Down into the blues now with Robben Ford, the 74 year old veteran bluesman still delivering the goods on what I think is is thirteenth solo album, who who knows as he's been a sideman for some of the best, in multiple bands peeling off those sophisticated guitar licks with ease.
From playing with Jazzman Jimmy Witherspoon, folks songstress Joni Mitchell, the mighty Bonnie Raitt, the man himself Miles Davis and even a damn Beatle in George Harrison. He's five time Grammy nominated, constantly in flux, constantly hungry for something new and here he comes again with an eclectic new record.
Never wanting to repeat anything before, Two Shades Of Blue is an that spans the traditional funky blues on Make My Own Weather, some brass fuelled slickness on Black Night, while The Light Fandango and The Fire Flute, show off his six string skills, while a ballad like the title track is a tribute to his songwriting.
Ford's move to London giving him the idea to make an album that's a tribute to the legendary player Jeff Beck and it seems that Ford is very much channelling Beck on The Fire Flute especially, though there's also a cover of Jealous Guy from another UK music icon John Lennon.
With about half of the record being instrumental you get a glimpse of Ford's vocals but mostly it his guitar skills and the virtuosity of his band Ianto Thomas on drums, Jonny Henderson on keys, Robin Mullarkey on bass and a brass section of Paul Booth (saxophone), Ryan Quigley (trumpet) and Trevor Mires (trombone).
On their instrumentals there's guests in the shape of Rollling Stones bassist, Darryl Jones, keyboardist Larry Goldings and drummer Gary Husband, these collection of players bolstering just how good this record is, and how diverse and talented the pool of London UK musicians is.
After a 67 year career you may think an artist like Robben Ford may rest on his laurels, but with Two Shades Of Blue he's inspired by a whole country and a legendary artist to bring some of his best work. 9/10
The second part of Anneke Van Giersbergen's trilogy of EP's La Mort, which translates to 'the death' is another beautifully, introspective offering which follows the overall concept of love, loss, and grief.
The EP's are inspired by the passing of her parents within two months of each other, so these like the ones on La Vie some of her most personal songs and while not every song is about death, the atmospheric closing number Sail Towards The Sun, is about a boat her father built and how those journeys still hold a strong memory as part of the life of her father after his passing.
It's a beautiful closing piece but not a solitary one as Van Giersbergen's vocals are some of the most wonderful in the rock spectrum, they carry weight and fragility behind them, very like Dolores O'Riordan in terms of delivery and power, she's adaptable to any sort of genre, as anyone who has followed her career will know.
On La Mort you get a mixture of styles with Anneke and her large live band, which features strings and horns, playing everything very well indeed. Be it the reverb drenched guitars of Fade In Fade Out, the throbbing 808 drumbeat of Blondie-like Handle Me With Care, the punky, funky, groove of Red Sky.
With The Gathering reunion dates on the way, the third part maybe a bit more of a wait but with La Mort and La Vie before it, there's enough beauty and brilliance here to keep you excited for part three, if you can control your The Gathering fandom that is! 8/10
Timeless Rage - My Kingdom Come (Metalalpolis Records)
My Kingdom Come is the second record from German symphonic power metal band Timeless Rage. Their album Untold was reviewed here well but since then they have changed both their frontman and their bassist, but has this changed the band?
Nope not really, if anything it's made this second album have a much more theatrical edge to it. Good thing too as My Kingdom Come is a concept album where the band can really flex their creative muscles. Whether that's power metal, symphonic metal, melodic metal and any manner of gothic/mystical tones to it.
Be it when they draw inspiration from the likes of Kamelot and Myrath on the dramatic A Vampire's Legacy but also Helloween and Stratovarius as dramatic symphonic elements of Conquistadors merge with speedy neo-classical ones on The Devil's Masquerade.
The concept is driven by power, freedom, love, rebellion and more, the six piece the dual guitars switch between riffs and solos, blending with the keys which bring the symphonic moments as the rhythm section switch from galloping power metal on The Enemy Is You and thrashier We All Shall Fall.
