Deceiver-Thrashing Heavy Metal

Pulverized
2009

Swedish band Deceiver decided to reform just to release "Thrashing Heavy Metal" as their final album. Although I had actually never heard of them prior to this release. The sound of this disc generally lives up to the album title. At least it does by say 1985 standards of thrash. Deceiver sound like a combination of Mercyful Fate, Kreator, Sodom and Holy Moses among others. The sound is more heavy than fast. The best aspect of this album is the amount of effort that the band puts into trying assemble heavy walls of sound. They also frequently establish this style early into many of their songs. There are several shortcomings surrounding this release as well. While Pete Flesh is a decent guitarist, his vocal range is fairly limited. He just cannot transcend a rather basic approach. Although the band manage to keep the heaviness level going, they have trouble letting out blasts of speed. On occasion they let loose with a strong barrage of killer thrash. However they spend many moments just staying at a mid-tempo pace and never really building enough upon that foundation. I kept expecting them to shift gears, but that just does not happen as often as it should have. Deceiver hit on some solid fundamentals, but there isn't really enough here to make them stand out from the pack. Although it's an above average effot, I cannot imagine that too many people will care all that much that this band has broken up again.

Maltese Falcon-Metal Rush

Metal Mind
1984/2009

This band formed in Copenhagen back in 1983. Their band name was actually suggested to them by their friend Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. Ulrich had taken the name from a 1930 novel which was twice adapted into film twice. The band recorded three demos between 1983 and 1984 before landing a record deal with Roadrunner. This band's sound is hardly original, but it is interesting to some extent. At times I can hear British bands like Saxon and Judas Priest. However Maltese Falcon also sound like LA bands like WASP, Witch and Lizzy Borden. Bands that bordered between metal and hard rock. Perhaps this band's greatest strength is their ability to balance catchy melodies with solid doses of heaviness. They are able to pull this off fairly easily. Unfortunately the band's greatest fault is that they too often fall into the trap of being very repetitive. There are several songs where they overstay their welcome without adding much to the songs. They know to start their songs with impressive riffs, but they are not as consistent at keeping the momentum going on every song. It's a shame that the band never did another album though because the potential was there. They disbanded in 1986 leaving this as their only album. Bass player Hasse (Hal) Patino would later go on play with King Diamond, Doctor Butcher and Force of Evil. Vocalist Srren Peter Jensen would join Danish band Release. Metal Mind's re-issue includes a lyric booklet and a band biography.

Top five albums of 1979

Here you go.

1-Van Halen-Van Halen 2
2-Motorhead-Overkill
3-AC/DC-Highway to hell
4-Scorpions-Loverdrive
5-Motorhead-Bomber

Metal was heating up in the UK as the NWOBHM was soon going to explode. Some veteran acts on both sides of the Atlantic had seen their better days. KISS were mellowing out, Aerosmith were sounding tired and Rainbow went against the sound they had established on their previous albums. Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin were touring, but they had both seen their better days. Hard rock and metal were in there trying to fight against other popular styles of music, but it was still a battle at this point.

I'll have my top five for 1978 up next week.

What's coming up?

I still have one more review this week and that will hopefully happen tomorrow or later today. Here is what I hope to have out this coming week.

Reviews of...
Wino-Punctuated Equilibrium
Deceiver-Thrashing Heavy Metal
Maltese Falcon-Metal Rush (re-issue)
The Hunted-Demo
Kommandant-Stormlegion

Clash of the album covers

Top five albums of 1979

Impaler interview

***Have a great week!

Interview with Screamer

Wisconsin's Screamer released their debut "Target Earth' back in 1988. The band is back again with a new album. I recently had the chance to talk to vocalist Bill Carter and find out more.

MM-You have a new album out called “What excites you”. Tell us a little about it.

Carter: What Excites You was released by the band in October of 2008, and is a blend of modern and classic melodic metal. We recorded at Belle City Sound in Racine Wisconsin USA with Chris Wisco engineering and mastering and he produced with the band. Guitars are by Mike DeRose, Ron Valeo, Bass by Paul Bigalke, and I handle the vocals. What Excites You contains tasteful dual guitar melodies, heavy drums and driving punchy bass parts, and melodic vocals. The first pressing of the CD is available in a cardboard sleeve, subsequent pressings may be in a different format and or contain bonus materials. That's in the works.

MM-What has been the response to is so far?

Carter: CD sales have been steady, and we are about 250 disks short of selling out our first pressing. We have distribution set up in Japan, Greece, Germany and the US. The record seems to have the most appeal to die hard melodic metal fans from the 80's who still love this style. The response to our live shows have been strong, and I think the fans can tell we are having a lot of fun playing the music.

MM-How does it compare with “Target Earth”? Did you approach writing and recording any differently than on the previous album?

Carter: Our sound has definitely matured, but you can still tell it is Screamer. The trademark guitar harmonies are ever present, the drums and bass are heavier and punchier than Target Earth. I backed off a bit from the nasal high pitched tones in my vocals and opted for an approach I feel delivers my message more clearly. I would say that the songs on What Excites You are a bit more straight forward than Target Earth.
In regards to writing, we wrote both albums the same way. The band comes up with the music, I fabricate a vocal melody, then I find a topic and write the lyrics.
Recording was totally different. Back in the 80's we were recording on 2" analog tape, and today we record digitally. There are some appealing aspects of both mediums, but in the end I believe that the in your face sound of What Excites You wins from a sonic perspective. Target Earth, if mastered differently could have really kicked some ass.

MM-Are all of the songs brand new or were any of them written even in part back during the band’s first run?

Carter: There are several guitar parts that were left over from 20 years ago that we reworked with modern riffs. It's a blend of yesterday and today. 2021 and Special Corsetry are 100% new Riffs. All the other songs are a blend of new and old.

MM-The new album is with 3/5 of the line-up that played on the previous album. Who are the other two players and when and where did you bring them into the fold?

Carter: It's a bit of a misnomer that Pat Hainault is a new member of Screamer. Pat didn't play on the Target Earth record, but he joined the band shortly after it was released and played many live shows. Mike DeRose is the new guy. Mike came on board at the tail end of recording What Excites You. We rushed him into the studio and had him add his parts.
Prior to recording What Excites You, we looked long and hard for a great player that could fit into the group. We finally gave up and went into the studio with just Ron on guitars. Then, of course, when you stop looking you find what you want and Mike fell into place. DeRose is a great guitar player and all around nice guy so we can't wait to hear his song writing on the next record.

MM-It has been over twenty years since the previous album. Did everyone remain involved with music project during that time? If so then what was everyone doing?

Carter: Paul and Pat played live and recorded in a band called Haphazard for years. Ron was a co founder of Electric Hellfire Club and Ron Valeo's New Mafia, and I played in several bands playing and recording through the years.

MM-When and why did the band break up in the first place?

