the other is still coordinated on the bassline. Not an easy task.

The fact that someone told you to start with L.A. Woman surprises me. The eponymous debut is definitely their most famous, and best, IMO.

Anyways, damn you for the verdict, but still a good piece.

Yeah, I contemplated adding that bit of information in, but I wanted to keep things short and sweet.

And I know that now, if I were given the chance to listen to The Doors over again, i'd start from first to last, give myself the full experience.

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City and Colour - Little Hell

Yeah, i'm a sucker for anything acoustic in the morning. It's a good thing to wake up to, and it's not too overwhelming to make my ears bleed right off the bat. However, I do have that rare occasion where anything acoustic in the morning doesn't do what I need it to do, but in most cases, I enjoy it.

City and Colour seems to be the default acoustic-esque artist that I turn to when I need something that's calming and a little depressing to give me a bit of feeling right off the bat, but that just makes it better when I listen to something more uplifting and awesome, and man I love it. However, most people should know that when you listen to City and Colour, you're going to hear lyrics that are borderline depressing, but in a good artistic way. The album I posted titled "Little Hell" seemed to find the perfect middle ground between artistic and depressing, making it an album that I like to listen to at least once a week to remind myself how great of an artist Dallas Green is, if I didn't know already. Upon it's release, it was already gaining the recognition is undoubtedly deserves, but when I listen to it more and more, it continues to get better. Is it a grower? Not really. It's honestly just an album that with time, won't grow stale, at least i'm hoping.



I chose the live version over the studio version because I really do think Dallas Green has such an amazing stage presence that it just makes listening to the music that much more satisfying. That was the way it was when he was with Alexisonfire, and he still keeps that attitude even on his own, and I find that amazing in it's own right. Plus, in comparison to his studio sound, I think he sounds better in any live version.

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Hawthorne Heights - Fragile Future

"Ki, what's the deal, you keep posting about bands that nobody is allowed to like, first it's Alesana, now it's this? What is wrong wtih you?"

Man, let me tell you something, 99% of the time, the reason i'm still listening to these bands is because of the nostalgia factor. And yes, I do also love me some Hawthorne Heights, I can't tell a lie. I mean, I could, but what would be the point. Seriously, I do like this band a lot, and I listen to them for a while, then I feel like they drop off the face of the earth, than I listen to them again, over and over and over that goes. I never come to hate them though, since there's always going to be that nostalgia factor that allows me to enjoy them no matter what.

Anyway, I chose this album over any other album because out of a lot of their tracks in their discog, this one has some of my all time favorite Hawthorne Heights tracks. There's only a few, but they're my favorites in all sorts of different ways. I honestly can't remember for the life of me which track was released before the entire album, but I remember that one of the first tracks I thoroughly enjoyed off this album was Until The Judgement Day.



I think another reason why I find this album to be as great as I like to think it is, is due to the fact that it was released without Casey Calvert, who had sadly passed away. When this album was released, I don't know what I was expecting, and how they were going to cope with losing such an integral part of their band, but alas, they were able to stay strong and release a fantastic album that really changed a lot about my childhood. I say childhood, because I remember reading the news about Casey on Myspace. Yeah, Myspace was a thing remember? Anyway, I think it'll always hit home just with that fact alone, but of course there are many other reasons why I consider this album to be one of their finer crafted albums, but that'd take years to explain, and I don't have that long.

The thing is, this really isn't the only great album they have in their discography, but I honestly feel like anything that was released after this album wasn't as great as the one prior. I'm of course talking about Skeletons and Zero. Both of those albums are fine, I mean I can enjoy them every now and again, but I don't really feel the passion that the band should be able to convey like they did with this album, and the two before it. I do want to mention another track from a different album though, just for the sake of it. This is my journal anyway, so I do what I want. The track comes from the album titled If Only You Were Lonely.



The reason I'm posting this here instead of in it's own post is because i'm keeping it very short and sweet. Without this track, I wouldn't have been exposed to Hawthorne Heights at all, and with how catchy it is, it wouldn't have urged me to pick up the album and listen to it in it's entirety thus not allowing me to hear Fragile Future at all when I did, and that would've been a bummer. Great track from another great album.

