569. Iron Savior / Interlude. 1999. 3.5/5

Following on the heels of their impressive first two albums, this EP (in name only, surely) is a welcome follow up as the band stopped to catch their breath.

The first five songs were all recorded live during the band’s set at Wacken Open Air festival in 1998.
The live versions of these songs are interesting. All the studio versions have Piet Sielck’s vocals layered through them, which makes a great effect in the studio. Out here live, though, and without that ability, they have a different quality. “Iron Savior” doesn’t have quite the same feel as the original because of this. “Riding on Fire” sounds great still, with Kai’s backing vocals complementing brilliantly. “Watcher in the Sky” is still Kai’s song, and he executes it perfectly.

Four new studio songs have been added after this. All are similar in nature to those found off the band’s second album, Unification. They have a very B-side feel to them, as though they were left-over songs from their last effort, and have been added here to ensure they are used. “The Hatchet of War” is probably the best of these four songs.
The final song is a cover of Judas Priest’s “Desert Plains”, the band being an obvious influence on all the band members youth.

In all, that makes ten songs on this ‘EP’, which is great value for the fans. The disc also has video of the Wacken gig which can be seen on a computer, and has been often on mine.
This is a worthwhile listen, if only for the fact that it has the only live material so far released by the band, and has Kai Hansen heavily involved, which can only be a bonus.

568. Dio / Intermission. 1986. 4.5/5

Back in 1986, in the middle of the Sacred Heart tour, guitarist Vivian Campbell quit the band, and former Guiffria guitarist Craig Goldy was drafted in to take his place. Amongst the confusion, Dio released this live (apart from one song) EP entitled Intermission, perhaps as a way of introducing Goldy to Dio fans, perhaps just to put some more material out there to keep the fans happy.

No matter what the plan, here then is Dio live sans Campbell, which to me was somewhat of a tragedy, as he was a hero of mine at the time (still is, I guess). And no matter how good this sounds, you immediately notice the difference in the guitaring between the original versions with Vivian, and the live versions with Craig. Now there’s nothing wrong with it being different – a guitarist should be able to put his own stamp on songs in a band – but it just isn’t Vivian, and I can’t get past that!
The live versions are also noticeable for the greater influence the keyboards have, certainly more pronounced here than they are on the studio versions.

Away from all of this, Intermission is a worthy instalment in the Dio legacy. A selection of the band’s best is here, along with an excellent medley version of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Children” with Rainbow’s “Long Live Rock and Roll” and “Man on the Silver Mountain”. Slap in the middle (which was Track One of Side Two for those that had the vinyl like me) is the only studio track on the album, “Time to Burn”. It mightn’t be a world beater, but it again introduces Craig Goldy’s guitaring to the Dio universe, and is catchy enough.

This was released in Australia just before his tour in September 1986, and served as an excellent appetiser to that wonderful moment when I first saw Dio live. As a live EP in a collection of a career spanning five decades, it a pretty fair listen still.

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

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

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

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

566. Dio / Donington Monsters of Rock Festival 22-8-1987 [Bootleg]. 1987. 5/5

Ah, Donington. If only we could all travel to England and see this festival. Well, and also travel back in time. One day I'll build that DeLorian...

This is a brilliant bootleg of Dio's set from the 1987 festival, taken from the Dream Evil tour, and is the first time I have heard anything from this tour. It is soundboard recording, meaning A+ sound.
It's great to hear the songs chosen from the album live - "Dream Evil", "Naked in the Rain" and "All the Fools Sailed Away". They all sound superb. In fact, the entire set list is awesome. Great versions of "Neon Knights", an absolutely blistering performance of "The Last in Line", which moves seamlessly through "Holy Diver" and "Heaven and Hell", a sensational rendition of "Rock 'n' Roll Children", the great Rainbow songs "Long Live Rock and Roll" and "Man on the Silver Mountain", and not forgetting "Rainbow in the Dark". Every song is at its peak.

Ronnie himself is is awesome form. I'm not sure he has ever sounded better on a live album that he does here. His voice is just so powerful and awe-inspiring, it sends chills down the spine. Backed by Craig Goldy, Jimmy Bain, Vinny Appice and Claude Schnell, this is a scintillating hour of some of the best music Dio has given us up until 1987. I don't have enough superlatives to praise this effort enough. If only I had been there in person. 23 years later, I can at least be happy with this recording, and to finally hear it in all its glory.

565. Yngwie Malmsteen / Inspiration. 1996. 4/5

So this album is supposed to represent the Inspiration of Yngwie Malmsteen’s career. No problems there, it’s actually a pretty good idea to base a covers album around. With eleven songs recorded, you’d think that it would have a pretty fair range of artists to showcase what it is that has made Yngwie the guitarist that he is today.

