Category Archives: Unsung Heroes

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

2001 – Part 2.7: Creed – Weathered

Released in 2001.

Bassist Brian Marshall was out after giving up on communicating with Scott Stapp, so Tremonti stepped up and did the bass parts for the album.

“I couldn’t pick a single player who’d be a blue print but Jimmy Page is one of those guys that’d be in there.

Even though his playing is 70% blues oriented, I still feel close to him. I didn’t get into Zep till I was in high school.

In Junior High, I listened to Slayer, Venom, Mercyful Fate – real dark and heavy stuff.

Tesla was a big inspiration to me as well. I loved how they would have a little intro and a little outro like they do on “Love Song”. Those are the cool little tangents that took me away.”
Mark Tremonti: Guitar One – January 2002

I’ve written it and said it so many times. Mark Tremonti is the reason why Creed became a favourite.

He is the modern day Jimmy Page, as he can move between fast metal riffs, blues rock riffs, heavy groove rock riffs, to folk rock and even classical. There is a lot of variation on the albums he’s involved in. Similar to how Page moved between so many different styles on each Led Zeppelin album. And Page did it by using various open string tunings which Tremonti also employs.

Four years ago, Creed was looking for a record deal. And by 2001 they had become one of the biggest acts on planet Earth. During this time, Tremonti graced the covers of Guitar One on four occasions and Guitar World on three occasions, winning numerous “Best Rock Guitarist” polls.

The third album “Weathered” was anticipated. And they didn’t disappoint.

“Bullets”

It’s a great album opener and a concert opener. A “grab you by the throat” full throttle metal tune.

After the clean tone bass riff plays, a speed metal like riff kicks in. It’s angry and its perfect. After the big anthemic hits of “Higher” and “With Arms Wide Open”, this one is anti-anthemic.

“At least look at me when you shoot a bullet through my head”.

If you’re going to talk trash, than do it to their face.

There is also an interlude/bridge section here which was only brief but excellent and it is similar to the “Weathered” interlude/bridge section which is fleshed out a little bit better.

“Freedom Fighter”

It has this Texan blues groove but done in a Pantera style for the verses.

“Who’s Got My Back?”

It’s typical of the style of the Creed songs I like (think “Faceless Man”), with atmospheric finger picked riffs in clean tone percolating in the verses, which leads to open string tuned chords and eventually crunching and distorted chords across different intensities.

“Signs”

How heavy is that verse riff in “Signs”?

At one stage its reminding me of Stone Temple Pilots and “Vasoline” or Disturbed “Down With The Sickness”.

“One Last Breath”

Then you are treated to the excellent finger picked lines of “One Last Breath”.

On YouTube it’s got a massive amount of views. On Spotify, it’s at 135.3 million streams, higher than “Higher” which is sitting at 110.1 million streams or “My Sacrifice” at 127.3 million streams.

In a Guitar World issue, Tremonti mentioned how he would have devoured all the Classical/Baroque stuff, but subliminally his style developed by devouring the acoustic pieces from metal and rock artists, like the style of Frank Hannon or the fingerstyle stuff from Metallica on their slower tempo songs and instrumentals like “Call Of Ktulu”.

If you’ve heard the intro to “Love Song” from Tesla, then you would have heard the main riff to “One Last Breath”.

“My Sacrifice”

This song doesn’t get the respect it should. The riffs are stellar and the vocal melody is iconic.

It pushed this album to multi-platinum status in Australia and the U.S

And while I liked the song when I heard it on the album, it wasn’t until I saw Creed live that I really enjoyed the song and the way they played it.

It was the closer, it was delivered with power and a lot of pyro and they made sure they left you wanting more.

“Stand Here With Me”

“Stand Here With Me” came next and its similarity to “My Sacrifice” made me ignore it initially, but the riff stands on its own.

And there is a lead break in this song, which got me paying attention.

“Weathered”

“Weathered” is my favourite track, especially that whole interlude/bridge section from the 3.27 mark and that riff. It reminds me of heavy metal from the 80’s.

And don’t forget the Bad Company/Led Zeppelin like intro and verse feel and groove.

But let’s talk about the section which gets the head banging and the foot moving.

The metal like interlude and bridge from the 3.27 mark. Think of the song, “Fighting For The Earth” from Warrior. That’s the song which used the riff prominently throughout, however the riff appears in so many 80’s music.

Even Bullet For My Valentine used the riff for “The Last Fight”.

