Vindicator-The antique witcheries

Heavy Artillery
2010



The first thing that runs through my mind when I hear a younger retro-thrash style band is of course a comparison of what band or more likely bands that they sound like. That's fine for them to have influences, but what separates decent bands from the few really good ones these days is what the band brings of themselves. I want to hear what they add to the mix because almost anyone can copy the 80's sound, but it takes more effort and talent to build on that style and one's own sound. Vindicator sound like a mix of the debut albums from Metallica, Exodus and Megadeth all rolled up together. The sound is tight with crunchy riffs befitting their early thrash sound. The vocals also sound like a mix of the original singers from the three bands above. The biggest difference between this album and those done 25 or more years ago is that the production is so much better these days. Then again the fuzz of mid-80's independent label production values helped some thrash bands in some ways because to me while something like progressive metal benefits from better production, but thrash doesn't always need a clean, sharp sound. A little roughness around edge can help this sound. Vindicator are true to their heroes and the problem is they are maybe a little too faithful because they don't produce any ideas of their. Their energy level is strong, but even that can't help this album to be anything thing more than good 1985 style thrash. I enjoy that sound, but this band doesn't do enough to make me care about them. It's likable, but all in all a bit to standard to recommend to anyone beyond just die hard 80's thrash fans. Hopefully they keep at it and push some of their own ideas to the surface the next time around.

Clash of the album covers

Here you go.



Aerosmith-Rocks

vs.



Alice Cooper-School's Out

***Which cover do you prefer?

What's coming up?

My daughter starts first grade this week which is cool. We put Halloween decorations around the house since it is my favorits holiday and I can't wait for it's arrival. This coming week I do hope to have out reviews of the latest from Vindicator, Tony Harnell, Ghost and Place of skulls plus Clash of the album covers and maybe one other topic.

***Have a great week!

Pro-Pain-Absolute Power

AFM
2010

Pro-pain have been around for about two decades. During that time they have gone through quite a few line-up changes. They have been active while other musical trends have come and gone, but still this band has stuck to their guns and been cranking out generally the same sound since the early 90's. Once again on the new release they stick to their hardcore roots, but add in a healthy dose of heavy thrash to boot. They don't sound much different than they did in the 1990's, but they do this sound as well as anyone else going today. The attitude, power and most importantly the spirit are all still present in "Absolute Power". To me those elements are prime towards making hardcore work. There are no weak songs or filler present on this outing. However there is a great deal of repetition and that did bog down the momentum on a couple of songs. Pro-pain have never been about style or fancy solos, but instead they focus on pure force and lots of volume. In those categories they handle themselves very well. The music and vocals are focused, but simplre. If you didn't like this before then this album is not going to change your mind. However fans, even casual ones are going to find more than enough to interest them.

Soul Remnants-Plague of the universe

Self-produced
2009

Hailing from Littleton, Massachusetts this band play a savage variety of old style death metal that is intermingled with plenty of thrash passages. That's not to limit them at all because they do far more than just copy the styles. They are aggressive and tight with plenty of ideas constantly flowing. The riffs are brutal and punishing, but there is also more than enough variation in style and tones to keep the interest of most fans. The vocals are of the growling variety, but they compliment the mood set up by music. The rhythm section provides a thunderous landscape for the other players. I enjoyed every track and actually became more impressed as they went along. On top of all that the production is fantastic and consistent. This isn't just a band showing potential, but rather they are already playing and writing at high level. A number of bands play old style death and thrash, but many lack the talent, skills and even imagination to really make their music count. Not the case with Soul Remnants because they have all the tools in place and they know how to use them.

Saint-In the battle

Retroactive
2004/2010

This is a re-issue of Saint's 2004 release and at the time it was their first new studio album in 15 years. The band has been very active since then so it's interesting and check out this starting point of the second chapter of their career. Saint have always been a fairly consistent band on the christian metal circuit. They have been frequently compared to Judas Priest and this album primarily follows that style. Many of the songs are reminiscent of Priest's more mid-tempo songs from around the 1980-1982 period. Although they have always done enough to develop their own sound and I think that's they have been one of the better white metal bands around. They never quite cut loose with anything more than medium paced tracks and originality isn't their best trait. However they do know how to crank some pure metal with screaming vocals, a pounding rhythm section and some riffs that will get your pumping. I can't argue with that or the fact that on the first time through I repeated several songs immediately because I enjoyed them that much. Saint don't add a lot to the old school metal sound, but they do know how to do it in a way that makes you takes notice and appreciate them for sticking to the sound they started on back in the early 1980's.

