One middle-aged headbanger goes where no man has gone before. This is an attempt to listen to and review every album I own, from A to Z. This could take a lifetime...
This EP was initially only meant to be
handed out to radio stations as a promotion. Then at one stage there was
a limited number pressed for fans to purchase. Two years later in 2001,
it was eventually reissued with two further tracks for the general
masses to get their hands on, and it is this version which I possess
Listen
to "Melancholy (Holy Martyr)", "Watching Over Me" and "I Died For You"
and can you hear the similarities in the tracks? I swear if you switched
the lyric sheets on these two songs that you could pretty much make
them fit within the framework of each song. That's not having a dig at
the songs in question, it just never fails to surprise me as to how
similar these songs are, and that I never really noticed it before I got
this EP and started listening to it. I have always been a little
disappointed in these tracks, as when they reach the parts of the songs
where the riffs really cut in they sound great, but there is too much
soft and slower parts of them to make them really great songs. A small
footnote that I still enjoy the songs, but that slower starts feel
unnecessary. There are three cover songs here on this extended EP.
The cover of Bad Company's "Shooting Star" is difficult for me to judge,
because I really don't have any feelings for Bad Company's music at
all. Thusly, this song may or may not be a great cover of the original,
but it sounds boring and uninteresting compared to Iced Earth's normal
output, which probably doesn't say much for the material they had to
work with. The cover of Black Sabbath's "Electric Funeral" is an
interesting take, certainly given the different direction Matt Barlow
takes with the vocals from the original which was sung by Ozzy Osbourne.
not a bad cover given they gave it a real Iced earth sound rather than
the Black Sabbath sound. This the band has done again with their cover
of Judas Priest's "The Ripper", which originally appeared on the tribute
album A Tribute to Judas Priest: Legends of Metal Vol. II. Barlow again gives it his own interpretation and doesn't try to mimic Rob Halford's vocals, a very sensible option. The EP concludes with a live version of "Colours" that was recorded during the session for Alive in Athens
but didn't make the final cut for the album. It's a cracking version of
this song, and is worthy of its position here rather than being lost in
the mists.
EP's are generally hit and miss, depending on what content they have. They can be superfluous or they can be essential. The Melancholy E.P.
is an essential item for Iced Earth fans, given the rarity of many
parts of this album, and the enjoyment you will get from it when you put
it on your CD player.
Rating:I feel it once again, it's overwhelming me. 3.5/5
Iron Savior have been somewhat of a
measuring stick in regards to power metal in the European union over the
past 15 to 20 years. While other bands of the genre seem to have their
highs and lows in regards to output and the quality of the material they
release, Iron Savior has been remarkably consistent throughout. It
would probably be a step too far to suggest that they have released some
timeless, unforgettable albums, but in almost every regard each album
they have released has been of a high quality and wonderfully enjoyable.
On Megatropolis perhaps that has slipped just a little, but that doesn't mean it also is not a very good album.
What
I like about Iron Savior's music is that it is always upbeat, and
rarely gets bogged down in slower numbers that can really kill the
momentum of an album. Once again it starts off in a typically pacey
manner, fuelled by Piet Sielck's vocal chords and typical guitar riff,
along with the rumbling bass guitar on the bottom end and double kick
keeping everything together and constrained. "Running Riot" has all of
those qualities which mark an atypical Iron Savior start. This is
followed by "The Omega Man" which has always been one of my favourites
off the album. It has a great riff, a great feel, and Piet moves his way
up the vocal scale during the song which increases and enhances the
mood of the song as it is required. "Flesh" actually comes across as a
very unusual song for this band, but it is surprisingly effective. It is
of a slower, heavier tempo with a very un-power metal riff. It is much
closer to traditional metal song than that. "Megatropolis" returns us
back to the fast paced riffing and drumming that the band is renown for,
with great harmony guitars through the middle of the song as well as
resplendent with individual solos. The middle four songs are good
solid songs without being outstanding in any respect. "Cybernetic Queen"
and "Cyber Hero" both play along with a pleasing beat and nice harmony
vocals from Piet. "A Tale From Down Below" and "I Still Believe" both
offer mid-tempo ranges throughout. The album finishes with a flourish,
and the show closing number "Farewell and Good Bye" feels like the last
number of a musical, ending the show on an upward inflection of the
final act closes and the curtain falls. I think it is a great song to
close out the album, full of lament and emotion from the central
character of the song. Excellent stuff.
Megatropolis
probably doesn't ring my bells as much as previous albums did, but
having said that there are some terrific songs on here, highlighted by
the two opening tracks and the final song. Newcomers to this band would
probably listen to this album and suggest that it is really all very
straight forward without being spectacular. I don't think that opinion
is very far off the mark, but it is what fans of the band can squeeze
from behind these first observations that make it rank above the average
in those respects.
Rating:'Cause after all I'm just a man, with a broken dream, not man and not machine. 3.5/5
Back in 1986 when the fabled weekend of the
"Music Video" program on Australian TV was dedicated to heavy metal
music videos, one of those that became a favourite for me was the video
for Y&T's "Mean Streak". The song and video both caught my
attention immediately, and from that point the song became a hit for me.
However, it wasn't until a little under two years later, as I rummaged
around in one of my favourite haunts, Illawarra Books & Records,
that I came across a copy of the album of the same name, and my hand
couldn't get to my wallet fast enough to pay for it.
OK, so
Y&T aren't the heaviest band around, and to be honest it was as much
a surprise to me that I loved this album as much as I did at that time,
when my main focus was the giants and heavier bands such as Iron
Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth. But it was my first year of university,
and my wide-ranging search for new music and new bands was incorporating
subtle differences in genres. Y&T, and MEAN STREAK in particular,
fitted very nicely into this bracket, the kind of album I could put on
and just let flow across whatever mood I was in at the time. It wasn't
straight out aggression. It had those wonderful Meniketti vocals layered
over the terrific rhythm section of Kennemore and Hazes and the great
guitars of Alves and Meniketti himself. This blended their 1970's roots
as found on their eponymous debut album with the harder sound specified
in the drums and guitar that had been building over each album. "Mean
Streak" is still the star of this show, with its mercurial guitar riff,
hard hitting drums and spitting lyrics. I may be biased but this is
just a great song, and a great opening to the album itself. For the most
part, the rest of the album is an either 'take it or leave it'
proposition. Some will find that it is a bit the same all the way
through, with lyrically similar themes cropping up and not a huge amount
of variety in the song writing. I can forgive the majority of that for
two main reasons. Firstly, the upbeat style of the songs keeps the album
moving without getting too bogged down in complicated timings and
technicalities. The musicianship is good, and Meniketti's vocals always
smooth over anything that might be remotely out of the ordinary. "Lonely
Side of Town" and "Hang 'Em High" are two great examples here. A number
of the songs are very middle of the road, almost 'easy listening' kind
of material, in a hard rock way rather than a country or pop way. Songs
like "Take You To the Limit" and "Sentimental Fool" fall into this
section, which doesn't make them unlikeable, given you enjoy the album
ad the band's style of music. Secondly, I have had this album for a long
time now, and it got a hammering when I first bought it, and was on
heavy rotation for at least a two year period, so all of these songs are
ingrained in me to a level where I don't really hear anything that I
don't like. It's an historic relic for me, and one I love partly for the
nostalgia it brings whenever I listen to it now.
Y&T is one
of those bands that, like Night Ranger, could and should have been
bigger than they have ever become. Both have albums that should be
considered classics, but perhaps just lack those last vital ingredients
that could make them timeless. Mean Streak
is like that for me, an album i still love to this day, and enjoy
anytime I put it on, but just needed something else in the mix which may
have propelled it to a higher plane. Despite that, still a great
favourite for me.
Rating:Spends your money so fast that you never see the green. 4/5
When Metallica first toured Australia in
May 1989, they announced that local metal act Mortal Sin would be their
support. Before that gig I bought their new album Face of Despair,
played it to death and loved every second of it. I even bought their
tour shirt ("Voyage of the Disturbed!") which finally died from overuse.
After the gig, I went searching for their debut album, Mayhemic Destruction,
from which the band had played a couple of tracks, most noticeably the
brilliant "Lebanon". There was just one problem. Back in the day, this
album was as rare as hens teeth, and just as difficult to track down.
Believe me, I tried for a very long time before I found it, and that was
even through Utopia Records, who can get just about anything! Today of
course it would be practically impossible to find a physical copy of
this album, but at least with iTunes you can still find and buy this
album, which is a great thing (yes, it is up there now if you are
interested). What I eventually had to be happy with was a second hand
cassette I found in a Newtown second hand record store a few years later
- I would love to have had the vinyl, I really would. However, beggars
can't be choosers, and at least I had a copy of the album.
