1121. Powerwolf / Call of the Wild. 2021. 3.5/5

Powerwolf has been proficient in releasing albums, with Call of the Wild being their eighth studio album. In amongst that they have had songs that have charted in countries through their native Germany and other parts of Europe, including “We Drink Your Blood”, “Sanctified with Dynamite” and “Demons Are a Girl’s Best Friend”. The lyrics of the band are characterised by the treatment of Christianity and ancient Romanian legends. Indeed, werewolves and vampires are just a part of the Powerwolf lyrical mysticism, with creatures and beasts from legends throughout other parts of the world also being using as the basis of their songs. They also mix in religious overtones, without coming out and specifying what particular side of the divide they may inhabit themselves. Powerwolf, however, do not consider themselves a religious band, but rather call themselves spiritual. In an interview with Metal Hammer in 2019, titled “Too many bands take themselves too seriously”, Matthew Greywolf was asked if he considered himself to be a Christian or a Satanist. His answer was perfect: "I am a metallist, a metal fan. Metal is my religion. Look at all these people, what unites them? I can tell you, it's the fucking metal." Now THAT’S the kind of answer you want to hear from someone in that position!

Powerwolf play a different type of the power metal genre than most bands who get lumped into that faction. While the keyboards are always prevalent and add a lot to the atmospheric sound that the band utilises, they do not dominate in the way that power metal bands usually have them, as a duelling role against the single guitar that most of these bands possess. Here the keyboards are an important component of the music, but in a keyboard/guitar trade off. With two guitarists, they still dominate the main passages of the songs, which is what gives them their edge over those power metal bands that only have a single guitarist.

For the fans of Powerwolf they do cover most bases here on Call of the Wild. There is even their power ballad, something they have kept clear of for most of their career, which has been a point I have admired of them to this time. “Alive or Undead” pushes their boundaries in a direction hitherto unexplored, but as you would expect they do a great job of it without resorting to making it overly emotional and (to be honest) boring. If you have to do a power ballad, this is the way to make it work. And as always there is their slightly left of appropriate song, this time the catchy and fun “Undress to Confess”, a song that may draw some negative comments from some on social media, but for me just reinforces the fun that this band has with its music. Because of the grand design of keyboards and even organ on this album that is making its presence felt more on this album, there is a certain symphonic sound to their music which, if you are not a fan of it will probably make it harder to get yourself into this album, given the way the band has been developing over recent albums. Songs such as “Glaubenskraft” and “Blood for Blood” have that congregational feel to them, something that some fans have trouble reconciling. But for others the speed and heavier guitaring from songs like the title track “Call of the Wild”, the opening track “Faster Than the Flame”, “Dancing With the Dead”, “Vercolac”, “Sermon of Swords” and the first single “Beast of Gevaudan” are more likely to be your style. It isn’t hard to pick up the band’s stated influences, certainly in some of the guitar solos where their love of Iron Maiden is obvious, and in their gothic atmosphere their love of Mercyful Fate and Forbidden comes through.

I was surprised just how much I enjoyed this album from the first time I put it on. I initially came across the band the way I generally find new bands in this day and age, by the annual rating charts of albums on the rateyourmusic.com website that I have been a part of for over 15 years. From that I found their covers album and then The Sacrament of Sin album, and from that point I went backwards and checked out their entire discography. But for some reason this album resonated with me immediately. I enjoy all of their other albums, but perhaps not all of them in their entirety. Here on Call of the Wild, I pretty much enjoy the entire album from start to finish, and that includes the power ballad “Alive or Undead”, only the band’s second true power ballad in their existence. As much as I enjoy it, I hope it isn’t something they decide to do more of!

Rating: "And at night we're going wild when we set the world on fire" 3.5/5

1120. Yngwie Malmsteen / Parabellum. 2021. 4/5

Yngwie Malmsteen has had a long and storied career in the music industry. He made his name with his amazing guitar skills, and a slew of albums through the 1980’s including Rising Force, Marching Out, Trilogy and Odyssey that sent his reputation soaring. His desire to become a commercial hit drove him constantly and meant an ever-changing and mass rotation of band members and song styles that often found his star either glowing or waning depending on which stanza you found him at. This was especially true of his lead vocalists, who came and went as though through a revolving door. His reputation for perfection and for being difficult to work with meant that sooner or later you felt that the only way he was going to be able to keep producing albums that he wanted to hear was to actually work on them himself, and write and record them pretty much on his lonesome. And to the great surprise of no one, that is eventually the road he went down. In recent years, and certainly here in the case of Parabellum, Yngwie plays all of the guitars, all of the bass, does all of the drum programming, and where it becomes necessary, provides all of the vocals.
In an interview with Guitar World magazine from May this year, Yngwie was quoted about what went in to recording this new album: “I always try to push myself on every album I do, and attempt things which are more extreme than previously. But what has helped this time is that I wasn't able to go on the road because of the pandemic. It meant I could take much longer in the studio, both to write and record. Because I am usually always on tour, which is great, I haven't had the luxury of spending a lot of time working on new music for more than 20 years. But I suddenly had no pressure at all on that front. And I feel the album has benefited enormously as a result.”

While Yngwie’s albums have generally employed a lead vocalist for a majority of the songs through his career, in his most recent albums and also again here on Parabellum, Yngwie has ditched the lead vocalist, and done all of the vocals himself. This has inevitably led to more songs once again becoming just instrumentals as Yngwie lets his guitar doing the talking instead. Indeed, just four songs on Parabellum have lyrics. And his vocals aren’t bad as such, but they aren’t a strong lead vocal like fans were used to when people like Mark Boals, Joe Lynn Turner, Doogie White and Jeff Scott Soto. Of the four songs that contain vocals, there is a mixture in the quality. “Wolves at the Door”, “Relentless Fury” and “(Fight) The Good Fight” all, for the most part, sound very similar. This comes about because the sections where Yngwie is singing all have the same double time double kick operating underneath a rhythm riff that is basically just filler, allowing him to sing over the top of it. And, to be fair, his vocals as I said are not strong, and also sit in a very narrow range that doesn’t really ever change. So while they aren’t terrible, they just aren’t very interesting either, adding little to those songs. Now, once the songs break out of the vocals part, and Yngwie gets back to doing what he is good at which is playing elaborate guitar solos, then each of these songs is on the improve.
“Eternal Bliss” though is sadly a terrible attempt at the power ballad. Terrible. It is slightly reminiscent of his days in the early 90’s when he hoped to be a commercial success, and for me at least turned me off his music for about a decade. This song is the glaringly awful song on the album, the one that sucks a great deal of the joy one feels about it just by being there.
The remainder of the album is a collection of great instrumental tracks in the best Yngwie Malmsteen method. His guitaring has returned here to his neoclassical roots, and his fingers fly over the fretboard to keep us all entertained. “Presto Vivace in C# minor” - yep, that’s the name of the track – is fantastic, reminding us all how proficient he is at playing classically written music on the guitar. The title track “Parabellum” is another hard packed guitar track, charging to its conclusion with riffs that must have made his fingers bleed. “Toccata” and “Magic Bullet” are also great fast paced songs that will remind you of Yngwie’s heyday. “God Particle” is a slightly different song from the others on the album, mixing the vibe with classical guitar and electrified shredding, while the closing track “Sea of Tranquillity” is another beauty, though perhaps if one is to be slightly picky, it does feel as though it goes on a bit long toward the end of the track.

