Trollheart

Pity the fool who misses out on this!


Artiste: Ghost Riders
Nationality: American
Album: Five
Year: 2013
Label: Phoenix Records
Genre: Country/Southern Rock
Tracks:
Pray for me
Gettin' my love
Cajun Jesus
Gone with the wind
Own this town
Long live Southern Rock
Mister Manager
Money magnet
Fried chicken baby
My sweet papa
Won't let you down
I pity the fool
An act of murder
You're here
Chronological position: Fifth album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Spinoff band formed from The Outlaws and The Henry Paul Band
Initial impression: Good heavy southern rock in the style of Skynyrd, Hatchet or early ZZ
Best track(s): Cajun Jesus, Gone with the wind, My sweet papa, Won't let you down, An act of murder
Worst track(s): Fried chicken baby, Money magnet
Comments: First impressions, they say, last, and so it's just as well that I didn't judge this album on the basis of one or two bad tracks. Had I heard only Money magnet or the godawful Fried chicken baby from this album I would have probably shook my head, hit delete and said not for me. That would have been a pity, because though this album is slightly flawed and far from perfect, there are some great songs on it and it's definitely worth listening to if you're into southern rock, a bit of country and some downhome rockin' fun. In addition to hard rockers like the two opening tracks there are slower, more laidback fare such as Gone with the wind and the heartfelt if a little cloying My sweet papa.

But it's with the incendiary An act of murder that these guys from down sarth really come into their own, kicking off the cowboy boots for a moment and grabbing their placards while they lay siege to the capital, denouncing the war on terror, and all wars in general. When vocalist Steve Grisham snarls "I'd rather be torn to shreds than to be part of this action", you know he's not just singing someone else's lines: these words come right from the heart. They rock hard too though, and enjoy themselves, as they fly the flag for Dixie in Long live Southern Rock and go all Creedence in Cajun Jesus. Just great fun.

Unfortunately though they also seem to know how to write a real turkey. Or two. Money magnet contains one lyric only: "I'm a money magnet". Yeah. And the rockabilly mess that is Fried chicken baby is so cliched and contrived that it sets my teeth on edge. Still, they do have the good sense to follow up these two trainwrecks, which come one after the other, with the superb ballad My sweet papa, and things get back on track quickly. From there on the album never dips, ending on a lovely ballad that bookends it nicely, and the memory of those --- in fairness, only --- two throwaway tracks is already fading.
Overall impression: Good solid southern rock. The South shall rise again!
Intention: May check out their other material. Wonder how those Outlaws sound?
(Note: Sorry, but with "Ghost riders in the sky" and the movie "Ghost rider" taking up every bloody YouTube result I got, I was unable to find even one song from this band, never mind this album.)

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Just a regular guy, gettin' back to what he does best!


Artiste: Steve Earle
Album: The low highway
Nationality: American
Year: 2013
Label: New West
Genre: Country/Folk
Tracks:
The low highway
Calico County
Burnin' it down
That all you got?
Love's gonna blow my way
After Mardi Gras
Pocket full of rain
Invisible
Warren Hellman's banjo
Down the road, pt II
21st century blues
Remember me
Chronological position: Thirteenth album
Familiarity: Oh, everything! I've all his albums and am a big fan. Oh, you want the names, do you? Okay then: "Guitar town", "Exit 0", "Copperhead Road", "The hard way", "Jerusalem", "El corazon", "I feel alright", "Transcendental blues", "The revolution starts now", "Washington Square serenade", "I'll never get out of this world alive", "Townes", Train a-comin'"...
Interesting factoid: This is the first Steve Earle album credited to "Steve Earle and the Dukes and Duchesses" --- guess Steve likes to be seen as an equal opportunities employer!
Initial impression: Now that's the Steve Earle I've been waiting to hear!
Best track(s): The low highway, That all you got?, Burnin' it down, Love's gonna blow my way
Worst track(s):
Comments: Thirteen, unlucky for some? For me, it was Earle's last album that was the first real let-down since "Jerusalem", the first time I really felt like he had failed to reach the high standards he had set for himself over three decades, and which I continue to hold him to. My main gripe with "I'll never get out of this world alive" was that it seemed to eschew the rock for folk, the hard electric guitar for the acoustic, and made, for me, of Earle a pale shadow of the man I had fallen (musically) in love with over such albums as "Copperhead Road", "El Corazon" and "I feel alright". I worried this might be a new direction he was heading in, doing a Bob Dylan in reverse; changing from hard electric country rock to more low-key folky material, perhaps reflecting his advancing age? The title of the album didn't, I have to say, inspire confidence that this was not the case.

