ZETALAMBMARY is a two-man show for people who appreciate what we feel are genres of music that have always been forced to fly under the radar. Wraith digs just about everything from indie rock to certain noise pieces, while Zen prefers to stick with melodic, epic-sounding metal and Russian folk music. But what the heck, if we dig it, we will promote it anyway!
Anyway, BTBAM came to perform in Singapore for the first time ever on March 16, 2010 at The Substation, and boy was it a blast (literally).
Honestly speaking, although the dear Webmaster and I listen to a lot of metal and have even set up a site like this, we have never been to a single metal concert before. Ever.
That is until we went for the BTBAM one nearly 1 month ago of course, and I have got to admit that live bands do sound much better than their studio recordings. Is it because of the amped-up volume of the music? Or is it because the live music has more spirit than the studio recordings? I would say it is due to both aspects people. If you have never been to one before, and are a self-professed fan of metal, do take this "person-who-was-once-skeptical-of-live-concerts"'s advice and go for at least one in your lifetime. It is a rewarding experience, I assure you.
Alright, here are some pictures I snapped on that night:
Look at the crowd...
Tommy at the keyboards and microphone
Paul headbanging, I love his mane
Artistic shot of rhythm guitarist: Dustie looked emo that night
Blake and Dan shaking hands with fans after the concert
And of course, I took videos of some of their all-time classics as well:
Although I came out of the concert with my ears ringing in protest, and my body tingling from little vibrations all over the body, I enjoyed the concert very much. Listening to and adoring a band through their studio recordings alone is satisfying, but being able to watch a band perform live is the pinnacle of aural masturbation. The way the band connects with the crowd, their showmanship, and the enthusiastic (and often fanatic) response from the crowd all just blend together to form the unique and heart-thumping experience known as a concert.
BTBAM's gear
The only thing that disappointed me though, was that it was too late for me to linger around and get the autographs of the band members and a photograph with them by the time their performance ended. This was because earlier on, the concert was delayed by an hour and a half due to technical difficulties. Man, I will be sure to catch them again the next time they visit Singapore (and will definitely get them to sign copies of their albums which I own + take a photo with them as well!).
From the simple idea of Change Blindness, our minds are not as they seem.
An entire existence revolving around what we can't acknowledge.
A brain function we'll never admit as defeat....
a constant determination to find truths...to find reason...to find comfort.
An unspoken religion in being the ALL-DOMINANT...This is what we call a brain.
This step will allow the universe to run it's course.
We have a short ticket and a lot of it is in hiding...so lets take in what we can for now.
Just like here on Earth(a notion we do comprehend)
Hide what "others" can't understand. The universe is the biggest threat...
overachiever that commands attention. Brute force of hysterical reasonings...
There will always be a Marfa.
Close one eye. Step to the side.
As humans we could never be content with knowing all, yet we can't be content with the fact that our brains will never know.
A mental surgery...
a never ending journey...a technological drawback.
Pushing us further from our natural minds.
Even things created by other humans should be considered in the experiment of an entire species understanding.
A magicians pure joy...
A mind bend for the common folk...
Follow the straight line...(A full house watching what we can't see)
The ultimate deceiver...
Close one eye. Step to the side.
We will always be part of the great misdirect...stepping in and stepping out.
We will always be part of the great misdirect...Mirrors and Obfuscation.
Yes everybody, every Victory fanboy's favourite progressive metal band is set to rock your socks off you yet again with their forthcoming 5th album, the Great Misdirect out on October 27th.
Between The Buried And Me had originally started off as a crazy metalcore band, and they gradually progressed towards speed metal and then progressive metal. Amazing style changes huh, just like what Amorphis had undergone in the past. Anyway, if you have not heard of BTBAM, you really have not heard of progressive metal at all. The style of progressive metal favoured by senior progressive metal bands Dream Theater and Opeth are ever draaaaaaawling and nice to nod off too, they are no longer progressive metal in my opinion, because they do not seem to have progressed much at all.
