Comp Swap VI - The Reviews

All those cats that RP listed rules....

Review for Phoenix's disc 2 and here I go:

1) Prong-Avid Promises- Great song, rawier than most of the material they are more famous for and industrial sound they helped pioneer in the 90's that gave birth to such bands as Static X not as prevelant on this track. Great song with more hardcore/ punk sound vibe.

2) Bassinvaders-We Live- As one should expect with a goofy name like Bassinvaders the bass lines on this track standout, as a matter fact the song reminds me of Billy Sheenan's early 80's band Talas. Like Talas very talented musicians but the songs while had its moments it takes a backseat to the musicianship. I enjoyed this the more when I gave it another spin, loved the bassplaying.

3) Kamelot-The Inquisitor-I have avoided powermetal for years and knew of this band but never picked up any of their albums. This is my first exposure to this bands music and I loved it. Great songwriting and clever arrangements. The snakey lead guitar throughtout the song and great guitar tone thru out the track. Very classy metal and plan and check them out further.

4) Hollow-Can You Hear Me- This didnot stand out to me til the guitar solo kicked in, very nice lead section, but it didnot stand out from the rest of the pack.

5) Grave Digger-Highland Tears- Opens with bagpipes (or at least I think they are bagpipes) and than slams right into a heavy riff. Love the galloping rhythm but I thought the vocals were terrible. Not terrible enough for me to hate the song but almost ruined it for me, of course I am complaining about a vocalist and I am a death metal fan. Very nice time changes in the mid sectio (bridge) of the song. I have feeling this is a band that grows with you in time.

6 and 7) Grand Magus-Like The Oar Strikes The Water and Wolfs Return- Loved these two songs. Great old school songwriting, excellent musicianship. Vocalist also very good, very dramatic, larger than life metal sound. The guitar solo was also very enjoyable, with a lot of starts and stops, like his thinking of what he is going to play next. Great songs, first time introduced this bands.

Ark-Burn the Sun-Another band I never heard of, Great intro and classy arrangement on the song. Nice tempo change 12 bars into the song. Somewhat of a bluesy vocalist.

9) and 10) Gamma Ray-From the Ashes and Real World- I was already fan two great songs from underapprecited band.

11) Cage-Psychotically Challenged- Best song title on the disc and could serve as Charles Manson's theme song if he ever had is own public access talk show. Very entertaining but not a band I would actively follow, didnot stand out enough IMO.

12) Dimmu Borgir-Sympozium- I am fan of this white faced Satan loving black metal artists. Symphonic black metal, blast beats , music so pompus it makes Yngwie's output seem down right humble, vocals that make Cookie Monster sound like Pavarotti. A sound so evil that when the Pope heard this song, he started doubting his calling in life. Excellent.

13) Kreator-Under a Total Blackened Sun-I am already a fan of these German thrashers, great song.

14) Tyran Pace-Criminal-It was ok but compared to the rest of the bands on this disc somewhat one dimensional.

15) Symphorce-Inside the Cast-Terrible name, a power metal band I never heard of. Nice guitar lead, great vocalist who sings in the chrous in lower register, a more melodic Peter Steele. Great song but what sets them apart is the vocalist. Great harmonics on lead playing.

16) Sinergy-Midnight Madness- I liked this alot, another power metal band with a female vocalist. She gives it different vibe and energy, and if Pat Benatar fronted a metal band this what she would sound like. Great cut.

17) Roland Grapow-Reaching Higher- This guy plays incredibly fast on the intro, must have extra fingers, unfortunatly I didnot care for the vocals and the song was not very strong despite the promising intro.

ok that is my review only 6 more discs to go.

Review of Disc1 of Required Fields CD:

1) Accusser-Symbol of Hate-Old school thrash with a small dash of hardcore thrown in. Machine gun drumming , barked vocals, very cool introduction to this band

2) Overthrow-Suppression-Another Old school thrash band with a vocalist who reminds me of vocalist from the late 70's/early 80's Los Angeles hardcore scene. Very cool blend of techincal thrash guitar playing and left wing hardcore lyrics.

3) Razor- Speed metal, wow, good stuff loved it and throw back to the beginning of this era.

