1074. Motörhead / Inferno. 2004. 3.5/5

For whatever reason – and there are always a multitude of them – I had never listened to this album until I decided to go through the entire Motörhead discography a couple of months ago. In fact I wasn’t even aware that it existed. I had copies of Hammered and Kiss of Death and a big gap in between them. So discovering that it existed and then tracking down a copy to listen to was a fun experience. I wasn’t sure what I expected when I got it. After all, the mid-2000’s was a tricky time for bands of other eras. What I found was, for the most part, surprising.

“Terminal Show” signals the album’s intentions immediately. This is more than just a rock album, this is hard and heavy and fast, with Phil’s guitar screaming out of the speakers with fire and gusto. “Killers” continues on what is an aggressive theme with the boundlessly hard hitting drums of Mikkey driving the guitars to a head-thumping rhythm. “In the Name of Tragedy” and “Suicide” bring back the intensity of the speed and fall back into the military medium rhythm that is the second home of Motörhead’s music. It is the style that you can easily become bored with over time a the song’s central riff and drum fill pretty much remains the same all the way through the song. In some instances it works, usually on the shorter songs. Here on “Suicide” though, at five minutes plus, it can start to get a bit beyond it by the end of the song.
“Life’s a Bitch” goes in a different direction, starting out almost like an old fashion early day’s Elvis rock song, and that beginning lingers on even once you have moved into the song itself. It’s that riff from Phil that sends through those memories. “Down on Me” is a grittier harder song with Phil’s guitar riffing along hard with Lemmy’s bass and Lemmy’s vocals hard at work as well. “In the Black” continues on in this vein, and doubles down a little with Mikkey’s drums coming in harder and more prominently here. I won’t deny I like this song, though it is a real extension of the Motörhead sound, much heavier than they usually like to play. So too “Fight” which is hard and aggressive. I enjoy this section of the album because it does show a side of the band that they haven’t always portrayed, that real heavy metal side that they have generally shied away from in always suggesting they are a rock ‘n’ roll band. This lifts the harder profile, even if it is only through this section.
“In the Year of the Wolf” and “Keys of the Kingdom” change it up again, but still in a completely enjoyable way, while “Smiling Like a Killer” is actually the most ‘normal’ Motörhead song on the album.
Once you get big enough that you don’t have to worry what anybody thinks about you, you can start to do songs that may be considered out of your normal space by critics and/or fans. This is certainly the case here with the final song on the album, as Lemmy does his best Johnny Cash impersonation with “Whorehouse Blues”, an unapologetic blues number that is the antithesis of every other song on the album. It sticks out like a sore thumb, though given it comes at the very end at least it isn’t sucking the momentum out of the album halfway through. In the end you’ll either enjoy this song or just stop the CD once you get to this point. I am more in favour of the second option.

Motörhead’s career has been littered with albums that have varied as to the amount of harder rock they have utilised. Some come out and are very much straight down the line rock ‘n’ roll with a bit more guitar thrown in, while others have ramped it up a little to move to that harder side of the line. This one has certainly had that harder edge to it, without compromising the style the band has been delivering for three decades. Apart from the obvious couple of songs that steer clear of this pigeon-holing of their sound, this album has a lot to offer for those who like me enjoy that heavier sound.

Rating: “Don't give me that runaround, you know I treat you fine”.   3.5/5

1046. Megadeth / The System Has Failed. 2004. 3/5

By the time this album came to be released there had been much reporting on the demise of Megadeth as a band. Depending on what you believed, Dave Mustaine was finished with music, be it from irreparably damaging his arm and/or disillusionment with the system, that Dave Ellefson was to be ‘gifted’ the name of the band in order to continue the tradition, that Mustaine was going to do a solo album, and that finally he decided to record under the Megadeth name and that Ellefson refused to play because he was being treated like a hired hand rather than a long-time band member. Thus, by the album’s arrival in late 2004 it could be said that as a fan I was almost over it all myself.

