Devil City Angels - S/T (2015)

Genre - Hard Rock

Label - Century Media Records

Track listing:

01. Numb
02. All My People
03. Boneyard
04. I'm Living
05. No Angels
06. Goodbye Forever
07. Ride With Me
08. All I Need
09. Back To The Drive
10. Bad Decisions

Devil City Angels are yet another super-group, this one featuring the talents of former L.A. Guns‘ Tracii Guns on guitar, Quiet Riot‘s Rudy Sarzo on bass, Poison‘s Rikki Rockett on drums and Brandon Gibbs (Cheap Thrill) on vocals.

This their self titled debut follows hot on the heals of last years 'The Devil EP'.

The album is a great mix of classic and contemporary hard rock. The songs are incredibly melodic, catchy and memorable which should come as no surprise when you consider the calibre of the musicians involved here!

Devil City Angels launched the album with “Boneyard” which hit the mark sonically and lyrically. Brandon Gibbs has a powerful soulful voice and a brilliant sense of melody that sets him apart from his contemporaries. The best example of this is heard on “Boneyard,” “I’m Living” and what could quite possibly be one of the best ballads in years, “Goodbye Forever.”

The most unique track is “All I Need” which features Beatlesesque chorus and a super sappy, poppy feel to it — yet it works. Devil City Angels also covered the Mike Chapman penned “Back to the Drive” which was made famous by Suzie Quatro, and the result is very good.
Devil City Angels have come up with an album that is guaranteed to satisfy anyone who is looking for some solid hard rock music, played by guys who actually know what they are doing. There is not a bad song on this disc. Are Devil City Angels going to set the world on fire or re-write the Rock n' Roll history books, unlikely, but they are gonna play some great rock music and provide hours of enjoyment for millions of rock fans all over the world!

Well Worth Checking Out

Rating - 9/10

Butcher Babies - Take it Like a Man (2015)

Genre - Heavy Metal / Metalcore

Label - Century Media

 

Track listing:

 

01 - Monsters Ball

02 - Igniter

03 - The Cleansing

04 - The Butcher

05 - Gravemaker

06 - Thrown Away

07 - Never Go Back

08 - Marquee

09 - Blood Soaked Hero

10 - Dead Man Walking

11 - For The Fight

12 - Blonde Girls All Look The Same

By God......this is an album!
Now I have to be honest here and admit that I am not the biggest fan of the metalcore and nu-metal genre's. I just don't seem to get it, if you know what I mean. Although over the years the odd band has caught my attention, its usually just the odd song, and rarely could I sit through a full album. But that has changed with Butcher Babies and "Take It Like A Man".
Californian Metal / Metalcore quintet return with their sophomore album in the form of "Take It Like A Man", and what an album it is, with vocalists Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey more than proving they do anything any metalcore singer can do, and probably a whole lot better too!
The album opens with the brilliant 'Monsters Ball', before launching into the equally brilliant 'Igniter' and 'The Cleansing'. Furious riffs and demonic vocals abound!
'The Butcher' has a steamroller of a break down, whilst 'Thrown Away' has a brooding stripped down feel to it. 'Marquee' is probably as extreme as metal can get before becoming utter nonsense, whilst 'Never Go Back' and 'For The Fight' bounce along in a rather familiar way. 'Blonde Girls All Look The Same' has a certain ferocity to it with the venom filled vocal lines.
"Take It like A Man" proves Bucher Babies credentials beyond any doubt, they are here and they are here to stay.

Very Highly Recommended

Rating - 10/10

Fozzy - Do You Want to Start a War (2014)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal

Label - Century Media Records

Track listing:

01 - Do You Wanna Start a War

02 - Bad Tattoo

03 - Lights Go Out

04 - Died With You

05 - Tonight (ft. Michael Starr)

06 - Brides of Fire

07 - One Crazed Anarchist

08 - Unstoppable (ft. Christie Cook)

09 - Scarecrow

10 - No Good Way

11 - SOS

12 - Witchery

Chris Jericho and Fozzy are back with their sixth studio album, Do You Want to Start a War!
Things have changed a little for Fozzy over the years, Chris Jericho comes in. The WWE superstar joined Fozzy when it was a cover band known as Fozzy Osbourne, taking on the persona of Mongoose McQueen. The group sold a tongue-in-cheek back story where Mongoose and Jericho were two different people and the band was the originator of the songs they covered, the victims of an ill-advised signing to a doomed Japanese record label. It's been a decade since they've dropped their Spinal Tap-esque gimmick, instead turning their attention to becoming a legitimate hard rock/metal act, and in the last ten years they've been building their audience and developing their sound. Building off the back of 2012's well-received Sin and Bones, the group is back with Do You Want to Start a War in the hopes of finding an ever-wider audience.
And that really shouldn't be a problem to be honest. Songs like Brides Of Fire and One Crazed Anarchist will help satisfy the fans of Chasing The Grail and Sin And Bones albums, whilst the more commercial Tonight and SOS (yes a cover of the ABBA classic) should help bring in new fans and spread the bands fan base even further.
A really solid album
Standout Tracks include Bad Tattoo, Lights Go Out, Died With You, One Crazed Anarchist, Brides of Fire.

