1243. Gamma Ray / Power Plant. 1999. 5/5

The 1990’s was a decade of massive change in the music industry, and heavy metal had had its difficult times in adjusting to the changes going on around it. In Europe however, rather than tuning down, getting slower and having vocals go from growls to harsh screams, metal music had gotten faster, utilised more synth to complement the guitars and double kick drums to enhance the speed, and vocalists who hit the heights of the upper spectrum of their vocals.
No band better exemplified this than Gamma Ray, the band helmed by Kai Hansen after his departure from Helloween, and who along with a select few other bands provided the world the counterpoint it needed to the alt, nu and industrial metal that grunge had brought about in other parts of the world.
1995’s “Land of the Free” album was a landmark for the power metal genre, a concept album that not only had Kai return full time to lead vocalist and guitarist, but also brought on board in guest roles vocalists such as Maichael Kiske and Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kursh. This album was then followed by the equally terrific “Somewhere Out in Space” - the episode of which you can find in Season 4 of this podcast - which again pushed the band and the metal genre to greater heights, meshing the fast paced double kick drums with the twin guitars and punishing bass guitar that has formed the base of this band since its inception. The band’s first charted single “Valley of the Kings” showed they could create songs that found prominence in more than just the heavy metal fans bedrooms.
In between, Kai had also been involved in his friend Piet Sielk’s band as a side project. Iron Savior had brought out two albums that he had played on and also co-written some material, and while at this time there was no danger that Kai was going to switch camps away from his own band, some pondered just how full time Gamma Ray could be if he was spending time recording and touring with another band at the same time. Iron Savior’s second album “Unification”, on which both Kai and drummer Dan Zimmermann had played, and the episode on which you can find earlier here in Season 6 of this podcast, had only finished recording when Gamma Ray then went into the studio to write and record this album. It was a double shift that was not to last beyond the next two years, at which time Kai returned to concentrate full time on his number one priority – the glory of Gamma Ray.

“Power Plant” is most power metal of Gamma Ray’s albums. In general Gamma Ray utilise a combination of both speed metal and traditional heavy metal as their main focus, whereas this is more oriented in the power metal genre that Kai himself helped to define in the late 1980’s. But this album is power metal without the dominance of synths that usually comes to mind when you mention that genre of heavy metal, it still focuses on the twin guitars in the music which gives it a more powerful sound than they key and synth based sound that true power metal bands produce.
The opening track is a beauty, “Anywhere in the Galaxy” powering out of the blocks with Zimmermann’s double kick drums hammering through the opening with the guitar riff and Kai’s high-pitched scream crashing out of the speakers. The double kick runs throughout driving the song to the end, and Kai’s vocals at time become very Rob Halford-like in their screaming verses. It’s a brilliant opening track, and sets the album off on the right foot from the very beginning. This segues nicely into “Razorblade Sigh”, another automatic classic, darker in tone, opening with the phased guitar and Kai’s ominous vocals. This is an underrated classic in the Gamma Ray discography, not often thought of when it comes to best songs but is always one that when you listen to it you wonder why it isn’t considered so. The lead out bridge to the song’s conclusion is an emotionally charged highlight. “Send Me a Sign” follows, the song used as the advanced track prior to the album’s release. It has become the band’s signature song to close out their live sets and is a fan favourite to this day.
“Strangers in the Night” just has to be influenced by Judas Priest. Kai’s vocals in the verses here are so very flavoured by Rob Halford, and awesomely so. They sound brilliant. And the guitar melody and double kick drum is very much like a “Painkiller” album sound. The band has always been an influence of both music and vocals for Kai and his bands, and this song is no exception.
From here we move into one of the band’s best ever songs, “Gardens of the Sinner”. Bombastic, melodic, anthemic. Great singalong vocals, driven by the drums and guitars, everything about it screams ‘Gamma Ray classic’. It is amazing that this song did not make initial live set lists, and it wasn’t until the band gave the fans the chance to vote for the songs they wanted to hear live that this came on board, and hasn’t left since. “Short as Hell” is perhaps the most unusual song on the album, sandwiched where it is, an old fashioned jump step drum and guitar riff that bounces along rather than the double kick that dominates most other songs on the album.
The most surprising song on the album is “It’s a Sin”, a cover of the Pet Shop Boys hit single from the 1980’s. It’s a surprise in a couple of ways, firstly that the band chose to cover this particular song, as most of the cover songs they have done have been old NWoBHM bands songs, but secondly that it is done so well. Guitar replaces synth, and Kai sings it terrifically well. It is the best example of slight change in focus of this album compared to the last two that the band has done. It does polarise fans, with many believing that it diminishes the album. Personally, I have always enjoyed it. Following this comes another song that splits the fan base, the openly obvious metal anthem of “Heavy Metal Universe”. Some fans complain that this is such a cliched song looking for a fan reaction that it again lowers the whole expectation of the album. On the other side of the argument, metal bands have written anthem songs to play live forever. Judas Priest – there's that comparison again – made an artform of it in the early 1980’s, as have many other bands. Again, I like the song, I have no problem with it. “Wings of Destiny” ramps up the intensity and emotion with Kai’s harmony vocals and those terrific twin guitars of Kai and Henjo. The lead out bridge vocally is sensational, and sums up the best parts of the song in style. ”Hand of Fate” is backed back to a mid-tempo and is very much in Dirk Schlachter’s style of song, one that differs markedly from the Kai, Dan and Henjo penned tracks.
The closing epic is “Armageddon”, stretching to almost nine minutes and full of platitudes throughout, along with scintillating drumming from Dan again. While not quite on the scale of the title track of the band’s first album “Heading for Tomorrow”, this is where Kai excels, writing songs of magnitude that command your attention and become the types of tracks that drag you in to start the album all over again.

My undying love for this band has perhaps not yet filtered uninterrupted onto this podcast, given the few albums of theirs that I have so far been able to review for episodes here. That will over time be rectified. Suffice to say that from the first time I heard Kai Hansen play and sing on Helloween’s “Walls of Jericho” album I have been slightly obsessed with his music, which transferred completely to Gamma Ray when he formed the band back in 1989.
This resulted in me ensuring that I had this album in my hands on its first week of release. I had spent several years wearing out my copies of the band’s previous two albums, and I was more than ready for new material. When this album came out, I had just relocated from Sydney back to my childhood home in Kiama, living with my parents, and driving my father-in-law's taxi part time as my only source of income. So let me just say that it was a less than satisfactory time of my life. What helped to keep my spirits up was this album. I would drive the taxi around with this album on constant rotation, something that not only annoyed a few people, but also found some ready converts who enquired about who that band was, and what that album is.
For me, Gamma Ray is fun. You sing along, you air guitar, you air drum. This is what heavy metal is supposed to be, remember? Metal is supposed to lighten your mood, bring you to life, lift you above the ground. That’s why we listen to music, to improve our days. Gamma Ray for me has always done that, and this album is no exception. Helloween was known for its ‘happy guitars’ from Kai and Michael Weikath, and Kai has kept this in Gamma Ray. They are the happiest band on the planet – watch them play live. They are all grinning and smiling through the whole gig, it is amazing. And that’s what I do when I listen to this album as well.
“Power Plant” does prove to be that slightly different album in the catalogue though. The previous two albums are very much in the traditional Gamma Ray style, as are the following three albums. This one ventured down a slightly different path, perhaps through the writing being spread between all four members, with Henjo contributing two songs, Dan contributing two songs and Dirk one. Even so, I still love this album. It is an uplifter of my mood, with one particular song doing that more than most. It was also the first song I saw the band play live, on the only time they toured Australia, and it still sticks in my mind as one of the best moments of my life.

