Prelude to the Media
Ever sit down at 4AM and start browsing 411Mania? Ever email Brandon Ratliff? I did that, one cold, lonely, December night, and I wound up writing this column. Brandon's a really good guy, and from now on, I'll be pumping out the metal/rock/alternative music news on all the bands you never knew you couldn't live without and some you've never heard of. Grab a frosty beverage; if you're 21+, grab a beer or a mixed drink, and, if you're not of age, enjoy a nice, cold Pepsi. Hell, get some fuckin' chips, too. Strap yourself in. You're about to get slammed.
The name is Ben Czajkowski, and I'm another Ohio-ian (Dayton), though, I'm based out of Pittsburgh, PA. For whatever reason, the people who write music for 411mania all seem to be connected to this state in some way (probably because the only thing to do in this state is either become an astronaut and get the fuck off this planet or listen to music). Somehow, I wind up spending 11.5 months out of the year in the shittiest towns on the planet. God, I know how to pick ‘em. If you really want to learn more about me, or just want to friend me, go to myspace and do your thing. I know you can. You're a big boy/girl/transvestite.
I enjoy what I listen to and write about because it fucking rocks and I respect (most of) the artists. I'll warn you now that I'm going to say things in the course of this column that some of you will disagree with, which is fine. Just remember that they are my opinions. You're welcome to send me hatemail for them. I'll be flattered that you'll be willing enough to take a moment from your existence to email me. I probably won't care that you hate me, but I'll give it a passing thought.
My Sweet Little Bitches
Brandon is taking some time off to fulfill his dreams, but he's still got a good end of the year column. We both have the same #1 album for 2005. Maybe we're soul mates. By the way, we both agree that it is Sinch's Clearing the Channel.
Jeffy-poo is still alive out there, doing his thing with Monday Morning Metal and making our lives less shitty on the week-starting day.
Tollah has a cool name and a better column.
Brian Berry lists his Top Ten Albums of 2005 and agrees with me that Against Me has sold out.
Ian Wright lies to us. He says Gary Glitter really doesn't rape kids.
Jared McGuckin goes in search of where all the good bands have gone. If you find them, Jared, make sure to tell them not to do an album like Audioslave'sOut of Exile.
Horvath might give me hell for that since he gave raving reviews to the title track. I might have to agree, though. That might be the best track on the album, which isn't saying much.
Matt Shoemaker shows us that there might actually be life above New York, in New Hampshire, with some local bands there.
It's All Too Much to Look Up Yourself, So I've Done the Work for You
Korn – See You On The Other Side (out now)
God Forbid – Out Of Misery (out now)
Sevendust – Best Of: Chapter One 1997-2004 (out now)
Switched – Ghosts In The Machine (January 10th)
Switched – Subject To Change (January 10th)
Bleeding Through – The Truth (January 10th)
Underworld: Evolution – Soundtrack (January 10th)
P.O.D. – Testify (January 24th)
Yellowcard - Lights and Sounds (January 24th)
Jane's Addiction - The Best of Jane's Addictio(January 24th)
She Wants Revenge – She Wants Revenge (January 31st)
David Lee Roth - The Best (January 31st)
In Flames – Come Clarity (February 3rd for Europe, February 7th for US)
Machine Head – Burn My Eyes Special Edition (February 7th)
My Chemical Romance - Life on the Murder Scene (February 7th)
Kittie - Never Again EP (February 7th)
Katatonia – The Great Cold Distance (February 13th)
Kid Rock - Live (February 14th)
Metal's Dark Side – Hard and the Furious Volume 1 (DVD) (February 21st)
Mogwai - Mr. Beast (March 6th)
Silent Civilian - Rebirth of the Temple (March 21st)
Live - Songs from Black Mountain (March 21st)
Atreyu – A Deathgrip on Yesterday (March 28th)
The Low Down on the Underground
What'll Be New in Y2Kx6:
Here is an extra-large helping of all the 2006 stuff you'll definitely need to look out for. Consider this your farmer's almanac to the music industry. Now go refresh your frosty beverage. I am.
Ready? Go!
Starting off with one of the best bands, I think, that will make their mark in 2006, In Flames continues to add dates to their tour in support of the forthcoming Come Clarity. They are going out on tour with some very talented musicians: Trivium, Devildriver, and Zao. Personally speaking, this is an solid, hard, fucking lineup. You can check out all the dates here. If you miss this show, you miss the world. I'll be taking the day off of school on February 11th to see them in Columbus.
Lostprophets are lost no more. They are now using their myspace page as their homepage. On it, they emphasize, several times, that their new album is going to be due out early next year, and as they state, "Have no doubt in your mind. When it hits, it will hit hard and will be radder than Jesus coming back to prove that he did actually exist in the first place." This will follow-up 2004's tremendous Start Something, and we'll probably see it in March, or so says the band. Whether it's bigger than Jesus himself, well, we'll wait and see about that. And, yeah, they lose at least 100 cool points for covering Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me A River." What the fuck?
