Die Apokalyptischen Reiter - vier reiter stehen bereit (Have a Nice Trip)
Marvin Gaye - unforgettable (I Heard It Through the Grapevine)
Opeth - epilogue (My Arms, Your Hearse)
Sepultura - attitude (Roots)
Slayer - bitter peace (Soundtrack To The Apocalypse)
Jerry Goldsmith - old bagdad (Der 13. Krieger)
Subway To Sally - carrickfergus (MCMXCV)
Testament - practice what you preach (Practice What You Preach)
Aaliyah - try again (I Care 4 You)
Watain - darkness and death (Sworn to the Dark)
Rebeka Dremelj - vrag na vzame (Eurovision Song Contest 2008)
Wisin & Yandel - aprovechalo (Los Extraterrestres)
Seventh Seal - lucifer's cry (The Sacred Test)
Emperor - sworn (IX Equilibriu

There is only a 0.004% chance that one song makes it into the Today playlist and today a song from the Eurovision 2008 made it. I had to check immediately the date for the next song contest, its in about 5 months - 16th of May. Well ... didnt want to bore you with numbers and some random information :) and actually the selection today offered quite some variation, nothing really that sticked out though. Just one thing, I need a better version of Emperor's album. The sound quality of my version sounded like it has been recorded with the band and the recording mics in seperate studios ... "Is this Mic on ?" ..."Yeah, yeah, dont worry !"


Sacrifi-Sir

What I listened to on the train

Dornenreich - In Luft geritzt
Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King
Nocte Obducta - Sequenzen einer Wanderung
Hande Yener - Apayrı


--Sapnish--

Baby's first today

This time together with Meh78 (her library). Just 13 tracks, because - despite recent tagging adventures - there was this one album/compilation that didn't want to be tagged, so there where no titles and we decided to skip it (it was kinda crap, anyway).

Alanis Morissette - everything (So-Called Chaos)
Everything But the Girl - i don't understand anything (Amplified Heart)
Madonna - deeper and deeper [7" edit] (GHV2)
Spice Girls - if u can't dance (Spice)
The Chemical Brothers - hoops (Come With Us)
Shalamar - i can make you feel good (Super Disco)
Blondie - call me (Atomic - The Very Best of Blondie)
Marilyn Monroe - (this is) a fine romance (Golden Hits)
Queen - fat bottomed girls (The Platinum Collection)
David Lynch, John Neff - go get some (Mulholland Drive Original Soundtrack)
Tarkan - uzak (Karma)
Moby - porcelain (The Beach Original Soundtrack)
Lacuna Coil - heir of a dying day (Unleashed Memories)


--Sapnish--

Beatallica - ... and justice for all my loving (A Garage Dayz Nite)
Candan Erçetin - yaşıyorum (Melek)
Celtic Frost - procreation[of the wicked] (Morbid Tales)
Helstar - evil reign (Remnants of War)
Marvin Gaye - got to give it up (Charlie's Angels OST)
The Beatles - paperback writer (1)
Therion - asphyxiate with fear (Of Darkness...)
Virgin Steele - narcissus (The House of Atreus, Act I)
Tori Amos - precious things (Tales of a Librarian)
Dispatched - intro (Motherwar)
Đogani - dok ja ljubim (Dok Ja Ljubim)
Sarah McLachlan - fumbling towards ecstasy (Mirrorball)
Hector Lavoe - ah-ah/o-no (Willie Colón y sus amigos)

again 13 tracks, and again my Turbo-folk folder, I think Today wants to tell me something :). Tori Amos and Đogani were nice, interesting song from Tori Amos really.


Sacrifi-Sir

Battle Metal, Opera Metal & Emocore

Ich bin mal wieder komplett aufgewühlt nachdem ich den Metalhammer von November durchgelesen habe. Auf einen der letzten Seiten der Reviews erblickte ich das Genre "Battle Metal" und nach Lesen der Review musste ich den Metalhammer kurz weglegen um mich wieder zu fangen.
Es gibt Zeiten da bin ich schon sehr verwundert welche "Genre-Bezeichnungen" so das Licht der Welt erblicken, und ich bezweifel, dass die Bands selbst wissen welchen Kategorien des Metal sie so zugeschrieben werden. Ich hab hier absolut nichts gegen die Musik der Bands diverser Genres. Mir geht es in diesem Artikel eher um die teilweise irrsinnige Kategorisierung von Musik, die einem manchmal zu dem Schluß kommen lässt, dass es mit jeder Abweichung zu den etablierten Genres im Metal sofort jemanden gibt der dieser Musik einen neuen Namen geben muss oder noch schlimmer, einen neuen Namen erfindet um der Musik was Speziells zu verleihen. Sicher lässt sich streiten welche Genre jetzt die sogenannten Etablierten sind und eine Kategorisierung ist auch notwendig um gewisse Stilrichtungen abzugrenzen, denn man hört ja nicht nur Metal ... oder doch ? Nein, es ist schon gut die Musik in Stilrichtungen zu unterteilen, aber man sollte es nicht übertreiben wie man am Titel des Artikels sieht.


Sacrifi-Sir

P.S.: ich hoffe Sapnish verzeiht mir den "Rant" als Folgepost auf ihren tollen ABBA post :)

ABBA GODS OF POP

ABBA may be the best pop group ever, and they are certainly among my favourite artists of all time. And especially in a cold and grey season like this, where I may feel a bit down and uncomfortable, I turn to them and they make me alright again.