1242. Lionheart / The Grace of a Butterfly. 2024. 3.5/5

Lionheart came into being in their first iteration in the early 1980’s. Sometime referred to as a ‘supergroup’, that doesn’t take into account the fact that most of the musicians in that first group had either left or been fired from successful bands of the time. Vocalist Jess Cox had quit Tygers of Pan Tang. Guitarist Dennis Stratton had been moved on by Iron Maiden. Guitarist Steve Mann’s band Liar had just dissolved. Bass guitarist Rocky Newton’s band The Next Band had had no calls. Drummer Frank Noon... well... didn't seem to like staying with any band for any length of time. There were a few revolving doors, but the core of Stratton, Mann and Newton finally got a record deal for Lionheart, and they recorded their debut album “Hot Tonight” in 1984, to a resounding thud. Finally in 1986, they disbanded, and found success in other areas, especially Steve Mann and Rocky Newton who teamed up in the McAuley Schenker Group to be involved in their successful late 80’s early 90’s run of albums and tours.
Flash forward to 2016 – yes, 30 freaking years later – and there was a reunion of the band to play at a three-day Rockingham 2016 melodic/hard rock festival, held in Nottingham. The success of this gig convinced the band, with Stratton, Mann and Newton now joined by lead vocalist Lee Small from the band Shy and Clive Edwards who had performed with UFO, that they should make a go of it once again, which resulted in the album “Second Nature” in 2017. “Second Nature” found a nostalgic audience out there looking for music from a bygone age, and the five piece fitted the bill perfectly. This was then followed by the album “The Reality of Miracles” in 2020, and a renewed touring schedule that saw them getting exposure that surely none of them would have thought possible so many years after their initial foray into the music business.
With the pandemic having halted their momentum slightly, they now have their third reunion album out, and with the promise of more festival dates and tours in the ether, their new album has arrived, titled “The Grace of the Dragonfly”.

“The Grace of a Dragonfly” is a concept album, bathed in the shower of power metal, and both of these proponents of the album should be remembered when listening to the album as a whole. The album’s story centres around World War II and is basically aimed at being an anti-war themed album, the lyrics building up the sentiment at war being futile and other options should always be considered.
The album opens with “Declaration”, which builds from its quiet opening to an anthemic chorus with the declaration being made figuratively and literally, and carrying an energy that kicks off the album satisfactorily. “Flight 19” slows up the pace, settles into the long drawn-out spectacle of the post-ballad. The energy of the opening track isn’t quite maintained here, but then segues into “V is for Victory” which is a much more pleasantly paced track, moving beyond the opening keyboard synth dominated beginning to the soaring vocals of the anthemic chorus, backed by the great harmony of the support vocals, and then the great lead breaks through the middle of the song. “This is a Woman’s War” continues down this path, while “The Longest Night” is arguably the best song on the album, played at a great tempo and showcasing all of the members of the group’s best qualities.
“The Eagle’s Nest” on the other hand, is pure syrup, the power ballad at its best or worst, depending on how you wish to identify it (spoiler alert: at its worst). Look, I know power metal bands have to do power ballads, but gee whiz, just once I would love a power metal band to say “you know what? We’re going to avoid the cliche this time around!” If nothing else, this song puts to bed the question as to whether or not this is a power metal band, because this ties it to that genre for eternity. Kill me now. “Little Ships” and “Just a Man” both have a more keyboard oriented basis with Lee’s vocals soaring in while well supported in harmony by Dennis and Steve. Yes, this is more power ballad than power rock, but it doesn’t quite plumb the depths of the other tune, saved in the most part by the great solo break of Dennis and Steve’s guitars. The biggest problem is the song’s length, it does go on a bit too long at five minutes for such a track to retain the interest all the way through.
“UXB” returns to the band’s 80’s roots, with synth that makes it sound like it is from one of those great 80’s movie soundtracks (yes, start thinking “Together in Electric Dreams”), but when the guitars hit in it has a much better more modern take on that... like... 1990’s power metal I guess... but take a listen to the track. This could honestly have been recorded in the mid-1980's, such is the style of song, the vocals, the guitars. This could have come straight from my 1980’s playlist, and I could put it on that right now and no one who listened to it would bat an eyelid. The album rushes to its climax with the title track “The Grace of a Dragonfly”, the album’s epic conclusion where everything that has been put in place lyrically throughout is brought together with the final push, before “Remembrance: Praying for World Peace” finalises the concept album with its quiet keyboard synth outro.
So, this is for all intents and purposes a power metal album. Sure, the guys in the band may be more for the NWoBHM age or the glam metal age, but while there are specks of both f those metal genres on this album, it is basically tied very much to the power metal genre. However, it is a part of that genre where the keyboards are NOT the dominant instrument, and the drums aren’t hammering along with the double kick for the entirety of the album. Here we have the dual guitars, both playing lead and rhythm, while the keys offer filler underneath for the most part of the album. The drumming is also very much in the traditional hard rock style, much in the 2/4 beat and generally keep time and being the solid backing to wat is happening up front. So it’s a real mixture in the music, which perhaps is what drew me so strongly to this album when I first listened to it, because despite being a power metal fan I do prefer the bands that are guitar heavy not keyboard heavy, and sometime the drums can be a bit over the top, but here Clive Edwards knows what his role is, and he sticks solidly to it.

About 20 years ago, I started making a deep dive into bands that I had always heard about but that I had never listened to any of their material. Mostly it was NWOBHM bands that had come and gone so quickly that by the time I got into heavy metal they had already been non-existent for years. This involved downloads, YouTube searches and rummaging in record stores all over the place. One of those bands that I was searching for, or that I eventually came to search for, was indeed Lionheart, but the best that I could find was a couple of songs off that long-forgotten debut album “Hot Tonight”. They were... ok... but that was the extent of my knowledge. And that had come in essence because it was another of the 4000 bands that Dennis Stratton had played for since that one Iron Maiden album had initially brought him to my attention.
We move to the modern day, and I was as mystified as most others when I eventually discovered that Lionheart still existed, let alone had a new album released. It was only through the posts by a fastidious Iron Maiden fan on her podcast’s Facebook page – thanks Kirsty – that it came to my attention at all, and, given that I only had another half a dozen new albums just released to listen to and give a review on for this podcast, I thought, “What the hell, let’s see what it is like!”
And so you have what I have basically outlined here for you earlier. The themes here are unmistakable lyrically, but it is musically where I am still intrigued. Yes, the power metal genre is heavily represented here, though with the two guitars instead of just keys and one guitar, and without the typical power metal double kick drum. In this aspect, it does hold some similarities to the NWoBHM style of heavy metal, tying those two together. But at times I definitely pick up pieces of tracks that have similar strains to euro metal such as Sonata Arctica and progressive metal such as Symphony X, just not as frantic as those bands can be. And as a fan of all of those bands and their genres, perhaps you can see why this album keeps pulling at me, even after I’ve decided it just isn’t going to work for me. It is true that the very nature of the power ballad, that is a majority shareholder in a number of these songs, will eventually win and have me banishing this album to the shelves, only to see the light of day when I am in a particularly narrowed musical mood... for the moment, I can’t help but still have it on my playlist. And every time it begins, I find myself curious as to whether it is THIS time that I finally forgo it, or finally admit that I like this far more than I could imagine.
That being said, “The Grace of a Dragonfly” is an album that will definitely not be a fence sitter – you will either enjoy the story and the music that this band has created, or you will wonder why this kind of album is still being produced in 2024. Whichever way you turn, you won’t find out unless you give it a go. And my suggestion is that you do exactly that.

