It has been awhile since I've turned out a playlist that actually managed to make it onto the site. I present my thoughts on the albums that have entertained me during the past few months, with the focus being on those from the here and now.
PLACE VENDOME - STREETS OF FIRE
My heart, my soul, my addiction for the past several months. Not a day goes by when I do not hear at least one or two tracks from the album. The songs are gold, the vocals platinum, the guitars from diamonds, it is a priceless disc that just keeps turning up gems. So far my far and away favorite is "Completely Breathless". Could this be THE album of the year, my highest praise even doesn't seem quite good enough for it. Audible bliss. I think it will always be associated in my mind with the game Peggle Deluxe because I bought it for the Xbox 360 Live Arcade at the same time I was listening to this. Many nights were spent Peggling and cranking Streets of Fire to deliciously loud levels. Yes its nice owning your own house on a dead end street. HAHAHA!! Let the night ring with the sounds of metal!!
STRATOVARIUS - POLARIS
Its strange that the songs that sound the MOST Stratovarius-like are written by Lauri Porra. He's only been in the band a short time (in comparison with everyone else) yet has this knack for penning songs that seem very Strato-like. He's likely the band's greatest asset at this point, and given more time working the pen (and maybe a bit of input from Jens too) the next round of Strato songs should be really special. But I like this one because it IS a Strato disc and SOUNDS like a Strato disc and after being jerked around by Tolkki and that godawful "self titled" thingy, I'm just pleased there is a continuation of the band instead of me grieving over their grave.
THE TROPHY - GIFT OF LIFE
This has been pegged as an AOR album and I think those people need to be smacked upside the head with some Journey clones before allowing them to write about another so-called "AOR Album". Its not AOR. It is very good but AOR isn't even part of the major equation here. Dark, a bit depressing, its kinda like wallowing in your own muck and liking it. Bormann makes the muck seem classy, so there ya go. The best track is obviously "When Nightmares Wake Me Up", which blends haunting with poppy class.
HARDLINE - LEAVING THE END OPEN
YAY HARDLINE!! It sounds modern, and Goeli is great. The first few songs are real clickers too, nicely flowing, very emotional. A good disc, even if it doesn't quite hit the factor five on the radar, it comes very close. Keep an ear out for the biting, swirling darkness of "Hole in My Head" which is pure class all the way.
JORN - SPIRIT BLACK
Another Jorn!! We are getting a Jorn album a year it seems and its all pretty much the same, but OH HOW GREAT THAT IS. The man could sing about pizza toppings and pie fillings and it would be riveting. His personality just encompasses all, I love his lordly status and the way his voice just exerts itself. An Amazing singer that likes metally, Dio-ish kinda tunes. It works for him though, and his goal of just putting out a straight forward metal disc seems to have been accomplished.
GOTTHARD - DOMINO EFFECT
This has been my "car cd" for over a year now. Maybe two years? It survived a hurricane and a changing of vehicles and still sits in my cd player as the go-to disc for on the road music. And now that its a couple of years old and is STILL interesting, entertaining and I don't hate it yet despite frequent replays, that just floors me and amazes all the same time. It was my pick for greatest album of its release year and it is actually a selection I haven't regretted yet, towering and beaming over the rest. If you skipped it, WOW what kind of fool are you? ? Eh.. I mean... go pick it up right away. Superb stuff though the neighbors may be beating your door down and ringing your phone off the hook in a couple of weeks time, begging you to PLEASE PLAY SOMETHING ELSE ALREADY (because its just so damn addictive, good luck shelving it after a few spins).
RAINBOW - RITCHIE BLACKMORE'S RAINBOW
Good albums never curl up and die, though they do age...like fine wine. Rainbow's quaint self titled disc is definitely 70s rocky metal but its ever so classy. "Temple of the King" is one of my all time favorite songs and as years go by I just love it even more. Highly underrated disc with nuggets of gold like "Snake Charmer" hiding out amongst the big guns of "Man on the Silver Mountain" and the so very sweet "Catch the Rainbow".
STREET LEGAL - LEGALIZED
I kinda trashed this because its first five or six impressions didn't do much for me. It was too silly, too generic, too Thin Lizzy-like. But I was too lazy to take it off of my "instant music fix mini mp3 player" and therefore it just sat there for several weeks. It was right next to something I liked, so if I was doing something else, the album I was wanting to hear would end and it would cycle into this one. I KNOW! This is not supposed to happen right? But something happened alright, and I started to like the cd more than before. Don't get me wrong, its not revolutionary or mind changing or even all that superb but it is solid, and its stripped up, dumbed down approach (thickly layered with excessive amounts of Thin Lizzy idol worship) is actually entertaining to listen to. While it should not win any prizes for greatness, it's certainly not as barfy as that Balance disc and has some redeeming qualities. If ya like the Blue Murder and the old Lynott Lizzy stuff, then this is worth a second chance-glance.
MAGNUM - INTO THE VALLEY OF THE MOONKING
In a word fantastic. Bob Catley's solo albums finally have a current Magnum album that's worthy of challenging them. This album contains so many glorious tunes, from the quickly catching "All My Bridges", to the bluesy sweet "The Moon King", to the darker stylings of "If I Ever Lose My Mind" and the soothing flow of "Time to Cross that River". This disc is pure class, and I would happily display it right along with the other classics from Magnum of yore. Their other discs are not a patch on this one.
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