There are many 'lost' albums in the rocksphere, be it Smile, Lifehouse, The Ties That Bind or First Rays Of The New Rising Sun, many often have their songs put on other records, some get wiped totally like Cradle Of Filth's Goetia, but some stay lost seemingly forever, but so long as the original recordings are there there's always chance.
This is the story that surrounds Eureka, the debut album from rock supergroup The Western Front, recorded in it's entirety in the middle 80's it was supposed to be released by Atlantic Records, but the label was in flux and it got ignored without a release schedule and the members all went back to their other endeavours.
However this was lost, not in storage guarded by 'top men' ala Indiana Jones, and in 2023 a Swedish record exec heard some songs from The Western Front, asked about the full album and then they were shopping for a record label whenr Steve Lukather of Toto suggested Mascot Label Group and here it is 40 years after it was first recorded, the world gets introduced to Eureka by The Western Front.
Like Toto The Western Front is the story of hot shot sessions players coming together to form their own band, guitarist Marty Walsh (Supertramp), keyboard player Derek Bergmann (Yvonne Elliman) and guitarist/executive Dennis O'Donnell bringing in vocalist Richard “Moon” Calhoun (Chaka Khan), drummer Darrell Verdusco (Mark Knopfler) and Scott Gorham who had just finished touring with Thin Lizzy.
So a collective of musical journeymen, spending the next two years writing this record ready for a 1985 release, and after 40 years what you get is an album that leaps out of 1985 with some keyboard driven, chorus dense melodic rock/AOR, which blends the best of Toto (Just Go), Foreigner (Chain Of Light), Heartland (If I'm The One) and Don Henley (This Is War), as they really lock into that radio friendly, poppy style of AOR where the skill is at one with the catchiness.
Had it not been for the quality of mixes from Walsh and Bergmann back in the day, Eureka may not be in the great shape it is 40 years later. While The Western Front are not a "new" band and Eureka is not a "new" album, this debut is lost no more and great melodic rock record. 8/10
Ealdor Bealu - Graves Of The Silent Plain (Ripple Music)
A band that certainly brings an edge of the strange to the Ripple Music roster Ponderay from Idaho band Ealdor Bealu opens with some fuzzy, proto-psych riffs but then throat shredding back metal sqwarks are used for the vocals in the first instance before it shifts into Nick Cave hollering.
However this is all part of what this band brings to the table, formed in the high desert, they're the audio version of a peyote trip as the musical spirit of Morricone is smashed together with heavy psych and Opeth inspired progressive metal, Elder on Mescaline, crossing death valley, or Mastodon if they swapped mountains for dunes, if you'll indulge the idea of that.
Taking from Sabbath, Hawkwind, Yob, Kyuss and Opeth as I've mentioned, they've been playing their experimental desert metal since 2015, releasing two albums before this as they refined their atmospheric multi-dimensional sound that features a trio of defined vocalists, that bring dynamics to these already layered soundscapes.
Signing to Ripple Music, Graves Of The Silent Plain is their first for the label, but you can hear why Todd would pick up this band, even with the death vocals as they fit into a few of the categories Ripple is associated with, from the windscreen desert rock, through the proto-fuzz, dark Americana and yes even progressive metal. It's all infused with each other on this third album, that may only feature five tracks but has well over an hour of music
The quartet of Carson Russell (guitar/vocals), Rylie Collingwood (bass/vocals), Travis Abbott (guitar/vocals) and Cameron Elgart (drums/guitar), investigate the outermost fragments of their genre confines, transcending into a vision quest with the middle section of Erosion and Gold Mountains, haunting vocals, ambient moments, phased guitars and those Western influenced motifs that come from the acoustics.
Ealdor Bealu emerge from their desert crypt with a vast psychadelic prog metal record that will excite long time fans and introduce them to new ones through Ripple. 8/10
Sojourner - Gateways (Avantgarde Music)
Since releasing Premonitions in 2020 Swedish/New Zealand band Sojourner have taken some time to rest and recover, they have had some notable line up changes (which I'll get to).
Mainly they've signed back to Avantgarde Music after being in Napalm for that one record and you feel that they are back to making music in the way they want with a record label that lets them take their time and record how they see fit.
