First Spin Impressions

[glam_junkie]

Hell City Glamours - s/t

 

FInally a full length album from these guys. After 1 listen i wasn't so sure... but after second listen I absolutely love this one. They've gradually refined the sound through the first 3 eps, from full throttle rock at the beginning to a more refined sound by the 3rd ep. The album takes that further. Has a bit of a vinatge / twangy guitar sound about it, with lots of gang-vocal ladden choruses. "Ready To Fall" is my favourite at the moment, with "Back To You' and "Josephine' not far behind.

[phaffas]

Hell City Glamours - s/t

 

FInally a full length album from these guys. After 1 listen i wasn't so sure... but after second listen I absolutely love this one. They've gradually refined the sound through the first 3 eps, from full throttle rock at the beginning to a more refined sound by the 3rd ep. The album takes that further. Has a bit of a vinatge / twangy guitar sound about it, with lots of gang-vocal ladden choruses. "Ready To Fall" is my favourite at the moment, with "Back To You' and "Josephine' not far behind.

 

I hadnt heard anything about this..., ive been seeing all the ep's in bargain bins everywhere.. though couldnt be bothered getting them.

[glam_junkie]

Hell City Glamours - s/t

 

FInally a full length album from these guys. After 1 listen i wasn't so sure... but after second listen I absolutely love this one. They've gradually refined the sound through the first 3 eps, from full throttle rock at the beginning to a more refined sound by the 3rd ep. The album takes that further. Has a bit of a vinatge / twangy guitar sound about it, with lots of gang-vocal ladden choruses. "Ready To Fall" is my favourite at the moment, with "Back To You' and "Josephine' not far behind.

 

I hadnt heard anything about this..., ive been seeing all the ep's in bargain bins everywhere.. though couldnt be bothered getting them.

 

Going by our respective musical tastes, the album may not be your cup of tea. It's still got a very raw feel about it. I dislike bluesy influenced rock, but this still has that sort of influence - as bluesy as say aerosmith maybe, but it's very catch with some great choruses.

[phaffas]

Hell City Glamours - s/t

 

FInally a full length album from these guys. After 1 listen i wasn't so sure... but after second listen I absolutely love this one. They've gradually refined the sound through the first 3 eps, from full throttle rock at the beginning to a more refined sound by the 3rd ep. The album takes that further. Has a bit of a vinatge / twangy guitar sound about it, with lots of gang-vocal ladden choruses. "Ready To Fall" is my favourite at the moment, with "Back To You' and "Josephine' not far behind.

 

I hadnt heard anything about this..., ive been seeing all the ep's in bargain bins everywhere.. though couldnt be bothered getting them.

 

Going by our respective musical tastes, the album may not be your cup of tea. It's still got a very raw feel about it. I dislike bluesy influenced rock, but this still has that sort of influence - as bluesy as say aerosmith maybe, but it's very catch with some great choruses.

 

the first track on their debut ep was great, but i havnt liked anything else of theirs... and seeing them live a few times did nothing for me..

[TIM (2)]

METALLICA - Death Magnetic (6-track press playback copy)

 

Got to hear 6 new tunes - one of which, "Death Is Not The End" is apparently (according to the official track-listing Keith posted) not going to make the finished album - of new Metallica, all of which were produced but I assume not mixed/mastered due to the sound quality. There are no song titles on the cover so it's impossible to marry-up the titles (other than "Death..." which they played live), but the press release does waffle-on forever about a revitalised Metallica & how the album is a tribute to all fallen rock n' rollers who died too early (explaining the album title).

 

Well the guitar solos are back, with a vengeance, so is a decent snare sound, & there are mountains of riffs all over the songs. The tunes, with one pacy exception, are all long "Justice For All" type tunes with loads of complexity, & are kinda Proggy. The album's sound reminds me of a mix between Machine Head's riff-fest "The Blackening" & "And Justice For All", but frankly the songs themselves aren't anywhere near as good as on these albums, & actually a couple of them flat-out suck despite the quality musicianship.

 

A few things are certainties....

