708. Van Halen / Van Halen. 1978. 4/5

By November 2013, there is little that I could write here about Van Halen that hasn't written or said a thousand times over. It is a seminal album, one that broke new barriers, created some new ones, and launched not only this band but a hundred others that came in the years following its release. In the end, the only thing I can write is my own thoughts and opinions on it, and no doubt they too mirror many others from down the years.

Van Halen showcases the wonderful talents of the four members, and how they combine so well in the band. Alex Van Halen has a terrific drum kit and the sound he gets out of it on this album is terrific. He shows off all his skills and rolls. Michael Anthony plays his bass with what seems like simplicity but is much more effective than that, and his backing vocals are a real key to the music. And then you have David Lee Roth's soaring vocals, and Eddie Van Halen's guitar. A pretty awesome foursome.
Much of the album I think you can either take or leave depending on your mood. The album opener "Runnin' With the Devil" is a moody piece, dominated by David Lee Roth's vocals with a short stint from Eddie Van Halen's guitar in the middle. This is followed by the 103 seconds that changed a million guitarists lives, the Eddie Van Halen guitar solo entitled "Eruption". This is what made this album so significant, and still does to this day. It showcased Eddie's talent to the world, a position from which he has never turned back, and he has dragged the band with his name in the same direction. It was then a clever move to follow this with a cover of The Kinks" "You Really Got Me", because it has one of the most recognisable guitar riff intros in the history of music. Thus, even though he may not have written it, the listener goes from hearing Eddie's "Eruption" into this well known riff, and it all falls into place. His guitar re-working of the song also works very well, along with the vocals from both Dave and Michael.
In many ways the album has dated over the years. It isn't as fresh as it was when it was released. The one obvious exception to this is "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love", which still maintains the best of what Van Halen had to offer - a terrific riff from Eddie, a really nice underscore bass line from Michael, great drumming from Alex and Dave's pointed and scene-stealing vocals. 35 years later and this remains one of their greatest ever songs.
Songs like "I'm the One" and "Jamie's Cryin'" are very much dominated by David's vocals and lyrics than anything the rest of the band are doing. They're doing their bit of course, but the memorable parts of the songs are the vocals. Realistically, the remainder of the album doesn't stand out itself, but becomes more of a conglomerate of the whole. "Atomic Punk" allows Eddie to become creative on guitar, which dominates the song. These songs all have that atypical early Van Halen sound, guitar and drum oriented with Dave's story-telling vocals being complemented by the harmonies of Michael and Eddie, but are not ground-breaking material or standout tunes. Eddie's solo is the highlight of "Feel Your Love Tonight". "Little Dreamer" is more introspective with a slower pace and feel to it that the hard rock songs of the first half of the album. The cover of John Brim's "Ice Cream Man" seems all out of place, but was obviously a band favourite - and the blues is not really my thing either. The album comes to a close with "On Fire", which is back to the pace and rock that you expect from the band, and completes this debut opus with a bit of heart.

Van Halen has never been a band to be pigeon-holed, and the album Van Halen is of the same stuff. There is a mixture of everything here, though it all has what can now be categorised as a Van Halen sound to it. Some of it still holds up brilliantly, some of it can probably be best papered over. It is still a good listen if you go from start to finish, but picking out selected songs to play may have you questioning their worth in the greater scheme of things. There is certainly no doubt that it was a groundbreaker when it was released, and that it still has its place all these years later.

707. Lita Ford / The Bitch is Back... Live. 2013. 3.5/5

Following up her excellent Living Like a Runaway album from last year, Lita Ford and her band has been out on the road heavily promoting both the product and her live show, with the result being this live album The Bitch is Back... Live, an excellent mix of new material from her latest album and the best of her material from her back catalogue in the 1980's and 1990's.

It's been a long road for Lita, having been away from live performances for the better part of 15 years. What this album does showcase is that she can still sing, and she can still play guitar as effectively as she ever has. The band gels together nicely, and the crowd seems enthusiastic. Lita's byplay between songs sometimes seems a little forced or clichéd, but perhaps that worked for the audience when it was recorded. Surely there is no need to tell your audience to "check out these lyrics" as she does before "Hate". If they've come to see you play live then I'm sure they've already checked out the lyrics.
After opening up with the Elton John cover "The Bitch is Back", Lita showcases her new material to good effect. "Relentless", "Living Like a Runaway" and "Devil in my Head" all come across as good hard rock songs, which all have that extra grunt here in a live setting than their studio counterparts are able to show. "Back to the Cave" and the rollicking "Can't Catch Me" from the Lita album keep the good vibe of this album rolling.
The older songs, such as "Out For Blood" and "Dancing on the Edge", sound really good here, much better in the live environment they deserve than on the under-produced studio albums that they came from. Here they sound like the full blooded hard rocks songs they always should have been. The same can be said for new songs like "Hate", which really benefits from the harder edge the live sound gives the song.
The album finishes with arguably the two biggest songs of her career, "Close My Eyes Forever" and "Kiss Me Deadly". While they both sound great, there are a couple of times when it just sounds like Lita is trying to sing too perfect, instead of letting that live voice come on through. Just a small observation in the whole scheme of the album.

This is a veritable greatest hits compilation in a live setting, and it all comes together rather nicely. For anyone who has followed Lita's career this is a pleasant surprise, and verification of the talent she has not only as a guitarist and singer, but as a writer. Whatever had been the motivation to move away from music, her return with Living Like a Runaway was proof she still had something to give, and The Bitch is Back... Live is further proof that she and her band can still pull it off on the stage. probably not one for the fence-sitters, but fans will enjoy this release.

706. Def Leppard / Viva! Hysteria. 2013. 4.5/5

Earlier in 2013, Def Leppard took up a short term residency in Las Vegas. The highlight of this was that for the first time the band was going to play their biggest selling album, Hysteria, in full every night. Obviously this created quite a surge of interest, and given that it was going to be a limited season, and that it would only occur in the one city, there was little doubt that it would be released both audibly and visually so that fans from all around the world could enjoy the occasion. Thus we are presented with Viva! Hysteria.

Playing the entire album live more than 25 years after its release must have been a gamble, but it the end it is a triumph. Joe Elliott's voice, which I always felt was perhaps going to be the major issue in attempting most of these songs, covers all steps wonderfully. Of course, given that the majority of the songs on this album have still remained in the band's setlist over the years certainly helped. But the first time I put on Viva! Hysteria was a trip down memory lane. It took me all the way back to 1987, the year I finished high school, and played the original Hysteria over and over. The band here is terrific, not only instrumentally but vocally. Everything comes together in a great performance of a terrific album. My favourite songs from the album were always "Animal", "Gods of War" and "Run Riot", and they are still the best songs here. The performance is completed by the addition of two of the band's biggest songs from the Pyromania album, "Rock of Ages' and "Photograph". Terrific stuff.

But wait - there's more! And what's more, the extras are even better! In support to themselves each night, the band came on under the assumed name of Ded Flatbird, which apparently was one of the misheard names the band was called in their early days. On separate nights, the band would play a different setlist as the support band, containing songs that they hadn't performed live for years. For me, the great part was that the majority of these songs were from their first two albums which have been buried in the mists of time. And it is a real buzz to hear the band play songs like "Good Morning Freedom", which was only ever released on the single for "Hello America" off their debut album On Through the Night. Brilliant. Then add other songs from that album such as "Wasted" and "Rock Brigade" - how is a song like "Rock Brigade" not in their setlists more often? I love it. Then there is the brilliant "Mirror Mirror (Look Into My Eyes)" from High 'n' Dry. But it is the second support gig that really smokes, headed up by "On Through the Night" and "Slang", before playing the entire Side A (for those that remember the vinyl release) of the brilliant High 'n' Dry album - "Let it Go", "Another Hit and Run", "Saturday Night (High 'n' Dry)", "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" and "Switch 625". Just fantastic! What an awesome spectacle for those that got to attend this gig on that night.

Fans of Def Leppard - certainly those that have been fans since the 1980's - will love this. Not only is it a homage to their most popular and biggest selling album, it pays respect to many of the songs that paved the way for that album, and ones that haven't been performed in a long, long time, as well as the sprinkling of other songs from the era since that found their foundation in Hysteria. This CD/DVD set is a wonderful moment in time, one that all Def Leppard fans will love.

705. Motörhead / Aftershock. 2013. 4/5

It's a new Motörhead album, and though this will be their 21st studio album release, they can still pack a punch. OK, so maybe they will never match up to their classic albums from previous decades, but really, if you ask anyone what their favourite Motörhead albums are, and they will all have a different opinion. That's because over a long period of time, the band has been able to match the quality of its work.

