Been a while since we all let our hair down (those of us that have it to let down!) and just went crazy rockin' out and headbanging, but never fear, the Devil is here, and His Ballroom has been repaired since the last metal dance we had there. He's now ready to receive us across the dark threshold once more, so strap on your Flying V, dig out your rattiest denim and/or leathers and prepare to have a sore neck in the morning!
We kick off with a band I really like, and the more I hear of their music the more I grow to respect them. It's Axxis, title track from their last album, this is “Utopia”.
Never been into Nirvana, but at least they did give birth to Foo Fighters! Here they are with “My hero”.
This is the mighty Warrant, with the equally mighty “Machine gun”.
I wasn't crazy about Cloudscape's last album, “Crimson skies”, and said so in my review of it, but this is from their followup, “Global drama”, and it's not bad. It's called “Darkest legacy”.
With a curiously Scottish flavour for a German metal band, this is Grave Digger, from their last album “The clans will rise again”, and “Highland farewell”.
Time for the first track from our featured artist, who this time around are Stratovarius, power metal band from Finland, (not to be confused with the famous violin of the same name but slightly different spelling!), and to get us underway here's “Phoenix”, taken from their album “Infinite”.
One of the kings of eighties glam metal, here are WASP, with “Wild child”.
And erstwhile pretenders to the throne of Iron Maiden, from their “Screaming for vengeance” album, it's Judas Priest, with “Another thing comin'”
A band we featured in the second part of our special on the NWOBHM, this is Cloven Hoof, track taken from their debut, self-titled album, called “Laying down the law”.
Ya gotta love Motorhead! Especially when they write songs with titles like this!
With the anniversary of his death coming in May, we had to feature Ronnie. Here he is with his band Dio, and a superb track from a superb album, their debut, “Holy diver”. This is “Rainbow in the dark”.
And that takes us back to our featured artiste, who are Stratovarius. This time we're looking at their album “Visions”, with this one, “Paradise”.
Another band I gave something of a hard time to is Charred Walls of the Damned, whose album “Cold winds on timeless days” I was less than impressed with. That was their second, this is from their first, and self-titled, and it's called “Ghost town”.
But a band I've a lot of time for is Cain's Dinasty, so much so that I'm featuring them here again, this time it's from their album “Legacy of blood”, rather than “Madmen, witches and vampires”, which has been on constant loop on my ipod of late. This track is cleverly titled “Two seconds to forget your name”.
And to complete a trilogy of bands whose names begin with C, here are Celesty, with “New sin”.
This is the LA Guns, with “Electric gypsy”.
And the mighty Van Halen --- whose new album I'm afraid I was less than kind about --- with a classic from them. It's “Panama”.
Coming back to Stratovarius, our featured artiste, now, with the opener from their album “Elements, part 1”, this is “Eagleheart”.
Great track from Ozzy, with the legendary, late Randy Rhoads on guitar, this is “Bark at the moon”.
Interesting track from Dark Moor, which not only blurs the line between metal and classical music, but scratches it out completely!
And this is certainly odd. A band called “Berserks”, from their 1982 debut self-titled album, with a song that sounds a little too close to another song that came out, in the same year, by a much more popular and enduring metal band. Can you guess who I'm talking about? Sure you can, once you give it a listen!
With Stratovarius doing Finland proud, who's flying the flag for Sweden? Well, Hammerfall, for one...
… and Evergrey, for another!
Last time we had a featured artiste in the Devil's Ballroom (which was, not very coincidentally, the first time) we ran off a double-play of their music round about here. So let's do that again. First we have a song taken from their album “Episode”, this is “Speed of light”.
And this is from their current album, 2011's “Elysium”, track entitled “The game never ends”.
Proving you don't have to speak (or sing!) in English to be a hard-rockin' metal band, here's one of the old guard. This is Baron Rojo (you know that means Red Baron, right?)...
And the mighty Jane's Addiction, with “Underground”. Cool video!
Must be about time to feature something from Iced Earth, eh? Here's “Ten thousand strong”.
I'm reliably (sort of) informed these guys are from Italy, though you wouldn't suspect it! This is Nasty Tendency, with “Into the fire”.
Time for our last selection from our featured artiste, Stratovarius. Bearing no resemblance but the title to the a-ha song of the same name, this is again from the album “Infinite”, and it's “Hunting high and low”. Expect no whales...
As we wind then towards the end of the second Devil's Ballroom, let's check out a band whose album title pleads “Don't let heavy metal die”. With tracks like this, I'd say that's quite unlikely! This is the opener, “Metal force”.
One more non-English metal band afore we go, this is Trust, with “L'elite” (can you translate that?)
And we'll wrap things up with some seriously heavy stuff, from Slayer, this is “Bloodline”. Hope you enjoyed the dance and aren't too stiff tomorrow! Careful as you go, there's a step down and watch out for those broken bottles on the floor, I said
watch out.... never mind. Keep it hard and heavy till we meet again!