#( with a spirit to break . alt hunger verse )

[joneshead]

ASTORIA!   @shexquisite​

“It’s an entire other level of classism,” he said frankly, features pulled into a stern, tense expression. Never one to hold back on such opinions, he felt it now more than ever, that threat that was personal to him and his family, the injustice of society for seeing him in one way and one way only. “Maybe I shouldn’t even go back ...”

   ( STARTER CALL ! )

[happymetalgirl]

Disturbed - Evolution

This is a tough one.

Not to write, well kind of.

Like a sucker punch to the gut after trying to quell a bar fight.

Disturbed were one of the big reasons I got into heavy music in my adolescence, and even looking back, I still enjoy a lot of my favorite deep cuts from albums like Believe and, my personal favorite, Indestructible. For a long time, Disturbed has been the bane of frustrated criticism from much of the metal community for having a rather homogeneous and formulaic writing style, which they do to some degree. But for a long time I stood my ground in my appreciation of what they did with the style they transitioned to immediately after their nu metal debut album put them on the map. Even though they did largely abide by a common formula, their music didn’t really FEEL formulaic. The band played with what seemed to be a pretty convincing vigor, with David Draiman’s strong and well-controlled singing voice a major factor of it, and the rest of the band’s crunchy riffs and respectable solos providing a certainly adequate backing to such a strong vocal presence. The band were assertive. They nailed five #1 albums in a row and they played like they had to prove they deserved it out of all the other groups in the alternative metal field in the 2000′s.

I was a little shaky when the band came back from hiatus with 2015′s Immortalized, for which they recruited Five Finger Death Punch producer Kevin Churko to manage the soundboard, and he basically copied and pasted the same bland production from Got Your Six to Disturbed’s sound. Aside from the unflattering, squeaky clean preset production, the band sounded much more micromanaged in their writing. The band were able to squeeze out a few bangers that hearkened back to albums like Ten Thousand Fists, but combined with what seemed like a bit less fire under their ass after their hiatus, Immortalized sounded like Disturbed sterilized, super clean, super textbook, no surprises... well, one surprise. What Immortalized eventually brought Disturbed was a hit cover: Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence”. The band had done a lot of well-received cover songs across their catalog before “The Sound of Silence”: “Shout” by Tears for Fears, “Land of Confusion” by Genesis, “Midlife Crisis” by Faith No More, “Living After Midnight” by Judas Priest, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” by U2, and even a live rendition of Pantera’s “Walk”. But nothing brought them quite the resurgence in popularity after hiatus that “The Sound of Silence” was able to. But that clearly came with a price that the band would have to pay later, and that time is now.

Immortalized felt like executives and radio analysts had a bit too much hold on the band in the creative process, and on Evolution, it really feels like they have taken the reins completely to ensure that the band they invested in, the band that gave them their hit Simon and Garfunkel cover, would yield a similar return. And good God is it a catastrophic shame! Reshaping Disturbed’s approach and image all the way down to the album cover, the first to not feature their iconic mascot (The Guy) since his inception on the Ten Thousand Fists cover, Evolution is quite a painfully fitting title for this stifled, programmed album. For the first time, Disturbed really sound like something their longtime fans didn’t ever want them to be and everything their worst critics had always said they were. I don’t know how much of a fight the band members put up to prevent the album from sounding this way (if they even did) but they sound defeated and puppeteered. The curious part of me even wonders if Draiman’s oddly publicized decision to take out his chin piercings came as the result of label pressure to clean up the band’s image for radio/YouTube or something (if so, I’m sure they’re also trying to find a way to change that super offensive, not-radio-Disney band name without losing the recognition it comes with).

