Category Archives: Unsung Heroes

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

Heartbreak Station

I’ve written about this album many times.

As a Record Vault post.

At 30 Years Old.

The More Things Change

Well, as I normally do I was going through some old magazines and in this case, it was a May 1991 issue of “Guitar For The Practicing Musician”.

Inside the magazine I came across a review by Buzz Morrison of “Heartbreak Station”.

Here it is in italics.

PERFORMANCE: Raw, raspy, rootsy
HOT SPOTS: “Love’s Got Me Doin’ Time”, “Shelter Me”, “Dead Mans Road”
BOTTOM LINE: Knee deep in country-blues loudness

Cinderella is nothing if not daring.

On “Long Cold Winter” they spit in the face of pop metal success with a blast of kickin’ blues rock and still went double platinum.

On “Heartbreak Station”, Cinderella tries even more gender bending, roaming from hard funk to country rock on a visceral, raw record that pays homageto the band’s 60;s and 70’s influences.

Did Buzz mean genre bending?

Not sure, but he definitely had gender bending there.

In severeal places, its more rip-off than tribute, especially “Sick For The Cure” and its “Honky Tonk Woman” aural zerox.

What the fuck is an aural xerox?

Aural means relating to the ear or the sense of hearing.

Xerox is a copy of something written or printed on a piece of paper.

Is that another way to say influences or inspiration.

But the band’s ballsy rocking and bundle of dirty guitar work from Tom Keifer and Jeff LeBar mostly overpower lame songwriting and the big family sound of “Shelter Me” recalls the best of bands like Delaney and Bonnie and Let It Bleed-era Stones.

I had no idea what he meant by Delaney and Bonnie. Thanks to Google, I can tell ya that Delaney & Bonnie were an American duo of singer-songwriters Delaney Bramlett and Bonnie Bramlett.

In 1969 and 1970, they fronted a rock/soul ensemble called Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, whose members at different times included Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Leon Russell, Bobby Whitlock, Dave Mason, Rita Coolidge, and King Curtis.

So I’m calling em up right now on Spotify to hear what they are like.

While this Philadelphia band cops an Aerosmth like attitude, the Memphis funk of “Love’s Got Me Doin’ Time” and the misty mountain blues of “Dead Man’s Road”, along with the addtion of rolling organ and barking horns on many cuts, show they musical influences largely lie south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Led by Keifer’s straight edge vocals, Cinderella makes “Heartbreak Station” another memorable stop on its rootsy soul train.

I like that “rootsy soul train” comment. So if you haven’t heard “Heartbreak Station” yet, there’s no better time than now.

Get yer fix of gender bending rootsy soul train.

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

In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3

It all started in 2007 and a Guitar World interview with Claude Sanchez and Travis Stever. They just dropped the “No World For Tomorrow” album. The interview mentioned hard rock, progressive song structures, concept album, massive sci-fi story and vocals that on occasions sound like they came from Geddy Lee.

But I still didn’t commit.

Then a few months later I was given a burnt copy of “In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3” by an old band member. I was at work and placed the disc into the CD tray of the PC, grabbed the shitty e-training headphones at work and pressed play. I became a fan for life.

Within the space of a few months, I had downloaded their whole catalogue (which at this time was up to 2007) via The Pirate Bay and then started to purchase those releases and I became a day one buyer for all the albums that came after, like “Year Of The Black Rainbow”, “The Afterman”, “The Color Before The Sun” and “Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures”. I went to watch them live and even today, I would drop a couple hundred to get their super deluxe premium releases for each new album.

But it all started with “In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3” released in 2003 and certified Gold by the RIAA for U.S sales.  

It’s their second album about the ongoing saga of the “Keywork” in “The Amory Wars”. It also came with a comic book series and novel. This is how the plot was described in the comic book.

“Ten years after “Second Stage Turbine Blade”, Claudio – the son of Coheed and Cambria, emerges from the depths of Shylos Ten (a barren world located on the edge of the Fence), where the Red Army performs its brutal interrogations and imprisonments.

The Red Army are Wilhelm Ryan’s enforcers, a large force of soldiers and ships he has amassed since the Mage Wars. Claudio finds out that his entire family has been murdered and begins his quest for vendetta. His foes, Supreme Tri Mage Wilhelm Ryan and General Mayo Deftinwolf sense that he is still alive and that he holds special powers.

Meanwhile, Inferno (Jesse Kilgannon) takes up arms against the Red Army in an effort to seek the same kind of vengeance on them. In Claudio’s re-emergence he teams up with Ambellina. The pair along with Sizer, a disassembled IRO-bot, seek out Inferno to find answers as to why his family were killed, but their plans take an unexpected turn in a ship called the Camper Velourium, and a freighter pilot named Al the Killer.”

But you don’t need to be involved in the story to appreciate the album, the music and the melodies as each song stands on its own.

The Ring In Return

A phone rings and a person walks to it. I’m waiting for someone to pick it up and to hear “Mindcrime” on the other line. Fans of Queensryche will know what I’m on about. But the phone keeps ringing, until you hear footsteps walk towards it and eventually the phone is picked up and a woman’s voice says “Hello”. Then some symphony music comes in, sounding hopeful and familiar but it gets dark towards the end, ominous, a forewarning with the words of “Hello Apollo, where should I begin” spoken right at the end. 

In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3

How good is that clean guitar intro and the fuzzed lead? 

When I watched the band live in Sydney, the clean tone guitar intro was a sing-a-long moment as we hummed and yelled the intro notes.

Then at the 40 second mark, the whole band kicks in and its head banging time.

At 6 minute and 30 second mark, the intro comes back and the songs builds into a massive wo-oh-oh chant, sort of like the chant in “Heaven Can Wait” from Iron Maiden. In the live arena, this was another sing-a-long moment.

