The 2024 Mid-Year Recap

If the sands in the hourglass clump together in the summer humidity, and they fail to fall through the neck into that tidy pile of time, did any elapse? I'm left wondering about that, since this year has given us a music scene that appears more stagnant and forgettable than ever. It almost feels as if no difference to our lives would have been made if the calendar had flipped directly from December to July. A bit hyperbolic, sure, but we need to find our own way of amusing ourselves when the music is struggling to do it. Let's break it down.

THE GOOD

Chris C: I was tempted to do this in haiku form, since I could probably sum up the first half of the year in that small number of syllables. Maybe one day I will actually sit down and review a whole bunch of records at once in poem form. I'm weird like that. What I can say was good about this year is not much, but for consistency. I appreciate in myself that I am looking for the same thing, aching for the same feelings, from my music. That has pointed me into what we can call emo territory, as it has for the last couple of years. My top two records of the year fall into that category, and I have no shame in saying I am much more in that mindset than anything metal has had to offer. The Requiem and Hot Water Music are easily my most played albums, but I will mention the very recent Sunburst album as the best metal I've heard.

D.M: Much to my surprise, I find myself sitting on ten albums already that I feel pretty good about.  Not to say that they're all classics or will even crack my top 10 albums of the year, but given how much scrambling I've had to do in the last few years to cobble together a list at the end of the year, I'm happy to say that I'm probably about halfway done already (convenient, as this is the halfway mark!)  It's been a great year for established bands.  Combichrist (great!) and Korpiklaani (good!) both with solid albums, and Powerman 5000...well, it's hard to say they're on the comeback trail when they'll likely never match their apex around the turn of the millennium, but they continue on a string of good albums after wandering in the dark for a long time.  Plus, some good sophomore efforts, which is always good to see, like Dead Poet Society and Sundrifter.

THE BAD

Chris C: I suppose the good news extends to here, as there hasn't actually been much music I would call outright bad. Green Day tops this list, but maybe that's as much for the difference between hype and reality than anything else. They seem to have lost the plot, if you ask me. Neal Morse makes the list again, as his super-Christian musicals drag on and on, and I wonder who thought re-telling a story that already has a mega-popular musical would be a good idea even if the record was any good. I'll also throw in a nod to Kerry King, not because his record is bad, but because I absolutely hate his decision to make it as close to Slayer as humanly possible. Why don't you keep telling us how angry you are the band ended?

D.M: Kerry only knows how to do one thing.  He's trapped in that specialization forever (cue Robert Heinlein: "specialization is for insects.") As the great(?) Leroy Hoard once said: "If you need one yard, I'll get you three yards.  If you need five yards, I'll get you three yards.)  Anyway, much as for you the bad was an extension of the good, so is mine.  If it's been a good year for veteran bands, it's been a bad year for debut records.  Of the ten or so records I have highlighted for the year so far, there's only two that are from artists I wasn't previously familiar with, and only one of those is a debut.  That seems way out of proportion from my normal course.

THE SURPRISES

Chris C: Those top records of the year both qualify, but I'll move on and say the biggest surprise for me was hearing that Lucifer finally put the pieces together. I had always liked them, but there was something missing in their formula. They found it this time, and put out easily their most engaging album. If Ghost is the glossy, big-budget horror movie, Lucifer is the grimy indie that takes on a cult following. It's nice to hear one of these bands I have hope for actually took that next step.

D.M: Biggest surprise for me was that I didn't expect the resurrection of nu metal!  Good, bad or indifferent, there's been a lot of records this year taking their inspiration from Korn and Puddle of Mudd and Linkin Park and whatever else.  I suppose it's been long enough now that that possibility was in the offing, but there was no hint of this last year, and suddenly here it is!  Almost like a conscious decision by labels to start pushing it, though I have a hard time believing they're that coordinated in trying to steer public taste.

THE DISAPPOINTMENTS

Chris C: This can be a long section, if I want to get into it. Basically, every name I was looking forward to this year, and putting my hopes in, let me down. You know how big a fan I am of Bruce Dickinson's 'big three' solo albums, but his new record is what two decades of not making an album sound like. Anette Olzon continues to make her solo albums the worst stuff she's associated with. Cold Years followed up an almost AOTY winner with one that sounds like someone sped up the tape too much. Then there's our old friend Taylor Swift. I won't take us down that rabbit hole, but it's rather interesting that the biggest artist on the planet, at the height of her fame and power, put out such a dull and dour record. Honestly, there isn't even a single from the record I've gone back to since it came out.

D.M: Only one from me in a macro sense, which is that I wanted the PAIN album to be so much better than it was.  In the micro sense, there's been a lot of in-experience disappointments.  Sons of Alpha Centauri had a cool sound, but then got real Radiohead-y real fast.  PAT!i started off great, then it all fell apart by album's end and Sleepmakeswaves utilized an awesome guitar tone, but got mired in a prog-y slog.  A lot of that kind of stuff.

THE SECOND HALF

Chris C: I'm not feeling particularly optimistic about the second half of the year. Maybe I'm not paying enough attention to the music news, but I don't actually know of all that many records coming out in the next few months I should have my ears out for. The follow-up from Yours Truly is set to arrive, but I've been less than impressed by the two singles, so I'm definitely wary. There's going to be a new Offspring album, which is only interesting to see if they can possibly match how terrible the last one was. No once good band can fall that far, right? And if they can get it completed and out by the end of the year, I would of course be interested to hear how Dream Theater pick up fifteen years after their last album together with Mike Portnoy. There are going to need to be some surprises coming along to keep my hopes up.

