FARMIKOS - Farmikos (2015)

Genre - Hard Rock

Label -

 

Track listing:

01 - Scapegoat
02 - Am I One
03 - Kings Of Dust
04 - Spoon And Sun
05 - Fragile
06 - The Sound Of My Gun
07 - Ascension
08 - I Was Them
09 - Exit Stencils
10 - Facing East

FARMIKOS are a new L.A. based band founded by former Ozzy Osbourne and David Lee Roth guitarist Joe Holmes together with Laidlaw's singer Robbie Locke.
FARMIKOS is Joe Holmes' first venture under his own flag since first attaining local notoriety with Terriff, an L.A. band he formed after taking guitar lessons as a teenager from none other than original Ozzy axeman, Randy Rhoads.
Holmes eventually went on to replace Jason Becker on the 1991 David Lee Roth 'A Lil' Ain't Enough' world tour. In the middle Nineties, Holmes was brought to the attention of Ozzy Osbourne who was looking for a new guitarist to take over Zakk Wylde's spot for the 'Ozzmosis' album touring cycle.
I still remember attending to an Ozzy show in 1995, waiting for the crazy Zakk Wylde to appear on stage. It never happened... instead we were flashed by a monster (but incredibly clean) wall of guitars coming out from this (at the moment) unknown dude to me : Joe Holmes.
Owner of a terrific guitar tone and a polished technique, Joe Holmes will to put it simply, rock your socks off.
Fans of soaring shouting vocals, blistering hard rockin' guitars, heavy bass grooves, precision drumming, finely crafted songs & top notch production / mixing will love this album.
Recorded at the Mouse House in Pasadena, CA, with engineer/mixer Rich Mouser (Spock's Beard, Transatlantic), the album features Metallica's Robert Trujillo on bass and Bad Religion's Brooks Wackerman on drums, alongside guest appearances by Skindred's Benji Webbe, Mass' hard rockers drummer Ken Schalk, and Hoffort itself on a kicking guitar solo.
On opener “Scapegoat”, the song builds for a bit before Joe & Trujillo trade chugging riffs. Robbie really pushes his vocal cords to the limit on this song while showcasing his range. You hear elements of Chris Cornell and Robert Plant in his vocals, but he has one of the most unique voices in Rock or Metal today. “Scapegoat” is the perfect opener as it just full-throttle from start to finish and really sets the tone for the majority of the CD. Joe rips one helluva blistering solo announcing with vengeance he deserved his own band.
Up next is one of my favorite songs on the album, “Am I One”. Opening with a bluesy run atop of some subtle rhythm guitar, it slowly gains momentum before locking into a hypnotic groove.
“Kings Of Dust” finds the band slowing things down a bit. I especially dig the vocal breakdown that finds Robbie using a deeper register for the mellow effect before Joe kicks in with a blazing solo.
“The Spoon And Sun” kicks things back up a notch going through several tempo changes and moods. An interesting track follows: “Fragile” with Robbie dueting with Skidred’s Benji Webbe. I will be the first to admit that I am not familiar with Benji but his delivery is very interesting. The Middle Eastern vocals that start and end the song are very cool.
The sludgy groove of “The Sound Of My Gun” is built around the vocals, but it's Holmes who lays down my favorite solo of the album.
Do not let the Sabbath-like intro fool you as “Ascension” picks up the pace. A fast paced rocker indeed that should go over great live. Joe throws down another scorching solo before Robbie brings things down a bit vocally at the end.
Robbie really channels his inner Robert Plant on the verses of “Exit Stencils”. I like how the bass is up in the mix on this track and Joe’s outro solo should have shredheads rejoicing.
We have come to the final song and Farmikos throws us a curveball with a purely acoustic number entitled “Facing East”. Just Holmes & Locke with an acoustic guitar and lights down vibe, very Zeppelin-esque that shows another Farmikos side. A nice way to end such a rocking album.
In "Farmikos" everything blends together just perfectly thanks in the main to the brilliant production job by Rich Mouser.

A great album, well worth checking out!

Rating - 9/10

 

The players:

Joe Holmes (ex- Ozzy Osbourne, David Lee Roth) - Guitars
Robbie Locke (Laidlaw) - Vocals

Robert Trujillo (Metallica, Infectious Grooves) - Bass
Brooks Wackerman (Bad Religion) - Drums
Ken Schalk (Mass) - Drums
Brent Hoffort - Guitars on “Kings Of Dust”
Benji Webbe - Vocals on “Fragile”

Van Halen - A Different Kind Of Truth (2012)

Genre - Hard Rock

Tracklisting:

01 – Tattoo

02 – She’s The Woman
03 – You and Your Blues
04 – China Town
05 – Blood and Fire
06 – Bullethead
07 – As Is
08 – Honeybabysweetiedoll
09 – The Trouble With Never
10 – Outta Space
11 – Stay Frosty
12 – Big River
13 – Beats Workin'


Mr. David Lee Roth returns to the Van Halen fold after an absence of, well just too many years, but is the resultant album worth the wait? Can it possibly live up to their pre 1984 exploits?


Well in short yes. . A Different Kind Of Truth is a great mix of that 1984 style of writing with a whole load of “the rest of their career” thrown in for good measure. It’s a very, very well thought out and clever album indeed. But if the rumors are true then that may be down to the fact that most of this album is made up from old leftover outtakes from years ago, so technically, Eddie and Dave haven't really written any new material, just polished off some old ideas, but all the same it’s a great album!

Eddie delivers what the fans of each of his incarnations of the band have come to expect over the years with a splendid ease. David Lee Roth's vocals seem as good as they have ever been, fitting somewhat awkwardly over the top of the instrumental works just as they did in the old days.

I have never really been a big fan of Van Halen, do not know why, I just never clicked with them, and to be honest I do prefer Sammy Hagar as a vocalist, but this album just seems to click together well. Production wise it is a sterling job, but for some reason this album tends to remind me of Wolfsbane in their more polished moments!

Stand out tracks for me include:

You And Your Blues, She's The Woman, Bullethead and China Town

Worth checking out!

Rating 9/10