New Videos - November 2022!

I admit it's been a bit of a slow month for me, and I feel like I've gotten behind again on new releases like I did last year, but I'm still trucking along alright on other things like this.  Definitely had some fascinating new videos get released lately that I'm pretty excited to talk about.  Next year looks like it's going to be one busy year for rock and metal, but I suppose that's not a bad thing!  Anyways, here's some new videos for you all!

Despite their popularity, I admit I haven't really heard Godsmack outside of a handful of songs, but I'm always up for some good melodic rock.  This song definitely has more atmosphere than I was expecting, and has a nice little groove here and there.  Given that this may be their last album, they might be trying for something bigger than usual.

Beriedir is a band I've been seeing here and there over the year.  They share a lot of qualities with their fellow Italian prog metal peers, though I think they have a stronger dramatic flair to their songwriting.  I know this is one I have on deck to review, so keep an eye out for more about them!

Well, this is quite the bolt out of the blue!  I knew they were working on new stuff, but I had no idea they were this close to being done with a new album!  I like the song, as I feel like it has a lot of that old-school, Motorhead-inspired energy.  However, I was pretty underwhelmed by Hardwired... despite a punchy lead single, so we'll see how their new album really turns out next year.

After enjoying their debut album a few years ago, I'm glad to see these guys are back with more melodic rock.  While it's pretty standard (if crunchy AOR) stuff, they play it with great energy, and that synth solo is pretty wild.  I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more of these guys!

I mostly learned about Simon Collins through Sound of Contact, and when that band moved on without him as In Continuum, it seemed he disappeared from the prog rock world.  However, now he's back with former Sound of Contact guitarist Kelly Nordstrom on a new project.  The song is definitely spacey, but it shifts well between the heavy riffs and ambient sections.  Certainly worth a look.

After enjoying their last album, it seems Big City is back for more of their curious blend of prog and glam metal.  While the chorus is full of 80s anthemic pomp, the riffing certainly leans closer to proggy or even power metal territory, with double-kicking drums!  They definitely have a unique blend of sounds and its on full display with this new single of theirs.

Anniversary Series - 2017!

Time for another Anniversary Series article!  Much like 2012, I don't have much for 2017, but I do recommend checking out the playlist below, as it has tracks from Beast in Black's and One Desire's debut albums, as well as Antti Martikainen's Northern Steel, which is just incredible symphonic folk metal.  In the meantime, I've got some more reviews for you, which let me catch up on some big bands!

Lovebites - Awakening from Abyss

After enjoying Electric Pentagram two years ago so much that it ended up in my Top 5 for the year, I knew I had to make time to listen the rest of this band's discography.  However, other albums ended up taking priority, so I decided to include their debut album as part of this retrospective.  Unsurprisingly, it's another sonic blast of high speed melodic metal.

Right off, Midori and Miyako are absolutely shredding through this album.  Not only are the high speed riffs quite melodic and catchy, but their solos are generally quite solid, and often feature them trading off back and forth.  Just excellent guitar work.  Haruna and Miho keep the rhythm section right on time, ensuring there is plenty of thrust underneath the guitar work to really let it soar, and Asami's iconic voice soars over it all.  All the Lovebites staples are here.  However, I will say that the songwriting and lyrics don't have quite the same polish as their later work would have.  I'm sure it's no easy feat to be writing songs in another language, but I do think they've clearly improved from here.  Also the songs seems to veer more towards a shred-heavy speedy j-poppy metal rather than the epic power metal of their later material.  It's not a major shift, but I did notice a general difference across the album.

Still, in all honesty, these are nit picks, and there is plenty I enjoyed.  "The Hammer of Wrath" is a solid opener (after the intro track), "Bravehearted" gets pretty epic, and "Scream for Me" has a great high energy riff that gets the blood pumping.  However, the highlight for me has to be the bridge on "The Apocalypse."  The song has a thrashier vibe, but then they change the tempo on the bridge, busting out a Hammond organ and some heavy riffing, making for an incredible breakdown.  While the album might not be a complete winner, there is plenty for a new Lovebites fan like me to sink my teeth into.

