First Spin Impressions

[JamesEagle]

I might have to ban myself from this thread as my first impressions are so rubbish. First time I listened to Pretty Maids' 'Pandemonium', I thought it was pretty dull. 2 more listens later, I think it's great and probably better than last year's Crashdiet and Crazy Lixx albums.

[Glen]

 

Alter Bridge - 'III' ; never been a fan of this band and this didn't persuade me either. It's not bad, though not as well produced as your average modern rock disc. And that is what this is... an average modern rock disc. This is what bands were going before modern rock started to mix it with MHR and is just too forgettable for me. They sound like a mix of Ra and Shinedown, and even though neither of those bands are in the top tier of modern rock, Alter Bridge sound far inferior to both. Sure the guy can play guitar, and very well, but this band bores me with their songs.

 

Best Modern Rock album of 2010 IMHO. No-one else mentioned it, but I kinda agree with you about the production as it's not as powerful sounding as their other two discs and the guitar sound is not as good.

 

You mean EASILY the best modern rock album of 2010. The only thing which even sniffed at it was SOTY.

 

Yeah the production is not quite as good as their first 2 albums, but there's no denying that this is an absolute monster hard rock CD.

 

Alter Bridge are not and never will be about sickly sweet choruses about love and beer. What they are is a well oiled mother fucking rock machine.

 

Seriously some of the songs on this absolutely blow me away, and the playing is just sensational. Tremonti is on top form throughout with some blistering solos, and Kennedy once again proves that he one of the best classic rock vocalists out there.

[TIM (2)]

 

Alter Bridge - 'III' ; never been a fan of this band and this didn't persuade me either. It's not bad, though not as well produced as your average modern rock disc. And that is what this is... an average modern rock disc. This is what bands were going before modern rock started to mix it with MHR and is just too forgettable for me. They sound like a mix of Ra and Shinedown, and even though neither of those bands are in the top tier of modern rock, Alter Bridge sound far inferior to both. Sure the guy can play guitar, and very well, but this band bores me with their songs.

 

Best Modern Rock album of 2010 IMHO. No-one else mentioned it, but I kinda agree with you about the production as it's not as powerful sounding as their other two discs and the guitar sound is not as good.

 

You mean EASILY the best modern rock album of 2010. The only thing which even sniffed at it was SOTY.

 

Yeah the production is not quite as good as their first 2 albums, but there's no denying that this is an absolute monster hard rock CD.

 

Alter Bridge are not and never will be about sickly sweet choruses about love and beer. What they are is a well oiled mother fucking rock machine.

 

Seriously some of the songs on this absolutely blow me away, and the playing is just sensational. Tremonti is on top form throughout with some blistering solos, and Kennedy once again proves that he one of the best classic rock vocalists out there.

 

Backed, it's a real grower. Killer musicianship, but it's more 'grungey' and less Modern Rock than stuff like SOTY. Production can sound pretty damn rough though, depending on your sound-system of choice.

[Glen]

 

Alter Bridge - 'III' ; never been a fan of this band and this didn't persuade me either. It's not bad, though not as well produced as your average modern rock disc. And that is what this is... an average modern rock disc. This is what bands were going before modern rock started to mix it with MHR and is just too forgettable for me. They sound like a mix of Ra and Shinedown, and even though neither of those bands are in the top tier of modern rock, Alter Bridge sound far inferior to both. Sure the guy can play guitar, and very well, but this band bores me with their songs.

 

Best Modern Rock album of 2010 IMHO. No-one else mentioned it, but I kinda agree with you about the production as it's not as powerful sounding as their other two discs and the guitar sound is not as good.

 

You mean EASILY the best modern rock album of 2010. The only thing which even sniffed at it was SOTY.

 

Yeah the production is not quite as good as their first 2 albums, but there's no denying that this is an absolute monster hard rock CD.

 

Alter Bridge are not and never will be about sickly sweet choruses about love and beer. What they are is a well oiled mother fucking rock machine.

 

Seriously some of the songs on this absolutely blow me away, and the playing is just sensational. Tremonti is on top form throughout with some blistering solos, and Kennedy once again proves that he one of the best classic rock vocalists out there.

 

Backed, it's a real grower. Killer musicianship, but it's more 'grungey' and less Modern Rock than stuff like SOTY. Production can sound pretty damn rough though, depending on your sound-system of choice.