But what makes the riff different in this song is the groove. Its slower, its menacing and Tremonti builds it nicely, starting off with single notes and by the end of it, he’s combining single notes and octaves, heightening the intensity.

“Hide”

It’s “My Sacrifice” part 3 and although it is derivative, it doesn’t get boring.

How good is the verse?

The drums and bass stop, and it’s just the guitar with Stapp’s vocals.

The Chorus riff reminds me of “Goodbye To Romance” from Ozzy and Randy Rhoads.

“Don’t Stop Dancing”

It has a nice little melodic lead from Tremonti, who really picks his small lead break spots to perfection.

If you haven’t heard this album get to it.

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

Australian Method Series: Riff Raiders – Rock N Roll Daydream

A Hard Rock band from Melbourne.

What a cool name.

“Rock N Roll Daydream” is album number 2. It came out in 2020 on 30th March. By that time Australia had started its COVID-19 lockdown. Their tour from February to April was halted.

Riff Raiders are powerhouse vocalist Jenni Powell, Marty Powell on guitar and production, Ross Hetherington on drums, Josh King on guitars and Ron E. Smith on bass.

Loaded Gun

As soon as the riff kicks in I was hooked. If you like the ZZ Top blues rock and you like how Jake E Lee composed the riffs on Badlands debut, you will like this song.

Stop Looking At Me

A great modern rock tune, more like Stone Temple Pilots (think “Vaseline”), Shinedown and Nu-Metal with an Aerosmith swagger. Yes, it’s possible as Riff Raiders made it possible.

Samantha Jones

It tells the true story of a fan who left a vinyl copy of their first album on a train, and the efforts Sammy J went to to get it back to him. Musically it’s hard rock.

Best Day Ever

It’s a Foo Fighters like tune and I like it.

Light

A cool rock ballad.

When I’m Dreaming

This song reminds of the power and energy of Jet merged with Queens Of The Stone Age. It’s a perfect blend.

Stepping On A Cloud

If you enjoyed that Oasis hard rock period in the 90s then you will like this one. A perfect psychedelic groove for a song about sky diving.

Standing On My Own

It’s got that AC/DC vibe and a familiar vocal melody. A perfect song for the live arena.

Sunset To Sunrise

It’s got that Led Zep III acoustic vibe. Or Whitesnake on their last few studio albums.

Shade

What a slow sleazy groove to kick it off, merging songs like “Still Got The Blues” and “She’s So Heavy“.

Check out the guitar lead. It’s got Gary Moore and Richie Blackmore influences.

A perfect closer for a worthy album that showcases there is a lot more to Australian rock than AC/DC like acts.

And you hear a lot of classic rock influences like Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick, The Beatles and Led Zep, and modern rock influences like Oasis, Foo Fighters, Shinedown and Stone Temple Pilots.

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

2001 – Part 2.5: System Of A Down – Toxicity

Guitar World (September 2001 issue): What guitarists have been most inspirational to you?

Daron Malakian: Dave Murray of Iron Maiden and Randy Rhoads. The thing about Maiden’s solos was they were melodic, tasteful and easier to play than Yngwie Malmsteen’s. But as much as I loved Randy Rhoads or Eddie Van Halen when I was young, I still never wanted to play like them. I always wanted to play like myself.

The answer made me depart with $20 for the “Toxicity” album. But System Of A Down took me a while to get into.

This band is capable of delivering whacked out but accessible instrumental passages, enormous riffs and bone shaking grooves, augmented by a vocalist with a style which is hard to describe.

“Toxicity” came out in September 2001 with Rick Rubin overseeing the production. The terror attacks couldn’t stop the album from selling and going Platinum within 2 weeks in the U.S.

In Australia, we made it 5x platinum. It was basically huge.

Let’s start with my favourites.

“Aerials”

I call it “Whisper A Prayer For The Dying” as the clean tone arpeggio riff in dropped D reminds me of the Coverdale/Page song. This familiarity made it a favourite straight away.

Hang around until the 2.30 minute mark, when that intro riff is played with power chords and Serj starts singing “Aerials, in the sky”. It’s powerful and a sing along.

Aerials in the sky
When you lose small mind
You free your life

“Toxicity”

The power of the music and the drumming.

Serj is again delivering a killer vocal.

Conversion, software version 7.0
Looking at life through the eyes of a tire hub

How can you not like it?

No one was writing shit like this.

At the 2.40 minute mark, this Iron Maiden like riff comes in, which they then jam on.

