Tag Archives: Melodic Rock

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Audrey Horne – Achilles: The War Inside Us

Audrey Horne have always been something of a contradiction.

Formed in Bergen, Norway, in 2002 by musicians better known for extreme and progressive metal, they deliberately chose another path: classic hard rock built on riffs, melody, swagger and songs that demand to be played loud.

The pedigree was serious from the beginning. Thomas Tofthagen, Tom Cato Visnes, Kjetil Greve, Torkjell “Toschie” Rød, Arve Isdal and Herbrand Larsen brought connections to bands including Sahg, Gorgoroth and Enslaved, but Audrey Horne became their escape route from extremity.

Their 2005 debut, “No Hay Banda”, earned strong reviews and a Norwegian Spellemann Award, while “Le Fol” (2007) pushed them further into the European rock circuit.

Then came the breakthrough. Their self-titled 2010 album was my introduction to the band. I spent three months in Europe back then and overdosed on it.

“Youngblood” (2013), “Pure Heavy” (2014), “Blackout” (2018) and “Devil’s Bells” (2022) progressively sharpened the formula: big guitars, bigger melodies and an increasingly confident identity. They survived lineup changes, relentless touring and a pandemic interruption, emerging as one of Norway’s most dependable modern hard-rock bands.

Now comes “Achilles”, released on September 4, 2026, via Napalm Records. My vinyl and CD just arrived, however streaming filled the gap. I also took liberty to fill a few gaps in my collection, so when ordered “Achilles”, I also purchased “Pure Heavy” and “Youngblood” on vinyl.

Clocking in at 44:15, “Achilles” lands in the sweet spot anyone raised on physical media will remember. Back when the TDK 90-minute cassette was essential equipment, this was the kind of album you could record in full on one side, no flipping the tape halfway through, no songs left behind. Just 44 minutes of Audrey Horne: load it up, press play and let it run.

Audrey Horne’s DNA is unmistakable: Iron Maiden’s twin-guitar attack and grandeur; the swagger of Kiss and Mötley Crüe; the melodic instincts of Thin Lizzy and Europe; and the riff power of Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Led Zeppelin. Ozzy Osbourne and Dio appear in the darker edges, Van Halen in the flash, Scorpions in the melodic weight and Deep Purple in the classic-rock muscle. Every so often, the sharper guitar work of the NWOBHM, particularly Diamond Head, creeps through.

Achilles

As soon as the intro riff kicks in, which is the same riff that becomes the chorus, “Can I Play With Madness” comes to mind. The DNA.

“Achilles” is the ultimate symbol of the warrior: almost invincible, terrifyingly capable, driven by honour, rage, pride and revenge.

But his story is also about the price of becoming the weapon everyone needs you to be. He wins glory and loses everything that makes glory worthwhile.

The song turns that mythology inside out. The warrior doesn’t want another battle. He wants a ceasefire. The repeated word starts to sound like someone trying to convince himself there must be another way.

“The blood that we spill to feed the mouth of greed.”

We dress war up as honour, freedom, territory, security, history, the flag, the cause and the enemy.

We build elaborate stories around violence because “somebody benefits from this” doesn’t make for an inspiring recruitment poster.

But blood is still blood, and greed is still greed. The people doing the bleeding are rarely the people deciding how much bleeding is necessary.

Maybe “Achilles” is every person who has spent a lifetime fighting somebody else’s war and finally gets tired. That isn’t weakness. That’s the beginning of the ceasefire.

In the Eye of the Hurricane

The intro and verses bring “Creatures of the Night” by Kiss to mind. The chorus, meanwhile, is pure Scorpions, and a certain song with “Hurricane” in its title.

“Carry on, into the eye of the hurricane.”

Sound familiar? That’s adulthood.

We’re sold the bullshit idea that eventually we arrive at permanent stability. Get the job. Pay off the mortgage. Find the person. Get your shit together. Then you can relax.
Except the hurricane doesn’t give a shit about your five-year plan.

The strange thing about a hurricane is that the most violent thing imaginable has a calm centre: the eye. You don’t defeat the storm by pretending it isn’t happening. You move through it until your feet hit the ground again.

The world throws enough shit at you and eventually you choose: let the storm destroy you, or become something it can’t blow away.
Carry on, not because everything is going to be okay, but because it isn’t.

Vampires

The intro and verse riffs recall “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Iron Maiden, merged with the pulse of “Heaven and Hell” by Black Sabbath and “Holy Diver” by Dio. There’s nothing else to do except bang your head.

“Achilles” was about conflict and “In the Eye of the Hurricane” about surviving chaos. “Vampires” is about the people who feed on you while pretending they aren’t the problem.

“You drank it all.”

Four words. The whole crime.

Some people don’t enter your life to share it. They enter to consume your time, attention, money, ideas, optimism, patience and belief in yourself.

They rarely announce themselves as vampires. They arrive looking like everybody else: friend, lover, boss, colleague, business partner, sometimes even family. They tell you they’re taking care of you while quietly taking everything from you.

That’s why the repeated “liar, liar” matters. The spell has broken. Once you see the vampire, you can’t unsee the teeth.

Make sure you stick around for the solo section with the “woah-oh” vocals. Brilliant.

God Damn Beautiful

This is high-energy AOR melodic rock with a steroid-strength foundation recalling “Just Another Night” by Mick Jagger, plus twin harmonies that bring Thin Lizzy to mind. Bassist Espen Lien also takes the lead vocal.

“Every turn you take is gonna lead you back to where you’ve been.”

That’s the trap. We convince ourselves we’re moving forward because we’re moving: new relationship, new job, new city, new haircut, new version of ourselves.

Look at me! I’m different!

No. You’re just taking the same baggage to a different postcode.
The road isn’t necessarily the problem. The driver is. You can change direction a hundred times and still arrive at the same destination if you haven’t changed what’s steering you.

Relationships expose this particularly well. We leave someone because they’re “the problem,” find somebody else and, six months later, have the same argument with a different face across the table.

Maybe the hardest part of heartbreak isn’t losing the person. It’s recognising the pattern.

Sometimes the person you’re trying to escape isn’t standing beside you. It’s the person in the mirror.

That’s why the chorus feels bittersweet rather than triumphant. She’s still beautiful. He still misses her. He still loves her. But love doesn’t automatically mean you belong together.

Goddamn beautiful. Goddamn painful.

Pretty Little Lies

It starts as a slow rock song, recalling “Sail Away” from Audrey Horne’s 2010 self-titled album.

“God Damn Beautiful” was about losing someone you still love. “Pretty Little Lies” is about knowing you’re causing the damage and continuing anyway.

“Don’t believe a word I say to you, ’cause telling little lies is what I do.”

Now there’s some fucking honesty.

The destructive lies aren’t always enormous. They’re the little ones: “I’m fine.” “It’s nothing.” “Of course I love you.” “Things will change.” “Just give me some time.”

Stack enough of them together and you build an alternate reality.

Sometimes we lie to ourselves. We say we’re staying because we love someone, when perhaps we’re afraid of being alone. We promise things will change when we already know what tomorrow will bring: nothing.

The pièce de résistance is the lead break, a song within a song. If it doesn’t make you play air guitar, check for a pulse.

When the “on and on” chants arrive, the energy rises, followed by violins in the final thirty seconds that push the riffs into “Kashmir” territory.

