Hunter, HellWood

Author:     Hunter

Released:   2009

Genre:       Goth Metal, Thrash Metal

Producer:   Andrzej Karp
                 Paweł Grzegorczyk

Rating:       ******** (8 out of 10)







Personnel:

Guitar, Vocals, Piano             Paweł "Drak" Grzegorczyk
Guitar                             Piotr "Pit" Kędzierzawski
Bass,                                       Konrad "Saimon" Karchut
Violins                                     Michał "Jelonek" Jelonek
Drums                                     Dariusz "Daray" Brzozowski

List of Songs:

1. Nadchodzi...       2. Strasznik      3. $mierci $miech      4. Labirynt Fauna         5. Duch Epoki              6. Armia Boga      7. Dura Lex Sed Lex                8. TshaZshyC      9. Arges       10. Cztery Wieki Później...  11. Zbawienie   

Yes, this time we need to reach for something different. Different does not necessarily must mean bad or unworthy your time. The world has taught us how different parts might become one single unit. Just take a look at your discography and ask that smiling Michael Jackson, philanderer Tom Jones or looking-for-love Celine Dion – maybe they’ll prove that different is fun, my dear Rocker. However, it’s still the genre of the highest craving tunes from our Rocking world.

Hunter. Goth, Power, Thrash, Heavy Metal. Coming from Poland. They like black. Has it started fun? Oh, and sometimes they shed some blood in slaughterhouses (only in music videos, though). It’s not fortuity we mention Hunter now, but be patient – they will come. In this review we’d like to focus on one of their brightest records, and one of the best Polish Heavy Metal LPs ever made and you need to know that the Polish Heavy Metal scene is stronger than ever, so London Leatherboys – watch out!

They started with Thrash Metal in their Requiem debut from 1995, then stepped down to classic Metal with gothic influences owed especially to their violinist Michal Jelonek, who added that “magical” ingredient with a few well-fed pinches. They wore black with hats so they had been categorized as Goths. Are they? Are they more Thrash, Gothic or classic Metal? “HellWood”, their 2009 effort, proves to be everything at once, but good ol’ times with Metallica and Megadeth on the board come first to your mind. Unlike the lyrics, which had been influenced by the Hollywood productions and… obviously, those Friedkin- and Hitchcock-affiliated, like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, El Laberinto del Fauno, or Dracula. Let’s make a trip on their brains (Suicidal Tendencies – approved) and step in the Hell’s gates for very one time (Maybe we’ll find some Metal Churches or the Possessed, who knows…).

Lasting over 56 minutes this album is fulfilled with a damn good material with both music and lyric theme fundaments. No lyrics are penned in Churchill’s language, but one needs two clicks on their mighty computers to discover the translations from Polish. A lil’ bit of magic doesn’t kill anybody. Look at the cover with a creeping up obscure dead tree centered in the titled Hellwood with gloomy light and gloomy surroundings and you’re already home. This album must be dark. Indeed, no ballads, no fancy melodies, no squeaking harmonies, but loads of good rhythms, progressive passages, tempo changes, and heavy mood loaded in every instrument. Starting from the intro “Nadchodzi…” (“It’s Coming…”) you know it’s really getting you from everywhere, giving you goosebumps and freezing your blood out. You think it’ll ring solid bray of Death Metal, but nope – “Strasznik” (“Bugbear”) must freak you out with thumping gallop of Dariusz “Daray” Brzozowski’s drums and bolts of riffing surrounding your soul just to capture it into another song. “$mierci $miech” (“$eath’s $augh”) holds forth the war theme and shows the skills of the frontman/lead guitarist/singer’s hooks who shouts out desperately: ‘They’ll dance on us/ Victorious waltz with volleys” and you know there’s no place to run.

You think it must be some filler around, but you may disappoint yourself by going next track further and assaulting into “Labirynt Fauna” (“The Faun’s Labyrinth”) – one of two epics on the record. It’s dark and it’s captivating when soaring and hoarse vocals scrape through heavy guitar layers, plenty of them, collapsing down the speakers. “Duch Epoki” (The Age’s Ghost) seems quite slow and dull, but it changes with “Dura Lex Sed Lex” written by the group’s violinist only. The second epic, “Arges”, tell a story about nobody else but Prince Dracula. Very slow, pathetic and glorious track with gothic atmosphere underlined by dramatic violins and untypical clear singing of “Drak” the singer. This is the climax of the disc and you just wonder if it can be better… Well, no, this it. Other tracks are on average, with no shines and glimpses.

