BB Steal was Australia’s entry for world domination in the hard rock movement. But did the world need a new Def Leppard.
Their association with the band wasn’t just inspiration. They opened up for Def Leppard during the “Adrenalize” Tour and Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen produced the title song on their “Heartbeat Away” EP and co-produced their first full-length album “On The Edge”, which also features a version of the song “Heartbeat Away”. Collen also played some guitar and sang backing vocals on the album, but is not credited.
BB Steal (otherwise known as Beg Borrow Steal) was spawned from the NWOBHM sounding “Boss” band. In typical Australian hard rock fashion, they lived in development EP hell for at least 4 years before the album came out. 4 years is a long time in the music and recording industry.
And the album definitely racked up the bills as recording took place in Los Angeles and Montreal with various engineers and studio players.
Formed in 1987, they released the 4 song EP “Heartbeat Away” in 1988. The title track of this EP set the tone for the sound and feel the band would pursue. The Def Leppard “Hysteria” album sound.
So, “On The Edge” was released in 1991. It’s one of those should have and would have and could have stories. It should have done better commercially, and it would have if Grunge didn’t come, and it could have done great numbers if it came out a few years earlier.
If you love Def Leppard then you will love BB Steal. Critics praised em and also drilled em, calling em a poor version of Def Leppard. But the band was a lot more than the Def Leppard comparisons.
“On The Edge (Lizzy Town)” has this “Led Zeppelin III” acoustic vibe before it moves into a Def Leppard like groove and vocal.
“Big On Love” is probably the best song not written by Def Leppard that sounds like it belonged on “Hysteria”. At one stage I thought it was “Animal”.
Then “Hysteria” starts. Wait, it’s called “Ride On”. They are similar but derivative enough to stand on its own.
“Suffer In Silence” is another track which is very Def Leppard like.
“Live It Up” has a guitar intro that could have come from a Van Halen album, before it goes into an AC/DC like groove. The vocals of Craig Csongrady on this album are just too much like Joe Elliot, in the same way that Marc Storace from Krokus was too much like Bon Scott.
“Shot Full Of Love” feels like a cut from Babylon AD. “Precious Love” has that “Stand Up” vibe.
“Don’t You Love Me and Leave Me” is an AC/DC song musically, with a bit of The Cult added in vocally and musically.
“Heartbeat Away” is from the Phil Collen produced EP, released in 1988 and “Troubled Child” closes the album, with a Journey like feel musically and a Joe Elliot like vocal.
In the 2019, re-issue, it comes with three songs from the original 1988 EP in “I Believe” (very Journey like), “Hold On” (has a guitar hero solo moment) and “Heartbeat Away” (the Phil Collen produced and the song which set the stone for the album to come a few years after).
And when the album did nothing commercially, the band disappeared along with thousands of other hard rock bands.
But in 2012, they returned with a new album called “Resurrection”. But that’s for another day and another “Australian Method Series” post.
When I did the previous record vault post for “No World For Tomorrow” I did mention that I didn’t have the CD anymore. So I went searching at the usual local sellers but found one on eBay.
How good is the artwork by Ken Kelly, who also created the artwork for “Love Gun” and “Destroyer” by Kiss.
Here is the Holiday 2007, Guitar World issue and article that got me to commit and check out the music of Coheed and Cambria.
Coming into the “No World For Tomorrow” recording cycle, the band was down to two with drummer Josh Eppard and bassist Michael Todd exiting due to the familiar story of drugs and dysfunctionality within rock and roll bands. Claudio Sanchez and Travis Steer remained. And for the first time, they really collaborated together.
With an uncertain future, the manager of Sanchez put him into contact with two songwriters in Sam Hollander and Dave Katz, and together they came up with a pair of songs for Hollywood. The songs “Running Free” and “The Road And The Damned” were written for the soundtracks of “Transformers” and “Ghost Rider”. But they didn’t get picked. Instead they provided the spark for the album.
“The Running Free” is described as “uplifting with its U2-esque chorus” and it even became the albums leadoff single. Sanchez further mentions that “even though this is a dark album and all hell is about to break loose, there is still hope. At the other side of the tunnel there is a light. And I feel “Running Free” expresses that.”
So Sanchez and Steer decided to keep the band alive. Rick Rubin had just joined Sony/Columbia and he became the album’s A&R supervisor, like how John Kalodner was listed as the same on so many albums in the 80’s and early 90’s.
