THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Day: January 3, 2023

KISS – Creatures Of The Night

January 3, 2023 /

I’m not the biggest Kiss fan if I’m honest, and I don’t have many of their early albums. I only own Destroyer and the live album, as I always thought they were all flash and very little substance. Take the pyro and make up away and what have you got?

After the failure of The Elder, the band were at a crossroads and struggling. Enter one Vincent Cusano, aka. Vinnie Vincent the man who saved Kiss. I know that is a very unpopular opinion, but that’s the truth as I see it. He gave them a serious kick in the ass, which is what they needed and this album put them on the right path to being even bigger than they were before, and their next album Lick It Up was a classic. Vinnie isn’t even credited as playing guitar on this album, and only gets three song writing credits.

I’m going for one of the Vinnie tunes as my favourite, which is Killer, even though War Machine is a close second. This copy is the half speed master audiophile release, and it sounds very crisp and clear. There is not a lot of tracks taken up from the original recording so this should and does sound great.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

LILLIAN AXE – Waters Rising

January 3, 2023 /

I guess you can say this is a comeback album as it was released eight years after their 1999 album Fields Of Yesterday, which was released on the small UK independent label Z Records.

A very heavy opening with the title track, it has a dark sounding riff and groove. Antarctica sounds even heavier with a nice low end groove and riff that sounds evil. Nice to hear the melody and harmonies are still there with the vocals. Become A Monster carries on that evil vibe with another d-tuned riff. Quarantine is my favourite track. A superb psych-style riff and melody, I just love the whole groove of the thing. It’s ballad time with I Have To Die Goodbye, although I do like that little folk vibe they have going on, I’m glad that the heavy does kick in towards the end. Fear Of Time has a weird heavy Queen vibe going on, in a good way. The more melodic side of Steve Blaze comes out on Until The End Of The World, a tune to get all the melodic fans drooling.

Fields Of Yesterday is next and that melodic/aor vibe continues with a mainly acoustic driven tune. Thirst has a very odd sounding riff and sees the band channeling their inner King Crimson. The 2nd Of May has almost a progressive vibe going, and Lillian Axe sound like no one else on tunes like this. Deep In The Black has a killer intro, with both with guitar and vocals possessing a very dark vibe. A very epic piece! The album close out with 5, an instrumental with a killer evil groove and some serious over the top guitar. Great album closer.

Lillian Axe are a metal band, but that term doesn’t do them justice as there so many different vibes going on in their music.

9/10  from The Grooveman.

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