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

2000 – The 13th Post

Here we are, the final 2000 post which brings to an end, the tandem 2000, 1985 and 1977 series before I move on to 2001, 1986 and 1976 series.

Motorhead – We Are Motorhead

Its fast and fast and fast. A perfect statement of intent for the 2000’s.

Certain songs had different producers like Bob Kulick, Bruce Bouillet and Duane Baron.

Phil Campbell on the guitar is phenomenal. Very underrated. And of course, Mikkey Dee on the drums is a metronomic machine when he needs to be and sleazy swingy when he needs to be.

Then you have Lemmy.

Heavy as lead, all fuzzed out with his bass lines and throwing his voice into the concrete and still sounding good.

“See Me Burning” clocks in at 3 minutes as the double kick pattern is relentless from the start to the end. “Wake The Dead” has another fast double kick pattern from Dee. “We Are Motorhead” sounds like it came from the “Ace Of Spades” album. “Stagefreight” and “Heart On Your Sleeve” continue the speed.

“Slow Dance” is the mid-tempo hard rock track and my favourite. The riff is sinister like and I like it. Especially that harmony lead before the lead break.

And my other favourite, is “One More Fucking Time”. At 6 plus minutes it’s the longest song on the album.

Fozzy

I like the idea behind the first Fozzy album and the funny backstory they put into the promo.

They had signed with a record company and moved to Japan to be huge rock stars, but the company went out of business, leaving them stranded in Japan for 20 years, while all their demos were snatched and recorded by other bands. Once they returned to America, they realized that many famous artists had ripped off their songs.

So this album is mostly cover songs (which are like the Fozzy songs that other artists took) however, the album does have two new original songs, so that these thieving bands don’t have enough time or a chance to “rip” off these new songs.

So who is Fozzy.

Well wrestler Chris Jericho (credited as Moongoose McQueen) is on vocals, Rich Ward (credited as Duke LaRüe) on guitars, Dan Dryden (credited as Shawn “Sports” Pop) on bass, Frank Fontsere (credited as KK LaFlame) on drums and Ryan Mallam (credited as The Kidd) on guitar.

Megaforce Records had high commercial hopes for this album, but it disappointed the label heads and they more or less cancelled their support of the album and the band.

One more album would come two years later called “Happenstance” and when it did even less business than the debut, Megaforce ran to the hills.

“Stand Up and Shout” written by Ronnie James Dio and Jimmy Bain and performed by Dio kicks off the album.

“Eat the Rich” is a Krokus cover, written by Butch Stone, Marc Storace, Fernando von Arb and Chris von Rohr.

“Stay Hungry” is a Twisted Sister cover and written by Dee Snider. Less than 3 minutes long, it’s a speed metal cut.

“The Prisoner” is an Iron Maiden, written by Adrian Smith and Steve Harris.

“Live Wire” is a Mötley Crüe cover, written by Nikki Sixx.

“End of Days” is written by Rich Ward and Chris Jericho. It got some fast palm muted picking but it doesn’t have that classic riff like the songs above, but it does have a wicked pre-chorus vocal melody, when Jericho/Moongoose sings “Can you believe in love?”

“Over the Mountain” is an Ozzy Osbourne cover, written by Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake.

“Blackout” is a Scorpions cover, written by Sonja Kittelsen, Klaus Meine, Herman Rarebell and Rudolf Schenker

“Feel the Burn” is another cut written by Rich Ward and Chris Jericho but its forgettable.

“Riding on the Wind” is a Judas Priest cover, written by Glenn Tipton, Rob Halford and K. K. Downing. Like all of the other tracks on the album, they are played with a bit of a pedal to the floor attitude.

The album is basically an 80’s Heavy Metal jukebox under 40 minutes.

Symphony X – V The New Mythology Suite

I read some stuff about this band and how good Michael Romeo is on guitars. But to me, it was Russell Allen on vocals that got me interested, because Romeo was too much like Malmsteen on a lot of the stuff, or maybe he wasn’t like Malmsteen, instead it was the keyboard lines of Michael Pinnella that made it sound like Malmsteen.

Wikipedia tells me it is a concept album dealing with the story of Atlantis, ancient Egyptian mythology, and astrology.

There is a lot of same same here, but “Communion And The Oracle” is a bit different, with its soundtrack like feel and very Kansas feel in certain sections. Its progressive the way I like progressive to be.