Atreyu has finished shooting the video for "Her Portrait in Black," which will appear on the Underworld: Evolution soundtrack. The video will begin circulation around January 10th. The band's new album, A Deathgrip on Yesterday, is having the final touches set to it and will be mixed sometime in January. It is set to hit shelves around March 28th. Here are the song titles, in no particular order: "The Theft," "Ex's and Oh's," "Our Sick Story (Thus Far)," "Your Private War," "Shameful," "Creature," "My Fork in the Road (Your Knife in my Back)," "Untitled Finale," and "We Stand Up." The band is promising a world tour in support of their work, as well. This makes me happy. They're always a band I can put on when I'm in a shitty mood. You can catch their cover of "You Give Love a Bad Name" on their myspace page.
One of the supergroups that will emerge in 2006 will be Black Light Burns. And if you haven't already heard about them, then, well, you're living in a fucking hole. Wes Borland (formerly the soul of Limp Bizkit) will lend his talents vocally and on various instruments. Guitarist extraordinaire Danny Lohner (ex NIN) will add in, well, guitars. The other two members are session drummer Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle) and Josh Eustis (Telefon Tel Aviv). Borland recently finished doing a few weeks worth of dates with From First to Last, as the rest of his band got their act together. He had this to say: "It was great! Thanks to all the bands (Dead Reckless, He Is Legend, Haste the Day) for making it a really fun tour to be on. I played 11 shows with FFTL, all sold out, all absolutely bananas. Danny [Lohner] and I are running off to have family madness for a few days and then it's back to work. We're almost done and it feels great."This stuff is going to be absolutely awesome. I'll keep yinz guys updated as I get information straight from Wes.
Some news I'm sad to report. System of a Down's Daron Malakian's probably will be doing this electronic music album I keep hearing about, which makes me very unhappy. I know a bunch of you have a hard-on for Daron, but let's be honest with each other. His voice is annoying and has the vocal range of a prepubescent boy. I wouldn't be too surprised if his album is only carried by Best Buy and is sold for $7.99. Maybe a shitty effort on his part will make people finally start to realize that he sucks and should not be allowed near a pencil or a mic to record shit.
Sweden's own Katatonia is set to release The Great Cold Distance. This will mark the band's seventh studio effort, following the "best of" package from March. The track listing is as follows:
01. Leaders
02. Deliberation
03. Soil's song
04. My twin
05. Consternation
06. Follower
07. Rusted
08. Increase
09. July
10. In the white
11. The itch
12. Journey through pressure
A friend allowed me a promotional copy of the disc, and let me say, it is fucking awesome. All the tracks are solid, and if you guys have never heard of this band before, you need to check them out ASAP. Head here and give the song "My Twin" a chance. Odds are, you will find it to your liking. You'll be hearing more about them, I'm sure.
Part of me might regret this later, but I just don't think this column would be complete without reporting something on P.O.D. The new album, set to hit shelves January 24th, will feature a so-called clash of cultures. Launch Radio Networks reports that Testify will feature reggae star Matisyahu on two songs, "Roots in Stereo" and "Strength of My Life". This collaboration will display a Christian rap-rock band and a Hasidic reggae performer. While Matisyahu is climbing modern rock radio charts, P.O.D. recently completed a tour with Staind, Taproot, and up-and-coming rock group Flyleaf.
Lacuna Coil have confirmed in their official website that the recording, mixing, and mastering of their forthcoming album Karmacode is complete. The album is tentatively scheduled for release at the beginning of April. This is their highly anticipated follow-up to their last effort Comalies, which has been released and re-released, like, 3 times. I don't know about the rest of you, but I really like them more than I like Evanescence. They might not be as popular, but their lyrics are so much less fucking whiny than the stuff Evanescence put out. Plus Cristina Scabbia is so much hotter than Amy Lee. Song titles set to appear on Karmacode include "What I See," "Fragile," "In Visible Light," "Fragments of Faith," "Within Me," and "Our Truth."
36 Crazyfists is finishing up their third album, and on it, they're going to have a slew of guest artists. This next piece of news made me nearly shit myself when I read it. Killswitch Engage frontman Howard Jones did some vocals on a track. I cannot stress enough that I cannot wait to hear it. I love both of their vocal styles, and together…they just might rule the fucking world. Anywho, the CD is also set to display the drumming talents of Tom Gomes (ex-KsE Drummer) and former Only Living Witness/Miltown singer Jonah Jenkins. The album is due, hopefully, in early 2006. One of the few I will definitely, without question, drop a few bucks on. If you haven't listened to Snow-capped Romance, you are seriously missing out.
