Earthride-Something wicked

Earth Brain
2010

When I was kid there was this kind of syrup that my dad would get for his pancakes and it was called King syrup. When he would pour it on the pancakes it was so thick that it would slowly make it's way from the bottle to the pancakes. My brother and I would stare at the snail like journey that the substance would make. Okay, so what in world does my father's pancake syrup have to do with Earthride's latest? Well, the music contained on this disc is thick and heavy like the syrup and both went on slow steady paths. Of course this album is far more interesting than watching syrup. In case you don't know Earthride hail from the great state of Maryland (my home state) and include former members of Spirit Caravan, Internal Void, Nitro Seed and War Injun. They play doom/stoner metal complete with massive, sludge like riffs that crawl and inch their way along ever so slowly. The rhythm section is thunderous but extremely deliberate as you can feel every bass note and drum beat in your bones. The vocals creep along as well pulling you along the way. Earthride draw on classic doom influences such as Sabbath and Witchfinder General. However this band has certainly mixed those influences in with their own hand crafted sound. Earthride sure know to pour tons of heaviness into every note and beat they play. They are also equally comfortable pushing some thick grooves into their sound too and that's something that too many bands of this style frequently shy away from. Earthride are certainly one of the most essential bands going in the doom/sludge/stoner metal style today.

Clash of the album covers

Here you go.



Blind Guardian-A twist in the myth


vs.



Skull Hammer-Pay it in blood


***Which cover do you prefer?

Issa-Signs of angels

Frontiers
2010


Vocalist Isabell "Issa" Oversveen hails from Oslo, Norway. She has numerous guests on this album including musicians including guitarisr Peter Huss, drummer Uli Kusch (Masterplan, Helloween), bassists Nobby Noberg and Tim Larsson (Nick Lachey) on keyboards. She also received Songwriting contributions come from Joacim Cans (Hammerfall), Thomas Vickstrom (Candlemass) and others. The cover had me thinking more of show tunes than anything remotely related to hard rock. However being as it's on Frontiers records I figured there had to at least be some AOR material on here. Indeed there is, but Issa's sounded isn't just firmly cemented in the 80's. The album as a whole mixture of sounds including pop, AOR and hard rock as well as varies traits from different styles from the last three decades. So this album has a definite 80's flair, but it certainly has a modern slant as well. Even though she received a great deal of help in the writing department that doesn't actually mean the writing is spectacular. Several of the songs suffer from lyrical cliches and you certainly are not going to find much in the way deep meaningful topics contained here. However Issa has the kind of voice to make you pay attention and for the most part she does an admirable job. Several tracks lean more to a pop style that isn't my favorite, but she sounds comfortable handing both those type of tracks and the more hard rock styled efforts as well. All in all a good outing.

Battle of the bands

It is...




Megadeth

vs.


Slayer


***Which band do you prefer?

What's coming up?

In the next week I hope to have out reviews of the latest from Bison B.C., Earthride, Issa and The Ocean. Also I hope to have out another Clash of the album covers and a Battle of the bands. It's also time for me to begin working on my end of the year awards. I will be coming up with my top 25 albums of the year, top 5 re-issues/re-releases plus best and worst album covers. I'll have to bring out my calender and check, but I'll devote the third week of December to these awards because I like to do my top album countdown at a rate of five per day then I'll do the re-issues on a day and the top and bottom album covers on the same day. I have done a top 5 worst albums of the year list before, but to be honest 2010 has been such a good year that I could not come up with more than maybe 3 albums from this year that I didn't like so I don't have to do one of those lists this year and that's a good thing. Figuring out my top 25 albums is going to be a tough task. I know my top right off my head, but the other twenty spots is pretty open and there are lot of good releases to choose from. So I really need to get at it and figure it out. It's tough to narrow choices down, but fun to give credit to those that deserve it.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Five things in metal that I am thankful for

This is the fifth year I have done this feature and it's always fun to think about the top bands, labels, services or whatever that I am most thankful for from this past year. So here you go in no particular order.

