1172. Elf / Elf. 1972. 3/5

Elf came into being over a period in the late 1960’s, with Ronnie Dio and the Prophets making a name change to become the Electric Elves, along with the addition of a keyboard player. This was eventually shortened to just Elf. The band was in a car accident not long after, putting all of the band in hospital and taking the life of their guitar player Nick Pantas. Eventually the line-up settled, with Ronnie James Dio on vocals and bass, David Feinstein on guitar, Gary Driscoll on drums and Mickey Lee Soule on keyboards. The band ended up coming to the attention of Deep Purple members Roger Glover and Ian Paice, who saw the potential of the band. Not only did this end up with Elf being a frequent opening act for Deep Purple over the following three years, it also led to Glover and Paice co-producing the band’s debut album.
I love how on this album, all of the credits for Ronnie’s work are credited to Ronald Padavona. In an interview in his later years, Ronnie claimed that he did this on this album (and only this album) so that his parents could, just once, see their name on an album. It is also interesting to note that guitarist David Feinstein is Ronnie’s cousin, and his guitaring on this album, when given the real chance to shine, is exceptional.


The album opens with “Hoochie Koochie Lady”, a title that leaves you in no doubt as to the heritage behind the music. Very much in the boogie style that a lot of Ronnie’s previous work had been, it is upbeat enough even when it is not what you probably expect coming into the album. This is followed by the similarly styled “First Avenue”, one that does tend to over harp on the title of the song by the end.
“Never More” is a real Deep Purple type tune, much more in standing with the hard rock scene that the band grew towards, with guitar and keyboard combining beautifully. Whether this was written to appease the two producers I don’t know, but the change from the opening two songs is significant. This is followed by “I’m Coming Back to You”, which has an early Elton John feel about it with the keyboards and complementing guitar riff. It mightn’t quite pop like it could but it is an entertaining track.
“Sit Down Honey (Everything Will Be All Right)”, with its piano heavy riff as the base of the song, reminds me remarkably of the song “Old Time Rock and Roll” by Bob Seger. Now his song wasn’t written until 1979, with this being back in 1972. I wonder if there was any inspiration for that track from this song, because there are some very similar pieces between the two. Even Feinstein’s guitar solo at the close of the song has that same sort of tune to it. Perhaps it is just the style of the song that Seger was trying to copy for his tribute to the time, but it is an interesting comparison.
“Dixie Lee Junction” is a strange song. The first half is very Led Zeppelin-ish in its guitar and vocals output, before it concludes in another full blown boogie and blues number, again giving Ronnie a rather easy job on vocals to just bounce along his lyrics with the music. It’s almost two songs combined into one. Very... strange. More was to come with “Love Me Like a Woman”, which sounds like it is straight out a blues hall in the 1930’s, or even a saloon from the 1800’s if you ignore the slight injection of electric guitar, which does come in strong at the end of the track.
The album concludes with “Gambler, Gambler”, the third hard rock song on the album, still heavily blues influenced and with that boogie piano, but the guitar and vocals make it worth the wait.

It is amazing just how much your feelings about an album can change over a period of time depending on how much you are listening to it, and probably in the environment you are listening to it. Anyone growing up with this album, taking in the music of the day, would have a much easier time of getting on with the album than, say, someone going back as being a fan of Dio and listening to it. And for all of us growing up in the 1980’s that’s the predicament we found ourselves in. And as with all of Elf’s three albums, though I listened to them when I first got them in the 1990’s, there was no real joy there, and the quickly found their way onto the shelves.
Coming into the past few weeks as I prepared to record this podcast episode, I have listened to this album more than I have collectively previous to this. I have let it go, let it play, and after several go’s around I found a way in. Those opening two tracks with their boogie rock feel can dictate how you feel about the album just as it is starting. Especially if you are not really a fan of blues or boogie rock. But after repeated listens, I found my way in, through “Never More” and “I’m Coming Back to You”, which are a much better hard rock sound than those opening two songs, and that allowed me to get through to the end of the album. And then, over more repeated listens, I found the album was much more enjoyable than I had ever felt before.
It is true that it still isn’t my style of music, and that will forever be the case. But there are some things you can hang your hat on. Ronnie’s vocals here are amazing. I mean, they always are, but here they are supreme. It’s a different style of song that he is singing, but purely listening to him sing is always worth the price of admission. And David Feinstein’s guitaring is great. I think he has some really good moments on this album that actually lift the songs when they come along. The drums and keys hammer together nicely, and overall all come together in a good style.
This won’t be to everyone’s taste. Realistically, it isn’t to MY taste. But 50 years on it still has some persuasive argument about it, such that it is worth listening to even just a couple of times to experience where one of the greatest vocalists of all time really began to come of age. That alone is worth a few moments of your day.

1171. Def Leppard / X. 2002. 1.5/5

The 1990’s had been a journey for Def Leppard, one that had built a wedge between fans of the band. “Adrenalize” had made some subtle changes to the band’s sound but still topped charts around the world. Then came “Slang”, the band’s first album with Vivian Campbell, and the desire to create something very different from their usual music made this an album that created an impasse. Then came “Euphoria”, where the band had tended to feel that they had gone too far on the previous album, and that they needed to reinfuse some of their harder rock roots back into their material. So it was a decade where the band probably experimented with their sound more than they ever had done previously. Sales were still good, but not anywhere near the extent as they had had with “Hysteria” and “Adrenalize”, concerts still sold out, but exactly which direction was Def Leppard trying to head in? Taking in all of the changes that had occurred in recent years with the hard rock genre, stretching to industrial and nu-metal, and the fact that the band had gravitated (somewhat) back towards their hard rock roots on their previous album, would this dictate their sound going forward? As it turns out, the answer to that was ‘no’. Instead, much like they did with the “Slang” album, they came back towards the popular side of music, and created an album that was more pop rock than anything else. And does anyone remember those times, and the style of songs that were being played on the radio back in 2002? Beyond Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life” single, which seemed to eat up the airwaves the year before this album was released, that kind of rock nostalgia track had grown in popularity, and in some ways, Def Leppard tried to create their own variant of that with the songs on this album.

