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On 3/17/2020 at 9:26 AM, Geoff said:

1    .    Change the World     -      solid opener, but doesn't do much for me. Simple and repetitive. 
2    .    Aftershock     -   better than the opener but doesn't stack up too well to repeated spins. 
3    .    Searching for Meaning     -     kind of like the opener. A little annoying in it's simplicity and repetitiveness. But okay.
4    .    The Death of Me     -      Song four and the album commences. HS as I know them best - good, catchy stuff.
5    .    Mother of Invention     -       Great ballad and a nice pair of gems. 
6    .    No Man's Land     -       and ouch. Filler territory arrives. I can do without this track and the name is fitting. 
7    .    In the Unknown     -        another cool tune - I like this. 
8    .    Riot in My Head     -      basic, simple and just not really into it. Second filler for me. 
9    .    No Me Without You     -      simple is the order of the day but this is a good one. I dig this tune. 
10    .    Fire & Gasoline     -      sadly, for me a couple of fillers close out the album. Still not a bad tune, but not great at all. 
11    .    Swallowed by the Machine     -      weak closer that I can't get into.

Overall, it's decent but not my favourite HS album or close to it. A couple of great tunes, but a few that are just making up numbers too. I always enjoy HS and this is no exception but I'm not floored by this album. 

I find myself agreeing with you a lot lately....Not sure if that's a good or bad thing 

Agree on this release though.  Gave it a few spins and it just was doing nothing for me for whatever reason.  I gave the last album a lot of play but no desire to even purchase this one.  

There's only 2 or 3 tunes here I'll come back to.  Just kind of a lot of simple, fillerish stuff.

17 hours ago, PeterS said:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

This site worth following. Not only is this thing not contained I've had to look up where some of the countries it's reached are. It's basically everywhere. Which makes you realise quite how small the world is these days. 


 

Very interesting.  

2 hours ago, Geoff said:

I think the biggest issue with this whole thing is definitely so many people panicking. The virus is dangerous to the elderly and those with pre-existing health-related conditions, and they're the ones that should be receiving the care.

Every young, fit person with a runny nose taking all our toilet paper and taking hospital beds they probably don't need is the issue (not as much as issue here, yet, as it is in Europe). Experts have been saying that this virus is little more than a mild cold for 80% of us. So if everyone stopped panicking and concentrated on looking out for and caring for those most vulnerable, things wouldn't have got so stupid. 

I personally think that shutting the country down will have far, far worse effects than the virus would... if humans weren't a bunch of selfish, illogical gronks. 

Apologies if this offends, but this thing has brought out the absolute worst in humans, and just as we'd all still have plenty of toilet paper if every selfish fucker hadn't gone out and bought them all, this virus probably wouldn't have gone so ridiculous if care for those who actually need it had been prioritised instead of the hordes of people that don't need it. But that would require some common decency, which appears not to exist. 

And the way this has been handled by the media is an absolute disgrace. No excuse for people to act like fucking morons in their panic, but the media are the fuckers inciting this panic. And I acknowledge to my balls that the government have a mammoth task on their hands, but on one hand telling everyone to stay calm and live life normally, and on the other hand shutting the entire country down - there's a stark contradiction there. And again, it just gives the idiots more to panic about. 

Anyway, my summary is that if those amongst us that will only be mildly affected by this virus just acted with common sense (do your little self-quarantine thing for a fortnight if you get it) , and left the required care for the elderly available it'd be so much simpler. But that's not how humans work. They take all the toilet paper from families that actually need it, and they'll take all the healthcare they can for their stupid little runny fucking noses, while an elderly couple die alongside their hospital bed. 

Man this thing has shown humans for the despicable bunch of cunts they are, and it's embarrassing for the logical to have to share this planet alongside them. 

Exactly my thoughts.

I've been wondering a lot if the whole social/financial impact is worse than the actual virus itself.  I mean, I think I'd rather just have the virus for a few days and be back to normal life than sit isolation for 2-3 months and watch life dwindle down to nothing, taking years to probably recover.  On the flip side though, I guess we might get the same result if everybody got sick....Life would still crash down as stuff would still need to close if everybody were sick.  So I guess we're damned either way.

