Category Archives: Album Reviews

Capsule reviews of albums

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM

Saxon – Rock N’ Roll Gypsies (Album Review)

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Saxon – Rock N’ Roll Gypsies (1989)

Saxon had lost their way with the dicey Destiny album. Dropped from EMI in 1988, they took a creative break. For the next couple of years their activity was restricted to touring and the release of a couple of live albums through one-off record deals. The first of these, recorded on a tour of Eastern Europe, was 1989’s Rock N’ Roll Gypsies.

The main historical interest is the new lineup: Nigel Glockler makes a welcome return to the drum stool and bassist Timothy ‘Nibbs’ Carter makes his Saxon debut. There’s no song duplication with their previous live album, 1982’s The Eagle Has Landed, and none of that album’s sweaty, beery atmosphere. But it kicks off very promisingly indeed. The band sound driving and ballsy and thunder through Power and the Glory, And the Bands Played On, Rock the Nations and a superb Dallas 1PM, only slipping up on a sleepy version of Broken Heroes. The next side kicks off with a rousing Battle Cry before things start to go pear-shaped. The patchiness of the band’s EMI years rears its ugly head as Rock N’ Roll Gypsy, Northern Lady and I Can’t Wait Anymore progressively suck more and more life out of the album: the excitement level dropping so low that the kinetic closer This Town Rocks barely registers.

CD editions add quality and value with bonus tracks The Eagle Has Landed and Just Let Me Rock but, all in all, Rock N’ Roll Gypsies is a solid but unremarkable live stop-gap. The lack of song duplication with The Eagle…  is a double-edged sword. It’s more collectable and interesting to hear different songs but the feel of a live Saxon show is hampered when there’s no Wheels of Steel or Strong Arm of the Law. And given the lack of concert classics, the omission of Crusader (one of the band’s most triumphant post-1982 songs) is unforgivable. Great performances, dodgy tracklisting. The faltering steps of a great band finding its feet again.

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

Saxon – Destiny (Album Review)

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Saxon - Destiny (1988) Even the logo was wrong!
Saxon – Destiny (1988) Even the logo was wrong!

Rock the Nations was an encouraging but not entirely convincing return to the classic Saxon sound. With EMI breathing down their necks, Saxon made a last-ditch bid for stardom with 1988`s Destiny. But it wasn’t meant to be.

Destiny was the first (and only) Saxon studio album to feature the new rhythm section of bassist Paul Johnson and drummer Nigel Durham. Saxon were at a low ebb in their confidence and creativity, papering over the cracks with all sorts of formulaic 80s pop rock moves and an over-egged pudding of a production. Uninspiring songs like I Can’t Wait Anymore, We Are Strong and Song For Emma rely on stock pop rock moves and limp anthemry. And more promising numbers like Calm Before the Storm and S.O.S. struggle under layers of keyboards and backing vocals.

Look at the nick of these guys.
Look at the nick of these guys.

However, the band recaptures some of their classic might with For Whom the Bell Tolls and Red Alert. More dynamic, riff-heavy and fully-realised, it’s telling that these tracks rely less on the production bells and whistles. The album’s one true classic and standout track is Ride Like the Wind, a driving and charismatic power ballad reinvention of the Christopher Cross tune. It’s a brilliant cover and a should-have-been hit. It’s the only Destiny-era tune to endure in the band’s career and live repertoire. But even then, it’s no Broken Heroes, Battle Cry or Crusader.

Overall, Destiny is likely to be too syrupy for many fans of traditional Saxon and, even judged on its own merits as an AOR album (against, say, Magnum’s Wings of Heaven), it’s unconvincing. In fact, it’s one of Saxon’s worst albums. As worst albums go, it’s not a total disaster. There’s good stuff here and in the right mood even some of the ropier tunes can connect. But the patchiness, dissipating credibility and perceived commercial desperation of Saxon’s EMI years came to a head here. Before long the band were dropped from EMI, had fired their management and were taking time out to rethink and recharge. It would take years for the one-time champions of NWOBHM to fully recover.

Mah copy
Mah copy
Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock

The Dictators – The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! (Album Review)

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Crazy
Crazy

Do you ever want to write about or review an album and just feel unequal to the task? I feel that way about The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! The New Yorkers’ 1975 debut album has got so much going on. It was a critical success and commercial failure and manages to be classic and overlooked at the same time.