The only thing I can do is press play again.

Prodrome

A brief instrumental built around a warlike drum pattern and harmony guitars drawn from Audrey Horne’s Thin Lizzy and Maiden influences.

I had to look up what “Prodrome” meant, An early sign or symptom that signals the impending onset of a disease before major or specific symptoms appear.

Like fever, body aches, and tiredness often act as early warnings before a specific infectious illness takes full hold.

Insanity

Now we’re cranking. It feels as though they’ve taken their best track, “This Is War,” and reimagined it for the verses.

“Did I kill a man?”

That isn’t a confession. It’s worse. A confession means you know what you did. This character doesn’t.

Suddenly we’re inside the head of somebody who can’t trust the most basic fact about himself.

Did I do it? Was I there? Was it a dream? Am I the same person I was yesterday?

We construct stories about ourselves and spend our lives defending them: I’m a good person. I’m the victim. I always do the right thing. Then something happens that doesn’t fit the story.

“If there’s a God, tell him to leave me be.”

There’s no grand revelation or comforting answer. Just a man alone in the dark, surrounded by rain, rats and his own thoughts.

That’s where the Iron Maiden influence matters. The song is a prequel to “Hallowed Be Thy Name”.

Maiden’s condemned man is in prison, waiting to be executed. He faces death, questions God and considers what comes next.

“Insanity” belongs earlier in that story, before the cell, before the execution and before certainty.

And then comes the “Back in the Village”, inspired outro. Excellent.

Hell Is Eternity

Bass and drums start the song before an open-string melodic riff kicks in. It’s fast, high-energy and immediately engaging.

“It leaves a mark on me. The kind that you can’t see.”

The invisible stuff is harder to explain. You can walk into a room carrying ten years of pain and nobody knows. You smile, work, make dinner, crack a joke, and something is still eating you alive.

The monster doesn’t need claws or horns. It doesn’t even need to exist outside your head. It just needs access.

“Hell is eternity.”

That’s the real hell. Permanence. Pain is survivable when you believe it ends. Tell someone their suffering has no end and watch what happens to their world.

Six Feet in the Ground

The foundational DNA here comes from “Unmasked” and “Dynasty” era Kiss. “Naked City,” “Sure Know Something” and “Easy as It Seems” all come to mind.

“Monday early morning, I wake up and open up my eyes.”

The alarm goes off and, before your feet hit the floor, you already know how the day will feel. Same shit. Same routine. Same problems. Same person in the mirror.

“Days drag but nothing changes.”

Repetition is the real prison. Pain gives you something to fight. Repetition wears you down. One day becomes a week, a month, a year, and eventually you realise you’ve spent years waiting for change.

“Happiness is a long gone friend by now.”

Happiness used to live here. Now it’s gone. You can function and still feel fucking dead inside. You can show up while feeling six feet underground and everybody else is living on the surface.

“All I need is some time to think it over.”

Except time doesn’t solve everything. Sometimes it simply gives you more time to avoid what you need to confront.

“All I need is a drink to wait it out.”

It doesn’t solve the problem, just makes it quieter for a few hours.

“Most people learn faster when on fire.”

Pain is an excellent teacher. Unfortunately, most of us are terrible students until the exam is already burning.

Running Through the Night

This is fast and furious Iron Maiden. The verses recall “Aces High,” while the introduction feels influenced by the vibe from the “Powerslave” album.

Tony Soprano. That’s where we start. Tony fucking Soprano.
He’s a captain of industry, family man, criminal, violent, terrified, powerful and miserable.

Underneath it all, he’s “just a kid from New Jersey.”

“I’m going crazy and I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”

There’s a guy losing his shit and moving forward.

“Right is wrong.”

There’s the problem. Once the rules become negotiable, everybody writes their own version of reality. The criminal is protecting his family. The businessman is playing the game. The politician is doing what has to be done. Everyone has a reason, a story and a version in which they’re the hero.

Nobody wakes up intending to become the villain. They wake up feeling justified.

Running toward something requires a destination. Running away only requires fear.

The repeated “Running through the night” gives us no arrival. Just movement. Again. Again. Again.
Then come the fragments: “Gloria,” “Suicide,” “Chinatown,” “Bring me down.”

Images, places, death, crime, despair, fame and violence mashed together.

And that section from the 2:30 mark?

I was ready to break my desk in half. The tempo change, groove and classic-rock blues are brilliant.

New Star Falling

After the chaos and self-destruction of “Running Through the Night,” this becomes intimate. The character isn’t running anymore. He’s hiding.

“From this place where I hide, stripped from pleasure and pride.”

Whatever version existed before has been reduced to whatever remains when the bullshit disappears.

There’s loneliness throughout the song, the ugly kind, the kind where you can be surrounded by people and still feel completely disconnected.

“As I’m sitting here beside you, I can’t feel you here.”

You can know somebody’s voice, face, habits and coffee order, yet still lose access to them, or they to you.

“If you’re looking for me, look closer and you will see a new star falling.”

A supernova isn’t just beautiful light. It’s destruction. A star reaches the end of itself and explodes; its death becomes its final spectacle.

It sounds like a warning: watch me disappear.

“Tell me how to undo what can’t be undone.”

The heart of the song: regret. You can’t rewind a conversation, unsay a sentence or return to who you were before you knew what you know now.

“Falling from grace, my supernova, lights out I’m falling down.”

The brightest person in the room can still be falling.

The sequencing gives “Achilles” a cinematic psychological arc.

“Achilles” asks why we’re fighting. “In the Eye of the Hurricane” asks how we survive chaos. “Vampires” asks who’s draining us. “God Damn Beautiful” asks what happens when we lose someone. “Pretty Little Lies” asks what damage we cause each other.

“Insanity” asks whether we can trust our own minds. “Hell Is Eternity” asks what happens when we can’t escape them. “Six Feet in the Ground” asks what happens when we have to get out of bed and live with it. “Running Through the Night” asks whether escape is possible, or merely another form of self-destruction. “New Star Falling” asks what remains when the running finally stops.

The album keeps moving inward: from the world outside, to the people around us, to relationships, lies, the mind, despair and identity.

By “New Star Falling,” that identity is burning out like a dying star.

Which brings us back to “Achilles”. He wasn’t invulnerable. His famous weakness was the one place where he could be wounded. Maybe “Achilles” isn’t about finding the strongest part of ourselves. Maybe it’s about discovering where we’re vulnerable, and what happens when that vulnerability becomes the battlefield.

“Achilles” is a great album, and I’m glad I’m a fan of Audrey Horne. I didn’t actually drop dollars on the band until “Blackout” came out. The self-titled album, my introduction to them, was downloaded free through cyber lockers.

Who said piracy doesn’t pay?

That free download turned into a fan, then a buyer, then somebody waiting for the vinyl to arrive. That’s how music gets you. One album slips through the cracks, and years later you’re still pressing play, still hearing the influences, still finding new things to say.

Audrey Horne take Iron Maiden, Kiss, Scorpions, Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, Dio, Europe, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Van Halen, Judas Priest, Diamond Head and all the rest, then turn those ingredients into something that belongs to them. “Achilles” sounds familiar without being second-hand, classic without being trapped in the past and modern without sanding off the danger.

That’s the real achievement. The album doesn’t simply remind me why I love hard rock. It reminds me why I became a fan of Audrey Horne in the first place.