The band had their previous albums produced by Chris Bittner and Michael Birnbaum, however that relationship turned sour, so Rubin hooked em up with Nick Raskulinecz. Since Raskulinecz worked with Foo Fighters, he brought in Taylor Hawkins to drum. Meanwhile bassist Michael Todd came back into the fold, clean and sober, however he would depart again a few years later after he was arrested for break and enter. The song “Domino The Destitute” from “The Afterman” releases is about Michael Todd.
After the album was done, Chris Pennie from “Dillinger Escape Plan” joined as the permanent drummer. He kept this role for the next album, “Year Of The Black Rainbow” and then was replaced by Eppard, who returned for “The Afterman” releases and he’s been there since.
The guitar riff in “Mother Superior” is now known as the guitar riff, but it was written on a synth/piano first. The whole song was synth heavy until Raskulinecz advised them to make the rhythm guitar progression the main focus. This is what Sanchez said about it, “I wrote the song on synthesizer, but on the finished version, the synth doesn’t show its face until halfway through the second verse. It emulates a Mellotron and has a “Strawberry Fields Forever” vibe. This was one of those songs where I wanted to take it from a different perspective and see how a keyboard could ultimately dictate what I would play on the guitar. So on the finished track, the guitar jumps around, just like the original keyboard part did.
Coheed and Cambria were back in the Amory Wars universe when they announced the 5 part Vaxis series.
This is Act 1.
Otherwise known as “Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures”, the ninth album, released on October 5, 2018.
As soon as it was announced, I was interested and Pre-Ordered the limited edition deluxe box set which includes an 80+ page hardcover, full color book with custom illustrations and complete ACT I story.
The Book also houses the CD of “The Unheavenly Creatures” as well as the exclusive BONUS CD, “The Crown Heights Demos”.
The box set also includes a replica Creature mask, a fold out poster of the cover art, the usual VIP/Black Card which allows card holders early access to tickets and early entry to Coheed and Cambria headline shows.
And the pre order also came with access to a digital site to download the album and the demos on release day.
So, the story.
Set sometime after the events of “No World for Tomorrow”, (their 2007 album, as the three subsequent albums were all prequels), the planets that formally made up Heaven’s Fence are scarred and cracked after an event known as “The Great Crash.”
A group of elites known as the Five Houses of the Star Supremacy have converted these worlds into prison planets, with one planet being called The Dark Sentencer.
The album tells the tale of two new characters, Sister Spider and Creature as they struggle with being imprisoned on The Dark Sentencer and fight to secure the safety of their unborn son, Vaxis.
At 78 minutes, it’s a monster of an album.
The album opens as usual, with a short music and spoken intro called “Prologue”. The voice over talks about “the five houses”, “the planet prisons”, and “a love story”. And the voice ends the narrative with, “It begins with them, but ends with me, their son, Vaxis.”
Then the “Domino The Destitute” inspired riff kicks off “The Dark Sentencer”. You get the big chants like a prison riot is taking place, the big rock riffs and the progressive feel of the arrangement. Like all Coheed albums, song number 2 is the epic.
The title track “Unheavenly Creatures” has a riff that sounds like it was written on the TonePad app. When the guitars come crashing in, it’s major key pop rock.
I like how Coheed always makes riffs in a major key sound heavy, like in “Toys”. If anything it could have come from the fingertips of Mark Tremonti.
The spirit of “Mother Superior” is evident on “Black Sunday”.
“Queen Of The Dark” starts off with a sad piano riff and then a digital delay strummed riff comes in before the window shattering drum groove sets the mood and tone.
“True Ugly” feels like a power pop punk song, full of melody and aggression.
“Love Protocol” has an arena rock Chorus that needs to be heard.
“The Pavilion (A Long Way Back)” has a simple palm muted arpeggio guitar riff and a drum groove that demands attention. It’s one of the best songs on the album and it was the first song written for the album.
“Night-Time Walkers” feels like a “Halloween” or “Escape From New York” soundtrack in the intro. Or a scene from “Stranger Things”. Then the crunching guitars kick in and the drumming becomes more dominant before it moves into a massive Chorus.
“The Gutter” could have come from “A Night at the Opera”. And how good are the violins in this song.
“All On Fire” feels like “No World For Tomorrow”.
“It Walks Amongst Us” has this Middle Eastern exotic soundscape to start off, before it moves into a metal like riff that is played with an 80s keyboard synth sound.