Nightwish – Wishmaster

I’m a fan of the riffs. The operatic vocals are hit and miss for me on this album, but they do get better with subsequent releases.

“She Is My Sin” has a kicking intro riff.

“The Kinslayer” has another great riff, but on this one, the vocal line is like that “O Fortuna” vocal line. Brilliant.

If the intro to “Come Cover Me” doesn’t get you playing air guitar then you have no heartbeat.

“Wishmaster” continues that symphonic “O Fortuna” element in the Chorus, when they sing “Mas-ter”, “A-pprent-ice” in that style. Check out the harmony leads as well.

In Flames – Clayman

This is the album that put them on the map for me. Thirteen songs at 50 minutes. No fat whatsoever in the songs.

I really like the melody and aggression in the riffs and those European Minor key harmonies and leads.

Case in point, check out the riffs and leads in “Bullet Ride”. Vocally, its more in the vein of acts like “At The Gates” so if you want to hear a more commercial sounding In Flames, then Ghost AD does a pretty good job as the riffs they use are very similar.

Then you get the fast speed metal of “Pinball Map”. But hang around until the 2.20 minute mark, when it breaksdown into a head banging groove. Then the lead break starts, which copies the Chorus vocal melody before it picks up the speed metal.

How good is the intro melodic lead and that chugging staccato riff for the verses in “Only For The Weak”?

Listen to the lead break in the Chorus for “Square Nothing”.

I wanted Metallica to write a song like “Clayman” around this time. But who knew the dramas that Hetfield was going through during this period.

The clean tone arpeggios and harmony lead to kick off “Satellites and Astronauts” always gets me to pick up the guitar and then the madness starts before it goes back to those clean tone arpeggios for the verses.

The riff at 1.30 in “Brush The Dust Away” reminds me of Lynch/Dokken era. And the lead break starts off with some fast legato lines, some melody, then sweeps and harmonies.

“Swim” sounds like a Europe song from the first two albums, but then it moves into a Dream Theater/Petrucci like riff before the Euro melodic riffs kick in.

Finally “Another Day In Quicksand” feels like it’s the younger brother of “The Fire Still Burns” from Twisted Sister.

Children of Bodom – Follow The Reaper

RIP Alexi Laiho.

A Children Of Bodom album has riffs. A lot of fast riffs and a lot of groove rock riffs and a lot of progressive riffs.

And it has leads plus harmony leads with guitars and keyboards and breakdown grooves.

Check out the intro riff to “Follow The Reaper” and those lead breaks in between.

The verse riff in “Bodom After Midnight” is the best Malmsteen riff that he didn’t write.

How good is the intro to “Children of Decadence” and the 80’s melodic pop grooves for the intro to “Mask Of Sanity”?

Killswitch Engage – Killswitch Engage

For the debut album, Adam Dutkiewicz played drums and he moved to guitars on the albums after. Jesse Leach is on vocals, Joel Stroetzel is solely on guitar and Mike D’Antonio is on bass guitar.

The debut album is way too extreme for me, vocally, with every song in that screaming range. But musically, there are a lot of good riffs in this.

“Temple From The Within” opens the album and listen to that riff at the 1.10 minute mark to 1.33 mark. Then the bass kicks in and its heavy when the guitar kicks in. This track was re-released on the follow up album “Alive And Breathing” in 2002.

Check out the acoustic flamenco section from the 3 minute mark in “Irresversal”, an oasis of melody in the chaos of heaviness and aggression. This track was also re-recorded for “The End Of Heartache” album in 2004.

“Prelude” is only 2 minutes, but that’s enough for an instrumental, with head banging riffs and a sing-a-long lead break. “One Last Sunset” is another instrumental, sad and melancholic.

Nonpoint – Statement

The debut album reminds me of “Sevendust” and “Mudvayne” with a bit of “Tool” on this album. I think it’s a big reason why I gravitated to them.

“Mindtrip” has the vocals kick in start right away and that vocal line “trip inside your mind” reminds me of Tool.

“Endure” is the superior track here, combining melody, aggression and powerful riffs into a cohesive 3 minute track.

“Years” is a cross between clean tone arpeggios, busy drumming and aggressive down picking with a melodic Chorus, very Tool like.

Taproot – Gift

Bands classed as Nu-Metal had a lot of promo in Australia.

But Taproot, while classed in that style had a bit of progressive in them, clean tone vocals, hard core vocals with metal and rock overtones.