Error.

Two songs come from the influential Jimi Hendrix, and that’s fine. He probably deserves two. Other songs come from UK (whoever they are), Rush, Kansas (and really – “Carry On Wayward Son” does seem to get a fair hearing from a lot of artists in regards to being covered, or cited as an influence – but I just don’t see it myself. I think the song is dull and uninspiring) and Scorpions (and there are a hundred better songs to do than “The Sails of Charon”, but that’s just me).
That leaves five more songs, which end up being four Deep Purple songs and a Rainbow song – all of which the original version feature one Ritchie Blackmore on guitar. So it’s fairly probable that Ritchie was a pretty influential person on Yngwie’s career! The Rainbow song, “Gates of Babylon” also appeared on Holy Dio: A Tribute to the Voice of Metal: Ronnie James Dio, and on the sleeve notes all Yngwie talks about is his love of Ritchie Blackmore, and doesn’t mention the subject of the tribute album at all! I guess that’s Yngwie though in a nutshell. Apart fro that – all great Deep Purple songs as well, and these versions are great, if perhaps a little overburdened by the guitar side of things.
The songs feature three main lead vocalists – Jeff Scott Soto, Mark Boals and Joe Lynn Turner, and each does a good job of their renditions. There is no argument with the musicianship and the quality of Yngwie’s guitaring. Like most cover albums though, eventually you just want the original rather than the re-recorded.

Well worth a listen – but as good a guitarist as Yngwie is, what this proves is that a great guitarist in one era is still a great guitarist in another, and the original guitarists in the original songs have lost none of their lustre.

564. W.A.S.P. / Inside the Electric Circus. 1986. 4/5

Like another "third" album I've just reviewed (Gamma Ray's Insanity and Genius) this is a mixed bag and a little uneven, with some classic songs and others that are not forgettable, but slightly unmemorable.

Probably a little strangely, there are two cover songs on this album - Ray Charles' "I Don't Need No Doctor", the version here which is just brilliant, and has become one of W.A.S.P's greatest hits. The riff throughout is spectacular, and they have made this their own in the same way as Judas Priest did with "Diamonds and Rust". The other cover is Uriah Heep's "Easy Living" which is also one of the better songs on the album. It is just a little funny that having put together two great albums of original material, the band (sorry - Blackie) felt it necessary to put two cover songs in here to 'pad it out'. Had they/he run out of ideas? No matter - it works, and they are great, and it wouldn't be the last cover tune on a W.A.S.P. album.

There is plenty to like here. The title track “Inside the Electric Circus” is a great opener. “Restless Gypsy” and "I'm Alive" are both great songs that follows the W.A.S.P. doctrine. And while songs like “9.5.-N.A.S.T.Y” and “Shoot From the Hip” and “Sweet Cheetah” and “Mantronic” are good songs, they are all very similar musically and even lyrically. With the exception of “I'm Alive” and "Easy Living", the second half of the album (second side if you owned this on vinyl like I did back in the day) is almost like one long song. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but at times it becomes monotonous.

In the long run, either because the album is good on its own merits, or because I have owned and listened to it for so many years I don’t count the flaws against it, I still love this album. It is the poor cousin as such of the two preceding and two following studio albums, but it still holds a place in my heart.

563. Gamma Ray / Insanity and Genius. 1993. 3.5/5

In the first three years of the band’s existence, Gamma Ray had not only recorded two excellent albums in “Heading for Tomorrow” and “Sigh No More”, they had also toured around Europe and other countries to rapturous applause, and their profile had been growing at an exponential rate. All of this was occurring despite the fact that the band lineup itself was in a constant flux. Having begun with Uwe Wessel on bass and Mathias Burchardt on drums, and with Kai Hansen playing all guitars, on “Sigh No More” Uli Kusch had come in on drums, and Dirk Schlacter was on rhythm guitar. Following the tour to promote this album, both Wessel and Kusch left, citing disagreements with what was happening within the band. Kusch eventually went on and replaced Ingo Schwichtenberg in Helloween. This meant that Gamma Ray had to recruit two new players again, and so in their places came Jan Rubach on bass guitar and Thomas Nack on drums, both from the band Anaesthesia.
With the new lineup now in place, it came time to write and record for the follow up album. However, the difficult part about this was that while the majority of the band lived in Hamburg, lead singer Ralf Scheepers lived almost 700km away, and didn’t want to relocate to Hamburg because he still had a job he was working in back where he was living. This meant that he would only show up for weekends to check out how the writing process was going, or to rehearse with the band. As Kai himself was quoted as saying in an interview some years later, “there was one problem with that because when we wrote the songs I was always trying to think of his voice but on the other hand it would have been a lot better if he writes his own vocal lines, melodies and lyrics. When he came to Hamburg most of the times I was singing in the rehearsal room when he was not there and I was singing on my demos so it was like everything was more or less fixed and he could not really change it.”
All of this lead to what turns out to be the most haphazard Gamma Ray release ever, and given that this was the way it was written and recorded, it isn't too much of a surprise why.

