Sawyer's Shred Spotlight: Compilations Pt 2 - Guitars That Ate My Brain

Hello again shredders, welcome to Sawyer's Shred Spotlight. This week's post is the second part of the mini-series on shred compilations! Last week I showed you a classic shred compilation, and this week I'm going to bring you a more modern compilation with some of the best guitar players up & coming in metal today. This album is appropriately entitled: Guitars That Ate My Brain!! We dive into this compilation, right after the jump.

As mentioned above, this album features original compositions from some big name guitar players, of (or formerly of) bands like Between the Buried & Me, Death, Darkest Hour, and even Hevy Devy himself. Its really about as good of a shred album as you could possibly want. I'll get us started with a track by Dave Martone (of solo fame) , "Hybrid Angels". If the first few riffs in the song don't kick you in the nuts, then I don't know what the hell you want. Throw in some unique Eastern tonalities and a handful of spaced-out solos (2:30 always blows my mind), and you've got a great shred song.



Next up is a really interesting track from Devin Townsend (Devin Townsend Project, Strapping Young Lad), called "Nerd Alert". The song weaves through smooth, dreamy, "left brain" melodies and then to spastic, some times violent "right brain" carnage. Plus, you get a good dose of Townsend's trade mark humor, with little bits of narration like: "You can't stop me, I was born to rock!" (Sometimes I use the "Greetings fellow guitar nerds" to start off my radio show.)



And my last expose from this compilation is a more straight forward heavy rocker, "L.D.E." from ex-Megadeth guitar player Chris Poland. I really dig the bluesy/sabbath-esque riffs in the song, mixed with the wahed-out leads. Poland actually does a great job of making his lines feel like vocals.



Here is the full track listing for the album, as well as what band each dude is from:

1. Paul Waggoner (Between the Buried & Me) - "Boot Dagger Boogie"
2. Kris Norris (Ex-Darkest Hour) - "The Life and Times of Sir Walter Sickert
3. Dave Martone (Solo) - "Hybrid Angels"
4. Bumblefoot (Solo, G'N'R) - "Disengaged"
5. Eyal Levi/Emil Werstler (Dååth) - "The Unwavering Collapse"
6. Shane Gibson (Solo, Korn) - "Artichoke Samurai"
7. Devin Townsend (Strapping Young Lad) - "Nerd Alert"
8. Chris Poland (Ex-Megadeth, Ohm, Solo) - "L.D.E."
9. Ola Frenning (Ex-Soilwork)/Chris Mälmstrom (Darkane) - "Hydra"
10. Mike Orlando (Solo) - "Stomped"
11. James Murphy (Death, Testament) - "Maiden Voyage"
12. Hugues Lefebvre/Yann Mouhad (Anthropia) - "Schrodinger's Cat Paradox"

Try pronouncing those last two. Damn. Anyway, that's all for this week's SSS! Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out next week's post where I get to a pretty obscure compilation!!! And as always, I'll be on air tonight at 9 Central/10 Eastern so check it out at WSUM.org!

Lastly, I've entered the blogosphere, so if you'd like to get more shred throughout the week visit Night of the Living Shred!

Casual Metal Fans Rejoice! Disturbed and Korn Announce U.S Tour Dates

In what promises to be one of the biggest tours of the year Korn and Disturbed have announced the second leg of the 'Music as a Douche' tour. Arenas should be selling out with people that get their metal fix from their local radio stations and satellite radio providers. I still kind of want to see Disturbed and I saw Korn when they were brand spanking new and opening for Ozzy. But I'm not going to pay the 100 bucks it surely will cost to go to this. But I'm sure there a ton of people that want to so here are the dates after the jump.

03/08 Belton, TX – Bell County Expo Center
03/09 Las Cruces, TX – NMSU Pan American Center
03/11 Tucson, AZ – Tucson Convention Center
03/12 Las Vegas, NV – The Joint
03/13 Sacramento, CA – ARCO Arena
03/15 Portland, OR – Memorial Coliseum
03/17 Yakima, WA – Yakima Valley SunDome
03/18 Missoula, MT – Adams Center

Further stops for the second leg are currently pending. As previously reported, dates for the first leg of the trek can be found below:

01/14 Bloomington, IL – U.S. Cellular Coliseum
01/15 Des Moines, IA – Wells Fargo Arena
01/16 Rockford, IL – Rockford Metro Center
01/18 Hershey, PA – Giant Center
01/19 Rochester, NY – Main Street Armory
01/21 New York, NY – Hammerstein Ballroom
01/22 West Long Branch, NJ – Monmouth University
01/23 Glens Falls, NY – Glen Falls Civic Center
01/25 Norfolk, VA – Constant Convocation Center
01/26 Morgantown, WV – West Virginia University
01/28 Uncasville, CT – Mohgean Sun Arena
01/29 Portland, ME – Cumberland County Civic Center
01/30 Atlantic City, NJ – House Of Blues
02/01 Winston-Salem, NC – LJV Coliseum
02/02 Fayetteville, NC – Crown Center Of Cumberland County
02/04 Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
02/05 Biloxi, MS – Mississippi Coast Coliseum
02/08 Corpus Christi, TX – Concrete Street Amphitheatre
02/09 San Antonio, TX – Illusion Theatre At Alamodome
02/10 McAllen, TX – McAllen Convention Center
02/12 Lubbock, TX – Fairpark Coliseum

This IS Halloween

So, a while ago Rob Liz had asked for some ideas on great Halloween Music. It took me long enough, but I had come to the realization that there's nothing better than Danny Elfman's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" Soundtrack. Now, for me, this is the epitome of what Halloween is about, and even the Christmas songs have been 'tricked' out with ghoulish imagery. I think, though, for That Devil Music, you have to keep that Metal attitude and throw the devil horns into the mix of those amazingly well-written songs.