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Certainly one of the catchier Who songs you can find. Yeah, I am a pretty big fan of The Who, and I have been a fan for years. Ever since that one day I went onto my uncle's Myspace page and he had Won't Get Fooled Again playing as his song for god knows how long. Coincidentally, that song was on the album that quickly became my favorite Who album of all time. Quadrophenia is a close second. I mean, this has to be one of the coolest classic rock albums you can find right now, and Love Reign O'er Me is a fine example of what you can expect with the album.

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Soilwork - Natural Born Chaos

This album is amazing. Done.

Just kidding, i'm going to talk about it. So, I downloaded a few Soilwork albums a long time ago and I put them on my iPod but I can't remember why I did either of those things considering I'd never listened to Soilwork when I downloaded them. Evidently, I was wrong to not listen to them based by the fact that i'm posting about them now.

I listened to this album a little bit last night and even more this morning, and it really made me realize that this band really knows what they're doing, and I'm ashamed it took me so long to get into them. There's a lot of greatness going on with this album, one of which being that this is the first album where you get a taste of the more alternative metal side rather than the melo-death side, which I think it's why I like it. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of melo-death, but so much of it can wear you down, and I know that it does from experience, so a band going a bit of a 'lighter' way is definitely nice, especially for a band that can pull it off. There is a point in the album about halfway through where you say to yourself "man, this is really starting to kick off and sound great". I don't mean that in the sense that the album starts off boring, they just save more of the melodic / groovy riffs for later on, which is a fun concept to me, since I love being surprised with an album about halfway through. Makes the wait a little worthwhile. Ironically, one of my more favorite tracks on the album happens in the first half of the album. Like I said, I don't mean to say that the first half is boring, it's more of getting you ready for what is about to happen in the second half...



The second half of the album does have a little treat for those who are also a fan of Devin Townsend. Yes, that's right, I said Devin Townsend. He offers co vocals in both tracks Black Star Deceiver, and Soilworker's Song of the Damned. Honestly, what more could I say? That alone is enough to give this album at least a chance...



My opinion on the band as a whole? I think Soilwork deserve more recognition than they have right now. Maybe I just don't see the attention for them, but I really don't see their name popping up in most conversations about heavy metal in general, and that's a shame. They're definitely up there with being one of the better melo-death bands right now.

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Im starting to enjoy this little section of my journal more and more. Here's a few little things that couldn't otherwise be put in a regular journal entry:



Have you ever done a Youtube search on some of your favorite bands and added "sped up times (a number)" along with the search? The results are fantastic...



And now to finish things off, The Assumption Song

I've never heard of this vaporwave artist

And it's all about slowing stuff down

Slowing stuff down is also a lot of fun to listen to. One of my favorites:

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Devin Townsend - Z2

I don't think there's any surprise that this album came up somewhere in my journal, y'know, being the big Devin Townsend fan that I am. My name is the name of one of his albums for god sakes, it couldn't be more obvious. Anyway, Devin Townsend's "Z2" was released in October 2014, and that doesn't even seem that long ago, but it's been almost 5 months since then, so where's another album Devin?! Unfortunately I already know the answer to that question. From what I read up on, this will be the last album we will see from the Dev man for a while, since it seems he'll be going on hiatus to do some more creative thinking, but hey, that just means more Dev magic to come in the future. Let's hope it's the near future.

Z2 was probably one of my more favorite albums of his released, mostly due to it having two polar opposites going for it. You've got the calming and easy listening Sky Blue, and the heavy hitter Dark Matters. Devin really did put his best efforts to sort of "repeat" the trademark Ghost/Deconstruction set up that he did very well back in 2011, but unfortunately, unlike Deconstruction, I feel he didn't put his all into Dark Matters. As it's probably been mentioned in this forum before, with Dark Matters, you get a lot of talking and dialogue, and not a lot of music, which is what everybody wanted out of a Ziltoid sequel, still, there's a reason for everything and i'm sure Devin has his reasons for doing what he did with that album. Luckily, as it is a double album, we still get the wonderful Sky Blue which is mine, and most peoples favorite disc out of the two discs in this album.



