Maylene & the Sons of Disaster

Been listening to Maylene for a while now. Heard them first on a compilation CD back in '09, and they've been kinda growing on me since. They have a kind of southern hard rock mixed with metal sound. Like if George Thorogood decided to start screaming metalcore vocals instead of singing. Maybe that's not the best description. Like always, give a couple songs a listen and decide for yourself.
Here's a song from their first album, also my initial introduction to them. "Tough as John Jacobs":

From their second album, here's "Raised by the Tide":

Their third album is the only one I owned for a while, so I love pretty much every song. I'll share 2 of my favorites. Here's a song with mostly clean vocals and good ol' Southern rock n' roll vibes, "Listen Close":

And here's "Oh Lonely Grave":

They have a 4th album out, but I haven't gotten to listen to it yet. Let me know what you think of it all.

Sam's Christian Metal Corner: August Burns Red

I recently got started listening to the metalcore genre of music. This genre is defined as "a mix between hardcore punk and extreme metal". Some examples of metalcore bands include Killswitch Engage, All That Remains, and Bullet for My Valentine. There are several Christian bands in this genre as well: As I Lay Dying, Underoath, The Devil Wears Prada, and August Burns Red are some of the most popular. This week, I picked up an album titled "Rescue & Restore" by August Burns Red (hereafter referred to as ABR). Here's one of my favorite songs from the album, "Fault Line":



 I like how the lyrics start with the line "We all hurt. We all need. We all cry. We all bleed." I have gone through some rough stuff in my life, and this confirms that I'm not the only one out there who hurts.

ABR also does some interesting instrumentation on this album. Here's "Creative Captivity", which utilizes several unexpected instruments, including a guzheng (a Chinese zither), a trumpet, violin, and cello:



 ABR did an instrumental Christmas album last year, entitled "Sleddin' Hill". They put a metal twist to holiday favorites such as "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", "Carol of the Bells", and "We Wish You A Merry Christmas". They did a punk version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", and a few original compositions, my favorite of which is "Flurries":



They have also been featured in the popular "Punk Goes..." album series. Here they are brutally murdering Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time":



I'm not going to post a whole bunch of videos, but if you like what you hear, check them out! Most, if not all, of their songs can be found on YouTube.

Christian Metal Corner: Tourniquet

I thought I'd do a post about one of my favorite Christian Speed/Thrash/etc Metal bands, Tourniquet. They just released their 8th album, Antiseptic Bloodbath. Here are a few of my favorite songs from their most recent release:
Antiseptic Bloodbath

I love the intro to "Fed by Ravens, Eaten by Vultures". Nice use of cello and violin.
And no Tourniquet album would be complete without a song about their strong stance against animal abuse. Here's their song "86 Bullets" about the killing of an elephant named Tyke. (Wikipedia article here)
At the moment, the entire "Antiseptic Bloodbath" album is uploaded on their YouTube account. I recommend checking it out, and as always, support the artist if you like their music.

Ferris wheel and fireworks

In Flames are one of my few melodic death metal pleasures and they've just premiered a new music video for a song Deliver Us. The song itself is alright and the fireworks are kinda cool. Check the video below...