First Spin Impressions

[Jez]

Vega - Kiss Of Life

 

Not the run of the mill AOR album I was half expecting at all. This takes me back to the mid-late 80's and the typical Melodic rock/AOR discs that were coming out of the UK at the time, as for some reason it has that very Brit sound to it and that something a little bit extra in comparison to others doing this stuff. Nick Workman's vocals it must be said, are not my favourite, but they suit this project down to a tee, and the rest of the performances from the Martin Bros. and Dan Chantry are first class aswell, although as I mentioned before, maybe a little bit more 'Ooomph' in the drum dept. would have enhanced an already really nice sound they have going on here. I especially like the way the keys are used to enhance the song and fit in with the whole sound subtely, rather than completely taking it over ala the White Widdows of this world - rather fab if I do say so. As expected, all the songs are of the high standards we have come to expect from the Martin Bros. and there are no real weak links on show. 'Staring At The Sun' and 'Stay With Me'are 2 of my particular highlights at the moment, but even after 3 or 4 spins, the rest are not too far behind. Really a rather excellent disc.

 

 

Yngwie Malmsteen - Relentless

 

Bog Average - 2 words that I have come accustomed to using when summising Mr. Malmsteen's work over the last 10 years or so. 'Attack' was a good disc in general, but all the others, whilst having a few good moments, really did forgo the songwriting and production in favour if endless minutes of 'Widdle'. Now don't get me wrong, I likes me a bit of widdle on occassions and YM is a fine guitarist and one that has a fine body of work, especially in 'Trilogy' ''Odyssey' 'Eclipse' and 'Fire & Ice', but he really does need to step back amd look at what he is doing. The main problem here, yet again, is the lack of quality tuneage. Even the excellent Ripper Owens can't rescue the material on here and please don't get me started on the whole sound of the thing. You guessed it, the production and mix Suck yet again, another one of the main reasons why recent Malmsteen albums haven't reached the mark quality wise. Compare the standard of this to say the new Satch or Lukather albums or a Steve Vai disc for example. I know they are very different musically and stylewise, but all those discs are supreme in quality of songs & production, aswell as playing and absolutely piss from a great height over this piece of mediocre plastic. IMO He really does need to get in a fresh pair of ears, as I am sure quite a few people are running out of patience waiting for a killer Yngwie album again. Unless he gets a songwritere and producer, I fear those days are long behind him i'm afraid.

 

Tank - War Machine

 

Tank are a very different beast to the NWOBHM version that released the excellent 'Filth Hounds Of Hades' way back in 1981. After all the stop/starts to their career and line up changes, the band now boast the vocal talents of the excellent Dougie White and If unashamed British Heavy Metal is your thing, then look no further than this very fine album. Some mighty riffing and solos from Mick Tucker enhance what are a very good set of songs, with 'Judgement Day' and the cracking 'After All' being head of the pack. Definitely a real surprise this one and all the Metalheads out there shouldn't hesitate in grabbing an ear full of this one.

[phaffas]

Now don't get me wrong, I likes me a bit of widdle on occassions

 

Too much info Jezman

[Geoff]

Lane - 'Diced' ; This actually started out pretty cool, kind of like Bormann's solo stuff. But when I say started out, sadly I mean literally the first song. After that it's just really mellow and boring. Shame, if it all stayed in line with the first song this would be pretty cool. Not great, but okay.

[heaven&hell]

Vega - Kiss Of Life

 

Not the run of the mill AOR album I was half expecting at all. This takes me back to the mid-late 80's and the typical Melodic rock/AOR discs that were coming out of the UK at the time, as for some reason it has that very Brit sound to it and that something a little bit extra in comparison to others doing this stuff. Nick Workman's vocals it must be said, are not my favourite, but they suit this project down to a tee, and the rest of the performances from the Martin Bros. and Dan Chantry are first class aswell, although as I mentioned before, maybe a little bit more 'Ooomph' in the drum dept. would have enhanced an already really nice sound they have going on here. I especially like the way the keys are used to enhance the song and fit in with the whole sound subtely, rather than completely taking it over ala the White Widdows of this world - rather fab if I do say so. As expected, all the songs are of the high standards we have come to expect from the Martin Bros. and there are no real weak links on show. 'Staring At The Sun' and 'Stay With Me'are 2 of my particular highlights at the moment, but even after 3 or 4 spins, the rest are not too far behind. Really a rather excellent disc.