“Chop Suey”

It opens with an acoustic guitar strummed riff, then the drums come in and a Spanish flamenco like feel is created. Then the madness starts when the distortion riff kicks in.

And the verses.

WTF..

The way the vocal line is delivered, it just doesn’t make sense. Then the pre chorus kicks in and it’s all melodic and somehow it all hangs together.

But it’s a song about suicide and they are trying to capture the frantic killer thought process about putting on your make up and leaving the keys on the table.

But the outro.

Wow.

Serj is nailing those melodies and when you think he couldn’t get higher, he goes higher. And Malakian is there as well, harmonizing. At 3.27, it ends. So I pressed repeat on my CD player just to hear it again.

And now for the rest.

“Prison Song”

It’s the opening track.

It has clean tone singing, rapping, death metal growls, high pitched falsetto funk and talking. They cover so much ground with this song.

They’re trying to build a prison for you and me

The private prison system needs inmates, so there are people doing time for minor drug offenses instead of being treated for their addictions.

Serj always writes about politics and this is basically a song on the three strikes law. The three-strikes law significantly increases the prison sentences of persons convicted of a felony who have been previously been convicted.

“Needles”

I usually skip it.

Then again just listen to it, as the lyrics talk about pulling a tapeworm out of your arse.

Which Serj has explained is symbolism for releasing yourself from the toxic control of society.

Okay.

Next.

“Deer Dance”

This is what SOAD is about. Weirdness and still making it sound like a rock or metal song. At some stages it sounds like a Rammstein cut, with weird vocal lines.

Then at 1.41, this palm muted riff kicks in, and a vocal line from Serj which is catchy.

“Jet Pilot”

The way the music sounds, if you play it with clarinets and accordions, it sounds like an Eastern European folk dance.

But in this case it’s all distorted and Serj’s manic vocal line brings a crazed intensity about wiring eyes of a horse on a jet pilot while he flew over the bay.

Yes.

“X”

It’s less than 2 minutes long. Actually the majority of the songs are short. It’s like SOAD knew that streaming is on its way and having shorter songs means that you get paid more.

For example, you still the same cents if the song is 2 minutes or 4 minutes or 8 minutes long. The only difference is that 2 minute song can be played a lot more within the hour than the 4 minute or 8 minute song.

Then again they did mention that The Beatles songs structures played a huge part in condensing these songs . And if you look at the times of The Beatles songs, most are under 3 minutes.

“Bounce”

A song about a pogo stick and orgies.

And Disney had no idea on the content when they used it for the family-friendly animated film “The Secret Life of Pets”.

“Forest”

It’s got this Dio “Gates Of Babylon” vocal melody when Serj sings “Why can’t you see that you are my child / Why don’t you know that you are my mind”.

“ATWA”

It’s melodic and heavy and the vocals are chaos personified.

“Science”

The riffs in this song are excellent, hard rock like.

And the vocal melody is hypnotic, about science failing the Earth and the people and how letting the reigns go is what faith is about, not control.

Make sure you stick around to the 1.40 mark. That whole exotic feel.

“Shimmy”

It’s like classical and punk which rhymes education and fornication and indoctrination with nation.

“Psycho”

It movies between aggression and melody.

Like the lyrics which go “Psycho, groupie, cocaine, crazy”.

“Arto”

An instrumental using traditional Armenian instruments.

Check out the first three songs I mentioned and if you like then go deep and pull out that tapeworm.

\::/

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

The Record Vault: Dokken – Breaking The Chains

I didn’t get this album in 1983. I got it much later.

Dokken was introduced to me in 1986 via a dubbed VHS copy of their “Unchain the Night” video and it was a great introduction.

“Into the Fire”, “Alone Again” and “Just Got Lucky” from the “Tooth and Nail” album appeared.

“Breaking the Chains” appeared.

“The Hunter”, “In My Dreams” and “It’s Not Love” from the “Under Lock and Key” also appeared.

I was an instant fan.

At the same time, I started to buy various Guitar magazines and George Lynch was appearing.

Also in 86, a badly dubbed copy of “Heavy Metal Parking Lot” came my way and in that video, the filmmakers interviewed people before a Dokken and Judas Priest concert.

Then “Dream Warriors” came out via the “Nightmare on Elm Street 3” movie and suddenly Dokken was on my radar of bands I needed to purchase.

So my first actual purchase was the “Back For The Attack” album.

An accumulation of events via word of mouth and pirated video tapes led me to Dokken fandom.

I purchased the LP first via a used record and book store.

Breaking The Chains

Written by Lynch and Dokken.

