Level 10: Chapter 1 (Frontiers)
Level 10 is probably not the best name for a band but as far as members goes this 'supergroup' has 10 out of 10 for membership in this writes eyes. Drawing half their membership from Primal Fear, drummer Randy Black, guitarist Alex Beyrodt and the hardest working man in metal Mat Sinner (this is his eighth simultaneous project) on bass. Add to this one ex-Helloween axe slinger in the shape of Roland Grapow, one great keyboardist in Alessandro Del Vecchio and the unmistakable vocals of Symphony X (and every other band)'s Russell Allen. So with a line up with that you'd expect rampaging melodic metal with nods to power and classic trad metal throughout and you would be right the band's musicianship is never in question all these men have proved their chops a thousand times before but with the three way duel of Del Vecchio and guitarists Beyrodt and Grapow makes the songs very exciting as all three men push each other in a game of musical one-upsmanship, while Sinner and Black lock in like they have done on so many Primal Fear records, their groove is fully established on Soul Of A Warrior which has a walking beat as the guitars swing loosely and Allen bellows at the top of his lungs. The tracks from riotous speed metal like When The Night-Time Comes to the more hard rock offering of One Way Street which echoes Sinner and Beyrodt's other band Voodoo Circle as Allen does his best Coverdale impression, this moves into the darker more symphonic Blasphemy and the blatant Priest feel of In For The Kill before the album moves through seven more brilliant tracks all of which show off these men's combined talent for all things metal. As with everything Matt sinner does this album sparkles with flashes of brilliance throughout and it combines all of the talents of those involved as well as giving them a wide pool of influence to draw from. A must for fans of any of those involved or indeed top quality power/melodic metal!! 8/10
Jorn Lande & Trond Holter: Dracula:The Swing Of Death (Frontiers)
Jorn Lande has one of the most recognisable voices in rock music equally content with hard rock swagger and power metal bluster, but on this album he has teamed up with Wig Wam guitarist Trond Holter to write concept album based around the inner demons of Bram Stoker's version of Vlad Dracul with Lande taking up the mantle of the Prince of Wallachia and going full Meatloaf on this album that features so much bombast it would wake the dead. Hands Of God is a subdued atmospheric start setting the scene of a tortured soul, that then leads into the Walking On Water which features a huge hook from Holter that could have come off a Gary Moore album and gives us Lande in full flight full of bravado and bluster singing at the top of his lungs, before Swing Of Death which is actually a swing style song that echoes Diablo Swing Orchestra with the thrusting rock delivery of Holter, Wig Wam bassist Bernt Jansen and drummer Per Morten Bergseth. The dance begins and this leads into the dynamic Masquerade Ball which starts out with a piano and acoustic guitar work and sees Dracula chasing his beloved Mina as it erupts into a symphonic middle with some very good classical guitar playing from Holter as it plunges into the albums most metallic song Save Me which features Lena Fløitmoen as Mina Harker and later she appears as Lucy; Dracula's young victim in his search for Mina. This album has many stylistic shifts throughout due to it's conceptual nature but stays true to Lande and Holter's hard rock backgrounds; Queen Of The Dead is Alice Cooper without the Coop and ends with a tremendous guitar solo. With the right amount of jockeying and indeed financial backing this could be quite a live event with Jorn Lande definitely having the right stage presence and theatricality to be the Vampire Prince stalking his bride while the band play this muscular hard rock, add to that props and dramatics and you would get a show worth of this albums vision (Think the I Would Do Anything For Love video but on a much larger scale.) I've always admired Jorn as a vocalist and personally I prefer him when he is in full Coverdale/Dio mode, however I think this could be up there as one of his best works, if you like the pomp Queen, the theatricality of Alice Cooper, the baroque nature of Meatloaf and you wouldn't be far off. In a world of sound alike bands it's great to have something a little different from some very talented musicians. 9/10
Pig Iron: Sermons From The Church Of Blues Restitution (Off Yer Rocka)
Pig Iron are now on their fifth album and since their debut they have adapted their sound since then focussing more on the delta blues than on the more hard rock/stoner base they had earlier in their career. Sermons... continues in that vein with the choppy Mississippi country picking of Wildcat Birdhead kicking things off as Dan Edwards guitar and Johnny Ogle's mouth harp duel for supremacy with Edwards just pipping him due to the great rhythm he lays down. The cleverly titled One Million Mega Hurts has a bit more slide guitar and sees bassist Hugh Gilmour and drummer Joe Smith providing the voodoo groove as Ogle howls like a thousand wounded Lions. Pig Iron have always been a favourite of mine, I love the fact they are still very much an underground concern releasing albums when they see fit and playing their own brand of authentic blues based rock steeped in blues tradition while still harking back to the heroes, see the The Spell which could have come off Zeppelin III with it's pastoral acoustic guitar rhythm this is one of the most subdued tracks the band have ever released but it is very good indeed showing that this band are not all about heavyweight bluster. We are then taken to Zep IV on The Devil Is In The Woodpile which starts slowly and then builds up in the final part. In fact a lot of this album is more subdued than previous efforts going back to the roots of the blues on tracks such as High As A Pine which is driven by raging acoustics, banjos and mouth harps. In fact the entire middle section of the album has this stripped back sound, this isn't a bad thing at all as it shows that the band can do the blues as well as our American cousins, it's just it might be more of a departure than many fans will be used to. Still if you love bluesy rock music that stays true to the core philosophies laid down by Johnson, Hooker, Waters, King and Wolf. 7/10
Monday, 2 March 2015
Sunday, 1 March 2015
Reviews: Lonely Robot, Band Of Spice, Desert
Lonely Robot: Please Come Home (InsideOut)
Lonely Robot is the solo project of John Mitchell vocalist and guitarist of the second (and I think better) incarnation of It Bites, as well as being the guitarist of Brit-prog legends Arena, Kino, underground prog heroes Frost* and a talented and in demand producer for the likes of Enter Shikari, Funeral For A Friend, You Me At Six and countless others. As a solo artist he has managed to recruit some high profile guests with drums coming from Frost* drummer Craig Blundell and extra bass from Kajagoogoo and Steven Wilson bass player Nick Beggs. Mitchell handles all the vocals, guitars, with bass and keyboards coming under his remit, however on look at the credits shows that it is not just these three men with opener Airlock featuring the keyboard fuelled madness of Frost*'s Jem Godfrey starting this concept album off with a bag building up into the first 'proper' track God Vs Man which is pure Neo-prog harking back to Arena, Pendragon, Marillion and indeed Mr Steven Wilson himself, the guitars move between heavy and melodic with some beautiful phrasing throughout adding to the lush soundscapes that feature on every track, Mitchell is not only a consummate and brilliant instrumentalist he also has a perfectly harrowing and passionate voice for his music equally adept at slow, ballads and the heavier more fervent passages. As I've said this album is a concept and features narration from Lee Ingleby known for his role in Inspector George Gently as well as many other stage and screen roles including the new Bob The Builder(!). From the heaviness into the more pop friendly The Boy In The Radio which features guest vocals from Go West's Peter Cox (yes he is really mixing up the guests here) and is a more bouncy prog that the track that proceeds it and indeed more upbeat than the piano based ballad that follows it, this track; Why Do We Stay features the enchanting vocals of Heather Findlay and piano/backing vocals from Marillion's Steve Hogarth and is a truly beautiful song that breaks the pace excellently with it's orchestral swells and Mitchell and Findlay's impassioned vocals. Lonely Robot follows and it is a commanding song featuring Jem Godfrey on many instruments including Chapman Stick and Slide Guitar as well as guest vocals and guitars from Rebecca Need-Menear and Jamie Finch both from the band Anavae and this makes for a very progressive narrative song that is this album's set piece. This album is neo-prog perfection with old meeting new on Oubliette (French for dungeon or forgotten place) as Mitchell duets with Touchstone singer Kim Seviour, the song has the Touchstone sound as their voices meld perfectly. The album's finale is the epic Humans Being which again features H's piano and lead guitar from Nik Kershaw (yes that Nik Kershaw) and moves swiftly into the haunting closer of The Red Balloon. This album is magnificent, it sums up everything modern progressive rock is, with focus on songwriting taking precedence over technical exhibitionism, although the technical prowess is also present in spades. The first truly excellent progressive rock album of 2015!! 10/10
Desert: Never Regret (Raven Music)
Desert are a classic/power metal band drawing members from Israel and former Soviet Union, Never Regret is their sophomore release. As the intro of Chasing The Prey starts things off building up the atmosphere then its time for rapid drumming and some symphonic based metal on the first track Assassin's Fate what you do witness is that vocalist Alexei Raymar has unique phrasing in his vocals less a top end shriek but a low end snarl not to dissimilar to Iced Earth's Matt Barlow merging with Blind Guardian's Hansi Kursh, his vocals are strong and add menace to the opening track and indeed are the focal point of this album in my opinion. The music isn't to shabby either with some trad metal guitar riffs that do a lot to copy the relentless rhythmic guitar patterns of Jon Schaffer but they do have the addition of some fanciful keyboards too to expand the sound a little meaning that they can move into the symphonic category easily on tracks like the title track and the Kamelot-like ballad The Road To You featuring Dutch vocalist Infy Snow which starts with just a piano before getting doomier in the last section and has good interplay between Raymar's deep vocals and Snows soprano. The guests continue on 1812 with Primal Fear's Ralph Scheepers lending his shriek to proceedings adding to the sense that Desert are a band on the road to bigger and better things. With some high profile support slots already under their belt and an album drawing from a wide range of styles see Final Journey and Imperial Eagle Desert but rooted firmly in the power metal tradition. A great album that is let down a little by the production, still with 11 well written and well performed songs this album will set Desert on the path to climb to bigger heights. 7/10
Band Of Spice: Economic Dancers (Cargo Records)
Vocalist Spice has been around for a while now and many will recognise him as the first singer for Swedish retro rockers Spiritual Beggars before the more well known pipes of Grand Magus' JB and Firewind's Apollo took on the role. Since then Spice has been focussing on his thrash band Kayser who released a cracking album last year but Band Of Spice sees him returning to his stoner rock roots. The band, formerly known as Spice And The RJ Band (Changed after rhythm guitarist Anders Linusson joined) play the kind of guitar heavy stoner rock that Sweden do very well, Spice's voice is scratchy but his bark is perfect for this kind of groove laden rock with a metallic edge. He is also a pretty good guitarist supplying the leads on this record as Anders deputises brilliantly on the chugging rhythm, in the back room Johann and Bob Ruben (who is also in Kayser) provide a sturdy boiler room for the band. The band are stoner rock for the most part but they spread their wings a little on On The Run which sounds a little Springsteen, before Intro-The Joe has the same electric piano sound as Easy by The Commodores and The Joe itself is a Steve Miller like track built on a propulsive guitar and a Hammond bubbling below the surface, You Will Call still takes you further from the stoner rock template with a clean guitar fuelled surf rock You Will Call takes us almost into Foo Fighters territory. Luckily for metal fans You Can't Stop comes back to heavier style but still having the melodic touches of the proceeding tracks. This album, I'll admit, is a little weird it seems to spend more time focussing on other genres than it does in the stoner rock style I thought (and the press release) says it was; for example Fly Away has the soft loud dynamic of grunge, In My Blood is breezy, Stonesy blues and 70's funk on Down By The Liquor Store. I'm not knocking it Spice and his band do seem to have an affinity with classic, retro sounds but the sheer schizophrenic mix on this album can leave you feeling a bit lost about the bands direction. Still the performance of this album is excellent it just loses direction a little two songs in. 7/10