I’m not really comfortable talking about its supposed punk influence either, given I’m not a big punk fan. This always just sounded like fun, back-to-basics rock n’ roll to me: Louie Louie riffs, The Who and The Beach Boys with teenage, street level attitude and a ton of pop culture references thrown in. It’s an album that I love but I’m reluctant to recommend. Especially if, like me, you came at this from a Manowar direction and want to hear where guitarist Ross the Boss started out. After hearing the lamentable cover of I Got You Babe and the silly Back to Africa you’re going to wonder what the hell is going on. (Anyone reading this for Manoreasons should probably check out The Dictators’ third album Bloodbrothers first. It’s quality muscle rock!)

But from the “let’s go” of the fourth track Master Race Rock on, this album is a veritable blast. Two Tub Man, (I Live For) Cars and Girls and Weekend all put such a joyous spring in your step that you wish every rock album was like this. It’s so quirky, arch and fresh. The occasional vocal interjections of “secret weapon” Handsome Dick Manitoba add to the fun too. The album’s second side is so perfect it makes you forget the first one ever happened.

And… Ross the Boss. Fingers and steel, baby! The man is a legend.

So, like I said. I’m not equal to the task of covering this great and weird album. But never mind… with my financial holdings I could be basking in the sun in Florida. This music-writing lark is just a hobby for me! Nothing, ya hear? A HOBBY!

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – Marching Out (Album Review)

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Check this shit!

Guitar magazines would have you believe that Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force was THE ONE, which is fair enough given its classic feats of guitar mastery like Black Star and Icarus Dream Suite Op. 4. Those are rightfully legendary instrumentals and justify the album’s status as a guitar classic. But Yngwie’s debut fell down a bit on the actual song front and the band’s stiff delivery of the vocal numbers. If you’re actually just wanting a fuck-off classic METAL record, follow-up Marching Out is the music of the Gods.

Guitar fanatics needn’t worry, there’s still plenty of heroic guitar acrobatics from Yngwie but the whole band ups their game here. Fleet-fingered keyboardist Jens Johansson gives God’s guitar teacher a right run for his money on the widdle front and the whole band is more driving, less ploddy than on the debut. But the star here is Jeff Scott Soto. He totally finds his voice on this. His passionate delivery on tracks like Soldier Without Faith and I Am a Viking is absolutely infectious. Try not to join in, tankard raised, with the chorus to Anguish and Fear. You can’t. Not if you’ve got blood in your veins. I am a Viking, I’ll walk all over you. Triumphant, warfaring power metal. That’s what I’m talking about!

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

W.A.S.P. – Inside the Electric Circus (Album Review)

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The animals are all insane... and badly dressed. God help us.
The animals are all insane… and badly dressed. God help us.

Normally I would base a review of an album on more than three listens but after listening to W.A.S.P’s Inside the Electric Circus that many times this week, I’ve heard enough. The first three proper tracks on it (the title track, I Don’t Need No Doctor and 95-N.A.S.T.Y.) are the only ones worth writing home about. Fantastic howling, raunchy metal that makes you feel like this could be one of the most fun metal albums ever. The problem is, the rest of this album is mundane. It doesn’t do anything wrong exactly: this is no “hope you like our new direction” misfire. I love what W.A.S.P. did with their first two albums and this continues in that vein but it’s the sound of a band on autopilot. W.A.S.P. knew it too. After the supporting tour and live album (guess which songs from this made it onto that?) they changed tack, releasing the more serious and ambitious The Headless Children. If further proof of Inside the Electric Circus‘ mediocrity is needed: that cover. If you paid money to see an “Electric Circus” and got a dude in a cage wearing a tiger-print leotard and fake claws… you’d ask for a refund. Demand better.

Album Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, Genre, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal

Obscene Entity – Lamentia (Album Review)

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Obscene Entity - Lamentia (2015)
Obscene Entity – Lamentia (2015)

As Obscene Entity power into the climatic riff of the track Insanity Binds, someone shouts the word “fuck”. Now, normally that kind of posturing would have me rolling my eyes, thinking of Lars Ulrich. But the particular moment at which it is exclaimed, after the band have just powered through a veritable maelstrom of death metal riffs before returning successfully to the song’s main riff, it comes across as totally genuine. Even triumphant. You find yourself totally behind them. Fuck!

