| CD REVIEW Rich Gordon – Lucid Recess – M.A.D. (Maniacal Area Damage) – Michael On Fire – Sanchez (Sweden) |
|
|
TSM/SLW Promotion, July 2011, Part 4 : Rich Gordon – Lucid Recess – M.A.D. (Maniacal Area Damage) – Michael On Fire – Sanchez (Sweden) Whoopie...4th TSM/SLW Promotions special this month, with one returnee. Went through this one rather swiftly, but not without mentioning all relevant info on the bands. As per usual some really good stuff, but for once also a slightly minor album (see later). Don't let that spoil your reading pleasure though! ----------------------------------------------------- This Fife (neighborhood of Glasgow, if I ain't mistaken) based Scottish solo artist and multi-instrumentalist started his career as a musician as a bagpipe player at the age of 10, but it wasn't until the age of 15 that he came to his current vocation and musical direction. At 15, that's when the youngster for the first time saw guitarist Joe Satriani perform, and this completely turned him towards the guitar. Throughout his high school and young adulthood years, Richard continued to collect other instruments, learning to play the saxophone, guitar, drums, keyboards, and a variety of other miscellaneous musical instruments he might need for the purposes of recording his own music. At the age of 19 Gordon started writing his own music, then self-recorded and eventually self-released (all with relatively great haste) his first EP, 2004's The Annals Of 2004. In April 2006 he self-released his first full-length Heroism: The Annals Of 2006, a Progressive concept album set up as an audio comic book. As the original was made with limited resources, he eventually re-recorded the album (using live drums this time) an released the new version in 2009. However, in the meantime he'd joined with drummer Calum J. Gordon (euhm...any relation, guys?) and bassist Liam Upton, whom contributed to the predominantly vocal Torn: The Annals Of 2008 (which also featured newer versions of songs off his debut EP), an album which was subsequently released in December 2008. Meanwhile Richard has perfected his studio somewhat (hence the re-recording of his debut full-length) and one Garry Stanton came along to record his debut album Indigo Flats. Rich himself would make brief appearances on the album playing saxophone, lead guitar, and some harmony vocals. Over the years Richard and his guitar playing brother Chris, joined by a multitude of other musicians, have been the core of a solid band line-up of The Band Of Brothers (Rich changing his role in the band as needed). In mid 2010 they were joined by drummer extraordinaire Niall Hutchinson, and formed the 3-piece band Chastise The Renegade to play a combination of Rich's own songs and renditions of some of the members' favourite covers, théir way! With Sound: The Annals Of 2010, Rich added another 11 tracks as possibilities to be added to the band's set-list. He again recorded everything on his own for a mainly instrumental album (there's only the one song “Dignity”, and the album's spoken word intro). Over the years, of course, Rich has sought out similar artists to Satriani, people such as Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, Andy Timmons, but he's also gone beyond those instrumental artists to include the likes of Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater, Frank Zappa, Primus, Jordan Rudess, and Classical composers Tchaikovsky and Debussy among his influences. All of this comes together perfectly in his music, some of which you can find posted in the “Media” section of (www.) rgannals.com (3 videos, one for the current album's track “Smile”), and his pages at Reverbnation(link from the man's own website – same 3 videos, plus 6 audio tracks, 2 of which off new album) and MySpace (again, link from own website – this displaying 5 older tracks only). Now, while it's difficult to begin with to do anything “new” in instrumental guitar music, Rich's compositions (this time based on the idea of being able to “see” sound, and visualising what it would look like) all sound real great, and any of his influences would feel proud to call 'em their own. With a couple of exceptions (one track only lasting 125 seconds, two lasting “only” 4:32 and 4:55, and yet another clocking in at 5:00 on the dot) the tracks on the album have a duration well exceeding the 5-minute length, with the album closing “Sound” crowing it all at a length of 11 ½ minutes (making for a stunning album length of no less than 65 minutes!). Still, there's never a dull moment, in àny of the tracks! Personally, I'm not too fond of Rich's vocal performance on that one song, and find it a blessing of sorts that the album is indeed predominantly instrumental! It's in that spirit that I invite, or rather urge, lovers of instrumental guitar music to check out this Scottish artist, perhaps even buy one of his albums? Hey, dó read the blog section on the man's own site...there's something interesting there for those among you looking for freebies! 