1241. Judas Priest / Invincible Shield. 2024. 4/5

The latter part of the career of Judas Priest has had plenty of interesting phases about it, notwithstanding the changes in band lineup in that time, and the other difficulties that have faced the band in that time. Following the return of Rob Halford to the band, they put out two completely different styled albums in “Angel of Retribution”, which tried to harness what the band had done best prior to their separation, and “Nostradamus”, the double CD prog metal concept album that threw the Priest rulebook out the window and created a whole new chapter in their songwriting and production. Both of these albums had their fans and their critics. Some felt that “Angel of Retribution” was both not Judas Priest enough and also too much of a change from their normal sound (“Loch Ness” I’m looking directly at you!), while the huge risks and gamble taken with “Nostradamus” was a marvel to some, and an overblown misplaced epic by others.
In 2011, founding member K.K. Downing left the band citing... well... differences... and Richie Faulkner was brought in, and the youthful energy he brought with him seemed to rub off on the next album, “Redeemer of Souls” as it lifted the intensity lost somewhat by the mist of “Nostradamus”, and it felt as though Judas Priest was back on level footing. Perhaps the only doubts arose from Halford’s capability to continue singing live as he had done in his youth. He himself admitted it just wasn’t possible for him to do so, and that he by changing the way he sang those older songs live, he was able to draw out his ability in this respect. There were still concerns over Halford’s vocal capacity... that is until the release of “Firepower” in 2018, arguably the best Priest album since “Painkiller”, where the songs sat in that perfect Priest tempo, and Halford stayed in his capable vocal range, and the combination produced an absolutely killer album. Glen Tipton’s diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease while recording this album meant that he had to pull back from fulltime duties with the band, with producer Andy Sneap stepping in when required to cover his forced absences.
The initial writings sessions for that album’s follow up occurred in early 2020, but with the onset of the pandemic, and not being able to be together, the writing was more or less put on hold. Then the band began their 50th Anniversary tour, which again was interrupted by the shock of Faulkner’s major heart scare, when he ruptured his aorta on stage, with blood filling his chest cavity. A 10+ hour emergency operation saved his life, but even the most optimistic person could barely believe he would tour again. And yet he did. All of this meant that progress on the new album was much slower than the band had hoped for, but eventually in late 2023 it was completed, and in March 2024 “Invincible Shield” was released upon an expectant and excited fan base world wide.

One of the big things that pops up very quickly on this album is that Rob has decided to extend himself vocally once again, with several songs and lines in other songs reaching for those highs of days gone by. You have to admire Halford, who at an age when he could easily rest on his laurels and sing within certain parameters without anyone feeling cranky about it, that he still has the ability and DESIRE to want to bring out those brilliant top level vocal highs at different stages, which really help to make the songs involved. Will he be able to do the same things night after night in the live environment? Well, that's a problem for Future Bill, because at the moment I just think it's great to hear them coming out of my speakers here in the Metal Cavern.
Those vocals on the album opener “Panic Attack” are that first impression, one everyone has had for months after it was released as the first single from the album. It also has very “Painkiller” like vibes in the guitars, that classic duelling solos and then twin harmony in between. It’s a Judas Priest gold standard type of song, coming at the kind of speed that immediately gets the blood pumping and the fist raising in glee. Those scream range vocals continue into “The Serpent and the King” which continues along the same old school Priest past path, with solos and riffs and drums that just crush out of the speakers. From the outset a different path has been set by this album than was the case with “Firepower”. The band has made a conscious effort not to replicate the success of that album, and instead, early on at least, has ramped everything up including Rob’s vocals in order to differentiate it from that album. And for me, it works beautifully. More of the same comes from the title track “Invincible Shield”, with Scott Travis’s driving double kick being the leading light along with Rob’s doubled harmony vocals throughout the song. There are pieces of this song that remind me incredibly of “Ram it Down”, thus increasing my belief that there is a definite desire to bring in that era of the band’s music into this album. I love it. Others may not, but the sense of deja-vu I get from the opening to this album is a good thing, not one of impending doom. As the album progresses there are examples of these kinds of songs, especially “As God as My Witness” which charges along with the same principles in place. Then there is also another interesting phase towards the end of the album with “Escape from Reality” and “Sons of Thunder”, which on my initial listens to this album reminded me of earlier Priest, those albums from the early 1980’s such as “British Steel” and “Screaming for Vengeance”. It wasn’t until a little bit of research (I occasionally do some) brought forth the fact that Glenn Tipton was the main writer of both these songs, and that unlike the rest of the album that had Andy Sneap as sole producer, these two songs had Tom Allom involved in the porduction, the man who had produced both of those legendary early Priest albums, and a lending hand on “Firepower”. The connection does sound obvious once you have that information.
Other songs such as “Devil in Disguise”, “Gates of Hell” and the album closer “Giants in the Sky” tread a path that contains a similar drum beat throughout and favoured by a rhythm riff that doesn’t change much in the tracks. The mid tempo favoured tracks, each with their own take on the variety to be offered by the band, are songs that act as the glue portion of the album, songs that don’t particularly offer anything extravagant or groundbreaking, but pay their part in the whole.
On the other hand, songs like “Crown of Horns” and “Trial By Fire” stick more closely to the format devised for the “Firepower” album, set in a great hard mid tempo range with Rob’s vocals settling in and not pushing the envelope of his vocal range, instead creating that wonderful mood through his normal range soar that makes modern Priest the wonderful band it is. Scott’s drums don’t overplay themselves, sticking in a great pattern along Ian Hill’s booming bass guitar, which has a terrific resonance throughout this album, and Tipton and Faulkner’s guitars flowing along in harmony together. Like I’ve said before, “Firepower” is an amazing album, and having songs that still utilise that writing style here is terrific to listen to.

