The Official Hard Rock / Classic Metal Music Discussion and Memorabilia Thread!

[wolfking]

Looking forward to the Stryper and Saxon.  Saxon have been amazingly solid.

[bl5150]

OK........my thoughts on Queensryche.  This band was an easy inclusion in my Top 5 when it came time for my DTF Top 50 of all time and arguably could've been a lot higher ,all depending on how you grade things.  Looking back I have no issue with having Images and Words higher than Mindcrime on that list (slightly different degrees of perfection) ,however if I had not had the one album per band rule then Queensryche would've been more heavily represented in that list than Dream Theater.  My top 10 DT songs are basically Images and Words and a couple of stragglers  

In fact I think I could say that , outside perhaps Ozzy Osbourne and the various incarnations of his band , I don't think any other genuine metal band has more songs that I really love than Queensryche - all achieved in 3 or 4 albums and that's why all the wasted time grates so much  .   I also have a hard time thinking of any 3 album run that I like better than Rage For Order , Operation Mindcrime , Empire.  They also take out the title for my favourite metal concept ever by some distance - Streets and The Crimson Idol being the other two big ones.  So they're right up there in contention for my favourite metal band ever.

Unfortunately in that shocker of a year 1997 , 2 of my top 5 bands released Hear In The Now Frontier and Falling Into Infinity and Van Halen were also just about to poop out VH 3  ,all of which resulted in me needing bigger and bigger "swear jars" and the world demand for ouzo going crazy.  HINTF confirmed well and truly the sense of foreboding that Promised Land had given me.   My interest in new material from both Queensryche and DT never got back to anywhere near the old highs until the last few years.    I've actually been surprised that most of you guys can rank the latter half of the Queensryche discography in so much detail.  I was so pissed off by the way they went with HITNF onwards that ,aside from knowing the best track or two from each now , I really wouldn't have a clue how I would rank them and I have no desire to listen now and find out.  HITNF was the last album of theirs that I bought on CD until Mindcrime II (seems like we treaded a similar path Paul) and then my poor sister , with the best of intentions, bought me that glorified beer coaster Dedicated To Cabaret for Christmas one year 

So here's my attempt at a ranking - just a top 5 for me.

Albums

1) Operation: Mindcrime
2) Rage for Order
2) Empire (TIE)
4) EP
5) The Warning

Aside from the recent s/t and Promised land (in that order) which are both decent , I'm happy enough with Paul's executive summary 

The rest is complete shite.

Top 10 Songs

Queen Of The Reich
Walk In The Shadows
I Dream In Infrared
Whisper
Speak
I Don't Believe In Love
Breaking The Silence
Eyes Of A Stranger
Silent Lucidity
One More Time

Serious apologies to Empire, Surgical Strike and Take Hold of the Flame.

[TAC]

You know, I feel like I have some pretty experienced ears, but I have no idea why people with just as experienced ears as I do love Promised Land. I absolutely do not get it. The love for Promised Land makes absolutely no sense to me.

Is there any songs on the album that you like?  How about the title track and Damaged?

Live Damaged and the title track is ok. Out Of Mind was awesome live, as it worked amazingly well on a hot summer night outdoors.

We know that QR is at least one of the cornerstone bands of the "prog metal" genre. Given that, it seems some may prefer the earlier and more metal-ish material? I like it all to varying degrees but Promised Land does seem to have more of a "Prog" sound/feel to it and less of the metal aspect. Maybe that is what leaves some feeling disconnected? 

I've heard this argument before and I just don't find Promised Land all that progressive. I just find it weak.
Yes you are right though in at least that the lack if a metal side would alienate me.

[jjrock88]

I would imagine that HITNF got less the positive reviews upon its release, is that correct?

And the new Stryper and Saxon should be awesome!

[bl5150]

I would imagine that HITNF got less the positive reviews upon its release, is that correct?

I can only go by word of mouth ( I didn't read much in the way of reviews back then) but yes..........everyone in the scene that I knew hated it.    Funnily enough Empire copped its fair share of bad reviews too as a bit of a "sell out album" ,as did Metallica's black album.   If only people had known , they would've been praising them to high heaven    These days most fans of both bands have come around to those albums but at the time it wasn't like that - at least from what I was hearing back then.

[TAC]

   Funnily enough Empire copped its fair share of bad reviews too as a bit of a "sell out album" ,as did Metallica's black album.   If only people had known , they would've been praising them to high heaven    These days most fans of both bands have come around to those albums but at the time it wasn't like that - at least from what I was hearing back then.

