TIM (2)

Out Now

PAUL SABU - Bangkok Rules (AOR) / Z Records

 

Anyone heard this yet? Supposed to be a bit shite isnt it??

All his recent albums always are, but I've seen a couple of interesting words on this. I bet it is shit, but I'd like to find out by way of ear contact.

I heard a couple of clips of it. Dogs muck.

HOL Sahara is awesome and my fav disc of theirs. There is nothing weak about it. I like the debut but its too AOR for me where the next two had more balls IMO.

Agreed, Sahara is my fav HOL album as well. I love their cover of "Can't Find My Way Home". The debut is fantastic but I would put Sahara at the top.

 

Finally someone else that has good taste like me!

 

I've been talking up Sahara for years and most around here seem to think it's weak when compared to the debut and Demons Down. I also love that cover of "Can't Find My Way Home" and "Remember My Name" has to be one of the best ballad ever and loved that video back in the day when it was on dial MTV. Plus Doug Aldrich played on this album although I've never been sure which songs he played on. Demons Down is an excellent album as well but Sahara has always been my fav.

 

The debut may have been softer, but the debut had 'Edge of Your Life' and 'Hearts of the World', 2 of my absolute favourite rock songs of all time. Nothing House of Lords (or most other bands) have done since gets anywhere near the perfection of these 2 songs for me.

Picking which of the first 3 albums by HOL is best is like picking between Megan Fox, Mila Kunis and Scarlett Johanssen. All are various shades of awesomeness.

I like the BBABH but to me it ain't anywhere near as good as the Shinedown. BBABH are all over the place, they are all good songs but the variety in styles is way too vast, they need to focus on a sound that fits best....to me it would be along the lines of the track 'Forever'. A whole release full of melodic gems like that one would be killer.

 

For me personally that's actually one of the things that really appeals to me about BBABH. That they can go from a boy-band-esque ballad to pretty heavy modern metal in the space of a few songs. The only common link being insane choruses and massive hooks. As long as they're still great rock songs, diversity like that is a good thing, imo. I think that the whole release is very, very melodic, to be honest.

 

I completely agree with Dave on this. Shinedown take the honours for me. BBABH should just pick a style (I personally prefer the heavier songs) and avoid fucking ballads as they suck at them. I still play it, but no matter what anyone says I will simply never agree that this disc is close to making a top 10 of this (or any) year. Even the SAFETY SUIT (hardly a world-beater) has better songs.

 

I love the Destine disc, but it's a bit too safe and a little samey. The title-track is epic, but overall it's not quite flawless. Overall, because the BBABH is too diverse (in style and quality) and Destine the opposite, Shinedown come closer to nailing it than either IMHO.

 

Shinedown - 90%

Destine - 85%

Safetysuit - 75%

BBABH - 70%

 

BUT I do have high hopes for the new 'New Device' album...the debut was really good so hopefully they can up their game and produce something truly killer this time round.

Weren't they a bit more like a hard-rock band (i.e, the style I don't like)?

Yeah, this got a few mixed early reviews on this site early on, but I can't really see a flaw with it myself. I'm hoping to review some discs soon but I expect this to be right up in the top section of my list.

 

I gave it a mixed review and I played all 3 Sunstorm discs at the weekend and this was easily the weakest. A few highlights, and there was barely a filler on it, but the overall standard of everything: vocals, song quality, production had all dropped by a notch IMO. Decent, and worth getting, but about a 7.5/10 at best from me...

 

Interesting comments. I'll probably download a couple of tunes from this one. From what I've listened to, the songs sound better that those on the new Hardline album, which seems to be getting a far better response.

 

Mmm, there are 4 or 5 songs on Hardline better than this IMO.

 

For me the debut sunstorm is the best.

Yep the Hardline is better IMO.

I bought the first 2 albums by this band after hearing some songs online, but when I got the CDs I really didn't find them to my taste and sold them on. I'm a bit worried about the same thing happening again, as every time I listen to songs from this one, they sound really good. (And possibly a tad heavier than the earlier stuff ... or am I imagining things?) Erm...

Like you, I did not care for the first 2 cds. BUT, this one is so awesome,in my top 3 of the year so far.

