Paris Metal France Festival Day 2

So today saw me once more at La Divan du Monde for day 2 of Paris Metal France Festival. Once again, some of the lords of French metal, now veritable dinosaurs, walked the earth. More concentrated on hard rock than the previous night I attended the first 5 sets from the day, after that, my body kind of gave out. I saw the jazzy Morglbl, the young and restless Wild Dawn, the reborn rockers of Dygitals, the extremely rude Tears and the gloriously power metally Manigance. Pverall it was a good day of headbanging that has left my neck very sore.

Morglbl was a pleasant surprise to start off the day with. These jazz metallers helped pioneer the genre and they were a blast to see live. The second half of their set featured covers done with members of other bands helping out on vocals and guitar. Now while I understand that most people can't take 45 minutes of instrumental jazz-metal, I still wish they had dedicated a bit more time to their own stuff. As is though, it was a pretty fabulous set that showed off some truly brilliant and innovative musicians at the top of their game.

Wild Dawn got up next and played an absolutely killer set. It was funny to see such a young hard rocking band play for a group of older metalheads. (The average age was in the late 40s) I feel like they were limited by a lack of moshing. Yet their Gypsyhawk type sound and hard rock attitude won the crowds respect. They were a blast to see and a ton of heads were banging and fists pumping. They had a lot of energy and their lead guitarist walked through the entire crowd playing and extended solo. This is a band I would like to see again in the near future. 

Dygitals, the third band, were a blast to see. I loved how these aged rockers still preserved their manic energy left over from the 80s. It was a pleasure to see how happy all of the band members were to be performing too. Their good mood spilled out onto the audience and we all had a great time. The one issue though was that they had major technical issues with their bassist, to the point in which he had to sit out a few songs.Yet they handled it professionally and ended the set with their classic Avé Caesar. They managed to overcome technical difficulties and put out a brilliant set.

Tears came on next and played all of two songs. After having their reunion highly flaunted by the festival organizers they could barely be bothered to play 7 minutes of music. No one knew how to react after this little fiasco. I for one found it to be very disrespectful, I mean, they could have at least warned the organizers that they didn't have a lot of material, rather than just up and leaving the stage after a couple of songs! It was a very disappointing moment for me in what was otherwise an absolutely stellar festival.

The final band I saw today was Manigance. This high energy power metal act was a ton of fun to see and even in my overtired state I could not stop headbanging. With a ton of tasty solos and synchronized headbanging this was heavy metal at its finest. Their songs had epic sing a long choruses and beautiful melodies. I really like the keyboard and synthesizer work on some of their more dramatic pieces. Overall, these guys still know how to rock and really got the crowd pumped up and arm waving. They were a nice conclusion to my day. 

In conclusion, day 2 of the Paris Metal France Festival was fun and crazy. Even though my body gave out 3/4 of the way through I still had a great time and I think everyone else did too. Its very disappointing to know that this will be the last edition of PMFF. Yet today, all the bands were stellar (Except Tears) and were very tight and professional. They took the audience on a heavy metal journey and would not let them go. Metal madness for the masses this was a great event, if you failed to come, you really missed something grand.

Whoracle-In Flames

So I stayed up last night. So what better way to wake up is there than listening to In Flames? Their 1997 album Whoracle is the day's first review and it is awesome. The guitars are solid and riffing abominations that create an enormous wall of sound. Then there is the pretty much imaginary bass (it's imaginary because you never hear it.) The drums are powerful and loud and provide a really nice feel to the music. In short the instruments make me smile on the inside. Then there are the vocals of Fridén which are beautifully brutal. Finally the lyrics turn this album into an epic concept album, but more on that later. As for now let's discuss that killer guitar sound.

The dual guitars of Stromblad (coolest name ever by the way) and Ljungstrom are excellent. The lead guitar of Stromblad is incredibly melodic and has some absolutely mind shattering fills. In truth the face melting brutality of Stromblad and his Flying V. If HammerFall had kept Stromblad as a guitarist and not a drummer then HammerFall would be even more brain leaking than usual. Ljungstrom on the other hand is just an average guitarist however his chunky riffs are definitely worth listening too. The bass is completely inaudible and not even worth talking about. The drums are extremely solid though and have a lot of cool fills there that help make the band sound brutal. Overall the instrumentalists on this album are pretty good and they help to create a pretty awesome sound.

The vocals on this album are pretty much the spirit of melodeath itself. The growls of Fridén help to make this album sound so awesome. His amazingly powerful growls help to make this album one of the best in the In Flames catalog. Overall the vocals are some of the best I have ever heard from the melodeath genre. The only way for them to really improve would be to make them a bit deeper. If the vocals were made even more brutal I would be oh so happy. The lyrics on this album are epic. They tell the tale of an apocalyptic story that tells about the rise of a utopian society and then the story of what happens as it goes down in flames.

All in all this is an epic album with an incredibly powerful sound. This is an album that shaped melodeath and that made it as awesome as it is today. The guitar sound is loud and brutal and highly enjoyable. The dual guitars balance in their roles nearly perfectly. The bassist is imaginary so I will not comment on him. The drums are extremely well done and they are fairly original. The vocals are fairly brutal but could be a bit deeper. Still they are overall excellent. Then there are the lyrics which detail an epic story. Overall this is a pretty awesome album that could do with more bass and slightly more brutal growls.

OVERALL 9.5/10

Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?

Ah so I wake up in the morning, and then decide to listen to Megadeth. So let's do it folks, Megadeth is on today's menu with their classic album “Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?”. This is one of the culminations of thrash metal and helping to prove that 1986 was the best year for thrash. With the raging dual guitars of Mustaine and Poland (the guy not the country) help to create an amazing powerful sound. The bass of Ellefson is extremely well done and highly enjoyable. It gets several fills that are just mindblowing. The drums done by Samuelson are also excellent. They take standard thrash drumming and throw in a couple awesome fills to make it all work. When the drums are not putting in great fills they are extremely tight. In fact all of the rhythm section is amazingly tight and together on this album.

