My CD Reviews!

[Deathstroke]

Just a quick note for the music board denizens. I've started my new gig with Rock Is Life.com.

If you keep an eye out on my signature from now on, you'll see updates on the latest CD reviews I write.

The first two have been added.

Hope you enjoy them.

So Buried Alien doesn't freak, this is a one time only post just to make people aware.

I'll add the previous reviews as they get replaced in the signature to this first post.

2005 Reviews

Robert Plant - Mighty Rearranger
Circle II Circle - The Middle Of Nowhere
Harem Scarem - Overload
Shadow Gallery - Room V
Royal Hunt - Paper Blood
Bruce Dickinson - Tyranny Of Souls
Dream Theater - Octavarium
Slik Helvetika - Slik Helvetika
Dog Faced Gods - Stoned Council
Evergrey- A Night To Remember (DVD)
Pain Of Salvation - BE (DVD)
Robin Beck - Do You Miss Me
Overkill - ReliXIV
Steve Walsh - Shadowman
Tremolo - Love Is the Greatest Revenge
Sarah Blasko - The Overture and the Underscore
Al Kooper - Black Coffee
The Michael Schenker Group - Live in Tokyo 1997 DVD
Antigone Rising - From The Ground Up
David Pack - The Secret Of Movin' On
Eliza Gilkyson - Paradise Hotel
Beautiful Creatures - Deuce
Beth Hart - Live at Paradiso DVD
Azrael's Bane - Wings of Innocence
Smile Empty Soul - Anxiety
Life of Agony - Broken Valley
Terra Nova - Escape
Les Paul & Friends - American Made World Played
Mojo Gurus - Shakin' In The Barn
King's X - Ogre Tones
Jaded Heart - Helluva Time
Five.Bolt.Main - Venting
Steve Howe - Spectrum
Alien - Dark Eyes
Stream Of Passion - Embrace The Storm
The Ike Reilly Assassination - Junkie Faithful
Eugene Edwards - My Favorite Revolution
Orange Sky - Upstairs
Index Case - Index Case
Shenoah - Bleeding In The Red
The Mob - The Mob
Trigger Point - A Silent Protest
Jaugernaut (a. d.) - Contra-Mantra
Neil Diamond - 12 Songs
Jack Foster III with Trent Gardner and Robert Berry - Raptorgnosis
Felony - First Works
Shane Hines and The Trance - Zoe
Warren Zevon - Mutineer (FLASHBACK REVIEW)
Liz Phair - Somebody's Miracle
Bad Habit - [hear-say]
Iommi w/Glenn Hughes - Fused
Soul Doctor - For A Fistful of Dollars
Carrie Underwood - Some Hearts
Steve Lukather & Friends - SantaMental
Mick Harvey - One Man's Treasure

2006 Reviews

Iron Maiden - Death On The Road
Journey - Live in Houston 1981: Escape Tour (DVD/CD)
Fates Warning - Live In Athens DVD
Deep Purple - Rapture of the Deep
Bob Catley - Spirit Of Man
Ambition - Ambition
Ten - The Essential Collection 1995 - 2005
Judas Priest - Rising In The East (DVD)
Tuff Jeff Salen - The Endless Road
Slave To The System - Slave To The System
Kabang - Degeneration
The Exit - Home For An Island
Cavalier King - The Sun Revolutions
Phil Vincent - Unknown Origin
Whitesnake - The Definitive Collection
Jim Peterik - Above The Storm
ISM - Monkey Underneath
Warren Zevon - Reconsider Me: The Love Songs
Architects - Revenge
Dark Illusion - Beyond The Shadows
Glenn Tipton - Baptizm Of Fire (Remastered)
Melissa Etheridge - Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled
Oval Opus - Oval Opus
Queensryche - Operation:mindcrime II
Survivor - Reach
Tipton, Entwistle & Powell - Edge Of The World
Movies With Heroes - Nothing Here Is Perfect
Violent Divine - Violent Divine
The Telegenic - AsphaltGasolineChromeFleshBloodnBone
Europe - Live From The Dark (DVD)
Disturbed - Ten Thousand Fists
House Of Lords - World Upside Down
American Heartbreak - American Heartbreak
Blackmore's Night - The Village Lanterne
The New Cars - It's Alive!
Michael Kiske - Instant Clarity (Reissue)
Gillan - Live Edinburgh 1980 (DVD)Benedictum - Uncreation
Dixie Chicks - Taking The Long Way

Continued In Post #3

[Will]

And if this isnt hijacking the thread, (apologies if it is), you can check out reviews I have written at www.metalmonk.co.uk :)

[Deathstroke]

2006 REVIEWS CONTINUED

Doro - Warrior Soul
Exodus - Shovel Headed Kill Machine
Cheap Trick - Rockford
Susan Cagle - The Subway Recordings
Some Girls - Crushing Love
Eidolon - The Parallel Otherworld
Desperado - Ace
George Thorogood & The Destroyers - The Hard Stuff
Various Artists - Forever Neil Diamond
John Gorka - Writing In The Margins
Carmine Appice Project - Ultimate Guitar Zeus
Ian Gillan - Gillan's Inn
Red Lotus - De Pinche Nada
Pride Of Lions - Live In Belgium CD/DVD
Rainbow Live In Munich 1977 (DVD)
Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death
The Summer Obsession - This Is Where You Belong
Billy Talent - II
GMT - Bitter and Twisted
Johnny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways
Blackmore's Night - Winter Carols
Jon Oliva's Pain - Maniacal Renderings
Circle II Circle - Burden Of Truth
Rory Gallagher - Live At Montreux

[Will]

Why of course I did! :)

[Hiromi]

Can I wear a T-Shirt saying "I read Deathstroke's CD reviews before he sold out and started playing stadiums" now?

