Whichever way you choose to look at the
problems that have beset the band once known as Queensryche - be it the
last 12 months, the last five years, the last fifteen years - this album
becomes 50% of the way to put the controversy to bed once and for all.
Whether
you believe this is a 'real' Queensryche album by the 'real'
Queensryche is not particularly relevant. What is true is that this
album is written by the same writers that have produced the majority of
the songs from the last three Queensryche albums, those being Operation: Mindcrime II, American Soldier and Dedicated to Chaos.
So with that being the case, it is the opportunity for Geoff Tate and
band to make a statement, and show the world exactly what their vision
is for their brand of the Queensryche name.
Well, you probably know
how the story turns out without even having to read any more of this
review. In simple terms, if you enjoyed those three aforementioned
albums, you will most likely find something here that you will enjoy. If
you felt that, for the most part, those three albums were the shite
topping on the pile of vile excrement that has been Queensryche's career
for the past decade, then you will not be brought out of your
disappointment haze with this release.
There was a little promise
early on. The first single "Cold" is slightly catchy if not blessed
with anything memorable in the speed or musical departments. What is
problematic is that you are already bored with the album halfway through
this song. That's right people, from the opening riff I had hopes, and
then less than 90 seconds later I was struggling.
Many of the songs
lyrically seem to be referencing the demolition of this band's
relationships from twelve months ago, which is not a bad situation to
try and draw some inspiriation to make an album. Hell, Masterplan's
eponymous debut a decade ago did it brilliantly. But here the lyrics
appear mostly childish, sloppy, and far too repetitive in many cases to
make any effect except to make you feel like asking him to get off the
case. "Dare" does this, it just goes on too long to enjoy. "Give It to
You" is the first real indication that nothing is going to change
musically from the last couple of albums. The songs have the same grunge
guitar and maudlin pace and whining vocals that cruelled those records.
When Geoff is crooning "How do you like me so far?" you can hear
millions of people giving him the answer that he probably doesn't want
to hear.
Not everything is a dead loss here, but it is only the
occasional interjections from guest musicians that are the highlights.
K.K. Downing's guitar solo in "Running Backwards" is the best moment of
the album - that's how striking it is when it rips in to save what is,
apart from that, a very average song. Paul Bostaph's drumming also kicks
in this. It must be the most damning indictment on an album and its
writing when the best moments I can find are the guest guitar solos by
guys like Ty Tabor ("Everything"), K.K, Dave Meniketti ("Fallen"), Brad
Gillis ("Life Without You") and Chris Poland ("The Weight of the
World").
It's also amusing listening to the songs, and on some the
bass or the keyboards suddenly seem to be a lot clearer and much more
forward in the mix. A quick check of the credits leads to the fact that
on those particular songs, Jason Slater is playing those instruments.
Seems as though the producer/recorder/mixer (Jason Slater) felt that
these needed to be highlighted in these songs.
But just when you
thought it was all over, the record company insists that Tate-Ryche
re-record four of their songs from their greatest era so that they can
tack them on at the end, no doubt as a money spinning opportunity. They
apparently also wanted them to sound as close to the original versions
as possible. Now, in reality, Geoff should have said no to this request.
Why? Because they sound AWFUL, and all they prove is how good these
songs and the band was two deacdes ago, and just how much tate's voice
is floundering at this point of his career. These versions are just an
embarrassment, and if his former band mates actually bother to listen to
all of this then I think they will feel very comfortable with their
decision from twelve months ago to part ways, for many reasons.
I
went into this with an openmind, hoping it would be good. I don't think
there can be two bands with the same name, that has to be sorted out.
But there is no reason why both bands cannot exist with their seperate
futures. What this album does is irrevocably proves who has been in
control of the past decade of Queensryche's career, and that I cannot
continue down that path. Whether I can continue down the path with the
other three-quarters of the band will only be answered once their album
comes forth in a few months.
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Three or four years ago I was trawling music
stores and second hand record stores and websites, trying to hunt down
any material I could that former Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di'anno had
been involved in. You see, he was about to tour Australia for the first
time, and I wanted to know the songs he was going to perform before I
heard them at the gig. I already had stuff from his Killers project and
his Battlezone project, and I just wanted to find whatever I could.
During that process, I came across this gem, and having first thought
maybe I had found what could be one of the great undiscovered albums,
and secondly thought I was going to be ridiculously disappointed if I
thought that before I went into it, I took it home to see just exactly
what I had.
