First Spin Impressions

[Glen]

 

 

SILENCE - City (Days) (2012)

oh i love this album, probably not gonna make to the top 10, but very nicely done. The sound here is somewhat slightly different than the last album, and perhaps quite closer to the 7TH HEAVEN style. I like all the tracks inside but the strongest part of this album laid on the ethereal soothing ballad of 'Footprints'; the midtempo 'Jenny' and 'The End of The Day'; and also 'Lift Me Up', 'Daydreaming', and the lullaby song 'Waiting For Dawn'. 80%

 

 

SILENCE - City (Nights) (2012)

the second part of the double release, still as strong as (Days) but perhaps more laid back. If I need to pick one, I might pick (Days) but both looks like are worth the purchase. Songs that are winner here are 'Taste of The Past', 'Crashing Down', 'Memory of Blue Eyes', 'Promised Land', and 'Out of The Dream'. Another 80%

 

 

 

This is what interests me out of that lot - hope this might make Spotify so I can investigate further.

[metalmaniac777]

THE VEER UNION - Divide The Blackened Sky (2012)

Boring modern rock, I guess the nu-metal influence is too overwhelming for me, and lack of melodies that I like. Good tracks are 'Inside Our Scars' and 'Live Another Day', but too many weak tracks here. 55%-60% and a disposable album for me.

Our tastes must differ, 'cause I think this is one of the strongest modern hard rock/metal albums of 2012. Maybe a touch of nu-metal here & there, but mostly just Shinedown-meets-Nickelback modern rock with a big sound. Probably won't crack my Top 10 at the end of the year, but it would probably make my Top 20.

[Geoff]

SILENCE - City (Days) (2012)

oh i love this album, probably not gonna make to the top 10, but very nicely done. The sound here is somewhat slightly different than the last album, and perhaps quite closer to the 7TH HEAVEN style. I like all the tracks inside but the strongest part of this album laid on the ethereal soothing ballad of 'Footprints'; the midtempo 'Jenny' and 'The End of The Day'; and also 'Lift Me Up', 'Daydreaming', and the lullaby song 'Waiting For Dawn'. 80%

 

 

SILENCE - City (Nights) (2012)

the second part of the double release, still as strong as (Days) but perhaps more laid back. If I need to pick one, I might pick (Days) but both looks like are worth the purchase. Songs that are winner here are 'Taste of The Past', 'Crashing Down', 'Memory of Blue Eyes', 'Promised Land', and 'Out of The Dream'. Another 80%

 

 

 

This is what interests me out of that lot - hope this might make Spotify so I can investigate further.

 

Yeah, I've noticed this go unmentioned so far but it is firmly on my want list and I'll pick it up as soon as I can. Love this band - the last album was excellent, and I don't doubt that this will be awesome too. I hope I get it sooner than later.

 

Bought a lot of CDs this year but I've missed out on a lot of ones I'm not sure about. So last night I downloaded a heap of tries before I buys. Based on the first 2, I think this may have been a smart money saving move on my behalf:

 

Wig Wam - 'Wall Street' ; wow, it really pains me to confirm that the rumours are true and this really is rubbish. Makes the last album look as though it was crafted by the hands of Jesus. On first spin, the only track that reminded me of the "real" Wig Wam at all was the title track. Some of the lyrics on the disc are pretty cool, but the songs are so poor. I hope this sticks more on the 2nd spin, but I won't buy the CD anytime soon and I'm not ever sure how soon I'll revisit the MP3s.

 

Tyketto - 'Dig in deep' ; and wow, what is this shit? For a band with is it the full original line-up, or 3 of 4? Either way, this sounds NOTHING like Tyketto to me. I'll be honest - I thought this was terrible, almost impossible to listen to. Just really shitty rock. Even worse than Wig Wam. I don't think I'll ever buy this and not sure I'll keep any of these MP3s. This would probably be on par with 'Shine' for me.

