Delain at Worcester's Palladium

I went to the Sonata Arctica concert at the Palladium last Saturday. The guest bands that were included were Chronologist, Xandria, and Delain. Delain has been a special guest at the Palladium before, and at the time I didn't think it would be worth going to see unless if they were the headline band. At the time I didn't think a band would give much of a performance as a guest band compared to a headline band. Thankfully when I went to the show, I was wrong in my assumption.

I found Xandria very enjoyable, quite so much that I bought two of their CD's. Their band's vocalist, Diana van Giersbergen, has quite the voice, and the rest of the band members were awesome too. Chronologist was enjoyable even though they have no lyrics and vocals whatsoever. I had to war up to Sonata Arctica, for they played their instruments with awesome talent, but I was a bit hazy on the lead singer's voice, Tony Kakko, though that maybe because I usually prefer female singers in symphonic metal bands. Maybe I was just expecting more of a deeper voice from him or something, but at least he doesn't growl like certain vocals in certain bands. Some shouting/growling is all right in music sometimes, but not all the time.

Honestly Delain really took control of the show the best. They were the only band to set up anything in the background before they performed, and they were the only band that used fog machines. Sure, Sonata Arctica used the technicolor lights, but I found Delain more visually entertaining. Their vocalist, Johanna Charlotte Wessels, sang beautifully, and she had this remarkable energy to her despite the fact that the room was hot! With that rare energy and that intoxicating smile, she got the crowd pumped up and even jumping at times! The other band members also played their instruments awesomely. They also performed some of their best songs including Get the Devil Out of Me, We are the Others, April Rain, Breathe on Me, and Stardust. This was a show worth seeing, and there were even people outside who tried to buy people's spare tickets or tried to sneak in!

I am really looking forward to seeing Within Temptation and Ameranthe at the Palladium next month!

Internet Radio

I never heard of the website Pandora before the 24 Hour Game Jam. Someone's laptop was playing Within Temptation, a band I really enjoy listening to. I noticed that after the song of Within Temptation, the laptop played songs from other bands that I never heard before, but I enjoyed how they sound. I decided to try out this website for myself.

I was surprised at the substantially huge selection this internet radio has. This seems like the logical route to take for all radio to go. You type in the name of a band or a genre of music and this website will begin playing music from that genre or that are similar to that band. If there is a song you don't like, you can always press skip. There are commercials, but there is only one commercial in between two songs once in a while. These commercials are not as annoying as most of the commercials I have heard on the normal FM radio. There's an upgraded version when you sign up for an account, but I just stuck with the free version, and I am satisfied.

I have found a few new bands that sound awesome! From there I have looked into their albums on Itunes and saved them in my wishlist. I don't know where else this website is accessible other than on a computer, but I highly recommend this internet radio.

Rock Music

I recently ordered 3 CD's online because I can't get them on ITunes. All three of them are Japanese bands that I had heard from specific Anime shows and online. It has just gotten me to think about my taste in music.

My earliest exposure to music was very weird. Since I have autism, my mother and my speech pathologist helped me speak through many methods, including "Hooked on Phonics". One method my mom took was having me listen to two CD's from my dad's and her's music collection. Mostly she played "The Beach Boys" and "Meatloaf: Bat out of Hell 2" to me on noise canceling headphones. I am not entirely sure if I liked the two bands equally or not, but I can say that the CD cover for Meatloaf has always been awesome to me. Few covers have such dark, epic illustrations.

(This image is from http://spazio.libero.it/geniolibero/.)

My taste in music did eventually expand, though I was still very sheltered when it came to these sorts of things. I recall really liking "I'll be There for You" by the Rembrandts just because it was played at the beginning sequence of "Friends," but that was back when "Friends" was worth watching. I also recall liking Chumbawamba's "Tubthumping" since they played that song on the radio often. I never tried to get a CD of either one of those groups though.

My first CD, besides a few burned CD's from my brother, was System of a Down's "Steal This Album." I began to like them after seeing their music video for "Chop Suey!" on MTV back when they actually showed music videos. Mostly System of a Down was my favorite band of all time. Of coarse my taste in music has been expanding since then.

I also like Slipknot, Disturbed, Static X, Gorillaz, Evanescence, Rammstein, Enya, Dido, Unsun, Within Temptation, Damone, Delain, Maximum the Hormone, Girugimeshi, High and Mighty Color, Curve, MDMFK, Godsmack, Blueman Group, and Kidneytheives. Yeah, my taste in music ranges from Metal to New Age.

Artists require all sorts of things for inspiration, especially music. My taste in music generally has to make me imagine fantastic fight scenes, explosions, magic, machines, and spectacular adventures when I feel pumped full of energy. I have my relaxing moments when I want to hear some music that calms me, but it still has to sound good to my ears.