Albums That Changed My Life by Benjamin Kerner, Vocalist of The Phoenix And The Raven
You know as a kid growing up in a small town, most of my early exposure to music was country
music. It wasn’t until my brother gave me a bootleg of Slipknot live in London 2002 that changed
my whole outlook. Off their meteoric rise from their debut self titled, Slipknot released IOWA
(2001) which cemented them in heavy metal history, both on the world stage and to listeners
like me who had never heard anything like that before. When I first heard them it was that live
cut that really sealed the deal for me. The nine piece in masks tearing the venue up with a
verification I didn’t know existed. Corey Taylor’s ability to control the crowd with bangers like
People=Shit, "Disasterpiece", and The Heretic Anthem, it was their live performance of Gently
that really took me. The production, the stage craft, the raw emotion of that song opened my
eyes to what was possible. It was this album and this live concert video that set in motion gears
in my head that would make performing music one day inevitable.
Slipknot were on a war path with this album, Mick and Jim’s dueling guitars, Joeys drumming
which to this day is some of the best. Corey’s vocals were so ferocious and real, the first time
I’ve ever used the word idol was after I listened to this album and him screaming. This album
stands the test of time and can be held against any modern album made in the last 20 years.
The nine would go on to release Vol.3 the Subliminal Verses, which although more of a
commercial success and a juggernaut in its own right still doesn’t hit as hard as Iowa ever will.
A year later as I’m watching MTV before school this music video comes on that isn’t like other;
comic book colors akin to something from a samurai jack episode, and a driving guitar intro…
I’m hooked
Enter: Queens of Stone Age with their album Songs For The Deaf. That song by the
way being Go With The Flow, a fast hitting, groovy driving song that encapsulates what that
album’s really about. Featuring Dave Grohl on drums this concept album about a drive from LA
to Joshua Tree, CA; lead singer and band founder Joshua Hommes home town. Both musicians
have had such an impact on me that I avidly await another Them Crooked Vultures album (their
side project super group) but I digress, this album starts off as if you’re hoping in the car getting
ready to drive, from the sounds of the keys in the ignition to the tuning of the radio. The lead off
song You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar But I Feel Like Millionaire forcing you to turn up the
volume just to blow your speakers when the full band kicks in, just throws you back in your seat.
The album is littered with hits all working its way from disinterest of LA superficial culture to
parodying religious radio, it’s a masterpiece with timeless songs like No One Knows, Songs for
the Dead and First it Giveth. The album features Mark Lanegan from the Screaming Trees
which gave it that signature gritty tone only he can give pushing it over the top.
Bringing it back to a heavier sound, Horizons by Parkway Drive really laid the ground work for me as a musician. It was the first heavy album I listened to that made vocals click for me. Don’t get me wrong Corey from Slipknot is and always will be the voice I think of as the gold standard, what Winston does on this album just cuts through differently. The screams are melodic and flow with the music beautifully, not to stand out or outshine but they are like an instrument themselves. Charion is the song that got me hooked on this album. That mellow intro/chorus sticks with you. This was my baptism to metalcore and I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction. Songs like the Sirens Song, and Idols and Anchors are staples, flowing in and out from an onslaught of riffs and blast beats to melodic harmonies. The final song Horizons caps off this album in such a beautiful way. You add a beautiful acoustic piece in a song 9 out of 10 times I’m hooked immediately and this is no different. A slow burn lamenting into a fast paced melodic piece that you can really bang your head to.
My final album is definitely one that’ll catch some flack for not only from my band members but from some purist friends I have that refuse to see the light on certain eras of metal. This album, although just outside, could very well be made an exception. Reckless and Relentless by Asking Alexandria, the sophomore album by the band that just went harder and told more of a story than their hit debut Stand Up and Scream, this album changed my life more than I ever thought it would. Discovering them as an opener for Slipknot on a mayhem fest I was blown away. This is back when Danny’s voice was still in its prime and he let the screams and the high melodies fly with reckless abandon. Infusing heavy metal with beautiful chorus’s and hints of techno for good measure, this album tells a story of the sins of life on the road, very easy to see their inspiration from bands like Skid Row on their selves with songs like Closure. It’s almost impossible not to listen to To The Stage or Another Bottle Down and not want to go wild. It’s full blown teenage angst at its best and I loved it. The title track however is why I really love this album, finding parallels with my own life and the ambitions of a young me yearning for the rockstar lifestyle; this had its hooks in me from the minute I pressed play. Not to shy away from the soft songs their song Someone Somewhere makes a kid on the verge of falling off the beaten path think about the ones who no matter how bad you get you’ll have someone thinking about you and caring about you. This album really caught me at a turning point in my life that inevitably lead to me writing songs about my own personal life and the light and dark of that. These albums have been the foundation for a lot of my current music tastes and still to this day I wouldn’t skip a single song off any of them.
