Voodoo Six: Simulation Game (Explorer1)
I’ve never had a lot of exposure to this band, but it really does seem that their glory days may be behind them. In a market where retro HM is suddenly fashionable again, many hard rock bands who have been at this for a while are struggling to make any impact, as younger, fresher acts are hitting the same scene and capturing that nostalgic 70’s and 80’s hard rock feel far more effectively than many of those who have been at it a while. I’ve just reviewed two of them this week alone, and sadly this upping of the game means the older acts need to react accordingly.
The endless line-up changes probably aren’t helping, and although the musical performances on this record are fine in and of themselves, the album as a whole fails to grab you. Having run through it twice, I would struggle to name a stand out song, which is a shame because they’ve obviously worked hard on this and the overall sound of the band is strong, with some lovely crisp production throughout. Ballad Never Beyond Repair is a good example of this – it sounds like it should have all the right ingredients – bluesy tone, nice underpinned keyboard melody, solid rhythm work (the drums in particular are a master class in restraint and tight control) and soulful vocals, but it just fails to gel as a cohesive whole.
So it’s ticking the individual boxes, but not the big one that counts and what is missing is the infectious energy and enthusiasm which is like rocking horse droppings in hard rock world right now. Would I feel the same way if I hadn’t been so blown away by Stallion and The Wild! earlier on this month? Possibly not, but overall I am left feeling somewhat disappointed with this this one, which does feel more like a simulation in the face of the real deal currently available elsewhere. 5/10
Desolation Angels: While The Flame Still Burns (Dissonance Productions)
Desolation Angels are another piece of history brought back to life recently – definitely a trend of the moment. Having been part of the early NWOBHM movement in the early 80’s these guys ditched the UK early and took advantage of the opportunity to completely relocate to the West Coast of the USA for a few years before fizzling out altogether a few years later. Lost in that period of history was this album, recorded in 1990 and ditched at the time as the industry lost interest in Metal in favour of Grunge. This record had only previously been accessible as a bootleg, and now gets a much delayed and needed re-release, since their planned new album and tour are probably on hold until the current pandemic burns itself out..
Their mongrel genetics of half British NWOBHM and half L.A. Sleaze Metal is absolutely fascinating, thoroughly refreshing, and sounds like a gene splicing between Diamond Head and Quiet Riot, with a little Leatherwolf thrown in for good measure. The album itself at eight tracks and forty minutes running time is to the point and full of energy and has the stripped back sound of that bygone age perfectly without just sounding that way because the production had been done on the cheap. From thundering opener Only Time Will Tell through to track 7, Killer – this record punches kicks and screams its way, closing with a cracking power ballad in Feels Like Thunder with its moody, trippy instrumental break, although oddly the title track whilst being the weakest of the bunch, but still evokes the period very effectively. This would probably not have made much impact if it had been released as intended 30 years ago, but right here, right now it’s like finding gold buried in your back garden.
Quite often when bands resuscitate themselves and start recording again decades later the end product sounds more expensively produced, but with the band members still on life support and that is absolutely not happening here. This really does have that energy from a much younger bunch of guys trying to kick the door down and has left me with a huge smile on my face. Let’s hope that they can keep that energy in their new recordings. 8/10
Newman: Ignition (AOR Heaven)
Steve Newman has been churning out well written, well-crafted and well-polished Melo-Rock/AOR music for a while now, and this album is no exception, leading me to ask not for the first time why so few people seem to know about him and his writing. There’s still a huge following for this sort of stuff, but he’s far from a household name even within our community, which is a shame, as this album is eminently listenable. From opener End Of The Road you get solid riff’s, strong clean vocals, catchy rhythms with keyboards subtly adding to the mix, rather than drowning it out by overstating the melody.
The production is really clean and very well mixed, with instruments and vocals where they need to be in the mix, with no-one hogging the limelight, even when the well-crafted solos raise pop to the fore, they aren’t doing so at the expense of the ensemble. The highlights include Worth Dying For, with its clap-along chorus, some thundering rhythms and a top notch vocal performance and the very funky and instrumentally experimental break in The Island. When it sticks to its stereotype, such as the ballad Promise Me it fails, and this track in particular steps into predictable AOR Keys-Follow-The-Chorus territory, but to be honest it’s the only ‘meh’ point in an otherwise excellent bunch of songs.
Where the album works is that it has all the tropes you would expect of the genre but it doesn’t rely on them and consequently (with one exception) isn’t predictable, with some nice musical twists that you don’t expect – an unexpectedly heavy as fuck drum fill, a virtuous little bass bar or a side-step into an unusual genre tone like funk before pulling back to the core and taking the performance up a notch. A really good effort 8/10
Crosson: Rock ‘n’ Roll Love Affair (Galaxy Records)
Crosson hail from down under and whilst physically looking like what would happen if Steel Panther were allowed to enter the Eurovision song contest, actually sound far more on the Hard Rock end of the spectrum, with a vocal style tipping the hat more to 80’s indie/goth acts. I’m always a bit wary of bands that categories themselves in the Glam bucket because it really is a movement best left in the history books, notable only for being a springboard spawning acts that went on to do better things by either completely changing direction (Motley Crüe), or ditching it completely and distancing themselves as quickly as possible (Guns’n’Roses). This album seems to be trying to saddle both of those extremes of approach…
The album has got a very slick production, which you would expect given that it’s been mastered by Dave Donnelly (who’s worked with most of the acts these guys are aping) and I understand that Crosson are something of a hit in their native Land Of Oz, being the home grown version of Steel Panther. Track-wise, Everyone’s A Star is a good introductory track, has a nice entry point and mix of vocal styles. Rest In Piece is the obligatory ballad, and actually one of the better songs on here, as it feels more genuine than parody. Much the same can be said for We All Need An Enemy, which has a simple riff, with effective chorus and melody lines, and whilst lyrically is a harsh commentary on the divisive politics of this decade, echoes a simpler time of anthemic singalong rock’n’roll. It’s an absolute cracker of a song, and has made it to one of my ongoing playlists, which is about as high a piece of praise as I can give.
But then we come to the Panther-style parody. One of the parts I hate about Glam is its insistence on sticking to sleazy sexist subject matter and whilst tongue in cheek titles like Weak At The Knees (For A Hot Brunette) might be acceptable in the Antipodes nowadays, they really have no place in this day and age. Merry Go Round is just basically lick for lick Bon Jovi’s You Give Love A Bad Name sung with different lyrics, and whilst this would have been an opportunity to go Weird Al Yankovic and rip the wee-wee, it’s just sounds like plain plagiarism here. Where I am left on this album is a stuck between utter disdain for the parody and utter respect for the material where they try and be their own band. If this album was full of tracks of the calibre of We All Need An Enemy then this would be scoring much higher. 6/10
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