“Again And Again” has this groove, which people might say is more Disturbed than anything else, but both bands came out the same time, so let’s just say it’s a 2000 groove. Reminds me of Staind.

“I” is a favourite.

And thats it folks, the year that was 2000 comes to an end.

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Music, My Stories

June 1991, Guitar World – 25 Greatest Rock Guitar Recordings

In this issue they had a list of 25 Greatest Rock Guitar Recordings.

The editors of the magazine worked out a criteria and tried to find albums that met the criteria.

  1. The players technical brilliance
  2. The originality of the performance
  3. The magnitude of the works influence on subsequent artists

So here is there list. I will list the first 10 with my summary of what they wrote.

  1. Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Interested (1967)

Everything that Rock and Metal would become is here on this album. And it’s all influenced by Jimi Hendrix’s deep knowledge of Blues and R&B, acquired during his years on the club circuit.

  1. Van Halen – Van Halen (1978)

Another game changer album for originality in sound and experimentation with equipment plus pushing forward the techniques of guitarists in lead playing and riff structures.

  1. Derek And The Dominos – Layla (1970)

This is the outcome of when Eric Clapton and Duane Allman got together. Get into a studio, play live and get the tape rolling. You get a lot of blues rock and some celestial slide playing.

  1. Chuck Berry – The Cheese Box (1989)

When you get a blues player, rocking out with string skipping, chicken picking and a primitive two hand tap approach, then this album is seen as the next progression from the blues music that came before.

This box set released in the late 80s is from previously released recordings made between 1955 and 1973.

  1. Led Zeppelin – IV (1971)

This is Jimmy Page pushing his abilities as a composer, orchestrator and studio wizard. It’s got all the styles in here that would be known as hard rock, heavy metal, acoustic folk rock and blues rock.

  1. Jimi Hendrix – Band Of Gypsies (1970)

This album showcased the two different sides of Hendrix. For all of his pursuits of relentless perfection in the studio, Hendrix liked to jam when it came to playing live and throw caution to the wind. This album captures that live spirit.

  1. The Allman Brothers – Live At The Filmore (1971)

Duane Allman reinvented electric slide guitar. Dicky Betts introduced melodic Western swing and country-tinged lines. Together they gave The Allman Brothers a twin firepower not seen in other bands at this point in time.

  1. Elvis Presley – The Sun Sessions (1976)

Scotty Moore contributed greatly to improving Rock and Roll playing by combining jazz and blues and playing the songs with a pick or his fingers or moving in between both during a song.

  1. Jeff Beck – Blow By Blow (1975)

Pushed the boundaries of what instrumental guitar albums should sound like.

  1. Steve Vai – Passion And Warfare (1990)

A fusion of styles and techniques into a psychedelic hard rock instrumental album.

The rest of the list is made up of the following albums;

  1. The Beatles – Meet The Beatles (1964)
  2. Ozzy Osbourne – Blizzard Of Ozz (1981)
  3. Bo Diddley – The Bo Diddley Box (1990)
  4. Metallica – Ride The Lightning (1984)
  5. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble – In Step (1989)
  6. Black Sabbath – Paranoid (1970)
  7. Yngwie Malmsteen – Rising Force (1985)
  8. The Velvet Underground And Nico (1967)
  9. Joe Satriani – Surfing With The Alien (1987)
  10. The Rolling Stones – Exile On Main Street (1972)
  11. The Mahavishnu Orchestra – Birds Of Prey (1973)
  12. Creedence Clearwater Revival – Chronicle (1976)
  13. Yes – Fragile (1971)
  14. AC/DC – Back In Black (1980)
  15. Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)

I didn’t see the point in having two Jimi Hendrix albums in the Top 10.

And I was confused to see Steve Vai in the list as I don’t think his “Passion And Warfare” album met the third criteria within 2 years.

And being a rock and Metal fan, I would definitely have AC/DC, Blizzard Of Ozz and Malmsteen further up the list.

So what’s your view?

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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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Copyright, Music, My Stories

And Copyright For All…

There is a great article over at the WSJ on all of these catalogue sales of copyright.

It’s asking the question as to how does the music industry decide who the writer of a song is?

This is more relevant now than ever before, especially since artists are selling percentage points in their catalogues to investment houses and publishing companies.

It’s a double edged sword.

While the artists and songwriters would like to get a lot more in streaming payments, it is because of streaming that their catalogues have become valuable. The Beach Boys even took it a step further by selling their masters and their actual brand.

