Album Review: Michael Monroe - One Man Gang

I know Michael Monroe has been around a long time, and he's a bit of a legend in certain circles. That said, I can honestly say I knew next to nothing of his music when "Blackout States" came out. It only took a few minutes, but that record immediately laid claim to being one of the best pure rock 'n roll albums of recent years, and it nearly won Album Of The Year accolades from me. I went back and listened to the records that came before, and none of them touched it. The stand-alone song included on Monroe's greatest hits package was even better than anything on "Blackout States", and was the best song of that year, which only made me even more anxious to hear if he and his band could carry over that momentum to another absolutely killer record. That time has finally arrived.

The album kicks off with the previewed pair of singles, the title track and "Last Train To Tokyo". They carry on from "Blackout States" wonderfully. The former is a gritty Sunset Strip rocker with plenty of snarl packed into its two-and-a-half minutes, while the latter is a big, hooky rocker that is the soundtrack to a fun night out. There isn't a lot of rock and roll I've been hearing that capture that kind of good time spirit, so hearing it in these tracks is a nice antidote to so much of the music we're all subjected to.

There's a new wrinkle with "Midsummer Nights", which is more of a heavy ballad than anything off the last album, and a rather stirring song that will surely get lighters... er, sorry, cell phones, waiving in the air. It's completely different, but "The Pitfalls Of Being An Outsider" will have similar crowd interaction, as that chorus is begging to have an audience shouting along with Michael and his band. It's a communal experience. Rock used to be that way, didn't it?

I also love the use of harmonica and saxophone to give some of the songs a little twist from the expected. When you've got a core sound to what your band does, simple things like adding a three second flash of something unusual is all it takes sometimes to make sure the songs stand out as individual. There's nothing to be scared of by breaking free of the guitar/bass/drums setup, and while Michael has been doing it for a long time anyway, he's got enough of a legacy that he can do whatever the hell he wants. No one is going to tell him no.

If you heard "Blackout States", the best thing I can say is that "One Man Gang" makes for a perfect one-two punch with that one. If you haven't heard it, why not? There are a lot of varieties and strains of rock, but if you're talking about good ol' rock and roll, there isn't anyone doing it better than Michael Monroe and this version of his band. "One Man Gang" is a reminder that rock can be about good times and having fun, a swaggering bravado where we play a character cooler and more interesting than we actually are, so we can live out some fantasies.

I want to join this "One Man Gang". It fucking rocks.

Album Review: Opeth - In Cauda Venenum

Opeth is beyond frustrating, and it doesn't even have much to do with them. I've said this before, but I'll reiterate; I was supportive of the idea of dropping the death metal from their sound. That was the direction I was hoping Opeth would go, but the way by which they did it has been rather flaccid, recreating prog rock of the 70s in a boring way, and no longer sounding much like Opeth. That would be disappointing in and of itself, but it's made even worse because we have Soen, who on their two most recent records have grabbed the thread Opeth left behind, and pulled on it to weave their own sound which is exactly what Opeth should have done as they moved forward. Suddenly, Opeth not only no longer rocks, but they aren't the most Opeth-ian modern Opeth. To have your identity usurped, and improved upon, is the sort of thing that makes me wonder what I'm supposed to think of Opeth.

With their latest entry in their classic prog phase, the answer is made perhaps harder by the very nature of the record, which was written and recorded in Swedish, then translated to English for those of us who want to understand what the heck we're listening to. I feel this guarantees there will be important details lost in translation.

Let's get this out of the way first; Mikael Akerfeldt is, and has always been, a lousy songwriter. It got better for a while, but is drifting back in the wrong direction. I don't mean he's bad in the sense that he writes boring music or has bad ideas (though he sometimes does), but rather that he's a bad songwriter because far too often his idea of song-craft is to glue to completely different ideas together without even a hint of a segue. He's like a squirrel unsure which way to run when he sees a person approaching. People have long called that 'progressive', but there's a better word for it; lazy.

The two songs we were given as previews, which also happen to be the first two on the record after the three minutes of my time the band wastes, explain the dichotomy of Opeth. "Dignity" has a wonderful guitar solo at the beginning, and a rousing melody for the main hook, but it also offers no transition as it bounces from rock to acoustic, from full band to barely audible. "Heart In Hand" has less of these moments, but midway through the track we go from a nice rock song to a full-on folk number, and I can't quite figure out how we got there, because Mikael doesn't explain himself through the music.