Now, I've been a fan of Danny Elfman back from his Oingo Boingo days, and I'll always love his voice and the way he injects his wicked personality into each song, but for this post, I'm going to have to take advantage of a re-working of the NB4Xmas soundtrack with "Nightmare Revisited".





Now, die-hard fans of Danny as well as NB4Xmas well know that there's a special edition of the soundtrack out there with some gems on it, though there's only a couple. Marilyn Manson's "This is Halloween" makes an appearance on both, and there's also treats from She Wants Revenge and Fallout Boy. I even enjoyed Fiona Apple's version of "Sally's Song", but none of those RAWKED as hard as the masterful Metal versions on Nightmare Revisited. Here's some of my recommendations:

As I mentioned before, Manson's "This Is Halloween" appears on both discs, and for good reason. It's pure, unadulterated Manson. He creeps you out even MORE than the original does, adding that touch that only he could.



The next monster on NR that you have to hear is Korn's version of "Kidnap the Sandy Claws". Hearing Jonathan Davis saying such things as "Because Mr. Oogy Boogy Man's the meanest guy in town, if I were on his Boogie list; I'd get out of town" can sound out of place on paper, but to hear it is another story. The song comes across so strange, but it totally works with Davis' voice being the real draw here more than the music from the rest of Korn. Alltogether the song shines, but Davis's craziness makes this one a keeper.



I really dig Rise Against, first hearing about them thanks to Guitar Hero. Tim McIlrath is another vocalist with a truly distinctive voice. The music here, unlike the Korn version, is really rocking and seems to stand out more than Sandy Claws does. At least, I think it's definitely harder hitting. You be the judge.



Being both a HUGE Evanescence and Amy Lee fan, I can't not talk about "Sally's Song". No, it's not metal. It doesn't sound like metal and shouldn't. What it has is that signature Amy Lee, seething with longing and heartbreak vocals permeating this song, portraying Sally's fear and sadness for her friend Jack, perfectly. This, I think it probably my favourite song on the album and I think one of Amy's best performances.



The rest of the cd has some great tracks from Plain White T's, Rodrigo y Gabriel and Shiny Toy Guns, but I really wanted to focus on the bands that really rock out on this one, any Amy Lee. :) You should definitely check it out, and add it to your library. Even better if you play Manson's version of "This is Halloween" at YOUR haunted house or Halloween party. It's the perfect decoration.

Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

The Best of the Best

Ok, so a while ago, we here at TDM asked you about the worst metal and hard rock covers out there... I hate to say it, but I think the winner was Taylor Swift's collaboration with Def Leppard when they joined her on stage at CMT's Crossroads. It's bad enough having Taylor Swift singing one of your songs, it's worse when you join in on that unholy union. Burn in hell, Swift.

Aaaaaanyways. So, today whilst at work and listening to my iPod, I came across one of my favourite covers (and believe me, I have a lot). So I thought I'd go ahead and ask you out there what are YOUR favourite covers??? Let's keep this themed; I want to know about your fav covers BY metal and hard rock bands of songs that might not particularly be in that Genre. For example: Disturbed' cover of Tears For Fear's classic 80's smash hit "Shout".

So, here are a few of my personal favs. Please feel free to reply with a link to the song so we can hear it, just in case some of our readers don't know it.



It would be a sin if I didn't start this off with pretty much everything Metallica released on their cd "Garage, Inc.". Whether it's taking us back to our childhood and remember the giddiness and wrongness of hearing Metallica's cover of Misfit's sick and twisted song "Last Caress/Green Hell". Even better that than, another song released on Garage Inc., "Mercyful Fate", is probably the baddest mother on that CD, or at least, my personal favourite.





Another pretty amazing cover, for me, is (I've never heard of this band, and will probably never hear of them again) Spiderbait, covering Johnny Cash's "Ghost Riders in the Sky" (for the Ghost Rider soundtrack.)



Here's a gem for you. Korn's cover of Cameo and their Hit "Word Up" (which in itself is a bad-ass song), though I have to admit the video is shite.



Manson's cover of Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" is pretty fuckin bad-ass, ya have to admit..




And last, but certainly not least, and I know I'm gonna get a LOT of shit for this, I absolutely love Limp Bizkit's cover of "Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who. Yes, Fred Durst is a tool, and he's definitely NOT the greatest singer in the world, but for Limp Bizkit to take an amazing song, and still hold on to the beauty and melancholy of it, and add a little taste of LB's style, without ruining it, is a HUGE plus. I do have to admit that the Speak and Spell or Speak and Say (or whatever the fuck that is part) is fucking stupid. But not stupid enough to ruin the mood of the song.
Plus a Douche like Fred Durst gets to make out with Hallie Berry and it's on video?? That's awesome.



So there you have it! Go on and tell us your favs! Do it! Or I'll make you listen to Limp Bizkit again!