Michael Schenker Fest - Oceans of Slumber - Tribulation

Coming home sick after a short week travelling for work left me with time to listen a bit better to some interesting recent releases. So herewith my thoughts and buy recommendations.

Michael Schenker Fest - Resurrection
Last year Michael Schenker Fest hit Holland and it was one of those shows that blew me away. Michael Schenker getting back the three vocalists of the eighties. This together with Ted McKenna, Chris Glen and Steve Mann meant a party indeed. Going through a history of my youth sounded so good and the atmosphere and playing were on a high. So when a new album was announced, I knew I was going to buy it for completion and historical perspective alone. Now through the years I did not get all his albums, but a decent number. I never expect the impact that he first three MSG albums made on me, but at the same time the guitars always kept on sounding great. So when the album opens we get the first surprise with uptempo Heart and Soul, a fast rocker. On the guitar parts a certain Kirk Hammett starts a dual with Michael just to set the tone I guess. Next song Warrior is the hit from the album and allows all four vocalists to share the duties. With the singalong chorus this should becoem a live anthem. Actually quite a few songs tend to have this massive chorusses and should work fine on stage. The split between the vocalists is made and I like the Graham Bonnett song Night Moods as it fits his voice so well. The album sounds like a bunch of people having fun, making an album in the style we grew up with and love so much. Including Doogie White in the Fest made sense as his voice has a different colour as well. A final word for the guitar god himself as he still manages to talk to us through his solos. My only doubt is in the title Resurrection. This implies MSG was flat on the floor before, while I have seen several very strong shows in different setups (MSG, Temple 0f Rock) over the past decade. I guess "continuing on top of the game" didn't sound as catchy as album title.

Oceans of Slumber - The Banished Heart
Well did they make it hard for us listeneres on this one. Oceans of Slumber announced over the last months that their new album would be dark and heavy. When I first heard it not giving it all attention, maybe disappointment was lurking around the corner. Well that got corrected by now, but still listening to this album in full ain't no walk through the park. Putting perspectives I discovered this band when releasing their debut Aetherial with Ronnie Allen on vocals. Being something very new and refreshing to me that album became my album of the year 2012. When Winter was released in 2016 we got a surprise with swap of vocals to Cammie Gilbert. This new setup worked very well for me as well and having the chance to see them on stage opening for My Dying Bride and later Enslaved I could see how great they are live. So we have here a potential favorite band for the coming decade in hands, so expectations rise accordingly. This explains the initial disappointment as well, while at first undetailed listen it seems to have too many calm bits. Oceans of Slumber combine extreme metal parts with soft piano bits just like that. Well that is still in place, the playing as good as we got used to and Cammie does have a striking voice. So opening with some long songs that change moods at first even Madder Mortem - Deadlands era comes to mind. Enough going on and happening here, while in At Dawn they possibly released my favorite track of the album. The title track is a sort of long power ballad with a beautiful building up of emotions towards the end. We continue heavy after a dark instrumental sound effect piece with Etiolation and  A Path to Broken Stars. Why the latter has it's lyrics not pulished in the booklet is unclear to me. It is the one song that stays fast throughout. When already exhausted we get another four songs all rather mild in tempo and dark in moods. While certainly some will consider the duet with Tom Englund (Evergrey) No Color, No Light a highlight I prefer the title track as ballad.  Closing down with a 150 year old cover is original and different again. Now I still have not heard by far eneough of this album to opinion how strong I rate it. There are very good songs for us and the darkness has to become clearer in time. I can safely state that they released a thrid top album out of three (plus a cover album Blue). Now Oceans of Slumber return to 013 yet again. While I could accpet them opening for MDB and Enslaved, opening for Epica just won't do. So I hope for a long headline slot one day soon. And yes I will repeat my requests for Coffins Like Kites as after all Aetherial still might be their best album.

Tribulation - Down Below
 This band is on another fanbase level for me. I saw them touring the previous album The Children of the Night in Leiden and loved their performance. This band has the remarkable characterisitc, that their voclas are much heavier than the music itself. I already felt this with TCOTN, but with Down Below they take it to the next level really. The vocals continue Blackish, while the music is actually very accessible. Opener The Lament starts procedures off very well a catchy upbeat song. Going through the album this new style is omnipresent and it works wonderfully well to me. Instrumental Purgatorio halfway through could have been on a Faith No More album in the nineties. This band is very much about shocking. The stage clothes already did surprie in the past, while this mix is bound to confuse people as well. The voice far too heavy for many and the music too light for others. Pity that the Tribulation / Insomnium package skipped Holland and plays Lisbon in April three days before I arrive. I could do with another Tribulation live show and see if the album grows even further herefater. 

Lee Abraham - Reuben Archer's Personal Sin - The Erkonauts - Vice - Cloak

For those looking for christmas presents or just some music to play while watching the darts (Cullen - Wattimena on now, best match of the tournament so far) herewith five tips. As usual building up in volume.

Lee Abraham - Colours
Lee Abraham is one of the progrockers in the UK, which I can buy in the blind. He falls herewith in the same category to me as several people working with him on this CD (Dec Burke, Simon Godfrey and Robin Armstrong) On this album he moves somewhat his proggy style towards even more AOR melodic hard rock. Actually this album would be better released in May as it has to me a spring summer feel over it. Reminding most of American bands from the eighties, there is still a mark by all his British friends. We even get Steve Overland from FM singing along. Feel good music which can be nice in winter as well.

Reuben Archer's Personal Sin - Petrolhead
Last 8 December was not only the debut of Stampede in Holland, it was also the official release date for Petrolhead.  As Reuben mentioned in his interview this project gives him the chance to blend in some more blues or even jazz and funk. Well with the two guitars and drums of Stampede also in this band I can hear the bluesier side, but in the end it sounds comfortably close to that other band. As Reuben has a history with cars, this album is all about them. Tomorrow I go by car to 't Blok, so I will test the CD in the car. Pretty sure that will the best place to hear this album. Watch out for speeding tickets, great album.

The Erkonauts - I Shall Forgive
Some years ago I discovered this band from Switzerland with their album Do Something Bad. I remember ordering directly from the band and receive a crazy low order number. Seems to me their name is growing as I ran into many reviews this time. All speak about Progpunk to decsribe their style. This makes sense as they have something proggy and something Motorhead alike in their music. the songs are diverse enough and I would like to see them live one day. I can imagine this to be a party on and off the stage. Hard to pinpoint so recommended to try for many.

