"True North" by Bad Religion

Punk Rock? Well, it has never really been pleasing to me. Recently an explanation was given to me by a friend: Punk rock isn't exactly music, but it's almost an art form unto itself. What?

As someone who's always fancied himself a bit of a musician that has always admired virtuoso players, it is nearly impossible to swallow this concept. That's not the only issue. Beyond the lack of musicianship, and often musicality, there is a very serious lack of originality in the genre, at least in the group that gets famous outside of their punk rock peers. Seriously, how many guys with rooster mohawks have you seen doing Sid Vicious's trademark sneer? It has to be at least a dozen off the top of your head.

So Bad Religion? I didn't know they were still a going concern, but I do recall an interview I read in Guitar World that they did nearly twenty years ago. Crazy isn't it? It is now time to delve into their latest release "True North."

Device's Self Titled Debut

Have you ever seen a video posted on facebook and your first thought is "Woah, this is so good! When is the album coming out?" This is what happened to me when the video for Device's cover of "Close My Eyes Forever" started making the rounds. Lzzy Hale plays Lita on that track and it is awesome.

Now comes the point where your friend and humble narrator has to admit to something. He had no clue that this was a side project of David Draiman. Who even knew that Disturbed was still a thing as late as 2011?

David wanted to do something more industrial, but still metal like NIN (?? His words, not mine) and Ministry and this is the end result.

There is an amazing cast of characters guesting on the record: Serj, Tom Morello, the aforementioned Lzzy Hale, Geezer Butler, M. Shadows, and the incomparable Glenn Hughes.) It's a veritable who's who of heavy music from the old, the new, and the middle school!

"Old Sock" by Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton is a musical legend, but he's not a legend that's been long held in high regard by this guy right here. For some reason I felt drawn to listen to this album. Many people, while respecting Mr. Clapton's contribution to the world of music over the past five decades, seem to think that the old man has lost his way and no longer has any music to express.

Personally speaking, his solo material, though the most voluminous, is the least interesting to me. Per this man's opinion, Clapton works best when he's the guitarist who's working with other musicians that bruise his ego which forces him to let loose the staggering player he keeps hidden, but let's move on to his latest, "Old Sock." The cover struck me upon first sight. It's frankly a bit horrible. The old man and his greying beard along with a terrible, terrible vacation hat.

"Seesaw" by Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa

Here is the latest review of Joe Bonamassa's  work that has been covered here. (About three other albums have been missed in the interim as this man never, ever stops working for more than about 47 seconds at a time. He's like the James Franco of the music industry.) This would be the "sophomore" effort with this on again off again collaborator, Beth Hart.

Their first album left me, I don't want to say cold, but wanting. It was a bit hard to divine precisely what they were doing and why they were doing it together. Perhaps my listening was not as thorough as it could have been, but this review is now about "Don't Explain."

As silly as this is to say, Joe Bonamassa is one of my favorite modern guitar heroes. Yes, he's been around for about a dozen years now and has released more music in that time than anyone, save Buckethead, but that guy doesn't count in any normal way, and we've lost the plot.

"Welcome To Oblivion" by How To Destroy Angels

Sometimes it is time to take a chance. Picking out music recently and this showed up. "Welcome To Oblivion" by How To Destroy Angels.

Destroying Angels?! How inanely brutal must this record be? Even Morbid Angel and Slayer didn't talk about killing angels...maybe Cannibal Corpse.

It actually turns out that this album is not very brutal. In fact it's not even remotely brutal. It's not heavy and it's electronic music. Well, being a good sport, it was still given a go.

It would turn out that this is a side project of Trent Reznor's. Well, as NIN has always been like nails on a chalkboard to me, how bad could this be right?

"Ready To Die" by Iggy and the Stooges

This is basically my first listen to Iggy and the Stooges. Of course over the years the pop tunes by Iggy Pop have clogged my earways over the airwaves, and they were never very good at all.

It's very easy to forget that the man who gave us "Lust For Life" was once one of the scariest musicians in America. One look at his chest and the scars are evident, as they're real and self-inflicted on stage.

Nowadays, I'd think that most people under the age of thirty would think of Iggy like Riley did Ice Cube in the first Gangstalicious episode of the Boondocks ("That dude who does family movies? He was a gangsta rapper?").

One more pop-culture reference, Iggy Pop is a musical legend, but if I'd met him 2 weeks ago, I'd have to divert from that fact. Our meeting would be very much like Mitch Hedberg meeting Peter Frampton. Iggy Pop, do you like toast too?

"One Of Us Is The Killer" by The Dillinger Escape Plan

The Dillinger Escape Plan is a band that's been getting good press in the guitar magazines lately. During my subscription they have been the subject of at least three articles. Considering the amount of guitar work and guitar albums out there, that is certainly high praise indeed.

In the first article Guitar World described this band as "math metal," whatever that is. The guitar player was also posing holding a graphing calculator. Whatever all this meant, it sounded cool to this guy. There's never been any question about my nerdiness. The Geek Flag flies freely.

In the latest write up, the were compared to Animals As Leaders and Periphery as leaders of prog, not just prog metal, but modern prog. It was impossible to hear about this band and walk away without a desire to hear what their music was like.

"Let It Be" by The Replacements

The Replacements are a legendary band about which I know nothing. Recently a friend of mine mentioned that one of his guitars gets a good Paul Westerberg tone. I then thought really hard, lest I tell my friend I have no idea who this man is, and then I remembered reading an interview with Paul Westerberg in Guitar World when he was recording a solo record. It also seemed to me like Paul was an arrogant person with LSD (Lead Singer's Disease).

