AUDREY HORNE Devil´s Bell | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by Napalm Records on April 22nd, 2022

Quick Background

Audrey Horne are a hard rock band from Norway. The band took its name from Sherilyn Fenn's character in the cult TV series Twin Peaks. Although some of the band members play or have previously played in black metal bands like Enslaved and Gorgoroth, Audrey Horne's music is far removed from the black metal genre, and can be described as heavy and melodic hard rock, similar to bands like Van Halen, Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, and Alice In Chains. 

Devil´s Bell

Devil´s Bell is the seventh studio album following 2018's Blackout. It features 9 songs in 49 minutes. Although there's no intro track, album opener "Ashes to Ashes" kicks off with a minute and half build up before getting into full blown hard rock delight. Do I hear a Ghost influence here? Regardless, it's one of the best songs on the album, very catchy and with a proggy edge. 

The title track was the first single out of Devil´s Bell. As we come to expect from those guys this track exemplify the album sound with twin guitars, catchy melody lines and the a solid rhythmic section. "Danse Macabre" is an homage to Deep Purple's "Stormbringer", such a cool intro and catchy melodies! Kudos to the rhythmic section on this one. 

More than ever the band in this album sounds like early Iron Maiden being covered by Alice In Chains. "Return to Grave Valley" for example is the best Iron Maiden instrumental song never written by the British icons. Not only in this song, but actually all over the album the twin guitars and guitar work are great to hear. In addition to many twin guitar moments, the riffs while simple are dynamic and there's a lot of changes, ideas and variations building on each other. "Toxic Twins" for example is a groovy high tempo song with a guitar solo section which is the best part of the song reminding me of "Master of Puppets" bridge into the guitar solo combined with Deep Purple. It's super cool. With just over 7 minutes "From Darkness"  is the longest song on Devil's Bell and closes the album with high energy and groove. 

The Picky Guy

While there are some very nice songs as already discussed, none of them blew me away. Then some of them even fell flat such as "Animal" and "Break Out". 

Wrap Up Opinion 

I still don't think Audrey Horne were able to replicate the impact that the debut album Youngblood had on me. With that said, Devil's Bell is still a good and fun hard rock album with call backs and references to classic hard rock bands from the 70's and 80's. For all of that I am still giving it 79/100, good album worth checking out for those into some old school hard rock through modern lenses. 

SCORE: 79/100

Genre: Hard Rock

Released by Napalm Records on April 22nd, 2022

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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AXEL RUDI PELL Lost XXIII | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by Steamhammer on April 15th, 2022

Quick Background

Some bands want to "keep evolving" or "pushing their boundaries" while others just want to do what they know best and love. The German institution Axel Rudi Pell (ARP) is the ladder, like AC/DC, when you get a new ARP album, you know what you will get. A love letter to Deep Purple/ Rainbow/ UFO/ Scorpions through his own lens. Mr. Axel Rudi Pell has created and perfected his sound over more than 30 years and 19 studio albums (over 1.7 million albums sold worldwide)! The axeman founded the band with his name after his departure from Steeler in 1989. 

I'm a long time fan and I own all of the previous 18 albums (and some live ones) in CD. My first was 1998's Oceans of Time which was singer Johnny Gioeli's debut after Jeff Scott Soto's (ex-Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force) departure. Oceans of Time remains one of my favorite ARP albums. Other favorites followed during the 2000's: The Masquerade Ball (2000), Shadow Zone (2002), Mystica (2006) and Tales of the Crown (2008). Since then there have been some good moments, but not as good as the aforementioned albums.

Lost XXIII

The impressive thing about the ARP discography is that since the debut Wild Obsession (1989) they never had a gap longer than 2 years between albums. That must be some kind of world record. In 2022 is no different, they are back with Lost XXIII two years (surprise!)  after Sign Of The Times. An album that it's to me his best since 2008. The new album, Lost XXIII, features 10 songs in 55 minutes. The mandatory instrumental intro being one of them. There's also one full-on instrumental song and a mandatory ballad "Fly with Me". More on that later. The title track is the album closer and as usually is the longer mid-tempo song with that epic feel from classics such as "The Masquerade Ball" or "Mystica". Actually there's even some call backs to those songs. It goes without saying that it also features a longer, melodic and engaging guitar solo.  