90/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Another album TSM/ SLW sent us twice...this time the first review (still available for all your fact-finding needs) of it dating back to 31/08/2010. So...what's new? What interesting things happened to the Indian Alternative Metal outfit since? Ah well, for starters they partook to the 2010 edition of the Great Indian Rock festival tour. Along with other Indian Rock/ Metal bands, the line-up for the tour also included mega-stars Meshuggah. They also headlined at IIT Guwahati Rock O' Phoenix, alongside Switzerland's Eluveitie, and were again invited to play at the Kingfisher RSJ PubRockFest tour. Other important 2010 events for LR include the Sikkim Music Fest (featuring Iran's Arsames and Nepal's X-Mantra), The Unseen Underground Pub Fest tour, their hometown's Fireball Vol. II (with Bhayanak Maut and East India Company, among others), being again invited (May) to play at the Café Live And Loud in Gangtok, and of course the band's multiple headline appearances at colleges throughout the Assam province. Most important perhaps, was being seeing Engraved Invitation voted N°3 in the list of “Top 10 Indian Albums of 2010” by the readers of India's leading Rock magazine RSJ. That's it...and no small peanuts by any reasoning, if you don't mind my saying so! By the way, in the meantime I've found an even better source for this band's music (5 tracks off Engraved Invitation, download possibility for the complete Painstaking Obsession EP, and more) to check out. Do it a.s.a.p.! Rating below is same as in original review! 93/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Hum...when a band with two full-lengths to its name (the latter of which even released officially through a record label) comes along with a promo baring only material from its past, I tend to be somewhat sceptical. I mean, is it fair to promote yourself with what's probably your best material? Ah well...more about that later! Not to be confounded with the Thrash Metal band by the name of M.A.D. from Bad Dürrenberg (Saxony part of Germany, left us the 1990 demo Of Life In Death; reformed in 2006 as a trio with two of its original members in 2006, and saw their original guitarist join 'em also in mid 2007), the Ingolstadt based Heavy Rock quartet by the name of M.A.D. (Maniacal Area Damage) was formed in 2003 consisting of singer Jochen S. Bach, guitarist Robert Mayer, bassist Andreas Laubmeier, and drummer Martin Pöndl. They almost immediately found a fan at provincial newspaper Donaukurier, who claimed that it was clear that the band was cutting a style quite their own from its influences of Classic Rock and Heavy Metal...later earning 'em the title of local defenders of “True Metal”. Highlights that year were participations in the “bigger” events Rock For Asia and Mexico Open Air. In 2006 the band made 2nd place in the “Newcomer” awards, and saw their song “Life Ain't Easy” used as part of the Hitpack Fresh – Vol. 7 compilation. It was also the year the band self-released the debut EP Ready To Stop, containing 3 studio songs (one the aforementioned one) and two live tunes. One of the highlights thís year, was a support slot with Bonfire. 2007 saw the band re-record the studio tracks and adding 6 new ones for their debut full-length Warning!. Off that album, and that same year, the track “Stealin' My Time” made it to the covermount CD Hear It! Vol.33 of Rock It! Magazine. In 2008 Soundcheck magazine not only put videos for the tracks “Dragon's Eye” and Life Ain't Fair” on their covermount DVD Club Gig, but also put the audio version of “Dragon's Eye” on their covermount Best Of Talents compilation. The same song was also contributed to the New Rock compilation. The album itself got good reviews from international press and comparisons to AC/DC and Rainbow, and earned the band two prices at the German Rock & Pop Awards 2007, the first in the category “Best Hard 'n' Heavy Album”, the second for “Best Hard 'n' Heavy Singer” (signed by Scorpions' Klaus Meine, by the way). The band intensified its gigging, playing at many biker gatherings, some smaller festivals, and as support to Paul Gilbert (twice in May 2007), Shakra (October 2007)...and the guys even made it to Belgium once, playing at Antwerpen's De Rots. It was all impressive enough, eventually, to find the band signing a deal with the relatively new German label 7Hard for the June 2009 release of the band's second album For Crown And Ring, which turned out a bit heavier than its predecessor. Special highlights on this album were the covers of Tina Turner's “Nutbush City