Clash of the album covers

Faces in funny places. The covers for this match-up are...


Deep Purple-Come taste the band

vs.


Grand Funk Railroad-E Pluribus Funk

***Which cover do you prefer?

Adiastasia-Life war (re-issue)

Bombworks
2006/2010

This album from Brazil's christian power metal act Adiastasia was originally released in 2006, but this re-release has the album getting re-mixed, remastered and it receives new artwork. The whole feel of the album is that it's deeply embedded in the European style of power metal ala Helloween, Gamma Ray and Stratovarius to name a few. Although as a whole "Life War" sounds like it could have been done around the mid-late 1990's. It's very up-tempo for the most part and fairly long as it clocks in just under an hour. Although they do a decent job of keeping the pace going and it never feels long. As with this style the melodies are plentiful and featured quite prominently in many of the songs. The band masters those for the most part. I also liked that the keyboards really complimented their sound without overriding the power of the songs. It took me a little while to warm up to the album as the intro "Guerra Della Vita” is slightly dull. Then “Father Of Light” came on and I immediately disliked the tin sounding drums and the vocals were low in the mix, but after that the album picks up. The vocals are not quite as varied as the work of some of the bigger names in this genre, but they do the job well enough. It's above average power metal with enough hooks to be interesting, but nothing new or spectacular. Fans of the style should find enough here to enjoy.

Poobah-Let me in

Ripple
1972/2010

I am always amazed at the amount of great music that gets unearthed from time to time. Hailing from Youngstown, Ohio Poobah released "Let me in" way back in 1972. Unfortunately I never heard of this band until very recently. No matter though as Ripple Music have re-issued this album and it is re-mastered by Tony Dallas Reed of Mos Generator and Stone Axe. The album itself is a mixture of early spine-rattling metal, groove-heavy boogie rock and healthy doses of fuzz splattered psych-rock. It took me about 30 seconds into "Mr. Destroyer" to realize I was in for one of the best re-issues of 2010. "Mr. Destroyer" has a big brain pounding riff and as a whole the song sounds like Black Sabbath, Budgie and Grand Funk Railroad ran into each other head-on. The band shows their versatility with "Enjoy what you have" with it's thick, but mellow vocals and guitars that pull you up of the ground and let you float off with them. "Bowleen" has the band and particularly guitarist/vocalist Jim Gustafson peeling off a seemingly unending barrage of cutting sounds like Ted Nugent with less restraint. The album continues on with the band showing their versatility with different styles. No matter what sound they tackle they have an undeniable ability to create some severely catchy tunes. "Let me in" would be great even if it was just this re-mastered version of the original album, but there is even more. Twelve bonus tracks makes this even more of a treasure. The bonus tracks are of a similar quality as the "Let me in" album. It's a wide and wild variety too as "Make a man outta you" is pure off of the cuff psychedlic-jamming goodness while "Going to rock city" is a more of a steady heavy rocker sounding like a cross between Blue Cheer and BTO. Fans of classic early metal and those who just love fantasticly fuzzed out hard rock are going to think that Christmas has come early with this release.

Favorite Iron Maiden songs pt.2

So I set out to figure out my favorite songs on the second half of Maiden's catalog. The first four albums were tough to pick a favorite from because there just were not that many good songs there. Brave new world had a few more choices, but no great songs. The last three were tough to choose from because there were so many great choices to choose from.

No prayer for the dying-Run silent, run deep

Fear of the dark-Fear of the dark

X-factor-Sign of the cross

Vitual XI-Futureal (I guess because this is such a bad, bad album)

Brave new world-The wicker man

Dance of death-Paschendale

A matter of life and death-For the greater good of god

The Final Frontier-The man who would be king

What's coming up?

I am extending Iron Maiden week one extra day (today) because I want to do the second part of my favorite Maiden songs off of each studio albums. In order to do that I'll have to pull out those Blaze Bayley discs and listen to them to decide on my favorite songs off of those. So that post will probably be up later today. This past week my playlist has actually been short because it has been dominated by two albums. Maiden's new one The final frontier and their 1980 self-titled debut. Been playing over and over. However I have lot of other reviews I need to knock out so for the rest of this week I hope to have up reviews of discs by Poobah, Pro-pain, Saint, Soul Remants, Adiastasia and the companion piece book for the band Fallen Angel. Also Clash of the album covers is quite likely to make an appearance. Take care and have a great week.

