Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Lionheart - The Grace of A Dragonfly (2024)

 


Lionheart have been around since 1980 and are one of AOR best kept secrets.  They released a single for the Heavy Metal Heroes Vol 2 in 1982, then did a abrupt style change for their 1984 release Hot Tonight.  After that the band didn't release another cd til 2017's Second Nature.  With each release the band has polished thier sound and refined their harmonies and chops.  The Reality of Miracles, released in 2020 had some stellar cuts like Thine is the Kingdom and Still It Rains on Planet Earth which should have been a break out radio hits for them.  Fast Forward to 2024 and Lionheart return with a new release and continue to pick up where they left off with The Reality of Miracles.  


I dare say that The Grace of A Dragonfly may be the album that finally puts Lionheart on the map with other hard rock greats like Eclipse, H.E.A.T and Brother Firetribe.  The CD opens with Declaration which showcases the bands harmonies and hooks, a great song to be sure but it's the next 3 songs that really sinks its teeth into the listener and draws them in.  Flight 19 which is about a bomber that was lost in the Bermuda Triangle, was the first single of this release.  It's such a great track but honestly my favorite was the second single V Is For Victory.. It's an uptempo catchy tune that speaks to the grief and loss that war takes.  The harmony is so catchy and a fantastic choice for a single and worthy of radio airplay.  The Grace Of A Dragonfly is far from a 1 or 2 hit wonder.  This Is A Womans ware tells the tale of how the woman supported the cause working to keep the house and family together while the men were fighting the battles.  It's such a fantastic tune...such a toe tapper of a chorus.  The Longest Night continues with a tale about the air raids over London during the War.   The Eagles Nest seems to be the obligatory "slow song" and honestly I felt was the "weakest" track on the release.  Every song that was more uptempo just rocked and were all made for Radio hits and I felt that Eagles Nest just lacked that memorable chorus and staying power to my ears.  Luckily it was the only song I felt that way about.  Little Ships and Just a Man continued with two more stellar tracks.   UXB and The Grace of A Dragonfly round out the rockin portion of the CD followed with an outro called Remembrance, Praying For Peace.  

My honest opinion, I think The Grace of A Dragonfly is going to be a serious serious contender for Album of the Year in the Hard Rock world.  The band is just on fire write hit song after hit song. They could legitimately have 8 or 9 singles on this release.  Lee Small just sounds fantastic and the band really know how to harmonize the bring out the best of the catchy choruses.   Highly recommend for fans of AOR/Hard Rock music. This is one of the favorite albums of 2024 and will be the standard to which all are compared to.  Rating 99/100












Friday, January 19, 2024

Kardang - Rizky Biznizz (2023)

When I first heard Kardang my first impression was, they are a really fun rock and roll band.   And after several more listens nothings really changed that attitude haha..I think this release is not only a really fun listen, I can imagine the band being a blast in a live setting.  Coming to us from the frigid northern Scandanavian country of Norway, Straight ahead rock isn't what you'd expect, but happily that is what we got.  I hear a lot of different influences in each song, some stand out more than others.  Don't Let me drive was an outstanding song that has that bluesy rock vibe that reminds me of the Four Horsemen (an American rock band who's claim to fame was Rockin is Ma Business).  The band is far from a one hit wonder, Man Eater takes that Four Horsemen meets AC/DC and is catchy as well.  If this song had been released when MTV was actually relevent it could have been a hit.  We're Gonna Be Alright is a little slower and has that Bryan Adams feel and would be a great choice for a single.  It's got that memorable chorus and I found my self singing along to it by the third listen. Scandanavian Girls is another really catchy song, I can imagine there being a naughtly little video for this haha.  When The Water Runs Dry has that Cult/Bryan Adams vibe. Dream Fever starts out with just Chris Williams singing accompanied by an acoustic guitar and you can really hear the emotion in his voice and get a real appreciation for his talents.  Putting yourself out there can really expose one's flaws or talent and thankfully it really showcases his raw raspy voice.  (I read another review who used Rod Stewart as a comparison and you can definately hear some similarities in Chris's voice, which is an incredible compliment in it's own right.  This is such a solid piece of work front to back.   There are no filler tracks and truth be told it might have made my year end best of list for 2023 had I heard it sooner.  I'd give it a solid 9.5/10. Now excuse me while I go back and listen to We're Gonna Be Alright for the 5th time.  [Independent]





Monday, January 15, 2024

Best Metal of 2023

 2023 was a banner year for metal and it was very difficult coming up with a best of list.  Please keep in mind this is a matter of personal taste.  Did I listen to every release of 2023? No.  Did I like every release that most people did. Probably not.  Yes I listened to the new Metallica.  Didn't make my list obviously.  Same with Sleep Token...wasn't that impressed.  Here's what did impress me. 