This
is a brilliant slice of metal history, certainly from an Australian
perspective. At a time when thrash metal was being heralded by bands
such as Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Exodus and Testament, this album
loses nothing in comparison to those early albums by these bands. The
opening track is an instrumental, "The Curse", which serves as an
introduction to the band and its wares. This is followed by "Women in
Leather", where Mat Maurer's recognisable vocals make their first
appearance. The mighty "Lebanon" has been a legendary classic amongst
the Australian metal community for 30 years, and is still a shining
light all these years later. "Liar" and "Blood Death Hatred" blitz along
with a cacophony of double kick and blazing guitar. "Mortal Slaughter"
and "Into the Fire" continue the metal fest, before "Mayhemic
Destruction" finishes off the album in style, speeding along while
Maurer tries a different vocal technique here to create a full
collection of thrash metal stereotype songs. The band itself is on
fire throughout the whole album, and for something that was really only
meant to be a demo tape, this is quite amazing. The quality of the
musicianship is just brilliant. The guitaring of Keith Krstin and Paul
Carwana sounds great - raw in places certainly, but impressive all the
same. Andy Eftichoiu's bass work is terrific, really giving the songs
the bottom end that they need and deserve, and making its presence felt
throughout. So too is Wayne Campbell's drumming, hard and tough and loud
and the driving force through the album, able to dictate the tempo of
every song to perfection. Mat Maurer's vocals top off the set, and while
they are not as cultured here as they would be on the following album,
he mixes things up, singing with great poise on "Women in Leather" and
descending to a growl and scream on "Mayhemic Destruction".
It
might seem like tame stuff now, almost thirty years on from its initial
release, but at the time it was huge - monstrous even. I only saw the
band a few times live, in their different guises depending on who had
been recruited at the time, but at their peak they were a worthy
contender for best Australian metal band. How they didn't go on to
bigger and better things is still a mystery - band disharmony has often
stopped bands in their tracks. Despite all of that, this album still
holds its own in the annals of metaldom, and is an album I can put on at
any time and still love.
Rating:Send out the kamikazes on a suicide attack. 4.5/5
At one stage in their history - for quite a
lot of it actually - Iron Maiden was a heavy metal band. They possessed
two guitars for that extra guitar sound, which also offset twin guitar
solos that pleased the ear, along with a galloping bass guitarist who
redefined the way bass guitar was utilised in a band sense. They had a
drummer who excelled in every way, and arguably the greatest vocalist on
the planet at the helm. By the time we reached this album being
produced there had been an number of ups and down, re-jigging of staff,
and then reintegration. All the while, the style of music that the band
produced was changing ever so slightly with every new album. With the
release of A Matter of Life and Death
Iron Maiden had moved to where the line is blurred between a melodic
heavy metal and a progressive metal status, and while the integrity and
excellence of the band is never in question, the material that was being
written and recorded was now in such a different state that it made for
some awkward and indifferent listening moments.
A Matter of Life and Death
is not a concept album, but an album with a collection of songs with a
common theme running through them. Only the opening track "Different
World" runs under five minutes in length, and while this means nothing
if the songs are relevant and don't get bogged down in a boring repeated
riff movement or lyrical verse, that can't be said to be the case in
every instance on this album. One of the major problems on this album is
trying to find a song that you could consider to be a stand-alone, one
you would be happy to individualise and put on a playlist of mixed songs
and artists. Most Maiden albums are full of such songs, ones you can
identify with away from the album they are apart of. In other words,
once the world tour promoting this album was completed, how many songs
here would find themselves on future set lists? "Different World" is
an upbeat, up-tempo song to kick off the album in the right frame of
mind. Still, there is something about the track that just doesn't sit
well with me. I don't know what it is, but perhaps I do. I don't like
the way the chorus is sung. Yep, I know that sounds ridiculous, but it
seems so... plain! So ordinary! I don't know how best to explain it, but
it doesn't generate the kind of excitement and adrenaline that most
opening track on an Iron Maiden album tend to do. The fifty seconds
quiet instrumental break at the beginning of "These Colours Don't Run"
jumps into a decent song highlighted by Bruce's vocals, which tend to
paint over what is a quite boring (but no doubt necessary) instrumental
break in the middle of the song, which is only punctuated by the guitar
solos. This is complemented by a vocal crowd-inducing "whooooooa"
section that has a very The X Factor
sound to it, from "Sign of the Cross", before fading out into the same
sort of instrumental we heard at the start of the song - and not for the
last time on the album. Because yes, the next song also starts with a
quiet section, with both Bruce and the instruments building up to when
we break into the real start of the song after forty seconds. "Brighter
Than a Thousand Suns" is probably one of the best moments on the album,
but it too suffers from the length of the song and the similarities of
the riffs through the song. It also has the detracting feature where the
repeated line of "Out of the darkness, brighter than a thousand suns"
just goes beyond the normal. In one section in the first half of the
song, that phrase comes out a total of twelve times with nothing to
break it up. This then happens again to finish the song, being repeated
another eight times, before the instrumental at the start is again
tagged onto the end of the song. "The Pilgrim" has the instantly
recognisable Janick Gers guitar riff on it, the one that can be most
identified with his first albums with the band, No Prayer for the Dying and Fear of the Dark.
The song "Fear is the Key" is what I am reminded of during parts of
this song, where the guitar sounds like it has been ripped right from
that song - not the whole song mind you, just snatches of music. "The
Longest Day" starts off softly in both music and vocals, with both
building through the first two minutes of the song to reach a crescendo
when Bruce breaks out to his better known register. Like most of the
album, there are passages in this song that can be described and enjoyed
like the best moments of the band's history, but are mixed with other
moments that just feel... unworthy. And guess what? It ends with a quiet
clear piece as well! "Out of the Shadows" has an uncomfortable ring
similar to that terrible travesty of an Iron Maiden song "Wasting Love".
It is not the same theme nor the same genre, but like the previous song
there are snatches of harmony that just hark back in similar fashion to
that song. It may not surprise you to find that I'm therefore not a
huge fan of this song either. So what is it about the long, quiet,
instrumental introduction to songs that has begun to creep into Maiden's
music? Let's take a look at "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg" as
the example here. Apart from the fact that we have Bruce singing very
malevolently, there just isn't anything happening at all. It isn't until
bang on the two minute mark of the track that we have the song really
break into existence. That's two minutes where as a fan and a listener
of the album we wait around twiddling our thumbs before we can start
investing in the song itself, with air guitar or singing along with the
lyrics. But then, even when we reach this section, we have what is
essentially the same underpinning guitar riff and drums being played for
almost three minutes with Bruce speak-singing his lyrics over the top.
Then we have a section for the guitar solos, which is OK without being
extravagant, before we return to the same lyrical prose to finish the
song, which actually concludes with twenty seconds of the same sort of
stuff that sprouted from the beginning of the track. What beggars belief
is that this song was also chosen as the first single from the album
(albeit in an age where singles mean very little anymore). we have a
similar start to the next song, "For the Greater Good of God". It's an
instrumental beginning, before Bruce joins in again and sings quietly
(and beautifully I might add) over the top, before finally ninety
seconds in we break into the heavier music, and the passion in the
vocals carries us along for the remainder of the song, and again we
finish as we started. "Lord of Light" gives us the same sort of action, a
quiet acoustically set beginning of one minute and forty seconds,
breaking into the song, before concluding with the same beginning as
before. "The Legacy" does the same thing again, but the start of this
song stretches a somewhat interminable three minutes and ten seconds of
acoustic guitar and some other tricks and bobs before the songs actually
gets moving. And I find this the most disappointing aspect, because
once it does start this is a really good song. But no, we need to have
this epic kind of acoustic start to create an atmosphere into the
"start" of the song, which is then also repeated in the final thirty
seconds to conclude the song, and the album. Do I understand it? No, I
do not. Does this enhance the tracks, or improve it, or even be
necessary? No it does not. Could the tracks have been improved by
shortening or discarding those moments from each song? Yes, I really
think so. I don't know how we have come to this point in the band's
history where this is now the normal, not just an occasional dalliance. I
really think it is too much. Surely the band, or at least the band's
producer, would have notice that the majority of songs here start the
same way as they finish? Couldn't there have been a way to avoid that?
Of course, perhaps this is exactly what the band was looking for, which
if this is the case, I find maybe even a little more difficult.
