Donnerstag, 24. Apr 2008, 20:26

Bullet for My Valentine - Scream Aim Fire

I started listen to BFMV with this album and it was freakin' amazing!
Great vocals, great riffs, very thrashy and 80s influenced, kinda like old Metallica. Yeah, you can say those guys are doing what Trivium have done already, but the fact is that they are doing it better, and they are definitely not emo.
9.5/10

Children of Bodom - Blooddrunk

To be honest, I never liked COB, and I never got into their music, mainly because I didn't like the vocals by Alexi Laiho (who is a really talented and amazing guitarist) but after hearing Banned from Heaven, I knew I should definitely try the new album. Well, it was pretty cool, which is something I cannot say about past COB albums I tried listening to.
8/10

Paul Gilbert - Silence Followed by a Deafening Roar

I really like Paul Gilbert. I think he's a great guitarist, If its solo, or in Racer X or Mr. Big, and Its weird that he released he's second instrumental album only now, as all his solo efforts before were kinda Pop oriented Hard rock with him singing.
Well, All i can say that this instrumental album is just weird and i couldn't like it, It was too weird. Sorry, Paul.
5/10

Whitesnake - Good to Be Bad

Well, thats definitely one of the best albums I've heard all year for now.
Whitesnake is one of my favorite bands overall and after hearing the latest line-up with guitar virtuoso Doug Aldrich on board as lead guitarist, I just had to hear a full-length album with him.
We could already hear him teaming with Coverdale for four new songs on the band's latest live album "Live in the Shadow of the Blues", but It was only a foreword for this album to come.
Amazing guitar work, Coverdale sings as amazing as ever (still my favorite vocalist!), great lyrics, and overall - its all done in an amazing production.
9.5/10

The Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop and Roll

In last december, I heard Green Day's side project band's first songs and I said: "Wow!".
From the beggining, the Foxboro Hot Tubs were rumored to be a side project of the band members of Green Day, just like their previous side project The Network, only now they make 60s influenced Garage rock, instead of modern New Wave.
Well, they released a 6 song EP for free which sounded great, and now the full-length album was also released. Since then they were also confirmed to be Green Day, and the music just got better in those new 6 songs, added to a total of 12 fun old school rock songs. Pretty original.
7.5/10

Cavalera Conspiracy - Inflikted

I have to say that i've never been a fan of Sepultura, the Cavalera brothers' previous band that they formed in Brazil a long long time ago.
The riff were very Pantera like, combing Trash and Groove metal, but the vocals were too harsh and death like.
I've decided to check out the brothers' latest effort, and their debut album "Infliked" is not bad at all. Its still not my everyday style of music, but from time to time its nice to hear some of the freshest Groove metal around, and seems like the genre is dying.
Max Cavalera is not great in singing, in my opinion, but both in vocals and in guitar, Cavalera Conspiracy is better than Sepultura, thats for sure.
7/10

Marty Friedman - Future Addict

Well, I am a great fan of Megadeth and all of Marty's work in the limits of the band, but I really could never relate to his solo works, especially since he's gone more into the J-pop genre. Well, since I got the chance to hear his latest album, I decided I'll give it a try.
The album is basically a remake album, that features remakes of previous tracks by Marty, and even 2 Megadeth tracks: The Killing Road and the amazing Tornado of Souls all redone in a new rendition of guitars (by Marty of course) and vocals (by Marty's drummer Jeremy Colson), and while he's not Dave Mustaine, he still sounds great and the "Tornado of Souls" remake is not even bad.
There are also 3 new tracks and they are not bad at all. Overall, a great Marty album to start from. Very fresh and cool sounding renditions of old songs.
7.5/10

Reset - No Intensity

I've never heard of this band before, but hearing its a Punk rock/Hardcore punk band in which most of the Simple Plan guys started out, I decided to give it try, since I was into Simple Plan once and even tried their latest album which was better than expected.
Anyway, Reset is no Simple Plan. Reset is a real in-your-face Hardcore influenced Punk rock and not a whiny Pop punk like Simple Plan's latest efforts. It reminds more Sum 41's Does This Look Infected? Pop punk driven Punk rock album, than any of Simple Plan's work.
The album was of course done without any of the original members (who most of them in Simple Plan now), but with such a great album I'll definitely check out their older stuff.

8.5/10

Pennywise - Reason to Belive

I never really tried listening to Pennywise either, but then their latest album came and it was for free anyway through their Myspace, since they are now signed to Myspace Records and release there their albums, so I decided to try it.
What can I say? Melodic hardcore at its best. It's fuckin' rockin' in-your-face Melodic hardcore punk rock just like it should be. Great job.
9/10

Anti-Flag - The Bright Lights of America

A nice effort from a great political Punk rock band. I really got into those guys in their last two albums, and they don't disappoint, although this album is more Pop punk driven than ever, unlike their older albums that were more Hardcore driven.
Overall, a pretty cool album, and I think the coolest track is Wake Up The Town, an iTunes bonus track that features Billy Talent frontman Ben Kowalewicz providing vocals.
8/10

Theory of A Deadman - Scars & Souvenirs

I really got to like this band since I heard their songs in the video game "Fahrenheit" and then I totally got into them after listening to two of their albums, so then came the third one and let me you, its pretty great, although not as amazing as Gasoline was, the new album is still very cool Alternative/Post-grunge/Hard rock album, for anyone who likes modern Alternative rock and post-grunge, Foo Fighters and Daughtry style.
9/10

Overall, not too bad of a year for now.

Albums I'm waiting for:
Judas Priest - Nostradamus
Metallica - Untitled 9th studio album
Motley Crue - The Saints of Los Angeles
The Offspring - Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace
Van Halen - Untitled new album with David Lee Roth
Extreme - Upcoming reunion studio album
AC/DC - Untitled new album
Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy (though probably not this year)
+44 - Untitled 2nd studio album
Def Leppard - Songs from the Sparkle Lounge