The modern digital age has some amazing things in place that make it superior in some ways to those of, say, my teenage years. One of those is being able to hear a new album on the day of its release from midnight, which is when it goes live on the streaming services available, rather than having to wait to be able to get to your local record store and purchase your physical copy and then take it home and put it on your turntable for the first time – or by having to wait for your heavy metal music dealer to get HIS copy and then record it for you on the cassette you provide. In the instance of “Invincible Shield”, my first listen started at 5.50 am on the day of its release, the first of lots of listens in the days since.
Judging an album after such a limited span of time, despite the number of listens to the album equating in the thirties, is never easy, and will no doubt over the course of time become more rounded and probably more accurate. Should this podcast last another 20 years (or indeed, if I last another 20 years) then it would be interesting to listen to what I would say about my thoughts on this album having had that amount of time to digest it. What I can say is that at this point of the journey, this album has a lot going for it. I immediately have my ears prick up as certain songs begin, and I immediately notice when this album comes into the rotation of the other album that I have on my current playlist. I am looking forward to gaining my physical copy of this album and being able to give it the chance to fill the Metal Cavern with its music through my stereo rather than streaming to my Bluetooth speaker or through my headphones. That will be the real test.
At this point though, I would rank this alongside “Firepower” as the best Judas Priest albums since “Painkiller”. As with the previous album, the band has made a conscious effort to reintegrate their historical sound into their newest songs, and they have done it terrifically well. Their sound here is again amazing. Tipton, for as much as he is doing with Sneap in support, is great, and Richie Faulkner again is superb. K.K. Downing is showing with his own band that he still has what it takes, but Faulkner’s injection into Judas Priest has definitely been a positive for the band in both ability and writing. The grand old man Ian Hill continues to prove his worth to the band, and Scott Travis’s drumming still drives the machine. An of course, Rob Halford. Has he lost any of the power in his voice? At times during this album I have just shaken my head at what he can still achieve vocally. He is a remarkable person.
The verdict? Of all of the new albums I have listened to over the past month, this is the one that still demands the most attention. That’s about the best recommendation I can give for this album.

1240. Bruce Dickinson / The Mandrake Project. 2024. 4.5/5

It’s not as if Bruce Dickinson doesn’t have enough to do in his life. A pilot who flies planes, a brewer who brews beer, a writer who writes tomes, a DJ who does radio shows, and just as an aside a lead vocalist who has been at the forefront of the music industry for over 40 years. That touches the surface of what Dickinson has done in a life that seems to get busier every year. You can now add on to this creator of yet another solo album, something to tide him over until the next Iron Maiden tour or album or project manifests itself. There is little doubt that Dickinson is a marvel when it comes to what he sets his mind to.
The duo of Dickinson and his frequent collaborator Roy Z last put out an album together in 2005, that being the “Tyranny of Souls” album that came during a break between Iron Maiden releases and tours. Despite the success and general positive reviews of that release, time worked against both men when it came to producing another follow up. Despite this, it is well known that Dickinson had been writing songs with a new solo album in mind at least a decade ago. In fact, Roy Z said in a recent interview that the next Dickinson solo album was prepared to be recorded in 2012 during a break in Maiden proceedings, and that at that time 14 songs had been written, and that many of those songs are still unreleased and that he hoped they would eventually see the light of day. One of those songs of course found its way onto an Iron Maiden album, much like another had done so back in the late 1980’s.
With the onset of the pandemic in recent years, and the delayed release of Maiden’s last album “Senjutsu”, time has been more readily available in order to not only finalise the writing and production of the tracks that make up this album, but the eventual release of the album and even a tour in certain places in the world (not Australia of course) to promote it. Then there is the comic book and the overreaching story of the whole project... but you know, what we are interested in here on this podcast is the album, and if it is any good. It matters not about the story if the songs just don’t hit you in the right places.

The opening track of the album was also the first teaser single release, “Afterglow of Ragnarok”. It’s a different approach from opening tracks on his other solo releases, which have generally been really heavy riffs and hard and fast, whereas this opening track has a more atmospheric feel about it, as though it is setting the scene for what is to come, which of course it is. I must admit I only listened to this a couple of times before the album was released so as not to allow it to dominate my early listening of the album, and I think that worked well. Bruce’s vocals are terrific here, in an easy register to sing along with. It is to become a recurring theme. It’s a really good opening track, that is then immediately crushed by the brilliant follow up “Many Doors to Hell”. Bruce’s dulcet tones on those opening lines... almost sinister in the lower depths of his range... we haven’t heard this for a long time and it is just brilliant, before returning to his more regular register for the bridge and chorus. It has a terrific solo through the middle of the song, and just a great beat about it all the way through. Bruce has said this has nothing to do with the comic – the song tells the story of a female vampire bored with eternity and wanting to find a way back to her humanity – but it sounded good anyway so it made the cut. I agree with him, I think this is a terrific song.
The second single “Rain on the Graves” follows, a song that has its beginnings back in 2008, and continues the same grain that the album has tracked along so far, with another moody musical aspect pulled along by a midtempo range that feels more intense than that description. That is perhaps the best aspect of the opening to the album, the groove is the main drive, but it is more amplified that just a simple midtempo beat, it moves much freer than that.
“Resurrection Man” not only features Bruce on guitar (a real twanging surf-type almost DAD-like guitar too) but is a change in direction musically as well, with this track tying directly to the comic release with the mention of the anti-heroes Doctor Necropolis and Professor Lazarus, and teasing the promise of eternal life. Continuing this change in musical journey, “Fingers in the Wounds” is based around a piano keyboard base with Bruce driving the song with firstly the soaring vocal and then the powerful forceful vocal, through to the middle of the song where keys and synth dominate. It’s an interesting track, one that harks back to earlier solo material Dickinson has done and is one that does take a few listens to dissect given it is so different from his usual pursuits.
The original yet rejigged “Eternity Has Failed” to me is a triumph. Revisiting it after the song was purloined by Mr Harris for his band, this version loses nothing in comparison in my opinion. Some of the lyrics are changed to continue to story of “The Mandrake Project”, and Bruce’s change in the way he sings, along with the slower and more intense sound of the track makes this a joy. I love Maiden’s version, and I find I love this just as much. Then “Mistress of Mercy” cuts in with its heavy opening riff in true Roy Z style, and provides the best straight up heavy song of the album, with Roy given his best opportunity to solo unhindered through the middle of the song.
“Face in the Mirror” drops back out of that mindset and dials everything back as the acoustic guitar and keyboard dominated track brings back “Tears of the Dragon” like tones without replicating the majesty or power of that song. Bruce’s guitar returns, and this track is credited with the first recorded Dickinson guitar solo. “Shadow of the Gods” is almost like a prog metal song, drifting along for the first half like a power ballad, before finally breaking out into a heavy riff and almost a growl in Bruce’s vocals, something that comes as a shock the first time you hear it, and then a grandiose finish with the soaring vocal returning. It could almost be a progressive metal suite. Finally, the album closes out with “Sonata (Immortal Beloved)”, with similar tones to the way the previous two tracks have gone. Stretching to almost ten minutes, here again we are exposed to vocals from Bruce that he rarely uses but obviously has in his repertoire to utilise, the beautiful quiet soar through the mid-range that he used in a song like “Navigate the Seas of the Sun”, but in a more operatic stage musical way, rather than the high range of his pitch. It’s an epic, a slow burner, a song that builds slowly but determinedly over the course of the ten minutes to its eventual conclusion. This song apparently dates to before the release of “Tyranny of Souls”, something that makes you think that it was a project that both Bruce and Roy were passionate about, enabling them to use this as the final chapter of this long awaited new album.

