ZeroSymbolic7188's Reviews
They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, but there is nothing flattering about this sorry ass excuse for a Lacuna Coil clone.
Start with Lacuna Coil.
Make the production absolutely ass-push the worst aspects of Lacunas music as far forward in the mix as possible. Now layer it to ridiculous proportions.
Take that and run it through a talent strainer, because we can’t have anything good interfering with the pure septic essence that this thing is.
Some people are going to hear the unconventional instrumentation that comes on thick and heavy and become tricked into thinking they are hearing something special. Make them sit through the whole album, let that wear off, and see if they like it once that new and shiny feeling goes away.
This is obnoxious, grating, and irritating music mixed to torment. This is what plays 24/7 in hell.
Ya know what? Each year I watch the annual Eurovision contest and without fail there is a country that sends that contests “metal” entry, and it’s always horrible and I always hate it-that’s what this sounds like.
[Chorus]
Those with hearts of ever-frost
Always know we never lost
Flames rose high... Not enough to melt the ice
Tiny minds and virtuous whores
Bunch of morons with a cause
Jesus saves? — We will piss upon your graves!
How bout go fuck yourself?
If you want me to listen to you criticize my religion you’re going to have to present an argument that is more sophisticated than a peeing Calvin sticker.
This is some incredibly generic music coupled with some incredibly pretentious lyricism.
One of these tracks contains the following:
“Once I got to witness a murder
Blood spattered sheets, it was still a dream
Would I have been reflected from the mirror of yours”
That’s the type of “head up its own ass” stuff we are dealing with here, and the music isn’t matching the grandiose of such lyrics.
It’s like if you had the lyricism of Morrisey backed by the musicianship of the Sex Pistols. No just No.
A score of 2.5 right down the middle. Imagine a song comes on the radio, and it’s not great but it’s probably better than what is on other stations. That’s this whole album. I wasn’t begging for it to end but I not excited to hear it again any time soon. This is certainly some gothic music that exists-one of the gothic albums of all time.
Wow! This is one of those rare albums where a band throws everything at the wall and it all sticks. In addition to the usual gothic metal set up you will also get 5 different vocal approaches, an oboe, electronic elements, and bagpipes. This is not just a case of more is more either, but a genuine case of more is better. They bring everything to the table and they also figured out how to make it all work together. Hats off to the composers-they had to balance a ton of ingredients and the end result is very impressive. Absolutely a must listen.
I found this album to be above average on average, so I was riding it at a solid 3. Then I heard “Unreachable” which is a very good song and that pushed it up to 3.5. It’s a very solid album with a single especially bright spot.
This is fine, but there is no variety to be found. If you hear one track from this album you’ve pretty much heard every track on this album. It’s floaty gothic vocals that sound like a poor man’s Wolfsheim over generic gothic drums and guitars. Its not a bad formula but it’s been done better by other bands in other albums.
Something in the production here is off and it makes the whole thing unpleasant to listen to. The band tries to mesh their goth metal with elements of black metal, and the end result is something I would not recommend to fans of either subgenre. I applaud the bands ambition, but nothing works here.
This thing is awesome! It promises Gothic Rock/Metal, Space, and psychedelia, and delivers on all fronts. I usually like to compare my reviews to big well-known acts, and there are some that come to mind, but in this case I feel it would be a disservice to the originality within. 8 Tracks, and 40minutes all of it not only skipless but warranting of multiple listens. I would happily and confidently recommend any cut from this to anyone. It's that undeniable. I found "Like a Leaf" to be an extra special song on a special album. It hit me like hearing Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" for the first time. This album has many flavors, all of them very tasty. Simply amazing!
