I feel the need to share Ad Astra with you all

A day after doing a 'maybe' album review quote, I feel the need to pick up the err keyboard and blog about the album I've just finished listening to. The band are 'Spiritual Beggars'

Here's there:

• wiki
• myspace
• last fm
• purchase here

This album (Ad Astra) has impressed me from song 1 all the way through, it has power, big riffs and subtlety in equal quantities. One of the most impressive elements to this album is the quality throughout, all 13 songs stand out in their own shape or form. On that basis it is difficult to pick 'stand out tracks' but I shall try. 

1. Mantra.. main riff and solo section is unbelievably good on the ears. 
2. Left Brain Ambassadors.. what a way to start the album, fast and lively
3. On Dark Rivers.. Something about the sound of guitars before the break/during main twiddly bit just make this substantially brilliant.

It has taken me 12 years to find this album, and I'm pleased to know they last released in 2010 as I need to see these guys live.. so hopefully this can be fulfilled.

I'll never give a 10 for an album as that's it the music pinnacle has been found.. However this album goes very very close at 9.8 out of 10.

Too many bands too little time

Thanks to a wonderful website (www.mp3va.com) and some great tweeters (Beardy, Carly, Woohoo-ey and Mancy)  I have had my world opened to a vast array of new and old bands.. Not sure how to summarise it, so I've gone for a big list and a score next to them. For those who don't know me, anything 4 - 6 is pretty average, 7 or 8's are good probably 2 or 3 plays a year, 9 and above are into my 'favourite' list..

This isn't based on listing to entire albums, they get the first 3 tracks, generally those with a low score have been moved on, although I will allow them the next couple of starts to get me intrigued. Those with high scores are generally left to play. To the right hand side is the "Gallery of 9.5"

Dozer

Acid Bath 7.5
Acid King 7
Acrimony 9
Animal Alpha 7.5
Atomic Bitchwax 8.5
Baroness 8
Benjamin Francis Leftwich 6.5
Black Tusk 8
Butterfly Effect 7.5
Cog 7
Danzig 7.5
Dario Mollo & Tony Martin 6.5
Dead Letter Circus  6.5
Dozer 9.5
Driven 8.5
Ektomorf 9

Spiritual Beggars

Exhorder 7.5
Fudge Tunnel 8
Ghost 6.5
Helmet 8
High on fire 8
Holy Grail 5.5
Jettblack 7
Karma to Burn 6
Mish 7
Mnemic 4
Mortal Sin 9
Mustasch 8.5
Nebula 6
Obssessed 7

Unida

Pentagram 8.5
Primordial 8
Refused 4
Sahg 7.5
Saint Vitus 7
sHeavy 7.5
Snot 8
Spiritual Beggars 9.5
Sunny Day Real Estate 7
Swallow the Sun 5
Taking Back Sunday 5.5
The Sword 8
Thursday 7
Uneven Structure 4
Unida 9.5
Valient Thor 7.5
Witchking 6.5
77 - 7.5

For those wondering how I get time to do this, I'm a web developer and we are allowed to wear earphones whilst we work, as long as we don't stream anything we're cool to put our tunes on. So I get 8.5 hours a day with these bands and my earphones.. Coding without music would be very boring and somewhat uninspiring. I can't imagine my designs without my music.

I do double check each band on a preview system using mp3va's inbuilt player.. so all those shouty bands get removed before I download! You'll probably gather from the list above I'm not a huge fan of shouty rock and metal bands. 

I'm sure I'll be adding plenty more bands in the future, and for those scoring 9 and above I may even go whole hog and do an album review.. maybe.

Feel free to comment let me know what you think of these bands, feel free to suggest more.. the more the merrier.

Finally taken the plunge

I've finally taken the plunge and dropped into blogging. Not blogging totally, that comes with my job, but this is a personal blog. I've never really felt the need to engage in a blogging process, but a few thoughts have come to mind and a lot is happening. Sometimes 140 characters doesn't do it and sometimes I don't really want facebookers commenting, as I know who will and exactly what they will say.

Not entirely sure how this si going to go as yet but I hope to be blogging on my girlies (seen in the background), becoming a father again (3rd), more than likely a rant on Leicester City, probably rants on other subjects too, music, Rezurrected (my band), and my radio history past and present. 2012 holds a lot for me

I'm up to around 1400 followers on Twitter and feel more engaged with my community than ever before, so I hope to share thoughts and ideas without having to worry about 140 characters!

For those wondering, the baffoon on the left is me (pulling a silly face) and the gentleman to my right is my brother, taken at an Iron Maiden concert, although I believe the T-shirts gave it away.