Krieg Korner - Your Weekly Guide to Heavy

Band: Zyklon

Album: World ov Worms

Genre: Blackened Death Metal

Zyklon is one of the newer Black Death Metal bands, even though it formed in 1998. Their lineup has members from legendary bands like Emperor, Thorns, Arcturus, Gorgoroth, Thou Shalt Suffer, Burzum, and Satyricon. With such talented superstars behind the mike and amps, it's to be expected that their sounds is nothing short of excellent.
Their album World ov Worms starts off with “Hammer Revelation.” A creepy pre-recorded intro starts off the track followed by blistering fast and coordinated drums and guitar. Soon after the screeching vocals kick in full force, the instrumentals speed up and intensify. The drums are fantastic and never hold the same fill for more than a measure. While you can hear the obvious influences from Emperor in the sound, it takes a wonderful formation of its own. The next track and a half provide the same experience but without losing any well-deserved quality. On “Chaos Deathcult,” the last two minutes of the track have an industrial metal that reminds me of some Europop soundtrack in a Sci-fi film; nonetheless, it’s really cool.
The next few tracks offer the same feel as the first couple; it doesn’t seem to get old, but the lack of diversity and experimentation is a bit disappointing (they really have the talent and vision to really make some unique magic). “Zycloned” is the only remaining notable track, as a different sound builds up in its intro and utilizes some yet again Emperer-esque vocals. It’s not as fast-paced but still has the classic, head-banging Death Metal feel. The middle of the song has a cool techno ambience to it that somewhat manages to juxtapose with the other parts of the song, even with a very haunting guitar in the background that makes you feel surrounded by darkness. The experimental aura to it makes for a pleasant listen before diving back into pure speed and mayhem. Some excellent melodic guitar work exit out the song before a last pushing to an abrupt, awesome end. All in all, World ov Worms is a great album with several tracks full of potential and ingenuity, and some not so much. I definitely recommend it for anyone looking for something that won’t be commercialized, publicized, or heard on Z100. That or a good soundtrack to break stuff to.

Official Band Site: http://www.zyklontribe.com/

Submitted by Jake "Teh Thor" T.

Krieg Korner - Your Weekly Guide to Heavy

Band: Eternal Tears of Sorrow

Album: Before the Bleeding Sun

Genre: Extreme Power Metal

Eternal Tears of Sorrow is a Symphonic Extreme Power Metal band hailing from Finland. While that classification is somewhat of a mouthful, it is a fitting title; making judgments about a band just by its genre alone is a stereotypical way of blandishing its being. That being said, and after giving their new album Before the Bleeding Sun a good listen, one will definitely understand their title. Originating in 1991, EToS released their first full album, Sinner's Serenade, in 1997, and three more albums before disbanding in 2003. In 2005, with the drummer as the only returning original member, the band reformed to release Before the Bleeding Sun. With this new lineup, they fail to capture their desired original sound.
The first song, “Sweet Lilith of My Dreams,” starts with some catchy keyboard riffs and continues on to a standard galloping pace dominated by guitar. A good song for the first track, it keeps the listener locked in for at least that one intro song. The chorus spawns the return of the keyboard riff before a very synth-laden bridge. While talking about this particular genre, yes, there are surprisingly many Symphonic Extreme Power Metal bands, and keyboards usually do not play a major role in a lot of them; EToS, though, use their 'boards to give a very commercial, packaged feeling to its music, mainly due to their overuse. “Another Me” also earns a favorable impression. Very true to the genre, guitars, drums, and vocals control the song and not keyboards; the drumming and guitars are tight and very well in sync. “Red Dawn Rising” invites vocalist Marco Hietala of Nightwish and Tarot to lend her voice; her vocals grace the backing and complement the hash singing, however the song reminds one of a U2 single put on fast-forward through a speaker wrapped in cotton and immersed in Sunny-D (We believe in the power of original analogies here at the Attraction).
The remainder of Before the Bleeding Sun is a combination of mediocrity and repetition. All of the songs sound the same as “Another Me,” which while good in and of itself, was still nothing special compared to what else is out there, and the same song repeating about seven times is painful, no matter how good that song is (cough cough 'Hey Ya' cough cough). The only break are the epics of “Sakura No Rei” and “Sinister Rain,” which are completely awesome with a very big feel and diverse melodic path. But it still does not make up for all the other dismal, disappointing tracks.
While band reunions can bring joy and sonic pleasure. Eternal Tears of Sorrow tainted their otherwise strong legacy with a poorly done album with a feel of selling out.

Official Band Site: http://www.eternaltears.info/

Submitted by Jake T.

Too Much Standardized Testing Junior Year?

Junior Year is rapidly drawing near for the Class of 2007, and Senior Year is closer than most of us may think. Now I suppose is a better time than ever to look back in retrospect on the year, especially with respect to the amount of time spent on standardized testing.

Barely a month into the school year, the Juniors were faced with their first major test, the PSAT/NMSQT. This test is touted as one where many scholarships are decided, and is a major indicator for how well students will do on the SAT, the most important of all the tests to college admissions committees.

Next for most students was the High School Proficiency Assessment, the test which single-handedly determines whether students are ready to graduate from high school. While the attitude of most Magnet students is one of indifference about this test, it is still a test that deserves mentioning, as poor performance on this test can have disastrous consequences.

Following this assessment for most students nationwide as well as those at Magnet was the all-important SAT, the test that determines for many students their chances of getting into their dream schools as well as all their other choices. Oftentimes this test is underranked as to put less pressure on students taking the exam, but the score on this test is arguably worth almost as much as your high school GPA in terms of admissions. The test is a nice level playing field to judge students with similar school performance against their performance on a test that is the same to all students.

Two weeks of Advanced Placement testing follows, although the vast majority of Magnet Juniors do not participate in the testing, as for many Magnet students only one AP class is available for them to fit into their schedule. Of course their are notable suggestions, the most extreme being Justin P., who was taking 6 tests during these two weeks.

Many Magnet students also continue on to take SAT subject tests, which measure their performance in a number of subjects ranging from the Spanish Language to Chemistry. These tests last only one hour each, although it is not uncommon for students to take three tests at once, as the most extremely selective schools require three, even with the submission of ACT scores.

Another test that many Magnet students take is the ACT, an alternate to the SAT that is more popular in the Midwest. This test is supposedly more student friendly and measures classroom knowledge rather than the ability to reason the right answer out. The June 10th testing date is a popular date for Juniors, as it is a convenient date 2 months after the April SAT date and is a mere week after the last SAT and SAT Subject Test date, June 3, although it is in the middle of Final Examinations.

One looks at all these tests and it is astounding to many how much time is spent sitting down, taking a test with thousands of other students also taking the same test, trying to do the best of their ability. When is the cutoff for when too much testing is too much? For many Juniors at Magnet, they simply take the testing in stride, aware that it is just another part of the requirements to get into the school they're looking at getting into. If one were to take the PSAT, HSPA, the SAT, one AP test, three SAT subject tests, and the ACT, the total number of hours spent testing would be around 35 hours. For sitting in a room testing, this is absolutely mind-boggling. This does not even take into account those students who have taken the SAT multiple times or have taken multiple AP exams. A good point to ponder is: How much testing really is too much? When do we stop the taking of these standardized tests and decide that our ability has been tested enough? How many times do we have to prove ourselves to colleges that we are worthy of their presence?