’68 – Track One (“R”) – Music Video

If you don’t know about this band, then please go look them up before reading further.

Former member of Norma Jean and The Chariot, Josh Scogin has teamed up with drummer Michael McClellen for one of the year’s most talked about new acts. ’68 are taking the punk/metal market by storm with their new album In Humor and Sadness and are making more waves for their impressive and bombastic live performances and more recently, the release of their first music video for the song “Track 1” or “R.” The Chariot was famous for song titles that seemed irrelevant to the singular song, but when strung together with the other titles seemed to make a phrase or some sort of story-line. In the case of this record the album tracks spell out “R-E-G-R-E-T-N-O-T-.”

I had the pleasure of seeing this band live this past April by chance at the Launch Festival in downtown Lancaster and i hadn’t heard of them or realized the connection until after the show and I was raving about it to a friend of mine who filled me in. I don’t want to do a whole review of the album or the video, but i will state that the video is pretty damn cool and I’m not even a huge fan of music videos these days to be totally honest. I thought the production on this video was really cool and I haven’t really seen another video done in this style either.

Anywho, that’s enough from me for today. Check out the video here and do yourself a favor and please check out the record and support this amazing band. I assure you this will be one of the most talked about and praised records by the end of the year.

unfortunately the video appears to have been removed from youtube. not sure why…

Luke helker

Slipknot – “The Negative One”

I don’t typically review just one song or single, but I think this particular single from this particular band is important to discuss. Firstly, “The Negative One” is the first single released in six years from a band that has had such a monumental impact in music – especially the metal music community – that I don’t think it can properly be measured. Secondly, the band have also recently a music video to along with the newly released single. While Corey Taylor commented that this is not an official single for the new album, it stills serves as a more tangible teaser for the album and hopefully gets people excited about what is to come.

I’m mainly excited not only because there is finally new music coming out from the Slipknot family, but because the new single is so freaking good! I think it shares both the darker musical and lyrical attributes of any track off of Iowa while also displaying the accessibility and production style similar to Vol. 3 and All Hope is Gone. That being said, I really think this new album will be a major blend of everything we’ve come to know and love about Slipknot over the past almost 20 years now.

The one thing that really stuck out the most to me was the use of electronics that has been utilized in such a way that I don’t believe has been before. Sid’s role has always been integral to the overall sonic quality of Slipknot‘s sound and I don’t think it has ever diminished. In fact, I think Sid more than almost any other member, has really expanded his role in the band and adapted himself for each record and has become one of the more versatile members. I think one could feasibly argue that he may not have gotten enough musical spotlight on some of the later releases, but I think that may change on this new record.

I honestly can’t quite explain how excited I am and how this news has really taken me back to when I was young and first discovered the band. My excitement now is similar then to when I first learned about them. Without even hearing the record, I think it will be one of the best albums of the year by a fairly wide margin. This single should hopefully be a testament to that.

Luke Helker