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

The Lost Art of Melody: Paul Stanley’s Underrated KISS Gems From 1987–1992

Somewhere between 1987 and 1992, Paul Stanley quietly became one of the best melodic hard rock songwriters in the business. Maybe he already was the best.

While thrash bands were chasing aggression and hair bands were drowning in excess, Paul Stanley was still obsessed with choruses. Diehards accused him of selling out, but to the Star Child, how can you sell out when you are doing the same thing you’ve always been doing.

Writing great Choruses.

If you don’t believe me, go back and listen again.

“My Way.”
“King Of Hearts.”
“Heart Of Chrome.”

They’re hidden gems from a period people spent decades dismissing because KISS dared to sound polished during the peak of pop metal.

And that’s always been the crime in rock history… accessibility.

But writing massive melodic hooks is harder than writing heaviness. Everybody can down-tune guitars and write about darkness or about the things that should not be.

Paul Stanley walked a tightrope constantly, trying to write something memorable, without it collapsing into cheese.

“King of Hearts” wasn’t just Paul Stanley writing another song, it was Paul teaming up with Vini Poncia, the architect behind some of KISS’s most polished late-70s and early-80s material. Full disclosure, the 1978 to 1980 era from KISS is huge in Australia. In other words, I’m a fan of this songwriting team.

“She was just 19, but in her eyes she was old enough to know.”

Everyone remembers being young and thinking they had to grow up too fast.

Nineteen is an age of contradiction. You’re legally an adult, emotionally still assembling yourself, and already discovering that life doesn’t care how prepared you are. The lyric is telling us about experience. Some people accumulate years. Others accumulate scars.

“In her eyes” suggests wisdom earned through disappointment, responsibility, and surviving things a person shouldn’t have had to survive.

That’s one of life’s uncomfortable truths: innocence doesn’t disappear because time passes. It disappears because reality arrives early.

“We were caught between two city streets, like a bad dream.”

Cities promise opportunity, but they can also make you anonymous.

This line is describing limbo. Existing in the space between where you are and where you wish you were. You have movement all around you but no direction of your own.

We’ve all lived there at some point, psychologically. Between careers. Between relationships. Between the life we imagined and the one we’re actually living.

The bad dream is the feeling there’s no obvious way out.

“I’m the King of Hearts, livin’ in a fantasy.”

On the surface, it’s a classic arena-rock chorus. But underneath, there’s something more fragile.

The kingdom isn’t power, money, or status. It’s a relationship. His entire identity exists inside an emotional space created by two people.

And then comes the twist:

“Livin’ in a fantasy.”

He knows it isn’t permanent.

Love often feels like borrowing time from reality. For a few hours, or a few years, the chaos outside fades into the background, and the ordinary rules stop applying.

The fantasy is believing you’ve found somewhere the rest of the world can’t reach you.

It’s saying that sometimes love gives you just enough shelter to walk back into the world and face it again.

Give it a spin.

“My Way” paired Paul with Desmond Child and keyboardist Bruce Turgon, and that tells you everything about the song before you even hear it. Child was the master of arena-sized hooks, while Turgon was steeped in the melodic AOR rock world through his work with Lou Gramm, then Shadow King, and eventually Foreigner.

It is a song about defiance, self-determination, and refusing to surrender your identity to outside forces.

It is the anthem of someone who has reached the point where approval is no longer the currency they live by.

“Oh the heat is on / And my back’s against the wall”

Everyone understands this feeling.

Life eventually puts everyone in the same position: the deadline is impossible, the relationship is breaking, the dream feels too far away, the world doesn’t care about your excuses.

“I’m never gonna stop / I’m never gonna give up in the fight”

Every great transformation story has this moment:

The hero gets knocked down.

The world says: “Stay down. Accept your limitations.”

And the hero answers: “No.”

But persistence is misunderstood.

The successful person is rarely the person who feels inspired every day.

They are the person who decided: The fight is against the part of yourself that wants the easy exit.

“I’m gonna talk like I talk, walk like I walk my way”

The real battle is authenticity.

Every day people edit themselves: They soften their opinions. They hide their passions. They become smaller to fit into rooms. They trade truth for acceptance.

And eventually they wake up surrounded by relationships, careers, and identities built around a fake version of themselves.

The problem with trying to make everyone like you is that eventually you become someone you don’t even like.

The cost of authenticity is rejection.

But the cost of pretending is losing yourself.

“I’m never gonna run / I’m never gonna tell myself a lie”

Running away is obvious. But lying to yourself is the more dangerous enemy.

People don’t usually destroy their lives through one massive mistake. They do it through thousands of tiny compromises:

“It’s only temporary.”

“I’ll fix it later.”

“This isn’t really who I am.”

“Everyone else does it.”

Self-deception is the invisible cage.

The hardest person to be honest with is yourself because you already know all your own excuses.

“I’ve got the right to decide”

You cannot control, what people think, whether people approve, whether life is fair, whether you succeed immediately

But you can control your response.

Doing it “my way” is not freedom from consequences. It is accepting ownership of consequences.

That is why these kinds of songs endure. They are not really about winning. They are about refusing to disappear.

And people mocked albums like “Crazy Nights” and “Hot In The Shade” for years because KISS were “trying to sound contemporary.”

Of course they were. That’s what great bands do.

The irony is the same people who trashed those records now worship melodic Scandinavian hard rock bands who built entire careers recycling the exact songwriting formula from these albums.

The DNA is obvious.

And then came “Heart Of Chrome” on “Revenge”, the “serious” KISS album. The heavier record. The darker reinvention. Bob Ezrin back in the fold. Grunge looming over the horizon. Less lipstick. More muscle. More Demon. And Vinnie Vincent.

“Heart of Chrome” brought together Paul Stanley, Vinnie Vincent and Bob Ezrin. It’s a reminder that KISS at their best was never just one personality, it was controlled chaos with a chorus attached.

Yet it still carries Paul Stanley’s melodic fingerprints all over it.

The Chrome shines. It reflects. It looks beautiful. But it’s cold, hard, and incapable of feeling. That’s the accusation running through the entire song.

“Yeah, ‘til the day we met, I was cruisin’, I was doin’ fine.”

Every serious heartbreak costs you something beyond the relationship itself. It changes the way you evaluate people. It teaches you to hesitate where you once trusted. That’s why people don’t simply “get over it.” They become a slightly different version of themselves.

The hardest part isn’t losing someone. It’s losing the person you were before they arrived.

“Everybody knew you used me, but I was just too blind to see.”

Nothing hurts quite like discovering everyone else saw the truth before you did.

More often, betrayal is self-deception. We ignore warning signs because they conflict with the future we’ve already imagined. We defend someone long after the evidence says we shouldn’t.

Embarrassment lingers because it’s public. Heartbreak is private until you realise everyone else watched it unfold in real time.

“You told me lies about all that you feel. I realize now that nothing was real.”

When trust collapses, you don’t just question one conversation. You question every conversation.

Every compliment.

Every promise.

Every memory.

The mind becomes an archaeologist, digging through the ruins looking for evidence of what was genuine and what was performance.

That’s why betrayal has such a long half-life. You’re auditing your own reality.

The relationship ends once. The replay lasts until you’ve built a version of the story that finally makes sense.

“You took everything you could beg, borrow, steal.”

Most people think betrayal is about what someone takes from you.