Nor indeed the opener, and title track, which is indeed an acoustic country/folk number, but somehow seesm to have more teeth in it than almost all of the tracks off the previous album combined. A lot of weary anger and resignation in the song, but still, it is acoustic. So were my fears confirmed? Well no, not really. The very next track kicks out the stays with almost a return to the style of "Guitar Town" and "Exit 0", his first two albums, and from then on it just really gets better. Burnin' it down has a sense of The devil's right hand on it, while That all you got? faces the world squarely, daring it to try to lay him low. He's joined on this by his wife Alison Moorer I believe, and there's some great fiddle and accordion giving the song a feel of The Galway girl in its celtic flavour. Great rocking guitar too, good to hear it again.

Yeah, we're only four tracks in now and I'm already happier than I was listening to "I'll never get out of this world alive" all the way through. Love's gonna blow my way reintroduces us to the hardcore troubadour of such album as "I feel alright", "Transcendental blues" and "El corazon", nice and boppy, sort of blues mixed with Country, Pocket full of rain zips along on bright piano with a great sense of fun, and in all honesty the next acoustic track isn't till eight tracks in and it's a great little brooder, Invisible. Some super pedal steel on this. And speaking of super, listen to the banjo on Warren Hellman's banjo! Throw in the fiddle and you see if you can keep your toes from a-tappin'!

Add to this feast a return to the closer on his debut album in Down the road, Pt II and you have close to as perfect a Steve Earle album as I've come across in the last decade or so. His take on why things have not improved that much with the turning of the millennium is just caustically hilarious --- "No man on the moon/ Nobody on Mars/Where the hell is my flying car?" --- with some great organ work in almost Dire Straits Walk of life mode, and then really the only ballad on the album, a song it would seem to Earle's child, has Steve actually sounding a little tired and almost defeated. Something of a disappointingly downbeat ending to a very impressive album that has re-established my faith in this pure force of nature we know as Stephen Fain Earle.
Overall impression: Welcome back to the fold, my man!
Intention: Meh, same as ever: I'll always be a fan of this guy. Even if he does release the odd duff album. Sure who's perfect? Other than me, of course!

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Isbjørn

This journal is a goldmine of albums worth checking out, I think I should at least consider following it.

__________________

Taxman

Yep, Trollheart, I completely appreciate your reviews. You have helped me to discover many great bands (even if you don't like The Ramones... )

__________________
...

Trollheart

Power Metal by the numbers...


Artiste: Heimdall
Nationality: Italian
Album: Aeneid
Year: 2013
Label: Scarlet Records
Genre: Power Metal
Tracks:
Book I: Prologue
Book II: Forced by fate
Book III: Save you
Book IV: Waiting for the dawn
Book V: Ballad of the Queen
Book VI: Funeral song
Book VII: Underworld
Book VIII: Gates of war
Book IX: Hero
Book X: Night on the world
Book XI: All of us
Book XII: Away
Book XIII: The last act
Chronological position: Fifth album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: It's been nine years between this and Heimdall's previous album, 2004's “Hard as iron”.
Initial impression: Big spoken intro, oh so scary! Bit formulaic...
Best track(s): Save you, Ballad of the Queen, Gates of war, Night on the world, Away
Worst track(s): Nothing terrible, nothing I'd class as a bad track, but some are much better than others.
Comments: Another Italian power metal band? Seems like if I ever went there I wouldn't be able to go down a via or a plaza without bumping into any number of them. Italy must have the largest percentage of power metal bands, per capita, next to the USA. But are Heimdall any different? Well, like many bands in this genre they take the mythology of Scandinavia as their subject matter, indeed their name is taken from that of the guardian of the Rainbow Bridge in Norse mythos. Their vocalist, Gandolfo Ferro, subscribes to the high-pitched-without-actually-screaming school of singing, and he's not bad at all. Triple guitars from Umberto Parisi, Fabio Caluori and Carmelo Claps (I kid you not!) provide the power in this power metal, but oddly enough unlike many of their contemporaries they seem not to use keyboards. And yet I'm sure I hear a keyboard riff there as Book III: Save you opens --- yeah, each track is numbered like a book in a series.