Perhaps the best way to give you an idea of how much people were waiting for this album to be released was that it was impossible to find a copy of the standard CD for sale anywhere on the eastern seaboard the day after its release. Everywhere I looked, it was sold out. You have to say that that is a fair indication of the anticipation that was felt about the release of “The Mandrake Project”. Whether or not that knocks off every single Taylor Swift album from the Australian charts – yes, ALL of them take up the first ten or twelve positions on the Australian Albums charts as I record this - remains to be seen.
It was of course available on all streaming platforms, and that was where most people turned to for their initial listens to this album. Including me. And up to the recording of this episode, I have barely listened to anything else. Six days, and I’m up to 45 rotations of the album... or streams in this case. So I feel as though I have enough initial knowledge to render my verdict here.
What Bruce does best on all of his solo albums is put forward songs and music that he could never produce in Iron Maiden. That’s why he does it, and it opens another door from the material he writes and performs for that band. Which is why we all become drawn to it. And it is also the reason that sometimes some of the songs don’t always hit the right spot for everyone.
For me on “The Mandrake Project”, this is true of the closing three tracks, and that is only through my personal preference of music genre. All three of “Face in the Mirror”, “Shadow of the Gods” and “Sonata (Immortal Beloved)” are that style of song that I don’t personally care for a lot. I APPRECIATE the music, massively in fact, because they are composed and performed brilliantly and beautifully. But having gone through the first half of the album, where songs like “Afterglow of Ragnarök”, “Many Doors to Hell”, “Rain on the Graves” and “Eternity Has Failed” have been so powerful and energetic and riff worthy, the back third of the album slows down to a trickle, and softly moves into the distance. It’s a really interesting transition, from the first third of the album, through to several changes in the middle, and then the final third as written and performed. Like I said, I didn’t come here for Iron Maiden, and I expected a range of songs that showcased the differences in the writing collaboration of Dickinson and Z. And that’s exactly what we get. The band is great, and there is probably more keys and synth in places than I expected. That should not have been a surprise overall. This isn’t the “Accident of Birth/Chemical Wedding” era after all.
Is there more of Bruce’s solo music to come? Or is this like a crack in the window, allowing something to sneak through before that pathway is covered over. This is a truly enjoyable album, because it has the voice of Iron Maiden once again performing songs that Iron Maiden never would, and of course this is why Bruce has chosen to do this. Here, he drives the bus, and he is in control of what direction it goes, and it gives him the freedom to express himself in every way he would like to. It is the reason the album has moments that you might feel are a step too far, and others where you get even more than you bargained for.
Personally, I am enjoying this album a lot, probably more than I expected. It may not be all in a style that is my favourite to listen to, but the album as a whole is quite the triumph. There was always an expectation from myself that I would overhype this before its delivery and have it end up being a disappointment. It turns out that exactly the opposite has occurred. I didn’t listen to the early release of tracks, and went into the album more or less clueless as to what was to come. And through this I have discovered a lot of new songs to enjoy, and an album that, when taken as a story in itself, is another musical triumph for a collaborating pair that still know how to please their fans.

1239. Blaze Bayley / Circle of Stone. 2024. 4/5

There are few harder worker and more genuine artists out there than Blaze Bayley. In a career that has spanned bands such as Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden, and then almost 25 years out there fronting his own band and then his own solo project, Blaze has fought adversity and snatches of ill fortune in continuing to produce albums and live shows that are more often than not hailed as fan favourites. Name any other artist who continues to host FREE meet and greets with his fans, before or after his gigs. In doing so, he makes a connection that few artists can truly say they have with their fan base, a man of the people, who has a vision for his music and a solid working relationship with the individuals in the band Absolva who continue to be his backing band and co-collaborators.
Much continues to be made of his connection with Iron Maiden, and the two albums where he replaced Bruce Dickinson in the 1990’s. Part of this is pursued by Bayley himself with his tours where he plays only those Maiden tracks, which for fans of those albums is terrific as the band itself rarely touches that era. But the conglomerate of work Blaze has produced since those years is incredible, in particular the three albums under his Blaze persona, and then the first couple as the solo artist under his own name.
In more recent years he produced a trilogy of albums in a concept story called the Infinite Entanglement trilogy, before riding through the covid outbreak with the “War Within Me” album in 2021. Having completed the tour to promote this album, Blaze and his band went back into the studio to write and record their next album. In March 2023, just two days after the conclusion of the recording of what became the “Circle of Stone” album, Blaze suffered a heart attack which required quadruple bypass open heart surgery. The release of the album was put on hold as Blaze put his recovery as his priority. During this convalescence Blaze turned 60, and in itself felt as though it could have been a marker on his music career. Somewhat amazingly, almost seven months to the day from his heart attack, Blaze was back on stage performing once again. This is not the resume of a man who gives up despite everything the world sometimes throws at him. And with the man once again able to carry out his craft live on stage, he has now released his new album almost a year after it was completed to show the world he is still here and still means business.

In discussing the writing of the album, Blaze has confirmed that the album can be split into two halves. He is quoted as saying “Side one comprises six unconnected songs that describe human frailty, resilience, courage, and gratitude. Can you look to yourself for answers? Can you fight against all the odds to take your future in your own hand, or do you accept the fate that other people tell you is what you deserve? Believe in yourself. You can survive the knocks, defeats and disappointments of your life and come back stronger. That is the hope we hold in our first six songs.”
“Mind Reader” kicks off the album on the right foot, uptempo with Blaze in fine voice with the kind of energy that he puts into his best songs. “Tears in Rain” follows straight on with a great guitar riff to kickstart the song and Blaze back into his best vocals. This is a great song both musically and lyrically, referencing the great Rutger Hauer monologue from the movie Blade Runner as his character Roy Batty meets his end. Perfectly sung by Blaze and excellently performed by the band. Great stuff. “Rage” follows and moves into a slower and darker musical tone without losing the energy provided by the opening tracks. This song again moves in a story line, referencing a Welsh folk tale of Prince Llewelyn who kills his dog Gelert believing he had killed his infant son, when he had in fact defended him from the attack of a wolf. Sombre stuff, but a good song nonetheless in a typical Blaze fashion. Indeed there are similar notes and tones of songs from Blaze’s early solo output here in these songs which adds a nostalgic feel to the album. Two other excellent songs follow in “The Year Beyond This Year” and “Ghost in the Bottle”, both looking to be positive about the future, but accepting that fate could always step in and create its own mayhem. The Appleton brothers Chris and Luke are excellent again on both these tracks, with their driving and harmony guitars providing the impetus that makes these songs so enjoyable. The opening to “Ghost in the Bottle” especially is excellent, and I really enjoy this song, but I must admit the potential to really let fly on this track is a missed opportunity.
“The Broken Man” closes out side one of the album and is one of those songs that... just don’t appeal to me. Sure, it’s heartfelt, it’s poignant, and it builds from Blaze’s almost unaccompanied vocals at the start to a crescendo of Appleton’s raining solo in the middle of the song and Blaze raising the stakes in his vocals by the end. I appreciate what they are doing with this song, it just isn’t what I came to the album for. I’m not knocking the quality of the track, just the fact that it doesn’t appeal to my tastes.
Blaze has described Side Two of the album as consisting of six interconnecting songs telling a story, which Blaze is quoted as saying is “the story of our forgotten tribe: a search for the truth in the heart of the circle of tall stones. Seeking the mystical portal, whilst the ancestors call to you in dreams, you have denied them. They demand vengeance and reckoning but you are a selfish, materialistic coward, and you have avoided the true path of your future. You must find a way to become selfless and courageous to lead our tribe back to the homeland of our ancestors.”
The bagpipe laden “The Call of the Ancestors” segues into the title track “Circle of Stone”, utilising a guest vocal from Niklas Stalvind and sitting in a mid tempo range throughout, which pleasingly speeds up once we reach the guitar solo break in the middle of the song, once again excellently accomplished by the Appleton brothers. It takes it time, but the song once it finds its mojo is another good one.
“Absence” further enhances the guitaring excellence, along with the other players from Absolva. The bass line through this song from Karl Schramm is terrific, and backed up by the superb drumming from Martin McNee helps make this one of the best songs on the album. “A Day of Reckoning” pulls back into the id-tempo range once again, allowing Blaze to powerfully pull his vocals over the top of the retentive drum beat and cast itself out, filling the speakers with his dulcet tones. You can feel the passion in Blaze during this song. Then we speed up again with “The Path of the Righteous Man”, another starring effort for the Absolva boys who really deliver this song musically quite brilliantly.
The album closes out with “Until We Meet Again”, a song that I both admire musically and dread inwardly. Here again is an instance of finishing off an album with a song that has the potential to leave you amiss after the excellent energy that comes through most of what comes before it. Blaze duets with Welsh singer Tammy-Rae Bois and is accompanied solely by acoustic guitar and the violin of Anne Bakker. Now, while the combination of these two voices is spectacular and eminently enjoyable, and indeed creates the concluding chapter to this six-part musical concept story that covers the second side of the album, I have reservations as always. Personally, I’m not a fan of slower emotionally charged song completing albums. Sometimes it works, mostly for me it is a forbearance. It is performed beautifully. I just am not a fan of the style of song or of it ending the album.

