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Trollheart's Listening List 2015/2016
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Robbing this idea slightly (ie completely) from our Goofle, I'm going to use this thread as a way of making sure I get through my massive backlog of recently purchased music, which at the moment I am still in the process of downloading. As I listen to each album I'll do a short(ish) review of it and rate it. I'll be publishing the list shortly. Note: this is NOT a rec thread. I have more than enough albums for this thread and I don't want any more. However if you know any of the albums I'll be listing and want to offer comments/advice/warnings, by all means go ahead. Further Note: Though generally these will all be 2015 (and later, 2016) albums, this list is a record of what I am listening to/have listened to/will listen to this and next year, not necessarily only the new albums. So from time to time the odd album from 2014, or perhaps even further back, may creep in. One more further note: Just to be different, I'm going to show where each album comes in the artiste's discography by inserting a big red number, 1 for debut, 2 for second album and so on. Bear in mind that 99% of these I have not listened to, some I have but have not reviewed, and the odd one may have appeared, or will appear subsequently, in one of my journals. Many I chose on the basis of name or cover of album, and after listening to samples, so god knows what I may have in here. I'll be doing these in order. I'll try to do one a day, but who knows how that will work out? This list will be updated as I go along. Albums reviewed will be marked in Green (this does not reflect a "Love" status as in my other thread, merely that they've been completed) and their images will be removed from the OP here and replaced by the next one. I've decided to change the "Familiarity" category, as it's a little vague. In future, I'll be assigning a Rank to this. I may do this retrospectively too. They will run thusly: Noob: Have never heard anything by this artiste before. Novice: 1 album only heard from the discography. Not very familiar with the artiste. Apprentice: 2 or 3 albums heard from the artiste. Reasonably familiar but need to hear more. Adept: More than four, or more than half of the discography, whichever is greater. Quite familiar at this point. Master Adept: Have heard all their albums and know the artiste really well High Priest: Have heard all their albums and know the artiste inside out. As I have just merged this thread with my older review thread, the reviews from that thread will appear here shortly. Because of this, I have changed the running order below slightly to accommodate the albums from that thread. Not that you care. http://www.wilsoninfo.com/buttons/ne...e-animated.gif http://rs1012.pbsrc.com/albums/af249...ones2.gif~c200 http://www.progarchives.com/progress...32282014_r.jpg Men Who Climb Mountains - Pendragon (Progressive Rock) http://www.progarchives.com/progress...22102014_r.jpg The Ghosts of Pripyat - Steve Rothery (Progressive Rock) http://edisonschildren.com/shop/Pled...ull1_7_202.jpg Somewhere Between Here and There - Edison's Children (Progressive Rock) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ten --- The Dragon and St. George Lanterns on the Lake --- Beings Riverside --- Love, Fear and the Time Machine The Blues Overdrive --- Clinch! Waken Eyes --- Exodus Time Horizon --- Transitions Mystery --- Delusion Rain Julia Wolfe --- Anthracite Fields Half Moon Run --- Sun Leads Me On Panic Room --- Satellite Don Henley --- Cass County Antimatter --- The Judas Table Jeff Lynne's ELO --- Alone in the Universe Dark Symphonica --- Immersion Gregg Lake/Geoff Downes --- Ride the Tiger Gazpacho – Molok Funeris --- Act III: Bitterness Panopticon --- Autumn Eternal Draconian --- Sovran Baroness --- Purple Eluvium --- Nightmare Ending Comedy of Errors --- Spirit Cynara --- There's No Beginning Steve Roach --- Bloodmoon Rising --- Night 4 Gloryhammer ---- Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards Leaves Eyes --- King of Kings Kinetic Element --- Travelog Progression by Failure --- Sonic Travelogue Trespass --- Trespass Unified Past --- Shifting the Equilibrium Colin Bass --- At Wild End A-Ha --- Cast in Steel Gert Emmens and Ruud Heidj --- Echoes from Future Memories John Grant --- Black Tickles, Grey Pressure Bon Jovi --- Burning Bridges Shadow Gallery --- Digital Ghosts Threshold --- For the Journey Arena --- The Unquiet Sky Ten --- Isla de Muerta Lunatic Soul --- Walking On a Flashlight Beam Pendragon --- Men Who Climb Mountains Steve Rothery --- The Ghosts of Pripyat Edison's Children --- Somewhere Between Here and There Millenium --- In Search of the Perfect Melody Europe --- War of Kings Tiger Moth Tales --- Storytellers, Part One Karfagen --- 7 Newman --- The Elegance Machine Midas Fall --- The Menagerie Inside Stratovarius --- Eternal The Sword – High Country Elegy --- Reflection House of Lords --- Indestructible Detune Distortion Despondency --- Compilation 3.3 Praying Mantis --- Legacy Spock's Beard --- The Oblivion Particle Avenguard --- Epic Tales II Royal Hunt --- Devil's Dozen Echolyn --- I heard you listening Constanzia --- Final Curtain Dead Letter Circus --- Aesthesis Hank Williams III – Take as Needed for Pain Edison's Children --- Somewhere Between Here and There Avenguard --- Epic Tales Offramp --- The Road Goes On Motorhead --- Bad Magic Xandria --- Fire and Ashes Iron Kingdom --- Ride for Glory The Smokering --- Nothin' Comes Easy Nelson --- Peace Out Killer --- Monsters of Rock Borealis --- Purgatory Burning Point --- Burning Point Backbone Blues Band --- Which Way to the Blues Stormhammer --- Echoes of a Lost Paradise Virgin Steele --- Nocturnes of Fire and Damnation Luca Turilli's Rhapsody --- Prometheus-Symphonia Ignis Divinus Steve Earle and the Dukes --- Terraplane Millenium --- In Search of the Perfect Melody The Dreaming --- Rise Again Forever's Fallen Grace --- Ascending the Monolith Sigh --- Graveward Cairo --- A History of Reasons Glacier --- Ashes for the Monarch Ghosts of Eden --- What Makes You Happy Fever Ray, Trevor Morris --- Vikings OST Steven Wilson --- Hand. Cannot. Erase The Storyteller --- Sacred Fire Guthrie --- Painted Words Graal --- Chapter IV Glass Caves --- Alive Detune Distortion Despondency --- Thought in the Form of Snow Beyond the Black --- Songs of Love and Death The Adventures --- Supersonic Home Crown of Twilight --- Cold Late Winter Europe --- War of Kings The White Birch --- The Weight of Spring Flying Colours --- Second Nature Saracen – Redemption Pineapple Thief – Magnolia Blush --- Lifelines Boduf Songs --- Stench of Exist Koolsax --- Beyond the Sunset Natalie Prass --- Natalie Prass Black Whiskey --- Heavy Train Funeris --- Funereal Symphonies Blackberry Smoke --- Holding all the Roses Winterage --- The Symphonic Passage Impera --- Empire of Sin Edenwar --- Edenwar James Taylor --- Before this World |
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lol'd at both of the above posts.
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I still say you should add Big Bear to your listening queue.