Reading
through all of this, I guess you would believe that I really dislike
this album. That is not the complete truth, but some elements can only
ring true. I certainly judge Iron Maiden albums tougher than most of my
music collection, because they have been so brilliant for so long, and
they are the front runners of any comparison of other bands and their
albums. The truth will always be that "an average Iron Maiden album is
almost always better than a brilliant album from another artist", and
this is the case here. As much as I don't really like the way the songs
are written and structured here, when you hear Bruce Dickinson singing
you can forgive just about anything.
Rating:Somewhere there's someone dying, in a foreign land, Meanwhile the world is crying, stupidity of man. 4/5
Though I've never really understood what happened, I absolutely loved The Dark Ride
when it was released, and thought it was a high water mark in the
reinvigorated career of Helloween. Then, following the tour to promote
the album, it came to pass that guitarist Roland Grapow and drummer Uli
Kusch were moved on from the band. Various reports (whether true or not)
intimated that Grapow and Kusch wanted to move in a heavier direction,
whereas the other members did not wish to be so dark and heavy. Whatever
the reason, it came as somewhat of a shock. Better news came when these
two announced they would form a new band, and would continue onwards
with their music. The addition of former Ark vocalist Jorn Lande added
star quality and power to the new band, and the anticipation to their
first release was high.
The first time I heard this album, it was
like magic. There have been a number of albums that I have known from
the first time I put them on that I would always love them, and for me
this was probably the most memorable of them. When I finally managed to
track down and buy this album, I was in awe of what I heard. It was
beyond anything I imagined it could have been. The guitars, the drums,
the keyboards, the vocals, the lyrics. Everything was just perfect. It
extended from what Helloween and Gamma Ray had been doing, not improving
it but taking that as the lead to find the right direction in which to
head. The song writing and playing of both Roland and Uli was always
likely to be excellent given their past record with Helloween, but
without a vocalist of stature in which to bring out the best in the
music it was always going to be the difference between a solid outing
and a brilliant outing. Jorn is that vocalist, and his performance on
this album and also on the follow up is the finest of his career, and
really slams the exclamation point on this album. I'll admit that I
don't know for sure, nor have I heard anything from anyone within the
people involved, but the lyrics from most of the songs seem to me to
directly relate to the separation of the two members from their previous
band. It could well have provided the bulk of the material lyric-wise,
depending on how you interpret them. Like I said I have nothing to back
that up so I could be completely off the mark, but when I read the
following lyrics from the album, I'm not sure that it can be anything
else: "I'll never give up - never give in, Won't
stop believing cause I'm gonna win, Sing with my soul before I get old,
Cause there may be no tomorrow" "Enlighten me, I wanna see, how this could be the age of reason, won't you tell me, can't you tell me, cause I need to know" "We
held up the metal torch and they tried to take the flame, we've been
running against the wall but we always overcame, no sense no reason, we
are the ones you love to hat" "Try to mend your broken wings, Why should we live within a haze" There are plenty more examples, but again they are all open to interpretation.
From
the very beginning, this is an album that highlights the very best that
power metal can be. While the keyboards are prominent through the
songs, they do not dominate. That is left to the strongest triumvirate
within the band - Uli's brilliant drumming, Roland's fantastic guitaring
and Jorn's amazing vocals. The opening three tracks are just brilliant.
The epic opening track "Spirit Never Dies" bursts through the speakers
in a cacophony of speed, guitar, keys and drums, before the silky vocals
of Jorn enter the fray. The power of the chorus is just fantastic, and
the emotive building to the heavy ending tops off an amazing opening
track. This then flows straight into the first single from the album
"Enlighten Me", which mirrors the intensity and heavy guitar and
drumming from the first track, while reinforcing through its chorus the
overflow of feeling some members of this band still felt for certain
sections of other bands. Linking directly through the lyrics once again
is "Kind Hearted Light", which concludes the Trilogy of musical moments
which derive their existence from previous fallings out. It would be a
difficult task to find three opening songs on an album that would be
better than those found here - the equal yes, but not better. "Crystal
Night" is a heavier song both in riff and with Jorn's vocals, with
impact drum beat and guitar riff throughout the majority of the song to
emphasise each part. Following this, as an offset, listen to the harmony
from Jorn through the bridge of "Soulburn", leading from the heartfelt
musings of each verse and into the short chorus. The vocals here are
stunning, and the atmosphere created throughout this song is
extraordinary, for which the keyboards play a major part. This is
followed up by the lighter, brighter and slightly faster "Heroes", which
features former Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske on dual vocals. Kiske
had apparently been approached initially to be the lead singer of the
band in its development, something he declined on the basis of his
continued dislike of heavy metal. Kiske adds a breeziness to this track
which makes it wonderfully enjoyable, but it is also obvious that could
not have sung on this album and done the same brilliant job as Jorn
does. It just wouldn't have worked as well as it does, but on this track
both singers are great. The faster pace continues on into "Sail On",
with double kick and soaring vocals pushing the track on through to the
great solo section. "Into the Light" is perhaps the most derivative
of the tracks on the album. It is much slower, and bases itself around
Jorn's mournful vocal performance and guitar wailing. I would say it is
the least successful track on the album, but then it bursts by way of
Roland's solo guitar riff into the brilliant "Crawling From Hell", which
blitzes along with fast guitar riff and double kick from Uli, and
Jorn's brilliant harmonic vocals through the bridge again. It is one of
my favourite tracks on the album. This feeds into "Bleeding Eyes" with
its very middle-eastern music style dominated by the atmospheric
keyboards and Jorn's amazing vocal range again. This is as fine a
debut album as could ever have been produced. The song writing is
superb, and its strength is what builds such a brilliant foundation for
the entire album. It lays the platform for each of the band members to
then do what they do best, and make their own mark on the album.
Certainly Uli's drumming does that as well. I had been a fan of his
since his days in Gamma Ray and then Helloween, but his drumming here is
so powerful and so proficient. He can play that strong 2/4 timing on
snare and toms but be playing an almost completely different beat on the
double kick at his feet. When the songs demand it, his double time kick
with frills and trills take what would be just an average quiet piece
in a song to become his own - listen to the first verse of "King Hearted
Light" to hear what I mean. Superb. He doesn't get over-technical in a
progressive drumming way, because you can hear him keeping that solid
thumping time throughout each song, but he also adds his own tricks
along the way that make it so much more special. He is a gem. Roland's
guitaring does the same in effect. Because the writing is so good, and
the rhythm section is so solid (and Roland played the majority of the
bass guitar on this album before they hired anyone), he can not only lay
his rhythm guitar tracks down, but allow himself his freedom in the
solo sections to really showcase his talents. While he was able to do
this to a certain extent during his Helloween days, here he has a fuller
reign as one of the senior members of the writing group and band, and
it really shows. Backing all of this up is the unbelievable job done by
Jorn on vocals. They are not only sensational, they convey the emotion
of a track when needed, enhancing the music and lyrics around him in his
voice. He can reach those high notes when he needs to, as his range is
excellent, but it is his ability to bring out the emotions of the song
that help to make this album what it is. He can be light, dark, heavy or
thoughtful, all without compromising the mood of the song - in fact
only illuminating it.
For me this is one of the best albums of
the new millennium. It ticks every box and is a standout in an era when
metal was expanding in some markets and contracting in others. While
many bands and fans were gravitating towards a more aggressive, tuned
down growling style of metal, this album at the time proved to me why
the ability to be able to sing melodically, and play instruments in a
traditional melodic heavy way was still more important to me than
anything else.
Rating:I know what it means to burn, that's how I begin to learn. 5/5
The fact that Ronnie James Dio has had such
a profound influence upon the past thirty years of my life does not
distort the fact that not everything he did towards the latter part of
his career was as brilliant as other things. The two albums that Dio
released during the 1990's were average at best, though he returned to
form with both Magica and Killing the Dragon. Master of the Moon, due to future events in the forming and touring of Heaven & Hell
and then failing health, sadly became the final album released by Dio,
which can sometimes make one listen to it with a touch of melancholy.
The
album marked the return of Craig Goldy to the band, with Doug Aldrich
having moved on to the gig with Whitesnake. It also had Jeff Pilson
returning on bass guitar. What is most noticeable about this album
compared to the previous release is that the tempo has returned to a
slow-to-mid speed through the majority of the songs, more reminiscent of
those albums in the 1990's, and something that had been for the most
part missing from Killing the Dragon.
