Reissues And Remasters

For all the new music coming out on a regular basis, I don't really have the time, or the inclination, to keep track of all the albums getting re-released. This week happened to be an exception, with several noteworthy albums on the slate.

John Frusciante, To Record Only Water For 10 Days

Despite not being anything even vaguely resembling a Red Hot Chilli Peppers fan, I have listened to this album a few times a year since I first heard it. An assistant kitchen manager at my first job played it on the stereo at work and I was instantly hooked. I think I was somewhat aware of the album from reading The PRP... "Away & Anywhere" got stuck in my head instantly; I think this was one of the albums that helped fuel my obsession with drum machines and artists recording albums entirely themselves.

Fear Factory, Digimortal

This is the album where my fandom began to waver. I did enjoy the album when it dropped, but it's a lot more uneven than anything that came before it. That "Back The Fuck Up" is a song I only enjoy ironically while "Linchpin" is one of my all-time favourite Fear Factory songs is a prime example of the album's high degree of variance.

I don't know why this is listed as an "expanded edition," unless Roadrunner retains some king of rights to 'digipak,' because all the extra songs are on the copy I bought on release day.

HateSphere, The Sickness

This is a band I always associate with the guy who runs the website for The Project Hate and did a few of their album designs. This Danish thrash band has always been exceedingly underrated. This re-release is a great excuse to check them out!

Meshuggah, Catch Thirtythree and Destroy Erase Improve

The only "DEI" that I'm concerned with and I'm very curious to see what benefits come from the remastering process. The same goes for Catch Thirtythree, which is a tremendous album that I tend to forget about because ObZen and Nothing were the records of that era initially drew me in as a fan.