Archive for the arena rock Category

EUROPE “Always The Pretenders” – This CD Single From 2006 I Won In A Magazine Contest!

Posted in arena rock, classic rock, classic rock albums, Hard Rock, hard rock albums, Heavy Metal, metal music, Music, rock music, rock music news with tags , , , , , , on February 19, 2013 by Metal Odyssey

Europe - Always The Pretenders - CD single - cover promo

EUROPE – ALWAYS THE PRETENDERS CD SINGLE

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It was sometime back in 2006 and I saw a contest ad in Revolver Magazine; with the prize being a CD single of Always The Pretenders by EUROPE. I forget what the actual questions(s) I had to answer were, to win this CD single. I believe the contest was run by Sanctuary (Records), then again my memory is vague on it. I guess that stuff doesn’t really matter anymore!

All I do know: I still own this CD single (that I won) and I recently stumbled upon it while rummaging through some CD’s I haven’t listened to in years. This (lead) single Always The Pretenders was used to promote the seventh EUROPE studio album released back in 2006: Secret Society (Sanctuary). This CD single was released via T&T / Sanctuary.

The song Always The Pretenders and album Secret Society is not the Glam/Arena/Hair Metal version of EUROPE from the 80’s; instead, this is a much more Modern and Hard Rockin’ version of the latter. Honestly, the sound that EUROPE tapped into back in 2004 with Start From The Dark married well with their sound on Secret Society from 2006. Relevancy is key here, my Metal brethren.

Europe - promo group pic - 2006 - #1

EUROPE – 2006

What makes this CD single extra cool is there are 4 songs on it. Here’s the track listing: Always The Pretenders (Radio Edit), 2. Always The Pretenders (Album Version), 3. Flames (Live) and 4. Superstitious (Live). The 2 live songs were previously unreleased. Both live songs were recorded at B.B. King in New York.

Superstitious originally appeared on Out Of This World; the fourth studio album from EUROPE released back in 1988. Flames originally appeared on Start From The Dark; the sixth studio album from EUROPE, released back in 2004. Both live songs are solid listens from EUROPE, with some top-tier sound quality happening.

I surely recommend this CD single from EUROPE to all Classic Rock and 80’s Hard Rock/Arena Rock fans. As for this EUROPE CD single being a collectible one day, who knows? I’ve seen this CD single selling between $4 and $10 (U.S.) around the internet, both used and new.

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Here’s what the album cover of EUROPE – Secret Society looks like:

Europe - Secret Society - promo cover pic!

Released back in 2006 via Sanctuary Records, this Secret Society CD doesn’t come cheap! I’ve seen “used” CD prices range from $22 to $75+ (U.S.) around the internet. Granted, some used copies are imports and command import prices, nonetheless, this EUROPE CD has become collectible. Metal be thy name!

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Europe - Sweden Rock Festival - 2013 - promo banner - 30th Anniversary

EUROPE – 2013:

Mic Michaeli – Keys

John Levén – Bass

Joey Tempest – Vocals

John Norum – Guitars

Ian Haugland – Drums

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* For more info on EUROPE, click on the links below!

http://www.europetheband.com

facebook: Europe

http://www.youtube.com/europethebandtv

http://europethebandblog.blogspot.com

http://www.twitter.com/europetheband

Stone - Motorhead Tee pic:small

LONG LIVE EUROPE.

LONG LIVE COOL CD SINGLES THAT ROCK.

Stone.

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SEBASTIAN BACH – Kicking & Screaming: Heavy Metal Hallelujah! This Album ROCKS!

Posted in arena rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, heavy metal albums, heavy metal news, metal music, metal odyssey, Music, rock music, rock music news with tags , , , , , , , , on September 5, 2011 by Metal Odyssey

Sebastian Bach Kicking & Screaming – I love those cherished moments when a Rock N’ Roll hero is reborn. In the Metal case of Sebastian Bach, a Heavy Metal hero is reborn. The second solo album from Sebastian Bach, Kicking & Screaming, is to be released on September 23rd, 2011 via Frontiers Records. Better mark your Metal calendar for this one… cause it’s a blazing trip of melodic and dark edged Heavy Metal that kicks more ass than a pissed-off parochial school nun on steroids. Welcome back Sebastian, even if you never left the damn building after all!

If the title track Kicking & Screaming doesn’t knock your brains around in a whirlwind of Heavy Metal euphoria, then My Own Worst Enemy is gonna drop a flyin’ and Heavy Rockin’ elbow upon your Heavy Metal starved cranium. This album never seems to hold back a damn ounce of psyched-out fuel, making the high-octane experience, of listening to an entire Heavy Metal album once again… very much in vogue. Sebastian Bach can also take a Metal bow and know that he is once again, without a doubt from this Metalhead, one of our genre’s finest vocalists. His voice is a musical instrument, one which carries Kicking & Screaming to it’s profound psyche-out-nation heights.

