I can understand why people want to listen to boring ambient music, I just don't understand why people want to press it on vinyl. When you see some of the names on this release, you'd expect more breakcore style music, but only the Low Entropy track is worth a listen. When I found out this is supposed to be played at 33rpm and not 45rpm, I almost cried. I'm so glad I listened to it in the shop instead of buying it.

Pluto make the same sort of dreary pop-indie-rock that New Zealand has been pumping out for years. Nothing fresh or original.

Their first album flopped, and when the second album finally came out, there was a lot spent of marketing, much of it claiming that their first album was "critically acclaimed" but mysteriously didn't sell well to the public. Of course, all this marketing push by their new label did manage to sell a bunch of units of their second album.

But the truth is that the first album didn't sell because Pluto make the same sort of dreary pop-indie-rock that New Zealand has been pumping out for years. The reason the second album sold is because Pluto make the same sort of dreary pop-indie-rock that New Zealand has been pumping out for years - to sell it with the right marketing budget is like dead easy. But IMO you should avoid them like the plague.

This DVD was pretty much the end of the road for me and ADF. I remain a fan of their earlier work, but this new material and new line-up just don't have the same vibe. Further, for their first live DVD, I would have thought they could have included more songs off all their albums, instead of mainly new material.

But the thing that really spelt the end for me, was that they're an band committed to political causes, particularly regarding Asian people, and yet one of the singers was wearing a Nike hat through the entire concert like he was completely oblivious to all the Asians working in Nike sweatshops... when I saw they couldn't even practice what they preach, that was it.

In my opinion this is the best thing that Metallica ever released. Most of the live footage is bootleg quality, taken by people in the crowd, which really makes you feel more like you are there than the standard live music video where the band has got about 20 cameras and you are subjected to endless angle changes, close-ups of the drummer etc.

This is Metallica in their prime. All the songs are killer material off their far superior first three albums. The tone of the video is suitably reverential to recently deceased bass player Cliff Burton, so that even the lengthy bass solos which I normally wouldn't have time for seem necessary and justified. Afterall, this video is a tribute to him.

The highlight for me however is "Whiplash" from 1983, where lead guitar is played by Dave Mustaine (before he was kicked out), and you are treated to maximum posing and hair-swishing. It's a classic!

When you listen to this, you can see why some of these bands made it and are still remembered today, and some are forgotten. The albums highlights are tracks A3 through A6, which when you drop the needle on the record take you on a ride from the dark primitive Bathory, through the soaring heights of Helloween's falsetto vocals, and then into a diabolical thrash-fest with classic tracks from Living Death and Sodom.

The opening track is a intriguing vocal collage, and then the first half of the album features tracks of deranged and intricate organ music running into each other, building to the second half of the album, where the glitched-up nasty beats kick in and things get really exciting. It's all wound up with the delicate love song "This One's For My Girl". A very classy solo release from MC Slypussy, showing there is more to him than the noise/breakcore he makes in his band Anti-Kati.

Stryper are a legendary Christian glam-rock band, famous for their yellow-and-black striped outfits. For those who regard 80s glam-rock as a joke, Stryper are an even bigger joke! But their music is not the worst thing to come out of that era, and the lyrics are pretty funny in their earnestness.

The liner notes to this disc read as an amusing example of A-Klass Records failed plans and broken promises:

Track 1 it says is from an upcoming untitled EP - which was eventually released in 2005 on the related label God Rekidz.
Track 3 it says will be released as catalog #AK004, on an album called "Tha Paranoiak" - this has still never been released.
Track 5 it says is from an upcoming untitled 7" - this has still never been released.
Track 12 it says is from an upcoming untitled 7" - the track eventually appeared on one of Squee's albums on the related label God Rekidz.
Track 14 it says is from an upcoming untitled 7" - this has still never been released.

This release continues the themes started in Venom's last album "The Balkan Tea Party" - the packaging contains lots of shout-outs to dictators (Stalin, Milosevic, Tito), and dodgy artwork containing Hitler. It's hard to tell if he's for or against them.

Musically this release sways between early Laibach-style industrial, noise, and hardcore-techno beats, with occasional vocals that you can't understand (no lyric sheet is provided). In my opinion not his best work, but still very interesting.

This is pretty good underground hip-hop. Thoughtful lyrics, and the beats are fresh and crisp. The second track is built around a melody ripped from Burzum's "Daudi Baldrs" album, to great effect.