1313. Gary Moore / Run for Cover. 1985. 3.5/5

The years leading up to this particular album being released had seen Gary Moore take more of an interest in producing his own material rather than being a hired hand in other projects. He had spent time in and out of Thin Lizzy and other projects in the 1970’s with his good friends and fellow rock traveller Phil Lynott, but in recent years had settled down into a solo career that seemed to be taking shape. The hard-hitting “Corridos of Power” album had been followed by the delayed release of the album “Dirty Fingers”, one that truly showcased his wonderful guitar skills along with his writing capabilities. Then had come “Victims of the Future” which both lyrically and musically followed that album closely in style and substance. It had utilised almost two different bands worth of musicians however, including new collaborator Neil Carter, bass players Neil Murray and Bob Daisley, and drummers Ian Paice and Bobby Chouinard. More importantly, Moore had taken on the lead vocal role himself for the first time for a full album, which did give it a much better sound, as though it was an actual band despite the use of so many different players. Moore wrote the majority of the album himself with help from Carter, and it appeared as though he had found his feet for perhaps the first time.
And then, coming into that album’s follow up, he delved once again into the “many players” aspect of the writing and playing scenario, something that arguably gave the album a different feel than perhaps a direct follow up to the hard to heavy oriented sound of “Victims of the Future” deserved. Moore’s good friend and frequent collaborator Phil Lynott was back. With the disbandment of Thin Lizzy two years earlier, Lynott had formed another band called Grand Slam in 1984, but which had also broken up due to being unable to break into the current music scene, and being seen as a poor man’s Thin Lizzy. Moore had invited him back to participate on this album, which he does in several capacities. Also on board was Glenn Hughes, formerly of Deep Purple and Trapeze, who had just found himself fired from Black Sabbath for his substance abuse, something he shared with Lynott. Hughes was also a bass playing lead vocalist like Lynott, so the participation of both on this album is a little unusual and rather unique. Three different keyboardists are used, Bob Daisley appears again on bass guitar on one track, and four drummers play pieces along the way. From the outside it seems like a very disjointed way of progressing on an album. If it was to be just a session album then it could be understandable. But by this stage of his career, surely Moore would have been searching for stability in his lineup, both on stage and in the studio. It was something that had the ability to create problems, and eventually the proof could be found in the pudding of the album that it brought together, called “Run for Cover”.

The album consists of ten tracks, with Moore himself credited as sole writer of seven of them. Two have Neil Carter as co-writer, while the other is composed by Phil Lynott and his former band mates from Grand Slam, Laurence Archer and Mark Stanway. That song, “Military Man”, was written by these three for that band, which then fell apart before any album deal came through. Lynott brought it with him when he came into this album, and so it appears here, along with Lynott on lead vocal for the song. For as long as this album has been out, and given I have known this album for almost all of that time, this song has been praised as an important anti-war song, with Lynott’s embracing vocals an important part of riding the emotion through the song. It’s just that, this doesn’t SOUND like a Gary Moore song. He didn’t write it, he doesn’t sing it, he plays guitar on it, and that’s all. The style of the track doesn’t suit what he is best known for in his career as a solo artist. It sounds like a Phil Lynott track, and that just doesn’t line up here at all.
Lynott contributes to one other track on the album, both on bass and as co-lead vocals, and as it turns out it is another anti-war song, but this time written by Moore and with Moore carrying the majority of the lead vocals. And it has become one of his best known and most famous songs, released as an almost stand alone single almost four months before the release of this album. The song is “Out in the Fields”, and features Moore and Lynott on duelling vocals through the song, switching lines and backing each other through the chorus. Unlike “Military Man”, which is a slow build to the energetic and powerful conclusion, this song is immediately punchy with Moore’s guitar riff and Lynott’s rumbling bass line, the tempo is faster and the energy and vibe of the track is upbeat despite the contents of the lyrics. It’s remarkable that these two friends for over 20 years came from either side of the border of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the things they had grown up with and must have seen during their lives growing up gave them a perspective together that makes this an incredibly powerful song. This is the signature song of the album.
Glenn Hughes contributes bass guitar on most of the remainder of the album, apart from one song by Bob Daisley. Hughes also sings lead vocals on four of those tracks. He doesn’t go by the “Voice of Rock” for nothing, as his vocals on those great Deep Purple albums in particular showcase. However, he doesn’t utilise that kind of range on these songs here, and yet he sounds terrific. Still, gives Moore’s ever improving vocals with each album, did he NEED Hughes on this album? Sure, its great that he wanted him involved, but it is still possible to wonder if his contributions could not have been performed by Moore. Certainly, when you hear the songs sung by Hughes here performed live with Moore on lead vocal, these is barely a discernible difference. Anyway, move on Bill, you are wasting valuable time. Let’s look at those four songs. “Reach for the Sky” has a true blues guitar bent about it, something that is perhaps exacerbated by Hughes’s vocals, as he has the ability to bring a real blues tone to anything he performs. But it is scarily reminiscent of the style of song that Moore eventually became entwined with during the 1990’s. The small portions of keyboard and synth do drag it back to the 1980’s, but as a rock blues tune it does act as a look into the future, along with Moore’s guitar solo which really only tops it off. Ah, if only we’d known then what we know now. “Out of My System” returns to a more typical hard rock tone with that 80’s keyboard again entwining its way into the song. There is an obvious desire to send this in a slightly more commercial direction. It was not released as a single but the way the song is written and performed you can hear it dripping of it in places. “Nothing to Lose” settles into its mid-tempo and chugs along for the entirement of the song, not climbing out of its groove, and only feeling lively when both vocalists combine into the bridge and chorus of the song. And the lyrics are barely inspiring, “Keep on rocking and rolling, keep on singing the blues”. And Hughes’s final lead vocal comes from the Moore and Carter penned “All Messed Up”, which could pretty much have been written about Hughes at this point of his career. Heavily addicted to drugs and alcohol, Glenn Hughes was an artist who appeared to be spiralling, and the lyrics here almost tell his story in real time. This is another song that sound much better in the live environment with a bit more grunt in the music and with Gary singing the vocals.
Moore sings the other four songs on the album, which as a result sound like the four most Gary Moore songs on the album. The title track opening song “Run for Cover” is a beauty, with Gary's squealing guitar emphasising where his vocals demand it does, the tempo and energy is at its best and the whole song is a great way to open the album. “Empty Rooms” is a power ballad, plain and simple. And yes it seems that almost every band in existence has to dabble with them. Neil Carter is particularly infatuated with them, and as a co-writer here he and Gary pull out all the stops to create a hitmaker. It was released as the second single before the album was released, where it failed to light any fires. “Once in a Lifetime” mirrors “Out of My System” in that it is an inoffensive 80’s styled rock song with more keys and synth as a basis of the song than you would prefer in a Gary Moore song when he could be contributing more guitar to the mix. Still, then we come to “Listen to Your Heartbeat” which tends to ruin almost everything that has come before it on the album. This is a soft rock almost pop tune, dominated by the synth and keys of the era with almost no appearance of Gary’s guitaring at all, and when it does appear it emulates the style that the track encapsulates. “Empty Rooms” is a legitimate power ballad song, and whether you like them or not Gary performs it well and it showcases a number of great elements of his and his band’s music. But this does not. It is obscenely dreadful. How it could be considered that this song was the way to finish an album is impossible to understand.

When it comes to “Run for Cover”, things don’t make a lot of sense until you consider the following. Because I often have a problem with this album due to the mix and match of musicians throughout. The mood changes that occur from song to song not only come from the change of musicians but the change of lead vocalist. This is something that obviously works in other bands, where different people in the band sing different songs. But here, it is almost like whole new lineups, and with the unique perspective of two different bass players and lead vocalists, their styles are so different in both bass playing and singing that it does sound like either two different albums or at times two different bands. This also was recorded in five different studios, and utilised five different producers, including Moore himself. I mean, it is difficult to make a coherent album with the number of personnel involved, even if one guy is the main songwriter and the ringleader of the circus.
“Run for Cover” was the last of the Gary Moore albums I got a copy of during that decade. Having discovered him late one Friday or Saturday night while watching Rage on ABCTV – it was the live version of “Wishing Well” that dragged me in – and having others of my friend group who were of a similar mind, I managed to get copies of all of his albums to that point in time. Except this one. Then came “Wild Frontier” and “After the War”, both of which I loved and love. And as far as I remember, I even got “Still Got the Blues” before I eventually got my copy of “Run for Cover”. So I had been exposed to a LOT of Gary Moore that, for me at least, existed at the top end of the spectrum.
So when I did listen to this album, I knew “Out in the Fields” and “Empty Rooms” and the title track. But as you may have already suspected while listening to this episode, this album I found very difficult to get into. It wasn’t like his other albums. It sounded disjointed. The songs didn’t flow together. The change in lead vocals on every single track was distracting. The style of each song differed from the other. And, in the main – I just didn’t really like many of the songs. I TRIED to like them, because pretty much everything else I had of his I loved. But this album just didn’t do it for me. And although I have listed here already several reasons why I “Run for Cover” just didn’t and hasn’t worked for me, I think that in the long run, this album is so different from what makes Gary Moore’s music so entertaining. It misses the key ingredients, and that means this batch of songs tastes like sewerage.
And, let me tell you, it hasn’t been for lack of trying again over the past week or so. 13 times I’ve listened to this album from start to finish, hoping something this time around would inspire me to find something that I had not in the previous 40 years. It failed to materialise. I still had the same impressions that I think I always have from this album. It’s okay, I haven’t minded having it on. But it would be very low on the choice meter if I was looking to listen to some Gary Moore to get me through the day.

