Helloween - Unarmed - Best Of - 25th Anniversary Album (2009)

Genre: See below.
About: This band has obviously gotten bored of power metal, because this is a collection of their "greatest" hits (definitely arguable) of mostly power metal songs, redone in completely different songs. With the exception of track 5, the songs are primarily acoustic, often folk-sounding, with some jazz influences, and even flat out pop (track 10). This is obviously not an album aimed at the die hard metalheads (see: close-minded).

However, if you are in fact a die hard metalhead (more than likely true if you are on this blog), take a listen to "The Keeper´s Trilogy (Halloween, Keeper of The Seven Keys & King Of 1000 Years)". Those are the three most epic songs from the Keeper albums, and unbelievable made even more epic... they are done in an Epic Symphonic Power Metal style, similar to something Nightwish would spend a million dollars making, and completely different from the rest of this album. It's just a wall of sound and power metal and eargasms for most of 17 minutes.

The only other song I can really say with confidence you HAVE to listen to, is "Eagle Fly Free". Again, if you are a metalhead you have no doubt heard 200 covers of this song, all complete sound-alikes. Well, from the original band you have a cover that's completely redone, as a ballad-duet with a female singer... don't know who but her voice is quite beautiful.

I really do appreciate what they tried to do with this album, completely rework their songs into a different genre, and perhaps get these stuck up metalheads to try some new music... but it was done poorly at best. With the exception of track 5 and 6, these songs are not bad, just not up to Helloween's high standards they set for themself in the past.

1. Dr. Stein 03:59 [view lyrics]
2. Future World 04:13 [view lyrics]
3. If I Could Fly 03:28 [view lyrics]
4. Where The Rain Grows 05:09 [view lyrics]
5. The Keeper´s Trilogy (Halloween, Keeper of The Seven Keys & King Of 1000 Years) 17:06 [view lyrics]
6. Eagle Fly Free 03:50 [view lyrics]
7. Perfect Gentleman 04:18 [view lyrics]
8. Forever & One 04:25 [view lyrics]
9. I Want Out 04:22 [view lyrics]
10. Fallen To Pieces 03:28 [view lyrics]
11. A Tale That wasn`t Right 04:46

(Mediafire Download Link removed at the request of forceably by some d*cks that are paid by helloween to hunt down blog posts... I'm spreading your music you idiots so more people will know about it and be potential customers, but ok if you want to do that. Instead, have fun reading about the DMCA, and definitely don't go torrent this album.)


For a bit of fun, let's look at the tracks I probably would pick were I to do a "best of". I may even compile and upload one just as an alternative to the official one. First of all, I'd like it to be chronological to trace the evolution of their sound (Similar to my ELP compilation, linked in the upper right of the blog), and start with a re-recording of the song that (arguably) invented Power Metal. And later on, some songs from Helloween's least widely liked albums in the early 90s could really do with somewhat heavier re-records (even though I like them how they are, I admit they could definitely be improved a lot). I'll try to pick one or two from each album, but maybe three, hard to pick, thats the problem when a band is consistantly awesome. :)

1. Oernst Of Life (Death Metal - 1984)
2. Guardians or Cry For Freedom (Walls of Jericho - 1986)
3. I'm Alive or Twilight of the Gods(Keeper pt. 1 - 1987)
4. Eagle Fly Free or Rise and Fall, or I want out (Keeper pt. 2 - 1988)
5. Kids Of The Century or Heavy Metal Hamsters (Pink Bubbles - 1991)
6. First Time or Giants (Chameleon - 1993)
7. Where the Rain Grows or Take Me Home (Master of the Rings - 1994)
8. We Burn or Wake up the Mountain (The Time of the Oath - 1996)
9. Push or I Can, or Revelation (Better than Raw - 1998)
10. Mr Torture or The Departed, or The Dark Ride (The Dark Ride - 2000)
11. Open your Life or Sun 4 the world (Rabbit - 2003)
12. Silent Rain or Light the Universe (Keeper Legacy - 2005)
13. The Saints or As Long as I Fall (Gambling - 2007)