My frustration with that tendency is more pronounced this time around, since this is probably the best album of Opeth's full-on prog period. There are a lot of beautiful pieces of music throughout this record, but they're hard to listen to if you're someone who likes things to make sense. On the plus side, this is the most cohesive their prog period has ever sounded, in terms of them knowing who they are, and what they want to accomplish. It's still a fair bit a rehash of the 70s, but it is no longer a haphazard collection of disparate sounds ("Heritage"), so lifeless as to be a lullaby ("Pale Communion"), or a weak attempt to sound heavy ("Sorceress"). This record distills all of Akerfeldt's prog loves into a single sound, which instantly makes this the definitive record of this phase of their career.

The record has its prog tangents, it's riffs that are pure Opeth, and a sense of dynamics where the heavy moments actually sound heavy again, even though they aren't, by comparison to their old days. Really, the only thing holding Opeth back is the songwriting. Look at "Universal Truth". After a decent opening section, the song completely stops. There's three seconds of silence, and then a different sound and motif come in. Why? How? What Akerfeldt is doing there is essentially channel surfing. He got bored with one idea, so he switched to another without finishing it off. I want to reach out and strangle him for this.

By the end of the intolerable sixty-nine minutes of this record, I'm where I was before this album cycle started; hopeless about Opeth's future. For a brief moment when the singles came out, I thought Akerfeldt might have found a new well of inspiration by writing in his native language, but the album bogs down and reveals the cracks in his foundation just as much as the last few have. There is still good here, but I'm not going to sift through the rubble looking for it. Not when there is so much music out there that doesn't require me testing my patience, and not when there's a band that gives me what I want from Opeth.

Middle-aged, post-divorce Opeth is not something I can relate to. Nor do I want to.

Singles Roundup: Ghost, The Dark Element, Fozzy, and Dream State

Septempber has had a significant number of important records, but that's nothing compared to what October is going to have for us. I'm already feeling overwhelmed by the pile waiting for me, and that's with a few big ones still to arrive. So before I fall down the rabbit hole of those later albums, let's take a couple of minutes to talk about a few singles that have come out I think need some attention.

Ghost – Kiss the Go-Goat/Mary On A Cross

Is there a bigger band in the mainstream than Ghost right now? Since the next album is still in the early stages of development, we're given this two song release to tide us over. It hits on the good and the bad of Ghost. The good is that they can get away with just about anything, including presenting this as a lost, fifty year old recording. The bad is that they try some of this stuff, when it doesn't need to be done. "Kiss The Go-Goat", in particular, is the most gimmicky song they have done in a long time, and not coincidentally one of the weakest. "Mary On A Cross" is better, but this feels like a place-holder, like something they didn't put a lot of effort into. This doesn't detract from the last album, or hinder the next, but it does make this release a bit hollow and empty.

The Dark Element – Songs The Night Sings

The debut album from this project not only brought Anette Olzon back to people's attention, but it also turned out to be one of the best albums of that year. Now that they've seen the success of that record, and have had a couple years to figure out how they best fit together, my expectation would be for them to grow into an even better outfit for their second album. This first taste we're getting hints at the direction the record might go. This song is a continuation of the first, but still expertly written. With this as how they chose to introduce the record, I'm thinking we might be in line for something that adheres to the same structure, trying to step things up in terms of making the songs even stickier. It's mission accomplished for this track, as the bar has been set awfully high for one of the most anticipated records of the fall.

Fozzy – Nowhere To Run

I'm always surprised that Fozzy has become a genuinely successful rock band, not because of who Chris Jericho is, but because he's not really a very good singer. Like always, his voice here is watery, as though his throat somehow contains an echo effect. Is that charisma? Fozzy has also completely streamlines their sound, no longer trying to hide they are hit-seekers. They are a world away from when they used to facetiously claim to have written Priest and Maiden's hit songs. Like "Judas", they've also managed to nail the formula. This song is going to be a hit, and we're going to hear a lot of it. They can't deliver an entire album like this, but they've got the one song they need to keep their momentum going.

Dream State – Open Windows

I've already raved about the first two singles from their upcoming debut album, but let me do the same for this song. Dream State are on a roll leading up to the record, with all three of these songs being explosive numbers that explode in our heads. We hear a lot of songs that are clearly an artist pouring their pain into the music, but it's only in rare instances where we can hear them coming out the other side of the dark times. That's what these Dream State songs do. This isn't just sharing a universal feeling, it's a way to move past it, and there's a clear catharsis that comes when CJ starts shouting the chorus. It's pure bliss.

