Posts Tagged ‘cd reviews’
Satan – Court In The Act
I’m not quite sure how I ended up hearing this album. It was either through Kelz or Daniel. It doesn’t 
matter, I owe one of them a great debt of gratitude for this one. Satan were a NWOBHM outfit featuring Brian Ross on vocals (for this LP) who also spent time with Blitzkrieg. Steve Ramsey ended up in Blind Fury, Pariah (UK) and Skyclad.
I don’t know what more to say about this album other than it absolutely rules and is definitely one of the best albums from that genre. It’s one that I have been listening to since about 1986 and still can never grow tired of it. Ross’ smooth vocal delivery and all of the backing music work perfectly together. I’ve recommended this album to many people and those who have heard it always seem to fall in love with it. If you’re into the the NWOBHM sound and like stuff like Blitzkrieg, Persian Risk and Tokyo Blade, you need to hear this album. You shall not be disappointed, trust me. Would I ever steer you wrong? No. Never.
It was a huge disappointment when I bought their follow-up albums Suspended Sentence and Into the Future. The replacement singer was just awful and the music took a turn for the worse as well.
Enjoy!
Christian Mistress – Agony and Opium EP
I caught Christian Mistress (Olympia, WA) live last night at Red 7 in Austin. I saw someone mention that they had a 
NWOBHM feel about them so I went to YouTube to see if there were any clips and lo and behold, the whole new EP was up there. I liked it enough to go see ’em.
I’ll be the first to admit that I am not the biggest fan of most metal bands fronted by women, but there are always exceptions and Christian Mistress is one of them.
This band does have a bit of NWOBHM to them and the songs on the EP sounds pretty good and have some good hooks. Her voice is a bit raspy but it works well. You can download it from iTunes for $6! I did.
Their live show left me with a bit to be desired. I don’t know if it was because of the sound at Red 7 or what, but they were not very tight at all. They’ve been on the road for a few weeks as well and typically bands that are playing out a lot get tighter live. But this matched some of the live clips I watched on YouTube. That being said, I’d certainly go see them live again.
Check ’em out (click fotos to enlarge).
Eagles – The Long Run
This is definitely one of my “back in time” or “nostalgia” records. I can remember my oldest brother bringing it home on 8-track (late ’79 or early 
’80) and playing it in his POS ’76 Mustang.
Just seeing the cover takes me back to a time when things were so much easier. We had just moved from the ‘burbs to a farm (which I was none too happy about) and I was about 10 years old. Dad had just retired from the NAVY a year before after 20 years of service. Everything was different. Dad was home more (which was great) and my brothers (6 and 8 years older than me) were getting into trouble all the time. What was a kid to do to escape a little? Music!
For whatever reason over the last few days, the song I Can’t Tell You Why has been playing over and over in my head. I love that song and it’s quite possibly one of my favorite songs of all time, definitely my favorite Eagles song.
In general I love this album but there are a few tracks that while I probably loved them as a kid, I can’t stand them now…Heartache Tonight, Those Shoes and The Greeks Don’t Want No Freaks. When the album is playing I always skip those 3.
But then there’s the rest of the album…man, what an album. The title track, In The City (although I prefer the original version from The Warriors soundtrack a little more), I Can’t Tell You Why, Disco Strangler, King of Hollywood(!!!), Teenage Jail and The Sad Cafe. All of these are such wonderfully written and performed songs. King of Hollywood definitely ranks highly for me all time as well. So dark and brooding. Love it.
While I’m not the biggest Eagles fan in the world, I certainly would say this is their best effort.
HAMMERON – Nothin’ To Do But Rock
Here’s one that I don’t really have any connection to but up until this week has been sitting in my collection for a few 
years. Hammeron hailed from Chicago and the singer, Brian Troch, sang on the first 2 releases by Cyclone Temple. Apparently he did a stint in Znowhite as well, who of course became Cyclone Temple, so the math works, eh?
This is not a great album by any stretch of the imagination but if you liked that dude’s voice on the CT stuff, you’ll dig this probably. Straight up US metal.
When I saw Cyclone Temple in 1994(?), he was already out of the band. Didn’t matter. They were awesome live.
This never came out officially but I picked it up from Europe as a bootleg on CD.
Arsis – Starve For The Devil (2010) – Pre-Release Review
As much as I hate to admit it, I illegally downloaded the new Arsis from a file sharing site today. I really don’t like 
doing that but this is one time that I couldn’t control myself. In my own defense (not that there is one), I pre-ordered both versions of the new one. OK, I’m a thief. Call Lars Ulrich!
Anyway…I am a fanboy of certain bands and Arsis is certainly one of them. Sucks that I haven’t seen them play since like 2005 or 2006. WTF? I don’t need to go back into my history with the band, it slathered through this site.
But you’re here to read my review. Let me start with welcoming back Mike Van Dyne on the drums. Nice work, man. We Are the Nightmare (WATN) was my #1 album of 2008 and this album is different, but not in a bad way. The production isn’t quite as thick as the last album meaning that the drum production isn’t over the top like on the last one. I didn’t mind it at all but I like how this sounds. And it has Van Dyne written all over it.
Overall the songs don’t seem as over the top as WATN but it’s kicking my ass. This is the album I expected. The solos and riffs are all there. I’m only through one and a half listens but this is great.
If you’ve liked any or all of the other Arsis albums, you will not be disappointed, I promise.
The Metal Files 
You must be logged in to post a comment.