D.M: Bunch of releases on the horizon that give me hope - Blues Pills, Powerwolf, The Warning to name a few.  Plus, I remain hopeful that I'll get some regression to my personal mean in the way of debut albums that actually catch my ear.  So fingers crossed for good new stuff!  In the meantime, even though you didn't ask, no, I'm not buying the suddenly surging Mets just yet

Time Is A Fabric, & VK Lynne Is A "Seam Ripper"

The past is a funny thing, because no matter how hard we try to outrun it, our memories remain shackled to our ankle. That ball-and-chain slows us down from moving on, forcing us to drag along a growing lifetime of mistakes and regrets. If life seems to move faster these days, it's because that weight pulls us once we feel like we're on the downward slide, and fighting the force of gravity is more energy than we have left.

The past is also a funny thing, because we can't agree on it. Fans will all believe there were 'glory days' when music was at its best, but we won't agree on when exactly that was. It's age-dependent for many of us, and it can be a bit sad when you realize no one else making music seems to have affection for the same time and sound you do. It makes the past feel more like an impressionist painting, where you wonder if you missed the point the brush strokes were supposed to convey. They were intended to have meaning, right?

For this month's song, VK Lynne dips her toe into the musical waters of the 90s, which is my sweet spot. If you remember the days when Matchbox Twenty and Gin Blossoms were putting out hit after hit, this one will be for you.

With an acoustic guitar hitting with a hint of bounce, VK sings her kiss-off with the jaunt of jangle-pop, and the skill of wrapping medicine in a slice of cheese. Jagged little pills are easier to swallow when they're coated in candy, after all.

VK weaves a metaphor about the fabric of time, and how we are stitched together when we connect. The seams can hold fast, they can slowly fray with friction and time, or sometimes we have to rip them apart to stem the flow of an infection. That is where this song arrives, with VK realizing that cutting the cord is sometimes the best thing we can do for ourselves, them, and the combination thereof.

If "Breakfast At Tiffany's" was a story of two people trying to find the thinnest thread to tie them together, VK is asking us to consider the opposite, wherein we are wearing patches sewn on with the wrong color thread for no reason other than being afraid of seeing what we look like underneath our self-help repair job.

She sings, "I'd like you so much better now if I'd left you back then". It hearkens back to the joke in "Seinfeld" where George Costanza figured out the magic of leaving the room when you've hit your high point. Similarly, some relationships follow the bell curve, and staying with them too long only serves to push our stomachs up into our throats for so long we can taste our own bile. Yes, my anatomy is a bit off, but it's for the sake of metaphor.

After realizing in the bridge that life is too short to put up with people who wear on your patience, VK comes to the conclusion that she would like this person a lot more if she had severed the ties and ripped the seam open long ago. Like a wick slowly burning toward an explosion, the threads that tie us can be warnings of impending destruction. Cutting the path of fuel in the instant before it reaches the powder elicits a sigh of relief, not just for stopping what might feel inevitable, but for leaving us the ends to possibly be tied together once enough tears have doused any chance of the flame reigniting.

Great pop songs are hard things to write, but they're necessary tools to get messages to people who will otherwise not listen. Write the same words for a ballad, and many people will tune out because they can't dance to it, or it sounds too sad. They miss the point, but that's their prerogative. The point is that writing a jaunty little pop song may seem easier to an observer, but it's actually the hardest thing a songwriter can do. Creating a song with mass appeal to teach us lessons we may not want to learn is a trick of subversion, and it's part of why we say music is magic.

Maybe this song will only appeal so strongly to people who still regularly listen to "Yourself Or Someone Like You" and "Cracked Rear View", but that's my frame of reference, so I'm seeing the whole picture. Hopefully, my thread is one that won't unravel as my orbit twists it toward the breaking point.

 "Seam Ripper" releases on June 30th. Pre-save it here.

The Best/Worst/Disappointing Albums Of 2024, So Far

Six months can feel like it goes by in a flash, or it can seem to drag on forever, in part based on the ratio of boredom to excitement we happen to encounter. The first six months of this year have not been tilting in the right direction, with the music I've encountered so far failing to lift my spirits as often as I would like, or seem to need. I have been asking for a while now whether it's bad luck, a cultural shift I haven't partaken in, or if I've hit the wall. I don't yet have an answer to that, and this year's crop of releases hasn't helped me to clarify my own thinking.

The majority of the records I've listened to this year fall into the 'fine, but forgettable' category, with few on either extreme of the curve. That said, there are a few that have elicited the strongest responses from me, so here they are, presented in non-spoiler alphabetical order:

The Best:

Cold Years - A Different Life

While not as good as their previous album, Cold Years is still able to show us they understand how to fuse elements of punk with strong hooks. This is a brighter album, and one with more diversity, which may have been even more effective for me if my own mood had not been as dark when it was released.

Hot Water Music - Vows

Recent years have had several albums of what I would call 'optimistic darkness' race up my yearly lists. Hot Water Music is the latest of those, taking an punk/emo aesthetic that doesn't hide from our faults and flaws, but wraps it up with an uplifting spirit that tries like hell to make the silver lining shine. When you need to shout out your frustration, and feel as if the rock you push will one day get over the top of the hill, this is the kind of album you reach for.