Feel free to debate these choices, they were made rather quick and I havent listened to this band in quite some time :)

Francis Monkman - The Long Good Friday (1981)

Genre: See below.
About: This is just such a great combination of 80's cheesy pop/rock and electronic, and 70's style disco beats and psychedelic rock, and of course orchestral film score, and even some jazz saxophone. Track 8 is completely acoustic guitar interludes used in the movie, and the climax is in the latter part of track 10 and 11, coming back to the theme. I can't really put in words how interesting this score is, it's probably my favorite film score I have ever heard. This interesting combination is probably due to the fact that Monkman was previously in a 70's rock band called Curved Air (I just found this out... if that band is as good as this soundtrack you may see it on this blog at a later date). And I always say that the more hard it is to categorize a piece of music, the better it is since that means they really have made something unique and new.

I usually cannot listen to a score without the movie alongside but this one is just so great. It made an already awesome movie just so much better. Plus Bob Hoskins is one of my favorite actors... He even sings on track 7!

And SEE THE MOVIE if you haven't!!

>Mediafire Download (temporarily on 4shared because Mediafire was down for maintenence and now is having issues D: )

Fuck The Facts - Complete Full Length Studio Albums Discography! (2001-2008)

Genre: A fantastic genre-bending band with lots of great and original ideas. Highly recommended. Basic genres are:
Early- Grindcore, Noise.
Mid- Experimental, electronic.
Later- Death Metal, Progressive Metal.
(but every album is different, see details below.)

About: Topon has stated numerous times that the name "Fuck the Facts" was chosen, in part, as a statement about his attitude towards the music he wrote. He tried not to feel hampered by genre labels, and that is reflected in the musical style. The earlier Fuck the Facts recordings up until approximately 2000 featured a combination of grindcore and noise.


Download Fuck The Facts - Discoing the Dead (2001) (grindcore, noise, death metal, electronic, experimental, disco, jazz)

Though those two genres were prominent during this era of recording, many other styles crept into the music as well including death metal, electronic and even as some as diverse as disco and jazz. When Discoing the Dead was released in early 2001, it retained many of these experimental styles, paving the way for the beginning of the first incarnation of Fuck the Facts as a full band.


Download Fuck The Facts - Escunta (2002 release date) (Noise, Experimental)

[This album is really all about mindfuck (similar to the movie- "The Machinist"). It's genius in my opinion. My favorite at first listen is "They Call It Dance Musick". Then there's "Fuck The Facts Is Sexy" which is what I would imagine getting run over with a train would sound like.
(Re-ripped on 07/27/2009 using EAC... more info and logs included)]
Vagina Dancer and Escunta, recorded in 2000 and 2001 respectively, are the core of these noise recordings. [However, Vagina Dancer is not listed on metal-archives as a full length album, plus it was only ever released on tape so I am not including it here.]


Download Fuck The Facts - Mullet Fever (2001) (punk, grindcore, experimental, rap, hip-hop, jazz, electronic, noise)

Mullet Fever was released in 2002 and featured a more punk-influenced grindcore sound. However, many of the songs included more experimental (for grindcore) styles including rap, hip-hop, jazz, noise and electronic. [Track 19 is actually closer to raw black metal] The album was largely recorded in one session of the band recording their own jam session and some minimal editing afterwards, and may explain why this album stands out on its own in terms of musical style and scope.


Download Fuck The Facts - Backstabber Etiquette (2003) (death metal, technical metal)

When Backstabber Etiquette was recorded in 2002, vocalist Mel Mongeon had replaced Christoff, and her distinctive growl was markedly different than Brent's deep sound. Mel's higher pitched scream became the norm for the band. The musical style became more heavily influenced by death metal and showed more technical aspirations.


Download Fuck The Facts - Legacy Of Hopelessness EP (2005) (electronic, grindcore)

Legacy of Hopelessness showcased a bit of a departure for the band in that it had a lot more electronic influences. Keyboards are featured on nearly every track, and are sometimes the primary focus. Of course, grindcore is still quite present as well as Mel's distinctive vocals. The change in musical style can probably be attributed to the fact that this was initially intended to be a solo release by Topon, but was migrated over to the band when it was realized that another full-length release was not quite feasible.


