Hail of Bullets - Operation Z

Imagine heavy classical music in the background ala Wagner accompanying the behemoth in the seas we call battleships while swarms of planes flying in the sky like bees. Each and everyone of those buzzing bastards are either ready to drop massive amounts of explosives to burn the flesh of your fellow comrades while another half is ready to sacrifice their lives to sink that piece of pathetic metal you call a warship while some of your friends suffocate, gasping for air, drowning. Replace the orchestra with heavy crunching guitars that breaks steel bars, beams and bones, you will get this Death Metal behemoth. This album isn't ashamed from sounding like Old School Death Metal and that is a good napalm coated decision. Prepare for a slow ooze coming out while interjected with snare drums akin to machine guns flying directly to the flesh of soldiers in Guadalcanal. This is carnage, this is Death Metal done right.

ChthoniC - Rage of my Sword

I have been following Taiwanese Black/Death Metal band for quite sometime now. I originally followed them from their Seediq Bale era where their lyrics concerns the plight of the Indigenous Taiwanese tribes during the Japanese occupation and the impacts of the modern world towards their culture today. In their latest album, Bu-tik they moved away spoke about the commonalities between the fascist groups in Asia and Europe, almost like a love letter to the niche of pre-WW2 Asian politics. However, back to the music. Here, the Death Metal takes the spotlight over the Black Metal while the back ground symphony made of Chinese folk instruments accompany the brutally here. The music is a clash between the folk-sy flavor that you would normally associate with world music festivals than a stomping and rampaging Death Metal album. The guitar solos here are no joke, with fingers blazing over notes that could remind any avid metal fan of Thrash Metal-esque solos. While the band has no overt time signature shift ala Thrash Metal giants Slayer, the solo is used as a glue between the chorus and the bridge. That facemelter could easily be pictured on an angry Thrash Metal album. This cross breed between East and multitudes of Western flavors of Metal truly is, the representation of the blades of men, defending their island from blood thirsty invaders.

God Dethroned - Under the Sign of the Iron Cross

If you ever doubt how ferocious Melodic Death Metal can go, look no further than this nihilistic band (though their lyrics are not nihilistic on this album). With fusion of Black Metal, Death Metal and a dash of operatic clean vocals at times, this band is a strike of gold in the mine Melodic Death Metal. Plus, the barks don't scream conventional Melodic Death Metal growls but can easily appear on a Brutal Death Metal album. You won't get disappointed with this band's blend of Black and Death without sounding like the typical bland extreme metal band.

All Pigs Must Die - Chaos Arise

Imagine if hardcore band Converge has Black Metal influences sprinkled onto them. All of that, with the angry hardcore vibe still maintained. This sounds like the chain tracks of a tank instead of the haunting ghost invoked through the misanthropy of tremolos that would normally invoke Black Metal. Yes, this track sounds like a hardcore punk tank at full speed charging after you.

Snares, tremolos and inter-sped with power chords from time to time. This is how metal and hardcore should mix.

Dinosaur Jr. - Green Mind

This is the closest Dino Jr ever sounded like Nirvana. Hell, Mascis sounds as if he's Kurt here if Kurt had less cigarettes. Talking about cigs, this song is about a guy trying to pick between his ciggie buddies and his girlfriend. Maybe that is why Dino Jr isn't as famous as Nirvana. They dabble in cigs while all the other rockstars dabble in cocaine. (Kurt fans, don't kill me)

I don't smoke, but I'd choose my buddies.

Smashing Pumpkins - Space Oddity (Bowie Cover)

Space.... the final frontier. The line from Star Trek that inspired the name of this blog. Here's another thing that's space inspired. Smashing Pumpkin's cover of Space Oddity (originally by David Bowie). This track, thanks to Bowie's amazing composition, feels larger than the usual rock song from his era. Couple that with the Alternative Rock that the Pumpkins oozes, this track feels like a 90s rock era influenced musical number. This could easily fit into a modern musical with the dreamy landscape the band is famous with in it's later era. Add more layers of distortion over the non-conventional notes the song uses, this song can easily be shoegaze'd .(TM) Plus points on the creative solo interpretation here. Kudos to Corgan and the gang.

Apoptygma Berzerk - Shine On

I never grew up with EBM. I never grew up with SynthPop. I normally stay away from cheesy electronic music. This track changed my mind. When this band combined SynthPop with distorted rock guitars, I was sold. If any of you know tracks like this, please recommend me instead. I have no idea about this catchy subgenre. Great to dabble in the frontier.