First Spin Impressions

[Nightrain]

BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION - BCC 2 (2011)

i like many classic rock releases or anything that has to do with classic rock but don't know why BCC just can't please my appetite. I know I don't really like the first album, but this one who has been hailed by many as one of the strongest releases is actually a very average disc packed with passable tunes. Probably 'The Outsider', 'I Can See Your Spirit', and 'Little Secret' are the only bearable track and it's probably only around 6.5/10-7/10 range and the rest are mediocre.

 

Horribly overrated, 55%-60% for me, despite of the big names behind this band, and no way it could go beyond 70% after some spins.

 

 

Wow just wow. I think it's killer and up there in my top albums of the year.

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

 

yeah no problem friend, different taste is very usual, looks like a grower but not very sure either.

 

First impression usually can be wrong especially after you get to listen to the album for a while, but usually for me, it doesn't swing wildly, so probably 70% could be the top sky for me.

 

I do think Glenn's vocal is pretty good here and Joe's guitar is always fascinating as he's very talented i know, but eventually it's the songs that count, and that just didn't do much for me.

[heaven&hell]

Sebastian Bach - Kicking & Screaming(CD/DVD)

It's unavoidable to compare every Bach solo release to his previous band especially Slave to the Grind but I try to do my best to not do that and judge it on it's own. Based on that this is a damn good Hard Rock album. You'll notice that I said Hard Rock where the previous release 'Angel Down' was much more Priest like Metal this one isn't quite that heavy but has much more modern production and sound thanks to the great job done by Bob Marlette. The sound is just monsterous IMO where Roy Z's production seemed to be missing someting on 'Angel Down'. My fav songs on this one are the title track, "My Own Worst Enemy", "Tunnelvision"(the best song on this album), "Caught in a Dream", "Dirty Power", "One Good Reason" plus the three ballads are very good as well "Wishin", "I'm Alive", "Dream Forever". My only complaint is that by just using guitarist Nick Sterling and not having Johnny Chromatic(where is he?)back the direction is much more melodic and doesn't have the heaviness from the previous album.Of course Metal Mike being gone effects that too but Johnny did all of the touring so not sure where he is. I'm sure some fans prefer the melodic stuff and I love it too but I thought Johnny brought something extra to the band plus it's odd that even Rob Delucca isn't in the band anymore either so not sure who will play bass live and why he went with the 3 piece band here. Even with my minor complaints this is very good album that gets better with each spin. Plus if you're gonna buy this you have to buy the CD/DVD version bacause the DVD is great with a documentary, 3 videos and 10 live songs from the Angel Down tour.

 

Dynazty - Bring the ThunderVery good Melodic Hard Rock with a dose of sleaze. Not really a bad song here but the production seems to be a little thin when compared to the new album IMO but still this is a damn good cd. For me these guys aren't quite on the same level as Crashdiet or Crazy Lixx but there close. Real close.

 

Chickenfoot - IIIThe production is much better this time around but to me the songs are probably better on the first one. There are some real winners on this one like "A Different Devil", "Last Temptation", "Come Closer", "Dubai Blues" and the great "Big Foot". This is still a real good album but for those that expect Van Hagar due to Sammy and Michael's involvement look elsewhere.

[Nightrain]

FERGIE FREDERIKSEN - Happiness Is The Road (2011)

at first, I thought it's gonna be a westcoast thing or at least Toto-influenced kind of thing, but didn't know that it's Dennis Ward project, and behind the keys is Eric Ragno, so after the last 'First Signal' project last year, looks like this is Ward's product for 2011. Not very sure who's behind the song machine, but apparently judging on the sound, it's Ward's.

 

Around 3-4 uptempo melodic rock, 3 ballads, and the rest are midtempo AORs, this is a consistent disc, couple of weaker tunes [the last two tracks] but still enjoyable. My fave tracks are 'Angel', 'Elaine', 'Follow Your Heart', the title track, and 'Lyin Eyes'.

 

Another great disc of the year and I probably value this around 80%.

 

KIMBALL/JAMISON - s/t (2011)

I had higher expectation for this but on the first spin, although it's another great disc as well, as strong as Fergie, I don't think it's gonna be in my top 20, and probably Fergie's disc is even slightly stronger than this one. Fave tracks here are 'Worth Fighting For' which sounds very Work of Art (could be Sall-penned track?), 'Can't Wait For Love', 'Find Another Way', 'I Did Everything Wrong' [this and the first track are the best tunes for me], and 'Shadows of Love'.

 

Funny thing is that when you heard 'Kicking and Screaming', you'll know the Verse is pillaging Bon Jovi's 'Born To Be My Baby', that track isn't bad, but shame on the steal lol the last track is the weakest.

 

Another 80% for this one, but Fergie probably will win the battle of these two.

