First Spin Impressions

[zacharyamelie]

Lillian Axe - Deep Red Shadows

I thought for $4 it would be worth it if I could find one song that was decent. Out of the 9 songs, I managed to talk myself into copying track #9, an instrumental no less, to my computer. The lyrics are horrible, when I actually managed to pay attention to them long enough, the music has nothing catchy or memorable. This won't get a second play unless something changes for me and my musical taste in the coming years.

 

As much as I'm upset with Queensryche's outputs since Empire, Lillian Axe is quickly surpassing them in the WTF happen? dept. I didn't mind Rising Waters, I could almost tolerate Sad Day On Planet Earth, but they are proggresively getting slower and moodier with every single release. Somebody find this band a defibrillator to revive their heart and energy.

[Metal T]

Candlemass - Ashes to Ashes live...

 

Marcolin CANNOT be replaced on mic in this band,but nice try though.Ive got a couple frisbees now.

[Geoff]

Alyze - s/t ; Not bad at all. Solid 80's hard rock / metal. Started out better than I recall their other 2 discs being, but by the end of it it was probably pretty much on par with them. Good hair metal.

 

Amsterdam - B.U.R.S.T. ; my thoughts on this are mixed after the first spin. The songs were pretty good, but what a f*cking horrible production / mixing job on this one. I almost wanted to double check the liner notes to confirm there was actually a vocalist and drummer in the band, because you sure as f*ck couldn't hear them in this shithouse mix. And more to the point it varied from song to song. One song sounded terrible, the next just sounded horrible. It's not so much the production alone that's too bad, just the mixing appears to be terrible. Otherwise, songs sounded descent.

 

Bad Candy - Welcome Back to the Party ; not bad at all. If this is a recent recording (and I think it is - not 80's songs) they've done well to stick to their 80's sound. The songs weren't amazing, but they were impressive enough to warrant this a definite keeper.

 

Doubletake - So Many Roads ; one of the worst I've heard from Retrospect and 99% likely to end up on my trade list. There were 2 good songs - 'Julianna' and one of the others, but the rest was pretty bad. Kind of hi-tech in places, but more to the point just bad, bad songs.

 

EZ Thrill - Rock N Roll Forever ; good solid hard rock disc. Nothing ground-breaking (like the liner notes would have you believe, lol) but it's very solid.

 

Faithfull - Horizons ; I've heard this before on MP3, but happy to finally have the CD. It is a very strong, consistent CD which should have been a hell of a lot better if not for those scabby, scabby lead vocals. I hate when that Spanish accented / style sounds like this. Really brings the CD down.

 

Forsale - Stranger In Town ; another one I had on CDR but have just upgraded. Not amazing, and certainly no Gotthard (it has Steve Lee on vocals) but it's pretty nice AOR. Worthy of a place in the collection, imo.

 

Sum 41 - All Killer No Filler, Sum 41 - Chuck, Sum 41 - Does This Look Infected? ; I know, I know... I probably thought exactly what you're thinking, but I thought I was going to see these guys live (and ironically they pulled out so this was all arguably for nothing) so as per Justin's advice, I checked them out. Surprisingly enough, these 3 discs are all pretty damn enjoyable. If you liked Summerhero, you'll probably dig these guys. Some really catchy songs, and they actually sound like far more than adequate musicians too. I bought them for about $2 each and it was 100% totally worth it. Some great hooks amongst it.

 

Sum 41 - Underclass Hero ; And this, their last CD, is why I never gave them a go. There are 2 very commercial rock songs on this, but the rest may as well be Green Day. It just sounds utterly terrible. Some guys left the band and I thought this was a new vocalist and songwriter (because he used his real name instead of stage name) but no, it's the same guy with a totally different voice (sounds nothing like Summerhero anymore) and a totally different song writing style (sounds exactly like Green Day). Yeah, honestly, I thought this was terrible. If you decide to give the band a sneaky go, stick to the first three.

[Glen]

Night Ranger - Dawn Patrol

Great album with many great tunes and some I'd heard before from the Live in Japan release. Really five or six great songs with the others very good as well. I know most NR fans list this as one of their best and I can't disagree as it's very good.

 

Night Ranger - Midnight Madness

Another great release from the band with really no bad songs and at least a handful of great ones. I'm totally sick of "Sister Christian" with it still getting played so much but "When You Close Your Eyes" is nothing short of amazing.

