BEE GEES



In Our Own Time



Eagle Rock Entertainment



8 out of 10



So why are we reviewing a BEE GEES DVD on a hard rock/metal music website? Because I grew up in the 70s. And there was no bigger band in the late 70s than the BEE GEES. Saturday Night Fever came out in 1977 about the Disco scene in New York. If the Producer of the film didn’t fight for them, they’d have never been on the soundtrack, and that may have meant that you may have never heard of the BEE GEES. That soundtrack is the second best selling soundtrack ever. No children, Titanic did not outsell Saturday Night Fever. That’s how huge the soundtrack is.

So while I expected the DVD to be more of a concert what I got was the extensive history of the band. Most people only know of the ‘disco era’ BEE GEES, but they started out on TV in 1960, 17 years prior to Saturday Night Fever! Brian Epstein the manager of the Beatles was sent a demo of them and after watching a sound check had them come to his office and sign a contract that afternoon.

Their sound began in the true early 60’s rock genre. Think Beatles and early Rolling Stones. Through the 60s and into the 70s their sound matured as they did. They had several hits long before their disco sound; New York Mining Disaster 1941 was their second single and first top 20 radio hit in 1967. To Love Somebody was their second big hit that has since been covered by Gram Parsons, Rod Stewart, Janis Joplin, The Animals, Nina Simone, Otis Redding, and more.

Almost by accident in the early 70s Barry Gibb in the studio found out he had a falsetto voice as well as his regular singing voice. And that is when the BEE GEES sound solidified, and they took the world over, if only for a short period of time.

They had more top ten songs that they wrote for other people in country, rock, pop, and soul, than they had as recording artists themselves. Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand, & Celine Dion are just a few of the artists to top the charts with BEE GEES penned songs.

The DVD also covers the deaths of Andy and Maurice, the trials of the road, the studio, brothers in family and in a band, and shouldering the stigma of 'the band that killed disco'.

Would you call them an influential band? I don’t think so (Faith No More did cover their I Started A Joke for what it’s worth), but if you are a child of the 70s and you still own your original vinyl copy of SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, and still play it, Tragedy, and other BEE GEES classic tunes on your iPod like I do, then this DVD is just for you. As told by the BEE GEES themselves.

The only thing missing on the DVD is a concert (which is why I gave it an 8 out of 10). It would have been a great way to finish off the story that is the BEE GEES. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pick up BEE GEES In Our Own Time. It just means that after you watch and learn how proliferant that the BEE GEES are, you should go pick up BEE GEES One Night Only as a great companion piece.

To purchase BEE GEES In Our Own Time click here.
To purchase BEE GEES One Night Only click here.
For more BEE GEES click here.

DEATH ANGEL
2011-01-30
Volume 11 Tavern
Raleigh, NC

DEATH ANGEL kicked off their NORTH AMERICAN RETRIBUTION TOUR 2011 with EARLY MAN, BONDED BY BLOOD, LAZARUS A.D. and HEXEN Sunday January 30th in Raleigh, NC at Volume 11 Tavern. The first night of their headlining tour didn't go off without a few hiccups though. Early Man and Hexen didn't make the show, so two local bands, Blatant Disarray and Gross Reality stepped up and opened the show. Then at the last minute Bonded by Blood apparently had some kind of accident and flipped their trailer on the way to the show, so they didn't make it either. All was well in the Lazarus A.D. camp and they made the show and performed a solid set.

But, I was there to see Death Angel. It has been a few years since we've gotten a headlining show out of them so I was very excited to finally get a full set from them again, and the boys from the Bay Area did not disappoint.

Every album was represented in the set list I believe and the band evenly spread out their set with old and new stuff for us.

The highlights for me was a great version of Veil Of Deception, Bored, and a quick opening from ULTRA VIOLENCE.

The band is tight, Mark's voice is spot on, and they looked like they were having a blast on stage. It's been way too long since the band toured properly for an album and hopefully this tour will be successful enough for them to continue to do so in the future. I'm telling you DEATH ANGEL has never sounded better. So do yourself a favor and regardless of who is opening for them on this tour.... GO SEE THEM. You'll thank me later.