As you're probably already aware based on my forum name alone, i'm a big fan of Devin's softer side. I'm not saying I don't like his heavier albums, I love them to death, but I really like his cleaner voice. It's got a sort of hypnotic feel to it, and I think he does it very well.

This album is still worth a listen if you haven't yet, and if it being released again this year would mean we'd be able to stall Devin's hiatus for a few more months, than I would definitely buy this album again if it were released this year.

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Yep, that's right. I'm having another theme month in my journal. The last one that I did was in December for Death Metal to celebrate the wonders of negativity that surround Christmas. I decided that we should go with something a bit less scary and in your face.

I pride myself with the amount of post-rock that i've run into over the years, a lot of it I have talked about before, but I want to really put it out there that I find it to be one of my more favorite genres. So, for the month of March, this journal will be dedicated to post-rock. And yes, this does include some songs that I can find in video games that i'd also consider to be in that post-rock / ambient category. I've got a lot coming in that month, so i'm hoping i'll be able to fill it all in here in that one month. If not, we'll have a part II. Anyway, just something to look forward to.

Honestly, based purely on how great Casualties Of Cool was, I'd be quite interested in the prospect of Devin moving ahead into completely new territory and doing a straight up jazz-rock/metal album. Or what about a 70's rock record? Hell, even a poppy electronic House oriented album (which he's touched upon with songs like 'Save Our Now' and the title track from 'Sky Blue') might be pretty interesting. :D

Pretty cool that you've discovered Soilwork by the way. In light of that, you might be interested in vocalist Bjorn Strid's side project The Night Flight Orchestra, which is him doing late 70's prime-time L.A. rock. ;)

^Yeah, i'm excited for the future of what Devin Townsend will bring. I'm hoping he does something completely different as well, like he did with Casualties of Cool. The man has the talent, so I don't think he'd do it wrong.

Also, I like that video you posted, will definitely check more of that band out. That vocalist is fantastic.

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Blackfield - Welcome To The DNA

So, i'm just going to say straight off the bat, I didn't give this album a chance when I was just getting into Blackfield. It instantly went to being one of my least listened to Blackfield album. Then again, to be fair, there are only 4 official Blackfield albums, but that's still no excuse. I think part of it had to do with the fact that I instantly fell in love with the atmosphere of Blackfield I and Blackfield II and anything different didn't really do it for me. Another reason why it could have happened is probably more due to me not really giving it it's fair chance at the beginning of it all. I listened to a few of the catchier tracks on the album, and didn't really feel like listening to the rest. I've come to realize that doing that was a huge mistake as this album is actually fantastic, probably more-so than the others I mentioned.

With Blackfield, you can expect to get the feel of Steven Wilson sort of stepping back from what he's good at, and bringing out a more relaxed atmosphere to his music. As most are aware, Blackfield is a side project of Steven Wilson's. I can't say for sure that it is HIS side project, but he's included in it, so it's basically his in my opinion. I've noticed that as I listen to more of Blackfield, you just can't expect to hear too much Porcupine Tree in the music. I mean, you'll hear the dark atmospheric Floyd-esque influence in it, but you won't get those technical proggy moments, at least from what i've noticed. Of course, what do I know right? I'm just a passive listener more times than not. Anyway, Steven Wilson still does dish out what he dishes out best, and that's his nearly perfect ability to make people listen to what he's saying, without being too in your face about it. Sure, some could argue that Steven Wilson doesn't actually really sing, I mean I would understand where you'd come from, but Steven Wilson is unique in the sense that he doesn't have to have a good voice for you to really get into what he's trying to deliver through his lyrics.

The album itself is just fantastic as I have mentioned. I just find a lot of the songs more upbeat and "brighter" than you'd get from Blackfield I and Blackfield II, which isn't bad. You get some heavy hitters in this album as well as some acoustics, but it's the perfect balance of being a happy and sad album, and I really didn't see that too much in the other albums. I just find that Steven Wilson puts into this album what you might be able to expect in an EP for a future Porcupine Tree release, without any of the heavy proggy moments that would come into a full release of a new PT album. I know I said you don't get much of the PT influence in these albums, but there's a few, maybe not happening all the time, but you'll hear them when you hear them, I guess.



