Photos by Wayne Edwards.
Links.
Alice Cooper website, https://alicecooper.com/
Blue Ridge Rock Festival, https://blueridgerockfest.com/
FFMB article on Blue Ridge Rock Festival 2022, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/10/06/blue-ridge-rock-festival-alton-virginia-september-8-11-2022/
Ryze-Up Magazine feature, https://www.ryze-up.com/ryze-up-magazine-current-issue/ryze-up-magazine-october-2022/
© Wayne Edwards
Images of Eden is a metal band from Pennsylvania. They were on the road recently with the Michael Schenker Group supporting their current EP, Weathered And Torn. Gordon Tittsworth and company performed a style of music that is a combination of classic metal and modern rock that relies heavily on the impassioned vocal delivery the band has become known for. Here is a short photo gallery of their set.
Photos by Wayne Edwards.
Band Links.
Images of Eden, https://imagesofeden.com/index2.htm
Piere’s Entertainment Center, https://pieresentertainment.com/
© Wayne Edwards
The debut album from Texas heavy psych band Peth is an alternate history of the past today.
Apart from the fact that the band has formed recently, there is not a ton of information freely floating about in the ether. There are four of them in the photos, band members. Mmmhmm. You can hear vocals, guitar, bass, and drums in the music. That adds up. If you want to sift through the band’s Facebook page for clues, there is a link below. Let’s have a listen to the album and see what it reveals.
On “Dwarvanaught,” the straight-forward rhythm sets you up for musical imbibement no matter how altered your state. The vocals and general presence in the song put me in mind a little of the band Ancient Days that I saw recently at Black Circle Brewing in Indianapolis – echoey; Eldritch. The lead guitar work is a thing of beauty. “Amok” sneaks up on you like an Amboy Duke, heralding a somewhat older origin than the first song. The guitar is big on this track, too, and it is a bit more questing than before. “Abolish the Overseer” channels Iommi for the opening riff. The otherworldly voice has a different impact in this setting, and still again is an exceptional complement.
“Let Evil In” is a barn burner, and no mistake. The thrusting guitar cracks open the primordial egg and, when you step inside, what you find is a surprise. “Stoned Wizard” is swirling fuzzy darkness filled with muscular riffs. The title track is notable for its execution of Sabbathan classicism. It is a delight. The big closer is the ten-minute epic “Karmic Debt.” It is a patient piece with a couple of killer sequences and a worthy payoff for seekers.
I had a lot of fun listening to this album. It is haunted by the past, heavily. Peth takes this and transforms what might be a curse into a mythic blessing. I will be listening to this album again and looking forward to the next one. Recommended.
Merchant Of Death is out on Friday, May 27th through Electric Valley Records on digital and vinyl.
Links.
Bandcamp, https://peth.bandcamp.com/
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Peth.usa
Electric Valley Records, https://www.electricvalleyrecords.com/
The Cosmic Peddler, https://thecosmicpeddler.com/
© Wayne Edwards
Legendary hard rock band Nazareth release their 25th studio album, Surviving The Law.
I could go on and on about Nazareth, but I have done that before in this very blog so I’ll try to keep it short this time. They are icons in the heavy music world, best known for the timeless album Hair Of The Dog (1975), they had many big albums and a few radio hits as well, like “Holiday” from Malice In Wonderland (1980). They played hard rock in the earliest days, and maintained a hard edge throughout even as the music lightened up a few notches and went through phases and evolutions. I have a physical copy of every album they ever released and, while of course I have favorites, I still pull from the entire canon when I want to hear Nazareth music.
When I started listening to them in the 1970s, the band was Dan McCafferty (vocals), Manny Charlton (guitar), Pete Agnew (bass), and Darrell Sweet (drums). Over the years the line-up changed of course, and now Pete Agnew is the only founding member still in the band. Agnew is joined by Carl Sentance (vocals), Jimmy Murrison (guitar), and Lee Agnew (drums) on the new album.
First up in the fourteen-track set is “Strange Days.” It has a gritty sound and grungy guitar line that is complemented by the ever listenable vocals of Sentance. It is a heavy song and great opener. “You Gotta Pass It Around” follows on a slower heel with a soulful lilt. “Runaway” hit me like a song from Loud ‘N’ Proud, and that is a good thing. Peppy and ever on the chase, this one is a great radio song.
“Sweet Kiss” is a great bluesy song that hooks you early and keeps you in its clutches. “Sinner” is a fast-moving rocking number that does remind you a little of Judas Priest (but not that song), and “Psycho Skies” has a feel to it that makes you want to hear it live. While the last song, “You Made Me,” is a slow one, ballads are avoided on this album. I was pleased by the pace, and there are many great cuts throughout.
