Sell Out Records - A Music Review Blog

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Lemmy of Motorhead fame died yesterday. He was 70 years old. Rest In Peace. Perhaps we will see you one day. Rock of Ages, show mercy! Haven't listened to Motorhead lately? Pick up some records, support the band.

Few Left Standing "Regeneration of Self" I’m not sure what it was about the late 1990s that made so many Christian youth pull together some of the most incredible music. There hasn’t been a time before or since that I’ve followed music as a whole and had so many amazing records hit my desk and speakers. One of the many records that I remember being floored by was Few Left Standing’s 1999 release on Takehold Records. It is called “Regeneration of Self” and it is by far one of the most complete metal core records that can be labeled Christian and still be very much heavy. Yes, there are other bands that put out great records, but nothing really coalesced with the spiritual side as much as it did with the heavy sound of Few Left Standing. The flow of this record and the all-out onslaught of progression through heavy gut wrenching speech is second to none. Chris Stafford goes to nail down some of the most outright religious lyrics, while maintaining a signature sound ...

Millions of people still think of Nirvana’s unplugged album as one of the best MTV ever produced . MTV was a great channel once. I wasn’t allowed to watch it, but I did so anyways. It showcased a lot of music, and it helped me branch away from purely rock radio into new dimensions. I remember that in 1996 I wanted to pick up several records, and one of the major ones that I purchased was Alice in Chains “Unplugged”. This was recorded for MTV as they had a series in which they put rock groups in a small venue, put some candles on, and the band would play through their hits and some B-sides as well. What made this so special was that the band had been absent from the limelight for a while. In fact, they didn’t play a concert for 2 and a half years before this. Layne Staley would die soon after the band recorded this, but the band definitely put on a showcase here. I recall at the time, a lot of music critics didn’t like this record. In fact, my stepfather, friends that listened to ro...

In June 1996 the band Stavesacre released an album that would become one of the most eclectic , strong, and impressive records of all time. I’m not alone in saying this. The Los Angeles Times would write of the band summing up the one line that I tell a lot of people about, “The Best Band No One’s Ever Heard Of”. It’s so true, and the guys in Stavesacre know this all too well. For all the work and incredible elements that they pushed through in their careers, they never got the mainstream success that they should’ve received. In fact, it was on “Friction” that comparisons to Tool started, and you know what? Tool should’ve had these guys open up for them, as they would have been huge! “Friction” starts powerfully with the track “Threshold”. This guitar and bass heavy track is precisely the same style that Tool and other prog-metal bands were putting out in the mid and late 1990s. From the opening track, you are taken on a progressive metal and hard rock ride that you cannot mirror a...

P.O.D. has been going strong for a long time. I remember hanging out with Sonny and the boys way back when they were playing shows up and down the West Coast with Dogwood. That’s a long time ago, and since then, the guys have been packing away some of the most powerful songs. This time around they have gone full tilt with a concept album called “The Awakening”. It’s equal parts metal, rap, hardcore, and reggae. The band has really fused together some of their best elements, and has really ramped up the production this time around. The band is absolutely at their most melodic, and urgent with this one. If you are a fan of the Deftones recent pushes, you’ll absolutely love this record, because it very much feels like a brother of Deftones and Incubus right now. From the start of the record, you are going to get hit with a reggae and hard rock blend. “Am I Awake” is a beautiful concept, with a mix of media sounds and the powerful elements that have made P.O.D. so poignant in the past...