Following the intro song, "Survive" kicks in and it's a typical Pell's album opener, super melodic hard rock with a strong drum beat.  "No Compromise" follows the same concept and keep the energy flowing.  "Down on the Streets" is a fun and catchy hard rock song, almost AOR. Simple riffing and chugging guitars over a groovy straightforward beat. Now I must say I love "Gone with the Wind", by far my favorite song on the album. Yes, it's slow tempo song, almost ballad territory, but with nine minutes and full of emotional energy, it stands out. The vocal lines are very powerful, and the softer parts only make the heavier explosions more powerful. It's also the most interesting guitar solo on this album. The instrument "The Rise of Ankhoor" is a nice surprise! I love the bass and keys on it and how fast tempo the song is. A cool touch to the album. 

The Picky Guy

Other than the lack of music progress as all of ARP's albums are very similar to each other in content and format. The only other criticism are the lyrics. They can be a bit silly at times, "Gone with the Wind" for example. But that doesn't bother me personally too much. When we get to the middle part of the second half of the album, I loose some interest, "Freight Train" is still a cool song but "Follow the Beast" and the ballad "Fly with Me" are not very interesting. Other than that, there's no surprises here, positive or negative.  

Wrap Up Opinion 

The combination of ARP's guitar riffs and melodies and the vocal lines from  Johnny Gioeli is so powerful, almost every song is interesting and a fun rocker. It's actually quite impressive how Axel can write so many songs so often and stay so true to one style. It may get repetitive for some, but to me it's always a fun experience. So to me and probably any ARP fan, this is another good album, 81/100. So give it a try.

SCORE: 81/100

Genre: Hard Rock

Released by Steamhammer on April 15th, 2022

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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JOE SATRIANI The Elephants of Mars | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by earMUSIC on April 8th, 2022

Quick Background

Joe Satriani, known to any guitarist or guitar enthusiastic, is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and guitar teacher. He is a 15-time Grammy Award nominee and has sold over 10 million albums, making him the bestselling instrumental rock guitarist of all time. I have been a fan since the 90's and 1987's Surfing with the Alien is one of my favorite albums of all time. 

The Elephants of Mars

The Elephants of Mars is his 18th solo studio album following 2020's Shapeshifting. I really liked that album and it was on my top 30 list of that year. Let's see how the new album holds up. An intense rocker with soothing elements, "Sahara" opens the album with elegance. It's a trademark Satriani song and a great opener. But it's also deceiving as this is not just another of Satriani's albums, there's a lot going on here. With 14 songs in 67 minutes, The Elephants of Mars is an album where variety is at the heart of it. The title track and song number 2 is another classic Satriani track with the early records vibe to it. "Faceless" is a beautiful ballad with a nice piano intro and a slow tempo melody as we come to expect from him. "Cryin'" is classic song that comes to mind when I listen to "Faceless". "Blue Foot Groovy" brings his bluesy side to the surface, remember 1995's "Cool #9"? Something like that.  

But don't get fooled by those early songs, the albums goes into many places, some new, and there's a lot of fusion elements. "Sailing the Seas of Ganymede" kick-off the fusion and experimental part of the album. "Doors of Perception" with a prominent percussion and Asian string instruments follows. "E 104th St NYC 1973" is full on fusion track. "Pumpin'" is  funky song with so cool synths. "Dance of the Spores" features a Wah extravagance but more interestingly inspired by Circus music. Then 80's electronic music homage "Night Scene" is another curved ball. I love the keyboard solo on this one. 

The Picky Guy

I guess my only complain is that the album is a bit too long. So I wonder if the last two songs really needed to be there. The other thing is, if you are more into Satriani's rocker side, then you may be disappointed with this album. But other than that, it's Satriani still in super shape.