Cuts Marked In The March Of Men

I like the staccato like groove to kick off the song.

Three Evils (Embodied In Love And Shadow)

That section from the 3.20 minute mark. Listen to the music and the vocal melody especially when the lyric goes “Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops”.

The Crowing

There is the middle section which is progressive with metal influences.

Blood Red Summer

This is their pop punk song. The best part is the “what did I do to deserve” section. Listen to the riff, the pentatonic lead section

“The Velourium Camper” suite is divided into 3 sections of over 15 minutes of music.

The Velourium Camper I: Faint of Hearts

It starts off like a modern Kansas song. 

The Velourium Camper II: Backend of Forever

The intro is a favourite, those palm muted notes over a staccato like guitar riff.

The Velourium Camper III: Al the Killer

“Bye bye world, bye bye world/Die white girls, die white girls.” You get an idea what Al The Killer is all about.

A Favor House Atlantic

Another pop punk song like “Blood Red Summer”. 

The words you scribbled on the walls, the loss of friends, you didn’t have, I’ll call you when the time is right

When I look at the words in this verse, I think of this doco I watched on the Columbine School shootings and how the students were hiding out in a closet and waiting for someone to save them when the time was right.

The Light & the Glass

The acoustic arpeggios to start it off make it campfire heartland cut. And throughout its 9 minutes, it rocks and rolls and for the last two minutes, there is a guitar lead and a vocal line that keeps repeating; “Pray for us all”.

2113

It’s got nothing to do with “2112” from Rush even though countless posts would state otherwise. This song reprises two other tracks in “The Amory Wars”, namely “Time Consumer” and “IRO-bot”, both from the previous album “The Second Stage Turbine Blade”. And you need to listen to the section from about 5.15 minutes to about 5.50. I think it’s very Lifeson like.

And because I have some of the super editions from “The Afterman”, the record vault posts for Coheed and Cambria will be single posts for each album.

The standout songs here are the title track and “The Light And The Glass”.

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

Thunder Bay Down Under Summertime Spin Series – The Butterfly Effect

Here is the usual prologue.

My blogger pal Deke over at Thunder Bay had a cool Northern Hemisphere Summertime Series between July and August.

Each week, he wrote about albums he spun during the summer.

Well, the real Earth summer is between December, January and February in the Southern Hemisphere.

So the good act that Thunder Bay is, boarded a Qantas plane, landed in Sydney, survived 14 days quarantine in a Sydney hotel and is finally here to present the “Thunder Bay Down Under Summertime Series”.

“Final Conversation With Kings” is the third studio album by The Butterfly Effect.

On this album, the band moved into a more progressive style of writing, bringing in moods and different ways of organizing the songs structures. And the public liked it, as it went to number 3 on the Australian Charts.

But all was not well within the band.

The previous album “Imago” was completed with a lot of tension between the members.

On the “Imago” touring cycle, it got to the stage when Boge and band co-founder and guitarist Kurt Goedhart did not speak to one another for the entirety of their six-week American tour with Chevelle.

These tensions would resurface and affect the recording sessions for the “Final Conversation of Kings” album. Disagreements happened in relation to which songs to do, the limited budgeted time in the studio they had and the final song selection of the album.

The title is about conflict. The final conversation has happened and the Kings cannot resolve their issues, so the next step is war. The overall theme of the album is about conflict. The title is also a translation of a Latin phrase “Ultima Ratio Regum”.

The last minute of “Worlds On Fire” especially when vocalist Clint Boge starts singing, “I didn’t ask for this at all, when my back’s against the wall, and my face painted for war, I didn’t ask for this at all”.

It’s Brilliant.

And this song to be included as the opener caused tensions. Boge wanted it and the other members thought it was a closer.

“Final Conversation” is my favorite. It starts off slow and it just keeps building and when the section with the vocal line of “Just stay tonight and never leave, Cause in the morning we’re going home, Just stay here” is excellent.

“The Way” has a progressive feel to the song, there’s a sleazy sax on it and it feels like a crime noir soundtrack.

And those last two minutes.

You will notice a trend here, like a good novel that finishes each chapter in a cliffhanger making me want to explore further, TBE do the same with each song. They end em so powerful and so melodic, that I need to explore further.

In the “Window And The Watcher” that whole section from the minute thirty mark to the end.

Brilliant.

“…And The Promise Of The Truth” has this reggae rock feel in the verses with a memorable pre-Chorus and Chorus.

But the last 70 seconds of the song. Brilliant.

“In These Hands” kicks off with a pull off and hammer on lick before moving into a melodic lead which is like a riff.

The last 90 seconds.

Listen to it, from when it quietens down and rebuilds up.

The way “7 Days” starts off I was hooked straight away. That guitar riff, the volume swells and E-bow effects which also sounded reversed just add to the sadness the riff creates.

Like all the other songs, the last two minutes need to be heard. Boge on vocals uses his voice like an instrument, on some occasions it’s like a guitar lead.

“Rain” is more straight forward hard rock with a frantic drum groove.

And in the first chorus, Boge is more baritone in his delivery, hidden in the mix so when he sings “Let it rain down on me” when the chorus appears the second time, there’s impact.

There is this Muse and Tool like section as part of the interlude which gets the head banging.

Album closer, “Sum Of I” has a fast digital delay style riff. Vocally Boge is using his voice like an instrument, and when he starts to sing “how do we stop this again?”, well, it’s perfect.

Of course after this album touring cycle, the band broke up.

But they reconnected around 2017 and in 2018, they released their first new music in ten years, with the single “Broken”.

They went on tour around Australia and performed a run of sold-out shows. Their tunes and their style of music experienced a resurgence in Australia and The Butterfly Effect name was back in the spotlight.

