First Spin Impressions

[heaven&hell]

Bonrud - Save Tomorrow

 

Now this one has some real potential especially the first half. The singer Rick Forsgren is awesome and there are some nice rocking songs like the title track, "We Collide"(killer song), "Liquid Sun", "Bullet in the Back" and "American Dream". There are a few fillers late in the album where the disc gets a little average but the great songs more than make up for it. For $10 straight from Paul Bonrud and autographed you can't go wrong at all.

[darin]

Bonrud - Save Tomorrow

 

Now this one has some real potential especially the first half. The singer Rick Forsgren is awesome and there are some nice rocking songs like the title track, "We Collide"(killer song), "Liquid Sun", "Bullet in the Back" and "American Dream". There are a few fillers late in the album where the disc gets a little average but the great songs more than make up for it. For $10 straight from Paul Bonrud and autographed you can't go wrong at all.

Fast shipping too!

[JamesEagle]

Cruella D'Ville - Showdown in Tinsel Town

 

First song ('Room Without a View') is fantastic, so I got quite excited about the rest of it. Needless to say, the other songs didn't quite match up, but there are some good tunes here. The ballad (forget which song, possibly 'Your Eyes') is very nice and 'Stealin'' is good too. 'Can't Go On This Way' is an awful song imo. Sound quality on this one isn't brilliant, but overall a pretty good album of 80s-sounding glammy hard rock.

[Geoff]

Bonrud - Save Tomorrow

 

Now this one has some real potential especially the first half. The singer Rick Forsgren is awesome and there are some nice rocking songs like the title track, "We Collide"(killer song), "Liquid Sun", "Bullet in the Back" and "American Dream". There are a few fillers late in the album where the disc gets a little average but the great songs more than make up for it. For $10 straight from Paul Bonrud and autographed you can't go wrong at all.

Fast shipping too!

 

I got this one too. A filler or two for sure, but for the most part it's a pretty damn good CD. 'Torn apart' is my favourite tune but there's a good handful of winners on this one for sure. Nice disc.

[heaven&hell]

Cruella D'Ville - Showdown in Tinsel Town

 

First song ('Room Without a View') is fantastic, so I got quite excited about the rest of it. Needless to say, the other songs didn't quite match up, but there are some good tunes here. The ballad (forget which song, possibly 'Your Eyes') is very nice and 'Stealin'' is good too. 'Can't Go On This Way' is an awful song imo. Sound quality on this one isn't brilliant, but overall a pretty good album of 80s-sounding glammy hard rock.

 

I really enjoyed that one.

[All Nights Reserved]

Addiction For Destruction - Neon Light Resurrection

 

Raw, punkish sleaze metal from Russia. Though the singer can't sing shit the choruses have some cool, classic KISS feeling and I think it's a great album overall.

 

Diemonds - The Bad Pack

 

Female fronted Canadian sleazy hard rock. After the first spin it's only 3 songs from the 10 are "wow" for me and it could be heavier, but I just love the chick's voice (which reminds me of a rougher Sandi Saraya) so I guess I'm gonna spin this a lot.

[Geoff]

The soundtrack to my holiday and first week back at work. There's a few so I'll be brief:

 

Act As One - The Goodtimes ; seems 'most every modern band these days is pretty heavy, regardless of style. This is essentially a "pop-punk" but these dudes have balls. Really makes it sound quite impressive to be honest. Pretty great heavy pop rock/punk. Thumbs up.

 

All That Remains - A war you cannot ; wow. I know chaps like Tim and Mark like these guys but I wonder what fans think of this one. Still kind of heavy, but it's one of those CDs that's so immaculately produced - almost "over-produced" - so, like Killswitch Engage, it's not even really that heavy anymore. There's still plenty of screaming and double kick drums and all that jive, but there's stuff on here which is basically AOR - clean vocals and soaring choruses and all. Pretty good disc - like a male vocalled version of In This Moment, perhaps.

 

All Time Low - Don't Panic ; great CD - their best in quite a while, in fact. Some very catchy songs here.

 

Anberlin - Vital ; like I said in the other thread... this is basically their best CD since 'NTFP.' Great disc.

 

B.I.T.E. - Rock into the night ; really cool, straight ahead melodic hard rock album. Help these guys out and download their album for whatever you think it's worth. Another one of those pay what you want to download it. $0 if you must, or help the kidsout:

http://officialbite....y-what-you-want

 

Go Radio - Close the distance ; man, what a truly genuine surprise. The first Mayday Parade album is a true gem. Lead vocalist got kicked out and went on to form this band a few years later. The debut was solid, but kind of average. This one, however, smokes the debut and kills the last Mayday Parade CD too. Great evidence of what this dude is capable of. Killer songwriter, great CD.

 

Heaven Below - Falling from zero ; dudes have gone a little heavier than before. Good solid modern metal CD but probably not quite as good as their previous work. Not quite as catchy.

 

Icon For Hire - Scripted ; big fan of this. More great modern melodic hard rock, which sounds not dissimilar to Halestorm at all. Gotta admit, I probably prefer this a little over the new Halestorm CD. Some really great tracks here - ballads and rockers. Very good stuff.

 

Jimi Jamison - Never too late ; good solid melodic rock / AOR. Pretty much sounds like it could be a missing Survivor disc from the late 80's / early 90's. It's all strong, good songs. Nothing truly amazing, but a few very good tracks and no plodders. Good solid effort.