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Neither of these suggestions will be taken up by either party. |
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Title: The Dragon and Saint George Artiste: Ten Year 2015 Nationality: English Genre: Melodic Rock/AOR Familiarity: 100%: I have all their albums and they are one of my favourite recent bands, even if none of you proles have ever heard of them... Expectations: Ten have slipped in recent times, and their 2011 Stormwarning was not up to much, the first of theirs to disappoint me, while 2012's Heresy and Creed stepped it up and brought them back to the kind of quality I expect from them. Since then they've had two more albums but in typical Trollheart fashion, I haven't managed to listen to them. However I hope this, as a taster from this year's La Isla Muerta, continues the tradition of excellent melodic rock/metal I've been used to them churning out over almost twenty years now. Note: this is weird. Ten have released I think three EPs in their career, and this one looks to be almost unnecessary. Rather than being, as I expected, a precursor to the album, it was released after it (four months after, to be precise) and contains both tracks from it and the previous album as well as some new material. Odd, to say the least: Ten are not normally into ripping off their fans like this, though I suppose when you calculate up that of the thirty-one minutes of music here, twelve are completely new tracks, while if you add in the special edition only tracks then it brings it to nineteen, leaving only two tracks, one from each album, already released. So I suppose it's not bad value in those terms. Anyway, none of you give a **** about that (or about this review, but that won't stop me) so let's get on to the music itself. 1. The Dragon and Saint George: Good hard rocker to start things off, with that unmistakable Ten sound I've enjoyed over ten albums now (two yet to be sampled) and the vocals from Gary Hughes coupled with new guitarists (well, new to me) Dann Rosingana and Steve Grocutt backing up John Helliwell making a powerful combination. Peppy keys from Darrell Treee-Birch add the expected flair to the song. It's not, to be fair, a classic Ten song, but it doesn't come close to the disappointment I suffered with Stormwarning. A decent start, but I'm hoping for better. This is one of the tracks from the new album, which does concern me slightly. Well, we'll see when I get to listen to the full album, which I'll have to add to the list later. 2. Musketeers: Soldiers of the King: Another fast rocker, driven pretty much on Treece-Birch's jumping keyboards. Gary likes his history, so the subject is not that unexpected. Again, it's a good track but not a great track. Come on guys: you can do better than this, I know you can. 3. Is there anyone with sense: Good sense of hard rock about this, moving a little away from the more AOR/melodic style they usually pursue. Good hook, though it sounds similar to a few other songs of theirs such as “The twilight masquerade” and “The alchemist”. Not so much as to be a rip-off or rewrite of those songs but certainly reminiscent of them. Really nice guitar solo, though who by is anyone's guess with three guitarists, two of whom play lead. Once again though, good where I want great. Still kind of waiting. 4. The prodigal saviour: Very much more into the melodic vein of things, the hook in this one comes close to what I expect from these guys. Could be on to something here. 5. Albion born: Oh, like the choral opening and then the stately keyboards against which Gary can really let loose with his vocal, rolling drums behind him slowly ushering in very Big Country guitar. This could be the one. Sad that it already comes from the previous album, but it may be a pointer to the quality on Albion, which I have yet to hear. Stirring and moving, emotional and powerful. Yeah, this is more like it. Sure, it probably seems cheesy to most people, but this is the Ten I know and love. Reminds me of Return to Evermore. Great stuff. 6. Good God in Heaven what Hell is this: Even with such a weird title as that, brilliant rocker that puts the occasional metal in Ten's description as melodic metal (though I wouldn't really ever call them that) and points back to the glory days of The Robe and The Name of the Rose. 7. We can be as one: One thing Ten do is amazing ballads, and here's a great one to close. Piano-driven, with gorgeous lyric and a passionate vocal from Gary. Simple and perfect. Final result: I suppose in fairness there's a reason why all but two of these tracks were dropped from the two albums. They certainly don't showcase Ten at their best, and one of the tracks that does is from the last-but-one album. However the closer, which is on the new album but only the European edition as a bonus track, reaffirms my faith in this band and I look forward now to experiencing those two albums in full. Rating: :hphones: :hphones: :hphones: |
I'll save you some time and tell you that Time Horizon album is pretty meh whilst the Unified Past album was good enough to get into my top ten this year. Take that for what you will. :wave:
Nice review of Ten there. I love their first two albums to death (particularly The Name Of The Rose), but they sorta fell off for me after that. I'll have to give The Dragon and Saint George a fair go it looks like... |
Thanks for that Ant. As I said, many of these were impulse purchases and could turn out to be terrible, making this into a sort of "Love or Hate?" style thread, so although I'm using the format I'm trying to stay away from making it too similar to that as I can (no recs, no Love or Hate conclusion etc).
