Death Row, second album from Touched

The latest addition to the family that is my Ebony Records collection is the second album from Touched, Death Row.

There's something really satisfying about buying a vinyl record that contains music that's not available via the streaming services (correct me if I'm wrong. I've found a couple of downloads online from other fans but I don't think they're great rips.) I would have bought this and many more discs at the time if the paper round money had stretched further.

I'd love to go back and tell my younger self "Don't worry - in the future the Internet will make it easy to find and buy decent copies of these albums, you'll have a bit more money to buy them and you'll have better equipment to play them. But there won't be much need; the vast majority of music will be available on demand via the Internet at a much better quality than you're getting from those crackly discs and that cheap stereo." "What's an Internet?"  "Possibly the most amazing thing that happens in the history of mankind. But you know how you think it's weird that ancient Egyptians worshipped cats...?"

I've got a rip that I'm pretty happy with and I'm very happy with the music. After the first couple of listens I feel that the music is a little more serious here than on the first album. Still boppy in places (moving on) and has the obligatory power ballad (When I Call Your Name) but goes to some harder and heavier places (title track). There's definitely a touch of Motley Crue going on. The guys are tight musically; John Hull does great work on all guitars and I like Ronnie's voice.

Rather confusingly, the track 'Back Alley Vices' appears on this album, which is the title of the debut album.

I've written before about the quality of the sound of the recordings from this studio which I don't really mind. It makes me smile, and it's the music that matters. This one definitely sounds better than the band's first album (I notice the words "digitally mastered" on the cover) but still isn't a very clear dynamic sound.

Notable recent rock / metal releases, mid-August 2016

Metal Allegiance - Fallen Heroes : There are two offerings from this supergroup, a self-titled album of new material and an EP which is a tribute to some recently-departed artists.

The album, called Metal Allegiance, is definitely worth a spin, it's great music. It features a cover, which is also a tribute, Dio's We Rock. The track really does rock, but what turns me off is the number of vocalists taking it in turns, which makes the track sound like one of those charity singles.

The EP is superb. Iron Fist is a head-shaking version of a classic song. But I really like Suffragette City, It's always so good to hear a metal rendition of a familiar but not-originally-metal classic.
★★★★☆

Equilibrium - Armageddon : I'm a fan of Equilibrium's fun mix of metal, growl, epic and folk. But I can't help feeling that the symphonic elements would sound so much better as real orchestral recordings rather than the obvious keyboard sound. I bought the previous album on first listen. Is this one better? I've not decided yet. Extra marks for great cover art though.
★★★★☆

Helion Prime - Helion Prime : I'm not sure why so many albums feature '50s-style sci-fi imagery, but I'm not complaining. The cover gives a clue about the subject matter of this album, heavy with space adventure and current science theories. The music is powerful but melodic with multi-tracked female vocals, a mix that works brilliantly well for me. Re-release, originally self-published earlier in the year.
★★★★★

Elm Street - Knock 'Em Out With a Metal Fist : I've been listening to this for a couple of weeks, it somehow missed being listed here sooner. This is only the second full-length album from the Melbourne band as Elm Street (previously one album as Raid) Musically this is old-school metal verging on thrash. Vocals are growled but not in such an extreme way. I love it, and the previous album and EP are just as good.
★★★★☆

As usual, these and all of the new rock / metal releases I discover are in my New Rock and Metal Releases Spotify playlist. Sort it by date order to bring the most recent to the top.

First New Rock / Metal Releases first half Aug 2016

This is a real week for bluesy rock-n-roll. There's Blues Pills – Lady In Gold which you'll love if you love Halestorm. Then a surprise (to me) new release from Blackfoot - Southern Navive. Slightly weird situation; I'm not sure what's wrong with Rickey Medlocke but he's no longer playing, just 'shepherding' the new band. It's good solid stuff but I'm not sure I like the cleaner vocal sound.

Then there's the Dead Dasies album - Make Some Noise. Initially I was a bit stand-offish with it because I've been seeing heavy advertising for this album all over the place for months. Not sure why that turns me off but it does. Now I'm listening to it and wow.... It has everything that the Blackfoot album is missing; the upbeat boogie-woogie, the driving rhythms, the dirty, lived-in vocals.

It had gone into the recent favourite albums playlist when not even half way through. Five stars from me.
★★★★★

If you like a little bit more metal with your  rock'n'roll then there's Jackyl - ROWYCO. These are the guys who gave us the genius that is the chainsaw solo.
★★★☆☆

For solid metal there's Necromancing the Stone - Jewel of the Vile. Besides the puns, they have driving metal, verging on old-school thrash in places, in a Kvelertak kind of way.
★★★★☆

And back to the more melodic, Brick - Faceless Strangers. Sounding a little more American than Scandinavian (I'm getting Trucker Diablo.) Am I hearing a hint of boogie-woogie piano in there? Low in the mix but I'm sure it's there. And cowbell!
★★★★☆

Iron Savior - Titancraft : I recommend this if, like me, you're a fan of old-school metal. Besides outstanding music, there's a whole backstory, this and other Iron Savior albums are based on a sci-fi / Atlantis story.
★★★★☆

Infinite Spectrum - Hunter of the Dark : I'm a fan of H P Lovecraft and one of my favourite albums is the proggy Non-Euclidean Spaces by Anthropia. This is a very similar album. Complex music and an album based on a Lovecraft story.
★★★★★

Notable recent rock and metal releases mid-end July 2016

Dust Bolt - Mass Confusion : Good proper old thrash metal. Love it.
★★★★☆

Orbs - Past Life Regression : Described in some places as progressive, it's a nu-progressive rather than traditional prog rock or metal. I love the creativity in the music and the subject matter, albeit a bit twisted and disturbing at times.
★★★★☆

Defecto - Excluded : Good solid heavy metal with a hint of the orchestrals. And proper old-fashioned guitar solos, it's so good to still hear those from time to time. The vocals vary from clean to growl (not too much of the latter). In places I can hear a James Hetfield influence. Maybe a little bit 'nu'. I see that this is their first full-length album. But it sounds very mature in sound and songwriting. This is excellent stuff. But then they're Scandinavian. What is it about that part of the world that produces such great music?
★★★★☆

Hammers of Misfortune - Dead Revoltution: I read somewhere that the band thinks they're too proggy for the metallers and too metal for the proggers. I love this album *because* it's prog and it's metal. And it has cowbell. great sounds and great writing. This is a keeper.

★★★★★