EP Review: Creeper - American Noir

Last year, Creeper released a whirlwind of an album called "Sex, Death, & The infinite Void", which ventured back into rock history to pluck bits and pieces from inspirations to build a dramatic world that was a load of fun. A mixture of "Bat Out Of Hell" and "Born To Run", Creeper was trying something new and something daring, when they could have made a sophomore album that hit all the same points as their debut and made people happy. They wanted to show they are artists, and that's what the album was all about.

Part of making a conceptual album is setting the scene and telling the story, so every song needs to serve those purposes. For Creeper, that meant there were songs from those sessions that didn't quite do that, and they are what make up this new EP. And as soon as they teased this release, it became very clear how committed they are to their art.

Why? Because the lead single here, "Midnight", is bloody fantastic. Sure, it cribs a fair amount from Springsteen's "Because The Night", but that was sort of the point of this whole chapter. Remember, "Thorns Of Love" pulled more than a little from "Bat Out Of Hell", after all. The point I'm making is that "Midnight" is such a good song, you wouldn't think it could have been left off the album, since it would have made that good record even better. Yet here we sit, and this is the reality we face. At least we're getting to hear it now.

Likewise, "Ghosts Over Calvary" is a rollicking tune with the same Springsteen feeling, but vocals from Hannah that completely belie the lyrics saying "I've got evil running through my veins." It isn't a dark and devilish song, but rather the sort of disguise he wears when trying to temp you over to his side. This song might just do that.

On the other hand, this is clearly an EP of parts left on the cutting room floor, and not a fully fleshed out work of art. We get three segue pieces that pad the running time without adding much, and two songs that were left off the main album for obvious reasons. "America At Midnight" is fairly drawn out and boring for only being three minutes long, while "One Of Us" is repetitive and builds to nothing. They fill time on an EP that only lasts 19 minutes, which is one of the worst things I can say.

So really, what we have here is a great two song single that's stretched out to an EP. Do yourself a favor and listen to "Midnight" and "Ghosts Over Calvary", because they're Creeper doing what they do so well. You can forget the rest of the EP exists, because it doesn't need to. It's merely an excuse to release two more songs that, if I'm being honest, should have been on "Sex, Death, & The Infinite Void". Who knows how high that record could have climbed with them included.

I wish I got the chance to find out.

Singles Roundup: Anette Olzon, Eclipse, Yours Truly, & Iron Maiden

It's once again time to take a break from the flow of albums to talk about a few singles, because there's some interesting developments in there to dissect.

Anette Olzon – Parasite/Strong

We'll start out with a two-fer. Anette Olzon has had a marvelous renaissance, and she was part of my #2 album last year (should have been third, in hindsight - sorry Taylor Swift). Her upcoming album sees her teaming up with Magnus Karlsson again for what should be a no-brainer win for me. And yet, these two singles aren't hitting the same level as the best songs on that Allen/Olzon record. These songs are good, and it's always nice to hear Anette, but I was expecting even more. Maybe this is an illustration of creative burnout in action.

Eclipse - Bite The Bullet

I've been saying for years that Eclipse is the least interesting of Erik Martensson's projects to me, and this new single is making me more nervous than ever for the new album. I didn't like the song about partying they put out, but I coudl write that off as a novelty. This is a serious song, and it's the worst Eclipse song I've ever heard. It's heavy for them, sure, but it has almost no chorus at all to it. There isn't a catchy melody anywhere, and it doesn't sound like melodic rock whatsoever. It's just not good.

Yours Truly – Walk Over My Grave

Since "Self Care" was my Album Of The Year, I think we can safely say a new Yours Truly song is a big deal. That being said, this is an odd one. The band is obviously trying for a different vibe here, and I appreciate that. However, that vibe doesn't come along with a song as buoyant and catchy as anything they've done before (let's not forget their great EPs). There's a bit more energy, maybe angst even, but I don't get the cathartic release out of it. The darkness is seeping in a bit too much for my taste.

Iron Maiden – Writing On The Wall

I already have my issues with the new Iron Maiden album, even though it was just announced. I'll save that for later, but this song gives me both hope and concern to talk about. The hope comes in the form that this song grew on me, and it's a solid single that does what it's supposed to. It does sound more like it should be on a Bruce Dickinson solo album, but that's not an issue. It's a far better single than "Speed Of Light" was, or even "The Final Frontier". My concern is how it sounds. Kivin Shirley's productions are always dry, which not everyone likes, and that reveals Bruce sounding rough. His voice isn't what it was, and he either didn't make an adjustment to fit what he's best at today, or everyone decided to present the band as they are, warts and all. That's a mistake.