 

Lovebite - Lock n' load ; very nice hard rocking album - great from start to end.

 

Rick Springfield - Songs for the end of the world ; one or two fillers on this one, but for the most part it's pretty great. The man knows a great hook, even if I feel his song writing may not be as good as usual here, but that's just me getting used to the new songs, I'm sure. This is a good one.

 

Star City Meltdown - Music=War ; getting better with every listen. Every song is good - great heavy verses and strong melodic choruses, but sadly there's only about 3-4 really killer songs. 'Here's to us' is one of the best songs of the entire year, as is 'Untied.' Super ballad. Very strong release.

 

Sturm Und Drang - Graduation Day ; I love this one too. Don't know what that clown who signed up to bag this was on about, as it's possibly their best yet. The slow/soft starts building momentum to a rockier track, on almost every single song, gets a little frustrating, but at least all the songs are pretty excellent, so it's not a real concern. Big thumbs up.

 

The Wedding - No Direction ; these guys have changed a lot through the years. Their s/t debut is a long-standing fave of mine, and a pretty excellent melodic modern rock / pop punk CD. What happened after that has been a bit of a mess with no worthwhile output for an age - maybe 7 years? They changed singers soon after the debut and finally with this new CD it looks like they do actually have some direction. The new sound actually reminds me more of Story of the Year (what the hell happened to them?) in places rather than their debut, but whatever the case, they sound damn good. I actually really like this album.

 

Valerie - s/t ; very basic / straight-forward melodic hard rock album. Nothing magnificent... just solid.

 

Circus Maximus - Nine ; not finished this one yet but some of it sounds okay. The start is absolute shit, with a shitty intro and then a 3 minute music intro to the first song... the clock just ticks as boredom sets in immediately. The first song then goes for about 87 minutes, and sucks. A few tracks in there's a few pretty nice melodies. It's still pretty proggy rubbish for the most part, but it sounds like it may be worth a few songs on the Ipod.

 

Lower Than Atlantis - Changing Tune ; not sure I really like this at all. Again, some okay melodies and hooks, but dressed up in some pretty unappealing modern rock. Not a fan of this one at all.

 

 

Allister - Life Behind Machines ; this pop punk band have gotten better through the ages, and their last CD - 'Coundtown to suburbia' was actually really quite good. I thought this would be a step further in the right direction, and after the million dollar sound of the opener, I thought it would be. Killer sound/production, and a few good songs... but more than enough fillers too. I expected better than this, but a few good songs to play with.

 

As I Lay Dying - Awakened ; much heavier than All That Remains, this is actually some damn fine "metalcore." Heavy tunes and mostly all screaming vocals, but good catchy choruses, and a lot of the screaming is actually audible. I dunno, I wouldn't really have given a band like this a go a little while back, but I actually liked this album plenty.

 

Hoobastank - Fight or flight ; another impressive album - their best in an age, if not ever. Sounds like their most consistent. There's some really nice commercial rock songs here for sure.

 

Brigades - The Last Laugh ; another heavy pop punk CD - pretty decent but only that - decent.

 

Cervello - s/t ; I liked this. Reminds me of a slightly ballsier Cavo. Yeah, good modern hard rock.

[JamesEagle]

Candlemass - Psalms For The Dead

 

This is alright, not a bad song on it, but nothing that really stands out either. Think this is going to be one of those albums that is okay, but will very rarely get played due to its average-ness.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

The soundtrack to my holiday and first week back at work. There's a few so I'll be brief:

 

Act As One - The Goodtimes ; seems 'most every modern band these days is pretty heavy, regardless of style. This is essentially a "pop-punk" but these dudes have balls. Really makes it sound quite impressive to be honest. Pretty great heavy pop rock/punk. Thumbs up.

 

All That Remains - A war you cannot ; wow. I know chaps like Tim and Mark like these guys but I wonder what fans think of this one. Still kind of heavy, but it's one of those CDs that's so immaculately produced - almost "over-produced" - so, like Killswitch Engage, it's not even really that heavy anymore. There's still plenty of screaming and double kick drums and all that jive, but there's stuff on here which is basically AOR - clean vocals and soaring choruses and all. Pretty good disc - like a male vocalled version of In This Moment, perhaps.

 

All Time Low - Don't Panic ; great CD - their best in quite a while, in fact. Some very catchy songs here.

 

Anberlin - Vital ; like I said in the other thread... this is basically their best CD since 'NTFP.' Great disc.

 

B.I.T.E. - Rock into the night ; really cool, straight ahead melodic hard rock album. Help these guys out and download their album for whatever you think it's worth. Another one of those pay what you want to download it. $0 if you must, or help the kidsout:

http://officialbite....y-what-you-want

 

Go Radio - Close the distance ; man, what a truly genuine surprise. The first Mayday Parade album is a true gem. Lead vocalist got kicked out and went on to form this band a few years later. The debut was solid, but kind of average. This one, however, smokes the debut and kills the last Mayday Parade CD too. Great evidence of what this dude is capable of. Killer songwriter, great CD.

 

Heaven Below - Falling from zero ; dudes have gone a little heavier than before. Good solid modern metal CD but probably not quite as good as their previous work. Not quite as catchy.

 

Icon For Hire - Scripted ; big fan of this. More great modern melodic hard rock, which sounds not dissimilar to Halestorm at all. Gotta admit, I probably prefer this a little over the new Halestorm CD. Some really great tracks here - ballads and rockers. Very good stuff.

