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

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!

GET SOME MORE!

HEAVY PETTIN'- Lettin' Loose (1983) [Melodic M./HWOBHM]



HEAVY PETTIN'- Prodigal Songs (2007) [Melodic M./HWOBHM]

Many talented and promising bands have often been dumped into the metal's scrap deposit over the years for no apparent reason: victim of a 'risky' names, record-company politics, etc. Such is the case with Scottish Heavy Pettin. They released two hard rocking and very polished albums in early 80`s for Polydor, produced by none other than Queen`s Brian May. And at the time, the band was considered as the British hard rock act `most likely to...` succeed to Def Lepard. To me they are particularly welcome, since much of their sound recall the Saxon's Crusader album... one of my first & all-time favourite pieces in metal. Tracks like "In And Out Of Love" and "Hell Is Beautiful" are indeed prime slabs of 80`s melodic hard rock.
Yet, over the time, highlight of fame and success happened to lose their pin-point, despite "Break It Down", "I Don't Care What You Say Anymore", "Hot Women" (this one is very cool!) also pack the monstrous hooks, choruses and mindless lyrics that made pop-metal so funny back in the days. The 13 tracks on Prodigal Songs – a collection of previously unreleased material from 1982-1987 issued in 2007 – more often than not, recall Dokken, Krokus, Motley Crue and Foreigner. Well-produced and very enjoyable, these tunes can hardly be considered rejects, as often happens for these 'unreleased' relapses, and should encourage new listeners to dig back into the band's catalog.
Opensesami: portroyal

COME! GET SOME!

There is bunch of very cool novelties around, dudes, and some of them are real blows! I'm talking about new ARTILLERY (freaky amazing return!), new PRIMAL FEAR (forever the best German metal), new JOE STUMP (king of shred!), new CAULDRON (brand new old styled sounding band), new HAVOCK (fast and relentless thrash), new PLANAR EVIL (old style but fantastic thrash)...
But, as you know, you can find info on new stuff virtually everywhere.

Today I'm introducing something else, likewise good, but less under the radar.
Opensesami: portroyal

SKELETONWHICH-At one with the Shadows (2004)
[Melodic Black/Speed/Thrash Metal]

Chances are that if you already know Skeltonwitch, you came to know them via their second album Beyond the Permafrost, which is the album that’s gotten wider distribution and is worth-the-money just tor the title track: a killer! This is the out-of-print, with almost no circulation first debut (very difficult to find). The production is demo quality and it’s only thirty minutes in length, so be prepared! Yet everything you'd expect - knowing the second - is present: the melodic soloing and harmony riffs of power metal, the blasting drums, shrieking vocals, and dissonant tremolo riffing of black metal, and even some of the growled vocals and trademark riffs of melodic death metal. The ideas are not entirely new cosidering its age: deathcore bands dealt profusely with what is done here, but Skeletonwitch blends the whole much more fluidly, without clean vocals, emo lyrics, breakdowns, and that obvious pilfering that other bands are often guilty of. All in all, it's a very enjoyable banging experience!

KIUAS - Kiuas War Anthems (2008) [Power M./MDM]

This band from Finland has gotten quite a lot of praise heaped upon them since their inception. And I badly like them! Kiuas play Power Metal, except not in the way you'd expect. Sure, they have fantasy-based lyrics, but the music here is about as far from derivative as Power Metal can get, having elements of Death Metal and 80s hard rock blended into the colorful palette of influences on display. For an accurate description imagine Pantera crashing their tour bus into that of Stratovarius, Children Of Bodom striking a deal with Iron Maiden or any other pact you would reckon to be VERY unlikely. And that is exactly why Kiuas sounds so different and refreshing.
This is a rather rare EP, distributed in occasion of the English tour last year. Together with a couple of their best battle-horses, you got the chance to enjoy their live performance too. Plus a fantastic cover of Testament's "Electric Crown".

KILLERS (UK)-New Live and Rare (1998) [Heavy/Power M.]

"Murder One" is Paul Di'Anno's biggest solo record. While many have constantly dogged his post-Maiden work as "irrelevant NWOBHM" that record can still be considered as a lost classic. Sadly for him, Paul never recaptured the mood of that record again. While "Nomad" and "Menace to Society" are great records, Murder One is the record where he proved that he had something to give after Iron Maiden experience, that even fans outside of his strict cult following could enjoy. So if you don't want to buy his entire Killers back-catalog, you can go for this small box of treasures. The material from "Murder One" is less aggressive than that of "Menace to Society", but both are interesting cross-sections of the mans career and worthy of listens.
To real Paul fans the abundance of compilation could be upsetting, but compared to the others this one actually serves some good purpose. You get the best of the Killers band in one small unit.