Maybe Yngwie is right in suggesting that because he had time to sit down and write and record this album because he couldn’t do anything else because of the covid 19 pandemic, that this makes this album the best he has done for some time. Because I really feel that listening to this album. The last Yngwie album I really got excited about and enjoyed was 2005’s Unleash the Fury with Doogie White on vocals. Prior to that you’d probably have to go back to 1988’s Odyssey. In between there have been albums I was excited about, such as 1990’s Eclipse and 2008’s Perpetual Flame, but in both of those cases I felt extremely let down and indeed steered clear of Yngwie for a time after both of those albums.
Here on Parabellum it sounds as though he has the mix right again. The majority of the songs here are just Yngwie banging away on his guitar, producing the amazing sounds that are the reason we all discovered him in the first place. And more importantly, they are brilliant guitar sounds, showcasing his wonderful talent without trying to find a format or written way to express himself. If he just spent his time over this last 12 months just hammering away with licks and riffs, and then found the best way to put them together into songs, then he should be doing that all the time from now on, because this really works terrifically well.

Rating: No need for lyrics, the master is back. 4/5

1119. W.A.S.P. / Unholy Terror. 2001. 4/5

The band W.A.S.P. had had a lot of ups and downs in the decade leading up to the recording of this album. Band founder Blackie Lawless remained the only original member to survive throughout the 1990’s, with lead guitarist and hero to the masses Chris Holmes having first left the band after the tour to promote “The Headless Children” album, though he did then return to the band in 1995 following advances from Blackie to do so. This led to two controversial albums being recorded with the dynamic duo intact in “K.F.D”. and “Helldorado”. Both were albums with a completely different focus musically and lyrically, with “K.F.D.” having a very serious and hardline core about it, focusing on a more serious nature and a more dour approach to the music and lyrics, while “Helldorado” had been a return to the early W.A.S.P. form with fun-loving sexual innuendo lyrics mixed with high tempo fast paced hard rocking tracks. In many fans eyes and also those of the critics, the band had managed to go from one extreme to the other, and perhaps in both cases finding a middle ground would have been the preferable option.
Then followed a period of two years between 1999 and 2001 where this particular album was being formulated, composed and then recorded. In Blackie’s own words, this turned out to be a painful process, something that he proclaims most writing periods are for him, but this one had been particularly difficult. The fact that he had taken on the role as sole composer of the songs probably didn’t help this, but this mirrored the way he was taking the band as a whole at this time.
In the liner notes of the album, Blackie goes into detail on what he was thinking during the writing and recording of this album, and a lot of it lines up with the direction he was heading both spiritually and in his life and career. Having been brought up in a strict religious environment as a child, he had more or less shrugged that off in his adulthood – but here he appears to be in conflict with his beliefs, and this time and album appears to be where he was tipping back towards becoming the born again Christian he eventually became. It isn’t as if the whole album is composed with that direction in mind, but lyrically Blackie seems to be struggling with the concept. He does write in those liner notes that there was much of his upbringing that he was uncomfortable with, in the main the idea that good always triumphed over evil. This rings true in songs that appear on this album such as “Unholy Terror” and “Charisma”, which deal with the madmen of the past two thousand years, and “Locomotive Man” which is about the gunmen who go into schools and start shooting innocent victims, Blackie’s belief it is all being about their need to be seen and to gain attention to themselves. The senselessness of these things is what is explored in these songs, and Blackie seems to be searching for answers, ones that theoretically he returned to religion to find.
Where there is conjecture on this album is over the contribution of long time W.A.S.P. guitaring legend Chris Holmes himself. Holmes himself still insists to this day that he didn't play one note on the album, despite being listed on the liner notes. And listening to the album, this is quite obvious. Because the songs lack his presence to lift this above the standard that it is at. There are no memorable solos or slick licks like you expect from these kinds of songs when Chris is a part of them.
This then became the next chapter of the W.A.S.P. story, the rollercoaster of emotion and style of music that had come to pass over the previous three albums, and would once again make its chameleonic shedding of the skin apparent here. Although the non-appearance of Chris Holmes was a downer, it didn’t and doesn’t detract from the anticipation that was felt with the arrival of this new offering, titled “Unholy Terror”.

Beyond the deepening thoughts that Blackie delved into to create the material for this album, the songs themselves stand up well, and any fan of W.A.S.P.’s work will find plenty here to enjoy. Apart from a couple of exceptions, the tracks are the high-octane hard rock that W.A.S.P. built its reputation on, uncompromising and fast and furious through to the conclusion. Blackie again handles vocals and guitar duties throughout, Mike Duda returns on bass guitar and supporting vocals, while Frankie Banali and Stet Howland again share drumming duties on different songs throughout the album. As always, Stet’s double kick is prominent and a redeeming feature in the songs he was asked to perform on.
The opening of “Let it Roar” is indeed prophetic in its title, the rollicking guitar riff and hard hitting entry of the drums, followed by Blackie’s vocals entering the arena, that familiar cry that was always so prominent on the early W.A.S.P. albums. Lyrically it is another perfect singalong song led by Blackie’s anthemically present vocals. It is notieceable though that the whole middle of the song, where ideally you would be hit in the face by a Chris Holmes wailingly brilliant solo, is left to fend for itself in a solid rhythm pattern instead, which works fine, but showcases an opportunity not taken. It’s a great opening track. This is followed by the rip and tear aggression of “Hate to Love Me”, another great example of this album taking in the past but creating a modern take on the W.A.S.P formula. Blackie just charges along here on lead vocal, driven by Frankie Banali’s wonderful drumming and the great bass line from Mike Duda. Blackie unleashes a suitable solo through the middle of the track before crashing back into the heart of the song. Another great chorus that you can't help but walk around and sing while wandering through the office of the workplace, waiting for the inevitable reaction. Another great song to start off the album, which fades out to be replaced immediately by the opening riff of “Locomotive Man”, building through the first minute and increasing in power to the opening verse. Blackie takes over from here, also building in intensity in his lyrics in the power of his voice. This is a powerful song musically and lyrically, as Blackie explores the evil of the mass murderer. Great, amazing lyrics such as “I feel the rage that brings, the fame of that I need, I’m now a face forever more, Living with the fears, that hear those fantasies in me, Come and see sadness you never saw. No love for killer babies, my pain is written on your walls, oh it’s time I leave you now, Mama look what you made me, Your locomotive killer calls, Oh I know you hear me now”. Stepping inside the mind of the lunatics who have created school mass murders, Blackie is looking for the light but only seeing the dark. It’s a brilliant song, one of the best the band has produced in the second half of its career. Here again though, given how wonderful these three opening songs are, the lack of Chris Holmes’s guitar comes through. The songs remain terrific, but they miss that signature that he was able to offer as a postscript.
The expression of the depths of Blackie’s internal conflict within his faith is explored further in the dual tracks of the title track “Unholy Terror” into “Charisma”. “Unholy Terror” is the first of the slow acoustically driven tracks that allows the emotional response of Blackie’s own questioning to rise to the surface, before the drive into the rhythmic blast of guitars and bass break into “Charisma”. This even toned base tempo track settles into its groove, that again allows Blackie here to pontificate his deepest thoughts. And the conflict is again hard core. When he comes at you with lyrics such as “I'm a liar blinding your vision, Vatican Man, reaching fear and using religion with the bible and koran, I wrap myself in the American Flag and tell people I'm for which it stands, I'm coming back till you know I'm God, Till you believe, till you know my Charisma”. The stoney tone and mood of the track helps to amplify the lyrics into the focus of the song.
Perhaps by now you need a pick-me-up, and “Who Slayed Baby Jane?” is just the song to do it! This is lyrically right back into the satirical blood-splatter horror tone of the band and Blackie’s lyrics. Don’t try and read too much into them here, its like watching B-Grade Horror, just sit there and go along for the ride. The guitar solos here on this track may also sound like they are in a better form than those earlier in the album, so it should be no real surprise that it is Roy Z, better known from Tribe of Gypsies and contributions to Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford’s solo albums, that shreds away on this song. It adds a nice element to the song. The album then drops back into the 3.5 minute instrumental “Euphoria”, one that has a Sabbathy vibe about its composition (yes, take a listen, there is a little bit of “Planet Caravan” about it musically!). Once it has completed its tour of alternate musical places we crash back into “Raven Heart”, one where Blackie explores the dark side of perceived immortality, surrendering to the supernatural to explore escaping death. Lyrically this is more of Blackie’s spiritual exploration and attempt to find what it is he seeks. Musically it lifts the album back up again and fires up the momentum that the instrumental had paused. This though again is brought back to heel with “Evermore”, Blackie’s attempt to revisit past glories in his power ballad phase. Like the previous track there is a mystical aspect to the lyrics here, and by mixing it with the changing musical focus as he attempts to rekindle memories of songs such as “Sleeping in the Fire” and “Forever Free” it all comes together with a purpose.
Thankfully for all, this is rectified by the fantatsic closing track on the album, arguably the most upbeat musically of the opus. The barreling opening riff sets the song off, and Blackie’s lyrics focus back to olden times, of the band’s beginnings on the strip in LA, the excesses of drugs and alcohol and of those who were indulging them. “Wasted White Boys” is not a title used lightly in this respect. There is a feeling of this being a leftover or revisiting of the band’s previous album “Helldorado” which specialised in songs of this description and character and lyrical content. And on an album that has taken a far deeper and more serious look into what Lawless was feeling during the composing of this album, it feels like it is out of place. But perhaps that was all a part of Blackie’s makeup during this time. Maybe, during his retrospection on his own life and the conflict he had within him at that time, that a part of him just wanted to return to those carefree days of 1984, where this was what surrounded him and his band, and they just had a good old time. Perhaps that is the significance of this song placed here at the conclusion of this album. I don’t know for sure, it is just speculation. What ISN’T speculation is the brilliant Roy Z again coming on board, and shredding for what feels like the final 20 minutes of this song, just charging away and not giving a toss as to when the song is supposed to finish. In many ways, that’s the perfect way to end what has been a hard core album.