^This song is actually one that I find Steven Wilson found a perfect equality between being harmonic and delivering some powerful lyrics, especially in the chorus. Probably my favorite track on the album, but that's just going to show how good the album is as a whole, and I will say again that I am disappointed in myself for not giving it the chance it deserved when I found this band.

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Video game soundtracks, video game soundtracks, video game soundtracks!!

Refer to spoilers below to the music:

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I already have a place for my video game soundtracks / music from. Don't see why I shouldn't have a place where I share the music and such that I find in television and film. I don't know how much you'll see this section throughout the journal, but it's something different, and I like different.

Let's start off simple then:

refer to spoilers

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Anathema - Sunlight


Anathema released an album by the name of Weather Systems a few years ago. It was something completely different than Alternative 4, and the like. I'm not entirely certain why they made the change in sound that they did, but man, with how many tear jerking songs they have on this album, I definitely don't mind the direction they went in. I've talked about this album being a grower for me, and overtime i've really come to enjoy it for what it is, and I have quite a few favorite tracks on it. But, i'm not talking about the whole album today, just this one song. Sunlight has that uniqueness where lyrically the song isn't sad, but the way it's performed / instrumentally it is sad.

"The shining almost took me but I made it through that night
And in the morning life it graced me and I ran for miles"

However, there is definitely some positives to negatives throughout the song, but I don't take it as being a song about something sad. That's just what I interpret. I do remember the first time I heard this song, I did have to listen to it again a few more times, because not only is it a heart breaker, it's also catchy as hell. It made it's way to one of the more listened to songs from this album, even upon it's release. I also like how as the song progresses, it starts to get more upbeat and you start to hear the drums come in, and the vocals get more powerful, all leading to a fantastically choreographed climax that I can only describe as amazing. It truly is a great song when you really break it down, but at the same time, it's also a great song just to passively listen to, which is what the album sort of became to me. It's not a bad album, it's an album i'd put on to have going on in the background, something along the likes of a Sigur Ros album, or City and Colour, etc etc.

Also, I just surpassed 300 posts in this journal. That's a small milestone but I'm happy nonetheless.

Random song because why not?



I've talked about A Place Where The Sun Is Silent before but I don't think i've really touched on songs by themselves. I've given this album listens multiple times since it's release, and I have always genuinely enjoyed it in it's entirety, but I actually never gave this song a fair chance, especially since this album is pretty scattered with some great songs, and not so great songs, but that's just a personal opinion. This song in particular did fall in the category of not being one of the greater songs, but it made it's way out of that into the category of one of the greatest songs on the album. The lyrics are fantastic, the intro is great, and it's just so god damned catchy. Through the years as I have probably mentioned before, Alesana seem to be getting better and better in the craft. They have a genuine chemistry with one another, and in this song, you can really feel that the band is working together to bring out something great. The chorus is also fantastic:

"Do you think it's wrong of me to long for you despite how you taste?
I'm not the one to give up on you now.
I'll never leave the ground without having to let go, yeah!
Every time I try I'm further from the sky.
I wish that I could let go, I'm lost in your beautiful trance."

This song really does not get the credit it deserves, and I think the main reason for that is due to it being so close to the end of the album, and people (like myself) have a tendency to grow tired of the album at that point. Not in a bad way, you're just waiting for the album to finish so you can form your opinion on it. Again, it's just a personal thing. Not only that though, this song comes before two other very fantastic songs in this album, and they fall to the same faith of being so close to the end, that they just don't get their fair shot. I've been giving these tracks more listens as I listen to the album though to sort of make up for it, plus they're just so good.

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So a while back, I stumbled upon something that may have changed my life forever. It was a video titled "Epic Sax Guy". But oh no, it didn't stop there. I actually went as far to look and see where I can find the origin of Epic Sax Guy, and I had found out that it was part of a Eurovision competition sort of thing:



If you skip right to 0:45 you can see the Epic Sax Guy in action. Honestly, a mixture of the dance moves and catchy tune really make this one of the more amazing things on the internet. This video is obviously not the original original, it just takes the sax guy and extends that one part multiple times, but after a while, you get the rest of the song, but you get the intro to the song that this came from.

