Sixx:A.M - Prayers For The Blessed Vol.2 (2016)

Genre - Hard Rock / Alternative / modern Rock

Label - Eleven Seven Music

Track listing:

01. Barbarians (Prayers For The Blessed)
02. We Will Not Go Quietly
03. Wolf At Your Door
04. Maybe It's Time
05. The Devil's Coming
06. Catacombs
07. That's Gonna Leave A Scar
08. Without You
09. Suffocate
10. Riot In My Head
11. Helicopters

SIXX: A.M. bassist Nikki Sixx along with guitarist DJ Ashba and vocalist James Michael release the second half of their 2-part blazing hard rock albums, Prayers For The Blessed Vol.2.
“Vol. 1, Prayers For The Damned” and “Vol. 2, Prayers For The Blessed” were both written and recorded at the same time, they are companion pieces carefully structured to kick the bands own sound print upstairs to its fullest tilt and it brings the demand to the fans of Nikki Sixx.
You can not ask for much more hard rock swagger from the heart and soul to the fans than this. Sixx et al deliver. Coming off their 2015 tour Nikki Sixx had stated that being onstage really influenced the way they connect and write, and you can really hear the effects throughout the two albums, having a much more solid consistent and band sound to them than the bands previous releases.

This monster album kicks off with “Barbarians (Prayers for the Blessed)” a fist pumping anthemic track that sets the tone for the rest; big vocals and a blistering lead really make this track stand out. “We Will Not Go Quietly” is next up. There is more of a groove on this one. It hits hard, but the melody continues to be the focus.
Stepping into the grooving motion of “That's Gonna Leave A Scar” to the 'rockpertic' show of “Maybe It's Time” showcases the diversity that lives and breathes deep within the talents of Nikki Sixx.
“Wolf At My Door” has some dirt and grit breathed in, while the heartfelt ballad “Maybe It's Time” strikes the emotive. Guitarist Ashba really delivers his skills on “Catacombs” and the hardest rock sound to come from the album falls on track, “The Devils Coming.” Opening acoustically “Suffocate” leads to a hailing crunch when the chorus kicks in.

The songs are brilliant, the production is excellent, bringing the best out of each song, and the band are performing at the peak of the talents, Go and buy it now. Simply A Must

Rating: 10/10

Badger - Time Will Tell

Genre - Hard Rock

Label - Self Released / Pledge Music

 

Track listing:

 

01 - Whatever Happened 2 Us

02 - Inside Out

03 - Lie Behind My Eyes

04 - Losing Faith

05 - When It Rains

06 - Time Will Tell

07 - Freak Me Out

08 - Suicidal Sunday

09 - Lost And Found

10 - Into The Light

11 - C'mon C'mon

Time Will Tell is the debut album from Extreme bassist Pat Badger, (hence the Badger moniker / title!) and its a pretty impressive affair.
"With all due respect to Pat Badger he’s really pushing his own personal boundaries here and putting himself out there in a way that he’s never done before in the past. Having never really been able to break through the Cherone / Bettencourt song writing stronghold that was Extreme, Pat has enlisted the help of songwriter/producer extraordinaire Bleu in order to produce this, his first solo album, though the Pledge Music platform. As you might expect from a Badger/Bleu collaboration the songs here are rocky, poppy, melodic and very, very catchy."
An important thing to note here is that Pat is singing lead vocals for the first time here, and I have to say that he puts in a pretty damn impressive performance. In fact, if you compare this album with Gary Cherone’s ‘Van Halen III’ and you’ll find that this underdog wins single every time!
With a sound that brings to mind Sixx A:M's more melodic rockers this album doesn't have a bad track on it. Opening with the powerhouse duo of Whatever Happened 2 Us and Inside Out, before slowing things down slightly with Lie Behind My Eyes, things get off to a great start.
Losing Faith is a great piano led ballad, whilst When It Rains proves to be a tricky little track. With a string section that almost fools you into thinking that this is going to be the third ballad in a row before kicking into a mid tempo-ed little rocker of a track.
Title track time will tell is up next and whilst proving to be a nice little melodic rocker it seems to lack some of the magic and energy of its predecessors. The same can be said of Freak Me Out, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this song, it just seems to lack that certain little umpth that the albums earlier tracks have. Things pick up again with Suicidal Sunday, which is a darker moodier track, a great little rock track.
Lost And Found is almost a full blown Extreme studio reunion, featuring Gary Cherone and  Kevin Figueiredo and proves to be another great little mid paced rocker.
Into The Light is a beautiful little acoustic guitar track that leads nicely into the albums closer, C'mon C'mon, which in itself is a great track and see's the album returning to the form that was set by its opening couple of tracks.

A great debut effort, and a solid album even if it does seem to loose some energy in the second half.