Album Review: Dragonforce - Extreme Power Metal

Has a metal band squandered their moment in the spotlight quite the way Dragonforce has? With their success as one of the definitive tracks of the rock video game era, they should have been set up for career growth, and a position as one of the bigger metal bands in the mainstream. But between a change in singers, and a lack of great songwriting (perhaps more a bad selection of singles - there were some great songs on "Maximum Overload"), they are rarely talked about anymore. They're almost afterthoughts.

And now they do something that always irritates me. They have named their new album "Extreme Power Metal". Not only does that name sound cheesy and stupid, but it makes a promise Dragonforce is not going to be able to keep. Other than some guitar solos that are played in a blur, there will be absolutely nothing about the record that is extreme, and trying to pass it off as such makes them look foolish.

Opener "Highway To Oblivion" gets closer to the old Dragonforce formula, with chugging guitars played faster than my hands would ever be able to move, and high pitched vocals trying like hell to make a catchy melody fit over the top of all of that, a couple fleeting seconds of video-game music sounds included. As cheesy as it is, that's what Dragonforce is known for, and it's where their charms lie. Those first couple of records took power metal by storm because they were something unique, and they had good songwriting to balance out the histrionics. Their downslide started when they got away from what they are good at. It's nice to hear them find themselves again.

As you would expect from the title, "Cosmic Power Of The Infinite Shred Machine" is a song centered around several lengthy, flashy guitar solos. That might be fun for them, but you should listen to "The Last Dragonborn" instead, because that is killer power metal. It's got both folk and asian instrumentation detailing the background, but it's the hook that is undeniable. It sounds thundering, epic, and like a chest-beating warrior's hymn. Ok, I'll admit I don't care for the fantasy lyrics that make up so much of power metal, but it damn well works here. I don't think this song could be written about mundane life and be as effective. This is the Dragonforce I love. "Remembrance Day" fits this same mold.

We get a fair amount of that on this record. "Razorblade Meltdown" is another big winner that delivers the high-octane power we expect, but also hooks that are stronger than what they're usually able to corral at their speed. What I'm not as fond of are the more 80s influences on "Troopers Of The Stars" and "Strangers". I've gone on before about not understanding the obsession with that decade, and Dragonforce isn't winning me over on that argument. They aren't bad songs by any means, but I would prefer them to sound a bit more modern. Oh well.

By the time the record is over, I'm left feeling that this is the best Dragonforce album since ZP left the band. The strong material is still strong, but this time even the stuff I'm not quite as high on is better than usual. The low(er) points involve minor nit-picking. There isn't anything here I would genuinely complain about. It might be a bit late for Dragonfoce to recapture their momentum, but this record makes a strong case they're not going to fade away. I wasn't expecting it to be anything but another Dragonforce record, but "Extreme Power Metal" is more than that. It's the best Dragonforce record in a long time.

And the record ends with a cover of "My Heart Will Go On". Yes, the Titanic song. I find it absolutely hilarious. Then again, I love metal covers of super cheesy pop music. Exit Eden doing "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" is awesome, and Steel Panther doing "I Want It That Way" is the highlight of their career. So Dragonforce have given us a fun little nugget to end on. Kudos.

Album Review: Kadavar - For The Dead Travel Fast

I've been making this point on-and-off for a few years now, and I'll say it again at the start of this review; 'vintage' rock band are almost all terrible. I adore Graveyard, and the first Blues Pills album was amazing, but those are the rare exceptions of these sorts of bands knowing how to write good songs. For the most part, they are so wrapped up in recreating the sound of the past, and crowing about recording to tape when they do, that they don't understand what the whole point of being in a band is. Kadavar is one of those bands in that category, at least in my eyes, because they have yet to write a single song that has stuck with me. They sound good, but there's nothing there. They are empty calories.

Speaking of that, there's nothing that puts me in a worse mood than wasting my time. The first track on the record is the two minute "The End", which is a mix of a long silence, some wind, and a very short build of instruments. Essentially, it's absolutely nothing other than space that could have been used for real music, or better yet, cut entirely, since it detracts from the record. It sure as hell doesn't add anything.

Moving on to the songs that matter, Kadavar has embraced a sound that sounds like the past, but not in the way they want it to. This record doesn't sounds like the organic, natural productions of the time. No, it sounds like a vinyl record that's been sitting around since 1972, with enough fuzz, echo, and poor mixing to make Black Sabbath's debut sound like a gem. And considering how fast and cheap that was recorded, being worse is a big black mark on Kadavar. At least the production stops the retched falsetto vocals in "Evil Forces" from coming through the mix even more than they do. I already want to plug my ears when they come along, but if they were as high in the mix as vocals should be, I'm not sure how I would ever make it through the song.