This album was the true maturing of W.A.S.P. the band, and Blackie’s changing persona was probably a huge part of that. But the band had been together for some time now, and the sound that they produced had been drummed into them like everything else about it. It was regimented, it has been formulated, and it works. Yes, there is a similarity of the music here to songs and albums of previous days, and in many ways with W.A.S.P. every album since “The Crimson Idol” seemed to retain a piece of that style of riff rhythm about it. But the music continues to be great. Aside from the Chris Holmes factor being missing, the rhythm guitars always do the job, while the bass and drums stick together like glue. Here in the studio, Blackie gets his vocals sounding perfect, the harmonies and melodies sound brilliant.
This album for me is highly underrated, because it is so difficult to compare it to the three previous releases. I felt that on this album, the balance was restored. “Still Not Black Enough” had overtones of “The Crimson Idol” about it, “K.F.D” went into overdrive in aggressiveness and in trying to create something of a completely different sound than the band had ever produced before, and “Helldorado” overcorrected that by bringing back the original sound and feel of the band, but also with the overcooked sexual innuendo of the lyrics. “Unholy Terror” balances all those elements nicely. The music is brilliant, the subject matter of the songs worthy and enjoyable. You could sing these songs without cringing at the over seriousness of the subject matter or shaking your head at the silliness of it. The opening three songs are killer W.A.S.P. songs - “Let it Roar” hot off the plate, “Hate to Love Me’ hard hitting and catchy, and “Loco-Motive Man” straight out of that late 80’s W.A.S.P brilliance, even without Chris Holmes. “Unholy Terror” is the first of the slow acoustic driven tracks, and the sister track “Charisma” works fine as the segue. “Who Slayed Baby Jane” is classic W.A.S.P, and “Ravenheart” is of a similar ilk, but is wedged between the quiet instrumental “Euphoria” and then “Evermore”, where it is obvious that Blackie is trying to recreate the next “Forever Free”, and the rampant closing track “Wasted White Boys” is a beauty, with Roy Z laying waste to the song with a ripping closing guitar solo.
I bought this album on its release date, still tremendously excited about the prospect of a new W.A.S.P album. I had been obsessed with the band in my university days, and each new album had been gold to me, despite the changing lineups and style of music Blackie was choosing to create for each album. This one struck a tone with me, comparable to the serious tone of “The Headless Children” compared to its earlier albums. When this album first came out, I just loved it. Apart from the songs “Unholy Terror”, “Euphoria” and probably “Evermore”, I loved the energy of what had been produced. I loved the way that the different parts of the band’s past had been tinkered and ironed and then brought out on this collection. Yes, the disappointment that Chris Holmes was gone from the band forever was overriding, but this album still sat in my CD player for that 3-4 months period that the good new albums did. As it turns out, even though I have enjoyed most of the albums the band has released after this, it was probably the last time I felt REALLY good about a new W.A.S.P. album.
Listening to it again now for the past two has been instructive. I may not listen to this album every year, but it is every two years at worst. And this week, as with most of the times I put it on, I was struck once again by how very very good it really is. It is an album that rarely gets its dues or is mentioned as a great W.A.S.P. album – the great podcast host Matt from Kansas City is one of the few who truly mentions this on a regular basis... hi Matt! - and yet it really does stick out as one of their best.
This may well have acted as a catalyst for the continued album releases that followed it. Indeed, the next album came within 12 months of this release, though its subject matter that referenced a disaster that hit home extremely hard for Blackie drove his black heart into overdrive. And we will of course cover that event in the not too distance future.

1118. The End Machine / Phase 2. 2021. 3.5/5

Back in the 1980’s, when hair metal was at its peak, US band Dokken had dominated sales and airwaves with albums such as Tooth and Nail, Under Lock and Key and Back for the Attack. While Don Dokken was lead vocalist, they had George Lynch on guitar, Jeff Pilson on bass and Mich Brown on drums, all of whom were also invested in the writing of the material. When the band broke up or went on hiatus or whatever you wish to term their split as being, Lynch and brown went on to form the band Lynch Mob who released two successful albums of their own. For Lynch Mob, they recruited a singer named Oni Logan, who for the second album was replaced by Robert Mason. For all of those years between 1989 and 2018 there were several reunions and disassembling of line ups of both Dokken and Lynch Mob, with varying degrees of success.In 2019, the three band members of Dokken whose surname was not Dokken – ie, Lynch, Pilson and Brown – and three members of Lynch Mob – ie, Lynch and Brown, along with Mason – formed a new band called The End Machine. They released their debut album with the eponymous title in 2019, which received good reviews. When you listen to that album, while the songs are fine and well written, it is only natural to compare them to that bygone era, to subject them to a comparison to the great Dokken and Lynch Mob albums of the past. And as far as that debut album went, it had no semblance of anything from that era. It is a good album but to be fair nothing really stands out as amazing on it.