Metal Mind Productions- This record label has been so consistent that they have made this list every year I have done it. They always manage to put out some great re-issues and this year was no exception as we were treated to re-issues from Mad Max, Blind Illusion, Quartz, Fist and others. Many included lyric booklets, some with band biographies and several contained bonus tracks as well.

Ratt-Certainly not a band I thought would end up on this list. Their last album the 1999 s/t reunion album was wretched so my hopes for "Infestation" were not high. I was wrong and Ratt came back with not just a good album, but one of the best hard rock albums of the year and one of the best of their career. I am thankful to them for proving that a veteran act can still make a fine record.

Canvas Solaris-Progressive metal is not exactly my favorite sub-genre of metal. Many bands is this field tend to be self-indulgent and frequently turn into giant wank fests as they to squeeze as many notes and beats possible into their music with complete disregard for emotion or spirit. However Georgia based instrumental prog-rock/metal act Canvas Solaris no better and they have been proving it for several years. Only they have also gotten even better with each release. This is a skilled prog band that hasn't forgotten how to rock plus be able to inject feeling and grooves into their music.

Self-produced metal acts-This is a broad choice, but an important one. Twenty or twenty-five years ago getting signed by a label was perhaps more important for bands. If they couldn't get signed by a major or an indie major label then they had to go the self-produced route which frequently didn't lead anywhere because they could make the album, but distribution for a self-produced release often meant they could only hit a small area. Years ago is seemed that only major label metal bands could get greater production values on their albums. Nowadays if bands can't get signed they produce their own product. It's easier to get great production nowadays thanks to technology so self-produced albums can sound great too. Also outlets like Myspace and Facebook allow bands to promote their product to a broader range of people and MP3s and downloads can allow fans to hear their music right aways. So their are many factors that go into helping bands that produce their own music, but I still applaud these bands for going this route and showing that the music business is always all about the big record labels.

Downloadable music-Another broad choice, but an important one and it ties in with the above choice. There are benefits to the physical product like artwork, but on the other hand downloading music can be done right, it doesn't take up space on your shelf unless you choose to put it on disc. Also it allows bands to get their music out to people in a manner that doesn't require as much money. An up and coming band can record and put their songs on Myspace and not have to go through the process of packaging and distributing a demo. Also labels and PR people can save some money on postage and packaging by sending downloads rather than mailing out physical copies. In tight times like these saving money where you can helps a lot. So if that's what it takes to keep music alive and available then I am all for it.

The Big Turkey Award for 2010-Ozzy

To be honest 2010 has been a very good year for hard rock and metal. Not just for a large amount of solid albums, but also because there have been very few bad releases. However one that really stunk it up was Ozzy's latest "Scream". Okay, it wasn't as bad as "Black Rain" and it's really one in a line of stinkers. Still the fact that Ozzy is still releasing garbage and making money from it bothers me to no end. He was great on the first six Sabbath albums and his solo career produced mostly good albums from about 1980 until 1991. In the last fifteen years he has become more a product than a performer. He is a shell of what he once was and he gets propped up and they squeeze some sounds out of him and produce it to death because we know he can hardly talk anymore let alone sing. In a way it's to see him as the joke that he has become, but he definitely deserves this award for this year.

Ross the boss-Hailstorm

AFM
2010



So strap on your armor, slip on your gauntlets, and grab your weapon because former Manowar axe slinger Ross the Boss has returned with his second solo album. Actually despite the cover and most of the lyrics "Hailstorm" is a slight departure from 2008's "New Metal Leader". "New Metal Leader" didn't fall from Manowar's path, but the new album has less anthems than you may expect and falls closer to early 1980's classic style metal plus a few nods to more recent power metal. That was very surprising to me given Ross the boss' history and his last album. In fact on the go around I felt like I was need of cleaning my ears out before giving the disc a second go around. Everything seemed a little less in your face than I was figuring on as I was expecting marching armies, war cries and pounding hammers. Instead it was a bit more like a regular metal band trying to figure out what they were doing. Don't get me wrong the playing is strong because Ross the boss always has plenty of riffs to spare. I think there was a definite attempt to reach stretch the musical horizons some this time around. They pull off most of the songs, but there are a few where you are going to want to skip past. Diehard fans of Manowar and Ross the boss might be startled at first and it will likely take a few plays to warm up to it and you may have to crank the volume a little, but there is enough here to enjoy.