I can’t think of a better way to illustrate the joy of Obscene Entity’s debut album Lamentia.

Loosely based around the theme of mental fragility, this intense and heartfelt album pulls you down a rabbit hole of tortured death metal. The album starts off with the Gojira-fronted-by-Jeff Walker assault of Planetary Devastation. It’s a good, solid opener but the album kicks into another gear as Hymns of the Faithless veers from a dizzy, swirling riff midway through the track into a groovy, stop-start breakdown. It’s the kind of stuff that makes you gurn like Phil Anselmo. Listen to this on the bus at your peril.

Obscene Entity - now a four piece!
Obscene Entity – upgraded to a four-piece since Lamentia was completed

And from there on the album just seems to intensify, the band continually adding new elements and styles. The title track has a whirling dervish riff and ringing chords that bring to mind Emperor and Euphoric Vanity employs some guitar progginess in a wonderful Chuck Schuldiner vein. The twin vocals of guitarist Matt Adnett (also of Shrines) and bassist Calum Gibb keep things varied throughout: ranging from brute Behemoth growls to hoarse blackened snarls. But the top honours go to drummer Luke Braddick. For an album this vehement, it’s remarkably hooky and those hooks are powered and enhanced by Luke’s dynamic and tasteful playing. Throughout, the band plays a modern style but has a classic sensibility and chemistry: constantly reining themselves in, allowing space for all the parts to have maximum effect. This quality, aided by the powerfully clear production from Dan Abela, only adds to the album’s power and intensity.

There are a lot of approaches and influences on Lamentia and my only concern is that the band haven’t quite found their unique voice yet. But it’s never derivative and the prospect of the band developing and finding that voice on future releases is tantalising. But until then, there’s plenty to enjoy and gurn at in Lamentia. It’s unreconstructed death metal performed with remarkable skill, piss and vinegar. Expect to see this in my end-of-year Top Ten, it’s a fantastic debut. Fuck!

Obscene Entity on Bandcamp:  http://obsceneentity.bandcamp.com/

Obscene Entity on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ObsceneEntity/

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM

Def Leppard – Def Leppard (Album Review)

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Def Leppard - Def Leppard (2015)
Def Leppard – Def Leppard (2015)

New Def Leppard albums will always be stacked up against Hysteria, the last and most successful album of their classic era. Every subsequent release reliably trotted out as “their best since Hysteria“. But it’s been 28 years since that album and Def Leppard’s career has been hit-and-miss ever since. Without the hard-edged chemistry they enjoyed with the late Steve Clark as their guitarist they’ve been unable to satisfactorily turn the clock back to their classic era and any attempt to progress and achieve a crossover success by introducing contemporary influences has had mixed results and a mixed reception. Their new self-titled album finds them employing various approaches taken from throughout their long career and, like that career, it’s diverse and patchy.

Let’s Go and Dangerous kick the album off in an enjoyably classic Lep vein but they’re basically reheats of Pour Some Sugar on Me and Photograph respectively. Neither possessing the fresh spark or originality of the source material. Then the band pay homage to best-forgotten eras of their career too. Man Enough reworks Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust in such an un-sexy way that it brings to mind the horror of Euphoria‘s All Night. And even their career-nadir X is represented by the insipid ballad We Belong and the boy-band pish of Energized. The latter is quite possibly the worst song of their entire career.

The fan pack. Something to read while you pretend side one never happened.
The fan pack. Something to read while you pretend side one never happened.

But anyone loyal enough to stick out the diminishing returns of the album’s first half is rewarded as the album improves in its second half. All Time High and Broke N’ Brokenhearted prove that the band’s dumb-but-fun rock is still not out of the question. But it’s the more serious, moody tracks that are the real winners here. Wings of an Angel is an excellent slice of layered drama. Easily the best song on Def Leppard. And there’s a welcome return to the adventurous feel of the Slang era too with the excellent, moreish Forever Young and the “Lep do Zep” of Battle of my Own.