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For more DEATH ANGEL click here.

ACCEPT



Blood Of The Nations



Nuclear Blast



8 out of 10



1968. How many of you can say you were alive then? How many of you knew that Accept has been around for the last 42 years? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? I didn’t think so. Sure today’s Accept bears no resemblance to the original band, but that’s not to say that it doesn’t carry the name proudly, or properly.

Accept has been off the radar for the past few years. In fact Blood Of The Nations is their first album in 10 years. And other than having a new singer front the band, there is little changed in the band over the last decade. They sound a little tighter, a little edgier, a little rejuvenated, and a whole lot like the Accept of old.

The opening track 'Beat The Bastards' reveals the traditional Accept riffs and while the vocals may not be familiar to most, it fits the Accept sound better than any singer since Udo Dirkschneider. Vocalist Mark Tornillo deftly handles his duties, singing, growling, and screaming, with deft aplomb. There are times where you forget that it isn’t Udo; the growling vocals are that similar. But it isn’t like the band is attempting to get an Udo clone. Mark’s voice is similar in many ways, but it is also distinctly his own.

The guitars are what make Accept…. Accept. The traditional twin guitar attack of Wolf Hoffmann and Herman Frank has been what has always set Accept apart from other European Metal bands. Guitar Duos like K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton from Judas Priest, Dave Murray and Adrian Smith from Iron Maiden set the bar for the twin guitar sound. Hoffmann and Frank are probably more underrated than they should be. Trading leads and rhythms deftly, with that distinct Accept melodic crunch, as soon as any of the 14 tracks of Blood Of The Nations begins you know who you are listening to immediately.

The anthemic lyrics and subject matter haven’t changed either. The title track 'Blood Of The Nations' is pure sing along metal anthem fodder that Accept has been known for. From 1982’s Restless And Wild, 1983’s Balls To The Wall, 1985’s Metal Heart, and almost every subsequent album, Accept’s twin guitar sound and anthemic lyrics are what defined them and set them above and apart from most bands of their day.

They haven’t forgotten this fact on Blood Of The Nations. Massive riffs fill this album from beginning to end. Sing along anthems like ‘Blood Of The Nations’, ‘Teutonic Terror’, and even ‘The Abyss’ keep the listener involved in the music, not to mention at shows it must lead to massive sing alongs.

If you are a fan of the Accept ‘of old’, then Blood Of The Nations is for you. If you haven’t been much of a fan of Accept, then Blood Of The Nations is for you. If you have never heard Accept, or heard OF them, then Blood Of The Nations is for you. If you are a fan of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, etc, then Blood Of The Nations is for you. In short, if you are a fan of Metal, then Blood Of The Nations is for you.

You can pick up your copy of Blood Of The Nations right here.
For more Accept click here.

TWISTED SISTER


CLUB DAZE VOL 1


The Studio Sessions


ARMOURY Records


8 of 10



Ever want to be a fly on the wall in the studio of your favorite band and hear how the album they just put out or your favorite song of theirs was written? Are you ever so OCD (yes, yes, like me) and love to hear half completed songs and demo versions of everything?

Well there are many bands out there that help you satisfy that need/desire by releasing demos on b-sides of singles (Metallica) or offering them to fan club members, and also as their own releases, along with unreleased ‘pre-signed’ songs.

Which brings us to TWISTED SISTER’s Club Daze Volume 1. A collection of songs recorded by the band before they were ever a ‘signed’ band and were still knocking around clubs and bars in New York and New Jersey just trying to find their sound. A couple of the song titles you’ll recognize right away as they were rerecorded and released on later albums, but most of these only appeared on overseas EPs and singles on the bands own ‘label’ TSR before they ever released their first official album Under The Blade.

Considering the band was transitioning from glam to a harder sound throughout the time these songs were recorded, it is still distinctively Twisted Sister and a shame that more of the songs weren’t rerecorded later, flushed out, and properly released.

