Album Review: Brother Firetribe - Feel The Burn

Brother Firetribe is on that tier of bands who I like, and whose music I enjoy when it comes on, but whom I seldom think about without anything to jolt my memory. They make serviceable rock that slips in one ear and out the other, sort of like empty calories. Those are fine in the moment, but you aren't going to remember the taste once you've rinsed out your mouth. Maybe that sounds a bit too harsh, but the basic point is that bands like this don't have quite enough of an identity of their own to stand out from the crowd. I've listened to multiple albums of theirs, and I can't come up with anything to tell you that differentiates them from H.E.A.T., or any number of other bands playing slick and melodic rock.

This time around, the band blends their ultra 80s rock with some of the modern electronic pop that has been ruining all manner of bands for the last decade. I don't know when bands are going to realize that synthetic, percussive music isn't conducive to big, melodic hooks, but I hope it comes soon. That, and the obsession with the 80s, have made it tough for me to be excited by rock music for the last few years. The two make rock sound both old and dour, which isn't a good mix.

The worst offender is the single, "Night Drive", where we get a long buildup of fake sounding percussion, cheesy synths chiming in, and a chorus that is pure Hall & Oates. It's the sort of thing that would have been great in 1985, except that it's 2020. It doesn't sound vintage in the way that the organic rock bands recall the 70s, but rather an intentional attempt to copy a particular production style of the past. It's a pastiche, a gimmick, and it leaves the record feeling rather hollow because of it.

The band has written good songs before, and there are some good ones here. The chorus of "Bring On The Rain" is a fist-raiser, except for it not sounding too soft to hit the heights it otherwise could. This is supposed to be a rock album, but there's very little energy and grit to it. The sound is so polished it doesn't sound powerful enough to be the kind of arena anthems the band is clearly going for. Journey's "Separate Ways" this is not, that's for sure.

As before, this is music that is pleasant to listen to, but I know I'm not going to find myself drawn to come back and listen again. The hooks are good, but not great, and the music itself is hokey in a way I don't find particularly fun. I have no problem listening to this, and I do bob my head along at times, but it's not the kind of rock music I would usually choose to listen to. I've said many times I don't understand why people have an obsession with the 80s, and every time I come across a record like this that wants to go back to that time, I'm not getting an answer. I have no nostalgia for this sound, and I think you need it to get over how hackneyed it is.

Brother Firetibe is once again a good band squandering what could have been a better record by making choices I don't think position them as a current band of note. They are clearly trying to be a band of the past, and since most of those bands are still out there on the scene, that makes what Brother Firetribe is up to redundant and unnecessary. Sorry, guys.

Album Review: Yours Truly - Self Care

The downside to being a critic is.... being a critic. When you spend so long analyzing music, it becomes hard to listen to something new without hearing the flaws and dwelling on them. It's the nature of the beast. Even among the albums that populate my yearly Top Ten lists, including the winners for Album Of The Year, I can always find something about each one that you could call a nit I have picked. That didn't happen, however, when I was listening to Yours Truly's "Afterglow" EP last year. Those five songs flew by in a whirling dervish of near perfection. Not only did the music fit into the category of pop/rock I grew to become a music fan listening to, but the only complaint I was able to register was that the band wasn't giving us a full-length album.

That is changing with "Self Care", the biggest statement yet by Yours Truly. Across their two EPs, they have already established themselves as one of the catchiest rock bands on the planet, and with more to sink our teeth into this time, this record is where the world should take note of this young group. I was sold on the potential alone, but when the first singles were released, it was evident to me we were on the verge of something great. "Composure" and "Together" both showcased the band doing what they do best, putting thundering drums and crunchy guitars behind Mikaila Delgado's sharp voice and sticky hooks. The feeling I got listening to them, "Together" in particular, was the same thing that happened when Green Day was moving into their "American Idiot" phase. Yours Truly has the songs and sound we used to call 'arena sized'.

Perhaps the current situation of the world explains this, but one of my favorite records last year, Dream State's "Primrose Path", was a therapeutic cleansing of the mind that rang true with a sense of optimism that we'll get through this. As the title might suggest, "Self Care" follows a similar line of thought, working through issues in song, and coming out the other side with a better understanding of who we are, who we want to be, and what it takes to keep ourselves from sliding back under the black clouds. Because of that, I don't just think of this as another record coming along to entertain us, it's something more important than that. "Self Care" is a means for us to do exactly that; to care for ourselves.

