"Youth of the Nation" by P.O.D. from Satellite

"We are, we are [we are] the youth of the nation," may repeat as the chorus, but it's on purpose in this song comparable to Superchic[k]'s "Hero." (It came out about the same time on Satellite, in 2002.)

The verses explore lives of today's commonly depressed youth and what comes of it. The first verse starts with a boy's tale of going to school like he did every day and getting killed in a school shooting, then questions why the shooter might've done it. It makes the song's beginning of children laughing probably in a schoolyard all the creepier.

And the heart-wrenching tales continue from there, reminding the listener of how many of today's youth actually feel. I've never been clinically depressed, but even I've had a point when I realized virtually no one would miss me at school if I never went back.

I can name on one hand the number of actual rap-style songs that I like enough to eagerly listen to them. This is one. The "wet" (resonating) sound of the song and echo meld with children's voices and the rap versus to even haunt hearers who usually dislike rap.

The individual elements of this song are pretty normal, like Sonny Sandoval's vocals and the Nu metal music that might bring Linkin Park's "In the End" to mind if you think about it, but they're different. This Christian song's better than that secular one, in my opinion.

The way P.O.D. put the music and vocals together, though, causes "Youth of the Nation" to rise above average. It's definitely rapcore-ish metal with synthesized elements, but if you're the type who focuses on lyrics, you don't care. Even the overall sound just accents the influence of the song.

Okay, so the song's dark. If you don't like that, you probably shouldn't be listening to the youth band P.O.D. to begin with. With a name that stands for "Payable On Death"—a reference to Christ's death—I don't think they tend to focus on cute fuzzy feelings and bunnies, unless they have sharp, pointy teeth associated with them.

The emotions of today's youth displayed in "Youth of the Nation" are as true now as they were five years ago. These are the youth of the nation—and that leaves the listener wondering, what am I gonna do about this?

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Lyrics: 5/5
Music: 4/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 8/10

"Amaranth" by Nightwish from Dark Passion Play

"Tears of snow-white sorrow…"

Not many bands produce dark songs with upbeat music and tones. Nightwish combines an almost-light pretty pop tone with some dark symphonic and gothic-influenced undertones. The symbolism in "Amaranth" and the music video confuse many viewers, but at least the video stems from the picture "Wounded Angel" by Hugo Simberg.

The "Amaranth" video interprets the picture (two boys carrying a blindfolded sitting angel on a stretcher) as the boys finding the girl unconscious, her eyes bleeding. They bind her eyes and carry her home to treat her, but in the process they pass by the elderly neighbors who see the angel. The neighbors become a mob who swarm the house, drag the boys away, and set the house on fire with the trapped angel inside. The angel escapes up to heaven.

"Amaranth" and I think the angel symbolize eternity in the song, so I think the song's talking about how some people welcome the idea of eternity and some seek to destroy it when it doesn't conform to their expectations. Some people believe "but what [they] see", it says. But some "dare" to go beyond. (Not that any of this is really clear without the video.)

You might think that pop rock added to Nightwish's symphonic metal would sound strange, but the band melds it so it flows naturally. None of it feels out of place.

Anette Olzon reminds me of a mix between Amy Lee and Charlotte Wessels in "Amaranth". Sometimes she sounds comparable to one, sometimes the other. But she does have her own sound that's definitely different than that of Nightwish's old singer, Tarja Turunen.

Overall, it's a fun pop rock song with some metal aspects and more thoughtful lyrics than most bands produce.

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Lyrics: 4/5
Music: 5/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 9/10

"Pain" by Three Days Grace from One-X

"Pain, without love. Pain, I can't get enough. Pain—I like it rough, 'cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all."

From that opening, the post-grunge song has a bit of a rough sound as fits the raw emotions it's speaking of. Three Days Grace says it's speaking of the fact that they'd rather be in pain than emotionally numb, but it's not uncommon for people to interpret it with a… kinky… twist.

Add "anger and agony are better than misery" to "trust me, I've got a plan; when the lights go off you will understand," and you end up with lyrics that suggest the kinky interpretation might have more merit than the band admits. When you start looking through the song with that lens, the song overall makes more sense. (I wanted to phrase that another way, but it accidentally produced a pun I don't want to play with.)