 

Night Ranger - Man in Motion

This is my fav NR release as I type this. I've had this for probably a year after getting it in a trade from Terry but I can't remember if I ever gave it a proper listen. I'm not sure how well this one did sales wise but if it didn't sell well that's no fault of the songs as they are all great for the most part. Excellent MHR album.

 

Couldnt agree more mate, esp about 'When You Close Your Eyes'....brilliant song.

 

I assume youve also got 'Seven Wishes' and 'Big Life' which are also great albums, 'Big Life' containing one of my fav rock songs of all time - the exquisite 'Love Is Standing Near'....near perfect MHR song and solo!

 

To be honest you are looking at a run of 5 albums with nearly no filler, which is a pretty rare thing in the MHR genre.

 

Cheers

[Geoff]

Forever The Sickest Kids - s/t ; haven't really talked about it much and will probably look deeper into it in other threads later, but this would have to be one of my most anticipated albums of the year, personally. Absolutely adore their debut full-length. Casual admirers of the band may be happy to know that the wall of modern effects that were all over the debut are no longer really here. This one is more straight up modern melodic / commercial rock. By early comparison I'd say that the difference sounds like it took 4 years to create the debut and 2 years to create this. I didn't mind the effects on the debut because the songs were so strong it was ridiculous. This one is a little more "stripped back," if you will, but production sounds top notch and they still know how to write a super fresh hook. I think this one has potential to over-take the debut in some people's cases, but I'm not sure I'll find it as strong. Can't wait for more spins to see where this one ends up, but first impressions are that it is excellent.

[heaven&hell]

Night Ranger - Dawn Patrol

Great album with many great tunes and some I'd heard before from the Live in Japan release. Really five or six great songs with the others very good as well. I know most NR fans list this as one of their best and I can't disagree as it's very good.

 

Night Ranger - Midnight Madness

Another great release from the band with really no bad songs and at least a handful of great ones. I'm totally sick of "Sister Christian" with it still getting played so much but "When You Close Your Eyes" is nothing short of amazing.

 

Night Ranger - Man in Motion

This is my fav NR release as I type this. I've had this for probably a year after getting it in a trade from Terry but I can't remember if I ever gave it a proper listen. I'm not sure how well this one did sales wise but if it didn't sell well that's no fault of the songs as they are all great for the most part. Excellent MHR album.

 

Couldnt agree more mate, esp about 'When You Close Your Eyes'....brilliant song.

 

I assume youve also got 'Seven Wishes' and 'Big Life' which are also great albums, 'Big Life' containing one of my fav rock songs of all time - the exquisite 'Love Is Standing Near'....near perfect MHR song and solo!

 

To be honest you are looking at a run of 5 albums with nearly no filler, which is a pretty rare thing in the MHR genre.

 

Cheers

 

No I don't have Seven Wishes or Big Life but will probably get them someday.

[TIM (2)]

ROBIN BECK - The Great Escape

 

Wasn't sure whether to pick this up or not, but am glad I did as it's her best for some time IMO. Despite the lousy production job (anytime you have to stop masturbating to the cover pictures of a new Robin Beck CD to fiddle with the knobs on your CD-player to change the mix is irritating at best) and the bunch of fillers at the back-end of this, it's still closer to her debut disc than any album since. Her voice sounds spectacular, and is way too high in the mix, but the quality of songs is pretty damn good. The two big duets are the best tunes by a million miles and are probably worth the entry price alone. JLT sounds awesome on the killer "That All Depends" and the song is very similar to his Sunstorm work, and the closing duet with James Christian is just about the best song she's done since her debt (I noted a co-write from Jim Jidhed on it too). Pretty damn good stuff here.

 

 

 

DESTROY REBUILD UNTIL GOD SHOWS - D.R.U.G.S

 

The new modern rock project involving members of Chiodos/Story of the Year and a few others. It's all a touch heavier than SOTY and more in-line with Chiodos' material, but much more commercially appealing. Stacks of melody and catchy choruses and some nice mellower moments too. Craig Owens' vocals are a bit of an acquired taste, but this is still the best modern rock disc I've heard this year so far...

 

 

 

ASKING ALEXANDRIA - Life Gone Wild E.P

 

Killer new Brit Metal band who have made their name with a cover of an AKON tune cover SKID ROW's "Youth Gone Wild" and "18 & Life" on here. Great vocals but their covers add nothing to the originals at all, I'd hoped for a Metalcore version of the songs but they just play it straight. I still love this for the killer new song "Breathless"...

