Trollheart

From such trees mighty oaks grow. Or something.


Artiste: Nina Nesbitt
Nationality: British (Scottish)
Album: The apple tree
Year: 2012
Label: Universal Music Group
Genre: Folk
Tracks:
The apple tree
Seesaw
Hold you
Only love
Make me fall
Chronological position: Debut album -- well, second EP but the first one was all live so I'm treating this as her "studio" debut.
Familiarity: One track, the title
Interesting factoid: Despite great interest in her, Nina has only released EPs to date, no full album.
Initial impression: Very upbeat, classy folk feel and a lovely voice.
Best track(s): The apple tree, Hold you, Make me fall
Worst track(s): Nothing
Comments: I stumbled across Nina Nesbitt on the web and liked the song I heard, which is the title of this EP, so I thought I'd have a listen to the whole thing. It's only short, five tracks in all but from the start there's a sense that this girl is going places. Discovered by Ed Sheeran after her self-made videos on YouTube were seen by the world, she plays guitar and piano, as well as flute in addition to being a fine singer in the mould the likes of Kate Bush or Stevie Nicks. A great folk flavour peppered with some pop sounds and acoustic rock too, the opener and title track is a great little song with a lot of optimism and energy, as is Seesaw with an edge of early Pretenders in it, while Only love puts me very much in mind of Suzanne Vega, and to a lesser extent, our own Lisa Hannigan, with a nice steady beat and some sparkling keyboards.

Hold you showcases her considerable skill on the piano, a lovely, soft ballad and surely should have been released as a single, while the other ballad, Make me fall battles it for standout of the (very short) album. This has a bit more punch about it, with strong, almost hissing drums and a passionate vocal line.
Overall impression: Surely she's destined for great things soon?
Intention: Wait for the release of her next EP, due this month.

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misspoptart

Judging by your review, I thought I would dig this, but I hear some kind of hyper Enya with cheesy lyrics. She's quite cute in a way and her voice is great, but not my thing. Lovely review all the same, thanks for it!

Trollheart

Viva Espana!


Artiste: Saratoga
Nationality: Spanish
Album: Vientos de guerra
Year: 1999
Label: Aspira
Genre: Heavy metal/Power metal
Tracks:
La iguana
Vientos de guerra
Mas de mil anos
Solo un motivo
Aprendiendo a ser yunque (Para llegar a ser martillo)
Heavy metal
Charlie se fue
Extrano silencio
Hielo liquido
El ministro
Estrellas las del cielo
Manos unidas
A sangre y fuego
Si te vas
Ruge el motor
Chronological position: Fourth album
Familiarity: "Nemesis"
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Christ! Something bad is coming for me!
Best track(s): Vientos de guerra, Solo un motivo, Heavy metal, Charlie se fue, El ministro, Manos unidas
Worst track(s): I liked everything on this album.
Comments: It's always fun listening to metal in another language. The burden of deciphering lyrical themes is taken away and you have to just concentrate on the music, and the talent of the singer without knowing what he or she is singing about! I first heard these guys on their latest album, last year's "Nemesis", and I loved it, so here I am checking out one of their older albums. I haven't heard too much Spanish metal, the only others being the old campaigners Baron Rojo and more recently Cain's Dinasty, but the more I hear the more I like.

There's an ominous yet exciting sound of hammer-drumming with single beats, like the stomping approach of some huge metal beast, then some guitar shredding before a Sabbathesque groove cuts in leaving the echoey drumming to fade out and we're into track two with all the power and bite these guys can muster. They're not quite as thrash-oriented as the aforementioned Cain's Dinasty, more often along the lines of the likes of early Sabbath or some of the older NWOBHM bands like Saxon and White Spirit, though in fairness this album is almost fifteen years old now. I am however constantly surprised by how easy it is sometimes to translate the titles of songs by Spanish bands: Solo un motivo is surely "only one motive" (or something close anyway) while Estrellas las del cielo certainly refers to stars in the sky, though I'm not sure what "las" means. A sange y fuego is "blood and fire" and even the title track looks to translate into something like "year of the war" or "time of the war".

Still, the titles are not important nor are the lyrics. I don't speak Spanish so can't tell you what the songs are about, but what I can tell you is that Saratoga (one of the larger metal bands in Spain, by all accounts) speak in the universally understood tongue of heavy metal, and they speak loud and clear! Great guitar work, without being showy or "wankery", solid, powerful drumming and a vocalist who really knows how to get the attention. What more could you ask for? They play mostly at close to top speed, again though without descending into breakneck farce, and you can hear the expertise in their playing. It's quite amusing to hear the only song whose title is in English, the appropriately-named Heavy metal is in Spanish --- wonder if the phrase means the same the world over?