The songs range from rockabilly/punk (TV Wife, Can’t Stand Still) feel, to the harder metal edged (Rock N Roll Saviors, Shoot Em Down). The stand outs to me being Pay The Price and Come Back which could have sat right beside any cut off of their Stay Hungry or You Can’t Stop Rock N Roll.

There is no polishing here, no proper mastering or mixing, which is exactly what the tracks deserve. I mean that as a compliment, the sound is raw, the songs are raw, and so the finished product should remain as such!

You want to hear where TWISTED SISTER came from? How their sound evolved (and then de-evolved back to the rockabilly/punk sound of Come out and Play)? This is a great place to start.

To purchase TWISTED SISTER Club Daze Volume 1 click here.
For more TWISTED SISTER click here.

stryper the covering
STRYPER



The Covering



Big 3 Records



0 out of 10



Ok, who here had The Yellow And Black Attack? Raise yer hand! Right.

Who here had Soldiers Under Command? RAISE YER DAMNED HAND! Right, thought so.

Who here had To Hell With The Devil? Raise yer hand, yeah you, there, right there. Raise your hand, you know you had that cassette jamming in your Pinto on the way to high school in 85. Don’t lie to me.

Now, who has any album after that by Stryper? Me neither.

25 years later and the bumble bees are back buzzing around with a new album. Only this time it is covers of their influences, the songs and bands that made them want to be musicians. The list of bands they are covering on the album is great. You’ve got Ozzy, Sweet, Black Sabbath, Scorpions, UFO, Kansas, Kiss, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Deep Purple, Van Halen, and Led Zeppelin. Sounds like a pretty badass CD doesn’t it?

Well it’s pretty bad alright. Musically there are some decent points to the disc. I mean, as soon as the song starts you can name every song they are playing. So, there’s that. That should almost be worth a point on the 1 to 10 scale right? Ok, so we’ll give them 1 point for being able to recognize the songs they are playing.

And of course the song list is great. Lights Out, Immigrant Song, Breaking The Law, The Trooper, Over The Mountain, Heaven And Hell, Carry On, Highway Star, Set Me Free, Shout It Out Loud, Blackout, and On Fire. I mean, I truly don’t think I’ve seen a better cover album song list than this on one album. So there’s a point for that. Now we’re at 2 out of 10.

The dude on the cover of the album looks like Chris Jericho the wrestler to me, so if you’re into wrestling you might give them a point for that. Now it’s 3 out of 10.

Then Michael Sweet begins to sing. Not that the guy has a bad voice, I mean he’s no Joey Belladonna and that is a point IN his favor, so we’ll give them a point on this CD just because he CAN sing better than Joey Belladonna. Here’s to 4 out of 10. Damn, they’re almost batting .500!

Oh, wait, Michael is still singing. Wow. Ok, I am TRYING to be fair here. His vocals on Set Me Free aren’t THAT bad. I’ll say that. So, in starting off the album it is OK. Of course starting off an album at just OK is not a good place to start. You better go up real quick, because you don’t have far to fall into the ‘this stinks like 10 pounds of hot steaming dog shit’ pile of no return.

The opening riff to the Scorpion’s Blackout kicks in, and you’re like, ok… Let’s get this going. Hey, Michael Sweet doesn’t sound too far off from the Scorpion’s Klaus Meine here. I’ll be damned. Oh wait, there’s the Michael Sweet Stryper Scream… Oh wait, just fucked the whole song, and now his inflection is more Stryper than Scorpions. Lost me there boys.

Heaven And Hell is next. I mean… It’s HEAVEN AND HELL for fuck’s sake! How can you butcher this? Dio, Tony, it may very well be the ultimate old school metal song. And these holier than thou jesus freaks are singing it? I was personally offended when Michael Sweet said that Stryper could have written Heaven And Hell themselves and YOU SHOULD BE OFFENDED TOO because he said that. I'm calling Bullshit! If you could have written something as epic as Heaven And Hell you’d have had a longer career than three years of semi-relevance. And the chorus of ‘ahhhhhh’ during the breakdown????? This isn’t church camp, this is Black Sabbath motherfuckers. How do you remove the balls from one of the most badass songs of all time? HERECY!!!!!!

