The Good

Devin Townsend nonchalantly Tweets:

@dvntownsend counting down…late nights, great progress…suddenly very happy about record 2. Released around Nov 20.

and unleashes more verbose psychobabble on the world:

Musically, ‘Addicted’ is along the lines of the big, wall-of-sound hard rock/heavy metal of Ocean Machine and (The Devin Townsend Project’s) ‘Accelerated Evolution’ — even Physicist at points. It is a very direct and ‘to-the-point’ album with an emphasis on groove and the chorus.

Exciting stuff, seriously. If it’s 1/10th as good as Terria or Accelerated Evolution, it’ll be amazing. Perhaps more tantalizing however is:

On other notes: I have been rehearsing with a new band, and we will start touring in early 2010, representing all the back catalogue of solo material, from ‘Ki’, ‘Addicted’, Physicist, Ziltoid, Terria, Ocean Machine, The Devin Townsend Band, Infinity etc… I have some big plans for this and rehearsals are sounding amazing. The touring entity will be called ‘Devin Townsend’ and is essentially a way for me to get out there and interact again and showcase 15 years of music that never really got its fair shake. We look forward to seeing you out there!

Yeah! You better be doing that in the UK Mr. Townsend!

Next – A new track released off of Megadeth’s anticipated new album:

Do I hear some leanings back to Countdown to Extinction days? Speed metal loveliness indeed!

Every Time I Die released another new track off of the forthcoming New Junk Aesthetic on their Myspace. This is a delightfully pleasant recording, but does anyone else notice a hint of a softer, more commercial sound seeping through? Could this be the beginning of a slippery slope for the southern hardcore mavericks?

This week I discovered that not all Metalcore sucks, with the introduction to my music vocabulary of Burnt by the Sun. Like a darker version of Hatebreed, they keep the breakdowns to a minimum and deliver top notch aggressive metal. I may even put on some big sunglasses and a fake beard (to wear over my real beard) and venture out surreptitiously to but a copy.

Other stuff keeping me happy:

• No Made Sense with their brutal progressive hardcore and stupid sounding album title
• Photonic, which has lead me to dust off various albums by Fugazi, Pavement and Guided by Voices
• Oceansize. Apparently they have an EP out soon.
• Earth. Slowly I’m getting my head around this most frustrating of bands. Albums Pentastar and Hex are simply beautiful but also infuriating.
• Revocation. Everyone is carping on about them like infatuated teenagers thanks to Cosmo Lee’s article suggesting that they may be the next great metal band. That’s probably going a bit far at this early stage, but they are pretty good. The guitar solo on Dismantle the Dictator is to die for. No doubt Metal Hammer will be forcing them down our throat for the next 3 years.

The Bad

Desparately naive wannabe journo’s laying into indisputably legendary bands like Black Sabbath. Why on earth would you write such an ill-informed bucket of badger shit is totally beyond me.

Music streaming site Spotify is part owned by the evil overlords of the music industry in an attempt to keep the site afloat in the face of pitiful advertising revenues and in lieu of paying out royalties to the record labels. If this isn’t depressing enough, it sounds like the artists aren’t getting any royalties either and are unlikely to see any dividends when some cash burdened corporate is stupid enough to buy this service which is as likely to see profit as I am likely to turn green and transform into a million dollar bill.

…and the Ugly

This dude bustin’ some classy moves. I have been known to do this after a couple of beverages, which is when it gets truly ugly.

Currently doing heavy rotation on the interwebs – Phil Anselmo making a complete dog’s arse of Alice in Chains’ sublime Nutshell. He seems a little drunk, and guitar clearly isn’t his instrument, but it must of sounded like Stairway to Heaven through a haze of booze and weed.

So all your fiends and family are either on the brink of redundancy or about to die of swine flu. Your house is worth less than the boat that you’re going to have to by when the ice caps melt and you’ve taken a liking to the new Beyonce track and you’re concerned that this may develop into something more sinister.

Don’t feel so down old chum. Here’s some reasons to be cheerful!

The new Dillinger Escape Plan album Option Paralysis will be released early next year which apparently will sound “dark and evil –very early ’90s thrash-influenced” and not “upbeat and danceable –very Justin Timberlake-influenced” like we were all expecting.

One more instalment of the 4 album odyssey that is the Devin Townsend Project. This one will be heavier apparently, which is nice. Strapping Young Lad will be revisited on the 3rd album apparently. Apparently there are also twitters regarding some possible live appearances next year. A visit to the UK please Mr. Townsend!

The new album New Junk Aesthetic from southern hardcore frontrunners Every Time I Die in September. The first track released from this has backing vocals from Dillinger’s Greg Puciato. Read my thoughts here.

Alice in Chains got a new singer, and have recorded a new album due for a September release. Against all the odds, the first track released off of this opus is actually rather good.

Baroness have finished recording their new album, which is due out in October. If it’s 1/10th as good as The Red Album, then it should kick the arse out of most other stuff released this year.

Apparently Metal is currently the most popular musical genre in the UK. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether this is a reason to be cheerful or a reason to slit your wrists. If it leads to more unforgivable adolescent nonsense like this, then possible the latter, unless you’re 12, then surely the former.

Feeling happier? No? This should help (mainly because it’s what I’m listening to now, and it’s cheering me up).

Unlike the somewhat more lo-fi teasers for the next instalments of the Devin Townsend Project, the Alice in Chains teasers aren’t giving away much. The forboding content backed with heavy grooves are enticing indeed. Only 3 more months of anticipation and creepy ‘teasers’. Comeback albums of this sort rarely live up to expectation; bets on folks.