Choking

Lying on the ground I see your eyes
Why won’t you look at me?
Feeling your foot on my throat
Why won’t you look at me?
You know what you did to me
Why won’t you look at me?
The words won’t come out
Why won’t you look at me?

Awake or dreaming, coming or leaving
You just won’t go away
Like picking at a scab
This wound won’t heal
I didn’t ask for this
I didn’t want you in my life
A symbol of pain, a reminder of the past
You bring out the worst in me

I can’t say it with your foot on my throat
Run away
Leave me alone
I don’t want to know you exist
Kill yourself

I’ll never forgive you
I’ll never want to know you
Is that why you haunt me?
Is that why you hurt me?
Thief. Liar. Cheat. Bastard.
You’re nothing more, you never will be

Suffocating but not dying
Can’t extinguish my hate
Why do you hang on?
Groping for something not yours
To hurt, to harm, to steal
I want you out of my life

I can’t say it with your foot on my throat
Run away
Leave me alone
I don’t want to know you exist
Kill yourself

I’ll keep breathing on and on
I’ll still be here when you’re gone
Through the pain I can see
Even when you won’t look at me
I may be under your foot
But you’re the one beneath me

Now go
Do it
End it
Kill yourself

Camilla - Of Bees and Flies CD Review

Turn on the radio to your favorite rock station and you’re sure to be inundated by a slew of sophomoric modern rock bands who have just enough talent to make a catchy song or two, but not an ounce more. So what’s a person to do to find good, new modern rock? Well, you could read webzines and online reviews that seem to hand out praise to all these bands that you’ve never heard of who are supposed to be the best musicians ever. More often than not, though, the bands that get this high praise from online reviewers are more pretentious and artsy than they are listenable. It seems like indie rock is the only type of rock to get recognition by many of the more popular webzines out there. It just seems so hard to find any bands to bridge the gap in between the two disparate climates of the radio world and the online world.

From what I initially heard of Camilla, I though maybe they could fill in that space, but upon repeated listens, they definitely fall more into the indie genre, which is unfortunate. There are altogether way too many bands doing this style of music, which leads this cd to feel like yet another permutation on what’s been done many times before. Don’t get me wrong, though, there are some good tunes to be found on here. “On Trains” is a haunting, unbelievably good, keyboard assisted indie rock tune. It flows wonderfully from crooning vocal harmonies over a quickly plucked guitar to sample enhanced, keyboard layered indie rock, and back again just as effortlessly. “Fear Level Orange” has a very bouncy, yet melancholy, feel to it once it hits its stride 3 minutes in. This song also possesses a nice little keyboard support section towards the end. “I-95” has a mellow, nonchalant vibe to it that feels a little like some of Brand New’s more toned down efforts.

The rest of the cd, however, feels really dreary, slow, and somewhat bland. A lot of the other songs venture into the really mellow and boring territory of indie that tends to put listeners to sleep when allowed to play for too long. When they actually create songs that manage to keep your eyes open, they do it well, so if they can focus on that in future releases they’ll easily win over a ton of indie fans. Until then this cd is pretty much a hit and miss affair. It might be worth a listen to those of you who crave keyboard flavored indie rock, but anyone who is well versed in the genre will be disappointed.

I Don't Usually Do This

I've found a bunch of really interesting stuff on the internet as of late, so I figure I might as well dedicate a post to sharing it all with you. Tons of enjoyable stuff to be found!

First, a co-worker turned me on to this site that details the absurdity of movie physics. It's quite the educational site as it explains what would really happen in real world situations as opposed to what happens in the movies.

Second, if you want to destroy the world, you've got your work cut out for you. This site outlines exactly what it might take to do it.

Third, I love the X-Men, so seeing them lampooned in these two cartoons (Death Becomes Them and Dark Phoenix Rising) gave me more than a few hearty chuckles.

Lastly, here's what Parentstv.org think are some of the worst recent tv clips. There's some pretty hilarious stuff to be found.

Now if those don't keep you busy, well, you can always smack the penguin.

God's Ultimate Punishment

There is one thing that I would only wish upon my worst enemy, and they most definitely would have to be one of my worst enemies, not just some guy that cut me off in traffic or something, and that one thing is a migraine. Migraines are the only things in my life that have ever made me want to just stop existing. The combination of throbbing pain throughout my head, stabbing pain behind my eyeballs, a lack of energy, the overwhelming feeling of nausea (in many cases actually causing me to vomit), and the inability to make it go away add up to one of the worst human experiences imaginable. Well, imaginable for me at least. I'm sure there's a lot worse stuff out there to go through, but in what I've experienced in my lifetime, a migraine is the epitome of unreal pain.