1. It's better than "St.Anger"/"Load"/"ReLoad", but is hardly "Master of Puppets"

2. It will need quite a few spins to get into due to the complexity

3. It's as good an album as we could've expected from them in 2008, even though it's patchy at best

4. It's good to see them at least trying to play thrash(y)-metal again

[Geoff]

Go Audio - 'Made up stories' ; Loved it! Killer pop rock with big catchy hooks all over the place. A slight synth edge which somehow makes this sound a little rawer than other similar bands... but I loved this from start to finish.

[Geoff]

Jones St - 'Dancin' with the devil' ; simple review is that I cannot fault this. The last song is a crappy bluesy filler, but the first 9 songs are all very, very good. No fillers, just good solid sleaze hard rock. The last track, 'The word f*ck' is very amusing too. Don't know if I'll ever spin it again, but it's some funny shit. Overall, this is a really good solid hard rock disc for Sven Gali/Skid Row fans.

 

Run Kid Run - 'This is who we are' ; Great opening song, good one in the middle and the last track is pretty good but overall this is entirely forgettable. Most the time I was scratching my head thinking "Was that the chorus?" I have their new album, 'Love at the core' which is really quite good, but if I'd downloaded this before I heard it I'd have passed on it, probably. Not awful, just way too ordinary. Barely any decent hooks.

 

Disciple - 'Back again' ; Okay, I love the 2 latest albums so much... had to check it out. Good solid heavy metal disc, but not really my thing. The lyrics are more God-ish and the melodies aren't quite there as they are on the 2 latest discs. Good for what it is, just not really my thing.

[heaven&hell]

Jones St - 'Dancin' with the devil' ; simple review is that I cannot fault this. The last song is a crappy bluesy filler, but the first 9 songs are all very, very good. No fillers, just good solid sleaze hard rock. The last track, 'The word f*ck' is very amusing too. Don't know if I'll ever spin it again, but it's some funny shit. Overall, this is a really good solid hard rock disc for Sven Gali/Skid Row fans.

 

I have that on order but from what I've read it's taking like a month to show up.

Either way I'm looking forward to it.

[TIM (2)]

FROM THE INSIDE - Visions

 

Another very strong AOR album in 2008, with Vaughn on his best form since the first From the Inside album. Unfortunately he teams up with Fabrizio Grossi who tries to ruin Vaughn's great work with his sloppy/messy production again, but the song quality still shines through. Also unfortunate is that god-awful album cover. WTF?

 

That half the tracks are Tom/James Martin songs means this sounds very 'textbook AOR', much like the latest Khymera, but you can't deny the quality of the songs. 3 tracks will really blow you away: "Making Waves, "Days of Hunger", & the immense "Love Is No Stranger", but the remainder are all good with no real filler on here. But only 3 killer tunes, versus the 6 or 7 from the first album, mean this falls slightly short of the very best albums in 2008, but is still very well worth getting IMO....

[Geoff]

I made a heap of "blind purchases" in the last Secondspin sale and here are the first few:

 

The Dangerous Summer - 'If You Could Only Keep Me Alive' ; I really liked this one. Good solid modern rock with some great catchy songs. Thumbs up so far.

 

Allister - 'Before the Blackout' ; I actually did hear a few songs from this band a few years ago, but never the full disc. 14 songs and there are fillers, but there's some good modern pop rock on this with some good tunes in the middle especially.

 

Army of Freshmen - 'Beg, Borrow, Steal' ; I really hate to say it, but this is really good. The vocals are in the top 10 worst I've heard (like a cheesy glam band) but the choruses and hooks, melodies and everything... it's just great. Very pop-punk orientated, like you'd hear in a high school movie, but catchy as hell. I like it.

[Geoff]

Three more:

 

Count the Stars - 'Never be taken alive' ; As a huge compliment to these guys I'd go as far as to say as they almost strive for a Cauterize sound, but in reality they pale in comparison and kind of fail pretty solidly. That said, this is a decent/solid modern rock record and considering I probably paid about $2 for it I'm happy enough. I can see it growing after a few spins. Solid effort.

 

The Audition - 'Controversy Loves Company' ; Actually been after this one for about 3 years but for whatever reason I didn't get my ears on it until now. These guys are definitely in the top bracket of modern rock, talent wise. And song-wise I think after a few spins I'll put them there too. Tight as a duck's ass, these guys sound great and although the first 3 songs are solid, from track 4 onwards these guys really kick a little bit of ass and I like what I hear. A lot. Good band. They have a new release too which I'll have to check out.

http://www.myspace.com/theaudition

 

In Theory - 'This is it' ; Wow, glad I'm spinning this now and not wasting a drive to or from work with this belting my ears. Average as hell. Cheap sound, simple unexciting songs. The worst from my bunch so far.

