If I was told "Allyson, you can have just one Dokken tune on your iPod. Choose wisely," I would quickly pick "Just Got Lucky" (from the album Tooth and Nail).
Seriously. Is that an odd choice?
I love the video. It sums up everything I love about Glam: big hair, great guitarist, cheesy effects. Plus, there are mirrors, a live show, headbands and a volcano. The video is batshit crazy and therefore perfect. That's metal, people. Metal.
We all love Sweden rock. After all, these days, Sweden = Glam. So when our own Metalboy! found Danger Avenue, he just had to share the Sweden rockers. He emailed me about the band and also left some comments on this site about them, so of course I had to investigate.
Danger Avenue are pretty cool. The band formed in 2004 in Sweden and they consider their genre "melodic rock." I would agree they are not 100% Glam because there are some definite AOR components to their sound, but still, the guitar solos are there. Danger Avenue say they are influenced by KISS, the Scorpions and Queen.
When it was time for Danger Avenue to release a full-length album, the band members called on producer Roberth Olausson. He has worked with Hardcore Superstar. So, the album Long Overdue is out and it has big hooks and solos. Some of the song lyrics are a bit lacking, but the band has true room for growth and that is key: that means there is talent. They just need to be careful and not get sucked into the whole "modern radio-rock" vortex. Check it out and you be the judge:
On the eve of their farewell tour, guitarist K.K. Downing quit Judas Priest. Color me stunned. Quite frankly I don't think anyone saw this coming. Downing has been playing with the band for more than 40 years.
"Having thought long and hard about how to proceed, Rob, Glenn, Ian and Scott unanimously agreed that they should go ahead with the tour and not let the fans down all around the world."
Judas Priest plans to play songs from every one of their studio albums on the Epitaph tour. The tour begins in June.
What do you think about this? In my opinion, I am now considering Judas Priest officially "dead."
Anyone remember Greek rockers RUST? I gotta admit, these guys were a new one on me until I saw one of their vids pop up on YouTube. They are sort of a heavy/progressive metal hybrid and a true joy to discover. What do you think?
I was pretty surprised to hear that Stryper were doing a covers album, called plainly enough, The Covering. As a Christian myself, I've noticed that their 'message' has been watered down or flat out obscured at times, but now that they can't make a play for mainstream success, I'd have thought they'd settle down to holding on to the fans they've got. Perhaps I've misjudged the situation and the majority of their fans do not share their beliefs.
Stryper have always been great musicians, and Michael has an amazing voice. The thing that's always let them down is the songwriting in general, and the fact they have too many ballads, specifically. I saw them at Rocklahoma, and while I got to see the song I most wanted ("Rock That Does Not Roll"), I knew they would do at least two of the three that are obvious standout tracks at the end, but I left rather than go through an hour of ballads first. So, a covers album makes some sense, you already look through the list and know the songs are killer. What I found interesting is that there were obviously lyrics that they couldn't bring themselves to sing. For example, the whole verse about "Nobodies gonna take my girl" is gone from "Highway Star"-- they do the verse about the car twice. But, he still sings "I've Got Speed Inside My Brain." In "Heaven and Hell," "You've got to bleed for the dancer" is replaced by "Look for the Answer" twice. I'm not sure if he didn't want to sing the one, or if he hoped to fill the other with hidden meaning. Yet, they sing "Breakin the law." I'm sure in interviews, they will explain how they caused these things to mean something spiritual to themselves. I hope they at least have the integrity to say "You knew these were covers, we did them because we like the music." But then, why change any words at all ?
Enough of that though, as I said, I am a Christian, and any reader of these pages knows I go to Zombie concerts and love all sorts of metal, so I think it's clear I am happy to enjoy music without thinking about the words too much. The songs on this CD are all really well done covers. Sometimes they stick to the originals, sometimes they change the arrangements, sometimes, as a guitarist, I can hear that Oz is playing a razzed up and embellished version of the original solo, but all of it equates to everything a covers album should be, versions of classic songs done by great musicians, and playing to 11. I don't think a covers album should be subtle, it should try to inject more energy to the original songs. There is one original on the CD, called "God," and I guess playing these covers had them in the right frame of mind, because it's the best Stryper song I've heard for a long time.
The tracklist shows one thing - Stryper have always been rooted in metal, and they know their stuff. I wish they could have done it a little different though as I'd have loved to hear them play "Miracle Man" or "Holy Smoke."