I bring this topic up because before last week I hadn't had a migraine since the beginning of summer when I was getting exertion migraines. Now, in a week's time I've had two again--last Friday and this morning. Today's just decimated me in how fast it came on. I got to work at 8 feeling just fine, but shortly thereafter a headache started kicking in and by a little after 10, I was ready to throw myself into oncoming traffic. A 2 hour respite in my silent, darkened room, before hopping back on the laptop for some work at home action, helped alleviate the intensity of the migraine, but when I get one it usually lasts all day in one shape or form.

I don't know why I've gotten these last two. The ones I was having over summer were caused by a combination of a shoulder injury and overexercise before healing up. I don't have an injury now and since I am just getting over being sick I sure haven't been exercising a lot. I'm starting to wonder if I did something to get God angry at me... or maybe He just randomly picked me to smite because he was bored. Who knows? I, a puny human, sure don't know what the big guy in the sky does with his time or why things happen to us. I wish I did know, but I suppose I'll have to wait until I kick over the ol' bucket before I can ask him why things are how they are.

In conclusion, migraines suck balls and there are only a few people I would ever wish suffered from them... one of them being our current president (I haven't jabbed Bush in a while, and seems to be deserving of some hardcore head punishment).

That Cough Medicine Smell

When I was in elementary school, I'd often get a cough and cold during the winter. I think it was kind of a given that if you live in the frigid cold of Minnesota and play outside in it often enough without really taking note of if you were wearing enough clothes to keep you warm or not, you were going to get sick. Heck, there would be some days that I'd go outside with my brother to play on our snowpile wearing nothing more than a light coat and gloves (so I could make snowballs without my hands freezing) and the temperature would be well below freezing.

Whenever I would develop a coughing cold, my parents had a type of cough medicine that my pediatrician prescribed for me to take. Every time I got sick, we'd just get a refill of it from the pharmacy. Medicine, by its very nature, is horrendous tasting crap. Because of that fact, the only medication I now take is in gel caplet format so I can just swallow it and be done. I even avoid Nyquil, which so many people seem to love for coughs and colds.

The prescribed cough medicine that I took for my childhood colds was different, however. It tasted good! It was literally like liquid candy to me and my parents would have to make sure I only took as much as I was supposed to because if I was given the option, I would have drank the entire bottle down in one long swig. I wish I could describe the taste, but I have a hard time recalling it. I think it tasted something like a mixture of cotton candy and Big League Chew bubble gum. Besides it just tasting similar to cotton candy, it also had a very bright pink color to it, which helped me differentiate it from all other medications I might have had to take.

Later when I changed doctors, I was afraid I wouldn't get to have my liquidy goodness the next time I got sick. When I did finally come down with a cold my parents took me in to his office so he could give me a checkup (he needed to do this before he could prescribe any medication for me). He did the usual stuff--checking ear temperature, having me talk while he felt my glands, and jamming a gigantic plank of wood down my throat to hold my tongue back while he swabbed cut-tips on the back of my mouth making me want to vomit all over him.

After the checkup, he said he'd prescribe some medicine for me. YES! I was still in business. Once we got home and it came time for me to take my medicine, I noticed that the syrup my mom had poured out was not pink. In fact, it was quite a deep red and very gelatinous. I looked up, concerned, at my mom but she reassured me that this stuff was just as good. It wasn't. It tasted like a cat crap sandwich. My days of good cough syrup were over.

I still have a fond rememberance of the smell of my special, pink cough syrup. It was a very putrid, yet oddly sweet smell that I can still recall to this day. Oddly enough, I smelled this very smell again today. It illicited so many memories of my childhood sick days home from school that I had to take a couple of minutes to just sit and think back. Once I finished my nostalgic look back, I stood up off of the toilet, and figured I should get back to work, but before I could fully focus on my work I was confronted by one overpowering thought, "How come my poop smelled like cough medicine?"

Armor for Sleep - What to Do When You are Dead CD Review

There is one thing—one thing only—that is eminently certain in our lives, that one thing being the distressing fact that at one point in the future the life that we are currently living will come to an all too abrupt end. As much as we would all like to live forever, the harsh truth is that it is impossible. Of course, there are a myriad of religions and philosophies promulgating the existence of an afterlife, but even with their many varied assurances, the fact remains that this life, this current incarnation of our being, will end. This terrifying piece of knowledge, in combination with an exploration of what may come in the afterlife (assuming its existence), and how people react to death fuels Armor for Sleep’s sophomore album, What to Do When You are Dead.