UFO’s Light Out. Skip it. I can’t deal anymore. Again, I’ll say FOR THE MOST PART, the music isn’t bad. But fuck his voice is so unique, and so pussified that it has no balls to it. And every chance he has to pull this off, he just completely fucks it up. Maybe this should be an instrumental cover album!!!! Yeah, then it would only suck half as bad. Hell, I’d probably rate it a solid 5 then.

The weak ass drum intro into Carry On. What the fuck is that? There’s no balls in the drums either? WTF?????? Skip.

Everyone has their breaking point when it comes to savagely raping the legacy of metal. Stryper covering Deep Purple’s Highway Star is it for me. And we haven’t even gotten to Judas Priest or Iron Maiden yet. Fuck you Stryper for even THINKING about doing this album. Skip.

I don’t think I can continue. Really… My blood pressure can’t take this; my ears can’t handle the blasphemy coming from the speakers, my co-workers are yelling at me to stop killing the litter of cats in my cubicle already. Must. Finish. Worst. Album. Ever.

Shout It Out Loud. Starts out as pussy as the original does. Does that make it bad? No, but at least they can’t fuck up such simpleton songwriting as KISS. If this was maybe the second or third song on the disc, I could probably have handled it, but as we are on the seventh song of this musical abortion, I can’t take anymore, I am up to my limit in shit, so…. Moving on…..

Over The Mountain. Holy Fuck Randy Rhoads just died again. I can’t play guitar that well and I can play the opening riff better than Oz Foxx. Skip.

The Trooper. Stupid fucks, if you are going to take songs like Over The Mountain (Randy Rhoads), Highway Star (Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord), The Trooper (Steve Harris), that have such a distinct musical sound and style, you best be able to reproduce the opening riff, the organ solo, the bass line (respectively) of those songs, or fuck off and JUST DON’T DO THEM. And never mind the shit fucked guitar solo in The Trooper, come up with your own (not). Skip.

Nobody should cover Judas Priest. Period. Skip

Van Halen. Really? You try to tackle the intricacies of Ritchie Blackmore, Tony Iommi, Randy Rhoads, AND Eddie Van Halen? Who do you think you are, Oz Foxx? Oh, wait… skip.

Do I even have to say anything about Stryper trying to cover Led Zeppelin? Really? Are you going to make me listen to this? FUCK YOU. and fuck Stryper.

And no, I’m not going to listen to their new song called ‘God’. Fuck that. You don’t get to do that to me after aurally sodomizing me for the last 30 minutes.

So, we got the album up to 4 out of 10 before Michael sang, so now where are we? Someone owes me for my therapy bills now!

DO NOT PICK THIS UP, you’ll thank me later.

MACHINE HEAD



UNTO THE LOCUST



Roadrunner Records



10 out of 10



Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the album of the year. Your search is over. Just give in to the monstrosity that is Unto The Locust, declare the search for 2011’s #1 album over, crank it to eleven, and behold the majesty that is Machine Head. You’ll thank me later.

Ok, now that the dick sucking is out of the way, let’s get to the real meat of this album. It. Fucking. Shreds.

Machine Head have outdone themselves and have achieved a feat I didn’t think they could do, and that is follow up their best album ever, The Blackening, with what is arguably without a doubt their best album ever.

Welcome to Unto The Locust. The opening 3 part song I Am Hell sets the tone and raises the bar for Machine Head once again. Less than halfway through the eight and a half minute opus your hair is blown back, your dick has been knocked into the dirt and the massive riffs and monster drum sound pummels you into submitting to the notion that there is nothing out there that can possibly compete with Machine Head today. Their finest showing so far in a storied career and we’re only three minutes into the damned album.