Such is the way that the band's music generally fared in the
post-1980's writing. It's not necessarily hampering the songs, but it
has always been my belief that Dio works best when the songs are
up-tempo and lively, allowing Ronnie's vocals to carry the melody of the
song, and the drums and guitar can avoid a sludgy muddy sound that
sometimes seems to be the result of moving along at a snail's pace.
Perhaps it is just my hangover from those early Vivian Campbell-driven
albums from the 1980's, but I don't think it is a coincidence that Killing the Dragon with its Doug Aldrich-inspired guitar and writing input was the best Dio album (aside from Magica) since Dream Evil. Still,
enough of the past. This is the album before us, and once you have
taken in the slower tempo, the album is a pleasing collection of songs
that showcase a solid rhythm section in bassist Jeff Pilson, keyboardist
Scott Warren and drummer Simon Wright, some good guitaring from Craig
Goldy, and the vocals of Dio himself. If you are looking for fast paced
songs, or breakout guitar solos, or even something extraordinary from
the great man himself, then you have come to the wrong album, because
there is very little of that here. "One More For the Road" is the
opening track, and is the fastest song on the album in regards to tempo,
without ever being electrifying in itself. "Master of the Moon" is
driven by the wonderful melody and harmony of Ronnie's vocals. He lifts
this above the moody tempo that is being played underneath and makes it
into that typical Dio song that can be uplifting to you when you listen
to it. "End of the World" stays in that same tempo, while again it is
Ronnie's vocals that do all the hard work in the song, though this time
just straight and without the melodic duelling the "Master of the Moon".
"Shiver" shares the dual aspect of a chugging Goldy riff with Dio's
commanding vocals to toughen this song up. All in all it has been a
reasonable start to the album. "The Man Who Would Be King" and "The
Eyes" have what I call the Vinny Appice Tempo, because it's very solid
slow tempo 2/4 time, with the rhythm barely changing throughout the
length of the song, and Ronnie singing over the top. That's perhaps
unfair on Vinny, because he was no doubt asked to play in such a way
during his time in the band, and now Simon has been asked to play along
as well. Ronnie puts on his mournful wailing for both of these songs,
and the pace barely reaches first gear at any stage. It's not a stretch
for any of the musicians here, nor even with Ronnie's singing. They
aren't bad songs, but you find yourself slumped back in an armchair
listening to them, rather than on the edge of your seat and air
guitaring. "Living the Lie" and "I Am" aren't slow by comparison but
they don't race along either, but are solid songs that don't engender
any emotional response according to the music. Which is then funny
because "Death By Love" does finally have that faster tempo in the mix,
but it just isn't a particularly enjoyable song. It has the basic riff
running through, before a really strange change in pitch and riff into
what serves as the chorus. Yep, just don't like this song much at all.
"In Dreams" is the album closer which still just doesn't have that real
punch or kick that Dio songs are supposed to have. Again it is very
straight forward in song structure, not really giving any of the members
of the band the chance to express themselves in any way, but to warble
their way through just over four minutes with barely a change in rhythm
of lyrical pitch. By the time you've made it this far you can
probably finally tap in to the emotion you are looking for with this
album - it is BORING! It barely has an iota of excitement, especially
after the first four songs. You can listen to this album over and over
again, and gain an appreciation of it, and an enjoyment of it. I have,
and it did take quite a few repeated listenings to it to do so. but what
casts the stone against it is that if you choose just about any other
Dio having done this, and put it on, it feels as though it just blows
this album away, and to me that is the biggest problem with Master of the Moon.
It's not that it is a particularly bad album - in fact it really is
above average - but it is missing that magical ingredient that the
majority of Dio albums have that make them legendary, and therefore
makes this pale in comparison.
It may appear from the above that I
have torn apart the album a little, and many would think I have done so
unfairly. I can honestly say that I still enjoy listening to this
album, but that whenever I do I miss the faster pace of the previous
album, and of those seminal albums from the 1980's. This is the style
that Dio preferred in the latter part of his career, and so you flow
with it, but as I mentioned, it just misses that one ingredient that
would have lifted it up an extra rung or two on the ladder.
Rating:Turn around and then you face the sun. 3.5/5
When Dream Theater set up their Ytse
Records site to release their own soundboard recordings of studio
outtakes, instrumentals and rare live performances, I was looking
forward to the material that would be available. The first release I
went for was this one. Back in 2002, I had been able to get my hands on
the bootleg recording of this gig, Master of Metallica,
the review of which can be found at that link. This though was the
band's soundboard recording of that performance, which I was interested
in hearing.
This gives a different perspective of that night from
the bootleg recording. While the audience bootleg has a full
interpretation of the audience reaction on the night, this album barely
has the audience in it at all, with only minimal noise being able to be
picked up by the microphones being used to record the band. While that's
fine, it does tend to detract from the atmosphere of the night and
therefore the album. But that's just a small thing. What this album
does showcase is the musicianship of the band. This gives a clear
indication of the part played by Jordan Rudess as the second 'guitarist'
being played on his keyboards. As can be expected, in some places it
comes across a little flat, but in some places, such as through "Orion"
it melds in seamlessly with the song and sounds terrific. There is also
often criticism of James LaBrie's vocals, but I still think he does a
sterling job. No doubt John Petrucci is the star, while John Myung's
bass work is great as always, especially on an album where Cliff
Burton's bass was so prominent.
This is an excellent recording of
a significant moment in the history of the band, and beyond. It was one
of the first real moments where a band had played an album from start
to finish in a live setting (though Dream Theater had done so with Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory,
and even here it wasn't even their album). It was something that, from
this moment on, happened quite a bit in the metal community over the
next decade, and of course was not the last time that Dream Theater did
so in tribute to their own influences.
Rating:Slashing through the boundaries, lunacy has found me. 4/5
Towards the end of February in 2002, on
whatever music forums I was currently following and a member of, there
began to be some interesting gossip concerning the band Dream Theater,
and the possibility that they were going to do something "very special"
at a concert they were performing in Barcelona in the coming days. Few
details were being given, but as the day approached there was a rumour
going around that they would be performing some songs that weren't
necessarily their own. What that meant, and any significance, was never
really touched on. So the day, February 19, 2002, comes and goes, and
then amazing reports are posted online everywhere. "DREAM THEATER DID
THE ENTIRE MASTER OF PUPPETS ALBUM!!! LIVE!!!"
Wow. This is huge.
I mean, bands had always performed cover versions of songs from artists
they loved before, but this was on a massive scale. Not only had they
performed an entire album live, it was actually an album that wasn't
their own, it was someone else's! Amazing. And what's more - everyone
wants to hear it! OK. So, now the real ability of the internet at that
time was about to be tested. Because with the advent of the internet,
the tracking down and possessing of bootleg albums was suddenly becoming
a lot easier than trying to trade with people from overseas. Now, with
any luck, someone in the audience that night will have recorded the
performance, and then hopefully someone will post it somewhere so that
puerile novices such as myself on the other side of the world would be
able to locate it and download it. Well, surprising enough, a week
later to the day Blabbermouth.com posted two links to where a bootleg of
that performance had been uploaded online. So it was that only a little
more than a week after the gig I was able to invite some mates around
to listen to a performance we had been talking about for most of that
time. This is an amazing bootleg that records a significant moment in
music history, and it does so brilliantly. Not only is it an excellent
audience recording, it is enhanced by being so. The excitement of the
crowd when they recognise the start of "Battery" is terrific, and their
rapturous applause at the end of the song signifies that. But that pales
compared to the roar when they hear the start of "Master of Puppets",
and the singing from everyone is loud and raucous. Terrific. Then, when
they hear the first two notes of "The Thing That Should Not Be", there
is an awestruck "whoooaaa!!" as it finally hits home that the band is
going to play the entire album!. The crowd's reactions are fantastic
here, and you feel as though you are there. As to the band's
performance, I think it is superb. Many criticise parts of it, mostly
James LaBrie's vocals, but I think he does a great job. No one expects
him to be James Hetfield, just like anyone who goes to see a tribute
band doesn't expect anyone in that band to be the epitome of the person
they are paying tribute to. And obviously at times it doesn't feel as
full as it could, with Jordan Rudess' keyboards replacing one of the
guitars, but then you hear them play "Orion" and it actually fits the
song remarkably well. And just think - this was the first time anyone
had heard this entire album being performed live track-by-track - and it
wasn't even by the band whose album it is! When my mates and I first
heard it, we reckoned that we could hear a total of four mistakes during
the performance. In hindsight of course we were wrong - now I think
there was seven. Ever think about how ludicrous that is, learning these
songs, no doubt in a reasonably short space of time, and only make a
handful of mistakes, and not ones that anyone would really notice
anyway! It is ridiculous.