1308. Edguy / The Savage Poetry. 2000. 3.5/5

There have been many stories over the course of this podcast of friends who come together at school and form a band, and that band either sprouts offshoots that go on to become one of the biggest bands of their age, or the actual band stays together and does that of its own accord. All of these individuals in the band would have had dreams of fame and success. One of those was Tobias Sammet, who at the age of just 14 got together with fellow school friends Jens Ludwig, Dominik Storch, and Dirk Sauer in 1992 and formed a band called Edguy, named after their Maths teacher. Jens and Dirk played guitar and Dominik played drums, while Tobi took on the singing role. Initially the band played without a bass player, until Tobi took it upon himself to take up the instrument along with retaining lead vocalist duties. By his own admission, the band was not very good to start with, covering songs from their favourite artists. In 1994 the band wrote and recorded two demos, which they sent out to various record companies, all of which rejected them. So far, this story heads in the same direction as most when it comes to school friend band groups.
In 1995, the band went a step further, recording a full-length demo album, containing nine tracks, and even self-released it to garner some publicity. It was this release, which they called “Savage Poetry” that finally got the ball rolling for the band. Shortly thereafter, they signed with AFM Records who wanted to re-release “Savage Poetry” with more widespread distribution. Edguy however decided against this. It has been reported that they were unhappy with the way the album sounded by this stage, and they didn’t want it to be the first thing released by them on a major label. Instead, they headed into the studio to record their official debut album titled “Kingdom of Madness”, which was released in 1997.
Flash forward to 2000, and on the back of three studio albums Edguy has found its niche in the power metal world. At this time though, Tobi Sammet is deep into writing and preparing for a supergroup project that has been his passion, of writing an opera based around power metal music. That project would eventually come to be called Avantasia and the album would be “The Metal Opera”. With Sammet’s creative flow being consumed by this project, Edguy decided that for their next album, they would completely re-record their demo album from 1995 and release it as their fourth studio album. This they could do as it kept the band busy without requiring the time necessary to creatively compose a new album while their main songwriter was otherwise engaged. And thus came about the album with the slightly adjusted title and slightly adjusted track list called “The Savage Poetry”.

When you listen to this album having already heard the original demo of this album, you immediately notice the light years of difference between the two, in just a five year period. The first improvement noticeable is how far Tobi’s vocals have come in that time period. It is chalk and cheese between his vocals on the demo, and where they are on this release. Even when this was recorded, the band’s fourth album, these guys were only 22 years old, so the natural improvement not only in Tobi’s vocals but in the playing overall is stark as they grew into manhood. The music is tighter, and Tobi sings with more attitude and vigour, while they have also included keyboard arrangement that fill out the songs in a much better way, without trying to compete with Edguy’s proven assets of the twin guitars. New drummer Felix Bohnke, who joined the band for their previous album “Theatre of Salvation”, also adds a more powerful and fast double kick style to the songs that didn’t exist on the originals.
The opening track “Hallowed” is a great way to get into the album, an anthemic-like beginning both musically and with the combined choiring vocals through most of the song. The middle of the track with the traded guitar solos and melodic combining of the two is definitely the best part of the song, with the over-repeating of the same lyrics in the back half of the song a little over the top. This is followed by “Misguiding Your Life” which has a great thrashier start to the track along with requisite scream from Tobi get the song off to its solid beginning. There is a terrific mix of thrash tones and power metal highs through the course of the song, and the speed of the song balances everything nicely. The melodic guitar solos through their assigned slot also accent the best parts of the band's methodology, and the bass line beneath fills everything out to perfection. From here the album segues perfectly into “Key to My Fate”, a song that frames this era of Edguy as well as showcasing the influences that started the band and then got them to this point. The great opening heavy riff starts this off terrifically as an entry to Tobi’s vocals. Then the guitar solos, which act as a perfect homage to Helloween, who were an obvious heavy influence on the band from a young age, and that is brought to bear here. This section is the highlight of the song, wonderfully supported by Felix’s drumming and Eggi’s bass line. This was the song on the demo that showcased the talent the band had at that time, but here in its re-recorded and reformed version it is one of the band’s best ever instalments.
Power metal bands by decree must have power ballads on their albums. And the time has come for that to occur here, with the song “Sands of Time”. Over the course of their history, Edguy have actually written and performed some quite excellent power ballads – and this is not one of them. I understand the mentality to have to provide a section of the fan base with these types of tracks, but they just do nothing for me. Here Tobi offers us his keyboard laden version of this, which is more ballad than power ballad. It’s a skip song. And what is more the pity is that it is sandwiched between two great songs, as it is followed by “Sacred Hell”, which charges out of the blocks in the best Edguy fashion, double kick and guitars keeping up, while Tobi’s chorused vocals take up the baton and cry from the hilt. It is a typically structured Edguy song, indeed it also has similarities to the songs that appeared on Avantasia’s “The Metal Opera” and is another of those great solid tracks good albums need to back up the most popular and well-known songs.
The other thing that power metal is known for is the epic tracks, and Edguy’s first (only chronologically from the demo) is “Eyes of the Tyrant”, that rifles through the gears and covers every extravagance that the genre demands of such songs. It opens and closes with the moody keyboard and Tobi’s quietly building vocal, before bursting to life with the true opening riff of the song. Led by the double kick rolling drum beat and bass line, this ten minute extravaganza has everything you would expect, including a wonderful sweeping guitar break into the solo spots and then the melodic harmony transition back into the verse and chorus. It showcases every peak of the band in the one song and is one of the main attractions of the album. This is followed by “Frozen Candle”, the second longest track on the album which doesn’t scream epic as much as it does heavy standard. The start and end of the track comes across like material on the band’s true heavy metal album “Hellfire Club” down the track a few years, but it has an almost acoustic break within the middle of the song that negates that. It is still a good song, though perhaps the changes do end up making it a tad long.
Moving from the two long form songs of the album back into the second power ballad “Roses to No One” is, again, a pained one. This is a guitar-based power ballad rather than the keyboard-based ballad earlier on the album, which fits more closely with what you might expect from a power metal standard ballad. If you are a fan of these songs there is certainly something here for you with the choir backing vocals and upraising spirit singing, and the power ballad guitar solo. For me, I reach for the skip button extremely quickly. The album closes out in much better style with “Power and Majesty”. Lyrically, it is a bit like it was written by a 17 year old, which by perchance it was! But musically it takes off from the start and barely pauses to catch breath. There's a great galloping beat about the song that it reminiscent of Iron Maiden in its execution, and the solo from Jens is excellent. This powers along to the end of the song and is an effective and enjoyable way to complete the album.

Though I had been a fan from early on in my heavy metal upbringing of bands that would dominate the genre that became power metal, Helloween and Gamma Ray, it wasn’t until the turn of the century that I began to truly investigate and wrap myself in the bands of the genre that I now truly adore, such as Blind Guardian and HammerFall, Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica, and in particular Edguy. So these initial albums had already been released before I began to come on board the band. It was 2001’s “Mandrake” that first caught my attention and made me think that I needed to not only drown in what this album offered, but also to go back and find their first four albums and check them out as well. And that journey actually had me coming across a copy of the original demo version of “Savage Poetry” before I came across this 2000 version of “The Savage Poetry”. And in many ways that was a good thing, because I got to hear what the band sounded like at that very early stage of their career, and then got to hear this version of the album, re-recorded and improved immensely by five years of solid recording and touring and maturing, both musically and in the ages from 17 to 22.
In the quest for totally laying all my cards on the table, it is the albums after this by the band that are my favourites, ones that are conceivably heavier and with greater attitude and better songwriting musically and lyrically that I enjoy most. But what I like about this album is the unbridled joy you can hear in the music as you listen to the album. “Misguiding Your Life” and “Key to My Fate” especially showcase all of this, the speed of the former and the heaviness of the latter being guides to the way the band was heading at that time. And yes, it is true that listening to this album now does give you an insight into just how Tobi was progressing with his Avantasia project at the time because musically there are similarities along the way.
I’ve had this out again for the past few days and listened to it half a dozen times, and I have enjoyed it just as much as I have in the past. In the long run it was a savvy move to re-record their original demo to give it the polish it needed, and it filled a hole while Tobi was otherwise engaged. And if you like power metal in any way, you will find something at least here to enjoy. If you don’t, then you won’t.