Money.

Time.

Love.

The deeper theft is confidence.

You begin to question your own judgment. You wonder whether you’ll recognise the next warning sign. You become cautious, not because you’re weak, but because your internal compass has been shaken.

The irony is that the people who betray us rarely carry the consequences as long as the people they betrayed.

“Heart of Chrome” sounds like a revenge song, but beneath it is something far more familiar: the struggle to make sense of betrayal without letting it define you.

The real victory is reaching the point where they no longer occupy your thoughts.

Because that’s the final irony of a “heart of chrome.” Metal can’t feel. But the person carrying the anger still can.

Melody survives generations.

That’s why these deeper cuts still resonate decades later. And honestly, this era deserves reevaluation.

They weren’t just party anthems.
They were songs about ambition, loneliness, survival, aging, heartbreak and identity disguised inside arena-rock choruses.

And maybe that’s the real story of late-80s KISS. Paul Stanley kept writing gigantic melodic songs during a period where rock music slowly forgot how important melody actually was.

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A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Influenced, Music, Unsung Heroes

Revolution Saints – Eagle Flight

Deen Castronovo is a talent.

A little Frontiers Records project known as “Revolution Saints” is now four albums deep. The self-titled debut came out in 2015. Songs like “Back On My Trail”, “Locked Out Of Paradise” and “Way To The Sun” with Neal Schon led the way. I was also a fan of the excellent Eclipse cover, “How To Mend A Broken Heart”.

The sophomore album “Light In The Dark” hit the streets in 2017 with the excellent “Freedom” as the standout track.

Third album, “Rise” came out in 2020 and with the song “When The Heartache Has Gone”, they broke the million streams on Spotify. The trilogy of albums also saw the end of the first iteration of the band with the departure of Doug Aldrich and Jack Blades.

And then “Eagle Flight” landed in 2023.

Once I heard it, I had to write about it.

Joining Castronovo is Joel Hoekstra and Jeff Pilson. Two excellent musicians and songwriters with resumes to match.

But the main songwriter is Alessandro Del Vecchio again, the Max Martin, Jim Vallance and Desmond Child of Italy. according to my math, Del Vecchio’s song writing credits for Frontiers album releases would be a thousand plus. If it wasn’t for Del Vecchio, Revolution Saints wouldn’t exist.

With each song I will highlight the songwriters, to showcase the casting net that Frontiers President Serafino Perugino casts to get quality songs for his projects.

Eagle Flight

Written by Alessandro Del Vecchio, Francesco Savino and Rossella Moscatello. Savino and Moscatello are from the metal band False Memories, another Frontiers act, who released an album, “The Last Night Of Fall” in 2021.

This song is pure melodic rock with Castronovo’s tobacco stained Steve Perry like vocals.

Del Vecchio plays on this as well, delivering a stellar performance on the keys/piano.

Under the sky we will fly like eagles

Eagles are known for their strength, grace and ability to fly at great heights. Eagles are used to symbols of freedom, courage and vision. The phrase conveys a sense of freedom, power and soaring above our limitations. You can overcome obstacles, rise about your circumstances and experience a sense of exhilaration and triumph.

Our dreams are mirrored from our thoughts, grounded by a thousand hopes

Our dreams are a reflection of our thoughts and aspirations. Our minds project our desires and wishes into the world, creating a mental image or a “mirror” of what we hope to achieve. Each hope serves as a foundation, providing us with the strength and resilience to persevere through challenges and obstacles.

Talking Like Strangers

Written by Alessandro Del Vecchio and Joel Hoekstra and it’s a Hoekstra riff that kicks it off.

It’s got that major key vibe, and man that Intro solo from Hoekstra had me playing air guitar. Musically it sounds like a Firehouse song and I like it, as I think the first two Firehouse albums are excellent.

But the Chorus has that Euro Pop vibe. Almost ABBA like. And man, Castronovo hits some highs here.

Need Each Other

Written by Alessandro Del Vecchio and Italian pop songwriter Francesco Boccia.

The Chorus.

Press play on it it.

And then stick around for the guitar solo from Hoekstra.

Kids Will Be Kids

Written by Alessandro Del Vecchio and Kristian Fyhr.

Fyhr is the vocalist in several Frontiers acts like Seventh Crystal and House Of Lords.

An almost funky like groove starts it off, but once the intro guitar lead kicks in, its melodic rock heaven.

Castronovo is again nailing the vocal melody.

We were too young to know, that grown ups never lie, kids will be kids no matter what

It expresses the idea that when we were children, we were naive and unaware of the fact that adults sometimes deceive or lie.

As children, we tended to trust adults completely and believed that they always spoke the truth. However, as we grow older, we come to realize that adults are fallible and capable of dishonesty.

And regardless of what children may experience or learn about the world, they will still behave like children. Children have their own unique perspectives, innocence, and tendencies to be playful, curious, and impulsive.

The nature of childhood remains constant despite any revelations or disillusionment that may occur as children become more aware of the complexities of the adult world.

In an interview with Goldmine Magazine, this is what Castronovo had to say about it:

“It still has the pop sensibility of Journey but with Joel and Jeff in the band I feel it is a bit heavier.

I grew up with heavy metal and I love playing songs with that kind of power.

Johnny Gioeli, the singer from Hardline, who Neal and I had been with in the early 1990s, produced my vocals for me. I have always admired Johnny’s vocals. He coached me on Zoom.”

I’ll Cry For You Tonight

Written by Alessandro Del Vecchio and Francesco Boccia.

It’s like a ballad, but it’s still got enough weight to rock. Blues rock that is.

Crime Of The Century

One of my favourite tracks on the album and it’s written by Anders Wikstrom who is/was the guitarist and songwriter in the Swedish hard rock band Treat for the band’s first three records. Since the late 80’s he has amassed a portfolio of close to 300 credits on Discogs.

That Chorus hook remains with me long after the song is finished. Castronovo is channeling his love of Paul Stanley.

Gotta break thru the walls
Just to find that my heart is still beating

The idea of perseverance and resilience in the face of challenges or difficult situations.

Are you determined to overcome obstacles in order to discover that you are still alive and capable of experiencing life?

Set Yourself Free

Written by Alessandro Del Vecchio and it feels like it came from Night Ranger aka “Why Does Love Have To Change?”

Just press play and enjoy.

Sacred

Written by Alessandro Del Vecchio, Kristian Fyhr, Nikos Sofis and Saal Richmond. Sofis is a Greek songwriter/lyricist and Richmond is created the band IN-SIDE. If you like acts like Alan Parsons Project, Toto, Work Of Art and Europe then you will like IN-SIDE.

Jeff Pilson’s bass rumbles here perfectly locked in with Castronovo’s drums. It’s almost galloping.

Another favorite, just behind “Crime Of The Century”.

Once More

Written by Alessandro Del Vecchio and Francesco Boccia.

Castronovo is the highlight here, especially in the Chorus.

And Hoekstra nails the solo section.

Save It All

Written by Alessandro Del Vecchio, Kristian Fyhr and Stefano Mainini who also wrote songs for Sunstorm’s “Brother In Arms” album before this.

Hoekstra puts his stamp on this song. The guitars are phenomenal.

In most of the interviews I’ve read, Castronovo has said he doesn’t write lyrics and if it wasn’t for Del Vecchio, this project wouldn’t exist.