Carter: We broke up a couple of years after Target Earth was released. We basically self managed ourselves into oblivion. We failed to put together a proper tour, we failed to drive forward and release a follow up record. We became frustrated with our lack of success and imploded. We failed to be patient. There was a lot of bad blood which is why I didn't speak to the band members for 20 years.



MM-How did the band come to reform?

Carter: About two years ago, a friend of mine kept giving me a hard time about not playing with Screamer. Every week he would call me up and tell me how great new material would be if we wrote it, how he loved Target Earth, and how there were people out there that might want to hear something new from us. I finally woke up one day and asked myself if I had done something significant in the last few years musically? The answer was no. I had not spoken to any member of Screamer for almost 20 years, and didn't know how to get in touch with them.
I sent an e mail to New Ren, and they forwarded Paul's e mail address to me. Paul, Ron and Pat had already decided to re-form Screamer, and were looking for me but could not find me. They had no idea if I was alive or dead. I'm assuming they would have found someone to fill the slot eventually, but lucky for me the planets aligned and I reached out to them.

MM-How did you get signed by New Renaissance back in the 80’s? How was your relationship with them? Did they give you much support? Was there much of a tour to support “Target Earth”?

Carter: I think we slipped the road manager for King Diamond a demo tape, and it ended up in New Ren's hands somehow from there. Our relationship started out well enough with New Ren, but it didn't stay that way. As I mentioned before, we pretty much self managed and did a horrible job at it. I heard later that there had been some very unprofessional communication from us to New Ren, and I suspect their support decreased a bit shortly after. New Ren is a small company of course so money is not endless, and I think they gave us the support they could at the time, and the support they thought we warranted.
We supported Target Earth for about two years, playing in the Midwest Region of the US. I believe that had we gotten our act together and toured overseas it could have changed the history of Screamer. We will never know.

MM-New Renaissance re-released Target Earth on CD in 2006. Wasn’t there some problem with bootlegs of it being out in Europe before that?

Carter: There are still bootlegs being produced today as far as I know, but I hear the sound quality is not very great. There are still Target Earth CD's out there from the 2006 re-release so people should be able to source that disk on the Internet without having to go the bootleg route.

MM-Did you much receive much Screamer fan mail during the time when the band didn’t exist?

Carter: I didn't know the answer to this question so I called Ron who was in charge of the fan mail back then. For two years after we disbanded, Ron says we received a huge amount of fan mail from around the globe, and even received phone calls looking for us. Ron had moved on to other projects and my impression from him is that he did not give the mail the attention it deserved at the time. That's a shame.



MM-I know that you have a few dates coming up soon in Wisconsin . Any chance that you will play outside your home state or you would you be interested in any festival appearances if they came up for summer of 2009?

Carter: We are very interested in playing festivals in the summer. We have had some offers, but so far no promoters have stepped up with the minimum of travel expenses to make it happen. With air travel dropping in price from the US to Europe, I'm hoping the festival promoters will step up. We're ready.

MM-How do you the music scene has changed over the last twenty years? What’s better about it now? What’s worse about it now?

Carter: We have gone from an age where the Artist delivers a self contained vision to their fans, to an age where each song can be bought separately and must stand on it's own. It's like cutting up a piece of framed art and selling it like smaller framed puzzle pieces. I can't tell you how many times I fell in love with a "B" side song that I thought sucked the first (10) times I heard it. If I bought (1) song at a time, I would never have the pleasure of warming up to a song. I refuse to purchase anything but the entire record personally. Aren't we telling Artists to not take a chance by buying (1) song at a time?
All the technology is also the greatest thing that could have happened to music. I would have never known we had so many great fans without the Internet. We would have never been able to distribute our own CD without technology, and since we are underground I doubt a label would have picked us up for What Excites You. However, with the power of the net perhaps a label in Europe will be interested since about 75% of our fans are there it seems.
The one thing that I miss from the old days is mystery. Seeing the way a band looks for the first time at a live concert rather than on an internet site like you tube or their myspace site. There is almost too much transparency; It kills the mystery to me. When I saw Iron Maiden live they were like Gods walking out on the stage and hitting the first few notes. First metal show I saw was Priest Screaming for Vengeance. Halford ruled the planet for two hours. If I was growing up today, I would probably know what kind of breakfast Steve Harris prefers.
It's just different today, not better not worse.

MM-Since it’s early into the New Year, what would you like to accomplish in 2009?

Carter: I want to play shows in Europe and continue to write music in 2009. I hope with enough fan support we will convince the show promoters to give us that chance. We are already in the process of writing more material which I am excited about as well.



MM-Looking back is there anything that you wish you had done differently with this band?

Carter: I don't live in the past and tend to move forward at all times. However, I think you can see in some of my answers where mistakes were made that if I owned a time machine perhaps they could have been avoided.

MM-Pick the band from each of the following pairs that you prefer and tell why you picked them.

Iron Maiden or Judas Priest
Carter: That's almost an impossible choice for me. Maiden has to win because I used to live and breath Maiden growing up because of Bruce's voice and Steve's bass playing. Also, the time changes and complexity of the music always drew me in. I love Priest as well for the rawness of it.

Scorpions or UFO
Carter: Scorpions for me all the way. Vocal melodies that you can't get out of your head. They just have this sound I love.

Fates Warning or Queensryche

Carter: Queensryche hands down for me. Rage for Order is an incredible record. Mindcrime is great....

MM-Is there anything else that you would like to say about your band or your music?

Carter:I would like to thank all the people who have shown us support through the years, and continue to supported us by purchasing What Excites You. If you would like to e mail me I can be contacted at screamerband@yahoo.com. Check out our myspace page http://www.myspace.com/screamertargetearth and you can purchase the new CD from there. If you want us to play live near you, then push the issue with your local concert and festival promoters and we will be there for you. Thanks again for being interested in Screamer.

SOS-Adult Situations

Self-released
2008



New York's SOS had me thinking back to the late 80's and early 90's. They have some of the NY hardcore sound of that time. Plus they have mixed in metal and even a few bursst of the kind of light funk that worked it's way into some heavy music say twenty years ago. The biggest difference might just be that SOS benefit from better production that most underground bands lacked two decades go. The two things I really like about this band is their direct approach and the blending of styles. They know to get to the point when needed and the best songs are short and sweet. Around the midpoint of the album they lost me a little. They slowed down and settle in for some very average tunes that lack hooks and energy. They rebound from it, but never really get back to the fire that they showed on the first say five songs of the disc. That's too bad because I think this easily could have been a better disc. Granted they follow a very basic formula at best, but they handle it well. Then the band unfortunately seem to have felt the need to add some filler.They fight back enough towards the end to finish above average. They hit some intense moments and they can be tight when they want to, but there simply needed to be more of that type of approach.