In the opener, "Siamese Souls", Mikaila says a line about there being nothing left but a sense of regret, which is in the context of a breakup, but also speaks to this moment in time. Sometimes it feels like our connection to humanity as a whole, and not just to one special person, has been severed, and with it our ability to be optimistic. But the way she asks these questions atop a melody so sunny and uplifting gives us the impression that the pain is only a chapter, and we will soon be able to move on with a better sense of understanding.

Later, in "Vivid Dream", Mikaila sings about how nothing lasts forever. When Axl Rose said the same thing in "November Rain", it sounded like the end of the world. In Mikaila's voice, it's a statement of how we can grow and evolve into better people than we are now, and where we are now is not where we are always destined to be. There's no weeping guitar solo, because she is defiant in the face of pain, not giving in. The difference in attitude is palpable, and propels this album forward.

The songs on this record are rooted in the best parts of pop-punk, with riffs that get your toe tapping as a catalyst to get you to take the first step forward. This is a record with songs exploring our darkness, but the music remains upbeat, bright, and overwhelmingly fun. Whether you want to confront your own demons or not, "Self Care" can be there for you. It will ask the tough questions if that's what you want, but it will also just put a smile on your face with catchy songwriting if that's all you're looking for. The choice is left up to you.

Mikaila want to know "if tracing over all your scars helps with your closure". Isn't that the question all over-thinkers ask themselves? No song can quell those thoughts, but it can tell us it's ok to feel that way. Sometimes, acceptance is half the battle.

Yours Truly has grown and evolved since their first EP, and even since the already great "Afterglow" EP. They had the sound and the hooks, and Mikaila has dug even deeper on this record, which adds weight to their songs, like the bait on the end of the shiny hook. The only way to find out our destiny is to act, even if it may hurt. I've bit. "Self Care" is this year's most important album, and quite frankly, it's my favorite album of the year so far.

Getting Synced With VK Lynne's "Brain Waves"

I have said many times that I don't like modern pop music. That's a gross simplification of a more complex reality, wherein pop music has largely shifted towards a sound that is centered on rhythms instead of melodies, dour sadness instead of more lively emotions. Pop music today is as if the music I grew up listening to on the radio has been poured through a sepia-toned speaker, coming out distilled, monochromatic, and hard to decipher. Elton John recently asked, "where are the songs?" That's the feeling I get listening to modern pop, as the emphasis on flow and feel simply does not mesh with the way my brain is wired. Pop music was an escape, and I no longer feel enticed to run away with it.

But if anyone can rescue pop music from itself, VK Lynne might be the right woman for the job. With her shock of pink hair, her outsized voice, and her poetic mind, she is a throwback to when pop music and pop stars were larger than life, when they leapt out of the screen and made us pay attention, made us think, and made us remember them. Or, maybe I just happen to be on the same brain wave as VK.

 Opening with finger snaps, VK's vocal in the verses weaves a rhythm of words in a lower register, showcasing her poetic side. It can be heard as an interpretation of modern 'mumble pop' done clearly, but I hear it almost as a poetry recitation set to music. By subduing the melody to her flow, VK is putting more attention on her lyrics, which stand out as your brain has to put the syllables into the rhythm. As she sings, I can hear in her cadence the clicking of typewriter keys as she furiously pounds out the words while they are fresh thoughts in her mind. It's an approach I often find fault with, but that's because giving us neither melody nor interesting words means there is little to grab onto.

VK is a writer, and because of that her lyrics give us images and ideas to ruminate on, they give us the ability to give as much of our meaning to the song as her own. A song can be universal by saying something obvious with simple language, or by saying something complex with enough of a veil we are able to fill in the details ourselves. When she sings, "smiling through the glass in the mirror", we can decide if she is genuinely smiling in the face of the events, or whether the smile is caught in the mirror itself, the inverted reflection of her true feelings. The words might slide by without a thought as you listen, but the question is in there. Eventually, you start to see yourself in the song, because you are able to draw your own conclusions, which are bound to follow your own shape.