The harmonies in the chorus of Be Still And Know will raise the hairs on your arms and the back of your neck, as the solo kicks in and knocks your teeth down your throat. You are now deep in the embrace and holy shit, hello twin guitar solo. There are so many styles of guitar bursting all over this album it is hard to keep up. You’ve read the interviews, and you’ve heard that Robb even took guitar lesson recently to be able to play parts of this album he had already written but couldn’t play properly, or as well as he wanted. In one song alone, you have the modern thrash high toned, thin guitar sound prevalent through most of the verses, then the break down goes into dual guitar wielding solo of the classic NWOBHM style of Maiden and Priest, there’s even some good old chugga-chugga-chugga of Prog Metal thrown in to temper the whole thing. Again, we’re talking all of this in one song. And we’re not talking St. Anger kitchen sink riffs here, we’re talking a madly cohesive sound tinged with a schizophrenic touch of multiple guitar styles to flavor the song, not to saturate and lose focus within (ala St. Anger).

Machine Head may well be the one band that can take Modern Thrash, Blast Beats, NWOBHM twin guitar solos, acoustic, melodic, Prog, and weave them in and out of each of their songs without losing the plot or seeming to be truly skitzo and jumbled. Their first single Locust starts out a bit … eh… But when it gets to the acoustic breakdown and Robb Flynn and Phil Demmel trading off on the guitar solo it pushes itself into contention for the strongest track off the album.

I am trying not to go song by song here but as each new song starts, I can’t help but … The acoustic intro to This Is The End going into the hyper guitar riff sends chills down my spine. The hyper-frenetic tempo will snap necks live.

Darkness Within… Three Days Grace? Emo Metal? It works, but pushing that Emo Metal thing a little close. They close the album out with Darkness Within in acoustic form, so I wonder how that will come out. I will say this: Machine Head has never had better guitar solos. Ever. Halfway through the album and every solo is epic! And Darkness Within goes from Emo Metal to Death, to Thrash, and back to Emo. Incredible really. Again, this isn’t hodgepodged, this isn’t piecemeal, this is great song craftsmanship.

And welcome to the traditional Bay Area Thrash epicness that is the opening of Pearls Before The Swine. Harkening back to Testament and Exodus, Pearls runs right through the heart of the Traditional Bay Area Thrash sound.

The children’s choir at the beginning of Who We Are is disconcerting at best. The Beast of Machine Head behind them, it must strike fear into the hearts of soccer moms and t-ball dads all over. And this slightly anthemic ditty closes out the regular version of Unto The Locust. Again, I have to bring up the solos, from a classical Prog sounding chugga chugga to twin guitar thrash, Phil and Robb have outdone themselves. If Unto The Locust is recognized for anything, it must be for the outstanding guitar solos that run consistently through the album. Every song is given an unforgettable solo that is completely unique to itself.

The expanded version (which includes a DVD) has three extra songs on it. The Sentinel, Witch Hunt and the acoustic version of Darkness Within.

The Sentinel is a cover of the classic Judas Priest song. And the beginning is spot on. A great cover. The band keeps it close to the original, the vocals are awesome. Flynn has a great voice but no one can properly cover Halford (save Tim Owens). They do deviate from the original on the guitar solos, but they manage to come up with some great stuff that fits the song just fine. This is where Machine Head add their own touch to the song.

Witch Hunt sees Machine Head taking on the stylings of none other than Rush. Not being a Rush fan, I can’t tell you how it stacks up to the original, and I’m not about to go find out. (Hello cowbell!!!!!) It is an odd choice at first listen. I mean you can totally see in your mind’s eye Machine Head rocking out the Judas Priest, and maybe a certain Rush song here or there, but Witch Hunt musically doesn’t quite fit them, or vice versa maybe. Not that they are not musically capable of covering Rush, Machine Head is quite adept musicianship wise to do so, but the song itself doesn’t sound like a Machine Head song. And this may be why they chose it. It doesn’t fit the feel of the rest of the album however. Again, even The Sentinel stands up to the rest of the original Machine Head works on Unto The Locust, but Witch Hunt just seems a bit out of place here.