I've actually seldom heard a bad Ten record (glad/amazed you've actually heard of them!) other than as I mentioned the 2011 one, but this EP gives me some hope that the last two will be more Heresy and Creed than Stormwarning! Stoked to see I have one of your top albums on the list; looking forward to hearing that. |
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Title: Beings Artiste: Lanterns on the Lake Year 2015 Nationality: English Genre: Indie Rock Familiarity: I've heard and loved Gracious Tide, Take Me Home 3 Expectations: I don't know. There were mixed reviews for the followup, Until the Colours Run, but I've not yet heard that. I'm hoping this will be more in the style of the debut than the second album. Either way it will be great to hear Hazel again. 1. Of dust and matter: After some radio-tuning noises and effects we're greeted by a single acoustic guitar strumming slowly, and then that angelic voice of Hazel Wilde, with crying synth rising behind her like some sort of banshee. Beautiful lonely piano now as Hazel's voice rises in passion, and it's a strong, strong start and augurs well for the rest of the album. Rolling percussion and really sprinkly piano as we rise towards the conclusion of the song 2. I'll stall them: Beautiful piano and sweet trumpet leads this in, then it gets pretty passionate and powerful as it goes along, Hazel's soulful voice taking command with a great sort of again crying synth counterpointing the brass and making this just something quite special. 3. Faultlines: More uptempo with some busy percussion and rolling piano, a stronger vocal from Hazel but I feel it could end at the three minute mark whereas it continues on to five. It's not that it's overstretched, as such, but it does seem a little unnecessarily long. Still a great track though. 4. The crawl: The first since the opener to begin on guitar, joined then by Hazel's piano and another ethereal vocal. Love the sort of militaristic drumbeat that is somehow both incongruous and exactly fits. That rising synth (I'm beginning to wonder if it's guitar?) is back and it slots right into the feel of the song. 5. Send me home: Wondering if that's violin accompanying the piano at the opening of this ballad? Short but beautiful, the way LotL do so well. 6. Through the cellar door: Kind of a slightly Prefab idea about this I feel; midpaced with a really nice just gently riffing guitar that then bursts out in a quite unexpected punch, taking the song by the scruff before Hazel and her piano re-establish order. Nice to be shaken up once in a while. 7. Beings: If there's one thing apart from Hazel's voice that makes Lanterns on the Lake so special, it's her exceptional skill on the piano, and here she demonstrates it once again, almost without guile, like someone saying “Yeah, I can do this. So?” Almost as if it's not a big deal. Talk about self-effacing. More beautiful synth and rolling drums. Just gorgeous. Wonderful rising --- I don't know: guitar? Vocal? Synth? Just beautiful. 8. Stepping down: I think there's some scratching going on here, or maybe it's samples, but against the serene piano line it really is so effective, almost like listening to the wind howling outside on a cold night as you sit by a nice warm fire. Has a very ambient feel to it. 9. Stuck for an outline: This is where Hazel shows she can coax some real power and almost anger out of her keyboard. Violin added in from Angela Chang helps to calm the song slightly, but there's an unaccustomed bitternness in Hazel's vocal here. Powerful percussive ending that almost, but not quite, shakes the overall feeling of serenity this album gives me. 10. Inkblot: This short track takes ethereal to a new level and is an amazing if slightly muted closer. Final result: I'm sort of sorry that I have yet to hear Until the Colours Run, as I might have been able to say this is three for three; LotL got a lot of praise for Gracious Tide.. and sometimes we know the one thing music critics love is to kick their darlings, so the negative reviews of Colours might have been some backlash, the expected thing, the reaction to the dreaded second album: we'd better trash them or we won't be cool. Or maybe it was a disappointment, I don't know. But this one certainly isn't, and leading in my case anyway on from Gracious Tide, Take Me Home it's a pretty phenomenal followup. Rating: :hphones: :hphones: :hphones: :hphones: and a half (Sorry; almost all the tracks on YT are unplayable in my country, so this is the only one I could get.) |
Put me in the group that was massively disappointed by their second album. "Beings" is great though, doesn't really come close to GT, TMH but still very very good on its own merits and ranks very highly for 2015 for me
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I'm definitely going to have to listen to that. I'm unclear how a band can have such a superb debut, a great third album (though I'm with you on that it doesn't equal Gracious Tide, but then, what would?) and a so-so album in the middle...
