Breezy's Top 15 of 2012! Pt. 2

There was alot of great music released this year, so it wasn't a problem gathering a list of 15.  Here's the next batch of my picks of the year.

#12. Unisonic - S/T

If you were ever a fan of Helloween (which you must be), you will remember the original classic lineup had a brilliant vocalist in Michael Kiske and a uber guitarist in Kai Hansen.  There was a falling out many years ago, and fans were waiting for some form of a reunion.  Well, here it is.  This full length is the follow up to their Ep, which was also released this year. Is this Keeper Of The Seven Keys?  No.  But it does have some of the elements of the early Helloween classics, with a more modern hard rock approach,and occasionally pop rock elements. There is not a bad track on the album.  Lots of chugging guitars, great solos and choruses, and Kiske proves he still has the pipes.  Kai Hansen, along with guitar partner Mandy Meyer (Krokus),play to their strengths on tracks Never Too Late, Star Rider and the title track.
I like this album, mainly because I wasn't expecting them to take the more AOR/Hard Rock approach they did.  Lots of great stuff...buy it.

#11. Hardline - Danger Zone

In 1992, Hardline released what is one of my all time fave Hard Rock albums in Double Eclipse. The album, which featured Journey's Neal Schon, was a perfect slab of American hard Rock with an AOR vibe.  At the time grunge was ruling the airwaves, and kept bands like Hardline from reaching the top.
The band carried on the past 20 years (in one form or another, without Schon), and have arrived with another great album in Danger Zone. Like the debut, it's all melodies and great vocals.  The songs are all well written, and Johnny Gioeli's vocals are still leading the way.  Classic tracks like Stay, Fever Dreams, and What I'd Like carry the melodic torch high, and are a reminder that if you are a fan of melodic hard rock, that there are still lots of bands producing great music if you look for them. Already looking forward to the next release from Hardline.
Highly Recommended.

11. Testament - Dark Roots Of The Earth

If you're a fan of Metal, you are probably a fan of Testament.  One of the more underrated American thrash bands who would fit along nicely with The Big 4, if they ever made it The Big 5.  The past two releases are some of Testaments best work, and this one keeps up with it's predecesors.  Dark Roots Of The Earth is heavy, fast, and catchy.  Testament plays to their strengths, the guitars of Peterson and Skolnick, along with the bellow of vocalist Chuck Billy.  The headbanging starts right off the top with the opener Rise Up, and first single, Native Blood.  Skolnick and Peterson have never sounded better, as the album is filled with blistering, yet melodic guitar work.  The bonus edition contains covers of Scorpions, Maiden and Queen, so you can see where some of their influences lie.  Another great album from Testament.

Breezy's Top 15 Albums of 2012! Pt. 1

I might be the worst blogger ever.  I listen to music everyday, mostly the classic stuff, but I don't seem to find the time to put in a new post for you all.  I promise I'll be better in the new year ;).  There was a ton of great new music as well this year, and I've put together a little list of albums and bands that I played a ton over the past 12 months.  Some bands you may recognize, and there are some cool new bands that hopefully I'll turn you on to.  I'm going to do them in groups of three or four this year, so I can finish the list by New Years.  I hope you enjoy this years list!

#15. Propagandhi - Failed States

I've always been a fan of punk, mostly the classic UK and US stuff.  Here is a band who's back catalog I need to check out.  Propagandi are a four piece from Portage la Prarie, Manitoba, and this is their 6th(!!) album...I have to pay more attention, because these guys are brilliant.  Manic, yet somehow controlled, Failed States owes more to Canadian legends Rush and Voivod than it does to The Clash or Sex Pistols.Lets call it metallic punk, firmly rooted in the left.  Great musicianship (killer guitar work) and vocals, with progressive tendencies.  Opening track, Note To Self, is six minutes long (which is about 4 minutes longer than your average punk track).  The title track is a stormer, along with Cognitive Suicide and Duplicate Keys Icaro (An Interm Report).  My surprise of the year.  An excellent record.