[Nightrain]

THE VEER UNION - Divide The Blackened Sky (2012)

Boring modern rock, I guess the nu-metal influence is too overwhelming for me, and lack of melodies that I like. Good tracks are 'Inside Our Scars' and 'Live Another Day', but too many weak tracks here. 55%-60% and a disposable album for me.

Our tastes must differ, 'cause I think this is one of the strongest modern hard rock/metal albums of 2012. Maybe a touch of nu-metal here & there, but mostly just Shinedown-meets-Nickelback modern rock with a big sound. Probably won't crack my Top 10 at the end of the year, but it would probably make my Top 20.

 

yes mate, i like SHINEDOWN but they're in the 70%-75% region for me, but NICKELBACK is probably around 40%-60%, so if those two combined, well 55%-60% sounds reasonable for me. I like harder edge of music, classic Bay thrash is my thing too, but can't really stand if too much modern metal style and this one is among them I'm afraid.

[Geoff]

THE VEER UNION - Divide The Blackened Sky (2012)

Boring modern rock, I guess the nu-metal influence is too overwhelming for me, and lack of melodies that I like. Good tracks are 'Inside Our Scars' and 'Live Another Day', but too many weak tracks here. 55%-60% and a disposable album for me.

Our tastes must differ, 'cause I think this is one of the strongest modern hard rock/metal albums of 2012. Maybe a touch of nu-metal here & there, but mostly just Shinedown-meets-Nickelback modern rock with a big sound. Probably won't crack my Top 10 at the end of the year, but it would probably make my Top 20.

 

yes mate, i like SHINEDOWN but they're in the 70%-75% region for me, but NICKELBACK is probably around 40%-60%, so if those two combined, well 55%-60% sounds reasonable for me.

Haha... nice. Nickleback and Veer Union rate slightly higher for me, but I totally agree with the sentiment.

 

After a disaster start to my downloads, a couple of must-buys:

 

Slippery - 'First Blow' ; and this is not one of them. The album does have a strong 2nd half, I admit. And it's nice. Very safe, but good sounding European hard rock. The songs are a little long and the hooks a little average, but like I said, the 2nd half is pretty good and I would buy this for a good price. Pretty typical melodic hard rock, though, without being great.

 

Counterclock - s/t ; this is absolutely superb. It looks like the only place to buy it is Musicbuymail so I wanted to be sure it was worth the coin, and it is. It you like Hinder you'll like this. Sex-driven rockers mixed with sensational melodic / balladic tunes. Absolutely perfectly done. I really though this was a great album, with the melodic numbers being particularly excellent.

 

Less Than 4 - 'By blood by heart' ; and what have we with these sneaky kids?! This is a really good hard rock disc. Good riffs, great hooks and a bunch of really good songs. I know nothing about these guys, other than this album sounds great.

[Nightrain]

if i'm not mistaken, SLIPPERY is coming out somewhere from South America ? how about the vocal's accent ? i found quite a few that's kinda irritating with their English pronounciation

 

i have no idea about COUNTERCLOCK, will check on asap, and LESS THAN 4 is ready to be spin, sounds promising

[Geoff]

if i'm not mistaken, SLIPPERY is coming out somewhere from South America ? how about the vocal's accent ? i found quite a few that's kinda irritating with their English pronounciation

 

i have no idea about COUNTERCLOCK, will check on asap, and LESS THAN 4 is ready to be spin, sounds promising

 

Yeah, there is an accent on the Slippery one - very typical of that type of style from that part of the world. It's okay, though.

 

Someone else made that thread about Counterclock and I be glad they did - great album. And so was Less Than 4. I will definitely make some purchases on the back of these DLs - I think all from Musicbuymail.

 

Osukaru - 'Salvation' ; this one is really excellent. I love this album and must buy asap. A couple of songs on here sounded like deadset melodic rock classics.

 

Luley - 'Today's tomorrow' ; this was good in a solid but unspectacular way. I'd buy this but wouldn't pay big dollars for it. It is good, though.

[Fat Freddy]

Joey Ramone - ...YA KNOW?

