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When you loaded this page, I was listening to:

Courtesy of Kung Tunes

	Accept - The Collection - 75:39 - 1991 (80-86)
	I accidentally and rather unexpectedly started liking Accept after I found a tape of theirs on the ground. Ordinarily, I would never buy a cd from a cheesy, leather clad, hair metal band from the 80's, like these guys, but however hard my body tries to reject these high pitched Germans, I think their "Balls to the Wall" cd is just great. This compilation is a good sampling of their work, but their best material was done in 83 & 84. Even if you're like me, and you don't like old metal like Iron Maiden or Judas Priest, you just might find yourself liking Accept.

	Age Of Chance - One Thousand Years of Trouble - 35:57 - 1987
	Age of Chance is a slightly interesting band that brought elements of techno and rap with a little bit of metal together, which at the time, was not done a lot. The execution is pretty slick and the music is full bodied and sharp. Although you get the impression that they want to be a white boy rap band, fortunately it doesn't come off that way. AOC is similar in some ways to Pop Will Eat Itself, and also reminds me a bit of Sigue Sigue Sputnik. I feel like they had all the skills to go to greater things, but I don't know if they did or not (other than making a cool version of Prince's "Kiss")

	Agnostic Front - Cause For Alarm/Victim in Pain - 35:45 - 1986 (84-86)
	Buy this CD now, read this review later! You might not think much of a two for one CD that is still only 35 minutes long, but your ears will be both energized and exhausted by the time it's over. AF not only DEFINED hard core music on their first album, they totally REDEFINED it on their second. Both of these albums were nothing short of revolutionary, particularly "Cause for Alarm." Prior to that album metal was only done by big hair bands that sucked. AF showed that by mainlining some blistering guitar work and impossibly fast drum beats, you could give hard core music the kind of power unimagined at the time. (you always knew who had a good stereo, if their speakers could even play the double bass massacre)

	Agnostic Front - Liberty and Justice For... - 25:59 - 1987
	Q: How do you follow up two of the most revolutionary and powerful hard core/metal albums ever? A: Easy, up the dose. All these lame DJ's who boast about how many BPM's they can program their computers to do can't hold a glow stick to AF's "vulgar display of power." "Liberty..." is a shot of raw adrenaline, that brings the undeniable force of Genesis and Armageddon rolled in one. Although maybe not quite as hooky, and almost impossible to scream along too, "Liberty..." is all about power, and showed that AF were still WAY ahead of the curve - "Strength above all!"

	Agnostic Front - Live at CBGBs - 33:59 - 1989
	It's weird to think that live Agnostic Front plays even faster than on album. Talk about stamina, not to mention the minions of skinhead stage divers. Also, much like when I saw them, they spend a lot of time trying to settle the crowd down, so they could play. I'm not really into live albums much, but the quality and music is good. If you're really into AF, you might want to look into it, but for the average Joe this CD is too short and you should get their 2 for 1 CD which has two of the most revolutionary hardcore albums of all time on one. For more AF sounds, check out Roger's brother's band Madball.

	Amorphis - Elegy - 56:35 - 1996
	Reviewing this CD was really tough for me, because it meant having to listen to it objectively at least 5 times, which really turned out to be quite a chore. I think if you mix Carcass with Monster Magnet and multiply by some cheesy pre-Maiden English metal band, then pour in Pink Floyd and Led Zep, with 1/8 oz. Cannibal Corpse, you might get this band. To their credit, I will say, they are definitely doing their own thing, but too often it's really queer. This is one band I don't mind saying, I just don't get. I would consider them the metal equivalent to Styx or Kansas.

	Anthrax - State of Euphoria - 52:46 - 1988
	Anthrax has always been teetering on the brink of either being cool, or sucking. This identity crisis has lead them down many different paths in recent years trying to resolve the issue. I think that one of their problems (and apparently so did they) is the singer, who's high pitch voice is more suited to 80's metal. Although I don't think that's entirely it, I'm not sure what else is wrong with their picture. I guess one way to look at it, is that they are a really really good, bad band (if that makes any sense). There are a couple of great songs on this disk, most notably is one about homelessness.

	Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Vol.II - 152:04 - 1994
	I wouldn't really agree with the title on this one. There are a few ambient pieces, a'la Eno, but for the most part, it's really slow trance. It's the kind of stuff you would hear if Tricky were to fall asleep at the mixing board. This double CD set is perfect for napping (some songs actually induce it), reading, plodding through arduous HTML code, and other activities that require your attention. If you can't mellow out to these soothing digital soundscapes, than it's time for Prozac. This CD makes the best utilization of pictographs in lieu of track information, I have seen to date.

	Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy - 33:87 - 1997
	First thing, what a creepy video. Next, clarity, speed and digital to the bone, this is exactly what I look for when I try new techno (use term loosely) artist. There are parts of this that make my heart race. BPM's are furious, even in the slow songs. The majority of his sound is what I think micro chips sound like to each other. My favorite track is all built around one simple sound, a bouncing metal ball. James takes that sound and completely transforms, geeks & morphs it around inside & out, backwards & forwards. Seemingly experimental & always transforming, this is like a video game for the ears. A couple of duds, and brevity keep this one from ranking higher.

	The Art of Noise - X - 00:00 - 19
	Coming some day.

	Asphyx - Asphyx - 59:18 - 1994
	As of late, I've been getting more into heavier/darker band's such as Morbid Angel or Crowbar. Often I find that the slower fatter chords impose a deeper more foreboding sense of power than other more adrenal charged music. But at the same time, I think there needs to be a healthy mix of both worlds to accomplish the strongest mood. Asphyx leans more to the heavy, and although they do often shift to higher gears, they're just not quite as accomplished in that realm. Their speed, wall of sound guitars and the stretched vocals, cumulatively add up to drag me down a little too much, but I do like many of the things they do. For me heavy music is like cheesecake, it taste really good, but it's way to rich to eat more than one slice at a time.

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