Boneshaker-Start the race

Gofannon
2008



If a band is strongly influenced by an established act then it can be hard to get beyond being just a copy. In order to get beyond that level you have to bring some thing else to the game to make people care. If you don't or can't add anything then what you are doing isn't much different than being a tribute band. French hard rock act Boneshaker obviously love Bon Scott era-AC/DC. After all their previous release was almost half AC/DC covers. Their whole existence revolves around simple chords and heavy blues rock. No curve balls here, intricate playing or long winding passages. That's quite okay because what is here is revved up, blood pumping hard rock with a razor sharp edge. They rarely take a breath or pause and that's a large part of their appeal. Okay, I have heard this style before, Boneshaker are more consistent than other acts. They don't stop for much of anything because just plow forward. I remember hearing hard rock albums where you would get a few good fast songs here and there. This band doesn't hold back and if you just live for full-throttle hard rock then this disc is for you. I enjoyed it a lot as it was like having a big sugar rush that goes straight to your head. Very basic style for sure, but they know how to deal with it and it's an improvement from their previous material.

http://www.myspace.com/boneshaker64

Seven Dirty Words-Hard Boiled and Dirty

Self-produced
2008

If you stick Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" Callahan on your cover then you really need to back it up with something equally rough and mean. Southern California's Seven Dirty Words have only been around since 2006, but they obviously know what they are doing and waste little time on this seven song EP. This is stripped down speed rock of the variety that gets your blood pumping and has your head spinning. Inspired by the likes of Motorhead and the Supersuckers, Seven Dirty Words charge head over heels into every short, but spirited song on this disc. They sure are not re-inventing the wheel here. Still they are reaching down and pulling out the kind of gritty, heavy music that everyone needs at least on occasion. There are not all that many pace changes as they just seem to be stuck in "go" mode for almost the entire time. They storm through the songs with their adrenaline pumping and their guitars squealing. The production left enough fuzz on the sound so that really fits in nicely with their approach. I did find myself hoping for some difference in pace towards the end of the disc, but that never really happened. Not an album I could listen to all the time, but certainly a searing blast of nerve rattling tunes.

www.myspace.com/7sevendirtywords

Clash of the album covers

We have two Bay area thrash bands. It is...

Heathen-Victims of deception


Vs.

Vio-lence-Eternal Nightmare


***Which cover do you prefer?

Top ten albums of 1985

Here they are.

1)Anthrax-Spreading the disease
2)Exodus-Bonded by blood
3)WASP-The last command
4)Over Kill-Feel the fire
5)Armored Saint-Delirious Nomad
6)Celtic Frost-To mega therion
7)Lizzy Borden-Love you to pieces
8)Artillery-Fear of tomorrow
9)Zoetrope-Amnesty
10)Helloween-Walls of Jericho

Let's see Diamond Dave was out of Van Halen, the PMRC created a mess and metal was still growing. This was kind of an odd year. So many big name bands released albums in 1984 so many of them were not ready release albums the following year. A number of the big name bands like AC/DC, Twisted Sister, Motley Crue and KISS released albums that were mediocre or worse. However this was definitely a year where underground metal was growing by leaps and bounds. Thrash was getting ready to explode. I don't consider live albums for these lists. However Iron Maiden's Live after death came out this year and it's easily the best live metal album of the decade if not of all time.

Okay, I am satisfied with the lists I did for 1986-1989. So if you want to see my 1986 list then you can go into the archives for December of 2006. For 1987 check out the December 2007 archives and I did the 1988 and 1989 lists last month. So now I am actually going to journey back to the 1970's. I am going to start with 1979 and work my way back. I have decided to do a top five rather than a top ten. Now I could come up with a good top ten for some of the later years of the decade, but not so much for the very early years. So for the sake of consistency it will be top five lists.

Hansel-Mission to rock

Pussycat
2008

The first thing I noticed about Australia's Hansel was their look. It appears that they purchased part of their wardrobe at Spinal Tap's yard sale and then stole some clothing from Marc Storace's closet and then they were set. It's not about the clothes though, it's about the music. This four track EP definitely follows a sound from the past. This kind of radio friendly, arena rock was done many times over before 1990 even rolled around. However they have definite appeal just due to strong melodies, good production values and the steady way in which they constantly keep the ball rolling. The bio on the band and their look gave me the impression that they had a good sense of humor. The lyrics are pure cheese, but more cliched than actually funny. The music is generally tight and they hit on some good solos as well. I kept hoping for them to step it up and trade in some melodies for some harder hitting riffs. They stay firmly on the hard rock side of the fence on all four songs and I can hear some Van Halen and 80's KISS in their sound. That's fine except they stray into Bon Jovi territory more often than I wish they had on a few occasions. It's decent overall even though it's not very original. I like the songs for the most part, but really hope they take more chances and move beyond just playing it so safe. There is part of me that would certainly be interested to see what this band could do on a full length album.


www.myspace.com/hanselmusic

What's coming up?

First off I am certainly ready for Winter to end, but unfortunately we are in for several more weeks of it. I have been watching a number of episodes of the Office and trying to make it through the first three Star Wars movies. If Seinfeld was a show about nothing then the Office might be a show about even less. It's still very funny though. This week I hope to have out the following.

Reviews of...
Seven dirty words-Hard boiled and dirty
Boneshaker-Start the race
SOS-Adult Situations
Idols are dead-Mean
Hansel-Mission to rock

plus...
Clash of the album covers

Top ten albums of 1985

***Have a great week!

Skitzo Calypso-Burning down an empire

Bi-polar
2008

I always get kind of excited when I get to review a CD from a band from my area. It's even more exciting and satisfying when the band in question is actually worthwhile. Fortunately that is definitely the case with Baltimore's Skitzo Calypso. The band pulls in elements of metal, hard rock, and pop and then swirl them together while keeping everything in motion like some sort of windmill. It's not about how many styles you throw into the mix though. It's about what the band does with them, the strength of the arrangements and how well they put these tools to use. They handle the various sounds well as they manage change their approach frequently but still make it sound like a natural progression. Now there are a few songs where they begin with a strong, hard riff and then go into some softer melodies, but yet they fail to blend the two styles. That's a shame because they also do manage to merge the melodies with some heavy bursts on numerous songs. When they get the two sides together that is where this band really excels. It's also where they seem very comfortable and they just build their energy level up. However there are times where they sound like they are trying to force something that is just not there. They fare much better when they just keep moving along. The vocals are decent, but not quite as consistent as the music. Again when the music is chugging along then the vocals tend to go along and elevate to the next level. When the vocals become the focus there is a tendency to sound very one-dimensional. Still this is a mighty effort with good results for the listener and I think that this band's skill is growing as well.

www.myspace.com/skitzocalypso

Thin Lizzy-Still Dangerous

VH1 Classic
2009



This show was recorded at the Tower Theatre in Philadelphia back in 1977. To me this was around the band's peak creatively. This live recording reflects that as the band are in fine form here. Thin Lizzy sound relaxed and comfortable for this set. My expectations for a live album are that I want it to be a little different form the studio versions. I may love the studio versions, but put some personality, energy or something of yourselves into the show to make it worth my time. If I want to hear the song note per note than I'll listen to that, but my hope is that on a live album that a band will either be fired up, take some chances or both. Thin Lizzy certainly take that approach here. It took all of maybe thirty seconds into the opener "Soldier of fortune" for me to know that this going to be a good live album. It seems like the band vary the tone and the grooves as much they do the pace on several of the songs here. There is certainly plenty here for fans old and new. They keep things moving an concentrate more on the songs as Phil Lynott keeps the between song banter short and sweet. Thin Lizzy were never overwhelming, but instead they made their point through a smooth and tight approach. I am sure they ever build up a great deal of momentum on this release, but it's solid overall. The sound quality is good and the band of course is in fine form. I wish that it had been a little longer. It seemed to come to an end just as I was getting into it, but still a solid album.