Both the lead and rhythm guitars are extremely well done. The lead guitar of Poland creates some very nice riffs and fills in with solos that shriek over the rhythm section. In truth one of my favorite things about Poland's guitar playing is that his solos have spectacular bends in them that make the guitar seem a lot more emotional. The rhythm guitar as done by Mustaine is pretty decent and has its own feel that is different than that of both Slayer and Metallica. Mustaine's style is a bit more like Hetfield's however his rhythm parts are less chunky. This allows for greater dominance on the part of Poland. The bass is very solid and the fill at the beginning of Peace Sells is a legendary one. The bass fuses very nicely with the drums to create one of the tightest rhythm sections in thrash. The drums have two roles on this album and they fill them both in perfectly. As a rhythm instrument the drum is spectacular, it stays extremely solid and keeps excellent time. However, at times the drumming is not very creative in it rhythm parts. Fortunately this is counteracted by the awesomeness of the drum fills. In particular the drum fill in Good Mourning is spectacular.

The vocals are also fairly well done. Mustaine's vocals are slightly lighter than the standard thrash growl, but not a lot lighter. It is similar enough so that the thrash feel is not harmed but different enough as to give Megadeth their own unique sound from the vocal side of things. Overall though Mustaine is not a spectacular singer, however he does an excellent job of fitting his limited abilities into the songs so that he sounds awesome. Overall the vocals themselves are pretty good and despite a lack of vocal range from Mustaine he still manages to rock hard and make his vocals work. His lyrics are also extremely good on this album. He typically has lyrics that are like horror stories. For example the song Devil's Island is a creepy song talking about a mans last thoughts before he is killed.

All in all this is a killer album that I am extremely fond of. Their sound is extremely tight and it is extremely clear that all of the band members understand their role in the band. The guitars are btoh awesome. The lead guitar has a lot of wailing solos that simply make my jaw drop. On the other hand the rhythm guitar is extremely well done if not as chunky as it could be. The bass is solid as a rhythm instrument and gets a couple of impressive fills. The drums are chock full of awesome fills which counteract an occasional lack of originality in the rhythm drum department. The vocals are fairly good and Mustaine manages to make his voice sound awesome everywhere. He has horror themed lyrics that really fill the music out. To finish, Peace Sells...But Who's buying is a killer album that any and all metalheads will love.

OVERALL 9.75/10

The Last in Line-Dio

 Today I am reviewing some early power metal from one of the bands in the HUGE Black Sabbath family of bands. This is Dio's classic The Last in Line, featuring some pretty awesome cover art and even awesomer sound. There are some great melodic guitar riffs, that scream of proto-power metal. The most amazing part about the guitar is how full the sound feels despite their only being one guitarist. Then there is the steady bass, which has a couple great fills. In addition the drums are excellent and have a lot of originality behind them. Also Dio experiments with some added in keyboards which sound pretty nice. The vocals of Dio are filled with a fiery passion for music and that shows in his super awesome lyrics. All in all this is a extremely melodic and beautiful album with an impressive sound.

The guitar sound is incendiary, INCENDIARY, it has so many beautiful and melodic riffs that it boggles the mind. There are different genres of heavy metal covered by the guitar, the most notable is of course proto-powermetal. Some of the greatest power metal bands have cited this album as a lasting influence. The guitar has a similar sound to that of Iron Maiden;s Adrian Smith who is known for his beautiful melodic guitar solos. Some of the riffs remind me of Judas Priest, other riffs from this album were pretty much stolen by Zakk Wylde. The bass is solid and helps drive the music on and gets quite a few nice fills. In a 4 piece band it has quite a big roll, and it satisfies it's roll well. The drums are pretty original and are a pinnacle of Vinnie Appice's ability. Finally the keyboards have a pretty decent sound and are a good listen adding a melodic feel to a lot of songs.

Dio's (like the guy not the band) voice is spectacular. His vocals have fire and passion and are amazing because of that. Dio has the ability to hold a note for bars on end. The best word to describe Dio's amazing voice is Power, just that 'Power' when you listen to him you realize that he has more of himself behind his music than nearly any other musician in the world. Asides from Dio's clean vocals there are some weird experimental death growls in some parts of songs, these help accentuate the music but do not dominate it. The lyrics are pure Dio, they talk mostly about sex and drugs but also have a lot of fantasy topics.

Overall this is a great album and one of Dio's (both the guy and the band's) best. It has amazing instrumental work great vocals and cool sing a long lyrics. The guitar is powerful and features a lot of great sounds. In particular it has some great solos. Then there are the nice bass fills, these are helped by the great drumming of Vinnie Appice, who is one of my favorite All-Time drummers. The keyboards add a nice melodic feel to the music. Finally Dio's vocals are like... wow. He has everything that makes a great vocalist. An amazing voice and fire behind his lyrics. This is a good album with some killer songs for any metalhead to enjoy.

OVERALL 9.5/10

A Vulgar Display of Power-Pantera

 This evening I am reviewing Pantera's classic A Vulgar Display of Power. As soon as the record hits the table you hear a soaring and powerful riff from Dimebag's almighty fingers. This is the album that proved that Pantera was truly amazing. With their previous albums Pantera was rising to power, but with this album they proved themselves as metal gods. Dimebag has an amazing guitar that releases beautiful riffs, the bass is rock steady and well done, in addition the drums are powerful and fast. Anselmo's vocals are amazing and help define Pantera's awesome sound. The lyrics are shocking and powerful and simply awesome.

Dimebag's guitar is, simply Dimebag, there is no other way to describe it. Dimebag is pretty much the best guitarist of the 90's (except for maybe Zakk Wylde) and he proves it on this album. His guitar is hard riffing and very powerful. There is more raw energy in Dimebags riffs than there are on many thrash albums. Considering the energy in Dimebag's riffs one might consider renaming this album A Vulgar Display of Energy. In essence Dimebag's raw energy dominates the music. The bass is solid but uninspiring, Rexx Rocker does have a great stage persona though. Then the drums of Vinnie Paul are excellent, they are fairly original and have an excellent sound in them.

