THE LAST SUPPER

Read Luke 22:1-23

Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat." Luke 22:7-8 NKJV

1. Godhead - Eleanor Rigby - Covering the Beatles is a very risky decision. Godhead is not the greatest metal band in the world, but this is definitly a cool take on a classic song.

2. Chastain - Black Knight - I doubt you've heard of this band, I hadn't until a couple weeks ago when I read about them in Guitar World magazine. Basically, it's one of those 80's bands with a virtuoso guitarist. They actually had a female singer too. This has a cool riff and the guitar solos are sick.

3. Flight of the Conchords - Hiphopopotomus vs Rhymenoceros - If you haven't heard of this 2-man comic group, try catchin their show on cable or YouTube some videos. They are hilarious and the songs are actually pretty good. They are like the New Zealand version of Tenacious D, less metal...more dry humor.

4. Brian 'Head' Welch - Flush - This is the first single from the former Korn guitarist. If you hadn't heard, he quit drugs, Korn, and found God. Honestly, this song annoyed me when I first heard it, but it's grown on me. You can definitly tell he was the best musician in Korn.

5. Breaking Benjamin - Natural Life - Its not like I just recently 'found' this song, but I did get reaquainted with it this week. It qualifies as having a sweet intro. I love that simple-but-heavy riff.

6. Blue October - What if We Could - This is a great song. One of my favorites off their "Foiled" album. I'm actually suprised it wasn't released as a single. It starts off very calm, and then escalates to an angst filled bridge.

7. Fallout Boy - Beat It - Yeah, they covered Michael Jackson. And, John Mayer joined them to do it. It's not terrible. It was a catchy song when MJ did it, and its a catchy song still.

8. Lamb of God - Hourglass - This song has stepped up as my new favorite Lamb of God song, and favorite song to listen to while working out. I think I'm pretty much set that this is the perfect metal band. Their drummer is amazing, their guitars rock, the vocals are top-notch, and try to find holes in the bass playing.

9. 3 Doors Down - It's Not My Time - It's not like they are the greatest band ever, but they write some cool songs. This new song ranks right up there with 'Kryptonite', 'Here Without You', and 'Behind Those Eyes'. So, of course it'll get a ton of radio play.

10. Serj Tankian - Sky is Over - Since I can't bring myself to listen to "Scars on Broadway", I'll have to stick with Serj to get my System of a Down fix. I've actually been listening to the acoustic version of Sky is Over, but there's not actually any acoustic guitars. It's just piano and vocals.

これはＬａｍｂ　ｏｆ　Ｇｏｄのミュージックビデオです。曲名は「Ｒｅｄｎｅｃｋ」です。この誕生日パーティーで来た人達とバンドメンバーのテンションの違いがかなりウケる（笑。そしてなんと言ってもドアに当てられてる彼が…笑。王道だよねアレはもぅ。しかも一度とならず二度までも…笑。でも最後には誕生日の女の子に素敵な笑顔が :) クリップ楽しんで下さい！！Ｌａｍｂ　ｏｆ　Ｇｏｄで、「Ｒｅｄｅｃｋ」。

***i was just checking my entry and the video does not seem to work... :( message saying this video is not available... wtf? its still on youtube!! well, here is the link so please check it out!!

***今、自分の投稿をチェックしてたんだけど、なんかビデオがちゃんと見れない… :( なんでや？ビデオが存在しませんみたなメッセージ出るんねんけど…ごるぅあ？まだＹｏｕｔｕｂｅ出てるやん！！！良くわかんないけど、下のリンクから行って下さい！！

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQYPn_en6OU

I recently came across a GREAT student exchange forum, www.cultures-shocked.org, thanks to one of the other outbound students going to Germany with the Rotary club. I really quite enjoy this website, mainly because there is so much there already that precisely answered and addressed some of my issues that I wanted to discuss.

And although I haven't really been counting down the days until I do leave, it is nice to realise that now that I have done 2 weeks of my trials, I am another 2 weeks closer to actual flying out. But I am SO not prepared to go at the moment. I mean. There is still over 100 days to go, so by 50 days or so I think that I'm going to start freaking out or something.