Sebastian can snarl and scream with the very best of ’em, while also singing harmoniously through melodic and heavy Rockers: Caught In A Dream, As Long As I Got The Music and I’m Alive. If not for this being 2011, these three songs would be FM radio favorites and hit singles chart toppers. All the hot gals in their cougar spandex shall dance in the streets once again and shake their foundations! Sebastian Bach has brought back that damn fever of Arena Heavy Metal being a dominant force in the air once again! Metal be thy name and ring that F’n Metal bell… cause Sebastian Bach has told all the poser Rock and bubble gum Pop to go straight to hell!

Yes, Sebastian brings on the hard & heavy and with authority on Dirty Power. This song has the guitar muscle and rhythmic speed of a runaway Harley, being commandeered by the mighty vocals of Sebastian as it rips and erupts with what I consider Heavy Metal splendor. Nick Sterling never seems to give his guitar or bass a breather throughout this album of pumped-up Heavy Rockin’ ecstasy. Nick can shred. Nick can play. ‘Nuff said. The only breather for Nick on guitar is when John 5 steps in to lend his legendary licks on Tunnelvision. I’ll say that this song is so good it’s damn scary. A Heavy Metal song to get your head bangin’ and fists pumpin’ into the air… while Sebastian is screaming and crooning his Metal lovin’ heart out.

Bobby Jarzombek on drums is spot-on and such an insane listen. Sebastian Bach is complimented perfectly by Bobby’s drumming, bringing back those days when Heavy Metal wasn’t focused on blast beats and psychotic speed in order to sound bad-ass. Kicking & Screaming is bad-ass. Okay, is there a moment that is mellow on this album? Yes and it’s called Dream Forever. An up-tempo ballad that has me blushing cause I like the damn melody. Metal be thy name I’m becoming a ballad freak in my near golden years. Call them hot girls over wearing them cougar spandex… cause I want to see them all cry while they listen to Dream Forever.

Tell all the people who you see… Sebastian Bach has super revived a sound that once was thought to be extinct during the 90’s and has injected more modern-day relevance into his Metal than you could ever imagine. Play One Good Reason extremely loud and then give me one good reason as to why Kicking & Screaming is not a shining moment for Heavy Metal in 2011. Sebastian Bach’s second solo album has all the ingredients for my bellowing: must buy and crank it up insanely loud all you Metalhead mutha’s!

Now… I just have to convince my wife to dig out her ol’ cougar spandex… rrrrraaaawwwrrrrr…

Sebastian Bach – Kicking & Screaming:

Sebastian Bach – All Vocals & Cowbell

Nick Sterling – Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Baritone Guitar & Bass

Bobby Jarzombek – Drums

* John 5 – Guitars on: Tunnelvision

* Produced by Bob Marlette

* Album Cover Created by Artist Richard Villa

Kicking & Screaming – Track Listing:

Kicking & Screaming

My Own Worst Enemy

Tunnelvision

Dance On Your Grave

Caught In A Dream

As Long As I Got The Music

I’m Alive

Dirty Power

Live The Life

Dream Forever

One Good Reason

Lost In The Light

Wishin’

Bonus Tracks:

Jumpin’ Off The Wagon (available only on the physical CD/DVD edition)

Ain’t There Yet – (iTunes exclusive)

* For more info on SEBASTIAN BACH, click on the links below:

SEBASTIAN BACH – Official Website

FRONTIERS RECORDS

LONG LIVE SEBASTIAN BACH.

Stone.

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Van Halen – Diver Down: Revisiting A Good Times, Summer Vibe Album

Posted in arena rock, classic rock, classic rock albums, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, metal music, metal odyssey, Music, rock music, rock music news with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on June 20, 2011 by Metal Odyssey

VAN HALEN – I can recall the day I bought Van Halen’s Diver Down. It was during my Summer vacation in 1982, my sophomore year of high school was over. I was just getting my Hard Rockin’ taste buds delighted by the Van Halen catalog of albums during this time period. I remember borrowing the first four albums from friends all the time, therefore, Diver Down was my first Van Halen album that I owned.

The album cover didn’t resonate that Van Halen mystique, still I didn’t really care. The diver down flag album cover… it is what it is. The back cover to this album is more like it though, with a panoramic picture of Van Halen live and onstage. Plus, there are four live concert photos of each band member shown as well. Like I used to do with so many album covers (and still do), I held it and stared at the back cover and inside record sleeve in pure awe at the band I was listening to.

My favorite song on Diver Down is the cover of The Kinks classic: Where Have All The Good Time Gone. I swear I played this song on it’s own hundreds of times over… it is what it is and Metal be thy name. What’s amazing is that I have never grown tired of this song either, wether it’s The Kinks original or this Van Halen cover. Simply amazing.

