This Month I Have Been Mostly Listening To…August ’10

Another month has passed already, I just have no idea where the time goes!  Time for another look at some great music I’ve been listening to lately, I hope you’ll find something of interest.

There has been a ton of good records released lately and I’ve also managed to get into a few other bands who I’d been meaning to look into for a while.  As a result my iTunes library grew by almost a gigabyte in the past month alone!  Far too many to mention in this one post (and some I was a little embarrassed to admit to!) but here are five of my favorites from last month.

Eric Gales – Relentless

For those of you who haven’t heard of him, Eric Gales is an American blues-rock guitar player who plays his axe in a rather untraditional fashion – he plays a standard right handed guitar upside down without restringing!  The new album ‘Relentless’ is utterly fantastic but the standout track for me is ‘The Liar’ which has one of the most headbangingly awesome intros ever!

Here’s Eric laying down the solo for ‘The Liar‘ … epic!

Black Label Society – Order of the Black

Straight up, no frills, heavy rocking bad-assery!  If Black Label Society’s new album doesn’t get you fired up nothing will, listening to this album in the car is a sure fire way of obtaining a speeding ticket!  In saying that there are also good number of mellower acoustic songs with one song in particular – Chupacabra – displaying some heavy Spanish styles.

Listen to ‘the Parade of the Dead‘ below

Avenged Sevenfold – Nightmare

There was so much ruckus on Twitter about this album that you know I just had to check it out, besides…Mike Portnoy is on drums, you cannot fail with that much talent on board!  I’m glad they decided to keep going after the passing of Jimmy because this is a fantastic album which i’m sure he would have approved of.  Gates is well on track to becoming a bona fide guitar hero after really stepping up his game on this record.  A7X are in my opinion one of the most solid live bands doing the circuits at the moment.

Just to prove how good they are live…take a gander at this song from their live DVD…

Paul Gilbert – Fuzz Universe

Mr. Gilbert is definitely someone I would list as an idol, the guy is just a machine and a neverending source of inspiration.  There’s a little bit of everything on this album – pop, rock, classical, shred, funk – you name it, it’s on there.  There’s a bonus track on the record called “Leave That Junk Alone” which is a simple acoustic piece where Paul does some singing – I kid you not this is the catchiest song you will hear this year!

Check out title track “Fuzz Universe” below.

John 5 – The Art of Malice

For those of you unaware of who John 5 is, you may remember him as being the guitarist for Marilyn Manson but he is currently playing with Rob Zombie.  John uses his solo work to ensure that he doesn’t become stereotyped as ‘that goth guitarist’ and does this by trying to play stuff which is the complete polar opposite to his usual band work.  Take a listen, he has to be one of the most underrated guitar players out there!

Listen to the undefinable “Ya Dig” below

Hope you found something interesting to listen to!

What have you guys been listening to lately?  Leave a comment.