Review: In Flames, "Come Clarity"

On their past two albums, In Flames have searched for a sound that seems to be just out of their grasp -- something between their melodic death metal past and a more modern style of melodic metal. It started with "Reroute to Remain," which took the experimentation of 2000's "Clayman" even further, throwing more clean vocals and more keyboards into the mix. A lot of fans didn't like it, but I personally thought it was a daring move on their part, and I still think it's a very good album.

Then came "Soundtrack to Your Escape," which seemed to try, at the same time, to fuse the sounds of the previous two albums and simplify the music even further. I initially gave it a decent review on a quick turnaround, but after listening to it for a week or two grew bored with it and now consider it by far the band's worst effort. Given only a couple of days to listen to "Come Clarity" before writing this review, I hope I don't make the same mistake here. I don't think I will.

My first impression of this album is pretty damned good. It retains a lot of the melodic elements that were found on "Reroute to Remain" and, at times, also dips back into the band's early sound that many fans long for. For those of you hoping for a return to the sound of "Jester Race" or "Whoracle," stop reading this review and move on. You won't get it here, and unless I miss my guess, you likely never will.

One thing's obvious about this album, from the switch to Ferret Music to the overall sound of the record, everything's been designed to open the band to a new and wider audience. There was a time in my life when I would have gotten mad and screamed, "you should make music for the love of it and not worry about the money." I'm older now and less idealistic. I've got no problem with them trying to make a couple of bucks, especially when the music isn't compromised, and here, I don't believe it is. While there are some commercial touches here and there, you're still not going to be hearing this on FM any time soon (and if you do, let me know because you've got a cool station and I'll take it into consideration if I ever think about relocating.)

"Come Clarity" grabbed me with the head-bashing opening riff of "Take This Life," also the first single, and I immediately noticed the return of guitar solos to the album. That's something I sorely missed on the previous record. "Take This Life" is easily better than anything on "Soundtrack to Your Escape," and it's actually one of the weaker songs here. The following tracks, "Leeches" and "Reflect the Storm" are where you'll start hearing some of the older sound. In fact, to me, "Reflect the Storm" is, structurally, almost like a return to the old style, as is "Pacing Death's Trail." There are also a few shots for fans who liked the last two albums. "Crawl Through Knives," another of my favorites, features a heavy vibe from "Reroute to Remain."

My current favorite track on the record is "Dead End," which features female vocals by Lisa Miskovsky, who I found out, with a little research, usually sings folksy acoustic music and has co-written a song for the Backstreet Boys. Sometimes it's better not to know too much. That almost made me rethink how much I like this song. Suffice it to say that this song is a far, far cry from her normal work. While her voice does lend a certain mainstream aspect to the song, it's not a bad thing at all. It puts me in mind of a heavier Lacuna Coil, with a little more emphasis on the male vocals (though I'd take Cristina Scabbia over Miskovsky any day).

Cruising the Internet, I've read a lot of complaints about the song "Scream," but I don't think it's that bad. It's got a cool thrashing opening riff, and while I'll admit that the chorus is a little weak and the lyrics perhaps lack some creativity, I don't quite get the hatred that some fans seem to have for the song. Certainly "Scream" is one of the more commercial-sounding tracks, but again, the obvious theme here is reaching a wider audience. I can't really fault them for that -- and the song's better than most of the stuff in the same vein.

The weakest tracks for me are the title track, which with Anders Friden's slightly digitized vocals, comes off sounding like a bad Marilyn Manson ballad, and "Your Bedtime Story is Scaring Everyone," which unfortunately hits a pet peeve of mine -- the pointless, elevator-music like instrumental (or in this case, semi-instrumental) to close an album.

"Come Clarity" isn't just a big step up from "Soundtrack to Your Escape," it's miles beyond it. It's certainly the band's best effort since "Clayman," and possibly since "Colony." The guitar work of Jesper Stromblad and Bjorn Gelotte here is more along the lines of what fans of In Flames expect, as is the drumming of Daniel Svensson, with perhaps a couple of exceptions. As for that sound the band's been looking for, I won't say with certainty they've finally found it with this album, but if not, they're damned close.

Get "Come Clarity."