4) Vio-Lence-Killing My Words- Robb Flynn's former band that in some ways I prefer to Machine Head. Later day Machine Head albums had the unwelcomed influence of nu-metal. Classic track for a band who deserves to be remembered for more than being Robb Flynn's stepping stone in his career path.

5) Riot-Wings of Fire-some reason this song would not track at computer at work but I am already a fan.

6)Aria-It is an Italian word for air, which is interesting since I believe these guys are Russian. Great band, great song in the Iron Maiden vein, complete dual guitar solos and harmonics through out. I really enjoyed this track despite the language barrier since they recorded this song in their native language.

7) Morgoth-Selected Killing- Never heard of this guys but one word comes to mind, KILLER. Excellent death metal, it was brutal without losing the fact that this is also a song, not just a series of blastbeats and 100 miles per hour solos.

Dio-Hide in the Rainbow-Huge Dio fan, this is non LP track, classic DIO, from singing, arrangement to the fact the title has the word rainbow, great great lost Dio song.

9) Hordes of Torment-Product of a Sick Mind-Old school thrash reappears, great song again spiked with bit of a punk rock attitude. another great introduction to this band.

10) Grim Reaper-I want More- I have not heard this guys in years, 2nd tier band that missed the NWOBM by just a few years. This band was ripped to shreads by critics, with Creem magazine declaring them the ugliest band in the world. Cool plain old fashioned heavy metal song with vocalist Steve Grimmett doing his best Rob Halford impression. Meet Nick Bowcott several years ago at a guitar workshop, very nice guy who now is a writer for Guitar World.

11) Banshee-We Want You- Great opening riff unfortunatly it goes downhill from here for me. It becomes a standard by the book play by numbers heavy metal song. Not a bad song but not one that stands out.

12) CJSS-Sands of Time-David T. Chastain's other band, that he considered the more commerical of the two. Simply a good song that fits the time period it was recorded in, featuring of course some great leads from David Chastain.

13) Heathen-Empty Nothingness (demo)- Hard to believe this is a demo, the sound is so big. I beleive that an earlier album was produced by Ronnie Montrose and I can see why, the guitartist on this album smokes. Great song from another band that I have look further into.

14) Shok Paris-Steel and Sunlight-This band seems to have a few fans on this board, I will count myself among them. it was ok but it just didn't do much for me. To be fair i will give it a few more spins.

15) Whiplash-Snakepit-Old school thrash, typical of its era and I liked it.

16) Chastain-For Those who Dare- David Chastain's other band featuring femme fatal Leather on vocals. A heavier and more preferred band of Chastain, I actually own this on vinyl but it has been several years since I have spun this and may have to pull this out of Manny vaults.

17) Wasted Youth-Good Day for Hanging-would not track at work

One more disc from required Fields to go.

Nice review on disc 2 manny.

Bassinvaders is a band put together by Markus Grosskopf. It also features Schmeir (destruction) and Peavy Wagner (from rage) on bass and Apollo Papathanasio (firewind) also there are a bunch of guest appearances too. Good album but its really missing guitars.

Grave Digger is one of those bands that you do have to get used to with the vocals. Once you do you will see how awesome they are.

Ark is a great band which unfortunetly disbanded a while back. Jorn Lande is the singer. You'll find a lot of him on the compilations.

Cage is great. Maybe that wasnt the best song. Take a listen to their newest album Hell Destroyer and you'll probably like that a little more. The track I used was on an older album which sounds different from their newer stuff. I just heard that track the other day and thought it was cool. But definetly check out Hell Destroyer great stuff!

Tyran Pace is Ralf Sheepers first band. They are basic hard rock/metal.

Symphorce has the vocalist to the band Brainstorm. He is a great vocalist. You should have a Brainstorm on one of those discs somewhere as well

Roland Grapow is of course a former Helloween guitarist. That is probably the best song on that album. His first album Roland did all the singing but hes really not that great of a singer. If you didnt like this song then you probably wouldnt like his other stuff either.

Quote :

Grave Digger is one of those bands that you do have to get used to with the vocals. Once you do you will see how awesome they are.

