MOG

This week, as my "top artists" would suggest, I've been diggin' me some Chevelle. I hadn't been listening to it as much because...something else came out that same day, although I can't for the life of me remember what it was, that absorbed me. I thought it was Year Zero (KILLER ALBUM, btw), but I just checked on Amazon and Year Zero came out two weeks later. I guess it's possible that I bought them the same day... maybe I was delayed on picking up Vena Sera. (I usually pick up discs on release day now if I'm pretty sure I'll like them... otherwise I download them from Ruckus on release day and decide after that. It's been a while since I torrented a CD...)

Anyway, it's a pretty good disc, has some solid tunes. I remember a few years ago reading about Chevelle "showing their Tool influences," and the opener on Vena Sera definitely does that. "Braniac" is probably one of catchiest songs they've done to date (and, lest anybody accuse me of lacking perspective, yes I have their catalog all the way back through Point #1). "I Get It" has a Muse-influenced sound and also a good hook for a chorus.

(This is a lazy review of Vena Sera, since a) I bought it myself, and thus am not getting "paid" to write it, b) I wrote two real reviews today already, and c) the longer this post takes to write, the less time I have to finish watching La Femme Nikita.)

Speaking of the two reviews, I sent my editor reviews of Drift Effect's "Be Something" and Circus Diablo's self-titled debut. I expect the Circus Diablo review to run this week or next, and Drift Effect to run sometime in the next few...I'll post them when they do. Also on my review stack are Driver Side Impact's "The Very Air We Breathe" (Which has a nifty cover, at least...), Fair To Midland's I-have-no-idea,-there's-no-title-on-the-promo-copy, Hell Within's "Shadows of Vanity", Deadlock's "Wolves," and The Confession's "Requiem." Guess that means I should copy the rest of those onto my computer so I can actually listen to them...