“Old Flames”, is the second last track, and it’s a massive song. You can see it in the same way that the second last episode of each season of “Game Of Thrones” was the biggie.
This feels like classic rock as a piano starts it, before the Cheap Trick like riff kicks in and a massive Arena rock Chorus.
The whole “Naa / Na na na na na-ah” feels like a Cheap Trick song. Even My Chemical Romance have sections like this. As the guitars and drums end, the piano riff starts and it’s the “Prologue” riff.
“Lucky Stars” is an acoustic number that closes the record. It’s like the aftermath. Make sure you stick around for the Clapton like lead break.
And the guys toured hard on this album and now we wait for “Act 2”, in between Claudio’s side project The Prize Fighter Inferno, named after a character in the Amory Wars story.
Without even realizing, it’s a special U.K edition.
Bush – Razorblade Suitcase
I got this album a few years after it came out on cassette tape, via a 3 for $10 bin, so it was a no brainer.
Gavin Rossdale got a lot of crap from journalists and critics.
Like he was too handsome to be considered grunge but then he’s labelled a Nirvana clone. And when the debut album sold in the multi-millions, the band was labelled as slick rock.
He got worse treatment in his homeland. As the U.K ignored them initially, Bush landed a U.S deal and became successful in the North American market first before their album was released in their home country.
He mentioned that Pixies are an influence, and the press called him a Kurt Cobain poseur as Cobain also said that the Pixies are a massive influence. So he said “fuck it”.
“Swallowed” is the lead single. My favorite on the album.
“Greedy Fly” is basically an artist writing a song, without a thought of it being a hit. And somehow it gets released as a single and it’s seen as a hit.
“Cold Contagious” has a cool drum groove, with the guitars decorating the song in a nice way, as Rossdale is singing, “you will get yours” with the volume and intensity increasing. And at six minutes long, it’s the anti-single, but it still got released as a single.
And the band toured for 14 months to promote the album. In the process they moved 6 million copies of the album in the U.S alone.
But with every peak, there is a valley waiting below.
A fight with the label delayed “The Science Of Things” and when the album came out, their sound was suddenly seen as “old” by the press, in the same way that hard rock became old circa 1991/92.
Deep Purple – Purpendicular
It’s not on Spotify but YouTube has it. It’s ridiculous why some albums are missing from digital services.
“Purpendicular” is the fifteenth studio album. It is their first album with guitarist Steve Morse. His injection was seen a breath of fresh air.
“Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic”
The blues boogie is excellent and the Mixolydian lead break from Steve Morse is guitar hero worthy.
What a way to introduce yourself to the Purple fans.
“Loosen My Strings”
Arpeggios kick off the song, but its Roger Glover’s bass line that takes this song to a new level and then Morse starts to play a distorted chord riff which complements the bass riff.
The riff before the lead break is excellent, but make sure you check out the lead break and the outro lead break, which sounds like a Boston outro, ala “Don’t Look Back”.
“Soon Forgotten”
It’s a strange song, with a riff that sounds a little bit exotic and a bizarre staccato like vocal melody on top of it. The organ work on this track is stunning and you are reminded why Jon Lord is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.
“Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming”
The intro guitar from Morse is haunting and sad. He then plays this melodic lead in between the verses which is memorable.
The guitar solo is amazing.
It’s one of their best and should be known with their classic songs.
Did I mention that the guitar solo is amazing?
It is.
Do yourself a favour, check it out and start playing air guitar to it.
And did I mention there is an outro guitar solo as well?
There is. So check that one out as well. In other words, Steve Morse rules on this track.
“Cascades: I’m Not Your Lover”
The churchy organs of Jon Lord kick it off, while Steve Morse plays a bendy melodic lead, before it takes a left turn and a U-turn and becomes a hard rock song with a “Highway Star” like vibe.
The guitar/organ harmony solo from 2.15 to 3.15 is one of the great moments on this album as Lord/Morse go to town playing arpeggios, in a similar way that Lord and Blackmore did for “Burn”, just a lot faster.
“The Aviator”
Morse brings out the country and folk influences to create a major key “good vibes” medieval arrangement. Make sure you check out “Highland Wedding” from Steve Morse’s “High Tension Wires” from 1989 as Morse has been dabbling with these kind of melodies previously.
“A Castle Full of Rascals”
The beginning sounds like a cross between ELP and Led Zeppelin in the blues rock vein.