This should have been a solo album, much like the MD.45 album The Craving Dave did in 1996. However, much like that album became (when it was remastered Dave recorded his own vocals on the songs instead of Lee Ving’s), it was released as a Megadeth album even though only Mustaine remained and wrote all of the songs on his own, and that session musicians had been hired to flesh out the rest of the album. There’s no doubt the record company wanted it this way in order to try and sell it, but the lack of an actual band to promote its release means it lacks conviction. While Dave has always been the chief songwriter on this album he is the only contributor, which does feel as though it hinders the album overall without anyone else’s input. In fact, one of the selling points of the album was the ‘return’ of original Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland to play on the album. Of course, in the long run he just contributes some solos to many of the songs, while Dave does double duty on rhythm and lead.
Beyond these elements there is some good material here and also other songs that, although they do appear to have some flaws, are still catchy enough to keep you enjoying what you are hearing. Don’t know what I mean? Well, if I was to take the three best known and probably most popular songs on the album and break them down you would probably see. Because I do quite like “Die Dead Enough”, “Of Mice and Men” and “Back in the Day” as songs, but they still have these characteristics that nag me even as I sing along with them. “Die Dead Enough” tends to drone through the chorus rather than progress with an angry spitting of the lyrics which it really feels it needs. It feels like it needs more angry emotion than gets used. “Of Mice and Men” is like a whine during the vocals. I know Mustaine has his own unique vocal sound that does on occasions sound a bit whiney, but it really does come across in parts of this song. “Back in the Day” has a faster pace and with the right attributes to make it a fun song, but for some reason it just comes across as a bit rocky, like a song that’s trying too hard to be something it quite clearly is not. As I said, none of these things mentioned stops me from loving these songs as they are, it’s just that I don’t count them as great Megadeth songs overall because of what I see are their perceived flaws.
As to the rest of the album, it too has its moments but without taking the great leap required to being a classic. “Blackmail the Universe” starts the album off well, “Kick the Chair”, “The Scorpion” and “Tears in a Vial” all have the right attributes. The second half of the album probably doesn’t live up to the first half, but that doesn’t mean it is terrible. In fact it leaves much of the previous two albums in the dust. You can pick up where Chris Poland has introduced his solos and riffs, and yes it is hard to ignore the way it leads you to be reminded of Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! in those places – for instance the start of “Back in the Day”.

Is this a Megadeth album in anything but name only? Given how heavily Mustaine is involved in all facets of it you have to say it is. Perhaps it doesn’t have that centred feel that albums did when there was a core band in the building, but it has the elements. As a comeback album, a redemption album or a retaliatory album, it is good enough to help dispel the doubts that may have been around regarding Megadeth and Mustaine’s demise. I enjoy the album enough to put on and listen to all the way through, but still feels as though it was a filler rather than a killer.

Rating: “The air is thick, but the oxygen's thin”. 3/5

1018. Sonata Arctica / Reckoning Night. 2004. 4.5/5

My goodness I have tried hard to love Sonata Arctica unconditionally. From the first time I discovered them, I really wanted this to be a love affairs. Their obvious talents were too great for them to be considered an average band with average albums. With their three previous albums, I had always found great songs and wonderful pieces to take away from each, without ever being completely sold on the album as a whole. Much of that comes with the territory of the power ballad that tend to find their way on such bands’ albums. So I was always searching for more, for that perfect mix of power metal with just a bit of a heavier edge, while being able to combine each members instrument to the highest quality. And then along came Reckoning Night.

From the outset, the band is on fire, and the writing is strong and purposeful. New keyboardist Henrik Klingenberg comes up trumps, and absolutely gives a different flavour on the keys than had been prevalent on the earlier albums. Drummer Tommy Portimo has another cracking album, perfectly synchronised and smack bang on in every way, speed and proficiency. So too Marko Paasikoski on bass guitar, dialling right in to Portimo’s drums and locking in perfectly. Guitarist Jani Liimatainen again showcases the best he has to offer, and his duels throughout with Klingernberg’s keyboard is fantastic. Out the front Tony Kakko again inspires with his vocals, and given he again wrote almost the entire album (Jani wrote “My Selene”) shows he has some major ticker in regards to his music.