Which leaves us with Darkness Within the acoustic version. And I can happily say that the acoustic version removes the Emo Metal feel of the first part of the song. And it works well acoustically so far.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Machine Head’s Unto The Locust. My current (and most likely final) pick for Best Album of 2011. You cannot go wrong by running out and grabbing this immediately. You must not miss out on this masterpiece of metal.

Go HERE and purchase it right now. Go on, you know you want to. You NEED this album. You do. Trust, you do.









For more Machine Head click here.

HALESTORM



Reanimate: The Covers EP



Atlantic Records



8 out of 10



Ok, so you put an even remotely attractive woman on a stage, and I’m pretty much hooked from the get go. Sexist? Probably… But I’ve got a thing for women on stage. Sue me.

But when a woman has talent on top and exceeding her looks? Well then you’ve got something for your ears and eyes. Heart, Pat Benetar, Joan Jett, Stevie Nicks, Tori Amos, Doro Pesch, the list goes on and on, all have amazing talent vocally as well as musically.

So there’s a new breed of women rockers out there doing their own thing… Maria Brink (In This Moment), Otep (Otep), Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation), Alexis Brown (Straight Line Stitch), again the list goes on and on. And hot on their heels is the newest female fronted band… Halestorm.

Fronted by Lzzy Hale the band features her brother Arejay Hale, Joe Hottinger, and Josh Smith. They have released a solid self titled debut which charted well for them as well as got them enough notice to put them on the main stage of last year’s Uproar tour with Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold and Stone Sour.

The Band has released a new EP of covers to tie their fans over until they can finish their follow up full length album.

An EP of covers from a band with only one album out seems to be a risky move to me. If you’re trying to keep your name in the forefront of your fan’s minds then maybe a live DVD (the label already put out a live album of theirs a year after their self titled album came out as their singles finally began to chart and hit with the public), or an EP of acoustic reworkings… something that is yours, not copies of other songs seems to be in the band’s best interest to me. But then I’m not some big label head honcho either. Whatever.

That being said, let’s look at the songs chosen for the EP:

All I Want to do (is make love to you) by Heart, Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, Hunger Strike by Temple Of The Dog, I Want You (she’s so heavy) by The Beatles, Out Ta Get Me by Guns & Roses, Slave To The Grind by Skid Row. So this young upstart band definitely has some balls to it. From pop dance to classic rock, and grunge to sleaze rock. The song selection alone intrigued me. How would they do actually covering the songs?

Well, the Heart cover was pretty much straight forward, and done very well. Bad Romance seems to be the hardest one to cover. How do you take a rock band and throw in a dance song and make it sound good? I don’t know. Really… this should be a recipe for certain disaster, but Lzzy and the boys actually pulled it off and very well. This may actually be the highlight of the EP. Being able to turn a Lady Gaga song into a rock n roll monster? Hats off to Halestorm for doing it, and doing it well.

Oddly the Lady Gaga cover has caused less controversy and dissent from the internet trolls than their decision to cover Temple Of The Dog. I’m sorry, but when did Grunge become gospel? And if a band can run the gamut between classic Beatles, to Modern day dance pop, and everywhere in between why can’t they take on grunge too? I mean who made TotD the sacred cow anyway?

It’d be one thing if the band didn’t pull off the song. Or heaven forbid took a dance song and made a rock song out of it, only to take a grunge song and make a dance hit out of it!!!! But Halestorm sticks to the basics and pulls off a decent remake of a very good song. I will say that it does lose a little passion when Lzzy sings it over Eddie Vedder, but it isn’t a bad version by any means.

The Beatles song may be the only song I take umbrage with and that is only because it runs on too long and gets a bit monotonous at the end. But the first 4 minutes of the song are… the ballsiest the band has every sounded to me.

Out Ta Get Me is sleazy and dirty, but a little unremarkable compared to the rest of the songs on the EP.

