The Plague Dogz ~ The Plague Dogz (aka debut) (EP) (album review) ... No cure for this plague!

Style: punk, progressive, instrumental, experimental
Label: Traxity Records
Year: 2010
Home: Ohio

Members: Nasty (aka John Paul Jones) ~ bass/synthesizer
Ro ~ guitar
Dre ~ drums

TPD, about a year old, have already decided to get out of the rehearsal studio somewhat prematurely & share their creativity, even though they declare loudly that they're an instrumental trio in search of a singer. Personally, I would recommend them to keep developing the directions they can take their sound & not worry about a singer, or bring in a friend to guest on a track or two for variety & creativity's sake. I'll apologize now for saying that to any budding lyricist in the group. As a musician myself that was in a couple bands that could never get it together because of the lack of finding a suitable metal singer, including my own sad efforts to sing just to keep rehearsals moving ... finding the right vocalist is the most difficult thing to do & can make or break the band. Many times I've heard great bands that I couldn't listen to after awhile because of a horrible vocalist, while other bands are given a personality because of the vocalist. & then there's a few bands doing some interesting instrumental stuff & should stick to that & not worry about not sounding like every other band on the block. Too many bands try their hand at instrumentals & embarrassingly fail, with the songs becoming highly repetitive & boring & not in a hypnotically interesting way. TPD have crafted some short but interesting atmospheric progressive tunes with a dark edge bringing together drums, keyboards & guitar in something that's not too layered & full of lots of variety. Instrumental punk-influenced prog rock ... the attitude of the Clash with the organic space prog side of Kraftwerk with some guitar playing reminiscent of Joy Division. Many instrumental bands suffer from the songs sounding alike & blending into each other. Of the six songs available on their myspace there's little overlap with some of the songs being more electronic while others are guitar driven. Not just would I recommend the band to keep away from a vocalist, or at the least someone a la Beastie Boys or Beck that doesn't dominate or cloud over the arrangements but understands the idea of ensemble, but I'd also tell them to push beyond the three minute mark & turn these bits into mini electronic jams because I want to hear more. TPD are off to a good start & I can only wish for them to keep going, having fun & if they ever do find a vocalist I look forward to being privy to what it sounds like. 

Riders On The Storm (aka Doors Of The 21st Century) ~ Live In Hollywood New Years Eve 2004 (live) (album review) ... Ian Astbury is Jim Morrison!

Style: progressive, hard rock, live, classic rock
Label: Disc Live
Year: 2004
Home: n/a

Members: Ray Manzarek ~ keyboards/vocals
Robby Kreiger ~ guitar/vocals
Ian Astbury ~ vocals
Angelo Barbera ~ bass
Ty Dennis ~ drums