Lucifer - V

I have talked of many bands with the potential to grow into something great, but few of them ever manage the feat. Lucifer finally did with this record, where they are able to take their signature sound and use it to play hookier songs than ever. In that way, it's much like how Katatonia added just enough energy to their gloom to make the best record of their career. Lucifer has done that as well, producing their liveliest, most engaging set of songs yet. I've always liked them, but never found their records vital. This one is.

The Requiem - A Cure To Poison The World

A Confession; I've probably listened to "The Black Parade" as much as any record actually released this year. Perhaps that explains why I love this album so much, as it sounds like a spiritual decedent of MCR's masterpiece. With a bit of grandeur, and vocals that are as strident and emotive, The Requiem is a nostalgic throwback to an emo period I didn't get in touch with until much later. I just mentioned bands I thought of as having the potential to be great. The Requiem doesn't need that, because this record already is. All they need to do is show me it wasn't a fluke.

Sunburst - Manifesto

It's been eight years since we heard from Sunburst, whose first record I had thought was a fantastic bit of melodic progressive metal. I've found it more flawed than I remember now that I've gone back to it, but that's in part because this new record is even better. They are able to blend technical playing with big melodies, doing the Kamelot shtick far better than that band can anymore. With tight songs that are always focused on coming back to the sing-along moment, Sunburst has done something magnificent here, so let's hope it isn't another eight years before we hear from them again.

The Worst/Disappointing:

Bruce Dickinson - The Mandrake Project

As I've noted, I love Bruce's trilogy even more than anything Iron Maiden has ever done. After nineteen years of waiting, I knew nothing could live up to my hopes. Preparing myself was a good thing, because this album is exactly the step down you would expect after nearly two decades of stalled momentum. There are the good moments and the songs that remind me of why I love Bruce's solo output, but they are buried in an album of 'artistic' decisions that prove experimentation doesn't always work. Bruce gets weird at some points, and he doesn't bring the songs to make it worth going on the whole journey.

Green Day - Saviors

I don't quite know how Green Day lost the plot so hard. Between their trilogy, and "Father Of All", they have released barely anything that rises above the bottom of the barrel in fifteen years. This new album is slightly better than that, but only slightly. They still feel as if they are recycling and/or ripping off their influences, and wrapping them up in lyrics that try to say something, but never make any sense. I won't make the obvious joke about the American Dream they sing of really being a nightmare, but I wouldn't be very happy if I woke up with this music playing in my head.

Neal Morse - The Restoration: Joseph Pt II

I could just copy-and-paste what I said about the first album of this set. Neal is still writing his most boring dad-rock, and doing it in the service of a musical that is completely unnecessary. Seriously, I think the wires got crossed, or he was hearing someone else's echo, if God was saying we need another, inferior version of the technicolor dreamcoat. It would be pointless if it was good, but it isn't even that.

Anette Olzon - Rapture

I love Anette's voice, and her renaissance has been a wonderful thing to see. I love the albums she did with Russell Allen, and the albums with The Dark Element. Unfortunately, the ones under her own name are by far the worst of the lot. She is given the worst songs Magnus Karlsson writes, and pointed in a heavier direction with occasional growled vocals. None of it fits her voice as well as the more melodic fare, and I spent the whole running time wondering how everyone involved thought this was the best way to go.

Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Department

Calling this "Midnights" part two would be accurate, but incomplete. Both albums play with the same production and tone, but this record is even more cutting. That makes it even more strange that the acerbic lyrics are matched with even more lifeless music. "Midnights" was a flawed record, for sure, but it had a few classic Taylor moments that will live on as remembered favorites. I didn't hear a single track on this album I feel will have the same fate. When the lyrics are more memorable than the songs, I can appreciate it as a writer, but it makes for a disappointing experience as a listener. Hopefully, this era is nearing its end.

Singles Roundup: Pale Waves, Myles Kennedy, All That Remains, & The Offspring

This week in the grab bag:

Pale Waves - Perfume

Following this band has been a bit of a ride. I really loved their debut album, but they quickly moved off of their cold synth-pop-rock toward brighter pastures, possibly because of the criticism they received for being clones of The 1975. The records that followed didn't get better receptions, so it's interesting to hear this single bringing them back to the beginning. This song is right in line with where the band started, from the cold atmosphere to Heather's falsetto leaps in the chorus. You could call it a re-write of "Television Romance", but following the lead of their best song is by no means a bad thing. I don't know if this is a harbinger of a full-on return to form, but we can hope. This is the most I've been intrigued by Pale Waves since their debut.

Myles Kennedy - Say What You Will

With this song from his third solo album, Myles is now entering the same territory as his bandmate Mark Tremonti; Why is this happening? Alter Bridge has had enough diversity in their sound that Tremonti's records now sound almost like a continuation of the main band, and this song is giving me the same vibes. Myles first solo album was wildly different, and he's been drifting back into familiar territory. I like the song, and it's perfectly fine, but it almost feels like it exists only because of the Creed reunion taking up the time that would have been used to record this for Alter Bridge.

All That Remains - Divine/Let You Go

A lot of people seemed to hate their last album, but to this day I still enjoy it way more than I should (minus the intolerable "Fuck Love"). A lot has happened to the band since then, but they are now poking their head out once again, and the results are mixed. The hooks don't hit with the same power as before, but the rage comes through in the screams in spades. That tilt may appeal to the usual fans, but it doesn't have the same sway over me. These songs are enjoyable enough, but I'm not feeling like I need to keep going down this road.

