My blog on HubPages.com - Reviews of Music, Movies, etc.

New entry: review of my latest The Many Faces Of... compilation



https://discover.hubpages.com/entertainment/The-Many-Faces-Of-KISS-Album-Review

Of course, I had to write a review of the new Metallica album:


https://spinditty.com/genres/Metallica-72-Seasons-Album-Review

Two more new entries:

"Infernal Tyrant" is a two-man self proclaimed "desktop power thrash" project from Georgia, USA, who've just released their latest three-song demo.

https://spinditty.com/genres/Infernal-Tyrant-Winter-EP-Review

"Severed Angel" is a new symphonic/power metal band featuring our old pal Wayne Noon (aka Phoenix Reign Drummer and/or Handful of Wayne) on drums. Their debut album will be out May 2 via Sliptrick Records.

https://discover.hubpages.com/entertainment/Severed-Angel-Album-Review

Claymorean, "By This Sword We Rule: A Decade of Steel" -- New from Stormspell. Tenth anniversary compilation by the Serbian power metal band, feat. new recordings, demos, and live tracks.



https://discover.hubpages.com/entertainment/Claymorean-By-This-Sword-We-Rule-Album-Review

Review of the X-Cops' You Have The Right to Remain Silent... reissue on Brutal Planet



https://spinditty.com/genres/x-cops-you-have-the-right-to-remain-silent-review

Review of Overkill's Scorched


https://spinditty.com/genres/overkill-scorched-review

A look back at my favorite W.A.S.P. album:


https://spinditty.com/genres/revisiting-the-headless-children-by-wasp

First new entry in almost two months!
A review of a Black Sabbath live bootleg I recently acquired, from the Born Again tour w/Ian Gillan.



https://spinditty.com/genres/bootleg-vault-black-sabbath-deep-black

New entry!
A look back at "Femme Fatale," the short lived hair metal band fronted by the gorgeous Lorraine Lewis...



https://discover.hubpages.com/entertainment/whatever-happened-to-femme-fatale

Fat Freddy wrote:

New entry!
A look back at "Femme Fatale," the short lived hair metal band fronted by the gorgeous Lorraine Lewis...



https://discover.hubpages.com/entertainment/whatever-happened-to-femme-fatale

First club show I ever went to was Femme Fatale.

Quote :

First club show I ever went to was Femme Fatale.

Cool! Did Lorraine look that good in person?

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

First club show I ever went to was Femme Fatale.

Cool! Did Lorraine look that good in person?

She sure did!!

Two new entries (with more on the way!)...

Target, "Demo Anthology"

New on Stormspell. Complete demo recordings of the obscure Belgian tech-thrash band, spanning 1986-88. For fans of early Metal Church, Destruction, early Slayer.
https://spinditty.com/genres/target-demo-anthology-1986-1988-album-review

Magnabolt - self titled

New on Stormspell - Retro U.S. Power Metal from Portland Oregon, featuring members of Leathurbitch and Weresquatch. Originally released digitally in 2019, making its first appearance on CD.
https://spinditty.com/genres/magnabolt-album-review

Two more from our pal Stormspell:

Burning Sun, "Wake of Ashes"

Fantasy RPG based '80s style Germanic power metal ala early Helloween, Grave Digger, etc. featuring members of Merciless Law and Blazon Stone.
https://discover.hubpages.com/entertainment/burning-sun-wake-of-ashes-album-review

Bitter Velvet, "Unleashed Fears"

Female fronted '80s melodic metal from Ecuador, feat. Sage Zavage (Blade's Edge/Curse Breaker) on all instruments and the lovely "Malixe" on vox. For fans of Warlock, Hellion, etc.
https://discover.hubpages.com/entertainment/bitter-velvet-unleashed-fears-album-review

Here's something a little different:
"Bewitched in L.A." is the 23rd (!) release from the long-running retro melodic rock project AOR, feat. Paul Sabu, Frederic Slama, and Tommy Denander. Out now on Perris Records, for fans of Journey, Toto, John Waite, Foreigner.



https://discover.hubpages.com/entertainment/aor-bewitched-in-la-album-review

Got a few new articles in the works, here's the first:

Eonian Records has just released "Wake Up & Sweat, Vol. I" and "Shipwrecked Vol. 2" by the forgotten L.A. glam metal band TAZ. 35 tracks of demos, live tracks, and rehearsal studio recordings. For fans of KIX, early Crue, Poison, etc.

https://spinditty.com/genres/la-rockers-taz-get-the-royal-reissue-treatment-from-eonian-records

...and my review of the two recent Bloodgood reissues (Rock In A Hard Place and Out Of The Darkness) on Retroactive Records.



