Headlines
A cautionary advisory for the thin skinned: This is simply the opinions of one person looking over the fruits (however fresh or spoiled) that came from this past year. 2006 had many memorable moments in metal and hard rock and an equal amount of discs to match. So if you are prone to become inflamed over a few words on an internet site, just beware there is some potential feather stirring to be found in these paragraphs to follow. With that in mind, I hope I can steer you in the direction of some new things you might have overlooked.
Odds N Ends / News and Musings
Comebacks galore fueled the news fires for 2006 in metal and rock. Survivor, Fate, Fair Warning, Blind Guardian, Iron Maiden, Queensryche... hell I could go on for days but that's enough for the purpose of this article. Some of these bands have been broken up for awhile and just got back together, others were hungry for redemption after a lengthy hiatus. Most would give the nod to Iron Maiden. Their past previous discs were so bad that only the most diehard could stomach the repetitive riffs and overtly long and tedious so-called epics that almost anything offered up was going to be hyped to heaven, hell and back again. All in all I believe Blind Guardian deserves the nod the most. "Night at the Opera" was a double edged sword for them, alienating some fans and pacifying the rest. With their latest, they managed to forge new sounds, fly to new grounds and deliver an all around solid album.
Stale news that goes nowhere and takes its sweet time doing it is anything involving the Van Halen camp. People have been following the antics of this hasbeen band for years now, and I say hasbeen because jeez, what have they done in the past ten really? They are competing with Guns N Roses and Sir Axl at being the biggest wastes of rock headline space. David Lee Roth gets media mention for being a NY EMT, a failed disc jockey and a broadway star. Sammy Hagar still does concerts and sells his own brand of liquor. But Eddie Van Halen? He contributes to pornos, throws parties of debauchery (with said adult stars in attendance) and divorces his wife. Attention whore. Where's the music? Atleast do something with your talents instead of taking up space as another wasted mouth breather hasbeen. His petty squabblings over Michael Anthony have been the stuff ridicule was made for. Atleast Michael Anthony has had enough balls to keep playing music with Sammy and turned his back on Van Halen's petty demands. Ah and me writing this is just giving them more publicity. Bleh.
WHYY? Wolfmother has, for a moment, attracted attention for being a retro-tastic band. But the question is...why? Why are they recieving so much attention by riding on so little talent (in comparision with the multitude of rock acts across the globe that deserve the airtime much more)? They are much like The Darkness in this way, but less gimmick and more mundane. What is it with British B listers finding airtime on US shorelines? Everytime someone raves over the originality of Wolfmother the only thing that flashes to mind is a silent groan of disapproval and disappointment.
Sellout city belongs to HIM. Believe it or not kiddies, but HIM used to be a very cool goth romantic brooding metal band. The lead singer had style and their music was haunting. Then the taste for crossover appeal was offered their way and they bit into the apple of destruction without a second thought. Suicidal emo kids embraced their dark imagery as music coming straight from their own bleeding vampiric hearts and it was all over. Some MTV play, a Hot Topic hype for "Dark Light" and Ville's makeover that makes like a buzzsaw attacked his hair, someone hasnt fed him in a month and a mad makeup intern artist took his first stab at applying mascara on Ville's anorexic white face with cheap eyeliner. Get the dude a cheeseburger and a better hairstylist. The look is bad, and the music is going downhill with it. Just sneak a peek at his ballad acoustic lite collection that just hit stores for further evidence of their downward spiral trend. And they used to be so cool. In a waify, strange, Euro's version of dark emo-way.
Strangest pairing has to be Survivor and Robin McAuley. How is that going to work out anyway? McAuley's raspy unique pipes have little in common with the ultra smooth silkiness of Jimi. They are planning on releasing a new album which should be interesting as Robin can do sugar pop, but it will just be different... entertainingly so. And what will Jimi Jamison do? Who knows...TNT losing Tony Harnell and gaining Tony Mills was equally strange. That was the bell tolling on the end of an era, for certain.
Guitar Hero II has made rock cool again in the US. Atleast, on video game systems and with a plastic replica of a Gibson guitar. This will hopefully give rise to some fresh rock in the future as the kiddies are inspired by pickin the classics on screen. Its a helluvah lot of fun too and makes you FEEL like a real rock star, even if you are just pressing buttons on a guitar shaped slab of plastic. Geekdom has never been so COOL. Rumors down the pipe are hinting at an all 80s setlist for an offshoot coming in 2007...now that would be something to see indeed.
Now for the albums that made 2006 a trip to remember...