The Dust Coda - The Dust Coda

When I discovered this band last year, and found their album to be an outright blast, I knew The Dust Coda were a band I would need to catch up as well.  They style of blues rock has this energized quality that I don't often find in many other retro rock bands.  Checking out their debut album for this anniversary article, I find that it's just as solid of a rocker as their follow up from 2021.

Once again, I enjoy their energetic songwriting and performances.  The guitars have a good balance of crunchy and catchiness, with plenty of rocking riffs and solos.  Tony Ho and Scott Miller provide all kinds of groove with their bass and drum rhythms, ensuring that your head will be banging to more than a few of these tracks.  And once again, John Drake sings his heart out, giving each song the energy it needs, whether it's anthemic, driven, somber, or soft.  His gritty wails are pure classic rock.  If there is a difference on this album from The Mojo Skyline, it's that it is definitely bluesier, giving the songs a stronger Zeppelin vibe, and a few of the riffs gave me 70s AC/DC vibes.  The album also has a lot of dynamics, willing to bring things down for a bit before building them back up, with many of the songs escalating to some nice jams at the end of them.

I don't know if this album is quite as good as The Mojo Skyline, but it certainly shares plenty of it's style and substance.  I quite liked the opener "The More It Fades," with the nice build into the solo.  I had a smile on my face by the end of that track!  "Down in the Valley" was another good rocker that builds well for it's big ending.  "Rock N Roll," "Save Me," "and "When the Tide Comes In," definitely have some of the juicier grooves.  And I even liked some of the ballads, particularly the melancholy "Sweet Love Is Gone," as it really digs into their somber, bluesier side.  Overall, another solid album of hard rock from these guys.  I'm certainly looking forward to a third one, whenever they get around to that!

Sorcerer - The Crowning of the Fire King

Just as with Lovebites, Sorcerer was a band I feel in love with when I finally took the time check them out two years ago, enjoying with their classic epic doom sound.  I knew I would need to check out their back catalog as well, and this anniversary article provided the opportunity to check out their second album.  While, much of what I loved is here, this album does have a distinctly different tone.

Of course, the album still sounds like Sorcerer, as the lineup is mostly the same.  Anders Engberg provides great, theatrical vocals, soaring over all the heavy, plodding riffs.  Hallgren and Niemann tear it up on their guitars as well, with their solos shredding all over the place.  However, I do think there is an overall difference in tone compared to Lamenting of the Innocent.  While that album had a thick sense of haunting and dread made possible by its lush production, this album feels more like a journey, following the story of a set of doomed voyagers (though I don't think it's a concept album).  It also feels like it has a few more elements of traditional metal, as there were times I was reminded of Grand Magus or some of Saxon's slower songs.  As a result, it feels more epic on a classic, narrative sense, like reading Homer or Beowulf.  Songs like "Sirens," "Ship of Doom," and "Crimson Cross" are good examples of this (and are good tracks in general).  "Unbearable Sorrow" was another stand-out track, as it has an interesting sense of melancholy, rather than dread.

I don't think this album is as strong as Lamenting, though I know that one took a while to grow on me, so maybe this one will as well.  I did feel like the album dragged a little at times, but not often.  In any case, these Swedes are still masters of the 80s doom metal style, while making a name for themselves with their incredible guitar work and great sense of epic songwriting and lyrics.

The Dark Element - The Dark Element

Yup, here's another debut album of a band I've been meaning to catch up on.  Featuring Anette Olzon (formerly of Nightwish) on vocals and Jani Liimatainen (formerly of Sonata Arctica) on guitars and keyboards, and Jani's bandmates from Cain's Offerings on bass and drums, they created a symphonic power metal project that feels like a decent fusion of the aforementioned bands with a few extras.

While much of the production is pretty much right in step with the Olzon era of Nightwish, the new element is a greater amount of trance-like synths on the songs, giving them more of an Amaranthe or Metalite feel, both of which were around by this time.  They show up pretty often, but I think they give the songs a bit more breadth, in a way.  "I Cannot Raise the Dead" almost has an EDM vibe.  I actually don't have a problem with this kind of stuff in metal (see my glowing reviews for Beast in Black, for example), but it can be hit and miss on this album.  On the other hand, songs like "Someone You Used to Know," "Heaven of Your Heart," and "Halo" throw in acoustic piano and guitar, so the album does try to broaden the soundscape of the songs.  However, despite all this variety, the songwriting is some pretty cookie-cutter symphonic metal.  While fans of the genre might find something to like, it probably won't be converting anyone new to the style.

