TFK puts out a great follow-up
928018
TFK's Phemonemon Album was great.  The Art of Breaking is just as good if not better.  Absolute is awesome and Hand Grenaides just rocks.  Besides the normal crunch, there is also much more melody in this album. I listen to this album constantly and recommend it highly.
2861571
The long wait between albums was worth it. The use of a through-concept album works very well and shows a level of maturity for the band. Rise provides long-time fans more of what we enjoy about Skillet as well as a more raw guitar sound and a new expanded keyboard programming element. Jen's vocals continue to expand, though I would love to hear Korey provide her talents with Jen to give an even deeper vocal sound. John is sounding even more raspy, I hope he isn't on the verge of blowing out his vocal chords. All in all, well worth the wait and an immediate pick up for fans.
3839175
**** 1/2. Fairly impressed by guitarist Jeff Golub's 2009 opus, Blues for You, I looked forward to this 2011 sequel and I was not disappointed. The concept of honoring B.B., Albert, and Freddie King is clever, and covering tunes written by or made popular by these blues royalty already spurs interest. [The Golub Band have their own composed tracks, too.] Golub's core band includes Andy Hess on bass, Josh Dion, drums and some vocals, and notably Henry Butler, who is at the piano and sings on some tracks. There are other musicians called into the studio for further assistance, such as Robbin Ford and Sunny Landreth on guitars, and on B3 organ, Chris Palmaro. Instrumentally, the album is rock solid, with driving beats and juicy guitar riffs, but Dion's vocals leave me cold and is responsible for my slightly reduced rating. Butler's, however, are grand. Some blues are for listening (Freddie's Midnite Dream), others are for dancing (Side Tracked). Fast blues, slow blues, songs and instrumentals: they are all here. The album ends on that profound B.B. King trademark, The Thrill Is Gone. Golub and his band does honor to the work in their own way. The pseudo synthesized strings by Mitchel Forman indicate 'classic' status, but this is a guitar composition and Golub's picking and Butler's strong piano work leave the listener pleased.
1438770
And I am a big TFK fan. This album has a perfect lineup and almost perfect sound. The first song "Send a Message From the Heart" is a totally engaging song. It has everything that a great prog song should have. "Let In Hollywood" is a faster paced song that is wonderful with some great keyboards and guitar riffs in it. The rest are just as good. Buy now, especially at this low download price. If you are a fan of Genesis, TFK, Tangent, Transatlantic or Spock's Beard, you will love this.
2800687
Kasabian's new album does not have the same number of instantly catchy songs the first album in known for.  Listening to the album just once may be disappointing, especially if you are expecting the exact same edgy style.  Not to despair; "Empire" is truly an album to let grow on you.  Over time I have come to appreciate it even more than "Kasabian."  The new Kasabian sounds very familiar to a new band from Norway called KEN, whose new album "STOP! LOOK! Sing Songs of Revolution!" sounds like a combination of Kasabian and the Beatles.
4469154
This new Enchant is again an outstanding effort and confirms the formidable talents of all players involved. It is a logical follow-up to the fantastic 'Juggling 9...'. It does however not reach the same heights of songwriting. This is probably due to the departure of Craddick whose strong composer capabilities (think of Xen) are clearly missed. Craddick and Ott were a superb songwriting team and it is a shame that such talents have parted ways. Now all music on this album is written by Ott who does a very good job with a collection of songs that range from good (My Everafter, Despicable) to excellent (Under Fire, Prognosis, Seeds of Hate, Flatline) to astonishing (Monday, Follow the Sun, Ultimate Gift). The pure genious that popped up occasionally on the first 5 albums (think of songs like Enchanted, Look away, New Moon, The Lizard, My Enemy, The Cross, Paint the Picture, Traces) is not present here however. That's sad but understandable given the drain of talent this band has endured during the last few years (Benignus and Craddick). Moreover it seems that Ott has chosen not to adopt a drastically new sound as was done on 'Break' and to a lesser extent on 'Juggling 9'. There are no experiments on this album.
Besides the songwriting, the music also suffers from the craving of Craddick's superbly dynamic playing (the Neil Peart effect in Enchant).
Of Course there is enough talent left in Enchant: both Ott and Leonard now form the core of this band. Ott's rhythm and (typical) solo parts are always interesting and never self-indulgent and Ted Leonard's voice is marvelous and beyond compare.
This is an excellent CD but hopefully not the first sign of the (always inevitable) future decline.
2261636
I liked the song Budapest, I love the rest of the album even more.  These days it is hard to find an album with more than 1-2 songs worth listening to.  I found every song on this album enjoyable.