Clash of the album covers

Your choices are...



Tygers of Pan Tang-Crazy Nights

vs.




Saxon-Unleash the beast

***Which cover do you prefer?

Helloween-7 sinners

The End
2010


If a performer starts a particular sound and is still one of the top acts doing that style over a quarter century later then they deserve quite a bit of praise. Such is the situation with Helloween and power metal. This band has gone through some ups (the late 80's and most of the last 15 years) and some downs (the early 90's). Along with former member Kai Hansen's Gamma Ray they are one the acts that really started the European style power metal. Some fans may have raised an eyebrow or two when this act released a collection of rather odd re-recordings earlier this year to celebrate their 25th anniversary. All is back to normal now as the new studio album "7 sinners" follows up on the style of their last album "Gambling with the devil". Despite the use of keyboards and the prominent melodies this is still one of the heavier albums of their long career. Tracks like "Are you metal?" and "Long live the king" are not pushing any boundaries lyrically, but they are excellent examples of of power metal at it's finest.I always wonder how a band stays motivated twenty plus years into the game. I don't know how Helloween do it, but they have once again manage to come back full of energy and spirit. The ideas here are not new for them, but they do this style better than anyone else. This is an album that caught me on the first play and I have been loving it for the last few weeks.

DarkBlack-Midnight Wraith

Stormspell
2010

Oregon's power trio DarkBlack have been knocking around for six years and have released a full length album and their latest EP "Midnight Wraith' is the second EP they have done to date. I was listening to a couple of semi-obscure, self-produced metal albums from the mid-80's directly before DarkBlack a spin. What struck me as odd was that those twenty-five year albums had better production than the new DarkBlack. This might actually be an intentional result because this act tries very hard to look and sound like it's 1985 all over again. The major influences are Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Diamond Head and various other NWOBHM bands. Being a huge fan of the original go-around of this style I am interested in anyone who tries to revive the style too. The problem with imitating a style so closely is that if you add little of you ideas then it just tends to be a pale imitation. In this case DarkBlack are hit and miss although leaning slightly towards the positive part of that spectrum. The riffs range from chunky and galloping to just gliding along. The rhythm section fares a little better with more varied beats than we often get from this style. The vocals are alright, but robbed of some real power by the low production. Both on my computer and car stereo I have to really adjust the sound to hear the vocals like I wanted to. Fans of mid-80's classic and NWOBHM will likely be pleased by this retro-loving, bullet belt wearing type of metal. For myself I feel like there are better bands out there doing this style.

http://www.myspace.com/darkblack

What's coming up?

Hoping to have to out a Marcie Free interview plus reviews of the latest from Helloween, Dark Black and Ross the Boss in the next few days. Next week I'll have out reviews of the latest from Bison BC and Earthride plus Clash of the album covers, Battle of the bands, Five things in metal I am thankful for and the big turkey award.

Have a great weekend!

Thanksgiving and metal

Thanksgiving is coming up next week and for this site I have two traditions for the holiday. Back in 2006 I begin doing two posts with the positive being five things in metal that I am thankful for. I have given this honor to bands,individuals, record labels, forms of technology just anything I am thankful that is metal or music related from the past year. The negative is I give out one Big Turkey of the year award. Pretty self- explanatory, it goes to a person, band, event or anything that I think was the top joke or lame item from metal for the past year. The past big turkey award winners are as follows.

2006-Axl Rose
2007-Rocklahoma
2008-Judas Priest
2009-Lita Ford

So I am thinking hard about these awards and will likely post both the day before Thanksgiving. So stop back to find out who wins.