One thread that I really quite enjoyed on the cultures-shocked website was the "Countdowns" page, where everyone was just simply counting down the days until they were flying out. Some of them still had pretty much a full year to go, and others were posting time in the minutes, which was really exciting. I thought that I had gotten all the initial excitement out of my system, but just reading these little bits of text where people were counting down their days until they left got me so excited.

On the language front, I have rather been neglecting my Finnish and Swedish studies, simply because I really don't have a lot of time to get involved with studies outside of school subjects. :(
But it will only be a matter of time before I'm actually finished school here in Australia, which is great, and there will be about a 2 month gap or so before I leave for Finland.

On a completely different note however, I got myself a music voucher to use, just a little reward for getting over (everyone else) stressing about the trials. I just can't believe how honestly random some of the music is. It's even weird for me. Ive got stuff like :

• Black Label, Lamb of God (great song really, not really good for waking up to though:D)
• Meeting Paris Hilton, by CSS (this is like, THE BEST song, despite its lack of gripping content lol)
• Clap Your Hands!, by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (pretty nifty song indeed)
• Lovefool, by The Cardigans (greaaaat stuff, reminds me of the radio in the nineties:D)

And these are just a few. But I enjoy my eclectic music style. :D Hope you guys are having a great week, and I will be back sooner, hopefully.

Till next time^^
Matty

Anyway, after the musical divulgence that my sister started me on I raided my parents cd collection for all the classic oldies, Led Zep, Thin lizzy, Genesis, Pink Floyd, stuff like that, which I see as providing my musical foundation... and from there I met a bloke in secondary school, and both me and him happened to leave that school at the same time, so we stuck together through the miracles of instant messenging.

Now I know this probably isn't all that interesting to much of you, but bugger it if this isn't my blog, so if you don't like it you know where the address bar is. Anyway, this guy first sent me on the path of a band now known as Lamb of God, but then known as Burn the Priest... it's pretty hardcore metal, but it's of the variety that doesn't overdo the screaming but does overdo on the pure awesome.

Fast forward a few years to when we're both in between school and University, and we happened to go on a trip to South Africa together where we helped look after Cheetahs near the Kruger National park... anyway, we were stuck quite often in our hut with nothing but his mp3 player and my overly loud headphones.... anyway, that was where I met a lesser known Indie rap band called Atmosphere, who actually talked about stuff that I was remotely interested in, so they get my vote mainly because of that, but also because they have some pretty heavy beats... which I always love.

The next few bands I'm just going to throw at you because they were found out within the space of a month or two, mostly through my mate who spent far too much time surfing music forums, but a few of my own choices... anyway, here is Xploding Plastix, a acid jazz band so underground it's not true.. Stars of the Lid, a 'drone' band that is probably THE best thing to utterly lose yourself in... I went to a gig of theirs in May and I swear it was like achieving Nirvana or something... Boards of Canda, an IDM band from Scotland which I think are quite possibly the best band to listen to at 4am in the morning, preferably by a lake... Neutral Milk Hotel, a folk band with a supposed love affair with Anne Frank, despite her being dead half a century... and finally, Bon Iver, some guy who locked himself in a shed for a few months and came back with pure beauty on a record.

So that's it, a cross section of my musical evolution... of course there's a whole plethora of bands that I've missed out, but I think that shows a good selection for you to be getting on with. I want reports people! Investigate and return!

P.S. This one isn't so unknown, but it's just as awesome. I give you Seasick Steve, you can thank me later.

Edit: So I've been asked to pimp my sister.... here she is: My Sister. Oh, and btw, if you're thinking something dirty right now, I'll murk you. For serious.

Chris Adler, baterista, dice:

"We are excited change things up this time and work with Josh. We've never stayed in one place too long, and the evolution continues. There is an aggressive shift in the material and our approach. The bar has been raised."

Lamb of God the metal giants have been hard at work in the studio to prepare for it's new studio album which is untitled as of this moment and the band plans on releasing sometime in February of 2009. It will be a follow up to "Sacrament" which was released back in 2006. The band is proud of the album and they say this album raised a bar to their music.

Billboard reports:

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003839196

Lamb of God is a great band, one of the best new metal bands to come out in a long time. I loved "Sacrament" and looking forward to getting their new album too.