If you are going to listen to this album – and to be honest the ‘if’ is implied heavily – you really have to be able to approach it from two points of view. Because without that, you will either believe it is one of the best pop albums ever released, or one of the biggest travesties from a once great band ever released. And my opinion at the conclusion of the review resides heavily in one court.
So here you go. Do NOT come into this album as a fan of Def Leppard. Whatever your age bracket, whatever your preferred genre of music is, come into this album and accept that this is as close to a 1980’s pop album as you are going to come to for an album released in 2002. So pretend you are 15 again, living in the early 1980’s, and only listen to the radio and the tracks they play. If you do, I guarantee you will get more out of this album than if you come in thinking “oh good! Another Def Leppard album! I wonder if this is as good as Pyromania!”
Will this actually help you get the most out of the album? I think so, and I’ve listened to it a lot over the last 2-3 weeks. There are the full blown ballad tracks such as “Long Long Way to Go” and “Four Letter Word” and “Let Me Be the One”, completely and especially designed for radio airplay and to generate sales from a new target audience. What interests me about this with singles sales is that none of the singles released from this album really charted at all, and though most of this was because file sharing had begun to shrink music sales drastically, my opinion is that it was also because this style of song at that time was not as popular as perhaps these bands thought they were. Nickelback and Creed were filling the void that the old Def Leppard had left, and selling more albums and singles as a result along with Linkin Park and Evanescence. These bands were treading along lines that Def Leppard had created, but were now outstripping them because they either crooned power ballads a bit harder or they were transcending the power of the “High n Dry” and “Pyromania” era into their songs. To me, a single that might have really worked in that era was “Love Don’t Lie”, one that retained the sentimentality that the band was obviously now looking for, but at least had a bit more rock to it and a little guitar riffing to inspire listeners. But no, they went with the two obviously ballads and the opening track instead.
Then there is a track like “Gravity” that sounds like it is trying to recreate a song like ‘Armageddon It’ from “Hysteria” with its attempted upbeat vocal, but it really does fall flat, as I guess you may expect. And there is so much generic material here. “Girl Like You”, “Torn to Shreds”, “Scar”, “Kiss the Day”, “Everyday”... I mean, yes, if this is marketed and approached as a pop album, you have a chance to enjoy it all the way through. If you don’t... well....

The last few weeks have been eye and ear opening in regards to Def Leppard. I have reviewed, and therefore listened to a LOT, four albums from four different eras of the band, and this is by far the most polarising. I had this following Hysteria on my playlist for a few weeks, and the amount this album pales in comparison to that is even more stark when you hear them both back to back like that so often.
It remains completely ridiculous to me, and I’m sure I’ve said this before, that a band with Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell on guitars has so little material that truly showcases their abilities on their instruments. When you see the band live, they both shred, and they are both awesome. Here they barely have to get out of first gear when it comes to playing, apart from the very end of “Kiss the Day” where you FINALLY get some guitar action, but overall it remains my biggest disappointment of this band over the past 30 years. There is no Mutt Lange here curating the material, and pushing the band for perfection. It is, indeed, a new era.
I don’t own this album, indeed I never had the desire to go out and buy it at the time. I heard the singles on the radio at the time (not as much as I heard Bon Jovi and Nickelback and others of that ilk), and there was no need to delve any further. And now here we are, 20 years later, and over the past month I have listened to this album... I would say... ten times more in that period than I had in the almost 20 years before that. And as I have probably intimated already, this just isn’t for me. At work it has been a pleasant enough distraction. It’s a little bit like elevator music, it's there in the background and it provides a nice ambience while I tap away at the keyboard. It’s harmless pop. But the test of any album is to go home, and listen to it in the Metal Cavern, with the stereo at an appropriate volume to get the full effects. And this album fails that completely. I am sure there are fans out there who love this album. They definitely listen to a different genre of music than I do.

1170. Iconic / Second Skin. 2022. 4/5

The first wave of the covid pandemic – and yes without becoming political I don’t think it’s over just yet – bands and artists found a way to keep active by doing online jams with their own band and with other artists, keeping their names out there and keeping themselves occupied at the same time. And, as I mentioned in the intro here, some of those appear to have progressed to the point that players got together and pooled their material and had it eventually released to the listening public. It has also been true that record companies have looked to facilitate these kind of mergers amongst their own artists, in order to have more albums coming out at a time where it has been difficult to come together and make them happen. Nostalgia is a popular theme amongst these so-called supergroups, because they can contain either artists from bands from a bygone era, or songs with a sound like those old times to draw in the punters who yearn for a return to those ‘simpler’ times, or better yet a combination of both of these things.
And so that is what we have here, the coming together of some quality musicians in the quest for musical glory, and by naming the band “Iconic” it feels as though they are either pretty confident that the group is a killer line up, or they are just on themselves. Leading the charge is Joel Hoekstra, current lead guitarist for Whitesnake, and given that that band is apparently on its farewell tour, perhaps Hoekstra is auditioning his next gig. He has been joined by excellent bass guitarist Marco Mendoza, who has played for such bands as the Dead Daisies, Thin Lizzy and Black Star Riders, as well as lead vocalist Nathan James whose main job is in the band Inglorious and Alessandro Del Vecchio on keyboards. This would normally be enough to draw in even the most undecided fans, but then you can add two further legends of metal music. Drummer Tommy Aldridge has been around for over 40 years, played for Ozzy Osbourne and Whitesnake amongst other greats, and lends his talents here. But perhaps the star attraction is Stryper vocalist and guitarist Michael Sweet, who comes aboard to lend both of those amazing talents to this crew. All in all, it’s a hard outfit to go past without at least checking out what they’ve produced.

