1174. Gamma Ray / Somewhere Out in Space. 1997. 5/5

By the later years of the 1990’s, Gamma Ray had firmly ensconced themselves as one of the leaders of the power metal movement throughout Europe, through constant touring and a developing strength in the material that they were writing and recording as each album came out. It had also come with a constant shift in band members, with each album having a different set of players in the group. Band founder, former Helloween co-founder Kai Hansen had been the mainstay, though even his role had changed. Initially just playing as a guitarist, he had returned to the dual role of guitarist and lead singer for the band’s previous album “Land of the Free”, the album that cemented them as one of the greats of the genre. It brought back wonderful memories of the early Helloween albums where he had filled the same role. Alongside him was Dirk Schlachter, who had been the second guitarist for the band through those years. Dirk however had always been more fond of the bass guitar, and on the previous album the plan had been for him to return to that instrument, and have the bass guitarist Jan Rubach swap on to guitar, but Jan had changed his mind and not wanted to change. After the recording of “Land of the Free” both he and drummer Thomas Nack left Gamma Ray to return to their previous band. This allowed Dirk to move onto his preferred bass guitar, and they brough in the smiling assassin Henjo Richter to play as the second guitarist. Following the tour, Dan Zimmermann was recruited to play on drums. This was the foursome that went on to record “Somewhere Out in Space”, and they remained unchanged as a group for the next 15 years.
Following on the full concept album that “Land of the Free” had been, “Somewhere Out in Space” is a themed album rather than a concept story line. The majority of the songs on this album concentrate on the theme of outer space, but without a common thread throughout. It allowed the album to be full of songs that are strong on their own without them having to blend into the next. It also has writing contributions from all four members, allowing it to be a complete band compilation rather than having Kai doing the majority of the writing and it being like a solo album. The fact that the songs still combine so well with both the theme of the album and the musical flow is the perfect attribution as to why this form of the band blended together so well and then remained together for such a length of time.

From the outset, the album announces itself as going along the same path that Gamma Ray had trodden along with their previous album. It’s a nice intro for both Dirk and Dan to have the bass and drums open the album with their own start to the first song, before crashing into the opening riff, a way of announcing their place in the band. Dan’s amazing double kick is evident from the start, something that not only drives this album but those following for the next decade or so. “Beyond the Black Hole” is a brilliant opening track, full of wonderful riffs and solos and great singalong lyrics about searching deep space for what may lie beyond, that set the album off on the right foot. “Men, Martians & Machines” follows on in perfect fashion, even utilising those five tones at the start of the song that are synonymous with the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and the absurd soaring scream from Kai to remind everyone he can still do so with the best of them. It’s another song that flies along at great pace, utilising the best that Gamma Ray has always offered, that wonderful combination of the rise of power metal and the speed metal that Kai also pioneered back in his early Helloween days. “No Stranger (Another Day in Life)” is a song that Kai initially wrote for Michael Kiske, his former bandmate in Helloween, to use on his then solo album. Kiske, as was his fashion at the time, having basically turned his back on the metal scene, said that the song was ‘too heavy’ for him to use and so he rejected it. This just allowed Kai to use it here, and it fits in perfectly with the album theme and style.
The title track is a ripper, and has become a mainstay of the live set in the years since this album was released. The song is the band’s tribute to the science fiction series ‘Star Trek’. But it’s the amazing riffs and soaring vocals here that are the winner. The dual solos through the middle of the song are just exquisite, and the amazing end to the song is up there with the best moments of the band, with the power and the emotionally charged ending... it is just superb. This is followed by the Henjo Richter written “The Guardians of Mankind”, another great song driven along by Dan’s double kick drumming. I love how, lyrically, this song is not as positive about the outcome of the human race, that it openly questions just what we are doing, and that the Guardians of the human race are losing their faith and their battle against evil. Another excellent song with the guitars through the middle just beautifully in synch.
“The Landing” and “Valley of the Kings”, which tells the story of the arrival of aliens on earth thousands of years ago and how the inhabitants felt about them, became the single released from the album, one that did well in the European markets. It has the simplified song pieces that is almost a lesson in how to write a single 101, while retaining the integrity of the music about it. These first six songs on the album are the absolute strength of the band, and show all facets of what makes this band so brilliantly marvellous in every respect.
“Pray” is Dirk’s tome piece that also looks at the desolate stage of the human race, about the loss of hope of saving humans from extinction. “The Winged Horse” is Henjo’s song that is based around mythology more than space, of his magician and titular winged white horse being the opposite forces of good and evil. Following Dan’s drum solo’s song “Cosmic Chaos”, Dirk’s “Lost in the Future” then chimes in to again sell both sides of any argument that travelling through time is a clever place to be.
“Watcher in the Sky” is a song that Kai wrote and played on for the band Iron Savior with his mate Piet Sielck, an album that was reviewed here on this podcast just a couple of months ago in Season 2. As the Iron Savior project was a concept piece about science fiction and space, and this album is also themed that way, it isn’t a surprise that Kai chose to have it on this album as well. This is the same version, with Kai, Piet and Thomas Staunch playing on it, and not the Gamma Ray members. The album then concludes with the instrumental intro of “Rising Star” than segues into Dirk’s “Shine On”, a terrific song to bring the album to its natural end. It follows the same theory that “Valley of the Kings” does, that extraterrestrial life visited Earth long before and planted the seeds of mankind. There is also the obligatory ‘bonus track’ that CDs had become fashionable at this time, with the band doing a ripping version of Uriah Heep’s “Return to Fantasy”.
It would be easy to suggest that the first half of the album sounds much stronger and more brilliant, with faster paced songs and greater emphasis on the guitars, because it contains songs mostly written by Kai Hansen, while Dirk and Henjo produced almost all of the material in the second half. Personally I see it as different rather than a pervading sense of brilliance. Is it noticeable that the styes of the songs are different with the writers involved, but doesn’t make them any less Gamma Ray than any others.

I can be very easily upfront in admitting that I am a massive fan of Gamma Ray, and the chances of you hearing me say anything bad about any of their albums would be as close to zero as you could possibly imagine. And this album is no different. I was on this as soon as it was released, having played “Land of the Free” to death over the previous two years. Like most new albums, I always felt as though I was going to expect too much of this album, and be disappointed as a result. All of that went out the window within about thirty seconds of the opening track beginning. It stayed in my stereo at home in one of the five CD slots for a year. The cassette copy for the car went around and around for months. When I went to England for a month the following year I took five CDs with me to listen to on the trip. This was one of those CDs. When I was getting back into drumming and needed practice on the double kick, this was the album I TRIED to drum along to. 1997 was a lean year for the metal that I loved and listened to. Alternative albums, yes. But the old bands I listened to had changed or died off, and I was still a late convert to the newer forms of metal that were coming out of the US. So I guess I grabbed on to this for dear life, as it was familiar, and as it turns out, one of my all time favourite bands, so it all worked out ok.
When it comes to Gamma Ray, I think “Land of the Free” is still the absolute benchmark. Beyond that, there are up to six albums that sit on the rung that is just so very slightly below that, and “Somewhere Out in Space” is definitely one of those. The high voltage speed and energy that come from tracks like “Beyond the Black Hole”, “Men, Martians & Machines”, “Somewhere Out in Space” and “Valley of the Kings” in particular makes it an album that provides everything that Gamma Ray can offer. And the musicianship is second to none, with each member providing their own brilliance. And when you see them perform live, as I was so fortunate enough to do back in 2006 at the Gaelic Club in Sydney, you understand just how good they are.