When the chorus hits, the song basks in its pop glory, with a bright melody standing atop the guitars and keyboards. The textures are pure pop, but with a far more organic sound that makes it sound and feel alive, which is the complete opposite of what modern pop tends to imply. There is vibrancy and color in VK's voice, which goes from singing a hook reminiscent of Lady Gaga's best pop period (but I'll be the one to say "I'll Always Remember You This Way" from "A Star Is Born" is her best song), to throwing in a hint of her old blues in the last line. We're all built from a world of influences, and we get to hear several of them in these three minutes.

The songs VK writes for The Spider Accomplice are dark stories to balance out the energy of Arno's guitars. With "Brain Waves", VK has her brightest, most candy-coated backdrop to sing over, and it reveals even more of her voice than we've heard before. Everyone sounds sad singing the blues, and plenty of singers are powerful singing over a rock song, but not many are able to turn a sugary pop song into a thick, smokey caramel. VK is one of those rare people, and it's fascinating to again hear a pop song that sounds like a moment of realization, where the swell into the chorus is the cathartic breakthrough we all wait for.

Great pop music is one of the hardest things to write. Trust me, I know from experience. Trends sometimes make it a hair easier or harder, but at its core songwriting that connects and entertains is not an easy thing to master. "Brain Waves" is a great pop song at a moment in time when we could all use more of them. If more pop sounded like this, I would be more of a pop fan.

Then again, maybe I'm just on the same brain wave as VK Lynne. That's not such a bad place to be. 

"Brain Waves" will be available everywhere on October 1st. Pre-save it here.

Bloody Good News: Fake Retirements & Misplaced Outrage

 In this news this week, two musicians voiced opinions, but with very different outcomes.

Our Top Story: Dee Snider has spoken out against bands who announce their retirements, only to never go away. The practice, which has been becoming more and more popular, did not sit well with the veteran who recently said goodbye to his own band.

"“I think it’s bullshit,” he said. “When you say farewell… Rage Against The Machine breaks up — that’s not retirement. They broke up, and they reformed, and that’s great. But when you do a farewell tour, and you announce this, and you sell tickets, and you have a t-shirt that says ‘No More Tours’ — thank you very much, Ozzy [Osbourne], I bought one of those — and then you come back, that’s bullshit."

I bring this story up not so much to air my own grievances again, but to commend Dee on being on the right side of the issue. We have seen so many bands treating their fans as a resource to be exploited, it's nice to see someone who gets it. Conning the fans by promising something that isn't going to happen is a fraud on the very people who have made your career possible, but it also hurts you moving into the future. As he mentioned, Ozzy has done multiple retirement tours, enough so that his eventual retirement won't be taken seriously until he is no longer with us. What could be an opportunity to cash out one last time, and have a proper remembrance of his career is impossible now, because "No More Tours III" would be a joke.

I have complained over the years about bands like Candlemass and Scorpions, who both promised to be retiring from making new music, only to still be heading into the studio. I do feel lied to, and for what? What did either band gain by saying they were going to hang it up? In one case, they blame management for putting the idea in their heads, but that's not much of an excuse. In those relationships, the manager works for the band, and they don't have to follow any advice they don't want to. Scorpions made the decision to announce their retirement, they made the decision to walk back on their word, and they have to face the consequences of that, even if I'm the only one who will ever say anything.

I get that it's hard to retire from something that has been such a part of you for so long. I don't blame anyone for being conflicted about those feelings, or for not wanting to retire at all, but in that case don't do it. If you aren't absolutely sure, don't make a public pronouncement about the end being the end. Some decisions are too important to be trifled with.

I always say the only thing artists owe the fans is honesty. These 'retirements' are dishonest, and it ruins the relationship.

In Other News: Stryper frontman Michael Sweet was angered by a review of his band's new album on Blabbermouth that focused on Sweet's evangelical mindset in writing songs. The review was critical of religion in general, and Sweet in particular, but Sweet showed his skin has not grown any thicker in thirty years of dealing with the press.

He responded to the review by saying is, "borders on being illegal."

Look, I get that people don't like having their faith criticized, but when you put it front and center of your musical identity, it's going to happen. A Christian artist is not going to only be listened to by Christians, and it's inevitable that some people are going to take issue with being preached to.

