Grammy Award winner, singer, guitarist, producer, Allman Alum and Gov't Mule, Warren Haynes is a lot of things but as well as all of these things he's also a prolific solo artists too and on his recent solo effort Million Voices Whisper he proved that, now he adapts some of these songs into an acoustic form on The Whisper Sessions, featuring Derek Trucks (the Duane to his Dickie) on three of them, including a cover of ABB's Melissa, this is a look into the other side of Haynes songwriting.
A sneaky peak into how these songs start, his soulful vocal and an acoustic guitar, hammering home the emotional power of the tracks that often turn into big bluesy, Southern rockers. From the atmospheric, reverb drenched Till The Sun Comes Shining Through, through the country twang of From Here On Out, to the heart breaking balladry of Til I Can Make It On My Own, originally writer by George Richey, Billy Sherrill, and Tammy Wynette.
These track have all organically shifted into the acoustic format, the song and the singer free of all the loudness and delivering beauty in hushed tones of emotion and power. Elsewhere there's something joyous about This Life As We Know It while Real, Real Love which was co-written Gregg Allman, is bristling with regret and passion, the slide of Derek Trucks just topping the cake on his first of three appearances.
Sometimes doing something quietly is more effective than loudly and Warren Haynes knows this curating a selection of tracks that creep under your skin in this acoustic form. 8/10
Jelusick - Apolitical Ecstasy (Aquarius Records)
This is a bit good. I've been a fan of Dino Jelusick since I heard him as part of Animal Drive but since then he's gone from strength to strength, shaking off the cloistering Frontiers machine to step out on his own to be a part of Trans Siberian Orchestra as well as delivering high quality solo albums but also being the singer on Michael Romeo's second solo album and the replacement for Jeff Scott Soto in Whom God's Destroy the revamped/renamed Gods Of Apollo.
It's these latter two acts that have shaped this record. While his last solo album The Blind Man was like a latter period Whitesnake album, heavy but hard rock, this one is very much inspired by the likes of Symphony X and Dream Theater, Jelusick's vocals having that gritty, gruffness of Russell Allen with a mix of Sammy Hagar, Jeff Scott Soto and David Coverdale as well.
This broad vocal style means that away from the neo-classical prog metal sound delivered on Jaws Of Life and is strewn through this record with Hangman, Jelusick can also venture down other paths such as the Alter Bridge/Creed sounding title track and on Seasons as well, some hard rock balladry on Fool In Rain as Groove Central swaggers with that Red Rocker energy.
As I said I've pretty much loved everything Dino Jelusick has been a part of but this new solo record easily compiles all of the things he's best at, it's a must have of you're a fan of big voiced singers. 9/10
Esoterica - Ether Metal (Year Of The Rat Records)
There's a lot of buzz around London group Esoterica, they have been played on Kerrang! BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6 Music in the past as well as features in the big boys of metal press. They categorised as ethereal progressive hard rock so it's natural that I'd be invested in hearing what they are like as that usually my sort of thing.
With orchestrations coming from the Parallax Orchestra, the intro track Into The Ether has the sweeping, choral epicness of the Halo soundtrack, but from there it moves into a sort of simplistic riff and vocal style that comes from metalcore, well the modern iteration of atmospheric metal but there's also some influences of modern bands such as Nothing More or even Soen.
Musically I really like what's going on here but the vocals break it for me, there's only a bit of variation on Heathen where the singer uses a lower register, for the most part though he's stuck in this sort of late-90's angsty delivery of a bands like Filter, 10 Years or Fair To Midland.
For all of its symphonic trappings and synths, Esoterica are an angsty alt-rock band playing with being proggy and dark and cinematic, having gone back and listened to their earlier records when doing this review, I have to say I prefer them, still everything evolves even Esoterica so check it out if you're a fan of the band. 6/10
Mirrorglass - Handle With Care (Self Released)
Jelusick - Apolitical Ecstasy (Aquarius Records)
This is a bit good. I've been a fan of Dino Jelusick since I heard him as part of Animal Drive but since then he's gone from strength to strength, shaking off the cloistering Frontiers machine to step out on his own to be a part of Trans Siberian Orchestra as well as delivering high quality solo albums but also being the singer on Michael Romeo's second solo album and the replacement for Jeff Scott Soto in Whom God's Destroy the revamped/renamed Gods Of Apollo.
It's these latter two acts that have shaped this record. While his last solo album The Blind Man was like a latter period Whitesnake album, heavy but hard rock, this one is very much inspired by the likes of Symphony X and Dream Theater, Jelusick's vocals having that gritty, gruffness of Russell Allen with a mix of Sammy Hagar, Jeff Scott Soto and David Coverdale as well.