Necroblaspheme - Destination: Nulle Part

Agonia Records
2008

I received this disc a while back and it ended on my stack for a while before I hauled it out. I think the giant floating tar-like mass and the simple logo had me thinking it was going to some sort of a progressive metal effort. Now I wished that I had given this one spin earlier. Necroblaspheme hail from France and play some killer death metal. This is classic death metal with it's roots in the late 80's-early 90's styles of the genre. They crank out choppy riffs and blend an in excellent use of odd beats. They have an amazing grasp on how and when to move and vary the tones and pace. The music is low and deep when needed and they switch gears and sink their teeth into some brutal riffs. They are creative and they go beyond the use retro-death metal style that has been common in recent years. Every member of the band is solid and they knock out some incredible and ferocious blasts of speed and heaviness. The style isn't completely new, but this band are certainly well above the curve in the songwriting and playing departments. My only regret is that I didn't play this disc sooner.

Dark Heart-Shadows of the night

Metal Mind
1984/2009



One of the many bands to emerge from the NWOBHM explosion, Dark Heart formed in 1983 out of the ashes of Tokyo Rose. They rather quickly got on track and knocked out an album the next year. This is solid metal driven by gritty guitars and complemented by a slightly dull production that helps their style. The album is based around strong hooks and that's why it works so well. The songs are easy to get into largely due to the basic song structures. It doesn't take long to draw comparisons to Diamond Head's work from a few years earlier. Dark Heart obviously followed a similar blue print. There's not much fancy here, but there doesn't have to be. The choruses are instantly catchy and Dark Heart waste little in getting into the meat of every track. "Shadows of the night" is an album full of easily accessible material. I am actually surprised that I had never heard of this band until this re-issue was announced. I do think that they could have varied the pace a little more at times. More than anything the biggest reason this album didn't make a larger splash may just be that the sound is perhaps a couple of years behind. It came out in 1984, but if I had heard it without knowing the release year then I would have guessed 1982. This would be the only album for Dark Heart. The band fell apart some time after "Shadows of the night" was released. Guitarist Alan Clark did try to form a new version of the band, but that project also fell apart after a short time. Some other members of Dark Heart later ended up in a thrash band called Holosade. Thanks to Metal Mind for re-releasing this or else I probably never would have stumbled upon this band. Certainly worth checking out.

Lesser of two evils

Ah, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), it was a scene with a major impact on hard rock and metal. However like any other scene it produced some great bands and some not so great bands. There were also bands that started fine and for whatever reasons they went off in musical directions that didn't work so well. Saxon gave up their solid denim and leather sound for a stab at success in the mid-80's with less than fantastic results. The energetic Raven signed to Atlantic records and promtly had the life sucked out them as a once bright career faded fast. Thrash pioneers Venom never bothered to learn how to play their instruments until the 90's and they watched the bands they influenced pass them by in the mid-1980's. However the two bands I selected for this match-up are...



Diamond Head-Canterbury (1983)



Vs.



Jaguar-This Time (1984)



Diamond Head were one of the early bands to emerge from the NWOBHM scene. In retrospect they were infuential as well. Bands in their own scene like Satan and Dark Heart were influenced by them and of course Metallica would later cover some of theirs songs as well. Their sound was as much hard rock as metal and they were progressing on their early albums, but the direction on Canterbury had to be surprising to fans. Jaguar spent several years knocking around on the club scene before releasing their debut in 1983. Although it's not highly original, it was certainly a strong metal album that showed a band with some real potential. Unfortunately the music on that album was the direction they chose to follow. Both bands had been at it for a while so the music here is tight and well produced, but the ideas and the energy levels were a different story. So let's break this one down and see what we have twenty some plus years after the fact.



Vocals
Paul Merrell for Jaguar against Sean Harris for Diamond Head. Both singers sound comfortable with what they are doing. That's a plus to some extent. Merrell presents the melodies in okay fashion, but it all across like someone trying so hard to get played on the radio. Sean Harris is a far better salesman. Even when he singing lukewarm he puts everything into the effort.
Point to Diamond Head


Guitars

Garry Peppard for Jaguar takes on Brian Tatler from Diamond Head. Peppard had a good sound on the previous album despite some fuzzy production. Here he is merely average although with much better production. It's just rather typical of radio friendly AOR/hard rock of the time. Tatler slows down some from his previous efforts. He also seems to borrow a few moments from Def Leppard. Yet he has his own style here and there. He also gets in a few decent solos.

Point to Diamond Head

Rhythm section

Jaguar had Jeff Cox on bass and drummer Chris Lovell against bassist Mervyn Goldsworthy and drummer Robbie France for Diamond Head. Both pairs are alright although largely unspectacular. Although I could hear Goldsworthy's bass here and there.

Point to Diamond Head

Disappointment factor

This is tough call. Jaguar changed their sound more. However Diamond Head had been around longer, established themselves as a fairly consistent band and they were more original on their previous albums. So there album was the bigger disappointment because they were at a higher level than Jaguar. A clunker from Diamond Head was fairly surprising at this point because they had seemed to be one of the more steady bands on the scene.

Point to Jaguar.


Who rocks more?

As always, a tough category in this segment. If your band is being written about here than that means you didn't rock much to begin with. While both bands were fairly tight they were both watering down their sound to some extent. Both bands seemed to to have forgotten about heavy metal part of NWOBHM as they sure didn't put much of that into their sound. I think Jaguar were looking for radio play and Diamond Head were trying to expand their sound. Both came out sounding like limp noodles though. Diamond Head slowed things down a lot and tried stretching parts out, but it just made me sleepy. Jaguar would claim they had gotten into bands like U2 and Big Country before writing this. Instead they sound at best like Survivor and at worst kind of like Loverboy. I found myself needing to go take repeated dumps while listening to Jaguar. I am not sure if it was a coincidence or not. Diamond Head hit on far more solid moments although they were spread out.
Point to Diamond Head

Diamond Head take this one 4-1. So Diamond Head seemed to be trying to integrate pop, pomp and other into their sound and Jaguar just shook off the metal label and strapped on an AOR/hard rock persona like it was no big deal. Musical growth can be a great thing and I think Diamond Head were trying that only the results were rather mediocre. Granted they had been at it for a few years and I can't begrudge them trying to incorporate new sounds into their mix, but much of this album didn't work. Jaguar is a different situation because they changed singers just before "Power Games", but most of that album was written before the vocalist change. However when it came time for a new album there were new ideas brought into play and the material made them sound like an entirely new band. Also it seemed to kill any potential that they had shown on the previous album. So for these albums NWOBHM may have stood for..
New wave of bad heavy metal
New wave of barely heavy metal
New wave of bad horrible music
No way of baking hard meatloaf

Okay, the last one didn't make much sense, but neither did some of the ideas that Diamond Head and Jaguar tried on the above albums.