The packaging is cool, the front cover shows an angel who looks like he's been out drinking all night and lost a bar fight, only his black eye turned a goldy-green color. The inside looks like a comic book with some vague message about God. I know the Bible pretty well, and I read it five times and could not work out what they were trying to say. It looks like Stryper throw rocks at the angel and then God appears.
If you like the original songs covered here (and if you don't, I assume you were searching for the Justin Bieber homepage and somehow ended up here), you will love this CD. They cover some songs by pretty great singers: Ian Gillan, Dio, Bruce Dickenson, Robert Plant, but the covers always sound great, the playing is tight and respectful to the originals, and it's just a flat out enjoyable way to spend 53 minutes and 28 seconds of your day. For the record, the covers are:
Set Me Free (Sweet ) Blackout (Scorpions ) Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath ) Lights Out (UFO) Carry on Wayward Son (Kansas) Highway Star (Deep Purple) Shout It Out Loud (KISS) Over The Mountain (Ozzy) The Trooper (Iron Maiden) Breaking the Law (Judas Priest) On Fire (Van Halen) Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin) God (Stryper)
On March 4, 2011, the Soundwave festival came to Melbourne. For an Australian festival, the line up was stellar -- better than some festivals I've attended in the US. So, we flew in the night before to make sure we got there early. At the last minute, I realised there was a Rob Zombie show that night. With nothing else planned, we headed on down. We missed Monster Magnet I enjoyed them very much the next day though), and Dommin. The first band we saw was Murderdolls. They were good, I bought their CD the next day and they put on a high energy show. I was aware of them, and their lineage, but had not really heard them before. I played the CD once or twice and it went in the racks, a good band, but not a great one.
I've seen Rob Zombie once before, at Rock on the Range. We were in the stalls, freezing to death. From a distance, the songs all sounded very similar, it looked like there was lots of pyro, but we left early. This time I was in a hall that holds maybe 2000 people, and it's oddly shaped, the sides are further out than the back is. Of course, I went right down the middle and got as close as I could.
The first song of the night was "Jesus Frankenstein." It's a perfect opener, with it's slow build up. Zombie's stage setup is amazing. They didn't have a lot of their U.S. pyro, like the robot, but there were huge video screens everywhere, and Rob came on with his claw arm for the first song.
From there, he moved through "Superbeast," "Scum of the Earth," "Living Dead Girl," "Demon Speeding," "Pussy Liquor," "Sick Bubble Gum," "American Witch," "More Human Than Human," "Supercharger Heaven," "Never Gonna Stop (The Red Red Kroovy)," "Demonoid Phenomenon," Thunderkiss '65," "Werewolf Women of the SS" and "Dragula." This show really made me realize again that seeing a show from close and from the back, are two different things. The songs still sounded similar, but with everyone on stage dressed up and putting on a show, with the video screens bigger than the people on stage, it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. The crowd was very energetic as you'd expect and there was a lot of moshing near me. I was separate from my friend who got closer to the stage than me. I'd not put contacts in that day, and when I got too close, the moshing would hit me and I'd lose my glasses. I had no spares for the next day, so I stayed about eight rows back.
John 5 gets a lot of press in the guitar magazines nowadays, and has a line of solo albums. His guitar solo was outstanding, because he would alternate between standard sweep/tap/shred picking, and super fast country licks. I'm not a huge country fan, but after seeing him, I've been learning to play that way, because it just sounded so good, and so fresh. I am a guitar player and I rarely enjoy the free-form lead guitar solo in a concert, but John 5 made his very musical and a lot of fun. Of course, there was also a drum solo.
I often find that seeing a band live makes me appreciate their music more, but never before as much as Rob Zombie. I had some CDs I never listened to, and since the show, I've listened to Hellbilly Deluxe 2constantly. An off the cuff decision to fill an evening turned out to be, in some ways, better than the show itself the following day (for one, we got closer, and a show always has a better feel than a festival, for me). It was apparently 14 years since Rob had been to Australia, and I hope the reception he got made him realize he needs to come here more often.
Yes, you read that headline correctly: Tracii Guns, of our beloved L.A. Guns, will perform on The Price is Right. The game show airs Monday-Friday here in America.
"Just found out I get to shred on The Price is Right next Tuesday and it airs May 9. I will be playing the Dean guitar that the contestants will be bidding on...I only get 10-20 seconds so, I gotta just shreddddddd!"
Yep, Tracii will be demonstrating a prize guitar, which I think is pretty cool. Now be sure to set your DVR!
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Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 12:01AM 