Sadly, the album’s indian summer isn’t enough to undo the, often embarrassingly bad, first half. With tracks three to seven removed you’d have the makings of a decent Def Leppard album here. But even then, it would still just be solid. There’s nothing here that the band, or other bands, haven’t done before and better. There’s no shame in a classic act relying on past glories but to do so with so little fire and edge is unforgivable. Disappointing.

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM

Saxon – BBC in Concert (23rd August 1986 – Album Review)

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Only a year had passed since Saxon’s 1985 Hammersmith show was broadcast on BBC Radio but Saxon invaded the UK’s airwaves yet again as their headlining slot at 1986’s Reading Festival was recorded for broadcast on the BBC Friday Rock Show. The band were touring to promote the imminent release of the Rock the Nations album  and, while that patchy album found them losing their Midas touch in the studio, on BBC in Concert (23rd August 1986) it sounds like they were losing none of their knack as a live act.

Sadly, the BBC didn’t air the whole set and cherry-picked just 9 songs for broadcast. Much of the broadcast has since been available on Saxon’s BBC Sessions album but this album download (available on Amazon/iTunes etc…) now presents the complete 9 song, 51 min broadcast as it was originally aired. It’s fairly heavy on the classic material and if you didn’t know what year it was from you could be forgiven for thinking this was the band in their NWOBHM pomp. Only two new songs give the game away: an excellent version of Rock the Nations that fits right in with the older material and a performance of Waiting for the Night which… doesn’t. It’s actually a pretty good version of the track but its pop rock breaks the spell cast by glorious versions of metal powerhouses like 747 (Strangers in the Night) and Wheels of Steel. On the bonus side it’s the song here that gets played least often so it’s good to hear and own a live version of it.

A bit of a mixed bag then!
A bit of a mixed bag then!

That one hiccup aside, the rest of the performance is impressive. The band is on winning form and the crowd sound like they’re lapping it all right up. While new bassist Paul Johnson didn’t command the stage like Steve Dawson he acquits himself well musically. Never Surrender and 20,000ft give the classic The Eagle Has Landed live album versions a run for their money and an excellent Strong Arm of the Law climaxes with a wailing Graham Oliver solo (with some Sabs and Hendrix thrown in for good measure). The real highlight, though, is a captivating The Eagle Has Landed which puts its studio counterpart firmly in the shade.

The vintage quality of this performance must have been heartening stuff for fans troubled by the recent studio albums but any hopes for a return to form would soon be dashed. The Rock the Nations album proved disappointing and, frustrated by the way the band was being managed, Nigel Glockler would leave the band at the end of the tour to join GTR. And Saxon’s next, and last, studio album for EMI would be a desparate gamble that would test the patience and loyalty of their fans more than any other yet.

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

Saxon – Rock the Nations (Album Review)

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Saxon - Rock the Nations (1986)
Saxon – Rock the Nations (1986)

Saxon had aimed for the big time with the slick, streamlined Innocence Is No Excuse but fell short. The band put on a positive face, pointing to their improved US chart placings and successful tour but the album was basically an expensive flop. So for their follow-up, 1986’s Rock the Nations, Saxon went back to basics and recorded quickly and cheaply with producer Gary Lyons. Minus departed bassist Steve Dawson, vocalist Biff Byford took on the bass-playing duties for the recording of the album.* It would be the first and only Saxon album recorded by a four-piece.

Well, except the songs that have got Elton John playing on them.

I’ll give you a little moment here to let that sink in.

Rock the Nations sees the band return to a harder, grittier sound but there’s still a bit of radio-friendly finesse. It has a strong, muscular production much in the same vein as their classic Power & The Glory album. The opening title-track gets things off to a great start with its bold, blocky riffing and gruff vocals and the next track Battle Cry is even better, a strident true metal belter. Byford’s vocals are astonishingly passionate and gutsy, the arena-ready main riff is absolutely inspired simplicity and the rhythm section is flawless and propulsive. It’s a bloody triumph. But any hopes for a return to the band’s “classic trilogy” heyday are dashed as the band fail to maintain this fighting form for much longer.