This is actually the first point at which I get interested. Has a great hook and powerful keys --- damn it, they are keys, I don't care what anyone says! --- and rides along on a real wave of energy with some superb solos from the trio of axemen, then there's a real familiarity about Ballad of the Queen --- which is obviously a ballad --- oh yeah! It sounds a lot like Maiden's Blood brothers, at least the opening section. Decent song. Note: I'm leaving out the “Book” suffixes here; just serves to number them really, nothing else. Funeral song consists mostly of low percussion, pealing doomy bells which are joined by what sounds like violin and then church organ and, just to confuse us, some uileann pipes or tin whistle, but it's a short little instrumental that I think Heimdall perhaps try to pack too much into.

Underworld is a good rocker with gothic overtones and some fine shredding, then marching boots, thunder and storm noises bring in the slightly more AOR-like Gates of war, where whoever is on the keys takes the reins, the song a more muted affair than the previous but just as heavy. Bit of an odd ending, little confused. Everything kicks back up to ten then for Hero which pounds along nicely and into Night on the world, riding on some nice keyboard lines and some scorching riffs.

There's a really nice second ballad, piano-led with some powerful vocal harmonies and choruses in Away --- this is actually a far superior ballad to the first one, though sadly much shorter, at less than two minutes. The closer is the powerful metal punch and finale you'd expect, and the album certainly ends strongly after not really losing too much in the way of quality or power throughout its run.

I guess Power Metal is not exactly the most innovative subgenre there is; there's not a lot that hasn't already been done and often bands seem to be just retreading old ground which can make them seem unoriginal. Yet for what they do, Heimdall here seem to know what they're about and they put on a good show. They're not exactly reforging the sword first wielded by Manowar and Virgin Steele, but they're certainly keeping an edge on it.

Overall impression: Not bad, but nothing I haven't heard a million times before.
Intention: Might look into the rest of their albums, but won't be too rushed about it.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Another recruit here! Where do I enlist?


Artiste: The War on Drugs
Nationality: American (Pennsylvania)
Album: Lost in the dream
Year: 2014
Label: Secretly Canadian
Genre: Indie Rock
Tracks:
Under the pressure
Red eyes
Suffering
An ocean in between the waves
Disappearing
Eyes to the wind
The haunting idle
Burning
Lost in the dream
In reverse
Chronological position: Third album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Three of the ten tracks here are single words which end in the suffix -ing (Burning, Suffering and Disappearing.) Add in The haunting idle and you have four. Hey, it's the most interesting snippet I could come up with for a band about whom I know nothing and have heard nothing!
Initial impression: Uptempo and poppy but with a strong edge and I really like the piano.
Best track(s): Pretty much everything
Worst track(s): Pretty much nothing
Comments: About time I got back to these mini-reviews. Cue this one and then nothing for months! Well I'll do the best I can. I've been hearing a lot about this album so thought I'd give it a shot. Nice boppy start, cool piano work and the vocalist puts me in mind of a cross between Roger Waters and Dylan. Yeah, whatever. Sue me. The average settlement is ten thousand dollars. Really like the extended instrumental bit in the middle of the first track, also the long ambient ending. Oh yeah, further impressions bring to mind The Waterboys. Hey, I'm weird, y'know? Good start, certainly. And it just gets better with the first single Red eyes, kicks up nicely in the middle with a lot of energy.