This broad vocal style means that away from the neo-classical prog metal sound delivered on Jaws Of Life and is strewn through this record with Hangman, Jelusick can also venture down other paths such as the Alter Bridge/Creed sounding title track and on Seasons as well, some hard rock balladry on Fool In Rain as Groove Central swaggers with that Red Rocker energy.
As I said I've pretty much loved everything Dino Jelusick has been a part of but this new solo record easily compiles all of the things he's best at, it's a must have of you're a fan of big voiced singers. 9/10
Esoterica - Ether Metal (Year Of The Rat Records)
There's a lot of buzz around London group Esoterica, they have been played on Kerrang! BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6 Music in the past as well as features in the big boys of metal press. They categorised as ethereal progressive hard rock so it's natural that I'd be invested in hearing what they are like as that usually my sort of thing.
With orchestrations coming from the Parallax Orchestra, the intro track Into The Ether has the sweeping, choral epicness of the Halo soundtrack, but from there it moves into a sort of simplistic riff and vocal style that comes from metalcore, well the modern iteration of atmospheric metal but there's also some influences of modern bands such as Nothing More or even Soen.
Musically I really like what's going on here but the vocals break it for me, there's only a bit of variation on Heathen where the singer uses a lower register, for the most part though he's stuck in this sort of late-90's angsty delivery of a bands like Filter, 10 Years or Fair To Midland.
For all of its symphonic trappings and synths, Esoterica are an angsty alt-rock band playing with being proggy and dark and cinematic, having gone back and listened to their earlier records when doing this review, I have to say I prefer them, still everything evolves even Esoterica so check it out if you're a fan of the band. 6/10
Mirrorglass - Handle With Care (Self Released)
Mirrorglass get going with Hey Honey which has the careless, rock n roll of Thin Lizzy, exactly what I'd want from an Irish rock band but there's plenty of glam rock stomp on track such as Ghost Town. However that's not all as they also have a snotty punk edge of Stiff Little Fingers while they look North to The Undertones and the pop rock polish of Northern cousins Ash on this debut album as well. It's like a best of the late70's early 80's era and I'm all here for it as despite being a band with not many years behind them, all the songs sound as if this a long in the tooth act from decades ago. Which is a compliment.
Handle With Care has been a record that's put Mirrorglass through the wringer, formed in 2022 by young genius Joshua Bowles, they started to gain momentum but just as the debut was being drawn up the rest of the band left him on his tod and the album was scrapped. Bringing in drummer Paul Jackman, bassist Jack Bogue and keyboard player Vay, Handle With Care was totally re-recorded, adding new tracks and a fresh approach to what they do as a band. Now I don't know what the first version sounded like but here there's some Mott balladry on Where Will You Go, some synthy occult NWOBHM on Secretly Admitting To Murder and biting punk rock on Crazy Man, all fitting together snuggly, and nothing ever jars.
What they do is rock n roll, classic rock n roll from the good old days, with all the influences I said above, supplying a rock n roll buffet from the best era for rock music. While there's a modern sheen to all of it, there's plenty of 70's style guitar slinging, showboating galore on Handle With Care that will get both you and your dad rocking. As someone who loved bands such as The Darkness alongside a glut of acts such as Tokyo Dragons, Rattlesnake Remedy, Voodoo Johnson, Hurricane Party/Heaven's Basement, Voodoo Six and fellow Irish band Glyder, this has taken me back to a time where I was discovering the music of my parents and falling in love with bands who took that style as their own. Mirrorglass do this very well, Joshua is clearly an old soul in a young body and you should be playing Handle With Care with reckless abandon. 9/10
Handle With Care has been a record that's put Mirrorglass through the wringer, formed in 2022 by young genius Joshua Bowles, they started to gain momentum but just as the debut was being drawn up the rest of the band left him on his tod and the album was scrapped. Bringing in drummer Paul Jackman, bassist Jack Bogue and keyboard player Vay, Handle With Care was totally re-recorded, adding new tracks and a fresh approach to what they do as a band. Now I don't know what the first version sounded like but here there's some Mott balladry on Where Will You Go, some synthy occult NWOBHM on Secretly Admitting To Murder and biting punk rock on Crazy Man, all fitting together snuggly, and nothing ever jars.
What they do is rock n roll, classic rock n roll from the good old days, with all the influences I said above, supplying a rock n roll buffet from the best era for rock music. While there's a modern sheen to all of it, there's plenty of 70's style guitar slinging, showboating galore on Handle With Care that will get both you and your dad rocking. As someone who loved bands such as The Darkness alongside a glut of acts such as Tokyo Dragons, Rattlesnake Remedy, Voodoo Johnson, Hurricane Party/Heaven's Basement, Voodoo Six and fellow Irish band Glyder, this has taken me back to a time where I was discovering the music of my parents and falling in love with bands who took that style as their own. Mirrorglass do this very well, Joshua is clearly an old soul in a young body and you should be playing Handle With Care with reckless abandon. 9/10
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