And the song changes at 1.58 mark with a bass groove, lush keys and a progressive like vocal melody. Morse at first is playing single note lines before crashing in with power chords and distorted single notes, paving the way for Jon Lord and his Hammond Organ solo.
“A Touch Away”
It’s got that feel good 70’s progressive vibe.
“Hey Cisco”
It sounds like “Hit The Road Jack” on steroids. Hell, it could have come from a Van Halen album. Make sure you stick around for the guitar and organ harmonies from about 4.08 and then Morse breaks loose with his fast alternate picked Mixolydian lines.
“Somebody Stole My Guitar”
What a riff to introduce the song. It grooves, its heavy and bluesy. I haven’t mentioned the swing and soul feel of Ian Paice yet, but man, this dude can play.
At the 2 minute mark, Morse starts this palm muted arpeggio riff, while Lord plays these Organ chords before Morse launches into the solo, while Lord plays the palm muted arpeggio riff on the Organ.
Brilliant.
“The Purpendicular Waltz”
It’s a blues shuffle built around a cool groove and a great closer to the album.
For all the debate about Blackmore and Morse, forget it.
Listen without prejudice.
Bruce Dickinson – Skunkworks
I didn’t like this album when I first heard it. And it stayed on the shelf for a long time before I pulled it out and re-listened. I still didn’t like it and back on the shelf it went. But over the last 8 years, the album has taken a life on its own.
I didn’t get it back then, but goddamn this album sounds progressive. The cover design from Storm Thorgerson (RIP) should have been an indication of its progressive intentions, but it escaped me.
It was meant to be a band album but the label wouldn’t release it under anything except Bruce Dickinson. Jack Endino a Seattle producer who worked on Nirvana’s “Bleach” is producing. The sound is like an amalgamation of 80’s Rush with alternative rock and metal.
And I’ve never heard of Alex Dickson again after this album but he does a stellar job on the guitar and as a co-writer on all the songs. But as Rod Smallwood said, “Bruce Dickinson is a heavy metal singer and that will never change”. His attempt to shake off the image of his Maiden past was futile.
“Back From The Edge” has double time drumming over a jangly chord progression, but it’s the bridge and solo section which gets me interested.
“Inertia” could have come from any Maiden album, past or future.
How good is the riff to kick off “Faith”?
At times I feel like I am listening to a Dream Theater cut from the “Falling Into Infinity” album with this song.
Make sure you check out the solo section.
“Dreamstate” in the verses sounds like a Nirvana cut. Yes, that’s right folks, Bruce is channeling Cobain.
How good is “I Will Not Accept The Truth”. Listen to the repeating arpeggios in the verses. Sinister and melodic in the same breadth.
The whole mood and groove in the interlude/solo section of “Strange Death In Paradise” while Dickinson sings the title is a must listen for any Dickinson fan.
In the end, unless you were interested in what Dickinson was up to, there was nothing really here to get you to commit. Then again, the 90’s was an interesting time for 80’s artists and the fans of those artists.
“When we were 15 or 16 we were playing covers – not so much grunge, which was very much what was happening at the time.
We were more into The Band and an Australian band called You Am I, and a band called Sloan from Canada, which were a huge influence.” Nic Cester – Interview in the Songwriting Magazine
The debut album “Get Born” released in 2003 went nuts everywhere. In Australia, it’s six times platinum. The songs reminded everyone of other songs that came before and of an era that was seen as innocent and golden.
Every great riff or drum beat was put into the Jet blender.
“Are You Gonna Be My Girl” became even bigger when it got used by Apple for its iPod ads. When people started to talk about its originality and influences, it became even bigger.
The follow up, “Shine On” released in 2006, is a favourite of mine, even though it didn’t do great numbers commercially like the debut. In Australia, it’s certified platinum, but the press outside Australia was scathing, having them labelled as one hit wonders already. Wolfmother copped the same treatment.
And once the tour finished, the band members went their separate ways. No one spoke to each other for 9 months. They eventually organised to meet at Nic Cester’s place in Italy. They yelled and screamed at each other and made up. Without any label interest, they produced and financed their next album.
“Shaka Rock” came out in 2009. Australian fans certified this album Platinum. To a lot of people, it’s still virtually unknown.
“Shaka” is basically a hand gesture in which the thumb and little finger are extended outwards from a closed fist, used to express approval, solidarity, etc.