The Offspring - Make It All Right

One of my favorite ironies of music is that The Offspring have written some of the corniest trash I've ever heard, and yet Dexter has a PhD. I'm not sure if that's an indictment of higher education, or if it means he is intentionally playing down to the lowest common denominator. Either way, their last album was one of the worst I've ever heard, so any improvement this song represents needs to be taken in context. There is improvement, but not much. The song doesn't have a strong hook, the vocal sample is both poorly chosen and poorly integrated into the mix, and the production makes me wonder if they merely licensed Bob Rock's name. "Smash" is not a 'good' recording from a technical standpoint, but it serves as a reminder of how much The Offspring have scrubbed off anything that ever made them interesting. They are glossy and polished, and you realize the pain never had any depth. It's flat, unappealing, and vaguely the color of dried crap.

Quick Reviews: Bon Jovi & Axel Rudi Pell

Not too much to say about either of these, so let's deal with them post haste.

Bon Jovi - Legendary

Who are we to tell someone when they should or shouldn't pack it in? That's a difficult subject to broach, but it's one that Bon Jovi has elicited from many people in recent years, as his vocal abilities have been, to be generous, in question. His struggles can't be ignored or papered over, and they impact this new record. If studio magic can't cover it up, that means it is decidedly serious.

I don't particularly think Bon Jovi has been making especially good records for a while either, so this one is a bit of an usual case. Jon is struggling, and his voice is kept in first gear for obvious reasons, but this record has better focus and better songs than several of his more recent efforts. The band doesn't sound like they're putting on an air and trying to be something other than they are, this is merely the older version of Bon Jovi. That means "Kiss The Bride" is schmaltz the likes of which will make some people gag, but it's to be expected, isn't it?

This record is better than I expected it to be, and is certainly better as a document of a singer struggling than the last Meat Loaf record was, which is what I feared from this. Jon better understands how to work around his limitations, and while a bit more energy would be welcome, he's shown that at least on record he still has something left in the tank. I won't comment on whether he'll be able to do even this little bit when on tour.

Axel Rudi Pell - Risen Symbol

When every album is pretty mcuh the same, you would think you already know what you're going to say after listening. That isn't always the case, though, as sometimes things are so similar the differences become striking. That's how I'm feeling about this latest Axel Rudi Pell album, which is the latest in a long line of albums that might excite Axel, but hardly anyone else.

This time around, Axel tries for a slightly heavier take on his usual melodic metal, and that is his downfall. Not only is it not all that melodic for being melodic metal, but his production choices to match are a disaster. The guitars buzz with odd tones, nothing actually sounds heavy, and the entire recording comes off sounding a bit cheap in comparison to his best work. There's a shocking lack of clarity to the guitars, which is hard for me to believe, since Axel is a guitarist. How does his think he sounds good here?

The band puts in the requisite effort, but there aren't enough good songs to make this worthwhile. Axel has done better before, and to be perfectly frank, even his better albums are still not all that captivating. The best thing about this record is the cover, which I'm sure will look good on a t-shirt. Otherwise, I'd say you can easily skip this one and not miss a thing.

Lyrical Dissection: Meat Loaf - I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)

There are some songs that are misheard, and some that are misinterpreted. It's easy to have one aspect of a song hit you so hard the rest of the subtext gets lost in the wash. Of course, that's implying that most people are ever thinking about the lyrics, which I think we know is not happening as often as writers would like. Many will memorize the words so they can sing along, but will never give any time to contemplating what they might mean.

Case in point; "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)", the Meat Loaf classic that has been misunderstood ever since the day it premiered. The mystery of 'that' took center stage, and for good reason. If you weren't thinking about what Meat was singing, it would be easy enough to miss. I shudder to think of how viral the meme would have been if we had social media back then.

What fewer people seem to have ever noticed is that the song is, as Jim Steinman would have said, a 'boner song'. It is an unrepentantly horny song, in which you can find plenty of reason to think Steinman never figured out the difference between love and sex. Or perhaps he never wanted to.

"Some days it don't come easy
Some days it don't come hard
Some days it don't come at all
And these are the days that never end"

Could these words be about love? Of course they could, but if you know Steinman well enough, it becomes rather obvious the correct spelling should be 'cum', and he is talking about sexual frustration. The machinery of lust doesn't always work properly, but... ahem... cleaning out the pipes is the only thing that makes a day worthwhile. That is made clear when he later writes...

"Somedays I just pray to the God of sex and drums and rock 'n roll"

Sex is a part of love, but putting it first in the order of things his God is responsible for shows us where his mind is. He would say in another song on the album that rock 'n roll dreams are what save us in our lowest moments. For sex to be more important than what he claims saves his life is rather telling. No?

"But I'll never forgive myself if we don't go all the way, tonight"

Is that a common way of phrasing your love for someone? Surely, love should be able to survive not sleeping together, unless the word is being used improperly. Steinman rarely describes love in terms outside of fire and passion, which implies he never found the kind of love that doesn't require coital energy to stay alive. A love song can be the saddest thing in the world when the narrator doesn't understand what it is they actually want, or how disappointed they will be if the dream comes true. I get much of that impression here.

"Some nights I lose the feeling
Some night I lose control
Some night I just lose it all when I watch you dance and the thunder rolls"

If we are still viewing the song through my prescribed lens, Steinman is writing about... what is normal, and happens to every guy... so they say. Combine this with the line the female character sings..

