The Woopop-Certified Top 13 (and a half!) Albums of 2014
By Eric | January 1, 2015 11:35 pm
Just like on last years list, I couldn’t limit it to only 10… and again, they’re in alphabetical order, because trying to rank albums or pull an overall favorite is just too damn hard.
Nate plays along with The Tea Party.
2014 felt like the year of comebacks. Fuel, Moist, Slipknot, and the Tea Party all released albums after some interminable waits, Theory of a Deadman returned to proper form, while Chevelle and Nonpoint continued the positive momentum they started on prior albums. Beyond those, there were just some really solid albums released by some of my usual suspects this past year. So without further ado, these were the albums that tickled my fancy in 2014:
Black Label Society – Catacombs of the Black Vatican
I spun this one quite a bit at work. It’s just more of the classic BLS sound. “My Dying Time” and “Beyond The Down” were highlights.
Chevelle – La Gargola
After what I consider a couple of mediocre albums in the middle of their career, Chevelle has really stepped up their game between 2011’s Hats Off to the Bull and now La Gargola. This one has more than a handful of tracks that go hard; the entire run of “An Island”, “Take Out The Gunman”, “Jawbreaker” and “Hunter Eats Hunter” is especially good.
Crosses – Crosses
This almost doesn’t count, because EP 1 came out in 2011, and then EP 2 in 2012, but it took until February 2014 to get the full album (both EP’s plus some new ones) out. Regardless, this is way more chill than 95% of what I normally listen to. Chino Moreno of the Deftones, and Shawn Lopez from Far put this project together for fun, and Chino put it this way: “minimal and soothing and it’s sort of like the stuff I like listening to when I’m not screaming my head off.” I love “This Is A Trick”, “Bitches Brew”, “Blk Stallion”, and I get “Prurient” stuck in my head all the time.
Every Time I Die – From Parts Unknown
I have to admit, I didn’t like Ex-Lives nearly as much as some of the others, especially coming off of New Junk Aesthetic, but this one brought me right back. It’s funny, the one track that kinda sticks out like a sore thumb, “Moor”, is the one I like the most, along with “El Dorado”.
Fuel – Puppet Strings
It took 11 years and a complete lineup turnover to get another Fuel album with Brett Scallions singing on it, but it was worth the wait! This album shows that Brett can certainly do his own thing without any of the signature Carl Bell riffs. There’s a couple of instant Fuel classics on here that can slot in right beside the hits catalog, like “Wander” and especially “Cold Summer”, which apparently had been kicking around in one form or another since before Natural Selection. “Time For Me To Stop” is another favorite.
Machine Head – Bloodstone and Diamonds
Don’t ask why it took me forever to really, *really* get into these guys. I was always aware of them, even saw them twice as openers, and yet never invested the time until early last year, when Robb Flynn started his blogs about the 10th anniversary of Through the Ashes of Empires. I finally gave it a good listen and was like “YOU @#$%ING MORON WHY DIDN’T YOU DO THIS SOONER??”. Went back and got the whole catalog (even The Burning Red and Supercharger LOL), and was excited as hell for this release. Needless to say, they didn’t disappoint. This album is fantastic! “Now We Die” starts it with a bang, and it goes from there. “Night of Long Knives” is a cool track, and I like “Game Over” as well.
Moist – Glory Under Dangerous Skies
As if 11 years between Fuel albums wasn’t long enough, it had been FIFTEEN years since Mercedes Five and Dime was released before Moist put out this new album. “Mechanical” is easily my favorite, as it’s the first song, first single, and track personally voted “most likely to sound like ‘Push’ had been updated for 2014”. There’s some classic-sounding Moist on here, like “Broken”, and “The River”, and then there’s some stuff that could easily be on a David Usher solo album. Pretty solid overall though.
Nonpoint – The Return
“The Return” may as well be the theme of my whole list, and while its the album title, it’s not like Nonpoint hasn’t been putting stuff out consistently. However, looking at 2012’s self-titled and now this one, they indeed have returned to prominence. “Pins and Needles” starts it off hot and heavy, and the album never really quits after that. Lots of good tunes on this one, including “Breaking Skin”, “Misery”, “Forcing Hands”, and “Never Ending Hole”.