1149. Live / Secret Samadhi. 1997. 3/5

Live is another band that started at school, this one all the way back in 1984, vocalist Ed Kowalcyzk joining the band after the original trio of lead guitarist Chad Taylor, bass guitarist Patrick Dahlheimer and drummer Chad Gracey lost a talent quest. And, like many of these same bands for whom ‘overnight success’ took a decade or more to develop, it was the hard work along the way that built the band up to what they became. And it was this that, from an outsiders perspective, kept them grounded enough to continue chasing that dream. They self released cassettes of demo songs, and eventually an EP as well, until they were eventually signed by Radioactive Records. Having played under the name of Public Affection it was now they changed their name to Live. Their debut album Mental Jewelry in 1991 contained the minor single hit "Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition)". But it wasn’t until 1994’s Throwing Copper that the band truly made their mark, and around the world. Several hit singles, long tours, and, after 52 weeks on the US charts, it finally went to number 1.After all of this success, as with all albums such as their previous release, trying to come up with an album that could equal or top it must have been a daunting task, and the desire to prove that they were not one hit wonders, and could produce something else that would surprise and delight the music listening world, would have been a huge one, I would imagine. Given the success of the previous album, they were afforded a bigger production budget and more time in which to write and record, something that can often cause more problems than not. And, whereas Throwing Copper had been produced by the renown producer Jerry Harrison, who had also been a member of Talking Heads, the band for this album decided to bring back Jay Healey as producer, who had been in charge of their first ever self-released cassette. Was this in an effort to ‘rediscover’ or return to their roots, or were they looking to make a statement that it was not the clean and sharp production that Harrison had performed for Throwing Copper that had made it so popular, and that they could reproduce that by utilising the tricks of their youth?

From the outset of the album, there is a difference from what Throwing Copper had produced. At the time, I had never heard their first album, and once I had had this album for a while I wondered if this was closer to that style. To be honest I still don’t have an answer to that. However, all fans of the band will know the opening of “Rattlesnake” and “Lakini’s Juice”, given the amount of airplay they received when they were released as singles from the album. There is a good energy from both.
From this point on, I get a little lost. “Graze” sits right back in tempo with the old alternative guitar distortion riff that runs through the whole song. “Century” and “Ghost” at times appear to be the same song, with the intertwined tempo and guitar riff similarly able to be confused between the two. And both “Unsheathed” and “Insomnia and the Hole in the Universe” don’t really get going until halfway through the song, it’s just a really strange way to go about it.
“Turn My Head” was released as a single and the format and arrangement of the song indicates why it was. The soft rock ballad, with accompanying string arrangements throughout, is a natural to pluck at the heartstrings of the masses, and hopefully pluck the dollars out of their wallets too. So for the fans of those songs out there, this one was for you. But for me, it just doesn’t grab me at all. Surprise surprise! long time listeners to this podcast will cry out! Instead, the next song, “Heropsychodreamer”, is 100% better when it comes to the best that the band can deliver. A brilliant bass line, well supported by a great guitar riff and hard hitting drums, and Ed’s vocals not crooning but belting out the lyrics. This is still the song that should have been the basis of this album for me. Short and sharp, but with power and drive. “Freaks” is another of the singles, and is also a mixed bag, starting off slow before building to a harder crescendo at its conclusion. And the final two songs of the album are really… easy listening tracks. If you want to have something on in the background while you are reading and/or drifting off to sleep, then the back half of this album, apart from the aforementioned “Heropsychodreamer”, is probably the ideal thing to throw on. And of course there is a market for this, and perhaps the fans of Live think these are the bees knees. But as someone who came into the band on the back of the energy and vitality of the previous album, it becomes a little disappointing as we reach the conclusion of this album.

I bought this album on that first week it was released, 25 years ago. Throwing Copper was one of a number of albums I bought back in 1995 when I was going through a rough period of my life, and it along with those other albums got me through it. And there is little doubt that I still hold it in such high regard because of that time and how the magic of music helped… save me. So Secret Samadhi had a lot to live up to in that regard alone, let alone just backing up a great album. And it was always on the back foot. The single “Lakini’s Juice” had come out just before this, and it wasn’t exactly what I had been looking for, and the music video was just whacked out, I still don’t have a clue what they were hoping to achieve with it.
I had a lot of trouble getting into this album, and I never actually succeeded in doing so. I gave it a fair run at the time of its release, but to be fair it was up against some other albums I had a lot more fascination with so it probably went on the backburner pretty quickly. And that was all a matter of musical taste. In comparison to The Offspring’s “Ixnay on the Hombre” for instance, it simply didn’t stand a chance. My major problem with the album was the lack of a real drive in the majority of the songs. It felt as though it was the wrong era for the album to have been written. Compare it to their next album, The Distance to Here, which ironically saw the return of Jerry Harrison as producer, and it highlights the weaknesses overall of this album. The songs for me just don’t have the same power or even arrangement as the albums that sandwich it. There are a few moments as I’ve mentioned, but the rest is a bit… blah. I pulled it out again some years later, probably over a decade ago now, just to see if time had mellowed my opinion or I had missed something at the time, or had my thoughts coloured by other music. And, in the end, I discovered I still felt the same way about it. This week, I have done that again, for the benefit of this podcast episode. And, 25 years later, as I sat here just listening to the album and not trying to judge it, but just allow myself to listen to it, I probably do find it more enjoyable now than I did then. And I do! The closing track, “Gas Hed Goes West” never ever attracted me, in fact I used to think it was a terrible way to end the album, but over the last week I have listened to that track more than a dozen times, and now in my advanced age I think it is a terrific song. But back then I was in my 20’s, and now I am in my 50’s. And to be fair I think that is where this album digresses. I’m pretty sure they weren’t aiming this album at 50 year olds all those years ago, but I feel it actually can be appreciated better by them. At least, by 50 year olds who are looking for a quiet album to nod off to rather than an album to jump around to.

1148. The Offspring / Ixnay on the Hombre. 1997. 4.5/5

When Smash had been released and that first single “Come Out and Play” had been released and was tsunamied on radio airplay, it encouraged me to go out and buy the album. And, I loved it. Played it to death. Knew all the words, which even by that time of my life was becoming a novelty time did not always allow. And I think it is significant that the band was not an overnight sensation. Sure, most people who got into the band did so on that Smash album and felt as though they had come out of nowhere, but they had already been together for ten years prior to it, and had also released albums before this, so the sound they came out with was one they had been curating for some time. It was a unique one, with high octane vocals, energetic guitars and drums, and that infusion of a modernised punk and alternative sound that provided a counter punch to the end days of grunge and the beginnings of industrial metal.When it came to the release of their follow up album, because of the success of Smash and having signed for a major label the band not only had a recording studio available to them for a stretch of time they had more time available in which to write and record. Probably the biggest question going into this album, certainly from my own perspective as a one-album fan, was in what direction the new songs would go. Because the music world was still fluxing, and sometimes the success of an album can influence the next one in ways that don’t always work. Given the commercial success would the band look to go further down that lie with their songs, or would they stick to their roots and perhaps further the songs in a modern punk style. It was a three year gap between albums, enough time during the 1990’s for the popular music style to have changed completely. Which it had. And yet the best bands were able to find a way to negotiate that and keep themselves relevant. Ixnay on the Hombre managed to do that.