Limits” (including saxophone play and solo) and the Blues traditional “Bad Boy Boogie”. Live, the band preceded the release party with Mad Max by a support slot to Eric Sardinas in April...then went on to present the album at several radio stations. Although the band put links to the several magazines and webzines in the “Press” section of their own website (www.) mad-rocks.de, the bio on that same site reveals nothing at all about the album's reception (weird, uh?). The guys opened 2010 with a support slot with local idols Ohrenfeindt, and in June released videos to the album's tracks “Don't Sell Your Soul”, and “Nutbush City Limits”, further promoting the album on various small festivals and biker meetings. Somewhere along the line, I failed to notice in the band's list of gigs when they supported Edguy and Saxon (must've been at one of the band's festival appearances, for sure?). In April of this year the band announced they were busy writing new songs which they plan to record between October and January of next year. Meanwhile, they also got a deal with TSM/SLW to distribute this 7-track compilation album they made up from 3 tracks off each album (including of course “Nutbush...”), and a live version of AC/DC's “Back In Black”...and as you know I felt some dubiousity about that. Ah well, assuming the band is honest enough to give us a fair cross section of their worth (those in doubt can always check the material at hand in the aforementioned website's “Video & Audio” section (the player only containing snippets, you may be better off with the full-lengths posted at (www.) myspace.com/maniacalareadamage). Personally, I feel the singer's comparison to Bon Scott is quite over-rated, but Bach doés have a nice raw/ rough/ hoarse high pitch. It's not his “natural” voice though, as one can hear clearly in those moments when he sings in lower octaves (most prominently on “No New Day Dawning” from the first album (and also on the new promo). Major question to be asked is of course whence the necessity of this compilation promo comes from. Did the band not “fulfill its expectations” as far as sales figures are concerned? Is the band perhaps looking for a better deal, or did they have a deal for the one album only? Questions to which neither you or I will ever get the answer, probably. Now although this promo is actually a compilation, which normally we don't rate, we need a standard, right? Below's my appreciation rating of this band. 83/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Darn...you know, the name of this artists sounded só familiar (and not just because of M. Jackson's hair burning event) I felt certain I'd come across this Americana playing act before. What with a career spanning 4 decades (probably meaning he started playing around the end of the '80s) and a repertoire of 13 albums (quite a share of which released privately), me having come across this American bard before, but a quick search in my Concreteweband own archives soon convinced me of the contrary. Michael and his band have traveled North America from top to bottom, from coast to coast, playing over a hundred concerts a year, for years on end, and in every kind of environment imaginable: from bars to beautiful theaters, private homes to major outdoor festivals, in mines and mountaintops, and from playing in prisons to performing for Presidents of the US. He's been on network television programs, appeared in film, TV and stage productions, and reached millions of people through his online presence through networks such as YouTube. In January 2010, Californian newspaper The Ventura County Star named his Oct. 2009 show as one of the Top Five Concerts Of The Year. In spite of all his popularity, MOF has had to release most of his albums outside the mainstream of the music industry, due to having very strong viewpoints on whom he is, what he is, and what he does. In other words, he's been quite resolute in upholding his musical and moral ideals. As a quite browse through his new album will tell you, MOF's music is somewhat eclectic, taking ispiration from a broad range of rootsy styles including Country, Blues, Folk, ballads, swamp rhythms, and more. Most of the songs are based on vocals (du-uh!), acoustic guitar, backing electric guitar, upright bass, and percussion, and “geust” instruments depending on individual needs of songs, will be violin, banjo, piano, mouth harmonica, dobro, sax, and organ (Michael himself not only singing with that nice hoarse tonality, but also playing the acoustic guitar and occasionally switching to the piano/ organ). As mentioned, the electric guitar is used mainly as backing, but occasionally it will be put forward in the mix for a more Rocking song as well. AS far as 13 songs on the new album go, MOF has made things very easy for us, cataloging himself