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.

Saturday Shuffle: III, Hank Jr., Priest, ST, Godsmack

It's a shame I couldn't have had a Hank Sr. song come up to hit the Hank trifecta, but two out of three ain't bad. Things get a bit heavier after that ...


Hank III, “Thunderstorms and Neon Signs.” From the album Risin’ Outlaw (1999). One of several Wayne Hancock songs that III did in his early years, this tune, highly influenced by his grandfather, fits III’s wail perfectly. This version is great, but I think I still prefer the Hancock version which has a little more character.

Saturday Shuffle: Sevendust, Megadeth, Firewind, Crue, Body Count

All heavy rock, all the time in this week's shuffle.


Sevendust, “Bitch.” From the album Sevendust (1997). The mid- to late-1990s were kind of a barren time in hard rock and metal for me, but in the waning years of the decade, a few albums came along that excited me. One of those was Sevendust’s debut. Though many copied the sound in the years that followed, it was something different at the time. I still can’t listen to a song like “Bitch” without cranking it up and screaming along.

Saturday Shuffle: 5FDP, Aerosmith, Kiss, Staind, Bob Wayne

Strange mix this week. A couple of bands I don't really listen to, a couple of classics from 1976 and a country tune ...


“The Way of the Fist,” Five Finger Death Punch. From the album The Way of the Fist (2007). So the lyrics are not exactly the stuff of poetry, and there’s a lot of uber-macho posturing. Still, this tune is fantastic to crank to the max after a bad day at the office and scream along.

Saturday Shuffle: N.E.R.D., Disturbed, Cypress Hill, ZZ Top, Aerosmith

A shuffle with two hip-hop tunes in it? What are things coming to here ...  ;)

N.E.R.D., "Lapdance." From the album In Search of ... (2002). This tune is a bit of a guilty pleasure. Well, more than a bit of one, I guess. I might be the only person on the planet that liked the "Daredevil" movie. And I absolutely love the scene where the camera pans up on Michael Clarke Duncan as the Kingpin in that suit, leaning on his cane and puffing a cigar. That scene is the whole reason this song is in my collection. I could live without the more typical rap toward the end, but otherwise, I have to admit I like it.

Saturday Shuffle: Ashes of Ares, Soil, Alice in Chains, Savatage, Damn Yankees

This week, we start out with some new stuff and end with a couple of old favorites, including one all-time favorite ...

Ashes of Ares, “Move the Chains.” From the album Ashes of Ares (2013). Made up of fomer members of Iced Earth (vocalist Matt Barlow and guitarist Freddie Vidales) and Nevermore (drummer Van Williams), Ashes of Ares sounds pretty much like what you’d expect. That’s not a bad thing at all, though. “Move the Chains” is one of the better tracks on a very good album, very reminiscent of Barlow’s early work with Iced Earth.

Review: Soil, "Whole"

I was a big fan of Soil’s breakthrough 2001 album Scars, with its infectious hit “Halo.”

As much as I liked that record, though, the band seemed to fade quickly for me. I picked up the follow-up Redefine, but don’t remember much about it, and I haven’t given the band much thought since.

When I heard that original singer Ryan McCombs was returning after a stint in Drowning Pool, the first thing that ran through my head was the chorus from “Halo,” and that pretty much sealed the fact that Whole was going to at least get a chance with me.

Musical times have changed, naturally, and much of what sounded fresh in 2001 has become a stale staple of rock radio. While there’s not much different about the Soil’s sound on Whole than there was on Scars, they’ve still delivered a pretty solid hard rock record with their reunion.

Saturday Shuffle: Saliva, Danzig, Sorrows Path, King's X, Volbeat

All songs rocking hard this week ...

Saliva, "Survival of the Sickest." From the album Survival of the Sickest (2004). I couldn't have cared less about Saliva until I saw them opening for Kiss in '04, and they ripped out this tune, which quite frankly, was the best performance of the night as Kiss kind of phoned it in. This is a fantastic, old-fashioned hard rocker, with a great hook of a chorus. If they had continued in this vein, I'd probably be a Saliva fan today. I'm not, but I still love this record and have to crank this song every time I hear it.

Stuck in my Head: Sevendust, "Black"

It’s so rare for me these days to hear a song that blows me away out of the gate and makes me run out and pick up an album.

I guess it’s part of aging, having more experience with music and being more jaded. When you’re younger, everything sounds awesome. When you get older, you get much harder to impress. To be honest, I miss those days.

Saturday Shuffle: Savatage, Dangerous Toys, Disturbed, Pride & Glory, Dimmu Borgir

It's Saturday, time for more shuffling fun:

“Alone You Breathe,” Savatage. From the album Handful of Rain (1994). While good, this was a strange Savatage album. Criss Oliva had been killed by drunk driver and his brother Jon threw himself into this album, writing and performing most of the instruments, though he’s not credited. This song is something of a tribute to Criss, and it’s one of the most powerful in the band’s catalog. There’s a nice interplay between Zachary Stevens and Jon (again uncredited, but unmistakable) in the harmonies of this song, and it also borrows from the band’s greatest song (and one of music’s greatest songs) “Believe.”