Album Review: Dee Snider - Leave A Scar

For anyone who wasn't listening to metal in the 80s, Dee Snider's career is one that was seen in retrospect, where he was more known to many of us as a voice-over narrator, or a guest on "Counting Cars". Twisted Sister has always existed in the background, where "We're Not Gonna Take It" is one of those anthems I really never want to hear again, but Dee as a contemporary metal artist has always seemed like a thing of the past. That was until Jamey Jasta wrote an album for Dee, which not only welcomed him back to the scene, but was so successful it quickly spawned a sequel. With the same team in tow, the attitude about not fixing what ain't broke carries the day through this album.

The thing about the music Jasta gives Dee is that it's modern, no frills heavy metal. You get a couple of riffs, Dee's voice, and that's all you really need. These aren't complicated songs, nor are they trying to elevate metal above the meat-and-potatoes set that pleases the masses. There's nothing wrong with that, assuming it's done well enough.

The album opens with "I Gotta Rock (Again)", which runs through all the tired cliches of heavy metal. It smacks headlong into the problem countless songs have over the decades; if you're telling me how much you rock, it sounds like you're trying to convince yourself. If you really do rock, the music will prove it without you having to tell me.

As the record unfolds from there, the songs follow a familiar pattern of hitting hard out of the gate, and building to choruses that are either gang chants, or weak melodies. I can tell Jasta wants to give Dee anthemic songs to sing, but none of these melodies ever reach close to those heights. The music itself is aiming to be too heavy for that, and it has never been a strong suit of Jasta's songwriting anyway. So instead of Dee having metal anthems for a new generation, these songs are blank canvases for his vocal charisma. He does have that, but I need more in the songs to pull me in.

This is where we get to the point of contention. "Leave A Scar" is, like its predecessor, a fine album of basic heavy metal. It delivers exactly what it intends to, and it will satisfy the audience. I just have a hard time believing that this same album, if it was put out by someone without a legendary pedigree, would receive a fraction of the praise it is going to get. I can practically guarantee there will be multiple critics saying this is one of the best metal albums of the year, and there's no way I can be honest and say the same thing. It's good, but it's very much an 'in the moment' album.

With the grinding guitar tone, and the pushed tempos, the songs hit and hit and hit, without giving us much time to breathe. The record lacks some dynamics, which makes everything sound a bit too one-note, and that dampens the impact of the best songs. "Before I Go" is a really good song, but being surrounded by two other songs that hit the exact same relentless points, it gets buried when it should be highlighted.

"Leave A Scar" is an intentionally basic and simple album. It serves that purpose well, and Dee sounds far better than just about any other singer his age would with material this heavy. He is rather timeless, but the songs aren't. We get a couple of great songs, with "S.H.E." standing out as the most radio-friendly and memorable one here, but the majority of the record is the kind of headbanging stuff where you're at it so hard you don't really pay attention to what the music is.

The album's title is "Leave A Scar", but it doesn't leave enough of an impact on me. It's fun to listen to, but it's a closed fist trying to grab you by the throat. That's never quite going to work.

Album Review: Resurrection Kings - Skygazer

I might be a bit of an odd duck on this, but my favorite Dio albums feature Craig Goldy. It's not that I don't think "Holy Diver" is great, but I have long thought "Dream Evil" is my favorite Dio album of them all, and I have a soft spot for "Master Of The Moon" as a hugely underrated gem, and the best thing Dio did in his later years (I don't get the love for "Magica", which bores me). That being said, I have never heard Goldy do anything outside of his Dio work that interest me in the slightest.

That includes Resurrection Kings, his version of the Dio continuation bands. Like the other band, Last In Line, Goldy's version is a pale imitation of Dio that proves what I always knew; the appeal of Dio was almost entirely Dio himself. Without his charisma, neither Vivian Campbell, Craig Goldy, or Doug Aldritch either, make music that I've ever thought is beyond 'meh'.

Nothing says 'meh' quite like leading off the album with a song called "Skygazer", which only draws the comparison to "Stargazer", and no one is ever going to win that battle. Chas West can't match Ronnie, and he sounds totally strained trying to belt like that, and the song itself lacks any of the epicness or mystical flair that would elevate it. It's an inflated, average song. That's the thing about a lot of bands like this, where 'names' from old bands get put together without much attention being paid to the fact that none of these people were ever the key songwriters, so they don't have the skills to make a great record.

Goldy plays guitar in a simple style, which puts most of the spotlight on the vocalist. That was fine when working with a larger-than-life presence like Dio, but Chas doesn't have the vocal power, charisma, or melodic writing chops to turn these songs into something compelling. They largely feel like they are missing the spark to elevate them. I won't say they sound like demos that would be brought into the studio before a producer polishes them, but they clearly aren't in the same league with any of the records the players made when they were working with Dio.

