First Spin Impressions

[Geoff]

Choirboys - 'Midnight Sun' ; after seven years of Matt begging me to try this album out I finally put the little emo kid out of his misery. I'm only halfway through but I have to admit this is pretty decent. A few fillers and it won't be an all-time fave, but there are some good songs here. 'Place With No Love' is just beautiful. Are their other albums any good?

 

Where are the fillers??? That is a totally unAussie comment...

I don't know all the song names yet, but the 2 tracks after 'Place with no love' were pretty average I think. I'll let you know after more spins.

 

I am so Aussie I got a Ricky Ponting ball in the mail the other day. Don't hate.

 

Side note, Choirboys sound like a 4000 times better version of Kings of the Sun.

[phaffas]

Choirboys - 'Midnight Sun' ; after seven years of Matt begging me to try this album out I finally put the little emo kid out of his misery. I'm only halfway through but I have to admit this is pretty decent. A few fillers and it won't be an all-time fave, but there are some good songs here. 'Place With No Love' is just beautiful. Are their other albums any good?

 

Where are the fillers??? That is a totally unAussie comment...

I don't know all the song names yet, but the 2 tracks after 'Place with no love' were pretty average I think. I'll let you know after more spins.

 

I am so Aussie I got a Ricky Ponting ball in the mail the other day. Don't hate.

 

Side note, Choirboys sound like a 4000 times better version of Kings of the Sun.

 

HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE "RENDEZVOUS"!?!?!?!?!??!?!?! EMO!

"Only in America" isnt brilliant, but still good..... BUT "RENDEZVOUS?""!""!"!"!"!"!" YOU SUCK!

 

Kings of the Sun were fun rock. However, i never found they were ever good enough to keep so i sold them. If i see them again cheap ill buy them again... but then prob sell them again... Apparently they are still kicking around under the name "The Rich and Famous" and havea few releases... which sound pretty ordinary..

 

BTW, has anyone heard the newest Choirboys album? Cover songs of... umm... some 60s Aussie band? Im assuming it sucks?

[Geoff]

Choirboys - 'Midnight Sun' ; after seven years of Matt begging me to try this album out I finally put the little emo kid out of his misery. I'm only halfway through but I have to admit this is pretty decent. A few fillers and it won't be an all-time fave, but there are some good songs here. 'Place With No Love' is just beautiful. Are their other albums any good?

 

Where are the fillers??? That is a totally unAussie comment...

I don't know all the song names yet, but the 2 tracks after 'Place with no love' were pretty average I think. I'll let you know after more spins.

 

I am so Aussie I got a Ricky Ponting ball in the mail the other day. Don't hate.

 

Side note, Choirboys sound like a 4000 times better version of Kings of the Sun.

 

HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE "RENDEZVOUS"!?!?!?!?!??!?!?! EMO!

"Only in America" isnt brilliant, but still good..... BUT "RENDEZVOUS?""!""!"!"!"!"!" YOU SUCK!

 

Kings of the Sun were fun rock. However, i never found they were ever good enough to keep so i sold them. If i see them again cheap ill buy them again... but then prob sell them again... Apparently they are still kicking around under the name "The Rich and Famous" and havea few releases... which sound pretty ordinary..

 

BTW, has anyone heard the newest Choirboys album? Cover songs of... umm... some 60s Aussie band? Im assuming it sucks?

'Battle Boulevard' (I think that's the one) was great too. This is a cool album. Send me 'Big bad noise' too. Are these the only 2 albums I need to hear from these guys?

[phaffas]

Choirboys - 'Midnight Sun' ; after seven years of Matt begging me to try this album out I finally put the little emo kid out of his misery. I'm only halfway through but I have to admit this is pretty decent. A few fillers and it won't be an all-time fave, but there are some good songs here. 'Place With No Love' is just beautiful. Are their other albums any good?

 

Where are the fillers??? That is a totally unAussie comment...

I don't know all the song names yet, but the 2 tracks after 'Place with no love' were pretty average I think. I'll let you know after more spins.

 

I am so Aussie I got a Ricky Ponting ball in the mail the other day. Don't hate.

 

Side note, Choirboys sound like a 4000 times better version of Kings of the Sun.

 

HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE "RENDEZVOUS"!?!?!?!?!??!?!?! EMO!

