the forensick archives, vol. 4


	26.04.01
	Fear factory signed on Sunday at Compact Disc World in the Menlo Park mall, in NJ. It was pretty cool, getting to meet the band again. I got the gabber mixes signed. It was cool to see the look on Dino's face when he saw I actually had it. He was like, "How did you get this?" Priceless. I intend to take a picture of it and upload it some time in the near future. I was on a short FF binge, but it seems to have ended earlier in the week. Apparently the once-great FF have lost their foothold in the list of truly great bands. I heard most of the album that day, and no doubt you all own the new cd already, but I do not. I do intend to purchase it in the near future, maybe even tomorrow, but I do not expect it to be anything truly spectacular and mind blowing. They just do not produce the music they used to.
	18.04.01
	Ahh, another day. I'm too fucking lazy. I want to do all this shit for this site, but I just cant get myself to do it when (if) I find the time. I suppose some cd reviews are in order, so here goes: Katatonia - Last Fair Deal Gone Down This is pretty good. As with the Teargas e.p., this cd is self-produced, which explains part of the difference in sound. Again, as like on Teargas, Jonas' vocals are better than ever, bringing more emotion to the music. This album has its moments. It is definitely less melodic than 'Tonight's Decision', and a little heavier, too. Overall, I think it is the logical progression for the band, and is worth a listen. As an added plus, the cd just LOOKS cool. Get the import version, its got this cool digi-pak case with four flaps that fold out, and the artwork is cool too. Opeth - Blackwater Park This cd is the shit. I'm listening to this right now. in fact, I cant stop listening to it. I've listened to this one many times more than the others I bought recently. this cd is superb. Definitely one of the best cds I own (430 and counting) Typical to Opeth, the cds has only 8 songs, but it is over an hour long. Everything about this cd is great. the vocals are sung great, the growls sound cool. The guitar work is superb. The acoustics sound better than ever. And no aggression lost! damn. I cant stop listening to this cd. I'm hooked... Soilwork - Steelbath Suicide This is actually their first release, but I jumped on the bandwagon a little too late, and couldn't get this until they recently re-released it. They even added a bonus live track, but at the cost of 2 songs. Is it worth it? well, that depends. If you have the original version, don't bother, but if not...buy it! This album has guitar work of a slightly less intense nature, I guess as they got better, they started to write more complex, faster riffs (who woulda thought). In my opinion, this is the 'Terminal Spirit Disease' of the Soilwork collection. A great cd that you should own, but not their best album. That's enough for now. I'll review the rest later in the week. I'm going to sleep.
	17.04.01
	The Cannibal Corpse show kicked ass. Typical to Birch Hill's reputation, they were running about an hour late, The doors didn't open till about 745, and Lamb of God got on around 8. (No local bands!) They played a pretty good set, and only in 30 minutes. I couldn't tell you what they played, but it was pretty good. The Haunted kicked major ass. They played a good set (also about a half-hour). No At the Gates covers, though. Oh well. You cant get it every time, I guess. Especially since they have 2 cds now. Dimmu Borgir also played a good set, of about 45 minutes. Lotsa new stuff (5 or 6 songs) and some really old stuff, too. It was a good mix. They were definitely good, but it was a little hard to see the band members at times, what with the smoke machine going for so long. Cannibal Corpse. What can I say? They're great live. A must see. Shit, they played a lot of songs. I'm not sure if I can remember everything they played. A lot of the newer stuff was played (i.e..-with the semi-new singer), I guess 4 songs from Vile, 3 or 4 from Gallery of Suicide, and 2 or 3 from Bloodthirst. As for the old stuff, yes they played 'Stripped, Raped and Strangled', and 'Hammer Smashed Face'. 'Force-fed Broken Glass', 'Butchered At Birth', 'I Cum Blood', and other as well. Overall, it was a great show. On Friday I found out that they were playing at the Trocadero in Philly on Easter, I wish I knew that earlier, that show woulda kicked so much ass, but oh well. I still got to see a great show. Lemme tell you, everyone in this are is getting sick. My father, friends, almost 10 people I work with. Its unavoidable. I was so fucking sick last week. I had it all, sinus congestion, light headedness, headaches, sore throat, and multiple ear infections. Fortunately, on Friday I felt so much better, I was even playing Frisbee (game of the gods) with some friends. Of course it doesn't hurt that it was 80°(!). Now I'm getting sick again, my throat is killing me, and I couldn't breathe this morning. Fuck I hate being sick!! Arrrrrgh!!!!
