The Struts – Young and Dangerous


With the resurgence of Classic Rock, bands like The Temperance Movement, Monster Truck and recently Greta Van Fleet, and the imminent release of the Bohemian Rhapsody film it is the perfect time for something new from The Struts. Formed in 2012, they are a four piece Rock band with an undimmed love for Queen, The Darkness and The Rolling Stones. Continue reading


Mötley Crüe’s Shout At The Devil Turns 35


Thirty-five years ago, 1980s glam rock and heavy metal leaders Mötley Crüe released their excellent second album Shout At The Devil (Elektra). Following up from their solid debut Too Fast For Love, this album has gone on to legend status over the years for breaking the band through to bigger audiences. It was definitely a commercial breakthrough and fan-favorite, although it was critically drubbed by some at the time. The next step in band mastermind Nikki Sixx’s plan for world domination (and to be the next KISS), it’s full of classic Crüe songs, memorable choruses, and some killer musical performances from the band. Continue reading


Van Halen’s Debut Album Turns 40 Years Old


Born from the Hollywood glam scene in the 1970s, the best classic rock musicianship in history, and a nod to punk rock independence, Van Halen burst on the scene and changed the face of music overnight. It may have been a foregone conclusion to those that saw them at the time that they would “make it”. However, once the album became a runaway hit, it was the template for the band’s entire career, and the impetus for the next few generations of rock and metal bands as well. Continue reading


REVIEWS ROUND-UP: Week 47/48 Five Finger Death Punch, Silent Descent, InAir, Felix Hagan and more…


 

The Ghost Cult album roundup is back in town, for your vulgar delectation, though we’re taking a different approach this week and grouping together some of the less-“heavy” releases that are polluting our ears; it’s a walk on the lighter side of the Ghost Cult coin…
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Steel Panther – Lower the Bar


One of the nice things about a band like Steel Panther is that, like a box of chocolates, you always know what you’re gonna get. And with the Panther, you get the chocolate too; vocalist “Michael Starr” dips right in on the opening track of Lower the Bar (Open E), dropping this little nugget of wisdom: “Sometimes the back door is the only way in.”Continue reading


Exclusive Premiere: Druids Release New Video Clip – Time


 

Ghost Cult has partnered up with rising British rockers DRUIDS today to bring you their mind-blowing new music video for their track ‘Time’. You can see the clip below: Continue reading


Jim Gillette Discusses The Return Of Nitro


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Earlier this week we learned that Jim Gillette, Michael Angelo Batio and Chris Adler were teaming up to bring back Nitro. Continue reading


Mötley Crüe To Play Final Show Of Their Career Tonight


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Long-running glam rock icons Mötley Crüe will play the final show of their 34-year career tonight in their hometown of Los Angeles, CA at the Staples Center. Since their announcement a year and a half ago announcing the end of the band, on the “All Bad Things Tour” Mötley Crüe has played 163 shows on 5 continents with one final show left. The performance will be filmed for a special DVD/pay per view event that will also see a run in movie theaters next year. Next summer will also see the movie version of The Dirt, the authorized biography of the band. The band has released nine studio albums and sold approximately 100 million records to date since 1981.

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W.A.S.P. – Golgotha


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Having undergone so many changes in personnel during their 33 year career, it’s difficult to think of W.A.S.P. as anything but The Blackie Lawless Band these days. Texan frontman Lawless is (and has been for years) the only remaining member of the band which scared the pants off the PMRC and middle class parents everywhere back in the eighties.

For a while, his partnership with former guitarist and vodka receptacle Chris Holmes delivered some of the best US Heavy Metal of the 1980s, but constant upheaval helped stop the band ever making that final huge step into the big time. The one thing W.A.S.P. lacked was a consistent and definitive line-up.

Even before the release of their self-titled 1984 debut, musicians were already beginning to form a conga line outside the revolving door of W.A.S.P. HQ. Along with Lawless, change (although not as frequent as the likes of Megadeth or Anthrax) has always been the band’s only other constant.

