Shiraz Lane - New Album (2022)

[lettard]

11 hours ago, Captain Howdy said:

Just looked at Amazon and fuck me, not only is it delayed but they want over £20 for it.

Yeah such a mark up from them on certain things recently...the Devils Train & Madhouse cds where up in the region too...unreal   it cost £15odd direct from record company...with VAT & postage.

[Captain Howdy]

15 hours ago, lettard said:

Yeah such a mark up from them on certain things recently...the Devils Train & Madhouse cds where up in the region too...unreal   it cost £15odd direct from record company...with VAT & postage.

Especially when you consider how expensive it has become for international postage on Discogs to UK since Brexit.

Hell, I looked at new H.E.A.T. album on Amazon and they want £16. Last album by them was only £9.99 on Amazon.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Captain Howdy

[Geoff]

These guys are one of those mystery bands to me. I think they're fine, just can't figure out why people fall over themselves for them as I think they're average to below average in the overall scheme of things. BUT, that is why I am a strong advocate for to eaching their owning. I'm glad people dig, I just don't really understand why.

Anyway, new album is basically what these guys do. Solid, eclectic and half decent... but not great. I did think 'Beat of Your Heart' was a nice ballad. Drum sound interesting too. Took me genuinely 6-7 songs to figure out what I thought of it - if I liked it or not. I think I settled on the fact it's cool. I think.

Anyway, I assume fans will adore this for whatever reasons they loved the other ones. Me, I think it's adequate, again. 

[Dead Planet]

3 hours ago, Geoff said:

These guys are one of those mystery bands to me. I think they're fine, just can't figure out why people fall over themselves for them as I think they're average to below average in the overall scheme of things. BUT, that is why I am a strong advocate for to eaching their owning. I'm glad people dig, I just don't really understand why.

Anyway, new album is basically what these guys do. Solid, eclectic and half decent... but not great. I did think 'Beat of Your Heart' was a nice ballad. Drum sound interesting too. Took me genuinely 6-7 songs to figure out what I thought of it - if I liked it or not. I think I settled on the fact it's cool. I think.

Anyway, I assume fans will adore this for whatever reasons they loved the other ones. Me, I think it's adequate, again. 

Agreed....I think their previous output has been very average but good/great music is in the ear of the listener which is how it should be....

[tts42572]

3 hours ago, Geoff said:

These guys are one of those mystery bands to me. I think they're fine, just can't figure out why people fall over themselves for them as I think they're average to below average in the overall scheme of things. BUT, that is why I am a strong advocate for to eaching their owning. I'm glad people dig, I just don't really understand why.

Anyway, new album is basically what these guys do. Solid, eclectic and half decent... but not great. I did think 'Beat of Your Heart' was a nice ballad. Drum sound interesting too. Took me genuinely 6-7 songs to figure out what I thought of it - if I liked it or not. I think I settled on the fact it's cool. I think.

Anyway, I assume fans will adore this for whatever reasons they loved the other ones. Me, I think it's adequate, again. 

I thought their debut was average at best and frankly, didn't care for it at all.

For me, Carnival Days and the Vibration EP were both fantastic though and full of catchy melodic hard rock tunes.  

This new one though is probably closer to their debut style wise IMO and I haven't found much about it I like outside of maybe a 2-3 tunes.  For me they've taken a huge step backwards here.  

I thought this would be a can't miss album that I'd absolutely love but it'll be nowhere to be found on my year end lists.

[Captain Howdy]

Personal tastes will always differ, despite some thinking theirs is the only tastes that matter

With this band, I do like them, but they fall into the same category as bands like The Bloody Heels as well, some really good songs but overall I don't "love" them I just "like" some of there stuff, so I don't rush out to buy their albums or EPs unless I think there is a chance they will go out of print fairly quickly.

Compare these to bands like Reckless Love or Crazy Lixx, firstly is not fair, but at the same time they are just bands I absolutely love and have so many tracks by them that are just out and out killer. The new RL album is a good example of differing tastes though. There are those on here that are not mad keen on the band anyway, and then there are those that are huge fans. But even among those huge fans there is divided opinion on the new album. Me, I love it and think its one of their strongest albums since the first couple of albums, but there are others who hate it. To each their own.

[Captain Howdy]

 

[lettard]

These guys dropped the ball for me with the last one Shades Of Life after the excellent Carnival Days & Vibration I discs...this is better

[Stefan]

New video for 'Maniac Dance'.

 

 

[CureTheSane]

Like I said before, Carnival Days was epic for me.
Vibration was good.

I was pretty hyped for Forgotten Shades Of Life.
Held off to try and dissipate my expectations.
Eventually heard it and was underwhelmed.
I've been back and forth a lot since its release tyrying to get into it, but I can't.
So far 4 keepers only, and still trying to really 'get' a few of the otehrs.

Hope the next album picks it back up  

[tts42572]

10 minutes ago, CureTheSane said:

Like I said before, Carnival Days was epic for me.
Vibration was good.

I was pretty hyped for Forgotten Shades Of Life.
Held off to try and dissipate my expectations.
Eventually heard it and was underwhelmed.
I've been back and forth a lot since its release tyrying to get into it, but I can't.
So far 4 keepers only, and still trying to really 'get' a few of the otehrs.

Hope the next album picks it back up  

Agree 100%.

I was as hyped for Forgotten Shades of Life as much as any album in the past 10 years or so.  And it turned out to probably be one of the biggest disappointments I've ever had with an album.

I absolutely loved Carnival Days and the Vibration EP....both darn near perfect and exactly what I'd want from these guys.  But for me they did a complete 180 with that last album.  The songs just weren't very catchy or interesting IMO.  I think Scream is the only song that has stayed in any of my playlists.  It boggles my mind why they didn't put Fake Perfection and Broken Into Pieces on that last album....I think both songs would've elevated the album and are better than most of the songs that made the album.

In hindsight, it appears these guys made a bad move leaving Frontiers.  I mean, they had built some decent momentum. with that Carnival Days album but they seem to have fallen off the radar a bit now.  I believe I saw an interview with Hannes done last summer that said they were working on new material and shopping it around to new labels as they weren't happy with the label they had moved to after Frontiers.

I think their next release is probably a fairly important one to get them back on track and it seems like they're probably aware of that with the slow pace they seem to be moving at.

Fingers crossed they can get back closer to the style of Carnival Days & Vibration with their next release.

[CureTheSane]

It was mainly the slower songs that were keepers for me if this album.

The rockier, screachier songs only work for me if they are full of melodies, hooks, key changes etc.

This was all very one dimensional with the songs somewhat blending into each other.

[Captain Howdy]

Funny thing that this is brought back up as been playing 2018s Wreckfest game again the last few weeks and forgot these guys and One Desire both have two songs on the soundtrack, and it reminded me I still have not picked up their last album.

Unsurprisingly the game developers are Finnish.

For those who use Spotify, this is the game soundtrack

 

[Kristian]

10 minutes ago, Captain Howdy said:

Funny thing that this is brought back up as been playing 2018s Wreckfest game again the last few weeks and forgot these guys and One Desire both have two songs on the soundtrack, and it reminded me I still have not picked up their last album.

Unsurprisingly the game developers are Finnish.

For those who use Spotify, this is the game soundtrack

 

Yeah, I've played that game quite a bit in the past as well, remember the soundtrack got some harsh words in the reviews I read, I guess the writers weren't too familiar with the Finnish hard rock scene