Poets Of The Fall - Alchemy Vol.1

Finnish alternative rockers Poets Of The Fall released new compilation album Alchemy Vol.1 last week; to be honest I was a little disheartened when I found it wasn't going to be a new album however I found I was not to be disappointed with this greatest hits CD. I liked how they picked a number of their different songs from all the different albums from Signs Of Life to Twilight Theatre; there also some brand new material such as Can You Hear Me Now and No End No Beginning. I love the mixture of songs in there, my favourites Carnival of Rust and Lift to ones I have not heard before such as Locking Up The Sun. I'll leave you with their brand new video for Can You Hear Me Now. Enjoy.

Find Poets Of The Fall on their official website, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube

Tuomaslotte's bands of 2010

Here's a post dedicated to the bands that have become my favourites this year, in no particular order here they are:

New Device:  This year a friend told me these guys were to support Bon Jovi at the O2 so she sent me their video for the song Takin Over, which I loved. I decided to download the album from Amazon; I had seen reviews about these guys saying they sounded like Guns 'N' Roses, Van Halen etc and I thought 'Wow great influences there'. The album was so so good, unfortunately I missed them at The O2 but I got to see them twice this year locally in Southampton and Portsmouth. They put on a fantastic live performance, lots of energy and passion behind it; also they are possibly one of the nicest bunch of guys you could ever meet. Looking forward to the new album guys. 

Jettblack:  I was in my looking for new bands to listen to mode and came across these guys. I think it was via the video for Two Hot Girls; it made me feel awesome, the song is energetic, sexy.....basically so darn good. This song is on their debut album Get Your Hands Dirty; which is one of my albums of 2010. Their live performance at The Joiners was just incredible; most of the songs sounded amazing live, most of their stage moves reminded me a lot of a stadium rock band and finishing with Dangerzone was definately a great suprise. They are also a lovely bunch when I met them at the bar afterwards.

Poets Of The Fall:  My friend Charlotte (a.k.a Marcolotte) sent me the song Lift by this band via Facebook; liked it so so much that I downloaded the song. I listen to this song at least a few times every day; I downloaded the rest of the album which was also incredible. Marko's voice is truly wonderful, his voice emphasises with the emotions in the songs very well. My favourites by this band are Dreaming Wide Awake, Lift, Illusion and Dream and Carnival Of Rust. Carnival Of Rust particularly since it has influenced me greatly with the story I am writing for part of my course at university. The video is very surreal and powerful like a lot of their other videos.
 

In Darklight:  I first saw these guys at The Soul Cellar with New Device; they were the first band to play and was entirely impressed. So impressed that I immediately signed their mailing list after the show and pre-ordered their debut album; loved the album as I've mentioned in previous posts. Also sparking up a great friendship with these guys too; we've kept in touch and I have been to more of their shows ever since. I have seen them four times in the past few months (no I don't want a medal :P) Hope to see more of them next year and looking forward to the new EP.

Heaven's Basement:  I decided to give Can't Let You Go a listen, which I loved a lot so I downloaded the rest of their EP. The songs that stood out for me were Fear Of Getting Off, Executioner's Day and Graduation; these particular songs were incredibly catchy. Bit like 80s metal songs you hear a lot. Unfortunately missed these guys at The Joiners due to the fact I found these guys way after that hopefully they'll do a UK tour next year.

Dommin:  If I'm right Dommin were the first of my 2010 findings back in late January early February and have been a favourite of 2010 ever since. I started to look for this band's music when I heard they were to support HIM on their UK tour; the first thing I do when I find out the support band. It's straight to YouTube, type the name of the band in the 'Search' box and you click on the first link. This particular first link lead me to My Heart Your Hands; the first enticingly haunting song I listened to by this band. With that in mind I found more and more of their songs, all of which I really loved. They put on such a spell bindingly brilliant live performance too, in my opinion they were a bit better than HIM but I'm glad I walked out of Bournemouth O2 Academy a Dommin fan that night. I also had the opportunity to meet them too; they didn't mind me coming over more than once. All such lovely guys; hope to see them in the new year.

Uniklubi:  Another band from Finland that have stood out to me this year, they sing in their native lannguage that does not stop me listening to them. I love the melodies these guys produce; they are very very versatile whether it'd be a mellow acoustic track such as Kukka or a hauntingly heavy track such as Huomenna. Finland's metal heads are also well known for being incredibly gourgeous; in my eyes anyway but of course it's not about the appearances it's about the beautiful music they write.