“Misplaced” is without a doubt my favourite Sonata Arctica song ever. It has the perfect balance between energy, fast tempo, guitar and keyboard riffs, double kick drum and superb vocals. It is the song that should be this band’s template, simply because it contains everything that is magnificent about this band at the top of their form. This is the killer song of their genre, and it rarely fails to send shivers down my spine whenever I listen to it. “Blinded No More” has those great Tony Kakko vocals and a chugging guitar riff throughout, and while the tempo may have dropped from the opening song once it settles into its groove you can’t help but like what has been produced, and singing along in some semblance of tune (not easy in the slightest). “Ain’t Your Fairytale” kicks straight back in to that up tempo theme with flailing guitar and keys and double kick. What comes through best in this song is that while the power metal theme holds its course, the guitar comes in with a heavier sound, dragging this into a more formidable music ground. The hard core rhythm still keeps the song in motion while all of the parts meld together brilliantly. THIS is what I’ve been waiting for from this band. Power by name but also strength and bottom end in the music.
The gentleness of the instrumental “Reckoning Day, Reckoning Night…” only serves as an interlude to “Don’t Say a Word” which begins in a similar way to “Blinded No More” where the tempo doesn’t start quite so fast but is offset by the strength and power of Tony’ vocals which drive the song to the heights it deserves. Before long the pace of the music itself builds back into that pleasing middle ground. The heavier edge to the guitar and drums through the second half of the song again echoes “Ain’t Your Fairytale”, and it ends on a superior note . Top shelf stuff.
“The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Real Puppet” settles back into the mid-tempo range and is much of a power metal song, slower and softer than what has come before it, with the keyboards dominating more thoroughly than had been the case earlier in the album. There are touches of Symphony X along the way, before finishing with a hard guitar riff. Pleasing. “My Selene” returns to the upmarket uptempo highs of the best on the album, mixing the keys and guitars superbly into the jaws of Tony’s vocals and his supports on backups, combining into the best aspects of the power metal genre, with the fast paced drums being drawn along by the dominant keyboards in a merry music melody.
“Wildfire” cracks out of the starting gates like its name, and rages along in fine style. There is some real extreme vocals that come through on this track as well, giving it a real intensity that, frankly, is so out of character for this band that it is tremendously exhilarating. “White Pearl, Black Oceans...” could best be summed up here as the epic power metal song of the album, combining chorus and choirs along with the quieter periods of keyboards and acoustically driven guitar, building to a that epic that bands look for. At almost nine minutes it is the longest song on the album. Finally, to close out the album we have “Shamandalie”, which, somewhat regrettably, is probably the least enjoyable song on the album. After everything that has come before it, the album deserved a real killer of a finishing track, and to be honest this isn’t it. It’s okay, it’s fine, but it isn’t up to the standard of everything else on this album, and that is a shame.

This is the album I had been waiting for from Sonata Arctica. It is a power metal album with that added grunt that gives it that heavier sound that not only helps to bring out the best in all of the band members’ chosen instrument, but drives each song to those heights that their talent deserved. The one small problem that followed it was that the band then had to write and record a follow up album that could get somewhere near as good as this is. So far, many years on, they haven’t been able to do that.

Rating:  “Taken for granted again, too weak a man to say it is over”.  4.5/5

829. Dio / Master of the Moon. 2004. 3.5/5

The fact that Ronnie James Dio has had such a profound influence upon the past thirty years of my life does not distort the fact that not everything he did towards the latter part of his career was as brilliant as other things. The two albums that Dio released during the 1990's were average at best, though he returned to form with both Magica and Killing the Dragon. Master of the Moon, due to future events in the forming and touring of Heaven & Hell and then failing health, sadly became the final album released by Dio, which can sometimes make one listen to it with a touch of melancholy.

