It’s been 15 years since Full Metal Jacket’s last releaseand you even could say it’s almost a miracle this album saw the light of day. Indeed, on the verge of becoming one of the bigger names on the scene, after succesfull tours with bands like Nickelback and Creed, disaster struck when frontmen Josh Brown almost died from an overdose.
Spitfire are a German band, and this is their second album. The theme of this album is Bone City, a city full of chaos, violence, lawlessness, in short a city where Judge Dredd would have a lot to do.
I had never heard of this guy before, and was in for the worst when I put on this album, which is his third so far, but boy was I in for a surprise. First of all the songs themselves. They are a very heterogeneous mix of covers from a whole score of artists, ranging from Leonard Cohen over Garth Brooks, Iron Maiden, and many others.
Raven were something of a cult band back in the eighties, and had some good songs, and although the manager of Megaforce Records Jon Zazula believed they had it in them to become a major label material (they signed their first record deal with Neat Records, the legendary low-budget metal label) and they eventually had a deal with Atlantic Records, the promises could never be fulfilled.
Magnum is one of those dinosaurs, a band that seems to have existed forever and ever, and keeps on releasing new albums, although some of the members are close to the normal retiring age, and some, like vocalist Bob Catley have already passed the normal retiring age.
There aren’t that many bands around that can say that they exist since over 40 years, and still contain some of the original band members. UFO though is one of these bands, where original vocalist Phil Mogg and drummer Andy Parker are still present in their line-up.
This album provides me with a lovely sense of nostalgia, taking me back to the days of being a teenager. Give this album to my sons and they're quiet for a couple of hours! Maybe this band could be a possible nominee for the line up of "Groezrock, Belgium"!
The stylistic direction of their music is unmistakable, but their great autonomy and compositional intelligence are amazing for a band this young : their second album "Battery" proves impressively that the Southern German thrashmetal act Fateful Finality has rightly come to enjoy a reputation as one of Germany's most hopeful new metal proponents. The winner of the Wacken Metal Battle Germany 2012 have made the most of that window of opportunity and, three years after their debut King Of Torture, present themselves as an even more mature fourpiece.
Mother's Finest had their peak already in the 70's. In 1977 the band released their hit "Baby love" followed by a few more longplayers. The last release was ‘Meta-Funk'n-Physical’. They have been pioneers in combining funk ryhthms with rock guitars; years before bands like Living Colors and Mordred picked up this crossover again in the 80's and 90's.
Before i express my opinion, I have to admit that black/trash metal is not usually my kind of music... But I did like Persecution Mania. Long time ago though.... Even listened to Epitome of Torture again, to catch up.