Well worth checking out!

Rating - 8/10

Danko Jones - Below The Belt

Canadian Trio Danko Jones return with the new (ans 6th) full length album by the way of Below The Belt. What we get is pure ass kicking rock n roll, with pop sensibilities Kiss would be proud of. from opening track 'I Think Bad Thought' this album is non stop class. All the songs are extremely well written, the production is spot on and the band are as tight as a ducks arse!

Front man Danko Jones is in great voice, telling us just how he lives the rock n roll life style,but in a fun matter of fact way. The band have been around for years now, and as I said earlier this is their sixth album, but they haven't lost their hunger and drive!
I love this entire album, but If I had to pick out a few stand out tracks then I would have to go with, 'I Think Bad Thoughts', 'Magic Snake', 'Had Enough', (I Cant Handle) Moderation and 'I Wanna Break Up With You'
Again, this album is great, and just goes to show how good old fashioned straight ahead rock music can be!

Very Highly recommended

website - http://www.dankojones.com/

rating 10/10

Dangerous New Machine - Set The World On Fire

Dangerous New Machine, are a new band featuring former/current members of Stereomud, Fozzy and Stuck Mojo, Set The World On Fire is their cracking debut!

Opening with 'Shut Up', the album gets off to a blistering start, lot's of angst and frustration vented here, with lyrics we can all relate too!
Quickly follows 'Burn' and 'Bulletproof Hero', before things slow down a little with 'Lets Talk About Sex'! The standards never drop anywhere on this album, in fact songs like 'Feel Alive Again', 'My Sins', 'I Wish', 'Skeletons' and 'Push It' just emphasise the class and quality of the musicianship and song writing on display here.
If I had to draw comparisons, then I would say that Dangerous New Machine, have a sound that's in the same vein as Nickleback, Shinedown and the last Fozzy album, but they deliver a solid brand of melodic, heavy, contemporary hard rock

Very Highly recommended!!!

website - http://www.myspace.com/dangerousnewmachine

rating 10/10

Bombay Black - Love You To Death

With influences that include the likes of Mötley Crüe, Kiss, Pantera, Nickelback, Seether, Disturbed, Van Halen, Journey, Def Leppard, King's X, Type O Negative, you can bet your soul that US rockers Bombay Black are hoping to deliver a solid and varied album with Love You To Death, and to be totally fair they really do deliver. The band manage to combine all of the aforementioned influences and come up with a solid contemporary sound, whilst delivering some great tunes along the way. Songs like 'Reign Over Me', 'Love You To Death', 'Demons Down', 'Black Widow' and 'New Psycho' really do showcase the bands versatility. Erik's vocals are well suited to the songs and the bands sound, and Devil Jim delivers some great guitar work. The Rhythm section are solid too, equally at home on the out and out rockers as they are on the reggae / ska inspired 'Give Yourself To Me'.


A great album well worth checking out.

website - http://www.myspace.com/bombayblack

rating 9/10

Moth Circus - Sideshow Sweetheart

Norwegian rockers Moth Circus unleash their debut album, Sideshow Sweetheart, upon the world on June 28th via Rocksector Records. Moth Circus bring us 14 tracks of Groove laden heavy rock, with hooks Ginger (Wildhearts) would be proud of. Crushingly heavy in places, harmonically melodic in others, and for some strange reason vocalist Johnny Olsen's voice and vocal style bring one Rob Zombie to mind at times.

The band describe themselves and their music as " "Pamela Anderson masturbating at a freak show..." and who am I to argue?
What I can say is that Sideshow Sweetheart is one hell of an album!
Tracks like opener 'Dreamland', 'MIA', 'A Dog and His Junkie', and 'Death Living' are all awesome, and destined to be classics.
Moth Circus are here to stay, and Sideshow Sweetheart is destined to be a classic album.
Catch these guys live on their short uk tour in July if you can, You WONT be disappointed!

website - http://www.myspace.com/mothcircus

rating 10/10

FURYON - 3 Track Promo EP

Furyon are a 5 piece Hard Rock / Alternative / Modern Rock band from Brighton. This a 3 track sampler Ep taken from their forthcoming album 'Gravitas'.


The tracks included are 'Disappear Again', 'Don't Follow' and 'Wasted On You'.

From what I am hearing here I am really looking forward to the albums release. The band bring together all the elements of 30 years of rock music and deliver a truly contemporary sound similar to the likes of Nickleback and Shinedown, yet never sounding like clones, and they have some truly amazing guitar breaks in their songs!
The songs are very strong, they have a very radio friendly edge and should bring the band the kind of success that has recently been enjoyed by the likes of Shinedown etc.
Very highly reconmended!
Website - http://www.myspace.com/furyon


rating 10/10