THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Month: May 2023 (Page 5 of 11)

NESTOR – Kids In A Ghost Town

May 17, 2023 /

Not the type of band I expect Napalm Records to have on their roster that’s for sure. Nestor are a hard rockin’ melodic rock band from Sweden and they sort of came out of nowhere for me. To be fair, it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise as Sweden have been responsible for some of the best in rock music since the great grunge unpleasantness. I think this is their first album although they were around in the late eighties and released a few singles in Sweden.

Anyway on to the album, and I can safely say this one of the best albums of 2022. The tracks are all superbly written and the production is stunning. The emphasis here is on the melody and the ability to write songs that just stick in your brain and you will be humming them for days. The title track does exactly that, a superb hook and chorus and the musicality is incredible. The big surprise on the album is a cover of Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody. The original is iconic but they have managed to rock it up and make it their own without straying too far from the original. Favourite track goes to the uptempo grooves of Firesign. Yet again, they deliver the big hook and chorus coupled with a great riff and pounding groove.

If you are a fan of melodic rock then this is a must own.

9.5/10 from The Grooveman.

TKO – In Your Face

May 17, 2023 /

There was such a long period between TKO’s first and second albums. Five years to be precise, and a lot changed. The first album Let It Roll was okay, but not a patch on this record. But then again, a whole lot happened musically between ’79 and ’84.

The majority of the songs on the album were written with main man Brad Sinsel and young hot shot Adam “Bomb” Brenner who would leave before this album was recorded. The overall sound and vibe is an overdriven glam rock masterpiece, which the band would never match again. You listen to what came after them, and you’ll find that TKO were an influence for that whole late eighties scene.

Although, this band could metal it out with the best of them and tracks like End Of The Line keep the pedal to the metal and double kicks blasting from the get go with epic riffage to match. Chock full of cracking rockin’ tracks and if you’re  a lover of huge, fat, dirty riffs then why isn’t this in your collection already?

Run Out Of Town, Give Into The Night, Working Girl, All I Want To Do, man the whole goddam album is one big riff fest and one that I love dearly. Favourite track is a difficult one as I love it all, but today I’m going with So This Is Rock N’ Roll. The guitar sound alone is epic but couple that with an Aerosmith style swagger and it’s bonafide contender.

Without a doubt their best effort, and a classic of its time.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

ARK – s/t

May 16, 2023 /

Killer band who burned bright for oh so briefly and only released two albums, of which this is the first, released in ’99. I was a huge fan of Conception and loved Tore Ostby as a guitar player and when I heard he was teaming up with Jorn Lande to record as a group I was super stoked to hear what they came up with. I first heard Jorn’s vocal talents as a member of Vagabond, a group put together by TNT’s Ronnie Le Tekro after they went on one of their many breaks.

In brief this album is a monster record and if you like your progressive metal with a huge chunk of melody thrown in along side crushing riffs, then you should love this. I’ll go straight to my favourite track The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, this is one of my favourite tracks ever as I love how all styles come together to produce one epic piece. Jazz, funk, Latin, metal, and melody all collide in a burst of awesomeness.

The intro to Mother Love sounds like early Santana but revamped and improved for a modern generation of listeners. Jorn’s voice is superb on this one and John Macaluso is a beast on the kit. The staccato chugga grooves of Center Avenue sound so huge and make this one epic track. What a way to close out a record with Cant Let Go. A vast musical piece that that builds through varying styles and feels like the band’s Pink Floyd moment.

As I mentioned already, this is a superb album and you should really own this.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

HEAVEN – Where Angels Fear To Tread

May 16, 2023 /

I guess it must be something in the water in Australia that makes nearly all of the hard rockin’ bands from the land down under have the same DNA. Heaven were probably one of the least well known, having only released three albums in the early eighties, of which this was the second. It sees them tweaking their sound somewhat, moving away from the obvious AC/DC raw grooves and adding some Priest style riffing into the mix.

The album sounds a bit dated and that drum sound isn’t the best either, but overall it’s quite an entertaining album if you are a lover of that straight up no nonsense rock n’ roll sound. Highlights are opener and title track Rock School (which if the rest of the album had been as good then we would be looking at a possible full marks) which is a great fun tune that reminds you of early DC and Madness with an appearance of Glenn Hughes and Lita Ford on Bv’s.

7.5/10 from The Grooveman.

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