Review: Seven Witches, "Amped"

I've always had an appreciation for guitarist Jack Frost's blend of traditional and power metal, and Seven Witches' latest effort is no exception. The first thing you'll notice, as with any Frost release, is the in-your-face guitar riffs. "Amped" certainly has more than its fair share of them, from the opening track on.

Seven Witches have often been compared to Iced Earth, and there are certainly similarities beyond being among the few U.S. purveyors of this style of music. Both are led by an outstanding guitar player with a knack for cutting riffs, and new vocalist Alan Tecchio certainly fits into the mold of past Iced Earth wailers at times. Despite the similarities, Seven Witches is certainly no Iced Earth clone. Actually a closer comparison for me would be Chris Caffery's 2005 release "W.A.R.P.E.D.." It's got the same style and feel as this record, particularly on songs like "Fame Gets You Off."

One thing here that's a little different than the past is an obvious turn toward a classic traditional metal sound. The riffing is not always high speed or highly technical. For example, "Sunnydale High" features a prototypical, fairly simple, old school metal riff, and Tecchio's vocals get a little bit of a gruffer hard rock edge to them. The band also explores some electronic sounds on "Dishonor Killings," which has one of the catchiest melodies on the record. There's also a nod to prog in the opening of "Red," and a classic arena rock approach that leads into a galloping "Powerslave"-era Maiden sound on "Widows and Orphans."

A clear difference from Iced Earth comes in the area of songwriting. While most of the songs are not bad, some leave you scratching your head. "GP Fix," an ode to Moto GP racing, is one of the weaker premises for a song that I've heard. It's otherwise a good song, but I guess since I can't relate to the band's passion for the sport, it really doesn't connect with me. Likewise, "West Nile" is a little weird for me, perhaps because I'm from an area that gets hit pretty hard by the disease every summer, and it hits close to home.

There are a few middle grounders here, too. While I don't dislike the ballad "BE," it is a little vanilla when compared with the rest of the album. And I really just can't make up my mind on their cover of Billy Idol's "Flesh for Fantasy" because I'm such a fan of the original. The Seven Witches version is essentially the same, only crunched up a bit, but to me, the song seems to lose some of the nuances in translation. Tecchio also doesn't pull off the dark, mocking tone that Idol gave the song. That said, I don't hate it, and in fact, with Idol singing over this music, I might like it better than the original.

Frost's production here is solid, and almost perfect for the style. Ultimately, "Amped," like most of the other releases involving Frost, is pure, unadulterated top-shelf traditional metal.

Get "Amped."

Review: Eddie Ojeda, "Axes to Axes"

When you think of great guitarists, Twisted Sister's Eddie Ojeda isn't the first person you think of - or even the 15th. In fact, if his name does come up, it's probably in one of those late-night, drunken naming sessions that's gone on way too long. I'm not knocking him as a player, just pointing out that he's not someone you usually think about.

That's why I was a little surprised when I got a copy of Ojeda's solo album "Axes to Axes." But Ojeda doesn't go in for the instrumental wankfest that you expect from a guitarist's solo album. There are a few showpieces here, but for the most part, he sticks to his strength, and that's writing punchy, undeniably catchy hard rock and metal tunes. It also doesn't hurt that the album gets some heavyweight help on the opening track from Ronnie James Dio. Rudy Sarzo, Joe Lynn Turner, and of course, Twisted Sister bandmate Dee Snider also put in appearances.

The guitar work here is solid, if not awe-inspiring. The riffs are great and the melodies hook you, but there's nothing lead-wise that makes me want to run grab my guitar and say, "man, I've got to figure out how he did that." Ojeda does cover a lot of territory here. "Please Remember" is a great 1970s hard rock song, and Ojeda's voice works very well for that style. He also flirts with funk on "Love Power" and Spanish stylings on "Senorita Knows." But by and large the biggest sound here is that of early Twisted Sister.

The shining moment on the album is his collaboration with Snider on the surprisingly menacing cover of the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby." It's a galloping cover with Snider delivering the vocals in a mocking tone that fits perfectly. The funk-rocker "Love Power" is another strong moment, and of course Dio's appearance alone makes "Tonight" a memorable tune.