Guest: Waylon Kreiger ~ guitar

This is an excellent surprise from a reunited Doors, or half the band sans drummer John Densmore & obviously Jim Morrison & now under the name Riders On The Storm, having faced a copyright lawsuit under the original moniker of The Doors Of The 21st Century, now with a bassist & Ian Astbury of the Cult behind the mic. Some people will criticize the reunion of such a classic cult band whose sound was so tied into the drug culture of the 1960's let alone so dependent on the self-indulgent poetry & dramatic antics of Morrison, let alone his youthful natural charisma. Plus, reunions have often proven themselves short lived affairs that didn't live up to expectations & should have been left as an idea on paper. Honestly, ROTS encompasses all the positive & negative traits of similar reunions but somehow managed to create something that didn't hurt anyone's careers or reputations, excelled expectations, made some great music that went beyond nostalgic romps, didn't try to recreate the past when it couldn't & had a good healthy run before going into the disturbing territory of making new music when the gig is essentially a nostalgia/tribute act. First off, this three CD release is a small press live recording, like all ROTS releases, that features many classic songs plus the entire L.A. Woman, the final recording with Morrison that was never performed live as it wasn't finished till after his death. So, this is quite a treat, regardless of the fact that the band really lets loose with high energy in this New Years concert that even brings in guitarist Robby Krieger's son to jam with the band when the calendar turns. Musically, the first thing one notices is that this is the not a quartet but a full guitar/bass/drums band. This might be a detriment to the sparse sound of the Doors, but one must remember L.A. Woman featured such a line-up & would have probably been the direction the band would have gone if given the chance, so this is really picking up where the band left off versus the now clean/sober band recreating earlier drugged out days & turning themselves into a tribute band not a creative entity on its own. Another musical change, albeit less noticeable but when it is the change is an undeniable big one, is the absence of drummer who chose to instead tour with his jazz band. Densmore is a jazz drummer who kept time as much as he added a new layer of spontaneous sounds, while his replacement is a straight ahead rock drummer. It would be interesting to hear Densmore in this context. But, as one notices the tighter drummer one also hears the more mature guitar style of Kreiger. He's always had an angular playing style that encompassed flamenco, classical & rock elements, but after 40 years of largely playing rock music he's not just a better & more fluid player but also more rock sounding, let alone no longer under the drug influence. It's almost embarrassing to say that its a problem he became a better guitarist, but that's the response many listeners will probably have. But, the problem really isn't with Krieger because his playing is as hot as ever, if not more, but the particular sound of the Doors is so ingrained in our ears that to hear different is a struggle. It's a wall incredibly hard for the musicians to climb over no matter how they play. As for other original member Ray Manzarek ... he has also changed in his playing, but the most noticeable difference is that with a full rhythm section he's no longer tied to playing bass notes so ROTS actually allows him to branch out in ways he never got to previously as one hand was always tied to the low end. As for the vocalist ... the real focus of the band & where the whole project could fail ... The Cult's Ian Astbury is a wonderful choice that many were critical of when ROTS started but through some amazing performances built up glowing respect & has become almost as irreplaceable & charasmatic as Morrison. I know I started listening to the Cult after hearing him here. Krieger & Manzarek could have chosen someone completely different than Morrison, as Queen did with Paul Rodgers, or gone with someone similar. There's good & bad points about each direction. Choosing someone similar was a good decision, though Astbury is spookily similar both visually & vocally. I played this for one person & they actually thought it was an old concert of the Doors. It's almost as if Astbury intoning the spirit of Morrison & helps out towards making this sound like the Doors never split & Morrison had grown old with the rest of us. Krieger & Manzarek know the tightrope they are walking bringing back the past, which is probably why much of the reunion has been done on their own modest terms & not plastered across billboards & magazine covers, which is what many reunited bands do only to have the disappointment kick them on the way out. There is no question ROTS is a band having fun & not taking itself too seriously. It helps that they chose not to write new material & try to link it to the past. That's where reunited bands often go wrong. Page & Plant, The Who & Queen with Paul Rodgers have all suffered from this mistake. ROTS has since disbanded and are now the Manzarek-Krieger Band, which allows them to mix together old & new music & not step on the past or limit themselves to the nostalgia umbrella. But, for a time they let the nostalgia flow & it's well worth hunting up. As it is, the critical points to the band just make the story of the band more interesting because the music was & remains untouchable.

Sarah Jezebel Deva ~ A Sign Of Sublime (album review) ... Rising out of the cradle of filth!

Style: symphonic rock, heavy metal, progressive, black metal, gothic metal
Label: Candlelight Records
Year: 2010
Home: England

Members: Sarah Jezebel Deva ~ vocals
Dave Pybus ~ bass
Martin Powell ~ keyboards/guitars
Max Blumos ~ drums

A far moodier & in some ways more elegant musical outing than one might expect considering that SJD made a reputation for herself as a backing vocalist for the not so elegant black metal mayhemers Cradle of Filth for almost a decade. This is not Filth but the influence is here via thrashing guitars (for example "A Sign Of Sublime", "She Stands Like Stone"), plus a touch of Nightwish, though Deva doesn't have the vocal pipes of operatic Tarja Tarunen while it's nearly impossible for any symphonic metal not to owe a debt to these Finnish groundbreakers, touched off by old fashioned Rasputina-esque goth (i.e. "A Newborn Failure") for good measure & some unexpected classically-tainted elegance. The album features distorted metal guitars against a foundation of symphonic keyboards that sometimes overpowers SJD making her seem more like another layer in the mix than the featured musician. Ironically, for a singer this isn't a sing-along album not helped by lyrics which hit & miss memorable. Albeit, black metal isn't exactly culling from the textbook of Bob Dylan. But, when the vocals are not lost one can clearly pick out the full range of SJD's unique vocal style, made most recognizable from her often haunting phrasing (i.e. "She Stands Like Stone"). Creating an intermission in the 40 minute album, which goes by too fast, is the unexpected highlight "The Devil's Opera" which just barely works against the odds stacked against it. SJD attempts to create exactly what the title implies but in five minutes. Though, attempts is the key because it's more a keyboard only tour of quasi-cliched symphonic phrases & moods of the classical world of Mephistopheles than an opera due to a whispering vocal line that comes & goes with no story like in a real opera. I found myself reminded of the similar forays by Trans-Siberian Orchestra though they are never as dark & are far more wordy like this should be. "The Devil's Opera" is SJD trying to show us she can create something other than what we're expecting & is an experiment that is both welcome & fairly successful ... albeit, successful as an intermission more than anything. One memorable highlight is "They Called Her Lady Tyranny" which reminds me of Rasputina vocally but with Cradle-esque guitars. If there's such a thing as Renaissance inspired metal this is it. Without question A Sign Of Sublime is clearly black metal & proves that one doesn't need six strings to create a dark mood nor does black metal need to be soulless nor with incoherent vocals. The album ends, excluding a bonus cover of Meredith Brooke's "Bitch", with the soft acoustically accented & keyboard heavy "A Newborn Failure" before going into the standout of the album "Daddy's Not Coming Home" that is unlike anything that came before & is the strongest musically & lyrically. It screams out to be the single, though it probably won't be.

