1062. UFO / Strangers in the Night [Live]. 1979. 5/5

There’s always something magical about a live album. It’s where you get to hear exactly what a band is like in the environment that they are meant to be in. Let’s face it, you can make just about anyone sound good in a studio where you can overdub and cut and paste and play a section a thousand times over until you get it right. A live album is where there is nowhere to hide, and you have to be on to showcase how good you actually are. And on Strangers in the Night this is exactly what UFO do.

I knew a few UFO songs from a Michael Schenker anthology double album I had bought a few months earlier before I found this double vinyl in my favourite second hand record store, and bought it on the spot. I didn’t know the band or its music very well but I knew Schenker and that he had been in this band, so I was keen to get home and give it a listen. It didn’t take long to realise that I had come across some real gold, and album that to this day I still get excited about whenever I put it on or hear it at a friend’s house.
From the outset there is so much to love hear. The brilliant guitar riff to start off “Natural Thing”, the harmony vocals of Mogg and Way in “Out in the Street” into the classic UFO tracks “Only You Can Rock Me” and “Doctor Doctor”. The magnificence that is the live version of “Love to Love” with Mogg’s wonderful vocals and the brilliant guitar of Schenker stealing the show. Then there is the bombastic version of “Lights Out” that is as heavy a song that UFO perform which is followed by the extended version of “Rock Bottom” to allow Schenker to further showcase his brilliance on the guitar. Between this come all of the other hits that UFO had written up until this time, and nothing misses out. It would be difficult to come up with any weak points, or of any other songs that could replace those that are on this album already.
In a way this album ruined the studio albums of UFO for me once I got around to getting them, because I knew these songs perfectly by the time I heard them, but I knew the live version of the songs not the studio versions, and quite simply the live versions are far superior than their studio cousins. So when I started getting the early albums and listening to them I found that they didn’t quite have the same energy and momentum that the songs showed on this album. Over time of course that faded and I was able to enjoy them as much as any other of their work, but there is never a time that I put this on that I don’t love everything on this so much more.
The CD version has added back in two songs that start the concert, “Hot and Ready” and “Cherry”, and also reordered the playlist so that it is closer to what UFO played on this tour. While that’s great, for me it ruins the flow of the album just a little, because you miss that great start of the guttural guitar riff that leads into “Natural Thing” that for me was the perfect start on my vinyl copy. Now you don’t get to hear that until track five, and the album lacks a punch as a result.
The band is on fire, and each of them is just terrific on this album. Paul Raymond being able to switch between the organ and keyboards onto rhythm guitar to add a fullness to the live sound is fantastic and invaluable in the live environment. Pete Way on bass fills the bottom end out nicely, while Andy Parker’s drumming is fantastic. Phil Mogg’s vocals are superb, and he gives these versions of their songs a great kick. The star for me is still Michael Schenker, who despite his own feelings on the versions of the songs offered here again proves what a maestro he was with his instrument in his hands. His solos still steal the show on more occasions than not.

There have been some brilliant and unforgettable live albums released over the years. Think Iron Maiden’s Live After Death, think Slayer’s Decade of Aggression: Live, think Deep Purple’s Made in Japan. For me, this is the equal of those albums. It is truly one the great live albums released by hard rock and heavy metal bands, and for me it is the pinnacle of this band’s career, a defining moment that not only showed off their excellence but sadly proved to be the end of their golden years with the moving on of Schenker to other projects.

Rating: “Since you came from Memphis, you can look but please don’t touch”. 5/5

1061. UFO / Obsession. 1978. 2.5/5

UFO the band had been busy over the middle years of the 1970’s decade, putting out several albums and building a respectable following throughout the world. On previous albums they had managed to mix some brilliant songs that still resonate when played with some material that feels a bit lacklustre and of a lesser quality than the absolute top shelf stuff. Much the same can be said of Obsession which capped off the period with an ambivalence that could be said to be harsh on one hand but fair on the other.

I’ve always felt that there was only one heavy hitter song on this album, and it happens to be the lead track, “Only You Can Rock Me”. It remains the one song that stands out from the crowd on this release, and is still instantly recognisable whenever it is played today. The fact that it signals a lowering of the boom once it is over is what is troubling about this album.
As for the rest of the songs, I think they can be categorised pretty swiftly into two groups, the good and the average. It turns out that the majority of the good songs have Michael Schenker as a co-writer, whereas the majority of the average songs do not. Into the former group of good songs you can list tracks such as “Pack It Up (and Go)”, “Hot and Ready” and “Cherry”. Each of these has a better tempo, a slice of Schenker shredding on guitar and great Phil Mogg vocals. These songs follow my idea of the better UFO songs more closely than those in the average group, songs like the three end tracks on Side A of the album in “Arbory Hill”, “Ain’t No Baby” and “Lookin’ Out For No. 1”. “Arbory Hill” is a Schenker short guitar instrumental that serves no real purpose on the album and doesn’t lift anything. “Ain’t No Baby” and “Lookin’ Out For No. 1” fall too much on the side of soft rock ballad. I never cease to be disappointed when I listen to this album and hear these two songs again. “One More for the Rodeo” is probably one of the better tracks again, but I’m not sure if this is only because it is sandwiched between “You Don’t Fool Me” and “Born to Lose”, which even for AOR songs are stretching the friendship just a little too far.

