I will admit: I came into the first Van Halen album in 14 years with a ton of reservations. In fact, saying a ton would likely be an understatement. No one is going [...]]]>

After 14 years away, this album should have sucked a lot worse than it does. Good job Van Halen!

I will admit: I came into the first Van Halen album in 14 years with a ton of reservations. In fact, saying a ton would likely be an understatement. No one is going to sit here and dispute Van Halen’s place and contribution in hard rock history, but there were a lot of issues I had going in. First off, replacing Michael Anthony with Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang was and is appalling to this very day. I can just imagine Eddie telling his son what to play and how to play ever single note and it sends shivers down my spine. David Lee Roth does have some dumb charm to him, but it tends to grow old real quick these days. And when word got out that the new album is a collection of old demos the band had been sitting on since the late 70’s, you tend to think that all creativity has been thrown out the window and the band is truly living on past glory.

On VH’s 12^th album, originality may not be there because nearly every song sounds like a rehash of the old days, but there are some moments of entertaining glory that will appeal to fans. To hear Eddie’s shredding at the beginning of “China Town” will get fans excited and sounds like material from “Diver Down” and other old school VH albums. A song like “She’s the Woman” gives the album some swagger and comes off as one of the better cuts off “Truth”. Every song attempts to showcase the dynamic between Eddie and Roth, and when the band moves into the up-tempo stuff, like “Bullethead”, it seems like the VH pistons are firing once again and often.

But even with the band digging deep into the archives, some of the songs should have been scrapped in favor of starting fresh. If I were the band, picking the dull “Tattoo” as the first single was a mistake, which left fans with a ho-hum feeling. “Blood and Fire” almost rips off the classic track “Little Guitars” a little too much for my liking. And the acoustic beginning and Roth’s off kilter vocals on “Stay Frosty” seems a bit forced and goes into nothing real quick.

I will admit: I don’t hate this album at all. I think unearthing a lot of the old riffs turned out a lot better than initially thought. Personal feelings for Eddie Van Halen aside, I think he is the MVP of the album and does a great job with a sizable portion of the riffs. Roth is goofy as usual, but even as he pushes 60- there is still a vigor to his voice that is very noticeable.

But even as I write this, there is even still an uneasiness I have towards liking this album. Whether you call it tainted or put an asterisk by it, I just feel that I didn’t need to know that the riffs are all old demos from the 70’s and makes me feel like much in the way of original effort was put forth on the album.

But if you don’t give a crap about that and are a huge Van Halen fan, this is gonna sound like the second coming of the band and relive the glory days. If you can get that tainted feeling out of your head, this will be heaven. But for this reviewer, it’s a flawed success.

Pretty much since 2006’s “Sacrament”, the Virginia based metal juggernauts Lamb of God have the most anticipated metal album of the year. For most of their career, the band has delivered punishing albums with stunning precision and [...]]]>

Yeah, if you are into Lamb of God, there's no reason you shouldn't dig "Resolution".

Pretty much since 2006’s “Sacrament”, the Virginia based metal juggernauts Lamb of God have the most anticipated metal album of the year. For most of their career, the band has delivered punishing albums with stunning precision and one would have to think that is this were the old days of the music industry, this would be the metal band playing arenas, ala Pantera in the mid-90’s.

With their seventh album, “Resolution”, Lamb of God doesn’t quite reinvent the wheel here, but delivers another headbeating 14 songs. Starting with the blood curdling screams of the opener “Straight for the Sun” to the usual groove metal of the first single “Ghost Walking”, Randy Blythe start in a familiar comfort zone to lure fans in. But where the album gets interesting is after the first single, where cuts like “The Undertow”, “Barbarosa” and “The Number Six” doesn’t really show us anything new, but brings intensity and the fiercest vocals from Blythe in several albums.

After going for some shine on “Sacrament” and on certain parts of their 2009 album “Wrath”, LOG muddy up the guitar work in a good way, giving the overall sound a bit more edge than the past few efforts. Of course there are a few tracks that seem subpar, such as the been there, done that already “Cheated” (but you gotta give them props for using the Sex Pistols’ infamous last line in concert “don’t you get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”) and the cleaning singing in parts of “Insurrection” sound more Phil Anselmo-ish than Blythe’s.