The Violence ~ The Violence (aka debut) (EP) (live) (album review) ... Violently quirky NYC punk!

Style: punk, experimental, funk, hard rock
Label: self-released
Year: 2008
Home: Brooklyn, New York

Members: Gia Jordan ~ vocals/guitar/trumpet/piano/flute/harmonica/percussion
Colman Ramner ~ drums/guitar
Soul Product ~ bass

This punk trio has been growing & developing musically on the New York music scene since 2008. Born out of the solo efforts of trumpet player turned guitarist-songwriter-singer Gia Jordan The Violence expanded into a drum/guitar duo before finding a final form as trio of drum/guitar/funk bass. But, those who have seen the band live & then listened to their studio recordings, all available via their myspace, will find a musical gap between the two. There's the funky free jam punk live band & then there's the very different avant-garde experimental studio tracks featuring Gia alone, who is a constant outpouring of creativity regularly adding to her often angst-ridden repertoire that's as gritty as the streets it was born from. Though they describe themselves as "revolutionary indie robot rock" the Violence might be indie but they're certainly not robotic, in any sense of the word. Their music is the antithesis of expectations & incredibly organic, particularly on stage. "Blood Makes The Grass Grow" is probably the first song one gravitates to & it could, in many ways, be the central philosophy of Gia & co. Recorded live on stage, "fight, fight, what makes the grass grow" comes blaring out over a rather non-melodic Sex Pistols-esque guitar/bass rhythm that sounds like music made for a stomping. Like many of the songs the lyrics are largely cryptic relying on basic anger & confrontation rather than an elaborate poetic philosophical treatise or obscure social references. & that's pretty much the philosophy of the Violence - angry & confrontational. Rebellion largely driven by Gia's busy pen. A bass solo over Gia's cries of "tick, tick, tick, tick, boom, boom" in time with the drum provides a nice break in the music allowing an otherwise couple minute song of a heavily repeated riff to keep the energy going for an unexpected five minutes which the crowd responds to joyously. It would be great to hear a strong studio recording of this versus the almost bootleg quality of the concert. "Hey You (Over There)" is also shared in a live version that brings together funk bass by Soul Product, drums & soulful trumpet in an extended jam before breaking into an atonal rolling riff that provides a foundation for Gia to tirade over as she does so well. "I'm Not Afraid Of Anything" follows in a similar live aggressive vein though is probably the most pop oriented song both lyrically & musically even with its atonal guitar solo by Gia. "Get Angry (At Me)" shows the experimental side of the Violence, being an acoustic studio outing featuring only Gia & her trademark multiple echoing vocal layers that can't be reproduced on stage against the standard simple, aggressive & sloppy rhythm. Though the lyrics are just as mad as any other song the energy is more experimental & comes off far more softer & tender than the live band ever will. It's so deceptively soft & tender that its shocking to hear it end with "all I want to see is blood coming from your head."

Adam Douglass Trio ~ Seersucker (album review) ... Jug dancing on the rock & jazz line!

Style: jazz fusion, funk, jazz-rock
Label: self-released
Year: 2006
Home: Boston, Massachusetts

Members: Adam Douglass ~ guitar
Mark Snyder ~ bass
Dave Fox ~ drums

Additional: Mike Casano, Matt Alger ~ drums

Jazz fusion isn't really under my umbrella for these reviews so when I first had this band passed to me I figured it was a misplaced recommendation, which sometimes happens though well intended, but it was I who was mistaken with a pleasant surprise. I've always had a hit or miss relationship with the jazz-rock genre, usually getting swayed when the rock is emphasized over the jazz, even though I listened to jazz & blues almost exclusively though much of high school 15 years ago. Guitarist Jeff Beck is a good example of someone I like whose bridged the gap successfully. Though, the Mahavishnu Orchestra has rocked harder than many rockers but still has clearly been a jazz band & one I love. I have a lot of respect for musicians who are trying to bridge both worlds, I'll confess. I just don't always find the results pleasing, but that's really no refection of the music. That being said, Adam Douglass & co. also know the difficulties in bridging both worlds & reaching out to people like me yet not alienating my distant jazzier cousins. If they converted to being metalheads we'd welcome them into the community with open arms. But, until that time musicians like Douglass are making some interesting music trying to bring us together without anyone converting faiths. In some ways some of their music reminds me of pre-Experience Hendrix with a funky rhythm & distorted guitar running soulful yet dynamic lines over the bed of music. "Jug Dancer" & "Quesa Dilla" are a perfect examples with an almost atmospheric guitar over a bluesy funk rhythm that could be mislabeled as one of Jeff Beck's more soulful endeavors - a style of playing not enough guitarists are following these days. With a handful of the ten tracks clocking in over 5 minutes the songs don't rush anything, even when given over to blistering rock solos, but neither are they directionless jams. Themes are well developed & yet there's obviously room for the band to let loose in concert, as the jazz style drum solo in "Jug Dancer" so perfectly demonstrates. Adam Douglass stirs up a mix of rock & jazz with a bit of funk to make something that never goes to any extreme. You can dance to it. You can rock out at times. There's no lyrics to distract from the music. Or you can take the intellectual approach & dig into the array of scales the band is employing & appreciate their musical dexterity. Though, the one problem I had with the trio is that they have found a particular sound. There's nothing wrong with it but outside of some guitar solos it often lacks some tonal dynamics, so after a bit some of tracks bleed into each other with similar identities. Though, the hard rocking title track "Seersucker" & also "Peeper", which I'd love to swear I've heard Jeff Beck cover its so hot, are strong exceptions. But, this is a small quibble I have with them, really, particularly given that Seersucker is their debut. &, I'll confess, it might just as much reflect my tastes as jazz bands aren't exactly following the same path of rock musicians that are always trying to expand the tonal palette with every song because otherwise we'd see how boring and repetitive their chord progressions really are.