From the outset there seems a definite move away from the more serious tone taken on the “Sigh No More” album and return to the more carefree upbeat feeling of the debut album. Whether or not this came about more from Ralf’ absence in the writing stage is unclear, as he had been a main contributoir to the lyrics for that album, but had very little on this new album.
"Insanity and Genius” kicks off as brilliantly as you would expect, with an opening triumvirate of songs that showcase the best that the band has to offer. "Tribute to the Past" is a fast paced and fun filled journey, with bright and breezy lyrics and great guitars that set off a great start. This is followed by “No Return” where Ralf’ vocals dominate throughout and set the tone for what is to come. The third of these three opening Hansen penned tracks is “Last Before the Storm”, where the Nack’s double kick rumbles the song along at the great pace that Gamma Ray like to set with their opening tracks, and keep the momentum going.
After this great beginning, I must admit that I feel the album from this point on is just a bit uneven. Indeed, the tracks through the middle of the album are just a bit average. Everyone has their chance to contribute to the writing here, and perhaps that is part of what muddles up the overall picture, but in the end there are songs here that are fine to listen to but they become just a tad boring. “The Cave Principle” and “Future Madhouse” are just middle-of-the-road tracks, along with both “Insanity and Genius” and “18 Years”. Even the cover of Birth Control's “Gamma Ray” lacks a certain presence that a later update down the track with Kai on vocals really does fix nicely.
The final three songs do return some of the band’s best elements to the album. Two songs are left to other band members to sing, which can only have eventuated from the fact that Ralk was not around to do the vocals in the studio and so they were turned over to the other band members. “Your Torn is Over” is written by Dirk, and so he also sings it here, and it is a great track, with plenty of enthusiasm from the fill-in vocalist to make it a good song to listen to. This is followed by the live favourite "Heal Me" which is sung by Kai, his first lead vocal on a song since Helloween’s debut album “Walls of Jericho”. It is interesting that Kai did this, given what happened on future releases by Gamma Ray. I'm not as big a fan of "Heal Me" as most other Gamma Ray fans seem to be. I think it's OK but not brilliant.
The final song is “Brothers”, a song about being ‘brothers in rock’, co-written by Hansen, Scheepers and Schlacter, and an interesting statement by the three solid core members of the band... up to this point.

I was ecstatic when this album was released. Those who have listened to the episode of this podcast from Season 1 about their “Sigh No More” album will know how obsessed I became over it when I got it, and I can tell you that my excitement levels for this album were humongously over the top. And in the main, we all know just what happens when you build an album up too much before its release. And that is exactly what happened to me with “Insanity and Genius”. I expected and wanted more of what I had got with “Sigh No More”, and that is not what this album offered. Once again, as with most albums such as this, it isn’t a bad album. It’s just that I expected something different, something... BETTER! And that’s not what this is. And, what hurts this album even more, is that later on when the band released their best-of album, and to do so they re-recorded all of their past songs with their current line-up so that it wouldn’t just be a generic best of album, and they re-recorded four songs from this album with Kai singing and the songs given even better guitar treatment, they left these versions in the dust.
So yes this album is fine, but for me it is my least favourite of all Gamma Ray albums – by a long way.
This was Ralf's final album with Gamma Ray, as he and the band parted amicably as he went off to try and become Rob Halford’s replacement in Judas Priest. When he missed out on that gig he went and formed his own band, and though he has made an excellent fist of his move to Primal Fear, in some way this album seems to suffer from his appearance (or lack of it). It is a pity that his final fling with the band proves to be a little disappointing. The golden age of Gamma Ray began with their following album, “Land of the Free”. It's funny how I almost missed that, as after this album my adoration of the band went a little cold, and I didn't rush out to find the next release straight away. Imagine if I hadn't! But that was how this album left me in the long run - a little uneasy, and not really sure if they could recover. That they did in amazing style is something we can all be very very glad of.

562. Iron Maiden / Infinite Dreams [Live Single]. 1989. 5/5

One of two live singles released to coincide with the Maiden England video, recorded on the Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour in 1988.

