THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: vinyl records (Page 254 of 491)

WARRIOR SOUL – Drugs, God And The New Republic

September 10, 2022 /

I sort of ignored this band at the time as I lumped them in with all the grunge bands that flooded our ears in the early nineties. But Warrior Soul had a serious sleazy rock n roll groove with politically tinged lyrics.

Intro and Interzone are short and sharp, and Rust is sleaze rock n roll. The third track in Drugs, God And The New Republic is a huge chunk of post rock goodness that would not be out of place on a Killing Joke album. Main man, Kory Clarke, was a one man band come poet/solo artist before the band was formed, and some of the lyrics (like on The Answer) have that poet delivery.

There is a classic rock undertone to a lot of the songs, and Man Must Live As One has a killer old school riff and it is my favourite on the album. There is even a song with THAT RIFF – The Real Thing – every rock band will succumb and use it at some point. A very raw rock n roll album that I like a lot more now than I did back in the day.

7.5/10 from The Grooveman.

MOTLEY CRUE – The End

September 9, 2022 /

When is the end not the end?  They have been peddling this around for way too long. I guess someone needed another alimony payment or had a lawsuit to pay. The tour that’s going around North America this summer has been doing great business and was some spectacle, but Posion blew both of the headliners off stage every night.

We get a nice coloured pink marble vinyl, and the songs are near enough the same set they have been playing for a while now, Opening up with Girls Girls Girls. I’m not sure if Vince has touched his vocals up after the event, but he does sound better on here than he does now. All the hits are here, plus all the songs you know, so it turns out to be a pretty cool Greatest Hits package.

My favourite Crüe song ever is Live Wire, but on this set my favourite is Shout At The Devil – it’s sounds quite shambolic and I love Mick Mars guitar sound. I guess you either love ‘em or hate ’em. I usually sit in the hate ’em side, mainly due to the crap that surrounds them, but I admit that this is quite a fun listen.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

JOURNEY – Escape

September 9, 2022 /

Is this the greatest AOR / Melodic rock album ever made? Journey were floundering until the arrival of Steve Perry. They were this great bunch of muso’s who could jam with the best of them, but they were lacking in the songwriting department. With Perry’s arrival, the songs became shorter and more melodic, and with his voice they were onto a winner. It was not until the departure of founding member, Gregg Rolie, and the arrival of Jonathan Cain from the Baby’s, that everything finally was in place. So the answer to the initial question is, YES!

Every moment on this record is pure gold – and that includes the ballads! The band could live off of the royalties from Don’t Stop Believin’ alone. It’s such a huge song that has been used so many times on various tv shows, movies, and commercials, but it’s not the best song in the album. I’m not sure any vocalist out there can put as much feeling and emotion into a song as Steve Perry can, but with Open Arms he puts his everything into that song. On Mother Father he reaches his peak for pure emotion alone, and its my favourite track on the album – and I hate ballads.

Schon has been reeled in somewhat on this album, so there is not so many of his rambling shred style solos (I love Schin’s playing by the way). The emphasis is on total melody, and the album is lifted because of that. Yet another in the series of every home should have one.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

METAL CHURCH – Blessing In Disguise

September 8, 2022 /

Ironically, I always associate Metal Church with Kurdt Vanderhoof, but he left after the first two albums and doesn’t appear on this – the band’s third release which came out in ’88. This is the MOV reissue and it sounds superb – it’s a great pressing.

Opening track, Fake Healer, sounds as though the band had been channeling their inner Judas Priest. A killer drum fill opens the following track, Rest In Pieces. It has a choppy riff and a groove that feels all of their own. It’s a great old school thrash track and my favourite on the album! Of Unsound Mind is textbook thrash – a fast chugga riff and double kicks are go. Side 1 closes out with the epic, Anthem To The Estranged. Weighing in at over 9 minutes, there are lots of time and mood changes to keep you happy.

Badlands opens up Side 2 and I think this was released as a single – in the US anyway. It reminds me a bit of Queensryche – especially the intro. The Spell Can’t Be Broken has a very hectic riff and groove. It’s A Secret is an instrumental and I get metal Stormbringer vibes from it – at least until the speed increases somewhat then it’s killer thrash-o-rama. Cannot Tell A Lie starts as though it’s trying to break the sound barrier, and carries on like that all the way through the song. The album closes out with The Powers That Be, and it’s that riff that you have heard variations of on every metal album ever.

I always thought Metal Church would be one of the big thrash bands, but I guess fate would have it differently.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

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