 

Second posthumous release by the late Ramones frontman, compiled from a stash of demos the man had been working on between the breakup of the band and his untimely 2001 demise. The tunes were touched up and tweaked by Joey's brother Mickey Leigh and a group of Joey's fellow musicians/friends including Joan Jett, Handsome Dick Manitoba (the Dictators/Manitoba's Wild Kingdom), Richie Stotts of the Plasmatics, and Holly Marie Vincent, just to name a few.

 

I like this one better than the last Joey release, 2002's DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME, mainly because it's a bit harder rocking and not as morose sounding. Many of the tunes on DWAM were written while Joey was struggling with his illness and since it had been released the year after its death, the overall vibe was pretty much a bummer. The tracks on YA KNOW are much lighter and "happier" sounding, and with the same musicians working on most of the tracks this album feels more like Joey fronting an actual "band." I particularly dig the leadoff single "Rock N Roll Is the Answer" and "New York City," but truthfully the only duff tracks are two retreads of Ramones songs (an acoustic version of "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)" and "Life's A Gas" and the silly "Make Me Tremble," which repeats its silly "la-la-la-la-la-la" refrain so often that it becomes annoying. I'd be willing to bet that lyrics for this particular track were unfinished so Leigh & co. had to work with what little they had.

 

Overall, it's nice to hear Joey again on some new stuff (maybe for the last time?) and three bad tracks out of fifteen total isn't a bad batting average for a dead guy. Worth a pickup if you're a Ramones fanboy like I am.

[Geoff]

Renegade Five - 'Nxt Gen' ; gotta say, despite really liking their last CD, for some reason I expected very little from this. Well, wrong I was. This is really good and well worth checking out if you liked the debut, or if you just love good melodic hard rock with a slight modern touch. This is very good stuff. Some killer ballads on here too...

 

Rydell & Quick - 'Rockaholic' ; I wasn't expecting anything from this after I think I pretty much hated their debut, and they didn't surprise me. I can't say too much about it because it really failed to really interest me at all as I played it and I've honestly forgotten the whole thing already. Not a good sign, but safe to say this sucks dog balls.

[Geoff]

Phenomena - 'Awakening' ; I must confess I don't get the hatred I have seen levelled at this album. This sounded fine to me. Nothing ground-breaking, but similar to the last CD, or a Voices Of Rock album. Maybe not quite as strong in the song department, but sounds good to me.

 

Cavo - 'This as thieves' ; been dying to hear this since it's release as I was wondering why no one was talking about it. Like I suspected, this sounds really good. I'm actually only halfway through, but i really dig it - 'California' is especially amazing so far. 'Celebrity' just kicked my ass and a ballad called 'Never gonna hurt' plays very nicely to me now. If you still like your modern rock and you thought these guys offered a pretty damn fine debut, this sounds like an absolute must so far. Really enjoying this...

[Glen]

if i'm not mistaken, SLIPPERY is coming out somewhere from South America ? how about the vocal's accent ? i found quite a few that's kinda irritating with their English pronounciation

 

i have no idea about COUNTERCLOCK, will check on asap, and LESS THAN 4 is ready to be spin, sounds promising

 

Osukaru - 'Salvation' ; this one is really excellent. I love this album and must buy asap. A couple of songs on here sounded like deadset melodic rock classics.

 

.

 

Yeah that's a decent album - think I rated it around 75-80%...the weak link was the vocalist imo. Been eclipsed by some monster albums since January. Must dig it out and spin it again.

[Geoff]

Europe - 'Bag of bones' ; to put this into scale, I have had this CD , and still do, available to buy for $11.00 brand new. Anything I had even a glimmer of hope for, I'd buy blindly for that price. But, (rightly so) I elected to download this first to see if it was worth my while. And it's not. This is a c*nt of an album. A true piece of shit. I'll put it right out there. these guys NEED to get rid of Norum and until they do that they have no hope of ever sounding decent again. This album is f*cking terrible. Wedged between 2 modern rock albums this sounded f*cking terrible. I honestly have no idea what sort of audience they are trying to cater to. That is my biggest question mark to these guys - who on earth are they playing these songs to? Because they suck. This is better than Van Halen's new CD, just, but is probably the 2nd worst CD I have heard all year. C*nts. Get rid of Norum!!!