This album was the final one that Michael Schenker played on for UFO for almost fifteen years and it was going out with a whimper rather than a bang. While the band is competent here, the music just feels as though it is going through a recycling process and that they were beginning to strain out the hard rock side of the songs and fall into the comfortable AOR radio sound instead. That being the case, I am happy to leave that right here.

Rating: “Who’s taking time out, who’ll take a shot now”. 2.5/5

1060. UFO / Lights Out. 1977. 3.5/5

Looking back on the UFO discography it is sometimes remarkable how the albums themselves aren’t similar, but the category or line-up of songs on them can be so similar. Most appear to be dominated by two or three songs while the rest can perhaps be seen to be making up the numbers. There would have been no way of knowing that would be the case in the writing process, but once again here it feels as though the quality and signature songs are the ones that brighten the album the best, and that they are the ones that Michael Schenker’s guitar dominates.

How this album could ever be regarded as ‘heavy metal’ is beyond me, because there is very little here that could be related to that genre. Indeed, the more you listen to it, the more you come to understand that it spends most of its life in a completely different setting. For this album the band brought in the addition of Paul Raymond who not only handled rhythm guitar but with the added bonus of mixing in some keyboards into the songs. UFO had used keys on their albums before but Raymond’s addition to the band made it a real focus. And it is the keyboards which almost typically tie this album and most of its tracks to this period, with that AOR sound coming to the fore. This is especially true of “Just Another Suicide” which always feels as though it was meant to be a heavier song, but because of the piano that dominates through the bridge and chorus it is transformed into a perfectly reasonable AOR song, but not a heavy track by any stretch of the imagination. “Try Me” is an even further regression as such, as every time I hear it I can’t help but think it is far too similar to an Eagles song with Joe Walsh on vocals, except this is even more of a ballad track. It seems such a waste, because UFO didn’t need these kind of standard ballad tracks to succeed, did they?
“Getting’ Ready” is more or less a straight up and down rock track, one of those songs that an album has to have to keep it ticking over in the middle. “Alone Again Or” is a cover of the song originally written by the band Love, and it too sounds from that era of the early 1970’s. To me in fact it sounds a hell of a lot like a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song. Like “Try Me”, I really don’t think this fits in at all. “Electric Phase” which follows has a better sound to it, though even here it feels as though the band should have been really stretching out and giving this song the opportunity to really get going, to let the handbrake off and let the harder edge and speed come into play.
When it comes down to it, there are only three songs on this album that are truly worth finding it for. “Too Hot to Handle” is a jaunty opening, a song with a good riff and singalong vocals that opens the album on the right foot and in the right mood. This is then framed by the closing song on Side A of the album, the title track “Lights Out”. This has been, and remains, my favourite UFO song. The opening bars to the guttural riff underneath the bridge and chorus, to Schenker’s brilliant solo and wonderful undertones from both Pete Way and Andy Parker, this is the top of the tree for me. Then the album closing track “Love to Love” does all the great things that an epic track should. It’s not a ballad, but it is the way all ballads should be, because it has heart and emotion and fantastic vocals from Phil Mogg. To top it all off, Schenker’s guitar solo to complete the song and album is superb and perfectly performed. And having criticised slightly the use of the keyboards in other songs, here on both “Lights Out” and “Love to Love” the keyboards work perfectly, and enhance rather than reign in the songs.

This was UFO’s highest charting album and is generally regarded as their best. To be honest I don’t think there is much that separates this from two or three other of their albums of this era. All of them have some great songs and some average songs. Here again there are, in my opinion, three great songs, two good songs and three that I don’t get a lot out of. It mightn’t be one that I’d put on a list of ‘must listen-to albums’, and it is still one that I like rather than love.

Rating: “From the back streets there’s a rumbling, smell of anarchy”. 3.5/5

1059. UFO / Phenomenon. 1974. 3/5

After a couple of early albums that had UFO searching for its own cause and window into the music world, the band hired German up and comer Michael Schenker to play guitar and suddenly the world was their oyster. While the changing influence that set the band up for the remainder of the decade of the 1970’s was yet to completely morph into being, this first album with the new line up is where it all began to happen.