Concept albums in general are usually ill received and concept albums dealing with deep, personal concepts such as death and the afterlife are usually even more harshly looked down upon. Bucking all of the notions that the making of a concept album about death would be a bad idea, Armor for Sleep have not only created one of the best concept albums to be heard in a very long time, but they have managed to create what will no doubt be a cd that falls on many critic’s 2005 top 10 lists. Armor for Sleep not only take you on an interesting lyrical trip that looks at the afterlife, but they also craft a set of 11 unbelievably compelling emo / post-hardcore / hard rock songs to complement your journey.

As good as this cd is, there is one small flaw that acts as a tiny stumbling block for the band—the lack of anything truly new and unique to bring to the musical table. If you’ve listened to Jimmy Eat World’s latest, Emanuel, or any one of the slew of emo rock bands out there, you’ll be quite familiar with Armor for Sleep’s musical style. With that said, this one drawback is easily overcame by the simple fact that this release is easily one of the catchiest and most mature efforts to grace the cd racks in years.

Armor for Sleep have struck a perfect balance between mid tempo, pondering, emo styled songs and driving, introspective, hard rock tunes. The songwriting talent on display throughout this cd shows a definite knowledge of how to write music that can hook a listener without having to resort to trite, clichéd tactics. Taken individually, there are many standout tracks, but this album, because of its nature, screams out to be listened to as a whole straight through from beginning to end.

For those of you who are less interested in this album’s conceptual nature, you will not be disappointed in listening to each song individually, as each stands on its own quite well. A few songs in particular are a cut above the rest and deserve mention, such as the leadoff track, “Car Underwater,” which sets the tone of the album. Starting out with crooning vocals over light guitars, followed by the addition of a somber bass line, the song then kicks right into a driving chorus that’s easy to sing along with as well as uncannily catchy at the same time. The fifth track, “Stay on the Ground,” is also notable in that it showcases Armor for Sleep at their most emotionally intense. As opposed to the beautifully melodic vocals of the majority of the cd, you can feel Ben Jorgenson, the lead vocalist/guitarist, straining to belt out the lyrics of the pre-chorus and bridge. Instead of making the song weaker, hearing the stretch that Ben is making gives this song a commanding, booming edge over the remainder of the cd.

Every song on this release, not just the tracks I made note of above, is quite strong. There are no evident weak points on this disc, which is quite an accomplishment in and of itself, especially when many bands are content to add filler tracks to their discs just to fill space between the good songs. Do yourself a favor and pick this cd up as soon as you can. You’ll be hearing a ton about Armor for Sleep in the future, as well as seeing this disc on many “best of” lists come the end of the year, so don’t put off giving them a listen for too long—you’ll be missing out on one of the best rock cds of the year.

Sno Core 2005

Going to a sold out show in Minnesota during February is a sure fire way of catching a cold, which is just what I did thanks to the horrible way that The Quest Club in Minneapolis handles letting people into the venue. There is only one entrance that they use to herd everyone through. Even though they have multiple shows starting at the same time in the same building, they only use this one entrance. This leads to long wait times out in the freezing cold, which is no fun. Since there’s also no coat check at the venue and it’s easily 80-90 degrees inside the club by the end of the night, you don’t want to bring a coat in. I ended up standing in line outside for about 30 minutes in my sweatshirt, and this was after waiting in the skyway by the parking lot next to The Quest for an hour before the doors opened. Even being there that early, I didn’t get in until after the first band, Strata, had already finished their set.

Once I finally got in, I situated myself on the upper deck of the club since I didn’t want to have to put up with all of the 15 year old kids on the main floor. I really detest all ages shows because you end up getting so many little kids there that think they own the place cramming onto the main floor. You either end up having to go to the balcony to avoid them or knock through them during the show, which is kind of fun at first, but it gets old fast.

A few minutes after I got in and up to the balcony, Future Leaders of the World came on. I liked their cd that they released last year well enough, but their live show was, well, to put it bluntly, terrible. It wasn’t just the band, though, as the sound crew did a terrible job of working with the band. The mixing was horrendous with the bass pretty much nonexistent and the vocals altogether too high in the mix, which wasn’t a good thing since the vocals were pretty unbearable. The guy’s voice, as interesting and different as it was on their cd, was really hard to stomach live. Thankfully, for one song the mic went out completely and the crowd didn’t have to be subjected to his annoyingly grating vocals for that small respite.

