eagles / frail grasp on the big picture / long road out of eden (15) / 2007

Having not done too many journals over the last fortnight, I've got a backlog of recent and new acquisitions I'm eager to talk about. One such acquisition is the Eagles' comeback album from late 2007, which I've only just gotten around to buying. Perhaps a band that sit oddly among my collection (particularly as I have at times gone on record as claiming to hate country music and there's a fair bit of country in the Eagles' sound), I nevertheless loved the album…

(Previous NWoBHM Band of the Week) / (Next NWoBHM Band of the Week)

I had previously said that I wouldn't write an article about either avenger or satan until after I'd done blitzkrieg since the band's respective histories are so intertwined. I'm going to go back on my word though as I will now be looking at Avenger this week.

Blitzkrieg first split up in December 1981 (passing on a contract to record an album with saxon's original label carrere and an arranged support slot with Saxon in the process) after putting out a well-received single and a very…

Marty Friedman / ポリリズム / tokyo jukebox (5) / May 2009

(youtube)

I realise I've just gone a week without writing any journals, but that ends here. Marty Friedman's new album Tokyo Jukebox was released (in Japan) on Wednesday and consists entirely of j-pop covers. On the face of it, it seems like a stupid idea. However, he has covered a j-pop song before (I've written a journal about it and Marty's cover is one of my favourite ever songs) and Marty's instrumental metal adaption worked very well. A whole album of this sort of thing is therefore not as…

testament / time is coming / practice what you preach (4) / 1989

A brief impression of my second Testament album with reference to The Ritual which I bought nearly a year ago now:

Almost immediately I found that Practice What You Preach was a catchier album than The Ritual. I was pretty familiar with the title track for quite some time before hearing the full album so it was no problem quickly identifying that one.

Perilous Nation has some hooks vocally and the right amount of repetition for a thrash metal song - as well as some fantastic solos…

steve stevens / water on ares / memory crash (4) / 2008

Stevens is good when he's doing pacey hard rock verging on metal instrumentals, but its when he does slower tracks like this one that no one can touch what he does. (Such is my opinion anyway.)

One soundbite I thought of to describe this track was 'If Hendrix played chill out music', only that doesn't really work because Hendrix did play a lot of chilled out tracks (eg. little wing) that didn't sound much like this.

Last time I checked this track was streamable on this site.…

chris duarte & bluestone co. / back in town / 396 (1) / Jan 2009

free download

Being opportunistic, I've decided now is as good as any time to choose this track. Texan bluesman chris duarte teamed up with "Japan's biggest blues band" Bluestone Company for their latest album 396. Which begs the question: how many blues band's does Japan have? I would've been tempted to think they didn't have many, but perhaps it's time for a re-evaluation.

It's good and it's a free track. I can't say much else, listen and make your own mind up.

ethan brosh / the hit man / Out of Oblivion (1) / Mar 2009

magna carta have really thrown money at this (relatively) young guitarist. His debut album features Mike Mangini (annihilator, ex-extreme, ex-steve vai) on drums throughout, with production from Chris Tsangarides and solos from no less than three guest guitarists george lynch, greg howe and joe stump. Perhaps most important of all they've forked out for cover art by Derek Riggs (because the music won't be anywhere near as good without it, right?). At the very least, the all-instrumental album…

mr. big / next time around / Next Time Around - Best of Mr. Big / 2009

See, I knew this reunion would yield new material. Ok, it's only two tracks on a best of so far but the feeling that there will be another album is now fueled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPLy3GJ6D3M

What puzzles me is how vocalist Eric Martin still looks like a teenager.

gillan / roller / mr. universe (4) / 1979

Following my earlier initial thoughts on Gillan's Mr. Universe album I have developed a desire to write a more detailed 'review' of the album, track by track. Completely regardless of the fact seemingly no one else has heard the album and is therefore unlikely to weigh in any opinion.

The first thing apparent about the album is that only keyboardist Colin Towns has a writing credit on every track. The opener second sight being the epitome of this observation, an instrumental 'composed' (if you can really call it a composition) by…

(Previous NWoBHM Band of the Week) / (Next NWoBHM Band of the Week)

Originating in Slough (currently part of Berkshire), sledgehammer are, so far in this series, the band based closest to my hometown. Unfortunately, information on the band and readily available youtube samples are seemingly scarce, but I'm going to do my best.

The three-piece originally consisting of Mike Cooke (guitar, vocals), Terry Pearce (bass), Ken Revell (drums) first garnered attention at the dawn of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal when their 1979 self-titled single was released independently at first, but would shortly be re-issued by a…