[JamesEagle]

 

DESTROY REBUILD UNTIL GOD SHOWS - D.R.U.G.S

 

Is this the most contrived acronym of all time?

[Geoff]

Despite the lousy production job (anytime you have to stop masturbating to the cover pictures of a new Robin Beck CD to fiddle with the knobs on your CD-player to change the mix is irritating at best)

Heavy lolz.

 

DESTROY REBUILD UNTIL GOD SHOWS - D.R.U.G.S

 

The new modern rock project involving members of Chiodos/Story of the Year and a few others. It's all a touch heavier than SOTY and more in-line with Chiodos' material, but much more commercially appealing. Stacks of melody and catchy choruses and some nice mellower moments too. Craig Owens' vocals are a bit of an acquired taste, but this is still the best modern rock disc I've heard this year so far...

 

ASKING ALEXANDRIA - Life Gone Wild E.P

 

Killer new Brit Metal band who have made their name with a cover of an AKON tune cover SKID ROW's "Youth Gone Wild" and "18 & Life" on here. Great vocals but their covers add nothing to the originals at all, I'd hoped for a Metalcore version of the songs but they just play it straight. I still love this for the killer new song "Breathless"...

Despite many interuptions, I've been making my way through that DRUGS album too - sounds very good. I didn't even know about the SOTY / Chiodos connection. Looking forward to just sitting down and hearing it from start to end, but it does sound great.

 

Asking Alexandra played at Soundwave and if the schedule had opened up for them I've have gone to see them. I've seen the Skid Row cover of that EP, but not heard the tunes yet. Will try soon but not sure it'll be my thing.

[TIM (2)]

Despite many interuptions, I've been making my way through that DRUGS album too - sounds very good. I didn't even know about the SOTY / Chiodos connection. Looking forward to just sitting down and hearing it from start to end, but it does sound great.

 

It needs a couple of spins but is very catchy stuff, worth picking up but don't be too judgemental on the first spin or two. Better than anything Chiodos have done IMO.

[Fat Freddy]

Stryper - THE COVERING

Stryper was one of my favorite bands in the '80s but I've been less than enthused with what I've heard from them post-reunion (REBORN sucked rocks, and what little I heard of MURDER BY PRIDE didn't make me wanna rush out and buy it either). However, I was particularly interested in hearing this disc. I mean, it would be hard for anybody to screw up a bunch of classic cover songs. I'm happy to report that THE COVERING is the best thing I've heard from the band since AGAINST THE LAW (1990).

 

Not all the songs work, but the ones that do are home runs. Stryper hits Sweet's "Set Me Free" out of the park to start the disc, and their reverent take on Black Sabbath's "Heaven and Hell" definitely has the spirit of Ronnie James Dio smiling down upon it (nice "Whoa-ooohh-ohhhhh!" backing vocals in that one by the way). UFO's "Lights Out," Kansas' "Carry On Wayward Son" and even KISS' "Shout It Out Loud" (one of the tracks I was most worried about them goofing up) are all satisfyingly ass-kickin.

 

However, their takes on the Scorpions' "Blackout," "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden and Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law" fall short, at least in this metalhead's book. The Scorpions and Priest covers sound like the gas pedal needed to be pushed down another notch, as neither of them sound as fast-n-frenzied as the originals. Michael Sweet's voice sounds too, well... "sweet" to pull off the snarling nastiness required of the Maiden track. Fortunately the disc redeems itself with the late-inning rips through Van Halen's "On Fire" and Zep's "Immigrant Song," plus the lone Stryper original on the disc, the album closer "God," which is a hard rockin track that hearkens back to their golden '80s era.

 

All in all, a very impressive showing from the Sweet Brothers and company, and if their next album of originals can keep up the standard set by this disc, I'll definitely be on board to check it out. Nice work.

[embrock]

Michael Monroe - Sensory Overdrive

Hard to believe he's turning 50 next year if you hear this album. A lot of energy, sometimes a little too much punk for me, but Sensory Overdrive is a bold statement from Monroe. It has Ginger's influence written all over it, creating a real band-vibe. Great production by Jack Douglas. Universal/Spinefarm should definately release "All you need" as the next single as with a little airplay this could easily become a mainstream-hit!