While most of the songs here are quite good musically, lyrically it's another story. Ojeda isn't very strong in that department, and it shows on songs like "Evil Does (What Evil Knows)". This is a nice, old-school Dio-style song that would have been great if they lyrics weren't so painfully awkward. It was intended to be a historical epic, and it comes closer to being a hysterical epic. Take the first verse: "In the minds of ancient leaders/only power rules/the only thing worth fighting for was gold and jewels/as they learn from their sins and mistakes, they become rich fools/now all their people will die cause they must rule." The fact that Ojeda delivers the vocals with such grave seriousness and drama only serves to make it more cringeworthy.

I make fun of "Evil Does" because the lyrics are easily the worst of the album, but other songs don't fare much better in that department. Dio helps out by putting his golden pipes to work to improve "Tonight" by giving the lyrics more gravity, but other songs don't benefit from the stateliness of a Dio.

If Ojeda finds a good lyricist to work with and just focuses on the guitar work, I think he's really got something to build a solo career on. Lyrics aside, the songs are otherwise strong, and "Axes to Axes" is a pretty damned good album from a surprising source.

Get "Axes to Axes."

Review: Trans-Siberian Orchestra live show

Even if you hate Christmas and Christmas music worse than Ebenezer Scrooge, you should still catch Trans-Siberian Orchestra, just for the sheer spectacle of their live show. And if you have an appreciation for outstanding musicianship, there's twice as much reason to catch the band's annual holiday tour.

Though the flash is what catches your eye, the true beauty of the TSO show is in the musicianship. I've rarely heard a rock band play more note-perfect renditions of their songs in the live setting, and though the original group is split in two for the two legs of the tour, they've stocked the bands with outstanding musicians.

I caught the western version at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City with the incredible dual guitar attack of Al Pitrelli and Angus Clark and the string work of Anna Phoebe. Phoebe's performance, was, I believe, the first time I've ever seen such a roar from a rock crowd after a violin solo. And, of course, it goes without saying that there were remarkable vocal moments from Michael Lanning, Guy LeMonnier and Jill Gioia.

The band opened the show with a run-through of the first album, "Christmas Eve and Other Stories." Though a few bits were dropped, probably due to the personnel required to perform them, the show hit all of the high points, including "First Snow," "A Mad Russian's Christmas" and of course, the song that brought the house down, "Christmas Eve Sarajevo 12/24."

The second set was a bit more of a laid-back production. The band members took some time to have a little fun with the crowd. Also impressive here was the great spontaneous crowd interaction, and the lively crowd helped. Trans-Siberian Orchestra ran through songs from "The Lost Christmas Eve," "Beethoven's Last Night" and even jammed out a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll."

High points of the second set were the band's version of Carl Orff's "Carmina," scheduled to appear on their forthcoming non-Christmas album "Night Castle," and an absolutely stunning version of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, complete with sparklers, fire blasts on the big familiar notes and the same impressive laser show that accompanied most of the evening.

The show closed with a memorable keyboard battle between Jane Pitrelli and Carmine Giglio (and that's saying something considering my usual disdain for keyboard.) The battle culminated in a performance of the theme song from "Peanuts" leading into "Wish Liszt" from "The Lost Christmas Eve" and finally a reprise of "Christmas Eve Sarajevo" with Clark and Phoebe circulating through the crowd, ending up ... well, I can't give away all the surprises, can I?

Almost as interesting as the show was the crowd. There were long-haired guys in Savatage and Megadeth T-shirts rubbing elbows with perfectly groomed senior couples in suits and party dresses - that's something you don't see everyday. It's actually a little funny to see a grandmother bobbing her head to what is, essentially, Savatage with a string section and a huge production budget. But it's kind of cool, too.

This was my first TSO show, and I was so impressed that I'm making plans to see the band again before Christmas and to travel wherever I have to in order to catch the show next year. I've seen a lot of concerts, and a lot of great concerts. Simply put, Trans-Siberian Orchestra is one of the most incredible shows I've ever seen.

Interview: Al Pitrelli of Trans-Siberian Orchestra

When it comes to rock resumés, guitarist Al Pitrelli's is pretty impressive. He's played with shock rock king Alice Cooper, thrash titans Megadeth and power metal masters Savatage. So what's he doing in a tuxedo on a classical Christmas tour playing to crowds that range from young children to senior citizens? Even he's not sure.

