Vacation equals more time to listen to music, I guess my playlist got a bit out of hand this month, but there you have it...a mixed bag indeed.
On the live front the month started out with a rather delightful D:A:D show, overall nothing special but finally hearing
Nineteenhundredandyesterday live was amazing.
A week later Metallica also visited Århus, again a nice gig but I surely expected more,
check out review.
At the end of the month I'm looking forward to Pretty Maids and Powderhog in action at Varde Open Air before heading off to Wacken for an extended weekend of Heavy Metal, Jim Beam, Metal Markt, Steak Im Brot and Steen trying to improve his singing (hope is the last thing that falters).
On the musical front I'm once again disappointed with the predictable program. A rebooking of a huge part of the bands that played two years ago seems to be the parole once again. Where is the Heavy/Hard Rock and Progressive Metal related bands in The Worlds' Biggest Metal Festival? Iron Maiden already confirmed for next year could be a sign of a new direction, again hope is...
Anyway Blind Guardian, Iced Earth, Grave Digger, Rage, Stratovarius, Communic and Saxon are awaited with great anticipation.
7thorns. Glow Of Dawn
Debut album from the Danish Melodic Power Metal act. Many songs have a happy feel to it, enhanced by some quite catchy lead guitar licks. At times it becomes a bit trivial but this is nevertheless a good disc.
A Headbangers Journey (DVD)
An interesting attempt to find the soul of Heavy Metal music and culture. Genres like Hard Rock and Progressive Metal are sadly not elaborated on and in general I find it on the short side. The relatable connection that fans have to the music/lyrics could also have been investigated further but the DVD offers a comprehensive take on systemizing the different genres plus some cool but short interviews with Bruce Dickinson, Dio, Alice Cooper, Lemmy and others.
Bon Jovi. Lost Highway
A direct and melodic approach but still rich on detail. A different but great effort.
Check out review.Cage. Hell Destroyer
As taken right out of the eighties. A great piece of blistering Heavy/Power Metal featuring piercing vocals of high calibre.
Communic. Waves Of Visual Decay
They continue their distinct style with seven lengthily, technical, heavy, progressive, trashy, powerful and quite successful compositions.
Desmond Child. Discipline
A decent but not fantastic solo album from the hit-maker,
Do Me Right is one charming piece.
Deep Purple. Machine Head
A vintage Rock album with massive grooves and delicate ideas.
Highway Star rocks big time.
DGM. Different Shapes
A solid piece of compact Progressive Power Metal with a refreshingly heavy bite. Misplaced was a challenging treat and a brilliant album, this is not quite up there but still recommendable.
Dream Theater. Systematic ChaosComplexity and melody finding a fitting match.
Check out review.Hammerfall. Threshold
Like the previous one this is still quality Power Metal but I so much miss the old days, the two first albums where amazing and so vivid, this is too unmemorable.
Joe Lynn Turner. Second Hand Life
The opening track is no less than thrilling and with a chorus line meant to be sung out loud. The title track and
Sweet Obsession are other highlights with a few songs being too anonymous.
King Diamond. Give Me Your Soul...Please
It's classic King Diamond but not as compelling and consistent as The Puppet Master.
The lead melody in
The Cellar immediately reminded me of
House Of God (the track), anyway this release has a cool groovy and tight feel.
Lake Of Tears. Moons And Mushrooms
The album has a direct and rough style with not everything being exactly entertaining.
Luckily the weird atmospheres still lure in here.
Motörhead. Ace Of Spades
The drive is so massive and with a piercing raw attitude. Great dirty Hard Rock.
Mercyful Fate. In The Shadows
Classic Heavy Metal displaying fantastic song writing skills and convincing atmospheres.
Is That You Melissa with its monster break and infectious chorus is irresistible. Outstanding album.
Nevermore. Dead Heart In A Dead World
Stunning album. A bunch of these vocal passages are direct additive, the performances top notch and almost every song a complete blast.
Nocturnal Rites. The 8th SinIt's good craftsmanship and a few songs are very melodic, but it isn't as good as their previous albums...something distinct is missing.
The bonus DVD edition really can't be recommended...terrible sound in the live clips, indifferent tour footage and a tiresome "making of video" part.
Powderhog. Powderhog
If you take an inch of Möterhead, Rhino Bucket, Shakra, Dogpound and a lot of originality, then you have an idea of where this is going. A promising debut from the Danish band offering a tight rhythm section. I hope they will throw in some more memorable passages on the next one and keep the really forceful drive going.
Pretty Maids. Jump The Gun
Roger Glover created a thick and transparent production; unfortunately the songs didn't live up to the standard and many of them were forgotten too fast. Still an overall good disc with
Savage Heart and
Rock The House as great tracks.
Pretty Maids. Sin-Decade
Two years later and things got heavier and more
In The Flesh, the band sounds hungry on this one and packed it with a bunch of explosive songs.
Pretty Maids. Scream
A very good slice of versatile Heavy Rock,
Rise and
Walk Away are phenomenal.
Pretty Maids. Wake Up To The Real World
Their newest and overall delightful effort.
Another Shot Of Your Love is one of the bands best songs, just the way the delicious chorus melts together with the subtle keyboard, amazing.
Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Rainbow
1975 is a long time ago but this one still sounds inspiring, some great songs here with
Catch The Rainbow being dreamingly wonderful.
Saxon. Solid Ball Of Rock
Nibbs Carter's first album with the band and a range of a bit heavier tracks from his side, adding another aspect to the bands sound.
Requiem (We Will Remember) is a magical tribute to Rock N' Roll and its fallen heroes.
Saxon. Dogs Of War
I have a soft spot for late-mid era Saxon and this album simply ROCKS.
I always feel a certain sensation rushing through me when the riff of
Hold On leaves the speakers; it's such a brilliant and catchy track.
Shakra. InfectedI very much agree with
Alanna's review. Proper, predictable Hard Rock with a powerful actuation but also without the really thrilling stuff on it.
Sonata Arctica. UniaA very different sounding Sonata Arctica being more progressive, imaginative and complex. There is a lot of stuff to figure out here and that's generally a real strength.
Symphony X. Paradise Lost
A great CD. I do miss that over the top epic track but it's just so powerful all around.
The DVD contains a nice bunch of live tracks, fantastic performances but it's all home video footage so don't expect much on the audio or visual front.
Read review.The Rolling Stones. Some Girls
Cool disc. I just have a thing for the raw pulse of
Respectable and the lush flair of
Beast Of Burden.
Threshold. Wounded Land
Debut from the Progressive Metal act featuring Damian Wilson on vocals. This is a very strong beginning from a band that should evolve into one of the leading bands in the genre. Multiple ingenious ideas fittingly vowed together and the overall theme of environmental issues is still quite topical to say the least.
Tomorrow's Eve. The Tower (Single)Containing two new tracks from the upcoming album consisting of varied quality Progressive Metal.
The acoustic version of
Not From This World is down right beautiful.
Vision Divine. The 25th Hour
The vocals are once again utterly divine from Michele Luppi and the rest of the band plays very convincingly too while the lyrical concept offers interesting thoughts. 45 minutes is rather short but it's the quality that really matters and here it's Symphonic Power Metal of high standard.
