TIM (2)

INTUITION - Turn It On TRIXTER - New Audio Machine (they nearly managed a whole album of fillers, good work)

Is that available now? It's been remastered with 3 bonus tracks. AOR Heaven have it...

SHINEDOWN - Amaryllis UPON A BURNING BODY - Red White & Green TYKETTO - Dig In Deep (yep it still sucks)

UPON A BURNING BODY - Once Upon A Time in Mexico

Yeah "The Crow..." is a killer song. I do like "For My Sake", which is the best rocker on the disc IMO, but I like "Unity" more. I still can't decide whether I like this or H.E.A.T best so far this year...

The guitars don't sound 'Down Tuned' to me. Some people make it appear that Europe have gone grunge! The words grunge never came out of my mouth as I am not a fan of grunge, but yes, the guitars have been tuned down since Stark. And it's a good thing, not a bad thing. Yeah Norum admitted he tuned them down on "SFTD", as all modern bands were (and are) doing it to make the music sound more organic and heavier. He's still a killer guitarist and the last two albums have had a big/powerful classic rock sound. I think my problem is with Tempest. His high-pitched scandi vocals sound a little odd when mixed with bluesy classic rock. It also sounded odd on "SFTD" and "Secret Society". He's an amazing vocalist, but is more suited to MR IMHO and they should've got a Glenn Hughes or maybe JLT in for these last 2 discs and just made them Norum solo discs... Poppycock! The problem is Tempest?! Wash that handsome mouth of yours out with urine immediately. He's the only thing that's kept this band worth hearing for the last 3 albums - seriously. He is an amazing vocalist (and good lyricist) and the rest of the band should be trying to fit in with him, not the other way round. To each their own, but to me Norum is this only real issue this band has had since their "return." I listen to a billion modern rock bands and no good ones have their guitars sounding like this, which is shameful considering he's 100 times the guitarist that any of them are. He took the down tuning too far and never really looked like rectifying it. Yeah but that's kinda my point. Why doesn't Norum just stay a solo artist and use a more suitable singer? Maybe let Tempest keep the Europe name, and get Marcello in, if he's gonna stay in the MR style. Since "SFTD" the band has radically changed direction (a few times) and sound nothing like they used to, and Tempest just doesn't suit this style at all. Of course he's an amazing singer, but him singing Bluesy Classic Rock is like having Goran Edman or Jim Jidhed take over from Coverdale to sing for Whitesnake.

The guitars don't sound 'Down Tuned' to me. Some people make it appear that Europe have gone grunge! The words grunge never came out of my mouth as I am not a fan of grunge, but yes, the guitars have been tuned down since Stark. And it's a good thing, not a bad thing. Yeah Norum admitted he tuned them down on "SFTD", as all modern bands were (and are) doing it to make the music sound more organic and heavier. He's still a killer guitarist and the last two albums have had a big/powerful classic rock sound. I think my problem is with Tempest. His high-pitched scandi vocals sound a little odd when mixed with bluesy classic rock. It also sounded odd on "SFTD" and "Secret Society". He's an amazing vocalist, but is more suited to MR IMHO and they should've got a Glenn Hughes or maybe JLT in for these last 2 discs and just made them Norum solo discs...

OVERKILL - The Electric Age (pretty patchy) MOTIONLESS IN WHITE - Creatures WHITECHAPEL - Re-Corrupted EP

What about Storyteller's "Corridor of Windows"? Was released in 2000 on MTM, but was recorded in 1989 I think. Pure 80's AOR/Pomp.

The guitars don't sound 'Down Tuned' to me. Some people make it appear that Europe have gone grunge! Grunge is about the only style of music they haven't tried their hand at in the past 15 years or so, so nothing would surprise me with this band...

I like this one but love the Trixter. This one is quite average at 65-70% but I found myself probably liking Trixter more at 70%-75% with my spending being highly restricted this year both will be no goers for me :-( Yeah, I'm starting to wonder if I'll hear this one at all too. I sure as hell won't buy it until I hear it and I've downloaded about 2 albums this year, plus is have below zero interest in this album... so I do wonder if I'll hear it before I see it for $2 in AOR Heaven sales in a few years. I often wonder if we are all listening to the same album. This is a great album Geoff, feel free to buy it Keeping in mind that I hate those Vaughn solo albums? This just really sounds like it won't be my thing. I still think the debut only has 4 worthwhile songs too... I don't think you'd like it much. In fact, I'm not sure you'd even want to download anything from it. Not that it's bad by any stretch of the imagination (it's better than Trixter ), but just too many other good albums to buy.