The first two songs sound like a strange coming together of the Eagles and other likeminded groups, which even for early UFO would have been strange given their blues roots rather than country rock. The old phrase “not that there’s anything wrong with that” is easily used in this case, but it just doesn’t fit the profile of the young up-and-coming band that so many groups that were a part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal less than a decade later were citing as influences in their music. “Too Young to Know” and “Crystal Light” are both good songs, and no doubt if I was old enough to have come into UFO in 1974 rather than over a decade later I can see where I would probably enjoy them more. The same can be said of “Space Child” because it has qualities of Bowie as well, but I didn’t get into UFO for songs like these ones.
“Built For Comfort” is an old Willie Dixon cover, and is noticeable immediately as a blues intransigence. I think the band does a great job with it, but blues isn’t really what I came here for (which is ironic given the earlier albums in the UFO discography). However Phil Mogg’s vocals are great and Schenker’s guitar the perfect blues partner. “Lipstick Traces” settles back in that vein as well, with Schenker’s guitar gently flowing its way through its instrumental piece in style. The album closer “Queen of the Deep” also stays in a mid-range tempo, but the greater urgency of Mogg’s vocals and Schenker’s guitar create a more energetic emotion to the songs than the others mentioned here, and as a result it creates an atmosphere that has made it worthwhile to find your way to the end of the album.
The real album entertainers are still the star attractions all these years later. “Doctor Doctor” immediately lifts and transforms the album when it comes on in the first half, not just because of the uplifting tempo and more energetic vocals but because of Michael Schenker’s immediate impact when he decides to let his guitar do the talking. “Rock Bottom” does the exact same thing after another slight lull in the tempo of the album. Schenker’s brilliant soloing through the back third of the song is worth the price of admission alone, and for me is what is missing from most of the songs here. These are the two songs that have probably survived the longest and the best from the album, and it is still easy to hear why whenever you put Phenomenon on because they are the ones that make your ears prick up and notice that something out of the ordinary is happening.
There is a lot to like about this album, and the band sounds terrific. Andy Parker and Pete Way are excellent in the rhythm section, moody when necessary but breaking out when the songs played require it. Phil Mogg’s vocals are in peak condition, and Michael Schenker shows the early signs of why he was so highly regarded from such a young age.

When it comes down to it, I fell in love with UFO for the faster and harder songs, the ones where Michael Schenker shredded with delight. He does so here on the two songs mentioned above, and they still sound just brilliant. The rest of the album I can take or leave depending on my mood. Most is likely to send me off to sleep rather than revitalise and energise me, and while that might be good in places it doesn’ make me as fond of this album as others are of it.

Rating: “With all darkness closin' in, will the light reveal your soul”. 3/5

1058. Symphony X / V: The New Mythology Suite. 2000. 4/5

From the very beginning Symphony X has produced albums of the highest quality, that are immediately catchy and have all the hallmarks of the best musicians going around. Building this reputation throughout the 1990’s the dawn of the new millennium brought forth their fifth album, one that drew together all the best pieces of their music that they had written to this time, and began to push them in a direction that would define the future sound of the band.

People have said that it sounds like a movie soundtrack, which isn’t a bad comparison given it is a concept album in its own right. Orchestrally (through the keys of Michael Pinella of course) it has very much that feel to it, which highlights the progressive nature of the music. The music fits the purpose, with the story of being told through the lyrics. Whether you are inclined to enjoy a concept album for the story or not is not as relevant as how much you enjoy the songs themselves, and once again the band has done a great job under the direction of the supreme Michael Romeo. Are there moments it gets a bit much? For me there are a few pieces that it goes too far in the progressive nature, where the keyboards are too much of the picture and the vocals are too high and airy, and a sense of power and momentum gets lost. This is a small thing to pick at, but it is there all the same.
How accessible Symphony X’s music is will always be a matter of debate. Every single one of the band members are magnificent on their chosen instrument. Russell Allen’s vocals are quite amazing, continuing to explore regions that many cannot with their vocal chords. Because of the nature of the songs written he often has to move to higher regions which he has little trouble in succeeding to do. Michael Pinnella’s keyboards and synths are a masterpiece, constantly able to create an atmosphere that defies and expands the songs as they are written. On these songs he has managed to make each song sound fuller and packed solid just through his own playing, and that is quite an achievement. Jason Rullo’s drumming on his return to the band is just as fantastic, driving the album along as the pace it deserves and requires. Bass guitarist Michael Lepond joins here for his first album with the band and makes his presence felt immediately with those rolling fingers up and down the fretboard giving that bottom end a perfect base. On top of all of this is the maestro Michael Romeo whose guitaring once again is a standout, able to switch between the songs where his input is more in the background of the orchestral arrangement and the songs where he takes centre stage and shows off his wares in a flurry. All of this together sometimes can scare off the average music listener, who don’t want this kind of sound throughout their songs. They want simple, straight to the point songs with a riff, maybe a solo, some lyrics and finish. That’s not what Symphony X do, they explore the ether of the progressive metal elements, pushing beyond what may feel like a simple length for a song and continue where others fear to tread. In the same way that Dream Theater has done for so many years, this album gives you everything and more.