I got the Limited Edition with two (great) bonus-tracks. Still it is just over far too soon clocking in at only about 35 minutes.

[JamesEagle]

Michael Monroe - Sensory Overdrive

Hard to believe he's turning 50 next year if you hear this album. A lot of energy, sometimes a little too much punk for me, but Sensory Overdrive is a bold statement from Monroe. It has Ginger's influence written all over it, creating a real band-vibe. Great production by Jack Douglas. Universal/Spinefarm should definately release "All you need" as the next single as with a little airplay this could easily become a mainstream-hit!

I got the Limited Edition with two (great) bonus-tracks. Still it is just over far too soon clocking in at only about 35 minutes.

 

Are there any really sleazy (and not punky) tracks?

[Geoff]

Despite many interuptions, I've been making my way through that DRUGS album too - sounds very good. I didn't even know about the SOTY / Chiodos connection. Looking forward to just sitting down and hearing it from start to end, but it does sound great.

 

It needs a couple of spins but is very catchy stuff, worth picking up but don't be too judgemental on the first spin or two. Better than anything Chiodos have done IMO.

Yeah, gave it a good spin and I dig it. I agree, I don't actually have any Chiodos CDs. They sound okay but I've never bothered buying. 'Laminated ET Animal' and 'I'm here to take the sky' were my faves. Very cool tunes. Have you heard:

 

Close to Home - 'Never back down' ; I dug it. Basically, if you like A Day To Remember it's likely you'll like these guys too. Nice, heavy and slickly produced verses lead into sickly melodic choruses from start to finish. Very consistent CD, with a handful of standout tracks. I liked it a lot.

[embrock]

Michael Monroe - Sensory Overdrive

Hard to believe he's turning 50 next year if you hear this album. A lot of energy, sometimes a little too much punk for me, but Sensory Overdrive is a bold statement from Monroe. It has Ginger's influence written all over it, creating a real band-vibe. Great production by Jack Douglas. Universal/Spinefarm should definately release "All you need" as the next single as with a little airplay this could easily become a mainstream-hit!

I got the Limited Edition with two (great) bonus-tracks. Still it is just over far too soon clocking in at only about 35 minutes.

 

Are there any really sleazy (and not punky) tracks?

 

Kinda hard to draw the line between sleazy and punky for this album to be honest. "Another Night in the Sun", one of the bonus tracks, is probably one of the most "rock"-ish songs on here. But songs like "Trick of the Wrist", "Later won't wait" or "Modern Day Miracle" could easily be classified as "rock" or as "punk".

[JamesEagle]

Michael Monroe - Sensory Overdrive

Hard to believe he's turning 50 next year if you hear this album. A lot of energy, sometimes a little too much punk for me, but Sensory Overdrive is a bold statement from Monroe. It has Ginger's influence written all over it, creating a real band-vibe. Great production by Jack Douglas. Universal/Spinefarm should definately release "All you need" as the next single as with a little airplay this could easily become a mainstream-hit!

I got the Limited Edition with two (great) bonus-tracks. Still it is just over far too soon clocking in at only about 35 minutes.

 

Are there any really sleazy (and not punky) tracks?

 

Kinda hard to draw the line between sleazy and punky for this album to be honest. "Another Night in the Sun", one of the bonus tracks, is probably one of the most "rock"-ish songs on here. But songs like "Trick of the Wrist", "Later won't wait" or "Modern Day Miracle" could easily be classified as "rock" or as "punk".

 

Shame, as I loved 'Not Fakin' It', but hate punk.

 

For my part, I listened to Mad Max - Night Of Passion for the first time at the weekend and really enjoyed it. The first track, 'Burning The Stage', blew me away, a great song. After that the quality seems a little inconsistent, some good some less so, but hopefully some of the less good tracks will be growers. I seem to recall that 'Love Loaded' was pretty awesome too. Top vocals and awesome guitar throughout.

[All Nights Reserved]

Blood Ceremony - S/T (2008)

 

Well, you can easily say that it's a retro band. Musically it's traditional doom a la (early) Black Sabbath and it sounds if it was recorded in 1971. The interesting thing is that they are massively influenced by the psychedelic music of the 60's, they use a lot of Hammond organ and flutes - which give the music a folky, medieval mood too, and I almost forgot to mention the singer is a girl. The lyrics mostly deal with occultism, so you can have the feeling that it's a soundtrack of an old horror film. Cool indeed.