Lonely Robot is the solo project of John Mitchell vocalist and guitarist of the second (and I think better) incarnation of It Bites, as well as being the guitarist of Brit-prog legends Arena, Kino, underground prog heroes Frost* and a talented and in demand producer for the likes of Enter Shikari, Funeral For A Friend, You Me At Six and countless others. As a solo artist he has managed to recruit some high profile guests with drums coming from Frost* drummer Craig Blundell and extra bass from Kajagoogoo and Steven Wilson bass player Nick Beggs. Mitchell handles all the vocals, guitars, with bass and keyboards coming under his remit, however on look at the credits shows that it is not just these three men with opener Airlock featuring the keyboard fuelled madness of Frost*'s Jem Godfrey starting this concept album off with a bag building up into the first 'proper' track God Vs Man which is pure Neo-prog harking back to Arena, Pendragon, Marillion and indeed Mr Steven Wilson himself, the guitars move between heavy and melodic with some beautiful phrasing throughout adding to the lush soundscapes that feature on every track, Mitchell is not only a consummate and brilliant instrumentalist he also has a perfectly harrowing and passionate voice for his music equally adept at slow, ballads and the heavier more fervent passages. As I've said this album is a concept and features narration from Lee Ingleby known for his role in Inspector George Gently as well as many other stage and screen roles including the new Bob The Builder(!). From the heaviness into the more pop friendly The Boy In The Radio which features guest vocals from Go West's Peter Cox (yes he is really mixing up the guests here) and is a more bouncy prog that the track that proceeds it and indeed more upbeat than the piano based ballad that follows it, this track; Why Do We Stay features the enchanting vocals of Heather Findlay and piano/backing vocals from Marillion's Steve Hogarth and is a truly beautiful song that breaks the pace excellently with it's orchestral swells and Mitchell and Findlay's impassioned vocals. Lonely Robot follows and it is a commanding song featuring Jem Godfrey on many instruments including Chapman Stick and Slide Guitar as well as guest vocals and guitars from Rebecca Need-Menear and Jamie Finch both from the band Anavae and this makes for a very progressive narrative song that is this album's set piece. This album is neo-prog perfection with old meeting new on Oubliette (French for dungeon or forgotten place) as Mitchell duets with Touchstone singer Kim Seviour, the song has the Touchstone sound as their voices meld perfectly. The album's finale is the epic Humans Being which again features H's piano and lead guitar from Nik Kershaw (yes that Nik Kershaw) and moves swiftly into the haunting closer of The Red Balloon. This album is magnificent, it sums up everything modern progressive rock is, with focus on songwriting taking precedence over technical exhibitionism, although the technical prowess is also present in spades. The first truly excellent progressive rock album of 2015!! 10/10
Desert: Never Regret (Raven Music)
Desert are a classic/power metal band drawing members from Israel and former Soviet Union, Never Regret is their sophomore release. As the intro of Chasing The Prey starts things off building up the atmosphere then its time for rapid drumming and some symphonic based metal on the first track Assassin's Fate what you do witness is that vocalist Alexei Raymar has unique phrasing in his vocals less a top end shriek but a low end snarl not to dissimilar to Iced Earth's Matt Barlow merging with Blind Guardian's Hansi Kursh, his vocals are strong and add menace to the opening track and indeed are the focal point of this album in my opinion. The music isn't to shabby either with some trad metal guitar riffs that do a lot to copy the relentless rhythmic guitar patterns of Jon Schaffer but they do have the addition of some fanciful keyboards too to expand the sound a little meaning that they can move into the symphonic category easily on tracks like the title track and the Kamelot-like ballad The Road To You featuring Dutch vocalist Infy Snow which starts with just a piano before getting doomier in the last section and has good interplay between Raymar's deep vocals and Snows soprano. The guests continue on 1812 with Primal Fear's Ralph Scheepers lending his shriek to proceedings adding to the sense that Desert are a band on the road to bigger and better things. With some high profile support slots already under their belt and an album drawing from a wide range of styles see Final Journey and Imperial Eagle Desert but rooted firmly in the power metal tradition. A great album that is let down a little by the production, still with 11 well written and well performed songs this album will set Desert on the path to climb to bigger heights. 7/10
Band Of Spice: Economic Dancers (Cargo Records)
Vocalist Spice has been around for a while now and many will recognise him as the first singer for Swedish retro rockers Spiritual Beggars before the more well known pipes of Grand Magus' JB and Firewind's Apollo took on the role. Since then Spice has been focussing on his thrash band Kayser who released a cracking album last year but Band Of Spice sees him returning to his stoner rock roots. The band, formerly known as Spice And The RJ Band (Changed after rhythm guitarist Anders Linusson joined) play the kind of guitar heavy stoner rock that Sweden do very well, Spice's voice is scratchy but his bark is perfect for this kind of groove laden rock with a metallic edge. He is also a pretty good guitarist supplying the leads on this record as Anders deputises brilliantly on the chugging rhythm, in the back room Johann and Bob Ruben (who is also in Kayser) provide a sturdy boiler room for the band. The band are stoner rock for the most part but they spread their wings a little on On The Run which sounds a little Springsteen, before Intro-The Joe has the same electric piano sound as Easy by The Commodores and The Joe itself is a Steve Miller like track built on a propulsive guitar and a Hammond bubbling below the surface, You Will Call still takes you further from the stoner rock template with a clean guitar fuelled surf rock You Will Call takes us almost into Foo Fighters territory. Luckily for metal fans You Can't Stop comes back to heavier style but still having the melodic touches of the proceeding tracks. This album, I'll admit, is a little weird it seems to spend more time focussing on other genres than it does in the stoner rock style I thought (and the press release) says it was; for example Fly Away has the soft loud dynamic of grunge, In My Blood is breezy, Stonesy blues and 70's funk on Down By The Liquor Store. I'm not knocking it Spice and his band do seem to have an affinity with classic, retro sounds but the sheer schizophrenic mix on this album can leave you feeling a bit lost about the bands direction. Still the performance of this album is excellent it just loses direction a little two songs in. 7/10
Saturday, 28 February 2015
Reviews: Temperance, Battle Beast, LEAH (Reviews By Stief)
Temperance: Limitless (Scarlet Records)
The second album from the Italian Quintet opens with an eerie choir of children singing, Oblivion then breaks into the distinct techno-infused metal we've come to enjoy from the band. Yet again the guitars are solid, Giulio Capone's drumming heavy and Chiara Tricarico's vocals soar between operatic and clean effortlessly supported by Marco Pastorino's distinct growls. As mentioned before, the keyboards add a more techno feel to the melodic heavy metal sound, similar to Swedes Amaranthe, which isn't a bad thing at all. Save Me has both an uplifting chorus, and a brilliant breakdown in which Marco shows off his growling, as well as some great riffing supported by Sandro Capone's rhythm guitars. Stay brings the pace down a little, whilst remaining heavy. Another highlight is Mr. White, a song dedicated to everyone's favourite meth dealer, Heisenberg, which even opens with a Breaking Bad-esque bass line from Luik Abbott. Again, Marco shows his vocal skills, supporting Chiara in the chorus with clean vocals before breaking into growls and heavier vocals for the verses. Never Say Goodbye is another song with more of a ballad-esque feel and in this song, as well as throughout the album, the use of strings adds to the melodic sound. The album constantly shifts in pace from song to song, be it the slower sound of Never Say Goodbye, or the faster pace of the title track Limitless, but no song seems to detract from the others. Overall the album is just as melodic and heavy as the last. Another great album by a great band. 9/10
Battle Beast: Unholy Saviour (Nuclear Blast)
Finland's Battle Beast start off with Lionheart, a slice of 80's Heavy Metal complete with Noora Louhimo's vocals, which are bloody powerful, never sounding strained no matter how far she pushes them. There's a very Doro Pesch-like vibe from Noora, and it's perfectly suited to the sound of the band. The third full album from the band, Unholy Saviour is a great mix of heavy, speedy power metal and slower more ballad-like songs such as; Sea Of Dreams and Angel Cry, in which Noora shows the softer side to her vocals whilst still blasting us away with how strong her voice can be. The album also cements the band as fans of Scarface, including not only a sample from the film in I Want The World...And Everything In It, but also an excellent cover of Paul Engemann's Push It To The Limit from the film's soundtrack. Madness is another great song, showing off the talents of the band, be it Eero Sipilä's heavy bass, Pyry Vikki's brilliant drumming, the melodic keyboards of Janne Björkroth or the riffing from Juuso Soinio as well as Noora's aforementioned vocals. Another song which showcases the band's skills is Hero's Quest, a completely instrumental sing replete with chants of 'hey hey' which sounds like it would be perfectly in place as the theme tune to an 80's adventure TV show. Having seen the band live before, it's obvious they're very talented, and this album is a shining example of that. 9/10
LEAH : Kings And Queens (Ex Cathedra Records)
Having been supported by members of Testament before, Canadian artist LEAH is supported by members of Delain and Blind Guardian in places on her third album, Kings And Queens (released last year). It's obvious LEAH has talent,with a varied symphonic style and quite distinct voice. Be it soft in the form of Arcadia and Heart Of Poison to almost Enya-level serenity in places such as Alpha Et Omega, and Hourglass. The album has a very Celtic feel throughout with various instruments being used in conjunction with the metal guitar riffs and drumming to create a unique, soft metal sound which is reminiscent of acts such as Emilie Autumn in places. The album closes with a cover of Siúil A Rún, an Irish love song, mixing English and Irish language, and a bonus rock version of the same song. Overall a mixed bag, but a good album 8/10
The second album from the Italian Quintet opens with an eerie choir of children singing, Oblivion then breaks into the distinct techno-infused metal we've come to enjoy from the band. Yet again the guitars are solid, Giulio Capone's drumming heavy and Chiara Tricarico's vocals soar between operatic and clean effortlessly supported by Marco Pastorino's distinct growls. As mentioned before, the keyboards add a more techno feel to the melodic heavy metal sound, similar to Swedes Amaranthe, which isn't a bad thing at all. Save Me has both an uplifting chorus, and a brilliant breakdown in which Marco shows off his growling, as well as some great riffing supported by Sandro Capone's rhythm guitars. Stay brings the pace down a little, whilst remaining heavy. Another highlight is Mr. White, a song dedicated to everyone's favourite meth dealer, Heisenberg, which even opens with a Breaking Bad-esque bass line from Luik Abbott. Again, Marco shows his vocal skills, supporting Chiara in the chorus with clean vocals before breaking into growls and heavier vocals for the verses. Never Say Goodbye is another song with more of a ballad-esque feel and in this song, as well as throughout the album, the use of strings adds to the melodic sound. The album constantly shifts in pace from song to song, be it the slower sound of Never Say Goodbye, or the faster pace of the title track Limitless, but no song seems to detract from the others. Overall the album is just as melodic and heavy as the last. Another great album by a great band. 9/10
Battle Beast: Unholy Saviour (Nuclear Blast)