“K.I.A” has the bass dominating with a Rage Against The Machine like groove. And vocally, Nic Cester wails and barks his way through the verses while singing his way through the Chorus.
“Beat On Repeat” sounds like a song from The Clash. It’s got that pop punk vibe.
“She’s A Genius” brings a riff which is reminiscent to “My Sharona” from The Knack. “Ain’t My Bitch” from Metallica also had a riff groove like “My Sharona”.
The origins of the riff goes back all the way to 1966 and The Spencer Davis Group with their song, “Gimme Some Lovin”.
“Black Hearts (On Fire)” brings a Molly Hatchett Southern Blues Rock boogie.
The opening bars of “Seventeen” remind me of “Fantasy” from Aldo Nova and “Cold As Ice” from Foreigner.
The Beatles like intro to “La Di Da” is familiar.
“Goodbye Hollywood” has this U2 like vocal as Cester says goodbye to the addictions that came with his fame.
“It just didn’t fit me like it should”
“Walk” has this “Come Together” like swagger.
“Times Like This” is “Long Train Running” from The Doobie Brothers and I like it.
“Let Me Out” has this “Jessie’s Girl”, “My Best Friends Girlfriend” and a bit of “Born To Run” chucked in. Take those little influences and create something new.
“Start the Show” sounds like “Supergrass” making love to “T.Rex” with a little bit of “Cold Chisel” thrown in.
And the final song, “She Holds a Grudge”, is very Rolling Stones ballad like.
The whole album is so easy to listen to and at 41 minutes, it just rolls and rocks.
After “Shaka Rock” and the tour, the band went on hiatus or in their own words, “discontinued as a group”.
Until 2017.
When they reformed for some one off shows and opening gigs for Bruce Springsteen.
And they then played sold out shows around Australia in 2018 and released the album “Get Born Live”.
In 2008, Coheed and Cambria did a run of live shows called “Neverender”.
“Neverender” was basically a four-night concert series. It took place in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and London, and consisted of one of the band’s four studio albums (at that time) being played in full each night.
On the first night, they played “The Second Stage Turbine Blade”. On the second night, they played “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3”. On the third night, they played “Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness” and on the fourth night they played “Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World For Tomorrow”.
Each night also had a different encore made up of some songs from the other albums and different medleys that involved an excellent cover of “The Trooper” from Iron Maiden.
In 2009, they released “Neverender: Children of the Fence Edition” a live CD/DVD box set. It contains five DVDs and four CDs featuring live footage of the concert from each night. In addition, a fifth disc features a documentary of the concert series. As far as I’m aware only 15,000 copies of these exist worldwide.
The version that I have is just two DVD’s.
This live release sits between “No World For Tomorrow” released in 2007 and “Year Of The Black Rainbow” released in 2010.
The live version of “Mother Superior” on this is excellent. They captured magic in a bottle here.
They way it starts off with the piano backing track and then Claudio comes in with the riff and it’s just him taking centre stage. Then as he sings the Chorus, the haunting backing vocals come in and then the band.
And the “Neverender” concept is still alive, with the band doing a run of shows to celebrate the anniversary of the albums in question.
For example, in 2011, they did a tour called “Neverender SSTB (2011)” to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their debut album, “The Second Stage Turbine Blade”. And the concept has kept going every two years in 2013, 2015, 2017 and this year, they are doing a “S.S. Neverender Cruise” show.
It would have been easy to write about the debut album which came out in 2005.
But.
How do you follow up the debut album that took a whole lifetime to write and achieved 5x Platinum certification in Australia and Gold certifications in the North American market?
That was the question facing Andrew Stockdale, Chris Ross and Myles Heskett.
But something happened within the band, as in August 2008, Ross and Heskett left. Replaced by others who I can’t even remember.
Did it matter if the original guys left?
Stockdale wrote the songs and he’s still there.
“Cosmic Egg” came out in 2009. The debut album gave the band a 4 year victory lap.
But.
Sales of the album didn’t get anywhere near the debut album even though the album was critically acclaimed. And the album does have some kick ass songs.
I overdosed on “Sundial”.
It’s the best track on the album.
A Sabbath/Hendrix like riff all fuzzed up with the wah on starts it all off and then the Chorus chords ring out while a single note piano lead plays.
And now it seems no time at all The sundial wonders How could you see nothing at all? The sundial wonders on
Its probably the best Chorus that didn’t appear on an Ozzy album.
Make sure you crank it.