Here on Phase2, Mick Brown has moved into retirement and has been replaced on drums by his brother Steve, keeping everything nicely in house for The End Machine. And there is an immediately noticeable difference to the songs on Phase2 than there was on the debut album. There is that immediate sound of something Dokkeny going on. But don’t get me wrong, this isn’t Dokken and it isn’t Lynch Mob. Recreating a sound from those albums would be a one way ticket to disaster. It isn’t 1987 anymore, and no one wants to hear another The Final Countdown, for instance, do they? But, whereas the first album felt like it was trying to avoid any comparison to that long bygone age, Phase2 doesn’t appear to be doing that. The melodic hard rock sound that was a hallmark of those two bands is definitely here, not with the 80’s poppy vibe perhaps, but in a more mature form that befits the 30 odd years that these gentlemen have since those days of spandex and hairspray and the like.

As you can hear from the opening, Phase2 has a familiar sound to it without trying to recreate that era. From the very beginning it is great to hear the tight combination of Brown and Pilson in the rhythm section, giving Lynch’s guitar the base to make his magic happen, while the vocals from Mason jump straight in and grab you. This is followed up on “We Walk Alone”, another great track where Mason and Pilson’s vocals strike a great anthemic chord to get the listener involved.
“Dark Divide” is perhaps the best example of the mature sound of the past greatness of the band’s previous incarnations. A free-flowing guitar and bass riff held in check by a perfect rolling beat and wonderful vocal melodies from Mason and Pilson. It has a terrific groove and has all of the hallmarks and talents that this foursome bring to the table. There are plenty of what I call ‘comfort songs’ on this album, and what I mean by that is that the songs themselves aren’t frenetic or super guitar driven or have technical drum or bass patterns throughout. They are songs that sit into a comfortable groove, one where you nod your head along in time rather than thrashing hard or crooning in a balladeer way. “Plastic Heroes”, “Shine Your Light”, “Born of Fire” and especially the closing track “Destiny” do this in a most effective way. There is no high speed tempo in these tracks, but they just oooooze along, lulling you in with Mason’s wonderful vocals and the smooth rhythm that folds around everything.
On the other hand there is the ballad that all bands in this style of genre MUST produce for every album, and in this instance it is “Scars”. This actually comes closest to reminding me of a Dokken song, one of their most famous power ballads “Heaven Sent”. This has a very similar tone to that song. This isn’t a poor song but its very makeup makes me want to reach for the skip button immediately.
Of course, then you have a song like “Crack the Sky”, which showcases the style that George Lynch contributes, upping the tempo and energy in Mason’s vocals, and with Lynch’s guitar tricks punctuating throughout the song.

I came across The End Machine completely by accident, actually learning about it on an interview with Jeff Pilson on a podcast where they spoke of, amongst other things, about the imminent release of this album. So I looked it up and checked it out, as well as its predecessor. And while I enjoyed the first album, this is the one that I actually found I had more in common with. It grabbed my attention in a way the debut album did not, and my belief is that it has more to do with the greater influence of their melodic roots of metal than anything else.

Phase2 probably isn’t modern enough to catch the ear of the kids today, but for those of us old enough to remember the heady days of hair metal through the 1980’s, even though this ISN’T that, it is a much more mature version of that, you will feel comfort enough in the song structure and melodic harmony tones of this album.
I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy this album. It’s always a difficult thing to find out about a new band or release and come into it with any pre-conceived ideas about how it should sound and what you expect it to be like. With so much music out there in the world now, the ability to come up with something that will appeal to old fans and yet not be just a rehash or copy of the music that they know you for is a pretty difficult balancing act. What I eventually loved most about this album was the fact that it didn’t try to be anything that it wasn’t. It is an album by 55-65 year old guys whose experience allows them to fall comfortably into the music they have written, and perform it so well that you can’t help but like it. It is anything but a hard rock album, but it has songs that fit that profile. It is not an easy listening album, but it has moments that drift into comfort listening. More than anything else, it sounds great, and each of the members of the band do their job wonderfully well, and that makes it great to listen to.

Rating: "We walk alone". 3.5/5

1117. Sunbomb / Evil and Divine. 2021. 4/5

It is hard to go past a collaboration between two artists well known throughout the industry, but on slightly different parts of the music spectrum. Tracii Guns is best known for his work with his band L.A. Guns, a part of the LA hair metal scene of the late 80’s and early 90’s in particular, as well as Brides of Destruction with Nikki Sixx in the early 2000’s. Michael Sweet also emerged in the mid to late 1980’s as the guitarist and front man for the Christian metal band Stryper, and has also sung for mega band Boston and been in other projects such as with George Lynch.Now though both of the bands that these two are best known for hail from the same era of music and could rightly claim to be well entrenched in that 80’s hard rock and hair metal scene, and that their music genre would be in a similar category, they still seem like unlikely music partners. Michael Sweet is a Christian, and the majority of his music has been Christian related, at least lyrically, while Tracii Guns... is not... Christian, and the majority of his music lyrically would seem to have been the opposite of that... well, the tongue in cheek girl meets boy kinda lyric stuff. So on the face of it, this seems like a strange collaboration.

From all reports, Guns and Sweet bumped into each other a few years ago, and got on well, becoming friends of a sort. Guns apparently tried to get a co-tour happening with LA guns and Stryper a couple of years ago, but by all accounts the record companies didn’t feel it was a good match. Go figure. So we come to Tracii deciding to write a new album, a new project, and he decided, in his own words, to do an album like what he was listening to as a teenager, and that had been closer to doom metal than what he played in LA Guns particularly. And so he did. It was an experiment, but one he was happy with. Guns wrote all the music, and when it came time to think of a vocalist, he came to Michael Sweet. It wasn’t such a stretch as you might imagine, as there is no doubt that Sweet’s writing and playing has been getting progressively heavier over the last few Stryper albums, as well as the two albums he had collaborated on with George Lynch. So musically, we have Tracii Guns writing doom metal songs, sung on by the high range melodic vocals of Michael Sweet in what is described in some quarters as a modern take on doom metal. Melodic doom metal? Well, probably not, but that’s where it heads, so it’s best to get your head around that from the start.
Tracii Guns is quoted as saying, “Sunbomb was an idea, then an experiment. When I heard the first vocal completed I was blown away by Michael’s voice. It’s an exciting album!”
Michael Sweet is quoted, “Hard to believe that I met Tracii for the first time just a few years ago. We hit it off right away and we obviously share the same love for metal. Traci sent me a song and I loved the vibe and then he eventually asked me to sing on the entire album. What I love about it is it’s definitely different not only for me, but for Tracii as well. I think fans will love this album”.