There are a handful of good tracks, though.  "My Sweet Mystery" has some solid riffs and symphonic orchestration, and "Dead to Me" fuses all these elements pretty well with good, energetic riffs, both of the synth and guitar variety.  Overall, it's decent, but not amazing.  However, I know that, just from the singles I've heard, the second album really improves the songwriting.  When I get around to that one, we'll see if the band has places to go in the future.

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Well, that's the last anniversary article for the year!  As always, if there is anything you think I've missed, let me know in the comments below.  As for the rest of the year, I've got some albums to catch up on, plus a bit of a holiday surprise, so keep an eye out for that!  Until then, rock on! \m/

Last Played - November 2022!

As the year comes to a close, I'm realizing that there are a lot of albums I want to catch up on!  While I won't go as overboard as I did last year in try to listen to as many albums as possible, I foresee at least a few more Last Played articles before 2022 finishes, starting with this one.  Featuring a decent mix of rock and metal, here's what I've been listening to lately.

Megadeth - The Sick, The Dying... And the Dead!

While I don't cover thrash metal too often, there are a few bands that I feel qualify for this blog, and this is certainly one of the biggest ones.  While Megadeth can be kind of hit-and-miss for me, I did like their last album Dystopia quite a bit. So was I certainly curious when their follow up would be, all these years later.  Of course, between now and then, they certainly hit some setbacks, including Dave's cancer and a scandal that caused a quick change in bassists (otherwise known as a Tuesday in Megadeth's chaotic history), but they still came out swinging.

Right off, you get another slab of good guitar riffs, melodies, and solos, but you knew that by looking at the name on the cover.  This album definitely brings back in some of the classic experimentation, though, with shifts in tempo and tone halfway through some of these songs, "Dogs of Chernobyl" and "Mission to Mars" being prime examples.  The lyrics are the typical Mustaine topics of social commentary and personal struggles, so those familiar with the band's catalog won't find many surprises, overall.  Even when Ice-T shows up on "Night Stalkers," it almost feels like an afterthought than any kind of true change-up.

I'm sure the fans will be (and have been) pleased with the band's newest effort, but if you haven't caught the Megadeth bug, this album won't change your mind.  While I think it's about as good as Dystopia, that one was very straight-forward and streamlined.  The Sick, The Dying... and the Dead broadens the songwriting out much like some of their classic 80s material, making it probably the more interesting than the last one.  I quite liked the title track, the thrashy "Life In Hell," and the sarcastic "Célebutante."  Overall, it's a decent collection of melodic thrash that carries on the band's legacy well, but doesn't really do much more than that.

Sword - Sweet Dreams

I think I stumbled across this band watching some old 80s music videos, and came across their video for "F.T.W." from their first album, Metalized.  When I dug up the rest of that album, I found it to be a really solid chunk of traditional metal.  However, I had neglected their second album, and with their third album on the horizon, I figured I had some catching up to do.  As it turns out, this is a very curious and fascinating follow-up to their debut.

Right off, there are a few things that stand out.  First is that the production is a little cleaner.  While they don't dip into glam territory, you can tell they were able to work with some better equipment.  However, their sound is a chunky as every, with plenty of beefy riffs.  The next thing I noticed is that, while the Metalized did embrace a lot of metal tropes and mainly stayed in a US power metal style, this album is definitely more diverse, as if the band was searching to broaden their horizons a little.  The first half of the album, including the title track opener, is actually slower and doomier, reminiscent of Cirith Ungol.  It's not until you get to their fifth and sixth tracks ("Prepare to Die" and "Caught in the Act") do we get anything like the speed and aggression of their first album.  Then, after those, things definitely take a divergence as "Until Death Do Us Part" has this 6/8 swing step, with a lot of bluesy licks.  "The Threat" sees the band get a little proggy, making me think of early Savatage, and the final track "State of Shock" is more of a punk rock song, with a d-beat stomping out the rhythm.  The lyrics also move towards social commentary, not unlike Megadeth (coincidentally enough).

