835. Iced Earth / The Melancholy E.P. 2001. 3.5/5

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

834. Iron Savior / Megatropolis. 2007. 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

833. Y&T / Mean Streak. 1983. 4/5

It had been a long journey for Y&T through the first ten years of the band’s existence after forming in 1972. The quartet of Dave Meniketti on lead guitar and lead vocals, Joey Alves on rhythm guitar, Phil Kennemore on bass and Leonard Haze on drums had recorded two initial albums as Yesterday & Today, before shortening the band name to Y&T. Having changed record companies, these initial albums were followed by two much more focused albums in the early 1980’s with “Earthshaker” and “Black Tiger”, where the band brought to the studio the sound and attitude they had cultivated on the road. This resulted in the band receiving critical acclaim for their work through Europe, but little commercial success in their native US, despite a plethora of tracks that were worthy of attention. On the tour to promote “Black Tiger” the band supported some of the biggest bands in the world such as Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden and Dio, and were playing in bigger stadiums and garnering more attention as a result.
What was needed to continue their ambitious push was a breakthrough on the American commercial radio stations. Fellow long-term American battlers Twisted Sister and Night Ranger were beginning to attract this kind of attention, and for Y&T to reach the next level they felt that they needed to find a way to crack that market. Their problem was how to do it without being accused of selling out, while pushing forward in their hard rock artform rather than folding back into the less raucous sound of their first two albums in the 1970’s. The basis of what they were chasing appeared to be in the songs of “Black Tiger”, but could they push further forward in that direction on their follow up to that album?

The band couldn’t have done too much better in their quest to gain higher approval of the commercial rock gods than with the opening track to the album, the title track "Mean Streak". This is still the star of this show, with its mercurial guitar riff, hard hitting drums and spitting lyrics. This song goes hard from the outset, delivering great vocals, super drums from Haze and Meniketti blazing away on guitar and vocals. It’s a beauty and a great opening to the album itself. In some ways, the opening is so good that the rest of the album has a hard time trying to keep up, but there is still plenty here to enjoy. The following track tries for the same biting lyrics as the album opener. “Straight Through the Heart” doesn’t flow as pleasingly as the opening track but it has a hard pitch to it that works on most levels with another solid solo driving this through the back half of the song. For the most part though, the rest of the album is an either 'take it or leave it' proposition. Some will find that it probably tends to repeat itself most of the way through, with lyrically similar themes cropping up and not a huge amount of variety in the song writing and taking the album just on the surface that could be seen to be a fair enough comment.
However, I can forgive the majority of that for two main reasons. 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 the way that some hard rock albums just get into a groove and never seem to leave it. Songs like "Take You to the Limit" and "Sentimental Fool" fall into this section, which doesn't make them unlikeable, it just makes them come across as though they have been written a bit too close together and as a result have some similar facets to their composition. “Midnight in Tokyo” probably falls into this section of the album as well, but given that it acted as one of the songs that began to get the band noticed, there seems to have been a necessity for it to appear here. Then there is “Down and Dirty” which closes out the album in a similar fashion to “Straight Thru the Heart”. These are good songs that build the solid core of the album. And that does bring around the second reason for forgiving any noticeable traces of triviality. And that is that, despite the fact that the band craved a commercial breakthrough, they have not allowed that to infiltrate the quality of the overall tracks and album as a result. What comes here on “Mean Streak” is a solid hard rock album that utilises the best skills that this quartet has, and puts it out there for you to listen to. They have not gone down the glam metal route, they have not bowed to a soft rock ballad in order to gain acceptance. They have stuck to their guns and brought out the kind of album their fans would have wanted, and that is what is the best part of this album.

Back in 1986 when the fabled weekend of the "Music Video Hits" program on Channel 10 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.
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.
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 taking away my biased joy of the album, perhaps it just needed something else in the mix which may have propelled it to a higher plane. Despite that, it is still a great favourite for me. 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 as much for the nostalgia it brings whenever I listen to it now, as to the actual music itself.

