THANK GOD – With origins from Atlanta, Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina, Thank God is best described as a Punk, Experimental, Hardcore and Jam Band. With all of these descriptive genres going on, yes, Thank God does make a whole bunch of noise. Notable noise at that. One first listen through of Thanks God’s new album, Ice/Age and I realize that this band is a free styling and “who gives a crap what the rest of the world thinks” band. That’s what Experimental, combined with Punk and Hardcore is supposed to do to a band in the first place. Listening to Ice/Age tells me Thank God looks upon the words “status quo” as being toxic. With songs such as Shit and Wow to flood the senses into a bewildering blast of Hardcore Punk from Thank God, these two songs are worth slamming your body around to, at any hour… of any day… of the whole damn week. Still, Thank God can tone things down at times, with One Half being a semi-melodic introduction into where ever you may want to go, within your mind or by space travel. You can be your own damn navigator! The guitar notes and overall tempo of One Half gives off that feeling of… ready, set, now F’n go! (Which makes all the sense in the world… One Half precedes Set/Go). Set/Go elevates it’s tempo to berserk levels, with breakdowns galore. There are hints of Doom and Stoner guitar riffs that seem to sneak into Set/Go, adding another element that Thank God has thrown into this eclectic album of songs.
Hopefully, Thank God will not seek out any “polish” on the production end of the scale on their future albums. The blue-collar and garage-tinged atmosphere on Ice/Age, coupled with the youthful, “who gives a shit” attitude is just fine with me. The only instrument I would like to see Thank God not experiment with too often in the future with is the sax. I love the sax, however, Thank God incorporating this fine instrument into Ice/Age just doesn’t resonate any vibe of cool for me. Uncle Stone doesn’t likey. The sax, as played on this album, comes across as macabre to my ears, so maybe it has a vibe… o.k.? I just want Thank God to take the sax and put it away for now or put it on ebay. Then again, this is an experimental band I’ve been talkin’ about isn’t it? Regardless, the sax that was played on this album probably cried alone at night, knowing how it sounded and was treated.
Sax aside, Ice/Age is like a sign post that reads: Open minds may enter… others piss off. I like Thank God and their brand of noise. Vocally and musically, Thank God have their identity crisis in check. Thank God plays fast and delivers plenty of heavy moments to make me feel like my ears belong in their music. It’s bands like this, that push the elemental fusion of Heavy Rock genres into their own direction and walk away grinning… knowing they have freely expressed their language of music upon anyone who listens. I’m listening to Thank God and hopefully many others will too, just get off the mainstream bus that’s taking you to status quo la la land… dammit.
* Released back in July of 2010, on indie label Exotic Fever Records, Ice/Age is the debut full length from Thank God.
* THANK GOD are: Troy, Hank, Adam, Matt and Kevin – (Sorry, I don’t know which name goes with each dude in above photo of Thank God). Gee Metal whiz, I said I was sorry.
* For more info on THANK GOD, click on the link below!
GO GET ‘EM THANK GOD.
Um, don’t get the sax in trouble anymore.
Stone.
The debut album by Foreigner, (self titled, released on March 8, 1977), was one of my first vinyl record albums that I ever owned. I actually bought the first Foreigner album shortly after receiving their Double Vision album as a birthday gift, back in 1979. (The Double Vision album was released on June 20, 1978). So it is safe to say, that the debut Foreigner album was playing on my turntable sometime in the Spring of 1979. Being an eighth grader in 1979, my exposure to Heavy Metal Music was at it’s most infant state, KISS was the only Heavy Metal Band I owned on album at this time. I always bring up my past history, as to the year of purchase of a said album and what bands I was into at the given time, so to make clarity to the evolvement of my becoming a Metalhead. It was a progression of listening to different Rock genres for me, since I was a kid. This Foreigner album is as integral a piece to that progression, as any other Rock album I ever listened to. Just as the Double Vision album, Foreigner’s debut album had me wanting more and that was a good symptom to have. There definitely was some psychological imbedding that happened to me with Foreigner at a young age, whenever I listen to their albums, (especially the first four), I feel like everything is alright.
I can remember the moment like it was yesterday. The moment in time of buying my first Michael Schenker Group album, at Caldor department store, back in 1982. It was the second studio album from Michael Schenker Group, it is often referred to as MSG ll, yet no where on my original album that I bought does it have the marking of “ll” on it. I guess the mystery of “ll” shall stay in my Metal mystery files for now. You can see, as proof, on the image below this post, that the front cover does not have “ll” on it. This image depicts the original album cover, the copy that I still own to this day. I have kept this Michael Schenker Group album in pristine condition for 28 years, this is an album that I extremely admire and highly recommend. The eight songs on this album are best described as Hard Rock, I find it difficult to label this album as straight forward Heavy Metal. There is one exception, Attack of the Mad Axeman is the one song from this album that I would label as an early 1980’s Heavy Metal song, in my Metal opinion.
