Surprises unfold: Between the Buried And Me

So, I heard about Between the Buried And Me like 4 years ago. A mate from school recommended a song to me. I never listened to that song, I was too busy listening to other prog. A few years later, like in 2010, like now, I listened to "The Great Misdirect" which was released in 2009, so I'm late anyway. Now I'm exploring this new band starting with their latest release, that happens a lot. They are labeled as many things but to me, based on this record, they simply play progressive metal. That would be perfect for me right? Well, it is. So, I'm highlighting this album as one of the biggest surprises of the year so far, good ones, of course. The other good new band I found out about that made me feel the same way was "Stone Circle" when they released "Myth", totally different album but still genre bending progressive metal. Once in a while, a pearl like this pops up and makes itself visible to me, to my eager years. I see myself more and more attracted to extreme progressive metal sounds as much as "typical" progressive melodic metal. This is, however, a very difficult band, in the sense that most people won't really enjoy listening to them, too "specific" and "true" for most "consume, conform" minds. But, at the same time, they seem to be a very popular band, which, to me, is a contradiction. And why is that? They are in a big label and the press labeled them as metalcore? That might be it. Also, I feel you must have a certain musical background to really enjoy their music and understand what they are doing because there are so many musical genres involved and that are being explored and updated, taken aback, that one does need to be paying attention. But, in the end, this is the kind of music I love, music that isn't all that easy to understand or process, music that will make me think about what's being said and communicated, music that will speak to me on a higher level, music that will make me feel different things all at once, music that takes its time to reveal itself to me, music that feeds my brain and stretches it.

Between the Buried And Me - The Great Misdirect

And they will be playing in Portugal soon too, I won't be able to see them but I'm promoting it anyway. 24 June 2010 in Porto, The Great Misdirect European Tour hits our country. I'm sure it'll be worth it. They are very skillful and imaginative performers and they obviously know how to play their instruments.

One of my favourite albums of all time: Lightbulb Sun

Those you know me relatively well, will know that Porcupine Tree is one of my favourite bands and probably the most original band in the rock realm of the last 25 years. Of course they experimented with metal sounds too and that made them even more avant-garde. The thing with Porcupine Tree is that they always release ALBUMS. Not singles, not a set of songs, not two good tracks and 4 fillers. Conceptual albums that make history. Most people will never see that in them, and most people will never understand Porcupine Tree's experience. But I'm not one of those people. I cherish all their albums as if they were a golden treasure and preserve them in my original CD collection with great delight. They released more than 20 albums by now, even more so if you count the live albums and other compilation. I'm still missing 3 original Porcupine Tree CDs, if I'm counting well, but those are my least favourite. But I'll buy them eventually. I was lucky enough to attend two very intimate Porcupine Tree concerts in Lisbon. They are an intimate band to begin with, so if you put them in a small cozy venue, sparks will fly. I have no doubt in my mind that these two shows were some of the best live experiences I've ever had and I will cherish those in my memory, it's a shame I can't relive them again. And hopefully, there will be more in the future.

But today I wana tell you about "Lightbulb Sun". This album was released in 2000 and most Porcupine Tree fans won't put it in PT's top list. Well, I do. I think this more acoustic-driven album is a masterpiece and paved the way for later albums like In Absentia, Deadwing and The Incident. You can't love guitars and not love this album. It's just not possible. The level of orchestration and melodic excellence just blows my mind everything I listen to it. And Porcupine Tree will always be a thought-provoking and non-conformist band. I love them for that. And I love them because they can translate that into beautiful, landscapery, music.

I recommend this to all open-minded rock and metal listeners, and everyone on the other side of the spectrum. There's no other band like Porcupine Tree. There are a lot of clones, they were obviously very influential to a new generation of bands. But none of them can ever accomplish what they've accomplished.

Recomendações musicais: Devin Townsend - Addicted

If there's an album I was addicted to this year, it was Devin Townsend's "Addicted". And it was surprising to me because I never heard Strapping Young Land or any other Devin's previous projects. But this really is good stuff. And it's mainstream metal too for non-metal listeners. So, I'm suggesting it both to metal lovers and to casual metal listeners or even just usual rock fans. This is a great album regardless of what you listen to and it was definitely one of the best albums to come out in 2009. This is very tasteful music, written by one of the wildest personalities in metal today, a great songwriter which is also a great musician. I really admire him for that. In the end, "Addicted" really is an addiction and so much of what the album is about has to do with it.

Album quote: We don't even understand Something's going on

Novidades da Semana: boas novas

Parece que este semana tivemos duas boas notícias, pelo menos:

a) Novo álbum de Anathema em Maio, dia 31 de Maio, escolheram os meus anos, parece-me bem

b) Novo álbum de Nevermore em Maio, dia 31 de Maio, escolheram os meus anos, parece-me bem.

Acho que tiveram queda para a coisa, assim já sei que vou ter pelo menos estas duas prendas seguras. De resto, é óptimo saber que duas das minhas bandas favoritas continuam activas e a produzirem novos discos. Curiosamente, tanto Anathema como Nevermore, demoram bastante tempo a fazer os seus respectivos novos álbuns, mais do que 4 anos parece-me sempre muito tempo. Mas, tanto num caso como noutro, a coisa tem resultado. Eu, pelo menos, não tenho razão de queixa. Aliás, acredito que as duas bandas se conseguem superar facilmente e criar sempre boa música que me agrada e me transporta para um mundo diferente deste em que vivo diariamente. E não é esse o poder da música? Para mim, um álbum sempre foi mais do que um álbum, é um experiência, uma experiência sonora, sentimental, emocional, interna, reflexiva, agressiva. Uma experiência extra corporal. Extra sensorial. E é por esta razão que eu não consigo simpatizar com o ouvinte aleatório e desligado de música. Consigo lidar com o facto de essas pessoas existirem, sem grande esforço mental, mas não consigo desligar-me desta visão transcendental da música. É claro que a música oferece coisas diferentes a pessoas diferentes, mas mesmo assim não consigo acreditar que consumir um álbum como se fosse comida rápida de plástico seja a melhor forma de aproveitar o talento que anda por aí.

If you don't understand what I'm talking about, watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yiq54bBKHzQ

One of the best shows I've ever been to, all my favourite shows were in Incrível Almadense, I love the place, it's so tiny and cozy that it makes it even better.