Between The Buried And Me are y'all!: From left to right - Dustie Waring (Guitar), Tommy Rogers (Vocals), Blake Richardson (Drums/Percussion), Dan Briggs (Bass Guitar), Paul Waggoner (Guitar)
BTBAM on the other hand, has (from the sound of that new track above) definitely progressed from their last epic, Colors. The starting was reminiscent of the opening guitar riffs from Mastodon's "Capillarian Crest", the drum beats have gotten more complex, the bass was as thundering as usual, and the vocals was just good ol' BTBAM. Oh yeah, the length is definitely progressive metal (9 minutes and 15 seconds). As usual, they have that good blend of harsh and soft moments, in which during the latter, Tommy takes a break from growling and Paul, Dustie, and Dan just shred away on those seemingly indestructible strings on their guitars. The guitar melodies have definitely improved, with appropriate moments when they go hiiiiiiiiiigh up (like towards the end of Pantera's "Cemetary Gates"), and Killswitch Engage-ish moments when their vibrato just shake you up from the inside.
Good utilization of a blend of clean and harsh vocals in unison also certainly added a new unique musical device to BTBAM's musical arsenal, and the guitar solos, although long and mellow like Opeth's, do not make you want to doze off as quickly as they started.
Hell yeah, it would be a pity if you did not give this amazing song a listen!
The Great Misdirect will be out on October 27th, 2009.
With only 6 songs in it, this sure is a helluva long album, with a total playing time of about 1 hour and 15 minutes. And that's exactly my beef with this album. Yeah I'm afraid I didn't become a huge fan of Dream Theater when I listened to some songs by them, and my first experience with an album of theirs hasn't changed that disposition. The strange thing is: I actually think they're good.
With a career spanning more than 20 years, Dream Theater is one of the most famous progressive metal bands around, so I guess I should be shot for making Black Clouds & Silver Linings, their 10th album released only a coupla weeks ago, my first ever Dream Theater album. But I was never good at appreciating what most people call epic tracks, generally songs that last longer than 10 minutes, and if Black Clouds & Silver Linings is any example, 'epic' describes not only the quality of Dream Theater's musicianship, but also the length of their songs.
See, they've got everything on this album. Heavy atmospheres, emotional playing, melodic riffs, totally sick solos, not bad vocals, I quite like the sporadic death growls, catchy choruses, tight drumming, some cool blast beats, the lyrics fluctuate a little but are generally masterfully written. The problem is, they can have everything on a single song as well. You can almost hear them say, "Alright lets make 15 minute songs and throw everything we've got in them, so everybody can at least like something from them. That way, no one will say we suck!" Mash-up seems to be the idea here, and the transitions aren't always seamless. Even the lyrical themes of the songs are each so different, ranging from experiences of car crashes to writer's block to meeting strange royalty in Italy.
Its not always that bad, "A Nightmare to Remember" is my favourite track because some of the heaviest moments of the albums really do fit in well with the lighter ambience of other parts and the lyrics tie them neatly together. That 20 minute monster of a song, "The Count of Tuscany", on the other hand, is completely lost on me. It was a great display of talent, and I certainly can't say I was bored. But nothing striked me very much either and I can't hide the feeling that if it were separated into 4 five-minute songs, I would have liked each of them much better. This being my first Dream Theater album, I couldn't really appreciate the final part of the Twelve-Step Suite fully, but "The Shattered Fortress" was quite enjoyable both in its exuberent moments and when the quiet vocal work came in. Surprisingly, the shortest song on the album, "Wither" was the one I liked the least, ironically because the ballad was so constantly smooth and repetitive, almost gospel-like.
Left to right: John Petrucci (guitar), Jordan Rudess (keyboards), James LaBrie (vocals), John Myung (bass) and Mike Portnoy (drums)
Ultimately, I guess I like their work, but I'm simply not used to how much of their work is in a single song. But I s'pose that's how they are, its what makes Dream Theater Dream Theater, and their mastery of music just has to come to be manifested in epic tracks. In a final stab at my confusion though, below is a vid I found of "A Rite of Passage", shortened by about 3 minutes and I absolutely found no reason why it couldn't exist just like that, as a 5 minute plus song. Ah wells.