I hope his sophomore effort will be just as good.
2089366
I don't want to mislead anyone with any implications that this is a re-tread of Coastal Grooves; it certainly is not. Rather, this is an interesting example of a follow-up to one of my top five favorite albums, which threw me an insane amount of curve-balls, but ultimately did not disappoint me at all. That being said, I did have to adjust to it a bit. The addition of two songs with rappers was surely the most drastic shift from the first album, but I was already a fan of Despot (which is hard to be since he never put out a single album), and I don't dislike the UK grime scene that the other rapper reminds me of (albeit without the distinct grime type beats/synth in this example). I also really like Clams Casino, who contributes a drum section, even though he is not really being himself in this example (he's mostly know for huge swells of atmospheric noise over somewhat trap-oriented drums). It's hard for me to single out all the other curveballs here, but this is one of those albums where the first two songs are so generous, that it should leave the listener in a forgiving mood towards all the things Blood Orange tries later in the album. After nearly ten listens, the only part I'm not wild about is the last song when he flatly rehashes lines from hits on the first album, but it's a small gripe because I still don't skip that track, and I get that he was trying to do a sort of extended coda type thing like Michael Jackson used to do when he wanted to pad out the end of an album a little. I am not an R&B type of guy, even though Frank Ocean opened me up to a lot of the new breed of artists, but Blood Orange oddly managed to steer clear of anything that is really trending right now, and just shoot strait for a lush sound rooted in the best R&B of all eras. I expect to pick this up at any time and it still age well. I'm totally satisfied, after insurmountable anticipation.
3449118
I've been a fan of TFF since the beginning and love just about everything they have recorded, including the "solo" TFF efforts of the mid nineties, when Roland Orzabal carried the torch after Kurt Smith left the group.  What is amazing about "Everybody Loves a Happy Ending" is the shockingly good material and performance that this album brings forth.  There can be no doubt that these guys are among the best the world has to offer and if you get a chance to see them live - jump at the chance - you will be happy you did.  My wife and I still talk about the "Elemental" tour of the mid 90's, and it seems they haven't missed a beat when we saw Roland and Kurt reunited as TFF last November.  Simply put, the songs are grade "A" and Roland has an astonishing, powerful voice that is a perfect compliment to the material, sadly that once TFF hangs it up, we may never hear again in our lifetime.  Buy the album and witness one of the greats in the Pop/Rock music genre.
1386800
Though nowhere as good as its predecessor, 1999's "Suzuki", Dehli 9 comes in as a nice follow-up to it. With a less downbeat sound that seems closer to that developed over the past couple of albums by Thievery Corporation, the Austria-based DJ/producer team, Kruder & Dorfmeister, comes back with a work that still retains elements characteristic of their musical signature, such as their typical percussion and keyboard accents nicely spread throughout the album. As an overall recomendation, I would probably get started with "Suzuki" but if you already have that one and liked it, I would give "Dehli 9" a shot.
3938862
Like the author Larry Tye I have over 300 books on the Kennedy family.  I am pretty cynical about any newer ones because most of them rely on sources that are despicable---C David Heymann's "A Woman Named Jackie" (for example) and the others about the Kennedy family that he wrote, sold for millions of dollars were found to be stuffed with lies. So I was cautious with this book until I started reading it, footnotes and all, and became very excited.  Mr. Tye does a great job of synthesizing previous works on RFK, but he had the cooperation of Ethel Kennedy and some of her children in getting the pieces of Senator Kennedy's life put together accurately.  Bobby, as Mrs. Kennedy still calls him, was a complex, struggling person from his childhood on to his adult life. That is made clear; no holding back of his temper, his frustration, his adversarial behaviors which his colleagues, friends, enemies and family discuss clearly.  But the growth which occurs in him as he runs the campaigns for JFK's senate and presidential  offices is also ignited in the book. Confidence and extremely hard work give him the maturity and gravitas to be trusted with the DOJ.

Of course the murder of his brother shattered him.  We have read before about his grief, but now there are enlightening stories from Ethel and his friends which show just how drenched in pain he was.  The burden he took on of being the leader of a sorrowful family while he was enduring  a sadness beyond description is evidenced here.  Mr. Tye handles it so eloquently.  This loss in his life had its own part in making RFK a compassionate man, brought him to be able to speak with soaring belief in the goodness of man on the night Martin Luther King died. His final campaign, in 1968, allowed the entire country to see how he had evolved. Had he lived there is every chance this world might be a better place.