The singing of Anselmo is borders on death growls. His singing is a bit lighter than full on growls though. He has a very powerful voice and he puts a lot of guts behind it, you can sense through the music that he really means what he feels. The vocals of Anselmo are on a similar level of growliness as those of Venom and maybe some harder Zakk Wylde. These vocals define the sound just as much as Dimebag does and they are just as awesome as Dimebag's shredding guitar. The vocals are very dark and often punk like. They reflect a lot of anger against society and call for upending society, the lyrics seek to dominate with their anger. While they are good they are not ground-breakingly original.

Overall this is an awesome album from a great band. There are a lot of things that make this album sound awesome. One of the greatest things is Dimebag's spectacular guitar, it excretes energy as it goes about its riffing business. Of course his riffs are onnly matched in majesty with his incredible solos. The bass is solid but meh, the drums are excellent and incredibly original with a lot of great fills. The vocals are excellent, bordering on death growls they contain a lot of raw anger and this is often reflected in their angry lyrics. All in all this is a great listen and a fun one at that, this is a great album for any metalhead.

OVERALL 9/10

Helloween-Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt 1

 So now I am in the car on a 7 hour car ride, what better time to do a metal review?

So now I will review some Helloween baby! I am doing their second album Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1 which thoroughly rocks. It has a lot of amazing sounds and it is one of the albums that helped to shape power metal. The songs on this album are great, from the hard rocking I'm Alive to their classic Halloween this album has a lot going for it. The guitar sound is loud and awesome, it makes the music seem a lot more full and beautiful. The bass has a couple good fills but mostly accompanies the drums on finding the groove. The drums are very well done. The vocals are good and have a good feel, the lyrics are great, as it is always with Helloween.

The guitar sound is phenomenal, it features a lot of really great riffs. For some reason these riffs remind me very much of AC/DC type intro riffs. Underneath the verse the guitar usually plays long open chords or keeps a staccato thrash type rhythm. The solos are very melodic and thus excellent, the majority of them are pretty insane sounding. In addition the two guitars combine nicely to create a really good and full sounding album. The bass is decent, asides from a few fills it does not get a lot of time to show off. However the bass keeps the music going and adds a bit of a thrash feel to the music. The drums are very good, there are some excellent fills on this album. All in all the musicianship is awesome.

The vocals are amazing, they have great sound. The vocalist has an alto voice but it is extremely powerful and he can harness it to create a wall of sound. His voice has a force in it that puts him up among the rock gods. It seems to me that if you want to be a vocalist god you need to have a voice with A LOT of power, and then you become something great. This singer has the necessary power and so he becomes elevated to a rank as one of the greatest vocalists. The lyrics are usually fantasy based and have a high powered feel. They are sometimes sad and other times angry. All in all though they are absolutely awesome.

All in all this is a great power metal album that features one of the greatest power metal artists ever. Helloween helps to show how awesome power metal can be on this album. From the soaring guitar solos to the explosive riffs the guitars sound awesome on this album. The bass is powerful and keeps the groove on in an amazing way. The drums are wonderful, creating a good sound that helps to drive the music along. However the thing that makes this album for me, is the vocals. The more I listen to the high powered singing the more I am enamored with it. The lyrics really compliment this concept as well and offer a good range of ideas. Overall this is a classic album, with an amazing band creating a great album.

OVERALL 9.5/10

Welcome to Hell-Venom

Today I am reviewing one of the albums that helped to create thrash metal and by extent black metal, this album is Venom's debut album Welcome to Hell. While they have punk influences they take it to a whole new level by adding a thrash feel but maintaining themselves as a speed metal band. The music is loud fast and powerful and thus really awesome, at the time it took metal to a new extreme. The guitar is really nice and has a lot of really great riffs and some decent solos. The bass is fast and keeps the power up, and the drums are really good and rarely get too repetitive. The vocals, are probably among the first death growls ever done and the lyrics are dark and satanic. All in all this is a great album with a guitar that pretty much started thrash.

Listening to the guitar on this album makes me think of the classic Big Four thrash riffs. And guess what band all of the members of The Big Four cites as a huge influence? Venom. Yes, while Venom was pretty much a speed metal band they are also possibly the biggest influence on thrash metal. The main guitar riffs sound exactly like early thrash metal. The solos are not very thrash-like though, they are less skilled and make no incredible impact on the album. The bass is really powerful and helps keep the songs bombing a long when things are slowing down. The drums are hard fast and powerful and in general really nice. One thing that should be noted about Venom's punk feel is that they did not care if they made mistakes, they themselves acknowledged that they were not awesome musicians, however they produce an amazing vibe. My only complaint about the instruments asides from the lack of technical skill is that the music sounds a bit thin at times. However the awesome vocals usually make up for that.

The vocals are probably among the earliest death growls. They are different in style than those of Lemmy, whereas Lemmy kind of did a form of barking which only a few others mimic, Cronos though pretty much invented the death growl we know and love today. His growl sounds like that which we hear in our modern thrash. This album pretty much allowed black metal to be possible and the main reason for that was that Cronos made death growls work. His singing is powerful and frightening and it gives a really good feel to the music. It makes you feel like something new and amazing is happening which will change music forever. The lyrics are also okay, while they are nothing spectacular they are very dark and remain serious. However many critics claim that they are simply being sarcastic, which would make the band even cooler.

All in all, this is a great band with an amazing sound and feel. They pretty much created thrash metal and black metal, this is one of the bands that started everything. It is rather cool to hear this album and consider all of the stuff that they influenced, one might say that this album completely changed the direction of a lot of heavy metal music. The guitar is really cool, and you have to remember that it pretty much created thrash metal with its mighty and fast riffs. The bass is very solid keeping the songs chugging along. The drums are really good sounding, they are filled with power and thus are very impressive. The vocals, they are revolutionary and indicate a whole new direction of music. Overall this is a really revolutionary album, which does have some drawbacks. In general though, this album takes 'the buzz' to a whole new level.