And new music is on its way.

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

Escape Of The Phoenix

Release Day Friday and the new Evergrey album “Escape Of The Phoenix” dropped onto streaming services.

The line-up has been stable for almost a decade now and this sense of comradery is coming across in their music. While the subject matter is dark and serious and personal, I get a sense of fun and smiles when they are writing the riffs, like those “hell yeah” moments, when you come up with a good riff or an awesome lead.

Tom Englund is the mainstay, the founder, the vocalist and guitarist. He is one of those unique voices that is instantly recognisable. His vocal phrasing moves between so many different styles. When he needs to rock out, he rocks out. When he needs to be aggressive, he gets aggressive. When he needs to be soulful, he gets a little bit of soul. And the dude can play that guitar at a maestro level.

And he has another maestro in Henrik Danhage as his co-guitarist. A true guitar hero if those words are applicable in 2021. If you don’t believe me, check out his lead break in “Eternal Nocturnal”.

Drummer Jonas Ekdahl lays down a solid foundation, while also contributing more than enough riffs for the songs as co-writer

I follow Evergrey on Twitter and during the recording of the album, they would mention when each stage was completed and then certain members would talk about their sound set up and other things. Bassist Johan Niemann spoke about his bass sound which was cool to see.

Rikard Zander has dramatically increased his scope within the band especially from when “Hymns Of The Broken” came out. Instead of following what other keyboardists do (which is play chords or follow the guitar lead), he’s taken to decorating the songs with sounds that take you places, from barren landscapes, to underground tunnels, to echoe’y’ church scapes and what not. In other words, the keys are unique enough that they are their own beast.

Opener and first pre-release single, “Forever Outsider” showcases the power of the band at its metal best, while second pre-single release “Eternal Nocturnal” showcases the power of the band at its hard rock best with sing-along Choruses and Henrik Danhage stealing the spotlight with his unbelievable, shredalicious and memorable solo spotlight.

“The Beholder” is a melodic metal cut, with the keyboard riff from Zander giving it a dystopian and barren feel. That section from three minutes, when it quietens down and builds back up.

Brilliant.

“In Absence Of Sun” is heartfelt, melancholic, mournful and emotive. The piano riff is memorable and it remains with me, long after the song finishes. When the choir voices begin, it gives the track this ominous feeling. But then the band kicks in, and it becomes a different beast. Progressive, but that Chorus, goddamn, it’s so good.

“Escape Of The Phoenix” has a melodic chorus over a ferocious double kick drum pattern. “You From You” has this Michael Schenker like vibe in the intro. It’s a slower song, it cranks and it’s a favourite. They’ve done songs like this on previous albums.

Check it out.

Finally, a rant to their German based label.

Surely it can’t be that hard to post the physical art book/CD I purchased a bit earlier, so it gets to me on release day, even if it arrives a day or two earlier.

But they won’t, because they are scared of piracy and leaks and whatever other phantoms they could come up with, plus there is no way they can get the album to the fans a day or two before the actual release date. What an absurd idea they say.

So the labels punish the real fans.

What the labels seem to forget is the fans support the band, but when it comes to hearing the physical product on release day, it never arrives on time, always after the release day and sometimes weeks later in Australia.

Thank god for streaming services which allow me to listen to it on release day, otherwise if I had to wait for my physical copy to come, it would be another 10 days at best. In relation to buying the album from a record shop in Australia, let’s just say that Evergrey is not that large of a commercial band that stores in Australia would stock.

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

Native Tongue

I was going through a few old mags today. This one takes me back to April 1993, Nuno Bettencourt and Brian May are on the cover and the magazine is “Guitar For The Practicing Musician”.

And reading reviews with the benefit of hindsight is always interesting.

In this case, its “Native Tongue” from Poison.

Here is the word for word review in italics by Vic Garbarini on page 150.

PERFORMANCE: Chliched and confused.
HOT SPOTS: “Bring It Home”, “Fire And Ice”
BOTTOM LINE: New axeman Kotzen breathes some life into faltering popsters

CC DeVille era Poison may have been nothing but ultra-light L.A pop-metal posing as glam and looking for a good time but they had one saving grace – they were fun.

Deville claims he wrote most of their catchiest material and his departure last year left the band without their linchpin just as the Seatle crew set off the alternative revolution. That left bands like Warrant and Poison sounding more marginal than ever.

“Native Tongue”, Poison’s first post DeVille effort, is a mixed blessing at best. The good news is that guitarist Richie Kotzen, when he manages to avoud the usual post-Eddie cliches, plays with a fluid volatility in the Jimi/Eddie/Randy tradition that lends desperately needed weight to the sound.

Unfortunately Bret Michaels posturing vocalsmake Joe Isuzu sound deeply sincer, whole the band’s cliched progressions and by the numbers choruses tend to disspiate Kotzen’s fiery eloquence. But when they hand the new guitarist the reins, as on the crunch’n’funk of “Bring It Home”, the band sounds fresh and renewed.

Who the fuck is Joe Isuzu?

That was the question I had after reading this review because I was buying this album regardless of whatever the review said.

I have Google today, but back in 93, all i had was this magazine and his name. So Google tells me that he’s a fictional salesman in a series of ads for Isuzu. In the ads, Joe Isuzu is a pathological liar who makes outrageous claims about the cars.

While Brett looked the pretty boy, he did have a blues soul voice and Kotzen’s blues rock playing definitely gets Michaels into gear on this album.

1993 reviews had a bias against 80s bands and were very unkind to 80’s artists known as glam metallers or hair metallers.

Case in point is the gospel influenced “Stand”. If U2 released it, the review would be glowing but Poison released it and its cliched.