Albums like this are good reminders that songwriting is what trumps everything. Resurrection Kings features a lineup of talented players, but without great songs to play, that means nothing. Not everyone who is talented with an instrument, or their voice, is also going to be a great songwriter, and far too many bands don't realize that until they've already made a record and put out a poor first impression. This is Resurrection Kings' second impression, and it isn't any better. After now hearing two records that offer only so much, it might be hard to justify giving them another chance.

The thing that does give me a bit of hope is probably not something they would like me to say. The softer material, like the ballad "Don't Blame Our Love', is the best of what they give us. When they try to get heavy, they are seriously outclassed. Chas is trying too hard, and Goldy's guitar tone can't handle it, but their slightly more AOR songs could lead to something good in the future. I don't think they have any intention of going down that road, but if they did, I would be interested. If they want to continue living in Dio's shadow, they will continue to disappoint.

Album Review: Tantric - The Sum Of All Things

The theory that pop culture rides on roughly twenty year cycles is proving to be true, as nu-metal has been rearing its head for the first time in many a year, right on schedule. That includes the reappearance of several of the quickly forgotten bands that had one big hit before fading from memory. Trapt is around for the wrong reasons, but they are still getting attention. Puddle Of Mudd can somehow draw enough people to tour, Saliva was going to get back together until they realized they hate each other too much, and good ol' Tantric is back for their first album in a long time.

Their one hit, "Breakdown", was never one of my favorites of the time. If I'm being honest, when I saw the announcement of this album, for a second I thought it was Taproot, whose one big single I did actually like. My disappointment was not much, however, since hearing either of those bands at this stage isn't something I'm all that keen on.

Having mentioned that song, let's start with it, because a re-recorded version is available as a bonus track. The sound of the early 00s is completely dated, but even a recording so out of time is better than what we have here. This song makes it glaringly obvious, but the entire record is so poorly recorded and mixed that I don't quite know what to make of it. The sound is amateurish at best, and it pains me whenever I hear an album that sounds worse than what I have heard come out of a laptop in someone's bedroom. Production is a skill, but it's so available to so many people now that I don't think I can excuse records that sound this terrible. I'm sorry, but you can make a better record with software available for free.

It isn't just the guitars I'm referring to that sound bad. Hugo Ferreira's voice is rough in ways that sound painful. I suppose it could be an intentional vocal fry effect being put on almost every note, but it sounds more like a voice that is decaying before our eyes. It's hard to have much presence of charisma when it sounds like you're not able to get that hairball coughed up. Seriously, listen to the first line of "Can't Find This", where Hugo is singing over a lone piano, and tell me there aren't hints of Cookie Monster in his warble.

And it's a shame that they can't provide a polished product, because their songwriting is solid. A lot of the bands from that time get a bad wrap for their quality, and a lot of that is well deserved, but this album makes a solid case for Tantric deserving a second shot at the mainstream of rock. It is still a product of the time Tantric was born from, but that actually sounds fresh given how little the genre has evolved since then.

So what it comes down to is this; Tantric have given those of us who still remember their heyday a nice reminder of the better aspects of that time, but have presented it in a way that sounds like the demos for a proper album. That does diminish the appeal, because the record's production does make it less enjoyable to listen to. I wasn't in the studio, so I don't know what Hugo is capable of, but these performances need more work to be at the standard of a professional sounding band.

They say you can't judge a book by its cover, but in this case you can. Listen to Tantric cover their own big hit and ask yourself if it sounds good enough. That was easy for me to answer, and it's why the conclusion I come to is this; "The Sum Of All Things" would be a good record if Mark Lanegan was singing it, rather than this poor imitation of his style. As it is, I'm not going to be excited to revisit the sound of this record, even for the good songs, which are definitely there.

Album Review: Powerwolf - Call Of The Wild

The way more people talk about bands, there's a certain point where we get tired of what they do, and nothing that comes after can compare to the music we consider 'classic'. That's often of our own doing, as there are several instances where I have come into a band's catalog later on, and I can't see why the early material is the classic stuff, and the later is considered inferior. Basically, there is often a limit on how much music we can appreciate from the same band playing the same style, and it's not their fault we are more attached to the first few that we heard.

When it comes to Powerwolf, I was not there at the beginning, or I should say I was not a big fan back then. I heard their music, but it wasn't fully meshing with where I was at the time, so I didn't have any lingering affection for something past when "Blessed & Possessed" came out with its slightly more streamlined sound. That album, and "The Sacrament Of Sin", are to me Powerwolf taking their style to the next level. They have mastered what they do, and put out back-to-back albums of epic power metal.

So how do you keep the ball rolling when you are essentially doing the same thing time and again? The only way to do that is to keep writing great songs. The only reason people complain about AC/DC or Motorhead albums sounding the same is because they hit stretches where the albums started to lag, and something inferior you've already head is even more boring than something inferior that is at least new.