1304. Killswitch Engage / Killswitch Engage. 2000. 3.5/5

The morphing and movement within the broad channels of heavy metal as the calendar approached the new millennium has brought about a true divergence in the music that was being written and the bands that were creating these new segues from the Metal movement. Some of these new tangents being created included the well versed and repeated options of industrial metal, alternative metal, metalcore and nu-metal, each of which had their supporters and detractors, and also the bands that had championed each wave as it came through. Within all of this, there were bands who became the leaders of each new metal stream that came into being, bands who without even knowing what they were doing were at the forefront of a musical style that was on the verge of becoming something more popular and groundbreaking.
Killswitch Engage formed following the disbandment of metalcore bands Overcast and Aftershock in the late 1990’s. Following Overcast’s breakup in 1998, bass guitarist Mike D'Antonio came together with the guitarist from Aftershock, Adam Dutkiewicz. These decided to collaborate together, and with Dutkiewicz deciding he was now going to play drums, they recruited Aftershock band mate guitarist Joel Stroetzel to come on board. This trio began to collate and demo material. Numerous songs were written without a lead vocalist - indeed, all of the songs that made the debut album had been written before a lead vocalist had been found. Adam’s brother, who had also been the lead vocalist for Aftershock, also owned a record label, and signed to that label was a band called Nothing Stays Gold. Their lead singer was a guy by the name of Jesse Leach, and after some cajoling from Adam he came on board to perform the same role for the new band, which took on the name Killswitch Engage. Apparently, the band's name is derived from an episode from Season 5 of The X-Files entitled "Kill Switch".
In 1999, Killswitch Engage recorded a demo containing four tracks, including "Soilborn", the first song written by the band. The demo was first released at the band's first show, opening for melodic death metal act In Flames, in November 1999. While writing the album, D'Antonio asked Ferret Music if they would sign Killswitch Engage as a favour to him, as he had done the illustrations for the covers for some of the albums released through the label. As metal was becoming less popular at the time, at least in terms of album sales, the label’s representatives felt that they might be the last metal band they would ever sign. And thus, it came to pass that the band released their debut album in July 2000, carrying the name “Killswitch Engage”.

There is little doubt that this is a very different band than what you'll hear on the albums going forward. And judging debut albums on what then followed is a difficult thing to do at the best of times. But perhaps that is more so here. Like most debut albums, the band’s sound on this release is very raw and unrefined. Some suggest it is the band’s heaviest output, but that argument can be also bleached out a little by suggesting it was just a natural progression from the two bands that this band came together from, and that it was after this that they developed their own version of the sound they wanted to produce.
Jesse Leach's vocals are certainly a central figure to the album, and for the time and what was being recorded they are up and about. They offer mostly the scream rather than the melodic but for the time this was the norm. The lyrics offer some change within that structure. On the album opener “Temple from the Within: “So easy to look back on life, and question what I want - You teach me to inscribe these words upon my heart, you cover me with the shadow of your hate”. The album’s lyrics follow along the lines of believing in yourself, and making a difference in society. Sometimes that isn’t always easy to pick up through the vocalisation that it rendered on the album. “Vide Infra” picks up the pace, and at times comes close to being in a death metal tone, while also invoking slightly more melodic pieces, and this is followed on by “Irreversal”, where Jesse unleashes the full complement and range of his growls and screams into his clear lines as well. The switch from stand still slowness of riff back into the high energy double kick driven faster tempo brings several different ranges to the track.
“Rusted Embrace” follows the same basic song structure: intro, first verse, chorus, second verse, and so on. Guitar solos are basically non-existent, which does seem a shame and something that has been overlooked, a piece of the puzzle that would have improved these tracks with something out of the box to offset a little of the sameness that does creep in after a time. The instrumental “Prelude” kicks off the second side of the album, and showcases the excellent musical talents of the three musicians. It is interesting that just this two minutes offers a different side to the band that isn’t really heard throughout the rest of this album. It isn’t groundbreaking, but it is something that was incorporated more going forward. It segues nicely into “Soilborn”, the first song the band ever wrote, before Jesse came on board as well, so hearing the more melodic guitar on this track as well, combined with Jesse’s growl, actually combines terrifically well. The opening five minutes of side two is well worth the wait. This is followed by “Numb Sickened Eyes”, which combines a great guitar riff which is almost melodic but doesn’t quite reach that level, which then moves into a heavier rebuttal as the song progresses. The tempo and timing changes through the song are difficult to take, even when you are totally familiar with the song. They seem unnecessary and only to provide a point of difference rather than as an accentuation of the song itself.
Better is to come with the galloping guitar and drums as we enter into “In the Unblind”, kicking this song into a different level, suggesting tones of things to come down the track a little. With the tempo at its best, Jesse’s vocals are also given the chance to showcase the growl and not just the scream, and this song is one of the album’s best because of all of these factors. If any song on this album truly represents the best of this young and raw version of Killswitch Engage, it is this track. The album then concludes with the instrumental track “One Last Sunset”. The quietly contemplative build in the track, from the piano beginnings and into the slowly increasing domination of the guitar, brings a suggestion that this is about to break out into something truly special, a song with shuddering guitars and drums that will create an epic conclusion... and then it just doesn’t get going. Indeed, it is almost just a piano piece to bring the album to its finish. It never ceases to be a surprising disappointment, given what has been showcased on the album prior to this. You expect power and domination to complete the album. Instead, we get unrevealed puzzlement.
So this is where it all started or the band, and yes it is more metalcore here than what they became on later albums, but what this album does is introduce the main players to the fans, and showcase what they had to offer going forward. And sure, Jesse Leach disappeared for a decade when it felt that they were on the verge of that breakthrough. And given that, perhaps it was the best thing that happened for the band in the long runs. Fans have differing views when it comes to that discussion. The vocals aren’t quite as prevalent on this first album as they would become, and we get more of the guitar and bass here in a natural element.

It was through sheer good fortune that we came across Killswitch Engage the band, though it was four years after this initial album had been released. We went to the Metro Theatre in Sydney to see Anthrax on their “We’ve Come for You All” tour, and they had two support acts that night. One I was familiar with, by name and reputation at least, which was Soilwork. But the opening act I didn’t know anything about. But by the time they were halfway through their third song, we all knew that we were going to have to track down this band immediately. At the time of course, Howard Jones was the frontman, but the band and their music was just so incredible, it was impossible not to see that these guys had something special about them. That concert was on April 26, 2004, and they told us that night that their brand new album “The End of Heartache” was coming out in two weeks. And thus, the arrival of Killswitch Engage into our music realm was enacted.
As for this album? I didn’t hear any of the Jesse material until after “As Daylight Dies” had been released and I had been saturated in it, and was starting to look for their other material. And, it is fair to say that it was different enough that it took some time to get my head around it. Not just Jesse’s vocals, but also the music itself. As may fans of the band would agree with, the band’s sound is far more refined once Howard came along and released those two amazing albums that I have just mentioned. They are of a different era, built on the lessons learned from both this album and its follow up “Alive or Just Breathing”, and incorporating the differing styles of their new lead singer. So yes this album was different, so it wasn’t something I jumped on board with immediately or with any great enthusiasm. In the long run, it wasn’t until Jess rejoined the band in 2012 that I came back to this album, mostly in preparation for what he was going to bring back to the band. And I won’t lie – I am a Howard enthusiast, and I still have trouble with parts of this album that could be attributed to my favouring of Howard’s vocals.
Still, I’ve had this album on again over the past couple of days, and it hasn’t been unwelcome. It will never rate as one of my favourite pieces from the band, but I enjoy it more now than I did when I first discovered it back in 2008 or so. Perhaps that is old age creeping in, or a more localised element of being more used to Jesse’s vocals now than I was when I first had the album. Having seen the band a number of times now with Jesse on lead vocals has probably helped with that. There are still good moments on this album that are worth following up if you haven't been down this path before, but it is fair to say that of the Killswitch Engage catalogue, this would rank down at the bottom of the list for me. And as always, that isn’t necessarily a reflection on THIS album, it is more a reflection on what came after it.

1296. Whitesnake / Ready an' Willing. 1980. 3.5/5

As the music world of the late periods of the 1970’s decade began to move through periods of high intensity change, including but not restricted to R&B, AOR, disco, heavy metal and punk, there were still bands who were moving to the beat of their own drum, sticking to the strengths of their members and refining and producing their own sound on their own terms. One of those bands was Whitesnake. Following the demise of Deep Purple, David Coverdale’s next project had released two albums in “Trouble” and “Lovehunter”, both of which had been based around a far more bluesier aspect than the bigger named band had been best known for. Both albums came to the attention of music listeners in the UK but struggled to gain any traction elsewhere in the world. Guitarist Bernie Marsden was quoted in an interview some years later as saying that the band had argued in a positive way during the writing and recording of the “Lovehunter” album, a process he believes made the band a better unit, and was instrumental in helped the band get better as they went along.
One part of that puzzle came to pass with the recruitment of Ian Paice as drummer for the new album. Jon Lord had been on board from just prior to the first album being recorded, and now Paice’s arrival not only brought in a very accomplished drummer, but a third member from the final iteration of Deep Purple. Coverdale had been trying to recruit his former band mate for some time, and his sound was to be a defining piece of the puzzle for the new album.
Given the musical environment that this album was being written and released in, it is an interesting one to go back and listen to in retrospect. Disco, punk, metal... there is none of that here. Whitesnake through their major collaborators in Coverdale, Marsden and fellow guitarist Micky Moody, weren’t looking to make any drastic changes to their own sound. They went into this album to deliver songs that may not have changed in sonics but were, they hoped, better and more pronounced versions of those songs. While the band had their solid core audience at the time, it was a difficult market to produce a hard blues album, which is essentially what the band delivers here with “Ready an’ Willing”, and while looking back from this point on the timeline gives you a sense of what has come since, at the time it must have been an interesting album to pick up on its day of release, and put on the turntable.

