LIBERTY N JUSTICE - CHASING THE CURE EP

Super group Liberty N Justice has put out a classy EP just in time for the holiday season. Not only is this ep full of solid hard rock perfection, but the end result will benefit the ongoing medical research of Epilepsy. The title is Chasing the Cure which is

All the proceeds will go The Epilepsy Foundation and their ongoing research to develop a cure for this awful disease. This hits close to home for Justin Murr songwriter and bass player for LNJ as his own daughter suffers from this disease.

Justin and Vic Rivera have crafted a stellar production of great melodic rock n roll, not unlike Night Ranger, Foreigner or Giant. This five song affair features the world class talents of Paul Shortino of Rough Cutt/Quiet Riot/King Kobra, Ron Keel of Keel, and Eddie Ojeda of Twisted Sister, Donnie Vie of Enuff Z' Nuff and JK Northrup, Philip Bardowell of MAGDALEN/Unruly Child/The Beach Boys and Tony Palacios of Guardian, Terry Ilous of XYZ, Jeff Paris and Richard Kendrick of Near Life Experience, Benny Mardones, John Pine and Bill Leverty of Firehouse.

The quality of musicianship itself should convince you to pick this up. It’s only available as a download, there will be no CD available to keep the overhead low, and this will allow the Epilepsy Foundation to gain as much financial reward as possible. The suggested donation for this album is $7.50. If you click on the title of this review you'll go to Liberty N Justice's site.

Even if this release wasn’t attached to the Epilepsy foundation it would be worth your hard earned cash. It really is a great release full of memorable songs that’ll get you singing along right away.

8 axe review.

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GOLDEN RESURRECTION - GLORY TO MY KING

Crafting a smooth neo classical metal sound Golden Resurrection is upon us. With both Tommy Johansson (ReinXeed) and Christian Liljegren (Audiovision), Golden Resurrection has crafted a very good album of hook filled melodic metal. Glory to My King is a rockin' offering of headbanging musical whimsy.

Glory to My King offers plenty of neo classical metal elements. The solid melodies and hooks are nonstop, starting with See My Commands, Glory to My King, Proud to Wear the Cross are just a few. Liljegren delivers well executed vocals that any fan of Dio, Jeff Scott Soto or Rob Rock should just eat up.

It must be pointed out that Johansson’s guitar work is truly the stitching that wraps this all together. Melodic and soulful with the technical precision that enhances each song and doesn’t overpower it. His playing is tasteful and senses the proper place to cut loose which is unusual for a neo classical player as they often try to fill every open spot with a 5 second solo fill.

The other players on this album are not to be looked over as each plays at a top level, bass player Stefan Käck, drummer Rickard Gustafsson (Pantokrator) & keyboardist Olov Andersson (Audiovision & Grand Stand) respectively.

The production breathes and allows the instruments to have proper definition. There will be cries for more bass response which depending on one’s ear could be a reasonable request. A world class sound Glory to My King has.

The lyrics are obvious in their intent and meaning. Any project with Liljegren involved I would expect no less, and he again writes top drawer material that is uplifting and edifying without coming across preachy or corny.

It must be pointed out that this is NOT another Audiovision album. Where Audiovision has more of a Stryper, Dio flavor per se, Golden Resurrection is more Yngwie Malmsteen, Europe in musical flavor. The musical differences between the projects Christian provides vocals for is evident.

Glory to My King is a good album, perhaps even better than the Audiovision (Focus) album which preceded it earlier this year. Melodic Heavy Metal with a neo classical flair is what you’ll find here and you won’t be disappointed.

8 axe

http://heavensmetalpodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2010-11-23T22_48_01-08_00

http://heavensmetalpodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2010-11-23T22_48_01-08_00

SAINT - ALIVE FOREVER DVD

Saints latest release is a live DVD entitled Alive Forever. Recorded and performed earlier this year at The Grand Ballroom in Portland, Oregon. A solid set of heavy metal is performed by Richard Lynch and company.

A three camera shoot (at least that’s what I can detect) was used to capture this performance. Scorching through tracks such as The Blade (from 2010’s Hell Blade) and the title track of 2004’s In the Battle quite a bit of diversity is presented here in regards to Saint’s back catalog.

