Aug 20 2012

Amaranthe – Amaranthe review

Ever since I found the CD Epsilon by Blood Stain Child, I’ve been trying to find some similar albums. Though not exactly the same, I did find an outstanding synth-symphonic-metal band named Amaranthe. After listening to a few of the clips, I bought the album (despite its relatively high price tag of $23.68 USD [~€19.15]), and I’m really glad that I did.

Amaranthe - Amaranthe album cover

1. Leave Everything Behind – 10 / 10
Starting with a very brief intro on the keyboards, this track goes immediately into pounding guitars and a fast-paced melody line on top of them. What starts out as fairly chaotic smooths out really nicely during the chorus, with three different sets of vocals. The breakdown features only the amazing female lead vocalist, and then goes back into one last round of the chorus. This serves as a great introduction to what will certainly be an album that lends itself to “Emancipation of the human mind.”

2. Hunger – 10 / 10
With a similar start as the previous track, Hunger features the outstanding female vocalist (Elize Ryd) much more readily and prominently. Blazingly fast guitar licks, and a drum backing that matches in both speed and agility, this song shows that Amaranthe is not just your run-of-the-mill symphonic metal band.

3. 1.000.000 Lightyears – 10 / 10
The duality of a male and female vocalist is met early on with the band’s third vocalist, who adds the hardcore screams that one expects from a metal band. This track takes on a more sci-fi or galactic feel, which makes sense given the title. The combination of synth melodies on keys, hard-hitting bass and drums, and wicked guitar riffs makes this one another winner. I also really love the abrupt pause and glitches that they borrow from dubstep.

4. Automatic – 10 / 10
The intro to this song is simply outstanding, as it is the lead male vocalist (Jake E) and female vocalist (Eliza Ryd) singing a line of the forthcoming chorus, only accompanied by a keyboard-based melody line. Thereafter, the rest of the band comes in and escalate the song into fierce speed-metal glory. For the first time, we get to hear Olaf Mörck’s lead guitar abilities (starting around 2’20”), and they only further adds to the outstanding presentation.

5. My Transition – 7 / 10
Starting off with some repetitive guitar fifths and a bit of a keyboard melody behind them, this track lacks some of the prominence of the previous four. Though it has some of the same speed and oomph, it falls a little flat by comparison.

6. Amaranthine – 9 / 10
After exactly 17 minutes of blistering power and force, Amaranthine showcases the versatility of the band. The tune starts with some keys / synth, a beautiful piano piece, and Ryd’s incredibly clean vocals. About a minute in, the band comes in with Jake’s rock-operatic part. Though the song does get a little heavier thereafter, it doesn’t lose its slower, moving, ballad style (which is exacerbated by Olaf’s hair-band solo).

7. Rain – 7 / 10
After the softer Amaranthine, this song comes in without any warning at all. Starting with a verse with no clean vocals, and only screams, the chorus is a welcome change. The verses are vocally dissonant, and a bit muddy musically. However, both of these elements increase the concord of the chorus.

8. Call out my Name – 7 / 10
With the electrifying keyboard sounds and beats, this track reminds me of some of the stuff on Epsilon by Blood Stain Child. I don’t think that it is as nicely executed though, and the prominence of the screams and growls detract from the trance-like qualities of the song.

9. Enter the Maze – 9 / 10
The intro is a musical and vocal throwback to the start of Automatic, but overall this one is a little less energetic. The screams don’t bother me nearly as much in this track as they did in the previous, most likely because they are coupled with clean vocals throughout. I also really enjoy the mix during the bridge, which has both musical and vocal solos. The song finishes with two iterations of the chorus, and a final scream.

10. Director’s Cut – 7 / 10
Coupling repetitive guitar riffs with some highly synthesised keys, this track starts with dirty vocals before opening up to the two lead singers. I like that the keyboardist has some prominence throughout the song, though, especially with some short (single measure) mini solos. Like 1.000.000 Lightyears, this tune has an epic space / super-atmospheric quality about it (though not as direct as the former).

11. Act of Desperation – 8 / 10
Less experimental than some of the previous songs, Act of Desperation sounds more similar to those at the start of the album. Though it has some really strong aspects (like the mix of synth and guitar), it lacks some of the heart-pounding energy present in the first few.

12. Serendipity – 7 / 10
Like the previous song, this one has a more standard feel to it, but it is slightly monotonous in both the verses and during the bridge. Overall, it seems a little disjointed throughout, and lacks some of the attention to detail that can be heard from the band.