Powerwolf has mastered the art of grandiose power metal with rapid-fire melodies. It's a style that was unique to them, until Bloodbound decided to copy it this year. They did a fine job, but there's a reason one band is a copy, and one band is the original. Powerwolf's orchestrations sound richer and more authentic, Atilla's operatic bellowing is a Gothic call to the demons of the night, and their songs are just that little bit catchier.

"Faster Than The Flame" comes out of the gates with one of their best efforts in that mold, hitting hard and leaving a wolf shaped bruise. Follow that up with the two singles we have already heard, and the album is off to a fast start. That only slows when we hit "Alive Or Undead", the trademark ballad. For a band that is so good at the hard and fast stuff, Powerwolf's sound translates to ballads just as well. This one isn't as good as "Let Their Be Light" or "Where The Wild Wolves Have Gone", but the added space and dynamics it gives the record is absolutely necessary.

"Blood For Blood" finds the wolves taking a trip over to Ireland, as a Celtic influence is definitely felt. It's a new wrinkle, and it makes me wonder if St Patrick would be able to lead werewolves off the island the way he did the rats. That's missing the point, I know.

If you've heard the recent Powerwolf albums, you know what "Call Of The Wild" is going to deliver. The band hasn't changed up what they do, and there isn't any reason to do so. They are the best at what they do, and this album shows they haven't run out of songs yet. I think I still prefer the previous two albums a bit more than this one, but that's a minor nit to pick. Powerwolf has been as good as power metal gets for years, and that's still where they reside.

Twenty-Five Years Marching In The "Lemon Parade"

"Open up your eyes, don't let you mind tell the story here."

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of "Lemon Parade", it is my mind telling the story. Twenty-five years of memories, accelerating with each new calendar. I feel like my eyes have opened from a brief nap, and yet five years have passed since the last time I sat down to contemplate my thoughts on the record. That anniversary saw Tonic gift us with their acoustic version of the album. After twenty years, it was remarkable to be able to hear a record I was so familiar with in a new light. Stripped of the post-grunge guitar haze, and letting the resonance of the strings fill the sonic space, a statement was made for how timeless great songs can be. Playing a song on an acoustic guitar can be a daring endeavor, because there is nothing to hide your shortcomings behind.

Five years on, my thoughts regarding "Lemon Parade" have not changed. I still list it as my favorite album of all time, but the way I think about the album has shifted more from the present to the past. With the amount of new music released every year, I don't get to listen to every favorite from the past as much as I might like to, and when I do want to listen to Tonic, I have found myself gravitating towards "Head On Straight" as the more easily replayable album.

That is perhaps because "Lemon Parade" is an album that is quite timeless, but also entirely of its time. Listening to it today, the haze that sits over the guitar distortion could have only come from the post-grunge era. Tonic's songwriting was always classic rock at its core, but the record does not sound like an album from the 70s. At least in terms of production it doesn't. The songs themselves are entirely classic, and presented with a diversity of sound, structure, and approach that fits the mold of historic records like "Led Zeppelin IV". It takes a deft touch to make the hard hitting two-note riff of "Casual Affair" sit alongside a delicate ballad like "Mr. Golden Deal". Diverse records don't always sound cohesive, in part because songwriters are not always able to adapt their voice to more than one niche.

In recent years, I have often found myself saying that Graveyard's first three albums are the best run of pure rock and roll of the last fifteen years. They took the foundational blocks of classic rock, and updated them for a new era and a new audience. It struck me recently that the reason I love those records is the same reason I love "Lemon Parade". Both gave me a taste of a time I was not alive for, nor can quite understand looking back at them from the present day. But listening to their music, I can feel the tingle of excitement that must have filled the grooves of every new vinyl put on the turn-table. It was an exciting time as rock was evolving into what it would eventually become, and it's something that can't be replicated anymore. Rock is largely stagnant, because the bands of today have a narrower set of influences, most of whom are the original rock bands, so the focus continues to grow ever narrower.

"Lemon Parade" opened my ears to a world of new possibilities. More than just introducing me to who has endured for twenty years as my favorite band, this album was the first step in my journey to becoming a rocker. That fact only dawned on me recently, as compiling lists of old favorite songs reminded me I was in a very different place in the years leading up to hearing "If You Could Only See". The shift in my taste was obvious in the songs from before and after that time, which I never realized as it was happening.

Tonic has always been important to me, not just because of how much I loved the music, but because it was the strumming guitar as Emerson sang the opening line of their biggest hit, and the drive of the riff in "You Wanted More", that made me want to pick up an instrument. While there are other influences that have contributed as much to my songwriting, Tonic is the reason I am a musician. In these last five years, I have come to realize I would not be the same person if it wasn't for "Lemon Parade". So much of my own identity is wrapped up in being a creative soul, I'm not sure what I would be without that. It all started with a pen being put to paper, imagining the sound of chords I didn't yet know how to play. I am who I am because I have outlets to say things that are hard to explain.

