First Spin Impressions

[JamesEagle]

FATAL SMILE - 21st Century Freaks (2012)

I thought this one's gonna better but sadly, this one's too average that you probably won't bother nor interested to spin again. There's not a single 8/10 track here, probably the best is 'Innocent' or 'Take It To The Limit' and that's probaly a 7.5. 'Welcome To The Freakshow', 'Raising Hell In Heaven', 'Broken Heart' are 7/10, and 'Judgement Day', 'Scarecrow', 'My Private Hell', and 'Break These Chains' sound like fillers. 65%

I think this one is a long way from average and another damn good entry in the Swedish Sleaze Metal Movement. I'm really digging the band's blend of attitude, heaviness, melody, and sleaze. For me, "Raising Hell in Heaven" is one of the best songs of the year, yet you label it filler...just goes to show you how different ears enjoy different sounds. I think anyone who enjoys cranking guitars, big hooks, sleazy attitude, and gang vocal choruses needs to at least give this album a shot. More than once I thought this sounded a bit like Lordi without the gutteral vocals, and maybe that's all you need to know in order to determine if this will be your cup of metal tea or not. Currently sitting at 85% for me.

 

Agree completely!! I love the new disc!!

 

Yep I like this disc too, admit there are one or two weaker tracks, but stuff like 'Welcome....', 'Broken Heart', 'My Private Hell', 'Innocent' etc are pretty cool. Also looking forward to catching these guys live in a co-head with Crazy Lixx :-))

Listened to a couple off this one and they sound really good. Will have to pick this up at some point and that gig is looking more and more tempting...

[JamesEagle]

Chris Laney - Pure

 

There may end up being 2 or 3 standouts on this one, as there are some nice tunes here and there, but overall I found this very samey and the vocals get really irritating over 12 tracks.

[Nightrain]

a string of 2012 releases

 

ADLER'S APPETITE - Alive EP

I think I've heard three songs last year but this was released this year, so I think this one need a shout-out as it's pretty tasty as a sleazy style, of course in the old GNR style. I'm loving it, 'Alive' kick some serious ass, 'Stardog' was nice, and 'Fading' is such a sweet ballad. 85% and worth to buy!

 

ASIA - XXX

same ol ASIA thing you'll expect. I guess it follows the similar path as 'Omega', only I think the former album is favorable compared to this one. I like 'Tomorrow The World', 'Bury Me In Willow', 'Faithful', 'Al Gatto Nero', and 'Judas', the rest are okay too, and quite good. 80%

 

HYDROGYN - Private Sessions

a little mixed-bag, hard rock with heavy metal and a little gothic touch, probably EVANESCENCE comes in mind. I got a sample of quite awful production, buried, not sure if anyone has the same version, but set aside that thing, songwise I guess this still have several great songs such as 'Something To Say', 'I Don't Know How', 'Roseline's Song', and 'Feeling'. 'Scream' and 'It Doesn't Matter' also have potential. 70-75%

 

KREATOR - Phantom Antichrist

good classic thrash record from the old giant. This sounds very heavy yet also melodic at some point and I guess winners here are 'Phantom Antichrist', 'Death To The World', 'From Flood Into Fire', and 'Victory Will Come'. Although nothing's bad, the rest of the songs are felt formulaic and perhaps can be bored pretty quickly. 75%

 

LITA FORD - Living Like A Runaway

still disappointing although much better compared to her earlier effort which is a shame to her name. The 80s hard rock flavor is quite thick although I can spot some senseless modern touch, especially on the industrial garbage of 'A Song To Slit Your Wrists By'. Couple of good songs here are 'Living Like A Runaway', 'Devil In My Head', and 'Love 2 Hate U'. 65%

 

POLUTION - Beyond Control

wow, this one's great. Hard rock with a little bit modern touch, very enjoyable especially on tracks like 'Fire', 'Live Until You Die', 'The Band', 'RIP', 'Bite Me', and 'All In'. 'Forever and A Day' is also an amazing ballad! The production is also great, and I probably only spotted one filler, which is 'War', too modern metal for me and also a decent filler. 80%

 

RICHARD MARX - A Night With Friends

Such a lovely acoustical intimate concert of Marx, playing mostly his old hits, including the rendition of N'SYNC's hit, 'This I Promise You', which was written by him. A great unique rendition of 'Right Here Waiting', and overall if you like his old hits, this is a familiar album and I think very worthy, especially with couple of two new studio songs. 85%

[Glen]

The production on Hydrogyn kills it IMO

[Nightrain]

The production on Hydrogyn kills it IMO

 

yeah if those samples were exactly like what's on the real disc, then it's quite bad

[JLPRocks]

I enjoyed Lita Ford's new disc......the 'modern touches' are absolutely negligible when it comes to the overall disc. I'd give it an 80% for sure......