"Will ya hose me down with holy water if I get too hot?"

There are several fetishes we can apply this too, and we've reached the point where I am going to stop digging. We don't need to know the full range of proclivities the narrators think prove the dedication of their love, but I think it's best left to the imagination.

That explains the horniness of the song, but what about the mystery? I've written about that before, but it's rather clear by the end of the song. And no, if you've heard Meat Loaf explain the meaning of 'that', I don't believe he has any better understanding than anyone else does. He points to the lines that seemingly explain it...

"I'll never forget the way you feel right now"
"I'll never forgive myself if we don't go all the way"
"I'll never do it better than I do it with you"
"I'll never stop dreaming of you every night of my life"

Those are exemplar's of 'that', but they don't fully explain what the lyric is saying. While he won't do those particular things, 'that' is the reason why he won't do them. That comes to us only in the final lines, when she sings...

"You'll see that it's time to move on"

He responds with, "I won't do that", which says everything. He claims to be willing to do anything for love, but what he is unwilling or unable to do is accept that the kind of love he is looking for might not be possible with her. His fantasies are so wrapped up in her, there is no other option. She asks him for things...

"Will you make it all a little less cold?"
"Can you make it all a little less old"
"Can you give me something I can take home?"

She is asking him to build a life, to show her a love that has depth and layers. He can only think in terms of sex. That is why she warns him off, because she can see his one-track mind is never going to have enough lanes to run the race of life.

Ultimately, the song is a sad story of a man promising the world in order to get laid. He claims to want love, but he doesn't seem to understand what love even is. Maybe it was fitting that Meat was dressed as a monster in the music video, because his hunger is animalistic, and without any of the deeper reason humanity is capable of.

Love is a bitch, isn't it?

Singles Roundup: Halestorm & I Prevail, Kissin' Dynamite, Blues Pills, & Neal Morse

In the grab-bag this week:

Halestorm & I Prevail - Can U See Me In The Dark?

With the two bands heading out on tour this summer, the kick things off with a collaboration. I am not attuned to I Prevail, but if what they bring to this song is what I think, I will be avoiding them in the future. This song is a bit of an odd duck. There are the obvious Halestorm parts in Lzzy's vocal lines, and then there is a breakdown with screaming and electronic bits. That part doesn't fit at all to my ears, and most definitely drags down what was otherwise a fine song. It wouldn't be one of my favorites anyway, but there are most certainly times when two artist's voices don't work together, and I feel like that is what is happening here. The clash of styles in the writing doesn't get tied together in a way that fully makes sense to me, and while it might make for a fun tour (like I said, I don't know), I'm not going to say it works as a song.

Kissin' Dynamite - The Devil Is A Woman

I wasn't going to say anything about this song, since it didn't really move me in any direction, but the more I thought about it, the more there was one thing I wanted to mention. The lyrical conceit of this song is that, obviously, the devil is a woman. Ok, but why is that important? The framing of the song is that a beautiful woman tempted the narrator to sleep with her, which sends him to hell. Boring story, dude. What would be far more interesting is not blaming the woman for your lust, but to be introspective and ask how you couldn't see the devil in that disguise, or why you would go through with it anyway if you did. The way the song is written could be looked at as 'women are evil', when there is actually a way of writing an interesting song here... if anyone in rock was capable of nuance.

Blues Pills - Top Of The Sky

Have you ever had one of those, "Oh shit!" moments. I had one when I started listening to this song, because for the first time it struck me that Elin Larsson could be a near dead-ringer of Adele. This song plays with the same toned-down adult contemporary style, a ballad giving her voice all the room in the world to shine. It sure does, as her tone is maybe the closest thing I've heard to Adele's voice. It's always been true, but I never made the connection before. With the realization, I wish I was able to say the song is more gripping than it is. Ever since their first album, Blues Pills has been making good music, but the kind that for whatever reason often fails to keep its hold on me. They're a band I want to love, but keep seeing as unable to get out of the shadow of that debut album, which remains an amazing millstone around their neck.

Neal Morse - Already There

I've seen a lot of decisions over the years musicians have made that I find rather confusing, and Neal Morse is engaged in one of those right now. He has his own streaming service where you can listen to his full catalog, and I'm not here to talk about whether or not that is a good deal, as opposed to buying the records you like. On that service, he is releasing a new singer-songwriter album that will apparently be exclusive to those who are paying him a monthly fee. I don't like what that says about his attitude toward those of us who have purchased multiple albums of his, but who either don't want or don't need to stream his music. We apparently are no longer good enough fans to warrant all of the new music he makes. Noted.

Fortunately, he released this one single to preview the album, and that tells me enough to think his streak of making music I'm not engaged with is continuing. It's easier not to feel so bad when you don't think you're missing out. But still...

Album Review: Sunburst - Manifesto

The music industry is as much about timing as it is talent. We might not want to think about it in those terms, or admit our attention is quite so fickle, but there is an aspect to all of this where you have to be in the right place at the right time, again and again. Sunburst is a band that got some buzz in the prog metal world when their first album came out. I remember hearing people talk about the record, and they convinced me to give it a chance. What I heard was a record that was at the highest echelon of the genre. They were heavy and technical, but also filled with great melodies and gorgeous vocals. They were everything I was told Kamelot was when Roy Khan fronted them, but never were.