What I found was somewhat amazing. No, it wasn't what
Iron Maiden would have sounded like if these two had been kept in the
band. In a way, it showed why they had to move on, because this album,
recorded in 1995, is very much stuck between 1970's AOR and 1980's pop
hard rock. The singing duties are shared between both main members of
the band, with Di'anno's harder edged vocals on the rockier songs
("Lucky to Lose", "Let Him Rock", "Listen What Your Heart Says", "She
Won't Rock", "I'll Be Miles Away" and "Death of Me") while Stratton's
syrupy vocals settle in the softer rock songs ("I've Had Enough", "It
Ain't Over 'Til It's Over", "Bad Girls" and "Two Hearts in Love"). Both
sides of the music are showcased. The faster hard rocks songs are still
catchy, with Di'anno's vocals as good as ever, while Stratton's
guitaring is still excellent. Some help from guests such as Fast Eddie
Clarke and Paul Samson also help out songs such as "Lucky to Lose", "Let
Him Rock" and "She Won't Rock". The backing vocals mostly sound like
chorus girls, and really tie it to the 80's, especially in songs like
"I'll Be Miles Away" and "She Won't Rock"
Yes, it's cheesy both
lyrically and musically. "Let Him Rock" and "Death of Me" sound a lot
like stuff Alice Cooper was doing in the mid-1980's, the fun stuff off
albums like Constrictor. Everything about this
album screams a time period long before its conception, especially in an
age where it was grunge that had captured most people's attention. But
here we have three and four chord rock riffs with a simple drum beat
with repetitive vocals coming over the top. Except on Stratton's songs,
which suddenly shift to a soft rock equivalent with smoother vocals.
This
is one of those guilty pleasure albums, where everything on it is
generally everything you dislike about songs or albums or bands - and
yet, you can't help but like it. A couple of the songs are just trying
way too hard to be something they can't be, and they tend to bring the
rest of the material down. Mostly, it is just Paul Di'anno's energy and
firepower that make you put aside the things you would normally dislike,
and accept the songs for what they are. His vocals suit the songs he is
involved in perfectly. Dennis Stratton goes a little too far into the
wimpy section on his songs for my taste, but they are still worth
listening to for the most part. Overall this was a very pleasant
surprise on its discovery.
(As a footnote, on the tours I have
since seen Di'anno on, he has only played songs off the first two Iron
Maiden albums at those gigs. Go figure).
Though I had never cottoned onto The Rods in
my teenage years (I'm not sure they influenced their way across the
water to Australia in the days of import records), I decided to check
them out a couple of years ago upon the revelation of the relationship
between David "Rock" Feinstein and Ronnie James Dio. I went in with no
reservations, just an eye and an ear as to what they had to offer.
There
is nothing outstanding or special here, but it is a straight forward
hard rock album, in the same vein that you get with AC/DC. It's not
original or ground breaking, but the songs are good enough, and you find
yourself easily tapping away with them. In some cases, this could well
be because some of the songs sounds distinctly, and perhaps
disturbingly, like some artists and songs of the same vintage. "Bad
Blood" is a real Judas Priest "Breaking the Law" clone, whether by
design or default. You can't help but think of that song every time that
"Bad Blood" comes on. Ditto with "I'm a Rocker", which has AC/DC
written all over it. "Nuclear Skies" sounds very much like a Gary
Moore-type song of that era, in both vocals and lyrical content, but
without the brilliant guitar work. I'm not trying to over analyse these
songs, the similarities are very apparent.
Songs like "Rock Warriors"
and "White Lightning" show the best the band had to offer - a solid
drum beat, nice guitar riff, excellent bass lines and serviceable
vocals.
Again, this is no heavy hitter, and unless you found it
at its time of release and probably already had a history with the band,
you are unlikely to eve put it up high on your list of great albums.
But it fits neatly in the middle, not the worst you'll ever hear and
still an album you can put on and listen to without too many qualms.
DragonForce came out fast and furious on their debut opus, something that not only surprised, but amazed a lot of people.
Mixing
an explosive concoction of guitars blazing along at 200 miles per hour,
driven by double kick drums which are almost too perfectly in time at
some points to believe that machinery of some kind hasn't been used, Valley of the Damned
jump started the speed/power metal art form once again in the UK, in a
marketplace where the genre had been dominated by Europeans.
This is a
real power metal frenzy, with the speed of the songs complemented by
the rising keyboards that also become prominent in the mix, and the
hitch pitched vocals soaring above all and sundry. All of the songs
stretch from five and half minutes out to seven and a half minutes, with
barely a moment to catch your breath.
The opening track "Valley of
the Damned" is a stalwart, combining everything immediately into a
package that defined what DragonForce the band could offer. This is
followed by "Black Fire" and "Black Winter Night" which also fly along.
"Starfire"
is the power ballad of the album, where everything is slowed right down
to the point of torture. It's just a little beyond belief that every
other song on this album is belting along like a steam train, and then
the brakes are yanked on for one song smack bang in the middle of the
song list. It never ceases to amaze me how bands or producers or record
companies think that this is a good move.
