Geoff

I really like the album. Production is immense, and I just like the songs. Instrumental closer is a bit of nothingness, but of the rest there's not a filler on the album. 'Alone' and 'Ain't going back' are my favourite songs on the album, but I also really like 'Loyal to the Lie,' 'Broken on the Inside,' 'Right Side of Wrong' and 'Undone.' No duds, though, and it's a comprehensively good album.

It's a solid CD. Vocals aren't great... I think at times he's probably trying to put forth early WASP vibes? Backing vocals and the general vibe is cool. I guess it's one of those albums that does show a lot of potential, and I'd be looking forward to a more refined product next time around. But it's solid...

If you loved them in the past, I assume you'd love this. If you hated them, you'll hate this. And if you thought they were musically super tight with solid but bland songs, you won't have your mind changed. They sound like they did on day one, make of that what you wish. No keepers on here for me, sadly.

Awesome, thanks! Song is killer, naturally.

Yeah, that’s definitely good news. Could get tricky to juggle the two, and it’ll be weird having two kind of similar style bands with the same lead singer, but let’s see how it goes.

lol, this was my thought process too. What about Confess?! I like both bands, but not at the expense of one of them.

lol, I like Our Last Night. It defo doesn’t sound like a real problem, but that was their excuse. Anything to not release full albums anymore, I guess.

Solid. Not their best, but solid. I was randomly listening to an interview with Our Last Night the other day and they were saying how they would never release a full album again. I think they're exclusively a singles band now. Falling In Reverse too, if I understand correctly. But dude in Our Last Night was saying how most the singles are usually in the first half of an album and people generally switch off after that, and he didn't like the idea of having some of his favourite songs on the second half of an album, being skipped over by potential listeners. I don't know if that's how kids listen to album these days... seems a bit cynical, probably catering towards "fake" fans anyway. Any true fan of a band is going to be dead keen for a full album, always, I would suggest. Anyway, this is an interesting way to do things. I think Lift The Curse also do something similar to this - release a stack of singles and collate an album at the end of it all. It's certainly a different world of music these days...