Clash of the album covers

The third and final clash of Iron Maiden week ....



Run to the hills

vs.



The trooper

***Which cover do you prefer?

Favorite songs on Maiden albums pt.1

I am pinning myself down and picking my favorite track on every studio album starting with the first half of their catalog.

Iron Maiden-Phantom of the opera
Great album, but an easy choice for favorite track. Never get tired of this song.

Killers-Murders in the Rue Morgue
Love Dianno's vocals on this song.

The number of the beast-22 Acacia Avenue
My favorite album and my favorite song changes often, but right now I'd say it's 22 Acacia Avenue. Bruce's vocals get me every time.

Piece of mind-Still life
This song gives me chills from time to time. Always a good sign.

Powerslave-Rime of the ancient mariner
Actually a tough choice because I love the title track and Flash of the blade too, this song just has it all.

Somwhere in the time-The loneliness of the long distance runner
A great example of Maiden's mastery of the pace.

Seventh son of a seventh son-Only the good die young
Lots of good choices on this one, but this has always been my favorite track.

***Part 2 coming soon.

Iron Maiden-The Final Frontier

UMe
2010

If someone told me in the mid-1980's that 25 years from this point that Maiden would still be going strong I would have went along with it for sure because they were in the middle of a great run at the time. If someone told me in the mid-1990's that Maiden would still be going strong in 15 years then I would have been much more doubtful because they were in a serious slump at the time. A few years later Bruce and Adrain rejoined the fold and by "Dance of death" they were now back on track and beginning a new era of greatness for the band. In 2006 "A Matter of life and death" added on to that streak and Iron Maiden were once again back to the top. So now we have a new album and of course my expectations are high. A new Iron Maiden album coming out is almost like Christmas except of course Christmas comes along far more often than the last few Maiden albums. I eagerly unwrapped it and popped it in the player. After some brief spacey squeals "Satellite 15" comes on as a steady and repetitive barrage of drum beats and slightly odd guitar riffs. It becomes obvious that Maiden are making us wait a little longer for their return. Then Bruce slowly comes on and "The Final Frontier" starts up and we get some simple, but punchy beats with a chorus that's going to be burned into you brain right away. Like everyone else I played that free download of "El Dorado" over and over, but it seems different coming after another song as opposed to just being played by itself. This song works much better as a chapter of this album rather than standing on it's own and that's not a knock on it. Rather the upbeat sound goes along with the other tracks and the overall flavor of the album. The flowing rhythms come on with "Mother of Mercy" and Bruce Dickinson shines on this one. It's a very smooth song keeping much in the style of the previous two albums. "Coming Home" gets into the heart of the track relatively fast, but seems a bit light and simple by the high standards that Maiden have set for themselves in previous releases. It's a decent song, but I could feel the energy draining some at this point. That feeling gets quickly wiped away as "The Alchemist" comes roaring on. Those who long for the faster songs of Maiden's past like "Back in the village" and "Flash of the blade" are going to be in for a treat with this one. It breaks things up a little too as we prepare for the second half of the album. "Isle of Avalon" has a floating type atmosohere for around the first half and in many ways reminds me of some tracks of off Seventh son of a seventh son. The passages around the middle of the song are far more of a prog-rock style than the usual Maiden fare. "Starblind" gets my vote as song that took me the longest to warm up to, but after half a dozen plays it finally sunk in. It took me a while because of the amount of pieces that squeezed into this track. It's a roller coaster ride with plenty of twists and turns, but it took me a while to absorb it all. Only three tracks left, but it's almost half an hour of music to go. However I think it's the three strongest tracks on the album. "The Talisman" begins with Bruce doing a spoken-type intro before the song really kicks into gear. As with most of the second half of this album it's a track where we get both quantity and quality. The band again brings so many parts to the mix and when Bruce gets rolling he delivers another fine performance. "The man who would be king" is possibly the most different track on the album as in different from Maiden's past. It's also the most interesting track as well, but I doubt that everyone is going to take to it. We hear more of Steve Harris than we do on any of the previous songs and we also hear some great melodies and again and incredible amount of pace changes. This is an amazing song and one where I think I will continue to discover aspects about it that I enjoy the more I listen to it. Remember back when Maiden did one epic song per album? Now in recent years the amount of epics almost equal the non-epics. That's fine with me because no one does these type of songs better than Maiden and they show that again with the final track "When the wild wind blows". This is an almost 11 minute monster, but again Maiden know how to make these songs both treats and journeys rather just being long songs. They pull out all the stops for this one with melodies, hooks and tones popping in and out all along the way. A fantastic finish to an album that finished better than it started. This album is of course going to at least initially be compared to "A matter of life and death" because it follows it and because AMOLAD was a spectacular album even by Maiden standards. Is the Final Frontier as good as A matter of life and death? No, but it is a great album. The whole mood is much more upbeat than either of the previous two albums and that was actually startling at first, but because it's consistant throughout the album I got used to it around the second time through. To some extent Maiden have always had to compete with and be compared to their past efforts because they are the best at what they and have done so many mind-blowing albums. Yet for the most part the band has never been bogged down by or felt the need to totally rely on their past. Here in recent years they have have built upon their past success and added to their sound by reaching out and taking chances with some different sounds and ideas. Most bands don't even attempt that particularly not this far into the game. This isn't just any band and thirty plus years after their start Iron Maiden are still pushing the boundries of metal and creating some power and stunning musical landscapes for fans to enjoy.

