291. Mortal Sin / Face Of Despair. 1989. 4.5/5

In the late 1980’s in Australia, at least on the east coast, Mortal Sin created a massive storm in the heavy metal community. On the back of their debut album “Mayhemic Destruction”, the band had caught the attention of the entire underground metal scene and had even made waves in overseas markets in Europe and the UK. That raw yet surprisingly technical thrash metal album had been released by the band independently, but the group were signed for international distribution by Phonogram Records' label, Vertigo Records, which then re-released “Mayhemic Destruction” worldwide in 1987.
Building on this success, the band began to write and record their follow up in early 1988, with producer Randy Burns brought in to oversee the operation. Burns had experience with such bands as Kreator, Dark Angel and Megadeth, and appeared to be a good fit for the band going forward.
Retaining the five piece twin guitar line up, the band and producer looked to retain the thrash metal roots of the first album, while looking for a more modern production that mirrored what was occurring with other big metal bands around the world. They looked to put together a clearer sounding album that harnessed the essence of the band but looked to push them to a smoother output that would appeal to that overseas market.
In the long run, there seemed to be an interminable delay in releasing the album, especially in an age where bands were releasing albums every 12-18 months. It was to become a common theme with the band’s career that always seemed beset with problems, whether it be with band members fighting or problems with management or with tours being poorly constructed, to albums being delayed in being recorded and released. Given that the band was booked to support Metallica on their Australian tour in 1989, having the album out some months in advance seemed to have been the best bet. In the long run, it was only three weeks before that tour started that “Face of Despair” saw the light of day, where it burned so bright at the time that you could hardly believe that Mortal Sin was not going to be, as they were feted by Kerrang magazine, the Next Big Thing.

This album has been a real journey, from the time that it was released, to the present day. And while by today’s standards it may not seem as majestic as it did back in 1989, I can assure you that on its release it was one of those amazing releases.
The opening to the album is simply superb. The brilliant bassline opening riff from Andy Eftichiou before being joined by the superb drums of Wayne Campbell and then that crunching riff from Paul Carwana and Mick Burke is just perfect, a great opening to the first track “I Am Immortal”. It sets the scene immediately, and crushes throughout, brought to a head by Mat Maurer’s chanting chorus “I... I am immortal!!” As the first song on their sophomore album, it meets the old fans expectations as well as giving the new fans a terrific starting point. This is followed by the exquisite “Voyage of the Disturbed”, a song written about the Challenger shuttle disaster of 1986, utilising lyrics such as “with dignity and pride, the government denied, pushing to the limits 'cos they're never satisfied”, and “Fear, succumbing to the needs of political might, Sheer, astronomical pressure as you hit the speed of light, Another seven faces, another misery, No one seems to realise the fate of history”, it also comes with a great opening guitar riff and excellent build up through the song to its climax. On these opening two tracks, Mortal Sin lay down the template for the remainder of the album to follow.
The remainder of side one of the album continues on this heady path. “The Infantry Corps” combines the band’s distrust of the government and the defence forces in a scathing assessment of the motives behind both when it comes to the young men sacrificed in war. “For Richer For Poorer” attacks the government and big corporations for the still-relevant greed of the rich getting richer and the poor staying poor. “Martyrs of Eternity” invokes government and religion within the lyrics. One thing that is obvious throughout is the band’s view on politicians, all mixed into a great cacophony of guitars and drums and great vocals from Maurer to have fists pumping in the air.
The back half of the albums contains more of the same. “Innocent Torture” speaks about the frustration of a man serving time for a crime he didn’t commit. “Suspended Animation” is about a person who was frozen and then reanimated years later, and realising the world is no better now than it was in his own time. “H” is about one of thrash metals favourite topics, nuclear war, and the world beyond it. “Terminal Reward” examines what happens after death, while “Robbie Soles” is a closing rant on politics as a whole.
The music throughout is fantastic, but in looking back from this distance, it is amazing just how ahead of its time it was. Because this is a style of thresh metal that hadn’t actually been around at the time. Listening to it now, it is obvious that there are influences from those huge metal bands of the time including Metallica and Megadeth and Anthrax who were leading the charge at this point in time. But here, this is a lot closer to the sound of albums that were yet to be conceived, such as Metallica’s black album, and Megadeth’s “Countdown to Extinction”, albums that came after those band’s biggest thrash moments in “And Justice for All” and “Rust in Peace”. So theoretically, this albums pre-dates where both of those bands went after those albums. Obviously, this was not relatable at the time – I just loved this album and the songs they wrote for this album. But if you do listen to songs like “Martyrs of Eternity” and “For Richer For Poorer” today, to me that is what you have, a sound that actually came for others 2-3 years AFTER this album. Sure, this is just my opinion, but it seems obvious now listening to this album 35 years later. Or perhaps I’m just imagining it.