"Only in America" isnt brilliant, but still good..... BUT "RENDEZVOUS?""!""!"!"!"!"!" YOU SUCK!

 

Kings of the Sun were fun rock. However, i never found they were ever good enough to keep so i sold them. If i see them again cheap ill buy them again... but then prob sell them again... Apparently they are still kicking around under the name "The Rich and Famous" and havea few releases... which sound pretty ordinary..

 

BTW, has anyone heard the newest Choirboys album? Cover songs of... umm... some 60s Aussie band? Im assuming it sucks?

'Battle Boulevard' (I think that's the one) was great too. This is a cool album. Send me 'Big bad noise' too. Are these the only 2 albums I need to hear from these guys?

 

I cant believe you are asking questions about this! Your a fraud! Go back to Pommyland.

 

Yes get "big Bad Noise" and "Midnight Sun". The other 4 studio albums are great Aussie rock too, but not as good as those two. Ive got most of their stuff, just missing the rare live album, the acoustic album (i believe it was Lindsay that said it was good?), and the Easybeats covers album - BLEH! unless theyve totally rocked them up, but i doubt it.

[TIM (2)]

Choirboys - 'Midnight Sun' ; after seven years of Matt begging me to try this album out I finally put the little emo kid out of his misery. I'm only halfway through but I have to admit this is pretty decent. A few fillers and it won't be an all-time fave, but there are some good songs here. 'Place With No Love' is just beautiful. Are their other albums any good?

 

Now that's a killer disc. They weren't this good on another album I had of theirs, but this is great all the way through IMO....

[Fat Freddy]

I got my order from CDBaby yesterday! Each of these were pretty much "blind buys" (i.e. I knew nothing about most of this stuff except what I heard via the oh-so-helpful sound samples on the CDBaby site) from their excellent $5 sale bin. Not a bad haul.

 

I've only given each one a first spin thus far, but the winner thus far is DEFINITELY Steel Prophet's "BEWARE." Holy crap, where has this band been my whole life? Nah, seriously, I've heard them occasionally over the years via some compilations and tribute albums, but this is the first time I've heard a full Steel Prophet album... it won't be my last, that's for sure!! This is right up my alley..straight up US power metal with an awesomely crunchy Iced Earth/Jag Panzer kinda vibe. Oddly enough, the lead singer on this disc is Nadir D'Priest, formerly of perennial L.A. glam also-rans London (whom some of you might remember from the film "Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years"). I thought having a power metal disc fronted by a one time glam rocker would be a weird mix at first, but I gotta give Nadir some props, cuz he WAILS on this thing. Too bad he's apparently outta the band already. To sweeten the deal, the disc comes with a bonus CD of some live, demo and rare tracks called "Eyes of the Prophet" but I haven't gotten to that one yet.

 

Seventh Omen's ABSTRACT DESTINY sounds pretty good too. Nothing that immediately jumped out and grabbed my nards like the Steel Prophet disc did, but definitely good solid power/prog metal that has a Crimson Glory/early Queensryche/old Fates Warning feel to it. Neat stuff, will definitely be spinning that one again later. This disc is a compilation of two of the band's early demos (1990 and 1992). They sound amazingly good considering they're demo tapes! CDBaby has two other Seventh Omen discs available and I daresay I'll be investigating them soon as well.

 

The run of the litter was the RETURN OF THE MOUNTAIN KING: A TRIBUTE TO SAVATAGE. A couple of cuts are pretty good (Division's "Power of the Night" isn't bad, and Cage's version of "Dungeons are Calling" simply rules -- it's the best song on the disc) but like most tribute albums, the crap tracks outnumber the good stuff. Most of these covers are decent enough musically, but vocally --eesh, a couple of these guys aren't even good enough to carry Jon Oliva's jock strap. Manyof the more offending bands are European so their noticeably accented English adds a bit of unintentional humor to their delivery.

 

My fourth and final acquisition, Lanfear's ANOTHER GOLDEN RAGE, is spinning right now but I'll reserve comment till I've made it all the way thru (it's only on track #5 as I type) -- it sounds pretty good thus far though!!