This original version of “Fool for Your Lovin’” is dominated by the beautiful bassline from Neil Murray, something you don’t hear on the updated version almost a decade later. Along with the understated keys from Lord and Paice’s beautifully tracking drumming, it makes an instant impact. The solos from Moody and Marsden are also perfect for the package, and Coverdale’s vocals sit in the perfect range and power for the song. It is interesting that this is probably still the standout song from the album all these years later, and yet it is because everyone here has a part in making the song excellent. The following two tracks have a structure that is very Deep Purple but certainly with the adjustments that have been made to them by the Whitesnake sound itself. “Street Talker” has a great upbeat vibe about it, highlighted through the middle by Jon Lord’s excellent keyboards and Coverdale’s enticing vocals throughout. The title track is immediately put into a perfect place by the terrific groove from Paice and Murray on drums and bass, it hits you immediately and creates a warm and comforting feel to the track. Ian Paice’s recruitment for this album is a massive fillip and his touch is over every song, while Neil Murray’s bass lines are nicely woven into the music. The Deep Purple tones are all over this track.
From here it is a different journey, no less enjoyable but of a very varied style. “Carry Your Load” is almost a blues gospel song, slower in tempo and with more emphasised vocals from Coverdale. If the keys were more prominent in the mix it would definitely be classed as gospel. “Blindman” actually comes from Coverdale’s first solo album that was released on the splitting of Deep Purple, “White Snake” (two words not one) the name that he of course took for his new band’s name the following year. It has been updated slightly here, given a bit of power in both music and background vocals. It’s a real creeper, starting off slowly and then building through the middle vocally, with the solos from Moody and Marsden excellent as always. It closes out side one of the album in a positive fashion.
The second half of the album is more defined in its quality. “Ain’t Gonna Cry No More” is a fairly standard blues rock number, not a bad song but also not extending itself to be anything apart from what it is. “Love Man” is the most blues driven track on the album, pure old time blues in every respect. In slow tempo, style, vocally and lyrically, and musically, this is your blues standard. It drags on too long, though also feels longer because of the pace that it is played at and the often-repeated lyrics within the track. “Black and Blue” is a more contemporary version of the blues, along with honky tonk piano from Lord which pick up the mood immediately. Dare I say there is a touch of the early Eagles in this song? The band has subtlety given us a wide range of material on this album; all tied to the blues rock genre but none of them sounding the same. The final song “She’s a Woman” is where we are actually met full force in the face with Jon Lord’s amazing organ skills for almost the only time on the album, and it makes an incredible difference to the song and the finish of the album. It actually makes the album contemporary for the first time with the sound he brings to the track, mirroring what was being utilised in other areas of music at that time.
There has always been a bit of a separation with the Whitesnake fan base over the albums the band has released, and when you listen to “Ready an’ Willing” compared to any album after 1984, you could fully understand why that is the case. For those fans that grew up with albums like this, and then were confronted with “1987” and “Slip of the Tongue”, you can fully appreciate the gulf that they had to come to appreciate. The same is true of younger fans going back to this from the more recent albums, but I think the real conversion of the band during the 1980’s would have been a massive event for the band’s earliest fans, and not surprisingly one that many couldn’t get over.

My own journey with Whitesnake began with the aforementioned “1987” album, one that contained all of the glitz and glitter of the enveloping heavy genre that it was aimed at on its release, and which was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. When it came to all of the Whitesnake albums prior to this, that was more of a journey. It was just a matter of getting down the road to doing it. I went through the Deep Purple discography, and in doing so discovered each of “Burn, “Stormbringer” and “Come Taste the Band” that are in some ways a forgotten branch of music and yet are so wonderful in their own right, and of course are the forerunner to this band, so that when I came to the early Whitesnake albums I wasn’t as unprepared as I could have been when it came to their sound. Well... that’s partly true.
“Ready an’ Willing” for me is and was a big step for Whitesnake. Those first two albums are okay in my opinion, but without a lot that really draws me back into listening to them. But here, when I first listened to the album, there is a hook, a catch. The opening track “Fool for Your Lovin’” is an obvious one, but what really dragged me in from the outset was the musicianship, and the way it was recorded and mixed for our ears. The rhythm of Paice and Murray on this album is just sublime, you can hear everything that Murray is playing which improves and is an important part of each song. And Paice’s drumming just shines with whoever he is playing with. Lord’s keys may not be integral to every song here, such that when they are not, they have been subdued in the background of the track. But when they are, they take front and centre as they did in Deep Purple, and in both instances, it works perfectly. And along with the guitars and Coverdale’s vocals, all of this is what made me notice the album. Take a look at who the producer is? Ah. Martin Birch. Well, that really does explain everything. And for me, his work here brings out the best in the band.
I’m not a huge lover of blues music. I understand its importance in the roots of heavy metal music and appreciate it when it comes to being incorporated at different levels of the genre. But pure blues is not something I am massively in to. And for all intents and purposes this is a blues rock album. So while there are songs here that I really enjoy, there are others that I am happy to listen to when I put this album on, but would probably rarely if ever choose to listen to individually. I’ve now had this album on my work playlist for three weeks – a little longer than I usually do, but this was also a slightly more difficult review to compose. It was important to me to truly root out exactly how I feel about this album for this podcast episode, and not just write something wishy washy or praise for no other reason than because it is Whitesnake. That extra time has allowed me to be sure that I believe this is a very good album, and the place where Whitesnake as a band began to find its feet. For me, I believe each album got better over the next decade, but I also love what they did beyond the tenure of this line up. The true believers have other ideas on that argument.

1294. Lock Up the Wolves. 1990. 3.5/5

Upon his decision to leave Black Sabbath in 1982 and start up his own band under the name Dio, Ronnie James Dio and his new entity had had wonderful success on the back of albums such as “Holy Diver”, “The Last in Line” and “Sacred Heart”. The band had created songs that had captured the imagination of heavy metal fans around the world, and continued the rise of Dio that he had ascended through his stints in Rainbow and Black Sabbath. The band had parted ways with guitarist Vivian Campbell on the tour to promote the “Sacred Heart” album, and Craig Goldy had come in to replace him, and then write and perform also on that album’s follow up “Dream Evil”. In some ways, the first real slide of Ronnie James Dio’s career began at this point. “Dream Evil” did not do as well in sales as the previous three albums had, and while there had been a building dissention from previous gutiarist Campbell in regard to money, it seems that the problems were not just limited to the band’s first guitarist. Following the tour, Goldy also found himself on the outer and out of the band.
This event created a worldwide search. Dio opened up the position to almost a public ballot. He encouraged anyone and everyone to send their demo tapes in as he searched for a suitable replacement, someone he felt could come in and be the breath of fresh air that the band needed. Dio claimed at the time that he received and listened to over 5000 demo tapes from aspiring band members from around the world. One of those was a 17 year old from England called Rowan Robertson. He had become aware of Goldy’s departure, and though he went through the channels of the band’s management in order to put his name in contention he was unsuccessful, as he was when he also went through Dio’s then record company Phonogram Records. Undeterred, Robertson then reached out to the band’s official fan club, hoping someone with closer ties to the frontman could help him get in contact with him. This ended up succeeding and his demo tape ended up in the hands of Dio, and led to an audition for the role, for which he was flown to Los Angeles to do so in front of Ronnie and Wendy Dio. A second audition followed, and not long after Robertson was made an offer to join the band, with the official announcement made on 20 July 1989. As you can imagine, this became the focal point for all the music media for the next 10 months leading up to the release of the album.
Robertson’s arrival in the band, perhaps surprisingly and through no fault of his own, ended up spelling the end of the remainder of the original members of Dio. Keyboardist Claude Schnell was the first to go, soon replaced by Jens Johanssen who moved on from Yngwie Malmsteen’s band to join Dio. After this, bass guitarist Jimmy Bain was also moved on, replaced by Teddy Cook, the almost equally as unknown as the newly hired guitarist. Finally, just two weeks before the band was to head into the studio to record the newly written album, Vinny Appice also left the band. Appice later confirmed that he was there until the album was written and left because he felt "This is not Dio" with "all these young guys in the band". As his replacement, Dio brought in his friend Simon Wright, who had moved on after a successful stint with AC/DC to take up the role.
In an article in the Los Angeles Times in September 1990, Ronnie was quoted as follows as to his decision to break up his original band, suggesting he was prompted by his sense that the band members had lost interest. “They just weren’t putting out anymore,” he said. “I’m very intense about what I do, and the guys in the band seemed to be merely going through the motions, bringing their lunch to work and looking at the clock, waiting to go home. And I just can’t go for that. I view this as a brand-new band, with four new guys and one old guy--me,” Dio said. “And after a three-year layover, we’re essentially starting all over again.”

