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My Dearest Darkest Neighbor – Hurray for the Riff Raff (2013)
Genre: Americana/Folk/Blues

I came across these guys while doing my “Albums of 2017” thread and I really liked them, so, like most times when that happens, I went and got all their albums. This, then, is the second of theirs I've listened to. I think it's a little more low-key than The Navigator, but that came among so many hundreds of other albums I kind of have only a hazy recollection of it, other than remembering that I really liked it. Nice to hear them do Leadbelly's “Out on the Western Plain”, (they call it “Western Cowboy”) though I know it more through Rory Gallagher. Good song though. The first to up the tempo and kick some life into what was becoming, to be honest, a slightly downbeat and miserable album. Not that that's bad, but it's nice to hear them rock out a little, even if it ain't their song. Oh, and they do Lennon's “Jealous Guy” too. Lot of covers, in fact: Joni Mitchell, Elizabeth Cotten, Lucinda and Hank Williams, George Harrison. Hmm. Yeah, it's basically a covers album, with maybe two original tracks. Not sure I like that. I mean, it's okay, but not perhaps the best example of their work. Kind of a disappointment really.
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Liminal – Exivious (2013)
Genre: Prog Metal/Jazz Fusion

I remember reviewing this as part of one of my other major project, years ago, which was to review all the top albums in Progarchives' top 100 for that year (so obviously then it was five years ago) but I thought I remembered not liking it. It's got a lot of good reviews so maybe I should listen to it again, now that it's come up. It's all instrumental, and people have compared these guys to Cynic, which isn't surprising as their lead guitarist was with that band. Okay, yeah, I think it's better than I remember thinking it was, if that makes sense. If not, here's the original review from 2014 http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1446608 I'm still not going to go out and get the rest of their albums, well, their one other album. This got high praise from others, yes, but while I give it a little more credit than I had originally, it's still not really something I'd be listening to again.
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God of the Deep Unleashed – Wrathblade (2017)
Genre: Power Metal

Oh my ****ing good god! This band HAS to be a power metal band! Wrathblade? Wrath-****ing-blade? And a cover like that? If this isn't power metal I'll eat me hat. I don't have a hat. Okay, I'll buy a hat, and then eat it. This has to be power metal. Look at those song titles: “Transcendent Essence.” “Enter the Warrior's Guild (Doomopolis Pt II)”. “Castration of Uranus”. I am not making these up, I swear! :laughing: So anyway, yeah: it's a sub-Maiden power metal album that seems a little too close to Bruce and the boys than I'd prefer. Interesting start: thought it would be one of those stupid, cliched narrations, but it was basically a kind of acapella folky thing. Not bad. The album took something of a dive after it, though. Doesn't help that the guy is at the very best a bog-standard singer. Yeah, this is just awful. Near the end, the playback just stopped, for no reason. I naturally assumed it was the media player trying desperately to save me by putting a stop to this terrible, derivative music. Sadly, after a short pause it started up again. But it won't be doing that again, I can tell you.
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*continues to stump for A Matter of Life and Death in the face of listener incompetence*

To be fair, I did enjoy it, and I could see with a few repeated listens I might like it a lot more. Not anywhere close to the Golden Age albums, though, but then, I guess none of the post-BNW albums ever will be. I might give the others a shot over the weekend.

A Matter of Life and Death has been the only anomaly for me post-BNW tbh.

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A Perpetual Descent – Greytomb (2016)
Genre: Black Metal/Atmospheric Black Metal

There was a time when I would run screaming from Black Metal. I'm still not what you'd call a fan of the genre but I can listen to a lot more than I used to, which was none. This is ABM, to an extent, and so slightly easier on my ears. Only four tracks, but as usual with this genre, they're mostly in the ten-minute-or-more area, with only one coming in at four. Pretty sweet, without doubt.
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Trolls

Please write a review of Skeleton Tree on freak fighter

k? Thanks!!!

Nick Cave? Can do. I'll get right on it.

Thank you, sir.