[aMetalhead1966]

Black Tide-LIGHT FROM ABOVE I have heard many good things about this band so

I decided to pick it up.The Sticker on the front cover said "The Riffage of Megadeth,

The Aggression of Metallica and the Melodic Sense of Guns and Roses...Hmmm that

sounds like it's right up my alley...well it is!! This young band knows their musical

history...Bits of all the above mentioned bands are here plus a foot in the

old NWOBHM..Great Stuff. Riffs are Classic sounding, the songs have great hooks and

the Playing is outstanding..you've heard it all before but it's done with so much

passion it sounds fresh and new...Stand out tracks are everything on the disc but

Shout, Let Me,Black Abyss and Hit the Lights the latter being the Metallica song.

These Guys Rock!!!!

[Fat Freddy]

Lanfear, ANOTHER GOLDEN RAGE -

Well played, spotlessly produced prog/metal from a German band I'd never heard of till I read about this disc on CDBaby last week. If you take equal amounts of RAGE FOR ORDER era Queensryche's heaviness and mix in the progressive harmonics of latter era Iron Maiden (i.e. BRAVE NEW WORLD and afterward) you're in the ballpark. I think this may be a conceptual album of some sort but I'm not 100 percent sure yet because I haven't read the lyric sheet all the way thru. The only major complaint I have is track #9 ("Eternally"), which is an absolutely GAWD-awful attempt at an AOR-style power ballad that even has the gall to include a saxophone solo (!) which sounds like something you might hear on a Kenny G. album (or in an elevator, or a doctor's waiting room). I'm gonna say it here and now: Saxophones = NOT METAL.

 

Still, aside from that one misfire track, these guys are not bad at all, especially for only five bucks. Now I gotta try and get hold of some of their other CDs.

[metalmaniac777]

JADED HEART: "Sinister Mind"

 

By no means is this a bad CD, but it pales in comparison to the melodic hard rock perfection wrought by the band when Bormann was a member. Albums like "IV" and "The Journey Will Never End" will forever hold places near & dear to my heart, but "Sinister Mind" is, I fear, doomed to sit on the shelf, perhaps pulled out once a year or so for a dusting off. I can live without Bormann, but the band needs to get back to writing those awesome hooks and killer choruses if they want to once again rule the melodic hard rock world. Judging from Jaded Heart's post-Bormann output and Bormann's post-Jaded Heart output, anyone in their right mind can see the two need each other. No disrespect to Jaded Heart's current singer, but he needs to shuffle on to another gig so that Bormann can reunite with the band and release another jaw-dropper of an album.

[phaffas]

JADED HEART: "Sinister Mind"

 

By no means is this a bad CD, but it pales in comparison to the melodic hard rock perfection wrought by the band when Bormann was a member. Albums like "IV" and "The Journey Will Never End" will forever hold places near & dear to my heart, but "Sinister Mind" is, I fear, doomed to sit on the shelf, perhaps pulled out once a year or so for a dusting off. I can live without Bormann, but the band needs to get back to writing those awesome hooks and killer choruses if they want to once again rule the melodic hard rock world. Judging from Jaded Heart's post-Bormann output and Bormann's post-Jaded Heart output, anyone in their right mind can see the two need each other. No disrespect to Jaded Heart's current singer, but he needs to shuffle on to another gig so that Bormann can reunite with the band and release another jaw-dropper of an album.

how do you think it compares to their previous album?

[Geoff]

St James - Attitude ; Whilst this may not be sensational, this is a good solid listen for fans of "hair metal". I didn't hear any amazing songs on the first spin, but I heard a whole heap of good ones that please these ears. Good typical late 80's early 90's hair metal.

 

First Strike - Only for you ; More good material. This is quite demo sounding and it's only an EP, but if hard driving "hair metal" is your thing, and it certainly is mine, then this is a good spin. Looking forward to getting aquainted with this solid selection of tracks.

 

Fire With Fire - s/t ; Wow, the first 2 tracks are just horrid. They sound almost like jumbled jazz tracks. But this one reminds me of TH Latona. There are some really great tracks here to combat the fillers. Tracks 3 and 4 are the opposite of the first two. Overall, I ended up liking this disc, even if the last song, track 9, was again so bad I had to end the CD early.

 

Fury - s/t ; Oh... oh wow. I felt really awkward listening to this. Are these really the guys responsible for my favourite MHR disc of 2005, Blanc faces? This sounded like an awkward pop record until about track 5 where there were a couple of decent songs... but no more. I know this was 20 years before Blanc Faces... let's just sat all their improvements are for the better, and then some. I'm happy to finally hear this and there were about 2 nice AOR songs, but this was pretty damn bad, imo.