The Best of 2006 in two parts
First Half The Best of 2006
Tony O'Hora - Escape into the Sun kicked off the year with the power, fury and metallic sheen of past albums guided by Magnus Karlsson - the highly adored Starbreaker and Allen/Lande releases from 2005. Tony O'Hora's came out at an oddly delicate time and was quickly forgotten. A shame, because it still stands as one of the premier discs of the year, brimming with top notch tunes and blazin guitar work. There were some truly great songs to be found on this record, and for those that might just now be aware of its quality and existance, I urge them to seek it out and be pleasantly surprised. It's like a nice appetizer between Allen/Lande albums to keep you occupied until the second one finally hits stores.
House of Lords - World Upside Down was a surprise blast from the past.
The Power and the Myth, their previous pile of poop was far from the HOL of old. World was out to change that perspective and bend it back to the AOR/melodic rock they were known for. James Christian's vocals sounded better than they had in years and the new guitarist Jimi Bell, an absolute shredmaster, bringing true power into the music that rang melodic true. Bell's guitarwork is so impressive that axeheads should give this one a spin even if AOR isn't part of your normal listening repertoire.
Luca Turilli's Dreamquest
Turilli really put himself out there in 2006, but it was neither his solo endeavor nor the band effort that caused the most commotion. Nope. It was this power metal hybrid with a mysterious female voice that attracted the most attention. Beautiful compositions, delicate keywork, some unusual Euro electronica stylings and that haunting voice by the mystery maiden secured it a place in history. Overturning metal conventions and inventing a few of their own, the disc was both symphonically refreshing and hard rocking familiar.
Street Talk - V
Creating the most luscious AOR is master talent of the Westcoast persuasion, Fredrik Bergh. Goran Edman helmed up the Street Talk project again all by his lonesome and managed to conjure pure magic throughout. You would be hard pressed to find a collection of tunes this cohesive and this dreamy... drifting... relaxing. Not to mention heartbroken and relaxing. Bergh has threatened repeatedly to step aside of the music game mostly prior to the concept of this disc. But after seeing what he is still capable of creating, it is saddening to think that this might be the last we see from Fredrik and Street Talk. But threats are just idle till they are followed through and so far he has not put an end to it yet. No one else is putting out Westcoast of this quality currently so it would be a tremendous loss for the genre in general.
Anderson Laine Readman - Three
Quick, cutting and absolutely metal, Andre Anderson threw out the excess pomp and presented us with a platter of pure blistering metal numbers. Short, sweet, the fat trimmed right out leaving each song a cracking absolute highlight. The cycling between two top tier singers helped keep the album in our minds for months after its release.
Edguy - Rocket Ride
Tobias Sammet knows how to pen a tune by now after nearly a decade and he has managed to keep his band fresh and exciting throughout. This one capitalized on the tongue-and-cheek metal approach plus a few more serious yarns spun all in the ultra melodic speedy power metal setting. His fusion of power and melody is masterful, allowing it to cross borders into mainstream territory without feeling cheesy (unless said cheese was the obvious intent) or the hooks lackluster as if they were tacked on as an added afterthought.
Jorn Lande - The Duke
Ya know, this isnt nearly the best thing Jorn has put out but even so it garners a mention simply for having a few truly excellent songs tagging along on the typical Lande solo ride. Hard rock with superb vocals, you really can't go wrong with that. Usually a Lande release requires waxing poetic on the subject till the reader's eyes are likely bleeding from the overabundance of Lande love embedded in each enraptured sentence...but not this time. There's not alot that hasnt already been said, other than - its a good disc with great vocals.
Gary John Barden - Agony & Xtasy
Alot of people didnt like this cd. Then again, alot of people believe that Nickelback is an acceptable metal substitute and that the music Dragonforce plays is somehow new and unusual (which its not, similar power metal has been around for forever, just not enjoying that kind of exposure). Whatever. This is a great disc, that likely got overlooked due to some wishy washy publicity. The real deal though is the rawness of the album, it was a true slab of hard rock where Barden, having more creative control, was able to really lay down vocal tracks that turned heads and made headlines. He hasn't sounded this inspired in ages (well, since the first MSG albums anyway...circa 81 or so).