The Offspring began a trend of theirs with monologues on their albums, and what better way to open an album that to have the legendary Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedy’s fame doing so to open their new album. “Disclaimer” perfectly sums up the attitude of band when it comes to the “Parental Advisory” stickers than some bands were forced to have on their CDs because of some of the language used or the subject matter of the lyrics of certain songs. A perfect riposte delivered by one of the best in the business.
The album then kicks off for real with the brilliant “The Meaning of Life”, setting the tone for the album to come. Now for me, what makes this album is the groove that comes from the track list. The songs come at you at different tempos and somewhat different styles, but it is the groove of the album that connects it all together. The faster tempo of the opening tracks “The Meaning of Life” and “Mota” still flow nicely and uninterrupted into the next level of “Me and My Old Lady” and “Cool to Hate” because of the terrific groove created by Ron Welty’s drums and Greg K’s brilliant bass lines, still for me the absolute highlights of the album. The bass guitar dominates every song, not only creating the base around which each song is constructed but then leading the song’s direction. Most of the attention comes from Dexter Holland’s unique vocal abilities along with Noodles great backing and harmony vocals, and their great partnership on guitars, but for me it is the bass that has been the best aspect of the majority of the songs here since its release. Then the terrific tempo change in the middle of “Cool to Hate”, still one of my favourite Offspring songs, and the lyrics throughout… I wish this song had been written when I was at school, it would have been my anthem. I’m sure it was for so many who were at school when this album was released.
Then you have the two main singles off the album, which although I still enjoy to this day are not really the best songs on the album, and to me that usually coincides with the ultimate strength of the album, the fact that the songs released for radio airplay to garner popularity of the masses are actually not even the best songs of the album itself. “Gone Away” and “All I Want” definitely sit in this bracket, songs that are good to listen to but if I’m gong to watch The Offspring there are probably five other songs on the album I’d rather hear first. And then there is the superb closing track, four and a half minutes long just to prove that they are capable of extending themselves, without losing their intensity and hard core fist pumping and fist shaking at the world.

I’ve mentioned a couple of times here, and probably will again when it comes to other albums released in this era, how music it was a changin’ around this time. The bands that I had grown up with had changed their own style, mostly not for the better, though I continued to listen to them and their albums. But I was also discovering other bands who were coming into their own and releasing albums that became iconic once they had had time to grow on their audience. And I firmly believe that Ixnay on the Hombre is one of those albums. Smash had broken the band worldwide, and future releases Americana and Conspiracy of One perpetuated their popularity and genre hopping ability. But here on Ixnay on the Hombre is where the band really proved that it could cross thread between an alternative styled post modern punk that drew from the fast paced short styled hard hitting lyrical songs with the commercial popularity that saw radio airplay dominated and album sales climb, all the while creating a fan base that crossed over into several different eras.
All of that is a mouthful, and perhaps over-exclaims or complicates just what this album is able to achieve. And, of course, there will be people who will disagree. But I find everything about this album to be top shelf. If you want thoughtful lyrics banging on about topics that were at the hearts of the bands target audience at the time of its release, you’ve got it. C’mon – the meaning of life, hating school, life and death, positive thoughts on being alive…. Its all there in the lyrical outtake. All of this pumped along by terrific music driven by the high velocity guitars and held together by that cranking rhythm of bass and drums, and vocals that encourage you to sing along at the top of your voice.

Everything about this album works. It gets you moving, it gets the blood pumping. You can listen to it at home in your armchair, you can crank it at a party to get it livened up. For me there were some other brilliant albums released in 1997. This one still remains near the top of the list of those releases. It’s the album that to me proved that The Offspring was not a one-hit wonder, it was a band that was here for the long term and had the skill, talent and ability to make it a long term contribution. History has proven that to be the case, and having revisited this album a lot over the past week to celebrate its 25th anniversary, I’m back again for the long haul.

1093. Judas Priest / Jugulator. 1997. 2.5/5

Much has been made of the seven years that stretched between the release of the monster album Painkiller and of its follow-up Jugulator, which incorporated the leaving of Rob Halford from Judas Priest, and the eventual recruitment of the former singer of a Judas Priest cover band, Tim “Ripper” Owens. The lengthy period of time it took to get to this point has always been an interesting point of discussion. Many wondered if Judas Priest would ever record again in any form with Halford’s absence and no doubt this acted as an encouragement for the band to forge ahead. The danger given the length of time between albums was obviously inherent – would their music still be relevant in a world that had changed so much in that time?

I went into this album with a clear head and open mind. More than anything I wanted to like this album so I wasn’t going in with negative thoughts about it. The writing which forever had been composed by the trio of Tipton, Downing and Halford was now a writer short, and there was always going to be differences in the music because of it. Glenn wrote all of the lyrics while both he and Ken wrote the music, but if you take a third of your writing partnership away there is going to be a swing from the centre to one side or the other. And let’s face it, seven years is a long time between albums even if the band was settled, and the drastic swing between metal in 1990 and metal in 1997 created such a vast chasm that it was always going to be hard to overcome. Releasing “Painkiller II” would have been a disaster. Even so, the none-too-subtle change of musical direction between these two albums was a big gulf to accept.
One thing that wasn’t a problem was the vocals. “Ripper” came in with a great set of vocal chords and an uncanny ability to sound and sing like his predecessor, which for live performances was exceptionally handy as the live show barely missed a beat with the back catalogue of songs, something that is rarely the case when a band changes singers. What did have to be achieved was to find the right range for his vocals on the new songs being written, and given the slight change in this album’s direction that may not have been the easiest part to complete.
Despite all of this, what Judas Priest produced for their ‘comeback’ was like nothing they had ever recorded in their career, and that is where the major stumbling block was at the time, and remains to this day. The fact that they chose to record an industrial metal album at a time when industrial metal was at its prominence is not the issue. The issue is that it is so unlike a Judas Priest album that it becomes almost impossible to listen to. And even though as I said above that I went into this with an open mind, and that releasing “Painkiller II” would have been a disaster, you surely have to think that at least a few pieces of the past would make their way into the mix? But it is almost completely wiped away. This is a sound that has almost nothing to do with what Judas Priest had built their career on and it is somewhat shocking, even today. Honestly, to me it has the same mistakes that Dio made in writing and recording their Angry Machines album, in that there was no familiarity at all between that album and anything else they had released that it caused major fractions in the fan base. Much the same can be said about Jugulator.
And it comes from the very beginning. The opening track on a Judas Priest album is usually one of the highlights, the song that drags you willingly into the album. Think of “Freewheel Burning”, “Electric Eye”, “Sinner” and “Painkiller” as just a few examples. But, even though I like “Jugulator” as a song, it just doesn’t have that same drawing power. “Blood Stained” too has plenty of angst and drive to the song, and to be honest if you have made it through the two opening songs and not turned this off, and have also put completely out of your mind that this is a Priest album, you will be able to get more out of it. This album has more of a tame Fear Factory sound to it than any pretence of following the band’s previous doctrine, which is so very strange as it has more in common with the direction that Rob Halford took with two projects after leaving the band, Fight and Two. If both parties were heading down that path, then why part ways? Why remove the brilliant harmony guitars and great solos which act as the strength of the band to just side with the times? I don’t know the answers to these questions.

Anyone who saw the band live during this period knows full well that they were still just awesome, and that “Ripper” was great, but the new material just didn’t gel well with the old stuff. More than anything else that is what harms its overall appeal. There are still some terrific songs on this album, such as “Death Row”, “Burn in Hell” and “Bullet Train”, where when heard away from the rest of the album will garner a positive response. But the album as a whole just doesn’t work in a way that makes it a good Judas Priest album. It is so tied to the era because of the way the songs have been written and recorded that it doesn’t have a chance to stand on its own legs. That is a shame.

Rating: “Changing my course, blurred and scorched, breathing exhaust as we distort”. 2.5/5

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

994. Edguy / Kingdom of Madness. 1997. 3/5

I came into Edguy on the Mandrake album about 15 years ago, and it was that album and Hellfire Club that made me a fan of the band. So when it came to going backwards to discover the earlier albums there is always that doubt in the back of your mind, wondering if anything could be as good as the albums are where you actually discovered the band. Such is the case here for me with Kingdom of Madness, which depending on your view of the situation is either the official debut of the band or ranks second behind the original release of Savage Poetry. In any case, it is an undeveloped sound compared to the two albums I knew so well.

