Tarja - "Never Enough"

No, never enough, never enough, I gave it all, you still want more.

Rating: 4/10

Not to be confused with Never Enough by Epica, this song is the first single to be released from former Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen's upcoming album Colours in the Dark. This will be her third studio after breaking up with Nightwish. The song starts out as a very strong symphonic metal song and I really like it, however I would say I am not as much of a fan of the second half of the song, particularly the very end where the vocals cut out and especially do not like the static at the end. The lyrics video is very well done and I appreciate the work that has gone into it, however so far I'm not convinced the new album will be good from this song but I am looking forward to seeing how the rest of the album is tomorrow on August 30th.

Dio - "Straight Through the Heart"

And here it comes again, straight through the heart.

Rating: 8/10

Ronnie James Dio is basically the god of American metal vocals, he was the vocalist for Black Sabbath for 3 years and formed his own band, Dio soon after. This song is from his band's first album Holy Diver, while not as famous as the title song, Holy Diver, or Rainbow in the Dark this song is awesome. I recently discovered this song, and I love it. The music is very catchy and Dio's very iconic style of singing complements it perfectly. Unlike a lot of American metal, the guitar solo is just about the right length, perhaps a bit on the long side, but it provides a nice break between the beginning and the end. Overall a very well done song and Dio's voice is awesome.

David Gray - "Long Distance Call"

Early morning sun... Shine it and I'm gone

Rating: 6/10

David Gray is about as soulful, peaceful and longing as you'll get in a song like this. His sincerity shines through the lightly strummed guitar pieces, and the simple rock drums add energy to this piece. This UK singer/songwriter made his first appearance in 1993, releasing a studio album titled "A Century Ends". However, he did not gain popular vision until 1998, with "White Ladder". While the quality of his songs tend to vary, this is one that spoke to me.

Nightwish - Elvenpath

Long ago, in the early years of the second age, the great elven-smiths forged the Rings of Power.

Rating: 5/10

This song from Nightwish's first album, Angels Fall First, this song is both the an amazing song and a terrible song at the same time, I can't make up my mind as to which one. Basically it is one giant pile of Lord of the Rings references, if you are into that, more the better, I think it's alright but other than having a lot of Lord of the Rings references, I don't think the song itself is that good. Sometime I absolutely love this song, sometimes it is way to cheesy for me, definitely give it a listen and make a judgement for yourself. I do not get most of the references in this song and unless you have an obsessive devotion with Lord of the Rings, like some people I know, you very well may not enjoy this song.

Thirty Seconds to Mars - "Do or Die"

Time to be alive I will never forget the moment, the moment I will never forget this night we sing, we sing

Rating: 8/10

LOVE LUST FAITH + DREAMS came out on May 21st and recently their new video hit one million views after being out for only a week. It is for the song "Do or Die" off of LLFD. This video, like their one for "Closer to the Edge", is a bunch of live shots from their European tour put together along with personal interviews form members of the Echelon. The Echelon is the family of fans that is extremely dedicated to the band. Frontman Jared Leto interviewed all of the people in the video to get their story and spent his summer vacation editing it; it turned out to be a sort of love letter to the Echelon and for us is one of the most beautiful music videos. The video on this post however is not it, but you can check it out here. The music in the song is uplifing and has a beat that makes people (even ones like me) want to jump around to it. It is so incredibly beautiful both lyrically and musically. Jared's voice is amazing and his brother Shannon put together the perfect drum part for it. Overall this song is just phenomenal and extremely special to the Echelon. Provehito in Altum.

Sonata Arctica - "Wildfire"

Burn honey, burn, let the fire eat away, I never liked the look of this town, burn it down now.

Rating: 7/10

This is a very interesting song, there are two followup songs on later Sonata Arctica albums. I feel the literal interpretation of the song is that it is about a man from a village, who no one trusts, maybe because he is an outsider or whatever, everyone is very suspicious of him and blame him for everything. Eventually he hears voices telling him take his stuff, run away, and set the town on fire. However the more figurative interpretation is more broad. It is about people who generally feel like they don't fit in with society for whatever reason and do terrible to things to lash back out at society by committing arson or murder. The musical style is very archetypal of Sonata Arctica's musical style, a vocal focused power metal. This song is a good showcase of Tony Kakko's fairly unique sounding vocals. Sonata Arctica is a Finnish power metal band with some symphonic metal influence, they were formed in 1995 and have released seven studio albums to date.

Green River Ordinance - "Cannery River"

dig our toes in that river bottom, play our music way up loud

Rating: 5/10

Green River Ordinance is a rock band from Texas. They have a soft rock style that can sound like pop rock, country, or even a bit like folk. Recently they released their EP Chasing Down the Wind which leads off with the song "Cannery River". This song, like most of theirs, is an acoustic one using a variety of string instruments. It is quiet and simple; and Josh Jenkins's beautiful voice is soothing with the acoustic instruments. It is a sweet love song, similar to most of their tracks. Green River Ordinance writes comforting and pretty music, however many of their songs are similar.