A Historically Important Format: Singles Then and Today

My adoration will never run out for this single.

Today, singles, regardless of medium, serve very little purpose for anyone but the diehard fan, and the likelihood of a purchase is usually based on the quality extra material included in the package. Unique cover art adorning each release is often fantastic and another reason to occasionally indulge in a nearly dead (at least in the physical sense) format. Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast 2005 re-press illustrates this beautifully with no silly sterile paper sleeve surrounding the record but, sadly, the majority of contemporary singles never find their way to a tangible setting in the first place.

For modern day, digital distribution is the single's new home. In the past, notably the '50s and '60s, the format enjoyed a brief renaissance, as rock bands easily pressed their music to 45s, making it simple to consume and spread. Nonetheless, after that time period, musicians began to focus on albums--essentially portfolios showcasing a greater body of work--as a creative outlet and left singles behind to gather dust in attics across the globe. Presumably, the single would not show its face in great numbers again, but taking a look at the current mainstream industry proves otherwise: with the creation of digital stores like Apple's iTunes, individual songs have surged in popularity thanks to ease of access, videos promoting specific tracks, and a cheap admission price.

New Megadeth Track: "Kingmaker"

Let's see here: Megadeth is back with a new track, and it sounds a bit different than the last one. "Kingmaker" sees Megadave experimenting with a lower vocal range, and it works for the most part, but I can't say I'm too psyched for the album, given the groovy, chuggy nature of this track. Hopefully Megadeth can pull off a complete scorcher like they did with Endgame.

-TMA

Leaving the Nest

Just adding a note to say that I successfully graduated college. Very happy and hope for many more days of fruitful metal-blogging.

-TMA

Chthonic Release New Video for "Defenders of Bú-Tik Palace"

I have to admit Chthonic's current "look" is quite silly.

Chthonic's newest video is like a fusion of video games and samurai culture. I'm obviously not understanding the connection at all, but at least the video appears well-produced, no matter how cheesy it is. Musically, "Defenders of Bú-Tik Palace" doesn't match "Next Republic," but I'm crossing my fingers for it being the weakest track on the upcoming album. Let's hope for the best.

-TMA

The Metal Advisor Interviews Daniel Taylor and Brandon Squyres of Cold Blue Mountain

As an avid follower of Gogmagogical Records, I jumped on a chance to interview the latest addition to the label's roster, Cold Blue Mountain, and familiarize myself with the band's story. Despite being a relatively new act, they have enjoyed immense success with their recent vinyl release and already have a second full-length in the works behind closed doors. Let's take a look into the Cold Blue Mountain camp. 

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To kick things off, give me the nitty gritty on Cold Blue Mountain. What’s your story as a band?

Daniel: Back in late 2008 or so, our guitar player Will and his roommate at the time, our original bass player Zach, started writing some riffs and fucking around with an idea for sort of a heavy instrumental band. I had played in a band with Zach before so he called me, and we jammed, and the first day already had a couple of songs pretty much in the bag. We wrote a couple more, then went into a studio with our friend Chris Keene (who mixed our full-length and is recording and mixing our next record right now) and made a little demo CD, which is still floating around out there in the world; weirdly enough, it seems like it's really popular on Russian/Eastern European torrent sites. Anyway, that CD was entirely instrumental, but when we started playing live, people kept saying they could hear vocals totally ripping on it. I even had a buddy who recorded some vocals over it on his computer for kicks. 

By that time we had added Sesar on second guitar. And we all sort of agreed that it would be awesome to add a singer, and Brandon was a dude who we all knew who was in bands in town, and he was pretty much an obvious fit. He joined up and we played a few shows and went in the studio to record the self-titled full-length. Right after that, Zach moved out of town, and we signed up Adrian, who had played bass in Brandon's former band, The Makai. Since then, we've just been playing around Chico and up and down the West Coast when we can and writing more songs, since some of the songs on the full length are 4+ years old now. There's even one or two riffs on there that we literally jammed on that very first practice, so we're pretty amped to get some new stuff going.  

Who or what inspired you? Books, music, and poetry. Anything is fair game!

Daniel: I've always been a big reader. Books-wise, I'm sort of a morose, existential-angst kind of guy: Melville, Bukowski, Emerson, Thoreau and that lot. Likewise, musically, I've kind of always been a fan of mopey shit: from sappy mall-emo (most of which I'm too embarrassed to actually mention) to jazz and classical stuff, Rachmaninoff and Romantic/Classical-era composers (try making a Schubert or Mendelssohn station on Pandora sometime if you want to make life feel a little more cinematic) to, what I kind of use as a reference for this band, post-rock/atmospheric stuff like Pelican, Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky--stuff like that. 

Metal-wise, I was always more of a '90s ripper kind of guy: Pantera, Sepultura, old Metallica. The closest reference I really had when I was younger to what we're playing now was maybe Down or old Soundgarden. But in recent years I've gotten way more into the doom sludge type heavy stuff, mainly through playing with bands and being in bands with dudes who turned me onto stuff: bands like Yob and Lightbearer. I try to rip them off as liberally as I can manage. Haha.