 

Jimi Jamison - Never too late ; good solid melodic rock / AOR. Pretty much sounds like it could be a missing Survivor disc from the late 80's / early 90's. It's all strong, good songs. Nothing truly amazing, but a few very good tracks and no plodders. Good solid effort.

 

Lovebite - Lock n' load ; very nice hard rocking album - great from start to end.

 

Rick Springfield - Songs for the end of the world ; one or two fillers on this one, but for the most part it's pretty great. The man knows a great hook, even if I feel his song writing may not be as good as usual here, but that's just me getting used to the new songs, I'm sure. This is a good one.

 

Star City Meltdown - Music=War ; getting better with every listen. Every song is good - great heavy verses and strong melodic choruses, but sadly there's only about 3-4 really killer songs. 'Here's to us' is one of the best songs of the entire year, as is 'Untied.' Super ballad. Very strong release.

 

Sturm Und Drang - Graduation Day ; I love this one too. Don't know what that clown who signed up to bag this was on about, as it's possibly their best yet. The slow/soft starts building momentum to a rockier track, on almost every single song, gets a little frustrating, but at least all the songs are pretty excellent, so it's not a real concern. Big thumbs up.

 

The Wedding - No Direction ; these guys have changed a lot through the years. Their s/t debut is a long-standing fave of mine, and a pretty excellent melodic modern rock / pop punk CD. What happened after that has been a bit of a mess with no worthwhile output for an age - maybe 7 years? They changed singers soon after the debut and finally with this new CD it looks like they do actually have some direction. The new sound actually reminds me more of Story of the Year (what the hell happened to them?) in places rather than their debut, but whatever the case, they sound damn good. I actually really like this album.

 

Valerie - s/t ; very basic / straight-forward melodic hard rock album. Nothing magnificent... just solid.

 

Circus Maximus - Nine ; not finished this one yet but some of it sounds okay. The start is absolute shit, with a shitty intro and then a 3 minute music intro to the first song... the clock just ticks as boredom sets in immediately. The first song then goes for about 87 minutes, and sucks. A few tracks in there's a few pretty nice melodies. It's still pretty proggy rubbish for the most part, but it sounds like it may be worth a few songs on the Ipod.

 

Lower Than Atlantis - Changing Tune ; not sure I really like this at all. Again, some okay melodies and hooks, but dressed up in some pretty unappealing modern rock. Not a fan of this one at all.

 

 

Allister - Life Behind Machines ; this pop punk band have gotten better through the ages, and their last CD - 'Coundtown to suburbia' was actually really quite good. I thought this would be a step further in the right direction, and after the million dollar sound of the opener, I thought it would be. Killer sound/production, and a few good songs... but more than enough fillers too. I expected better than this, but a few good songs to play with.

 

As I Lay Dying - Awakened ; much heavier than All That Remains, this is actually some damn fine "metalcore." Heavy tunes and mostly all screaming vocals, but good catchy choruses, and a lot of the screaming is actually audible. I dunno, I wouldn't really have given a band like this a go a little while back, but I actually liked this album plenty.

 

Hoobastank - Fight or flight ; another impressive album - their best in an age, if not ever. Sounds like their most consistent. There's some really nice commercial rock songs here for sure.

 

Brigades - The Last Laugh ; another heavy pop punk CD - pretty decent but only that - decent.

 

Cervello - s/t ; I liked this. Reminds me of a slightly ballsier Cavo. Yeah, good modern hard rock.

 

I'm always amazed at how much music with screaming you listen to. I'll have to give a few of these a listen.

[Geoff]

The soundtrack to my holiday and first week back at work. There's a few so I'll be brief:

 

Act As One - The Goodtimes ; seems 'most every modern band these days is pretty heavy, regardless of style. This is essentially a "pop-punk" but these dudes have balls. Really makes it sound quite impressive to be honest. Pretty great heavy pop rock/punk. Thumbs up.

 

All That Remains - A war you cannot ; wow. I know chaps like Tim and Mark like these guys but I wonder what fans think of this one. Still kind of heavy, but it's one of those CDs that's so immaculately produced - almost "over-produced" - so, like Killswitch Engage, it's not even really that heavy anymore. There's still plenty of screaming and double kick drums and all that jive, but there's stuff on here which is basically AOR - clean vocals and soaring choruses and all. Pretty good disc - like a male vocalled version of In This Moment, perhaps.

 

All Time Low - Don't Panic ; great CD - their best in quite a while, in fact. Some very catchy songs here.

 

Anberlin - Vital ; like I said in the other thread... this is basically their best CD since 'NTFP.' Great disc.

 

B.I.T.E. - Rock into the night ; really cool, straight ahead melodic hard rock album. Help these guys out and download their album for whatever you think it's worth. Another one of those pay what you want to download it. $0 if you must, or help the kidsout:

http://officialbite....y-what-you-want

 

Go Radio - Close the distance ; man, what a truly genuine surprise. The first Mayday Parade album is a true gem. Lead vocalist got kicked out and went on to form this band a few years later. The debut was solid, but kind of average. This one, however, smokes the debut and kills the last Mayday Parade CD too. Great evidence of what this dude is capable of. Killer songwriter, great CD.