It started back in 1995, when he was hired to play on Savatage's "Dead Winter Dead" record, a concept album about the war in Bosnia that featured the song "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)," a blend of rock, classical and "The Carol of the Bells."

The song was a surprise hit on rock radio during the holiday season, and it wasn't long before O'Neill, Savatage founder Jon Oliva, Pitrelli and Robert Kinkel were working on a full project in the same vein, mixing rock, classical and traditional Christmas music. The result, "Christmas Eve and Other Stories," was released in 1996. Even then, Pitrelli wasn't convinced.

"I said, `Nobody will buy it but your mother and mine, but we'll have a whole lot of fun recording it,'" he said with a laugh. "Lo and behold, we're here, nine years later, and I can't believe what it's grown into. I'm so proud of it."

What it's grown into is a holiday phenomenon. The band has released two other Christmas albums - "The Christmas Attic" in 1998 and "The Lost Christmas Eve" in 2004 - and a non-Christmas album, "Beethoven's Last Night" in 2000. They also have a live DVD, "The Ghost of Christmas Eve," and are currently working on another non-Christmas album, "Night Castle."

Trans-Siberian Orchestra started touring for the holidays in 1999, and now, due to demand and the time constraints of the holiday season, it's grown into two full tours - one for the eastern half of the United States and a second for the western half.

For the first half of the concert, TSO plays "Christmas Eve and Other Stories" and for the second half, they mix things up with numbers off their other albums and even a few surprises.

"We're all just a bunch of barroom rock `n' rollers from back in the day, so we'll always pull out a cover tune or two and just have some fun," Pitrelli said. "It's a long show, and we'll cover a lot of ground over the course of two and a half hours."

And there's also a stage spectacle for audiences to enjoy, with plenty of lights, fire and smoke pulled from the band's rock roots.

"It will be bigger than last year, but not as big as next year," Pitrelli joked about the stage show. "That's the Paul O'Neill way of doing things."

Pitrelli also sees the tour as a way to break the stereotypes that surround musicians - the stiff-necked classical musician and the primadonna rocker. He admits that it gets challenging at times to get rockers and classical musicians on the same page, but in the end, they find a lot of common ground.

"What we try to do is dispel the clichés," he said. "The six or seven rockers in the TSO band are very well-educated musicians with a wide vocabulary, and the string section that we have, I think they're all closet headbangers."

But what would some of the older members of the audience think if they knew the guy directing this classical Christmas show played with Alice Cooper?

"You'd be surprised how many of those 70-year-old grandmothers are wearing Alice Cooper T-shirts under their sweaters," he joked. "I don't think music has a demographic age-wise anymore. When you look out in the audience, there are 80-year-old women who are just banging their heads, and there are 8- or 9-year-old kids listening closely to the poetry and ballads. You never know, good music is good music."

Still, he admits his resumé does occasionally raise some eyebrows.

"When some of the older folks hear about Megadeth, they say `oh, my,' but we play with them a little bit and have some fun," Pitrelli said. "We're light-hearted about it, and we poke fun at ourselves. By the end of the evening, everybody gets it, and we keep them in on the joke so to speak."

The annual holiday tour keeps growing, and Pitrelli admits that he would like to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra last beyond the musicians involved.

"As a musician, one of the things that you dream about is that your music lives a lot longer than you do," he said. "To be part of someone's Christmas tradition long after I'm gone, yeah, I'd be real proud to know that was happening."

Review: Exodus, "Shovel-Headed Kill Machine"

Ah, now this is more like it. A lot of my old thrash-loving friends went crazy with last year's release of "Tempo of the Damned." I just couldn't get into it the way they did. The sound was there, but I didn't hear the energy of Exodus. I definitely hear it on this album.