Adam Gontier does seem to have a voice that knows how to sing, at least, and he uses it well in the song. He sings roughly to match the song's tone.

Overall, I think it's… better than okay, but you have to get past the lyrics.

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Lyrics: 3/5
Music: 4/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 7/10

"Million Voices" by BarlowGirl from How Can We Be Silent

My eyes spring wide open. The Barlow sisters are playing with genre and song speed in "Million Voices". The vocals are undeniably the three sisters, but…

I struggle to link this music style to anything I've previously heard from BarlowGirl and my mind keeps recalling Within Temptation's "Frozen", with occassional remembrances of "What Have You Done" and something else nagging at my memory that I can't isolate, though I want to say Nightwish's She Is My Sin". Oh, and a touch of Flyleaf.

In other words, this song makes me think more of metal than rock. And is it a wower! I'll readily admit, whichever sister is lead singer, I kinda like her sisters' voices a little more, but she sings maturely and strongly. The sisters take advantage of the three separate voices to give the song a beauty lacking in many standard rock songs.

Add the involved tempo switches, intricately mixed electric guitar and drums, and it's a refreshing demonstration that BarlowGirl can flex its musical skill into other genres when it has a mind to it, as they've done in the album How Can We Be Silent. But if you don't like electric guitar, you will not like this song.

"We're a million strong, and getting stronger still. They'll remember we were here! With the million voices breaking silence 'till they'll remember we were here."

What are they talking about? BarlowGirl (and Christians') constant "stand against the normal"! As Christians, "How can we be silent when a fire burns inside us?" "Million Voices" testifies to the impact strong Christians can have on those around them.

Four listens, and I already know this song is going to haunt me…

As of this writing, "Million Voices" was a sample listed on BarlowGirl's MySpace page.

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Lyrics: 5/5
Music: 5/5
Vocal(s): 5/5
Overall: 10/10

"Frozen" by Delain from Lucidity

Delain isn't strictly a band. The only permanent members are the ex-Within Temptation member Martjin Westerholt (who had to leave Within Temptation from chronic illness) and Charlotte Wessels (who was an accidental find). Various songs on Lucidity have aid from a "wish list" of artists from other bands. The CD is more of a project than an album, a project for gothic metal with Charlotte's lovely popesque (albeit accented) voice.

Perhaps since Delain was started by a man who was both in Within Temptation for so long and the brother of its founder, the music style is very similar to that other popular Dutch band. Though Delain is slightly different, listeners unfamiliar with the style of music likely won't be able to distinguish Delain's gothic metal from Within Temptation's symphonic metal aspect.

The music is still very good. A music box (which you see in the music video) opens the song's basic line. It all melds beautifully, without anything that makes you grimace from poor mixing. Martjin Westerholt chose skilled artists to work with for his project.

"Frozen" (to be distinguished from the like-named songs by Within Temptation and Voyage) is a ghost story. "Misty windows hide your empty eyes…" (Note that Delain's "Frozen" and "Deep Frozen" are identical except for the chorus, which is very different.) The narrator is haunted by a ghost who wants her to "Answer me" and "Please let me in! The nicely-done music video shows Charlotte trying to track down what haunts her (though the reversed time-lapse pictures I found a bit obvious).

An interesting aspect to the song and music video is that the song narrator evidently doesn't know who is haunting her. She's as confused as anyone else.

Charlotte Wessels haunts the listener with the "Answer me. Until the day you do, I'll be one step behind you!" The vocals make you think of a haunting without necessarily thinking a horror movie was in order (like Evanescence's "Haunted"). Nonetheless, I unfortunately found her accent distracting. Her voice is lovely and prettily suits the gothic metal.

The song "Frozen" and its music video can currently be found on Delain's official MySpace page.

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Lyrics: 5/5
Music: 5/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 9/10

"Lithium" by Evanescence from The Open Door

Evanescence unwittingly speaks of itself in "Lithium." "I can't hold on to me—wonder what's wrong with me!" sings Amy Lee, expressing many fans' feelings of The Open Door. (Lithium is a medication for bipolar that kills your ability to feel anything.)

