Monday 16 February 2015

A 2005 Masterpiece, Something New, And A Checkup


A 2005 Masterpiece



 The Evil Queens were one Hell of a Rock band out of Columbus OH. The four piece outfit put out what I consider to be a genuine Rock and Roll masterpiece in 2005.  First It Boils, Then It Spills is an alcohol infused, dirty, balls to the wall album that lives up to their namesake. 

I found it several years ago crammed among a bunch of unknown crap albums in a dollar store, of all places. What drew my attention was the beautifully simple artwork with an occult flair. Once I managed to wedge it from the shelve I knew I had to hear it. Let's just say it was a great buy for a buck.

From the first listen I fell in love with this CD. There is not a song on the album that I do not like, and that even goes for the bonus tracks. It is difficult for me to choose a favorite tune from the tracks. If you like your Rock and Roll dirty and raw than this is an album you have to hear!


 They were originally well known in the Columbus bar scene and were later discovered by Addison Records due to a podcast from Ohio from Donewaiting.com First It Boils, Then It Spills went from a self-released CD to a nationally produced album within a month due to a great podcast. 

Unfortunately Mike Eckhardt, Eric Hinterschied, George Hondroulis, and Jacob Sundermyer called it quits for The Evil Queens in 2008. Even though I will never be able to see these guys live I am content to be able to crank up this great album whenever I just want to Rock out.

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Something New



The Washington Rock band Thirteen was born out of the love of the Rock and Roll stylings of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Guns and Roses. Guitarist Daniel Mahanger has gathered a group of like minded rockers with the goal  to "Save Rock and Roll from the one hit wonder shit (Justin Beieber, One Erection) that dominates the radio today."

At present they have released several singles in hopes that the band can get reactions from the fans on the process of the bands recording. They are all very well produced and recorded at Scott Weiland's Lavish Studios, where many of the Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver songs were recorded. 

The ballad "I Let GO" Her Goodbye is an exquisite song. Their female singer brings a sultry fire to everything she sings.  Her acoustic rendition of the ballad "Time" is even better than the full version, and both are top notch.

I like both of their "Romeo Kiss" versions, though I like the male sung version best just because it seems to feel heavier.

As I usually like to say: don't just take my word for it, go to their website and listen for yourself.  They sound really good and I can't wait to hear what else they come up with. 



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A Checkup



The Rock band NAPALM out of Hemel Hempstead, UK is no longer together.  James O'Connor, Josh Robinson and Josh Deeley; the three teenagers that released very promising singles such as "I Can't Stand" decided to go there separate ways.

The track "I Can't Stand" was released April 2014 as a charity song for the Canadian Cancer Societies awareness for cancer. It is a really good track. 

I was fortunate enough to design their logo and do some other artwork for them before they called it quits. 

I was really impressed by the quality of the music that they released especially considering all three of them were only 15 last year when they produced the singles.



















James O'Connor, lead guitar, briefly joined with drummer Joel Felsenstein to form a Metal band 
called Bloodfury whose lineup is still under 
construction.






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I unfortunately was not able to catch Return For Refund's Kingston gig last week. CFRC broadcasted acoustic tracks from them on 12 Feb and I was able to get a copy of that recording. 

They were excellent as usual. It was great to hear some tunes by them that were not on their EP, along as a few from it. They even played an old classic Talking Heads tune. If you would like to hear it you can download it from the CFRC website.

Their EP is making the band plenty of fans on the college radio circuit. It has also garnered very favorable reviews, such as the one by Kevin Barber from Music Existence: " This is just the beginning for Return For Refund. With such an impressive debut EP, hopefully a new full-length album is just around the corner."

Check out the fan made video of their song "Some Is Better Than None" that I made posted below.



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Sunday 8 February 2015

Metal in the 2015 Grammy's and in Kingston

Metal in the 2015 Grammy's


For years it has been quite obvious that whoever decides on the winners of the Grammy's does not have a clue what metal is. It is bad enough that the numb-nuts who organize the event don't think any type of music is worth while unless it has a rap track, but the way they have completely dismissed Metal or Hard Rock as important genres is deplorable.

Take for instance their winner for Best Metal Performance for 2015. They picked the least Metal sounding track from a tribute album. At least it was from a tribute to the great Ronnie James Dio, but they picked Tenacious D instead of any of the great Metal acts that fill the album.

The other nominees for their Metal award at least had real Metal acts this year with rightfully pedigrees: such as Thrash innovators Anthrax; the crushingly heavy Mastodon; alternative modern Metal monsters Slipknot; and the Gods of Speed Metal Motörhead. Looking at these amazing nominees it makes their decision as winner for the award all that much more absurd. 

Also, what the hell is this "Best Performance" crap? None of the nominees are from a live performance of any kind, so what are they trying to say? There is no award for best Metal album or song, just a bullshit "Best Performance" crumb. No wonder we have had to go to other venues to get some recognition for Metal music like the Golden God Awards.



As Far as Rock the Grammy's have not been much better. At least they did one good thing this year; they had the King's of Hard Rock AC/DC open the TV show. It is by far the best opening for the show I have seen.

