59 Times The Pain

Five albums and gazillions of singles into Pain's existence, it's still difficult to accept the fact that this industrial music project is actually helmed by extreme metal producer extraordinaire Peter Tägtgren, but Psalms of Extinction (that fifth album) adds another few layers of belief - even if it gets off to an inconspicuous start. With little more than a jagged metallic riff to counter its robotic dullness, first track "Save Your Prayers" pretty much falls flat on its polished chrome face, but next cut "Nailed to the Ground" turns the ship around with a more danceable beat, groovy Rammstein riff, and a surprisingly catchy singalong chorus. Somewhat surprisingly, it's this particularly accessible formula that usually produces the album's best moments when repeated for ensuing tracks like "Clouds of Ecstasy," "Does It Really Matter," "Just Think Again," and "Bottle's Nest"…

2017 release from the veteran metal outfit. The Metal Thunder God reclaims the classic metal throne with this studio album of 12 original songs that will get your blood pumping and leave your ears ringing! Even by heavy metal's innately freaky standards, the artist known as Thor was an absolute superfreak! Straight-faced Norse god impersonator, semi-professional bodybuilder, on-stage wrestler, all-around performance artist (known to bend a steel bar between his teeth!), sometime actor, and, oh yeah, even occasional rock & roll singer, Thor (full fake name Jon Mikl Thor) was a Vancouver, Canada, native with a flair for both theater and music…

This debut recording by Swedish prog metal band Pain of Salvation proved to be a well-needed breath of fresh air for a genre that was full of self-parody and self-indulgence. Led by vocalist/lyricist Daniel Gildenlow, their unique style draws from influences such as Dream Theater, Queensrÿche, Faith No More, King's X, Pink Floyd, and Frank Zappa, to name a few. Their theatrical, concept-like approach is offered in three chapters and is delivered with emotion, intelligence, integrity, passion, and poignancy. These qualities, which are often strived for but rarely attained, seem to come from the number of years the band spent together honing their craft. Their fine musicianship serves the music first and rarely falls into self-aggrandizing. While their fastidious approach would eventually push them to even greater creative heights, Entropia marked the arrival of one of the genre's few innovators.

It is a hefty box in every sense: 13 CDs, supplemented with two DVDs, accompanied by a gorgeous hardcover book and a variety of tchotchkes, including a poster that traces the twisted family trees and time lines of the band and, just as helpfully, replicas of legal documents that explain why the group didn't retain rights to its recordings for years…

It was much to soul singer Spanky Wilson's surprise – she didn't realize she had had such an impact – when British multi-instrumentalist/producer Will Holland contacted her in her Los Angeles home in 2004, professing his love of her music and wondering if she'd collaborate with him. Still, she agreed to go the studio, and together they did two songs, "Don't Joke with a Hungry Man" and "When You're Through," for Holland's solo project, Quantic, on the album Mishaps Happening. That collaboration worked out so well that they decided to make an entire record together, this time with Holland's full band, the Quantic Soul Orchestra. Wilson's lovely voice is the centerpiece of I'm Thankful, and it does show a bit of its age, but only in the best of ways, deepening it and giving it an added measure of credibility and authenticity while still preserving its expressiveness and strength.