And of course, I have to put something special in here. So here you go:

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With post-rock month coming very shortly, actually it's but a few days away, I feel like it'd be good to give sort of a preview of what kind of magic you'll be seeing in this little space I call journal home. Going to start off right away with an album that has blown me away even though the band themselves have been one that I seem to forget about from time to time. They are the one, the only...

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Moonlit Sailor! I've had my fair share of history of listening to this band from time to time, ever since I learned of the existence of their album titled A Footprint of Feelings which was their EP at the time, but don't let that spoil the fun, the album is fantastic in it's own right and really opens a new journey for you to venture into. I speak from experience since I have found myself going back to A Footprint of Feelings when i'm need of some Moonlit Sailor magic, and I still feel the same way I did when I heard it the first time. This song especially is more than reason enough to give this album a 5 star rating each time I hear it...



It's so perfect. And combined with the album art, it's just....perfect in it's own simple way. I think the band have really managed to somehow mix both their creativity into their album art and their music to sort of make a combination of relaxations while at the same time being totally blown away by what is being heard. What would I consider this band to be genre wise? I'd make up my own subgenre of post-rock and i'd call it relaxation post-rock, or something like lay-in-bed-rock. Seriously. If you're looking for a band that manages to mix together the sounds of relaxation, you've come to the right place.

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Since I found myself thinking about more tunes from TV shows that I've seen and movies that I love, I decided to make this section a regular thing. I thought at first it'd be a one time thing, but once I started thinking about it, there's a lot that can be included in this little section. So, without further ado, the next part in this little series of music from tv and film: (and yes, I am trying to start putting most if not all my videos into spoilers as I am seeing that the page tends to load pretty slow when I come to my journal, and I think spoiling videos will help that. I won't do every video, but if I have more than 3 or 4, they'll be spoiled.)



And just as a bonus, i'll throw in another Star Wars track that I really like:

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(image courtesy of a pg.lost live show)

Come one, come all, to the wonderful world of post-rock. I'm pretty sure by now that most people are aware that I have a pretty big soft spot for post-rock. By that I mean it's one of my top 3 favorite genres. The entire month of March will be me just posting about some of my favorite bands, songs, and the weird one off thing here and there. Anyway, let's get right into it shall we?

So to start things off, I want to talk about an album that has left an everlasting good impression on me in terms of what I want to hear out of a post-rock album. No, it's nothing by pg.lost, don't worry, i'm going to try to keep those types of posts on the minimum this month, but it'll be difficult. No, the album I want to talk about is...

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I Hear Sirens - Beyond The Sea, Beneath The Sky

It's actually been a pretty long time since the first time I actually listened to this album in full. But it's one of those albums where there first time I ever listened to it, I had to have a copy of it. It's so good in it's own way. It's mellow, the instrumentals are not too overpowering but yet they do enough to keep the interest flowing, and the general atmosphere of the album just fits all together. In terms of how I feel when I listen to it? I sort of get a feeling of being lost in a field with 4 different paths to take, and not really knowing where to go or where you'll end up. I would see this album being the soundtrack to a game or movie where there is one person looking for a way out, or someway to leave the place he's stranded at, yet never actually being able to reach that goal. Basically, it has a dark atmosphere to it, in the best way possible.

In terms of how the songs are laid out, I think it's done perfectly. One after the other you feel like you're getting somewhere, but you can't help feel like you're stuck. It can play with your head a little bit if you're ill prepared, at least that's how it was for me. Song titles as well are pretty damn fitting. Songs like "O Failing Vessel, Brave the Violent Sea" and "Drowning City Skyline" and many others, there's just a sense of darkness that flows even before knowing what the song actually sounds like.



Honestly, it's one of the best post-rock albums I have in my collection, but it's not the only "best post-rock album" I have in my collection, if that makes sense. I highly recommend it though if you're itching for some darkness fueled post-rock.