 

This, and Jeff's comment that follows it are very encouraging.

 

Just wondering - those of you who have listened to this one lots of times - are you still loving it? Is it a grower, or does it get boring quickly?

 

was pretty instant for me (part from Downtown which is a grower) and yes I love it....HEAT never get boring IMO :-))

I thought it was more of a grower. I was less sure of the hooks at first, but 3 or 4 spins later they'd sunk-in. It's not as immediate as the last disc IMO, but each person is different I guess...

I like the BBABH but to me it ain't anywhere near as good as the Shinedown. BBABH are all over the place, they are all good songs but the variety in styles is way too vast, they need to focus on a sound that fits best....to me it would be along the lines of the track 'Forever'. A whole release full of melodic gems like that one would be killer.

 

For me personally that's actually one of the things that really appeals to me about BBABH. That they can go from a boy-band-esque ballad to pretty heavy modern metal in the space of a few songs. The only common link being insane choruses and massive hooks. As long as they're still great rock songs, diversity like that is a good thing, imo. I think that the whole release is very, very melodic, to be honest.

I completely agree with Dave on this. Shinedown take the honours for me. BBABH should just pick a style (I personally prefer the heavier songs) and avoid fucking ballads as they suck at them. I still play it, but no matter what anyone says I will simply never agree that this disc is close to making a top 10 of this (or any) year. Even the SAFETY SUIT (hardly a world-beater) has better songs.

I love the Destine disc, but it's a bit too safe and a little samey. The title-track is epic, but overall it's not quite flawless. Overall, because the BBABH is too diverse (in style and quality) and Destine the opposite, Shinedown come closer to nailing it than either IMHO.

Shinedown - 90%

Destine - 85%

Safetysuit - 75%

BBABH - 70%

Yeah, this got a few mixed early reviews on this site early on, but I can't really see a flaw with it myself. I'm hoping to review some discs soon but I expect this to be right up in the top section of my list.

I gave it a mixed review and I played all 3 Sunstorm discs at the weekend and this was easily the weakest. A few highlights, and there was barely a filler on it, but the overall standard of everything: vocals, song quality, production had all dropped by a notch IMO. Decent, and worth getting, but about a 7.5/10 at best from me...

OK, time for my little summary...

 

1. Breaking The Silence - huge anthemic opener, very BJ in style, but also with a modern twist which keeps it relevant. Gronwall sounds amazing. (9.25)

 

2. Living on The Run - you can understand why they chose this as a first single. Brilliant musicianship, very cool chorus and killer solo (9.75)

 

3. Falling Down - a lot of debate already about this track, but this is clearly a killer track to me. Sensational intro, pre-chorus and nice (if slightly confusing lyrically) chorus. Climatic solo. (9.75)

 

4. The One & Only - great ballad which has grown on me (9)

 

5. Better Off Alone - simply put my favourite song of 2012. Amazing intro (does it get any better), pre-chorus is heaven sent, chorus is nearly as good...great solo and even a keyboard solo. Perfection (10)

 

6. In & Out Of Trouble - Just a great AOR track - love the interplay with guitar and saxaphone (9.25)

 

7. Need Her - one of the most ridiculously catchy tracks this year. Love the chorus and everything about this track (9.5)

 

8. Heartbreaker - brilliant rocker, nothing more to add...oh did I mention the solo as well? Marvellous stuff (10)

 

9. Its All About Tonight - is this a grower or what? Love that chorus and again very BJ in delivery (New Jersey era) (9)

 

10. Downtown - wasnt instantly taken with this song, and it is the weakest track on offer, but only cos the rest is so freakin good. Very cool and atmospheric way to end the album (proper). (8.5)

 

11. Back Into Your Arms - Jap bonus - What can you say....got to question why this didnt end the proper album instead of Downtown. Melodic bliss IMO. (9.5)

 

 

Overall : 94%

Nice review. Is that Jap song really that good? If so, gutted they didn't replace that last song...