“In The Morning” sounds like a Zeppelin cut musically and a Beatles cut vocally.
“10,000 Feet” is a foot stomper.
“Cosmic Egg” has the foundations of “Roadhouse Blues”.
“Pilgrim” has that “let’s hit the road Jack ain’t gonna come back no more” vibe.
And then there is the closer.
“Violence Of The Sun” is a favourite.
It has a lot of psychedelic rock vibes with the roto-organ as it percolates for the first 3 minutes until the distortion chords explode for the 3 minute outro as Stockdale does a lot of ohhhs and ahhs outlining a haunting vocal melody.
And when you think that’s it, a guitar lead starts that mimics the vocal melody.
The Evergrey – “In Search Of Truth” post, the Muse – “Origin Of Symmetry” by post and the Machine Head – “Supercharger” post were meant to be part of one 2001 – Part 1 post, however after I finished writing those posts they had a lot of words in there to be part of one, so they ended up as separate posts.
This post is 1.4 and the upcoming Ozzy post will be 1.5.
Megadeth – The World Needs A New Hero
I was excited for this album as I am a fan of Al Pitrelli. I like his work with Widowmaker, his session and song writing work with Alice Copper (plus touring), Y&T, Savatage, Danger Danger, TSO and many more. Plus in the few interviews he had in the guitar magazines, he shares a wealth of information about soloing and modes and what not.
“The World Needs a Hero” is the ninth studio album and a return to the metal and sometimes thrash of Megadeth between the “Countdown To Extinction” to “Cryptic Writings” era.
And to understand this album, you need to understand what a commercial disappointment “Risk” was in 1999 and how it eventually led to the departure of Marty Friedman and Nick Menza.
And it’s their first album on Sanctuary after they parted ways from Capitol Records with cover art by Hugh Syme.
Drummer Jimmy DeGrasso also features on this and the usual two Dave’s, but in this case, this would be the last album Ellefson would feature on until 2010. It was DeGrasso who actually recommended Pitrelli to Mustaine.
“Disconnect”
The intro riff reminds of “Trust”.
I like the interlude when it’s just bass and chords ringing out and then the lead break from Pitrelli starts. And I played air guitar to every note.
Lyrically the song deals with living a double life between the person we portray to people which is very different to the person’s inner thoughts or even Google search history.
“The World Needs a Hero”
If it’s a musical hero, a techie hero, a sporting hero, an author, a politician, whatever. We all need someone to look up to, to aspire to be like. Sometimes it’s a parent, a brother or a sister or another family member. It’s not my favourite song but I do like the title.
“Moto Psycho”
This song is about people who commute to work every day and spend a lot of time on the road.
In between 1997 and to the end of 2000, I drove 80 minutes to get to work and 80 minutes to get home. Then I changed jobs and commuted via a train, which took me 90 minutes to get to work and 90 minutes to get home.
Do the math.
160 to 180 minutes a day on travelling. That’s 800 to 900 minutes a week travelling. 41600 to 46800 hours in the year wasted on the road building someone else’s dream instead of my own.
“1000 Times Goodbye”
The intro riff is enough to hook me in. And then the drums come in, building the section until the verses explode.
And for some reason it keeps reminding me of “Tornado Of Souls”.
From about 3.57, the solo section begins. And after Mustaine says “you suck”, Pitrelli takes over for another guitar hero moment.
Check it out.
“Burning Bridges”
Check out the harmonized guitar riff in the Chorus.
“Promises”
The acoustic riff reminds me of “Dream On”. The violins make it haunting.
The song is about relationships that can’t be together in this life because of religion or social norms.
“Recipe for Hate… Warhorse”
It’s fast Intro gives way to a bass riff and spoken verse. And it’s a weird song with flamenco inspired passages. More like MegaZappa than Megadeth.
“Losing My Senses”
No one likes it when people speak the truth and that’s how this song starts off.
Check out the main riff. It puts all those alternate metal acts to shame.
Or the “When The Levee Breaks” inspired solo section which gets Pitrelli soloing with a Middle Eastern vibe.
“Dread and the Fugitive Mind”
My favorite song on the album. Especially the “what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine” section.
And don’t forget the whole interlude build up into the Pitrelli solo section.
“Silent Scorn”
An instrumental which gets played over the sound system at concerts.
“Return to Hangar”
The sequel to “Hangar 18” as the captive aliens from the first song escape and kill their captors. When I saw the band live, they played both songs back to back.