Iron Maiden week update

About half-way through Iron Maiden week now. The rest of the week will hopefully see these topics:
Thursday-The Final Frontier review
Friday-Favorite song from each studio Maiden album
Saturday-The importance of Iron Maiden and round three of the Maiden Clash of the album covers

Clash of the album covers

Round two for Iron Maiden week. It's two early ones...


Sanctuary

vs.


Women in uniform

***Which cover do you prefer?

Battle of the bands

So the big question is who can even be a decent match=up for Iron Maiden? I remember back in the '80's when metal magazines would occasionaly bring up the Maiden vs. Priest question. Maybe around 84-85 that would have been a fair match-up, but Priest have dropped greatly since then. Another one that pops upis Black Sabbath vs. Iron Maiden. Not bad, but you get inot the very different line-ups and sounds of Sabbath that kind of make it hard to judge. No, I think the best match-up is....


Iron Maiden

vs.


Motorhead

***Which band do you choose?

Iron Maiden s/t- A reflection

Hard to believe that Iron Maiden's debut is thirty year's old this year. It wasn't one of their first that I heard though. I believe that I had heard The number of the beast, Piece of mind and Powerslave before finally hearing the debut in late 1984 as a fellow Maiden fan taped it for me. It would be another few months before I would hear Killers. My opinion at the time was I am sure much different than those lucky fans heard this album when it exploded in 1980. By 1984 Bruce Dickinson's stamp had been put on the band's sound and they were off and running a direction that was fairly different from where they were with Dianno at the helm. For 1980 the whole New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene was exploding and Maiden were one of the scene's real leaders. So let's take a look at each song

Prowler-That twisting riff comes on and you know this is something different. Dianno's voice is prefect for this one and is obviously completely comfortable ripping his way through it. Love the part leading up to the solo just before the halfway point.

Remember Tomorrow-It's slows down a bit and the mood changes gears. The pace picks up to a furious explosion around the halfway point again and then goes slows back down and picks up again. Love the solos on this one.

Running Free -A staple for early Maiden and Dianno makes the most of this him. This song plays to his strengths and it's one of his best moments. It's very basic by comparison to where this band would be in a year or too, but a fine song no doubt.

Phantom Of The Opera-I imagine this one blew some minds when they first heard it. Understandably so because that riff was well ahead of where your typical metal band was at the time. The band has as a whole really takes off on this song. It's the strongest example on the debut of the kind of potential that the band had.

Transylvania-Powerful instrumental with a solid pounding sound. Each band member really shines and gets their time to contribute. Love the bass licks towards the end. This song is a good example of Maiden's ability to show how good of musicians they were, but yet you never feel like they are showing off.

Strange World-The opening notes come on right after Transylvania for another slow one. It's one of the more dated tracks for sure. A decent attempt at a slightly different sound, but just alright overall compared to the rest of the album.

Sanctuary-Another song that plays to Dianno's strength as a vocalist. It's also the kind of slightly rough edged hard rock that would would be gone from the band's sound by Killers when they headed in a different direction. Like Running Free it's kind of basic, but the energy is contagious on this one.

