Singles Roundup: Tony Iommi, Slash, Neal Morse, & Sailor Hunter

My thoughts might be starting to turn to what the end of the year means, but there are still new songs we need to talk about.

Tony Iommi & Jorn Lande – Stormwatcher

If the first single from Iommi's upcoming album sounded a bit too much like a Jorn solo song, this one brings us back to where I thought this collaboration would go. There was considerable criticism of "The Devil You Know" when that record came out, but I remain a defender of it. Many people in the metal scene confuse speed with quality, and if the music is on the slower side, they write it off as being plodding and boring. It can be, but that depends on whether the ideas have enough melodic content to them. Dio said toward the end of his life he preferred the slower songs, because they gave him more room to explore his vocal and story. That's actually true, if you think about song construction.

This song takes that to heart, slowing things down just a bit to one of Iommi's signature grooves. Jorn does his best Dio on this one, which sounds like it could have slotted right in with the rest of the Heaven & Hell era. Not only does it have the classic sound, but Jorn largely fits the Dio mold in being better with more room for his voice. When the chorus comes along, the song elevates in a way "World Alone" wasn't quite able to, and even more than a song like "Follow The Tears" did. It still retains hints of Jorn's solo career, but with the balance to sound like a true collaboration this time.

Iommi often plays to the strengths of the singer he is working with. "Fused" was great, but Glenn Hughes pushed his writing in a direction that was a bit faster and brighter. Jorn allows more of the doom to seep through, which is what lets this song hit as hard as it does. If "World Alone" left me cautiously optimistic, this song has me fully bought in that Iommi and Jorn can come closer to the Dio magic than I would have thought.

Slash – Flying Blind

I've said multiple times that the combination of Slash and Myles Kennedy is my favorite vehicle right now for either of them. I have no faith Guns N Roses could write a decent song at this point in their careers (we've talked about their attempts with new music - not good), and I've grown tired of the now massive pile of Alter Bridge/Tremonti/Myles Kennedy records that all traverse the same musical terrain. Slash and Myles are a different color for each of them, and even when the records are flawed, I find them far more engaging than the alternative.

Their next record is not due until early next year, but the first single is out, which fits right in with what I expect from them. Slash continues to find a cache of grimy blues riffs, and Myles wails another chorus that digs in from the very first time you hear it. Is the song anything different than "Driving Rain" or "The River Is Rising"? No, but I'm not one of those people who scoffs at more good songs if they don't happen to be breaking new ground. This song is Slash and Myles doing what they do best, and that's good enough for me.

The best thing about the song is the production, which cures the woes from the last album's live performances being too rough and ragged for my ears. The guitars don't buzz with the same uncomfortable frequencies, and Myles' vocals keep his shrillest tones to a minimum. "4" is the record I go back to the least, because of how brittle the entire thing sounds, but this track if nothing else is an indication they did not trip over their own feet this time.

Neal Morse & The Resonance – Walk On Water

Once again, we are in a year where Neal Morse will be part of multiple albums. After the stellar NMB album "L.I.F.T." (can I just say how much I hate having to type titles like that, especially when the acronym isn't even an acronym), Neal is back with his newest band The Resonance. Their first album didn't win me over, both because I had not come out of my Neal funk yet, but also because it didn't do anything Neal's other groups were not capable of. The only difference between most of them comes in who provides a few additional vocals, which isn't enough to make me excited.

But since Neal got me back this year, I paid attention to this song. The truth of the matter is... I'm still in the same boat. The song itself is fine, and actually quite good. The problem is that while Neal is engaging in his showman evangelist routine, everything feels like it's just another version of what NMB already did this year. The riffs, the lift in the chorus, it's all so trademark that the lack of time between records makes it all too apparent how many times I've heard this before. I loved it the first time, and the next, and so on, until I didn't anymore.

Maybe I would be more engaged if I wasn't still enthralled by "L.I.F.T.", but a second (and lesser) version in the same year is not what I was begging for.

Sailor Hunter – Your Ghost

Across the recent singles the band has released, what stands out to me is Dimitra's vocal dexterity, and the way the layers of her voice allow the songs to wander and explore sonic ground. Wherever the band is pulled, she can follow through. On this song, the band plays things maybe more straight-forward, which gives more of a spotlight for Dimitra's voice to tell the story. She does that with her soft crooning, her emotional lilt, and the punctuated rasps of her screams.

The band hits like a wall of sound, with the saturated guitars stretching across the speakers with blunt force. As they chug a rhythm that fits between groove and thrash, Dimitra pours her heart into the lyric about a person who is better being a ghost in her life, because having them around was killing her. Love is often like that, twisted in ways that play on our dependency, and leaving us feeling worse for having it. When she adds the grit to her voice to tell us there's no way out, her pain comes through and convinces us.

There is something special to that voice, and the way Dimitra uses it. It's hard to explain, but I've heard pieces of it in each of the songs the band has released with her. Those are moments to hold onto.