H.E.A.T - Heartbreaker (every time I play it the tune that get's stuck in my head changes)

Don't worry, Jim, I don't feel dissed at all. And I respect your opinion as much as you respect mine. This forum is a place for discussion of the music we all enjoy and that's all this is--discussion. I certainly would recommend this album to anyone as well...I would just tell them to expect a "good" album rather than a "great" one. Is a tricky one though, as people are always gonna have different opinions and one mans filler is another mans favourite. Just have to describe the sound/style of the disc and inform rather than shove an opinion down someone's throat (like the awful Powerplay mag does). Sadly I didn't get to read your review before I'd ordered this!

This doesn't sound that great to me. I still struggle to keep up with this band. I mean they started life as a Hard Rock band, then they became AOR and then MHR, then they went all Modern Rock. Now they're classic rock with some blues thrown-in. Is there no style they won't experiment with? Although the songwriting is more important than the musical style, it's difficult to buy an album blind when you just don't know what the band are gonna come up with next. I'd file this alongside Tyketto/Trixter etc. Decent, but hardly essential.

I know, right? Their songwriting seems to have gone to shit. I'm very skeptical about this one, after hearing those samples. Unfortunately I have to agree...what the hell are they doing? From all the samples only the title track sounded fine, some other tracks were horrendous. Are you sure we're listening to the same samples? Granted, I haven't listened to all of them, but the half-dozen I clicked on sounded pretty darn good to these ears. Not up to the incredibly high standard of "Wigwamania," but good nonetheless. Maybe I got lucky and just listened to all the good songs... Then again, I think the same thing about the new Crazy Lixx...everyone saying it's a duff album but it sounds good to me, though, again, not as good as their earlier output. To each their own, I guess, but as far as I'm concerned, if I don't get assigned the Wig Wam to review, then I'm buying it the second it becomes available. I'm completely with you on the Crazy Lixx subject! It took a couple of spins to really like that one, but now I love it almost as much as its predecessors. Maybe my judgement concering Wig Wam is a bit harsh I admit, there might be a couple more good tracks. Here's a short rundown on the samples: Wall Street – classic Wig Wam anthem OMG – Like the chorus, but think the verse is pretty lame Victory is sweet – boring to my ears Bigger the better – yeah it's okay, but somehow I'm pretty tired of these 'We will rock you'-styled songs Bleeding Daylight – this one sounds good actually Tides will turn – sounds like a solid ballad, still not keen Wrong can feel so right – I like this one, good one! One Million enemies – not my cup of tea at all, bad verses Try my body on – sounds like a fun track, but nothing overly exciting Natural high – one of the best tracks imo, love the vibe Things money can't buy – is this an instrumental? With the exception of 'Eruption' I only like instrumentals in Jazz, so no further comment needed I still might be getting this one if I spot it for a reasonable price. Which ones did you like? I'll help you feel better about your 'harsh' comments. Wig Wam suck. The last album was shit and this one sounds worse (how they achieved this I'm not sure). A shame really cos when I saw them at Firefest (following Wig Wamania) they were excellent live and had a host of killer songs. What happened ??! Well (and this may be controversial), I think it's because they always sucked. Sure they disguised this with a rather tasty debut album and a few half-decent songs on the follow-up. Obviously I don't like glam music much so I'm very biased, but they started like a Scandi AOR band and are ending up sounding like an embarassing middle-aged drag act.

Honestly, I'm not sure you'll find many people that think this song is better than "Breaking the Silence" or "Living on the Run"...

2 hours of magnificence Yes they are and I've had trouble taking the new Live At Wembley out of my DVD player. Just a great live show and is making me revisit ABIII and there are many songs in the set that maybe I overlooked first time around. I still need to track down all of the bonus tracks from the three studio albums that I don't have. The Live at Wembley CD/DVD is killer. Myles sounds pretty awesome on the new Slash disc too, which is promising to be pretty damn good...

