Albums I Am Addicted To

Filter - "Title Of Record"

This one is less an album I am currently addicted to than one I decided to rediscover. You see, this album was basically the soundtrack to my pre-senior year at THE Towson University (I did 4 1/2 years worth of college so I had another half year after this one). I got it when it came out in 1999 and pretty much drove my roommates crazy listening to it. I loved Filter's first record, 1995's "Short Bus" (which had their biggest hit "Hey Man Nice Shot") and that came out during my junior year of high school. I'd be a senior in college by the time they released another record so I was pretty stoked.

Needless to say, "Title Of Record" didn't disappoint. First off, it was one of the best album titles you could think of. I'm not sure why I think that but it just is. Me and fellow film student Greg "Snake" Maki (dude's in this blog more than I am) took our enjoyment of the album and its title to absurd extremes. Our first film project, we had to film a haiku (don't let anyone tell you film school is not pretentious at times), which we called "Title Of Haiku." Next, we had to film a documentary, which we called "Title Of Documentary." Then our final project was a short film, which we of course called "Title Of Film" (and was based on the making of "Title Of Haiku." We were maybe a bit too clever for our own good.)

I loved the album for about a year and then sort of forgot about it. I had it in the CD collection but didn't really listen to it. Then last night, on the way back from seeing "Watchmen," I heard "Hey Man Nice Shot" on the radio and when I got back to my car I decided to pop in "Title Of Record" just for fun. Of course, some of the old college memories came back strong: thinking up the goofy movie titles, holding up my beer everytime Filter frontman Richard Patrick said the lines "You're celebrating nothing/And you feel/A-OK/You Get yourself a nice cold beer/And drink yourself away" in the song "Welcome To The Fold" and listening to the album while playing All-Star Baseball for N64 (swatting homeruns left and right with the likes of Harold Baines and Albert Belle).

But listening to it now, the thing I think of is: how in the world did these guys not become bigger stars? You listen to "Title Of Record" now and hear a lot of songs that could have been huge on the radio. "Take A Picture" was the big hit (the best ballad about being drunk on an airplane ever written) but songs like "Welcome To The Fold," "I Will Lead You," "Captain Bligh" (supposedly about Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor) and "The Best Things" all could have been huge hits on modern rock radio. Listen to "Skinny." How did that not become a big hit single? Filter, along with Local H and Monster Magnet are three bands that I will never understand how they didn't become huge.


Why didn't Filter become huge mainstream stars? I guess productivity could be a reason. They've released four albums in a 14 year career. Thats a good average if you're James Joyce. If they were more productive, could they have had, say, Nickelback's career? How is a solid band like Filter a two-hit wonder, while the irony-deficient Nickleback has had 10 hits? Like William Goldman said, "Nobody knows anything."

So how does the record hold up, aside from the sentimental value? Very well thank you. "Welcome To The Fold" is a kick-ass opening jam, although I have no idea what Patrick is talking about when he sings "Mama give me my medicine that makes me feel like a tall tree." "The Best Things" is a great driving song. The back-to-back "Take A Picture" and "Skinny" were destined to be "lighters in the air" anthems in big hockey arenas, as was "I'm Not The Only One."

Things don't always work out in life. People take their shot and miss. Hearing "Title Of Record" now is to hear a band doing exactly that. Too bad. It should have been a contender.

(For a sample, here's a live clip of "Welcome To The Fold"_

Metal Albums I Am Addicted To...

"Colors" - Between The Buried And Me


I think I can safely say that if you have ever heard Between The Buried And Me, whether you liked them or you didn't, you have to agree that there is no band out there quite like them. This is not music for the "American Idol" audience. This is dense, challenging, exhausting but yet exhilarating stuff from a group of guys who have firmly planted a flag somewhere near genius and insanity.

"Colors" is like a Charlie Kaufman screenplay: you think you have it pegged as one thing and then it turns on a dime and goes to a place even more tripped out than where it just was. The songs aren't necessarily songs in the conventional sense as they are some kind of heavy metal concerto. The songs are long (one song is 11 minutes, two others are close to 15 minutes) and the band consumes entire genres like fire consumed the Cayahoga River. The crazy part is though, the album is never boring, it never drags and it's never pretentious. Every song, hell every song movement, seamlessly blends right into another.