Unfortunately now I will have to come down off of that high to endure a show full of new rap and rnb pop hits. It all leaves a disappointing taste in a Rock and Metal fans mouth.

It is sad that the fat cats that get the say at these awards have such a limited idea of what  constitutes good music


Metal In Kingston

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First we have the Progressive Metal outfit Ponderous Chain. If you have not heard their album Shackled then you should check it out, it is available on itunes. Shackled has garnered praise for its strong musicianship and complexity.

From what I have been able to see through social media the last time they have publicly posted anything was September of last year. I hope that does not mean that they are defunct, but even if they are they at least gave us one great sounding heavy album.

Check out their facebook page to see the rich history of this band and their impact on the local Kingston music scene.







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Next up is a Heavy Metal band Rise Of Dissension. How could you not like a Canadian group that states that they formed up in the early fridged months of 2014? Besides that these guys kick out a catchy straight forward Metal assault that brings to mind Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society.

Their album Rise Of Dissension includes 11 of their Rocking tunes and is available on itunes. It was released just last year and keeps these delinquents busy playing. In fact you can catch them this February 20th at The Mansion.





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Basalisk is a Progressive Metal band that channels the wild Metal-mania that ran rampant in the Heavy Metal heydays of the 1980's. Their sound flows with Iron Maiden-esk layered guitar solos and even some keyboards.

Formed in 2011 they have been roaming the countryside entertaining crowds with their impressive live shows ever since.

If you think you are the next Nicko McBrain and desire to drum your ever living Metal heart out for a Kingston band you could become part of the phenomenon known as Basalisk: As of November 25th 2014 they have been in search for a new drummer since Keegan Compagnon left the band due to unforeseen events. 






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Sovereign Council is a seven member Metal band that are all about bridging the gap between Classical, Rock, and modern Metal according to their facebook page. They have a fan-base that covers more than just Southern Ontario, but includes South America.

Their 2013 album New Reign is "a very relevant work in the Canadian scene and... in the worldwide heavy metal scene according to Heavy Metal Brasil. 

From the reviews on Sovereign Council expect to see more about them coming to light worldwide.




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Thanks to Matt Heartwick's Kingston Music Reviews for giving some incite into the Kingston music scene. I recommend anyone interested in the Ontario Canada music scene to check out Matt's blog. 

Thank you for reading and keep the Metal flowing!
Kevin Sweeney 

Sunday 1 February 2015

Modern Conceptual Metal

Early Concept Albums





The concept album goes back at least to Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads and probably even before that 1940's album. Early Rock and Roll embraced the idea with bands such as The Beatles, Frank Zappa, and the Kinks producing their own concept albums. That made the way for Pink Floyd. Thanks to the popularity of Floyd many more bands embraced the concept. 



Metal Concept Albums



If you are interested in the idea of Conceptual Metal there are a few albums you should listen to: the British Metal giant Iron Maiden produced a concept album based on the Orson Scott Card fantasy novel of the same name, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son;  Queensrÿche released Operation Mindcrime in 1988 and it has become a standard to which all modern conceptual albums are measured against. It is a brilliant dystopian dream and excellent album; The iconic Metalheads known as W.A.S.P. gave their rabid fans a treat when they produced The Crimson Idol, an album about the excesses of the Rock Star life; Dream Theater produced an album titled Octavarium in 2005 based on the human personality; and my favorite Ayreon The Dream Sequencer. It is a pet project of the musical genius Arjen Lucassen. There are many more examples, and if you want to wade into the deep you can always start with Loudwire's Top 10 Best Metal Concept Albums.






Modern Conceptual Metal



This leads me to some newer modern Metal bands that are following in the conceptual album path. The first of these is Stage of Reality.  It is the project of Italian guitarist Andrea Neri previously from the Prog Metal Astarte Syriaca. The album The Breathing Machines is a concept album based on the article "Il Corriere della Sera" written by Pier Pasoline in 1973, the book "1984," and George Orwell's classic "Animal Farm."








The next band is a Progressive Metal group from Bucharest, Romania. Axial Lead's 2014 album Of Infamous Credentials landed them on Prog Metal Zone's top 50 albums for last year. 

The concept is eleven tracks that flow through the memories of an escaped convict at sea who is washed ashore on an island.  It is "an uncertain world and strange realms where reality is bent by his own moral decay, as he twists the rules that bind together his past and future lives."

You can find the album for free on their Bandcamp site.   




Being half Finn myself I am more than happy to end this with a Finnish Progressive Metal band. Malpractice's 2014 concept album Turning Tides is about an extremely intelligent man who finds great difficulty in finding his way in the world. 

The album sounds great! Full of smokin' riffs and that sweet distortion that just chugs along with the manic drumming. Their singer Aleksi Parviainen is endowed with a classic and smooth Metal voice that  just tops off the top notch talent that is displayed by this band.





Thanks to Prog Metal Zone which has lead me to some excellent bands that I otherwise would have never known about, also thanks to Stage Of Reality for following me so I could find out more about them, and Loudwire for their great coverage of all that is Hard Rock and Metal. 

Well, that is it for now. For all you Metal bands out there if you haven't so far - Start conceptualizing! Oh and keep On Rockin'. Thank you for reading.
Kevin Sweeney