This is one of the best bootlegs I own,
not only for the historical nature of the performance, but by the great
crowd interaction on the recording. if you can find it out there, it is
worth tracking down.
There are some moments in life that will
stick with you forever, no matter what you go through and no matter how
insignificant they may appear at the time, or to others later on when
you relate it to them. They aren't always life-changing moments per se,
but more often than not they will be. When it comes to music and albums,
I have a number of these moments. As it turns out, I remember with
clarity the first time I heard Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind, the day I bought their Powerslave album, the moment I first picked up Gamma Ray's debut Heading for Tomorrow,
amongst others. Along with these, I remember the first time that the
band Metallica was mentioned to me, and the first time I heard the name
of the album Master of Puppets.
I
had returned to school for the start of Year 11, on one of the first
days of March 1986. My friends and I had started on a quest towards
discovering the love of heavy metal music. Some had started earlier than
others, and my own initiation had only really begun towards the end of
the previous school year. On this day, we were discussing what we had
all done on our summer holidays, when one of our number said he had
heard of this band called Metallica, and had read good things of them.
Another of our group concurred that he had heard similar things, and
that we should try and get some of their music. It was then that the
first informant did a deal with his accomplice, suggesting that if one
of them went out and bought an album called Ride the Lightning that he would go out and buy the album entitled Master of Puppets.
And so it was agreed. That morning conversation, sitting on plastic
school chairs gathered in a circle underneath the trees in a corner of
the seniors common area, is still crystal clear in my brain. I can still
see and hear it all now. Within the week, through the magic of two
people each buying a vinyl album and the rest of us throwing blank
cassettes at them to record them for us, we all had these albums, and a
life long love affair with a brilliant album had begun. How do you
properly review an album that isn't just one of my favourite releases of
all time, but is as much a part of who I am and how I have become that
way over the years? Music takes on different roles for different people.
Many people just like music and enjoy it when they listen to it. It
means more to me than that. I wouldn't go so far as to proclaim that Master of Puppets
changed my life and opened my eyes in any sort of biblical sense, but
it did become an amazing tool over the years as I grew from awkward
teenage geeky nerd to awkward twenty-something geeky nerd to slightly
awkward forty-something husband-father geeky nerd. It became an album
that I could listen to no matter what mood I was in, and it would almost
instantly transform me from that mood into whatever mood I wanted to be
in. I have other albums like that too, but this is one of the best, in
almost every regard.
"Battery" is a monster of an opening track,
lulling you in as it does with its clear guitar, almost classical,
before the single drum beat and riff flay into the frenzied start of the
song. I'll never forget the number of times you could sneak this album
onto the stereo at a party, and people would comment on how lovely the
opening bit is, and then start screaming for the album to be replaced
the moment the song cut in to its heart. "Master of Puppets" is
arguably the finest heavy metal song ever composed and written. It
immediately caught my attention and imagination when I first heard it,
and along with "Fade to Black" was the first song to draw me into the
Metallica fold. Why? Probably the fact that Metallica could mix this
brilliant high energy fast guitar and drum aggression with the amazing
clear melodic guitars that make the middle break of this song and so
much of "Fade to Black" from the previous album, and all without
tarnishing the quality or the integrity of the song. This song has
everything, and I will still sing every damn word at the top of my voice
with the correct amount of aggression every single time it comes on. "The
Thing That Should Not Be" is a different animal entirely from the
opening two tracks. A rumbling, creeping bass line and guitar riff
sludges along with Lars' mid-tempo drum work to create an unbelievably
atmospheric song. Back in the days when vinyl was transferred to
cassette to listen to on portable tape players, to fit this album on one
side of a 90 minute cassette I had to forgo one of the tracks. This was
the one I chose, in deference to most of my friends who chose another
song (see below for further explanation). This wasn't because I disliked
the song - completely the opposite in fact. But as a teenager, looking
to have the fiercest vibe as possible in my music, this was the song I
felt could be abandoned in this instance. It's still brilliant, and the
days of CDs and digital tracks means no choice now has to be made. "Welcome
Home (Sanitarium)" is another classic, and one where Metallica broke
the mould on song composition. Again, it has elements that set it apart
from a typical heavy metal song, without losing the roots of what they
play. The intro to the song is just fantastic, and in many ways it
defines how Metallica (at this point in their career) stood apart from
all other metal bands. "Disposable Heroes" opens up side two of the
album in a panicked frenzy, bringing out the best in brilliant riffage,
supersonic drums and anguished, angry vocals. The war cry of "BACK TO
THE FRONT!" and "I WAS BORN FOR DYIIIIIIING!" is spine chilling stuff,
and still brings goosebumps whenever I listen to the album. There's
nothing much left unsaid here. "Leper Messiah" follows, and again
doesn't leave anything to the imagination on the subject matter of the
song. Great riffs abound, and the drumming here is terrific. This is the
song my friends had missing from their cassette copy rather than "The
Thing That Should Not Be". Coming home to Kiama from a road trip to Bega
with two mates whose band I was in at the time, I played my copy of
this album, and when this song came on they asked "What's this?!?"
They'd never heard it before, didn't even know it existed. Having played
and repeated it about twenty times during the course of the trip home, I
got a phone call the following day to tell me to start practicing it,
because we were playing it in the band. The power of the song is right
there. "Orion" is the instrumental of the album, and almost steals
the show. This is an amazing piece of music, building and flowing all
the way through, changing its mood as it does, and utilising every
member's talents in the process. Cliff Burton's sensational bass
playing, which is the crux of the song, James and Kirk's mournful
guitaring through the middle section before breaking out into the solo
section to conclude the song, while Lars' drums just hold it all
together. Magnificent. "Damage Inc." concludes the album with
brutality, speed and power, reminiscent of the band's earliest work.
There's no time to breath through this track, with Lars ripping through
drum rolls as the others blaze along on their guitars with ridiculous
triplet picking. Sure the other songs here reek of a maturity from the
speed and thrash metal roots from which the band emerged, but it's
pretty much thrown overboard here as they shred their way through the
final five and a half minutes of the album, just to remind everyone that
they can still do it.
Lyrically, there have been few albums that have been so coherently and explicitly and expressively belligerent as Master of Puppets.
Hetfield's lyrics paint portraits here that are impossible not to see
in full Technicolour vision. In the good old days of vinyl, when you
could open the gatefold or pull out the insert, put the record on the
player, and sit cross legged on the floor and read and memorise all of
the lyrics on the album, I would at times not necessarily take in the
full power of the lyrics, but just make sure I knew every word to sing
along to. But on Master of Puppets
it is impossible to steer away from the stories being told by the
amazing invective thrust upon you. Even just taking a few lines from
each song is not enough to give the full picture, but it is a start.
"Lashing out the action, returning the reaction, weak are ripped and torn away" "Pain monopoly, ritual misery, chop your breakfast on a mirror" "Messenger of fear in sight, dark deception kills the light" "Whisper things into my brain, assuring me that I'm insane" "Barking of machine gun fire does nothing to me now, Sounding of the clock that ticks, get used to it somehow" "Marvel at his tricks, need your Sunday fix, blind devotion came, rotting your brain" "Fuck it all and fucking no regrets, never happy endings only dark threats"
The
band is at the peak of their theoretical powers. Not only that,
Hetfield's vocals are the finest on this album than any other - they
have matured from the high pierced screams from the first albums, and
have not devolved into the lower register he was forced to take once he
blew out his vocal chords on later albums. This is where they are at
their best, and it falls in with everything else this album provides.
I
have lived and breathed, headbanged and moshed, air guitared and lap
drummed, and air-raid siren sung this album for almost thirty years now,
and it never gets tired and it never gets old. It forms a major part of
my final school years, my short-lived university years, my work life,
my marriage and my family life. The band I was once a part of played
four of these eight songs, and probably would have played all of them if
we'd been together longer. It still brings together my small circle of
lifelong friends whenever we put it on. It brings out some of the best
moments of my life, because it always seemed to be played at those
moments. This remains for me one of the finest three albums ever written
and recorded. It is an all time classic and an absolute masterpiece
Rating:Drain you of your sanity, face the thing that should not be! 5/5.
As we moved deeper into the decade of the
1990's, Motörhead continued to produce albums on a regular basis that
either kept you happy if you were a huge fan, and bemused you if you
were just a casual fan. Each new Motörhead album generally produced one
or two songs at least that you could file away in the 'classic'
category, ones that you are always happy to listen to. Arguably the last
album did not have any of those songs to cling onto, and so it was with
deference to the past that one went forth with March ör Die.