The album marked the return of Craig Goldy to the band, with Doug Aldrich having moved on to the gig with Whitesnake. It also had Jeff Pilson returning on bass guitar. What is most noticeable about this album compared to the previous release is that the tempo has returned to a slow-to-mid speed through the majority of the songs, more reminiscent of those albums in the 1990's, and something that had been for the most part missing from Killing the Dragon. Such is the way that the band's music generally fared in the post-1980's writing. It's not necessarily hampering the songs, but it has always been my belief that Dio works best when the songs are up-tempo and lively, allowing Ronnie's vocals to carry the melody of the song, and the drums and guitar can avoid a sludgy muddy sound that sometimes seems to be the result of moving along at a snail's pace. Perhaps it is just my hangover from those early Vivian Campbell-driven albums from the 1980's, but I don't think it is a coincidence that Killing the Dragon with its Doug Aldrich-inspired guitar and writing input was the best Dio album (aside from Magica) since Dream Evil.
Still, enough of the past. This is the album before us, and once you have taken in the slower tempo, the album is a pleasing collection of songs that showcase a solid rhythm section in bassist Jeff Pilson, keyboardist Scott Warren and drummer Simon Wright, some good guitaring from Craig Goldy, and the vocals of Dio himself. If you are looking for fast paced songs, or breakout guitar solos, or even something extraordinary from the great man himself, then you have come to the wrong album, because there is very little of that here.
"One More For the Road" is the opening track, and is the fastest song on the album in regards to tempo, without ever being electrifying in itself. "Master of the Moon" is driven by the wonderful melody and harmony of Ronnie's vocals. He lifts this above the moody tempo that is being played underneath and makes it into that typical Dio song that can be uplifting to you when you listen to it. "End of the World" stays in that same tempo, while again it is Ronnie's vocals that do all the hard work in the song, though this time just straight and without the melodic duelling the "Master of the Moon". "Shiver" shares the dual aspect of a chugging Goldy riff with Dio's commanding vocals to toughen this song up. All in all it has been a reasonable start to the album.
"The Man Who Would Be King" and "The Eyes" have what I call the Vinny Appice Tempo, because it's very solid slow tempo 2/4 time, with the rhythm barely changing throughout the length of the song, and Ronnie singing over the top. That's perhaps unfair on Vinny, because he was no doubt asked to play in such a way during his time in the band, and now Simon has been asked to play along as well. Ronnie puts on his mournful wailing for both of these songs, and the pace barely reaches first gear at any stage. It's not a stretch for any of the musicians here, nor even with Ronnie's singing. They aren't bad songs, but you find yourself slumped back in an armchair listening to them, rather than on the edge of your seat  and air guitaring.
"Living the Lie" and "I Am" aren't slow by comparison but they don't race along either, but are solid songs that don't engender any emotional response according to the music. Which is then funny because "Death By Love" does finally have that faster tempo in the mix, but it just isn't a particularly enjoyable song. It has the basic riff running through, before a really strange change in pitch and riff into what serves as the chorus. Yep, just don't like this song much at all. "In Dreams" is the album closer which still just doesn't have that real punch or kick that Dio songs are supposed to have. Again it is very straight forward in song structure, not really giving any of the members of the band the chance to express themselves in any way, but to warble their way through just over four minutes with barely a change in rhythm of lyrical pitch.
By the time you've made it this far you can probably finally tap in to the emotion you are looking for with this album - it is BORING! It barely has an iota of excitement, especially after the first four songs. You can listen to this album over and over again, and gain an appreciation of it, and an enjoyment of it. I have, and it did take quite a few repeated listenings to it to do so. but what casts the stone against it is that if you choose just about any other Dio having done this, and put it on, it feels as though it just blows this album away, and to me that is the biggest problem with Master of the Moon. It's not that it is a particularly bad album - in fact it really is above average - but it is missing that magical ingredient that the majority of Dio albums have that make them legendary, and therefore makes this pale in comparison.

It may appear from the above that I have torn apart the album a little, and many would think I have done so unfairly. I can honestly say that I still enjoy listening to this album, but that whenever I do I miss the faster pace of the previous album, and of those seminal albums from the 1980's. This is the style that Dio preferred in the latter part of his career, and so you flow with it, but as I mentioned, it just misses that one ingredient that would have lifted it up an extra rung or two on the ladder.

Rating:  Turn around and then you face the sun.  3.5/5

803. Queensrÿche / The Art of Live. 2004. 2.5/5

You would have to start questioning a band's driving motivation when they have released a live album which comprehensively covers their entire career to that point in time, then release a new studio album which may or may not be well received... and then release yet another live album which focuses in the majority on the songs from that album. But then again, Iron Maiden has made a career of such a move over the past couple of decade, so perhaps that is an unfair statement.

Following on from Tribe, which was going to herald the glorious return of Chris DeGarmo to the fold and was instead a disappointment on that front, Queensrÿche recorded this during their 2003 tour with Dream Theater. The first half of the album consists entirely of songs lifted from the Tribe album, except for "Sign of the Times". Now, were you to be a fan of that album, this would be terrific for you. Hearing songs you love being played live - what could be better? Of course, were you to find the album dull, unimaginative and of a type musically that you just don't find particularly attractive, well you may have a slight problem with this release.

I have a slight problem with this release.

The good thing about a lot of live albums is that it can showcase songs in a different light, and sometimes songs that you may not particularly like suddenly find a new life when you hear how the band plays them in a live setting. And, to a certain (very small, miniscule) degree, that can be applied here. But to be honest, if you don't like the album, then you won't get anything from hearing half of it here, because it is just like listening to half of the Tribe album.
Following this we are treated to two songs in an acoustic setting. "My Global Mind" is as dull as it was on Promised Land, but to play "Roads to Madness" acoustically is just a travesty. I'd have felt short changed if I was at the gig. It's like listening to Metallica doing "The Four Horsemen" unplugged. It shouldn't be allowed to happen.
The final five songs on the album come from the band's most heralded albums, Operation: Mindcrime and Empire. One thing the band can be applauded for here is that none of these five songs featured on the previous live album Live Evolution, meaning they weren't doubling up in that way, giving us live versions of "Della Brown", "Anybody Listening?" and "Best I Can" from Empire that the fans can hold onto, as well as "Breaking the Silence" and "The Needle Lies" from Operation: Mindcrime.