I first became aware of Mortal Sin through the Australia heavy magazine Hot Metal, who championed their cause from their first issue, and had put the song “Mayhemic Destruction” on their compilation album that came with an issue. The music video program Rage on ABCTV also showed a live recording of their song “Lebanon” from that album almost every week, so the band was very much on my radar. Then they were announced as the support band for Metallica when they toured on the Damaged Justice tour, their first of Australia, and then the album “Face of Despair” was released a few short weeks before that tour began. So, everything felt as though it was careering towards the epicentre. And that concert, at the Hordern Pavillion in Sydney on May 6, 1989, remains the best I have ever seen, and Mortal Sin had a massive part of that thanks to them. Their eight song setlist, including six from “Face of Despair”, was incredible. There was no nerves, they played as though everyone was there to see them, and by the end, they were. 40 minutes of sweating headbanging bodies soaked to the skin, even before the headline act came on. They were just amazing.
As to the album itself, I was head over heels in love with it from the get go, and a lot of that was because I had seen them live and knew just what the band put into their music. I kept switching from Justice to this album over and over again in the months that followed. On Friday night get togethers this album always came out for a spin, resulting in much mayhem through those first few tracks. The band that some friends of mine formed later that year even had a crack at two of the tracks on this album. I had the Voyage of the Disturbed T- shirt from that concert for years, until it finally just fell apart from over wearing. It was a sad day when it finally succumbed, as it was the final relic of that amazing first time I saw the band live.
Fast forward to the present and this album, along with “Mayhemic Destruction”, were both remastered and re-released last year, and as my original battered vinyl copy had been lost in the flood that ravaged my home back in 2001, I jumped at the chance to replace it, and put it alongside my CD copy that is signed by all five members of the band that recorded it. And I still play this album often to this day.
So sure, let’s talk about the album on reflection. Because my blinding love for it 35 years ago will always be at the forefront of any discussion on “Face of Despair” today. And I have played it a dozen times over again over the past couple of days and enjoyed every moment of it. But I know there are plenty of people out there that don’t get what I hear in this album. Some question whether it is truly thrash and not just a generic heavy metal album.
Listening to the album nowadays, I can understand where those people are coming from. They don’t have the memories of seeing the band live, and the way they would destroy in a live environment. They listen to a 35 year old album that isn’t the speed and absolute thrash from the Bay Area, but the band’s own version of that. It’s a fair comment and I won’t deny that they have a point. But this album was Mortal Sin, Australia’s flag bearing metal band, taking on the world, and this they did, touring Europe on their own as well as opening for Testament in Europe and Faith No More in the UK on the back of this album. And remember, this album was in the era of Justice, when thrash metal was transitioning to the amazing technical things that that album preached.
Whatever others may think – or you yourself may think – this was an album in time for me, one that still engenders so many amazing memories and great feelings. As a 19 year old, on the cusp on making big changes in my life, this album was one that went on that journey with me, and has never left the building since. It is, however, still hard to come to terms with the fact that for many reasons, Mortal Sin was never able to live up to the promise that is stamped all over this album.

290. Scorpions / Face The Heat. 1993. 3/5.

Climbing out of the growing commercial success the band had enjoyed through the mid-1980's, Scorpions had gone one better with their first album of the new decade, 1990’s “Crazy World” which in particular had spawned the single “Wind of Change” that had topped the charts globally and brought them to the attention of a new fan base who would barely have known that they existed before that time. The Scorpions ballad, of which there were generally one or two produced on most albums during that decade, had finally worked, with the political motivations of the track combining with the sweet melodies to create a monster hit. The world tour to support the album was huge (though once again failed to appear on Australian shores), and at its conclusion the band must have felt that it was riding a tidal wave that was never going to stop.
Following the tour, long time bass guitarist Francis Buchholz left the band, meaning for the first time in 12 years a new member would come on board. For the album, the band hired Ralph Rieckermann to join the band for the recording.
In many ways you would expect the album following this success should have been one that had a lot of credits, and despite the pressure of following a successful release would be one where the band was confident in what they would produce. But 1993 was a different world musically than 1990, and such were the musical changes that were still in progress, a band of Scorpions style and genre were the ones who were under the most pressure to conform or change completely in order to move with the times.
To help produce their follow up, the band brought in the renown Bruce Fairbairn, whose fingers had been all over the successful late 1980’s charge of Bon Jovi’s “Slippery When Wet” and “New Jersey”, along with Aerosmith’s return to form with “Pump” and AC/DC’s “The Razor’s Edge”, just to name a few. His modus operandi was to make sure that the hard rock songs were hard rock, and the ballads were radio friendly, two things that 1993 was not particularly in favour of. It immediately gave the album a sense of going against the current, and perhaps looking to produce something that was not what their contemporaries were looking to create at that time. But then, Scorpions as a band had always marched to the beat of their own drum, and this was just another example of that occurring.

This album has divided fans and critics since its release, and I’ve never really understood if it is just because of the difference in the music on this album and the music the world had flooded to over the previous two years, or if the subtle change in Scorpions style here is what they are reacting to. In either case you can make a case for either depending on whether or not you enjoy the album yourself.
The opening tracks are at a slower tempo than you expect most Scorpions great songs come at, but they are no less effective, and they are certainly on the heavy side of the register. The opening track “Alien Nation” is a beauty, a slow crunching monster that creeps up on you the more you listen to it. On first reflections it seems like a strange way to start the album, but it ends up being quite effective by giving the album a powerful base with that heavy sound that the band doesn’t always utilise enough. The second track “No Pain No Gain” follows along the same path, with another great mutual riff from Rudolph Schenker and Matthias Jabs and a punchy chorus and bridge to sing along to. Then we have the first perfect Scorpions sounding track, “Someone to Touch”, with a more melodic guitar sound punctuated with Klaus Meine’s perfect vocal lines. This could have come from any album of the band’s golden era and is still a terrific track today. The opening three songs to this album signify a defining moment for the band, in that they are not only sticking to their guns in regards to their songwriting, but actually moving it up a notch to set themselves apart from their contemporaries.
The first of three definable ballads comes next. “Under the Same Sun” is typical of the Scorpions motions of this genre, and while they are habitually more enjoyable than the ballads of other rock bands, that doesn’t make it any less cumbersome when it comes to halting the momentum the album had built up to this point of the track list. “Unholy Alliance” moves in the same circles of the opening two tracks with a heavier feel and slower tempo, but still with the anthemic vocals especially through the chorus. “Woman” on the other hand is difficult to love. A slower paced, blues-based ballad that probably does all the right things for such a track to be enjoyable but is an acquired taste. It doesn’t grab me. “Hate to Be Nice”, “Taxman Woman” and “Ship of Fools” all travel down that line of great solid Scorpions tracks with lots of energy from Klaus’s vocals, Mathias’s awesome soloing and Rudolph’s terrific riffing. They are all easy to sing along to and come at a pace with solid core drumming from Herman Rarebell that have you tapping away in time as well. Then we have “Nightmare Avenue”, a terrific song that goes up a level again, arguably the heaviest song on the album, and extremely enjoyable.
Then we come to the closing track of the album, the third and final ballad on “Face the Heat”. Now we know Scorpions have a habit of closing out their albums with the ballad, allowing Klaus’s vocals to soar over the quiet harmonies and take everyone’s breath away. But once again, for me, it just depreciates everything that has come before it. It doesn’t surprise me that they have done it, because they do it so often, but they could have left this song off, and the album would have finished perfectly well. Indeed, if it was me, I would have none of those three ballads on this album and I think it would have been better because of it. It is performed amazingly well, like all their ballads are. But it’s no “Still Loving You” or “Holiday” or “Send Me an Angel”. If it was, I wouldn’t be so disappointed. It’s OK but for me makes the end of the album much less good than the rest of the album.