Gothic Finnish Stadium Rock? Sounds kind of weird doesn't it? Well, listen to it and tell me I'm wrong. I'm awarding 3 stars because I can't say that I've heard something quite like this before, or is it that I've heard a lot of things that sound like this, just not quite this way? *thinks to self* I've heard these pieces before, just not assembled into to one package quite this way. It's somehow got something to do with Lacuna Coil and HIM, but also U2 and Live, maybe The Cult? It's also very very Finnish-I can't explain why, it just is. That being said while it is novel, once you get about halfway through you come to realize that it's shown you all it's tricks, and when the novelty wears off it's pretty average music at the end of the day. This might be fun to pull a song or two out and say to someone "listen to this and tell me what you make of it". It's a 2.5 product raised to a 3 because it was interesting for a little while.
Boring, unwieldly, and cheesy. The song lengths here range from 5:30 to 15:22 there are 8 of them, and there is not an exciting riff, catchy vocal melody, or witty line of poetry among them. It does have every cliche of the sub-genre; beauty and the beast vocals, atmospheric rain, "spooky" voice overs, and melancholy progression, but at least for me, none of it comes together in a way that feels cohesive or enjoyable to listen to. It's as if they took all the ingredients and just threw them into the cauldron without giving thought to ratio, or how they might come together. It doesn't do anything interesting, doesn't take any chances, and it's not executed well enough to simply be a great representation of tried and true formula. Additionally, it is a concept album about Lucifer's fall from Heaven, done in a way that I think is meant to inspire sympathy for the fallen angel. That's some goofy stuff, and it was never going to work for me, it's the kind of premise you go for when you're 14 and want to be edgy. There was just something about this that I found incredibly lame from the start, and listening to it was a drag for me. I would not recommend it to anyone, and I don't see myself listening to or talking about it with any kind excitement.
This is really good stuff here. It mixes some of the best elements of doom, goth, and death metal all together in roughly equal proportions. It's also super well produced which is a tall order with music that has this much low end, so much respect for that. Classy is the word I would use to describe it; each moment and melody feels carefully chosen, and I especially enjoyed the way the keyboard was used in this album. It's heavy and beautiful, tightly crafted, and doesn't over stay it's welcome. Each member of the band seams to have come together to support one another and the overall whole of the music within. My solitary knock is that it isn't the most original thing in the world, rather it is a tried and true formula worked to near perfection.
To me this album plays like if My Dying Bride were to make a rock radio album. You have some of that sombre quality, but the tempos, track lengths, and rock riffs don't allow for it to hit anywhere nearly as hard. That being said I actually think this one will work for some people. I am just not among those people. Listen to the song "Gray" and decide if you want more or not. I also had to ding the album because it contains a song called "Air" that just absolutely sucks. J.P. Leppauluto is an above average vocalist, but he's not Aaron Stainthorpe no matter how hard he tries to be, and he's trying really hard here.
This album plays like a Lacuna Coil album but made by a less talented band and producer. It has no atmosphere, no riffs, no surprises, and no memorable moments. It also has this weird peculiarity where the second half of the album sounds much better produced than the first, but upon looking into it there was nothing I could find indicating the band switched producers, or had any kind of turmoil during the recording process. It's just odd. Fans of Lacuna Coil might find something of value here, but even then I would advise such listeners to stick to the real thing. I give it two stars because I wasn't compelled to shut it off-there is nothing offensive about this album. Perhaps that was the problem?
I just have to review some Savage Master.
Savage Master is a Kentucky based outfit that describe their music as occult heavy metal. I love the band and I go see them every time they come to town, which is about yearly for the last 4 years. I would describe their sound as somewhere between NWOBHM, and thrash, with lyrics closer to something like Coven-very evil, but also very catchy heavy metal. The band has changed line-ups a few time but they are super consistent in what they sound like album to album, so if you like this one they have 3 more that are pretty much the same sound (this is very much a compliment).
The driving forces of Savage Master are of course front woman Stacy Savage, and guitarist Adam Neal. Stacy sounds like a witch, her vocal delivery is sharp and cutting, with a hint of a cackle. Adam knows how to dial in a fantastic tone, and they write great fucking songs!