1. Noveria - The Gates of the Underworld


2. Dominum - Hey Living People

 
3. Buckcherry - Vol. 10


4. Induction - The Power of Power EP


5. Signum Regis - Undivided


6. Temic - Terror Management Theory


7. Eclipse - Megalomanium 


8. Primal Fear - Code Red


9. Creye - III


10. Saint Deamon - League of the Serpent


11. Theocracy - Mosaic


12. The Lightbringer of Sweden - The New World Order


13. The Anchoret - It All Began With Lonliness


14. Sacred Outcry - Towers of Gold


15. Chamelion - Legends & Lore



16. Lalu - The Fish Who Wanted to Be King


17. Arjen Lucassen's Supersonic Revolution - The Golden Age of Music


18. Redemption - I Am The Storm 


19. Insomnium - Anno 1696


20. Crown Lands - Fearless


21. Within Temptation - Bleed Out



22. Iron Savior - Fire Star


23. Elegant Weapons - Horns For A Halo


24. Midnite City - In At The Deep End


25. Adrian Benegas - Arcanvm


26. Psychework - Spark of Hope


27. Mystery - Redemption 


28. The Struts - Pretty Vicious 


29. DGM - Life


30. Xoth - Exogalactic  


30 . Valdrin - Throne of the Lunar Soul 



Would have made the list if they had more than a 3 song EP

Wheel of Time - The Enlightenment


Jason Bieler - Zombies & Black Swan 


Saturday, January 13, 2024

Ranking The Black Sabbath Albums

 Black Sabbath is one of my favorite bands of all time so when it come to ranking them I feel like I have a pretty good idea.  Please keep in mind it's a matter of personal tastes. One persons trash is another persons treasure if you know what I mean.  


1. Heaven & Hell



2. Sabotage



3. Paranoid



4. Black Sabbath



5. Mob Rules



6. Sabbath Blood Sabbath



7. Master of Reality



8. Eternal Idol



9. Headless Cross



10.  Born Again 



11. Vol 4



12. Never Say Die



13. Tyr



14. Technical Ecstacy



15. Cross Purposes



16. 13



17. Dehumanizer



18. Seventh Star



19. Forbidden



Thursday, December 28, 2023

All Things Prog

ALL THINGS PROG


While I'm admittedy not a huge Prog Fan these websites are what I consider my "GO TO" resources when I need a Prog fix.   


Prog Archives - Undoubtedly THE best resource on the planet for all things prog whether it's looking for a discography, that long lost Prog band you listened to 20 years ago or just wanting to catch up on the latest Prog reviews, this archive has it all.  https://www.progarchives.com/ 

New Prog Releases - This doesn't really have reviews but it is very useful in that it has the Country, Genre, Release Date, Complete Track listing, Credits, sometimes a brief description of the music, links to media samples and band links  It's incredible help finding new and obscure prog bands. The search button is a nice touch allowing you to narrow the search for different bands.  https://newprogreleases.blogspot.com/

DRPR - DRPR is the Dutch Progressive Rock Page and has been around since 1995 supporting all things Prog.  They've got album reviews, live reviews and the writters even have a Blog where they submit 5 albums they recommend and they've posted their year end "best of" list.  Great resource.  https://www.dprp.net/ and https://weekendprog.blogspot.com/

The Prog Mind - The Prog Mind is another great resource for all things Prog.  There's album reviews, Spolights, Random Musings and of course the best of 2023 thru June.  As always I look forward to the year end best of List from this site. https://theprogmind.com/