Sweetkiss Momma-Revival Rock

Self-produced
2010


Washington's Sweetkiss Momma certainly picked an appropriate title for their album. The style they are reviving is southern rock with lots of spirit and plenty of thick grooves. Think early ZZ top, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Allman Brothers but mixed in with some lighter doses of say Blue Cheer and Grand Funk Railroad. However this band isn't one of those total retro acts who try so hard to make every riff sound like it's 1973. No, they are true to their influences, but mix it with some more modern sounds as well. Quite honestly they frequently hit on a mix that brings the best of both worlds because they are not afraid to bring 70's southern fried rock into modern days. They definitely have a confidence that shows through and they are not afraid to take chances. The second half of the disc isn't quite as smooth as the first half as not every track down the stretch is quite as good as the first half. We get a few songs with some dull moments and some real lack of focus. For the most part this is definitely worth checking out and I can't wait to see where they go from here.

Name the feature

Thanks to everyone who entered this contest. It was actually a tough decision, but I am going with "Heavy Metal Thunderdome" which was submitted by Beckeye. Congratulations to her. This new column will start up in January.

Clash of the album covers

It is...


Rush-Caress of steel

vs.


ZZtop-Deguello


***Which album cover do you prefer?

Name the feature contest

Starting in January of 2011 I am planning on doing a new feature here on my blog and I am having a contest to name it. Largely because I suck at coming up with catchy names and also in part because I like giving out prizes. So the column is either going to be monthly or bi-monthly (I have not yet decided). The feature will be me offering two metal albums that are normally highly rated based on the music. I may offer some facts about each and then ask readers to pick which album they prefer just based on the music. So if you have a snappy name for this feature go over to the right where it talks about contacting me and click on "here" and submit the name you think I should use. Also include an e-mail I can use should I pick your entry. Contest will run up until 11/14/2010 and the next day I'll pick the name I like the best. What do you win? Well, I'll use the name you submitted on my feature for all of 2011 and most importantly I'll send you a package consisting of pretty cool promo metal discs that I have laying around. So put on your thinking caps and enter.

Mini Reviews-Bunker 66 and Tank

Bunker 66-Out of the bunker
Reinig
2010



Hailing from Italy this act reminds me of a bunch of guys got together one night to come up with a few songs that honored their influence. This was probably a result of sitting around listening to lots of albums ranging from Hellhammer to Venom to early Sodom to pre-Reign in blood Slayer and also including some hardcore like Discharge, The Exploited and Broken Bones. The result are six tracks of primitive blackened hardcore thrash metal that might have well been recorded in 1985 if I don't know different. Even the sound quality has that slightly rough feel around the edges that was on so many independent metal releases around twenty-five years ago. The vocals are slightly more clean than you may expect for this style, but just raspy enough to compliment the overall sound. The music does contain a few more involved passages too that show the band is more versatile than I figured. The lyrics range from drinking to radioactivity to war so nothing that new for this musical genre. This release was more powerful than I was expecting and the skill level is solid even if they are not breaking any new ground. So if you're in the mood for old style thrash with some bite then this is a band to check out.





Tank-War Machine
Metal Mind
2010

It's always a touchy situation when a band is in the position of attempting to soldier on with no original members. Doesn't happen that often, but it does happen and usually I am left wondering if the band in question should be allowed to use the name or not? Well, here we are with a version of Tank without vocalist/bass player Algy Ward. His voice was so much a part of their classic early 80's sound. In the new line-up we have guitarists Mick Tucker and Cliff Evans who were in the band from 1983 to 1987 and then both came back when the band started back up in 1997 and have been with the group since then. Completing the line-up are bassist Chris Dale (Atom Seed, Bruce Dickinson), drummer Dave Cavill (Zodiac Mindwarp) and journeyman vocalist Doogie White (Rainbow, Yngwie Malmsteetn, Praying Mantis and a pile of others. If you are expecting Filth hound of Hades then you may be disappointed. Early Tank reminded me of Motorhead, but this album reminds me of another British band and that is Saxon. That's mainly due to the fact that Doogie White sounds a lot like Biff Byford. Also if you are expecting the chugging heaviness of early you may be surprised because of the tracks here are mid-paced although with a strong classic metal style always present. This may not sound like the Tank of the NWOBHM era, but it's still very good. Whether or not it should be called Tank is debatable, but there is no doubt that this is a fine slab of metal.