The Lithium user's powerful cry drags me into the song, enjoying its beauty despite the blaspheme that makes me wish I had the software to edit it out. And blaspheme the song does—twice in the lyrics, once in the sung version, though the lyrics per se needn't blaspheme if God's the audience. The way Amy Lee sings it, though, leaves no doubt that He's not.

The rock music of "Lithium" is strong on the cymbals without the excessive reliance on them that plagues The Open Door. For a band known for its beautiful music, Evanescence puts a lot of irritating discord on this CD, and I'm relieved that "Lithium" is more of an exception than a follower of that.

Particularly at the beginning, a soft piano accents Amy Lee's strong voice. The shift to stronger music threatens to but doesn't (thankfully) drown out Amy Lee. It still would have been a lot better if the music was slightly muted a few decibals in a few points to keep the vocals at the fore, since they sound on a similar point on the musical scale or something. (I can't be any more precise than that in my description, but I do know it sounds wrong.)

The music video offers an interesting cinematic accomplishment of darkness produced with white. Snow and ice (and a pretty white dress) express the coldness, and Amy Lee's natural color is minimized for a virtually monochromatic effect offset by her mild colors. Some points of the video seem perhaps a bit overused, like when she's on the pillow, but it's overall a better one, I think.

As even my brother admits—and he's a heavy metal fan—it's a lovely song. But why did she have to blaspheme?

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Lyrics: *2/5
Music: 3/5
Vocal(s): 5/5
Overall: *6/10 *The song blasphemes.

"She Is My Sin" by Nightwish from Wishmaster

Yikes!

That's the first thought that comes to mind upon hearing the speedy music to "She Is My Sin" by Nightwish, repeated upon hearing Tarja Turunen's classically trained voice more often suited for an opera.

The symphonic power metal combined with the vocalist takes some getting used to, but it's pretty if you can get past the initial shock of hearing them together. Assuming you don't mind metal music or classical vocals, of course—some people find either the music or Tarja Turunen's voice intolerable. It's a combo you'll either love or hate, and their native Finland has decided to love Wishmaster and their other albums.

People struggle to classify the song's genre, since it's so alternative that hearers have rarely, if ever, heard anything comparable. A first impulse is to classify "She Is My Sin" as power metal with gothic and symphonic elments, not quite like Italy's Lacuna Coil (and select songs by Evanescence). The voice of vocalist Tarja Jurunen lead some to term "operatic metal". Furthermore, other genres of music equally influence Nightwish in its music, though I can't strictly identify what besides recognizing there's more there.

The music is striking and memorable, as are the lyrics. On the lyrical note, though, "She Is My Sin" is somewhat disturbing, which seems to be standard from the Nightwish songs I've heard, not all from Wishmaster. "I am the Fallen," admits the narrator. "God, I must confess: I do envy the sinners"? It makes my stomach turn. After a month of thinking about the song, I'm still not sure about it. The "God" is clearly used as if speaking to Him and not as a blaspheme, however.

At any rate, I'm still listening to the song repeatedly despite that, enjoying the haunting imagery in "A sin for him, desire within, a burning veil for the bride too dear for him," after the admission that "In the meadow of sinful thoughts every flower's a perfect one." I wonder if the poignant imagery of "She Is My Sin" is indicative of the rest of Wishmaster?

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Lyrics: 3/5
Music: 4/5
Vocal(s): 5/5
Overall: 7/10

"Nemo" by Nightwish from Once

Yay for pretty mus—hey, wait…

Did I hear that right? Where's the Replay button? The lovely piano beginning of "Nemo" (Latin for "No One") introduces and accents the heavy metal throughout the song. This single from Once didn't top charts in Finland on day one of its release without cause. Tarja Turunen's classically-trained voice soars with the weirdly pretty heavy metal. (Unfortunately, that piano is the most striking part of the song. The middle is much more ordinary.)

Even disregarding lyrics, this song is probably my favorite by Nightwish. If I could play an instrument, I'd want to learn that piano part of "Nemo." I wouldn't need much more encouragement to buy Once if I had the money, which I sadly don't at the moment. The heavy metal still manages to keep a classic beauty in its heart.