Any doubts about what this band was going to bring to the table in regards to its music are shot down in flames from the start of the opening track “Fast as You Can”. Filled with great riffs, brilliant trading solo licks and the combination and duelling of crushing vocals, this is as good an opening track as you could wish to hear from a new formation in the universe. Everything about this song completely showcases the best of what each member has to offer. “Ready for Your Love” follows, and is the first of many tracks here that have an undeniable Whitesnake flavour to the music and vocals. It is in songs such as this one, along with “Nowhere to Run” and the slower “Worlds Apart”, where James’ vocals slow into that Coverdale croon, helping that Whitesnake comparison. Given that Hoekstra and Aldridge and Mendoza all have history with Whitesnake it shouldn’t be too difficult to understand why there is some similarities to that band’s music in places.
The title track again allows James and Sweet to combine with duelling vocals, which really lifts this song and the opening track above the rest of the album. James' vocals throughout are awesome and powerful, but paired with Sweet the combination is amazing. More of this would have made this album... iconic? More iconicer? It would have made it more superb I guess is what I’m saying. Sweet has been quoted as saying that it made a nice change for him to be playing more guitar than just singing on this album. C’mon, you’re in the studio, do more of both!!
“All I Need” is the power ballad, the kind that bands often depend on to draw in their fans, but I have to give credit where credit is due here, James’ vocals and the harder edge of the guitars throughout make this a great track. It actually reminds me a bit of the ballad the former band of Jack Black’s character in The School of Rock play at the battle of the bands... remember that? This is better though, much better. “All About” is a mid-tempo rocker that is lifted from the average through the vocals and harder riff edge of the guitars, with the solo section starring again. “This Way” is a less attractive power ballad, a bit more staid. “Let You Go” steers towards the 70’s AOR sound, the one time this album heads in that direction, but with a nice guitar solo in the middle to break it up. “It Ain’t Over” finds a nice groove and excellent guitar riffs to lift the album again, before “Enough of Your Love” concludes the album in what I can only describe as a slightly less showcasey fashion than I would have expected considering what had come before it.

There are a few things I can throw at you as to my thoughts on the album and the group as a whole. Firstly, it is tremendously disappointing that we won’t hear any of this material performed in a live setting. The band has no agenda to touring, with everyone having commitments to their actual bands rather than this group. And that seems like such a waste given what has been produced here. Even if they tried to get together for a festival run sometime next year, the album will be in the history books by then and have come off the radar. Secondly, as much as I love Nathan James’s vocals on this album, and he is quite spectacular in places, I do think it was a missed trick not to incorporate more of Michael Sweet in more than the two songs where he is involved in singing. But perhaps you can’t have everything. I think the guitars of Hoekstra and Sweet here are electric, with great riffage and excellent solo breaks between the two.
I was drawn to this album because of those playing on it, and I have to say that the positives far outweigh those couple of negatives I may have risen. Like all new albums, this takes a while to grow on you completely. But once those vocals and those guitars and that solid rhythm section come together, and you get to know the songs from repetition, I think it is a terrific effort.
This is the fifth of five new albums that I have reviewed for this blog over recent weeks, and for me this is the best of them, overall. Each has good things about them and a couple of negatives. This album’s negatives only come from a slight change in style of a couple of tracks, that despite this the band still perform so well you can’t help but enjoy them. That is what will keep this album on the turntable longer than other albums.

1169. Michael Schenker Group / Universal. 2022. 4/5

It has been two months now since the release of Michael Schenker’s new album. Schenker of course is a legend, and whether you know him as the guitarist for UFO in the 1970’s, or for his own band through the 80’s and beyond, or his all-too-short stints in Scorpions with his brother Rudolph, you will know of his prowess on the guitar and how influential he has been as a result. It’s hard to believe that many, probably myself included, felt that he had reached his peak thirty years ago, and that his album output could possibly exceed what he had produced to that point of his career, or that his success could exceed what he had achieve to that point. Indeed after some surprisingly good outings in recent years with the Michael Schenker Fest albums "Resurrection" (2018) and "Revelation" (2019), and then his 50th anniversary album “Immortal” just last year, there was nothing to suggest that the new album from the Michael Schenker Group “Universal” wouldn’t be more of the same.
Ronnie Romero again features on vocals on this album, and is also still the lead singer on tour, which recently included the summer festival season throughout Europe and will continue through the US after this. Now while Ronnie has a great set of pipes on him, it is interesting to note two things in this regard; firstly he is still sharing vocal duties with other guest singers on this album, all of whom (in my opinion) out do his own contributions to songs on this album. And secondly, for other reasons, during last year’s tour to promote the “Immortal” album, former lead vocalist Robin McAuley filled in, and from all reports was a hit.
Working again with producer Michael Voss seems to be something that Schenker is also comfortable with. In describing their working relationship recently, Schenker was quoted as saying “Michael Voss is happy to wait until I have worked out an idea and takes the time to really get to know the song, simultaneously developing ideas for the vocals. Then we work out the drums, bass and some keyboard parts together. He always has plenty of great ideas up his sleeve.”

While both Ronnie and Michael are real talents, they are only part of a wonderful line up that includes vocalists Michael Kiske (Helloween) and Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear), drummers Simon Phillips (Toto, The Who), Brian Tichy (Whitesnake, Foreigner), Bobby Rondinelli (Rainbow) and Bodo Schopf (Eloy), as well as legendary bassists Bob Daisley (Black Sabbath), Barry Sparks (Malmsteen, Dokken) and Barend Courbois (Blind Guardian, Zakk Wylde), along with Tony Carey on keyboards.
If you’ve enjoyed Schenker’s recent albums then you will find that this follows a similar pattern. Opening with the brooding ‘Emergency’ and the more melodic build of ‘Under Attack’ there is a definite trend towards the sound that slightly resembles that from the MSG albums on the 1980’s. They aren’t quite as anthemic or bright and energetic, but there are some concurrent similarities.
Following on from this comes the pointed and poignant tribute of “Calling Baal” into “A King Has Gone”, a tribute to Ronnie James Dio and particularly to the classic Rainbow album “Rising”. “Calling Baal” is an instrumental intro into the main track, and features Tony Carey on keyboards in a callback to his intro to that album that he played on, the opening keyboard solo of the song “Tarot Woman”. It’s a nice touch by Schenker to invite him to play on these two tracks given he played on the album it is paying tribute to. This is then extended to the appearance of Bobby Rondinelli on drums, who did not play on the “Rising” album but played for Rainbow in their latter 1980’s years, as well as the legend that is Bob Daisley, who again didn’t play on this particular album but did so on its follow up “Long Live Rock n Roll”. Thes three former Rainbow members give this song a nice touch of nostalgia, ably sung by Helloween’s Michael Kiske. Great stuff.
This is followed by “The Universe”, a soft ballad that sees Gary Barden and Ronnie Romero share the duet. ‘Long Long Road’ picks things up again, before the vocals of Ralph Scheepers return on ‘Wrecking Ball’, one again providing probably the real highlight of the album.
The final four songs all provide good moments. ‘Yesterday is Dead’ has a great riff and solo combination that Schenker does so well, before ‘London Calling (No not the Clash song – imagine that!) pays homage to the 80’s UK rock bands that put hard rock in the mainstream. It’s a great song that is probably lifted by Schenker’s solo again, another real treat. ‘Sad is the Song’ that follows gives off a Rainbow vibe especially in the verses which are vaguely Eastern, and in Schenker’s guitar work again. The album is concluded by the red hot fretwork of ‘Au Revoir’, the paciest song offering here and another of the best, and again really draws from that 1980’s MSG legacy.
The album features two bonus tracks, something in this day and age that barely matters given all formats seem to include them, so they may as well be considered album tracks. ‘Turn Off the World’ which with that opening guitar is actually one of the best on the album, while ‘Fighter’ is a mid-tempo rocker that would be worth inclusion just for the solo. So... let’s just say they are the final two tracks of the album instead, shall we?