There isn't a weak track on the album. Period. I would never go that far about "Falling Down", but (like with the melodicrock.com comments) it's a slight disappointment when the first 2 songs blast-out of the speakers and then this one hits less hard. Nice song but lacking a big chorus hook, like the last 2 tracks. All makes for a bit more variety than "Freedom Rock" though and is a pretty killer spin from beginning to end. Althouth people are quite rightly saying this is among the top albums of the year (some of that is by default, given the sub-standard stuff like Tyketto/Trixter coming out), I still think they could've improved on some songs though, meaning it's not flawless for me. What you think this track doesnt hit hard? That intro is the best on the album?? & its arguably a heavier track than the first 2! Also the 'by default' comment is a bit weird...ive only bought about 10 albums so far this year but am already struggling to separate them....I know you dont like the Dynazty, but I absolutely love it and there are a host of other excellent releases as well (Destine, Shinedown, Halestorm, JSS, Crazy Lixx, Peepshow, Dynazty etc etc). Yeah it might be heavier than the first two, but it's not got as big a hook. The by-default comment is because, outside my big 2 albums (this one and Shinedown) everything else is quite some way behind. IMO of course...

ACCEPT - Stalingrad EMMURE - Slave to the Game H.E.A.T - Address the Nation

I know, right? Their songwriting seems to have gone to shit. I'm very skeptical about this one, after hearing those samples. Unfortunately I have to agree...what the hell are they doing? From all the samples only the title track sounded fine, some other tracks were horrendous. Are you sure we're listening to the same samples? Granted, I haven't listened to all of them, but the half-dozen I clicked on sounded pretty darn good to these ears. Not up to the incredibly high standard of "Wigwamania," but good nonetheless. Maybe I got lucky and just listened to all the good songs... Then again, I think the same thing about the new Crazy Lixx...everyone saying it's a duff album but it sounds good to me, though, again, not as good as their earlier output. To each their own, I guess, but as far as I'm concerned, if I don't get assigned the Wig Wam to review, then I'm buying it the second it becomes available. I'm completely with you on the Crazy Lixx subject! It took a couple of spins to really like that one, but now I love it almost as much as its predecessors. Maybe my judgement concering Wig Wam is a bit harsh I admit, there might be a couple more good tracks. Here's a short rundown on the samples: Wall Street – classic Wig Wam anthem OMG – Like the chorus, but think the verse is pretty lame Victory is sweet – boring to my ears Bigger the better – yeah it's okay, but somehow I'm pretty tired of these 'We will rock you'-styled songs Bleeding Daylight – this one sounds good actually Tides will turn – sounds like a solid ballad, still not keen Wrong can feel so right – I like this one, good one! One Million enemies – not my cup of tea at all, bad verses Try my body on – sounds like a fun track, but nothing overly exciting Natural high – one of the best tracks imo, love the vibe Things money can't buy – is this an instrumental? With the exception of 'Eruption' I only like instrumentals in Jazz, so no further comment needed I still might be getting this one if I spot it for a reasonable price. Which ones did you like? I'll help you feel better about your 'harsh' comments. Wig Wam suck. The last album was shit and this one sounds worse (how they achieved this I'm not sure).

There isn't a weak track on the album. Period. I would never go that far about "Falling Down", but (like with the melodicrock.com comments) it's a slight disappointment when the first 2 songs blast-out of the speakers and then this one hits less hard. Nice song but lacking a big chorus hook, like the last 2 tracks. All makes for a bit more variety than "Freedom Rock" though and is a pretty killer spin from beginning to end. Althouth people are quite rightly saying this is among the top albums of the year (some of that is by default, given the sub-standard stuff like Tyketto/Trixter coming out), I still think they could've improved on some songs though, meaning it's not flawless for me.

Spot-on about the bass. This sounds thin. That said, even if it had a zillion-bucks big-production it still wouldn't be worth buying IMHO.

Well it's hard to compare as they're different styles of music, but I'd honestly give Shinedown the slight edge if I was pushed. They're geniuses too in my book!

DYNAZTY - Land of Broken Dreams Perfect melodic rock

Shinedown is far from filler free IMO....well by filler, I mean not a track I would necessarily skip, but of definite lower quality. At least 6 killer tracks, granted, but at least 4 or 5 which dip below a top standard as well. Nice to finally hear some great modern rock though, and I also love the Safetysuit and Ryan Star discs so some quality stuff in that genre... backed on that...although not heard Ryan Star...or even heard of him to be honest?? Worth checking out, or will I hate it lol ??! Go to Youtube and check out "Last Train Home" or "Breathe".... Based on Wikipedia, looks like no new album in 2012, so Tim probably the album you mentioned is '11:59' from 2010 ? Yep, but it was only released in Europe last month so I'm counting it as 2012! I just mysteriously got a second copy of the Destine through the post from the same supplier I got the first from, after I complained about how long it was taking to ship. My first copy is well on the way to being worn-out!!