For the fans its worthwhile knowing that what is on album liner notes could be misleading. “1984” from Van Halen had the original release crediting all songs to Edward Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, and David Lee Roth.

In the UK release, “Michael McDonald” was listed as a co-writer for “I’ll Wait” but not the original U.S release. Eventually by the start of the 2000’s, Van Halen re-negotiated the publishing deal for the “1984” album and Michael Anthony was removed from the credits.

Each album will have a band/production agreement in which the actual writers (which could be the artists or a songwriter or a producer) would give a percentage split of their copyrights to other people (like other songwriters, producers, other band members, lawyers or management) in exchange for more work later on.

Bob Rock has a percentage split on the Metallica “Black” album and I’m pretty sure he would have a similar split on the “Load” and “Reload” albums. But the difference is that he’s not listed as a writer of the tracks.

Not sure if anyone remembers Stock-Aitken-Waterman. They had a string of number 1 hits in the 80’s. Judas Priest even worked with them on a batch of songs, which Rob Halford hopes would get released one day.

Well, if you saw any of the writing credits, it was always listed as “Stock-Aitken-Waterman” as the writers. All three would get the equal split but Stock and Aitken did all the song writing and producing, while Waterman did not write music or lyrics instead he acted as a publicist instead.

And while these kind of writers will still get paid in some way (by selling a stake in their songs, royalties, etc.) what about the $435M in unmatched royalties sitting in the bank account of a new government granted organisation/monopoly called The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC).

And this new Collective will start the process of reviewing and analysing the data in order to find and pay the proper copyright owners. And once they do find the proper copyright owners (provided they are still alive, still not sure on what happens if they are deceased), there will be an administration fee to be paid and whatever is left gets paid.

There’s always someone getting paid who didn’t contribute anything to the creative process.

P.S. The title of this blog is based on the “And Justice For All” title from Metallica. Because everyone is taking a piece of copyright royalties and the last ones to be paid are the independent artists. All because the labels and the publishing companies didn’t really track or keep a database of who wrote what song.

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Music, My Stories

The Week In Destroyer Of Harmony History – February 20 to February 28

4 Years Ago (2017)

Another Score Card post were I rechecked in with some of the artists I wrote about a few years before, just to see what is happening. Because three years in the music business is a long time.

Bands like Mutiny Within, Evans Blue, Corroded, Another Lost Year, Hell Or Highwater, Heartist, I Am Giant and Fates Warning all got mentioned.

I wrote about dictatorship in bands. My general viewpoint is that each band needs someone to steer the ship otherwise it all goes to hell.

Hetfield and Ulrich steer Metallica. Harris and Maiden. Sixx and Motley. Portnoy and Petrucci with Dream Theater and after Portnoy left, Petrucci took the reins. The Young brothers on AC/DC. And if their wasn’t someone steering the ship, I used Dokken as an example.

I wrote a post, called “Streamline”. It was basically asking the question of “Where do artists want their fans to go?”

Give people too much choice and they don’t buy at all. It’s one of the reason’s why a lot of people are still sitting on the fence when it comes to streaming. They’re not sure if it’s going to stick.

My musical journey started with vinyl and cassettes, then I had to upgrade my vinyl/cassette collection to CD’s, then I ripped all of my CD’s into MP3’s and now I’m doing streaming. I’m just one music consumer from millions.

Look at the band releases these days and how many different offerings they have. A normal Metallica release will have the following packages;

  • CD – normal album
  • Vinyl – normal album
  • CD – Deluxe album
  • Vinyl – Deluxe album
  • iTunes – normal album
  • iTunes – Deluxe album
  • Streaming – normal album
  • Streaming – Deluxe album

Why is there a need to have a normal album release and a deluxe album release these days?

Why is there a need to have bonus tracks added to certain geographical locations only?

Why can’t the album just be the album?

If the band wants to put out three discs, let them put out three discs and call it THE ALBUM…

8 Years Ago (2013)

I wrote a review of a Bullet For My Valentine gig in Sydney and I mentioned that if any band member leaves I won’t be interested as the band is a sum of their parts.

Well since 2013, their bass player left a few years after and then their drummer was told to not return to live duties when he took time out to sort out his personal life and to deal with becoming a father.

And slowly, I started to lose interest.

This one hurt to write as I was a huge fan of the band. But when One Less Reason went the fan funded route, they really needed to deliver to their fans the physical product they paid for. But they didn’t do it in a timely manner.