This contains three excellent live renditions three song - “Infinite Dreams”, “Killers” and “Still Life” – none of which appeared on the eponymous Live After Death, which not only makes it worthwhile buying for that reason, but to sample how these brilliant songs are almost improved in a live setting. Bruce’s vocals are probably the key here, as being able to sing them almost note for note as the studio versions is a remarkable thing. If you don’t have this single, you won’t be disappointed.

561. Queen / Innuendo. 1991. 4.5/5

In a different time and age, it was sometimes difficult to find out what date albums would be released, and then it depended on what record store you were going to, and whether they kept your genre of music, as to whether they would even have it on said date. Innuendo for me was one of those albums that I got on the day of release, forgoing my lunch break to rush off to the record store to secure my copy.
Given that touring was no longer an option for the band with Freddie’s illness, the band had plenty of time to spend in a studio, allowing them to experiment and throw in whatever instrumental pieces they wanted to, almost like The Beatles had in their latter years. Most of that is showcased here, with an eclectic mix of faster, slower, intricate, big-band, orchestral and quieter songs.

There are absolute gems. “Innuendo” is almost an album in itself, the work that goes into that song is amazing. “Headlong” is probably the best pure hard rock song on the album. “I Can’t Live With You” is another great song, Freddie’s vocal’s here are just awesome, reaching all the depths and heights without a care in the world.
“Ride the Wild Wind” is one of my favourite all-time Queen songs, as much for John Deacon’s fantastic bass line running through the song. It is the perfect combination of all of their talents - Brian’s eclectic guitaring, Roger’s perfect drum beat and Freddie’s vocals. It is the equal, if not the better, of every other song in their catalogue. Many people feel that “The Show Must Go On” is the song that has become the final legacy of Queen. For me it is “Ride the Wild Wind” – for me everything that is great about Queen is in this song.

There are also the average, the songs that just don’t quite seem to fit, the songs that are just that little too much varied in their style for my liking on the album. “All God’s People” and “Delilah” are two songs that for me bring down the quality of the album, not from a musicianship sense, but just in the sense that they are probably not my style of song. You can add to this “These Are the Days of Our Lives” – not because of the quality of the song, but again just not to my individual taste. Ditto for “Bijou”.

Having torn the album apart to try and give a rating song by song, when you listen to it from pillar to post, it all comes together in a wonderful meshing of all styles, and just becomes Queen. Whilst in my personal opinion there are albums that are marginally better than this one, this is still at the top of the pile.

560. DragonForce / Inhuman Rampage. 2006. 2/5

When I first heard a song by this band (it happened to be “My Spirit Will Go On” off Sonic Firestorm) I was amazed at everything to do with it – the frenetic guitars, the amazing vocals, the precision drumming and the rhythmic keyboards. It all seemed to blend into a wonderful mesh of power metal glory.
Little was I to know that it appears that they just seem to reproduce the same song ten times over, record them and then call it an album. And repeat.

I can’t help but feeling I must be missing something, but all the facts are before me once again. The squeals and twiddles on the guitars are the same during each solo break. The breaks to allow the vocals to punctuate in the middle of the song are the same. The build-up to resumption at this point is the same. All the songs seem to be 7+ minutes of the same thing. The melodies are either all exactly the same or so similar it is impossible to tell the difference.
There is nothing wrong with having a standard set up with your sound and song format. However, by album number three I reckon you’d have at least SOME variety in song structure. But no, it appears we are going with the same tried and true formula, except that for me, it has worn too thin to hide. It obviously works for them. I meet lots of 18-25 year olds who think they are the greatest thing around. Perhaps these guys just aren’t aiming at me.

In the long run, there is enough here to like if you a) don’t look too far beneath the surface, and b) don’t mind a bit of repetition. I have since decided against following up on future releases.

559. The Cavalera Conspiracy / Inflikted. 2008. 2.5/5

I’m guessing a lot of people would have gone out of their way to check this out purely for the fact that the Cavalera boys had worked together again. Count me in as one of that crowd. Though I had never been a huge fan of Sepultura, I had listened to enough of their stuff, and seen them live twice, to make it worth my while to see what they had to offer now.

There is nothing new or startling on offer here, which is not to denigrate the album before I’ve started. This follows a formulaic theme, unlike Sepultura’s groundbreaking early material. But these guys were a part of that, so this shouldn’t be seen as being that kind of album. It is a reunion of sorts, and while I was able to take in a lot of this kind of material when I was 20, I can’t quite take it in large doses now that I’m 40. Actually – I’m not sure I could when I was 20 either. :)

“Inflikted”, “The Doom of All Fires”, "Bloodbrawl" and “Sanctuary” rate with me as the better tracks on the album. The fans of the lads will no doubt enjoy this immensely and play it ad nauseum. As I have done over the last couple of days, I can put it on and listen to it, but I have no desire for continued repeat listenings.