You say Jonas Brothers-I say Kamelot
You say Soulja Boy-I say Slipknot
You say Miley Cyrus-I say Nightwish
You say T-Pain-I say SOAD
You say Flowers-I say Deathstars
You say Pink-I say Children of Bodom
You say Hip Hop-i say shut the fuck up
You say Pop-I scream Heavy Metal!!
92% of teenagers have turned to Hip Hop and Pop.If you are part of the 8% that still listen to real music,copy and paste this message.
Hm... sorry for that random and lengthy apophthegm, but I just had to put it up to show my unwavering support for metal! Found it on YouTube by the way, the speediness of mass spreading of trivial information brought about by mass media, the perfect icon to represent the current zeitgeist I might say.
Okay going back to what I was originally supposed to talk about, if you have always been someone looking for that legendary vocalist who could handle both harsh and clean vocals brilliantly, congratulations. You have just found your Holy Grail. Ah, which reminds me, my girlfriend has asked me out for Angels & Demons next week. :D
Anyway, sorry for the diversion yet again. Genuinely good music needs no words to complement it or bring about its message, the music itself does it! But what the hell, if zesty ol' Zen and I truly adhered to that principle, we probably wouldn't have gotten this site up in the first place. Ah pardon me, there I go again, rattling off about irrelevant information.
Sharing the same name as a hit movie a few years back, this SS song certainly brings magic to the name, literally, just like how the movie had done so. Starting off with a string ensemble, the song already strikes a melancholic chord deep within the listener, connecting the listener to the surreal yet hauntingly beautiful (sound familiar, Zen? xD) world of "Pitch Black Progress", that is, the 2nd album of SS released back in 2006. It then surprises the listener with a sudden dramatic descending glissando on the good ol' electric guitar, following up with an opening that would make any power or lesser melo-death bands proud. Christian Älvestam, that guy who is superbly good at both growls and clean singing, then propels the song into an aggressive start with his quality growls that thrash just about nearly 98% of all growls out there on the metal market. Pity he left the band last year, now they have TWO vocalists to replace him, one for growls, one for clean singing. Man, you are g.o.o.d.
Of course, Christian then rapidly switches pitch to that amazingly clear and mellow voice in the chorus, and it certainly sets the new benchmark for aspiring Metal's-Next-Kamelot/Scar Symmetry metal bands who want to stop turning new fans off with unprofessional growls 24/7 throughout the typical catalog of headbanger numbers. The keyboards are particularly prominent in this song too, which certainly gives the 'melo' in 'melo-death' for all melo-death bands apart from SS. Noticed how the keyboardist was windmilling his hair about in the video? Now, that is what long hair is for!
The original Scar Symmetry: From left to right - Jonas Kjellgren (Lead/Rhythm Guitar), Christian Älvestam (Growls/Clean Singing), Per Nilsson (Lead/Rhythm Guitar), Henrik Ohlsson (Drums), Kenneth Seil (Bass Guitar)
You know, there really is one thing about Amorphis you should know. They were all old school death metal back in their early years, which were the '90s. After numerous line-up changes (which Zenny and I are vehemently opposed to since it taints the original sound of the band), they finally have mellowed all the way down the rungs of the metal ladder into the boundary separating rock from metal, as they sound really alternative rock-like on "House Of Sleep". Luckily, the overall thunderous presence of dual electric guitars, and the sombre thudding of the bass guitar are still there, signs which indicate that this song is still a brethren of our beloved genre. :)
Overall, this is one song which would be classified as what many people would call "emo", and yes, it is "emo" in both videography (for the music video, as seen above from vocalist Tomi Joutsen's moody moment in the pre-climax) and melody. The guitars may not be particularly melodic in the celestial kind of way, but you really cannot deny that their emotional wailing throughout the entire length of the song doesn't tug at your heartstrings. The incorporation of the piano as the main accompaniment for Tomi's moving voice is also a nice element, as most progressive metal bands hardly ever do this. Instead, they mostly prefer to have repetitive guitar riffs that generally tend to lull one into a state of hibernation, as heard on Opeth's "The Drapery Falls". Being a pianist myself, I really admire the keyboardist's skill in creating a sorrowful musical line with simple notes and chords alone, that are even in fact repetitive, but which still effectively dissipate into an atmosphere of sadness and yearning. It also has a very lethargic feel to it, making it the perfect solution to insomnia for metalheads. This is "Rock-a-bye Baby" for metalheads indeed.