832. Mortal Sin / Mayhemic Destruction. 1987. 4.5/5

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

831. Iron Maiden / A Matter of Life and Death. 2006. 4/5

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

830. Masterplan / Masterplan. 2003. 5/5

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

829. Dio / Master of the Moon. 2004. 3.5/5

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

828. Dream Theater / Official Bootleg: Covers Series: Master of Puppets. 2003. 4/5

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

827. Dream Theater / Master of Metallica [Bootleg]. 2002. 5/5

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.

Rating:  End of passion play, crumbling away...  5/5

826. Metallica / Master of Puppets. 1986. 5/5

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”.
Metallica had a bit of an issue when it came to following up their sophomore album “Ride the Lightning”. And it was simply this. The band had done such a remarkable effort of stepping up their game compared to their debut album “Kill ‘em All”, that to do anything less than stretch that brilliance once again would have created a vacuum so large that they may never have been able to escape from it. And I think I can say that with confidence when looking back over what occurred. That massive maturing of the band’s music and playing and singing on “Ride the Lightning” had already put light years between themselves and the other thrash metal bands that were actively pursuing them at the time. “Kill ‘em All” had been a terrific debut full of the thrash the band had become known for, but then they released “Ride the Lightning”, and the world changed, theirs and ours. For goodness sakes, lets shovel “Fight Fire with Fire” and the title track and “Trapped Under Ice” and “Creeping Death” into the steam engine and watch it explode with speed from the output. But where the hell do “Fade to Black” and “The Call of Ktulu” come from?! Those two tracks on their own set the band apart from what the other thrash bands were putting out, and combined with the rest of the album it made Metallica the band suddenly setting the agenda. This was wonderful for their profile and for their fans. The band played the Monsters of Rock festival at Donington, and toured the US and Europe on the back of their burgeoning success.
Now though – how do you follow that up? They had created something special with “Ride the Lightning”, and album that set them as the benchmark for the thrash bands they had come up with, and the ones that would follow. To create an album that was of a similar style and standard would have been an ideal situation for most bands in their situation. And sure, if that was what they created, the band would still have been on an upward trend no doubt with sales and popularity. But would they have become the band they eventually became if that was what they had offered up? No. What Metallica had to do was to find yet another level of unparalleled excellence, one from which they could solidify another pedestal to be climbed.
The album began as a product of writing sessions between James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich before the band’s other two members, Kirk Hammett and Cliff Burton, were brought in to begin to flesh them out. According to interviews with the band members of the years, assorted guitar riffs would be assembled and reassembled into song-like structures, before being fleshed out. The band would then come up with a subject matter for the song along with a title, after which Hetfield would write the lyrics to correspond to that. The band then moved to Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen to record again with producer Flemming Rasmussen. The band brought advanced demos of all of the songs noted for the album apart from “Orion” and “The Thing That Should Not Be” which had further work to be done. The band spent three months in the studio perfecting their album, working under the assumption at the time that it would just be another record. Little did they know that they were working on an album that was anything BUT just another record. It became the album that would influence almost everything that came after it in one way shape or form. It became one of the biggest selling albums of all time. It simply became “Master of Puppets”.

