The Left Over's of 'A Thousand Suns' Make for an Excellent Album

Quick Note: If you are expecting 'Hybrid Theory' or 'Meteora', you will be disappointed. If you take the band as a whole, through their beginning til now, you get Living Things.

After the drastic (and amazing) changes brought on by the bands last record, 'A Thousand Suns', Linkin Park blends together everything they have to make the newest album, 'Living Things'.

According to Chester and Mike, after the last album there was a lot of ideas still floating around and unused. So with a lot to work with, the band got to work right away with they new music, and it's amazing what has come out.

Staind's Seventh Album Takes the Band Back to it's Roots: Amazing!

Over fifteen years have passed since Staind came together and released their first album 'Tormented', which highlighted a heavy style that melded together post-grunge and a lot of anger. With each successful album release, the band's songs shifted towards a more deliberately paced and emotional songs, detailing the changes they have all been through. With the dropping of their seventh album, self titled 'Staind', the band has come full circle and back to their roots to help even out the discography with an explosive release.

Incubus Slows Things Down, But Not in a Good Way

I have been a big Incubus fan for a long time. As a matter of fact, they are coming to Charlotte, where I live, in September and though I will probably be going alone I plan on being there. With that disclaimer, I have to say I am slightly disappointed in their newest work "If Not Now, When?" .

Amping Up the Anger in Feeding the Wolves

10 Years has never been a 'go-to' band for me, despite the fact that I have seen them perform live 3 times now and owning every album in the band's discography. The Cd's they have created before this newest album, 'Feeding the Wolves', were not weaker or worse than this newest release, but have always felt lacking in some way. This 'umph' that was missing from them is finally found in this new release, and it is fantastic.

Seether's Strings Fray Just a Bit With New Release

We all have our go to bands. The bands and CDs we pick up when we are in need of something or, conversely, when we have no idea what mood we are in or what we want to listen to. Seether is one of those bands for me. Ever since "Fine Again", I've been captivated. I've grown with them and it's so much fun being able to watch the band grow alongside me. When I was an angry angst-y teenager, I had Disclaimer/Disclaimer II and Karma and Effect to help me be mad at the world. When my brother died, I had Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces to help me mourn. And now with the release of Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray, I have an album to help me move forward.

Man Man Once Again Pulls off Manical Beautifully

Man Man is a fairly unique band. It's hard to describe their sound other than 'melodic noise' because the band uses anything and everything for instruments. I first heard about them in an article in Charlotte's Creative Loafing in an interview piece in which the interviewer asked Honus Honus, the lead singer, what was the most bizarre instrument they had ever used on stage. Honus Honus replied: a frog. That should seriously sum it up. The newest release details this strange and captivating sound in a much more musically appealing while conversely being the darkest lyrical album of the group.

Cage the Elephant: Thank You Happy Birthday

I listen to many groups of rock bands, and I typically have a category I can put every band. Cage the Elephant has always been in my "Weird Music" grouping, and with this second album release it has become more apparent that my grouping is correct. This CD is fantastic, but I can easily see where some people will be turned off.

Even With A Complete 180, Linkin Park is Still Fantastic!

My disclaimer for this post. I am a huge Linkin Park fan. I mean HUGE. I have every CD they've released, countless special editions and DVD's, hidden and lost tracks, and am even planning on buying an iPod Touch so I can play 8-Bit Rebellion, the game they created. I subscribe to Mike Shinoda, Chester Bennington and the bands own blog and check them daily. Having said that, I will try to be as impartial as I can, but I'm not promising anything.