It leads me to questions I have never gotten a satisfactory answer to; Why is it so important for people of faith to have their beliefs shared by everyone else, and why do so many of them feel the need to preach their faith to anyone who will listen? This is just the way my brain works, but if you believe so devoutly, it shouldn't matter if other people agree with you. Whether or not the writer of a review shares the same view of religion as Sweet shouldn't matter to him, not if his faith was a fraction of as strong as he projects it to be.

This would have been an easy opportunity for Sweet to ignore the review, and show himself to be secure in himself and his faith. By responding as he did, he only brings more attention to the words he felt were a personal attack.

And here's the truth; religious beliefs wouldn't matter in music if religion wasn't invested in our politics. If Sweet's beliefs were contained to himself and his church, I don't think even most atheists would care in the slightest that he was writing songs praising Jesus to the high heavens. But religion is political, and an entire religious movement spends all their energy and money trying to force an entire country to live by the rules of their faith. Sweet walked right into that discussion by giving one of his songs a title usurping Donald Trump's campaign slogan.

Sweet can be offended that a writer is distasteful of his faith, but the leaders of that very faith are trying to forcibly convert us to their rules. That's not the discussion Sweet wants to have, but it's where his comments lead us. I get why he's angry, and I get why people who don't share Sweet's devotion are leery of religion creeping into every corner of our society.

That's why it would have been better for everyone if he let this one slide.

Album Review: Neal Morse - Sola Gratia

This new album from Neal Morse is interesting on two levels. First is that this unlike the last three prog records he has made, this one is credited to Neal as a solo artist, and not The Neal Morse Band. This is mainly related to the quarantine reality of 2020, but it's a fact I happen to be a fan of. I put on a Neal Morse record to hear Neal, and while there's nothing wrong with Bill and Eric, I would rather have Neal providing all of the vocals. Second is that this record is titled as a spiritual successor to "Sola Scriptura", which is the most controversial album Neal has ever made.

Dipping back into telling the story of religion, Neal is at least giving us reason to recall "Sola Scriptura", which I don't think is a very good idea. While Neal has said it was never his intention, that record comes across as being highly anti-Catholic. The language was part of the protestant movement, but hearing Neal singing that the Catholic church is "the whore" was so out-of-character, petty, and unnecessary. Intentional or not, it didn't sit well with me. People as evangelical as Neal should be much more careful about making their denomination sound like the only 'true' one. Christianity is about acceptance and love, at least if you actually believe the words of Jesus and not the people who came after.

This record kicks off with lyrics about how Paul preached the truth long before Martin Luther nailed his theses to the door. Once again, that writes off more than a millennium of the Catholic church as being false, which is not an attractive position to take in the first sentences of a record.

The ties between the albums are hard to ignore when a few of the melodies from "Sola Scriptura" pop up as reprises here. That is fully intentional, which means you cannot completely separate this work from that one, both for good and bad.

As the record unfolds, the story to pay attention to is that this album follows the recent trend of Neal's works, with the majority of the songs being looser and with less immediate hooks than what I consider to be his peak years. There aren't any movements across this record as sticky and memorable as "Keep Silent" or "Already Home". When I think of Neal as a prog artist, his knack for blending pop melodies with prog is what stands at the top of the list, so the lack here is concerning.

The other thing I don't quite get is the insistence on being fully prog. If this is a concept album, and it's telling a story, the lengthy instrumental breaks, as well as the segue tracks, add nothing to the narrative. It's my take that an album trying to tell a story should be more tightly written, and should put the focus on the narrative, and not wander around in musical ideas that don't move those things along. 

I don't want to give the impression that this is a bad album, because it's not. What it is, however, is a disappointing album. I was expecting Neal to have dipped into his well of inspiration and come up with an album that rivals his earlier run of greatness. That didn't happen here. This record is named after "Sola Scriptura", but only carries on it's most questionable qualities. This record is structured like "?", but doesn't have a "Solid As The Sun" type song on it.

"Sola Gratia" is a middle-of-the-road Neal Morse album. It's perfectly solid, but there's a spark I find missing from it. Maybe this is the wrong way to judge an album, but if this was an evangelical statement, it certainly would not make me think about converting to Neal's faith. I have too many questions left lingering.

Maybe I'm over-thinking this whole thing.