More than anything else, it is the song structure here that still has unsanded edges on them. The basics all sound good, but there is a definite difference in the maturity of the song writing and the structure of the songs as they are played. Perhaps what it is mostly is that the band itself seems unassured of its own place in the music world. The drums, while technically proficient throughout with that typical power metal double kick, are nonetheless for the most part just a timekeeping device rather than coming into their own. They are also very forward in the mix, much more so than the guitars, which is a little disconcerting. The fact that the guitars of Jens Ludwig and Dirk Sauer are not as prominent as they could be isn’t a huge factor but it does seem unusual given the history of power metal bands and what drives them to fans. It mightn’t have been such an issue for me if the drums had been more technical, but they aren’t. Even Tobi’s keyboards often seem higher in the mix that the two guitarists.
I get the feeling that these issues help to make the songs sound more simplistic and stagnant than they really are. The opening salvo of “Paradise”, “Wings of a Dream” and “Heart of Twilight” all have their moments, without any particular part of them jumping out at you and grabbing your undivided love of the track. Perhaps it was that there were other bands out there doing these kinds of songs better, with more emotive impact both musically and vocally that Edguy do here. You can decipher the bones of the songs and see and hear what they perhaps could have been, but they just don’t reach those lofty heights. They are good solid power metal songs that don’t get beyond that. The instrumental “Dark Symphony” seems a strange implement here to move into “Deadmaker”, which then changes tempo between the vocals and solo section in a combination that startles until you can get used to it. This is followed by “Angel Rebellion” which after a slow start picks up by the end to a satisfying conclusion.
“When a Hero Cries” is what makes power metal so difficult to completely embrace as a genre. The power ballad is a great stink on the face of metal, and this truly is one of the worst examples of such a song. Just keyboard with silent mournful vocals over the top. For goodness sakes, there is a place for this kind of garbage, and it isn’t on an album from a band that is purporting to make its way in the metal industry. It completely bombs out the momentum of the album, and truly makes you question why you decided to pick up and listen to this album in the first place. It is an abomination, a terrible piece of music that does not befit this or any release.
The closing track is the perhaps the first instalment of Tobi’s grandiose vision for the future, with “The Kingdom” stretching out beyond eighteen minutes in length. It does however have an unusual structure, with the laughing statement that breaks up the middle of the song. It then fades in and out of style, with the quiet reflection session coming out of a faster paced double kick pattern. Tobi is looking for the epic finale, the one that the punters will love and remember, similar to Helloween’s “Keeper of the Seven Keys” or Iron Maiden’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. It doesn’t approach either of those songs, but you can sense it is the direction he wished to head for.

Kingdom of Madness is still a good listen, with enough of the familiar sounds to make it worth your while. I tried to work out if I would enjoy this album more if I had come into Edguy at the beginning, and moved through their discography from the start rather than coming in at album number five and discovering them in reverse. My feeling is that yes, that would be the case. Despite that, for those that are power metal fans of this era, this is an album worth enjoying.

Rating:   “In the silence there’s a fear”.  3/5

988. Metallica / Reload. 1997. 2/5

I wrote a review for Metallica’s previous album Load about four years ago. You can find it both here on Rate Your Music and on my blog Music From a Lifetime. It was a lengthy piece, where in essence I decried the complete revamping of the band’s sound and standing in the metal world to put out such a disappointing load of old bollocks. You could save yourself some time here by either reading that and applying it also to Reload or by just ignoring both. Because there is no joy here from the rubble of that release.

The fact that this album came out fairly soon after Load, and was titled Reload was a concern. Was it all written together? Whether it was or wasn’t, a mere 16 months passed between the release of the two, whereas five years had passed between Load and Metallica, and there had been talk of releasing the two as a double album. The danger then was always that given they decided against that idea and released them as separate albums the band had chosen the best songs they had written at the time and placed them on the first release, leaving the second choice tunes to be collated here on the second album. If that is indeed the case, it doesn’t say much for the whole writing sessions.
“Fuel” is the one song – the only song – that could hold its place on a Metallica album from the previous decade. Even then, it isn’t as fast and furious here as it is when it is played live, but it opens the album on the right foot, and no doubt there were millions of fans all over the world like me who, when they first put this album on, thought that this was the return of the band they knew, that the previous album was perhaps just an aberration.
But from “The Memory Remains” onwards, there is a real constant groove, and by that I mean it isn’t fast and it isn’t overtly heavy, it is more a pattern where the drums and guitar find their groove and sit with it. Does it sound good? There’s no doubt it is catchy in places, and James’ current vocals suit the style. But is it heavy? My word no. Or is it anything like the kind of stuff that we grew up with? My word no. “Devil’s Dance” takes a similar approach, really focusing on the downward pitch of the vocals to implicate a slow and steady line throughout.
“The Unforgiven II” is most definitely unforgiven. It is an abomination. I don’t care how much they loved the first transition of this song on Metallica. It had already been a running joke in our circle of friends that Metallica would do a sequel to their other brain numbingly boring song “Nothing Else Matters”, and call it “Something Else Matters”. How close were we with the arrival of this song? And this is truly a whole pile of rubbish. There is nothing here that inspires the senses, it really does just make you run screaming for the skip button. “Better Than You” would probably be okay if it had and speed at all, forcing its way through the averageness to be a heavier faster song. Alas no such luck.
“Slither”. Is it a groove? Is it a crawl? I don’t know but it is just a borefest. “Carpe Diem Baby” honestly lulls you off to sleep, such is the lack of inspiration and the soothing flow of guitar and vocals. Yes, soothing flow. Doesn’t sound like a metal record does it? Sounds like an easy listening collection. “Bad Seed” is much like “Better Than You” in that with a burst of energy perhaps it would be better than it turns out to be. “Where the Wild Things Are” is most definitely NOT where the wild things are, because we have a really dull, boring and lifeless rhythm riff throughout the whole song with whatever vocal technique James wants to use here. And it goes on forever! It’s just not an aesthetically pleasing song in any way shape or form.
“Prince Charming” is pretty much the most upbeat song on the album. Not that that is saying much, but after the meandering snoozefest that has come before it, at least you start to wake up once this song comes on. However, “Low Man’s Lyric” fights hard with “The Unforgiven II” for worst song on the album. Honestly, is this what we’ve been reduced to, judging worst songs on a Metallica album instead of how do we choose a favourite? This is rubbish of the highest order. “Attitude” tries to convince us that the band still has it. ‘Born into attitude’ is what James sings to us, but who are they kidding? There’s no grunt here, no high paced drums or guitar, just lyrics over a mid-tempo song without any aggro or bent. Seriously, are they trying to have us buy into this? It’s a groove, not a thrash. It’s not even really heavy, it’s a standard hard rock song that AC/DC could do better. “Fixxxer” closes out this collection of songs in much the same way as the rest of the album. Too long, too slow, reflective not reactive.

This is unrecognisable as a Metallica album. Truly, play it back-to-back with any of their first four albums, and you could only make the assumption that this is two completely different bands. And the length of time between those two eras isn’t that damn long. This came out in 1997, just eleven years after Master of Puppets, and nine years after ...And Justice for All. It is a huge leap between genres in such a relatively short space of time. But this was the way metal was heading in America at the time. Thank goodness for Europe, which was embracing speed and power in their metal rather than head down the track of stripped back Southern influence bluesy groove alternative grunge music. It’s a far cry from the pantheon of metal to the depths that this album dives to. Perhaps even more tragically, the bottom for Metallica’s music (but certainly not popularity) had perhaps not even been reached yet.

Rating: "Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire"  Which isn't this. 2/5

952. W.A.S.P. / K.F.D. 1997. 3.5/5

To say this is a different style of album from W.A.S.P. is an understatement. On the first three albums we had plenty of crazy fun, tongue-in-cheek metal played loud and hard with lyrics that ranged from the tended sexual innuendo to political and worldly rights and wrongs. They were great. The follow up was a mature sounding evolution that still combined topics in the lyrical department but with a heavy and progressive sound that hinted at a band that knew where it was going. Following some line-up turmoil came the great rock opera, one that was hailed for its conception and presentation. More band turmoil followed, and the predecessor to this album was lost in direction as much as the writer and performer appeared lost in his own life and career.

