Rockstar Frame-Rock 'n' Roll Mafia

Musicarchy Media
2015

Every bit as hotblooded and a hundred plus times as sexy as it's artwork suggests, "Rock 'n' Roll Mafia" is the soon to be released (to great fanfare and widespread joy no doubt!) debut LP from Rockstar Frame. It was not even a week ago (last Wednesday to be precise) that I first introduced you to this hot new hard & heavy rock band and their even hotter single, "She's Hot". That pulse-raising piece of rebel rock was just phase one of this band's plan for world conquest. Now this Milan five piece is back in black and ready to finish the war that they started with "She's Hot" and I for one welcome our new conquers with open arms and raised first! To paraphrase The Ramones "I'm all revved up and ready to go" and I've got this band's first studio release all but CRANKED up as loud as if can be in the background so that every living soul can experience the next evolutionary & revolutionary leap in female-fronted hard rock for themselves! Or at least all the living souls in my little corner of the world as they are the ones getting rocked and rolled all over by what some people have been calling the "New Guns N Roses with killer female vocals"! That's not entirely unfair as Rockstar Frame do strike a similar pose to Axl Rose and company. Well, later day Axl Rose and his pals (as in G 'N R "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II") as this Italian hard rock band also likes to utilize the winning combo that is screaming guitars and flashy keys! Still, Axl Rose comes across old and cranky when compared to Rockstar Frame's sultry lead singer Faith Blurry! A killer artist all her own, Faith has a set of pipes on her that can't be beat and her range is quite impressive (to say the least). There's a red hot fire burning deep down inside her that keeps the music of Rockstar Frame blazing! Faith Blurry could easily strike gold on her own as a singer so having someone this talented behind the mic gives this hard rock/heavy metal even more bite! There's also enough attitude in feisty front-lady Faith Blurry alone to make the Misfits' number "Attitude" sound like a silly love song! In other words she is the perfect weapon for these smooth criminals! But, let's take a step or two back as "Rock 'n' Roll Mafia" is actual the end of a journey that was first started back in 2012 by founding member and drummer extraordinaire Max Klein. At it's core,  Rockstar Frame is very much a tale of how one man's unfortunate accident would transform the lives of many in a truly healthy and positive way! The story begins with Rockstar Frame's Max Klein taking a nasty tumble down a cliff. That bit of misfortune left Max in a coma. While his loving and supportive family stayed by his bedside they played him rock music. As he lay unconscious Max soaked up all the good vibes that the music had to offer and when he eventually woke up he found that he was now inspired to create great music of his own! To that end the talented Max went out and recruited equally skilled musicians and with one thing leading to another we now find ourselves staring down the barrel of a gun named Rockstar Frame! That might be oversimplifying the whole history of this female-fronted heavy rock/hard rock band a wee bit, but just as Max believes that it was the rock music that his family played for him that helped to bring to him back around to the waking world I have to believe that it was more than just mere coincidence that these five musicians found each other. The music of "Rock 'n' Roll Mafia" suggests as much as this kind of band chemistry doesn't pop up everyday! As for the other key players involved? They would be guitarist Morris Steel, bass guitarist Andy Di Bella and keyboardist Ace Wave. Collectively these five good friends have turned a simple vision into a spectacular reality where eighties hard rock, blues rock and sleazy/pop metal are smoothed over by the sounds of heavy rock radio. It's a place where this band's colorful influences (from Guns 'N Roses to Aerosmith) are touched up and turned inside out in order to give all the dearly faithful something fun and catchy to scream and shout about! With it's electrifying material, "Rock 'n' Roll Mafia" is primal rock and roll from a one-time-in-a-million/billion hard and heavy act. Needless to say you are going to want this one for your own collection friends!

