I occasionally am in a musical mode and I do have plans for a big musical future project beyond my metal tree series. I haven't posted one for awhile though and I know some people are my followers as they share musical fascination and interest with me. This post is me releasing some mental pressure and hopefully giving them something at the same time. Others of you may not enjoy this. That is totally alright, I like to write about a lot of things. I also don't always cover metal... though that does tend to be my favorite genres of music.

Now I may have covered these songs before in other posts. I know some of them I have not, and for others they will be completely new.

Opeth - Harlequin Forest

This is a Swedish band and it is without a doubt one of my favorite bands. All I can say is do not make an assumption about their sound within the first few minutes. These songs go through dramatic changes during the midst of the song. In fact I like to refer to them as a "5 course meal". Each song is like having a meal with many different dishes due to how often the song changes.

They are not always the most technical though it is actually pretty technical as well. They are great at truly epic sounding songs. Reverie/Harlequin Forest is one my personal favorites. I've often gotten out of the car beat boxing the guitar chugging broken pattern at the end of the song. It has growly vocals as well as beautiful clean vocals. I am going to share a version of the song live from the Royal Albert Hall concert. I will also include a clean studio version for those of you that would prefer not to watch the live version. I absolutely love this song and believe it is brilliant. The lyrics are after the song for those of you that want to know them (From Metrolyrics.com):

Nevermore - The Tiananmen Man

I really had to scratch my head about a good Nevermore song to list as I love so many of them. This one I wouldn't call my favorite though it is very impactful, and it's lyrics and message are something I think resonate strongly with what is going on in the world. Other songs I would have considered putting here would be Dreaming Neon Black, The Heart Collector, Obsidian Conspiracy, Poison God Machine, and so many others.... truly a great band. Too bad they are no longer together.

Dream Theater - Fatal Tragedy

I am a huge Dream Theater fan. When it comes to sheer technical skill spread across all band members I consider them to be a virtually untouchable band. If I was to build an altar and temple to the gods of music based on pure mastery and skill these guys would be the deities of that religion. This is not to say I only appreciate technicality. I love many bands. Yet when it comes to pure insane technical ability it is these guys that I tend to go to. Now they have many great songs, and I'm not going to go to their ONE HIT the song "Pull Me Under" instead I am going to grab the song Fatal Tragedy from the concept album Scenes From A Memory. I consider this album so epic that for over a year this CD occupied my car stereo without being replaced by anything else. Yes, for a year I had this playing in my car anywhere I drove, even on family trips. There is so much going on in this album that even a year later I was still hearing new things and embelishments that I thought were amazing. This is not the most technical of the batch, but its lyrics, emotion, and technique are great. Thus, I chose it for this post.

The first version is actually Live and is Strange Deja Vu, Through My Words & Fatal Tragedy (Live Scenes From New York) I'll give you the lyrics for all of these songs to go along for those that like lyrics.

For those of you interested here is that entire concept album... it is one of my all time favorite musical compositions:

Thanks for your time guys/gals. I appreciate you. I have a bigger musical project planned for the future, but it likely won't be until after this coming weekend. I have to fly to Ohio on Saturday and I'll be flying back home that monday night. I likely won't dive into the Ayreon project until after that.