What's coming up?

Working on reviews of the latest from Bunker 66, Tank and Ross the boss. Hope to have them out this weekend. For next week I'll review the new Helloween plus 1-2 more, Marcie Free interview and Clash of the album covers.

SardoniS-s/t

Electric Earth
2010


I am fortunate to get quite a bit of music and sometimes I run behind getting the music reviewed in as timely a manner as I would like to. Now for this particular disc I could say it's because I received the same time as a number of others discs and that's why it took me a while to get to it. Perhaps it's because the cover is very dark and didn't stand out at first. However after hearing the disc the most likely reason may be that Belgium's SardoniS was so heavy that it fell to the bottom of the stack. This instrumental album is just two guys creating all these sounds, but they certainly crank it out. In recent weeks I have gotten several discs where the sound is low and I have to adjust my stereo to hear it properly. In this case when tracks like "Skullcrusher AD" I had to lower the volume because the sound was so overwhelming. Indeed this two man doom/stoner outfit are conjuring up some blood pumping songs in the style of Black Sabbath, but lots of swirling grooves frequent pace and mood changes. It's not all sludge either because there a few times where they get a wild hair and bring in some thumping classic style metal charges that will run you over if you are not careful. This is a collection of well-crafted tracks that hit like a sledgehammer. Well worth checking out.

www.myspace.com/sardonis666

Battle of the bands

It is...


AC/DC

VS.


Aerosmith


***Which band do you prefer?

Clash of the album covers

It is...


Bruce Dickinson-Accident of birth

vs.


Halford-Made of metal


***Which cover do you prefer?

Mini-reviews-Suicidal Tendencies and Killing Joke

Suicidal Tendencies/No mercy-No Mercy Fool/The suicidal family Suicidal records 2010 In recent year countless bands have re-recorded their own music and the results have been as varied as the bands who have recorded them. If you were to ask me what band should re-record some of their old material then it would be unlikely that Suicidal Tendencies would be towards the top of that list. Even if I had to pick from their material I would of course choose their classic self-titled release. However they chose to re-record some material from their sophomore album "Join the army". Now I remember hearing that album when it came out and was left feeling cold. It was a step down from the debut in both pace and intensity. So I wasn't exactly thrilled when I heard they were re-recording tracks from it. They proved me wrong because the versions presented come firing out fast with more energy and spirit than I have heard from this band since their debut. There is speed, heaviness, aggressive vocals, shredding fretwork and a pounding rhythm section. If the songs had been good this time around then the band would have had hooked back then, but better late than never. There are also songs from No Mercy which was a side project for some members. It's a seamless fit though because the songs from both acts are similar in style and in quality. Add this album to the list of pleasant surprises for 2010. Killing joke-Absolute dissent Universal 2010 Killing Joke have been a huge influence on plenty of artists over the last almost 30 years including Metallica, Ministry, Prong and Kurt Cobain. The band has certainly gone through their share of line-ups changes over the years with the drummer position being the spot that has seen the greatest amount of turnover. Despite those personnel changes the band has managed to knock out an abum every couple years although their most productive period was during the 80's. During their career they have ripped though numerous musical styles including post-punk, metal, pop and early industrial. The major hype surrounding their new release was due to the fact that it is their first full length release with the original line-up in 28 years. Instead of following up on the sound of the albums released by the original line-up, Absolute Dissent is much more of a combination of the various sounds that this band has done over their thirty plus year career. Not a bad idea because at this point in their career no one is expecting them to re-invent the wheel and they have so many different sounds to choose from. Add to that a slightly raw almost live style production and this album begins to live up to some of the hype that's been swirling around for the last few months. They deliver crunching guitars, funky bass lines as well as some dark atmospheric moments as well. It was almost easy to be blinded by the strong moments on this album because there many. However a few plays found me knowing I liked the album, but getting a definite sense that they tried so hard to please everyone except perhaps themselves. There are some real crushing songs on here so many that they almost made me forget the couple of predictable ones. In the end "Absolute Dissent" is a fine effort with good results, but not the masterpiece that many hoped for.