I'm with Manny on the vocals of this band. I really dig the music but those Udo meets Lemmy vocals just kill it for me. I recently unloaded several GD albums that were clogging up my CD racks.

tohostudios wrote:

Quote :

Grave Digger is one of those bands that you do have to get used to with the vocals. Once you do you will see how awesome they are.

I'm with Manny on the vocals of this band. I really dig the music but those Udo meets Lemmy vocals just kill it for me. I recently unloaded several GD albums that were clogging up my CD racks.

I wish I had know that, I would have taken them off your hands. I really like the last one they did, but despite 25 To Live (which I do have), their discs have been absent from Virgin Megastore (the place I usually go to for hard to find bands). I'll just have to wait til I can make debit card purchases and get them from the internet at a later date. I agree with PDR that it takes a while to get used to the vocals, but for someone like Toho (who listens to too much music for a band to grow on him), that is not an option.

Here's the comp manny made:
1. The Cult - Drug Tongue
2. Coverdale/Page - Whisper a Prayer for the Dying
3. ZZ Top - Jesus Just Left Chicago
4. Van Halen - Me Wise Magic
5. T. Rex - Think Zinc
6. Blue Öyster Cult - In the Presence of Another World
7. Jimi Hendrix - Little Wing
8. The Who - I Can See For Miles
9. Slade - Slam the Hammer Down
10. Foo Fighters - Down i nthe Park
11. Pearl Jam - Why Go?
12. Roger Waters - Bravery of Being Out of Range
13. Iommi - Gone
14. AC/DC - Down Payment Blues
15. Savatage - When the Crowds Are Gone

The best songs are bolded. The weakest tracks are italicized.

Required Fields wrote:

Here's the comp manny made:
1. The Cult - Drug Tongue
2. Coverdale/Page - Whisper a Prayer for the Dying
3. ZZ Top - Jesus Just Left Chicago
4. Van Halen - Me Wise Magic
5. T. Rex - Think Zinc
6. Blue Öyster Cult - In the Presence of Another World
7. Jimi Hendrix - Little Wing
8. The Who - I Can See For Miles
9. Slade - Slam the Hammer Down
10. Foo Fighters - Down i nthe Park
11. Pearl Jam - Why Go?
12. Roger Waters - Bravery of Being Out of Range
13. Iommi - Gone
14. AC/DC - Down Payment Blues
15. Savatage - When the Crowds Are Gone

The best songs are bolded. The weakest tracks are italicized.

Nice review. That has to be the best I have seen in this thread.

Required Fields wrote:

Here's the comp manny made:
1. The Cult - Drug Tongue
2. Coverdale/Page - Whisper a Prayer for the Dying
3. ZZ Top - Jesus Just Left Chicago
4. Van Halen - Me Wise Magic
5. T. Rex - Think Zinc
6. Blue Öyster Cult - In the Presence of Another World
7. Jimi Hendrix - Little Wing
8. The Who - I Can See For Miles
9. Slade - Slam the Hammer Down
10. Foo Fighters - Down i nthe Park
11. Pearl Jam - Why Go?
12. Roger Waters - Bravery of Being Out of Range
13. Iommi - Gone
14. AC/DC - Down Payment Blues
15. Savatage - When the Crowds Are Gone

The best songs are bolded. The weakest tracks are italicized.

That's a nice mix of old and new. That Cult track is off their weakest album IMO and that BOC song is from their best release.

Quote :

but for someone like Toho (who listens to too much music for a band to grow on him), that is not an option.

You are correct sir. There's seldom such a thing as a "grower" in the Toho Vault.

tohostudios wrote:

Required Fields wrote:

Here's the comp manny made:
1. The Cult - Drug Tongue
2. Coverdale/Page - Whisper a Prayer for the Dying
3. ZZ Top - Jesus Just Left Chicago
4. Van Halen - Me Wise Magic
5. T. Rex - Think Zinc
6. Blue Öyster Cult - In the Presence of Another World
7. Jimi Hendrix - Little Wing
8. The Who - I Can See For Miles
9. Slade - Slam the Hammer Down
10. Foo Fighters - Down i nthe Park
11. Pearl Jam - Why Go?
12. Roger Waters - Bravery of Being Out of Range
13. Iommi - Gone
14. AC/DC - Down Payment Blues
15. Savatage - When the Crowds Are Gone

The best songs are bolded. The weakest tracks are italicized.