It's hard to fault the musicianship on this album. the band sounds great, and plays with as much gusto as the material allows them to. What is hard is trying to get the most out of a live album when the majority of it just doesn't appeal to you. If I had bought this on vinyl I can pretty much guarantee there would only ever be one side of the album played, and not even all of that.

Rating:  I've gone too far to turn back now.  2.5/5

789. DragonForce / Sonic Firestorm. 2004. 3/5.

I was expanding my mind by trawling the internet one Friday evening while listening to music and drinking scotch when I came across a link that invited me to listen to the brand new song by a band called DragonForce. As it turns out, I had never heard of them, and for interests sake duly followed the link to be greeted by song that began with fury and barely stopped for breath for the next eight minutes. It could have been the alcohol, but I was entranced, and duly played it four or five more times, each time finding more I liked about it. The song was "My Spirit Will Go On", and it was my first introduction to the band. Within a couple of weeks I had purchased not only the debut Valley of the Damned, but this release as well.

If memory serves, I was excited about Sonic Firestorm over the first days of listening to it. It was new and pristine, full of ridiculous flying guitars and keyboards, double kick drums and high pitched vocals and melodies. And it was fast, like good old fashioned European speed power metal, the kind that could easily bring a smile to your face. And it did. For a while. Because then as I moved into the many multiples of listenings, rather than becoming like the company of a best friend it became like company of a person who once seemed like a nice guy, but you've now learned is a hanger-on and becomes increasingly annoying to be around.
Let's face it, as much as there is great merit in the music on this album, it does tend to sound the same all the way through the album. There is a tendency for the double kick and guitar to blend into similarity from one song to the next, and for the vocals to begin to stay in that same register wherever you are in the song or album. And while that all works while it is new, as you move further into the relationship, you begin to think it would be nice to have something that doesn't just sound similar, no matter what point of a song or the album it is that you move to.
Despite the bawling out, I still enjoy putting this album on. "My Spirit Will Go On" is followed by the equally good "Fury of the Storm". "Soldiers of the Wasteland" and "Prepare For War" are my other favourites. There are no radio-friendly length songs on this album, with nothing under five minutes. "Dawn Over a New World" is the album power ballad, which does little to redeem anything in my eyes. Yep, this style of music must have its power ballad. It surely on day will be a crime to do so.

There is no doubt that my ratings for this album diminished over a period of time from when I first got it. I'd be willing to lay odds that during that first week of purchase I could well have had it as high as four and a half stars. As that initial joy slowly wore off, and the weight of the album brought it back from the stratosphere, I learned that although I enjoyed the album a great deal, it had a few slight flaws that brought it back to the better-than-average class. Which is where it still lies today, better than average.

Rating:  You know that sanity is not as it was meant to be.  3/5

Listen to full album here

567. Yngwie Malmsteen / Instrumental Best Album. 2004. 3/5

Wow! What an innovative idea! Yngwie Malmsteen puts out a best of album that contains just his instrumental work! Can you believe it?

Well – let’s look at it. He has spent the better part of three decades trying to become a commercial star, with the singles he released become more and more pop-rock oriented. When that doesn’t work, and in fact puts a big dent in his popularity, he decides (or his record company decides…) to try and buy back a little bit of the lost fans, and put together a compilation of his vocal-less work.

Anyway, the songs here showcase Yngwie’s guitaring to the hilt. There is lots of flash and lots of flailing. Whether you could actually say it is his ‘instrumental best’ when it doesn’t contain “Black Star” and “Far Beyond The Sun”, the two songs that made everyone stand up and take notice of Yngwie back in 1984. Still, if you want to listen to the man show off his stuff, then this is worth a listen.

526. Judas Priest / Idaho Bootleg [Bootleg]. 2004. 4/5

After an absence of more than a decade, Rob Halford reunited with Judas Priest in the new century, and to celebrate the band went out and played a semi-world tour. This bootleg comes from that tour.
Containing a setlist comprising as many great Priest tunes as you can fit into a couple of hours, this was the reintroduction of Judas Priest reformed. Now, as good as this setlist is, it really is disappointing that everything in-between – i.e. the two albums the band recorded with Ripper Owens – looks as though it will now be confined to the “never to be played again” file. And that is a shame. I mean, wouldn’t you like to hear Halford singing some of Ripper’s songs?

