Basically, the long and short of the MCA thing is this: It all belongs to Universal now, and everything that's available seems to be through the Geffen imprint, including the recent Japanese reissue of When Dream and Day Unite and the digital releases of the Voivod albums. I can't imagine that reissuing any of these albums is a priority for a company the size of Universal, but it put out a Tygers of Pan Tang MCA box set last year, so I guess you never know.
I'm gonna have to check this out - I like Voodoo Hill and I am listening to Cage 2 for the first time and am BLOWN AWAY by it. ( I know, where have I been the last 17 years?)
I am LOVING this album right now - not hearing enough growls to bother me - haven't gotten to Dazed and Confused yet, I'm considering skipping it.
The Cage 2 is a bit of an 'unobtanium' record, I've found (i.e. I haven't got a copy!) Tony Martin is/can be such a divisive figure 'in Metal,' generally, due to his 'sacreligious' (to some) role in late 80s-mid 90s 'Sabbath. A pal bagged a copy of Cross Purposes over Yule which led me to spin up that CD for the first time in a while - great stuff with some exceptional swathes of Iommic flair.
Headless Cross and Tyr are highlights of their discography and it's a shame that he doesn't get his due.
The eternal Idol and Headless Cross for me are the Martin highlights. TYR was a bit of a disappointment after those two. Dehumanizer sorted that all out which sadly meant that Martin's return to the fold couldn't match that unexpected Dio return to the mic. Cross Purposes and Forbidden aren't bad albums (many rate CP as their Martin fave). I like both but Forbidden definitely ranks as their worst album for me (although 13 might have 'bettered' that dubious honour) but it has a few decent songs on there - the new remix. remaster that Iommi and Mike Exeter are working on now might just sort that album out.
I rate the Martin Sabbath albums like this: 1. The Eternal Idol - love it 2. Cross Purposes - like it a lot 3. Headless Cross - like it a lot (almost a tie with Cross Purposes) 4. Tyr - Sometimes I really like it, sometimes I just can't get into it. Like the playing, but iffy on songwriting. 5.Forbidden - Outside of Can't Get Close Enough and Rusty Angels, I just can't. Like those two songs, though.
Headless Cross was the first Sabbath album I could buy on day of release being a new fan of the band from summer of 88. The dated production doesn't matter to me at all - just love that album to bits. Tony Martin just posted about speaking to Iommi last night. A Vaguebook post but might mean they will work together again - as Martin himself rumoured about a year ago.
I’d rate the Tony Martin Sabbath albums like this: Cross Purposes (strongest of the bunch) TYR (three REALLY great songs on this) Headless Cross (I hate the production on this one. Their first record for IRS and it shows). The Eternal Idol (“The Shining” is really good; the rest is ‘meh’) Forbidden (“Rusty Angels” is the only song I really like on it)
Jason. Stop it; you know where this ends... In other news, I've been greasing the wheels of the latest 'Heep record, Living The Dream and I gats to say, it's pretty strong. Lots of classic 'signatures' but unlike so much of their discography, rather happily bereft of Skippy-the-disc-kangerfiller. Had it on the CD today whilst on the road (which is both long and flipping tough, my friend) and found myself subconsciously awarding it a solid 8/10. OK, not exactly reinventing the wheel in a Sangy-inspired moment of Phsychotic Waltzing but it certainly maintains my contention re the nuber of old timer bands whose latter day outings are perdy dang far from "hang yer head in shame, Rufus" dung buckets.
Very well said. Reminds me of an old post I made on MySpace - circa 2006: "Arpeggiate, don't chugga-chuggate!"
Easily one of the most underrated bands from Sweden. I mean, this debut basically sounds like the perfect cross between Eternal Devastation and Mercyful Fate/Satan. How this band never took off is beyond me.