 

Heaven Below - Falling from zero ; dudes have gone a little heavier than before. Good solid modern metal CD but probably not quite as good as their previous work. Not quite as catchy.

 

Icon For Hire - Scripted ; big fan of this. More great modern melodic hard rock, which sounds not dissimilar to Halestorm at all. Gotta admit, I probably prefer this a little over the new Halestorm CD. Some really great tracks here - ballads and rockers. Very good stuff.

 

Jimi Jamison - Never too late ; good solid melodic rock / AOR. Pretty much sounds like it could be a missing Survivor disc from the late 80's / early 90's. It's all strong, good songs. Nothing truly amazing, but a few very good tracks and no plodders. Good solid effort.

 

Lovebite - Lock n' load ; very nice hard rocking album - great from start to end.

 

Rick Springfield - Songs for the end of the world ; one or two fillers on this one, but for the most part it's pretty great. The man knows a great hook, even if I feel his song writing may not be as good as usual here, but that's just me getting used to the new songs, I'm sure. This is a good one.

 

Star City Meltdown - Music=War ; getting better with every listen. Every song is good - great heavy verses and strong melodic choruses, but sadly there's only about 3-4 really killer songs. 'Here's to us' is one of the best songs of the entire year, as is 'Untied.' Super ballad. Very strong release.

 

Sturm Und Drang - Graduation Day ; I love this one too. Don't know what that clown who signed up to bag this was on about, as it's possibly their best yet. The slow/soft starts building momentum to a rockier track, on almost every single song, gets a little frustrating, but at least all the songs are pretty excellent, so it's not a real concern. Big thumbs up.

 

The Wedding - No Direction ; these guys have changed a lot through the years. Their s/t debut is a long-standing fave of mine, and a pretty excellent melodic modern rock / pop punk CD. What happened after that has been a bit of a mess with no worthwhile output for an age - maybe 7 years? They changed singers soon after the debut and finally with this new CD it looks like they do actually have some direction. The new sound actually reminds me more of Story of the Year (what the hell happened to them?) in places rather than their debut, but whatever the case, they sound damn good. I actually really like this album.

 

Valerie - s/t ; very basic / straight-forward melodic hard rock album. Nothing magnificent... just solid.

 

Circus Maximus - Nine ; not finished this one yet but some of it sounds okay. The start is absolute shit, with a shitty intro and then a 3 minute music intro to the first song... the clock just ticks as boredom sets in immediately. The first song then goes for about 87 minutes, and sucks. A few tracks in there's a few pretty nice melodies. It's still pretty proggy rubbish for the most part, but it sounds like it may be worth a few songs on the Ipod.

 

Lower Than Atlantis - Changing Tune ; not sure I really like this at all. Again, some okay melodies and hooks, but dressed up in some pretty unappealing modern rock. Not a fan of this one at all.

 

 

Allister - Life Behind Machines ; this pop punk band have gotten better through the ages, and their last CD - 'Coundtown to suburbia' was actually really quite good. I thought this would be a step further in the right direction, and after the million dollar sound of the opener, I thought it would be. Killer sound/production, and a few good songs... but more than enough fillers too. I expected better than this, but a few good songs to play with.

 

As I Lay Dying - Awakened ; much heavier than All That Remains, this is actually some damn fine "metalcore." Heavy tunes and mostly all screaming vocals, but good catchy choruses, and a lot of the screaming is actually audible. I dunno, I wouldn't really have given a band like this a go a little while back, but I actually liked this album plenty.

 

Hoobastank - Fight or flight ; another impressive album - their best in an age, if not ever. Sounds like their most consistent. There's some really nice commercial rock songs here for sure.

 

Brigades - The Last Laugh ; another heavy pop punk CD - pretty decent but only that - decent.

 

Cervello - s/t ; I liked this. Reminds me of a slightly ballsier Cavo. Yeah, good modern hard rock.

 

I'm always amazed at how much music with screaming you listen to. I'll have to give a few of these a listen.

 

It's basically just because I'm so f*cking metal I snap at how metallic I am. A few more quickies:

 

The Dead Rabbits - Edge of reality ; nice surprise. This is a side project from the current lead singer of Escape The Fate. This is MUCH better than Falling In Reverse (the original lead singer's post ETF band). It's kind of like a heavier version of Escape the Fate with a bit more screaming, but it's pretty damn fine. Good stuff and a must for fans of ETF.

 

Handguns - Angst ; yum! Love a release like this from a band I've never heard of that genuinely impressed me like this. Sounds kind of like a mix between Cauterize and early Hit The Lights. I really enjoyed this one.

 

I Call Fives - s/t ; and again. I see these guys are touring with Handguns, and that suits because they are similar bands. Again, I got that rare Cauterize vibe I very seldom find in bands, though I search for it so. Loved this one... probably a little more than Handguns, but both are great slabs of modern rock.

 

Flyleaf - New Horizons ; I couldn't really listen to their last very alternate CD, but this is pretty damn good. Just good, solid modern female fronted rock, with a heap of nice ballads.

 

Dramagods - Love ; sorry Karpetface, this was one of the few I had to turn off today (along with Blood on the Dancefloor and Hollywood Undead) but I got about 3 or 4 songs into it before the end came. Really not sure about this one at all. A real alternate rock sound - which I HATE, and then the choruses were kind of catchy... sort of, but the damage was totally done. These guys remind me of a much worse version of Lower Than Atlantis which I heard yesterday.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

Dramagods - Love ; sorry Karpetface, this was one of the few I had to turn off today (along with Blood on the Dancefloor and Hollywood Undead) but I got about 3 or 4 songs into it before the end came. Really not sure about this one at all. A real alternate rock sound - which I HATE, and then the choruses were kind of catchy... sort of, but the damage was totally done. These guys remind me of a much worse version of Lower Than Atlantis which I heard yesterday.

