Number 12

Moving along is the last one that I will reveal today. It is...



"Fast" Eddie Clarke

Sorry to you two or three Fastway fans out there, but he is on this list strictly for his work with Motorhead. His playing on those early Motorhead albums had a huge impact on metal due to his tone and speed. Often overlooked, but Motorhead and thrash would not have been the same without his contributions.

Okay, that's probably it for a while. I'll have numbers 11-8 out around next Friday or Saturday.

Number 13

Number 13 is...


Randy Rhoads

This was a tough one for me because I think that he tends to get slightly overrated. He did manage to establish his own style in a rather short time period though. Even 27 years after his death, his work still holds up well. His work with Ozzy showed his ability to alternate between heavy hitting riffs, classy passages and strong solos that were more substance than flash.

Number 12 will be up soon.

Number 14

The top 25 hard rock/metal guitarist countdown is already down to number 14. It is...


Chuck Schuldiner

Death along Possessed were one of the bands that help start the death metal in the early-mid 1980's. That may have been enough of a legacy to make Death's frontman important, but he didn't stop there. He kept progressing as a player and a writer. He pushed and broadened the boundries of death metal by bringing in his technical abilities and helped the genre to grow. I think he was progressing as a player and a writer even up until he was taken from us all too soon.

Number 15

The top 25 hard rock/metal guitarist countdown continues moves on with....



Joe Perry

Pulling out basic yet instantly likable, groove-based blues rock. Not the greatest technical player, but a great sense of tones and he knows how to pull the most out of just a few notes.

Number 14 will be up soon.

What's coming up?

The big thing this week was that I got accepted to start graduate school online in the fall. This is both exciting and it makes me very nervous at the same time. Years ago I thought I would go back for my masters degree at some point, but I got into having a house built and starting a family. In recent months I thought it was time to start back.

For this blog I will continue to post daily until mid-August. After that I may come back to post when I have time, but there will be no regular or set schedule. I will leave the blog up to come back to and I will still be moderating comments and responding to them accordingly. I will continue to keep up Whole lotta covers as I only do two posts per month over there.

This means I need to step up the top hard rock/metal guitarist countdown to finish in just a few weeks. So I will be doing several of those per week instead of just one. I am still on the list for at least half a dozen discs coming out in the next month or two so any that arrive after the middle of next month will still be reviewed as soon as possible since these are items I already committed to reviewing. I will try to do at least two lesser of two evils in the next four weeks as well. If you have questions, comments or topic suggestions for these next few weeks then please let me know. Thanks for reading. Here is the jam packed schedule for this coming week.

Reviews of...

Doro-Fear no evil
Snail-Blood
Praying Mantis-Sanctuary

Number 15, 14, 13 and 12 on my top hard rock/metal guitarist countdown

Interview with Metal Witch

Clash of the album covers


Lesser of two evils (possibly Contraband vs. Damn Yankees)


***Have a great week!

The Hell Candidates-Bring to war

2007




Portland, Oregan's The Hell Candidates have been around for over a decade. The cover doesn't really give an accurate image of what the music might be on this disc. Once I started it up I was right away taken back in time about twenty plus years or so. This band sounds like the kind of classic metal influenced acts that were popular in the metal underground years ago. There is a huge Judas Priest influence mainly focused around the albums from 1980-1984. However the production is less polished and even the performance has something of a "live" feel to it . I mean that in the most postive sense. This is a band who are far from perfect, they are loose around the edges and seem to figuring some things out as they go along yet that goes well with this no-nonsense sound. They remind me some of Ohio's Damien only with female vocals and a little order to their style. On many tracks I felt like I was listening to a lost demo from 1987 or so. The only downfall was that they went on a bit too long. Once it got around track eleven I felt like they were continuing on more than they needed to. Still this is an album that I see myself going back to. They have that old style metal sprit and that goes a long ways.

Number 16

My top 25 hard rock/metal guitarist countdown continues with number 16. We have...





Andy LaRocque

Often overlooked LaRocque has been the heart of King Diamond's music. He easily goes back and forth between solid rhythms and elaborate solos. His style has added the rich textures to King Diamond's albums. He has played with other projects including playing on Death's fantastic "Individual Thought Patterns".

***Number 15 will be coming next week.

Wretched-The exodus of autonomy

Victory
2009



I have come to expect a lot of metalcore fromVictory records, but North Carolina's Wretched are a death/thrash band which is both surprising and refreshing. Their style has a heavy influence from old style bands like Kreator, Possessed, Morbid Angel and others. They still manage to add enough of their own sound and some more recent death influences too. The approach is steady, but often boils up to a brutal level. The riffs often in a machine gun like attack with a choppy style that pushes ahead. The technical level is good for this style although they far more focused. Wretched possess a tightness that can be heard and felt in every level of their music. They are in complete command and drag us through valleys and over peaks while punishing us all the while with pounding layers of crushing sound. The tones are varied enough to be interesting and the pace is just astonishing because I felt like they were so relentless, but that certainly worked. They also kept the songs relatively brief. Really a fine job all the way around.