The album kicks off with the immediate hard rocking "Heartbreaker" which not only instantly signals this as a Motörhead album with the grumbling bass and guitar work, but sits at that similar Motörhead tempo that sometimes feels as though it is just ambling along, but actually pushes you faster and harder than you expect. This is followed by "Coup de Grace", another perfect example of the band's best music - hard, fast and catchy. Great solo as well from Phil Campbell.
Now, I'm no blues fan (see any of the rants involving the last half a dozen Gary Moore albums of his life when he decided to follow the blues rather than his rock/metal brilliance of the 1980's), but the band gets away with it for me here. "Lost Woman Blues" is a nice tribute to this style of music (albeit a much heavier version than traditional blues), with all three members performing their roles with distinction. "Dust and Glass", which appears later in the album, is not so much blues as a slower, wistful track that, for me, also interferes with the overall intensity of the album. Both these songs just halt the momentum a bit too much for my liking, which overall is a disappointment.
The prevailing mood is restored with "End of Time" which is followed by the rollicking "Do You Believe". A lot of people consider that every Motörhead album sounds the same, and to a certain degree they are correct, in the same way that AC/DC have their signature sound, and Iron Maiden have their signature sound. After almost 40 years though it is only natural that you will find some similar pieces amongst the collected woodwork. Have a listen to the bridge in "Do You Believe", and tell me you don't find yourself singing "Love Me Like a Reptile" from Ace of Spades. Uncanny likeness, but not an abrasive one. "Death Machine" and "Going to Mexico" are also great songs.
There is a lot to like here, including some great soloing from Phil Campbell on songs such as "Crying Shame" and "Knife". His guitar work all through this album is arguably some of his finest ever with Motörhead. "Queen of the Damned" is old school Motörhead, thrashing along at a breakneck speed with guitars and drums throbbing. In fact, the whole album feels like a throwback to the glory days of the band. It is quintessentially Motörhead. "Keep Your Powder Dry" and "Paralysed" conclude the album on a high, and it is not a difficult choice to play the disc again from the beginning.
Along with Campbell's guitaring, Lemmy's signature bass work still hold every song together. It is the familiarity of this that continues to make the band so beloved by the fans. Mikkey Dee's drumming is also fantastic, keeping the three piece in perfect synchronisation along the way.

As I mentioned at the start, it is difficult to compare this album to the those from the past, given the history they have and the high esteem they are held in. In putting my neck out, I think it compares favourably with everything and anything they have released before. This is a resurgent album, and we can only hope that with Lemmy's well publicised health problem over the past twelve months that it isn't the last we hear in this resurgent phase of the band.

704. Dream Theater / Dream Theater. 2013. 4/5

It's far too easy to fall into the trap of "this is their best album since..." or "I haven't heard a song like this from the band since...". Dream Theater seems to get this with practically every release, and while I don't play those kind of games, given the enormous joy I have for their back catalogue, I always look forward to each new album from this band to see if they can match what they have provided us before.

The opening salvo of "False Awakening Suite" is pure Dream Theater theatrics, setting the tone for the album to come in fine style. It feels like the opening to a show, with curtain closed ready to reveal the start of the movie or concert at any moment. Great stuff. Both songs that follow, "The Enemy Inside" and "The Looking Glass" focus very much on the progressive side of Dream Theater's music, both having their moments guitar riff wise but for the most part settling in their mainstream of James LaBrie's soaring vocals holding sway over a keyboard driven melody throughout.
The instrumental "Enigma Machine" is a triumph, not only the heaviest song on the album but the most technically proficient for all players. John Petrucci's shredding here is fantastic, tripping the light fantastic in a virtual riff-o-rma, and also featuring great work from John Myung and Mike Mangini in the rhythm section.
"The Bigger Picture" delves back into the slower tempo song that tend to send me off to sleep. It has its moments, both with a couple of great riffs fro Petrucci and some of LaBrie's better vocals, but when the band fall into this almost power ballad type of song, it loses me instantly. No matter how good the musicianship is and the vocals are, I can't say that I'm a fan.
"Beyond the Veil" and "Surrender to Reason" are both good rather than great songs. 'Beyond the Veil" again probably concentrates too much on the keyboard power/progressive material with LaBrie sighing over the top for the most part, while "Surrender to Reason" has a nice Petrucci riff underlying the song, along with great work especially from Myung and Mangini again.
Worse is to follow in the category from which "The Bigger Picture" lies though, with the wistful and remorseful "Along For the Ride", which involves even more of the kind of things that make me reach immediately for the skip button. Perhaps I just expect more from Dream Theater because of the band they are, but I find this to be really average on all levels.

The album (eventually) comes to its conclusion with the 22 minute monster "Illumination Theory", another of the band's songs that might come under one title, but with various acts that signify the change in tempo of the song at various points along the way. "I. Paradoxe de la Lumière Noire" acts as the introduction to the song, before "II. Live, Die, Kill" kicks in, starting this lengthy mind bender in the right mode. From here it morphs into "III. The Embracing Circle" which is more like a movie or musical score, so much so that it completely breaks up the mojo of the entire song, if only because it is so completely different and mood changing. It's like an ad break on television, it's a time to get up and make yourself a cup of tea. After four minutes of this it crashes back into "IV. The Pursuit of Truth", the best act of the song, with Petrucci and Rudess really hammering through their solo pieces with gusto. The concluding act, "V. Surrender, Trust & Passion" is much like it's title, a chance for LaBrie to croon as he does best over the top of a dramatic power ballad keyboard arrangement, before Petrucci's guitar solo closes out the major finishing piece, followed by two minutes of Rudess piano at the end. The song has it all, drawing from all corners of the Dream Theater entity, and though many will love it in its entirety, other like me will probably believe the best parts of the song could have been salvaged for a shorter, tighter delivery. But then, it wouldn't be Dream Theater if that happened.

Mike Mangini's drummingon Dream Theater is really just superb. Having come into the previous album with everything pretty much done, this is his real first chance to put his stamp on the band, and in reality he steals the show. His timekeeping is spectacular, his rolls and synchronisation are stupendous. Mike Portnoy may have entertained visions of returning to his band in the future, but one can't see that occurring while Mangini is playing like this.

Having gone through here song by song to review the album, it feels a little like I don't find a lot to like. But as with many Dream Theater albums, I find that you need to take on the album as a whole and not try and break it down in order to like it. Sure, some of the songs on their own would be painful to take over a period of time, but in just listening to the album from start to finish without any predetermination involved, I really do enjoy the album. It can never come close to matching my favourite Dream Theater albums, but it is more than pleasurable just the same.

703. Death Angel / The Dream Calls For Blood. 2013. 4/5

The return of the mighty Death Angel for the next album in their second coming has been a wait in itself, but it is not a disappointment.

Death Angel is steeped in the finest traditions of thrash metal, and they once again prove that thrash is not dead, nor has it been compromised by those bands that holds its values closest to their hearts in the modern age. The magnificent rhythm section held together by bassist Damien Sisson and the sensational brilliance of Will Carroll just careers along here, keeping the tempo tight whether it be at a normal pace, or suddenly speeding up to gigantic proportions. As the 'new section' of the band, they probably had a bit of living up to in the eyes and ears of the fans who have followed this band from the beginning, but they have cast aside any doubts as to their ability to help continue the Death Angel legacy.
Mark Osegueda's vocals are again front and centre of this release, and he continues to walk that fine line between pure vocalist and note perfect semi-screamer, still somewhere between early Hetfield and early Araya. How he can continue to sing for the entire song, like he does in "Caster of Shame" for instance, is just amazing. His vocals here are still as stunning as they have ever been, passionately coming at you with that brilliant thrash power he is renown for. It makes it almost impossible to sing along to - just because who has that kind of vocal range? - but it is just brilliant all the same.
The vocals would probably be the highlight of the album, if it wasn't for the awesome display put on once again by the duelling magnificence of guitarists Rob Cavestany and Ted Aguilar. Their guitaring is pinpoint perfect, whether it be acoustically or rhythmically underscore riffs, or simply shredding in duet through the middle of a song, or their amazing solo technique. This is the essence of thrash metal, and these two are the stars of this album, their guitaring stealing the show on all counts. Amazing stuff.
"Detonate" is an excellent example of the strengths of this band as a whole. The harmonic guitar intro moves into the thumping drum beat, and the building of the vocals decibels, while the meandering speed of the song also builds to its crescendo as the guitar solos crush until the dramatic conclusion. Brilliant stuff.
My favourites on the album include "Left For Dead", "The Dream Calls For Blood", "Execution / Don't Save Me", "Caster of Shame" and "Empty", as well as the great version of Black Sabbath's "Heaven and Hell", which not only teaches us where a piece of this band's inspiration is, but also that there was only one Ronnie James Dio.

