Long time no booty!

Sailors...!
A very quick post, just not to let you down for too long.
While Pipes is still missing in action, looking after his new daddy-duties, and J13 is bouncing from gig to gig (getting back to work in the sparetime...!), Cpt. tried to keep polished and up-to-date his metal armor with a good deal of new 'tools' that you can find a drift on the sea these days.
Despite the good 'brand' of many of them, very few managed to impress so much to induce more than a leg-shake or half-a-head-bang... And you can include new Magadeth among them too.

Here's Cpt. NEW-HITS selection! Serious stuff! Fasten seat belt, tight your helemet, 'cause they're gonna get you unstoppable! A juggernaut banging frenzy that will fuck up your neck!

Trust my judgment, or do the homework by yourselves this time!
A fantastic MELODIC/DEATH (Astralia); a majestic HEAVY/POWER return (Germany), a new HEAVY/DOOM brick (US... NOTE: uncle J. Stump in charge of shredding!), a renewed HEAVY (Canada... NOTE: great new product, with significant changes).
Stay tuned and don't forget the magic word: portroyal !

Love you J13 & best wishes to Pipes!

First: best Cpt. wishes to Big Pipes, who lately got metal-daddy!
Second: Love you J13!
Two days ago ocean's waves delivered to Port Royal the B-day chest you set adrift for Cpt.
You lucky bastdard....!!!!! I wish I was there too!
Amazing T-shirt and all SKELETONWITCH members 'espcially-for-Cpt.' signed CD! A blast! You're the man! Thanks a lot.

I really wish I could review July, 16th 2009 gig at Knitting Factory (Los Angeles), where these goodies came from, but at time my ship was heading to Italy for some pirates holidays... We'll leave to J13 spend some word, if he likes. But the pics he delivered to me speak for themselves! Cameraman: J13. Selection and quick enhancing: Cpt. Cheers!

FUSI DI ROCK (ITALY)

Howdy, sailors...!
Cpt. is back at last! Sorry for the delay.
Regreattably (or luckyly?) soon after the Mediterranean tour, Cpt. has been cought into a research frenzy, following a quite happy discovery. Further delays to be expected too.
But I'll do my best not to let you rot on the beach, listening to hip-hop from the neighbour earphones, smoking green (which actually is not so bad!), and dreaming for metal reports and review!

Following some pics from a very nice gig Cpt. attended back in Italy. FUSI DI ROCK, a rock/metal marathon held in north-east Italy, which is already at its 11th edition (I think...). Don't fancy Monsters of Rock stuff! Rather a summer food festival... sousages, beer, french fries, ... with annexed stage. Provincial as it may be, for a reason or another every time cool bands and guests bring their asses over there enterteining an audience that barely realizes who/what they are listening to. In any case,times has passed and can't recall the menu. First two band were local groups that palayed with decorum. The last two I remember well - I weas there for them: PATHOS REI and THE CLAIRVOYANTS! We are talking about some very cool modern progressive and "the" IRON MAIDEN copy band ("the" because they are considered - rightfully - the best)! Both delivered a fantastic show and I terribly enjoyed them, but being an historic Maiden fan, you can bet your ass I've been kicked more by the seconds!

They delivered Maiden on mass-production... Every best and historic hits, plus newer stuff. And exactly as Maiden, if not better. Yeah, also the singing, you dumb unbelivers! Dickinson level without regrets! And from time to time, pieces from their own last album. Machingun fire for, I guess, two hours or more... Audience was more tired than them! Freaky cool! Better than Maiden themselves, I dare to say. I do hope to see them again soon. Cheers. Get the pics and... shut up!

«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!

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