| CD REVIEW Beautiful Beast – Black Eyed Betty – Black Sunday Dream – By Blood Alone – Electric Woodland |
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TSM/ SLW Promotions, July 2011, Part 1 : Beautiful Beast – Black Eyed Betty – Black Sunday Dream – By Blood Alone – Electric Woodland Oomphhh...been a while since our last TSM/ SLW Promotions special...in fact, I've had sóme of these releases in my possession for more than a month, but had never come around to starting on 'em because of the shit-load of other releases that were thrown into my to-do box, combined with a very busy personal work-load as well! Well, at the moment things at Concrete Web headquarters are a bit slower (editor-in-chief just broke into a too demanding job – can anyone find him another one, so he has at least some time of every now and again?), and as I've worked away all the “other stuff”, here's the first of a couple of specials. Huh...what with the editor-in-chief currently in dire shortage of the necessary time to work on the site, and him also having to work away quite some backlog, there's a good possibility you'll find several specials at once. ----------------------------------------------------- When you'll surf to this German band's website (www.) beautifilbeastrock.com, you'll find it opening with the words “Welcome back to 1989”...which immediately sets the mood for what the music fan might expect from the Power Rock trio, consisting of lead singer/ guitarist Julian Angel, bassist/ keyboardist/ backing singer Frank McDouglas, and drummer/ backing singer Ro Lee. In the “Story” section of said website, you'll find Julian freely “confessing” to his love for the Melodic Hard Rock tunes from the late '80s, stating the fact that 1989 was the year when Skid Row released it's debut album, as did Danger Danger and Blue Murder, while Alice Cooper and Motley Crüe issued their famed Trash and Dr. Feelgood albums respectively...and Julian himself would still have Bon Jovi's “Bad Medicine” and Kiss' “Crazy Crazy Nights” on the self-made mixtapes he'd listen to on his walkman when walking to school every morning. Not surprizing then that he also liked the looks of all those Hair Bands, and continued to don such clothes, in spite of occasionally being beaten up. Now where in many cases such aggression would incite a change of behaviour in the recipient of such punishments, Julian persisted in his love for the music and looks, and even learned how to play the guitar in order to make sure that Hair Metal would never quite die out. To date, he's recorded two solo albums (available only as mp3 downloads, one a self-titled album of 2001), and got nominated in the category “Best Guitarist” at the German Rock Awards. He's also made music for TV and film for two renowned Hollywood publishers, and even made music to a promo video for American Express. Muddling through the years, Julian eventually found two like-mended musicians in McDouglas (whom had a classical training on the piano before picking up the bass – he is also a sought-after session keyboardist and sound engineer in the South of Germany. His relationship with Julian goes back over a decade, the two frequently having played together in occasional bands) and Lee (whom actually comes from a far heavier background, having toured Europe with several bands, including Paradox. He's been jamming occasionally with the two others for the past 5 years), and together they decided to start Beautiful Beast. Adult Oriented Candy is the first fruit of that collaboration, and boy...that title doés cover the content alright! In the “Music” section of above mentioned website, you can listen to samples of all 11 songs on the album, and you'll immediately understand that these are seasoned musicians, playing the typical mixture of heavy and calmer ballads, plus sensitive Rockers we all liked to listen to back at the end of the '80s! For those of you with a nostalgic mood, here's the perfect way to brighten up your Summer (and following seasons...I dó hope you're not thàt superficial?!). The album is available from several sources, including Amazon, iTunes and CDBaby. Oh...before I forget, check out the band's facebook page. There's 5 songs off the album posted there, and I forgot to check whether they were possibly full-length. 88/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Judging a new band for its musical capabilities is usually a difficult job, and personally I've always wanted to find out where a band comes from and/ or what their musical goals are. In some cases I have found that my appreciation for a band changes positively, after having read what the background is...and occasionally I've had to come to the conclusion that some bands simply use namedropping as a means to promote under-average middle-of-the-road music. In the case of Columbus (Ohio) based quartet Black Eyed Betty however, I was more than happy to find the info sheet I got along with the promo copy of their debut album starting with the question: “What happens when Classic Rock and Metal influences such as Heart and Black Sabbath slam dance with modern Punk sounds like The Hives and Tsunami Bomb?”. Now, depending on whom you would ask that question, you're certain to get a series of different answers...because it so happens each and every one would combine those elements differently, depending on his or her own background. But if you were to ask that same question to either Amee BellWanzo (lead singer), Keith Neibarger (lead guitarist & backing singer), his brother Kevin (bassist & backing singer) or Jason Morris (drummer & backing singer), you can be sure to see the face in front of you crack open in a wide smirk of a smile and getting an answer like “Hey man...that's us, see?!” BellWanzo and the Neibarger brothers have been at it since April 2007, going through three drummers before finally finding Morris (nickname of “Noodles”), and have in that time made quite a reputation for themselves, getting support slots and headliner shows in many of Columbus' better venues, landing a repeat slot on the entertainment line-up for the town's annual Race For The Cure event (attended by over 40,000 race enthousiasts) and founding their own annual Rocks The Cure festival. By all means, when you'll