Some of this really reminds me of the early work of Springsteen and perhaps to a lesser degree the more recent Gaslight Anthem material; it's very American, very workingman's music, and in track three we get the first ballad in Suffering, which features some very introspective guitar work that recalls Prefab Sprout around the “Jordan” era. Some superb organ here also, and then you really hear the influence of Dylan on vocalist Adam Granduciel in An ocean in between the waves, which is a mid-paced rocker with a great beat. Disappearing has an almost chart/soul/pop feel about it, and is another slower song, though not what I'd call a ballad. Sweet slide guitar. Reminds me in places of seventies or eighties Chris Rea.

I like everything I hear so far. The thing I'm finding as I go through the album is that though there are long songs (the opener falls just shy of nine minutes, ambitious or what?) they don't seem long. Nothing tends to drag and even when there's an extended instrumental, be it an intro, outro or middle section, it fits in really well with the rest of the song and just makes you enjoy it more. There's nothing here (so far) that I've thought was too long, overstretched or unnecessarily extended. Some really laidback piano and guitar work and we're into Eyes to the wind, but to be honest at this point I don't think it matters as every single track so far has been superb and I don't really see that changing.

I spoke in the Prog Rock Album Club about a phenomenon I like to call the Hum Factor, which is just what it sounds like: the temptation or desire to hum one or more tracks you like off an album. In my opinion, if you don't have a reasonable Hum Factor for an album it's probably not going to be something you enjoyed. This happened with the Ozric Tentacles album we were reviewing, and even though it's instrumental I don't give it a pass as you can hum tunes as easily as songs. What has that got to do with this album? Well I think I'll be humming --- or at least remembering --- most if not all of the songs here. The Hum Factor is so important to me that I'm adding it in as a new category in this mini-reviews.

By the way, there was a great sax outro on that last song, and the next one up is pure ambient abstract goodness; nice to see the guys mix it up a little. Burning kinds of fade-echoes in from that, sort of continuing the basic theme almost as if The haunting idle was an intro to it, then kicks up into a really nice commercially appealing rocker, uptempo and really emotional, with a touch of Rod Stewart's Young Turks in the rhythm, particularly the percussion. The title then is a somewhat more laidback song with elements of country and folk in it, nice chingling guitars and a great rhythm, then we end as we began, on a long track as In reverse showcases some of the best elements of The War on Drugs's guitar skills with some very ambient keyboard too and some nice soundscapes. Thought it would be a downbeat ending but no, it picked up halfway and it really ends the album well.
Overall impression: Seriously impressed and I can see why this album is so highly regarded.
Hum Factor (Out of 10): 8
Intention: Definitely going to have to listen to more of this band's work.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Remove the first word and you have my impression of their album


Artiste: Cloud Nothings
Nationality: American (Cleveland, OH)
Album: Attack on memory
Year: 2012
Label: Carpark
Genre: Indie Rock/Post-punk?
Tracks:
No future/no past
Wasted days
Fall in
Stay useless
Separation
No sentiment
Our plans
Cut you
Chronological position: Second album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Apparently Cloud Nothings used to be a power-pop band. Don't see it myself I must admit.
Initial impression: Nice opening but the vocals totally suck...
Best track(s): Stay useless, Separation
Worst track(s): Didn't much like any of the other tracks.
Comments: Back in 2012 I either bought this album and never got to listen to it, or, which is more likely, meant to buy it and forgot. Since then it seems Cloud Nothings have become something of darlings of the indie rock scene, with their latest album due out in a few days, so time to see if I can hop on this bandwagon before it leaves town. Where's my giant foam finger? I must admit, the opening track has a very nihilist/punk sound about the title, belied by a beautiful piano intro then some bouncy bass and it seems to be a slow song, whether or not it's a ballad I can't tell yet. Hmm. Don't care much for the off-key vocals which sound like the singer is drunk or spaced. Will this continue? We'll see. Gets faster near the end and the vocals come to life though they get very angry in a definite punk vein. Oh dear.