As a fan of Dokken and the song writing of Jeff Pilson, I would have loved to see some Pilson co-writes. Then again, the writers used here, have done a stellar job.

Crank it.

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1976 – Part 5.2: Abba – Arrival

There is no denying their cultural impact with this album and subsequent re-success in the decades to come.

Before “Arrival”, they had traction, and after “Arrival” they had global success. And it’s all on the back of a few singles.

“Dancing Queen” was everywhere in the 70’s and again in the 90’s and beyond with “Mamma Mia”. In Australia, there was a local film called “Muriel’s Wedding” which was a big hit.

It centered on Muriel, her favorite band ABBA and how all she wants to do is to get married.

So the music of ABBA forms the backbone of the film’s soundtrack.

Songwriters Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson allowed their use in the film and permitted “Dancing Queen” to be adapted as an orchestral piece. Additional ABBA songs included are “Mamma Mia”, “Waterloo”, “Fernando”, and “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do”.

ABBA only gave permission for their music to be included in the film two weeks before shooting commenced and the filmmakers were considering changing Muriel’s favourite band to “The Village People”.

“Knowing Me, Knowing You” is the embryo of melodic rock. Pianist Benny Andersson said it was one of their five best recordings. Pay attention to the harmony guitars from Bjorn Ulvaeus.

“Money, Money, Money”, I had the 7 inch single and it was another hit.

How good is the music?

Almost theatrical yet melodic with a bit of classical and gypsy chucked in.

“Fernando” was a hit in Australia, spending almost three months at Number 1, but I’m not a fan of it.

In Australia, this album was huge but like all of their albums in the 70s they didn’t sell in the multi-millions. That honor goes to their “Greatest Hits” album from 1993 that sold in the multi millions.

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1986 – Part 5.4: April Wine – Walking Through Fire

It’s not even on Spotify. I guess when the hard core fans classed this album as the weakest album of the April Wine catalogue, the band took notice. Then again there was no band when this album was recorded. Read on.

Read on.

“Walking Through Fire” is album number 12. It is listed as being released in 1985 and in 1986. Remember those days when albums would have staggered releases based on geography.

As the Wikipedia page for the album states, it was essentially a contractual obligation to the band’s record label, to whom they still owed one album. And the label made sure that they would never recoup this album, getting songs from outside songwriters and booking expensive studio time.

By this time, the band had broken up, and the album features only Myles Goodwyn and Brian Greenway from April Wine’s “classic line-up” with some session musicians. For those wondering, Myles Goodwyn is on lead vocals and guitar, Brian Greenway is on guitar, Daniel Barbe is on the keys, Jean Pellerin is on bass and Marty Simon is on drums.

Rock Myself to Sleep

A lifeless opener and the first single released from the album, a tune written by two members of Katrina and the Waves in Kimberley Rew and Vince De la Cruz. It failed to make the charts.

Wanted Dead or Alive

This is a great Melodic AOR Rock. Press play to hear the Chorus.

Written by Jeff Cannata and Michael Soldan when they were in band Arc Angel together.

The song was actually released on their self-titled first and only album in 1983 on CBS Records. For those interested, a number of session musicians performed on the album, like, James Christian, Jeff Bova and Hugh McDonald. If you follow hard rock music, those names would be familiar to you. Of course, their brand of AOR Melodic Rock proved very popular in Europe but did nothing in the US as their brand of rock was dismissed by music writers as a Boston/Kansas clone.

Beg For Your Love

Clichéd song written by Canadian songwriter Eddie Schwartz.

You probably heard his song “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” getting a lot of air time courtesy of Pat Benatar recording it.

Half of the songs he recorded for his solo album, “No Refuge”, released in 1981 have been covered by other artists like “Hearts On Fire” by Honeymoon Suite on their self-titled 1984 debut and “All Our Tomorrows” by Joe Cocker on his “Unchain My Heart” album from 1987 to name a few.

Love Has Remembered Me

A ballad written by Myles Goodwyn. It was a minor hit and time has been kind to it.

Anejo

Written by Myles Goodwyn, it’s a skip for me.

Open Soul Surgery

Written by Jim Vallance, who has got a certain hard rock and roll sound and it’s the best track on the album.

You Don’t Have to Act That Way

Written by Myles Goodwyn, this track is a skip for me and I had an uneasy feeling that the rest of the album would follow this vibe. But I was wrong.

Hold On

Written by Myles Goodwyn this song is a hit, however it wasn’t promoted at all. Press play to hear the AOR Chorus.

All It Will Ever Be

Written by Myles Goodwyn rocks hard in the verses while it goes all major key “Life Is A Highway” like in the Chorus. It’s an underrated cut in my book.

Wait Any More

Written by Myles Goodwyn it’s got this summertime major key vibe which I like.

I grew up in the 80’s and this album can compete with a lot of albums that came out during this time. It’s basically a few good songs surrounded by filler, like most of the albums.

If you are interested, start with “Open Soul Surgery”, then go to “Wanted Dead Or Alive” and finish off with “Hold On”.

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Australian Method Series: Lord – Set In Stone

2005.

A band called Dungeon is opening for Megadeth in Sydney. I knew of the name, but never heard any of their music. The band name just didn’t do it for me. It was my mistake. I listened with my eyes instead of my ears. Well that was to change.

After the gig, Dungeon was definitely on my radar and I did purchase a few of their albums. And as soon as I got into them, they called it quits.

Sort of.

You see, Lord was originally started as a side project for Dungeon guitarist/vocalist Tim Grose, which was meant as something different from his main band sound. Lord’s first album was released in 2003 and it wasn’t so different from Dungeon. After Dungeon disbanded in 2005, Lord just became a continuation of Dungeon’s sound with new members. You could even purchase Dungeon albums at shows Lord did.

“Set in Stone” is the third album released in September 2009 by the band’s own label Dominus in conjunction with Riot! Entertainment. The album was recorded in my home town of Wollongong, Australia. A small foot note in history, is that a band I was in at the time opened up for Lord when they played Wollongong touring on this album.

The band is Tim Grose (also known as Lord Tim) on vocals and guitars, Tim Yatras on drums, Mark Furtner on guitars and Andrew Dowling on bass.

Spectres of the Ascendant

48 seconds of sound effects to introduce “Redemption”.

Redemption

Written by Tim Grose and drummer Tim Yatras, who would depart the band after the album was completed.

Its face melting speed metal.

100 Reasons

Another Grose and Yatras track.

It’s hard rock, with a major key Arena melodic rock Chorus.

Eternal Storm

Co-guitarist Mark Furtner gets a co-write with Grose and Yatras.

Fast, Malmsteen like from the “Marching Out” album. The solo is very Vinnie Moore like, running through different scalar patterns.

Set in Stone

Another track written by Grose and Yatras.

My favourite song on the album. The intro riff is a brilliant mix of Classic NWOBHM and American metal. Judas Priest and Maiden come to mind, with vocals bordering between a cross between Dickinson and Tate at their classic metal best.

There is this “wo-oh-oh” chant after the solo. I can imagine thousands of people chanting it at a gig.

Someone Else’s Dream

Written by the band.

An 80’s sounding synth and a syncopated guitar line set the foundations. At stages it feels like it’s a song from the Gothenburg metal scene, but the Chorus is huge and melodic.