 

backed.....its sounds shite in my car (still listenable)...but fine on my iphone ;-)

[Geoff]

 

Alter Bridge - 'III' ; never been a fan of this band and this didn't persuade me either. It's not bad, though not as well produced as your average modern rock disc. And that is what this is... an average modern rock disc. This is what bands were going before modern rock started to mix it with MHR and is just too forgettable for me. They sound like a mix of Ra and Shinedown, and even though neither of those bands are in the top tier of modern rock, Alter Bridge sound far inferior to both. Sure the guy can play guitar, and very well, but this band bores me with their songs.

 

Best Modern Rock album of 2010 IMHO. No-one else mentioned it, but I kinda agree with you about the production as it's not as powerful sounding as their other two discs and the guitar sound is not as good.

 

You mean EASILY the best modern rock album of 2010. The only thing which even sniffed at it was SOTY.

 

Yeah the production is not quite as good as their first 2 albums, but there's no denying that this is an absolute monster hard rock CD.

 

Alter Bridge are not and never will be about sickly sweet choruses about love and beer. What they are is a well oiled mother fucking rock machine.

 

Seriously some of the songs on this absolutely blow me away, and the playing is just sensational. Tremonti is on top form throughout with some blistering solos, and Kennedy once again proves that he one of the best classic rock vocalists out there.

 

Backed, it's a real grower. Killer musicianship, but it's more 'grungey' and less Modern Rock than stuff like SOTY. Production can sound pretty damn rough though, depending on your sound-system of choice.

 

backed.....its sounds shite in my car (still listenable)...but fine on my iphone ;-)

Yeah, first thing that surprised me was the weak production job... I just wasn't expecting it.

 

Like Tim said, though, and what I was getting at in my initial post... this type of modern rock is an aquired taste and more on the grungey side that was popular many years ago, as opposed to the more melodic style of modern rock these days. If you're into it, fair play, but grunge is still as bad as it gets for me and there is still a decent element of it in stuff like Alter Bridge. I'm sure they're a fine band but they'll never be for me. They seem like the kind of band you would probably listen to in 2000 if you wanted something a bit different to standard melodic rock / AOR, but modern rock has developed SOOO much since that time.

 

And Tim, thanks for the heads up on Times of Grace, I will be checking that one out asap.

[Glen]

Well I think AB are great, and their songs have enough melody for me. I wouldnt really call it 'grunge', cos that makes me think Nirvana, Soundgarden etc and AB surely more than piss on crap like that. More I would label it kick arse hard rock.

 

Also, live I would say that they kill stone dead virtually any other modern rock band I can think of (and quite a few MHR bands too).....awesome live. Just awesome.

[heaven&hell]

Well I think AB are great, and their songs have enough melody for me. I wouldnt really call it 'grunge', cos that makes me think Nirvana, Soundgarden etc and AB surely more than piss on crap like that. More I would label it kick arse hard rock.

 

Also, live I would say that they kill stone dead virtually any other modern rock band I can think of (and quite a few MHR bands too).....awesome live. Just awesome.

 

Alter Bridge > All other Modern Rock bands combined

[TIM (2)]

 

Also, live I would say that they kill stone dead virtually any other modern rock band I can think of (and quite a few MHR bands too).....awesome live. Just awesome.

 

Backed. Saw them in November at Hammersmith and it was killer, both guitar and vocals were sensational. They're not grunge, but they're not a million miles from the latest stuff from Creed/Pearl Jam etc...

[Geoff]

 

Also, live I would say that they kill stone dead virtually any other modern rock band I can think of (and quite a few MHR bands too).....awesome live. Just awesome.

 

Backed. Saw them in November at Hammersmith and it was killer, both guitar and vocals were sensational. They're not grunge, but they're not a million miles from the latest stuff from Creed/Pearl Jam etc...

Yeah, I still get that Creed vibe and all those bland early 00's modern rock bands. Just not my scene.

[heaven&hell]

Parasite City - Minstrel's Creed

Solid Sleazy hard rock. Not near as the same quality as Crashdiet or Hardcore Superstar. They really don't have the same sleazy sound either as they have a little different flavor that I can't put my finger on yet. There are some good songs on here and none that I hate but my biggest issue is with the singer who IMO holds the whole thing back from being better. This will take more spins. Fav tunes so far "Lick and a Promise", "Play Minstrel Play", "Good Enough for You" and "Bagful of Sin".