Fortunately order is
restored by the excellent "Disciples of Babylon" and "Revelations".
There is an obvious similarity to all of these songs. Certainly if you
just throw on the album and play it without too much thought you could
sometimes be forgiven for thinking that they are all meshed into one
another. However, once you are comfortable with the album, you can
easily pick between the changes and nuances of each song.
In many
ways, DragonForce polarise the metal community. While many have jumped
on board the wagon, others believe this is less a metal album than a
conglomerate of guitars and drums and keys and vocals thrown at you out
of the speakers in a mass of noise. Some would suggest that is all metal
music is in the first place. I believe Valley of the Damned
is an acquired taste, and not one that you will instantly come to
enjoy. While I think that future albums were unable to distinguish
themselves individually, and that they even became a parody of
themselves, this debut album still has lots to offer the first time
listener.
When you come into a new Stryper album, you
can be sure of a few things. One, the vocals will be awesome, pitch
perfect and sensational. Two, you will come across at least two ballads,
ones that will suck the life out of your listening pleasure if only for
the fact that they will stall the impetus that the album has made up
until the point they arrive. Three, the guitars of Michael Sweet and Oz
Fox will constantly surprise and amaze you with their power and force.
Murder by Pride is no different.
The
great songs here are brilliant. To be honest, surprisingly so, given
the length of time that has passed since their last truly great album, To Hell With the Devil.
Sure, they've had some good songs since then, but their appearance has
been stagnant and more like potholes on a highway than the highway
itself. The opener "Eclipse of the Son" is powerful and gritty. "The
Plan" is driven by Sweet's amazing vocals and a great solo by Fox.
"Murder by Pride" follows the same path. "Love is Why" and "Everything"
are also favourites of mine here.
The ballads, as always for me,
are the killer. "Alive" and "I Believe" both come along at their
specified intervals and halt the progress of the album. Don't get me
wrong, the vocals and the guitars sound strong and spectacular, but they
aren't enough to stop that nagging feeling I have with so many albums
of this nature, that if they just out these songs aside and didn't allow
the momentum to shift, they would be so much better. I'm also not too
sure about the Boston cover song, "Peace of Mind". We know you played
with them for a few years Michael, no need to remind us of it!
There
is a lot to like about this release, and in most ways it not only
proves that Stryper the band can still make good albums, it also
hopefully points to a resurgence in their fortunes. It is interesting to
note the difference that Kenny Aronoff on drums and Tracy Ferrie on
bass make on this album, compared to long term members Robert Sweet and
Tim Gaines. Both are excellent here. The twin guitars of Michael Sweet
and Oz Fox are again just truly awesome, while their vocals also are
soaring. Whether or not this is a 'comeback' is worth arguing about, but
it is worthy of a listen.
Lita Ford is back. This time perhaps, for
real. When I first got this album I really expected very little, so
unsure was I that Lita could really find her mojo and put out an album
that would really capture my imagination. True, there's nothing new here
in regards to a stock standard form of hard rock. But there is a much
more mature approach to the song writing than from her heyday in the
mid-to-late 1980's.
Lyrically she is drawing heavily from a number of
recent events in her life, in particular her divorce from Jim Gillette
and the absence of her two boys they had together. It's a far cry from
her previous album, the 15 year comeback album Wicked Wonderland
which lyrically seemed to almost be a porn film with the same guy she
is now drawing so much anger and aggression from. What a difference a
couple of years makes. However, this is like chalk and cheese compared
to that bore-fest. The lyrics here are heartfelt and honest, creating a
major positive out of what must have been an enormously tough time in
her life.
It still wouldn't work if the music wasn't up to the
task, but there is no problem there either. With the help of
collaborator and player of many instruments Gary Hoey, Lita has drawn
from her hard rock roots to put together a great mixture of songs here.
She still has a couple of quieter, reflective moments in songs such as
"Mother", a song that is obviously directed to her two sons and with
some cutting remarks about her ex-husband. Lyrically she hasn't held her
feelings back, and it is this approach that really makes the album what
it is. There is plenty of anger and emotion in the songs, which are all
brought across to the listener through the perfectly presented music
and singing style for each song.
Songs like "Branded" and "Hate" kick
the album along with passion and attitude, while songs such as "The
Mask" and "Relentless" bring more sentiment and darker thoughts through
in the lyrics.
"Devil in My Head" and "Asylum" show a side of Lita's
music that she hasn't shown before, where she has really dug from the
well of her innermost feelings to come up with some terrific pieces.
"Love
2 Hate U" features a duet with Hoey, which is a nice way to complement
his efforts on the album in all facets, from writing, playing and
producing. There is a great cover of the Nikki Sixx-penned song "Song to
Slit Your Wrists By". The bonus tracks are great as well, with the song
"Bad Neighbourhood", co-written and starring on guitar Doug Aldrich, as
well as a somewhat appropriate cover of the Elton John classic "The
Bitch is Back".