The lyrics of "Nemo" worried me a bit at the beginning, calling the narrator "for forever one of the lost ones," but they ultimately take that premise and have "Nemo" lost in the dark "forevermore". She is fallen, lost and nameless. The way it talks about that is a bit strange, but that seems to be Nightwish. (Or maybe I'm clueless; that's a possibility. I can't understand symbolism.)

I recommend this song to fans of heavy metal or operatic metal; I like the song, and I by far usually prefer the latter to the former.

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Lyrics: 4/5
Music: 4/5
Vocalist(s): 5/5
Overall: 8/10

"What Have You Done?" by Within Temptation from The Heart of Everything

"What have you done now", Within Temptation? Will this guest addition of Keith Caputo for a second narrator in "What Have You Done" set a precedent for future songs? Will you use some of your songs to be some of what Evanescence used to be with their songs like "Tourniquet"?

If Within Temptation does decide to continue exploring such more specific dark times in peoples' relationships with both parties speaking, I won't mind. Though distinctly different than songs like "Angels" that were on The Silent Force, it's still noticeably consistent with the band. Within Temptation is growing rather than stagnating, more interested in producing good music (that happens to be gothic rock) rather than catering to fans who flock to a specific tone produced at any one point.

That sounds like Within Temptation songs all sound the same, which isn't true, but "What Have You Done?" leads the way on The Heart of Everything with Sharon Den Adel's vocal shifts and focus on her lower range better for karaoke than the soaring heights she stuck to on The Silent Force. Even listeners who pay attention can mistake Sharon Den Adel's varying voice for two different people in The Heart of Everything.

The two narrators, Sharon Den Adel and Keith Caputo accuse "What Have You Done?". The girl bemoans her lost love as she flees his drunken rages. "Would you mind if I tried to (kill) you 'cause you have turned into my worst enemy?" One point of the lyrics is a awkward in light of the general poetry of the lines ("You carry hate that I don't feel"), making me wish they'd worked on that a bit more. Nonetheless, the band is Dutch, so it's possible it might be a translation issue.

There are two versions of this song, but they are very similar. The only differences I could hear were the intro music and the bridge, but they don't change any of the song's beauty. The "Rock Remix" version merely seems to have those softer elements cut out to make it all metal. If I'm wrong, someone please correct me.

Some Within Temptation fans have complained at this single, suggesting the band has followed Evanescence's The Open Door with a heartbreaking plummet in quality. "What Have You Done?" does use a lot of cymbal in one part of "What Have You Done?", as Evanescence often used in The Open Door, but that's only a minor element of the song. Overall, it's still the multilayered beauty that caught my attention to this band to begin with. This song does use more violin than I've heard from this band before. That doesn't change its genre from the gothic rock, even if this is leaning on the rock end. It's a promising first single to be released in the U.S. this July for the internationally-popular Within Temptation.

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Lyrics: 4/5
Music: 5/5
Vocalist(s): 5/5
Overall: 9/10

"Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence from Fallen

For a song crying out to be woken up and "save me from the dark," Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life" is surprisingly good, like much of Fallen. It's not quite complaining, the narrator begging for release from the internal prison that holds her captive. (That the narrator might be the selfsame person as the singer Amy Lee is a side issue.)

As one of Evanescence's top songs, it was overplayed on the radio from the time it was released till their latest CD The Open Door came out two years after Fallen. Many people have hated "Bring Me to Life" from overexposure.

Now that "Call Me When You're Sober" has replaced "Bring Me to Life" on the radio's overplay list, "Bring Me to Life" is a bit easier to appreciate. It's gothic rock, the music mixing some different speeds and genres. As one of the harder songs on Fallen, many who like even "My Immortal" dislike this song because of its metal.

The narrator's plea for release from her (selfmade?) prison draws the attention, but the song still leaves the question of what now? Had it addressed the question, added action to the plea, it would have been a much stronger song.

Overall, it is a really fun song with good music like most of Fallen, though I don't find the occasional scream particularly appealing as a form of singing. The lyrics also could have probably used some revision.

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Lyrics: 3/5
Music: 5/5
Vocalist(s): 4/5
Overall: 8/10