Being that I wasn't feeling 100% yesterday and kind of hit with some writers block, I found release day to be an easy way back in the groove. Not to mention the great albums I am looking forward to spinning this week. After hearing enough singles, I am excited to see what Dave Grohl and the Sound City Players have in store for the rest of the album. A few albums I have yet to take a listen to (Fit For A King, Bon Jovi and Orianthi) but all in due time.
Of course we have legendary David Bowie releasing his album after a long hiatus from the music world. The single and music video made me reassure I wasn't on shrooms or something. Then again, if it isn't even a little weird then it isn't Bowie. I have also been eagerly waiting Adrenaline Mob's cover album Coverta. The group did such a great job with Duran Duran's "Come Undone" that the rest of the covers could certainly do justice in a day where covers on albums are becoming standard.
Dillinger Escape Plan has been hit and miss with me. With a new label, losing a member and a concept style album I will be sure to check it out. You never know what song/album hooks you in as a permanent fan. And of course...RAMMSTEIN! Not much else to be said (haha).
So as always, show some love for the artists (as well as retailers) and head to your local record shop, online retailer or other legal sources to grab a copy of these great albums. Cheers!
AFGM: Sound City Documentary
Overall, Real to Reel is an album that you owe it to yourself to own in some form, whether digitally, on a CD, or even on vinyl. It’s a fitting tribute to an age of music that is pretty much all but dead – when artists not only recorded music but also captured the human element of production instead of editing it out later in favor of sounding “perfect.” Music is supposed to be imperfect, much like the humans that create it and Real to Reel manages to capture that mantra and distill it down to an hour of excellent tunes. -Crave Online
Perhaps due to understandably lower expectations, Sound City has a better batting average when Grohl is collaborating with a lesser tier of legend—or with no legend at all. “Your Wife Is Calling” is a wiry, contorted, old-school rager led by Lee Ving of the veteran punk band Fear, whose gonzo sense of humor has turned hilariously avuncular in middle age. On “Heaven And All,” Grohl jams with members of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to bash out something as belligerently droning as BMRC’s best work. And “If I Were Me” showcases Grohl on acoustic guitar and spooky, hushed vocals, backed by a pick-up group of session musicians—the result being not only downright spectral, but a tantalizing hint of what a Grohl solo album might someday sound like. The high points, though, accentuate the low, not to mention the fact that any album with a time-restrictive concept like Sound City is bound to be a mixed bag. But in one sense, the soundtrack wildly succeeds: Strictly sonically, it’s warm, organic, robust, and wholly human. -AV Club
All in all, Creation/Destruction is an amazing follow up to Descendants and there is much promise for this quintet metalcore outfit from Texas. Do yourself a favor and pick this album up if you are a fan of the genre. It’s a near guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
Standout tracks: Hollow King (Sound Of The End), Skin & Bones, Destruction. -New Transcendence
Orlando is perhaps the one with the most at stake on “Coverta” having to reinterpret the likes of Blackmore, Eddie Van Halen, Vivian Campbell, Jimmy Page, Tony Iommi, and Jake E. Lee. Yet, just one listen to “Romeo Delight” from Van Halen’s 1980 “Women and Children First” release and one can’t help but realize, his own name fits in with those of the legends he channels here. It’s almost surprising the band didn’t do an early Ozzy track to give him a chance to pay fret-respect to his ultimate hero, Randy Rhoads. The last two-three minutes of this track are a real treat as well, as the band slips in some classic Led Zep and Van Halen nuances.
