Category Archives: Influenced

Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

The Count Of Tuscany

The intro and the outro are two of the best musical pieces put together by Dream Theater.

For the start, Petrucci took the chord progression from the song “Another Day” (which was released on “Images And Words” in 1992), changed the phrasing, added a few extra bass notes and chord movements and made it into one of his best Dream Theater riffs. But it’s also the solo that he takes, which makes it even more memorable. And it builds and builds for the first 3 minutes and 27 seconds. To me, it’s essential listening. I call this Section A.

Then the vocal part comes in. I call this movement between 4.23 and the 11 minute mark Section B. Musically its brilliant. Melodically its brilliant.

Lyrically it falls down for a lot of people. And when you think of Dream Theater lyrics, sometimes they are great and sometimes they are loaded with cheese. Personally I don’t mind the cheese but this one has a lot of it. Get ready.

It’s about a trip years ago. The band went on a vino tour with a young eccentric man who became their guide. The young eccentric man had an older brother, who had a unique library, which served as inspiration for a few scenes in the “Hannibal” book.

And as part of this tour, they kept moving more away from the city and into the isolated country side of Tuscany.

Then their guide, introduced the band to his brother, a bearded historian, with a distinguished accent who didn’t mind sucking on his pipe. Dream Theater sleuths even worked out who the Count of Tuscany is and how he also appeared in the “Hannibal” movie.

And the guys in the band are now frightened for their lives, because they are offered a vintage glass of wine that gets better with age. But this offer of wine comes after the Count tells them the tale of French soldiers who hid in the barrels and never made it out of alive.

And then we are up to Section C of the song. This nature section between 11.01 to 14.19 could have been left out.

Because the last bit, known as Section D from 14.20 is one of those moments of awesomeness. The 6/8 time signature, the vocal melody, how it slowly percolates until it explodes, the lead break to finish it. Everything about this last section is addictive.

And the song ends with the Count saying to them to not be afraid, as these are stories passed down through generations.

The chapel and the saint
The soldiers and the wine
The fables and the tales
All handed down through time

Of course you’re free to go
Go and tell the world my story
Tell about my brother
Tell them about me

The Count of Tuscany

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

The Record Vault – Blindside

Blindside are from Sweden, forming in 1994. They released a few albums and the band P.O.D became their North American supporters, which led to an Elektra contract. The label placed them in the “post-hardcore” genre, which I think is a stupid term. To me they are just another rock band. And when their Elektra albums didn’t meet the commercial expectations of the label, they got dropped.

“The Great Depression” is the album straight after being dropped and because I was a fan of P.O.D, I decided I should check em out.

The title track is spoken like “In The Beginning” from Motley Crue, but that’s about all the similarities to Motley Crue.

“This Is A Heart Attack” has this reggae/funk groove in the verses with a chaotic Chorus. Its progressive in how the song comes together.

If you like “The Mars Volta” and “Coheed and Cambria” then you will like Blindside.

“Ask Me Now” rocks as hard as any Muse track, when Muse decides to rock hard. And the best song is “Fell In Love With The Game”.

But there wasn’t enough of those kind of songs to get me to commit further than this.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

No Way Out

Bullet For My Valentine (BFMV) started off as a normal metal band to me, but people and marketing teams need genre tags, so they got labeled with “Metalcore” or “EMO” act for “The Poison” released in 2007.

Sticking with genre labels, they went all “Thrash Metal” on their best album “Scream Aim Fire” in 2008 with the very Slayer sounding, “Waking The Demon” track and surprise, surprise, the very Journey sounding, “Hearts Burst Into Fire” and a great cover of Robert Tepper’s “No Easy Way Out” from the Rocky IV soundtrack.

For 2010’s “Fever” they adopted a more hard rock/metal approach, which they re-defined and commercialised a little bit more for “Temper Temper” in 2013.

Then in 2015, they combined elements of all their releases into a very good album called “Venom”. I have written about this album previously in one of my year in reviews series. They also released another album in 2018 called “Gravity”.