Forever

It’s almost Maiden like with a lot of musical influences from the “Fear of The Dark” album.

I play air guitar to the harmony guitars.

Written by Tim Grose, Tim Yatras and Andrew Dowling.

The lyrical theme is pretty clear. Boy falls in love, gets rejected and goes all Michael Douglas “Falling Down” on the girl and the world.

The guitar playing in the lead break is brilliant.

Beyond the Light

Written by the band.

Judas Priest and UFO “Lights Out” era comes to mind, vocally and musically. It’s a great song to sing along to.

The End of Days

Written by Grose and Yatras.

It’s like a thrash metal song, with the vocals being a cross between Rob Halford and Tom Araya (in the verses).

Staying true to its title it ends with a nuclear bomb going off.

Be My Guest

Written by Tim Grose, Tim Yatras and ex Dungeon bassist Brendan McDonald.

This is like “Stars” on guitar with a lot of guest solos.

It’s an instrumental track featuring guest solos from Craig Goldy of Dio, Glen Drover from Eidolon, Olof Mörck of Dragonland, Yoshiyasu Maruyama of the Japanese thrash band Argument Soul, Angra’s Felipe Andreoli, the former Enter Twilight member Richie Hausberger, Chris Porcianko from Vanishing Point, Chris Brooks and former Dungeon members Stu Marshall and Justin Sayers.

New Horizons

Written by Grose and Yatras. It’s your typical power ballads.

Pete Lesperance from Harem Scarem plays a solo on this.

On a Night Like This

A Kylie Minogue cover as the bonus track.

The fact that the band would attempt such a cover shows the versatility of the members.

Reviews for Australian artists are difficult to do as I want to highlight influences of their sound without making them sound like copyists, and if people from other continents want to check them out, my aim is to give them a reference point as well.

If you haven’t dabbled in the power metal genre, then let Lord be your entry point.

It’s easy really.

Just press play on the melodic rock tracks first like “100 Reasons” and “Beyond The Light”.

If you like em, then press play on the classic metal track, “Set In Stone”.

If you like that, press play on the more ambitious tracks like “The End Of Days” and “Forever”.

Then you are at the fast speed metal with “Redemption” and “Eternal Storm”.

Enjoy.

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1986 – Part 4.6: The Rolling Stones – Dirty Work

I liked the 80’s Stones. They were like a pseudo melodic rock band. But Keith Richards hated it.

You see, Mick Jagger had just released his first solo album, “She’s the Boss” in 1985 and Richards saw this as a betrayal. Richards believed that Jagger’s first priority should be the Rolling Stones and not to pursue a career as a pop star.

“Dirty Work” was released on 24 March 1986. Produced by Steve Lillywhite, he didn’t have an easy job to do as he had to call in various other musicians to get the album done. It was also rare that all the band was in the studio at once.

The band for the album is listed as Mick Jagger on vocals, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood on all things guitars, Bill Wyman on bass and Charlie Watts on drums.

But.

Jagger was often absent from the sessions while Richards recorded with Ronnie Wood, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts.

Jagger added his parts after.

And Charlie Watts was addicted to heroin and alcohol so Steve Jordan and Anton Fig played drums on some tracks (uncredited) and Ronnie Wood on others.

One Hit (To The Body)

It’s that “Rockin In The Free World” vibe in the verses that hooks me.

The song is written by Jagger, Richards and Wood and Jimmy Page also plays on it. The best song on the album.

Fight

This is old Stones, with 80’s production and I like it. The song is written by Jagger, Richards and Wood.

Harlem Shuffle

This sounds like Mick and Keith turned up to a Blues whiskey bar and started jamming with the house band and I like it.

You can feel the soul and blues drip off every note and every melody. It’s a cover from Bob & Earl, written by Bob Relf and Ernest Nelson.

Hold Back

This Jagger and Richards cut feels like a mess.

The only thing that isn’t a mess is the metronomic drumming from Sir Watts (RIP). Then again I don’t know if it was him or the other uncredited drummers.

Too Rude

It feels like a track from the “Cocktail” movie or a Beach Boys track.

It’s also a cover from Half Pint, a Jamaican Reggae artist who released the song (called “Winsome”) on his 1984 album. Lead vocals are handled by Richards on this and drums are played by Ronnie Wood.

It’s also a skip.

Winning Ugly

It’s a Jagger and Richards composition. Musically, it’s got a bass riff which is like a 12 bar blues, but the soul feels like a soul rock track.

Back To Zero

It’s a funk rock tune, written by Jagger, Richards and Chuck Leavell who was a member of The Allman Brothers during their 70’s heyday. A bit different, but by this stage, the album is more filler than killer.

Dirty Work

The tempo is increased and the band is rocking out of the gate. The song is written by Jagger, Richards and Wood.

Had It With You

A 12 bar blues track, bringing back their 60’s output into the 80’s. Aerosmith is another band that would write tracks like this in the 80’s and well into the 90’s. The song is written by Jagger, Richards and Wood.

Sleep Tonight

A ballad written by Jagger and Richards, which feels like a jam at a Roadhouse Bar late at night when everyone has had too many drinks. Lead vocals are handled by Richards on this and drums are played by Ronnie Wood.

In the end, the first three tracks set the bar high, the title track joins them and the rest of the tracks are there as filler.

And because of the animosity between members, there was no supporting tour for this album. Jagger would later say that it was Watts’ personal state as one of the reasons he vetoed a tour but Richards reckons it was vetoed so that Jagger could start working on his second solo album, “Primitive Cool”. The way Richards saw it, they toured in worse states previously.

The critics panned it, however the album sold well.

In Australia it was a number 2 album, going Platinum on the backs of the singles.

It was a Top 10 album in Austria, Canada, Holland, France, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K and the U.S.

It was also certified Platinum in Canada, New Zealand and the U.S. It was certified Gold in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.

If you haven’t heard it, give it a listen. If you’ve heard it, give it a re-listen.

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1986 – Part 4.5: Krokus – Change Of Address

“Change of Address” came out in 1986 and its listed as album number 9 for Krokus.

The band for the album is Marc Storace on Vocals, Fernando von Arb on Lead Guitar, Mark Kohler on Rhythm Guitar, Tommy Keiser on Bass and Jeff Klaven on drums. Paul Fox and Jan Winding contribute keyboards.

Production is handled by Tom Werman as Producer and Mixer, with Duane Baron as the engineer and von Arb as Co-Producer.

A special mention to the outfits on the back cover. The 80’s are well known for the wardrobe choices of artists. And Krokus play into this as well.

Check em out in jump suits that mechanics would wear at a Formula 1 race. But they are in a bunker, to highlight the demolition of a building that looks like the White House.

Now (All Through the Night)

Written by Fernando von Arb, Jeff Klaven and Marc Storace.

How good is the Chorus?

It’s like Journey vocally and melodic hard rock musically.

One of my favourite tracks on the album but the midi drum sounds bother me.

You can blame ZZ Top for this, but at least when ZZ did it, it was still sounding like it belonged in the rock domain, whereas, the drum sound here feels like it belongs on a Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine album.

Hot Shot City

Written by Tommy Keiser, Mark Kohler, Jeff Klaven and Marc Storace.

I’m not sure what’s happening with this song.

It’s like they wanted to bring in influences from Robert Palmer and Huey Lewis into their sound. It could have worked.