“Wild One” comes out of the block immediately with Simon Wright’s drum intro to the band followed by the opening riff from new guitarist Rowan. The tempo is immediately up and about, and everything seems to lock in from the start. As the opening to the new era of the band, and indeed the completely converted line up of the band, it hits all the right moves from the outset. Rowan is giving plenty of opportunity to showcase his wares, to show why he has been brought in at such a tender age to be Dio’s new gunslinger. Straight up he is more Goldy than Campbell but there is nothing wrong with that. This is followed by the more subdued pace but increasingly brooding mood of “Born on the Sun”. There is a fantastic building of intensity through the song in both music and from the frontman himself. Dio’s vocals hit those gritty highs throughout the song, and Rowan sounds absolutely spectacular on this track, really ramping up the energy to make it as wonderful as it is.
From this point on, it is noticeable about the change within the structure of the album, the direction that this fifth Dio album has decided to take that differs with the albums that have preceded it. The tempo from this point on more or less sits in a slow mid-tempo, marking the way that Ronnie himself seems to have wanted the music to flow. “Hey Angel” is highlighted by Rowan's great solo in the middle of the song, which almost sounds like it is trying to get this song to speed up and come in at a better tempo that would improve its output markedly. It doesn’t succeed, but it still pushes Dio’s vocals to a more pleasing output as the song reaches its conclusion. “Between Two Hearts” has a passion about the vocals, most especially in the verses rather than the chorus, but the morbidly slow tempo that accompanies it holds back its true enjoyment as a result. This acts as one of the best examples of tracks on this album that sound reasonable in places but just need to ramp up the actual speed of the musical output to get it to an enjoyment level that would please the long-time fans of the band. “Night Music” is slightly brighter but follows the same pattern, a slower tempo riff that sounds terrific but isn’t allowed to break the barriers et for it. Indeed, the groove of the chorus here is terrific and Rowan’s solo again sounds great, but it just feels like this is saddled again with the grind and broken gears of a tractor trawling through mud. Ronnie’s vocals ramp up the end of the track again, sometimes making you wonder why he is leaving the real power for the end.
When it comes to the title track this continues in spades. “Lock Up the Wolves” possibly even slows down even further than anything to this point of the album. And yes, I’m aware that music doesn’t have to be fast or even mid pace to be great and entertaining. But this really does border on going backwards, so slow is the tempo. Just getting to the first drumbeat and riff feels like an eternity... and then another terminal pause before the next one. At times it is amazing that Simon has a tempo to keep on the drums because it drags so slowly between drumbeat and hi hats crashes. This song goes for 8.5 minutes but feels so much longer because of its terminal tempo. That’s a tough way to complete side one of the album. Then you flip it over and begin side two, and you get pretty much the same thing with “Evil on Queen Street”. Dio’s vocals take on the main role once again here, vocalising his lyrical story, while his band sit in their mono tempo track with the basic drum and bass rhythm pattern holding together underneath, and Rowan’s basic riff settling into the walk of the song. Both of these songs are well designed to set up the visual of the story being told with the desolate and moody characteristics of the music. But coming in to listen to a Dio album and hearing these songs back to back? That’s a tough ask. Ronnie’s vocals do climb at the back end of the song to bring some passion and vitality to the track.
The back third of the album does spend a little time trying to pull itself out of the mire in regards to tempo, and while it does do that it is the mood that is hard to replace. “Walk on Water” brings us back to a mid-tempo range, Dio singing in a less ominous and a more tale-telling fashion. This song is reminiscent of what the band produced for the “Dream Evil” album, which given the fact that all of those members had now gone is slightly ironic. “Twisted” pulls back a fraction again, and also has a less exciting rhythm style about it, one that doesn’t allow Rowan to break free of the spell easily and put his own mark on the track. “Why Are They Watching Me” is perhaps the fastest tempo of the album after the opening track, with Simon and Teddy even allowed to break their spell as well. The shame is that the song fades out as Rowan lets rip on a second solo, and yet it takes it with it as it fades into nothing. Such a shame, just give us 30 more seconds and I think it would have been a terrific finish. The album then closes out with the autobiographical “My Eyes”, the lyrics covering songs and albums and bands of Ronnie’s career all meshed into the track, perhaps fittingly closing the album on a high note. Indeed, perhaps in many ways once this album was released, it could have felt as though it was an appropriate way to bring to a close the bands days, which for a time was not so far away from the truth as may have been imagined.

Oh my... I was soooo looking forward to the release of this album. And due to the early announcement of the recruitment of a new guitarist in Rowan Robertson so early on, and the constant reporting of it in magazines such as Hot Metal and Kerrang and Metal Hammer, I had about a year to wait before its release. And that was interminable at the time. “Dream Evil” had been released right on the cusp of the end of our school years, and is still a burning memory of our final days of high school. So yes, I was excited and could wait to get this album.
It’s fair to say that I have rarely been as disappointed in my life as I was when I got this album.
I bought this on vinyl at Utopia Records as soon as I possibly could after its release... and was almost morbidly horrified at what I heard. This was so far away from what I had expected it to be, there are points of the universe as yet undiscovered that would be closer to what I thought this album would be like. Yes, it was an entirely new band, but the songs were actually mostly written by the same writers as they had had for years. Dio Bain Appice, and Robertson. So how could they be so different? Was it Rowan who was to blame for this? Now, let’s cut this off before we go any further. You get the feeling that Rowan was very tied up in what he was allowed to do to express himself musically on this album. That’s not unusual for a Dio-helmed album. He was a kid, a very YOUNG kid, and on his first ever project he was always going to have to tow the line pretty much all the way. There are some really terrific moments on this album where he shows what he can do, and they were then and still are today wonderful to listen to. And Ronnie writes all the melodies and the structure of the tracks. So no, Rowan was not to blame. It is harsh that he had to shoulder a fair percentage of the disappointment fans had with this album on its release. To be fair, it is such a shame that he didn’t get a second album on which to collaborate and perform with this band and perhaps give a clearer indication of his own songwriting abilities.
Dio drags back the tempo on this album, at which point it is molasses-slow for no real discernible reason. There is no proof of the following statement, but it is my own theory regarding this album, and how much of his band’s music goes from this point onwards. Ronnie often spoke about wanting to bring the heavy to his music. But by heavy it often seemed from 1989 onwards as though what he wanted was to slow down the songs, accentuate the guitar riffs and express himself with a heavier droning pace, which seems to be what he considered a heavier kind of music. It isn’t doom because that’s not what his guitarists played best. But it is deathly slow, and without those exciting break out riff and solos from his chosen guitarist it becomes a lot less interesting than it may be. It’s a real shame.
The drumming too is very much in the style that you would expect Vinny Appice to play in, which certainly binds with the account that his replacement came after all of the songs had been written, and Wright came in and played a close approximation to what Vinny would have played anyway. It sounds fine, but Simon is a different type of drummer, something he was able to show on Dio’s later albums.
So yes, when this album came out I was mortified. Compared to so many of the other amazing releases in the year 1990, this was a deep dark pit of disappointment.
Flash forward seven years. Dio has been back to Black Sabbath to release one of the heaviest albums ever recorded, one so different from this one that it is hard to imagine they reside so closely together. Then he’s out again, and he’s back with Dio and has released two more albums with the same sort of polarising of opinion that “Lock up the Wolves” produced. “Strange Highways” mirrors “Dehumanizer” in places, while “Angry Machines” is almost an industrial metal album, so completely unlike anything Dio has ever produced that it invoked from me a question – was this just like “Lock Up the Wolves”? So I reached into the collection, to an album I likely hadn’t listened to in seven years. And I put it on. And what I found was an album... that wasn’t as bad as I remembered it. Yep, it was still molasses-slow in the middle as I remembered it, but overall I thought it was okay. And for the first time I found myself wondering... if Dio had released THIS album in 1995 or 1996, would it have been better received? The changes in music had been stark in that time, and perhaps it better suited what heavy music had BECOME than what was prevalent at the time it was released.
Since then, I have listened to “Lock Up the Wolves” more often. It started off only occasionally, but over the years it has become a more regular occurrence. And although I still remember how much I thought this was a great big pile of crap when it was first released, now I really enjoy it. Once I got used to the pace of the album, I think there is a lot of great material to listen to here. And I am biased when it comes to Dio the band and Dio the artist. That much will always be true. And this will never be regarded as a great Dio album by anyone. But even over the last couple of weeks, having listened to it many many times again, I still love the mood and the way the album comes together. Sure, out of the ten studio albums the band released I would rank this at 9, I still love hearing Rowan’s only contribution to the band, and I still love listening to Ronnie. This is definitely a variant when comes to the band Dio’s discography, but being this far separated from the era makes this a far easier listen than it was 35 years ago.

1292. Bruce Dickinson / Tattooed Millionaire. 1990. 3.5/5

All bands have a peak, a time when they could not be possibly any higher in their career than they are at a certain point. It is not something that they necessarily know at that time, but that after the event they can look back and pinpoint just when it is, and hopefully smile and say ‘yeah, that was something wasn’t it?’. For Iron Maiden, that peak was the conclusion of 1988, following the tour to support the album “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”. The band had produced seven incredible albums, had solidified their line up over the last four of those albums, and those albums had charted all over the world. In terms of success, Iron Maiden was scaling Everest. Looking back from this point on the timeline, perhaps they had reached the peak of Everest. The band had chosen to take a year off after their demanding schedule over recent years, and several events began to pass that would change the shape of the band over the next few years. Perhaps this was already underway anyway.
In early 1989, Bruce Dickinson was asked if he would like to contribute a track for the movie “A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child”, the next instalment of the Freddie Krueger horror legacy. For this, Dickinson was provided a budget, a studio, and a producer in the experienced and well renowned Chris Tsangarides. Bruce took up the opportunity and roped in an old friend in guitarist Jannick Gers to come in with him, and between them they came up with the song “Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter”, which they duly recorded with the help of bass guitarist Andy Carr and drummer Fabio del Rio. So impressed with the results of the song, Zomba Music asked Dickinson if he was interested in recording a solo album. Fellow bandmate Adrian Smith had done the same thing the previous year with his Adrian Smith and Project, an album called “Silver and Gold”. Here was an opportunity for Bruce to fully put himself onto an album for the first time. He hadn’t done so in Samson, and in Iron Maiden he would always be restricted to a degree with what he wanted to do by the numbers of the band and of course the band leader himself. Here, he would be the band leader, and could express himself in any way he saw fit. The result was Bruce accepting the offer, and by keeping the same band and the same album producer, they spent a two week period in the studio creating what was to become the album “Tattooed Millionaire”, one that history tells us was the precursor to what was to unfold over the next two years and into the following decade.