OVERALL 9/10

Mob Rules-Black Sabbath

 I'm too tired today to to do unsigned metal, I stayed up all last night, if I feel better later then maybe I'll do some. Anyway right now I am covering Black Sabbath, and not just any Black Sabbath, Dio's Black Sabbath, so it is completely awesome and powerful and cool and yay! This is just a classic heavy metal album and a classic Dio album, this is the album that proved that Dio would be a fixture in heavy metal forever. The guitar is powerful and bold. However Iommi experiments with faster and stronger riffs on this album as opposed to his crunchier and slower riffs off earlier albums. The bass is good as always, Geezer Butler remains rocks solid, even with a new drummer in Vinny Appice. Appice does a good job at the kit with some nice fills. Then of course Dio has the best voice of the 80's so theres no challenging that.

Iommi continually proves himself as one of the greatest guitarists of the age on this album. Every song that he writes has an amazing riff powering it, I think that following this method could result in the release of a lot more awesome music. Iommi loses the slower feel of some of his earlier works in favor for a louder and more distorted sound. He also has solos that still have a bit of a blues feel, but they are now much more heavy metal in style. The bass of Geezer Butler is powerful and helps drive the music along, it has a powerful feel and creates a great sound. The drums are significantly harder than those of Ward and are very well done.

Then of course there are the vocals, wow the vocals. Dio has an amazing voice for such a small man and he can really belt out music like no other. He can sing softly, like he does on the track Sign of the Southern Cross and at other times he can just wail it out and create a humongous epic and beautiful song. His voice has a power only rivaled by Robert Plant and Bruce Dickinson, most other singers can not match his raw power. Ozzy for example has a great voice, possibly better than Dio's but Dio's is just way more powerful and can give a lot more strength to the songs. The lyrics are pure Black Sabbath they are dark and scary and awesome as it always is with Sabbath.

All in all this is an amazing album with a really great sound. Everything that you need for a great album can be found here. There are fantastic guitar parts, guitar parts that are riffs driven and esxtremely powerful. The bass is also strong and helps the music along often Butler Combines with the drums to create and amazing rhythm section. The drums are harder and totally spectacular. Dio has a voice which can tear down a house, it is simply so powerful. The lyrics are dark and awesome and overall this is just a fantastic Black Sabbath album. My favorite track is Sign of the Southern Cross. Really you should listen to this. Now off to fix my pedal.

OVERALL 9/10

Powerslave-Iron Maiden

 It's been to long since this blog has been graced by the glory of Iron Maiden so today we are covering one of their top albums, Powerslave. This album features several Maiden classics, in particular, Aces High and Powerslave. This is one of the great Maiden albums, this is one of the albums that defined what Iron Maiden was all about. There are awesome high powered guitar parts with some spectacular riffs, and skillful bass bits coming from the bass guitar of Harris. The drums of Nicko McBrain are awesome as ever. The vocals that come from Dickinson's vocal chords are simply mind blowing, I have rarely heard anything this good. This is one of Maiden's top albums featuring one of their best line-ups ever.

The guitar on this album is mind blowing, simply mind blowing. This was definitely the peak of the Dave Murray-Adrian Smith duo, here they come out as two brother gods, showing off their skills for thousands of worshipers. When you think that Maiden has dual lead guitar with 2 guys who are at least as good as Jeff Beck you have to pause. The music created by those two guitars is amazing. They have a series of spectacular riffs that define the songs, these riffs are powerful and dominant. On this album they produced a riff which goes down in most Top 10 Riff lists with their riff in Aces High, which sets a tone for the whole album. The bass of Harris is awesome as usual getting a lot of nice fills . Nicko McBrain (did you know McBrain is his birth name?) does an awesome job on drums as usual.

The vocals are simply awesome. Dickinson can belt it out like few others. The stength in his voice can only be matched by an early Robert Plant, and a young Freddy Mercury. However, while his voice is not as flawless as theirs, it is still pretty awesome. Dickinson creates these amazing sounds with his voice, often being able to have moments of both light and dark in his singing, usually it goes from lighter singing to darker singing but on the last track Rime of the Ancient Mariner he flips back and forth. Unfortunately though unlike their later stuff the songs off this album rarely start out with a somber introduction. The lyrics are awesome, setting the tone for all Iron Maiden, they are deep and powerful. For me Iron Maiden will always have the best lyrics of any band, there is just so much to each individual piece. (Except for Losfer Words of course).

Overall this is an awesome album that features some Iron Maiden classics. There are some awesome riffs on this album that help to define Maiden for the rest of time. I think that the guitar on this album is spectacular and powerful, featuring both amazing ostenatos and brilliant high powered guitar solos. The other instruments are given their share as well, Harris has his nice bass fills as usual and the drums are really nice sounding to McBrain drives the music on with his powerful bass drum. The vocals are spectacular, bulging with raw power and energy. The lyrics are deep and full of meaning like on any good Maiden album. My favorite song off this album is Aces High and then Power Slave. This is a great album with high replay value and I would recommend to any metal head.

OVERALL 9/10

Van Halen-Van Halen

 Today I'm reviewing some classic Van Halen. This is one of the first albums to feature tapping as a major soloing technique that set Eddie Van Halen apart from the rest. The album kick starts with 4 Van Halen classic Running With The Devil, the legendary Eruption, You Really Got Me and Ain't Talkin' Bout Love. Those songs set the tone for what was to become the legend of Van Halen. The guitar parts on this album simply blow me away at both their catchiness and technical skill. The other instruments are also given reasonable musical parts. The lyrics are very much in the glam metal style. David Lee Roth has an awesome voice which he showcases well on this album.

The guitar is incendiary and spectacular. There were only a handful of other guitarists in the world at the time who could compete with the skillful master that was Eddie Van Halen. He has memorable riffs that drive a lot of the songs. While the riffs are a big part of the songs they do not dominate like in Black Sabbath recordings. The solos are part of what defines the album, they are amazing and just can not be matched in their speed and explosiveness by any other guitarist outside of those in the handful. The other instruments are given a decent amount of noise as well. The bass comes through a little but it does nothing spectacular. The other Van Halen brothers drums are heavy and strong, but nothing over the top. They do a good job of driving the music though.

The lyrics are either about love or rebellion. They are rather shallow in that regard. The lyrics do perfectly capture the sort of glam rock feel that there is in this album though. There is a power in the lyrics even if they are not deep. They have a poetic power, and power because they are of such high intensity. Part of what gives them their high intensity feel is the shrieking and powerful voice of David Lee Roth. His powerful voice can come out on top of the guitar and help lead the songs on their super charged path.