Sevendust – Time Travelers and Bonfires
Not that there was ever any doubt that these guys could do their own Jar of Flies type album, especially in light of how good Southside Double-Wide was, but they proved it and then some with the original acoustic (and acoustic-esque) songs on here. “Come Down” is fantastic, “The Wait” is as heartfelt as anything they’ve ever done, and I really like “Upbeat Sugar” and “Bonfire” as well. It’s a role-reversal of sorts, as I’d love to hear these songs fully plugged in! The six new tunes would have been enough to land this on my list, but then there’s six acoustic versions of the heavier songs, including “Denial”, “Crucified”, and “Karma”. My one minor gripe is that we’ve already heard “Trust” and “Black” on SSDW, and they could have picked two more songs we’ve never heard acoustically, but that’s splitting hairs; they still sound great here.
Slash – World on Fire
I’ll trot out my old chestnut again: Myles Kennedy could sing over my cat’s screeching and I’d love it. Singing over a second whole album with Slash and the same band? Yes please!! I liked Apocalyptic Love a lot, and this one beats the pants off of that. The title track is amazing, as is “Wicked Stone”, “30 Years to Life”, and “Bent To Fly” is fantastic. Really, the whole album is; it’s what a modern straight-up rock record should sound like.
Slipknot – .5: The Grey Chapter
Sure, lets continue with the comeback stories. Six years after All Hope Is Gone, and after the death of Paul Gray and the departure of Joey Jordison, the nine lunatics come back with an album that blows AHIG out of the water, and rivals anything else they’ve ever put out. It runs the gamut from the atmospheric and downright creepy to the full frontal assault you’d expect. “Sarcastrophe”, “The Devil In I”, “Custer” and “The Negative One” are the heavy, and the tribute to Paul, “Goodbye”, is unlike anything they’ve ever done, except maybe “Snuff”.
The Tea Party – The Ocean at the End
One more comeback story! Ten years after the less-than-stellar Seven Circles, the trio got it right with this one. Back to the world music and blues influences that makes the Tea the Tea, this is solid from front to back. “The Black Sea”, “Cypher”, and “Submission” are early favorites, and “The Ocean At The End” is as great as any of their epic tunes.
Theory of a Deadman – Savages
Less of a comeback, more just a return to form after the generic radio-fare that was “The Truth Is…”, “Savages” is Theory getting their snarl back. “Drown” and “Savages” may be two of the heaviest songs they’ve ever done, while “Panic Room” and “World War Me” are solid TOAD tunes as well. There’s the requisite ballads and the country cross-over, but I’ll forgive those in light of how much I like the rest of the album.
Honorable Mention:
Clutch – Summer Sound Attack
This doesn’t really count at all, as it’s an online-only compilation put together for Clutch’s summer tour. Clutch is another band I was Johnny-come-SUPER-lately on. I saw them last December at Montage on a whim, and loved it. Got all the albums, and have been listening to them all year. Earth Rocker came out in 2013, so it’s not making the list, but this compilation of Earth Rocker tunes and a couple of “hits” from mainly the latter half of their catalog (Spacegrass the notable exception) will stand in nicely. Besides, if nothing else, this will make the list because every time I play “Electric Worry”, we follow up “Bang Bang Bang Bang” with Nate flipping out singing “DOMINOES DOMINOES!”
No, they’re not on here:
Black Stone Cherry (not as good as the prior three), Godsmack (same album for the 6th time), Hellyeah (it’s okay), Linkin Park (better than the last two, but eh), Mike Doughty (just missed the cut), Nickelback (LULZ), Seether (it’s growing on me, but see Godsmack)
Topics: Blog | Comments Off on The Woopop-Certified Top 13 (and a half!) Albums of 2014
Tags: 2014, Black Label Society, Chevelle, Clutch, Crosses, Every Time I Die, Fuel, Machine Head, Moist, Nonpoint, Sevendust, Slash, Slipknot, Tea Party, The Tea Party, Theory of a Deadman
12/05/2014 Nonpoint, (hed)pe, Recoil, Million Miles From Broadway, Setiva (Rochester, NY @ Montage Music Hall)
By Eric | December 19, 2014 3:48 pm
I was pretty excited for this show for awhile. Ever since seeing Nonpoint over the summer at Braun’s, and then getting (and immensely enjoying) The Return, getting tipped off that this bill was coming to Montage even before it was officially announced had me pumped. Seeing (hed)pe again for the first time in a long time was a nice little extra as well.