[Glen]

KIMBALL/JAMISON - s/t (2011)

Funny thing is that when you heard 'Kicking and Screaming', you'll know the Verse is pillaging Bon Jovi's 'Born To Be My Baby', that track isn't bad, but shame on the steal lol

 

Yeah absolutely shameful!!

 

Biggest rip off since 1998 when Intruder 'stole' survivor's 'Jackie Dont Go' !!!!

[Nightrain]

KIMBALL/JAMISON - s/t (2011)

Funny thing is that when you heard 'Kicking and Screaming', you'll know the Verse is pillaging Bon Jovi's 'Born To Be My Baby', that track isn't bad, but shame on the steal lol

 

Yeah absolutely shameful!!

 

Biggest rip off since 1998 when Intruder 'stole' survivor's 'Jackie Dont Go' !!!!

 

Talkin' bout Survivor, i remember Final Frontier's track on their 'Freelight' album, it's something called 'Someone's Watching You' if I'm not mistaken, is it also a plunder from 'High On You' ?

[Nightrain]

some short insight of several 2011 releases that I've listened in the past few weeks

 

DEXTERAM - The Hidden Face

Columbia thrash metal outfit, plays old Metallica with some German's Destruction/Kreator influences. The vocal is too harsh for this one, semi-growl and semi-death metal, not that I dislike growl, but with this type of music they're playing, I expect a better output if he has clean singing style. Many great headbangable songs but the vocal is the low point, so I'm gonna go with 75% for this beast.

 

IBERIA - Revolution

Portuguese hard rock band, plays in the veins of 80s hard rock, with a throw of Hollywood party glam, the guitars are nice, the vocal isn't heavily accented, but probably half of the songs are pretty average. Promising but not very strong release, some fave tracks here are 'Revolution', 'Hot In Love', 'N.I.T.R.O', and 'Hollywood'. This one's ranging at around 60-70%

 

ISSA - The Storm

very similar to the debut, in fact, you can always shuffle those songs and mixed it up with the first album with ease. I didn't pay attention to which one is stronger as I was listening to this while concentrating on something else, but I believe most of the songs are good to great and enjoyable. Just like when I rate the debut at around 80%, I think this one will go the same too. Nice follow-up!

 

L.A.GUNS - Acoustic Gypsy Live

a pretty useless acoustical rendition of Tracii Guns band. Even though Jizzy sounds okay here, the whole set sounds hollow and empty, probably only 5-10 people cheering them lol some songs weren't meant to be acoustic, or probably if Tesla did it, it will be much better. Some ballads like 'It's Over Now' and 'The Ballad of Jayne' are predictably good in acoustic version. They also played Nazareth's 'Love Hurts' and Otis Redding's 'These Arms of Mine', also slipped in a new song called 'Little Soldier' which has a weird country feel to it. All in all, don't bother to waste your money in it, I'll rate this around 50-60% just because the L.A.Guns original songs are great and the acoustical thing is a new L.A.Guns experience.

 

LOUDNESS - Eve To Dawn

I don't really think Loudness should continue making new album. Don't know what are they thinking but they put too many depressive modern influences to their songs and to think that their biggest fanbase are coming from the traditional 80s era, it's probably not a wise decision and 'Eve To Dawn' even though shows some coming-back to their heavy metal era, it's still too frustratingly modern for me. Some cool songs are 'Come Alive Again', 'Survivor', and 'Keep You Burning', but the rest are passable. God I missed the Vescera's era so I'm not pretty surprised this can't go beyond 55%.

 

REDEMPTION - This Mortal Coil

some call it a head-to-head competitor of Arch/Matheos, well I think that two albums are a bit different despite the Fates Warning connection. This one is more in the prog/power element, closer to Symphony X sound while Arch/Matheos explored the prog/heavy metal territory. Not much different but I found this to be slightly enjoyable even though doesn't belong in the prog top ladder. The first half is somewhat better than the second and strong tunes here are 'Path of The Whirlwind', 'Blink of An Eye', 'No Tickets To The Funeral', and 'Let It Rain' (better if it's shorter). I'm happy to go with 70% on this one.

 

SANTA CRUZ - Anthem For The Young N Restless

This one caught me by surprise, didn't expect this to be good and turns out to be a great release. Musically, a typical cross of Guns N' Roses and Poison kind of thing, and vocally, the singer seems to struggle with his pitch control and I'm afraid he's gonna wrecked out live, but maybe he just needs some more experiences. Production is great and there are quite many awesome songs to love here such as the title track, 'Let's Get The Party Started', 'Over The Limit', 'We're Aiming High' (probably the best tune!), 'Sweet Sensation', and 'Screamin' For Adrenaline'. 80% on the first strike!