Overall this is a high powered glam and heavy metal album that shows off one of the best guitarists ever complimented by the spectacular voice of David Lee Roth. This album has several Van Halen classics on it, notably Eruption, Eddie Van Halen's coming out as a guitar god. Anybody into 80s metal would like this album because it features one of the biggest 80s bands at the beginning of their illustrious career. This album as significant replay value and I think anybody could find the sounds on this album awesome. There is spectacular guitar parts and decent parts for the other instruments, the lyrics are good enough and the voice of David Lee Roth is awesome. Go listen to this album now people!

OVERALL 9.5/10

Van Halen

Reign in Blood-Slayer

 So now I'm doing my 2^nd review of the day and I'm covering the classic Slayer album REIGN IN BLOOD (which is a really cool album name. The music is high powered and fast and has a very very explosive doom ridden feel. There are some classic metal songs on this album, like Angel of Death and Raining Blood among others. This was the breakthrough album for Slayer, they broke through when the other members of the Big 4 where breaking through 86-88. This is an awesome thrash album that is loud angry and features one of the worlds best metal bands at their peak. This is a spectacular album.

The musicality of this album is very good. There are insane guitar leads and spectacular riffs. This album basically defined the whole thrash genre at the time and continues to be one of the best albums ever made. The guitars just blow your head off, with their insane power chords and solos that seem impossible. The guitars writhe and scream like 2 dragons battling to death creating sounds that boggle the ears of normal man. The bass does have a few good riffs but is not overly prominent as it is taken over by the might of the guitars. The drums are fast paced and spectacular and provide a barrage of explosions and might that just makes the album that much better. The music is so fast paced that right now I am typing significantly faster than I normally do.

The lyrics are very dark and doom ridden but cover a variety of topics. The lead track Angel of Death talks about the torturing and experimentation upon holocaust victims at Aushwitz. The lyrics are often graphic and describe torture and the torture and destruction of people. Angel of Death is the most in depth but others like Piece by Piece discuss being chopped up into little pieces so that the singer may die. The actual vocals are classic thrash that just define the album and make it awesome. They compere with the guitars and make it like a clash between words and guitars. This makes an interesting conflict that provides more anger to the music.

Metal Hammer called this “The best metal album in 20 years” and I have to agree that this is easily one of the best pieces of music that I have reviewed. It is loud pure and angry thrash metal that explodes and makes for very powerful and dark music that you can not stop listening to. The music is high paced and amazing and the lyrics are dark and angry, the vocals help shape the music and make it awesome. In essence, I love this album, it is loud spectacular and rocks from the start with Angel of Death to the classic ending track Reign in Blood. Go listen to this now, or your head will explode with depression at not having heard this spectacular and very very heavy thrash metal album that helped define a genre.

OVERALL 10/10

Reign in Blood

British Steel- Judas Priest

 So the third review of the day will give us the album that features Breaking the Law, Metal Gods and Living after Midnight. This is easily Priest's best album, and it rocks really, really hard. This blasts the head off most other music coming up in the days this came out and features so much raw energy and anger it boggles the mind. The band has matured musically from its younger days with better solos that are much more fulfilling than their older stuff. This band can be considered to be made up of Metal Gods. They are an amazingly energetic band of beautifully burning rock gods every spark off their bodies another chord.

The music starts off hard and loud with Breaking the Law featuring the lyrics “You don't know how it feels” shows a band with angry and loud members. The music is just their way to show their anger and passions and they succeed at this. The guitar has a lot of eighth note breaks that give a staccato feel that make the music seem angrier than normal. The drums are very good staying present throughout the music and they have a cool bit in the song Metal Gods that has a weird mashing feel. The bass really only compliments the guitar and does not get a lot done. It is rather sad actually that it is not given a lot of attention because bands with prominent bass lines can put together some awesome tracks. Overall asides from a disappointing lack of bass this is a very good album technically with good fulfilling solos and proof that they have matured as musicians.

The lyrics are very angry in feel and have limited depth. They talk about the anger the band members feel and destroying things. However they describe these things in a rather interesting way, but still the lyrics could be improved. The exception to this is the song United which is pretty deep in its lyrics. The actual vocals of Halford are pretty good, he can do some very calm and beautiful singing as he does in United and on other tracks like Breaking the Law he can do a raunchy angry voice that rips apart the words into a bloody mess that perfectly reflects the mood of the album. In general the lyrics are meh but the vocals are very good.

All in all this is a pretty good angry album, that is very fulfilling even if it does not have a lot of lyrical depth. One of the best parts of this album is that it really defined metal, Scott Ian says that this album took away the last shreds of the blues feel that metal had previously had. This album has good replay value it features all sorts of great songs like Living After Midnight. I really like this album and recommend it. It shows a group that has loud angry lyrics but is still very mature musically. This album won me over to the music of Judas Priest, this is spectacular heavy metal at its twisting steel best. Listen to it.

OVERALL 9.5/10

Brave New World Iron Maiden

Today I am celebrating the triumphant return of Iron Maiden in 2000 with their killer album Brave New World. Imagine being a Maiden faithful and hearing that you're favorite lead singer was back with your favorite band. You drop your tape into the player and BAM The Wicker Man blows your head off! This is one of my favorite Maiden albums, it has a couple songs that have become classics in the 10 years since there release. Notably there is The Wicker Man, Brave New World and Blood Brothers, but all the songs on this album are good. This is a return from the terrible years and into the Brave New Future for Maiden. I love this album, this is one of the mightiest Maiden albums, proving they still had plenty of strength in them. This album only allows me to say one thing “UP THE IRONS NOW AND FOREVER!”

The guitar work on this album is masterful, from the really well written power chord riffs of The Wicker Man to the interesting acoustic bits of the intro of Ghost of the Navigator (another classic). There is also a very impressive clean intro to Blood Brothers which is surprisingly easy to play. This album has more non-power chord riffs than other Maiden albums, what I mean to say is that while on most Maiden there are single notes in the intro and power chords throughout here there are single note riffs driving the music more than they did in previous Maiden records. Nicko McBrain has new life on this album, with impressive drums throughout, particularly in Ghost of the Navigator. The bass of Harris, is as usual holding the thing together, he comes through nicely in some bits in Ghost of the Navigator, and a couple other tracks.