Anyway, to the band in question, got around to penning my little summary of this disc and this is how it all came together for me:

 

1 - Adrenaline - solid rock opener - 6.75

2 - Bully - cool hard rock tune - 7.50

3 - Amaryllis - pretty nice but not amazing ballad - 7.50

4 - Unity - really great balladic number - 9.25

5 - Enemies - drab modern rock - almost modern grunge - 6.00

6 - I'm not alright - pretty annoying chorus with annoying instrumentation - 6.00

7 - Nowhere kids - another kind of annoying modern rocker with taunt-type chants - 6.00

8 - Miracle - really a very impressive tune - 9.25

9 - I'll follow you - could be absolutely dreadful but instead is only not good - 6.00

10 - For my sake - very good modern hard rock tune - 8.50

11 - My name (wearing me out) - solid hard rock tune - good but not great - 7.25

12 - Through the ghost - solid closing ballad, but doesn't do much - 7.00

- - TOTAL SCORE (%) - 72.50

 

Overall, a small handful of really good songs and with the lowest score for a song being 6, there's really nothing truly awful on here. It's a good CD - nothing more nothing less, imo.

 

To put that on the modern rock scale for me in 2012, I don't think it's as good as Blessed By A Broken Heart, Hit The Lights, Safetysuit, Young Guns, Dear Superstar, Summerlin, Before Their Eyes, Scream Out Loud or Fireflight but it is in good company, sitting about par with stuff like The Used, Kutless, Halestorm, Lostprophets, The Panic Division and We Were Sharks - all of whom have released CDs I like plenty enough... just don't love 'em.

Trouble is, you can't really rate this alongside other modern rock discs as it's in a different style to all those. I mean, it's as far removed from Safetysuit as it's possible to be... Frankly I think it's been a poor year for modern rock and most of those you've mentioned have been pretty average. Halestorm and Safetysuit aside...

My God, Im glad I dont read metal temple as I disagree with virtually every word of this review.....esp the part in bold

 

These guys were in the early 90s one of the second knife of the whole Hair Metal Army… They never had the respect of the Metal Community but they got the big overnight MTV success. They were one the first victims of the Grunge-Blitz and nobody really cried upon their tomb and nobody either was expecting nothing better from them or even wished for their comeback.

In 2008, something started to move again with the release of a good, back in the day, live album Alive In Japan which was a good reminder of the efficiency of the band and the two brand new studio tracks as well were quite appetizing… Now under the guidance of Frontiers Records, TRIXTER is back… A clever mix between 80s Stadium Hair Metal and some New Jersey Classic Rock with a little Modern Mainstream US Rock to get the Modern flavour: Thats the very tasty and addictive recipe of the day…

The first four tracks are amazing!!!! So, Dirty Love & Machine both sound like early VAN HALEN shuffle whereas Drag Me Down & Get On It are more in the FIREHOUSE / DANGER DANGER tradition… Juicy, sexy and entertaining! But Live For The Day is a good specimen of -how it could have sounded- if we werent some lucky bastards… Its not a bad song but its a regular contemporary Rock cut like the ones that the guitar player, Steve Brown, used to play when he was involved in some mainstream Alternative project like 40 Ft. RINGO…

Fortuitously Ride flashed as another 80s Stadium fashion ooooahh whooo… Exactly like Physical Attraction and same comments for Tattoos & Misery or Save Your Soul: Nothing new but some good 2nd league American Party-Metal Anthems. The last part of the album is as expected a little more conventional but lets face it, this is quite a sweet surprise as I would have never bet a single penny on a release of such high calibre. The final bonus track is an acoustic version of Heart Of Steel while the Japanese edition is recommended as the bonus is a good remake of the track Give It To Me Good also taken from the highly successful 1990 Self titled album!

*****

(originally written for www.metal-temple.com

Looks like someone has copy/pasted the press release into a review. Whether you like the disc or not (and I don't), how can you batch songs like "Tattoos and Misery" alongside "Physical Attraction" as being like "80's stadium" music. "Tattoos..." is a modern rock song. In fact it sticks-out like a sore-thumb on this disc. I don't mind people giving an opinion, but make sure you've heard the album before you post a review. If I bought this album on the back of this review I would sue this idiot under the trades desciptions act. Quoting Firehouse and Danger Danger as comparisons is verging on slander.

Jeez, Dave you are way more patient than me. I wouldn't have wasted my time with this dick...