There are inflection points in every life where we are pointed in directions, whether we know it or not. For me, "Lemon Parade" is one of the markers of a turn, and I'm still learning where that road will take me. All I know for sure is twenty-five years later, I am still traveling in the same direction, and I still have the same songs running through my mind.

Album Review: Velvet Insane - Rock N Roll Glitter Suit

Language is a bit of an odd thing, when you think about it. We create systems to express the thoughts we have in our heads, but many of them are incapable of being boiled down into shared verbiage, so we struggle to truly understand what each other think and feels. And then there are the particular psychological quirks that allow us to do things like read words written backwards, or written without vowels, and the like. In the case of Velvet Insane, when I saw this album, my mind somehow saw the title of the record as "Rock N Roll Gutter Slut", which would totally fit with a sleazy glam rock record, but would have rubbed me the wrong way. I wonder if anyone who worked on this record, at any point, had the same thing happen to them.

As I just mentioned, Velvet Insane is a throwback to 70s glam rock. They have a fun atmosphere, pianos often popping up in the background, and a lot of effort being put into making the choruses hooky as all getout. As "Backstreet Liberace" played, there was an immediate comparison that came to my mind. What we get from Velvet Insane isn't far removed from a softer, less gritty and punky version of Michael Monroe's last two solo albums. We even get some saxophone to drive the point home. Considering how much I loved those two records, that comparison can only be a good thing.

"Backstreet Liberace" is a fantastic song. It's quirky, catchy, and the sort of thing that just makes me feel good. Not all music has charm, but this song certainly does. People will say that Andrew WK is the sound of party rock, but let's be honest; do we really want to be at a party where it's high energy all the time? That would wear me out way too fast, so something more laid back like Velvet Insane is actually much easier to have a good time with.

When we get to "Riding The Skyways", we not only get a song that rocks a little harder, but the chorus is addictive. Even the section of "na na" vocals works to drive home the collective experience we're being invited into. While a lot of rock records are busy trying to show off, whether that's how heavy or how over the top they can be, Velvet Insane is making a much smaller and more restrained record. It's all the better for that approach.

The only real drawback to the record is "Space Age DJ", which isn't their best song, and the lyrics name-checking old rock bands is a poor cliche at this point, one that also points out how bands like Velvet Insane are always going to be in the shadow of the bands they love, since we won't let the classics fade away. Plus, the shot at Lady Gaga is so out of place considering everything else about the record. It wasn't necessary, and frankly, it's weak sauce for a tiny little band that isn't even rocking that hard to be calling out one of the biggest artists in the world, especially when they aren't even in the same relative area of the music world.

That one mistake aside, the rest of "Rock N Roll Glitter Suit" is a fun record that makes for a nice lazy summer day soundtrack. These songs have charm, and while there isn't much being done to move things forward, that's fine. I enjoyed my time listening to the record, and wouldn't mind more rock bands having a good time.

Album Review: The Wallflowers - Exit Wounds

There are two types of long-running bands; those who keep making music that is in the spirit of their best work, and those who try to update their sound for the times. When it comes to a band that already sounded a bit timeless, taking the latter approach is not what I would recommend. Such was the case for The Wallflowers, who took a break after a marvelous four album run, when "Rebel, Sweetheart" failed to stop the band's slide on the charts, despite its greatness. When they returned years later, it was with "Glad All Over", which found the band leaving behind much of their classic and rootsy rock, in favor of a few more rhythm-centric songs that felt to me like the band trying to jump on the trends of rock at the time. It didn't work, and I haven't listened to that record since its release.

Coming back again after so many years, we are left to wonder what Jakob Dylan has cooked up in his mind. The Wallflowers are a rock band, but he took a solo venture into folk territory, and the amount of time The Wallflowers has spent dormant indicated to me where his heart truly was. I wasn't sure he could go back to where the band needs him, if they are going to remain The Wallflowers as I know them.

After listening to the album, Jakob Dylan took the easy way out; he married his two musical outlets into one. "Exit Wounds" is a stronger rock record than "Glad All Over" ever was, but the structure of his songwriting is firmly rooted in his folk solo records, and not the classic American rock of an album like "Breach". We get songs with circular folds of melody to envelop his poetry, but not the big hooks and strong choruses that "One Headlight", "Sleepwalker", or "How Good It Can Get" once gave us. Whether you want to consider it a toned down take on the classic Wallflowers sound, or a ramped up take on his solo albums, the result is the same.