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Sea of Destiny – Jacobs Dream (2017)
Genre: Power Metal
Another power metal band. Please let them be better than the laughable Wrathblade, though that wouldn't be hard. No, these guys sound like they have more about them. Yeah, decent enough though not terribly memorable. Trouble is, again, they really sound like they want to be Maiden so bad. They're good, but I'm not really taking in much of what they're playing, and that's never good. You got to grab my attention, and they're really not. Singer could be higher in the mix, but at least he can sing. That twin guitar attack is always gonna sound like Adrian'n'Dave though.
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We Are Glitter – Goldfrapp – 2006
Genre: Electronic

Interesting. I thought this was a compilation album, but it is in fact a remix one, featuring songs from one of their earlier albums. I'm not crazy about remixes (especially albums of them!) and I don't know the album in question, 2005's Supernature, so this could go either way. However I have liked both Goldfrapp albums I've heard up to now, so that's something. Can't say I'm overly impressed however. I think the fact that I don't know the original album lessens the impact, if there were any, of these remixes, and in general as I say, I don't much care for remixes. I hear a lot here though that I'd be interested in coming back to listen to again. Mind you, I'll probably just rack up Supernature to hear the original songs. Not bad though.
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Crimson – Hudson – 2012
Genre: Folk Rock

Hey, you have to admire a band (duo) who write and record any album in seven days, never mind one of this quality. I reviewed this back when it was released, check here http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1238919 for that, but haven't listened to it since. I really like it, I have to say. I'm not very familiar with Bon Iver (I know you lot are) but for some reason I'm comparing this to him. Not sure if that's even valid. Damn good album though, and for a band that's pretty well unknown (Discogs and Wiki both look at me in confusion) it's quite a find. Worth giving your time to.
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Contagious – Y&T – 1987
Genre: Heavy Metal/Hard Rock

Interesting. I've only heard one or two Y&T albums, and they have about twenty-odd. Have to say though, I'm not terribly impressed with this one so far. Pretty basic. A few good tracks. “Fight For Your Life” is decent, and “Temptation”, though a little cheesy, isn't a bad ballad. “Rhythm or Not” is a good sleazy rocker, “Eyes of a Stranger” has a Dioesque charm about it, but mostly this feels more on the AOR side of things more than Heavy Metal. Well, it sure ain't no Black Tiger is all I can say. Closes with an instrumental, not bad really. Quite Gary Moorelike. I could see myself coming back to this at some point, though not for a good while.
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The Ones That Matter – Tower City – (2011)
Genre: AOR

Apparently, this is a compilation. From a band who seem to have a total of two albums. All right. It's decent, quite impressive. I mean, AOR is the kind of genre it's hard to get too excited about in terms of diversity or innovation, but this is good enough. I hear a lot here I might be interested in coming back to at some point. Not bad.
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Last of a Dyin' Breed – Lynyrd Skynyrd – 2012
Genre: Southern Rock
Looks like the next one up is one I already reviewed a few years back, one of the few Skynyrd albums I know, and their latest. I remember being impressed by this first time round, let's see how we do with another listen. Yeah, this is brilliant. The guys still have it. What a legacy, to still be rockin' after all these years, and turning out albums like this. Superb.
Here's my original review from 2012 Lynyrd Skynyrd - Last of a Dyin' Breed
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Night Be My Grave – Grimirg – 2016
Genre: Doom Metal
Really interesting idea here from this Russian band, with soft, angelic female vocals, sometimes choir-like, counterpointed by dark, rumbling, almost animalistic male ones, against a backdrop of dramatic, epic doom metal music. Really like this. Very impressed. I'll be listening to more of this.
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The Road Goes on – Offramp – 2015
Genre: Prog Rock
Loved this when I heard it a while back, still love it. Great instrumental music with a real proggy twist. Oddly though, listened to it a third time and I kind of changed my mind. Seemed a little boring. Maybe it took a while but is in fact a “reverse grower”, if there's such a thing? Start off liking/loving it and then grow to not hate it, but not quite appreciate it as much as you had originally.
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Most definitely. Some albums just don't have long-term playability despite being great on first listen.