"Stand"
is a peppy opening song to the album, easily bopped along to with
catchy lyrics and guitar. It is of the up-tempo variety, which is then
followed by the mid-tempo "Cat Scratch Fever" which plays along with the
usual singular guitar riff and the title of the song repeated through
several chorus breaks. In a similarly constructed song, with slightly
different riff and a change in the lyrics chanted, "Bad Religion"
follows a familiar path and tempo, which is not unusual nor off-putting
in a normal sense, as this is the way Motörhead do things. but it does
tend to make it hard to get into the album because of the sludgy pace
and similar song patterns. "Jack the Ripper" tends to break out of this
mould. It's the first song that you really feel Lemmy communicating with
you through the speakers, that he is really trying to connect with you
through the song. OK, so the riff again doesn't seem to change
throughout, but then that does tend to happen a bit with Motörhead. Then
we have two songs that were co-written with Ozzy Osbourne. "I Ain't No
Nice Guy" is the rock ballad, starting off with piano and acoustic
guitar, and both singers having a verse each to sing, before breaking
into the bridge where the guitar turns electric, lines are traded
between the two rather than a verse, and then the ballad rock guitar
solo, before returning to the piano. Wow. Are these guys the bad guys of
heavy metal or two old guys on a bench reminiscing about their lives?
It's not a bad song but it would have been more entertaining to hear
them both at their full powers than this 'tearjerker'. This is followed
by "Hellraiser" which the two also co-wrote, and the first version
appeared on Ozzy's album No More Tears,
which is just brilliant. This version is Motörhead's version with Lemmy
on vocals, slightly changed lyrics, and appeared on the soundtrack and
in the film of Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth - Movie Soundtrack.
I really like this version. Ozzy's version is of course the pinnacle,
the brilliant version with himself on vocals and Zakk Wylde on guitar,
but this 'industrial' version of the song still works. "Asylum Choir"
is another typical Motörhead, enjoyable if not ground breaking. "Too
Good to be True" starts off so similar to the previous song that you
sometimes have to check to make sure it ISN'T the same song. Soon enough
it does break into it's own style with (slightly rewritten) guitar
riff, but its a close run thing. "You Better Run" is pretty much just a
blues track that has a slightly heavier, chunkier guitar riff. There's
no hiding this, it s pure unadulterated blues. That's fine, for all
those lovers of the blues out there, and no doubt it was an influence on
the band in their younger days and I can take a little of it every so
often. But even so... wow. Does a Motörhead album have to have such a
track? Perhaps I'm being petty and non-conformist, and obviously the
band can write whatever songs they lie, but I could have written this
song as it just uses the atypical blues riff and tricks. "Name in Vain"
returns to a more typical rhythm for the band, the style that just about
anyone in the world could nail as a Motörhead song. Now, given my
little rant about the previous song, I'm sure others would be hounded by
similar themes with this track, because it as an atypical Motörhead
song, that just about anyone could have written using the atypical
Motörhead riff and tricks. Yep, point well taken, but this is Motörhead,
not a blues band, so my quandary still exists. The album then ends with
the title track "March or Die", which consists of Lemmy chanting over a
very baneful and annoying noise for five and a half minutes. It's not
actually a song at all, but a tome piece. You know, I guess that's a
fair enough idea to end the album, but it's just far too long, and it
grates rather than incites any enjoyment.
In the scheme of
Motörhead things, this is only an average release. There are many better
albums, both before this and after this was released. I can still put
this on and wring enough enjoyment out of it, but I will look elsewhere
if I'm really looking for something good to listen to.
Rating:I'm living on an endless road, around the world for rock and roll. 2.5/5
Mandrake
was the first Edguy album that I heard and subsequently the first Edguy
album that I bought. Thus it could be argued that I have a soft spot
for it in the scheme of musical things, which I do. It has also become
the point of comparison with every other Edguy album as to how much I
will enjoy them, so it does have a major role to play in that respect.
If nothing else, if this album was awful, then it would probably have
stopped me from pursuing the band any further, so it was probably a good
starting point for me. The fact that it is probably one of the band's
best helps in this respect.
The album starts off with "Tears of a
Mandrake", and it is this song that made me believe that Edguy could be
a part of my musical future. It is a superb beginning to the album, an
opening act in itself, orchestral in nature both musically and vocally,
combining those layered vocals throughout in operatic fashion. "Golden
Dawn" sets off with that European power metal paced guitar and drums,
but pleasingly it is those instruments that remains the centre of focus,
with the keys remaining in the background. This is where Edguy appealed
to me from the beginning. Unlike contemporaries such as Stratovarius
and Sonata Arctica, where the keyboards are prominent to the point of
being the main focus of the music, here they only complement the much
more guitar focused music. Tobi Sammet's soaring vocals don't harm it at
all either! "Jerusalem" continues the good song output, though with
less impact than the opening two tracks. This is then followed by "All
the Clowns" which explodes straight into melodic guitars and rocks along
accordingly. "Nailed to the Wheel" is reminiscent of a Judas Priest
song, or certainly perhaps the Fight song "Nailed to the Gun". After its
mellow beginning it morphs into a fast heavy monster, propelling itself
at speed, while being supported by Tobi's best Halford impression,
especially during the chorus. Ripping tune. So to is "The Pharaoh", a
more mid-temp song but heavy on the harder edged beat and guitars. It
can't all be bells and whistles I guess, and the power ballad "Wash
Away the Poison" brings the album to a screaming halt in regards to its
momentum. Perhaps it's not a bad song, but it does nothing for me, and
indeed finds itself being a victim of the skip button on a regular
occurrence. "Painting on the Wall" is very similar in this regard, which
is disappointing given everything that occurs on the first half of the
album. "Save Us Now" returns a bit of speed to the album, and indeed
also reminds me of another song with a similar title, Helloween's "Save
Us". Coincidence just like the comparison of "Nailed to the Wheel"?
perhaps. Or perhaps not. "The Devil and the Savant" finishes off the
album.
This is power metal the layman can get into, because the
band's roots came from their early inspiration of Iron Maiden, Judas
Priest and KISS, so while the keyboards are in the mix of the songs the
dominant force is the guitars, drums and vocals. This is what set them
apart from their contemporaries, at least to this point of their
existence. It's funny to think that as the Avantasia movement grew, the
quality of Edguy's output seems to have diminished. However, with this
album they put themselves firmly on the front foot and brought
themselves to the front of the queue in regards to the European power
metal scene. Rating:The moment the evil appeared, the chance to decide. 4/5
Those of us who have a mild to insane case
of obsession with music will gather together a collection of bands that
they will consider to be their favourites, and will be the first in line
to buy every new release from that band on the first day it is
available. It could be one band, it could be twenty. Inevitably there
must come a time when a band releases an album that doesn't really come
up to the standards that you expect from them. It can't be that a band
can so consistently release albums that grab your imagination and hold
on to your attention in a way that makes that album not only instantly
brilliant, but that you feel the same about it ten, twenty... thirty
years later. It is impossible that a band can continue to crank out
albums that make you feel that way about every single one of them.
Unless the band is Gamma Ray.
As
their building catalogue continued to show the same brilliance with
each new album, the thoughts as above began to rise in my head - when
would that fall in quality come? When would come the day that a new
Gamma Ray album failed to ignite absolute adoration within me? Such was
the quandary I found myself in as I approached the release of Majestic back in 2005. In had been four years since the brilliant No World Order
and I guess I was beginning to doubt if they could do anything rival
their previous back catalogue. Those fears were pretty much erased by
the time I got to the middle of this album on my first listen through,
but I guess it did take a little time to grow on me to the point where I
now find myself. The first thing that eased my fears and drew me
deeper to the core was the speed at which the majority of the album is
played at. This is what European speed metal is supposed to sound like.
This is what Gamma Ray is supposed to sound like, at least in the modern
phase of the band. Dan Zimmerman's drumming is again quite superb.