The thing is, acts like BFMV have melodic rock and hard rock influences, however fans of those styles never really give these bands a chance because they are labeled with a different style due to record label marketing.

To me, BFMV is a hard rock band at heart, with thrash and metal influences. And while their earlier stuff had some screaming, the majority of their new stuff is with clean vocals and massive rock choruses. On some occasions you get all three, the screaming, the clean and the melody. Like the track “No Way Out” from the “Venom” album.

And BFMV are also an important band when it comes to streaming who has metal, hard rock and thrash roots. Their numbers on Spotify and YouTube are massive.

“No Way Out” is relentless. A thrash-a-thon.

Looking out standing over the edge
Too numb to feel alive

Even though this song was written in 2015, the words are still relevant.

Every time I go to The Guardian to catch up on news, I am greeted with death. If the death toll goes down in one country, it increases in another.

Its numbing.

And our brains are designed to survive, so we read the news, we watch the news and process the threats. We are fragile creatures, only here for a short time. And our thoughts can make us do things that makes our time being alive even shorter.

Will life return to normal once COVID-19 is all over?

Will people still gather in larger groups?

A scientist on TV said, there might not be a cure or a vaccine for COVID-19, but a treatment, like how they do with HIV.

Its numbing.

Tell me why I feel like there’s no way out

The Chorus deals with the mental struggles of thinking there is no way out and today, we are looking for the peak of infections to fall or to flatten the curve.

And being patient is not part of our DNA.

We hate waiting for time to pass and we hate following rules but waiting it out by following rules is what we need to do.

This negativity
Is dominating and smothering me
I just can’t breathe

I can’t help but over analyse events, thinking that some of the people I deal with have ulterior motives, saying one thing to my face and saying something else behind my back.

The negativity is not productive and its torturous. This was heaps prominent when I was younger and as I got older, my care factor for these kinds of analysis went to ZERO. Other things are more important than putting thoughts in my head which don’t exist.

The guitar solo while brief is quality.

And it ends with the same thrash-a-thon riff that it began with.

And while the song ends with a sense of hopelessness, there is hope in life and there is a way out. This too shall pass.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

The Record Vault – Jason Becker

He came into my life because of all the ads Shrapnel Records and Mike Varney used to run in the guitar mags. But at that point in time I still didn’t commit to purchasing any music.

Jason Becker and Marty Friedman were in Cacophony together. In 1989 Friedman left to join Megadeth and Becker started to pursue a solo career. Of course by Friedman being in Megadeth, his Cacophony days with Becker were mentioned so it got me interested to check it out. But I still didn’t commit.

Becker then joined the DLR band, replacing Steve Vai and he went to work on new music which would become the “A Little Ain’t Enough” album. This got me interested enough to commit.

While recording the album, Becker began to feel a “lazy limp” in his left leg and numbness in his forearms.

After getting himself checked he was diagnosed with ALS otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease and was given three to five years to live.

He managed to finish the DLR album, which was released in 1991, and the ALS gradually crippled his body and speech by 1997 but not his mind. He is still alive today and uses a computer to communicate with people via eye movements and to compose new music.

The “Perpetual Burn” album is a pretty big statement for a young 18 year old but then again, the 80s was the era of the shredders and every new guy on the scene had to have all the tools of a seasoned pro and more. Just look at Zakk Wylde.

“Altitudes” starts off with the keys playing chords and a pretty emotive solo. At the 1.25 mark it moves to a clean tone section which continues the emotion and the melody.

The guitar hero spotlight is from the 2 minute mark with a lot of string skipping, fast alternative picking and sweep picking.

The solo from 3.46 is a like a hard rock Vito Brattain style solo.

The title track “Perpetual Burn” has a lot of classical references. Even though Becker was not influenced by Malmsteen, it sounds like a Malmsteen song.

“Air” is just keys and guitar and then just guitar. It’s based around a classical movement.

“Temple Of The Absurb” is a progressive metal gem. It could have appeared on a thrash metal release from Metallica or Megadeth or Testament or a Fates Warning release or even a Dream Theater release. It has this Mercyful Fate influence which I like, and this modern neo classical Rainbow vibe. It’s no surprise that Friedman guests on this song.

The closer “Opus Pocus” has this major key melody which I like and it remains with me long after the song is finished.

His actual recording career is short because of his illness and it’s more of an instrumental nature with the guitarist is in the spotlight. But if you want to hear how he writes songs for a band setting, check out “Its Showtime” and “Drop In The Bucket” from the DLR album, “A Lil Ain’t Enough”. You will like em. Trust me.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Up All Night

Slaughter is a forgotten band.

The people who normally read and comment on this blog would know that Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum were in Vinnie Vincent’s Invasion, which was signed to Chrysalis, when a person called John Sykes ran the label (not the John Sykes that we all know from Whitesnake, Blue Murder, Thin Lizzy and Tygers Of Pang Tang fame), but what a bloody coincidence.

Anyway, Vincent’s diva like demands didn’t sit well with the label and they offered the rest of his deal to Slaughter and Strum and the rest is history.

For two albums, Slaughter ruled because the band could rock, could croon like Michael Bolton and they could also bring out the metal, with Mark Slaughter belting out a triple octave voice.

And they even had a 25 year old Michael Bay direct the music video clip for this song. In 5 years’ time, he would become well known with the first “Bad Boys” movie.

Up all night
Sleep all day

This is an anthem.

It still has the same power 30 plus years later as it did back in the day. We tried to live to this. Artists lived this life, they didn’t care about their brand, their endorsements, their promo on Morning Breakfast shows. They kept it mysterious. All to themselves. With a lot of groupies.

Which doesn’t even exist anymore in music, because the techies and the financers are now breaking the rules and living the rock star lifestyle. When Steve Jobs hit the stage at an Apple launch event, he was greeted with an applause that was normally reserved for rock stars. When Oprah or Ellen or Lettermen walked onto their sets, they had a bigger applause than rock stars.

And musicians just kept signing their rights away for another chance to record and to be in a state of never recouping with the labels, while the labels laughed their way to billions in profits. Those same label execs who contributed nothing to culture, fly private, while the artists who made them billions don’t. There is no way a techie would have given away their rights the same way the music artists did.

When evening comes
I am alive

I feel I am most productive at night. Sometimes its past midnight and I don’t want to sleep because I am in the zone.

Up all night, sleep all day.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Tangled In The Web

The Elektra “Lynch Mob” albums capture a guitarist at the peak of his powers and with a passion to prove that he can make it on his own. And George Lynch didn’t fail with these albums at all.  

As good as the Max Norman produced “Wicked Sensation” is and as good as Lynch’s Dokken work is, Lynch finally broke away from all the baggage in 1992 with “Tangled In The Web” released during a time when Nirvana and Pearl Jam started to make waves on the chart and hard rock music and bands started to have less of an impact than they would have had if they released these kinds of songs a few years before. But Lynch released and competed with these guys.

If you don’t find the bluesy and swingy lightly distorted guitar intro with the brass instruments addictive, you are either too elitist to allow horns or too wound up. Keith Olsen, also co-wrote and produced the track, so credit needs to be given.

If you leave me lonely
And you take away the things that I love

We fear loneliness. The older we get, the less we want to play the game of love. And when relationships go bad, people pick sides which makes you question their motives in the first place.

And it still sounds fresh today as it did back then.

If you see me coming’
Better run and find a place to hide

I wonder what kind of coming they meant. Is it the ‘I’m coming over” or the “here I come all over you”.

“Tangled In The Web” was in the charts, competing with Black Crowes, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Tom Cochrane and Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Fly To The Angels

Slaughter was one of those bands you either liked or didn’t like.

