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

For a very brief period in the late 80's and early 90's, Mortal Sin were the torchbearer for heavy metal in Australia. Through two fanstastic albums and one average one, they showed the world that Australia could produce metal music with the best around. Face Of Despair was their finest moment.

Perhaps, in this day and age, this album may feel dated. But to me, who lived with this album on my turntable and cassette deck for months, and even played some of the songs in the band I was in at the time, it is still just fantastic.
It may be tied to its time in history, but anyone who didn't catch them should still experience this album.

Favourites for me include "I Am Immortal", "Voyage Of The Disturbed", "The Infantry Corps" and "Innocent Torture".

Memories: One of the best days of my life - Mortal Sin on the Face Of Despair tour, supporting Metallica on the Damaged Justice tour, at the Hordern Pavillion in May 1990. Metallica, of course, were at their peak. Mortal Sin held their own, and were also just brilliant.

Rating: A beacon of light in Australian heavy metal. How did they fail to become huge? 4.5/5

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

Following up the popular mainstream success that the band had achieved with Crazy World was always going to be tough assignment. Here then is that attempt, Face The Heat.
For the most part, this sounds like a Scorpions album. The guitars are unmistakably those of the duellists, and the vocals from Klaus Meine are as confronting as always. There are a handful of songs here that can hold a candle to their glory days releases. Unfortunately, that is overwhelmed by the collection of ordinary, boring or, lest I say it, forgettable songs. Perhaps they were just trying too hard to continue in the radio-friendly realm that brought them success with "Winds Of Change". Whatever it is, Face The Heat feels a little two-paced to enjoy fully.

Favourites for me here include "Alien Nation", "No Pain No Gain" and "Ship Of Fools".

Rating: It feels like a Scorpions album masquerading as something else. 3/5.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There have been a plethora of live albums released involving recordings by the band Motörhead. Some of them are less than official with some record companies dealing out the material as a parting shot as the band moved on, or just as a cheap knock off of a previous release in order to gain some cash away from the band itself. Everyone will have their own opinions, but for me Everything Louder Than Everyone Else is the third true live Motörhead album, following No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith and Nö Sleep at All. Each of the previous live albums marked a certain era of the band, and that is also true of this album, and as such it holds its place in history well.

This was recorded in Germany in 1998 and is the whole show, the first time band had been able to release it in this way. Recorded during the tour to promote Snake Bite Love It again has a great mix of the newest songs from the band and the old classics that they have to play every night. Lemmy is in great form between songs, and the band itself sounds fantastic. Having just reverted back to a three piece following the moving on of Wurzel, you can still feel the energy being created by them on stage. Lemmy’s bass sound is iconic and unique and distinguishable quickly and easily. Phil Campbell’s guitar becomes guttural at times before truly breaking out on his solo passages to light up the crowd. Mikkey Dee’s drumming is a delight, loud and crashing and driving home the songs in his usual powerful style. The three of them are excellent here, and they do in fact create an atmosphere where it changes the way that you listen to these songs when you go back to the album versions.
As for the set list and track listing, it has everything you could possibly want from a Motörhead live album. Half of the tracks are from albums since the last live album released Nö Sleep at All, and each of those albums is represented. Mixed in with these are the songs that you couldn’t possibly leave out, including the four songs that conclude the album, being “Killed by Death”, “Bomber”, “Ace of Spades” and “Overkill”, which all charge like the Light Brigade to the finish line and encourage you to go back to the start and do it all again.

As live albums go, this is pretty hard to critique, because there is little weak material here to dish upon. Even the songs that come from the weaker albums are the best songs from those albums, and they all translate to the live setting with great aplomb. No doubt No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith has always been appraised as the best Motörhead live album, given the time it was recorded and the material that was available to play on it. For me, I think this goes just that bit further, not only because this has the whole concert from go to whoa, but because there are so many songs here and they are all worthy of inclusion. I can play this at work, in the car, at a party or in the metal cavern and I never get sick of it. One of the greats.

Rating: “We are Motörhead; and we’re gonna kick your ass.”  5/5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: Mediocre. 1.5/5

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

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

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

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

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

282. Def Leppard / Euphoria. 1999. 2/5.

By the time we were reaching the new millenium, Def Leppard had scrubbed itself clean of any lingering stains of metal, and what was left was what could barely be called hard rock. Closer to the point, they had become almost a pop band. Somewhere out there, no doubt they still have a following, but I can only guess how many of their fans from the 1980's are still enjoying what they are producing.

Here on Euphoria, it begins reasonably well with "Demolition Man" and even "Promises". From this point on, all it has is sugar coated sugar treacle ballads, that just make you want to either put your fist through the speakers, or vomit all over the furniture.

Yep. This is a desperately disappointing release. The band must like what they are writing, and there must be fans out there who like it. I wish I'd waited until this had been released for $1 before I bought it. Another thirty bucks I can never recoup.

Rating: Are they even trying anymore? Or are we going to get another decade of this? 2/5.

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

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

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

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

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

This actually starts off pretty well, in typical Dokken fashion in fact. "Erase The Slate" and "Change The World" are good solid songs in the usual style that Dokken produce. You can almost imagine yourself back in the late 1980's when you hear them.

Unfortunately the standard doesn't last as we move into the body of the album. Maybe in the second stanza of life as a band, they have begun to take themselves a little too seriously. What the hell were they thinking when they decided to do a cover of that awful song “One”. No, not the Metallica song, the one that goes, “One is the loneliest number that you've ever heard”. It is really out of place here.

In the long run, this too is a disappointment. There are some reasonable songs on here, including "Change The World", "Voice Of The Soul", "Haunted Lullaby" and "Crazy Mary Goes Round", that remind you of what Dokken used to stand for. But there just isn't enough of that quality to maintain the rage.

Rating: A little from column A and a little from column B. 2.5/5

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

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

Rating: Demo? Damn! 3.5/5

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

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

Rating: Good single. 4/5.

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

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

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

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

276. Queensryche / Empire. 1990. 5/5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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