Black Night: Deep Purple Tribute According To New York (album review) ... More like a tribute to New York!

Style: hard rock, tribute, funk
Label: Revolver Music
Year: 1997
Home: New York City

Members: T.M. Stevens ~ bass/lead vocals

Guests: Joe Lynn Turner, Tony Harnell, Cory Glover ~ lead vocals
Simon Gregory ~ guitars/b. vocals
Will Calhoun, Van Romaine ~ drums/b. vocals
Cindy Blackman ~ drums
Ritchie Kotzen ~ lead vocals/guitars
Al Pitrelli, Lars Y. Loudamp, Steve Salas, Vinnie Moore ~ guitars
Bernie Worrell ~ keyboards

I tend to avoid compilations as potential reviews as it will undoubtedly turn into a situation of judging one band against another & if I like one contributing band but not another I'm in an uncomfortable position of comparison ... but, this is an interesting compilation as it's produced by funk bassmaster T.M. Stevens & features only fellow New York musicians ... many of whom aren't household names but whose careers as just illustrious as anyone else ... with the set number of musicians organized so no two songs feature the same line-up though the same musicians are all over the album with T.M. Stevens as the one stable factor & Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun coming in near second. Also, I happen to be a big fan of Richie Blackmore, but who isn't, & of guitarist Al Pitrelli who rips through four tracks. Speaking of Al ... the roster of musicians on this tribute - wow! The list is the best of NYC, though by far not inclusive of all the great talent in the city. It includes alumni/members of Rainbow, Megadeth, Alice Cooper, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic, TNT, Living Colour, UFO, Mick Jagger, Lenny Kravitz, Steve Morse, Poison, Mr. Big & more. & yes, they all live up to their reputations which isn't always the case with tribute albums of this type. Besides rotating through Stevens backing band over the years, many of these musicians have played together in numerous other projects or even been in the same bands. The comradery comes through. There might not be a single real or permanent band on the outing, but the inherent cohesiveness of sounds & styles says differently. So often one-off tribute line-ups like this are created by people who don't each other & the music suffers because no one is on the same page. But, with long shared histories & Stevens keeping a watchful eye on the outcome this compilation does not suffer like most of its stilted 'in it for the money only' label created cousins & easily rises to the top of tribute albums. As for the music itself. This is not Richie Blackmore. No one can copy his style ... if they can even play that fast & nimbly. Though at times some of the guitarists come close in their own individual way, but the point here is obviously not to imitate but pay tribute. There's a big difference that a lot of bands misunderstand when doing covers. Focusing on imitation is where other tribute albums usually fail. The point is also to give the album a New York City edge, which obviously deters some inclinations to imitate. Which, for Stevens, is to funk Deep Purple up. For those that think Deep Purple can't be funked up the results are shocking & ecstatic. Blackmore has always been a very melodic player, avoiding the cliché riffing style, so putting a funk behind his rock rhythms doesn't sound like two strangers coming together. Given Blackmore's diverse inspirations he'd probably approve of the resulting interpretations. Even a reggae-fied "Child In Time" comes across successfully, with the great Bernie Worrell on keys though it migrates into a rock sound. Further, you usually don't get to hear most of these guys ... and girl, laying their stuff over a bed of funk so this is a treat. Upbeat, fun, & it gives an equal balance to funk & rock, more in the sense that the rhythm is funk & the leads are undoubtedly rock. At times it reminds me of Band of Gypsies, Hendrix's funk outfit. Sometimes when you have an album with such a star line-up you aim to listen for a particular musician. Yes, I'll confess I bought this album for Pitrelli, but this is an album where you stop trying to focus in on the details cause the whole thing is an exciting collage of sound ... the way it should be with no superstars just a bunch of good old city boys jammin'. As for is this a particularly NYC sound? Well, what is a NYC sound? I've always seen it as Lou Reed, but heroin isn't mentioned anywhere on the album nor are there any screechy Velvet Underground-like tirades. While it's definitely not the New York Dolls, Twisted Sister, Beastie Boys & there's not a bit of Broadway in sight. So, who really can say. It's definitely not L.A. glam, that's for sure. For the curious, all the hits are here: "Black Night", "Strange Kind Of Woman", "Fireball", "Smoke On The Water", "Child In Time", "Woman From Tokyo", "Space Truckin", "Stormbringer", "Speed King" & "Burn".