While she may have received bigger plaudits and airplay with her pop-metal albums such as Lita and Stiletto
- which I still love for what they are, mind you - this is arguably
Lita's finest hard rock album, with great hard tracks as well as the
slower and soft rock ballads that are part and parcel of the genre. The
song writing here is probably the strongest of her career, and the
production of the album from start to finish is excellently
co-ordinated. Whether or not you have been a fan of hers in the past,
this is well worth checking out. After fifteen years away from the music
scene, this is the true comeback album she was looking for, and it has
been well worth the wait.
If you could cross-pollinate Def Leppard and
AC/DC, or at least the voices of Joe Elliott and Brian Johnson, then you
would probably come up with Cinderella's Night Songs
as a working album. Though it was somewhat noticeable at the time, it
is amazing putting this album on again now, closing in on thirty years
after its release, that it hits you in the face more so now than then.
I'll admit I had forgotten how much this album is like those two bands,
certainly for the first few tracks, after which I guess the effect does
begin to wear off as you move into Cinderella's debut. Theoretically it
is not a bad formula to draw on. Both bands were prominent at the time,
and Tom Keifer can't help but be compared to either or both of those
lead men in vocals. The fact that the songs themselves seem to replicate
the riffs as well could be seen to be dangerous, if there wasn't enough
there to just dignify a difference in output and direction.
In the
era when hair metal had bands like Motley Crue, Ratt, Poison, Bon Jovi
and a dozen others entering the charts, this album musically was far
enough removed from them to be successful in its own right. It didn't
hurt that they supported Bon Jovi on the Slippery Whet Wet tour, that
kind of exposure is priceless.
Depending on your point of view,
the songs here have grown with your from this release, meaning they
bring some of your past and history with them, or they just sound like
relics from a past age that doesn't excite you at all. While I was never
a huge Cinderella fan, they were a band I sought out because of the
lust for new material in the late 1980's, so much of the album still
sits with me in a positive light. "Night Songs" is an interesting start
to the album, a slow burner that doesn't explode the album into action
but draws you in regardless. "Shake Me" is a great rocking song in the
best traditions of bands like (surprise, surprise!) Def Leppard and
AC/DC. It lifts the tempo of the album immediately. Strangely then,
having done this, it is followed by the soft rock ballad "Nobody's
Fool", which brings the album's pace back again. "Nobody's Fool" has a
strikingly similar guitar riff and atmosphere to Def Leppard's "Bringing
on the Heartbreak" which is impossible for me to ignore or compare it
to ("Heartbreak" is better).
From here the album follows a tried and
true method, simple drum beat and guitar riffs in hard rock fashion,
with Keifer's vocals and guitar solo's adding that final flavour. "In
From the Outside" has a bluesier feel to it, though still with a rock
element to keep the pace of the album moving. It is almost a portent of
what was to come on future releases.
In many ways, the fate of
whether you enjoy this album or not lies in when you actually discovered
it. If you found it in the late 1980's you will always find you have a
positive vibe from the music. If you cottoned onto it in recent years,
you may well find that being rooted in the hair metal era means you are
unable to get the most from it. While I can't say the same about their
following albums, I can always enjoy this whenever I pull it from its
case and put it in the stereo.
On first impressions, you could be forgiven
for thinking that this is just a grab for cash, a way to pull in a few
more dollars while the band keeps touring without having any more new
material out. It was what I was thinking before getting the album.
Well, I was mostly wrong.
For
a start, this album contains fourteen of Stryper's greatest songs, all
culled from their three first, and best, albums. Two are from the EP The Yellow and Black Attack, six from Soldiers Under Command and six from To Hell With the Devil.
All have been re-recorded here, updated and improved as required. For
instance, as Michael Sweet also concurred, on the original albums the
bass guitar is almost non-existent in the mix, and that is certainly
sorted out on these versions. Also with better mastering now than from
25-30 years ago, these songs now sound fuller, brighter and louder than
the originals. More than anything else, it also gives you another
example of how Michael Sweet can still hit those same ridiculous notes
this many years after first singing them (though, again in his own
words, he doesn't quite sound like "a helium-induced kid at Disneyland"
on these versions as he did to a certain degree on the original albums).
This
is a real joy, and barring a couple of songs really is a greatest hits
album. Those of you who, like me, are not a power ballad fan will
probably still cringe at songs like "First Love" and "Loving You" and
"Surrender", no matter how well they are done. But then there are the
real gems, the big time songs like "Loud 'N Clear", "Soldiers Under
Command", "The Rock That Makes Me Roll", "To Hell With the Devil" and
"The Way" that are still just as strong and ballsy and so damn metal as they ever were.