Bassist Dana Strum was a go to man when people needed band members. He recommended Randy Rhoads to Ozzy’s camp along with Jake E Lee.

Afterwards, he teamed up with Kiss outcast, Vinnie Vincent for his Invasion. After Mark Slaughter joined the band (replacing the original singer, Rob Fleischmann), the Invasion went full tilt on album number two, before Chrysalis pulled the plug on Vincent’s diva like demands and offered his record deal to Slaughter and Strum.

And for a 4 year period, Slaughter was slaying the scene, becoming a reliable platinum act in the process.

Nothing lasts forever and for Slaughter, the fall was quicker than the rise in a commercial sense. Guitarist, Tim Kelly had some law enforcement problems over trafficking narcotics and then tragically, he lost his life in a motor vehicle accident. These days, Strum is more than happy playing Motley covers with Vince Neil, while Mark Slaughter is still writing and dropping new music.

“Fly To The Angels” is not my favourite track from the debut album, but it captures the great song writing that Slaughter and Strum are capable of. There is an electric and acoustic version of the song and both are good.

It’s a sad song and Slaughters vocal commands attention with its power.

Heaven awaits your heart

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Nobody’s Fool

I don’t think they wanted to be glammed up, with teased hair and matador clothing with long jackets, but they did it anyway.

Signed to Polygram, the debut album, “Night Songs”, produced by Andy Johns, had everything from AC/DC style riffing and grooves, to Aerosmith style highs and Keifer’s unique raspy snarl.

But Keifer and co didn’t just sound like all of the other bands out there, because their influences weren’t just your standard Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC acts. They also went back and found out who influenced their influences, and allowed those artists to also influence them, hence the reason why Cinderella was more bluesier than the rest.

The cymbals ring, while the clean tone Am arpeggio chord progression starts the song.

I count the falling tears, they fall before my eyes
It seems like a thousand years since we broke the ties

It seems like the hate and pain will never end, when relationships go bad, but it’s only been a day or two. Time heals all wounds and hearts. You just need to be patient.

I’m no fool

We can believe what we want, but when it comes to love, David Coverdale had it down pat, when he said he’s a fool for loving, because god damn it, that man lives and breathes love. So yes, when it comes to love we are fools. And we keep going back to it.

And the solo, so emotive, building up to the ending and that final chorus.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

March 2020 – Part 2

And now for the releases that came into my life in March. By the way here is the overall playlist.

Future World (Live) – Pretty Maids
Pretty Maids have been making music for 35 plus years. Although they might not have the same superstar status as other acts from the 80’s, 35 plus years In the business is no small feat. The fire still burns to create and release new music and recently they have been mining their vaults for live recordings.

And “Future World” was written back in the late 80’s about listening to the fools who brought the human race to fall.

And in the era of COVID-19, we will come out of this much different to what we were before we went in. A new generation will be created and a new wonderland will come. A future world.

Signs (Live At Abbey Road Studios) – Tesla
Tied To The Tracks (Live At Abbey Road Studios) – Tesla
Do we need another Tesla acoustic album?

For me, anything from Tesla gets my attention.

If it’s good, it will get my attention for a lot longer.

“Signs” was a hit for the band, and “Tied To The Tracks” is a brilliant cut to bring out in an acoustic format and to show your audience that you are still writing great songs. In case you weren’t aware, this track is on their “Shock” album.

Signs and rules do restrict our freedoms. While it may not seem like a big thing these days, once upon a time, long haired people couldn’t apply for a job and not everyone could enter restaurants/eateries in the same way we can today.

The original song was written in the late 60’s and it was released as a B side by the group “Five Man Electrical Band”, but became bigger than all of their songs.

Fake News – Shakra
Thousand Kings – Shakra
Turn The Light On – Shakra
New Tomorrow – Shakra
These songs are from Shakra’s new album “Mad World”. 25 plus years in the business for these Swiss veterans.