 

White Flame - Yesterday's News

I knew nothing about these guys until hearing this cd but I have to say I'm impressed. Kind of sleazy hard rock and kind of melodic hard rock but all in all a very good cd. Fav tunes are "Kill the Radio", "Hour of Emptiness", "Gun" and "Close to You". This will get more spins for sure.

 

Evil Masquerade - Theatrical Madness

Symphonic Power Metal. Not as good as I was hoping and to be honest don't know if this will get to many more spins.

[Geoff]

E. G Daily - 'Wild child' ; I'm like an undercover boss on this forum, except I'm not the boss or anything. Maybe more like all the cameras in the Big Brother house combined? Either way, even when you think I'm not looking, I'm looking. Nude, with schlong in hand, but I'm looking. Anyway, saw a couple of esteemed members discussing this the other day in some random thread so I thought I'd check it out. Could not have been less of what I expected (for some reason I expected a 4 piece male hair metal band?!). It appears that this woman is actually a famous (???) actor of sorts. Well, I doubt she's famous, but she has a HUGE film discography. And released a few CDs too, this one back in 1985. Anyway, all that aside I guess it's kind of okay. Pretty lite 80's pop/rock. A few nice hooks but certainly not something I'll check out any further than this download.

 

Bride - 'Snakes in the playground' ; I was also keeping an eye on that Bride thread and based on a few posts this seemed to be the one to check out if I wanted to give this band one (final?) chance. And yeah, pretty much as I expected. There were admittedly a couple of cool songs, and I mean literally a couple, as in two. But the rest was pretty average if you ask me. Musically fine, but boring songs. Couldn't get into it and I'm now offically done with this band.

 

Linkin Park - 'A thousand suns' ; At the moment I'd probably echo a lot of what Dan said in his end of year thesis. At their core there are some pretty good songs here, but it is a bit of a fight to wade through the wasted space on this CD. So many interludes and distracting effects that take away from the actual songs. I often get the impression these guys are trying to create music for the future, or trying to create the new current sound. The reason why Dead By Sunrise destroys any Linkin Park disc is because it's just a straight-forward rock disc from start to end. You incorporate that into Linkin Park and make a CD like this just about the songs, and you're onto something. Good enough disc when you get past all the nonsense, but not amazing.

[Fat Freddy]

Some of my newest pickin's from the soon-to-be-closed F.Y.E. store up the road:

 

GB Arts - THE LAKE: The only reason this one even jumped out at me was because of the silly band name, which I vaguely remembered seeing in a 'zine years ago (well, that and the fact that it was marked down to $1.99). Thankfully my memory didn't fail me, this disc is pretty decent (so far) Germanic melodic/power/prog metal. It reminds me a lot of their fellow Germans Angel Dust and Lanfear, if that helps any, with a hit of Queensryche (mainly in the singer's Tate-ish lower end vox). It appears to be a concept album of some sort (judging from the rather goofy narration/dialogue that separates some songs), though I haven't dug into the liner notes deep enough to find out what it's all about yet. According to the booklet, Peavey Wagner, Mike Terrana and Victor Smolski of Rage all make guest appearances on this thing. So far, so good.

 

Black Sabbaath - THE BEST OF: this is a budget price compilation that covers Sabbath's late 80s/early 90s tenure with Tony Martin behind the mic. I know next to nothing about this era of Sab so I figured this would make a nice cheap starting point. I vaguely remember hearing "Headless Cross" and/or "Devil and Daughter" on the old Headbanger's Ball back in the day but other than those two songs the rest of this disc is new to me. First spin, I'd say it ain't bad at all. Very much in the vein of the HEAVEN AND HELL/MOB RULES era of the band, this Martin dude even sounds a bit like RJD at times. Looks like I've been unfairly ignoring this version of Sab for all these years. Interesting and deserves further investigation (and spins).

[heaven&hell]

 

Black Sabbaath - THE BEST OF: this is a budget price compilation that covers Sabbath's late 80s/early 90s tenure with Tony Martin behind the mic. I know next to nothing about this era of Sab so I figured this would make a nice cheap starting point. I vaguely remember hearing "Headless Cross" and/or "Devil and Daughter" on the old Headbanger's Ball back in the day but other than those two songs the rest of this disc is new to me. First spin, I'd say it ain't bad at all. Very much in the vein of the HEAVEN AND HELL/MOB RULES era of the band, this Martin dude even sounds a bit like RJD at times. Looks like I've been unfairly ignoring this version of Sab for all these years. Interesting and deserves further investigation (and spins).

