Um, remember when I said in my last New Releases post that these round ups would appear infrequently in the future? Yes, well, it seems that “the future” will go into effect after this post.

So, what happened? Avenged Sevenfold happened.

Found another one to pair with them while I was at it. Let’s round ’em up:

Avenged Sevenfold — Life Is But A Dream . . .

I don’t want to know anything about this album. Not the names of the band members, not the exact lyrics, not where it was recorded nor what it’s supposed to be about. Nothing.

Oh, I have questions. Absolutely. But I want them to remain unanswered. I want to keep the glorious mystery of it all intact, like some alien object dropped into a cornfield in the middle of the night with no explanation.

(A quick aside: my problem with many metal bands is that they tend to be one-dimensional. That particular dimension may be great and powerful and all, but I prefer my dimensions plural. Avenged Sevenfold is *checks memory bank* yup, a metal band. I know nothing about them except I’ve seen their name here and there for the last 20 years, and when they pop up on the radio nothing has grabbed me enough to stay on the station since their music is not my particular cup of Darjeeling.)

Now, why an aggro metal band should suddenly incorporate melodic crooning, and crazy keyboards, and acoustic Americana, and robot vocals, and grunge, and shredding 80’s guitar solos, and funk rock, and Sgt. Pepper psychedelia and much much more into prog-rock-Broadway-metal-pop suites is not important in the grand scheme of things. All that matters is that it exists, and we’re all here to receive it. So thank you, new alien overlords, for gifting us the mystery. My fealty is yours.

And if the metal is too heavy for you, check out the penultimate track:

Amanda Marshall — Heavy Lifting

I don’t want to know anything about this album. . .

Oh, no, wait. Actually, I am quite curious about what’s going on here. Like Avenged Sevenfold, Marshall mixes genres with gusto, and with a modern twist she blends elements of blues rock, regular rock, country, and gospel, as well as a sense of humor and intelligence reminiscent of Lyle Lovett (whose vocals and phrasing she sometimes echoes — at least to my ears). Extra points for the liberal use of saxophone across the album.

Alright, I just looked her up, and apparently this is Marshall’s first album in over 20 years, mainly due to a dragged out dispute with her former manager. If she had any concerns about how she would fare after two decades away, she should lay that burden down. . . she crushes it here.

Playing for laughs:

Playing it straight: