Not As Good As I Expected

Megadeth – the riffs are there on a lot of the songs, but the vocal melodies are hit and miss.

Halestorm – I feel like Lzzy believes she needs to scream and throw her throat out all the time like Bon Scott or Brian Johnson to rock hard. She doesn’t. She is an unbelievable singer, guitarist and songwriter.

Papa Roach – Yeah, 10 out of 10 for incorporating different mainstream sounds into their music, but it’s too far departed from who they are.

Crashdiet – I needed more from the same creative juices that wrote “Together Whatever”, “Shine On”, “No Man’s Land”, “Dead Crusade” and “Darker Minds”.

Bullet For My Valentine – They are suffering an identity crises. I don’t know why artists believe that if they scream and growl they get more creds for being tough. Matt Tuck is one hell of a vocalist and when he gets the clean tone and the screamo correct in a song, it’s excellent.

Five Finger Death Punch – They have no identity crises here, but it’s the same as all the albums.

Stryper – with Michael Sweet doing a few different hard rock projects, it’s cool that he is keeping Stryper as metal as they can be. But. I still want the hooks.

Disturbed – the duet with Ann Wilson from Heart (“Don’ Tell Me”) is the best thing on this album. The rest is same same.

I’m Interested Again

Skid Row – If Motley Crue could find a way to work together, then I am pretty sure Skid Row could have done so as well. But whatever Sebastian Bach said to Rachel Bolan and Dave Sabo many years ago it has left a wound that would not heal, so in the last 25 years, the fans have had a few different versions of the band with different drummers and vocalists.

But this time, the dance is different. They have a hard rock vocalist, who grew up on the hard rock that Skid Row wrote and who used Sebastian Bach as an influence. I guess “The Gang’s All Here”.

Arch Enemy – The riffs. Super melodic and headbanging at the same time. Press play on “Deceivers”.