The Deafening-Central Booking

Self-Release/Independent
2013

Allow me to introduce The Deafening. First heard by yours truly on the "Shoot To Thrill"* compilation that came with the December 2013 issue of Classic Rock Magazine (dedicated to the one and only AC/DC!), on which they opened things up rather nicely with the insanely catchy "Shake Down Chinatown", this female-fronted, New York-based four-piece act offers plenty of passion to go along with heaping handfuls of (AC/DC meets Guns N' Roses) blues-infused rock and roll punch! Lead by Lena Hall, and with at least two other releases to their name from the looks of it (two EPs it seems**), the Deafening list their interests as "Sex, Drugs and Rock N' Roll". Nothing wrong with that right? With Burt Rock on guitar providing razor sharp rock riffs and a sweet and nasty rhythm section made up of bassist Dylan Doyle and drummer Mick Harrison the band easily rolls through opening numbers like "Destroyer", "Evil Kiss" and "I'm So Bad" all while keeping their various and undeniable influences (Guns N’ Roses, MC5, Iggy Pop, AC/DC, Kiss, The Rolling Stones, Motörhead, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, Queen, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Cheap Trick, Skid Row and The Misfits) firmly in check. While this one is primary a bad to the bone, rock and roll circus of an album ("Destroyer", "Evil Kiss", "You Will Remember The Dead", "Shake Down Chinatown", "Central Booking" and "Death Rattle N' Roll") the band does opt to slow it down on the heartfelt "Jessie" and even takes a turn at eighties hair metal with the easy and sleazy "Sexy Like A Suicide". In the end one can't help but appreciate how The Deafening serves up honest-to-goodness, barroom rock and roll without a hint of the cheesiness that has found it's way into today's scene. This New York-based group writes music that is catchy ("Evil Kiss", "Shake Down Chinatown", "Destroyer" and "I’m So Bad") and overflowing with attitude all while possessing more then enough raw sexual appeal on cuts like "Sexy Like A Suicide" and "Twist" (which is like The Donnas meeting Lita Ford for beers and then cruising around hunting down prey!) to take them all the way to the top! Why not get in then on the ground-level while this band is still (relatively) unknown?

http://thedeafening.bandcamp.com/album/central-booking

*Also featuring Youngstown, Ohio's own Turbo Lovers this 18-track compilation was worth the price of admission alone!

** A self-titled one from 2010 and the interestingly-named "Rattlesnake Sex Show" from 2011.

Asomvel-Knuckle Duster

Bad Omen Records
2013

Twenty years have passed since vocalist/bassist Jay-Jay Winter (RIP 2010) and guitarist Lenny Robinson first started Asomvel. Back then the group, which also featured ex-Cathedral/Acid Reign drummer Mark Wharton, could not have possibly guessed all that would happen to their band in the coming years. Before they could even get around to releasing their first demo, "The Blood Eye", which featured a "fitting" cover of a great white shark on the move, they reportedly went through ten or so different drummers in a way that would make even Spinal Tap chuckle! Not so funny though was the tragic passing of Jay-Jay Winter. Killed in a road accident in 2010, Jay-Jay's death would nearly crippled the band. While ex-Deathwing bassist Conan, who also plays/or did play bass in deathcore act Tangaroa (not quite sure if he still plays with them or not as there are conflicting reports online), would step in to handle vocals and bass even he knew that he could never really replace Jay-Jay and to this day both the band members themselves and fans still consider Jay-Jay to be a member of the band. Now, I freely admit that this release was a spur of the moment/impulse buy and prior to receiving it in the mail I had never heard of this British three-peace (which is rounded out now by drummer Jason hope) so I do not know how this one could or would compare to their older material. As I simply did not wish to be bias one way or the other I purposely choose not to listen to any of their previous recordings. That means "Knuckle Duster" is it for me as heck, I didn't even listen to samples of this one before I ordered it off of Amazon! I simply went by a review that I read in some metal mag (or was it online?) and now you will have the same option if you want. Here's the nitty-gritty details of this English heavy metal act. And actually gritty is as good a place to start as any. These English rockers play real, working man blues, drink hard and play even harder rock/metal that sounds as if it was honed by playing in every dive bar, biker hangout and empty parking lot between in Europe and the U.S.! That's a compliment of course as these fine gentlemen play working-clash rock and roll with lyrics that reflect a life that's seen it's fair share of blood, sweat and cold beer. These guys sound as if it's been a hell of journey, leaving behind them a trail of cheap liqueur and "Bad Mojo Rising" women, but we all know that "it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll"! That said, in Conan we find a better then advertised bassist whose gruff, whisky-soaked vocals fall somewhere between Zodiac Mindwarp (the man and not the band) and a certain Lemmy Kilmister (the main man period!). He's able to convey real emotion with his delivery while the rest of the group as a whole, which at times (admittedly) did have me thinking about Lemmy's band, rock the part the freak out with a wonderful blend of sleazy hard rock, raw blues-rock, drunk punk rock and of course heavy metal! On one hand these guys (deservedly so) fit into perfectly into my ideal collection of all things "loud and proud". On the other hand though these English musicians do a good job of playing "cut  the crap all you crazy cats and get down with your bad selves!" rock and roll that wouldn't be too far out of place if served up hot and spicy alongside the likes of Neil Young, Aerosmith, Kiss, AC/DC or Ted Nugent! So yes, even though I "took a big chance at the high school dance" when I bought this one blind it paid off big time! This is one of those "9 points out of 10 points" or "three and a half stars out of four" albums that's a leap and a (HUGE) bounce better then (and yes, it does make me choke up to say this as I'm a total fanboy for the band!) "Aftershock" (I'll cover Lemmy's latest release tomorrow if I can) from a band that is "shut your mouth I'm just talking about Shaft" epic in magnitude and ready for the big time/primetime baby!