[Geoff]

Throw The Fight - 'What doesn't kill us' ; after a monster start of the year for modern rock (BBABH, Hit The Lights & Safetysuit all within a few days of each other) it has been really quiet since. Destine and My Darkest Days both also offered great discs, and I do like Young Guns... but this one here is another absolute winner. I loved 'In Pursuit of Tomorrow' but this is a whole different beast. A lot more commercial, virtually no screams at all, KILLER production. Every single thing about them is just better. I didn't expect something this good from these guys, but it's great stuff. Check it out if you're after some more good modern rock in 2012.

[Dead Planet]

Here are 3 that impressed me on first spin, we'll see how long they stick in my player...

 

Burn - Global Warming

FM - Tough It Out

Rain - Stronger

 

Yeah I know they have been around for awhile but I just got around to hearing them...

[Doksdad]

I enjoyed Lita Ford's new disc......the 'modern touches' are absolutely negligible when it comes to the overall disc. I'd give it an 80% for sure......

I agree. Dig it.

 

Spinnin' the new Gotthard and I must say that it's pretty damn good. Its hard to replace Steve Lee but the new vocalist more than shows up on this one. Really like it. Welcome back Boys.

[Geoff]

Angeline - 'Disconnected' ; surprisingly awesome CD. I'll have to check the thread here to make sure that people are rightly raving about this, but this is really, really surprisingly good. The debut was good with some great tracks but duds too. This seemed mostly awesome throughout. How good, you ask? I truly believe this might make my top 10 this year. At least the top 20. Great melodic rock with some super song writing.

[Geoff]

Fatal Smile - '21st Century Freaks' ; hmmm, will definitely need a 2nd spin to make a call on this one. Originally I was going to say I hated it after the first few songs. Dreadful lead vocals and just loud, obnoxious backing vocals... not overly pleasant. But I dunno, after about 3 pretty average songs it seems to kick into gear pretty impressively. I still hate the vibe on this CD which is a bad thing for me and will make it hard to look forward to listening to again, but it turns out there's a few good tunes here. It's just whether I can get past those vocals and the vibe as to whether or not I can enjoy it. Jury's out for now, but I do hear potential.

[Glen]

Fatal Smile - '21st Century Freaks' ; hmmm, will definitely need a 2nd spin to make a call on this one. Originally I was going to say I hated it after the first few songs. Dreadful lead vocals and just loud, obnoxious backing vocals... not overly pleasant. But I dunno, after about 3 pretty average songs it seems to kick into gear pretty impressively. I still hate the vibe on this CD which is a bad thing for me and will make it hard to look forward to listening to again, but it turns out there's a few good tunes here. It's just whether I can get past those vocals and the vibe as to whether or not I can enjoy it. Jury's out for now, but I do hear potential.

 

Lightweight..........the album kicks arse.

 

Favs are title track, Nailed to the wall (awesome riff), broken heart, my private hell, innocent and break these chains.

 

(judgement day is a horrible filler)

 

In fact the riffs on this album kill throughout............it is a definite grower tho, cos I wasnt too impressed on first listen.

 

I love it now :-))

[JamesEagle]

Fatal Smile - '21st Century Freaks' ; hmmm, will definitely need a 2nd spin to make a call on this one. Originally I was going to say I hated it after the first few songs. Dreadful lead vocals and just loud, obnoxious backing vocals... not overly pleasant. But I dunno, after about 3 pretty average songs it seems to kick into gear pretty impressively. I still hate the vibe on this CD which is a bad thing for me and will make it hard to look forward to listening to again, but it turns out there's a few good tunes here. It's just whether I can get past those vocals and the vibe as to whether or not I can enjoy it. Jury's out for now, but I do hear potential.

 

Lightweight..........the album kicks arse.

 

Favs are title track, Nailed to the wall (awesome riff), broken heart, my private hell, innocent and break these chains.

 

(judgement day is a horrible filler)

 

In fact the riffs on this album kill throughout............it is a definite grower tho, cos I wasnt too impressed on first listen.

 

I love it now :-))

I've only listened to 2 tracks and really want this one. 'Innocent' sounds fantastic.

