Five recommended albums. Two new ones of old bands, two I picked up at recent shows and the reissue of a Classic.
Saxon - Carpe Diem
Saxon goes back a long time with me. 14 year old me bought The Strong Arm of the Law in 1980 and the rest as they say is history. History is often coming back in Saxon songs and meanwhile we are 25 studio albums on and Saxon still rocks. Actually they metal even more on this album, maybe as a reaction to cover album Inspirations released a year before. I believe you only need to hear the opening trio of the album to realize we have one of their better ones of the later years in hands. Carpe Diem is a typical Saxon title track, which usually has the highest chance of sticking in their live set. Age of Steam is fast and furious while The Pilgrimage gets back to the glory days of Crusader. Now Saxon manage to keep the level up and more important fast, so I highly enjoyed this album. Pity I won't be around when they tour The Netherlands in October with Diamond Head. Well Seize the Day we shall. Ending with a sad note. Coming back to The Hague a few weeks after release date I could not find a CD anywhere in town, so I had to order online, what kind of world we live in?
Voivod - Synchro Anarchy
I have a weird relationship with Voivod. Their uncomfortable sound did not land with younger me, so I was never really into them throughout the eighties. Then they started covering Pink Floyd and I did get Angel Rat and I believe also The Outer Limits. Why I don't know that, well the big 1995 CD robbery in my apartment reduced my collection dramatically. Then I lost them out of sight and never really got back until I heard a song of The Wake. That's when I realized that I probably would love Voivod if spending more time with them. I was one of the few people who bought the Noise years compilation and now Synchro Anarchy came to us. Nowadays I love their typical sound and voice. This album offers nine Voivod like catchy tunes, with my favorite Planet Eaters. Chances I go diving back in their history definitely grew again.
Edge of Forever - Seminol
I listened to this album online before deciding going to Breda to see them playing live in March. Well that was a great decision as live this band turned out to be a total surprise with all four members standing out. Alessandro Del Vecchio is the most famous name, because he appears all over the Frontiers catalogue. Well now I saw him singing live he can appear even more often for me. Edge Of Forever play melodic hard rock and passes therefore the longer track, the ballad and the faster rocker. The album ends with their live opening Seminole, which lasts ten minutes. According to Allessandro their best song is Wrong Decision and anyone into Rainbow /Dio years Black Sabbath probably will agree. So in the end this album got snowed under (like The Netherlands today) by the large stream of Frontiers releases. Now a favorite of mine.
PreHistoric Animals - The Magical Mystery Machine Chapter Two
Last week PreHistoric Animals released this album and to make matters even better they played live at de Boerderij. Apparently outside people attending PPE 2019 still a rather unknown band. Well I think this has to change over years as their music might please various fans. There is some prog and even some metallic side. But also Alternative rockers might find things to their liking just as AOR fans. Their music on stage immediately speaks loud to you and they have a very own sound and style. On album you do need definitely more time. This also not helped by the unclear written song titles on the back and the absence of lyrics, while being a concept album. I now played it a few times and without grasping all the details I can say this is an easy purchase for all already into the band. For those not knowing them yet give them a try as you will find something to like.
Heir Apparent - Graceful Inheritance
Saving the best for last a reissue of one of the best albums coming out of the eighties. During Covid I started slowly but surely replacing my vinyl collection with CD's. This also as I found I never played vinyl any longer, even during lockdown. For this album I would play it faster on Youtube as well, and then this re-release was announced. With the original cover that was not the bands choice. This album stood the test of time perfectly well as still I feel like shouting along with their anthems and bang my head when matters go fast. There is not much new to tell about this album I thought, until an interview in Aaardschok appeared. I never read And... Dogro lived on backwards. So this song with the intelligent lyrics also played with the backwards playing that was a hot item in the mid eighties. Heir Apparent rules as hard 36 years later.