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#20: The Evpatoria Report - Prognoz


Coming from the album Golevka, The Evpatoria Report released songs like Cosmic Call and Prognoz along with many others. I have always found Prognoz to be one of the more defining moments on the album and for the band as a whole. I'll be honest, Golevka is the only album I am really familiar with from this band, but in my defense, they only have 3 albums, Maar beging the most recent one in 2008. I do wish they'd release more albums because songs like this are definitely one of the better ones you can find from them right now, but again, that's from the opinion of just hearing one album so far. I have always found their music to be a little bit more on the atmospheric post-rock side, while still keeping things technical and interesting. They do what most bands do where the songs will have a slow build up, but it's always worth it in the end. Admittedly, their songs tend to be more on the longer side, as this one comes in at 14 minutes already, but i'd be lying if I said it wasn't worth a listen.

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Post-Rock Edition

Disclaimer: This section is solely for the purpose of talking about the music. I am or never have been involved with anything religious nor do I believe that Heaven and Hell exist, however just keep in mind that i'm not talking about religion here. Thanks.

You ever hear a song and you have a thought come up and you think, "man, this song would definitely be the song that would play when I walk through the gates of Heaven." Well, I do. I think about that quite often honestly. I always think about those shows that have showed people going up to Heaven in a beam of light, taking them away from their corpse on Earth, and then it just hits me that the song i'm listening to at that moment would fit that moment perfectly.



I could easily just post the entire album of Valtari for this one, but I find that those two songs that I posted really capture the moment of taking you away and bringing you to a better and stronger place. I think Varðeldur does it better than Dauðalogn but I have always found that Varðeldur emits a feeling of sadness, and with that playing in the background, you wouldn't want to let go, yet the beam of light is bringing you up anyway. You're happy to go, but at the same time, feeling the sadness helps you remember the good times.

I'm usually a bit skeptical about post-rock in general, but this really caught my eye...or, rather, ear...

Really good, dark atmosphere to it, as you say. Reminds me a little bit of Akira Yamaoka's work on the Silent Hill soundtracks - I'll always tell anyone I can that the soundtrack to Silent Hill 2 is one of the best video game soundtracks ever.

^happy to hear that man. Its one of my favorite more dark atmospheric albums in my collection. I have a few others that you may enjoy. I'll post about them soon.

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No, not that 'first time' you sickos. I'm talking about the first time I ever heard an album. The album i'm talking about is of course one that has definitely stood the test of time and still to this day amazes me and becomes a regular listen whenever i'm in the mood for this sort of thing. I'm speaking of...

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Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯ A♯ ∞

the debut album by GY!BE. Seriously, what better way to start off your career then with this album of pure beauty. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of the people that saw this album on release and had the opportunity to listen to it right away, I was sort of pushed into listening to it as it was an album widely raved about on music forums and most music websites. I think my first listen to it was a few years back, can't remember exactly, but man, hearing it for the first time is seriously one of the best experiences i've had in terms of hearing post-rock albums for the first time. Speaking of which, this album was also one of the first post-rock albums I ever heard, which says how long (or little) i've been listening to the genre. But of course, it's had an everlasting impression on me, and just continues to get better with time.

I'm going to post the song everyone is already thinking of...


As a whole album, it's a beautiful piece of art, but if this album only had this one song on it, it'd still be a beautiful piece of art. This song alone has to be one of the finest pieces of post-rock i've ever heard, and yes, I am also including pg.lost's Key in that group that is under this song alone. I love the build up, I love the subtlety at the beginning, and the length is perfect for a song like this. Yeah, it's 17 minutes long, but you never really feel underwhelmed or you never feel like the song is missing something. It's all there, and you owe it to yourself to listen to it.

As a whole album, I will say that it's definitely nearing perfection. Yes, I did say it's a piece of art, but I didn't say perfection. It's close. There's a lot of great tracks and for anyone looking to get into post-rock as a genre, this is a must listen, as it basically paves the way for a great first time with the genre. I'd also highly recommend the album that come later, as the band just continues to get better over time.

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Yep. If there are any genres out there that are worthy of taking over another section of my journal, it's definitely post-rock.

I'm going to be posting a song that is from an album that I do talk a lot about, but trust me, it's not because i'm trying to promote this album more than I already do, i'm honestly posting it because it's the one song out of the entire album that actually makes me feel emotional. One because of the way it sounds, and two...because it's close to the end of the album and that's sad in it's own right.