Leading off with "Maybe Your Heart's Not In It No More", we get an example of what this means. On first blush, it sounds like a classic Wallflowers song. The instrumentation hits the right marks, with some weeping guitar and a lush arrangement. It's once the second verse begins that we notice the way Dylan is writing songs; verse after verse with the 'chorus' to the song coming later, and giving no extra punch to the dynamics. It's too laid back, and doesn't stand out from the verses enough to be the obvious focal point of the song.

That's still better than "Who's That Man Walkin 'Round My Garden", which is three minutes of repetitive songwriting that goes for a "Murder 101" vibe, but sounds confused and lost on how to get there. It's one of the least engaging Wallflowers songs, and it was made a single before the release, which indicates Dylan was proud of that song. I can't figure out why.

The theme of the record is mood. These songs all establish a roosty sound, and are happy to settle into a loping groove around the sharp-toned lead guitars, but energy is needed. The album is laconic all-around, from the pacing, to the melodies, to Dylan's singing. It sounds like a Wallflowers albums, to be sure, but it's like a watercolor that has been left out in the sun, the paint thinning and revealing streaks of the canvas below. It's an album that knows the marks to hit, but takes the steps without any of the grace or style of a proper dancer.

I'll be honest here; I'm expressing more disappointment than might otherwise be fair. If this record came out with another name on it, I would be saying how it's a perfectly enjoyable throwback to classic American rock. The problem is that this is The Wallflowers, and I have spent the last twenty years loving their music. When "Breach" is one of my five favorite records of all time, and the other three from their classic period (we'll ignore the flat debut, thank you very much) are all beloved by me, a record like this one that is merely 'pleasant' is a disappointment. We haven't gotten a record in nine years, and it's been sixteen years since the last good one, so I was expecting an enthusiasm for reviving the band that bristled throughout the album.

We didn't get that. The difference between this album and "Women & Country" isn't that great in their approach, if not in sound, and even that record felt like a watered-down Wallflowers. I'm left scratching my head at why this is a Wallflowers record and not a Jakob Dylan solo album, because that's what it sounds more like to me. It's actually very good in that context, with songs like "I'll Let You Down (But Will Not Give You Up)" growing into a wonderful little number, but this was supposed to be a highlight of the year. The Wallflowers returning to being a real rock band has been more than a decade in the making, and time seems to have escaped the band.

That leaves me in a position where I am trying to wall myself off from reality. If I think of "Exit Wounds" as a Jakob Dylan album, I enjoy it quite a bit. There's something distinctive about his voice and his songwriting that I've missed, and that comes through these songs. The more I listen to the record, the more it reveals to me. It's quite a fine record that I am more than happy to spend some time with. But it's hard to shake expectations, even if they are a psychological affectation akin to wearing tinted lenses and wondering why the landscape looks weird. My expectations for The Wallflowers are higher than this, so even a good and enjoyable record still falls short of where I put the bar.

That being said, I'm still happy to have The Wallflowers back, and I'm thrilled that "Exit Wounds" is not a mortal one.

Album Review: Inner Stream - Stain The Sea

A sentence I didn't want to write, but knew I would have to, is this; 2021 continues the resurgence of nu-metal. The cyclical nature of music has reared its head again, and nu-metal is seeing its influence once again rise. It wasn't that long ago a new band like Inner Stream would have done anything they could to avoid having that label thrown at them, but now they chose to put that bit of information in their own press release hyping up this album. I lived through that time once, and I'm not really interested in doing it again.

I'm not entirely sure why they decided to make that declaration at all, to be honest. There are low-tuned guitars that occasionally play chugging riffs, but there is hardly enough nu-metal influence to be notable if they hadn't pointed it out. So does that mean they want to jump on the nu-metal bandwagon even if they don't belong there? That's a rather scary thought.

What this album is, to be more accurate, is a mildly adventurous melodic metal album built to feature Ines Vera Ortiz' vocals. What it most reminds me of is Amanda Somerville's Trillium project, where a slight bit of theatricality moves things a bit off-center. This record isn't as cookie-cutter as many, but it still suffers from the same problem; the songs aren't memorable enough. Inez is a capable singer, and the approach gives them enough of an identity, but only a couple of these eleven songs are capable of getting stuck in your head.

"Fair War" is one of them, and that's where you can see how this band can grow and develop into something really good. They have flair to how they play, and Inez has the right voice for the style. It's just a shame their songwriting can't hit those high marks more often. "Dance With Shades" joins the list of charming tracks making this album worth listening to, but then "Drown Me" follows with a heavier approach and a flat melody that doesn't do anything to make the song engaging. It's only four minutes, but it feels longer.

Songwriting is what separates the great bands from all the other musicians out there who are more than capable as players and singers. Songs are what make everything else possible, and there aren't enough great songwriters to fill out the number of bands and albums we encounter on a day to day basis. That's where Inner Stream finds themselves. They have the talent to be a solid band, but they need to develop their songwriting, or find people to work with who can bring out the best in them. Albums like this are commonplace, and won't leave any impact once the next thing comes along.