School’s Out

This is like old school Krokus and after hearing AOR Krokus on the first two tracks, this is a welcome relief of rock and roll.

For those that don’t know, this is a cover of the classic Alice Cooper cut.

But it’s also not necessary to have this on the album. Then again, most 80’s album had a cover of a 60’s or 70’s track on it. For some bands it was pure filler and for others, it was their biggest song.

Let This Love Begin

Written by von Arb and Klaven.

An acoustic guitar arpeggio riff starts it all off, very Malmsteen like with a bit of Vinnie Vincent and “I Still Love You” from Kiss. Once the distorted riffs kick in, its more Foreigner than Malmsteen.

Check out the lead break, bluesy and emotive, which reminds me of Jimmy Page and “Stairway To Heaven”.

Burning Up the Night

The side 1 closer is written by von Arb and Storace.

Its AC/DC “Long Way To The Top” like in the verses and the Chorus could have come from a REO Speedwagon album.

Say Goodbye

Side 2 opens up with this track, written by Fernando von Arb, Jeff Klaven and Marc Storace.

At 5.18, its length shows that it wasn’t written for radio. It has this reggae feel in the verses which I like and the backing vocals remind me of “Black Diamond” from Kiss.

The major key Chorus is like those major key Power Metal choruses.

This is the side to listen to first if you are a Krokus fan. There isn’t a bad song on this side.

And if the intro riff sounds familiar, it should as it was used by Krokus on “Tokyo Nights” from the “Metal Rendezvous” album.

World on Fire

My favourite track of the album at 6 plus minutes long, written by Fernando von Arb, Jeff Klaven and Marc Storace.

While the riffs are metal and hard rock like, the vocal delivery in the verses is very Robert Plant like and I like it.

If you want to press play on a track from this album, start with this track.

Hard Luck Hero

Written by Fernando von Arb, Jeff Klaven and Marc Storace it feels like it’s a cross between Bryan Adams, Night Ranger, early Foreigner and Autograph.

And I like it.

There is this section just before the solo, when Def Leppard also comes to mind.

Long Way from Home

5 plus minutes long and written by Fernando von Arb, Jeff Klaven and Marc Storace.

It’s another Krokus classic song, rooted in their past and perfect to move with into the future.

The Chorus has this Kiss feel which I like and Allan Holdsworth also does the guitar solo a fusion of string skipping and whammy bar madness.

The album did decent business in Switzerland and Sweden, but in the U.S it was up against some decent competition and it failed.

The band would later admit the change in style and sound was due to the label Arista not approving the recording until they heard more radio friendly songs.

But this wasn’t a problem tied to Krokus alone.

All of the bands during this period had albums that sounded radio friendly.

Judas Priest and “Turbo”.

Quiet Riot and “QRIII”.

To name a few.

Overall, the album still sounds like a hard rock album once you get past the first two tracks.

Werman has copped some flak from artists he’s worked with, but one thing is certain. The bands he produces, sound good. Even though I don’t like the midi drum triggers, the album still sounds good.

And if you purchased a Krokus album expecting to hear Shakespearean lyrics, well, it ain’t going to happen.

Enjoy Krokus for what they are, a hard rock band trying to survive in an ever changing market place.

And Krokus does change well.

When all the rage in the scene was about the NWOBHM and AC/DC they gave us “Headhunter” and “The Blitz”.

And when the rage shifted to AOR and midi triggers and synths, well they gave us “Change Of Address”.

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The Record Vault: Def Leppard – Pyromania

In 1983 and 84, it felt like there was “Pyromania” and then there was everything else.

Quiet Riot didn’t have the same success in Australia that they had in the U.S and Motley Crue was a few years away from their “Home Sweet Home” fame in Australia.

The Lep’s wanted to be on top of the pop charts. That was their mission. The rise was slow but gradual.

If you like rock and metal music, you would like this album. If you like pop and other forms of music, you would still like this album.

The “Pyromania” story begins with “High ’N’ Dry”.

The album didn’t sell what the band and the label expected it to sell. And their UK headlining tour had them selling 25% of the tickets. In other words, they were pulling in between 400-500 people in 2000-seat theatres.

Def Leppard was then given a supporting slot on the European Leg of the “Point Of Entry” tour by Judas Priest. But they never had a chance to make an impact, coming on second after Accept, who had massive momentum with “Balls To The Wall”.

The tour finished in December, 1981.

But the band was busy writing riffs on the road and man, they sure had a lot for new songs. They also revisited some older songs and rewrote em lyrically or rearranged em musically.

“Medicine Man” wasnt good enough to make the “High ‘N’ Dry” album but it was beefed up and retitled “Rock Rock (Till You Drop)”. With new lyrics, it became the album opener.

There was another unfinished track which was described as “a dual-guitar pop song” by Joe Elliot in an interview at TeamRock.com. Well that song was also finally completed, and it became known as “Photograph”.

Producer Mutt Lange, was also on board, being listed as a co-writer on all of the album’s 10 tracks which bothered Willis as he believed that wasn’t the case.

When the band was given the green light to record, the budget was tight. Two albums in, the band was in debt to their label to the tune of £700,000, and each band member was on wages of £40 a week.

A cold hard truth on the realities of the recording business and the creative accounting of the labels is that the bands incur debts that could last forever.

The album finally hit the streets in January 1983.

But.

The album was selling slow in the U.K. A showcase gig at the Marquee Club in London on February 9 had a very small attendance.

But in North America, it was a different story.

MTV put the songs “Photograph,” “Foolin’” and “Rock of Ages” on constant rotation.

Suddenly rock and metal bands changed the way they recorded. NWOBHM bands started to sing more melodically and with multi-layered backing vocals.

Joe Elliot once said that he wanted the power of AC/DC mixed with the variety of Queen for Def Leppard. That equals “Pyromania”.

I had the vinyl but it was also in the same box that went missing during a house move however I picked this up on CD.

Rock Rock (Till You Drop)

It’s a sound and groove that Cinderella and Kix and many other U.S acts would put to good use to build careers’ on.

But it was guitarist Pete Willis who wrote the riff to “Rock Rock (Till You Drop)” however he’s not credited.

Willis and Lange didn’t get along at all, constantly clashing with each other in the studio which then also led to tension with the other members.

As a founding member, Willis didn’t believe he could be removed or fired. But removed he was.

Anything goes

Photograph

There is no denying the riff. It’s as good as any of the classic riffs that guitarists play in guitar shops and so forth. Structurally, the song goes all AC/DC style riffing in the verses and pop rock like in the Chorus.

Stagefright

Rick Savage came up “Stagefright”.

It’s got this Sweet “Action” vibe merged with metal riffage in the verses and a pop chorus.

Too Late For Love

As soon as this song starts off, I swear I’ve heard it somewhere else.

Die Hard The Hunter

You feel the sadness as soon as the Emadd9 clean tone arpeggios kick in and it gets even sadder when Joe starts singing “Let’s toast”. Then it goes into a riff that Queensryche used when they wrote “Revolution Calling”.

That section from 4.05 to 5.05 always gets me to stop what I’m doing and start paying attention.

Foolin

The opener to Side 2, with that majestic guitar part.

The magic is in the arpeggiated intro and the eventual build up with the layered backing vocals singing “Is anybody out there?”.

This song stands the test of time.