The album starts off with the two-parted "Foam Born A&B." "Foam Born A: The Backtrack," begins as a gentle piano ballad, seemingly about a girl. Then at about the 1-minute mark, the band comes in with the obvious cathartic chorus followed by a fancy keyboard solo. Sounds like something out of Coldplay's oevure right? Then just before the two-minute mark, well, all fucking hell breaks loose. "Foam Born B: The Decade of Statues" turns into an absolute freakout as drummer Blake Richardson goes apeshit behind the kit while singer/keyboardist Tommy Rogers unleashes a menacing death metal growl. Next up is "Informal Gluttony," a doom metal jam and probably as conventional a song as you will hear on this record.

These three songs are merely the appetizer for what follows next, the extrodinary back-to-back-to-back songs "Sun Of Nothing," "Ants Of The Sky" and "Prequel To The Sequel." "Sun Of Nothing" is the key song on the album, an 11-minute opus about man's contact with aliens (I think). The song starts out as a noisy death metal opus, gradually slows down to a brief excursion into cocktail jazz (really), back to metal and then ends with a psychodelic suite that Pink Floyd would be envious of.


"Ants Of The Sky" picks right up where "Sun" left off, expanding the psychodelic/stoner metal vs. death metal mix to such an extreme that the only logical place to end up is, yes, a country/western hoedown. (don't ask. It makes more sense if you just listen to the record) "Prequel To The Sequel" starts off with a Faith No More-ish keyboard intro, morphs into a thrash metal jam, detours into a waltz (yes, a waltz) before the band goes right back to where they started.

After the instrumental interlude "Viridian," the album closes with the epic "White Walls," a near 15-minute song that takes almost every genre the band has dabbled in so far and mixes it into one potent cocktail, chased at the end by the refrain from "Sun Of Nothing." It finishes the album in the mind-blowing style of everything before it.

I once again must reiterate that this band isn't for everybody. If you only listen to 30 second to 2 minute snippets you really won't get the point. It takes a couple of listens before the album really starts to sink in. But unlike so much of today's music, which is meant to be consumed and forgotten about within 5 minutes, "Colors" rewards a patient listener. Believe me, you'll hear more musical styles and better playing on just "Sun Of Nothing" than you will on half the albums released this year. That goes for metal, pop, country, you name it. And besides that, it fucking rocks its ass off as well. By all means, check out this band.

-For a sample of what is on "Colors" here's a homemade video combining "Foam Born A&B"

Metal Albums I Am Addicted To

This is a quick little item that I'm going to try to make a regular feature here at Hangar 39, because if there is anything I like more than some Caps, Ravens and O's, its some goddamn heavy metal music. So since I now have the space to do it, I'm going to give a short synopsis on why I love this particular record that will hopefully encourage you to get it. (if you don't own it already)

Today's record is....

"The Blackening" by Machine Head


To say this record is epic almost does it a disservice. There are two songs over 10 minutes long, two songs over nine minutes long and not one of the 8 songs on there is less than four and a half minutes. The thing is, its never boring. It doesn't lull for one minute, if its possible to do that for such lengthy songs. The guitars shred viciously right from the 10-minute opener "Clinching The Fists Of Dissent." Throw in Robb Flynn's scream of "GOOOOOOOO!!!!" and the record commences kicking your ass.

It's hard to pick one track that stands out because the whole album is great as a whole, something you don't see much anymore. You don't need to fret about skipping tracks. Just put this puppy on and let it rock. From the fist-pumping "Clinching" to the almost pretty "Halo" to the epic "A Farewell to Arms," this album has it all. If I was to choose at gunpoint which tracks are my favorites though, I'd go with "Aesthetics of Hate," maybe the angriest song ever recorded or "Wolves," which I'd want as my theme music if I ever became a pro wrestler, with Flynn screaming "UNLEASH THE WOLLLLLVES!!!" in the intro.


By all means check this shit out if you are looking for some ass-kicking guitar riffs, screaming vocals and thoughtful vocals as Flynn tackles issues such as war, death and religion. This shit fucking rocks.