THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: vinyl records (Page 6 of 473)

BLUE BLUD – The Big Noise

March 4, 2025 /

From the ashes of the NWOBHM band Tresspas, sprouted Blue Blud who released two albums – this is the first. By the time they recorded the second album however, they had returned to a more traditional spelling of Blue Blood.

I always associate Music For Nations with metal and I forgot how widespread their musical releases were. A more harder edge melodic rock/AOR is on the menu here and not a bad effort it is, with a great bright in your face production.

I still think that British bands don’t do the AOR/Melodic Rock as well as other countries because the harder stuff seems to be more in their DNA. This album however, does have its moments especially the opener One More Night with its loud crunchy main riff and really good catchy hook and chorus.

A quite an enjoyable romp through the 11 tracks here, I haven’t heard this in a long while.

7/10 from The Grooveman.

TORINO – Rock It

March 4, 2025 /

I think these guys were originally from Liverpool and called Strangeheart, but I may have the wrong band. Anyhoo, this is Torino’s second album that came out in ’89. They produced it themselves and that’s the first thing that bothers me. The vocals sound as though they are coming from next door and it feels almost like a demo.

It’s all very competent AOR and ticks all the right boxes, but it just doesn’t light the fire, it’s missing that big hook. Dance All Night is the one song where it all comes together and if the whole album was like this then we would be on to a winner, but one song does not make a great album.

6/10 from The Grooveman.

SWEET PAIN – S/T

March 4, 2025 /

I’m glad this one cost me nothing. It came with a bunch of other albums I acquired and I have to say, it’s not the best album in my collection.

Sweet Pain come across as a hybrid of the New York Dolls, The Sex Pistols, and any other bargain basement sleaze band of the Sunset Strip. The biggest annoyance is vocalist Corky Gunn, whose only talent seems to be that he hasn’t any. It’s as though they just grabbed any drunk off the street, gave him a mic, and said “there ya go”.

Kelly Nickels from Faster Pussycat was in the band and thankfully, they were much better. Ironically, the best song on the album is a cover of Starz’ Subway Terror (well, musically anyway).

If you see this for a dollar, buy it just for the comedic factor because it will at least make you laugh.

2/10 from The Grooveman.

THRESHOLD – Psychedelicatessen

March 2, 2025 /

It’s nice to see the old Threshold albums getting a release on vinyl because they were only released on CD originally. I’m amazed that the band are still going because they have had more line up changes and bad luck than is feasibly possible.

This album originally came out in ’94, just when the whole Prog metal thing was blossoming on the back of DT’s success. Threshold have a lot more layered vocal harmonies than DT and more basic metal guitar riffs. I don’t mean that in a bad way, it’s just how my brain processes that information.

In fact, I think this is a wonderful record. I love those metal chugga riffs that are the building blocks for most of the tracks. Saying that, my favourite tune is the 10 minute Prog epic, Into The light. It starts a lot slower and delicate before the heavy kicks in, and the build and groove are so good. You even get four bonus tracks, which is way better than a dreaded etched side.

Well done Nuclear Blast for doing a great job on the pressing.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

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