Vice - The First Chapter
When the guitarist/vocalist of an English Prog rock band tips you on Vice, one does not expect such a heavy album. Metal Archives boxes them under Melodic Death Metal / Metalcore. I personally would add Heavy Metal / Thrash Metal. Meaning what they play is not the point, how they do this is astonishing. An album about the seven deadly sins, containing seven songs around six minutes, plus in Lust an instrumental monster of over ten minutes. Highlight of the album the guitars really. Heavy, catchy songs, good vocals, but the constant flow of good guitars really sets the bar that high. Now I just read they lost one guitarist. I hope they find good replacement as they come to Belgium in April together with the band that gave the tip. So I shall be there it seems.

Cloak - To Venoumous Depths
While I mentioned all Erkonauts reviews spoke of Progpunk, all Cloak reviews mention Tribulation. Now I was very impressed with Tribulation both on album as live, so why not try them out. Turns out To Venomous Depths indeed has many similarities, but as long as it is as well executed as this I have no issues with that really. This Blackened rock is packed in nice long and moody songs. One final comparison with Tribulation then. While the swedes look different with their tiny guitarists in tight pantys, this lot looks on the picture in the CD booklet like a southern rock band to me. Looks can deceive  as they are both heavier than that.

My Soliloquy - Atrox - The Contortionist - Threshold

With begin October ProgPower on the agenda it looks like many progmetal bands willing to release a great album just in time to sell many at the cellar in Baarlo. I picked four here, but have not heard Anubis Gate yet, already Pledged Twisted Illusion and Iris Divine is mailing out in the next weeks. Various forms of progmetal it is then.

 My Soliloquy - Engines of Gravity
My Soliloquy is almost a solo album by Pete Morten. Apart from Damon Roots on drums he plays all instruments and sings. With Engines of Gravity this results in a very strong and varied progmetal album. Pete Morten is of course that other guy who left Threshold this year. Releasing an album in the same month as his previous band is brave, but worked out very fine. His vocals at times even remind me of John Arch and one person taking care of lead, acoustic, rhythm guitars, bass and keyboards is impressive. During recent Threshold live reviews I always mentioned the idea of one evening of side projects closed by Threshold. Hoping they split on friendly terms I'd say My Soliloquy, Headspace, Kyrbgrinder and Threshold would give a fantastic bill. Give this album a try and if you like to hear Pete's roll in recent Threshold albums start with closing song The Emptying Of Meaning.

Atrox - Monocle
I discovered Atrox 15 years ago when they released Terrestrials. At the time they had a female vocalist and like many Norwegian bands of that era edged on the bizarre and weird (does Ram-Zet still exist?) With previous album Binocular (2008) they  moved to a male vocalist and slightly shorter songs. Electronics and industral are now in the blend and at PPE 2008 they were easily one of the best surpises of the weekend. In two weeks time they are back in Baarlo and on of the shows I am most looking forward to. Monocle after a few listenings: basically they picked up where they left us nine years ago with Binocular. I did not hear an uber earwurm like Tight Tie yet, but that can change after seeing them live. Atrox always were amongst the more adventurous progmetal bands and they did not change. Wish it was 7 October 18:30 already. No delays at dinner break accepted.

The Contortionist - Clairvoyant
Many bands walked the path from extreme or very heavy to way softer over the years. In some cases old and new are good, while others were much better either heavy or in their less so format. Examples Anathema, Opeth, Enslaved or Leprous to name just a few aligned with Progmetal. Which version you like best is up to yourself. My most extreme example is Cave In, who I discovered when releasing their progmetal classic Jupiter. Later I bought and found out that they came from hardcorish metal and left with alternative rock, just giving the world one not to miss album. But this is about The Contortionist. On their latest Clairvoyant they moved down one degree to even softer sounds. Yet it seems to work well with them. I stepped in with Intrinsic, which had still a fair lot of harsh vocals and metal.Previous album Language ended very high on my end of year list and now we have Clairvoyant. Gone are the wild screams, in comes the djent light / rock music. But it kept this stamp of quality The Contortionist seems to guarantee always. Last year I saw them opening for Tesseract and winning. Hoping for a return as headliner now.

Threshold - Legends of the Shires
It's 1993 Kees LP sits in the center of town and one day walking in I received the comment "As you like bands like Dream Theater, Queensryche, Fates Warning, Lethal, Watchtower and the likes, you should try this". This was Wounded Land and I was sold. Brilliant vocalist Damian Wilson left the band and they released my favorite Threshold album Psychedelicatessen with new vocalist Glynn Morgan. That album also contained their best song ever in Innocent. Fast forwarding to 2017 and brilliant vocalist Damian Wilson left again to be replaced by Glynn Morgan. And to my astonishment they managed to release their best album in years. They did not only lost the voice of Damian, but also the metallic riffs of Pete Morten. Yet since the first time I heard this album I totally love it. The beautifull melodies that stay in your head at once, the very typical Threshold heavy riffs and the strong voice of Glynn. This double concept album holds too many highlights to mention them all. So I just say, try this at home. Now we only have to wait and see them live. As I might not be able to see them 9 December around the corner  in de Boerderij, I am thinking about Weert on a Tuesday in November. And then we wait for Glynn live. In 1995 Threshold toured and from the three shows that tour two got cancelled due to Glynn losing his voice. Well we all got older and wiser over the past 22 years, so confident of a great live show.

Steven Wilson - Cormorant

Two very different albums today. One pop and one hard to pinpoint extreme metal. Yet both are beautiful in their own right so herewith some of my thoughts.

Steven Wilson - To The Bone
Steven Wilson announced his next album to be pop, so I got scared. Following the man fo rmany years in different bands, I knew he mixed pop in before. My favorite albums of him are probably Stupid Dream by Porcupine Tree and The Raven solo. Actually many of his projects are great and some things are always guaranteed. Steven Wilson writes great songs, the sound is benchmark level and his lyrics tend towards the dark and morbid at times. For this album I heard some music in advance tracks and I must say that did not make me more comfortable. Permanating did not make my metal heart tick any faster while refuge was nice, but very calm. Yet after several positive indications from friends and raving reviews all around I got over my fears and bought what I found turns out to be a good album. For me The Raven and Hand.Cannot.Erase were from another level, but here we get another collection of Steven Wilson quality songs. OK there are a few misses to me in Song of I, The Same Asylum as Before (what voice is that?) and the before mentioned Permanting. Leaves us with eight very strong popsongs, making an interesting album. The great side-effect of this album is that Steven Wilson now became a household name. Performing live on BBC and ZDF should open a whole new audience to this man of class. So far the results are album chart positions 2 in Germany, 3 in the UK and 4 in Holland. Not bad for a king of Prog. I might have to decide fast now if I would like to see him live next March, cause venues shall grow with him. An album much better than feared and a promotion of Prog in many English newspapers. So we have to thank the man again. Maybe not his best album, but definitely a boost for our music in general.