I think that the material on “Resolution” doesn’t show any new tricks in the playbook, but with a band like Lamb of God, I can let that slide. The album shows a brut force that was missing on “Wrath” and is more in the vein of their classic 2004 album “Ashes of the Wake”. And to be honest, an above average Lamb of God record will contend for Album of the Year and is still better than 99 percent of metal bands out there.

10. Animals as Leaders- Weightless- If Dave Davidson is the up and coming thrash metal god, Tosin Abasi is the virtuoso of the new school. On the group’s sophomore album, the intricate guitar work on “Odessa” and “Earth Departure” [...]]]>

Machine Head is #1. See Revolver, we got it right- unlike you guys.

10. Animals as Leaders- Weightless- If Dave Davidson is the up and coming thrash metal god, Tosin Abasi is the virtuoso of the new school. On the group’s sophomore album, the intricate guitar work on “Odessa” and “Earth Departure” don’t bash you over the head, but comes off more like a metal jam band and shows that technical metal doesn’t need to be pretentious to amaze fans.

9. Suicide Silence- The Black Crown- When I spoke with lead singer Mitch Lucker this summer, he said this was a “make or break” album for the band. They certainly didn’t break on their third album, as tracks like “Slaves to Substance” and “Smashed” beat your skull in and sent pits ablaze at the Mayhem Festival. We’ll see if the band rises to the top of the metal heap in the future, but “Crown” bodes well for the band.

8. Mastodon- The Hunter- There have been cries of “it’s a pop album” and other derogatory remarks made about this album. Even if it’s not as epic and memorable as their past album “Crack The Skye”, the collection of songs on their latest are songs that are a little more refined than past work. Listen, we all love “March of the Fire Ants” and “Blood and Thunder”, but a band has to evolve at some point and the grooves on “Curl of the Burl” and “All The Heavy Lifting” are undeniable. It’s good to see a metal band crack the Top 10 of the Billboard Album charts as well, it’s something not seen much these days.

7. Devildriver- Beast- After the fury for “Pray for Villains” pummeled fans’ eardrums back in the summer of 2009, you think Devildriver would rest on their laurels and take the foot of the gas a little. Bulls—t! The title of the band’s latest album sums up the push it to the floor mentality of the band over their five albums now. If you doubt me, check out “S—tlist” and “Bring the Fight” and I bet you change your tune real quick.

6. Revocation- Chaos of Forms- Revocation’s Dave Davidson is just a monster on this album. With the band’s third full length, his guitar work on tracks like “Cradle Robber” and “No Funeral” prove that the band is probably one of the more criminally underrated bands. Critics love them, now they just need to capture the metal masses.

5. Ghost- Opus Eponymous- Ok yes, the group’s look and pseudo-Satanic imagery is a gimmick, and they don’t do blast beats or guttural vocals and I can see why someone would roll their eyes at this choice. But if you listen to the songs, it’s a wild throwback to the early days of metal. Songs like the catchy as hell “Ritual” and “Elizabeth” prove that you don’t have to be technically proficient or scary musically to make tuneful music.

4. Asking Alexandria- Reckless & Relentless- Sure, it’s Hot Topic/something-core music that is sure to enrage the metal purists, but if you are looking for a happy medium between a nod to the old school and modern metalcore, these British guys got it right with their second album. “Dear Insanity” and “A Lesson Never Learned” are two of the songs on an album that just seems to get better the later the album goes on and may show some signs of hope for the metalcore scene.

3. Black Dahlia Murder- Ritual- Sure, the guys from Detroit have had some killer albums before- but there was something different about “Ritual”. The guys tried for more melody and diversified their guitar work into a full bodied experience. Even though titles like “Conspiring With the Damned” or “Carbonized in Cruiciform” might not be dinner table conversation, the riffs and frentic vocals give the album real punch and is easily the band’s best yet.

