Tom Petty's New Release: Quiet CD

Mudcrutch, Tom Petty's old band from the 70s, is doing a vinyl release of their new material this Tuesday. It comes with a CD of the music, which is not so unusual (after all, Judas Priest's Nostradamus vinyl release also comes w/CDs). What is unusual, however, is that the CD packaged with the Mudcrutch vinyl is purposefully quieter than the standard CD that will be sold standalone. You can read about it (and other aspects of the bad quality found in today's recordings) in USA Today and The New York Times.

Bravo to their record company, who realizes that the audiophile wants good sounding music on the home stereo, in a car CD player, on ripped to an mp3 player.

Jon Schaffer's Call For Dynamic Range

Iced Earth history was remade last week when they released their latest EP, I Walk Among You. Popular vocalist Matt Barlow is back, and sounding just as good as ever did. The lead single for September's Something Wicked Part II (officially entitled The Crucible of Man), "I Walk Alone", is a mighty stomp which pleases even though it doesn't exactly stun the listener with anything unexpected.

Also on the disc are reworked versions of "Setian Massacre" and "The Clouding". Poor Ripper: it's like he never existed. These songs are more or less like the original, sans Owens. "Massacre" gets some flanger added to the guitar, and "Clouding" has Barlow holding a note longer before the big metal flourish. And if you wanna really erase poor Tim from memory, feel free to buy the iTunes exclusive of "A Charge to Keep".

An unexpected spiffiness about the release is this liner note from Schaffer:

This is a dynamic metal record! Play it loud!!! (We refuse to ruin our production by compressing the hell out of it so that it's mastered at ridiculous volumes! That kills the vibe and dynamics of the mix. Just turn it up on your stereo!)

Confusingly said, but kudos for the heart being in the right place, even if it's still a bit loud for my tastes. It definitely sounds better than a lot of other modern CDs, but when compared to most from the early 90s, well, someone apparently forgot to tell the mastering engineer how Jon feels....

Judas Priest's Latest Released

Well that escaped me. On Tuesday the Priest released their 2-disc Saucy Jack, entitled Nostradamus. If two discs aren't enough, you also have the option of getting it with a hardcover book. And if that isn't enough, you can get it from Best Buy with three pieces of vinyl and a poster. Yay!

Just look at the cover...I'm scared. Comments after I pick it up this weekend.

New Metallica Album Title Revealed

They've been teasing us for a week or so, but the reveal has happened. Not a bad title, and I'm happy to see the old logo make it's return. There's also a little video with some music playing in the background, and the riff isn't half bad. Check it here or (currently) here.

Cosmo Promotes Music Piracy

Hey ladies! Can't get yer guy to buy you the sick new tunes? Cosmo to the rescue! Just get your gal-pals to help you steal it. What a great way to get a new BFF! Lollerz! (thanks HardOCP)

Sneak Peak at New Metallica

Not enough to go on yet, but semi-interesting nonetheless. So share and enjoy here.