I rate this album 4 out of 5 stars, the 5th star is reserved for a Savage Master live performance. Let me paint the scene for you:
There is an alter of candles. and a single slowly flashing red stage light. Then some of the biggest dudes you have ever seen come on stage in executioners hoods and start just fucking ripping metal-this is the sick fucking riff variety not the flashy guitar solo variety though they can and will do that later. Then a smaller figure clad in a red or black robe comes up on stage, and the robe is dropped to reveal a leather clad Stacy Savage. One of the most charismatic front people in the business. Stacy absolutely owns the stages. The band then proceeds to tear the house down. At some point a gimp appears, and on really special nights the beast they call the desolate one himself appears for the finale. It's a fucking awesome time, everytime!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0ui752fY2o <--DO IT LIVE!
I'm kind of treating this review as a review the band themselves rather than just this album. As I said their sound and quality is incredibly consistent, and in a live set they will play all these Bangers, or at least most of them:
Mask of the Devil
"Blood on the Rose"
"The Ripper in Black"
"Altar of Lust"
With Whips and Chains
"With Whips and Chains"
"Looking for a Sacrifice"
"Burned at the Stake"
Myth Magic and Steel
"High Priestess"
Those Who Hunt at Night
"Queen Satan"
Those would be my 8 choice cuts, but if you like one Savage Master Song you will enjoy them all, and you will enjoy it even more in the live setting.
Under the banner 666
Beneath the inverted crucifix
Beyond hell and back again
Burning hot and we're ready to sin
Point of Contact:
Right, so recently I attended a Venom Inc show-a damn good time indeed, but not the subject of this review. Whilst I was there I met a fellow headbanger whose entire patch vest was covered in Florida thrash and death metal bands. The back consisting of all 7 Death albums. FUCKING NOICE! Needless to say I approached the man, bought him a beer and explained that I was gigantic fan of Chuck Schuldiner. Among other things he mentioned that while playing in Mantas, Schuldiner would often play shows with a thrashy outfit called Nasty Savage, and that they would strongly influence Chuck to make the mind blowing death metal we would come to know and love. Sign me up, if it was worth Chuck's time it's worth mine!
The Lads:
On The Drums: Curtis Beeson (RIP 2024)
On the Bass: Fred Dregischan
On Guitar #1: Ben Meyer
On Guitar #2: David Austin
and last but damn sure not least. "NASTY" Ronnie Galletti
The Sound:
The combined efforts of Beeson, Dregischan, Meyer, and Austin combine to form a thrashy monster that is a well-mixed combination of "Show no Mercy" Slayer and your choice of Mercyful Fate album seasoned with who knows how much underground Florida thrash, and some of their own special herbs and spices.
The Singer:
Nasty Savage is fronted and probably the brainchild of "Nasty" Ronnie Galletti, as the band bears his namesake. His hobbies include but are not limited to smashing TVs over his head, and singing like King Diamond, and he sounds exactly like it. Dude's voice has tons of power and range, but he's singing some really goofy stuff. The lyrics are very "I was a teenage metalhead in the 80s". Which for me is a plus but might be a bit to bear for more serious metalheads.
Closing:
Yeah this is an incredibly fun album, and it bangs hard. You definitely need to hear this one.
Choice Tracks:
All of it is worth your time, but if you need the cream of the crop it's probably "The Morgue". If you are in a silly goofy mood go with "Dungeon of Pleasure" it's about exactly what you think it's about.
Alright, so I am the odd duck that actually likes this album. I will try my best to explain.
First off if you are coming to this album as a Metallica fan, hoping for the next headbanger anthem... yeah it's not on here. You are going to be disappointed. However, if instead you come to this as a Lou Reed fan... well there is still no guarantee that you will like it, but it will make more sense. So... what is this thing and why do I like it?