My main problem with K.F.D. is not necessarily the change in the musical direction, but that it sounds like there is just a wall of noise coming out at you for the majority of the time. Yes, it has been brought to my attention that this is pretty much an industrial metal album, which is a completely different direction from what previous W.A.S.P. albums have offered us in the past. As a result, most of the songs sound like variations of each other, thus depriving them of their individuality. Sure, it sounds heavy and comes across that way, with guitars turned up to eleven and just raged upon, while Blackie screams over the top, or at least through the middle somewhere. Don't be fooled though, some of these songs are great without that technique having to be used.
There could be a fair case made that Blackie and Chris had anger issues when they were writing this album. There's no holding back here, and their pointed rage is spewed out through the songs all the way through. The opening track and title track "Kill Fuck Die" leaves you in no doubt from the beginning that it is coming at you. This is followed by "Take the Addiction" that continues in that framed, with distorted guitar and Blackie's vocals at your throat. "My Tortured Eyes" sounds like a beefed up version of "The Gypsy and the Boy" from the rock opera, a bit more electric than that of course.
"Killahead" however is a ripper, one from the top shelf of W.A.S.P. songs with its full on pace and rage, but especially in this case because the instruments can be picked out from one another, rather that just becoming one huge ball of crazy. Lyrically it's not one of the most deep and meaningful. It is the one you put on at a party when the alcohol has taken effect and you need to start slamming. "Kill Your Pretty Face" starts off like a couple of numbers here, with the quiet clear guitar and Blackie's high voiced sighing, before building into that wall of noise and screaming coming through that wall. The technique is effective, but I must admit that it's a momentum killer for me, just because the album itself had been building, and then it gets stopped by this track in a couple of ways. It finishes up okay, but not enough to withdraw my annoyance at it.
The short trappings of "Fetus" moves into "Little Death" where a little more rage comes into the mix. Certainly Stet Howland's drumming is a non-stop cacophony throughout this song. Is there any point where he comes to a rest? "U" wanders between the reflective and the anger management course that is built upon by almost every song here. Strangely enough though, "Wicked Love" is almost the most conventional W.A.S.P. song on the album, and yet comes across as perhaps one of the weakest. No, I don't know how that happened either. The final track "The Horror" builds from the quiet to the distraught, but in the end comes across as a slightly manic and disturbed version of the closing track from the rock opera, "The Great Misconceptions of Me". From it's quiet and almost deathly silent beginning, the build up of distortion continues until we have the final conclusion up near the stratosphere.

When this was released I had pretty much given up on W.A.S.P. as a band. After the previous album (that really should have been labelled as a solo release for Blackie) I felt the end had come. In a way I guess it had. The direction and style of this album was completely different from what had come before, and it would not be repeated in the future. Though there are some good songs here, and the album as a whole can be enjoyed when placed in the CD player, it grows tired quickly on repeat hearings unless you an appreciate the style it is recorded in.

Rating:   "I'm the horror on the edge".  3.5/5

867. Rhapsody / Legendary Tales. 1997. 3/5

I guess I was always going to stumble across Rhapsody sooner or later given my collection of albums from bands from the power metal genre, and my endless search for another band to equal the brilliance of Gamma Ray and Helloween. Obviously that is highly unlikely ever to occur. The final piece of the puzzle into searching out albums from Rhapsody was Alex Holzwarth's participation as drummer on the first two Metal Opera albums by Avantasia. It pushed me to listen to their music (even though he does not appear on this album or the one following), and I chose to go right back to the beginning, here with Legendary Tales.

The start of the album is superb, combining the best of bands that came before them and also those that obviously used them as inspiration in the future, such as Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica. The instrumental opening of "Ira Tenax" ("Tenacious Rage") crashes into the keyboards and drum filled epic of "Warrior Of Ice", which rushes along at the speed you expect from European power metal from this era. This is followed by "Rage of the Winter", probably my favourite song on the album, which comes closest to incorporating and re-imagining all of the best parts of this style of music without any compromises.
Those compromises come in "Forest of Unicorns", which I'm afraid is probably just a little bit too much to take. I'm happy to listen to songs in a similar vein, such as Blind Guardian's "The Bard Song" for instance, and while this obviously fits into the band and album's scenario of the storyline, when listening to the album it is so far removed from the style of music that the majority of this album has that it just makes it almost ridiculous. Actually, strike that. Not almost, but actually ridiculous. Oh well, when you take the plunge into this style of music you are always going to come across material that has you questioning what direction you are moving in. "Virgin Skies" on the other hand is receivable given it is just an instrumental interlude between songs rather than an actual track.
"Flames of Revenge" gets the album moving once again, eradicating the doldrums to return to the faster paced music of the opening tracks. This is held up for the most part by the remaining songs on the album, "Land of Immortals", "Echoes of Tragedy", "Lord of the Thunder" and "Legendary Tales".

While the start of the album really dragged me in on first listen, and for the most part still does when I first put the album on, it does probably tend to get a bit similar and repetitive as you work your way through the album. While that doesn't degrade the album as such, it does stifle the ability to completely immerse yourself in it on a regular basis.

Rating:  Tears of winter falling on me freezing my dark side.  3/5

849. Psycho Motel / Welcome to the World. 1997. 2.5/5

Having dived in feet first when I first discovered Psycho Motel's first album State of Mind, I was slightly more cautious when it came to finding this second album, Welcome to the World. For a start I couldn't be sure which way the music direction would go after the varied account the first album gave of itself. There was also a change of lead vocalist, which could have led to problems in itself. So it was a much more solidified response I gave to this album on my introduction to it.

Andy Makin came aboard as the new lead vocalist, and his voice helps to shape this album into more of an easy listening rock album, not dissimilar to Riverdogs debut album or Shadow King's only release as well. One advantage is that his voice and Adrian Smith's suited each other nicely, so the back up and harmonies work well on this album. The grunge era aspect of the last album have been modified to the point where it now sounds more like Pearl Jam in places, while suitably low-key music make up the majority of the verses, allowing Makin to impose his vocal style over the songs. While this style most definitely tones down any heaviness becoming a part of this music, its mid-range progressive rock style will appeal to a greater variety of music listeners as a result. Whether or not they are satisfied by the result is another question entirely.
Some of the songs here rise to a ranking of... okay. "The Last Chain" opens up the album well enough, showing a bit of enthusiasm in the mix. "A Quarter to Heaven " can be placed in a similar bracket, but the final two minutes is filled with the same line being repeated over and over again, and unnecessarily. There is promise in the title track "Welcome to the World", but it then just drags out far longer than it should, and after the start it does peter out into an overblown artist trap. I always had hope for the song "With You Again", if only for the fact that it featured guitar by Dave Murray, but it doesn't lift it beyond the mediocre.
While I consider this to be a likeable album, I think it is tied down fast to the era it comes from. In the places where the band - and Adrian himself - are allowed to break out and make something more of what has been written it comes across with that bit of energy and inspiration that is needed to make it rise above the average. Unfortunately this is far too random an event to make this much more than it is. There is a real mellowness about this release that mocks at the kind of material we know Adrian is capable of playing. A song like "Innocence" is far too Pearl Jam for anyone's liking, there is no energy and it's melodramatic crawl through the landscape is almost cringe-worthy. Feel free to add "Hypocrisy" to that as well.