It seemed like many bands released step down records that year. I remember hearing Empire for the first time and immediately though "uh oh". It was still a great album, but you could feel an underlying shift underneath it. Maybe it was a one off as QR's albums were always quite different, but I felt a shift underfoot, only to be realized when Promised Land came out.

Same for Metallica's Black Album. I remember thinking WTF was this? Total sellout! Little did I know that it would be the last decent Metallica album (I like DM!). I bought TBA and Helloween's Pink Bubbles on the same day in New Jersey and alternated each for the ride home to Massachusetts. Both bands completely let me down, though both have aged magnificently.

Lock Up The Wolves also didn't impress me upon its release either. So slow and plodding. And Gary Moore started playing the blues, after After The War, which was his best album in years.

And don't forget No Prayer For The Dying..

There were three bright spots for me that year were Painkiller, Rust In Peace, and Hey Stoopid. Oh, and Seasons In The Abyss. That's 4!

[King Postwhore]

Funny, I though it was a killer move for both.  I find bands that stay the course in their sound lose my interest. Hello AC/DC.

[bl5150]

It seems like there's some sort of dispute about to erupt in Leatherwolf land.........not that anyone probably cares     They recently toured and released a live album with Olivieri on vocals and now a different band with Wade Black on vocals has announced a new studio album coming 

[jjrock88]

Street Ready is a great Leatherwolf album.

Not sure what the background is with two enemy Leatherwolf bands.

[Lowdz]

Street Ready is a great Leatherwolf album.

Not sure what the background is with two enemy Leatherwolf bands.

One great album. Not really worth the argument is it? 

[bl5150]

A little 'Ryche bump - here's the band last week live.  Shitty fan recorded audio but gives a good idea of where they're at live....last song of the night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVoKFp-roso&feature=youtu.be

I found a few shirts around the place- very rare in these parts but perhaps not so much in the US.

First one - from the Mindcrime tour

[bl5150]

Also looks like Whitesnake are putting on a good show with their "Purple Tour"  if you can tolerate Cov's average vocals.  Tommy Aldridge at around 65 yo looks like he's had a few too many Red Bulls - pretty amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDRm5lc6XWg&feature=youtu.be

[bosk1]

A little 'Ryche bump - here's the band last week live.  Shitty fan recorded audio but gives a good idea of where they're at live....last song of the night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVoKFp-roso&feature=youtu.be

Wow, aside from missing the "big note" in the beginning, Todd sounds fantastic.

[TAC]

That may have been the show that went up on Dime recently. Although the setlist was excellent, I passed. Actually if they had more than ONE song from the last album I might have grabbed it.


Nice shirt Brent. Had one very similar to when I saw them open for Def Leppard in 1988. I never wore it and shipped it out to old friend Samsara a few years ago for his collection.

[Deathless]

Interesting. Skid Row has been getting blasted online since Harnell took over. A lot of people don't seem to think it's a good fit, and he's been struggling at some of the shows.

I don't know. He needs some time to adjust to the songs and the band. Todd La Torre was the same way when he took over in QR a few years back.

[bl5150]

Most of what I've seen online (including my own opinion)  has been positive towards how Harnell is sounding in Skid Row.  I have a feeling though that his voice is going to take a beating singing those old songs live - he's spent much of his time in recent years doing quiet acoustic gigs and keeping in top shape.  Will be interesting to see how he goes.

I think I posted a link not so long ago to him singing Slave To The Grind live and it was better than I had expected and probably better than Baz could do.  He doesn't have the same crazy stage presence , but then they haven't had that in ages anyway.

[jjrock88]

I'm only a casual fan of TNT, but I've heard the hits.  It does seem that the Skid Row songs may take some time for him to figure out his sound/voice for them.

I doubt he will sing anything from the Johnny era.

I am interested to hear what the studio material will sound like with Tony.

[TAC]

What is really jumping out at me listening to the new Armored Saint is how good the guitar playing is. With apologies to the great Dave Prichard's performance on Raising Fear, Win Hands Down might be the best AS album guitarwise.

[jjrock88]

What is really jumping out at me listening to the new Armored Saint is how good the guitar playing is. With apologies to the great Dave Prichard's performance on Raising Fear, Win Hands Down might be the best AS album guitarwise.