Lulu is based on the "Lulu" plays by Frank Wedekind, and the two pieces tell a continuous story of a sexually enticing young dancer who rises in society through her relationships with wealthy men but who later falls into poverty and prostitution. The album is heavily inspired by those works, but I have not read them so I can't say for sure if it is a literal retelling of that story or if it just heavily inspired by it. I can say that it has a lot of lyrics that seem to be spoken through that type of character, and yes it comes across oddly when spoken by a 70 year old man. Also the production on this thing could have been better.
What? You aren't sold on it after that juicy insight? I don't blame you this was not an album that was going to work for everybody... most people... some people... anybody? It works for me because I like weird things, I like Lou Reed, and I like poetry. This album is simply spoken word poetry set to music, and I like the poetry within. There are definitely some offputting lines, some outright misses, and some extremely awkward and uncomfortable moments, but there is also a lot of heart break and beauty. Good art is sometimes uncomfortable and offensive.
Perhaps for me this album is as much about what it isn't as what it is. I've already talked about what it is; awkard, uncomfortable, poorly produced, yet also incredibly poetic and artistic. It isn't commercial, easy, sold-out, or concerned with pleasing anyone. People often say that they want honest output from an artist, and there is much talk of "evil record companies" that don't allow an artist to produce the product they want to make. This is an album free of any such restraints, and expectations it is a genuine piece of art made by artists who sincerely wanted to pursue this project. Everybody says they want it, but we all have seen how it was received. Personally, I like what it stands for. I also think that "Iced Honey" is an awesome piece of work.
I have defended this album for ten years at time of this posting. I will continue to defend it for at least the next ten years, probably longer. What I hoped to achieve with this review is to get across the idea that I don't just like the album as a symbol of unfiltered art, I also genuinely enjoy the music and lyrics within-the good and the bad.
I discovered this gem last night.
The band is:
Jan-Chris de Koeijer – vocals, bass guitar
Frank Harthoorn – guitar
Boudewijn Bonebakker – guitar
Ed Warby – drums
Rene Merkelbach – mellotron and grand piano
What you get here is some awesome Death N Roll. When I first heard the band I would have sworn they were from the American South, because this thing is steeped in the blues. You get some slide guitar, and occasional piano backings. It plays like some super beefy southern rock, yet they actually hail from the Netherlands!
Jan-Chris de Koeijer has that tough guy strut to his voice like Phil Anselmo, with a slight drizzle of Chris Barnes at his best. It's heavy, powerful, and definitely not clean, but it's also crystal clear. You can sing along to this album even if you don't speak fluid death-metal. The band plays very groovy and catchy music with pleasant tones dialed in all around, and the mix is excellent too.
The Formula:
50% Pantera
30% The Sword
10% Lynyrd Skynyrd
5% Six Feet Under
5% Hatebreed
The stand out track for me is the title track, and it's representative of what you will get with rest of the album. Lyrically, imagine if Conan the Barbarian had a poetic side and you're gonna be in the right ballpark.
So yeah, this thing rocks. Go listen to it!
This is a good album mostly because it just unapologetically rips off Black Sabbath and Jethro Tull, in the best possible ways, and I'm not just saying that because of the presence of a flute. One of these tracks is literally all the riffs from "A New Day Yesterday" played slower and in a diferent order. If you're gonna steal, steal from the best. That's what they did here and yup it works.
YES! I fuckin' love W.A.S.P. This album, the Last Command, The Crimson Idol, and Headless Children. All fucking great! Blackie Lawless for President!
For the unaquainted, WASP is everything great about Sunset Strip sleeze. Imagine the absolute best of Motley Crue. Now imagine that it's heavier, meaner, and sleazier. That's what WASP is. They are the fuckin' gear. They will even sometimes throw in some southern rock for you. WASP is a party in your speakers, go to the party, drink some Jack, Snort some coke, bang some hookers in the back of a limo. That's what WASP sounds like, and if you just listen to them you can have all that fun without the hangovers, rehab, or STDS! That's a fuckin' win isnt it!?