Anyway – there is nothing out of the ordinary here, apart from the fact Rob doesn’t try to hit all those notes that he did twenty years ago. He is content to modify his vocals to almost-human levels.

Rating: An A grade bootleg recording of a band looking to reclaim the past. 4/5.

486. Brides of Destruction / Here Come The Brides. 2004. 2.5/5

What must have sounded like a good idea to start with comes out at a reasonable conclusion. The marrying of Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue and Traci Guns from L.A. Guns was enough to grab people’s attention. After that, it was up to the music as to whether the attention – or the band itself - would last very long.

Starting off at a cracking pace with “Shut the Fuck Up”, it is a shame they couldn’t maintain that kind of intensity for the entire album. Sure, the lead-off track might be clichéd, but it works and has the kind of galloping beat that this music really needs to grab your attention. As an example, as much as I like “Brace Yourself” as a song, it lacks that same intensity and drive that the opening track has. Halfway through the song you can feel yourself losing interest, which certainly shouldn’t be the case.

There are other good songs here, including “2X Dead”, “Natural Born Killers” and “Revolution”, but nothing that comes close to reproducing the energy of “Shut the Fuck Up”. Even more disastrously, however, they leave their worst for last, the very average “Only Get So Far”, which as a soft rock ballad still doesn’t measure up at all.

In the end, this is somewhat of a disappointment. There was a great deal of potential from this line-up for something great, but in the end, despite a couple of good pieces, it falls into the bracket of “heard it all before”.

Rating: Not quite three stars, a little better than just average. 2.5/5.

482. Edguy / Hellfire Club. 2004. 3.5/5

Another in the production line of power metal albums, and as with most bands of this genre, there is nothing new here. There are the stock-standard faster metallic songs, interspersed with the two or three comfortable soft metal ballads, that announce themselves full of keyboards and strings.

Edguy are a band that I have given a lot of time to over recent years, probably mainly because they bothered to tour Australia (at least twice) when our dollar was a poor performer on the world stage. And a lot of their stuff I enjoy – especially Mandrake which is the album I first heard of theirs. However, as with most power metal bands that like to dabble in the ballad, I feel it is their downfall. It does just halt the progress of the album. “The Spirit Will Remain” is one of those songs here on Hellfire Club. The fact that it is also the final song on the album (barring bonus tracks) is also a mistake. It kills the entire mood of the album, and defeats the conscious thoughts of listening to it all over again.

Fortunately, the remainder of the album is saved by songs like the terrific “We Don’t Need A Hero” raising this album’s ranking in the long run, and containing the flying drums and guitars along with Tobias Sammat’s amazing vocal range that make this band what they are at their best. The positives here outweigh the negatives however. The album begins wonderfully well with “Mysteria”, and clambers along with help from great tunes such as “Down to the Devil”, “King of Fools” and “Under The Moon”, showcasing the best that this band has to offer. In so many ways, bands of this genre can be far too similar in style and substance. If its done well, though, none of that matters. Hellfire Club is one of those albums.

Rating: Another great effort from the lads. 3.5/5.

466. Black Label Society / Hangover Music Volume VI. 2004. 2/5.

Now when I signed up as a fan of Black Label Society, around the release of 1919 Eternal I can honestly say that I did not sign up for this.
Book of Shadows was a different story when Zakk released it. It was a change, and it showcased his talents. From Black Label Society, however, I am looking for hard, heavy riffage and similar lyrics. That, however, is not what we have received here for the majority of the album.

It starts off fine with “Crazy of High” and even “Queen of Sorrow”, before the slow and sludgy pace drops down even another notch. Then the piano gets broken out from “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” onwards, and we continue down that path. By the time we get to the cover of “Whiter Shade of Pale”, it really is snooze time. If this is what he was looking for when writing and recording this album, then it is a job well done.

My major concern of the album is the pace of the songs. I would prefer them to all be a lot faster than they are. Zakk’s soloing is still just brilliant, there’s absolutely no doubting who is behind the guitar. But the songs just seem to plod along. OK, so it’s ‘hangover music’, but really, it is so very different from what I was expecting – or perhaps, what I was hoping for. I am not denigrating the songs here because of that. In fact, the songs still sound great, Zakk’s vocals are as great as always, and the instrumentation is still strong. It’s just the style of the songs that doesn’t grab me. I can’t rate an album highly that I won’t pull out of the CD case to listen to in favour of others, because of its style. I just am never really in the correct mood that I would need to be in to listen to this album very often.