Quick rundown of the Sydney version, for anyone interested. 1. Shotgun Mistress - bit annoying, but I missed these guys completely due to getting there on time, then standing in non-moving queue for over 10mins. I was pretty hungry and didn't know how the food situation was going to play out, so I ducked across the road to get some Hungry Jacks. Of course, the moment I get my order I look across the road and they'd opened the doors. Anyway, in the end I missed the set completely and it was an annoying start, lol. Don't know what the issue was with the doors not opening, keeping in mind they were meant to open at midday, with first band going on at 12:30pm. I ducked across the road about 12:40pm-12:45pm and doors still weren't open yet. Don't know if the band played to an empty room, or just played a smaller set. In hindsight, wish I'd checked that second stage but when I went inside I just went straight to where the closest live music was as I knew no better. 2. Ablaze - solid set. As noted above, I heard this band this week and they seem pretty solid. Stand out song from the set was a new single, I believe. I forget the name, but I thought that song sounded good. They all looked like they were having fun and it was a good set. 3. The Black Cardinals - it was situations like this where the food situation irked me again. I was semi-interested to see Shotgun Mistress, but could easily have skipped Crosson, or, in hindsight, these guys, to duck out for food. Could have done half their set and half of Crosson's if I wanted to. Oh well. Completely competent band - musically and vocally really strong. Even the songs were good plain hard rock songs. But I didn't know them and I couldn't really get into them. Lead singer seemed irritated about something too and the overall vibe just wasn't great. But a very solid band. 4. Crosson - it is incredible to me that I have now seen this band three times, and I didn't want it to happen once, lol. I'm guessing the guy probably has a good sense of humour off-stage, but to the observer, it looks like he's taking this all so serious, and it's ridiculous. Anyway, good luck to them. Their songs have some catchy hooks, but they're very poor and the theatrics are so cringy. Either way, I always enjoy the dancing girls. If I'm not mistaken, they're the same two from day one? One of them definitely is, at least. 5. Department Of Gloom - not bad at all. Again, a bit tricky as I didn't know the songs, but they were pretty good and I did actually recognise the couple I posted in the thread I created on the forum earlier. I spent the whole set wondering if and hoping they'd throw 'Sister's Crazy' in at the end. They didn't, but close enough. They played 'Danger' from the Candy Harlots days, which was the highlight for me. Good set. They actually went overtime with a cover of 'White Wedding,' thankfully, so I could bail early for the next band. 6. The Cruel Intentions - this is where it began for me. Usually, prior to an event, I always make a big playlist of all the bands I'm seeing to get re-aquainted with them before I see them. Unfortunately (well, it's not unfortunate because I loved it) I had a really big, busy January and am still kind of getting back into the swing of things now, and I just never got around to creating any playlists or anything. I'd listened to a lot of the headliners recently anyway so wasn't too fussed, but the error of my ways shone through here. I loved their set and could kind of recall the songs as the choruses hit, but I would have loved to see this set with the songs fresh on my mind. I actually just really appreciated the no-bullshit straight set of big hard rock songs with cool backing vocals too. Don't know if there was backing track assistance for those "gang" vocals, and I don't care. They were really good. Even the Swedish song was awesome. 7. Sisters Doll - I was so convinced I'd seen these guys before, but it took me about half the set to realise it was Hansel I was thinking of. Not seen these guys, and I was impressed. Not super mad about their music to be honest, but they were a good live band and I don't dislike them. Charismatic frontman, good guitarist and the drummer was my second favourite drummer of the entire day. Massive Tommy Lee vibes, which I'm sure is not an accident. But dude could play, and band was good. I thought the 'God gave rock n'roll to you' cover was a drain, but I liked the rest of the set. Seemed like they got through very few songs, but it was good. Oh, and no bassist. One drummer, two guitarists. Is that how they line up on albums too, or does one of them play bass on albums? Either way, didn't seem to make any difference. I remember seeing Secrets (US post-hardcore band) before covid and they had three guitarists and no bass guitarist (he'd apparently left the band before the tour, I think?) and I remember feeling like it would have been a nice addition to round out the sound with a bass guitarist. Never thought that during Sisters Doll, oddly. 