And I may have to go back and listen to their debut, but I think Slave To The Grind may well be the heaviest thing the band has done. And heavy they do well. Would love to see this one live. I can totally see Lzzy standing their snarling out the lyrics to this, and I’m sure this summer that’s exactly what we’ll see.

So other than the odd choice of putting out a covers EP, the project works. A solid 8 from me for this, and that is only because Hunger Strike and Out Ta Get Me left me a little flat.









You can pick up Reanimate The Covers EP here.
For more HALESTORM click here.

FLOGGING MOLLY



Speed Of Darkness



Borstal Beats Records



8 out of 10



Flogging Molly is best known as an Irish Drinking Punk Band. So somewhere in the mix of Jameson, Guinness, violins and accordions are the politics of an Irish Pub band. Frontman Dave King and crew have turned their focus this time on the current economic blue collar common man climate of the Mid West United States.

With Speed Of Darkness, Revolution, & Don’t Shut Em Down the bands lyrics look at the working class Middle American worker struggling to make ends meet in our toughest economic times in almost 100 years.

If you aren’t familiar with Flogging Molly this is actually a perfect record to pick up and sink your teeth into. Musically it is Flogging Molly at their finest, and lyrically it may be the easiest FM album to absorb and rock out with as the subject matter hits closer to home than their previous efforts.

The Powers Out while lamenting the inability to pay the power bill, the song itself is a great jig that moves from raucous noisy and cheering to quiet mandolin interludes. ‘The Power is out, well there’s fuck all to see. Well the powers out, like this economy. Yeah the powers out, its par for the course unless you’re a bloodsucking leech CEO.’ Sure it isn’t ‘feel good’ music, but when are Irish jigs? It’s about commiserating over warm pints locking arms and shoulders and roiling through the pain and despair. And nobody does it better than Flogging Molly.

There are the quiet moments like So Sail On to give one a chance to catch their breath, refill their pint glass, shoot a lil whisky and brace for the next anthemic ditty which in this case is the very next track Saints & Sinners replete with its sing along at the end.

This is Flogging Molly at their finest in my opinion. I don’t know if it is because I can relate to the subject matter of the lyrics more than previous efforts, or the songwriting is just that much better than previous albums. But beginning to end this is a solid album and the first Flogging Molly album that I can listen to the entire thing without wanting to change it.

They have many great songs in their repertoire, but this is the first full album of good songs to me.

So, grab a pint or ten, a bottle of good Jameson, and fire up Speed Of Darkness. But don’t do it alone. Irish Drinking music isn’t made to be enjoyed alone. You can’t commiserate with yourself now can you? And who wants to drink Jameson alone, who's going to hold your hair back at the end of the night?









For more FLOGGING MOLLY click here.

FILTER



The Trouble with Angels



Rocket Science Ventures



9 out of 10



Richard Patrick first gained attention as the guitarist for NINE INCH NAILS. His only recorded material with them was on the end of ‘Sanctified’ off Pretty Hate Machine, but he toured/performed with NIN from 1989-93. He left NIN forming FILTER and released Short Bus in 1995. More rock than industrial, FILTER took off in a big way, but it wasn’t until their second album Title of Record that they gained huge commercial success with the single ‘Take a Picture’.

A full studio album and greatest hits compilation not to mention a plethora of soundtrack singles round out Filter’s studio work.

FILTER is back now with a new studio album The Trouble With Angels and from what I’ve heard of the new album so far (giving it a 2nd spin as I write this), the album is harder, heavier, more electronic than anything since Short Bus. Gone is the commercial gleam, and slick sound that permeated later FILTER albums.

The Trouble with Angels starts off with static laced am radio sounding vocals that kicks into a gritty guitar riff and the lyrics, ‘Come along Sally let’s have a break down’. This is ‘Drug Boy’, and it is as dirty and gritty as any back street dime bag shooting alley you can imagine. The demonic reverberated screams throughout the bridge would bring any fiend to his knees begging for sobriety and sanity instantly. A straight forward rock riff over laced with pulsating drums and a bass line that makes your blood simmer in your veins lends itself very well to the melodic chorus that

FILTER has been known for. But this is no ‘Picture’ ballad. This is balls out FILTER at their best.