 

STEVE HACKETT - Beyond The Shrouded Horizon

another surprising prog release by the legend. This is such a comprehensive release by him, covering symphonic touch, folk, jazz, prog rock, pop, etc. Two discs set, very relaxing tune, I was listening to this one while raining outside and sipping some hot chocolate, a wonderful experience. Although I haven't been able to grasp the whole albums at start, but definitely interested to give this an extensive second spin later. I'll gladly give this a solid 80% and let's see how it goes later.

 

TAXXI - Traxx

another MR.com release, pretty good but didn't impress me much though. Sounds like a disc that you can listen occasionally once in three-four months, very easy listening, perhaps a cross of AOR and 80s pop, I found at least 4-5 fillers and the rest are okay, some highlights are 'Writing On The Wall', 'I Want You Back', 'Last of The Red Hot Lovers', 'Never Lived A Dream', and 'Restless Heart'. 70% at the first glance.

 

WHITE WIZZARD - Flying Tigers

a good heavy metal thing with Iron Maiden influences and the vocal reminds me of Geddy Lee with the raspy metal cords. A strong first half but unbalance in the second one. Winners are 'Fight To The Death', 'West L.A.Nights', 'Night Train To Tokyo', and 'Night Stalker'. I'm thinking of buying this if the price is cheap, could be a grower, ranging at 70-80%.

[Dead Planet]

Van Gunn...S/T...I picked this one up on a whim last year and I just got around to playing it over the weekend and it has blown me away...I can't believe I haven't heard of this Cd being mentioned here on HH...One of the best hard rock releases I've heard this year...

[heaven&hell]

some short insight of several 2011 releases that I've listened in the past few weeks

 

 

REDEMPTION - This Mortal Coil

some call it a head-to-head competitor of Arch/Matheos, well I think that two albums are a bit different despite the Fates Warning connection. This one is more in the prog/power element, closer to Symphony X sound while Arch/Matheos explored the prog/heavy metal territory. Not much different but I found this to be slightly enjoyable even though doesn't belong in the prog top ladder. The first half is somewhat better than the second and strong tunes here are 'Path of The Whirlwind', 'Blink of An Eye', 'No Tickets To The Funeral', and 'Let It Rain' (better if it's shorter). I'm happy to go with 70% on this one.

 

 

WHITE WIZZARD - Flying Tigers

a good heavy metal thing with Iron Maiden influences and the vocal reminds me of Geddy Lee with the raspy metal cords. A strong first half but unbalance in the second one. Winners are 'Fight To The Death', 'West L.A.Nights', 'Night Train To Tokyo', and 'Night Stalker'. I'm thinking of buying this if the price is cheap, could be a grower, ranging at 70-80%.

 

I've been wanting to check out the Redemption but for me the Arch/Matheos is incredible but Arch is one of my fav vocalists.

 

The White Wizzard debut was pretty good IMO so looking forward to the Flying Tigers and I have heard "West LA Nights" and it was real good but a little more melodic than the debut.

[Nightrain]

[quote name='heaven&hell' date='20 October 2011 - 06:45 AM' I've been wanting to check out the Redemption but for me the Arch/Matheos is incredible but Arch is one of my fav vocalists.

 

The White Wizzard debut was pretty good IMO so looking forward to the Flying Tigers and I have heard "West LA Nights" and it was real good but a little more melodic than the debut.

 

i guess you might like Arch better since he's your fave singer and they're more heavy metal than Redemption which is more power metal, but if you also like American power (which has a bit thrash tendency), then I guess you'll be fine with it. But i've seen people rate Arch better than this, hm to me, it's kinda balance but I prefer Redemption a bit, but don't know after couple more spins though.

 

i think i missed White Wizzard debut so can't compare those two, but yeah it's a likeable record so it's not harmful to buy that one.

[Geoff]

A couple of new CDs I've heard since I've been back:

 

Paul Dean - 'Hard Core' ; pretty harmless, I guess, but in saying that it's far from great too. Just sounds like a bored and lazy effort in all areas - songs, vocals, musicianship and production. The whole thing just plods along without being too bad, but it also never shines either.

 

Arabia - 'Welcome to the Freakshow' ; this is terrible. I haven't cared enough to cross check if he's still recycling those Scarecrow songs, but this just sounds bad. No real other way to put it. Awful vocals, equally poor songs. I hate it.

 

And this was the soundtrack to my holiday... on the brief occasion I actually listened to music, which was about the flight over and the flight back to be honest:

 

Dead by April - Incomparable ; completely comparable to the debut. Basically, if you loved that you'll love this. Great mix of melodic almost pop rock jammed in with a bollock sack of modern metal/screamo. I do like this band and this album satisfies.

 

Grand Illusion - Prince Of Paupers ; very nice. A couple of fillers on board, but for the most part this is really good melodic rock. There's still just something about this band (and I can't explain it) which holds me back from jumping on the net to buy their CDs immediately, but it's a very good CD.