#14. Huntress - Spell Eater

Huntress are a band from Oregon/California, who look like a bunch of hippy bikers fronted by a platinum blond model, and they sound like 1982 was last year.  This is a good thing.  Classic sounding metal, with hints of classic Priest and Maiden, along with the Thrash giants of the 80's. This album is thrashy and modern, and will appeal to fans of older metal. Songs like Eight Of Swords, Snow Witch and The Dark show where the bands roots lie, but it is done in a refreshing manner with lead vocalist Jill Janus powerful style. It seems the metalheads are split on this release; some love it, some not so much.  Any band that embraces what metal was about back in it's heyday is ok with me, and I'm pretty sure Huntress with continue to do so. Here's the vid for Eight Of Swords. Check it out!

#13. Steelwing - Zone Of Alienation

The past few years have seen a resurgence of retro-styled bands. Like Huntress, Steelwing are flying the classic metal banner high.  From Sweden (who have always produced some great hard rock and metal), this is Steelwing's followup to their fantastic debut, Lord Of The Wasteland. Tons of guitars, great melodies, catchy choruses and soaring vocals are all here.  Along with influences like Maiden and Manowar, I hear some Dokken and Crue in Zone Of Alienation. Flat out rockers like Full Speed Ahead and Solar Wind Riders sit nicely along more lengthy epics like Lunacy Rising.  I've said it before, I'm happy there are bands that still put out music like this.  If you liked metal in the 80's, you need to give Steelwing a spin.  Check out the vid below!

I'll be back soon with my next batch of albums that made up my soundtrack for 2012!

My All Time Fave Albums Pt. 23

Back again after the summer!  I didn't plan on taking so long, but I'm back.  I have been listening to lots of new stuff this year, and will have a nice list of my faves for you to check out in December when I do my Top 15 of 2012.  For todays post I'm going with a classic band that really doesn't have any bad records.  There are people who like the classic stuff, with the original lineup, and there are fans who prefer their later albums.  The band is Motorhead, and I'm going to pick an album from each part of their career that I feel is their best.

From the "classic era", my fave album is 1979's Overkill. This was only Motorhead's 2nd album, and the band was already setting the stage for their true sound, and influencing thousands along the way.  This album, along with Bomber (from the same year!), and Ace Of Spades (1980), were to forever etch Motorhead into the history of music, and bring a new heavier, faster style that had not been seen or heard. I know the first time I heard Motorhead, they were far and away the loudest, dirtiest and fastest band I had ever heard.  Lemmy's buzzsaw bass and vocals, and Phithy Animal's double bass drumming was pretty radical to a kid who was into KISS, Cheap Trick, UFO and Alice Cooper.  I didn't like them that first time, but after getting into metal in the early 80's, Motorhead was always a fave.

Overkill kicks off with some of the best double bass ever, with the classic title track.  From there the album is full of clever lyrics, blistering guitar work, and Lemmy's legendary growl.  To me, Motorhead was always a heavier, sped up version of the classic bands from the 50's and 60's.  Fave tunes like No Class and Damage Case are great examples of Lemmy's penchant for writing classic rock tunes in the vein of The Beatles and Buddy Holly.  Throw in some punk attitude, a little AC/DC, and you'll hear where they are coming from. A brilliant record.

Motorhead has carried on over the years, with a few lineup changes here and there, and a list of stellar albums. In the past 17 years, Lemmy, along with guitarist Phil Campbell and drummer Mikkey Dee, have released a string of albums that not only retain the classic Motorhead sound and vibe, they surpass it.  Of all these records it's hard to pick one, but today I will say 2004's Inferno.  One of Motorhead's heaviest releases, it contains not only flat out metal in tunes like Terminal Show (featuring Steve Vai) and In The Name Of Tragedy (my fave), it also has rockers like Down On Me and Lifes A Bitch.  The record closes with the country/blues style of Whorehouse Blues, a track that shows that Motorhead can and have played a myriad of styles.

I like to keep my posts short, and my love for this band cannot be written in a few paragraphs.  They are underrated.  They are completely unique, and have spawned many imitators.  Lemmy is 67 years old, and is playing music with a quality and integrity that is lost amongst so many of the newer bands. Long live Motorhead.  

