Metal

New Blog Rush Clockwork Angels

In this blog, we are going to get into one of my favorite bands, which is Rush.  I am going to review their new record, which is called Clockwork Angels.  Rush was founded in Canada back in 1968.  They put out their first LP in 1974 with the lineup of Alex Liefson, Geddy Lee, and John Rutsey, who was replace the same year with Neil Peart.  The history of Rush, Alex and Geddy write all the music while Neil writes the lyrics for all the songs.  Neil pulls all his influence for his lyrics writing from fantasy, science fiction and philosophy.  They have influence several bands from Metallica, Primus, Dream Theater, etc.  They were put into the Canada Music Hall of Fame in 1994 but yet they are not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Shame (I mean Fame) in Cleveland, Ohio.  Rush has 24 gold records, 14 platinum records, and 3 multi-platinum records.  With cds sales being down they are ranked 79th in the United States with 25 million units sold.  They have a total of twenty studio albums under their belt which does include the one I will be reviewing in this blog.  They have also put out nine live albums along with 11 greatest hits records.  They have put out several music videos, and several other things.  Their live show is not explainable in words but they do not have an opening act.  They have been known to play for three hours while taking some intermissions.  Let us get in into their 20th record called Clockwork Angels which is the follow-up to their Snakes And Arrow, which came out in 2007.

Tack List

Caravan

This song is very easy to listen to while having a nice guitar riff.  The drums like all Rush records is very solid and has a nice bass riff going over it.  Mr. Lee is solid as vocalist while doing half million things with his feet.  I have no idea how he does it.  This is a very solid opening track and was their first single that they put out last year to start warming up their fan base.  This is an awesome track featuring everything that made Rush a legend.

BU2B

This next song was my favorite on their single release from last year.  I love how there is no break between songs.  This is a different start to the song then the single release from the last year.  Then it snaps into what the song was last year with the new intro.  Just like Caravan, it has a nice drum, guitar, and bass line.  This song is not in your face but it kind has its moments.  They really out did themselves on this song.  Great music writing and I hope the rest of the record holds up rest of the way.

Clockwork Angels

Now onto the song that is named after this record.  The song starts off somewhere in a church or to me in a dessert.  That is the one thing for Rush, they will take you on a journey in all their records and music.  I really love the sound effects and the guitar is off the chart and the drums just echo what Alex is doing while Geddy is doing his thing in a room alone.  This is the slowest of the first three songs but brings you down from the rush you were experiencing at the beginning.  This is a very solid lyric song.  I love the effect they put on Lee’s voice and how everything comes to a meeting point.  It comes back to the nice smooth release of sound journey.

The Anarchist

The Anarchist starts out with a nice drum beat and the guitar that floats over it.  An echoing bass line comes and then the song goes into this space like music art.  The classic bass line that  comes in the later in the song has made Rush legends comes  in with the rest of the great music players in this band.  I really love the beginning of this song.  It has a solid lyric writing and has an awesome music to back it up to it. I really love the effects that they put on the singer voice and I hope they do not over do it.  They been around the block a few times and know they will not over use to the point where it will start to annoying like other bands do with lesser experience.  This song is just classic Rush song with a huge modern flare.  This song remains me of something that they did back in the late 1970s or earlier 1980s.

Carnies

Carnies starts out with space like music and then comes with a heavy guitar, drums, and bass,   It will just calm down a bit and then goes to this space like riffs.  This is the heaviest song on this record and it almost rivals any off their Vaper Trails record.  It comes with space like lyrics but they are solid.  I am really digging the grove of this song.  This is classic late 1990s Rush.  For being five-minute song, it is just perfect and to the point.  It has a very nice ending to the song.

Halo Effect

Hello Effect is only about three minutes long.  It starts out with an acoustic guitar and then kicks into with a little overdrive.  It has a nice smoothest to it.  I would love to listen to this song with a nice cigar in my hand and think about the future.  This song is very dreamy.  It has a nice guitar solo if you would call it that.  Being the sixth song on this record, Alex has not had too many guitar solos.  I am hoping for some in the later part of this record.  So far this record is living up to the great music Rush has put out in their career.  Rush has not loss a beat maybe a little bit in the mid 1980s but I believe those records were still really good and important to music.