Cynicism about the context of the album aside, Evolution is a tough pill to swallow. Producer Kevin Churko is back to fuck up a good thing and choke the band’s otherwise lion-like roar into the wheeze of an asthmatic cat (appreciate the Sufjan Stevens reference). The album kicks off with the fan-chosen lead single, “Are You Ready”, an adequate, but still kind of safe channeling of classic Disturbed. On any other album from them, this would be an enjoyable, but lower-tier track in the bag. The fact that it’s a highlight here speaks to the tremendous drop in quality on this album. Things go south quickly with the second track, “No More”. The song builds its foundation on a butt rock drum beat throughout the verses and minimal riffage. The chorus is a bit better, but those verses are just unbearable. And then we get the first of several of the album’s soulless, transparently label-pushed ballads: “A Reason to Fight”. The lyrically vague, overproduced acoustic piece is such an obvious attempt at a semi-“The Sound of Silence” original that the label wouldn’t have to split royalties for. And this applies pretty much exactly to the nauseatingly cheesy inspiration of “Hold on to Memories”, the artificially orchestral “Lift You Up”, and the melodramatic acoustic closer, “Already Gone”.

As for the more rock-oriented material, the kids-on-their-damn-phones anthem “In Another Time” sounds again like an overproduced Asylum-esque banger that would almost definitely have sounded better on that album’s production (and with less surface-y topical lyrics). The chuggy, mid-paced guitar riff on “Stronger on Your Own” also really highlights how shitty the production on this album is, with Dan Donegan sounding like he’s playing through a fucking practice amp. Again, it sounds like something that could have had potential to be passable in an earlier studio session, but instead got snuffed out here. “Savior of Nothing” features some refreshingly present cool guitar harmonics, even though Donegan is still far too muffled in the mix. The chorus is pretty lifeless, however, and the momentarily exciting drum fills at the bridge are quickly ruined by a corny electronic dubstep-ish drop, in current year, after all the failed experimentation we saw with dubstep in the early 2010's! God, just give me the cancer now. Perhaps the laziest display of the band’s usual hard rock and alternative metal blend comes in the elementary schooler swearing technique on the drama-critique of “The Best Ones Lie”, which just sounds awkward and forced.

The bonus tracks on the “deluxe” version of the album features a recycled suspiciously titled original alt. metal cut called “This Venom”...like that shit movie needs more shitty music commissioned for it to stain this year. And of course, there’s another acoustic ballad with Draiman seriously crooning in falsetto at some points like a fucking wannabe Adam Levine.

The band expressed that they wanted this album to be like their “black album” and represent a stylistic evolution for them, which is such an odd thing to hear from a band that has clearly taken so much influence from the “black album” they’re referring to. And I feel like a broken record this year with bands stating they want to “evolve” or “progress” as an excuse for an unwelcome diverting into the fleeting promises of career revival and job security that radio-friendliness advertises, but Disturbed’s case is different. They aren’t some B-list group from the 2000′s metalcore movement jumping aboard the Oli Sykes bandwagon. Disturbed are big, and they didn’t need to sell their souls to maintain their status after the success of “The Sound of Silence”, which is why I get the feeling that this was the product of too many hands of boardroom members on the creative wheel. Although, it’s still entirely possible that this really was the direction Disturbed wanted to go. They said they were inspired by the classic rock of their youth, which could be an excuse to appeal to that hotbed of radio boredom, but I can believe it given the more rock-oriented cuts on this album.

Either way, this is bay far Disturbed’s worst album to date, and one that ended their five-record streak of #1 albums. Not that I would revel in a band’s failure (besides, it debuted at #4, which is undoubtedly still a win for the band, and moreso a symbolic stumble for the label), but I hope that such a “slump” either helps guide the band back on track to doing what they have done well, or gives them leverage to get their label the fuck off their backs so that they can get back to doing what they do well without the hindrance of outside influence only seeking to pimp their artistry, seeing that the label probably isn’t going to be getting a hit like the “The Sound of Silence” this time around anyway.

In the end, perhaps the album cover (as boring as it is) without The Guy is better. It certainly represents something. If The Guy is the spirit of the band and their hunger, then it’s fitting that he’s not here on Evolution's cover. Replaced by the image of electrified DNA bases with chains serving as the sugar-phosphate backbone, the Guy-less cover kind of does express the chaining of the band’s fiery nature across this album, something I hope they can break free from on their next project.

