I don't post here as often as I should and I should be posting some promos for my own work but I have little time away from "work" and I like to have some fun. So instead of cramming my wares up yer arse today I'd like to share with you a little of the inspiration that keeps me going day to day. I promise it won't be boring unless you hate great music!
True Inspiration - Me at a Crowbar show on 8-7-19 (That's Kirk Windstein behind me!)
I won't get too wordy here because I don't need to. I don't get every story idea directly from the music I pump through my headphones as often as possible but that doesn't stop music from being a constant inspiration in what I do. I was going through some of the awesome music I've accumulated this year (about 125-ish albums so far - that's a light year actually) and listening to some of my favorite tracks. These are songs that I haven't listened to just a few times, these are songs I'll put on repeat for an hour at a time. People like to ask me where my ideas come from and aside from simply saying "My Head" the truth is most of my ideas come from letting my mind drift away while I'm listening to music. That is why I'm posting this today. The place songs like these let my mind drift away to is where the ideas come from. It's that simple and that complex. I am a metalhead so some of these tracks won't surprise you but I'm sure a few of these just might. These are in no real order other than the order I feel like putting them in at the moment. These are all great so hopefully they'll inspire something out of you or perhaps just bring a smile to your face. Now I'll start you off slow... Enjoy!
I wasn't a Baroness fan until the Yellow & Green double album where they won me over with tons of great songs. This is an acoustic version of Cold Blooded Angels but I love the album version as well. I also find tons of inspiration from vocalist/guitarist/lead songwriter John Baizley's art as well.
The Four Horsemen by John Baizley
I only recently discovered this band because this vid popped up in my YouTube feed one day and I fucking love it. First off I love the movie O'Brother Where Art Thou and the song Man of Constant Sorrow (I have a few different versions of it) and I was a Metallica fanatic as a teenager. This mash-up is fantastic and it started me looking at other Native Howl music. They are a ton of fun so check 'em out!
Troll is another band only only discovered this year. They're on the doom side of things and the album overall is pretty good but I really enjoy this track the best.
Lord Vicar is another band I only discovered this year. The entire album "The Black Powder" is fantastic but this is my favorite track. I can drift away on this one and well... I am a horror writer so Nightmare? Yeah!
Enough slower stuff for a moment. Misery Index have been around forever and this may be the catchiest song I've ever heard from them. I completely FUCKING LOVE IT!!
I avoided listening to this band because I saw them labeled as "metalcore" and if you know my tastes you know I pretty much hate metalcore. This is simply because the songs are tired and formulaic making every fucking metalcore band sound pretty much the same. Anyway, I finally listened to these Ukranian monsters because I saw a lot of clamor over the lead singer. She does not disappoint, what a Holy Shit Amazeballs voice! In the end I love this song and a few others and they are closer to deathcore mixed with djent and some dashes of metalcore songwriting structure (clean verse/harsh chorus or vice versa) but when your singer's voice is this awesome I can look past it.
Soen's last album, Lykaia, is one of my favorites and this year's Lotus is headed in the same direction because of their solid songwriting. For a band that started as a simple Tool knock-off they have really grown into their own sound and style of progressive metal.
This one may surprise you but I love this band. In fact I had a tough time deciding which song to share so do yourself a favor and look up "Too Bad" also. Rival Sons are straight up Blues based Rock 'n' Roll and they do it fantastically. They sound like they were born a couple decades too late but I'm just glad they're here for me to enjoy now.
In the immortal words of Negan... "I hope you got your shittin' pants on." Whitechapel's latest album, The Valley, has so many great songs I had a hard time deciding which was my favorite but it came down to this or "Hickory Creek" and I felt like listening to the heavier of the two. The Valley is one of the best albums of the year so just go listen to the whole damn thing!
So far this is still my top album and top song of the year. This new Lord Dying album has so many layers of emotion & musicality that I really can't see something coming along that I'll like better this year. I know the new Tool album will be out soon but it will have to be off the wall amazeballs to take the top spot. Tool is my favorite band hands down so you need to know how much it pains me to even think that.
Well speaking of Tool. If you haven't listened to this about a 1000x already you are not a real Tool fan!!!! Seriously first new song in 13 fucking years! Listen. Listen now. Repeat until the voices stop.
This is my current favorite song, the song I can't seem to stop listening to. Black Passage is a "supergroup" made up of members of Fallujah, Wolf King, Behold The Desecration and Anisoptera - of those I only really know Fallujah who are a personal favorite. The songs combine tons of styles but blend it all together into what amounts to blackened technical melodic death metal. Yeah, it's easier to just say awesome and leave it at that.
I think that's a pretty good smattering of my musical inspiration for you. I literally have an endless supply of this inspiration since these are only songs from this year and I've been an album collecting metalhead nerd since I was very young. Hopefully you enjoyed some of those and if not... well... you have no taste in music. What can I say? LOL
Now I have plenty of actual work to do that I was procrastinating by doing this so I'll get to it now. Until next time...
Now I have plenty of actual work to do that I was procrastinating by doing this so I'll get to it now. Until next time...
Also coming on September 3rd!!!! My story, Kairor Chamber, will be featured in Tenebrous coming from Stitched Smile Publications!
RSS Feed
