CD review: Gregorian's "Dark Side of the Chant", Comparisons/contrasts of "The Walking Dead" Graphic Novels/ TV Show (Spoiler alerts)

Hello,

I received this e-mail on Monday from Zach at the Syndicate. An organization that I know nothing about. From their website, this is their mission statement: "We create relevant, emotional connections with your

target audience in music, comedy, broadcasting, film, new media and publishing."

1) Steel Panther-New album “Balls Out” coming out Nov 1^st (universal). Legendary live smash that draws on 80’s hair metal with songs that have tongue in cheek lyrics and x rated subject matter meshed with head banging riffs. Their live shows frequently have celebrities come up and join them in 80’s metal covers such as Pink, Yellowcard, Jeremy Piven, Taylor Swift, Juliette Lewis and many more.

www.steelpantherrocks.com has new single “17 girls in a row”

2) Gregorian - As in Gregorian Masters Of Chant-Multi-platinum worldwide phenom of Gregorian Monk style harmonies into re-worked pop songs and chamber rock backings. Gregorian is releasing their new album “Dark Side Of The Chant” which is their darkest yet with chestnuts from Madonna, Depeche Mode, Unhellig, Within Temptation, AC/DC, Evanescence and more.

Here's the track listing of the Gregorian CD. In parenthesis is the letter grade for each song on a traditional A to F grading platform.

1) O Fortuna (B+)
2. Hell's Bells (B-)
3. Bring Me to Life (B-)
4. Dark Side (C-)
5. Stripped (A)
6. All I Need (C)
7. Dark Angel
8. Frozen (B-)
9. Black Wings (D+)
10. Lucifer (B)
11. My Heart Is Burning (C+)
12. Morning Dew (B-)
13. Born to Feel Alive

Unfortunately this CD isn't available on Spotify, but I was able to listen to it for free on napster.com. Each month napster.com allows anyone 25 songs one can listen to for free. The Syndicate did provide a link: onlinepr/gregorian/darksideofthechant.rar However that link didn't work. It keeps on taking me to onlinepr.com. It is as you can tell a website set up for public relations, a very generic looking website.

The chants work for some of these songs, but for other songs it doesn't work as well. For "O Fortuna" and "Stripped" the chant works quite well and is very cool. I actually like the chant version of Depeche Mode's "Stripped" just as much as I like the original. For songs that rock a bit harder the chanting doesn't work as well. For instance, their take on "Hells Bells" starts out quite slowly. But once the song hits the chorus, it starts rocking. While the chant version of "Hells Bells" is an interesting idea, it will never equal the grandeur of the AC/DC original.

This is Gregorian's "Stripped", their remake of a Depeche Mode song.

Gregorian's take on "Hells Bells" live. Again it's weak and slow until it hits the chorus. Then the hammer comes out. I never thought I'd see electric guitars on chant music.

I do like the song "Morning Dew", a creative updating on chant music. I'm not sure if this is an original or not, but I don't remember hearing a version of this song before. Their take on "Frozen" is kind of lame for the first half of the song. After that it picks up quite a bit. It's very similar to the song structure of "Hells Bells". I don't know if that's the best Madonna song to turn into a chant song. I'd love to see what Gregorian would do with "Papa Don't Preach".

"Lucifer" is an intriguing song with mostly music and only a bit of chant laid on top. It's one of the best songs on the CD. Although I do wish the song had a different title.

After hearing several consecutive chant influenced songs it tends to get boring. It's the kind of thing that's cool every now and then, but I wouldn't want to listen to it frequently. When Enigma came out in the early 90's they took chant into the pop music realm about as far as it can go. Once my 25 listens ran out I went back to iTunes and listened to Enigma. Enigma hit a perfect mix on this song:

As for Steel Panther I listened to about 90 seconds of one of their songs. And after several vulgar words I'd had enough of that. That's not something that I'm going to review. I detest the lowest common denominator of some of today's music.