Before anyone points it out, I realize that it's hard to really consider this an Exodus record. It's basically Gary Holt and four other guys at this point. But based on what I'm hearing, maybe fresh blood is what was needed. The most obvious change, of course, will be new vocalist Rob Dukes, who replaces Steve "Zetro" Souza. Correction, who blows away Steve "Zetro" Souza. I grew up on Exodus with Souza vocals (I was a latecomer to the band), but Dukes offers a voice that can easily pull off Souza and Paul Baloff vocals, but has a little more rage in it. Of course, no one was concerned about Paul Bostaph taking over the drums. We all know what he's capable of. The third lineup change, Lee Altus, provides a seamless complement to Holt's guitar work. I was a little bummed at the loss of Rick Hunolt, but Altus fills in nicely.

Now, to the music. It kicks you in the head from the first song and never lets up. I popped the CD in, and before I was a minute into the first song, "Raze," I was already grooving. It remains one of my favorites on the album, possibly because I can visualize my office when Dukes rages "Light this motherfucker like a roman candle, burn this bitch straight to the ground." (Note to any overzealous law enforcement types who might be reading: It's called releasing frustration. I have no plans to burn my office. I need the job). Personal feelings aside, this is a beautiful, blazing thrasher to get the album going. It lets you know upfront what's to come.

Clocking in at over eight minutes, "Deathamphetamine" offers up a slab of pure, unadulterated Exodus, a sound from the glory days of the band. The same goes for most of the songs on the album. If "44 Magnum Opus" doesn't get your blood pumping, then you should probably go to your nearest funeral home and make arrangements. Easily one of the strongest songs on the album is "Going, Going, Gone," which adds the hooks of "Fabulous Disaster" into the mix. In fact, the whole album reminds me a great deal of a cross between "Fabulous Disaster" and "Pleasures of the Flesh." It's got a nice mix of the hooks and the faster, more aggressive early sound of the band.

The only place that the band misses on this album is by occasionally focusing on tired subject matter, see pedophile priests in "Altered Boy." But when the music is this solid, who cares what the songs are about?

Go get this album. It's a true thrashterpiece, the likes of which we haven't heard in a while.

Get "Shovel-Headed Kill Machine."

Review: Fear Factory, "Transgression"

With 2004's Archetype Fear Factory surprised fans with a return to the vicious cyber metal of their first two albums, Soul of a New Machine and Demanufacture. A year and a half later, they’re back to the mediocre music of their middle albums.

For a frustrated 20-year-old kid angry at the fact that his favorite bands seemed to be going soft, Fear Factory’s Soul of a New Machine was a swift kick in the pants. It had the intensity of the old-school thrash I craved mixed with clanking industrial noises, just a touch of death metal and these cool melodic passages that seemed to be out of place, yet at the same time perfectly suited for the sound. The follow-up, Demanufacture, was just as good. But then, they started doing techno remixes of their albums. That was the first clue this band was over. The next was the uninspired third album Obsolete. After that Fear Factory quickly fell of my radar. I was vaguely aware that they were still out there and having some internal strife, but every time I heard something by them, I found it fairly boring.

Then came Archetype, and the return of the familiar sound I remembered from those two early albums. It was perhaps a bit more melodic, but I had high hopes for a return to glory. Until now.

Transgression features the trademark mechanical-sounding drum lines and guitar riffing that Fear Factory’s known for, and the heavier parts of songs like “540,000 Degrees Fahrenheit” and the title track are as tight as anything the band has ever done. But here, those trademark sounds are perhaps a bit too mechanical. At times they sound almost as if someone took all of Fear Factory’s previous albums, plugged them into a computer and told it to spit out something that sounded similar. The riffs are solid, but there’s no real passion, anger or any emotion at all. None of the songs are particularly memorable. The alternating melodic and gruff vocals from Burton Bell are still there, but he doesn’t use them as effectively. The entire album seems devoid of the melodic hooks that have marked the band’s best work.

The lightweight turn toward the middle of the album doesn’t help. The lethargic “Echo of My Scream” is enough to put the listener to sleep for a few songs, and the upbeat, Southern California pop-punk sound of “I Will Follow” wakes you with a jolt and an urge to puke. Really, the only song on the album that sticks with me is “Millennium,” which has a nice old-school thrash feel on the verse. Even it’s not really something that I’d listen to for long, though.