The author of this book deserves praise for his beautiful writing, his determination to be objective, his ability to serve the trust of Ethel Kennedy as she shared her thoughts, which she does not do often or easily.  I really, really loved this book.
4700270
nearly a decade and a half after their debut album which is still heralded among many as the best hip-hop album of all time, cannibal ox has finally released a true followup.

with a wealth of solid guest artists added to the mix this time, and production/musicianship that does a very adequate job of filling EL-P's now absent shoes (not an easy task to pull off), not to mention both sides of the dynamic duo of vast aire and vordul mega once again well represented here, with a maturity and growth well beyond the original, this is a true evolution of the cannibal ox sound that is still definitively canox.

is it as good, better, or worse than the cold vein? who cares - that's all subjective. what is clear is that this is a true evolution of form that deserves the name cannibal ox, which is more than can be said for what was released under the name between this and the cold vein era. fans won't be disappointed this time - but more importantly, those who just love music and who loved the experimentation and originality of the cold vein along with the journey it took you on will definitely find a whole new journey to go on here that's equally parts moving and worthy of your time, but has also, thankfully, grown up quite a bit. for fans of the first who have grown in and of themselves over the years, this album is like reconnecting with a pair of old friends who are clearly at an even better place now than they were when you last hung with them. and for newcomers to the ox, this is just an outstanding piece of musicianship that is only going to grow on you and reveal new nuances with repeated listens. and so is the first album - so do yourself a huge favor and be sure to pick up both of them if you haven't already, cause both this and the cold vein albums together really accurately represent the years in which they've taken to come out in terms of scope - i don't think could have been this much of a worthy followup effort if it had come out any sooner. canox had to grow up with the rest of us - and the end result in blade of the ronin is more than worth the wait.
4612385
This is a fantastic sophomore effort from KK. One of the biggest differences here is that the album feels definitely less like a Christian TM worship album, and more like a collection of songs written from the heart. I didn't really get that from Becoming Who We Are either, but it's even further removed from the standard structures of CCM. They talked about "not having any epic builds" on the album, and I think that was the correct decision. (perfect example is in A Prayer where there's just silence and then bam).

I'm a huge fan of layered and complex music and this album delivers. From the subtle track "Dust" to the sick groove in "In This Ocean, Pt. 1" they've worked hard at making this album as musical as it is spiritual. "Lost?" brings similar memories of "Zion" from BWWA. The trio of songs "Gone","A Prayer", and "Trackless Sea" are completely loaded with honesty and admonishment for God. Rarely do we see such honesty and reflection shared so candidly in the context of religious music. How often do you hear a worship band not only admit to using the language that the culture uses, but using it in a redemptive manner? IMHO, the album version of "A Prayer" just doesn't hold the same weight. Found out after purchasing that all of the physical CD's are printed with the "clean" aka "album" version.

In any case, I've already listened through the album a number of times, and will continue to do so to explore all the densely layered pieces.

Favorite Tracks: "In This Ocean, Pt. 1", "A Prayer", "Sabotage / Home"

FFO : Anathallo, Paper Route, Dustin Kensrue
1814020
Fans and newcomers alike will enjoy this release. It continues the same style of big beats with rock guitars and tough samples that their previous album, "Tweekend", utilized, especially on tracks like Born Too Slow, with its quality rock vocals, and the satisfyingly crunchy Weapons of Mass Distortion. But tracks like Broken Glass, Acetone, and Wide Open also harken back to the smoother, more synthesizer-based sounds of their first full-length, "Vegas", and serve to balance this album better than its predecessor. There are also a few nicely-executed doses of hip-hop and soul flavor to round out the diversity of the sound.
I can't really justify giving this album 5 stars because it doesn't break much new ground, but rather fine-tunes an already successful formula. But if you enjoy big, driving electronica infused with rock sensibilities, it doesn't get much bigger or better than this.
1501978
I just got Toby Macs 6th studio album called ***THIS IS NOT A TEST*** and listened to it twice already.  Hes hit it out of the park again.  ***THIS IS NOT A TEST*** continues giving us what we expect from Toby Mac.  There are collaborations with some of todays top Christian musicians, including Ryan Stevenson, Byron Mr. Talkbox Chambers, NF, Capital Kings, Hollyn, Soul Glow Activatur, and the long-awaited reunion of dc Talk.  And for those of you who know who Tru is, well, hes back, too.

The new album contains 15 new songs, each with a fabulous message of Gods love and encouragement to the listener in their Christian walk.  They have catchy tunes, thumping beats, and great sounds. There are remixes of two of the songs on the album.  One is done by Family Force Fives Soul Glow Activatur and the other is Garcias Remix.  Youll be bopping your head and singing along with every song.  You won't be able to have just one favorite in the bunch.

Im a product review blogger and I received this product in exchange for an honest review.
4157477
The Sounds come back with another great album. The group put out another quality album filled with beautiful songs. Not straying too far from their trademark to alienate fans, The Sounds explore new territory and please their fans at the same time.
457947
I've had the new album for almost 48 hours and I am hopelessly in love with NKOTB all over again. The last album "The Block " was great and I really enjoy this one. Yes there are more dance songs but that's just what I like. I think they are known for the songs that get you dancing. I'm looking forward to seeing them for the 3rd time on tour since they reunited. My favorite songs are whisper, remix and crash.