Rammstein Singer Quits; to Be Replaced With KMFDM Co-Founder

The subject says it all. This is overall very bad news, but a KMFDM alum might just be the person to fit the bill.

Edit: A hoax? WTF?!?!

New Cult Sound Sample Available

A 90 second clip of The Cult's new single, "Dirty Little Rockstar," is available here. Sounds more than a bit like something off their 1994 self-titled album (i.e. a wee bit of techno/industrial influence).

The track is scheduled to hit the radio on August 13, and their new album, Born Into This, is slated for a release date of October 2. Thanks Blabbermouth.

Zeitgeist - Complete!

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that Zeitgeist, as individually released, is not at one with itself. Two of the extra tracks actually have places in the middle of the record. And if you compile them all into one playlist, you get an album that stretches over one hour, which hits a lot closer to the magnum opus length Billy likes.

So what follows is what I dub Zeitgeist (Complete). Feel free to make your own MP3 playlist or actual CD after collecting all the songs. You can buy everything or get them via other means. Just remember that Billy distributed MACHINA II for free. Power to the people!

1. Doomsday Clock
   
2. 7 Shades of Black
   
3. Bleeding the Orchid
   
4. That's the Way (My Love Is)
   
5. Tarantula
   
6. Starz
   
7. United States
   
8. Neverlost
   
9. Death From Above (Tarantula B-Side/Best Buy Bonus Track)
   
10. Bring the Light
    
11. (Come On) Let's Go!
    
12. Stellar (iTunes Bonus Track)
    
13. For God and Country
    
14. Pomp and Circumstances
    
15. Zeitgeist (Target Bonus Track)

The Loudness War Hits Yahoo

Yahoo has a front page story about the Loudness War. It's a bit simplified, but the fact that it's a featured article means the word is getting out to the masses. S'all good.

Metallica's "Other" New Song

You can hear a decent live recording of Metallica playing "The Other New Song" here. The lyrics are terrible (the "whoah" crap makes it sound like a really pathetic Misfits tune), but they'll probably be replaced. The main riff appears to be good, but the more I listen, the more I realize that isn't that sophisticated, and probably wouldn't be too much fun to learn and play. I do quite like the lead breaks and the spiffy middle riff. It gives the song a whole "Hit the Lights" vibe.

We shall see.

The Billy Corgan Experience

Zeitgeist is here and it's a monster. Not because of the music on it, but because of all the different releases. Someone should be flogged for this comic book cover type nastiness, but alas, there are probably enough fanboys out there to make this a worthwhile stunt.

Here in the USA we have five different options (regular, Best Buy exclusive track, Best Buy 70+ page booklet, Target exclusive track, iTunes exclusive track). I opted for the Target version, which has a purple cover, and includes the title track, "Zeitgeist", as an extra song at the end of the disc. It's a mere 2:50 in length, mellow (acoustic guitar and vox only) and pretty. I could've done worse.

I could go on at length about the quality of the disc, but to be honest, y'all can go to any of a million websites to get this information. Suffice it to say that it's good, but nothing that anyone needs (unless you happen to be something of a record collector completest like myself). The question to ponder is, "Why isn't this album better?"

I contend that it's because the band has officially become "The Billy Corgan Experience". In essence they always have been The Experience, with Billy calling all the shots, but the fact that it's abundantly clear now makes all the difference.

So why is it more obvious now? His second guitarist and bassist are merely there for the tour; they are not listed in the album credits, nor are there pictures of them. I suppose we should be happy that Jimmy Chamberlain got his face in the booklet and some music credit. Somewhere along the line, after the disaster known as Adore, Billy figured out he was worthwhile, and kept him around for Zwan and this record.

I firmly believe that no matter how much Corgan may have suppressed D'Arcy and Iha, that it's nigh-impossible that they didn't have some influence in coloring the music, especially their early efforts. I have absolutely no proof of this, but I simply can't believe they sat around for ten years being little more than studio musicians.

So what Smashing Pumpkins has now is a rotating crop of musicians. And much like Megadeth, unless Billy can settle on a lineup so the members have time to gel as a unit, the sounds he creates will never come close to when he had an actual band.

Sabbath Reunion With Ozzy, Again

Sharon claims that Sabbath is in talks to reunite with Ozzy. Frankly, at this point, I only want to hear that they're busy recording an entire new album. Seeing them tour ad infinitum, playing "War Pigs", "Paranoid, and "Sweet Leaf" until they're beaten into the ground, just isn't exciting to me anymore.

Bob Ludwig On the Recording Industry

Sound and Vision Online has an article up which interviews mastering engineer Bob Ludwig (and others) about the state of recording in the music industry. He discusses production, mastering, other talent who have to deal with the issue (i.e. Andy Wallace, known for his work with Nirvana, Slayer, Alice In Chains, Faith No More, Rage Against the Machine), and bands that "do it right" (i.e. Tool).