I can’t ever remember waiting in line to get into Montage for anything, yet there I was about 20 people deep… they sold the place out! It only holds about 300 or so, but regardless, glad to see a packed house, both for Montage and for Nonpoint.
I got in right at the tail end of Setiva’s set, and enjoyed Million Miles From Broadway again, same as at the Soulfly show. Good heavy tunes, good crowd support for them too. Recoil was from Australia, and they weren’t too shabby either, bringing more of the heavy.
I was fairly interested to see (hed) again; it had been almost 10 years since the gig at Showplace that I wasn’t super-impressed with. This time around was a bit better, though still nothing like seeing them on Broke back in 2000. I’ll get to the music in a second, but Jahred is bald now! The band is pretty stripped down now, no DJ, one guitar, and the only other original member is Mawk on bass. They sounded decent, the new songs were okay, but I’ll freely admit I like the old stuff much much better. There were plenty of people there to see (hed), so the crowd was lively and knew all the songs. They got plenty of time, packed in 14 songs, and definitely were solid support.
Setlist:
No Turning Back
Bloodfire
Killing Time
Whitehouse
Blackout
Bartender
One More Body
Raise Hell
Peer Pressure
Renegade
Firstly
Hold on
No woman no cry
Take me away
All of that aside, I was there to see Nonpoint! I camped out right in front of now fully-fledged member BC Kochmit, and got ready to rock. So did everyone else. They opened with Mindtrip right into Victim, and we were off and running. The crowd was lively, the band was lively, I got to see a significantly different setlist from Brauns, including three songs off the new album. What’s not to like? The set was great, but the night got even better afterwards…
I shelled out for the VIP after the show, and it wasn’t just a meet and greet, they let the 9 of us onto the tour bus! I hadn’t been on a bus since the Godsmack show, and that wasn’t even their real bus. It was extremely chill, we actually got to have real conversations with everyone in the band, and all five of the guys couldn’t have been more gracious. I knew what to expect with BC, but wasn’t surprised in the least that Elias, Robb, Rasheed and Adam were just as cool. All the other people that did the VIP were equally cool, thankfully no idiots! (Besides me, naturally.) It was a fantastic way to cap off the show, and cap off my concert goings for 2014!
Setlist:
Mindtrip
Victim
Pins and Needles
What a Day
Hands Off
Your Signs
Miracle
Breaking Skin
F**K’D
In the Air Tonight
That Day
Alive and Kicking
Bullet with a Name
Topics: Concerts | Comments Off on 12/05/2014 Nonpoint, (hed)pe, Recoil, Million Miles From Broadway, Setiva (Rochester, NY @ Montage Music Hall)
Tags: (hed) pe, 2014, Million Miles From Broadway, Montage Music Hall, Nonpoint, Recoil, rochester, Setiva
ETID On-Stage Selfies are a No-No (But With A Happy Ending!)
By Eric | December 9, 2014 9:22 pm
Getting on stage during a show is one thing. Getting on stage during an Every Time I Die show is another. Getting on stage during an Every Time I Die show and then trying to take a selfie with Keith will result in Jordan going all Karate Kid on your phone.
Stage selfies = look at me look at me I didn't get enough attention as a kid and can't handle 5 people here getting more attention than me
— jordan buckley (@jordanbuckley) December 6, 2014
But it has a happy ending!
@KerrangMagazine he got his selfie after the show. You know, during normal selfie hours. Good kid. pic.twitter.com/5SgJrrjm3k
— jordan buckley (@jordanbuckley) December 9, 2014
Topics: Blog | Comments Off on ETID On-Stage Selfies are a No-No (But With A Happy Ending!)