Everything is perfectly in time, and it is not just the speed and
precision at which he plays on hi-hats and double kick through the
faster pieces of the songs. When it is supposed to be heavy and hard,
such as through "Blood Religion", he picks the perfect tom and cymbal
combination to draw the most out of that song. He does the same in
"Condemned to Hell", moving beautifully between the heavy section to
start before moving into the double kick through the chorus, and the
rota-toms between the solo section. Dan's work has always been terrific,
but here it is almost the star turn of the album. Kai Hansen and Henjo
Richter's guitaring is again just magnificent, melodically blending
throughout and then seamlessly switching between the two in shared
guitar solos that there hardly seems a point when something is not going
on. As a result, sometimes it is easy to miss the great work of Dirk
Schlächter if you aren't paying attention, such is the way that it
perfectly sutures itself to the music throughout. But have a good listen
to the album, and you will hear that his work on the bass guitar is as
good as ever, especially through "Strange World" and "Majesty". I guess
if you have fingers as long as he has you can reach those frets to make
those amazing bass runs better than most. From the moment that the
album kicks in with "My Temple" all indicators point to a fast, heavy
album. And those indicators are correct. There are no pregnant pauses or
power metal ballad like songs here, just fast guitars and drums
combined with wonderful lyrics and brilliant vocals that scream or
harmonise whenever necessary. "Fight" is one of my favourite Gamma Ray
songs - in fact, it has been the ringtone on my mobile phone for the
majority of the time since this albums release. "Strange World follows
up in style, and then into the heavy and fast "Hell is Thy Home" which
barnstorms through the first half of the album. "Blood Religion" is
just brilliant, set up magnificently for the live rendition when the
crowd can interact and chant through the quiet phase in the middle of
the song, before breaking out into the stellar solo section. "Condemned
to Hell" is set up in a similar way, and is driven along to its heights
by Dan's drumming master class. This then hammers its way into
"Spiritual Dictator" where the shared chorus is the highlight of the
song. "Majesty" has bit of a middle eastern Egyptian feel in the
initial intro guitaring and throughout the song, and while it may lead
you into thinking it is about pharaohs and kings, the lyrics go a little
darker and lower than that. "How Long" follows this, and is a brighter,
lighter vision after darker lyrics and heavier atmosphere of the
previous song, much more open to be sung along with. Gamma Ray has
made a habit of pulling off an epic-sounding song to finish their
albums, and "Revelation" is no exception. Layered with choir-like vocals
throughout and enhanced by excellent atmospheric keyboards to combine
beautifully engineered melodic guitars and hard fisted drumming, this
not only finishes off the album in style, it also encourages you to play
it over once again. Which, instantaneously, I almost always do. Once again this is a true band effort. Since Kai took on the lead vocals as well as guitar back on the Land of the Free
album, Gamma Ray has been a true band. Kai has been one of my musical
heroes since... forever... and his vocals here are still just as
brilliant as they have been. But all five members here make their own
statements, as well as meshing into the brilliant band they have become,
and it is a pleasure to hear a band when they are so close and like
clockwork.
Gamma Ray toured Australia on this album, the one and
only time I have seen them, and it was quite magnificent. The songs
taken from this album played their part and sounded just awesome. What
stays in my mind with clarity is the band members on stage, all with
huge smiles plastered over the faces for the entire gig. I have never
seen a band happier as they played on stage. It was so refreshing to
see, and it isn't hard to see how they keep producing albums as
brilliant as this one when they are so obviously enjoying themselves
immensely. Majestic is yet another triumph from a band that for me remains as the pinnacle of heavy metal.
Rating:Where am I meant to be, what is my destiny, the path I've chosen now has led me to a wall. 5/5
Motoring his way well out of his Iron
Maiden years, Blaze Bayley has been... well... blazing his own path
since his split with the metal giants back in 1999. Perhaps his most
important values to have come in his music since is that it all
basically distances itself from anything he did in his two previous
bands, Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden. Each of his solo band albums have
become progressively more diverse from those bands' style of music, and
he has forged his own way and style which is to be highly commended. The
fact that he has consistently produced good albums and great songs
helps that immensely.
Building on the progress that had been furthered on the previous album, The Man Who Would Not Die
gallops out of the speakers at a blinding speed from the second you
press the play button, surprising and delighting you in the same
instant. The title track "The Man Who Would Not Die" is off before you
know it, careering at a rate of knots that brings a smile to the face.
Blaze is in great form here. This passes into "Blackmailer" and "Smile
back at Death" which both continue the excellent start to this album.
The new band assembled for this release all sound great, and given that
there is apparently a great contribution from all members on this album
it sounds as if they all have something invested in the outcome. "While
You Were Gone" slows the tempo down at the start of the song, before
busting out through the middle section with gusto, and then heading into
another ball tearer in "Samurai". This along with the opening track are
probably my favourite two songs on the album. "A Crack in the System"
and "Robot" follow, and are both good songs, if just a touch repetitive,
both vocally and riff wise. Vocally, Blaze also sings these two just a
little... robotically, as well, and with the same riff pretty much
dominating throughout each of the songs, it can sometimes be too much. "At
the End of the Day" is probably the Blaze Bayley equivalent of a power
ballad. Certainly it's not really a ballad as such, but its slowed down
tempo and vocal style entices you to start thinking that it is. This
problem is solved as we jump straight into "Waiting For My Life to
Begin", fast-riffing out of the slow tempo of the previous song into
speedy guitar picking here. The song also sounds better as the
over-dominant double kick isn't in evidence, allowing the guitars to be
the focus of attention and play their part . Great stuff. "Voices From
the Past" again gives the guitars full reign during their solo break in
the middle of the song, providing the highlight of the track. "The Truth
is One" keeps the quick tempo running, while "Serpent Hearted Man"
would have benefitted from this kind of tempo, as it is a good song, but
just doesn't quite have the right feel about the music to make it the
closer the album deserves. If there is one minor flaw with the album,
I guess you could argue that it does have a very familiar and similar
sound most of the way through. This can lead to the album feeling as
though it is a little too long, also due to the fact that the average
song length is longer than a three and a half minute radio tune. At a
couple of ticks over the hour mark, if you aren't a huge fan of the band
you could certainly begin to feel it may outstay its welcome. It's a
small detail, and not meant to be a criticism of the work as a whole,
just as a pointer towards why some do not enjoy this all the way
through. And yes, the double kick drum seems to be a constant
throughout, and this also seems to include indulging in a similar rhythm
riff for most of the album... sure, it wouldn't be hard to try and be
picky if you were of a mind to do so. Thus it is important to note that
these things are a part of the album. However, when you are in the
album, these slight deficiencies melt away, leaving you with what is a
very listenable and enjoyable range of songs.
This was to be the
final album of Blaze Bayley as a band entity, before he became a true
solo artists, and brought in session musicians or bands to help him
record and perform. To be honest, this has perhaps hurt his future
material, without collaborators around him that he trusts to bounce
ideas off. Still, there is plenty here to like and enjoy, and admire the
tenacity of the man who has built a career beyond the high profile
bands he was once a part of.
Rating:I have a noose around my neck, it is spun from my hopes and dreams. 3.5/5
Following the one off effort entitled Shrinking Violet
with Jizzy Pearl on vocals, and several best-of releases that involved
re-recording their earliest (and best) material for release, something
which surely could only have been a money raising exercise, L.A. Guns
welcomed lead singer Phil Lewis and guitarist Mick Cripps back to the
fold, and came out with Man in the Moon.
This
feels and sounds like an album and band who aren't in transition as
such, but are a little lost in the direction they want to go. In
recording albums such as Greatest Hits and Black Beauties and Cocked & Re-Loaded,
the band re-recorded material from the days when they were at their
biggest, and when their music was fresh and exciting. One would have
thought that, having been through that process, it would have best
served the band in trying to recapture that time, and help them to focus
on writing in that kind of style again, to stay true to their roots and
produce an album that brought all of that into the present time. Well, I
can't say they did that with any great degree of success. "Man in
the Moon" is a reasonable start to the album, with Traci Guns and Mick
Cripps guitars playing off each other nicely, and Steve Riley's drumwork
pounding away furiously. As an intro to a new album, it does its job
without inspiring any real emotional effect. Why then, after this solid
beginning, do we fall into a song like "Beautiful", which just doesn't
gel at all with the initial vibe of the album. Back we fall to mostly
clear guitar, the drums quietly set in the background, and a song that
sounds like it is going for the harmless 1970's almost hippy love fest.
There is no correlation between the first two songs here, they are so
different and unrelatable you can't believe they are from the same band
let alone the same album. "Good Thing" then for some reason tries to
build a bridge over that, and restore some sort of order that was
established by the opening song, but there is still something that
doesn't feel right. perhaps it is just the lingering aftertaste of the
previous song, but there is still something missing here, something that
was an integral part of L.A Guns music, but somehow just isn't here
now. And when the truth arrives, it is stark and disappointing. The
naked energy and enthusiasm of those early albums is non existent here.
