Simulacrum - Sky Divided

 
 
 
 
 
 
SIMULACRUM - SKY DIVIDED

On the heels of their debut Simulacrum have release their 2nd release.  If anyone has worries of a sophomore slump those thought as trampled within minutes of the 1st full length track "Behind The Belt Of Orion".    Sky Divided is a space opera about 2 rival races battling for water resources on the planet Tellus. The saga of the epic battle is told throughout the disc starting with the fantastic Behind The Belt of Orion which is the tale of one race traveling from behind Orions belt in search of water.  The story continues thru Broken, Embrace The Battle Within, Deep In The Trenches (which is the 1st video and continues the saga of the war and the aliens have taken the fight to Planet Earth), The Abomination, Sky Divided, Enter Hyperion and culminates with the 14 minute A New Beginning.  Catchy as all heck and fantastic vocals and tight musicianship highlight every tune on this release.  Simulacrum have really captured the essence of Progressive metal with Power elements and captured lightning in a bottle. Folks, Sky Divided my well be surprise disc of the year and deserves a spot on everyone's top 10 list come December.  http://www.simulacrum.fi RATING: 10/10

Favorite Symphonic Gothic Metal

What is Gothic Metal?  Everyone seems to have an opinion and more times than not these bands tend to fall within  sub-genre of Gothic metal whether it's symphonic gothic, melodic gothic death metal, gothic doom or just Gothic Metal.  Generally gothic metal is define as "gothic metal (or goth metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal and gothic rock that combines the heaviness of doom metal or death-doom with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. the music of gothic metal is as diverse iwth bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music. 

It is personally one of my favorite genres of music. The vocals tend to be female and the music dark, sometimes haunting. This list represents a very diverse cross-section of bands that tend to blurr the lines of gothic metal. With that I give you 15 of my favorite bands that argueably can be described as gothic metal.

15. Lake of Tears  - Forever Autumn

14. The Vision Bleak - Wolfmoon

13. Theater of Tragedy - Venus

12. Orphanage - Five Crystals

11. Epica - Illusive Consensus

10. Sirenia - The Path to Decay

9. Leaves Eyes - Lovelorn 

8. Xandria - Nightfall

7. Trail of Tears - Deceptive Mirrors

6. Gothminister - Stonehenge

5. Delain - Sleepwalkers Dream

4. After Forever - Come

3. Within Temptation - Summertime Sadness

2. Nightwish - Nemo

1. Tristania - Deadlocked

Best of the rest: Amberian Dawn, Echos of Eternity, Lacuna Coil, Vision of Atlantis, Stream of Passion, Tiamat, Triptykon, The Gathering, Elis, Penumbra, Nemesea, 

One Hit Wonders of Classic Rock

This list is dedicated to David Eckler who try as he may, just can't seem to convince my beloved wife that there was some great music made in the 70s.  This list is some of my favorite one (or two)  hit wonders of the 70s that had their 3 minutes of fame before riding off into the sunset.

10. Mott The Hoople - All The Young Dudes

9. Ram Jam - Black Betty

8. Sugarloaf - Dont Call Us (We'll Call You)

7. Focus - Hocus Pocus

6. Golden Earing - Radar Love

5. Rick Derringer - Rock and Roll Hootchie Coo

4. Free - All Right Now

3. Sweet - Love Is Like Oxygen

2. Argent - Hold Your Head Up

1. Edgar Winter - Frankenstein/Free Ride

Top 10 moments that defined classic rock

I loved the seventies.  There, I said it.  There was so much great music that decade whether it was one hit wonders or the staples on the airwaves and every genre of music from Soul to Rock to Metal had it's defining moments.

Here's my look back as some of the greatest moments in Classic Rock that define or set standards for classic rock in the 70s.

10.  Rush - Working Man 

9. Bad Company - Feel Like Making Love

8. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

7. Yes - Roundabout

6. Pink Floyd - Money

5. The Eagles - Hotel California

4. ZZ Top - Tush

3. Boston - More Than A Feeling

2. Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son

1. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama

Keep in mind that is strictly my personal opinion, there's so many other great bands that could have made the cut such as Santana, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Foreigner, Journey, Steve Miller Band, The Doobie Brothers, The Police, Steely Dan, Jethro Tull (Oh wait, their metal...my bad)

Top 10 favorite System Of A Down Songs

System Of A Down are are a unique Armenia/American Alternative band and in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 the band is doing a series of shows, of which only two are scheduled in the USA.   One of them being in Clarkston Michigan in June.  In preparation of that event I've decided to compile a list of my favorite Top 10 System of A Down songs.

10.  BYOB

9. Sugar

8. Bubbles

7. Innervision

6. Attack

5. Revenga

4. Chop Suey

3. Aerials

2. Toxicity

1.  Hypnotize