I had a lot of hope for this album, but I come away from it disappointed once again. The band and label have been comparing the album to Obsolete, and I’d have to agree with that comparison. I felt the same way about that album. It sounds like Fear Factory, only boring and uninspired. The real Transgression here is against the fans that bought into the comeback.

Get "Transgression."

Review: Alice Cooper, "Dirty Diamonds"

Popping in the latest album from Alice Cooper is a lot like entering a time warp. The first thing I noticed when I picked this record up is that the cover looked a lot like one of his 1970s albums. When I put it in the CD player, it sounded a lot like one of those albums as well.

Alice Cooper has shown a chameleon-like ability to keep his music in line with the current trends, while managing to put just enough Alice Cooper into the music to not sound like a trend-chaser. (Well, there was the awful Hey Stoopid, but I’ll forgive him that – even though it took me about 10 years to do it.) So in the 1980s, he flirted with the hair band sound, gaining his most commercial success with Trash. Then in the late 1990s, he absorbed the nu-metal sound, producing the heaviest, and in my mind one of the best, albums of his career with Brutal Planet. Then, he came full circle with his last album, The Eyes of Alice Cooper. Much of that album echoed his original sound, which also just happens to be the sound of the current garage rock trend. (You know, all those “The” bands.)

Dirty Diamonds takes the concept of "Eyes" one step further and immerses the listener completely in the 1970s sounds, bringing Cooper back to the gritty Detroit rock that brought him to the dance. “Woman of Mass Distraction” and “Sunset Babies (All Got Rabies)” would be right at home on any of his 1970s albums. A strong Stones influence comes through on “Perfect” and there’s a feel-good, bubblegum feel to “You Make Me Wanna.” But this is still an Alice Cooper record, and things turn a bit nastier on the title track, which sounds like a cross between the Misfits’ “Where Eagles Dare” and Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.”

Cooper’s legendary black humor is still in full effect on this album, on songs like “Own Worst Enemy.” Perhaps the best example, though, is on “The Saga of Jesse Jane,” a twisted take on a Johnny Cash-style storytelling ballad that offers the chuckles for the record. There’s also a surprise here and there, like the funky “Run Down the Devil,” the bluesy number “Six Hours” and even a duet with rapper Xzibit, “Stand.” (Though I do have to say I could have lived quite happily without ever hearing an Alice Cooper duet with any rapper, but that’s just my personal musical tastes.) Through it all, Alice is still at his best when he’s rocking out, as on the driving (no pun intended) “Steal That Car” or the rollicking “Sunset Babies.”

There are also a couple of trademark slower, dark tunes a la “Welcome to My Nightmare.” “Pretty Ballerina” really doesn’t do much for me, but “Zombie Dance” works quite well, evoking a voodoo feel.

In the end, Dirty Diamonds certainly won’t rival Cooper’s great 1970s albums like Billion Dollar Babies and Welcome to My Nightmare, but it proves that he can still rock. This is a fun record for both the long-time Alice Cooper fan and fans of the current garage rock scene.

Get "Dirty Diamonds."

Review: Arch Enemy, "Doomsday Machine"

When Angela Gossow joined Arch Enemy for 2002's "Wages of Sin," she not only kicked down the door for women in the male-dominated extreme metal genres, she stomped it into splinters.

This, the band's third album with Gossow on vocals, completes an evolution begun on "Wages of Sin" from a Gothenburg-style death metal band to a melodic metal machine. The only blast-beats to be found are on the mediocre "Out for Blood," and the melodies on songs like "My Apocalypse," "Carry the Cross" and "Mechanic God Creation" are almost hummable. That's sure to make the heavier-than-thou death metal set foam at the mouth and scream "sellout," but it's also sure to open the band up to a wider audience that may not be comfortable exploring the most extreme fringes of the metal genre.

The band offers a nod to their influences, including British metal band Diamondhead on "Machtkampf" and Queen on the instrumental "Hybrids of Steel." Brothers Christopher and Michael Amott deliver biting guitar riffs, and the album contains some of drummer Daniel Erlandsson's best work to date, as heard on the first single "Nemesis."

Fans of the band's first two albums with vocalist Johan Liiva may not like it, but fans of old-school thrash bands like Metallica and Slayer will want to check this out.

Get "Doomsday Machine."