A Great Tuesday

This is a pretty good Tuesday... one for which all Tuesdays to follow should be measured! OK... I'm going a little overboard, but with an inspirational Steelers MNF victory over the Ravens and a sweet trio of albums released today, this Tuesday isn't too shabby.

First, the Steelers game... our offensive line is horrific and with Simmons gone for the year, don't expect Trai Essex to improve the situation. It's also disappointing to lose Mendenhall for the season, but for a 4th string RB, Mewelde Moore filled in nicely. I will get back to him in a minute, but first... let's touch on how important Ben Roethlisberger is to this team. I'm proud to have him as our QB and it's great to hear him become more of a vocal leader of the team... especially without "The Chin" on the sideline. I like Tomlin, but he has more of a team-centered attitude. It's great for camaraderie, but not so good for lighting fires in bellies. So it's good to have Big Ben get in their face occasionally... and I think they will respect him for it. Hell... even the defense fed off of him after the TD pass to Santonio (particularly Harrison and Woodley). I am also extremely grateful to have Jeff Reed as our kicker. He has proved to be extremely reliable in tough environments and tight games, as well as drunken photo production. Well done. Finally... Mewelde... where have you been all of my life? I was watching the game in a bar and I didn't realize till a bit later that Mendenhall and Davis were out with injuries, so I was initially flippin' shit when I saw Double M getting so much work down the stretch. In fact, by my count... Mewelde was the go-to guy in a shocking 12 of our final 14 plays! Amazing! His fresh legs at the end of the game certainly helped, but he was breaking off and getting open very nicely when Ben was under pressure. I hope to see more of him to come.


The second part of this great Tuesday is because of some excellent CD releases. Anberlin, Amon Amarth, and Trivium all have new albums out today... and from what I can tell, they all sound remarkable after a few listens. I got the Anberlin album through newburycomics.com with a limited edition autographed 7-inch. I haven't listened much, but it's a pretty standard release for them... and that's a good thing. The first single from New Surrender is "Feel Good Drag", which was originally released on Don't Take Friendship Personal, but don't judge them for that... they explained themselves here.

Amon Amarth... wow! I had to go out and by this one too, however I didn't get the bobblehead set. I've only briefly listened to from Twilight of the Thunder God, but this is a monster album! The production is outstanding and Lars' vocals/growls are at an all-time astonishing level. They've really hit their stride as a band and this album sounds like the tightest, most intense offering to date. Have a listen on Myspace or the widget below.

Finally, Trivium has conquered their identity crisis with mistaking themselves for Metallica (see The Crusade) and put out a very good, technical, melodic metal album. I was always very disappointed with The Crusade's combination of promising musicianship held back by embarrassingly awful lyrics and cliched song structure. All indications are that Shogun is a great rebound album, and I'm particularly fond of their first single "Down from the Sky".

Not a bad Tuesday, huh?... and I didn't even mention Iron Man being released on DVD!