***I'll be back soon with another match-up.

Happy President's Day!

Enjoy the holiday!

Clash of the album covers

Here you go.

Grim Reaper-Rock you to hell


vs.


Armord Saint-Saints will conquer


***Which cover do you prefer?

Top 25 albums of 1984

Wow, what a year. Here are the top albums.

1-Iron Maiden-Powerslave
2-Metallica-Ride the lightning
2-Van Halen-1984
4-Mercyful Fate-Don't break the oath
5-Judas Priest-Defenders of the faith
6-Dio-The last in line
7-Scorpions-Love at first sting
8-Twisted Sister-Stay Hungry
9-WASP-s/t
10-Celtic Frost-Morbid Tales
11-Dokken-Tooth and nail
12-Deep Purple-Perfect Strangers
13-Whitesnake-Slide it in
14-Metal Church-s/t
15-Grim Reaper-See you in hell
16-Ratt-Out of the cellar
17-Cirith Ungol-King of the dead
18-Hanoi Rocks-Two steps from the move
19-Armored Saint-March of the saint
20-Lizzy Borden-Give 'em the axe
21-Exciter-Violence and force
22-Slayer-Haunting the chapel
23-Halloween-Don't metal with evil
24-Anthrax-Fistful of metal
25-Sodom-In the sign of evil


Hard rock and metal exploded. Piles of bands released albums this year and I consider to be the best year ever for metal. Lots of great debuts and fine albums from veterans as well. More bands were making videos, metal magazines became commonplace and major labels were even coming around to singing more metal bands to their ranks.

***My top 10 for 1985 will be out next week.

What's coming up?

Let's see Happy Valentine's Day and President's Day is coming up. Season two of Night Court came out the first week on this month and season one of Tales from the darkside just came out his past week. I bought both and used a $10 Wal-mart gift card that I got for Christmas towards Night Court. Night Court got much better the second season and I have not seen some of these episodes in a long time. I used to love Tales from the darkside when I was a teenager. There are some great episodes, but there are some clunkers as well. It was very low budget so it depended a lot on the script and the acting. So if those two thing were not working then the episode would sink because there sure were not any great special effects to pull this show out. Anyways here is what I hope to have out this week.

Reviews of...
Dark Heart-Shadows of the night (re-issue)
Skitzo Calypso-Burning down an empire
Thin Lizzy-Still Dangerous:Live at the Tower Theatre Philadelphia 1977
Necroblaspheme-Destination: Nulle Part

Clash of the album covers
Lesser of two evils-When good NWOBHM bands go bad. Diamond Head vs. Jaguar
Top 25 albums of 1984

***Have a great week!

Best bands of the 1980's

While making my top ten lists for albums of the 80's I began to think about top bands for the decades. So I thought about the decade as a whole and here is my list.

1-Iron Maiden
2-Van Halen
3-Motorhead
4-Metallica
5-Hanoi Rocks
6-King Diamond/Mercyful Fate
7-Judas Priest
8-Slayer
9)Scorpions
10)Motley Crue
11)Anthrax
12)WASP
13)Dio
14)Twisted Sister
15)Armored Saint
16)Def Leppard
17)Overkill
18)Guns and Roses
19)Ozzy
20)Lizzy Borden
21)Celtic Frost
22)Helloween
23)Medieval
24)Testament
25)Venom

Robot Lords of Tokyo-Whiskey, blood and napalm

Self-produced
2008



I spent way too much of my youth watching movies about giant monsters leveling various cities and terrorizing the local inhabitants. The behemoth would smash and crash a path of destruction until it's rampage came to an end by way of the military or some other source. Okay, I still watch and enjoy those kind of movies. Robots Lords of Tokyo (they are actually from Ohio) approach their music much like the beasts from the aforementioned films. They attack with an arsenal of thick and mighty riffs. They call upon the power of heavy Sabbath inspired sludge and relentlessly unleash it like a blast of fire upon your unsuspecting ears. Oooops, sorry I got caught in the monsterfest like moment. Really this a combination of early 70's classic metal, stoner rock, doom and just some real spine-rattling might. Think Sabbath swirled in with Clutch, Fireball Ministry and Sheavy and you get a good idea of where this band is coming from. The vocals are deep and powerful while the music relies on a raw and simple approach. The sound might be more deeply influenced by real metal than other modern stoner acts. In a way they draw on aspects of heavy music from every decade from 70's on yet they manage to control it and make it their own. I do think that the band could benefit from varying the pace a little more at times. Still this is good slab of no-nonsense metal played with a lot of spirit. The creatures of those old monster flicks normally met their fate by the film's end, but the Robot Lords of Tokyo will hopefully get to march on for years to come.

www.myspace.com/robotlords

The Inner Party-Honky Heretics

2008
Self-produced



The Inner Party hail from Fayetteville, Arkansas and this is their debut EP. However they have been playing informally for about ten years. The sounds represented here are varied, but not necessarily that diverse. These guys bring in elements of punk rock both old and new as well as some pop and light industrial touches too. The title track kicks things off with the title track which is a short down and dirty instrumental. "Drunk Fool" follows and it reminds me of early DOA only with a dose of fuzz slapped around the overall sound. "Untouchable" has a similar guitar tone, but the energy is far more restrained. It's flows well and has a more pop approach. "Walkman" is a mid-tempo track with a low, deep sound. This song demonstrates the bands ability to really control the pace of the song. I wasn't big on the drum sound though because it sounded a little clunky. "Used Parts" comes blaring on with an intentionally static sounding production. It's a very okay song and different but tedious. I think since it's the middle of the album they really needed something to revive the album at this point and this wasn't it. "Proles Theme" gets back on a track with a simple yet crunchy sound. It's repetitive, but steady and loud so that helps. "Nameless" is a thick slab of droning rock that across as ambitious at first, but perhaps over stays it's a welcome by about minute or so as it stumbles to a close. After this there is an unlisted track which features some low humming for a while and some spoken rambling. Really this one was more filler than anything. "Honky Heretics" isn't anything that you have not heard before. At it's best it's basic, honest and to the point. At it's low points they get caught up in experimenting with effects and forget about how to rock. It's more hit than miss though although most of the high points come in the first half of the half of the album. So here is hoping that they realize their strengths and make the best use of their talents when they get around to doing a full length album.



