First Spin Impressions

[eaglesfan3000]

Dream Police - Messing With The Blues

 

I just got this disc yesterday and it just blew my fucking socks off great hooks with heavy guitar and a bluesy sound, a true Scandi melodic metal band without keyboards who would of thunk it. Now I can't wait to get their self titled disc I hear that one is even better. I got to tell ya it's the best $25 I've spent in a long time, I'm really impressed with these guys.

 

 

I love 'Messing With the Blues', but I must admit, the 'S/T' is a lot better overall and one of my Fave Scandie discs ever.

 

 

I've never heard of this band.

 

Me neither but now they have my attention.

 

 

Found this Wes. It's not a video clip but it is one of their tracks - "Hot Legs"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjX5vKb0ZJA...ted&search=

 

 

They sound good. Thanks for posting that link.

 

I heard it from a demo disc man I'm hooked.

[Geoff]

Just Surrender - 'We're in like sin' ; Damn these excellent modern rock bands, just not giving HH-related bands a shot at the top 5 this year, imo. Like the debut, this again is excellent. They have not missed a single beat. If you love the debut you'll love this. Actually, the biggest surprise of this album is that they did actually finally manage to slip and record one filler. The title track is actually awful, but all other 10 out of the total 11 tracks are pure excellence. I'm delighted to see this band not let me down.

 

The Deadthings - 'Who killed holly would' ; Pure 80's glam... and very cool. Production is a little thin as you'd expect from an Aussie band doing 80's metal, but the songs are very cool and sure crowd pleasers for all fans of 80's glam hard rock. I like it.

[heaven&hell]

Iced Earth- Framing Armageddon: Something Wicked Part 1

 

 

I have acutally listened to this about 5 times and I do realize that this isn't the 5th spin impression thread but I didn't feel like starting a new thread so here's my review anyway. From the get go I knew this was gonna be one of those cds that you really need to listen to it a few times and read the lyrics to get the whole thing. At first I wasn't sure what I thought of this cd but after multiple listens it just gets better and better. I'm not gonna get into the debate of who's a better Iced Earth vocalist, Matt Barlow or Tim Owens, the fact is this is one great metal cd. It has great vocals, riffs, lyrics, and in some way sounds much more like classic Iced Earth then the last cd "The Glorious Burden" did(even though I loved TGB). The song "Ten Thousand Strong" is moving up my list of greatest Iced Earth songs of all time. The emotion that Tim puts into the vocals on "A Charge to Keep" makes the hair stand up on my arms. Other great songs are "Setian Massacre", "Order of the Rose", "When Stars Collide", "Retribution through the Ages", and "The Clouding"(which starts off like some strange acoustic prog song and then kicks in at the 4 or 5 minute mark with the screaming "LIES").

 

The only complaints I have about this cd is the overkill of interludes. There seems to be a 30 second interlude before every song and that annoys me a little. It reminds me of what Blind Guardian did on their "Nightfall in Middle-Earth" cd. If IE would just dropped a few of those interludes the cd could of about 14 tracks instead of the 19 tracks it has. The only other complaint is the "Barlow factor". The what if question of "What if Matt Barlow would of sung on this cd?". This will be a problem with every Iced Earth cd as long as Tim Owens is the vocalist since Matt had such a huge fan base. This debate over vocalists almost makes IE the Van Halen of metal since VH fans have always argued over Hagar and Roth.

[Geoff]

Five Venoms - EP ; it's amusing to me that these guys are technically an 'Aussie' band because I guarantee you if these guys were played to the naked ear with no background info there is not a member here who would not guess that they were a Japanese band. And that how this sounds to me. Cool EP, but vocals are hard to understand at times due to heavy asian accent and I get the sense the guitarists are maybe trying to play beyond their capabilities? I would still like to hear a full length album for sure.