This is an album that will divide fans and critics alike, and sometimes that can be a good thing because it means that a band is pushing the boundaries of what people think of those musicians involved – and of course sometimes it isn’t a good thing. Evil and Divine is definitely heavier, darker, and more of a more modern metal sound than most fans will expect. There’s no doubt that, for both of the main artists here, the music is much heavier than either has ever produced before in their long and storied careers. But it is different, and it does take some getting used to. No happy go lucky praising of the Lord of chatting up sleazy rock chicks on this album, this is the real metal deal. But the style is variant depending on which song you are listening to, and that can be challenging. Sweet’s vocals come at you in a much different fashion than you will be used to. He spends a lot of top in his high register with trademark high pitched screams but also some with some real venom and force behind them that are not his typical way. At time he is almost raging, really getting into the songs with gusto, and again this takes some getting used to.
On the other side, Tracii really digs deep into his past love of doom metal, and not only pulls it off in a traditional way but also gives it a modern texture that overall works superbly. When he plays songs in that old time doom metal time signature, being kept in check with the slow tempo drums, you can almost imagine early Sabbath, Candlemass, Witchfinder General and Type O Negative playing on the album.

And honestly, the more you listen to the album, the better it gets, mainly because you begin to get used to what Tracii was trying to create with this album. In general it is the faster paced songs that sound best and will probably survive inquiry the longest because they keep the momentum up and drive the album along. “Life”, the opening track of the album, is fast paced with a great guitar riff and vocals, and an excellent solo from Tracii. “Better End” and “Born to Win” are in a similar category to these. And “No Tomorrows” also keeps the vibe up. There are other fairly obvious influences here, none more so than the slower track “Been Said and Done”, that has a bassline straight out of an Alice in Chains album, gutteral and dominating the track.
Some of it doesn’t quite work the way it probably should. In “Worlds Gone Wrong” it feels to me that Sweet’s vocals don’t fit the song the way it is written, and that as one of several true doom metal tracks on the album, it isn’t quite as good or well done as others. On the other hand, take a listen to the second song on the album, “Take Me Away”. This is the perfect example of the doom obsession Tracii has tried to create, and I think it is a ripper. The timing and tempo of the track is perfect, and Tracii has beautifully recreated his own version of that Iommi-like sound on his guitar, from the main riff and through into the solo. I think this song is a work of art.

In all of the reviews that I have read of this album, all of them have been ambivalent over almost everything on it. All seem to be able to pick out one or two songs that they can stomach, and then cast aside the rest as too different for their tastes. And it doesn’t surprise me, because it took me quite a long time to get it myself. There is a real range and mixture of sounds on Evil and Divine. Every song has a different feel and energy, and that takes some getting used to. If you just put this album on and listened to it two or three times, and then gave up on it, then you would probably feel the same way as these reviewers do.

But me? I had it on at work over a four-week period with several other albums on the same playlist that I was listening to, and gave it a lot of time, with albums of a different sound in order to gain some context. And then I finally put it on at home and everything magically fell into place. I found what I loved about the album, and what I didn’t.
And – I really do enjoy it. Because the band is and sounds great. Adam Hamilton on drums and Mitch Davis on bass are terrific, not just making up the numbers but really contributing, especially on the slower and moodier tracks. Tracii’s guitar sound is perfect for the album, not only in his rhythm riffs but also his classic metal solos. And Michael’s vocals are still the equal of anyone in the music business, and here he not only shows us what we know he can do, he also has some surprises. It is a fantastic compilation.

Will this be a one-off? I hope not, because if this is what this group can produce in a covid year of lockdown and isolation, imagine what they could do in a year of some semblance of returned normality!

Rating: "Is the future closer than the end". 4/5

1116. Adrian Smith & Richie Kotzen / Smith/Kotzen. 2021. 3.5/5

By all accounts, Richie Kotzen and Adrian Smith have been friends for some years, and have often spoken about doing some sort of project together. And all it took for it to happen was a worldwide pandemic that halted all live tours and essentially anything to do with people congregating together any time soon, for it to happen. Now, blues and blues rock are not at the top of my listening list. Obviously, many heavy metal and hard rock bands have had blues influences interwoven through their songs and albums over the last 50 years. A lot of early AC/DC songs is the best example of this. And being a great Gary Moore fan there was a lot of blues to listen to in his final twenty years, and at least his first two blues-only albums are still great to listen to. And Jeff Healey was another blues artist who I admired greatly, especially for his debut album.

So, coming into this album, once you know that the basis of all the songs is blues rock, then you can appreciate it for what it is and not for what you might have been hoping for. And let’s face it, Richie Kotzen’s greatest claim to fame is as a riffing blues hard rock guitarist. And while Adrian Smith may have spent the majority of his career in one of the greatest heavy metal bands of all time, he has shown a penchant for various styles of music outside of his Maiden hours, with the soft rock project ASaP album Silver and Gold, the differing hard rock project Psycho Motel albums State of Mind and Welcome to the World and the frenzied extreme project Primal Rock Rebellion album Awoken Broken. So, when the first teaser single was released, entitled “Take My Chances,” I always knew that we were not going to be getting a Bruce Dickinson's The Chemical Wedding or Paul Stanley’s Live to Win.
The reason we all came to the album was for the guitars, and in that respect there is no disappointment. Both men have shown themselves throughout their careers to be terrific guitarists, and they deliver fantastically throughout. Even when, in my humble opinion, a song is a little on the over-zealous or predictable side – yes, you can read ‘boring’ in there if you like and you wouldn’t be far off the mark – that is not the case with the traded guitar solo breaks. They are the highlight of each song and of the album overall. I don’t even think there is any element of one-upmanship going on. I just think they both genuinely enjoyed the challenge of playing with each other, and rather than try and outdo each other they played solos that complemented each other, and in a project like this, that must be a difficult thing to do at times. And this is best shown on the songs that have that little bit more momentum than the others.

Both Smith and Kotzen share all the duties between themselves throughout the album - guitars, bass, vocals, composing and production. No mean feat, but something that no doubt made writing and recording during a pandemic an easier and necessary thing to do. Kotzen also plays drums on five tracks and his touring partner Tal Bergman, Richie’s longstanding friend and touring partner, plays drums on the songs "You Don’t Know Me", "I Wanna Stay" and "'Til Tomorrow". The album also features a special guest performance from Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain on "Solar Fire", which may have something to do with me thinking it is the best overall song on the album.

Blues rock has always been something that I can listen to, but probably choose not to on most occasions when it comes to looking for an album to listen to. And that doesn’t preclude the albums and artists I mentioned at the top of the episode. At work, having this album on has been great. It blends into the background and is really enjoyable when it comes to that office environment. However, I do not mind admitting that when I get home, I want something a bit more aggressive, a bit heavier, and bit more fist pumping. And while there will always be times in that environment that it will be good to put on, I fear that won’t be the case on a regular basis. For those that are fans of the genre, I think you will find this is an excellent album full of great guitar highlights. Richie is the main vocalist and is as good as ever, and Adrian’s additions along the way are also enjoyable. Some of the songs for me extend longer than they need to, or feel they need to at least. This isn’t what you would classify as an ‘easy listening’ album, but it is an album that in the right mood will slip comfortably into the background and enhance whatever it is you are doing. The skills of these two gentlemen are not in doubt, and by bringing them together in this project they have again shown their brilliant skills and musical versatility, and it is more than worth your while in giving it a listen.

