Notable new releases, mid Nov 2016

The big release this time (the big release of 2016) is Metallica - Hardwired....  : I bought it right away,  but then I would have done whatever the content because it's Metallica and I've been with them since the mid 80s. The album consists of 2 'discs', or 3 if you buy the deluxe version. The first two consist of new songs, 6 per 'disc' (meaningless if you buy electronically). The third has the already-known Lords of Summer, along with three covers and a load of live stuff.

It's more of Metallica doing what they do, and I mean that in the best way. The three singles that we've heard already are clearly very strong songs and were full of promise. After a few listens, the album sounds like a very well-engineered continuation of Death Magnetic with a few nods to earlier albums. For me it goes off a little during the second disc. I'm not a fan of the 'slow and heavy'. But the thrash returns with a vengeance as the disc finishes off with Spit Out the Bone, which is like an ace they'd kept up their sleeve.

The covers are the Ronnie Rising medley, previously released on the RJD tribute album, Purple's When a Blind Man Cries (standing in for Nothing Else Matters pt. whatever) and Maiden's Remember Tomorrow. All excellent stuff. I'm not a fan of live but I'm enjoying listening through the selection on the third disc. Mostly early stuff (all from the first two albums if I'm not mistaken, except for Hardwired). It gets 5 rather than 4.5 simply because it's Metallica. I don't care if that doesn't make sense to anyone else.
★★★★★

Also moving me in the last couple of weeks:

Sirenia - Dim Days of Dolor : I do love a bit of symphonic metal, and this has it all, proper operatic vocals (new singer Emmanuelle Zoldan), proper orchestra and choir, growled vocals. There's plenty of variation which makes for an enjoyable and interesting listen.
★★★★☆

(Symphonic metal fans also note: Dark Sarah - The Puzzle, a continuation of concept album Behind the Black Veil. And Diabulus in Musica - Dirge for the Archons)

(Steve Grimmett's) Grim Reaper : I was almost as excited about this as the Metallica release and for similar reasons. A new Grim Reaper album. Unmistakeable and brilliant.
★★★★★

Toby Knapp  - The Atchitect of Paradox :  I've never really been mad about Guitar Heroes (the games or the actual heroes). This is an album of guitar-based instrumentals, and I've found myself playing it again and again.
★★★★☆

Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons - (self-titled) : Phil Campbell was loyal to Motorhead and Lemmy for a lot of years. Without Lemmy's Rickenbacker, vocal chords and input, this isn't going to be anything like Motorhead, and it's probably right that Campbell and his sons (no word on whether they're actually bastards) find its own direction. Powerful rock, clean vocals.
★★★☆☆

Sixx:A.M. - Prayers for the Blessed Vol 2 : I'm feeling less warm about these two volumes than about Modern Vintage. I'm not sure whether it just needs time, I'll reserve judgement on this one because I've heard some good sounds as I've listened through and I want to like it.

I must give another mention to the Avenged Sevenfold album The Stage, I gave it a solid 4 in the last post, but this is another one that I've found myself playing again and again and liking it more and more. I have to upgrade that one to a 5
★★★★★

As usual, all music I've listened to goes into my New Rock and Metal releases playlist. Note that I now archive this off to leave only the more recent ones in there. For the older ones, see my 2016 rock  / metal releases playlist. Just sort that one by date to see the most recent at the top.

Notable Recent Rock / Metal Releases, start of Nov 2016

After a little bit of a fallow period, maybe, the last week or two has seen some excellent releases (and some purchases on my part).

Top of the list is Testament - Brotherhood of the Snake : They've been thrashing since the early days of Metallica, Megadeth et al. But I've never paid them much attention, which is my loss. I'm off to see them tonight (Nov 5) along with Amon Amarth and excited about that. If they play this entire album I won't be disappointed, every track has merit. If I can't buy a tee-shirt I will be disappointed, because the artwork is as epic as the music. An easy 5 out of 5 and purchased. [later update: I did get the tee shirt, the sound sucked a bit, which is a shame and often the way with second on the bill. But an excellent show otherwise, a great night.]
★★★★★

I've been looking forward to Graham Bonnet - The Book too. Rainbow's Down to Earth is one of my all-time favourite albums. For me, his voice is up there with Dio's as one of the great voices of Rock. The new songs are quality songs and at (unbelievably) age 68 his voice sounds almost as great as ever. There's a bonus disc containing covers of songs from his history (including three from the Rainbow album). It's become a bit of a trend for artists to re-record classic songs, I'm not sure that it always works, but the ones in question here sound pretty faithful generally. New guitarist Conrad Pesinato doesn't try to do Ritchie Blackmore but does entirely his own thing. The result is some worthwhile new versions of these songs.
★★★★★

Avenged Sevenfold - The Stage : The marketing campaign for this album involved some conspicuous secrecy, I'm not sure that worked because the album hasn't been as well-received as the last one. But I like it, lots of hooks and very listenable. Notable is the final and 15-minute track, Exists, which features a Carl Sagan-type speech from Neil deGrasse Tyson.
★★★★☆


As usual, all music I've listened to goes into my New Rock and Metal releases playlist. Note that I now archive this off to leave only the last couple of weeks-worth in there. For the older ones, see my 2016 rock  / metal releases playlist. Just sort that one by date to see the most recent at the top.