Make sure you check out the harmony lead break.
“When”
The main riff and structure of “When”, is reminiscent of “Am I Evil?” by Diamond Head, which Mustaine said was intentional.
After this album, the band was ended as Mustaine had to deal with a career ending arm injury. Then once he resurrected Megadeth, he had to deal with lawsuits from former members. But that story is for another day.
The album came out in 2015 and it’s the only non-conceptual album the band has released and easily there most accessible. Then again, with each release their old emo hard-core and metal roots got less and less as some prog rock influences came in and then classic rock.
I got the limited edition, deluxe box set which includes two CDs, the album and a disc of demo tracks, plus two hardcover books, one featuring album lyrics and artwork and another featuring a “behind-the-scenes look” of the album’s creative process, plus an in-studio DVD, and a clear 7-inch record of unreleased demo tracks.
I also got a custom house key, a lapel pin, a certificate of authenticity; as well as exclusive, members-only access to new music, videos, concert tickets, merchandise and commentary from the band to a special website that requires a log in and all that.
“Island”
The acoustic single note riff to kick off “Island” is addictive. It reminds me of Rush and “The Spirit Of Radio”(not because the riffs sound the same, but because of its feel) and then a riff which reminds me of “Jessie’s Girl” kicks in with the same single note riff in distorted played over it. It’s upbeat and poppy, but lyrically the song deals with doubt and about “getting off the island”, in which this case the island is a metaphor for the comfort zone of our lives or the war we have within our head about starting something new or staying with the old.
I live inside this head, and I’m at war Hero and villain, Same type, keeping score
“Eraser”
It has a groovy bass played in the verses and drums which dominate.
Oh Middle age, bring me a crisis What am I worth, does the truth hurt?
Yes what are we worth and what are our lives worth. There’s nothing like age to get you reassessing and re-evaluating. In this case, Claudio wants the clocks to be turned back to the way things were.
I’ve been nostalgic recently, maybe because I am watching “Sopranos”, but when I think to turning the clocks back to the past, it might sound exciting, but I don’t want to live in a world with a few channels, no internet or slow dial up internet and listening to music based on purchases instead of leasing.
“Colors”
I lost myself along the way Restless nights mixed with purposeless days Counting forward, taking steps To a better man, the one you can live with
The song deals with changes like selling a house, moving to a new house and spending time away from family. And until you get settled again, it takes weeks maybe months before you make sense of it all.
“Here To Mars”
It’s in the stars And you’re my everything from here to Mars
A very upbeat love song from Claudio to his wife Chondra, like “Blood Red Summer” upbeat.
Make sure you check out the interlude section from 2.18 to 3.02 as it builds up into the Chorus again as Claudio sings, “I will never let you go”.
“Ghost”
The acoustic guitar riff keeps repeating like a metronomic grandfather clock. The song is simple, as Claudio’s vocal harmonies carry the song.
“Atlas”
That you’re the weight of his anchor, The love that is guiding him home,
Written for Claudio and Chondra’s son, Atlas.
“Young Love”
The song is an apology to The Big Beige, Claudio’s old house in New York. And for those fans who always wondered why the demo releases are called the “Big Beige” versions, well it’s because he did them at home.
I like the repeating guitar lick.
“We leave for the coast/In the wrong hands/You where bruised, disposed”
I like the ending, as at it transitions into “You Got Spirit, Kid”.
“You Got Spirit, Kid”
It’s the first single released for “The Color Before The Sun”.
The plastic king of castle polyethylene Go on, time to be a good little pig
‘Cause when the rug gets pulled out from underneath Just embrace the fall Oh you got spirit, kid You’re number one Go on living that farce Cause nobody gives a f… who you are
Manufactured pop stars don’t have a long shelf life which is a shame, because there is talent there, but it’s never given a chance to be its own beast as others control it. And when it all goes bad, the people who control just move on to the next wannabe. In other words, you will come to a point in life when you realise that the problems you see as big aren’t that important in the grand scheme of things.
There is a nice little Pink Floyd jam at the end which makes an amazing segue into “The Audience”.
“The Audience”
This song became a favourite instantly with its Tool like groove. Just listen to the music in the verses. The guitars play an intricate riff, the bass syncs up with the bass drum while the drums free style and still keep a beat.
