March 31, 2003 Page 11 an ode to his ‘86 Volkswagen Jetta — a far cry from the Hummers and Escalades oft fea- tured in other rap videos. At the same time, Kazzer says that "Pedal To The Metal" is a metaphor for life: "Just put your foot on the floor and work hard." Having recently signed with Epic U.S., Kazzer is the latest in ‘ the current wave of rap-rock artists. Like Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit, Kazzer’s music is the recently popularized fusion of rap, rock riffs and pop hooks. Not even coming close to being a fan of this genre, I attempted (oh how I attempted) to keep an open mind, and sought out the beauty and artistry in this track. I placed the black disk, labeled Kazzer, on the already spinning platter of my SL-1200MKU, lowered the nee- dle and listened. Like the first of many exploratory sniffing of cupped hands filled with red-hot-chili- fart-gasses, I tore myself away in disgust. The same old repetitive meaningless hooks, another poorly done half-step guitar riff, lyrical flow as painful as inter- course with a 34000 RPM recip- rocating disk sander. "I wanted to make positive, energetic music that gets you pumped up,” says Kazzer of Go For Broke. However, after listen- ing to Pedal to the Medal, I only found myself extremely depressed, flaccid and slightly catatonic. * > Ken >> Dream Evil Evilized Century Media 2003 Dream evil is a “nostalgia metal” band, brainchild of famous metal producer Fredrik Nordstorm (Dimmu Borgir, Opeth, At The Gates). This record, consisting of various misses and near hits, drips with fromage... and after listening to it a few times I’m not even sure it’s the g ind of fromage. It’s a marriage of Power and Trash metal (tried, tested and true combination) that falls short of impressive, and into the mediocre pile. Music is influenced by Dio (vocal melody/main riff rela- tions are right out of Dio’s cook- book), Manowar (rhyming everything to the point of insani- ty), Judas Priest and to lesser extent Maiden. As you may expect from a Power Metal band, musicianship is superb. It’s an all-star line-up featuring various representatives of HammerFall, King Diamond and Merciful Fate, and they deliver all the goodies (sweet solos, crunching riffs, cheesy vocals etc, etc). Just as I’m about to slap a 2.5 on this album, I run into track 11, “Made Of Metal”. Wow, this song had me reaching for my sword, and thirsting for blood of nu-metal poseurs. Even Manowar couldn’t top these lyrics: “...(metal) is my religion My soul, my blood my Life I am so fucking metal and so is my wife!” If you happen to be a Heavy Metal Warrior of the Apocalypse, you may find this record to be a real treat .. if not, don’t bother. kkk > Sasa bin Rockin” >> Poisonblack: Escapextacy Century Media 2003 Villa Laihiala (vocalist of Sentenced) is the mastermind behind this record. Although an accomplished singer, he only plays guitar on this one. Villa’s compositions are very listenable and very smooth flowing. He nails a perfect blend of catchy and atmospheric, and Goth rock bands ALWAYS fall pray to get- ting these ratios wrong. The sound itself is very organic (no samples or fake drums) and pleasant, (not abrasive like Type O Negative for example). Keyboards are used to add flavour only, this is very much a guitar driven record. Lyrics drip with all the Goth cliches: “And with her I die And for her I die She’s my mistress of pain” (from “with her I die”, track 8). You get the point... That all being said this record is... dull. Songs are well written, but poorly delivered. All songs have great changes and dynam- ics, but these changes are under- played making the record boring to listen to. Highlights of this album are the opening track “Glow of the Flames”, “Love Infernal” which features bass line similar to “No More Tears” by Ozzy and “Exciter” which is the most rockin” track. *&&kx* (overall) kkk (goths) > Sasa bin Rockin” >> Skydiggers Bittersweet Harmony Universal 2003 Hey have you ever heard of this band? Ever? Well, neither had I before I got this album. I did some research, and found out that this Toronto-based quin- tet has been around for FIFTEEN YEARS. So why doesn’t anyone remember them? This is their first album in six years. Yeah, that could lead to some obscurity issues. Exposition aside, this was an interesting album. As many reviewers on the internet have noted, this band is distinctively Canadian - assuming that “Canadian” is a genre. With prominent influences from the Tragically Hip and Blue Rodeo, and a passing resemblance to bands like Wilco and Supersonic, Bittersweet Harmony gives us fourteen songs that can probably only be described by the term (I hate this term, but I didn’t make it up) “roots rock.” Their mellow but lively sound is an interesting mix of acoustic guitars and elec- tric power chords, with plenty of pianos and trumpets thrown in for good measure. The overall effect is pleasing, especially if you like the Hip or Blue Rodeo, or if you're just a “mellow but lively” sort of guy. Whatever. Good CD. kkk > Josh >> Front 242 Still & Raw Metropolis 2003 Honestly, more tracks would have made this disc far more enjoyable. On this disc, the lis- tener gets 6 tracks and two of them are remixes. If you know who Front 242 is then you under- stand why more tracks would have pleased me. If you do not know who Front 242 is then I also understand because their albums are hard to come by, and I am impressed that Metropolis sent their latest effort. Front 242 is a necessity for industrial lis- teners who like Front Line Assembly, old Ministry, and Skinny Puppy. Their music is - very sophisticated, yet simple and only slightly dirty with respect to musical textures. Front 242 take a subtle, subliminal approach to music. Nothing is an accident, yet they strive to make the experience sound natural while sounding completely alien. You have never been so at home while feeling alienated from the experience. Unique. kkk > Destrudo >> AFI Sing the Sorrow Dreamworks 2003 AFI, or 'A fire inside’ are well known for rising up through the ranks of indie music by their supreme talents. For years they were a punk band, but have recently made the leap to the major labels on the strength of their thousands selling indie albums. AFI most well known for their emphatic music and powerful lyrics. AFI have devel- oped a reputation for being able to inspire their legions of moped out fans that love the kind of music that speaks to their uh, very indie senses of angst. Yeah, that's it..: Since I'm not really in posses- sion of any of these traits, I won- der if I can fully appreciate this kind of record, but I think that I'll have to give it a shot. (Ed's note: Actually, Kathleen has already given it a shot, other- wise you wouldn't be reading this right now, don't be fooled by any of her sweet talking.) Approaching this album form the fresh perspective of never having heard any AFI, and the fundamentally lazy perspective of never actually researching the band, I was able to hear this punk phenomenon with ears unspoiled. Well, if they were spoiled it wasn't from anything that AFI did. It was probably my filthy roommate. Yes you Travis. My first thought upon listen- ing to the album was "Gee, the lead singer has a much higher voice than I imagined." Well, he looks kind of effeminate, but that doesn't automatically mean he'll have a really high voice like that. I wasn't expecting any sort of 300 pound drag queen voice, but since I'm pretty sure that he sings in a higher register than I do... well. He's not bad, but I was somewhat surprised. Anyhow, AFI's music, to talk about something so gauche in a -Music review, was surprisingly good. They mostly stuck to a punk-ish, indie, screemo, some other kind of hip genre descrip- tion kind of sound, but diverse musical elements would also creep in, such as a little bit of metal, and even some industrial. The songs all struck me as being short, but I looked up at my dis- cman, expecting to be on track 3 but instead I had already reached number 7, From this I can conclude I must have been enjoying the music, since it went by without any bouts of hysteri- cal vomiting. If you are a fan of the genre, please check them out. I don't think that you will be disap- pointed. kek > Kathleen Want to be like famous and receive free thongs? Write for Over The Edge! We’re Mexellent!