 

Human Temple - 'Halfway to heartache' ; I do like these guys. They don't seem to want to make it in the big league, but they do well on the brink. This album is probably a little weaker than the last disc, which was really impressive, but it's still solid. Nice cover of the Abba song 'Little lies' too. Good melodic hard rock.

 

All American Rejects - 'Kids in the street' ; wow, what happened to these guys? After a good debut with some classic ballads and the killer second album 'Move along' I really thought they were onto something. But the next album was terrible, and this is really disappointing too. The ballad is excellent, but the rest is really nothing at all to bother with. The title track is as good as the rest gets, and there's a few decent hooks... but aside from 'Heartbeat slowing down' it's really just not worth the effort. Real shame.

[Geoff]

Devil's Train - Devil's Train ; this is really impressive. If you like your rock hard you'll likely really love this one. The guy's got a very good hard rock voice on him and the songs are consistently very well executed. Straight ahead hard rock CDs have really tended to suck in recent years, but this is a good one. Check these guys out.

 

Jack Blades - Rock N Roll Ride ; another unexpected surprise. I wouldn't call it superb, but it's a damn fine disc. Probably as good as, if not very close to the last Night Ranger CD. The ballad about 3 tracks in is great too. NR fans will enjoy this one, I dare say.

[Glen]

Jack Blades - Rock N Roll Ride ; another unexpected surprise. I wouldn't call it superb, but it's a damn fine disc. Probably as good as, if not very close to the last Night Ranger CD. The ballad about 3 tracks in is great too. NR fans will enjoy this one, I dare say.

 

That's a good album. Probably falling just shy of 80%, but I do like Jack.....wears his heart on his sleeve. You are right that the ballad is probably the best song, but you cant help but believe him when he sings 'Born For This'.

[JLPRocks]

Jack Blades - Rock N Roll Ride ; another unexpected surprise. I wouldn't call it superb, but it's a damn fine disc. Probably as good as, if not very close to the last Night Ranger CD. The ballad about 3 tracks in is great too. NR fans will enjoy this one, I dare say.

 

That's a good album. Probably falling just shy of 80%, but I do like Jack.....wears his heart on his sleeve. You are right that the ballad is probably the best song, but you cant help but believe him when he sings 'Born For This'.

 

I was totally impressed by this album........tons of great tunes, especially "Hardest Word to Say"...I'd have to give this somewhere in the upper 80's.

[JLPRocks]

Listening to Sent By Ravens - "Mean What You Say"......not a bad modern hard rock record. Really dig the last song on the disc, "Best in Me".

[heaven&hell]

Slash - Apolcalyptic Love

A killer hard rock album from start to finish. From the first song it appears that Myles in singiing in a higher register than he has before but as the album settles in you get used to it and after a few spins I don't even notice it anymore. So many great songs on here but my favs are "One Last Thrill", "Standing in the Sun", "You're A Lie", "Anastasia", "Not For Me"(great lyrics and maybe the most modern sounding tune on the disc), "Hard and Fast"(balls to the wall rocker), "Far and Aways"(great ballad) and "Shots Fire". I have the special edition with two bonus tracks and DVD and it's worth getting it if you can find it for a decent price. The DVD has a making on the album and some interviews and is maybe 30 minutes long. Out of the two bonus tracks "Carolina" and "Crazy Life", "Crazy LIfe" is the best IMO. I'm sure some will hate this album for not liking the singer or not like Slash or hating GNR but hopefully people give this one a chance as I think it will be up there in my albums of the year plus it's old school rocking enough for those fans but has enough modern elements at times for those fans but without sounding exactly like a Snakepit throw back rock album or without sounding like a Modern rock album but somehow fusing both elements.