The Patriots: From left to right - Santeri Kallio (Keyboards), Esa Holopainen (Guitar), Tomi Joutsen (Vocals), Niclas Etelävuori (Bass Guitar), Tomi Koivusaari (Guitar), Jan Rechberger (Drums)
Lyrical-wise, Amorphis might be a little boring. Apparently, they base their lyrical themes largely and mostly on the Finnish epic poem, the Kalevala. Thus, fans of meaningful lyrics that deals with the questioning of human existence, ethics and the likes probably will not be wowed by this band's somewhat uncreative songwriting.
If you have trouble sleeping at night, this is the song to blast! Err... I mean nod off to. Let's hope Amorphis stick with their current style all the way.
Sorry about the long hiatus once again, I've had a spout of injuries and ailments while Shadori has had to deal with... positive changes to his relationship status (guess I've got the worse karma), so yeah, major adjustments in life. But now I've overcome the mental inertia of not posting anything for the past weeks by talking about one of my absolute favourite bands ever. Not that Kamelot isn't famous enough as one of the most prominent power metal bands around.
With 8 studio albums and 3 live albums under their name, Kamelot has been around for quite some time and with few line-up changes, save for the significant change in vocalist early on to their current charismatic opera-trained frontman, Roy Khan, and the more recent inclusion of Oliver Palotai as a full-time keyboardist, has been very consistent in their aesthetic brilliance. This is in spite of the fact that they have never particularly limited themselves within any genre and have developed their signature sound to be somewhere vaguely between power, symphonic and progressive metal.
This American band (albeit with a Norwegian singer and a German keyboardist) has gone down a markedly different path than its previous works, however, with Ghost Opera sounding exactly like its name suggests: more eerie and dark but also more symphonic, ultimately being less thought-provoking and discarding Kamelot's more energetic and powerful elements. As Kamelot's first album featuring a full-time 'boardist, it accentuates Oliver Palotai's talented keyboarding very much but perhaps at the expense of Thomas Youngblood's guitar prowess. While he continues to craft catchy riffs and intricate solos like at the start of "Rule the World" and in the middle of "The Human Stain", the only real guitar-driven song is "Silence of the Darkness" and otherwise, Youngblood just spends much of his time chugging along with Glen Barry's bass. There's nothing really wrong about this, just a difference in style, depending how each individual listener likes it.
Lyrically, Ghost Opera is a far cry from its immediate predecessors Epica (2003) and The Black Halo (2005), which were 2 parts of an epic philosophical concept story which not only managed to sound incredibly poetic but also intriguing enough for you to actually linger and ponder over what is being sung. The lyrics of this album, while still exceptionally beautiful, seems more personal and emotionally driven, which makes it more forgettable I guess. But it doesn't really matter all that much when we look at who's singing these words. I always tell people, anyone who doesn't appreciate Roy Khan's voice has seriously got to be tone-deaf. His soulful voice and dramatic singing, like he's carefully unfolding the next line to every story, is one of the main strengths of Kamelot and the largest motivation for getting this album. Listen to "Love You to Death" and you'll see just how profound the depth of emotion can go into his singing. Or "Anthem", which, in the absence of any rhythm instrument at all, is really just all about his voice.