558. Stratovarius / Infinite. 2000. 2.5/5

I’m still not sure whether this album signalled the conclusion of what I would consider to be the Stratovarius golden age, or if that happened on one of the previous releases. In any respect, having had the album on rotation for the past couple of days it has been increasingly difficult to listen to it on a constant basis. The major reason behind this is that, once you get through the opening two songs the album seems rather bland and tame, without something to jump out and grab you with intent.

The album starts off OK with “Hunting High and Low” and “Millenium” very much in the typical vein of this band’s songs. However, the accursed power metal ballad rears its ugly head here with “Mother Gaia”, which I’m afraid is a truly terrible song, and reminds me of what I despise most about power metal. I must admit that I don’t understand having such a song so early in an album, as it completely changes the tone and stops the momentum. From this point on, it is very hard to save what follows, but “Phoenix” makes a valiant effort to do so. “Glory of the World” is also a much better up-tempo song. The songs are full of Jorg Michael’s double kick drums and Jens Johansson’s keyboards, which perhaps both dominate just a little too much. The songs here are at their best when it is the guitaring that dominates, and not the keyboards. The solo’s in “A Million Light Years Away” is a case in point – they sound great, but once the keyboards take back over the song loses its strength.

If you are in the right mood for this album it is still (for the most part) a good listen. Timo’s vocals are still spot on, and if the mix between guitars and keyboards was switched so that the keys were more in the background instead of basically dominating, then this could have been a terrific album. Instead, it is another average release that doesn’t make you gag, but leave’s you just a little disappointed in the end result.

557. Dio / Inferno: Last in Live. 1998. 4/5

This live album, the first one released for the band Dio (apart from the 1986 EP Intermission), always had one huge hurdle in its path. This was recorded on the tour to promote the most average album Dio has ever released, Angry Machines, and as a result has a couple of those included on this release. Fortuitously for everyone, the songs “Double Monday” and “Hunter of the Heart” sound much better live than they do on the studio album.
Add to this the inclusion of “Drum Solo” and “Guitar Solo”, which is an automatic ‘skip’ when you listen to most live albums. Vinny Appice has been playing the same drum solo for 30 years, and Tracey G does do a good enough job on the guitar, but no matter how skilful both are with their instruments, it really isn’t that interesting to listen to in the comfort of your home (or car or workplace for that matter).

Taking all of that into account, this is still an excellent live album. Dio’s vocals are as wonderful as ever, and take centre stage as they always have. The music itself feels a bit sludgy at times (very much in keeping with how Angry Machines sounds), which is either the way Tracey G plays it (possible) or the way RJD wanted it at the time (probable - though he soon realised it was a mistake). The setlist is mostly from the definitive first three albums of the band’s career, and they all sound great. There is also a great version of Deep Purple’s “Mistreated” (which Ronnie also played in his time in Rainbow) and Black Sabbath’s “The Mob Rules”. You cannot fault the material here, though the complete lack of any songs off Dream Evil and Lock Up the Wolves is a slight disappointment. In the long run this is a pretty fair live album, which the band would eventually outstrip in two future releases, Evil or Divine: Live in New York City and Holy Diver Live.

556. Therapy? / Infernal Love. 1995. 2.5/5

Following up an album like Troublegum is no mean feat, and I know at the time of this release I was probably over excited about the outcome of this new album. As in most instances of this occurring I was a little more than mildly disappointed in the result, and having given it a listen for a couple of weeks the CD went back into the cabinet with only fleeting glances in the following years, and generally for only a few chosen songs. So I have pulled it out once again to reminisce, to find out if age has soothed or damaged its reputation, and to review here. In the long run, I found that my opinion had changed very little over the years.

It opens at a cracking pace, with “Epilepsy” and “Stories” both terrific tracks. The energy of the songs perform the duty of the opening tracks of an album, they draw you in and excite your senses for what is to come. One of the failings of this album is that they are both fast paced tracks, and from this point there are some major speed bumps which detract from the remainder of the album. There is no doubt that the angst and anger and “Misery” (yeah, bad pun intended) is all there in all of these songs, but coming hard on the heels of Troublegum where almost all the songs are faster and heavier, these songs have never really sat well with me. Bringing in the horns and the cello’s to be innovative is not really a problem, as long as it doesn’t detriment the final outcome. I still like songs such as “Misery”, “Bad Mother” and “Loose”, but the overall mood of the album doesn’t quite click like its predecessor.