[Geoff]

Furyon – Gravitas ; I believe this is still the same album with a 2012 date on it and a Frontiers label on it. It's a good slab of hard rock / metal, but would be made infinitely better by generally shorter songs, especially carving the real marathons in half. It's no Pride album, but it's solid.

 

Great White - Elation ; yeah... so, uh, this kind of sucks dog balls. There's a really nice mid tempo balladic tune thrown in at track 10 I think it was, but other than that it's pretty limp and uninspired. And I like Terry Illious just fine, but this seriously is just not really Great White at all to me without Jack Russell. Just a bunch of pretty weak songs...

 

House Of Shakira – HoS ; well I actually ended up pretty pleasantly surprised by this one. They are definitely an inferior band as they are now. Vocally, songwise and musically - production... nothing sounds as good as it used to. However, somehow, they manage to offer a bunch of pretty good songs here. They're not perfect and HOS at their best in the past have recorded songs as good as anything in the genre. There's none of that here, but there really are some pretty cool tunes. I'll need more spins, but I was prepared to totally write this off so consider me pleasantly surprised.

[JamesEagle]

Slash - Apolcalyptic Love

A killer hard rock album from start to finish. From the first song it appears that Myles in singiing in a higher register than he has before but as the album settles in you get used to it and after a few spins I don't even notice it anymore. So many great songs on here but my favs are "One Last Thrill", "Standing in the Sun", "You're A Lie", "Anastasia", "Not For Me"(great lyrics and maybe the most modern sounding tune on the disc), "Hard and Fast"(balls to the wall rocker), "Far and Aways"(great ballad) and "Shots Fire". I have the special edition with two bonus tracks and DVD and it's worth getting it if you can find it for a decent price. The DVD has a making on the album and some interviews and is maybe 30 minutes long. Out of the two bonus tracks "Carolina" and "Crazy Life", "Crazy LIfe" is the best IMO. I'm sure some will hate this album for not liking the singer or not like Slash or hating GNR but hopefully people give this one a chance as I think it will be up there in my albums of the year plus it's old school rocking enough for those fans but has enough modern elements at times for those fans but without sounding exactly like a Snakepit throw back rock album or without sounding like a Modern rock album but somehow fusing both elements.

 

Tried a few tracks after reading this, but to quote one of the songs, "Not For Me".

[TIM (2)]

Slash - Apolcalyptic Love

A killer hard rock album from start to finish. From the first song it appears that Myles in singiing in a higher register than he has before but as the album settles in you get used to it and after a few spins I don't even notice it anymore. So many great songs on here but my favs are "One Last Thrill", "Standing in the Sun", "You're A Lie", "Anastasia", "Not For Me"(great lyrics and maybe the most modern sounding tune on the disc), "Hard and Fast"(balls to the wall rocker), "Far and Aways"(great ballad) and "Shots Fire". I have the special edition with two bonus tracks and DVD and it's worth getting it if you can find it for a decent price. The DVD has a making on the album and some interviews and is maybe 30 minutes long. Out of the two bonus tracks "Carolina" and "Crazy Life", "Crazy LIfe" is the best IMO. I'm sure some will hate this album for not liking the singer or not like Slash or hating GNR but hopefully people give this one a chance as I think it will be up there in my albums of the year plus it's old school rocking enough for those fans but has enough modern elements at times for those fans but without sounding exactly like a Snakepit throw back rock album or without sounding like a Modern rock album but somehow fusing both elements.

Yeah nice summary. "Anastasia" and "Far and Away" are awesome. Nice combo of some old-school and modern touches....

[JamesEagle]

Paradise Lost - Tragic Idol

 

I think this is going to be as good as 'Faith Divides Us Death Unites Us', which is no mean feat. Like its predecessor, it's back to the heavier (and imo, much better) sound of 'Icon'. The first track is probably my least favourite so far, slower and more doomy than the others, but this is a minor quibble as the album goes straight in at #1 for the year for me. Great tunes, great guitar, great songwriting. Can't ask for much more.