The lyrics here are amazing. The Wicker Man is about the apocalypse and describes it by talking about “The World Exploding Every Single Night”. The Nomad talks about the mysteries within us. Overall the lyrics are classic Maiden, deep, dark and disturbing at times but often featuring a glimmer of hope. Dickinson's voice is amazing, his voice with his spectacular style is iconic and helps to shape the music. His voice was made for one thing, and that one thing was to be the best lead singer for the worlds best metal band (Led Zep doesn't really count, so they are still the best band.). This album is AWESOME.

The combination here of lyrics, vocals, guitar, drums and bass is amazing. It comes together perfectly to create one of the best albums you will ever hear. There are quiet more experimental acoustic bits, and more single note at a time riffs, healing the main issues with Maiden. All the tracks are Maiden being Maiden but now with greater maturity and awesomeness than they previously did. This album ROCKS and there is no denying it, everyone should listen to this and be amazed at the sheer awesomeness of the band known as Iron Maiden, the music storming into you at times like a hammer of the gods and other times a butterfly leaping gently across your eardrums, makes this album amazing.

OVERALL 10/10

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Highway to Hell-AC/DC

So today I am doing one of my Dad's favorite albums, Highway to Hell, some classic heavy AC/DC. The album starts out with one of their best tracks Highway to hell and keeps on rocking. It features Bon Scott and is the best of AC/DC in the 70s. This album is spectacular and blasts your ears off it is simply spectacular. The solos of Angus are really amazing and the riffs are some of the best ever heard in rock and roll. This is classic heavy metal at its finest, its got all the elements of a good heavy metal album, its loud, got good music, and has a gritty dirty feel. It has a certain sing-a-long quality that you really only get with heavy metal gods like Iron Maiden. The riffs are awesome and this album is really spectacular however it does lack lyrical depth, but hey its an AC/DC album what do you expect?

This is a great album musically. It has some of the best riffs I have heard and it is good for me to listen to as a musician because it gives me ideas for the stuff I'm writing. (I will record it soon, I will upload the tracks here.) The riffs are really spectacular and worth listening too. They make the album awesome, Angus just has a gift for finding stuff that sounds really nice and that makes you headbang really hard. The solos are also spectacular and are just classic Angus Young stuff. The bass barely comes through, but the drums drive the music well. Malcom Young of course is as always the worlds best purely rhythm guitarists, and I would like to point out know that he is one of the worlds most underrated guitarists.

The lyrics are not very deep and mostly are sexual in connotation. This promotes the gritty sound of the album but it leaves it lacking emotional depth. While it has brilliant music the lyrics leave something to be desired. The words are nicely offset with the guitar riffs though and rather than clashing as they might on some albums they compliment each other nicely. What should also be noted is that AC/DC songs are not all amazing. While on some albums every song has depth and the band has few flops, (like Maiden and Led Zep) AC/DC is shallower and has a lot of generic tracks. They just kind of fill up space on the album. Still the album is very good and should definitely be listen too by any hard rock/heavy metal enthusiast.

Overall this is a good album but it lacks a lot of lyrical depth. The riffs are amazing and the solos are simply spectacular but the lyrics just kind of detract from it. The rest of the album asides from that sounds amazing. There is good production quality and everything is well played but retains that gritty and angry feel. It is very hard and is a good album for headbanging too. It reeks energy and while it does get a bit bland after a while it is high quality bland music. Also Highway to Hell is one of their best songs so this album gets props just for that one simply spectacular and glorious riff driven song. So yeah, this is worth a listen. And now i'm going to go watch Almost Famous again, I love that movie man.

OVERALL 9/10

Nevermind Nirvana

So I felt like covering some 90s grunge today. So who epitomizes 90s grunge? NIRVANA! This album is a spectacular tribute to grunge and shows Nirvana at all their grungy amazingness. It explodes right off with their classic Smells Like Teen Spirit and then plows on to In Bloom. Both of those tracks have awesome music videos. This is THE best Nirvana album. It starts off with 3 of their greatest tracks Smells Like Teen Spirit, In Bloom, and Come as you are. The later on there is of course Lithium and Polly. So overall this has more Nirvana classics than either of there other albums. It truly rocks and gives you a real headbanging feel. Cobain's voice is the same grungy unintelligible mess it should be and as one called him “truly the voice of the teens of the 90s.” Nirvana has a lot of classic grunge hits and you have to love their loud gritty sound which often has some brilliant commentary in Cobains lyrics.

Cobains guitar is pretty much all power chords, but that's okay because its grunge. He does love his pedal though. It allows for spectacular explosiveness rarely achieved before. Also one of the greatest grunge solos can be heard in Smells Like Teen Spirit while seeming simple it is actually amazing. In Bloom also features a nice solo, but it is the feel that makes them so good, not the technical skill. Novoselic's bass comes through well on a lot of tracks, primarily as a background for Cobains singing and as a connector for the brilliant power chord dominated riffs of Cobain. The drums really give the music a really good rhythm section and supercharge the explosions of Smells Like Teen Spirit among other songs.

The vocals are sometimes nonsensical and other times brilliant at pointing out faults in their listeners such as in In Bloom. (For the record play In Bloom to any pop music fan convinced that the pop people aren't all drunks and they won't get it and the irony is HILARIOUS). The music is really driven and cool sounding. It is grimy and sweaty and has a great “buzz”. It shows off a bunch of good musicians who come together for spectacular results. Typically the music is loud but when you can really hear Cobains voice you realize it is kinda meh, but it is perfect for the grunge genre which doesn't care about stuff like that. Nirvana epitomizes grunge and garage bands in every aspect of their sound.

Overall this is a really cool album that lacks some musical skill but comes off sounding awesome. It is all about the buzz you get from the music. Unlike a lot of other bands which I like because of their technical skill Nirvana instead just has an amazing headbanging vibe with whatever they play. A side note is that if you are eager to learn some “Vana most of Nirvanas tracks you need a pedal to play. Overall this is a really good album that what it lacks in technical skill it makes up for in the sheer vibe and emotion based in the lyrics of Cobain.

