Kelley - guitar
Scooter - vocals/guitar
Jeremy - bass
Sam - drums
Terry - guitar
After the dawn of Alternative Rock, dozens of bands began focusing their negative energy to create spiteful songs that resonated with crashing guitars and howling, pain-stricken vocals. Depression and frustration became the emotional conditions of the hour, and the music scene became glutted with groups that either feigned despair, or were so bleak they became inextricably tangled in their own gloom.
Today, in an era where angst and volume have become passe, there are still a handful of bands that choose to internalize anguish and regurgitate it as a visceral, deeply moving melody. One of those is Jacksonville, Florida's Cold, but Cold aren't your average self-immolating neo-grunge outfit. While numerous heavy riffing alternative bands wallow in their pain, Cold revel in the dark, celebrating its tense, inviting grip and embracing its all-consuming energy. "I'm happy with the darkness," says frontman Scoot Ward. "I've had a negative outlook for so long. And the way I see stuff has always been bleak, so I've learned to make that good. I just like to write songs that express how I feel."
Cold's self-titled album voices the band's nihilistic outlook with lumbering beats, twisting guitar lines, surging rhythms and rough, raspy vocals. But while the group is certainly in touch with its inner hostility, the members are also aware that beauty and ugliness need to co-exist in order to present a balanced equation. "We're influenced by lots of different stuff, not just heavy music," says Ward. "We like Tool and Black Sabbath, but we also love Radiohead and even Sarah McLachlan. I was really into the Cure and Depeche Mode when I was growing up, and Sam was really into Kiss and Sabbath. Our stuff is just a mixture of all the things we like. There's nothing wrong with melody as long as it's still got emotion in it."
You can accuse Cold of being cynical or negative, but no one could possibly call them shallow or unfeeling. Their debut disc shudders with emotional revelations as cathartic as primal scream therapy. From the disoriented fury of Kelley Hayes' guitar lines to the heartfelt hopelessness of Ward's ravaged howls, Cold is a band that's not afraid to expose its true voice. The first single "Go Away," which builds from a deep, bopping groove to a churning wall of despondency, is a rant against the selfish and ungrateful.
Of Monsters and Men is an up and coming Icelandic band that uses emotional lyrics and familiar subject matter in their songs. While they do not use a direct interpretation of the lyrics in their music videos, Of Monsters and Men uses the symbolism of a phoenix and a group of mythical monsters to bring forth the overall message of their song; the power of hope when a loved one is struggling with a mental disease. Drawing their inspiration from the Icelandic fairytales and stories they used to hear growing up, Of Monsters and Men captivates an audience of many generations. “Little Talks” by Of Monsters and men uses a catchy rhythm and heartbreaking lyrics of loneliness to emphasize the burden of mental diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, on the patients and their loved ones.
True to the mysterious character of their name, Midnight Voices opens the album with a curious chant titled “If You Knew Us.” Beginning with a gradual fade-in, the group chants the puzzling phrase “If you knew us, then uh . . .” repeatedly and without any musical accompaniment. A steady rhythm is maintained throughout, even when the Voices modify their chant by including their names. After the chant is repeated a few more times, the group throws in yet another mysterious line, which further heightens the listener’s curiosity. The line, “If you knew the voices, then uh . . . you would know the world and uh . . .” provides a hint to the listener of the social commentary to come. The chant then returns to its first verse, and slowly fades out. This short piece serves as an introduction to both the group and the general message of their music and album.
The Zac Brown Band is one of the most cavort country music bands of this generation. The band presents their music in a relatable fashion so their fans can have a few stagnant moments of self-awareness before returning to their usual fast-paced lives. The band accomplishes this by making their music comfortably fluent and sometimes emotional. In a review published by the New York Times entitled “Farmer’s Market Sounds, Comfortable as an Old Guitar,” the author, Jon Caramanica, presents the band’s latest album, “Uncaged,” by ripping the album into its basic elements to laud and denounced the imbalanced spectrum of their music.
In closing, the undoubtable influence of music, more specifically of Rock ‘n’ Roll on American society is responsible for a number of changes to the status quo. These range from sexual liberation and racial desegregation all culminating with other influences to create an intergenerational identity. Despite the desperate attempts of older generations to smother these influences, these changes ultimately shaped the years that followed, molding the country into what it is today. Along the way these changes as well as individual involvement in them has also eased the lives of many through empowerment and a feeling of community and purpose. Despite a lull and renewal Rock ‘n’ Roll continues to serve as an agent of influence and change in today’s youth culture and continues to burn in the heart of past generations of loyal fans.