I wondered before I sat down to listen to this album whether it would sound like Nazareth to me. I have gotten over Dan McCaffrey’s retirement and that was a tough for us long-time fans because his voice is iconic. No one else sounds like him. Once that idea is inculcated, you can hear Nazareth in the music. Long lived bands almost always change over time. We can, each of us, either accept that truth or not.
I don’t know how many more Nazareth albums there will be, but I can tell you this – Surviving The Law is a good one. Recommended.
Surviving The Law is out now through Frontiers Records on CD, vinyl, cassette, and digital.
Links.
Website, https://www.nazarethdirect.co.uk/website/
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/nazarethofficial
Frontiers Records, https://www.frontiers.shop/nazareth/
© Wayne Edwards
After a fourteen-year recording hiatus, The Hellacopters are back with a new studio album, Eyes Of Oblivion.
Starting off as a garage rock-style band in 1994, Sweden’s Hellacopters forged a following with a big start opening for Kiss not long after releasing their debut long-player Supershitty to the Max! in 1996. They released six more studio albums in the following years before embarking on a farewell tour in 2008 and wrapping things up. You can’t keep a good thing down forever, though, and the band reëmerged in 2016 for some anniversary appearances. Now we have Eyes Of Oblivion.
What’s the new one sound like? The band’s Nicke Andersson has a few thoughts. “The album has 10 songs and although it’s obviously not easy to be objective at all, I think musically it sums up everything we’ve touched upon from the start in 1994 up until now. Some of the songs date back as far as 10 years or more, and some were written more recently. It’s rock and roll played with high energy, so for lack of a better term I say High Energy Rock And Roll.” It is hard to argue with that. The music on the album is a kind of summary, in a way. Given the long history of the band and its legion of fans, new music that has a familiar flavor is bound to be just what the people want.
“Reap A Hurricane” breaks the ice with a catchy, guitar-driven hard rock head rattler. The chorus has you singing along immediately and every time the guitar breaks through it is cause for a fist-pump. “Can It Wait” has a more serious tone – a little – and takes a couple more chances with tempo. “So Sorry I Could Die” is a heavy-hearted blues number that that shifts from head-bobbing to a cool sway. Very nice.
I really like the title track, I must say, and it is clearly a banner-carrier for the album, as we might expect. Crisp and clippy, it has radio written all over it. Listen to this track first if you want a get-acquainted ramp. The top track for me is “Beguiled” for its incredible urgency and the way it got stuck in my synapses on the first play. Play that one second, then start at the beginning and go all the way through.
There are many twists and turns on the record. Enjoy the regular emergence of rock and roll piano in the rhythm section and absolutely delightful homages. The Hellacopters have come together and put out a great record that is a truly welcome return. I hope many more will follow. Recommended.
Eyes Of Oblivion is out now on Nuclear Blast Records. Check out the links below to see what and all can be had.
Link.
Bandcamp, https://thehellacopters.bandcamp.com/
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/thehellacopters
Nuclear Blast Records, https://shop.nuclearblast.com/en/products/sound/cd/cd/the-hellacopters-eyes-of-oblivion.html
© Wayne Edwards.
Guitar legend Leslie West is remembered in Legacy: A Tribute To Leslie West.
Leslie West had a massive influence on heavy music – he was there when it started coming together. Best known for his time with the band Mountain, probably, and for the song “Mississippi Queen” that everybody recognizes, West had a magical way of making the strings do exactly what he wanted. The tone he produced and his touch are legendary – if you listen, you can hear the echoes rippling throughout the history of heavy music every since.
There are twelve tracks on the album, and a good selection it is. There are many songs from the Mountain’s Climbing! album, and a couple from West’s first solo record, plus a surprise or two. Here is the full track list with noted contemporary players for the tribute versions. “Blood of the Sun” (featuring Zakk Wylde), “Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin)” (featuring Joe Lynn Turner, Marty Friedman), “Theme for an Imaginary Western” (featuring Dee Snider, Eddie Ojeda, Rudy Sarzo, Mike Portnoy), “For Yasgur’s Farm” (featuring Joe Lynn Turner, Martin Barre), “Why Dontcha” (featuring Steve Morse, Ronnie Romero), “Sittin’ On a Rainbow” (featuring Elliot Easton, Ronnie Romero), “Never in My Life” (featuring Dee Snider, George Lynch), “The Doctor” (featuring Robby Krieger, Ronnie Romero), “Silver Paper” (featuring Charlie Starr), “Money (Whatcha Gonna Do)/By the River” (featuring Bachman and Bachman), “Long Red” (featuring Yngwie Malmsteen, Teddy Rondinelli), and “Mississippi Queen” (featuring Slash, Marc LaBelle).