Charlotte The Harlot-A Dave Murray penned tune with a punchy kind of rhythm guiding it along. We get a surprising slow down before the two minute mark and I think it helps the song overall. The band tears it up around the three minute mark. Not the kind of lyrical content they would hold onto for much longer, but a tight song for the time.

Iron Maiden-A great closer as the band has a whole just puts forth all kind of energy. Fantastic guitar sound and some tight playing from everyone.

Overall still a fine album that holds up very well. Changes were soon going to be made with Adrian Smith coming into the fold and the sound on Killers were take on a slightly more serious and complex approach. The passion, the power and the ideas were very much put out there for all to hear on Maiden's debut. Right away they established themselves as one of the band's going.

Clash of the album covers

It's a battle of the Powerslave singles for Iron Maiden week.



Aces High

vs.



Two minutes to midnight

***Which cover do you prefer?

What's coming up?

I am pushing my other reviews away for this week because next week will be Iron Maiden week. Features will include....

Review of The Final Frontier (spinning it now)
Song by song breakdown of their s/t debut to honor it being 30
A Maiden Clash of the album covers
A Maiden related Lesser of two evils
Maiden will take part in this week's Battle of the bands
My top ten Maiden songs (right now) or maybe favorite song on each of their studio albums
Something about the importance of Iron Maiden

So stop by take a look, chime in and hopefully enjoy the festivities!

King Giant-Southern Darkness

2010

So if a band calls themselves King Giant then their sound better be massive because of the Giant part and you better be impressive due to the King part. Indeed this band hits on both of those counts. This is southern fried, extremely twangy stoner-sludge metal from a band who spares nothing and delivers almost everything. Think Clutch colliding with Ozzy-era Sabbath only with even more grooves in their arsenal. King Giant hail from the Northern Virginia/DC area which has been a hotbed for doom/stoner acts for year. What I enjoyed most about this album was King Giant's ability to mix melodies with thundering rhythms to create a soulful yet frequently ominous atmosphere. This band has been around since 2006 and they have obviously been around long enough to really get a strong handle on their sound. They bring various components including southern rock, doom/stoner and classic metal, but they manage to pull all of these styles into their own gritty sound. The final result is quite impressive and instantly likable. "Southern Darkness" was one of those albums where I heard it once and it soaked in right away. Each additional play was just icing on the cake and now the songs are firmly embedded in my memory. This is an album I expect to be spinning for the rest of the year and beyond.


www.myspace.com/kinggiant

Trying to get going

Been tough getting myself going to anything much but work this week. Hope to get back into writing soon.

Fallen Angel-Crawling out of hell

Self-produced
2010


Fallen Angel hail from upstate New York and they have embarked on an ambitious project. This album is meant to be the first of a trilogy and each album will have a companion novel. Guitarist John Cruppe wrote the novel that goes with this album. They also have planned out their live performances so that each band member will play a villain from the CD/novel on stage in full costume. That is a huge project that they committed themselves and my guess would be that they must certainly believe in it to devote the time and effort needed to complete this project. Judging from this disc I sincerely hope they follow through with the whole project. What we get is twenty tracks although almost half are intros to the songs they proceed. These intros are mostly sound effects and some brief arrangements that go along with the actions coming up in the next song. If I had to pick just one work to describe this album then I would say "frantic". That is how they attack their music like wild beasts anxious to leap out and take action. Imagine Judas Priest, Helstar and Slayer swirled into a jagged mix and then in enough of a modern metal take on it and you have a start as to where this band is coming from. Their overall approach is raw and I think there are positives and negatives to that. The plus side is they are brutal as they bludgeon your senses with their hyper brand of classic metal. You have to listen closely to really get the full experience of all that Fallen Angel are throwing at you. This band also has the ability to excel as much on their slower moments as well. The downside is that they are a little messy around the edges. I think they could tighten up at times and I am sure that will come with time. Also the drums occasionally get lost under the savage guitar riffs and the savage vocals. That's a production issue and that could be fixed for the next album too. Then again minor complaints because the final word is that this band has found a way to take the heavy rhythms that make up the heart of classic 80's style metal and add in their own intense fury. The results are that "Crawling out of a hell" is mind numbing effort that is hopefully just the start of what I think and hope this band will accomplish in the near future.

Buttons!