Lordi ~ Get Heavy (album review) ... Move over Kiss for the monster attack!

Style: shock rock, heavy metal, experimental
Label: BMG
Year: 2002
Home: Finland

Members: Mr. Lordi ~ lead vocals
Amen ~ guitar/b. vocals
Kalma ~ bass/b. vocals
Enard ~ keyboards/b. vocals
Kita ~ drums/b. vocals

I discovered Lordi while on a trip to Finland in 2003 when they were at a peak, though before they'd hit Europe or ever won Eurovision or even toured the U.S., which I of course went to see. I like to collect rock music when I travel to foreign countries & even though a new CD is expensive in Finland I couldn't resist buying this one after having seen the life-size cardboard cutouts in the music store window. I knew this was going to be something I'd like. No regrets. Years later I still love putting on this debut release. Everything about it is cool, particularly the cartoon cover art of the band & the inside photos of the band in full monster costume ... it's against band rules to be photographed out of make-up, which recently brought the dismissal of long-time drummer Kita. Though, with ten members now in their history I wonder what other band rules there are. This is GWAR, Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister & obviously Kiss taken to a new level by Mr. Lordi (aka Tomi Putaansuu) who was a big fan of Kiss after seeing their show & was inspired to form his own band. But, then, who hasn't after seeing any of the mentioned bands? It's pure shock rock but not just on the visuals but also musically. It's brash & loud heavy metal, far more furious than any of their inspirations with catchy riff after catchy riff, let alone the lyrics cull more from the monster themes of Alice Cooper than the unthematic power ballads of Kiss. Albeit, shock rock is about the image, theme & headbanging energy. Though you may be able to sing along with Lordi's shouts the lyrics make less since than Marilyn Manson, albeit he hides behind the idea that's there's a philosophy behind the mishmash. So, if you want pure heavy metal mayhem Lordi makes a great party album. Though, I will say the album starts off incredibly strong hitting a bump with the sixth track "Icon Of Dominance" that opens with an instrumental power ballad to be keyboard bit that's a change from the assault of rhythms that came before it. The problem is that power ballads go well with coherent lyrics which is not Lordi's strong point. But, he's following the 80's tradition of always having a power ballad on the album, though power ballad a la H.I.M. Sadly, the songs that come after aren't as memorable as the first half of the album. It reminds me a lot of the Metallica black album that has a great opening side but lots of filler on the end. The other problem with Lordi is that though this is a great release monsters themes only go so far so a few albums later the gimmick is a bit stale, though they do make some great MTV videos to keep things exciting & even starred in a movie as the main monster. But, if you are at all a fan of shock rock & have missed Lordi you've missed an important ingredient in the shocking timeline. This is the album to do your homework with.

I In Time ~ I In Time (aka debut) (EP) (album review) ... Going back in time!

Style: alt rock
Label: self-released
Year: 2005
Home: Washington, D.C.

Members: Peter Seven ~ vocals/guitar/keyboard
Chris Hutchinson ~ bass/b. voice
Chris Koehler ~ drums/harmonica
Rob Zaremba ~ drums

