Where did I go?

If you've stumbled into this page, I can only imagine that you're likely lost among the glittering ruins of the world wide web. But just in case you're actually looking for the guy who used to write music reviews here on the regular, I thought I'd update.

First, I'm pretty busy writing books and stories these days, so I'm writing fewer music reviews. I've got quite a few fantasy and horror stories and one middle-grade novel out there right now, with more on the way in the very near future. If you want to check out what's available, you can visit my Amazon page. You can also find me at fredwritesfantasy.com. If you see something you think you'd like and want to pick it up, that would be awesome.

I am still writing the occasional music review or article. They come a little less frequently, but they're still coming. I'm collecting those, along with my book reviews, updates on my stories, and the occasional random thought over on my Fred Rants Substack. If you're still interested in keeping up with my ramblings, please subscribe there.

I can't say for sure that this page will never come back. It's faded and been resurrected a number of times since I started doing this back in the mid-1990s, and I'll never say never. But I do believe that it's unlikely. I will leave the library of past reviews up, so feel free to browse those, and if you like what you see, come join me on the Substack.

Best of 2024: Hard rock and metal

Though there were some fantastic releases by a few classic bands in 2024, I didn’t feel that it was, overall, nearly as strong as some other years in recent memory for hard rock and heavy metal. The year also brought a few notably disappointing highly-anticipated albums from bands who have been very dependable in recent years, like Zeal & Ardor or Ad Infinitum.

While a few surprises are scattered among my 15 favorite releases of the year, I’m struck by the lack of newer and younger bands in my picks. A few debut albums show up on the list, but most are at least partially made up of veterans that I’ve been listening to for years. I’m willing to admit that maybe with everything going on in my life that 2024 was perhaps a year of musical comfort food for me.

Here are my thoughts on the year in hard rock and metal:

METAL MOMENT OF THE YEAR: Metal got perhaps its biggest global stage ever in 2024, being featured in the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. And we’re not talking a glorified pop act with a few heavy guitar riffs. No, it was progressive death metal band Gojira offering up an epic performance of “Mea Culpa (Ah Ca Ira),” a take on the song “Ca Ira” from the French Revolution. Complete with shooting towers of flame and a finale with streamers that resembled spraying blood, it was not what most of us expected to see at the Olympics, but it was awesome. I’ll admit that I mostly ignored everything else about the ceremony and the games, wasn’t even watching live when it happened, but I jumped online just as soon as I heard to find the clip. It was a bit of vindication for an old metalhead who has, for the most part, seen the heavier end pushed into the dark corners.

Best of 2024: Country and Southern Rock

 For some reason, 2024 brought a lot more country and Southern rock to my playlist than usual. There’s always some mixed in, but at least according to Spotify, three of my top five bands and four of my top five songs of the year were country or Southern rock – and I can’t deny that the genres produced two of my absolute favorite albums of 2024. I’m still a metal guy through and through, so I’m sure there’s some great stuff out there that I missed that will leave the true aficionados of country shaking their heads, but here’s a look at my favorites for what it’s worth:

No. 10. JOHNNY BLUE SKES – PASSAGE DU DESIR: I’m firmly in the camp of folks who wish that Sturgill Simpson would return to the traditional country of High Top Mountain or even the psychedelia of Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, but I guess we just have to accept he’s not going to do that. The things he’s done since then have been a mixed bag, some I liked and some I really disliked. Now comes his alter ego Johnny Blue Skies, a mix of country, blues, blue-eyed soul and at least one song that has some ’80s pop leanings. While I like it, Passage Du Desir is very much a mood record for me and not something I’d listen to regularly. I’m still more drawn to the songs here that lean to the country side of his sound.

Standout songs: “Scooter Blues,” “Who I Am,” “Mint Tea,” “One for the Road”

Review: Zeal & Ardor, "Greif"

Inevitably when you have a unique band that is truly creative, there comes a time when they want to step away from what they've done in the past and try something very different. Sometimes that new direction is really good, more often it's not so great. That moment has come for Zeal & Ardor on Greif, and it leaves me with really mixed feelings as they seem to have dropped many of the things that I loved about their previous records.