I still get sucked into anything that has the name of Michael Schenker attached to it. It’s an addiction. Those albums for the 1980’s by the Michael Schenker Group, and the albums from the 1970’s with UFO, still contain some of the best riffage I’ve ever heard, and it is all from this man. So I always want to check out what he’s up to in the current day. And in recent times that has been a slightly paying off gold mine, because there have been some terrific moments over the albums he has released with all of his friends over recent years. And that continues on this album. I felt last year’s “Immortal” album had some good moments, and some average moments. It was, perhaps, a bit uneven. “Universal” is a much better compilation of tracks and players. Ronnie Romero and Michael Voss combine much better here in their vocals and songs, and Michael definitely delivers on a more aggressive scale when it comes to his guitaring. In fact, Schenker’s guitaring here is still just as brilliant as it ever was, and I think it is because he has started to look back a bit to those glory days, and realised that not only is that still what people are coming for, but that he is still capable of creating riff and solos of that calibre. And despite the fact that he has some great guests here, who all deliver as you would expect, it can’t work if the Schenker guitar is not on centre stage and the number one part of the mix. “Universal” is that album, and it is great to hear.

1168. Jorn / Over the Horizon Radar. 2022. 3.5/5

Jorn Lande has one of the most amazing voices in modern day heavy metal. Having started off in bands such as Ark and the legendary Masterplan as well as the well-received Allen-Lande project with fellow brilliant vocalist Russell Allen, Jorn has concentrated on two projects in recent years, being a part of the Avantasia project that was conceived by Tobias Sammet, and his own solo releases. Within those solo releases Jorn has often concentrated on bringing his own unique takes on great songs in doing cover versions of them and has released a number of albums just with cover songs on them. He did a whole album dedicated to songs sung by Ronnie James Dio, and two others called “Heavy Rock Radio” where he not only did some recent favourite metal song covers, but 70’s and 80’s popular songs with a heavy twist, which he does perfectly. His presence always seems to be around us, and he comes across as one of the hardest working artists out there.
Like all artists, the last couple of years has allowed artists the time to go within themselves and write material for release upon their release from covid internment. And for Jorn the result of that was this album titled “Over the Horizon Radar”.

From the outset, the vocals are as terrific as they have ever been. But they are also sitting in Jorn’s mid-range, not extending themselves to the horizon, as such, as they do on other albums.
The songs themselves are in a very mid-to-low tempo, many for the most part not getting much beyond second gear in regards to their speed. In many ways, this was the direction that one of Lande’s hero’s, Ronnie James Dio, went in his later years, and perhaps this was an inspiration to him in what he has achieved here. Now while there is nothing wrong with that, in my opinion it does make it difficult to have this album on too often. I started out by putting this album on in the car when I first started listening to it and it was always great, but four or five songs in i would begin to wonder how close to the end of the album I actually was. Too be fair that is an overstatement regarding all of the tracks here. The drive of the album also isn’t helped by the lack of an influence from the drums, as well as any superlative riffs from the guitars. But as with a lot of Jorn’s albums, it is about his vocals, and that doesn’t disappoint.
The opening does promise a lot, with the title track “Over the Horizon Radar” making its presence felt immediately, and followed by “Dead London”, where the tempo gets dialled right back but Jorn’s emotive vocals give the track an ominous feel. This tempo then remains into “My Rock and Roll” and “One Man War”, two songs that to me always feel as though they are lacking a punch to really get the album going in the right direction, but again that is a personal judgement call by me. “Black Phoenix” does have a slight rise in tempo and drive that helps make it one of the best songs here. This is followed by several songs that all retain the key elements of the album, sitting in the style that Jorn and his supporting band have set this album in. And as with the earlier tracks, there is nothing wrong with “Special Edition” and “Ode to the Black Nightshade” and “Winds of Home”, it is just that I feel that having the songs at a quicker tempo and adding a bit more riffage to would have enhanced their joy. “In the Dirt” is without a doubt the best guitar driven track on the album, and as a result immediately raises your head when it comes through the speakers. “Believer” is then followed by the final track, “Faith Bloody Faith”, an extended version of the song that Jorn entered as a contestant to become Norway’s entrant in this year’s Eurovision contest. The song failed at the final hurdle, with some experts suggesting it was too heavy to really be considered. Perhaps this is the case, but to me it is more suggestive of the style of song the decision makers wanted entered rather than the quality of the song, because the quality here is certainly not in question.