Wrap Up Opinion 

Joe Satriani has nothing to prove, after almost 20 studio albums he has collected millions of fans and accolades. However, with  The Elephants of Mars he demonstrate that standing still is not option. A dynamic album combining classic elements from the early albums with experimentation and fusion music makes this new album a pleasure to listen. It's another delight also to inspire guitar players around the world. A very good album, 83/100. 

SCORE: 83/100

Genre: Instrumental Rock

Released by earMUSIC on April 8th, 2022

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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MESHUGGAH Immutable | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by Atomic Fire Records on April 1st, 2022

Quick Background

Swedish progressive metal band Meshuggah was formed in Umeå in 1987 and released their debut album Contradictions Collapse in 1991. But it was 1995's genre defying Destroy Erase Improve that put the band on the map and it's now consider one of the best and most influential prog metal albums of all time. That album was the blueprint for the trademark Meshuggah sound. They rose to fame as a significant act in extreme underground music, became an influence for modern metal bands, and gained a cult following. Meshuggah have become known for their innovative musical style and their complex, polymetered song structures and polyrhythms. The album obZen was a big boost in the band's popularity and the song "Bleed" became a classic and reference song in extreme prog metal. That was the time I got into the band, so I do have a stronger connection with the later releases and I absolutely love the last two albums. Their concerts are also quite an experience and actually mesmerizing. 

Immutable

Immutable is their ninth full-length album following 2016's The Violent Sleep of Reason. It features 13 tracks in 66 minutes. Making it their longest album to date and first to break the one-hour length. It features 3 instrumental songs, "They Move Below" being almost 10 min long. Most songs are on the 4-5 minute range though. Within the Meshuggah frame of reference this album is more melodic and more dynamic than most of their albums. There was great attention paid to the album flow. Some parts are really slow and mellow. There are a couple of songs with spoken words and clean guitars and also a song without drums. More on those later. 

The songs "The Abysmal Eye", "Light The Shortening Fuse" and "I Am That Thirst" were published as singles before the album release. Music videos were released for "The Abysmal Eye" and "Broken Cog". The opener "Broken Cog" due to the slow tempo and build up construction feels like a long 5-min intro and I think that's a nice contrast to the 'in your face' and chaotic start of Violent Sleep with "Clockworks". Spoken words are the only voice we hear all the way until the last minute of this 5:30 song. Then we finally hear the powerful voice of lead vocalist Jens Kidman. "The Abysmal Eye" which will certainly become a live favorite  brings back the "Bleed" feel and of course that's well received. "Light The Shortening Fuse" is another welcomed concrete brick in your head. The thrashy "I Am That Thirst" brings back the style from some of their earlier works. Another highlight for me is "Ligature Marks", man the brutal drumming on this one. It's hard to imagine that drummer Tomas Haake was having to deal with skin problems in his fingers while recording this album.

The 9-min instrumental "They Move Below" is strategically placed in the middle of the album with its two and a half minute intro with only clean guitar is a pallet cleanser to the album's brutality. It’s a little sludge/stoner rock. For some reason I though of it as being Meshuggah's equivalent to Metallica's "To Live is to Die". Another curved ball is the black metal influenced track "Black Cathedral" but without any drums, while standing on its own it is a intro for “I Am That Thirst”. "Past Tense" closes the album with a melancholic clean guitar and drumless intrumental song. 

The Picky Guy

Meshuggah is and will always be an acquired taste. So it's possible that Immutable will grow on me, specially if I see some of those songs live. But after many spins this album did not have the same impact that the last two albums had on me. There are still plenty of good songs but none of them knocked my socks off. Many sound too much as recycling ideas from previous albums. 

Wrap Up Opinion 

Immutable is less harsh sounding and more dynamic than previous albums. But it sounds like we come to expect from Meshuggah since Obzen. It features some good tracks, interesting moments, some risk taking and a lot to unpack. I think if you are new to this band, and you like this kind of music, this is as good as any of the last albums. But for seasoned fans like me, it did not stand out compared to recent albums. It's OK and will add to their set list but overall it falls short. Consequently, I'm giving it 79/100, a middle of the pack good album. And I'd still recommend it for new and old fans.  