2. Anthrax- Worship Music- Maybe it was because I didn’t have faith in Joey Belladonna’s vocals or their problems, but the material on “Worship Music” made a believer out of me after I went into the album with a lot of apprehension. It’s a great blend of the Belladonna and Bush era material and if you didn’t get into tracks like “The Devil You Know” or “The Giant”, you are hopelessly stuck in your little niche scene and need to show some old school respect.

1. Machine Head- Unto the Locust- The band’s last album “The Blackening” could have been one of the top 3 albums of the past decade, and “Locust” turned out to be just as heavy as it’s predecessor. The songs continue at the same epic length and if you haven’t heard the title track or “I Am Hell”, you probably haven’t heard the best metal songs of the year. The last album help forgive the goggles and jumpsuits of their awkward late 90’s period; this album proved they are one of the titans of the modern era.

Back when I first saw the Black Keys in 2004, they came out of the garage rock era that housed 20,000 other bands trying to pull off a similar sound. But what stood out about the band was the fact that they [...]]]>

"El Camino" is another strong album in the Black Keys catalog.

Back when I first saw the Black Keys in 2004, they came out of the garage rock era that housed 20,000 other bands trying to pull off a similar sound. But what stood out about the band was the fact that they didn’t try and pull of that disinterested cool look like The Strokes did, or didn’t need five guys to pull off that sound. The duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney showed a lot of vigor and pulled off a big live sound with just themselves and proved to be a force to be reckoned with. But, I never, ever suspected the band would get as big as they have.

On their seventh album, “El Camino”, the band re-enlisted Danger Mouse (who produced the stellar 2008 album “Attack and Release”) for perhaps an even bigger sounding album than that one. Most of the bluesy material from their still pretty damn good 2010 album “Brothers” and brings back the heavier drum sound and quick strike method of songs that might have been missing on the previous album.

Yes, look no further than the first single “Lonely Boy” for the best indication of the band getting back into that groove again. But where the album really excels are on tracks like “Gold on the Ceiling” and “Money Maker”- which blends the bluesy and garage rock sounds together to it’s full effect.

When listening to “El Camino”, you get the feeling that the band’s move from Akron, Ohio to Nashville has influenced the band just a little bit. There is a lot more southern rock influence on this album, but obviously steers clear of the rebel flag and pickup truck mantra of some of that music. Auerbach and Carney seem to have more fun on this album than on “Brothers” and the loose nature of the album can be seen.

Back when I saw them in 2004 (and have seen them several times since), they seemed like the last band that would ever headline an arena tour. At the time, perhaps they could open for someone bigger, but I never thought they would be the huge stars they are becoming. But “El Camino” is another good indication that the band can be minimalist and large sounding at the same time and shows that they are the one band that can bring indie snobs, critics and casual listeners all together in the same place.

P.S.: Hey guys, the van on the cover isn’t an old El Camino, it’s a s—box 1990-something Chrysler Town & Country that looks like what I used to get driven to the movies to when I was a teenager. I just had to be a jerk and I’ll shut up now.

After Korn released the back to basics “III: Remember Who You Are” back in the summer of 2010, which sounded strong, but met with complete indifference from fans- the band decided to switch things up a little bit. Growing tired of [...]]]>

"Totality" is an bold move that works- some of the time.

After Korn released the back to basics “III: Remember Who You Are” back in the summer of 2010, which sounded strong, but met with complete indifference from fans- the band decided to switch things up a little bit. Growing tired of the cookie cutter rock the band had been hearing over the past several years, the band went in a new direction. Enlisting dubstep artists like Kill The Noise and Skrillex, Korn has changed up the template for “The Path Of Totality”, which features a slew of dubstep artists’ collaborations.

The result: the effort is there, but some of the music meshes well together, and others just fall severely flat. There’s been some hate from the internet hate police related to the first single, “Narcissist Cannibal”- but this is actually one of the better tracks on the album. Jonathan Davis’ lyrics and vocal structure fit better with that song than let’s say “Kill Mercy Within” and “Illuminati” which sometimes falls into Metallica/Lou Reed territory. Ok, maybe not THAT bad, but it is not their best work. The album seems to hit it’s stride in the middle after “Cannibal”, where heavier tracks like “Burn The Obedient” and “Let’s Go” show the fans the creative peak when you mix Korn’s music with the burgeoning musical movement known as dubstep.