I can listen to Leslie West’s music just about any time, so these songs are all good for me. From the opening track where Zakk Wylde puts his spin on the lead song on West’s Mountain to the set-closing rendition of the iconic song, “Mississippi Queen,” done Slash style, you can feel the strong roots beneath the new blooms. I was especially delighted to hear “Nantucket Sleigh Ride,” which I didn’t expect, and listening Yngwie Malmsteen on “Long Red” will change your life. Highly recommended.
Legacy: A Tribute To Leslie West is out now through Mascot Label Group. It is streaming all over, and there are physical versions to choose from at the link below.
Link.
Mascot Label Group, https://usa-store.mascotlabelgroup.com/collections/leslie-west
© Wayne Edwards.
Hard rock legends Scorpions have a new studio album out, Rock Believer.
I write a lot about the early days of my heavy music listening, but the hard rock avenue is one I have spoken less about. The three bands in this lane that meant the most to me back in the day where Judas Priest, Scorpions, and Thin Lizzy (they put out a couple of hard rock albums there in a row). Phil Lynott was lost first, and so Thin Lizzy. Judas Priest had a few rough years but they are still tearing up the stage today. Scorpions were more famous by far than the other two, and they had some killer albums I still listen to like Lovedrive (1979), Animal Magnetism (1980), and Blackout (1982). But really, it weas the earlier albums that made the biggest impression on me – Fly To The Rainbow (1974), In Trance (1975), Virgin Killer (1976), and especially Taken By Force (1977). I even have affection for the sometimes-maligned Lonesome Crow (1972). These first few albums were raw, drawn straight from the core of the musicians’ hard rock hive. The later albums are more polished and, as time went on, they became increasingly designed for a broader audience. To me, every album, all nineteen of them, sound like Scorpions music, and on that level I like them all.
After the mega-hits and mega-stardom, the world at large heard less and less about Scorpions music, but fans could tell you that the band continued to produce albums on a regular, but less frequent, cycle all the way through. It has been seven years since Return To Forever, so the universe is more than ready for Rock Believer.
The line-up is Rudolf Schenker (guitar, backing vocals), Klaus Meine (vocals), Matthias Jabs (guitar), Paweł Mąciwoda (bass), and Mikkey Dee (drums). Schenker and Meine, of course, go back to the earliest days, and Jabs has been there since the seventies. Mąciwoda seems almost like a newcomer, even though he has played with the band for nearly two decades. Legendary drummer Mikkey Dee joined a few years back after Lemmy’s passing saw the end of Motörhead. A formidable group of musicians if ever there was one.
As soon as the needle drops on “Gas In The Tank” you know you have stepped into Scorpions world. Layered guitars, catchy melodies, sharp leads, and the unmistakable voice of Klaus Meine, sounding fantastic. “Roots In My Boots” has the raw energy so much in evidence on the Blackout album, updated and refined, while “Knock ’em Dead” is a new creature altogether. There is a lot going on with the new album.
The singles released in advance of the album were the title track and “Peacemaker.” Fans have probably heard these already. The album overall leans a little more toward the “Peacemaker” kind of song with all its raucous energy. There are a few introspective, rock-ballad-type songs (and passages within songs) that serve to balance the music out – something that Scorpions have always been expert at achieving.
Nineteen is a lot of albums, but fans will always clamor for more. This one is a very good one. Recommended.
Rock Believer is out now through Spinefarm Records. You can get it everywhere. Check out the links below, and look for the deluxe edition with additional songs.
Links.
Scorpions website, https://www.the-scorpions.com/
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Scorpions
Spinefarm Records, https://www.spinefarmrecords.com/usa/
The fifth album from The Neptune Power Federation is the best one yet: Le Demon De L’Amour.
I thoroughly enjoyed the previous album from The Neptune Power Federation, Memoirs of a Rat Queen (2019). Indeed, that one was the first I had heard from the Australian heavy rock band and it turned me all the way around. I vowed at the time to see them live as soon as humanly possible and I still haven’t done it yet – any US dates coming up? The music is an energetic hard rock that has some retro components but lives firmly in the here and now. The stage names of the musicians in the band are Screaming Loz Sutch (vocals), Search and DesTroy (guitar), Inverted CruciFox (guitar), Jaytanic Ritual (bass), and River Sticks (drums).
The song you might have heard already is “My Precious One” as it is the advance single and there is a video of it floating around YouTube. If you haven’t heard it yet, drop everything and listen now – it’s a banger. If that song doesn’t make you want to listen to the rest of the album then I don’t know what. Fast, hooky, with a great guitar in the riff and lead, and the fiercely emotive vocals combine to make this a radio hit (if there was still radio). It is a great song, and I would recommend the album on the strength of it alone, but there is more.
Le Demon De L’Amour is a set of eight hard-edge, deep-cutting love songs. While on the surface that might not sound so great for a metalhead like me, the actual music is incredible. Filled with heavy psych, hooks and breaks, and deeply soulful vocals, The Neptune Power Federation is taking the love song back for the heavy music crowd.