 

Infinity - Infinity ; pretty decent disc. I found myself kind of dozing through it and not being held captive by anything on it, but it seemed pretty consistent and solid. Will definitely need to hear it again.

 

Jamie Allen- The Storyteller ; this one was okay too. Again, it was solid enough but it has a pretty weak production job and because of it, the songs don't really fire. It's a decent CD, but it'd be hard to validate spending too much on this one.

 

Madina Lake - World War III ; man this sounded disappointing. I like this band and there were a few cool songs, but overall it seemed like a bit of a mess. Another one I really need to hear properly and give attention too, as I might have dozed during this too. But first impressions were not good.

 

Mitch Malloy - II ; this sounded excellent. Good, consistent songs which sounded at times like the quality of his debut. Could be a winner. On the downside, I'd have to agree with Glen's words above about production/mix, which did sound a little muffled. And variety might be an issue too. There did seem to be a common theme from song to song, but overall I did enjoy this. Looking forward to a proper spin.

 

New Found Glory - Radiosurgery ; these guys seem to be getting more commercial with each disc. Which is a good thing. I liked it - reminds me of Simple Plan a few years ago. Solid stuff.

 

Sebastian Bach - 'Kicking and screaming' ; I hate to say it, but I'm glad I haven't made the plunge and bought this actual CD yet. I'm not sold on this at all. I can't even really say what it is either. His vocals didn't always do it for me - especially the quieter moments, and the songs just weren't really making any impact. I think I didn't mind a couple of the ballads, despite some awful lyrics. I dunno. Again, I need more time with this but at first spin I'm pretty disappointed.

 

Sencelled - s/t ; very nice. Best of the bunch by far. Am I on a mind trip or did I seriously see Geln compare these guys to Simple Plan? If so, scallop, you have been eating drugs. It's hard to compare a band like this accurately, but I'd lean towards All I Know mixed with Eclipse's debut? Modern AOR all the way. I'll be honest, and I can't hear even a hint of Simple Plan, sorry mate. Regardless of all this, it's a really great disc. If you loved that All I Know CD from last year odds are you'll love this. The negative side is the lyrics (and fancy ripping off the 'It's a miracle' lyric from Crashdiet so blatantly) which are pretty bad at times, but otherwise this is excellent modern AOR without filler.

 

Ten Second Epic - 'Better off' ; one of the surprises for me. Stunned to read that this is still the original line-up because as far as I can tell they've recorded 3 entirely different CDs with 3 entirely different sounding vocalists. But maybe I just haven't spent enough time with them? Anyway, this album is really good modern rock in the style of Summerhero from a few years back. Generally up-tempo, and this has some really great hooks this time around. As I said, one of the best of the trip.

 

We Are The In Crowd - 'Guaranteed to disagree' ; love this stuff. After hearing them at Counter Revolution I made sure I got this one and I love this thing. Sure it's very poppy rock, but these guys can sure craft a hook. The dual male/female lead vocals are so cheesy and corny, with a consistent he said / she said theme from each side of the story throughout the CD, but what can I say? It works for them. I wouldn't wear a t-shirt of these guys or even advertise the fact I think they're great... but they are great at what they do.

[heaven&hell]

Iced Earth - Dystopia

Wow didn't expect this to be so good especially the first half of the disc. Somewhere between teh great Dark Saga and Something Wicked This Way Comes releases. The title track, "Anthem"(one of their best songs ever) and "Anguish of Youth" make this a must have for IE fans and even Power Metal fans. If you're a Barlow era IE fan this cd is for you!

[Kim_Hp]

Fergie Frederiksen - Happiness Is The Road

Decided to purchase this after some really positive comments and the fact that Jim Peterik was involved, which usually means quality. After 1 listen I'm not blown away though, some good songs here and there, but also some rather average ones. And a question: will Frontiers bring in Robert Säll (Work of Art) to write for every major AOR record now? I hope not, totally overrated songwriter that uses the same melodies and lyrics in every song he writes. I didn't like Work of Art and not surprisingly his 2 contributions here sound just like Work of Art leftovers. Will see what further spins bring but so far I would only rate this as "good" but not great.

[Nightrain]

another 2011 run

 

FIONA - Unbroken

i guess the hype doesn't match the quality Fiona brings to the table. This is only-okay disc with couple of standouts, 'Shadows of The Night', a great power ballad and 'This Heart', an awesome duet with Robin Beck. The other good things here are 'Broken', 'I've Released You', 'Badge of Love', and 'Everything You Are', but the rest are totally average and couple passable tracks with 'Salt On My Wings' being the worst of the bunch. 65-70% on my first attempt.