Ignore the lyrics and the "message" if you are not that way inclined (I
am very atheist), because it is the music that is the star attraction.
Not only that, Michael Sweet's vocals are purely awesome. He has one of
the greatest voices in all music let alone heavy metal or hard rock or
Christian rock. He is an amazing lead singer, and his harmonies with Oz
Fox too are spectacular.
There are also two new songs here, "Bleeding From the Inside" and "Blackened" which are both also great.
Even
if you have the three albums that these songs are from, this is still
worth purchasing for the pureness of the recordings. If you don't, or
you have never experienced Stryper in all of their glory, then this album
is one you must add to your playlist.
Shock Tactics is the
third album for Samson, and one where the band would have been desperate
to build on the solid foundation it had made with its initial releases
and tours, especially with the mood for heavy metal growing more
favourable in the previous two years. To me, they missed a trick or two
when it came to writing and recording this album.
Unlike Head On,
the balance of the songs doesn't mesh or gell as well. There seems to
have been a general stepping away from what could have been regarded as
heavy metal at the time, with most songs moving back towards a bluesy
rockier kind of release. Not quite Deep Purple without the organ, but
there is a definite trend towards that kind of genre. You can almost
hear Ian Gillan's vocals coming at you in songs like "Riding With the
Angels" and "Bright Lights". In fact, both of those songs could have
slotted onto Bruce Dickinson's Tattooed Millionaire
album from eight years hence, and you wouldn't even blink an eyelid.
This doesn't make them bad songs, but it does make them different from
what they had released prior to Shock Tactics.
"Once
Bitten" and "Blood Lust" are both melodramatically written and
performed, moving along at a much slower pace than the better Samson
material, and are both overly repetitive both lyrically and musically.
Not too much of a challenge here, just repeat the riff and basic
drumbeat and have a chorus repeated many times over the top.
"Nice
Girl" AND "Grime Crime" come with the same "happy" drum beat and guitar
riff that sometimes makes you think of 1960's happy hippy songs. In
fact, try and sing the lyrics of one of the songs over the music from
the other, and I'm pretty sure you'll find that they fit. Similarly
styled, and probably don't work as well as others, with a real blues
riff underneath "Grime Crime" in particular.
The closer "Communion"
is often praised amongst Samson fans as a wonderful song that shows the
great layers that this band was able to produce, and that it showcases
the growth the band has made from simple metal/hard rock to produce such
an genre-shifting song in both performance and writing. To me, it has
always been just a plodding track, one that stretches out the end of the
album interminably. Whilst I appreciate that Samson's guitar and
Dickinson's vocals in particular are given another platform to show
their wares on this track, in the long run it just bores me to tears.
Perhaps it tells the tale best here that my favourite track on Shock Tactics
is "Riding With the Angels", which is written by Russ Ballad, and the
only one that the band did not write. Yes, it is a different album, and
yes, it is the last one that Bruce performed on before moving over to
Iron Maiden. In many ways, it was perhaps the best thing to happen for
all concerned.
Samson are another of the great NWoBHM bands
from the last 70's and early 80's who produced some terrific moments
that seemed to shine bright for a short moment in time, before
disappearing back into the mists of time, rarely to be heard of in wider
circles again. Several reasons can be found for this, most of them
similar to the other bands that were not fortunate enough to have the
mega success of bands like Iron maiden and Def Leppard.
This is
Samson's second album, and first with Bruce Dickinson on vocals
(credited as Bruce Bruce in those days). The quartet of Dickinson, band
leader and guitarist Paul Samson, Chris Aylmer on bass and Thunderstick
on drums all perform terrifically here, as well as all contributing to
the writing. According to an interview, most of the album was written in
the first six days after Dickinson first joined the band.
The band
was obviously not afraid to experiment with their sound on this album.
Stylistically it differs throughout. The opener "Hard Times" and
"Manwatcher" has a very Deep Purple feel about it, not through any use
of a Hammond organ, but the melodic way the song is written, showcasing
Paul Samson's guitar in particular.
Songs such as "Take It Like a
Man" and "Take Me To Your Leader" are faster than the norm, driving
along by a drumbeat that stays uptempo throughout the songs. This is
balanced by the slower "Vice Versa", which is dominated by Bruce's
powerful vocals which don't allow the tempo change to stop the progress
of the album.
One of interesting moments is the song "Thunderburst",
which is a reworking of Iron Maiden's "The Ides of March", which had not
actually been recorded or released at the time this album was. The
album closes with "Walking Out On You", which is full of interesting
time changes and interchanging of the guitars and vocals, all pulled
together by the drums again driving the song when required.