I understand that Phil Lynott is beloved by many, but goddamn this album is not exciting. It just blurrs into itself, and I just want it to end honestly. Like it's the worst kind of music, because it's not awful. If it was awful I would have something to say about it, but it's not good either. If it was good I would be enjoying myself. I'm not. This is just a slog. This is some music that exists. This is a tall glass of room temperature water, and I'm not even thirsty man. This is a particularly flavorless protein bar, you CAN eat it, and it will sustain you, but it's not tastey. Is this enough metaphores? Have I gotten the mediocrity across? CAN I GO HOME NOW?
I'm going to save you a lot of time here. "Sails of Charon" fuckin' rules, and the rest of this album doesn't. I'm not the biggest Scorpion's fan in the world to begin with but this album is very uninspired and boring outside of Sails. That's it. That's all I can muster. Put "Sails of Charon" in your playlist, and then move on from this. There is no other gold in these hills.
Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Saxon.... Yeah one of these things is not like the other ones is it? That's a pretty distant third place. Now despite being a long way behind those legends, Saxon did carve a name for themselves, because every once in a while they had a "747-Strangers in the Night", "Denim and Leather", "Wheels of Steel", "Princess of the Night" or "Crusader" songs that are just so damn good that the band could punch far above their weight, and actually hang with the big boys on occasion, but you know what all of those songs have in common? None of them are on this album. Here you just get Saxon in their essence, which is a mid-tier throwaway NWOBHM band, and I'm still salty as fuck that they didn't play "Crusader" when supporting Priest on the Firepower tour.
Calling your band Satan is something that immediately puts me off, it just seams so try hard and edgy. I mean, bit on the nose innit? This was going to have to do something spetacular to shake the stink off of that. Album starts with over a minute intro with no metal in it-->At this point I'm not even mad just disappointed. Anyway eventually we finally get to the music, and it was a lot better than I expected. It wasn't good, but it was better than I thought it would be. What you get here is a poor man's Mercyful Fate. Now if you like most of what Mercyful Fate does but you can't get past King Diamond's falsetto, then this might be something to look at, but while you will lose the falsetto, you ill also lose a lot of polish. The band is trying their damnest-this is isn't suffering from a lack of effort. They just can't quite pull it off. The end result is somewhere between Diamond Head and Mercyful Fate, but it's not as good as either of those bands. They squeeze a 2.5 out of me here by surpassing expectations, and while it doesn't work for me, I think it will for a lot of people. This isn't going to be anyone's favorite album but it's going to be a welcome addition to a lot of playlists.
No seriously, this sucks. It's fuckin' weird to listen to, because you can hear little flashes of the Piratey stuff they would become more well known for later on. I don't like that shit either for the record. There's also something just strange about the production on this that I can't put my finger on. The best way I would describe this; Venom but without the committment to the bit that Venom had. I wasn't there in 1984, so this is just my conjecturing, but this sounds like an album that was made because the band felt they had to make it. They just don't sound into it, or like they were enjoying themselves. It's lyrically full of satan stuff, and that's not who Running Wild are. You can hear the lack of genuinity. I don't think they had fun making it, and I damn sure don't have fun listening to it.
This is mediocre speed metal but I raise it above 2.5 because it's played with such piss and vinegar. There is a certain joyous energy on this album that is infectious. I wish that i enjoyed listening to it as much as they enjoyed making it, but I just don't. Ironically my favorite track is "Feel the Same" and it feels the most bummed out of all the tracks-it sounds like something from a Scott Weirich project, and I love Scott. Seriously listen to that and picture it with Scott on the vocals it's a lost St. Vitus/Obessesd track.
You know I'll tell you why this doesn't work for me. It's got no edge. I'm the problem here. This album is just too much fun for me. I party in hell (Venom, Slayer, etc), this parties in a bar.