OVERALL 9/10

Appetite for Destruction-GnR

So now I'm reviewing some good old GNR one of my favorite late 80s early 90s bands. Now they just suck. Anyway this album explodes out with the classic anthem Welcome to the Jungle. This immediately got them a legacy as one of the greatest metal bands of the 80s and lay down the summary of what was to come, fantastic guitar licks, shrieking vocals courtesy of Axl and just generally spectacular music. This album is so fill of energy it just kind of makes you smile for most people there first song does not show nearly as much potential. So after an explosive first track the album gets kind of weird with the extremely strange "Its So Easy" with its weird mixing so it sounds faded out. There are some classic tracks on this album though, however note there is some swearing.

But after Its So Easy it goes into some good old awesome heavy metal with amazing riffs and power chords complimented by Axls cool voice. Night Train really sets the tone as a Guns N Roses song. It is filled with power chords Axl shrieking and an amazing solo by slash. Then as with most 80s song the titles is repeated about 80 million times at the end of the song. Actually its a formula that works pretty well and sounds awesome if after a while kinda old. Yet the first tracks come screaming out preparing you for the 2 other true Guns N Roses Classics the awesome Paradise City and Sweet Child O Mine. Early on GNR establishes some great harmonic choruses and a raunchy sound thats filled with euphimism and swearing. This adds to the general musical atmosphere and compliments the album nicely. This album is really how heavy metal should be.

The music is pretty much driven by Slash's guitar which saves a lot of the music from sucking. While the other musicians are pretty good Axls voice while unique and very interesting is not spectacular and he needs those good musicians who compliment his voice. Lets just say if Axl tried to have a solo career it probably would not work. His voice does though add to the harsh and grimy feel of the album so it works but it is not as good as other heavy metal vocalists might be. There are some really famous guitar bits here in particular sweet child o mine but the rest of iit shows off slash. Slash is really the one who makes GNR rock but the other musicians make it sound awesome.

So this is an album with several classic rock songs and some really cool choruses all complimented by the godly guitar of Slash. GnR shows a lot of potential in this album and they went on to fulfill that potential and prove themselves as some of the best musicians ever to hit the metal scene. You have to admit Axl does not have the greatest voice but it fits ok with Slash's guitar.

OVERALL 8.5/10

Metallica Master of Puppets

Right... FYI we are still advancing through the history of metal, i hope to get to the early 90's by the end of the weekend. So I decided to review some classic Metallica. The album starts out with an explosion. The first 39 seconds of the lead track are acoustic, and right away you go "Huh", and then at second #40 it explodes and you go, ahh there it is. One of the best Metallica albums and the last to feature Cliff Burton you have to love this album. It is explosive and shows all of the old Metallica awesomeness that you know and love. It is not the weak crap they tried to feed us later this is heavy metal and Metallica at one of its finest moments. After Enter Sandman they went downhill this is like the first album of their glory years. Not saying previously they had no good tracks but for several albums they were among the best. Nearly on par with Iron Maiden, but not quite.

And then you have one of metallica's finest songs and one of their darkest tracks. MASTER OF PUPPETS! This track is one of THE classic metal songs and just blows the speakers out with it's awesomeness. Metallica shows that they are a band worthy of the Rock and Roll hall of fame with this album. The entire album is powerful and shows off an incredible musical skill on the part of all the bad members. From the memorable guitar riffs of Hammet and Hetfield to the amazingly powerful drums of Ulrich, one of the best drummers ever, and the nice bass parts of the late bass god Cliff Burton. Everything about this album s spectacular and it is a combination of some of the worlds greatest musicians into a spectacular metal that you really can not criticize at all.

Many of the lyrics on this album are rather disturbing. Master of Puppets is one of the most disturbing songs you'll ever hear. Then there are other tracks with twisted themes like Leper Messiah and Welcome Home Sanitarium. But Hetfield is extremely capable of communicating the anger and explosiveness present in all of the songs on the record. He has a voice that is very good for this angry style of music. It is his specialty and it sounds really really good and is complicated nicely by the guitar. His voice was pretty much made for this and nothing else. The album exudes anger though. That is really just the theme of the album, anger darkness and shadows.

So this is an angry album that shows some really nice chops in the metal department. This is one of the greatest albums of the 80s and really shows remarkable talent on the part of every musician and is a really good legacy for CLiff Burton one of the best bassists of all time. Before wrapping up i would like to say that Welcome Home Sanitarium sounds suspiciously like One. Otherwise, a really amazing album that shows some of the best chops i have ever heard but it lacks some of the epicness of the best metal albums. The greatest shortcoming of metallica is their lack of ballads, they have some good ones but no spectacular ones. If there had been a really good power ballad then this album would be 10/10 already it is really high rated. Just listen to it guys you'll like it.

OVERALL 10/10

BLizzard of Ozz-Ozzy Osbourne

So I felt like doing some Ozzy after reading a biography of himso here we have Blizzard of Ozz. Some pretty nifty cover art by the way. Now you have to remember that when this came out Ozz had just come out of one of the hardest periods of his life having been dumped from his old band Black Sabbath due to alcohol issues.. He was filled with resentment and this album was critical to him staying as a musician. Luckily for him he found Randy Rhoads and his job as a musician stayed secure and we have a spectacular heavy metal album. The first song I Don't Know starts out hard, has a bit of a lull in the middle and then explodes into a solo that showcases the skill that is Rhoads. After listening to this album you can easily say, Rhoads saved Ozzy's career. The guitar is just so integral to this album and rocks so hard, and is just so generally amazing that you can't help but enjoy it as you hear each crashing power chord.

But really it is the next track that always blows me away. The incredible Crazy Train with its fantastic opening riff and guitar part defined what Ozzy was to become and is his signature song. Also it was the first riff I learned on guitar which is always cool. Crazy Train is far and away the best song on the album and when I looked at the track list I was like. What the heck why isn't Crazy Train first? That is the only real mistake on the album. Everything else rocks. Ozzy's voice is just so stereotypically Ozzy that you have to love it. But I have always found it unfair to call this group “Ozzy Osbourne” Ozzy's voice is one of the 2 key aspects. With no amazing guitarist it would suck. This is obvious when you compare this stuff to Jake Lee's year with Osbourne.