 

ICED EARTH - Dystopia

i was also surprised with this one, didn't know that it's gonna be this good. Schaffer brings back the momentum and Stu Block gave a different and unique touch to each song. There are lots of fave tracks here such as the fast-paced 'Dystopia' with great riffs; the apparent-single 'Anthem' which has that slow Sad-But-True vibe and the String version on the limited edition is also very good; 'Boiling Point' is super awesome, furious and the riffs are bone-cracking; 'Dark City' which is very Iron Maiden all over the place; 'Equilibrium' with its stampeding rhythm; and the bonus track, 'Iron Will', which made the Limited Edition a required buy.

 

I didn't know that back in Into Eternity, Stu has some ballads but Iced Earth take some risky position on 'Anguish of Youth' and 'End of Innocence' which probably won't please many metal fans, and while I think it's only good, Stu performed these songs very well. An awesome disc on the first spin, I'll say 80% with a potential to climb to 85%.

 

KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES - In Gold Blood

an interesting modern rock album, some songs really has that L'Arc~en~Ciel vibe (J-rock band) that I love, such as 'Teenage Wonderland', 'Diamond Days', and 'The Florist'. I love em and other cool songs like the midtempo commercial tune, 'Only The Brave Die Free', the ballad 'Fire', the bass-driving a la Muse on 'Black Crush', and 'A God To Many Devils'. Cool modern album but I found at least 2-3 fillers so I'm gonna assume a 75%-80% will be a good point for this at the end of the day.

 

MEGADETH - Th1rt3en

this is the major surprise for me as I don't think Megadeth has been releasing really great albums since Mustaine's return, but this one is a true return-to-form IMHO. Slashing between Rust In Peace and Countdown To Extinction, Mustaine successfully created an accessible album yet still heavy like in their thrashy/heavy metal days. Solo guitars might not as sophisticated like the old days, especially when Friedman still on board, but this is still a pleasant album! Some songs that I love are 'Public Enemy No 1', 'Whose Life', 'Never Dead' (best track for me), 'Fast Lane', 'Black Swan', and 'Wrecker', but except 'We The People' and 'Millennium of The Blind' which are a bit weak, the rest are enjoyable. 85% and could climb to 90%, should be in the top 5 best thrash releases this year!

 

RIVERDOGS - World Gone Mad

this didn't do much for me, i'm okay with 'Big Steel Town', 'Best Day of My Life', and 'Glitter Town', but the whole album isn't very interesting, and ironically the best track is 'No Matter What' that's performed live. Not very sure if this is a worthy buy, probably around 60-65% for me.

 

R.U.S.T - Forged In The Fire of Metal

Cyprus heavy metal band, clone of Manowar I guess, but I also heard Iron Maiden and Judas Priest influences. Musically, not very bad, but vocal is the worst part here, sounds hollow and like a heavy metal karaoke to me, that's unfortunate because the guitar parts are actually pretty good. 'The Thunder Rolls' and 'Phoenix In The Night' are the only great tracks, some good songs, but the rest are relatively poor. 55%-60%!

 

STEEL PANTHER - Balls Out

definitely weaker than the debut but still a good and enjoyable album though. The ballad 'If You Really, Really Love Me' which I think is average at the first place, luckily is the weakest part of this album. It means that the other songs are better such as 'Supersonic Sex Machine', riffs are super, solos are fantastic; 'Just Like Tiger Woods' is a great midtempo ballad with Def Leppard touch; 'It Won't Suck Itself' is very heavy metal and awesome; 'Tomorrow Night' is surely a Dokken-touched song; 'I Like Drugs' is a Kiss-influence with a heavy party vibe; and 'Weenie Ride' is a tender piano ballad and should be the best ballad here. However there are at least 4-5 average/good tracks, bringing down the total score at around 75-80%, but hopefully it grows well later.

[Geoff]

Thanks for the comments... I might leave that Fiona one for now. I was close to pre-ordering but I'm not too sure about it. Might try before I buy. Have you heard Kids In Glass Houses' album from last year, 'Dirt?' That album is excellent... much, much better than the new one.

[Nightrain]

yeah you should try Fiona first and let me know what you think of it. I know Captain Howdy has said something about 70%-80% for him, but for me it's kinda lower.

 

Haven't check out 'Dirt', okay will do later, i have interest in this band because the other day i saw Tim stated this as the best modern disc of this year for him

[TIM (2)]

 

KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES - In Gold Blood

an interesting modern rock album, some songs really has that L'Arc~en~Ciel vibe (J-rock band) that I love, such as 'Teenage Wonderland', 'Diamond Days', and 'The Florist'. I love em and other cool songs like the midtempo commercial tune, 'Only The Brave Die Free', the ballad 'Fire', the bass-driving a la Muse on 'Black Crush', and 'A God To Many Devils'. Cool modern album but I found at least 2-3 fillers so I'm gonna assume a 75%-80% will be a good point for this at the end of the day.