This is where timing comes into play. That record came out eight years ago. We are all different people than we were back then, with different things on our mind, and I wouldn't blame anyone for forgetting Sunburst was out there. Being quiet for that long is a recipe for falling off the world, as I have encountered other bands who were dormant and never came back. At a certain point, we almost need a proof-of-life message to remind us not to give up hope.

Eight years is a long time, but Sunburst is back, and it's as if nothing has changed. They still play the same brand of progressive metal that marries technical playing and soaring melodies, and the Khan-eqsue vocals are as wonderful as ever. The only thing missing on this record is the 'epic' track that is almost a requirement, but I'm glad they never stretched things out, as the long track on the first album is actually their worst song. Sometimes focus is a virtue, and this record remembers that all the way through.

At a tight (for prog) fifty minutes, Sunburst doesn't overstay their welcome. Dream Theater will likely have a new album by the end of the year to capitalize on their reunion, and I can almost guarantee it will be seventy-five minutes long, and I will want to chop at least ten or fifteen off of it. Sunburst wisely realizes that just because we have been waiting so long, they don't have to overwhelm us with quantity. Eight tight, hard-hitting songs is better than a looser album that features several passages of meandering notes that don't add to the composition.

What makes Sunburst so great is their focus on melody. While the rest of the band is playing complicated rhythms, the vocals are some of the most beautiful melodic singing prog metal can feature. If you remember the glory days of Ray Alder singing for Redemption, that's a good idea of what Sunburst is up to, although they pump up the melody even higher. In a genre not known for songwriting prowess, they show the eight years has been put to good use.

From start to finish, Sunburst doesn't miss a beat. This is, simply put, prog metal played as well as it can be done. I have a hard time imagining anyone else is going to be able to top them this year in that regard. I would also say that Sunburst has done something rather special in making an album that extends beyond prog. Yes, it helps it you have an appetite for instrumental flourish and technicality, but this record works just as well as a beautiful melodic metal record. In fact, it's better at delivering epic choruses than some of the more anticipated melodic albums I've reviewed this year.

All of that adds up to a simple statement; Sunburst has everything in place for another dose of buzz and success, except perhaps timing. It will be up to us to remember to listen to Sunburst, and not let them slip into the void of bands who missed their chance. That would be a shame, because we need bands who are this good to keep going. There aren't many of them in their world who can compete.

Album Review: Four Stroke Baron - "Data Diamond"

Be weird!  Revel in it!  These are the apparent tentpoles of color-outside-the-margins duo Four Stroke Baron, as they launch their newest effort “Data Diamond” onto an unsuspecting public.

Here’s a phrase you’ve never heard before – imagine a crossroads of three bands: Primus, 6:33 and Tears for Fears.  Now imagine that the creative minds of those three disparate entities have been told to write an album exclusively using the overall sonic tone of Korn.  If that sounds like an outlandish farce, that’s because a) it is, and b) no one has ever quite heard an album like “Data Diamond” before.

All the elements are here – the synth-based, overboard zaniness of the Frenchmen, the juxtaposed thump of Les Claypool’s signature band, and yes, even the smooth but anguished vocals of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.  What does that add up to, exactly?

Glad you asked.  “Data Diamond” is an album long on polish and surprisingly accessible in execution.  To listen to the first half of  “The Witch” is to hear two songs simultaneously, the one hard rock banger that lays all its cards out for easy viewing, and the second the ethereal synth wave lying underneath.  Kirk Witt’s vocals (which make it hard to not hear “Head Over Heels” in the subconscious, but it’s not Witt’s fault his voice sounds like that,) add another layer on top of the brew that makes “Data Diamond” an animal that defies classification.  This continues all the way through the expansive title track right at the finish.

Here's where the issues start to creep in.  If you’re going to be an experimental band, be experimental all the way to the limits.  Push every boundary, test every sound, combine every element that strikes even the barest fancy, and find a way to fit a handful that don’t.  “Data Diamond” has one critical flaw at its center, which is that Kirk Witt and comrade-in-arms Matt Vallarino employ the same basic gameplan on every song, plus or minus the level of guitar distortion.  

Make no mistake, it takes talent to arrange these pieces into anything more than a cacophonous mess, but at some point the repetition of the same effects devolves the impact, and leaves you with just a gimmick.

When listening to “Data Diamond,” sometime around the last third of the album, that realization dawns, and this is, perhaps coincidentally, about the same time that the album starts to overstay its welcome, which is doubly concerning for an album that runs just under forty minutes in total.  

Which is really a shame because there are individual moments here that were worthy of greater exploration.  There’s an outro to “Open the World” that’s novel and different when weighed against the bulk of the record, and more time spent in that space would have been to the album’s benefit.  Not to mention that the production itself is of high merit.  But the bright spots like that are mowed under by the persistent theme of the record, which is to stomp along with a leaden guitar and accent it with odd lyrical phrasing and throwback synth riffs.

“Data Diamond” ends up disappointing because it simply isn’t weird enough.  There’s something here to be certain, but it is too content to rest on a single laurel and torpedo some of the truly artistic potential that could have blossomed.

Album Review: Nightmare - Encrytped

I'm not sure what it says, if anything, about a band if they have three different singers on three consecutive albums. That's the situation Nightmare finds themselves in, and it does make it difficult to build up any sort of consistency. I absolutely loved "Dead Sun", which featured Maggy Luyten on vocals. Her voice was exactly what my mind wanted to hear, and that album won me over quickly. The follow-up featured new singer Madie, and shifted the tone into something a bit cleaner and more epic. It took time, but I grew to like that album a lot as well.