This proved to be a bridge between the opening age of Symphony X and its future. Behind lay the progressive stage with those passages that sometimes sounded like a freeform metal song archive, driven in the first by the keys and synths. Coming up became the heavier definition of the band, where the music and vocals took that metal edge and began to explore what they could do with it. V: The New Mythology Suite is the bridge of the transformation, and the walk across is just as satisfying as the view of what is on the other side.

Rating: “Living by the law of the ages, prophets and sages forging Utopia”. 4/5

1057. Stryper / Soldiers Under Command. 1985. 3.5/5

If you come looking for Stryper albums, then you know what is involved. You can be Christian, you can be ambivalent, and that’s entirely up to you. But you should be coming for the music, and if that is what you are looking for then you will find a reasonable balnce of the good and bad that this genre and style of music can offer.

There are a couple of… terrible… songs. There’s just no other way I can describe them. Those terrible awful ballad tracks that for some reason bands insist they must produce in order to sell their records. Or gain airplay. Or something like that. Yes, I know there are some people out there who like them, but for me they can destroy what otherwise are perfectly decent albums. So here Stryper has produced a couple of beauties, those being “First Love”, which is so sickly sweet it encourages a gagging reflex every time I have to listen to it without skipping, and “Together As One” which is pretty much on the same level. I’m sure the band thinks they are a valuable addition to the album. No, they’re not. They destroy the momentum and feel of the album in its tracks. In the days of vinyl and cassettes I used to cut these songs out when I recorded it for the car, and it made the album a hell of a lot better.
Away from this, the solid base of the album comes from the songs such as “Makes Me Wanna Sing” and “Reach Out” which are the best type that Stryper put forward, hard rock songs that put forth their message but also give it to you with guitars and great vocals. “Together Forever” and “(Waiting For) A Love That’s Real” are also better than average tracks. “Surrender” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic” don’t quite finish off the album as great as it could, but neither do they destroy what has gone before it.
On the other hand, there are two songs here that stack up with the best of anything that was produced by hair metal bands throughout the decade of the 1980’s. The title track “Soldiers Under Command” and the first side closer “The Rock That Makes Me Roll” showcase the best that Stryper can offer, with the twin guitars of Michael Sweet and Oz Fox paired off with their amazing vocal work, and driven by the rhythm of Robert Sweet’s ‘visual timekeeping’ and Tim Gaines bass guitar. Both are terrific songs that call for pumping fists and banging heads and are the absolute highlights of the album.

Take the themes of the lyrics as you like, you can either live by them or ignore them. But the songs as a whole throughout are excellent if you enjoy the style of music that came with the hair metal generation of the 1980’s. Michael Sweet’s vocals are always the highlight for me of a Stryper album, the notes he hits are still amazing, while the trading guitars licks and solos of Sweet and Fox are more than good enough to keep the average punter interested. Knock your Christian socks off and listen to (most of) this album and there should be something there for you to enjoy.

Rating: “Stand up and fight, for what you believe in”. 3.5/5

1056. Guns n' Roses / G N' R Lies [EP]. 1988. 4/5

When this was first released I felt an aversion to buying it, and as a result didn't really give it a good listen until a few years later. Why? Well there was really only the reason that I wanted to be different from the crowd. G N' R Lies came out at a time when, in Australia at least, Appetite for Destruction was still really only beginning to take hold of the listening public so it was popular to enjoy Guns n' Roses as a mainstream act. When this EP came out, with it mixture of live and acoustic songs, those jumping on the bandwagon grabbed it with glee and as a result I felt an aversion to liking it for fear that I would be lumped in with this popular music seeking crowd. Yes, the age of youth was upon me, however stupid that does appear in retrospect.

The opening four tracks are all in a faux-live setting and made up the original EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide released by the band prior to the arrival of Appetite For Destruction. There are two songs from the band that Izzy Stradlin and Axl Rose originally formed which eventually morphed into Guns n’ Roses. Those two songs are “Reckless Life” and “Move to the City”, and both are upbeat and fast paced songs that hint at the style of songs that was to come from the band. “Nice Boys” is a cover of an old Rose Tattoo song, and the band does a great version here, losing none of the original attitude. The fourth and final song here is an Aerosmith cover called “Mama Kin” which is the weakest of the four songs but is still a vast improvement on the original. Which wouldn’t be hard for most Aerosmith songs.
The four remaining songs are all performed acoustically and predated what was to become a glut of similar releases, driven in part by this release. It led to the hit single “Patience” which found itself on heavy radio rotation around the world, and in itself pushed other bands such as Extreme and Mr Big to release their own big selling acoustic numbers. This then led to the popular MTV Unplugged program that brought together whole sets of bands numbers played acoustically. Here of course there was only one actually released song that go this treatment, being “Your Crazy” which was faster and much more electric on the Appetite for Destruction album. “Patience” was the only single released, while both “Used to Love Her” and “One in a Million” are great sounding songs with lots of energy and performed with gusto.
The fact that "Patience" was such a hit mad me even more withdrawn from this release when it first came out. I wasn't a fan of the hit machine, which is what these acoustic tracks became, and led to so many hard rock and metal bands seeking to 'sell out' and perform songs just for radio exposure. It really stopped me actually buying into this album until the mid-1990's, at which point I discovered the great material that lay within, and not for the first time wondered why I was so stupid in the early years to deprive myself of this because of 'music fashion'

As an accompanying piece with their debut album, this stacks up well. It kept the band well and truly in the public’s hearing. It’s a short sharp jab in the ribs and serves its purpose well. It may not be a go-to album on many occasions, but when you get around to it you remember just what made it so special.

