Album and Concert Reviews
My reviews are more emotional or "feeling" based. I'm hoping to be more detail oriented as the site continues.

Nightwish
November 15th, 2007

The Club at Firestone
Orlando, FL

4 1/2 Stars out of 5

So the night started with a meet and greet with the Nightwish. I didn't know until after the show that Nightwish's bus broke down outside Fort Lauderdale early that afternoon and they had to bust their butts to get to Orlando. Major kudos to Tuomas and crew... As usual, I digressed. The meet and greet was quick but the poster they gave out was pretty cool (I'll post a pic as soon as I can). My friend that ended up going gave me his poster since he really didn't know who Nightwish was before the show (he was a convert after the show).

A Dead Nazi (if you don't know what it is, you probably don't want to know) and a screwdriver later, Paradise Lost hit the stage. I can't say I was overwelmed with them. They sounded like a band in the middle of an identity crisis. I would give them an OK. If they stick with the sound from the latest CD, they might become a descent band. Since I'm not really a fan, I don't have a clue what the set list was for them. Some one from the crowd did request "Free bird"...

Nightwish hit the stage with a vengeance. They opened with "Bye, Bye Beautiful" and never let up. Anette really fit well with the band (her levels should be a bit higher, the band drowned her out at times). I spent the entire show against the stage on Emppu's side. Everone in the band had incredible stage presence and they made the best of such a small venue.

The set list:
01. Bye Bye Beautiful
02. Amaranth
03. Dark Chest Of Wonders
04. Whoever Brings The Night
05. Everdream
06. The Islander
07. The Poet And The Pendulum
08. Dead To The World
09. Sahara
10. Nemo
11. Wishmaster
12. Wish I Had An Angel

What sucked about this show was the 11 pm cap so they couldn't do a full set. I also would have rather heard "She is my Sin" than "Wishmaster" but that's me. After the show, we hung out by the buses with Anette and Tuomas. I got them to sign both the ticket and my vip pass. The ticket has been framed with the poster (2 of 125) for the office and poster (3 of 125) is framed and hanging here at the house.

I would definitely rank them as one of the better bands I've seen live and I almost drove to Atlanta to catch the last show of this leg of the tour...

Nightwish - Dark Passion Play

4 1/2 Stars out of 5 - Check it out

I've been a huge Nightwish fan since I was introduced to them with "Oceanborn". I also will admit I was a bit concerned when they fired Tarja. I have to say, it was a dark day in the world...and then I heard "Eva". Can you compare Anette to Tarja? No. Can Nightwish continue without Tarja? Hell Yes. This may be blasphomeus to Nightwish die-hards, but I realy enjoyed "Dark Passion Play". "The Poet and Pendulum" started things off with a bang. Anette's voice isn't as strong as Tarja but she still has a set of pipes on her. By the end of the track I was hooked. "Bye Bye Beautiful" kicked in and I was holding on for dear life. I pre-ordered both the "Amaranth" singles about a month ago so I knew what to expect. This has become one of my favorite Nightwish songs of all time (Close second to "Ghost Love Score"). Each song built upon the last I was pleasantly surprised. Is each song spectacular? No. There are few albums that I have heard that every track is great. This album comes frelling close... 4 1/2 stars, definitely worth checking out (I still rate "Once" above this one). 5 days and counting until I see them live with Anette...

Iced Earth - Framing Armageddon

9 stars out of 5

I'm not kidding about my reaction to this album. Holy S**T. It may come as a huge shock, but I enjoyed the Ripper years of Judas Priest (Listen to "Catherdral Spires" and I dare you to tell me it doesn't rival anything Rob did with the band). I'm digressing... Glorious Burden was a transitional piece from Matt to Tim. I thoroughly enjoyed the Gettysburg piece as well as a few of the songs from the rest of the album (The Star Spangler banner to Declaration Day always make thrust my first in the air and drive way faster than I'd like to admit to). I keep digressing...on to Framing Armageddon. I may get in a bit of trouble for this admission, but I downloaded a Preview version of this album from Usenets before it hit the shelfs (I own 2 copies on CD, 1 for home and 1 for the car) because I couldn't wait for the cd. I was NOT dissapointed. Tim and Jon stepped the bar up. Tim's opening scream on "Ten Thousand Strong" was nothin but amazing. Overall, the ambitiuosness (I like making up words) of Framing Armageddon lives up to the hype and delivers a spectacular ride for any one who loves the Metal genre.

Jimmie Eat World - Chase this Light

4 1/2 Stars out of 5

 I got hooked on these guys back on the "Clarity" album. This album is more produced and delivers a more refined sound than their previous sounds. I definitely enjoyed and would highly recommend.

Symphony X - Paradise Lost

5 Stars out of 5

 I didn't think they could do better than the "Odyssey", I was wrong...highly recommend.

Kamelot - Ghost Opera Score

4 Stars out of 5

 The year of great prog metal. It's not "Black Halo" but not much is...highly recommend.

Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience, &
Grace

3 Stars out of 5

 As much as I want to like this album, I hate to say it wasn't a stand out to me.

Bruce Sprinsteen- Magic

4 Stars out of 5

 It's about frelling time Bruce rocked again. This album delivers...

H.I.M.- Venus Doom

3 Stars out of 5

 I'd like to say that H.I.M. is a guilty pleasure. They put on one hell of a musical journey, just not on this album. "Love Metal" and "Dark Light" were unbelievably emotionally charged. "Venus Doom" didn't live up to the same feeling.

30 Seconds to Mars - A Beautiful Lie

5 Stars out of 5

 I absolutely loved this album. They set themselves apart from the other bands in this genre.

Dave's Top 32 in no Particular Order (And 32 is an arbitrary number and these are always in a state of flux depending on my state of mind)

The numbers are just for me, nobody else...
1. Sonia Dada - A day at the beach
2. Iced Earth - Framing Armegaddon
3. Symphony X - Paradise Lost and The Odyssey
4. Joe Satriani - The Extremist and Surfing with the Alien
5. H.I.M. - Love Metal and Dark Light
6. Led Zeppelin - Everything (Robert and Jimmie are gods)
7. Pink Floyd - Everything (Roger and David are gods)
8. Police - Did they do a bad song?
9. Judas Priest - Rob and Ripper
10. Dropkick Murphys - Bagpipes and Punk music, what else do you need?
11. Badlees - Greatest Band no one has ever heard of...
12. Nightwish - Both versions
13. Moody Blues - Seen them 3 times and they never disappoint
14. Bad Religion - I've seen these guys live so many times I've lost count.
15. Kamelot - Black Halo
16. Yes - 90125 (I alway get the numbers confused with that goofy 90's show)
17. ZZ-Top - Billy is one of my favorite guitar players of all time
18. Tori Amos - Up through "Choirgirl hotel"
19. Sarah McLachlan - Everything
21. Jimmie Eat World - Bleed American
22. Dvorak - Classical rocks
23. Social Distortion - Mike Ness can do no wrong
24. Genesis - Sucks that the reunion isn't coming closer than Philly
25. Disturbed - Best of the new metal bands
26. Godsmack - Ever seen these guys live?
27. Nine Inch Nails - Up to "The Downward Spiral"
28. U2 - Joshua Tree
29. Tom Petty - Anything up to "Great Wide Open"
30. LostProphets - Start Something
31. Blind Guardian - Prog metal masters
32. The Cure - Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (Words to live by)

I could go on for hours on this one...

Dave's Guilty Pleasures and/or new bands to watch

1. Damone
2. Nemesea
3. Naio Ssaion
4. Liz Phair
5. Charlotte Martin
6. The Veronicas

I could go on for hours on this one as well...
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