Finland's Battle Beast start off with Lionheart, a slice of 80's Heavy Metal complete with Noora Louhimo's vocals, which are bloody powerful, never sounding strained no matter how far she pushes them. There's a very Doro Pesch-like vibe from Noora, and it's perfectly suited to the sound of the band. The third full album from the band, Unholy Saviour is a great mix of heavy, speedy power metal and slower more ballad-like songs such as; Sea Of Dreams and Angel Cry, in which Noora shows the softer side to her vocals whilst still blasting us away with how strong her voice can be. The album also cements the band as fans of Scarface, including not only a sample from the film in I Want The World...And Everything In It, but also an excellent cover of Paul Engemann's Push It To The Limit from the film's soundtrack. Madness is another great song, showing off the talents of the band, be it Eero Sipilä's heavy bass, Pyry Vikki's brilliant drumming, the melodic keyboards of Janne Björkroth or the riffing from Juuso Soinio as well as Noora's aforementioned vocals. Another song which showcases the band's skills is Hero's Quest, a completely instrumental sing replete with chants of 'hey hey' which sounds like it would be perfectly in place as the theme tune to an 80's adventure TV show. Having seen the band live before, it's obvious they're very talented, and this album is a shining example of that. 9/10
LEAH : Kings And Queens (Ex Cathedra Records)
Having been supported by members of Testament before, Canadian artist LEAH is supported by members of Delain and Blind Guardian in places on her third album, Kings And Queens (released last year). It's obvious LEAH has talent,with a varied symphonic style and quite distinct voice. Be it soft in the form of Arcadia and Heart Of Poison to almost Enya-level serenity in places such as Alpha Et Omega, and Hourglass. The album has a very Celtic feel throughout with various instruments being used in conjunction with the metal guitar riffs and drumming to create a unique, soft metal sound which is reminiscent of acts such as Emilie Autumn in places. The album closes with a cover of Siúil A Rún, an Irish love song, mixing English and Irish language, and a bonus rock version of the same song. Overall a mixed bag, but a good album 8/10
Friday, 27 February 2015
Reviews: The Neal Morse Band, Wolfheart, Mojave Lords, Eradicator (Reviews By Paul)
The Neal Morse Band: The Grand Experiment (InsideOut)
Neal Morse has been kicking around the progressive scene for many years; Spock’s Beard, prog super group Transatlantic and a lengthy solo career to name but three. This latest release features Mr Rent-a-kit Mike Portnoy alongside bassist Randy George (Ajalon), guitarist Eric Gillette and keyboardist and vocalist Bill Huabauer. The group are credited with writing all of the music on this album, and musically it is a top quality release. Portnoy’s playing is excellent, once again demonstrating his technical skills whilst Huabauer’s synth work is progressive rock at its most flowing. Some very neat guitar work, time changes and various patterns of play draw you in. However, unfortunately for me, it turns out that most of this motley crew are mainly born again Christians and The Grand Experiment is actually a Christian progressive rock album. Yes, okay, song titles like The Call and the 26 minute closer Alive Again give you the clues. Opening track The Call actually develops during the course of its 10 minutes into an almost evangelical opus, with lots of multiple harmonies in the backing vocals. The title track has some delicious keyboards, coating the track in the vein of the late great John Lord and an infectious hook; but you can’t shake off the happy clappy lyrics which unsurprisingly sit quite uncomfortably with me. And that is where I leave this; before I vomit all over the keyboard as Jesus and his sunshine band continue their love in on Waterfall. Musically, this is fine progressive rock. Lyrically, it makes me want to heave and so happy that the devil has all the best tunes. 6/10
Wolfheart: Winterborn (Spinefarm)
So another release from a Finnish outfit arrives at MoM towers and this time it’s a release which appears to have slipped through our net. Wolfheart is a solo release from Tuomas Saukkonen, following the disbandment of numerous other bands, including Before The Dawn and Black Sun Aeon (ah yes, of course!) Wolfheart is melodic death metal in the vein of Winterstorm, Wintersun and any other band with winter in their name. If you like death vocals, oodles of technical guitar work and battering ram style drumming, give this a whirl. If you don’t it might be one to miss. On the plus side, the quality of musicianship, as typified in most of these bands is excellent with some really intricate playing whilst retaining the heaviness that sits in the death metal camp. On the negative side, much of it just sounds the same and after about 20 minutes you can be excused for wondering if the same song is on loop. There are some changes of pace; Routa Pt 2 starts with a string intro, kicks off into a head first charge, recedes to a classical vibe before heading back into the maelstrom once again. Whiteout is a stomping piece which has a slower, less frenetic pace but retains the death growls. It’s one to bang the head to. More of the same as the album continues, blast beats aplenty and you do wonder how Saukkonen’s throat is feeling by here. It must be raw! Chasm has an element of Opeth about it, death metal interspersed with acoustic parts and some rather tasty time changes to boot. This one has dark mood written all over it. Breathe is a brooding piece, firmly sat in the Triptykon corner with down tuned guitars and clouds gathering above. You just know it would rain if this was played at a festival. Overall then, a varied mix with some very interesting sounds. The biggest problem is getting past the first half of the album which is kinda ‘samey’ in order to access some of the more atmospheric and crafted tracks and it is for that reason that I'm giving it a relatively low rating. 6/10
Mojave Lords: Unfuckwithable (Self Released)
Combine members of the Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age, Masters of Reality and the Eagles Of Death Metal amongst others and what do you get? A slab of steaming hot heavy stoner desert rock more groove laden than a field at harvest time. David Catching and Bongo Ritchey have produced a surprisingly heavy album, as demonstrated on opener Sweet Little Down And Out. The QOTSA sound oozes throughout. Hot Throwaway a case in point with a huge drum sound interspersed with some neat single note guitar work. Unfuckwithable doesn't let up at any point, galloping along in an almost throwaway fashion until you actually analysis that this is really good shit. Anytime Rock is a must for a driving compilation, but then so is most desert rock. It really is pretty damn fine stuff. Simple but deadly and so efficient. The fact that four different drummers feature on this album is quite impressive, as each of them maintain the slamming vibe needed to move the whole thing along. The guitar sound is raw and dirty, and the vocals remain level and in key throughout, apart from one or two interesting falsetteos. If you like your desert rock, this is for you. A very tidy debut from a group that are veterans of the scene. 8/10
Eradicator: Slavery (Yonah Records)
According to their Wikipedia page, Eradicator play classic Thrash Metal in the vein of bands from the San Francisco Bay Area, comparable to the works of Exodus, Death Angel and Testament. Well, it just proves that you can’t believe everything you read on Wiki. Yes, the German outfit play thrash, but so apparently do Madicide. Musically Eradicator are perfectly competent, if routine in their playing with the odd decent hook and some tasty riffs at times. However, the vocals of Sebastian Stober are just dire and destroy any hope of a decent song on the album. How in the name of Satan this lot have managed to release three albums is beyond me. Overall this could be the worst release of 2015. Avoid at all costs. 2/10
Neal Morse has been kicking around the progressive scene for many years; Spock’s Beard, prog super group Transatlantic and a lengthy solo career to name but three. This latest release features Mr Rent-a-kit Mike Portnoy alongside bassist Randy George (Ajalon), guitarist Eric Gillette and keyboardist and vocalist Bill Huabauer. The group are credited with writing all of the music on this album, and musically it is a top quality release. Portnoy’s playing is excellent, once again demonstrating his technical skills whilst Huabauer’s synth work is progressive rock at its most flowing. Some very neat guitar work, time changes and various patterns of play draw you in. However, unfortunately for me, it turns out that most of this motley crew are mainly born again Christians and The Grand Experiment is actually a Christian progressive rock album. Yes, okay, song titles like The Call and the 26 minute closer Alive Again give you the clues. Opening track The Call actually develops during the course of its 10 minutes into an almost evangelical opus, with lots of multiple harmonies in the backing vocals. The title track has some delicious keyboards, coating the track in the vein of the late great John Lord and an infectious hook; but you can’t shake off the happy clappy lyrics which unsurprisingly sit quite uncomfortably with me. And that is where I leave this; before I vomit all over the keyboard as Jesus and his sunshine band continue their love in on Waterfall. Musically, this is fine progressive rock. Lyrically, it makes me want to heave and so happy that the devil has all the best tunes. 6/10
Wolfheart: Winterborn (Spinefarm)
So another release from a Finnish outfit arrives at MoM towers and this time it’s a release which appears to have slipped through our net. Wolfheart is a solo release from Tuomas Saukkonen, following the disbandment of numerous other bands, including Before The Dawn and Black Sun Aeon (ah yes, of course!) Wolfheart is melodic death metal in the vein of Winterstorm, Wintersun and any other band with winter in their name. If you like death vocals, oodles of technical guitar work and battering ram style drumming, give this a whirl. If you don’t it might be one to miss. On the plus side, the quality of musicianship, as typified in most of these bands is excellent with some really intricate playing whilst retaining the heaviness that sits in the death metal camp. On the negative side, much of it just sounds the same and after about 20 minutes you can be excused for wondering if the same song is on loop. There are some changes of pace; Routa Pt 2 starts with a string intro, kicks off into a head first charge, recedes to a classical vibe before heading back into the maelstrom once again. Whiteout is a stomping piece which has a slower, less frenetic pace but retains the death growls. It’s one to bang the head to. More of the same as the album continues, blast beats aplenty and you do wonder how Saukkonen’s throat is feeling by here. It must be raw! Chasm has an element of Opeth about it, death metal interspersed with acoustic parts and some rather tasty time changes to boot. This one has dark mood written all over it. Breathe is a brooding piece, firmly sat in the Triptykon corner with down tuned guitars and clouds gathering above. You just know it would rain if this was played at a festival. Overall then, a varied mix with some very interesting sounds. The biggest problem is getting past the first half of the album which is kinda ‘samey’ in order to access some of the more atmospheric and crafted tracks and it is for that reason that I'm giving it a relatively low rating. 6/10
Mojave Lords: Unfuckwithable (Self Released)
Combine members of the Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age, Masters of Reality and the Eagles Of Death Metal amongst others and what do you get? A slab of steaming hot heavy stoner desert rock more groove laden than a field at harvest time. David Catching and Bongo Ritchey have produced a surprisingly heavy album, as demonstrated on opener Sweet Little Down And Out. The QOTSA sound oozes throughout. Hot Throwaway a case in point with a huge drum sound interspersed with some neat single note guitar work. Unfuckwithable doesn't let up at any point, galloping along in an almost throwaway fashion until you actually analysis that this is really good shit. Anytime Rock is a must for a driving compilation, but then so is most desert rock. It really is pretty damn fine stuff. Simple but deadly and so efficient. The fact that four different drummers feature on this album is quite impressive, as each of them maintain the slamming vibe needed to move the whole thing along. The guitar sound is raw and dirty, and the vocals remain level and in key throughout, apart from one or two interesting falsetteos. If you like your desert rock, this is for you. A very tidy debut from a group that are veterans of the scene. 8/10
Eradicator: Slavery (Yonah Records)