I spent a big part of this weekend listening to all ABBA studio albums and watching the Definitive Collection DVD, and it's not only time to worship their genius, but also time to - as usual - make lists.



The 10 best well known ABBA songs:

1. summer night city
An epiphany of disco, pop and atmosphere - 3:35 minutes of sheer perfection.

2. dancing queen
The smooth disco beat cannot be done better, and even considering how marvelous Frida and Agnethas voices sound together on every single ABBA song, here the term "angel voices" is still an understatement.

3. s.o.s.
Amazingly composed hit. The piano intro, the addictive lyrics and the strong guitars in the chorus - straight from pop paradise into the homes of people all around the planet.

4. gimme! gimme! gimme! (a man after midnight)
A dramatic intro takes us to a disco song produced so perfectly, that even the Goddess Madonna has sampled this track. Just put the song on and let it take you: each and every time you'll see how wonderful and stunning the vocals work their way into our hearts, and how the beats work their way to your body. And you cannot hold still.

5. knowing me, knowing you
We should not forget that unlike other pop artists, also the lyrics almost never failed in any ABBA song, this maybe being a prime example. Incredibly powerful, filled with beautiful melodies and guitars that have just the right sound and carry the song from chorus to verse without taking it over. And yes, it features pop's most famous "ahaaaaa".

6. money, money, money
Frida's darker toned vocals fits this tune so perfectly that it takes many many spins until you can actually pay attention to anything else than her voice. When you finally can, you'll hear Benny's piano taking the lead, and especially the precious bass guitar that has (like on so many other ABBA tracks) a warm and groovy seventies sound that you will get hooked on.

7. fernando
Yes, you might want to label it cheesy at first (yes, you hear pipes even..). But this is exactly what a ballad should be: powerful, sensitive and featuring a stupendous and majestic chorus. Once heard, forever loved. It just sticks, but in the best possible way.

8. lay all your love on me
A swift pop sensation, strong beats and fantastic synthie experiments. Fantastic production (an attribute that simply has to be applied to all of ABBA's later works).

9. take a chance on me
The first ABBA song I have ever (consciously) heard, fantastic and creative with Benny and Björn providing the famous background vocals. A tremendous hit.

10. waterloo
The perfect pop/rock song: propulsive, young and ready to conquer the world.


The 10 best lesser known ABBA songs:

1. eagle
Incredibly atmospheric and a bit unusual for Sweden's finest - a manifesto of ABBA, the artists (not "just" the pop group).

2. watch out
ABBA's Heavy Metal song. Sharp guitars, bumping bass and driving female vocals: you know what to do!

3. tiger
Very strong and vibrating tune with a chorus so great that Gods must have written it. And Gods did: Benny and Björn.

4. disillusion
Early ABBA ballad, melancholic and utterly perfect.

5. why did it have to be me
ABBA boogie and a back-and-forth duet between Björn and Frida. Maybe I don't really know why I like this so much, it has sax interludes, is moderate and this boogie piano. But especially the melody after the chorus makes me wanna bounce through my room until I'm out of breath.

6. the visitors
Their last album's title track is an atmospheric masterpiece and so untypical for ABBA that it really makes you see the whole spectrum of their genius. Fantastic how they have arrived in the 80ies on this album, the sounds still sound fresh and addictive as if we had 1981 and would just begin to wear mullets and shoulder pads.

7. hey, hey helen
Rock guitars, vocals to die for, a thick bass and melodies taken right out of space: it's so easy to write a hit. Why can't other bands do it?

8. get on the carousel (live)
This song was never released on CD, but is featured in ABBA: The movie. It's speed speed speed, it's spinning, it's acceleration until you drop or leave the earth's orbit. Must have been amazing to hear this live in concert...

9. that's me
Notable lyrics wrapped in a fantastic bounce - upbeat and straight forward, with angel choirs on top of it.

10. hole in your soul
Built on the fragments of the unreleased 'get on the carousel', this was the intro to ABBA: The Movie and therefore the intro to my progressed ABBA worship. Driven and cool, with great guitars and extraordinary vocal additions.


--Sapnish--

Bob Dylan - blowin' in the wind (The Best of Bob Dylan)
Crematory - tears of time [german version] (Remind)
Rock Goddess - my angel (Rock Goddess)
Thin Lizzy - still in love with you (BBC Broadcasts 1972-1977 )
Jana - koje li su boje njene oèi
Daemonlord - the voice (Of War and Hate)
Hole - petals (Celebrity Skin)
Hypocrisy - sodomized (Into the Abyss)
Nine Inch Nails - the wretched (The Fragile)
Britney Spears - get back (Blackout)
David Hasselhoff - hot shot city (You are Everything)
Stine Nordenstam - little star (Romeo + Juliet OST)
Pulp - like a friend (Great Expectations OST)
Anathema - sentient (Eternity)

Today sessions early in the morning are nice, can have a coffee, waking up slowly ... well Black Metal might not be the best as a possible first song, its up to Today whats in the playlist though . The song from Jana misses the album info as its taken, as you might already guess, from my Turbofolk folder. No worries, Ill get that info :)

Sacrifi-Sir