Wasted days is just short of nine minutes, and on the basis of the opener I'm not really looking forward to that, but it's a faster, more uptempo song with angry guitars and at least vocalist Dylan Baldi is awake now: awake and angry. Still not my thing though, this aggressive, shouty music. Some good guitar work though; song seems overstretched, could have ended in fifth minute rather than running on for what seems to me to be another pointless four. It's not bad, but pretty much more of the same to the end. Fall in has a military marching beat for a short moment then kicks into life, and it sounds like there's a female voice joining Baldi on the chorus? A darker, chunkier guitar on Stay useless which is actually quite catchy, while Separation appears to be the only instrumental. Yep, it is. I must admit, I wasn't expecting an instrumental on an album like this is turning out to be, but this is pretty damn fine. Lots of energy and power, and sounds like the guys just having fun.

Sort of a Sabbath riff, of all things, underpinning No sentiment, very dark and heavy with a pained, shouted vocal, and the album ends okay, but I see a lot of samey material here and the singing style as I mentioned just isn't my cup of Tetley. A decent album but I doubt I'll be checking out that new one after all. Pity.
Overall impression: Bit disappointing. Too punky for my tastes.
Hum Factor: 4
Intention: Might check their back catalogue, though probably not.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Ho-hum; another post-rock instrumental band...


Artiste: This Patch of Sky
Nationality: American (Oregon)
Album: Newly risen, how brightly you shine
Year: 2012
Label: Oxide-Tones
Genre: Postrock
Tracks:A light in the attic
How he loves --- to sink a ship
Newly risen, how brightly you shine
Cities beneath
With morning comes hope
Chronological position: Hard to say really. This is apparently an EP, their second, with their first actual album only released last year. So if you include Eps, then it's their second overall.
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: The label that put out this, and their previous, debut EP, Oxide-Tones, went out of business in 2013 so they had to release their first real album, “Ghosts”, themselves.
Initial impression: Nice guitar, gripping start that builds nicely
Best track(s):How he loves --- to sink a ship, Cities beneath, With morning comes hope
Worst track(s): Nothing bad really, just the other two tracks are not as good as the ones named above.Comments: With only five tracks on it I guess this really does earn the term EP, and as it's instrumental all the way through maybe that's not a bad thing: sometimes, as I've pointed out before, it's hard to maintain the interest for more than a few tracks of such an album. It starts off well though, with a high pitched guitar then some punching drums coming in kind of mid-paced as the guitar gets harder, and it certainly grabs the attention, sort of in a ASIWYFA way, or maybe Pg.Lost. Even so, for an opener the first track is a little sparse, and the last thirty seconds or so are just totally superfluous. How he loves--- to sink a ship has a much punchier and immediate start, then settles into the kind of melody I can dig, sort of a waltzy rhythm to it.

The title track is good too, though in general I find it a little hard to get too excited over these “postrock” instrumental bands unless they do something really different or memorable. I'm thinking the Hum Factor index on this one will be quite low, though that doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad album, just that I don't hear too much on it I'd envisage humming later. I do like the militaristic drumming here and something that comes close to sounding like bagpipes but I'm pretty sure is a guitar. I also don't think I'm hearing enough keyboards, despite the fact that Chris King is credited with everything from synth to Fender Rhodes: it's very guitar oriented. Nothing wrong with that but I would like to hear a little variety, instrument-wise.