Saturday Shuffle: Soil, Jackyl, Brand New Sin, Iron Maiden, Megadeth

Today I launch a new weekly feature here that serves little point other than maybe occasionally embarrassing me or making me remember a record I’ve forgotten about.

I call it the Saturday Shuffle, and it goes like this: I’ll put my music collection on shuffle and comment each week on the first five songs that come blasting out of the speakers. No skips, no hedging over potentially embarrassing tunes that might pop up. The only songs that I’ll skip are duplicates that I’ve covered before. I hope you enjoy it, maybe find something that you’ve not heard or forgotten or possibly get an occasional laugh.

And away we go:

Blast Beats: Disturbed, Jaldaboath, James LaBrie

Here are quick shots of a few more recent records:

Disturbed, "Asylum"
After delivering their best effort since their debut with 2008’s “Indestructible,” Disturbed had me really looking forward to this record. Much like “Believe,” the follow-up to their debut, “Asylum” is a disappointment. The songs here are not as catchy as those on “Indestructible” and, like “Believe,” they lean more toward the mellow and melodic. I know a lot of people don’t like David Draiman’s “monkey screams,” but to me, when he uses the more melodic approach, his vocals are like wallpaper, and that’s the case here.

Blast Beats: Iron Maiden, A7X, Kingdom of Sorrow

Sometimes I find myself with many more records than I have time to review, so I have to pick and choose my reviews based on what I like better or what my fellow writers at other outlets are doing. Sometimes, though, I’d still like to say a little something about those records, so I’m going to try a new feature out and see how it works. From time to time, I’ll collect three or four of these records and just give a quick paragraph or two take on them. Here are the first three.

Review: Soulfly, "Omen"

When Sepultura and Max Cavalera parted ways in 1996, fans were the ones who got the shaft. Instead of the thrash powerhouse we’d had up to that point, we got two mediocre acts that, while both having their moments, never came close to delivering anything with the power of Arise or Chaos A.D.

Over the course of his past several records with Soulfly, though, Cavalera has slowly started to change that.

Review: Godsmack, "The Oracle"

From time to time I catch a little grief in metal circles because I like some of the more commercial hard rock acts like Godsmack and Disturbed. Quite frankly, though, I’m way too old to play the “who’s more metal” game. I like what I like, even if it is commercial.

On their last record, “IV,” Godsmack experimented with some new flavors and sounds. I thought there was some good stuff on the record, but I didn’t love it. For their latest, “The Oracle,” they’ve returned to the sound that got people’s attention in the first place.

Review: Stygian, "Fury Rising"

On first listen, I thought I was going to really like Stygian’s Fury Rising. You see, I have this weakness in the eyes of many, and that’s the fact that I actually enjoy some of the more commercial acts like Godsmack and Disturbed. Though they have some aspirations to something a little heavier, that’s really the realm where Stygian fits. Unfortunately for me, that feeling I got on the first listen didn’t last over the course of the next few plays.

The band began life as a Metallica cover band, and it won’t take you long to figure that out.

Review: GZR, "Ohmwork"

Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler said he didn’t want his GZR project to sound like a knockoff of his main band. To be honest, a steaming slab of Sabbath-style doom metal wouldn’t be a bad thing right about now. Instead, Geezer signed up three young guns, guitarist Peter “Pedro” Howse, singer Clark Brown and drummer Chad Smith, to deliver a mixed-bag of wannabe nu-metal (which is actually kind of old at this point, isn’t it?) that leaves me with a couple of questions. First, why would you want to be nu-metal, when you’re part of the rock that all metal is founded on? Second, why worry about sounding relevant when you’ve created so much music that is timeless? I don’t have the answers, and they’re definitely not apparent on this album, which without the presence of Butler probably wouldn’t have gotten a second listen from me.

To be fair, not everything about the album is bad. The opening track “Misfit” features a catchy riff and rocks in an almost prog mode with some nice hooks. The few rapped lines were easy to overlook for a Sabbath freak like me that really wanted this to be a good album. Throw in a little Sabbath-meets-Alice in Chains groove on “Pardon My Depression,” and I was actually starting to think they might have something here. The excitement ended when the third track, “Prisoner 103,” began. At best this song sounds like a bad Rage Against the Machine ripoff. At worst it sounds like Limp Bizkit. Neither is going to win points with me. While no other song on the album sinks to the execrable depths of that tune, nothing else on the album really excites the listener, either. The ballad “I Believe” and the pseudo-hardcore influence on “Pseudocide” are OK, but every time you begin to get interested in the album, they pull out a rap-metal number that ruins the mood. It’s almost as though the band can’t really decide who they want to be. By the time the only true Sabbath-style tune, “Alone,” arrives, you will probably have lost interest.

This album sounds less like Geezer’s project and more like a young band that hired him on for the name recognition. Butler’s bass, which was arguably the bedrock for Sabbath’s sound, is relegated to a minor role on most of the tracks. It’s solid, but unremarkable. The same could be said of every part of the album. Howse’s guitar riffs are OK, but with perhaps the exception of “Misfit,” I can’t remember them when I eject the CD. Brown’s vocals are pretty vanilla. They sound like a dozen or more other singers in the current commercial hard rock/metal scene, and there’s nothing that makes them stand out. Lyrically, it’s more of the same. They’re serviceable, but they don’t stick with you.

