2015 Album Awards!

I don’t really fancy myself as an album reviewer (guys over at sites like Sputnik do just fine at that). However, I have a real passion for sharing music, and love the thought of putting something in front of people out there that might not have heard it yet. Because of that, and because the albums I love fuel my concert decisions, I wanted to share some of my favorite albums from 2015. Last year featured releases by countless big names in the industry – names like Trivium, Sevendust, Three Days Grace, Halestorm, Shinedown, Marilyn Manson, Five Finger Death Punch, Lamb of God, Bullet for My Valentine, and on and on. However, many of these releases landed somewhere on the scale between mediocre and very good. None of them, however, really stood out as impressionable.

However, 2015 was definitely not void of spectacular albums. As I looked back at my catalog and reviewed countless other “top albums of 2015” lists to make sure I didn’t miss any albums, I had a more difficult time than usual whittling down to the top 5 albums. In fact, I couldn’t, and so what you’re left with below is 5 really great runners up, and one album of the year.

Hope you enjoy!

Rock on the Range 2016: Lineup Announcement

Rock on the Range released it’s lineup on Monday, and after two days of letting it marinate, I had to get some thoughts down on what is sure to be a fantastic, record-setting weekend in Columbus. Rock on the Range is North America’s biggest rock festival, and they are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. For the eighth straight year, The Music Pill will be gathering our crew and heading from Indianapolis to Columbus to participate in the chaos.

Here is a breakdown of the lineup, including my opinion on the headliners, a breakdown of many of the middle-of-the-pack bands, a few bands that have something to prove, and some can’t miss bands that you may never have heard of. Hope you enjoy!

Random Thoughts: Epics

I’m often told that I’m far too quick to change the song while I’m in the car with other people. Often times, its only one chorus and a verse into a song before I’m reaching for the seek button to head off to the next one. This is ESPECIALLY true when a song is longer than it should be – if it’s longer than 4 minutes, it better be good or it doesn’t have a chance.

HOWEVER, occasionally, I come across one of these long songs that just really blows me away. These ‘Epics’ (a very technical term that I just made up) turn out to be some of my favorite songs, because in order for them to be great AND really long, they have to have something special or something unique about them that makes them really stand out.

So, I threw together a list of ‘Epics’ that I really like, and while they range from metal masterpieces to borderline broadway songs, they have two things in common: They are all really long songs (most 7-8 minutes), and they are all really unique and worth your time. If I’ve done my job, I hope you are intrigued enough to go check some of these out. I’d love to know what you think! (click on the song title for a link to the song on youtube)

Music Pill Update: November 2011

Greeting and salutations. I love this time of year, when the leaves are changing and falling, the weather is cooling down (yes, I do like cold weather), and the holidays are just around the corner. In addition, this is also a great time of the year in music. As the summer concert season ends, bands who want to continue touring start booking winter tours at smaller venues. As much as I love outdoor festivals with huge crowds and big line-ups, the indoor venues typically add another dimension to a show that I really enjoy.

So what’s going on at The Music Pill? Well, lots. I originally intended on this being focused on both recent/upcoming concerts AND recent/upcoming albums that have been released, but there was just too much, so I had to focus in on just the concerts. Here’s an update for the month of November.

Concert Review: Between the Buried and Me

As a person who claims to love metal music, I have to be honest when I say that most of my experience is on the hard rock/softer metal/metalcore side of the spectrum. It’s not that I don’t like harder metal, it’s just that it’s not as easy to find, and I don’t have as many friends who really like it and want to go to shows. However, for the past few years, at the request/violent demand of an unnamed friend with long hair who we’ll call “Schmoey”, I have really been trying to expand what I listen to, and a good portion of the interesting new stuff I’ve found has been in the death metal genre. So, when Schmoey called me and said “I’ve got a metal show for you,” I happily accepted. Regardless of the fact that I just started a new job, and this show was on a weeknight, I picked up tickets and had been looking forward to the show for a few weeks.