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Title: Love, Fear and the Time Machine Artiste: Riverside Year 2015 Nationality: Polish Genre: Progressive Rock Familiarity: I go back and forth on them: I've heard some albums I liked, some I was not so keen on. 6 Expectations: I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll enjoy this. 1. Lost (Why should I be frightened by a hat?): Leave it to Riverside to come up with the silliest title since “Apocalypse in 9/8 (Co-starring the delicious talents of Gabble Ratchet)! Good moody opener; the vocals of Mariusz Duda are as always a joy to listen to. Lovely organ line from Michał Łapaj with soft percussion then a sharper guitar cuts in and the song's tempo picks up. Great start. Why should he be frightened by a hat, anyway? AAAAHHHH! https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...4c15f67532.jpg 2. Under the pillow: Lovely soft guitar, almost acoustic then it kicks up into a nice sort of mid-paced rocker with some fine fretwork. 3. #Addicted: Slick little bass intro from Mariusz before it runs along on an uptempo line, great little hook. Actually reminds me a lot of a-ha. Beautiful gentle little guitar and keyboard outro. 4. Caterpillar and the barbed wire: This has a very Marillion feel to it, like something off Marillion.com perhaps. 5. Saturate me: Great keyboard intro from Łapaj and screaming guitar then also from Piotr Grudziński, instrumental for two minutes before the vocal comes in. Sounds like mellotron there (does anyone still use them?) and again I find this quite Marillionesque, sort of like “The Invisible Man” maybe. 6. Afloat: Beautiful little ballad which runs on repeated guitar lines and a gorgeous little organ. 7. Discard your fear: Another good song, but there's a problem developing, something that happens to me every time I listen to Riverside, and that is that, the above apart, I'm not really getting that much into any of these songs. They're all good, in their way, but I doubt I'll remember any once the album is over, which is a pity, as I feel on repeated listenings it might grow on me, or reveal some hidden depths I'm not seeing here. But on first listen, it's just not engaging me as I had hoped it would. 8. Towards the blue horizon: All right, this is eight minutes long. Let's make a conscious effort to describe it. See my problem though? If I was really into this album I wouldn't need to make a con --- anyway. Yeah. Lovely pastoral intro on guitar, with a soft and very endearing vocal which (sorry again) just plunders Hogarth's songbook for all it's worth. Lovely rippling piano. This may be another favourite. Sort of hear echoes of Spock's Beard in here at times too. Yah, really enjoyed that. 9. Time travellers: There's nothing quite like a strumming acoustic guitar to start a song. Great, swaying ballad with a really upbeat message in the lyric. The organ again is amazing. Sort of Floydesque guitar around the midpoint. You know, maybe this album has a chance after all. Making a strong showing here at the end. 10. Found (The unexpected flaw of searching): Again though, what is it with the weird titles? What does this even mean? Yeah I know, they're Polish, but still. Well it opens with a lovely introspective guitar (oh come on! I haven't used that word in quite a while now!) and again an upbeat ballad to close, and indeed it would seem, bookend with the opener. Is this a concept album? Not sure, but I feel there's a common thread running through it. Final result: I don't want to write this album off, as I feel it will grow on me, but right now I'm not one hundred percent impressed with it, which is, as I said, a common reaction I have to Riverside. But I have hopes. The quality is there, maybe I just need to keep digging to find the buried treasure. On that basis, I'll give this a hopeful Rating: :hphones: :hphones: :hphones: :hphones: |
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Peter Gabriel > Big Bear
Thanks for the Riverside and Lantern reviews I'll be listening to those albums after finals.. The YT vids linked are great tracks. |
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Full and fair disclosure: as mentioned in the OP, some of these albums will occasionally appear in review form in my journals. When that happens, I will use this symbol to show it has already been used. There's no way I'm writing a second review for each and anyway, who reads my journals? ;)
