Mercy Licks - February 2013

Hey there, and welcome to the second edition of my Mercy Links. This section is basically me revealing to you the ten songs I've been listening to the most every month. I did January last month and, while I'm a little late, I bring you February's ten songs now.

So what are the Ten Mercy Licks of February 2013? Let's find out...

#10: "Laid to Rest" - Lamb of God
You'll notice a theme with a lot of the songs in this list. And that theme is Guitar Hero. If it wasn't for Guitar Hero I would have never even thought about liking Lamb of God. I don't really like bands that shout from the bowels of fiery doom much, not when it's pretty much the only thing they do. But Lamb of God are one of the better bands in that bracket. And I do enjoy a couple of songs by the band. "Laid to Rest" is a pretty damn cool track.

#9: "Get to the Gone" - Static-X
I have been playing this a lot recently in general. I was surprised it didn't make last month's list. It's my favourite Static-X song and I have recently really been listening to a lot of Static-X. It's just so awesome, I love everything about it. I prefer it to the singles off the album, being "Cold" and "Black and White". If you like your industrial metal, seriously, give this track a listen.

#8: "Ayo Technology" - 50 Cent feat. Justin Timberlake and Timbaland
I had forgotten all about this track for years until my good friend reminded me. I really don't like 50 Cent. At all. He pisses me off big time and I really don't rate his music. But, naturally, working with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, two of the better performers in RnB, brings the best out of Fiddy. It's a really catchy track and it's probably the best work 50 Cent will do, at least in my opinion.

#7: "Linchpin" - Fear Factory
I'm not a big Fear Factory fan to be honest. As industrial metal bands go they're not one that inspire me to rock out much. But "Linchpin" is totally badass. I really really like this song, so much that it may actually make the Top 10 in March as well. I have been playing it an incredible amount and to be honest, I'm not tiring of playing it yet. It's just awesome.

#6: "YYZ" - Rush
Here's a medley of Guitar Hero songs I've played a lot through the last month. The first being "YYZ", possibly one of the greatest instrumentals of all time, or at least I think so. I'd never really listened to Rush before I played Guitar Hero, and in honesty, I'm not a fan of the band but "YYZ" is just a piece of musical genius. It's funny as in some ways, it sounds a lot like the basis of Sonic music in the Megadrive era, yet ten years before. Just give it a listen if you haven't before.

#5: "Carry on My Wayward Son" - Kansas
As I said, this is a Guitar Hero medley of songs I've been playing a lot recently, but you could also put in a huge assist to Supernatural for this one. Most people nowadays think of Supernatural when it comes to this song anyways, and I have been watching the series a lot recently. I've always appreciated "Carry on My Wayward Son" because the guitar riff is so awesome, in honesty hair metal isn't my thing and it took me a while to like the rest of the song, but I really do now. It's a cracker of a track and love putting it on.

#4: "Free Bird" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Man, what a song "Free Bird" is. It's just one of the best classic rock songs of all time. And it has to be played in the full nine minute version, no shortcuts. I recently saw "The Devil's Rejects" and the scene in the film that has "Free Bird" in it is used to perfection. The song just has an attachment to pop culture that will never fade, as far as I'm concerned. And of course, I love playing it on Guitar Hero, it's just great.

#3: "YOLO (feat. Adam Levine and Kendrick Lamar)" - Lonely Island

It's funny that this is the third most played song on this list as I'm actually a little underwhelmed by the new Lonely Island track. This is the first single off the new album coming out soon, their third album, but when you compare this track to the promoting singles off the other two albums, namely "I Just Had Sex" and "Jizz in my Pants", it just doesn't compare in comedy value and music quality. But it's still quite good, and the video is pretty funny too. The best thing about "YOLO" is simply, that it means we're getting a new Lonely Island album which is fantastic news.

#2: "Bangarang (feat. Sirah)" - Skrillex

There were two songs that flew away with the amount of times I played them, and this marginally lost out on the top spot. Bare with me here. You may remember me saying I really don't like dubstep, nor do I really listen to chart music or popular music. But I have been going to clubs a lot more recently and this kept on coming on, and I loved dancing to it. I never knew it was Skrillex, nor what it was called for months. I kept asking my friends but, well, how can you describe a dubstep track in sound without making a lot of "bwa bwa bwub bwub" noises? Exactly. So I finally found this track and I just love it. Fair play to Skrillex, despite me really disliking him, I now like two of his songs. Ah well.

#1: "Back in the Saddle" - Aerosmith

Unlike the other tracks on this list that have appeared in Guitar Hero games, this entry isn't really because of the game. It's actually because of Supernatural. The song came on when I was watching series 6 and I forgot how absolutely badass it is. It's by far my favourite Aerosmith song. "Carry On My Wayward Son" appeared on this list because of Guitar Hero, this appeared beause of Supernatural. But you can say I've definitely had my fill of Guitar Hero and Supernatural this month and that's what makes this list what it is.

So, that's a wrap for today. I hope you've enjoyed this list. Until next time, take care!

If you liked this article you might want to read:

• Mercy Licks - January 2013 - Listing
• Metal is Dead - Music Article
• The Rise and Fall of Guitar Hero - Game Article

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