(Van Halen – Diver Down: back cover)

The record sleeve had a very cool group photo of Van Halen, just a vintage shot, in my Metal opinion. I laugh now at the memory of my liking the striped shirt that Alex Van Halen was wearing in this group photo. I liked that striped shirt so much, that I went searching for it at every department store or any store that sold teen clothing. I never found it.

This fifth album from Van Halen may never be considered their best work, yet that doesn’t matter much to me. Diver Down was a good times Hard Rockin’ album for me back in 1982 and it still holds that same vibe for me in 2011. Metal be thy name.

* A long time ago, in a Metal world far, far, away, I once wrote a concise review on Diver Down. Click here to read it: VAN HALEN – DIVER DOWN
You might just like it.

LONG LIVE DIVER DOWN.

Stone.

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FAITHSEDGE – AOL Music Is Streaming Entire Debut Album Now! April 18th, 2011

Posted in arena rock, classic rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, heavy metal albums, metal music, metal odyssey, Music, rock music, rock music news with tags , , , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2011 by Metal Odyssey

FAITHSEDGE – The debut and self-titled album of Melodic Hard Rock and Heavy Metal from FAITHSEDGE will be released tomorrow, April 19th, 2011, on Scarlet Records. Originating from Huntington Beach, California, FAITHSEDGE is a band of Rock Music industry pros… and they’re worth every millisecond of your time to check out!  You can listen to the entire album streaming, right now, at AOL Music! Just click this link: AOL MUSIC – FAITHSEDGE

FAITHSEDGE:

Giancarlo Floridia – vocals & guitar

Fabrizio Grossi – bass

Alex De Rosso – lead guitar

Tony Morra – drums

* To read the complete album review I wrote for FAITHSEDGE, just click on the big link below:

FAITHSEDGE – Debut Album Is One Of The Year’s Best In Both Hard Rock and Heavy Metal

* For more info on FAITHSEDGE, click the links below:

FAITHSEDGE – facebook

FAITHSEDGE – Official Website


LONG LIVE FAITHSEDGE.

Stone.

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FAITHSEDGE – Debut Album Is One Of The Year’s Best In Both Hard Rock and Heavy Metal

Posted in album oriented rock, arena rock, classic rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, metal music, metal odyssey, Music, progressive metal, rock music, rock music news with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 15, 2011 by Metal Odyssey

FAITHSEDGE – I’m a believer in the old adage “what’s old is new again”. In other words, Old School Hard Rock and Heavy Metal will never fall out of relevance in my Metal world. Step in please, from Southern California… Faithsedge. This band of Rock industry veterans have created a debut and self-titled album of Hard Rock meets Heavy Metal songs that are anointed with the double M. What’s the double M you query? Melodic and Memorable. Simply stated, this debut album from Faithsedge is one of the best albums thus far, that I’ve listened to in 2011. Releasing on April 19th, 2011, on Scarlet Records, this album has more melodic momentum in it’s heavy that it’s dizzying. Faithsedge will (not should) make some serious noise in the Heavy Rock world.

If a band today wants to make an impression from the very onset, it’s quality that will win over fickle Hard Rock and Metal fans. It all starts with songwriting and the songs I hear on this album are a reminder that Rock is supposed to Roll. This is an album that I’ve been listening to for a few weeks now and it only sounds better each time I push play. Before you read on any further, take out your blackberry or a post-it-note and remind yourself to buy this new Faithsedge debut album. It’s that much of a guarantee of Rockin’ satisfaction… Metal be thy name.

Giancarlo Floridia on vocals sounds every bit the seasoned pro, with many moments of Joe Lynn Turner like resonance. Hitting the high notes and exhibiting some of the best vocal harmony this side of Jon Bon Jovi, Giancarlo is top tier. Not to be mistaken, Giancarlo is as original as they come, only he’s so good I have to compare him to the finest out there. Alex De Rosso lays down more delectable chops on guitar than I can count. The leads, solos and riffs that Alex plays are abundant, making this album easily tagged as guitar driven.

Initially, I listened to the five songs that were streaming on the Faithsedge website and was extremely impressed by all of them. Then, once I listened to all eleven songs it dawned on me… this is as good as it gets when it comes to a complete album of quality songs. No, there is not even a hint of a bugger on this Faithsedge album. AOR and Classic Rock has it’s roots buried within the sound that Faithsedge has captured here, while never compromising on relevant Hard Rock and arena style Heavy Metal. If there ever was an album tailor-made for a Summertime psyche-you-out experience, then this is it and let the good times roll!

With up-tempo as a constant on this album, a song such as That’s What Happened To Us comes across to my ears as: ready for radio airplay now. Faithsedge is not lacking in the accessibility department when it comes to their songs. You will be searching in a vain effort to find any cheese-its illuminating from this album. The heavy thumper of World Keeps Falling Down appeals from both it’s speed and Power Metal flair, while visions of Faithsedge playing this song in an arena or festival one day doesn’t seem that inappropriate in my Metal mind.