I know I know, get our your torches and pitchforks, Ki is talking about pg.lost again. I'm sorry, it's really not my fault that they make amazing music. This song is one that I really don't talk about a whole lot, mostly because Key is an album you talk about as a whole, and each song surpasses the next to make the perfect album. The way this song is performed is wonderful, right off the bat you get a sense of loneliness and you feel as though a dark cloud is hovering over you. As it plays on, you start to feel that get worse, or better, depending on your mood. For me, it tends to feel worse as all the instruments start to play together, repeating the same tone, but multiplying the sadness by 10, or even 20. As the song gets to the halfway mark, it does slow down again making you feel that sort of darkness again, and once it hits 3:18, you really feel it. Everything slows down, and for a moment you really do feel alone. You feel as though you're walking down a highway. No cars, busses, taxis. No people. Nobody to take you from where you are to where you need to be. It's endless. Honestly, i'm happy to bring this song up in this section because it really does emit the feeling of sadness.

Really liking that pg.lost track, couldn't agree with you more on it - it really does evoke a longing and sorrowful atmosphere that it's not really easy to come by musically. Very powerful stuff.

I think if I had to pick a track that hits me more or less the same way from my own collection, it'd be Pendulum Man by Bark Psychosis. Compared to Gathering it's a lot more instrumentally sparse and leans far closer to ambient electronica (I first came across it on one of the excellent A Brief History Of Ambient compilations, after all), but that same wistful kind of atmosphere is still there, for me at least.

^I can definitely see where you're coming from with that, and I think I have heard that track before somewhere. I like it!

You know what I absolutely love? Bands that can combine genres and make true magic through music. There are many different examples of this, especially when it comes to post-rock. You get bands trying out a mixture of different sounds revolving around electronic, math rock, and the like. Some bands do it great, and some not so much. I'm here to talk about a band that seems to have gotten a good lead on things like this. Keep in mind, this band isn't only known for post-rock, as one of their albums "Sing The World Hope in Four-Part Harmony" was an attempt to break away from post-rock and have a heavier sound, and it worked. I'm of course talking about...

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Yep, Maybeshewill. I remember a while ago I listened to their album "I Was Here for a Moment, Then I Was Gone" and man I was blown away almost instantly. The band itself like to think of themselves as a band that can merge both post-rock and some math-rock elements to make some great heavy hitters. And they do it well. Here's a great example of it...



^You can hear the heavier side that they wanted to go for, but in this one...



You can hear the more electronic side. It works really well, especially when the band knows how to use it to their advantage instead of having it be super overwhelming and out of place.

The band itself, it's been a long long time since I really sat down and listened to them, but I wanted to bring them up because it's always nice to go on a bit of a nostalgia trip with music you haven't listened to in a long time. The first album I remember hearing first, and I did have it on my mp3 player for a long time was titled "Not For Want of Trying" and that was released back in 2008, so they've been around for a while. I feel that when I listen to them now, as opposed to back then, I can finally come to appreciate the different elements in their music. The heavier post-rock/math-rock stuff wasn't my cup of tea back then, but as my music taste developed a little bit more, i've learned to appreciate it more. This band will definitely be one that goes down as being one of the lesser listened to bands in my discography, but also being one of the better ones that really helped craft my taste in music. I'll certainly be looking to pick up some albums from these guys again and really sitting down and listening again.

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One of the many things that I love about post-rock is the way it helps me relax. It's definitely got to do with that I find repetitiveness relaxing. Yeah, I know that seems weird, but I could listen to a song that exceeds 20 minutes long, and if it's the same rhythm the entire time, i'm happy. I have also experimented with post-rock and sleep, and for me it does work. If i'm comfortable having headphones on or having a dock on, I could easily fall asleep to it. I don't do it anymore, but I used to enjoy it. I can sleep pretty well either way now. Some really good examples of what I would listen to will be posted below: You'll notice that I pick a lot of Sigur Ros songs to set examples for this type of thing, but that's just what I've always found to happen when I listen to Sigur Ros. I really enjoy them for their talent, but they're also great when you just want to sit back and relax.

