metalmaniac777

Is that a new one? I owned 2 of their discs and liked them... even though the message got a bit much at times. The vocals were sort of "eerie" and reminded me a little of Vain. Not a bad band... what's this one like? I believe "Last Chance to Breathe" was released last year sometime, not exactly sure when. I don't own their earlier albums, but this one shouldn't bother you at all with their lyrics...I can only remember one song being semi-overt in its Christianese...the other songs were pretty vague/generic, if you know what I mean; trust me, mate, you won't be put off by the lyrics. The lead vocalist does have a unique sound, and Vain ain't a bad comparison (vocally, not musically). Like I said, this is the first album by them I've purchased and I'm quite happy with it. Sounds like a million bucks (courtesy of producer Travis Wyrick) and has that riff-driven modern hard rock sound you & I both love. Imagine the band Red with Davy Vain on lead vocals and you have a rough idea of what this album sounds like.

Few bands as perfectly encapsulate what the 80s hard rock scene was all about as Lion. The looks, the guitars, the hooks, the choruses, the vocals...they had it all. Not my favorite group by any stretch of the imagination, but they're nowhere near the bottom of the list either. Here's how I voted in this poll: 1. "Dangerous Attraction" 2. "Hard and Heavy" 3. "Lock up Your Daughters"

Latest acquisitions... SPOKEN: "Last Chance to Breathe" (very good modern Christian hard rock/metal) PRETTY MAIDS: "Wake Up to the Real World" (not bad, but expected better) PRIVATE LINE: "Evel Knievel Factor" (excellent, must-own for Wig Wam fans)

Being the horror buff that I am, I picked up "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning" (Uncut) DVD the other day. A good bit more grisly/gory than the R-rated theatrical version, with nearly every kill having at least a few seconds of chunky red stuff added back in. With some of the uncensored shots of the chainsaw ripping through people's guts, it's not hard to see why this version was originally slapped with the NC-17 rating. Not for the weak-stomached, but a pretty solid watch for the gore-lovin' hardcore horror fan.

"Hear!" is one of those truly-beloved CDs in my collection. Every time I take a long road trip, I make sure this CD is along for the ride...a great driving CD, IMO. As others have mentioned, the abysmal production on the debut absolutely kills it. It didn't use to bother me, but production values have come so far since the late 80s that now the debut just sounds really piss-poor to my ears, to the point where I almost can't stand to listen to it. About the only 2 songs I still like are "Surrender" and "You'll Never See Me Crying." "Hear!" just has that rich, powerful, beefier production. (It saddens my hard rock-lovin' heart to hear that production and think of what could have been with the debut... ) I remember buying "Hear!" when it came out and being absolutely stunned at how much better it sounded. Night & day. Anyway, here are my picks: 1. "Hear!" 2. "Surrender" (lousy production, but a great ballad) 3. "Nobody's a Hero," followed very, very closely by "Power of Love"

I'm currently working with my lawyer to see if there's any way I can sue him and make some money. I'm not proud. I've got mortgage payments to make.

OK, I admit my curiosity is piqued. A seller on eBay, Hellbilly82, is selling an Anxiety: "If I Were" CD and he "borrowed," word for word, my review of the CD from the Comments section of this site to use in his auction description. Here's a link to my review (I'm M. Allen, BTW)... Anxiety Review.... ...and here's a link to the auction: Anxiety eBay auction I'm not really mad--imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? RIGHT??--but I am curious to know who bootlegged my review. It's obvious someone familiar with this site...anybody know who it is? Anybody want to 'fess up? Enquiring--and curious--minds want to know.

"Saints and Sinners" is not only the best Kane Roberts album, it's one of the best melodic hard rock albums of all time. Easily one of my top ten favorite CDs. Perfect in every way. And I do mean perfect...every song is great. Sure, some are better than others, but any song, taken on its own, is simply fantastic. My favorite song was, is, and I believe always shall be "Does Anybody Really Fall in Love Anymore." As for the debut...well, I no longer own it, and it's been so long since I heard it that I don't really remember the songs, so I chose not to vote.

Guess I'm one of the lucky ones. Mr. Levine (aka 0313ja) recently won a Blonz CD I put on eBay and paid promptly, no problems. Then again, the CD was only $1.00, so maybe he could actually afford that purchase...

As a follow-up, this guy did come through with payment finally, so all's well that ends well, I guess.

A poll of one of the greatest, most-consistent melodic hard rock bands on the planet? Sweeeeeeeeeeet!! Not really a fan of their very early stuff, but from "Jump the Gun" on, they have never released a bad album, may even be genetically incapable of releasing a bad album, something buried in their DNA literally blocking such a travesty from ever occuring. Sure, "Planet Panic" is the worst of their more recent output, but as Geoff pointed out, it hardly qualifies as "bad." Every CD has had some pure gems, and in their prime ("Sin Decade," "Scream," "Spooked"), nearly ever song they released was a gem. Tough choice between the three I just mentioned, but I voted for "Sin Decade," which pretty much encompasses everything I love about melodic hard rock/metal. But if it's better than "Scream" or "Spooked," it's by nothing more than the skin of its teeth. Few and far between are the bands that can find the balance between rocking hard and maintaining real melody, but Pretty Maids seems to pull it off effortlessly. Great band, great poll.

