Anteater

^ Great review! Enjoyed that particular debut a fair bit when I first got wind of it last year. Although they're a tad weak on the AOR front compared to the mindblowing recent output of bands like Work Of Art and The Magnificent, I'd love to see Houston live if they got a hankerin' for the prairies of Texas.

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Anteater's 21 Fav Albums Of 2020

Anteater's Daily Tune Roulette

Trollheart

Thanks Ant! You're always a welcome visitor in here: hell, we set an extra place each night in case you wander in! Now, what's yer poison?

I was very impressed with this debut, although I had already heard good things about them from reading "CRpAOR" (Classic Rock presents AOR) magazine, so knew they were going to be something special. I've heard of Work of Art, must give them a listen. The other one, The Magnificent? Never heard of them. Care to share?

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Trollheart

Decent Power Metal


Artiste: Axenstar
Nationality: Swedish
Album: The Inquisition
Year: 2005
Label: Arise
Genre: Power Metal
Tracks:
The fallen one
Under black wings
Salvation
Inside your mind
Daydreamer
Drifting
The burning
Run or hide
The sands of time
Chronological position: Third album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Axenstar used to be called Powerage. What? It's the most interesting thing I could find out about them...
Initial impression: Darker and grindier than expected
Best track(s): The Fallen One, Inside your mind, Drifting, Sands of time
Worst track(s): None
Comments: Power metal bands, sound all the same? Well this one has a little something extra. Hailing from Sweden, Axenstar, whose name sounds synonymous with singing about dragons and castles and elves, seem more concerned with a form of black metal, lyrically, with songs like The Fallen One and Under black wings, but they combine these darker, more gothic elements with proper fast power metal, the two guitarists sparring off each other. Keyboards always help add an extra layer to any band, especially metal, and here vocalist Magnus Winterwild (what a great name!) doubles on keys to smooth that veneer of progressive metal over the more intense parts of the songs here.

He's a good vocalist too, clear and powerful, with the songs alternating between fast shredders and slower, more doomy grinders, and drummer Pontus Jansson is certainly not averse to trundling the drums along when required, which is most of the time. Quite catchy melodies, especially the solo in Under black wings, with a very Maidenesque intro to Salvation, on which Winterwild's vocal gets a little rougher and gruffer, with his keys coming into serious play. There's an almost AOR feel to Daydreamer, then there's a nice change of pace with close to an acoustic ballad in Drifting before they're off and running again as The Burning fires on all cylinders, with a certain neo-classical feel to the keyboards.

There's nothing terribly new or different about Axenstar, but then, what do you expect from a power metal band? There's not a huge amount of room for development within the genre really, so my verdict on these guys is that they're as good as many a power metal band out there, better than some but certainly not the very best the genre has to offer. A worthy effort nevertheless, and definitely worth checking out.
Overall impression: Impressive, powerful but not overblown. Good solid power metal with some very catchy tunes.
Intention: Yeah, I'd listen to them again.

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Trollheart

Maybe there was something in this new wave malarky after all...


Artiste: Ultravox
Nationality: British (English)
Album: Rage in Eden
Year: 1981
Label: Chrysalis
Genre: New Wave/Electronic
Tracks:
The voice
We stand alone
Rage in Eden
I remember (Death in the afternoon)
The thin wall
Stranger within
Accent on youth
The ascent
Your name (has slipped my mind again)
Chronological position: Fifth album
Familiarity: Like most people, the hits: Vienna, The voice, Reap the wild wind, Dancing with tears in my eyes and so on.
Interesting factoid: Er, well, Midge Ure once appeared on the anarchic TV comedy show “Filthy, Rich and Catflap” as himself, but the boys confused him with Sting, and kept singing “Roxanne!” Hilarious, really, and sadly cut out of the TV broadcast editions later, presumably for copyright reasons.
Initial impression: Ohhhhh, Vienna! Sorry...
Best track(s): The voice, The thin wall, I remember (Death in the afternoon), Your name (has slipped my mind again)
Worst track(s): Accent on youth
Comments: Although like most people I of course know Ultravox, electronic darlings of the eighties New Wave period, and have heard their singles, I've never listened to a full album by them. I've never possessed one, until now. This is one from which two of their bigger singles (not Vienna) were taken, so I have a passing familiarity with it, and it's one of those singles that opens the album, the uptempo, keyboard-driven The voice, with something of the trademark Ultravox choral vocals in it, and Midge Ure on top form. There's little really to hear in terms of guitars, as Ultravox were always based on the synthesiser sound, but a few licks here and there from Midge toughen up the song a little. The second track puts me a little in mind of China Crisis, with a slightly more upfront role for the guitar, though the synths are never far behind, the following track --- the title, in fact --- built on a solid piano and bass line, but a good deal slower.