It’s not that "Ohmwork" is a bad album. It’s just plain and forgettable. If it came on the radio and the dial was stuck, I wouldn’t run screaming from the room (well, maybe if it was “Prisoner 103”), but it’s also not something I’m going to seek out.

Since Ozzy has said in no uncertain terms that he’s not interested in doing another Sabbath album, I suppose that the members of the band have to vent those creative urges elsewhere. I’d love to hear a new Sabbath album, but if this is the best that one of the principal songwriters has to offer, then maybe it’s better they don’t do another one. This isn’t the work of one of the godfathers of metal. This is a rambling attempt to chase current musical trends, many of which have already passed them by. A metal icon like Geezer Butler shouldn’t have to stoop to that.

Get "Ohmwork."

Review: Kittie, "Until the End"

The members of Kittie have come a long way since their 1999 debut when they were a group of teenagers trying to prove they could hang with the boys in the burgeoning nu-metal scene.

On their third album, the band has completed its evolution into a true metal band, as evidenced by the pummelling opening track "Look So Pretty," which veers into death metal territory.

On the whole, "Until the End" is a much heavier album that shows a lot of growth. Musically, it's probably the most solid album Kittie has done, and it shows the influence of bands they've toured with over the years. That influence is most noticeable on songs like "Sugar," which opens with a blast of good, old-fashioned speed metal that leads into some chugging, offbeat Meshuggah-style rhythms.

The melodic "In Dreams" and the lead single "Into the Darkness" look back at the band's past, while "Burning Bridges" - a song that's sure to prick up any extreme metal fans' ears - plants their feet firmly on the road to the future.

Though they still seem to be searching for just the right balance between gnarly, heavy riffs and melodic hook-laden rock, the Canadian girls' third outing should give them some real respect in the metal world.

Get "Until the End."

Review: Godsmack, "The Other Side"

Acoustic sets are a tricky thing for hard rock bands. For every Alice in Chains or Tesla that gets it right, there are a dozen bands that take the stage with an acoustic and bang out the same power chords they use with an electric. Without the wailing wall of distortion, all of the weaknesses are exposed.

Luckily, Godsmack is one of the bands that gets it right. On "The Other Side," the band offers up acoustic versions of several of their songs, along with three new tracks.

Godsmack shows an impressive side on this album, that they've hinted at before on songs like "Voodoo" and "Serenity." The most impressive and surprising moment on the album is a reworking of their heavy hit "Awake." They've renamed it "Asleep" for this version and changed it from a pounding headbanger to a melancholy ballad. It gives a whole new signifigance to the song's subject.

I was also a bit surprised by how well other heavy tunes like "Re-Align" and "Keep Away" translated into acoustic numbers. They perhaps hovers a bit close to the "same three chords" approach, but the songs take on a warm, rootsy feel that works well.

Of the three new songs, the most interesting is "Touché," which features members of Dropbox, the first signing to Godsmack singer Sully Erna's label. It's got a twangy, almost country feel that's a bit out of character for the band. All in all, "The Other Side" reminds me a lot of Alice in Chains' "Jar of Flies," and that's a very good thing. This album shows that Godsmack isn't a one-trick pony and further reinforces their position as one of the top hard rock acts out there.

Get "The Other Side."

Review: Damageplan, "New Found Power"

Pantera fans, rejoice. Founding brothers Vinnie Paul and "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott have called in reinforcements for their MIA bandmates and recorded an album that will have Pantera fans asking one question - Phil who?

They had big shoes to fill on vocals, but former Halford guitarist Patrick Lachman was up to the challenge. Lachman can do a spot-on Phil Anselmo impersonation in case the band wants to roll out some Pantera tunes, but he's also got a versatility that allows him to do much more than just be a clone of his predecessor. (Take a listen to "Reborn" or "Soul Bleed" to hear another side.) The band's tattoo artist Bob Zilla takes over on bass, laying down a solid bottom end.

With song names like "Breathing New Life," "New Found Power" and "Reborn," it's not hard to figure out that a lot of the songs are about new beginnings and reflect the band's struggles over the past few years. (There's also a very pointed jab at Anselmo.)

The album is a new beginning in more ways than one, though. Without the expectations of a Pantera album, Dime and Vinnie took the opportunity to stretch their songwriting skills, resulting in a much more varied album.

While numbers like the title track, "Breathing New Life" and "Explode" are ripped straight from the Pantera songbook, there are songs you'd never hear on a Pantera album, like the acoustic "Soul Bleed," the earthy "Moment of Truth" or "Pride" and "Save Me," which come down more on the commercial side of today's metal scene. In essence, they can have their cake and eat it, too, with pummelling songs that will satisfy Pantera fans and a few that could find crossover success.

Is it a new Pantera album? No. Half the album is too mellow, and it just doesn't have the same spark. But it's as close as we're likely to get.

Get "New Found Power."