“Fake News” has a riff which brings back the swagger of “Appetite For Destruction”. It’s funny how as a term used by legitimate news sources to describe the fake news of news outlets pushing the political agenda of their owner has been turned around to be used by people and organisations to describe every news source which is critical of them.

“Turn The Light On” has this Scorpions “Rock You Like A Hurricane” vibe.

All Eyes On You – Smash Into Pieces
This could have appeared on the new Ozzy album. It’s a pop rock / pop metal gem with lyrics about a mercenary.

Killer for hire, soldier of fortune
Gotta walk thru fire for what’s important

Again – Earshot
This is from 2004 and Earshot has come back into my life again this month. This band merged the grooves of Chevelle and Tool and the melodies of Staind into awesome modern rock songs ranging between 3 to 5 minutes in length.

As I ponder my
Thoughts and fears in life
I stand tempted to throw it all away

2004 seems so distant in 2020 and with all the problems happening.

Why would you want to throw your life away when the world is trying its best to take it from you?

Mr Big Shot – Collateral
Promiseland – Collateral
This band from the UK came from out of nowhere via a Spotify playlist.

Vocally the singer sounds like a cross between Sebastian Bach and Mike Matijevic from Steelheart. Musically, it sounds like Dan Huff’s Giant with an 80’s vibe.

All Over But The Cryin’ – The Georgia Satellites
Deke over at Thunder Bay posted a review of “The Georgia Satellites” barroom brawl, debut album from the mid 80’s.

“Keep Your Hands To Yourself” from the debut album in 1986, is the song which got them noticed and it’s a great song title. And the way the song is structured and performed, it has the crossover appeal into country/southern rock, which it did perfectly. Of course it was no surprise that in the 90’s, quite a few country artists rocked it up like these guys.

But my favourite song is from their third album, “In the Land Of Salvation And Sin” released in 1989. It’s like a cross between Tom Petty and something that Lynyrd Skynyrd would write. It sounds fresh today even though it is over 30 years old.

The War We Made – Red
I’ve liked Red since I heard their first album “End Of Silence” in 2006.

Hear a voice when the light is gone
Never know whose side it’s on
Think you’re gonna see someone
But you are the only one

I see this songs message as the war was made by the one person and the two voices within that one person.

The Reckoning – Silvera
This song has a wicked intro. And I have no idea who is in the band or their origins.

Desperado (Radio Edit) – Soilwork
Bjorn Strid is one hell of a vocalist, moving from his death metal voice to soaring melodicism.

The first person to do this was Rob Halford. He moved between baritone and falsetto. King Diamond took it to another operatic level. Then everything in the 90’s went to rap, melodic or guttural. There was no crossover. And then everything started merging again.

Lost (feat Sully Erna) – Stitched Up Heart
Sully Erna pops up everywhere as a guest vocalist.

It’s how this song came onto my radar. I am a Godsmack fan.

The thing with these kinds of song is that once Evanescene nailed it with “Bring Me To Life”, every band with a female singer started to try to recreate the formula. And 17 years later, people are still trying to recreate that same magic.

And “Lost” has a massive chorus.

Habit – Adelitas Way
This band is good. They’ve now put some serious years on the board and their growth as artists in evident in their song writing. This song has so many pop like elements, yet it still rocks hard.

I can’t help myself, I got a habit.

It’s a wicked line. So simple and yet so effective.

Yep, habits are hard to break. Some habits I don’t want to break even though the moral police and health police tell me to do so.

It’s got this lick in the intro and in the solo which lingers after the song is finished.

The Sweet Escape – Poets of The Fall

I really like Poets Of The Fall. The Alexander Theatre sessions is basically them playing some of their favourite songs in an acoustic setting. And the melancholy of those songs, comes through even more in this kind of set up.

Under a canopy of stars
Where thought and truth divorce
In that latticework of dreams we are shameless

Seriously, how good and descriptive are these lyrics.

There is no attempt to rhyme or to find words to rhyme, just a story to be told about making a sweet escape.