As Always...Remember To Support The Bands You Love And Buy Their Albums!

Playlists!

Being that I'm not the most computer literate guy around, I still figured out how to post a playlist on my Blog.  I'll keep them short, usually 5 to 10 songs, but it will give you a good idea of some of the stuff I'm listening to that week.  You'll see the player at the bottom of the screen, scroll through (check the button on the far right), or just hit play! So while you're surfin', keep my blog open and Rock! BTW, this is all just fun for me, so be sure to support the bands you like, and buy their albums!

My All Time Fave Albums Pt. 22

Here I am, back with another slab of my all time faves!  Todays pick is something a little different, from a band that has a great catalog of music, and who wasn't afraid to push the boundaries of Hard Rock.  From 1989, Faith No More's The Real Thing.

In the late 80's, alot of the music that I really love started to become a little to streamlined, a little too formulaic, and a little to contolled by record companies looking for the next Motley or Gn'R.  I started to discover new bands that were more creative (Faith No More), sometimes heavier and faster (Sepultura), and some bonecrushing (Helmet).  This album was a masterstroke to me then, and still is a great listen 23 years later.  I remember the videos for Epic and From Out Of Nowhere, and FNM was becoming the new buzz band.  I vividly remember sitting in my buddy's and mine apartment, in sweltering summer heat, blasting this one.  It was the perfect combination of heavy, with elements of old Metallica, along with Queen, Rap, Funk and Jazz..

 Oh yeah, and they had a pretty cool image.   Musically, these guys were totally on, in particular the brilliant guitars of Jim Martin, and the fantastic keyboards of Billy Gould.  My fave part of the album is not the overplayed singles (which are all awesome), but the killer trilogy of Surprise! You're Dead!, Zombie Eaters and the title track.  All three are heavy, a little proggy, and catchy.  As with all my fave albums, there are no bad tracks, with Edge Of The World and Underwater Love being both creatively a little different, but nonetheless so worthy of being on an incredible album.

I've recently been spinning this, and was reminded of good FNM were (are).  The Real Thing is a great record, that was followed up by three more that are all worthy of your attention.  Since then, times have changed, the band split, and has recently reformed saying that 2012 will be the end of Faith No More.  It's always sad to hear when one of the bands you love and grew up with is calling it quits, but we will always have the tunes to take us away, and remind us that music is forever.  To show you the wonder that is FNM, they close out The Real Thing with a cover of Black Sabbath's War Pigs.  Not only do they do it justice, they kick it's ass.  Here it is live.

My All Time Fave Albums Pt. 21

I'm back for another go 'round with a fave record of mine, and if you're reading this, probably a fave of yours too.  The year was 1991, hard rock was just starting to slip in the mainstream, and grunge was about to take over (but not for very long).  This record went straight to number 1 on Billboard, and sold a couple of million copies.  The band was fronted by a fellow Canadian, and one of the greatest vocalists of our time.  The band is Skid Row, and the album is Slave To The Grind.

Now, the S/T record from a few years prior to this, is a solid album.  STTG blows it out of the water in terms of performance, songwriting, and flat out balls to the wall heaviness. This record was played to death back in the day, and as most albums in my blog, served as the soundtrack to a certain point in my life. I have been spinning it again alot lately, and it has not lost any of it's luster.  It actually may be better now than it was then...a perfect blend of chops, metal sensibilities, and great lyrics. Add in to this the fact that Skid Row were one of the most energetic live bands on the scene (I saw them on this tour, and they slayed) and you have an album that deserves to be in every rockers collection.  People were paying attention, and the album went to #1.

The biggest change from the debut, is STTG is more Metal than Hard Rock.  I know us guys all loved that, but some of the girls were not so much on board this time around...LOL. Opening track, Monkey Business, could be possibly their best tune, and a perfect opener for the album. Drummer Rob Affuso really shines on it.  Some fave tracks would be the groovy The Threat, the punky Psycho Love, and heavy-as-hell Mudkicker. The copy I always had contained the sensitive ballad(not!) Get The F@#k Out, but my recent replacement on CD contains Beggars Day. So 20 years later, I'm discovering a new tune Ha!  As I mentioned above, Sebastian Bach is one of my fave vocalists, and he is the highlight on this album. I would recommend this record to any rock fan.