This album is a must listen for any Poison fan. And since I’m a fan of Kotzen, and a fan coming into this album, his playing is excellent and I rate this album as one of the best guitar albums of that year.

This band didnt survive past this album and while Poison sold a lot of albums in the 90’s via their “Greatest Hits” release, they would be a shadow of their former glory, even after CC DeVille returned.

Make sure you check out the Hot Spots tracks first as I 100 percent agree, they are the best and then explore the rest.

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

The Record Vault – Casting Crowns

Once upon a time, in the early 2000’s, the area where I lived had some strange phenomena going on. A radio station frequency I used to tune in for pop rock was also used by a Christian station.

If the radio was at the front of the house, it played Christian music and towards the back of the house it played the normal pop rock.

For some reason, the same FM frequency was used for both stations, and the only way it was separated was via geographical means. But if you lived on that geo border like I did, you just got a blend.

And that’s how Casting Crowns came into my life.

There’s a lot of Jesus, a lot of Lord, a lot of Him and a lot of the Father. Sometimes too much, but hey, that’s their thing. Musically the band is excellent and singer Mark Hall, has one of the best voices from the modern times.

Casting Crowns

The debut, which I got after “Lifesong” and “The Altar And The Door”. Released in 2003 and super successful with double platinum awards from the RIAA for sales in the U.S.

“What If His People Prayed” kicks off the album.

“Voice Of Truth” is like a Journey piano ballad musically in the verse with lyrics derived from various Bible texts. But the Chorus is Arena Rock.

“Who Am I” is another piano like ballad that is basically a rock song. At almost 61 million streams on Spotify, it’s one of their hits.

“American Dream” is like those early 2000 US pop anthems, just think of “Teenage Dirtbag”.

His American Dream is beginning to seem
More and more like a nightmare
With every passing day
“Daddy, can you come to my game?”
“Oh Baby, please don’t work late.”
Another wasted weekend
And they are slipping away

Build your own dream, and don’t let the factories of school and universities condition you into believing that you are here just to get a job. You are here to expand your mind and live the life you want to live.

“Here I Go Again” has an addictive piano riff to kick it off.

“Glory” has an intro riff that could have come from “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”.

The vocals of Mark Hall are so underrated. Very Bob Seger like.

Lifesong

Released in 2005.

“Lifesong” starts off with a guitar riff that reminds me of The Edge.

But it was “Praise You In The Storm” and “Does Anybody Here Her?” that came across on the radio, that hooked me in as a fan.

“Love Them Like Jesus” and “Set Me Free” both have piano riffs in the intro which are memorable, as they go deep into a broken home and depression.

Make sure you check out the Chorus to “Set Me Free”.

It hasn’t always been this way
I remember brighter days
Before the dark ones came
Stole my mind
Wrapped my soul in chains

I always have doubt. I can even procrastinate forever because of doubt. But even those feelings change with time. But some don’t get out of the funk. Depression is a killer.

The Altar And The Door

Released in 2007 and the platinum run of albums continues. It was probably one of my favourite rock records for the year.

What a great opener “What This World Needs” is. It reminds of Bon Jovi and “Hey God” for some reason.

What this world needs is not another one hit wonder with an axe to grind
Another two bit politician peddling lies
Another three ring circus society

Even though the song is about the world needing a saviour, there is so much truth in the verses. The politicians peddling lies got even worse in a decade after this release.

What this world needs is for us to stop hiding behind our relevance
Blending in so well that people can’t see the difference
And it’s the difference that sets the world free

Our society is built to make us all fit a stereotype, shave off our nice little edges that make us different. Same, same is good for business and governments. Viewpoints and different ideas aren’t good, until you change the world.

“Every Man” brings out a Beatles like riff. “Slow Fade” is excellent. “East To West” is also excellent.

Until The Whole World Hears

Released in 2009. And the platinum records continue.

The title track opens the album, with a boogie and a riff that wouldn’t be out of place on any modern rock album.

We’ll sing until the whole world hears

Amen to that.

There is a bit of Coldplay here in “Joyful, Joyful”. And there’s a bit of One Republic in “At Your Feet”.

“Holy One” rocks out of the gate, with a recognizable distorted riff.

Come To The Well

Released in 2011. This one is Gold and on its way to Platinum. It’s not on Spotify for some strange reason.

Like all the other albums, it starts off with a rocking anthem. In this case it’s “Courageous”.

“City On The Hill” sounds like the rock songs doing the rounds on the charts. “Already There” is another nod to their U2 and Coldplay influences.

“Spirit Wind” is like those songs from the heartland. “Angel” is one of those ballads they do so well and “My Own Worst Enemy” brings some rock and grunt and distortion to the mix.

Thrive

It’s a great cover.

Released in 2014. This one is also Gold and on its way to Platinum. With each album they kept adjusting their sound a little bit. This one has that country rock vibe along with some of that contemporary rock doing the charts like Imagine Dragons.

Stand out tracks are “Thrive”, “All You’ve Ever Wanted”, “Just To Be Held”, “You Are The Only One”, “This Is Now” and “Love You With The Truth”.

And my favourite is the Springsteen like “House Of Their Dreams”. It’s got that “My Hometown” vibe.

There are so many moods and emotions here around the music and the melodies.

They’ve released a few more albums after this, but like all things, you fall in and out with artists and I sort of lost track of them after “Thrive”.

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

1985 – Part 12

I was always on the lookout for bands that were not part of the mainstream magazine press when it came to metal and rock music.

Waysted – The Good The Bad The Waysted

It’s Pete Way from UFO but Paul Chapman on guitars steals the show. His riffs and leads are excellent. Fin Muir on vocals has a bit of UDO in his style and the grit he brings, works.