 

I believe I warned you wouldn't like it.

[zacharyamelie]

Hey Geoff where did you find this one? Heaven Below - Falling from zero

 

Loved the bands first one and the follow up EP.

 

Your hate for Circus Maximus scares me, I love it, could be the best release of the year. Knowing you hate Dream Theater I'd be suprised you even took a chance on the CM, but the singer the same guy as on The Magnificent is still freaking amazing. Tracks 4 trough 7 are fantastic and the closer Last Goodbye is my pick for track of the year, epic!!!

[Geoff]

Hey Geoff where did you find this one? Heaven Below - Falling from zero

 

Loved the bands first one and the follow up EP.

 

Your hate for Circus Maximus scares me, I love it, could be the best release of the year. Knowing you hate Dream Theater I'd be suprised you even took a chance on the CM, but the singer the same guy as on The Magnificent is still freaking amazing. Tracks 4 trough 7 are fantastic and the closer Last Goodbye is my pick for track of the year, epic!!!

 

You can get the Heaven Below CD here:

 

http://www.musicbuymail.eu/index.php?i=37099

 

I've not bought a physical copy yet... don't think I'll be buying new CDs like that for a long time, but if I ever do again, that seems a pretty good price.

 

I can't recall song names, but there were a couple of the shorter songs on the Circus Maximus album that I liked, and the closer had a nice hook, when it got around to it, inbetween the 7 hours of song around it. Seriously, 10 minutes for one song? Is it really necessary.

[Geoff]

Beverly Killz - Gasoline & Broken Hearts ; a bit late to the party, but what a great commercial / melodic hard rock CD. A few people have already mentioned it across the forum, and I can only confirm. Real nice album.

 

Danger Zone - Undying ; very nice return. The album from last year was patchy but had it's moments. I must admit I thought it'd be a once-off, but I'm happy to hear the guys back with a much better and more even disc. Nothing amazing, but a good, solid melodic hard rock disc on offer here.

 

Disciple - O god save us all ; good album. Probably their heaviest, in places, since 'Scars Remain.' In the spirit of cliches, the ballads are all the winners here, and thankfully there are many. The trio of balladic numbers mid album - "Once and For All," "Someday" and the excellent "Draw the Line" - is great, and the two album closers are too. The rockers are all solid, some better than others ('RIP' is possibly the best) but do have that slight nu-metal type style of yesteryear. Check out the new single, though. Very nice:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDDhpiO1Jh4

 

Otherwise - True Love never dies ; surprised no one's speaking about this one as this is the type of modern rock that has often bridged the gap. Very good, excellently recorded stuff. As usual, the ballads and more commercial numbers are the winners here, but this disc is really worth checking out. Like a heavier Hinder, perhaps?

 

Deep Insight - One minute too late ; very nice, solid modern rock with some good hooks.

 

Lavett - Find your purpose ; thanks to Stefan for guiding me to this one. Really good modern melodic hard rock. Kind of like Dead By April without the screams, but not exactly. Just a real nice, super (too?) polished production job too.

 

One Mile Left - Behind the story ; this sounds a bit like Destine mixed with Blink 182. I hate Blink 182 but I really liked this one. The accent is there, but this is a good Euro pop punk album with some good hooks.

 

No Bragging Rights - Cycles ; pretty messy, disjointed heavy pop punk type stuff. Not great at all.

 

Overscene - Bringin' all of my friends & The moment of change ; two solid modern rock EPs. Neither is great, but neither is bad either. A couple of really great tracks spread across the 2 EPs.

 

Deep Insight - Red lights, white lines ;very, very bland modern rock.

 

Our Last Night - We will all evolve ; the annoying this about this CD is that the screams are truly terrible. I know of course every scream is terrible, but these are just so lame / cringe-worthy. And it's a shame because musically these guys are good, and there are some killer clean vocaled hooks and catchy choruses here. Such lame screams, though.

 

Our Last Night - The ghost among us ; again, just annoying screams, though everything else is good, but not as good as the above album. This time the screams are different, but it sounds like the dude burst all his blood vessels and gave birth to many children during these recordings.

[JLPRocks]

I need to go out and get that new Disciple CD....they are definitely one of my favorite modern hard rock bands. I do enjoy your lists, Geoff, as I often will look for some Modern Hard Rock that I've overlooked! I did like the Falling in Reverse CD **their last one??**....is there going to be another one, or is the singer onto other things now?

[Geoff]

I need to go out and get that new Disciple CD....they are definitely one of my favorite modern hard rock bands. I do enjoy your lists, Geoff, as I often will look for some Modern Hard Rock that I've overlooked! I did like the Falling in Reverse CD **their last one??**....is there going to be another one, or is the singer onto other things now?

 

Sorry mate, no idea about Falling In Reverse at all to be honest. Just checked wikipedia - looks like all is well and they're already recording album two.

 

But I prefer The Dead Rabbits.

