System of a Down – Lonely Day. Not what I expected from what I know of them. Expected hard-edged thrash & speed where this one, I thought, leaned towards Metallica territory. Guitar solo part is nice, but I think it hurts that I just don’t dig the lead singer’s voice all that much.
Catfish and the Bottlemen – 7
I got a little bored with this track. It gets lost in the sea of its genre. Needs a little something to distinguish it & separate it from the pack. Nice enough, but doesn’t make me want to seek out more of their stuff.
SOD – This album pretty much bashed your face in, and then there is this song. kind of shows that these guys can do other things besides hard core thrashing. I find Serj’s voice interesting.
CATFISH – not a bad song, never heard of the group before. the song reminds me of something I have heard before, possibly the singers voice, but I can’t put my finger on it.
System of a down- Let me start with the good stuff. I like the arpeggiated guitar in the intro, definitely a departure from my expectations from this group. Not a bad harmony or two. The highlight of the song was the harmonic guitar (the first few notes of which reminded me of Hackett and Rutherford) and then the frenzied Fripper-palooza in the middle. Otherwise…meh. Now, I dont need every song to be a lyrical masterpiece (cf: Hey Ya, De Do Do Do…, The Wait) but a little effort would be nice. There are many synonyms for lonely. And if my daughter said, “most loneliest”, I would correct her. Did anybody else confuse them with Faith No More?
Catfish- While this initially hit me as a generic modern alternative song, I appreciated its well-built craftsmanship. The song builds nice layers. I liked the sound of the guitar. The lyrics intrigued me and the line “I love you but I need another year alone” was memorable and made me chuckle. All in all, I liked it (Hey Mikey!)
SOAD
I believe this to be the first track I have ever heard from this band, but am aware that this is not par for the course from them. I am familiar with the name, but never really gravitated to the genre of the period. I wouldn’t leap to change the station when it cam e on, but then again that might be because it sort of blends into the background.
Catfish
I have an alum who does a show here and this is her favourite band in the world. Hear quite a bit of this group and always thought it watered down Brit Pop through an iHeart Radio filter. Like SOAD, probably not changing the station when it comes on, might even bob my head a bit, but when it’s over not sure it would be missed.
Syndrom of a Down:
I’ve resisted listening to them for many years, despite or maybe because of all of my friends liking them. Congrats on getting me to finally listen to a song by them. It’s not bad. I hear many hints of bands I like. Still afraid to venture any further into nu metal territory.
Catfish
Millennial indie pop. I think i even hear the millennial whoop multiple times in the backing vocals. Prime example of the ‘genre’
“Lonely Day”/System of a Down. Main point of interest in this song for me is whether it’s a bit of tongue-in-cheek teen angst or the real thing. I don’t know anything about the band, so can’t guess in context, but the “most loneliest” construction makes me lean toward the ironic interpretation. Either way, felt pretty generic musically.
“7”/ Catfish and the Bottlemen. Another band I am unfamiliar with. Rather like this ‘un. Again, nothing exactly mold-breaking musically, but it’s executed with conviction and the wit and attitude are there. “I wanna lose a couple days” is a pure rock n roll line. “I don’t think things through.” Pleasingly thick sound. It’s longer than its musical ideas warrant, but an agreeable jaunt.
I did a quick look to see if there was any discussion on Lonely Day. Wikipedia offered a rumor (I know to, in general, take things I find there with a grain of salt):
“Upon its release, it was rumored that Malakian had written the song as a tribute to his brother, who died in a fire when they were young. This could be proven because in the music video, everything is on fire.” [Sure, that’s proof]. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonely_Day
In re-listening I found the intro to have a little Animal’s House of the Rising Sun flavah and more sounding more than a little like American Idiot era Green Day.
—–
I think ‘7’ has grown on me a little. I have to really focus on it though or I drift. There are some nice elements.
Lonely Day: Love that trilling riff in the instrumental; like the harmonies, the big guitar chords and the voice textures in general. Depressing lyrics that are lifted by power chords that speak otherwise. I enjoyed the ride.
Neither of these songs really grabbed me.