which “sub-genre” each track should be placed in. Now since thàt info was nót put on his website (www.) michaelonfire.com, here it is in a nutshell. In the category “Alt-Americana Rock” were classified the album opening “Righteous Man”, “Violet Skies”, and “Good Man”. Under “Americana Folk”, he listed “Chief Redburn's Violin” (evidently, you can assume that's where the violin comes in on this album). Under “Americana Country” comes “Marlboro Country”. “Silence” and “Thank You For Today” are obviously ballads, while the album closing “Watch the Show” is listed as “Alt-Ballad”. Further sub-genre-fications come with “Look Me In The Eye” (Alt-Americana Swamp Rock), “Apache Wind” and “Before The Wind” (Americana Folk-Rock), and “Breathing Of The Sun” (Alt-Blues). And now here's the nicest bit of news you could expect: each and every song off this album (plus some extra off earlier albums) can be listened to in the “Music” section of the band's own website (in the “video” section you can also view some live clips, obviously not of current material). In all honesty, it took me several listening sessions to really get into this artist, but each session increased my appreciation for the subtle approach of his music! 84100 ----------------------------------------------------- All musicians in the Swedish band Sanchez (which also operates under the name Sanchez Sweden) are musicians with a history in the music business since the late '80s. The band's founder José Sanchez could even be found singing in the early '80s. Over the years he's fronted a myriad of bands, including Fierce Conviction, Lies, and Empire Saint. Of the band as a whole (guitarist Kieven Klevmyr, bassist/ keyboardist/ backing singer Marc White, and drummer Matt Drumhead completing the set) it can be said that some of the guys have played in opening acts for the likes of Dee Snider, Paul DiAnno, White Lion, the Poodles, Easy Action, and have even been on tour in the South America (certainly that is not the case for Klevmyr, who's by far the junior in the band). Although José has been in several types of Rock and Metal acts, his preference always went out to the Glam/ Hard Rock and AOR music of the '80s, and therefore started Sanchez as a solo project in late 2006. However, straight after the release of the 2007 self-titled full-length debut album, he turned the project into a band in order to spread his music through live performances, which swiftly won the band a reputation for being an energetic and devoted live act. The album, while not getting rave reviews all around, was reasonably well received by the media. As a band, the guys next released the 5-track EP Nightride on April Fools' Day 2009. through Blue Topaz Recordings. Now the cover artwork on that EP looked somewhat familiar to me, so I checked but could not find any trace of it on this website. Well, too bad, but hey...here's the new album, promoted as a priority release by TSM/SLW. And now...comes the difficult part of this review, because I have a negative item to mention about this band! First though, the positive stuff, okay? Well, the band's Melodic Hard Rock (including semi-acoustic ballads and some heavier tracks in between) can hardly be accused of being complex, as the tunes all have a fairly simple build-up and are based on relatively easy mid-slow guitar melodies, rather frequently augmented with atmospheric keyboards. A nice touch is the short sampler openings to a couple (actually 5) of the songs. José's voice is somewhat weird, with a slight hoarseness and strong nasality to it, but it's definitely a thing one can get used to. The trouble (and this may hurt) is with the bassist's backing vocals. I mean...I'm sorry to say, but he sounds (and the couple of homophile friends I have agree on this) like an exaggerating pansy...which gives the band's music a “poseur” taste, I'm afraid! I mean, he sounds só awful it makes me wonder how the band was able to get a contract with 7Hard! Now, by all means don't take my words for granted, and check the songs posted at (www.) myspace.com/sanchezkicks. The thing is, there's only two songs off the new album, and in “Girls” the backing vocals aren't even that bad. Also, “Empty Words” is the only song on the album on which the bassist actually manages to make his voice harmonize somewhat with the lead singer. So...there's definitely some mis-representation here. My advice? Check whether your local record store happens to hold the album, and give it a decent listening session through headphones. Nah, if this is supposed to be “One of Sweden finest” (as mentioned in the info sheet the label/ band got us along with the promo copy of the album) then that country would be badly off. Luckily, we know truth is somewhat different! 75/100 ---------------------------------------------------- Tony. |
