I’m resolved to like this band. I really want to but at times the songs are just so boring. It’s like the same guitar & drum work every song and only actually distinguished by the orchestra. It’d be one thing if they actually toured with an orchestra (ala Haggard) but they don’t so the heavy dependence on that and the choir really make me dislike the albums. I was astonished to hear a guitar solo on the new album. Right now I’m listening to The Embrace that Smothers. I’m currently listening to the last of the After Forever songs for this collection. I noticed that the Epica albums had multi song parts to them but I didn’t realize that this one started with After Forever until just now as I was trying to figure out why Epica’s first album started at Part IV. It’s been awhile since I listened to After Forever’s Prison of Desire as I find Decipher to be the far superior album of their old style. I think I had Estranged played on my ibook several hundred times with The Key not far behind. I love their new style as well but I think that album will always remain my favourite. Anyway, back to Epica. My main issue is that guitar work. It’s just too much of the same and I’ve said several times before that if you removed the orchestra from their music, you would feel like you’re listening to the same song each time.

The funny thing is I never had this problem with After Forever while Mark was with them so I don’t know what happened in the transition from AF to Epica. The only thing that I can think is that in AF, he was one of many songwriters, while in Epica he is the main songwriter.

I don’t hate Epica. I just have trouble getting into them and with so many other bands of a similar nature for me to focus on, they usually get left behind. I want to like them because their best work is amazing. I just generally ski most of the songs on their albums to get to the best work. Which is why I started listening to The Embrace That Smothers to its entirety. The 9 existing songs and 3 interludes would have made their own spectacular album.

Sirenia is another band I always have this trouble with where it seems Morten has only one formula to his songs and while there’s a few good songs here and there, the albums are overall extremely boring. Of course, I’m not the fondest of early Tristania. I think they really started to shine with World of Glass, after he left. His habit of having a new singer every album/EP also makes me think he doesn’t like having someone else be the star of his band. Oddly enough, he ended up changing the formula in the new album but instead of there being variation, it seems like he just developed a new one for all the songs so they still all sound the same.

Less than a day away from learning who exactly the new singer. An interesting name came up on the PP forums. Astrid van der Veen worked with Arjen on Ambeon and the samples that are out do sound somewhat like her. She was only around 15 when she worked with Arjen and she’s never really done anything since so there’s no recent work to compare her voice to.

My new band obsession. Can’t wait to see them on Sunday. A shame In This Moment needs to ruin what could have been a perfect bill.

Hey Amy, why not just drop the Evanescence name and do a solo project. With David, Ben, Will, John, & Rocky all gone, there’s not a single person left from the early days ’sides you. How convenient. Hope your marriage means the next album won’t be full of bitchy heartbreak songs about Ben & Shaun.

Montreal trip confirmed. NYC show sold out and I was being lazy getting tickets because I didn’t want to pay ticketbastard rape charges. Which means I’m missing Mother’s Day with my family. Sorry mom but no way I’m missing out on seeing Within Temptation. And Lacuna Coil set should actually be decent because they’ve said they’ll be playing some older songs this time around. Still not a fan of the new album. Need to check out Stolen Babies & In this Moment since they’re also opening but I get the feeling I wont’ care for their music.

Saw Spiderman 3 @11:59 showing on Thursday/Friday. Great movie but WTF!!!!! No spider sense powers? He shouldn’t have been blindsided by Harry while on his bike.

Did a lot of yardwork this weekend. Removed a large section of ground cover that was making the backyard look kind of small. Planted a bush and seeded for grass. Legs & hands are killing from digging out all the ground cover.

Falling behind in Pokemon. Didn’t get much time to play this weekend. Did finally get some anime watching time in though. Watched first episodes of Romeo x Juliet, Claymore, and am in the midst of watching Lovely Complex. Think I might drop Claymore if the next few episodes don’t perk my interest. Also need to watch Sola.

Been listening to Ziltoid The Omniscient a lot this week. Devin Townsend is amazing. The album is kind of like an Ayreon parody. Sony should contact Ziltoid about the 4th dimension.

So, I think someone at Fox really hates Tim Minear. So much so that they pay him a lot of money for a development deal to keep him around and just him shows to keep him busy that they cancel after a handful of episodes. For that I say fuck you Fox. If you’re not going to give shows like Firefly, Wonderfalls & Drive a chance, can you please just stop giving them the go ahead? Stop giving them horrible timeslots. Stop creating wacky schedules where you don’t have a clue when the shows airs if you actually do want to watch it. I haven’t a clue when Bones airs these days as the timeslot had already changed 3x after only one season and I’ve just given up because it’s not worth it. It’s so sad to think of all the wonderful shows that have gotten the can at Fox while crap like American Idol gets something like 4 hrs a week.

Sonata Arctica also > u.

Pokemon arrived in the mail yesterday. I’ve got Pearl and my code is 4038 2534 3945.

So a ton of albums that I preordered a month ago but don’t come out for a few months got leaked in the last two days. And I’m too impatient to wait another 2 months to get the CDs in my mail. *drools over Iced Earth & Kamelot*
And one of the crappy plastic hubcaps on my car came off a few days ago. So I took the rest off and decided I’m finally going to upgrade to some nicer rims instead of the stock steal. Just trying to unload some stuff on ebay and find the best deal I can.

Oh yeah.. And the following is advice to live by.
o/’ Don’t be a jerk. And don’t be a fool. Be a good neighbor and follow these rules (what are these rules?). Remember to keep your shoes on at all times. Don’t pull your penis out unless you really need to. Indecent exposure is a class A felony. o/’
Groovy Time For A Movie Time

So, nerd that I am just noticed the length of the final track on Gothic Kabbalah. Adulruna Rediviva just happens to run at 13:37

Thus, reaffirming why Therion just happens to be one of the best bands ever and that they need to come back to the US really soon.

Kamelot > u