Power of the Night

There are occasions when I really start to wonder why one band is so appealing while I'm hardly interested at all in the next. What it is that makes me like music one time but on the other, just fade to infinity and remain in memory as something that sounded ok but not more. What is it I'm looking for in a record? It's very hard to pin-point these things and it's almost impossible to explain and even harder to understand when people don't feel the same about the things I like.

Peter bought a batch of records a while back which showed up by the end of last week so Friday was spent going through those and of course mixing it up with some Michael Schenker. I'm really excited about the concerts. Mr Schenker is one of my all time favorites, one of my guitar heroes. I've been hooked since first time I heard him. I bought Perfect Timing sometime in -87 or maybe -88. And the concert season has been very dry for me since beginning of December also which makes these shows even more exciting. 
But back to the bunch of records, one in the bunch really stood out. Canadian DAYS OF YORE, a rather complex concept album touching upon FATES WARNING, KING DIAMOND or so, type Progressive Heavy Metal. Of course with those references it's bound to be good. Given references are not always true though and it needs more than to just copy an act. But there was something really special with the record. From a production perspective it sounded ok, nothing special and not a catastrophe.   

And then, the next band that I've been nagging everyone about for some weeks now. Also a Canadian band, SARASIN who will release an album through Pure Steel in a few weeks. Everyone I've played it for has actually liked it so they're good. But for me, I just couldn't stop listening to the record. Time after time after time and for each spin it crept more and more under my skin and for every time the emotion it developed got stronger and stronger. It still is spinning and I'm really looking forward to get the real album in my hands!

And then I can be really pissed off over bands, even if they sound really good feel to forced into sounding like this or that. Perhaps not ripping off straight away but copying a bit too much. The really annoying thing is that these band normally get good response, so much cred and kudos while band that has a very original sound don't get anything at all.
I got STARBLIND's latest for review, and by all means, the record is decent. But if I want IRON MAIDEN, I listen to IRON MAIDEN. And for me it doesn't do much to get a band that sounds this much as something else.

As another music related topic a friend asked me if there was any bands left for me to see live. If I had something I really, really was urging to see that I haven't seen. Also, something that's realistic to happen as a twist to the discussion. Else, LED ZEPPELIN but that's not going to happen, SABBATH with Dio... But real things that can happen. One of the first that struck me was HELLION, I've only seen Ann Boleyn with DETENTE at Headbangers, she ruled and I love DETENTE also but HELLION was also one of the really early ones I found all by myself. On many occasions class mates or other friends recorded stuff for me on tape, but this one I bought and it kept spinning. The first EP that is, next HELLION I bought was "The Black Book" and this I hold as a favorite to this day. One more thing that I'm really looking forward to see is METAL CHURCH with Mike Howe. I liked Ronny Munroe as well but he didn't seem as inspired the last tour. Fan pack (regular one) pre-ordered of the coming album with an additional Mike Howe shirt! 

And now, since the dry season is over I'm looking forward to a very nice February.
First up is Michael Schenker's Temple of Rock, times 2. Both Stockholm and Malmö. I was aiming for Copenhagen as well (take back for lost times) but couldn't get the logistics to work around it.

And that's followed by Manowar, a quick visit to Stockholm.

And a few days break before Helloween hits Gothenburg.

And then there's actually a break before the last batch, which is good since I'll have some time to write and get the reports posted also.

Dirkschneider and Anvil makes it a short night and up in the early morning light to catch a flight to Greece Friday morning. Means I will miss the Warm-Up this year but I get to see all the goodies at the Festival.

And then February turns to March and winter should be over and it's time to look forward to the Festival season for real! Yey!

And CDON sent the package with the Michael Schenker record I didn't have already. Really disappointed with myself that I've missed the release completely. But ok, I think I took it for a collection as it's titled "Tales of Rock'n'Roll" and have a bikini-girl with a guitar on the front. Not that I have the time to listen to it before the first show though but at least I have them all after this!

Cheers
E

NP: Michael Schenkers Temple of Rock - Spirit on a Mission

   

Who's getting the votes?

And no, even if it's very actual right now in Sweden, this is not about politics...

So hmmm, it’s just another 9 days before Album of the Year list is due for Metal Kaoz. For some reason I have listened to rather little music this year compared to how it normally is. I’m not sure why but that’s the way it is. This of course mean that the pile of records that potentially ends up at “Could have made it to Top 10 if I’d listened more” is huge and the batch of the ones already qualified to top 10 and the ones that has a potential chance now already is rather sparse. So, this last weekend was spent digging through the vaults of new records that I haven’t listened to yet. 

Because yes, even if I haven’t listened as much as normal it doesn’t mean I’ve been buying less. Nope, not at all. I have almost 2 shelves in an Expedit worth of vinyl’s and 2 full IKEA CD pillars (don’t know the name of it, it’s since long out of the catalogue) almost completely full with CD’s. And of course, Peter has almost the same amount of new-buys for this year. So there’s a lot of music to take in…

 

Right now, the ones that I’m twisting and turning to try to figure out if they’re top 10 are first and foremost these;

Accept, All Seeing Eyes, Astral Doors, Behemoth, Entombed AD, Evil Masquerade, Grand Magus, Grave Digger, Holy Moses, Iced, Earth, Judas Priest, Masters Hammer, Overkill, Portrait, Riot V, Sanctuary, Slough Feg, Steel Prophet, Tankard, Tryptikon, Wolf...

What have I missed?

I’ve loaded a few in my mp3 player to be able to catch up during the week. It’s good to have at work, closing everyone else out and be able to focus. But I really miss the time when I could sit and read on the album cover straight through a record and do nothing but listen to it. That rarely happens these days, there’s always something more going on. 

And as if this wasn’t enough I’d been buying another bunch also (since the rules for putting a record on top 10 is that it should be physically in the collection) that could qualify. But I guess these will end up on the list of good ones I should have listened more to (just got a notification from TPL that they’ve packed 7kg worth of records for me now). We’ll see about that!

I've also been checking around in several forums to make sure I haven't missed out on anything important. As of now it don't seem like it, but it's hard to know what's missing! The thing I reacted on though, which was the most common comment. "Has there really been 10 good releases this year?" Strange I think! There's always good music available. Hellion's "Karma's Bitch" for example, but that doesn't qualify to the Metal Kaoz list since it's just an EP...  

One that really surprised me though and one of few smaller bands in my list right now is All Seeing Eyes. I got it as a promo and normally I don't pay much attention to these links (since there are SO MANY of them) but this one caught my eyes because Ben Jackson was mentioned to be a part of it. I couldn't resist and now, to my surprise it's actually as a candidate to Top 10... Very nice Queensryche, Crimson Glory type Metal...

Well, so many records, so little time.

Cheers

E

NP: ALL SEEING EYES - Trinity Road