Rating: "Well, they told me in school not to mess with the rules" 3.5/5

1115. The Offspring / Let the Bad Times Roll. 2021. 3.5/5

Any time that a band that is as universally admired and loved as The Offspring was during the 1990’s and through the 2000’s that then finds itself in a lull of some years in regards to new material being released, will necessarily have questions asked of it. Even when you look at the story, and discover the legal problems that required fixing, the loss of their recording contract, the change of personnel within and around the band, and finally a pandemic that delayed the eventual release of their new material by almost 18 months, it is hard to fathom that there was a nine year wait between albums. That’s Metallica-like, though with the depreciating returns from album sales to artists it is becoming a more routine thing. Eventually though, after various writing and recording spurts and a final waiting call due to Covid19, we have the new Offspring album in our hands, titled Let the Bad Times Roll.

From the outset this is an album that lyrically is following a similar pattern to voicing how the world was witnessing the mood within the United States in particular over the past four years, if not longer. The vocals may not be as belligerently hostile as they were with the band 25 years ago, but there’s little doubt in the words exactly what they are saying. Lyrics such as these from the opening track, “This is Not Utopia” - “These dying streets are bruised and beaten, and riot flags are waving, poor and weak, we extend this streak, these lives we could be saving”. Even the title gives away the band’s thoughts on their home country – and this was recorded BEFORE what happened in the US during 2020. There’s a lot more material there just from those 12 months. This then leads into the title track, “Let the Bad Times Roll” – which musically at least to me is so much like a Fall Out Boy song. Lyrically and visually however it continues down the same path as the album opener, this time focusing on the fevered supporters of the former US President, with hard-hitting and relevant lyrics such as “Mexicans and blacks and Jews, got it all figured out for you, gonna build a wall let you decide, apathy or suicide”. No holds barred there, from the lead single released from the album a few weeks ago.

The songs become a bit more melancholy with “Behind Your Walls” and into “Army of One”. The Offspring have done these kinds of songs before (see “Self Esteem” and “Gone Away”), but “Behind Your Walls” lacks the same kind of massive angst and powerful music behind it that other songs of the genre hold. “Army of One” has much more in common with typical Offspring tracks, a great up-tempo push with positive spin on the lyrics, closer to what they are renown for. “Breaking These Bones” comes with an even more morbid observation on break ups... I mean, I know Taylor Swift has made a career out of writing songs on break ups, but is an angsty song by a band with members in their mid-50's just pushing that a little too far? Maybe it is me that is just too old, and songs like these aren’t aimed at me at all (no kidding Grandpa...).
“Coming to You” is one of the older songs appearing here, having first been played live back in 2015. If you are looking for the atypical Offspring song on this album, then this is where you come to. A jiving beat, lyrics that are alternately spitting yet amusing, and all with that great vocal quality of fun yet drive.
I still don’t know how to take “We Never Have Sex Anymore”. Is it comedy or serious or pisstake? The horns section comes in throughout, giving this a completely different feel to every other song on the album – that “big band” feeling with the trombones and trumpets and clarinet and saxophone. Does anyone else remember Helloween doing a brass version of their great song “Dr Stein” for their best of album “Unarmed”? Yeah, that’s how awkward I feel about this song. It’s the pisstake song of the album, the one that comes closest to being the track you sing like “Pretty Fly for a White Guy” and “Why Don’t You Get a Job”, but without the real fun usually involved. Though teenagers may get a kick out of it.

“The Opioid Diaries” and “Hassan Chop” are the two songs that should have combined as the album closers, and are as bombastic lyrically as the opening two tracks. “The Opioid Diaries” is where the band opens up and channels their finer alt punk moments, fast and furious musically and lyrically and hard hitting at the pharmaceutical companies. This is one of the best songs on the album. And then “Hassan Chop” continues the drilling pace and flows without favour on religious wars being waged, with both sides claiming that their God helps them win. Once again, both of these songs lyrics leave nothing to the imagination, fear no favour, and give their fans listening something to consider beyond the songs themselves.
While that should have been the close of the album, it is instead completed by a piano ballad version of their hit song “Gone Away”, followed by the acoustic “Lullaby”, which acts as a reprise of the chorus of the title track. Perhaps everyone involved felt it best to finish on this quiet note after the hard core of what preceded it, but personally I feel it acts as a slight letdown to the thoughtful songs that came before it.

When I first listened to the album, I was not overly enamoured. The kind of fast paced and in-your-face attitude that the band’s music gave us on albums such as Smash and Ixnay on the Hombre has been toned down, doubtless in the main because they were 25 years ago and musicians and bands and individuals all change over that lengthy period of time. But in many ways even the energy that flowed through Americana and Conspiracy of One isn’t quite as apparent here on Let the Bad Times Roll. And as I can appreciate with all bands with such a lengthy time span, that is a similar story. There is also the problem that nine years have passed since the release of Days Go By, and with the problems that have met the band at every turn during that time, it isn’t such a surprise that things get changed up, and that maybe some of the spark gets lost in the mix. And no band can ever be condemned for wanting to try some different ideas in their song writing.

But I shouldn’t focus on the past, I should be looking at the present. And in a world that would appear ready to explode with new recorded material, all composed and recorded during a year when there was little else to do but to observe the world as it is and write about it, Let the Bad Times Roll may well be at the forefront of that movement. The fact that these songs were composed before 2020 started is interesting, because most of the subjects the songs here are about were probably more relevant last year than before that. In essence, this album actually shows that of all the political and activism problems that blew up in 2020, they all had a base well before the year of the pandemic arrived. In a current historical sense, that could be seen to be eye opening.
For all of its less exciting moments, all mostly within the middle of the album, they are bookended by some excellent ripostes by a band that, although they had never gone away, still managed to release what may yet be considered as the comeback album of the year by the time we get to December 2021. And in the current world of music, that’s not a bad thing at all.

Rating: "Because our God is righteous, and yours the one to blame". 3.5/5

1114. Blaze Bayley / War Within Me. 2021. 3.5/5

Since coming to prominence as the lead singer in the British band Wolfsbane, before going on to greater things with Iron Maiden in the mid-to-late 1990’s, Blaze Bayley has constructed his own career over the past 20+ years, dutifully curating his career to survive in times where the music business has changed so much. His production line of album releases, totalling 9 studio albums, 6 live albums and various other performances with other entities, as well as a hectic line of live shows only slowed by last year’s pandemic, has kept him at the forefront of the metal showcase. Now, Blaze has released his tenth studio album, one where he has obviously spent the year of the pandemic in an inward observation of himself given the album title, War Within Me.

Blaze and his band have got their own groove, one that has developed over the past decade especially through the album trilogy of the Infinite Entanglement series, and it comes across in spades in the opening track. The title track sets the scene for the album, opening with a great set of riffs and vocal work to set the album off on the right foot. This is followed by the excellent “303”, short sharp and sweet. It has a good sounding rhythm and back beat and is written about the story of the 303 squadron that fought in the Battle of Britain and then throughout World War II. Hey, the lyrics are no Dickinson/Smith combination, but the song is a good one.
“Warrior” and “Pull Yourself Up” are both songs from the same recording plane, with what sounds to me at least like Blaze has had some serious soul searching within himself and has dragged up some personal feelings about his own perceived weaknesses. Both musically and lyrically, “Warrior” comes across as the better song though somewhat cheesily, at least the song moves along enjoyably, whereas “Pull Yourself Up” overstates what Blaze is trying to put out there, and the staccato chorus tends to get boring after a while. “Witches Night” has similar pieces to it to some earlier Blaze songs, such as “Tenth Dimension” and “Identity”, and while I enjoy the song those similarities to those songs do haunt me every time I listen to it and has me singing the lyrics of those other songs over the top instead.
“18 Flights” is similar, in that it has those hints of Iron Maiden and Helloween in them especially in the guitar solo break, and as much as it would be preferable not to compare any of Blaze’s music to Iron Maiden, in this instance it is difficult to do. The fact that it is the music without the way the lyrics are being sung that shows similarities, rather than is the case in “Witches Night” perhaps allows it to escape from any further roasting. The second half of “18 Flights” in particular is excellent.

