Music: Atreyu, Korn.

Currently listening to: 'Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses', by Atreyu.

This one was a recommendation from Zack, who probably got it from theRob. At first I was thrown by the "Cookie Monster" effect which a lot of hardcore bands suffer from. As I was telling Rob not long ago, It's tough to take a band seriously when their lead singer sounds like Cookie Monster half the time. After listening to this album a few times though, I'm really warming to it. The group has a really nice sense of balance: When to tone down and when to kick it up a notch. Atreyu will be playing 'Taste of Chaos' on April first, so I may get a chance to see them live.

I thought the 80s guitar riff was as good as dead, but I guess not. Everyone from The Darkness to Avenged Sevenfold is using it these days. Atreyu makes good use of it, too. Is this a nostalgia thing? A last gasp? Is rock and roll the new country-western, doomed to unending cycles of imitation?

Also, I recently checked out Korn's recent album, 'See You on the Other Side'. It compares favorably to 'Look in the Mirror'. The first single, 'Coming Undone', is pretty sweet. Still I miss the days when these guys were experimenting. They haven't done anything outside the formula since 'Follow the Leader'.