THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: music review (Page 357 of 493)

HALESTORM – Into The Wild Life

November 19, 2021 /

I bought this on a whim having seen it cheap in a sale, and it was still sealed. I was intrigued as people like Eddie Trunk had been fawning all over them so I thought I would dive in. I was quite surprised when I put it on as I wasn’t expecting the manufactured pop/metal that blew out of the speakers. It’s Shinedown and Nickleback with a female vocalist. There is no way they could play this live as a four piece, as there is so much peripheral noise going on. Lizzy Hale has a phenomenal power to her voice and it’s obvious this band is a vehicle for her talents.

I Am The Fire is a very powerful piece which showcases her voice perfectly. It has a strange showtune vibe to it which I really like. Sick Individual has a nice instrumental piece, but you can’t help feeling that this is production line rock with a whole team of people just cranking these tunes out. Mayhem adds a bit of angst and anger to the polish. Bad Girls World could be Pink or any other pop songstress singing back at me, and this is where I switch off nearly every time I listen to this album.

It’s not a bad album by any stretch, but it’s not for me as it all feels created for a purpose and not for the love of the art.

7/10 from The Grooveman.

KISS – Psycho Circus

November 18, 2021 /

This is Kiss’ 18th studio album and the first to feature all original members since Dynasty in ’79, although they only appear on a select few tracks. I can take or leave Kiss, if it wasn’t for the pyro and stage show, then their music is left wanting – I think they definitely clued into that very early in their career.

My favourite Kiss albums are the Vinnie Vincent ones as the material went up a few notches. I do have a love of this record though, and I’m not to sure why. I think it’s because there was no pressure at this point and they could just make the record how they wanted to. I am strangely drawn to the Gene tunes on this one. Within is a great tune and has a great groove and swing to it – I think it’s one of Genes best. You Wanted The Best is a hands in the air stomper that Gene does so well. Ace’s only contribution to writing proceedings is Into The Void, and it is the only one on the whole album that has that old school Kiss.

It’s an enjoyable romp that I play occasionally, but it doesn’t beat the previous albums as to me that’s Kiss in their prime.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

FATES WARNING – No Exit

November 18, 2021 /

This is the 4th studio album released in ’88 by these US pioneer Prog metallers, and it was the first to feature Ray Alder on vocals. Way before Dream Theater were into their stride, Fates Warning had come up with this style, which I would say is a cross between Iron Maiden and Queensryche. The earlier albums are a lot more straight up metal with a very NWOBHM influence, but this was the first album of theirs which was worthy of my attention.

Side 2 is taken up with the monumental The Ivory Gate Of Dreams, which is an absolute epic track split into 8 parts. When you listen to this track you realize how much of an influence they have been in the scene. Of course they can metal it out with the best of them as the thrash of Silent Cries shows – Metallica would be proud of this one.

This is a great repress by Metal Blade complete with a poster and it sounds great. I’ll admit I was a bit worried it wouldn’t be so good, as some of there reissues are terrible pressings, especially the KingsX ones – some of those are very noisy. Anyway, a good album by a great band. Hard to believe this is 33 years old.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

SLAUGHTER – Stick It To Ya

November 17, 2021 /

After the implosion of Vinnie Vincent Invasion and Vinnie blowing through money that the studio did not authorize, the record company transferred the remaining budget to Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum who were part of Vincent’s band anyway. This seemed quite underhanded to me at the time, but hindsight tells us that Vinnie was a bottle short of a six pack.

Anyhoo, the music is relatively of the age without an over the top guitar player, and there is more emphasis on the songs. There were 4 singles from this record, but Up All Night and Fly To The Angels were the big two that made the band an MTV favourite. Loaded Gun is my favourite track as I love the riff and groove. The term “party rock” could have been invented just for this record as that is exactly what it is, a good old Friday rock night special. A fun record no more no less.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

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