“Hang Em High” brings the heavy blues rock to the 80’s with a bit of a George Lynch style inspired verses. The vocals bludgeon their way and it’s the perfect anti-hero to the MTV stars of the day.

“Hi Ho My Baby” delivers the classic rock sound of the 70’s, more Free like, but people would say it’s more like AC/DC.

“Heaven Tonight” takes a bit of Journey from the piano department to deliver the songs foundation, but the song rocks away for a ballad, with a Rod Stewart like vocal and Chapman on guitar delivers the riffs and the melodic leads.

Check out the arpeggio intro to “Manuel” and when it kicks into overdrive, its melodic rock heaven and the last 90 seconds is a section which reminds me of the piano riff in “Love To Love” and the guitar solo. It’s perfect, allowing UFO to influence the new.

“Rolling Out The Dice” sounds like a song The Cult would write in a few years’ time.

“Land That’s Lost The Love” could be one of the best UFO songs that didn’t appear on an UFO album. Chapman delivers a verse riff straight from the gutters of the Sunset Strip, but the Chorus, is classic UFO, a vocal melody which is catchy over a guitar melody. Make sure you check out the lead break from Chapman.

Overkill – Feel The Fire

I liked the logo as it was a tweak on the Iron Maiden font. But I never got any of their stuff in the 80’s because my budget was limited, they virtually got no promotional push in Australia, which meant their albums wouldn’t be in stores and they had a lot of competition.

“Raise The Dead” is pure speed metal. The band is labelled as one of the earlier thrash pioneers, but thrash is a generic term.

Check out the main verse riff and see if you can name the song that inspired it?

“Rotten To The Core” blasts out of the gate like “The Four Horsemen”. A classic and still part of their live show today.

Check out the lead break to “There’s No Tomorrow”. Its guitar hero worthy from Bobby Gustafson.

“Hammerhead” has a riff in it, that Metallica would use on “Disposable Heroes”. And the lead break again from Gustafson is shred’a’licious. The title track “Feel The Fire” is another favourite. It’s got riffs and leads and it will get you playing air guitar. There is a section which is almost “Over The Mountain” like.

Nasty Savage – Nasty Savage

It’s funny how metal musicians got labelled as drunks, drug takers, anti-social and what not. But everyone seems to forget that most of the musicians of bands who had deals but never made it big were serious players.

Nasty Savage live in some weird world of speed metal, hard rock and technicality.

1985 was probably the last year when genres didn’t matter and artists incorporated so many different musical elements into their music. Afterwards, labels would hear bands like Nasty Savage and tell them to change their style to suit a genre which they created and could market.

On Metal Blade, signed by Brian Slagel after their 1984 demo “Wage Of Mayhem”, started doing the rounds on the underground circuit.

“No Sympathy” has this dramatic ominous symphonic music for 50 seconds, before the intro riff kicks in. It’s more technical than the speed metal of early thrash metal. Mercyful Fate comes to mind immediately.

“Gladiator” is more of a hard rock tempo, with a head banging riff. Vocally, Nasty Ronnie is more theatre like, mixing, King Diamond falsetto’s with baritone chainsaw barks. If you like polished hard rock style vocals, then this isn’t for you.
I read a live review in which Nasty Ronnie even smashed a TV set on his head.

At 2 minute the song changes feel before it moves into the solo.

Other tracks are “Fear Beyond the Vision” (listen to the ball busting falsetto’s in the Chorus) and the garage sounds of “Metal Knights”. Check out the lead break in this one. Guitarists Ben Meyer and David Austin have shown, four songs in that they are ambitious and progressive in their song writing.

“Dungeon Of Pleasure” has a great intro riff. “Psycopath” has an intro which is just bass and drums before the harmony melody of the guitars comes in. And then it goes into this demented and chromatic riff.

Lizzy Borden – Love You To Pieces

I judged Lizzy Borden on their logo that they would be like Venom. I know it’s a terrible comparison. So when I pressed play and I heard the hard rock and heavy metal riffs with a vocal style which was more hard rock than anything, I was like goddamn, I’m never judging things by their cover again.

Lizzy Borden is maybe the pre-cursor for Ghost.

Check out tracks like “Council For The Cauldron” for the Iron Maiden like riffs and the melodic lead breaks.

“Psycopath” has this “Friday On My Mind” style feel, just a bit more metal like and some extra additions to make it different. “Love You To Pieces” is a heartfelt ballad about you know, ripping up your loved one into pieces.

And the piece d’resistance is “American Metal”. It more or less sums up the different types of guitar riffs from the metal bands. There are riffs influenced by EVH, Rhoads/Lee, Crosby/DeMartini and Tipton/Downing.

220 Volt – Mind Over Muscle

I heard these guys well into the first 2000’s decade. I really like their merge of early Scorpions, NWOBHM and acts like UFO, Deep Purple and Rainbow. Think of how Europe sounded on their first two albums before “The Final Countdown” merged with Malmsteen’s metal opus “Marching Out”. It’s melodic, its metal, its rock and it works.

This album continues the great work set up on their self-titled debut in 83 and its follow up, “Power Games” in 84 and the song “Power Games” appears on this album and its one of my favourite tracks on this album.

Stand out tracks apart from “Power Games” are “Electric Messengers”, “Secret Dance (Xymania)”, “Blessed By The Night”, “Halloween” and “Mind Over Muscle”.

Crank it and check out the guitar playing.

Faith No More – We Care A Lot

How good is that bass and drum groove from Billy Gould and Mike Bordin to kick off “We Care A Lot”?

Then the keys from Roddy Bottum come in and Mr Jim Martin brings in riffs, here and there to decorate. Vocalist Chuck Mosley does his street rap and street singing style which works for me, over the progressive song structures created by the rest of the band.