 

Herazz - Dream in my eyes ; This is going along okay, if not a little unspectacular. Solid hard rock... not great.

 

Cobradane - s/t ; Loved this one. Sadly it is only 5 tracks, but two of those are excellent. The voice is glam defined and the band has a very cool sound. I really enjoyed this one.

[Geoff]

Herazz - '96' ; Hmmm, well I guess this is probably the weakest release I've heard from Retrospect yet. This is a 2 disc release and the first CD is decent heavy mid-90's rock. Far from good, but not too bad. The second disc, however, is terrible. I mean really, really bad. Some rap-type songs, some Rage Against the Machine-type songs... it just wasn't good at all.

 

Valor - 'Toy soldiers' ; Oh man, the potential. I love this as it is but if the guys were sitting in front of me right now and they said, "Geoff, why didn't we make it?!" I'd look at them with a gleam in my eye and say - 'CHORUSES!' Everything about this band work, except the choruses. They're okay and rarely bad, but they could have been so much bigger and hook-friendly. It's frustrating listening to a chorus and thinking to yourself, 'Why didn't they do this or that...' Overall, I love this type of stuff and I enjoy this CD a lot... I just wish they'd nailed some more of those choruses.

 

Ragdoll - 'Backstreet lover' ; Average. It must be said. Just average hard rock.

 

Number One Gun - 'The north pole project' ; Good stuff. Their best CD yet? Maybe. Still a little unspectacular, perhaps, but a good effort and I do look forward to more spins. The first song and I think the 3rd song were fantastic, though.

[Geoff]

Valor - 'Make it big' ; could be the leftovers from the 'Toy Soldier' album. Again, the band work well together but just needed to nail a few more choruses. The songs are weaker on this one than on the other release but this is still pretty cool. Well worth checking out for hair metal enthusiasts.

[Wotty]

The Heat - Untold Story Vols I + II

 

Basically a band that promised much,but tried to get in through the exit door,so to speak..

 

They are your classic "Hail from the Mid-Western U.S. of A" type of band,who had the look and attitude of a "Hair-Metal" combo,but were a slightly more guitar rather than keyboard orientated,AOR band,when in the mid-to late 80s,there were loads.

 

Good for what they were,but rather faceless.Vol I has some good,but nothing mind-blowing,tracks on it,but let down by a very thin production.

 

Vol II is so much better in songs and sound,but if you heard Vol I first,I doubt you'd have bothered with II.Shame,because it's a much better effort.

 

For AORsters only in my opinion....

[Swazi]

The Heat - Untold Story Vols I + II

 

Basically a band that promised much,but tried to get in through the exit door,so to speak..

 

They are your classic "Hail from the Mid-Western U.S. of A" type of band,who had the look and attitude of a "Hair-Metal" combo,but were a slightly more guitar rather than keyboard orientated,AOR band,when in the mid-to late 80s,there were loads.

 

Good for what they were,but rather faceless.Vol I has some good,but nothing mind-blowing,tracks on it,but let down by a very thin production.

 

Vol II is so much better in songs and sound,but if you heard Vol I first,I doubt you'd have bothered with II.Shame,because it's a much better effort.

 

For AORsters only in my opinion....

 

Oaky doaky, it's Vol. II for me then !

[Geoff]

Was it Celine Dion who sings that lovely romantic song, ‘You always save the best for last’?

 

Spun my last recent acquisition:

 

Whitefoxx – s/t ; If you want to know what this sounds like, have a look at the cover and it sounds like that. Pure, delicious hair metal from first to last track. This and Cobradane are two of my favourite RR release so far.

[heaven&hell]

Was it Celine Dion who sings that lovely romantic song, ‘You always save the best for last’?

 

Spun my last recent acquisition:

 

Whitefoxx – s/t ; If you want to know what this sounds like, have a look at the cover and it sounds like that. Pure, delicious hair metal from first to last track. This and Cobradane are two of my favourite RR release so far.

 

Better than Defcon?

[Geoff]

Was it Celine Dion who sings that lovely romantic song, ‘You always save the best for last’?