I will lay my cards on the table here, and let you know (for those that don’t already know) that I am a Blaze Bayley fan. Have been since his Maiden days, but more especially of those early Blaze albums such as “Silicon Messiah” and “Tenth Dimension” and “Blood & Belief”, and also “The Man Who Would Not Die”. For me they hold up against the Maiden albums of that era, albums where Blaze and his band went hard in the heavy metal genre and showed that he wasn’t just a one trick pony.
Since then? Well, the albums are still good, but they are mixed. I still like them all but some of the songs don’t quite reach that awesome level. One thing I do know is that I am always looking forward to a Blaze Bayley album. This one was no different.
This took a little time for me to really get into, more for the fact that I was listening to a number of new albums from different artists all at the same time. But one of the things I enjoyed immediately was the music. Chris Appleton, Karl Schramm and Martin McNee have been on Blaze albums for a decade now, but with Chris’s brother Luke Appleton returning from Iced Earth to be a part of the makeup now... that’s a terrific thing, and the brothers combine excellently here. The tracks that really make you sit up and take notice are the ones where they are prominent in the mix.
Blaze himself sounds amazing, and though this was recorded before his health troubles last year, he’s singing amazingly well for a 60 year old. You can’t help but admire a man who was basically held out to dry because he couldn’t sing Dickinson’s songs live while in Iron Maiden, and yet still come back and been able to amass this amazing collection of albums since. Like the other new albums I have reviewed on this podcast recently, this “Circle of Stones” is still growing on me day by day. Each time I listen to it I find more stuff I like, and getting to know the songs and words always helps. I really enjoyed “War Within Me” when it was released, I felt Blaze had found a platform for his moder day take on metal. At this stage, I think this album surpasses it. The band are on point, and Blaze knows where he is taking his vocals. Yeah, I’d probably drop a couple of the songs if I had the

1238. Mick Mars / The Other Side of Mars. 2024. 3/5

Keeping up with news from the band Motley Crue shouldn’t have been this hard, given that they very publicly decided to cease touring and all activities back on December 31, 2015. The “Cessation of Touring” contract lasted almost four years, at which point in December 2019 they announced that they would be taking part in a stadium tour with Def Leppard and Poison the following year. Well, contracts are meant to be broken, something that guitarist Mick Mars was about to find out for himself.
Due to covid, the tour was postponed a couple of times until mid-2022. During this time, the band insisted that they had no intention of recording new material and instead would only be a touring band. In October of 2022, a statement was released stating that Mick Mars had retired from touring due to his ongoing health issues but would remain a ‘member’ of Motley Crue. The next day the band announced that John 5 would be their touring guitarist. Of course, all of this then escalated, as by April of 2023 John 5 was not only announced as the now guitarist of Motley Crue, but that they WOULD in fact begin writing and recording new material with him. At this, Mars sued the band claiming they were trying to rid themselves of him and of reducing his percentage of profits from the band, while the band countered by saying they had NOT fired him, and that the status quo remained that he was not a touring member of the band.
Lots has gone on since then but let's move away from the politics of the situation.
While Mars would no longer tour, he did announce in October 2023 that he would release a solo album. At the announcement he released the lead single from the album along with a music video, a song that caught everyone’s attention at the time. Despite all of the turmoil and slanging match between Mars and his former bandmates, it was his music that most of the fans were more interested in. Just what kind of material would Mars produce away from the band he had been with for 40 years, how relevant would it be, and would it, as the title of the album suggested, show off a different side to his musical prowess?

The greater portion of the album is written by Mars alongside lead vocalist Jacob Bunton and Winger keyboardist and guitarist Paul Taylor. Bunton has an interesting background, mixing being an Emmy winning composer and producer with artists including Mariah Carey and Steve Tyler, but also being lead vocalist of other middling metal acts such as Lynam and Adler in the past. His modern and progressive sounding vocals on this album are a huge plus to most of the songs here, and his career path is certainly something that appears to have been drawn heavily upon for this album. Taylor, who used to be credited as Paul Horowitz, has a long career with Winger and other hair and glam metal bands, and his proficiency on several instruments and in writing help to add to the upside of this album.
Two of the songs, “Killing Breed” and “Undone”, have a different lead vocalist in Brion Gambona, who was lead singer and guitarist for the band “Third Mist” that achieved recognition when they became semi-finalists on the “Star Search” show is the US in the mid-1990's. Both songs are written by Mars and Taylor alone and have a different focus with Gambona singing. There is a marked difference as a result, a change in tone that makes them stand apart from the rest of the album. True to his word, Mick Mars certainly delivers on his promise of the other side of Mars, by which he meant that he had the Motley Crue styled side of his guitaring, and the Mick Mars side of his guitaring.
There are several songs on this album that have a similar vibe and sonics to the band Fall Out Boy, both musically and in the vocals, which could be attributed to the phasing that they have in places on those songs in the same way Patrick Stump does for that band. The above mentioned “Loyal to the Lie” is certainly one of them, but so too is "Ain’t Going Back” which is cast from a similar mould, albeit in a heavier mode than that band performs. On these songs Bunton sounds great and is a driving force, acting as a great combiner with the hard hitting rhythm and Mick’s tough sounding guitar. For me these are the songs that are the best on the album, alongside the second single “Right Side of Wrong”, “Broken on the Inside”, “Ready to Roll” and the closing instrumental “LA Noir” that was composed solely by Mars.
“Broken on the Inside” got me at the end every time for many listens, as the song starts to break up towards its conclusion, as if the wifi is cutting out and the song is being corrupted by the lack of signal. It does take getting used to when you listen to the album, and stop the tendency to reach for your player try to work out what the hell is going on. I’ll probably still be doing it with my CD copy of the album when it arrives.
The slower tracks on the album do reflect on Mick’s other style, and while it is done well, for me it is less enthusiastic. “Alone” is the slower paced hard rock ballad that bands believe they need but some of us think we would be better off without. “Memories” sets out on the same path, with keys and violin being the sole basis of the song. I do understand these types of songs making their appearance here on his solo album, in order to showcase that he can do these songs as well just like his former band did, but they aren’t for me.

