Growing Appreciation

There comes a time in every grown man's life when he starts appreciating some of the bands on his iTunes library a little more with every new shuffle. Needless to say, I have found myself in the same conundrum and decided to peruse through my library to create a list of bands that I have learned to appreciate more over the last few weeks.

AGALLOCH - I had heard of this band before I moved to Portland, but I always assumed that they were just another Black Metal band. After hearing one of their songs on Pandora, I decided to download a couple of their albums. And what a revelation they have been. I can't stop listening to "Not Unlike the Waves" from their Ashes Against the Grain album. Atmospheric, folksy, beautifully melancholic - this is the band Ulver should have been. It makes everything sound pale by comparison.

ALCHEMIST - This Australian band are often regarded as the Metal's Best-Kept Secret. It is a bold statement, but it isn't far from truth. They sound like a heavy version of Tool with oriental influences taking the front seat. The intro to "Evolution 1 - The Bio Approach", from fantastically-titled Organasm, gives me goosebumps with every listen.

AMORPHIS - When I first listened to Amorphis in high school, I wasn't a fan of their death-metal growls. Over the years the band adopted a new style with clean vocals and more avant-garde arrangements. In college I couldn't get enough of Am Universum. Lately, though, I keep going back to their older stuff - especially the transition album, Elegy.

ANTHRAX - Let's get the obvious out of the way - Anthrax were the smallest of the Big Four of Thrash. And rightly so. They weren't as epic as Metallica, as musically-gifted as Megadeth, or as mind-fuckingly heavy as Slayer. But they were definitely the most fun. Listening to "Caught in a Mosh" again after all these years brings a huge smile to my face as I mosh in my own living room. By myself.

BAYSIDE - I have been introduced to this band by Bheeler. I thought they were pretty good when I first listened to them, but for some reason I never specifically went back and sought them in my library. Until late last year when "They're Not Horses, They're Unicorns" kept coming up on Shuffle. Now I can't get enough of the whole album - a very unique sound and style.

BRAND NEW - Another Bheeler band. When I was in my final year at Nottingham, "Sic Transit Gloria ... Gloria Fades" was a minor hit in the U.K and also had the most demented video this side of "Diane". I'm not big on emo and Brand New are as emo as it gets. But, what sets them apart is their progressive approach - The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me is an album worthy of comparisons with Radiohead's OK Computer.

ELECTRIC SIX - We all thought they were a joke - you only needed to listen to "Danger! High Voltage" and "Gay Bar". The accompanying videos would confirm this. The other day I decided to go back to the album that gave us such sophisticated songs, Fire, and was pleasantly surprised that Electric Six is more than a joke. Unlike the Darkness, they knew to pen songs that had depth and weren't afraid to stretch.

GARY JULES - After seeing him in all his 'high' glory a few weeks ago, it became apparent that I had to go back to Trading Snakeoil for Wolf Tickets. He will always be associated with his incredible version of "Mad World", but that album proves that he is a formidable songwriter on his own too. Highly underrated and underappreciated.

IN FLAMES - The most famous band to come out of the Gothenburg scene, In Flames were only a name until the Ozzfest 2005. They were the opening act for the main stage and were definitely one of the highlights of the whole day. Since then, I have slowly but steadily grown immense appreciation for this band. If you like your music melodic, heavy, and emotional then In Flames are ready to blow your eardrums off.

KOSMOS - They are not strictly-speaking a Bru band, but it never hurts to escape the norm sometimes. Their self-titled 2007 album and especially the song "Dream" are now perennial must-plays of the day. It's part Krautrock, part space-rock, full on trip-fest.

LIVE - Although I have grown a bit cold after the abysmal Songs from Black Mountain, I went into a nostalgic fervour after finding The Distance to Here somewhere hidden in a box. I remember headbanging in my dorm room with Rich as "The Dolphin's Cry" rocked from the stereo, reveling in the uber-coolness of "The Distance", and shedding a few tears over "Dance with You". Throwing Copper may have been their finest hour, but The Distance to Here is for me the quintessential Live album.

MANOWAR - Death to False Metal. Manowar are so easy to make fun of. Yet, there is no denying the fact that when it comes to writing some kick-ass and catchy tunes, there aren't many bands that can rival Manowar. Hail to England has lent many a song to my playlists of late.

PARADISE LOST - It's strange, but I paid to see Paradise Lost twice. It's strange, because until recently I have lived in ignorance of this amazing band. "Enchanted" from their breakthrough Draconian Times and "Fader" from their amazing Believe in Nothing only confirm that this is a band with immense talent. I now wish I had paid to see them more over the years.

PULP - Brit-pop was great. It filled the gap after grunge imploded and brought a much-needed cheekiness to the whole shebang. Pulp's origins go way before bands like Oasis and Blur became ultra-mega-super stars, but they are without doubt one of the key bands of the era. I always thought Different Class was a great album - perhaps one of the greatest pop albums ever. Listening to it again after ten years, I'm amazed how fresh it still is. "Disco 2000" has now become one of the most melancholic songs ever.

There it is. I have always kinda liked these bands, but now I appreciate them even more. Maybe in five years I will come up with a new list and a new group of bands that I tend to ignore (skip) during shuffle now. Who knows who they'll be?

Peace.

- The Bru