It still boggles my mind just how little we've generally heard about the "regular" flu over the years.  I mean, I honestly had no idea how deadly the flu itself has been until this thing started and I went looking for some data.  I mean, when I look at the numbers, this Corona is nothing but a pimple on the flu's behind.  So why don't we quarantine like this every year to stave off the flu?  And these numbers are just in the USA!  The Corona cases in the world to date wouldn't even make a dent in any of these annual figures.   I know it's the whole fear of the unknown thing but if you ask me, we have a much bigger problem out there than Coronoa...  

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html

At the end of the day, IMO the right answers are to still function but try functioning smartly.  But like you said, there are a lot of people that have trouble with being smart.  

Well....I guess I'm obviously bias since these guys are probably my favorite band going right now but I love everything about this album and for my tastes it's light years better than anything else so far this year.  

For me, Dangerous Ground, Come Clean, One By One and Rise are all "10" songs....Just fantastic. 

I'd probably give Under The Gun and Nothing to Say something around 8-8.5.  And all the rest either 9 or 9.5.  I really dig We Are Gods...Just different than anything else they've done and dig the menacing vibe.

I'd agree it's still behind Address The Nation and Tearing Down The Walls....But I'd put it ahead of the last album.  Don't get me wrong though, I still liked the last album a lot.  There's a few tunes on it though that do very little for me which is what knocks it down (We Rule, Time On Our Side and Do You Want It).  I do agree too that it was an interesting and varied album though.

Either way, for me it makes 4 great albums in a row!

I didn't go but was following along as I loved these events when Andrew brought them to the USA and was hoping they'd return under the new ownership that Andrew sold the rights to in the future.

Yeah, it sure looks like there were problems and that the new organizers got in over their heads.  The clearly bit off more than they could chew and probably didn't have the funds to be able to finance the event and pay some of the bands.  And likely ticket sales didn't go as well as they had hoped.

That said, I think probably some positive words need to be said for them continuing with the event and finding an alternate location and still putting forward what appeared to be a decent festival.  Kudos probably also need to go out to all the artists that performed there because no telling if they actually got or will get the funds they were promised.  A band like Midnite City probably could've easily pulled the plug so props to them for making the trip and playing.

Hopefully lessons were learned and we see Melodic Rock Fest events continue in the future.

I gotta say I had paid zero attention to these guys for whatever reason...maybe the name lol.

But after seeing they were touring with Shiraz Lane and their new album was produced by Jona Tee, I thought I'd give them a listen.

I've been in a kinda rough mood toward releases so far this year as not much besides H.e.a.t has really peaked my interest this year.  I don't know why....Maybe just looking for something a little different.  This has peaked my interest though....Sampled most of it on You Tube and liked just about everything I heard.  Shiraz seems like a decent comparison....Or maybe Shiraz Lane and Kissin' Dynamite tossed in a blender.  I'm digging the production elements though....Hooks, backing/gang vocals, etc.  But still heavier and has some balls! (no pun intended lol).  

Anyways, think I might pick this one up and dive into it.

6 hours ago, Glen said:

seems like you only like HEAT these days

Well...There's some truth to that 

Having a tough time stacking other stuff up against it at the moment.  I mean, I'm not trying to put this album down in any way but for me, there's at least 4 songs on H.e.a.t (and maybe 5-6 songs) that I like better than whatever I'd say is my favorite song here (probably Aftershock right now).

Maybe it's just me but even trying to be objective I still feel like this is quite a bit weaker than United.  There were 6-7 songs on United I really dug and I played that album a lot.  Here I'm only getting that vibe with 3-4 songs.

It's early though and I'll see what happens as run through it a few more times.

Gave this a listen...gotta say it just isn't overwhelming me.

I do dig Aftershock, Searching For Meaning and Death of Me.  And no Man's Land is pretty good.  Those are definitely some solid tunes.

Rest though just kinda there and not that memorable for me.  Now granted, only been through one time so maybe more listens changes my mind.  Basically, the second half just sorta lost my attention for whatever reason.

On 2/13/2020 at 12:17 AM, whiplash1972 said:

Title track.... 

Had missed this when it came out and just got around to checking it out.

Not overly doing much for me.

I've been a little up and down with this band over the years for whatever reason.  United was great but this new one isn't feeling like an automatic preorder for me.  I liked the first single but I may need to hear this before deciding to buy or not.

