I’m not gonna lie. I almost cried.

I just finished watching the one-hour “Office Wedding” special. I waited a long time for this to happen. And it happened. Jim and Pam finally got married.

“The Office” has been my favorite television show for the past three years, and I don’t give a fuck what the naysayers have to say about the British version being better – I love this show. 

They couldn’t have gone about this better and it ended exactly as we all had wanted – a heartwarming and cheerful union of two of contemporary television’s most beloved characters. I don’t want to ruin anything, but even though it followed the typical “Office” formula of car crash scenes that culminate in joy and plenty of humor, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

I’ve always appreciated “The Office” for its character development over these years, and I’m glad to see how this panned out. There are just so many memories: Jim’s simple crush on the office receptionist; the office casino night in which they kiss and Jim tells Pam that he loves her; moving in together in his parents’ old house; Pam going to school in New York; the proposal in the rain at the highway rest stop! It’s been a beautiful relationship and a wonderful time. I just hope what comes is as good as the rest of this ride.

Review: Powerman 5000 needs more power

Does anyone listen to industrial/electronic metal anymore? Actually, did anyone really listen to it when it was around?

Certainly a product of its time period (you know, the ‘90s), Powerman 5000 will have many of you saying, “Who?” and others saying, “They still exist?” Well, they do, and now their back with their sixth album, “Somewhere on the Other Side of Nowhere.”

“Somewhere” attempts to recreate the success of “Tonight the Stars Revolt!”, the band’s 1999 hit album that housed their breakthrough single “When Worlds Collide,” with plenty of sci-fi imagery, catchy power hooks and pretty generic hard rock.

Review: Gamers, fear the overpriced track pack

The one thing I always wished “Rock Band” was more metal. The series has been superior to Activision’s “Guitar Hero” in every way imaginable (presentation, gameplay, style) except for the track selection. Yes, “Rock Band” has many more songs with updates coming pretty much weekly through downloadable content (DLC), but not everyone has access to the music store. So Harmonix has put together a stand-alone expansion, “Rock Band: Metal Track Pack,” to please the metal head inside all of us.

Review: Alice In Chains return with their first new album since 1995

 

“Hope, a new beginning / Time, time to start living / Just like before we died,” sings Alice in Chains’ vocalist William DuVall on “All Secrets Known” – undoubtedly a reference to the band’s revival and efforts to escape the shadows of its past. Despite the forward-looking attitude, however, these are shadows not easily forgotten on “Black Gives Way to Blue,” the band’s first disc of new material in 14 years, but more importantly, since the 2002 death of the band’s original singer, Layne Staley. 

No. 9: Lamb of God

For the remainder of the year, NPC Reviews will be counting down the 10 most important artists of this decade – artists that have had a serious impact on music as we know it.

“New American Gospel.”

No, it’s not the name of some Christian rock album or sermon on tape – actually the furthest thing from it. That was the title of Lamb of God’s second album, and it stands for much more than a simple theme continuation of their sacrilegious moniker – it’s a tribute to the metal that the genre was born on and a fist pumping “f— you” to the direction that American metal was going.

When “New American Gospel” – and more importantly 2003′s “As The Palaces Burn” – came out, the pool of talented metal bands was nearly bone-dry. It was the time of nu metal – bands like Linkin Park and Korn ruled the charts with no competition – and the legends were fading. No one knew what to expect of metal (but like I mentioned last week, it’s heavily dominated by metalcore these days). Then Lamb of God stepped up and demanded to be heard.

Review: For Five Finger Death Punch, ‘War’ never changes

Five Finger Death Punch caught the metal scene by surprise with their 2007 debut “Way of the Fist” – but that surprise came from album sales, not critical reaction. It’s almost impossible for a metal band to do well commercially unless you’ve been around long enough to be established (e.g. Lamb of God’s latest album) or you cater to a specific audience. I call it “tough guy metal.” Most diehard metal fans call it garbage.

No. 10: Killswitch Engage

For the remainder of the year, NPC Reviews will be counting down the 10 most important artists of this decade – artists that have had a serious impact on music as we know it.

Metal is suffering a serious identity crisis, much like the one hip-hop faced earlier this decade. Down one path lies prog-metal, led by bands like Mastodon and Between The Buried And Me, which is finding a following in the underground. Another is the traditional; an old and worn trail that doesn’t find many visitors. And the most populated? Metalcore, and the way its popularity has grown this past decade, it might be the new face of metal music entirely.

While the roots of metalcore can be traced back to underground movements in the ’90s blending post-punk hardcore and thrash metal, it didn’t take over the scene until the turn of the century with bands like Shadows Fall and All That Remains. At its forefront was none other than Massachusetts-based Killswitch Engage.