More Concrete Prophet

OK, this song was posted on Feb. 3, and I am the fifty-fourth viewer. Here is the youtube link. A video of the doubleplusgood drum tracking in the studio was recently posted, but I thought I'd review the whole song live. I mean, a studio album represents the band's ideal image of themselves within their resources of cash, time and talent, but a live performances reveals the band as they truly are, provided they aren't stupid and use backing vocal, guitar, sampling and keyboard tracks played back live. Anyway, Elegy by Concrete Prophet: an elegy is a song mourning the dead. We learned about this in AP Lit not too long ago. Unlike the last review, I did not watch the video before writing, so here's the song falling upon virgin ears:

0:00 - Clapping and "whoa"ing to rouse up the crowd. Key of Bbm. The crowd cannot keep up with the singer's prowess. Sweet drum part! "Bum bum bah!!" I like it!!

1:00 - Double-time and shredding! I like it! This is some hardcore stuff. I can't hear the pitches too well over the drums, but hey, it's a youtube video.

1:35ish - Sweet bass solo. Almost as cool as "Only Ash Remains" by Necrophagist, although doubtlessly more sensical. Verse! More double-time shredding- this is awesome. Not exactly a depressing funeral dirge, but I guess it's irony. Was that a scream?!?!

1:50- Headbang!! The singer is showing off his versatility. It sounds like the song's in Bm? Maybe the previous song was in Bbm.

2:30 - After another bass solo, it sounds more like F#m.

3:00 - Noooiiice snare part! The singer reaches out with claws of death.... Guitar solo now. Given the style here, I find it disconcerting that he only shreds while tapping. He starts off with melodic lines like perhaps a solo should, but can't build it up any farther with picking!?! Oh well, the solo's really short, anyway. In both these songs, I saw both the fretted guys tap. Maybe it's a motif. Awesome to be sure, but be wary of dependence.

4:00 - Breakdown....almost. Nice break, and contrapuntal bass action. I like the tempo feel here.

4:30 - ....and out with a last bass flourish.

Final Evaluation: I like this song a lot better, because I like metal music. These guys already showed that they can play softer rock, and now bustin' out some metalcore. I wish I could see the lyrics. Overall: 8.5 out of ten. I don't really have anything bad to say about this. Very well done guys, I cannot wait to buy the album. You know what, I take it back - the drumming, although really killer, is not really double-time. It's nowhere power metal speed. Although it's a standard song length with few progressive elements, this song is a nice one. This band really knows what it's doing. That snare-driven fill was too fast for me to get an accurate count, but I think it was 9, then 10, then 9, then 10 with three extra beats of rests. If they had a keyboard player, it'd be time for a dueling solo section while the bass plays that little riff that reminds me a lot of "Dance of Eternity" by Dream Theater. The drummer (from now on known as Brian) could play seven measures of twelve-eight over it. Wow, he actually uses all of his cymbals! I've been watching this new video for the past few minutes, which is the drummer laying down the studio track for this. Man, he's good. My drummer could not do this. The bass tone sounds more trebly in the studio - I liked it live. Great job, Concrete Prophet!