We Are The Fallen:  I am always interested when there is a female fronted metal band on the scene, I can't stress how big my respect is for female musicians. Considering the music industry particularly rock is usually male dominated so it's brilliant to see female faces in the picture. Anyways this band popped up on Dommin radio on Last.FM and loved the song that played; I think it was called St John, immediately downloaded the album from iTunes. Carly Smitheson's voice has more beauty than a priceless diamond sitting on a velvet cushion behind glass in a jewellery shop, it complements well with the heavy distorted guitars and in the softer tracks an elegant piano. Hope they travel across the pond to the UK sometime.

Dear Superstar:  I saw that these guys were to play a gig at The Joiners so I listened to Brothers In Blood; to be honest I didn't really like it at first but after hearing the track a few times it grew on me. Heartless is a great album; Brink Of Destruction, Signposts to Bedpost and Live, Love Lie were few of many tracks that I loved on that album. Like Heaven's Basement and New Device these guys were influenced by 80s rock giants and I could hear the same kind of melodic guitar riffs and easy on the ears vocals. Their energetic live performance will also be something that will stick out in my mind definately and lovely lovely guys. Hope to see them in the new year and look forward to the new album.

Tuomaslotte's Best Music Videos of 2010

This post is dedicated to the best music videos of 2010;

Dommin - My Heart Your Hands:  This song is haunting and beautiful; the theme in this song matches the video very well. The symbolism of a girl pulling a red scarf out of where his heart should is very very strong and one of the highlights of the video; the manakins coming to life was also very effective, I think the manakins could be symbolising ex lovers or women who have had their hearts broken. I loved the gothic mansion setting for the video I thought it was the right place to suit the song.

HIM - Scared To Death:  My favourite song on HIM's 2010 album Screamworks:  Love In Theory and Practise; when they were to release a video promoting this song I was very excited. The white paper triangles were so so beautiful; it may have been showing purity in the video; I like the way the video is shot too. I studied Moving Image for two years so I was taught how to make a film and all the camera angles so I loved the interesting angles the video uses to keep the viewer watching.

Tarja - I Feel Immortal:  I must say I'm not a massive fan of Tarja's solo stuff, she does have a beautiful voice and respect her greatly but there's some of her songs that sound a bit bland and mundane. This video however matches this song perfectly. I love the seaside setting; a seemingly tranquil environment used to explore a topic we all hate going though....aging. The boy grows into an elderly man whilst singer Tarja stays the same age throughout; hence the title I Feel Immortal.

Kukka - Uniklubi:  Like Tarja's I Feel Immortal this video also explores aging but this time it's the band that ages. A young couple are tied together whilst the band play in front of them; while this is going on an hour glass's sands are running. This could indicate to how fast the band are aging whilst the young couple don't age at all; it's almost as if there are two different worlds in one room and I think that's what made the video.

Poets Of The Fall - Lift:  I feel this video is about 'outsiders' not being understood. Lead vocalist Marco is a prison convict in this video who realeases a moth from his grasp before being interrogated by the police investigators. He tries to explain something to them but they don't seem to understand; at the end of the video the nasty women ticks two boxes on the sheet one saying 'Illusionist' and another saying 'Dreamer'. Reading the comments for this video on YouTube the moth could represent them as an independent rock band being free to do as they please; the moths pinned to picture frames in the attick where the band are performing could represent bands signing to big major record companies suggesting their record companies own them like these moths pinned to the wall.

Poets Of The Fall - Carnival Of Rust:  This has become one of my absoulute favourite music videos this year; it's very Tim Burtonesque and surreal but it has such a powerful message. Vocalist Marco is a broken down clown doll in this video that a girl in a gas mask brought to life by putting coins in the machiene. It takes place at a very weird carnival with fire eaters, magic act and a ring toss game; by the end of the video the girl leaves the clown which upsets him. The most powerful part of the video is where the girl is walking away from this clown after winning a prize on a game; he sings 'Don't Walk Away' as she leaves him in despair. Wow making me cry just thinking about it.

Phoenix Effect

I found a link to this band's MySpace page on the Poets of the Fall official forum and I am highly impressed. I like their smooth guitar riffs and unique vocal style in the songs. Also seeing this band are from Finland is an added bonus; I absoulutely adore music from Finland, it's a breeding ground for rock and metal bands. Nightwish, HIM, Lordi, Poets of the Fall and now these guys.....Finland definately deserve the positive rock and metal reputation it has.

Some seriously awesome dude

I was doing my usual browsing on YouTube and was listening to a new favourite band Poets of the Fall; I clicked on the video of a guy covering my favourtie POTF song Lift, I was blown away. His piano skills were enough to upstage Finnish muscial genius Tuomas Holopainen from Nightwish and his voice sounded exactly like the POTF's lead singer.

Here's a link to the video :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnPVoguhOYs

Here's the link to his YouTube channel, he's got some seriously awesome covers here. I'm listening to his piano cover of Micheal Jackson's Beat It and it's awesome :D 

http://www.youtube.com/user/Karabuja25