Another sort of reprise for the last minute, which does seem to bring in some low synth but again is dominated by guitars, which show some initial promise in Cities beneath with a bit of a change in direction, oh and now we've got some sort of vocals, more chanting really but it's good to hear. Adds another dimension to the song. I think I hear some death growls in there, but they're subsumed by the main vocals and not at all obtrusive or invasive. The closer then is the longest of the tracks, at a whopping nine minutes. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Could be a chance for This Patch of Sky to really spread their wings and show us what they can do, could just be an excuse for nine minutes of guitar wankery. We'll see. Well, it starts off with a low synth so that's a start. Then the guitar comes in, almost acoustic and slowish, getting harder and more electric now. In fairness, it's almost halfway through and it doesn't seem like it. Bit of a Peter Gabrielesque fadeout on the end, gives the synth something to do, but still not enough keyboards on this for me. Nice, but nothing special.Overall impression: Good music, well played. A bit too much focus on the guitar. Not the kind of thing I'd sit down and listen to, but good for background I would think.
Hum Factor: 2
Intention: That's probably it for me with them. Not that I dislike the music, just that it doesn't move me in any particular way and I don't find it any different to a lot of other, perhaps better, postrock instrumental bands I've listened to.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Mental note: never offer to support Iron Maiden!


Artiste: Edge of Thorns
Nationality: German
Album: Insomnia
Year: 2014
Label: Killer Metal
Genre: Power Metal
Tracks:
In your dreams
Dark side of your life
Yearning has begun
Insomnia
Metal unity
The Watchmaker
A caress of souls
Walking like a ghost
Death dealer
... Of hearts that burn
The 7 sins of Arthur McGregor
... Is this the way it ends?
Chronological position: Third album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Not so much interesting as possibly dismaying: the band have been in existence since 1996, that's 18 years and have only released three albums?
Initial impression: Noddy Holder plays Metal??
Best track(s): Dark side of life, Insomnia, The Watchmaker, A caress of souls, The 7 sins of Arthur McGregor, ... Is this the way it ends?
Worst track(s): Nothing really.
Comments: Well there's an interesting child's nursery rhyme to open the album, which I think is from some horror films (but I don't watch them so can't confirm) then it seems like Slade have gone metal. No seriously: the singer sounds just like Noddy Holder. More gravelly perhaps but the similarities are definitely there. The music is heavy as hell of course; what else would you seriously expect from a German power metal band? The inevitable comparisons surface --- Helloween, Maiden, Stratovarius --- but the somewhat rawer vocals of Dirk Schmitt help EoT to stand apart from the greats and the not so greats in this often overcrowded subgenre. The two guitarists are excellent as you would expect, and this is one power metal band who will have no truck with synthesisers or keyboards, which makes them, again, that little bit rawer, gives them more of a hard edge (geddit?)

Keep your day job, Trollheart? I don't have a day job. Which is why I'm always writing this stuff. Anyway, looking down the tracklist I see two songs which are over seven minutes. This gives me pause: power metal is not always the best suited to longer, epic songs, even though most proggers would scoff at the brevity of a song that only lasts seven! But it's longer than many standard metal songs. Have they the creativity to sustain that sort of track? We shall see. The title track has a nice punchy guitar opening, but the roaring of Schmitt is wearing on me a little.

Metal unity is a bit embarrassing, lyricwise, but then, who expected it to be anything else with a title like that? Oh, there's a guitar riff taken right out of Maiden's The Prisoner! Oh dear. Nice acoustic opening to The Watchmaker, the first slow track and is that violin? Also nice to hear ol' Dirk do other than roar and scream. He's a decent enough singer you know. Some very nice fretwork here too from the lads as the song ramps up about halfway through. Not quite the ballad I had expected!

Oh dear lord! Now the bass opening to A caress of souls is ripped right out of Rime of the Ancient Mariner! Enough already guys! You love Maiden: we get it. It even has a Maiden “Whoa-oh-oh-oh!” chorus in it! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, sure, but I'd rather hear something original. This is one of those seven-minuters I was talking about earlier. To be fair it does hold the attention and it's a good song, but I can't help hearing Bruce and the boys as I listen to it. There's some fine shredding opening Death dealer, but overall I'm not hearing anything here to mark Edge of Thorns out as anything other than just “another power metal band”.
Overall impression: Too much Iron Maiden-lite...
Hum Factor: 3
Intention: Not impressed enough to check into their other albums. Just another in a slew of “okay” power metal bands; nothing sufficient to make them stand out.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Unknown Soldier

Only you could come up with a rating called hum factor

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History