[michrob87]

Lefties have it right

http://blog.timesunion.com/hoffmanfiles/lefties-have-it-right/40932/

Lefties have it right.By

Rob Hoffman

on January 8, 2018 at 5:31 AM

0Let’s face it, there’s nothing in our physiological makeup that has fascinated us, or mystified us more than the functioning of the human brain.  It is by far our most important organ, and yet, it remains the one that we know the least about.  While we continue to try to ascertain its workings, there is still so much about this magnificent biological structure we have yet to fully comprehend.  (I suppose that is why it is so hard to truly know ourselves.)  I believe we are living in a time where we hunger to understand the brain, and we can all thank the president for that.  After all, he himself has discussed the importance of the brain, and has told us on numerous occasions that he in fact has, “A really good brain.”

(“I have a very good brain.”  They say that’s exactly what Sir Issac Newton used to say after the apple fell on his head.  All smart people have really good brains, and feel the need to tell us about it all of the time…right?  In fact, remember the time Albert Einstein stated that he was a really mentally stable genius?  You Tube)

It is our brains that explain everything about us.  Many psychologists prescribe to the notion that our behaviors, likes, and habits are predetermined, and that our brains are simply hardwired to be as they are.  Sure our environment shapes us to some to degree, but let’s face it, people can tell you from now until the judgement day that you should like seafood, or appreciate art, or poetry, but if it’s not something that you would naturally gravitate towards, no amount of coaxing in the world is going to get you to a place where you are going to sit there and enjoy a “poetry slam,” when the idea of poetry literally causes you to break into hives.

I can say with great confidence that I would not have been one of these wide-eyed gadflies who sat around on college campuses listening to the “Bard of Haight-Ashbury,” Allen Ginsberg.  I suppose that my brain simply isn’t wired as such that I can enjoy an art-form such as free-verse poetry.  Of course, if Ginsberg were to show up sporting let’s say Yodels, I suppose I could be coerced to listen to a little good old-fashioned “Hippie Poetry.”  What is it about Yodels that make the prattle of poetry just go down a little bit smoother? (Getty Images)

Considering how differently we are wired, it shouldn’t be any wonder that we are a divided people here in the United States.  However, I believe the media has it wrong regarding what divides us.  There’s a lot of talk about the concept of tribalism, and how we are loyal to our own “tribe” or group.  While I don’t disagree with this description of how our society is broken down, I do believe that the way most so-called experts have attempted to explain the causes of our tribalism are way off the mark.

It is my estimable opinion that it is not race, nor religion, nor region, nor the football teams that we root for that divide us as much as it is the conflagration that is “left vs. right.”  I don’t mean the political left vs. the political right.  I mean left-handed people vs. right-handed people.  Think about it.  Sure there’s racism in the world.  African-Americans and whites don’t see the world the same way here in the United States, this much we know to be true.  However, even amongst whites or African-Americans, there is division over the concept of being right-handed vs. being left-handed.  How did we get here, and can we bridge this gap, or are right-handed people simply doomed to be inferior to left-handed people?  (Spoiler alert…I’m a lefty!)

This division over left-handedness vs. right-handedness lies squarely on the doorstep of the brain.  It is our brains that determine whether we lean towards left-handed vs. right-handed dominance.  How typical is it to be left-handed?  Not very.  Somewhere between 88-92% of the world’s population is right-handed.  How soon in our human development do we choose a dominant hand?  Apparently pretty early.  According to researchers who studied hand dominance in utero, they found that hand dominance in the womb was an accurate predictor of handedness after birth.  Heredity also plays a role as well.  Nearly 24% of handedness is inherited. As a lefty with two right-handed parents, all I can say is, I wish I knew which hand the milk-man delivered with.

Like all things of value in our society, lefty’s are rare.  We’re like leprechauns, but taller.  (Hoffman Collection)

There was a time in our society that being a lefty was considered a negative.  People would criticize your handwriting, or the way you held a fork, or cut your meat, or your ability to handle scissors, or your throwing.  Look at baseball.  Most of the positions on the field are made specifically and exclusively for right-handers.  Forget Jackie Robinson, the real hero who integrated baseball was the first player to stand to the first-base side of home-plate, or throw from the mound from the first-base side of the rubber with that slinging motion, tossing another unhittable slider.