This is one of those old-fashioned albums that you kids out there won't remember, when you got eight or nine tracks, four a side, and that was your lot. This one has nine. Not for us the seventeen, twenty or more tracks on an album! If we got one with ten we considered we were doing well. Still, for the comparitive dearth of quantity here, there's pretty much quality all the way through, and after all, who wants to hear twenty crappy tracks compared to six gems? This album though, might qualify as bad value in monetary terms, as of the eight tracks none are particularly long (the longest just under seven and a half minutes) and one is only just over a minute long, the whole thing running to a total of forty-five minutes.

Nevertheless, as I say, it's all good, solid music, and the guitars indeed get another chance to shine on I remember (Death in the afternoon), and you can certainly see why Ultravox were so popular at the height of the New Wave craze. There's something very comforting and also infectious about their music. I'm not saying it's safe, but you never feel “threatened” by it, unlike some rock and/or metal. It does really seem like they're just here to have a good time, and spread the love. The keyboard melodies are definitely catchy, and linger in the brain after the songs have faded away, and generally leave you with a good feeling. Even of the few singles I've heard over the years, I couldn't really think of one that depresses, angers or even upsets me a little.

The thin wall is another one I know, and you probably do too: a bubbly synth bass carrying a generally piano-led melody with (gasp!) the odd blast of rocky guitar! Easy to see why it was a big hit single for them, although it does seem a little overstretched here, then Stranger within is that long track I spoke of, a lot of Talking Heads/David Bowie in it, quite arty, but again for me, about two minutes longer than it should be, while Accent on youth gets Ultravox back to what they do best, boppy, uptempo synth-based electropop. The high-pitched synths do manage to get on my nerves, however.

The shortest track, just over a minute, is an instrumental, which utilises some nice violin melodies and a pretty heavy percussion, then the album closes on a song that starts out like their megasmash Vienna, released a year previously. It's an odd little track, with heavy, bouncing drumbeats falling almost singly, backing a quite low and understated, and at times almost inaudible vocal from Ure. It becomes the slowest song on the album, and so I guess would qualify as a ballad, though I wouldn't really call it such.
Overall impression: Happy music without verging into vacuous territory, very catchy.
Intention: I may have to throw a few more Ultravox albums onto my ever-growing playlist...

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Trollheart

"Fallen". No, "The open door". No, "Fallen". Um...


Artiste: Evanescence
Nationality: American
Album: The open door
Year: 2006
Label: Wind-Up
Genre: Goth rock
Tracks:
Sweet sacrifice
Call me when you're sober
Weight of the world
Lithium
Cloud nine
Snow White queen
Lacrymosa
Like you
Lose control
The only one
Your star
All that I'm living for
Good enough
Chronological position: Second album
Familiarity: “Fallen”
Initial impression: Three tracks in, I must say I find a lot of this very samey, and not too interesting.
Best track(s): Lithium, Lacrymosa, Good enough, Lose control
Worst track(s): Snow White queen, Sweet sacrifice, Call me when you're sober
Comments: I seem to have this love/hate relationship with Evanescence: I like some of their music but find their albums hard to get into. I was quite disappointed with “Fallen”, having set myself up to believe it was going to be a great album, to find out it only had (for me) a few good tracks, most of which I already knew as singles. I was upset that digging down below the surface I didn't come across the gems I had expected would be hidden there, so here's a second chance to see if Evanescence can impress me. They should, really: they play the kind of music I like, and the image is good too. But somehow “Fallen” just fell (sorry) short of my expectations. But it's often the case that the second album can be vastly superior to the debut, the bugs having been worked out, so to speak. So is that the case here?

Well, up until Lithium I'm distinctly unimpressed. This is a good song, but is it the only one? There's something different at least from what has gone before in Cloud nine, with an almost dancy opening blown away by a big metal groove, and it's certainly interesting, and Lacrymosa has a very dramatic, almost operatic production, with some nice strings and tinkling piano, utilising a full choir and also incorporating Mozart's Lacrimosa from his Requiem. As the song is basically built around the classical piece, it's probably not fair to credit Evanescence with the quality of the track, but they use the melody well.