The complete set list is a follows;

The Blade
The Choice
The Mark
To Live Forever
The Path
Holy Rollin’
The Vision
In The Battle
Alpha and Omega
Hell Blade

It is curious though that nothing was performed from 2008’s Crime Scene Earth and to revive a rather obscure track from their 1999 EP, A Perfect Life. The song in question To Live Forever appears here and it doesn’t quite fit musically. Even a third track from Hell Blade like Too The Cross or New World Order would've been a nice inclusion.

Quite a collection of bonus material appears here as well, a mix of fan footage and professionally shot performances. It should be noted that the very early material is for the hardcore fan only, the original tape sources being over twenty years old with some obvious degradation. The fans who shot the footage were obviously trying for a souvenir, specifically the Cornerstone 1986 footage. Both of Saint’s professionally shot music videos for Hell Blade appear here, the tracks The Blade and The New World Order respectively.

It can be observed that Saint spent a lot of money on this production between the video shoot and the lighting used for the concert. Yet for me it seems that the show itself is too dark most of the time. Guitarist Jerry Johnson on first glance is nearly absent; perhaps due to the lack of light on his side of the stage. When the show was edited back together it seems that the editors kept going back to drummer Larry London, perhaps because he had the most consistent light source?

As best as I can determine this was a three camera shoot and capture Saint they did. Fans of Saint (as I have been since 1984) will want this in their collections. The technical items aside this DVD shows Saint doing what they do best, rockin’ hard.

6 axes

White Throne Interviewed by Paul Doty... Audio Technician of Bloodgood and Barren Cross.. enjoy....

This is an Interview I did with a good friend of mine, Paul Doty. He actually did the interview of ME.... Enjoy....

I'm the good looking one on the right! HA.


http://www.wcsl.org/audpod/shows/2010/pauldotyonwhitethrone32k.mp3

SACRED WARRIOR - REBELLION remasters

As part of the Intense Millennium remasters Chicago Metal Act Sacred Warrior is on the list. Their debut album entitled Rebellion is a full on metal tour de force. With stellar guitars solos, exceptional drumming and the powerful voice of Rey Parra, this is a combo that is pretty hard to get around.

Sacred Warrior plays a brand of heavy metal with melody not unlike Queensryche, Helloween or even Stratovarius; heavy guitars with soaring vocals that are extremely distinctive. Bruce Swift plays his heart out on his six string instrument. Picking notes out of the air and playing a myriad of riffs that are more memorable than noteworthy.

Opening with the track Black Metal screaming through Stay Away from Evil flying hard on Children of the Light pummeling their way through Day of the Lord, Sacred Warriors debut album was a tough one to surpass. Even the all out driving The Heavens are Calling with its buzz saw riff has enough melody to grab even the most ardent AOR fan.

Rebellion is clean and powerful, full of anthems that anyone who claims Christ as Savior will be singing along with. Messages of hope, redemption and more importantly understanding are found through out this piece of metal history.

This album was originally released in 1988 with the recording limitations of the time. However, let it be known that the remastering done by J Powell at Steinhaus allows the recording to not only breathe but SHINE. The new mastering brings the guitars out and adds clarity to everything. There are several subtle keyboard parts that I frankly didn’t even know they were there. The drumming of Tony Velasquez was superb but now is truly stellar due to the clarity and spacing given. I hear a ride cymbal (he was hitting the bell) in the title track that I simply couldn’t hear before.

This reissue includes two bonus tracks Day By Day and Prince of Peace, the former a straight up rock tune while the later is definitely along the lines of a praise tune. Pastor Bob Beeman provides some extended liner notes and commentary. New album artwork is provided as well, however if you old schoolers insist on the original simply turn the booklet around and post the old artwork on the front.

Intense Millennium has done it again with an outstanding reissue that is worth every penny of your hard earned cash. Not every reissue is a classic album, but Sacred Warriors Rebellion is. This release has stood the test of time and has earned the title of classic due to its passion and desire to offer a superior product to the world so that the gospel of Jesus Christ can be heard by all in their own language. In this case that language is Heavy Metal music.

10 axes.