Jorn isn’t breaking any new ground here. He’s not creating a stylistic masterpiece nor revisiting any old ground by cannibalising star moments from his past. My opinion of Jorn’s work in the past is that he is a masterful vocalist who is at his best when he performs songs that have been written by other people especially for his vocals. The first two Masterplan albums were masterpieces where Jorn co-wrote with Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch. They are still a template for power metal from the early 2000’s. His work with the Allen/Lande project was all written by Magnus Karlsson. His parts in Avantasia have been constructed by Tobi Sammet and Sascha Paeth. It is where Jorn has performed on songs that integrate his amazing vocals with the amazing musicianship of those other projects, as well as writers who know how to put all of that together. Back to “Over the Horizon Radar” however, and there is some good material here, and some good pieces that find their way to the surface. And while I enjoy the rest of the album, I guess it doesn’t quite capture the imagination the way other music and albums do that Jorn has been involved in. And there is no doubt that the covid years contribute to that, as with other recent release albums, because the writing and recording process has been so stagnated.
Jorn is not the only great singer out there to find that, in my opinion, they need to be a part of a conglomerate to get the best out of them – Ripper Owens is another I can name immediately in that boat – but one thing that is for sure is that I will always check out any music where Jorn’s name is involved in the linear notes. Because his vocals alone are enough to bring me to the party. And the one thing I believe I get from this album is that, if you come into this without your expectations raised and without truly knowing Jorn Lande’s past amazing albums, you will gain a better perspective of it. Because you won’t judge it as harshly as I probably have here, because I know what has come in the past. This is still a terrific album, and it remains on my playlist up to today, and the slight disappointment I feel for some of the songs are only because I feel by bumping up the tempo and energy just a little on those tracks, it would have made this an even better album. And if you aren’t sure I know what I’m talking about, check out Masterplan’s eponymous debut album. And judge the differences for yourself.

1167. Halestorm / Back from the Dead. 2022. 4/5/

Prior to the covid pandemic hitting the scene, Halestorm had built a reputation for being one of the hardest working bands out there, known for their constant touring and releasing of singles and EP to keep their fans entertained. It has been four years since the release of the previous album ”Vicious”. Over the course of the next two years, Halestorm, consisting of brother and sister combination of lead singer guitarist Lzzy Hale and drummer RJ Hale, lead guitarist Joe Hottinger and bass guitarist Josh Smith, had risen to arena headline status in UK and throughout Europe and were growing bigger than ever in the US. Then the COVID pandemic struck. Almost immediately, the band set up a campaign called #RoadieStrong, in order to help out the roadies and crew whose incomes had dried up almost immediately overnight. In isolation apart from each other, like all other bands on the planet, there must have been doubts as to what would come next, and just when that would be able to happen. The band had begun to dabble in new songs before the pandemic hit, and in January 2021, they announced that they were beginning to write and record a new album, in a socially distance setting which no doubt was not a perfect situation. Lzzy again paired with composer and producer Scott Stevens to pen most of the songs. In August of last year they released a new single, “Back from the Dead“ to dip their toes back into the music world. And as the world began to poke its nose out from behind the curtains once again, the new album, also titled “Back from the Dead“, was released on May 6.

The album kicks off with the title track and first single from the album. Immediately dominated by the screaming vocals of Lzzy Hale and a bombastic beat, it’s a great way to open the album to announce their return. The band seems bigger, harder, more alive than you necessarily expect. It’s a great start, and is extended into “Wicked Ways” with RJ’s pounding those drums with ferocity, Lzzy giving it all vocally and some nice guitar work between herself and Joe. I love the aggression shown in these two opening tracks, showcasing the absolute best this band can produce, and getting close to the way they appear on stage as well. More of this please!
“Strange Girl” dials back that just a little, allowing Lzzy’s vocals to show their soaring skills without losing any of their intensity. A number of the songs here deal with mental health, the battle of light versus darkness in the mind, none more so than “Brightside” where little is left to the imagination in lyrics such as “Fake a smile and self-destruct, count it down, four, three, two, one, I'm over it, all the bullshit, and this fucked up world I'm living in”. It’s another terrific song, with a great rhythm that is perfect for the rant that Lzzy goes on. The second single “The Steeple” follows and keeps up with the power of the vocals driving the drums and guitars in the same fashion. This is followed by the acoustic driven “Terrible Things”, the quiet interlude of the album that not only showcases Lzzy’s amazing vocal range, but separates the first half of the album from the second half.
I’m not sure the second half of the album can match the first. In places in feels more forced than what has come before it. Or perhaps, like in “My Redemption” and “Bombshell” and “I Come First” and “Psycho Crazy”, the style of track that it is has just been done better earlier on the album. Or is it just too similar to better tracks earlier on the album? Make up your own mind on that. The closing track “Raise Your Horns” has some pertinent thoughts in its lyrics, but finishing with what is a piano driven ballad for me just hurts the excellent tracks that have come before it.
If I have a real bone to pick with the album is that I think it could use a few songs where the tempo is picked up and given a bit of speed to allow the band to really break out. This album sticks in that hard hitting drum tempo most of the way through, and it is effective and bludgeoning in the same breath. Just somewhere I would like to have seen a faster song or two, just to offset the balance between that hard mid-tempo and then the softer slower tracks.

I have flirted around Halestorm for a decade, occasionally listening to an album, occasionally watching video clips on YouTube or even a live gig, where they seem to be at their best. I enjoyed their cover version of Dio’s “Straight Through the Heart” on the “This is Your Life” tribute album to the great man. So I cannot and do not claim to be an expert on their music, just a casual fan of what I have heard and seen. But since the release of this album I have listened to it quite a bit, enjoying it more each time I put it on. The band sounds great, and the four piece has a booming sound to their music. The star attraction is not doubt Lzzy Hale herself, and her vocals are a revelation in a world where female hard rock singers seem to come and go fairly quickly. But she shows here that she can sing those ballads well while also blowing your socks off with her harder and tougher songs.
With 11 tracks, and the album just pushing 38 minutes, it doesn’t overstay its welcome which is always a good thing in this day and age. For me, despite the excellent singing on the two tracks, for me if “Terrible Things” and “Raise Your Horns” were substituted for two harder, faster songs this would be an epic album. Their inclusion for me halts this, but I’m sure the true fans of the band love these two tracks and in the long run they are the ones who will dictate their inclusion. And that’s the way it should be.

1166. Def Leppard / Diamond Star Halos. 2022. 2/5

Like the rest of the world, Def Leppard has been in covid isolation for the better part of the last three years, and while they rested up in their own parts of the world, there was no doubt a need for a reflection on where they stood in the world, and just where they wanted to head once the pandemic had receded. This is the band’s first new album since their self-titled effort in 2015, after which a world tour playing “Hysteria” in its entirety took greater precedence. Well, they know what is going to sell tickets.
We could have a whole new entry started up to discuss how the music in Def Leppard’s discography has progressed from 1979 up to the present day. And while the band has never strayed from the fact that they wanted to be a rock band, not a metal band or any other type of band, it seems as though even that statement has changed over the years. The further infusing of less heavy styles of music in their songs and albums over the years has been obvious. But through that, there appeared some hope of a recovery. “Songs from the Sparkle Lounge” actually had some really good songs on it, and a recovery of sorts stating their wish to infuse the music of their heroes from the 1970’s in their current day music, and the well-received early single released from this album, seemed to indicate that this might be the album that saw the band give us a really good hard rock album for the first time in years.

