musicians who sound borderline

Technically anyone can sound borderline. It just comprises strong, extreme emotions driven by immature perceptions. But sometimes when I listen to songs and the lyrics, I can't help but to think to myself that wow, this person must be borderline too. For example, Alexi Laiho from Children of Bodom and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. I've already written about Alexi but I've recently rediscovered my copy of NIN's The Fragile. I forgot just how good it is. I always liked it but it's even better than I remembered it! Actually, this could be because I'm in a similar mindframe to what might have been Reznor's when he wrote the album. It's a great mix of metal anguish and electronic/dance/industrial catchiness. Anyways, I really relate to most of the lyrics of Somewhat Damaged. Could almost sing some of it to my mom if she was around. Here are the parts I could say in my own voice honestly.

So impressed with all you do
Tried so hard to be like you
Flew too high and burnt the wing
Lost my faith in everything
Made the choice to go away
Drink the fountain of decay
Tear a hole exquisite red
Fuck the rest and stab it dead

Broken bruised forgotten sore
Too fucked up to care anymore
Poisoned to my rotten core
Too fucked up to care anymore

How could i ever think it's funny how everything that
Swore it wouldn't change is different now just like you
Would always say we'll make it through then my head fell apart
And where were you?

Actually, another even closer song in terms of lyrics and how I'm doing is The Big Come Down:

There is a game i play
Try to make myself okay
Try so hard to make the pieces all fit
Smash it apart
Just for the fuck of it

Bye bye oooh
Got to get back to the bottom
Bye bye oooh
The big come down isn't that what you wanted?
Bye bye oooh
Find a place with the failed and forgotten
Bye bye oooh
Isn't that really what you wanted now?

There is no place i can go there is no way i can hide
It feels like it keeps coming from the inside

There is a hate that burns within
The most desperate place i have ever been
Try to get back to where i'm from
The closer i get the worse it becomes
The closer i get the worse it becomes

There is no place i can go there is no place i can hide
It feels like it keeps coming from the inside

And I can most certainly sing Underneath it All to myself about myself.
Underneath it All:

All I do
I can still feel you

Numb all through
I can still feel you
Hear your call
Underneath it all
Kill my brain
Yet you still remain
Crucified
After all I've died
After all I've tried
You are still inside

All I do
I can still feel you

You remain
I am stained

Children of Bodom show

It may have been the best show I've EVER been to.
Opening acts Skeletonwitch and Black Dhalia Murder were both very good. I never heard Skeletonwitch before so now I wanna check out some of their music. I found their singer to be very entertainingly cheesy/dramatic with the chest-thumping and dedicating a song to the devil and all that. Of course, hopefully they're not actually satanists but I highly doubt that anyways. Looks like from interviews they're a really nice, down-to-earth bunch of guys.

Wow was CoB ever soooo awesome! I stood right behind the lighting guy who had the setlist out right next to him and it was a killer list. Looking at it made me even more excited for the show than I already was. They played nearly all my favorite songs: Hellhounds on my Trail, Follow the Reaper, Everytime I Die, Angels Don't Kill, Hatecrew Deathroll, Hate Me!... And as an extra bonus because they love Montreal so much they played Kissing the Shadows! And the sound quality was great and the crowd was going wild and now my neck is sore from all the headbanging while I sipped some beer :D How can a concert get better than that? And thanks to my new little camera I have some pics and video to show too!
Looking forward to Dragonforce next week to see if they can actually play superfast live!



Skeletonwitch


Skeletonwitch being dramatic


Black Dhalia Murder's singer literally conducting the band lol


BDM and packed, adoring house


fanciest sound board ever with 5 touch screens! maybe that's why CoB sounded so good


CoB!!


good view of Janne and Jaska doing their thing


Alexi soloing away


Alexi and Janne soloing sexily together


Children of Bodom performing Follow the Reaper. Unfortunately my camera's mic sucks ass so really the video is to show what the concert felt/looked like, not sounded like!
And I see blogger also sucks ass with video in general so I might put this on youtube instead if I'm not too lazy...

more metal shows

To brighten up my recent posts I should just mention what concerts I'm looking forward to attending:
1. Children of Bodom!!! Oh my gosh I am SUPER excited for this one. I can't believe they're coming back so soon and this time they're headlining which means alot more songs will be played! I can't wait to drool over Alexi's guitar riffs and good looks.