It was a number of years after “Face the Heat” was released that I first heard the album. Several reasons contributed to this, but certainly lack of disposable income had started to mean that I had to pick and choose what albums I could buy at the time, and what I had to forego. So it wasn’t until over a decade later that I actually listened to the album for the first time, and at that time I was suddenly inundated with so many albums that I had never heard that it got lost in the deluge. I listened to it a few times, and then it got lost in the avalanche of other albums. So much so that it really wasn’t until a couple of months ago that I actually sat down and gave this album the time it was due.
What did I discover? Well let’s check the list. I certainly missed something at the time that the album was released, that seems a certainty. Firstly, given the other music I was listening to around this time, I think this album would have slotted in very nicely. Secondly, the heavier songs here, such as “Alien Nation”, “No Pain No Gain” and “Nightmare Avenue” are particularly excellent, and are a step up in that grade when it comes to Scorpions tracks. Thirdly, the three ballads, which were probably the highest held songs by most fans on this album’s release, for me just hold the album back from what it could have been.
We all know what was dominating music at the time this came out in 1993, and it isn’t what was on this album. The band’s major writing duo of Meine and Schenker, had a different vision for what they wanted this album to be that what much of the rest of the world was doing, and I admire that immensely. In the US and other territories, it was grunge and alternative that was sweeping the music scene, while in Europe the growing influence of power metal and rock was amping up. Here, Scorpions went in their own directions under their own power, and the album stands alone as a result. Does that make it a brilliant album? Not necessarily. Does it make it an average album? Same answer. It makes it a Scorpions album, with the Scorpions sound basically unaltered, and tweaked ever so slightly here and there to add to the ambiance of the album. Overall despite a couple of reservations, I think this is a terrific album, and one I am sorry I didn’t have 30 years ago. At least, the great thing about music is, I can enjoy it now for the same reasons.

289. Scorpions / Eye II Eye. 1999. 1.5/5

Uuuhhh... excuse me. I think there has been a mistake here. I ordered a SCORPIONS album. Not an easy-feeling mellow piece of titanium crap. What? You mean this IS a Scorpions album? How is that possible?

I know the Scorpions as the band that wrote some of the most classic albums of all time - Lovedrive, Love At First Sting, Blackout, and the band that produced World Wide Live, one of the best live albums of the era. Comparing those albums to Eye II Eye is like comparing Metallica's ...And Justice For All and Reload - there is just no comparison whatsoever.

This is a HUGE disappointment. So unlike Scorpions it brings tears to my eyes. This should be banished to the never-to-be-listened-to-again storage sheds.

Rating: It gets 1.5 simply for the bands name and reputation. 1.5/5

288. Dio / Evil Or Divine: Live In New York City. 2005. 5/5.

This is a fantastic live album from the Voice. Originally released on DVD (which is great) this CD showcases Dio in the new millenium.

The setlist is a variety of newer material from Killing The Dragon and Magica and the best from his glory days pre-1986, including his Black Sabbath and Rainbow days.

Dio's voice, though obviously not of the same strength and height from his Rainbow/Sabbath days of the 70's and 80's, is still just magnificent. How he can sing this well live is a mystery, but he is still the king. Simon Wright on drums and Jimmy Bain on bass are as great as ever, but the star here is the guitaring of Doug Aldrich. Though he has his own flourishes and style, what I admire most about him is his desire - and ability - to play all the solos as they were written and performed. He is a master at it, and I think it brings more power to him and his own performance.

This is a great live album - a better showcasing of the band than their previous Inferno - Last In Live - and well worth a listen or two.

Rating: We Rock! You Rock! 5/5.

287. Motorhead / Everything Louder Than Everyone Else. 1999. 5/5

There have been a plethora of live albums released involving recordings by the band Motörhead. Some of them are less than official with some record companies dealing out the material as a parting shot as the band moved on, or just as a cheap knock off of a previous release in order to gain some cash away from the band itself. Everyone will have their own opinions, but for me “Everything Louder Than Everyone Else” is the third true live Motörhead album, following “No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith” and “Nö Sleep at All”. Each of the previous live albums marked a certain era of the band, and that is also true of this album, and as such it holds its place in history well.
This was recorded in Germany in 1998 and the 2 CD package contains the entire show, the first time the band had been able to release it in this way. Recorded during the tour to promote the “Snake Bite Love” album, it again has a great mix of the newest songs from the band and the old classics that they have to play every night. Lemmy is in great form between songs, ably assisted by Phil Campbell, and the band itself sounds fantastic. Having just reverted back to a three-piece following the moving on of Wurzel from the band, you can still feel the energy being created by them on stage. Lemmy’s bass sound is iconic and unique and distinguishable quickly and easily. Phil Campbell’s guitar becomes guttural at times before truly breaking out on his solo passages to light up the crowd. Mikkey Dee’s drumming is a delight, loud and crashing and driving home the songs in his usual powerful style. The three of them are excellent here, and they do in fact create an atmosphere where it changes the way that you listen to these songs when you go back to the album versions.