I find it most exciting to review bands that are still around because if I like their release I can look forward to the next one or potentially having them on my podcast to interview. But, every so often there's a defunct band that I like & I feel tempted to put them in the history books. Further, these lost bands are interesting & oft forgotten pieces of the bigger music history. For a short time in Washington D.C. in 2005 IIT was a missing piece churning out interesting music. Frontman Peter Seven has since gone on to form the trio Harm Reduction while bassist Christ Hutchinson was famous for replacing Flea in the band What Is This that also featured original Red Hot Chili Peppers Hillel Slovak & Jack Irons. But, as Seven has since said it was "all portent & no payoff" for ITT ... the oldest story of rock'n'roll. Lyrical dreamy ballads of longing highlight ITT's sound with underplayed melodies behind it all. Such as in "Sunset Strip", which except for some catchy wah wah guitar is clearly alt rock & not the expected L.A. Sunset Strip glam rock, has the longing: "I've never been to the Sunset Strip, but I hear it's pretty cool ... I wanna be seen on the Sunset Strip ... you know in my dreams I got so close." This is music for daydreaming & wishing. I can picture 18 year old girls with big dreams swooning at Peter Seven's gentle boy next door crooning. "Slow Motion" has layers of sound that move like gentle ocean waves with the distortion not drowning out the vocals. If "Slow Motion" is their ocean waves then they took to the sky with "Paper Airplane" which is their hardest song, though darker would be a better word than hard as it still keeps to the ITT slow pace that will appeal to a wide audience. While Peter Seven turns in near shouting lyrics behind a sheen of echoes that when he cries out "this wasn't supposed to happen" feels it as much as says it. Which is the key to IIT. Their music matches the feeling they want to portray. This isn't just slashing guitars or riffs. I'm reminded of Live in the sense that the songs are mini-portraits & their music is essentially about creating a mood not about playing chord changes that could be any number of bland songs. The collection ends with a near coda with "The Washington Post" which is a largely a vocal/acoustic guitar song with a soft layer of keyboards in the background with unexpected marching band drum coming in to end the song against some crushing electric guitars for the last two of five minutes, in a cutting diatribe against the media. ITT may no longer exist in time & they might be far more alt rock oriented then I usually review. But, they make the softer side of rock far more attractive for those of us that usually don't slow things down this much.

Odd Zero ~ Another Odd Zero To Dread (album review) ... But, don't dread the zero!

Style: punk, hard rock, heavy metal
Label: Odd Zero Records
Year: 2010
Home: New York City

Members: Mike Friedman ~ vocals
Tay Malloy ~ bass
Milton Hernandez ~ drums
Mike Fuji ~ guitars

The name says it all is a review that's probably been made before for Odd Zero, but on some level it rings true for this vibrant New York quartet that successfully brings together lyrical punk sensibilities with melodic metal riffing guitar once again on this third release. Odd Zero is, for what I've heard, one of the more successful fusions of these two genres which are more distinct entities than one might at first believe. Most bands tend to fall too far to the punk end believing that distorted guitars make them metal. Thank you Limp Bizkit. Odd Zero went up against ... the odds ... and have finally put the equation right for those of us less inclined to appreciate the musical merits of homeboys and know that riffing isn't just about speed but also style. The incredibly strong opener "Robbed Barren" is a highlight of this fusion in an enjoyable piece that goes from punk lyrics to great counter-rhythmic riffing breaks that are pure metal. It's even better that the punk feeling is in the feel of the music and singer Mike Friedman has thankfully realized you can be punk without screaming into indecipherable oblivion. And, that's probably one of the first things things that makes this band sound different - the vocals. It's not multi-range opera or tonally anything out there like Jizzy Pearl or Ozzy, but just straight ahead singing churning out some great poetry that you really want to pay attention to, unlike some bands that continue the stereotype that rock is full of boring cliched rhymes. There's nothing cliché with Odd Zero, let alone boring.

Powerglove ~ Saturday Morning Apocalypse (album review) ... Music for your cartoon needs!

Style: power metal, instrumental, video game metal, progressive
Label: E1 Music
Year: 2010
Home: Boston

Members:Chris Marchiel ~ guitar
Nick Avila ~ bass
Bassil Silver ~ drums
Alex Berkson ~ guitar

Guest: Tony Kakko ~ b. vocals

The title pretty much gives everything away. Remember those Saturday morning cartoons you watched as a kid? Well, now you can relive them. Or, more properly you can relive some of them them through their soundtracks ... interpreted by Powerglove with an onslaught of wailing electric guitars peddling out more notes than you ever remember being in the Inspector Gadget theme song. Early on in this blog I reviewed the whole odd concept of video game music with Jim Cook's Legend Of Zelda Metal Soundtrack that has sprouted in the last decades. Saturday Morning Apocalypse may not be video game music but the concept of taking a 40 second pop culture theme song, potentially first composed on a synthesizer, & transforming it into a 3-4 minute heavy metal guitar onslaught ... well, they're close cousins. Anyways, the first Powerglove album was all video game music. My feelings on this style haven't changed much in the months since & all that I said about Jim Cook applies to Powerglove. Briefly, I wrote, bands like Dragonforce which have been inspired by the sounds & musical approaches of the video games they grew up on I find more interesting than those group trying to play the actual music they hear coming from the games. Albeit, the uniqueness of the idea interests me, let alone the challenge inherent in adapting such music to a band format. But, to take a 30 second sound clip & turn it into a full-length song often means the end result suffers from major repetition. Rock music already has this problem but the lack of lyrics made it more obvious. While, if you're not familiar with the source material ... well, Weird Al has some great satires but if you don't know that "Fat" is based on "Bad" you've pretty much not just missed the joke but it's hard to understand just how good "Fat" essentially is both as it's own song & as an interpretation. Well, maybe you can get how good it is, but not in the bigger context. The difference between Powerglove & Jim Cook is that I've actually seen them in concert, opening for Dragonforce, of course. At the time I didn't know what they were about & didn't recognize a lot of the songs, I'll plead my ignorance of video games & wondered about what type of concert I was attending seeing the more than a few fatherly chaperones standing tall in the crowd of some rather young lads around me. It's one thing to watch a band like Kiss, Lordi or Alice Cooper, with all their make-up & over-the-top characters, but to see a band dressed like video game characters in Styrofoam loin shoulder pads is a bit off-putting when you don't expect it. But, having said that, what I can't say is these guys lack talent. For what they are doing Powerglove do it with great energy & ability. They got a fun look that matches the music & the audience loves it & from what I saw they have a good time, too. & really, there is something fun imagining yourself in their shoes on stage. Powerglove has taken minor songs & fleshed them out into full & often interesting arrangements that may at times repeat too much but what they've attempted is a challenge that I dare anyone to do better with. What also makes this particular album exciting is pretty much everyone will know the movies & tv shows they've drawn upon which immediately pushes the nostalgia button. Themes include the previously mentioned Inspector Gadget, Transformers with an interesting acoustic opening, Pokemon, Jonny Quest, Winnie The Pooh, The Simpsons, The Flintstones, 1989's Batman, X-Men & Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, with the last three being highlights. Really, I know you want to hear a thrash metal version of the Simpsons theme. Who doesn't? & yes, you're drooling to hear Winnie The Pooh, too, I know it. Go ahead. Powerglove provide a good ride for the kid inside. 

