I am not going to do a “full” review of this album, because I just don’t have a lot to say about it. This band has changed a lot from when I started listening to them 9 years ago (that long?!?). I was attracted to them because they brought some metal heaviness to melody and had a mysterious “goth” sound with amazing female vocals. Those things that made me like them have been completely lost over the last 3 albums, to now, Dark Adrenaline which has absolutely none of those qualities. They’ve become just a generic, droning guitar heavy, metal band. I’ve been through the album 3 times, and I can’t think of a single song that I want to listen to again. There is nothing catchy, nothing risky, nothing interesting. Their cover of REM’s “Losing My Religion” is unrecognizable to the original beyond the lyrics – not that it’s bad, it’s just sooo different – but not particularly intriguing. I wouldn’t say the album is awful, I’m sure metal fans will like it, it’s just not what I want out of this band.
music stuffs
i’m watching duran duran live at wembly arena 2004 on vh1 classic and am thoroughly enjoying it. it’s only an hour long sadly, so it’s really just the big hits and seemingly 2 “new” songs (aka ones i didn’t know). simon le bon sounds really good, way better than some other live things i’ve heard of theirs. wish i could have seen them at the casino on that tour.
in other music news…
lacuna coil released a new album, “shallow life”…produced by a guy who also worked with linkin park and avril lavigne…so i wasn’t really expecting much, and good thing. it is so completely mainsteam modern rock radio friendly. it is completely devoid of the “goth” creepiness factor that made them interesting when i discovered them 6 years ago (that long already!). “shallow life” lost most of the nu-metal, fieldy-on-bass sound of “karmacode” but it is just so so soooooo modern rock. it’s good for what it is, but it’s disappointing for what i want from lacuna coil. i’ve only listened once, will give it more time, but it’s nothing like “unleashed memories” and “comalies”…
i tried to buy julien-k’s album but have not been able to find it at hot topic (where they begged you to buy it in their newsletter…) downloaded it and i actually like it more than i thought i would. i had downloaded the ep last year and didn’t really care for it much. again, i need to listen more, but first impression is that it’s decent and listenable. the “kick the bass” video, which last time i checked was still on youtube, is basically porn. weird.
and i might have already mentioned it…new depeche mode “sounds of the universe”. it’s sorta chill and mellow. there are a few upbeat songs like “wrong” (which still sounds like marilyn manson and not u2 :P) but alot of slower things. i don’t know if i’ll end up listening to it much, instead i’ll stick with the singles discs and ultra. we shall see. i still want to see them in toronto tho.
books…
i finished the first 5 ender books, and need to get the newest one. until then i borrowed The Stand from adr2 and bliss, and um…this other one by poppy z brite but i can’t remember the name. and i’m still reading atlas shrugged. i just keep taking time off to read other things haha.
and my laptop is back in service after the power cord finally bit the dust – after being bitten by kitty. and just in time, i didn’t know what i was going to do with myself while watching my shows tonight hahaha.
lacuna coil
tonight was the lacuna coil headlining show in toronto with heather. “the hottest chicks in metal” tour (seriously) it was stolen babies, in this moment, the gathering, and LC. as i approached the canadian border my check engine light went on. shit! i hurry and pull off the highway and call dad. hahah. checked the oil but was paranoid about driving to toronto and back and the car dying. so i found an auto parts store to see if they’d check it for me, but they wouldn’t, they sent me to firestone. they claimed they’d need 3 hrs to do it…wtf. autozone plugs the reader into the car and it takes all of 30 seconds. the guy didn’t seem to think it was a problem though, and said to go ahead to toronto. so i did. by this point i’m running a good 45 min late. oh well. picked up heather and got to the venue – the opera house. i had forgotten i had been there before, for the u2 elevation cover band zoo tv recreation thing ages ago. i like the place. we went in while stolen babies was on. very interesting. lead singer is a girl who looks like faruiza balk and plays the accordion, and the bassist also plays the upright bass as well as electric. the 3 songs we saw were entertaining, and for some reason they made me think of dresden dolls tho the music was totally different. i think it was the bassist reminded me of brian. adr2 would have liked him hehe. in this moment followed, they were interesting as well. no real opinion on the music, it was alright. then the gathering…now i have heard about them for a long time now, so i was sorta looking forward to seeing them but…wtf. they looked nothing like i was expecting – like they just walked in off the street, no real “show” style or presence. they sounded nothing at all like i expected…i expected metal. they were so not metal. they kept smiling….wtf. there is no smiling in metal!! haha. and they were boring. heather thought so too. it was just weird. and it seemed like they played FOREVER even though it was only about 40 minutes. the songs were way too long, you thought they were over, and then they’d keep going – sorta like the new tool album hah. anyway.
