Archive for 2009
Michael Kiske – Twilight of a vocal god
Like most people, I was introduced to Kiske’s voice via Helloween’s Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 1. He instantly 
became one of my favorite singers along with Bruce Dickinson, Dio, Jeff Scott Soto and John Arch. He had a very unique voice but was constantly compared to Dickinson. I never got that, but whatever. To this day I still follow Michael’s albums and have only been disappointed a few times along the way. Unfortunately I have never seen them live except for the Hell On Wheels Halloween Show they did on MTV, which was awesome. RIP Ingo!
I just spun Keeper 1 and 2 (NOISE Records 2 CD set) a week or so ago. Keeper 1 holds up well, good songs, great vocals. Keeper 2? Not so much. That album was pretty goofy when it came out and it’s even more so now. Other than Eagle Fly Free, Save Us and I Want Out, the album is pretty awful. When Pink Bubbles Go Ape came out, I was none to thrilled about the title or the album cover. WTF? The album is almost a joke save a few songs like Kids of the Century and Number One. I haven’t spun it in years and not sure when I’ll actually pull it off the shelf again. All that being said, Kiske still had the pipes and could pretty much reach any note he needed to. By the time Chameleon came out, I was really apprehensive about it, and with good reason based on the previous 2 albums. Chameleon is mellow, quiet and was really showing a different side of Helloween…a non-German power metal side. These guys essentially invented that style and ultimately completely abandoned it. While Kiske’s vocals were consistent on this one and while it is a better album than Pink Bubbles, it’s not great…but I still reach for it from time to time. It was a good indicator of what was to come for Kiske.
Kiske left after Chameleon to pursue a solo career. It’s not very often that new like this makes me happy, but this was one of those cases.
I was very excited when Instant Clarity came out in 1996. It featured Adrian Smith and Kai Hansen as guest musicians. The album is fantastic and Adiran’s and Kai’s contributions are certainly noteworthy.
A few years later came Readiness To Sacrifice. While I like this album, it’s certainly even more mellow than the last. You can see that Kiske really wanted to get away from hard rock. And that’s quite alright.
Unfortunately his next project was Supared. I tried and tried to like this post-alternative album, but it just didn’t connect with me at all.
Michael release 2 other solo albums under the moniker “Kiske”: Kiske and Past In Different Ways which was basically his acoustic interpretations of some Helloween classics. It’s not bad at all but the Kiske CD is a bit better.
Then there’s Place Vendome. I simply love the 2 CDs he did with them. Place Vendome and Streets of Fire are basically radio friendly slightly hard rock with, of course, great solos and really nice guitar solos. I highly recommend both of these albums if you like some of the mid-to-latter era Journey works. This is certainly comparable. AOR they call it? Whatever, it’s good stuff.
In summation, I love Kiske’s voice, I always have. I didn’t care much for the offshoot stuff he did with Avantasia etc, I prefer it when he’s the lead singer of a band. I’d love to see him whip out one more metal album but it’ll never happen. I think Place Vendome will be as close as he gets to that stuff ever again.
Overlife – Between Passion and Madness – 1998
1998. I was really buying a lot of music at the time betweenwhat I was selling through my online music store and what 
I was buying for myself. A lot of the stuff I was buying for myself was from Denis Gulbey at Sentinel Steel Records. Back in the old days when you could call in and jibber jabber, Denis recommended Overlife to me. So…thanks Denis!
Overlife hails from Alicante, Spain. I built their first website (long since gone) and used to correspond with Fabricio quite a bit. What really drew me to them was Leandro’s voice. Very unique and a lot of emotion. The music itself was a little sloppy in places and even the vocals seem a bit out of key sometimes, but this album is really good overall. It’s sung completely in English but I included 2 bonus tracks in Spanish. They are good European power/prog metal with a hint of wanting to sound like Dream Theater. Their later albums sounded more like DT type prog which was a turnoff for me. So, this album it is. I still listen to it a few times a year. It’s a bright memory of a darker time in my life where the death of my father and my divorce seemed to dominate my every day life.
So if you’re into the aforementioned style of power metal, I recommend this highly.
Concert Review – Hirax – Austin, TX – 08/29/09
It was 1986 and Metal Blade Records was practically the greatest metal label on the scene. They consistently released 
great compilations like the Metal Massacre and Best of Metal Blade series. Best of Metal Blade Volume 1 (1986) included Call Of The Gods by Hirax. I always loved that song but for no logical reason whatsoever did I never check them out any further. I also liked Bombs of Death from Metal Massacre 6. There’s really no explanation as to why I didn’t follow through on these guys, and after last night I feel like I missed out on some additional great metal in the last 23 years.
