Bill Ward (Black Sabbath) - Accountable Beasts (2015)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal

Label - Self Released (available through iTunes)

 

Track listing:

 

01 - Leaf Killers

02 - Accountable Beasts

03 - Katastrophic World

04 - D.O.T.H.

05 - First Day Back

06 - As It Is In Heaven

07 - Ashes

08 - Straws

09 - The Wall OF Death

So without warning or fanfare, Black Sabbath's legendary original drummer releases his third, and first in eighteen years!), solo album up on the world.
And to be honest, the album sounds exactly as you would expect, with a sound that fits somewhere in between that of his debut (Ward One - Along The Way) and its follow up (When The Bough Breaks).
Opener, Leaf Killers begins with a heavy chugging riff, before piano and orchestration kicks in. A great opener and more importantly a great song.
The albums title track follows, Accountable Beasts. This song really picks up the tempo, and has a loose feel to it, in fact the entire album has a raw garage feel to it, with Bill avoiding the trappings of over producing the tracks, which really brings out the quality of the songs.
Katrastrophic World follows with its menacing atmospheres and doomy riffs. This could have been worked up into a great Sabbath track had the reunion gone to plan!
D.O.T.H is a track that could have fitted well on Ward One - Along The Way. A great song in its own right, but in my opinion the weakest one so far into the album.
Next we have First Day Back, a song with a strange beginning to say the least, funky guitars and sound bites. A great if quirky (in places) song that again would have easily fitted on Ward One.
AS It Is In Heaven is I guess the albums ballad. Its a great song, but as with most tracks on Bill's solo albums, its not quite what you are expecting. I love this song!
Ashes follows with its chugging riffs, but slow melodic vocal. Another great song, that morphs through many tempos and changes before it reaches its conclusion.
Straws is a track that some fans may have heard previously, as I am sure it was made available a few years ago whilst Bill was working on his shelved Beyond Aston project (A project that I pray will one day see the light of day!). Still its a great if rather dark song, another of my favourites.
Finally we have the albums mighty closer, The Wall Of Death, which clocks in at around the ten minute mark. Its a monster, a really great song.
Despite all the recent claims about Bills health issues he plays drums on seven of the nine album tracks, playing alongside long time collaborators, guitarist-keyboardist Keith Lynch, bassist Paul Ill, drummers Ronnie Ciago and Walter Earl and a number of vocalists, including his daughter Emily.

This album proves that there is plenty of life in the Black Sabbath legend, along with vast amounts of creativity it would seem too.

Accountable Beasts is a good honest old Hard Rock album that is well worth checking out.

Vary Highly Recommended!!

Rating - 10/10

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”

OZZY OSBOURNE - Memoirs Of A Madman (2014)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal

Label - Legacy

 

Track listing:

01 - Crazy Train
02 - Mr. Crowley
03 - Flying High Again
04 - Over The Mountain
05 - Bark At The Moon
06 - The Ultimate Sin
07 - Miracle Man
08 - No More Tears
09 - Mama, I'm Coming Home
10 - Road To Nowhere
11 - Perry Mason
12 - I Just Want You
13 - Gets Me Through
14 - Changes (feat. Kelly Osbourne)
15 - I Don't Wanna Stop
16 - Let Me Hear You Scream
17 - Paranoid (Live at The Roundhouse, London 2010)
(Previously unreleased)

"Memoirs Of A Madman" serves as a great reminder of Ozzy's career, spanning audio release featuring 17 of OZZY OSBOURNE's greatest hit singles remastered and compiled in one place for the first time in his career.
This set offers fans of the multi-platinum recording artist, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and three-time Grammy winning singer and songwriter the ultimate collection from Ozzy's distinguished solo career.
In 1979, after a ten-year journey, Ozzy and his band mates - hard rock/metal pioneers Black Sabbath - parted ways, which opened the book to an amazing new chapter as Ozzy embarked on an incredible solo career.
From the first notes of Ozzy's 1980's solo debut 'Blizzard Of Ozz' and follow-up 'Diary Of A Madman' to classic albums 'Bark At The Moon' and 'No More Tears', no hard rock / metal solo artist had quite the same reach as Ozzy, whose distinctive vocal delivery and larger than life onstage persona quickly endeared him to millions of rockers.
Ozzy's influence never stopped as the years went on, from the creation of the successful rock event Ozzfest to an unlikely turn as a television star on MTV's hit series The Osbournes.
For Ozzy, though, his heart remained in the music: his tenth studio album, 2010's 'Scream', debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard charts and featured the No. 1 Mainstream Rock smash "Let Me Hear You Scream", included here of course.
This is the audio only package with all songs sounding wonderfully remastered.
It is highly recommended to get as well the two-disc DVD set which includes classic music videos, along with unreleased and out-of-print live performances, plus interviews.
This is definitely a long-awaited collection of Ozzy's visual material that, up until this release, has never been available in one place and much less in digital media.
"Memoirs Of A Madman" is an almost perfect compilation, the only complain it's the omission of one of Ozzy's best songs ever; "Shot In The Dark".
Apart from that, this is a must have.
Rating - 9/10