Tags: Every Time I Die
Slash – 2014 – World On Fire
By Eric | December 7, 2014 6:00 pm
Artist: Slash
Title: World On Fire
Label: Dik Hayd
Released: Sep 16, 2014
Packaging: Cardboard with Slipcover
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Standard
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#World On Fire
#Shadow Life
#Automatic Overdrive
#Wicked Stone
#30 Years To Life
#Bent To Fly
#Stone Blind
#Too Far Gone
#Beneath The Savage Sun
#Withered Delilah
#Battleground
#Dirty Girl
#Iris Of The Storm
#Avalon
#The Dissident
#Safari Inn
#The Unholy
Review:
Topics: CD Collection | Comments Off on Slash – 2014 – World On Fire
Tags: 2014, Cardboard with Slipcover, Dik Hayd, Slash, Standard
Seether – 2014 – Isolate and Medicate
By Eric | December 7, 2014 6:00 pm
Artist: Seether
Title: Isolate and Medicate
Label: The Bicycle Music Company
Released: Jul 1, 2014
Packaging: Cardboard
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Standard
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#See You At The Bottom
#Same Damn Life
#Words As Weapons
#My Disaster
#Crash
#Suffer It All
#Watch Me Drown
#Nobody Praying For Me]
#Keep The Dogs At Bay
#Save Today
#Turn Around
#Burn The World
#Goodbye Tonight
#Weak
Review:
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Tags: 2014, Cardboard, Seether, Standard, The Bicycle Music Company
Clutch – 1997 – Impetus
By Eric | December 7, 2014 6:00 pm
Artist: Clutch
Title: Impetus
Label: Earache
Released: Oct 7, 1997
Packaging: Jewel Case
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Standard
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#Impetus (demo)
#Ple Driver
#Passive Restraints
#Impetus
#High Caliber Consecrator
Review: Impetus is a re-release of the EP Passive Restraints by rock band Clutch, with two new tracks added from the Naive compilation. It was released in 1997, and contains five tracks.
Topics: CD Collection | Comments Off on Clutch – 1997 – Impetus
Tags: 1997, Clutch, Earache, Jewel Case, Standard
Emerson Hart – 2014 – Beauty In Disrepair
By Eric | December 7, 2014 6:00 pm
Artist: Emerson Hart
Title: Beauty In Disrepair
Label: BMG
Released: Apr 15, 2014
Packaging: Cardboard
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Standard
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#The Best That I Can Give
#Who Am I
#Hurricane
#To Be Young
#Mostly Grey
#You Know Who I Am
#Another Life
#Don’t Forget Yourself
#The Wire
#Hallway
#All Is Well
#The Lines
Review:
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Tags: 2014, BMG, Cardboard, Emerson Hart, Standard
That’s Actually A Cover Song?
By Eric | December 3, 2014 11:31 am
I’m trying to get back to the free-floating music thoughts on here, in addition to just the CD’s and show reviews. Again. For the umpteenth time.
Anyway, I’ve long been a fan of cover tunes. I like when bands put their own spin on songs, for the most part. (See the rant about Florida Georgia Line destroying Black Stone Cherry’s “Stay” here.) There’s a ton of covers that are readily apparent, and the longer it goes, we’re now getting into songs I knew and loved the first time around getting covered (some good, some bad). What’s more interesting to me is when I hear songs by one band, and only find out much, much later that the version I knew was actually a cover!
I bring this up now because just last week, listening to Chris Jericho’s podcast with Slash, they talked about Slash working with Michael Jackson, and how he’s associated with playing on Black or White during live shows, while in reality, on the album, he played on Give In To Me. I’m thinking, that’s interesting, I didn’t know that, I don’t know that song, I’ll go check out that song.
I hear the opening notes, and its one of those “Heeeeyyyyyyyyy I DO know this song!”. But I know it because Three Days Grace covered it on Transit of Venus, not because of MJ. It was just another song on the 3DG album, and I didn’t think anything of it. But an MJ song? That’s not exactly obscure. It’s like, how did I miss that one?
It’s happened to me a couple of other times in the past too, notably with Finger Eleven covering Depeche Mode’s “Walking in My Shoes“, and Oleander doing The Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry”. There’s probably a bunch more waiting in the wings for me to discover. I kind of like it when bands just slip songs in there and don’t call too much attention to them, just waiting for the sometimes-unobservant fans like myself to find them.