Rating: "She's buried right in my backyard". 4/5

1055. Guns n' Roses / Use Your Illusion II. 1991. 3/5.

From the outset, the appearance of Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II on the same day created mayhem amongst fans of Guns n' Roses who had been waiting with anticipation for new material from the band. Two albums meant a lot of juggling when it came to listen and giving all of the material a fair chance to grow with love. Over time I came to enjoy the mix of material on Use Your Illusion I, and over time I came to consider just where it was that Use Your Illusion II couldn't quite match up to it.

There are two great songs on this album, ones that have resonated through time and still stand out as the best here every time they come on. The album opener “Civil War” is a classic, with its opening monologue taken from the movie “Cool Hand Luke”, the moody start to the hard and emotional ride beyond, it is one of the songs that shows the other side to Guns n’ Roses, not just the crass and pissed off side, the one where the band’s lifestyle comes through in the lyrics. “Civil War” shows a mature side, a meaningful side to the band’s song writing, and for me it is one of their best songs. The other is “You Could Be Mine” which found its way onto the soundtrack of “Terminator 2: Judgement Day”, and it too shows the technical side of the band and its musicians. It is a heavy, rollicking song that reaches for the pinnacle, and tests the limits of any singer’s vocal chords. Hard hitting drums, awesome guitars and great lyrics make for a terrific song and the best the band can offer.
Beyond this there are other layers of songs that fill the album, some are good and others are really only average. Unlike the other album I don't believe the songs tie together as well here as they do on it, and whether that is because most of this is 'newer' material is not something I can answer.
Sitting in the middle would be songs such as the piano ragtime sensibilities of "14 Years" which I alternately enjoy or dismiss depending on my mood at the time. "Yesterdays" again is heavily based around the piano and the tempo probably precludes my total enjoyment of the track. The cover version of "Knocking on Heaven's Door" doesn't do it for me like its sister track from Use Your Illusion I, "Live and Let Die", probably only for the fact that I've never really liked the song anyway. It's okay for the mix of songs available.
"Get in the Ring" is an abusive laden sledge fest at critics and hangers on over the career of the band, with little left to the imagination as to what they really think of those people mentioned. Once again, as with "Yesterdays" I can really get into this song on some days and on others I can quiet happily skip it if I'm not in the mood. "Shotgun Blues" is closer to the sound the band gave us on their first album and is more recognisable as a result. "Breakdown" is fine but a bit long on the run time. "Pretty Tied Up (The Perils of Rock 'n' Roll Decadence)" has its moments where it is fun to listen to, and for the most part so is "Locomotive (Complicity)", but once again it just goes on way beyond the length of time it needs to.
"So Fine" is written by and sung by Duff McKagan, and apart from that novelty the song is about average for the rest of the album. For my taste it is too slow and maudlin at the beginning to be an enjoyable track before it breaks out towards the end.
"Estranged" is a long winded, overblown extravagance of a song that goes nowhere and takes an eternity to do so. I have never found anything even remotely terrific about this track. With so many of these tracks it feels like they have been extended purely to try and get the album up to its maximum length of 78 minutes that a CD would hold in those good old days of the early 1990's. Sure, quantity can be better, but only if it is quality.
"Don't Cry" is the second version of this song, with alternate lyrics from the twin track that appears on Use Your Illusion I. I haven't ever been a fan of either version. "My World" completes the album in reasonable fashion without being able to rescue it from its own averageness.

As I said in my review of Use Your Illusion I, taking the best songs from both albums and combining it into just one would have been a much better idea, and produced a much better product. With that in mind, I don't think there would have been a great deal of material from this album that would end up on a combined effort. Much of this feels and sounds forced, and without great inspiration. Others may disagree, but unless there is some stimulant involved I can't get overly excited about what is contained within.

Rating: "I'm a cold heart-breaker, fit to burn, and I'll rip your heart in two". 3/5

1054. Bloodbound / Nosferatu. 2006. 4/5

In this wonderful modern age of music, the advent of digital music platforms has not only opened the doors of bands around the world to find a larger and wider fan base, it has made the discovery of those bands and albums so much easier for the music lover. And sometimes, when all of the algorithms work right and you get recommendations for album and bands that you might like that you've never heard, you find an album or band that lights up your life for a moment in time. And that is exactly what happened for me and Nosferatu.