 

The Deadthings - 'Dead over heels' ; Great straight up 80's commercial hard rock release. Looking at the song-writing credits, I think Trixxi Trash's inclusion in the band really benefited giving these guys a more melodic/commercial sound. The songs are great... I guess most of all I'd love to see these guys make it and get themselves a good budget and good name in production, because these songs with a bit more polish on 'em would be truly sensational... still, very good release as it is.

[melodicrockoz]

Five Venoms - EP ; it's amusing to me that these guys are technically an 'Aussie' band because I guarantee you if these guys were played to the naked ear with no background info there is not a member here who would not guess that they were a Japanese band. And that how this sounds to me. Cool EP, but vocals are hard to understand at times due to heavy asian accent and I get the sense the guitarists are maybe trying to play beyond their capabilities? I would still like to hear a full length album for sure.

 

The Deadthings - 'Dead over heels' ; Great straight up 80's commercial hard rock release. Looking at the song-writing credits, I think Trixxi Trash's inclusion in the band really benefited giving these guys a more melodic/commercial sound. The songs are great... I guess most of all I'd love to see these guys make it and get themselves a good budget and good name in production, because these songs with a bit more polish on 'em would be truly sensational... still, very good release as it is.

 

 

just you wait till trixxitrash sees that comment about him lol .....

I agree on the 5 venoms comment, seen em around town a bit & the songs didn't do anything for me, kinda like a hookless malmsteen a few noptches down. But the musicianship is out of this world!!! I think these guys would do much better under some tutorledge.

[Metal T]

PRIMAL FEAR--NEW RELIGION

-------------------------------------

 

...after first listen 3 songs stand out "Sign Of Fear","Psycho" and The Man (that i don't know).That left 10 other songs (well possibly 9,the duet actually wasn't too bad-(minus the background noise) that did nothing for me.Orchestra arrangements i do not like ! As one earlier commenter did suggest-this PF disc might indeed be a grower.

 

 

Metal T

[glam_junkie]

Five Venoms - EP ; it's amusing to me that these guys are technically an 'Aussie' band because I guarantee you if these guys were played to the naked ear with no background info there is not a member here who would not guess that they were a Japanese band. And that how this sounds to me. Cool EP, but vocals are hard to understand at times due to heavy asian accent and I get the sense the guitarists are maybe trying to play beyond their capabilities? I would still like to hear a full length album for sure.

 

The Deadthings - 'Dead over heels' ; Great straight up 80's commercial hard rock release. Looking at the song-writing credits, I think Trixxi Trash's inclusion in the band really benefited giving these guys a more melodic/commercial sound. The songs are great... I guess most of all I'd love to see these guys make it and get themselves a good budget and good name in production, because these songs with a bit more polish on 'em would be truly sensational... still, very good release as it is.

 

 

just you wait till trixxitrash sees that comment about him lol .....

I agree on the 5 venoms comment, seen em around town a bit & the songs didn't do anything for me, kinda like a hookless malmsteen a few noptches down. But the musicianship is out of this world!!! I think these guys would do much better under some tutorledge.

 

 

you mean trixxi trash .....EX-TUFF !?!?!?

 

5 Venoms.... dead-on in with your comment regarding tutorledge, as when they recorded that EP they'd only been playing for a year. When I mean playing.... not playing as a band, but playing instruments full-stop.

[Metal T]

PRIMAL FEAR-NEW RELIGION

 

 

...after several spins it really sounds like PF are trying to widen their fanbase (why? $?) The lame duet (upon further listening this sucks) with the Epica' gal and all the modern sounds :orchestral parts,loops and synths (being proof) f**king drives me nuts! Doing this they're without a doubt going to alienate some of their already established fanbase of metalheads who have paid their damn bills for several years now."Seven Seals" was alot better...Too much experimentation here.I started listening to Primal Fear back in 98' because they were a METAL band,not a clusterf**k of modern noise and assorted sh*t.That said-It does have 3 good songs on there so that makes NR worth getting.By the way they do in fact kill live' (thats really what matters) PF,might however want to at least attempt to actually play some US dates again sometime...