This extra time, allowance to be humans as well as musicians has resulted in Gateways and new record that has everything you'd want from the band founded and led by Mike Lamb (guitar/keys/piano) and Emilio Crespo (vocals), it's their songwriting that is still at the heart of this album.
On Gateways they showcase the experience of a band that is now over a decade old and still coming up with new ways to wow with their folk driven epic black metal.
Joining them as a new member is Lamb's partner, Heike Langhan's who is not only a member of Remina with Lamb but also of course is the former voice of Draconian.
A perfect voice for the atmospheric pieces Sojourner create as a haunting vocal foil to Crespo's blackened screams as the songs such as And The Paintings Fall, snake their way between the folk dreamscapes and nightmarish extreme blasts.
On Gateways they showcase the experience of a band that is now over a decade old and still coming up with new ways to wow with their folk driven epic black metal.
Joining them as a new member is Lamb's partner, Heike Langhan's who is not only a member of Remina with Lamb but also of course is the former voice of Draconian.
A perfect voice for the atmospheric pieces Sojourner create as a haunting vocal foil to Crespo's blackened screams as the songs such as And The Paintings Fall, snake their way between the folk dreamscapes and nightmarish extreme blasts.
There's moments where Sojourner do something a bit different, like the de-rezzed parts of Occulation or the industrial beats of Vvardenfell but with tracks like Epitaphs, they hammer home the type of epic, gothic, blackened, death, doom thing that has always made my black heart all fuzzy. 9/10
Solarus - Of Sin And Ruin (Self Released)
Always great to hear from a band you've been following since album number one and much like their fellow Canadians and buddies Borealis, we here at Musipedia Of Metal have been with Solarus pretty much since their inception drawn in by their prog/power metal that's inspired by Evergrey, Circus Maximus and Symphony X.
Combining technically proficient music that falls on the heavier side, in the muscular riffage, joined by some dark gothic keys for track such as The Isolate, there's a real sense of heaviness on this record, especially on Angel Afire which features Tom Emmans adding growled vocals against the soaring voice of Sarah Dee.
Dee's vocals are what keeps me coming back to Solarus as a band as they're so versatile from operatic highs to theatrical mids, both used on the orchestral My Reckoning brilliantly, but to just concentrate here would be to sell the band short, as they are all virtuoso performers who can switch from chugging power prog such as Close My Eyes to emotional balladry on epic Lights.
Christopher Demelo's drumming is powerful and precise guiding the proggy changes in pace with Daniel Gebczynski's bass locking down the start stop, palm-muted grooves of modern prog metal on Of Sin And Ruin. The guitars of Lucas McArthur and Troy Longe are distorted, thick with a hearty chug of Symphony X and the modern prog sound, as the solos interweave with fleet fingered skill.
Solarus keep making music that speaks to exactly the sort of power/prog thing that I like and as such I'm always going to score them highly. Check out Of Sin And Ruin if progressive power metal that sits on the heavier side is up your street. 9/10
Combining technically proficient music that falls on the heavier side, in the muscular riffage, joined by some dark gothic keys for track such as The Isolate, there's a real sense of heaviness on this record, especially on Angel Afire which features Tom Emmans adding growled vocals against the soaring voice of Sarah Dee.
Dee's vocals are what keeps me coming back to Solarus as a band as they're so versatile from operatic highs to theatrical mids, both used on the orchestral My Reckoning brilliantly, but to just concentrate here would be to sell the band short, as they are all virtuoso performers who can switch from chugging power prog such as Close My Eyes to emotional balladry on epic Lights.
Christopher Demelo's drumming is powerful and precise guiding the proggy changes in pace with Daniel Gebczynski's bass locking down the start stop, palm-muted grooves of modern prog metal on Of Sin And Ruin. The guitars of Lucas McArthur and Troy Longe are distorted, thick with a hearty chug of Symphony X and the modern prog sound, as the solos interweave with fleet fingered skill.
Solarus keep making music that speaks to exactly the sort of power/prog thing that I like and as such I'm always going to score them highly. Check out Of Sin And Ruin if progressive power metal that sits on the heavier side is up your street. 9/10
Much love from Solarus! Thank you for taking the time!
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