Pumping ze Iron und Pumping ze Muzik

Perhaps one of the only times I've made any sort huge resolution in my life was this past winter break. I realized that my class schedule had very open mid-days and I would use the time to hit the gym five days a week and put the days of inconsistent exercise behind me.

And somehow, I've been doing great with it. It's a great rush and clears my head after a long day. With that said, I would never be able to keep it all going without the continuous soundtrack of tunes running in my iPod. What follows is what I listen to to get my heart rate up and ze muscles flexing.

The Elliptical Conundrum

The cardio portion of my workout routine is the elliptical, which is a real convenience for people like me who want to run comfortably instead of actually doing the real thing. What's necessary for me personally, soundtrack-wise, is a set of songs nice and fast but not outrageously so. Slayer's "Angel of Death" still winds me every time I try it. In addition, because I do cardio all five days of the week, I usually want to do a different album day-to-day to break things up.

Quo Vadis- Defiant Imagination
Canadian tech-death metal? Hells yes! Also features the tasteful-but-talented basslines of one Mr. Steve Digiorgio, fretless metal bass master. It's as if they sat him down and said "Okay dude, you know what we're aboot...play some stuff like you did on Individual Thought Patterns." This record never truly lets up from start to finish, right from the locked-in military march of "Silence Calls the Storm."

Quo Vadis- Silence Calls The Storm

Morbid Angel- Covenant
The opening of this record, "Rapture," will have you thinking two things. One, Pete Sandoval is a blast beat machine. Two, I can't believe something this heavy was released by a subsidiary of Sony. This record kills me every time I run...but in a sort of good way. Also, punk kids would hate death metal a lot less if they threw on "Angel of Poison," which basically sounds like downtuned oldschool hardcore with David Vincent's usual rasp.

Morbid Angel- Rapture

Watchtower- Control and Resistance
Forget Dream Theater, forget Queensryche...these dudes are the quintessential progressive metal band. They very audibly sound about ten times as technically accomplished as both the aforementioned groups and with only a fraction of the inevitable '80s cheese factor. Imagine a band with throatshredding falsetto frontman, a bassplayer who was genetically engineered from the DNA of Geddy Lee and Steve Harris, a guitarist who sounds like a cyborg Eddie Van Halen and a drummer who keeps it all together, that would be these guys. Alan Tecchio replaced Jason McMaster on vocals on this album and while more palatable, they still might be a turn0ff to some. Famous shredder Ron Jarzombek (recently seen in instrumental tech trio Blotted Science) has some weird guitar tones on here but also some reallllly strange scales. And Doug effin' Keyser? The most jaw-dropping bass player ever. I've heard plenty of ridiculous metal bassists –take Rainer from Pavor for example– but I've never heard anyone pull off lines, fills, and solos like Keyser does with the power he has. Not only are his fingers plucking at lightspeed, but they're plucking hard. Anyways, this record is full of over-the-top, frenetic, technical greatness and is simultaneously painful to run to because the riffs are usually dependent on individual melodies as opposed to chords, ultimately giving your ears a lot less to "lock in" to and forcing you to listen to every last note. If you like it, then BUY IT.

Stratovarius- Infinite
Power metal is a picky genre for me. What sets Strato apart is the cheesy and fun songwriting and life-affirming lyrics on this record. Throw on "Hunting High and Low" and get past the tongue-in-cheek factor and get pumped when Timo Kotipelto belts "There is no one that I can't outrun." That sums it up.

Stratovarius- Hunting High and Low

Strength Training Tunes
I usually go for stuff that has great heaviness but doesn't get too fast-- midtempo is preferable.

And as such it's only appropriate that I begin with Only Living Witness' Prone Mortal Form album. I've switched my routine up a bit, but I used to do the entirety of my strength training to this. There's nothing like a nice set on the leg press to the steady chug of the title track. Jonah Jenkins' voice alone will motivate you. It also helps that he's a fantastic lyricist. "Slug" is great to do bicep curls to, and "Root" is ideal for the bench press. While the follow up-record, Innocents, doesn't have the same darkness nor lyrical verbosity, there's some great and accesible tracks that also deliver a driving energy: "No Eden," "Deed's Pride," "Strata," and "Downpour" among others. Century Media released a two-disc set of both albums, remastered with additional material. It can be had for about 14 bucks and is more than worth your time and coinage.

Only Living Witness- Downpour

Quicksand- Slip
Quicksand are like Tool minus the pretension and mixed heavily with Fugazi and Helmet. A seminal post-hardcore record full of stomping rhythms and melodic bass breaks and vocals that nicely toe the line of aggressive and catchy. I seem to find myself throwing this one on when I'm doing bent-over rows.

Quicksand- Fazer

That, or
Soundgarden- Badmotorfinger
Overshadowed by the overrated phenomenon that is Nevermind (and I say this as a Seattlite), Badmotorfinger is simply the best "mainstream" rock record to come out of 1990s Seattle. It also proves, along with Alice In Chains' greatest moments, that grunge is a bullshit term. When did Pearl Jam ever sound anything like these guys? When did Kurt and company, for that matter? The lyrics are often absurd, there's out-of-nowhere sax usage, there's a love song, and there's some downright bizarre riffs. Hardly your standard 1990s hard rock fare.

I digress. This record is loud, metallic, and positively balls-out. Try doing a nice, long set of slow ab crunches to "Jesus Christ Pose." Burns, don't it? Yessir, just like Chris Cornell's vocals do in your ears. In a good way.

Soundgarden- Room A Thousand Years Wide