As for the set list and track listing, it has everything you could possibly want from a Motörhead live album. Half of the tracks are from albums since the last live album released “Nö Sleep at All”, and each of those albums is represented. This is the great thing about the spacing out of the live albums by Motorhead, they are able to give each era its due and its space. And being interspersed with older and well known tracks makes it perfect. As much as I would have loved to see them live on the era when “No Sleep Til Hammersmith” was released, this would also have been a great era to see them.
Terrific songs from the 1990’s Motorhead catalogue are given a run here, and their live versions are excellent. “On Your Feet or On Your Knees”, “Burner” and “Born to Raise Hell” from “Bastards” are terrific, though “Lost in the Ozone” is one that perhaps could have been substituted for something else. “Over our Shoulder” and “Sacrifice” from the “Sacrifice” album, along with “Civil War” and “Overnight Sensation” from that album are great additions. “Take the Blame” and “Love for Sale” are off the album the band was promoting “Snake Bite Love”, while “I’m So Bad Baby I Don’t Care”, “The One to Sing the Blues” and “Going to Brazil” come from the ready made “1916” album. All tracks that hadn’t had live versions recorded for posterity before, and all excellently collated here.
Mixed in with these are the songs that you couldn’t possibly leave out, though I do often have a reservation about both “Metropolis” and “Capricorn”, I think there are better classic songs they could utilise rather than those two. The wonderful “Iron Fist” kicks the album off followed by the perennial second song on the set list “Stay Clean”. “Orgasmatron” and “Nothing Up My Sleeve” are great additions. Both “The Chase is Better Than the Catch” and “No Class” add a great punch in the middle of the setlist, while the four songs that conclude the album, “Killed by Death”, “Bomber”, “Ace of Spades” and “Overkill”, all charge like the Light Brigade to the finish line and encourage you to go back to the start of the album, and do it all again.

For me the great Motorhead revolution didn’t really occur until the turn of the century. I knew of the albums and even had copies of the early ones, but I didn’t start my real awakening and collection of Motorhead prior to the calendar clicking over to 2000. And once I did I gathered them all in fast. This album ended up being a key component to that, because I sampled a lot of songs I didn’t know from albums I didn’t know in one hit.
As live albums go, this is pretty difficult to critique, because there is little weak material here to dish upon. Even the songs that come from the so-called weaker albums are the best songs from those albums, and they all translate to the live setting with great aplomb. No doubt “No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith” has always been appraised as the best Motörhead live album, given the time it was recorded and the material that was available to play on it. For me, I think this sits almost alongside it, not only because this has the whole concert from go to whoa, but because there are so many songs here and they are all worthy of inclusion. I can play this at work, in the car, at a party or in the metal cavern and I never get sick of it. One of the greats.

286. The Police / Every Breath You Take: The Singles. 1986. 5/5

Well, let's face it. If you like The Police (and I do), this is a terrific album. All of their singles boxed together on one CD. As a greatest hits album, this is a good 'un.

Rating: The best from a band cut short in their prime. 5/5.

285. Chris Cornell / Euphoria Morning. 1999. 2.5/5.

Following the demise of Soundgarden, one wondered what would happen to the collective parts of the band, especially vocalist Chris Cornell. This solo album was the first piece of the puzzle.

Those who were looking for a Soundgarden clone would be immediately disappointed. That was me when I first bought the album. I wanted the power and the angst of those great songs that that band produced.
What you find instead is an album of softer alternative tracks, driven by Cornell's vocals in an almost melancholy way. Once you get past the disappointment of the direction he has taken on the album, it is quite likeable. OK, maybe you have to be in the right mood to enjoy it (I know I have to be), but in a similar way to Zakk Wylde's Book Of Shadows, it has its place in the world.

What Euphoria Morning does do is showcase Cornell's unique voice on a different range of songs than has been heard before this. It was a nice stopover before moving on to his next big project, which turned out to be Audioslave.

Rating: Worth a listen in your more mellow moments. 2.5/5

284. Vinnie Vincent / Euphoria [EP]. 1996. 1.5/5

From all reports, this was a belated attempt by Vinnie to get himself back in the recording scene, and have another crack at making it in the big time.
Realistically, he should have left well enough alone...

Rating: Mediocre. 1.5/5

283. Stratovarius / Episode. 1996. 3/5.

Stratovarius are quintissential power metal from the 1990's. In fact, 'cliched' is probably a fairer comparison. Here on Episode they have produced more of the same - not overly original, but that doesn't make it bad.

There are obvious comparisons with others in their genre throughout the album. There are, for instance, unmistakable riffs taken from Yngwie Malmsteen on some songs. Still, it's not as if they haven't produced some good material. The opener "Father Time" gets the album off to a good start. The instrumental "Episode" moves straight into the best song on the album "Speed Of Light", which showcases the best that this band can offer. "Uncertainty" and the moody epic-like "Season Of Change", into the second instrumental "Stratosphere" are all good tunes.

All in all, this is a good album for those who like their power metal. There are no real surprises, and a couple of moments that will make it all worthwhile.

Rating: Power metal for those that like it straight. 3/5.

282. Def Leppard / Euphoria. 1999. 2.5/5.

For better or for worse, Def Leppard had chosen their path musically through the mid-1980's, systematically abandoning their hard rock roots as each album progressed, and becoming more of the commercial rock band that they were searching for, especially in their dominance of the American and UK markets. With albums such as “Hysteria” and “Adrenalize” they had crossed over from hard rock icon to popular music gargantuan, and in the process becoming one of the biggest bands in the world.
As the music world changed through the 1990’s however, the band had to decide if they were going to continue along the same path or look to adapt to what was occurring and make themselves more accessible in this regard. The result was the album “Slang”, on which the sound produced was a departure from what they had done before, along with being the first album in 15 years without the input of producer Mutt Lange.
Three years on, and while for “Slang” there seems to have been a conscious decision to try something different from the sound they had always played, here on the follow up “Euphoria” the attitude basically came with a ‘don’t rule OUT the past completely’ attitude. And while Pete Woodroffe retained his position as producer of the album, Mutt Lange did return to the studio for a short time to not only help pen three tracks for the album, but sing back ups on those three songs as well. He was not the only guest to appear, with former Formula 1 champion Damon Hill, who was apparently a neighbour of bassist Rick Savage, playing a guitar solo on the opening track of the album.
So while the mid-1990's had appeared to heavily influence the previous album, it was a return to the basics of the band’s sound through the late 80’s and early 90’s that was to be the driving force of the new album. The question that had to be asked was, would this still appeal to the band’s fan base after such a lengthy amount of time?