Cormorant - Diaspora
And now for something completely different; Cormorant. Why have I missed this band before?!? Every now and then you get an album at hand which completely blows you off your socks. Well Diaspora is such an album. Thanks to the Angry Metal Guy I read about them and decided to listen the two available bandcamp songs. Well that resulted in a quick purchase and since the album arrived begin this week it hardly has left my CD player. Cormorant are from the Bay Area,.yet the only heavy style they do not play is Thrash Metal. On their FB page they decsribe their music as Progressive Black/Death Metal. And yes these styles are there, but there is more. During the tracks Preserved in Ash ,Sentinel and The Devourer I hear Black, Death, but also signs of heavy Doom and Heavy Metal. Closer Migration is their Prog metal Epic song lasting 26 minutes. With four songs in 60 minutes Cormorant have plenty of time to swap around the extreme styles, with an ear for calmer intermezzo's when asked for. So the vocals move accordingly from brutal and harsh to clean. Those who believe the instumental atmosphere building part in Migration too long, probably also complained about the guitars at sea during Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner some thirty years ago.  While searching for more information on this band I learned this is their fourth release. Maybe the fact that they are independent did not grant them the exposure they deserve. Yet at Lords of Metal all three previous albums are reviewed and highly appreciated. Ranked smartly under different metal as labelling is hard to impossible. Further while independent they might be, the cover is amongst the most beautiful this year with a Jheronimus Bosch alike painting. Resuming this is one album that should be heard by anyone into any of the musical styles mentioned above. This could have been the technical extreme band around the dinner break at PPE, which blows half the audience away (and is too heavy for the other half). For me there was little time to waste and I ordered album 2 and 3 now as well. How nice to discover new favorites with a back catalogue to dive into as a bonus. One of the candidates for album of the year to me, let's see how the next months work on this one.    

Marillion - Misplaced Childhood

Misplaced Childhood the special edition and I bought it again. This might seem somewhat unnecessary as I bought the LP in 1985, the CD in the nineties, the videoclips on DVD and a few live versions by either Fish or Marillion on DVD thereafter. Disk 1 contains a remastered version, but I must admit that to my installation and ears this is not a huge extra. But then came disk 2 and 3 and I was convinced I wanted to get this. An integral version of their Vredenburg show in 1985. So let me go back in time and explain.

It is the early eighties and metal is booming on the radio and at home with Hans and me laying the foundations of fast metal collections. In The Hague those days you had some metal shops in the centre, but the most complete LP store would be Kees at the border of the city. Bicycle rides to Kees turned into pilgrimages, where apart from new discoveries, new albums from the big names also erratic appearing Aardschok and Kerrang could be purchased. Kerrang in those days was still a good magazine, putting us on track of many new bands. Turned out that Marillion would appear rather often in interviews or live reviews from the Marquee. Now they were compared with Genesis and I knew nothing of the Gabriel years, so wondering why a band compared with Abacab, Mama and the likes would get so much attention in Kerrang. Yet when Script for a Jester's Tear was released I decided to give it a try. I did not go to Kees, but to the store whose name I forgot across the street from Headphones (Super something I believe). In those days you would get a headphone on and listen on a bench in the store. I remember still very well when he firts put on Side 2 and Garden Party hit me. Studying the beautiful Mark Wilkinson cover, Chelsea Monday and Forgotten Sons followed and my life changed forever. I did not know that I had discoverd Neo-Prog there and then, but I loved this album. Soon hereafter I got the Market Square heroes EP as well.

That summer of 83 Marillion would open Parkpop in my hometown on their first tour outside the UK. Amongst maximum a hundred fans I stood up front with Magchiel and was amazed. Until the day of today he still remembers how the sign above the stage misspelled Marrilion and I recal the power of the band on stage being much heavier than on LP. Fugazi was the next album and Marillion returned to Holland for a show at Pinkpop. With Dio and Marillion that day it would be the only Pinkpop I ever attended ( a festival selling out big time soon hereafter). Highlight of the day was Incubus and amongst our friends the fanbase was growing quickly. That autumn they made a clubtour and hit Paradiso supporting the Real to Reel album. During that show there was a calm intermezzo, which we did not know nor fully get. Later on we understood they played Side 1 from Misplaced Childhood.

Comes 1985 and Misplaced Childhood is released. Kayleigh became a modest single (later on much bigger in polls due to heavy voting fanclubs) and Holland was graced with their first ever appearance in Vredenburg. They still return every now and then to Vredenburg, but I am sure it would never get as good as that very day in 1985. Support came from then unknown Pendragon, soon to become other Neo-Prog heroes of mine. Well what happened during that show can now be heard on disk 2 and 3. One of the best shows I ever attended. As we were all around twenty at the time, we still went upfront during shows. That day I believe we were with ten and the next day we could see our faces on the picture in national newspaper NRC. The article was the usual slagging of Marillion, talking about Dinosaurs and the shit by someone who just does not love good music. Yet the picture of Fish standing over the crowd showed our happy smiling faces. As I studied in Rotterdam those days I passed the NRC that week, asking if I could buy an original of the picture. I could, but against the cost of I believe 30 guilders. Well given beer prices at the time and my student budget, this just would not fly. A pity as today I would have proudly hanged it on the wall of my home office next to the artwork of Mark Wilkinson. Only later we learn what we appereciate in time, so I hope the beers tasted well. But at least I now have top quality recordings of one of the more amazing shows I ever witnessed.