I wasn’t the only one not digging this band as the crowd didn’t really get into their set at all either, which led the band to just wander around the stage playing while trying to deal with the idiots in the sound crew that were working the show. The vocalist even went so far as to just sit at the front of the stage when him mic went out while the rest of the band continued to play on. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a band more disinterested in playing than these guys. I don’t care if the sound crew screws up, at least make it look like you want to play. Frankly, though, I didn’t care that much because no amount of energy would have saved their terrible performance. The final grade for Future Leaders’ performance would have to be a C- at best and really came out at more of a D when you factor in the sound problems that went along with their uninspired performance.

The next band on the bill was Crossfade, who were apparently also the band that the majority of the teens in the crowd were there to see. As they came onstage, all of the kids in the place went ape. I couldn’t help but laugh just a little when I saw all the 15 year old boys and teenage girls creaming themselves over this band. The sound mixing wasn’t any better for Crossfade than it was for Future Leaders. For Crossfade, though, the sound operators mixed the turntables way too high while leaving the guitars very muddled sounding (although that might have been Crossfade playing sloppy, I’m not sure).

It was actually somewhat comical to watch Crossfade play as they managed to look like some of the biggest posers around while still being able to get the crowd to move. I have a few big problems with the band’s live show that most of the crowd didn’t seem to share. First, for one of the songs, the band used pre-recorded guitars for the intro. Let that sink in for a minute… they used pre-recorded guitars when they had a guitar player on stage! Come on guys, play your instruments! I know the DJ doesn’t have that much to do, but for crap’s sake, don’t used pre-recorded passages of instruments you have hanging off of your shoulders—play them! Speaking of DJs, didn’t they go out of style in the late 90’s? I thought that the trend of having a DJ in a rock band ended at about the same time the rap-rock fad did. Well, Crossfade’s DJ didn’t really do much for the band other than spin on his faux record turntable and flick some knobs occasionally. When he wasn’t doing that, he was barking out the rapping portion of Crossfade’s songs and pointing at the crowd with his hand in the form of a gun trying to be as “gansta” as possible by shooting the people in the crowd. He did this every single time he came to a rap section of a song. Someone should tell him, however, that he’s as far from being hip when he does that as is humanly possible.

If you were to judge a band’s success on how well the crowd gets into their set, then I’d have to say Crossfade was very successful, but if you judge a band’s success on how competent they are on stage, then Crossfade failed horribly. Personally, I thought their set was more comical than anything else, and because they made me laugh I have to give them a grade slightly higher than Future Leaders, a C+.

After a long 20 minute setup period, Helmet took to the stage. Sadly, I think the majority of the crowd didn’t even know who they were. They broke into some old tunes right off the bat, which I’m sure only me and a couple of other people in the crowd actually recognized. The crowd got into some of the heavier mosh moments on some of the songs, but I think most of them were just waiting around for Chevelle to come on. It’s too bad that the crowd didn’t get into Helmet’s set a little more because they played a wonderful 40 minutes of groove oriented rock.

By the time Helmet was playing, the sound techs had fortunately fixed the terrible mixing problems they had with Future Leaders and Crossfade. Helmet are an extremely tight live band and it is evident to anyone watching them that they have put in tons of shows together. Their set consisted of a healthy mix of songs from Betty, Aftertaste, Size Matters, and even the title track from Meantime. Most of the crowd was probably in diapers or elementary school when Meantime came out (I was only 11 at the time) so I’m sure a lot of the appreciation for their older stuff was lost on most of the kids there. I was quite happy, though, that most of their set consisted of songs from Betty with their performances of “Wilma’s Rainbow” and “Miquetoast” being two of the more memorable moments of the night.

If I had been down on the lower level, I would have been going nuts throughout Helmet’s set, even though most of the kids were just standing there nodding their heads to the groove of the music. Helmet are a phenomenal and very energetic live band that easily made up for having to suffer through Future Leaders and Crossfade. Their set easily earns an A-.

The headliners for the night were Chevelle, a band I had been a fan of since the release of their debut cd, Point #1. I had spun their live cd, Live from the Road, a few times through and had liked what I heard, so I was really anticipating their set. When they came out and finally started playing, for the entire hour they were onstage, they didn’t disappoint. What really stuck out about their set was how thick and full of a sound they had for being only a three piece band.