They sound like Black Stone Cherry.

TYKETTO - Dig It Up (can't even remember what the bastard is called?)

Balls to this one.

Kissin' Dynamite - Money, Sex & Power

 

Sorry to hear that, mate. I wish I could have stopped you, for your sake. Worst purchase I made this year...

Not sayin' you're lyin' or anything, but didn't you buy the Trixter?

Halestorm - 'Strange case of...' ; a real shame it takes a bundle of ballads for this to "kick in"...

I kinda see why you think that, but "Love Bites" is a perfect opener IMO. That disc is becoming a big fave of mine, after I was hardly blown away by the last disc.

Np: ROMEOS DAUGTHER - Rapture (utterly brilliant disc)

To make a short story long. After the major down pour today, it turned out pretty damn nice this afternoon. So I got out of work, and picked up the boys from school. On the way home all I heard over and over and over was can we play outside!,can we play outside! The answer was YES!!!, now shut up !

So as they were riding their big wheels through the puddles,(for about an hour and a half)I listened to Hardline-Danger Zone on my ipod. I'd say 5th all the way through, and it just keeps getting better and better. In my top 3 so far for the year.I am liking a lot of songs on this, but one really stood out today. Never too late for love is a flash back to the late 80's early 90's rock seen, just an awesome song for me! Or long story short, I listened to Hardline again today and it is an awesome cd! lol

"Never Too Late For Love" is actually an old song anyway. I personally prefer Bardowell's version of it to this one, but it's still a good song. This is the first time I've checked-out anything by Hardline since the debut and I like it. Kinda sounds like Euro-AOR, but the songwriting is good and so are the vocals...

 

Why are people hassling 'Physical attraction' when 'Get on it' almost destroys the CD 2 tracks in? 'Physical attraction' is weak but 'Get it on' is the epitome of a filler - something you'd expect to hear on a Van Halen CD. I could do without both these songs and this would be stronger as a 10 track CD.

 

The first 3 songs are all shit IMO. This album would've been better as an EP, with "Tattoos & Misery" and a couple of others, and the rest canned permanently.

Pretty Maids - Savage Heart

 

Great song from their best album

Backed on that.

ROMEOS DAUGHTER - Cannot Be The One

ROMEOS DAUGHTER - Rapture

SURRENDER - Better Later Than Never

I'm agreeing with his reviews a lot more this year! I've got Shinedown/HEAT/Halestorm at the top of my list for this year too...

 

So far this year it's been pretty clear what is good and what is not.

 

The bands you mentioned are all getting high approvals, however other big names are getting mixed reviews at best such as Tyketto, Trixter, Great White and Wig Wam.

 

I'm still hoping that the best of 2011 hasn't yet been released....an end of the year surprise like the Magnificent was last year would be great.

 

My faves of 2011 are all over the place in rock styles: H.E.A.T. (Melodic Rock/AOR) Shinedown (modern rock), Van Halen (classic Hard Rock), Paradise Lost (Doom Metal), Dragonforce (Power Metal), Dynazty (Melodic Hard Rock) Jeff Scott Soto (Melodic Rock/AOR) and Blessed By A Broken Heart (A combination of all the other bands I've mentioned, they are hard to pigeon hole with such a variety of musical styles within one release)

 

So, what about your faves for 2012?

I knew Canada was in a different time zone, but I thought it was 6 hours behind London not 6 months...

HALESTORM - The Strange Case Of...

I'm agreeing with his reviews a lot more this year! I've got Shinedown/HEAT/Halestorm at the top of my list for this year too...

Sunstorm - 'Emotional fire'

Yep I dug that one out again. Nice.

Np: ROXUS - Nightstreet

BOULEVARD - Into the Street

STYX - Edge of the Century

GUIFFRIA - Silk & Steel

Andrew just gave this one a 99% over at Melodicrock.com. Not sure I'd give it or anything for that matter a 99% rating, but the way Andrew grades 99% is a deserving mark for such a brilliant release.

 

Yeah slightly over the top IMO, but it is a great release. I also like the fact that he has given Halestorm 98% - another album which I love!

Backed x2. Love them both, great reviews too.