I am very excited about what's to come in 2006 for Dead Poetic. Starting New Year's day, they will release a demo song every week until they enter the studio with music-whore Aaron Sprinkle on January 30th. Their new album, hopefully due out in late 2006, will follow their sophomore effort, New Medicines. I saw these guys live when they toured with Haste the Day and Demon Hunter last year, and let me tell you, they fucking rock. Check them out now.
Soil are currently putting the final touches on their new album, which will follow-up last year's Redefine. They're really hoping for a February/March 2006 release. Commented the band's guitarist Shaun Glass: "The album is being mastered now. This is the final stages of audio, making sure this thing sounds even bigger than it does now. Also, a new song will be going out after the holidays for all you net junkies. We promise the track will pack a punch and a hook that won't leave your head." The upcoming CD will feature newcomer, singer A.J. Cavalier. The band's original vocalist, Ryan McCombs, took a step in the wrong direction and joined Drowning Pool. Can't always be a winner. Good luck to Cavalier and Soil. They deserve it. The first video from the new disc can be seen by clicking this magical underlined text.
More excitement, and, hey, it's from Canada! Kittie will be releasing a downloadable EP, Never Again, on February 7th. Starting New Years Day, one 45-second clip of Kittie's new material became available to preview on the Kittie myspace page. A new one will be posted every two weeks until the EP is released. After losing two of their band members and then being cut from their label, it's good to know this cat still has a lot more life left in it. Let's just hope it doesn't flounder and die out.
As far as the original soundtrack (OST from now on) genre goes, Underworld: Evolution has one that definitely has a shitload of promise to it. When I first heard about this line up, I nearly shat myself. Here's the track listing, as it stands:
01. Puscifer - The Undertaker (Renholder Mix)
02. Chester Bennington vs. Julien-K - Morning After
03.Hawthorne Heights - Where Do I Stab Myself In The Ears (The Legion of Doom Remix)
04. My Chemical Romance - To The End (RnR Cheryl Mix)
05. Slipknot - Vermillion pt 2 (Bloodstone Mix)
06. Alkaline Trio - Burn(Alleged Remix)
07. Aiden - The Last Sunrise (Dusk Mix)
08. Senses Fail - Bite To Break Skin (The Legion of Doom Remix)
09. Atreyu - Her Portrait In Black
10. Trivium - Washing Away Me In The Tides
11. Mendozza - Eternal Battle
12. Lacuna Coil - Our Truth
13. Gosling - Cat People (Putting Out The Fire)
14. Bobby Gold - Why Are You Up
15. Meat Beat Manifesto - Suicide
16. Cradle Of Filth - HW2
I have a live/acoustic version of the Morning After, recorded a long time ago in Berlin. It's a very good track, as far as Bennington is concerned. Maynard James Keenan (Tool/A Perfect Circle) will be lending his musical expertise under Puscifer when he should be finishing Tool stuff. That rat-bastard. Focus, Maynard! Original reports offered the bit that the band Flyleaf had covered a NIN song for the movie, but I don't see it listed there, so we'll see if it's still going to be in the movie.
Are They Still Out There or Did They Finally Overdose?
I seriously think Godsmack died again. They went back into the studio in October and no one has seen them since. They began writing when they were on tour in 2004, and they're projecting a mid-2006 release. Part of me is skeptical. Sully Erna and company better put out some good shit because Faceless sucked. That's the best I can for these guys, especially since it was "Keep Away" that made me like the stuff I like now. The first single is expected to hit radio at the end of January.
German rockers Rammstein have vowed never to let their home country's fascist past affect their music. They insist they can't be held responsible for the actions of previous generations and are frequently misunderstood by fellow Germans. They insist fear of being associated with infamous dictator Adolf Hitler is to blame. Guitarist Oliver Riedel says, "I would have to say Germany is the country that most often misunderstands us…Germans are repressed in a lot of ways. They feel a sense of shame about what happened in the war…This means a lot of bands and a lot of people are quite cowardly in what they do and what they say. So they'll pick up on the fact that our singer rolls his R's and say that he's imitating Hitler and that we're Nazis…This is nonsense but it is the way a lot of people in our country think. We are not responsible for what our fathers and grandfathers did. It was not our fault. We have no blood on our hands." Just a lot of fake semen all over hundreds of loyal fans.
According to Jaggermusic.com, Nothingface is scheduled to play a concert for February 19 at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, opening for Disturbed. The band recently got back together and launched their site in late November. I'm really glad they're back together. Life just wasn't complete knowing they had split up, for a while. No news on any new work their doing, though, if you go their homepage, you can listen to the track "Let It Burn", which is is pretty sweet. Right now, though, they're apparently just touring.