Every tune on the album is brilliant.  The three ballads are all worth checking out as well.  An example of a rock record that is incredible from beginning to end.  I honestly believe that if the band and Bach had not separated, they would to this day, be one of the biggest bands on the planet...like Maiden or Metallica.  They had the songs, the look, and the attitude to stand along side the giants of Metal.  Check out the follow up, Subhuman Race for another example of great this band was. Check out the live vid for a taste of Skid Row '92.  If you don't like it, you don't like yourself.  Crank it up ,and I'll see ya soon.

Support The Bands You Like And Buy Their Albums!

My All Time Fave Albums Pt. 20

With all the graduations taking place at this time of year, I realized that this weekend marks 25 years since my own High School grad, and have been feeling a bit nostalgic and a touch sentimental.  I remember the friends I had, the sports we played, and the girls we liked.  I remember late night drives with the music way too loud, the cramming for tests (yeah right), and just the overall vibe that you were on top of the world (but didn't know it yet).  So this post is for all my fellow grads of 1987.  Some of you I still see, and some I haven't since the last day we left school.  I hope you are all well!  So for fun, this post will be my top 10 albums of 1987.  There are some from that year that I discovered later, so I'm only including the albums that touched me at the time, and were listened to ALOT in my final year of HS and 1st year of college.

10. Frehley's Comet - S/T

I remember my fellow KISS fans and I were waiting for this one to come out, and we weren't disappointed when it did.  The Space Ace was back with his first solo album after leaving KISS.  Ace has always been know for his guitar pyrotechnics, but this record (along with his 78 KISS solo album) shows he can write a catchy tune as well.  The record opens with the brilliant autobiographical Rock Soldiers, Breakout, and first single Into The Night.  The album is pretty much staight ahead hard rock, but contains some really cool moments like the poppy Dolls.

A record I haven't listened to in awhile, but have always dug it, and always takes me back to the summer of 1987.

9. Faster Pussycat - S/T

I'm pretty sure I picked this one up thinking the band looked cool (LOL).  Anyway, what you have hear is everything that was right with the whole Sunset Strip sound of the mid 80's.  A touch of Stones, a bit of Aerosmith, and a pinch of New York Dolls ,and you have Faster Pussycats debut.  Still gets regular spins from me today.  Stripped down production, and dirty attitude, this record is full of great songs like Babylon, Don't Change That Song, and semi hit Bathroom Wall.  Never did get to see them live, but they still tour although it's a completely different animal now.  In 1987, this kicked ass...and still does.

8. Dokken - Back For The Attack

Oh how I love this record.  The last great album from the original lineup.  This was Dokken at their peak.  Brilliant songs, catchy choruses, killer lead work...

Not a dud on the record, and contains some of Dokken's heaviest tracks like Kiss Of Death and Lost Behind The Wall.  Tunes like Prisioner and Burning Like A Flame show why Dokken were one of the better bands of the day, and why this baby sold 1,000,000+ copies (lets see some Amercian Idol crap do that now).  This album also contained the track Dream Warriors, which was the theme of the Nightmare On Elm Street movie from '87.  A fantastic record, without a bad track.  I would recommend this to anyone who likes their rock hard and melodic.

7. Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys, Pt.1

I discovered Helloween on Much Music, when music stations used to play videos (remember?). Halloween and Future World were in regular rotation on their Metal shows, and I was all over it.  Along the lines of classic Maiden and Scorpions, with elements of the then bubbling Thrash scene, Keeper Pt.1 is one of the unsung records of the day.  Helloween along with the aformentioned bands pretty much influenced a generation of European power metal that was to come in the following decade.  In the past couple of years, I purchased the special remaster of this record, and it still sounds great.  Michael Kiske is one of the better vocalists out there, and their blend of melody and speed was (is) right up my alley.