https://spinditty.com/genres/two-classic-bloodgood-albums-reissued

Rich Kid Express' Under The Purple Lights EP is out now on Squib Kick Records. Five tracks of retro power pop/hard rock ala Sweet, Slade, early KISS, Def Leppard.


https://discover.hubpages.com/entertainment/rich-kid-express-under-the-purple-lights-ep-review

Freakshow, "So Shall It Be" out now on Eonian Records.
Sophomore album by this retro-rock mini-supergroup, feat. Carlos Cavazo (Quiet Riot), Stet Howland (W.A.S.P., Metal Church) and Greg Chaisson (Die Happy, Badlands).



https://spinditty.com/genres/freakshow-releases-so-shall-it-be-on-eonian-records

New from our old pal Stormspell:

VARVAR, "The Bestial Abyss Will Kill You" reissue. This is a weird one, kids. Orthodox Christian epic power metal from Russia (!), sung entirely in Russian. Barely even released in the band's homeland in 1994 and rare as hell. Sounds like a mish mash of Candlemass and Manila Road with Lemmy on vox. Limited to 300 copies. It doesn't get much more arcane or obscure than this!



https://discover.hubpages.com/entertainment/stormspell-records-releases-varvar-the-bestial-abyss-will-kill-you

Sheesh, it's been a while since I updated this thread...

Just in case anybody is wondering why I haven't posted any new writings on HubPages since late last year, I've been on a self-imposed hiatus for several reasons.

I have always treated my blogging as a hobby, but it was starting to turn into a grind. I'd always told myself that when I stopped having fun with it, it was time to take a step back.

...and right now seems like a good time to do that, cuz the HubPages site seems to be having its own share of troubles. Traffic/page views to the site have been in a downward spiral for some time, and a lot of writers have already taken their toys and gone home. Apparently Google, which hates "content farm" sites like HP, have pretty much black listed them and don't give them any search traffic... which, of course, is a web site's lifeblood. So that sucks.

I knew something was up about halfway through last year. Generally when I post a new article, I could expect it to get a couple of hundred views from Google and elsewhere for a few weeks before its traffic started to drop off, and by that time, I was already workin' on my next one, and then the next one, and so on.  But suddenly I couldn't get arrested. It was like everything I posted was crashing into a brick wall or blowing up on the launch pad.

My most recent piece, the review of Varvar's album (see above) was posted in late November. Last week, it just crossed the one-hundred view mark...after nearly four months!  When things are that slow, it isn't even worth the trouble to create new stuff. I was starting to feel like I was standing on the side of the highway with my thumb out, but nobody was stopping.

HubPages also happens to be one of many web sites owned by The Arena Group, who may sound familiar if you're a Sports Illustrated reader. They recently got in trouble for using A.I. to write articles for S.I. dot com, and soon after that they laid off all of S.I.'s remaining staff. Last I checked, they were about to lose the rights to the S.I. name entirely because of some behind the scenes financial goings-on, so for all I know their whole damn network of sites could go bye-bye tomorrow. If that happens, well ... it's been fun.

I have backup copies of all of my "back catalog" so who knows, maybe I'll move my whole kit 'n' kaboodle to my own site (maybe something similar to No Life Til Metal?) in the future, but for right now, I think I'm done.

But before I do that, I just wanted to thank everyone from H.O.M. who has checked out my deranged ramblings over these past dozen (!) years. You fellas have always been supportive and I appreciate the heck out of it. You guys rock.

Sorry to hear that. But thanks for the good reads over the years. It has been fun.

Sad to hear…

I hope you do move your operation to your own site someday and keep it alive.

My self imposed hiatus from album reviewing has come to a (temporary) end! I had to do a write up on the forthcoming new Babylon A.D. album:



https://hubpages.com/entertainment/babylon-ad-to-release-rome-wasnt-built-in-a-day-on-perris-records-in-may

Depending on the response to this piece (and the one on Paul Di'Anno's Warhorse that is also in the works), I may or may not return to occasionally posting stuff again... but not at the level I was at prior to my sabbatical. I don't want it to turn into a grind again.

Well, as I somewhat morbidly expected, my Babylon A.D. review, which was a "test" to see if it was time to come out of my writing hiatus, has failed to gain any traction whatsoever.

Since it was posted in April, it has a hair over 200 views... and that's with me, the band, and their record label all sharing it on their various social media platforms.  

Perris Records even quoted part of it in a print ad for the album, which was kind of a neat ego boost...(that reminds me, I gotta see if I can get a copy of the magazine in which it appeared), which had no effect.

Sooo, due to the lack of interest (and further signs that the HubPages site itself is going down faster than the Titanic), I see no reason to continue posting content there. It's become a waste of time and effort. Oh well. C'est la vie.