	Friday the 13^th [april 2001]
	well, its been quite some time since I last updated, so let me bring you up to speed: The week before metalfest I had a small accident going to work. (I lost a wheel). It sucked a whole lot, lemme tell ya you don't want that to happen to you. I had to get a new rim, and a new rotor as well. Not cheap. (that was monday). Fortunately, I was able to fix it that day, so I was back on the road next day, but that's not a fun thing to do. especially if you have 4 wheel drive. All in all, it took about six hours to do. I tried to take a picture of my ruined rotor (I ground about a half inch off the bottom) but my damn camera wouldn't work. oh well. Then, that Wednesday I dropped my truck off to get "body work". Or so I told everyone. in reality, I was getting the truck jacked up, with larger tires as well. Its looks fucking cool as hell now. I took pictures, but I haven't got the film developed yet. Then came metalfest. This was pretty cool. I spent a shitload of money at that show (a couple hundred). the food was expensive, and the vendors were cheap, so I bought lotsa great cds, which I will list later, and review maybe by the end of next week. Overall, the show was pretty good, I saw some great bands (Pain, Amorphis, Opeth) as well as a shitload of good/decent/crappy bands. Fortunately, they were allowing re-entry this year, so we were able to leave and come back later, either cause our hands were full of cds, or cause there just wasn't anyone one we wanted to see. I hate going to see local bands. For those of you who don't know, Pain is the side project of Hypocrisy's vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist/producer Peter Tagtgren. Oh my god they kicked so much ass, man I cant even tell you. I have had the cd for some time, but seeing them, on a theatre (!) stage, which truly remarkable sound, made it truly an awe-inspiring set. You MUST see this band live to truly understand their greatness. Opeth came on right after them, on the same stage. Holy shit were they great. They put on the one of the best performances I have ever seen in my life. (blew Pain out of the water) They only played like 6 or 7 songs, but if you know Opeth, then you know that that's a pretty decent set. They played 2 new tracks off Blackwater Park, Leper Affinity and The Drapery Falls. As for the rest, it was spread out pretty evenly between the rest of the albums. Amorphis were on next. (Also on the same stage) When I saw Amorphis for the first time two years ago, I thought that they were amazing. Not so this time. They played mostly new stuff, playing only 3 songs off of tuonela (The Way, Divinity, Greed), and nothing off of any other album! They didn't even play Black Winter Day. Very disappointing. Not only that, but everything was mixed wrong, so that the keyboards were up so high you could barely hear the guitars. And to make matters worse, Pasi acted like a stuck up pig, making these stupid poses when he was singing, and not really moving around at all. He basically stood there and made poses that said, 'hey, I'm the singer, love me, I'm so cool' but instead he looked kind of like a fairy. Very disappointing. Metalfest, day 2: We didn't actually go until 1:55, cause there was no one who we wanted to see earlier in the day, and it would save us money to go later. (Less time to browse through the vendors again) We were going to go see Arson, who apparently are friends of a friend. Who knew? Anyway, they were pretty good. But now there wasn't anyone on who we wanted to see for hours. What a bummer. Damn that re-entry. We decided to leave and come back (instead of checking out other bands who might have been good) In reality we sat in the truck and listened to some cool new cds for a couple hours, and then went back inside. Unfortunately, the best bands on that night (Dying Fetus, Mortician and, um, dammit, there was someone else.) were on the worst stages. I saw good bands who sucked because they were on the relapse stage, or the main convention hall stage, who's sound just totally sucked that entire weekend. Come to think of it, the last couple of shows I've been to at the Convention Hall (Asbury Park, NJ) had really bad sound. This better not become a habit. I dunno, we saw a bunch more bands on the Snake Net Stage: Einherjer, Red Right Hand, and more, I wish I could find my set list, cause I cant remember all the names. Oh well. Sever bands did signings over the weekend as well, I think around 8 or so, including God Forbid, Shadows Fall, Amorphis (who I met and signed a poster for me), Arson, Opeth (who I wish I met) Primal Fear, and about four more, who I didn't really care about. Now for the cd list. I bought a lot of shit at metalfest, either for me or dawn. So here's a list of what I got for myself: Katatonia - Last Fair Deal Gone Down Opeth - Blackwater Park Dying Fetus - Destroy the Opposition Dimmu Borgir - Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia Dark Tranquillity - Enter Suicidal Angels Gorguts - From Wisdom to Hate Soilwork - Steelbath Suicide God Forbid - Determination Tiamat - the Astral Sleep and, The Emperor boxed set. (It is a five 12" picture disc set of all their albums) and of course I bought a couple shirts. (I will review all these later) The Monday after metalfest I got quite sick (last Monday). Actually I was sick all week, and I'm still sick