There are albums that technically mightn’t be brilliant but that I love just for the music and especially the vocals. HammerFall’s Glory to the Brave is a leading example of that, in that it mightn't be instrumentally perfectly proficient but it has great tunes and superb vocals. This is another case in point and given that I discovered it in much the same way as I did that HammerFall album perhaps it isn't coincidental. The galloping beat of the double kick drums sets the tempo in every song, followed by those happy power metal guitars and brilliant double tracked vocals from Urban Breed create the perfect setting for anyone who enjoys this kind of metal. For me it is important that there are no power ballads here at all, no attempt to slow the whole album down by partaking in that style of metal that requires that kind of song to make it popular with the masses. No, not here on Bloodbound’s debut, all you get is upmarket speed with great guitars and soaring vocals throughout, with no respite. This gets bonus points for that alone. This has, for the most part, my favourite parts of this genre of metal without the crap. It might sound like it’s a formula as you listen, as the base of each song has a similar feel and sound because of the way the drums and bass come together. Some would say that this is exactly what all power metal is like. Personally, I don’t care how similar sounding the songs are as long as they are enjoyable and fun. And as it turns out, that’s what this album does for me. When I put it on, it lifts my mood immediately.
The opening track “Behind the Moon” is a beauty, immediately setting forth the solid base of what is to follow. “Into the Dark” is a great follow up, while the title track “Nosferatu” is another terrific song based around the double kick drum and excellent vocals. “Metal Monster” and “Crucified” continue the excellent material well into the middle of the album, each showcasing the best moments that the band has to offer. Then “Desdemonamelia” starts off at a furious pace before changing back and forth between a traditional heavy song and its power metal roots.
While many people have likened this album to a power metal version of Iron Maiden, I think the real influences can be heard in “Fallen from Grace” and “Scream in the Night”. “Fallen from Grace” has two verses that are sung very closely to the way the verses in Helloween’s “Eagle Fly Free” are sung and remind me heavily of it, while it is the guitar solo’s in “Scream in the Night” that have a heavily influenced Helloween sound about them. Great stuff. “For the King” continues in this direction, before “Midnight Sun” and “For the Battlefield” end the album on a great note.

Music is all about lifting your mood, enlightening your day and allowing your pain and anguish to drain away while you listen to it. For me at least, this album does this with relative ease. Put it on and give me four scotches and I’ll soar with the vocals for the length of the album. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, and I can even hear where people will have issues with the music. The love of music is subjective, and Bloodbound here have created the kind of album I can get on board with without a care in the world. Long live ballad-less power metal, and long live Nosferatu.

Rating: “With the light of day comes no sanctuary, as the shadows fade away”. 4/5

1053. Edguy / Theater of Salvation. 1999. 3.5/5

Much like contemporaries such as Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius, my everlasting problem with Edguy is the composition of their albums. You can generally split the songs into two categories, that being the faster and heavier versions of their metal songs and the slower ballad version of their metal songs. And for the most part their albums always excite me but also leave me feeling disappointed because of this. Theater of Salvation is no different on that scale.

The instrumental short "The Healing Vision" opens the album before leading straight into “Babylon” which is a terrific opening track that flies along from the outset with great vocals from Tobi Sammat. This is followed by “The Headless Game” which has a moodier and traditional heavier start to the song with a mid-tempo pace. “Land of the Miracle” is more or less a piano based power ballad, which by my definition takes any power out of the song. It’s okay for what it is, and the vocals are what really drives the song, but it's these kinds of songs that annoy me more than most others in all forms of music.
“Wake Up the King” sounds great, though the vocal lines seem little strange, even after all these years. They just don’t seem to follow what is being played instrumentally, and this is still off-putting. "Falling Down" slips back into that mid-tempo double kick scheme with Tobi sitting more or less in the one voice register, and mixes in a nice solo slot through the middle of the song as well as an inbuilt crowd singalong "woah-oh-oh-ooooh" leading into the final chorus. This leads straight into the faster "Arrows Fly" which kicks the tempo back up again, and is one of my favourites on the album, filled with those great power metal guitars while the vocals soar over the top without trying to do anything outrageous. Great stuff.
“Holy Shadows” is another song where the vocals in the chorus just seem out of ‘tune’ to what is being played musically. It's really very strange, and don’t feel right at all. It's a shame, because the rest of the song is really quite good, but I have trouble getting past this. “Another Time” is yet another piano based power ballad, and it doesn't matter how good Tobi sounds on this, it just makes me shudder every time I hear it. Yes, as always, I know what I've signed up for when I found and loved power metal bands. It doesn't mean I'll stop complaining about these kinds of songs though.
“The Unbeliever” is a MUCH better song, full of hard hitting drums, great vocals and terrific guitars. It immediately brings the right mood back to the album, one that should never have left it. Tobi sings hard and it is infinitely better than any ballad. Another of my favourite songs on this album. The album is then finished off by the epic title track, which flows from one mood to another in a satisfying climax.
There is a reasonable argument that Tobi has moved on from Edguy the band – that his Avantasia project has become his major focus over the past decade. Even at the time that this album was released it could be said to be true. The first Avantasia album was only a couple of years away from being released, and there are passages here that are reminiscent of the direction he went with it.