Then Mr Martin wrote a nice acoustic classical/flamenco piece called “Jim”.

“Why Do You Bother” also has those drum and bass grooves with the keys over it, which makes the unique Faith No More sound.

“Pills For Breakfast” has a metal like riff and groove which gets me to pick up the guitar and learn it. They didn’t have time to write lyrics. So the music takes it away. And tracks like “As The Worm Turns” and “New Beginnings” have some great musical moments.

And this brings to end the 1985 series after 12 posts. I am off to the year 2000, for the thirteenth and last post of that series.

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

Thunder Bay Down Under Summertime Spin Series – The Angels

Here is the usual prologue.

My blogger pal Deke over at Thunder Bay had a cool Northern Hemisphere Summertime Series between July and August.

Each week, he wrote about albums he spun during the summer.

Well, the real Earth summer is between December, January and February in the Southern Hemisphere.

So the good act that Thunder Bay is, boarded a Qantas plane, landed in Sydney, survived 14 days quarantine in a Sydney hotel and is finally here to present the “Thunder Bay Down Under Summertime Series”.

I’m sure you’ve all heard their song “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Fave Again”. If you haven’t the live version of the song has the following words;

Am I Ever Gonna See Your Fave Again
No way, get fucked, fuck off

It came out in 1977, but it really became it’s own beast in the 80s and when it appeared on their live album “Live Line” released in 1987, it’s legendary status within Australia was certified and it re-entered the charts.

Their earlier albums had production from Young and Vanda. The same dudes who worked with AC/DC and the same dudes from The Easybeats and of course George Young is the older brother of Angus and Malcolm.

After the success of “Live Line”, the Australian market was primed for a new album.

“Beyond Salvation” was released in Australia in early June 1990 and reached No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart.

The first single “Let the Night Roll On” came out six months prior to the album’s eventual release.

The second single “Dogs Are Talking” had tracks from young bands who would be touring in the support slots as the B Sides. What a brilliant idea to promote other acts. That’s how I came across Baby Animals.

The U.S. version of the album, released under the name “The Angels From Angel City” (seriously I never understood why US label reps would do that to Aussie bands), featured a vastly different track listing.

It’s made up of 4 songs from this album, “Dogs Are Talking”, “Rhythm Rude Girl”, “Let the Night Roll On” (the only 3 songs to also appear on the Australian edition), and “Junk City” (Australian single B-side to “Let the Night Roll On”).

And re-recordings of 5 classic Angels songs, “City Out of Control” (Night Attack, 1981), “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again” (The Angels, 1977), “I Ain’t the One” (Face to Face, 1978), “Who Rings The Bell” (The Angels’ Greatest, 1980), and “Can’t Shake It” (No Exit, 1979).

But the album that survives today is the Aussie edition.

But the album divided the fan base.

Lyrically they switched to writing about loose women and the rock and roll spirit, which was a far cry from their more political/social consciousness and punk style lyrics from earlier albums.

For me, they filled the void in between AC/DC albums.

And if you want to hear rock in the vein of AC/DC then check out “Let The Night Roll On”, “Back Street Pick Up” and “Dogs Are Talking”.

“Rhythm Rude Girl” still has that pub rock spirit but it’s a bit more mature musically within the blues. There is this bass and drum groove in the song with some slide guitar licks. Its excellent.

The band still does the rounds these days with Dave Gleeson from The Screaming Jets on vocals after Doc Neeson passed away in 2014.

Check em out.

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

2000 – Part 12

Wow, 12 posts on the Year 2000. And one more to come after this.

Sammy Hagar – Ten 13

I was just listening to his “Lockdown 2020” album released with “The Circle”. Cant say I’m a fan. It’s not the album I wanted to hear from him.

Then again, how can you not listen to a record featuring Sammy Hagar?

Check out “Let Sally Drive”. The riffs, the vocal melodies and that Acca Dacca vibe.

Then “Serious JuJu” kicks off with a Tool like vibe/feel in the riffs and the variety between the songs is intoxicating.

“All politicians speak in jive, they lie to keep the lie alive”

It’s not just the politicians these days. A lot of people are trying to get ahead by putting down others.

“The Message” is one of those slower type rockers. Think of “Right Now”. It still rocks as hard as it rolls.

“Little Bit More” has Sammy showing all those Alt Rockers how it’s really done.

“Protection” is “Humans Being”, with a bit more soul and boogie instead of the fast paced rocker that Van Halen delivered. And Sammy is singing about how we all need “protection from the system”.

Check it out.

U2 – All You Can’t Leave Behind

It was the perfect time for a comeback and they delivered.

“Beautiful Day” is classic U2. Musically, they had returned to the well of rock, after dabbling in electronica, techno and dance synths previously. It came out in Australia, just after the Olympics finished and it was a beautiful time.

I know a lot of us sang it as “it’s a beautiful day when you got bills to pay”, smiling and laughing while we sung it.

“Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” sounds like one of those soul blues rock tunes that hangs around for a while. It’s slower in tempo, almost ballad like, but it still rocks for me.

“Elevation” continues the knockouts and “Walk On” makes it four from four. “Kite” at track 5 and its melancholic mood captures me. Five from five.

And this album was a high peak for the band.

“All That You Can’t Leave Behind” went to number one in 32 countries and won seven Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Album.

Bono kept on saying in interviews how U2 was “re-applying for the job of ‘biggest band in the world'” with this album. And in my view they succeeded.

Oasis – Standing on the Shoulder of Giants

It still did good business in Australia, coming in at number 6 on the ARIA charts.

But hindsight is a wonderful thing for Noel Gallagher, who didn’t want to make the album as he was devoid of inspiration, and had no reason or desire to make music, but Liam kept pushing him to write as the band needed a new album to go on tour.