[Geoff]

The Audition - 'Controversy Loves Company' ; Actually been after this one for about 3 years but for whatever reason I didn't get my ears on it until now. These guys are definitely in the top bracket of modern rock, talent wise. And song-wise I think after a few spins I'll put them there too. Tight as a duck's ass, these guys sound great and although the first 3 songs are solid, from track 4 onwards these guys really kick a little bit of ass and I like what I hear. A lot. Good band. They have a new release too which I'll have to check out.

http://www.myspace.com/theaudition

The Audition - 'Champion' ; Wow, that happened to these guys???? This is absolutely horrible. They've all but completely abandoned the sound of the debut for a current 'Indie Rock' sound which I find truly unbearable. Track 7 was great, I skipped every other song after the first chorus. Man am I glad I downloaded this before forking out any coin. Horrid.

 

Hawthorne Heights - 'Fragile Future' ; It might be considered foolish to admit it, but I like these guys. Their debut was good and the second album was even better. Without either being amazing. And now we're up to album 3, and again, I think this is better than the last... but still not amazing. But very good for what it is. The 9th song is a monster too. Fuller sound, not quite as fragile... just a good solid commercial rock band. I like 'em.

[Geoff]

The Last of the Famous - 'The music or the misery'

This really sucked, plain and simply. It sounded like some bad attempt and glam/pop/punk... just horrid. Pretty sure there were just 13 versions of the same song on this CD. Avoid like hell. The worst from my bunch so far. Again, thank Jeebers it cost me about $2.

[TIM (2)]

RICK SPRINGFIELD - Venus In Overdrive

 

I know this guy is popular in Australia & with some of our Aus colleagues on the boards so I'll be careful & sensitive in handling this one. Listening to this album from start to finish is the biggest waste of anyones life since the sport of Golf was invented. I own about 6 of his albums, which range from amazing ("Karma"/"Rock of Life") to patchy (the last album). This album is nowhere near good enough to be called 'patchy'. After a great start with two hooky-pop/rock tunes: "Whats Victorias Secret" & "I'll Miss That Someday" this descends into a mish-mash of styles, none of which work & some of which are truly awful beyond belief (the title-track, & the last 3 or 4 songs particularly). "One Passenger" & "Time Stood Still" are the only tunes that stand out in the middle section too, but even then they're only pleasant rather than anything that good. If you think 2 good songs is a decent return for your money then go for it, otherwise avoid this turkey.

[Geoff]

Logan Square - 'Pessimism and Satire'

Good solid modern rock disc. Nothing amazing, but this is the kind of stuff I expect when I hand over a couple of dollars for a disc. I'll spin this more times.

[aMetalhead1966]

Cynthia Witthoft-Porn Blues In My Bed.

Don't really know much about this Young Lady, but she can really play the guitar..

She seems to have a shitload of releases, all pretty much instrumental stuff, that ranges

from full out Shred to Blues to Jazz to Death Metal ...oh and she is HOT!! I mean really hot both as a player and her looks...Lotsa nudity on her album covers and it's all her from

what I understand..and as I said she can play..On this release she pretty much plays

blues, though she does go off into Shred a few times...The sound goes from a

nice crisp production to crappy demo track lo-fi but she can really pull it off.

I gotta find out more about her.

 

EDIT:

Well from what little info I have found, this gal is called Woman Thief, Deceiver

Lesbian, Feminist...she seems to have a knack for taking other musicians music and

releasing it was if it was hers. The first track on this release is called

"Armed And Dangerous Female", when I heard it I knew it was Rex Carroll's

Nagasake solo but figured maybe it was Her playing it..it's not. Seems she does

play guitar and plays it well but I don't know what she plays and what is stolen

for someone else. Oh well you live you learn .