lacuna coil….much much better than last month with stone sour. they played about an hr 15, and had a good mix of old and new. the new stuff sounded better than the show at dome theatre, and they played “in visible light” which i was totally surprised to hear. i dont know, i thought the orchestration in the song would prevent them from playing it live. so that was awesome. they also did “my wings” from in a reverie, the oldest song in the set, very cool. closed the main show with “enjoy the silence” and did a 2 song encore – “heaven’s a lie” and “our truth”. it’s very hard not to watch christina the whole time hah. she’s so on “my list” hahahhahhah. the band sounded good, much less like korn than the last show and the album. don’t really know what was different about it, but…definitely a way better show.
very happy the car thing didn’t prevent me from going to the show, because they said this was their last tour through north america until the next album – whenever that is. so anyone who wants to see them and hasn’t yet, it’s your last chance for a while (ahemdavid).
and the sabres won 🙂 prepare for the comeback!
back to work
back to work and things are as if i never left. other than a few minor personnel changes…as soon as i walked in the players were back on my nerves again. i need another job that pays me tons to do very little haha.
saturday was the jagermiester music tour with shadows fall, lacuna coil and stone sour at dome theater in the falls. it was sort of funny, eric was excited for shadows fall and was a bit disappointed, and i was excited for lacuna coil and was a bit disappointed. we went up in the balcony and away from retarded little kids, which was nice, except it was wicked hot up there. of course as lacuna coil comes on i get way too hot and dizzy 😛 anyway. they were good, just they got to play 7 songs and 6 were from the new album. which isn’t their best. which sounds like fieldy joined the band. they need a solo show so they can play for longer and play old stuff that was good. that is all. hopefully they do come around on a solo tour soon. stone sour was entertaining, corey knows how to work a crowd. the floor looked ridiculous, and i’m too old to be in the pit for bands i don’t even really know/like hahaha. really, nin only as far as getting killed at shows. so it was fun, nice to see eric again.
and i’m back to my “going to bed at 7am and waking up at 3” ways again. i had to do the toke schedule yesterday and it’s all messed up because we all have weird start times, and extra days off, and it was a hassle. but i am getting paid an extra 6 hours a week to do this stuff, so i can’t really complain. i get my hair cut tomorrow FINALLY and work 6-2.
back to working on my pics from the trip. oh, which reminds me. everyone who already knew, or asks about meeting trent – the first question they ask is if i slept with him. um yes. i jumped him right there in front of all those people and no one seemed to mind 😛
karmacode
i got an “advance” of Lacuna Coil’s new album Karmacode. sadly, i’m a bit disappointed. it is way way more commercial than their other 5 releases (no, they are not a new band!). it almost sounds like Korn to me. it sounds more Korn than Korn’s new album does (which wow, is really bad). in particular, “what i see”, so korn it could be off of Issues. some of the songs have a very pronounced bass line, that wasn’t there in past releases, and it makes me think “wow i didn’t know Fieldy left korn and joined LC”. the album really lost some of what made me love them so much, that element of goth creepiness. there’s lots of christina chanting, but it lacks that mysterious element that Comalies had. it’s almost like they tried too hard to keep that element in, so the songs where there is some, it seems not to fit. it’s still better than everything else on the radio, but…it is very mainstream now. it’ll probably grow on me, if i can stop thinking that i’m listening to korn with a female singer.
stomach was perfect when i woke up, but around 230 sudden pain again, and i’m really dizzy. may have to call in tonight, tho i don’t want to. i only have 12 sick hours currently.
which reminds me however, we’ve cut down the number of shows from 14 to 6. only doing the ones in a 5 hr radius or so, which means: saratoga, toronto, cleveland, columbus, detroit, pittsburg. it’s a issue of money, amphitheaters, money, shitty 1st bands, money, jobs, money and money.
waiting for my dad to get here with my new printer. i’ll be able to make more pins 🙂
Lacuna Coil in Rochester
lacuna coil is so cool.