 

Spun my last recent acquisition:

 

Whitefoxx – s/t ; If you want to know what this sounds like, have a look at the cover and it sounds like that. Pure, delicious hair metal from first to last track. This and Cobradane are two of my favourite RR release so far.

 

Better than Defcon?

No. Why do I always forget about that one? That’s a great disc.

[heaven&hell]

Was it Celine Dion who sings that lovely romantic song, ‘You always save the best for last’?

 

Spun my last recent acquisition:

 

Whitefoxx – s/t ; If you want to know what this sounds like, have a look at the cover and it sounds like that. Pure, delicious hair metal from first to last track. This and Cobradane are two of my favourite RR release so far.

 

Better than Defcon?

No. Why do I always forget about that one? That’s a great disc.

 

What about Mariah?

[phaffas]

Was it Celine Dion who sings that lovely romantic song, ‘You always save the best for last’?

 

Spun my last recent acquisition:

 

Whitefoxx – s/t ; If you want to know what this sounds like, have a look at the cover and it sounds like that. Pure, delicious hair metal from first to last track. This and Cobradane are two of my favourite RR release so far.

 

Better than Defcon?

No. Why do I always forget about that one? That’s a great disc.

 

What about Mariah?

i know whats coming next..

[heaven&hell]

Was it Celine Dion who sings that lovely romantic song, ‘You always save the best for last’?

 

Spun my last recent acquisition:

 

Whitefoxx – s/t ; If you want to know what this sounds like, have a look at the cover and it sounds like that. Pure, delicious hair metal from first to last track. This and Cobradane are two of my favourite RR release so far.

 

Better than Defcon?

No. Why do I always forget about that one? That’s a great disc.

 

What about Mariah?

i know whats coming next..

 

Carey?

[Geoff]

Was it Celine Dion who sings that lovely romantic song, ‘You always save the best for last’?

 

Spun my last recent acquisition:

 

Whitefoxx – s/t ; If you want to know what this sounds like, have a look at the cover and it sounds like that. Pure, delicious hair metal from first to last track. This and Cobradane are two of my favourite RR release so far.

 

Better than Defcon?

No. Why do I always forget about that one? That’s a great disc.

 

What about Mariah?

i know whats coming next..

Not sure about Mariah. Definitely more consistent than Mariah, much harder rocking. I probably do prefer Whitefoxx to be honest. And no, none of the CDs I've mentioned from RR are as good as Friction.

[heaven&hell]

Was it Celine Dion who sings that lovely romantic song, ‘You always save the best for last’?

 

Spun my last recent acquisition:

 

Whitefoxx – s/t ; If you want to know what this sounds like, have a look at the cover and it sounds like that. Pure, delicious hair metal from first to last track. This and Cobradane are two of my favourite RR release so far.

 

Better than Defcon?

No. Why do I always forget about that one? That’s a great disc.

 

What about Mariah?

i know whats coming next..

Not sure about Mariah. Definitely more consistent than Mariah, much harder rocking. I probably do prefer Whitefoxx to be honest. And no, none of the CDs I've mentioned from RR are as good as Friction.

 

What about Def Leppards "X"?

[Geoff]

Was it Celine Dion who sings that lovely romantic song, ‘You always save the best for last’?

 

Spun my last recent acquisition:

 

Whitefoxx – s/t ; If you want to know what this sounds like, have a look at the cover and it sounds like that. Pure, delicious hair metal from first to last track. This and Cobradane are two of my favourite RR release so far.

 

Better than Defcon?

No. Why do I always forget about that one? That’s a great disc.

 

What about Mariah?

i know whats coming next..

Not sure about Mariah. Definitely more consistent than Mariah, much harder rocking. I probably do prefer Whitefoxx to be honest. And no, none of the CDs I've mentioned from RR are as good as Friction.

 

What about Def Leppards "X"?

Nah, ‘X’ is probably better. Just better songs, but Whitefoxx still kick ass.

 

Better than Firehouse’s ‘O2’ or Winger’s ‘IV’? Yes, by 18,000,000,000,000 miles over.

[Hallows Victim]

Hell To Pay (toupee haha) - Dokken

 

I just got this and couldn't sleep so I decided to give it a spin......

 

I skipped every single song after the 1.5 - 2 minute mark.

 

Had I bought this when it first came out it would have made me want to drink beer from Don Dokken's skull.