 

The Devil's Blood - The Time of No Time Evermore (2009)

 

Another band from the same vein... or not? These Dutch guys' style is something special I think. As for the music they are between Thin Lizzy and The Cult but with that old school psychedelic mood and a one of kind female lead singer. Mesmerizing music with dark lyrics and melancholy but somehow it rocks - really rocks!

[Geoff]

Sammy Hagar - s/t (aka 'I Never Said Goodbye') ; pretty rubbishy to be honest. I didn't hate it, but it'll be on my trade list for sure. Just like with Van Halen, you have to wade through eight fillers for the sake of two pretty decent songs. 'Give to live' is kind of gayish, but not a bad tune and by far the highlight of this CD for me was 'Back into you.' Nice to see he could include at least one great song on the CD.

 

Sammy Hagar - 'Unboxed' ; If this is a best of I'd hate to see the worst of. 'Two Sides of Love' was a good tune, the aforementioned 'Give to live' (was this a demo version of the song? Sounds poor) and 'I can't drive 55' were also pretty cool. I also like 'There's Only One Way to Rock' even if Pretty Maids' version (obviously) absolutely crushes the original. But you take those 4 songs off this, and if those other 8 pieces of shit are seriously meant to be his best work... wow. No wonder Van Halen selected him to be their lead singer...

[Geoff]

Dirty Looks - s/t ; a real shame about the crumby, dated and almost demo-like "production" on this CD. Because otherwise, if you ask me, this is one of the best Dirty Looks CDs released. I really liked the songs on this one and there was a bit more variety and fire in the band at this young stage - 1984. Yeah, sound was pretty poor but I still enjoyed this a lot.

 

Jagged Edge - 'Trouble' ; wow, I always just assumed this was no good, for whatever reason. The opening song is a blatant filler, 'You don't love me' is brilliant but on the debut, but the other 3 songs on the EP are all very good. The cover song of 'Good golly Miss Molly' is even very cool. There's a few more demos and live songs to round of this full length CD, and although it's not too marvelous, this one's actually well worth having.

 

Kelley's Heroes - s/t ; another decent surprise. Sleaze metal from around 1992 on Retrospect... surprised I haven't heard at least a little more on the board apart from Jacob mentioning them a few times. They're like a mix of No Respect, Sven Gali, Erotic Suicide with maybe a sprinkle of Skid Row. But don't get to excited. They don't quite have the songs of any of those bands, but they have a good sound/style and it's not a bad disc. I have to admit, though, they could have done a little better in the song writing department. A few sweeter hooks wouldn't have gone astray.

 

Lipstixx N' Bulletz - 'Bang your head' ; very, very nice. In the same game as Crazy Lixx and Crashdiet, but not in the same league... yet. But not too far off. Production budget is obviously a little less and song writing skills not quite in the big league yet, but it's a very good debut. They also remind me of the band Loud N' Nasty, who they're a little more on par with. Their last disc was great, as is this. Nothing negative to say about it at all to be honest... great debut, looking forward to an even better follow up.

 

John Lorraine - 'Liquid' ; decent if not uneventful EP from ex-Lorraine frontman. Yeah... songs ain't bad, just a little forgettable. Opener was my favourite song of the lot.

 

Malice - 'The rare and unreleased' ; not sure of the worth of this to be honest. The sound quality on a lot of this is so poor it wasn't worth releasing, imo. And I believe a lot of the songs are also released otherwise. I like this band, but I didn't really enjoy this CD at all to be honest. And what the hell is up with the Only Child song, 'Vice Versa' sitting there in the middle of it all? Not a Malice version of the song... Only Child's version. Did the tapes get mixed up? Very odd...

[JamesEagle]

 

Jagged Edge - 'Trouble' ; wow, I always just assumed this was no good, for whatever reason. The opening song is a blatant filler, 'You don't love me' is brilliant but on the debut, but the other 3 songs on the EP are all very good. The cover song of 'Good golly Miss Molly' is even very cool. There's a few more demos and live songs to round of this full length CD, and although it's not too marvelous, this one's actually well worth having.

 

This brings back memories. I had this on tape; 'You Don't Love Me' is a great song, I think I need to track it down again... I used to listen to 'Rosie Rosie' quite a lot, for 3 reasons: (1) It was relevant to me at the time, (2) I was quite young and (3) I was a complete f*ckin' sap!