13. Breaking Point – 8 / 10
More rhythm-driven that some of the experimental tracks, Breaking Point gets into a near-trance state through its relatively unchanging pace. That being said, it has a good groove and shows most of the qualities that I’ve come to expect from all members of the band.

14. A Splinter in my Soul – 7 / 10
Similar to Rain, the verses here are essentially all screams, and the choruses clean. There are a lot of tempo changes, and subsequently, the song doesn’t flow as purely as others. However, it does show some great musical variety throughout. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have any qualities that I would expect from a finale.

Overall, this is an incredibly solid album packed with intense guitar riffs, great keyboards / synth, and outstanding vocals. There are some tracks that I think could have been refined a little further, but nevertheless, I am quite impressed! I give it a 116 / 140 which is ~83/100 and rounds to 8.5 stars:

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Cheers,
Zach

Aug 19 2012

Keybindings and Openbox menu shortcuts for slock

After reviewing several solutions to a security problem regarding screen lockers, I’ve found that the easiest workaround for switching virtual terminals and killing the screen locker application is to start one’s X session with the following command:

exec startx

That way, even if someone switches to the virtual terminal that was used to start X and presses CTRL+C, he or she will only be presented with a login prompt (instead of having full reign of the user account responsible for starting the session). Now that there’s a reasonable workaround for that problem, I set out to make keybindings and menu shortcuts for Openbox that would take care of both locking the screen, and putting my displays to sleep. Conceptually, this was a straightforward task, and I accomplished it with the following:

Openbox menu item:
<item label="Lock screen + off">
<action name="execute"><execute>/usr/bin/slock</execute></action>
<action name="execute"><command>/usr/bin/xset dpms force off</command></action>
</item>

Keybinding:
<keybind key="XF86Sleep">
<action name="execute">
<execute>/usr/bin/slock</execute>
</action>
<action name="execute">
<command>/usr/bin/xset dpms force off</command>
</action>
</keybind>

The only problem is that it doesn’t work every time. Though it tends to work nicely, there are times where slock will start, but the displays will not honour the xset command to go to sleep (I guess that when it comes to bedtime, monitors are a bit finicky like children :razz:). I have tried adding a sleep time before the commands, thinking that there was some HID activity causing the wake, but that didn’t rectify the problem. If anyone has a proposed solution to the seemingly random failure of xset putting the displays to sleep, please let me know by leaving a comment.

Cheers,
Zach

Aug 18 2012

Wine tasting review – 18 August 2012

After the surprise tasting yesterday, today brought me back to the regularly-scheduled weekly wine tasting at HV Bottle Shop. The wines today were all from Argentina, three from Mendoza, one from La Rioja, and one from Patagonia (Rio Negro).

HV Bottle Shop tasting - 18 August 2012
Wines are discussed from right to left

The first wine of the day was a 2011 Chardonnay from Verum Winery in Patagonia. It had a light yellow edge, and was very faint in colour when viewed straight on. It had no legs, and a thin ring. There were the citrus aromas that I expected, but also some hints of pear. I’m not sure if it had to do with being tank fermented and coming into contact with very little oak, but I found this Chardonnay to lack the buttery mid-palate and finish that I like. Instead, it was thin-bodied, and otherwise unexceptional.

The second pour was a 2011 Torrontés from producer Zolo in La Rioja. It had a more vibrant yellow colour, and medium legs that were quick to traverse the glass. It was completely fantastic on the nose with its aromas of flowers and tropical fruits. It had a beautiful acidity and nice finish, which was smooth but still crisp. I was shocked that this great wine was offered at such a reasonable price point, so I had to pick up a bottle.

The third glass was a 2010 Bonarda from Lamadrid Winery. Having never had this varietal, I asked Drew (the owner of HV Bottle Shop) what his thoughts were about it. He said that it is “like Syrah on the nose, but more like Pinot Noir on the palate.” I found this to be quite true. I picked up on aromas of pepper, blackberry and even some ash or soot. Though it wasn’t my absolute favourite, I decided to get a bottle so I could become more acquainted with the varietal.

The fourth wine was Zolo’s 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, which had a deep red colour with medium contrast between the centre and the edge. I picked up dark fruits (especially plums) in both scent and taste. Interestingly, this wine was not very tannic by comparison to many of the Cabernet Sauvignons that I’ve had. This could be related to the harvesting time, and it was likely what Zolo was wanting; a smoother, easier-to-drink wine.

The final pour was the 2011 ‘Ano Cero’ Malbec from Altocedro. It had a deep fuchsia colour (like a combination of purples and reds), with thick, fast-moving legs. I picked up hints of white pepper and black cherry in this vintage. It had a thin mouth feel, but was still tannic.

Cheers,
Zach