The sound of music

To start, I like rock of the heavy variety. Call it metal, call it post-rock. call it prog, call it shoe-gazer, call it alt-metal whatever. I like guitars, bass, drums and smart lyrics. Over the past five or so years, I've really come to enjoy a band that can tell a story through their music, taking you on an aural adventure through sonic soundscapes of vast proportions.

It's been a good few weeks for me in terms of music.

If you like your rock/metal with a free- jazz influence created by excellent musicians you have to check out Irepress. Their new album came out about a month ago. They are for the most part vocal-less. There is no lead singer. They use vocals sparingly and more like another instrument in key moments to heighten and enhance a song. It's brilliant stuff and they are on the cutting-edge of the ever increasing popular instrumental band scene. Oh, and for us gamer geeks, their album prior to this new one is called "Samus Octology" Best album title FTMFW!!!

The only reason I had to halt my listening of the new Irepress was because the new Mastodon came out last week. I was a little scared when I heard they were working with a producer that produced Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam. I was scared because I thought this was going to be Mastodon's "Black Album", their time to make music for the masses . Instead they delivered to us something more akin to "The Wall" an album with a big-budget polish but still maintaining artistic integrity. While it is certainly not the crushing Mastodon of old, it is a welcome evolution to their sound. Many die-hard fans would love a band to keep releasing the same sounding record after record after record. To me, as a listener I couldn't think of anything worse. I love when a band surprises you. It's just nice to see that Mastodon didn't sacrifice their song ideals for simple pop-structure songs with mass appeal. This is a great, great album. The work with the new producer really shines with the vocals, Mastodon's obvious weak point in prior releases. The harmonies are wonderful and at times haunting, which really add to the overall theme of the album. This is classic, timeless stuff. An all-time great.

Finally, I just got an early copy of the new Isis album. They are one of my favorite bands. I'm only about half way through the listen as of right now and as with every album of theirs I'm blown away. It's hard to explain why Isis is so great. You either get it or you don't. They are heavy, they are ambient, they are seminal. Many bands today try to sound like Isis. They were the pioneers of their niche of rock. Seriously though, you either get it or you don't. I would never recommend Isis to anyone that is more into pop-metal. Their sound is challenging and oblique to a new listener. The average song is around 7 or 8 minutes. Many songs don't even really get going until the 2 or 3 minute mark....a time when most songs built on a pop design are finishing. The only way to describe Isis is in a collaboration of adjectives. Dark. Ambient. Thundering. Beautiful. Intelligent. Progressive. Harmonious. Dischordant. Haunting. Mysterious.

I am in heaven in terms of music right now....and this new Isis is completely blowing me away.