Nice to hear that the vocalist can tone it down when required too, as on the grinding ballad Charlie se fue with a really fine guitar solo thrown in for good measure. Arriba! I also like the acoustic Manos unidas; shows what these guys are capable of.
Overall impression: A great metal album, credit to Spain. Who needs to be able to make out the lyrics, anyway?
Intention: Got to listen to a few more of their albums.

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Trollheart

Young guns go for it


Artiste: Tank
Nationality: British (English)
Album: This means war
Year: 1983
Label: Music For Nations
Genre: Heavy Metal
Tracks:
Just like something from Hell
Hot lead, cold steel
This means war
Laughing in the face of death
(If we go) We go down fighting
I (Won't ever let you down)
Echoes of a distant battle
Chronological position: Third album
Familiarity: "Filth hounds of Hades", "Power of the hunter", "War machine", "Still at war"
Interesting factoid: This was the first time Tank became a quartet, with the addition of Mick Tucker, who also wrote some of the songs, giving the band a more melodic approach than they had on previous albums, and softening the raw edge that had characterised those two outings.
Initial impression: Keyboards? ****ing KEYBOARDS??? On a TANK album???
Best track(s):Just about everything
Worst track(s):I (Won't ever let you down) Apart from sounding like a slushy love ballad (which it's not) it's a little cheesy.
Comments: This is one of the Tank albums I didn't feature when I focussed on them for the special I did on the NWOBHM some time back, and I must say I'm more than surprised to hear keyboard leading the line on the intro to the opener, though it soon settles down into the sort of music I expect from Tank, indeed most bands from the NWOBHM era: big grindy snarling guitars, gutteral vocals and thundering drums. Heavy metal as it was meant to be! Mind you, the opener, Just like something from Hell is over eight minutes long, something that would not have been typical for a British metal band of the time. Works well though and doesn't seem forced or overlong.

As you would probably expect with a band who call themselves after a fighting machine, many of the tracks on this and other albums of theirs concern war and conflict, with tracks like Hot lead, cold steel, the title and the closer, Echoes of a distant battle, but that shouldn't be taken to mean that they put no thought into their songs. All the tracks here are well composed and flawlessly played, and to be honest I would have thought, listening to this, that it should have been the album that allowed Tank to break into the big time. It just has that sort of professional feel on it that would have made it stand out. Unfortunately though it never happened to them, and they disbanded in 1997, though reformed in 2002 and have been putting out albums sporadically ever since, although founder and vocalist Algy Ward has since left the band.

There's plenty for metalheads to get their rocks off to on this album, as the twin guitar attack of Tucker and Peter Brabbs drives everything along, and Ward's growly vocal, while never descending into death vocals territory, is the perfect metal voice to snarl these lyrics at you. The pace of the album is pretty breakneck, it doesn't slow down for a moment to allow you to catch your breath, and if you're headbanging to this, well all I can say is have some Voltarol ready for your neck cos it is gonna be sore!

Oh, and no ballads. No, seriously: I know it's unexpected, but no slow songs at all. No, really!
Overall impression: Unpretentious, hard-edged, kick-your-face-in metal that reminds me what it was like to be young! Oh, so long ago...
Intention: I think I still have a few Tank albums to listen to, but I really should devote a little more time to them.

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Unknown Soldier

Good review of the Tank album, I always remember that they made one hell of a racket on that album.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

Yeah, but what country are they from?


Artiste: Frozen Rain
Nationality: I don't know for sure but I think they may be Belgian. Despite sounding German (band member names) almost all their official websites have a "be" suffix, so I'm assuming they're from Belgium.
Album: Ahead of time
Year: 2012
Label: Avenue of Allies
Genre: AOR
Tracks:
Believe it or not
Forever
Breakin' out
We're gonna rock
Too late
Turn it on
Ahead of time
The last dance ain't over
Not at home
The way that you
Voodoo party
Chronological position: Second album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Good eighties-sounding AOR. Um...
Best track(s): Breakin' out, Forever, Too late, The last dance ain't over, Not at home, The way that you
Worst track(s): We're gonna rock (Only for the overly cheesy lyrics)
Comments: I know absolutely nothing about this band, and was only attracted to them by the poetic sounding name. I've since found out that they're Belgian (maybe) and seem to be following in the footsteps of some other bands they admire, including Drive She Said, Boulevard, Fair Warning and Heartland, none of whom I know anything about. Hmm. Good start though and it's punchy, catchy AOR from the off, with some mesmerising keys work and stomping guitar: I'm already interested!