The riff is excellent and far removed from the L.A sound that was happening at the time. But what I remember most about this song is the tacky camera angles on the chain like strings on Lynch’s guitar in the film clip, plus Don’s terrible lyrics.

“Breaking The Chains” had the title for another teen angst anthem however Don delivered very confused lyrics loosely based on heartbreak.

How can you take these lines seriously!!

Got this letter
Came today
From my baby
Who left me yesterday
Said she loves me
She’ll come back
She wants to try

But it was the 80’s and it was cool to be this tacky once upon a time.

In The Middle

Written by Lynch and Dokken.

This is more in the vein of the L.A sound. The groove of the song would feature prominently when RATT did “Lay It Down”.

In the middle
Of love

I dig the music, the vocal melodies, but not the choice of words.

Felony

Written by Lynch and Dokken.

Check out the swingy lead break.

Live To Rock (Rock To Live)

Another speed metal song. This one is written by Lynch, Croucier and Dokken.

Run out of breath
And I feel I’m moving too slow
Backwards and forwards
I don’t know which way I should go

You know the feeling. You worked hard all week and you spent so much time away from loved ones and things that you like. You get paid and nothings really paid off. Outstanding bills still remain and to top it off, your car broke down. And you ask yourself the question, “Did you live up to your promise?”

Live to rock
Rock to live
It’s all you got when
You’re down on the skids
Live to rock
Rock to live
One way or another
Survive until the end

When we purchased an album, we stayed up all night listening to it. Even though it had one good song on it. Our view was, if we gave our money, we had to get a return on our investment because we knew we didn’t have any more funds to purchase new music for at least another fortnight (if we were lucky), so we had to listen to it.

Feeling it flow through my veins
Rock will never get old

Damn right. It’s always been there in the undertow. And in some era’s it’s the raging river.

Nightrider

Musically it’s excellent, but the lyrics are stupid.

In the car, slam the door, turn the key and I’ll be free
On that highway tonight

See what I mean.

Paris Is Burning

The original studio version didn’t cut it, so a “live version” was used instead. Live is not really live, as all of the tracks get re-recorded in a studio, along with the vocals. So after some doodling by Lynch that made me want to go back in time and unplug his guitar cable, good ol’ Mick Brown blasts the song off.

I don’t get the lyrics but I love the music and the vocal melodies. I just wished they used better words for the melodies.

The first two lines in the opening verse deal with getting out of his town, sort of like “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” and then the verse finishes off with two lines about a woman who became so hard and cold. Check it out for yourself.

This town I’m in can’t take no more
Decadence and sin
You were my woman
Why’d you have to be so hard and cold

And then we are into a Chorus that again doesn’t make sense or have any logical flow.

Paris is burning
Want to see it from afar
Paris is burning
Want to get to where you are

But that was the 80’s and it was allowed.

And there are two versions available. A 1981 version with a different bass player to the 83 version and the Elektra 1983 version.

And according to Lynch, 500 copies of exist that has Don Dokken as the band name.

Then sometime in the 2000s circa 2009, I purchased the CD via a box set.

It’s a carbon copy of the vinyl album.
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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

2001 – Part 2.4: Live – V

To me it’s all just rock music in the end.

“V” is album number five, released in 2001. The band for the album is Ed Kowalczyk on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Chad Taylor on lead guitar, Patrick Dahlheimer on bass and Chad Gracey on drums. Like most of the albums, the majority of tracks are written by Ed Kowalczyk.

Wikipedia tells me that the collection of songs that became “V” was never intended to be released as an album. Guitarist Chad Taylor said, “The goal was to prepare songs for the next studio session. MCA got a hold of the material and pushed us to call it an album.” The songs were originally going to be released free to fans as a collection called “Ecstatic Fanatic”.

“Deep Enough”

One of their most creative songs. I was hooked from the intro.

It basically starts off with a music box piano riff, and then a Middle East music melody crashes in, which keeps repeating under a catchy verse vocal line which I’m pretty sure Karnivool was influenced by for the verse melody on “Themata”.

And the track was meant to be the album’s first single but the record company pulled rank and released “Simple Creed” instead which proved to be a big mistake.

Maybe they got scared from the lyrical nature of the song, about skirts rising and male appendage excitement rising with it.

“People Like You”

It feels like a Guns N Roses song from the “Use Your Illusion” album. In the Chorus, Ed even sounds like Axl.