And “Diane” – well, it just doesn’t do it for me. To me it is the weak link of the album. I dislike it tremendously, and I have never really been able to get over it.

As a result, Infernal Love can only just be rated as average. Even now, so many years later, I feel the disappointment I felt 15 years ago, expecting this to be awesome. Apart from some brief breaks in the clouds, this is just some grey drizzle.

555. Def Leppard / On Through the Night. 1980. 3/5

As I write this review, it is thirty years to the day since this album was released in the UK. The band has been through some ups and downs since its release, and the music they have written has progressed in a different direction than many of their peers from 1980 did. Not only that, they’ve outlasted most of them as well.

Driven by a very NWOBHM sound, On Through The Night is very much more based in the hard rock that was prevalent in the late 1970’s – bands like Kiss - than perhaps any intent on following the likes of Judas Priest, Motorhead and the emerging Iron Maiden who were pioneering the heavier edge at the time. It’s rockier themes separated Def Leppard’s debut album from those bands, and though not overly successful on the charts with this release, set themselves up for commercial success in the future.

The bouncy feel of the openers “Rock Brigade” (very like 1970’s Kiss!) and “Hello America” set the tone for the album early. Along with other up tempo songs like “It Could Be You”, “Satellite”, “Wasted” and “Rocks Off”, these songs show off the best of Def Leppard, especially at this stage of their career. Great hard rock songs, punchy choruses, good solos and excellent vocals. In fact, Joe Elliott’s voice is at its finest here. I’m not convinced he has ever sung better.

This was a better than average beginning for the band. For reasons that are probably obvious (those of us who listen to their current albums realise that they produce sugar candy songs now) the band seems to ignore this part of their history, which is a real shame. Adding songs off this album to their live set would be a terrific thing. However, as everyone nows, the music that you find on here is not their style anymore. Still, thirty years on and this album still has some magic about it, and is work either checking out for first timers, or reliving if you are an elder statesman like myself.

554. Helloween / Unarmed - Best of 25th Anniversary. 2009. 3/5

It is almost impossible to know where to start with this album. We’ve had a greatest hits package where the songs have been re-recorded rather than remastered (see Gamma Ray’s Blast From The Past), we’ve had songs re-recorded acoustically (see a thousand examples), we’ve had band’s record with orchestra’s (Deep Purple, Metallica, Scorpions) – but this goes beyond that by combining all three in a greatest hits celebration of Helloween’s 25 year anniversary.
By doing this, you can only admire the band for moving so far away from the style that their fan base loves, and trying something different to spice up a boring old greatest hits album. There should also be no prizes for guessing that there will be a lot of alienated fans of Helloween after listening to this. And in the long run, those two sentences explain my feelings about this album – a brave and innovative move that is not to my taste at all and makes me wonder what is to come in the future.

The jazzed up version of “Dr Stein”, with sax and horns all over the place is up-tempo enough, and is bearable. The songs that follow though have a definite acoustic down-turning. In the long run, it is the toning down of the speed of the songs that creates more problems for me with the material than anything else. Playing them as semi-acoustic, and adding orchestral parts to them, isn’t completely degrading the original material, but softening the tone and playing at a slower tempo does make it more difficult to enjoy. Let’s face it – this is the kind of stuff that former singer Michael Kiske has been trying to pursue since his sacking from Helloween for pushing this exact kind of stuff!! Take a listen to his album Past in Different Ways from last year, and you’ll almost see the birth of this album in the process. If ever the opportunity had arisen to invite him back for a cameo, this was it!
“Future World” to me is just blah as a result of this. “If I Could Fly” isn’t so bad, as it was always the kind of song that could lend itself to such a reimagining. I think “Where the Rain Grows” suffers terribly from having the pace of the song ripped from its heart, it just loses all of its emotional value.

“The Keeper’s Trilogy”, a seventeen minute operatic meshing of “Halloween”, “Keeper of the Seven Keys” and “King for 1000 Years” is worth a listen, and is very well put together. Personally, I think all three songs could have been recorded on their own, backed by an orchestra in the same way as Metallica did on S&M, because all three songs sound great here. But they should have been played as they were recorded and then have the backing of the orchestra, rather than change the personality of the songs to suit an orchestra, as they have done here. Apart from that, this is the shining star of the album without a doubt.