www.myspace.com/theinnerparty

Jaguar-This time

Metal Mind
1984/2009



Jaguar's 1983 debut "Power Games" often gets unfairly overlooked. It is a very solid offering with a definite nod to early Iron Maiden. At that point Jaguar were a fairly promising band amidst the whole NWOBHM scene. They would follow it up a year later with "This Time". Something had changed for sure and the results were probably different from what any fan was expecting or wanting. Paul Merrell had done the vocals on "Power Games", but all of the material was written before he joined. Now that he was in on the writing process he brought new ideas to the mix. Around the time of it's release the were some references to the music on this album as "dance metal". That's an amusing label, but I think a more accurate description is that Jaguar were now playing AOR tinged hard rock. Gone were the blasting leads and pounding drums and they were instead replaced by piles of melodies, definite emphasis on the vocals and catchy choruses. It was a gamble that went against what the band had become known for. The new sound is organized and tight, but it's like expecting Iron Maiden and getting Survivor. If they wanted to go in such a different direction then they may have wanted to change the band name or else they were definitely going to be compared to the previous album. Any edge or power that they once had was now replaced by smooth layers of gloss and slick production values. Perhaps I would have liked it more had it come out under a different band name. Then I could have had an easier time accepting it as a debut from an AOR band instead of seeing it as a solid metal band getting a complete face lift. Whatever the motives, "This Time" is just an alright album and one that is unlikely to appeal to most NWOBHM fans. The band lasted until 1985 before disbanding. Metal Mind has done their usual fine job with this re-issue as they have included bonus tracks and a lyric booklet.

S.E.X. Department-s/t

Perris
2007

I seem to remember hearing this band mentioned a few times when this CD came out way back in the fall of 2007. For whatever reason I never got around to hearing it back then. I recently got a copy and my interest just came when they were put on a bill with Dirty Penny and Gypsy Pistoleros. Did I really think that just because they were slapped on a bill with two good bands that this meant they were also a fine band? No, not necessarily, but I was willing to take a chance on it because I am a sucker for glam when it' done right. It took all of a minute or so into the opener "Call me baby call me" to realize that this was going to be 80's style glam very similar to Pretty Boy Floyd and early Poison. The vocals of Kelly "Trash" Mendess sound very much like Steve "Sex" Summers of PBF. Actually according to the booklet Mendess played all the instruments and did all the lead vocals, but they had several people doing backing vocals. This is light, bubblegum type of hard rock and at times it's very repetitive. I think my biggest gripe is that it flat out did not rock as much as I had hoped. Part of this is the production is lacking some, but the hooks needed to be much more sharp. They glide into too many songs instead of ripping into them. Now that is all of the negative aspects, but there was definitely some parts to like here as well. Other than the consistent vocals I definitely liked the sense of control and how they managed the pace. Despite the oftentimes ridiculous and cliched lyrics, they still manage to make many of these songs fun just because they present it in such a confident fashion. The band knows how to produce some solid melodies and that is a major plus. There are several younger bands playing this type of music who are much more creative. However there is definitely enough here that taps into what is good about glam rock/hair metal. There is also no doubt that the S.E.X Department have their work cut out for them as well. The band is currently working on a new album. They have also done quite a bit of touring since the release of their debut. So hopefully they turn up the volume and take a few more chances the next time around.

http://www.myspace.com/sexdepartment

Clash of the album covers

Okay, it is...

Slayer-Show no mercy

vs.


Venom-Black Metal


***Which cover do you prefer?

Top ten albums of 1983

Here they are.

1)Iron Maiden-Piece of mind
2)Def Leppard-Pyromania
3)Motley Crue-Shout at the devil
4)Dio-Holy Diver
5)Mercyful Fate-Melissa
6)Hanoi Rocks-Back to Mystery City
7)Metallica-Kill 'em all
8)Motorhead-Another perfect day
9)Satan-Court in the act
10)Twisted Sister-You can't stop rock n' roll

Iron Maiden and Def Leppard pulled to the front of the NWOBHM pack. MTV helped bands like Def Leppard, Motley Crue and Quiet Riot reach larger audiences. Metallica, Slayer and Exciter all released debuts that helped to lay down the foundations for thrash. KISS took off their make-up, more independent labels were popping up and more bands were emerging on both sides of the Atlantic.

***Next week will be my list for 1984. I consider 1984 to be the best year ever for metal. I don't think I could limit myself to just 10 so the list 1984 is going to be a top 25.

What's coming up?

This week I hope to have out the following.

Reviews of ...
Robot Lords of Tokyo-Whiskey, blood and napalm
S.E.X. Department-s/t
Jaguar-This time (re-issue)
Skitzo Calypsyo-Burning down an empire
The Inner Party-Honky Heretics

Clash of the album covers

Top albums of 1983

Have a great week.

The Rock United-Baptized in oil

Self-produced

2008

The Rock United are a hard rock outfit from from Sweden. Okay, that applies to a heap of aspiring bands these days. This band isn't going to be confused with the many hair bands that are part of that scene. They play a brand of hard rock that comes out of the 1970's AC/DC approach although that doesn't completely define their sound. I think that this band has moments where they march to the beat of a different drummer or you may just think that they are odd. There are bits of doo-whop, country and punk rock beats tossed into their sound. They churn out some straight up rockers too. The lyrics are perhaps more off the wall than the music on occasion, but not really clever enough to be shocking. "Baptized in oil" often has me thinking that this is what Little Caesar may have wished that their 1990 self-titled debut would have sounded like. The Rock United have that rawness mixed with the basic rock approach. There are countless bands playing AC/DC inspired rock, but this band is trying harder to put their own twist into it. They succeed in getting my attention and they get points for the effort and attempting to bring in some humor. On the downside some of the lyrics fall flat at times. Also there are some very ordinary songs on here as and I don't think that the band had enough ideas or hooks to sustain the 14 songs included on this disc. Chopping a few songs off probably would have helped. It's an above average album that benefits from being slightly against the grain. Still it's not going to be every one's bag and I think they have some work to do before they completely convince me. However they do enough to warrant a listen.

www.myspace.com/therockunited

Wastelander-Wardrive

Planet Metal
2008

The press release on this album reads like the introduction for some bad 1980's post apocalyptic film. The pictures of the band members show them posed with bullet belts, cheap beer and lots of metal albums from the past. The music indeed reflects their love of mid-80's thrash and even a touch of some old hardcore as well. It's immediately apparent that this band grew up on a diet of Venom, Hellhammer, early Celtic Frost, English Dogs, Bathory and VoiVod. Even the production has that same underdone sound of Metal Blade and Combat records releases done between 1984 and 1987. The sound here is low and heavy with lots chugging riffs and a vocal style similar to Tom G. Warrior. They waste little time and just plow through their fairly short songs. I grew up on a lot of these same bands so I took to this album quickly despite the lack of originality. It's comes across like a blast from the past where I remember listening to these new bands so that seemed so heavy back then. It was more about power and aggression than style and perfect production values. Wastelander have tapped into that mentality and more importantly they connected with that bone-crunching sound. This is simple and has been done, but they rip into the material like they mean it and that ferocity comes across in their music. So put on your favorite faded black thrash band shirt, sit back and take in the dirty, raw sounds of Wastelander.