The album kicks off with the excellent rock groove of “Take What You Want”, an early indication of what style of songs this album is going to produce. It is a very 1970’s glam rock AOR beginning, in perfect Def Leppard style which gives it its relatability to the modern time. Rick Savage co-wrote this track with Joe Elliott, and also wrote the closing track on the album “From Here to Eternity” which also references that age with the same feeling of T-Rex and Queen. “Kick” is a typical Phil Collen penned track, maintaining a familiar structure of song and riff, while allowing both guitarists to showcase their exceptional solo skills for a short space of the song set aside for it. It never ceases to amaze me on Def Leppard albums, with two such fabulous and highly credentialled guitarists in the band, that on the albums at least there is not room for more soloing between the two. I know they want pop rock songs, ones that are basically radio bites, but surely the occasional break out of guitar feuding would be a great addition.
The album contains a lot of harmless songs of that same calibre that I spoke of – the Def Leppard pop-rock. “Fire it Up”, “SOS Emergency”, “U Rok Mi”, “Open Your Eyes”, “Unbreakable”. And then you have the quieter ballad-style Leppard tracks, such as “Liquid Dust”, “Goodbye for Good This Time”, “All We Need”, “Gimme a Kiss”, “Angels (Can’t Help You Now)” - the ones that scream radio airplay... well, in the late 80’s and into the 90’s at least. I’m not sure they will work the same way in this day and age. Two of them, “This Guitar” and “Lifeless”, feature guest vocals from Alison Krauss, which also brings in the country and western style onto the album. It’s all very easy listening stuff, the kind of tracks that can crossover for the band to draw fans from several genres of music loving folk. You know the drill. Def Leppard aren’t going to be re-inventing the wheel at this stage of their careers. The band knows, and the two principal writers in Elliott and Collen know, that their bread is buttered very much on one side now, and that’s what brings in the cash.

I haven’t purchased a Def Leppard album since “Slang”, and I haven’t done so again here, instead utilising the streaming music service to listen to the album. And there is a very simple reason why – because now that this review is done, and I am about to publish this review, I see no reason to ever listen to this album again. Now that isn’t a statement about its quality, or the skills of the musicians involved. It is simply that the style of music that Def Leppard has played for almost the last 30 years just doesn’t excite me at all. They have gone their own path, and I most definitely went on a different one. And the sugar coated soft metal ballads are ones that by now, when it comes to Def Leppard, you become immune to. But I must admit, when we have these country and western ballad songs, such as the duets with Alison Krauss, I really am in a quandary as to what is going on. This is where they cross over another line that surely no one ever thought they would. To be honest, I’m not sure there are any further lines they can cross.
If I am in the mood to listen to a Def Leppard album, I will always head to any of those first five studio albums. They are the ones that sit proudest on my CD shelves. Those albums and the songs are what I love about the band. Everything from that point on has been a completely different style, and not one that appeals to me much at all. And given the excitement and burst of tingling sensations I got when I first heard the two singles the band released off this album before its release, the end result is a little disappointing. But as I said, with Def Leppard, you know what you are getting, and if you enjoy what it is they are releasing then you will probably love this album, and if you are of my vintage and grew up with a different band, you will probably sigh and nod knowingly as you move on to the next band and album being released, and never look back.

1165. Rainbow / On Stage. 1977. 5/5

By the time this album was being thought of and considered, Rainbow had already built themselves up to being a hugely massive band. Led by virtuoso guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, and featuring the amazing vocals and writing talents of Ronnie James Dio, the band was rounded out by other amazing musicians of the era – Jimmy Bain on bass guitar, Cozy Powell on drums, and Tony Carey on keyboards. Touring on the back of the ground-breaking and simply incredible “Rising” album, with the band now in the groove, it was decided to record some of the shows with the idea of releasing them as a live album, to showcase the band at its best in its element. As a result, several dates in Germany and Japan were recorded in late 1976.

 
Some of the things that, in my opinion, make it difficult to release a truly representative live album of the band at this time must surely have been the same things that producer Martin Birch came up against in his battle to have this done and released properly. The first issue was the length of the songs as they were played in the live environment. Now, Rainbow was already renown for longish tracks when it came to their albums, but in the live environment it was even more prevalent. As was often the case in the 1960’s and 1970’s, bands played extended length version of their songs live, which allowed the musicians to showcase their wares. The guitars and keyboards would often please themselves for what they were playing, with the drums and bass holding the rhythm of the background until such time as they broke back into the song again. Now this was all fine (although, if you ask me for my personal preference, I would rather hear another 6 songs being played than have several songs extended into freeform experimentations that may be okay for awhile but in the long run just a little bit boring), but when it came to trying to put them on vinyl, it made it difficult for Birch to fit them on one side of an album without cutting the songs in half! Birch eventually solved this by having the songs on the double album out of sequence that they were played, and had them such that they could fit snugly on their section of the vinyl. This we had the songs, but not in the order they were played. Probably not a big deal, but one that could cause annoyance for some fans. The length of the songs also prevented Birch from being able to have all of the songs played on the two LPs, which meant that “Stargazer” and “Do You Close Your Eyes” were both left off the album, as it was felt that having this set as a three LP collection would have been too costly and overpriced for the fans. It also meant that one of the band’s most amazing tracks “Stargazer”, was ditched for two cover songs, Deep Purple’s “Mistreated” (which of course Ritchie had co-written) and The Yardbirds’ “Still I’m Sad”. This seems like an injustice, though to be fair I love both of those songs and the versions that appear here.
Apart from this, check out the majesty of the songs here. The amazing “Kill the King”, opening each gig on the end of this tour even though it had yet to be laid down in the studio – it didn’t appear until the next studio album, “Long Live Rock and Roll”. The awesomeness of “Man of the Silver Mountain” in its best habitat, the live version. “Catch the Rainbow” and “Sixteenth Century Greensleeves” just terrific. The best ever version of “Mistreated”, with Ronnie on vocals and Ritchie brilliant on guitar. And then the best ever version of “Still I’m Sad” with Ronnie on vocals and Ritchie on guitar. I still cannot believe that the version they did of this on the debut album was done just as an instrumental without Ronnie providing the vocals. What the bloody hell was Ritchie thinking of?!