2015-08-28 12.10.53

Waiting For The Night is a catchy, personable AOR track. It’s one of those coulda-shoulda-been hits but it’s poorly positioned and fares badly coming hot on the heels of the bulging, anthemic Battle Cry. Elsewhere, tracks like Running Hot and You Ain’t No Angel are well-performed but forgettable Sunset Strip rockers (and the spoken word part on the latter is a low point). We Came Here to Rock overcomes its clichéd chorus with lively verses and Empty Promises is a pleasingly sultry slow-burner that gets lost on the album due to being sandwiched between “those” two songs. You know… the ones with him on them.

Yep, in the oddest pairing since Billy Joel guested on Exodus’ Bonded By Blood album**, Elton John was recording nearby and ended up tinkling the ivories on two of Saxon’s new tracks. You can probably guess from the titles that neither of these songs are particularly sophisticated. Party Til You Puke is a loose, fun Rock n’ Roll jam but the jokey lyrics and vocals are painfully unfunny and sink the song. And Northern Lady is uninspired, lazy balladry. If you’re going to write a passionate ode to your great love, you’d like to think you could think of a better way to describe her than just “Northern” surely? Just me?

Ultimately, Rock the Nations is Saxon putting on a brave face at a difficult time but their spirit is weak. The album starts off sublime and loses focus, direction and steam as it progresses. It’s not a bad record, it has some brilliant songs and a loose, fun quality about it, but it is a frustrating one. And, following Crusader and Innocence Is No Excuse, Saxon needed to do better than release another patchy underdog effort. Their next album would need to be much better or their days as a major-label act would be seriously numbered.

*During the recording Saxon would audition and hire Paul Johnson as their new bass player. He would be credited on the album sleeve as the bassist on Rock the Nations but he doesn’t play a note here.

**OK, I made that one up.

Mah copy
Mah copy
Album Reviews, Death Metal, Genre, Heavy Metal

PaRtY-CaNnOn – Bong Hit Hospitalisation (Album Review)

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...and representing Scotland...
One of these bands is doing its own thing

I have to declare my pro PaRtY-CaNnOn bias straight away. Ever since seeing the above poster online, I’ve felt an immense level of pride in these fellow Scots. But with the release of their debut full-length album Bong Hit Hospitalisation, the time has come for me to finally put my love of this band to the ultimate test: actually listening to their music.

It turns out that PaRtY-CaNnOn play ‘Party Slam Death Metal’. They are the greatest (and I’m guessing the only) practitioners of this musical genre. You couldn’t be blamed for thinking this is all some kind of piss-take but the Dunfermline…(ers? Dunfermlonians?) are smart enough to let their sense of fun infuse their music with a sense of personality and liveliness rather than letting it become a comedy record.

Bong Hit Hospitalisation (2015)
Bong Hit Hospitalisation (2015)

The production is fantastic, a great combination of technical and filthy with considerable heft and great separation between the instruments: the noodly bass and biscuit-tin drums are a joy. The band deliver at blasting speed alternated with seismic, lurching riffing and keep the album well-paced, continually catching you unaware with excellent and diverse moments like the cosmic Cynic-style bass solo in There’s a Reason You’re Single and the deft guitar solo that sees out Screech Even Sold His Body to Science. Stony Reddie’s alternately guttural and squealy vocals are powerful, varied and rhythmic enough to carry the songs without requiring any melody. And his delivery is often amusing too, like the pig-snorting climax of Interested Is Not the Word.

The main moments of mirth are kept to the inter-song samples but don’t interfere with or detract from the band’s main business of seriously brutal Death Metal. Quite the opposite: they only add to the sense of chaotic hedonism and even serve a useful function in helping to pace out the record and offer brief breathers from the carnage. And I had no idea you could do that with a grapefruit.

Bong Hit Hospitalisation is one of the most refreshing Extreme Metal albums I’ve heard in a good while. It’s surprisingly catchy and tons of fun, delivered by a band canny and talented enough to ensure there’s some serious substance underneath all the rib-tickling. I love hearing such genuinely extreme music performed with this kind of wit and personality and PaRtY-CaNnOn are one of my most pleasant discoveries of 2015. Them and the grapefruit thing.

Dunfermlinites?

ORDER: http://smarturl.it/ShopPartyCannon
BUY: https://gorehouseproductions.bandcamp.com/album/bong-hit-hospitalisation
LIKE: https://www.facebook.com/PartyCannonUK

**Many thanks for FullBlast!PR for the promo copy**