www.myspace.com/thewastelander

The Assassinations-Future blasts from the past

Hasheshin
2008



Ghazi Barakat has long been a figure in the underground music scene of Berlin. This is the first release on his label. The music here was actually recorded in a space of months between late 2006 and early 2007. However it was not released until just recently. The idea here seems to be to grab past styles like garage rock, 70's classic rock and even 80's hard rock then combine the styles and give them a modern twist. I understood that and can even grant them some respect for the undertaking. However this one of those cases where the idea looks good in print, but the final results don't pan out. I can appreciate the fuzzed out tones and some of the raw old style glam bits got my attention as well. The problem was that the album comes across not having enough to hold my attention. They tried to attach a lot of ideas, but never really flesh out enough of anything to grab onto. It's even dull at times as they just did not create the hooks and twists needed to really sustain their material. Although they have some diverse sounds included they definitely lack structure. Without a strong structure the music just kind of sits there and so did I waiting for them to put some punch into it. However pretty much what you got in the first thirty seconds of each song was all you were going to get. The Assassinations just kind of float into their songs and then just ride it out to the end with very few switches or changes. That's a shame because there were some good ideas and sounds on this album, but they just didn't expand on what they started.



www.myspace.com/therassassinations

Hemoptysis interview

Hemoptysis are a thrash band from Tempe, Arizona who formed back in 2007. I recently had the chance to talk to them and learn more.

MM-Please introduce everyone in your band and tell what instrument everyone plays.

Masaki Murashita, vocal/guitar
Jack Fliegler, lead guitar
Sunao Arai, bass
Travis Thune, drums

MM-Tell us a little about the history of your band.

Masaki: Travis and I jammed in early 2007 and got together a few months later with a guitarist we used to have. It took at least six months to find our bassist, Sunao.We had a hard time finding a singer. A lot of guys contacted us, but most of them never even showed up for an audition.We found a singer named Anthony Bartinelli and he was with us for about a couple of months and wrote lyrics for few songs, but we parted ways because he wanted to succeed in boxing. After he left, Travis and I started looking for another singer, but we had so many flakes and almost gave up on finding one. I started singing to fill the void and move forward writing songs. We all started to like how it sounded and stuck with it.This past summer we went through some lead guitarist changes and lucked out by finding Jack.

MM-Who are your musical influences?

Masaki: I am a huge Megadeth fan, and as you can probably see, Dave Mustaine is my biggest influence. Mostly I have many influences from old school metal bands such as Slayer and Iron Maiden, but also I listen to all sorts of Metal.

Travis: I am influenced at my core with those same kinds of thrash bands but I have branched out to all sorts of bands like Hypocrisy, Morbid Angel, Death, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide and a list of bands a mile long.

Sunao: I do listen to lots of music, not only metal. As I was developing my Bass style, I studied Zeppelin, Jaco, early Metallica, and Suicidal Tendencies and lots of other bands.

Jack: I take things I like from every form of metal and try to puzzle-piece it into our music. I’m a huge fan of the Norway/Finland/Sweden sound. Some examples would be bands like Children of Bodom, Kalmah, Amon Amarth, Equilibrium, Finntroll and many more. I’m also a huge Thrash/Death fan and am heavily influenced by bands like Metallica, Slayer, Death, Atheist, Entombed, Sodom, and countless other bands.

MM-Your band name is the term for coughing up blood I believe. Why did you pick that particular name?

Masaki: Travis picked it up.

Travis: My wife is a pharmacist who specializes in infectious diseases so she started throwing out these medical terms at me. Hemoptysis sounded cool and had an awesome, very metal definition, so we went with that.



MM-Guitarist, Jack Fliegler just came on a few months ago to replace Brian Bieganski who left. How is Jack working out and what he has brought to your band?

Masaki: He is doing a great job. Jack and I have different music backgrounds and influences and it fits well together. Sometimes his badass ideas blow me away!He brought a good spice to us and I am really enjoying writing songs with him.Our music got more vivid and a tighter sound since we got Jack.

Travis: We were worried we wouldn't be able to find a replacement as good as Brian, but we totally lucked out in finding Jack in only a month's time and he is even better than Brian. Sorry, Brian, if you are reading this, but it is true. Jack is technical in his playing, but also has a lot of feeling in it that complements our music so well.

Sunao: He is great. He is not only playing fast but has melody in his solos.And he has some cool ideas when we write.

MM-Is there much of a metal scene in Tempe, Arizona?

Travis: There is a decent metal scene here that seems to be growing. It seems kind of small, but there is starting to be some great metal bands coming out of here again like they did in the late 80's.

MM-Who are some of the best metal bands in your area?
Masaki: Vehemence
Travis: Job For A Cowboy, Sacred Reich, Flotsam and Jetsam is still here, I think, and many other up and coming bands.

Jack: My favorite band from here would have to be Abigail Williams although they’ve relocated. We have a great Death core scene as well with bands such as Job for a Cowboy and Knights Of The Abyss… Not too big on that genre however.

MM-Have you played many shows outside of your home state? If so then where have you played?

Masaki: Not yet, but we would love to play some shows in other states when we have opportunities. I’d love to play some shows in my home country, Japan and Canada where I used to live.

Travis: We were offered a show in Mexico, but we turned it down.
Sunao: Hope we’ll be able to go to other states soon and also in other countries such as my home country of Japan!!

Jack: Hopefully California will be calling our name in the future.

MM-What is your band doing that is different or that sets you apart from other thrash bands going today?
Travis: I think most bands start learning a bunch of covers and then end up actually ripping off the sound or format of those songs. Some bands will even go as far as to say they want to do a song that sounds like Slayer's "The Antichrist." We were never big on covers. We learned a few songs loosely in the beginning just to warm up with, but our songs don't sound anything like those covers. Each of us had a musical style going into this band while other bands might develop their styles while in their band. We have a unique sound. The new stuff we are writing with Jack seems to be even more refined and unique because usually Masaki will come up with a riff that is classic Hemoptysis and Jack will then dress it up with his unique melodic but brutal touch.

Sunao: Most bands are trying to be some band already out there, but I think we are going the opposite direction. All of us are influenced by different sounds and when we mix them up, we get our sound!!

Jack: I’ve noticed that many local metal bands focus on being heavy and pretty straight-forward. I’d like to think that our sound is a bit more colorful and exciting compared to some acts I’ve heard locally. Others have told me this as well which is great.



MM-In what areas do you think that you need to improve on?

Travis: We need to improve on writing lyrics a little. Masaki and I have been doing it since Anthony left, and we are getting better almost every song it seems.

Jack: I’m not yet fully satisfied with my live performance, I’m still working on playing accurately while moving around and interacting with the audience.

MM-What are you currently listening to?