My Kingdom Come is a glorious follow up to Untold, it's a more audacious, heroic offering than their debut from Timeless Rage. 8/10
Growth - Under The Under (Wild Thing Records)
Started in 2017 as a way for brothers Tristan (guitar/bass/artwork) and Nelson Barnes (drums) with vocalist LF, to explore trauma, mental illness and grief. The music they create is not just catharsis for them but to highlight the journey towards recovery to anyone who has felt the same, drawing it into the cold light of day without any trappings or sugar-coating. They were joined by Nick Rackham (bass) and Ben Boyle (guitar), their debut album was released in the height of the pandemic.
Six years later they unleash the second part of their trilogy Under The Under a brutal six tracker that bring about 50 minutes of technical death metal which brings the Avant Garde tendencies and crush of bands like Ulcerate and Gorguts. That start-stop battery begins on Remember Me As Fire, the technical death metal coming with a sledgehammer fist before it shifts tones with the title track, a nine minute movement though different styles of extremity as the massive grooves go into clean vocal doom at the end.
Under The Under is an album that continues where their debut left off, crawling up from rock bottom, to try and work out whether it's self destruction or self repair that is the answer to dealing with grief, every moment of hurt and and anguish comes through Slings That Shatter and Pain Is Never Far Away as they both undulate with shifting heaviness and thick extreme grooves.
Part two of this trilogy of albums has had a long but deliberate gestation, however it's now out in the world and ready to take you through a the immensity of their pain. 7/10
My Kingdom Come is the second record from German symphonic power metal band Timeless Rage. Their album Untold was reviewed here well but since then they have changed both their frontman and their bassist, but has this changed the band?
Nope not really, if anything it's made this second album have a much more theatrical edge to it. Good thing too as My Kingdom Come is a concept album where the band can really flex their creative muscles. Whether that's power metal, symphonic metal, melodic metal and any manner of gothic/mystical tones to it.
Be it when they draw inspiration from the likes of Kamelot and Myrath on the dramatic A Vampire's Legacy but also Helloween and Stratovarius as dramatic symphonic elements of Conquistadors merge with speedy neo-classical ones on The Devil's Masquerade.
The concept is driven by power, freedom, love, rebellion and more, the six piece the dual guitars switch between riffs and solos, blending with the keys which bring the symphonic moments as the rhythm section switch from galloping power metal on The Enemy Is You and thrashier We All Shall Fall.
My Kingdom Come is a glorious follow up to Untold, it's a more audacious, heroic offering than their debut from Timeless Rage. 8/10
Growth - Under The Under (Wild Thing Records)
Started in 2017 as a way for brothers Tristan (guitar/bass/artwork) and Nelson Barnes (drums) with vocalist LF, to explore trauma, mental illness and grief. The music they create is not just catharsis for them but to highlight the journey towards recovery to anyone who has felt the same, drawing it into the cold light of day without any trappings or sugar-coating. They were joined by Nick Rackham (bass) and Ben Boyle (guitar), their debut album was released in the height of the pandemic.
Six years later they unleash the second part of their trilogy Under The Under a brutal six tracker that bring about 50 minutes of technical death metal which brings the Avant Garde tendencies and crush of bands like Ulcerate and Gorguts. That start-stop battery begins on Remember Me As Fire, the technical death metal coming with a sledgehammer fist before it shifts tones with the title track, a nine minute movement though different styles of extremity as the massive grooves go into clean vocal doom at the end.
Under The Under is an album that continues where their debut left off, crawling up from rock bottom, to try and work out whether it's self destruction or self repair that is the answer to dealing with grief, every moment of hurt and and anguish comes through Slings That Shatter and Pain Is Never Far Away as they both undulate with shifting heaviness and thick extreme grooves.
Part two of this trilogy of albums has had a long but deliberate gestation, however it's now out in the world and ready to take you through a the immensity of their pain. 7/10
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