As I was saying at the start, Kadavar is one of those bands that doesn't write great songs, so little thing matter more. I could forgive some production issues if the music is great, but it's not. Especially when we get to "Children Of The Night", the only impression I get from the music is that of a Ghost demo. It sounds like a rough sketch of a better band, something that got cut from the running when it was clear the song wasn't going to be turned into anything better.

Listening to Kadavar, I keep asking myself one question; why should I be listening to them, when there are other bands who do this same thing far better than them? They don't have a great guitar player, or a great singer, or any elements to the music that I could convince myself are worth giving them another chance for. I hear this cloudy mess of music, and there isn't anything I want to hear again. Maybe there could be if it didn't make me think my ears were plugged, but this record isn't pleasant to listen to. I feel like I need a hearing aid, which isn't a good thing to be saying.

Kadavar have been around long enough now that I'm not going to cut them any slack for being a band still finding their way. They know enough at this point to have deliberately chosen to make a record like this. If they aren't able to write better songs, that's fine. Not everyone can. But everyone can choose not to make a record whose sound pushes you away. Kadavar went down that route, and I'm not going with them. Maybe I'll give them another chance in a few years, if they want to move into the current millenium, but if they're staying in the past, I hope their time capsule stays buried in my backyard. I don't want to hear it again.

Album Review: Michael Schenker Fest - Revelation

For a guy who has been on his own for as long as he has, Michael Schenker sure seems to put together a lot of projects. Rather than brand himself as a true solo artist, he's had albums under his own name, as Michael Schenker Group, as Michael Schenker's Temple Of Rock, and now as Michael Schenker Fest. All of this comes for a guy who admits to not listening to any music other than his own, lest his muse get corrupted by the music of others. That's a really weird thing for anyone to say, but especially for someone who has spent most of the last couple decades recycling the same old stuff.

That is never more true than with this project, which gathers up four of his former singers, giving them all a little, but not enough, to do. I wasn't much of a fan of the first album under this moniker, mostly for the fact that while it did sound like everything else Schenker has put out in recent memory, the vocalists were not in the best shape. A couple years since then isn't going to improve matters on that front.

Basically, if you like anything Schenker has done since in the last twenty years, this album will be fine for you. I know a lot of guitar players worship the guy, but he hasn't played anything I've been overly impressed with in a long time. I'm not a solos guy, so maybe his 'genius' is lost on me. Putting the songs together, he's good, but every album has been mostly the same, so it always comes down to what the singers are able to make of them.

I'll be honest; I've never been fond of albums like this with multiple singers. The main reason for that is simple; I'm going to like one singer more than the rest, and I'm going to be disappointed they don't get more of the spotlight. Or, the other way to look at it is there will surely be one singer I like less than the others, and I'll be angry they get as much time behind the mic as they do. That would be Graham Bonnet, if you're curious. His voice is not strong enough for him to push himself the way he still does. His tone annoys me, and has for a long time.

Gary Barden's voice is the most shot, by far, but it's gone in a way that left him with a husky tone I sort of like. Plus, it keeps him from trying to hit any god-forsaken high notes. The only Schenker album of recent vintage I've actually enjoyed was "In The Midst Of Beauty", which might just be because Barden's limitations make it the only album without some of the rock cliches.

This record is more pure Schenker. That's why he, and his fans, want. What I want it to hear something that stands out from the overwhelming amount of records Schenker has put out. That's not what I'm getting from this record. Other than a hint of 80s synth on "Behind The Smile", this record is virtually indistinguishable from the previous one, and all the ones before that. Since I wasn't buying in on that one, the same is true this time. Schenker is doing a solid job, and the record isn't bad by any means, but it also doesn't do anything exciting.

"Revelation" is not what the title suggests. It's good Michael Schenker music, and I might even say it's a bit better than the first album branded as the Fest, but I've heard all the Michael Schenker I ever need to.

Album Review: Kobra & The Lotus - Evolution

Kobra & The Lotus are coming off an ambitious project. Not long ago, they put out both "Prevail I" and "Prevail II", one of those double albums that isn't really a double album, that also happened to be released months apart so they could get twice the sales. You know; business. But that aside, those records showed a band that was growing and getting better, with the second installment being the best music I had yet heard from them. I still wasn't completely sold, but they were getting closer and closer to the bullseye. What is surprising now is that the band is back for another album already, since the usual time between releases hasn't been reached, and the last record was actually two records. Did they have enough time to generate enough great ideas for another album already?

To sum it up; yes and no.