I don’t know about you, but thoughts about a new Motley Crue release doesn't hold any great anticipation for me. If they do, I’ll listen to it, but I’m not looking out for it. On the other hand, I was really looking forward to hearing this album, because I wanted to know just what Mick Mars away from that setting could produce. Some of his riffs in those great Motley songs are iconic, and he knew how to get the crowd pumped with his guitaring. So, even though I was aware that it couldn’t really match the music that band made in its glory days, I was truly looking forward to what he may have had saved up all of these years.
For the most part, I think it’s great. In the same way as I felt about Ace Frehley’s new album, which was released on the same day, this has gotten better with every listen. The upbeat style of Jacob Bunton’s vocals, and indeed the songs written by the main three songwriters with him singing, are really good. To me, they are good solid songs. Mick doesn’t come out as the star of this album – he doesn’t stick out as the only good thing here, his guitar dominant over everything else. It’s the songs that are becoming more memorable the more that I listen, not necessarily Mick’s riffs and licks being the standout. And I think that makes this a standout album, because it seems to have been MORE about the songwriting than being a vehicle for Mars to show off.
Look – this isn’t going to blow your mind, and you aren’t going to be saying this is Album of the Year when we get to December. But for me, like Ace’s new album, like the Smith/Kotzen album and the Sunbomb album a couple of years ago, this is a pleasant surprise because it has enough elements that you will enjoy, and a few tracks that on repeated listens you will say, ‘wow, actually that’s really good!’
My opinion on this album will no doubt change over time, but I’m now into more than 20 listens, and I’m still finding new things to enjoy. Not all of it is great, but there is enough here for me to suggest that you give it a go and see what YOU think about it.

1237. Spinal Tap / This is Spinal Tap. 1984. 5/5

Everybody who has an interest in music of any genre has surely been exposed to the absolute joy that is the Rob Reiner mockumentary called “This is Spinal Tap”, starring the amazing trio of Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer, along with a terrific supporting cast that help to make this parody – or is it? - of the music business. If you are one of the few who have NOT seen this, then stop listening to this episode right now, and go and find it and watch it. THEN you can come back here and listen to what I have to say about this album, which is the soundtrack to this movie.
OK. Are we good? Right. Let’s move on.
So the mockumentary follows Spinal Tap on their ill-fated tour of the United States, and apart from the ‘behind the scenes’ filming, there are the parts of the ‘mocko’ that concentrate on the concert scenes, with scenes showing the songs being performed on stage, as well as several playback scenes where songs from previous albums are shown of the film clips made for TV shows in the past.
All of this is very cleverly done, with the songs matching the style of songs from each era that they are taken from. But in order to do this, these songs had to be written and recorded in the first place, and that is where the extreme musical talent of McKean, Guest and Shearer comes into play. Because they DO write and perform all of the songs in this show, and they are quite brilliant. Yes, they are meant to be a parody of the genre, and yes, their double entendre lyrics are both quite accurate as well as being perfectly formed – but beyond that, they make buying this soundtrack a worthwhile option, because most of the songs are actually quite good WITHOUT relying on the comedy aspect of them. Which makes the show far more brilliant that it would have been without them and makes this album worthwhile listening to as well.

The soundtrack contains all of the songs that are used in the movie, and also has the plain black cover, in which the movie contains the great line by Guest’s Nigel Tufnell saying, “you ask yourself how much more black could this be... and the answer is none... none more black!” In the movie the album with the all black cover is Spinal Tap’s new release called “Smell the Glove”, whereas this is not THAT album, it is just the soundtrack album.
In order to show off the songs of the career of Spinal Tap in the film, the writers had to produce a number of songs of a varied genre in order to portray those times. That’s why you have songs such as “Cups and Cakes” on here, that is tied to the era of the early 1960’s, and then a song such as “(Listen to the) Flower People” that has the hippy era of the late 1960’s as its genre based musical style, and “Gimme Some Money” that comes across in the same sort of era. These are the songs that are cut in when the band is asked about their history, and they are well written to equate to that part of the film.
Then you have the songs that are written to not only be a part of the “Smell the Glove” album, but the songs off their previous albums, albums with the great titles such as “Rock n Roll Creation”, “Bent for the Rent”, “The Gospel According to Spinal Tap” and “Shark Sandwich”. Some of them are brilliant songs in their own right, and others are great songs for the right moment.
These songs come in two sections – the songs with lyrics that are unambiguously double entendre lyrics, and the ones that have the hard rock music anthemic lyrics. “Big Bottom” and “Sex Farm” are very much in the first category, leaving nothing to the imagination. These are the kind of songs Spinal Tap lead guitarist Nigel Tufnell thinks are being described as ‘sexy’ by their record company execs, when in fact they are describing them as ‘sexist’, not something he seems to understand. Then you have the terrific “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight” which mixes both, the lyrics that play both ways but backed up by the hard rock drums and guitars that make for a great song. And then there is the pure rock songs, such as “Heavy Duty”, the slower and heavier grinding track which describes the life of a band with heavy duty rock and roll. This is followed by “Rock and Roll Creation”, a song that imagines the creation of rock much in the way of the creation of the universe. And then the song that could be a part of so many bands of the 1980’s,”Stonehenge”, with that excellent synth keys opening before the band breaks in for the first riff and vocals, and the song is off. This is a killer track, which in the movie of course is interrupted by the 18-inch stone arriving on stage that should have been 18 feet.
All of these songs are perfectly written and performed for their place in the movie, but are also so well written that the soundtrack becomes a brilliant album in itself, filled with songs that you will sing along to long after you have watched the movie a hundred times over.

I first watched this film sometime towards the end of my high school years, and I’m pretty sure it was late on a Saturday night on commercial TV when it came on, and like a lot of people I wasn’t 100% sure of what I was watching on that first time. It was obvious that it was a parody, but also it was a very good one, so much so that because it was filmed in the documentary style you couldn’t be certain that it WASN’T real. When it was finally released on VHS and you could buy it, and watch it over and over again, was when it became ingrained.
Sometime in the early 1990’s, I was browsing at a regular haunt, Redback Records in Wollongong, when I came across this soundtrack on CD, and at first I thought it might actually be “Smell the Glove”, the album Spinal Tap released in the film, because it had an all black cover with nothing else depicting what it was. I’m pretty sure I bought it with that belief, so that when I arrived home and discovered it was the soundtrack, Ithink I had some disappointment. That of course was overcome by hearing full versions of all of the songs from the film, and being able to listen to them whenever I wanted. And that is the beauty of this soundtrack. Sure, they might be parody songs, but they are very good ones and enjoyable to listen to. Well... I think they are enjoyable, anyway.
One of the best albums that was released in the 1990’s was an album called “Break Like the Wind”, which Spinal Tap released ten years after this mockumentary, and is leaps and bounds ahead of this, because it was written and recorded as an album, not a soundtrack. I love it to this day. But this album still provides lots of laughs, and while playing it at work over the last couple of weeks, and singing along to all of the songs, I have had a ball. And, if ever anyone was going to do a cover version of a song, and ramp it up and metalize the crap out of it, it should be this song.

