Been listening to a number of recent albums and I have a few thoughts:
1. Listened to Primal Fear's Rulebreaker last night. Nothing wrong with it. I like the music and I like the songs, but it comes down to the realization that I don't like Ralf Sheepers. I don't have their entire catalog, but I have bought their last 4 or 5 albums. I was not planning on getting Rulebreaker but the usual suspects around here were saying how great it was, so I did something I wasn't planning on doing. I bought it. Probably the last one.
2. Grabbed the new Michael Schenker live album. It's a great collection of tunes spanning his career, his new Temple Of Rock material, and some Scorps tunes (being that his rhythm section is Buccholz/Rarebell). His last two albums (with Doogie White) have been excellent. Schenker is playing inspired and these are his best albums in many a year. Much like the discussion last week about George Lynch, Schenker's discog is very mediocre. Sometimes I think he's too timid and afraid to "show off".
Anyway, I have two complaints. Schenker is way too low in the mix. But mainly, Doogie White is very disappointing on this, especially on the non Temple Of Rock tracks. It feels like there's a lack of effort. Doctor Doctor is so lame, and he sucks all of the life out of the verses of Attack Of The Mad Axeman. It feels like he's going through the motions, and maybe there's a reason he keeps bouncing around. I love the two albums he's made with Schenker, but this performance is weak here.
Oh, and Schenker gave Wayne Findlay the solos on Blackout and Rock You Like A Hurricane. I was really waiting to hear Schenker's take on those great solos, especially RYLAH.
3. Is it 1988 again?? Going back to last year's Slayer and Saxon albums, and including this year's Megadeth, Anthrax, Metal Church, and now the new Flotsam & Jetsam, these are all great albums, and in most cases, the best album these bands have done in years. They all capture each band's respective "Classic" sound. It's amazing that all of these albums have been released so close to each other.
Ironically, I was most disappointed with The Book Of Souls out of all of these albums. I'm not saying its my least favorite of the bunch, but within each bands discography, I feel that it's a weaker album in Maiden's than say For All Kings in Anthrax's. Does that make sense?
Anyway, those are the TAC Metal Thoughts of the day.