Despite all these shifts in style, though, they definitely still sound like Sword.  Rick Hughes is wailing his guts out, and he sounds great.  However, the best performance has to go to Mike Plant on guitars.  Not only are the riffs interesting and catchy, but the solos are incredible as he shreds his fingers to pieces!  Guitar fans will find plenty to like on this, I think.

Overall, I think it's a decent album.  I'm not sure it's as good as Metalized, but I probably need to spin this several more times to really decide, as this album has a lot to unpack.  The tracks that stood out to me are the title track, "The Trouble Is," "Prepare to Die," and "Caught in the Act."  While I think they did lose a bit of the menace from the first album, Sweet Dreams shows a band willing to explore and push their sound into new territory without messing with what worked from the new album, with some interesting and enjoyable results.

Black Swan - Shake the World

Despite enjoying the singles for this album back in 2020, it kinda fell off my radar until they announced a follow up for 2022, so I decided to give this Frontiers-style supergroup a serious listen. With Robin McAuley on vocals and Reb Beach (co-founder of Winger and currently with Whitesnake as well), this album revels in that late 80s hard rock sound, where some of the pop metal bands shifted into bluesier territory.  

The album starts off with the singles, with "Shake the World" and "Big Disaster doing a great job of setting the tone, and the rest of the songs carry that through to the end.  The rhythm section of Jeff Pilson and Matt Starr perform well, but McAuley definitely steals the show with his soaring vocals.  Beach's guitar solos range from bluesy to shreddy, serving the songs quite well.  However, one problem that does kind of plague the album is that most of these songs have some pretty long outros.  I suppose they give the song some room, as well as some time for Beach to throw in a few more licks, but they mostly seemed to just stretch the songs out.  The one exception to that is "The Rock That Rolled Away," which ends up being quite the mini-epic.  After the second chorus, the song shifts into a bridge that first throws down a heavy riff, before changing over to a choir of vocals, building the song quite well into an outro that's quite a solid jam.

As always, reviewing these retro rock bands is always tough because they're definitely aiming for a specific target, and they quite often hit their mark.  For what it's worth, there are very few keyboards, so those who prefer their hard rock to be more guitar-focused will find a lot to like here.  Followers of the individual members of the band will likely enjoy this as being more of their respective catalogs.  Perhaps not the most exciting album, it serves up a solid slab of 80s-styled rockers, meant to please the fans, if nothing else.

Allen/Olzon - Army of Dreamers

When this project first came together, I enjoyed their first album quite a bit.  However, I wasn't certain if this was going to be a one-off thing or not, so it was with quite some delight when I discovered they were working on a follow-up.  While I liked their three singles, much of the album remains in the symphonic metal template they established with the first album.

That's not to say it's a straight-up carbon copy of what the project had done before.  First of all, Karlsson's arrangements are certainly broader, really getting some interesting work in the orchestrations and layers, and his guitar work is solid as ever.  While his solos alternate nicely between shreddy and melodic, I feel like he upped the game on some of those riffs, giving them quite the Primal Fear crunch.  Another interesting difference is that the two singers sing on all the songs this time, instead of having some songs feature only one of the singers, which makes the album feel more whole, I think.  In any case, both of them give a great performance, singing with gusto and power, though I do think Allen sometimes gets buried a little among all the layers.

While the first album was certainly a solid start, it definitely felt like a collection of songs, while Army of Dreamers feels more like a cohesive album, where the songs are stronger together.  Of course, it remains very comfortably within the symphonic metal genre, with very few surprises for fans, but it's very well executed.  Cheesy, bombastic, and making good use of the talents on board, this project demonstrates that it has plenty of power and majesty all the way through Army of Dreamers.  Here's hoping for a third album!

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To be honest, I don't think I've found my obvious choice for the best of 2022.  This might be like 2020 where my Top 5 was quite the struggle to pull together and organize.  Still, there are some great albums I haven't gotten to that could be contenders.  I've got Dragonland, Disturbed, Iron Allies, Alter Bridge, and plenty of others on my list to check out, so keep an eye out for those in the future.  Until then, rock on! \m/