Good, solid start.

Have high expectations for this release.  Expecting it to be a top 5 album for me this year.

Their first album was one that was sort of a roller coaster for me.  I remember initially not caring much for it after my first listen.  I think I was expecting something heavier and a few tunes kinda threw me at first.  But it really grew on me after a few listens and still gets regular spins.

Should be an excellent release.

Putting the tunes in order for me:

1. Rise
2. Come Clean
3. One By One
4. Dangerous Ground
5. Adrenaline
6. We Are Gods
7. Heaven Must Have Won An Angel
8. Rock Your Body
9. Victory
10. Nothing To Say
11. Under The Gun

Now 1-4 would probably all be "10" songs for me and it's splitting hairs between them.  Songs 5-7 would all be in the 9-9.5 range as I still really dig them all but just a tiny notch below the first 4.  I'd probably put Rock Your Body and Victory as about 8.5 songs and the last two at 8.

Overall, just freaking love it.  I know it's probably too early to say it but If I had to list my favorite albums of the past 5 years, this would be a strong contender for #1.

25 minutes ago, Geoff said:

Interesting post. 

I was really pleasantly surprised by this album. A couple of dud tracks, but generally it's really, really listenable and I enjoy the majority of the songs. Nice and cleanly produced, good vocals and good vibe. It's a good release.

But.

HEAT shits all over this and then regurgitates it's own shit and heaps it back on to this... in my opinion.

Why do you want people to miss out on this? Don't you want people to also appreciate and buy it so they release more music? That's such an odd comment. It makes me think that you force yourself to like less popular stuff just because it's less popular rather than because of how good or bad it is? 

To each their own, but I definitely don't think it's catchier or hookier than HEAT. Nor is HEAT samier. In my opinion. They're very different albums and excellent at what each band is out to achieve. 

Anyway, glad you enjoy this. I do too. I just hope a tall poppy syndrome thing isn't creepy into your take on this vs HEAT. I've always had a real issue with people taking exception with more popular stuff just because it's more popular. This is good, HEAT is excellent. In my opinion. No harm in just enjoying both for the two very different albums they are.   

Agree.

Couldn't agree more actually.  Yeah, it's an okay debut release and decent surprise.  There's a few tunes I really dig like Promiseland, Merry Go Round, Lullaby.  And Big Shot, In It For Love aren't too bad.  Basically, I like the more up tempo, rocking stuff and they sound great on those tunes.

That said, also a few real duds here that almost make me regurgitate.  There's just too much Country Twang in a couple tunes and I doubt I'll ever listen to a few of these songs again.  Basically, this album loses me a bit in the last third of the album as that seems to be where the Country stuff kicks in.   

And yes, this is nowhere near H.e.a.t's league for me.  Not even in the same stratosphere.  Basically, there's about an EP's worth of decent stuff here.  I see myself probably mostly listening to the first 5 tunes and then moving on.

Worth checking out but not anything that will come close to touching H.e.a.t or many of the other good releases coming this year.  

1 hour ago, Geoff said:

Jeez this has some balls. Can't think of a band at the moment that mixes balls and melody as well as they've achieved on this. Good lesson for the likes of Dynazty and Jaded Heart etc. to show that you don't need to abandon melody to make a heavier LP. 

Purely first impressions;

Rock Your Body - bit of an odd opener in it's simplicity. But by the second or third chorus I was really into this. Very catchy chorus, despite how basic it is. I can see this being a grower. But it's a very basic opener.

Dangerous Ground - very close to absolute perfection. Monster song.

Come Clean - also very close to perfection.

Victory - first of three kind of chanty hard rockers. But very cool. I do like this one, despite it's inspiro lyrics.

We Are Gods - a pretty cool songs but kind of irritating lyrics. If their tongues are in cheek I kind of missed the memo, but just seems a bit of a toss to me. Still a cool rocker, but one of my least favourite on the album.

Adrenaline - great hard rocker.

One By One - one of my favourites on the album - another killer track.

Nothing To Say - HEAT have never been a ballad band and they don't undo the trend here. It's a good solid song and I prefer it to 'We are the gods,' 'Under the gun' and the opener, but it's the fourth weakest on the album. Maybe third behind the opener. 

Heaven Must Have Won An Angel - another monster hard rocker. Killer.  

