mista

I think he was referring to the chorus "I find it very interesting..." which, as a melody, resembles "Windmill, Windmill for the land" from Feel Good Inc. (the part sung by the little kid (Damon) on the mountain with the guitar). In the verses, on the other hand, since they are rapped in a style very different from what Gorillaz use, I don't see what the hell kind of plagiarism you could spot... and again, it's been two weeks since I found the cotton buds...

The "prodigious metrics" referred to his raps, not to the melody of the chorus (which is not even that great)... and don't put me in quotes! But who the hell cares about this Caparezza! I just wanted to say that he raps well, even though he says stuff that sounds like late-teenager nonsense gnè gnè gnè, whatever, I'll go clean my ears out, where are my cotton swabs? Damn, I haven't found them for two weeks...

A bit Bukowskian of us (uh, is that how you spell it? I'm not from Rome) but nice; I would have been just a tad more concise, much stronger on the musical points (more heartfelt) than on the fictional ones (already heard). CIAO.

You really can't read this review, sorry but I think it's better if you focus on reviewing albums you're more familiar with, or at least make an effort to provide some less superficial analysis (what the hell does it mean that you expected a "better job"), for heaven's sake, I also review in a deliberately light manner but at least I talk about music that interests me and that, deep down, I know... about the album: I heard the single, nice, and as always extraordinary lyrics and metrics, even though the content from a late adolescent who's a bit angry, albeit well expressed, certainly doesn't leave you speechless for originality! CIACIAO!

I prefer Episode too; I generally agree with everything you’ve said about that album, even though there are indeed some self-plagiarisms or just plagiarisms in Episode. But I repeat, I don’t find this immense difference between the two albums that you see... as I’ve already mentioned, Episode (except for a few slightly different ideas in Eternity or Uncertainty or Season of Change (but not too much)) is a nice remix of Helloween and Malmsteen; I mean, the Stratovarius, as much as they might exalt (they did exalt me too), haven’t really said much new in metal, except from a production standpoint, which has set incredibly high standards of precision and power, even though today, in my opinion, the sound feels too sterile and lacking in excitement (especially the drums, damn, they might be powerful, but they really always sound the same and compositionally they’re shockingly bland). Just a point of view!

For Senmayan: In my opinion, with Episode they find the formula, and with Visions they apply it perfectly. Anyway, I also prefer Episode; it’s a bit more interesting (as interesting as the layers are, which after all have just presented us with a powerized and cleaned-up version of what Helloween and Malmsteen had already done)... but I can't understand how you can hate Visions if you like Episode… I don't know!

Damn, the discussion is getting complicated. All the groups you mentioned are exponents of prog-metal (I don't know Meshuggah well though), understood as the metal that pushes the boundaries of compositional rhythms, harmonics, etc., proving to be - literally - "progressive." However, when someone says "the album has progressive influences," it can be a bit misleading because one thinks, indeed, of Genesis or something like that. If you meant progressive in this latter sense, you were right to say progressive; if instead you said it to indicate that you hear some odd time signatures and "particular" melodies (what a terrible term), the prog definition would have, in my opinion, been more fitting. I don’t know if that makes sense...

I, on the other hand, belong to a different school of thought. Even if prog originates as a contraction of progressive, when paired with metal it becomes prog-metal, which I believe is a genre of its own (odd time signatures, somewhat daring melodic and harmonic solutions, etc.) that has little to do with the original progressive... I don’t know, maybe it's just an academic mental twist I'm giving myself. What do you all think? Anyway, if I find it in my archives of copied records, I’ll listen to this elements again. I should have it because I did a cover of "find your own voice" a while ago... damn, my fingers hurt playing that piece!

I didn't want to slip into the Scott/Jhonson comparison; this album is really a blast. Some tracks, as the reviewer mentioned, sound cooler in the live version. I was just contesting the statement "it reveals, more than the previous 'IF YOU WANT BLOOD', the absolute value of the live performance of AC/DC." This live album will give you more of that arena atmosphere, but IF YOU WANT BLOOD remains one of the most electrifying and engaging live records ever.

then when we talk about metal we say PROG, not PROGRESSIVE, already calling Prog the layers is bold, but calling it Progressive...