Like you is another “heavy ballad”, such as can be found on their debut, while Lose control begins as a nicely laidback piano-driven piece, but then kicks in heavy guitar and kind of ruins the song, for me anyway. With songs like My immortal and Hello on the previous album, it kind of annoys me that they won't sit back and do a proper ballad, some of the songs starting off that way but metamorphosing in what becomes a tiresomely repititious way into heavier, harder songs. Depressingly, I see that looking back over my review of their debut which I wrote almost a year ago to the day, I had something the same to say; the songs all sort of began to blend one into the other, as is certainly happening here, with some of them at least. So sadly it would seem there hasn't been any marked change in Evanescence's approach to their music, which is bad news for me.

The only one continues the practice of piano-ballad-becomes-hard-rocker, though I begin to wonder if Your star is finally a proper ballad? There's a certain slow-dancey beat behind it but then... that damn hard guitar cuts in again and off we go. Still, it's probably the closest thing to a ballad on the album. Nice choir participation too, though this album isn't doing itself any favours by constantly turning possible ballads into hard rockers. Sigh. Thankfully, we finally get the longed-for ballad in the closer, Good enough, and it's been worth waiting for. But sadly I can't say the same about this album.

More or less echoing my major point from last August's review of “Fallen”: it just all sounds very much the same to me, and not as if Evanescence have taken any new leaps or indeed any chances with their second album. Not for me.
Overall impression: Extension of “Fallen”, nothing terribly new. My opinion of this band has not changed. That's a bad thing, in case you didn't read last year's review of their debut in my main journal.
Intention: Think I'll call it a day as far as Evanescence are concerned.

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Trollheart

Talent rains down


Artiste: Erik Norlander
Nationality: American
Album: Stars rain down
Year: 2004
Label: Think Tank
Genre: Heavy Metal
Tracks:
Rome is burning
Beware the vampires
One of the machines
Mariner
Sky full of stars
Lost highway
Arrival
Neurosaur
Heavy Metal Symphony
Project Blue Prince
Fly
Oblivion days
Space: 1999
Chronological position: Fourth (solo) album
Familiarity: Some guest appearances on the likes of Roswell Six, Daniele Liverani and Lana Lane albums
Interesting factoid: He's Lana Lane's husband
Initial impression: Self-indulgent, overblown keyboard rock
Best track(s): Mariner, Sky full of stars, Lost highway, Neurosaur
Worst track(s): Beware the vampires, Project Blue Prince
Comments: Erik Norlander is someone I've always experienced through others. Although he could be described as a session musician, perhaps the session musician, he has a solo career of his own, and indeed fronts two bands as well. But I've never listened to one of his albums. I've heard his work on Lana Lane's material, and other places as noted above, but not in a context of just listening to his playing, his songs, his ideas. You might say I've experienced the essence of Norlander, without actually perceiving the man behind the music.

This is the fourth of, to date, seven solo albums, and so being more or less in the middle of his solo career is possibly a good place to start. As might be expected with an album from a keyboard player, it's heavily oriented on the side of keys, but Norlander eschews the idea of singing, concentrating instead on his keyboard work, and vocal duties are divided between Kelly Keeling and his own better half, Lane joining Keeling on the first track but more as a backing vocalist than in any sort of duet. To be honest, a lot of this is overblown, indulgent keyboard rock, and though the album is not cited as a live effort, it's a bit annoying to hear applause after each track (so far) which surely must be tacked on?

Things get a little better with One of the machines and the ballad Mariner, with Norlander happy to restrict himself to a rather lovely piano melody and the song benefitting from some lush strings arrangements. Standout so far. There's a cheeky intro from Vangelis's Chariots of fire to start off the longest track on the album, the ten-minute Sky full of stars, which believe it or not is an instrumental, and a real tour-de-force for both Norlander and his guitarist. Sublime.

I have to admit, I was underwhelmed with this album at the start, but as it's gone on it's thrown off its mantle of self-indulgence and cliche and has revealed itself to be something really wirth taking the time to listen to. The lovely solo performance by Lana Lane on Lost highway is almost worth the price of admission on its own, then there's the space-rock instrumental Neurosaur featuring some beautiful classical piano from Erik as well as thumping synth work and powerhammer guitar. And okay, going to Erik's own website I now see that yes, this is a live album, but not of one concert: it's a collection of live recordings from 2001 to 2003, so forgive the “tacked-on” comment earlier.