Under The Gun - just okay to me. 

Rise - another of the chanty tunes but the best of them. Pretty killer closer to be honest. 

Overall it's a great album. As others have said, about four songs that aren't quite ball tearers, but seven that are... and the weakest four aren't exactly weak. I think it's pretty awesome and it'll be hard to beat this year, I reckon. 

Pretty much echo your thoughts on the songs...Although I do like We Are Gods quite a bit.  I just dig the vibe of it...little different to me than other stuff they've done.  

For me, Nothing To Say and Under The Gun are definitely the weakest moments.  Still okay tunes but just weaker than the rest.  

There's a handful of absolutely classic melodic rockers though that will make for killer additions to their live set.  And Rise is absolutely a gem live as it's one people can easily get into.

And yes, some killer Dave Dalone solos on this that are all perfectly done.  It's just so great that he came back to the band.  Also, seems like Dave and Jona wrote most of the songs here so there's that too.  Erik kinda gets all the accolades as the frontman but the other guys clearly play big parts in the band.

Just a great return to form and I think they tried hard here to give the fans what they wanted after many complaints about the last album being too commercial, experimental or whatever. 

17 minutes ago, The Rocker said:

Mr. Big Shot
Promiseland
Merry Go Round
In It For Love
Lullaby
Midnight Queen
Get Back To You
Won't Stop Me Dreaming
  Are all good to really good songs. Yes, some have a "Country" vibe, also he has a Chad Kroger vibe here and there(which doesn't bother me, but might to some).

Yeah...He was reminding me of somebody and I couldn't put my finger on it....That's it though lol.

They're kinda like Nickelback combined with what I might imagine Bon Jovi sounding like today if Bon Jovi actually tried to still rock instead of just writing sappy adult contemporary ballads.

With all the H.e.a.t excitement, this one will probably fly under the radar as it's out also.

Gave it one spin and I kinda like it.  Not nearly the same level as H.e.a.t and not something I'm get overly excited about.  But not too bad and some decent tunes on it.  There's one or two tunes that are maybe a little too countryish sounding for me which was my worry but also some edgier, more rocking tunes.   

Little different vibe for sure but worth checking out if you've liked the sound of any of the tunes earlier in the thread.  And I believe these guys will be touring with H.e.a.t for some shows when H.e.a.t is in the UK.

1 hour ago, Glen said:

you mean they actually played a TMF song

lucky you lol. 

all we got was D2, Trixter and Rainbow 

Yeah...They played probably 5 or 6 TMF tunes.  Then 2 DD, 2 Trixter and I think one Rainbow song.

I enjoyed hearing Ted doing the DD stuff and Steve doing the Trixter stuff being that Trixter isn't really a thing at the moment.

They also had Danny Vaughn on stage to do Street of Dreams which I thought was pretty cool.

New tune sounded pretty good on the cruise and sure it will sound even better with full production on the album.

They also said the new album will be out in June.

55 minutes ago, Glen said:

jeez I've read so much of God damned reviews and people talking about this album I wish it was just out there.

Fri seems to be taking an age to come 

it's an odd release tho... feel like I know all the songs already after those 1 min clips 

I felt that same way being that I listened to the clips so many times lol.

Still some nuggets to discover though 

13 hours ago, Tabe said:

A remix of "Come Clean" is what they said on Facebook.

Yes, basically a piano version of Come Clean.  Really not worth it for the Japan version IMO.  But, Japan version was worth it for a jewel case instead of a digipak 

I've had a big smile plastered on my face all day today as I'm playing this at work....little different than my normal work face lol.  Have had a few people asking who in the heck I'm listening to and comment that it sounded awesome.  I told them who it was and they're like...."Who?"  

Got my Japan copy of the new one today 

I don't want to say much as I'm sure my initial excitement is overwhelming me.

But damn, I'm loving it!  Basically has everything I'd want from these guys.

I'd say initially Adrenaline is probably my favorite of the songs we hadn't already heard as singles.   But dig every tune here.  We Are Gods is pretty darn cool too!

And for me, Rise is the best album finish I've heard in a long time.  Really dig that tune and closes the album with a bang.

Just freaking fantastic   

On 2/15/2020 at 8:32 AM, Crazysam said:

thanks for sharing, sounds like a great time and such a good lineup again too, enjoy

Back from the boat and finally caught up on some sleep lol.