In the same way that the band’s previous album brought you into the album unaware of what was about to happen, so too does this one with the opening track. "Battery" is a monster of an album opener, lulling you in as it does with its clear guitar, almost classical in its performance, before the single drum beat and riff burst the song out of its malaise, before the flay into the frenzied start of the song proper. From this moment, the thoughts about whether or not Metallica could step it up again and go to that next level in both maturity and retaining the thrash that they started out with are answered. Because what an opening this is, the speed is at thrash level quantities, and the anger and fury that comes not only from the instruments but from Hetfield's vocals raging his own lyrics is outstanding. Even the breakdown in the middle of the track, perhaps to give everyone a chance to regather themselves after the opening onslaught, is heavier than most bands best days, and then the climb back into the fire and the charge to the end of the track. There have been some incredible amazing opening tracks on albums – this band had one of them on their previous album, and would do so with their next album as well – but this is hard to top. I'll never forget from my final school year the number of times you could sneak this album onto the stereo at a party or on a bus trip, 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. One of the greats.
And then... well. A masterpiece. No pun intended. "Master of Puppets" is arguably the finest heavy metal song ever composed and performed. Everyone knows the start of the track, indeed can’t help but mimic it as it occurs - ‘bah. Bah-bah-baaaaahh'. Every part of this track is a crafted work of art. Lyrically and vocally, it not only hard hitting in its portrayal of the drug addict and how it becomes your master, the ruler of everything you do, but is so beautifully expressed and painted by Hetfield’s words, it becomes impossible to not sing along with every word. They are pointed, they are framed perfectly, all of which makes it so singable. And then the breakdown in the middle again is so fabulous, it gives Hetfield and Hammett and Burton the opportunity to express their abilities not just in hard riffing metal styles but in other tones, something of course that they have proven before. And then the returning chant of “Master... master”... that mirrors that from “Creeping Death” on the previous album, before dropping into the speed raging solo from Kirk that explodes out of the blocks and takes us into the back half of the song and final verse and chorus, still speeding along (no pun intended) to the crushing conclusion, where we are finally met with the maniacal laughter from James to fade out the song. “Master of Puppets” 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 track 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.
That beautiful moody, spine tingling quiet and foreboding opening guitar strum signals the beginning of the next amazing track. "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. I especially love Lars’s drumming in this song. The off beats and the rolls around his kit are perfectly positioned and timed to help draw the mood throughout. James’s lyrics in this song are again dark and drawn, and the way he changes his tone throughout is a major part of the brilliance of this song. It isn’t all in one emotional tone, he moves between them depending on the feel of the lyrics. The expression towards the end when he sings “Drain you of your sanity, face the thing that should not be!” is intensely fabulous. If it is possible for a Metallica song to be underrated, this is one of them. And then following on from this, to close out the first side of the album, is another classic in "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)". It is one where Metallica broke the mould on song composition. Again! Once more, it has elements that set it apart from your everyday run-o-the-mill heavy metal song, without losing the roots of what they created. The intro to the song in many ways, it defines how Metallica (at this point in their career) stood apart from all other metal bands. The moody opening again that creates a building atmosphere around the topic of the song itself, of the protagonist trapped in his asylum, and trapped in his own paranoia and growing insanity. And the music along with James’s vocals move in waves that mirror the changing moods and hysteria of the song and its subject. The increase in the anger and tone as James approaches the pre-chorus and into “Sanitarium! Leave me be – just leave me alone”, and the way the vocals and music sway from rage and back to a plea to just leave me alone. All of that is so cleverly intertwined through the song that it is sometimes easy to miss how important it is to bringing the emotional depth to the track. A killer way to finish side one. And with that start, there is no way they could back it up on side two. Is there?