Having turned in a different direction on their previous album “Slang”, the opening three tracks here on “Euphoria” certainly bring back a sense of the past, all of them channelling the sound and structure that can be found on both “Hysteria” and “Adrenalize”. The opening salvo of “Demolition Man” is excellent, up tempo, energetic, with great guitars from both Phil Collen and Vivan Campbell, and vocals from Joe Elliott that are in top form. Def Leppard are generally excellent at composing opening tracks on their albums, and this one follows that pattern perfectly. This is followed by “Promises”, which was the first single released from the album, and this is most definitely written in that late 80’s era style. In fact, you could easily imagine this coming straight off the “Hysteria” album. It slots right back into the pop rock sound that Def Leppard had been cultivating for over a decade and is inoffensively enjoyable for what it is. The third track here is “Back in Your Face”, with the attitude and spark that you would expect from a song with this title. The lyrics are playfully belligerent and the song again harks back to those earlier days of the band. Overall, the first three tracks on the album showcase the blueprint that the band had set out for itself.
From here, the album begins to branch out into those other areas that I’m sure are excellent for many fans, but I begin to question the logic. “Goodbye” is exhibit one, the third single released from the album, and a clear cut sugar sweet ballad that is aimed directly at a very specific part of their fan base. The band does them well, but there are reasons I have a hard time getting around them, which I will get to later. “All Night” follows, and is a real cringefest. Honestly, as much as I dislike ballads, the previous track outstrips this easily when it comes to enjoyment. The lyrics here are just... awful... here, take a listen to this. “I like a woman who loves to drive, loves to do it fast, yeah, above 95. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh yeah. I love a woman who likes to make me sweat, who'll come on round lookin' for love, get what she can get show me babe what's on your mind, I wanna feel ya one more time”. I mean, this is on a Paul Stanley/Gene Simmons Kiss level of cringe factor. Phil Collen and Mutt Lage, seriously, give yourselves an uppercut. This song is basically unlistenable.
“Paper Sun” breaks the mould of a Def Leppard song, not only with deep and heartfelt lyrics about the subject matter, but with two great and separate guitar solos from the two guitarists, both showing off their abundant talent in setting alight the song and retaining the emotional impact of the track. It’s a creeper, it's a song you need to listen to a bit to get the most out of it, but it is worth it. “It’s Only Love” winds us back to the Def Lep ballad, with choral vocals throughout. You’ve heard it all before, there is no need for me to expand on my thoughts here. We have the same with “21st Century Sha La La La Girl”, not in the ballad way but in the same way as “All Night” is composed. The music is upbeat and enjoyable enough, but lyrically it's not one that is going to raise your IQ by listening to it. The power ballad “To Be Alive” comes from Vivian Campbell and one of his side projects called ‘Clocks’, and has been suitably Def Leppardized here.
FINALLY we return to something great, with the instrumental track “Disintegrate”, written by Phill Collen and concentrating entirely on great hard rock and guitars. When he unleashes, and when you watch him live, Collen is one of the great guitarists, and here he and Viv especially get the chance to do so. If only they did it more often. Sadly it doesn't last with the return of the power ballad in “Guilty” which will hit the majority of the fan base in all the right areas. “Day After Day” follows along the same lines, though does have an energetic and powerful guitar solo slot in the middle that is the highlight of the song. The album then concludes with “King of Oblivion” which does allow the album to finish on an upbeat note.

I have been a fan of Def Leppard since the mid-1980's, prior to the release of “Hysteria”, and grew into that love on the back of those first three amazing albums. The gradual morphing of the band and their music did not stop me loving those albums, or the band and the albums that followed this period. “Slang” had been a turning point though, and so although I had heard a couple of the singles from this album on the radio, I hadn’t rushed out to buy it, and it was in fact a couple of years later before I did listen to the album.
When I did, an age old question almost immediately rose in my mind - Why does this band do ballads when you have two of the best guitarists on the planet in your mix? Anyone who has seen Phil Collen live, and heard Vivian Campbell on Dio and Last in Line albums, know what they can do. The answer of course is – they love those kinds of songs. That’s why they write them, and that’s why they play them, and why I still continue to say – what a waste.
For me this album is a 50/50 proposition. When I first got it, it just couldn’t retain my interest over the other albums that I was listening to at the time, which increasingly was of European power metal bands. However, other bands from the 80’s that I still listened to were in the process of releasing some of their worst ever material (stay tuned for Megadeth and Queensryche over the coming months), so this album at least was familiar in sound which did give it an advantage.
Having had this on again for the last two weeks, the good songs are still good, and the average songs are still average. I don’t have time for ballads, there has to be something spectacularly good about them for me to listen to them, and these ones don’t have that. The songs that verge on hard rock are still listenable. The problem for Def Leppard is that, in my opinion, they reached a zenith with “Adrenalize” that they have been unable to approach or better since. Some of their song ideas are good, but the attraction to the ballad does hinder them, and restricts their growth in that way. Especially since even in that regard, they had done that kind of track far better back in the day than they can reproduce after that fact. “Euphoria” is fine, I have listened to it beyond my reservations and still find enough here to like. They have better albums.