Taking the two Psycho Motel album's along with the A.S.a.P. album, it is interesting to see and hear the other side of the man who has written or co-written so many of the great songs from that other international metal band he is a part of. There is none of that here, in fact the guitar is such a small part of the writing process here you sometimes wonder if he was involved at all. I tried to like this album, but came away feeling uninspired and more than anything else, downright bored. The only bright side here really is that it was the end of the 1990's exploration for Adrian, who moved into Bruce Dickinson's band after this, and hasn't looked back since.

Rating:  And now my highs just bring me down, I try to scream but I can't make a sound.  2.5/5

799. Queensrÿche / Hear in the Now Frontier. 1997. 2.5/5

Hear in the Now Frontier indeed. The fact that Queensrÿche's previous album sold so well despite the steaming pile of rubbish it turned out to be was obviously only contributed to by the brilliance of the previous two albums. I am guessing that if most of us had heard Promised Land before plonking down our hard earned to purchase it, there would have been a hell of a lot of people who would have reversed that decision. And yet, most of us still went out when this album was released, and paid our money again for another Queensrÿche album. What is it that drew us all back again for another instalment? The belief, or hope, that Promised Land had been an aberration, and that the real Queensrÿche would return bigger and better than ever on this album? Of course it was!

Put the CD on the stereo. Press Play. Well, there's a guitar riff! Already this album has points over its predecessor. OK, it may be a simple riff, but a riff is what it is. Perhaps the fact that it tends to trend throughout the whole song without a change is a cause for concern. Could the title of the song, "Sign of the Times" be an omen as well? Is it a sign of this album that they will produce a guitar riff, but it won't change throughout? The possibility of this remains as we move into "Cuckoo's Nest", because it does seem to be similar again. And what about those vocals? Does it sound to you like Tate and DeGarmo are trying to imitate some other kind of bands? They just sound similar to something else, but I can't quite place it...
Oh, and then it hits you right between the eyes as "Get a Life" starts, and moves through the remainder of the album. This is a bloody GRUNGE album!!! How the hell did that happen?! How did we get from what the band released three years ago, to what we have here? I'm just totally blown away. I clearly remember picking up the CD case and making sure I had the new Queensrÿche album on, and hadn't mistaken it for another album. It becomes so obvious as we move along. "The Voice Inside" is pure Alice in Chains-like, even the vocals in the chorus are trying to mimic Layne and Jerry. The guitar solo is almost country/western though, or perhaps just so stripped back with slide guitar I don't know the difference. Wow. "Some People Fly" is more of the same, slower and less energised, but still unmistakeably of this same genre. The vocals are harmonising in that way. The main difference here though between this and those high profile grunge bands is that the guitar rhythms here are very bland and uninteresting, not really producing anything memorable in themselves.
"Saved" comes along with a harder element infused in the mix, allowing Rockenfield's drums and Wilton and DeGarmo's guitars to light up for a brief moment, though not with enough panache to really hold the interest long. "You" tries to continue in that vein, containing a closer mix of drums, riff and vocals that can showcase the better side of the band. This is probably the best song on the album for me. Unfortunately we delve back into the depths of despair from here. "Hero" is dreadfully dull, acoustically driven slow slop, with Geoff crooning as he is wont to do more and more often. There is no power here, no progressive nature in the music. It continues what seems to be a cross between slow unadulterated grunge and country which is bereft of any redeeming qualities. It could almost be catagorised as easy listening, because it can send you to sleep listening to it. "Miles Away" goes with a combination grunge/AOR sound. Now there's something to keep the punters wondering what the hell is going on. I'd have thought it almost impossible to combine those two genres of music until I heard this song. Remarkable.
"Reach", like "You", tries to be the up tempo track on the album. Still it's closer to a soft rock song with a solid but not memorable riff throughout. "Hit the Black" starts off well, but stutters to a slightly unsatisfying conclusion. "Anytime / Anywhere" is in a similar category. There are good moments in the song, but the way it segues through rock to grunge makes it difficult to enjoy completely. The album concludes with "sp00L", for which the previous comments can be added along with this song.
So it's basically a Seattle grunge album in 1997. But did we really need this in 1997? By this time Nirvana had folded after Kurt Cobain's suicide, and from this had been born Dave Grohl's hard rock phenomenon Foo Fighters. Ditto with Alice in Chains, who were hamstrung by Layne Staley's drug issues. Soundgarden had split up. Grunge was basically over, and yet here was a successful progressive metal band deciding now was the time to embrace their hometown's traditions by stripping everything back and recording a grunge album! It's not as if you can throw all of the blame for this at the feet of Geoff Tate either, something which evidence suggests you could do from this release onwards. Chris DeGarmo is the chief contributor in writing to almost every track on this album, which theoretically should mean he was happy with the direction the music went here.

It is fair to say that Hear in the Now Frontier is a vastly superior album than Promised Land was. Here we once again don't have what most fans would have considered to be the band's natural sound. It certainly isn't a progressive metal album. And it really doesn't stack up to their early albums. When you go looking for a Queensrÿche album to play it is highly unlikely you would reach for this album, because if you want the kind of music that you find on this album, you would go for Alice in Chain's Dirt or Soundgarden's Superunknown, because they are superb examples of Seattle sound, whereas this resembles a cheap knock off. It isn't a total loss, but it also isn't Queensrÿche.

Rating:  No matter what goes down, I'll still be there for you.  I'm beginning to believe otherwise.  2.5/5

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

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

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

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

631. Fates Warning / A Pleasant Shade of Gray. 1997. 2.5/5

Is it a brave move or a strange move or just a progressive move to decide that you will not only record a concept album, but for all intents and purposes make it just one song, in a number of acts? This is pretty much what Fates Warning have done here on A Pleasant Shade of Gray. The album is basically one 55 minute song, in twelve parts without a title. It is so designed that it is really not an option to throw on the CD and just choose one 'song' to play, because it would seem out of place.
The concept album is not a rare beast in the progressive rock and metal genre. In fact, it is almost a prerequisite. the fact that it had taken Fates Warning so long to release one could be seen to be out of place.

So how do you approach this album? In my mind, after several listens, you have to be in the right mood, and you have to let it play from start to finish without interruption. It is, after all, just one song. Overall this is quite a mellowing album, there really isn't a lot of metal about it. It has all the complicated guitar and drum pieces that you expect from this band, and certainly the complex time changes that dominate an album of this genre. But it never reaches any thumping proportions. It almost slides along like a waterfall cascading into a stream. And this is where I feel you have to be in the right place to actually put this on. If you want to slump quietly into your favourite armchair, perhaps with a book, away from the world, this album can be very rewarding. It's a reflective kind of album. If you are looking to put something on to get the blood pumping, then this certainly isn't it.

Like many people, it took me a little while to 'get' this album, to find its place and to appreciate it for what it is. And once I had reached that place, I did find it rewarding in its own way. It's not going to please everyone, and it isn't for those that are looking for a metal album. Would I possibly call it 'easy listening' progressive rock? Perhaps. But the musicianship is faultless, and the vocals are spot on. Even so, it won't be for everyone, and the lengthy passages of light instrumentals may well turn off many followers.

577. Iron Savior / Iron Savior. 1997. 3.5/5

When you set yourself up to write a story, it needs to be one that is engaging, even if it is only the basis of a music album. Given that it is also the first album you put out as a band, it would want to be a little higher on the scale, otherwise it will be picked to pieces. Iron Savior probably didn’t have a lot to lose, but maybe just a point to prove. Given those who were involved in the infancy of the band, those of us who bought the album when it first came out expected a great deal.