My top ten hard rock/metal albums for 2018, in no particular order (new studio releases only) below. As anyone here that has read any of reviews in the thread will know, my tastes run towards hard rock/metal with catchy melodies, great guitar, real singing (not growling), in a classic rock vein. I'm not into extreme/death/black/speed metal at all. Am too busy to write my own lengthy reviews of these or do any youtube linking but have included some links to reviews as well as some short comments of my own so you might see if they are up your alley, since many of these releases most of you probably have never heard of let alone heard. Audrey Horne - Blackout Nothing they've done b4 or since has hit the Thin Lizzyish highs of their Youngblood album (2013) for me but this is a pretty good effort nonetheless, and the Lizzy twin guitar attack burns up on this album as well. Audrey Horne - Blackout Review | Angry Metal Guy Sainted Sinners - Back With a Vengeance Just catchy, basic hard rock, with melodic hooks and a singer who bears quite a vocal resemblance to current day Ian Gillan. The lead guitar work is most air guitar worthy and super impressive. New Music Review : Sainted Sinners - Back With A Vengeance : CD Album Music Review from DangerdogMusicReviews.com Judas Priest - Firepower (no explanation necessary, surely!) Maverick - Cold Star Dancer Think I mentioned this earlier in the thread when I first got it early in 2018. Here's a review... MAVERICK - Cold Star Dancer review Nazareth - Tattooed On My Brain Quite the pleasant surprise. After Dan McCafferty had to retire due to health reasons I was sure the band would be dead and buried, then when they replaced him with new singer Linton Osborne I wished they were 6 feet under and would have gladly dug the 6 foot hole, filled it with dirt myself, and driven the bulldozer over their grave to keep them from releasing a new album with that guy on vocals - after hearing the newly recorded versions of old songs with him on their website I thought Osborne was a godawful fit, more suited to Foreigner or Survivor than Nazareth. Thankfully the band realized Linton just was not working and replaced him with Carl Sentance after a few months (weeks?). I was still skeptical of them going on without Dan, but I like Carl's voice and the songs are mostly terrific, with very classic Naz vibes, so my bulldozer is back in the garage and I buried my shovel instead of Nazareth. https://www.therockpit.net/2018/album-review-nazareth-tattooed-on-my-brain/ Ultraphonix - Original Human Music Somehow George Lynch has done it again. Most prolific guitarist in rock today. I've lost count of how many excellent bands/projects he continues to roll out on what seems like a monthly basis. With all the things he's been involved with recently you'd think somewhere along the way he would get too diluted and run out of worthwhile musical ideas but I've not heard the rot set in yet. A great album with strong vocals from Living Colour's Corey Glover. Ultraphonix - Original Human Music (Album Review) Wytch Hazel - II: Sojourn Yeah, I never heard of them either until recently, but man is this a surprising album and breath of fresh musical air. Sounds like they listened to Wishbone Ash's Argus album about 1000 times then went straight into the studio & wrote this, playing the whole thing live in one take. Quite simply Ash should have released this back in 1973 to follow Argus instead of the dreck that was Wishbone 4. Album Review: Wytch Hazel - II: Sojourn | Indy Metal Vault Marco Mendoza - Viva La Rock With all of the hard rock/metal projects Marco has been involved in (Dead Daisies, Whitesnake, Nugent, Black Star Riders/Thin Lizzy, etc) it is probably only a matter of time until he hooks up with George Lynch in some kind of metal supergroup, but in the meantime here's a catchy solo effort, featuring a guy on guitar I am a big fan of (Soren Andersen). Btw features a note perfect cover of Lizzy's Chinatown. Marco Mendoza - Viva La Rock (Review by Jess) Dead Daisies - Burn It Down Another solid straight ahead hard rock release from this hard rock supergroup but not my fave from them. The final track is a godawful cover of a godawful song (The Beatles' Revolution) so maybe that leaves such a bad taste in my ears that it hurts my appreciation of this album, regardless the album is still in my top ten list of HR/metal releases for 2018. REVIEW: THE DEAD DAISIES - "Burn It Down" » Metal Wani The Temperance Movement - A Deeper Cut I liked their first album, hated their 2nd (White Bear), but love this one. Perhaps blues rock is a better term than hard rock for this, I dunno. Decide for yourself https://www.therockpit.net/2018/album-review-the-temperance-movement-a-deeper-cut/ Of those above, Priest is the only actual "metal" album in the list. And some of the others might not qualify as "hard rock", difficult to say for me (EG: Is Temperance Movement "hard" rock or just "regular" rock?). Overall a disappointing musical year for me though. Only bought about 40 or so new album releases (usually buy twice as many but just could not find enough out there to interest me). Felt let down by some I was looking fwd to that were just OK to my ears at best (the Primal Fear, Joe Satriani, Black Stone Cherry, '77, Alice In Chains, Michael SchenkerFest, to name a few). Looking fwd to seeing what 2019 brings... [Edit: Ugggh. I had included images for all ten albums but the forum will not let me post more than five images. I could split this up into two posts but am out of time so instead I will just delete five of the images I had included above. Don't interpret my not having an image for some of the albums above meaning that I think any less of it than the others.]
What a great shot. That Black Beauty is asking for mercy. The pickup covers off.....well that is about all Mick will allow under the circumstances!