Seven Cities of Gold

Nice bass line to start-up the beginning of the song with the drums echoing it.  It has a nice funky feel on the bass line.  The guitar is genius place to the side but still over the bass and drums.  I feel like I am in a wagon being pulled by horses through a towns of gold.  I really love the feeling of this song and the pick up from where the last song left of on this record.  All of these songs are produced very well for what the band was trying to put out there.  I really love the lyrics in this song.  To me, this song could have been three or four minutes long to get the point of the song.  I asked for a guitar solo and finally I got it.  Alex has a pretty awesome guitar solo in this song.  It is simple but yet complex to get to the point.

The Wreckers

The Wreckers is a straight up classic rock and roll Rush song.  This song kind of reminds me of something they did in the late 1970s to 1980s.  They wrote a masterpiece in this song.  I love how the guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums just come to the dinner table and had a great meal that would make the Greek Gods jealous.  This song should have been their first single.  I really hope this is a single in the future.  This is a hit song and one of the best songs they have written in a long time.  It is very nicely done.

Headlong Flight

This next song is their second single release and it is called Headlong Flight.  They love their sounds effects but Alex and Geddy puts a nice riff at the beginning of the song that just put me in Oh My God state of mind.  The guitar is taking over this song in a very good way.  I love the pace of this song.  It has a very nice drive to it.  The lyrics are very well written and bass playing is off the charts.  Drums have a nice impact to the song.  I am hearing singing I never thought I would heard from Mr. Lee.  I really love the guitar playing in this song.  Headlong Flight is something I could have seen off their last record.  Wow,  I can understand why this song is their second single.  I will  take back what I said in their last song The Wreckers.  Alex has a solo in this whole song.  Very well Guitar God!

Here is a statement from Geddy Lee from interview in the Rolling Stone:

‘Headlong Flight’ was one of those songs that was a joy to write and record from beginning to end. Alex [Lifeson] and I had blast jamming in my home studio one day before the second leg of the Time Machine tour, and I did not revisit that jam until a year later. Alex and I assembled the song to be an instrumental and its original title was ‘Take That Lampshade Off Yo Head!,” but once we saw the lyrics Neil [Peart] had written, I knew that the spirit of the lyrics matched the instrumental perfectly and it was just a matter of making them fit and writing the melodies.

BU2B

Yes this song resurfaces again.  This is an expand of the song earlier in this record but it is a minute and half, which makes it the shortest song on this record.  The second shortest song is Halo Effect.  This next part of this song gives us a different singing again from Mr Lee.  I wished they would have expanded on this idea.  Could we be seeing a newer Rush that pushing the limits of themselves?

Wish Them Well

Wish Them Well, to me, is kind of break up song.  The song starts out like some 1970s rock and roll song.  Wish Them Well is a little popping for Rush but it is still a good song.  Repeating the Wish Them Well a few times fits the point of the song.  It has a nice driving drum beat and nice support from the guitar and bass.  This is a very well balance song from Rush,which is what they are known to write throughout their career.  This song is the third shortest song on this record.  It is a very written song.

The Garden

The last and finally song off Rush’s Clockwork Angels is a song called The Garden.  It has a nice slow start with a nice keyboard riff.  It moves to an acoustic guitar with singing while the keyboard riff comes in several seconds later.  I love the switch on the guitar part.  It is very nicely done and smooth music movement.  When it hits the second versus, the drums and bass comes in with a soft touch.  This sound has a little Scorpions feel to it.  I really like this song.  It is very well done.  I love this guitar solo towards the end of this song.

Here is a few areas to get information on Rush:

Website:  www.rush.com

Twitter:  @rushtheband

In closing, this record did not disappoint me just like the rest of their records that they have put out in their career.  It is hard for me to say I like anything from this band since I am a huge fan.  With that said, I will bash a record if it was really band.  I really love this Rush record just like the rest of their records.  They have pushed the limits of themselves but yet keeping true to their sound that made them legends.  It is very nice to see an older band still making new music but awesome new music.  I cannot think which one is my favorite song.  If I had to pick, I would have to say B2UB, The Wreckers, and Clockwork Angels.  They are all good and I am honor to have this in my cd collection.  Go get some!  Drink it!  Enjoy it!  Metal it!  \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email:  djweiser13@comcast.com

Twitter:  @djweiser

New Blog Confidence Prelude EP

In this blog, we are going to talk about hard rock and metal music.  This band we are going talk about is called Confidence.  This band is getting ready to release their EP called Prelude.  Thanks to Metal Revelation for sending out this email with a ton of information on this band.  They have a very nice descripation and history on the band from the email that will be feature below.

