Moggs Motel - Moggs Motel (Steamhammer / SPV)
After his health problems, that out paid to the farewell tour of British hard rock icons UFO, there was a part of me that thought we would never hear his voice again. However after a two year hiatus and a chance meeting with Voodoo Six bassist Tommy Newton there was talk of more creative projects.Mogg wanted to still perform but not necessarily tour any more, UFO band mate Neil Carter (guitar/keys), who took over from Paul Raymond (though had already been in the band before in the 80's), had been writing song and as if by magic and possibly with the divine intervention of being able to record in Steve Harris' studio the trio alongside Joe Lazarus (drums) and Tommy Gentry (guitar), set about making Moggs Motel a reality.
Featuring songs that hadn't been used in UFO, tracks that had been sat around and needed revisiting and some new hard rockers they finally got 12 tracks to make an album. An album that was approached with no limits, no expectations, just three experienced musicians writing what they know.
Be it some blues rocking, a bit of NWOBHM, some 70's hard rock riffs and a whole load more, it's a smorgasbord of heavy rock with the band on fire, guitars and keys as important as one another while Mogg's vocals are still one of a kind, perhaps a bit lower and more reserved now but he's still got a dry wit and a penchant for wordplay, especially on Wrong House and slinky opener Apple Pie.
So it's an eclectic album but that does mean that you get 12 diverse tracks such as I Thought I Knew You and Other People's Lives can have the drama of Zeppelin while Princess Bride is a bit more of straightforward hard rocker, Shane meanwhile is slick AOR, Storyville a synth heavy ballad. As Mr Schenker seems to want to revisit his time with UFO, the founding member of the band is ready to move on to pastures new, though familiar. 8/10
The Cold Stares - The Southern (Mascot Records)
Every now and again comes an album you are immediately drawn too. I'm often a bit dismissive of bands in the NWOCR sound, but there is occasionally a stand out act that grabs your attention.
The Cold Stares are a band that do just that, this is their seventh studio album and I'll confess I'd not heard the previous 6 but as this blues rock act explore their Southern roots they incorporate British blues, country and soul but on this album they are creating a feeling, a feeling of home and of family, their Southern heritage worn on their sleeves.
Now a trio, of guitarist-singer Chris Tapp, drummer Brian Mullins and bassist Bryce Klueh, they hail from Kentucky and like fellow Kentuckians Black Stone Cherry they understand how to utilise modern production techniques and writer catchy choruses for radio.
But unlike BSC, The Cold Stares are a little more rootsy, on tracks such as Level Floor Blues, Coming Home, Morality Blues (banjos ahoy), that they flash those Americana credentials while there's a smack of the Whitesnake/Bad Company shuffle of No Love In The City Anymore and Horse To Water.
There's also some psych blues ala Cream or Hendrix on the the fuzzy Giving It Up or the percussive jam of Confession and visits to The Delta on Woman and Looking For A Fight. Rich Piva said that perhaps The Cold Stares needed a bit more rawness on his review of their last album, but they must have listened as The Southern gets back to their fuzzing beginnings as a blues rock duo channelled though the experienced rock band they are today. 9/10
Black Sites - The Promised Land? (Self Released)
Old school metal band Black Sites come back with their fourth album The Promised Land? this new album features Brandon White of Repentance on the drums and he brings more of the thrash edge to tracks such as Chasing Eternity.
I've been a vocal supporter of Black Sites since their 2016, loving how band founder Mark Sugar has combined old school metal and prog together drawing inspiration from King's X, Sabbath, Queensryche, Judas Priest and even Voivod, the classic metal meets thrash meets prog mix putting them out there with bands such as Spirit Adrift and Green Lung.
As their last album was recorded individually, there's and added coherence to this on that saw the trio playing together. However on this record they embrace the prog side a bit more, the title track especially is ambitious, 12 minute journey through plenty of riffs, guitar interplay between Sugar and Ryan Bruchert and Sugar's empassioned vocal too.
It's a standout on what is a strong album, that sees Black Sites move away from Haunt, Seven Sisters and Enforcer into more progressive melodic realms. Featuring Matt Johnsen (Pharaoh) and Tom Draper (Spirit Adrift) on guest guitar solos, Black Sites get proggier here but don't forget about their classic metal beginnings. Another banger! 9/10
Elephant Tree - Handful Of Ten (Magnetic Eye Records)
10 years since their debut Elephant Tree release an odds and sods collection, tying into reissues of Theia and Habits, Handful Of Ten contains new tracks, demos and B-Sides. The new tracks being the first new music from the band for a while, the organ drenched Visions (The Planet Of Doom) and Try are the new songs, continuing the Elephant Tree purple patch as they flourish in their current form.
Melodic doom with crushing riffs from Jack Townley and John Slattery coming nice and slow on Visions (The Planet Of Doom) is exactly as you'd want it to be while Try speeds up a little built on Peter Holland (bass) and Sam Hart's percussion. Try has a tonne of psych rock to it though it's Bird that makes things really dreamy. You can hear the evolution of Elephant Tree on this celebration, Attack Of The Altalca (2013) comes from classic doom but then with Bird and Faceless there's a more psych influences to them as the band have broadened their style.
Handful Of Ten is a celebration of a band who have shifted styles in the last decade, their doom beginnings have transcended the genre while staying true to it. 8/10
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