It sounds as though the band is just going through the motions. It
doesn't at any point sound as if any of the protagonists are really
pumped to be there, and the lack of inspiration is a detriment to what
we are listening to. And it doesn't improve from here either. I don't
know what Phil was trying to do with his vocals in "Spider's Web". They
don't seem to be anywhere close to the melody of the riff being played.
If his vocals were a guitar I would have said it needed to be re-tuned.
That's how it sounds to me, that he's singing the melody, but his vocal
chords are out of tune with the song. It is very strange and off
putting. "Don't Call Me Crazy" starts of as if it is going to have that
real pacey hard rock sound that L.A. Guns was famous for, but the drum
roll bursts into... slow, melodramatic backbeat and guitar, and a
mournfully lethargic ballad-like droning that stretches out for seven
minutes but feels like an hour and seven minutes. What on earth is this?
What have you done with the band we all remember and love? "Hypnotised"
tries to redeem what has come before, finally picking up the momentum,
and also allowing Steve Riley to showcase his wares at least. I'm still
not convinced about the vocals, but the song itself sounds much better
and more like the band we know. Even "Fast Talkin' Dream Dealer" makes
you think that all may not be lost. This is one of only two songs on the
album that SOUNDS like L.A Guns real material, with that L.A hard rock
sound racing through, while "Out of Sight" is a reasonable assimilation
of the same degree of song. Now. What the hell is going on with "Turn
It Around"?! This is five and a half minutes of pure rubbish. This
comes across as the band's attempt to do a really poor cross between a
mournful David Bowie / Alice Cooper epic tragedy ballad piece. There is
literally nothing here of any value. The vocals again are sung at that
almost out of key wailing which just seems completely out of place. It
is therefore somewhat surprising that the one song on this album that
comes within a bulls roar of what one would consider a real L.A. Guns
song is the final track, "Scream". It moves at the right tempo, the
guitar riff is amiable, the dual guitar solos do the job, and vocally it
sounds like the real Phil Lewis has returned. It's not magnificent, but
it at least sounds like it has the same parentage as their classic
tracks from the late 1980's. It's just such a shame that it is the last
track, when to be honest it could have been the opening track, and then
had many brothers and sisters after it.
While this album is not a
complete loss, it really has too many poor variations to be considered
better than average. Three or four songs could be salvaged here and
played at any time for enjoyment sake, but there are also three or four
shockers that just don't cut it in any way, shape or form. Listen with
the remote control and 'skip' button on standby.
After two albums and a world tour, Iron
Maiden put together a live EP from songs they had recorded in Japan, and
released such under the amusing title of Maiden Japan.
When it was slated for release, one wonders if the band was happy with
the decision, and whether they knew that it would also signal the end of
that first recording era of the band.
The original album has
four songs on it, though my original Australian vinyl edition had five.
The band sounds fantastic on it, and Paul Di'anno's vocals come across
strong and proud. The songs are not in order on the album as they were
performed on the night in Nagoya. The first side of the album has
"Running Free" rattling along at pace, and is followed by a great
version of "Remember Tomorrow". The second side on my edition starts
with "Wrathchild" which was also the concert opening song, and is
followed by a furious version of "Killers" and a great rendition of
"Innocent Exile", which followed each other in the original set list. Everything
sounds great here, despite the fact that Di'anno was apparently
beginning to suffer the effects of his drug use. By the time this was
released, he had already been replaced in the band by Bruce Dickinson,
so this acts as his farewell, and it is a worthy one. There is little
doubt that he could sing, he just couldn't do it live on a consistent
basis.
The only disappointing thing about this is that it is only an EP. For anyone who likes to track down bootlegs, the one called The Big Heat: Sun Plaza Tokyo, 1981
is a beauty, recorded the night before these recordings took place, and
it contains the entire concert. It is well worth finding a copy of.
That being said, this is still an excellent EP that showcases a band on
the rise.
Rating:Never had no trouble, before this all began. 4.5/5.
After the (and it really hurts to say this, but only the truth will suffice) truly abominable Angry Machines
album, I began to think that all was lost in the Dio music machine. It
had been a great ride, almost 25 years of great albums from the likes of
Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio, for the most part all legendary. But
was the well at last seeping dry? There had been severe question marks
over Lock Up the Wolves, and then Strange Highways had also seemed more on the average side than you would like to have your music. I was concerned that this was an end point.
Despite this, I still bought Magica
when it was first released. The fact that it was a concept album, with a
story written by Ronnie, tweaked my interest a little, and though I put
the CD on and listened to it a couple of times, while reading the CD
insert in regards to the story, I really didn't pay too much attention
to it immediately. It wasn't until a mate of mine, who I was spending a
lot of time with playing cricket and socialising with afterwards,
started constantly singing, "I love the night, so many shadows" at
almost every pause in conversation, that it started to get into my head
as well, and I began to invest myself in the album. And once that door
had opened, the world beyond changed for me. Why did this album take
its time to get its hooks in me, and then what dragged me in so deep? I
don't really know. It took awhile because I had been burned by the
previous album, and also the tempo of the songs was still settled in
that very mid-range of the previous three albums. I really prefer the
faster pace, but as the hooks sunk in I found that this didn't matter to
me anymore, that the songs themselves were so good that it eradicated
from me any rhetoric involved in such ventures. So once I got past those
issues, I discovered the power of the music, and the power of the
lyrics, and thus the power of the vocals. Each improves the other
throughout this album. The story intertwines and connects the album as
well, along with the discoverers of the Magica story's comments
throughout which link some of the songs. And while this plays some
importance, I soon found that I enjoyed the album and the individual
songs as themselves, and not necessarily as a greater part of the whole.
The strength of any concept album is that it can be listened to in its
entirety as the story, and that individual songs can indeed be listened
to and enjoyed on their own without having to be a part of that story. Magica ticks all those boxes. Musically
this album brings back some familiar faces, whose style and connection
with the band's great era help to focus the music in a much better
atmosphere. Craig Goldy returns on guitar and also in co-writing duties.
Jimmy Bain returns on bass guitar, and lends his friendly and familiar
rumbling throughout the album. Simon Wright returns on drums, adding a
different style on the drumming than long-time cohabitant Vinny Appice
does. Scott Warren remains on keyboards, and again fulfills his role
with aplomb. He is the sole survivor of the disappointment of the
previous two albums. Without wishing to completely lay the blame for the
problems associated with those albums with the musicians who were
involved with them, there is no doubt that the return of these members
to the band makes it feel a lot more like the real Dio. And so,
despite the story concept, it is now the furthest thing from my mind
when I listen to this album - which is still often. I think the songs
all flow beautifully to each other, playing off each other. The music is
fantastic. I love Simon's drumming on this album. It can feel or sound
like he is playing very simply, not extending himself, but when you
really listen to what he's playing it is just terrific, especially his
emphasis when it is needed most. It really makes a difference, and along
with Jimmy's bass it gives the rhythm section a real presence
throughout. Craig guitaring is also great, again it may not be
overstated but it makes its presence felt when necessary. And then we
have Ronnie James Dio, who rises back to his seat of power on the throne
of exalted legendary vocalist. The power through the middle section of
"Lord of the Last Day" is the first sign that the band and its leader is
back. Then into "Fever Dreams", "Turn to Stone" and the brilliant "Feed
My Head". This is as good a collection of songs that Dio has produced.
then we hear from "Eriel" and "Challis", the 'heroes' of the netherworld
of Blessing. "Challis" is brilliant, great music with Ronnie spitting
out his vocals with fire and venom. Awesome. "As Long As It's Not
About Love" is the game changer on the album, changing the mood from the
upbeat to the moody and introspective. Ronnie again proves his mastery
on this song, as his vocals soar in a way that only the most brilliant
can achieve. It may not be as hauntingly beautiful as "Rainbow Eyes"
from his days in Rainbow, but as a power ballad it is up at the top of
the tree. I also love the 'olde worlde fairground' sound of "Losing My
Insanity", it just suits this album somehow, before concluding with
"Otherworld" and reprises of "Magica' and "Lord of the Last Day" to
finish off the album. At the end, Dio narrates the story of Magica,
which is also found on the CD sleeve, to help all listeners to follow
his vision of the story.
This was a real creeper for me, but it
soon grabbed my heart and has never let go. As I have said, it's not the
story that really found me, it was the music and the passion that is
felt throughout the album that made this so good for me. A great band
and a legendary singer had fought back from the brink, returned to their
roots, and found themselves again. And I love it for that.
Rating:Wicked is as wicked does, and if I lose control, is this the way that hell is going to be. 5/5