[aMetalhead1966]

The Cult- Born into This

 

I f#@king love this cd. The great thing about The Cult is that no two cds sound the same and they continue to grow and bring different elements into each release. While this cd isn't quite as good as the perfect 'Beyond Good Evil', it's still a great cd. Fav songs so far are "Dirty Little Rockstar", "I Assasin", "Holy Mountain", "Tiger in the Sun", and "Born into This".

 

 

Man I really must be missing sumpin..I was really let down by this...

Not horrible but very generic...I guess i'm Culted out...

[heaven&hell]

The Cult- Born into This

 

I f#@king love this cd. The great thing about The Cult is that no two cds sound the same and they continue to grow and bring different elements into each release. While this cd isn't quite as good as the perfect 'Beyond Good Evil', it's still a great cd. Fav songs so far are "Dirty Little Rockstar", "I Assasin", "Holy Mountain", "Tiger in the Sun", and "Born into This".

 

 

Man I really must be missing sumpin..I was really let down by this...

Not horrible but very generic...I guess i'm Culted out...

 

It sounds like to me they just walked in to a room and plugged in and started jamming, wich I guess I was in the mood for. It's not near as good as the 'Beyond Good and Evil' cd but I still dig it.

[All Nights Reserved]

Jaded Heart - Helluva Time (2005)

 

The first half of the disc is great but the second half... well maybe it needs a few spins! But I'd be happier if there were more fast songs anyway. A bit slow for my taste but not bad.

[eaglesfan3000]

PERSIA - S/T

 

A great melodic disc from this band they sound a lot like Judas Priest IMO too bad the disc only has four songs on it.

[aMetalhead1966]

RUMPLESTILTSKIN GRINDER-Buried in The Front Yard. This is an Amazing old-school

sounding thrash band with huge Riffs and Solos..Great Gang Vocals...The Lead Vox

sounding like a cross between Slayer/Metallica/Exodus...I hear a bit of Maiden too..

Great stuff...silly name...

[Geoff]

Roxxi - 'Drive it to ya hard' (original CD) ; sounds even sweeter than the CDR I carried around for half my hard rock enjoying life.

 

Zero - s/t (original CD) ; much like Roxxi, sounds even sweeter than it did before as a CDR or that AOR Heaven re-issue. Gloating aside, this thing is really one of the finest hard rock CDs ever created... purely f*cking immense.

[phaffas]

ignore this ...

this post shouldnt have happened...

[Geoff]

ignore this ...

this post shouldnt have happened...

But it did.

[phaffas]

ignore this ...

this post shouldnt have happened...

But it did.

 

no it didnt

[phaffas]

Dante Fox - under the seven skies

This was tipped to be one of my surprise favourites for the year after loving the samples i heard. After first listen it didnt live up to the expectation i have of it. Its still high quality melodic rock, with great female vocals that made me smile. The first track is fantastic, along with some other nice tracks throughout. Reminds me alot of Nexx. Hope this grows on me after a few listens.

 

Mad Max - White sands

I dont think this quite lives up to last years release which was awesome. Im not sure whats different.. maybe not as catchy or something. Voss' vocals are still great, but maybe on the previous album he was able to show them off a bit more. Definatly some tracks that need a few listens to hear how much they rock out - still expecting big things.

 

Scorpions - Humanity Hour 1

This could be my album of the year...at least in top few. This is so dark and heavy, it makes the previous "dark" album Unbreakable seem alot lighter. Big modern sound, but totally Scorpions - they just get better and better. Scorpions are just brilliant!

 

TMG - TMG 1

This was up there in alot of peoples lists as the top album of 04. I never could get into it though - it just seemed a bit bland. After trying to revisit the samples several times over past few yrs i finally bought it cheap from a bargain bin. 5 of the first 6 songs are killer with big modern sounds! Then it just drops off like a totally different band - the rest seem like weaker bluesy tracks, leftover from Mr big.

