Dark Water [2003] Dvd ~ Hitomi Kuroki
1 of 9 people found the following review helpful: oh dear, 8 Aug 2007 dull,bland,unispired,plodding,slow,boring,repetitive. pick any of the above to describe this film. the acting is terrible,the direction is average and repetitive and also very cliched. there is nothing new on display here.the first half,well make that 3/4 of the film sets the basic story and is very,very dull, the key to these types of horror are that they are atmospheric and creepy,this film is neither of those things. the special effects are terrible and i wish i had never seen the damm thing. the basic story is about a mother and a daughter and the mysterious diappearance of another young girl in the same building. somehow it takes the director just over an hour to tell us that!!!! utter nonsense,vastly overrated and not even at all scary in any shape or form. if you want to see a good example of this type of asian horror watch "ring" its much,much better. avoid this pile of s*** at all costs. death metal
				Live Alice in Chains
good stuff, 7 Aug 2007 here we have a lazy best of made up of the bands greatest hits all from live recordings across the bands career. for the completist its essential for the passer by its not. it is a good live album as the sound quality is pretty good through out with only a couple of songs suffering from a slight dip in quality. the obvious choices are here in the form of "dirt" "them bones" and "man in the box" and they all sound brilliant and then on the plus side they throw in the odd "queen of the rodeo" in to convince you to part with your cash!!! sly goats, but its worth it. death metal
				High Anxiety Therapy?
nice one, 7 Aug 2007 this album rocks. its that simple. the boys are back with a bigger and thicker sound.the songs are all pretty dammed good and the better songs on show here are excellent like the mighty opener "hey satan you rock" and the exceptionally catchy ""if it kills me". the pace is faster than the previous couple of albums and the punk element if firmly in place and they even manage to include a ska sounding bouncy number aswell. it isnt quite upto "toublegum" and "nurse" standards but is a hell of alot better than "semi detatched" and the vastly overated "suicide pact" albums and is a return to the glory days where the humour was almost as important as the riff! well done boys its good to have you back.
				Pinkerton Weezer
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: approach with caution, 7 Aug 2007 so then what to do after selling millions of your debut? personally i would have tried to write another one!!! weezer on the other hand went the other way and made this....a much darker and nastier peice of work. the change in style is evident from the very first few seconds, the guitar sound is much beefier and rougher around the edges,the drums sound thicker and really pucnh at your body.then there are the lyrics which sound that little bit more sinister especially on "across the sea". but is it actually any good? i would say absolutely. its a brilliant album with fantastic songs my personal standouts being the crazy funk/rock of "el scortcho" and the punky rock of "getchoo",nad probably the only song that feels like first album territory "the good life". the real change is how everything sounds,it just feels rougher and rivers puts his voice through alot more on this one. if you are a fan and you havent got this one yet then do buy it but approach with caution as this is the angry child of the litter and isnt to everyones taste!!! death metal
				Weezer Weezer
woo hoo, 7 Aug 2007 ok so the comparisons to all the other work is inevitable, so how does it do? well i would say very well. its instantly accessable and very,very,very catchy. the songs tear past at a frantic pace, riffs flying and melodies all over the place. ok so this isnt exactly complicated song writing but it is very effective as the songs will keep you humming the choruses for days. plus the variety of song on display is as random as ever from straight up rockers like "hash pipe" and "photograph" to slightly more odd pop rock indie songs like "island in the sun". this for me is easily one of the most brilliant summer listening albums ever made. its no where as noisy as pinkerton and yes it is very short but they do say the best things come in small packages and this album proves that point perfectly. death metal
				Alice in Chains Alice in Chains
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful: disappointing, 2 Aug 2007 with their best work behind them and laynes drug problems getting worse they recorded this album and it sounds very messy. the songs just ooze a sludgy and droney style...there is little to no pace about this album and it drags you kicking and screaming through the mud. personally like it but the downside is the songs just arent very good. yeah sure there are some very good highlights like "heaven beside you" and "brush away" and "again" and "grind".....but the rest of the album sort of blends into one long dull song. maybe that is the main problem,alot of the songs are too long for their own good and also a bit odd. "sludge factory" starts off well enough but it just doesnt ever seem to end,the same is true of the just downright wierd "frogs?" it feels like a very arty album and as such lost me about halfway through. also its very weak in comparison to "dirt" and the songs on this album sound alot better when they are stripped down on the MTV unplugged album that would follow this one. a shame that this is how the best of all the grunge bands had to bow out. death metal