2. Dragonforce! I actually haven't heard all that many songs from them but their guitarists are pretty fast so I figure that's something worth seeing: if they can actually play that fast and crazily live.

3. Killswitch Engage and Protest the Hero! Killswitch Engage has a few songs that I like and they're Christian so it'll be my first time seeing a Christian metal band live which is cool. Plus I want to support my fellow Christian metalheads by going. Protest the Hero is a good band too. Their specific metal genre is not my favorite but I like the frenetic feel of their songs and their guitar parts.

I'll talk about these shows as they come up. They're definitely not happening anytime too soon but whatever, I'm still excited.

Lamb of god + Children of Bodom in Montreal = mayhem!

Wow where to start! I'm sore all over and my ears are ringing from the sonic assault of last night's amazing show!
Well first of all, me and my buddy had no idea what or where the Cepsum was so we were both quite taken aback when we entered and found at least 1000 people inside a big venue! We walked in on As I Lay Dying's set (I hear they're Christian) which sounded decent but we were off to the side so we couldn't hear them very clearly, the crowd loved them.
After that, we knew Children of Bodom would be next so we moved closer to the stage in the middle. This is something I don't usually do because that's always where mosh pits form but I reallly wanted to see Alexi! I have some silly preteen crush on the guy. He's so hot and charismatic and an amazing guitar player! So, I just figured when the mosh pits would start we could just move to the side. Boy was I so wrong. After Children of Bodom introduced themselves with an old pop song and a track of them saying fuck many times over in different voices (they're so silly and funny), the entire floor became one huge mosh pit and there was no escape! I was not planning on being in mosh pits anymore (those were my teen years) but we had no choice. It was nuts! I nearly fell over at first, got squished alot but the energy in the crowd was great so it was fun in a kind of dangerous way. And their set was awesome. They played a couple songs from the new album Blooddrunk, the best from Are You Dead Yet? and they ended with Downfall! I'm probably forgetting others but yeah, Alexi's solos were mindboggling and the whole band was tight.
It was only after their set that we had a chance to get out of the mosh pit and we managed to secure an amazing spot where we were still close to the stage but not in the pit so we really got to enjoy Lamb of god's set! Generally I like their music but I don't like to listen to it too much because after a while I get bored by the lack of chord progressions or melodies but in concert they are amazingly energetic which makes for an insane show. They played their songs even better than on their albums and truly the singer has no lack of energy. He was screaming his lungs out with incredible tonal range and pacing the stage like a wild animal. I was glad I wasn't in the mosh pit anymore! At the end, the singer asked for the biggest circle pit he'd seen so far in the tour and he sure got it! Pretty much the whole floor was taken up by people running and pushing each other in a vicious circle. It was really neat to see it, while not being in it.

(Side note: Even though this all sounds quite violent, most metalheads are super nice and courteous. One big guy pushed people away from me in the pit when I asked him, another gave up his place in a safe spot for a girl who was clearly overwhlemed by the mosh pit.)

It was funny how the singer dedicated Redneck to Alexi because he got totally plastered the night before at a party! Also, Alexi dedicated Blooddrunk to anybody who has done stupid things while plastered, like how he broke his shoulder by jumping out of the tour bus window while drunk! This all makes me want to have a drink with friends, an impulse I have not had in a while since I've been depressed and think they don't really care. (Which I know is not true.) Of course, I don't want to get plastered though. Vomiting does not seem like an attractive venture to me.
Anyways, it was a crazy, energetic, exciting and amazing show!