Kev

El baterista Chris Adler comenta: "estamos emocionados por cambiar un poco las cosas esta vez con Josh, nunca nos hemos mantenido en el mismo sitio mucho tiempo y la evolución continua. Hay un agresivo cambio en el material y en la forma en que lo tomamos".

El álbum se espera que salga para febrero del 2009, bajo la firma Epic Records, y con Roadrunner manejando todas las versiones para Norte América.

I love Rock Band. Throughout cyberspace, there are plenty of forums full of flame wars regarding how the game requires no talent, and perhaps serves as a way to reduce the value of actually playing an instrument. Let's not lie to ourselves. Playing a real guitar versus playing 5 buttons and a strummer (with an occasional whammy) is much more difficult, and requires much more practice... Every time I go to a concert, I can only stand in awe and acknowledge the superior skill required to handle chords, hand positions, rhythm, and multiple strings. And don't get me started on drumset. Quite more intimidating than the four-padded set which comes with the game.

In either case, playing Rock Band, is FUN, and I enjoy the game to no end. Every Tuesday, I'll briefly give a run down of the newly released songs, and any pertinent information regarding them. I'll probably enclose a youtube video of the note charts if that interests you.

This week, the Roadrunner pack was released. The six songs/artists are of the Roadrunner label, which specializes in Heavy Metal music. Some notable artists on the Roadrunner label are of course, Slipknot, Cradle of Filth, Poison the Well, Lamb of God, Nickelback, and Megadeth, just to name a few. Check out the list of artists here. Or visit the Official Website Here.

Anywho, the list for this week

Aesthetics of Hate - Machine Head
Clouds over California - Devildriver
Constant Motion - Dream Theatre
My Curse - Killswitch Engage
Runnin' Wild - Airbourne
Sleepwalker - Megadeth

If you remember the GH2 days, Hangar 18 may have been a nemesis of yours, especially on Expert. Guaranteed to spike your heart rate. So is the case with Sleepwalker. It is easily the hardest song created to date, is it is a Tier 9 song for guitar, drums, and vocals (8 for bass... what a break!). Here's a clip of the insanity.

Guitar... the solos are ridiculous

Drums... Just ridiculous in general

Esta es la lista entera de fechas hasta el 31 de Enero del 2009:

Metallica con Down y The Sword:
Octubre 21 - Glendale, AZ Jobing Arena
Octubre 23 - Albquerque, NM Tingley Coliseum
Octubre 25 - Kansas City, MO Sprint Center
Octubre 26 - Des Moines, IA Wells Fargo Arena
Noviembre 1 - Portland, OR Rose Quarter
Noviembre 3 - Salt Lake City, UT Energy Solutions Arena
Noviembre 4 - Denver, CO Pepsi Center
Noviembre 6 - Omaha, NE Qwest Center
Noviembre 8 - Moline, IL iWireless Center
Noviembre 9 - Columbus, OH Schottenstein Center
Noviembre 17 - St. Louis, MO Scottrade Center
Noviembre 18 - Tulsa, OK BOK Center
Noviembre 20 - Houston, TX Toyota Center
Noviembre 22 - Little Rock, AR Alltel Arena
Noviembre 23 - New Orleans, LA New Orleans Arena

Metallica con Lamb of God y The Sword:
Diciembre 1 - Seattle, WA Key Arena
Diciembre 2 - Vancouver, BC GM Place
Diciembre 4 - Calgary, AB Pengrowth Saddledome
Diciembre 7 - Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
Diciembre 12 - Ontario, CA Citizens Bank Arena
Diciembre 13 - Fresno, CA Save Mart Center
Diciembre 15 - San Diego, CA Cox Arena
Diciembre 17 - Los Angeles, CA The Forum
Diciembre 20 - Oakland, CA Oracle Arena

Metallica con Machine Head y The Sword:
Enero 12 - Milwaukee, WI Bradley Center
Enero 13 - Detroit, MI Joe Louis Arena
Enero 15 - Washington, DC Verizon Center
Enero 17 - Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Center
Enero 18 - Boston, MA TD Banknorth Center
Enero 26 - Chicago, IL Allstate Arena
Enero 29 - Uniondale, NY Nassau Coliseum
Enero 31 - Newark, NJ Prudential Center

PS : Ce blog entre en mode coolitude estivale, chemise ouverte et Converse sur le bureau, attention ça va blaster sévère au camping...