Lou Reed & Zeitkratzer ~ Metal Machine Music (live) (album review) ... When the worst album in history goes classical!

Style: experimental, classical, instrumental, tribute, drone
Label: Asphodel
Year: 2007
Home: Germany & California

Members: Lou Reed ~ electric guitar
Reinhold Friedl ~ piano
Burkhard Schlothauer ~ violin
Christian Messer ~ viola
Ulrich Maiß ~ cello
Alexander Frangenheim ~ contrabass
Ulrich Krieger ~ saxophones
Franz Hautzinger ~ trumpet
Melvyn Poore ~ tuba
Luca Vnitucci ~ accordion
Adam Weisman ~ percussion

There's albums of distorted feedback ... then there's the infamous Lou Reed hit-or-miss 1970's classic Metal Machine Music which brought feedback to a new level of pure un-listenability. All thanks to a couple of guitars positioned in front of amps to loop back & forth with the recordings later cut & spliced to form new disjointed sounds across four tracks of 15 minutes apiece. Whether it was done as a joke to end a recording contract or it really is Lou's secret masterpiece with hidden classical music excerpts, it's hard to tell with him & I'm a diehard fan, the general consensus is that if you can listen to the entire album without getting physically sick you're probably mentally deranged. It's also been often called one of the worst albums in rock music, albeit it's not really rock nor really music though its by a rock icon. But, if this legendary recording already wasn't strange enough the beast was brought back to life & given a facelift via this re-recording by a German symphonic ensemble, yes, symphonic as in classical symphony ensemble with not a bit of feedback or even any electric cords. The story goes that they asked Lou to perform the piece & he said it wasn't transcribed, let alone impossible to transcribe. They said they'd already done three parts. Considering how similar each part sounds on the original release it's always struck me as curious why they left out one movement. Once you've suffered through 45 minutes of it why not go all the way for the final 15?So, the result is this live recording with Lou guesting on electric guitar & includes a DVD for those that don't believe feedback can be transcribed & played on acoustic instruments. Though, honestly, it can't be. If this is a note per note recording the difference between a distorted guitar & a plucked viola make for almost a new recording while Lou's playing is his typical rambling solo far from the cocaine induced playing of decades ago. But, the idea is attractive to consider none the less while imagining that you're hearing the same recording decades later. Further, this is far from unlistenable. Actually, the DVD is quite enjoyable & even includes a post-show interview with Lou & probably more enjoyable than just the CD alone. If this was ever supposed to be a joke the punchline has been killed. This album may not be a rock album, though on some level it might be heavy metal, but Lou Reed's influence on the rock world is undeniable so for him to do something like this, or the Zeitkratzer orchestra to reinterpret his work, definitely makes it unique & interesting rock/metal worth sharing.

Alice Cooper ~ Classicks (live, hits comp) (album review) ... Star studded & not quite classics as you know them!