My Aunt Sylvia, who has since passed away, was not known for her cheerful, optimistic nature.  In fact you could argue that she only had two moods; fed-up and surly.  How did she acquire a disposition that was so chock-filled with sourness?  Most likely it was because she was born a lefty, but was forced in school to write and eat with her right-hand.  This is worse than making a child renounce their religion.  Religion is a choice.  Nobody chooses to be left-handed, and yet our education system has historically denied 12-14% of our population that most basic of rights, to favor your lefts.

The “Immortal Babe.”  The “Sultan of Swat.”  The “Bambino.”  The “Hefty-Lefty.”  (I kind of embellished on that one.)  Babe Ruth was an inspiration to every chubby left-hander who has ever picked up a baseball, especially when you learn that he used to play with his glove on backwards since they didn’t even have a left-handed mitt at the orphanage where he learned the game.  (Getty Images)

The sad truth is, left-handed people have been discriminated against by an uptight, and right-leaning society that has sought to crush those free-spirited “port-siders” who just want to be free….man.  Historically, left-handed people were routinely accused of consorting with the devil, and during the 15th and 16th centuries, any woman who was left-handed could be branded a witch.  (If you listen to The Eagles’ classic “Witchy Woman,” backwards, you can clearly hear Don Henley say, “Bitch is lefty.”)  Even during the supposedly more enlightened 19th century, left-handedness was sometimes brutally suppressed.  In school, students who preferred using their left-hand to write with would often find their left hand tied to the back of their chair.

Even in modern times, the lefty is forced to exist in a world where the scissors, most sports, the left-to-right style of how we write, and many attempts at manual labor are all catered towards the prissy and spoiled right-handed majority.  This group of left-brained, right-siders, are an oppressive bunch that are so insecure about their dull sameness, they use the word for “correct” to describe their handedness.  What’s so “right” about being right?  Why are we lefties left behind?  Why are we so put upon?  I’ll tell you why.  Left-handed people are rebels.  We are non-conformists.  We don’t go with the flow.  We are the fly in the ointment.  The proverbial turd in the punchbowl.  We are the antagonists, and we won’t be denied, as long as you have those special left-handed scissors that make it so much easier for us to cut stuff up.

A rallying cry for those who refuse to conform.  This is the true “rebel yell!”  (The Hoffman Collection)

Even in politics, being on the left is seen as a negative.  Right-wing politics is ascendant.  The “Alt-right” is the hottest political movement in America as we speak.  In Europe in the early part of the 20th century, people willingly supported the Fascists in Italy, and the Nazis in Germany rather than support the left-wing policies of the Socialists or Communists.  (Granted, the Communists were and are pretty horrible, but the Nazis if possible were worse.)  If you wanted to destroy a politician’s career in America between 1920, and, well today, all you have to do is refer to them as a “lefty.”  The only way it would seem to survive as a left-wing politician in the United States, is to be at least 74 years old, look disheveled, and yell a lot about the rich in a very thick Brooklyn accent, even if you’ve lived in Vermont for over 40 years.  (By the way my little left-wing millennials, it didn’t work for Bernie either, he lost, remember?)

In fact, anything that smacks of the “left,” is seen by the teeming masses as negative and undesirable.  Consider the following:

A bad idea is “out of left-field.”

A guy who sucks in baseball is told to play “left-out.”

When somebody is trying to insult you, but make it sound like they are saying something nice it’s called a “left-handed compliment.”

Food that’s not finished at dinner time, and is reheated the next day in a dried-out, crusty, and luke-warm version of its former self, is known non-affectionately as a “leftover.”

When Jesus comes back, and takes all of the good-hearted people who are the true believers, while the sinners who didn’t make the cut  must fend for themselves amidst the devil’s minions, it’s known as being “left-behind.”

Why couldn’t I have listened to my mother and teachers who begged me to be right-handed.  If only I hadn’t been such a rebel, I could be chilling with Kirk Cameron in whatever vanilla flavored version of heaven he’s squatting in.  (You Tube)

Outside of being a non-conformist, are there any advantages in going through life as “southpaw?”  Well….

You usually only have to hit against righties in baseball, which is good for a lefty since getting to face a righty is easier.