One decision that was made did come from Bruce’s main band, one that showed that the influence of Steve Harris extended beyond that band’s reach. Steve had been so impressed with Bruce’s song “Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter” that he decided that he wanted to put it on Iron Maiden’s next album. That meant suppressing the version that had been released on the movie soundtrack, but it also meant that Bruce was unable to use it on his own solo album. Now, whether he would have ended up doing that or not is still something that has been left unresolved over the years, but if it had been added it may have made this album even more important than it became regarding shaping the future.
The album opens with the track that is going to set the style of the album, and “Son of a Gun” does that with a cool set of opening lyrics, with Bruce’s vocal set “Holy was the preacher, Riding on his rig of steel in the rising sun, This was no grim reaper but a man with a smile who took a pride in a job well done
Oh, in a bloodred sunrise, He's preaching conversion, as you lay down and die”. Sitting back in a slower than expected tempo, it does give Bruce the opportunity to utilise all of his vocal range and style, and also Jannick to almost croon along on lead guitar throughout as well. It actually works surprisingly well as the opening track to the album. The title track “Tattooed Millionaire” gives Bruce the opportunity to give a spray to as many people and subjects as he feels like doing. The harmony vocals through the bridge and chorus work really well, especially given that they are not overused in his other more famous band. Mixed with the harsher vocals through the verses, the song itself blends nicely into the subject matter of the lyrics, and the bass and drums act as the base of the song underneath throughout. Bruce is able to touch on subject matter that wouldn't fit in Iron Maiden at that time, though it is amusing that that was to change very soon. It’s another excellent entry to the start of the album.
“Born in ‘58” is a nicely performed almost-autobiographical song, focusing on growing up with his grandparents, and the way people were in those days and how the events of the time affected their lives and his upbringings. Once again, it isn’t a fast song but is tinged with a well performed melody, and it is the reflective thought brought about by Bruce’s words and singing that gives the song its emotional base. The other big player in this song is that by this point of the album it is noticeable with surety that this album is as far away from an Iron Maiden album as you could imagine. Unless you have heard Adrian Smith’s album that and been released the previous year. “Hell on Wheels” sticks to the slower mid-tempo, with Bruce incorporating a harsher vocal in a chanting style for most of the track, until we reach the chorus where his harmony dual vocals return to remind us of his primary vocal asset. Jannick gives us a nice guitar solo through the middle of the song that lifts it above the average as a result. “Gypsy Road” might stick to the same tempo as those songs before it, but it falls back to a ballad state, another reflective tome about leaving the high life and leading the simpler life that the gypsies were want to do. It may well have been something that was on Bruce’s mind when composing the song, that perhaps he wanted a simpler life than life always on the road. These three songs back to back provide a real point of difference in Bruce’s style, where even his vocals stylings are marked with change.
“Dive! Dive! Dive!” has lyrics that play up the urban myth about the characters names in the British comic “Captain Pugwash” and descends into a bucketful of double entendres that proliferate the song. At the time this was written it had been suggested not only some sections of the public but also the media that the characters in the cartoon had double meanings, but this was eventually retracted publicly when the author John Ryan took those media barons to court. Instead, this song stands as a monument to what was heard snickered behind hands in schoolyards around the country. Whether that is a good thing or not is open to public opinion. The song itself is more upbeat that most of the offerings before this and stands out as a result. It shouldn’t be a surprise that Bruce wrote a song of this nature, given the subject matter of the novel he was about to publish called “The Adventures of Lord Iffy Boatrace”. This is followed by “All the Young Dudes” a cover of the Mott the Hoople song which is given loving treatment here. Indeed, for me at least, I think it is the best version of this song.
The final three songs of the album, I feel, have a hard time living up to the rest of the album. “Lickin’ the Gun” is an energetic anti-authority song with Bruce spitting out his diatribe faster than you can sing along, although most of it isn’t singing but more standing on his soapbox and unloading on the protagonists of the song. “Zulu Lulu” lyrically at least is Bruce’s Kiss song, giving away more than he should but never the whole story in the same position. And the closing song “No Lies”, while preaching more of the evils of the world, just becomes far too repetitive musically and lyrically to fully enjoy. And with that, in the final analysis, is what you are left with here by the end of the album. It covers the gamut when it comes to musical style and also lyrical tales. There is something for almost everyone, but perhaps not enough of it to offset the pieces that you may well not adhere to.

I don’t think there is much doubt that when I bought this album on its release, I was expecting something truly amazing. I didn’t expect Iron Maiden, but I expected something that would showcase Bruce’s amazing vocals, the range and the drawn out melodies, and music that would also enhance all of those qualities. I guess I was expecting exactly what I got from the “Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter” single from the A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 soundtrack. THAT’S what I was expecting – nay, demanding! An album of that kind of attitude and excitement and joy. And as we all know, that kind of expectation can cruel an album before you even hear it. And for me at that time, when I bought it and first played it... it didn’t! In fact, I was taken with this album immediately. Sure, it could hardly have been much more different from what I was hoping for, but at that time it still intrigued me. The mood swings of the album I thought at the time were enjoyable, the songs n the opening half of th album were all great. I swung with the punches when it came to the second half of the album, really not even noticing any change in quality or style, just play the album through, and then go back and start it all again. This continued to be a regular event for about 3 months, right up until a plethora of amazing albums were released in the second half of 1990. And right up until that time, I enjoyed this album without any qualms. It was Bruce doing a solo project to showcase some of his love of other styles of hard rock music with a friend. It was enjoyable. And of course, it was a one-off thing, so there was no need to thinkabout it leading to anything else. Well, once again, shows what you know Bill!
I wouldn’t say that my opinion of the album changed over the proceeding years, but it explained a lot about the seeding of Bruce’s eventual split with Iron maiden and the fostering of a solo career. Everything that appears on this album could not have been done in the environment of Iron Maiden, and the fact that it had been reasonably well received even though it is not a heavy metal album must have said to Bruce that it was perhaps a better outlet for him where he could make all of the decisions without have to go through a consensus of opinion. Or the opinion of one other. The direction of Bruce’s two solo album’s following that split - “Balls to Picasso” and “Skunkworks” - brought home to me the differences and adaptations that Bruce had within his volume of work, and funnelled back to this album, and why it was an important thing that he did at that time. Because he would have known going into this solo album that he would have a large majority of Iron Maiden fans who would buy it no matter what, and that a reasonable percentage of those fans who did would be unhappy with the results.
I have spent the last week listening to this album again, and it has been some time since I last gave it a listen. Unlike many others, I have no negative thoughts or connotations about “Tattooed Millionaire”. I accepted its change of style and direction when I first heard it, and I am in no different position today. I rarely analyse an album so closely as to ascertain why I love or hate or am ambivalent about a riff, a rhythm section, a track or an album. That is as true as it can possibly be when it comes to “Tattooed Millionaire”. I still like “Son of a Gun”, the way it opens the album. I really enjoy he title track and “Born in ‘58” and “Hell on Wheels”. I love the version of “All the Young Dudes”, it is given a loving performance, and the closer “No Lies”. All of this I still sing along to and enjoy. Yes, a big part of that is nostalgia, because I played this a lot when I first got it, in the absence of a new Iron Maiden album, and it does remind me of that time. And the other songs here? Well, they are tolerable. They are a part of the album, and thus when I listen, I listen to it all. They aren’t bad but they have dated.
This album marked not only a skew in Bruce Dickinson’s career path, but also that of Iron Maiden. The change of musicians and how that affected both Maiden and Bruce himself, the change of music direction created by the times and the change in personnel. All of that can be traced to Adrian’s “Silver and Gold” album and Bruce’s “Tattooed Millionaire” album. Not everything that came from the next decade was good, but as a forerunner to the recombining of all concerned in order to push Maiden into the next century, it was all a very necessary element. “Tattooed Millionaire” may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I will always think of it as an enjoyable album.

