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David Georgiou, the man behind the keys of Kingbathmat takes a peek from behind the curtains and like any musical maestro likes what he sees but knows that he can take it on another stage further and his release under the guise of The Sandpaper Eyebrows, the album Clockwork Utopia, takes the 21st century neo Metal-Progressive Rock to the next level.
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Remember this date, February 2013. If you purchase, borrow, lend or acquire Robert Vincent’s debut album Life In Easy Steps, it will be one of the most accessible, life affirming pieces of music that you are ever likely to hear, certainly this year and perhaps for the rest of the decade.
Such music is of course subjective, it always boils down to how the musician presents their image and thoughts onto you, others will agree and most will probably argue till they are blue in the face. If an album can reach into even the stoniest and hard hearted of souls and make them even quiver slightly, whether through excitement or pained and real memories then the album and the artist has done their job.
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After two stunning E.P.’s it was only a matter of time before Heaven’s Basement released a debut album that matched the ferocity and desire that their presence on the rock scene demanded. That time has come and the obliterating and karmic ear assaulting result is the fantastic Filthy Empire.
Despite publicised line-up changes the transition between E.P. releases and this new album, it seems to have been an easy one and certainly the lead vocals appear to be in good hands in Aaron Buchanan as he rages, thunders and fumes against lots of humanity’s wrongs and ills.
When people think of Progressive Rock in the early 1970s, minds invariably wander to the likes of Pink Floyd, Genesis, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes and even possibly Supertramp and Frank Zappa could be mentioned in there with hushed tones. All these bands and many more would get the nods of approval and songs readily ticked off the list to why they would be included in any compilation from that era, however unless they were dedicated fans, listeners of Progressive Rock might skip completely over the debut self titled album by Camel released in 1973.
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It is unusual for a re-master of an album to add anything more to a listeners overall enjoyment than when they first purchased the original recording. It is extraordinary to feel more than moved by the new recording, so moved that the lyrics seem and get underneath the skin to the point where you question what you didn’t hear all those years ago. Ian McNabb’s re-mastering of his 1994 classic Head Like a Rock has such an effect and it is advisable to have someone there to hold onto when listening to this incredibly personal and touching recording.
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From first crashing note to last thunderous moment, Helloween’s latest album, Straight Out Of Hell, is a reminder of the band’s early glory days of Germanic story telling that rivalled the Brothers Grimm in its ability to take a simple idea and give it such intensity and such power that the only clear rivals the metal group were either in the U.K. or in America.
It had been four years since Dave Lee Roth and Van Halen had released the iconic rock album 1984 and whilst the three remaining members were on a creative and production high with their first U.S.A. Number 1, 5150 and were on the verge of securing the second of 4 top spots on the bounce, ‘Diamond Dave’ was also enjoying his new found status as a solo star. There are very few people that really deserve the moniker before their name, especially when they have been so entwined with a band that had hit such incredible highs but in Dave Lee Roth, the moniker not only fits, it simply oozes polish and craves the title.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *
Phoenix of Avalon may not be a name that is well known in Liverpool just yet but on the back of their debut E.P. it surely won’t be long before the name of the band and the two members, Stephen Redfern and David Connor, are more common place.
Although bands such as the Wirral’s The Guardians and Mashemon have a huge head start in their respective journeys as the foremost young bands in the Liverpool area, the debut E.P. by the group, the tantalisingly titled Reborn, shows the band have much promise in their own material. The songs flow in the best possible way and on the songs Battle of Fallen Angels and Letters To No One, the ferocity of the lyrics are matched well with the beating heart that the music provides.
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It will be an album that divides opinion and there will be those that try their damndest to compare it some of the most iconic albums of Adam Ant’s career. Highly unfair bearing in mind that Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner’s Daughter is the first new studio album by the British charming prince of 1980s pop for 13 years. Why would you want to try and go back to a period which you dominated and in which the scene has moved on, not exactly for the better either? Hard to be a star again, sparkling incessantly against some of the dull and tarnished pop acts of this generation.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Like the great British post Punk band Goldblade, there are some bands that typify their genre, the big brash sound and verbal generosity that makes them just sound a cut above so many of their peers and those following in their wake. Bad Religion might not appeal to everyone, but they are truly one of the greats, live and in the studio.
Bad Religion’s latest offering, the sublime True North, follows on their rich tradition of wrapping great stories up in the heat and bitter furnace of punk’s anti authority and like Goldblade they succeed in getting you to question just what is being force fed down the throat.