ANGEL WITCH-Sinister History (1999) [NWOBHM]

Coming over to Japan this August, and I'm still dubious about attending it or not. Despite the legendary aura glowing around their name, I have to admit that, for some strange accident of fate, I never happened to met their music during my metal childhood. So turning to them at this point, offers really few clues for passion or appreciation: it's a style that "classic" as it may be, it is enjoyable as long as it brings to mind recollections af gone good old days. Provided you had'em litening to them! Certainly Angel Witch's disaster story don't help. But founder/guitarist/vocalist Kevin Heybourne refusal to quit and perseverance eputhomizes the strong will that ties band & true hard-core fans around the world. I'll invite you to check out a good review of their history at this LINK, 'cause it's better of any I can tell you. This disc isn't the best they have to offer, but it is a pretty decent collection of demos and tunes from their first albums, plus six live cuts from various gigs. Pretty much for die-hard fans!

CANNIBAL CORPSE-Eaten Back to Life (1990) [Death M.]

Now, you know I am not a great fan of Death M. But you have to give Caesar what belongs to Caesar: Cannibal Corpse are an act that has been able to cut out a very prominent niche to themselves within the style. And with all the differences and variation you can go look for inside the uncountable examples proposed and misproposed until the present, the only monolith that overshadows them all - at least in Cpt. mind... and not only for their gruesome covers, which I love! - it's them! Fresh from a tour in Japan I couldn't attend, lately I went back on their catalogue to brush up my rusty death experience a bit with their first. Any fan of Cannibal Corpse's recently releases will be absolutely destroyed upon listening to this. Lots of tempo changes, fast drums, killer riffs. Eaten back to life, is not as much sloppy as of what Cannibal Corpse has finished by doing in the last 10 years. Beside it has one the best production ever. Wish I could stand the entire album lenght!!!

AA.VV.-Sweden Rock Festival CD 2009

Fresh from his experience, buddy J13 donated to the Port this ass-kicking collection of tunes from this year festival edition! Good selection of bands, tunes and vibes. Hope to be able to attend it too next year. Content as follows:

1. Triumph - Lay it on the Line
2. Ken Hensley - Lay in Black
3. Picture - Nighthunter
4. Sabaton - Ghost Division
5. Bonafide - Down
6. Svlk - 527. Five Fifteen - Heartbreaker
8. Primal Fear - Metal is Forever
9. Astral Doors - Quisling
10. From Behind - Darker Days
11. Constancia - King is Calling
12. Bonafide - Dog
13. Enforcer - Roll the Dice
14. Torch - Blind Leads the Blind

Get your claws on it, if you can!

HELLHOUND: VENI VIDI PIXI

Long time no post!
But luckily heavy duty days are over for a while. Cpt. is on deck again!

Today I'm posting just a couple of pics from Saturday gig at the WALL Live house, in Shinjuku (Tokyo): "Obscene Ritual vol. 12." Long, narrow, pretty spartan "cave"... And yellow! Very yellow (apparently that's the only light color they know). On stage: CODE RED / EXOFORCE(静岡)/ HELLHOUND / MONONOFU(大阪) /FASTKILL.

Unfotunately Cpt. was still busy so, he dropped there just to see the "guys", leaving before the venue's end. In any case it was a pretty nosy night. Above the average. And thrashy... A kind of old-school thrashy grinding a little bit to old and not particularly appealing to me (as far as I was there...), despite the charge and the good performance of the players. Indeed, the first two bands left the stage without leaving in me any particular impression.

But HELLHOUND rocked as usual: "Metal Psycho", "Metal Fire from Hell", "M.E.T.A.L. Education", "Samurai Warrior", "Matal Warrior"... Am I missing something...? Probably. Anyway, lots of young and "older" supporters; frenzy banging, with horns up high and jumpy more than ever! A really nice feeling!!

Partying " 'till you puke" this time went on without the Cpt.: had to be in my cabin early for early piracy operations.

RAVEN: VENI VIDI PIXI

Wow! Raven rules, dudes!
What a concert!
I have to confess: I got to Raven quite lately in life (when I was kid we've seldom seen Raven records in our neighborhood) and with the amount of listenable stuff around nowadays I didn't manage to get them into my listening habits so much! But now they are for sure.

I'd like to be proficient enough to give you a set-list... I could mention some of the pieces they performed, but I'll rather look around, if I find one on other buddies reports. In any case, it has been a blast of energy & banging, from beginning to end! Three encore and special guest on the 2dn (for two tracks): Marty Friedman on guitar! They really broke us down into pieces! Hell of a performance and incredible musicianship. Cpt. feel really like having done three consecutive sessions of Billy Boot-camp...! One of the best gig ever!!
Not to mention the fact that it started and ended with a drinking party (Hellhound members and other people from the metal scene here around - thanks guys)!

Just a few stolen pics taken from my phone camera... so tecnological & expensive (8.1 megapixel) as useless! Next time I will go back to my secret weapon of the Luftwaffe!
Cheers!

«Who's next?» [Goldberg]

RAVEN's next! Tomorrow, Shibuya O-East!