According to their Wikipedia page, Eradicator play classic Thrash Metal in the vein of bands from the San Francisco Bay Area, comparable to the works of Exodus, Death Angel and Testament. Well, it just proves that you can’t believe everything you read on Wiki. Yes, the German outfit play thrash, but so apparently do Madicide. Musically Eradicator are perfectly competent, if routine in their playing with the odd decent hook and some tasty riffs at times. However, the vocals of Sebastian Stober are just dire and destroy any hope of a decent song on the album. How in the name of Satan this lot have managed to release three albums is beyond me. Overall this could be the worst release of 2015. Avoid at all costs. 2/10
Thursday, 26 February 2015
Reviews: Black Star Riders, Serious Black, Demolition Train
Black Star Riders: Killer Instinct (Nuclear Blast)
After their debut I was wondering where Black Star Riders could go in terms of their long term plans seeing as they started life as the reinvigorated Thin Lizzy before changing their name to create a new history rather than play on Lizzy's. With the shadow of Lizzy looming large on the debut Black Star Riders have to achieve a fine balance between carrying on that legacy musically and forging their own career as a band. On this second album the band have managed not to fall off the ledge as from the burly swaggering riff of the title track opens the album just like Phil and co used to, Ricky Warwick using his Irish croon to great effect over Scott Gorham and Damon Johnson's twin axe attack something Gorham's previous band perfected, so far so Lizzy then but the band have managed to walk out of the shadow a little with tracks that are not reaching for any particular sound except one of guitar slinging, whiskey drinking hard rock; tracks like Bullet Blues have their own sound with Robbie Crane and Jimmy DeGrasso adding to their engine room stamp all over this driving track, Finest Hour is a poppier affair that almost sounds a lot like The Almighty with it's "nana nana" refrain before we are thrown back into Celtic territory with Soldiertown that is prime Gary Moore as is Turn In Your Arms. As I've said the shadow of Lizzy does still loom over proceedings but there is enough on this record to advance BSR, take for example Blindsided which is a great song that is truly their own creation not sounding like anyone else and Sex, Guns & Gasoline which is more Southern USA than Emerald Isle. As I've said BSR have managed to forge ahead with this band harking back to their roots but also creating their own sound, this is a great second shot at glory for BSR. 8/10
Serious Black: As Daylight Breaks (AFM)
With a relative glut of power metal albums coming thick and fast at the beginning of the year, we get yet another collaborative project drawing members from other power metal bands, with the most well known of which being Ex-Helloween/Masterplan axeman Roland Grapow who oversees the production and plays the guitars along with Edenbridge's Dominik Sebastian (Grapow has since been replaced by Firewind/Outloud's Bob Katsinosis). He has assembled a worldwide line up with the rhythm section coming from Emergency Gate's Mario Lochert on bass and ex-Blind Guardian tub thumper Thomen Stauch firing like a machine gun. With Grapow and indeed Lochert's production expertise the rhythm section sparkles battering down the doors from the opening few minutes of I Seek No Other Life, before things get more melodic on High And Low which has more input from Jan Vacik's keys but retains the Teutonic metal assault of the bottom end and the simply stunning guitar work of Grapow and Sebastian both of whom show their skill and why they are revered in power metal guitar circles. This album comes from the heavier end of the power metal spectrum with crunching metallic riffs cascading throughout even on the 'slower' tracks like Sealing My Fate, the orchestral Egyptian themed Akhenaton, the more melodic Setting Fire To The Earth, with the one exception on the massive ballad As Daylight Breaks. The band are all excellent musicians in particular Urban breed (sic) whose vocals are excellent, the ex Tad Morose and Bloodbound man has a a hell of a voice expressive and brawny perfectly fitting on top of the mighty musical backing. As I've said there have been a lot of power metal releases at the moment with a lot of filler and few gems, Serious Black happily are in the latter category a real power metal gem that is up there with Helloween, Blind Guardian and indeed Firewind in terms of rampaging, melodic power metal that merges great songwriting with musical virtuosity. 9/10
Demolition Train: Unleash The Hordes (No Remorse)
Trad/Thrash metal from Athens Greece now with Demolition Train who pack a punch with their thrashy style of metal released on Athens' No Remorse Records and this album is atypical of the their roster, nice speedy metallic riffage with scratchy guitars, shouting Tom Araya style vocals and thumping, machine gun rhythm section. Opener Wrecking Crew is prime Anthrax, Unleash The Hordes echoes Slayer and Kreator, so far so thrash but Kill Your Boss starts out in Judas Priest territory before going all Municipal Waste in the final part with the repeated chants of the the title. I'll say it now, Demolition Train don't do anything new but they do play solid thrash infused metal with a a nice natural sound, no production tricks here, we are in down and dirty territory with tracks like Metal Mayhem sounding like an offcut from Kill .Em All and Chase Your Blues Away pinching a Motorhead riff I'm sure. Like I said no new ground covered but a good enough retracing of steps with all the thrash bases covered from speed to melody, subtlety to power. If you want to just tune in, turn up and rock out you can do a lot worse than Unleash The Hordes; brainless thrash at it's best. Elli̱nikí̱ métallo kómma!! 7/10
After their debut I was wondering where Black Star Riders could go in terms of their long term plans seeing as they started life as the reinvigorated Thin Lizzy before changing their name to create a new history rather than play on Lizzy's. With the shadow of Lizzy looming large on the debut Black Star Riders have to achieve a fine balance between carrying on that legacy musically and forging their own career as a band. On this second album the band have managed not to fall off the ledge as from the burly swaggering riff of the title track opens the album just like Phil and co used to, Ricky Warwick using his Irish croon to great effect over Scott Gorham and Damon Johnson's twin axe attack something Gorham's previous band perfected, so far so Lizzy then but the band have managed to walk out of the shadow a little with tracks that are not reaching for any particular sound except one of guitar slinging, whiskey drinking hard rock; tracks like Bullet Blues have their own sound with Robbie Crane and Jimmy DeGrasso adding to their engine room stamp all over this driving track, Finest Hour is a poppier affair that almost sounds a lot like The Almighty with it's "nana nana" refrain before we are thrown back into Celtic territory with Soldiertown that is prime Gary Moore as is Turn In Your Arms. As I've said the shadow of Lizzy does still loom over proceedings but there is enough on this record to advance BSR, take for example Blindsided which is a great song that is truly their own creation not sounding like anyone else and Sex, Guns & Gasoline which is more Southern USA than Emerald Isle. As I've said BSR have managed to forge ahead with this band harking back to their roots but also creating their own sound, this is a great second shot at glory for BSR. 8/10
Serious Black: As Daylight Breaks (AFM)
With a relative glut of power metal albums coming thick and fast at the beginning of the year, we get yet another collaborative project drawing members from other power metal bands, with the most well known of which being Ex-Helloween/Masterplan axeman Roland Grapow who oversees the production and plays the guitars along with Edenbridge's Dominik Sebastian (Grapow has since been replaced by Firewind/Outloud's Bob Katsinosis). He has assembled a worldwide line up with the rhythm section coming from Emergency Gate's Mario Lochert on bass and ex-Blind Guardian tub thumper Thomen Stauch firing like a machine gun. With Grapow and indeed Lochert's production expertise the rhythm section sparkles battering down the doors from the opening few minutes of I Seek No Other Life, before things get more melodic on High And Low which has more input from Jan Vacik's keys but retains the Teutonic metal assault of the bottom end and the simply stunning guitar work of Grapow and Sebastian both of whom show their skill and why they are revered in power metal guitar circles. This album comes from the heavier end of the power metal spectrum with crunching metallic riffs cascading throughout even on the 'slower' tracks like Sealing My Fate, the orchestral Egyptian themed Akhenaton, the more melodic Setting Fire To The Earth, with the one exception on the massive ballad As Daylight Breaks. The band are all excellent musicians in particular Urban breed (sic) whose vocals are excellent, the ex Tad Morose and Bloodbound man has a a hell of a voice expressive and brawny perfectly fitting on top of the mighty musical backing. As I've said there have been a lot of power metal releases at the moment with a lot of filler and few gems, Serious Black happily are in the latter category a real power metal gem that is up there with Helloween, Blind Guardian and indeed Firewind in terms of rampaging, melodic power metal that merges great songwriting with musical virtuosity. 9/10
Demolition Train: Unleash The Hordes (No Remorse)
Trad/Thrash metal from Athens Greece now with Demolition Train who pack a punch with their thrashy style of metal released on Athens' No Remorse Records and this album is atypical of the their roster, nice speedy metallic riffage with scratchy guitars, shouting Tom Araya style vocals and thumping, machine gun rhythm section. Opener Wrecking Crew is prime Anthrax, Unleash The Hordes echoes Slayer and Kreator, so far so thrash but Kill Your Boss starts out in Judas Priest territory before going all Municipal Waste in the final part with the repeated chants of the the title. I'll say it now, Demolition Train don't do anything new but they do play solid thrash infused metal with a a nice natural sound, no production tricks here, we are in down and dirty territory with tracks like Metal Mayhem sounding like an offcut from Kill .Em All and Chase Your Blues Away pinching a Motorhead riff I'm sure. Like I said no new ground covered but a good enough retracing of steps with all the thrash bases covered from speed to melody, subtlety to power. If you want to just tune in, turn up and rock out you can do a lot worse than Unleash The Hordes; brainless thrash at it's best. Elli̱nikí̱ métallo kómma!! 7/10
Wednesday, 25 February 2015
Review: Scorpions (Monster Review By Paul)
Scorpions: Return To Forever (Sony Music)
Now in their 50th year, Germanic rockers Scorpions have delivered what is very likely to be their final album, Return To Forever. Now, before I get stuck into this review, bear in mind that this is a band I have loved for a long time. From the psychedelic meanderings of the Lonesome Crow and Fly To The Rainbow; the move to harder edged rock era of In Trance and Virgin Killer and the more commercial but still hard rocking late 70s Lovedrive and Animal Magnetism as well as the early 1980s success of the blistering Blackout and Love At First Sting, culminating in the classic double live album World Wide Live, I have lapped them all up. Stunningly good live, full of power and drive with anthem after anthem, Scorpions were a staple part of my teenage years. Despite the god awful Wind Of Change and the dirge that they produced through the 1990s, they remained high in my affections, much to my wife’s bewilderment. 2010’s Sting In The Tail left fresh hope that the band had rediscovered their cutting edge that had been buried for a long time and as they embarked on a farewell tour that has lasted forever, a further release has finally arrived.
So, is it any good? Well, in truth, it’s a pretty mixed bag overall. Opener Going Out With A Bang starts with an almost Southern Country style riff before the classic harmonies kick in on the chorus, and the trademark riffs of Rudolph Schenker and Mathias Jabs punch in. Klaus Meine has one of the most distinctive voices in hard rock, and this album is no different. Fuck it, for a man in his late 60s, his high range tenor is still damn impressive. Going Out With A Bang morphs into quite a rocker before first single, We Built This House arrives. This feels more like the cheesy Scorpions that we've been used to for the last 20 years; lyrically Scorpions were never going to tackle world politics; love ballads, innuendo and the odd chest thumping is about as in depth as you get, and in the main, this is what you want. Rock My Car is a decent thumper of a track, some old school hooks and riffs surfacing along with the formulaic delivery and sing-a-long chorus, “Rock, rock, rock, my car, Let’s put the pedal, down to the metal”. Yep, it’s high intensity stuff but after eight pints this will blow your head off with some decent solo work from Mathias Jabs hidden in the middle. Unfortunately the Def Leppard style chanting make you feel a bit queasy at times.
