Paging through Rift magazine brings me to the following observation: it’s simply inconceivable to me that anyone would react to the bands being reviewed the same way I did the first time I heard “Ride the Lightning.”

I know how biased and unfair a statement that is, but it’s true. This doesn’t just go for weird indie bands with asymmetrical haircuts; it goes for music in general, these days. Slipknot kinda rocks, but there’s no *atmosphere*, no sense of real purpose. Slipknot doesn’t offer the kind of escape Metallica or Napalm Death did, and you can be damn sure the Current doesn’t either. Maybe it’s that I’m older, jaded and cynical. All of these things are true.

But, dammit, what happened to music?

-josh