The trilogy of songs that follow this have their moments, and to be fair they are actually quite good and enjoyable to listen to. It’s just that... they feel as though they are missing a certain quality that could perhaps push them from being enjoyable songs into being GREAT songs! Blaze in his own way pays tribute to three trailblazers in “The Dream of Alan Turing”, “The Power of Nikola Tesla” and “The Unstoppable Stephen Hawking”, and those three songs are enjoyable but within the confines of the musical style that Blaze and his band has built for itself. And in many ways it is the rod that they have built for themselves. The basic song chords and rhythm does seem to become repeatable, and this does seem to create a similar feeling when listening to any of his last few albums. The solo sections do break out and create a more interesting part of each song (and Chris Appleton throughout is excellent), but if the basic structure of the songs is this similar then it makes it hard to find that growth and change that is preferable when listening to your favourite artists.
“Every Storm Ends” is the attempt at the epic closing track, the one that will invoke and evoke the kind of emotion that the track’s lyrics are looking to draw out. And sure, why not give it a go if you think it’s going to work. But I guess for me it doesn’t work because it is trying a bit too hard to be that specific kind of track, and sometimes by doing that it falls a bit flat. Yes, for me that’s what happens.

I don’t mind admitting I have a soft spot for Blaze. I thought the majority of his work with Iron Maiden was admirable and is still great listening. I then made sure I supported his career from the point that the two parties moved on, and continue to give albums such as Silicon Messiah, Tenth Dimension, Blood & Belief and The Man Who Would Not Die spins on regular occasions. But there is little doubt that the era since those albums does come at a price. While each album since then has some songs that are inspired, energetic and full of great riffs and vocals, there are just as many songs that seem to lack that inspiration in which to make them great rather than average. His work with Absolva the band and in particular Chris Appleton continues to bear fruit, but the pickings are probably not as great as previous years. And yet this is true of most bands. The trick is to make sur you don’t make the mistake of thinking another Silicon Messiah is just going to come around and get the most that you can from what the band is offering in the moment. On that scale of economy, much like the Infinite Entanglement trilogy, there is some great stuff here to like immensely, and some other stuff to bear through.

Rating: “Eighteen flights and fifteen shows, six countries away we go.” 3.5/5

1113. Rainbow / Rising. 1976. 5/5

Back in those long-ago days of high school when I was first discovering the so-called dark arts of heavy metal music, the mixture of bands that were sampled during that time ranged from mainstream to hard rock to metal. Players switched bands, which brought about more music to be searched for to listen to. One particular friend had a penchant for the guitaring of Ritchie Blackmore – and why not, he is a legend – and one day brought to school the album Rising by a band called Rainbow. It was not the first material I had heard with Ronnie James Dio on vocals, but it was probably the first time I actually realised just what a powerhouse he was. And in no way was I ready for the change in style of music that came here from what had been Ritchie Blackmore’s forte in Deep Purple. What I found was the start of a new chapter in my love of music.

This has been considered a great album pretty much since its release, a defining album, an album that is influential to so much that followed. All of this is true, but there is always a question over the relative ‘greatness’ of all of the songs on an album, and whether that brings down where the album ranks amongst the greats of any genre or era. That is also true here, as of the six songs that comprise Rising I would consider three to be at the top of the tree, one to be a high standard, and two that are above average but without the qualities of those ranked higher. Thus, the rating of this album for some is a stretch.
The two songs in question for me are “Run with the Wolf” and “Do You Close Your Eyes”. The use of the term ‘filler’ is too harsh for these songs, as aside from the fact that it is difficult to have filler on a six-song album, they both also have their charm. Perhaps the lyrics aren’t what you generally expect from Dio, indeed one could say that they are unexpected given his output from this point on. “Run with the Wolf” does deal with the supernatural and has its flight through this, whereas “Do You Close Your Eyes” falls a bit too close to pop lyrics which is an unexpected left turn considering the opening salvo. Certainly, to me this is the case with “Do You Close Your Eyes”, but was this the Ritchie Blackmore influence, looking for that track that would get radio airplay? Once Dio moved on from Rainbow there was a much great effort to make the band radio friendly, and these are the kinds of lyrics that Joe Lynn Turner was happy to go with in his tenure with the band. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. It’s a jaunty enough track but it just doesn’t have the claws of the other songs that trigger those emotional ties.
“Starstruck” too is an upbeat hard to heavy song, and one that gets the mood moving. The chorus is a crowd pleaser and the overall vibe of the song has always given the middle of the album a kickstart. No doubt there are those out there that rate this as highly as the gold tracks of the album. I don’t think it quite reaches that level but I still enjoy the song.
The other half of this album is pure joy. The album opener “Tarot Woman” is one of my favourite songs of all time, and has everything you could ever want from a high voltage song. The beautiful 90 second opening synth prelude from Tony Carey sets the tone up beautifully, wreaking the emotive beginning into the Ritchie’s guitar and Cozy Powell’s drums and underscored by Jimmy Bain’s bass line, crashing into the powerhouse of the song as Ronnie lets loose with his amazing vocals. It also showcases Ritchie’s amazing soloing on guitar, which here is perfectly supported by the keyboards before Dio’s vocals soar for the concluding verse and chorus, and the song then fades out to Carey’s keyboard solo. Still brilliant all these years later.
Most count “Stargazer” as the star attraction of the album, and while I lean to the opening track in this regard that doesn’t make this any less brilliant. It is again full of everything that makes this incarnation of the band its finest. The opening drum solo from Cozy is just awesome, creating the perfect entrance to Ritchie’s guitar riff to start the song. Dio’s brilliant lyrics that are then perfectly performed in telling the story are superb, and then the middle stanza including Ritchie’s best guitar work again make this a perfect work of art. Then we are treated to the joy of “A Light in the Black”, the fastest song on the album where the band again blend superbly. The joyful solo break in the middle of the song is surrounded by Dio’s hard soaring vocals pushing the song to its limits. It is the perfect way to conclude the album with two eight-minute-plus songs that hold your attention all the way to the end.
The performances here by the three major contributors – Dio, Blackmore and Powell – are extraordinary. That is not to ignore the contribution of either Carey or Bain, but these three went on to record the follow up Long Live Rock 'n' Roll which somewhat amazingly outstrips this album. But their perfection in their art – vocals, guitar and drums – on this album is brilliant. Cozy’s hard-hitting drumming is perfect on these songs, Ritchie’s guitar is a shining light and Ronnie’s vocals both here and on the following album are probably his most pure and electrifying of any other project he was involved in. If only Ritchie had not felt compelled to find commercial success, who knows what this trio could have produced.

Whether or not you consider this one of the great ‘heavy metal’ albums of all time, there is little doubt that the influence of Rising on future generations of musicians and bands is enormous. It showed once and for all that Ritchie Blackmore had more to his repertoire than what he did in Deep Purple, and it rose Ronnie James Dio to a prominence that he never fell from again. “Tarot Woman”, “Stargazer” and “A Light in the Black” set the band and its members on to greater glory. The album and its songs sound as great today as they must have when they were first released. To me, it is a triumph and still a joy to put on at any time.