Metallica and Megadeth, and even Slayer, stopped being thrash metal bands a long time ago, and morphed into the heavyweights of heavy metal that they are. But thrash hasn't died, and along with the new bands coming through, it is still the giants such as Death Angel and Testament and Exodus who lead the charge for this sometimes forgotten legacy of metal. The Dream Calls For Blood is another installment of that legacy, and keeps that thrash candle burning brightly.

702. Megadeth / Countdown to Extinction Live. 2013. 4/5

Following on from the success of their 2010 tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their finest album Rust in Peace by playing the entire album live, and releasing it as a DVD/CD package, Megadeth decided that the idea was so popular that they would do it all again. Thus, towards the end of 2012 the band hit the road, this time mixing in some of their greatest songs with a complete rendition of 1992's Countdown to Extinction as the main course.
We've reached an age where, in the last decade, the live album has become the norm rather than the unexpected. It used to be that a live album came out only once in a generation, in order to showcase the live setting of a greatest hits compilation. Now, however, bands like Iron maiden are releasing them every couple of years, which is fine if they keep finding people to buy them (like me). On top of this, it has become a fad to play a complete album, from first track to last, in a live setting, also something that has been taken on in excitement by the fans. Now your favourite albums can be heard completely, even the songs that have never had a live airing before this came to pass.
Is this a good thing? Well, in essence it's for the real fans, and not the part-timers.

For me it was fun to hear this whole album done live. Sure, I don't think the production of this release was as pure as with Rust in Peace Live, but I really enjoyed hearing it. There's no doubt that if you want to hear the songs in their pristine condition you would grab the original album from the shelf and put it on, but this was still excellent. The best songs here in the live setting for me were "Symphony of Destruction", "Foreclosure of a Dream", "Countdown to Extinction" and "Psychotron".
The album is bookended by other great Megadeth songs, the favourite for me here being "Peace Sells", with the audience participation taking the cake. Still a great song, and Dave letting the audience sing the chorus sounds awesome.
In the long run you can probably take or leave this release depending on how much you enjoy live albums. It is not the most pristine of releases, but it brought back a lot of memories for me, and showcases another album from Megadeth's halcyon era.

701. Black Label Society / Unblackened. 2013. 2/5

I can only say that I went into this album with some serious reservations as to what I was going to encounter once the disc hit my CD player. I mean, the 'unplugged' album craze that started in the early 1990's with the help of MTV was something that, for many bands, worked really well to showcase their music in a different arena, and certainly Seattle bands such as Nirvana and Alice in Chains efforts were truly brilliant. But then it began to seep into the heavy metal genre, and you just knew that things could only get very very bad when that started to happen. Why? Well, did you really need to have Queensrÿche doing songs unplugged, just because "Silent Lucidity" had become such a huge single hit? No, you did not. And then, as the decade wore on, we even had the mega-huge metal bands such as Metallic and Megadeth performing parts of their concerts in an unplugged setting. Seriously - I did not have to hear "Motorbreath" or "Symphony of Destruction" unplugged, I just need to hear it at a thousand decibels and at a hundred miles an hour. Just because "Nothing Else Matters" somehow becomes your biggest single hit doesn't mean you need to trash your other brilliant songs.
So we come to this album, a live set by Black Label Society, stripped back to a certain degree and bringing forth not only a form of heavy metal music that I generally abhor (the afore-mentioned 'unplugged' set), but with it the mix of already recorded slow instrumental-type songs that are my least favourite part of the BLS armoury, and brilliant faster paced BLS songs, but in a slowed down acoustic driven atmosphere. So did this album really ever have a chance with me?

Without dragging this review out into the dark depths of time, I am as disappointed with this release as I have been with almost ever Black Label Society album since 1919 Eternal. The musicianship is just superb, with the whole band sounding just fantastic. Zakk once again showcases all of his skills, from his piano playing to his fine guitar work, and especially in some of the solo sections where he improvises and extends to guitar junkies delight. The sound engineering and mixing is terrific, and the album sounds wonderful as a result. But it is slow and melancholy and with every acoustically driven song in the BLS catalogue, and it just downright bores me to tears to listen to it. At just on two hours for the double disc set, you can't help but find yourself yawning profusely by the time the end finally arrives.
Perhaps the greatest damning effect of this is what has been done to arguably one of the band's finest songs, "Stillborn". It has been drawn out to a molasses-stretching almost nine minutes, ridding itself of all of the speed and heaviness of the original, with Zakk moaning his way through the vocals before substituting a four minute solo break in the middle to perhaps try and make up for what they have done to the song. Zakk's guitaring is great, but it has monstered what I consider a classic song.

I'm sure there are many fans out there up for this, who enjoy Zakk's slower material, and will as such find this to be a masterpiece. For me, I think this may well be the final nail in the coffin when it comes to Black label Society releases. It has been over a decade now that I have been hoping for more, and on most occasions I come away feeling massive disappointment. That is no reflection on the material as such, just that it is just not what I enjoy listening to. With that being the case, it is probably time to close the cover and move on.

700. Trivium / Vengeance Falls. 2013. 4/5

I was looking forward to this album for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I think possibly for the first time since I have been listening to Trivium, I was ready for a new release from the band. I enjoyed In Waves but never really got fully connected to it. This time around however, I also have the knowledge that I will be seeing the band live for the first time at the upcoming Soundwave Festival, which also raised my excitement at hearing the new album.
I had the album at work, and played it on constant rotation, but after three or four listening cycles I was still slightly ambivalent about it. Sometimes you need a trigger to get you into an album, something that finally hits home for you that the band or the album works, and from that point you can see (or hear) it everywhere. At that point you find that certain element that you couldn't necessarily find on previous listens. In most circumstances it is one song on the album that really draws you in, and then the rest will follow. For me that song turned out to be one of the bonus tracks, a cover of two of my favourite Misfits songs, "Skulls" and "We Are 138". "Skulls... We Are 138" is an awesome tribute to an awesome band, and is a wonderful homage to the original versions. Hearing the passion that went into this was my trigger, and the rest of the album fell into place as a result.

It feels as though this album has been drawn into a more commercial aspect, if only because my wife has heard this now and doesn't hate it, unlike Ascendancy for instance. It is a more mature sound from those early albums, no doubt directed by producer David Draiman. And while some long time and fanatical supporters of the band may start to feel there is a degree of selling out involved, I can only say that I really enjoy this album. The production is slick, and each instrument is clearly defined in the mix. Nick Augusto's drumming is simply superb, his precision is a joy to air-drum along to. The guitars too and terrific, with some fantastic riffs and lineage. Matt Heafy's vocals, for me, are just getting better and better. There is little doubt that there is a toning down and lessening of the growling vocals from the band's early days, but I really think they are being compensated by the quality of the music as well. While I always felt that the songs on other albums lacked power when they were dominated by clear vocals, here on Vengeance Falls that is certainly not the case. This is a complete package musically, and Heafy does a superb job.
My favourite songs from the album include "Villainy Thrives", "At the End of This War" "Vengeance Falls" and "Strife".

This is the fourth successive day at work where Vengeance Falls has been the only album on rotation, and it is still getting better with each listen. If that isn't a ringing endorsement to the album then I don't know what is.

699. Stiff Little Fingers / Inflammable Material. 1979. 4/5

I was not quite in a position to be in and around the punk scene when it was at the height of its power. My first exposure to punk was in the mid-1980's as my friends and I began to gain the experience of those around us in regards to music. I first heard the Stiff Little Fingers at a high school camp in 1985, and from that eventually got around to buying and listening to all of their albums.
Inflammable Material is their debut album, and is arguably their finest work. Fuelled by their youth and their anger and any number of other influences, the majority of this album is exactly as it should be, and though there are a couple of hiccups thrown in for good measure, in the long run this still stands up as well today as it did back when it was released.

