Chris Catalyst -Life Is Often Brilliant (2017)

Genre - Rock / Pop / Alternative

Label - Pledge Music

Track listing:

01 - No regrets

02 -Same Old Sun

03 - Cracking Up

04 - Yeah - Oh No

05 - Wake Me Up On Monday

06 - How Do You Sleep

07 - Distance Over Time

08 - I Hope We Always Stay The Same

09 - Sticks and Stones

10 - Far

11 - You Die At The End

12 - Able Seamen

13 - When We Fall Apart (Bonus Track)

2016 proved to be a busy year for Eureka Machines main man, Chris Catalyst. Although his main band had decided to take some time out, he performed a few solo shows, a couple of shows with Ginger Wildheart,  played guitar for US rockers Ugly Kid Joe on their tour and toured with UK veteran rockers Terrorvision too. He also managed to find the time to record his rather excellent debut solo album too, and here it is in the form of Life Is Often Brilliant!
The album opens with the excellent 'No Regrets'. A great song with a stop start type of riff intro and a hugely melodic chorus section. Brilliant start to Life Is Often Brilliant!
'Same Old Sun' is up next, its intro changing the feel completely before the song kicks in. Once again the song has a huge chorus section. Next we have 'Cracking Up' which has a great opening riff. he rest of the song is pretty awesome too! Tons of tempo changes and vocal harmonies. 'Yeah - Oh No' follows, which has a rather Eureka Machines feel to it, only not as heavy. 'Wake Me Up On Monday' is just a great melodic track that would have fit perfectly on to any of the Eureka Machines albums. Great choice for a single! Another of the albums many highlights follows in the form of the awesome 'How Do You Sleep At Night'. This song is quickly becoming one of my favourite songs of all time! 'Distance Over Time' is up next. A beautiful atmospheric intro that just builds into an absolute monster of a song! Yet another highlight! Next up is 'I Hope We Always Stay The Same' which builds in a similar way to its predecessor, and proves to be every bit as much a great track!
'Sticks and Stones' follows, now I didn't really like this song when I first heard it, but it is a real grower, and sounds so much better within the context of this album! 'Far' follows, with its slick bridges and awesome harmonies. Yet another brilliant song. 'You Die At The End' is the albums penultimate song and an absolute classic ta boot! The album closes out with the subtle 'Able Seamen' but I've included the last track, 'When We Fall Apart' as a bonus track for a couple of reasons. Firstly its an absolutely excellent song that deserves to be on the album, and secondly, it was a given away as a bonus track at the very beginning of the pledge campaign, and is thus still available to anyone that pledges for the album!
Once again with Life Is Often Brilliant Chris Catalyst proves what a great song writer and musician he really is!

Life Is Often Brilliant is a blinding debut solo album from one the hardest working and most talented Uk musicians out there. Do yourselves a bloody huge favour and grab yourself a copy!

Rating: 10/10

Richards / Crane - Richards / Crane (2015)

Genre - Rock / Melodic Rock / Acoustic

Label - Pledge Music

Track listing:

01 - Homeward

02 - Everyone

03 - Here In The Light

04 - Black & White (Feat Myles Kennedy)

05 - Someday

06 - Lost

07 - Waiting On A Prayer

08 - Rainy Day

09 - Don't Cry For Me

10 - World Stand Still

Richards/Crane is a brand new project from Ugly Kid Joe front man Whitfield Crane and Another Animal guitarist Lee Richards. This their self titled debut album is released exclusively through pledge music as part of the pledge campaign for Ugly Kid Joe's latest album, 'Uglier Than They Used Ta Be'.
This album is about as far away from the Ugly Kid Joe release as Whitfield Crane could safely get! In place of raucous rockers we have acoustic driven melodic tunes, which again display an accomplished maturity within their song writing that only comes with experience.
Opener 'Homeward' has a laid back melancholy feel, driven along by the vocal melody and acoustic guitar. 'Everyone' is once again propelled along by the acoustic guitar, only this time augmented by subtle strings. 'Here In The Light' sees the gentle acoustic rhythms textured with some beautifully played electric guitar melodies. 'Black & White', which I guess is the albums lead single, features the vocal talents of a certain Mr Myles Kennedy, and proves to be a great song and solid introduction to the project.
'Someday' has a moody atmospheric feel to the music to accompany its positive lyrics. Quite possibly my favourite song on the album. 'Lost' is up next and is once more a beautiful song, this time the textured vocals driving the song, with a subtle string section augmentation. 'Waiting On A Prayer' quite possibly has the most rock feel to it, yet its still acoustically driven and for some reason it has a Crash Test Dummies feel to it!
'Rainy Day' is another beautiful and delicate little track, as is 'Don't Cry For Me'. Album closer 'World Stand Still' is a really great song.

On this self titled debut from Richards / Crane Lee Richards guitar playing is sublime, restrained and soulful, full of feeling, and Whitfield Crane is in fine voice.