Encyclopaedia Metallium (Metal-Archive) - This is probably one of the most comprehensive listing of Metal bands I've ever seen.   To call it an Encylodaedia is pretty accurate.  I'd be shocked if anyone that isn't considered metal isn't listed.  Even obscure bands I never thought I'd find are listed.  You can search by bands Alphabetically, by Genre or by Country.  You can search by record labels Alphabetically or by country.  When you click on a band there's a ton of information available.  There's the country of origin, location (City), Status (Active, Split up etc), When they were formed, Themes, current label...and that's just in the header.  Theres a tab for the bands Discography, Members (Current & Past), Reviews, Similar artists and Related Links which has links to every social media platform or music platform the artist music might be available on.  This is the holy grail of musical information in my opinion.  https://www.metal-archives.com/

BNR Metal Pages - Not as comprehensive as Metal Archives but BNR metal is a great resource if your looking for information about a bands releases cause they specialize in listing full discographies of band as well as current and former members of bands and they've got a nice biography of the bands.   If your looking to dive into a bands discography this is a great resource to start looking.  https://www.bnrmetal.com/v5/main/home

Know of any other great resources? Drop a note in the comment box and share it.  







Power Metal Warrior

 Power Metal Warrior


I want to give a big shout out to a fellow Blog from Poland called Power Metal Warrior.  Because of their blog I found a ton of music that I wouldn't have normally found.  I used Google Translate to read it since it's written in Polish but it does a great job.   There were very few reviews and ratings that I didn't agree with and many that were spot on. Their year end top 40 was pretty spot on too.  Highly recommend checking them out https://powermetal-warrior.blogspot.com/



Wednesday, April 12, 2023

 Top 5 Best Doom Metal Albums. 


5. Sorcerer - Crowning of the Fire King (2017) 

Sorcerer is the first of 3 Swedish Metal bands on this list.  Sorcerer released thier first demo in 1989 and toiled in relative obscurity releasing several releases on Metal Blade before unleashing this opus of modern epic doom on the masses in 2017.  This album was chosen as album of the month by Germany's Rock Hard Magazine when it came out and surprised the Prog/Power community by playing the presigious ProgPower USA Festival in 2019 which was one of my favorite performances  that year.  Still one of my favorite doom releases this never gets old with such classics as Sirens, Ship of Doom, Abandon by the Gods and the title track Crowning of the Fire King.  



4. Isole - Bliss of Solitude (2008)

Bliss of Solitude was Isole's 3rd release and first on Napalm Records and went largely unnoticed in Doom circles which was a shame because it was probably one of the heaviest doom metal releases I've ever heard.  The slow and incredibly heavy guitar tone was just in your face and the dark rich vocals from Daniel Bryntse were an instrument of doom in itself.  There were a number of tracks that stood out on this release with From Clouded Skying being one of my favorites along with Imprisoned in Sorrow.  



3. While Heaven Wept - Of Empires Forlorn (2003)

I really consider WHW's release Of Empires to be one of the most important releases of the doom genre simply because it combined Epic Heavy Metal with Doom and added symphonic elements to give it such a unique sound.  It really brought WHW to the forefront of the doom genre and raised the bar for Doom metal as a whole with 8 incredible songs. Tom Phillips vocals were mesmerizing and really enhanced the whole experience, especially on tracks The Drowning Years and Of Empires Forlorn.    Still one of my favorite doom releases and while I listed it as #3 I still find myself listneing to this more from time to time than # 1 or 2. 


2. Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus (1986)

My first introduction to Candlemass was their debut on Black Dragon records and the sheer heaviness of the album just blew me away.  It was vastly different than many other European bands and really took the heaviness of Black Sabbath and amped it up to another level.  Ironically Candlemass was dropped from Black Dragon due to poor sales despite the albums critical acclaim as being one of the most influential modern doom bands.  Take your pick for a favorite song..all were heavy as hell and worthy of listening too...especially if you owned this on vinyl.  Digital format is great but this album deserved to be heard as only vinyl could capture it.  



1. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (1970)

The Godfathers of Doom, The debut album from Black Sabbath probably single handedly defined and created a generation of bands for many decades.  From the opening Black Sabbath to The Wizard and Sleeping Village, Black Sabbath turned the music world upside down and never looked back.