This is my audience Forever one together Burning Stars Cut from the same disease Ever longing, what and who we are
The fans of Coheed and Cambria have expectations as to how the band should sound, the industries who make money from Coheed and Cambria have expectations as to how the band should sound and the band members themselves as they grow older have evolving wants as to how they should sound. Sometimes they don’t align and sometimes they do.
“Peace To The Mountain”
It’s a simple acoustic, drum and vocal song.
I learned to keep quiet, How to keep my distance. Afraid to let strangers in, How to keep my secrets.
I see this as Claudio hiding behind the characters and the Sci-Fi world he created because he was scared to express his own feelings in his songs. But he’s now older and wiser and at peace with who he is.
So if you were scared to check out Coheed and Cambria before, because of the Armory Wars saga, check out this album.
The Evergrey “In Search Of Truth” post and “Origin Of Symmetry” by Muse post were meant to be part of this large post, however after I finished writing all of the posts they had a lot of words in there to be part of one post, so they ended up as separate posts.
The Machine Head post will be 1.3, the upcoming Megadeth post will be 1.4 and the Ozzy post will be 1.5.
Machine Head – Supercharger
Supercharger is their fourth album.
It came out just weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and it got lost in the aftermath. Roadrunner also gave them zero promotion and to this date, its considered a commercial failure by the label. They even went on tour for the album without any label support which was a slap in the face to the band as Robb Flynn has admitted that “The Burning Red” and “Supercharger” were albums that Roadrunner pressured them to do, so they could break into the mainstream.
But when the mainstream didn’t come, Flynn said that the band was going to return to “what we they did best”.
It is also the band’s last release to feature lead guitarist Ahrue Luster and as a by-product it set in stone the next 15 years.
For me, this was the first album I purchased from Machine Head.
And in relation to the album being a commercial failure, in a 2015 interview with LouderSound, this is what Robb Flynn had to say about it.
“Supercharger sold 250,000 copies. If that’s a disaster, I’ll take it.
We played nine shows in the UK, all sold out, and the US tour was mostly sold out, which was a first.
Every night when we play “Bulldozer”, that whole theory that everybody hates “Supercharger” gets completely stomped into the ground. We play “Bulldozer” and it’s one of the top five reactions of the night, every time”
After a minute of “The Declaration”, the iconic riff of “Bulldozer” kicks in. Listen to the drumming from Dave McClain in the intro. In the live arena, this song is powerful, mosh pit powerful.
“Full steam we go against the odds, headfirst we go against the grain”.
But the lack of solos is going with the grain, as between 1999 and 2005, there was a “no guitar solo” movement. This song was missing a ripping lead.
“Crashing Around You” is a great hard rock song. It was the only single from the album and it had a film clip with a burning San Francisco skyline and stuff crashing down around them.
It was pulled from MTV and rock radio because the term “crashing” was found to be offensive.
But the lyrics are excellent, the music grooves and having this song pulled from every promotional outlet definitely hurt the band. But the fans loved it.
When they pulled this song out for the concert, the place went nuts.
“Kick You When You’re Down” sounds like a track from the “Catharsis” album with its catchcry about believing in yourself and following your heart.
“Only the Names” deserves more attention. This Robb Flynn penned track is classic Machine Head merging all the doom from the early era. Tracks from the current era even sound like this song. That distorted riff would sink submarines it’s that heavy. Early Tool comes to mind here.
“All in Your Head” is one of my favourite Machine Head tracks. That intro, especially live, is head banging material and in its essence it’s basically a hard rock song.
“American High” kicks off with a Tarzan like vocal chant, which is actually the riff of the song. It sounds like the guys are having fun and Flynn brings out some of his spoken word raps in the verses but this song got slammed by the reviewers, for the Tarzan chant.
“Nausea” feels like a Deftones style track especially in the verses.
“Blank Generation” reminds me of early Tool. It’s Aggressive with a capital A.
“Trephination” has a cool bass riff to kick it off.
“Deafening Silence” keeps building until it explodes towards the end.
“Supercharger” has a great intro riff, but that dissonance Korn style riff in the first part of the verse didn’t enhance the song in anyway.
The Japanese version has a cover of “Hole in the Sky” from Black Sabbath as its bonus track. A lot of fans saw this as a weird choice considering the nu-metal style of the album.
But from a rhythm guitar point of view, there is a lot here to unpack.
And after being exposed to Machine Head by various band members this album was my first financial commitment to the band, so it holds a special place in my history.
destroyerofharmony 