281. Black Sabbath / The Eternal Idol. 1987. 3.5/5

One of the most interesting parts of the Black Sabbath legacy is that, from “Mob Rules” onwards, once RJD and Vinny Appice had left the band, none of the albums recorded after that were supposed to be released under the Black Sabbath moniker. Each time Tony Iommi and whichever group of musicians he had with him at the time recorded an album, it was supposed to be under a different banner. “Born Again” which featured Ian Gillan on vocals was certainly of that thought. Then the somewhat ill-fated “Seventh Star”, an episode you can find on my other podcast Thoughts from the Metal Cavern, was supposed to be Tony’s solo album. But no, the marketers insisted that Black Sabbath had to be used as the band name, even though the music being written was now not necessarily tied to the vision that fans had of that band’s name.
Glenn Hughes had sung on the “Seventh Star” album, but he dropped out before that tour had begun, and had been replaced by Ray Gillen. When it came time to write and record for “The Eternal Idol”, the constant changing of the guard didn’t stop, in fact it increased to the point of ridiculousness. First it was the producer who ended up quitting, requiring a change mid-stream. Eric Singer had been brought in to play drums, and then bass guitarist Dave Spitz left, apparently for personal reasons. This also coincided with Gillen having trouble with the lyrics to the album. In order to solve both the bass guitarist and lyrics writing problems, Bob Daisley was brought in to the project as a ‘fixer’. With his help, although the album only credits Tony Iommi as the songwriter, all of the tracks were co-written by Tony and Bob, with Bob writing all of the lyrics. Singer and Daisley then recorded all of the drums and bass for the album... and then left to join Gary Moore’s touring band. Another sign of life in the new Black Sabbath.
Perhaps the biggest move of all though came after this, when Gillen abruptly also quit the band, having already sung on half of the songs of the album. Gillen left to form the band Blue Murder with John Sykes, a band he also left within a short space of time. However, it was the new vocalist hired for the album that became an important piece in the Black Sabbath puzzle going forward. Tony Martin was brought in, and then had to re-record the vocals that Gillen had laid down, and complete the other songs on the album as well. Versions of Gillen’s vocals still exist, and show a different platform to how Martin eventually reconstructed the vocals to suit his own style.
All of this took time, and it took over a year from start to finish to have the album ready for release, an inordinate amount of time in that day and age. The problem now was, would anyone buy it?

One of the main things that needs to be remembered when it comes to any Black Sabbath titled album from the 1980’s is this – Tony Iommi wrote the songs. That means that the greatest riffmeister of all time wrote the riffs on the songs, played the guitar and shredded the solos. So dismissing any album of this vintage due to the other players at the time is a really silly thing to do.
Point in fact, the opening track of “The Eternal Idol”. Apparently the riff for “The Shining” had been bobbing around in Tony’s collection from the early 80’s, but didn’t come to fruition until writing for this album. And it is a great song and great opening to the album. Iommi’s guitaring is fabulous, and Martin’s vocals suit it perfectly. It’s the perfect introduction to Tony Martin as the latest lead singer in the band’s discography.
The songs beyond the first track range from mid-tempo to faster, from those with true-sounding Sabbath riffs and more modern sounding riffs (at the time it was released at least). “Ancient Warrior” is a good follow up in the more traditional Sabbath elements. “Hard Life to Love” has similarities to the style of songs on the previous album, but is much better written and performed, with Tony Martin easily holding the centre stage and leading the charge vocally. “Glory Ride” finishes off the first side of the album in a less enthusiastic way despite another excellent solo from Iommi.
“Born to Lose” kicks off the second side of the album and again is highlighted by Iommi’s solo break more than anything else that the song has to offer. This is followed by “Nightmare” which was written to appear in the film “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors” and is one of the best tracks here with another great vocal performance from Martin. Its space is the movie is so limited that unless you knew it was there you would miss it completely. An Iommi instrumental titled “Scarlet Pimpernel” leads into “Lost Forever”, the fastest song on the album and arguably almost the best. This harks back to the “Mark II” days with the speed of the song and the joy of the vocals. It’s a beauty.
The album concluding title track “Eternal Idol” has the most Sabbath-sounding riff of the album, also dragging back the tempo to the doom metal that this band is the leaders of. It’s just a little amusing that because of its style, it actually feels right out of place on this album given the songs that have come before it. That doesn’t make it less enjoyable, but it is the one track that stands apart.

I’ve always been a supporter of the different eras of Black Sabbath, whether they should have been called that or not, and this Tony Martin era was no different. When it was announced that this album was being released, our first taste of it was the music video for “The Shining”, which seemed to be on every week on Rage for months. So I was looking forward to it. On a trip to Utopia Records a few weeks after its release, one of my best mates, who went on to becoming my brother-in-law, bought the album, but as we were going to do some other stuff in the city, he decided to leave it in his car while we did so. On our return, of course, the heat generated in the car meant that it had warped quite significantly, leading to hysterical laughter from the rest of us, and mild concern for Joel himself. He did later claim that the sound was not affected by the warping of the vinyl, but that it did induce a bumpy ride. Another of those great stories from the year of 1987.
I always enjoyed this album, and it was the power songs for me that made this so, songs such as “The Shining”, “Ancient Warrior”, “Nightmare”, “Lost Forever” and “Eternal Idol”. And no, when I listen to it and enjoy it, I don’t really listen to it as a Black Sabbath album, but just an album I love. Even though they were only there as hired guns, the drumming from Eric Singer and bass of Bob Daisley give this a different tone from a Sabbath album with Ward and Butler on those instruments. They are great here and together, and set the basis that allows both Tony’s on guitar and vocals to do their work. And Martin’s vocals here are sensational, so much so that it is just the first of many outings for him, while Iommi is as Iommi always is. If the resurrection of Dio and Appice in the 200’s brought forth the name “Heaven and Hell”, then it wouldn’t be unfair to call this the first album of the “Headless Cross” era of the band... but of course that album was yet to come.