Here is a little history that came from the email that Metal Revelation:

CONFIDENCE was born from the remnants of ideas, songs and bands which never really got to spread their wings. When they started things off in a studio somewhere in Sweden, they didn’t know what would come out of it, but they had a vision of making something passionate, true and beautiful.
They had all seen the decay or the Rock and Metal scene, the repetition of well-tried concepts and song-writing. Endless repetition, one album after another with a plastic soul-less sound and the somewhat peculiar idea that if you sound exactly like the bands that actually made it, there would be a golden record deal and fame in return.
With this in mind, they started to create their music and sound, trying to capture the emotion and feelings of each concept that came to them. Lyrics and vocals were written with the sole intention to enhance the concept and emotion of the songs, and music was written to enhance the vocals and lyrics. When recording, takes were selected because they said something, not because they were perfectly performed.
It took them almost 3 years, members came and members left, but now they finally are ready for the world.
Let us talk about the music, this is why the band is here.  The first song we are going to talk about is “Never Meant To Be.”  I love how this band is doing something a little different.  It is nice to hear keyboard starting out a song and then keeps a focus for about quarter into the song before you hear any guitar.  I know I am going to get beat up for saying this but it is nice to hear the guitar being secondary then not the focus has it is in every hard rock and metal songs out there.  I love how the drums and bass comes in with a soft thunder that bends into the softness of the vocals.  The vocals and part of the song writing reminds me of a Seattle band  called Nevermore.  Lead singer has a Bach to Dokken sound to him.  He is a very good singer and knows when to push his voice in all the right ways.  Guitar work is something out of 1980s to 1990s metal bands.  This is a very nice mix on this song and the guitar solo  is just right for this song.  This song is not over powering like most metal music.
This next song is “War Torn Skies.”  I was only able to find a sample off their website, which is www.confidenceofficial.com.  I love the drums and bass action in this song.  Guitar and vocals are in your face in a very good way for what this song means to the band.  The more I listen to Confidence they are sounding like 1990’s Nevermind and throwback 1980’s Skid Row.  It is very nice to hear a young band take up the devil horns and pour their soul into their songs like “War Torn Skies.”
The next song just like “Poison Lies” I was only able to find a sample off their website, which is www.confidenceofficial.com, is called “Poison Lies.”  This songs almost like something off Skid Row’s first record.  I hate comparing this band to any band.  I can kind of hear some Sonata Arctica with the keyboards in the background and the slamming guitar riffs.  This lead singer can sing in whatever the song is being threw at him. All their songs are metal because I say it sounds like this. You cannot live on that. You will need to listen to their music and form your own thoughts.
The last song we are going to take a listen to is “Flesh And Skin.”  A very nice guitar riff that carries through out this song with a very talented drum and bass lines to bring out the feeling of the song.  There is very few back up singing in this band but when it is there it is just right and very impactful.  This is a very nice driving song with a little control on the speed limits.  This is a very well written song all the way around.
Here is a little information on the band itself:
Band Members:
Lead vocals: Emil Kyrk
Bass guitar: David Lecander
Guitar: Per-Owe “Ewo” Solvelius
Keyboards: Clas Sjöstrand
Drums: Janne Jaloma
Twitter: @ConfidenceSWE

In closing, I really enjoyed all the songs. I will be picking up a copy for myself to add to my collection of music. If you enjoy hard rock and metal, you need to check this band. This band brings a ton of rock from the past and put a modern twist to genre. This band gives a music lover myself breath of fresh air. I love metal and I do not want to hear the same thing being pumped out from one or multiple bands. I believe every record company and band management learn their lesson in the 1980s and 1990s. To finally close this out, this band is writing music for themselves, fans, and metal music with soul and passion that will blow you away and make you think of what is going on in the world. I cannot wait to see what the future for this talented band. Enjoy it! Drink it! Metal it! \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @djweiser

Seven Day Sonnet Reprisal

Chicago base band Seven Day Sonnet (SDS) coming out a very good underground hard rock and metal scene with Reprisal (2009), which is their first record of attack.  They teamed with Brett Hestla (former touring bassist of Creed)  down at Orlando, FL.  Brett has produced such acts like Flaming Hanley, Transmit Now, and many more.    With all the pieces in place, Seven Day Sonnet and Brett put out a record that will just make hard rock and metal listeners happy and full of emotion while listening.