Metal Odyssey extends a loud Happy Metal Birthday to Anthony Kiedis! Anthony was born on November 1, 1962 and he turns 47 today. Anthony co-founded and is the lead singer for The Red Hot Chili Peppers. My favorite Red Hot Chili Peppers album is one hot minute
I picked up my copy of Charm City Devils – Let’s Rock-N-Roll this past Summer, it was towards the end of July. On July 10, my mother passed away, she was as splendid, caring, giving and loving as a mother could possibly be for me. I received the news of her passing from my father… over the cell phone. We, (my wife and I with our twin daughters), were on our way to Connecticut by car with my courageous wife driving when this tragic news was conveyed to me by my father. We live in Pennsylvania, a solid three and a half hours away from our parents and relatives. The shock and sadness we all felt in the car at that moment can not be expressed in words here. Why I am telling this story is due to the Charm City Devils song Almost Home. You see, upon my first listen to Almost Home, I felt instant sadness, goose bumps formed all over my body and my thoughts instantly were directed to that awful moment in time – of receiving my fathers phone call about my own mothers passing away. It was only a couple of weeks after losing my mother that I first listened to this song.
There are those select few bands, select few albums throughout my life that I have listened to, that I can say – resonates with me. Drivin N Cryin is one of those bands and their 1993 album – Smoke
There is no hiding from the fact that I uphold Metal Music and I am a Metalhead, with that said, I also uphold quality Rock and Hard Rock Music as well. Drivin N Cryin enables me to embrace their songs through their vivid musicianship and clarity of their lyrics. With Smoke, there are no illusions going on, no flamboyant and over the ropes attitudes to be heard, just straight -up Rock Music that hits home for me. The first three songs, Back Against The Wall, She Doesn’t Wanna Go and Smoke on Smoke are a 1-2-3 Hard Rock can of whoop ass. 1000 Swings and 1988 are by far cool Rockers as well. Whiskey Soul Woman is just one incredible Rock song to cruise to, it has a Classic Rock vibe swirling all around. When You Come Back is a laid back, Blues Rockin’ song that shows just how diverse Drivin N Cryin can be with Rock. Patron Lady Beautiful can be justified as an epic Rock song for Drivin N Cryin, at 7:36 it plays out with the Rock mellowness that I need to hear every so often and takes it’s twists and turns with Hard Rock heaviness – in real Classic Rock style. What’s The Difference 
Lynyrd Skynyrd are Southern Rock Legends and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. What more does Lynyrd Skynyrd have to prove? What keeps the motivation meter running with this band? In my Metal opinion, it is a combination of many things… the Skynyrd Nation and the fact that this band has never lost touch with their roots are two quick examples. Southern Music roots… family roots… old school values, these three attributes come out Southern Rockin’ loud and clear on God & Guns
Foghat Live was released in the Summer of 1977. I did not own this album in 1977, instead I got my ears tuned into this Hard Rock Classic right when I was entering High School, just a few short years ago in 1980. Yeah, yeah, yeah… I bought this Classic Hard Rock gem on 8-track as well in 1980. I played it until all you could eventually hear was – hiiiisssssss. This Foghat Live album introduced to me back then, an unreal good sound of live and powerful Hard Rock Music. Being fourteen years old at the time, I was not yet the concert goer, no adult in my young life was into Rock concerts, plus I obviously was not old enough to drive a set of wheels just yet. Therefore, Foghat Live was the Hard Rock concert that entertained me for hours and nights on end. As a young teen, this album was my Hard Rock concert, it took me right there… I imagined seeing Foghat live, center stage in a middle row, on the floor. I will forever look back upon Foghat Live as an album that enriched my Hard Rock soul… an album that was a stepping stone or prelude, if you will, to the incredible world of Metal Music. This album helped soften me up and navigate me towards even heavier music. Hearing the Hard Rock – live power of Foghat made me hunger for more, to hear more heavier bands that were out there. Fast forward to 2009 and I still reach out for some classic Foghat – Hard Rock boogie… it will never grow old on me.
On Saturday, of this 2009 Labor Day Weekend, I set out on a trip to buy back to school necessities for my daughters. The local mall, which is only minutes away, provides for a cool stroll… an f.y.e. is located inside. (Yessssss!). As my daughters and wife are perusing the kids sneakers, all I kept thinking was… what is currently hiding in the batch of used CD’s over at f.y.e.? The trip to this particular mall proved to be very worthwhile, no sneakers were found that my daughter liked, however, we had some fine pizza slices for lunch while we were there, plus I found The Law. The debut album The Law 
Metal Odyssey > Heavy Metal Music Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.