Tom Araya; Retirement was a start, now go away for good

 Tom Araya, the now retired frontman of Slayer, shared a fake video on his social media intended to inject lies into the current presidential election. When it was pointed out that the video was fake, Araya laughed it off, which got me thinking. Slayer's entire modus operandi was trying to offend and/or piss people off, and what does it say about someone if they spend their entire adult life doing nothing but trying to upset other people?

Slayer are not alone in the music world in this respect. There are tons of bands out there who exist for no reason other than shock value. I have talked before about the genres of music that rely on bodily fluids and functions for all of their material, and I have long since written off giving any of them the time of day. But I'm interested in the psychology of being one of those people.

We get a short amount of time in this life to make the most of the opportunity. We can learn, we can love, we can create things that make us happy. Happiness is an infinite supply, with no limit on how many of us can experience it. So why would you spend your life bringing people down? Why would ruining someone else's life make yours better?

As Tom commented the last time he pulled a stunt like this, "Sometimes you do stuff like that just to piss people off."

No, you don't. Not if you're a good person. Not if you're not an utter asshole. Using your voice or your power to create strife, anxiety, and misery is not a laughing matter. It's the sort of thing a psychopath enjoys. When you are in a position where you can quietly enjoy your retirement, where you can use your voice to bring hope and comfort to the people your music has spoken to, and yet you choose to stoke division and intentionally inflame people's fears and worries, I'm not sure what that says about a person.

My armchair psychology would say it's projection. The people who feel the need to constantly offend, who want to piss off other people to enjoy watching their anger, are people who have no happiness of their own. They are people who have been taught to believe life is a zero sum game, that every ounce of joy someone else experiences is one they cannot have for themselves. We see the ultimate example of that in our current political climate, but it's a pervasive string of thought.

Slayer pushed people's buttons back in the 80s when they wrote "Angel Of Death". It was controversial to write a song about the Holocaust, but it was done in a way that challenged good taste, but was not done in an offensive manner. It was more documentary than commentary, and stayed on the proper side of what is acceptable. Over the years, however, Slayer would get worse and worse, with Kerry King writing lyrics that devolved into basically saying, 'fuck God'. He was trying to get a rise out of people, not say anything of importance. "Angel Of Death" was shining a light on the evil man is capable of, perhaps warning us to be wary of it creeping into our society ever again. By the time he was writing "Cult", calling Christianity just that, or "Payback", where he wrote about wanting to "beat you til you're just a fucking lifeless carcass", he had nothing to say.

Shock value isn't much different than any other addiction. Once Slayer found the rush that came from being the scary voice people didn't want you to hear, they had to continue pushing the boundaries to get that same reaction. No one wanted Slayer to become a band safe for fifty year-olds to take their kids to see, wearing branded knit hipster hats, yet that's exactly what happened. In order to avoid being the dad-bod of extreme music, Slayer kept pushing themselves, which left us with men beyond middle age who thought at the level of teenagers, who thought writing the equivalent of a fart joke was still edgy.

It's no wonder to see them travel on the dark side of politics, buying into conspiracy theories and the cynical belief that telling the big lie often enough will cow people into accepting it. The band that warned us about the horrors of Nazis has something in common with one of their core propaganda efforts.

Maybe Slayer never did lose their edge. After all, Nazism is still off-limits. Isn't it?

Album Review: Rising Steel - Fight Them All

I say this as someone who was not old enough to pay any attention to such things when they were at their zenith; I don't get the appeal of thrash metal. When I listen to most of those bands and albums, I hear musicians ripping through tracks where the main, and sometimes only, appeal is the speed. It was not a scene filled with memorable riffs of the Iommi kind, nor vocalists who could write or sing catchy melodies. If you didn't get caught up in the rapid speed, which I never have, thrash is not the most interesting of music.

Rising Steel is a new band that is crossing traditional metal with thrash, which takes a hackneyed sound and blends it with one that doesn't bring much else to the table. Their music is fast, but that word is a description of type, not quality. I have seen the confusion between them far too often. Saying music is 'heavy' or 'fast' is not an indication it's any good.

