I have the S/T on vinyl...not exactly a heavy metal riff-fest. Can't blame them for trying to chase the $ but still.
I just picked up Overkill's The Grinding Wheel and The Wings Of War and they are awesome. Where has the band been all my life? Also got the new Queensryche along with Operation Mindcrime and Empire. Plus the new Flotsam And Jetsom, Metal Church and Dream Theater albums. All great stuff.
Love this band. Great songs and a great vocalist, Have all thier stuff. Hank Sherman left after the second album to rejoin Mercyful Fate I believe.
Saw them on Thursday and what I could hear between the snare-drum sounded promising. Looking forward to the second chance they'll be getting in a couple of weeks.
I just got both albums...and I think they are terrible. Substandard pop-metal (and I like my share of pop-metal) I think each album had one song that was tolerable: Victory and Point of No Return The one positive is that Hank's playing is pretty stellar.
I have it on preorder too. The AC/DC vibe is good but I felt the guitar solo is very lacking. Felt I like I was listening to me (I suck - or rather used to, haven't played in years) rather than Angus, which is what this song needs. Angus could've gone shooting and taken this solo next to the moon (AC/DC song references intentionally in there). Regardless nice to see young'uns making this kind of music. I have all their albums and have been waiting for them to make a major step fwd but I don't think this album will be it, but we'll see. I know they had some personnel turnover lately.
And also erstwhile Krokus/Geezer Butler Band and current Nazareth vocalist, Carl Sentance. Very good band, Persian Risk, especially live.
A band/album I just discovered and am very much digging is Keplar Ten / Delta-V. Anyone heard of them? If you like mid-period Rush, Dream Theater, or current day Fates Warning, you might dig them. They used to be a Rush tribute band (and like Rush are a trio) but this is an album of all original material. Much of it reminds me of mid-period Rush, like the period of Signals through Presto. Not heavy-metal by any means but heavy-prog, like Rush themselves. This album (Delta-V) is from 2017 and might be their only one (?). I haven't figured that out yet, no time to really investigate them. This is the opening song on the album but if you go direct to youtube and go to this all the songs on the album are up there: Kepler Ten – Delta-V Some albums wear their hearts on their sleeve. Their influences and themes are displayed for all to see, proudly showing their heritage and their direction. Kepler Ten‘s Delta-V is such an album (and Kepler Ten appear to be such a band). From their name to the album’s art, Kepler Ten are achingly truthful about where they come from. The font chosen, the image, the hard science fiction album name all scream classical progressive metal/rock in the vein of Rush, Dream Theater, Ayreon and more. And you know what? That’s exactly what Delta-V is: the tropes of progressive rock played incredibly straight, with an almost childish glee in the craft. And it totally, 100% works, for a given definition of “works”. Are you looking for jaw-dropping technically or crushing heaviness? Look elsewhere. But do you have an open road that needs travelling, a chair that you simply must dance in or a starry sky into which to gaze? Then Delta-V is the album for you. Opening tracks “Ultraviolet” and “Time and Tide” contain everything you need to know about the album. Their anthemic choruses, emotional verses, winding unisons and prominent bass all scream Awake-era Dream Theater. “Time and Tide”, the leading single for the album, is an exceptionally well executed track. Its refrains will leave you screaming its lyrics within a few listens, the words ear-worming their way into your mind. It also has some of the best instrumental work on the album (although the trophy for best bass belongs to its successor, “The Stone”), with backing synths that perfectly paint the picture the band are going for. Most of the tracks on the album are variations on this theme: solid guitars, full and essential drums, well produced bass and a pleasing interaction between those, straddling the lines of sheer fun and interesting composition. But, of course, this kind of albums rises and falls on the merit of the vocals. James Durand (who also plays the keyboards and bass that were aforementioned) is an extremely talented vocalist. His deliveries, while certainly well done in range and precision, aren’t impressive for their technical flourish. Simply put, they contain cosmic energy, excitement and glory on an epic scale. Which is exactly what this, one of the genres that would later on birth power metal, requires. Whether on the massive lines of “Time and Tide”, the personal ballad “Swallowtail” (featuring amazing backing vocals as well) or on the grandiose and moving closer, “Red Skies Rise”, Durand delivers the exact barrage of emotions Delta-V needed to work. A lot of its honesty is owed to him and his delivery, never apologetic and just on the verge of the amount of cheese required from the genre. That last fact, the delicate balance between cliche, campiness, honesty and professionalism, is exactly what makes Delta-V work. Just like Haken‘s Affinity from last year, its subject matter and style moves it very close to the edge as far as cloyingly sweet progressive rock goes. But Kepler Ten manage to do a double-take right at the edge and infuse their music with just enough dedication and work to pull it off. What could have been just another overly complicated and ultimately pointless exercise in progressive rock, becomes a bundle of joy, an album that perhaps speaks (at least for this writer) to a time in our musical journeys when what we needed from our music was the ability to put a smile on our face or make our hearts race. Delta-V does both. More info: NEW MUSIC 2017 - KEPLER TEN ALBUM REVIEW: Delta-v - Kepler Ten
Page 333! The Half Number of the Beast! Found this on a metal board, not bad. Straight ahead melodic metal.
As I think someone already mentioned, the new LAST IN LINE is great. Just spinning it now and really liking it.