What's hot?

Zeal & Ardor continues to push boundaries, but this time those boundaries may challenge fans of the band's previous work. There are still a few really nice examples of what they do best. "Hide in Shade" stands out as one of those. And some of the newer touches to the music are interesting, if not quite as heavy or catchy as I'd often like.

Review: Wage War, "Stigma"

Overview

Normally, I'm a fan of bands with identity crises, but I find Wage War to be pretty frustrating. On the one hand, they'll deliver an awesome heavy tune like "Death Roll" from their 2021 album Manic, then they'll turn around and give you one of the most generic and uninteresting radio rock tunes that you've ever heard. I find it hard to believe that anyone can enjoy both sides of the band equally, but apparently, they're out there. Stigma is no different in that I find myself really enjoying about half the album.

Review: Dominum, "Hey Living People"

Overview

Pitches at Napalm Records must be crazy.

Band: Our gimmick is that we're not musicians, we're actually ...

Napalm: Say no more. Here's a contract.

I joke, but pirates, werewolves, dwarves, gladiators, dinosaurs, and apparently, now zombies.

Dominum is an artsy power metal band with a zombie gimmick and an interesting sound that sets them a bit apart from the pack with flavors of Savatage, Queen and others.

Review: Kiuas, "Samooja: Pyhiinvaellus"

 

Overview

Kiuas was one of my favorite mid-2000s discoveries. They had a sound that was really all their own at the time -- a blend of power, folk, and death metal, with occasional forays into thrashier territory or blackened realms (though there's really none of the more extreme end here). They released four great albums on Spinefarm Records, including two fantastic ones in their debut for the label Spirit of Ukko and their 2008 album The New Dark Age, then after 2010's Lustdriven, they disappeared.

I was surprised a few months back to see an unfamiliar song from them pop up as a recommendation from Spotify, and I immediately clicked on it to find that they had released a new EP, Samooja: Pyhiinvaellus, which translates to Samoa: Pilgrimage. I was thrilled to hear new music from them again.

Review: Blackberry Smoke, "Be Right Here"

I consider Blackberry Smoke’s 2012 album The Whippoorwill to be one of the greatest Southern rock albums of all time, and yet I haven’t listened to it in years. It was a record that arrived in the darkest hour of my life and seemed written for me.

I identified with nearly every song on it, and I’m not being dramatic when I say that it played a huge role in helping me survive the turmoil and return to the land of the living again. And therein lies the problem. While I’ll still occasionally rock out to “Sleeping Dogs” or “Shakin’ Hands with the Holy Ghost,” some of my favorite songs from The Whippoorwill – like “Ain’t Much Left of Me” and the title track – are too tightly tied to that darkness for me to comfortably revisit. They hold emotions and feelings that are better left in the past.

For years now, I’ve wished that Blackberry Smoke could release another album that hit the way that The Whippoorwill did so I could enjoy it in better times. While I’ve liked most of what they’ve done, it’s never quite reached that pinnacle. But Be Right Here may be the record that I’ve been waiting for them to make.

Review: Durbin, "Screaming Steel"

Overview

After years of trying to cash in on his "American Idol" fame with more radio-friendly rock fare, James Durbin turned to his passion for 1980s metal on his 2021 album The Beast Awakens. While the style is not likely to land him on top of the charts, it did seem like he was having more fun. He's continued that on the follow-up Screaming Steel, wearing his influences on his sleeves and basically writing another love letter to classic metal.

What's hot?

The record is a treasure trove of Easter eggs and inside references for fans of classic metal. It starts in the title track, where Durbin throws out references to classic bands and songs almost non-stop. Is it campy? Absolutely. Do I care? Not at all. I'm banging my head and shouting them out along with him. The strongest performance on the album, in my opinion, though, is one of the shortest tracks here, the Dio tribute "The Worshipper 1897." I love the whole delivery, and it makes me wish that Dio was still around to maybe do a guest shot on it.