The two singles for the album, "Burn" and "Get The F_ck Out Of Here" were regressions to the mean, leaving behind the band's evident growth into a melodic hard rock powerhouse for something far simpler, more generic, and in the case of the latter, pathetically trying to be edgy. Kobra Paige doesn't need to start throwing around f-bombs and middle fingers to get our attention. That she feels the need to use that song to promote the record was the first indication this wasn't going to be another step forward. It was a lapse of judgment, but sometimes those moments are quite telling. I would also put "Thundersmith" in this category, with a lumbering melody, and some obnoxious gang vocals to kick it off. It doesn't fit in with what I know of the band.

When you put the record on, the first song you're greeted with after the introduction is the title track, which is a completely different beast. This one is Kobra singing melodically, using the strengths of her and the band's appeal, and even throwing in a little western guitar lick in the background to give it a bit of flair. Kobra's voice is not gritty, it doesn't sound snarling or dripping with attitude, so it makes far more sense for her to focus on being the melodic counterpoint to the guitars. When they stick to that, which most of the album does, I like them. They just can't help themselves from time to time.

"We Come Undone" and "Wounds" are both fantastic, where the hooks play well with Kobra's voice. Her tone isn't as bright as many women in rock, which means she can get away with going further down the pop/melodic side without it sounding as obvious. They never test the edges of how far they can go, but I don't think it's a coincidence that she sounds the best, and the songs are better, when they aren't trying to be as heavy as possible. So yeah, I would say the ballad "Wash Away" is one of the best songs on the record for that very reason.

So here's where things get a bit dicey, at least as being philosophical goes. The band put out a double record that wasn't well-defined as such, with two records that were almost identical. This album has two sides to the music, which if expanded out, would have made for a double album with distinct identities. But instead, we got two of the same, followed by one kaleidoscope. I would have preferred things turned the other way around, but what will be will be. "Evolution" has a lot of good on it, and plenty of moments where the band is showing how they are still getting better at what they do. Unfortunately, it also has a couple songs that detract from all the good they do. Maybe a bit more time to weed those out would have done the record some good.

"Evolution" is good, but I think I would point you toward "Prevail II" first.

Album Review: Absence Of Despair - Desolate

Did I miss the memo saying that this decade was going to wrap up by flashing back to the glory days of metalcore? I must have, since I have seen more of it flashing by than I recall in previous years, and some of it is darn good, to boot. All That Remains impressed my last year, while Killswitch Engage's recent album has grown on me a lot, and Any Given Day's "Overpower" is still one of the best albums of the entire year. I don't know what's gotten into the water, or whatever trendy energy drink metal musicians consume, but it's a bit weird for the genre to be going so strong right now.

Absence Of Despair are newcomers to my attention, which doesn't really say anything about their stature, since I don't actually follow the scene, other than the unavoidable bigger names. But when I'm given the promise of hard-hitting grooves, and addictive hooks, I'm usually willing to see whether there's any meat on that bone.

The answer to that question is... not really.

The band is trying, but something is missing. They get the heavier part of the metalcore equation with ease. The crushing metal half is exactly that, a blend of metalcore and hardcore that is fiery and aggressive, although I don't think it has nearly as much groove as I was told. Instrumentally, they fall on the less melodic side of the genre, but that's ok. There's still enough power there to be pretty good.

Vocally, things suffer. The harsh vocals are a combination of death growls and higher-pitched screams, neither of which settles into a nice pocket. There isn't enough consistency from song to song in how the delivery is going to work, so it's hard to nail the band's identity. But the biggest drawback is when we get to the choruses. That's the part that wins me over, when metalcore is great. These hooks, despite the advertising, are not addictive at all. In fact, they're barely hooks. The choruses never feel bigger, or brighter, or any more melodic than the verses. That's a big problem.

Metalcore is the balance of heavy and melodic, angry and emotional. This record, with its darker focus, doesn't find that balance at all. It's a bit like watching a toddler and a teenager playing on a teeter-totter on the playground. One side is going to be left very disappointed. Sure, "Fearless" is a good track, and probably the best one here, but even so it wouldn't be a great track on a great metalcore record.

The impression I get from this record is one that comes up a lot these days; that these guys grew up listening to metalcore, so all their influences are various metalcore bands, recycled and regurgitated. The original wave had all sorts of influences, many of them far more mainstream and melodic. Listening to this, I can't see where these guys would have ever been fans of Dio or Iron Maiden. That's a big drawback, since it limits the scope incredibly narrow.

"Desolate" is a release of energy, but that's about it.