https://www.scsglobalservices.com/fi...ontent_1cg.png And so, with regard to the next one: https://www.scsglobalservices.com/fi...ontent_1cg.png http://www.rocktimes.de/gesamt/b/blu...ics/clinch.jpg Title: Clinch! Artiste: The Blues Overdrive Year 2015 Nationality: Danish. I think. Genre: Blues Familiarity: 0% 1 Expectations: I had hoped this would be a rip-roaring, powerblasting bluesfest, but what I got instead was a quiet, low-key ... well, read on. 1. Pistol blues: Has a very Credence feel to it from the beginning, starts low and restrained but I imagine it will kick up shortly... actually, no it doesn't. Bit of a disappointment actually. 2. Rolling thunder: Better. Rocks out from the start. Good guitar work and some fine percussion. The vocal fits the music perfectly. 3. Three time lover: And now we're boogying at last. Aw yeah! This is the blues, man! Pretty cool. 4. Woman of love: Kind of a Dire Straits guitar here, actually very like a slower “Sultans of Swing” or “Water of love” (any coincidence?). Softer vocal which is interestingly different, almost a touch of folk in there. The guitar goes Santana-style halfway through. 5. Daughter of the devil: And this is The Eagles' “Witchy woman”. Oh dear. 6. Jealous: This is a bit better, but I'm starting to get a little bored now. Where are the hard-rockin', hard-drinkin' blues stormers? This is, so far, pretty damn weak. 7. Cherry: God! Another limpwristed borefest! 8. Lay your burden down: Do these guys EVER rock out? This is just total snoozedom. Did not expect this. 9. Living here without you: Okay, there's a decent Robert Crayesque groove here and some nice electric piano. This is not bad. Still not really kicking out any stays though, and I'd like to hear that. Given that we have only one track to go, however, I kind of doubt it's gonna happen. 10. Aurora: No, it's another slowburner. Not bad, but ffs, wake up guys huh? Final result: For a blues album, I just expected it to be more lively. I guess the blues can be introspective and sort of downbeat, which is how this album came across to me. But how these guys won the accolade of Best Blues Album of 2015 is beyond me. They say on their website they can't believe it: neither can I. Big disappointment personally. I'm certainly no expert on the blues, but I've heard the greats and the not-so-greats, and this doesn't come close. I guess some people prefer their blues downbeat and low-key. Not me though, at least, not all through the album. Rating: :hphones: :hphones: http://www.trollheart.com/halfhphone.gif (Is there any way to get this new half-icon to line up with the rest? Not that I don't appreciate Goof's work, but it looks a little lopsided now. No problem if not.) |
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That's the most offensive thing anyone on MB has ever said to me, I hope you're happy. |
I'll try doing it again TH.
Edit: I think the problem is just that the icons are placed lower than the text line itself. https://i.gyazo.com/21c83284828b0f08...12a65488b2.png The only way of getting around it would be to also save the icon as an image and use that instead. http://i.imgur.com/VGSvdCA.gifhttp://i.imgur.com/SHe1TP8.gif |
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Seriously, I was more referring to Riverside. I know there are a few prog heds here but I had not counted you as one of them. I guess I underestimated you, huh? :) Quote:
http://www.trollheart.com/hphone.gif http://www.trollheart.com/halfhphone.gif Success! What about more than one? http://www.trollheart.com/hphone.gif http://www.trollheart.com/hphone.gifhttp://www.trollheart.com/halfhphone.gif Woo-hoo! Works! |
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Little victories.
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Ryan Reynolds is going to be playing Deadpool in the upcoming movie. Clear?
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Title: Exodus Artiste: Waken Eyes Year 2015 Nationality: Multi (American, Canadian, German and Swedish) Familiarity: 0% Genre: Progressive Metal 1 Expectations: Not an idea, though with prog metal I'm always hopeful. It is their debut, so that could be a good or a bad thing. I do note with some trepidation that Metal Archives only has lyrics for one of the ten songs here; if that means that they're mostly an instrumental band it could be a hard slog. 1. Cognition: Birdsong; cliche perhaps but always nice to hear, now a dark synth slowly making its way in, rolling percussion starts, stops, heavy bass line beginning. Very dramatic and almost threatening melody building with a sort of Arabic feel to it at least initially. Softening now under some beautiful piano and gentle synth before a powerful guitar whines in and I really think this one at least is going to be instrumental. Getting back to the darker, dramatic feel now. Big powerful marching drums, eiher choral vocals or a choir. Good start. Very good start. 