check out the band's music (5 out of the 11 tracks on the album) posted at (www.) myspace.com/blackeyedbetty, you'll find that the band's main attraction lies in Amee's powerful vocal stylings. She's actually got a very steady voice, and I was unable to hear even one false note from her throughout the album. You'll also find that the musicians not only play their music real tightly, but also somewhat basic (in spite of the band citing the likes of Heart, Tool, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Iron Maiden among their influences on its facebook page – obviously, there's a difference between the music you like to listen to and gets you wanting to play music as well, and what you can actually use in your own music). None too many frills in the guitar work here, and things are kept quite honest without any (well, perhaps just one or two) overdubs. Still, overall there's effective melody and power, especially so in the Poppy Punker “Keep My Heart”). I noticed Amee does her own backing vocals on the songs “Gone”, “Slipped Away”,and “Stick Around”, and I've wondered whether that's meant for female audience participation during gigs. The male vocal backings are somewhat basic (just some short half-sentences, and in many cases even only a couple of words). Overall a very forward album with somewhat of a constant pace, the band brings in some calmer passages here and there for good measure and diversity, with the previously mentioned “Slipped Away” (only track mentioned so far you'll also find on the band's MySpace page) as the overall calmest track on the album...finding Amee again bringing an excellent vocal performance throughout. End conclusion...if it wasn't for Amee, this band would not do as well in the rating as it does now. 80/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Okay...attentive readers will notice we've done a review for this album before (in the first of two TSM/ SLW Promotions specials posted on March 13), in which I referred to an earlier review of part of the album, which was used as a promo tool under the title Dark Of The Night (that one came in a first of three specials posted February 2). Since then, the band also sent us their debut album End Of Days (review in special posted May 22). So now they're sending us their 2010 album again. Why? Has anything changed within the band about which they want to keep the reader informed? Are they planning to invade Europe by gracing our stages during the Summer? Have they changed their plans about recording their third album? Well, it appears none of the above is applicable. I can therefore only guess that somewhere between the lines they've understood that I have an understanding with our editor-in-chief about all releases sent to us through the intermediary of Two Side Moon/ SLW Promotions (wherein he gets to keep the material sent...except in cases where for some reason material is sent double) and decided they'd do me the favour of sending us a copy for my own collection...for which I am indebted beyond compare. I mean, what with all the work I'm involved in these days, I can hardly find the time to get out of the house and roam the record stores in search for hard copies of the stuff I come across thanks to the website, so...a sincere grateful thanks to you, guys! Not that this thoughtful move from the band will in any way change my opinion about this band! I still think Donald Hillier has quite a unique voice (which WILL need some getting used to in most cases of first listeners, but also has a very addictive effect before one gets through half an album by the band), and the band's melodic Metal-tingued Hard Rock is simply só catchy it is bound to have an attraction factor for both Hard Rock fans of old, and more recent days. In my opinion, and I daresay I might be repeating myself here, a unique band indeed!!! Check out the band's pages at MySpace and ReverbNation! Do it now, and then don't wait too long to order your copies of the albums. You'll never forgive yourself to have waited too long and find out the guys sold out all copies of their material! 98/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Aha...another returnee, but with a new album! And I'm sure some of you will say it was about time too, because although we at Concrete Web only had our review of Seas Of Blood in a TSM/ SLW Promotions special posted 31/10/2009, which is still available for your fact-finding needs on this 5-piece Progressive/ Gothic Rock act from Portland, Maine [the review got me (or rather the editor-in-chief in which they apparently saw the writer of the article) some praise by the band, who found it rare to find reviewers go into the background of a band the way the detailed way I usually do, as a rule], the album dates back to 2007! Okay, how about some additional data first? First of all, it's important to know that 2009 was actually a somewhat slow year for BBA. As the gents and ladies were trying to focus on writing the new material they intended to record hat same summer, they turned down most gigging opportunities during Spring, except two. But when push came to shove and the band was finally getting towards the completion of their rehearsal room, annex recording studio, they got a positive reply to a participation request for September 2009's prestigious Utica Music Festival, sent in May. Someone in the band suggested they couple the event to the band's tour they'd never done back in 2007 (due to lead singer Melynda “Cruella” Amann coming down with breast cancer and having to be treated for that, remember?), and so the band went on their first tour ever, dubbed The Unfinished Business Tour 2009. The tour went surprisingly well, in fact great fun was had by everyone, and so a decision was made to do more short gigs in the coming year. Back home from the tour, the band realized it was time to organize a 5 year anniversary gig...and all of that, combined with some more small unexpected stuff, made for the band's studio to be ready by December only. That's also when the band sent out an appeal to their fans to help out with an upcoming short (only 6 days) Spring tour they wanted to organize in their neck of the woods (North-East US). In March 2010 BBA played support to Ocean, and in early April they got