[Glen]

Throw The Fight - 'What doesn't kill us' ; after a monster start of the year for modern rock (BBABH, Hit The Lights & Safetysuit all within a few days of each other) it has been really quiet since. Destine and My Darkest Days both also offered great discs, and I do like Young Guns... but this one here is another absolute winner. I loved 'In Pursuit of Tomorrow' but this is a whole different beast. A lot more commercial, virtually no screams at all, KILLER production. Every single thing about them is just better. I didn't expect something this good from these guys, but it's great stuff. Check it out if you're after some more good modern rock in 2012.

 

Yeah this is pretty cool. BUT why are there 2 different versions of this album again........c*nts. The 2 deluxe version bonus tracks are great, esp 'Jealousy Was Her Name', which is one of my favs.

 

Still cant help thinking that this band is a second rate SOTY though.

[Glen]

Throw The Fight - 'What doesn't kill us' ; after a monster start of the year for modern rock (BBABH, Hit The Lights & Safetysuit all within a few days of each other) it has been really quiet since. Destine and My Darkest Days both also offered great discs, and I do like Young Guns... but this one here is another absolute winner. I loved 'In Pursuit of Tomorrow' but this is a whole different beast. A lot more commercial, virtually no screams at all, KILLER production. Every single thing about them is just better. I didn't expect something this good from these guys, but it's great stuff. Check it out if you're after some more good modern rock in 2012.

 

Yeah this is pretty cool. BUT why are there 2 different versions of this album again........c*nts. The 2 deluxe version bonus tracks are great, esp 'Jealousy Was Her Name', which is one of my favs.

 

Still cant help thinking that this band is a second rate SOTY though.

 

here u go........

 

[Geoff]

Throw The Fight - 'What doesn't kill us' ; after a monster start of the year for modern rock (BBABH, Hit The Lights & Safetysuit all within a few days of each other) it has been really quiet since. Destine and My Darkest Days both also offered great discs, and I do like Young Guns... but this one here is another absolute winner. I loved 'In Pursuit of Tomorrow' but this is a whole different beast. A lot more commercial, virtually no screams at all, KILLER production. Every single thing about them is just better. I didn't expect something this good from these guys, but it's great stuff. Check it out if you're after some more good modern rock in 2012.

 

Yeah this is pretty cool. BUT why are there 2 different versions of this album again........c*nts. The 2 deluxe version bonus tracks are great, esp 'Jealousy Was Her Name', which is one of my favs.

 

Still cant help thinking that this band is a second rate SOTY though.

 

here u go........

 

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Yeah mate, in a year where I've had to be really selective with the music I actually buy, I've had to become even more selective. So I downloaded a heap of potential purchases. This is a no brainer and will be in my next lot of purchases, but the version I did download has the bonus tracks - I agree they're absolutely killer. I also got the SOTY vibe on this CD. Really, really impressed with the guys for this album.

 

As for Fatal Smile - lol, no lightweight. The music and actual songs and hooks and all that are fine. It's just the bad vocals throughout the whole album - lead and backing. But I'll probably come around too after a few spins.

[Glen]

Ha ha yeah the vocals are a bit rough, but somehow suit the music. Some killer riffs tho

[Geoff]

Gun - 'Break the silence' ; sounds pretty good to me. The first couple of songs came on and I seriously thought zomfg what is this shit? I think I skipped them both after a few seconds (which is bad on first spin) but after that it all seemed to be quite good with a few really strong songs. It's definitely got a strong modern melodic rock vibe and it sounds nothing like the Gun that recorded their first 3 great CDs (mostly because of the new voice) but it's still pretty good stuff. I think there will be a good set of winning tunes on this one.

 

Hartmann - 'Balance' ; pretty decent AOR. Started off strong and there is a really great song towards the end too. Overall there are quite a few boring songs worthy of skipping and I won't buy this CD - plain and simple. But there's a couple of keepers here.

 

Herman Frank - 'Right in the guts' ; another one I could just as easily pass on. For every pretty good song there's at least another weak song. I guess it's okay for a solid straight forward hard rock CD, but really does little to interest me at all to be honest.

 

Lit - 'The view from the bottom' ; I just had a feeling about this one which is why I actually bothered, as I'd not consider myself even a partial fan of anything these guys have released yet. Maybe a song here and there, literally, but that's about it. I can't remember the overall impression I got of this CD, but there is some good stuff here. It seems to be their most commercial yet, with a few really great big choruses and hooks. The last 2 songs stuck in my head because I heard them at lunch today, but 'The wall' and 'Right this time' were very nice slabs of modern melodic rock. There were definitely fillers on here for sure, but I think they may have actually done something pretty good for the most part here. Give it a cautious go perhaps?

