- Nov 24, 2002
- 14,116
- 163
- 63
- 57
Well the second half of the haul arrived today.
Riot - "Riot Live": since "Narita" is impossible to get (unless you find an expensive Japanese copy at e-Bay), this albums was the closest thing to get some of that material and be closer to completism with the Guy Speranza era.
As a concert is not big deal, the music is damn good and the playing is superb. Sadly the production and limitation of material (only two studio albums before) doesn't make justice to Riot.
To me are very valuable the version of 'Train Kept A Rollin' which I found much better tha the version of Motorhead (and that's something!). Also the fact that they were playing in London in 1980, which means going to England and show all those starting NWOBHM bands, hey guys this is what metal is about in US, comprende?
Jordan Rudess - "Rythm Of Time": armed with Rod Morgenstein on drums and Dave LaRue on bass, took 14 days before the DT 2004 tour and made his second solo album. He enlisted a newbie called Daniel J for the guitar and called some friends for the guitar solos (Joe Satriani, Vinnie Moore, Greg Howe, and Steve Morse ) decided to put Kip Winger yow: ) to sing in a couple of songs and jump into the pit.
What do you know the pit was only an inch deep, and Jordan came out with a very good prog/jazz/rock album. This has nothing to do with the last DT album (good for Jordan and sadly for DT). This is PROG ROCK and is good, the guitars even coming for known shredders are mild and the tone is driven but a great keyboard work. What i love the most is the jazzy feeling of the songs, different from his solo debut and really enjoyable without falling into musical wankery. And Kip Winger sings alright in a low emotive vocalization that harmonize very well with the softness of the music.
Rival - "State Of Mind": and now for a complete change of mood a nice discovery courtesy of the fine Sixxswine . Sixx and I exchanged some CD-Rs some weeks ago, I ask him to send me whatever he considered good. He shoot me with five new bands (for me), from those two shine above the rest: Warning S.F. (which album is highly expensive and difficult to get) and Rival.
Rival is a US band that gave his second LP in 2004 with SOM. This is fine, fine power metal but not like many US bands that sound alike to me, this has some freshness in its classic approach that is truly and enjoyable experience to the ears. I enjoy especially John Johnsson (bass and vocals) coice which is not the average high pitched power singer but not as harsh as Joakim Broden from Sabaton (another distinctive power band from Sweden), somehow reminds me a bit of Olly Lugosi from Shockmachine.
The guitars courtesy of Chuck McNulty and Neven Trivic are freaking fine: nice well played and structures solos, which plus an energetic, oiled, ponderous drumming makes Rival a band to check for sure (who said metal is dying in US?)
Stormhammer - "Lord Of Darkness": I found this band in 2001 in a promo. I like it and bought their debut "Fireball". To me they aren't the standard German power metal band, and therefore I follow them to their second album "Cold Desert Moon". The band have been plagued by some line-up changes and not much support from their first laber Century Media. Now they're on Mausoleum and again their music is hard to find outside Europe. In any case I managed to get finally their long delayed third album.
The music is different from what Rival offers, but this ain't Freedom Call either or Hammerfall. In a sense Stormhammer is maybe closer to their kinsmen of Majesty but this ain't a Manowar clone either.
This is a band I truly enjoy, not the superstar type, not a bunch of tr00 metal or die wackos, nor MTV material thankfully, just five guys playing metal with heart and soul.
Riot - "Riot Live": since "Narita" is impossible to get (unless you find an expensive Japanese copy at e-Bay), this albums was the closest thing to get some of that material and be closer to completism with the Guy Speranza era.
As a concert is not big deal, the music is damn good and the playing is superb. Sadly the production and limitation of material (only two studio albums before) doesn't make justice to Riot.
To me are very valuable the version of 'Train Kept A Rollin' which I found much better tha the version of Motorhead (and that's something!). Also the fact that they were playing in London in 1980, which means going to England and show all those starting NWOBHM bands, hey guys this is what metal is about in US, comprende?
Jordan Rudess - "Rythm Of Time": armed with Rod Morgenstein on drums and Dave LaRue on bass, took 14 days before the DT 2004 tour and made his second solo album. He enlisted a newbie called Daniel J for the guitar and called some friends for the guitar solos (Joe Satriani, Vinnie Moore, Greg Howe, and Steve Morse
) decided to put Kip Winger yow: ) to sing in a couple of songs and jump into the pit.What do you know the pit was only an inch deep, and Jordan came out with a very good prog/jazz/rock album. This has nothing to do with the last DT album (good for Jordan and sadly for DT). This is PROG ROCK and is good, the guitars even coming for known shredders are mild and the tone is driven but a great keyboard work. What i love the most is the jazzy feeling of the songs, different from his solo debut and really enjoyable without falling into musical wankery. And Kip Winger sings alright
in a low emotive vocalization that harmonize very well with the softness of the music.Rival - "State Of Mind": and now for a complete change of mood a nice discovery courtesy of the fine Sixxswine
. Sixx and I exchanged some CD-Rs some weeks ago, I ask him to send me whatever he considered good. He shoot me with five new bands (for me), from those two shine above the rest: Warning S.F. (which album is highly expensive and difficult to get) and Rival. Rival is a US band that gave his second LP in 2004 with SOM. This is fine, fine power metal but not like many US bands that sound alike to me, this has some freshness in its classic approach that is truly and enjoyable experience to the ears. I enjoy especially John Johnsson (bass and vocals) coice which is not the average high pitched power singer but not as harsh as Joakim Broden from Sabaton (another distinctive power band from Sweden), somehow reminds me a bit of Olly Lugosi from Shockmachine.
The guitars courtesy of Chuck McNulty and Neven Trivic are freaking fine: nice well played and structures solos, which plus an energetic, oiled, ponderous drumming makes Rival a band to check for sure (who said metal is dying in US?)
Stormhammer - "Lord Of Darkness": I found this band in 2001 in a promo. I like it and bought their debut "Fireball". To me they aren't the standard German power metal band, and therefore I follow them to their second album "Cold Desert Moon". The band have been plagued by some line-up changes and not much support from their first laber Century Media. Now they're on Mausoleum and again their music is hard to find outside Europe. In any case I managed to get finally their long delayed third album.
The music is different from what Rival offers, but this ain't Freedom Call either or Hammerfall. In a sense Stormhammer is maybe closer to their kinsmen of Majesty but this ain't a Manowar clone either.
This is a band I truly enjoy, not the superstar type, not a bunch of tr00 metal or die wackos, nor MTV material thankfully, just five guys playing metal with heart and soul.
