Tyketto - Shine
Tyketto are probably best known for the song, 'Forever Young', a classic melodic rock song with a humongous chorus but this album sounds like a different band.
The opener, Jamie, is a good rootsy number which mixes acoustic and electric guitar. Rawthigh is groove laden rock with an Electric Boys feel. The gospel tinged Radio Mary with its female backing vocals has a 'Southern Harmony...' era Black Crowes feel and is a very good track. High is like a rockier Kula Shaker but better than that sounds.
One of the strengths of this album is the quality of the ballads. Get Me There is a killer ballad a la Mr Big which sounds like it could have been a massive hit in another timeline. The positive, love overcomes all message certainly had the potential to touch armed forces personnel away from their families. The Ballad Of Ruby is The Black Crowes covering a Bon Jovi or 'Trash' era Alice Cooper ballad. I Won't Cry is a monster ballad which sounds like Bon Jovi and Journey getting together and jamming out 'Purple Rain'.
It isn't all great however. Let It Go's pilfering of 'She Sells Sanctuary's riff is a little too blatant, although the remainder of the song is Georgia Satellites style good time rock 'n' roll. Long Cold Winter is plodding, predictable George Thorogood style blues rock but overall, this is much better than I remember.
Sunday, 29 June 2014
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
Danzig - Mother
Danzig - Mother
The lead track on this four track single is a retooling of the track originally found on the first Danzig album. It's a fantastic, anthemic hard rock song with a 'Don't Fear The Reaper' feel and a momentous, towering, charismatic vocal performance from Glenn Danzig. There is also a live version taken from the 'Thrall - Demonsweatlive' album which has lots of crowd noise, but it sounds like a studio version with the crowd noises added on in the studio afterwards. If you already have the studio version, you don't really need this.
The live version of How The Gods Kill, on the other hand, is brilliant. Delicate, clean guitar passages give way to doomy heavy metal filled with squealing guitars while Danzig's vocals add a dramatic, gothic touch. When Death Had No Name is typical Danzig, slow and heavy metal played at a plodding pace before picking up towards the end with a great, uptempo metallic passage with an excellent jagged riff which gives it a 'Ride The Lightning' era Metallica meets early trouble vibe.
The lead track on this four track single is a retooling of the track originally found on the first Danzig album. It's a fantastic, anthemic hard rock song with a 'Don't Fear The Reaper' feel and a momentous, towering, charismatic vocal performance from Glenn Danzig. There is also a live version taken from the 'Thrall - Demonsweatlive' album which has lots of crowd noise, but it sounds like a studio version with the crowd noises added on in the studio afterwards. If you already have the studio version, you don't really need this.
The live version of How The Gods Kill, on the other hand, is brilliant. Delicate, clean guitar passages give way to doomy heavy metal filled with squealing guitars while Danzig's vocals add a dramatic, gothic touch. When Death Had No Name is typical Danzig, slow and heavy metal played at a plodding pace before picking up towards the end with a great, uptempo metallic passage with an excellent jagged riff which gives it a 'Ride The Lightning' era Metallica meets early trouble vibe.
Tuesday, 10 June 2014
Live Review
Prince & 3rdEyeGirl - Manchester, Phones 4 U Arena (17/5/14)
Prince can be notoriously hit and miss live. One night he'll play a greatest hits set and the next night he might play a two hour long funk jam. Tonight leans mainly towards the former whilst still having touches of the latter.
The show opens with a glorious heavy funk rock version of Lets Go Crazy, which features some great guitar solos, both from Prince himself and fellow guitarist, Donna Grantis. A great start.
All the individual members of 3rdEyeGirl are very good musicians and as a unit, they're a very tight band, not afraid to play around with the classics and deliver renditions different to their studio counterparts. Take Me With U, for example, is transformed into a straight up rock song while the verse of Little Red Corvette is a smooth soul ballad and all the better for it. The uptempo chorus sounds a little lightweight in comparison.