[Geoff]

Lana Lane - El Dorado Hotel ; man this is close to terrible. Having to skip part of the first song (because the f*cking thing is about 8mins) is not a good sign at all. And the the last song is 11mins, so it's not even an option. I have never bought a Lana Lane CD before and I'm not sure what made me think it was a good idea. Just a few tracks I heard here and there, including the Delany CD. But I wish I hadn't bought this. Proggy hard rock rubbish - weak songs I'd never bother to play again.

 

Legion – Nemesis ; it's a shame this isn't as awesome as it could be. The reason is the mix / production job. The songs are pretty much all good Dokken-esque tunes. Not amazing, but all are pleasing enough. The problem is the fact that the backing / chorus vocals are so weak and really, really take away from how good the sounds could be. The music also suffers from that same "clanky" type of production job the Alibi CDs suffered from (if that means anything to anyone). Anyway, it's still good stuff but I sure wish they'd nailed the vocals in the choruses...

[zacharyamelie]

Paradise Lost - Tragic Idol

 

I think this is going to be as good as 'Faith Divides Us Death Unites Us', which is no mean feat. Like its predecessor, it's back to the heavier (and imo, much better) sound of 'Icon'. The first track is probably my least favourite so far, slower and more doomy than the others, but this is a minor quibble as the album goes straight in at #1 for the year for me. Great tunes, great guitar, great songwriting. Can't ask for much more.

 

I can now forgive you for not giving the H.E.A.T. a chance. The new PL is sick awesome and yes the weakest track is probably the first and also the last, but they will grow on you.

[The Rocker]

Furyon – Gravitas ; I believe this is still the same album with a 2012 date on it and a Frontiers label on it. It's a good slab of hard rock / metal, but would be made infinitely better by generally shorter songs, especially carving the real marathons in half. It's no Pride album, but it's solid.

 

Great White - Elation ; yeah... so, uh, this kind of sucks dog balls. There's a really nice mid tempo balladic tune thrown in at track 10 I think it was, but other than that it's pretty limp and uninspired. And I like Terry Illious just fine, but this seriously is just not really Great White at all to me without Jack Russell. Just a bunch of pretty weak songs...

House Of Shakira – HoS ; well I actually ended up pretty pleasantly surprised by this one. They are definitely an inferior band as they are now. Vocally, songwise and musically - production... nothing sounds as good as it used to. However, somehow, they manage to offer a bunch of pretty good songs here. They're not perfect and HOS at their best in the past have recorded songs as good as anything in the genre. There's none of that here, but there really are some pretty cool tunes. I'll need more spins, but I was prepared to totally write this off so consider me pleasantly surprised.

[The Rocker]

Furyon – Gravitas ; I believe this is still the same album with a 2012 date on it and a Frontiers label on it. It's a good slab of hard rock / metal, but would be made infinitely better by generally shorter songs, especially carving the real marathons in half. It's no Pride album, but it's solid.

 

Great White - Elation ; yeah... so, uh, this kind of sucks dog balls. There's a really nice mid tempo balladic tune thrown in at track 10 I think it was, but other than that it's pretty limp and uninspired. And I like Terry Illious just fine, but this seriously is just not really Great White at all to me without Jack Russell. Just a bunch of pretty weak songs...

House Of Shakira – HoS ; well I actually ended up pretty pleasantly surprised by this one. They are definitely an inferior band as they are now. Vocally, songwise and musically - production... nothing sounds as good as it used to. However, somehow, they manage to offer a bunch of pretty good songs here. They're not perfect and HOS at their best in the past have recorded songs as good as anything in the genre. There's none of that here, but there really are some pretty cool tunes. I'll need more spins, but I was prepared to totally write this off so consider me pleasantly surprised.

I think I went into this already thinking that it wasn't going to be that good, (I'm a HUGE GW fan and love jacks vocals) and I like Terry and XYZ so I gave in a shot. But this does not do anything for me( and I have tried!), and I probably still will continue to try.