Packaging is important part of a successful record in theses days of declining compact discs sales dropping.  The art work and design of the compact discs is unique and shows a value to the band and their listeners.  The front cover is a picture of the two gangsters.  SDS showing the long rich history of Chicago’s mobsters.   The inside of the record has all the lyrics from all the songs.  SDS and the David Scotney (artwork designer) took the time to think of those individual that buy compact discs today.  The lyrics are in the inside cover of the compact disc case that folds out.  As the listeners reads through the lyrics it looks like it is printed on burn paper from the 1930’s.  This packaging will catch the attention of music lovers of all genres.  Retailers will be very happy on how it will look on retail’s end caps or floor displays.  The packaging gets to the point of what is on the disc.

Seven Day Sonnet’s Reprisal is the best music from an up and coming artist.  The band is Ben VanBurskirk (lead singer), Jordon Popp (guitar and back up vocals), Rick Tauber (guitar), Anthony Lojeski (bass and back up vocals), Dan Kashuck (drums).  This band has very strong bassist and drummer selection.  The band guitar players took something out of pages of some of the legendary dual guitar bands from the past such as Thin Lizzy (but heavier), Scorpions and current day Avenged Sevenfold.  Ben (lead singer) finish off this very talented band.  His vocals are perfect for what this Chicago band is going and what they have become.

Most bands feel they have to have some kind of intro but this record could have lived with out one.  However the nice little guitar solo from the opening track called “All Fall Down,” gives the listeners something from the best glory days of hard rock and metal.  The pounding of the drums and the thunder of the bass slaps the listeners through the song and the record.  The lead singer does something that most lead singers dream of doing.  If the listener has this song in the back ground, this slight singing differences will snap attention of the listener back to the music.  He does a slight guttural vocals that bends perfectly with the song and then goes back into very melodic singing.  It is almost like he took a  page out of Don Dokken (Dokken) or M. Shadow (Avenged Sevenfold) on the melodic side and then threw in something from a  extreme metal group like Mikael Akerfedt (Opeth).  Second song “The Butchor” comes in with a very pounding and driving guitar riff.  Through out the  record the listeners will find a very driving songs from the first song to the last.  There is one hidden gem on this record and that is “Saturdays.”  This song starts with a guitar riff that you would here from the 1970’s or 1990’s hard rock and metal groups.  It picks up and creepy keyboard puts chills up and down anyone’s spine.  This is one song to turn out the lights and just listen to over and over again.

In closing, this is a very great record from a very very talent hard rock and metal group from Chicagoland area.  They wrote about their everyday struggles and other issues that has come to light.  They took the soul and body set by their icons and heros before them and ran with it.  The world of hard rock and metal should be proud of their new sons.  This record was very fun to write and listen to and I give this record .

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Twitter @djweiser

Email djweiser16@gmail.com

Lita Ford Wicked Wonderland

Lita Ford Wicked Wonderland is her comeback record in fifteen years. This record is very different then the rest of her music from the late 1970’s to mid 1990’s. It has a very heavy influence male vocals (her husband Jim Gillette) and it is heavier then her in the beginning of her career.

The packaging sets the mood and very well thought out. From Rob Zombie’s band bassist Piggy D came up with the playful artwork for the record. It is very dark, gothic but yet very sexy at the same time. He feed off the meaning of each song and then came up with a great art theme for each song. Artwork alone is worth buying this record.

The music is another animal. Lita Ford had her husband, who is Jim Gillette, doing back up vocals. He is not the same singer he was back in the his Nitro days. It sounds like age has really got to him, however, for what he is doing on this record with his wife. It is very perfect and it fits. There are many artist that has their husband or wife come in to help out on a record and just kills the feeling of the music. This is not the case. Welcome back Jim and keep on rocking.

The opening track of this record is her first single in fifteen years is “Crave.” Nice guitar riff with drum beats to start the song. Lita comes in singing with very well written sexy lyrics. This song will set the tune of the record. It has a very sex driven theme through out the record. Lita plays all the guitar and there is on one else. She has a very good guitar solo in this song. “Piece (Hell Yeah)” has a very dark guitar riff but her sing makes it feels calming. She drops cherry bomb line in this song that makes the listeners thing of her pass then get slap into the face with the hell yeah. “Patriotic SOB” takes on another out look at what our United States really is about. She has her two sons singing at the beginning making this song a family affair. This song talks about guns, porn etc, however, the song tells us how the United States really is all about. The title track is one of the best ones on the record along with “Betrayal”.

In closing, overall, this is a very driving record with a lot of sex and sex all over it. It is worth a few spins in the music box. The packaging and a few songs make this a great come back record for Lita Ford. This record gets 7 out of 10.