Album Review: The 69 Eyes - West End

One of the things that drives me crazy about music is how once a genre develops, suddenly we find dozens of singers who all have the same basic tone and timbre. I find it hard to believe that everyone who sounds a certain way just so happens to want to make the same kind of music. Sure, I'm cynical, but it can't be a coincidence that so many of the post-grunge singers sounded like Eddie Vedder, or that every gothic rock singer sounds exactly the same. And that's what keeps me at arm's length from bands like The 69 Eyes. Listening to how blueprint their sound is makes it impossible to take them entirely seriously. It's obviously put-on to adhere to the genre's rules, and that limits the ways I can connect to the music.

Given the limitations in the vocal department, the melodies on this record have to be sterling for it to work. On first single "27 & Done", they do exactly that. The band is able to take the gothic feeling, yet still give it an almost upbeat energy that gets your foot tapping. That's a different approach than "Two Horns Up", which opens the album with a snarling attack, and plenty of almost growled vocals layered in the mix. That they can take both of those paths, make them unique, and still have them end up with slyly memorable songs, is quite a feat.

They can't keep that up over the course of the entire album, however. "Change" drags a bit with it's five-and-a-half minute runtime, getting a bit too repetitive by the time we reach the end. Then there's "Cheyenna", a single that wasn't catchy in the slightest, and is the weakest song on the album. It's where the limitations of this style become most apparent. When everything is subdued, and reliant on subtlety, the inferences have to be razor sharp if they're going to be heard. Sometimes weak writing can be glossed over by charismatic or dramatic performances. That's obviously not happening with gothic vocals.

The album alternates between really good stuff like "Death & Desire" and less interesting material like "The Last House On The Left" (coincidentally, that movie is terrible too). It winds up not just being a bit disjointed, but sucking the enjoyment out of the album. After the very good start, the momentum stalls out right at the point where you need it. The vocals already make the album monotone enough, so the dips in quality are hard to get through without wanting to hit the skip button.

There's enough good material on "West End" to still give the record a recommendation, and to be disappointed not everything lives up to that standard. There's half the record that is really good, even to this non-goth fan. If everything was that quality, this would be a pleasant surprise that could make a run for album of the month. But those few weak tracks are enough to derail the train. Gothic rock needs everything to be perfect if it's going to succeed, and throwing a perfect game is damn hard to do. The 69 Eyes puts up a quality start, but the bullpen might have just blown the save.

Album Review: Masters Of Ceremony - Signs Of Wings

Sascha Paeth has had a hand in a ton of records, even though you might not know it. As a producer and studio owner, check out his list of credits. It's rather large, and includes a lot of records you and I have probably heard. Plus, he's also been the main guitarist in Avantasia for most of the last six albums and tours. The guy gets around, but almost all of his career has been spent in service of the music of other people. So what would an album from Sascha himself sound like? That's what we're about to find out. Masters Of Ceremony is the first time I can ever recall listening to more than one song from his pen (he wrote one on Trillium's "Alloy", and it's the one I skip almost every time).

The most important piece of the puzzle when a guitarist makes an album of his own is finding a singer. No matter how good the musician is, the singer is going to be the make-or-break part of the equation. Just look at the difference between how Slash is perceived now, as oppose to when he had his Snakepit band going. Myles Kennedy has given him a huge boost. Sascha's pick is Seven Spires singer Adrienne Cowan, which is an unusual pick, I would say. She doesn't sound like the power metal he is known for working on, and she also brings in harsh tones that I wasn't expecting.

The opening "The Time Has Come" wears Sascha's time in Avantasia on its sleeve, with a melody that easily could have been on "The Scarecrow". And here's where I have to point to the above paragraph. Adrienne can sing, but her voice on this song is more of a shout than anything, with a tone that recalls the feminist punk of the 90s. It doesn't sound right, at least to me, on this kind of music. And with her harsh vocals not doing much to win me over either, what was a well-written song is held back by a vocal delivery that could have been so much better.

I get why Sascha went with her; she's more versatile than a lot of singers, and this is a diverse album. We get straight-forward power metal, sure, but we also get highly dramatic songs like "Die Just A Little" that have some Broadway influence, and something like "Radar" with a more Celtic/folk motif. Sascha needed a singer who could play multiple parts, and Adrienne does fill that role.

None of the information I was given indicate the writing credits, so I don't know whether Sascha called in some of his friends to help him write these tracks, or whether years of working with talented writers has rubbed off on him, but this is an album flush with strong hooks and melodies. The choruses of these songs are big, powerful, and better than most of the power metal I've heard this year (barring Avantasia, of course). If this is all Sascha's doing, then I give him a lot of credit. He's written a darn good album.