 

Oh dude you gotta check out more of that stuff like 'Eternal Idol', 'Headless Cross' and 'Cross Purposes' and even 'TYR'. Even Iommi solo disc that became a Sab album with Glenn Hughes(Seventh Star) is awesome. If you wanna check any of these out let me know.

[Geoff]

Danger Zone - 'Line of fire' ; not too bad overall. It is pretty patchy, production is varied (when was this actually recorded?) and there is nothing amazing on here. But it's okay. It'll be forgotten super quick, I dare say.

 

Bonfire - 'Branded' ; still needs more spins, but there's a few cool songs on here. The dud tracks possibly outweigh the good ones, again, sadly... but there's a few nice songs here.

 

Jon Waite - 'Rough and tumble' ; Wowser is 'If You Ever Get Lonely' a nice track. Haven't heard this all in int's entirety yet, but it sounds like another good one. Mellow, but good tracks. More comments to follow later.

 

Ten - 'Stormwarning' ; damn, I was actually kind of excited about this. My interest in this band kind of died towards the end there but the break was probably a good thing. I do want to like this, and it's not bad, but there are some bad songs here. Some songs I will not even bother playing again. The songs are long, which gives me even more reason to dimiss them if they're not great. Don't get me wrong, there's a few good ones on here like the superb 'The Hourglass And The Landslide', but sadly they're few and far between. Decent album, but you'd expect better after all this time.

 

Hurtsmile - s/t ; oh man, if this is not the worst CD of 2011 by the end of the year, within our genre, I will possibly eat whatever nuts I still have left. Why and how did Frontiers sign this f*cking shit? Just because of Cherone? Wow. What a flaming pile of utter garbage this album is. Avoid like AIDs.

 

L.U.S.T - 'First tattoo' ; interesting one. Debut album from a fresh bunch of Sydney lads. I'll do a thread for these guys soon as this may interest a few sleaze / glam / punk fans. For me, the last influence - the punk one - is going to keep me from really digging these guys, but it's not bad. Reminds me of D.A.D's debut at times. But yeah, maybe just a little too much punk influence for me personally, but cool band anyway.

 

Ontray - 'Come on, taste it' ; not bad at all. Sounds different than I'd expect after looking at the cover, but I don't mind this one. Good "hair metal".

[Glen]

Danger Zone - 'Line of fire'

Bonfire - 'Branded'

Jon Waite - 'Rough and tumble'

Ten - 'Stormwarning'

Hurtsmile - s/t

 

Danger Zone - 'Line of fire' Im gonna give this a swerve

Bonfire - 'Branded' backed

Jon Waite - 'Rough and tumble' really?! I might check out then....only read bad things

Ten - 'Stormwarning' Top of my list to hear........

Hurtsmile - s/t yeah yuk. What Ive heard just sounded bad. Real bad.

[Fat Freddy]

Helstar - GLORY OF CHAOS: Chaotic indeed. Picking up where they left off on THE KING OF HELL, Helstar keep their collective feet on the gas pedal throughout this new disc and have upped the thrashiness/brutality factor yet again. Rivera still sounds great. This is almost like a technical/death/thrash album with power metal vocals, if that makes any sense. Bonus tracks are cool covers of Saxon's "Heavy Metal Thunder" (niiiiice!) and the Scorpions' "Animal Magnetism"

 

Death Angel, THE ART OF DYING - this was DA's much hyped comeback disc from a few years back. I was never more than a casual fan of Death Angel back in the day but figured I'd give this one a shot as it was used/cheap. I seem to remember them being more all-out speed/thrash metal back in the day but this disc displays a variety of tempos/moods, it's not 1000 MPH the whole way through like their first couple of records. That might have disappointed the thrash purists, but to me ART OF DYING sounds like a solid, crunchin' good time.

[Fat Freddy]

New Eden - OBSCURE MASTER PLAN

This was the last of my pickups at the F.Y.E. fire sale, I snagged it mainly because it was cheap and I vaguely remembered that the band had some sort of connection to Steel Prophet and/or Destiny's End (I believe that Destiny's End was comprised of some disgruntled, former New Eden members... or maybe it was the other way around... I forget now).