So when news came that Barbara Mogore would be taking over and giving the band yet another facelift, I will admit to feeling a bit 'over it'. Nightmare hadn't meant enough to me to be worth the learning curve on every album. I listened to the teaser song the put out, and there was something in there to catch my attention. Barbara's voice has more of the gritty tone Maggy had, and perhaps that meant this record wouldn't be so new after all.

Kicking off the album with "Nexus Inferis", Nightmare is hitting all the right marks. It has their familiar approach of being as heavy as power metal can be, with chugging riffs that hit like a ton of bricks. They give way to a melodic chorus where hints of keyboards expand the score, and Barbara's voice is allowed to take center stage. That's where things get a bit odd. Her tone is quite pleasing, but whether it's her performance or the production, she struggles to rise above the clamor of the band. The biggest hook of the song is buried slightly in the mix, which is a shame.

"The Blossom Of My Hate" follows by injecting harsh vocals in the verse, another decision I could do without. The music is already aggressive enough, and if I wanted to listen to non-melodic screaming, I wouldn't have put on a Nightmare record. I know artists like to try new things from time to time, but there is also an artistic identity that needs to be maintained. It isn't the only time they do this either, but putting something that will annoy a number of fans right near the start of the album is a message this might not be a record we're going to want to continue with.

They double-down on not trusting their own singer with "Voices From The Other Side", where male vocals enter at one point to again tamp down the melodies being built. Everything adds up to give me the impression they don't have faith in putting Barbara in the spotlight to shine. Maybe that's a good decision, as this album also feels like it has less in the way of hooks, so keeping her a bit in the background can save her from taking all the blame in that department.

The title track sits in the middle of the record, and is easily the best song here. The melody has more grandeur to it, Barbara is able to push to the front of the mix, and it gives an indication that the right approach would be quite successful with this lineup. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen often enough here, and the record winds up sounding like a tamer version of the previous two. It doesn't have the gritty fire Maggy brought, nor the dark beauty Madie gave with more consistency. This album sits between those two, and gets caught in the middle.

Yet again, we find ourselves with a case of a decent record getting pulled down by expectations. This record is still a solid listen, but it's definitely nothing I would recommend over either "Dead Sun" or "Aeterium". The switch in singers was not seamless, and the running order of the record sounds like the chronology of a band getting comfortable with their new member. If that's the case, they should have kept working until the whole album sounded a cohesive as the "Encrypted" and "Incandescent" pair. If they did, I would be commending them for overcoming long odds.

Instead, I have to tell you this record leaves me wondering what it could have been if the band wrote a few more songs before going into the studio.

Album Review: PAIN - "I Am"

Asking an existential question – at what point does the ‘side project’ band supersede the original band?  For PAIN seems to have become more important to the catalog and indeed, legacy, of frontman Peter Tägtgren than Hypocrisy.  For his own part, Tägtgren seems to take turns between the faces of his music. To wit, Hypocrisy released records in 2013 and 2021; PAIN took its turn in 2016 and now in 2024.  

All of that is said to make no point other than that Tägtgren takes both projects seriously and with equal dedication.  To pass off either one as subservient, regardless of fan reaction, sales numbers or press, is a mistake and undersells the talent of a man who can compose in two very different styles as the mood suits him.

PAIN comes back to the fore this spring with “I Am,” a declarative album that, in short, hits many of the trademarks of PAIN, but never quite delivers the multi-faceted bombastic experience of its predecessor, “Coming Home.”

That’s not to say that “I Am” lacks entirely for laudable moments.  “Party in My Head” uses a synth intro and sparse verses to set the stage for a big chorus that fits perfectly within the pantheon of PAIN’s greatest hits.  The title track utilizes the same tricks, but tempers the tempo and moderates the chorus with a lovingly-borrowed-from-NIN synth track that makes the song as grandiose as Tägtgren is capable of writing.  If his initial idea for PAIN was to combine synth rock and heavy metal, these are the two songs that most exemplify that dream on “I Am.”

Speaking of the composition, Tägtgren has always been a straight-ahead lyricist when it comes to PAIN, utilizing no metaphor and even less subtlety to express whatever the subject of his song is.  When Tägtgren yells “suck my balls” leading into the chorus of “Not For Sale,” there’s little room for interpretation there.  Coincidentally, this whole theorem of lyricism lends itself to a continuing trend in PAIN songs – they are gleefully shouted as from the mouth of an exasperated, godlike figure, who barely has enough attention to bother about the concerns of mere mortals.  It’s a no-nonsense approach that occasionally treads the lines of both cringe and tedium, but Tägtgren knows the boundaries well and manages to keep his style fresh.

The issue with “I Am” is that the album never really pushes the envelope the way PAIN has in the past.  The production is thick as can be (two-C thicc, as the kids say,) blasting the listener with a density of sound that is often imitated but never quite duplicated, but there never seems to be a reason why other than that’s what’s expected from PAIN.  

In the end, too many of the album’s cuts sound like variations on a theme, rather than continually novel uses for industrial might.  “Coming Home” was a tour de force because Tägtgren crammed a lot into a small package – the twangy, hammering blast of “Designed to Piss You Off,” the sardonic thump of “Call Me” the yearning of the title track, the insistent march of “Final Crusade.”  Too much of “I Am” feels like a narrow valley of pop rock dressed in fantastic, spike-laden armor.