280. Dokken / Erase The Slate. 1999. 2.5/5

The band Dokken had been through some tumultuous times once the original foursome had agreed to reunite and reform in 1995, having split at the peak of their popularity in 1989 when the tensions between the band members became too much to continue working together. That 1995 reunion had come about through the producer and record company wishing to promote Don Dokken’s follow up second solo album under the name of the band rather than his name itself, and required convincing Don firstly to work again with guitarist George Lynch, with whom the main tensions existed, as well as bass guitarist Jeff Pilson and drummer Mick Brown. The deal was done, and the resulting album “Dysfunctional” (a name that fitted) was released to surprising success given the music era.
A follow up with 1997’s “Shadowlife” saw the band move towards an alternate rock sound that appeared to not be as enjoyable to the band's fanbase, and had seen the tensions between Dokken and Lynch continue to escalate once again. Lynch’s behaviour had already seen the band dropped by their label due to him leaving a live radio broadcast moments before the band was supposed to play, and having pushed the band into the new musical direction he was quoted in an interview as saying "This is the perfect record. This is gonna be the end of Dokken, and that is what I wanted to accomplish”. Suffice to say, Lynch was fired by the rest of the band after a long dispute, though he then tried to sue the band when they went on tour with a guitar replacement in Europe’s John Norum, an action that failed in court. After the tour, Norum was forced to leave due to other commitments, and so the band brought in former Winger and future Whitesnake guitarist Reb Beach as his replacement. Beach suited the band as he had been a prominent guitarist in the same 80’s era where Dokken had thrived, and so the foursome went into the studio to create their new album, aptly titled “Erase the Slate”.

Unlike another band of Dokken’s original era, Ratt, who released an album at this time as well, and whose sound is a considerable change from what the band delivered back in their halcyon days (an album that is coming up very soon on Music from a Lifetime), this album opens up in a style reminiscent of what everyone remembers of the band back in the late 1980’s. In typical Dokken fashion in fact. "Erase The Slate" charges out of the blocks, with Reb Beach immediately front and centre on guitar, Don’s discernible vocals supported by the excellent back up cast, and a typical upbeat sound from the band. This then careers into “Change the World” which mightn’t be quite as dominant but does have a harder element from both Beach and drummer Mick Brown through the middle of the track. On both of these songs, you can easily imagine yourself back in the band's golden era. They mightn’t be as uniquely arranged as the past, but it is a familiar scene that is being presented. “Maddest Hatter” motors along nicely too, and again presents an excellent face to the band in this latter stage of the 1990’s. Indeed, the songs would appear heavier apart from Don’s almost falsetto at time vocals. Both “Drown” and “Shattered” head down a similar path, though with their own quirks within the framework of the song that make them unique in their own way. “Shattered” in particular is a terrific song, channelling the heavier side of the band’s past and giving the three-piece instruments their time to lay the foundation of their art. “Voice of the Soul” draws in the great Dokken chorused vocals that are so much a part of the enjoyment of the band with a great sounding rhythm and Reb letting rip on guitar once again. “Crazy Mary Goes Around”, with Mick Brown on lead vocals, is a great riposte in the back half of the album. Mick’s vocals are fantastic, adding a different vibe and power to the song, an almost traditional rock n roll feel to the song with a heavier edge. This is one of the standouts on “Erase the Slate”. And “Haunted Lullaby” sits back in that mid-tempo range but is again dominated by Reb Beach’s excellence on guitar.
Not all the decisions made on this album though are for the greater good. The cover of the 1960’s pop song “One” - no, not the Metallica song, but the “One is the loneliest number” ... you know how it goes... - seems right out of place. Sure, the band has done a reasonable job of heavying it up and trying to produce a cover version that suits the band’s general genre, but that doesn’t make it any less strange that it should appear here. Were they short a son and needed something on the spot? Do they just like the song and always wanted to cover it? I don’t know. The power ballad stylings of “Who Believes”, which seems to be trying to draw its inspiration from a song such as “Heaven Sent”, doesn’t really capture the same energy of that track either. And “In Your Honour” is a little short of expectation. Dokken ballad-type tracks of the past have at least had an energy and drive behind them, whereas this song does not, with Don’s vocals sounding washed out, unenthusiastic, and just plain boring in the long run. It is a disappointing song, one that could easily have been left off, or left for a B-side or an unused collection later on. The fact that it is the song that closes out the album is even more disappointing, because it really does not represent the majority of the material that has come before it on the album.

As per episodes already recorded for this podcast on Dokken albums, I was an unfortunate latecomer to the band. More is the pity, given if I had discovered them in my high school years, then my high school years would have been even better musically than they already were. It wasn’t until the very late 1990’s that I was first truly introduced to the band, and discovered the joy they produced for myself.
What that meant for me was that I discovered almost all of the Dokken discography at the same time, rather than getting albums every few years to engage with and devour before moving on to the next one. And while I found plenty on this album to enjoy, the fact that I had just discovered “Tooth and Nail” and “Under Lock and Key” and “Back for the Attack” at the same time, those albums really dominated my listening at that initial stage, and “Erase the Slate” found itself the poor cousin when it came to time allocated to listening to it. When I started my album review blog under this same name I listened to it quite a few times, and looking back on that review prior to this past couple of weeks, I was a bit blase about the album itself and what I wrote.
So now I'm back on the wagon again, and from the moment I put this CD back in my stereo for this podcast, I was drawn in. This wasn’t really how I remembered this album at all. From the outset, it sounds like a Dokken album that, theoretically, could have been released as the follow up to “Back for the Attack”. The Dokken sound is there in spades. Sure, it is a modified sound given the time between the star 1980’s albums and its release in 1999, but I can’t help but like it. Yeah, there is the odd song that doesn’t quite work, but overall – this is a really good album! Mick Brown on drums and Jeff Pilson on bass have never sounded better. I love Micks drumming throughout this album, it is powerful and engaged, hitting hard and anything but simple. A real treat. Jeff’s bass playing is always top shelf, and both of these musicians contributions also to the backing vocals is terrific, and Mick’s lead vocal on “Crazy Mary Goes Around” is superb. Don’s vocals again are excellent. They on occasions have that reedy, softer feel where perhaps a tougher vocal line would work better – but that’s Don Dokken and that’s what he offers. Nothing wrong with that. And Reb Beach, who had the toughest job in taking over from George Lynch on guitar, is a revelation. His guitaring on the album is superb and an absolute highlight throughout. Anyone who enjoys Dokken will get a kick out of this album, but I suspect anyone who does already has it. The downside to this was that it was the only album Reb Beach played on in Dokken, as he had other commitments to move on to, and it was also the final album that almost founding member Jeff Pilson played on. All members and former members have continued to record and tour since this album’s release with reasonable success, perhaps just showing that the excellence that gathered for this pre-millennial release was indeed well worth the wait.