Ambition - ST
It practically ushered the year in and was just as soon forgotten. Ambition was a rather...ambitious...AOR project but all the pieces aligned themselves perfectly to create some really cream puffy stuff that's pure cotton candy to the ears. Light as a feather, airy as a dragonfly's thin crystal wings drifting on a spring breeze... oh you get the picture. No rock in a hard place here, just lots of lovin romance and gooey gushing over relationships, whether in the midst of that love like a bud blooming into blossom or at the end with the petals turning black and peeling into decay as it is poisoned and left to die, Ambition explored it all with soul, heart and emotion. I thought then it would be a hard disc to compete with, and here it stands, still triumphant in its stance as memorable AOR.
Valentine - The Most Beautiful Pain
Robbie Valentine loves Queen. Not just loves them, like most artists claim to do, but adores the band to the point of obsession. That obsessive inspiration has lead to quite a few solo releases under his name that conjure the ghosts of Queen. Hell, you could sometimes swear Freddy Mercury had written these songs and was singing them. Maybe he has a link from the grave to the mind of Valentine somehow, because if the band were still operational with a live Freddy heading it up, this is what I would imagine Queen 2007 would sound like. Or 06 as the case may be. Alot of people probably passed this album up, but give it another looksee. Valentine handles practically everything from production to writing to instrumentation, and has packed the disc full of superb songs that have all the pomp and epic fanfare than AOR can handle. There's puff, there's fluff, there's theatrical heartbreak...it's all here. An amazing album on a technical standpoint too makes it twice worth the nod.
Last Half The Best of 2006
Circle II Circle - Burden of Truth
The last CIIC album was kinda blah, but in a lackluster way that makes albums hard to describe. It was just "there". But CIIC has done a double take and made themselves known with Burden. This one makes up for the lazy follies of the prior in a big way. An intriguing storyline with real world fantastical repercussions in the theme make for an exciting musical journey into history's darkness. This is the closest thing we have received on the market to a Zak sung Savatage album in quite some time, adding alot of value to its overall worth.
Giuntini Project III
Tony Martin really put himself out there the past couple of years. His contributions were either lackluster, like that ho-hum solo album, middle-of-the-road like the Empire release, or just purely farking awesome like we have here with the Giuntini project. The whole thing could be some kind of pseudo tribute to Sabbath, and even the guitarist himself admits to that band (and Rainbow) being his idols. It shows, in a good way.
Obsession - Carnival of Lies
Rag on Michael Vescera's "live" voice all you want... the guy is an absolute belter when it comes to nailing it in the studio. Obsession's first disc since the 80s doesn't miss a beat, calling on the force of nostalgia and in the supporting role a solid backbone of songwriting. The album is simple at moments, but honestly hard hitting. A disc that will hold up well in years to come, just because its brand of metal is so timeless.
Poisonblack - Lust Stained Despair
Gothic metal with a cutting razors edge. The difference between Poisonblack and the legion of emo-ish wannabes that clog up the Hot Topic music racks is that these guys seem genuine. No cheese involved, its all precision performed music with a double scoop of dancing darkness. Romance mixed with the plunging depths of despair, it ain't no Sentenced, but instead has risen as a band that might be even better than the sparks it flamed from.
Sunstorm
Joe Lynn Turner returns to AOR after bouncing around the block with various metal/blues/hard rock projects over the past couple of decades. Some of these are culled from the elusive never released second solo demos of his from the mid 80s. Retooled, rerecorded and offered up as some of the smoothest, most passionately crooned music this year.
Brother Firetribe - False Metal
If this ever gets a wider release, expect to see Firetribe lighting up the Year Ends NEXT year for the 2007 rundowns. Limited release, tough to get ahold of, but worth the hassle, the anticipation and the dough to obtain it. These guys have managed to forge a hard rock sound that captures the fun of the eighties with the style, gloss and substance of today. Hooks that are just glorious, guitar solos that get the blood moving like an excitable bubbling brook, its just sticky sweet decadence all around. From vocals to the songs themselves, and those dripping heart burnt ballads, this one has it all for the 80s fans but with a more serious and professional edge than even more lightweighters like The Poodles and Wig Wam. A must own, hands down.
Pretty Maids Wake Up to the Real World
They came back from the murky mess of modern and proceeded to kick some arse on arrival. Yep Pretty Maids has tightened the sails on the ship and is getting ready to sail. They already survived the choppy waters and now have created another album that lets their ever-changing style - shine. Current, yet in touch with the past, its a nice mixture for a crisp disc.