And for an album which Noel sees as uninspired, I think it’s pretty good.

“Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is” has this “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheep” riff and a “Roadhouse Blues” vocal line, which connected with audiences. It’s one of my favourites from the album. “Go Let It Out” wouldn’t be out of place on earlier Oasis album.

“Gas Panic!” is an underrated gem, exotic and progressive in feel and atmospherics. At almost 7 minutes long, its anti-pop.

“Where Did It All Go Wrong?” could have crossed over onto the country rock charts. Hell, I will even call it Southern Rock. “I Can See A Liar” starts off with an AC/DC style riff before it moves into the psychedelic rock from The Beatles.

The album closes with the six minute and thirty seconds “Roll It Over”, another melancholic track which percolates slowly. Make sure you stick around for when the guitar solo starts and the gospel singers kick in. It’s worth it.

The Smashing Pumpkins – Machina/The Machines of God

All albums that came after “Siamese Dream” and “Mellon Collie” would be compared to those albums instead of standing on their own. Regardless, the album still did good business in Australia and most major music markets. But poor business when compared to the other albums.

“The Everlasting Gaze” is a bloody good song. Listen to that intro riff, which re-appears in the verses and don’t tell me it’s not metal.

“Stand Inside Your Love” is different, more Brit Pop like The Cure and “Heavy Metal Machine” has this massive blues rock groove, all fuzzed up and heavy as lead.

“Glass And The Ghost Children” feels like a Neil Young song, when he went electric and all fuzzed up and experimented. “This Time” is one of their signature ballads. “Blue Skies Bring Tears” percolates at a slow tempo.

Overall, “Machina” at that point in time was the second lowest-selling Pumpkins album. Their label made sure they told them the same. Maybe it was the reason why they broke up.

Drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, who returned to the band for this album, said it was like watching your kid get straight A’s for ten years, and suddenly flunk out of school. Billy Corgan, said the album wasn’t heavy enough or alternative enough to compete with Korn and Limp Bizkit, plus it was a concept story which nobody understood.

But their viewpoints are based on sales, not art.

For “Machina”, Billy Corgan delivered a piece of musical theatre, that is still waiting for the massive double album reissue in the way it was always meant to be.

Queens Of The Stone Age – Rated R

As soon as the bass groove starts of for “Feel Good Hit Of The Summer”, I was hooked. Of course a certain Dave Grohl used that same pattern for the Foo Fighters.

“Better Living Through Chemistry” feels like a cut from “The Tea Party”. And I like it. Make sure you check out the riff in the middle of the song. “Tension Head” is another that has a riff that gets me to pick up the guitar. “I Think I Lost My Headache” is a lost cut from Black Sabbath.

Porcupine Tree – Voyage 34

Only four songs are on the album. Each one at least 10 minutes or more. Phase 1 kicks it off and Phase 4 ends it. You can guess the song titles of the other two songs.

And after the spoken intro which mentions participants eating sugar cubes laced with LSD, the Pink Floyd inspired single note echo riff kicks off. And the themes of experimenting on humans while they consume drugs continues. It’s not the album I wanted from em at this point in time, but I am a fan of the courage Steve Wilson had to experiment and push boundaries.

Catherine Wheel – Wishville

“Sparks Are Gonna Fly” has this wah wah tremolo riff to kick it off, before it explodes without any effects. Its blues rock and its foot stomping. “What We Want To Believe In” has a fuzz wah drenched intro lead to kick off the song, and I like.

“All Of That” is a favourite. So is “Idle Life”. They are both slower tempo, ballad like.

Spiritual Beggars – Ad Asra

The retro looking cover and band name graphic was good enough to get me interested. Like QOTSA and other acts that brought back the heavy rock from the 70’s, Spiritual Beggars did it Euro style.

And Michael Amott on guitars and founder of the band after he left Carcass, is a true guitar hero when it comes to riffs and leads.

If the name sounds familiar, he also founded Arch Enemy and if you read his interviews he talks very highly of his influences like Ritchie Blackmore, Glenn Tipton, Adrian Smith, Tony Iommi, Frank Marino, Michael Schenker, Kerry King, Dave Mustaine, and Uli Jon Roth.

Opener “Left Brain Ambassadors” is a heavy blues rock tune.

“Wonderful World” has a verse which drips Sabbath and a Chorus that comes from Swedish pop and a solo section which is brilliant.

The outro solo section in “Sedated” needs to be heard, if you haven’t heard it already.

“Angel Of Betrayal” is your typical 70’s Hard Rock tunes, more like Blue Oyster Cult.

And there isn’t a bad song on the album.

There are the fast riffs (“Save Your Soul” comes to mind as I type this), the melodic riffs (“Per Aspera Ad Astra”) and the slower heavier than lead riffs (“Until the Morning” comes to mind, which has an acoustic opening and then a big heavy riff that reminds me of Sabbath. The vocals are distorted and perfect.)

And for a closer, check out “Mantra” is it plods along acoustically with an eerie keyboard before it explodes like “Stairway To Heaven” explodes.

Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes – Live at the Greek

Chris Robinson said he “didn’t have fun doing it”, but regardless of what he thinks, the team up of Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes is brilliant. And Robinson actually does a wonderful job on the vocals. Even though he didn’t have fun doing it.

It’s a shame that contractual issues stopped a lot of The Black Crowes songs from being released officially, so what we get are a lot of Led Zep classics and some standard blues songs.

“Nobody’s Fault But Mine” is still a favourite for me.

Check it out.

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

The Record Vault and Thunder Bay Down Under Summertime Spin Series – Cog

Here is the usual prologue.