"Disposable Heroes" opens side two of the album in a panicked frenzy, bringing out the best in brilliant riffage, supersonic drums and anguished, angry vocals. It’s another building track, this time with that heavy fast riffing to take us into James’s vocals. And the way that the music again rises with the greater feeling that calls from his vocal cries, the riffing becomes more frantic to mirror the growing anguish of the lyrics, until you reach the chorus that is spat out with venom. The war cry of "BACK TO THE FRONT!" And “You will do what I say when I say”, “You will die when I say you must die”, “You coward, you servant, you blind man”. And especially of course "I WAS BORN FOR DYIIIIIIING!" It is spine chilling stuff, and still brings goosebumps whenever I listen to the album. There's nothing much left unsaid here. It is powerful and moving and freaking heavy as fuck. And if that wasn’t enough, if that wasn’t confronting enough, if that wasn’t rhetorically bombastic enough, then let's head into "Leper Messiah", because again this doesn't leave anything to the imagination on the subject matter of the song. The off time of the opening riff and drum combination that then sticks into the hard core two-four timing seems simple but is so effective in crashing into the start of the lyrics, bringing the attitude and dripping discourse with it. There’s no working into this track, the disdain is immediate, the emotional outpouring from James is mirrored in the lyrics - “Spineless from the start, sucked into the part”. Heavy hitting lyrics, that bash you with the horrors of the televangelists of the era, not missing a beat as James hammers home the debauchery of it all. And then the song moves into overdrive, the speed increases, Lars’s double kick moves into overdrive, and Kirk belts out another solo for the ages, before we power back to the standard timing to complete another piece of the “Master of Puppets” puzzle.
Then comes "Orion", the instrumental of the album, and it almost steals the show. The fade in of the bass is guttural, the rhythm section of bass and drums brings us back into focus before the guitar riff hits, and we are away! This is truly an amazing piece of music, the ebb and flow throughout is mesmerising, the song building and flowing all the way through, changing its mood as it does, and utilising every member's talent in the process. Cliff Burton's sensational bass playing is the crux of the song, that bass riff underneath throughout, and is the mainstay through the initial breakdown in the middle of the track. It is the star attraction of the song without a doubt. James and Kirk's guitars are fabulous, especially mournful through the middle section, before breaking out into the solo section that follows that takes us out to the conclusion of the song in headbanging style, while Lars' drumming holds everything together for the entirety of the track. “Orion” is a magnificent not only on this album but in Metallica’s career.
With everything that comes before it, there is little chance that the final song on the album will be able to match it and complete this album the way it deserves to be, is there? Well. "Damage Inc." isn't most songs. Indeed, it concludes the album with brutality, speed and power, reminiscent of the band's earliest work, and yet with a maturity and focused brilliance that is difficult to surpass. There's no time to breathe through this track, with Lars ripping through drum rolls as the others blaze along on their guitars with ridiculous triplet picking. James is at us from the outset, with “Dealing out the agony within, charging hard but no one’s going to give in”. This is heavy and fast thrash of the highest order. Even when it halts a little into the bridge, the riffing doesn’t, in fact it gets even more frantic in a confined space, with James about to explain himself in a more settled way, “We chew and spit you out, we laugh you scream and shout, all flee with fear you run, You’ll know just were we come from (Damage Incorporated)”... and then fuck me we come to the fastest soloing of the album, as Kirk throws all the toys out of the cot and drives the song back to the most amazing speed thrash metal you could imagine. Sure the other songs here reek of a maturity of 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. And then it is over. And you are so charged up, so mentally and emotionally driven to the edge of sanity, that you have to turn the album over and start again from the very beginning.

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, which we are pleasingly returning to, when you could open the gatefold or pull out the insert, put the record on the turntable, 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 here. Not only that, but Hetfield's vocals also 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 had returned to school for the start of Year 12, on one of the first days of February 1987. About 16 months earlier I had begun my quest towards discovering the love of heavy metal music. On this particular 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 two brilliant albums 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 who I have become 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 would go so far as to proclaim that “Master of Puppets” changed my life. It allowed me to accept that I was an awkward teenage geeky nerd and that that was okay, which allowed me to accept as I grew to be an awkward twenty-something geeky nerd to slightly awkward forty-something husband-father geeky nerd, to the much older awkward geeky nerd I am today. It became an album that I could listen to no matter what mood I was in, and it would almost instantly transform me. If I was down, it brought me back to equilibrium. If I was joyous, it accentuated that even further.
I have lived and breathed, headbanged and moshed, air guitared and air drummed, and air-raid siren sung this album for almost 40 years now, and it never gets tired and it never gets old. It formed 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. Whenever my small circle of lifelong friends comes together, this album ALWAYS gets played. Always. It brings out some of the best moments of my life, because it always seemed to be played at those moments.
It goes without saying that I have been playing this album again this week. It is not an unusual occurrence. Some albums always get played at some stage of every year and this is one of them. But this past week I have been playing it often, and playing it loud. I have once again sung every word, air guitared every riff, air drummed every Lars Ulrich drum set. I never stop being amazed at what I hear, what this band produced on this album, WITH this album. It never gets old. It might sound a little like I’m fanboying a bit, but we all have albums like that. And honestly, if you don’t see and hear the outstanding qualities of this album, I’m really not sure why you are listening to this podcast.
This remains for me one of the finest three albums ever written and recorded. It is an all time classic and an absolute masterpiece.

825. Motörhead / March ör Die. 1992. 2.5/5

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

824. Edguy / Mandrake. 2001. 4/5

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

823. Gamma Ray / Majestic. 2005. 5/5

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

822. Blaze Bayley / The Man Who Would Not Die. 2008, 3.5/5

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