If there are issues on this album, it’s not with the dubstep artists. They give life to the album with their beats and wild sounds throughout the album, but the album falls pretty flat at times due to Korn’s pacing of their material. The album seems like just when it’s about to turn it up a notch and turn into something remarkable, the next song just dies on you and loses momentum. Rock fans who aren’t sold on the whole dubstep thing might not appreciate the lack of riffs on the album and may wait for the next album.

“The Path Of Totality” is nowhere near a complete disaster, like the previously mentioned Metallica/Lou Reed or Queensryche albums released this year and it quite good at certain moments. But I feel like more guitars and a more evenly structured mix between those riffs and the electronica sounds would have provided a more happy medium on this salvageable but far from perfect album.

If you know and hang around me, most people could probably tell you what album I’ve listened to the most in the past 2 years. Yep, Steel Panther’s “Feel The Steel” would take the cake. Rude, raunchy, unapologetic and [...]]]>

"Balls Out" is more ballsy on the musical chops than the jokes.

If you know and hang around me, most people could probably tell you what album I’ve listened to the most in the past 2 years. Yep, Steel Panther’s “Feel The Steel” would take the cake. Rude, raunchy, unapologetic and musically stuck in a former era, the comedic hair metal band’s first offering was the most entertaining listen in years.

After really seeing the band come into their own while touring throughout 2010, the Panther has given fans something to cheer about: their sophomore album, “Balls Out”. If you loved “Feel The Steel”, “Balls Out” should have a familiar feel to it.

On the second album, Steel Panther may not hit the comedic heights of the first album, but the musicianship and chops far exceed the debut and actually make the band sound closer to the era they were honoring, or parodying- however you see it.

Plenty of the jokes are the same- drug jokes, sex jokes, but the band branches out into celebrity stories on the hilarious “Just Like Tiger Woods”, where the band gives tips to the golfer who destroyed his personal life with his escapades. The meat and potatoes of Steel Panther can be heard on cuts like the swinging “17 Girls in a Row” and “Tomorrow Night” (after listening to this one- good luck trying to get this one out of your head). Even Chad Kroeger of Nickleback can’t screw up a song like “It Won’t Suck Itself” and one tends to get the feeling the Nickelback singer would rather be in Steel Panther than kick out wussy ballads all day.

If the album does have a downside, the comedic bits just don’t hit as hard as on the debut. I think the jokes and punchlines on the debut were better, and songs like “Supersonic Sex Machine” and “I Like Drugs” seem a little tired. But what saves the album is the musicianship of all the band members. Listening to the music on the album makes you think the guys spent more time become a real tight hair metal tribute band than on the jokes- which might make some happy, some sad.

“Balls Out” may not be as gut busting funny as “Feel The Steel”, but the catchy and still humorous tracks should make the album feel welcomed with fans looking to get a laugh and a blazing guitar solo or two.

If you haven’t guessed it by the title, this is Megadeth’s 13th album and after the last two albums (2007’s “United Abominations” and 2009’s “Endgame), the longtime thrash metal band has been hitting a renewed creative spark after some questionable albums [...]]]>

Megadeth's new album- out today and nowhere near as bad as "Lulu".

If you haven’t guessed it by the title, this is Megadeth’s 13^th album and after the last two albums (2007’s “United Abominations” and 2009’s “Endgame), the longtime thrash metal band has been hitting a renewed creative spark after some questionable albums early in the 2000’s.

But Dave Mustaine and company rebounded with the return of bassist Dave Ellefson in 2008 and Megadeth has regained some of their former glory. On “Thirteen”, the band rocks with a steady pace and finds it’s groove, but falls short of reaching the legendary status of “Rust in Peace” or “Countdown to Extinction”. The album gets off to a rollocking enough start with “Sudden Death” in which Mustaine and company turn it into a five and half minute thrash felt. Also, cuts like “Never Dead” features that full on assault that should keep the old school fans happy. When listening to “New World Order”, with the pacing of the song and lyrics, it tends to leave the listener to wonder if this wasn’t a holdout from the “Extinction” days- and I mean that in the best possible way- it’s a highlight on the album.