From left to right: Thomas Youngblood (guitars), Oliver Palotai (keyboards), Roy Sætre "Khan" Khantatat (vocals), Casey Grillo (drums) and Glen Barry (bass)
Really, this is a great album- maybe not as awesome as Kamelot's older stuff, but then if I had to review The Black Halo, I'd probably give it 11 out of 10 (taking into account that I'm biasedly a worshipper of Kamelot XD). Its hauntingly beautiful, and after a few listens, it'll grow on you. This isn't powerful, energetic metal, but it is surreal art.
Below is the official music video for "The Human Stain", which is personally my favourite song from the album, and one of my all-time faves for all Kamelot songs.
When talking about Progressive Metal/Rock these days, it is not abnormal for one to automatically think of Dream Theater immediately.
Kick them outta your minds then idiots! Even in your dreams! This is Zetalambmary dude, NOT Rolling Stone! (Or any other mainstream rock magazine for that matter)
Opeth, a Swedish progressive death metal band that formed in the year of 1990, is the progressive metal band of choice for most underground metalheads.
Fusing folk, death, doom, and even some elements of rock (as heard on Damnation, 2003), Opeth's often lengthy songs (typically 6 minutes and above) exude an atmospheric ambience of foreboding, epicness, and mystery. Combined with the occasional clean singing, this band shows that harsh vocals aren't just "mindless screaming", but the perfect polar opposite of clean vocals that wouldn't exist without the other. In fact, I would find it hard to savour progressive metal bands without harsh vocals, for there are certain times when overwhelming emotions such as sorrowful angst has got no other better way to express it then with a death growl.
The above mentioned song is a single off of Blackwater Park (2001), Opeth's 5th studio album that finally gave them a little mainstream recognition and increased popularity in the earlier part of this decade. With a hypnotic bass line that is sure to catch your ear after a few listens, and emotionally-charged lead guitar melodies that create a dreamy alternate universe with their melancholic world-weariness, this is a band that actually does justice to the name Dream Theater... but! Opeth still sounds cooler though :D
This song represents Opeth at their very best, showcasing most if not all of their musical elements (and their famed lengthiness) mentioned earlier on in this post, and they undoubtedly come together to form the signature style of this top-quality progressive metal band. With the exception of their drummer, Opeth's guitarists and vocalist are excellent musicians who are serious about what they do, and this masterpiece that is accurate to a fault in the video of their live performance below is proof of it.
All in all, if you are looking for a good progressive metal song to slowdance to, "The Drapery Falls" is a good choice to begin with.
Immerse yourself in the hauntingly beautiful world of slow melodic tunes and ambient moods today.
Following the previous featured musician post on Simen Hestnæs aka ICS Vortex, we introduce to you one of Vortex's most famous vocal performance during his stint with Borknagar (1997-2000). One of the tracks from the album Quintessence, Vortex left the band shortly after it was released in 2000, supposedly because Øystein Garnes Brun, the founder of Borknagar, gave ol' Simen an ultimatum when his touring schedules conflicted with Dimmu Borgir's recording times. Vortex chose to stick with Dimmu Borgir and Borknagar subsequently went on the search for a new vocalist and bassist.
Borknagar has gone through numerous line-up changes, and having 3 different vocalists lending their voices in their 7 albums over the years, have structured their sound from black metal to a more viking-themed folk metal style with increasingly progressive elements. "Colossus" remains one of their most outstanding songs and has been included in their latest compilation album, For the Elements (1996-2006).
Atmospheric melodies, interesting bass lines, thought provoking and well written lyrics and ultimately, Vortex's powerful and soaring voice firmly places this song in the highest echelons of viking metal music. The lyrics particularly, are astonishingly poetic:
From out of static time has grown Existence formed by substance unknown Prelude to matter, shift of disorder Completion of bonds between chaos and order The era of seasons, the essence of being The continuous process awakens the living Absorber of every flickering sun Arranging the pieces to vivid perfection
Unfortunately, the video for the song looks like crap, I have absolutely no idea why but give it a listen, the song sounds awesome no matter what.
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