What's coming up?

Running behind as usual, but I'll definitely have three reviews out tomorrow and hopefully next week I'll have out 3-4 more plus a Marcie Free interview and another Clash of the album covers.

Clash of the album covers

It is...


Hawkwind-Levitation

vs.


Triumph-Just a game


***Which cover do you prefer?

Mini Reviews-Saw 3D, X Contract , Recker

SAW 3D
Sony
2010

If the movie is in 3D then why should the soundtrack be so one dimensional? Could not resist that one. In all fairness there are some positive moments on this soundtrack, but I'll get to them in a minute. Soundtracks that contain songs by a lot of different bands can be a mixed bag. Sometimes you get music that might really fit with the mood of the movie and other times you get a hodge podge of artists that the label sees fit to promote. I think this disc leans more towards that second category. Most of the material has been out for a while. Bigger names like Saving Abel and Saliva plus not as big of names like Karnivool and Kopek. What most of the songs on this album have in common is that they are flavorless and you will likely forget about than about half an hour after this 16 track album finishes. The highly touted and frequently overhyped Lordi appear as well offering up "This is heavy metal" which probably took them a whole four or five minutes to write. There are three standouts on this album. The first is "Promises" from Nitzer Ebb. It's very much the kind of subtle yet intriguing kind if industrial assault that this band is so good at doing. Next "Hoodoo Woman" has Krokus doing a better version of AC/DC than AC/DC have done in more than twenty years. Dir En Grey's "Hageshisa to, Kono Mune no Naka de Karamitsuita Shakunetsu no Yami" is the final track on the album, but easily the most creative and thrilling song here as the band throws every twist and turn in that they can think of. As a whole not a very impressive soundtrack, but there are a few gems buried here and there.

X Contract -Blooden Diaries
Phillipa
2010


I wasn't sure what to expect when I opened this one and unfortunately even after hearing it I am still not sure what I ended up with. Contract X play a mix of pop, punk and hard rock, but it's a combination that is not particularly smooth and all too often they seem unsure of their direction. There are some tight guitar rhythms on tracks like "You don't know me" and "Hatedream". All too often the songs begin with promise and about 15-20 seconds in all the edges smooth down and go to the background the off key vocals and mellow drone take over. There is definite potential here, don't get me wrong. I think the playing is generally decent as they hit on occasional groove, but the major problem is in the songwriting. The lyrics are like poetry...really bad poetry written by some temporarily angst driven teenager. Lots of awkward rhymes dominate many songs here. They just lack the ideas and hooks to write a complete song that is going to keep your attention. This band needs work, a lot of work, but there are enough sparks to make me not want to write them off yet.



Recker-Tragedy of triumph
Self-produced
2010

On this album Rich Recker was responsible for vocals, mosts of the guitars, bass, most of the keyboards as well as mixing and producing this album. This is an album that he should be proud of too. This is some fine and memorable melodic metal with just a hint of AOR on a few songs. Had me thinking of Dokken, early Queensryche and maybe even Black 'n Blue. So very much a mid-80's flavor. Recker has a steady grasp how to really construct a solid song. The writing is solid and the playing is perhaps even better. The vocals are powerful and smooth as Recker does a solid job handling different paces and styles. The songs are fill with hooks that will get you right away and keep you glued to what is happening next. My only complaint was the production was slightly low so I had adjust some settings initially, but then it sounded fine. Still a great job and worth checking out.