All
in all this is an excellent album, even in the modern day. For the time,
when so many bands were competing to be noticed and heard, this should
perhaps have been a springboard to bigger and better things. Apparently
management problems did much to hinder this occurring. Whatever the
reason, this still stands up today as a very solid album from the era,
with great songs and enough variety so that everyone can find something
within it to enjoy.
The anticipating of the release of this album
has been building ever since it was announced that Jesse Leach was
rejoining the band last year. What would the former vocalist bring to
the band that he had been apart from for the last decade? Would he play a
major part in the songwriting process? And what direction would the
band head in now that Howard had gone?
Most of the answers are
overwhelmingly positive. KsE seem to have gotten their mojo back after
the somewhat limp and lifeless second edition of Killswitch Engage from 2009.
From
the start the energy is noticeably increased. It's faster, both in
guitar work and drumming, and more aggressive vocally. Jesse's return to
lead vocals is a real highlight, and to me is what immediately hit me
about this album. I guess I was surprised that he has returned so well
and really enhanced the songs here to a level that perhaps Howard could
not have. Awesome stuff.
They haven't reinvented the Killswitch
Engage wheel on this album. Rather, they have taken the band's strengths
and refined and highlighted them, and found what has been missing in
recent times. OK, so lyrically it mightn't be Shakespearean - or even
Metallicaean - but it isn't the lyrics that drive the album. It is the
pure energy of the vocals, the ever mechanically brilliant drumming of
Justin Foley, and the guitars that just keep exuding that signature
Killswitch Engage sound. Apart from his own performance, Adam Dutkiewicz
has done a great job in getting the best back out of the band in
writing and recording.
Highlights for me on the album include "The Hell in Me", "New Awakening" "In Due Time" and "The Turning Point".
Anyone
who may have been disappointed in at least the last release from this
band - and let's face it, most fans were - should not let it deter them
from checking out this new album. On closer inspection you will find
that this is an excellent return to form, and perhaps even the dawn of a
New Awakening.
Having finally made the effort to search out
and discover what everyone had been talking about in regards to Angel
Witch and their early recordings, I decided that my enjoyment of that
should allow me to pursue their most recent release, to see what the
fullness of time has done in regards to their music.
The first thing I
noticed when I first put this album on was that it was certainly more
melodic than the only other album I have heard of theirs, which was
their eponymous titled debut. After a few listens, I felt that it sounds
as though it is trying to be bigger and on a broader scale than it has
to be. In the end, it feels as though songwriter, guitarist and vocalist
Kevin Heybourne is trying to reinvent the wheel, by making a grandiose
statement about the bands music that, realistically, probably doesn't
need to be done. Honestly, thirty years on from their excellent debut,
and with not a whole lot of recorded material in between, and with so
many bands competing for your dollar, maybe they have just tried a
little too hard to make something special.
That is not to slam
dunk the whole album. Openers "Dead Sea Scrolls" and "Into the Dark" are
good songs. The slower, monotonic wailing of "The Horla" seems to drag
out forever - dare I say it - like 2012 vintage Queensryche, until it
finally kicks into gear towards the end of the song. It misses its mark
with me I'm afraid. It suffers, as do most of the songs here, from being
just a little long in length without being able to hold your full
attention for the time span. This is especially true of "Witching Hour"
and "Upon This Cord", you find yourself drifting away from the music
when they are playing. "Guillotine" and "Brainwashed" are arguably the
best two songs on the album here, closing out the disc in the best way
possible.
There is no need to try and defend the album. It
sounds great, and is played excellently. Kevin's voice has held up well
over the years, though there is little to zero screams here in these
songs to extend his range. It almost sounds like it wants to be a rock
opera, which is about as far away as I would have expected this album to
be. If you can move past the attempts at trying to create an emotive
atmosphere, and enjoy the parts where the guitars and drums step up a
notch to create that classic metal sound, then you will be able to enjoy
this more than those who can't. In the long run, while I can see plenty
of promise in this, overall it just doesn't quite reach the best
conclusion.
It seems that every band at some stage of
their career decides in this day and age that they need to release a
covers album, usually containing songs that have defined their music or
defined what brought them together as a band. With the somewhat radical
change in musical direction that the band had made over its recent
releases, this album was always going to be an interesting perspective
into the hearts of the band. Eleven songs populate the disc, with each
band member apparently choosing two songs each, and a live song tacked
on at the end.
It is an eclectic mix, perhaps more so than any
other covers album that I know of. It is a tough ask to review and rate
such a mix, as half of the songs I either hate the song or the original
band - or both. That's always a little scary too, coming from a band
that you have a lot of respect for.