Virgin Steele - Visions of Eden
We waited a LONG time for this... and... well. It could have been better. Its not as instant as past discs, not as epic, not as ingenious or creative, but its DeFeis. And that alone is enough to welcome him back with arms wide open and cd players quivering in anticipation of spinning his next masterpiece. The man is a genius, it just isn't as apparent here as it was with those "Marriage of Heaven and Hell" albums so long ago. What happened to his sharpened sense of marrying progressive with power? He seems to have lost that magic touch since it has been unused in nearly a decade's past gone. DeFeis still can sharpen an epic power metal tune to a triumphantly honed blade though and "Visions of Eden" is another example of this skill brought to life.
Winger - IV
Its been fashionable to be a Winger basher for far too long now. What started it, who can truly say? A backlash against the excess of the music? Nah it had to be more than that, because there were so many bands that did the same music only lighter and the same kind of fashion en vogue but in a girlier, more cross dressy style. It had to be jealousy. Kip Winger was the ultimate ladykiller. Dangerously good looking but in a masculine way, it must have cut to the heart of every dude across the nation with an average and below mug and none of the sex appeal of Mr. Winger. Only green with envy can bring out such evil as was turned towards this band's way. Ever since, Kip has set out to prove himself a serious songwriter that can pen songs of a mature nature, and not just fluff bragging about banging jail bait (even if that was great too). Anyway, this isn't really a rant about the misadventures, trials and tribulations of an American band done wrong by the savage media. This is about their comeback cd. Over a dozen years had passed since "Pull" yet "IV" manages the same modern elements and rugged charm of its predecessor. Is it as good? Nah. Does it deserve a year end mention? Yes and no. Much of the album is rather lackluster despite its heavy handed themes, but a few real knock out tracks save the rest of the disc and make it worth checking out. A dark, sometimes depressive effort, but a welcome return to the hard rock fold.
Slamer - Nowhere Land
This could very well claim to be TOO slick, but the songs are addictive and instant. The depth found within, multilayers of music, great guitar work, and a solid vocal too make it a nice hard rock entry for the year.
Utterly professional and poised with pizzaz, Slamer's newest solo feels familiar yet its all new. This has aggravated some, but sticking to songs with comfortable rhythms is like settling by a cozy fire on a winter's night and just letting the stereo rock the hell out. It sounds almost too big and expansive to be possible. Artifical perhaps, but the overall package is clean as a whistle and sounds perfect on higher end equipment.
20 Songs of 2006
in no particular order, numbered for convienence
1. Winger - Four Leaf Clover
2. Jorn - We Brought the Angels Down
3. House of Lords - Ghost of Time
4. Anderson Laine Readman - Dust to Dust
5. House of Mirrors - Gone With the Summer
6. Circle II Circle - The Black
7. Blind Guardian - Fly
8. Gary John Barden - Need Some Love
9. Giuntini Project - Que Es La Vida
10. Luca Turilli's Dreamquest - Black Rose
11. Obsession - Guilty As Charged
12. Poisonblack - Love Controlled Despair
13. Tony O'Hora - Evil Love
14. Street Talk - Don't Believe
15. Sunstorm - Strength over Time
16. Blackmore's Night - Faerie Queen/Faerie Dance
17. Brother Firetribe - Love Goes Down
18. Cloudscape - Shadowland
19. Pretty Maids - Another Shot of Your Love
20. Virgin Steele - Angel of Death
Disappointments
Expected better...but somehow ended up with...this?
Ten - The Essential Collection
Gary Hughes, I absolutely love you. Your voice has sent shivers down the spines of the most innocent blushing youth and brought sizzling warmth to many a soul on a cold lonely night... but what the hell is this? And where's your excuse for it? Hughes thought it would be a fabulous idea to rerecord a smattering of his past works. None of which needed an overhaul or any tinkering with. In fact, its sacrilegious, almost like desecrating a grave to play around with a masterwork like "After the Love Has Gone". Now it wouldn't have been such a laughable tragedy if the production had been alright, but even that sucks worse than the ten year old original recordings. The whole thing is a trainwreck and sounds like crap. The original versions are worth every penny in your pocket or a chunk out of your bank account, but this.. this is no substitute for the real deal. Oh yes, and your Twilight Chronicles cd promised much but sucked too.
Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime II
Not a clunker per se, but a disappointment. Yet, it is an anticipated disappointment. Who really believed that Queensryche was able to fully match the magic to correctly follow up Mindcrime without a few disastified customers left in the wake? Look at their past catalogue, you have recent abominations such as "Q2k" for comparison. There was no logical way they were going to jump from the drudges of the stomach turning "Tribe" to this and make the A grade. Still, its a better album than it has any right being, and for many that was more than enough. Just the continuation of the story set to music satisfied the majority of diehard fans that had been waiting for some sort of conclusion for two decades now. And it left us wanting more...
Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death
Another great band with a piss poor track record. This does a little to make up for "Brave New World" but Iron Maiden still has ALOT of catching up to do before they are fully restored to their former title of glory. Alot of you loved it just because it WAS Maiden and it DIDN'T totally blow chunks, and that's alright. But the lesser delusional members of this cultfan group know in their hearts that these guys have the talents combined to forge history in the halls of metal, they have just been too lazy to do it yet. Its easier to scribble some stuff down and kickback and watch the praise ignite and the bank accounts build than to devote effort in getting a masterplan in motion. "Life or Death" seems halfhearted and it STILL managed to chart on US Billboard, a first for the band I believe. Amazing, and proves their fans are out there and will buy anything as long as Maiden is mentioned somewhere on the disc's cover. Bruce's solo albums still trump the main show's studio records. Check out "Tyranny of Souls", the latest in his line, for proof of that. Dickenson's voice even sounds "better" there as well...what's up with that? And if this was such a matter of Life and Death then why wasn't it treated as such instead of being just another average metal album? So many questions, so few answers.
John West - Long Time No Sing
Only the West fans are going to care about this. A clunker if I have ever heard one. West sings AOR very well, you hear a few snippets on this album, but the rest is an experiment into just how boring music can get. Pulling from mainstream pop charts we get alot of lifeless tunes with the heart sucked right out of them, like a team of blood starved vampires just ravaged the hell out of this music and left it a lifeless forgotten husk. Hey, its supposed to be West's personal disc, where he had control, but after sampling this, maybe its best that he is left as creative consultant and not the director of the show. Leave his arse in Artension and Royal Hunt where he can semi-suck in a setting where he belongs. The question for this album is: If you have a good voice, why do you subject it to a processed beating? To make it seem "modern"? Or just to make your other songs seem like real diamonds in comparison? No matter what, its destiny is to come to a bargain bin near you as stores try to be rid of their stock, or pawn shops where the previous owners came to their senses and gave it the boot.
MSG - Tales of Rock N Roll Twenty-Five Year Anniversary Celebration
A long winded title couldn't even keep this in the memory banks for more than a few seconds. Michael Schenker managed to deliver a nice runny shiat stain over his legacy with this disc. The few (VERY few) good songs were just merely borderline good when compared with what the guitarist was once capable of creating. Its just a sad retrospective of where he once was and looking at where he is now. A very sad place devoid of inspiration. The CD was long titled, long running, ill composed and collected and even worse - maddeningly boring. Please let MSG rest in peace now. In our minds and in our hearts. To further desecrate the band's fabulous past would just be like screwing a dead pooch. Leave it alone now. Thanks.
The Vortex of Suck
These discs sucked so much... they garnered their own little sucky section just to keep them away from everything else.
Mennen - Freakalive
So you thought Freakazoid was bad. Just wait till you hear them take it on the road. Yep, Mennen took a giant steaming dump on the year of 2006 by releasing a live album. A live album that didn't much bother with their previous releases. Oh no. They stuck to the "critically acclaimed" Freakazoid travesty. If an album came out bad after being glossed and pretty overed by the sheen of a studio recording, just imagine what it sounds like played live and in the raw. Its like taking razor blades to your ear drums and deafening yourself permanently. Run screaming from this horrible outfit that masquerades as a heavy metal band. Heavy they are not, and barely a band. So for the naysayers and haters that will likely jump on the bandwagon to declare my insanity and lack of taste for likening Mennen to a musical virus, no...disease.... why do I dislike them so? Because they are derivate, boring, piss poor songwriters, and most of all, trying too hard to be "cool" to the point of sad despairity.
Beggar's Bride - Boulevard of Broken Dreams is another trainwreck but with the gods of obscurity on our side, hopefully few will stumble upon this massive monster of a malevolent mess. Holggy cant sing to save his life, the songs are so boring that no one is going to care about the Boulevard or its bloody Broken Dreams. Broken is what describes the album alright and the tunes here make even the best of singers sound like a pile of garbly, uninterested shiat. His best vocalist sound about as enthusased as if they were reading out of the phone book or a playboy without the pictures (who reads just the articles anyway?) Talk about bringing out the worst of your available talent. The disc has an interesting backstory, but with such lackluster execution and Holggy behind the mic - its all for naught. The worst studio disc of 2006 by a landslide. I pity those that run across it in the cheapo bargain bin a few years (or even weeks from now, I cant imagine any record store wanting to keep this festering on the shelves).