out on their tour (interested parties can read all about that in the blogs on the band's website (www.) bybloodalone.com). Oh, those interested in freebees will be interested to find out that the band made a couple of songs off their debut album (and later an additional one off their 2005 demo) available for free download prior their Spring 2010 tour. Returning home on a high, the band was thrilled to find they were nominated twice for the upcoming Portland Phoenix 2010 Best Music Poll, first in the category Best Heavy Music Act, secondly in that for Best Female Vocalist. With being upgraded a category, the band failed to win, but then it's already a great thing to be nominated in the first place. Meanwhile, the band continued to record, and occasionally play a gig. One of the most remarkable would be the “Furfright show”, organized by drummer Runtt on Halloween 2010 (again, more info is available in the blogs at the band's own website) In January 2011 the band posted a “help wanted” blog, as they needed funds to master and print the CD they had just finished recording. Well, that album is now finally here...so what can we say about it...has anything changed in the band's sound? Well, no! In fact, the album continues faithfully in the same vein soundwize and stylistically. And you know something, I found out that's quite alright by me, because I very much liked this band from its 2007 recording! Well, maybe the one change the band went through is to write some longer songs (two are just over 10 minutes long, another is just over 9 minutes, and with only 7 tracks on the album, it still has an appreciable length of almost 56 ½ minutes...you do the math!). If opening track “Drive All Night” sounds vaguely familiar in the chorus, it's because, as Melynda confesses in one of the last blogs posted on the band's website (where she also talks about the background of the songs and a couple of others), she let herself be influenced by Cindy Lauper's mega-hit “I Drove All Night”. It sure gives the song a recognition factor to-die-for! For a 1 ½ minute sample of that song, and each other song ever recorded by BBA, take the link to their ReverbNation page (and don't forget, there's 3 complete songs available for free download – search the blogs). End conclusion? Just like Seas Of Blood, this is a very nice album, enjoyable not only for casual but also for repeated listening sessions! The band already did a mini-tour for the album in mid April, and although we can doubt very much that the fivesome will ever be able to make it for a European tour (it's apparently hard enough to get their schedules to coincide for shorter tours on home soil), we at Concrete Web feel gratified by the fact that we can nevertheless listen to the band's albums! Lovers of Goth-tinted Prog Rock, check this out! You're missing out on a great band if you don't! 90/100 ----------------------------------------------------- This Norwegian quintet from the countryside town of Skogbygda in the Akershus province (it's a hamlet some 55 km NE from the center of Oslo) was founded out of pure necessity. A couple of years back, the few annual music festivals from their neighborhood had all gone bankrupt, and chances to see a good concert without having to travel great distances became slim to none. The guys (lead & backing singer Vegard Ertsäs, guitarist/ backing & lead singer Peter Kjaernli, guitarist Christian Olsen-Ruud, bassist Marius Nordby, and drummer Emil Kjaernli) felt something had to be done. They all new each other from school, and the drummer is Peter's younger brother, but had never played together as a band, so they started rehearsing old Classic Rock tunes for what was to become their homestead's annual Runerock Festival (the first of which happened in 2009). They found out they liked playing together very much indeed, and after Runerock's second successful year they started accepting other gigs under the bandname The Landlord's Daughters. Only a couple of gigs later the guys were made aware of the existence of an American band with the same monicker and precedence, so they became Electric Woodland. Then, drawing from the wide range of Rock influences the band members came across throughout their lives, the guys started writing their own songs, 4 of which we can now find on this, their debut EP. Now when you'll look up the band's page at CDBaby, you'll find they come “recommended if you like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin”, while the band presentation at their ReverbNation will tell you their music has “...influences ranging from the Classic Rock of Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, ZZ Top and The Doors, to the more modern Rock of The Black Keys and Them Crooked Vultures...”, but...but...well, I've said this before: it's not because a band has played covers by certain bands that they've effectively succeeded in emulating their sounds. I mean, I know well enough what the two latter bands sound like, having come across 'em in the line of duty for Concrete Web...and I can say I have a more than casual knowledge of the first five...good heavens, I practically grew up with 'em! So when I tell you that there's no likeness between the bands mentioned and these Norwegians, you can believe me at face value! Then...what doés EW sound like? Well...one thing it has in common with all bands mentioned, is the fact that they play a Bluesey Hard Rock...with a relatively slow pace and without becoming Stoner, and simple but nice guitar interplay. Lyrically, the band seems stuck in the women trouble topic, but at least in the case where the band's friend Vegar Hettestad Jensen wrote 'em (that would be the songs “Sharp Angle” and “Another Brick In The Puzzle” - the latter with nice acoustic passages...even some banjo), they're quite decent. The two other songs' lyrics are in fact rather silly, especially in the case of the EP closing “Manimal”. Hum, I just realised 3 of the 4 songs feature Peter as lead singer, and his voice is a...well, why don't you have a listen for yourselves? I mean, all 4 songs are posted at the band's MySpace and ReverbNation pages (the latter also features a video for one of the tracks though). No...definitely nót the best in this special's offering! 78/100 Tony. |