SCORE: 79/100

Genre: Progressive Extreme Metal

Released by Atomic Fire Records on April 1st, 2022

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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MICHAEL ROMEO War Of The Worlds, Pt. 2 | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by InsideOut Music on March 25th, 2022

Quick Background

The legendary guitarist and main song writer of Symphony X (SX), brings his second solo album 4 years after releasing War Of The Worlds, Pt. 1. This debut is a masterpiece of power progressive symphonic metal, it was ranked number 3 in my 2018 ranking. I'm a massive SX fan and probably a bit biased in favor of any music coming from Romeo. 

War Of The Worlds, Pt. 2

As with the debut, Pt 2 big difference to SX (besides the vocals, but I'll get to that later) is the intense use of symphonic passages with a filmscore vibe to it. The album features 11 songs in 55 minutes. There's an instrumental intro and outro. The album follows the theme from part 1, "H.G. Wells with modern-day sci-fi.” Wells is sometimes called the "father of science fiction" and wrote a book with the same title. The bulk of the album was written at the same time as part 1. But there are some differences with the final result. For starters there's a new singer. Dino Jelusick, a Croatian rock singer, musician, and songwriter. He is the founder, principal songwriter, and lead singer of progressive rock band Animal Drive. I first heard Dino in two songs from 2020's Magnus Karlsson's Free Fall We Are the Night. And I was already impressed. He sounds a lot like Russell Allen so no surprise Romeo liked him, but there's also a strong Coverdale feel in Dino's voice. This gives the album a little bit more hard rock feeling compared to the heavier Part 1. The rhythmic section remains the same – drummer John Macaluso and bassist John DeServio. 

"Introduction, Pt. 2" opens the album in similar way as part 1, it sets the scene for an album with a lot of symphonic elements influenced by great film score composers such as John Williams and Hans Zimmer. Other cinematic instrumentals are "Mothership", "Hunted"  and  "Brave New World (Outro)". 

"Divide & Conquer" which was the first single and "Destroyer" are some of the heaviest tracks with strong SX V: The New Mythology Suite era sound specially due to Dino sounding like Allen particulary in those tracks. Since SX V is an amazing album, I am totally cool with it. Another heavy one is "Parasite" which even sounds like Pantera during the verses. "Destroyer" is actually a special song as it's the first time Romeo wrote and played a song on a 7-String guitar. It also has a middle-eastern flavor as Romeo experiment with a Saz (Turkish string instrument). "Metamorphosis" is a cool melodic prog song with an intro that reminds me of Dream Theater and verses that sound like a very heavy Whitesnake. "Hybrids" is my favorite song on the album and I love the guitar solo. On that note, of course all over the album the guitarwork is fantastic with jaw dropping solos, cool riffs but also nice arpeggios and slower parts. "Maschinenmensch" is the longest song on the album with about 9 min and a lot of room to go to different places. Keyboards, symphonic arrangements and another cool solo, this is as proggy as you can get in this album.

The Picky Guy

I have the impression that Part 1 was heavier and overall a little bit stronger. But there are no bad songs here, maybe "Just Before the Dawn" gets a bit too much into ballad territory and it's my least favorite song on the album. But by no means bad.

Wrap Up Opinion 

As in Part 1, War Of The Worlds, Pt. 2 features a lot of super-heavy cinematic music and, obviously, lots of guitars to impress any seasoned player or prog metal fan. Musicianship is superb and the new singer Dino brought a lot of power to this album. The arrangements on this album are great, there's a lot happening and the symphonic parts are truly impressive. A very good album, 82/100, recommended for SX fans, prog metal in general and certainly if you liked part 1.  

SCORE: 82/100

Genre: Progressive Metal

Released by InsideOut Music on March 25th, 2022

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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