Syrym-s/t

Hatrix
2008

I wasn't sure at all what to expect from this one. I knew that Babylon A.D. founding member/guitarist Ron Freschi was in this band so I was expecting late 80's-early 90's hard rock perhaps. That indeed part of this equation, but certainly not all of it. When I heard someone use the phrase modern rock or modern hard rock I am afraid that I oftentimes cringe. This is because my experience has lead me to believe that bands that receive these labels often tend to be more about slick edges and less about really rocking. Syrym are a band where I feel like they represent at least a good attempt at being what I wish modern hard rock or modern rock was. Much like Lillian Axe they carry the solid riffs and sharp hooks of hard rock from years ago, but they manage to bring in some modern elements without losing their edge. The combination of the two styles isn't always seamless, but it's a worthy attempt with strong results. The production is rich and greatly enhances the sound. There were several songs where the main riffs were so loud and vibrant that they helped the band establish themselves mere seconds into the song. There were places here and there where some general tightening and trimming could help, but overall a very strong album.

Artillery-When death comes

Metal Mind
2009

I'll be straight forward so this is definitely one of the top 2009 releases that I have been looking forward to. There are not a lot of thrash bands that I feel this way about, but these guys have never really gotten their due. Each of their first four releases were powerful entries with 1990's "By Inheritance" being their best offering to date. I think they had an influence on bands like Sodom, Dark Angel and maybe even Slayer at one point early on. This band has faced the obstacle of having long gaps between releases before as it was nine long years between "By Inheritance" and "B.A.C.K". So this time around it's a ten year stretch, but that's no big deal. I am sure the biggest question in the mind of every Artillery fan was would newcomer Søren Nico Adamsen be able to fill the shoes of Flemming Rönsdorf. Every Artillery album has featured and benefited from having Flemming on vocals. His voice unique to thrash and very much helped to define this band over the years. Søren has a different vocal style, but there is no denying that he is a terrific fit for this band. His voice has a touch more clarity and perhaps he even more direct in his approach. The change is seamless as he didn't just fit, but rather he stormed in and is helped the band forge ahead. They are not quite as experimental this time around as they were on "By Inheritance". Still they possess the ability to slam you back with a mountain of cutting riffs and pounding rhythms. Despite having long gaps between the last few albums I have never thought of Artillery as doing a comeback because they never seem to have lost a step so I never really question them. This isn't going to win over a great of new fans perhaps, but it will certainly thrill fans of killer old style thrash.

Clash of the album covers

Today we have....


Cirith Ungol-Paradise Lost

vs.


Slough Feg-Atavism

***Which cover do you prefer?

UZI-Madhouse

Eonian
2009


Chicago's UZI formed in late 1986 out of the ashes of KIDD. They started out as Dillinger, but soon changed to UZI. They played around the area,recording a number of tracks and playing shows in the Midwest. In late 1990 the band earned a trip to Los Angeles to perform at Concrete Management's "Foundations Forum" music clinic and promotional event that was headlined by Judas Priest. After that they decided to move out to LA and take their chances.The entire music scene was already changing and the days were numbered for many hard rock bands. UZI recorded a few more tracks and played some shows, but eventually called it quits in 1992. This collection captures ten of their songs and gives a decent snapshot of what this band was like. There are a variation of styles represented here and that's to be expected because the songs were written over a seven year period and recorded over a six year period. Most of the songs from the 1980's reflect the hard rock sounds that were in style back then. I hear Ratt, Skid Row and even Guns and Roses as influences. The production quality is consistent throughout even if the styles very slightly. They opt mainly for a mid-tempo approach, but handle a ballad good enough as well. Some of their later tracks are slightly heavier and much like someone like Skid Row on "Slave to the grind" they were attemting to keep up with the trend of heavier music becoming slightly more in fashion at the time. Really they still sound good on these songs even if it may not be their first choice in musical directions. I found the majority of the tracks on this album to be instantly likable because they know how to sell a good hook. Although I can't say they were doing much different from a lot of other bands running around the scene back then. There were so many bands like this pushing to get noticed that some were bound to get left by the wayside and UZI were one of those casualties. At least they are getting chance to see some of there music get released even if it is two decades after the fact.

What's coming up?

I never saw the Flash tv series much during it's 90-91 run because I was working second shift at the time. However I recently got a good deal on the DVD set and picked it up. It is much better than I figured. Definitely influenced some by the 1989 Batman movie. The characters are likable, the effects are good for the time and the stories are generally strong. High cost per episode and low ratings did them in and it unfortunately only lasted one season.

I still owe a Syrym review so that will be the next post. Plus I will have the following out.

Reviews of...

Wretched-The exodus of autonomy
Uzi-Madhouse
Artillery-When death comes
The Hell Candidates-Bring to war


Plus...
Clash of the album covers


and
Number 16 on my top hard rock/ metal guitarists

Have a great week!