2. Aberration: Seems to have segued directly in, lending more to my initial impression that this was and is a concept album. May not be, but I wonder. Nice piano line driving this one, I guess another instr --- oh no. There are vocals; soft, powerful, totally reminds me of the lower register of a-ha's Morten Harkett. Well I'm glad it's not all instrumental, as that's hard to write about, especially in a short review like this. Nice ballad for the second track (wonder why there are no lyrics for this?) with some really expressive guitar work from Tom Frelek, who also takes keyboard duties. Maybe not a ballad after all: speeding up now. Henrik Båth does a great job on the vocals. Twice as long as the opener at over eight minutes, and a lot going on within that time. 3. Deafening thoughts: Good hard guitar punch leading this in, heavy from the off, then the synth sounds like violins as the vocal comes in, Båth now sounding more like Roy Khan from Kamelot or Damien Wilson from Threshold. He has a good range, demonstrated here, as is Frelek's fretboard skills. Powerful song. 4. Back to life: Gorgeous guitar opening with spoken word (MLK?) and I feel this has to be a ballad, but of course it could change. I doubt it though. Oh man what a solo! Love this. (Breaking news: recent reports suggest a link between Trollheart's awarding of Blue ratings and his love of ballads! More after these messages.) Gorgeous piano outro (yes I know I used the word gorgeous twice; it's that good) and more of that spoken speech thing to fade out. 5. Palisades: Another expressive, progressive guitar intro with attendant soft lush keyboard, kicking up a little now, and here comes the big punching guitar and what had seemed like it might possibly be another ballad has just shaken loose and become a fast power rocker. 6. Cornerstone away: Another beautiful ballad with unknown female guest vocals. Okay, again, started as a ballad style but has exploded into a passionate powerful prog metal epic. Vocal harmonies are immense. Sounds like some Spanish guitar in there now. Not crazy about the sudden, abrupt ending, but it's a small niggle. 7. Still life: I'm going to say this is another instrumental. Some lovely work on the guitar, both acoustic and electric, with a nice sort of swaying, almost bluesy at times beat. Pretty much a vehicle for the talents of Tom Frelek. 8. Arise: Darkish piano opening this before it bursts into a big heavy rocker, then tailing back to allow Frelek to take it solo on the piano for a moment before it comes back in full force. Sense of urgency, even panic in the vocal, and a great hook in the song. Lovely soft midsection in which both guitar and synth shine, and the percussion makes a great showing too. 9. Across the horizon:For a seven-minute-plus song this went in much faster than expected, which is always good. Sort of mid-paced with a really nice midsection where it all slows down before it picks up again; great vocal harmonies. 10. Exodus: And so Waken Eyes sneer at the closer to Iron Maiden's current opus, composing a last track that is almost a full minute longer than “Empire of the clouds”! Running for just five seconds short of nineteen minutes, it starts off with a soft piano which actually reminds me of the end of “Dancing with the moonlit knight” on Genesis's Selling England by the Pound, and with plenty of space for everyone to stretch here, it runs for a minute and a half before being joined by gentle acoustic guitar until Frelek changes to synth then some Spanish guitar as we move into the third minute. Speedy little bass solo with synth and harder guitar, drums pound in as it all breaks like an advancing wave and we're well into the fourth minute before there are even any vocals. When they come in, they're soft and calm beneath the returning gentle piano as guitar begins to riff. Breath-taking slow section in the middle where they bring back in MLK (I'm pretty sure it's him, as well as other people like Kennedy I think) to underline the lyric before it explodes again on an expressive guitar solo in the eleventh minute. Big powerful finish in the best tradition of progressive metal. Final result: Really, really impressed with this, so much more since it's a debut. Going to have to keep an eye on these guys. Rating: http://www.trollheart.com/hphone.gif http://www.trollheart.com/hphone.gifhttp://www.trollheart.com/hphone.gifhttp://www.trollheart.com/hphone.gifhttp://www.trollheart.com/halfhphone.gif |
