50 Most Underrated Albums of the 2000's (So Far): #29

 29.God Forbid-Earthsblood (2009)

God Forbid broke up in August 2013 after being the single most unheralded act in metalcore for almost 20 years. In a discography that is loaded with overlooked gems, their 2009 release Earthsblood stands out the most. Earthsblood saw God Forbid entering a more traditional melodic death metal territory than their previous four releases. Dallas Coyle was given more times to shine with his unique clean vocals, the riffs are consistently catchy and immense, and above all, the compositions are a lot more complex and memorable than anything they had done in the past. Earthsblood is the work of a veteran band that had a strong command over their sound and successful expanded it without ignoring their roots. I can only hope at some point in  the near or distant future that this record and God Forbid on the whole will get the recognition they deserve. These guys are way too good to stay a relatively well-kept secret forever.

 

Standout Tracks

1.Walk Alone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svFk_szvslE
2.Bat the Angels http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbGNsZbd0dY

3.The Rain (w/The Discovery intro) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21MfqtMbMdc

50 Most Underrated Albums of the 2000's (So Far): #30

          30.Machine Head-Unto the Locust (2011)                                                                              

The turnaround Machine Head has made after their mid-career nu-metal meltdown in the late '90's/early 2000's is remarkable. The band not only got its groove back, but started to pump out the best material off their entire career starting with Through the Ashes of the Empire in 2004 and continuing with their 2007 masterpiece The Blackening. Their most recent release, Unto the Locust, showed just how far Machine Head has come as a band as they followed up the most-acclaimed album of their career with another powerhouse record. Unto the Locust took the epic scale and unfiltered aggression of The Blackening and refined it a bit by adding more melody and experimentation to the mix. The willingness to experiment with things like acoustic guitars, strings and even a children's choir, gave Machine Head a variety to their sound that they never had in the past. From slow operatic build-ups that descend into all-out bedlam ("I Am Hell") to tender ballads with a heavy edge to them that let vocalist Robb Flynn show off his clean singing skills ("Darkness Within") to typical Machine Head groove fests ("Be Still and Know"), Unto the Locust encompasses almost the entire musical spectrum in its nearly 50-minute runtime. Unto the Locust lives in the shadow of the behemoth that is The Blackening, but it has more than enough power to stand out on its own.

Standout Tracks

1.I Am Hell (Sonata in C#) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJt_Uh2uI9E

2.This is the End http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyZTqzZFtG8

3.Be Still and Know http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw96olokWPE     

50 Most Underrated Albums of the 2000's (So Far): #31

31.Doom-Born Like This (2009)

MF Doom has made many notable albums both by himself and with high-profile collaborators including Madlib and Danger Mouse over the course of his nearly 20-year career. In a discography that features classic albums such as Madvilliany, Operation: Doomsday, and Mm.. Food, Born Like This is a forgotten gem. While not packing quite as much of a punch as any of the aforementioned records, Born Like This is still an essential record from hip hop's favorite supervillian. Born Like This has all of Doom's mainstays: quirky lyrics, bizarre samples and complex rhyme schemes, behind production that has a little more of a bite to it than Doom's typical jazzy, low-key style. Doom is an artist that won't stop evolving and trying new things no matter how deep into his career he gets. Born Like This is Doom's rage-soaked experiment with more biting, pointed material shows he can be abrasive as all hell without straying from his uniquely abstract persona.

Standout Tracks
1.Rap Ambush http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOMxDVrNlVw
2.Lightworks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpWW9ctBbTc
3.Batty Boyz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc0oKCxiOSk

Movie Review: A Million Ways to Die in the West

Ever wondered what Seth MacFarlane's absurd style of comedy would be like in the Old West? A Million Ways to Die in the West delivers the long-awaited answer to that question and the answer is quite well. MacFarlane makes his live-action acting debut as Albert, a cowardly sheep farmer who is the laughing stock of his small frontier town in 1880's Arizona. Albert is forced to change his ways when he falls for the mysterious new girl in town (Charlize Theron); who happens to be the husband of Clinch Leatherwood (Liam Nesson), the most feared outlaw in the territory. In order for Albert to stay alive, he needs to defeat Leatherwood in a gunfight and prove to everyone- including himself- that he is more than just a lowly sheep farmer. A Million Ways to Die in the West packs nearly two hours of MacFarlane's hijinks into this classic American backdrop and a majority of the nearly endless gags work. All of the random cameos, sex jokes and toilet humor you've come to expect from MacFarlane are present with some sharp satire of the culture of the American frontier for good measure. Despite the immaturity of much of MacFarlane's humor, he pays a surprising amount of detail to capturing the atmosphere of classic westerns. MacFarlane really captures the spirit of old westerns with the classic frontier setting and grainy cinematography that beckons back to the genre's heyday of the 1940's-60's. MacFarlane does a serviceable job in his on-camera acting debut as the story's hero while on-camera love interest Theron kind of gets lost in the shuffle in a supporting cast full of comedy heavyweights including Neil Patrick Harris and Sarah Silverman- who gets the biggest laughs of the entire film as a Christian prostitute who is waiting until marriage to have sex with her long-time boyfriend (Giovani Ribsi, who is also great). The proceedings of A Million Ways to Die in the West get a little bogged down with the romance, but the constant stream of humor is able to patch over a majority of the flaws with the central love story. It may lack the firepower and sheer number of belly laughs that Ted had, but A Million Ways to Die in the West is still a silly yet consistently amusing romp that serves as a worthy second entry in MacFarlane's budding film career.