 

 

Yngwie Malmsteen - Relentless

 

Bog Average - 2 words that I have come accustomed to using when summising Mr. Malmsteen's work over the last 10 years or so. 'Attack' was a good disc in general, but all the others, whilst having a few good moments, really did forgo the songwriting and production in favour if endless minutes of 'Widdle'. Now don't get me wrong, I likes me a bit of widdle on occassions and YM is a fine guitarist and one that has a fine body of work, especially in 'Trilogy' ''Odyssey' 'Eclipse' and 'Fire & Ice', but he really does need to step back amd look at what he is doing. The main problem here, yet again, is the lack of quality tuneage. Even the excellent Ripper Owens can't rescue the material on here and please don't get me started on the whole sound of the thing. You guessed it, the production and mix Suck yet again, another one of the main reasons why recent Malmsteen albums haven't reached the mark quality wise. Compare the standard of this to say the new Satch or Lukather albums or a Steve Vai disc for example. I know they are very different musically and stylewise, but all those discs are supreme in quality of songs & production, aswell as playing and absolutely piss from a great height over this piece of mediocre plastic. IMO He really does need to get in a fresh pair of ears, as I am sure quite a few people are running out of patience waiting for a killer Yngwie album again. Unless he gets a songwritere and producer, I fear those days are long behind him i'm afraid.

 

Tank - War Machine

 

Tank are a very different beast to the NWOBHM version that released the excellent 'Filth Hounds Of Hades' way back in 1981. After all the stop/starts to their career and line up changes, the band now boast the vocal talents of the excellent Dougie White and If unashamed British Heavy Metal is your thing, then look no further than this very fine album. Some mighty riffing and solos from Mick Tucker enhance what are a very good set of songs, with 'Judgement Day' and the cracking 'After All' being head of the pack. Definitely a real surprise this one and all the Metalheads out there shouldn't hesitate in grabbing an ear full of this one.

 

According to Ripper he never recorded a new album with Yngwie but had recorded some other demos for when they did Perpetual Flame and wasn't aware they were being put out. The last great Malmsteen disc was Facing the Animal with Leven on vocals and the reason for that is that there were good songs and not just crazy playing.

 

I agree about the Vega very good stuff and this coming from someone that doesn't love AOR.

 

I'm interested in hearing the Tank since I do like Dougie's voice.

[Jez]

And bog average demos they sound like aswell Wes. Will be interested to hear you opinions on the Yngwie if you get to hear it.

 

 

Vega I am getting into more and more with each play. Lots of different little things I keep hearing in the mix each time I play it. Superb album

 

 

I think you will love the Tank disc - quite Saxon like in places - a good powerful sound and even Dougie sounds quite like Biff in places. If you dig straightforward, no fucking about Heavy Metal, then this is a disc for you.

[heaven&hell]

And bog average demos they sound like aswell Wes. Will be interested to hear you opinions on the Yngwie if you get to hear it.

 

 

Vega I am getting into more and more with each play. Lots of different little things I keep hearing in the mix each time I play it. Superb album

 

 

I think you will love the Tank disc - quite Saxon like in places - a good powerful sound and even Dougie sounds quite like Biff in places. If you dig straightforward, no fucking about Heavy Metal, then this is a disc for you.

 

From that description I'm sure I'd dig the Tank as I love as you put "no fucking about" Heavy Metal and pretty much anything NWOBHM related and I like Dougie's voice. It's just finding the money and there's so many other releases on my want list ahead of that one for now.

 

I'll get the Malmsteen eventually but I'm not gonna pay top dollar for it.

I love Ripper's voice but as you said he needs another songwriter in the band but from all of the recent interviews I've read he doesn't want to collaborate with anyone. He's a one man show and doesn't want to share the process with anyone. To bad he couldn't give another try with JLT or Goran Edman.

[Glen]

 

 

Vega I am getting into more and more with each play. Lots of different little things I keep hearing in the mix each time I play it. Superb album

 

 

 

Ive listened to this countless times and it is just brilliant! I'd been hoping all year that this would live up to my expectations and it has and then some. As I said in the Vega thread, its the best pure AOR album that ive heard since Work Of Art (which I now accept was in fact better than Revelation!). 'Staring At The Sun' is just awesome and might possibly be my fav track this year! Cheers

[Geoff]

Kevin Lee & The Asscrack Bandits or something - 'Restless' ; man I wish I didn't bother with this. Finely played but painfully average radio rock like Jeff Healey or Bad Company or something. Just so far from "my thing" it's ridiculous. Not a CD I want to see stay in my collection for long at all.