8. Jetboy - wasn't too interested at all to see these guys, but yeah, have to admit, they were so, so much better live than on any of their CDs. They were tight, energetic and the sound quality was spot on. Unfortunately, they came on quite late and mucked up the rotation a bit and as Tyketto were on next on the other stage, I didn't want to muck around and miss the start of their set, so I left when Tyketto were meant to come on. Missed Jetboy's last three songs, and Tyketto didn't end up starting until Jetboy were done anyway. Bit of a bummer, as I saw 'Heavy Chevy' was one of their last few songs, which was a pretty cool song. I am not sure how many of these guys are still original members (is it just the vocalist?), but they were a good live band. Another good frontman too, who just came across as a dude. 9. Tyketto - for some reason I thought it was at least a couple of original members, but only Mr Vaughn, it was. Not to worry, he was awesome and the band was really good too. Like CTS said, he was on point with everything and the setlist included all their classics. I admit I have an over-inflated view of this band because they have two of the best songs in the entire genre, imo, but once you get outside those few ('Standing alone' is an epic ballad too), it gets pretty thin pretty quick. But all the songs they played, apart from 'Lay you body down' and that odd acoustic thing were great. 'Forever young' was the highlight of the day for me. Did not disappoint. Only criticism I'd have is dragging out 'Lay your body down' for probably more than 10mins. Hate that song at the best of times, lol. Thankfully, in Sydney, they played the bigger stage and owned it. 10. Janet Gardner - lol, this was a bit messy. They had a bunch of technical issues at the start, and I'm not sure if that shortened their set? Probably not, but that went on for a bit. Otherwise, I enjoyed it. I actually think Janet sounds better live than on CD at the moment. I also respect that they know they have good enough recent songs to play alongside the Vixen classics. '1985' sounded good - loved that guitar, live. I saw her just before covid and would probably say overall I enjoyed this set more than that one, relatively speaking. Last set was a lot longer, but this was cool. 11. HEAT - time schedule was way out at this point, but these guys came on soon after Janet was finished, rather than blowing it out too much further. Very energetic was Kenny and yeah, I'd agree he was the best frontman of the day/night. Though Danny Vaughn was pretty much on par too. Likeable, friendly dude. In an ideal world I'd have a slightly different track list, but they were very enjoyable anyway. I confess I don't even know 'Demon eyes' off the top of my head, and I thought 'Rock your body,' 'Beg Beg Beg' and 'Back to the rhythm' probably weren't the best from their catalogue to showcase the band. More to the point, I forgot that their biggest hit, I assume, is the monster plodder, 'A shot at redemption.' Gotta say, that was a pretty shit way to end the set, sadly. But I guess if that's their hit, it's their hit. Anyway, the rest of the set was great. 'Cry,' 'Living on the run' and 'One by one' all slayed. Very good live band, of course, but I hope next time they let me pick the set list, lol. And drop that rubbishy 'Redemption' song. 12. Lynch Mob - I saw these guys a few years ago, with Oni Logan, and was sadly disappointed due to a really dreary setlist. I'm happy to say that I preferred this outing, tenfold, even with a singer I don't know. But he was good. A young fella with a good voice, and the songs all sounded true enough to the originals. The Dokken classics were absolute killer too. 'Tooth and nail,' 'The Hunter' (randomly) and 'Into the fire,' for those taking notes. All massive. Good pick from the Lynch Mob tunes too. Not sure what was going on up there, though, with George's guitar dropping out completely three times through the set - first time, mid-solo in 'Tooth an nail.' But he took it all in stride and the band played on and I preferred this set infinitely to when I saw them previously. George sounded killer too. 13. Slaughter - just re-read what CTS said and I'd echo most of that, right down to the weird "thank you"s from Dana. They were good, but at that point the sound was so incredibly loud that I also struggled to identify a couple of songs for a little while... and the cover threw me too. Still got no idea what song it was, lol. A setlist from a recent show indicated that they played 'Immigrant Song' previously, but I don't think it was that this time. I am not sure what it was but with such a small setlist it's a bummer that they include a cover when everyone's clearly out there to see them perform Slaughter songs. The screams were really weird, almost like he's flexing, saying "I can do this if I want and I don't even need to." I'd have thought at his age he'd want to be avoiding unnecessary screams as much as he could, but fair enough. He must have a pretty unique voice box. Anyway, my main complaint about the Slaughter set, in all honesty, would just be the time things took. They could have easily squeezed in two, three or probably four extra songs without a lot of the fluff. Really long outros, really long intros, extended crowd participation moments... I know it's all part of the show, but I just found myself wishing - several times - that they'd just get on with it and play some Slaughter classics. As for the drum solo, it was pretty bloody good... I can kind of see why they included it. Dude is a monster on the kit. And that was it. A massive day out, but thoroughly enjoyed. This was my first live music since Reckless Love pretty much the day before all the lockdowns started, about four years ago. That's a long, long time between live music. And without getting into details, my travel experience kind of reminded me why I despise travelling into Sydney so much. But 100%, I would go to Glamfest again with a desirable line-up. I also notice Melbourne got it a bit better with Wicked Smile, Ragdoll and Cassidy Paris for Sydney's Dept. Of Gloom and Black Cardinals. I should mention that Cassidy Paris did actually join Janet Gardner on stage for 'Edge of a broken heart' too, which was kind of cool. Would definitely have preferred to watch her for a full set over Crosson or Black Cardinals.