[All Nights Reserved]

Crank County Daredevils - Livin' In The Red (2006)

 

Very raw, very dirty and very heavy sounding sleaze metal which would be a nice combination for me... too bad that the songs equally suck. That's all.

[TIM (2)]

 

Jimi Jamison - Never too late ; good solid melodic rock / AOR. Pretty much sounds like it could be a missing Survivor disc from the late 80's / early 90's. It's all strong, good songs. Nothing truly amazing, but a few very good tracks and no plodders. Good solid effort.

 

Rick Springfield - Songs for the end of the world ; one or two fillers on this one, but for the most part it's pretty great. The man knows a great hook, even if I feel his song writing may not be as good as usual here, but that's just me getting used to the new songs, I'm sure. This is a good one.

 

As I Lay Dying - Awakened ; much heavier than All That Remains, this is actually some damn fine "metalcore." Heavy tunes and mostly all screaming vocals, but good catchy choruses, and a lot of the screaming is actually audible. I dunno, I wouldn't really have given a band like this a go a little while back, but I actually liked this album plenty.

 

 

Probably my 3 fave discs of 2012. The AS I LAY DYING is utter genuis, so many memorable tunes.

[Geoff]

Jimi Jamison - Never too late ; good solid melodic rock / AOR. Pretty much sounds like it could be a missing Survivor disc from the late 80's / early 90's. It's all strong, good songs. Nothing truly amazing, but a few very good tracks and no plodders. Good solid effort.

 

Rick Springfield - Songs for the end of the world ; one or two fillers on this one, but for the most part it's pretty great. The man knows a great hook, even if I feel his song writing may not be as good as usual here, but that's just me getting used to the new songs, I'm sure. This is a good one.

 

As I Lay Dying - Awakened ; much heavier than All That Remains, this is actually some damn fine "metalcore." Heavy tunes and mostly all screaming vocals, but good catchy choruses, and a lot of the screaming is actually audible. I dunno, I wouldn't really have given a band like this a go a little while back, but I actually liked this album plenty.

 

 

Probably my 3 fave discs of 2012. The AS I LAY DYING is utter genuis, so many memorable tunes.

 

Just out of curiosity, mate, what do you think of the new All That Remains album? I really wasn't expecting to hear a couple of pure AOR tunes on that one...

[TIM (2)]

Jimi Jamison - Never too late ; good solid melodic rock / AOR. Pretty much sounds like it could be a missing Survivor disc from the late 80's / early 90's. It's all strong, good songs. Nothing truly amazing, but a few very good tracks and no plodders. Good solid effort.

 

Rick Springfield - Songs for the end of the world ; one or two fillers on this one, but for the most part it's pretty great. The man knows a great hook, even if I feel his song writing may not be as good as usual here, but that's just me getting used to the new songs, I'm sure. This is a good one.

 

As I Lay Dying - Awakened ; much heavier than All That Remains, this is actually some damn fine "metalcore." Heavy tunes and mostly all screaming vocals, but good catchy choruses, and a lot of the screaming is actually audible. I dunno, I wouldn't really have given a band like this a go a little while back, but I actually liked this album plenty.

 

 

Probably my 3 fave discs of 2012. The AS I LAY DYING is utter genuis, so many memorable tunes.

 

Just out of curiosity, mate, what do you think of the new All That Remains album? I really wasn't expecting to hear a couple of pure AOR tunes on that one...

 

Yeah they've really toned it down on the last 2 albums. I like the sound / production but the songs are not as strong as they could be IMO....

[Geoff]

EarlyRise - What If ; dudes, check it. It's a good disc, but sports a KILLER sound. Great modern hard rock with a great female vocalist and a billion dollar production. Unfortunately not every song delivers and it gets a little balladic towards the end, but try not to love the shit out of this song at least:

 

http://youtu.be/Rq9uOKNPPow

 

Athel - Open your eyes to society ; dudes, another pretty killer one here. Again, a few undisputed fillers, but otherwise, killer production and awesome modern hard rock sound, with some huge anthemic choruses. Try not to love the shit out of this song:

 

http://youtu.be/eSz4fDiMrf0

 

DoryDrive - Calling on angels ; thanks to Stefan for the heads up on this one. Wow. A really great modern rock album with a handful of the year's best songs on this one. I'll speak more in the other thread after more spins, but this is killer.

 

Set It Off - Cinematics ; not bad kind of Panic at the Disco / Fall Out Boy style modern rock. Not overly my thing, but good for what it is.

 

Aliston Road - Altitudes ; super unique vocalist, which sadly is not a good voice and it kind of takes back from what is otherwise a pretty damn good modern heavy rock album. Good stuff... just a shame about the vocals.

 

Loverboy - Rock N' Roll Revival ; the title track is a dud but the other 2 new songs are absolutely excellent. Displays what a shame it is they couldn't release an album full of new songs. The re-records are pretty good, as I don't know half the original songs anyway.

 

Nine Lashes - World we view ; good solid modern hard rock. Not great but worth seeking for a cheap price.

 

Parachutes - Blueprints ; unique, versatile and impressive modern hard rock album. Very melodic at times, immaculately produced and just a good, enjoyable listen. Probably a try-before-you-buy for most, but I liked it.

 

Tenth Avenue North - The struggle ; very, very average modern pop rock. Deleted.

 

Doogie White - As yet untitled; this the Cornerstone dude? Pretty good, strong hard rock CD. Nothing amazing, but solid.