 

So anyway, OBSCURE MASTER PLAN was a decent, if a bit dry, power/prog metal disc, nothin' really jumped out at me on the first spin but then again I didn't scream "Aaaaaah, this sucks" and rip it out of the player either. The vocalist feels like the weak link to me; it seems to me like he's just reading the lyrics off a cue card. The band sounds pretty tight though.

 

So it didn't exactly knock my socks off, but I guess they weren't bad as late '90s U.S. power metal goes. Still, when all's said and done I say "Pass me the Destiny's End"

[Geoff]

Jon Waite - 'Rough and tumble' really?! I might check out then....only read bad things

Ten - 'Stormwarning' Top of my list to hear........

Not sure if the Jon Waite disc would be your thing, mate. I just pretty much love anything he does and that includes this. It's not a great melodic rock CD or anything, just a nice collection of Jon Waite songs. If you like his previous solo outings check it out, if not, skip it.

 

The Ten album is maybe a little better than I suggest. There are overlong fillers that do require skipping, but about half of it is pretty decent. I do wish he didn't feel the need to make every song so freakin' long, though.

 

Pariah - 'To mock a killingbird' ; not bad at all. Screechy vocals are not for everyone, but this one is pretty cool. Gritty hard rock with 2 pretty special ballads - I sure liked me those 2 songs. Yeah, I'll listen to it again.

[heaven&hell]

Jon Waite - 'Rough and tumble' really?! I might check out then....only read bad things

Ten - 'Stormwarning' Top of my list to hear........

Pariah - 'To mock a killingbird' ; not bad at all. Screechy vocals are not for everyone, but this one is pretty cool. Gritty hard rock with 2 pretty special ballads - I sure liked me those 2 songs. Yeah, I'll listen to it again.

 

I about wore that out on cassette back in the day and my cd is pretty beat up to. I absolutely love that album. That band was like Skid Row from Texas with a few other flavors thrown in. To bad the bass player killed himself shortly after they got dropped from the label. I do remember this getting hyped up for almost like two years by Metal Edge magazine but by the time it came out the scene had changed.

[Geoff]

Jon Waite - 'Rough and tumble' really?! I might check out then....only read bad things

Ten - 'Stormwarning' Top of my list to hear........

Pariah - 'To mock a killingbird' ; not bad at all. Screechy vocals are not for everyone, but this one is pretty cool. Gritty hard rock with 2 pretty special ballads - I sure liked me those 2 songs. Yeah, I'll listen to it again.

 

I about wore that out on cassette back in the day and my cd is pretty beat up to. I absolutely love that album. That band was like Skid Row from Texas with a few other flavors thrown in. To bad the bass player killed himself shortly after they got dropped from the label. I do remember this getting hyped up for almost like two years by Metal Edge magazine but by the time it came out the scene had changed.

Yeah, they would have fit well alongside stuff like Wildside and Slik Toxik, for example. By 1993 those vocals were never going to take them anywhere. Wow, that's sad about the bassist. Got to read the liner notes again, but he was one of the brothers in the band wasn't he? He committed suicide because of the band's lack of success?

[Geoff]

Jon Waite - 'Rough and tumble' really?! I might check out then....only read bad things

Ten - 'Stormwarning' Top of my list to hear........

Pariah - 'To mock a killingbird' ; not bad at all. Screechy vocals are not for everyone, but this one is pretty cool. Gritty hard rock with 2 pretty special ballads - I sure liked me those 2 songs. Yeah, I'll listen to it again.

 

I about wore that out on cassette back in the day and my cd is pretty beat up to. I absolutely love that album. That band was like Skid Row from Texas with a few other flavors thrown in. To bad the bass player killed himself shortly after they got dropped from the label. I do remember this getting hyped up for almost like two years by Metal Edge magazine but by the time it came out the scene had changed.

Yeah, they would have fit well alongside stuff like Wildside and Slik Toxik, for example. By 1993 those vocals were never going to take them anywhere. Wow, that's sad about the bassist. Got to read the liner notes again, but he was one of the brothers in the band wasn't he? He committed suicide because of the band's lack of success?