 

Tesla - into the now

Finally got this one after being right up near top of my wants for ages.The first few tracks are very cool. Love the updated tesla sound which yet again was a "ohh cooool !! " moment. then just seems to drop off for rest of the album. I kinda like the Bar 7 album more so far..

 

Robbie Valentine - the most beautiful pain

This is the album i really wanted to listen to right now. I wish id got this last year as itd be right near the top of the year. Ok his voice is a bit odd, but it sticks with you. He is a creative genius! Such originality in songs combining modern pop elements, classic rock and current european hard rock. Plus every song is totally different. such a great start to the album too with the first 3 or 4 tracks being awesome modern melodic rock.

 

Fifty Sixx - Prescriptions for the rich

New aussie band who sound alot like Anberlin at times and other modern rock bands. Some moments sound like they are off Anberlins "never take friendship personal". Not as good as that album, but better then the boring "Cities". Only prob is alot of the songs sound the same. But good start for an EP.

 

Gotthard - domino effect

Ive been really excited about this all year as i thought it would be in contention for album of the year. Its alot darker then Lipservice and not as catchy, but damn its awesome - just different.

[Geoff]

Dante Fox - under the seven skies

This was tipped to be one of my surprise favourites for the year after loving the samples i heard. After first listen it didnt live up to the expectation i have of it. Its still high quality melodic rock, with great female vocals that made me smile. The first track is fantastic, along with some other nice tracks throughout. Reminds me alot of Nexx. Hope this grows on me after a few listens.

 

Mad Max - White sands

I dont think this quite lives up to last years release which was awesome. Im not sure whats different.. maybe not as catchy or something. Voss' vocals are still great, but maybe on the previous album he was able to show them off a bit more. Definatly some tracks that need a few listens to hear how much they rock out - still expecting big things.

That Dante Fox album was a huge letdown for me. Fantastic sounding, but there just aren't any good hooks or choruses on it, IMO. Good, solid... but not great at all. Just average songs.

 

I actually think 'White Sands' is by far the best thing Mad Max have released since probably 'Night of passion'. Hope it grows on you mate, I think it's 10 times catchier than their past few albums.

[Dan Friml]

PC69 - Endangered

I'm currently in the process of completing PC69 discography and this is another addition... Sounds very good to me after first spin, althought I think the other album from that era (Sonic Dynamite) is a bit better. The first track (Shout!) is great opener and probably the most distinctive track on the whole album... Overall, after first spin - very good!

[phaffas]

Dante Fox - under the seven skies

This was tipped to be one of my surprise favourites for the year after loving the samples i heard. After first listen it didnt live up to the expectation i have of it. Its still high quality melodic rock, with great female vocals that made me smile. The first track is fantastic, along with some other nice tracks throughout. Reminds me alot of Nexx. Hope this grows on me after a few listens.

 

Mad Max - White sands

I dont think this quite lives up to last years release which was awesome. Im not sure whats different.. maybe not as catchy or something. Voss' vocals are still great, but maybe on the previous album he was able to show them off a bit more. Definatly some tracks that need a few listens to hear how much they rock out - still expecting big things.

That Dante Fox album was a huge letdown for me. Fantastic sounding, but there just aren't any good hooks or choruses on it, IMO. Good, solid... but not great at all. Just average songs.

 

I actually think 'White Sands' is by far the best thing Mad Max have released since probably 'Night of passion'. Hope it grows on you mate, I think it's 10 times catchier than their past few albums.

 

ive only ever heard White Sands and Night of White Rock - how many of the others worth getting?

 

im a bit wary of their early stuff...