There are really only two complaints I have. I've already voiced one, so let me address the other one here; this album sounds like a Sascha Paeth production. I know, that doesn't sound surprising at all. What I'm saying is that between the guitar playing, the tone, and the level of polish, the instrumental portions of this record could just as easily be the next Avantasia album. This album that is supposed to be an expression of Sascha sounds just like everything else that comes out of his studio. That shows me a lack of versatility as a producer if he's made every record sound like him, rather than the bands he's producing.

Let me be clear, though; the nits I'm picking don't outweigh the good the album does. Not even close. "Signs Of Wings" is damn good power metal, and there's a lot to like about it.

Album Review: Cold - The Things We Can't Stop

We currently live in a time of nostalgia. It seems that everywhere you look, in every medium, the dominant theme is a regurgitation of the past. We are constantly looking for the next reminder of a time before we weren't mentally fried just getting through each day. We've reached the point where just about anything that can be brought back to life, or rebooted, is waiting in the pipeline, if it hasn't already been given to us. That includes our little musical world, where bands that no one missed are coming back in an almost constant stream, not letting the future develop. There's an invisible hand pulling us back, not letting us remember that the past sucked just as much as today does.

With that being said, welcome back Cold, the 90s/00s rock band that no one remembers, and no one wanted to crawl out from under whatever rock they have been under. Add this to the fact that Puddle Of Mudd's career has received an injection of Narcan, and it's getting a bit claustrophobic in here. As bad as mainstream rock is now, all our problems started with the era that Cold came from, so forgive me if I don't give a damn that they're back together.

The pretentious SW gives unto us a record that doesn't remind us as much of the 'classic' Cold sound as I assumed, but instead gives us a drum-heavy production that has absolutely no energy to it whatsoever. I suppose this still qualifies as a rock record, but it's extremely turgid and dour, what the Gin Blossoms "New Miserable Experience" would have been, if they weren't being facetious. I've said this before, but while it's a good thing that artists have an outlet for their pain, there's a lot of that stuff I don't want to hear, and I don't want to let into my own life. This Cold record fits that bill.

I couldn't stop myself from laughing when the press release talks about the "uplifting spirit" of the music. That would be one of the very last things I would ever say about these songs. My mood got worse and worse as it played. Come to think of it, maybe that meant SW's spirit would be lifted by making the rest of us feel terrible. Schaudenfraude, anyone?

Cold falls into the same category as several other records recently; they aren't a damn bit of fun to listen to. Tool's record is a drawn-out, ambient, tuneless wreck. Taylor Swift's album was pop music so somber it played into her image as an ice-queen. Cold is also... cold, but in an even weirder way. What is rock music if it doesn't rock? The answer is Cold, apparently. Yes, there are guitars scattered throughout this record, but they serve as washes of noise in the background. They never add any energy, or riffs, or anything that couldn't be achieved with a synth-pad. That's what my problem is here, more than anything. This is 'rock' music that sounds to me like it was written as electronic/synth music, and only given a bit of rock gloss in the studio for the sake of sounding more like the band's old days.

So there's the skinny on Cold; "The Things We Can't Stop" is slow, depressing, and a perfect illustration that nostalgia is a fool's vision. Since I have none for Cold, I can see them clearly, and what I see isn't pretty.

Album Review: Sinner - Santa Muerte

Sinner has always been a boring band to me. I've listened to a few of their albums, and I've never come away impressed by anything I heard. They are the very definition of 'meat and potatoes', which isn't a bad thing, but it is rather bland. So it's a bit weird that after so many years, and so many albums, the band went and did something many people would call a gimmick; added a female singer alongside Mat Sinner. I'm not sure I buy the explanation that he was so blown away by her that he needed to add her to his band. Scrapping a group's identity after decades isn't something you do on a whim. And when you factor in there are also guest vocals from Ricky Warwick and Ronnie Romero, this whole thing starts to feel awfully contrived.

I'm also a bit uneasy about a German man putting out an album called "Santa Muerte", featuring a song called "Fiesta Y Copas", which includes some lyrics in Spanish. It could all be genuine, but it also has the appearance of cultural appropriation. Since his last album was titled "Tequila", maybe he's drank so much of the stuff he thinks he's part of that culture. I don't know, but I wish he would have found a different route to go down.

What I find weird about this record is how it's put together. Now that the group has a second vocalist, I was expecting Mat and Giorgia to share duties within each song, sort of like the Kiske/Somerville albums Mat had a part in putting together. Rather than that, however, the entire first half of the record is essentially divided up with one singing lead, and the other barely there. It doesn't make any sense to me.