U Got The Look is excellent while Musicology is deliciously funky and full of swagger. Kiss is awesome, much funkier than on record and it really gets the crowd on their feet while When Doves Cry is incredible tribal, electronic pop.
This band is equally adept at playing funk, pop, blues and rock. In their hands, even weaker tracks such as Like I Love My Guitar have much more power live.
With such a vast back catalogue, Prince makes every effort to play as many tracks as he can in the allotted time so some songs aren't played in full. The one chorus and verse that we get of I Would Die 4 U is amazing. The midway point of the set is turned into an '80s megamix, complete with percussive mixing which turns the arena into one big party.
An extended intro to Purple Rain gives the great man a break before he appears to perform a brilliant smooth soul version of the track before the powerhouse guitar solo reminds us all what a great rock song it's always been. Astounding. Controversy keeps the good vibe going. 1999 is another crowd favourite but the sound strangely drifts in and out during the track.
Nothing Compares 2 U is spine-tingling and emotional, and this heralds a medley of slower tracks. We even get a couple of verses of Beautiful Ones (but not the climax unfortunately). The pacing of the set isn't perfect and this emotionally draining sequence saps the energy from the crowd. What they need is for Prince to play something upbeat to raise the energy levels back up. It takes a few songs before a dense and funky version of 'Play That Funky Music' recovers the good feeling. This is a minor criticism however of what was otherwise an excellent Show.
Prince can be notoriously hit and miss live. One night he'll play a greatest hits set and the next night he might play a two hour long funk jam. Tonight leans mainly towards the former whilst still having touches of the latter.
The show opens with a glorious heavy funk rock version of Lets Go Crazy, which features some great guitar solos, both from Prince himself and fellow guitarist, Donna Grantis. A great start.
All the individual members of 3rdEyeGirl are very good musicians and as a unit, they're a very tight band, not afraid to play around with the classics and deliver renditions different to their studio counterparts. Take Me With U, for example, is transformed into a straight up rock song while the verse of Little Red Corvette is a smooth soul ballad and all the better for it. The uptempo chorus sounds a little lightweight in comparison.
U Got The Look is excellent while Musicology is deliciously funky and full of swagger. Kiss is awesome, much funkier than on record and it really gets the crowd on their feet while When Doves Cry is incredible tribal, electronic pop.
This band is equally adept at playing funk, pop, blues and rock. In their hands, even weaker tracks such as Like I Love My Guitar have much more power live.
With such a vast back catalogue, Prince makes every effort to play as many tracks as he can in the allotted time so some songs aren't played in full. The one chorus and verse that we get of I Would Die 4 U is amazing. The midway point of the set is turned into an '80s megamix, complete with percussive mixing which turns the arena into one big party.
An extended intro to Purple Rain gives the great man a break before he appears to perform a brilliant smooth soul version of the track before the powerhouse guitar solo reminds us all what a great rock song it's always been. Astounding. Controversy keeps the good vibe going. 1999 is another crowd favourite but the sound strangely drifts in and out during the track.
Nothing Compares 2 U is spine-tingling and emotional, and this heralds a medley of slower tracks. We even get a couple of verses of Beautiful Ones (but not the climax unfortunately). The pacing of the set isn't perfect and this emotionally draining sequence saps the energy from the crowd. What they need is for Prince to play something upbeat to raise the energy levels back up. It takes a few songs before a dense and funky version of 'Play That Funky Music' recovers the good feeling. This is a minor criticism however of what was otherwise an excellent Show.
Thursday, 5 June 2014
Heaven 'N' Hell - Sleeping With Angels
Heaven 'N' Hell - Sleeping With Angels
This isn't the band that Dio era Sabbath became. In fact, I know very little about this Finnish band. They were (I use past tense as I presume they have split up) a strange rock/glam/power metal hybrid mixing driving 'Appetite For Destruction' riffs, glammy vocals with a touch of Ratt's Stephen Pearcy and Hammerfall's anthemic heavy metal.
