REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Month: September 2022 (Page 10 of 11)

FROST – Day And Age

I always look on Frost as a studio project and not a band, because they have only ever played a handful of gigs. Mastermind Jem Godfrey, who is a songwriter to many of British Pop and reality show artists namely Atomic Kitten and Shayne Ward, wanted a release for his more proggy and heavier tastes. So, Frost was born.

Drummer Craig Blundell left the band prior to these recordings and was replaced by three sessions guys for the recordings, Pat Mastelotto being the most famous. I’m a big fan of John Mitchell’s vocals and his Lonely Robot project, he doesn’t disappoint here.

Opening track Day And Age is wonderfully proggy, and yet it keeps a very poppy vibe to the hook and main chorus. The instrumental section is just awesome with a a simple fat riff and groove, and the keys and samples over the top are killer. Terrestrial sounds huge and very cinematic, the keys are really driving the song. Waiting For The Lie has a beautiful soft vocal and it’s not until the final section that the tempo and groove increase. The Boy Who Stood Still starts with a narrated spoken word, but explodes in the middle with huge vocal harmonies and some epic grooves. This does remind of some late eighties pop. Island Life has a very Peter Gabriel feel to its proceedings. Skywards feels almost like the twin of Island Life, in feel anyway. Kill The Orchestra starts off almost like a lullaby. Of course that vibe is destroyed with some really heavy keys (or guitar, I’m unsure which). Repeat To Fade is a very eighties Trevor Horn vibe, and as with all the tracks on this record it sounds huge due to its monster production. Day And Age is my favourite track it’s just a monster tune.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

CHEAP TRICK – Dream Police

This my favourite early album by Cheap Trick. The musical landscape was changing at the time, and rock music was becoming heavier with bands like Van Halen and AC/DC having a big influence.

Rick Neilson seems to play way more guitar on this than usual, especially on tracks like Gonna Raise Hell (which is epic), Need Your Love, and the wonderful The House Is Rockin’ (which is my favourite on the album and Rick is really showing his chops). Of course there is their usual patented brand of power pop with tracks like Dream Police and I’ll be With You Tonight, with the infectious hooks and grooves. Voices sounds like something from the George Harrison song book, and the sleeper track that no one mentions is I Know What I Want. Cheap Trick are one of America’s greatest exports and they have this knack of writing amazing catchy pop/rock songs, and long may they continue. Would you say they are America’s Beatles?

9/10 from The Grooveman.

VOIVOD – Nothingface

Voivod are one of my favourite old school thrash bands that are still putting out killer records today. This album first saw the light of day in ’89 and it still sounds fresh today. There was a definite shift in sound for this album as they moved away from straight thrash and added a progressive element to their brand of awesome. This is the 2022 RSD version in sexy swirly pink vinyl.

Killer opening with my favourite track The Unknown Knows, mixing the old with the new. Plenty of thrash moments mixed with more out there moments. Killer! Nothingface follows and vocally this does have an early Pink Floyd feel. The riffs, grooves, and the time changes are wonderful. Having mentioned Floyd with the title track, the band throw in a killer version of Astronomy Domine which IMHO is better than the original. Missing Sequence closes out Side 1 and this is where the Prog is most eveident. Sure it’s heavy but there are lots of wonderful excursions from the main song. Brilliant!!!

X Ray Mirror opens up Side 2, and where have you heard that intro before? Inner Combustion is wonderfully insane. So many different vibes, riffs, and grooves! Pre Ignition is very similar, but the instrumental middle section is epic. Into My Hypercube is old school Voivod, more straightforward. The album closes out with Sub Effect, a fine end to what is a groundbreaking album. Not quite as good as Dimension Hatross but still worthy of your ownership.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

BITCHES SIN – Predator

I guess Bitches Sin can be classified as a first generation NWOBHM band, even though their first album would not appear till ’82, they had a couple of demo’s and a single going round in ’80 and ’81.

Heavy Metal Records sure had a lot of faith in them as they even splashed out on a Rodney Matthew’s cover. What they should have paid the money on was a decent producer. The e first thing I will tell you is that the production is not that great, and the whole record sounds flat and empty. A good producer would have worked with the band to improve the songs, as that is what this album desperately needs.

At best I would describe this as pub rock. I mean, they are trying their best and they were probably pumped to have an album out, but a lot of bands never survived the cull from NWOBHM and Bitches Sin were one of those. I would say my favourite track is Haneka. This is for NWOBHM collectors only.

5.5/10 from The Grooveman.

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