Over the years though, that same problem which held them back actually became, for a time anyway, an advantage. As many of their contemporaries split up due to “personal and/or musical differences”, W.A.S.P. were able to carry on. In fact, after Holmes left, Lawless went onto write W.A.S.P.’s finest hour, The Crimson Idol (Capitol).

Success faded during the ’90s; raw meat shock value theatrics replaced by “Unplugged” albums, Marilyn Manson and Korn. Lawless plugged away regardless though, even experimenting with a darker, more industrial sound for a while (although that was thankfully short-lived), able to continue with a relatively successful career on his own terms.

However, a problem with being a band’s primary songwriter for such a lengthy period is a tendency towards repetition. Rewriting old songs is something Lawless has been guilty of before, and it happens again on the first track of new album, Golgotha (Napalm).

With more than a passing resemblance to ‘Crazy’ from previous album Babylon (Demolition), which in turn sounded like fan favourite ‘Wild Child’, opener ‘Scream’ possesses an unnaturally strong sense of familiarity, but it’s actually a surprisingly enjoyable one. Carbon copy or not, ‘Scream’ is a belter. ‘The Last Runaway’ is up next, a bouncy, uptempo track with an infectious chorus, and then the familiarity returns with ‘Shotgun’ and its’ ’95 NASTY’ meets The Who vibe. Things slow down a little with ‘I Miss You’, arguably one of the best slow songs Lawless has ever penned. Originally written for The Crimson Idol, it features a beautifully tortured vocal performance, and a great solo from guitarist Doug Blair. As the record continues, so does the quality. Easily the most consistent album they’ve put out for years, It’s virtually impossible to pinpoint a weak moment. And if there is one, then it certainly isn’t the title track, a seven minute epic with a chorus which sounds like Blackie sang it on his knees.

Golgotha is a W.A.S.P. album made for W.A.S.P. fans and makes you feel like you’ve slipped into an old pair of comfortable shoes. But shoes with a lot more life left in them than you originally believed.

 

7.5/10

GARY ALCOCK


Backyard Babies – Four By Four


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That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even a band may die… but not this band, and not today. For this is the era where bands do not go gentle into that good night (or if they do, they come back pretty quickly the next morning, handsome smiles flashing an unsaid apology as if to say “nothing happened here”). So here Backyard Babies stand before us, six-strings in hand, with a new selection of their trademark Hanoi Rocks meets The Wildhearts meets Alice Cooper glam punk tunes on their new album, Four By Four (Gain Music).

It was eighteen years ago that Backyard Babies burst onto the scene, heading a Scandinavian raucous of bands that included The Hellacopters and Hardcore Superstar with bold, bright punked up rock music that stuck two fingers and a stacked knee high boot into the groin of grunge, bringing sleaze and pizzazz back to a table that was wringing wet with the limp celery, hummus and self-loathing of a 90’s music scene that celebrated introspection and mumbling. 1997’s Total 13 (Scooch Pooch) saw the Babies ‘Bombed’ (out of their minds) with boots stuck with glue (yep…) and set to take over the world.

And yet it didn’t quite happen. Moderate success came their way, though in 2004 it seemed like they’d cracked it with the stomping Stockholm Syndrome (RCA) led by Guitar Hero playable track the mighty ‘Minus Celcius’, a career high grandstand tune if ever there was one. The world may be an oyster, but oysters don’t always contain pearls, and two subsequent uneventful albums passed by until in 2009 the Babies released a compilation album that was said to mark the passing of the band.

The band have been keen to stress Four By Four is not a comeback album, more a picking things up from where they left them, and all the expected sounds and styles are in place. Nicke Borg’s distinctive voice leads the way, with Dregen ripping jacked up glam rock from his guitar, but try as they might it’s all a bit flat, and all a bit pub rock. Some good tunes go by – lead off single ‘Th1rteen or Nothing’ is a stomper – but the core of the album is filled with wistful (wasteful) numbers, as the duller tempo of tunes like ‘Mirrors (Shall Be Broken)’ choke the remnants of life. It’s not bad, but in the end, you’re left with the feeling that whatever it was that used to make these guys spark no longer sizzles but sputters.

 

5.5/10

STEVE TOVEY