 

 

The only song I don't really like on this is the title-track, otherwise is awesome IMO. Much more of a grower than their previous album and a lot rockier - with quite a few retro styled tunes this time rather than just pure pop. I'd definitely rate this as my fave modern disc of the year so far...

[Glen]

Just a quick comment on Steel Panther - only really listened to this once but 'Tomorrow Night' is utterly awesome! Excellent hilarious lyrics, a huge riff and great chorus. One of my favourite tracks of the whole year!!

[Jez]

Kimball/Jamison - S/T

 

2 of the genre's greats on one album, who work well together for the most part. I have heard them both sing better on other albums, but seeing as they are both around 60, their voices are still remarkably good, Jamison especially. You know the songs are gonna be pretty good too with Robert Sall, Richard Page, Jim Peterik, Erik Martensson and John Waite amongst others involved in the songwriting, so no real complaints in that department either. 'Worth Fighting For' and 'Can't Wait For Love' (Both Sall written) and 'Sail Away' are excellent and for me the albums best tracks, although there aren't any I didn't like to be honest. The downside to the album if there is one, is that this lacks a little bit of soul and does smack of an atypical Frontiers type 'Project' disc, of which they seem to be banging out with regularity at the moment. All in all though a thumbs up from me.

 

Fergie Frederiksen - Happiness Is The Road

 

Very similar comments to the Kimball/Jamison disc to be honest, although Dennis Ward's production and the whole sound of the album has a little more balls than the K/J disc. Again great songs with no real let downs, with Robert Sall (again) providing 2 songs, Jim Peterik (again) 3 and the marvellous David Roberts 2, with 'Follow Your Heart' being especially good and my fave here. Seeing as Fergie was very ill during the recording of this album, his vocals are excellent and he certainly gives Kimball and Jamison a run for their money in that dept. Both highly enjoyable albums though with maybe just maybe Fergie winning the battle.

 

Issa - The Storm

 

I thought her first album 'Sign Of Angels' to be a bit of a mixed bag. It had some great songs, but got a bit too samey, with not that many standouts for me. It did get a little better with subsequent listens and I awarded it an 80% in the end. Her new 'The Storm' album is initially much better, from the songs, ('Looking For Love' 'Gonna Stand By You' and 'Invincible' especially of note) down to Daniel Flores' production. Robert Sall pops up yet again, as does Erik Martensson and even Magnus Karlsson gets in on the act too (are there no other decent songwriters out there at the moment??)although Issa does co write 3 songs with the excellent Martin Brothers which are quite good too. Overall a pretty strong disc and for me better than the debut.

 

Fiona - Unbroken

 

I heard 'Loved Along The Way' on the 'Rock For Japan' album which was a fine taster and certainly left me wanting more. Soundwise, this is very much like the latest Robin Beck album, with James Christian in the production seat, so if the sound of that album floats your boat, there will be much on here to like. Robin pops up on the super duet 'This Heart' which is a major album highlight along with the aforementiond 'Loved Along The Way' (very Tommy D in style), the cover of Pat Benatar's 'Shadows In The Night', Holly Knight's 'Badge Of Love' and the other cover Prophet's 'Everything You Are'. There are some filler tracks, 'Broken' and 'I've Released You' being the worst culprits, but generally it's pretty good throughout. Over all It certainly isn't as good as her first two albums which are still my favourites, or the excellent 'Squeeze' either, but I like it quite a lot.

 

 

Sencelled - S/T

 

Another young Swedish outfit that had me interested after seeing the vid for 'Breathe Out'. 'Breathe Out' is itself a great spiky little Power Pop/ AOR tune that describes the bands sound perfectly and sets the album up nicely (The Outfield and Rick Springfield kept coming to mind quite often as I listened to this). Ricky Delin's production is worthy of note (he also handled the Houston album) very bright and airy, bringing out some super harmonies throughout. One minus point is that I would have liked a little more variation material wise, as it does get to be a little samey in places, but that is a relatively minor issue when the songs, especially the first half, are this good. So!, If you like your Power Pop, mixed with some AOR and modern rock, then you could do a lot worse than check this one out.