Indeed he was one of the brothers. Just found this little write-up for anyone interested:

 

Sims Ellison was born into a musically inclined San Antonio, Texas family, and, together with his brother Kyle and their High School chums, formed the hard rock band Pariah in the late 80's. Though they eventually inked a deal with Geffen Records, the band's To Mock a Killingbird album sunk like a stone upon its release in 1993, and Pariah soon disintegrated in the post-grunge marketplace. Sims Ellison moved to Los Angeles with his girlfriend, actress Renee Zellweger and attempted to start over. But his lifelong struggles with depression finally caught up with him in 1995, when the musician sadly took his own life. Much loved by Austin's musical community, the Sims Foundation was soon established in his honor with the purpose of providing mental health care services to local musicians.

[heaven&hell]

Jon Waite - 'Rough and tumble' really?! I might check out then....only read bad things

Ten - 'Stormwarning' Top of my list to hear........

Pariah - 'To mock a killingbird' ; not bad at all. Screechy vocals are not for everyone, but this one is pretty cool. Gritty hard rock with 2 pretty special ballads - I sure liked me those 2 songs. Yeah, I'll listen to it again.

 

I about wore that out on cassette back in the day and my cd is pretty beat up to. I absolutely love that album. That band was like Skid Row from Texas with a few other flavors thrown in. To bad the bass player killed himself shortly after they got dropped from the label. I do remember this getting hyped up for almost like two years by Metal Edge magazine but by the time it came out the scene had changed.

Yeah, they would have fit well alongside stuff like Wildside and Slik Toxik, for example. By 1993 those vocals were never going to take them anywhere. Wow, that's sad about the bassist. Got to read the liner notes again, but he was one of the brothers in the band wasn't he? He committed suicide because of the band's lack of success?

Indeed he was one of the brothers. Just found this little write-up for anyone interested:

 

Sims Ellison was born into a musically inclined San Antonio, Texas family, and, together with his brother Kyle and their High School chums, formed the hard rock band Pariah in the late 80's. Though they eventually inked a deal with Geffen Records, the band's To Mock a Killingbird album sunk like a stone upon its release in 1993, and Pariah soon disintegrated in the post-grunge marketplace. Sims Ellison moved to Los Angeles with his girlfriend, actress Renee Zellweger and attempted to start over. But his lifelong struggles with depression finally caught up with him in 1995, when the musician sadly took his own life. Much loved by Austin's musical community, the Sims Foundation was soon established in his honor with the purpose of providing mental health care services to local musicians.

 

I didn't know about him dating Renee Zellweger but that's pretty cool and that would of been around when she was starting out and right around the time she did the Empire Records movie. I've read about that foundation over the years and I think the rest of the band are still active in the Austin music scene.

[Geoff]

Jon Waite - 'Rough and tumble' really?! I might check out then....only read bad things

Ten - 'Stormwarning' Top of my list to hear........

Pariah - 'To mock a killingbird' ; not bad at all. Screechy vocals are not for everyone, but this one is pretty cool. Gritty hard rock with 2 pretty special ballads - I sure liked me those 2 songs. Yeah, I'll listen to it again.

 

I about wore that out on cassette back in the day and my cd is pretty beat up to. I absolutely love that album. That band was like Skid Row from Texas with a few other flavors thrown in. To bad the bass player killed himself shortly after they got dropped from the label. I do remember this getting hyped up for almost like two years by Metal Edge magazine but by the time it came out the scene had changed.

Yeah, they would have fit well alongside stuff like Wildside and Slik Toxik, for example. By 1993 those vocals were never going to take them anywhere. Wow, that's sad about the bassist. Got to read the liner notes again, but he was one of the brothers in the band wasn't he? He committed suicide because of the band's lack of success?

Indeed he was one of the brothers. Just found this little write-up for anyone interested:

 

Sims Ellison was born into a musically inclined San Antonio, Texas family, and, together with his brother Kyle and their High School chums, formed the hard rock band Pariah in the late 80's. Though they eventually inked a deal with Geffen Records, the band's To Mock a Killingbird album sunk like a stone upon its release in 1993, and Pariah soon disintegrated in the post-grunge marketplace. Sims Ellison moved to Los Angeles with his girlfriend, actress Renee Zellweger and attempted to start over. But his lifelong struggles with depression finally caught up with him in 1995, when the musician sadly took his own life. Much loved by Austin's musical community, the Sims Foundation was soon established in his honor with the purpose of providing mental health care services to local musicians.