Rating 9/10

Fozzy - Sin And Bones (2012)

Genre - Hard Rock
Label - Century Media

Track listing -

01 – Spider In My Mouth
02 – Sandpaper (feat M. Shadows)
03 – Blood Happens
04 – Inside My Head
05 – Sin And Bones
06 – A Passed Life
07 – She’s My Addiction
08 – Shine Forever
09 – Dark Passenger
10 – Storm The Beaches
Bonus Tracks:
11 – Walk Amongst The Dead
12 – Fairies Wear Boots

Fozzy, the hard rock / metal band featuring WWE wrestling superstar Chris Jericho (vocals) and Stuck Mojo's Richard Ward (guitar) return with their fifth studio album and the follow up to 2010's awesome and hugely successful Chasing The Grail. So how does this new album compare?Very well to be honest, Fozzy manage to match if not surpass the quality of Chasing..... without repeating any formula's.
Opening track, Spider In My Mouth has an intro that would fit any Alice Cooper album well, dark and atmospheric, and is somewhat a bit of a misfit on the album, a curve ball, opening the album with a track that no one would have expected!
Next up is Sandpaper, the albums lead single that features M Shadows on vocals with a notably more radio friendly sound, before Blood happens kicks in with its contrasting grinding riffs. The emotional Inside My Head follows before giving way to the riff laden title track, Sin and Bones that has one of those sing along chorus's that the live crowds are going to love.
The Unhurried A Passed Life follows which will either be loved or hated! People who buy the album for the driving Fozzy Rock, have to wait it out a bit - what we have here is a venture into  (slightly over) radio length progressive rock with a haunting metal undertone. Next up is the blues rocker She's My Addiction, which features one Phil Campbell of Motorhead on lead guitar. This track is surely one of the highlights of the album, if not Fozzy's entire recorded output!
Shine Forever is up next, and is probably the closest sounding track to the tracks on the previous album, a powerhouse stomper.
Then we get Dark Passenger, which in my honest opinion is the albums real standout track, its awesome, that's all I can say, I absolutely love this song, a contender for song of the year!
Then we get the albums closing track, the epic Storm The Beeches, a song told from a soldiers point of view that clocks in at just under 12 minutes long. Here Richard Ward has his Iron Maiden moment, and he does it bloody well!
There are two bonus tracks available on some formats, the brutal and grinding Walk Amongst The Dead and the Black Sabbath Cover Fairies Wear Boots which the band perform faithful to the original.

Sin and Bones is a fantastic album and one that I would highly recommend!!

Rating - 10/10

Paradise Lost - Tragic Idol (2012)

Genre - Gothic / Heavy Metal / Doom Metal / Hard Rock
Label - Century Media

Track listing:

01. Solitary One
02. Crucify
03. Fear Of Impending Hell
04. Honesty In Death
05. Theories From Another World
06. In This We Dwell
07. To The Darkness
08. Tragic Idol
09. Worth Fighting For
10. The Glorious End
11. Ending Through Changes (Japanese Bonus Track)
12. Never Take Me Alive (Japanese Bonus Track)
13. True Belief (Live) (Japanese Bonus Track)
14. One Second (Live) (Japanese Bonus Track)
15. Say Just Words (Live) (Japanese Bonus Track)


The past few releases have seen a real return to form for the Yorkshire Gothic metal merchants, and Tragic Idol really does appear to be the icing on the cake!
Tragic Idol manages to combine the raw power, heaviness and might of the bands earl releases with the sophistication and experimental nature of the bands errr, less heavy releases, resulting in a really good album!
Everything about Tragic Idol is top notch, the production, the songwritting and the delivery, this is probably the best album that the band could deliver, and when you consider just how long these guys have been at it, its great to find that they've not lost any of their hunger!
This album is excellent from begining to end and its hard to pick out any really stand out tracks, so I'll just list a few of my favorites, these being, Fear Of Impending Hell, Honesty In Death, In This We Dwell, Tragic Idol and To The Darkness, although I have to admit I really do like the Japanese bonus track Never Take Me Alive!
This is great album for existing fans of the band who will surely love it, and a great introduction to their music for Paradise Lost virgins!

Get out there and buy it!

Rating - 10/10