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Title: Transitions Artiste: Time Horizon Year 2015 Nationality: Familiarity: 0% Genre: Progressive Rock 2 Expectations: Ant has already declared this a “meh” album, so I may not have too high expectations of it, but then, I'm never led by anyone else's opinion of an album, so I'll make my own mind up. I do however wonder at the wisdom of having three tracks opening the album that all have the word “only” beginning their title, though I do note Yes's Tony Kaye and Fleetwood Mac's Billy Sherwood are involved, so perhaps it won't be that bad. 1. Only one way: Get very much more an AOR feel from this from the beginning. Vocal is excellent, but I'm hearing Asia so much in this, particularly in the chorus, and now we have trumpeting Downes-like keys. Hmm. Great vocal harmonies certainly. A little derivative? Let's reserve judgement at this early stage, but hold that thought. 2. Only through faith: Very nice soft synth line with twinkly effects, choral vocals, very short so I'm going to assume it's an instrumental. Sort of church organ coming in now, to tie in perhaps with the title and yes, it gives off quite a spiritual ambience. 3. Only today: Ah no, again I hear the ghost of Asia so clearly in this. It's like something off Astra, and that's thirty years old. Vocalist though is emulating John Payne. Some good guitar work from Dave Miller, but now we're getting a very Yes-style keyboard from Ralph Otteson, who's also responsible for the vocals, or most of them at least (seems they have something of an Alan Parsons Project thing going on, and the first track was sung by drummer Bruce Gaetke). 4. Prisoner: There's nothing wrong with these songs, it's just they don't sound anything original and there are so many bands I can compare the musical style to it makes it a little boring. This even has the basic melody of a Yes song, just can't recall which one. Something off Big Generator I think. Or maybe Union. Nice work by Tony Kaye, guesting on the Hammond. Which I guess reinforces the Yes comparisons. 5. The moment is here: We're back with the drummer singing, but despite the somewhat portentous announcement in the title I don't quite feel the excit --- oh wait a minute. This is rather nice. The first song of theirs I've heard that sounds like maybe they actually turned off Asia: the Complete Box Set while writing it, and paused the Yes documentary. I must admit I don't see a huge difference in the vocals, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, ie they can both sing well. Great hook here, first I've been able to grasp. Much of this is down to the superb work from Sherwood. 6. About time: This is a very impressive instrumental, quite appropriate in title to the rest of the album, the previous track excepted. 7. You're all I need: I'm not quite sure if this is getting better as it goes along, or I'm just getting more tolerant. This is still very Asia/Yes hybrid, but there's something intriguing about the tune. Chorus ruins it totally though, changed from Green to Orange. Pity. Damn crappy formulaic chorus! Couldn't they come up with anything better? This should be Green but I can't do it. Not even with that smoking guitar outro. Boo. 8. River of sorrows: I think everyone would expect this to be a ballad. And it is. Sort of a vaguely oriental feel merges with blues, with the very slightest whisper of eighties Dio. 9. Water girl: Seemed like it slipped directly in from the last track, and may very well be another instrumental, with some lovely piano from Otteson and some very expressive guitar from Miller. Another one where they throw off the shackles of Asia comparisons. Nice. 10. Love is here: Gorgeous violin thanks to Mike Mullen, and it would seem we have one more vocalist, though Jake Livgren sounds again quite similar to the other two, making me wonder if where “vocals” are credited on the album they mean backing vocals? Anyhow, this is a lovely ballad, a strong ending to a not overall strong album, but one that may reward repeated listenings. Final result: I certainly wouldn't go so far as to call this a meh album, as Ant did, but the overreliance on tropes used by the bands mentioned, and others, is a little unsettling. Nevertheless, while this is by no means an amazing album, when Time Horizon settle down and stop just copying their heroes they can write and play some pretty fine music. Maybe they'll get it right on their third album, which I wouldn't be averse to listening to. Rating: http://www.trollheart.com/hphone.gifhttp://www.trollheart.com/hphone.gifhttp://www.trollheart.com/hphone.gif (Sorry; not a single YouTube exists.) :( |
The reason 'The Moment Is Here' is any good is because Time Horizon is covering a better band - one of Sherwood's late 80's groups called World Trade who originally wrote the song. Me saying a record is "meh" simply means there's nothing remarkable about it rather than it being terrible. But I expect really good hooks in my AOR / prog crossover stuff...and these guys just don't deliver.
That Waken Eyes album sounds pretty competent by the way. Bit o' early 90's Fates Warning in there. |
You're bad at YouTube Trolly. :D
These work in the US, idk about for you: Water Girl Only Today |
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That Waken Eyes album sounds pretty competent by the way. Bit o' early 90's Fates Warning in there.[/QUOTE] I'll be keeping an eye on them for sure. :thumb: |
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