That's a nice mix of old and new. That Cult track is off their weakest album IMO and that BOC song is from their best release.

I have mixed feelings about that self titled Cult release, on one hand when it first was released it I loved it, but over the years my view has somewhat lowered my love for this album, but I do feel it is a good Cult album and deserves more critical praise than the album originaly received, if you still own it Toho take a listen and let me know if your opinion has changed.

I still have it.

At least it's no longer the worst Cult album. That dubious distinction now goes to "Born Into This" which should more accurately be called "Bored Into This".

tohostudios wrote:

I still have it.

At least it's no longer the worst Cult album. That dubious distinction now goes to "Born Into This" which should more accurately be called "Bored Into This".

In fear of turning this into another Cult thread i think that dubious honor goes Ceremony.

The S/T is a great record up in their top 3 records easily just behind Love and Electric.

rattpoison wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

I still have it.

At least it's no longer the worst Cult album. That dubious distinction now goes to "Born Into This" which should more accurately be called "Bored Into This".

In fear of turning this into another Cult thread i think that dubious honor goes Ceremony.

The S/T is a great record up in their top 3 records easily just behind Love and Electric.

The best one to me is Beyond Good and Evil. The S/T is just too "psychadelic" and experimental IMO.

[


In fear of turning this into another Cult thread i think that dubious honor goes Ceremony.

The S/T is a great record up in their top 3 records easily just behind Love and Electric.[/quote]

The best one to me is Beyond Good and Evil. The S/T is just too "psychadelic" and experimental IMO.[/quote]

That is why I love the self titled album is was a returns to roots sort of record, and I like the fact they tired new things, were I felt "Ceremony" was a very safe record. I think I like " Ceremony" better than rattpoison does but I would consider that on e their worst album but I donot own their last release.

I am sorry you didn't care for alot of it, but I am after all 900 years old so I do like alot of older bands, but like you said you can't like 'em all, now a couple notes on some of the selections:

BBM-Waiting in the Wings- Personally I love this song, in 1994 after Cream were inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, both Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker wanted to reform Cream but Eric Clapton was not interested. So what they did instead was recruit Gary Moore and formed the short lived BBM. I personally love the album, even if in reality all they did was re-write Cream classics.

Bad Brains-Scared Love- The vocal part isn't being sung thru a megaphone but a payphone from L.A. County Jail. Back in the early 80's, vocalist H.R. had a habit of being locked up from time to time. Bad Brains being an indepenant band already paid for studio time, so H.R. called the studio and simply sang the lyrics over the phone, and it was done in one take.

Queen-Mother Love-This was released a few years after Freddie Mercury's death from the "Made In Heaven" album. This was the last song Freddie Mercury sang, according to an interview, Freddie could only do about a half hour of studio recording than due to his health not be able to continue. This song was written in the studio by Brian May and Freddie Mercury, and IMO is the most beautiful and moving song ever written by Queen, the last verse is sang by Brian May when Freddie Mercury was to ill to continue and never returned to complete the vocal track.

Black Sabbath-Evil Woman- a cover tune and was first singal by Black Sabbath ever released.

UFO-love the lyrics taking the viewpoint of successful businessman and great guitar work from Vinnie Moore.

Quiet Riot-Trouble- Just adding a little QR era with the great Randy Rhoads

Venom-Megolomania-a cover of the Black Sabbath classic.

Thats interesting about the Bad Brains song. Now that I know the reason for the vocals being that way I can accept it sounding like that.

I had a feeling that the Queen song was from that album. I only need 2 more Queen albums and that is one of them. I always wanted to hear that album not only cause it was Freddys last but because of how they had to record it. It must be a really different album from the rest and very moody. Sooner or later i'll pick it up.

manny wrote:

a couple notes on some of the selections:

BBM-Waiting in the Wings- Personally I love this song, in 1994 after Cream were inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, both Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker wanted to reform Cream but Eric Clapton was not interested. So what they did instead was recruit Gary Moore and formed the short lived BBM. I personally love the album, even if in reality all they did was re-write Cream classics.

Black Sabbath-Evil Woman- a cover tune and was first singal by Black Sabbath ever released.