It's hard to call an album like this ‘hollow,’ because of the sheer cannonball of sound that is ejected at the listener at ramming speed.  Still, there’s something missing here; a sense of adventure perhaps, or the daring to see what else is beyond the bounds.  It is worth mentioning that “I Am” was better the second time through than the first, but don’t be shocked if “Coming Home” finds its way back into your playlist instead.

Lyrical Dissection: The Wallflowers - I've Been Delivered

I've spent half my life thinking of myself as a writer, and using the power of words to express things that I normally wouldn't say to people, coloring with metaphors the way others do with brush and paint. Writing became not just a part of me, but the way I identified myself when asked by others about myself. I lost count somewhere along the way of how many lyrics I've written, and I'm not going to hazard a guess.

As a music listener, I like to think words are important to the songs I gravitate toward. There are certainly bands, albums, and songs I write off because they offer me nothing, but finding the ones that actively engage me is a more difficult chore. I have influences, of course, but sometimes it's more of a feeling than anything concrete I can point to. However, there are a few songs where specific language sparked my mind, made me want to write to come up with my own turns of phrase that thrilled like a literary roller coaster.

Perhaps no song has more of a legacy in my mind than "I've Been Delivered" by The Wallflowers. It isn't my favorite song in the world, and it's strophic structure would normally be a turn-off, but from the very first time the teenage version of me heard it, this song has had a hold of my thinking. Let's dive in and see if I can explain why that is.

"I could break free from the wood of a coffin, if I need
But nothing's hard as getting free from places I've already been"

The very first lines of the song give us a vivid image of being buried alive, and how perhaps the experience would be so shocking we would prefer it to the monotony of our lives as we know them. At least in a hole you have dirt to grip and pull yourself out with. In life, sometimes there is nothing we can change, no matter how much effort we put in.

"I would move swift when the sounds of a trumpet would blow
I've been the puppet, I've been the strings, I know the vacant face it brings"

This can be read as a rumination on fate, and how some of us believe we are merely dancing on the end of divine strings, orchestrated for the amusement of something bigger than ourselves. It isn't an optimistic thought, if you ask me, and the obligation of the performance is why both actor and audience would be too bored to smile or cry at the action on the stage.

"You'll just wake up like a disposable lover, decomposed
I've been gone, I've been remembered, I've been alive, I've been a ghost"

Like there are states of matter, there are also states of existence. Whether we are forgotten, welcome memories, or hauntings in the minds of those we touched, it doesn't really matter. Our fate is the same regardless of how we echo through time, and if we are remembered is something we can never know. Being a ghost is scarier for the ghost than the haunted, because seeing how easily you can be forgotten is a pain I'm not sure how to heal.

"I have drawn blood from the neckline when vampires were in fashion
You know I'd even learn to cut my throat if I thought I could fit in"

Desperation takes many forms, and giving ourselves eternity to make up for our shortcomings can sometimes be the only way we ever can. Have you ever thought of offering yourself up as a sacrifice to someone you so desperately thought you needed? You might feed them for a moment, but that's all it would ever be. We cannot be everything for all time, even if we have all time to be so.

"Because I can't fix something this complex
Any more than I can build a rose"

This is the line that has haunted me like the vampires and ghosts in the song. There is something so elegant about the metaphor that is nearly flawless. When we talk of fate, we speak of a designer who must be a God to have built the world as we see it. Reality is too intricate and delicate to be the result of random chance, or is that a thought we hold merely because our clumsy fingers are unable to fold the fabric of life into the ornate shapes necessary? I spent many years ruminating on that very thought, and trying to find my own angle to convey the same thing. Ultimately, I did find my own lyric, but like the resignation spoken of, I can't help but feel I have let my inspiration down.

"Now I'd rather bleed out a long stream from being lonely and feel blessed
Than drown, lying face down, in a puddle of respect"

And we wrap up the song with our acknowledgement that while we spend our lives (and perhaps afterlives as well) chasing after people in a desire to be loved, loneliness is our natural state. Affection feels good, but it's a sugar high we will burn through in a mere heartbeat. It is puddle deep, but will kill us if we try to gaze too long at our own reflection. Our blood is a renewable resource, and if nurtured, is the only thing that will keep us alive and sustained for as long as it takes to reach enlightenment.

We may never get there, and I doubt I ever will, but it's a goal to point our path toward.

Am I making too much out of this song? Perhaps so. But that is the beauty of a great lyric; it allows us to find a foothold for our leaps of logic, it gives us the tools needed to work through issues too complex to grapple with if we don't have the distraction of a catchy tune to cover up the impending sense of doom.

The song could have easily been written to say,  'Life is hard, I'm alone, and I don't know what to do about it.' I say those things about myself almost every day, but it isn't interesting to be so blunt. We learn nothing without being able to go to the next layer, understanding why we feel the way we do, and how our minds have brought us to those places.

In philosophy, there are tiers of thought. First-order thoughts are the ones we are most in contact with. Those would be the simple things, such as saying 'I feel lonely'. Then there are second-order thoughts, which are the thoughts we have about our thoughts. This is where we move to thinking about why we are lonely, what it would take to feel connected with other people, and if that connection is even something we truly want.

The interesting thoughts exist in our own minds, not necessarily in the words themselves, and it takes a great lyric to probe into our subconscious and massage them out. Art is as much about the audience as the artist. Great songs are not just great because they entertain us, but because they tell us something about ourselves we didn't otherwise see.

I can't think of a song that has done that more.