Most of the songs use the conflict in and around Northern Ireland as their basis, and as such they are as confronting as many of the best punk songs try to be. "Suspect Device" is an awesome opening song, and still one of their best ever. It combines everything that is great about the band - angry spitting lyrics from Joe Burns, that real punk guitar sound and riffing from Henry Cluny and terrific rhythm section from Ali McMordie on bass and Brian Faloon on drums. It is raw and aggressive and leaves you in no doubt to their emotions. Great stuff. This is followed by the less agro "State of Emergency" before the short, sharp retort of "Here We Are Nowhere".
"Wasted Life" is another the band's best known songs, a terrific song focused on anti-government and anti-war themes. This was no doubt an anthem for many young people in Northern Ireland at the time, and again Burns' vocals leave you in doubt about what the band thinks of it all. "No More of That" follows, and is of the same theme, in a shorter and punchier style.
Okay, so the next song is "Barbed Wire Love", for which I have very mixed emotions. Punk music has always drawn on several other genres of music to incorporate into its style, the biggest being reggae. But here Stiff Little Fingers has brought in an almost 1950's 'slow dance' feel to the middle stanza of the song as Burns croons "All we neeeeed, is Barbed Wire Loooooove". It's a clever song of mixed metaphor lyrics as well as music, but I've never been sure as to whether I like this song or dislike it.
"White Noise" is perhaps not politically correct in this day and age, but is indicative of the anger that was being felt at the time it was written. "Breakout", to my mind (and it's only my opinion) seems to be written about the band itself, wanting to break out of the lives they are living, and try and find a better life by the 'success' of the band. Lyrically it could equally be about general life in Northern Ireland at the time, but to me the lyrics seem to be a bit more personal. "Law and Order" spits viciously about the treatment of locals by the 'authorities', while "Rough Trade" is belligerent on how they see the dishonesty of the music industry.
Perhaps the most surprising song on the album is the extended cover version of Bob Marley's "Johnny Was". It is surprising to me, I should say, because although punk does seem to have some roots in reggae, this version successfully seems to siphon most of the reggae sound out of the song, and while it sticks closely to the natural speed of the original version rather than a faster paced full-on punk version, it still fits into the framework of the album thanks to Burns' wailing vocals.
"Alternative Ulster" is the other great song on this album, and frames it up nicely, before "Closed Groove" completes what is a very impressive debut effort.

I have loved this album from the moment I first bought it. It may not be perfect, but it's flaws are not huge noticeable ones, and as a punk record I find it more entertaining and listenable that almost all others of the genre. The songs are angry, but catchy. You don't have to have grown up in Northern Ireland to feel the aggression and accountability that the band has weaved into the songs here. This stands as a monument to the punk era, and is still a great listen today.

698. Queen / Queen. 1973. 4/5

Like most people of my generation, I came to know and love Queen from the singles that were played on the radio. For me, my first memory of Queen was "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" back when I was ten years old in 1980. The first Queen album I ever purchased was 1984's The Works. It wasn't until the 1990's, when I finally had an income of my own, that I started to go back and find all those albums from the 1970's that I had rarely heard apart from the singles and the live albums, and it was then that I first laid my ears on their eponymous debut album.
Queen is a product of its era, of a band trying to find its own sound. The songs here can be heard to be a meshing together of different types of music genres that were making themselves heard at the time leading up to the recording of this album. There is a hard rock element, driven at those times by Roger Taylor's crashing drums and Brian May's superb guitar work. Along with this can be a quieter introspective tide, while the use of longer freeform instrumental jamming that was prevalent during the late 1960's and early 1970's is also in effect. This album is different, almost unique from the albums that followed, which also moved with the times that they were recorded in.
The great danger in knowing so well what the band produced in the 1980's and coming back to listen to their earlier recordings is dismissing it because it is different, and not what you know. That would be a great shame, because this still an excellent album to this day. It has their earliest efforts in producing their layered vocals, and while the production mightn't be at its best, you can still appreciate the quartet's wonderful brilliance.

"Keep Yourself Alive" is still one of the band's most famous and great tracks, rumbling along with terrific guitaring and Freddie's vocals. It should always come under mention when you discuss the best ever "Album 1, Side 1, Track 1" songs. "Doing All Right" is one of those songs from that era which has a little bit of everything. It was quiet acoustic and piano parts, with Freddie backed by Roger and Brian's vocals, then without warning jumps into hard and heavy, almost punk guitar riffing with drumming to suit, then back to the quiet verse, and so on. It is a strangely formulated song, almost in a progressive rock kind of way. Something for everyone there. "Great King Rat" again has a somewhat hard rock progressive way about it. It is a heavier song throughout, dominated by the guitars of Brian and John Deacon and the thumping drums of Roger, with some time and tempo changes throughout the song. In fact, it can almost fool you into believing it is two songs, such is the change about halfway through, where a quiet interlude then crashes out into what is actually the second half of the song, but could easily be mistaken for the next song on the album. "My Fairy King" is full of what would become the trademark Queen vocal harmonies and overdubs. Roger Taylor can be clearly heard hitting the highest notes within the song, something that he probably doesn't receive enough credit for in his singing with the band.
"Liar" is another of the band's better known early songs, and again shows their ability to change between toying with a heavy sound and the quieter thoughtful process again in the construct of the same song. "The Night Comes Down" is a quieter song, and is followed by the Roger Taylor written and sung "Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll" which is much more up-tempo than its predecessor. This flows straight into "Son and Daughter", which perhaps best reflects the blues and heavy metal sound that was being produced by bands such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin at the time. Brian and John's guitars certainly reflect that sound throughout the song. "Jesus" finishes with an instrumental flurry, which itself goes into "Seven Seas of Rhye", a 75 second instrumental that concludes the album. Apparently Freddie had been writing this during the recording of this album, but hadn't finished it when it was time to publish. As a result, this is what was recorded, and the full finished version of the song with lyrics was released on Queen II.

I think this is a good album, full of good songs and plenty of initiative. Those that grew up with this album are more of the opinion that Queen was at their best in the era of the 1970's, while those who grew up with their 1980's music often feel the reverse. I don't have a solid stance either way, though if I was to rank my favourite Queen albums the majority at the top would probably be from the 1980's. Nevertheless, this is an album full of good things, and should not be dispersed without giving it a fair hearing.

697. Sonata Arctica / Silence. 2001. 2.5/5

Sonata Arctica's follow up to their acclaimed debut Ecliptica will no doubt keep hardcore fans of the band animated and happy. For me, I was hoping for more than that album was able to provide me, and unfortunately I didn't really find that.

The fast paced, high intensity, at your jugular songs on Silence are some of the best this band has produced. "Weballergy" opens the album at a cracking pace, and from the outset it feels as though this could be the direct extension the band needed to take. "False News Travel Fast" continues in this direction, punchy and driven by the double kick drums and flying keyboard. "Black Sheep" is a good song that doesn't really showcase anything particularly metal, but moves along at a good tempo with a flailing guitar solo. "San Sebastian (Revisited)" again has that speed driven by the drums to give it some real momentum and wonderful vocals. Along with "Wolf & Raven" later in the piece, these are the stand out songs for me on the album, and if there had been more of them this could have been a real classic.

The major downfall of the power metal album is the constant power ballad. Dear oh dear, these kinds of songs just rip the heart out of an album and consign them to mediocre status. It is such a contradiction in terms, power and ballad. Because for all intents and purposes, there is very little if any power in these ballads.
"The End of This Chapter" is the first to arrive on this album, piano and keyboard dominated, while the vocals reach for their emotive state to tug at the heartstrings. "Last Drop Falls" and "Sing in Silence" also fall into this category to a certain degree, if only for a majority if not all of the song. "Tallulah" is the worst, it being in the Bryan Adams or Michael Bolton class of dreadful sappy unresponsive rubbish.
If bands want to make songs like this, then fine. Do it. But how about you put ALL of them on ONE album, put a big sticker on it to inform everyone exactly what the album contains, and allow those of us who just don't want to know to completely ignore it, and buy your albums that have the best songs on them. I mean, for goodness sakes, "Tallulah" is followed by the brilliant "Wolf & Raven" that careers along at breakneck speed throughout, barely stopping to take a breath. Everything about it screams speed metal, and yet the previous song was a sop-driven bore-fest. I just can't understand it. "Tallulah" is an automatic skip song. In the old days of transferring vinyl to cassettes to play in the car it would never have made my taped copy, and in this day of electronic media and so forth, you can even erase it from existence.
But somehow it isn't over. The lengthy and overblown finale of "The Power of One" just seems needlessly long. It starts, it stops, it goes fast, it goes slow, it wants to be a metal song, it wants to be a ballad. Does it want to be "Bohemian Rhapsody"? I don't know, but given that it doesn't know what it wants to be it's a little hard to take. Parts of the song are terrific, but others just are mystifying. Time and mood changes at odd parts of the song make it hard to stay in synch with. It feels like they wanted to pull every trick in the 'power metal song writing' handbook in one song.