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Misconnected Man – Syzygy – 2017
Genre: Prog Rock
Man. I really expected to love this, but boy do I hate it. It's so damn boring. Part of the time it goes into a sort of doom metal kind of vibe, but for most of the time it's a jazzy/psych feel, and yeah it's all instrumental. I think. At least, I don't remember any vocals. Maybe I was too bored to pay attention. Meh. Big disappointment.
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Sleeping Sun – (Four Ballads of the Eclipse) – Nightwish (1999)
Genre: Symphonic Metal

Shut up, just shut up, all right? I know, I know I slag Ki and MicShaz about Nightwish, and the truth is I don't like them, but I don't hate them either. Some of their material is okay. It's just that, in common with most SM bands, it often all sounds the same, and I doubt I could listen to two albums in a row. This is just an EP, four tracks, and while I could do without their interpretation of Aled Jones's “Walking in the Air” (if you've never seen The Snowman, do yourself a favour) there are a few really nice tracks on it. Not bad. Probably about as much 'Wish as I can stomach in one sitting though. Bloody random album generator!
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I don't even really like them either! I do like some of their catchier, more power metal like songs with Anette Olzon and Floor Jansen. I can't listen to anything from the old days anymore and was never really that into it anyway. I really don't like Tarja as a vocalist. This thing is from 1999, so I'd probably hate it. Relative to most people on MB, I'm a minor Nightwish apologist, and even I would never defend any of their ballads, and certainly not with Tarja.

That Snowman theme is pretty good though. Hardly to Nightwish's credit.

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Tattoos and Tequila – Vince Neil – 2010
Genre: Hard Rock/Glam Metal

Ah, those albums that pop up and you think “where or why the **** did I download that?” I mean, I know this will warm the cockles of the heart of our new self-appointed Guardian of Glam, should he somehow tear himself away from his “I Hate Grunge” thread and read this, but while I know Motley Crue, I've never been their biggest fan, and why I would go for a solo album by one of their members is a mystery to me. More to the point, this is Neil's third solo album, his first in fifteen years, and he decides to make basically an album of rock covers, some of which I know, some of which I don't, but none of which I care about. Add in my lack of interest in anything Crue did on a solo level and you have an album I really don't care much about.

Of course, I wrote all that before listening to it. I kind of really like some/most of these songs, (yeah, even the Sex Pistols one) most if not all of which I'm hearing for the first time. Vince Neil 1, Me 0 it would appear. Yeah, and a power quartet to finish. Creedence's “Who'll Stop the Rain”, one of my favourites of theirs, “Viva Las Vegas” (I'm no Elvis fan, but who doesn't love that song?) “The Bitch is Back” by Elton John and the Tres Hombres themselves, with “Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers.” Man, I did not think I would enjoy this album but colour me surprised.
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Had to listen to Vince Neil covering the Sex Pistols, and while he doesn't better the original by any means I'm still surprised that he did as well as he did and the production actually has real bite and doesn't sound too overproduced. But have you heard the original? It's majestically anti-social.

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The Heisenberg Diaries Book A: Sounds of Future Past – Docker's Guild – 2015
Genre: Prog Rock

Well, here's a thing! A compilation album where this prog band interpret the classic sci-fi movies and series of our time. We open with the theme to Gerry Anderson's dark “Space: 1999”, go through “Flash Gordon”, “Barbarella”, “Red Dwarf”, “Doctor Who”, “UFO” and more. A real blast from the (future) past. Very enjoyable and really something different. Nice to see prog bands can let their hair down and enjoy themselves once in a while. Mind you, fifteen minutes of “Flash Gordon Suite” does get a little on the nerves, and their version of the “Red Dwarf theme” is stretched till it's just annoying, but overall the album is still great.
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4:45 AM – Aisles – 2013
Genre: Prog Rock

Interesting. I've been waiting for a chance to listen to this ever since getting a link to it from an online prog magazine/blog I subscribed to. It's one of the first, maybe the first, Chilean bands I've heard, and their third album of four. Kind of not terribly impressed till the new-wavey “Shallow and Daft”, which has an – intentionally – American feel to it, and after that, yeah, the album really picks up and I've enjoyed it. I'll be looking forward to checking out the rest of their material. Good stuff, possibly great stuff.
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You have excellent taste in music, Troll.

Thanks. Nobody ever says this, so I have to assume you've become a bot programmed to give yourself away by uttering completely unexpected phrases. :laughing:

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Back Again – Arti Tisi – 2017
Genre: AOR/Melodic Rock

All I can say is that this is yet another of those albums I don't remember downloading (though there will probably be a lot of them to come) and so far it's pretty generic, even low-grade AOR/hard/melodic rock with not a lot to offer. But we're only three tracks in, of a total of sixteen, so we'll see how it goes. I have no idea whether the band name is that of a person, or means something else. Either way, this is bargain basement stuff. Going to be hard to make it all the way through. Haven't heard anything yet that hasn't either bored me or made me roll my eyes. Oh no! They're doing “I Got the Music in Me”. Ah, you kind of don't, guys. Well to be fair, it picked up a little after that. I mean, it's still nothing special, but I got a little more interested in the last few tracks, bit more about them. Still wouldn't be rushing to hear anything more from these guys.