The album begins with the eight-minute epic “Weeping On The Morn.” It is a massive rock and roll homage that dips into many corners. The single “My Precious One” cracks next and then the funky “Baby You’re Mine” struts out. There are so many great looks in just the first three songs it is hard to count them all. All the tracks are up-tempo, and each one has its own intrigue. “Stay With Thee” is one of my favorites, “Madly In Love” appeals to my contrarian side. My full list of favorites would be eight songs long so I’ll just leave it there.
If you don’t know about them yet then you need to get your life together and listen to The Neptune Power Federation. Highly recommended.
Le Demon De L’Amour is out on February 18th through Cruz Del Sur Music. Bandcamp is the easy way to get it in the US.
Links.
Bandcamp, https://theneptunepowerfederation.bandcamp.com/
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/theneptunepowerfederation
Cruz Del Sur Music, https://www.cruzdelsurmusic.com/blog/
Australian metal pioneers Buffalo, performing as Buffalo Revisited, release their first live album, called Volcanic Rock Live, to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the studio original.
Buffalo is a band a lot of fans today never came across but I am convinced they would be happy to hear them if they got a chance. The Australians released five full-length albums back in the 1970s, the most well-remembered being Volcanic Rock (1973). Founder and front man Dave Tice has been performing in recent years as Buffalo Revisited, playing songs from the early albums. Interestingly, Buffalo never released a live album. Until now.
Recorded on June 6, 2018 at The Bald Faced Stag Hotel in Sydney, Buffalo Revisited plays the entire Volcanic Rock album. Troy Scerri (guitar), Steve Lorkin (Bass), and Marcus Fraser (drums) joined Dave Tice to make it happen.
Some of my all-time favorite music was created in the 1970s, so I figured I was going to be on board with this one, too. I had heard Volcanic Rock before, and a couple other Buffalo albums, so I was ready.
What you realize immediately about this music is it’s a great stoner record. Laid back riffs and weathered lead guitar work seep easily into your readied head. By the second song, “Freedom,” I had settled in. I remember having a fleeting thought hoping the album was playing on a loop because I did not want to get up. Tice sounds great, and he and the other musicians celebrate the 45th anniversary of the classic album in style.
Whether you have heard of Buffalo before or not, you should listen to this album. If you are a fan of the Ripple Music catalogue, then this is for you. It fits right in. Highly recommended.
Volcanic Rock Live is out now from Ripple Music and available at Bandcamp or through the label’s on-line store.
Links.
Bandcamp, https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/volcanic-rock-live
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/buffalorevisited
Ripple Music, https://www.ripple-music.com/
The axe swings again with a new four-CD set of the first albums from iconic metal band AXE.
I remember buying those early Axe (often stylized as AXE) albums in the 1970s and early 1980s. It is entirely possible that I bought the first one on the strength of the cover art alone – I was young. What you heard when you listened to the music was something that was very different from other contemporary bands. Melodic vocals and keyboards, which might make you think of bands like Styx or even Kansas, but with surprisingly sharp guitars. That’s what I remember most about Axe, those big guitar riffs that were so prominent in the mix.
The original Axe line-up (emerging after the demise of the band Babyface) was Bobby Barth (guitar, vocals), Edgar Riley, Jr. (keys), Mike Turpin (bass), Teddy Mueller (drums), and Michael Osborne (guitar). At the beginning, many band members traded off on vocals, but eventually the singing focused on Barth. Axe was growing in popularity with each passing year, and sales of their albums were increasing. They were well known as an energetic touring band and it looked like the sky was the limit. Tragedy struck in 1983 when Michael Osbourne died in a car accident that also badly injured Bobby Barth, and the band broke up immediately after. Axe did reform in the 1990s and have released several albums since. It is those first four that are stuck in my head, though, and they are the ones in the new set.
The clamshell box the new CDs are issued in hold individual sleeves with the original album artwork for all four releases: Axe (1979), Living On The Edge (1980), Offering (1982), and Nemesis (1983). The Offering CD has six bonus live tracks, and there is a 16-page booklet with an essay about the band by Dave Thompson, and liner notes. Lots of photos as well.
The new set is out now on the Dead Line imprint of Cleopatra Records. I am a big Axe fan so it was an easy choice for me. Listen to a few tracks at Bandcamp or Spotify if you want to test the waters before taking the plunge, but it is a solid bet the physical products won’t be available for long. Get them while you can. Recommended.
Links.
Bandcamp, https://therealrockaxe.bandcamp.com/album/the-albums-1979-1983
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/axeband1979
Cleopatra Records, https://cleorecs.com/store/shop/axe-the-albums-1979-1983-4cd/
Flying Fiddlesticks Music Blog 