I want to love this band so much more than I am able to. Their musicianship is flawless, the vocals are pitch perfect. The trappings of the genre mean however that I am unable to enjoy a lot of their music because it just isn't in me to like it, and that is a real shame. Those that love this style of metal will probably embrace this album with vigour. I can only admire what it is, enjoy the parts of it that I do, and move on from the rest.

696. Newsted / Heavy Metal Music. 2013. 3.5/5

After years of waiting for the re-appearance of the "real" Jason Newsted, his revitalisation has finally arrived in the form of his band's first full album, daringly titled Heavy Metal Music. I say daring, because it could have fallen flat on its face if it couldn't live up to its name in the ears of the listening public. Everyone's idea of heavy metal is probably different, but Newsted can rest easy on this occasion.
What I get most from this album is that there is a great solid base in every song to launch into something even more powerful and memorable, but in some ways it never quite happens. I just felt that with most of the songs, they could have used a bit of thrash speed about them to get the most out of the riffs that were a part of the songs. For the most part this settles in a very moody metal kind of tempo, never really extending itself beyond the same time signature all the way through. In some ways I feel like the music has been written around the lyrics, and given that Jason knew he was going to be playing as well as singing, he didn't want to move too far away from the mold he had set so that he didn't have to complicate things. Perhaps that's unfair, and also wrong, but that is what it feels like to me when listening to some of these songs.

I like the opener "Heroic Dose", it starts the album off on a great note. It has a good riff, nice solo, and Jason's moody vocals over the top. This is followed by "Soldierhead" from the Metal EP, which is excellent, utilising a bit more speed than is prevalent through most of the album. This was Jason's first released taster from his "return to heavy metal" which was well received at the time. "As the Crow Flies" is another great tune, again set up by a solid riff underlying the whole song and accentuated by the vocals. Terrific stuff.
"Ampossible" has a very Hendrix guitar riff to begin with, before settling back into a similar rhythm as is the mindset of the album. Jason bravely puts his vocal range out there on this, stretching it to its limits. I admire his courage because that's not an easy thing to do when it isn't the best string to your bow. This song rocks even moreso because of it. "Long Time Dead" is another rumbling creeper, building nicely in energy and aggression throughout the song with the drums and guitars and especially Newsted's vocals to a satisfying conclusion.
"Above All" sounds to me a lot like an Alice Cooper song on crack. The guitars sound like an Alice Cooper album from the late 1970's, and even Jason's vocals remind me a lot of Alice Cooper, especially when he is singing "you're freaking out, you're freaking out, you're freaking out!". This is a different style from earlier songs, but it works in well.
"King of the Underdogs" is the second song from this year's Metal EP, which initially helped the album because of its familiarity. "Nocturnus" is a slower, darker song, emoting memories of early Black Sabbath in tempo and composition. "Twisted Tail of the Comet" is another eclectic piece, again drawing from Sabbath's legacy when it comes to the guitaring late in the song. This is another song which builds through the song to end on a high. "Kindevillusion" and "Futureality" close the album out, and while they are both okay, I think they are both just a little overlong and repetitive.

Personally, I think it is great that Jason has gotten out there again and put himself forward. This album finally says "this is me, this is my music". It is something we have all been waiting for since he terminated his role in Metallica. I think we all expected something special from him - I mean, why else would you leave Metallica if you didn't have something brilliant to share with the world? Then we suffered through the agony and pain that was the cesspit called Echobrain, the reasonable efforts with Voivod, and the calamitous rabble of Rock Star: Supernova. After all of that, one had to wonder if anything good would ever come from the past decade of turbulence.
And so we have Heavy Metal Music. It isn't Album of the Year material, it isn't even Debut of the Year stuff. It is a very solid metal sounding album, with some good riffs, some good lyrics and some good intentions. I admit that I expected something a bit more punk oriented and with a bit more speed than the majority of this album contains, but all that aside, there is some excellent stuff here. And let's face it, this is just the beginning for this band. As a starting point, it is well worth getting on board.

695. James LaBrie / Impermanent Resonance. 2013. 3/5

Dream Theater lead vocalist James LaBrie continues his impressive musical output between his band's albums with his latest solo band effort, Impermanent Resonance which is another step forward in this vector of his career. Having built up his band over the course of his last couple of solo efforts, they come together here and really begin to make there own mark.

The album kicks off in a frenzy, which really hits you from the first moment of the first song. The heavy drum and guitar riff is offset by LaBrie's brilliant vocal alongside the screaming vocal of his drummer Peter Wildoer. "Agony" is a fantastic opening track, combining the best elements that this band has brought to the table in recent years. The energy and preciseness of the music sets the album off with a bang. This is followed by "Undertow" which continues in this frame. It is easy to see influences from bands such as Linkin Park and Sevendust, but they have really made their own sound from these influences. The opening tracks are aggressive yet placating, expressive yet stylistically within a rock framework. It is great to hear this album has set itself apart from the style that is prevalent in Dream Theater. Whereas their music can be technical to a fault, with time changes thrown in as much to be different than to serve the purposes of a song, this is much more of a straight forward heavy rock sound and beat, sticking to historical beats rather than trying to reinvent the timescale. Wildoer's screaming vocals really bring a new dimension to the music, and further from hindering LaBrie's natural brilliant vocals, they complement them wonderfully within these songs.
While I think the first half of this album is excellent, I do believe it drifts off in the second stanza, and heads towards a disappointing conclusion. Songs like "Back on the Ground" and "Holding On" I find tedious and boring, given their natural tendency to drift towards being a power ballad but try to stay just heavy enough to be catagorised that way. Even "Lost in the Fire" is that way inclined. "Say You're Still Mine" is very much a power ballad, and really does kill the latter part of the album for me. The closer "I Will Not Break" helps balance some of that off, there is just a little too much... softness... for me in the back half of this album.

Marco Sfogli on guitar is again superb. It's a tough ask to have someone ask you to play guitar in your "other" band, knowing that you are going to be compared to that "other' guitarist. His work here and on previous LaBrie albums does not pale in comparison to John Petrucci, though there appears to be less of his break out guitar solos as there has been on previous efforts. Wildoer's vocals are well supported by his terrific drumming on this album, and Ray Riendeau is great on bass. Co-collaborator and keyboardist Matt Guillory has again done marvellous work in both writing and playing on the songs here.

In the long run this is a mixed bag whichever way your music loyalties flow. I'd have loved to have heard more of the metal energy that cam in the first four or five songs of the album, whereas others may think they came at them too hard, and prefer what comes on the second side of the album. Perhaps in an effort to keep everyone happy, they may well have done neither to any great satisfaction. A good album, that perhaps could have been better.

694. HammerFall / Legacy of Kings. 1998. 3/5

There's a saying that basically goes "when you are on a good thing, stick to it". That saying could accurately be used in describing the writing and recording of Legacy of Kings, HammerFall's follow up to their highly acclaimed debut album Glory to the Brave. Legacy of Kings follows a familiar and well-trodden path that resulted from the first album. In fact the same writers wrote the majority of this second album, even including Jesper Strömblad who had moved on from HammerFall before the recording of the first album due to his commitments in his main band, In Flames.
Songs like "Heeding the Call" and "Legacy of Kings" and "Let the Hammer Fall" are very similar in anthemic structure to the best songs from the debut album. Add to that "Stronger Than All". These four songs in particular could have come from the session writing for the first album. All have similar parts to them that can be found on songs from that album. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as they are all good songs, but it can be a little disconcerting.

It's the good songs here that keep bringing you back to this album. It may not be a strong throughout as Glory to the Brave but it has enough so that you want to listen to the album even with its weaker links.
"Dreamland", "Remember Yesterday" and "At the End of the Rainbow" all form a solid middle stanza. The solo in "Warriors of Faith" shows where their influences come from, a very Helloween/Gamma Ray influenced riff. This is even more strongly accentuated with the bonus track at the end of the album, which is of Helloween's "I Want Out", featuring guest musician and vocalist Kai Hansen on his own creation.
The sting is well and truly taken out of the tail with the closing song. "The Fallen One" is a ballad that reeks of trying to capture fire in a bottle, to recreate the success of "Glory to the Brave" which was the final song on the album of the same name. It was an attempt at an anthemic ballad that for the most part worked. Here, though, "The Fallen One" allows all of the previous energy of the album to seep away, stealing the album's mojo and dragging it back in the eyes of the fan in comparison. It is a weak finish, unworthy of what has come before. The fact that on discs that contain the bonus track as the final song (the aforementioned "I Want Out") this is salvaged because of it, is irrelevant. A real shame.