In the mail today... TRIVIUM: "The Crusade"

Not saying this guy is a good or bad buyer (though I can tell you which way I'm leaning), just wondering if anybody has heard of him or dealt with him or knows anything about him. After posting my last update (The Metal Sanctuary), he immediately emailed me asking for some CDs and stated he would pay immediately. I sent him the total...then waited 4 days, at which time I emailed him asking if he still wanted the CDs. At this point he said he would pay on 12/28, over a week away at the time, but I agreed. On 12/28 he emailed me and said he would pay within 24 hours. It is now 12/30 and I have received no payment. For the record, I emailed him and told him he had until tomorrow to pay me or I would offer the CDs to others who were interested or put them on eBay. So, I'm not really asking for advice on how to handle the guy, just basically wondering who has any information on him. I'm curious if anyone else has crossed his path and how their experience turned out.

The first "Silent Night, Deadly Night" is an 80s slasher classic, despite all the negative publicity it received. I always dig out my VHS tape this time of year and throw it in the old VCR. Watching crazy Billy in his Santa suit lopping heads off with that axe while screaming "Naughty!" just brings a warm, fuzzy glow to the cockles of my heart. Let's not forget Linnea Quigley being impaled on the deer antlers! There were deer antlers in that scene? All I remember are those jiggling norks!!

In the mail yesterday... IN FLAMES: "Reroute to Remain" Decent stuff if you're into the extreme/screamcore-metal scene, but just not my cup of tea.

The first "Silent Night, Deadly Night" is an 80s slasher classic, despite all the negative publicity it received. I always dig out my VHS tape this time of year and throw it in the old VCR. Watching crazy Billy in his Santa suit lopping heads off with that axe while screaming "Naughty!" just brings a warm, fuzzy glow to the cockles of my heart.

Keel: "The Right to Rock" is not a perfect album by any means (that didn't happen until their self-titled release), but I still voted for it, mainly for nostalgic reasons. In the late 80s, the song "Right to rock" was one of my favorite anthems, and I wore out countless tapes playing it ad nauseum, until even my best friends refused to ride in my car for fear of having to listen to the song again. (At least that's what they said...personally, I think they were scared of my driving.) For the second half of the poll, it was a no-brainer--STRYPER: "Soldiers Under Command." Their next album, "To Hell With the Devil," put them on the mainstream map, but it was "Soldiers..." that cemented their place as the leaders of the Christian glam/hair-metal movement. Love that CD.

Pretty much a pitch-perfect melodic rock album. For the purposes of this poll, I picked "With a Little Love," but I probably could have randomly selected any song and at some point in time it was my favorite. One of the few CDs I own that gets played at least once a week, sometimes more. As I noted in the "Mood Swings" poll, I think "Mood Swings" has some better songs, but in terms of overall quality (i.e., no fillers), the debut takes the cake. A melodic rock masterpiece if ever there was one.

I know Stryper was (and still is) the butt of a lot of jokes ("Bumblebees for God"), but I love the hell, er, heck, out of the band, and voted for "Yellow & Black Attack." In the second half, I cast the sole (at this time, anyway) vote for Sinner: "Danger Zone." One of my favorite metal bands, criminally-underrated, IMO.

Latest acquisitions... P.O.D.: "Greatest Hits--The Atlantic Years" EIGHTEEN VISIONS: s/t HEDLEY: s/t PAUL STANLEY: "Live to Win" TIGERTAILZ: "Bezerk 2.0"

Had an early Christmas with some of the family and received these DVDs: HELLSING (complete box set) MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III EVIL ALIENS DOG BITES DOG THE NEST THE SWORD AND THE MOON DETONATOR DAYWATCH

LEATHERFACE: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III

Yeah, me to...phenomenally boring. Given how much most melodic hard rock fans like this, I guess my ears just hear something different. "Wave Goodbye to a Friend" is absolutely awesome, the rest is a bunch of dull, derivative Bon Jovi b-sides. The only reason I would pay more than $25 for it would be so I could turn around and sell it and use the money to buy a whole shitload of CDs actually worth listening to.

Great albums, one and all, but Skid Row gets my vote...I'm a sucker for that hard-edged, attitude-drenched commercial metal sound.

Latest acquisitions... BRIDE: "Skin for Skin" (their best since "Snakes...") DAUGHTRY: s/t (good, solid modern rock) ANIMAL: "Violent New Breed" (kickass metal) SKIN KANDY: "Matters of the Flesh" (excellent sleaze/glam indie)