Putting it bluntly, this is very close to complete rubbish.

Rating: If I was looking for this style of album and music, I wouldn’t have looked under Black Label Society. 2/5.

453. Guns N' Roses / Greatest Hits. 2004. 3/5

Isn’t it somewhat presumptuous to release a Greatest Hits album when, in reality, you have only released two albums? There’s Appetite For Destruction of course, and then Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II which to me constitutes one album (they were released more or less at the same time), and then the awful The Spaghetti Incident which is trash.

Anyhow, here it is, and while it does have some great songs on it, it also has some less justified tracks. You can’t argue with “Welcome to the Jungle”, and “Sweet Child o’ Mine”, and “Civil War” and “You Could Be Mine”. But what is the deal with the plethora of cover tunes? On a greatest hits package? C’mon guys, (some of) the versions may be good, but they aren’t your songs! Way to pad out an album that really shouldn’t have been released in the first place!

Quite honestly, before I ever reached for this I would go for Appetite For Destruction because most of their great songs are contained there anyway.

Rating: Lots of great songs, but just so unnecessary. 3/5.

451. Anthrax / The Greater of Two Evils. 2004. 5/5

Another unique and excellent way of releasing what is basically a greatest hits package.
Coming off the back of the excellent We’ve Come For You All the boys decided to update some older material. Taking the best of the stuff that the band had recorded with previous singers Neil Turbin and Joey Belladonna, they re-recorded them with their current line-up, including John Bush on vocals. Not only did they re-record them, they changed most of them just a little – a bit heavier, or a bit slower, or a bit faster – to complete the transformation.

In most cases, they work. The update of “Deathrider” and “Panic” are especially great - a thousand times better than the original versions, and John Bush smokes on the vocals. It really is a wonder that Anthrax haven’t ever re-recorded the entire Fistful of Metal album at some stage, giving it the polish and heaviness that it truly deserves. But that’s another review, and one I’ve already done.
The rest of the album, I guess, fans will either love or hate. I think it has its place.
There are some of the songs that are pure Belladonna (“I Am The Law”, “Be All, End All”), and even though the versions done here are great, you can’t help but know that it sounded better with Joey on the microphone.
Other versions are so good (“Gung Ho”, “Lone Justice”, “Madhouse”), you can just see JB as the original vocalist of the song. Of course the songs have been tooled around a bit to suit John’s vocal chords, but there’s nothing wrong with that. The most important part is that they still sound great.

As a variation on the same tired ‘greatest hits’ package, this is another pearler. As they were all pretty much played in  a 'live' setting in the studio, with the band thrashing out and Bush coming in later to clean up, you can hear the fun the band was having in recording them. It gives the fan an incentive to actually buy the album rather than say “I already have all these songs”. Which is what I did, and I still love it.

Rating: A great concept with wonderful execution. 4.5/5

440. Iced Earth / The Glorious Burden. 2004. 3/5

The demise of Matt Barlow, and the introduction of Tim Owens, was a major talking point at the release of this album. And as much as I enjoy Matt Barlow’s work with Iced Earth, I was looking forward to hearing what Ripper could bring to the band.

What you are immediately confronted with is this – it is still Iced Earth. OK, the lead vocals have changed slightly and been incorporated into the mix, but the music is still the same – the great drumwork of Richard Christy, the rifling guitar work of John Schaffer. “The Reckoning (Don’t Tread On Me)” is the foremost indication of this, just a typical Iced Earth performance. I love “Attila”, where Ripper doesn’t extend so much into his ‘upper reaches’, and perhaps this is where some songs just don’t feel right. These two songs, plus “Declaration Day” and the slower and softer “When The Eagle Cries” are the best for me on the album, along with the wonderful Gettysburg trilogy.

While I don’t think it is Iced Earth’s best work, that certainly isn’t the fault of any particular person. Ripper is great, and while his vocals mightn’t work in every song, when they do they are just fantastic. Perhaps the arrangement could be better, I don’t know. It is a difficult thing to marry up a different set of vocal chords to an established writing style. On The Glorious Burden there just feels like there are too many places where the two are out of synch.