As my blog is rather obscure I don't anticipate a flood of requests to review more music. I will be glad to do so. Please either send me a physical CD (my preference) or a link to listen to all the songs as many times as I want. I prefer to listen to each song two or three times before giving a thorough review. I like to listen to a CD over several days to give it a chance to sink in. I also like to listen to a CD in my car. That gives me more of an intense listen to the CD.

I announced that "The Walking Dead Volume 1: Days Gone By" was my next book club selection. Yesterday I read that book and I also read "Volume 2: "Miles Behind Us". Both are 136 pages long. I'm not going to give a review per se, but I'm going to give a comparison and contrast between the graphic novels and the TV show.

Spoiler alerts galore. Honestly of the two I'd say that the graphic novels are better. The action is more frequent. There's a lot less of the nonsense speeches that has ground Season 2 to a halt. The character of Lori Grimes is so much better in the graphic novels. The less she speaks from now on the better. In the graphic novel Lori starts out very grateful and it's only in the second volume where her whiny TV persona shows. Her character needs to go away from the TV show. Shane kidnap her and run away please!

Also the character of Carl Grimes is much better in the comic book as well. On the TV show he's a scared 7 year old kid, that's understandable. But in a time of zombie apocalypse scared isn't going to get you too far. In the graphic novels, I love his kick butt persona. At the end of "Days Gone By" Carl shoots Shane after he hears Shane seem to threaten his father. Here's an example of the quicker resolved story lines. In both forms of media Otis shoots Carl and Carl is taken back to Hershel Green's farm. Hershel is able to save his life in just a few panels in the graphic novel. However in the TV series, the action has been drawn out to a ridiculous extreme. It has led to some of the most boring sequences in this show's history. He was shot at the end of episode 1 and it looks like he's going to survive at the end of episode 3. I realize it has only been two weeks, but it has felt a lot longer.

Also Sophia going lost hasn't been mentioned in the graphic novels as of yet. Let's hope it doesn't. That's been one of the story lines that has dragged this season's show to a halt.

I don't mind that Shane has continued on in the TV series as he's a man of action. However there's a character in the graphic novels whose name is Tyrese, a former NFL player. I'd take him over Shane any day. Especially after Shane betrayed Otis by shooting him in the foot. That was a cowardly and wimpy move by Shane.

One of the most extensive contrasts between the two forms of media is the whole relationship between Andrea and Dale. In the TV show they have a parent/ rebellious daughter sort of relationship. In the comic book, let's all say "eww" together, they are lovers. It kind of gives me that same queasy feeling I had when I had heard Justin Bieber was sued for paternity. Dale's RV has had a lot more action going on than in the TV show. The RV in the graphic novel is much more active, it doesn't overheat every few episodes. In the graphic novel Andrea is an ace marksman. Whereas in the TV show father (Dale) doesn't give rebellious daughter (Andrea) a gun until the third episode of the second season. The television Dale is also a wienie, he's one of those characters that like to give meaningless speeches.

The last contrast is in the graphic novel, everyone is hooking up. And I do mean everyone! Glenn and Maggie, Hershel's daughter, hooked up. In fact Glenn is so smitten that when the survivors move on, Glenn stays behind. The fact that there may be a relationship between Glenn and Maggie in the TV relationship has been hinted at. There's definitely some chemistry there. I've already mentioned Andrea and Dale's relationship. Shane and Lori got together when they both thought that Rick might be dead. That turned out to be a defining moment in Volume 1. Meanwhile Rick has only been with Lori once since getting to the outskirts of Atlanta. Now we find out she's pregnant. Is it Rick or Shane's baby? There are even hints that Sophia and Carl may eventually get together, yes the two youngsters.

One of the things I hate the most about both forms of media is Hershel's farm. In this bizarre world where zombies have completely taken over Hershel and his family feels safe on their farm that's only protected by one fence? The zombies are very hungry and very determined to get them and they don't have a better defense system? One dumb story line from the graphic novel is that Hershel was keeping all the zombies in the barn. He wanted to save them until a cure was found.

At the end of Volume 2, the remaining survivors stumble across a walled in compound. It looks like a former prison. I think they've run into the Governor. He's not a very nice man from what I hear.

themusicaddict