 

 

Shy - S/T

 

After a major dip in quality after 'Excess All Areas' in the late 80's, the last 2 Shy albums were very decent AOR /Melodic rock albums, flawed admittedly, but enjoyable non the less. I nearly spat my coffeee out after listening to the opening salvo of tracks on this latest album. This band has grown some very big balls since 'Sunset And Vine' 6 years ago in every department, opener 'Land Of A Thousand Lies' and 'So Many Times' come charging out of the speakers providing ample proof of that. Another major difference here is that Tony Mills has departed (never my fave vocalist if I am truthful)) and in comes Glen Hughes soundalike Lee Small who does a phenomenal job. Joe Basketts keys are superb too and have added a bombastic sheen to the whole sound, aswell as the ever present Steve Harris, who has always been a much underrated guitarist. Songwise, check out the fantastic 'Ran Out Of Time' and 'Save Me' for a couple of absolute pearlers and 2 of the best tracks I have heard in a very long while. Other highlights include 'Only For The Night', 'Life For Me'..hell there isn't one bad tune on here at all, so just go and buy it. THE major surprise of this year without a doubt.

[Geoff]

Thanks to all on their thoughts on that Fergie Frederickson disc. I honestly had not even considered the possibility of even thinking about buying that one, but thanks to all these comments it is in my Amazon cart at the moment awaiting a couple more CDs to take advantage of the free shipping, but it will certainly be in my next order. Who'd have guess after that disgraceful last effort from him that he'd produce what sounds like a bit of a gem? Dying to hear this Issa album too...

 

Anyway, one more new spin for me:

 

Kaizoku - Kaizoku ; another tick in the box for the worth of Azintex. I'd never heard of this and certainly would never have, I don't think, if not for it's release through Azintex. It's not an amazing CD, but I'm surprised to have never heard it mentioned as it's produced by Lea Hart and features him along with a cast of pretty big names, including Saxon's Biff Byford amongst others. Basically, it's one of those collaborative albums centered around a couple of Japanese musicians, featuring mostly British (I think) vocalists. Production is thin, there's 3 instrumentals and the songs aren't amazing, but overall it's pretty cool and certainly worth checking out for the 80's hard rock enthusiast.

[heaven&hell]

ICED EARTH - Dystopia

i was also surprised with this one, didn't know that it's gonna be this good. Schaffer brings back the momentum and Stu Block gave a different and unique touch to each song. There are lots of fave tracks here such as the fast-paced 'Dystopia' with great riffs; the apparent-single 'Anthem' which has that slow Sad-But-True vibe and the String version on the limited edition is also very good; 'Boiling Point' is super awesome, furious and the riffs are bone-cracking; 'Dark City' which is very Iron Maiden all over the place; 'Equilibrium' with its stampeding rhythm; and the bonus track, 'Iron Will', which made the Limited Edition a required buy.

 

I didn't know that back in Into Eternity, Stu has some ballads but Iced Earth take some risky position on 'Anguish of Youth' and 'End of Innocence' which probably won't please many metal fans, and while I think it's only good, Stu performed these songs very well. An awesome disc on the first spin, I'll say 80% with a potential to climb to 85%.

 

 

I also did the Deluxe Edition and with three bonus tracks it's worth it.

I don't mind the ballad type songs you mention as their song "Watching Over You" from the Something Wicked album is one of my fav IE songs. Great album and way better than I expected. My faith in Iced Earth has been renewed.

[Kim_Hp]

Chickenfoot - III

 

It's actually the second listen, but anyways. I'm so frustrated I don't have a working CD player right now, because this is one disc that just NEEDS to be played at maximum volume. Blistering hard rock without a dull track in sight. As expected, the band performance is flawless - but it is the songs that makes this album a contender for album of the year for me. "Big Foot", "Last Temptation", "Dubai Blues" and "Different Devil" are all fantastic, but this is consistent all the way through. Very cool CD layout too, with the 3D glasses and stuff. Brilliant!

[heaven&hell]

Edens Curse - The Second Coming

Damn this band is soooo good. The new "Trinity" is still my fav of the three releases but this one is excellent too. "Signs of Life" is one of the best songs they've done. "West Wind Blows", "Sail On", "Just Like Judas", "Angels and Demons" and "Ride the Storm" are my standout tunes so far.

 

Saxon - Call To Arms

Another great album from Saxon. While not as heavy maybe as the last four or five releases this one is more a throwback to the early 80's and would sound perfect mixed in with Wheels of Steel, Strong Arm Of The Law and Denim & Leather. Not a bad song on here with "Hammer of the Gods", "Mists of Avalon", "Chasing the Bullett" and the excellent perfect opener or even closer in "Afterburner" being my favs so far. This band should be huge in a perfect world and they have probably been the most consistent Metal band on the planet the last 10-15 years.

[Geoff]

Stan Meissner - 'Dangerous Games' ; very vintage AOR, and to be honest, the songs just aren't good. It's all very lite pop AOR kind of stuff, but for me it was missing the hooks I'd still hope to get from it anyway.