Zeitgeist Ahoy

The release of Smashing Pumpkin's latest disc, Zeitgeist, is next Tuesday, but you can listen to the stream here and watch the "Tarantula" video here.

I've heard the whole thing, and to summarize: it's good (say "Yay" if you like the return of guitars that sound like motors and engines) but not awesome. The worst bit is that it has poor mastering. There's no dynamic range whatsoever (all the instruments sit in the same space and barely go up or down in volume) and Jimmy's intricate drumwork gets lost too many times for my taste. Sad, but not too much of a surprise considering what Machina and the Zwan disc sounded like.

And to further add to my displeasure, like the comic book companies in the early 90s, it's coming out in about a billion different flavors (i.e. covers), each with a unique song, book, or DVD. I know artists don't necessarily have tons of say in this, but you'd think Billy wouldn't let this happen, considering he released the last batch of Pumpkins stuff for free.

First Half of Framing Armageddon Set For September 11 Release

Not much more to say "aboot" that, but if you need confirmation, it's mentioned on the Iced Earth home page.

Snakes & Arrows MVI, a Review

The introduction of a new music format deserves a review, even when it isn't really a new format, and the H-Man's here to tell you all about it (if you're looking for comments on the music itself, please feel free to read my album review first).

The Music Video Interactive disc, formerly known as a DVD Album, is Warner Music's new way of hyping certain new albums of their choosing. It's a DVD which contains the album's music in a number of forms (note: it's a DVD, not a CD, so it won't play in a CD player) plus extra multimedia features. To date there are only two available, this release, and Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight (which is bundled as a 2-pack with the CD).

The three main features of the Rush MVI are:

• The album in 96kHz/24 bit stereo (a large step up quality-wise from a CD's 44.1/16).
  
• The album in Dolby Digital surround sound.
  
• A 40 minute documentary detailing the making of the album.

In order to take full advantage of the 96/24 mix you need to hook your DVD player up to a receiver using the analog out jacks on your player. Copy protection on the disc will step the mix down to 48/16 if you use the digital out.

I spent a lot of time comparing the 96/24 mix to the original CD one, and, to my disappointment, I could find no discernible difference between the two. I didn't expect the 96/24 to be any less compressed (I already learned my lesson by buying the Vapor Trails vinyl, and finding it was just as bad as the CD), but I expected it to sound different in some fashion. Alas, regardless of what some people on the various Rush forums may say, it does not (I think they mostly compare to the surround mix; see below). Perhaps if you have thousands of dollars worth of equipment you can get something more, but with my Technics receiver, Vandersteen speakers, and Grado headphones, I could not coax any extra goodness from it. This isn't to say it sounds bad, because it doesn't (although they did cut off the last cymbal crash on "We Hold On"; who the hell is responsible for QC over there?), but don't look here for your extra value if you already bought the CD.

The surround mix, however, definitely sounds different. Fortunately it's not gimmicky at all: Alex Lifeson and engineer Richard Chycki enhanced the feel of the stereo mix without making it a constant barrage of surround trickery. The most obvious difference to me is that the drums have been pulled away from the rest of the mix and punched up in spots. They've even "Special Edition"-ized it in parts, such as added flanger to the last drum fill in "Malignant Narcissism". It's a shame that this isn't a high resolution mix, but to carry that off this would have to be a DVD-Audio, and considering how they're failing in the marketplace, I can understand (although not agree) with the suits' decision here.

The documentary is a decent look into the record's writing process, highlighting specifics for about half the songs on the record. I personally would've liked it to be a bit more technical, but the average fan of the band will appreciate the attention on the songs themselves and Neil's inspiration for the lyrics.

The MVI also contains:

• MP3 files at a fixed rate of 192 khz. This is a nice feature if you decided not to buy the CD, and don't care too much about the technical specification of your MP3 files.


• An application which allows you to create phone ring tones from any part of any song. You need to pay for the privilege after you have made your masterwork, which many people have complained about. I find this absurd, because you can always do this yourself with the CD, a sound editing program, and some know-how.


• Wallpapers, AIM icons, and pdfs of a) the printed booklet, and b) an essay by Neil on the making of the album.

The whole thing comes housed in a CD sized box. The lid lifts off shoebox-style to reveal a stapled CD type booklet (with most excellent art by Hugh Syme). The DVD is affixed to the bottom of the box by a standard CD holding nub.

It's a nice little package, and probably worth the sale price of $15.99, especially if you don't own the original CD. The value for me would've gone up a bit more if the high resolution stereo mix was noticeably different, or the documentary was twice as long, but it's not bad for a first stab at trying to appeal to both Joe Consumer and the fanboys.