[Jez]

 

 

Vega I am getting into more and more with each play. Lots of different little things I keep hearing in the mix each time I play it. Superb album

 

 

 

Ive listened to this countless times and it is just brilliant! I'd been hoping all year that this would live up to my expectations and it has and then some. As I said in the Vega thread, its the best pure AOR album that ive heard since Work Of Art (which I now accept was in fact better than Revelation!). 'Staring At The Sun' is just awesome and might possibly be my fav track this year! Cheers

 

 

It's certainly lived up to it's initial excitement and in my case, way surpassing my expectations. 'Staring At The Sun' & 'Hearts of Glass' are my two winners and 2 of the best songs I have heard this year and ones I immediately go back to. The others are mostly top class though too.

[heaven&hell]

Heaven & Hell - Neon Nights: Live in Europe

The last recording of this great band and what a way to go out. It was nice to hear some other songs such as "Follow the Tears" and "Fear" mixed in with the Dio era Sabbath classics. The version of "Heaven & Hell" is 17 minutes long and is one of the best versions they ever done IMO.

 

Jettblack - Get Your Hands Dirty

Not my first time I've heard these songs but my first spin since buying it and in two words "Fucking Awesome". This is hands down one of the top releases of the year and not one bad song IMO. My fav tune has to be "War Between Us" but "Two Hot Girls", "Slip it On", "Mother Fucker", "Holding" and "Not Even Love" get honorable mentions.

 

Dio - At Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987

I sure hope releases like this keep coming from the Dio/Niji camp because this is just great. You get two excellent live shows from two different eras of the Dio band and call me crazy but I think I dig the 87 Dream Evil disc two a little more but both are great.

 

Black Sabbath - The Eternal Idol: Deluxe Expanded Edition

It's nice to hear this great underappreciated disc from the Martin era in a remastered form plus you get disc two that features the Ray Gillen session when he fronted the band before leaving for Blue Murder and then forming Badlands. Plus you get two bonus tracks on disc one that were the b-sides for "The Shinning" single. Great stuff.

 

Hardcore Superstar - Beg For It

Not sure why I waited so long to buy this since I loved the self titled and 'Dreamin' discs but I'm glad I did wait since it only cost me $8 and I have to admit I'm very dissapointed in this one. Sure there's some more melody added in but the songs seem to suffer on this one and IMO this pales in comparison to the previous releases.

[Jeff]

Hardcore Superstar - Beg For It

Not sure why I waited so long to buy this since I loved the self titled and 'Dreamin' discs but I'm glad I did wait since it only cost me $8 and I have to admit I'm very dissapointed in this one. Sure there's some more melody added in but the songs seem to suffer on this one and IMO this pales in comparison to the previous releases.

 

Maybe you are lucky there won't be DRF this year otherwise I might have to sing the entire Beg For It CD for you!

Seems people are in the love or disappointed category on this one. Count me in the love it category. Take 'Em All Out is a killer track as is Beg For It, Shades Of Grey, Illegal Fun and Innocent Boy. There were just a couple of throw aways on this one for me.

 

"and that's why they call me, they call me a stupid man"

[heaven&hell]

Hardcore Superstar - Beg For It

Not sure why I waited so long to buy this since I loved the self titled and 'Dreamin' discs but I'm glad I did wait since it only cost me $8 and I have to admit I'm very dissapointed in this one. Sure there's some more melody added in but the songs seem to suffer on this one and IMO this pales in comparison to the previous releases.

 

Maybe you are lucky there won't be DRF this year otherwise I might have to sing the entire Beg For It CD for you!

Seems people are in the love or disappointed category on this one. Count me in the love it category. Take 'Em All Out is a killer track as is Beg For It, Shades Of Grey, Illegal Fun and Innocent Boy. There were just a couple of throw aways on this one for me.

 

"and that's why they call me, they call me a stupid man"

 

 

There are some really good songs but it is very average when I compare to 'Dreamin in a Casket'.

I think the guitarist change did change the sound somewhat but from what I've heard of 'Split Your Lip' they've righted the ship.

[phaffas]

Paramore - brand new eyes

Paramore's Riot is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, so i decided to pick Brand New Eyes up cheap. Unfortunately, i wish i didnt. This is pretty bland modern rock. Nothing sticks out. In fact the 2 best songs are tracks 11 and 12. Riot definately had more variation then this. Also 2 things really annoy me - firstly the girls voice is so damn whiney!!! and also the crap lyrics. They make me shudder how bad they are. Its one of those simple modern rock lyrics that mean nothing but they prob think are deep, but dont know why.