after running around to see my mom, and get my film, and all that, headed out with rocco to rochester for the lacuna coil/anthrax show. found the place just fine, but once we got there…absolutely no where to park. something must have been going on at the beach because there were people every where (and omg my comp screen just turned blue…wtf is wrong with my monitor, i thought it was getting better). more people than should normally be at the beach, even tho it was a nice evening. finally found a place to park and had to walk through a big dirt field to get to lake ave, and penny arcade. the place is small, and so was the crowd. some local band, loopus or something, played first. not good. lacuna coil followed. same set list as the buffalo show, 40 min or so since they weren’t headlining. they sounded awesome, the crowd was into them. the 2 indian guys who were in front of me and heather at the buffalo show were in front of us at this show too. the one looked at me and sorta nodded. later, after LCs set, he came over to me when rocco went to get a drink and started talking to me. he remembered me and heather, but he didn’t want to talk to me before cuz he didn’t want me to get in trouble with the guy i was with LOL. and oh yeah, during LCs set, some kid was standing next to me and kept trying to hold my hand. weirdos. so talked to the indian guys a bit. they went to the cleveland show, but not toronto. e-town concrete apparently aren’t on the bill anymore, they went to do ozzfest i guess, so anthrax was up. they were surprisingly good, considering i knew nothing by them, and was expecting music i wouldn’t really be into. for whatever reason i thought scott ian was the singer tho, and that’s very wrong hahah. he plays guitar.
i’ll say it again, i love metal shows. hah they’re so much fun. the deafness was really bad though. we were sorta close to one of the speakers during LC, and my ear was clicking. that’s always a bad sign. that’s what happened after the kick to the head at orgy, the 5 feet from the speaker incident at APC in boston, and STP at UB…but after leaving, and being in the car, i’m not all that deaf, so that’s really really good. it’s not clicking anymore. we stopped at a rest stop for food on the way home. the whole thing wasn’t awkward at all or anything, plenty of talking (mostly about work haha), so it was good. had a fun time. turns out i worked with his sister at hard rock hahah.
soooooo tired now, but i don’t think i’ll be able to sleep. gonna work on getting my pics up. i got some really nice ones again.
Lacuna Coil in Toronto
so glad i sucked it up and went up to toronto to see lacuna coil despite my illness. i started to feel sick again after i had my waffles for breakfast, so i went back to sleep for awhile. got up around 3:30 and i was still iffy on going. i ate some mashed potatos and figured we’d give it a go. if we got up there and i felt like shit, we’d come back home.
so we headed up there around quarter after 4. got in around 6ish. had a bit of trouble finding the place, mainly cuz i was expecting something bigger, and cuz it’s not labled well, and cuz the addresses on queens street are way fucked up. they get big then small then back to big again. ended up going both ways down the street from spadina til we just parked and backtracked on foot. found the place, first band wasn’t til 9:30…so we had time to kill. got food at the gorilla monsoon next door, then walked down queen towards yonge. stopped in urban outfitters again to see if maybe what i wanted to get for carolyn for her bday was on sale. it wasn’t. and it was just way too expensive for me to justify buying it. it’s something that would get looked at once probably, and it wasn’t worth that. oh well. went into the eaton centre cuz adr wanted to buy a belt, but everything was way too friggen expensive. headed back down queen to the horseshoe. killed 2 hours, waited to get into the back show room. toronto was gross, hot and smelled like garbage. and i usually like the smell of cities in the summer, diesel and what not. but it was gross.
the first band was In Vein. oh, before them, they were playing music like normal. the song that was on, i was like…i know this song. why do i know this song. at first i thought it was velour, but then i realized it was the other crappy band who always opened for the tea party. the full nine i think they were called. it was definitely them. then they played their coffee song that was their single, so that was the clincher. it sucked album version too. anyway…In Vein. metal, somewhat bad vocals. that’s my main problem with real metal bands…the vocals always suck. the music is always cool.
second band was surface underground. metal band, chick singer, pretty decent. i was happy it wasn’t another guy screaming haha. after them we went up front for lacuna coil. they rocked, again. they played about an hour and a half, which was surprising. the buffalo show, since it wasn’t their show, was mainly stuff off comalies, but they went back to the halflife EP, unleashed memories and in a reverie for songs. they did “falling again” (which is the more rocked out version of “falling” which was on the self titled EP) surprisingly. gah, it was so great. so happy they played it.