[Geoff]

Dante Fox - under the seven skies

This was tipped to be one of my surprise favourites for the year after loving the samples i heard. After first listen it didnt live up to the expectation i have of it. Its still high quality melodic rock, with great female vocals that made me smile. The first track is fantastic, along with some other nice tracks throughout. Reminds me alot of Nexx. Hope this grows on me after a few listens.

 

Mad Max - White sands

I dont think this quite lives up to last years release which was awesome. Im not sure whats different.. maybe not as catchy or something. Voss' vocals are still great, but maybe on the previous album he was able to show them off a bit more. Definatly some tracks that need a few listens to hear how much they rock out - still expecting big things.

That Dante Fox album was a huge letdown for me. Fantastic sounding, but there just aren't any good hooks or choruses on it, IMO. Good, solid... but not great at all. Just average songs.

 

I actually think 'White Sands' is by far the best thing Mad Max have released since probably 'Night of passion'. Hope it grows on you mate, I think it's 10 times catchier than their past few albums.

 

ive only ever heard White Sands and Night of White Rock - how many of the others worth getting?

 

im a bit wary of their early stuff...

To be honest, I don't think I've heard 'Stormchild' but it's highly talked of. I would recommend 'Night of passion' - that's very good. Aside from those two, and 'White Sands', I haven't really been too big a fan of the others. I only really liked one song of 'Never say never' and 'Night of the white rock' each... even if the others were pretty cool. Just not great. 'Rollin' thunder' is pretty bad, imo, and completely avoidable.

 

I know you love Casanova, do you have Demon Drive's stuff? IMO Mad Max is Voss' weakest project he's been involved with.

[phaffas]

Dante Fox - under the seven skies

This was tipped to be one of my surprise favourites for the year after loving the samples i heard. After first listen it didnt live up to the expectation i have of it. Its still high quality melodic rock, with great female vocals that made me smile. The first track is fantastic, along with some other nice tracks throughout. Reminds me alot of Nexx. Hope this grows on me after a few listens.

 

Mad Max - White sands

I dont think this quite lives up to last years release which was awesome. Im not sure whats different.. maybe not as catchy or something. Voss' vocals are still great, but maybe on the previous album he was able to show them off a bit more. Definatly some tracks that need a few listens to hear how much they rock out - still expecting big things.

That Dante Fox album was a huge letdown for me. Fantastic sounding, but there just aren't any good hooks or choruses on it, IMO. Good, solid... but not great at all. Just average songs.

 

I actually think 'White Sands' is by far the best thing Mad Max have released since probably 'Night of passion'. Hope it grows on you mate, I think it's 10 times catchier than their past few albums.

 

ive only ever heard White Sands and Night of White Rock - how many of the others worth getting?

 

im a bit wary of their early stuff...

To be honest, I don't think I've heard 'Stormchild' but it's highly talked of. I would recommend 'Night of passion' - that's very good. Aside from those two, and 'White Sands', I haven't really been too big a fan of the others. I only really liked one song of 'Never say never' and 'Night of the white rock' each... even if the others were pretty cool. Just not great. 'Rollin' thunder' is pretty bad, imo, and completely avoidable.

 

I know you love Casanova, do you have Demon Drive's stuff? IMO Mad Max is Voss' weakest project he's been involved with.

 

i actually didnt realise Voss sang on Demon Drive - got confused with something else.

[aMetalhead1966]

YAKUZA-"Transmutations"...Egad these guys are an acid flashback of sonic dementia.

They flip and trip across so many Musical genres it gives one a headache. The production and playing are very good but it is a STRANGE brew we have here...In one song they go from Grungejazz to Hardcore to Death Metal to...I dunno what to call it..but it is an

intoxicating listen... be careful what you do while listening to this cause it should come with a label warning i.e.many cause Nightmares and or Schizophrenia..the standout tracks to me are...Congestive Art Failure...Praying for Asteroids...

[London]

The Donnas- Bitchin'

 

Didn't really like it. The lyrics are really dumb. The riffs and other music are pretty good. I just can't get past the lyrics though.