It starts off with the right credentials for a power metal album. The songs are driven by Thomas Stauch’s double kick and the twin guitars of Sielck and Hansen. Piet Sielck’s vocals are adequate – perhaps a little rough around the edges, but for the most part are good enough to get away with. “Atlantis Falling”, “Brave New World”, “Iron Savior” and “Riding on Fire” are all good mood songs, with “Riding on Fire” a particular favourite of mine.
The middle of the album seems to get tied down with emulating a stereo-typical power metal album, by throwing in the slow power ballad-ish type song. All this does is interrupt the flow of the album, thus either sending the listener to sleep, or encouraging them to skip the song(s) or turn it off. As can be seen from my other reviews of such albums, this is a common complaint of mine, and to my ears at least tends to bring an album down.
The glittering diamond of this album is that Gamma Ray’s Kai Hansen, one of Sielck’s best friends plays, sings and must surely have been more involved in the writing than has ever been actually said. Kai’s song “Watcher in the Sky”, the only song he performs lead vocals on, featured on the Gamma Ray album Somewhere Out in Space as a precursor to this album being released. This no doubt served two purposes – one, it is Kai’s song, and he wanted it to still be a part of his band, and two, to funnel the Gamma Ray fan base toward buying this album and experiencing what it had to offer. Though I may be biased, “Watcher in the Sky” is the best song on the album. Hansi Kursch of Blind Guardian also lends his vocal support on the song “For the World” which follows, and it is these two songs that bring the album back up a notch at the end, which comes with the Nazareth cover “This Flight Tonight”.

This is a more than respectable debut album, with all its flaws and highlights. Better was to come down the road, when the band had ironed out the kinks and discovered the sound it really wanted.

522. The Offspring / I Choose [Single]. 1997. 3.5/5

This was the final single from the Ixnay on the Hombre album.
Containing the title song, it also mixes another song from the album, “Mota”, along with a live version of “All I Want”.

Rating: Average enough for the time. 3.5/5

511. Midnight Oil / 20,000 Watt R.S.L. 1997. 4.5/5

Given that the band has an enormous following not only in Australia but around the world, and a whole bunch of album packed full of great songs, it makes it difficult to try and put together a greatest hits album that truly brings together the best the band has done. And, as always, the final song selection will find individuals decrying the leaving out of this song or that song. Personal opinion can only be sated so often.

In my opinion, that fact does raise its head here, but it is not an overwhelming demand. The song selection here finds the majority of their biggest hits on board, covering the majority of their albums. It would be a harsh critic to suggest that any of the songs here don't deserve their place. Of course, I am a harsh critic, and I don't think songs such as "What Goes On", "White Skin Black Heart" and "Surf's Up Tonight" could possibly be regarded as better songs than "No Time for Games", "Short Memory" and "Read About It".

Despite this, 20,000 Watt R.S.L. is a wonderful collection from the career of a terrific band. For the Johnny-come-lately, this is a pretty good place to start if you want to learn about Midnight Oil. For the fan, it's a great trip down memory lane.

450. Metallica / Great Western Forum 21-12-96 [Bootleg]. 1997. 3/5

One of the soundboard quality bootlegs that Metallica put up on their LiveMetallica site a few years ago, so the sound quality is exceptional. It is also from an era of Metallica that I find quite tragic, and thus you will see a rather low rating.

The rating simply comes from the material that is found here. The songs are not my favourites. The bootleg itself is interesting, for the fact that you get to hear so many of their songs live that - to be fair - are very average. Of course, when I first got the boot I thought that perhaps, in a live environment, they would improve. That was not the case, unfortunately.
Songs that find themselves here include "Ain't My Bitch", "Bleeding Me', "King Nothing", "Devil's Dance", "Until It Sleeps" and the deplorable "Kill-Ride Medley", which is an abomination to the Metallica legacy. Of all of these, "Until It Sleeps" at least holds its form. The others, along with my long time nemesis "Nothing Else Matters" are really nothing more than dust fodder.

The other tragedy is that the older material feels undervalued, both by the band's performance and Hetfield's clear vocals, with no emotion in them whatsoever. I think by this stage they really had lost what had made them great.

Rating: Sound quality is great. The mark is probably as high as it is just for that. 3/5.

441. HammerFall / Glory to the Brave. 1997. 4.5/5

HammerFall went through an interesting stage of development in its early years, quite apart from way most bands come together. From its inception on the idea of guitarist Oscar Dronjak, all five original members of the band were using it as their side-project, a band they were in that was separate from their main band. They had only a few originals and generally played cover songs, and most of their gigs were in a local music contest. One of the band’s biggest breaks was when they made the semi-finals of this contest in 1996 and their lead vocalist, Mikael Stanne who was from Dark Tranquility, couldn’t perform on that night. The band found Joacim cans who filled in for the gig. The judges disqualified the band despite the success of the night, but HammerFall had found their permanent lead singer, something that continues to be their crowning glory.
A record contract was soon signed, which meant the commitment of the members had to be to Hammerfall, resulting in changes once again as drummer Jesper Strömblad and guitarist Glenn Ljungström were still committed to In Flames. Stefan Elmgren came in on lead guitar and Patrik Räfling on drums and Magnus Rosén on bass. Alongside Dronjak and Cans, Hammerfall had their line-up to push forward with their debut album. Despite leaving the band, Stromblad co-wrote the majority of the songs that appeared on the album with Dronjak and Cans, and though he is credited on the album as having played the drums (which he did despite being a guitarist in In Flames), it was actually Rafling who played on the album itself. Ljungstrom played guitars on the album before relinquishing his position to Elmgren for the tour that followed to promote the album.

The hallmark of this album is the way most of the songs have the hook coming very early, the ones that drag you in from the start and keep you going throughout. And although Hammerfall does not have the melodic ‘happy guitars’ that made Helloween so famous, it is the upbeat tempo of the guitars that actually bring about a similar type o feeling within their music. “The Dragon Lies Bleeding” does this from the start, a great opening riff that is parlayed throughout the song, and gives you the first taste of Joacim Cans vocal abilities, soaring throughout the ceiling. This moves into the equally enjoyable “The Metal Age” and then the eponymous “HammerFall”, both which show a great continuation of easy listening and infectious riffing of the opening track.
“Child of the Damned” is a cover of an old Warlord song from their 1983 EP “Deliver Us”. Cans was a long time admirer of the band and it was he who pushed including the song on the album. He later went on to be the lead singer of that band during a short-lived reunion in the early 2000’s such was his love for their music.
“Steel Meets Steel” was composed by Oscar prior to Hammerfall even coming into existence, and yet it survived to the point that it warranted inclusion here on their debut album. This is followed by the equally upbeat “Stone Cold” and “Unchained”. All of these songs utilise a speed and tempo that would not be regarded as speed metal but does head more in that direction than other bands at the time were necessarily integrating into their music. It is the tempo of the majority of the songs on this album that produces the most pleasing endorphins in the body.
There are two power ballads on the album, as is the way with every power metal album ever released. Now those of you who have listened to any of my episodes in the past will understand that I am no fan of the power ballad. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t any that I like, but in general, because they tend to be so generic in their output I just cannot get on board with them. So it probably won’t surprise you that the two power ballads here, “I Believe” and the title track and closing track to the album “Glory to the Brave” are not my favourite songs on the album. I don’t think they are poor tracks but for me they just drag the album back slightly. “Glory to the Brave” is also the attempt at the grandiose epic track to finish off the album, and while it may do that, I am still of the opinion that a different style of song would have done that better.