When they do share vocals on "Last Exit To Hell", it makes for a far more interesting sound than the standard Sinner approach. There's more layers and nuance as their voices trade off then blend. That's what I wanted to hear, and we aren't given enough of it for my liking. Sinner finally finds something that works, and they ignore it until the last third of the album. Actually, Mat does exactly that on "What Went Wrong", but it's with Ricky Warwick. Again, why?

So why am I talking so much about the singers and their roles? Mainly because there isn't much to talk about when it comes to the songs. They are standard Sinner fare, which means they are basic hard rock that we've all heard a thousand times before. This time, there's a bit more Black Star Riders vibe with the guitar harmonies (I wonder just how much time Mat spent with Ricky, and whether there's more to the story than a guest vocal), but the entire Black Star Riders deal is aping the Thin Lizzy legacy, so it's still rather trite.

I have to say "Santa Muerte" is a frustrating album. Nothing about it feels like the work of a band with an identity. On a fundamental level, I don't understand what was going through Mat's mind when he constructed an album that is so inconsistent on a vocal level. Maybe he was tired of doing the same thing again and again, but there had to be a better way of doing something new than this. "Santa Muerte" doesn't hold together even if the songs were better, so it's hard to say this is worth listening to. I would say just track down the song "Misty Mountain", and ignore the rest.

Album Review: Year Of The Goat - Novis Orbis Terrarum Ordinis

Almost every time I've reviewed a band that is either retro, or 'occult', I wind up saying the same thing; they manage to find a nifty sound, but the music is rather lackluster. There are exceptions to that rule, and Year Of The Goat is one of them. Their previous album, "The Unspeakable", is one I wasn't going to listen to. I saw the band's name, and the description, and it sounded like another album destined for the discard pile. But for whatever reason, I gave it a shot, and it turned out to be a legitimately great album. The music was retro, and it was occult, but it was also the kind of sticky songwriting that makes Satan look like the winner in a musical battle versus God. I love that album, and now that it's time for a follow-up, I'm considering this record to be one of the most anticipated of the entire (stacked) fall release schedule.

We were given two teasers, in the form of "Avataritia" and "Superbia", two very different tracks that highlight the yin and yang of the record. The former was a super-catchy track that falls right in line with the band's candlelit sing-alongs. It picks up right where the last record ended. The latter, though, was something less immediate, something a bit more subtle. There were hints of Graveyard, one of my favorite bands, in that one. It needed time to grow on me, but once it did, it opened up new possibilities for Year Of The Goat.

The band inverts the structure this time, choosing to close the album with a ten-plus minute epic rather than open with one. That gets the album off to a faster start, the band not needing long to set the tone for what's to come. "Subortus" gets things off to a rollicking start, with an off-kilter groovy riff, and the band's trademark haunting backing vocals on the hook. When I think of what good occult rock features, those kinds of ethereal harmonies are at or near the top of the list, and Year Of The Goat nail them.

This time around, the sound is a bit lighter and more open, more 60s rock n' roll than 70s hard rock. That gives the band a bit more room to play around with the sinister atmosphere, and lets the record sound upbeat. It's a nice little detail that not only separates this record from "The Unspeakable", but adds versatility to the songwriting. There are a few new (left hand) paths taken, and they might not have been possible if the production was a bit heavier and louder.

With those harmonies, "Luxuria" sounds almost like a Satanic version of CSNY, which is exactly the kind of oddball combination that I find fascinating. There's a subversive nature to this music, where the darkness is wrapped up with pop songwriting of the 60s persuasion. It's not what you would expect, and it's all the better for how it twists our ideas of what we're supposed to be hearing. It also helps that it's great.

Listening to Year Of The Goat, I feel entirely justified in how hard I come down on retro/vintage rock bands. I love the sonic style, and I want to like more of the bands trading in it, but they can't write songs to save their lives. Year Of The Goat, however, put out sticky, memorable songs like it's nothing. Sure, their image is that of the occult, but at their heart this is a classic rock record, but with more hooks and melodies than almost anything from the old days. It's the same appeal I find in Graveyard, although this is even more melodic. Frankly, it's about as perfect an illustration of how to do classic rock as you're going to find.

The only thing left unsaid is whether or not they have improved on "The Unspeakable". That's a tough question, and one I'm going to leave unanswered for now. I'd prefer to focus on the fact that "Novis Orbis Terrarum Ordinis" is a fantastic record, and a definite contender to be on the short list of the best records of the year so far.