Red Dragon Cartel - Red Dragon Cartel (Japanese Edition) (2014) Review

Genre - Hard Rock / Melodic Rock / Modern Rock
Label - Frontiers Records

Track listing:

01 - Deceived

02 - Shout It Out
03 - Feeder (feat. Robin Zander)
04 - Fall From The Sky ~ Seagull
05 - Wasted (feat. Paul DiAnno)
06 - Slave
07 - Big Mouth (feat. Maria Brink)
08 - War Machine
09 - Redeem Me (feat. Sass Jordan)
10 - Exquisite Tenderness
11 - Feeder (Acoustic Version) [Japanese bonus track]

Guitar legend Jake E. Lee, the man behind Badlands and one of Ozzy Osbourne’s most famous albums, Bark At The Moon, is back after almost two decades out of the spotlight with his new band RED DRAGON CARTEL, and their self-titled debut to be released by Frontiers Records.

Clearly standing out from his countless contemporaries, Jake E. Lee first rose to international prominence as Ozzy Osbourne's sideman during the raucous '80s hard rock movement. Lee's signature guitar work and songwriting contributions on such million-selling albums as Bark At The Moon and The Ultimate Sin helped further to cement Osbourne's credibility during that decade, while Lee, himself, soared into the stratosphere as rock's latest guitar hero.
Following his tenure with Ozzy, Lee went on to create arguably his best and most compelling music in the late '80s and early '90s with the short-lived hard blues based outfit Badlands with short term former Black Sabbath vocalist ray Gillan. In recent years, the reclusive icon has resurfaced only occasionally appearing on various tribute records and solo releases.
In 2014, the famed guitarist returns with his new project, Red Dragon Cartel.
Recorded at the Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas, the self-titled debut from Red Dragon Cartel was produced by Lee and bassist Ronnie Mancuso (Beggars and Thieves), then mixed and mastered by Kevin Churko (Hinder, Ozzy). The band is completed with front man Darren James Smith and drummer Jonas Fairley.
However, the recording session was also gifted with some guest talent including singers Paul Di’Anno (ex-Iron Maiden), Robin Zander of Cheap Trick, as well as females Sass Jordan and Maria Brink (In This Moment), and Five Finger Death Punch’s Jeremy Spencer adding vocals.
And how do Red Dragon Cartel sound?
Simply put, pretty damn fine!
Red Dragon Cartel's sound is generally straight up melodic heavy rock with a modern tone, The music being driven by Lee's wall of riffage and wicked guitar solos. Additionally, underneath all this is some serious groove getting your toe tapping, while you're banging your head.
Perhaps the only Ozzy-like track on the disc is opener and lead single "Deceived" (a highlight), which possesses a no-holds-barred Bark At The Moon melodic energy. You really could imagine Ozzy singing the lead on this one! Paired together with "Shout It Out", these two hooky, guitar-driven groove monsters make for a powerful pair of openers. Plus Shout It Out has a real modern singalong feel to it that just makes it irresistible.
But even if the album revolves around Jake E. Lee’s endless talent, this is no guitarists solo album and it proves interesting to see how each of the guest artists are able to somehow slice off a bit of the Lee pie to showcase their wares. For instance, Zander on the track "Feeder" shines with an almost psychedelic feel and Maria Brink provides a Joan Jett-like moment that is a nice change up on "Big Mouth".
Haunting and melodic, "Fall From The Sky" is another stand-out, as is the bona fide pedal-to-the (old school) metal nugget "Wasted" featuring first Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di’Anno.
"Fall From the Sky" is fantastic ballad with superb instrumentation, centred on a strummed guitar pattern while vocalist Smith shines and gives his most passionate performance.
Another power point, "War Machine", lies stylistically somewhere between classic Black Sabbath and modern metal. Additionally, Sass Jordan's guest vocal on "Redeem Me" helps it to stand out from the rest of the hard-hitting pack as a straight-up and gritty blues rocker - one that's fabulously reminiscent of Badlands.
However, Lee's most vicious and enticing riffs (possibly) ever are heard on "Slave", which is another highlight here. You can hear a terrific palm muted fast picked riff that blends into an atmospheric verse before slamming into a fist-pumping shout along chorus.
Red Dragon Cartel's self-titled debut record is an impressive amalgam of Lee’s past output mixed with a modern spin. Blues inspired killer riff driven hard rock with melodic vocals is still the blueprint that Jake Lee works too. Great musicianship, asce production and some cracking songs!