1290. Black Label Society / Stronger Than Death. 2000. 3.5/5

The continued inconsistency of Ozzy Osbourne and his recording and touring routine was an obvious basis for the formation of what became the band Black Label Society. Ozzy had decided he was going to retire from touring after the “No More Tears” album, which left guitarist Zakk Wylde as a free agent as such. Of course, this retirement was short lived, and in 1995 Ozzy and Zakk recorded the “Ozzmosis” album, though only after writing sessions with Steve Vai had broken down. Then things become a little bit murky. Apparently at the time Zakk was considering an offer to join Guns ‘N Roses, and even though he had been a part of the Osbourne camp since 1988, they decided to replace him for the tour to promote the album rather than wait for him to give an answer one way or the other. Not the first, nor the last, musician, to discover the rough side of the Osbourne tongue.
Eventually, Zakk decided to write and record his own album, under the band name Black Label Society, even though he wrote all of the songs and played all of the instruments except for drums, on which Phil Ondich made his contribution. The album, “Sonic Brew” received good reviews, and as such Zakk moved to create a follow up. Once again for this album, all of the songs were composed by Wylde, as well as him contributing all of the vocals, guitars and piano. Ondich once again provided the drums. There is also a cameo of some heavy duty growing on the title track from Mike Piazza, whose contribution proved as a singer he is a very good baseball catcher. As with the previous album it was released in Japan first in early March, with a bonus track to appease the usual record company rumblings. The US and international version of the album then came six weeks later in mid-April of 2000, under the title of “Stronger Than Death”.

“All For You” makes a statement from the opening of the album. As good an album as his first effort had been, “All for You” hits new tones from the outset. Zakk has all sorts of stuff going on with his guitars, all quintessential Zakk Wylde, all writhing their way through the entire length of the track. Everything about it is sludgy and feels like you are trying to work your way through the mud, but it is glorious in its cacophony and wall of sound coming out of the speakers at you. Zakk’s vocals perfectly offset what he is laying down musically, and the resulting feeling of being buried in a sweaty cramped nightclub having the time of your life is inescapable. Then jump on board for “Phony Smiles & Fake Hellos” where Zakk unleashes lyrically more than musically on something that has obviously really pissed him off. Because here he just unloads with a withering attack on those he sees around him with the titled phoney smiles and fake hellos. Lyrics such as “You're just a fabricated lie, that doesn't exist, Dropping names where ever you go” and “Just a no talent nothing with a ten ton ego, Until your 15 minutes are through” and “Just a powertripping, mindtraping, backstabbing, junkie, Thinking your hype is true” are just a taste of the vitriol Zakk sprays here, and I’m here for every minute of it. A great song.
“13 Years of Grief” isn’t letting up on the anger being sprouted on this album. I don’t know if this was written about someone Zakk knew or about something he saw on the news or was just a conglomerate of things, but he certainly isn’t impressed with the 13-year-old protagonist here who is going to jail for six months. It's a great ugly thumping rhythm riff that accompanies Zakk’s hardcore vocals, and a solo that completes the tale. Tell us what you really think Zakk!!
“Rust” reverts to the slower sadder rose-coloured overtones of what can be described as a ballad, but a smoky sludgy molasses slow one at that. So, not your typical song of this genre, all dripping with Zakk’s southern rock styled acoustic guitar into the guitar solo that does more than enough to indicate this is what this song is without destroying it with something that is a cut and paste mirror image of the genre. Lyrically Zakk holds things together by not going the full ballad route, with lyrics such as “Living, fighting, obsessing, Just as long as I can share it all with you, Yesterday, today, tomorrow, come rain, come shine, Hell and back, the beginning, in-between, till the end of time”. These kinds of songs did become a bit of an overkill on later albums for Zakk and Black Label Society, and “Rust” does go on longer than it needs to, but here, as the exception rather than the rule, it plays out well within the mix of the album. The difference of opinion follows in “Superterrorizer”, a song stretched to beyond five and a half minutes with a minimum of vocals and an expansion of riffage to offset the delay. Zakk’s solo on this song is fantastic, minted by the changing speed and grind of the rhythm riff. This then bleeds into “Counterfeit God”, which is very much in the straight up-and-down grinding song that is reminiscent of much of the metal from the second half of the 1990’s decade. Structure, simple. Guitar rhythm riff, simple. Solo guitar spot, generic. Vocals, just average. It feels like a song with these lyrics that should have had more substance to the music itself, but does not. It is serviceable but is missing some of the grunt from the earlier tracks. So too with “Ain’t Life Grand”, whose lyrics again seem to demand music and vocals that truly bear down on the topic at hand and have some real menace about them. Instead, both tracks come away as feeling incomplete. The vocal qualities of the opening tracks are not transferred here, where one feels that if these songs sounded more like those that they would be a far better fit to this album.
“Just Killing Time” is the second ballad track on the album, this one the piano ballad that Zakk would become more prolific with as the band moved onwards. He certainly puts his own mark on the concept, the piano acting as the basis of the track and the wailing guitar solo extremely prominent through the back half of the song. Zakk does these well, don’t get me wrong, and as a part of this album I am happy to listen to it when I have the album on. Would I CHOOSE to listen to it in other circumstances? Nah.
The title track “Stronger Than Death” pulls itself back into the best style of Black Label Society songs, with Zakk’s grungy sludgy rhythm guitar riff dominating and his squealing lead guitar travelling over the top of this, and Zakk’s vocals back in the lower growling tone that he does so well. The album concludes with the eight minute monster, “Love Reign Down”, something that seems once again a little out of place and perhaps not a necessity. 8 minute epics are not an unusual way to close out an album, and when they pop they really lift the album as a whole. This isn’t a terrible song, but it does drag out when it could have been cut off shorter which to me would have made the end of the album more palatable. But hey, I’m not a songwriter, so what would I know?!

Zakk Wylde had been a favourite as a guitar player ever since he first emerged with Ozzy Osbourne on the album “No Rest for the Wicked”. His style and squeal had made him a great asset and offsider to Ozzy on those albums and tours he participated in. In 2002 I came across his solo album “Book of Shadows”, something that was completely different from what I expected, but still mostly enjoyable. Then I ran across my first experience with Black Label Society, “1919 Eternal” and I thought “what the bloody hell is this?!” It was again different from what I expected, but it was something that still grabbed my attention. From there it was a short trip back to also discover that there were two earlier albums in the band’s catalogue, and so I had to experience those as well.
My first impressions at that time of “Stronger Than Death” was that I enjoyed about half of the album, could quite happily tolerate the other half of the album, but what I probably wanted at that time was more speed, more fire and less sludge. If I could go back now and talk to my 20-odd year younger self I would have said ‘if that’s what you are looking for, you are in the wrong shop’. I was also looking for something that was more like “1919 Eternal” and this, while similar, is not the same. Over time, and more listening to the album, I just let the album be what it was and enjoyed it for the same reason. Getting my own CD copy of the album and being able to hear it in better clarity through my own stereo, made the experience far more enjoyable.
Flash forward to the past week, and the CD has been out again in the Metal Cavern and getting its mandatory listens for this podcast episode. Nothing much has changed for me. There are lots of great songs here, Zakk’s biting lyrics and uniquely sung vocals, and typically wonderful guitar riffs. For the most part the bass is buried under the cacophony of other guitars being played, but that isn’t really too noticeable when listening to the album. The two ballads here are fine but not my favourite parts of the album. At least here there are just the two tracks styled in this fashion. Down the track they did become more prevalent. It is probably the reason why most fans of the band still rate this album as one of if not the best by Zakk and the band, because here at least there is that basis of the metal sound the fans are looking for. For me, of the 11 studio albums the band has released, I would rank it as my second favourite. The other that ranks above it has probably been given away in this closing monologue.
Zakk did find a way back to Ozzy’s band in bits and pieces over the next few years, but what helped set up Black Label Society’s NEXT album was a bunch of songs Zakk actually wrote for Ozzy... but that’s a tale for another episode...

1287. Faith No More / King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime. 1995. 3.5/5

Faith No More had been on a roller coaster ride since the unexpected and overwhelming success of their album “The Real Thing” when it was released in 1989. The acquisition of Mike Patton as lead singer had been a major part of that climb out of obscurity, with his amazing vocals and stage antics creating a focal point for the band and offering a real dynamic between all band members. Backing this up was always going to be a tricky proposition, and the “Angel Dust” album managed to split the fan base when it was released in 1992, as the music followed a less commercial direction than much of the new fanbase that they had gathered from that previous album would have expected. Instead it went out in a crazed alternative landscape that made its own extension from grunge music that had taken the world by storm at that point in time, and in its own way contributed to the offshoots that came over the next three years with the diversifying of the music conglomerate of the mid-1990's.
Faith No More faced a number of problems as they headed towards where they wanted to drive when it came to their next album. Number one of those was the fate of guitarist Jim Martin, who had major problems with the direction the music was heading with the band. Martin stated on his website that he felt that “The Real Thing” was the band’s ideal album, both in the creative process and the subsequent touring, and that the change in musical style, and in focus from guitars to vocals with the arrival of Mike Patton, did not sit well with him. There had even been questions raised as to whether Martin had played on “Angel Dust”, to which bass guitarist Billy Gould said in an interview on PopMatters in October 2016, “He played, but the writing process was extremely difficult because he wasn't really much of a fan of the music. He wasn't really behind it. He wasn't really into it. So it was a tough process. I mean, I think, really, we realized that he wasn't going to continue while we were making that record because he was just on a different musical page."
Martin was eventually fired by fax from keyboardist Roddy Bottom in November 1993. In his place the band brought in Patton’s Mr. Bungle bandmate Trey Spruance to record guitars on the new album. This also turned into a story after the album was completed when Spruance left the band and was replaced for the subsequent tour by Bottom’s keyboard roadie, Dean Menta. Both sides tell a different story. The band claim Spruance was unwilling to commit to a long touring schedule, and Gould himself labelled him a “spoilt rich kid who did not want to tour”. On the other hand, Spruance recalled not even having enough money to buy the magazine where Gould said this about him. He remembered, "this is like one of those stunning juxtapositions in life when you're standing in fucking Tower Records and this thing goes out to the whole world that you're this spoilt, privileged rich kid, and you can't even buy the fucking magazine it's written in. That was really almost like a cosmic moment."
Adding to this, Roddy Bottum himself was mostly absent through all of the writing and recording process, due to the passing of his father and also that of Kurt Cobain. Bottum was a close friend of Courtney Love and Cobain’s death had hit him hard. He also had developed a heroin addiction, which eventually led to a band intervention over the matter. As a result, the album was composed with almost no keyboards in the mix.
So as you can see, there was a little bit going on.
Writing the album took up to nine months, which included the search for a replacement for Martin, while the recording took another three months on top of that. In a 1995 Australian radio interview, drummer Mike Bordin felt more focused than “Angel Dust”, and that the departure of previous guitarist Jim Martin made the writing process easier. Gould was also quoted at the time, "we've never written stuff with Jim, as a band. Usually we'd give him a tape and he'd put stuff to it because he didn't like practicing with us much." Gould added in another interview, "it's heavier, it's more direct and it's the first record where we had the guitar the way we wanted it. Now it feels we're a dog who's been let of the leash."
It was a long and delayed time period, but eventually Faith No More had their new album completed, released to the world in March of 1995 under the ironic title of “King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime”.