While cover albums have become something of a trend over the last decade, most being unworthy of attention, “Coverta” is an absolute exception. Every track is performed with requisite love and respect for the original artist and the music. Adrenaline Mob remain allegiant to the originals yet maintain devotion to their own signature as well. It makes for inspired and engaging barn burner of a romp and roll victory lap. -Examiner
Orianthi's third studio album, 2013's Heaven in This Hell, finds the virtuoso guitarist and singer moving away from the melodic pop/rock of 2009's Believe and toward a more adult contemporary and modern blues-rock sound. Working with producer and Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart, Orianthi co-wrote all of the songs on Heaven in This Hell. Whereas last time, tracks like, "According to You" and "Bad News" brought to mind a harder rocking take on "Since You've Been Gone"-era Kelly Clarkson, here, cuts like the swampy blues of "Fire" and the Jimi Hendrix-esque "Frozen" play up more of Orianthi's strength as ballsy, guitar slinging rock chick. The closest Heaven in This Hell gets to Believe is on the infectious and anthemic "If U Think U Know Me," which sounds more Melissa Etheridge -- a comparison that would most likely appeal to Orianthi, based on the material she's showcasing here. Elsewhere, tracks like the soulful ballad "How Do You Sleep?" and the funky, R&B-inflected slow jam "How Does It Feel?" also showcase Orianthi's growth as a vocalist. This is a more gritty, less pop-oriented album than anything Orianthi has done before, and in that sense, it may appeal to an older, more rock-oriented audience. -All Music
But the tracks that bristle with guns – I'd Rather Be High, How Does the Grass Grow? – are rich and gory and recall (of all people) PJ Harvey. And if Bowie wants to cast celebrities as undead aliens, "sexless and unaroused", preying on humanity, as he does on The Stars Are Out Tonight, then there are few stars who could do so with more authority.
Most satisfying of all, perhaps, is the swell of You Feel So Lonely You Could Die, which updates the Bowie of Rock'n'Roll Suicide. A bleak waltz that cries out for a lyric sheet, it's the song that really nails the argument in favour of this late comeback, as vicious as it is bitter. Does he really sing, "I can see you as a corpse/Hanging from a beam"? Yes. Yes he does. -Guardian
One of the great unheralded midlife crises of rock & roll belongs to Jon Bon Jovi, who decided sometime around the turn of the millennium that he wasn't being taken seriously, so it was time to make music that mattered. He wound up taking detours after 2002's Bounce, the album that inaugurated this phase -- and, it has to be said, that 2007 country detour Lost Highway was both his best and biggest record of the decade -- but as he crept closer to 50, the music of Bon Jovi got increasingly somber. What About Now, following a long four years after 2009's The Circle, continues down this sober path, as the group splices elements of U2, contemporary country, Coldplay, finger-plucked folk, and, yes, Bruce Springsteen into a monochromatic dirge. Aesthetically, this is a veritable reiteration of The Circle, where Bon Jovi spent much of their time playing big songs about big topics. As Jon Bon Jovi ponders the state of the union in 2013 (he raises the question "What About Now," then proceeds to answer it throughout the album), he repeats images -- faith intermingles with the military, although rarely in a way that suggests his politics lean to the right; rather, they're just underscoring the troubles within the American heartland -- as he cites but never explores the big issues of a changing world. He laments the passing of CBGB, but the sound is all dusky Auto-Tuned arena rock, powerful in its attack but colorless in its texture. Also, there aren't so many big hooks on What About Now -- just the raise-your-fist anthem of "Because We Can," with most of the sweetest melodies coming from the softer, quieter moments, such as the acoustic "The Fighter," which may (or may not) contain elliptical references to Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer." What ties all these songs together is Bon Jovi's adamant refusal to rely on anything that comes easily to the band. For that, you have to turn to the nice adult contemporary pop of "Into the Echo," a bonus track on deluxe editions of the album. On the proper What About Now, the group is striving to sound big and important yet winds up sounding small. -All Music
(*single)
The Dillinger Escape Plan dive bomb your ear drums with the stream of their new song “Prancer” and destroys everything you love. This blistering track changes rhythm before you know it and completely consumes your listening experience. We expected nothing less than insanity.
“Prancer” will come off of The Dillinger Escape Plan’s One Of Us Is The Killer, which is due out on May 14 on Party Smasher Inc. / Sumerian Records! New album pre-order are officially live now so go claim your before everyone else does. You will thank us later. -Under The Gun
(*DVD)
Rammstein's first official video collection, with nearly 500 minutes of footage! The set contains all the videos that Rammstein has made from 1995 until present, as well as over seven hours of material featuring 25 music videos, 24 behind-the-scenes clips of the making-of-the-videos and a 56-page booklet. Available as a 3 DVD set and 2-disc BluRay editions. Each package will come with a 6-panel digi-sleeve + 56 page booklet - both versions are available for life of project. -Amazon
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