				Independent's Day Twiztd
ha ha they be back, 1 Aug 2007 madrox and monoxide are back and they have brought their friends with them and they all sound like they are having the time of their lives. easily the heaviest sound they have produced so far!!! the beats are slower but fuller and really thump you in the middle of your chest. madrox for me rules this album,he is on fine form...that said monoxide aint to far behind!!! the guest for this album really help to show the variety in the sound and scope of twiztid's work from the usual suspects of blaze and ICP through to more straight up hip hop like tech n9ne and from the metal world HED(pe)'s jahred shows up and rips the place up. the subject matter is the same as ever so no fears about them evolving too much, the songs about bodies,drinking blood,banging girls and smoking trees are in place as ever and at times the lyrics will give you the giggles!! the only really old sounding song is the eerie and groovy "monsters ball" with ICP yet again highlighting how much twiztid have now moved on and that ICP havent, its a good song but ICP are now slipping behind their peers as both twixtid and blaze are now dropping more vital albums....this of which is one of those!! if you are a fan grab this badboy sharpish as it is very,very good! we are in "green book" territory here!! death metal
				1 Less G in the Hood: Deluxe Edition Blaze Ya Dead Homie
woo hoo, 1 Aug 2007 so then blaze is dead and he wants to tell us what its like!!! so then typical pschopathic lunacy here then! blaze has a much more straight forward hip hop feel to his music in comparison to ICP and twiztid...the rock element is there on a few songs but the majority is just damm funky hip hop beats and rythms. as a vocalist he is gruffer than the rest of the family and quite stopstarty but it fits the music exceptionally well. the best bits on the album are however when the guest vocalists show up!!! jamie madrox rips the place to pieces oj his various guest spots....the same can be said for ABK,who i wasnt too sure about before hearing him tear this place up on this album. i think that is more to my taste as i like the way 2 MCs play off against each other,which blaze cant really do with himself!!! overall this is a cracking album...full of beats,awesome guest spots and some crazy fraky lyrics!! if you is a juggalo you need this bad boy death metal
				City Strapping Young Lad
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: oh my god it hurts, 1 Aug 2007 this album is the noise equivalent of putting your head inside a furnace and turning it up to 10. this album is harsh to say the least...easily one of the heaviest album ever released...the drums thunder and the guitars surround you and then devin sreams at you and before you know it you are pinned against the wall unable to move. so then what does it sound like? i would personally say this is the logical extreme of industrial metal pushed to its very most aggressive point. it sets out it stall very early with the initial wall of guitars that great you in "velvetkevorkian"...but the the real beast hits you in "all hail the new flesh"...but the secret to this album is that although the songs are amazing and very heavy with riffs to die for...they all have a worrying knack of layering in some very catchy melody riffs into the breakdowns and into the chrus...witness the breakdown at the end of "all hail the new flesh" combined with what would become devins trademark of layering his choral style vocals. there is also a odd level of bouncy factor for an album so heavy witness "A.A.A" and "detox"...though these songs are very heavy they still bounce and groove...that is the secret to this album, yes it is very,very,very heavy but it has a softer edge to let you in and suckerpunch you! i love it and believe it to be one of the best albums ever released and easily the best thing SYL have put out and only second in devins career to his own work in ocean machine. please if you want to see what all the fuss is about this is where it all started! death metal
				The New Black: Limited Edition Strapping Young Lad
what a way to go, 1 Aug 2007 the final album from strapping young lad is quite a swansong to say the least the sheer size of the sound on this album dwarfs almost any band!!! as you would expect the production is ridiculously perfect!! everything sounds so...huge and so crisp. the music itself is mind blowing....i wish i could write songs a tenth as good as this. the songs are a hell of alot better than alien...which personally i found a tad boring...this one on the other hand wraps you up and doesnt let go. there is a distinctive chance of pace...as its quite slow by SYL standards and alot groovier...it almost feels like a proper heavy metal record with solos popping up here and there....which in comparison to the rest of the material is pretty much unheard of. the vocals are alot more melodic and the songs hook into your brain....the critisism of the line between SYL and the devin townsend band blurring is also quite fair to be pointed at this album as the melodies of devins solo work is creeping into this album. but that said its not a bad thing as this album feels stronger for it as alien had little to no melody at all and it just blurred into one long blob of noise. if you are new to SYL this would be a good place to start as it breaks you in gently and it shows every side to the band. if you want to go for the deep end start with the masterpeice that is "city"