6. Great White - Once Bitten

This one has alot of great memories attached to it, and I still love listening to it today.  Great White was a band that probably were never given as much credit as they deserved.  Their roots were in 70's rock, Zeppelin, Free and Humble Pie, all bands that I love.  They mixed that up with a moden attitude, and came up with what I feel was their best record.  Originally the singles Rock Me and Lady Red Light, with their accompanying videos, turned me into a fan, but this record is full of solid tracks.  All Over Now, Mistreater, and one of the classiest ballads ever in Save Your Love.  Another platinium album from the day when bands wrote and performed their own music, and still continue to this day.  

5. Def Leppard - Hysteria

Remember the days when Def Lep ruled the world?  This is not my fave album from them, but it was the first album I bought when I moved away from home, and has alot of cool memories attached to it.  The first few spins of this album didn't grab me, but once I got into it, I loved it.  Alot of the tunes have been overplayed to death over the years (Pour Some Sugar On Me, Animal and Love Bites) ,but the beauty is in the deeper tracks like Gods Of War, Run Riot, and the excellent title track.  Went with my buddy Cliff (Hi!) to this show in the round and rocked out in the front row.  A great record from a great band that was one of my faves at the time.  In terms of production, songs and sales, Def Lep never even came close after this.  

4. The Cult - Electric

Outside of this album, and maybe the previous album, Love, I'm not a huge fan of The Cult.  However, this record might be in my Top 20 all time.  When I heard the Rick Rubin was producing it, I knew it would be good.  This album reminds me of summertime.  We listened to this on many road trips.  I went to see them live at the Max Bell Arena (with a then unknow band, Guns n' Roses opening!).  The band I played in at the time jammed out (Hi Greg!) to tunes like Wild Flower, Lil' Devil, and the albums best track, King Contrary Man.  A great hard rock album, brilliantly produced with its mind firmly in the 1970's...a cover of Born To Be Wild proves that.  Still gets regular spins!  I was disappointed with the followup, and watched them get booed off stage opening for Metallica...oh well.

3. White Lion - Pride

2,000,000 people bought this record, so I know I'm not alone.  I'm ranking this one high because I still listen to it often, and again, it has lots of great memories attached to it.  Featuring the one two punch of vocalist Mike Tramp and guitar wizard Vitto Bratta, Pride ia a record that just about anyone can listen to.  There are hard rockers like Hungry and Lonely Nights, there is a great ballad in When the Children Cry, and a tour de force in the classic Lady Of The Valley.  This is one of those albums that could sing every word of.  Listened to it alot then, and listen to it now.  Never did get to see them live, but had the opportunity when they opened for AC/DC and Aerosmith (didn't go though).  I like all of their stuff, but Pride is their best record IMO.  Rock n' Roar!

2. Anthrax - Among The Living

Wow...did we listen to this one ALOT.  Their breakthough album, and with good reason.  A perfect thrash album.  Speed, melody, and more than one reference to the brilliant mind of Stephen King.  The boys and I rocked out with this one on many occasions, and it usually involved beer.  Still one of my fave albums, and was lucky enough to see them open for KISS on this tour.  Fave tunes include Caught In A Mosh, A Skeleton In The Closet, and speed fest, Imitation Of Life (I still hear you singing Pat!) . A great record from a great band I follow to this day.  With this record, and it's predecessor,  Spreading The Disease, Anthrax stood aside Metallica, Megadeth ,and Slayer as the Gods Of Thrash.  I might listen to this on my next run!

1 .Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction

Really?  Is there any other choice for my fave album of 1987?  Has their been a better hard rock album since? NO.  As mentioned earlier, I was lucky enough to catch G n'R opening for The Cult on their first tour.  We had no idea about the band, but I can tell you, I bought the cassette the next day.  Again, this record was listened to probably far too much, and the singles have been overplayed.  This is a record that defined a generation, and is one of the top 10 most important records in the history of rock.  Not a dud on the album, you all know the songs, an album that captures the essence of rock.  I'm not a fan of the band now, but this record can come with me to my grave as a document of my 1987, and of an example of what rock and roll should be. 

So to all my fellow classmates of 1987, I wish you all well, and hope you are all happy.  High School was a long time ago, but feels like yesterday...maybe 'cause I'm never growing up. Enjoy!!