279. Iced Earth / Enter The Realm. 1989. 3.5/5

This is a pretty impressive first-up effort from the lads – a demo, no less. Is it any wonder they were signed up after the world heard this?
Well worth a listen in regards to the roots of this group.

Rating: Demo? Damn! 3.5/5

278. Metallica / Enter Sandman [Single]. 1991. 4/5

"Enter Sandman" is a great song. Metallica's reworking of Queen's classic "Stone Cold Crazy" is also great. But this is all you are giving me for $7? No way do you get full marks!!

Rating: Good single. 4/5.

277. Y&T / Endangered Species. 1998. 3/5

Trying to regain what they had in their heyday in the 80's, Y&T dish up more of the same without really finding anything new, but without spitting on their own reputation in the process.

Like most of the Y&T catalogue, Endangered Species sticks to the hard rock roots of their earliest releases. On a few songs, such as “Can't Stop The Rain”, “Gimme The Beat” and “Hello! Hello! I'm Back Again” they equal what they produced in those times. These are the stand-outs. The rest is pretty much run-of-the-mill stuff for the lads.

Rating: Much like the other albums in their collection. 3/5.

276. Queensryche / Empire. 1990. 5/5

In 1990, Queensryche had the onerous task ahead of them, to follow up arguably the greatest concept album of all time, Operation Mindcrime. It was one of those albums that you couldn't help looking forward to.
Did they pull it off? Everyone's opinion will differ, but I think they nailed it.

The entire mood of this album is so different from Mindcrime, and I remember that the first couple of times I listened to it I wasn't able to get past that nagging feeling that it was inferior. Once I got through the initial fear, and just let the album run through me, I found it was an amazing mixture of moods. From the opening of “Best I Can” to the slow sleepiness of “Della Brown”, from the brilliance of “Another Rainy Night (Without You)” to the deepness of the title track “Empire”, from the strains of the ballad “Silent Lucidity” to the power of the closing track “Is There Anybody Listening”, Empire is a gem of an album. Certainly, it is different from most of my other favourite albums, in that it is not an out-and-out heavy metal album. But the music and lyrics are superb, and makes no attempt to clone their success on their previous album.

Memories: Playing this album in the dark, laying on the floor of my bedroom, and letting the album sweep through me, back when it was first released. To me, this is the optimum position to be in when playing this album.

Rating: A sensational follow up to continue their success. Alas, it was also their last great album. 5/5.

275. A Perfect Circle / eMOTIVe. 2004. 0.5/5

So a band comes into its third album, which for most bands indicates exactly how they are going to progress into the future. It is the turning point. It is the album that decrees that you are at that point where you have found your essence, and have a fan base that helps you progress down the road, or it decries your insufficiencies and suggests that the end is probably nigh.
The end was nigh.

The fact that this was basically a side project for the members means that there has never been a huge push on the timetable for releases. The fact that this album is actually only two new songs, and then ten songs which are cover versions of political songs, doesn't help the palate at all. It would be a tough enough ask for any band to pull off a version of John Lennon's "Imagine" without it coming across as indulgent or horrifying. The fact that the version of Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" is almost completely awful also proves how hard it is to mess with classics. They have had a crack at a wide range of bands and genres here, and personally I think it comes off dreadfully. Perhaps that is unfair given that I only looked in to listening to the album on the insistence of one of my best mates that this was a band worth checking out, and not because I followed any of the artists involved or for the most part the other bands they are in.

In the end, neither most of the original versions of these songs, nor these versions, do anything for me. I find it dull and dreadful, and hardly worth a second thought.

Rating:  Imagine all the people... listening to this crap...  0.5/5

274. Stratovarius / Elements Part 2. 2003. 2/5.

Given that Part 1 was somewhat shrouded in the shadow of Symphony X's Odyssey, I bought this hoping it could redeem what I thought were the weaknesses of the first release. This didn't become the case.

By this stage of their career, it felt to me that Stratovarius were just repeating themselves. It would be nice if I could say that was a good thing, but really, everything they release has the same feel to it, and I get to the stage that I don't know which album I am listening to. Elements Part 2 in particular does this to me. I was listening to a lot of my music on random the other day, and I could pick one of the songs as Stratovarius immediately, but just could not pick the album. As it turned out, it was off this one.

Having your own style is what keeps every band different from all the other bands out there. Not being able to mix it up with your style is a death sentence.

Rating: Unable to inspire me whatsoever. 2/5.

273. Stratovarius / Elements Part 1. 2003. 3/5.

This album tries hard to lift Stratovarius into the higher echelons of power metaldom, and though it has a lot right with it, unfortunately it doesn't quite make it.

It starts off well, with Eagleheart and Soul Of A Vagabond getting the album off on the right foot. Then, once again, they seem to lose their way a little bit.
No doubt this is their style, and this is the way they like it, and that is fine, but it really isn't to my taste. I certainly don't expect them to pander to what I like, but it gets a little disappointing when you hear albums that, time and time again begin really well, and then they do not take full advantage of that.

Given that, this is still a solid effort. I can't go without explaining that I acquired this album at the same time as Symphony X's Odyssey, and I always find myself comparing the two. That is a little unfair on it, too.

Rating : Another for the middle of the roaders. 3/5.

272. James LaBrie / Elements Of Persuasion. 2005. 4/5

I picked this up after the heavier effort that Dream Theater dished up with "Train Of Thought" hoping it would translate to Labrie's own material. I must say it came as a surprise when it did!

This is an immediately enjoyable album. Though showing the obvious influences of his work with Dream Theater, "Elements Of Persuasion" is sufficiently diverse to ensure it is not comparable with that band's releases.
Labrie's vocals are as always at the forefront, while the musical direction is on the heavier side of his previous releases.

Favourites for me on the disc include Crucify, Alone, Freak and Invisible.

Rating: A surprisingly good release. One of the surprises of 2005. 4/5.