 

Carolina Liar - Coming to terms ; nice enough pop rock, but just too mellow and boring - not my thing. Deleted.

 

Celdweller - Wish upon a blackstar ; alternative dance crap. Deleted.

 

Circa Survive - Violent waves ; very average mellow alternative rock. Deleted.

 

Skyscrapers Walk Among Us - s/t ; okay heavy screamo… just not really worth the effort.

 

The American Scene - Safe for now ; unappealing modern rock - just boring. Deleted.

 

Cash Cash - The beat goes on ; pure dance - catchy, but pure dance. Deleted.

 

Circle of Light - Rebirth ; really average hard rock - how is this related to Lillian Axe? It's just terribly boring and pointless. Deleted.

 

Damnation Alley - s/t ; okay, very raw hard rock. Hard to bother with because of the poor sound quality and the general lack of song quality. There is one nice riff-driven live song on here, but it's not worth the rest of it.

 

Dark Sky - Initium ; solid but just average hard rock. These guys can write an okay song, but not really anything more than that, sadly.

 

David J Caron - Ending Black & Thru Ever ; weird, but not good AOR. Hated it. Deleted.

 

Last Temptation - s/t ; really average bluesy hard rock.

 

Blancawhite - Resurgence of rock ; 2012 truly terrible almost retro kind of rock. Amazing to see the voices on this one and acknowledge how truly terrible it is. It's not a "proper" sounding record, with paper drums and an almost 60's/70/s vibe. It's really amazingly terrible and nothing like anything these vocalists have been involved with. Super bad. Here's who's on it:

 

Resurgence of Rock (Paul Shortino)

One For the Ages (Jeff Paris)

Your Boyfriend is Lame (Terry Ilous)

Take Me Back (Jeff Paris)

Livin’ It Up! (In A Mexican Bar) (Paul Shortino)

Still Turnin’ Heads (Lorraine Lewis)

Another Hotel Bar (Jeff Paris)

Hundred Years War(Lorraine Lewis)

Woman Side/ Famous Last Chords (Paul Shortino)

[Stefan]

EarlyRise - What If ; dudes, check it. It's a good disc, but sports a KILLER sound. Great modern hard rock with a great female vocalist and a billion dollar production. Unfortunately not every song delivers and it gets a little balladic towards the end, but try not to love the shit out of this song at least:

 

http://youtu.be/Rq9uOKNPPow

 

Athel - Open your eyes to society ; dudes, another pretty killer one here. Again, a few undisputed fillers, but otherwise, killer production and awesome modern hard rock sound, with some huge anthemic choruses. Try not to love the shit out of this song:

 

http://youtu.be/eSz4fDiMrf0

 

DoryDrive - Calling on angels ; thanks to Stefan for the heads up on this one. Wow. A really great modern rock album with a handful of the year's best songs on this one. I'll speak more in the other thread after more spins, but this is killer.

 

Set It Off - Cinematics ; not bad kind of Panic at the Disco / Fall Out Boy style modern rock. Not overly my thing, but good for what it is.

 

Aliston Road - Altitudes ; super unique vocalist, which sadly is not a good voice and it kind of takes back from what is otherwise a pretty damn good modern heavy rock album. Good stuff... just a shame about the vocals.

 

Loverboy - Rock N' Roll Revival ; the title track is a dud but the other 2 new songs are absolutely excellent. Displays what a shame it is they couldn't release an album full of new songs. The re-records are pretty good, as I don't know half the original songs anyway.

 

Nine Lashes - World we view ; good solid modern hard rock. Not great but worth seeking for a cheap price.

 

Parachutes - Blueprints ; unique, versatile and impressive modern hard rock album. Very melodic at times, immaculately produced and just a good, enjoyable listen. Probably a try-before-you-buy for most, but I liked it.

 

Tenth Avenue North - The struggle ; very, very average modern pop rock. Deleted.

 

Doogie White - As yet untitled; this the Cornerstone dude? Pretty good, strong hard rock CD. Nothing amazing, but solid.

 

Carolina Liar - Coming to terms ; nice enough pop rock, but just too mellow and boring - not my thing. Deleted.

 

Celdweller - Wish upon a blackstar ; alternative dance crap. Deleted.

 

Circa Survive - Violent waves ; very average mellow alternative rock. Deleted.

 

Skyscrapers Walk Among Us - s/t ; okay heavy screamo… just not really worth the effort.

 

The American Scene - Safe for now ; unappealing modern rock - just boring. Deleted.

 

Cash Cash - The beat goes on ; pure dance - catchy, but pure dance. Deleted.

 

Circle of Light - Rebirth ; really average hard rock - how is this related to Lillian Axe? It's just terribly boring and pointless. Deleted.

 

Damnation Alley - s/t ; okay, very raw hard rock. Hard to bother with because of the poor sound quality and the general lack of song quality. There is one nice riff-driven live song on here, but it's not worth the rest of it.

 

Dark Sky - Initium ; solid but just average hard rock. These guys can write an okay song, but not really anything more than that, sadly.

 

David J Caron - Ending Black & Thru Ever ; weird, but not good AOR. Hated it. Deleted.

 

Last Temptation - s/t ; really average bluesy hard rock.