 

Lita Ford - 'Living like a runaway' ; and Lita's done alright too. The first 3 and last 3 songs are this album's downfall, but everything inbetween is pretty damn good (tracks 4-9). The first songs aren't bad as such, I just really dislike the subject matters. The first one, I assume, is about her marriage, 'Hate' is really dark (which I usually love) but just kind of a creepy song and I don't like 'Mask' at all. The title track is very good and more like the Lita of old and there's some nice stuff in the middle of this CD. The end of the CD, starting with the awful 'Song to Slit Your Wrists By,' is a poor way to end a CD, but there's some good stuff here and it certainly makes a good impression after the last pile of rubbish.

[Glen]

Tremonti - All I Was

When I loaded this disc into my itunes the genre came up as metal. Should have been written in 10ft tall capitals. I swear if you cut Mark Tremonti in half he'd have metal running through him. What an awesome disc is all I can say. Just one listen left me totally exhausted. Emotionally and physically. This is a roller coaster ride of traumatic ballads and utterly killer riff laden rockers. Dont expect to listen to this and feel uplifted but what you will be is stunned by the quality of Tremonti's song writing and the magnificence of his guitar playing. To me Tremonti is God and this is a career defining moment, which could possibly end up being my album of the year. We'll see.

[JamesEagle]

Tremonti - All I Was

When I loaded this disc into my itunes the genre came up as metal. Should have been written in 10ft tall capitals. I swear if you cut Mark Tremonti in half he'd have metal running through him. What an awesome disc is all I can say. Just one listen left me totally exhausted. Emotionally and physically. This is a roller coaster ride of traumatic ballads and utterly killer riff laden rockers. Dont expect to listen to this and feel uplifted but what you will be is stunned by the quality of Tremonti's song writing and the magnificence of his guitar playing. To me Tremonti is God and this is a career defining moment, which could possibly end up being my album of the year. We'll see.

 

Is this a modern rock/metal album? I listened to one song and thought it was okay, but generally can't stand modern sounding stuff.

[Glen]

Tremonti - All I Was

When I loaded this disc into my itunes the genre came up as metal. Should have been written in 10ft tall capitals. I swear if you cut Mark Tremonti in half he'd have metal running through him. What an awesome disc is all I can say. Just one listen left me totally exhausted. Emotionally and physically. This is a roller coaster ride of traumatic ballads and utterly killer riff laden rockers. Dont expect to listen to this and feel uplifted but what you will be is stunned by the quality of Tremonti's song writing and the magnificence of his guitar playing. To me Tremonti is God and this is a career defining moment, which could possibly end up being my album of the year. We'll see.

 

Is this a modern rock/metal album? I listened to one song and thought it was okay, but generally can't stand modern sounding stuff.

 

I guess its more metal than modern....its not 80s rock if thats what youre asking ;-)

[TIM (2)]

Tremonti - All I Was

When I loaded this disc into my itunes the genre came up as metal. Should have been written in 10ft tall capitals. I swear if you cut Mark Tremonti in half he'd have metal running through him. What an awesome disc is all I can say. Just one listen left me totally exhausted. Emotionally and physically. This is a roller coaster ride of traumatic ballads and utterly killer riff laden rockers. Dont expect to listen to this and feel uplifted but what you will be is stunned by the quality of Tremonti's song writing and the magnificence of his guitar playing. To me Tremonti is God and this is a career defining moment, which could possibly end up being my album of the year. We'll see.

 

I'm surprised at the fairly-flat response of the mainstream press to this one. To me it's truly immense....

[Glen]

Tremonti - All I Was

When I loaded this disc into my itunes the genre came up as metal. Should have been written in 10ft tall capitals. I swear if you cut Mark Tremonti in half he'd have metal running through him. What an awesome disc is all I can say. Just one listen left me totally exhausted. Emotionally and physically. This is a roller coaster ride of traumatic ballads and utterly killer riff laden rockers. Dont expect to listen to this and feel uplifted but what you will be is stunned by the quality of Tremonti's song writing and the magnificence of his guitar playing. To me Tremonti is God and this is a career defining moment, which could possibly end up being my album of the year. We'll see.

 

I'm surprised at the fairly-flat response of the mainstream press to this one. To me it's truly immense....

 

Backed, one of the biggest slabs of awesomeness this year.