Its a great performance

[wolfking]

What is really jumping out at me listening to the new Armored Saint is how good the guitar playing is. With apologies to the great Dave Prichard's performance on Raising Fear, Win Hands Down might be the best AS album guitarwise.

I should check this out then.

[TAC]

What is really jumping out at me listening to the new Armored Saint is how good the guitar playing is. With apologies to the great Dave Prichard's performance on Raising Fear, Win Hands Down might be the best AS album guitarwise.

I should check this out then.

Absolutely. It's high quality Armored Saint. It's heavier than La Raza and more interesting than Revelation. The music is written by Joey Vera and you can see how his recent progressive influences have crept in.

And at 9 tracks, it doesn't wear out its welcome either.

[bl5150]

I agree that the Armored Saint is a quality album - very consistent but without any real standouts for me.  On the other hand an album like Revelation I found had a number of fillers but the best couple of tracks I like better than anything on Win Hands Down.  In the end I think I rated Win Hands Down higher but I would probably grab Revelation first for those killer couple of tracks.............if ya know what I mean 

[TAC]

I agree that the Armored Saint is a quality album - very consistent but without any real standouts for me.  On the other hand an album like Revelation I found had a number of fillers but the best couple of tracks I like better than anything on Win Hands Down.  In the end I think I rated Win Hands Down higher but I would probably grab Revelation first for those killer couple of tracks.............if ya know what I mean 

I know exactly what you mean. I love Upon My Departure and The Pillar from Revelation. Upon My Departure might be a Top 10 Armored Saint track for me, but all in all, I'm easily taking WHD. But it's basically been background music for me today. Can't wait for a real dedicated listen. But I can already tell that this is the best of the three post SOS albums.

[wolfking]

I thought I owned an Armored Saint album, but I don't.  Haven't really checked them out at all.

[bl5150]

I thought I owned an Armored Saint album, but I don't.  Haven't really checked them out at all.

That's poor form man 


Some sad news - for Tim and I at least.   Allan Fryer , lead singer of Aussie band Heaven just passed away from cancer.   Wasn't too far off getting the gig in AC/DC back in the day and Heaven were one of the few Aussie bands I really got into to any extent.  R.I.P to a true metal warrior.

[TAC]

Yeah, that's too bad.

Was definitely into Heaven when I was a kid. Loved the first two albums. MTV played In The Beginning quite a bit. Word had it that he was the runner up to replace Bon Scott, no?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyiNNdfm1vw

[bl5150]

Word had it that he was the runner up to replace Bon Scott, no?

Wasn't too far off getting the gig in AC/DC back in the day

yeah - that's what I was getting at 

[TAC]

So I umm..wasn't too far off!  

[bl5150]

Some news tidbits:

- David Reece talking Accept's Eat The Heat  https://youtu.be/yd9A5MHUPT4
- new Annihilator due in Sept.....samples sound quite Megadeth-ish  https://youtu.be/kBLCphofEn8?t=97
-  the Twister Sister doco I wondered about a while back (We Are Twisted Fucking Sister) is apparently getting a proper release in Aug/Sep


And here's a couple more Ryche shirts I found around the place. 

[TAC]

Yeah, saw those stories yesterday. I didn't listen to the Reece interview.
Can't wait to see the Twisted Sister Doc.

[bl5150]

Speaking of Reece.............Paul's already mentioned it in the melrock thread but the new Bonfire rocks pretty hard for that sort of thing. A big hard rock 80's sound that doesn't sound like the usual suspects.  I am enjoying it.   sample below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhXwMSZ9guE

[BlobVanDam]

Did anyone else think that was kicking into Orion at first?

Not bad, although it got a little bit more generic once the verses came in.

[jjrock88]

I thought I owned an Armored Saint album, but I don't.  Haven't really checked them out at all.

That needs to change dude!

Cool QR shirts Brent.

David Reece seems like a decent guy, but he didn't fit in Accept at all.  I still do like Eat the Heat overall though.  What do you rate it.

That Twisted Sister doc looks cool.  I also will buy the new live DVD/CD that they taped last week.

[Lowdz]

I've owned both those shirts Brent. Still have the Empire one but the PL one bit the dust years ago.

[bl5150]

David Reece seems like a decent guy, but he didn't fit in Accept at all.  I still do like Eat the Heat overall though.  What do you rate it.

I rated Eat The Heat mid 70's but I think I was being pretty tough on ratings at the time.  It's a good album and the last couple of tracks in particular (Hellhammer and Break The Ice) are damn good.