There always felt like there would be a difference in the sounds produced on this album without Jim Martin there to offer his distinctive guitar riffs. The recruitment of another Mr. Bungle member did tip the balance in the possibility that the music on this album could slide more in that direction now that Martin had gone. Overall that isn’t the case, and although the band made it clear that Martin had not contributed much to the writing cause in recent times, it is noticeable here the directional change that the band has made now that he was out of the equation all together. And there is a whole component here that marks the changes afoot for Faith No More the band. Indeed, the songs here are equally split between what they had traditionally produced, and a different more progressive charting for the future.
The opening salvo of “Get Out” is from the old school, written by Mike Patton and featuring his genuine typical vocal performance and the hard riff and drum beat that mark the best songs from the band. This bleeds into “Ricochet” which develops the same vibes but with a slightly deviated energy from what the band and Patton has provided prior to this album. Indeed, it can be seen to be a more mature offering of the Faith No More core sound led by Patton’s vocals that are the main reference pint of the song.
Then comes “Evidence”, and this is where the ‘evidence’ of a change in the Faith No More template can first be found. This is a song heavily in depth of soul and R&B influences, with the heavily funked tones of both guitar bass being the overriding dominating factors of the track. This is the first of several songs on the album in which you can see the band playing in a small smoky jazz club dressed in suits and playing underneath the sounds of constant chatter from the assorted crowd at tables drinking champagne. It is a huge change, one that takes time to get used to.
Out of this quiet and introspective style than comes to return of the harder more belligerent more typical Faith No More attack in “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”. It still oscillates throughout the song from the quiet lyrics over Bottom’s bass before bursting into the hard-core vocals style driven by Spruance’s guitars and Bordin’s drums. This is the kind of song that drew in the long-time fans and is still a fan favourite to this day because of the energy and passion that explodes out of the song. There is then a reversion with “Star AD” which continues in the theme of a lounge club song, the soul inspired track that also implements a brass section to enhance the feel of the track, and Patton using his deeper lower key vocals to bring that feel and emotion to the track. “Cuckoo for Caca” is a sister track to “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies” in the way Patton’s almost deranged vocals take over and dominate the track, with the music and mix of the almost unwritable riffs from bass, keys and guitar meshing together still being brought together as the band often did in their earliest form. “Caralho Voader” throws in a Brazilian theme into the mix, again moving to the jazz club scenario for the music inspiration for the track, whereas “Ugly in the Morning” returns to the themes of “Cuckoo for Caca” with Patton’s completely over the top screaming dominating over the meshing of styles musically once again. It seems likely that the changes in style of songs from track to track was a deliberate decision from the band and producer, but personal preference would be something that would determine if this was a wise move.
The first single released from the album comes next with “Digging the Grave”, which combines the marketability of Faith No More’s previous guise of short sharp song dominated musically by Bordin’s drums in the foreground, the keys lower in the mix and the bass on top of that, and Patton’s vocal destruction also making the guitar superfluous. He hits the energy button on this song and is the driving force and man out front. From here we have the typical change of style again with “Take This Bottle”, which slows everything down like a slow motion replay, or more accurately like playing a 45rpm record at 33rpm. That’s how it feels and sounds. It plays like a slug crawling across the turntable and Patton’s vocals sound as if they have been drawn out into eternity as the whole song winds down rather than winding up at any point in time. It almost has a country twang to it as well, though the piano keyboard and synth background don’t quite make that mix well either. Then the title track “King for a Day” has mirrored similarities in sections to the opening strains of the album, with Bottom’s atmospheric keys through the song giving it an uplifting, almost building crescendo through from the middle of the track to its conclusion. The song does build that way, with Patton’s vocals in the middle in the quieter lower key that then follow the lead of the music to become harder and more definitive. This acts as the epic track of the album, with the rises and falls of platitudes of the music, and the strength throughout making it one of the highlights along with its progressive feel. “What a Day” cries out with intensity and energy, driven by Billy Gould’s thumping funky bass guitar, and Patton goes hard lyrically and vocally again. Due to Gould’s bass this really brings back parallels to the early Faith No More albums.
“The Last to Know” continues the bands push towards a progressive nature in some of the material hear, with a softer rhythm tone dominated by the synth, before an understated guitar solo from Spruance takes the song out to its conclusion. There is no outward variation in vocals, simply a slow build that remains contained within the framework of the song. It is a new direction for the band, highlighting the different tones being employed here on this album. This continues into the album closer, “Just a Man”, an extension of what we have just heard, apart from the passionate reselling of the chorus by Patton along with choir backing vocals. These two songs in particular show what could be said to be the growing maturity of the band musically. This is another song that feels as though it is being performed in a club by the band dressed in suits rather than by the hard rock funk band they had come to prominence as. Even though they had moments of that old style on this album, these closing tracks seem to be painting a different future for the band, one where they change their clothes and personalities completely.

This album was released in what for me was the great big black hole of 1995, a year that should I ever get the chance to go back and erase I would do in an instant. And there were not a lot of albums that I went out and purchased during this year, but this was one of them. I can assure you I didn’t really know what to expect given the stylistic differences between the previous four albums the band had released, and on first listens I remember that it didn’t really grab me. I could identify the songs that did catch my attention straight away and also the ones that didn’t. What did give this album a boost was the fact that two weeks after its release, Faith No More was one of the headline acts at the first (and unfortunately only) Alternative Nation music festival at Eastern Creek west of Sydney. During this show they played several songs off this album, being “Get Out”, “Digging the Grave”, “Evidence”, “What a Day”, “King for a Day” and “Ricochet”. And I remember the crowd being most subdued during them, because the album itself had been out for only two weeks. Still, for me who had at least heard them, it inspired me to give the album more of a go than I perhaps would have without that festival.
What it is fair to say is that at the time it was released, I was putting it on as background music to what was occurring in my life at the time. There were dead spots on this album that I noticed but probably didn’t process overly much at the time. I know when listening to the CD on my stereo the skip button on the remote would get used at times, and the fast forward button on the tape player in my car as well. But this didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the album obviously, because when discussing the album over the years I remember I have talked it up as being ‘not as good as “Angel Dust’ and ‘The Real Thing’, but still pretty good!”
So we come to the present day, and over the last week I have listened to this album again a dozen times, sometimes in the background at work but then also with a discerning ear for the review for this episode. And it has probably confirmed my suspicions that I think have hovered in the back of my mind since I first bought this album. And those thoughts are that basically, this is an album of two parts and almost two different eras of the band, put together in an order to make you think that it isn’t. On a recent episode for Billy Joel’s album “Glass Houses”, I mentioned how all of the known and popular songs are on the first side of the album, and the lesser known tracks are left to fight for themselves on the B side. In the instance of this album, the band and producer have obviously decided to mix the two different styled tracks in with each other, in the hope that fans who prefer only one of those styles – either the hard heavy and funky style of their previous releases, or the more introspective jazz club style or progressive style of the other tracks here – would not notice, and come to love the album as a whole. Now I’m sure that for many fans, this DID come to pass, and they fell in love with the album as a whole, with the full package of differing song styles that abound here. Certainly in Australia the album went to #2 on the charts and #5 in the UK which would suggest it succeeded. But in the US it could manage only #31 which suggests it missed the mark there.
The end result for me then is that it is an album that I seem to have enjoyed more in the past than I do now. This probably came into clearer view once the bands next album, “Album of the Year” was released. There are still some great songs here. I adore “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies” and “Digging the Grave” and enjoy most other songs, but there is the occasional hiccup here where momentum hits a brick wall that makes parts of the album difficult to focus on. Despite this, of Faith No More’s seven studio albums I rank this as #3, though it is a close run thing. If only they could have reconciled with Jim Martin...