Nobody really ever borrows your baseball glove since there are very few lefties.

Your serve in racquetball, tennis, and perhaps squash, (I really don’t know anything about squash other than it tends to get played by swells named “Mitt,” or “Buzz,” or “Chip,” or “Clark,” or some “tool-like” moniker given to an individual I wouldn’t be caught dead “chilling” with.) is really hard to return.  I’ve won racquetball games without ever having to hit the ball a second time after I’ve served due to the fact that some people find it very frustrating to return a left-hander’s serve.

Lefties always get the end of the table since nobody wishes to buy an elbow from me or any other lefty while we’re eating with our unconventional left-hand.

Left-handed people tend to return quicker from strokes.  (Either that or nobody can tell the difference.)

Supposedly, left-handed college graduates tend to earn 26% more money than right-handed graduates.  (This stat may be a little bit skewed since both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are and were both left-handed.  They more than make up for my teacher’s salary.)

They have a better chance of passing their drivers test.  Lefties pass 57% of the time, while righties only pass 47% of the time.  One therefore could make the assumption that we left-handers must be better drivers.  (Fun fact, I failed my road-test on the first try.  Sorry, other lefties.)

They are faster typists.  That’s why I’m able to write these blogs so quickly.  Look, I’m finished…not.

They spend less time standing in line.  Geez, it sure as hell doesn’t feel like it.

They are better at multi-tasking. (Or as my brother calls multi-tasking, doing a lot of things at once poorly.)

(Source: Left-handed people are great, righties suck.com)

Because we lefties have been so badly discriminated against over the centuries, we have needed to invest our time in developing cute little sayings, and putting them on coffee mugs.  The best part, while we’re drinking our coffee, those insufferable right-handers have to read what’s on our mugs every time we take a sip.  They can literally suck-it.  (The Hoffman Collection)

Probably the greatest attribute that lefties have going for them is their creativity.  How can I prove this?  Take a look at this list of famous lefties and you tell me if we’re not G_d’s most gifted children.

Barack Obama – No surprise here.  Is there anything this Kenyan, Muslim, Socialist isn’t to the left of?

Bill Gates – Let’s see, richest man in the world is a lefty.  Check!

Oprah Winfrey – “You get a left-handed glove, and you get a left-handed glove, and you get a left-handed glove,” is what I imagine her saying when I daydream about Oprah being a lefty.

Babe Ruth – A great pitcher and perhaps the greatest hitter in baseball history, and of course he’s a lefty.  You know, this is just getting boring pointing out our superiority.

Napoleon Bonaparte – Which hand was it that he stuck in his shirt for all of those portraits?

Leonardo DaVinci – Does that mean that the Ninja Turtles are left-handed as well?

Marie Curie – Lefties “radiate” greatness.

Aristotle – I think, therefore I believe I’ll be a left-hander, or something like that.

Jimi Hendrix – I hear the guy could play a little guitar.  By the way, I believe he shot heroin right-handed, of course.

Edward R. Murrow – Only the best journalist in history. I believe he could smoke with either hand however.

I would also mention famous lawyer Clarence Darrow, H.G. Wells, James Baldwin, Michelangelo, Charlie Chaplain, Robert De Niro, Bill Bradley, and Ned Flanders.  Guess who’s right-handed? Well, if you had guessed Tom Brady, Adolf Hitler, Bill Belichick, Joseph Stalin,and Judas, then you’d be correct…or should I say “right?”  Do you really need any more proof?

I’m sorry, could somebody remind me how many right-handed artists painted the most famous portrait in world history?  Oh that’s right, the man was a lefty.  Thank you Leonardo.   You are the Jimi Hendrix of the Renaissance.  (Getty Images)

I believe I have accurately explained the greatness of being left-handed.  However, what are we to make of those who are ambidextrous, the bi-sexuals of the hand-dominance world.  Are they more flexible?  Are they more open-minded?  Do they have some sort of genetic advantage?  Personally, I believe that they are descended from a tribe of magic pixies.  I’m not sure I trust these people.  Pick a handedness, and stick with it.  We don’t need you genetic supermen making the rest of us look bad.