THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: vinyl records (Page 161 of 491)

NIGHT RANGER – ATBPO

July 11, 2023 /

This is album number thirteen for San Fran’s finest melodic rockers, released  in 2021. They have gone though a few personnel changes since the good old days, and Brad Gillis and Kelly Keagy are the only originals left, although Jack Blades has only missed playing on one album.

Opener track Coming For You has quite an aggressive riff and groove that powers the song along in quite a non-Night Ranger away. Then that is followed by a more melodic and radio friendly tune in Bring It All Hime To Me. This is the blueprint for most of the album, a hard rocker followed by a more melodic tune. Only one ballad to report with The Hardest Road, and I’ll give them that one. The rest of the album is a very classy Night Ranger album, my favourite song of which is Monkey. A good old, kick ass, rock n’ roller. With customary big hook and chorus and lots of guitar.

This is a Frontiers pressing and it is so quiet that I have to really crank it more than should be necessary. It’s good to know that Night Ranger still pump out great records.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

VENOM – Black Metal

July 10, 2023 /

It’s really hard to get your head around the fact that Venom were responsible for a whole movement if you witnessed their birth. I was never sure if this was just done for shits and giggles. If you listen to the end of At War With Satan there is a track called AAARRGH!! It’s basically just them thrashing around with Cronos singing the word “aaarrgh” over the top until near the end when he pronounces “more aaarrgh than the last time”. That moment alone told me they were just having fun. Sure, it got more evil when they found out the kids started to love it all.

I digress, they appeared at the end of the original burst of NWOBHM bands. The production is raw to say the least, and it was recorded at Neat Records Impulse studios HQ in Newcastle. Musically, it’s not all death metal as that wasn’t a thing just yet. Opener and title track is a speedy thrash that lives up to the image they were trying to create. However, the more subtle tracks like Buried Alive have far more of an eerie evil feel than the all out speed assault. Teachers Pet is a sped up punk blast. My favourite however is Down Burn The Witch, a straight up NWOBHM stomper with THAT riff.

This was a bit like punk for me, yeah it was fun for five minutes then normal service was soon resumed.

6.5/10 from The Grooveman.

ROYAL HUNT – Collision Course

July 8, 2023 /

Album number ten from these Danish Progressive metallers, although they do have a very Classic Rock element in what they do. This album is a follow up conceptually to album four, Paradox where the same themes are revisited.

Opener and introductory piece Principles Of Paradox is a gargantuan keyboard extravaganza that brings the epic atmosphere to the proceedings. The First Rock has Mark Boals stretching his larynx to reach notes that only Yngwie visits. Seriously though, it’s a killer track with all the pomp and Prog you would expect with a pounding groove all the way through.

The words Rock and Opera keep entering my mind while listening. I actually think this would be killer if performed in that way. Every song has a touch of the epic and grandiose about them. It’s quite hard to pick a favourite as they all feel as though they are building to an ending. but I’m going for the thunderous Divide And Reign. Alan Sorensen is pounding away at that kit as though his life depended on it. Maximum metal pounding and guitars are wailing to match. I can only describe this as majestic.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

SKYHARBOR – Guiding Lights

July 7, 2023 /

This is album number two from India’s premier progressive tech metal band. After his departure from British tech metallers Tesseract, vocalist Dan Tompkins set up camp with Skyharbor after guesting on their Blinding White Noise record. Of course, with this genre straight forward tunes are not the norm so prepared to be challenged as a listener.

With Dan being involved from the get go with this album, it feels as though there is a lot more melody present in each song. Of course, there are delightfully heavy moments as you would be expect from the dentists. Allure is so good and opens up the album. Wonderful odd time signatures, lots of groove, and great vocals by Dan. Evolution goes down that same melodic path. But the heavy and groovy bombs in around the middle and they do that so well. As with all in this genre they know how to use that low end so well, and yet it doesn’t over power.

Miracle starts very low and yet the song evolves though varying phases without losing the melody. Great tune! My favourite track on the album is the final song The Constant. The song starts super slow and eerie with ambient sounds and faint echoey guitar. When the beat and vocals kick in with that super heavy groove man, it’s heavy goosebumps. Big shout out to Anup Sastry on drums, killer fills and grooves.

They haven’t released anything since 2018 so I’m hoping they have something due.

9.5/10 from The Grooveman.

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