"Stain The Sea" is another pleasant album that will pass over the horizon in the middle of the ocean, disappearing into a vast nothingness.

Album Review: Hardline - Heart, Mind And Soul

Hardline keeps pumping out albums, but I almost wonder why. They don't have enough of a profile to generate a lot of interest in what they're doing, and they haven't been particularly active as a touring entity, so the music goes out to just the hardcore fans of the band. But that makes me wonder whether or not those fans want albums that are written by the label's in-house songwriter, and not by the classic Hardline lineup (again, I use words like that loosely, since Hardline is not 'classic' enough for me to have ever heard of them before this recent run of albums started).

The band has been stuck in an odd pattern in recent years, where they write half their songs to be riffy 80s rock songs, and half their songs to be more modern AOR. The latter influence is easily explained by who makes up the band now, but the two sides of their identity don't necessarily fit together. I get the sense they are trying to satisfy the old fans, while at the same time trying to fit in with what the melodic rock audience wants. Not commiting to one sound only serves to divide the albums in half, and disappoint both audiences some of the time.

This time around, they are more focused on going down the AOR route, but the results aren't quite what I had hoped for. There are a run of really good songs early on, with "Surrender", "If I Could I Would", and "Like That" all hitting the sweet spot of melodic goodness, capped off with Johnny Gioeli's gritty vocals. The album gets you to think they have finally figured all this out, and then you get "Heavenly" to bring things to a screeching halt. The ballad stretches almost seven minutes, and climaxes with a chorus of long, static notes. Sure, they showcase Gioeli's power as a singer, but they aren't satisfying as a melody. And with the song taking up so much time, the black mark is even larger.

The second half of the album isn't as strong as the first, but still has moments that are enjoyable. The biggest issue with the album is the same one that many other albums of this sort face; the same people are writing so many songs that none of the bands have an identity of their own. Other than Gioeli's voice, nothing separates Hardline from every other melodic rock band pulling songs off that same pile. Is that enough for a band to be unique enough to make an impact on listeners? Perhaps it will be for some, but it wasn't for me.

For the most part, I found myself enjoying this record, and perhaps more than the other recent efforts. Taken in an absolute vaccuum, "Heart, Mind And Soul" is a good melodic rock album that is a pleasant way to spend some time. But we don't live in a vaccuum, and I'm not going to pretend I don't think about these things in context. In that sense, Hardline does make the cut, but they aren't rising to the top. It's a fine album I won't complain about at all, but it will be in that second tier of records that never has a chance to be remembered as a great one. If you want something good, Hardline delivers. If you want something great, you'll have to wait.

Album Review: Laurenne/Louhimo - The Reckoning

In recent years, I'm not sure any vocalist has caught my attention as being the next 'wow' voice the way Noora Louhimo has. Between her work with Battle Beast and all the guest appearances she has done, she has made a name for herself as one of the best voices out there on the scene. If you recall, I was incredibly impressed by her prowess on her first solo album earlier this year. For this album, we get an album tailored for what I want to hear; Noora paired up with Smackbound singer Netta Laurenne, who also impressed me with her voice, singing some heavy and melodic songs. Sounds perfect, right?

You wouldn't if you heard the first single, "Bitch Fire", which is just awful. It isn't melodic at all, and both women shriek as much as sing. It takes away the entire reason I want to listen to them sing; them singing! As a first impression, it drove down whatever expectations I had for this album. If it was going to be an accurate representation, we were going to have some trouble.

Thankfully, that song stands as an unfortunate one-off that annoys me, but can easily be skipped past. The remainder of the album puts Netta and Noora in melodic heavy metal where they should be able to shine. There is another slight problem we have to mention; the production of the album is a bit muffled, and despite all their power, the vocals can be a bit buried in the mix. Sure, it's a metal album and that means loud guitars, but the voices are the driving force of this album, so anything that distracts from them is a mistake. Netta, in particular, is hard to find in these mixes.

The title track showcases everything that's good about this project. It's got heaviness, a stomping attitude, and a chorus that has hints of 80s pop and melodic rock to serve as a huge hook for Noora's huge voice. It's that kind of catchy hard rock that gets your head bobbing, that you sing along with, but you won't ever mistake it for being pop music. It's perfect.

"Tongue Of Dirt" is as heavy as the album gets, with a chugging riff that borrows some of the tone and rhythm from bands like Soilwork, only to explode into a dramatic chorus that again elevates the song to a new level. Give great singers solid melodies, and they turn the songs into something special. These ladies have that power, and they showcase it often throughout the album. Speaking of special, the chorus on "Striking Like A Thunder", where the blend of their voices is easiest to hear, is pure magic. I said the same thing about last year's Allen/Olzon album when they blended their voices, and it's true here too. There is something about the way certain voices come together that no one singer could ever top on their own.