This is it. Our first Polish Heavy Metal album review has just ceased. That is one of our strongest positions in The World of Rising Songs’ reviews catalogue. Sometimes you do not even know what kind of good music you may find in the other corner of the same world. As Scorpions sing, we all live under the same sun, but some places are darker, while others are brighter. We shall come back to Hunter in the nearest future, for sure.

The Beatles, Rubber Soul

Author:     The Beatles 

Released:   1965

Genre:       Folk Rock, Rock

Producer:   George Martin

Rating:       ******* (7 out of 10)







Personnel:

Guitar, Vocals         Jon Lennon
Guitar, Bass,Vocals     Paul McCartney
Guitar, Vocals             Gorge Harrison
Drums                        Ringo Starr

List of Songs:

1. Drive My Car      2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)      3. You Won't See Me 
4. Nowhere Man      5. Think for Yourself      6. The Word      7. Michelle      8. What Goes On
9. Girl      10. I'm Looking Through You      11. In My Life      12. Wait      13. If I Needed Someone
14. Run For Your Life

Rubber Soul was the sixth album the Beatles released, and frankly is one of my favorites. This was the first album in which the band really started taking control of the whole process. In an interview with John Lennon, he was quoted as saying “Finally we took over the studio. We were more precise about making the album...We took over the cover and everything.” This album has a total of 14 songs, with many of them becoming hits after the album’s release. However, I believe that every song in this album deserves its time to shine, so we’re going to go through all the songs in order.

The first song on this album is the well-known “Drive My Car”. This particular tune was sung mainly by McCartney, but was noted to be one of Ringo Starr’s best drumming performance in his Beatles career. “Drive My Car” is reminiscent of the older Beatles’ songs, in both tune and simple lyrics. This song reminds me of the simpler times of being in high school, driving around with friends and dreaming of our successful futures.

Next up is “Norwegian Wood”, a dreamy-toned song about one of John’s many affairs. In this particular instance, John meets a mysterious girl who proceeds to bring him to her apartment. This song features the sitar played by Harrison, which only adds to the dreamy and almost drug-like feeling of this track.

“You Won’t See Me” is, in all honesty, a forgettable track on this album. About a crisis between Paul and his then-girlfriend Jane Asher, this song is about as interesting as listening to your coworker’s marital problems (unless these are spicy problems).

Next is the unforgettable “Nowhere Man”. This song was influenced by Lennon’s feelings of isolation, despite his immeasurable fame due to the Beatlemania. What I really admire about this song is the universally relatable feeling of being the Nowhere Man at some point in our lives. We’ve all felt isolated throughout our existence.

“Think For Yourself”, the next track on the album, marked the emergence of Harrison as a songwriter for the band. While this song is rather straightforward “Do what you want to do, and go where you’re going to. Think for yourself ‘cause I won’t be there with you.”, there is that spark of the protesting sound that soon became popular among the youth. Overall, this song is merely an “okay” Beatles song, but perhaps this allowed for Harrison to better hone his songwriting abilities crossed so many times by his colleagues.

“The Word” is indeed love, love of a certain plant. That’s right folks, the Beatles were supposedly stoned out of their mind when writing this, and you can certainly tell. As was custom at the time, the marijuana was used to promote peace and love in a time of uncertainty and war. This is a cute little tune, but ultimately has no depth with its message, unlike the influential later track of “All You Need Is Love”. But who’s telling us whom we should love?

“Michelle”, the love ballad everyone knows. This song was the most recorded out of all the Beatles songs, and even won a Grammy award for song of the year in ‘67. If you’re anything like me, you instantly fell in love with the rhythmic strumming of the guitar and McCartney’s sweet, lulling voice throughout the song. It was an instant hit and has remained as one even today. Funny to think that two decades later some fruste added “My” before Michelle and introduced slightly different story of the same name...

Ringo had been always given the throwaway songs, that is a plain fact. However, I simply cannot understand why they even decided to put “What Goes On” on this album. This country-esque mistake was sung by the poor Ringo Starr, who always had an affinity for country-western themes. I know I may get some flack for this, but Ringo isn’t a horrible singer. He sings his part well, but I have no idea why they allowed this song on the album, it simply doesn’t fit with the other tracks. In short, ***k this song.

“Girl” freshens the palate after experiencing the previous song. Written by Lennon, this song is the dreaming up of the perfect girl, who in reality doesn’t exist. This “girl” acts as if she’s too cool for her boyfriend, making him look like a “fool” in public, however the singer “won’t regret a single day”. In all honesty, this song confuses me. The tone is quite sad and yet nostalgic of a good time. It is almost reminiscent abusive relationships where the abused idealizes their abuser. Overall, it’s a memorable song, but with a confusing message.

