New music in!

Wow, I've been listening to new music for the first time in forever! Here's what I got my hands on and a few early impressions:

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Stadium Arcadium

I wasn't much of a fan of the older stuff from this band, I do believe they really struck gold with their "Californication" album, though.

I originally only listened to their new double cd because I wanted to see how long it'd take them to slip in an obvious drug metaphor. I was surprised I had to wait till well into the second track. Another thing that surprised me is that the album did have a few really good songs. After having listened to it a few times, I really like the first single "Dani California" – Yes, it's incredibly simple and repetitive, but it's catchy and funky, too. The title track "Stadium Arcadium" is also really nice, and it probably surpasses "Californication" in terms of weirdness in lyrics. Along with the title track "Tell Me Baby" is a likely candidate for the second single off the album. It sounds kinda like a mix of old and new, mixing the old funky style with the newer melodic style ala "Californication."

As for the rest of the album, I'm not really impressed. It has a lot of similarities with the older Chili Peppers stuff.. That is bass-driven, funky songs with speedy, rap-like vocals. If that's your style, you might enjoy it. If  you like the newer stuff, chances are you'll enjoy a few songs as well. I'm left with the feeling, though, that a lot of the songs could've easily been stripped off the album, reducing it to a one disc release.

Pearl Jam – Pearl Jam

Haven't listened to Pearl Jam in forever. I was hugely into their "Ten" album but since then, I've only listened to a few single. Once again, I'll have to state that I simply love lead singer Eddie Vedder's voice – it's powerful yet emotional (and downright haunting on tracks like "Gone"). The first few tracks didn't really do much for me, but after listening to the entire album most of it kinda grew on me.As far as I can see, the album recieved great reviews from almost everybody and Rolling Stone magazine even called it the "best pearl Jam record in 10 years." So I'm sure most Pearl Jam fans will eat it right up, I'll stick to saying that I think it's a good album that's definitely worth a listen. Then again, maybe I should stop comparing every Pearl Jam release to "Ten", you just know they're bound never to strike gold like that again

Godsmack – IV

Well, this was weird! It's Godsmack.. And then again it's not. Okay, first off I'll have to admit that I used to like this band way back when they released the "Awake" album. The strange thing about this new album is that it seems like they haven't really evolved since back then.. And at the same time they really have. The agresssion and anger is still there, but seems to have taken a back seat in favor or longer acoustic/clean passages, moody vocals and guitar solos.

And then they went and pulled a Metallica. The 8th song on the album, "Voodoo Too", reuses a lot of elements from the song "Voodoo", just like Metallica did with "The Unforgiven" and "Unforgiven 2", how very original, guys! I still think that "Voodoo" is one of the sexiest songs in excistance, so to hear the drums echoed on the next track did make me smile, sadly it all crashes and burns in the long run.

Overall conclusion? Well, it's Godsmack – catchy and nice, yet lacking in so many ways. I can easily see why they're a huge commercial success, though. They remind me of a hard rock version of Nickelback.

Tool – 10,000 Days

The thing about Tool is that their music is so damn hard to define and categorize simply because if its complexity. It's not exactly metal nor is it hard rock, it does have a very progressive feel to it, but to call it progressive rock would probably not be fair either. It's like complex layers of sound surrounding you and drawing you in; I litterally lost 30 mins of my day beccause I started listening to a few songs and couldn't stop before I'd heard the rest.

That being said, this album is probably not for everybody. Most of the songs clock in at well over 7 minutes with two of them hitting the 11+ minute mark. They seem to grow and develope in seemingly random yet complex ways, so if you're into nicely structured, semi-repetitive stuff this isn't for you. Yet if you like alternative, progressive rock stuff, I really suggest you give it a try. This is without a doubt the best album I've heard in years!