M. Drew's blog

Machine Head’s newest album, “Unto the Locust” is not an effort recommended for those succored by simplicity. Unlike the Deep Purple album that the band’s name invokes, this brand of American heavy metal is not for those looking for a hallucinogen-induced quadraphonic, two-four downbeat good time.

Somehow, in the shady days of post-grunge radio, when music struggled to find a definable scene or sound, in the midst of the detritus of Staind and the early birth pangs of Disturbed, came the Gorillaz. A quirky British act based on animated characters and the unexplored mental depths of Blur frontman Damon Albarn, the Gorillaz dominated an entire musical cycle without ever bending to the mold.

Autumn's new album "Cold Comfort" is a work befitting its creator's name. Varying between pleasantly warm and icily fragile, "Cold Comfort" is both a promise of uneasy transition and muted optimism. That said, this album would have been more complete if there had been one breakthrough moment at the end of it. There are those who would counter that autumn as a season seldom announces winter's arrival with anything but a whimper.

Bing Crosby. Andy Williams. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Mannheim Steamroller. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Austrian Death Machine? One of these names is clearly not in the same ballpark with the others (and no, it isn't the Choir.)

No one has ever quite been able to accurately explain to me what exactly Hollywood Undead is, what audience they’re shooting for, or what their message is. That’s not to say that these are rhetorical questions directed at the powers-that-be running the multiverse, but I’ve never been confronted with the answer. Are they just a rap rock band out of their decade? Are they self-effacing in some subtle way? I’m a man who loathes genre-fication, but I admit I’ve never been sure who this appeals to.

By now you're probably heard. Black Sabbath has announced that they will be reuniting in 2012 to play the eclectic Download festival, manage some kind of world tour, and record an album together for the first time in 33 years. They've launched a new website and have pledged to delve ito the world of social networking. Which strikes me as funny, only because we're talking about four sixty year old men who are generationally closer to Sonny and Cher than Bieber and Twitter.

The re-release (with additions) of the long-lost Cirith Ungol rare tracks album "Servants of Chaos" is as much an anthropological study of heavy metal as it is a celebration of the band's accomplishments.

It is curious to see the strata of early metal and progressive rock laid so bare before the eye of the beholder, particularly through the lens of a band that helped popularize those genres without sharing in their lasting legacy.

Death Angel is one of the oft-overlooked also-rans of the thrash movement of the early to mid 1980’s. Their name is spoken mostly in the dusty corners of memory, their legacy not as pronounced as so many of their musical kin. To mistake that somewhat faded glory for a lack of talent or acumen, and place Death Angel on the discard pile is a fool’s errand. Death Angel remains a vital and virulent band in this new millennium, and their performance as the first band on the stage was evidence enough that they remain hungry and capable.

"Th1rt3en," the latest offering from heavy metal titans Megadeth, is both a study of what Megadeth has been and could be. It is a self-contained road-map of Megadeth's past aggressions, present explorations and possible future.

GWAR guitarist Cory Smoot, known in the band under the alias "Flattus Maximus" was found dead on the group's tour bus just prior to their crossing into Canada. His cause of death has not been released.

Smoot's age was not immediately available, but several media agencies have listed it as 34. Smoot had been playing the part of Maximus since 2002, and debuted with the band on 2004's "War Party."