Disturbed frontman David Draiman was to collaborate with Blessed in Black, a hard rock group featuring members of Nothingface and Skrape. Draiman was to enter the studio in September to contribute to some songs slated for this motley-crew-of-a-band's album, but the band just morphed back into Nothingface. Funny how that works out. Oh well. Maybe, someday, we'll see those tracks, if they exist. Blessed in Black, officially, no longer exists.
Now, a brief moment for my favorite sellout and Justin-Timberlake-wannabe: Rob Thomas. Reportedly and finally, after a two-year break, matchbox twenty is gearing up for a New Years reunion. They're hoping to regroup for a new album, which would follow 2002's More Than You Think You Are. The group hasn't begun to write anything, and they're not even looking at new material. And they actually are talking about reinventing the band…Great. Another one of my favorite bands is about to get "edgier." I guess I'm not surprised, considering I really haven't liked them since Mad Season. They're probably just going to become the Rob Thomas Band. I wasn't pleased with his solo effort, and I'll probably never respect him again. Poor me. Boo hoo.
American Head Charge recently released more information regarding their bassist search. The band are now officially looking for a bass player, not a guitar player. Chad Hanks will switchto guitar to replace the recently departed Karma Cheema (rest his soul). If, by chance, you are interested, or know someone who could possibly fill their seemingly never-ending void,check out the rest of the information.
Fresh of their tour with From First To Last, Haste the Day, on December 30th, parted with vocalist Jimmy Ryan for some guy named Stephen Keech. If all goes well with the stint in Europe, he'll continue with the band for their Bleeding Through tour. Ryan did his last stint with the band at a packed show in Indianapolis' Knights of Columbus venue. Apparently, the show was fucking awesome because my friend, who went to the show, has an away message that says, "Bled once, moshed lots. HTD rocked." She's not one to mosh, but I'm glad Ryan went out in fashion. Ryan is leaving for personal reasons, and I say good riddance. His screaming wasn't my style. If it gives you any idea of how unimpressed I was with him when I saw HTD live, I spent their entire set staring at his perky nipple trying to decide if it was pierced or if half of his body was just really cold.
Soilwork part ways with guitarist Peter Wichers. His official statement: "I have decided to part ways with Soilwork." Really? No. We didn't gather that from before. He goes on to say, "I'm just worn out from all the touring and I have reached a point in my life where touring is just not possible for me anymore. I need a break from the touring so that I can actually begin to build a more solid ground to stand on for the future." His decision will not affect the touring, and the band will continue to venture through the U.S. and Europe as January rolls on.
Ending on a happy note, at least for me, Linkin Park has signed a lucrative pact with Warner Brothers. The band and its management company, The Firm, reached a deal with Warner, calling for an estimated $15 million advance for the group's next album. The pact provides the company's Warner Brothers Records unit with an option for up to five more albums from the band, one more than had been called for in their original deal. Warner also agreed to increase the musicians' royalty rate to an estimated 20 percent. The next LP CD, still untitled, is expected to be released as early as mid-2006. Yay!
This Band Earns the Benjamin Czajkowski Stamp of Approval (BCSA)
Every week, I will feature a band that I heavily endorse, thus giving it the BCSA. What looks to be my early favorite band of 2006 already, the new band, She Wants Revenge, looks to release their self-titled, first effort on January 31st. You can download the album in its entirety from iTunes. It is getting great reviews so far, and the stuff I've heard (five tracks) is freakin' awesome. I'm waiting to actually buy it, since I'm a sucker for the album art, and it seems these guys are very, very artistic, not only with their music but with everything they do. There are two videos on theirsite, one for "Sister" and one for "These Things", which, I think, is the better of the two. There's just something about vocalist Justin Warfield singing about a girl pleasuring herself with a Popsicle that draws you in. Granted, that's not the reason to listen to it. Listen to it because it fucking kicks ass! You can give "These Things" a listen on myspace, as well as a few other tracks. I promise more stuff on these guys later.
The Stuff I Can't Put Down (Like Scott Weiland and His Heroin)
5. Demon Hunter – The Triptych
4. In Flames – Come Clarity
3. Katatonia – The Great Cold Distance
2. Killswitch Engage – [Set This] World Ablaze
and my guilty pleasure for the week:
1. Fiona Apple – When the Pawn
It's A Problem to Just Quit, So I'll End With This
At this point, your frosty beverage should be gone. Thanks to everyone who actually sat down, took a few moments of their existence, and read all that. I hope you keep coming back here and check for the latest in real music news. As Brandon told me before I started, this would take a lot of work, and it really has. It's paid off, though. Feel free to drop me a line. Did I miss a band with stuff coming out? I'm sure I did. Let me know. That's it for me. I will see you all next week. I apologize for any formatting mistakes I make. I tried to catch as many as I could when it went live, but I'm still getting used to the new editor. Like the new layout for the site? I think it's rad.