Joacim Cans is still the star ingredient in this band. His vocals carry this band to a higher level, and make up for any faults that lie elsewhere within the whole package. This time around though, the music itself is presented better. There was an erstwhile sloppiness about some of the playing on Glory to the Brave, but here it is tightened up much better, along with metronomic drumming to keep everyone together much better. The riffs and solos are also better written and played than on the previous album. While the songs and energy themselves were better on the debut, this has a better sound and feel because of these factors.

I still like this album a lot, but even with that being the case, it feels too similar in writing and performance to the first album to really be comfortable with. I'm not against going with what you know has worked before, but you have to change some of it to give it its own individuality, and realistically that hasn't happened here. While it is still miles ahead of some of the stuff the band put together following this album, it can't really hold a candle to the album that came before it. Glory to the Brave and Legacy of Kings could almost be said to be twins, but Legacy of Kings is the Danny de Vito to Glory to the Brave's Arnold Schwarzenegger in this family.

693. Fucked Up / The Chemistry of Common Life. 2008. 3/5

My discovery of this band came at the Soundwave Festival in Sydney in February 2013, a chance discovery on an outer stage. The raw energy and enthusiasm of this band was not only completely refreshing, it brought me back to a genre of music that I hadn't really thought of in a very long time. I had listened to punk bands and hardcore bands in my youth, stuff like The Clash, Dead Kennedys and Misfits to name a few, but I hadn't sought out any new material in this genre for years.

When I first got this album and listened to it, it took me awhile to come to terms with it. The main reason for that was... well... it's not just a punk album, or a hardcore album. It's an eclectic mix of a whole range of things that, if taken singularly one at a time, makes for a very surreal and unusual experience. I mean seriously, what is with the freaked out, 60's flower power keyboard driven 'instrumental' "Golden Seal"? How do you come to terms with that following up a gangbusters start like "Son the Father" and "Magic Word"? Well, the truth is, once you have played this album about twenty times, it starts to blend into the landscape of the album, and you become much more used to it that if you just plucked that song out and played it on random on your iPod.
What gets me most about this album is that, apart from Pink Eyes unique vocal capacity, these guys are much closer to being an experimental band from the 1960's with a modern twist than a true punk or hardcore band. Take the vocals out of "No Epiphany" and you could easily mistake this for a hippy fest on a long freeform experimentation quest. And if that is what passes in this day and age for punk or hardcore then I am a very poor judge. But again, once you have listened to this album on a number of occasions, you cannot really just review it on a song-by-song basis, because as an album complete I think it works. Don't get me wrong, it is the true punk/hardcore songs on here that I like the most, when they just let themselves go, and you can imagine themselves jumping around the stage as they play.
So what is it about this that draws me to it? Perhaps the fact that it isn't what I expected when I first bought it. That at moments when it feels as though it might be drifting away from, rebounds back with a vengeance, like on "Twice Born". Maybe because it isn't just a high intensity, fully blown hardcore album that takes itself too seriously. Or perhaps it is something else that I can't place.

Look, am I going to be jumping out of my skin to grab this CD off the shelf and throw it on my stereo? Probably not. When it comes to listing my favourite albums of all time, is it one that will pop into my mind as a contender? Not likely. Neither of those things can deny the fact that this band has got something that draws me to them, and that this album, while flawed in some aspects on a song-by-song basis, as a package is a creeper.

692. Black Label Society / Sonic Brew. 1999. 3.5/5

The debut album for Black Label Society is a real melting pot of just about everything you could possibly imagine - southern blues rock, hard core metal, brilliant guitar riffs from one of the modern masters, slow doom metal in an almost Black Sabbath setting, average pass-mark songs, acoustically driven riffs and the grinding and sometimes hypnotic vocals from the lead man himself. If you can't at least find something interesting amongst all of that lot then you are in the wrong place.
Zakk Wylde breaks away from his father figure Ozzy Osbourne here to produce something that is completely different from what he was playing and writing for the previous decade. In a refreshing attitude he hasn't tried to reproduce that kind of music, instead blending his own roots to what he enjoys playing and bringing it all together in a package that is hard to define in a genre sense.

The mixture of songs here is as unusual as it is impressive. Vocally, Wydle is similar but different to Ozzy, and even though he does not try to mimic him at all you can pick up similarities at different times. His break out solos still steal the show, especially in early songs like "Bored to Tears" and "The Rose Petalled Garden". The opening riff of "Hey You (Batch of Lies)" is just awesome heavy stuff, before settling back into a battle between the more mellow then aggressive lyrical snatches. A really diverse and effective song.
"Peddlers of Death" has breakout solos, heavy riff, but is divided on a couple of occasions by some of Zakk's quiet piano driven melody in different parts of the song. Only Zakk Wylde could get away with doing something like that without destroying the song. "Mother Mary" is as belligerent a song as Zakk can dish up, in your face for most of the four minutes with more great guitar work. This is as far away as you can get from the start of the next song, whose mellow section of "Beneath the Tree" is almost like Soundgarden or very possibly like Black Sabbath's "Planet Caravan", but is combined brilliantly with Zakk's moaning vocals once the song kicks into gear. It's a band-defining song, showing the various levels that they can put together in their song structure, and that they have their own style without trying to sound like any other band.
"Low Dow" is back in your face, before the acoustic riff jam of "T.A.Z." again surprises you with the diversity on this album. "Lost My Better Half" is one of the heavier songs on the album, led by a great riff and vocal. There are some Tony Iommi solo moments through some of these songs - have a listen and try and pick which songs he may be paying tribute to, because it's a little too close on some occasions for it not to be deliberate. The album finishes up with two of my favourite songs, "World of Trouble" and "The Beginning... At Last", which are separated by the acoustically balladesque "Spoke in the Wheel" which again showcases the diversity that Zakk is capable of.

There is a tendency for the songs here to get a bit "samey", in that the guitar riffs through the songs seems to be a little bit repetitive in places. A lot of that is to do with Zakk's signature guitaring being prevalent all the way through, as well as his squeals. It could also be argued that he moves between the heavier riff and the quieter acoustic or piano a little too regularly to be considered a change.
As an outlet for his own musical writing away from his main gig with Ozzy Osbourne, this was an excellent first album for his 'other' band, which in recent years has now become his main focus.

691. Avantasia / The Metal Opera. 2001. 4/5

When I first heard of the concept of recording an album entitled The Metal Opera, I thought it was a great idea. Of course, some "knowledgeable" people came out and suggested "it's not an opera!" Well of course it isn't, but what a terrific idea. Write a concept album, with not only a storyline but characters that can be portrayed by some of the finest singers in the power metal genre. Put together an all-star band to lay down the music, and voila! You have the beginnings of an "opera" staged and written for the heavy metal world.
What was better was that you couldn't argue with the line-up of talent that was drawn to make this happen. The brainchild of Edguy front man Tobias Sammet who also contributed keyboards, we have Gamma Ray's guitarist Henjo Richter, Helloween's bassist Markus Grosskopf and Rhapsody of Fire's drummer Alex Holzwarth. Along with the band, just some of the vocalists lending their support to the project to support Tobi's main character of Gabriel Laymann are Michael Kiske of Helloween fame as well as other projects, Rob Rock of Impellitteri and other bands, Andre Matos of Angra, Timo Tolkki of Stratovarius and Kai Hansen of Gamma Ray. Sharon den Adel from Within Temptation is excellent in "Farewell". A terrific line-up.

In the long run, you can take or leave the story that is being told here if you like (if you are interested, the Wikipedia page can be found here), but none of it would work unless the songs and the vocals made it so. And there is no danger of that not occurring here. "Reach Out For the Light" is a brilliant song, mixing the wonderful vocals of Sammet and Kiske along with some magnificent guitaring from Henjo. The whole song is a triumph, and sets the album off at a cracking pace. While the mood of the album meanders throughout as the story changes, it is anchored in that power metal style, with everyone's nuances combining excellently. Henjo Richter's distinctive solo's are wonderful, Markus Grosskopf's bassline's are just as powerful as they are in Helloween, Alex Holzwarth's drumming is just scintillating in places, and helps to set the stage for each song. Not only is it powerful, and the tempo just right in all respects, it has been set up perfectly by the producer and sound engineer - it doesn't become overpowering, but it is also prevalent in each song. Just wonderful.
The middle of the album rocks along, with "Serpents in Paradise", "Breaking Away" and "The Glory of Rome", with David DeFeis and Rob Rock making great contributions. "Avantasia" is the big anthemic piece of the album, the one crowds would no doubt find to be the feel good song of an operatic production.
Given Kiske's stated preference for less heavy material, it is somewhat amusing that the slower balladesque "Inside" has vocals by Kai Hansen, something he also does well, though to be honest I would loved to have heard him on something faster. Instead, Kiske powerfully brings home the closer "The Tower" to finish off the album in an uplifting speed metal way.