Very Highly Recommended!

Rating - 10/10

Ugly Kid Joe - Uglier Than They Used Ta Be (2015)

Genre - Hard Rock

Label - Pledge Music / Metalville / UKJ Records

 

Track listing:

01. Hell Ain't Hard To Find
02. Let The Record Play
03. Bad Seed
04. Mirror The Man
05. She's Already Gone
06. Nothing Ever Changes
07. My Old Man (feat. Phil Campbell)
08. Under The Bottom (feat. Phil Campbell)
09. Ace Of Spades (feat. Phil Campbell)
10. Enemy
11. Papa Was A Rolling Stone (feat Dallas Frasca)

Californian rockers, Ugly Kid Joe return with their brand spanking new album, 'Uglier Than They Used Ta Be' on October 16th via Metalville / UKJ Records. (already available to those who pledged via pledgemusic!).
'Uglier Than They Used Ta Be' is the bands first full length studio album since 1996's Motel California, that's a gap of 19 years, (even Axl Rose's Gun's 'n' Roses have shorter gaps in between albums!) so its fair to say that this album is fairly eagerly anticipated by fans of both the band and the 90's hard rock scene. So how does this album fair? Well the first thing that the listener will notice is that the songs have a certain maturity about them nowadays. The angst and anger is still present withing the bands lyrics, but the songs have a more mature, polished and dare I say restrained feel to them. The guys have grown up as song writers, maybe robbing some of the songs of that certain energy that they may have once displayed, but replacing it with a more structured and rounded sound altogether.
Opening track ‘Hell Ain’t Hard To Find’ showcases the heavy funky riffs that Ugly Kid Joe are best remembered for, the song has a mature and polished sound to it with Whitfield Crane’s voice still having that soulful edge to it, as he tells us his story of seeking and finding something different.
‘Let The Record Play’ is a great twist on a relationship breakup, by comparing the emotions to an old record back in the day. It will strike a chord with everyone who has had that bad ending, but retains a great upbeat melody. ‘Bad Seed’ has a great bass line and a great heavy riff ta boot, with the song telling us about a person’s inner turmoil and struggle to fight back, while ‘Mirror Of The Man’ is a slower laid back track, but with dark lyrics observing the state of people’s attitude towards the state of the world today.
‘She’s Already Gone’ raises the tempo again, and as the title suggests, the lyrics are once again about a relationship ending, all told via a sharp, heavy guitar riff.
‘Nothing Ever Changes’ will delight fans with just Whit’s vocals and a soft subtle guitar. Awesome song!
‘My Old Man’ the first song to feature a guest appearance from Phil Campbell (Motorhead), has one of the heaviest guitar sounds on the album, that despite being one of the albums more melodic tracks!
Phil Campbell also guests on the albums next track, ‘Under The Bottom’, which is another stomper of a hard rock track! Phil also features on the bands ripping roaring cover of the Motorhead classic 'Ace Of Spades'!
‘Enemy’ is another slow melodic track, not exactly a ballad, just that type of atmospheric tune that  Ugly Kid Joe do so well. The final track is another cover, this time being ‘Papa Was A Rollin Stone’ with special guest Dallas Frasca. It's a great song, but maybe not the best album closer that they could have chosen.
 Production is excellent, not strange as guitarist Dave Fortman has become one of the most requested producers lately (he has worked with bands such as Superjoint Ritual, Slipknot as well as on both of Evanescence's multi-platinum selling albums).
'Uglier Than They Used Ta Be' is a solid return for one of the nineties best bands and is well worth checking out!

Rating - 9/10

Ugly Kid Joe - Stairway To Hell EP (2012)

Genre - Hard Rock / Rock
Label -

Track listing -

01 - Devils Paradise
02 - You Make Me Sick
03 - No One Survives
04 - I'm Alright
05 - Love Ain't True!
06 - Another Beer

Remeber 'Cats In The Cradle' and 'Everything About You'? Well I'm ashamed to say that that was pretty much the extent of my knowledge of Ugly kid Joes back catalogue, and well this new EP couldn't be any further removed form those too commercial hits if it tried. After a fifteen year break, Stairway To Hell see's the band return with a darker sound, that is especially evident on the opening two tracks, Devils Paradise and You make Me Sick!
No One Survives is a four minute epic, great song with once again quite dark lyrics, have these guys lost there sense of fun?
No, its here in I'm Alright, a track that seems to come across in places as Love Hate playing My Cherona, a great little fun tune though. Love Ain't True! is fun, with its disenchanted lyrics, love it, quite a shout along track, could be fun live!
Another Beer, is the closest that we get to hearing the Ugly Kid Joe of old, a great little three minute song.
On a whole this little Ep is a great release, with the band generally moving into a darker musical direction, yet showing that they are still capable of producing more of what originally bought them to the table.

A great Ep, looking forward to hearing a new album!

Rating 9/10