Yeah! You're getting two of these this month! I ended up spinning a bunch of new stuff this month, for various reasons. I'm also thinking about shortening my remarks on each album, that way I'm less long-winded and you get more albums per article to check out. We'll see how well that goes. Here's what I've been listening to lately!
Seventh Wonder - Become So this is a band I've been hearing good things about for quite a while. As is my nature, I've started with their first full-length album, and to be honest, it's not bad, but not really amazing. The first thing I noticed was that the production is a bit on the muddy side, but it does help the band meld together, in a way, resulting in a mixed experience. Musically, they're definitely of the same mold as Dream Theater or Symphony X, but I also felt some Angra vibes, largely in the melodies and choruses. The band is clearly talented, but it does have the problem where the chops seem to come before the songs, and the solos, while many and well-performed, don't really seem to do much more than exercise their fingers. Overall, it has some nice parts, but doesn't seem to build up to anything really noteworthy. However, I can see this as just an early effort and the band certainly has the potential grow from here.
Quiet Riot - Metal Health With the passing of Franki Banali (RIP), I figured I'd go back and actually listen to the record that made them a household name. While I've heard the two bit hits on classic radio for years, I hadn't really heard the rest of this album before, so I thought I'd correct that. "Metal Health" and "Cum On Feel The Noize" remain as iconic and fun as ever. In fact, I think "Metal Health" has a kind of timelessness to it that puts it in the best of 80s metal, period. As for the rest of the album, it's pretty standard pop metal stuff. Some upbeat stuff, some mid-tempo stuff, a guitar solo, a ballad or two. Standouts include the upbeat "Breathless" with it's driving tempo and slick guitar harmonies, and "Thunderbird" which is a tribute to band founder Randy Rhoads who had since left for Ozzy's band only to end up dying in that airplane accident. Kinda brings things full circle, in a way, since Banali's death is what's compelling me to listen to the album. Made back in a time when metal and rock was made for fun and glory, it's a decent album of anthemic rockers, buoyed by two hit singles that will remain on classic rock radio for years to come.
Attacker - Battle At Helms Deep Sometimes, you just have to check something out based purely on the cover, and the cover of this one absolutely screams 80s metal with a heavy Dungeons and Dragons vibe. And to be titled after one of the most iconic battles in all of fantasy fiction, I just couldn't ignore this. And the result isn't that bad, honestly. To be sure, this is very much straight-up US power metal, with a limited budget and plenty of riffs to spare. The point of reference I kept coming back to was Metal Church, with a noodly dash of Iron Maiden's early work, a la Killers. The vocalist was also giving me some David Wayne vibes, with a few nods to early Geddy Lee. There are some interesting riffs and ideas floating around, with tempo and mood shifts here and there, and long solos, but it's nothing you haven't heard before. There really aren't any stand-out tracks on this, but at the same time, it's never boring, keeping to a decent pace throughout. If you've worn out your Dio records and want something a little crunchier to play in the background for your tabletop gaming night, Attacker has you covered.
Halford - Resurrection So after Rob Halford left Judas Priest and spent most of a decade trying to rediscover himself though the groove metal of Fight and the industrial styles of 2wo, he ended up going back right where he started: straight-forward, classic, traditional, old-school, chugging, heavy metal. Seriously, if I didn't know better, I'd think it was just another Judas Priest record I hadn't heard before. As for stand out tracks there's the opener "Resurrection" definitely setting the pace and attitude of the album; "Made In Hell" which sees our singer thinking back to the early days of metal; "The One You Love to Hate" featuring Bruce Dickinson in a fun metal duet; and "Cyberworld" with its power metal chugging and double-kicking fury. The only real criticism I have is that the second half isn't quite as strong as the first. Seriously, this is just solid, straight-forward, old-school metal that he used to make with his former band, and continues to make since he rejoined. If there is one other thing to take away from this album has, it's the confidence that Halford brings in his performance. He is in peak form, wailing like he did in the 80s, and backed by massive sounding guitars and drums designed to fill stadiums with fist-pumping power. Well, there you go. Four more albums at the end of the month. Things seems to be carrying on around here with no time for stopping. I think I'll probably be doing more of these articles, both for upcoming anniversary articles, and to try and catch up on 2020 releases (I haven't done well with that so far this year!). Until then, rock on! \m/
Hey, it's one of these again. It's been longer than I was anticipating, to be honest. I thought I would be able to really dig into some new albums over the summer, but it hasn't really happened. However, I've finally turned on enough stuff to put together another one of these articles, and this time, it's all progressive rock! Here's what I've been checking out lately.