Breakin' out has a definite Bon Jovi feel, circa their debut 1984 album, shades of a slower Runaway in places, very catchy. Mind you, whether it's a good or bad thing that an album should recall the sound of one nearly thirty years its senior is a call I'll leave to you. Great keyboard work and some scorching solos, and though most of the members are mentioned as being supposedly big names in the AOR world I'm afraid I don't know any of them. Despite its corny title, We're gonna rock has more than a touch of electronica in it, while The last dance ain't over is pure rockin' fun.

Frozen Rain will never be accused of deep lyric writing with lines like "Come on baby/Come on girl/ We're gonna rock/ Around the world" but the songs have a fine sense of honest and simple fun about them, and they certainly get the feet moving if not the heads banging. I'd say you'd have a great time if you went to one of their gigs. They don't seem to be held back by trying to be one thing or another, or attempting to be too clever or deep. They're just here to enjoy themselves, and so they do. Of course, being an AOR (or Melodic Rock, take your pick, they mean the same thing as far as I can see) band, they have to have ballads on their albums, and Too late again sounds very Bon Jovi to me with maybe a touch of Foreigner, with the singer making a good attempt at an impression of Rod Stewart. Good stuff. The squealing guitars are probably a little overdone, but I'm not going to worry about that.

Nice atmospheric introduction to the title track, some lovely guitar work, a little laid back really, then it more or less rocks its socks off to the end, despite the decidely odd closer with its mechanical vocoder introduction. Still, screaming guitars soon blast that away and we end as we began, poundin' and rockin' hard, though Frozen Rain have one more surprise up their sleeve, as the closer is a powerful instrumental, not something seen too often on an AOR record. But then, it would appear clear by now that this is not just another AOR band.

Overall impression: Good, enjoyable AOR. I wouldn't rush out to buy their other album, but I'd certainly get it at some point, and would listen to this a few more times for sure. An interesting blend of generic AOR with some different and unexpected elements.
Intention: Add to the list of AOR bands I never knew existed but now quite like. Score one for Belgium! If they are Belgian...

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Trollheart

Relaxing and inoffensive ambient wallpaper


Artiste: Liquid Mind
Nationality: American
Album: Slow world
Year: 1996
Label: Real Music
Genre: Ambient
Tracks:
Mirror veil
Blue seven
Slow world
Chronological position: Second album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Drifting away, eyes sliding shut ... oh wait! I have a review to write!
Best track(s): n/a
Worst track(s): n/a
Comments: Liquid Mind is the professional recording name of Chuck Wild, a composer based out of LA who apparently specialises in slow, relaxing, meditative music. After the albums I've been reviewing today and which have been published over the last week I'm ready for a bit of relaxation, so let's try this. There are only three tracks on the album, but each runs to over ten minutes long, with the longest, the closer and title, coming in at a whopping twenty-eight! That's more than some of the longer prog rock compositions I've heard!

It certainly starts off relaxing enough, with soft, low, whooshing synth and gentle voice on the keys, little twirls of what might be oboe or clarinet colouring the tune, and moving at a very sedate pace indeed. Of course, there are plenty of albums that claim to be "sleep music" (and more than one or two I've heard which, though it's not their claim or intent, fulfil that purpose, if unintentionally) so why should this be any better? What? Look, I don't know. Stop talking to me, will you? I'm trying to relax and enjoy the music!

And that's the nub of it. I could write a full review of this for my main journal and go into the ins and outs of the music, but this isn't really made for that sort of anaylsis. You don't dissect this music, you just listen to it and drift, drift, drift... whaaa? Go away I said: I'm enjoying this!
Overall impression: Zzzzzzzz (In the nicest possible way)
Intention: I will definitely put this on if I can't sleep or need to relax or calm down.

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Trollheart

Come on ye boys in green!