System of a Down – Lonely Day. Not what I expected from what I know of them. Expected hard-edged thrash & speed where this one, I thought, leaned towards Metallica territory. Guitar solo part is nice, but I think it hurts that I just don’t dig the lead singer’s voice all that much.
Catfish and the Bottlemen – 7
I got a little bored with this track. It gets lost in the sea of its genre. Needs a little something to distinguish it & separate it from the pack. Nice enough, but doesn’t make me want to seek out more of their stuff.
SOD – This album pretty much bashed your face in, and then there is this song. kind of shows that these guys can do other things besides hard core thrashing. I find Serj’s voice interesting.
CATFISH – not a bad song, never heard of the group before. the song reminds me of something I have heard before, possibly the singers voice, but I can’t put my finger on it.
System of a down- Let me start with the good stuff. I like the arpeggiated guitar in the intro, definitely a departure from my expectations from this group. Not a bad harmony or two. The highlight of the song was the harmonic guitar (the first few notes of which reminded me of Hackett and Rutherford) and then the frenzied Fripper-palooza in the middle. Otherwise…meh. Now, I dont need every song to be a lyrical masterpiece (cf: Hey Ya, De Do Do Do…, The Wait) but a little effort would be nice. There are many synonyms for lonely. And if my daughter said, “most loneliest”, I would correct her. Did anybody else confuse them with Faith No More?
Catfish- While this initially hit me as a generic modern alternative song, I appreciated its well-built craftsmanship. The song builds nice layers. I liked the sound of the guitar. The lyrics intrigued me and the line “I love you but I need another year alone” was memorable and made me chuckle. All in all, I liked it (Hey Mikey!)
see, if it had been FNM, I woulda KNOWN they were joking
SOAD
I believe this to be the first track I have ever heard from this band, but am aware that this is not par for the course from them. I am familiar with the name, but never really gravitated to the genre of the period. I wouldn’t leap to change the station when it cam e on, but then again that might be because it sort of blends into the background.
Catfish
I have an alum who does a show here and this is her favourite band in the world. Hear quite a bit of this group and always thought it watered down Brit Pop through an iHeart Radio filter. Like SOAD, probably not changing the station when it comes on, might even bob my head a bit, but when it’s over not sure it would be missed.
Syndrom of a Down:
I’ve resisted listening to them for many years, despite or maybe because of all of my friends liking them. Congrats on getting me to finally listen to a song by them. It’s not bad. I hear many hints of bands I like. Still afraid to venture any further into nu metal territory.
Catfish
Millennial indie pop. I think i even hear the millennial whoop multiple times in the backing vocals. Prime example of the ‘genre’
“Lonely Day”/System of a Down. Main point of interest in this song for me is whether it’s a bit of tongue-in-cheek teen angst or the real thing. I don’t know anything about the band, so can’t guess in context, but the “most loneliest” construction makes me lean toward the ironic interpretation. Either way, felt pretty generic musically.
“7”/ Catfish and the Bottlemen. Another band I am unfamiliar with. Rather like this ‘un. Again, nothing exactly mold-breaking musically, but it’s executed with conviction and the wit and attitude are there. “I wanna lose a couple days” is a pure rock n roll line. “I don’t think things through.” Pleasingly thick sound. It’s longer than its musical ideas warrant, but an agreeable jaunt.
I did a quick look to see if there was any discussion on Lonely Day. Wikipedia offered a rumor (I know to, in general, take things I find there with a grain of salt):
“Upon its release, it was rumored that Malakian had written the song as a tribute to his brother, who died in a fire when they were young. This could be proven because in the music video, everything is on fire.” [Sure, that’s proof].
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonely_Day
In re-listening I found the intro to have a little Animal’s House of the Rising Sun flavah and more sounding more than a little like American Idiot era Green Day.
—–
I think ‘7’ has grown on me a little. I have to really focus on it though or I drift. There are some nice elements.
Lonely Day: Love that trilling riff in the instrumental; like the harmonies, the big guitar chords and the voice textures in general. Depressing lyrics that are lifted by power chords that speak otherwise. I enjoyed the ride.