Very Highly Recommended.


Rating - 9/10

Black Sabbath - 13 (2013)

Genre - Heavy Metal / Hard Rock
Label - Vertigo / Universal

Track listing -

01 - End Of The Beginning
02 - God Is Dead?
03 - Loner
04 - Zeitgeist
05 - Age Of Reason
06 - Live Forever
07 - Damaged Soul
08 - Dear Father

09 - Methademic (Deluxe Version Bonus Track)
10 - Peace Of Mind (Deluxe Version Bonus Track)
11 - Pariah (Deluxe Version Bonus Track)

12 - Naivete In Black (Best Buy Deluxe Version Exclusive Bonus Track)


Black Sabbath return with (almost) their original line up and the first full studio album to feature Ozzy Osbourne on lead vocals in 35 years. (The last being 1978's Never Say Die.) In the absence of original drummer Bill Ward we see Rage Against The Machine drummer, Brad Wilk, joining the legends Tony Iommi (Guitars), Geezer Butler (Bass), and Ozzy Osbourne (Vocals).Production duties are handled by one Rick Rubin, a masterly producer whom has had a rather hit and miss track record as of late, but its good to say that he managed to pull off a great job here, capturing the original Sabbath sound rather well.
       On a side note, before I begin the review proper is warming to note that 13 has given Black Sabbath their first UK No1 album in 43 years (Paranoid being the last!) and their first ever No1 album on the US Bill board top 200!
        Now for the review!
The album opens with End of the Beginning. A brave choice for an album opener clocking in at a little over eight minute long, but it works well setting the tone for what is too follow! The song has a very understated epic feel it. Heavy in place with Ozzy providing a great melodic and slightly unsettling lead vocal whilst Iommi provides some great riffs throughout! A great opening song!
Next up we have the albums lead single, God Is Dead?. This song is a killer, and I can totally see why it was chosen as the albums lead single. Heavy, with lots of twists and turns with the closing sections bringing classics like Hole In The Sky to mind. A great song!
Loner follows, changing the pace and feel a little. The song comes across as a sort of mixture of Johnny Blade and N.I.B. A great song .
Next up we have the albums first gem and future classic, Zeitgeist. A mellow track that is very reminiscent of Planet Caravan. I love the atmosphere that this song creates with its simple and restrained structure! Love Iommis guitar work throughout and especially the solo. this song shows that Black Sabbath have lost non of their 70's magic.
Age Of Follows, changing the tempo a little. A heavy track that's guaranteed to get the crowd fired up in a live environment, with some great riffs.
Next up we have Live Forever. This songs sees Iommi and co pick up the pace. A great song in the veins of Children Of The Grave, Back Street Kids, and Hole In The Sky.
Following Live Forever we have the awesome Damaged Soul, a very heavy blues work out, and a guaranteed future classic. this track can holds its own along side ANY track from the bands legendary first six albums. The atmosphere, the riffs, Ozzy's harmonica, everything just slots perfectly into place with this one. A great song
Closing out the album proper we have Dear Father. A great song that deals with a rather dark subject matter lyrically. Another future classic! Plenty of tempo changes to drive the song along. It even ends with the thunderstorm and rain together with church bells reminiscent of the the debut albums title track Black Sabbath.

Next we have the three bonus tracks that come with the deluxe edition.
First up is Methademic. The song begins with a gentle acoustic opening section before exploding into an uptempo melodic rocker, that to me has a similar feel (musically) to I Witness. I have a feeling that Geezer was heavily involved in the writing of this one as certain sections remind me of his solo bands (GZR) Mysterons from the album Black Science. Guaranteed to become a live favourite!
Peace Of Mind follows, the shortest song of 13's entire tracklist, and despite a promising opening with some great lyrics, the song quickly becomes rather forgetable, almost Sabbath by numbers.
Pariah follows, another gem in my opinion. A melodic track that just works.

Finally we have the Best Buy Deluxe editon exclusive track, Naivety In Black. A fast tempo-ed track, with some autobiographical lyrics and some great driving riffs! Another gem worth tracking down!

So there we have it, Black Sabbath return with an album that has been along time in the making, bearing in mind that they originally reunited back in 1995, and ended up scrapping album plans to disband agin and continue with various other projects.
the band can rest assured that in 13 they have created an album that they can be proud of, an album that can stand shoulder to shoulder with any album from their illustrious back catalogue, now I for one am just hoping that this isn't their final album! With 13 they have proven that they have plenty of gas left in the tank! Sure I would have loved Bill Ward to have been a part of this, and if there is a follow up album I hope he can reconcile his differences with the rest of the guys.

Now in my dream world we have have a follow up album from Black Sabbath, and new solo albums from Iommi, Geezer, Ozzy (?) and Bill Ward!

A great album, well worth the wait!

Rating - 10/10