I spoke to Giancarlo Floridia recently, to characterize him as a musician who is grounded while being ever enthusiastic about the future of Faithsedge is appropriate. “I’m really fortunate, going from being homeless at one point to where I am now”. Giancarlo continued: “I’m fortunate and I appreciate everything that is happening, I’m a singer that realizes I can lose everything”. “Things happen in our lives and we have to get through them. Even the dark stuff needs to be addressed, I write, sing and play these songs because I want to help people get through tough times”.

I can’t help liking a musician such as Giancarlo, especially when he added: “The lyrics represent what was going on in my life on a day to day basis. These songs are about my story, my comeback in life. Hopefully, people can relate to it. I don’t party or do drugs. Paul Stanley and Joe Lynn Turner are two big heros of mine and I want to be where they are in another twenty years”.

“To take in the overall sound of the album, you have to listen to the whole thing through”, is how Giancarlo characterizes the many Rock genre tags that have been used to describe Faithsedge. “There was so much special stuff happening while making this record, from Tony’s drumming to Alex just doing it with his solo’s! I don’t know how they did it, they just did it!”

The songwriters for Faithsedge are Giancarlo and Fabrizio Grossi. “Fab” as Giancarlo calls him, is a world renowned bass player and record producer. Giancarlo affectionately refers to “Fab” as “The Godfather” when talking about his experience working with and listening to his advice. The appreciation and respect that Giancarlo has for “Fab” pours out of him with admirable sincerity.

Fans of 1980’s Hard Rock, Arena Rock and Heavy Metal should feel quite content as they listen to Faithsedge. Any fan of Rock who wants a complete album of songs, with no fatty acids thrown in, should be all over this Faithsedge debut. This band has all the melodically Hard and Heavy credentials to share the stage and open for the likes of Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, KISS, Edguy or Journey. It makes perfect Metal sense to me. Faithsedge proves with their debut album of immensely contagious songs that they are for real and they belong. I’m on board for this melodic Rockin’ ride with Faithsedge… I hope countless others will join me.

Metal Odyssey gives FAITHSEDGE 5 out of 5 Metal Fists!

FAITHSEDGE:

Giancarlo Floridia – vocals & guitar

Fabrizio Grossi – bass

Alex De Rosso – lead guitar

Tony Morra – drums

Track Listing For FAITHSEDGE:

Another Chance

There’s Still Hope

Let It End This Way

World Keeps Falling Down

Even If

Hold On

Take You Away

Somewhere In Your Heart

That’s What Happened To Us

Faith-Anne

When It Rains

* For more info on FAITHSEDGE, click the links below:

FAITHSEDGE – Official Website

FAITHSEDGE – facebook

SCARLET RECORDS

LONG LIVE FAITHSEDGE.

Stone.

3 Comments »

Def Leppard – Live Album: “MIRRORBALL Live & More” Releasing Summer of 2011! Includes Three New Studio Tracks!

Posted in arena rock, classic rock, classic rock bands, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, live rock music, metal music, metal odyssey, Music, rock music, rock music news with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on March 12, 2011 by Metal Odyssey

DEF LEPPARD press release from Def Leppard.com: “Def Leppard, Great Britain’s premier Arena Rock band, have announced the release of their first ever live album, “MIRRORBALL”, out this Summer. The live album was recorded across the world over the course of many of the band’s sold-out dates. “Mirrorball” will feature all of the classic songs that have made Def Leppard one of the most respected and beloved Power Rock bands in the world. The release captures the group’s legendary concert experience at it’s thunderous best, bringing together live versions of classic Leppard hits such as “Pour Some Sugar On Me”, “Rock Of Ages”, “Foolin'”, “Hysteria”, “Photograph” and an incredible rendition of “Bringin’ On The Heartbreak”.

With Their creative juices at full flow, the band has also added three new studio tracks: “Undefeated”, “It’s All About Believin'” and “Kings Of The World”, that are undeniably Def Leppard. “Mirrorball” follows the bands 2008 studio release, “SONGS FROM THE SPARKLE LOUNGE”, which debuted at #5 on the Billboard Top 200, marking the group’s highest chart position since 1992’s “ADRENALIZE”.

In addition to the album, Chronicle Books will be releasing “DEF LEPPARD: THE DEFINITIVE VISUAL HISTORY”, featuring photos of the band by legendary Rock photographer Ross Halfin. His fully authorized visual history of the band follows them from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal to their massive “PYROMANIA” and “HYSTERIA” albums to the sustained power of their records and tours today. The book will be available this June”.

* For more info on DEF LEPPARD, just click here: DEF LEPPARD

LONG LIVE DEF LEPPARD.

Stone.

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