Cloudscape - Crimson Skies. 2006 Nightmare (CD). Pitch perfect prog metal with perfunctory keyboards. I don't want that. But it's still very good, objectively speaking. (Dec)
Aesma Daeva - Dawn of the New Athens. 2007 private (CD). Collection revisit (Nov). About 20 years ago Purple Peak Jeff turned me onto Minneapolis based Aesma Daeva, a type of gothic metal I hadn't encountered before. As is my habit, I loaded up on the group, picking up all three of their albums at the time, and then added this one when it came out as well as future band Visions of Atlantis. The latter is long gone. And so will this be. Based on my initial rating, this last Aesma Daeva album didn't capture my imagination as had the others - or at least as I remember them. We'll see soon enough. For Dawn of the New Athens, Aesma Daeva play a more traditional symphonic metal with soprano / operatic female vocals which was all the rage back then with bands like Nightwish, After Forever, Lacrimosa, Within Temptation, et al... I burned out on the genre years ago with Therion, and kept only one of their albums. Dawn of the New Athens remains a very good, professionally done album. So if your tastes continue to run this way, I'd recommend it. I'm hoping the earlier ones still have that magic I originally heard.
*Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss. 1990 Def American (CD). Collection revisit (Sep). As mentioned on the Show No Mercy review, I didn't get into Slayer during their 80s prime. In fact, this was the first album I bought real time. If you take each of these tracks individually there isn't a lot of depth or compositional development. But it works as a whole as each song segues into the next. And the riffs keep coming at you with some nice changes in pace. In later years I picked up what I had missed, demonstrating the band had peaked in the mid 80s. In an era when tech thrash was thriving, Slayer could be seen as a throwback to a simpler time. Seasons in the Abyss sounds like pre-1983 thrash, before Metallica elevated the art. Nothing wrong with that. 33 years on from that purchase, I see no reason to let go of this.
*Motorhead - Overkill. 1979 Bronze (UK). Continuing on with my exploration through the early Motorhead catalog. What do you do with Motorhead really? They're never going to win an innovation award, yet I find myself being entirely comfortable listening to their blend of energized hard rock / borderline metal. And I think that may be the best way to enjoy the band. If this were some private label 1979 album from Cleveland, it would go for $500 on the open market, and be highly praised as one of America's great private press hard rock albums. Yet it's good ole Lemmy the English factory worker putting in a Joe Lunchbox kind of effort. This is considered one of their classics, and you can almost pinpoint a riff or two. The solos are pure 1970s styled, which adds to the allure. Good one on the whole. Not sure if I'm keeping all these Motorhead's, but maybe the classics will get a longer ticket. Neat cover art as well. (Aug)
*Quartz - Stand Up and Fight. 1980 MCA (Germany). Regarding the 1977 debut, I had mentioned that the large misconception about that album is that it was somehow heavy metal. Stand Up and Fight is the complete opposite. From the cover to the sound, Quartz most certainly became self-aware of their place on the musical map within the next three years. One could do worse than putting a picture of this album as the encyclopedia entry for NWOBHM. It's not a complicated body of music, has the right amount of heaviness, is slightly quirky, and contains a solid melodic quotient. All plusses as far as I'm concerned. The cover does indicate something far more epic and heavy than it is, but that was typical of many of the albums from the scene. (Aug)
Motorhead - On Parole. 1979 United Artists (UK). As noted earlier, I loaded up on all the early Motorhead albums. Technically this is their first album, shelved by UA due to a lack of interest. Later to be retrieved from mothballs due to the success of their first few albums. Recorded in 1976, this has little in common with the Motorhead brand. Still searching for an identity, On Parole is more towards boogie and blues rock, and Lemmy's voice is almost clean. One can understand the label's reticent to release this, as it lacks any kind of hooks, and its audience is unclear. Certainly not like Hawkwind in any way either. This one is easy to part with. It's good mind you, but nothing more. (Aug)
*Meliah Rage - Kill to Survive. 1988 Epic. A lot of similarities to the Sanctuary album below, including same label and time of release. Meliah Rage were a Boston based group whose primary influence seems to be Metal Church. Solid thrash that doesn't take too many chances, but adds just enough changes to keep it interesting. +1 on Sanctuary at the very least. (Jul)
*Motorhead. 1978 Chiswick (UK) (1977). I wasn't planning on "loading up" on Motorhead, but I ended up getting all of their early albums on vinyl anyway. What I will end up keeping is the mystery. Ace of Spades is iconic and Iron Fist is nostalgic. Motorhead's debut is historical. More like a punk record with lengthy guitar solos. A very interesting contrast. Murky production. Not necessarily a great album by any measure, but hard to let it go. (Jul)