Next up is the first real ballad, House Of Cards. Whilst I appreciate Meine’s vocals, I just find the rock ballad in any setting cringe worthy virtually without exception. However, I guarantee that the arenas of Europe will be lit by lighters for this one. It’s so sickly you should get a free savoury snack to balance the taste out. From here on in, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. All For One falls into the anthemic arena rock category but is really nothing special whilst Rock ‘n’ Roll Band starts like a steam train, reminiscent of Now from Blackout, and is quite a balls out rocker, allowing James Kottak and Paweł Mąciwoda, both stalwarts of the band to power the rhythm section forward. Despite the clunky lyrics, this is one of the heaviest tracks on the album and I’d give a few quid to see this live. Catch Your Luck and Play is all filler, another sing-a-long chorus and the opportunity for mass audience participation; several chances to sing “woo” and punch the air. Rollin’ Home is almost a Queen track with a We Will Rock You drum sound and some very eerie Freddie Mercuryesque vocals at times. It’s not very good.
Return To Forever is too long, especially by Scorpion standards. 17 tracks? Since when? Hard Rockin' The Place is formulaic, throw away stuff but still perfectly listenable with some driving riffs and melodies and Jabs peeling off solos for fun. However, Eye Of The Storm, another ballad induces the nausea and has you reaching for the sick bag. Unsurprisingly, the lyrical content throughout the album is reflective and sentimental, with the inevitable end slowly looming into view. The Scratch is a slight departure with a smashing rockabilly feel and one that would be pretty awesome at a drunken wedding with your best mates; you know, the kind of do where you think you can jive and twist but actually you look like a twat but it doesn't matter in the slightest. This might just be my favourite track. It’s like heavy metal Stray Cats! However, the fun doesn't last, as sombre guitars introduce yet another introspective ballad; Gypsy Life with lyrics such as “The years go by, the clock is ticking way too fast”. This is followed by The World We Used To Know, yet another self-reflection and even more Freddie Mercury style vocals. This is horrible stuff I’m afraid. Stay with me folks, we’re up to track 14, Dancing In The Moonlight, with a riff stolen from Steve Vai’s Surfing With The Alien; It’s an up tempo Eurovision style song; almost but not quite power metal. When The Truth Is A Lie is quite a mixture, some killer guitar work combined with an acoustic theme and Meine’s high vocals. Who We Are – well, just makes you want to vomit. It’s ghastly. Album closer Delirious is a reasonable offering; some of the old Scorpions fire threatens at times and brings an overlong album to a respectable end.
So, if this is it, which I am pretty certain it is, is it a fitting epitaph? For me no. It contains too many throw away tracks, far too many ballads and not enough of the Scorpions I loved. I’d still love to see them live again, although I fear that could destroy my memories. Tracks like The Zoo, Make It Real, Blackout, China White, I'm Going Mad and We’ll Burn The Sky; that’s where I live. Maybe we should just leave a slightly grumpy old man with his memories and old school music in the corner in his comfy chair and slippers; dreaming of the days when already receding Germans looked the mutt’s nuts in stripy yellow spandex and performed human pyramids on stage. 6/10
Now in their 50th year, Germanic rockers Scorpions have delivered what is very likely to be their final album, Return To Forever. Now, before I get stuck into this review, bear in mind that this is a band I have loved for a long time. From the psychedelic meanderings of the Lonesome Crow and Fly To The Rainbow; the move to harder edged rock era of In Trance and Virgin Killer and the more commercial but still hard rocking late 70s Lovedrive and Animal Magnetism as well as the early 1980s success of the blistering Blackout and Love At First Sting, culminating in the classic double live album World Wide Live, I have lapped them all up. Stunningly good live, full of power and drive with anthem after anthem, Scorpions were a staple part of my teenage years. Despite the god awful Wind Of Change and the dirge that they produced through the 1990s, they remained high in my affections, much to my wife’s bewilderment. 2010’s Sting In The Tail left fresh hope that the band had rediscovered their cutting edge that had been buried for a long time and as they embarked on a farewell tour that has lasted forever, a further release has finally arrived.
So, is it any good? Well, in truth, it’s a pretty mixed bag overall. Opener Going Out With A Bang starts with an almost Southern Country style riff before the classic harmonies kick in on the chorus, and the trademark riffs of Rudolph Schenker and Mathias Jabs punch in. Klaus Meine has one of the most distinctive voices in hard rock, and this album is no different. Fuck it, for a man in his late 60s, his high range tenor is still damn impressive. Going Out With A Bang morphs into quite a rocker before first single, We Built This House arrives. This feels more like the cheesy Scorpions that we've been used to for the last 20 years; lyrically Scorpions were never going to tackle world politics; love ballads, innuendo and the odd chest thumping is about as in depth as you get, and in the main, this is what you want. Rock My Car is a decent thumper of a track, some old school hooks and riffs surfacing along with the formulaic delivery and sing-a-long chorus, “Rock, rock, rock, my car, Let’s put the pedal, down to the metal”. Yep, it’s high intensity stuff but after eight pints this will blow your head off with some decent solo work from Mathias Jabs hidden in the middle. Unfortunately the Def Leppard style chanting make you feel a bit queasy at times.
Next up is the first real ballad, House Of Cards. Whilst I appreciate Meine’s vocals, I just find the rock ballad in any setting cringe worthy virtually without exception. However, I guarantee that the arenas of Europe will be lit by lighters for this one. It’s so sickly you should get a free savoury snack to balance the taste out. From here on in, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. All For One falls into the anthemic arena rock category but is really nothing special whilst Rock ‘n’ Roll Band starts like a steam train, reminiscent of Now from Blackout, and is quite a balls out rocker, allowing James Kottak and Paweł Mąciwoda, both stalwarts of the band to power the rhythm section forward. Despite the clunky lyrics, this is one of the heaviest tracks on the album and I’d give a few quid to see this live. Catch Your Luck and Play is all filler, another sing-a-long chorus and the opportunity for mass audience participation; several chances to sing “woo” and punch the air. Rollin’ Home is almost a Queen track with a We Will Rock You drum sound and some very eerie Freddie Mercuryesque vocals at times. It’s not very good.
Return To Forever is too long, especially by Scorpion standards. 17 tracks? Since when? Hard Rockin' The Place is formulaic, throw away stuff but still perfectly listenable with some driving riffs and melodies and Jabs peeling off solos for fun. However, Eye Of The Storm, another ballad induces the nausea and has you reaching for the sick bag. Unsurprisingly, the lyrical content throughout the album is reflective and sentimental, with the inevitable end slowly looming into view. The Scratch is a slight departure with a smashing rockabilly feel and one that would be pretty awesome at a drunken wedding with your best mates; you know, the kind of do where you think you can jive and twist but actually you look like a twat but it doesn't matter in the slightest. This might just be my favourite track. It’s like heavy metal Stray Cats! However, the fun doesn't last, as sombre guitars introduce yet another introspective ballad; Gypsy Life with lyrics such as “The years go by, the clock is ticking way too fast”. This is followed by The World We Used To Know, yet another self-reflection and even more Freddie Mercury style vocals. This is horrible stuff I’m afraid. Stay with me folks, we’re up to track 14, Dancing In The Moonlight, with a riff stolen from Steve Vai’s Surfing With The Alien; It’s an up tempo Eurovision style song; almost but not quite power metal. When The Truth Is A Lie is quite a mixture, some killer guitar work combined with an acoustic theme and Meine’s high vocals. Who We Are – well, just makes you want to vomit. It’s ghastly. Album closer Delirious is a reasonable offering; some of the old Scorpions fire threatens at times and brings an overlong album to a respectable end.
So, if this is it, which I am pretty certain it is, is it a fitting epitaph? For me no. It contains too many throw away tracks, far too many ballads and not enough of the Scorpions I loved. I’d still love to see them live again, although I fear that could destroy my memories. Tracks like The Zoo, Make It Real, Blackout, China White, I'm Going Mad and We’ll Burn The Sky; that’s where I live. Maybe we should just leave a slightly grumpy old man with his memories and old school music in the corner in his comfy chair and slippers; dreaming of the days when already receding Germans looked the mutt’s nuts in stripy yellow spandex and performed human pyramids on stage. 6/10
Sunday, 22 February 2015
Reviews: Revolution Saints, The Experiment No Q, Winterage
Revolution Saints: S/T (Frontiers Records)
Revolution Saints is a definitely a supergroup, with all three members of this power trio coming from the A-List of Melodic Rock/AOR, the band consists of six stringer Doug Aldrich known for his time as David Coverdale's sideman, bass comes from Night Ranger/Damn Yankees mainman Jack Blades and drums and indeed lead vocals are from Journey sticksman Deen Castronovo. Yes I did say lead vocals, many Journey fans will know Castronovo contributes some lead vocals on Journey albums but never a whole album, so how does he fair? Very well indeed, his vocals are strong, soulful and perfect for this type of music, in parts he even sounds a lot like Journey's Steve Perry especially when he is duetting with current Journey singer Arnel Pineda on the super ballad You're Not Alone. Castronovo is not the only star though Aldrich shows why he was at ol' leather lungs himself side for all these years sliding up and down the fretboard like a madman and Blades adds the bototm end and helps out on the vocal front on Way To The Sun (which features guest guitars from Neal Schon) and the lead single Turn Back Time something that this track and indeed the whole album does in spades. We are in prime AOR territory here with and album that would fit well when nestled between Eclipse and Midnight Madness, this is quite a feat especially when you consider many of the tracks were written by Keyboardist/Producer Alessandro Del Vecchio, Eclipse's Erik Mårtensson and guitarist Magnus Karlsson, men who were not around when these albums were released. With this all star cast they have produced an album of excellent melodic rock with some big choruses and staggering ballads in the shape of Don't Walk Away. If you love AOR and melodic rock, you will love this album it harks back to the 1980's heyday of these men's day jobs and shows that you can't teach old tricks but you can combine those tricks to create a magical album of prime radio rock. 8/10
The Experiment No Q: The Experiment No Q (Nembo Records)
OK so bare with me here, The Experiment No Q is the project of Paolo Vallerga who is the lyricist, artistic director and (one of) keyboardist/guitarist of this project writing most of the music (with a little help) as well as the poetic lyrics that run through this record. He has assembled a large group of relatively unknown musicians (this is not an all-star project) to perform the songs. This album can be classed as progressive, but it falls into both rock and metal categories as well as numerous others too, with five vocalists (four male and one female), four guitarists, three bassists, three drummers, yet another keyboardist as well as violinist and flautist, this album is a real melting pot of influences and styles, To The Wise And Understanding Reader is a metallic start to proceedings with a heavy weight riff fest and powerful percussion to get you in the mood before throwing a curve-ball with Unpainted Leaves which is a lot jazzier in its style and even has some scat singing from vocalists Linnéa Vikström and Nalle Påhlsson, from jazz to driving marching industrial metal on Romantiquesque which strays into Rammestein territory another stylistic sway and we go into a piano led The Dream Of The Whales which sounds like a more restrained ballad track from Dream Theater or Threshold, The Ship And The Poet is exactly that a poem set to an ominous, dark musical backing. As I've said this album twist and turns leaving no musical avenue unresearched, but unusually the songs on this album are concise keeping all the experimentation into songs under 7 minutes which means that they don't outstay their welcome and become convoluted and bloated which can happen with some prog bands, it means that this album is incredibly accessible for those that are put off by 25 minute tracks favoured by proggers. Back to the songs and The Black Horizon Of The Monodist is organ fuelled 70's rock that ends with an explosive guitar solo, whereas Labyrinths is pure Porcupine Tree ending with a guitar solo over a sample from a space launch. As the album wraps up we are finally faced with an elongated track but The Testament Of Cremer is paced like a Maiden epic infused with epic poetry and galloping rhythm guitars before we get an acoustic bonus track that is totally Italian. This album a real musical journey that draws from rock, metal and jazz while bringing in other musical elements to flesh out their appeal and of course their sound, an album to absorb in it's entirety and one that gives more on every listen. This is a steampunk fairytale told by a multitude of talented artists and brought together by a man with great vision. This could be one of the prog albums of 2015. 9/10