I always felt that the Edguy discography was growing towards something, improving with each album along the way until they reached their zenith, the album that would give the band the standing they deserved. While Theater of Salvation is not that album, it is yet another step closer to that goal. Like their previous albums there is plenty to like here and enjoy.

Rating: "I am the vision that comes to your mind when you denounce without regret". 3.5/5

1052. Primal Fear / Jaws of Death. 1999. 3.5/5

Having been drawn into Primal Fear by the Gamma Ray connection on their debut album, it was a no brainer that I had to check out the follow up release in order to see just what the band could produce on their sophomore album. All of the right ingredients had been put forth on that first album without creating any massive waves. My hope was that the band would gel together better both musically and in the writing process and produce something that would be amazing. That may have been ambitious thinking on my part.

On reflection, it is an album where none of the songs are outstanding, in the way that they jump out at you and make you love them. All the songs are solid and perhaps generic as a result, but in an age where singles were rarer, this album fits in with that ideal. There aren’t any songs here that I would naturally put on a mixed tape (or playlist I guess in this day and age) of favourite tracks. Like I said, for me there are no stand out songs. The opening of the instrumental “Jaw of Death” followed by “Final Embrace” is a good solid start to the album, though “Save a Prayer” doesn’t quite back that up. “Church of Blood” has more attitude in both music and vocals and makes for a better listen, while “Into the Future” carries on along that line of punchy drums and guitars and great vocals from Scheepers.
Every time I hear the start of “Under Your Spell” I think it is the start of Judas Priest’s “Out in the Cold” such is the similar way the keyboard opening sounds. Unlike that terrific song, this one is a bit dreary and just doesn’t quite manage to gather the momentum that has come before it. It doesn’t rate as one of my favourite Primal Fear songs. However, “Play to Kill” kicks back in at the right tempo and gets the album moving again in the right direction. “Nation in Fear” leads into “When the Night Comes” which is a slow and steady track and sounds very much like an AC/DC song. It’s an interesting cohesion within. “Fight to Survive” and “Hatred in My Soul” complete the album on an upward note.
Trying to blend those high range vocals into the music being written is a tough task at any level. Perhaps that’s where this just falls down a bit. Ralf Scheepers tends to sit back in a more comfortable vocal range than he has for some time throughout most of the album. As a result it does give the songs a flatter feel musically, only because we know what he is capable of. Perhaps in trying to keep his vocals in ‘tune’ with the songs he has cut out one of his best attributes.
The band sounds great. Tom Naumann and Stefan Leibing on guitars do a great job and have some excellent moments when soloing. The rhythm of drummer Klaus Sperling and band leader Matt Sinner on bass is solid throughout and provide the platform, but for me it is perhaps just a bit too regimented for my liking. The double kick drums keep an even tempo throughout, which is probably just missing a bit of excitement to help lift some songs out of the average.
There is a trade-off between what you want and what you have. Primal Fear is a heavier version of the power metal genre because they stick with the dual guitar attack and tone out the keyboards to a bare minimum here. On the other hand they also omit the super double-kick pace that comes with the speed metal aspect, and that drags the whole feel of the album back a little. And while everything sounds good here, there’s just a feeling that it is missing something that would have taken it to the next level.

When it comes to the bands that led Europe through the 1990’s power metal explosion and into the 2000’s, Primal Fear is one of the flag bearers. Their style of music is not the keyboard-dominated one of many of the power metal bands of the continent and as a result they have the harder edge to their music that allows them to cross genres. Both Primal Fear and Jaws of Death are a building of that style that Primal Fear built as their own. As a result of finding their own style these two albums are both good without pushing the boundaries to their limits. That came after this. Having said that there is still plenty to like here and is more than worth looking into.

Rating: “What are they fighting for, they call it holy war”.  3.5/5

1051. Megadeth / Live Trax [EP]. 1997. 5/5

At the time I found this at my favourite record store (Utopia Records in Sydney for those who are interested) Megadeth had no official live album on the market. In the years since of course there are several, as well as old concerts released on deluxe editions of past album re-released, not to mentioned bootlegged gigs. But in 1997 when I found this there was nothing, and I can honestly say I was excited to find it.