Then there are still two diks to come. Disk 4 gives us Singles, B-sides and alternative versions. Nice but owned already. Further we get demo takes of the Misplaced Childhood album. If you know an album so through and through these demos funnily sound wrong at times. The endresult of the album turned out to be the perfect version, or did I hear it just too often? Disk 5 gives us a DVD. I still have to hear sound surround mixed by Steven Wilson, but I saw the interview. This is only for real fans as six man speak about the album, the recording and the period in time. I quite liked it, but my god one has  to pay attention when Fish is speaking without subtitles. The DVD closes with some Video Clips which I already have on DVD. Finally all is packed in a beautifull artwork package, including half a book with background information I still need to read. Maybe only for fans, but at least those who attended that tour, have something to look out for in a release from Utrecht. Definitely the band at their best period ever. The Childhood just never ends it seems, and I love it.

  

Bent Knee - Tuesday the Sky - Riverdogs - Vintersorg - Exist - Unhuman

As I am leaving for holidays tonight and won't be able to review no doubt very interesting shows of Blind Illusion, Nordfest, Fates Warning, Sanctuary, Death Angel, Warbringer just to name a few I decided on sharing some CD tips. As my range goes from soft to heavy there must be something for everyone here really. NWOBHM had to pass as Warrior is still on its way to me. Building up the decibels again.

Bent Knee - Land Animals
I looked for some clips on YouTube after a raving review on Lords of Metal. That sounded very interesting. Poppy alternative, prog songs where female vocals make me think of Paatos. They go from calm and dreamy to rather urgent. Next March they play Progdreams and I am sure that might be an interesting show. Minor point the minutes of silence ending Boxes (that is soo nineties)

Tuesday The Sky - Drift
Any project by Jim Matheos can count on my support, just because he gave the world Fates Warning. This one is not a blind purchase for any FW fan though. Calm instrumental music which hangs somewhere between his instrumental solo albums and Chroma Key. Kevin Moore helps out a bit again plus Lloyd Hanney on drums and Anne Lynne Williams on vocals without lyrics. Perfect music for waking up slowly. One song standing out is longer Dyatlov Pass, which goes from dark calm to pure progmetal.  

Riverdogs - California
Riverdogs with Vivian Campbell releasing a new album should make many people happy. Their debut album is a classic in Melodic Hard Rock. This time they give us the usual components for great Riverdogs music. Good songs, great playing and the warm soulful voice of Rob Lamothe. The first 5 seconds might scare some people off, but hereafter it is one trip back to Riverdogs at its peak. Now we hope for a European tour again.

Vintersorg - Till Fjälls del II
I have no earlier music from Vintersorg, but gave this one a try because of Borknagar's brilliant Winter Thrice album. I also have Cronian from Mr V. in my collection. Now it is Vintersorg and it is one moody affai, Black Folk metal with swedish lyrics. This all brought in such a way that having no clue on the lyrics does not matter at all. Reading in reviews this album is less progressive I might have to look into a back catalogue here.

Exist - So True, So Bound
This album is my strong recommendation for the summer as it just should not stay under the radar. This is progmetal for the adventurous soul. It might be called technical death metal at some sites, but with the clean voice all over it should attract progmetal fans as well. Max Phelps on guitars and vocals is known from Cynic and Death to All. He picked up on songwriting at both bands as there are some traces (in air?) from Cynic at times. The eight tracks presented here gave me one surprising overwhelming ride through metal landscapes. Perfect band to get to PPE next year.

Unhuman - Unhuman
I picked this album up during the Beyond Creation show a few weeks ago. Turns out it is a 2013 release. Holding members of Beyond Creation and ex Cryptosy this is one heavy tech death blast with the usual quality guarantee from Canada. Never heard of them before and also not found too many reviews on this album. If you like the beautiful cover, the music is just as great. Would be nice to see them once perform and see if they can come close to Beyond Creation live.

Twisted Illusion - Insight to the Mind of a Million Faces

 

Twisted Illusion was unknown to me until Brian Mear announced them to play at December's Mearfest in Hastings. Now he usually digs deep into the NWOBHM past, but called Twisted Illusion a Progmetal band. Reasons enough to go to the internet and find last year's debut album Temple of Artifice on Bandcamp. Blown away would be an understatement after first spin. This band blends lots of styles I love and I guess progmetal it can be called for that. My first and easy description of their debut would be imagine Motley Crue playing progmetal. So as they were pledging their new album I went for the CD bundle debut album/new album and an acoustic bones. It's almost three weeks now and all three albums have been played omnimous times in an attempt to grasp what is going on.

Insight the Mind of a Million Faces is a double album totalling a few seconds less than 100 minutes. CD one holds the shorter songs and  goes all back and fourth blending the unmixable. Why I like this album so much is that there is a large dosis of accessible melodic hardrock (may I call it hair metal?) in the mix as well. I mean Same old story, same old story in opening song Reflections made me think more than a bit of Kix. But this is definitely not a smooth, slick hair metal album. There is also some sleazy rock side to it, which puts us also back to the eighties. Then there is a Neoprog side and defintely some Classic british hard rock as well. When I kept on trying to box them and thought of The Black Symphony as reference I finally got the point. This band should not be compared and squared into similar styles or bands. They have a very own sound and make just Twisted Illusion music. Some general references might be their massive choruses at times, their instrumental domination, or their urging rhythms. They are not extreme(ly) metal and just play heavy rock music with an attitude.  Arriving at CD two matters go more progmetal by time alone. Holding 42 minutes and two songs makes any progfan hopeful. The title track lasts over 28 minues and is the highlight of the album. Holding 8 parts all their best characteristics come back. A special mention for the crazy guitar solo's in Empathy, Content and Save Me. Now there is another plus on this album in the lyrics. Looking at the title one might fear pretentious dictionary lines that make any non-native English reader like me lost in the plot. Well no such nonsense here, actually the lyrics facilitate the shouting along (Life's Big Questions Aren't For You to Answer). After the rollercoaster title track the album closes with 14 minute Bluesy Progmetal ballad Discovery, which holds another catchy chorus for the masses. The bonus EP Acoustic Prog Bollocks is another gem. Interesting to see how Hatred is a Virtue a heavy rocker from their debut stands proud stripped acoustically and Tribute is a funny cover song.

So I am impressed indeed and wonder what this band sounds like on stage. As I am not sure if the weekend of Mearfest shall be feasible for me, I will start working on getting them to Holland. Such a great album deserves a great cover and that is also above average, with the hand of Molly showing the band being good people as well. Did I mention it is worth checking this out if you like some accesible progmetal with an own sound? Official release date 22 September, or pick up a copy at a show of them.