The song choice, and the band's
involved in those songs, are perhaps indicative of how the whole
Queensrÿche saga has been progressing for a number of years. There is a
lot of varied musical genres mixed into this one album, and most of it
is a long way from the kind of music that most of us wished Queensrÿche
would play! And perhaps this has been part of the morphing of the band's
musical sound. Perhaps they really are just a progressive grunge band
in reality.
Having said that, they have been brave in taking on some
of their song choices. Attempting to cover Queen's multi-layered epic
"Innuendo" is a tough ask, and one that they do well enough that they
haven't stuffed it up. The same can be said of The Police's
"Synchronicity II", another tough song to do well, and they have done a
reasonable job of it.
It is other songs that make it hard for me to
really enjoy the album. I am no lover of Pink Floyd ("Welcome to the
Machine") or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young ("Almost Cut My Hair") or
Buffalo Springfield ("For What It's Worth") or Peter Gabriel ("Red
Rain"), and though I'm sure these songs are performed well, they just
don't do anything for me.
Which leads to the final statement. Would you prefer an album by Queensrÿche that you just don't enjoy (for instance, Promised Land)
or a Queensrÿche album full of cover songs that you don't enjoy? Oh
it's a tough ask, being an admirer of a band that just can't seem to do
much right in your eyes anymore. For what it's worth (not the song and
no pun intended), this album is worth a listen or two - but that is
probably all you will take of it.
Given my advancing age, the lack of a steady
supply of new material from my favourite artists, and the inconsistent
flow of listenable material from new artists, I have made a point of
trying to go back in time, and discover some of the albums that were
either an influence or a part of the very beginnings of the heavy metal
genre, especially those who were a part of the New Wave of British Heavy
Metal. Some of these are very difficult to locate, but occasionally my
digging in record stores and online stores brings forth some gold, and
that is what has happened with this gem from the past.
Given the
history of this band, it's a wonder that they managed to get this out at
all. Over the years there has been almost thirty people in and out of
the band, and having initially disbanded after this release, the whole
revolving door of band members must have contributed to the disarray of
their situation.
This album, though, has all of the right
components that should surely have driven further success. It is as raw
sounding as other great debut albums of the age, and full of great drum
fills, guitar riffs and soaring vocals. Listening to a 1980 album for
the first time with 2013 ears means that I can't possibly have the same
reaction to it as I would have as a teenager in the 1980's. More's the
pity, as I would love to have done so. But even with that being the
case, you can't help but enjoy this album. The energy through every song
is contagious. While it was probably seen as much darker on its release
than it would now, you can hear the roots of thrash and metal in these
songs.
I tried to put together a list of my favourite songs on the
album, and pretty much discovered that I couldn't split them. They all
complement each other so well.
Given the recent documentary about
the band Anvil, which not only showed that they somehow missed the boat
in the fame stakes when their contemporary bands made it "big", but
that they have managed to reinvigorate their career since that
documentary aired, one wonders if Angel Witch could possibly ride a
similar wave. This album should have been the start of a solid recording
and touring career. Instead, like many bands of the NWoBHM revolution,
they were unable to turn a great debut album into a career. 33 years on,
and having just found this album myself, I can only imagine what might
have followed had they been able to stick together.
"You're an Angel Witch... you're an Angel Witch!"
There is a certain art to preparing and
recording a covers album. Obviously, in the majority of cases, the songs
that you cover are going to be ones that influenced you at sometime in
your life, whether it was to get you started into playing a musical
instrument, or as a band influenced the way you go about writing your
own songs. Whether those songs actually relate to your listening
audience, and then translate into sales of the said covers album, is
another thing altogether.
Def Leppard come from a different set
of influences than many of their so-called contemporary bands. That is
very well defined by the selection of songs they perform on this album.
It is an eclectic bunch of mostly early1970's bands, and the songs
themselves are most often from the experimental psychedelic form of
music that was still prevalent during the early part of that decade, or
the straight rock variety. No metal or early forms of that music here,
and that isn't surprising given the band's constant statement that they
don't consider themselves a metal band of any description.
Quite
simply, if you are of the band's vintage, then you too would have grown
up with these songs, and you probably know them all, and have a very
good chance of liking them. If you are a bit younger, and grew up
listening to Def Leppard rather than the other way around, then you may
well have missed most of this class of music. That doesn't mean you
won't or can't like them, but it may not be a familiar style of music
for you.
Songs like T.Rex's "20th Century Boy", Blondie's "Hangin' on
the Telephone" (which is apparently by a band called The Nerve, but to
me it will always be Blondie), Sweet's "Hell Raiser", Roxy Music's
"Street Life", Thin Lizzy's "Don't Believe a Word" and David Bowie's
"Drive-In Saturday" are the songs here that I find the best, the ones
with a bit of rock about them. Some of the songs Def Leppard had no say
over, because I have always hated David Essex's "Rock On" and every
version of "He's Gonna Step On You Again".