In this case, Rising Steel is playing music that is fast, but it isn't particularly interesting music. Their riffs are of the chugging variety, which can be fun, but over the course of an entire album I desperately want to hear the guitars do something more melodic. The best guitar riffs can be hummed or sung, and Rising Steel is far from being able to do that. So if the music isn't giving us a hook, the vocals must do all that work, and like in most thrash-adjacent genres, there isn't much melody to be found there either.

These songs are simple, which is fine, but the ideas relied upon aren't strong enough to serve as the tent-poles of winning songs. Emmanuelson's voice is a bit rough, and he over-sings to the point where whatever melodies might be there get steamrolled by his metal posturing. The entirety of this record comes across like a band trying desperately to prove how metal they are, when being metal has nothing to do with that very act. The traditional metal and thrash they are building their sound from are, by today's standards, relatively soft. They don't need to try to amp things up even further, but they do, and that is what makes it all so tiresome.

Look, plenty of you will hear this and love it, because obviously there is a large number of people who love anything that is fast and heavy. I know I'm an outlier when it comes to what I enjoy out of these genres. If you just want to spend a while having a band play hard and fast, this will fit the bill. But I look for something more, something that shows more deft skill and songwriting that will endure, and Rising Steel doesn't give me anything there. This record is too one-note for that, too average to care much about.

Album Review: Perfect Plan - Time For A Miracle

I guess I don't know what success means anymore. There used to be obvious ways of measuring whether or not a band was achieving something, but those have mostly gone by the wayside. Now, bands that I've never even heard of are touting themselves as being among the biggest in whatever sub-genre they want to call themselves. That isn't quite the case with Perfect Plan, who I do remember from their debut album, but when their label is saying they are "immediate rising stars", and their single "built their reputation", I'm left scratching my head. What reputation? Who, other than the most hardcore of European melodic rock fans, knows who these guys are?

I'm not saying that to be dismissive, but to illustrate a point. They are calling themselves stars, but they haven't done anything that would lead me to think that the least bit true. They released one album that didn't make any sort of greater impact in the melodic rock world, let alone outside of that. Maybe this second album can improve upon that, but things being what they are, I wouldn't count on that either.

The record does get off to a good start. The title track leads us off with a bit more heaviness, a solid groove, and a hook that hits pretty hard. It's a really good melodic hard rock track, and has enough muscle to avoid any of the cheese that usually creeps in. That song might not be a reputation builder, but it's a great single, and makes a strong case that Perfect Plan has the potential to be what they already claim themselves as.

Unfortunately, they quickly soften their sound back up, adding more melodrama and 80s tropes. Everything good about that first song is erased with a string of generic Journey retreads. Look, I like Journey too, but that was thirty-plus years ago. We don't need so many bands trying to recreate that sound. Not only does it bring to mind comparisons to a band far better than Perfect Plan, but it's not even what they themselves are best at. The few times they try to rock here are better than their AOR worship, and the album would be stronger if they had headed more in that direction.

They aren't a bad AOR band by any means. The majority of the album is perfectly fine melodic rock, with the exception of "Nobody's Fool", where they try to be a blues band. It doesn't work with the gloss of their sound, and I especially hate that they spend more than thirty seconds at the start playing the riff with such a lo-fi sound. It sounds terrible, and is annoying to sit through before the rest of the song completely shifts gears. A producer should have pointed out how pointless that effect was, and either ditched it, or shortened that section dramatically.

Your view of this record will exclusively come down to how much you like AOR. If that's your jam, you'll be happy with this very standard album of moderately heavy melodic rock. For me, it sounds a bit toothless. I'm caught between wanting it to be heavier and wanting it to be poppier. The record sits in a middle ground where I don't think it goes far enough in any direction, and the remaining eleven songs make me want to listen to the title track again. That song sounds like a completely different, and better, band. I want to hear mroe from them.

Singles Roundup: Helion Prime - Amaranthe, Weezer, & Daughtry

 This week, the new singles I've been hearing are more interesting to talk about than some of the albums I could be covering, so we're going to stick with them today. We've got four new ones to examine, starting with:

Helion Prime - Madame Mercury

I've been listening to "The Forbidden Zone" with great regularity, and the second single from the record follows suit. Written about Katherine Johnson, the key figure in making the space program work in the 60s, the song is another fun jaunt through the world of modern power metal. The guitars give us some nifty playing, as well as that tone that still sounds a bit futuristic (even if it's been around for a while), while Mary delivers the melody that grows each time I listen to it. I don't know if it's just my ears, but everything about the band sounds more melodic and memorable in this new form. I really like it.