I wrote on this topic several years ago, but was in need of a quick topic. Here are some picks of my button collection. Mostly metal, but there's a few movie and others thrown in there. I used to buy these quite often back in the 80's.

Clash of the album covers

Two early thrash album covers from 1983. It is....

Exciter-Heavy metal maniac


VS.


Metallica-Kill 'em all


***Which cover do your prefer?

Icarus Witch interview

Pittsburgh's Icarus Witch are one of those bands who loved 80's style classic metal . They carry on the sound and spirit from bands of that in their music today. I recently had a chance to interview guitarist Quinn Lukas and ask him his band's latest album, their influences and more.

MM-Tell us a little about the history of how Icarus Witch came to be.
QL-Our bass player (Jason Myers) was living in L.A. at the time and was moving back to Pittsburgh with the idea of what kind of band he wanted to put together.In 2004 with the introduction to former vocalist Matthew Bizzilia Icarus Witch was given birth.

MM-Who are some of your influences?
QL-Mine personally are bands like Deep Purple,Uriah Heep, Badlands, Thin Lizzy, Sabbath (Dio years). Their is just something special about those bands and that music.


MM-Who came up with the band name? Is there any significance to the name?
QL-Jason Myers came up with the name. The name was bestowed upon us via divine intervention by the dark gods of heavy metal. Or it just sounds cool.


MM-You made some recent line-up changes. Tell us about the new members and where did you find them?
QL-Yeah,after our last tour we decided to replace original front man (Matthew),it was all do to differences in artistic direction and both parties had different ideas on what this band should be. Now the problem we who could we get to not only fill these huge shoes but make the witch even better. We hired Mr.Christopher Shaner,I played in different bands with him over the years and the guy just has it. He is a complete showman with pipes that can make the sky fall. We also added a second guitarist,when preparing for the Dianno tour we knew we would need a second gun slinger. I instantly thought of Ed Skero. This guy is the real deal,none of that pansy tickle the strings bullshit. Ed instantly made the band sound fuller and thicker,a great addition.

MM-What are some of your favorite tracks on the “Draw down the moon” and why?
QL-My favs would be the title track itself,I love the way the song flows and the break down in the bridge. Black Candles,this song is so powerful live. It always gets the crowd pumped up and singing along. Funeral Wine, I just love the solo,haha.

MM-What was it like touring with Paul Dianno?
QL-Touring with Paul was fantastic. I mean you have to look at it from my perspective,I'm playing some of my favorite music with the man that wrote and recorded it. It was an amazing experience and we get to do it again this winter.

MM-Who would you love to share a stage with?
QL-I would love to jam with Ritchie Blackmore or Jake E. Lee.



MM-Tell us about some of your most memorable shows?
QL-Playing with Heaven and Hell. that was absolutely without a doubt one of the greatest shows I've ever played. It was to be one Ronnie's last though unfortunately.I'm so touched that we had that opportunity to play with him.


MM-What do you think about the metal scene in general these days? Is it getting better, worse or just sitting still?
QL-It is definatley getting better,I see more promoters,shows and clubs these days. So if people continue to support the scene then it grows.

MM-What is the metal scene like in the Pittsburgh area?
QL-The same, more clubs, promoter and shows.


MM-Any great unsigned bands there that you would like to mention?
QL-Skero and Jingles.

MM-If you could only listen to three albums over the next month then what would you pick?
QL-Deep Purple Perfect Strangers,Badlands (Badlands) and Queensryche The Warning.

MM-What are some of the best albums you have heard so far in 2010?
QL-Y&T FaceMelter


MM-Pick the band from the following pairs that you prefer and tell why you picked them.
QL-
Thin Lizzy or UFO
-Thin Lizzy,The dual guitars.

Cauldron or Enforcer
-God, that's tough. That's like saying which could you do without,denim......or leather.

Diamond Head or Saxon
-Saxon,you get Denim and Leather both.

Iron Maiden or Motorhead
-Maiden, I gota represent.

MM-Anything else that you want to say about your band, your music or any other topic?
QL-We need to bring back the time honored tradition of girls flashing the band. Tits and ass dammit!