other than the retard in front of me dancing like she was at a rave, and whoever smelled like cheese, it was a good time. there was this absolute GIANT standing next to me, sorta in front of adr…he was HUGE. but during the encore when the crowd was going a bit nutso, and this one guy kept crowd surfing, he pushed them all away. so that was cool. gotta find out if the person who bootlegged their toronto show from may recorded tonights show. i guess i have to sign up to the mailing list again to find out haha. there were a few video cameras there, but i just want audio.
never found heather, dunno if she ended up going or not. i took her cell phone with me to give back if i saw her. i still haven’t gotten the envelope thing from fido yet to send it back. haven’t gotten my business cards either. they better come soon or i’ll be pissed.
getting home was another case of my never really being lost, always sorta knowing where i am thing. i sorta knew where i was, and where i wanted to go, and i did eventually find the gardner again. so no problem.
omg. i got email from amanda wild. amanda was one of the people i was in london with. last time i saw her was in NYC in 1999. you don’t understand how great this is. she was looking for me and found icenine.org, sent me email to the webdesign inquiry account which i forgot i even had (good thing for business haha). omg. so excited. she is one of the coolest people ever. last i knew she was going to art school in dc, but there was no way of contacting her. so it’s been 4 years since i’ve heard from her. she emailed me in july, i hope she writes back. her email was so cute, typical amanda. said she was looking for the sara she was with in london in 1997 and nyc in 1999 haha. to write back if i was her. gah. it makes me smile. i’ve missed her.
Lacuna Coil @ Showplace
omg *dies*
so. yeah. went and met heather in the falls, left her car in the ramp and came back to NT to eat dinner and prep for the show. got to showplace right before 8, and it was way more packed than i was expecting. ran into fred “kid rock lookalike” who liked me back in 99 when i was hanging out with julie. first band was some awful hardcore/death metal band from toronto. total suckage. 2nd band was “beyond the embrace” i believe. not as bad, they had potential. they sounded like…old metallica, and iron maiden…like, they had that epic metal guitar solo sound. the music i thought was good most of the time, but they had screaming vocals that i wasn’t digging. the 3 guitarists and singer all had long metal hair and beards, and the bassist was this clean cut kid who looked about 18. it was weird haha.
lacuna coil was 3rd and o.m.g. it was so great. i haven’t gotten chills like that at a show in ages. i can’t remember the last time. the girl can fucking sing. i was blown away. they played mostly stuff of “comalies” but maybe 3 songs from the other albums. one was one of the italian songs, i think “senzafine” but i’m not sure. gah it was so great. i almost cried it was so great. the music sounded awesome, and yeah…she can fucking sing (have you gotten it yet? she can realllly fucking sing). it was so cool. totally want to see them again, hopefully when they can play a longer set.
we left before the headliner, opeth. no clue what they sound like, i saw what i wanted to see and left hahh.
i totally want to be in a band now. i want to be in a band with that kind of sound. gaaaah. it was funny, someone was talking about how evanescence is just a watered down commercial version of lacuna coil. lol evanescence doesn’t hold a candle to lacuna coil.
i must say my makeup looked so kick ass, and i totally love my new concert outfit. yay.
and yeah, the guy from the casino who wants to take me out actually called today LOL. he called around 4:30 and i was like woah. he’s gonna call thursday when i have my schedule and am done with the cleveland thing.
tyler durden would be so disappointed in me. ikea is the greatest store on the planet. omg it was so great. we pretty much wanted to buy everything in the store. we spent an hour and a half there. so many things we want to go back and look at once we get our place and know what kind of room we have. and they are right, it is pretty damn affordable. there are still things (lots of them) out of our price range, but comparitively…way cheap. couches and stuff, for like 300+ cnd SUPER CHEAP. we bought 6 wine glasses for 5$ cnd, 12 drinking glasses for 7$ cnd. i bought 3 cute ice cube trays for 2.50$ each cnd. adr bought 2 shelves for 9$ cnd each, and a shoe holder thing for her mom. everything we saw we’re like “that’s so cool”…”we need that”…etc. so definitely going back with the station wagon when we get word on the apartment situation.
and speaking of that, i took heather by it yesterday, and the people have moved out. so we figure we should hear from the guy soon, if not by wednesday, we’re calling him. cuz that gives him about 2 weeks to repaint and recarpet so we can move in around the 1st. so cross your fingers that he doesn’t decide to give it to someone else.
gah. ikea!!