My Zune's Car Pack (the car-lighter adapter plus RF transmitter) died on me a few weeks ago, so I've been restricted to listening to CDs in the car on my commutes. I used this as an opportunity to put some quality time into some new CDs I purchased over the month of August as well as become more familiar with Judas Priest, a band that I truly feel I have a musical connection with. I've been using my Zune Pass song credits to buy Priest albums (thank goodness they're mostly 9-10 songs minus the bonus tracks, which I'm not wholly interested in) and those albums have been subsequently burned to CD-R for my listening pleasure.
In addition to Judas Priest (which really doesn't need any explanation; their music is really good) I have been listening to the new Maiden album, the two recent Disturbed albums (Indestructible and Asylum - released 8/31/10) and Chinese Democracy - you know, that album by Guns n' Roses that is probably still a Best Buy exclusive on disc.
The Final Frontier (Iron Maiden) has grown on me and I really like the album now. Sometimes it takes a little learning to get into a complex piece of work. I've always liked Disturbed since the Ten Thousand Fists album (wasn't too much a fan of their earlier, more vocally rap-infused work) but now that I've concentrated on listening to the music I'm starting to appreciate the band more. Indestructible is arguably very heavy compared the the albums that come before and after and Dan Donegan (the guitarist) shows some serious fingerwork in his solos. Asylum, the new album, is rather melodic (no problem there) but the production job makes the guitars super-thick. I haven't listened to it through headphones yet, but I feel like the music was mastered too loudly and distorts very distinctly; a very big negative.
Chinese Democracy was released by Guns n' Roses in late 2008. I bought it when it released and gave it a few listens, but overall I felt like I had better things to listen to. After the past couple of days of giving a new ear to it, I really wonder why I didn't give the album the respect it deserved. While it is a hodgepodge of different styles of music written and played by a myriad of musicians, every track on the album has its own identity and contribution to Chinese Democracy's overall personality. I definitely will be listening to this album more in the future.
There aren't any upcoming albums in the near future, so I will be listening to more old stuff that I may have neglected due to the massive amount of content that was on my Zune.
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