Plenty of the songs have quick shredding openings that harken the thrash glory days, but some of the songs don’t keep the early energy throughout the songs. When listening to “Black Swan” and “We The People”, stellar openings fade to mid-pace metal numbers with lyrics that leave a bit left to be desired. There is definitely a political leaning in lyrics on the album, which is fine, but it seems like Mustaine’s message hasn’t changed up much since he was railing against the system on “Rust in Peace”. But the message could have worked better if some of the tempos on the songs didn’t seem in cruise control.

”Thirteen” is still heads above those early 2000’s albums that almost ended the band. There’s plenty of solid classic heavy metal moments to make the album worthwhile, but doesn’t seem as urgent and effectively frantic as the past two albums. It’s a good, solid Megadeth album- just not a classic.

”Fun” has been a term thrown around a lot in early reviews of Mastodon’s fifth album “The Hunter”. When I think of Mastodon albums, I think generally of terms like “majestic”, “great” and “heavy” to properly describe [...]]]>

"The Hunter" isn't as weird as you think and might actually get some radio play.

”Fun” has been a term thrown around a lot in early reviews of Mastodon’s fifth album “The Hunter”. When I think of Mastodon albums, I think generally of terms like “majestic”, “great” and “heavy” to properly describe material on the record- the band’s last album, the concept album “Crack The Skye” was nothing short of the band’s masterpiece. But with their fifth album, the Atlanta band does move away from the emotional and lyrical heaviness of the last album and create something a little weird and perhaps more accessible than ever before.

The stretched out, 13 song album is a view of the band’s past, present and future that takes great parts of the band’s last few albums. The openers on the album, “Black Tongue” and “Curl of the Burl” sound like they were cut from the “Blood Mountain” sessions and while they are standard Mastodon, it’s not going to make mainstream rock radio jump up to play them. Where the album gets a bit more entertaining is a few further songs in: the southern stomp of “Octopus Has No Friends” and the intricate “Crack the Skye”-esque “All The Heavy Lifting” excel on this album. If anything on the album melds the accessible nature of the album with the band’s past- it is the cut “Dry Bone Valley”, which tends to borrow a little from the early days of stoner metal and succeeds greatly. One has to marvel at the guitar work on songs like “Thickening”, where guitarists Bill Keiliher and Brent Hinds trade off fierce riffs.

If you were a fan of the more prog-rock work of the Mastodon, there may not be a whole lot for you outside of the spacey “Creature Lives” (which may be their most “mainstream” sounding song ever actually). Without the prog-rock-ness of the album, what you get is a more straight forward Mastodon album, just the meat and potatoes of what makes the band heads above the current metal pack.

Even with all the accolades I’m throwing at the album, I still think “Crack The Skye” will be more memorable in time and provided a more breakthrough moment for the band artistically. But that is completely not discrediting “The Hunter”; it’s just a different album. It may not be the commercial smash that their label, Warner Bros. wants it to be, but for the core and longtime Mastodon fans, it will certainly satisfy their appetites.

Machine Head’s 2007 album “The Blackening” was has been the high water mark of any metal album since it’s release four and a half years ago. Anytime a great album shows up recently, this is the modern metal album that you [...]]]>

"Locust" is a worthy follow up to the unbelievable "The Blackening".

Machine Head’s 2007 album “The Blackening” was has been the high water mark of any metal album since it’s release four and a half years ago. Anytime a great album shows up recently, this is the modern metal album that you compare it’s greatness to. So, it was no surprise to see the Bay Area tour the crap out of this album and not rush back into the studio to record the follow up.