Right, so here we get 6tracks, and 33minutes. That's not a lot of room for error. They better all be bangers right? Well, here's what else you get: Ronnie James Dio, Ritchie Blackmore, Cozy Powell, Jimmy Bain, and Toney Carey. Yeah everybody here is a badass and in top form. I run into that familair problem now of "what to say". I mean this really is epic music that speaks better for itself than I ever could. I could describe it as classic rock or classic metal, but it's a lot more than that, it's like classic+. I could compare it to similar artists, but there really isn't anybody similar. Look, it's some of the best musicians to ever play this kind of music firing on all cylinders. Go listen to it.
I hate Queensryche, and I have always hated Queensryche. This album did not change my opinion. This is a collection of boring tracks that bleed into one another, never do anything interesting, and go on for way too long-like every Queensryche album. I have no idea how on earth this band got to level that they did, and I think it will forever be a mystery to me. Somebody's got to comment below and explain to me what I'm supposed to like about this. I made it through the hour run time but it was painful. Never again fam. Never again.
Yeah I don't know what's going on that album featuring Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads is sitting at 3.5. Bob Daisely on the bass is also very excellent and underespected.
This album has "Crazy Train" that alone is worth high merit, but it also contains "I Don't Know", "Suicide Solution", and "Mr. Crowley". All songs you've probably heard as they are classic rock radio staples and live concert mainstays. They've all also been covered several times by several people, "but Zero, what about the tracks that weren't hits?"
Fair question, let's take a look. "Goodbye to Romance" is a pretty good ballad. "Dee" is a short and sweet instrumental noodle. "No Bone Movies' is admittedly pretty mediocre but it's still got Rhoads playing some cool stuff. "Revelation/Mother Earth" is kind of a Sabbath throwback with it's slower tempo and apocalyptic warnings. "Steal Away the Night" is "No Bone Movies Again"-mediocre song slightly elevated because of what Rhoads is doing.
So yeah there are some less than legendary entries, but even those are solid enough, and the big hitters on this album are VERY BIG. This is an important album and every metalhead should have it in their collection.
I was pretty excited about this one. I had never heard it before, and the album art just tickles my brain in all the right ways. Love at first sight? Maybe let's see how the date goes...
Yeah I didn't get catfished with this one. What you have here is something like ManOwaR meets Manilla Road, but the production isn't quite as good as what you might find on albums by those bands-and that works in it's favor. I love music that sounds like this. It's a little bit messy and a little bit muddy, but not raw. It's the sound of a very nicely done demo-tape, and I absolutely love that. Like next time your band is rehearsing and your listening to the standards like ManOwaR, Manilla Road, Metallica, Iron Maiden, etc, you can pop out your copy of Omen's-Battle Cry and hit em with something a little bit diferent but equally awesome. It's that kind of buried treasure album. Lyrically mostly medievel fantasy stuff, executioners, dragons, blades, battles, the usual stuff.
All that being said this is a 5 star from me, because it just gets "the formula" right for me to do that. Another person might listen to this and find nothing special. Listen to it and form your opinion, but for me it's a banger that I'm going to come back to time and time again. It's in rotation.
I am a die hard Motorhead fan. Lemmy Kilmister is the father figure I never had. This is the band and the man that got the coveted BIG BACK PATCH on the battle vest. It's just bangers from start to finish, and an absolute monster of an album.
You get the greatest three piece Rock and Roll band that has ever existed; ON THE DRUMS PHILTHY ANIMAL TAYLOR! ON THE GUITAR FAST EDDIE CLARKE! and ON THE BASS AND VOCALS LEMMY KILMISTER! THEY WERE MOTORHEAD AND THEY PLAYED ROCK AND ROLL. NEVER FORGET THEM!
An album of fast and furious boogy-woogie rock, covering such topics as Western Movies, Gambling, Chasing Women, Life on The Road, and Rock and Roll itself.