Turn Me Around has a great chorus while the chorus of Two Lonely Souls is even better being huge and melodic. Take My Hand has a Primal Fear feel. Another Man has terrible, cheesy lyrics but is punchy enough to overcome this handicap. Almost Done has a heavy, industrialised glam metal feel like 'Violent New Breed' era Shotgun Messiah while the closing track, Paid All The Dues, is the heaviest track here and verges on Crowbar or Down territory.
The lyrics are basic and clichéd, centred on love and sex, but the choruses are big and catchy. The vocals are an acquired taste and sometimes become irritating such as on A Cry For Help. This was in a pile of cds I was going to get rid of but this is better than I remembered.
This isn't the band that Dio era Sabbath became. In fact, I know very little about this Finnish band. They were (I use past tense as I presume they have split up) a strange rock/glam/power metal hybrid mixing driving 'Appetite For Destruction' riffs, glammy vocals with a touch of Ratt's Stephen Pearcy and Hammerfall's anthemic heavy metal.
Turn Me Around has a great chorus while the chorus of Two Lonely Souls is even better being huge and melodic. Take My Hand has a Primal Fear feel. Another Man has terrible, cheesy lyrics but is punchy enough to overcome this handicap. Almost Done has a heavy, industrialised glam metal feel like 'Violent New Breed' era Shotgun Messiah while the closing track, Paid All The Dues, is the heaviest track here and verges on Crowbar or Down territory.
The lyrics are basic and clichéd, centred on love and sex, but the choruses are big and catchy. The vocals are an acquired taste and sometimes become irritating such as on A Cry For Help. This was in a pile of cds I was going to get rid of but this is better than I remembered.
Sunday, 1 June 2014
Overkill - Necroshine
Overkill - Necroshine
I've loved this New Jersey thrash institution ever since a schoolfriend introduced me to them when I was seventeen.This album was released in 1999, which was in the middle of a fairly uninspired period for the band. This isn't pure unadulterated thrash metal. This is the sound of a band stretching their wings and taking on more influences without selling out.
The title track mixes unhinged thrash with a stoner metal stomp. 80 Cycles has a heavy Corrosion Of Conformity vibe, with a 'Vote With A Bullet' influenced verse and a 'Deliverance' style southern metal chorus. Forked Tongue Kiss is uptempo and aggressive with an industrialized Ministry riff and blackened vocals. I Am Fear is very 'Cowboys From Hell' but Bobby 'Blitz' Ellsworth's vocals mean it is still undeniably Overkill, whilst some off key singing makes My December oddly memorable. Black Line has a tribal, almost viking metal verse and a memorable chorus. Revelation even has hair metal backing vocals. There is only Dead Man which seems tired and uninspired.
This album is a little slower than previous releases, but with solid, well defined riffs. The overall vibe is kinda Floodgate meets Pantera. This showed that the band were still capable of producing good albums.
I've loved this New Jersey thrash institution ever since a schoolfriend introduced me to them when I was seventeen.This album was released in 1999, which was in the middle of a fairly uninspired period for the band. This isn't pure unadulterated thrash metal. This is the sound of a band stretching their wings and taking on more influences without selling out.
The title track mixes unhinged thrash with a stoner metal stomp. 80 Cycles has a heavy Corrosion Of Conformity vibe, with a 'Vote With A Bullet' influenced verse and a 'Deliverance' style southern metal chorus. Forked Tongue Kiss is uptempo and aggressive with an industrialized Ministry riff and blackened vocals. I Am Fear is very 'Cowboys From Hell' but Bobby 'Blitz' Ellsworth's vocals mean it is still undeniably Overkill, whilst some off key singing makes My December oddly memorable. Black Line has a tribal, almost viking metal verse and a memorable chorus. Revelation even has hair metal backing vocals. There is only Dead Man which seems tired and uninspired.
This album is a little slower than previous releases, but with solid, well defined riffs. The overall vibe is kinda Floodgate meets Pantera. This showed that the band were still capable of producing good albums.
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