4/5 Stars

Album Review: The Black Keys-Turn Blue

Ohio blues rock duo The Black Keys have been an unstoppable force in the past few years. Since the release of Brothers in 2008, The Black Keys have enjoyed a level of success that has been matched by only a handful of other modern rock bands. Their ascent from longtime underground darlings to mainstream superstars in recent years seems to have taken a toll on them with the release of their latest record, Turn Blue, which is easily the weakest collection of tracks they've released thus fur.

Turn Blue sees The Black Keys largely turning in their typical bluesy garage rock sound in favor of a more stripped-down, psychedelic sound. In the process, The Black Keys mute their biggest strength as a band: killer guitar riffs. Keyboards, not guitars drive a vast majority of the tracks on Turn Blue. The keyboard-driven sound is effective at times- namely on the spacey, almost Pink Floyd-esque "Bullet to the Brain", but on the whole the more subdued musical approach doesn't work for The Black Keys. The keys also seem to have drained the dynamic energy out of their sound. The Black Keys have always sounded lively in their past material. On Turn Blue, they sound dreary and kind of bored with the music they're creating. It's a sudden and mostly unwelcome change of heart for a band that has made a name for themselves with a riff-heavy, uptempo sound.

Where Turn Blue is able to somewhat salvage itself is when The Black Keys just be themselves and let the guitars drive the songs. Album opener "Weight of Love" is one of the most staggering pieces of music they've ever crafted. Vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach channels early blues artists like B.B. King and Buddy Guy with his emotional crooning and stunning solo to conclude the track. "In Our Prime" and "It's Up to You Know" don't quite reach the heights of "Weight of Love", but also triumph with their power and impressive musicality.  The highlights of Turn Blue reaffirm that The Black Keys strengths as a band lie in making songs where the guitar is at the forefront of the music.

Turn Blue is a mixed bag with a few brilliant tracks to save it from being completely forgettable. The Black Keys took a risk straying from their signature sound and it mostly backfires. Restrained, melancholy tracks driven by keyboards are simply not their forte. I appreciate their desire to do something different and try to make a more mellow, emotional record, but it rarely succeeds in achieving its goal and mostly comes off as a forced and uneven effort. The Black Keys are a high-energy band with an impeccable ability to write guitar licks, and when you keep both of things caged up for 3/4 of the record, the results are going to be underwhelming.  Turn Blue isn't a death sentence for The Black Keys; just a small blemish in an otherwise pretty impressive discography.

3/5 Stars  
Standout Tracks
1.Weight of Love
2.In Our Prime
3.It's Up to You Now  

50 Most Underrated Albums of the 2000's (So Far): #32

32.Cannibal Corpse-Kill (2006)

Death metal pioneers Cannibal Corpse had already been on the scene for 16 years when they released the most savage attack of their career in 2006's Kill. Kill didn't really differ too much from their traditional horror-infused death metal sound, but they got more out of their established formula than ever before. Producer Erik Rutan gave Cannibal Corpse a cleaner edge that made them sound crisper without sacrificing any of the power of their distinctly raw and evil sound. In addition to Rutan's production work, the songwriting on Kill had a level of energy that hadn't been present since their 1994 record The Bleeding. It was honestly incredible to hear a veteran band pour so much life and passion into their 10th (!) studio album; especially given the fact that Cannibal Corpse had been on a huge cold streak since founding vocalist Chris Barnes left the band in 1995. Ironically, Barnes' replacement George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher had nothing to do with the woes Cannibal Corpse faced on the five albums leading up to Kill. The band simply seemed bored with what they we're doing for quite almost a decade until Kill magically changed that-finally giving Fisher the chance to overtake Barnes as the face of Cannibal Corpse. The Bleeding, Tomb of the Mutilated and Butchered at Birth are all iconic death metal releases that are considered to be Cannibal Corpse's best work, but Kill is the record I will always remember them by.

Standout Tracks
1.Make Them Suffer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9nZoPHLgxk
2.Murder Worship http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_tCkW4LUjI
3.Brain Removal Device http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI9oAsVq3YQ   

Concert Review: Unearth-- Boston, MA-- May 28th, 2014

It's not every day you get to hear one of the most influential records in a genre played in its entirety. Last night, I got that distinct pleasure as hometown metalcore titans Unearth played their breakout record The Oncoming Storm from start to finish at Brighton Music Hall in Boston, Massachusetts.