“Eagle Fly Free” is practically destroyed as a slow paced acoustic ballad. It was very hard to take. “Perfect Gentlemen” doesn’t quite work for me either, but I can almost feel where they were taking it, and it possibly almost works. “Forever & One”, “Falling to Pieces” and “A Tale That Wasn’t Right” are also songs that could tend to lean in the direction they have been recorded here, but again I just can’t help but think that they were fine in their original format, and that by slowing and dragging out the songs they have done them a disservice. Possibly strangest of all, “I Want Out” in acoustic, with the help of a kid’s choir in the background, is one of the closest songs to working in this environment. Don’t ask me why – it just does.

So – very difficult to rate. As brave and bold as it is, it’s not something you could ever keep coming back to. Musicianship-wise it is terrific, but I just want the original versions in the long run. The score is based on the innovativeness of the idea, crossed with my genuine lack of feel for the appeal overall.

553. Fear Factory / Mechanize. 2010. 2/5

Look. Here's the thing. Fear Factory started something new back in the 1990's when they first came on the scene. It was different and it was a little scary, just the right elements to draw fans in from any number of genres of music. There has been a lot of good stuff, and some average stuff. With the previous three albums (two of which did not have original guitarist Dino Cavares involved) it has been the same, a lot of good stuff mixed with a bit f the average. One of the problems that appeared to be raising its head as these albums progressed was that... well... they all seem to be sounding a little on the similar side. I mean, if you didn't know the band, and you threw on Archetype and then threw on Transgression would you really know that the albums had been changed? For heavens sake, I like a lot of Fear Factory, and I have trouble discerning between the two myself! So when it came to first getting and listening to Mechanize I wondered if the title was giving something away about the music itself. So yes, trepidation confronts me as I approached this new Fear Factory album. Whilst for the majority I enjoyed Archetype, the bad taste of Transgression still sits like a mouthful of out of date chunky sour milk.

Despite the circumstances around the abandonment of original members Raymond Herrera and Christian Olde Wolbers for this album, I could only applaud the recruitment of Gene Hoglan to play drums for this album. He is incredible under most circumstances, but his work here is quite astounding. I'm really not sure how many arms and legs he has in real life, because the speed and precision with which he plays his instrument on this album is quite extraordinary. Dino's guitaring (playing all guitars and bass on the album) is as precision perfect as always, while Burton's vocals move between the menacing growl to the clear anguish cries with abandon. And it's quite a change between the two when it occurs too. I sometimes wonder if it is too much, in the same way on early Trivium albums Matt Heafy does the same huge change between growl and clear vocals. Probably it's just me being too precious.
OK, so we've considered what could be seen as the similarity between songs and albums musically, and we've considered the vocal techniques used. As to the album itself taking those things into the mix, I still like most of this album. the opening track "Mechanize", it hits the ground running with aggression and power, with Burton's vocal chords getting a huge work out at every level throughout. The album flows nicely into "Industrial Discipline", "Fear Campaign" and "Powershifter", all the while being pushed along at speed by Hoglan's machine gun drumming. More is to come, with "Christploitation" careering through into "Oxidizer" and "Controlled Demolition". "Designing the Enemy" uses a similar theme and tracking, but the vocals by now start to grate, though more succinctly the randomness between the almost incomprehensible deep growling into the moaning clear vocal over the top of the synth programming with those drums still underneath. It's all a little too much for me by this stage. I don't like the structure and having made it so far into the album with some degree of enjoyment it is beginning to seep away. The instrumental joiner "Metallic Division" introduces itself into the final track "Final Exit", which combines the fast paced intro into the clear guitar and vocal combination before ebbing and flowing throughout the track, with a complete fade out to the finish. Given how the album started, this is a real character change to complete the album.

There was a real excitement about this when it was released, with the return of Dino to the fold, and while many parts of this album are enjoyable for me, as an overall package I didn't get as much from it as I expected. Still, for the drumming alone, this is worth a listen to try and figure out just how Gene Hoglan can play like this. And then wonder why they went with a drum machine on the next album.

Rating:  Dawn of our extinction, the human affliction.  3/5

552. Fozzy / Chasing The Grail. 2010. 3/5

I must admit that it came as some surprise when I found out Fozzy were putting out another album. Having ‘proven’ themselves as a band with the release of All That Remains and with Chris Jericho back in the swing of things in the WWE, I had pretty much written off any chance of new material from the band.
The start of the album could almost have picked up right where they left off with All That Remains, with “Under Blackened Skies” and “Martyr No More” retaining the best of what Fozzy showed us on that album. From this point on, though, there is a lot more experimentation with their style.