:>

[Deathstroke]

Can I wear a T-Shirt saying "I read Deathstroke's CD reviews before he sold out and started playing stadiums" now?

:>

That'll be $19.99 for typing my copyrighted phrase.

[Deathstroke]

Coming up later tonight will be two brand new reviews!

[Deathstroke]

New Reviews are now active in my signature.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Deathstroke doin Reviews! Hype It man. Plug em because thats all we have. Pluggin stuff. If there was a law against that I'd be gone from CBR most likely:


You can read my complete Legends of Green Lantern arc at The Never Ending Forum right now as we speak. Plus Countdown to Infinate Crisis: Pariah ! Yep.....gotta plug somethin. ;)

[Deathstroke]

Well, I'm hoping to draw people to my reviews and the site. I don't want to hear from the Mods so I'm not being obnoxious about it.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Well, I'm hoping to draw people to my reviews and the site. I don't want to hear from the Mods so I'm not being obnoxious about it.

Ahhh I'm sure Buried would have said something If ya were. Most do give warnings and all. But It has to do with music and I'm sure he'll be cool with It. Good luck with the reviews.

[Deathstroke]

A new Review for Royal Hunt's "Paper Blood" is now active in my signature!

[Deathstroke]

Two new reviews in my signature as of 6/5/06!

[Deathstroke]

Iron Maiden
En Vivo! - Live at Estadio Nacional, Santiago
Universal Music Enterprises - 2012
http://www.ironmaiden.com

The latest Iron Maiden live album release comes from the band's supporting tour for their album The Final Frontier. The show was recorded in Santiago, Chile and features a set list of 17 songs that comprises some of their biggest songs as well as a more than a generous helping of their newest material.

The release is a two disc set. There is a 2 DVD set (which I purchased and will review later) as well. The CD booklet features the lyrics to each song, a bunch of live photos and the obligatory thank yous.

The show opens with "Satellite 15" and "The Final Frontier". As with my review of The Final Frontier album, I was very cold towards the opening. "Satellite 15" is just such a flat opener. The first line of the lyrics got swallowed up by the crowd noise. "The Final Frontier" was a bit more lively to me than the studio version so I liked it more but it was still not great.

The oddest thing about the opening two tracks was for a Maiden concert recording their was very little in the way of easing into the concert. When the disc starts playing, there is a bit of crowd noise and then BOOM!, the music starts. While it is not really a bad thing, it was just unexpected from what one might be expected from a Maiden live recording.

After that, the next 15 songs across the two discs are just outstanding. Simply stated, this was an awesome live show. "El Dorado" came off well. Classics like "The Trooper" and "2 Minutes To Midnight" sound just as good as they always have.

On Disc One, the new song "Coming Home" and the slightly older number "Dance of Death" were particularly noteworthy.

Also of note was the stage banter being kept to a minimum. The only extended chatter was at the end of the show when singer Bruce Dickinson introduced the band and thanked the crowd for coming out, promising to "see them soon".

On Disc Two, you got 8 tracks that all were great to hear. Four of the band's classic tracks ("Iron Maiden", "The Number of the Beast", "Hallowed Be Thy Name" and "Running Free") were all fantastic. However, the best song on this was the new song "When the Wild Wind Blows".

When I reviewed The Final Frontier album, I made mention that this song should definitely be included in the band's set list. It was one of the best songs on an album I thought was good but disappointing. I was very happy to see the song included in the set and then even more happy when it came out so well in performance.

All in all, En Vivo! is an outstanding live recording and a worthy addition to Maiden's catalog of live albums. Up The Irons, indeed!

GRADE: A MINUS

[Deathstroke]

Adrenaline Mob
Omerta
Elm City Music / EMI - 2012
http://www.adrenalinemob.com

Take two titans of metal and mix in some heavy rock rhythms and smoking hot guitar licks and you've got the start of a pretty good album.

Yes, ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy and Symphony X singer Russell Allen (who produced the album with Mike Orlando) have a bit of work to do on selecting a few more quality songs or lyrics, but overall this was a pretty sweet heavy rock album.

Things start off with the first single from the album, the anthemic "Undaunted". The song fires you up right away and I like the way Allen uses his more gruff sounding vocal style here. It dares you to step up, so you can be knocked right on your butt.

Allen's vocals didn't stay with the gruff style throughout the whole album, there were songs like "Indifferent", "All On The Line" and "Believe In Me" that found him singing much clearer.

I really liked the album closer "Freight Train". The chorus to the song comes off a bit choppy, but listening to the song in its entirety, that is by design.

"Down To The Floor" was a very aggressive track. And the lyrics made the song sound like something NASCAR might consider for a highlight package.

The closest thing to a ballad type song is "Angel Sky". It is mainly in a midtempo groove but for an album that is all guns blazing, this is the respite song.

I had problems with two songs on the disc. The song "Psychosane" had a great rhythmic vibe but the song came off as trying to hard in the performance to live up to the song title. I liked the music to "Feelin' Me", but while I'm am not opposed to swearing in song lyrics, the inclusion of them in this song didn't work for me. It came off as posing instead of being "real". The feeling of being challenged worked in "Undaunted" but here it sounded amateurish.

Singer Lizzy Hale made a guest appearance on the song "Come Undone". Her vocals and the overall construction of the track elevated the song immensely. Very heavy with a slightly operatic feel to it.

Oh, and Mike Orlando played all the guitar and bass tracks for the disc and did a fantastic job.

It's not a grand slam home run type of debut album, but I think this ends up being a pretty solid release and for me at least, it whets the appetite for more. I only hope that this project turns out to be more than a one off release.

The band certainly provides the adrenaline. It's a heavy rock cornucopia that gets your blood pressure up.

GRADE: A MINUS