July 15, 2009

«Weight anchor, hoist the sail...»



Sailors!

«Weight anchor, hoist the sail...»
Cpt.'s black ship is leaving...
Stay cool until I will be back.
Server will be down for holiday for 3 weeks, while the Cpt. will be storming the Mediterranean seas during his yearly raid. Have fun!

July 04, 2009

OLDIES, NOVELTIES, REISSUES

TWISTED SISTER-Stay Hungry 25th Anniversary
(2009 remaster CDx2 Deluxe Ed.)



Twisted Sister played their asses out for more than a decade in New York club circuit before getting the deserved attention. Originally formed in 1972, the group was for a while a kind of glam cover band. It wasn’t until 1976 that front man Dee Snider hooked up with the group and became the chief songwriter, getting themon the path of stardom: at the annual Reading Festivalthe boys were given a hard earned demonstration of respect when Lemmy and Pete Way joined the band on stage!
The group’s first album, Under the Blade, was a hit by any standard, but it did not cause quite a mess in the music world. It was actually their third one, Stay Hungry, that put them really into history! With it the band the band exploded - for the good and for the bad - into the mainstream: catchy anthems, cliché lyrics, outrageous videos for hit singles like “We're Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock”, etc.
To celebrate their 25th anniversary, the 1984 lineup (Dee Snider, Jay Jay French, Eddie Ojeda, Mark Mendoza and A.J. Pero) have returned with this 2 CD set that proves they're still “not gonna take it.” Disc one is cool, of course, but disc two is full of precious nuggets!

DISARMONIA MUNDI-The Restless Memoirs (2009 EP) [Prog. Death M./MDM]



This is a very talented band from Northern Italy. There have been quite some style and line-up changes since their beginnings, but the only thing that remained unchanged is Mr. Rigotti as a player, composer, sound-engineer and producer.
Their first work, dates back in 2000: Nebularium, composed and recorded into his own home-studio, is a brilliant piece of progressive and atmospheric extreme music, that despite the limited distribution received an impressive feedback.
After serious line-up changes, Fragments of D-Generation (Speed from Soilwork as a guest!). vcame out in 2004: this time no progressive atmospheres, but a faster and more kicky vibe; melodies and aggressive singing/lyrics. A worldwide success. Mind Tricks, in 2006, showed a darker and heavier twist, featuring multiple vocals by Rigotti and Claudio Raviale (with Speed collaborating again). 2009's The Isolation Game, tentatively scheduled for an autumn/winter gets anticipated by this EP and a reissue version of Nebularium. The songs here collected all are from that age and went unreleased until now.

TALISMAN-Talisman (1990) [Hard Rock/Melodic Hevy M.]



Jeff Scott Soto is one of the best vocalists alive. Best known for being vocalist on Yngwie Malmsteen's first two albums, and for being lead vocalist in Journey on their 2006-2007 tours after Steve Augeri had to leave for surgery. His style is typical of heavy metal vocalists of the '80s, but he is also influenced by classic soul music singers such as Steve Perry and Freddie Mercury from Queen. Here you have him in hard rock band Talisman's 1st studio album. The first single "I’ll Be Waiting" took off on the hit chart immediately and the album sold more that 30 thousand copies in two months. The style? Go back with your mind to the end '80, grab sonorities like Bon Jovi and Europe, add some Pink Cream 69, and a Thunderhead blasting kick! You'll like it!

opensesami: portroyal

July 01, 2009

AND MORE

UDO-Infected (2009 EP) [Heavy M.]



Udo is one of those few monoliths in the Heavy Metal scene with a career that spans from the late 70s until nowadays, without ever getting rusted. His days with ACCEPT gave inspiration to many bands and added such a great boost to the German as well as the world metal scene. This is said to be an important release by itself, but gains some additional momentum due to the recent refusal by Udo to join a further ACCEPT reunion. In any case "Infected" is the first ’sample’ of U.D.O.’s new album and it consists of two non-album tracks (original, not left overs), one remix and one live recorded song at Moscow in 2008. Sound and production are UDO guarantee; music too.

SKELETONWITCH-Worship the Witch (2006 EP) [Thrash/MDM]



Here you go with their second self-produced work. The EP is not really long and not of high value as for production, but it is what landed them a record contract with Prosthetic Records: four songs for only 11 minutes of music. Yet it is a further key to to get into Skeletonwitch music evolution. As said below, the band plays a breed between old thrash, rich in frenetic guitars riffs & fast rhythms, but with black/death metal singing spiced with a bunch of melodies; not easy to compare with others. Here, without giving anything new though, the band find the way to write something nice and catchy.... and also the "poor" sound add a retrò something, in my opinion. "Beyond the permafrost" will kick your ass to the moon... and if you don't bang on it, you'd better go seeing a doctor, dudes! In the new full-lenght, the same track is way more perfect!