Best songs: “Tarot Woman”, “Starstruck”, “Stargazer”, “A Light in the Black”.

Rating: “Her love is like a knife, she’ll carve away your life”. 5/5

1112. Anthrax / State of Euphoria. 1988. 4/5

Anthrax’s path over the previous five years had been one where they were on the rise, from the raw opening of their debut album, to the more refined passage of their next two albums. The hiring of Joey Belladonna as lead vocalist after the first album had proved a success, and the piecing together of the quartet of Charlie Benante on drums, Scott Ian and Dan Spitz on guitars and Frank Bello on bass had put together two outstanding thrash metal albums. They had also blown up stages across the US and Europe, supporting some of the biggest bands and losing nothing in comparison.
What sort of changes do you make to a winning formula, especially when you have reached this crux in your career. The band was trending upwards, but what elements do you use going forward? The band had already dabbled in a crossover with the shared love they had with rap and hip hop from their New York roots, producing the single “I’m the Man” which had been well received, and playing the song in concerts with Joey filling in on drums while Charlie, Frank and Scott bounced around the stage singing. Charlie and Scott had also released the Stormtroopers of Death side project album “Speak English or Die” a couple of years earlier with former bandmate Dan Lilker, which was one of the original crossover thrash albums. Both of these releases were aside from the normal Anthrax releases, but it felt as though there were those elements that wanted to filter into the Anthrax core sound as well.
Once the album was completed, and in interviews on the subject since, both Charlie and Scott have spoken about the fact that they feel that the album was ‘unfinished’, that perhaps it was rushed, and not enough time was taken to iron out the kinks and to make it the best album they could. Retrospect is often a powerful tool that has no use in the real world. What you hear on this album is what the band was feeling at the time, and it remains as one of the jewels of the Anthrax catalogue. In many ways it is surprising to Anthrax fans that there are negative things spoken about “State of Euphoria” at all. Why then would the composers of the album feel this way over a release that contains a few of their most memorable performances?

There are few better album opening tracks on an album than “Be All, End All” a song which is a sign of their growing maturity as a band. The opening and closing of the song with the cello is inspirational, and the building throughout is magnificent. Joey’s anthemic delivery of the lyrics is perfect, the emotion and feeling of each line felt by the listener as they were meant to be as a result. Just a terrific song, one that has lasted the test of time. The cover of Trust’s fantastic “Antisocial” is brilliant roof raiser, and still as powerful today as it was when they first played it. It stands out here on this album because it is a different timing and different melody, that it isn’t quite as frantic as the songs around it are, which comes from it being a cover version. And “Finale” is a great closing track, bringing all of the power and aggression that has come before it and compacts into those final few minutes such that the album is completed in style.
The band continues to make statements about events that are occurring around them, and also write songs that come from books and movies that inspire them. “Make Me Laugh” is the band’s put down of televangelism that was prominent at the time, and was the subject of many songs by several bands around this period. “Misery Loves Company” continues Scott Ian’s in particular love affair with Stephen King, with the song based on the novel “Misery”. And “Now It’s Dark” comes from the film ‘Blue Velvet’, based around the character of Frank Booth played so maniacally well by Dennis Hopper.
Despite this, there is something about the songs on State of Euphoria that doesn't always feel as though they gel together, and it is this reason that I think it is a little maligned by the band in comparison to other albums. Why is this the case? Personally, I think the band got a little bit ‘funky’ with their sound on this album. What you end up getting here is an album that is somewhere between their original thrash metal sound, the hip-hop hard-core sound that came with their single “I'm the Man”, and the more mature metal sound that came with the following album. While the thrash elements are still here for all to hear, the subtle change in song structure and the similarity in which some songs follow the same pattern does feel as though it comes back to haunt this album to a degree.
Listening to the album with a critical ear, there is a case to be made that many of the songs are too similar in structure and sound. That may tend to over-simplify the argument, but it is what comes across to me. There is a case to be made that the songs on “State of Euphoria” just roll into one another and share too much time together. I can sing the choruses of a number of the songs over other songs on the album, and it all fits in to place too neatly. Is this a reason why some people find it difficult to get into the album? Perhaps.
But even those songs that could be accused of being similar still have great powerful chanting lines in the best traditions of Anthrax, lines like “Now it’s dark but I can see, don’t you fuckin’ look at me!” (“Now It’s Dark”), and “You know me, and I can be, a very, very vicious critic” (“Misery Loves Company”), and “Invisible could be my name, your excuses are so lame” (“Who Cares Wins”) just to name a few. And this is the main crux of any argument – for me, I love these songs and this album through weight of having grown up with it and listening to it a thousand times or more. And even for me, I sometimes find myself wandering while listening to the album and come back trying to decipher which song I’m listening to.

It’s hard to believe as I think back now that I missed Anthrax during my high school years. There were the couple of music videos that floated around – the one for “Madhouse” from “Spreading the Disease” being the most memorable one – but as for actually coming around and getting into the band, well that just didn’t happen until later on. Indeed, it wasn’t until I walked into Kiama Sight & Sound one day and saw this shiny album cover staring at me from the “A” rack that I finally purchased an Anthrax album, and I haven’t looked back since.
For me, of those first four albums of Joey Belladonna’s first stint in the band, this is the one that I still have confusion over how much I enjoy it. The debut was rough and mottled with its own charms but certainly not of legendary performance. Each of the other three albums to me are perfectly formed, filled to the brim with strong tracks and songs that are still just as brilliant today as they were when those albums were released. And I do love this album. But it is the one I have reservations about that love.
There are the occasional times when this album comes up in discussion, and I really have to consider how I feel about it. I did this recently with two long term friends, both of whom ranked this as the highest echelon of Anthrax’s discography. I was slightly incredulous. To me there are obvious stand outs in Anthrax’s great legacy, and I love this album, but not to the extent that I felt it was perhaps their best. But then I go home, I pull out my CD copy of the album, put it on the stereo, turn it up, and let it crush. And that it when you get this album at its best. Not in the car, not at work, not out and about on your portable music listening device. On the stereo, at home, and let the album do the work it has been designed to do. If I was to sit down and rank their albums, this wouldn’t be in the top four, but the variables are such a fine thing in this instance that ranking doesn’t really mean anything.
Having said all of that, I still love this album and I love the songs on it. That comes partly from having had this album for so many years and from having listened to it so much in those late teenage years when everything becomes a part of your psyche forever.
The hard bottom line for me is that “State of Euphoria” doesn’t quite stack up against those other three giants that the band was able to produce during this first stage of their career, and that’s okay because those are three pretty brilliant albums. But this isn’t that far behind, and anytime I put it on I am still enamoured by its overloaded ferocity and tongue firmly in cheek dark tones. I don’t know how I would react to this album if I was coming into it now, 35 years after it was released. No doubt a lot differently than I did when I did first get the album. Whereas Anthrax has other albums that are immediately lovable and relatable, I think ”State of Euphoria” probably needs a little bit more time to move beyond what could be seen as the similarity of the basic rhythm of songs like “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”, “Make Me Laugh”, “Who Cares Wins” and “Schism” in particular, to find the love that the album deserves.