Transatlantic - SMPT:e So members of Spock's Beard, The Flower Kings, Dream Theater, and Marillion got together at the turn of the millennium and made the proggiest of prog rock albums. It's an interesting assortment, but one that certainly has plenty of potential. 20 years later, I'm giving it a spin. The first thing I noticed was just how much jazz-fusion it had. The band is much more interested in jazzy grooves and jams more than anything else. The album opens with a 31 minute epic called "All of the Above" that exemplifies this, going through some interesting moodshifts and throwing in a few nods to other prog greats of the past. However, it does go on for a bit too long, especially at the end. The shorter songs show different sides of the band, with "We All Need Some Light" being a anthemic and uplifting acoustic ballad while "Mystery Train" is a very quirky and weird piece. As for the other original epic, "My New World" draws more from Sgt. Peppers-era Beatles before eventually falling back into a jazz fusion groove. The album ends with a cover of Procol Harum's "In Held 'Twas In I" (often regarded as the first prog rock epic), and it's a curious arrangement. They sing the spoken part of "Held", and skip "Twas" entirely, instead adding in more jamming and even a free jazz section. Needless to say, it's a bit all over the place. Overall, it's some pretty decent stuff, but it does lack a little in energy, mostly content to sit back and soak in it's jazz/rock tone that rolls back and forth, but never really rocks. Fans of Stolt and Morse will find plenty of familiar sounds, and the production is very clear, but it really doesn't do anything that I would call great.
Pattern-Seeking Animals - Pattern-Seeking Animals Finally, I decided to give this a listen through, after liking pieces of it last year. It's kind of an interesting follow up from that Transatlantic album, given that PSA is made up of different Spock's Beard members, current and former. The tone of the album is also pretty similar: proggy, but rather laid back, content to just kinda wallow around its moody atmosphere. The album starts off with the solid "No Burden Left to Carry," with some nice mood shifts, some solid guitar work. The follow up of "The Same Mistakes Again," is a nice, softer piece. However, the album just kinda meanders around those same moods. It doesn't even try to spice things up with jazz-fusion, going for a more straight-forward, somewhat plodding songwriting. A little quirky, sometimes light, sometimes dark, but never straying too far from their soft, prog rock style. Despite not really knowing these artists' heritage, I'm sure fans of Spock's Beard will find plenty to like. So in the end, it's album that's nice while it's on, and is clearly well-played, but none of it really sticks with me, unfortunately. It rocks a little here, does a soft-jam there, has plenty of layers of keyboards and synths, but like Transatlantic's debut, never really seems to push it to that next level at any time.
Rick Wakeman & The English Rock Ensemble - The Red Planet Now this is prog rock! Okay, I admit that I'm not being fair, here. I'm a diehard Yes fan, so I've been anticipating Wakeman's new solo album for a while now. He's gone full-on Six Wives mode here, with a band backing him up, and tons of layers and ideas all blending together. The song titles are thematically appropriate, all based on various landmarks of Mars. Otherwise, each song is a little prog epic that stands on its own, featuring a variety of moods and tempos. Songs like "Pavonis Mons" and "Ascraeus Mons" are upbeat and driving, while "Tharsis Tholus" and "South Pole" offer more mellow sounds, with the former going for a dark, jazz-fusion vibe, and the latter being more chill and well-paced, with some soft piano in the middle section. Then there are songs like "Arsia Mons" and "The North Plain" that shift around quite a bit, with "The North Plain" drifting from thick rock organs to ambient soundscapes. It also features a great guitar solo from Dave Colquhoun at the end. Overall, compared to the other two in this article, this just has more energy. A lot of that simply might have to do with Wakeman's electric synth runs, his fingers not having aged a day since the 70s. The band almost makes Mars itself seem varied and magical in comparison to the rust-colored and largely empty planet that it is. Solid work from top to bottom, this album is proof that Wakeman is still the wizard at the keys and as imaginative as ever. Well, I'm still plugging away around here. Getting out more articles than I would have thought. I'm not sure what the rest of the year will be like, but I'll continue doing what I can. I should probably get into more current year releases. I'm running out of time to include them in a best-of article!! Until then, rock on! \m/
Once again, it's the middle of the month, so it's time for another anniversary article. This time, 2000! Once we got over the whole Y2K nonsense, what rocked that year? I'm here to tell you!