Amaranthe - Strong

Another thing I really like is where Amaranthe are taking metal. Plenty of other bands have been trying to do the same thing, and they're always relatively fun, but no one is able to match their ability to make hooks so sticky you can't wash them off. They are the masters of pop metal, and with Noora from Battle Beast guesting on this track, it's got even more vocal firepower than usual. I know it can be a bit much for some more 'true' metal fans, but holy hell is this stuff fun.

Weezer - Beginning Of The End

The horrible gimmick of an album "Van Weezer" has been delayed from this pst May all the way until next May, due to the pandemic, which seems like overkill. It also seems unfair, because as this song indicates, this could be the first Weezer album worth giving a damn about since at least "Maladroit", and maybe even "Green". What this song reiterates is that Rivers is at his best when he's channeling his 80s rock roots, and not chasing pop trends. He can't do modern, or clever, or even sincere, so trying to be Van Halen is perfect for him. I hate myself for liking this.

Daughtry - World On Fire

Speaking of people who should stick with their roots, we have Daughtry, who at least for one song remembers that he became famous for being a rock guy in a pop world. His recent pop albums were terrible, and maybe he's gotten the message, because the guitars are back. This finally sounds like a rock song again, taking us back to the days of the debut and "Leave This Town", which were really good albums. I liked Daughtry a lot back then, and hearing this song, I remember why. He's damn good at making catchy, pop-ish rock songs. If he has a whole record that follows suit, he might rise from the dead next year.

Album Review: Vanishing Point - Dead Elysium

Sometimes you have a thought that seems like a momentary joke, until you find yourself returning to it again and again, unable to shake the fact that a throw-away aside conjured up something closer to the truth than you would like to admit. Judgments are not always deliberated over, carefully constructed from time and deep thought. We often go with our gut reaction, and let a feeling become hardened into a truth. That happened to me when I was listening to this Vanishing Point album. I was trying to think of what it reminded me of, and there was an obvious answer, but then I joked to myself something more ridiculous. By the time I sat down to write this review, that one was all I could think of.

Vanishing Point is a melodic metal band with a few progressive tendencies, and a deeper-voiced singer than most. Because of that, they sound a fair bit like a band whose album I was very fond of called Ascendia. They are more straight-forward, but striking the same tone. That comparison made sense, and was a point in their favor. And then I thought to myself that with the vocal tone, they also sound a bit like if Revolution Saints was a metal band. It was supposed to be a joke, but as more songs came and went, I could hear the AOR influence in some of the melodies, and my flippant remark rang more and more true.

Essentially, what I get out of "Dead Elysium" is a feeling of metallic AOR, featuring a deeper and raspier vocalist. Given that the relative (for lack of a better term) wimpiness of AOR is what keeps me from embracing that genre, this combination is the sort of thing that sounds intriguing to me. The music here is melodic, and it's often compelling, with the lack of brightness keeping things from sounding too saccharine and cloying. It's easy to take this kind of music and go too far into sappy and hokey territory, but the nature of Silvio Massaro's voice anchors the sound in a far more emotive register. In that sense, there are echoes of Evergrey's "Torn" album.

The one issue I have is that like so many modern albums, this one is crying out for some dynamics. The melodies don't have room in the mix to pop, because everything is running full blast all the time. Even when the band is supposed to be a bit softer, every inch of the sonic space is filled up, and I find myself wanting a bit of breathing room. This style isn't super heavy or involved, so it doesn't need to be pushed so aggressively.

And with these ten songs averaging roughly six minutes apiece, that lack of dynamics becomes difficult to ignore. The quality of the record doesn't diminish in the second half, but my enjoyment did, because I could start to feel myself growing tired, and a headache beginning to take root. I liked the music, but I didn't find myself wanting to listen to it, because the production was not inviting. I realize that sensitivity is not shared by all, or maybe even by many.

Vanishing Point definitely has something to offer, and there's a lot of good music on this album. I'm probably not going to be coming back to it as often as I might like to, but that shouldn't stop you. "Dead Elysium" is a very good melodic metal album I wouldn't hesitate to give a chance.