Harry Styles by Harry Styles – album review

Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994)is an English singer and songwriter. He is known as a member of the pop boy band One Direction. He made his debut as a singer with his band White Eskimo, who performed locally in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire. In 2010, Styles auditioned as a solo artist for the British television series The X Factor. After being eliminated as a solo performer, Styles was brought back into the competition, along with four other contestants, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson, to form One Direction.

I was never big fan of One Direction, but I have always had respect for them because I knew that they have talent and that they can do even better once they start their solo careers.  On April 7th Harry Styles released his debut single called “Sign Of The Times” and I was completely blown away. First I didn’t expect him to go this direction (no pun intended) and I was blown away how amazing song actually was. Definitely one of the best songs released this year.

Harry Styles released his debut album on May 12th, so was I blown away by the album just like I was blown away by the “Sign Of The Times”?

The Source by Ayreon – album review

Ayreon is a musical project by Dutch songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon’s music is described as progressive rock, progressive metal and power metal sometimes combined with genres such as folk, electronica, experimental and classical music. The majority of Ayreon’s albums are dubbed “rock operas” (or “metal operas”) because the albums contain complex storylines featuring a host of characters, usually with each one being represented by a unique vocalist.

Number of musicians Arjen worked with is very large. That list includes some of the biggest names in the metal and rock universe such as Bruce Dickinson, Marco Hietala, James LaBrie. Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, Ken Hensley, Russel Allen and many more. On this new album “The Source” Arjen introduced some new names to already very big pool of singers he worked with such as Micheal Mills (Circus Maximus), Nils K. Rue (Pagan’s Mind), Tommy Rogers(Between the Buried And Me) and Zaher Zorgati (Myrath). Here is a full list of every single vocalist featured on the album:  James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Simone Simons (Epica), Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian), Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia), Tommy Karevik (Kamelot, Seventh Wonder), and Russell Allen (Symphony X), Micheal Mills (Circus Maximus), Nils K. Rue (Pagan’s Mind), Tommy Rogers(Between the Buried And Me) and Zaher Zorgati (Myrath).  for a total of eleven main vocalists.

Album is divided in four chronicles. The Frame, The Aligning of the Ten, The Transmigration and The Rebirth. At the end of every chronicle something big happens, but that is something I will discuss later.

Ayreon was always one of my favorite bands(if you can call it a band since it is a more of a project). “The Human Equation”, “Into The Electric Castle” and “01011001” are some of my favorite albums of all time with “The Human Equation” being favorite out of those 3 so it is clear that I have high expectations from Ayreon

2017 marks the year when Ayreon releases another album. This time it’s called “The Source”. So, did “The Source” meet my expectations?

Fabuless by Stone Sour – song review

So, Stone Sour is finally back! Last time we heard something from these guys was 2 years ago when they released covers EP “Straight Outta Burbank…” which included 5 songs:

1. “Sailin’ On” (Bad Brains cover)
2. “Running Free” (Iron Maiden cover)
3. “Gimme Shelter” (feat. Lzzy Hale) (The Rolling Stones cover)
4. “Too Fast for Love” (Mötley Crüe cover)
5. “Seasons in the Abyss” (Slayer cover)

Personally, I enjoyed this EP a lot, especially “Gimme Shelter” cover, although I wish they gave Lzzy Hale more vocal duties.

Today, Stone Sour released first original song since 2013 called “Fabuless”. So, is “Fabuless” good?

Lovely Little Lonely by The Maine – album review

The Maine is an American alternative rock band from Tempe, Arizona, formed in 2007. Band consists of members :

• John O’Callaghan – lead vocals, piano guitar
• Jared Monaco – lead guitar
• Garrett Nickelsen – bass, occasional backing vocals
• Patrick Kirch – drums, percussion
• Kennedy Brock – rhythm guitar, backing vocals

Before “Lovely Little Lonely” The Maine released 5 studio albums which includes  “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop” “Black & White” ,”Pioneer”, “Forever Halloween” and my personal favorite “American Candy”.

In 2017 they released their sixth studio album “Lovely Little Lonely”. So, what do we get with “Lovely Little Lonely”?

Emperor Of Sand by Mastodon – album review

Mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 2000 and composed of bassist Troy Sanders, guitarists Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher, and drummer Brann Dailor. Their musical style features progressive concepts and unique instrumentation. All four members participate in vocals, creating a unique blend of singing styles and voices.

In 2002 they released their debut album called “Remission”. “Remission” to me was pretty solid debut album that showed how good of musicians Mastodon guys are. But, there is one thing that I did not like on that album and that thing is vocals. For some reason Troy’s vocals on that album never clicked with me. They have some sort of Death Metal-y sound but still they are clean vocals. Everything else about that album was stellar. Bass, guitar work and especially drums. I swear, Brann Dailor is one of the best modern drummers. I would give that album strong 7/10.

But then in 2004 they released “Leviathan” and holy shit what an album that is. Opening song “Blood And Thunder” has one of the best guitar riffs of all time and Troy’s vocals are much better. They still have that sludgy feel but this time they fit really good with rest of instrumentation which is very sludgy too.  Every great thing from “Remission” is even better on “Leviathan” which makes this album absolute 10/10 in my books.

One thing about Mastodon always fascinated me and that is how much Pitchfork loves them. There is even a joke about that and it goes like this:

*Mastodon plays open E string*

Pitchfork:10/10

I mean they absolutely deserve it, but I am still very confused when you consider Pitchfork’s history with very progressive music. Remember, they gave Lateralus 1.8/10 and on top of that Mastodon’s approach to progressive music is mixed with a lot of sludgy influences.

Up until The Hunter all Mastodon albums received universal fans acclaim but with The Hunter and Once More Round The Sun fans were not satisfied with the direction Mastodon decided to take. Their sound slowly started to shift more towards mainstream rock while still holding that signature Mastodon sound that made them unique. Fans were pissed off. And you know what? I actually like “Once More Round The Sun” a lot. I would argue that songs like “High Road” and “Motherload” are one of their best . Mainstream rock desperately needed act like Mastodon is. Because almost everything in mainstream rock sounded absolutely the same. Mastodon gave us breath of fresh air and everyone should appreciate that a lot. Again, instrumentation on this album is amazing. Although I would not say that this is better than “Leviathan” but it is really good still. One thing that I appreciate about this album is Brann Dailor’s vocals. Him and Troy sound very good together. We have songs on Emperor Of Sand where same thing repeats, but we will get into that very soon.

This year Mastodon released their seventh album called “Emperor Of Sand”. So, what do we get with “Emperor Of Sand?

The Strange Case Of… by Halestorm – Fifth year anniversary review

Halestorm is an American hard rock band from Red Lion, Pennsylvania, consisting of lead vocalist and guitarist Lzzy Hale, her brother drummer and percussionist Arejay Hale, guitarist Joe Hottinger, and bassist Josh Smith.

In 2009, Halestorm released their debut self tilted album where they showed a lot of potential which will be improved on later albums. Album features really good guitar work and extremely good vocals done by vocal powerhouse Elizabeth Lzzy Hale. Songs like “I’m Not An Angel”  showed that Halestorm is capable of writing really good power ballads and not lose what made them good. Overall this is really good debut album full of good and really good songs.

 

3 years later, after one good covers EP and one really good live album Halestorm released their sophomore album called The Strange Case Of… Was Halestorm another band that was victim of sophomore slump?

Top 20 Billboard Mainstream rock songs chart ranked

Mainstream Rock is a music chart in Billboard magazine which ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. Now that you know how the chart work let’s get right into the ranking.