My blogger pal Deke over at Thunder Bay had a cool Northern Hemisphere Summertime Series between July and August.

Each week, he wrote about albums he spun during the summer.

Well, the real Earth summer is between December, January and February in the Southern Hemisphere.

So the good act that Thunder Bay is, boarded a Qantas plane, landed in Sydney, survived 14 days quarantine in a Sydney hotel and is finally here to present the “Thunder Bay Down Under Summertime Series”.

Cog is one of my favourite Australian bands.

A band I was in used to play on the same bill as these guys between 2002 and 2005 when they used to hit my hometown.

It’s hard to explain their style, as it’s a mixture of so many different styles. But they have a mood and a groove in each song that takes me places.

For a three piece band, they sound like a five piece band. Their use of the fuzz and digital delay pedals to enhance their distorted or clean tone sound is reminiscent of Neil Young and U2. Some songs have hard rock in them, others a progressive groove, like Deftones and Tool.

Wikipedia mentions that the band’s music is influenced by Tool, Isis (the instrumental band), Nina Simone, Bob Marley, Leftfield, Deftones and Helmet.

Guitarist and eventual vocalist Flynn Gower and drummer Lucius Borich went to Bondi High School together. Around 1996, Gower formed a five-piece metal band called “The Hanging Tree” and Borich formed an alternative sounding band called “Juice”.

By 1998, they ended up forming a new band together and to round out the band for the live shows, Flynn recruited his brother Luke.

They did a residency at a Sydney venue, with no vocalist, asking people in attendance to send them demo’s. Eventually Flynn trained his voice to become the singer as the candidates weren’t that good.

These guys toured and man, they toured hard. They hit every corner of Australia and every inland place that would have them.

The “Just Visiting” EP’s were meant to be a single album but released as two separate EP’s. The single album was released in 2008.

“Just Visiting Part One” was released in February 2002 and “Just Visiting Part Two” was released in October that same year. The guys signed the copy of “Part One” at one of the gigs we played.

“Bondi” starts off with an off time bass riff and a guitar riff which acts as a counterpoint. And it’s a perfect way to start off their recording career, writing about their hometown.

“1010011010.0” starts off with a conversation about “big brother” and what’s in “room 101”, which is alluded as the “worst thing in the world”.

And in case you are wondering what’s going on with the song title, well, it’s the computer binary code for “666”.

“Pseudo” has a clean tone arpeggio style riff, an offbeat drum groove and an exotic vocal melody. “Stretch” has this fuzzed out digital delay riff which I like. The vocal melody is unique, early Muse/Radiohead style. And progressive.

From about 2.20, “The Truth and Other Lies” goes into overdrive, with a jazzy like bassline and the 3 minute mark the most fuzziest and heaviest riff comes in.

“Moshiach” has been their set opener from time to time and it’s a great song to get the amps cranking and the PA firing.

Those opening lyrical lines of “I’ve been waiting and watching and it won’t be long” are instantly recognizable and singable.

“Paris Texas” has a repeating vocal melody of “We’re all going to die”. It sounds unsettling singing it out loud at a concert, but its effective. And that bass riff, just rumbles along, as the song percolates until it explodes at the half way mark. This one is very Tool like.

“The New Normal” came out in 2005, produced by Sylvia Massy and recorded in Weed, California.

The sound is massive.

“Real Life” kicks off the album and it runs through a range of different emotions and moods. From about the 3 minute mark, the song moves into a clean tone groove, which percolates and builds until it explodes again for the last minute of the 6 minute song.

“Anarchy OK” is up next and you get a feel for the lyrical themes on this album by looking at the titles and the pictures in the CD booklet.

“Silence” tells us there is so much violence in the silence. “The Spine” has a musical feel and inspiration from “Bondi”.

“Run” starts off with a synth riff before the arpeggios kick in. It’s a different Cog, still progressive in how they structure the songs, and memorable.

After 90 seconds of ambient noise, the 10 minute song and serious Meatloaf challenger for the longest song title, “The Doors (Now And Then My Life Feels Like It’s Going Nowhere)” kicks into motion with a digital delayed riff as its centrepiece. Just before the 5 minute mark it goes into overdrive.

And the album ends with another 10 minute song called “Naming The Elephant”. A clean tone single note riff starts the song off, which keeps repeating. Then the drums come in, it builds and builds and builds until it quietens down again.

The last 3 minutes with the “so long, I’ve been waiting” vocal line needs to be heard.

Two massive songs to bookend the album.

“Sharing Space” came out in 2008, again produced by Sylvia Massy. This one went Gold in Australia. A masterpiece for me. It starts off with “No Other Way”, one of my favourite songs from Cog. At 10 minutes long, it doesn’t get boring or repetitive.

Once you hear the addictive vocal melody of “Are You Interested” it will never leave you mind.

“Yes their making lists of people interested in this, anyone who speaks their mind is labelled anarchist”

The democratic Governments have more power to spy on their own citizens than ever before. And our leaders keep telling us to trust them because they are the good guys while they do what all the totalitarian regimes do. Collect data.

And the album closes with “Problem Reaction Solution”, another 10 minutes monster and the lyrical message of “working our whole lives to pay for a cage we never really own”.

In December 2010, Cog played what many had believed to be their last show in Sydney. I think the lack of traction in overseas markets and the transition to relationships and parenthood, played a part.

But the story doesn’t end.

In late January 2016, the official Cog Facebook page was updated after a three year hiatus. And the unseen and rare photos kept on coming. Then the single, “The Middle” was released in 2018, their first new music in ten years. Since then, they have released two more singles titled “Altered States” and “Drawn Together” and in 2019, they toured again and did what they do best.

Smash the live arena to bits.

If you haven’t, crank em.

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