 

I didn't know about him dating Renee Zellweger but that's pretty cool and that would of been around when she was starting out and right around the time she did the Empire Records movie. I've read about that foundation over the years and I think the rest of the band are still active in the Austin music scene.

Yeah, the Renee Zellweger part's a bit out there, hey? Sad story, though. One has to wonder if it would have turned out differently if Geffen didn't mess them around so long and they got their album out sooner?

[heaven&hell]

Jon Waite - 'Rough and tumble' really?! I might check out then....only read bad things

Ten - 'Stormwarning' Top of my list to hear........

Pariah - 'To mock a killingbird' ; not bad at all. Screechy vocals are not for everyone, but this one is pretty cool. Gritty hard rock with 2 pretty special ballads - I sure liked me those 2 songs. Yeah, I'll listen to it again.

 

I about wore that out on cassette back in the day and my cd is pretty beat up to. I absolutely love that album. That band was like Skid Row from Texas with a few other flavors thrown in. To bad the bass player killed himself shortly after they got dropped from the label. I do remember this getting hyped up for almost like two years by Metal Edge magazine but by the time it came out the scene had changed.

Yeah, they would have fit well alongside stuff like Wildside and Slik Toxik, for example. By 1993 those vocals were never going to take them anywhere. Wow, that's sad about the bassist. Got to read the liner notes again, but he was one of the brothers in the band wasn't he? He committed suicide because of the band's lack of success?

Indeed he was one of the brothers. Just found this little write-up for anyone interested:

 

Sims Ellison was born into a musically inclined San Antonio, Texas family, and, together with his brother Kyle and their High School chums, formed the hard rock band Pariah in the late 80's. Though they eventually inked a deal with Geffen Records, the band's To Mock a Killingbird album sunk like a stone upon its release in 1993, and Pariah soon disintegrated in the post-grunge marketplace. Sims Ellison moved to Los Angeles with his girlfriend, actress Renee Zellweger and attempted to start over. But his lifelong struggles with depression finally caught up with him in 1995, when the musician sadly took his own life. Much loved by Austin's musical community, the Sims Foundation was soon established in his honor with the purpose of providing mental health care services to local musicians.

 

I didn't know about him dating Renee Zellweger but that's pretty cool and that would of been around when she was starting out and right around the time she did the Empire Records movie. I've read about that foundation over the years and I think the rest of the band are still active in the Austin music scene.

Yeah, the Renee Zellweger part's a bit out there, hey? Sad story, though. One has to wonder if it would have turned out differently if Geffen didn't mess them around so long and they got their album out sooner?

 

If memory serves Roxy Blue went through the same thing. I remember Metal Edge talking them up for what seemed like two years in their Rock on the Rise section but that album finally didn't come out until 1992 and by then they were at least two years too late. I think the Wildside disc took a while to come out after they got signed but I could be wrong but I remember they went through the name change. It's crazy a band can be big in the clubs, get signed and then with the recording being set up and being done and then promotion it could take up to 18 months or more in some cases and by then the scene could change or the band could just be forgotten by the fans and lose any momentum they might of had.

[Glen]

Jon Waite - 'Rough and tumble' really?! I might check out then....only read bad things

Ten - 'Stormwarning' Top of my list to hear........

Not sure if the Jon Waite disc would be your thing, mate. I just pretty much love anything he does and that includes this. It's not a great melodic rock CD or anything, just a nice collection of Jon Waite songs. If you like his previous solo outings check it out, if not, skip it.

 

The Ten album is maybe a little better than I suggest. There are overlong fillers that do require skipping, but about half of it is pretty decent. I do wish he didn't feel the need to make every song so freakin' long, though.

 

 

Yeah listened to the Ten this morning and its gonna be a grower for sure.

 

Granted the songs can be a tad long but then thats Ten for you ;-)

 

Wasnt keen on the opener to be honest (a little safe) but then there was a run of excellent tracks, before trailing off a little at the end.

 

There are a few real great tracks on offer here though in particular the trio 'Love Song' (man, what a freakin solo!), 'The Hourglass...' and 'Destiny'.....all one after another.....wow. Shame the last 2 tracks couldnt keep the momentum going :-(

 

Nice tho, real nice.