[All Nights Reserved]

Blood Ceremony - Living with the Ancients (2011)

 

Less heavy than the debut but a more mature material. The style is the same folky, psychedelic, old school Sabbath even though there are some 'modern' riffs and vocal melodies. I still dig it.

[Geoff]

Laroxx - s/t ; good solid Italian melodic hard rock CD. Sounds like these guys were literally on the brink of having this one released back in 1991 but the label backed out at the last minute. It's nothing amazing, but it's well recorded and the songs are generally pretty damn good and solid. Recommended for the "hair metal" fans amongst us.

 

Mercy Mercedes - '1.21 Gigawatts' ; loved it! I've heard the full-length debut, but this is their debut EP and I didn't expect it to be this good. Makes me want to revisit the full-length asap. 6 awesome, catchy modern rock songs sure to delight fans of the modern pop rock genre.

 

Midnite Sun - 'Groovin' Sexplosion' ; I think these guys are Italian too. And it shows with the vocalist. Really not coping well with these types of vocalists at the moment. And even though there is a good level of musicianship as well as a good production job behind them, many of these songs were pretty flat and unspectacular. Seriously not a bad band, just didn't really get into most of these songs at all.

[Nightrain]

thanks for the Midnite Sun, about to order it at SR, but i think i'll back down

i also have checked out Redrum and Burn, well don't know, but both of them are just quite average to my ears, good but not great

 

but Lipstixx is cool stuff, and i agree with you, slightly inferior to Crashdiet but they shared a similarity, that one is in!

[Geoff]

thanks for the Midnite Sun, about to order it at SR, but i think i'll back down

i also have checked out Redrum and Burn, well don't know, but both of them are just quite average to my ears, good but not great

 

but Lipstixx is cool stuff, and i agree with you, slightly inferior to Crashdiet but they shared a similarity, that one is in!

Yeah, to be honest you could do without Redrum and Midnite Sun quite easily. But don't be put off the Burn one too easily... it's a very good disc. That and the Lipstixx N' Bulletz are both very worthwhile, imo.

[Metal T]

Dirty Looks - s/t ; a real shame about the crumby, dated and almost demo-like "production" on this CD. Because otherwise, if you ask me, this is one of the best Dirty Looks CDs released. I really liked the songs on this one and there was a bit more variety and fire in the band at this young stage - 1984. Yeah, sound was pretty poor but I still enjoyed this a lot.

 

Jagged Edge - 'Trouble' ; wow, I always just assumed this was no good, for whatever reason. The opening song is a blatant filler, 'You don't love me' is brilliant but on the debut, but the other 3 songs on the EP are all very good. The cover song of 'Good golly Miss Molly' is even very cool. There's a few more demos and live songs to round of this full length CD, and although it's not too marvelous, this one's actually well worth having.

 

Kelley's Heroes - s/t ; another decent surprise. Sleaze metal from around 1992 on Retrospect... surprised I haven't heard at least a little more on the board apart from Jacob mentioning them a few times. They're like a mix of No Respect, Sven Gali, Erotic Suicide with maybe a sprinkle of Skid Row. But don't get to excited. They don't quite have the songs of any of those bands, but they have a good sound/style and it's not a bad disc. I have to admit, though, they could have done a little better in the song writing department. A few sweeter hooks wouldn't have gone astray.

 

Lipstixx N' Bulletz - 'Bang your head' ; very, very nice. In the same game as Crazy Lixx and Crashdiet, but not in the same league... yet. But not too far off. Production budget is obviously a little less and song writing skills not quite in the big league yet, but it's a very good debut. They also remind me of the band Loud N' Nasty, who they're a little more on par with. Their last disc was great, as is this. Nothing negative to say about it at all to be honest... great debut, looking forward to an even better follow up.

 

John Lorraine - 'Liquid' ; decent if not uneventful EP from ex-Lorraine frontman. Yeah... songs ain't bad, just a little forgettable. Opener was my favourite song of the lot.

 

Malice - 'The rare and unreleased' ; not sure of the worth of this to be honest. The sound quality on a lot of this is so poor it wasn't worth releasing, imo. And I believe a lot of the songs are also released otherwise. I like this band, but I didn't really enjoy this CD at all to be honest. And what the hell is up with the Only Child song, 'Vice Versa' sitting there in the middle of it all? Not a Malice version of the song... Only Child's version. Did the tapes get mixed up? Very odd...