tartan_skirt's Music > Music reviews by tartan_skirt

Self titled album from finnish cello roc

Posted : 2 years, 2 months ago on 12 September 2007 07:09 (A review of Apocalyptica)

This is the sixth, and self-titled, album from the Finnish band Apocalyptica. Made up of 11 songs and a hidden track it contains some of my favourite songs from the band. “Life Burns!” (which is a perfect album opener), “Quutamo”, and “Distraction” are three of the best in my opinion but they are all grouped together at the start which sets the listener up for a bit of a disappointment (in my opinion, anyway). Not to say that the other songs aren’t good, but they certainly lack the flair of these opening tracks. After a couple of play-throughs I have come to like the latter tracks more though and the hidden track is really something worth waiting for.

That all said, I hate H.I.M. and Ville Valo’s singing on "Bittersweet" really ruins the song for me. I think it could be much better but I am not a fan of his and so am a tad biased. I also dislike The Rasmus, but Lauri Ylönen’s voice fits “Life Burns!” very well and I can’t help but love the song.

A decent album (though I am annoyed at HMV for putting the security tag over the CD’s sticker so that it would rip, thus there is a shiny patch where I’ve had to leave part of the tag on, but ignore my ranting…). I hope their other albums are as good as this one.

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Rasputina

Posted : 2 years, 6 months ago on 14 May 2007 10:46 (A review of A Radical Recital)

This is a wonderful live album from Rasputina. A fan may know that the band calls their concerts "recitals", hence the title.

From this album we are able to experience a glimpse into the atmosphere of a Rasputina recital. Obviously they are more of a small capacity and thus there is more casual banter directed at something in particular that an audience member has said and of course there is less crowd noise disturbing the actual music. Melora's comments between the songs are often amusing and entertaining and the music is fantastic. Even the editing seems perfect as the changes between songs does not interupt any of the aforementioned banter. The album holds a nice range of songs also.

A must-have for the Rasputina fans!

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An excellent follow-up

Posted : 3 years ago on 25 October 2006 04:50 (A review of Yes, Virginia...)

When I first listened to the album I didn't like it as much as their first, but after listening to it more and more I've come to love it just as much as the first. A lot of bands seem to be let down by their second (studio) album, but I find this to be a great album which has some tracks which I find so addictive. For me "Sex Changes" and "Sing" are perfectly placed to give a crashing introduction and a gentle finish respectively. The former has such a perfect opening to start off not only the song, but the entire album.

I'm hoping that Palmer and Viglione can keep this up for a third (at least).

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