If you’ve been here before, then you’ve heard me say this before. Live albums should be good, because they show a band in their natural environment, and they should also contain the best songs of the band. So in essence live albums should always be awesome, and if they aren’t the band has stuffed up big time.
I first had a copy of this album after high school, and always enjoyed it but was more interested in listening to the studio albums than this live album, for the reasons already mentioned – not enough songs, and the songs here are too long and have too much improvising to stretch them out. Eventually though, this grew on me to the point of amazing obsession. And the main reason for this is the quality of Ronnie James Dio’s amazing vocals. Seriously, check them out, listen to how he carries himself and the songs, and you’ll know what I mean. And that’s not to put down the other musicians here because all of them are also brilliant. Ritchie’s guitaring is at the top of his game, Jimmy Bain is bossing the bass, and Cozy Powell’s booming drums again showcase his great talent.
I think it’s amazing that a band used to play a song live that it hadn’t yet actually recorded in the studio. Imagine turning up to a gig now and having a band open their gig every night with a song you didn’t know. But I love this version. And listening to Dio singing “Mistreated” is just brilliant. But not as good as him singing “Still I’m Sad”. This is such a scintillating version of this song. Listen to the original Yardbirds version, and then what Rainbow has done on this album. Chalk and cheese. It is such a shame they never did a studio version of it (with Dio singing at least), but this version on this album will always be one of my favourite things that Rainbow and Dio did.
This live album is top shelf. It’s one of the best out there, capturing that moment in time for this band when all members were at their very best, and although it would have been great to have the whole show from start to finish (which, if you are interested, you can now get on the “Live in Germany 1976” that was released in the 1990’s), it is still one of the greats. Only one of the band remains alive, and I miss all of them every time I put this album on.

1164. Blind Guardian / Somewhere Far Beyond. 1992. 4/5

Blind Guardian had spent several years making a gradual build from their earliest beginnings into a popular and well received band. Their initial albums had been heavily influenced by Helloween and other speed metal bands of the era, and their earliest recordings reflected that. Their third album, “Tales from the Twilight World” had begun to incorporate more melodic pieces in their songs, and coming off the success of that album the direction of their writing for their fourth album, “Somewhere Far Beyond”, actually looked to push that a little further again.
Given the time this was written and recorded, it provides a stark contrast as to the way heavy metal music was heading at the time. As has been noted on other episodes, 1992 really saw American music following the influence of the popularity of the grunge movement with many bands gravitating in that direction to hold on to their popularity and so-called relevance, whereas in Europe bands like Bind Guardian just kept pushing their boundaries in a different direction, as far away from that scene as was possible.
Once again, lyricist and lead singer Hansi Kursch delved deep into his literary material to come up with the lyrics for the songs. His love of fantasy and science fiction meant that he drew inspiration from the writings of Michael Moorcock and his ‘Eternal Champion’ which features in two songs on the album, as well as the writings of Philip K Dick and Stephen King and JRR Tolkien. For me it was one of the best part of early Blind Guardian, having these influences in the lyrics of these great songs.

This album starts off in a typical Blind Guardian fashion, with the speed metal hybrid of the opening track “Time What is Time”, which is written about the movie Blade Runner, but from the perspective of a replicant rather than a human, then careering into “Journey Through the Dark”. Both showcase where Blind Guardian had brought their fame, with fast double kick drums driving these songs with fast riffing guitars and vocals that are melodically just perfect for the songs as they are written. Why then, I always ask when listening to the album, is there the short momentum killer of “Black Chamber” placed here following these two opening tracks? It acts as a speed bump, something that doesn’t feel as though it was needed. No matter, the album is redeemed immediately with “Theatre of Pain” and “The Quest for Tanelorn”. As he had done on earlier albums, Kai Hansen makes a guest appearance here on “The Quest for Tanelorn”, offered a co-writing credit as well as playing the lead solo on the song. You don’t need to ask me twice to listen to anything Kai is involved in. “Ashes to Ashes” mixes in classic Blind Guardian with personal feelings for lyric composer Hansi Kursch, who wrote this song about the death of his father. I guess a lot of artists would be pulled in the direction of a ballad, or at the very least a power ballad if they were to write a song about their father’s death. Nothing could be farther from that here, another brilliantly fast and powerful song.
Perhaps the best known songs from the album come here in the middle of the album, “The Bard’s Song – In the Forest” and “The Bard’s Song – The Hobbit”. In fandom, the songs are generally now just known as “The Bard’s Song” and “The Hobbit” to eliminate having to say the full title of the songs when discussing them. “The Bards Song” is one of the most requested Blind Guardian tracks and they rarely play a gig without it being in the set list. The style of the song, with the acoustic guitar and harp and violin, brings visions of ‘Lord of the Rings” to the album, and indeed is something that was progressed a few years down the track. This is complemented by the return to a heavier version of this style with “The Hobbit”. It’s interesting that “The Bards Tale” is inspired by the computer game of the same name from the mid-1980's, and of course “The Hobbit” is based on the Tolkien novel, but the way the band creates both of these songs with similar bases but different takes is really quite ingenious.
For some reason, just like with “Black Chamber” earlier, we have the short interlude of “The Piper’s Calling”, a bagpipe track that breaks up the haunting piece of the two Bard’s, before the closing song of the album, the title track “Somewhere Far Beyond”, which relates to the first two books of Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower” series, “The Gunslinger” and “The Drawing of the Three”. It is another great song, and the perfect way to end the album, with a high-quality track that befits closing out a high-quality album.
The album then does contain some bonus cover songs, both great versions of the original songs. First is their version of Queen’s “Spread Your Wings” which is perfectly reproduced, along with “Trial by Fire” by NWoBHM alumni Satan.