[Geoff]

Sham - s/t ; Got this one from a trade with Dave (LV KIX) from a local Las Vegas band and when I saw the picture on the back of the CD I was about to frisbee it back over the ocean into his face. Ugliest band I have ever seen. Disgustingly ugly, in fact. That said, this isn't bad at all. Simple but solid hard rock with cool riffs, simple but good songs. 'Someone else's word' was particularly nice and overall this was a pretty decent listen.

 

Tokyo Rose - 'New american saint' ; I can't figure these guys out. The debut is good and this has it's moments, but they just sound, again, like they're playing below potential. Average to below average at best. Very disappointing. The 4th track is a drawn out momentum killing track as misplaced as the 2nd song on Journey's new album. Horrid song.

[Geoff]

Well, finally got through my Secondspin lot. And although painful at times the last two were very nice:

 

Transition - 'Get there' ; Good solid modern rock... liked it from start to finish. This will get many more spins.

 

Valencia - 'This could be a possibility' ; Same as above. Good solid uptempo modern rock, consistent from start to end. Nice work.

[TIM (2)]

AUSTRIAN DEATH MACHINE - Total Brutal

 

This is a piss-taking solo project from AS I LAY DYING frontman Tim Lambesis. Every song title is an Arnold Swarzenegger catchphrase from one of his films, set to modern thrash metal. Lambesis plays all the instruments & produces the thing, which sounds like a $million dollars. If you like the comedy thrash of the likes of Municipal Waste this is well worth getting, & the guitar playing (considering the guy doesn't play guitar in his band) is unbelievable.

[Blue Charvel]

The 4th track is a drawn out momentum killing track as misplaced as the 2nd song on Journey's new album. Horrid song.

Why do you hurt me so, "Sunshower" is a fine song.

[glam_junkie]

In a bunch I got from Sax...

 

Wildhearts - Must Be Destroyed

I've read about these guys in Kerrang years ago but never given them a go. Man, I was missing out! This disc totally surprised me. For some reason I thought these guys were a UK heavy balls to the wall rock'n'roll band. I was wrong... they are almost pop-rock rock with a sleaze heavy edge. Top stuff. Now I wanna hear some of their other stuff.

[Glen]

The 4th track is a drawn out momentum killing track as misplaced as the 2nd song on Journey's new album. Horrid song.

Why do you hurt me so, "Sunshower" is a fine song.

 

Its a great song, but he's right it was misplaced - should have been 3rd or better still 4th.

[Geoff]

The 4th track is a drawn out momentum killing track as misplaced as the 2nd song on Journey's new album. Horrid song.

Why do you hurt me so, "Sunshower" is a fine song.

 

Its a great song, but he's right it was misplaced - should have been 3rd or better still 4th.

Sorry guys... hate that song. The best place for it was off the CD, on the cutting room floor.

 

A Day to Remember - 'And Their Name Was Treason' ; Good solid metal band. Tim (2) should love the mix between screamo and clean vocals. Massive moster breakdowns too. This is a great disc.

 

A Day to Remember - 'For Those Who Have Heart' ; This surprised me after hearing their most recent album (above) first. This one is rawer, and to be honest it's like a pop punk disc with great guitars, screaming and breakdowns. They're still pretty heavy but the lyrics are pretty whipped and the CD's kind of whussy, with growling vocals screaming about girls breaking his heart. A bit of lol, but a good solid disc with great melodic clean vocal choruses. The new disc is a bit more... shall we say, "proper".

[TIM (2)]

The 4th track is a drawn out momentum killing track as misplaced as the 2nd song on Journey's new album. Horrid song.

Why do you hurt me so, "Sunshower" is a fine song.

 

Its a great song, but he's right it was misplaced - should have been 3rd or better still 4th.

Sorry guys... hate that song. The best place for it was off the CD, on the cutting room floor.

 

 

Yep, it should've been placed on a Roxette album or something - it's just doesn't fit with the rest of the CD at all.

[Geoff]

FM Static - 'What are you waiting for' and 'Criticall ashamed' ; No point separating them as they're quite similar. The 2nd album is definitely the better as the debut is very childlike with freshman lyrics and stuff like that... but these guys are decent for fans of Butch Walker-type stuff. This is exactly what people were calling "nu-breed" a few years ago, so if you like a mix between Marvelous 3 and Junkfood this might be right up your alley. Pretty cool... and as I say, the 2nd disc is the pick.