Moreover you can hear the sounds of crying faintly in between all of the noise, also you can hear some sounds of a man talking. It is hard to make out what he is saying because it is muffled, but you can tell by his tone that he is speaking in a harsh tone. In “A Child Called ‘it” the song start with the singer screaming “Mother I really hate the way you treat me like no other!” Along with the intense lyrics the guitar lets some strong power chords ring out, also you can hear the heavy crash of the symbols which add emphasis to each of the phrases. After this there is an instrument that consists of a few guitar riffs and the rest of the band playing. In “Im OK” there are no heavy guitar parts its a completely different feel; once the music starts you just hear slow finger picking of the guitar. When Aguilera sings she has a short voice compared to the hard rock sound in “A Child Called ‘it.” In Buckcherry’s song after the strong intro the guitars quite down, the song switches the focus on singer singing, “I count the days and nights they are all numbered she takes the pain out on me and not my brothers.” The artist wants you to understand want is happening, the child has been singed out from his siblings and is being stuck and abused by his mother. After that he sings, “ keep it all inside, never see me cry,” the child is trying to be tough and doesn't want the mother to see that she is hurting him. As the singer sings this you can hear another voice behind the music yelling the something, they want to show the anger and the pain the child is feeling for this
Throughout the 1970’s, there were several musical groups experimenting with new styles and techniques within their musical compositions. This musical exploration began with the Beatles, when they released their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which pushed new frontiers in studio experimentation. What stood out about this album is how widely electric many of the songs were. Other artists began experimenting with vocals, instrumentation choice, rhythmic structures, and many other musical components, ultimately pushing the boundaries of rock. Several sub-genres were developed during and shortly after this time including noise rock, indie rock and post rock. One such sub-genre of music to arise from this era was math rock.
Emotional intensity, infectious melodies and passionate lyrics make for extremely compelling music; this album definitely had all three. The album’s melodic and lyrical magic that exuded from Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks left me mesmerized. When these sincere artists combined their vocal harmonies and surreal songwriting with their emotionally driven revelations of love, loss, heartbreak and turmoil, one of the ultimate classic albums emerged.
In “Viva la Vida”, Coldplay states: “Feel the fear in my enemy’s eyes”(2) This overstatement shows that he knows what he has lost
Their third album,Vessel, envokes a sensation comprable to that of a therapy session. A melodious, memorable, forty-five minute long therapy session. The album tugs at some hard emotions. This level of emotion causes some to classify it as Emo. I find that to be inacurate. Unlike most Emo music, the album doesn’t leave the listener feeling more dismal afterwards.
Many people view heavy metal as loud, obnoxious music played by people with no talent and listened to by a bunch of head banging punks who do not like listening to “real music”. But many people do not know anything about heavy metal or its history. Heavy metal is a term widely characterizing a style of music that is loud, aggressive, and extremely popular. Heavy metal is extremely diverse and has many sub genres which is why not all heavy metal bands sound the same. Many different heavy metal bands and sub genres originate from all over the world. During its 40-plus-year history, heavy metal has outlasted many trendier genres and continues to evolve and become popular today.
I love how Coldplay decided to make their album cover look like a battle they were trying to fight. The women on top holding the French Flag looks like it demonstrates victory, which in Coldplay’s position, accomplishment for creating a new album. I feel like the album is a good example that demonstrates what they were going through since they were “fighting” to create an amazing album for fans since before Via La Vida, Coldplay hadn’t created an album with new released songs in almost 3 year. The scrip of “ Viva La Vida” stands out to viewers since its scripted in Bold & White reflecting on the background of the war scene.
Linkin Park is a group that is able to disconnect from the world as one. "I tried so hard and got so far, but i...
Western classical music was the first style of music to incorporate negativity. The next step in the evolution of negative music was its introduction into rock music in the late 1960s. The first hard rock and heavy metal music was produced by the rock group called Blue Cheer somewhere around 1967. Their music was angry and had a noticeably heavy beat.. At this time, the music of the Rolling Stones, too, became harder and angry, with a negative accent.
Each song on the album referenced so many emotion and thoughts to the point where I was exhausted. I now realized that I had taken the album way to literally and forgot to enjoy it. There is a beauty in this album that once I had dwelled on the thoughts and lyrics I found myself letting go more and losing myself in the music. The band is clearly influenced by film, this evident in songs such as Good Grief and Fake It. This is something that I admire. This band has a way of taking a simple song, with the lyrics and the music and they manage to find another angle and another layer in which they can add more depth. Adding quotes from movies gives the songs on this album much more naked feel when hearing the voices. It's haunting to hear those voices echo in the distance even when they have long passed. But then again I may just be thinking too