today. I missed work on Tuesday and Thursday because of it. I ended up getting a sore throat, headaches, congested sinuses, and two ear infections. It was not a pretty sight. Fortunately, I am almost all better now (thanks to antibiotics) so I will be able to go see Cannibal Corpse tomorrow at the Birch Hill, with Dimmu Borgir, the Haunted, and Lamb of God. I cant wait! one last note: I feel obliged to inform you of the main focus behind my index page. I feel that the index page serves as a good way of expressing my current mood, or latest creation. It is ever changing, and probably always will be. Each image is something that is available elsewhere in this page, and if there is any text, it is probably from a song that has been plaguing my mind for an extended period of time. So do not fret! If you do not approve of the current index layout, tough it out! it will change again, I promise
	27.03.01
	the NJ metalfest is looming ever nearer. i cant wait! its going to kick so much ass. Soilwork, amorphis, malevolent creation, god forbid, and like another 100 or so bands will be there. damn i cant wait. And then im gonna get to see Cannibal Corpse, with the haunted and Dimmu Borgir opening for them! April is the shit when it comes to concerts this year. And, just to show that i havent been totally lazy, i have uploaded this new image i just finished creating today. Its called All Beauty Destroyed, and its in my homegrown images section. In other news: Skinlab have a new song available to download (its part of the flash speaker to the left), and Scott leaves the band! Static-X also have a new mp3 available for download, called This is Not. Its pretty good, check it out Adobe has released an update to Photoshop 6.0, that is available as a free upgrade to users of 6.0. It fixes several bugs in the program, including the _Show Extras function, and an error that causes it to suddenly crash. I've had this happen to me, and so will you at one point or another, so i suggest you download the patch now
	13.03.01
	Gandalf - Rock Hell This cd is quite a progression for the band. Gandalf's debut, 'Deadly Fairytales' had more of a straight forward metal sound with more simple riffing to it. However, 'Rock Hell' has a much more developed sound to it, with better structuring to it. Each song contains a more polished, finished sound to it. Many of the songs on 'Deadly Fairytales' were good, but very simplistic, a style representing their previous self. However this album sounds like a true metal cd. There is a very prominent 'rock' influence in this cd, apparent in such songs as 'One More for the Dead' and 'Morning Sun'. There is also the inclusion of clean vocaled passages (mostly choruses) that give you the feeling of a more traditional "old school" style. This cd overall is pretty good, and a definite improvement in technique/style all around. Katatonia - Teargas e.p. A new direction for the band?! Well, not exactly. However this cd does sound different. katatonia have decided to produce this cd, and the new album coming out later this year themselves, so it does sound a little different. Plus, Jonas' vocals are better on this cd, too. This cd has a more straight forward sound to it, it is not at melodic as 'Tonight's Decision' was. Also worth picking up. Paradise Lost - Believe In Nothing hmm, where to start. Well, its different than 'Host'. This album has one major difference: there is distortion on the guitars again! This cd is much more guitar-oriented than 'Host' ever was. In fact, i think some of it is heavier than 'One Second', as well. There are a couple songs, like 'Something Real', 'Never Again', and 'No Reason to Live' that are definitely heavier than the rest. This whole cd is great. There are a couple of instances of a more progressive sound, like 'Fader' and 'Mouth', but i think that the metal is back in their blood once again Rotting Christ - Khronos Holy shit. Gone is the way of progressive black metal. This cd is a whirl of technical melodic black metal. This cd blows 'Sleep of the Angels' out of the water. From start to finish, this cd is a flurry of technical wonder, with amazing keyboards that rival the wonder of Xy's keyboards on 'A Dead Poem'. Fuck. I cant explain how awesome this cd is. Just go buy it now, ok? Soilwork - A Predator's Portrait When i first heard the cd 'the Chainheart Machine', i was blown away by their technical ferocity, mixed with their melodic solos, and great keyboards. Now they have released their newest cd, 'A Predator's Portrait', and once again, i am blown away. This is one of the greatest cds i own. everyhting about this band has gotten better. The guitarists, the keyboards, vocals, solos, everything. These guys are definitely one of the best bands to come around since At the Gates. Tristania - Beyond the Veil Black metal with an industrial twist. This is the band that nobody knew of, who appeared on the Dracula 2000 soundtrack. This is not just another black metal band. Gone are the days of 12000 mph riffing and speed-picking-solos. The keyoboards are done very well, they give this band the edge it needs to push it above the rest of bands in this style. There is even a choir that sings in some parts, comprised of about ten members, some band members as well. They have a good female vocalist, too. Even the production is great (which is very important for a band of this style).
