Music

It has been a bit quiet lately on this blog, I usually come up with stuff over the weekend but last weekend was a very sad one, due to the tragic passing of Mikey, one of our cats. Connie has a beautiful blog post about him so I will only say I will miss the little guy very much.

I was listening to some music on the way to work this morning so I thought I'd write a little bit about what I am into these days. My taste can be eclectic and tends to wander but I usually end up with something metal-like although it needs to be a bit different and interesting to hold my attention. There are some terrific bands out there that produce intelligent but powerful music. My current favorite is Primordial. This is an Irish metal band that has been around for quite some time (1987) and is still producing very good albums. Their latest "Redemption at the Puritan's Hand" is one I can't stop listening to, the track 'Lain with the Wolf', is quite brilliant, both in music as well as lyrics. The other track I keep listening to is 'Gallows Hymn', something with an almost classical foundation and lyrics that are deeply disenchanted and bleak.

Along the same vein is 'My Dying Bride' which is probably one of the most profoundly dark and despairing yet musically devastating bands I know. They have some absolute classic songs like 'The Dreadful Hours' which is a terrifying and nightmarish yet hauntingly beautiful song about an abusive father. Then there is 'Catherine Blake', another gothic horror story that in true MDB fashion goes from slowly melodic to full-on hardcore death metal and back again. They too, have been around for a long time and are also still going strong.

Their latest album

There is more of course, I listen to Tool quite a bit, music from my teenage years still features with The Cure and Depeche Mode and I still listen to some of the classic Goth stuff like Sisters of Mercy and Fields of the Nephilim.

On different days in different moods I will go to the classics, I love to listen to baroque stuff like Bach on a quiet Sunday morning or an early morning drive in the car. I have some performances by Murrah Perahia that I listen to quite a bit, mostly piano sonatas by Bach and some Chopin as well.

Then I admit, every once in a while I will go to the other extreme, pure electronic dance music, if I feel particularly weird. DJ Tiesto has some music that I listen to sometimes, usually in the car or if I am feeling particularly indulgent on the big speakers at home for some utterly bombastic excellence.

Funny, the two bands I like the most at the moment aren't particularly cheerful. I don't consider myself very dark or pessimistic so it must be the music. I do also appreciate the lyrics, especially Primordial has some very good stories to tell.