The lead break begins with a call and response. It reminds me of “Over The Mountain” from Randy Rhoads and Ozzy.

Rock Of Ages

The first time I heard em.

Yeah, it’s better to burn out / Yeah, than fade away

A rock and rollers creed.

Rise up, gather ’round / Rock this place to the ground

Burn it up, let’s go for broke / Watch the night go up in smoke

Rock on (rock on) / Drive me crazier / No serenade, no fire brigade / Just the pyromania, come on

This is the embryo of “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and they take inspiration from Queen, by using songs like “We Will Rock You” and “Another One Bites The Dust” as influences for the verse delivery/structure.

When the Chorus comes in after two verses, it’s well worth the wait. “Don’t Stop Believin’” from Journey also used this kind of song structure.

Rock of ages, rock of ages / Still rollin’, keep a-rollin’

Rock of ages, rock of ages / Still rollin’, rock ‘n’ rollin’

You won’t be able to stop yourself from singing along with the chorus.

Comin Under Fire

This song is a must for any guitarist. It merges 70’s classic rock, with the NWOBHM sound with Scorpions Euro Metal.

The intro alone has it all.

Arpeggiated guitar lines hook you in and then the pedal point riff blasts through the speakers.

When the verses come in, we are greeted with volume swells that outline the different chords.

Like the pre-chorus of “Foolin”, the chorus of “Comin Under Fire” has excellent layered backing vocals. Lyrically, it’s not the best, but musically, it rules.

Billy’s Got A Gun

Steve Clark was a Jimmy Page fan, so it was no surprise that he was the one who created this Zeppelin-influenced epic.

Never underestimate the ability of a song to paint a picture.

This is my favourite Def Leppard cut and it has so many good bits.

The verse bass riff reminds me of “Heaven and Hell”. The backing vocals are so layered, melodic and operatic. The overall drum groove reminds of “Kashmir”. And I guarantee you that Chris DeGarmo, Geoff Tate and Michael Wilton all had this album and paid particular attention to this song as the “Operation Mindcrime” album is musically influenced by “Billy’s Got A Gun”.

And you get an unbelievable solo and an ending that makes you press play again, so you hear the album over and over and over again.

As time marches forward, the greatness and power of this song is being forgotten.

And it’s like the band made a crossroads deal to achieve fame. The success of this album put the band members on different paths than the previous ones they were on and that would lead to different outcomes for them.

On New Years Eve, 1984, Rick Allen went to overtake a car and failed to negotiate the bend. He lost part of his left hand in the accident and surgery to reattach it, led to an infection and then eventual surgical amputation.

And no one knew it at the time, but it was going to be long wait for the next album.

On a side note, Trevor Rabin and Mike Slamer are both thanked in the credits.

Those two dudes are very well known session guitarists, so I’m asking the question; did they actually play on this?

Slamer was used by producer Beau Hill on most of the records he produced in the 80s. If you have an Alice Cooper, Kix, Winger, Streets, Warrant, Fiona, Europe, Twisted Sister and Ratt album, then there is a high chance that Slamer played on it.

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1986 – Part 4.2: Quiet Riot – QR III

“QR III” or “Quiet Riot III” is actually the fifth studio album from Quiet Riot if you can the “QRI” and “QRII” albums with Randy Rhoads.

It was released in 1986 on Pasha/CBS and it is the last album to feature lead singer Kevin DuBrow until the 1993 album “Terrified” which got a zero skull review in an Australian mag and the word “Terrible” as part of the review.

It’s produced by Spencer Proffer again with John Purdell.

A funny thing was happening in 1986. For some strange reason, artists who had massive sales in 1983 and 1984, struggled to match those sales a few years later.

Twisted Sister had big sales in 1983 and 1984 and they played to half empty venues on the “Come Out And Play” tour in 1985 and by 86, no one really cared about em and by 87 they had broken up.

Judas Priest had declining album sales by 1986, but still proved to be a big drawcard on the live circuit.

Ratt couldn’t match the success of their 1984 debut and by 1986, “Dancing Undercover” was just a blimp on the charts.

And then we have Quiet Riot.

Following the massive success of “Metal Health” and the more modest reception of “Condition Critical”, sales of “QR III” were even lower and it did not achieve any certification.

This Quiet Riot album is also the first album to feature Chuck Wright, formerly of Giuffria, on bass as an official member replacing Rudy Sarzo.

Wright joins Kevin DuBrow, Frankie Banali and Carlos Cavazo.

Before I get into the album, it’s worth mentioning that I never understood the argument put forward about bands rocking less when keyboards are involved. This album has a lot of keys but it still rocks.

Main Attraction

It’s a songwriting committee of Carlos Cavazo, Frankie Banali, Kevin DuBrow, Spencer Proffer, John Purdell and Chuck Wright.

They keys are prominent and the track could be mistaken for a Styx or Toto track.

The Wild and the Young

The song is written by Proffer, Banali, Cavazo, DuBrow and Wright.

Behind “Bang Your Head”, “The Wild and the Young” is the next best original.

The drum groove from Banali starts things off. Then the guitars and the keys play in unison until Cavazo overdubs a memorable little lead.

And the vocals start. While DuBrow is more miss with his lyrics, on this song he’s perfect with his message and delivery.

The music video for the song wasn’t cheap as it shows a dystopian future under control by a totalitarian militarist government and they are trying to round up anyone who is listening to rock music.

Twilight Hotel

Written by Wright, Banali, Cavazo, DuBrow and Proffer. I was drawn to this song immediately because it was different musically.

Down and Dirty

Written by Dubrow, Banali, Cavazo and Wright. It’s written as “Dow And Dirty” on Spotify. It’s typical hard rock and of the times.

Rise or Fall

Written by Dubrow, Banali, Cavazo and Wright.

I dig the opening riff on this. And Cavazo goes to town on the lead break.

Put Up or Shut Up

Written by Dubrow, Banali, Cavazo and Wright.

CC DeVille would have been listening to this as the main riff sounds like something that DeVille tweaked for “Nothin But A Good Time”.

Still of the Night

It’s written by the same songwriting team that wrote “Main Attraction”.

The cut is excellent, a soft rocker but so far removed from the “power ballad” formula.

Bobby Kimball from Toto performs backing vocals on the track, however the “backing” vocals are really cranked up in the Chorus, so it’s safe to say that Kimball was brought in to be the lead vocal there.

Bass Case

It’s an Instrumental written by Wright and all bass. For a minute length, I’m not sure why this is here.

The Pump

Written by Banali, Cavazo, DuBrow and Wright. It’s an attempt to capture “The Stroke” from Billy Squier.

I’m surprised that this song hasn’t been sampled by the rappers as it’s got a lot of good bits in it.

Slave to Love

The mighty Stan Bush is here as a songwriter, along with the committee of Banali, Cavazo, DuBrow, Proffer and Wright.

Musically it’s excellent. It’s almost melodic Metal The melodies are also excellent. Lyrically it’s crap.

Helping Hands

Written by Dubrow, Banali, Cavazo and Wright. It’s an underrated cut with a heavy 70s influence with a killer lead by Cavazo.

While a lot of people were off the QR train by the time this album hit the streets I wasn’t one of em. I was hooked by the music video for “The Wild And The Young” and when I saw the High Syme cover I was happy to part with my money.

Musically it’s a very mature album and an album that’s aged well.

Check out and be wild and young again.

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