Power Surf-Metal? Win!

Song of the day: Mr. Sandman by Blind Guardian. This is without a doubt one of the best covers I've ever heard. For one, this song is utterly addictive by itself... adding in the little chorus hum is almost impossible not to do. Secondly, Blind Guardian, one of the premier pioneers of the power-metal sound, deserves some recognition - they started talking about wizards and swords in their songs and actually meant it. For note, the 'breakthrough' album for power-metal was Helloween's Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1, though I haven't listened to it as much as I should. Suppose there's always more music for me to dip my tastes into. Megaupload link is here.

On the note of new music, I just recently came into the possession of Necrophagist's amazing two album discography - I was listening to their first album, Onset of Putrefaction last night, and I have to be honest - I didn't know death metal bands like this actually existed. Song names like Dismembered Self-immolation and Intestinal Incubation - I was totally taken aghast. This is one of those bands that people use when they want to make fun of death metal. And yet, I actually liked listening to them. So far, that first album is a top contender for album of the week. At least they didn't stretch quite as far as "Dripping Bloodgore in the Demonic Rancid Filth of Your Putrid Wounds", or something. Though, that would be a cool song. I will go about trying to work out what it would sound like.

The great thing about the year 2007, is that it holds more releases from one of my favorite artists - I speak here of Venetian Snares. If you hadn't gathered from the blog url, VSnares is, in my opinion, one of the best artists out there - and at three albums a year, it's hard for me to not be excited about his next releases. I got into Mr. Funk a while after he'd been producing, so while I can appreciate all his older albums, it's different than saying that I liked him while he actually produced something - though, to be fair, I thought Hospitality (his latest release, in October 2006) was just an in-part continuation to his prior album. It was only six-tracks long, and didn't do much for me. Thankfully, however, new soundscapes are always being explored, and maybe his next album will push boundaries even further. In case anyone really wanted to know, my favorite album of his is Winnipeg Is a Frozen Shithole. Love love love.