Wow Brent, alot of new stuff there. I've been on aroll myself just recently but not got the Age Sten Nilsson Ammunition yet, nor the Crazy Lixx. How are they? And the Nightingale?
Heard good thingsa about the Billy Idol and Spotified it a while ago. Total shite I thought.
Ten is good.
OK..........of the new releases I listed the other day , here are the rankings and a brief comment on each. As per usual it was a case of being pleasantly surprised by a few I didn't expect to like all that much and vice versa.
From worst to best.............
Robby Valentine : Bizarro World - no rating (I don't bother if they don't hit 70%). : I was expecting to like this much more than I did. His early material was a good balance of hard rock and Queen style pomp , but there's very little here that I found rockin' or catchy. My favourite track was the last - a piano ballad
Billy Idol: Kings and Queens of the Underground: no rating : This will appeal more to the Queens than the Kings if ya know what I mean. Like Paul I had heard good things about this and got it on that basis. I've never been a huge fan but really enjoy some of the more rockin material with Mr Stevens. I won't agree with Paul that it's total shite but it's definitely short a few rockers to say the least. I think it's all pretty well written but it's just too soft . I did like a few of the softer tracks but there was just way too many. It might appeal more to those who were into the poppier key based stuff like Eyes Without A Face. My recommendation?? - go onto iTunes and buy one track Postcards From The Past which combines the poppy side with a Rebel Yell feel when the guitars kick in. Really liked that track and it's one of only two where Steve Stevens is prominent.
Aniday: s/t: 70% Robby Valentine also wrote and played most instruments on this , so perhaps he's spread himself too thin. It shows here too - the first half is strong and then it tails off badly. Female singer sounds promising too ....a bit of Floor Jansen and a bit of Doro Pesch when she belts it out.
Age Sten Nilsson’s Ammunition: Shanghaied: 71% All the mr folks will be wetting themselves over this as the Messiah Erik Martensson is writing/playing on it. Me........I don't get the fuss over Eclipse for the most part and perhaps my fave of his was the Jamison album. Sounds like an average Wig Wam album with the predictable Martensson on guitar. Patchy.
Mr Crispy: Baklava 75% A couple of jokers from Brisbane (Australia) who record instrumentals at home and give them away for nothing on Bandcamp. This is very competent , well produced but fairly low tech rock instrumental fare that was a pretty decent listen . Very good value too
I recorded something similar with a keyboardist/programmer for a project back in the early 90's - only it was much better of course
In Faith : There's A Storm Coming : 80% We've already discussed this........very solid melodic rock and that rating could easily increase over time. Very familiar but enough going on to make it better than the average cookie cutter release.
Nightingale: Retribution : 87% Here's the first pleasant surprise. I've never been into Swano's heavier bands and the Nightingale "brand" basically involves whatever he feels like doing at the time , so it can vary. I had heard that this one would appeal to fans of melodic rock and so I gave it a go. It's not easy to describe but it's very well done.......perhaps atmospheric (dark) melodic rock. Evergrey goes AOR?
Not normally my cuppa tea and I think I'd need to be in the mood, but I really liked it.
Crazy Lixx: s/t : 88% I was expecting this to be much better than their last (not hard) but nowhere near as good as New Religion and in the end I rate it about the same as New Religion. Very suprising. It may not quite have the highs of New Religion but it is just a really consistent and solid album. If you like New Religion - get it.
Angels or Kings: Kings of Nowhere: 88% Interesting band this one - were known as AOK back in the 80's and reappear now 25+ years later with a new singer and have produced one of the best AOR/melodic rock albums of the last 5 years. In some ways that's not saying much but I'd only rate H.E.A.T's : Address The Nation as better (off the top of my head). I'd perhaps compare it to the Find Me album .........if that helps.