Winterage: The Harmonic Passage (Self Released)
Italy is somewhat of a heartland for symphonic power metal and Winterage are the newest addition to the countries plethora of symphonic metal bands. What sets them apart though is their liberal use of Gabriele Boschi's violin which gives the album an almost folky feel for the most part, this means that they sound similar to fellow Italians Elvenking which is no bad thing in my opinion. Yet even with the addition of the violin, for the most part this is rapid drumming from Davide Bartoli, the staccato guitars of Riccardo Gisotti, who duels with Boschi, throughout and melodic keyboard flourishes of Dario Gisotti who adds a hint of 70's prog to proceedings on The Flame Shall Not Fade. I will admit the mix of guitars and violin is excellent and helps move Winterage into a different category musically as it allows them to move between classical Son Of Winter (which also features some majestic female vocals) and metal (the title track) with ease helping them do both very well indeed. With the operatic vocals of Daniele Barbarossa topping everything off nicely Winterage have constructed an album of classically influenced metal that is symphonic in its truest form. A great first strike from Winterage with a sound that will endear them to many fans of symphonic power metal. 7/10
Revolution Saints is a definitely a supergroup, with all three members of this power trio coming from the A-List of Melodic Rock/AOR, the band consists of six stringer Doug Aldrich known for his time as David Coverdale's sideman, bass comes from Night Ranger/Damn Yankees mainman Jack Blades and drums and indeed lead vocals are from Journey sticksman Deen Castronovo. Yes I did say lead vocals, many Journey fans will know Castronovo contributes some lead vocals on Journey albums but never a whole album, so how does he fair? Very well indeed, his vocals are strong, soulful and perfect for this type of music, in parts he even sounds a lot like Journey's Steve Perry especially when he is duetting with current Journey singer Arnel Pineda on the super ballad You're Not Alone. Castronovo is not the only star though Aldrich shows why he was at ol' leather lungs himself side for all these years sliding up and down the fretboard like a madman and Blades adds the bototm end and helps out on the vocal front on Way To The Sun (which features guest guitars from Neal Schon) and the lead single Turn Back Time something that this track and indeed the whole album does in spades. We are in prime AOR territory here with and album that would fit well when nestled between Eclipse and Midnight Madness, this is quite a feat especially when you consider many of the tracks were written by Keyboardist/Producer Alessandro Del Vecchio, Eclipse's Erik Mårtensson and guitarist Magnus Karlsson, men who were not around when these albums were released. With this all star cast they have produced an album of excellent melodic rock with some big choruses and staggering ballads in the shape of Don't Walk Away. If you love AOR and melodic rock, you will love this album it harks back to the 1980's heyday of these men's day jobs and shows that you can't teach old tricks but you can combine those tricks to create a magical album of prime radio rock. 8/10
The Experiment No Q: The Experiment No Q (Nembo Records)
OK so bare with me here, The Experiment No Q is the project of Paolo Vallerga who is the lyricist, artistic director and (one of) keyboardist/guitarist of this project writing most of the music (with a little help) as well as the poetic lyrics that run through this record. He has assembled a large group of relatively unknown musicians (this is not an all-star project) to perform the songs. This album can be classed as progressive, but it falls into both rock and metal categories as well as numerous others too, with five vocalists (four male and one female), four guitarists, three bassists, three drummers, yet another keyboardist as well as violinist and flautist, this album is a real melting pot of influences and styles, To The Wise And Understanding Reader is a metallic start to proceedings with a heavy weight riff fest and powerful percussion to get you in the mood before throwing a curve-ball with Unpainted Leaves which is a lot jazzier in its style and even has some scat singing from vocalists Linnéa Vikström and Nalle Påhlsson, from jazz to driving marching industrial metal on Romantiquesque which strays into Rammestein territory another stylistic sway and we go into a piano led The Dream Of The Whales which sounds like a more restrained ballad track from Dream Theater or Threshold, The Ship And The Poet is exactly that a poem set to an ominous, dark musical backing. As I've said this album twist and turns leaving no musical avenue unresearched, but unusually the songs on this album are concise keeping all the experimentation into songs under 7 minutes which means that they don't outstay their welcome and become convoluted and bloated which can happen with some prog bands, it means that this album is incredibly accessible for those that are put off by 25 minute tracks favoured by proggers. Back to the songs and The Black Horizon Of The Monodist is organ fuelled 70's rock that ends with an explosive guitar solo, whereas Labyrinths is pure Porcupine Tree ending with a guitar solo over a sample from a space launch. As the album wraps up we are finally faced with an elongated track but The Testament Of Cremer is paced like a Maiden epic infused with epic poetry and galloping rhythm guitars before we get an acoustic bonus track that is totally Italian. This album a real musical journey that draws from rock, metal and jazz while bringing in other musical elements to flesh out their appeal and of course their sound, an album to absorb in it's entirety and one that gives more on every listen. This is a steampunk fairytale told by a multitude of talented artists and brought together by a man with great vision. This could be one of the prog albums of 2015. 9/10
Winterage: The Harmonic Passage (Self Released)
Italy is somewhat of a heartland for symphonic power metal and Winterage are the newest addition to the countries plethora of symphonic metal bands. What sets them apart though is their liberal use of Gabriele Boschi's violin which gives the album an almost folky feel for the most part, this means that they sound similar to fellow Italians Elvenking which is no bad thing in my opinion. Yet even with the addition of the violin, for the most part this is rapid drumming from Davide Bartoli, the staccato guitars of Riccardo Gisotti, who duels with Boschi, throughout and melodic keyboard flourishes of Dario Gisotti who adds a hint of 70's prog to proceedings on The Flame Shall Not Fade. I will admit the mix of guitars and violin is excellent and helps move Winterage into a different category musically as it allows them to move between classical Son Of Winter (which also features some majestic female vocals) and metal (the title track) with ease helping them do both very well indeed. With the operatic vocals of Daniele Barbarossa topping everything off nicely Winterage have constructed an album of classically influenced metal that is symphonic in its truest form. A great first strike from Winterage with a sound that will endear them to many fans of symphonic power metal. 7/10
Wednesday, 18 February 2015
Review: Blackberry Smoke (Monster Review By Paul)
Blackberry Smoke: Holding All The Roses (Rounder Records)
Holding all the Roses is probably one of the most anticipated releases of 2015; the long awaited follow up to 2012’s Whippoorwill and on the back of a hugely successful UK tour last autumn. Having been lucky enough to have seen a quite staggeringly brilliant show in Birmingham, it is fair to say that I was pretty keen to get my mitts on this release.
Favourable comparisons have been made between the Smoke and many of the great Southern rock bands such as Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers, Hatchet and even ZZ Top and their previous releases contained many similarities. With Holding All The Roses, Blackberry Smoke have both distanced and closed the gap with their peers. Sure, the heavy keyboards of Brandon Still continue to ooze throughout, the lyrics still talk about the good ol’ boys singing the blues and tales of mischief and heartbreak and Charlie Starr’s vocals remains instantly recognisable. The guitar work of Starr and Paul Jackson is effortless, layered and textured and to be honest quite flawless. All of this quality is underpinned by the solid rhythm section of brothers Richard (bass) and Brit Turner (drums) to create Southern rock at its finest. Yes, the band play both types of music; country and Western.
Opener Let Me Help You is more infectious than Newport clap clinic and has a distinct Tom Petty feel to it. The title track is real feel good rattle and hum; galloping along and compelling you to pick up your Stetson, cowboys boots and shake your thang, all in a line now y’all. Some smashing guitar work from Starr and Jackson are hidden in the middle of this track which is likely to become a firm crowd favourite as soon as it hits the live circuit. There’s even some demonic fiddle buried in the track, reminiscent of the Charlie Daniel’s Band track The Devil Went Down To Georgia (how apt!). Living In The Song and Rock And Roll Again have massive shades of the mighty Quo, all strum and sing along with the classic that the Smoke provide on their choruses. My favourite track on the album Woman In The Moon is next, and what a peach of a tune this is. A slower and more melancholy track, it builds with some sterling Hammond action, Still tinkling those ivories throughout before the hook cuts in, and what a hook it is. This one hits you right in the middle of the chest, Turner’s cymbals crashing away as the track builds and then calms again.
Too High continues the quality, all Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson with another chorus that allows Starr and co to hits the heights whilst it also features some very tasty slide guitar work. Wish In One Hand is a classic Smoke track, some harder guitar creating the riffs in true Southern style with some fine duel lead work whilst all the while the keyboards massage and ease you along. Randolph County Farewell is a one minute instrumental that leads nicely into Payback’s A Bitch, a foot stomping hell yeah of a track that would get the rednecks throwing Budweiser bottles at the stage in appreciation. Yeehaaww!! Lay It All On Me contains both Country and Western, with some neat guitar licks just thrown in for good measure. It’s almost the kind of track that would feature as a soundtrack to an American serial; think The Littlest Hobbo or similar. Lovely stuff. Penultimate track No Way Back To Eden displays some serious Eagles influences, beautifully constructed with cleverly reflective lyrics and another really catchy hook. This track simply oozes class, magical in its simplicity and yet telling you all the time that it takes real talent to deliver music like this. Album closer Fire In The Hole proves that the Smoke can still kick out the jams, a real rocker full of groove and clever interplay between guitar and keyboard and for the umpteenth time a catchy and joyous chorus to sing-along to. Holding All The Roses isn't a metal album. At times it is not even a rock album. It is just a great album of Southern music from a band that can climb and climb. 10/10
Holding all the Roses is probably one of the most anticipated releases of 2015; the long awaited follow up to 2012’s Whippoorwill and on the back of a hugely successful UK tour last autumn. Having been lucky enough to have seen a quite staggeringly brilliant show in Birmingham, it is fair to say that I was pretty keen to get my mitts on this release.
Favourable comparisons have been made between the Smoke and many of the great Southern rock bands such as Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers, Hatchet and even ZZ Top and their previous releases contained many similarities. With Holding All The Roses, Blackberry Smoke have both distanced and closed the gap with their peers. Sure, the heavy keyboards of Brandon Still continue to ooze throughout, the lyrics still talk about the good ol’ boys singing the blues and tales of mischief and heartbreak and Charlie Starr’s vocals remains instantly recognisable. The guitar work of Starr and Paul Jackson is effortless, layered and textured and to be honest quite flawless. All of this quality is underpinned by the solid rhythm section of brothers Richard (bass) and Brit Turner (drums) to create Southern rock at its finest. Yes, the band play both types of music; country and Western.