*Manowar - Battle Hymns. 1982 Liberty (Netherlands). Another album I bought after it came out, but I can't remember why I did back then. It wasn't ever played on the radio and I don't remember reading anything about it. I think it was a pure spec buy which would have been rare for me in 1982 given money was very scarce. In any event I hit a major home run - or so I felt at the time. Side 1 and the first track on the flip are solid hard rockers, but starting with 'Dark Avenger', Manowar essentially invents epic metal, even before Manilla Road. With none other than Orson Welles providing narration, the track sends chills down one's spine, and they climax in a fantastic heavy manner. The solo bass guitar run through of 'William Tell Overture' is insane which leads to the other epic song 'Battle Hymn'. After this debut, Manowar became incredibly self-conscious about their image and were a mix of cornball and cheesy. I do need to hear these early albums again, but I remember being very disappointed at the time. And I think it tainted my opinion about this debut which I sold in the 90s, but really should not have. Glad to have it back. (Jul)
*Motorhead - Iron Fist. 1982 Bronze (Germany). I bought this album when it was released while in high school, and it was the first Motorhead for me to hear. Ace of Spades had been elusive, so I started with Iron First. What a huge disappointment. These are sketches of songs with little to no development. And it's not very heavy either. Compared to my new favorite at the time The Number of the Beast (Iron Maiden of course), it was weak and limp. So I traded it off before I got to college if I recall right (one year later). My original assessment was spot on, I just appreciate more today where the band was coming from and what they represented. I'll keep it for now from a nostalgia perspective, but it's probably not a long hauler. (Jul)
Redemption - This Mortal Coil. 2011 InsideOut (CD). Redemption features Bernie Versailles (Agent Steel) on guitar and Ray Alder (Fates Warning) on vocals along with band leader Nick Van Dyk and a solid rhythm section. That's a good mix of musicians and I'd expect a bit different from the norm. But unfortunately - at least on This Mortal Coil - Redemption is square-on Dream Theater meets Symphony X like prog metal. I have way too much of this kind of metal already. 'Noonday Devil' being the sole exception - if there was more like it, I'd hold onto this. There's a second CD of cover songs (not even the usual vintage hard rock / metal tunes either), which is also an annoying novelty that these bands felt compelled to do. Very good on the whole, though. Someone else will enjoy this more in their collection than I. This is the second Redemption I've owned over the years (the other was the debut), and both have been let go. If I find others in the wilds, I'll continue to check them out. (Jun).
Final Chapter – The WizardQueen. 2004 Underground Symphony (CD). Title is stylized as such. This was part of that large metal buy from 2016 that I still haven’t evaluated most of. Seems I listen to less than 5 of these every year. Most of them are Euro power metal, and I just find that style too regimented for repeated listens (as noted in my recent weed out posts). I like Final Chapter’s raw sound, and they gallop with the best of ‘em. But overall there just isn’t enough invention to carry it forward. (Apr)
Primal Fear - Black Sun. 2002 Nuclear Blast (CD). Yet again, we have a fine album here. Solid power metal. I like their tone too. But... what can I tell you? Gotta bring more than rehashing the 80s for me to get excited. I have a great 80s metal collection. It's going nowhere. This is. (Jan)
Mastodon - Crack the Skye. 2009 Reprise (CD). Guessing Reprise was hoping for someone other than Fleetwood Mac to sell some product haha. They succeeded. Believe it or not this is my first time to hear Mastodon. Been curious for a long time. Generally this kind of metal music turns me off, but I can totally see the allure. Much more sophisticated than your average stoner band moving into prog. Not bad at all. And if I see their other albums in a thrift shop, I'll try them anyway just for the heck of it. Had I purchased this when it came out, it might have survived the collection cut. But this isn't really my thing. (Jan)
Impellitteri - Stand in Line. 1988 Relativity. Thrift shop pickup (Jan). Seems that singer Graham Bonnet had a thing for shredder guitarists. Here's his latest hero. Bonnet makes every album he's on sound like his band. This is a lot like Alcatrazz. But Malmsteen is a more interesting guitarist. They try hard to play anthemic metal tunes rather than showoffy material, but it's soooo 80s. Bad cover songs too like 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'. Really? OK, an average album for the style. At best.
* - Keeping for the collection
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