Download Fuck The Facts - Stigmata High-Five (2006) (Progressive Metal, Experimental, Metalcore, Grindcore, Death Metal)

Stigmata High-Five represents the latest musical style of the band. The grindcore and death metal elements are still present, but so are more progressive and experimental ideas mixed with metalcore elements. The album contains longer songs with more intricate riffs and atypical time signatures.


Download Fuck The Facts - Disgorge Mexico (2008) (Progressive Metal, Experimental, Metalcore, Grindcore, Death Metal, Jazz, Fusion)

Disgorge Mexico contains shorter songs than Stigmata High-Five but retains a similar overall musical style. In some cases, the experimental ideas are expanded further to the point where one track contains a section that is reminiscent of straight ahead jazz and contains a high register melodic bass solo typical of jazz or fusion. Rhythmic elements often featured in progressive rock are still present, and metric dissonance via polyrhythms are often present.


[Biography stolen from Wikipedia... <3 whoever wrote it.]

[In case you're wondering... Yes this upload and post did take well over an hour. But very worth it :D ]

Gone Too Soon: The Absolute Best of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer (2009) (Unofficial Compilation)

Genre: Progressive Rock, Classic Rock, ...later songs: Experimental, Avant-Garde, Jazz, Melodic Rock
About: Arguably the most talented and influential Progressive Rock band of all time. I compiled this tracklist because I was so annoyed at how selective and overall bad the "official" best of's and box sets and compilations are. They often just have the chart-toppers which, if you know anything about pop music they are often not all the artist's best songs.

So, I have included what I feel are their best songs, which spans from their first album in 1970 to their last in 1994. I spent a significant amount of time picking these 25 tracks, and I have listened to every album in their catalog, multiple times in the past so I have a good feel for what their best songs are.

There is at least one song from every studio album, plus Pictures at an Exhibition, often multiple songs from each album. It is in chronological order, so you will get a feel for how their sound has progressed over time. From a Classic Sound, to more Progressive and Experimental, to just plain Avant-Garde/Jazz on a track such as "Bullfrog", then back to the Progressive Classic style in the 90's, only somewhat more Melodic Rock-styled.

Enjoy! And if you like it, spread the word!


Track List (2:05:33):

1970 - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
1. Take a Pebble (12:32)
2. Lucky Man (4:38)

1971 - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - Tarkus
3. Stones of Years (3:44)
4. Iconoclast (1:16)
5. Mass (3:12)
6. A Time and a Place (3:02)
7. Are You Ready Eddy? (2:10)

1971 - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - Pictures at An Exhibition (Live)
8. The Hut of Baba Yaga (1:06)
9. The Great Gates of Kiev (5:12)

1972 - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - Trilogy
10. The Endless Enigma (Part Two) (2:03)
11. From the Beginning (4:16)
12. Hoedown (3:47)

1973 - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery
13. Jerusalem (2:44)
14. Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression, Pt. 2 (4:46)

1977 - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - Works, Volume 1: Black
15. C'est La Vie (4:20)
16. L.A. Nights (5:46)
17. Fanfare for the Common Man (9:46)

1977 - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - Works, Volume 2: White
18. Tiger in a Spotlight (4:35)
19. Bullfrog (3:52)
20. I Believe in Father Christmas (3:19)

1978 - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - Love Beach
21. Memoirs of an Officer and a Gentleman (20:16)

1992 - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - Black Moon
22. Affairs of the Heart (3:47)
23. Changing States (6:02)

1994 - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - In The Hot Seat
24. Hand of Truth (5:23)
25. Gone Too Soon (4:12)


Download pt 1
Download pt 2

John McLaughlin - Industrial Zen

Genre: Guitar Virtuoso, Jazz, Fusion, Progressive Rock
About: This is awesome even if you don't think you like Jazz. I'd say one of the best albums of 2006. Plus, the best drummer ever is in it, Dennis Chambers.

Year: 2006
Download pt 1
Download pt 2