Playlist: "Vacuity"

I had my best Genius playlist yet they other night. Once again, "The Lotus Eater" makes an appearance, but I'm not complaining. "Demigod" and "Stabwound" tend to show up a lot too, it seems.

This time, the playlist is based on Gojira's "Vacuity," from the excellent The Way of All Flesh.

Vacuity - Gojira
Bleed - Meshuggah
The Lotus Eater - Opeth
The Last Baron - Mastodon
Guardians of Asgaard - Amon Amarth
Bound By The Moon - DevilDriver
Stabwound - Necrophagist
The Ancient Covenant - The Faceless
Demigod - Behemoth
Requiem - Lamb of God
Cold - At the Gates
Eaten - Bloodbath
Global Warming - Gojira
Future Breed Machine - Meshuggah
The Grand Conjuration - Opeth
March of the Fire Ants - Mastodon
Valhall Awaits Me - Amon Amarth
Head On To Heartache (Let Them Rot) - DevilDriver
Progenies of the Great Apocalypse - Dimmu Borgir
One Gun - Lamb of God
The Seed Ov I - Behemoth
Not In Rivers, But In Drops - Isis
All The Tears - Gojira
Slaughter of the Soul - At the Gates
ObZen - Meshuggah

Playlist: "Slaughter of the Soul"

I had another great Genius playlist the other night, this one based on "Slaughter of the Soul" from the legendary album of the same name. What did I say about "The Lotus Eater" being on every one of these?

Slaughter of the Soul - At the Gates
Runes To My Memory - Amon Amarth
Demigod - Behemoth
The Lotus Eater - Opeth
Monochromatic Stains - Dark Tranquility
Symbolic - Death
Suburban Me - In Flames
Combustion - Meshuggah
99 - The Haunted
Guardians of Asgaard - Amon Amarth
Reborn - Slayer
Triple Corpse Hammerblow - Children of Bodom
Blinded by Fear - At the Gates
Bleak - Opeth
Stabwound - Necrophagist
Mind Matters - Dark Tranquility
Reroute to Remain - In Flames
Future Breed Machine - Meshuggah
Valhall Awaits Me - Amon Amarth
Kings of the Carnival Creation - Dimmu Borgir
The Medication - The Haunted
Disciple - Slayer
From the Sky - Gojira
Under a Serpent Sun - At the Gates

Playlist: "You Not Me"

I've taken to listening to Genius playlists on my iPod while working out lately, over the speaker system when possible. Genius works by compiling loads of information about playlists people have created, and if two songs show up in the same playlist often enough then they are more likely to be put together by Genius. You create the list simply by picking a song, and the program creates the playlist for you. The playlist it made for me last night was really good, so I thought I'd share it.

I started with "You Not Me" by Dream Theater. They're a good band to start with because a lot of stuff goes with it, and it's usually not too extreme for the other people in the weight room. I only got as far as track 8 (someone was playing some hair metal for the first part of the time I was there), and anyway I thought Meshuggah might be a little too crazy for other people to handle.

1. Dream Theater - "You Not Me"
2. Symphony X - "The Walls of Babylon"
3. Opeth - "Beneath the Mire"
4. Rush - "Stick It Out"
5. Megadeth - "Lucretia"
6. Yngwie Malmsteen - "Black Star"
7. Iron Maiden - "Moonchild"
8. Nevermore - "This Godless Endeavor"
9. Meshuggah - "Combustion"
10. Iced Earth - "Burning Times"
11. Dream Theater - "This Dying Soul"
12. Opeth - "The Lotus Eater" *
13. Nightwish - "Dead Gardens"
14. Rush - "Secret Touch"
15. Symphony X - "Set the World On Fire (The Lie of Lies)"
16. Megadeth - "A Secret Place"
17. Yngwie Malmsteen - "You Don't Remember, I'll Never Forget"
18. Iron Maiden - "Caught Somewhere In Time"
19. Between the Buried and Me - "White Walls"
20. Dream Theater - "Burning My Soul"
21. Threshold - "Slipstream"
22. Opeth - "The Baying of the Hounds"
23. Cynic - "The Space for This"
24. Pantera - "Clash With Reality"
25. Megadeth - "Five Magics"

* It seems "The Lotus Eater" turns up on just about every Genius playlist I create. I wonder what will happen when I create a playlist from it?

I had forgotten how good Rush can be. One of my buddies from back in law school is from a previous generation, the one sandwiched between mine and my parents', and he is a huge fan of the group. He introduced me to them, and I thank him for it.