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So, bands who can both play fantastically in studio and at a live show are some of the best musicians you can come across, in my opinion. Post-rock is no different. There are many different ways a post-rock group can do something fantastic with their live show, and there have been times when I prefer to listen to a live version of a song that I love from a post-rock group that I absolutely love. I've got a few in mind that i'd like to share:



Part 2 coming soon.

A Swarm of The Sun - The Rifts (2015)
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A Swarm of The Sun are a post-rock/post-metal band that I've been heavily into for a while. Unfortunately they're a band that aren't really known for throwing out a lot of albums especially considering the only other 'full' album i've heard from them was Zenith which I have talked about before many times in this journal. I decided to do a quick search on them because I had an idea for an entry for post-rock month, but I was surprised to see that they had another album released a few months ago this year titled The Rifts, so that takes the place for the entry I had. I was extremely excited since I have grown to love Zenith in it's entirety. There's not one bad track on that album. The Rifts seems to have the same exact effect. From the couple of tracks I have heard from this album so far, I'm already loving each one in it's entirety, and I really hope that continues to be the case as I listen to this album more, and more times than now. I don't think i'm speaking too soon when I say this is one of the top 10 for me this year album wise, because that's how it was when I first heard Zenith, it became a top 10 album for me, instantly.

As far as I can tell by what i've heard on this album, they do follow the same formula as they did in Zenith, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Honestly, that's a really good thing. That unique sound that they have been known for since Zenith is definitely something I don't want to see them escape from, in fact, i'd rather they continue to use the sound that they're good at for every album they release now, which seems to be the case judging by this album.

The one thing I have probably mentioned before about this band is how they can make every second of every second interesting. Whether it's a ten minute song, a twenty minute song, or a five minute song, they use every minute, every second to do what they know how to do and it's really evident that they try to take every step they can to make sure each track surpasses the last, and they really do. Each track seems to get better than the last one, and that raises my excitement even more when I know I will be able to give this album multiple listens. It just opens up more possibilities to find good and great parts of the album.

One really good example of using the minutes they have to their advantage is done very well in this track:



It's a ten minute track, and you don't find yourself sitting there saying to yourself "man, when am I going to get to the next track, this one is boring", rather you just sit back and try to enjoy what remains in the track while also hoping that the track was longer.

I'm impressed with this album already and I know it'll continue to be good. Hopefully it matches up to my expectations. It's already impressed me to no end.

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"This album is so good, I just need more of it."

Yeah, I think you know what i'm talking about. There are certain mornings or nights that come after the day that you just heard a new album from a favorite artist of yours, and even though you know you enjoyed the album you listened to, you feel as though you need to listen to it again. It sort of leaves a pain in your brain until you do it. I'm of course feeling that way with The Rifts by A Swarm of The Sun. Honestly, it has been a very long time since i've heard a post-rock/metal album like this that really just left me speechless at the end. The difference with this post as opposed to when I talked about it last night is that I have listened to the album in it's entirety twice now, and I gotta say, as high as my expectations were for this album, the guys in the group exceeded expectations. Every time I come here to post something for post-rock month, i'm finding myself going to the page where I posted the song above and I just listen to it in full, then I proceed to listen to the whole album, again, and again, and again, and again.

It really is a remarkable release and it definitely makes the wait worth it. I mean...they us wait 5 years since they released Zenith. I like to think they're sort of having the same impressive reaction that Tool does for me. You know, when they take a long time to release new music, but the wait is usually worth it since the album sounds like they took the 5 or so years to make the album perfect. I feel as though A Swarm of The Sun are doing the same thing, and they are doing it extremely well. I'm seeing a bright future for these guys just judging by the 2 studio albums they have in their collection now.

After all is said and done, i've found myself going back to this track a lot more than the others:



It's a rarity for me to post two consecutive posts in a row about the same album, and although I see myself talking about this album more in the future, it's definitely an album you don't want to miss out on. And I mentioned before that it may be in my top 10 of the year, well...it's in my top 5 of the year for sure. Don't know exactly where it stands right now, but it's definitely in the top 5.