Much like Helmet, Chevelle focused a lot on playing songs from a past release, in this case their sophomore effort, Wonder What’s Next. They also played a healthy dose of songs from their latest disc, This Type of Thinking Could Do Us In, making for a good mix of songs. What was unfortunate, though, was the fact that they didn’t play anything off of Point #1. I’m sure they did this because not many people going to their shows would know any of the songs off of it and they have plenty of material to play from their last two discs, but it still would have been nice to have heard “Mia.” It’s quite forgivable, though, as Chevelle put on a mighty fine show, getting the crowd to jump up off their feet and move on almost every song. Chevelle’s songs translated extremely well into a live environment as the many varied buildups and thundering choruses in their songs were perfect for churning up the crowd and getting them to go nuts at just the right time. There were two songs in particular that managed to get just about everyone in the entire venue moving—“Forfeit” and “The Clincher”—both of which have booming choruses that everyone got into.

Even though it was quite late by the time Chevelle got done, the majority of the crowd, including myself, wanted more. I know that whenever I want to see a band play even longer, they must have been doing something right. I’d easily go see them again, especially at an 18+ show so I wouldn’t have to wade through all of little kids on the main floor. In the end, I have to give Chevelle an A- as well. They are a wonderful band to see live, but they aren’t quite lively enough onstage to warrant a full A.

All in all, getting to see Helmet and Chevelle made having to suffer through Future Leaders and Crossfade worth it. I’d highly recommend seeing either Helmet or Chevelle if you get the chance.

The Devil Doesn't Get His Due

I was checking the box office results for the weekend this morning and I was surprised and disheartened at the same time to see that Constantine was beat out by Hitch for the weekend. True it was only a 1.3 million difference ($31.8M for Hitch and $30.5M for Constantine), but just knowing that more people would rather go to an extremely crappy Will Smith comedy that looks horribly unappealing then go to see an introspective action movie about a man working to save his soul makes me sad. Maybe the fact that Constantine starred Keanu Reeves scared people away. I know he's reviled by many movie watchers, and Will Smith, no matter how horrendous of a movie he is in, seems to get audiences to flock to see him.

I also don't understand all of the negative reviews for Constantine. Sure, Keanu isn't the best actor in the world, but I think his emotional detachment schtick that he uses in every movie he's in actually works this time. John Constantine is a man who's seen everything there is to see, which I think might lead someone to be a little jaded and flat, especially knowing that no matter what you seem to do, you're still doomed to go to hell. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I'd rather see Keanu in a dark, action flick than Will Smith in any type of comedy any day. The only movies that Smith has been in that I've actually found watchable were I, Robot and Independence Day and the only reason I liked those two movies was for the eye candy. I could have cared less who the actors were in either of them so having Will Smith play the leads didn't matter to me.

What I also find amazing is that critics are always on Keanu's case for playing the same part in every movie when Hollywood darling Smith is just as guilty. It doesn' matter what movie he's been in (Bad Boys, Independence Day, Wild Wild West, I Robot, whatever), he's never played a character other than himself in the title role. He's always got the hard-ass look when he needs it and the same smiling comedic relief when the story needs it. He never deviates from playing himself in a movie. I am probably one of the few people on the planet that thinks this, but I feel that Keanu has slightly more acting chops than Smith does, but Smith is loved by everyone because he's charismatic in most of his roles as opposed to reserved and detached.

Anyhow, to get back to where I was originally going, I thought Constantine was a really good movie that didn't play out like an average Hollywood blockbuster. It actually felt like there was thought, time, and love put into this movie instead of simply using a stock movie template and adding a couple of twists to it. Go see Constantine. Even if you hate Keanu, go see it. Don't let your blind hatred of Reeves cloud a great movie that he actually manages to play a decent part in. It's a good movie, even if all the critics were paid to say otherwise.

A Candle in the Night

The small lick of flame coming from a candle so often illicits emotions of a peace, safety, and calm. In college I started to burn candles in my room in order to spruce up the smell of my apartment. My nose enjoyed the vanilla, pine, apricot, and other sweet smells much more than the empty vacuum of smell that was there before. As time progressed, and I met Kristin, the candles also became a sign of the closeness of our relationship. Many a night I would sit down to read, light a candle, and wait for Kristin to come over. Once she got there, we'd just sit and talk in the candlelight, simply enjoying each other's company. Unlike many couples, we didn't have to go do something to have fun--we were comfortable and enjoyed the peace of each other's prescence.