I've lost the plot already. Well, my five year mission is to explore strange new bands, but sometimes return to earth to fill up too. So, here we're looking at something that probably everybody in the world has heard but me.

I understand now that when I said 7 years ago I'd heard all the bands that needed to be heard, that my local radio stations were greatly remiss in introducing me to everybody who deserved an introduction. It's like when I found the book "Lies My History Teacher Told Me," except far less serious.

"Maiden England '88" by Iron Maiden

IRON MAIDEN! HORNS UP!

This summer they finally came back to St. Louis. Being an old man now, I went with my friend and his son, who's nearly as old as I was the last time I saw Maiden and older than I was the first time! This is relevant because Iron Maiden was recreating this 1988-89 Tour and played a nearly identical set list. There were a handful of songs that were different between the 2013 and 1998 versions.

Well, why are we looking at a 25 year old Iron Maiden live album? Because this is the 2013 re-release with extra tracks and presumably the reason why the Irons thought it would be a good idea to get back on the road and play all these songs again.  The show was spectacular in case you're wondering. Megadeth opened and played a great set and Dave didn't talk about any of the things that have made us all collectively groan....

"Outlaw Gentleman & Shady Ladies" by Volbeat

What the hell is Volbeat? Seriously, is there anybody who can tell me what the world Volbeat is trying to do here? It would be easy to say they're just trying to be awesome.

And they're succeeding at that quite handily.

About two years ago, their preceding album, "Above Heaven/Beyond Hell" made its way to me and the singer really seemed like something very special. No growls, no shrieks, just some sort of singing over metal. It gave me pangs of Dragonforce, but lacking the over the top shred and certainly lacking the Steve Perry-like vocals.

This was a band that aroused my interest in them and was bound and determined to finally understand what the hell it is they're doing. This the fourth album of theirs I have gotten and I honestly still do not get what they're going for, but at least they're still awesome.

"Walk Through Exits Only" by Philip H. Anselmo & the Illegals

There is nothing more in this world than Phil Anselmo loves than starting new bands, right? (Pantera, Down, Superjoint Ritutal, and then his litany of side projects.)

Today we're looking at Phil's latest musical brainchild: a solo album. (Shouldn't that be your first step when you have music to get out and your 800 bands just won't let you get it out?) I kid, I kid and Phil's a strong, crazy fella who could really hurt me....so....

Interestingly enough, Phil did not create a lineup with household name, metal lifers. At this point, Phil's got enough pull to pretty much line up any metal guys he wants.Honestly, I don't know who any of the other players are: Marzi Montazeri on guitar, Bennett Bartley on bass, and Joe Gonzalez on drums.

"Specter At The Feast" by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

This album kind of arrived to me as a surprise really. While browsing, I saw this vintage looking cover and I took a look at it. The cover art is cool and their name is cool. Frankly, having both of these things does make me interested in your band. Cool cover art and band names that aren't horribly stupid seem to be a thing of the past honestly.

In this day and age, most of us can check the googles for any information in an instant. So, a quick google search of this band showed they have been at the music game for quite some time. They were described as a Lo-Fi indie rock band. OK, this is something that might be enjoyable to me, so I left with it.

It really appears to me that the term Lo-Fi has been co-opted like my can of Coke in the office fridge. To me, Lo-Fi has meant the opposite of Hi-Fi, i.e. less than clear sounding. I can't really tell you what it's supposed to mean now, but it certainly means something else.

Album Review: "Super Session" by Bloomfield, Kooper, and Stills

Super Session

This is a first look at a classic album for me. As has been mentioned in other posts, I play a Gibson Les Paul, poorly. I've also joined a Les Paul community online and from that community many new artists have made their ways into my library.

One of the guys whose name is bandied about frequently is Mike Bloomfield. Well, he has not been played on my local classic radio stations in St. Louis, so his music never made it to my ears.

It was suggested to me that I purchase this album. Well, honestly, I'm still not terribly familiar with whom Al Kooper is, but I think everybody knows who Stephen Stills is. Recently Stephen Stills was profiled in Guitar World for his boxed set and that has also piqued my interest.

"Now Honey, Now Baby, Now Listen..." by White Trash Blues Revival

Remember when you were just a little one and you built musical instruments because, hell, you were only eight and it was fun. Personally, I built some "drums" out of two pieces of plywood and used a pair of swizzle sticks  (remember those?) as drum sticks. They worked great because they had little balls on the end of one side...JUST LIKE REAL DRUM STICKS!

Well, imagine if you were a professional musician and at a bar you frequent/play frequently that they were having a best of the worst bands contest. Would you ever conceive of calling your buddies and asking them to create something horrific as a joke. Like the drummer not even playing drums, but an empty beer kg, a bucket, and a cardboard box instead? Or the guitarist not even using a cigar box guitar, but a skateboard with pickups? Well that's what Sausage Paw of Left Lane Cruiser did. It worked so well that after a 20 minute set, they were booked for real and a band was born.

"Lickety Split"by Robert Randolph & The Family Band

Now this is some exciting stuff to me. Do you recall The Slide Brothers review from a couple months back? This would be the man that could be qualified as their mentor. Robert Randolph was the first person to bring the sacred steel guitar outside of the churches and into the public view, but his music is very different than that of the Slide Brothers.

This could quickly turn into five hundred words comparing and contrasting these two albums and it very well shouldn't be, so the last comparison will be whereas The Slide Brothers play bluesy hymns, Robert Randolph and the Family Band play wide open blues influenced rock.

Instead of Robert's slide guitar being the primary instrument, it's one of many instruments, though featured and this album features a great many guitar solos, both by Robert and Brett.