At different stages in my life, I have come to a stage where I go out and buy half a dozen albums from bands I have never heard, just to see what they are like. Many of them ended up being duds, that now collect dust on my shelves. On one of these trips about two decades ago I happened to pick up this album – and I never looked back. From the very beginning, it was exactly what I was looking for at the time. I had grown up with Helloween and Gamma Ray, and I was looking for more bands that played music like that. Blind Guardian had been the first step, and then came HammerFall, which eventually led to others such as Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica and Edguy.
It was the faster and brighter guitars I was looking for rather than the grunting and grunging that was happening elsewhere. Not that I didn’t like that kind of metal, but there was something about power metal that I wanted at that time of my life. And “Glory to the Brave” provided that in spades. There have been the usual naysayers both at the time and over the years about HammerFall - ‘the songs here tend to have repeatable, and repeating, choruses’, ‘the guitars aren’t precision like Metallica’, ‘why are the lyrics so cheesy, they should be writing harder core stuff’. And as individual likes and dislikes that’s fine, I don’t have a problem with those opinions. But sometimes I don’t want to put on an album that is full of political takes, or hard core lyrics about mass murderers or world disasters or things like that. I just want to put on an album that makes me feel less depressed or aggressive. I just want to listen to an album that lifts my mood, through fast guitar riffs and great melodic vocals through the songs that makes it a pleasure to listen to. And that happens every single time I put this album on. I found it at the right time of my life, and it is the medicine I need whenever it hits my stereo.
And this is the crux of the matter. Power metal is not for everyone, just like death metal isn’t for everyone, or doom or thrash metal isn’t for everyone. And don’t get me wrong, because I don’t love all power metal, nor do I love every HammerFall album. But this one is an album that I have loved from the moment I first heard it, and if you have anything in you that leans a little towards this genre of metal, then I think you’ll enjoy it too.

435. Motley Crue / Generation Swine. 1997. 2.5/5

Having finished the 1980’s as one of the biggest metal bands in the world, Motley Crue had undergone some significant change since, all of which if it had been handled better could have been a boon for them. The band had parted ways with lead vocalist Vince Neil and recruited John Corabi as his replacement. The resulting album, the self-titled “Motley Crue” in 1994, had been a change as a result, as Corabi not only contributed to the lyrics he also played rhythm guitar, allowing both Nikki Sixx and Mick Mars more freedom and also a collaborative partner.
The album had not been a commercial success, certainly not like “Dr Feelgood” had been, though it should be again pointed out that the music world had moved considerably since that album’s release in 1989. With the record label pushing the band to reunite with Neil as lead vocalist, something neither side was interested in at that time, the band instead made other changes, moving on their manager as well as their producer Bob Rock, feeling as though he was ‘over-producing’ the band. Scott Humphrey was hired as producer, with Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee acting as co-producers, but the resulting confusion seemed to create more problems. Mick Mars was restrained from playing the way he wanted to (which even today seems like an extraordinary step for a producer to take, or for an artist to allow), and eventually, with the record label still heavily pushing for Vince Neil’s return to the microphone, Corabi left the band, and Neil was reinstated.
And yet, the problems remained. With much of the material already written, and co-written by Corabi, Neil apparently had trouble singing many of the songs the way they were structured. He had produced two solo albums during his time away from the band, one well received and the other generally ignored, but with the music that Motley Crue produced having changed its context since he was last in the band, it became a challenge to sew his vocals back into songs that were not written for him.

The band was very careful in trying to shield this album from any comparison with grunge and alternative genres, insisting that although they experimented with the sound of the songs on the album there was no drawing of those genres nor trying to position the band’s sound in that direction. However, listen to the album a bit and you will likely come to the conclusion that if this isn’t the case, then there is a definite influence from John Corabi in the songs that is not reflected in the credits for the album.
From the outset it is obvious that this album is an extension of the previous album, but firstly in a way that tries to bring some method of the older Motley Crue sound into this album, as well as having Neil singing which automatically does that. And the first four tracks, though varies, offer a great contrast to the old the new and the newest. “Find Myself” opens up the album excellently, showcasing each member in a positive fashion from the outset. The first single “Afraid” follows, and while it does have familiar overtones to earlier Crue singles the alterative strangle does have its place here, in fact it reminds me very much of Smashing Pumpkins in its sound.
“Flush” is one of the two songs only that Corabi is credited with writing – and that seems ludicrous to believe that his influence was only on those two tracks. Indeed, he eventually sued the band for several things including claiming he wrote about 80% of the album. Nevertheless, this song sounds great but it definitely is a song that Corabi would have sung brilliantly and that Neil has had to change a lot of his usual output in order to make it sounds this good. “Generation Swine”, the title track, has a more likely bounce to it and one that Neil’s vocals sound more like themselves in.
From this point of the album, the real changes in music technique come to the fore. “Confessions” has a very alternative sound to it, perhaps exacerbated by Tommy Lee’s backing vocals in the back half of the song. This is followed by “Beauty” where Lee shares lead vocals with Neil and certainly sits in that category. “Glitter” is probably the most boring song on the album, one that seems to draw in synths and other electronica that is very unlike the band – a song that was co-written with Canadian soft rock king Bryan Adams. This is dreadfully out of place. “Anybody Out There” harks back closer to an original Crue sound, but in some ways because of this also feels out of place with how the first half of the album is constructed. “Let Us Prey” is the second of two Corabi credited co-writes, and you can hear that influence immediately as Neil tries to sing it in a way that Corabi would.
The album should have stopped there, but its final four tracks as they exist really drag down the ultimate enjoyment of what has come before it. “Rocketship” is sung by Sixx, a ballad written for his then wife Donna D’errico, a song that should have been cut from an album release. A B-side to a single, yeah go for it. But not on an album. “A Rat Like Me” is fine, and I guess at a pinch could have been used as the closing track after “Let Us Prey” in the “Music from a Lifetime” album cut. But then this is followed by “Shout at the Devil ‘97”, a re-recorded version of the great title track of their second album. Why, you may ask? Well, who really knows. Was the band trying to prove they were still a true metal band by producing this version of one of their great past tracks? And, if you can believe it, they played THIS song when they played at the American Music Awards in January 1997, to promote that Vince was back in the band and that they had a new album coming out, that the record label probably hoped would sound like this but did not. And then the final track is Tommy Lee’s solo singing ballad “Brandon” written about his song and also his then girlfriend Pamela Anderson. Really? This is how Motley Crue ends an album? With these types of songs? Is it any wonder that fans and critics alike felt that the future for the band was very dim indeed.

It’s been a long time since I’ve listened to this album. As it turns out, I have listened to “Generation Swine” now more over the past month than I had in the 25 years before this. And again, that came from first impressions, and what I was listening to when this was released, and there was another good half a dozen albums that probably presented themselves to me with better credentials than I felt this offered at the time. So, it sat on the CD shelves, and collected dust, just as I mention at the end of every one of these episodes, and as I say is the reason, or one of them, as to why I am doing this podcast. To find albums like this. Because this is nothing like a Motley Crue album from the 1980’s, and I made the mistake of wanting it to be that when I first heard it all those years ago. This is very much a product of its age, and although the band tried to distance itself from being branded as an alternative album, it most definitely is different. In fact, it is closer to their 1994 self-titled album than they wanted to admit and given that it SOUNDS like Corabi was involved in writing most of these songs even though the band did not credit him with it, you can understand why it does. So that didn’t make this a bad album when it was released, it was just different from what most of us understood Motley Crue had been.
But the more I have listened to this over recent weeks, the more I have come to understand that I missed a trick back in those days when it was released. If I had just been able to come at it with an open mindset, allowed it to play in the background while I was doing other things around the house or at work, and let the album grow on me, I think I would have found out exactly what I now know – that this is a pretty good album. It isn’t great by any means, and it does feel as though it is pulling in two directions and not actually getting anywhere. The vocals from two members who were not Vince Neil don’t enhance it or those songs, and I think Corabi could have been a great ADDITION to the band rather than dismissing him completely. A rhythm guitarist, and a great vocalist to back up and share spots with Neil? Seems like a reasonable idea, doesn’t it? But that wouldn’t have been Motley Crue.
So yes, “Generation Swine” has plenty to offer fans of the band who are willing to accept that it is a change from their other material. This change was not to last beyond this album, as the band returned to a sound closer to their roots, and tho0ugh this may not be an album I will reach for too often, I do know that I will definitely reach for it again out of my collection in the future, and that in itself has made this a worthwhile venture.