Let's start off with some power metal, as the genre had really its stride by this point. HammerFall would give us Renegade, with iconic tracks like the title track, "The Way of the Warrior," and "A Legend Reborn." Nightwish expanded their symphonic stylings with Wishmaster, featuring another great title track, "Deep Silent Complete," and the dramatic number "The Kinslayer." Other highlights include Rhapsody of Fire's Dawn of Victory, which gave us "Holy Thunderfoce," and Edguy's rerecording of Savage Poetry, which has the epic "Eyes of the Tyrant," a ten minute epic that goes through many different moods. However, the one power metal album that stands out to me the most is Stratovarius's Infinite. Building off of the sound of their successful trilogy of Episode, Visions, and Destiny, they add some thicker grit to their guitars and push to even greater heights. Kicking off with the opening rocker "Hunting High and Low," the album moves through some great tracks. "Millennium" is another great high-speed affair, "Phoenix" is a personal favorite with some massive riffs, and "Infinity" is probably their best epic track. Full of speed and grandiosity, this album is pretty much peak power metal for me. Of course, there were other metal bands doing work at this time. Trans-Siberian Orchestra's third album gets away from their Christmas carols to give us a new story about the life and death of Beethoven in Beethoven's Last Night. Melodramatic, but with some nice songs, and the references to classic music are weaved in quite expertly. Other notable records are Helloween's The Dark Ride, Dark Moor's The Hall of the Olden Dreams, and Rob Halford's return to traditional metal with his first solo album Resurrection. Meanwhile, progressive rock was starting to come alive again, with new works from new bands. While I admit I haven't listened to much from this time period, I did recently listen to Transatlantic's debut album, and thought it was pretty decent. Finally, another genre that was big at this time was post-grunge. While most of the stuff I'm familiar with didn't come out this particular year, one big album did, and that's The Better Life by 3 Doors Down. This has to be one of the best debut albums I've ever heard, and I put it along side Boston's and Asia's first records as a solid rock album, from start to finish. While "Kryptonite" would be the bit hit single from the record, the rest of the album is just a great, with songs like the crunchy "Loser," the driven "Duck and Run," the touching ballad "Be Like That," and the uplifting "So I Need You." Honestly, I could have put all eleven tracks of this album on the playlist below, but I tried to keep it to the best. So that's 2000! Perhaps not as much variety as I would like, but I'm growing! Also, if you think I've missed something, speak up! These playlists are not set in stone, you know!
I don't intend to talk much about my personal life, but my microwave broke last weekend, and it's been an interesting week putting together meals until I can afford a new one. Using the stove and oven in the middle of August isn't exactly great, but you know what is? Rock and metal music videos! Here's what I got!
Yup, another Primal Fear track. I wasn't sure about this one at first, with the quieter verses, but then the chorus comes in and Scheepers is back at full volume, and the song starts to click. I suppose it's a heavy, crunchy ballad? Solid work, regardless.
High Spirits is one of those bands who call back to the hard rock sounds of the early 80s: a bit Night Ranger, a bit old-school Judas Priest ("Heading On The Highway"), and a lot of upbeat rockin' feels.
DGM are a great Italian prog metal group who's last album, The Passage, was an incredible discovery for me. Here, in anticipation of their next album, they do it all over again, with all kinds of technical chops buoyed by epic choruses and melodic splendor!
Landfall is a new bad from Brazil, and this track seems to have found the middle ground between soaring AOR and driven pop metal. Huge vocals, chunky riffs, and a solid 80s rock attitude! Definitely a promising sound from these guys!
Yup, more AOR. This one really doesn't do anything particularly amazing, but just plain feels comfortable. Lots of warm nostalgia for that early 80s, happy rock and roll. Very much like Find Me or The Defiants.
We're gonna finish this one with something a little different. Heathen are a classic Bay-Area thrash metal group and this definitely has the chops. But this also has a melodic side often found in that particular style. Very crunchy without getting too gritty.
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