The ballad "Hurricane Love" is a beautiful vehicle for these ladies, while "To The Wall" and "Viper's Kiss" have big metallic hooks that are fist-raising. The longer the album plays, the more it has to offer. Repeated listens have the same trend, with these songs becoming even more engaging as you get to know them. "The Reckoning" is very close to being a shoo-in for my top ten list at the end of the year. Even with that one song I will pretend doesn't exist, a slightly cleaner mix would open the sound up even more, and it would make this one of my favorite heavy albums of the year. It's still a great showcase that delivers more than enough to be satisfying, but damn, if only that one flaw wasn't there.

The Direction Of Songwriting

Every song has its own story. That is true both of the message the song is trying to convey, as well as how the song came to be. Sometimes, the story of how a song was composed is more interesting than the song itself. As anyone who has endeavored in a creative field knows, pulling an idea from thin air and molding it into something amazing is a magical experience. It can't quite be explained, or replicated, but we continue on in search of the next great idea, because we have hit upon one before.

Recently, I was watching a record producer break down the song "Comfortably Numb", which included playing the demo where David Gilmour sings nonsense syllables to form the melody before the lyrics were ever written. After that, he explained how every musician he had ever talked to writes songs that same way. I don't doubt him, but it does make me wonder why that is.

Speaking from personal experience, I operate in the inverse. I write words and melodies first, before worrying about what will be played underneath them. At least one other songwriter told me they do the same thing. So why does it seem the majority follow the other formula?

I have a couple of theories for why that may be. 1)Most musicians don't care about lyrics. 2)Many songwriters consider themselves musicians first.

Let's look at the second of those theories first. Especially in the rock and metal genres (which is what this producer mainly talks about), songs are largely written by people who are not just instrumentalists, but playing in genres where 'the riff' and their technique is a big selling point in the music. Rock guitarists, if they want to achieve heightened stature, need to play flashy solos and complicated riffs. Being labelled 'basic' is an insult in many circles, so it makes sense to me those people would be inclined to give all their focus to the music first and foremost. They want to make sure they shine through whatever form the song ultimately takes, so they can at the very least be able to say they were the best member of an otherwise lousy band.

There is a subset to this theory, wherein the divide of songwriting between members of a band can also play a factor. If one person writes the music, and the singer writes the lyrics and melodies, they would have to write together at all times to avoid one side of the equation being given preference. For a player in a band who doesn't write the lyrics and melodies to the songs, they will often work on their own, where the music gets the sole focus of their attention. Ego may kick in here, wherein they wouldn't want to be told by a singer how to structure their song. Ego is always a problem.

The other theory is the lyrics simply don't matter to many musicians, singers included. While some part of a song does need to be written last, saving the words, the very message of the song, to be the final piece of the puzzle is a tacit admission that listeners aren't going to be paying much attention. They very well might be right. With the amount of music I hear in a given year, and with how few of those experiences come with a lyric sheet to draw from, many songs do have the poetry get lost along the way.

The wrinkle mentioned in this way of working, mentioned by the producer, is that a melody is formed phonetically, and words are filled in to match the sounds. This is where I begin to struggle with this approach to writing songs. When you are putting words in place because of their vowel sounds, there are unnecessary limitations on how the lyrics can impart the meaning. That isn't to say you can't be successful doing it this way, but it puts the meaning behind even the sound of the words in terms of importance, which indicates to me a lack of concern for what is being said.

In an idea scenario, both sides of a song would be written together, so they can inform each other where the song should go. That isn't always possible, and it has been made clear which side draws the short straw most often. For musicians, the music is usually the most important thing, because that is what they spend all their time writing, recording, and playing night after night on tour. The irony is that, for many (if not most) listeners, the music is the least important part of the song. The casual music listener will never be able to tell you the chord progression of a song, or what scale was used in an arpeggio, but they will remember the vocal melody. They will go to karaoke bars and sing those songs over and over again, but only a handful of guitar riffs that have ever been written will get anything close to that level of engagement.

There is a difference in philosophy regarding what we consider a song to be. For most people, and the history of copyright lawsuits in court, a song is defined by the melody. You can take a vocal melody and sing it over a hundred different chord progressions, and most people will tell you it's the same song. You can take the same guitar part and sing a hundred different melodies to it, and most people will tell you it's a hundred different songs.

Tacitly, we all seem to understand what parts of a song are key to making them endure with the listeners. We don't seem pop or rock artists naming their songs something along the lines of 'C Major Mixolydian Blues At 150 bpm'. No, we give it a title. We know titles are important, that the words do matter in a song expressing what it needs to. So why do so many songwriters save them for last?

Even after thinking about it, that's hard to answer.