I came into Blind Guardian far too late, another of those bands that I really should have discovered a lot earlier than I did. As a result of this, it wasn’t until the turn of the century that I finally began to track down the bands and its albums. This was then delayed slightly again as the first album I bought, “A Night at the Opera”, was one that did NOT enthuse me at the time at all. Eventually I found my way at the start of the Blind Guardian journey, discovered the speed metal base that they began with, and found the hook, progressing through the albums with joy. And it was really three albums that especially caught my attention, and Somewhere Far Beyond was definitely one of those. It was before they developed their absolute affinity to the folkish side of their music that they brought forth with their love of Tolkien’s written works, and before they infused a more power metal base into their music and the grandiose vision with orchestral arrangements and creating albums that sounded like they were operas. They dabbled with the folk ballad here with “In the Forest”, but in the main stuck with the tried and true that had gotten them to this point of their career. And that’s what lights this up for me, the power and speed of the twin guitars, the terrific drumming here to support that, and as always Hansi Kursch’s amazing vocals with their unique sound and brilliant range of emotion.
When it comes to European metal from the 1990’s and beyond, many of the bands in this category can sometimes sound a bit samey, that they follow the same template and go for the same overreaching vocal or keyboards to harness their strengths. But Blind Guardian have always been unique in that respect, and “Somewhere Far Beyond” again showed the terrific ability this band has to write and record an album that is their own. It has the powerful singalong choruses but it has those hard riffing head banging moments as well. 30 years on, and it has stood the test of time wonderfully well. Whether you are a long time fan or just a new person on the block, “Somewhere Far Beyond” has something here that will grab you and drag you in. And once you are in, there is no turning back.

1163. Ozzy Osbourne / Live at Budokan. 2002. 4/5

Given that Ozzy Osbourne had proclaimed that he was going to retire from touring a decade earlier than this live album was released, it seems unnecessary to suggest that a bit had gone on in that ten year span. Those that are avid readers of this blog will have recently read of the debacle that occurred at the end of Black Sabbath’s “Dehumanizer” album, where the four original members of the band reunited for an encore at what was to be Ozzy’s final ever live gig. Well, those plans soon faded, no doubt due to the dollar signs in everyone’s eyes, and the album “Ozzmosis” followed, as well as the following album “Down to Earth” in 2001. Avid readers will also have read the entry dedicated to THAT album on this blog.
The same foursome who recorded that album, Ozzy, guitarist Zakk Wylde, bass guitarist Robert Trujillo and drummer Mike Bordin all toured on this album, and subsequently ended up on the live gig that makes up this album. It was an interesting idea to release a live album and DVD from this tour. Ozzy’s first two live albums had been the Black Sabbath-induced “Speak of the Devil” and was followed by the “Tribute” album in 1987. Then came the “Live and Loud” double live album from that “No More Tours” era, which tied up all the strings nicely. This one, just two albums later, seemed like a marketing decision rather than an opportunity to showcase the band in their element, but then again, Iron Maiden seem to release a live album after every studio effort, so certainly in comparison now, it isn't such a bad decision.

As always, live albums can be split and categorised with the following denominators – the songs from the latest studio album, songs that have not appeared on a live album prior to the one being released, and the old favourites that appear on practically every live album the band or artist releases. And in this way, you can get a feel for just how unique or stock standard the live album is.
Here on “Live at Budokan”, there are three songs that come from the “Down to Earth” album, and it is probably fair to say that they all sound better here in the live environment than they do on the studio album. Those songs are “That I Never Had”, “Junkie” and “Gets Me Through”. Not only does the band sound great playing these live, the songs are enhanced by having Zakk singing on back up vocals. It especially sounds great in “That I Never Had”, a song that would have been the lesser without him helping Ozzy out.
Interestingly, there are four songs from “No More Tears” played here, more songs than from the album they are promoting, and from any other Ozzy album as well. There is no problem with that. “No More Tears” the song is a no brainer, and “Mama I’m Coming Home” given its commercial success is also one that was played a lot on tours following its release. “Road to Nowhere” and “I Don’t Want to Change the World” are probably strange selections, though again Zakk’s backing vocals on “I Don’t Want to Change the World” enhances this version of the song immensely. “I Don’t Know”, “Believer” and “Mr Crowley” pepper the first half of the album, while you Can’t finish an Ozzy gig without “Crazy Train”, “Bark at the Moon” and “Paranoid” now, can you? And perhaps it is a small point, and a bit of a nit-picking point, but “Believer” for instance had appeared on “Tribute”, and while this version is also terrific, wasn’t there an opportunity to play a different track, maybe from the “Ultimate Sin” or “No Rest for the Wicked” era? Because neither of those albums had a song from them in this set list, and it would have been great to have had them represented. On the other hand perhaps, maybe Ozzy was already moving into his habit of playing the same songs and rarely diverging to give other great songs from his past an opportunity, because of the difficulty of representing them live in a fashion that they deserved. I don’t know for sure, but it would have been great to have.

I first heard this album several months after its release. I didn’t rush out to buy it, at the time I was at a stage where I was listening to other music, and having heard the “Down to Earth” album I was at an ambivalent stage. I eventually saw the DVD on a trip out west to a mates house, where we discussed how great most of the songs were, and how average the new ones were, and that maybe if Zakk Wylde had been involved in the writing process it would have been a whole lot better. First impressions are always interesting.
I now own a copy of this album but not the DVD. I have been listening to it through streaming services for the purpose of this episode, and I can find the video online if I feel the need. But I really don’t. No, this isn’t a bad live album. Bordin and Trujillo are brilliant musicians, and they are great here. Ozzy sings well, and Zakk is still at a peak as a guitarist. But the problem here is that there isn’t anything special brought to the table to inspire you to either purchase it or listen to it. I’ve enjoyed listening to this album again over the last couple of weeks. And I believe that if you put it on, you’ll enjoy it too. The problem is, much like the plethora of Iron Maiden live albums, if you want to listen to an Ozzy live album, then you are either going to reach for “Tribute” to listen to those early songs and Randy Rhoads shred, or you are going to reach for “Live and Loud” that has every great Ozzy song on the two discs and perfectly performed. There hasn’t been as need for me to own this, because apart from this reviewing of the album, I’m just not likely to reach for it on the shelves. And that will always be the conundrum of a live album – no matter how good it sounds and the songs that are on it, if it isn’t one of the better one or two released by the band or artist, it is going to get ignored.