1236. Ace Frehley / 10,000 Volts. 2024. 3/5

Ace Frehley fans have been fortunate over the years in the amount of albums he has released, and his continued effort to have new material out there to showcase his talents and wares. While many people still hark back to that original solo album released in 1978 as a part of the four albums the members of Kiss put out that year, and suggest it was his best release, he has done far more than that which fans have enjoyed. There was the two-album stint of the band Frehley’s Comet in the late 1980’s that took advantage of that era of music to ride the wave, along with his second solo release “Trouble Walkin’”. Since then, there have been plenty of releases after his second tour of duty with Kiss, with albums such as “Anomaly” and “Space Invader” and “Spaceman”, along with “Origins Pt 1” and “Origins Pt 2”. So it’s great to have Ace back in the saddle, and still releasing new music.
Coming on board for this album to help... in every department really... is Steve Brown from the band Trixter. Steve acts as co-writer on all but two of the tracks, and is the co-producer of the album, alongside Ace himself. His Trixter bandmates – David Julian on guitar and PJ Farley on bass – also contribute to playing on several tracks, while Brown himself is also involved instrumentally and back up vocally throughout. Other musicians also help out along the way, including former Kiss contributor Anton Fig on drums.
So, let the listener beware. If you are going to come into this album, and expect some ripping guitar and breakneck songs like the Ace of old may have contributed to in his former band or on earlier albums, then you are coming in with the wrong attitude to enjoying this album. Ace is 72 years old as of the release of this album, and has been around music for well over fifty years. He knows where he fits, and he writes and plays accordingly. And that is the best way to approach listening to this album for the first time, because – and yes this is a spoiler alert – much like many Kiss albums, there are some very good tracks here, and there are some less exciting tracks here. You have been warned.

The album opens with the first teaser single released, the title track “10,000 Volts”. It is probably the hardest rock track of the album, the one to best present Ace and his new album to the world. It also acts as a way of dragging you into the album. This is an uptempo track, with a good hard rock beat, and an atypical latter day Ace solo to appease everyone who comes to the album, because we are all here for Ace’s guitar, aren’t we? The vocals are satisfying, though to me come across very similar to another lead singer who is not QUITE a lead singer, Chris Jericho from Fozzy. Still, a good opening.
For my taste, the tempo slips back to mid-range from here, which is slightly disappointing from a personal perspective. I would like to have heard more of the faster tempo in the album, but that is not the case. “Walkin’ on the Moon” has a good melody line throughout and nice solo lead break and keeps the vibe of the album motoring along. This is followed by “Cosmic Heart” that still resides in the midtempo, but also contains big chorused and phased vocals through the middle of the song, like it was written for an anthemic singalong in the live environment. It's fine, but maybe a bit too obvious in its arrangement. “Cherry Medicine” is a very candy pop rock song both lyrically and musically. The riff to open the song actually makes you think the song is going to break out into a real hard rock song, but it doesn’t develop that way, apart from Ace’s solo in the middle that goes against the grain of the song to that point. It isn’t unlikeable, indeed my feet tapping and head bobbing each time the song comes on suggests it is fine, but again, that mid-tempo riff needs a kick in the pants to get it cranking. Lyrics like “Cherry medicine, gotta get me some” are also a bit hard to swallow.
This is then followed by a real literal love song “Back into my Arms Again”, it could well have been dragged from any glam rock band in the 1980’s such is the sugar dripping off it. Again, lyrics like ‘looking at you, looking at me, could this really be” should suggest what is happening. Seriously, this is almost 1980’s like lyrics writing.
Better is to come. “Fightin’ for Life” returns with a faster pace, great Ace riff, and vocally he’s back trying to drag some energy into the album. I have to refer once again to the band Fozzy, because this track vocally and in some ways musically reminds me of them again. Ace has a great solo in this song, and this mirrors more to what I was hoping this whole album would be like. This is one of the best tracks on the album. Then comes “Blinded” which follows on in similar fashion, with a good underlying riff through the song and a great solo in the middle. These two songs restore some order to the album for those who are looking for a harder edge and energy. But it doesn’t last.
Far out. When it comes to lyrics writing, you can truly rip your ears off with what comes in “Constantly Cute”. No prizes for who Ace is directing this song at, and while it isn’t terrible musically it is a difficult road listening to the lines being sung. In fact, it’s another song with that resemblance to Fozzy (not lyrically). “Life of a Stranger” is the only song on this album where Ace hasn’t been involved in the writing, and to me it shows up immediately. There’s little imagination in the music or lyrics, it drags a blues base into the song and the phased, triple layered Ozzy Osbourne like vocals don’t do it any favours at all. If Ozzy was singing and Zakk was playing guitar it might be saved, but to me this doesn’t grab my interest.
“Up in the Sky” does redeem things a little, picking up the energy again with more power coming through Ace’s guitar here, invoking his enjoyment of writing about aliens once again. This is perhaps the most Ace-sounding song on the album vocally as well. The album then concludes with the instrumental track “Stratosphere” which is arguably the best moment of the entire album.

There’s no doubt that this album is more about writing solid songs than about showcasing Ace as a guitarist, which makes sense in the modern age given the lack of competition from his peers in this regard. While I, like you, probably came into the album hoping to hear Ace rip and tear through the whole album, the amount that that occurs on “10,000 Volts” is not as much as you would like. And Ace is definitely not reinventing the wheel here, but why should he? He has kept writing new material consistently over the years, and he has his own style that he doesn’t try to change. I like the fact that the songs are short, sharp and to the point. They don’t overstay their welcome, they don’t become progressive rock pieces that think that being longer is better. Steve Brown’s influence in both writing and producing does seem to flow into the songs on this album, giving a different flavour to what Ace has offered over his last couple of solo releases.
Obviously you can take or leave what I’ve said about the songs produced here for “10,000 Volts”. As with all new albums, initial reactions can end up being completely different the more or less you listen to the album. As I record this podcast episode, this album is only a few days old, and my impressions in six months time will definitely be different to what I have to say here at this point in time. The comparison made here between the sound on some songs and those of the band Fozzy are just what I have gotten from the first time I listened to the album, but they have stuck.
So I have listened to this album now a total of 23 times over the past few days, and I enjoy it more every time I listen to it. I enjoy Ace’s vocals, and most of the tracks are above average. Some aren’t, as I have described, but when I have had the album on, I haven’t felt the need (especially) to skip any of the songs. When Ace does let rip, it mightn’t be 1978 but it is still inherently Ace Frehley, and that is always great to hear. The lyrics are also typical Ace topics – gangs, space, girls... and a couple that ride the edge of the plane.
The verdict? This isn’t going to blow your mind, but it is a really enjoyable listen, even if that is in a nostalgic kind of way. I have found myself smiling in places when certain songs and stretches of songs have played, and after all, that’s what we want from our music. It isn't “Destroyer”, but for fans looking for something new in your life, this should fit the bill nicely.