 

Anubis - IT - Roger Waters

After some weeks of shows towarsd the heavier end of my spectrum herewith some tips for a calm, moody or sunny summer day. So a Progrock special it is:

Anubis: The Second Hand
Anubis are an Australian Prog Rock band. The biggest names in Prog Rock date from the seventies. The eighties brought my favorites in the genre (Marillion and Pendragon). Anubis is possibly the best prog band starting in this century. The Second Hand is their fourth album and they manage to keep a constant high level.  This album is a concept one again telling a story about a media mogul. Well that is fine, but what counts is that the music is again creative, different and very easy recognizable as Anubis. Some lyrics and musical themes return through the album, but the highlights are the long songs. While Rome Burns comes close to ten minutes and Pages of Stone reaches almost seventeen minutes. Two years ago Anubis made a short European tour. Their stop at de Boerderij was legendary as they played in the cafe stage and did so for full two hours. During that show it became clear that first the epics are best for having the time to build up and display long guitar solo's and second (hand) they fully deserve our sympathy. I have no favorite amongst their four albums and I also do not know if they attract any new fans here. Yet we hope they come back to de Boerderij and make it to the main hall. Maybe a brilliant band for Progdreams festival. Releasing this album they had some pre-order packages that looked good. Unfortunately US and Australian mail tarrifs make it nowadays very unattractive to buy anything directly from the band.

IT: We're All in this Together
IT is a band I heard of in the past, but disappeared from my radar. They once played a festival I was looking at attending (but did not). Now they release this new album and I think they have a potential breakthrough album. Peter if you are reading along, this is again one of those tips of mine that should attract both Prog Rock fans and fans of more indie/alternative rock or even hard rock in this case. The music is upbeat and rocking. Not showing off their skills it is all aout the songs. Most of them rocking and clocking around five minutes with one epic. Putting some references here they remind me of Dream The Electric Sleap for their crossover of prog rock and alternativeness and their Neo-Prog does bring the last album of Final Conflict to mind. This band should go down well on a summer festival that goes from guitar rock to metal (let's call it Schollenpop to make things easy) I guess that they are not annoying anyone and might win over many fans on such a day amongst general music lovers. This one is a huge surprise for me and definitely recommended to well music lovers.

Roger Waters: Is This the Life  We Really Want?
The Reason I bought this album is more basic than one might suspect. In The Hague the best CD shops closed down and basically not even a general store with a good metal or prog department is left. So I do not go to the centre buying CD's anymore. Friday 2 July I was meeting a friend in the city for a drink and on my way back home passed the small Velvet store in Paagman. So I could buy an actual CD from an old hero in the city, an offer I could not refuse. Roger Waters is an old hero indeed, but he is still angry and disappointed in the world. This whole album is full of cynical and critical comments and the best of him are his lyrics. Singing is more telling us and the music goes by calmly in general. Result is that if playing on the background no songs stays in your head really. It basically is a repetition of his past. So you hear Radio KAOS, Amused to Death and The Final Cut passing by with new lyrics. While the above reviewed albums can be called essential for prog lovers this one is not. For completists like me it is not a bad album either, so not a risky purchase really. I believe currently he is touring the USA, criticizing Trump during his live shows. I hope he comes to Europe next year and gives Erdogan and Putin a similar treatment here. The world is mad and we are closed in by idiots dictating our neighbours. Somehow I think that blaming Trump only is his easier way out.

Warbringer - Prayers of Sanity - Solitary

Thrash Metal is all around this year and new discoveries never seem to stop (see Overruled last weekend only). Therefore herewith some international tips of 2017 favorites of mine. I shall not concentrate on the CD's as such, but give some background why I like these albums so much. Of course I should include Dutch glory Distillator - Summoning the Malicious, but I did not get my copy yet. I shall do so when they tour that album. In order to bring some order in discussion I rank in order of bandmembers descending.

 

  Warbringer - Woe to the Vanquished
Warbringer probably played the best thrash live show I saw this year (considering Flotsam & Jetsam Heavy Metal here) This quintet were awesome in Tilburg and opened with the first four tracks of this album, which I therefore bought after the show. Being the only album of the three surpassing 40 minutes there is a reason for that. The last song is an epical track of 11:11 minutes, When the Guns Fell Silent. That song alone for me would be a reason to check out this album.Running for quite some years it was the first time I saw them live. Having been away from Holland for four years they promised to be back soon and so they do. Announcing shows in Little Devil Headlining and in Baroeg supporting Death Angel, both more than a bit interesting I would say. Unfortunately I shall be on summer holidays, which always means missing some shows. Still for those being in Holland early August this weekend  also has Sanctuary, Fates Warning and Schollenpop, still suggesting to include at least one of the above mentioned gigs.

Solitary - The Diseased Heart of Society
Solitary are around since 1994 and I never heard of this quartet before. This is not only my fault as I donot recall any interviews or reviews in Aardschok and checked major dutch webzines without any reviews. In the buildup to their Dutch tour in June I checked internet and decided to order this last and recent release. What I did very right was ordering the bundle together with the book of founder/guitarist/vocalist Rich Sherrington I Promise to Thrash Forever. Well this book explains why they were never that visible abroad. It reminded me strongly of an underground version of the Stroy of Anvil. It is all there the friendhsip, the struggles, the bandmembers caroussel, the highs and many lows. But most important the way to never give up, which makes this book holding the right title. 8-10 June they make a short tour through Holland Geleen, Nijmegen and The Hague. I am proud and pleased to inform that I shall reopen my HM B&B for that and can only tip everyone not to miss this tour. For a taster check out their video of Unidentified.

Prayers of Sanity - Face of the Unknown
This band was possibly the best discovery at Evora Metal Fest early March. Starting to follow the Portuguese trio since I noticed this album would be released 29 April. As coincidence runs I would be in their home town that very day, so I asked them if there was to be an album release show. There was, but not in Lagos, nor that same weekend. Lagos holds no venues for metal and 29 April was the weekend of SWR Barosselas, where both Tiao and Artur would play with other bands. So I missed the release party the week before, but I did meet bassist Carlos in Lagos and can proudly state being the first foreigner holding their CD and T-shirt of Face of the Unknown. This album continues where they left me at Evora, namely good old Bay Area thrash. Setup of this album is as traditional. Four fast bangers, an instrumental short song, where in the past you would flip the LP and then 4 other fast songs to close. I do hope they make it to tour Europe and me being able to help when they reach the low countries.

