Easy, Like Sunday Morning

Right, This entry is going to start with a song, not something I usually do granted but it’s only because I wanted to have 2 songs in this post. Why 2 songs? Well, I was introduced a few weeks ago to some new music; music I wouldn’t normally have found on my own.

Before I explain how I discovered this new music, let me just pop in the first track. It’s a song called Lovelorn by a band called Leaves’ Eyes I’m not sure about you but I think this particular track is perfect for a Sunday morning. It’s also pretty cool for a Saturday night tho perhaps more of a cuddling up on the sofa with a bottle of wine and some chocolate than knocking back 30 shots of vodka and playing spin the bottle, but what do I know?! ;)

So, how did I discover this band? I’m a bit old skool, I continue to keep a profile on Hot or Not. I figure since I’ve had it since I’ve been using the internet that I might as well keep it, I’m actually a moderator who gets to vote on whether the photos and profiles meet the exacting standards of the site…the bar is kinda low. Anyway, the vast majority of the people on it seem to be fake but every so often there are a few ‘real’ people who crop up. One of whom was Lauren, her profile stated she really liked Black Metal.

I have to be honest and say at this point that whilst I like some metal but what puts me off is not really knowing one genre from another and if there is one thing metal has, it’s genres! I struggle badly enough to figure out the difference between Metal and Heavy Metal so throw in the prefixes Black, Doom, Symphonic, Gothic, Death, Thrash, Speed, Rave, etc and you have one very confused Mr Omneo, so I stay out of the metal pool for fear of inadvertently referring to some melodic piece of Death Metal as Doom Metal… Yes, there is a difference but my ear is not yet trained to find it.

So, I asked Lauren, What is Black Metal, surely not a genre played by non-whites who find rap a bit too dull?? she laughed and explained that no, it wasn’t black only musicians but a genre she liked and when I asked her to introduce me to it she told me that I would need to work my way up to it… no jumping in at the deep end! So the first band she advised me to listen to was Leaves’ Eyes, a symphonic metal band don’t you know! I listened to a few of their albums and they reminded me very much of Evanescence. The lead singer has a beautiful voice, the music was quite melodic and every so often there was a heavy influence with the dark, Satanic sounding vocals which gave the tracks that Good vs Evil, Light vs Dark effect. I’ve found them to be quite good listening material for the gym.

The second band she recommend was My Dying Bride. Somehow just the title of the band let’s you know that you’re not going to get light, fluffy summertime tunes but if you’re working your way towards Black Metal, what do you expect? Sure enough, they have a much darker sound but once you get passed the initial heavy bass and low sung vocals you realise that the songs do contain lyrics that say something. OK, perhaps not the cheeriest of subjects but then again just consider Billy Ray Cyrus’s Achy Breaky Heart, that wasn’t very cheery and yet we all went around singing it!

I found My Dying Bride’s live album An Ode To Woe very enjoyable and would recommend it, obviously not to everyone but if you like that sorta music, it should tickle your palette. I’ve not yet worked my way up to Black Metal, I’m enjoying the Symphonic and Doom/Death stuff at the moment but I have albums by Mayhem and Burzum waiting to be played and when I get to them I’ll let you know what I think. Until then, let me leave you with My Dying Bride and a track called Black Heart Romance

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