It's as perfect as rock music gets. The fury of this band can not be described just experienced. Go experience it!
My soul small bugaboo is that it's not a metal album. Lemmy was steadfast and consistent in his feelings that Motorhead were a rock and roll band. I've read and watched everything about the man that I can get my hands on. He always maintained that while the metal and punk rock communities absolutely embrassed them-Motorhead were a straight up fast Rock and Roll band, and when I go back and listen to his inspirations: Eddy Cochran, Little Richard, etc. their influence really is quite prominent in Motorhead's music. At it's core Motorhead play that old school rock and roll, but they play it faster and meaner than anybody else was at the time, and more importantly BETTER.
For once I'm not the odd man out. This album seams to strike everyone else about the same way it strikes me. The title track is something very special, but the rest of the material never quite measures up. It's an utterly mediocre album with a couple of bright spots. "Beyond the Black" is a solid enough opening. "Gods of Wrath" is cool once in a while, title track kicks lots of ass, and you get a cover of "Highway Star" that I have dubbed "the cocaine version" because of the speed and manic vocals Metal Church put on it. It's good but nothing super special.
Some people don't like this album. SOME PEOPLE HAVE LOST THEIR MINDS!
What you get with Mercyful Fate is all of the things that you love about Iron Maiden or Judas Priest, but more evil. Dualing guitars, high (high AF in this case) vocals, thumping bass, pounding drums, it's all here. It's just that subject matter is now centered on satanism, the occult, and black masses. These are not topics that appeal to me, but this is the kind of album where I can put on my halloween costume so to speak and get in on all the evil fun! I will come to your black mass as long as there is badass heavy metal somewhere between the orgy and the virgin sacrifice, and if Mercyful Fate is the church band then I know it's gonna be there.
So for a guy like me, this is a 4 star album, but if you really like the added satanic themes then it probably ticks all your boxes for a full 5.
Look, I know that ManOwaR is a polarizing band, but I've never understood why. Eric Adams is right there with Halford, Dio, and Dickinson in the realm of mind blowing lead singers. Scott Columbus is a barbaric cannon of a drummer that suits the whole ManOwaR theme to the T. Ross the Boss can shred the paint off the walls, but he can also write catchy battle riffs, and Joey DiMaio is simply the fuckin' man on the bass. I truly believe people that hate ManOwaR just hate fun, and want everything to be sinister and serious all the time. Yes, ManOwaR are incredibly fucking cheesy-that's the point!
I read the other reviews for this album, and I thought it was odd that people were sighting the production (or lack thereof) as a negative, as some of those people champion some of the rawest black metal albums made. "The bass is too far forward in the mix". No it's fucking perfect. It's the thunder of the Heavy Metal army marging into battle! I am a sucker for the kind of cliches and cheese ManOwaR leans so heavily into; Metal as an Army, Battle Hymns, Barbarians, Swords, The Riddle of Steel. I love all of that shit! I think the production on this album actually makes it ManOwaR's heaviest offering.
Then you have the frosting on the epic cake this album is: "Bridge of Death".
The story of Bridge of Death is about a man who goes down into hell itself and walks across the titular bridge to confront the Horned one himself, not to fight him, but to become the most powerful demon in the universe. It's fucking awesome! I cap all of my workouts with this song, because when you're very tired the opening is slow and lets you catch your breath and summon strength for that final confrontation-that final set.
If nothing else you need to hear that track. The whole album is fantastic, but Bridge of Death is just a whole other level of kick ass.
Many stand against us, but they will never win! 5/5
Firepower Tour 31 March 2018 Masonic Temple Detroit MI.
The openers were Black Star Riders-basically Thin Lizzy minus Phil Lynnot, and Saxon who did not play "Crusader" that night. WTF Bill?