Living at home with my parents, my penchant for candle burning has come under attack from my mother. She doesn't like the fact that there is a force of destruction, no matter its size, in our house. She's afraid that I'll burn down the house or start something on fire, but I always keep an attentive eye on the candles I burn, as I so much enjoy being by them as their flames ficker and their smells waft upward into the air.

I do not know if it was sheer boredom or an overdose of curiosity, but I found myself examining the small, globe shaped, snowman candle I've been burning in my room at night. It was a gift from my grandma and I enjoy the glimmer of the snowmen as the flame inside illuminates the scene painted on the outside. The candle is getting close to the end of its life and I probably only have a few more nights of burning it left.

As the flame was burning, I closely examined the inside of the candle, the well that had formed as the wick had worked its way downward. The outsides of this well told of the waxy history of the candle. Near the wick the wax was liquid and still in flux--it's history yet to be cemented, but at the top of the candle, there would not be enough heat from the flame to ever change the streaky beads of wax that had formed.

The shapes and style of the wax buildup can tell you a lot about the flame that burned its way down. When the flame was strong, the well extended very far outward and some of the blue of the outer shell had melted into the off-white of the inner well. The odd permutations of blue that were formed were both beautiful and ugly, depending upon how the flame had merged the white wax with the candle's coating. As the well progressed downward, the outer walls moved futher inward, denoting that the flame was less powerful as it worked its way down. It no longer possessed the power melt the wax all the way out to the exterior of the candle.

As I looked closer at the walls near the flame that was burning, I saw that it had widened at one point. For some reason the flame grew stronger for a period before it contracted to the size that it currently burned at. Who knows if it'll flame up like that again before the wick runs out and the candle is snuffed out permanently, it's course having been run.

Each candle burns in its own style and creates its own unique path from the top of the wick to the bottom. Once a candle has burned to the bottom, it cannot be burned again. It has finished what it was meant to do--bring a light to the small pocket of darkness it illuminated.

A candle does not need to burn bright to be beautiful. Some candles flare up into a blazing bright light while others burn slowly and dimly. All are beautiful, however, if you only take the chance to notice them.

Mournful - Monochrome CD Review

It seems like lately the trendy thing to do if you’re a metal band is to just load up each song with a huge amount of breakdowns and scream along choruses, probably in order to show that you’re heavier than everyone else. Metal bands would rather be known for being intense, insane, and heavy as all hell instead of being known for being able to craft beautiful melodies and tender musical passages to complement their metal nature. Admittedly, it is harder to make an emotional metal release without it sounding contrived than it is to make a blistering metalcore cd that sounds crunchy and loud. It’s much more difficult to craft just the right amount of melody to go with the aggression than it is to simply crank up the amps and scream like you’re getting disemboweled. Mournful are one of the few bands that have managed to match their more tender emotions with the type of metal they play, crafting a very potent melodic metal release.

Mournful have two distinct styles metal that can be found to be at play on this cd. The first style has very intense and throttling guitars, driving drums, and aggressive bass lines playing with melodic vocals flowing over the top, offsetting the aggressive nature of the music. The other style consists of having melodic vocals work in tandem with a very contemplative, slow to mid tempo style of progressive metal. One example of the first style can be found in the song, “Granada,” the lead off track, in which Mournful grab you by the ears and make you listen. Truthfully, though, the real aggressive moments on this cd are outnumbered by the predominantly tender, emotional metal style that is so expertly on display through most of this release.

One way to visualize… well, audiblize maybe… anyways, to get a sense of what the basic musical formula Mournful uses sounds like, you could combine the progressive musical style of Tool with a healthy does of A Types era Hopesfall tempos and add to it a haunting tenor vocalist who’s not afraid to reach into his falsetto range, as well as throw in some doom metal tendencies and an occasional scream. This only gives you a general overview of Mournful’s different parts, of course, but as is often the case, these guys are a lot more than just a sum of their parts.

Many of the songs on this disc, such as “LHC” and “Head Down,” will draw you in with their initial mellow build up, hook you with their crooning choruses, and sink their claws into you completely with their culminating emotional climaxes of raw emotional release. If you let this cd sink in, I mean really give it all of your focus, you’ll find one of the best emotional metal releases to hit in quite some time. Monochrome manages to merge together all of the pieces that are needed to create a perfect emotional metal release.