Randomly came across this on YouTube yesterday while listening to someone's "70s heavy metal" playlist. Ultra was a San Antonio band that recorded an EP in 1976, but disappeared shortly thereafter (before reuniting in 2012). This song "Mutants" is awesome... heavy, aggressive and with fiery twin guitars a la Thin Lizzy. Love the vocalist too.
Use to have that on LP meany years ago. Great album. Will have to look out for a CD reissue sometime.
.................and indeed I've found and ordered a copy!!! First heard the title track on a sampler of CBS Records rock acts done through Sounds music paper here in the UK. It had Boston, Ted Nugent, Rick Derringer and others including this.
I have a couple albums sitting on my desk I've been meaning to post about/recommend for months & months now but just haven't had time, but this one that I just got is so good I feel compelled to give it a big two thumbs up so others that might like it can check it out. Maverick - Cold Star Dancer (2018) This is the 3rd album from this group of Irish hard rockers and I already raved about their first album in this thread many pages ago (Quid Pro Quo) which was one of my favorite albums from 2014. On just a few listens CSD might be my favorite album of 2018, up there with some other hard rock gems like the new albums from The Dead Daisies, Sainted Sinners (one of the albums sitting on my desk I want to talk about eventually), The Temperance Movement, Judas Priest, Little Caesar, and Audrey Horne. I felt their 2nd album (Big Red from 2016) was nowhere near as good as QPQ so I was afraid maybe they'd "lost it" and I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, but with just one listen to to CSD I found it got stuck in my player for days just like QPQ did. If I can get it out of there I want to give BR another listen, maybe I judged it too hastily. If you dig 70-80's style hard rock with catchy melodic songs, well sung vocals, great guitar, stuff like say, I dunno, early Aerosmith like Toys In the Attic, Judas Priest circa Stained Class, or Dokken via Under Lock and Key, you might like these guys (not saying they sound like any of those bands per se but if you like that kind of music you might dig this). About the only thing negative I can say about this band is their tendency to add "gang vocals" to songs which is something that I detest. But although the credits of this new opus list two of the guys on gang vocals I barely notice them and they don't bother me on this album. I'm thinking now that maybe why I did not like the previous album very much is because maybe the gvs are more in your face and annoying, but I really do not remember. I really really love the singer's voice and think they would be better served to just let him do the singing and dispense with gvs altogether though. Here is a vid of the title track: Here is the first single from the album, with suitably ripping guitar riffs: MAVERICK - MYRMIDON I think this link plays the whole album in sequence: Dusk Oddly this record has a closing "bonus track" which is a cover of Rick Springfield's Jessie's Girl which is not something I want to be hearing on any album by any band that I dig but it's not bad and doesn't sound like Springfield at all thank God. I don't have time to write a real thorough review so I'll let these guys do that for me: Review: "Maverick: Cold Star Dancer" - Sea of Tranquility - The Web Destination for Progressive Music! Maverick maturity is a marvel on Cold Star Dancer Maverick - Cold Star Dancer (Album Review) Decibel Geek Maverick - Cold Star Dancer (Review by Kyle Scott) New Music Review : Maverick - Cold Star Dancer : CD Album Music Review from DangerdogMusicReviews.com
Great shout out to Maverick! You okay I quote and copy your message over to them? They're band pals with me. New album is a belter as you say. Stick with Big Red though, its good too. Its Quid Pro Quo I struggled with as the debut album was swamped with unnecessary gang vocals - something I hate sadly. Whereas their debut EP was the sleaziest slice of LA-inspired hard rawk since the glory days of the late 80's and I loved that retro sound.
Not bad, Dudeski; very tight, very tight indeed. I might actually free some moths for a slice o'this lot.
I've become a fan of Power Trip starting with Nightmare Logic, a couple weeks back I scored their first release; does not disappoint. \m/\m/
Your checking all the right boxes for me and the title track is right up my alley. It's in the cart...
'Manifest Decimation.' What a great title. However, a minor tweak to 'Manifest Decimator' et voila! Autiomatic 'Priest classic that might have been, circa 1977.
Of course by all means feel free to share my enthusiasm with them. I don't remember exactly what I said up here about Quid Pro Quo but it was similarly positive as well. Maybe the two of us can get them to shed the background gang vocals btw! I noticed in the artwork that this album must have been crowd funded to a certain degree through preorders etc. If I had known about that I would have been in too but had no idea that was going on. These guys deserve some widespread success, hope they get it eventually.
I can't recall if there was a crowd fund or not - does ring a slight bell. I'd slipped up and missed the Big Red album launch and then didn't catch them at all until the Cold Star Dancer launch! I picked up Big Red about 4 days before the new album launch, so it was a hasty learning session to catch up on. It was me that recommended they use Manor Park Studios to record in, but it was the band that wanted the huge gang vocals. I think as they mature as songwriters - they are easing off that side of things naturally into a more subtle backing vocal. They are getting rave reviews on the tours they are doing into Europe. Expect USA will be next when they get the chance. I know one gig there had to be cancelled for whatever reasons (maybe visas?). They're great lads, and I really hope they can make their dreams come true - they're certainly moving in the right direction.
Has anyone checked out Tremonti-A Dying Machine? This is one of my favorite metal albums of the last few years. Along with Anthrax-For All Kings and Avenged Sevenfold-Nightmare. All three albums have great riffs, are heavy, but melodic and above all else have great songs. Killer!
One of the highlights of '90s power metal. Quite unique as well given a lot of Italian bands during the late '90s. Kind of appropriate that this band released their debut the same year as Rhapsody.
