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Blurred Lines is an album I received with a request to write a review a few years back. Of course, I wanted to, after all, that’s why I write these reviews! However, I realize the challenge of writing about something that is so far from what I usually write about. My reference points are likely to be very… personal! But I like what I hear, especially the first half of Blurred Lines. Which, if simplified,...
The Return is the second album by legendary Swedish Black Metal pioneers Bathory. It’s a violent musical odyssey and feels in many ways like a more refined and well-produced record than the debut. Unfortunately, it becomes very repetitive, and it doesn’t feel like the music matches the vocals; it just becomes chaotic. Now, this is probably intentional as it somewhat fits the nature of the style, but it’s not something that resonates with my ears....
Revenge is the sixteenth studio album by Kiss. I have so far reviewed a significant portion of their album production and I have truly found varying qualities. Some albums are truly dismal to the point that I can hardly understand how they were released, while others are actually as good as one can expect from Kiss. I don’t mean this because they are musical geniuses, certainly not! But rather because Kiss is such a legendary...
Fires at Midnight is the third album by Blackmore’s Night. After various journeys back and forth in Deep Purple, this is now the legendary guitarist Ritchie Blackmore’s abode. But regardless of how much one associates him with the music he delivered in Deep Purple and Rainbow, Blackmore’s Night is something entirely different. It’s much more traditional rock with quite substantial influences from folk music. I must say it’s hard not to fall in love with...
Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath is their eponymous first album (duh!). I have seen plenty of lists that list the first 4 or five albums by the band as absolutely perfect. I may not go so far, but their impact on the genre cannot be overstated. There is a lot of Blues approach to these early albums though. Even if they’re considered to be breakthrough albums for the Heavy Metal genre historically, they’re not that...
The somewhat legendary Black Metal band Bathory ‘s first album is a violent musical journey that came to influence an entire generation of musicians. It’s not hard to find the elements that later became some form of standard, at least within the early Black Metal movement. There are fast guitars and drums with a dismal “singing” produced with a truly awful sound. Which back then became the archetype for how this type of music would...
My first encounter with Barenaked Ladies was with the album Stunt, as I’ve mentioned before. By chance, I recently found Gordon (very) cheaply and of course, invested in it. One more album to explore before judging or condemning, I thought. It turned out to be a stroke of luck because this quickly became one of my favorite albums at the moment. Humor is present all the time, and describing Barenaked Ladies as a band with...
Warp Speed Warriors is the ninth studio album by the Power Metal band Dragonforce. The title itself fits perfectly. Dragonforce has always delivered fast Power Metal and I have usually liked it. At least to a point. But there’s also a limit to it. Just playing fast for the sake of it is usually not a good thing. When the notes start to create a blur instead of individual notes you have a problem. I...
When I acquired Revelations, many years ago now, I really had no idea what kind of music I was buying. I had vague notions of how it might sound, but oh how wrong I was. Instead, I learned a lesson about not having any preconceived notions about how music sounds until you’ve actually heard it and can form an opinion about it. It’s fantastically fun to be surprised in that way; listening becomes immediately unbiased...
The Gray Race is the ninth studio album by Punk Rock band Bad Religion. Punk Rock belongs to a genre that I generally have an incredibly hard time with, and there are only a few bands/albums I like. Bad Religion, or at least their album The Gray Race, is among the exceptions. I’m simply not knowledgeable enough to speak more generally about this genre than about this particular album. However, I find it interesting enough...
War Eternal Arch Ememyäs ninth studio Album. It’s a bit amusing when bands have female growlers. Arch Enemy, in this case, has a new addition to the album as well. Alissa White-Gluz is new to the band, taking over the vocal role. Admittedly, I’m not a big fan of this vocal technique, but one must commend the uniqueness in itself. You can’t hear at all that it’s a woman. I didn’t expect that! Musically, it’s...
Stunt is the fourth studio album by Canadian Pop/Rock act Barenaked Ladies. I got it many years ago to broaden my horizons, I sometimes acquire albums about which I have no prior knowledge. This is one such album! I really had no idea what I would hear when I ordered it. The name certainly led me to think it could be a girl band of some sort. Not that I literally expected fully naked girls...