In a dream I had you were standing all alone
With a dyin’ world below and a microphone
Singin’ hallelujah
I finally broke their mold

We take and cop so much crap as we go through life. People try to shape us to some version that they believe is true. Be unique, be free and don’t let others drag you down.

People like you! people like you! Motherfuckers like you! people like you!

It’s my favourite part of the song, when Ed sings the melody for the above lyrics and the guitar plays the octave guitar melody. And yes, he does say “motherfuckers”

“Transmit Your Love”

This track could have been an album cut on “Secret Samadhi”.

“Forever May Not Be Long Enough”

The piano riff to start the song is excellent.

It’s a co-write with Glen Ballard, who everyone wanted to work with after “Jagged Little Pill” blew up around the world in 1995.

In 1997, Aerosmith worked with him on the very underrated “Nine Lives” album and it’s the song “Taste Of India” which Ballard co-wrote with Steve Tyler and Joe Perry, that I’m reminded off when I hear this song, which was also played during the closing credits of “The Mummy Returns” movie.

“Call Me A Fool”

The Beatles influences come through on this.

“OK”

Musically, this is Live bringing the funk and soul.

Take away my TV
don’t want your fuckin’ therapy
it’s all decay decay decay
not today, not today

Kids listening to this song today, won’t even know why someone would want their TV taken away. For them, the TV is like how the radio was for others, background noise. Most of our attentions are fixated on our small black screens.

“Overcome”

It’s got a piano riff and violins to set the mood and a nice vocal melody, but the lyrics about “holy water in lungs” are way to pretentious.

“Hero of Love”

The Beatles are back again for the album closer. Listen to this song for the Chorus.

“Throwing Copper” at 8x Platinum in the U.S was never going to be topped. It was part of a cultural movement. And “Secret Samadhi” is a great album, but it only went 2x Platinum in the U.S.

No small feat, but a massive drop in commercial expectations. “The Distance To Here” is at Platinum for U.S sales. “V” has no certification, not even a Gold.

And their commercial trajectory was similar to the 80’s bands on albums four and five except Metallica who had their biggest success with album number 5.

But they still do good live business, when live shows used to happen.

Because of “Throwing Copper”.

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

2001 – Part 2.3: W.A.S.P – Unholy Terror

I felt like I was the only W.A.S.P fan around during this period. Most of my metal head friends had jumped off the W.A.S.P train after “The Headless Children” or “The Crimson Idol”. But I kept going. Actually my cousin Mega and I kept going.

“Unholy Terror” is album number nine, released in 2001 and produced by Blackie Lawless, which from reading some of the reviews online recently, people hated, as they found the production flat. But I never did have a problem with it, as most productions circa 2001 sounded like this.

The band at this time is Blackie on vocals and guitar, Chris Holmes on lead guitar, Mike Duda on bass and Stet Howland on drums. But, the album was started in February 1999 and finished at the start of 2001. So during that two year period, the band was a bit different. Which means, you get some other players.

The late Frankie Banali plays drums on “Hate To Love Me”, “Loco-Motive Man”, “Charisma”, “Raven Heart” and “Wasted White Boys”. Basically, my favourite tracks. And Roy Z plays lead guitar on “Who Slayed Baby Jane?” and “Wasted White Boys”.

But.

Chris Holmes left the band during the recording process for this album. And even though he is credited, Holmes has said in interviews he didn’t play a note on it.

Coming into this album, I didn’t like “K.F.D” and “Helldorado”.

So, I was skeptical.

In the CD booklet, Blackie writes that “this album is similar to “Headless” in some ways with the social and political references but “Unholy Terror” brings my religious upbringing into the picture”.

“Let It Roar”

It’s got that “Love Machine” vibe merged with “The Headless Children” solo section.

Come on and stand for what you believe
Oh you gotta get up on your feet
Or die on your knees
Let it Roar, cause I wanna be oh yeah

Before Kate Perry was telling people to roar, Blackie was doing it from way back.

“Hate To Love Me”

Blackie is channelling his Who and Jethro Tull influences.

“Loco-Motive Man”

It’s got that main theme from “The Crimson Idol” as its centrepiece. Think “Chainsaw Charlie” meets “Black Forever” from the “Still Not Black Enough” album. Its familiar, its flawless and I like it.

Oh God I’m coming
Read my words I’m coming
I got a gun I’m coming
You won’t hear me coming

Inspired by the recent rash of school shootings in America. Then again, it’s still relevant today. Nothing has really changed in that regard. If anything, they have gotten worse and worse.