Topics: Blog | 2 Comments »
Tags: Black Stone Cherry, Covers, Depeche Mode, Finger Eleven, Florida Georgia Line, Michael Jackson, Oleander, Slash, The Cure, Three Days Grace
11/29/2014 The Tea Party, Menew (Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom)
By Eric | December 1, 2014 3:46 pm
Ahh… an old favorite. The Tea Party. Just the mention of the name of the band and it’s deja vu all over again. This was my 15th time seeing the band, and I watched this one with a pair of friends whom I’d seen the majority of the prior 14 with as well. Sara managed to get a ticket for Mary at (wait for it) The 11th Hour, through her friend Roxy, who was very cool to hang out with, and a Tea Party veteran as well. Almost all of those prior shows were during our college years (10 shows between 1999-2002!) so nostalgia was definitely the name of the game here. And for everyone else apparently, as it was a older crowd to be sure, and once announced the show sold out almost two months in advance.
Speaking of that, because we’re all “old” now, and we’ve suffered through many a terrible Tea Party opener (seriously, aside from festivals there’s been ZERO good openers for them. Velour anyone?), we pretty much got our drink and talk on at one of the upper bars during Menew. They actually didn’t sound half bad, but unfortunately nothing grabbed me to the point of legit checking them out. Sorry guys. Definitely did not miss being smashed up front for 2+ hours beforehand, that’s for sure. And the best part? We still got down front!
Roxy knew a “secret” spot that even I wasn’t privy to, in all of my Town Ballroom shows… we snuck down to the left side barrier, right in front of the speaker stack (thank you earplugs), but with an amazing view of the stage, and a perspective I’ve only had one other time (Edwin McCain at Seneca Niagara). It’s funny, with most bands, one would usually complain about playing the new stuff, as everyone only wants to hear the old stuff. However, the new album is actually really good, so hearing a couple new tunes was appreciated! They opened with The L.O.C and sandwiched The Bazaar between that and The Black Sea, with The Ocean At The End as another new song highlight.. All the old favorites got played (as per usual). Sara put it succinctly in her review: “…we bitch about this standard set list, and when it’s done, they put on such a great show, and always sound so good, that we forgive them.” And it’s true. I actually found myself longing to hear The Halcyon Days after the teaser intro, after YEARS of (my, anyway) complaining about how they played it every time.
So naturally, this was worth the drive to Buffalo, and in all honesty, this was one of the better shows I’ve ever seen them play, almost 17 years after the first time I’d seen them!
Some awesome guy on Youtube had a bunch of videos from just off to the right of where we were (its a playlist):
The LOC
The Bazaar
The Black Sea
Psychopomp
Fire in the Head
Lullaby
The 11th Hour (with Halcyon Days intro)
Water’s On Fire / Release
Save Me/The Messenger/Kashmir/Save Me
The Ocean at the End
Temptation/Transmission/Temptation
Encore:
Heaven’s Coming Down/All Along the Watchtower/Heaven’s Coming Down
Encore 2:
Winter Solstice
Sister Awake/Pulse/Sister Awake
Sara’s review… she’s much quicker on the draw with these than I am these days…
Topics: Concerts | Comments Off on 11/29/2014 The Tea Party, Menew (Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom)
Tags: 2014, Buffalo, menew, The Tea Party, Town Ballroom
Pentatonix – 2014 – That’s Christmas To Me
By Eric | November 26, 2014 6:00 pm
Artist: Pentatonix
Title: That’s Christmas To Me
Label: RCA
Released: Oct 21, 2014
Packaging: Jewel Case
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Standard
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
#White Winter Hymnal
#Sleigh Ride
#Winter Wonderland / Don’t Worry Be Happy
#That’s Christmas to Me
#Mary, Did You Know?
#Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
#It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
#Santa Claus is Coming to Town
#Silent Night
#Let It Go
Review:
Topics: CD Collection | Comments Off on Pentatonix – 2014 – That’s Christmas To Me
Tags: 2014, Jewel Case, Pentatonix, RCA, Standard