 

Stan Meissner - 'Window to light' ; reading the notes, it was obvious to me why this also wasn't as good as I thought it might be. Don't get me wrong, it was pretty good. But when you leave out a song like 'Wild and blue' off your album there's 2 reasons for it. a) The rest of the material is so mind blowingly good that as brilliant a song as 'Wild and blue' is, it's just didn't make the cut. Or You weren't a very good judge of what a good song was at the time. Seriously, I LOVE that song and it made that Metropolis album from a few years ago single-handedly. To leave that off a CD... unforgivable. And of course it's easily the best song on this CD, even if it's only on there as a bonus track. Otherwise, it's a pretty good AOR disc. Maybe a little lite still for me, but it's not bad. His best album clearly, by far, appears to be his 3rd solo effort.

 

Nelson - 'Before the rain' ; not bad at all. Nice rawer versions of the album tracks actually sound pretty cool here - maybe a little ballsier. The extra tracks are all worthwhile too. Some better than others, but if you're a fan of the band there's plenty of reason to check it out. There's at least 2-3 of the bonus tracks which I think are a lot better than some of the limper album tracks. But judging by what made the album, and the ones thast didn't... the record company must have been after an album full of love songs rather than the quirkier side of Nelson. I think it was 'Let's get this show on the road' and a ballad that impressed me most of the last songs. The Jack Ponti song is so painfully Ponti-ized that it's kind of dreadful and there was maybe one or two more fillers, but for the most part well worth the effort for a fan of the band.

 

Load Point Pull - s/t ; YUCK! Cheapie or freebie from Mark I got a while back but after playing one or two songs in my car I held off on the rest for as long as I could. It's not the worst thing ever, but it is really painfully average hard rock / metal.

 

This Providence - 'Our worlds divorce' & s/t ; I grouped these together because they're as painful as each other. Dreary, dead rock. Just bad, hookless news.

 

This Providence - 'Who are you now?' ; I should have just stuck with this one, their latest album. They're a mellow band, but this one has the hooks that made me want to check these guys out when they toured Australia with Soundwave. It's not an amazing album, but it is solid, and most the songs have a good hook/chorus. I like it.

[JamesEagle]

Shy - S/T

 

After a major dip in quality after 'Excess All Areas' in the late 80's, the last 2 Shy albums were very decent AOR /Melodic rock albums, flawed admittedly, but enjoyable non the less. I nearly spat my coffeee out after listening to the opening salvo of tracks on this latest album. This band has grown some very big balls since 'Sunset And Vine' 6 years ago in every department, opener 'Land Of A Thousand Lies' and 'So Many Times' come charging out of the speakers providing ample proof of that. Another major difference here is that Tony Mills has departed (never my fave vocalist if I am truthful)) and in comes Glen Hughes soundalike Lee Small who does a phenomenal job. Joe Basketts keys are superb too and have added a bombastic sheen to the whole sound, aswell as the ever present Steve Harris, who has always been a much underrated guitarist. Songwise, check out the fantastic 'Ran Out Of Time' and 'Save Me' for a couple of absolute pearlers and 2 of the best tracks I have heard in a very long while. Other highlights include 'Only For The Night', 'Life For Me'..hell there isn't one bad tune on here at all, so just go and buy it. THE major surprise of this year without a doubt.

 

That settles it then, I'm going to have to get this. I can see the 'hiding your addiction' thread resurfacing soon...

 

[TIM (2)]

Shy - S/T

 

After a major dip in quality after 'Excess All Areas' in the late 80's, the last 2 Shy albums were very decent AOR /Melodic rock albums, flawed admittedly, but enjoyable non the less. I nearly spat my coffeee out after listening to the opening salvo of tracks on this latest album. This band has grown some very big balls since 'Sunset And Vine' 6 years ago in every department, opener 'Land Of A Thousand Lies' and 'So Many Times' come charging out of the speakers providing ample proof of that. Another major difference here is that Tony Mills has departed (never my fave vocalist if I am truthful)) and in comes Glen Hughes soundalike Lee Small who does a phenomenal job. Joe Basketts keys are superb too and have added a bombastic sheen to the whole sound, aswell as the ever present Steve Harris, who has always been a much underrated guitarist. Songwise, check out the fantastic 'Ran Out Of Time' and 'Save Me' for a couple of absolute pearlers and 2 of the best tracks I have heard in a very long while. Other highlights include 'Only For The Night', 'Life For Me'..hell there isn't one bad tune on here at all, so just go and buy it. THE major surprise of this year without a doubt.

 

That settles it then, I'm going to have to get this. I can see the 'hiding your addiction' thread resurfacing soon...

 

 

I don't quite agree with Jez on this one. I don't mind the heavier sound and the more classic rock feel, and I LOVE the vocalist. But I think the song quality is generally pretty average. Opener "Land of a Thousand Lies" is utterly awesome, better than anything on the new House of Lords album IMO, and is almost worth the entry price alone. But there isn't another song that comes close IMO. It's good solid stuff, but nothing essential.