This Winter Machine - Fen - Pallbearer - Trial - Persefone

Some new CD tips. Five different music styles, all blending some progressive aspects in. This time not following the scale of heaviness, but ending with two albums that might very well end high on my end of year favorites list.

This Winter Machine - The Man Who Never Was
The fact that there is some prog in a Neo-Prog album seems obvious, so that comment was for the other four albums really. This Winter Machine makes for me very British Progressive rock. Four long songs and one shorter instrumental describe English landscapes and overall feel, like many others did before them (references: Credo, Comedy of Errors, Primitive Instinct, The Gift, Cosmograf) The performance is top class and keeping the showing off under control, this is just my favorite prog rock style. Great album for the calm and quiet moments. Recommended blind purchase for fans of any of the above mentioned bands.

Fen - Winter
Going to another extreme, the new album of Fen. I am just going to quote Andrew here who described them as follows: Fen's dark metal of sweeping devastation represents the flat, windy, lonely and horizonless fenlands which surround us here. As he is from the region and likes his Black Metal he should know. Six parts crossing 75 minutes and still keeping a constant interesting flow of long instrumental parts ending in grim eruptions make this a special album. Maybe an autumn/winter release would fit better than today's blueskied spring late afternoon, Blackish. Folkish, Epic I should check out their earlier stuff.

Pallbearer - Heartless
Doom metal is never in a hurry, so yet another album with an average song duration of close to nine minutes. In interviews in both Aardschok and Loud! they speak about their Progressive Rock roots. Still not even close to bands like This Winter Machine I can hear what they mean. Actually this is a very accessible album, with  clear vocals and some scandinavan resemblance. They are touring Europe now supporting this album. Unfortunately their Dutch gig is at Roadburn festival, a festival I always manage to miss. This is a doom album, but has to me various uplifting spirits over it. Maybe that is the prog I am hearing.

Trial - Motherless
Trial representing the Heavy Metal here. Well they have a typical signature sound to it, Everything we know and love in Heavy Metal is there: fast guitars, great solo's, a high pitched voice at times. But then there is so much more, as in general the tempo is not that fast. There is something dark, occult and doomish  over the songs. The progressiveness for me lies in the fact that I am in the slow parts often reminded of  Psychotic Waltz. This band has an own direction and we have here a logical follow up to 2015's Vessel. That album ended number one on my 2015 list, let's see how far this one shall go over time and many more listens. Now they are at Metal Blade I count on the label to send them on the road enabling me to finally see them live. Good artwork as well, but I found a complaint to close off. Even with reading glasses on it is a tough job following the lyrics in the booklet. Still this album confirms Trial's status as one of my favorite bands.

Persefone - Aathma
I joined the pledge campaign for this one as I loved their previous album Spiritual Migration. After several spinnings of this CD I dare risk stating it is even better. Persefone play Melodic Death Metal and this album should transport them to the Champions League of the genre. They have long Epic songs with heaviness breaks, shorter instrumentals, a good mix of extreme and clean vocals and a guest. This guest is none other than Paul Masvidal (Cynic). He speaks on the opening song and  sings/solo's on Living Waves. They made a videoclip of that song. I suggest looking it up to get an idea how good this album is. Lyrically they still remain into spiritism, but even so I guess them too heavy to get Josie joining me to see them playing live with Poem next week. I was hoping for much with Aathma, got a bit more and yes they are from Andorra.

Tim Bowness - Horisont - Need - Stormtrooper - Attacker

Due to the many good shows already attended in 2017 I have been dropping the CD reviews somewhat. So herewith some tips from the last months building up the decibels.

Tim Bowness - Lost in the Ghost Light
Tim Bowness has one melancholic voice. Mostly known from his work with Steven Wilson in No-Man he released some solo albums before and joined many projects of which OSI is the one I have on CD. This album is a calm progressive rock concept album about a rockstar looking back on his life. Helped by various big names of the scene a welcome addition to my Sunday morning collection.

Horisont - About Time
Retro hardrock with a strong seventies vibe. Being their 4th album I wonder why I never heard of them before. Hailing from Sweden and singing one song in their own language this is an extremely well constructed album with ten great songs on it. They tour Europe this month and I still am in doubt if I go see one of their Dutch shows, both far from home and on a Sunday or Monday night. I guess they could interest hardrock and classic rock audiences with this music, Dead Lord light maybe?

Need - Hegaiamas
Great prog metal from Greece, well we heard that before. This band is being hyped or spammed a bit on the PPE page and I do agree with that. Very good Progmetal album going in the direction of Fates Warning at times. So not much can go wrong. Well the prog prententious story could have been left in Greece and the spoken word "song" kills the flow. Imagine live that is not present and this might well be one of the biggest life surprises in years. Now we only need to get them to Holland.

Stormtrooper - Pride Before a Fall
Definitely one of the best NWOBHM releases in a long time. Released late 2016, but recorded 1981 and 1982. The title was a single as well in 1980. I did not know them from the past, but learned of them through Colin Bond bassist at Stampede. This album is a very good mix of fast rockers and even two epics of ten minutes. Reminding me of White Spirit at times. recorded over 35 years ago, yet dated? not a bit. This Saturday I am going to see them live with Stampede and Lautrec, which might well become the show of the year.

Attacker - Sins of the World
Anyone of my age should think when hearing Attacker : Battle at Helm's Deep. A Classic LP in US metal stuck in a hilarious simple cover. This century they came back and previous album Giants of Canaan was already a hit. This album goes on where the last one left us, strong US Metal with all the ingredients we love: fast riffs, great guitar solo's, heavy drums, high pitched vocals and some true heavy metal. For catching some breath we have ballad opener By the Will of Crom which turns into epical closer Where the Serpet Lies. This metal makes you feel young again if only I still had hair on my head.