“Unholy Terror”

Crowned messiah, I crucified him
And still ya don’t believe
I am Kings – I am queens
Unholy terrors me

It’s like a Tool song, with a repeating and percolating clean tone riff, sounding sinister as soon as Blackie’s whispered vocal line starts. As the vocal line builds in intensity, so does the guitar. And it bleeds into “Charisma” because “Unholy Terror/Charisma” is one song divided into two tracks.

“When I was writing the lyrics for “Charisma” and “Unholy Terror”, I was talking about the preconceived idea that most of us have about world figures such as entertainers, politicians or athletes that we admire.”
Blackie Lawless in the CD booklet to “Unholy Terror”.

“Charisma”

I’m hooked as soon as the John Bonham drum groove and Zeppelin like guitar groove (which reminds me of “When The Levee Breaks” merged with “Kashmir”) kick in. It’s probably one of Blackie’s best songs of the 2000’s era.

I wrap myself in the American Flag
And tell people I’m for which it stands
I’m coming back till you know I’m God
Till you believe, till you know my charisma

In the CD booklet, the first line is attributed to “Ronald Reagan” and the second line to “Richard Nixon and Al Gore”. Typical of politicians to proclaim themselves as Gods.

I’m a fear from a shadow land
I seduce you all
Here I come new messiah man
To bow to me, make me your God

In the CD booklet, these four lines are about “The Anti-Christ”.

I got them all marching to the rhythm
Believing me, oh yeah, their new religion
I’m a racist with a waving flag
Of domination with a fascist plan

These four lines are about “Adolf Hitler” which is bizarre, because if you didn’t have the CD booklet pointing that out and you heard this song for the first time in the last few years, you would attribute these to an ex U.S President that just got booted.

“Who Slayed Baby Jane?”

TELL ME NOW who slayed oh my Little Baby Jane
Rolling down the stairs
Her Little head has rolled away
Put it in my hands

This is the stuff that Alice Cooper writes. And it works in Blackie’s world as well.

“Euphoria”

It’s an instrumental.

It has this “Hold On To My Heart” feel merged with “Albatross” from Peter Green/Fleetwood Mac and “Planet Caravan” from Black Sabbath.

In the CD booklet, Blackie wrote that its “one of the greatest little tunes I’ve ever done. I love it. It’s music to get high by. Enjoy!”

“Raven Heart”

From the intro riff, which reminded me of “Schools Out”, I was hooked.

“Evermore”

It’s interchangeable with “Forever Free”. It’s actually an demo that goes back to “The Headless Children” album. The CD Booklet mentions that the song was originally titled “Circle Of Legend” and it was meant to act as a reprise to “Forever Free”.

Do the shadows of my memory
From a long ago time
Lead a path to the other lives of me
Souls of past great divides

The song is inspired by Native American Indian stories and mythology.

Who knows what kind of spirit world exists and if it does, how it all interconnects.

“Wasted White Boys”

Man, the whole W.A.S.P catalogue is in this song.

Throughout its six minutes, the song sounds like a derivative version of “Blind In Texas”, “On Your Knees”, “Dirty Balls”, “Mean Man”, “Arena Of Pleasure” and “I Am One”.

Wasted boys feeling no pain
Howl at the moon in the night
Just give me shooters and that demon cocaine
I’m the devil alright

And the outro is like “Free Bird”, with “Wild Child Holmes” allowed to spread his wings and fly on this one. Or was it Blackie wailing away or Roy Z. I guess we will never know the true story because those wasted white boys are keeping secrets.

Now if you haven’t heard W.A.S.P previously, go and checkout, “The Headless Children” and “The Crimson Idol” first. If you are a fan and liked those albums, you will like this album as well. It’s W.A.S.P or Blackie doing what they do best. Rocking out.

“The message here in this album is think for yourself, seek out answers for yourself and not be manipulated (as I was) by some guy, selling you “prepacked” beliefs whether they are religious or political (which often times go together)”.
Black Lawless in the CD Booklet to “Unholy Terror”

Crank it.

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

Australian Method Series: Lord – Undercovers, Vol 1

I dig Lord.

The band is a natural evolution from the band Dungeon, who sounded more in the power and thrash metal style. Lord is like the classic metal and rock sound I grew up with, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

We did a some shows with em back in 2010 while they were out supporting their “Set In Stone” album in our hometown of Wollongong. Otherwise known as “The Gong”.

I’ve also seen Lord live a few times opening for overseas acts and on their own run of shows.