So about a month or so ago I read in the local show listings that Hirax was coming to Red 7. Even though I was not even remotely familiar with any of their material beyond the 2 aforementioned songs, I definitely wanted to see this show. Through the years I’ve always seen Hirax playing the Euro festivals and have read interviews with Katon W. DePena and have always respected his attitude about music. The guys has proudly been flying the flag of metal since day 1.
So I get to the club a little early to get MM6 and Best of Metal Blade 1 signed as well as my copy of “Headbangers: Worldwide Megabook of Heavy Metal” (Mark Hale, 1993). I know the club owner pretty well and he let me go in to the green room to meet Katon and the band. I was looking forward to this for a few reasons. One to meet Katon, who really is a true metal legend. The other reason was to meet Glenn Rogers, former guitar player of Deliverance. I dug those guys back in the day. When I went into the room, Katon was in there with his lovely wife, his bassist and guitarist Lance and Steve Harrison and some other guy that I didn’t know. Glenn was out and about with a friend so I would catch up with him later.
Katon invited me over and we talked for a bit just about music and such and Katon asked about my book. As he’s flipping through it reading about his band and tons of other obscure bands that are listed in the book. He signed it and my 2 CD covers and said, “Is DRI in here? The guy beside me if Felix from DRI.” Felix thought they wouldn’t be in there but I knew they were. Much to everyone’s pleasure, there was even a picture of band during the era that Felix was in it (85-90). I hung out for a bit and asked Katon if he ever had any interactions with Billy Milano, which he had. So I asked if he wanted to walk over to the club that Billy works in to say hello. We popped over there for a bit and they shook hands and caught up for a few minutes then I took them over to another club so Katon could catch up with an old friend who unfortunately wasn’t there at the time. Back to Red 7. It was great seeing the respect this guy was getting from people in the club, some of who came from Houston and I think a few from Mexico to see this show.
I really expected a much larger crowd, especially with this being on a Saturday. Typically the San Antonio crew would come up for a show like this but I only saw a few folks from that crowd there. The Sword was playing up the street for the 2nd night in a row and I can’t imagine they stole much of the crowd from this show. The club booked 4 grindcore bands to open up which I thought was a bad pairing. I didn’t go in to check out the other bands as I’m not really a fan of the grind stuff in general. While the grind bands were playing I got to talk to Glenn Rogers who let me know that Deliverance was going to do one more album with the original lineup sans the drummer.
But then it was time for Hirax. It was already around 1 or 1:10 AM but the crowd had increased. I’m guessing there were about 90 people in there. Cover charge was $15. Well worth it for me. Hirax kicked in and just kicked ass. Katon is a great frontman, reminds me a lot of Jason McMaster. Knows to to work a crowd and keep them interested during guitar tunings and such.
I have to say that I was truly blown away and really felt a bit guilty about not having checked them out deeper. But there’s no time like the present, right? Their set was cut short due to time restraints and I must say I was a little let down that Call of the Gods wasn’t on the set at all. But it didn’t matter, they were great and I hope they make their way back to Austin again.
Setlist as I remember it:
- El Dia De Los Muertos
- 100,000 Strong
- Blind Faith
- New Age of Terror
- Chaos and Brutality
- Hate, Fear and Power
- Broken Neck
- Bombs of Death
- El Diablo Negro
- Walk With Death
- Mouth Sewn Shut?
I am not so sure about the ones after El Diablo Negro.
Katon W. De Pena (Hirax), fat dude (me), Felix Griffin (DRI)
RIP Phil.
60 years ago today one of my favorite singer/songwriters was born. Such a shame the way he ruined his body and soul.
Skullview – Legends of Valor (1997)
A song from this was on one of the many compilation tapes that Kelz sent me over the years. It was the song Blood on 
the Blade from Skullview‘s debut CD. I bought this CD and the followup and have enjoyed them both over the years but there was always something missing and I still can’t put my fingers on it. They vocals were fine, the riffs were fine…these guys were a good traditional American metal band but something always seemed to be lacking. I always thought the drummer was a bit boring and a tad sloppy. I don’t know. But nonetheless, this album is certainly worth putting ears to a few times.
They did play one of the Keep It True fests and I am sure some of the other US metal festivals. I used to correspond with the guitarist quite a bit in the days of the old usenet metal forums. Great dude, fine guitarist. Wonder what he’s up to these days?
I guess I could compare them to Armored Saint and Early Jag Panzer…a little anyway.
You know as I sit here and listen to this album again, I blame it on the drummer. He definitely had some meter problems which translated to the rest of the band.
The Metal Files 
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