Those who like this
70's music and enjoy Def Leppard will get the most out of this album.
Those that don't may find it is boring and boorish. My advice is to give
it a chance. because there are some gems to be found here, perhaps most
of all Phil Collen singing "Stay With Me" by Faces (Rod Stewart's group
for those not in the know). It's a great version, and well worth
listening to. This album took me a few listens before I began to get
much out of it, but once I was in I found that not only did it give me a
better perspective of Def Leppard the band, but also of the artists
they had covered. Again, as with all cover albums, it is rare that I
pull this out to listen to. Now, however, i don't have any qualms about
it when I do.
Anthrax have not been into the high output of
albums in recent years, having only released two studio albums in the
fifteen years since 1998's Volume 8: The Threat is Real.
That's tough for the fans, who not only want to see their favourite
bands live, but want to hear new songs from them as well. We've had live
albums and compilation albums from the band, but little new stuff.
Following on from 2011's Worship Music
we now have another EP, this one full of cover songs that the band has
put together, no doubt as a further effort to appease fans such as
myself who are actually looking for new material, and allow them to keep
touring which, let's face it, will make them more money in this day and
age than trying to sell albums.
The song list was chosen by the
members of the band, and consists of band's whose base era was the
1970's, and though not metal bands by any stretch of the imagination,
their hard rock roots no doubt influenced more bands than just Anthrax
as the decade crossed over into the 1980's. From a listening and
reviewing point of view, it is a difficult thing to hold on to, when you
don't have any great love of the bands or songs covered on the album. I
can appreciate that bands like Rush, Boston, Cheap Trick and Journey have a large
fan base, and that their work is see and heard as an influence upon
others, but really, I just don't really like them. What i can appreciate
here is the effort by the band to cover these songs properly and with
the attention to detail required to pay homage to the original songs and
artists. They sound great, whether you enjoy the songs or not.
For
me, the two stand outs are AC/DC's "T.N.T." which sounds great, and a
brilliant version of Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak". If Thin Lizzy really
wanted a replacement for Phil Lynott's vocals, then Joey Belladonna's
audition on this song is top class.
Filling out the remainder of the disc is "Crawl" from the aforementioned Worship Music as well as a remix of the same song.
As
with all cover albums, this one will retain the interest of the
listener for a number of spins in the CD player, until they realise that
they should either just go back to the originals by the real bands, or
that throwing on Among the Living again would give a better indication of the real love of Anthrax.
Mike Portnoy recording a covers album?!
That's unheard of!! Oh - except of course for the dozen or so he did
with Dream Theater and the such.
Adrenaline Mob toured and clubbed
around at the end of 2011 and throughout 2012, both before and after the
release of their debut album Omerta. During
this tour, given that they only had one album's worth of material to
play, the band also threw in a number of their favourite songs as cover
versions to fill out each set. No doubt they could have played songs
from their previous or current bands, but they obviously tried to avoid
playing anything that may take the focus off their own material.
So
here we have an EP of studio recordings of those favourite cover songs
of theirs. It's a great collection of songs and bands, and they are all
performed wonderfully well. Though each band is only represented once,
there is a common theme involved. For instance, they do a cover version
of Dio's "Stand Up and Shout", which is great. They also do a cover
version of Rainbow's "Kill the King", also terrific, and originally
recorded with Ronnie James Dio on vocals. They finish off with a cover
version of Black Sabbath's "The Mob Rules", again a great version, and
again originally recorded with vocals by Ronnie James Dio. It's good to
see the great man get more recognition by some of today's stars.
The
version of Badlands' "High Wire" is terrific, and is obviously one of
the band's favourites. Russell Allen's vocals are extremely impressive
here. Covering "Break on Through" by The Doors was brave and no doubt
challenging decision. Of all the songs here, this version is the one
that is most unlike the original. It's tough to change up a classic like
this song, and no doubt some will love it and some will hate it. I
guess I'm a bit nonplussed about it. "Romeo Delight" by Van Halen and
"Barracuda" by Heart are both faithful adaptations of those songs, with
Allen's vocals on "Romeo Delight" very much in the vein of DLR. Led
Zeppelin's "The Lemon Song" is again done very well, but it just doesn't
fit in with the energy that the other songs give off in this
collection.
In the long run, this collection gives the fans
something to tide them over until the band releases some new material.
While this works in both performance and song choice, it will for me
fall into the same category as all albums and EPs that are strictly
filled with cover versions do - that is, the first ten or so times you
put it on and listen you will enjoy it. Then you will drift back to the
original versions of these songs, and realise that they are still the
best versions, and this EP will become a self filler, only to be brought
out when someone comes over and you can put it on for ears who haven't
yet heard it.
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