Tobi Sammet is prominent most of the way through the album, and his vocals are terrific throughout. Having made several albums with his band Edguy before The Metal Opera, this became a halcyon period for him, with this album and its sequel, as well as what I consider his best Edguy albums, Mandrake and Hellfire Club, all in this four year period. He is wonderfully supported by Michael Kiske who, having suffered somewhat from his post-Helloween days and statements that he was uninterested in the metal genre, shows here exactly how talented he is. His vocals on this album are the equal of anything else he has ever done. I don't think it is any coincidence that probably the five best songs on the album - "Reach Out For the Light", "Breaking Away", "Farewell", "Avantasia" and "The Tower" - are the five songs where Kiske and Sammet perform together. They are brilliant together. The music throughout is amazing and brilliantly performed by the four piece already mentioned.
In the long run this all-star production more than holds its own as an album of substance, creating and showing off the best that this genre of metal has to offer. It may not be seen as a real opera, but in heavy metal it is an album that it can be proud of in showcasing the great talent of the industry.

690. Russell Allen & Jorn Lande / The Battle. 2005. 4/5

How do you go about putting together a "super group" project? Usually it will be a couple of people from separate bands, who might get together over a beer and suggest to each other that they should "do something together". Demons & Wizards, the project put together by Iced Earth's Jon Schaeffer and Blind Guardian's Hansi Kursch can be seen in this situation. Or a group of musicians who aren't doing a whole lot at that point in time decide that they should get together and do a project, a little like Mike Portnoy and Russell Allen with Adrenaline Mob.
Back in 2004, session guitarist Magnus Karlsson was asked to put to write and record an album that would feature two high profile vocalists singing in duet and duelling on vocals. Those two vocalists ended up being Symphony X's front man Russell Allen and Masterplan front man Jorn Lande, and the album because The Battle.

The majority of the songs have these two great vocalists sharing duties, while there are also songs where each vocalist has the duties to themselves. Karlsson wrote all of the songs and lyrics, and played all of the instruments except for the drums which are handled with aplomb by Jamie Salazar. In this respect Karlsson has done a wonderful job of writing and performing. The mix of songs is terrific, ranging from heavy and faster metal songs to solid hard rock songs, most with a very progressive edge to them. The mix between the keyboards and guitars is performed excellently, allowing for the distinction between the out-and-out metal songs and the keyboard-hinted power metal songs.
Both parts of this work perfectly. The music never interferes with the brilliance of the vocals of both Allen and Lande. When they are singing, they are dominating the songs. In between however, there is some sensational guitar work from Karlsson, and some of his solo work is awe inspiring. It may only be a studio project, where all of these pieces have been fused together to make great songs and a terrific album, but that does not detract from this in any way.
The songs on which Russell dominates are the naturally strong heavy metal songs, while those where Jorn is the driving force tend more towards the power metal side of the coin. It is quite possible that the songs were written in such a way, or that the vocals of these two just naturally flow the music in that direction. No matter which way you look at it, this album is able to juggle the slight changes in music without ever losing the completeness of the album. It's middle ground is the progressive nature of the music without losing the basic concept of hard rock's beat and rhythm and metal's guitar-based heaviness. Certainly there are songs on here that are my favourites, and there are others than I can quite happily gloss over if given the opportunity. But on the whole this album should please most people who enjoy this genre of music, and certainly anyone who knows the vocalists will not be disappointed.
While the mix of vocals is great, I must admit that it would have been good to hear somewhere in the list a bit more of a duelling effect between the two singers. I'd love to have heard them going off against each other during the middle of a song, exchanging vocals in a lyrical battle in a way akin to the name of the album.

The success of this album has led to two further being produced, and a fourth apparently in the pipeworks. This was a pleasant surprise when I first acquired it, and that feeling hasn't subsided when listening to it to this day. Perhaps some people would think it to be too much of a formula-driven effort, given that one person performed the majority of the roles in getting the album to its completion. Perhaps that is the case, but it is an enjoyable album to listen to in all respects, and that should be the key no matter how or who got it to that point.

689. Primal Fear / Primal Fear. 1997. 3/5

Primal Fear is a project that came together with the initial pairing of bassist Matt Sinner, from the veteran German metal band Sinner, and vocalist Ralf Scheepers. Scheepers had parted company with Gamma Ray a few years previous, and had since auditioned for the lead vocalists job to replace Rob Halford in Judas Priest. When that didn't come through, these two formed the band, and produced this eponymous debut album.

The influence of the writing is pretty hard to miss. Scheepers' vocals had always lent themselves to a very Rob Halford kind of similarity, and while this album is not a Judas Priest clone, there are certain nuances that can be easily heard. Chainbreaker, the very Judas Priest-esque opening song leads off with that very direction in mind. A number of other songs on the album also have that Priest sound about them, though in many ways that can be attributed to the way Ralf sings those songs than probably any deliberate attempt to make them sound like the legendary British band.
There's an interesting cover version of Deep Purple's "Speed King" (entitled "Speedking" here), one that will probably divide most listeners. Many will enjoy the faster, heavier version of the classic song and revel in it, while other will no doubt find that the general essence of the track has been compromised, allowing the best parts of the original version to leak away. I personally enjoy Primal Fear's version while still believing that the original version will always be the best. Kai Hansen makes a guest appearance on the album, laying down guitar solos on "Formula One", "Dollars" and "Speedking" which adds a nice touch.
"Battalions of Hate" is one of the catchiest songs on the album, a good rhythm and drum beat with Scheepers' vocals at his best. However, to be honest, the remainder of the album is pretty stock standard fare, which doesn't make it bad, but probably robs it of some of its originality. The songs are solid if unspectacular, and can become enjoyably familiar or steadily dull depending on your mood at the time.

There's nothing overly breathtaking here. As a debut effort it is rock solid, utilising the best aspects of the European power and speed metal genre mixed with a healthy dose from their metal influences. I enjoy the album now as much as I ever did, but perhaps the enjoyment I get from their following albums is what leads me to look for the best in this release. Not a bad starting point, but better was certainly to come.

688. The Rods / Heavier Than Thou. 1987. 3/5

Following on from their previous release, Let Them Eat Metal, The Rods have backed up here with an album of differing quality and direction. Half of it appears to be an effort to blow the speakers off your stereo in both speed and sound, while the other half could in some ways be considered a plagiarism of another famous band's best assets.

Opening up with the instrumental chorusing of "Heavier Than Thou", the album starts off with a bang with the hard rocking anthem of "Make Me A Believer". This is followed up by the equally good "Angels Never Run". Both songs have the best aspects of The Rods' better work, a feisty pace driven along by a great drum beat and guitars, some excellent guitar riffs and solos, and high intensity vocals that provide some catchy lyrics. Great stuff.
"Crossfire" is almost a crossroads of the album, a point where you will decide whether or not this has any promise. Moving the style back into a power ballad area, this has the hallmarks of a Whitesnake ballad of the 1980's, with the song and vocals all carrying a very Coverdale emotive feeling about them. This is how the song progresses, until the final minute, when it breaks into a much faster pace as the guitar solo kicks in to finish the song on a high note. Whether this works for you or not will probably dictate whether you enjoy the remainder of the album. It really is a two-part song, which seems a little strange no matter how many times you listen to it.
Now we really move into the generic hard rock material, both musically and lyrically, that sometimes almost gag-worthy kind of stuff that, if you grew up listening to it you can probably take it, but if you did not then you could easily write-off as trash. "I'm Gonna Rock" still shows its Whitesnake tendencies. "She's Trouble" moves along at a cracking pace, a real hard rocking number extolling the virtues of the wily female that all bands seemed to meet sometime during their performing days. Then we move onto "Born to Rock", because we all know that EVERYONE is born to rock! These three songs in particular are very much tied to this metal scene of the mid-1980's. Generically they are all of  similar performance as anything you could name from bands such at Ratt and Dokken and Britney Fox from the same era, and quite honestly are equally as well done in my opinion. When it comes to whether or not you like these songs, well, isn't it just like any style of music from the 80's? It might be 'bad' but you still 'love' it. And feel free to add in "Chains of Love" here too. The lyrics might be a tad too much to take sometimes, but the music is doing all of the right things.
Just for fun, there is even a cover Led Zeppelin's classic "Communication Breakdown", that the band has a lot of fun playing with. There is a major return to the Whitesnake sound for "Fool for Your Love", again in both the tempo and in Feinstein's vocals. "Cold Sweat and Blood" avoids this similarity, and concentrates once again on a solid rhythm section, a breakout guitar solo and strong vocals throughout.