The live EP contains seven songs within six tracks, with the opening salvo of “Reckoning Day” and “Peace Sells” combined into the first track. It was recorded over two locations, at Phoenix, Arizona (to which Dave announces is now “Megadeth, Arizona!”) and California. Being an EP it is necessarily short, but the songs selection was always going to be a concern.
The opening track “Reckoning Day” sounds fantastic, and segues perfectly into “Peace Sells” through the ending kick drum from the first song into the bass opening of the second track. Perfect symmetry. I like the introduction of “Angry Again” form the Last Action hero soundtrack, it’s a great song that could easily have been written off because it didn’t end up on a Megadeth album. The live version here is terrific. So too the live version of “Use the Man” from the Cryptic Writings album, on which the band was touring on at the time. Then comes the power and joy of “Tornado of Souls” which sounds fantastic live, as does “A Tout Le Monde” which follows it. Perhaps the star attraction for me here is “She-Wolf”. Before I got this EP I was undecided how much I enjoyed the song. Once I heard it live, I was hooked and sold.

I loved this from the outset. It’s a short sharp jab that whets your appetite before finishing all too abruptly, especially when the last thing you hear is “Now here’s one you’ll remember…” before fading out.
At the time of its released, this looked as though it was going to be the only live recorded material from the Mustaine/Ellefson/Friedman/Menza line up. Future re-releases of past albums have included live gigs with these four which is exactly as it should have been. Still, as a moment in time, this is still a great listen.

Rating: “Mother of all that is evil”. 5/5

1050. Megadeth / Rust in Peace. 1990. 5/5

Dave Mustaine always felt he was in a competition with Metallica, and despite three excellent albums of his own under the Megadeth banner he seemed to think he was always living in their shadow. How much all of this was taken into account when it came to writing and recording this album I don’t know, but as good as those early albums are, the stars aligned in what became the glittering jewel in the band’s catalogue with the release of Rust in Peace.

The coming together of this quartet was the final piece of the puzzle in bringing out the very best that Megadeth the band could produce. Previous drummers and guitarists had done a good job and performed well but various problems always meant that the revolving door in the band kept swinging. By 1990 there came two wonderful ingredients that made their influence felt from the get-go. In Nick Menza they had a drummer that understood the pace, precision and intensity that the drums needed to be in order to dominate and drive the songs that were being written. In Marty Friedman they had a technically brilliant guitarist who not only added expertise to the band but drove Mustaine himself to greater heights in order to ensure he wasn’t being ‘shown up’ and to keep everything on the same brilliant level.
Here again we can best judge a great album on not only the strength of the best known songs and their influence on the fans and other bands around the world, but on the songs that fill the other slots on the album. It’s an easy task to categorise the heavy hitters on the album, with the opening hostile attack of “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due” smashing the album off on the right foot before being followed by the brilliance of “Hangar 18”. The mainstay of “Hangar 18” is not the fun filled lyrics of space aliens being contained in secret hangars, but of the fantastic trading solos that make up the entire second half of the song. As Ellefson and Menza hold everything together in the background, Mustaine and Friedman tear it apart, reaching a crescendo at the end of the song where the rhythm is also cranked up to reach a brilliant conclusion. The third of the triumvirate is the thrash central core of “Tornado of Souls”. And that is not to categorise as these three songs as the only ‘great’ songs on the album, it’s just the ones most metalheads know well. To be honest I rate every track on this album as a great song, but the other songs here, the lesser known ones to those that aren’t out-and-out Megadeth fans, are absolutely enthralling.
“Take No Prisoners” is a ripping track, spitting lyrics and with great reply vocals in the right places and a furious soundtrack throughout with more great solo’s from Mustaine and Friedman that make it a classic. This is followed by “Five Magics” with more of the same. “Poison Was the Cure” is one of the most underrated songs in the Megadeth catalogue, flaying along at an amazing speed, highlighted by the precision timing of Menza’s drums and the picking of the three guitarists who don’t have time to take a break throughout the whole song. The cackling to start of “Lucretia” sets off a song with a brilliant groove throughout and offset by the solos towards the end, it is just another awesome track. “Dawn Patrol” sets itself perfectly in place after the fire and turbulence of “Tornado of Souls”, giving everyone a chance to catch their breath before delving into the closing track “Rust in Peace… Polaris” which ends in the same fury and fire that the album began with.
True thrash metal was probably reaching its use by date once 1990 rolled around, but this is one of the great hurrahs of the 1980’s exposition of the genre. But it is a different form, because the musicianship here is astounding and outstanding. Listen to those guitars of Mustaine and Friedman. They are simply outstanding. The bass work from Dave Ellefson is also just brilliant, and so essential to the sound of the album, and not buried in the mix such that occurred on another famous band’s album that was released just before this album. And on top of this Nick Menza’s drumming is superb. What makes this album so good and so listenable even all these years later is that each member is giving their moment to shine, to make a part of a song their own, and it is so much more enjoyable because of this. And it is metal of the highest order, something that made it almost impossible to replicate down the track.

Put this album up against any other metal album ever recorded, and it holds its own against it. It is furious and unrelenting, it is heavy yet accessible, and it is as brilliant and fantastic today as it was on the day it was released, which was the day when I first bought it and listened to it. In a year of amazing metal album releases, this one towered over the lot.

Rating: “I miss the warm embrace I felt, first time you touched me”.   5/5