Artiste: God is an Astronaut
Nationality: Irish
Album: Age of the fifth sun
Year: 2010
Label: Revive
Genre: Post rock/Instrumental rock
Tracks:
Worlds in collision
In the distance fading
Lost kingdom
Golden sky
Dark rift
Parallel highway
Shining through
Age of the fifth sun
Paradise remains
Chronological position: Fifth album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression:
Best track(s): In the distance fading, Golden sky, Dark rift, Age of the fifth sun, Paradise remains
Worst track(s): Nothing
Comments: I've only listened to one other Irish instrumental post-rock band, and that's ASIWYFA, reviewed here as I think the very first in this series. I was very impressed with that album, and am looking forward to their new one. GIAA seem to follow the same sort of lines with their music, alternating from ambient to fast hard rock and throwing in other influences along the way. There's certainly a lot of passion in this music, and it's great to listen to.

Great piano work and some fine growling guitar that can just as easily cut back into a nice introspective strum or pick, as in In the distance fading, whereas there's a real sense of dark ambience to the suitably-named Dark rift, like something out of a science-fiction movie. The title track kind of brings it back to this sort of idea, slow squealing guitar and swirling synth before it breaks into a real almost metal track, just showing how diverse these guys can be, and why I'm proud they're Irish!
Overall impression: Like this a lot, will have to hear more.
Intention: Let's go check out their previous four albums then, shall we?

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Trollheart

Pick an idea, and stay with it, is my advice


Artiste: Images of Eden
Nationality: American
Album: Rebuilding the ruins
Year: 2011
Label: Nightmare Records
Genre: Progressive metal
Tracks:
Crosses in the sand
Human angels
Tribal scars
Dreams unbroken
Sorrow's end
Rebuilding the ruins
My stigmata
Native to his land
Children of autumn
On elevated ground
Sunlight of the spirit part IV - Images of Eden
Chronological position: Third album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Good start, pretty dramatic and please don't be a death-growler...
Best track(s): Human angels, Dreams unbroken, My stigmata, Children of autumn
Worst track(s): Tribal scars, Sorrow's end, Native to his land
Comments: An oddly atmospheric keyboard opening then the guitars and drums kick in , and you know you're in metal land. My biggest worry when listening to a metal band I've never heard before is, is the singer going to be a "grunter"? You know, those death growls I hate so much and that will turn me off a band even if I like their music? Well luckily, though I have to wait a little while before the vocalist comes in on the first track, the answer is no: if he reminds me of anyone, Gordon Tittsworth sounds like Bruce Dickinson, though not so much as to appear to be a cheap rip-off of the Iron Maiden frontman. Checking, I see that Tittsworth not only sings but plays rhythm guitar, bass and keyboards too! A real all-rounder.

Apparently, he's become disillusioned with not getting enough of a result with progressive metal, so for their next album he'll be taking the band in more of a standard metal direction. Whether that will mean saying goodbye to the keyboards or not I don't know, but if so it'll be a pity, as they really anchor the sound here and give it extra punch. I wasn't totally blown away by the opener, but second track Human angels is a lot better. Some great guitar work here. Nice powerful ballad in Dreams unbroken, but the album's becoming a bit hit-and-miss. I didn't think too much of Tribal scars (though that was released as a single; maybe that was a mistake?) nor Sorrow's end, but then the title track does grab me.

There's a change in the vocals for My stigmata, so much so that I'm not even sure that's our Gordon singing: don't like the change. Also not crazy about the song though it has a good effective grindy guitar part in the middle. And a truly beautiful slow piano piece which reminds me of something but I can't remember what. You know something? I've changed my mind: I really like this track! Yeah but then Native to his land is nothing special. See what I mean about being hit-and-miss? And then Children of autumn is a beautiful piano ballad, until it gets kicked up the arse and becomes even better! Ah yeah, but then it ends poorly. The closer is twelve minutes long, and really, on a patchy album like this you had better hope it's a stunner. Well, it's not. It's okay but doesn't keep my interest; a twelve-minute epic is asking a lot as a closer, but if you're not going to pour your heart and soul into it, don't expect me to enthuse about it. I'm not enthusing about it.
Overall impression: There's definitely a grain of something here, but it's almost like an idea not properly thought out or a plan not realised correctly; it's kind of all over the place.
Intention: Not really sure to be honest. I might give this another spin. Then again, I might not.

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Franco Pepe Kalle

That song by Tank has a combinations of Ac/Dc, Pearl Jam, Green Day, and Rolling Stones into one beautiful sound. I love that song. I have to admit that the song is very good. Just beautiful melody. I am not a rock person but I have to admit this song so classic in my opinion.

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The problem with Franco Pepe Kalle is that he is a unpredictable character. There is surprising info about this man. You think he only likes Franco and Pepe Kalle but when you find out that he hears other artists, you are shock.

Girls are the sexy thing that God created.

Important to notice FPK.