You can buy any album from Crime Of The Century onwards and you are getting a 10/10 album. Every one of those albums sounds incredible, and if you want to show off your Hi-Fi to your friends these records are perfect for that. The production and sound separation is just incredible, and this could be the best of them all, sonically.
Supertramp sure could write great songs, and there are three of their best tracks on this album, opening track Give A Little Bit, Babaji, and my favourite track off this album (and probably from all their albums) is Fools Overture. They have this knack of putting the whole musical landscape into one song, and on this track it feels like the listener is at a Broadway show listening to the whole production. From the delicate piano intro, to the killer instrumental sections, and let’s not forget, they always put these incredibly groovy moments in, it’s a monumental piece of work. If you don’t already, you should own this album.
I think I have mentioned before that Mustasch are the bastard sons of Metallica and Motorhead, but they have that added gift of being able to write very catchy hooks and melodies, and that my friends is priceless.
After the very atmospheric intro of Tritonus, we launch straight into the doomy sounding Heresy Blasphemy. I love the low end chunk and the evil sounding groove. It’s favourite track time next with Mine. This is a perfect example of what I was saying about them being able to write catchy tunes. This is as catchy as they come. It has a monster riff and groove coupled with a hook chorus that bands dream of, it also delivers vocally with that exact amount of angst, and ladies and germs we have a winner!
Damn It’s Dark follows and the delivery is almost punk in the main verse, and that changes completely in the pre-chorus, it’s like two different songs in one. Great stuff! The short burst of The Man The Myth The Wreck follows, and man what a great freakin’ tune. It has a superb low end groove and riff, with a monster vocal all crammed into two minutes and forty-one seconds. The Audience Is Listening follows and it’s all about the hook and chorus wrapped around a simple chord progression. Desolate closes out Side 2 and the groove and riff are slow and choppy, I get big Metallica vibes from parts of this song.
Side 2 takes us to Deep In The Woods, I love the main chugga riff and four to the floor groove. Now, we all know I don’t love ballads but I really like I’m Frustrated, and that’s because of the tone of Ralf Gyllenhammar’s voice. He has such a cool vibe to his delivery that I really love. Lonely is the next track and I get big Cult vibes from this one. A simple chord progression added to a simple beat and groove with that huge vocal sound, they make it look easy. It’s huge riff time with Blackout Blues. It has a low end chunk that Metallica would be proud of.
The album closes out proper with Tritonus reprised. A huge piece with strings and the full orchestra, until that huge doomy riff takes over. Then Shakespeare Sonnet 29 is spoken over the top of the music. There is a bonus track which is the instrumental version of Mine.
A great band that don’t mean a whole lot outside of mainland Europe.
This is album number thirteen for these Prog metal pioneers that have been around since ’82, pre-dating Dream Theater, even though their early material was influenced by NWOBHM.
The Destination Onward opens up the album with a nice atmospheric opening before the main song kicks in with a killer low end riff and groove, the solo is killer. I also love the harmonies and the main hook. A very busy riff and double kicks greet the listener to Shuttered World, showing the band at their most metallic. That’s not to say the melody has been forsaken, quite the contrary as Roy Alder’s voice is a pure joy and the main hook is awesome. Alone We Walk is just superb. The laid back intro with the quiet chugga riff underneath is just beautiful as we build into the main song with blasts from monster drummer, Bobby Jarzombeck.
Now Comes The Rain is a much lighter mid-tempo track driven by the solid bass of Joey Vera, it’s all about the hook and the chorus. Next is The Way Home, which is over eight minutes of power ballad! Not the biggest fan of the ballad, and this is way too long. Under The Sun follows and the slow vibe continues as this is primarily an acoustic piece. Scars was released as a single prior to the album’s release, it’s a fairly straight forward Prog metal groove. Nice 90’s style post rock intro to Begin Again, and this is all about the groove and Mr. Jarzombeck on the pots and pans. I love the electronic vibes at the intro to When The Snow Falls, it reminds me a bit of OSI Jim Matheos’s extra curricular activity, and the solo is wonderful. Liar sees a return to the metallic sounds with a huge fat sounding riff, and a very snappy beat.
Over to the final side we go with Glass Houses. The opening drum solo is killer and Bobby is becoming the star of the show. The Longest Shadow Of The Day follows, and it is my favourite track on the album. Could this be the best piece that Fates have ever done? It has a stunning intro with delicate chord shapes and progressions from bass and guitar, until the listener is drawn in to the heavy grooves laid down by Mr. Jarzombeck. The track is a monstrous beast of a tune, coming it at over eleven minutes it is a feast for the ears that traverses all the styles from prog to jazz and all points in between. The album closes out with, ironically, The Last Song an acoustic driven piece that looks back and reflects on life.
This album is a bit long, they maybe should have dumped the power ballad, but it’s still a great record nonetheless.
This is the final album to feature Motörhead’s classic and best line up . It’s well documented that Eddie hated the recording sessions for this album, as he thought they were being rushed and his opinions were not being heard, he ultimately quit the band to form Fastway.
Iron Fist is often regarded as the worst of those classic albums, but I am here to tell you it’s not as bad as you think, even though the production is a bit flat. The title track opens up the album in fine style, it’s a classic Motörhead romp that only they could do. I’ve always liked Heart Of Stone because it’s a tune with a very simple riff, as are most Motörhead tracks, the track also has Phil’s trademark double kicks and one of those ear worm hooks. I’m Your Doctor is one of the tracks Eddie didn’t like as he thought it was too throwaway, he does have a point as it’s the weakest song. Go To Hell has a really cool riff and progression, a classic Head tune. I’m A Loser almost feels like a pop tune, at least at the intro and the chorus. Side 1 closes out with Sex & Outrage, a full on pedal to the metal Motortune.
America opens up Side 2 and has a very mid-seventies riff and heavy blues groove, a bit like Capricorn from Overkill. Shut It Down has a classic Eddie riff and that groove only the gruesome threesome could do. Great track!!! A song about themselves is next with Speedfreak, it’s definitely my favourite track. A killer Eddie riff and the trademark Motörhead groove, this track could have graced any of the classic albums. Boy do I miss these guys! Don’t Let Em Grind Ya Down starts with Phil playing a very un-Phil-like busy beat and groove, adding a bit of spice to proceedings. Lemmy always used to introduce the band by saying “we are Motörhead and we play rock n’ roll.” Well, the intro riff to Don’t Need Religion is pure rock n’ roll, and I would say it’s a bit close to Johnny Kidd and The Pirates. The album closes with Bang To Rights, a trademark Motörhead blast through three and a half minutes of your life driven by a great Eddie riff.
I’ll admit if I want to listen to Motörhead my go to’s are usually Overkill and Another Perfect Day, but I really enjoyed listening to this for the first time in a long while.