Pain of Salvation - a Sense of Gravity

Pain of Salvation - In the Passing Light of Day
A return to old form was promised us in the build-up to this release. First clip Meaningless promised a lot even being not that heavy, dark it was. And now I heard the album a few times and I can conclude it is to me one of their best. Going back in time Pain of Salvation is this band whose first four albums should be heard by anyone with even a mild interest in Progmetal. All total classics in the genre gave them the convidence to start experimenting. Basically they managed to experiment away from me and many old fans. I am never doubting their skills and performances but they just mixed in too many unwanted genres. Besides that I came to really hate the Disco Queen after they still did not leave the bitch behind three tours later. Yet it always kept nagging as they should be able to release a new masterpiece. In the Passing Light of Day is a concept album and a very personal one too (these always are the best see the Reticent 2016). Daniel Gildenlow spent the first half of 2014 in hospital when a bacteria was threatening his life. In the booklet we can read his story and this album tells the same. As this blog is all about me let me step down and explain why I could relate very much to this.  I spent big part of the summer 2009 in hospitals, where several medical errors and diagnosis let me walk some edges of life and pain. I did start a blog at the time just to keep people informed and avoiding Josie having the same call over and over again every day. During the blackest days Josie became my co-author and it turned out that a blog was a very good tool for communications. The site I used at the time closed down meanwhile, so I swapped to blogspot and stuck with music only. I still have the messages we wrote at the time somewhere and I was more than a bit curious how great lyricist Daniel Gildenlow would translate his feelings. The day the album was released  I encountered the first opinions on the internet. As expected the range was from extremely enthusiastic to reluctant and still not as good as their past. My copy arrived a few days later by the mail and I made the wisest decision I could make and listened with nothing to disturb me and reading along the lyrics. Well mainly because of the lyrics I got completely blown away. It was all there, my fears and my feelings from almost eight years ago. If only I could write it down so nicely (my book died with only a few chapters half finished). We see the fear, the despair, the thoughts, the nightmares, the non-working pain killers, the questioning, the absence of religion and the supporting lover. When I heard of Daniel's story I once thought he would be an interesting person to talk about his fight. Now it seems he already told it all on this album, so I can only thank him for the inspirational lyrics. But this is a CD and the music always matters most. Given the above I am obviously biased but I do think this is a return to old form. This does not mean it is as heavy overall as their first four, but it shoud be easily the best since Remedy Lane for all old-time fans. The heavy opening of On a Tuesday starts of well and Tongue of God and Meaningless are slower but really dark pieces of music. Ballads Silent Gold and If this is the End could both have been taken from the Road Salt albums. In counterbalance Reasons gives us some very heavy djenty riffs and Full Throttle Tribe has this Remedy Lane catchiness around the chorus. Highlight comes at the end with 15 minute The Passing Light Of Day. Starting dark and slow the hymnlike epical chorus is so emotional. This brings me back to Josie. As she works in Portugal she will be in Holland at Easter when Pain of Salvation play Leiden. She shall hear this album read the lyrics and time allowing join me to Gebr. de Nobel. This might not be the musically best album of the year a more emotional one definitely won't be released either. Thanking PoS for this Masterpiece I end with a quote dedicating it to Josie and how she spend the summer of 2009 not sure if I ever thanked her enough: "My love don't be afraid"I hear you say, "I'll be here for you all the way"And I just wish that I could smile and say "Baby, hey, I'm in too much pain to feel afraid"  My Lover, My best friend. I'm watching it slowly slip away. Like the passing Light of Day.

A Sense of Gravity - Atrament
Why would I add another album to review after my ode to Pain of Salvation? Well the answer is easy, this album should be obligatory for those who would like to hear a heavier Pain of Salvation. Imagine it to be 2003 and Pain of Salvation wants to blend in something new. In stead of performing acustically on 12:5 and start mixing gospel and country on Be they look hungry at extreme metal in all its forms. the result would be this album really. In my Top 16 of 2016 I stated this one came in too late for entering my list. And this was right since you need at least five concentrated lsitening sessions before you start appreciating this album in full. Opening is a short orchestral song which could be on any PoS album, but follower Reclusive Peace is probably the most extreme song of the album which suddenly drops to a melodic/clean sung chorus again. There is too much hapening on this album to describe for me really. But anyone liking heavier PoS, Extreme technical metal and Tech metal in general should give this album a try. If the grunts scare you off there are still songs that go all clean (Shadowed Lines, Promised None) that justify this purchase. The only risk I see that not everybody appreciates a blend of styles which includes the melodic prog and the extreme metal. As I have no issues with this blend I consider this definitely one of the best albums of 2016. Strongly recommended album for all extreme progmetal fans. Turns out they have four albums, but CD's of previous work sold out. Sad to see that in the sea of album releases I can miss such great bands that are right up my musical alley. 

The Gift - Graham Bonnet Band - Them

With the flood of great shows coming over us this autumn I kept somewhat quiet on the CD tips recently. Here some still fairly recent albums. Following the usual increasing volume pattern.

The Gift - Why the Sea is Salt
The always handy Something For The Weekend / DPRP pointed me towards The Gift. When I liked this album and learned that they come play Holland in February this was a quick purchase. This is very calm symphonic rock at a high standard. The epic All These Things even has some Christmas atmosphere over it to me. This mainly due to the pastoral mood in that song. This CD also serves multiple purposes. It works fine on a morning when you want to wake up slowly, but it also comes alive over headphones reading along to the lyrics. The fact that Steve Hackett joins on one song might result in a nice solo, but does not increase the overall level of this album, which is high enough to start with. Actually discovering this band I did the same with February tour partners The Far Meadow, bandcamped and purchased  That shall be one nice Sunday afternoon.

Graham Bonnet Band - The Book
Here is a total surprise to me. A few years back we saw Graham Bonnet at HRH and it all was somewhat uninspired making us move to the other stage where Fish was playing. With a good band he comes back with a vengeance. I totally love this album as it sounds most like any Alcatrazz album from the eighties. Graham Bonnet is the vocalist in rock with the most interesting CV of guitarists he played with. Ritchie Blackmore, Michael Schenker, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai and Chris Impelliterri is a list any vocalist should be jealous of. Interesting that for this album he went to the for me unknown Conrado Pesinato. On Keyboards we have Jimmy Waldo ex Alcatrazz and on drums none less then Mark Zonder (Fates Warning, Warlord). Opening song Into The Night made me very happy and in Dead Man Walking or California Air we have some others that would do nice in a set of his career overview. Actually Frontiers label decided to re-record many of his classic songs. As Mr.Bonnet stated himself, this adds nothing to the originals. Even so I quite like a collection which includes Eyes of the World, Assault Attack and God Blessed Video. Highly recommended!!

