A fractal is a geometric shape that has a fine structure at arbitrarily small scales, and is too irregular to be easily described in traditional Euclidean geometric language. That’s also a decent description of the latest release from the Bay-area quartet Fractal, because this sixteen-track album is a cohesive musical work with a focus [...]

Want to call Geoff Tate from Queensryche on the phone? Well you can, sort of.
Call 206-260-1215 (a local Seattle number, or a regular toll call for non-Jet Cityers) and you’ll get a recording telling you about the new American Soldier album, coming out. You can also get tour information, or record a story [...]

The first single from Queensryche’s Here in the Now Frontier album was the first song on the album, “Sign of the Times”, the somewhat political/societal rocker written by Chris DeGarmo. (This is not to be confused with the 2007 greatest hits compilation of the same name.) It’s not a bad song, and an okay choice [...]

The CD-single for the song “Hollow Years” came out to support the album Falling Into Infinity, and contains two versions of the song “Hollow Years”, the album version and a radio edit. That’s not what interests me about this CD, however, as I think that’s one of the weaker songs on the album, probably because [...]

Well, here’s a tough sell. How do you compile a greatest hits album for a band that only has one arguable “hit”? And furthermore, how do you sell a compilation album when a band’s core demographic are fanatic completists who most likely buy every single item ever issued by the band? There [...]

Here’s an interesting interview with Robert Trukillo, bassist for Metallica (and previously Suicidal Tendencies.) What’s interesting about it, to me anyway, is that it was conducted on 103.9 in South Bend, Indiana, which was one of the only radio stations in my area as a child. (Or at least the only one that [...]

Queensryche has started producing a video “podcast” about their new album American Soldier. As of now, it contains three videos discussing the recording of this album.
(I say “podcast” in quotes, because there isn’t actually a way to put them on your iPod, hence the word “pod”.)
Anyway, go here to view: queensryche.com :: american soldier [...]

When an album is in the making for almost two decades, and the band goes through an almost 100% lineup change, serious questions emerge about the final product. And this means that most reviews of said product aren’t about the production or if the songs groove, but rather ask a million questions about what [...]

Are you a guitar player that likes to play along with Steve Vai records? Well, here’s a neat new product for you. Steve Vai has released five of his albums, remastered without the lead guitars. You can jam along, and add the original solos yourself (or try, at least). Or maybe [...]

A documentary about Rush’s massive road show for Snakes and Arrows and the crew that kept it running has showed up on YouTube. It’s a five-hour documentary, and the first hour is posted in ten-minute chunks. If you’ve ever wondered the amount of work it takes to get a band like Rush into [...]