The band is currently made up of Lord Tim on lead vocals, guitar and keyboards, Andy Dowling on bass and Mark Furtner on guitar.

“Undercovers” is a 2021 release.

This review is based on the Spotify release. To get the full version (23 songs deluxe), you need to go to Bandcamp.

To The Moon And Back

From Savage Garden.

It’s an Aussie Pop classic. Darren Hayes co-write the song and on Twitter he mentioned how there is a section of fans who like heavy metal and Savage Garden and Lord has given em, an awesome Metal version of the song.

Judas Be My Guide

From Iron Maiden.

That’s how quickly Tim can change vocal styles. From pop rock to Bruce Dickinson.

“Fear Of The Dark” album was maligned for sounding too hard rock but I disagree. To me, it sounded like Iron Maiden.

Send Me An Angel

From Real Life.

There is an 80s like synth as the main riff that makes me think of “Sweet Dreams” from Eurythmics.

I remember this from the “Rad” soundtrack.

Shattered

From Pantera.

This song was Pantera doing Judas Priest on their major label debut. Even Anslemo’s vocals mirrored Rob Halford.

Well Lord Tim is an unbelievable vocalist, so his Halford vocal style was all on show to be heard.

Hard To Love

Readers of this blog know that I have a lot of time for Harem Scarem and their underrated and excellent guitarist Pete Lesperance.

This song is from their debut and Lord don’t mess with perfection much, nailing every part of the song musically and vocally.

(I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight

Lord Tim passes the vocal duties to bass player, Andy Dowling.

This song is from Cutting Crew.

I always liked the melodic rock overtones of this song and I still like it to this day.

Reckless

From Judas Priest and the much maligned “Turbo” album.

But.

I like the “Turbo” album. And this version is as powerful as the original with a modern mix. If you like Judas Priest you would want to hear this.

I Want Out (Live)

From Helloween.

It’s faster and energetic. They always delivered in the live arena.

Touch The Fire

From Icehouse.

It’s an Aussie classic and Lord make it a melodic rock classic.

Break The Ice

From John Farnham.

This is an excellent cover of Farnham’s melodic rock era when he was cashing in and singing songs for 80s movies. Before “You’re The Voice” took over the charts around the world.

This song is also from the “Rad” soundtrack.

On A Night Like This

From Kylie Minogue.

Check out the hilarious piss take video clip on YouTube.

Bassist Andy Dowling also has a podcast running called “Nod to the Old School”. Here is the Spotify link.

Finally if you like your 80s hard rock and heavy metal than Lord’s music is waiting for you to invest some time.

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2001 – Part 2.2: Savatage – Poets And Madmen

I grew up with “Gutter Ballet” and “Streets”. I owned those albums and I played em like I owned em.

Constantly.

My cousin Mega, was also a fan. He’s older than me by 4 years and had more cash, so he had “Hall Of The Mountain King”, “Edge Of Thorns”, “Handful Of Rain”, “The Wake Of Magellan” and “Dead Winter Dead”. Of course, my trusty TDK tapes didn’t fail me in copying those albums, until the time came when I had the dollars to buy em myself.

From a vocal style point of view, I didn’t mind Jon Oliva or Zachary Stevens. Both offered different styles. But I was heaps bummed when Criss Oliva died in a head on car crash with a drunk driver. His guitar playing was and still is, inspirational. His work on the “Gutter Ballet” album is up there for me.

“Poets and Madmen” was hard to get in Australia. Released in 2001, there wasn’t a lot of brick and mortar shops looking to import Savatage and zero distributors to release it locally. So studio album number 11 remained elusive. It didn’t help matters that Atlantic Records dropped them and their German label was still seen as an “IMPORT” label in Australia. But Mega was always resourceful and he got it, albeit a few years later. He called to tell me about it, but by then, I also had a copy of it, via AudioGalaxy.

The album had a last minute concept added, inspired by the career and death of South African photographer Kevin Carter, who committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning, a few months after winning the Pulitzer Prize for his “The Vulture and the Little Girl” photo, of a frail famine stricken child, who had collapsed on the ground with a vulture in the background, waiting. This photo also caused an uproar about the ethics of photographers.

Is the shot more important than the welfare of a child?

“Stay With Me Awhile”

The outro lead break by Al Pitrelli (who actually left the band to join Megadeth) reminds me of “Empty Rooms” from Gary Moore.

“There In The Silence”

An 80’s like synth lead kicks off the song, before a foot stomping groove kicks in.