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Twitter @djweiser

Email djweiser16@gmail.com

Age Of Evil – AOE

ImageHello Everyone

Let’s talk about music. We are going to talk about a nice young Hard Rock and Metal group, which is called Age Of Evil.  They have one full length record and a EP out, which you can buy from their website, prior to this new record they just put out.  They are a flash back to what was great about the 1980’s scene of music.

A little detail on Age Of Evil, they are two set of brothers that grew up together got together and form this band a few years back.

Here are the members of this band:

Jeremy Goldberg- Rhythm Guitar, Vocals

Jacob Goldberg- Bass

Jordan Ziff – Lead Guitar

Garrett Ziff – Drums

The record I will be reviewing on this blog is called “AOE”.  This record starts out something you would hear from a throw back Skid Row.  This band took a page out of the Skid Row book on Never Die and Last Man Standing (their first single).  Never Die has a little guitar work you would hear from Skid Row or Scorpions in the intro and then runs into something you would hear from Skid Row Slave To the Grind.  Nice caught lines to get the crowds going live from this song and throughout this record.  Last Man Standing is almost like something that Skid Row would have wrote during the Bach era.  Then Love Ain’t Free comes on next from the record and takes a little change of mood.  Here they hold that nice back beat from the drums and bass while taking an orginal twist on a Buckcherry sound.  I might saying they sound like this band to that band but they are doing their own take on it while putting their soul into their own style.  Drift Away is just straight up rock song in your face.  Take about a song to slap you in the face and then says everything is ok during the chorus.  Alone Again has a nice puch to it.  This song has a different pace to it then the rest of the songs.  You can hear their 1970’s, 1980’s, and 1990’s influence into this song.  Get It On goes back to Mad and In Your Face style song.  I just felt like I took an ass kicking after listening this song and even while listening to the song.  The wave of emotions in this record is felt in every song.  Now Or Never has the worlds of Blues and Metal meet in the song.  It is almost like AC/DC and Skid Row style feel.  Nice simple drum and bass movement  throughout the song.  Simple is enough in this song.  I can hear this song being their hit.  It has everything going on to make people really get into this song.  Time For Revolution just came out of no where.  Another different pace for this record and the flood of emotion.  This song does fit on this great record.  It will come out of no where on you.  In The End has an awesome start to it and then a nice ripping solo before the vocals come in.  This song sounds like something from a Dokken or Saxon back in the day.

It is very refershing for all of Hard Rock and Metal heads to hear a band that takes the old school to the modern day sound.  The Drums and Bass are solid through out the record.  The Guitar work is enough to make this Record solid and powerful.  The vocals and lyrics are something out of Dokken and Skid Row feel.  I can’t wait to hear these songs live and what is next for this band in their growing career.  I really enjoy this band and this is yet another set of songs to their awesome song writing collection.

Here is how to get hold of this band to check out their music or if they come to your town:

Twitter is @ageofevil

Website is www.ageofevil.com

You will need to check this band out to make your judgement.  Enjoy it, drink it, and listen to it!

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Twitter @djweiser

Chicagoland, IL

USA

Space Was Cool

Let’s talk about music in this blog.  I just got some new music from a local Chicago Band.  Kind of new to the scene but has the former lead singer of Left Setter.  They have bended a few different styles together to make this a unique type of band.  Let’s talk about who is in this band before I really get into their music and how to follow this awesome band.

Band features the follows:
Nick Langis (lead singer)
Rick Lyons (guitar)
Kevin Rodgers (bass)
Miro Krivens (Drum)

They are on Facebook (www.facebook.com/spacewascool).  I believe Kevin Rogers that runs the Facebook is also in the band.

Now on to the music but I will say this in each blog.  This is what I think of the music and don’t get it to heart on anything I say on it.  You need to check it out and draw your thoughts on it.  There is music that is out there I really don’t care about and people love it.  Anyways on to their music.  There is a few songs on Left Setter Facebook.  Go There and check out the music and “like it” then share it with your friends.  Many people think that these bands just make it without help from their fans.  Fans have a huge control the direction a band can go like the following showing up for the shows, posted it on facebook or twitter (social media) and there is a classic word of mouth.   Anyways back to the music, on Left Setter facebook the music there is just staight work with a little Prog and 1960’s LSD rock.  I am not saying they use drugs like the rockers in that day.  I really don’t know.  They have that music feel.  They are a little heavier then those great bands of that era.