[JamesEagle]

Crow7 - Symphony of Souls

 

Sounds like a real hotchpotch, almost like the band threw a load of ideas into a bag and shook it up to see what would come out. A few metal styles on the album, even leaning towards hard rock at times, but mostly progressive metal. Sounds like there are a few good tunes on here, but overall just too long - 15 songs and only a few seconds shy of 1hr 20mins. Some serious trimming should have been done!

[Geoff]

Yellowcard - 'Southern air' ; this one seems to be a good one. On first spin I didn't detect any fillers and it all seemed quite solid, very much in line with their 'Ocean Avenue' and 'Lights and Sounds' albums. Unfortunately it's no 'Paper Walls' but I think we can safely assume that as a once off. On first spin I think this is probably better than the last album, 'When you're through thinking say yes.' We'll see, though, as they're probably both quite close. Both good albums.

 

Pete Lesperance - 'Fade into stars' ; This one started out terribly but after a few really bad songs the rest was actually all pretty good. It's all very mellow and merely a collection of ballads. It's no Harem Scarem, that's for sure, but I did think most the songs were pretty good, with good strong chorus hooks. Mellow, but nice.

 

In This Moment - 'Blood' ; good album. A bit moodier/atmospheric in places, perhaps, than before? Maybe not as heavy, and also maybe not quite as many of the really melodic tunes either. But overall it seemed a good album, still featuring a couple of melodic winners. The heavy opener was a good one too. I like this band and on first spin I couldn't hear anything to really dislike about this one. Sounds good to me.

 

David A Saylor - 'City of Angels' ; this one took a little while to really kick in, but there are some really great light melodic rockers towards the end of this one. It's another pretty mellow disc, pretty laid back AOR... but like I said, a few real winners on the 2nd half of this one. Great melodic rock / AOR.

 

Saving Abel - 'Bringing Down the Giant' ; oh dear, why do they bother? If you know the band at all and have any idea of what you might think this album might be like, it's exactly what you think it is. For the most part there's a bunch of stupid modern rock songs about whores on their knees in Hollywood being sluts and stuff, The problem with all these types of bands is all the songs are SOOOOO familiar and on other like-minded CDs pretty much word for word, chord for chord. It's seems Hinder were/are the sole exception for actually putting a good spin on these idiotic songs. If you don't have a massive hook, killer riff or great chorus I just don't get why they keep writing these songs. Anyway, the reward for wading through all that, like always, is that you get a couple of good sentimental balladic tunes, which these guys don't do as well as their peers, but they're okay. My recommendation for this album is download the ballads, ignore the rest.

 

Lansdowne - 'Blue Collar Revolver' ; I will start off saying these guys are 100% better than Saving Abel, but it's the same story again. A massive bundle of cliche modern rock songs about whores and sluts balanced out by, on this occasion, and pair of excellent ballads. 'Used to be' in particular is actually one of my favourite songs I've heard this year. Exactly what you'd expect to hear when it comes to the ballad moment of the CD on this Hinder CD... or whatever these guys are called. But yeah, it's a great song. Carbon copy of a few Hinder ballads, but great nevertheless. The other ballad is great too - 'Secret that you keep.' Just ignore the rest.

 

Namesake - 'Borders and Fences' ; wowser, now this is what I have missed in modern rock this year. What a killer album. I have to admit that these guys again sound very familiar. In fact, I googled these guys this afternoon, sure the members would be from other modern rock bands I know. There are so many familiarities about their whole sound and style, but it looks like they're a totally new band. Shamelessly commercial, this is basically exactly what I want to hear from modern rock. Most every song has a big catchy chorus and I will genuinely struggle to find a favourite track on this album. Absolutely love the whole thing and I'd not surprised to see it rate very high for me this year. Who they sound like? Monty Are I mixed with D.R.U.G.S mixed with Seventh Rain mixed with someone I just can't put my finger on. Just big, anthemic "pop punk" if you must use that term. Great stuff.

 

Aranda - 'Stop the world' ; not sure where I heard about these guys, but this seemed pretty solid. Heavier modern rock than the above and a little less stupid than Saving Abel and Lansdowne, and not too bad at all. It's not thrilling or excellent or anything... but this sounded pretty good to me.

 

Atlantic Avenue - 'When the lights go down' ; this one was a nice little treat. Pretty typical / straight forward pop rock. If you like catchy hooks these guys do what many other bands do quite well. Yeah, worth checking out if you don't mind a bit of "pop punk/rock."