Mind you, Project Blue Prince lets the whole thing down, being half-full of announcements and samples of conversations, only getting going instrumentally near the end. Terrible. Luckily, Lana's back for Fly, but maddeningly though it starts off as a slow, sultry ballad it then changes into a fretfest rocker, which is a little off-putting, but she stays on vocals for the heavy rock cruncher Oblivion days, and the album ends by putting a smile on the faces of old sci-fi geeks like me with a rendition of the theme to the old TV show “Space: 1999” --- nice one, Erik!
Overall impression: Much better than when it started; liked this a lot.
Intention: Will now have to listen to his other albums.

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Key

Hey TH, if you haven't, give Dark Moor a listen. I would recommend their Shadowland album, however I think you could find something you like in any of their releases.

Trollheart

Thanks Ki. I have, if you check my regular journal, I reviewed "Tarot" only last week. Good album, I'll be listening to more of theirs as and when.
Oh and I finally got to listen to Pg Lost: very impressive. You might enjoy Irish band And So I Watch You From Afar, if you don't know them: quite similar. In fact, they're the first "Bitesize" review here...


PS That Grooveshark's a bit of all right, isn't it? I assumed being from Ireland I wouldn't get access, but no, it played without any problems. May look into that a bit more.

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Trollheart

Fuel to the fire for those who accuse prog of being overblown


Artiste: Isildurs Bane
Nationality: Swedish
Album: MIND Vol 1
Year: 1997
Label: Self-released on their own label
Genre: Progressive Rock
Tracks:
The flight onward, phases 1-5
Ataraxia
In a state of comprehension
The pilot
Unity
Opportunistic walk phases 1-2
Holistic medicine
A blank page
Chronological position: Eighth album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Isildurs Bane's first two albums were in Swedish, but their first album to have an English title was ... instrumental! Er, and so is this...
Initial impression: Prog rock with strong classical leanings
Best track(s): Ataraxia, Unity, A blank page
Worst track(s): Holistic medicine
Comments: It's sort of hard to categorise this music, which is I think how the band would prefer it to be seen. There's heavy organ, violin and flute, some sound effects and quite a lot of brass, while fairly sharp guitar makes its presence known too. And this is all in the first track, which is admittedly just over twelve minutes long. Utilising what I believe would be the traditions of the likes of King Crimson and Floyd and marrying these to jazz fusion and some fairly experimental styles, Isildurs Bane have come up with what comes across as a pretty unique sound. Considering that they're from Sweden, there are some quite celtic overtones to the music, as well as African influences, particularly in the marimbas and percussion.

As it happens, the title is an acronym: MIND stands for Music Investigating New Dimensions, which is certainly something that you see happening on this album. There are three other MIND albums, discounting one double live one, and I'd be interested to hear them, as each seems as different from the other as it is possible to be, while still linking them as a concept. It's not until MIND Vol 4, however, released in 2003, that there are vocals added to the album, so don't expect any here. But then, with music this deep and imaginative, who needs a singer? After the twelve-minute opener, Ataraxia is carried on slow soft violin and classical guitar, its haunting lyricism faded away all too soon, while the next few tracks are also short, by comparison, the longest hitting just over five and a half minutes. Unity in particular is a beautiful little slow piece on piano and violin. Exquisite.

Then, as if to make up for the shortness of the last three tracks, the next two are fifteen minutes each! In some ways though, the longer tracks give me a feeling more of self-indulgence, and with little samples thrown in along with sound effects and voices, it often feels more that Isildurs Bane are putting in things to be seen as clever and innovative and different, but really it comes across as a little contrived. In particular, the voice reading out chess moves at the beginning of Holistic medicine, which the band describe on their website as a “complex collage piece”, reeks to me of the “look-at-us-aren't-we-clever” factor. The voiceover carries well into the third minute, which really extends the idea too far for me.

The instrumentation, when it gets going, on that track is nice, especially the guitar, but that annoying voice continues rambling on right to the end, and it's more than irritating now. You've made your point guys: give it a rest, yeah?
Overall impression: Arty, proggy in places but overall the sense of self-importance and elitism leave me with negative feelings about this album that I really wish I hadn't got.
Intention: I'm really not too sure.

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Key

Must've missed that D: i'll check it out.

And I have heard of them, I like them a lot as well.

I use Grooveshark regularly now. I connected it with my last.fm so I can scrobble with Grooveshark.