Them - Sweet Hollow
This CD is creating some diverse reactions on the internet. Being a former King Diamond coverband they are accused of being a cheap copy. Well I'd say bollocks to that. This band plays old school Heavy Metal we all loved to start with. In come the double guitars and high flying solo's. When you hear Forever Burns racing away I can not see people not getting enthusiastic. Vocals are at times high King Diamondish, but mainly plain Heavy Metal. The music is just great and for those liking favorite musicians doing something different we have Mike Lepond from Symphony X on bass. In order to stay close to their inspiration we are presented a scary story as well  Story or not I would just recommend this album to anyone into old school Heavy Metal. There is for me one miss on the album though in FestEvil, which has too much a pirate/folk metal flavour for my liking. Further all good and soar necks guaranteed. They are already booked in Little Devil next year. Closing the weekend we get Metalcon in Musicon, one might start saving energy any day soon.

The Reticent - On the Eve of a Goodbye

The Reticent was until now a completely unknown band to me. Starting at the beginning it was the Angry Metal Guy  who set me on the what turned out to be very right track. I can recommend this site as he covers a range I pretty much appreciate as well. Looking at his last albums of the month I run into several favorites of mine: Vektor, Insomnium, Whiterscape at the heavier end, but also Our Oceans and Haken on the calmer part of metal. The Reticent turns out to be the work of Chris Hathcock, also drummer at Death Metallers Wehrwolfe (?). In the Reticent he plays all instruments and sings all parts. When you hear the album it turns rather amazing  how one person is capable of playing all these instruments so well, while at the same time touching all vocal ranges  from mostly clean to some screams and grunts to accompany the storyline.

On the Eve of a Goodbye is a concept album.This is in Progressive rock and metal not a unique way to transmit a message. Releasing a concept album can have its traps though. Some work beautifully and become the classic albums of these bands (Operation Mindcrime, A Pleasant Shade of Grey, Scenes From a Memory, Misplaced Childhood, Light of Day..., Crimson and my favorite Opeth album Still Life). Others run the risk of being too pretentious and loose sight of the power of individual songs. Examples a plenty, but I won't mention names. Chris took an extremely personal experience to base this album upon. He describes the last 24 hours of Eve, before she commits suicide and he is left speaking to her ghost. The album is dedicated to Eve M. Tiger who passed away 15 years ago. This tells something on the time it took to put all thoughts together and being able to put this experience into music. Never before did I hear a concept album, where the feelings are so genuine and sincere put alive to music. Final numbers The Decision and Funeral For a Firefly are so emotional, that only the complete insensitive ones or total machos can not hear the despair, pain, anger  and sadness in the voice of Chris. The overall result is a very emotional album which should be heard in one go, preferably over headphones and reading along to the lyrics.

Coming to the music a short description can be Progressive Metal. In reality there is so much more to it, as at parts when the story gets heavy the music does too and I must say his grunts and screams are impressive. On the other end we also get quiet breaks with piano parts as well as small sax, trumpet and trombone support. With the overall flow of the story being an emotional rollercoaster I am convinced that grunt haters should not be scared by the heavy vocals nor should extreme metallers be afraid of the occassional wind instruments. The album touches several genres and at parts I think I recognize a band. Without really being able to pinpoint one reference for such a diverse album I give it a try. Imagine Leprous at their peak (Bilateral)  releasing a concept album blending in some Dan Swanö, Soen and Green Carnation. Yes it has to me definitely a Scandinavian feel to it, even being American. As I fail to describe the beauty of this album in detail, the only solution is pointing people at the right direction. Start searching for the band on their website or Heaven & Hell records bandcamp. (note song 1 is one of 4 short spoken word parts, helping the story but musically not representing the album). For those more into clips, several songs can be found on YouTube, next to some interviews on the making of this album. I bought the CD directly from the website and received it with again a very genuine letter of thanks. My blog always has the target to raise the interest of one person in an album I heard or a show I saw and support the bands by that. This time I strongly recommend all metal lovers listening to this album on the internet and like me purchase it for yourself. I am almost sure that this album will in the years to come be seen as a Classic in its genre. For now I am going to their webstore and purchase their previous album together with a T-shirt of this one. Thereafter I shall go to the PPE group and plug this band. What a sensational release. The Legacy of Eve now includes one of the most beautifull concept albums ever made. I guess this was exactly the point Chris wanted to make and man was he succesfull doing so.

John Wesley - Meshiaak - Allegaeon

CD tips for this week.

john wesley - a way you'll never be...
John Wesley you might have seen many times on stage, but this is the first solo album I bought from him. He was touring guitarist with Porcupine Tree. I saw him also with Sound of Contact, probably with Fish and possibly solo opening for Marillion once as well. Reason I picked this CD up were the many positive reviews I read on this album. Guess what, they were all right as this is a bonafida hard rock album with great songs and obviously good guitar work. Aardschok mentioned Lenny Wolfe as reference for his voice. I can hear that, but combining the music I even hear more similarities to the great debut album of Katmandu with Fastway's Dave King on vocals. Highlights to me are the catchy choruses on the title track and to outrun the light. During instrumental unsafe space and sun.a.rose we suddenly go slower and heavier, while the song epic ends beautifull. Noticing I mentioned almost all songs, fact is there is no weak spot on this album. While based upon his touring experience a neo-prog album might be expected, this is just very enjoyable melodic hard rock. Surprise of the week.

Meshiaak - Alliance of Thieves
My interest was raised when learning that this was the band of Dean Wells. His other job is with Teramaze a progmetal band that made it to my list of favorites of 2015 with Her Halo. Similar to John Wesley hereabove, this band is heavier than how we got to know Dean. Meshiaak plays Thrash Metal and does so extremely well. While being heavy and fast, they also play very clear metal and pack their music in solid songs. While the band is Australian their drummer John Dette is American and played before in several big bands in the US. The album continues at speed, with only on closer Death of an Anthem some reduced tempos. Positive news I read yesterday is that they work now with booking agency Loud Noise. This means they probably tour Holland next year. How nice would it be if they play near home for a one off show entitled: The Hague Heavy Metal Alliance Of Thieves!!

Allegaeon - Proponent For Sentience
Ending heavy, herewith yet another great Technical Death Metal release of 2016. I did get into them through the prog door, when I saw their stunning cover of Rush's Subdivisions (check YouTube). Clicking on more clips I noticed that this is a very tight Death/Thrash machine. The album starts epic and holds many short breaks into calmer waters. As is the norm with these bands, the level of musicianship is very high. Vocals are mainly grunting with in the last song of the title trilogy a guest role for Bjorn Strid. The TechDeath party in patronaat two weeks ago showed, that this music is even better when undergoing it at full volume live, so bring them on. For those afraid of grunts, the Rush cover is sung fully clean and worth the purchase by itself.