Judas Priest used "War Pigs" as their play on Track and the crowd was fuckin' locked in from start to finish. The whole band kicked ass, Rob Halford really does sound still sound like that. The visuals were on point. It was everything you can ask for in a live show. I would absolutely encourage anyone to catch Priest Live. Just like I would absolutely encourage anyone to listen to not only this album but everything in their discography.
METAL GODS!
Look even diet Iron Maiden is still pretty damn good, and that's what this is. I would say the music is slightly more aggressive, and that the vocals are slightly worse, and the Steve Harris bass is completely gone. It's fun, you are going to have a good time with it, but absolutely nothing in here is going to blow your mind, and there is nothing in here that Iron Maiden didn't already do better. Throw it in your mix, and it's a nice visitor every once in a while, but listening to it as a start-to-finish album will wear out it's welcome.
The "Air Raid Siren" Bruce Dickinson on the vocals.
The twin Guitar attack of Dave Murray and Adrian Smith.
The Powerful and progressive drumming of Nicko McBrain.
and of course arguably the most influencial Heavy Metal Bassist of all-time, the galloping thunder of STEVE FUCKING HARRIS!
"Aces High", "Two Minutes to Midnight", the title track, and the EPIC "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" are all on this album. Look man, I play heavy metal, and I'm a bassist. I fucking love Iron Maiden! If you haven't heard Iron Maiden, just stop reading this and go put it on right now. If you have heard Iron Maiden (you know 99.9% of you given where we are), then you already know this is the cream of the crop. That's it, there isn't much to be said; if you haven't heard this you should be listening to it right now, and if you have heard it you know how awesome it is. This leaves me with very little to do. Now I have some very important top secret bass guitar business to tend to that supercedes any need you might have for this here review.
"Stand up and shout" doesn't do much for me, but it's a fine opener and sets the tone for the upbeat, and fun power metal that's coming. This is just metal of the highest quality, it's got catchy hooks in every instrument whether it's the galloping bass on "Holy Diver" the keyboard riff on "Rainbow in the Dark", or the abundance of great guitar riffs everywhere throughout. It's all capped off by Ronnie Jame Dio's vocal delivery and I think it's well-known that he's one of the best to ever do it. Lyrically this is largerly a positive and up-beat affair about believing in oneself. Look, I don't have the gift of gab to do this justice. This is legendary and for good reason.
Yeah yeah I know. If I just listened to this again, it's all gonna click on try number 1,648. Here's the deal, I've revisited this album more times than it deserves since I discovered them by way of Garage Inc in 1998. It's 2024 so I've had 26years of this to form my opinion, and my opinion is that it sucks.
I think that "Am I Evil" is a monumentally overrated song. I've never understood it's appeal, and at least state-side to my knowledge nobody else did either until Metallica covered it.
I am also not a 12 year old turbo-hormoned boy. I am a 35year old grown ass man (married for 7 of them) so the appeal of a 7minute ode to fellatio is lost on me. I just don't need that brother.
Those are the album standouts. The rest is mediocre to bad filler stuff. Seriously even people who rate this album higher than I did just talk about those two songs primarily, because nothing else on it is remotely interesting.
If you like it, crank that shit up, but don't do it around me or I'm taking away your AUX privileges.
This is tough, because I like the music quite a bit, and I kept going back and forth on Tim Baker's vocal approach. I ultimately decided that there had to be somebody who could have done it better. There are a lot of good riffs, melodies, and grooves in this album, but you have to deal with Baker just being obnoxious. There are cases where not having the "best" vocals works out for a band. I don't want anyone other than Cronos singing in Venom, and if I'm listening to Manilla Road, I want Mark the Shark. Tim Baker does not have that charm, he's just annoying. I ultimately decided that the music is a 5/5 but Tim's vocal is a -2.5 penalty and put this thing right in the middle. No disrespect to Tim, it just doesn't work for me-it grates.
So yeah in short; really great classic heavy metal here, tainted by an aggressively agitating vocalist. If you can tolerate Tim, you'll really love this.