Opener Let Me Help You is more infectious than Newport clap clinic and has a distinct Tom Petty feel to it. The title track is real feel good rattle and hum; galloping along and compelling you to pick up your Stetson, cowboys boots and shake your thang, all in a line now y’all. Some smashing guitar work from Starr and Jackson are hidden in the middle of this track which is likely to become a firm crowd favourite as soon as it hits the live circuit. There’s even some demonic fiddle buried in the track, reminiscent of the Charlie Daniel’s Band track The Devil Went Down To Georgia (how apt!). Living In The Song and Rock And Roll Again have massive shades of the mighty Quo, all strum and sing along with the classic that the Smoke provide on their choruses. My favourite track on the album Woman In The Moon is next, and what a peach of a tune this is. A slower and more melancholy track, it builds with some sterling Hammond action, Still tinkling those ivories throughout before the hook cuts in, and what a hook it is. This one hits you right in the middle of the chest, Turner’s cymbals crashing away as the track builds and then calms again.
Too High continues the quality, all Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson with another chorus that allows Starr and co to hits the heights whilst it also features some very tasty slide guitar work. Wish In One Hand is a classic Smoke track, some harder guitar creating the riffs in true Southern style with some fine duel lead work whilst all the while the keyboards massage and ease you along. Randolph County Farewell is a one minute instrumental that leads nicely into Payback’s A Bitch, a foot stomping hell yeah of a track that would get the rednecks throwing Budweiser bottles at the stage in appreciation. Yeehaaww!! Lay It All On Me contains both Country and Western, with some neat guitar licks just thrown in for good measure. It’s almost the kind of track that would feature as a soundtrack to an American serial; think The Littlest Hobbo or similar. Lovely stuff. Penultimate track No Way Back To Eden displays some serious Eagles influences, beautifully constructed with cleverly reflective lyrics and another really catchy hook. This track simply oozes class, magical in its simplicity and yet telling you all the time that it takes real talent to deliver music like this. Album closer Fire In The Hole proves that the Smoke can still kick out the jams, a real rocker full of groove and clever interplay between guitar and keyboard and for the umpteenth time a catchy and joyous chorus to sing-along to. Holding All The Roses isn't a metal album. At times it is not even a rock album. It is just a great album of Southern music from a band that can climb and climb. 10/10
Tuesday, 17 February 2015
Another Point Of View: Black Label Society (Review By Paul)
Black Label Society: 02 Academy Bristol
Valentine’s Day eh? Another attempt by the corporate industries to cash in on the gullible public who seem to think that a display of affection need only happen one day a year. Well, I think not and this year chose to spend the “special day” with 1500 mainly bearded, sweaty and hairy men (and a few rather less hirsute ladies) at the lovely 02 Academy in Bristol. Regular readers will know that our happy band at MoM are often less than impressed with the venue, especially when it is filled to capacity. An inability to move on the floor due to the ridiculous layout and an overall unpleasant experience is often the result. Tonight was no exception with the venue full way before BLS hit the stage and a number of quite unpleasant fights broke out on the floor during Black Tusk’s set and prior to BLS’s arrival. A number of other people were observed receiving medical treatment at various stages of the evening. Paying for the privilege? It’s a bit shit to be honest. Anyway, due to the continued lack of a middle sized venue in South Wales it was another trip across the Severn for an evening with Zakk and co
.
Last year Crobot (8) crept in under the radar with their first full album, the rather tasty Something Supernatural. With a sound that contains elements of Zeppelin, Alter Bridge, Wolfmother, Clutch and Soundgarden, it was worth getting in early to catch the Pennsylvanian four piece. As well as obtaining an excellent vantage point on the balcony, we were treated to an excellent half hour of music. Frontman Brandon Yeagley is a natural; image wise a cross between Russell Brand, Myles Kennedy and a young Robert Plant, and vocally refreshingly good. A decent sound allowed the band to showcase tracks from their debut album, including the stunning opener Legend Of The Spaceborne Killer and a favourite of mine, The Necromancer. With the obvious exception of drummer Paul Figueroa, the rest of the band didn't rest for a minute throughout the set; Yeagley constantly twirling his mike stand, guitarist Chris Bishop spinning his guitar, jumping off the drum riser and adjusting his effects whilst bassist Jake Figueroa, resplendent in a mighty pair of flares cut some of the most magical shapes ever seen. The man just could not stand still. As our esteemed editor remarked, brilliant but paid up member of the Sunshine Bus (*send Ed on Equality and Diversity Training Course*).
The venue was filling up nicely as Black Tusk (7) arrived on stage. They proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes taking a sledgehammer to the head; full on punk edged metal, driven by the battering ram Jamie May on drums and the powerchord assault of Andrew Fidler’s axe, Black Tusk showed absolutely no mercy; not even when the bass drum pedal collapsed under the sheer ferocity of May’s hammering. This is a band that has overcome some pretty heavy recent tragedy with the untimely and tragic death of bassist Jonathan Athon. Touring bassist Corey Barhorst has slotted in so smoothly that if the band hadn't mentioned it you were unlikely to have even noticed. The sludgy Baroness style assault (sans the clean vocals) was impressive but slightly repetitive and by 35 minutes the sheer aggression had me tapping out. I can’t fault the effort or the huge amounts of energy on display and the Georgia outfit received an excellent reception.
A huge BLS curtain was lowered over the front of the stage as anticipation built for the main event. The floor looked quite horribly crowded and there was a substantial amount of aggro with the security staff working overtime to resolve issues. Then the sound of Whole Lotta Sabbath (a Wax Audio Mashup - Ed) blasted out of the PA and it was show time. As the sirens wailed and search lights scanned the venue, the curtain dropped to reveal the four piece outfit known as Black Label Society. Of course, all eyes focus on a certain former Ozzy guitarist, the phenomenal Zakk Wylde; a beast of a man, hair and beard flowing and stacked like the proverbial brick wall, elevated on a reinforced packing box as he soloed as if his life depended on it. The Beginning … At Last segued into the first of three tracks from The Blessed Hellride, Funeral Bell. BLS (8) are a huge live force, and there is little subtlety to their show. It follows a pretty routine format; perform the song, cue in Zakk who destroys with a brutal solo and then conclude with a further solo. Obviously Wylde is the star of the show but he was ably assisted by long serving bassist John DeServio and new members Jeff Fabb who demonstrated an excellent lesson on the drums and rhythm guitarist and pianist Dario Lorina. After seven songs which included three from last year’s underrated but thoroughly great Catacombs Of The Black Vatican (Heart Of Darkness; My Dying Time and Damn The Flood) came the inevitable; Zakk’s guitar solo: all 12 minutes of frenetic fretwork, little soul or construction but fast as hell. He maybe a brilliant guitarist but given that he adds about three minutes to the end of each song with his twiddling, a shorter solo would have been welcomed (add another song or two). Normal service resumed with the only track of the night from Order Of The Black; God Speed Hell Bound which got the crowd moving and head banging.
Following some rambling band member introductions, there was a change of tempo with the ballad Angel Of Mercy before the Dimebag flags were draped over the two Marshall banks (20 in total folks – no wonder my ears were ringing for ages) and Zakk ran through In This River; always a bit of an emotional one (For some of us more than others - Ed) A killer final three to conclude the evening opened with The Blessed Hellride before a stunningly good Concrete Jungle and the inevitable Still Born concluded the evening (without the need to have an encore – heartily endorsed) and produced a massive ovation from the assembled masses. A good evening with three excellent bands; just a shame that the venue sucks.
Valentine’s Day eh? Another attempt by the corporate industries to cash in on the gullible public who seem to think that a display of affection need only happen one day a year. Well, I think not and this year chose to spend the “special day” with 1500 mainly bearded, sweaty and hairy men (and a few rather less hirsute ladies) at the lovely 02 Academy in Bristol. Regular readers will know that our happy band at MoM are often less than impressed with the venue, especially when it is filled to capacity. An inability to move on the floor due to the ridiculous layout and an overall unpleasant experience is often the result. Tonight was no exception with the venue full way before BLS hit the stage and a number of quite unpleasant fights broke out on the floor during Black Tusk’s set and prior to BLS’s arrival. A number of other people were observed receiving medical treatment at various stages of the evening. Paying for the privilege? It’s a bit shit to be honest. Anyway, due to the continued lack of a middle sized venue in South Wales it was another trip across the Severn for an evening with Zakk and co
.
Last year Crobot (8) crept in under the radar with their first full album, the rather tasty Something Supernatural. With a sound that contains elements of Zeppelin, Alter Bridge, Wolfmother, Clutch and Soundgarden, it was worth getting in early to catch the Pennsylvanian four piece. As well as obtaining an excellent vantage point on the balcony, we were treated to an excellent half hour of music. Frontman Brandon Yeagley is a natural; image wise a cross between Russell Brand, Myles Kennedy and a young Robert Plant, and vocally refreshingly good. A decent sound allowed the band to showcase tracks from their debut album, including the stunning opener Legend Of The Spaceborne Killer and a favourite of mine, The Necromancer. With the obvious exception of drummer Paul Figueroa, the rest of the band didn't rest for a minute throughout the set; Yeagley constantly twirling his mike stand, guitarist Chris Bishop spinning his guitar, jumping off the drum riser and adjusting his effects whilst bassist Jake Figueroa, resplendent in a mighty pair of flares cut some of the most magical shapes ever seen. The man just could not stand still. As our esteemed editor remarked, brilliant but paid up member of the Sunshine Bus (*send Ed on Equality and Diversity Training Course*).
The venue was filling up nicely as Black Tusk (7) arrived on stage. They proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes taking a sledgehammer to the head; full on punk edged metal, driven by the battering ram Jamie May on drums and the powerchord assault of Andrew Fidler’s axe, Black Tusk showed absolutely no mercy; not even when the bass drum pedal collapsed under the sheer ferocity of May’s hammering. This is a band that has overcome some pretty heavy recent tragedy with the untimely and tragic death of bassist Jonathan Athon. Touring bassist Corey Barhorst has slotted in so smoothly that if the band hadn't mentioned it you were unlikely to have even noticed. The sludgy Baroness style assault (sans the clean vocals) was impressive but slightly repetitive and by 35 minutes the sheer aggression had me tapping out. I can’t fault the effort or the huge amounts of energy on display and the Georgia outfit received an excellent reception.