	05.03.01
		these weather people have no fucking clue what they are talking about.
	the storm of the century (after all, it is the first storm of the century) is the most pitiful attempt at a snow storm i have ever seen. our three feet of snow turned out to be about one inch of snow, and alot of sleet. whoop-de-freakin-do. i was hoping for a state of emergency, and all i got was flurries. what the fuck. As i type this, its not even snowing. When i get up, there had better be at LEAST a foot of snow one the ground outside my window, or there will be hell to pay. The only thing that happened today was my window scraper broke, cause i was at work for ten hours today while it sleeted on my truck. damn shoddy production. Now where did i put the other one...... i think maybe tomorrow i will type some cd reviews, i just dont feel like it right now
	04.03.01
	mini update: new cd reviews coming soon: Gandalf - Rock Hell Katatonia - Teargas e.p. Paradise Lost - Believe In Nothing Rotting Christ - Khronos Soilwork - A Predator's Portrait Tristania - Beyond the Veil this is so cool. It started snowing around 11 this morning. (coincidentally right when i went to do an oil change on the van) Its still snowing, and every weather station/radio station is saying its gonna keep snowing all the way into tuesday. We're supposed to hava foot of snow by tomorrow morning, and 3 before it ends. How cool is that?! It's about time we got a really killer storm around here, instead of the pussy 6 inch storms we've been plagued with for years now. All these people who get scared and wont drive over 15mph on the roads when theres an inch of snow (yes you, you FUCK) will be so scared they will hopefully stay home, or get the fuck out of my way. we got snow like two weeks ago, it was like only four of five inches, and you wouldnt believe the traffic. rt34 east, and 33east were bumper to bumper from one end to the other. What would normally take you 30-35 minutes was taking well over an hour. I got caught behind this stupid fucking bitch in her piece of shit car, and she was goin 15 fucking miles per hour. 15!! Of course, the other lane was bumper to bumper, so i couldnt pass her, either. After an hour of driving behind her (25 minutes of travel time, normally) she mustv went to stop, or turn left, or some shit, cause she swerved, and almost lost it totally. Then she drove down the MIDDLE OF THE ROAD going so slow my fucking speedometer couldnt even register the speed. It was approx 5 mph. damn bitch. She shouldve got the hell off the road. Fortunately, since she was in the middle, making her own lane, i was able to pass her ass, and get the hell outta there
	02.03.01
	I really fucking hate people. Not just you and me, but everyone. I work with some of the stupidest fucking people i have ever met. we have this one 'pro-god' loser, what a dick. This guy is all about home schooling his kids, even though he doesnt know what it means to be certified, which means (for those of you not in-the-know) that it doesnt mean squat to the schools. He's no teacher. hell, i could teach his kids better, faster, and cut out all the crap. Thats what he says. he 'cut out the crap'. yeah, cause its so horrible to go to school everyday, and hang out with your friends, maybe cut school and go smoke a bowl, or get laid, but no! Hes gotta home school. poor kids. Daddy doesnt believe in evolution, cause he's too blinded by crap to accept scientific fact, so you arent allowed to go to school and be with people your own age. i hope they turn out to be crazy murderers, or thieves, or something. then they can blame it on home schooling, and he'll realize how much of a moron he is. Did you ever notice what they air on the news? There was an earthquake in washington. Its all over the news, everywhere you go. Holy shit! some building crumbled, and a couple people got hurt. Well, itll be all over the news for the rest of next week, and then itll mysteriously vanish. Youll never hear about it again. Its as if it never happened. remember the fires on the west coast? how many states were burning? nine? it was on the tv everywhere, in the news, in the papers, on the radio. you couldnt avoid it. It was impossible to not know about it. It was in the news for months! Trees burn! houses incinerated! peoples lives destroyed! But then mysteriously, it stopped. It wasnt in the news, thats for sure. i guess the fires put themselves out, and rebuilt everyones homes overnight, caus ethey sure as hell werent telling us about it anymore. It went from front page disaster, to back alley trash can. No one fucking cares. But tragedy sells, if only for a short while. You dont hear about weddings or births on the news (unless maybe its a celebrity, and we all know those marriages dont last anyway), only death, death, death. It makes people feel good to know that somewhere else, some one got 'what was coming to them'. yeah, they deserved it. they shouldnt have hit that cat, or payed that much for a fucking gallon of gas. those bastards. on a lighter note... i suppose you noticed the new layout by now. Im currently in the process of tweaking it, im not totally pleased with it yet, but if you have any suggestions, you can go fuck yourself. j/k. actually, you could email me this is one of the coolest flash websites ive seen. Its a 100% flashed website for the artwork of richard morris. he does some pretty good stuff i really need to update my links page. oh well. maybe tomorrow.....