The lead break here from Chris Caffery is guitar hero worthy

“Commissar”

The symphonic elements to kick off the song are excellent.

Then it goes into an Iron Maiden like riff while Oliva delivers a schizophrenic King Diamond like vocal.

And the lead breaks are excellent. The first part of the main solo and the outro is Al Pitrelli and the others are Caffery.

“Morphine Child”

One of my favourite riffs. Its foot stomping, head banging heavy metal. It reminds me of classic Savatage, even “Handful Of Rain” is in this song.

The main solo is Al Pitrelli and its one of those special album songs which has the multi-layered counterpoint vocals.

They sort of go something like this.

There is a bunch of voices repeating one word, another group of voices repeating a different melody, another group of voices doing something else and another group doing something different and blended in they all seem to work.

They started this kind of counterpoint vocal arrangement with “Chance” on the “Edge Of Thorns” album, when Zachary Stevens was the singer. In order to pull it off for this album, three other singers came in.

“The Rumour”

The main solo is Al Pitrelli. I had to mention it.

“Surrender”

It’s a haunting piano riff and vocal kicks it off, before the metal comes. The lead break from Caffery has some massive sweeps happening,

“Back To A Reason”

The first two minutes and twenty seconds is country rock awesomeness as a piano like Free Bird. Then it changes like Jekyll and Hyde, similar to “New York City, Don’t Mean Nothing”. And if there is a fault of the album is that all of the songs move between these kind of moods all too regularly.

The by-product of Savatage existing is Trans-Siberian Orchestra. And that project had just started to play to a lot of people, so clearly the inspiration for Savatage was not there while Oliva and O’Neill started to focus on TSO.

And with this album, Savatage signed off.

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The Record Vault: Dokken – Back In The Streets

“Back in the Streets” is a bootleg released in 1989 by a German label who had apparently stolen the demos from Don Dokken back in the day.

Well that demo must have been found because these recordings also ended up on “The Lost Tapes”.

While the songs are written by Don and George Lynch, only Don plays on this album along with drummer Gary Holland at far left, and guitarist Greg Leon second from the left, both former members of the band “Suite 19”. At far right is bassist Gary Link.

But the band members mentioned on the back gives the buyer an impression that George Lynch, Mick Brown and Juan Croucier are actually playing on it.

But there not.

In the bottom writings there is a line which states; “Reminder to Don Dokken for not returning Thomas’ vintage 100 W 4 x 12 Marshall Cab”.

Maybe this is why the EP bootleg was released, as a F.U to Don Dokken?

Even though the band, Dokken had broken up at this point, people were still interested in their music and like me, purchased this as soon as it hit the streets.

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The Record Vault: Chimaira – The Dehumanizing Process

“And the minute you get a record deal, all the fun is stripped away. You start analyzing music in a different way. You don’t listen to it for the enjoyment of listening to it, you don’t play it for the enjoyment of playing it”.

“They (the record label reps) will call you up and say, “hey did you hear this new record, maybe you should write a song like it.”

That’s the way “The Dehumanizing Process” documentary starts off.

I was in a band between 1999 and 2005. The singer/guitarist of that band was into the whole Groove metal scene and he burned me the “The Impossibility Of Reason” album which is covered here in the documentary.

And it’s the only thing I own from Chimaira.

The DVD package has the excellent 90 minute documentary, a live concert, the band’s music videos (up to 2004) and a nine track CD, called “This Present Darkness” which is the bands 1999 independent album.

The band went on to sign with Roadrunner Records and released the “Pass out of Existence” album in 2001. It sold okay and they got another chance from Roadrunner Records to do another album.

All the band members were really unhappy with their last album “Pass Out Of Existence” as it was a Nu-Metal album they were pressured to make.

“The Impossibility of Reason” came out in 2003 and you get to see the ending of one journey and the start of a new one in the 90 minutes documentary. Even if you don’t like the band the documentary is worth watching and it’s detailed.

By sticking to their guns and telling the label to get stuffed, Chimaira delivered a career defining album.

The live show is from the tour, filmed in Holland. Watch it, just for the “Wall Of Death”.

The band would do one more Roadrunner album in 2005. Then they got dropped. Signing to different labels, they kept releasing albums up to 2013. And the line up was always evolving with vocalist Mark Hunter the only original member left at the time.

But in 2017, the original band members returned for a few reunion shows and at the moment they are looking at doing a few more.

In between, vocalist Mark Hunter became a journalist for various metal mags and his social media accounts are very active with his views on the music industry and other opinions.

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