A huge BLS curtain was lowered over the front of the stage as anticipation built for the main event. The floor looked quite horribly crowded and there was a substantial amount of aggro with the security staff working overtime to resolve issues. Then the sound of Whole Lotta Sabbath (a Wax Audio Mashup - Ed) blasted out of the PA and it was show time. As the sirens wailed and search lights scanned the venue, the curtain dropped to reveal the four piece outfit known as Black Label Society. Of course, all eyes focus on a certain former Ozzy guitarist, the phenomenal Zakk Wylde; a beast of a man, hair and beard flowing and stacked like the proverbial brick wall, elevated on a reinforced packing box as he soloed as if his life depended on it. The Beginning … At Last segued into the first of three tracks from The Blessed Hellride, Funeral Bell. BLS (8) are a huge live force, and there is little subtlety to their show. It follows a pretty routine format; perform the song, cue in Zakk who destroys with a brutal solo and then conclude with a further solo. Obviously Wylde is the star of the show but he was ably assisted by long serving bassist John DeServio and new members Jeff Fabb who demonstrated an excellent lesson on the drums and rhythm guitarist and pianist Dario Lorina. After seven songs which included three from last year’s underrated but thoroughly great Catacombs Of The Black Vatican (Heart Of Darkness; My Dying Time and Damn The Flood) came the inevitable; Zakk’s guitar solo: all 12 minutes of frenetic fretwork, little soul or construction but fast as hell. He maybe a brilliant guitarist but given that he adds about three minutes to the end of each song with his twiddling, a shorter solo would have been welcomed (add another song or two). Normal service resumed with the only track of the night from Order Of The Black; God Speed Hell Bound which got the crowd moving and head banging.
Following some rambling band member introductions, there was a change of tempo with the ballad Angel Of Mercy before the Dimebag flags were draped over the two Marshall banks (20 in total folks – no wonder my ears were ringing for ages) and Zakk ran through In This River; always a bit of an emotional one (For some of us more than others - Ed) A killer final three to conclude the evening opened with The Blessed Hellride before a stunningly good Concrete Jungle and the inevitable Still Born concluded the evening (without the need to have an encore – heartily endorsed) and produced a massive ovation from the assembled masses. A good evening with three excellent bands; just a shame that the venue sucks.
Sunday, 15 February 2015
Reviews: Devil's Train, ShadowQuest, Air Raid
Devil's Train: II (earMusic)
This is the stuff indeed, like drinking a fine bourbon in your favourite dive bar (possibly while scantily clad ladies cavort on poles) Devil's train play hard rock the way it should be a sleazy, dirty and delivered with a punch to the stomach. This multinational band are now on their second album (thus the imaginative title) and they keep things simple with the kind of late 70's early 80's bluesy hard rock favoured by Whitesnake and American hard rockers Tesla who's sound is at it's most noticeable on Gimmie Love and the swaggering Satanic country rock of Mr Jones. The band also add some modern biker stoner thrown in for good measure. The band are made up of some of the best known names in world of rock and metal, the man doing his best Slash-meets-Frank Hannon-by way of Reb Beach and George Lynch is guitarist Danish axe slinger Laki Ragazas while the sleazy, gun slinging engine room is provided by ex-Stratovarius men Jorg Michael (drums) and Jari Kainulainen (bass) however none of this would be as effective without a snake hipped, leather lunged vocalist and Devil's Train have a great one in Stetson sporting Greek wailer R.D. Liapakis who has a voice like velvet with the right amount of grit to set the loins of any ladies aflame. So that's the players sorted what about the songs well Rock Forever is 80's cheese at Y&T levels but very welcome indeed between the driving hard rock Can You Feel and the booty shaking Let's Shake It. Yes OK the lyrical content has been done before love, women, rocking, drinking and having a good time but now as then there is not much else you need to get a make a good rock song, that and some big balls luckily Devil's Train possess a huge pair that they use to great effect on these hard rocking tracks. OK so no one needs another cover of Born To Be Wild or indeed Immigrant Song but on their original tracks they really show their talent on the the rumbling (sorry) Thunderstorm, the filthy Hollywood Girl and for guitar fans Ragazas' guitar workout on Suffocate. A burly, strutting rock album that harks back to hard rocks glory days but performed with modern sheen. 9/10
Shadowquest: Armoured IV Pain (Self Released)
As many of you may know Sweden is one of the spiritual homes of Power Metal with few countries doing it as well and here we have yet another Swedish power metal band composed of members from many famous Swedish metal bands most notably drummer Ronny Milianowicz formally of Sinergy and Dionysus, ex-Stratovarius, ex-Symfonia and current Devil's Train (see above) and Masterplan bassist Jari Kainulainen and Bloodbound singer Patrik "Pata" Johansson. With the high profile members involved everything points to this album being a power metal tour-de-force. Well all the elements are certainly firmly in place with duelling guitars, symphonic keyboard flourishes and a rhythm section that hurtles along at a fair pace indeed with All One being one of the fastest tracks and gives Johnasson a chance show off his powerful Michael Kiske-like vocal range, the band have a lot in common with Stratovarius and indeed Helloween with some robust guitar work in the rhythms and solos on Blood Of The Pure but also the classical keys of Stratovarius showing themselves on Live Again, with Midnight Sun having a swashbuckling Running Wild style fist-in-the-air chorus and We Bring The Power yet again this bands' striking gang vocal choruses. As it stands Shadowquest have managed to live up to the talents of those musicians involved with some genuinely exciting power metal that will have fans of the genre lapping up every single shredding solo, bombastic chorus and head banging riff before ending with the monstrous ballad Where Memories Grow which would make Kiske weep before the album ends with a by-the-numbers cover of Priests' Freewheel Burning that really adds nothing to the original but is done well. Shadowquest are very much a sum of their parts and play some great quality Swedish Power Metal. 8/10
Air Raid: Point Of Impact (High Roller)
Another week and another album on High Roller means another denim and leather clad trad/retro metal band channelling the spirit of NWOBHM. This time we have Swedes Air Raid who play explosive, duel guitar led metal full of solos and helium vocals. This album is an album that does hark back to those heady days of the early 80's but the band add a lot of youth and vigour to the music and the modern production means everything sounds huge. No as for the band themselves they are all great musicians, plus they have great pseudonyms with the axe slinging coming from Stormchild and Johnny Nightshredder, bass is handled by Rob Thunderbolt, drums by Dave Thunderbolt and the roof raising vocals are from Arthur W Andersson (which is is his real name). These men come together brilliantly with the right amount of energetic drumming, lively basswork and dynamic guitars, throughout to make sure they keep your attention, Madness deviates from one rhythm part to another, Victim Of The Night starts slow before allowing Stormchild and Nightshredder to flex their fingers a little on the solo section. As I said for the most part the band hark back to Maiden, Priest and their ilk (Wildfire) but their flashes of the Swedish speed metal that Europe were known for in their early career, especially the aforementioned Victim Of The Night and Vengeance (not a Yngwie Malmsteen cover) which has an air of Seven Doors Hotel to it. With some superb musicianship and an album of eight well conceived and played songs Air Raid have produced a very strong sophomore album that does a lot to endear them to the listener. 8/10
This is the stuff indeed, like drinking a fine bourbon in your favourite dive bar (possibly while scantily clad ladies cavort on poles) Devil's train play hard rock the way it should be a sleazy, dirty and delivered with a punch to the stomach. This multinational band are now on their second album (thus the imaginative title) and they keep things simple with the kind of late 70's early 80's bluesy hard rock favoured by Whitesnake and American hard rockers Tesla who's sound is at it's most noticeable on Gimmie Love and the swaggering Satanic country rock of Mr Jones. The band also add some modern biker stoner thrown in for good measure. The band are made up of some of the best known names in world of rock and metal, the man doing his best Slash-meets-Frank Hannon-by way of Reb Beach and George Lynch is guitarist Danish axe slinger Laki Ragazas while the sleazy, gun slinging engine room is provided by ex-Stratovarius men Jorg Michael (drums) and Jari Kainulainen (bass) however none of this would be as effective without a snake hipped, leather lunged vocalist and Devil's Train have a great one in Stetson sporting Greek wailer R.D. Liapakis who has a voice like velvet with the right amount of grit to set the loins of any ladies aflame. So that's the players sorted what about the songs well Rock Forever is 80's cheese at Y&T levels but very welcome indeed between the driving hard rock Can You Feel and the booty shaking Let's Shake It. Yes OK the lyrical content has been done before love, women, rocking, drinking and having a good time but now as then there is not much else you need to get a make a good rock song, that and some big balls luckily Devil's Train possess a huge pair that they use to great effect on these hard rocking tracks. OK so no one needs another cover of Born To Be Wild or indeed Immigrant Song but on their original tracks they really show their talent on the the rumbling (sorry) Thunderstorm, the filthy Hollywood Girl and for guitar fans Ragazas' guitar workout on Suffocate. A burly, strutting rock album that harks back to hard rocks glory days but performed with modern sheen. 9/10
Shadowquest: Armoured IV Pain (Self Released)
As many of you may know Sweden is one of the spiritual homes of Power Metal with few countries doing it as well and here we have yet another Swedish power metal band composed of members from many famous Swedish metal bands most notably drummer Ronny Milianowicz formally of Sinergy and Dionysus, ex-Stratovarius, ex-Symfonia and current Devil's Train (see above) and Masterplan bassist Jari Kainulainen and Bloodbound singer Patrik "Pata" Johansson. With the high profile members involved everything points to this album being a power metal tour-de-force. Well all the elements are certainly firmly in place with duelling guitars, symphonic keyboard flourishes and a rhythm section that hurtles along at a fair pace indeed with All One being one of the fastest tracks and gives Johnasson a chance show off his powerful Michael Kiske-like vocal range, the band have a lot in common with Stratovarius and indeed Helloween with some robust guitar work in the rhythms and solos on Blood Of The Pure but also the classical keys of Stratovarius showing themselves on Live Again, with Midnight Sun having a swashbuckling Running Wild style fist-in-the-air chorus and We Bring The Power yet again this bands' striking gang vocal choruses. As it stands Shadowquest have managed to live up to the talents of those musicians involved with some genuinely exciting power metal that will have fans of the genre lapping up every single shredding solo, bombastic chorus and head banging riff before ending with the monstrous ballad Where Memories Grow which would make Kiske weep before the album ends with a by-the-numbers cover of Priests' Freewheel Burning that really adds nothing to the original but is done well. Shadowquest are very much a sum of their parts and play some great quality Swedish Power Metal. 8/10
Air Raid: Point Of Impact (High Roller)
Another week and another album on High Roller means another denim and leather clad trad/retro metal band channelling the spirit of NWOBHM. This time we have Swedes Air Raid who play explosive, duel guitar led metal full of solos and helium vocals. This album is an album that does hark back to those heady days of the early 80's but the band add a lot of youth and vigour to the music and the modern production means everything sounds huge. No as for the band themselves they are all great musicians, plus they have great pseudonyms with the axe slinging coming from Stormchild and Johnny Nightshredder, bass is handled by Rob Thunderbolt, drums by Dave Thunderbolt and the roof raising vocals are from Arthur W Andersson (which is is his real name). These men come together brilliantly with the right amount of energetic drumming, lively basswork and dynamic guitars, throughout to make sure they keep your attention, Madness deviates from one rhythm part to another, Victim Of The Night starts slow before allowing Stormchild and Nightshredder to flex their fingers a little on the solo section. As I said for the most part the band hark back to Maiden, Priest and their ilk (Wildfire) but their flashes of the Swedish speed metal that Europe were known for in their early career, especially the aforementioned Victim Of The Night and Vengeance (not a Yngwie Malmsteen cover) which has an air of Seven Doors Hotel to it. With some superb musicianship and an album of eight well conceived and played songs Air Raid have produced a very strong sophomore album that does a lot to endear them to the listener. 8/10
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