Notable recent rock and metal releases - end Sept 2016

As usual, below is just a selection of some of my favourite releases. All music I've listened to goes into my New Rock and Metal releases playlist. Note that I now archive this off to leave only the last couple of weeks-worth in there. For the older ones, see my 2016 rock  / metal releases playlist. Just sort that one by date to see the most recent at the top.

King 810 - La Petite Mort or a Conversation with God : This sounds like Faith No More have become *really* pissed off about something. That's my best stab at describing the sound/style but it makes you sit up and take notice when something truly original comes along. Maybe this isn't a new style but it's not like anything I've heard before. The anger is difficult to take for an entire album, but in smaller doses it's great.
★★★☆☆

Sixtynine - You are Me : A fresh sound, nicely oldschool and a wide variety of styles from almost unplugged to Foos-style rockout. The first time I heard it I starred it for another listen, by the third listen it was in the favourite albums of 2016.
★★★★★

Allegaeon - Proponent for Sentience : It's prog/thrash/symphonic/death metal all rolled into one. I'm not keen on growled vocals but it's not all growled and musically it's an awesome album. The last couple of tracks were a surprise, with a switch to clean vocals. I assume the switch relates to the story, which has to do with machine sentience and them quite rightly deciding to destroy us.
★★★★★

Charred Walls of the Damned - Creatures Watching Over the Dead : Supergroup that seems to have come out of Iced Earth featuring Richard Christy, Steve DiGiorgio, Tim "Ripper" Owens and Jason Suecof. Delightfully heavy with the excellent vocals you'd expect from Owens.
★★★★☆

Devin Townsend Project - Transcendence : No Ziltoid this time, but more of that huge epic sound and great songwriting.
★★★★☆

Ghost BC - Popestar : I've been waiting for this release but I have to say that the songs (all covers) don't grab me as much as previous original work has. Maybe it needs more listens.
★★★☆☆

Lordi - Monsterophonic : Another one I've been looking forward to. I thought they'd shaken off the Eurovision legacy. There is still the odd anthematic chorus that sounds as if it's designed for the popfans who like to put on a New Look leather jacket and pretend that they're into metal. But for the most part it's genuine honest stuff.
★★★☆☆

Notable rock and metal releases , end of August 2016

Have the recent releases been abundant with good thrash metal or have I just been noticing them because that's the mood I've been in?

My Regime - Dogmas : Singer/guitarist Spice has some frustrations and says "I can't think of a better way than to express it through some good old thrash songs... Thrash the way it was in the beginning. Fast, angry and raw." As he says, it's old-school thrash, done well.
★★★★☆

Paradox - Pangea : The seventh album from German band Paradox (going back to mid-eighties). I really like the slightly agitated, quite high-pitched vocals. Who do they remind me of? Flotsam and Jetsam maybe. If I remember I'll edit this. Quality. A keeper.
★★★★★

Helstar - Vampiro : Still with the thrash, but with a black theme this time, or rather (going by the song titles and album name) a vampire theme / atmosphere. Which for the record are the best and sexiest monsters and I would willingly offer my neck if I met one. Although I'd probably then be like Bradd Pitt in Interview with The Vampire and live on rats because I couldn't bear to kill another person. Anyway, immortal music!
★★★★☆

Vicious Rumors - Concussion Protocol : I'm starting to feel that a theme of a planet breaking apart indicates a great thrash album. (see also Pangea by Paradox in this post and previously Destruction, Under Attack and I'm sure there are more). There's also something noticeable about the bands who've been around for a long time (also applies to Paradox) I don't know whether it's the tightness from musicians with long experience or something old-school in the style but you can spot the longevity in the sound alone.
★★★★☆



Meshiaak - Alliance of Theives : Debut album from a new Australian band (although formed from some accomplished musicians). Sounding timeless but with some modern metal polish. Mixed feelings; it's heavy and it moves, but I'm not sure I like the newer flavours.
★★★☆☆

I've enjoyed Michael Sweet's album, One Sided War. Brilliant vocals, skilful guitar work. Hard rock / classic metal. The Christian theme isn't so 'in your face' as with his band Stryper.
★★★★☆

Running Wild - Rapid Foray : Pirate metal done a little more seriously than the brilliant Alestorm. (If you can play at being pirates more seriously.) Great songwriting on some engaging themes and some very listenable music from a another band that's been around for aeons. I feel this is going to become a firm favourite.
★★★★★

Going back a week or two there's Sabaton doing more of what they do so well with The Last Stand. Solid metal with a 'we were heroes' theme. They've done something novel with the track The Lost Battalion, use sampled period guns and explosions for drums. Overall the sound can get a little samey but it's a good sound.

An honourable mention for SkeletonWitch - The Apothic Gloom. It's a teeny bit on the doomy and growly side of my taste, but I've enjoyed this particular album from them.


As always, all of the rock and metal releases that I like go into the 'New Rock and Metal Releases' spotify playlist.

I've begun a new system. They've been piling up in there, which is OK as you can sort by date to bring the newest to the top. but each week I'm now moving some older ones out into a 2016 rock and metal releases playlist, so the 'new' one just has the last couple of weeks-worth and is a more playable playlist.

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.
★★★★★