Masaki: The Absence. They are awesome!

Travis: I have so many CDs in my truck but Death is the band that I've been listening to the most lately. Their last three albums, mostly. At The Gates and some old thrash stuff too.

Sunao: I’ve just borrowed one of Travis’ Soulfly CDs the other day and I’m listening to it on my I-pod.

Jack: Old Kalmah records!

MM-Have you had any label interest? How important is it to you to get signed at this point?

Masaki: We have not approached any labels yet. We want some more reviews of our CD before we do that, but it is very important to get signed and it means a lot to us.

MM-It is very early in the year so what are your band is goals for 2009?

Masaki: We want to record a full-length record, get more fans and play bigger shows.

Travis: Yeah and we have three songs written for that CD plus two we are almost done with, two songs that are in their infancy, and numerous ideas for other songs. I know I have a lot of ideas for song lyrics, and no Masaki, they are not all anti-christian, or about killing, although those subjects will be covered a lot!

Sunao: Yeah, and since we have Jack now, it’s gonna be one bad ass CD!!

Jack: Sunao said it! With me it will be the best record ever! Haha but on a more serious note, we’re still trying to refine our sound and ultimately record one badass full-length.



MM-Pick the band from the following pair that you prefer and tell why you picked them.

Fueled by fire or Municipal Waste
Masaki: Municipal Waste.
Travis: I'm not familiar with Fueled by Fire, so I'll go with Municipal Waste even though I have yet to hear their stuff that I heard was thrash.

Dark Angel or Death Angel
Masaki: Dark Angel!
Travis: Dark Angel without a doubt. It's harder, faster thrash and it has Gene Hogland! Hell yeah!
Jack: Dark Angel by far. Darkness Descends is a killer record!

Morbid Angel or Obituary
Masaki: Morbid Angel!
Travis: Morbid Angel all the way, man! Pete Sandoval is a god and Trey Azegthoth is incredible! They are one of my favorite bands of all time!

Testament or Exodus
Masaki: This is a hard question! I love them both a lot, but I'd say Exodus. I think Gary Holt is one of the most underrated guitarists.
Jack: Testament by far for me. Exodus can shred but Testament has been putting out great records since the beginning and Alex Skolnick is the man!
Travis: Easy, Testament. They always have great drummers playing for them, most recently from Slayer and Death, plus they have great guitar hooks that I love.

MM-Is there anything else that you would like to say about your band or your music?

Masaki: Keep checking us out and supporting us! We are Hemoptysis!

Travis: Give our music a shot. Our EP is just $5 for five songs. We're not making money off it really. The next CD is in the works and it will be so fucking awesome! There is one riff that Masaki has come up with that just blows me away. It always brings a fiendish smile to my face because it is so wicked and cool. I can't wait to see where he and Jack take it.

Sunao: Check us out on Myspace. We got some cool songs and if you like them, come to our shows and buy our CD!! Jack: Travis and Sunao pretty much summed it up. Just check us out, tell us what you think, come to a gig or 2 and if you like it, buy our CD and a shirt to support us. We truly love our fans and hope to make many new friends in our conquest for playing around the world and keeping true metal alive. Oh and one more thing, it’s pronounced Huh-MOP-ti-sis. haha

http://www.myspace.com/hemoptysismetal

Scale the summit-Carving desert canyons

Prosthetic
2009

Houston based Scale the summit are young band (average age of 22) who are now on their sophomore release. An album title does not always reflect the music contained on the disc. "Carving desert canyons" however is a remarkably fitting title for this album. These young guys are certainly creating beautiful and detailed musical landscapes. Not the style of album I have come expect from Prosthetic records, but it's a welcome release for sure. They would fall in the progressive rock bracket. Yet they reach out more and their sound consists of metal, hard rock, jazz and other sounds swirled into the mix. For starters I hear "Images and Words" era Dream Theater, Cynic, Eric Johnson and even some of Chris Poland's post Megadeth projects.
They work with 8 string guitars and a six string bass and my guess is that this helps their music to sound deep and heavy and they still manage to creat thick, rich tones as well. Instrumental music isn't for everyone, but I found these eight tracks easy to dive into. The band are very skilled and that fact is evident from the start. However this isn't a self-indulgent virtuoso style of music. Every note, beat and movement is geared towards creating the whole song to be as strong and powerful as possible. The songs are tight and very focused journeys through various textures and musical styles. My favorite aspect of this band is their ability to keep the flow of the music constantly going and at the same time they keep so many different angles coming and going. This band definitely had a vision for this album and they delivered it. There were a few songs that were similar and some songs that blended together some. Progressive music isn't always my thing, but I found this album to be a delight because the music is very cohesive and intriguing. Certainly one of the best albums I have heard so far this year.


myspace.com/scalethesummit

1977-Rock 'n Roll

Play it again records, LLC
2008



These days it seems that you cannot turn around without running into a tribute band. 1977 fortunately take a slightly different approach. Instead of merely knocking out cover songs, these guys opted to create an album of all originals. The hook is that they have crafted their songs to sound like KISS did back in 1977. Actually I think the sound here is similar to all the KISS albums from 1976 and 1977. The guitar tone is very much like the way Ace Frehley played back then. The vocal harmonies are close to Paul and Gene's style. Obviously these guys spent many an hour listing and absorbing those classic albums from the mid-late 70's. Many of the songs presented here are so close in style to classic KISS tracks that you could compare track listings and draw lines matching up which songs that 1977 were inspired by. They keep it interesting though probably due to their love of the band that they are emulating. They pay attention to detail as every little twist and turn is geared to sound like it was done twenty plus years ago. Even the little pops and hissing between tracks appeal to me as a long time vinyl fan. Simple it may be, but the songs are easy to get into and a fun listen for sure. After playing the disc for a second time I found myself inevitably singing along with the choruses like I had known these lines for years. In the end the approach of doing originals based firmly on the KISS style sure beats hearing the umpteenth cover version of "Cold Gin" or "Detroit Rock City". The band's enthusiasm and love for this type of music certainly shines through in all aspects on this album. Let's face facts it's been a long time since the real KISS have done a studio album this honest and enjoyable. So KISS fans and fans of 70's hard rock should really check this one out.



http://www.myspace.com/1977themusic

Top albums of 1982

Here they are.


1)Iron Maiden-The number of the beast

2)Judas Priest-Screaming for vengeance

3)Motorhead-Iron Fist

4)Scorpions-Blackout

5)Hanoi Rocks-Oriental Beat

6)Venom-Black Metal

7)KISS-Creatures of the night

8)Twisted Sister-Under the blade

9)Raven-Wiped Out

10)Van Halen-Diver Down



Quite a year indeed as my favorite albums from Maiden, Priest, Scorpions, MSG, Tank and Venom all came out in 1982. The NWOBHM was still holding strong. KISS came back with a good one after a few clunkers. Motorhead, Venom, Raven and others were laying down the foundations for what would become speed metal.



Next week it will be my top ten for 1983.