REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Day: December 1, 2022

FOGHAT – Stone Blue

Britain’s other great boogie band. They didn’t mean a whole bunch back in the UK, but in America they did quite well and still tour up and down the US every year. The Live album was their biggest charting album, but this was not far behind.

The title track open up the album in fine boogie style. Some epic slide playing from Rod “The Bottle” Price, and it’s one of the band’s best tracks. An absolute ripping version of Sweet Home Chicago follows. I dare you to put this on and not groove along. Easy Money cons you into thinking it’s a straight up boogie, that is until that driving beat kicks in. Midnight Madness close out Side 1 and it’s a complete change of pace and groove, it’s my favourite track. It’s almost country-rock until the power gets turned on then they give Zeppelin a run for their money. The middle section is superb.

It Hurts Me To is pure Americana before it was invented. High On Love sounds as though it should have been released as a single, as the vibe is different to the rest of the album. A cover of the classic Chevrolet follows, and they have funked it up somewhat. Great version! The album closes out with Stay With Me, and it’s the weakest track on the album. Great band!

9/10 from The Grooveman.

CONTROL DENIED – The Fragile Art Of Existence

This is the only full album that Control Denied put out. It was released in ’99. This is Chuck Schuldiner of Death’s side project. He wanted to do a more progressive metal-style album with added melody. Chuck is sadly no longer with us as he died in 2001, but he has left a great body of work. I forgot how good this album is.

Consumed blasts the album into gear with a heavy and fast monster riff, with vocalist Tim Aymar reminding me of Bruce Dickinson at times as the melody sits on the heavy groove. Breakin’ The Broken starts with a deep heavy Sabbath riff that drops into a Metallica-style groove. Expect The Unexpected kicks in with a seriously heavy riff and double kicks beasting along. Great vocal! What If is insane!!! Definitely a favourite! A monster bass groove, leads into a choppy groove, before the heavy doom and epic song itself rolls in. A very Dio style vocal! Killer! When The Link Becomes Missing is as heavy as a heavy thing on a heavy train to heavy town, that is until the middle eight when we get all dramatic and epic. Believe goes from heavy metal to Prog, then dips into pure death metal. Cut Down is deliciously heavy. Lost of chuggas, time changes, and the whole nine yards. The album close out with my favourite track The Fragile Art Of Existence. A very classic heavy metal groove with lots of tempo and time changes. Chuck was an innovator and is greatly missed.

9.5/10 from The Grooveman.