Rating: Not all that it could be, but not bad by any stretch of the imagination. 3/5

411. Metallica / Fresno 14-3-04 [Bootleg]. 2004. 3.5/5.

An A- quality bootleg from the St Anger tour, which I guess I got purely to hear if the new material sounded better than what came out on the actual album St Anger. As is turns out, it doesn’t really inspire at all.

The return of “Blackened” to the setlist is one of the bonus pieces. However, what this bootleg highlights is that, now that Hetfield does try to ‘sing’ everything, the older songs have lost their grunt. “Blackened” doesn’t sound angry at all – it sounds like a melodic track now. You should be able to hear the growl of ‘Blackened is the end!’, but instead you get a high, almost girlish tone in the voice. Not cool. I understand why James has had to alter his singing, but it really deprives their early material of the emotion that they need when they are being performed live.

Rating: New songs in the setlist for the first time in a long time, but it doesn’t make the heart jump. 3.5/5

367. Killswitch Engage / The End Of Heartache. 2004. 2.5/5

There is little doubt that Killswitch Engage are probably the best of the modern metal bands. Having had one short stint of seeing them live, they are no doubt also a better live band that a studio band.

Here on The End of Heartache I think they are probably a little bit samey when it comes to their songs. Sometimes I can put the album on, and before I know it I haven’t the faintest idea what song I’m up to. Actually, it has just happened as I type this. A 20 minute break , come back, and where the hell am I up to?
The genre does lead itself to that a little, to my ears anyway.

The music itself is still solid, and there are a few standout tracks, such as “World Ablaze”, “Rose of Sharyn” and “When Darkness Falls”. In the end though, I find myself thinking, ‘Meh… what album do I listen to next…’

Rating: Average fare. 2.5/5.

347. Arch Enemy / Dead Eyes See No Future [EP]. 2004. 3.5/5

This is an EP featuring the excellent song “Dead Eyes See No Future”, two live tracks from Paris, “Burning Angel” and “We Will Rise”, and three cover songs.
Megadeth’s “Symphony of Destruction”, Manowar’s “Kill With Power”, and Carcass’ “Incarnated Solvent Abuse”.

All songs are good. Worth catching if you get the chance.

Rating: Good EP. 3.5/5.

344. Iron Maiden / Dance of Argentina 11-1-04 [Bootleg]. 2004. 4/5

This is an A quality bootleg, with this gig actually broadcast on Argentinian radio and recorded as such. Taken off the Dance of Death tour, it contains all the best from that album and recent releases.

The downside is that throughout the gig, the radio announcer comes in over the songs to remind everyone who they are listening to, and what song it is, and what station they are on. Still, at the time I got it, it was the best quality bootleg I had from that tour, and was getting a workout.

In fact, had Iron Maiden not eventually released their double live album from that tour, Death On The Road, I think I probably would rate this higher than I have. Once that release came out of course, this was relegated to second banana status, and returned to the racks for only the very occasional return visit.

Despite this, the concert itself is terrific, and the audience loud and vocal, well led by the ringleader himself Bruce Dickinson who is in fine form throughout.

Rating: Lose the commentary and it is pretty much perfect. 4/5.

309. Metallica / Big Day Out 2004 (Live In Sydney). 2004. 4/5.

Metallica’s return to Sydney after 5 years was via the Big Day Out. This bootleg constitutes the songs that were recorded by Channel [V] on pay-tv, thus it is of A+ quality.

Only one of the songs of St Anger makes the cut – “Frantic” – but the other selections are the usual customers.

Rating: Good quality bootleg, but song selection could have been a lot better. 4/5.

305. Scorpions / Best Masters Of The 70's. 2004. 4.5/5

The prefix to this album in some parts of the world is “Hot & Slow”, which generally relates to the fact that some of the album contains songs that are far too slow, ballady and wimpy for my own particular tastes. However, that aside, this is an excellent compilation. As so much of the music that Scorpions did in the 1970’s has been overlooked, this album puts out the best of that decade for you to listen to, and there are some classics in amongst them.

What it also does is showcase the transformation of the band’s sound, from that early 70’s somewhat long-winded musical exploration type of song, to the punchy rocking tracks that became their trademark in the 1980’s and beyond. Certainly, the earlier songs are good, but they don’t approach the mettle of their later and better songs.

For someone who has only heard the later material, or someone who is interested in how this band began, this is an excellent album to pick up.

Best for me include ‘Speedy’s Coming”, “In Trance”, “Dark Lady”, “Top Of The Bill”, “Virgin Killer” and “Pictured Life”

Rating: Great songs from first to last. 4.5 / 5.