Snew-We do what we want

2010

I remember reviewing Snew's debut "Snew you" a couple of years ago. Of course I remembered them because of the slightly odd band name. I also remembered that they did a decent interpretation of Bon Scott era AC/DC. Since that time even more AC/DC type bands have sprung up in fact barely two months goes by without me hearing a new one. Despite the crowded field Snew still manage to stay ahead of the pack. They pick in a fair amount of 80's style hard rock attitude and stretch at least a little further beyond their debut. Took me a few songs to really hear that, but they are trying to grow at least a little. More than anything they know how to have fun with it and waste little time getting at the meat of their songs. They keep everything relatively short and to the point which is a main reason why they are able to pull this off while other bands just sound like second rate AC/DC. I still would like to see them push the barriers a little more and try to find more of their own sound, but that may come. Snew have manage to keep the attitude I liked on the debut, but now the music is even better the second time around.

What's coming up?

Now that the computer is working again I guess I'll have to get back to writing. JPT Scare band review and Icarus Witch interview coming this weekend. Next week I'll shoot for reviews of the latest from Fallen Angel, Black River, Snew and maybe one more review or topic plus Clash of the album covers. Really it's August so I am finding it difficult to think of any other band except Iron Maiden since the new album is coming soon. Can't wait!

Take it easy and have a great weekend!

Technical difficulties

Haing trouble with my home computer after a storm. Hoping it's just that the modem needs to be replaced. A new one is on it's way and if that's all it is I'll be back to posting before Monday.

Delain-Lucidity

Sensory
2010

This band involves a lot of veterens of other acts. Delain is the brainchild of keyboardist Martijn Westerholt formerly Within Temptation. This line-up includes contributions from current and former members of To Elysium, Nightwish, Leaves Eyes, Lacrimosa, God Dethroned and Epica. So we wind up with is Gothic/symphonic metal that's dominated by keyboards and lead by powerful female vocals. The end result is similar to some of the bands of the participants, but certainly on the lighter end of the heaviness scale. Vocalist Charlotte Wessel has undeniably stellar voice with a fantastic range. The music moves and flows to compliment her voice. Fans of this style are likely going to soak in the beauty of this multi-textured sound. Although they may be hard pressed to find many new or original ideas. For myself I enjoyed it, but this is a style of album I may pull out every once in a while, but it's a bit too soft for me to want to hear it a lot. This is the first North American edition of Delain’s debut release. This expanded edition of Lucidity features four bonus tracks not previously available on the European version.

Clash of the album covers

Round two of the 1970's double header.


Budgie-Never turn your back on a friend

vs.


Rush-A farewell to kings

***Which cover do you prefer?

Clash of the album covers

Round one of a 1970's double header.


Dust-s/t

vs.


Warhorse-s/t


***Which cover do your prefer?

Empires of Eden-Reborn in fire

7Hard
2010

This power metal release is the second from this act. Guitarist Stu Marshall (Dungeon, PainDivision)has a number of guest vocalists. The list includes Zak Stevens (Savatage, Circle II Circle), Steve Grimmet (Grim Reaper, Onslaught),Mike Vescera (Loudness), Sean Peck (Cage) and Carlos Zema (Outworld). That certainly is a lot of talent they have loaned to them for this outing. The music is typical of the style with soaring riffs and lots of melodies. The music is undeniably tight and well paced. The biggest problem is I am sure that they got the most that they could out of the vocals. I have to lay the responsibility on Marshall's shoulders since he is likely calling the shots. The vocals are frequently too low in the mix and the guitars take center stage very often. I think the production could have had more of a balance. Instead they got a number of name people, but didn't really allow them to open up. This is decent power metal, but when you consider who is involved this seems like a missed opportunity. It's still a fine effort, but certainly could have been better.

Ember's Flame-She said

Self-produced
2010

Only two tracks on this disc from Finland's Ember's Flame. Track one "She said" starts out with an AC/DC type riff, but quickly goes into a smoother sound somewhere between the Who and Cheap Trick. Although there is almost a Hanoi Rocks type rhythm as well in the mix. It's definitely a late 70's/early 80's sound. The hooks are genuine and I was into this one on the first play and with each play I found more to enjoy about it. The second track "Rock n' roll conspiracy" had me after about three seconds. Again it also starts out with an AC/DC type riff only this time they maintain more of the AC/DC groove throughout. They also throw in a bit more grit into it with a slight Sex Pistols groove and then they are really bouncing around. The first track is more about style with lots of sounds blended in and a strong structure. The second track is much more about attitude. Yet despite the difference in approach they handle both tracks with the same amount of precision and passion. Can't wait to see what they can do when they get around to doing a full length album.

http://www.myspace.com/embersflameband