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Note: since the videos show up so large now, I'm limiting YouTubes to two per album, as otherwise it just looks too clunky. If I can find a video for the full album, obviously, there will then only be one.

Don't worry I randomly listened to it too and it was vicariously humiliating.

Again, what in the name of Zombie Jesus are you talking about? You listened to what? The last album I posted? How could it be humiliating though? You're one weird fuck, Batty.

Aisles (worst name ever, "Hello, what aisle is Aisles on?" "Aisles is on aisle 5.") It was vicariously humiliating because the band is clearly humiliated to play that music live and I feel empathy for that.

It is a ****ing awful name.
"The new album by Isles?"
"No, Aisles!"
"Yeah that's what I said, Isles. Sorry mate it ain't coming up. Hey! It is Iles?"
"No it's AISLES. With an A".
"Really? ****ing awful name. Hmm. Oh yeah! Aisles! Of course! No we don't have it. Sorry."
"What kind of a record store is this anyway?"
"This isn't a record store. We sell furniture."
"Oh. Any nice sofas?"

Oh, and nice to know you can get into a band's collective mind and see how they think. Ever consider using your awesome powers for good? No? Evil more fun?

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Eliminator – ZZ Top – 1983
Genre: Blues Rock/Electronic Rock/Hard Rock

Something of a unique proposition. Three guys from Texas whom nobody outside of the mainstream had really heard of up to then, except perhaps in the vaguest way, explode into the charts thanks mostly to some extremely leggy models in some sexy videos. But Eliminator is more than just pant-wetting tittilation: these guys have been going for decades and they're about as tightly knit a band as you're likely to come across south of the Mason-Dixon line. A real change of direction for the Tres Hombres, ZZ never really followed up this album in terms of commercial appeal, and it remains a sort of aberration in their catalogue, the one time when they pandered to the masses, made tons of money before riding off back across the border and returning to what they did, and do, so well. Not a bad word to say about it. Not one.
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Do we need videos? Well, those videos, yes, yes we do. And here they are.


(Edit: couldn't get the original for "Gimme All Your Lovin" as the URL has forbidden characters in it that I can't get past, but this one is kind of better anyway...) :D

Ever hear the Moving Sidewalks? (Bill Gibbons' original band)

God that was ****in' terrible! On we go...

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Waking Hours – Del Amitri – 1989
Genre: Alt-Rock

Hey you know this is a lot better than I remember. I know I enjoyed some tracks off it, including the two singles, “Nothing Ever Happens” and “Kiss This Thing Goodbye”, when I heard it originally, but I seem to recall being lukewarm on most of the rest, though I did like “Hatful of Rain” (which I still do; I'd rate it as my third favourite track on the album). But having just listened to it again, I have a deeper appreciation for the songwriting of these guys, and yeah, it's a pretty damn fine album. Not gonna rock anyone's world, but you never know: it might surprise a few people. Kind of surprised me, all these years later.
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I kept expecting this to turn into "All Day and All of the Night".

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Return to Fantasy – Uriah Heep – 1975
Genre: Hard Rock

I like Heep, but I'm not familiar with most of their albums, and much of what I am familiar with comes from the greatest hits/best of album I once had. Like many of the albums I've listened to recently, this does not impress me on the first few tracks, but gets a whole lot better as it goes along. Two very fine blues ballads in “Why Did You Go” and the bitter “Your Turn To Remember”, along with boppy fare like “Prima Donna” and “Showdown”, and of course the title track. Not the prog rockers I tend to think of when I hear the words Uriah Heep, but a pretty damn fine hard rock album, still doin' it over forty years after it was released.
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What's the safe for?

Like it says in the OP, the safe indicates that I already own the artist's discography. It's not the best icon, true, but I really couldn't think of one that would get that idea across. Obviously, in your case, I failed anyway. Still, always good to read the OP, as you know with me and my threads. Unless you're lazy.

And there we have the fundamental conundrum, of course.