Style: shock rock, heavy metal, hard rock, greatest hits, live
Label: Epic
Year: 1995
Home: Arizona

Members: Al Pitrelli, Stef Burns ~ guitar/b. vocals
John McCurry, Pete Freezin' ~ guitar
Hugh McDonald, T-Bone Caradonna ~ bass
Derek Sherinian ~ keyboards/b. vocals
Greg Smith ~ bass/b. vocals
Jonathan Mover, Bobby Chouinard, Mickey Currey, David Uosikkinen ~ drums
Robert Bailey, Alan St. John, John Webster, Steve Croes ~ keyboards

Additional: Dan Wexler ~ guitar
Zachary Nevel, Vic Pepe, Tony Palmucci, Scott Bender, Corkey McClennan, Lance Bulen, Terry Wood, Shaun Murphy, Sherwood Ball, Cali, Gary Falcone, Ian Richardson, Nick Coler, Mick Wilson, Mike Finnigan, Stan Bush ~ b. vocals

Guests: Slash, Steve Vai, Joe Perry ~ guitar
Ozzy Osbourne, Chris Cornell, Kelly Keeling, Jack Ponti ~ b. vocals
Joe Satriani ~ guitar/b. vocals
Nikki Sixx ~ bass

Before reviewing this compilation/live album let me note that this was released by the label after Alice had left & thus his involvement was minimal, so the outcome may not be exactly what he'd release if given full creative control. Like the Megadeth greatest hits albums released by Capitol Records after the band moved to Sanctuary Records in 2000 ... it's all about a label continuing to make money on an artist now making money for someone else. That being said ... how do you get fans to buy a greatest hits package that has tracks probably everyone already has in their collection? Well, you can focus the greatest hits collection on a particular theme, here being the leather era look of a now sober Alice. Next, you record a new track or two that you set beside both classic tracks & some lesser known more recent tracks. But, what do you do when your musician has left your label & thus there's no new tracks forthcoming? Of the 15 songs on Classicks, a name suggested by Alice himself, one track is a new song, albeit it's actually an underheard B-side, eight tracks are recent while six are classic tracks from the 70's but performed live by the 1989/1990 touring band. The idea is that all the tracks have the same 80's hard rock sound & not reflect the eclectic musical changes that have highlighted Alice's career. This album was looking for new generation of fans who liked one style of music & it was loud, bombastic & full of guitar. When it comes to greatest hits compilations this is one of the more unique approaches I've seen. It's right up there with Asia re-recording all their old songs for Anthology, albeit this is far more successful & enjoyable as the touring band isn't trying to duplicate which was Asia's goal. Classicks is supposed to be a greatest hits collection but the recent tracks are culled only from the then most recent Trash from 1989, Hey Stoopid & The Last Temptation, while the classic tracks are all from the Alice Cooper Band & 1975's Welcome To My Nightmare. Thus, besides lacking quite a few classic hits, there's a near fifteen year gap of recordings missing from this album making its status as a true greatest hits albums weak. Albeit, no hits really came from the ten albums released in that time, but there's a few gems such as "You & Me" that keep them from being completely forgettable though they largely are according to both fans & Alice himself in his autobiography. But, the MTV era hits are here that culled a new generation of fans, though only Trash really scored any real hits. But, though Trash spun off four videos & the most commercial success its strangely represented by the single track "Poison" while the other two albums, that might have spurred less hits but have stronger songs, are given more than their fare share of attention considering their minor commercial impact. It's almost as if Trash had gotten enough success & now the label wanted some attention on the other lesser selling albums. Alice of the late 80's/90's was a heavy metal guy, far different than his 70's/early 80's persona, brought home by the live versions on Classicks of classic Alice Cooper Band hits that are far different & more wild than their 15-20 year old studio counterparts. Taken directly from the Trashes The World video they are raw two guitar onslaughts with a high energy band including future Savatage/Megadeth/Asia/Trans-Siberian guitarist Al Pitrelli, future Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian, under-rated drummer Jonathan Mover of GTR with Steve Howe, guitarist Pete Freezin' & bassist T-Bone Caradonna. It's the band that would set the sound & look for Alice through the present day with current shows being a development of the Trash look. Eric Singer, famous for his future tenure with Kiss, would replaced Mover soon after filming the video but no official recordings of his time with the tour exist. This tour line-up, supporting the release of Trash, on this compilation only feature the band playing the classic songs. At first the live tracks sound messy & cluttered with guitars roaring in a way not heard before, though they are a perfect reflection of how Alice updated his sound for the 80's, putting aside the more prog elements of the songs for a more headbanging sound. The songs might be re-arranged but remain untouchable classics. Anyone who doesn't know the contemporary music by Alice is missing an important chunk of his career. This is a good starting point for someone unsure of if they might like his current sound, plus as a bonus it features numerous guest musicians. Personally, I'd buy The Last Temptation first, then consider this compilation or the other two studio releases if I liked what I heard. The Last Temptation has some of the most heart-breaking songs Alice ever recorded, telling the story of a boy lost in the world & eventually discovering God as this album marked Alice's Christian conversion. In many ways this is a lopsided compilation as it's featuring a studio band then a completely different live band & thus sounds like two albums. But, to hear 80's Alice one could do a lot worse. The albums on the new record label that would follow this compilation would see Alice going even heavier & into industrial & bringing the character to its scariest thus Classicks ends up the end of an era & a photograph of past glories.