I don't believe it's Blas Elias at the moment, which is a bit of a bummer for me as I'd have loved to see him in action, and it makes a drum solo really surprising. If it was Blas I could understand it, but if it's just another dude a drum solo seems really odd.

lol. That's the only thing that's awful? You hate everything anyone ever posts in this site, but all you dislike about this is the vocals? What about the rest of it? I hate the vocals too, but not sure they're standing head and shoulders above everything else that is horrendous about that song.

This all sounds quite solid. Is there an album or place where all these songs come together on the horizon?

That seems quite unnecessary. Don't dig it, personally.

Scariest part of that is that you could actually see that exact scene playing out in reality, should that ever be a real-life scenario. Something that really troubles me in life is blind loyalty. Seeing people who must - surely, for the love of christ - know how fucking useless and sometimes outright horrendous someone is, yet they still blindly defend that person. It's as embarrassing as the person themself. I say this as an Australian who didn't hate our previous prime minister initially, but when he caved in and cowered to the covid insanity he lost the respect of anyone with any amount of decency. He initially came across as a decent chap, and proved to be a spineless, coward piss-ant, completely devoid of reason for defence. I hate each major party (almost) equally, in his wake, but even if I didn't and I was a diehard for one of these political parties, is this honestly a reason to defend a piece of shit? Their political party? Really? I understand blind loyalty to those you love, namely your family. I wholeheartedly get that. But blind, stupid loyalty to anyone else, particularly a politician, makes my face fold into itself in a state of cringe I cannot undo.

lol, bit on confusion there. It's Shotgun Mistress - a local Aussie band. I heard the album this week and was really impressed at how well it was actually produced, but yeah, pretty average songs. Not bad, just a bit average. Solid enough, though, that I'll go in early to see them tomorrow. lol. How come you didn't go, cob? Anyway, thanks for the rundown, CTS. I'm off to see the Sydney version tomorrow afternoon/night. DIdn't realise Ablaze was actually the band your daughter was in. I also heard that along with Shotgun Mistress this week. Both very well produced. Wasn't madly into either but I could definitely imagine a solid fanbase for both on this forum. Going solo, as I always do, I actually love the idea of the bands all being back to back without time to talk. Sounds perfect to me. Having seen Crosson twice, unfortunately, they're the perfect opportunity for a chat, or in my case, probably a feed. No surprise Tyketto were a standout. I get their place on the bill in terms of record sales, I guess, but in terms of quality of band they should definitely be up top. Them HEAT & Slaughter are my drawcards, so glad to hear all were good, though Slaughter stuff sounds a bit weird. But hoping for a solid evening tomorrow too.

lol. Still feel exactly the same about this song and album 20 years later.

I'm sure the song will be much hated, but I'm struggling with this at the moment. As I've stated elsewhere, I am very weary of any more screaming vocals, but as I get sidetracked in life, I found myself binging on a bunch of these "deathcore" bands on youtube yesterday and so much so do I love the music, I think I'm coming around a bit to a few of these bands. It's weird. I'm sick of the screams in the post-hardcore, and even metalcore stuff. But there's something about this that makes me acknowledge it wouldn't probably actually work without the brutal vocals. I just found myself enjoying it for what it is... plus the video's pretty awesome too; I believe both these bands copped a bit of shit back in the day, but I also thought this actual song was really cool too (for those keen eyed, this is not the Attack Attack band a few of us dug from the same era);

Oh wow, very strong debut / first two album type of vibes. I dig that. If I recall correctly I think I remember him saying that some of these tracks were older ones finally recorded and I wonder if surely this must be one of those?

Yeah, it's another good one. Always learn a bit from these, which is cool, even with bands I don't really follow at all.

I never know about upcoming albums until they’re released, 95% of the time, but this is very exciting to me. I remember mentioning something about it last year is some thread everyone probably skipped over, lol.

lol, yeah, nor I. Absolutely no idea who she is. But yeah, pretty interesting stuff. Sad, but interesting.

Oh wow, didn’t know that part of the story, that it was a band member’s girlfriend. Definitely makes things a tad awkward.

Just googled and read this of Phil Bates; In 2022 and 2023, Bates is still gigging extensively with his "Tribute to ELO" throughout Europe as "Phil Bates and Band". He has often appeared live on German, Swiss and Polish TV playing ELO songs. He plays guitar and several other instruments on Les Penning's album Belerion, which was released in December 2016. I wonder how hard they tried to get him involved, and why he opted not to, if he was asked. He seems, to me, like a pretty essential piece in this resurrected puzzle.

On paper this is interesting, but as per the main site, this is the line-up on that awesome debut; Simon Harrison guitars, keyboards Phil Bates lead and backing vocals, guitars, keyboards Paul Hoare bass Andy Duncan drums Chris Taylor keyboards Glen Williams keyboards Andy Van Evans guitars Phil Ridden live drums Tony Mills guest backing vocals So, is Atlantic back, or is Simon Harrison back with a bunch of other guys using the Atlantic band name? Don't mean to be pessimistic and I believe and hope this could be awesome. But seems a bit of a stretch to use the Atlantic name again for this seemingly all-new project.

Cool music video, actually. Didn't know where it was going, considering she's only 15, but I think it stayed legal, didn't it? The sexy part was all in her head? And super interesting... I've actually never seen or heard this one before, but this is the original version of the song from 1990 with their original lead singer. All I can say is thank goodness for the change in personnel.