I first went into this album not expecting anything out of the ordinary, and to be honest that's what I found. But what did impress me was that their 'ordinary' songs here are actually good hard rock songs, with plenty of enthusiasm throughout and punchy, catchy tunes. It may not be to everyone's taste, and it may not be a remarkable album, but it can't be accused of not providing the listener with an enjoyable 43 minutes.

687. Judas Priest / Rocka Rolla. 1974. 2/5

For most fans or acquaintances of the great Judas Priest, this album would probably be a complete mystery. Shrouded in the mists of time, with very little exposure to the world, this is Priest's debut album, one whose style is as startlingly different to what most fans began with when sampling this band as is Alice Cooper's Pretties For You or Pantera's Metal Magic. The fact that the band has ignored it completely when it comes to live sets for over 30 years can probably show that the band thinks their material improved significantly after this album. But everyone has to start somewhere, and while the band that influences their early sound, Black Sabbath, has a debut that is still ranked as one of the most important of all time, not everyone can hope for such status.

While this album is a good deal mellower than the raucous and metallised material that was to come down the line, there are certain moments when you can hear that fabled Judas Priest sound in its infancy. For the most part, however, this album is rooted in the folksy blues music that feels as though it would be much more suited to the late 1960's rather than the advancing of the mid-1970's. A lot of it could almost be influenced by the first couple of Deep Purple album's, which is somewhat surprising given what Deep Purple had evolved into by the time this album was released. However, having said this, it has been reported that many of the band's better known and stylistic songs, such as "Tyrant", "Genocide" and "Victim of Changes" were ruled out of being placed on this album by their producer. These songs of course eventually found themselves onto the next album, which itself is much more recognised as a Judas Priest sounding album.
There is no duelling of those two Downing and Tipton guitars here, and there is no hint of any of the speed and heaviness that was to come from this band as they established themselves. The songs tend to just plod along, the drum and bass beat sometimes barely getting above a crawl as Halford croons lightly over the top.
"One for the Road" is especially like this, struggling to ever reach its conclusion as the bulk of the song just repeats itself over and over again. The first single, "Rocka Rolla" is a better song with a slightly rockier feel, and the dual guitars making themselves more prominent, as well as the shirking squeal of Halford's harmonica. Still, it sounds more like The Eagles than Judas Priest. The suite of "" is an interesting delving into more hippy rock along with the very 1970's guitar improv. For much of the time it feels as though perhaps the album has stopped, frozen in time if you will. It's a very... unique... almost Pink Floyd expedition, and one that seems so very unlike the band that was to emerge from this album.
"Cheater" comes across in a similar vein as "Rocka Rolla", closer to a rock song that the other efforts, with a snazzier pace and the return of the harmonica, but more importantly those single guitar solos that showcase what makes this band great. "Never Satisfied" rambles along, again falling in to the trap of predictability and sameness. "Run of the Mill", while being a slightly long and overdrawn song, showcases Rob Halford's amazing vocal range for the first time, as he really ups the intensity towards the end of the song. It wants to be "Victim of Changes" but it doesn't have the power or the catchiness of that great track. "Dying to Meet You" slumps along at the same tempo as much of the album, a sluggish song that barely keeps the listener interested. The micro half-song that follows, "Hero Hero", comes much closer to being in the same street as you would expect of a Judas Priest song, but again it is much too little in comparison to the whole album. Rocka Rolla closes with a two minute instrumental titled "Caviar and Meth", a song that apparently in the days before Al Atkins was replaced as lead singer by Rob Halford was in fact a fourteen minute monster. What was recorded here was just the introduction to that original piece.

As a piece of history, especially of this band, this is an interesting listen. It is not completely hopeless or a write-off, but it is of a different era, and most certainly was written and performed that way. While it is worth a listen for all of the fans who have not experienced it, in the long run I would be surprised if many fans revisited it on a regular basis. There are only at least a dozen albums by the band that make more enjoyable listening that this.

686. Bruce Dickinson / Skunkworks. 1996. 3/5

By the time Skunkworks came into being, there was a lull going on in the music being released around the world. Grunge was beginning to wind down, metalcore was starting to reel in some influence, power and speed metal was ramping up throughout Europe, and traditional heavy metal was diverging, not the least with Metallica's complete about-face with albums such as Load and Reload. Bruce Dickinson, having moved on from Iron Maiden, and now having lost his previous backing band that helped produce Balls to Picasso, pulled together three new musicians and wrote this album. His original process was to call the band Skunkworks, but the record label was having none of it and insisted it be released under his solo name.
Perhaps the label hadn't listened to the album, because the music here is nothing like anything Bruce had ever recorded and released before, and perhaps by doing it under a band name rather than his own it would have been received more favourably. As it turns out, the significant style change realised here was a difficult thing for many fans to accept.
Why? Because this is not heavy metal, which is what Bruce is best known for. Most fans were able to accept Tattooed Millionaire because the album was rooted in the hard rock of Dickinson's influences of the 1970's bands he grew up listening to, and because it was a fun album to listen to, as well as having terrific guitar and drumming. It 'rocked' so it fit okay. Balls to Picasso probably wasn't so much fun, but with Roy Z and the Tribe of Gypsies it still worked.

But here, Bruce and his band have slipped into very alternative territory. Songs like "Dreamstate" and "I Will Not Accept the Truth" from the middle of the album seem to be going for an emotional response, but come off as boring and perhaps a little self-indulging. These songs go for the slow drum beat, the bass almost non-existent, and the clean quiet guitar. In other songs, we have many of the lines in the choruses which are stretched out interminably (for example, "Back From the Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedge" and "Ineeeeerrrrtiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" and "Insiiiide the Machiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine"). And it isn't as if Bruce is really stretching his range either. I mean, here is a guy with one of the finest singing voices in ALL of music, not just the metal side of the business, and he hasn't really gotten out of second gear in these songs. Everything has been toned back from his most famous releases - the softer alternative approach, the narrower vocal range and stripped back simpler sound.
The tempo of the album rarely changes. Certainly the first half a dozen songs on the album appear to be closer to a hard rock feel, with some semblance of what most would expect of a Bruce Dickinson release. "Space Race" and "Back From the Edge" and "Inertia" start the album off on an even keel, even if while listening to them you feel as though there is something that is not quite there. The second half of the album though becomes even less inspiring, with the songs slipping further into this musical exploration which has been approached. The closing song "Strange Death in Paradise" just doesn't really gell. It has all of this thrown into the mix, and for me just doesn't work.

For me, it is not as though I hate this album, or that I even dislike it. It's just that at no time during this album, no matter when or where or how many times I listen to it, do I ever get excited about any of it. There isn't a song that makes me stop what I'm doing and sing along, or air guitar or air drum to - not a riff or a fill or a lyric. It just seems so bland, right across the board. There's no doubt that "alternative" material can be a bit that way, unless there is a hook that drags you in. In assessing it's impact, I imagined taking away the vocals. What are you left with? Some fairly formulaic, straight forward drums, bass and guitar. There are no hooks, no tantalising riffs to drag you into the song. It has a mellow Soundgarden or Pearl Jam kind of feeling to it, but without their characteristic moments that define their music and make it a familiar and comfortable experience, a burst of energy and innovation that creates defining moments in the music and the album. Skunkworks fails to deliver any of that. I hesitate greatly and for a long period before saying this, before I can no longer ignore the fact that, for the most part, this album is just plain boring.
Bruce is a brilliant artist, a fantastic singer, who has been at the forefront of music for a long time. This album is a real change from just about anything he has produced in his career, and while he should be applauded for trying something different, I can only say that in my opinion it was a flawed effort.
One can only wonder what may have happened if Roy Z had not reappeared on the scene and helped him back from the abyss. The fact that he also brought in another Maiden alumni who had had his own crushing attempts at trying to make it on his own with similar results (Adrian Smith) for this album's follow-up probably suggests he is most responsible reigniting both of their careers. But that's another review.