The Deep End-Cop This

Relentless Rock Records
2013

AC/DC's "Who Made Who" was the first album I ever bought. I had to sneak it into my house out of fear that if my parents found out I had it they would confiscate it. I could thank my older brother, and his decision to play "Highway To Hell" as loud as humanly possible (of course it was just to piss my parents off) for such condemnation of rock and roll. Of course A) He's now an accountant out in California so obviously it didn't screw him up too much and B) My own kids love AC/DC. I've listened to AC/DC for over 25 years now. As Australian rock and I go way back it does kind of make sense that I don't ever seen to tire of AC/DC-like bands. Heck, even when I went through my faze where I listened to nothing but Christian rock and heavy metal (that didn't last long), I picked up on X-Sinner's "Get It". So yeah, I love down and dirty, AC/DC -style rock. When I fist heard the single "Bigger. Better. Badder." I figured The Deep End would be my kind of band. After all they hailed from Australia and that single came rocking out of my speakers in full-on Bon Scoot mode! Even reading through band's influences like AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Rose Tattoo and Airbourne (a band they've played with) would lead to believe all ten of these tracks would sound pretty similar. Writing this band of as mere clones would be grossly unfair though. With this 10-track album they have gotten meaner and angrier (this one itsn't for the kiddies folks!) while bringing out more of an edge to their dirty rock.Only that single, which is also the opening number, finds lead singer Dale Schober doing his best Bon Scott impersonation. The rest of this album is simply Australian pub rock/ hard rock (and damn good pub/hard rock at that!). Well, "simply" is not the best word for this band. There's nothing "simple" about them. Instead these guys play great hard rock full of hooks and with sweat leads. Any of these "S" words would have worked better: "stone cold", "sweet", "stomping", "sizzling" or "stars". So, what makes these guys tick? What fuels them? I mean besides cold beer and "Sex, Drugs and Rock N' Roll"!
The band's story might sound familiar, but The Deep End really just started out as some friends drinking beer and talking about the bands they liked. One thing lead to another and soon enough a band was formed. They started out playing in a garage. A couple of EPs were knocked out and before too long they were out playing with some of Australia's biggest bands like The Screaming Jets, Hoodoo Gurus and Mental As Anything. That should serve as a lesson to younger bands out there to never give up. Sometimes stardom is just around the corner. Being Australian does mean that bands like AC/DC, Rose Tattoo and The Angels rubbed off on them. So did Airbourne. The big difference is that unlike Airbourne these young rockers play like they have more conviction. I listen to Airbourne and hear AC/DC clones through and through. I listen to The Deep End and I hear a band that has some serious swagger ( the Black Crowes rocker "No Time To Rest") and the balls to back it up ("Shit Talker"). Despite how this album opens it closes with the sweet, and frankly heavy, number "Run With It". This is classic rock riffs served over face-punching, barroom heavy metal and the result brings one big smile to this old rocker's face! In addition to lead singer Dale Schober (who got the job after pulling off a near perfect impression of Brian Johnson) the band features lead guitarist Drew Suhr, rhythm guitarist Jazz Morrice, bassist Matt Berg and drummer Nick Trajanovski (on the album drums were recorded by Jarrod Medwin). 

Just take one look at those guys. You can't tell me they don't look like a bunch of guys you'd like to party with. Imagine how much better it is to have these guys play real gritty, dirty, rock and roll that's custom made for drinking beer to. That's what The Deep End is all about. Beer drinking and women chasing pub rock/hard rock that's not pretty, but it's oh so sweet to the ears. I'm so glad these guys are more then just another band trying to reinvent "Highway To Hell" or "Back In Black". This debut album is blast and comes highly recommended for fans of (yes) AC/DC, Airbourne, Dirty Looks, Rose Tattoo and other bands that didn't just dress for the part, but walked the talk

http://thedeependrock.bigcartel.com/