I arrived right as opener Armed for Apocalypse started their set. As they were talking in between songs, I took some time to take in the venue as I'd never been there before. Brighton Music Hall is definitely a pretty sweet venue. The setting is intimate with a small floor and no rail in front of the stage as well as pretty decent sound. As for Armed for Apocalypse, I have to say I was pretty impressed. I'd honestly never heard of them prior to this tour being announced, but after seeing them live, I definitely have to go ahead and check out their stuff. They had plenty of nice riffs and their drummer was an absolute psycho behind the kit. However, their brand of sludge/crust punk didn't really go over too well with the crowd on the whole. A majority of the slim crowd that was in attendance when they performed looked indifferent as they plowed through their nearly 30-minute set. Despite a weak reception, Armed for Apocalypse put on a good set that certainly inspired me to give them a shot on record.

Maine's top hardcore export Cruel Hand was up next. I hadn't seen them since way back in 2008 when they opened for The Acacia Strain at their DVD shoot at The Palladium. These guys were a lot more in line with Unearth's style, so the crowd reception was a lot better than it was for Armed for Apocalypse. They managed to incite the first pits and hxC dance fest of the evening. As for their actual performance, it was certainly solid. They're not the most exciting or groundbreaking hardcore act in the world, but they have a great stage presence and high levels of energy- which really is all you need to succeed as a band in the hardcore genre. It also didn't hurt that their singer is a pretty hilarious dude who goes off on a bunch of a mini-tangents during the breaks between songs. Cruel Hand was a breezy good time that woke the crowd up and set the tone for the rest of the show from a energy standpoint.

Texas in July was up next. I've never really got too into these guys on record as they are a bit too generic for my liking nor did they manage to make much of an impression on me the first time I saw them opening for August Burns Red in 2012. To my surprise, Texas in July was pretty damn good this time around. Their new vocalist is a huge step-up from their previous one and they weren't nearly as generic as I remember them being. In fact, a couple songs actually had some interesting progressive riffing and well-placed breakdowns! Their stage presence has also improved substantially as their new vocalist got the crowd hyped up with ease and their bassist ran around the stage like a crazy person for the duration of the set (I honestly thought he was going to run clean off the stage during "This Isn't My First Rodeo"). The venue filled in nicely during their set as well, which was a nice precursor for the madness that ensued during Unearth's set.  Texas in July still wasn't spectacular by any means, but they were much better than I had anticipated they would be.

The moment had finally arrived for Unearth to take the stage. As I mentioned earlier, this tour is commemorating the 10th anniversary of The Oncoming Storm. For myself and a lot of other metal fans of my generation, this is an essential record that helped define the metalcore genre. The Oncoming Storm played a huge role in shaping my taste in music and appreciation for metal as a whole. Since I first heard this record when I was 15, I'd dreamed of hearing it played live in its entirety, so it was kind of surreal to see it actually happen seven years later. About a third of the album ("Endless", "The Great Dividers", "This Lying World", "Black Hearts Now Reign") are already staples in Unearth's set and while those tracks were fun to hear as always, it was the rarely/never played tracks that made this performance special. "Failure", "Lie to Purify" and my personal favorite, "Zombie Autopilot" translate especially well to a live setting. With all these rarities being played to celebrate The Oncoming Storm's historic anniversary, Unearth was even more lively and energetic than usual on stage. Guitarist Ken Susi took his typically animated antics to the next level interacting with just about everyone in the front row and regularly jumping off the amps while vocalist Trevor Phipps welcomed the barrage of stage divers that joined him on stage, jamming out with them and letting them scream into the mic whenever they wanted to. Phipps even stage dived himself during the final breakdown of "Endless" while Texas in July frontman J.T. Cavey came out to scream along with him from the stage. Even normally reserved guitarist Buz McGrath got on the mic near the end of the set to personally thank one of his buddies that was at the show for bringing him one of the last glass bottles of Olde English ever made and told everyone in the crowd to either "buy him a beer or suck his cock clean off" as a token of his appreciation. Unearth  preceded the playing of The Oncoming Storm by playing a song from each of their four other records (2002's The Stings of Conscience, 2006's III: In the Eyes of Fire,2008's The March, and 2011's Darkness in the Light) and a new track off their upcoming album which will be released in September or October according to Phipps. The new track ripped with a great solo from McGrath and yet another signature crushing Unearth breakdown. If this track is any indicator, Unearth is going to keep their flawless track record in tact with their new album. This was a truly special performance for Unearth. The combination of there being no rail and the sheer amount of fun the band was having on stage created this really unique camaraderie between the band and the crowd that I had never seen in the five times I'd seen them prior. If you're an Unearth fan in any capacity and this tour is coming to your city over the next month, please go see it. You will not regret it.             

Scores:
Armed for Apocalypse 7.5/10
Cruel Hand 7.5/10
Texas in July 7.5/10
Unearth 9.5/10 

Armed for Apocalypse included:
Worth the Weight (closer)

Cruel Hand included:
Life in Shambles
Under the Ice

Texas in July included:
It's Not My First Rodeo (opener)
Hook, Line and Sinner
Cry Wolf
Elements

Unearth:
Watch it Burn
New Song
Giles
My Will Be Done
My Heart Bleeds No Longer
(Aries)
The Great Dividers
Failure
This Lying World
Lie to Purify
Bloodlust of the Human Condition
Predetermined Sky
Endless (w/J.T. Cavey from Texas in July)
False Idols
Zombie Autopilot
Black Hearts Now Reign