Truly Rhoads and Ozzy are the band. There is really nobody else of note in the band. They are replaceable. While good they are nothing special. But there is some real artistry on this album. There is brilliant contrast between the high-powered hard rockin' Crazy Train and the next track, the sad ballad Good Bye To Romance a rather sad song. The contrast is pretty spectacular, and truly showcases Ozzy's voice. He sings more on this record than he does on any previous record as he is now in charge of his own band. But the brilliant solos are there courtesy of the fabulous Rhoads.

This is a really great album but it does have some controversial bits, namely Suicide Solution. So as a whole this album is really amazing and makes me smile. It showcases one of metal's greatest voices and is spectacular. I love listening to it it has heavy metal and then beautiful slower tracks. This album just makes me smile and shows off a great genre and two great artists. There are some minor issues though which keep it from being perfect bt it is TOTALLY worth a listen I don't see how anybody could hate it, its just too good. It shows spectacular musicianship and a great blend of harder and lighter stuff. Go listen to it now you reader person.

OVERALL 9/10

Too Fast For Love-Motley Crue

Right so today I'm covering the first Motley Crue album Too Fast for Love, again thank-you to the Uncle for the album suggestion. This is the first glam metal album I've ever really done. It is really hard and amazing for early metal. In my opinion it is harder than the Killers album I recently reviewed. This album is considered one of the first 'true' glam albums actually at #12 on Rolling Stone Magazines list of best Glam Albums. I was immediately amazed at how hard it was. You could say it was pretty much an explosion. It is all very hard and raunchy. Despite its rep as a glam album it does have some more punk and 'real' heavy metal sounds than other glam albums. At this point I think they were still realizing they were more of a metal band than a glam band. Which I find rather ironic that this heavy metal band was originally a glam band, I don't know it just strikes me as a little odd and just kind of funny.

The music is very loud and impressive. While not so much technically skilled (there are some good solos though), the music is mostly comprised of power chords, it comes out in a really cool way. The music is not about being technically skilled though, its about being loud and amazing, and thats what it does. There are some growling power chords which pretty much dominate the music. Then there are some... unique... instruments. In particular a cowbell is featured in the track Public Enemy. In fact a cowbell works spectacularly with the music it was a brilliant decision to add that in I think. The solos are all pretty nice and show some skill but they are nothing to be particularly amazed at. The solos are good but Mick Mars (the guitarist) is not going to be worshipped by anyone. He will be very much respected and seen as a guitarist who made some great music but he is by no means a 'guitar god', just very good.

The lyrics are often raunchy and rude, and generally pretty much punk and glam. Thats really the only way to describe these lyrics, simply punk and glam. So in other words there are some suggestive lyrics, protesting lyrics, angry lyrics, and others simply rock and roll. They combine to form a very heavy album that really shows how the latest metal sounded when this was released. This was the most current and up to date metal released. It shows a lot of strength and potential for an up and coming band. However The Crue while they reached international album will never be considered gods among men as Zeppelin or Sabbath is often considered. Instead they are just a step below that, at the 'very good' level.

Overall this album rocks but some bits can get repetitive and slightly meh after a while. The continued power chords eventually get a bit stale and start to go towards the failish side. It just does not end and is kind of a repetition on a theme. Fortunately the album has a very good theme so it stays strong but grows a bit stale. There are some really nice solos and power chord rythyms and shows a lot of potential but unfortunaterly the Crue stayed at basically this level their whole career. Still this is worth a listen.

OVERALL 8/10

Too Fast for Love

Presence-Led Zeppelin

Okay, right so today we're going to cover Led Zeppelin's album “Presence” I feel that this makes it onto a metal blog for one song. The longest song in Zep discography, Achilles Last Stand. This is the most metal moment of a band that would never admit to being metal. But in truth you can not hear Achilles Last Stand and say that it is not metal. I like the rest of this album too but the other songs on this album do not have the same power. Admittedly this album is pretty amazing on it's own due to the fact that Robert Plant had recently suffered a terrible injury in a car accident and was on crutches at the time singing from both an armchair and a stool. The fact that they even made an album with such a key member so injured is truly amazing on its own, and how the album comes through so nicely. It's just like... wow. Your lead singer almost died in a car accident but you just accept that and stay strong. That shows the power of a truly awesome and indefatigable rock and roll spirit, its just amazing!

This album has both harder/metal tracks like Achilles Last Stand which is in fact Jimmy Page's (read; the best guitarist ever) favorite song. There are no light and acoustic songs as found on earlier Zep albums, instead we have all distorted guitars and powerful riffs. There are no 'legendary' riffs here like on Black Dog or The Ocean but this album still very much holds its own up against other Led Zep albums. There are some really spectacular guitar bits from Page, especially in the solos. Bonham as always shows he is one of the best drummers of all time with an amazing ability to really just explode after keeping a quiet tone for most of the song. Jones who has said “I just want to lay down a nice bass line” manages to do exactly that and with impressive skill. It is not spectacular but he does his job perfectly.

The lyrics are amazing and show a bit of maturing on the part of Led Zep. In particular Plant who writes the majority of the lyrics. The rest of the music is on average harder than any other Zep album they had yet released. This is probably the most metal Led Zeppelin album. I like it a lot and it feels really full and is just a joy to listen too. I would choose this album over any other Led Zep album asides from Led Zeppelin I, II, or III (I really love those).

Overall this is a pretty hard album that comes out really nicely and with a lot of power and incredible Jimmy Page solos. It is amazing it can be so good especially after the injury of Plant but this album shows a lot inner strength on their parts as there is no real weakness in the voice of Plant except that he can not quite reach those extremely high notes. This album is the most metal Led Zeppelin gets and it all sounds great. There is of course the highlight of the album Achilles Last Stand which is good enough on its own to compensate if the rest of the album sucked. But it did not suck in fact it rocked quite hard.

OVERALL 9/10

Presence