karljant
Ancient Mariner
Yeah... We all have those. Unless you're stubborn as a mule or trying to pretend in order to look cool among your inner circle of friends who share roughly the same likes/ dislikes there's always that one track from a band you're not fond of that comes as an absolute - and pleasant - surprise. Personally, it has happened to me a number of times now. Here are some of those instances:
Slipknot - Custer: I'm not a Slipknot fan nor have I ever been (far from it). To be quite honest most of their material even come to me has irritating. And yes, I've kind of dig some of their past tunes (like Sic, People = Shit, Disasterpiece or Before I Forget) but it was along the lines of "yeah... it's cool... some interesting lines here and there". Now, Custer... oh boy! That's a totally different beast as far as I'm concerned. This thing is filled with attributes Slipknot fans claim the band is paramount yet I've always failed to actually connect to: it's absurdly violent, creates an intense and vicious ambiance and is an adrenaline injection in acoustic form. As always, the drumming is excellent yet, in this case, the guitar riffs (something I think is a bit lackluster when it comes to most of the band's songs) are really, really good and heavy as hell.
Ghost - Rats: I won't lie, it's not that I dislike Ghost. I just find their music unappealing. Rats, on the other hand, sounds quite the opposite to my ears. Albeit far from something out of this world, the main riff is really engaging, but it's the tracks' enormous hooks that make me nod my head. The pre-chorus is absolutely gorgeous and the refrain's "ah oh ah ah" really sells it as far as I'm concerned. Now, I've already imagined what this track would sound like with a couple of high pitch voices here and there and yeah... there's lots of King Diamond influences here, yet not to the point that it gets even nearly outrageous. Great track, overall.
Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet With Butterfly Wings: I was never fond of the countless tunes these guys had playing on TV and Radio every single time. Yet, I absolutely love this song. It's so damn good... the completely distressing quiet part, the crescendo and the wild chorus, just wow! This is one of those undisputed teenage angst hymns for the Gen X. Yeah, Corgan's voice is kind of a tough pill to swallow but I'll take it any day, since everything else here is almost perfectly crafted.
Lamb Of God - In Your Words: Apart from a handful of tunes from their other albums I always looked at LOG as somewhat derivative of Pantera's legacy, while not considering them copycats by any means. Yet they never clicked with me. That was until Wrath came out. And let me start by saying that it's not just the aforementioned song I love here. Be it on Broken Hands, Reclamation, Everything To Nothing, or even their most regular sounding Grace, I can spot some influences being more prominent than in past albums, and man... do they sound great! But IMO none of them are as great as the album's opener. It looks like Lamb Of God took some of the traits out of Metallica's Blackened, Testament's Low and bathed them in their Groove Metal sauce. And to this day I simply love it, although they never released anything else that caught my attention ever since.
Iced Earth - Ten Thousand Strong: To be honest I also love Gettysburg but since that's more like a separate 3 part "rock opera" I'll go with this one. Although I've never disliked them, I've never got caught in the Iced Earth mania. Yeah, Gettysburg was a great concept, yet I think the album per se (The Glorious Burden) was quite weak, with the only track I borderline enjoyed being The Reckoning. And that despite that record representing the return of a singer I love to the Metal limelight: Ripper Owens (who does a stellar work here as always). Now, not that I think Barlow is a bad singer, quite the opposite... but IMO Owens' range, technique and intensity belong to Heavy Metal's elite division. So, when Iced Earth's new single came out, my jaw fell to the floor. As far as I'm concerned, Ten Thousand Strong is a huge leap in quality regarding its predecessor: absolutely abrasive top tier heavy metal! Too bad the rest of the album was quite a disappointment. Ever since I haven't liked anything these guys released also. But once in a while I give a spin to this track in particular.
There are certainly more examples I'll remember later and will post here. And how about you? what's that track that blew your mind, coming from the band you expected the least?
Slipknot - Custer: I'm not a Slipknot fan nor have I ever been (far from it). To be quite honest most of their material even come to me has irritating. And yes, I've kind of dig some of their past tunes (like Sic, People = Shit, Disasterpiece or Before I Forget) but it was along the lines of "yeah... it's cool... some interesting lines here and there". Now, Custer... oh boy! That's a totally different beast as far as I'm concerned. This thing is filled with attributes Slipknot fans claim the band is paramount yet I've always failed to actually connect to: it's absurdly violent, creates an intense and vicious ambiance and is an adrenaline injection in acoustic form. As always, the drumming is excellent yet, in this case, the guitar riffs (something I think is a bit lackluster when it comes to most of the band's songs) are really, really good and heavy as hell.
Ghost - Rats: I won't lie, it's not that I dislike Ghost. I just find their music unappealing. Rats, on the other hand, sounds quite the opposite to my ears. Albeit far from something out of this world, the main riff is really engaging, but it's the tracks' enormous hooks that make me nod my head. The pre-chorus is absolutely gorgeous and the refrain's "ah oh ah ah" really sells it as far as I'm concerned. Now, I've already imagined what this track would sound like with a couple of high pitch voices here and there and yeah... there's lots of King Diamond influences here, yet not to the point that it gets even nearly outrageous. Great track, overall.
Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet With Butterfly Wings: I was never fond of the countless tunes these guys had playing on TV and Radio every single time. Yet, I absolutely love this song. It's so damn good... the completely distressing quiet part, the crescendo and the wild chorus, just wow! This is one of those undisputed teenage angst hymns for the Gen X. Yeah, Corgan's voice is kind of a tough pill to swallow but I'll take it any day, since everything else here is almost perfectly crafted.
Lamb Of God - In Your Words: Apart from a handful of tunes from their other albums I always looked at LOG as somewhat derivative of Pantera's legacy, while not considering them copycats by any means. Yet they never clicked with me. That was until Wrath came out. And let me start by saying that it's not just the aforementioned song I love here. Be it on Broken Hands, Reclamation, Everything To Nothing, or even their most regular sounding Grace, I can spot some influences being more prominent than in past albums, and man... do they sound great! But IMO none of them are as great as the album's opener. It looks like Lamb Of God took some of the traits out of Metallica's Blackened, Testament's Low and bathed them in their Groove Metal sauce. And to this day I simply love it, although they never released anything else that caught my attention ever since.
Iced Earth - Ten Thousand Strong: To be honest I also love Gettysburg but since that's more like a separate 3 part "rock opera" I'll go with this one. Although I've never disliked them, I've never got caught in the Iced Earth mania. Yeah, Gettysburg was a great concept, yet I think the album per se (The Glorious Burden) was quite weak, with the only track I borderline enjoyed being The Reckoning. And that despite that record representing the return of a singer I love to the Metal limelight: Ripper Owens (who does a stellar work here as always). Now, not that I think Barlow is a bad singer, quite the opposite... but IMO Owens' range, technique and intensity belong to Heavy Metal's elite division. So, when Iced Earth's new single came out, my jaw fell to the floor. As far as I'm concerned, Ten Thousand Strong is a huge leap in quality regarding its predecessor: absolutely abrasive top tier heavy metal! Too bad the rest of the album was quite a disappointment. Ever since I haven't liked anything these guys released also. But once in a while I give a spin to this track in particular.
There are certainly more examples I'll remember later and will post here. And how about you? what's that track that blew your mind, coming from the band you expected the least?
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