The Benja-man Is Verbose

I asked a few questions last time about how my relationship with  At The Expense Of Humanity  would evolve, whilst presaging that I probably wouldn't have anything interesting to say about why it is or isn't power metal.  So let's get that part out of the way.  You've got speedy riffs that change notes more than they change keys, and usually a baseline of Helloween-style drumrolls.  Granted, sometimes it skews more towards just plain old metal, including the parts with a Maiden-style mix of galloping riffs and power chords.  The basic chord structure consists almost exclusively of riffs that're versions, maybe a bit simpler, of what you'd hear on an Iced Earth record circa The Dark Saga , which most people would call a power metal record.  So okay, it's not a stretch at all to slot  Expense  in amongst the classics of our little subgenre here, moving on. I think that's actually what I need to explain the dichotomy I'm hearing when I try ...

Previous exposure to this artist/album :  See below I have a bit of a weird relationship with Judicator, in that I first became aware of their existence a few years ago when checking out new music and I clicked with their quirky 2022 record, The Majesty Of Decay.  I learned just enough about the band to know that Majesty was a bit of a departure, thanks in no small part to John Yelland basically becoming the band's sole creative force, whereas main guitarist and bassist Alicia Cordisco (known at the time and credited as Tony) had been pretty much the composer previously, and so this was this big reinvention in trying to write songs without her.  Thing is, I quite enjoyed The Majesty Of Decay  for what it was.  Whereas, I'd also listened to one of Alicia's post-Judicator projects, Project: Roenwolfe, and at least their EP, well, I wasn't mad at it but I didn't really connect with it.  And then the new version of Judicator went on to put out Concord , a recor...

I don't know whether there's universal agreement on how people frame different Zevon "eras," but Mutineer has to be considered late-period, right?  After Learning To Flinch , Zevon was in full wizened-troubadour mode, making less produced music with a few handpicked collaborators from a home studio.  I feel like the four years between the trio of records that ended with Mr. Bad Example and Mutineer seems like a pretty clear place to draw a line.  Whether or not that's the standard understanding, that'll be mine.  Mutineer seems considerably closer to me to the record he'd release five years later than it does to his past work.   (As reader may have gathered, I'm quite familiar with Life'll Kill Ya , whereas really everything except the title track of Mutineer was totally new to me.) Track One:  "Seminole Bingo" Despite the preamble above, I didn't necessarily have the impression of a big stylistic shift when first playing Mutineer ....

There's a moment in "Farewell My Hero" in which everything changes.  What seemed to be one story becomes another, one much greater.  Using nothing but a change in tenses, * Daltor transforms from world's guiding light to martyr.  The way his drawn out death serves a springboard to let the others rise up, is one of those celebrations of the human spirit that you can only... ... okay, no; I cannot keep a proverbial straight face while typing that.  This is some silly-ass shit right here, and I am fundamentally incapable of getting into it.  Return to fucking Sendor ** .  Of all the power metal records with deeply embarrassing lyrics,  The Alliance Of The Kings  is very much one of them.   I don't bounce off all of them quite so hard, though.  It's worth asking what it is about Alliance that keeps me from meeting it halfway.  I mean, this is a series of rambles about power metal, a subgenre in which embrace of goof...

Stand In The Fire  [1980; although I'm using the 2007 reissue] tracklist 1)  Stand In The Fire 2)  Jeannie Needs A Shooter 3)  Excitable Boy 4)  Mohammed's Radio 5)  Werewolves Of London 6)  Lawyers, Guns, And Money 7)  The Sin 8)  Poor Poor Pitiful Me 9)  I'll Sleep When I'm Dead 10)  Bo Diddley's A Gunslinger/Bo Diddley [cover of Bo Diddley songs, mostly "Gunslinger"] B1)  Johnny Strikes Up The Band B2)  Play It All Night Long B3)  Frank And Jesse James (solo piano version) B4)  Hasten Down The Wind (solo piano version) Learning To Flinch  [1993] tracklist 1)  Splendid Isolation 2)  Lawyers, Guns, And Money 3)  Mr. Bad Example 4)  Excitable Boy 5)  Hasten Down The Wind 6)  The French Inhaler 7)  Worrier King 8)  Roland Chorale 9)  Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner 10)  Searching For A Heart 11)  Boom Boom Mancini 12)  Jungle Work 13)...

Prior exposure to this band/record:  Zero. The Alliance Of The Kings (which fortunately seems to be its official title, as I would refuse out of principle to write out  The Alliance Of The Kings - The Black Crystal Sword Saga Pt. 1 ) begins with a spoken word section that frames the record, in part, as follows: Sendor, the Supreme Dark Wizard, came to know about the existence of a mysterious sword that gave its holder absolute power: immortal life, unbelievable strength, and knowledge of all magic. No one knew about the sword except the four Kings from the four corners of the world. The sword had been hidden in the Dark Cave in Noland under the cover of darkness, and locked in a hidden place that could only be opened if the four weapons of the four Kings were revealed before it... And it goes on like that, but I might fall asleep if I try to transcribe any more.  Let's pretend for just a sec to ignore any language barriers that might lead one to snicker at ...

Since I've done Avantasia before, I ended up forgoing the usual two-posts thing.  So, this'll be it. When does The Scarecrow generate excitement for a listener of my particular tastes.  Pretty much from minute one.  The moment "Twisted Mind" hit, I was grinning.  Yeah, this is what I came for  Da-da-da-daDAH!  The main riff is positively groovy, sounds heavy, sounds electronic.  Instantly memorable.  Speaking of memorable, Roy Khan's unmistakable vocals immediately set the mood to go to the slightly darker side of power metal, sticking to his great low range to let Tobias handle the high stuff in a way that quickly turns up the intensity higher than you get with Kamelot.  So I was intrigued pretty early.   Now, when does that buzz fade?  It was a little later each time.  On the first listen it was at the chorus of that song.  My mind started wandering early.  The record seemed more full of downtuned meanderings than ...