By The Blues – Conception

Now Conception came into my life in the 90’s with their album “In Your Multitude”. It had this concise form of song writing that took all of the best elements of progressive bands into 4 to 5 minute length songs.

And then they disappeared. I couldn’t find anything on em, although the internet many years later did highlight that they did a few more albums and then broke up or went on hiatus.

But in the last few years they have reformed and it’s good to have them back in my life. If you like metal and rock with a dose of Euro feel, then Conception is the band to check out.

Part 3 coming up.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

March 2020 – Part 1

So my March listening started off with tracks from January and February that I liked. I have written about these tracks already.

Here is the March playlist.

Circle The Drain – Machine Head
I like the melodic metal side of Robb Flynn. And he crushes on this song, as it moves between melodicism, nu metal and groove metal.

Feeling Whitney – Royal Bliss
The original Post Malone version is pretty good as well, a cross between “Dust In The Wind” style fingerpicking and modern rock.

Royal Bliss turn it into a modern pop rock song. And that also works.

Naked City – Jorn
Running Up That Hill – Jorn
Lonely Nights – Jorn
What does Kiss, Kate Bush and Bryan Adams have in common?

Bubbles – Framing Hanley
“I hear the nervousness in every word that is said” and in these pandemic times, I hear it and I see it loud and clear as our leaders make panic policies and suspend the sitting of parliament. I guess the bubble has burst and what comes next no one knows.

We are in uncharted waters here.

Come Clean – H.E.A.T
Dangerous Ground – H.E.A.T
Melodic Rock at its best. The Chorus in “Come Clean” is super catchy, with a R nought of 2.

Under The Graveyard – Ozzy Osbourne
At this point in time, it’s on the playlist.

Will it be in 10 years’ time?

Maybe. And on the COVID-19 news front, writer, guitarist and producer of this album, Andrew Watt has been diagnosed as having it.

Let’s hope for a speedy recovery as other musicians have already died, from an ex-Riot member, Fountains Of Wayne bassist and a country songwriter/guitarist.

Catastrophist – Trivium
I have been a Trivium fan for 13 years now.

It’s funny how fast time goes and it’s funny how many haters this band gets as well, because the old school metal fans don’t like the screaming, the old school death metal fans think it’s too fake and they just can’t win. But they can play their instruments, and they can play it well.

Singer Matt Heafy even put in time with former Emperor guitarist and vocalist, Ihsahn, learning the art of Black Metal and progressive songwriting. Not a lot of artists can lay claim to that.

F8/Inside Out – Five Finger Death Punch
These two songs work brilliantly together.

“I stand alone, I guess I knew it all along” and it feels more like that these days than ever before. We look at our leaders and our heroes from music and entertainment to give us some insights, but in the end, the decisions made are ours to make alone. And our heroes are as clueless as us.

Because Of You – Storm Force
This song just refuses to go away from my life. The music, the verse lyrics and that chorus. All so familiar and i like it.

“The world is yours today always something going down”. For me 2020 has seen; devastating bush fires which brought forth air quality issues, then came the rains and the floods. And now, we are at the start of the biggest threat in my lifetime, COVID-19. So we look to our families, our partners, our children and our friends for inspiration and reflection.

Dear Agony – Breaking Benjamin
The mood of this song gets me. This song gives me hope, even though it’s a depressing song itself.

“Dear Agony, just let go of me, suffer slowly, is this the way it’s gotta be”.

No it didn’t have to be this way. Fighting for life is more important than anything else in the world.

Aeromantic (Album) – The Night Flight Orchestra
Let’s just say that this album would most probably appear in all of my monthly reviews, because it is so damn good.

Songs like “Aeromantic” and “Taurus” pick up the energy. My favourites are the closer “Dead of Winter” and “Transmissions” with that violin solo.

Change The World (Album) – Harem Scarem
Have I mentioned that Pete Lesperance is one hell of a guitar player?

Part 2 for March coming up.

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