[Geoff]

Paramore - brand new eyes

Paramore's Riot is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, so i decided to pick Brand New Eyes up cheap. Unfortunately, i wish i didnt. This is pretty bland modern rock. Nothing sticks out. In fact the 2 best songs are tracks 11 and 12. Riot definately had more variation then this. Also 2 things really annoy me - firstly the girls voice is so damn whiney!!! and also the crap lyrics. They make me shudder how bad they are. Its one of those simple modern rock lyrics that mean nothing but they prob think are deep, but dont know why.

Yeah, that was a real disappointing CD. They've gotten worse with every CD they record. The thing I really cannot understand is how that dreadful 'Only exception' song is going so well on radio. It's f*cking shit, and must surely even bore the shit out of teeny boppers looking for a quick fix with a sugary hook. It's bland as hell. Yeah, that one's got me beat to be honest.

 

There was one great song on the CD, though, about falling off or in something or something like that.

[phaffas]

Paramore - brand new eyes

Paramore's Riot is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, so i decided to pick Brand New Eyes up cheap. Unfortunately, i wish i didnt. This is pretty bland modern rock. Nothing sticks out. In fact the 2 best songs are tracks 11 and 12. Riot definately had more variation then this. Also 2 things really annoy me - firstly the girls voice is so damn whiney!!! and also the crap lyrics. They make me shudder how bad they are. Its one of those simple modern rock lyrics that mean nothing but they prob think are deep, but dont know why.

Yeah, that was a real disappointing CD. They've gotten worse with every CD they record. The thing I really cannot understand is how that dreadful 'Only exception' song is going so well on radio. It's f*cking shit, and must surely even bore the shit out of teeny boppers looking for a quick fix with a sugary hook. It's bland as hell. Yeah, that one's got me beat to be honest.

 

There was one great song on the CD, though, about falling off or in something or something like that.

AND THIS COMING FROM THE MANTURD WHO TOLD ME TO BUY IT!!!

 

Only Exception - is that the bland boring ass jerk of a slow song about track 6?

[JamesEagle]

 

AND THIS COMING FROM THE MANTURD WHO TOLD ME TO BUY IT!!!

 

 

Great word, love it! Can I use that? I've got a meeting with a customer this morning and if it goes badly I'd like to shout that at him and run away.

[phaffas]

 

AND THIS COMING FROM THE MANTURD WHO TOLD ME TO BUY IT!!!

 

 

Great word, love it! Can I use that? I've got a meeting with a customer this morning and if it goes badly I'd like to shout that at him and run away.

Id be hurt if you Didnt use it! Go ahead.

[Geoff]

Paramore - brand new eyes

Paramore's Riot is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, so i decided to pick Brand New Eyes up cheap. Unfortunately, i wish i didnt. This is pretty bland modern rock. Nothing sticks out. In fact the 2 best songs are tracks 11 and 12. Riot definately had more variation then this. Also 2 things really annoy me - firstly the girls voice is so damn whiney!!! and also the crap lyrics. They make me shudder how bad they are. Its one of those simple modern rock lyrics that mean nothing but they prob think are deep, but dont know why.

Yeah, that was a real disappointing CD. They've gotten worse with every CD they record. The thing I really cannot understand is how that dreadful 'Only exception' song is going so well on radio. It's f*cking shit, and must surely even bore the shit out of teeny boppers looking for a quick fix with a sugary hook. It's bland as hell. Yeah, that one's got me beat to be honest.

 

There was one great song on the CD, though, about falling off or in something or something like that.

AND THIS COMING FROM THE MANTURD WHO TOLD ME TO BUY IT!!!

 

Only Exception - is that the bland boring ass jerk of a slow song about track 6?

Yeah, that's the song. It's terrible.

 

Did I seriously tell you to get it? You got it for something like $2, right? I'd still recommend it for that. It's not a total write-off but it's their weakest yet. I still like a few songs off it and it's worth pocket change.

[Metal T]

Heaven & Hell - Neon Nights: Live in Europe

The last recording of this great band and what a way to go out. It was nice to hear some other songs such as "Follow the Tears" and "Fear" mixed in with the Dio era Sabbath classics. The version of "Heaven & Hell" is 17 minutes long and is one of the best versions they ever done IMO.

 

 

Dio - At Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987

I sure hope releases like this keep coming from the Dio/Niji camp because this is just great. You get two excellent live shows from two different eras of the Dio band and call me crazy but I think I dig the 87 Dream Evil disc two a little more but both are great.