Was my first time on the cruise and it was just awesome.  It was basically like being at a 12 hour music festival for 5 straight days.

As I said earlier, H.e.a.t was easily the highlight of the cruise.  I guess I'm probably bias, but they were on a different level than anybody else.

The most surprising guys to me (in a good way) were Shiraz Lane.  They also had great energy and their new songs just sounded great live.  And I swear I kept bumping into them everywhere I went so they were obviously out and about the boat a lot and mingling with fans often.  Just really cool, down to earth guys that I'll really be rooting for going forward.

I'd say my third favorite act behind these two was probably Tokyo Motor Fist.  They did a great set of their own stuff, some Trixter stuff and some Danger Danger stuff.  The also debuted a new song called Decadence on 10th Street that sounded pretty good.  Their new album is due out in June.

One other band I also really enjoyed seeing was Cold Sweat.  Marc Ferrari is from basically the same town as me so I always kinda followed his stuff a bit with Keel and Cold Sweat.  Was great seeing both those bands perform.  Cold Sweat also played a previously unreleased song and hinted that more things will be coming from them.

Of course bands like Tesla and Firehouse were great as always but it was the hard to see bands that got me to go.  It was also nice seeing bands like Winger, Tyketto and Lynch Mob who I'd never seen before.

I already know I'm going to want to go again next year but not sure I'll be able to pull it off.  I heard rumors on the ship from people that know people that said that H.e.a.t, Eclipse, Crazy Lixx, Pretty Maids and Shiraz Lane will all be invited to next year's cruise.  Heck, I wouldn't even need any other bands on the ship if those bands were there and that would be very tough to turn down.

1 hour ago, Y&TForever said:

Side note — H.E.A.T KILLED IT on the Monsters of Rock Cruise.   So great to finally see them live after so many years of being a fan....

I'll second that!  I had seen them only twice before at the MRF's in Chicago.  Those shows were awesome also but they definitely turned up the H.e.a.t on the cruise.  We had Erik riding on some guys shoulders though the crowd while singing, stripping down to his trunks and crowd surfing to the pool, jumping in the crowd to sing multiple times and all his other usual energy.  Not to mention, the new songs all sounded fantastic live with Rise being really immense IMO.

I'm a little bias but it sure seemed to me they were the talk of the ship and had many people buzzing that had either never seen them live before or were unfamiliar with them.  And I don't know how many shirts they brought with them but the merch booth was sold out within about 30 minutes.

H.e.a.t and Shiraz Lane were easily my highlights of the cruise.  Both have fantastic songs, energy and are great guys.

Currently on the cruise and just had to chime in.

H.e.a.t absolutely killed it and has many people buzzing on the ship who weren't aware of them.  I've seen then twice previously and this has been the best I've seen them yet.  Erik was just a madman and the 4 new singles all sounded massive live....especially Rise.  

My other huge highlight has been Shiraz Lane.  Wow, they were fantastic and bonus points for being such super cool fellas.  

One thing I found pretty cool was that Joel Alex from Shiraz Lane filled in for Jimmy Jay in H.e.a.t as he didn't make the trip due to having a new baby.  I might not have liked it if I hadnt seen H.e.a.t before but found it a cool opportunity to see something unique.  I have to say that Joel fit in amazingly well.

Been many great moments though and I'm running on fumes lol.  One more H.e.a.t show to go tonight on the pool deck and I'm sure they'll get the attention of a few more people.

4 hours ago, Glen said:

Toby Hitchcock? you'd love that album....basically whole thing was written by Erik Martensson . it's like a WET album

 

Then there is The Magnificent....which defo lives up to its name -

 

Miss Behaviour released their best album with this slice of perfection on it -

And of course Work of Art released the classic most rocking album -

 

That Hitchcock album was one I do remember checking out and almost buying....But never got around to it.  There is some good stuff on that one and I might need to revisit that sometime. 

Work of Art has just never clicked with me.....little too smooth/lite AOR for me or something.

Magnificent was another that I think I missed back then and never did much for me after the fact when I got around to checking it out. 

Miss Behavior okay but not grabbing me much.

Still feel like it was a pretty down year compared to some other years in this decade.