New Videos - August 2021!

This summer hasn't relented, with the heat and the smoke making things miserable.  Lets see if we can blow it all away with some epic metal!

So many new albums to listen to, and this one is near the top of the list.  Dee Snider's solo career has really turned into something nice and crunchy.  Also, a cat gets rescued, which is nice.  Seriously, though, Dee's voice is as powerful as ever, and it's great to hear him bellow it out over heavy riffs like this.

Speaking of albums I need to listen to!  In the meantime, enjoy this mid-tempo rocker from these power metal giants.  They're definitely having fun with this one, going the "Rock 'n' Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" theme, and I can't disagree with that!  This is a solid track, for sure!

More Italian Prog Metal!  This one really has a lot in it, despite being just under six minutes.  With the syncopated groove, wild synth runs, and tonal shifts, this is a kind of mini epic.  Kind of a lot to process, but none of it feels disjointed, as it flows pretty well.  

Another great piece of melodic thrash from this classic band.  I clearly need to catch up with these guys if they consistently sound this good.  Nice, crushing riffs, solid vocals, and even some dynamics with a softer section in the middle that then builds back to the thrashing!

Well this is a little different.  After a moody intro, it kicks into gear somewhere between Painkiller-era Priest and Paragon.  The singer has a nice grit to his voice, and the guitars have some nice, noodly leads, all driven by some serious double-kicking rhythms!

Let's finish with something epic!  And Finnish!  Antti Martikainen started off doing cinematic music, like Two Steps from Hell.  However in 2017, he picked up some guitars and released Northern Steel, nearly two hours of epic instrumental folk metal.  I guess he has done a few more albums since then, including this one, which falls more into symphonic power metal territory, but is no less epic!

New Videos - November 2020 Part Two!

Well, I hope you had as good of a Thanksgiving as I did, especially one that rocks this hard.  Here's another bunch of new videos from all kinds of bands to help you stay awake through the holidays!

After Walk the Sky blew me away earlier this year, the band has been busy on a new track that they're releasing, along with a bunch of live tracks, in an EP they're calling Walk the Sky 2.0.  This is the new track, and it's heavy.  One of their grittier ones for sure, but very solid and very much in their style.  Great work!

It's hard to go wrong with Iron Savior, I feel.  While, this song is not as strong as the first single, it's pretty solid, straight-forward heavy/power metal.  Sielck still sound great, though, finding that middle point between Kürsch and Dirkschneider.  The album drops next month, and I'm really looking forward to it!

Dee Snider's last solo album was quite the barn burner, and this extra track from a recent live album is much very much in that same gritty, crunchy vein.  I'm really curious to see if he will continue on this path he started 3 years ago, because it could lead to some more great metal.

Inglorious is a band with a really solid blues-rock sound that feels classic without really sounding like anyone specific.  Maybe Whitesnake?  I've liked their stuff before, and this new one has their style in spades.  Nice, crunchy guitars and Nathan James just wailing like a champ over it all.

While I wasn't that impressed with their debut album, I never doubted the talent of these guys, and just from this song, I think there's promise.  There's more energy, and Trewavas gets to do some nice bass lines.  Not sure how I feel about the two different album versions, but the music at least sounds promising.

Another solid power metal track from these guys, though this one makes me think of Sonata Arctica, with the layered keyboards and a tempo that isn't fast or mid-tempo.  While like the last one, I'm not blown away exactly, but it has solid riffs and melodies, and Marco Pastorino brings a lot of confidence to the song.

Some quick videos

Sorry for not posting here.  Life has a funny way of messing with your priorities, and all my intentions for this blog were sidelined for a while.  Anyways, I just wanted to share some videos of new stuff out there that I wanted to recommend that people check out.

First of all, Apocalypse, the new Primal Fear album, is out!  While I don't think it was as good as the last one (Rulebreaker! \m/), it had some pretty good songs, including this one above.  Solid power metal for sure.

This is from a new band I had never heard of before.  It looks like they're a fusion of two bands from Texas.  The vocals seem a little low in the mix, but otherwise this is some very epic US prog/power metal!  They don't have a full-length album out, but you can find a few songs on their bandcamp page.

Meanwhile, Dee Snider decided to buck his glam past and go for a more modern sounding album with For The Love of Metal.  It's an interesting listen, but Snider acquits himself admirably to the new sound and makes it work.  Sounding somewhere between modern Disturbed and classic Testament/Metallica, it's a nice, heavy album with some satisfying crunches.

Getting into prog rock for a moment, this band In Continuum is actually the left overs from Sound of Contact (who's album Dimensionaut I loved!).  Basically, it's the same band without Simon Collins, so the vocals are different, but they remain very sci-fi focused.  I look forward to their first album when it comes out . . . . sometime.

Of course, my favorite band (or part of them) has been busy.  While Yes featuring ARW did release a live album earlier this year, this video was leaked as content for an upcoming album.  However, we haven't heard anything else, or even if it will be a full-length release!  Still, it's something to tide us over until we get more news.

Finally, let's do some 80s throwback stuff.  I decided to give Vega a chance and was blown away by just how anthemic they were.  If you miss the massive, wall-of-sound style of rock that dominated the end credits of epic 80s films, this is the band for you!

Anyways, that's it for me.  Sorry for not being more productive.  This is something I want to get more into again, but life has got me occupied elsewhere.  Still, I hope this wave of new material tides you over for now.

Until then, rock on!  \m/