 

Blancawhite - Resurgence of rock ; 2012 truly terrible almost retro kind of rock. Amazing to see the voices on this one and acknowledge how truly terrible it is. It's not a "proper" sounding record, with paper drums and an almost 60's/70/s vibe. It's really amazingly terrible and nothing like anything these vocalists have been involved with. Super bad. Here's who's on it:

 

Resurgence of Rock (Paul Shortino)

One For the Ages (Jeff Paris)

Your Boyfriend is Lame (Terry Ilous)

Take Me Back (Jeff Paris)

Livin’ It Up! (In A Mexican Bar) (Paul Shortino)

Still Turnin’ Heads (Lorraine Lewis)

Another Hotel Bar (Jeff Paris)

Hundred Years War(Lorraine Lewis)

Woman Side/ Famous Last Chords (Paul Shortino)

 

Is that your new favourite word?

*adopting Schwarzenegger's voice* You've been deleted!

[Geoff]

EarlyRise - What If ; dudes, check it. It's a good disc, but sports a KILLER sound. Great modern hard rock with a great female vocalist and a billion dollar production. Unfortunately not every song delivers and it gets a little balladic towards the end, but try not to love the shit out of this song at least:

 

http://youtu.be/Rq9uOKNPPow

 

Athel - Open your eyes to society ; dudes, another pretty killer one here. Again, a few undisputed fillers, but otherwise, killer production and awesome modern hard rock sound, with some huge anthemic choruses. Try not to love the shit out of this song:

 

http://youtu.be/eSz4fDiMrf0

 

DoryDrive - Calling on angels ; thanks to Stefan for the heads up on this one. Wow. A really great modern rock album with a handful of the year's best songs on this one. I'll speak more in the other thread after more spins, but this is killer.

 

Set It Off - Cinematics ; not bad kind of Panic at the Disco / Fall Out Boy style modern rock. Not overly my thing, but good for what it is.

 

Aliston Road - Altitudes ; super unique vocalist, which sadly is not a good voice and it kind of takes back from what is otherwise a pretty damn good modern heavy rock album. Good stuff... just a shame about the vocals.

 

Loverboy - Rock N' Roll Revival ; the title track is a dud but the other 2 new songs are absolutely excellent. Displays what a shame it is they couldn't release an album full of new songs. The re-records are pretty good, as I don't know half the original songs anyway.

 

Nine Lashes - World we view ; good solid modern hard rock. Not great but worth seeking for a cheap price.

 

Parachutes - Blueprints ; unique, versatile and impressive modern hard rock album. Very melodic at times, immaculately produced and just a good, enjoyable listen. Probably a try-before-you-buy for most, but I liked it.

 

Tenth Avenue North - The struggle ; very, very average modern pop rock. Deleted.

 

Doogie White - As yet untitled; this the Cornerstone dude? Pretty good, strong hard rock CD. Nothing amazing, but solid.

 

Carolina Liar - Coming to terms ; nice enough pop rock, but just too mellow and boring - not my thing. Deleted.

 

Celdweller - Wish upon a blackstar ; alternative dance crap. Deleted.

 

Circa Survive - Violent waves ; very average mellow alternative rock. Deleted.

 

Skyscrapers Walk Among Us - s/t ; okay heavy screamo… just not really worth the effort.

 

The American Scene - Safe for now ; unappealing modern rock - just boring. Deleted.

 

Cash Cash - The beat goes on ; pure dance - catchy, but pure dance. Deleted.

 

Circle of Light - Rebirth ; really average hard rock - how is this related to Lillian Axe? It's just terribly boring and pointless. Deleted.

 

Damnation Alley - s/t ; okay, very raw hard rock. Hard to bother with because of the poor sound quality and the general lack of song quality. There is one nice riff-driven live song on here, but it's not worth the rest of it.

 

Dark Sky - Initium ; solid but just average hard rock. These guys can write an okay song, but not really anything more than that, sadly.

 

David J Caron - Ending Black & Thru Ever ; weird, but not good AOR. Hated it. Deleted.

 

Last Temptation - s/t ; really average bluesy hard rock.

 

Blancawhite - Resurgence of rock ; 2012 truly terrible almost retro kind of rock. Amazing to see the voices on this one and acknowledge how truly terrible it is. It's not a "proper" sounding record, with paper drums and an almost 60's/70/s vibe. It's really amazingly terrible and nothing like anything these vocalists have been involved with. Super bad. Here's who's on it:

 

Resurgence of Rock (Paul Shortino)

One For the Ages (Jeff Paris)

Your Boyfriend is Lame (Terry Ilous)

Take Me Back (Jeff Paris)

Livin’ It Up! (In A Mexican Bar) (Paul Shortino)

Still Turnin’ Heads (Lorraine Lewis)

Another Hotel Bar (Jeff Paris)

Hundred Years War(Lorraine Lewis)

Woman Side/ Famous Last Chords (Paul Shortino)

 

Is that your new favourite word?

*adopting Schwarzenegger's voice* You've been deleted!

 

You know it. Stefan's HH Identity - deleted.

 

Did you check out the Earlyrise and Athel songs? Please praise them immediately.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

Loverboy - Rock N' Roll Revival ; The re-records are pretty good, as I don't know half the original songs anyway.

 

I'm in the same boat, and I'm seeing them next month. I should familiarize myself.

[Jez]

Loverboy - Rock N' Roll Revival ; The re-records are pretty good, as I don't know half the original songs anyway.

 

I'm in the same boat, and I'm seeing them next month. I should familiarize myself.

 

...And most are not as good..coming from someone who does know the originals.