For the radio rock “we must have a ‘Take a Picture’ ballad” folks out there. FILTER offers up ‘No Love’ to you, but again, this is no overly produced slick sticky sweet ballad. Once the chorus kicks in, and the scream of ‘No Love’ rings out the teeny boppers out there might just switch the station. But that would be doing FILTER and this song a grave disservice. Sit back, give it a listen, and let the music and message sink in. You’ll thank me for it later.

‘No Re-Entry’ is a psychedelic tripalicious love scorn ballad complete with noise/muse rock keyboards filling out and flowing out (of) the song nicely.

Overall the album has a much heavier electronic feel than albums past. Drum loops, noise loops, and wicked vocal effects layers each song, making it impossible to get the full effect even after multiple listens. This is why this album works so well. You can’t get it all immediately. It takes several listens for you to get everything that happens in each and every song. This makes the album last. This is what makes a great album. Every time you put it on, you hear something new. The songs never get old, because you constantly are introduced to something missed in prior listenings.

I was a little hesitant when I first put this on as Short Bus was the pinnacle of FILTER for me. But I’m here to tell you that The Trouble with Angels may actually be two steps better and beyond their debut!
The Trouble with Angels will be released August 17th.

You can find all things FILTER, their new album, and upcoming tour right here.
You can pre-order The Trouble with Angels at amazon.com here.

DUFF McKAGAN’S LOADED



The Taking



Eagle Rock Entertainment



5 out of 10



Duff McKagan of Guns & Roses fame and Velvet Revolver fame is back with a third album from his own band Loaded entitled The Taking.

You first heard Duff sing on G&R’s The Spaghetti Incident on a punk classic Ain’t It Fun. And a decent job he did. So when you hear that he is fronting his own band, you shrug and go, ‘Ok, I think I can be down with that.’

Upon checking out the new album, his voice is still the same, rough, a little sleazy, raspy, and unfortunately a little one dimensional. Maybe sharing vocals with another band member may work to strengthen the songs, but when your name IS the band’s name I understand that may not be the easiest thing to do.

Musically this is the hardest album the band has put out to date. Sure there’s some punk elements still rolling through the songs, and yes, the Sunset Strip sleaze can be felt in the grooves of the songs too. But the album as a whole is a lot stronger than previous efforts, and would be more on the HARD side of the Hard Rock moniker.

According to Duff this is a real band, not just a bunch of studio musicians he threw together for the album, and they will be touring together in support of The Taking soon. And hopefully this all plays out better live than on CD.

Giving the album 3 or 4 spins I really want to like it, I want it to be… What Velvet Revolver wasn’t, what G&R should STILL be… but what this shows is a slightly one dimensional songwriting to go with the vocals. There are plenty of great riffs here. In fact the first single Dead Skin has a huge thick rhythm guitar riff that pushes the song above most of the others musically. The lead off track Lords Of Abbadon is another decent track and upbeat tempoed enough to get you moving and ready for even more, even better tunes. Unfortunately after three songs or so, you can’t get past the flat vocals, and the songs, the riffs, the bass lines, all start to sound the same, and you aren’t sure if you’re still listening to the second song or the eighth.

Again, I really wanted to like, no love, this album, I recently saw Duff on That Metal Show, and listening to him talk about it made me want to go get it. Upon cranking it up, I was left feeling like I was missing something.

I could actually move past the vocals as they aren’t that bad if the songs had more variety to them, but they all come off sounding the same, and leaves you feeling a little annoyed at the monotony of them all.

Guess I’ll wait for the ‘new’ Velvet Revolver if it ever happens, or the G&R reunion that will never happen.









To pick up your copy of DUFF McKAGAN’S LOADED The Taking click here.
For more DUFF McKAGAN’S LOADED click here.

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