Mad Scramble and Broken Hearts" is a sad, quiet song, but the chorus is a lot of fun: a great sing-along line and something that sounds great repeated a lot. "Nostalgia," a ballad, has a simple, clean melody, and an uplifting chorus, while "Kings of War" (which I like a lot) is a great instrumental, with a killer riff that's easy to remember. So while I don't care for the rest of the album, I'd definitely recommend fans of heavier music check this out. "Rebel in Siberia" comes out in mid-February on Ironclad. Wednesday, February 4, 2009 With the upcoming release of their fourth album, "Black Market Symphony," on March 10, I thought I'd share some videos with you. Here's their video for "Blood Shed in the Rose Garden," which had previously been available as a web exclusive. Check it out on YouTube. And here's their video for "Birth of a God" from their second album, "The Amulet." Check it out on YouTube. And here's their video for "Bleed It Dry" from their debut album, "Sins of the Mind," which had previously been available as a web exclusive. Check it out on YouTube. And here's their video for "Black Holes" from their debut album, "Sins of the Mind." Check it out on YouTube. Now here are a couple videos from "Black Market Symphony," which are not on the official YouTube channel, but were posted on YouTube by fans. There's the video for "Battle Royal," which is an interesting music video showing clips from a number of popular films: "300," "Black Hawk Down," and "Armageddon." And there's the video for "My Name is Fire" which is a lot of fun, and even has a bit of a comic-book vibe. Both videos are worth watching, but be careful not to confuse the music of "Black Market Symphony" with the plot of "300." Enjoy. Sunday, February 1, 2009 While their debut album was released in 2006, German metal band "Karma" only recently released their follow-up album, "Never Say Never." "Never Say Never" is the second album from the band, following "Strength of a Thousand Soldiers," which came out back in March of last year. "Never Say Never" has a similar sound to "Strength of a Thousand Soldiers," but with a lot more experimentation and a slightly higher production value. The only song that really didn't make an impression on me was "We Love the Dead," and I'm not quite sure what that was about. Other than that, there's a great deal of experimentation going on in the music of "Karma," and there's even a song on the album that features a guest solo from Ritchie Kotzen (Steel Prophet) that is particularly interesting. The first album of "Karma" got a bad rap because of one song, "Nazi Pigs," which is the only one that really has the word "Nazi" in it, but the second album by "Karma" contains quite a bit of diversity. If you like metal that's different from the metal you've heard a million times before, then I'd definitely recommend checking out "Karma." Enjoy. Saturday, January 31, 2009 It was only five years ago today, on Jan. 31, 2004, that my favorite band, Linkin Park, released their third studio album "Minutes to Midnight." I was so excited for this new album by the band, because after they released "Hybrid Theory" in 2000, there wasn't really much new music to get excited about for some time. Their sophomore album, "Meteora," wasn't available in stores at the time, and the live CD/DVD release of "Crawling," which was out the year before, wasn't quite new enough to feel like an album that I should be excited about. So while I wasn't sure what to expect, I could definitely tell that a new "Hybrid Theory" album was what Linkin Park was striving for, and had an idea that it would be as good, if not better than their "Hybrid Theory" album. Well, I didn't know what to expect when I heard it, but I couldn't wait to hear the album, because the anticipation was so much fun. It's a good thing that I was able to listen to "Hybrid Theory" for the first time at exactly the same time that Linkin Park's second album came out, because the anticipation for "Minutes to Midnight" would have been just as high had I had to wait until January 2004. It was worth the wait. While there are a few songs on "Minutes to Midnight" that don't stand up to the greatness of "Hybrid Theory," there's still a number of great songs on the album. "New Divide" is a good first single off of "Minutes to Midnight," and is easily one of the highlights of "Minutes to Midnight." The instrumental and vocal melody of "A Place for My Head," and the melodies in general, will stick with you. "Breaking the Habit" and "Lies Greed Misery" are two of my favorite tracks off of "Minutes to Midnight," and the former is a great song to sing along with at the top of your lungs. "Somewhere I Belong" has some interesting lyrics in the lyrics, but it's still a very catchy song. "Bleed It Out" is a great song, even though it's kind of similar to "When They Come for Me," but it's still enjoyable. Finally, "Shadow of the Day" is one of the standout tracks of "Minutes to Midnight," and I'm not entirely sure why it didn't receive the kind of attention that "New Divide" did. All in all, "Minutes to Midnight" is a great album. It may not stand up as well as "Hybrid Theory," but "Minutes to Midnight" was still a great album. I'd recommend checking out "Minutes to Midnight." Thursday, January 29, 2009 Well, my first official music post for 2009 was on Tuesday, and my second music post was on Wednesday. Those two days have been filled with music, so my next post won't be until after my weekly music pick, which I'll post next Wednesday. For now, enjoy my favorite songs that have been released so far this year. When I listen to music in the winter, my musical taste tends to be more diverse than it does in the summer. It's harder to find a song that speaks to me, when it's cold and bleak outside. When I was younger, my favorite artists were The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and Def Leppard. When I think of music I like in the winter, it's a lot of the same music that I like in the winter (as hard as it can be to find anything) mixed with the pop music that I don't really listen to in the summer. Since I'm a diehard Metallica fan, I know that they're not really the kind of band that most people think of when they think of summer music, but you can't really blame them. Back in the summer of 2004, while working at one of the stores I used to work at, I saw that they were releasing a new album by "Orgy" (whose last album, "Bliss" was released in 2002) and "Minutes to Midnight" by Linkin Park. Both of these albums were released back in 2004, and I hadn't really been looking forward to either of them. Because of Metallica, I was excited to hear "Orgy" and "Minutes to Midnight," and I have a new favorite band to listen to in the wintertime. "Minutes to Midnight" was their second studio album, but I'm not sure if the previous album that they had released back in 2000 was their first, so when I said "first" I meant "second" album. "Hybrid Theory," the previous album by the band, was released back in 2000, but I can't imagine anyone who was buying a "Hybrid Theory" album in 2004 and deciding that they would skip the "Hybrid Theory" album, to buy the "Minutes to Midnight" album. So because of "Hybrid Theory," I don't think that I would have been interested in "Minutes to Midnight," but because it was so good, I'll gladly listen to "Minutes to Midnight" anytime. "Hybrid