Tag: Fight

My Sunday Song – “Defying Gravity” by The Veer Union

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic1 Comment

For My Sunday Song #457, we are talking “Defying Gravity” and no, this is not the Wicked song of the same name. This one is by the band The Veer Union and is off their 2016 album ‘Decade’ which celebrates the band’s 10 years of existence. The song was the first and maybe only single and was released on December 11, 2015 while the album was not released until January 29, 2016. For this album, the band wrote five new songs and pulled five songs from around 10 years back that were never used. But we are here to talk “Defying Gravity”.

The song was written by Crispin Earl and is about his battle with depression. The song details how the singer has been impacted by depression. How it weighs him down and he has no energy to do what needs to be done to fight it. He is looking for the strength as he knows he has to lift himself up to beat this horrible disease. If you have suffered from depression, you know how the weight of it holds you back. For him, defying the gravity that is holding him down is what it will take to fight his way out of it. It is such a hard battle fighting the demon inside. It is a daily struggle, a constant struggle. It can be fought and you don’t have to do it alone. There is help out there, but asking is the hardest part.

Musically, it is heavy like the subject matter. If you haven’t heard The Veer Union before, think a cross between Breaking Benjamin and Sevendust. Those are probably two good bands to compare them too. The guitar riffs are brutal by Dan Sittler, the drums are destructive from Tyler Reimer and I love how it goes from really heavy in the chorus while being melodic to a softer tone during the verses. Crispin Earl handles the clean vocals and you can hear the pain and emotion in his vocals. He is singing from his heart. I’m not one that usually likes unclean vocals, but bass player, Amal Wijayanayake, does a great job with the screaming vocal parts not to mention his bass playing along with rhythm guitarist Ryan Ramsdell keep the song moving forward. The unclean vocals aren’t overdone and only serve as an added texture to the song. I think it adds to the overall darkness of the heavy subject.

Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “Defying Gravity” by The Veer Union” →

My Sunday Song – “Justice” by Rev Theory

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic3 Comments

For My Sunday Song #436, we are going hard & heavy with “Justice” by Rev Theory. The song was the first single from the album of the same name. The single came out on October 25, 2010 and went to #17 on the U.S. Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks while the album went to #75 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The song is credited to the whole band which would include singer Rich Luzzi, bass player Matty McCloskey, guitarists Julien Jorgensen & Rikki Lixx and Dave Agoglia on drums. There are few others included as well as you will see at the bottom of the lyrics. The song was even licensed to be used on WWE’s Extreme Rules in 2011.

The song is a strong, powerful statement on standing up for oneself. Challenge the injustices you see in society. Everyone has faced some form of injustice and we should stand up and reclaim what is rightfully ours. It is a rebellious track with hints at fighting back and getting vindication. Right now there is so much injustice going on and I wonder how long before we all stand up and fight back against the perpetrators whether through our votes, our voice or something worst. 15 years after this song was written and I still feel is very relevant.

Musically, hold on to your hat. Not only is the message powerful, but the music is as relentless. The drums are destructive, the guitars are lethal and full of rage while the bass is the heartbeat of power driving the song forward. The guitar has a little Rage sound to it as if Morello was doing it. And Rich’s vocals are strong, loud, gritty and so serious. When he screams out the chorus, you feel he means every word he is spouting. The catchiness of that chorus reverberates in your head and it gets stuck there. There is so much rage, be careful if you listen to this song while you are driving because I can see foot to the floor speeding happening as it happened to me (no ticket thankfully).

Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “Justice” by Rev Theory” →

My Sunday Song – “Loud Love” – Soundgarden

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic17 Comments

For My Sunday Song #334, we are going to walk through the song “Loud Love” by Soundgarden. The song is off their 1989 album ‘Louder Than Love’. They hadn’t broke yet here in the states so the song didn’t chart although the album went to #108 on the US Billboard 200 album chart. Now, in the UK the song did chart and reached #87. Not great, but it charted. Fun fact, it is believed that this song was supposed to be on the Wayne’s World soundtrack as it is playing in the background when Wayne meets Casandra. Early listings of the songs had it on their, but it was left off.

The song was written by Chris Cornell. I am not sure what they intended the song to be about, but to me when I look at the lyrics it feels like it is about someone pushing another person to their limits to get them to fight back, to show some emotion and not sit there and take it. They are going to keep at them until the pop and the line “I’ll hammer you until you fight” is a perfect example of that thought. There aren’t a ton of lyrics so no real proof, but that is my gut.

Musically, that guitar piece at the beginning is insane. It is a “feedback melody” is how I’ve seen it described. It is Kim Thayil standing in front of an amp, hitting a note until he gets feedback and then running his fingers up and down the fret. It is almost like the note is breathing. Really cool and what draws me to the song. Chris Cornell really screams out the chorus and lets out a scream towards the end that is pretty killer. Lyrically, there is not a lot to the song, but musically it wraps around those lyrics and drags it out to almost 5 minutes of heavy and thunderous music that paints the scene with a dark brush that feels a little disturbing and I love it.

Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “Loud Love” – Soundgarden” →

‘Confess: The Autobiography’ by Rob Halford

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic20 Comments

If you follow my site at all, you know I am in the middle of a Judas Priest Review Series where I am reviewing all the albums from the Judas Priest Collection Box Set (and a few more it missed). I thought as I am immersing myself in their catalog, why not find out some information about the band by reading Rob Halford’s book, ‘Confess’. They sum up nicely below who Rob Halford is but it is really a bland description. I think they left out is that Rob is the ‘Metal God’, Rob is a man who waves the Rainbow Flag proudly, Rob is sober for over 30 years, Rob is human, which means Rob is fallible.

The story of Rob Halford, told by Rob Halford, covers a lot of time. It starts off him as a child growing up in the Black Country of the U.K. His stint where he wanted to be an actor, and then his discovery that he could sing. And man can he sing. It spends most of the time talking about his time with Priest, but it really is about Rob, the person. His struggles in life, but not just with being gay. He struggles with that, but it was more about his struggles with hiding it as being the lead singer of a Heavy Metal band and what would be the fall out if it came out. Honestly though, he didn’t really try to hide it because a lot of the early Priest songs actually talk about it, but no one was perceptive enough at the time to figure it out. The story really is about his struggles with finding love and with trying to have sex while on the road while the band had easy pickings of the female groupies, Rob had to go to seedy truck stops and bathrooms to find love. It didn’t always go well as we find out when Rob has his own George Michael moment. Rob was very lonely, for a very long time and that caused a lot of drinking and a lot of drugs and then rehab. He had many bad relationships with guys that were really straight, it was a tough road. Rob, however, found his way sober and finally found love and it all had a happy ending, thank goodness.

Continue reading “‘Confess: The Autobiography’ by Rob Halford” →