[Music] More new discoveries + an update on last time

Time for a 'music I'm listening to' update. Just like last time, it's prompted by the discovery that two of my favourite bands are releasing new albums. One of those releases is particularly surprising, given that I was under the impression that the band had broken up! I also want to give some more thoughts on a couple of the albums that I briefly reviewed last time around.

(Credit: fanpop.com)

First, the update. Since my previous post in this series I've listened to the albums from Linkin Park, Muse, and LostProphets quite a bit. I stand by what I said before about the Linkin Park album - it's superb, and there have been times when I've almost had it playing on a loop. Yes, there are some tracks that are better than others, but even the weakest is great, and the range of musical shade that they display is somewhat larger than I initially thought. I think that the band get dismissed out of hand sometimes (I certainly did so at one point), but deserve a better reputation than I think they have. 'Living Things' is really great.

The LostProphets album 'Weapons' has grown on me since my initial review. I wasn't too keen on it back then, but it's an album that improves with repeated listening. I still think that 'The Betrayed' is their best offering, but some of the tracks on this latest album comfortably stand alongside their older hits.

Muse hadn't released 'The 2nd Law' when I wrote my comments, but after purchasing it and playing it many times I'm not sure what I feel about it. As I speculated, it's more experimental than even 'the Resistance', and the band are exploring stylistic cues not heard before in their music. Overall I think I rate it higher than 'the Resistance', but lower than 'Blackholes and Revelations'. Maybe on a level with 'Absolution', although they're so different that it's hard to tell. Like all of their albums there are some beautiful tracks on this one; the final two in particular have really captured my imagination. Some of the others just don't do it for me for some reason, but in the end I like it.

'Up in the Air' by 30 Seconds to Mars. A great track that matches their best output.

Now for the new stuff. I was listening to Zane Lowe's show on Radio 1 on my way back from Bath the other week, and discovered that 30 Seconds to Mars are releasing a new album. Brilliant news that; I really liked 'A Beautiful Lie' when my brother introduced me to it, particularly the singles 'Attack' and 'the Kill (bury me)', and both of their other albums have some great tracks on them. On Zane Lowe's show he played the first single from their new album, and it's brilliant. Really catchy, and has the intensity to it that I thought was missing from some of their previous album. I'm looking forward to the rest of the album when it's released.

The second new album I found out about was from Fall Out Boy. Which is curious, as I was fairly sure that they'd disbanded several years previously after 'Folie a Deux', which I thought was their best album to date. It had been a shame to see them split up after producing such a great album, but apparently their individual projects didn't work out, so they've reformed. So far they've released two singles from the new album. The first one, which features a typically overlong Fall Out Boy song title, is amazing. It's got a hard edge to it that their early music has, coupled with the more refined sound from 'Folie a Deux' and 'Infinity on High' displayed. It's a fairly simple song, but I love it. The second track I'm not so keen on at the moment, but it has potential. Again, I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the full album.

'My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light 'em up)' from Fall Out Boy's new album.

Finally, I've been introduced to a couple of bands by one of my friends at work. 'God is an Astronaut' and 'Maybe She Will' both produce ambient rock music, and I've found it to be great to work to. It's a genre I've dabbled in before, but never seriously. However I've rather enjoyed these two bands, so might have to look into it a bit more.