The idea of a “musical high” is a cliche by now and for good reason; music has an undeniably physical, unmediated, and immediate effect on us. It can lift the spirit or send it tumbling down, make you feel like a million bucks or a wet towel. But, day to…
I know what I’m about to say might be seen as lame on Heavy Blog but I’m not ashamed to admit it: I love Christmas. There is such a special feeling in the air in the days leading up to it. Now I’m not a crazy person like some folks…
When Purity Ring’s sophomore album Another Eternity dropped in 2015, I was unsure of what to think. It was compositionally and sonically different than their debut, Shrines, and I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not. I put it on the backburner and decided to revisit it later to see if my opinion would change.
In our communities and circles, we often find ourselves gifted with evenings of music. Gatherings in the form of a celebration. A celebration of music you and your peers love and musicians celebrating the same love for the music in their performance. So often we enjoy ourselves with friends and…
I distinctly remember where I heard Radiohead’s Kid A for the first time. It was on a road trip, driving with my parents and siblings to Yellowstone National Park. The mostly desolate and flat landscape surrounding most of our seemingly interminable drive from Colorado and through some of the most…
When I was 11 years old, my parents let me finally have my own CD player after I begged and pleaded with them. The reason I begged so much was because I had discovered MTV. The first video I remember seeing was “The Memory Remains” by Metallica. I distinctly remember…
You know the part: the drums, thick and resonating, pick up pace, the bass licks in anticipation of the crescendo and all of a sudden the synths are there, Hammond goodness washing over the soaring guitar parts as the vocals explode into a high note. This structure of “ensemble buildup”, where the entire band join forces to form the climax of a track, is a staple of many genres but progressive rock has always been the best at it. King Crimson’s “Starless”, Yes’s “Heart of the Sunrise”, Wishbone Ash’s “Warrior” (containing one of the world’s most famous and most forgotten solos), Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and many, many other tracks and albums come to mind. Even younger bands operating today and paying homage to the style (like Malady, Wobbler, Witchcraft and more) adopt the prominence of the climax and full band collaboration.
The Love Letter format has traditionally allowed us to gush vocally all over the music closest to our pumpers, freeing up all kinds of lavish language. This pleases me. While I was familiar with War From A Harlots Mouth before the release of today’s target of admiration and questionable comparisons,…
This is a love letter about a love song. The glam metal explosion yielded more than its fair share of sappy power ballads, but one reigns above them all. The Achilles heel of the power ballad is its maddening tendency to mire in cliché — but, paradoxically, “I Remember You” manages to subvert kitsch and bludgeon cliché through its absolute screaming dedication to its own cliché.
The year is 1984 and Iron Maiden are in an interesting position. Hot off the tails of two great releases and their first major tour, the band are starting to feel the pressures and joys of success at the same time. This is a crucible in which many bands have faltered, unable to reproduce the original sound which garnered them their first modicums of recognition. Line-ups shake, creative differences being to tear at the structure of the sound, as each member brings forth their own vision as to what the future should contain. In this situation, there were many divergent paths down which Iron Maiden’s story could have gone; they had already faced several major line-up changes and their future was anything but secure. They could have easily broken up or lost track of what made their first albums work.
But, instead, they made Powerslave.