I need to revisit the BBM, thanks for calling our attention to it Manny. I should like it, but I've never taken the time to dig into it.

Evil Woman was of course written by the band Crow, from Minneapolis MN.

review for disc 3 from Phoenix's comp swap cd;

1) and 2) Adagio-Fire Forever and Inner Road-The guitar work reminded me a little of Yngwie, at in the intro. It wasn't bad, added nothing new to the power metal genre but these guys are not trying to reinvent the wheel. It wasn't bad nothing I would seek out but very good musicianship, the solo on the 2nd song was very good played with a lot emotion and imagination.

3) Evil Masquerade-A Good Day to Die-Again all excellent musicians which is prerequiste for this genre, the songwriting while not bad didnot stand out enough for me, but that guitartist has an excellent tone and guitar solo reminded me of Ritchie Blackmore which is a good thing.

4) Millenium-Power to Love-Acappella introduction, very talented vocalist who multi tracked his vocals at least twice maybe even more. Unfortunatley the songwriting wasnot up to par and I felt the lyrics were tripe. That being said I don't think the lyricist was trying to be heavy metal's answer to Bob Dylan. There was a very bright spot in the bridge where the classical piano and guitar playing interplayed with one another, I have never heard of this guys but leds me to believe based on this section of the song this may not be one of their stronger tracks.

5) and 6) Magnum-On a Storytellers Night and The Spirit-I am already a fan of this classic and very British prog band. Just solid songwriting all around.

7) Wolf-Meet me After Midnight-Didnot care for this song, nothing made out stand out from the pack. ( No pun intended)

Yngwie Malmsteen-Damnation Game- Features Tim " Ripper" Owens on lead throat, killer song and very typical of Yngwie style. The Ripper is singing his lungs out and Malmsteen does another jaw dropping guitar solo

9) Divine Heresey-This Threat Is Real- Dino formely of Fear Factory new band. Blast beats, and vocalist who wishes he was Phil from Pantera. Very nice guitar work from Dino, and slight touches of industrial and nu metal influences but no surprise since Dino pioneered this style with Fear Factory.

10) Rage-One Step Ahead-I recently just discovered this band, and I am new fan to their music. Great song, for some reason the vocals reminded me of Biff of Saxon but I loved the song.

11) Savage Circus-Between the Devil and the Sea-A cool song from a band I have never heard of, and I am beginning to suspect that power metal maybe Phoenix's favorite sub genre.

12) Symphony X-Seven-Already a fan of this underrated prog band. Excellent musicianship all around.

13)Freedom Call-United Allience- Fast guitar riff, but nothing stood out for me, so not a band I will explore in the future.

14) Conception-Cardinal Sin-Very cool song from a band I am completely unfamiliar with. The vocalist is very melodic without being over dramatic like alot of other vocalists who sing in this genre, good solid metal.

15) Firewind-Maniac-A covertune of the Flashdance movie, very funny and great away to end the CD.

Alright that is it only 5 more to go.

That Savage Circus is a great album. It's what Blind Guardian used to sound like. Which isn't surprising because their former drummer is in SC.

tohostudios wrote:

That Savage Circus is a great album. It's what Blind Guardian used to sound like. Which isn't surprising because their former drummer is in SC.

Your a little behind buddy, hes not in the band anymore haha.

Quote :

Conception-Cardinal Sin-Very cool song from a band I am completely unfamiliar with. The vocalist is very melodic without being over dramatic like alot of other vocalists who sing in this genre, good solid metal

The vocalist for the band Conception is Khan from the band Kamelot.

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

That Savage Circus is a great album. It's what Blind Guardian used to sound like. Which isn't surprising because their former drummer is in SC.

Your a little behind buddy, hes not in the band anymore haha.

Quote :

Conception-Cardinal Sin-Very cool song from a band I am completely unfamiliar with. The vocalist is very melodic without being over dramatic like alot of other vocalists who sing in this genre, good solid metal

The vocalist for the band Conception is Khan from the band Kamelot.

Yeah, I knew he left SC but he was on their one and only album.

Looks like it'll be there last too, but who knows. Havent heard anything from them since.

Savage Circus has a concert DVD from 2007. A DVD after one album?