Megadeth - Endgame Review

Ever since Megadeth's return after Dave's nerve injury fans have been waiting for a true return to form, well this is probably about as close as they're ever gonna get, Endgame really does come across an inter breeding of Rust In Peace and Countdown To Extinction.

"This Day We Fight!"-Old-school Megadeth through and through. Very thrashy and extremely fast. You can feel some of Dave's old aggression in this song, a real return to form!
44 Minutes" is a simple but catchy main riff with some great vocals on Dave's part. The song hints at its thrash roots but the chorus is purely melodic rock at its best. There's some great soloing too! This is one of my early fav on the album!

Other highlights include the epic "The Hardest Part of Letting Go…Sealed With A Kiss", the fast, brutal, and thrashy "Headcrusher" and the excellent "How The Story Ends".

Endgame really is a return to form for Dave and the boys, ladies and gentlemen, Megadeth have finally returned!

rating 9/10

The Wildhearts - Chutzpah! Review

Its no secret to anyone whom has ever met that I am a huge Wildhearts fan! I have been ever since 'Don't Be Happy....Just Worry' all the way through the various splits and reunions right up til today, and I always will be!
I along with many other Wildhearts fans eagerly read the studio update blogs which the band posted whilst they were recording this album and felt the excitement grow like never before. Although when I read that they were down tuning the guitars I did start to feel a little anxious, but then again this band have never really conformed to any particular rules, and they can rightfully claim that no two albums really sound the same. (unlike a million other bands out there!)
So at one minute past midnight on Monday morning I was there at amazon (among others after having a few problems!) impatiently downloading my purchase of Chutzpah!, the latest instalment of Wildheart history.
Now first of all, the present line up of Ginger, CJ, Scott Sorry and Rich, seems to be the most stable line up the band has had in years. Chutzpah! is this line ups third studio release, the others being 2007 rifftastic 'The Wildhearts' and last years awesome covers album, 'Stop Is If You've Heard This Before vol 1'.
So how does Chutzpah compare?
Well let me just say, the boys are on form!
Yes they've tuned down the guitars, but to quote Ginger, "finally the guitars are in tune with the bass", and the songs still maintain that classic Wildhearts feel.
Album opener, 'The Jackson Whites' is a real; tour d' force, pounding along with a great riff, then mellowing for the verse, then a typical Ginger big chorus, and boy can Ginger write those!
Next up is 'Platstic Jebus', which has a deceitful opening, and slows the pace a little, but is still one hell of a track.
Following that is albums lead single, the Scott penned 'The Only One', which is a great modern day rock ballad I guess, with Scott turning in a great lead vocal performance.
Next up is 'John of Violence', which is a typical Ginger/Wildhearts melodic rocker. To be honest this track could easily have been on Wildhearts album, or even any of Ginger's solo albums.
The we get 'You Are Proof That Not All Women Are Not Insane', which is another stroke of Ginger genius.
Next up we have the mighty 'Tim Smith', which has a riff that wouldnt be out of place on any of Metalica's better releases. This track would have fitted really well on 2007's The Wildhearts album, and I have to say its bloody Great!
The we get 'Low Energy Vortex', with its gentle pianno opening. This is a really great song, some nice riffs and an amazing Slash esque solo.
The track with the hard task of following that is ' You Took The Sunshine From New York', which is a beutifuly personal Ginger track that would have fitted onto any of Gingers solo albums. It breaks the pace alittle, giving you the chance to catch your breath, plus its pretty commercial and could possibly make a good single.
Next up we have another melodic rocker (wildhearts style) in 'Mazel Tov Cocktail'. Another great track.
And then finally we have the albums closing and title track, 'Chutzpah!', which is great blast of pure Wildhearts energy. A great track
Chutzpah is a really good album and deserves to bring the band (and Ginger in particular) the commercial success that they really deserve, lets face it, love or hate him, Ginger has probably the best and most prolific song writer in rock for the last 20 years or so!
One strange thing about Chutzpah is that although its the most collaborative Wildhearts album to date, its the one with the closest feel to a Ginger solo album!

The problem you get with The Wildhearts is that they are so volatile and could implode (as they have done so many times before!) at any time, but if god forbid that should happen, then they have given us probably their strongest album to date, and what an epitataph it would be!

rating 10/10

Insane Clown Posse - Bang Pow Boom Review

It is unfortunately rare that Insane Clown Posse get noticed by major corporate media outlets. So, we’re going to give them some love. Once considered in bad taste or just plain pointless, the bread winners of Psychopathic Records have developed a expansive fan cult for an underground artist. At their peak, the Insane Clown Posse released numerous albums in a semi-coherent storyline linked by “Joker’s Cards”. This series of seven “cards” introduced The Dark Carnival — a metaphorical representation of what could be purgatory -0 where one’s soul is judged before being sent to Heaven (Shangri-La) or Hell (Hell’s Pit). The most recent efforts by ICP (The Tempest, Psychopathics From Outer Space) hinted at the end of this story, but apparently they are returning to their roots with Bang! Pow! Boom!, scheduled for release on September 1st, 2009.
What does this mean for the fans known as “juggalos”? Based on the audio sample promoting the album (scroll down), it likely means more skits, haunted backdrops and a slew of new tracks guaranteed to please. It also means a pretty extensive, yet-to-be-announced North American tour. Finally, Bang! Pow! Boom! will be released in three different editions coded as red, green and blue — each of which with a different intro and bonus track.

Bang Pow Boom really is a return to form for the wicket clowns along with a return to the styles of music that made them (in)famous with Great Milenko, Rioddle bOx and Amazing Jeckle Bros!

Rating 10/10

Gasoline Queen - Gas For The Underclass Ep Review

Swedish Rockers Gasoline Queens return with Gas For The Underclass, a great slab of sleazy rock and roll.
Opening with the melodic high tempo'ed 'Down All Around' they set the atmosphere perfectly for this ep.
Gasoline manage to write great stright edged rock, which just gets you moving no matter what mood you were in to start with. Musically very solid with very well written songs and a great vocalist in Dee Hoffmann.
Theres not a bad note yet alone a bad track on this 4 track ep, it can only be matter of time before these guys break huge!

If you like great rock music then you're going to love Gasoline Queen.

rating 10/10

mber - Dirty Drinks and One night Stands Review

'Slömber is a rock n’ roll explotion from Norway. Taking on the heritage of scandi-rockers such as Gluecifer and Backyard Babies, Slömber represent the new wave of Norwegian rock. With the rawness of Motörhead, the attitude of a young Guns n’ Roses and the riffs of Mötley Crüe, this is a hybrid of the best from all the last decades in rock.'
Well at least thats what it says in the bio on their myspace page, and to be fair I can see where they're coming from. The songs are great, they do have the 'rawness of Motorhead' and many contain the ' attitude of a young Guns n’ Roses and the riffs of Mötley Crüe', but much of this gets lost by the production which feels very thin and the drums almost get lost somewhere in the mix in many place.
There are quite a few great tracks here, and 'Dirty Drinks....' is a great follow up to 'Fire In The Jailhouse', but as I said the production really does let it down for me, but if you can get past that then you're likely to really enjoy this album.
Looking forward to the next album, lets just hope that get a better producer!

rating - 8/10 (for the songs and band0
rating - 4/10 (for the production)