“Broken Soul” is an average attempt at ballad-type song. It just lacks the power and enthusiasm that most of the songs here contain, and as such it feels a bit half-arsed. It almost sounds as though they were attempting such a song just to see if they could pull it off. They could not.Add to this “New Day’s Dawn”, because this seems to be attempting something similar, and it really doesn’t work. Both these songs for me detract from the album. I’m not a nu-metal fan, and it seems to be where this track in particular is leading.

Redemption is immediate with the excellent “Let the Madness Begin” and “God Pounds His Nails”. Both are much more up-tempo, and Jericho’s vocals are at their best here.“Pray For Blood” is a bit cheesy, but Jericho is able to make it work. “Revival” is almost epic in stature, attempting to bring all of the instrumental aspects of the band to a symphonic rhapsody.
Probably the highlight of the album is the closer, “Wormwood”. Unapologetically Dream Theater-esque, this is Fozzy’s attempt at prog rock/metal, and they pull it off brilliantly. Everything about the song shows the amazing versatility of the band. There is no pretence as to the direction this song is written musically, and though it is not Fozzy’s typical song style they do it so well you cannot help but be impressed.

Overall, the album sits above average. Rich Ward is again the stand-out here, his guitaring and riffs once again fully underrated in the wider community. Whether the band has enough commitment to continue in their current line-up is possibly open to question, but this release certainly justifies their continuing efforts to do so.

551. Blaze Bayley / Promise and Terror. 2010. 3/5

With such a solid volume of work behind the band in the past decade, there was some honest anticipation towards this new release from Blaze Bayley.
What I discovered on the first few listens to the album was that it seems quite flat. In many ways, there is little to differentiate between each song, and the power and intensity just doesn't seem to be prevalent. Yes, the songs do start to sound the same, and even after many listens I have trouble distinguishing between the songs.

To be fair to this album in comparison to those he has released up to this point, it had a lot to live up to. Where this release falls down is that it doesn’t maintain the rage for heavy metal like Blood & Belief in particular does. It doesn’t contain anything unexpected or new. The riffs and melodies are all very similar, without the hook to grab you from the outset. No doubt Blaze had a lot on his mind when he was producing this album, and though it is often good to have a general theme running through an album, you need a change in the tone.
Best for me are the openers "Watching the Night Sky" and "Madness and Sorrow".

It is not a bad album, but it is for all intents and purposes an average album. Perhaps the plateau has been reached. I like the album and have no problem listening to it more than a month after first getting it, but how long that lasts for I can't say.

550. Gamma Ray / To The Metal. 2010. 4.5/5

As with pretty much every Gamma Ray release in the band’s history, I was looking forward to this album for months before its release. In these cases you can usually build it up too much in your mind, and as such have some initial disappointment in the outcome (see Heaven & Hell’s The Devil You Know in 2009 for reference). Sometimes this disappointment is too difficult to get past; sometimes you soon see the album in all its glory (as occurred with The Devil You Know).
With To The Metal I initially found small flaws.

There is little doubt that this album harks back more to the power metal aspect of the genre, but there is little compromising from that point on. The arrangement of the songs may be slightly different from recent releases, and the keyboards perhaps are more prominent, but not in a bad way.
The opening tracks are swift and powerful. “Rise” and “Deadlands” in particular are excellent additions to the Gamma Ray legacy. My initial doubts lay in the middle of the album.
“No Need to Cry” is a generic power metal ballad, (written by Dirk apparently over the death of his father, and with Dirk’s vocals through the middle of the song) though with a Gamma Ray twist that helps to make it more bearable than most. This is followed by “Empathy” which is not so generic, but is less in the vein of songs in recent releases. Then comes the title track “To The Metal” which, by all rights, should be the heaviest song on the album, but is more just a chance to chant “hail to the metal” a number of times over and over.
“All You Need To Know” is a lot faster and heavier than the previous three songs in the middle of this album – except when it comes to the chorus, which seems almost deliberately toned down. This is the chorus sung by former Helloween band mate Michael Kiske, whose current aversion to heavy metal is well publicised. It therefore seems a strange choice of song for him to be involved in. Surely on reflection “No Need to Cry” is more his style! Strange…

OK, so I’ve just picked apart the middle of the album, and yes I am being over critical, because I love this band so much, and everything they have produced over twenty years. The truth of the matter is, even though I may appear harsh, I still think all these songs are brilliant. As can probably be guessed, once I got through the first five or six listens, To The Metal had fully grown on me, and I had recognised its excellence.

The continuing brilliance of the musicianship, along with Kai’s scintillating vocals, are just two of the obvious reasons why Gamma Ray is in the top echelon of all metal bands. One often wonders how they can continue to put together such marvellous collections of songs.