They basically fucked up the release and sending out of CDs. Some fans waited over 12 months for their CD to arrive, resorting to piracy to hear the album they fan funded. Questions to the band didn’t get answered and no one knew what the fuck was happening.

The band is still around today, I still listen to em but I’m sort of on the outer.

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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

The Ultimate Sin

The people who run the Ozzy Osbourne machine are trying their best to kill “The Ultimate Sin”.

By 1986, the legend of Ozzy Osbourne was growing. After telling the world he wrote the “Bark At The Moon” album with one finger on the piano, the metal community waited with anticipation as to what magic Ozzy’s finger would create for the follow up.

Ozzy was in rehab once again and the people that held it all together were Bob Daisley and Jake E Lee.

So coming into “The Ultimate Sin” album process, the Osbourne camp needed ideas. Jake E. Lee got burned on the song writing credits for the “Bark At The Moon” album, so he demanded a contract up front before he even started writing.

By the time Ozzy came out of rehab, Jake had already compiled 12 songs and half of em ended up on the album.

Apart from “Shot In The Dark” (which is credited to Phil Soussan and Ozzy Osbourne) all of the lyrics on “The Ultimate Sin” are written by Bob Daisley.

Daisley had a falling out and Ozzy fired him.

Of course, the Osbourne’s didn’t credit Daisley for his song writing contributions on the initial 1986 pressing of the album, though this was corrected on subsequent pressings. So there are 500,000 albums out there that don’t credit Bob Daisley.

Daisley and Lee are not their favourite people, but that doesn’t mean you screw em over for their royalties.

Then again, “Shot In the Dark” got the glory as the lead single and is probably the reason why the album is not available on CD anymore depending on who you believe. Overland brothers vs Osbourne, or Soussan vs Osbourne, or Overland vs Soussan.

At one stage in the late 90’s, this album was deleted and you couldn’t get any new copies. One of the Australian mags mentioned it’s because of Sharon Osbourne’s contract disputes with Bob Daisley and Jake E.Lee. Maybe it was the authorship issue of “Shot In The Dark”.

The Ultimate Sin

The drum intro from Castillo sounds like paper skins, but as soon as the riff kicks in from Lee, it’s head banging time.

Check out the solo.

Secret Loser
Killer Of Giants

Both tracks are from Ozzy Osbourne’s forgotten “Ultimate Sin” album released in 1986.

Who remembers the movie “The Wraith”?

Charlie Sheen stars in it, as a person who comes back to life to avenge his death at the hands of a car gang (who got away with the murder). He kills his murderers by racing each gang member to death. Well, “Secret Loser” appears during one such car race and it connected right away with me.

How good is the riff?

Trapped in a lonely body
I’m losing control
Can’t show my emotions
And I’m losing my soul
Could it be that I’m obsessed with feeding my disease
I couldn’t make it known the hidden things no one sees

Daisley was pretty good at writing autobiographical stories of Ozzy. I think this one is no different, especially the line about how Ozzy is obsessed with feeding the disease and in this case, the disease is the persona of Ozzy being constantly intoxicated, drugged out and doing something publicly embarrassing.

I can understand that what you see
You think is real
But underneath the surface is a wound
That cannot heal

It’s almost like being a fly on a wall in a shrink therapy session. Just imagine the big bad rock star with an image of decadence and debauchery breaking down within the confines of four walls and a chair.

“Killer Of Giants” is as good and as classic as “Diary of A Madman” in my view. Musically, it’s excellent. It’s got that acoustic introduction, social and political lyrics courtesy of Bob Daisley, a great chorus and excellent guitar playing from Jake E. Lee, plus a killer vocal melody from Ozzy.

If none of us believe in war
The can you tell me what the weapon’s for
Listen to me everyone
If the button is pushed
There’ll be nowhere left to run

Daisley, grew up with the threat of the button being pushed. For the generation of today, the threat of nuclear war is in the past, forgotten.

Killer of giants threatens us all
Mountains of madness standing so tall
Rising so proudly it has nowhere to fall
This killer of giants

At the moment our leaders are having a war of words with “rogue nations”. While sticks and stones hurt, a barrage of words can undo all truth.

“Lightning Strikes” borrows from Crazy Train and its instantly a favorite.

It’s 35 years old and no re-release has happened. But the fans don’t forget.

It was my entry point to Ozzy.

Play it loud.

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