 

Yeah both of these are great.You'd think at some point there would be some official live' material released from

the "Rowan-era".Im sure some releaseable show exists in the vault somewhere.Ive got a boot from the Wolves' tour and although

the sound leaves much too be desired (bootleg quality)-preformance wise they sound pheneomenal.Hopefully something will see the light of day.

[JamesEagle]

 

AND THIS COMING FROM THE MANTURD WHO TOLD ME TO BUY IT!!!

 

 

Great word, love it! Can I use that? I've got a meeting with a customer this morning and if it goes badly I'd like to shout that at him and run away.

Id be hurt if you Didnt use it! Go ahead.

The meeting actually went really well. Plus the customer ended up being a 'she', not a 'he'. A very attractive one at that...

 

I'll save "manturd" for a rainy day.

[Geoff]

James Lugo - 'Redemption' ; raw, basic christian rock album on offer here. I was bored stupid by the first song and it never got better. It's not terrible and if you liked stripped back rock you might dig it... but I found it bland and unimpressive.

 

Loverboy - 'Keep it up' ; not amazing, but a good solid and enjoyable CD. The second last song about the one night sex party affair was my favourite.

 

Mad Max - 'Stormchild' ; again, not too bad. Pretty typical mid-80's metal album with a couple of nice melodic numbers on it to mix it up. I liked the first 3 songs but by far the best track was the bonus track, 'Can't stop taking.' I don't know if that was recorded in the 'Night of passion' sessions or something, but it sounds heaps better than the rest of the CD. Loved that track.

[Geoff]

Malice - 'License to kill' ; many will not know that Malice's 'In the beginning' was one of my all time first records (yep the actual vinyl) that I ever bought. I always enjoyed the album but I never found it on CD. Or any of their other stuff until I recently picked up their 'Crazy in the night' EP. Anyway, I always had a soft spot for these guys and was keen to hear this. And I like what I heard. For me the clear standout is the killer title track, but stuff like 'Vigilante', 'Chain Gang Women' and 'Murder' were all excellent too. If you're looking for a good slab of riff-heavy 80's metal, can't really go wrong with this one.

[heaven&hell]

Heaven & Hell - Neon Nights: Live in Europe

The last recording of this great band and what a way to go out. It was nice to hear some other songs such as "Follow the Tears" and "Fear" mixed in with the Dio era Sabbath classics. The version of "Heaven & Hell" is 17 minutes long and is one of the best versions they ever done IMO.

 

 

Dio - At Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987

I sure hope releases like this keep coming from the Dio/Niji camp because this is just great. You get two excellent live shows from two different eras of the Dio band and call me crazy but I think I dig the 87 Dream Evil disc two a little more but both are great.

 

Yeah both of these are great.You'd think at some point there would be some official live' material released from

the "Rowan-era".Im sure some releaseable show exists in the vault somewhere.Ive got a boot from the Wolves' tour and although

the sound leaves much too be desired (bootleg quality)-preformance wise they sound pheneomenal.Hopefully something will see the light of day.

 

Yup I'd love a live Wolves tour disc and even another Dream Evil live show or even DVDs from those eras. There is another reissue coming of the Sabbath Dehumanizer disc that will have live tracks from that tour on disc two but I guess there's some Tony Martin demos from before RJD rejoined that aren't included so that's kind of a bummer.

 

I also am hoping that all of the DIO catalog gets the remaster treatment with some type of bonus tracks(most likely live tracks since he didn't record extra songs).

[Geoff]

Adam Lambert - 'Take one' ; wow is this bad. Secondspin sold it to me for a dollar or 2 with a review that it was like the Daughtry, David Cook American Idol kind of releases. So I figured it would not be as dancey as his new stuff and probably just straight rock. Wrong, is what I was. This is dreadful. Some no-name clown (I assume, lol) has merely used Mr Lambert here as his tool to get his crappy songs out in public. Whoever this guy is he must really have wanted to see Lambert fail, as this is a dreadful selection of songs. Nothing good on this (I guess; I stopped around track 5 or 6) and although I don't particularly like the guy, I'm glad for his sake that he survived this and got to do what he really wanted to do with the stuff that is currently making him millions.

[JamesEagle]

Aidean - Promises

 

The sound reminds me a tiny bit of White Sister, but the songs aren't nearly as good. Very keyboard dominated, some catchy tunes (like the title track) but overall I'm not really grabbed yet. Best song is probably 'Children of the Night', but the chorus line is repeated far too many times, which kind of ruins it. Not giving up on this one yet though.