But after frontman Robb Flynn’s gear getting stolen at the start of recording and taking their time on the album, the band is now back with their seventh album. Recorded and structured in a similar fashion to “The Blackening”, “Unto the Locust” takes some of the political posturing out of the equation, opting for more universal themes. The album kicks off with a blast of uproarious fury with the three part “I Am Hell”, which is a dynamo from the start and may be one of the best songs the band has ever done. The title track delivers a charging, rallying feel that will send fist pumping during the live set. “Who We Are” is a bit simplistic, but effective battle cry for the band as they have reclaimed their metal glory.

With only seven songs, albeit long ones (the shortest song is just over 6 minutes), the album delivers the same killer riffs from Flynn and Phil Demmel. The album does let the foot off the gas towards the end, with “Darkness Within” and “Pearls Before The Swine” seem to pack less punch than the rest of the album, but still way better than the band’s nu-metal “Supercharger” days.

”Locust” may not be the landmark that “The Blackening” was. To try and still compare any Machine Head album (except for “Burn My Eyes”) might be a little crazy. But “Unto the Locust” proves that the Machine Head of the past several years has hit their creative stride and kept it.

Yeah, yeah- I’m sure you’ve heard my take on the state of the thrash metal titans Anthrax over the past several years at some point in another. I’m sure you heard my disdain of the over dumping new singer Dan Nelson, passing on [...]]]>

"Worship Music": not groundbreaking, but defintely worth the listen.

Yeah, yeah- I’m sure you’ve heard my take on the state of the thrash metal titans Anthrax over the past several years at some point in another. I’m sure you heard my disdain of the over dumping new singer Dan Nelson, passing on John Bush to come back, only to rehire the singer of their biggest heyday, Joey Belladonna.

Belladonna’s hiring and first live album with the band, “Alive 2” was simply a complete mess, all because of Belladonna’s voice. But I have to give Joey this: his voice has improved vastly as he got more comfortable with the band, as evident in the “Big Four” DVD last year.

But last year, it came down to trying to finish the band’s long delayed “Worship Music” album with Belladonna taking over the vocals for Nelson. The album had been delayed at least 2 years at this point, and “Worship” was dangerously close to slipping into “Chinese Democracy” territory. But alas- the guys in Anthrax finally broke out of their recording hiatus to release “Worship”.

Yes, you have to look at this album a little you would have looked at “Democracy”, but I like to look at this album a lot like Motley Crue’s 1997 album “Generation Swine”, and figure out which lead singer (with “Swine”- it was either Vince Neil or John Corabi) the particular song was intended for, song by song. So, on “Worship”, you try and figure out if Belladonna or Nelson were intended on singing this song- but let’s just look at the songs and album as a whole now:

On the songs on “Worship”, you can tell that Scott Ian, Frank Bello and Charlie Benante have not lost their touch while raging through early cuts like “The Devil You Know” and “Fight ‘Em Til You Can”. The latter, which is the band’s own six minute zombie movie and gives a good chugging sound throughout. The album hits a peak on the epic track “The Giant”, which is probably the best example of how Belladonna’s vocals and the rhythm section connect. It has quite a meaty sound and bridges the gap between Belladonna and Bush era Anthrax the best on the new album.

You have to give it to the guitar combo of Ian and Rob Caggiano, who gives the band their most blazing riffs and solos that I’ve heard from the band in well over 15 years. For further proof, check out “The Constant” and “Earth on Hell” for example of their continued prowess.

But a few of the songs, such as the ode to the bands of their youth “Judas Priest” and “I’m Alive” sound a little lackluster and sound like the band let the foot off the gas for a few of the songs.

But overall, “Worship Music” isn’t quite the dynamo that will send Anthrax to challenge with their Big Four counterpart Metallica for supremacy in that group, but it will give fans a renewed sense of appreciation for the band and will satisfy them.

(Side Note: Now, back to that idea I pondered earlier: which singer were most of these songs intended for?)

I think the album is two different halves- I think the early half of the album was intended for Nelson, which Belladonna does a commendable enough job handling the vocals for. But the latter half of the album is material I think Belladonna was born to sing and you can tell just how more comfortable he was with those songs versus the early portion of the album. Let the debate begin…