“I’m Looking Through You” is another song in which McCartney talks about his dying relationship with Jane Asher. In this song, they have become so distant that they barely recognize the person they once were in love with.

“In My Life” has always meant something special to me. Being the hopeless romantic I am, this song really hits home to what it feels like to be in love with someone. You never forget your memories of past lovers, but you realize that out of all your experiences, you still would want to be with your current partner. The lovely harpsichord segment in the song really adds something to this slower song. It’s not that it speeds up at all, but adds a sort of classical romantic sound. Overall, this is probably one of my favorite Beatles’ songs and I would recommend it to anyone who needs a heartfelt song to send to their lover.

“Wait” is unfortunately another forgettable track on this album and honestly, this song just bores me. It has a good concept but the rhythm is so repetitive that I get bored halfway through a 2 minute song. Wait… that’s it?

“If I Needed Someone” is a track written by Harrison and depicts a person already in a relationship, being hit on by someone new. The person in the relationship is committed to their partner, but says “if I needed someone” it would be the person hitting on them. It’s reminiscent of the “for a good time call” kind of relationship, in which the person is simply filling a, probably sexual, need using another person.

“Run For Your Life” is the final track on this album, and boy is it a dark ending. This song is about a man who is threatening his girlfriend if she ever goes against him. These threats are mostly death threats, which makes it seem as though this relationship is highly abusive. This reflects Lennon’s own struggle with jealousy and insecurity, in which he would show aggression towards his partners in order to keep them close. In fact, Lennon was reported saying that out of all the songs he has written, this is the one he regrets the most, perhaps because it shows a violent side of him. Curious, do you think that Sammy Hagar had the same in mind penning a-same-title-track?

This album was full of memorable hits that have lasted to this day, and also some flops that should never see the light of day. Overall, this is the start of when the Beatles start experimenting with new sounds and themes. This experimentation would soon progress, creating the Revolver album in which the Beatles become even more successful with their experiments. I would highly recommend this album to anyone first getting into the Beatles, seeing as some of the earlier albums may seem a bit too bubblegum-pop for beginners. The Beatles have influenced the world with their music, and this album was only the beginning of their influential ride through musical history.

Taking Dawn, Time To Burn

Author:     Taking Dawn

Released:   2010

Genre:       Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

Producer:   Micheal "Elvis" Baskette

Rating:       ****** (6 out of 10)








Personnel:

Guitar, Vocals    Chris Babbitt
Guitar                 Mikey Cross
Bass                    Andrew Cushing
Drums                 Alan Doucette

List of Songs

1. Time To Burn     2. Like A Revolution     3. Taking Me Away     4. So Loud     5. Save Me
6. Close Your Eyes     7. Godless     8. Fight 'Em With Your Rock     9. Never Enough
10. Endlessly     11. The Chain

Nobody’s ever gonna convince me that Rock is dead or even on the edge of dying. Newcomers gave birth to followers, who in turn inspired newly coming badasses of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Where there is action, there is reaction, and some heads are gonna roll and I can’t wait to see all of those heads trundling down the hills of Iommi, Page, Clapton, Blackmore, Hendrix and others. I have heard a few greenhorns worshipping the Good, Old Times with a particular sound of a particular era of Rock ‘n’ Roll and I must say that new is not equivalent to bad, but everybody will agree that bad is never going to be good. The question is: How good is the new good?

There was Kingdom Come as a Led Zeppelin’s poor man in ‘80s and Greta van Fleet nowadays. There is Airbourne following the footsteps of mighty AC/DC. Not to mention all those Death and Black Metal bands growing on likes of Dimmu Borgir, Cannibal Corpse, Behemoth and obviously Venom. When speaking of today’s Rock and Metal bands, groups of kind of the Darkness, Jettblack, Voodoo Six, H.E.A.T., and the Treatment come to mind, but there is one more. Taking Dawn took off in 2007 handing the torch of Rock ‘n’ Roll for the new generation and more crowning the nasty ‘80s than artistic ‘70s, but roots of Grand Funk Railroad, Creedence Clearwater Revival and late Sabbath albums are easily found on their first and last album Time To Burn. They left Roadrunners Records after their 2010’s debut release because of still unclear reasons and signed up to… Roadrunners again? Now they’re known as Devil’s Run, but as Devil’s Run they haven’t delivered anything than just an EP in 2014, so let’s not waste time anymore, roll up the sleeves and go on.

The lead single, opener, and their first big hit, Time to Burn, spans in less than 3 minutes and mixes up the vibe of ‘80s with new production of 21^st century. The goods are on deck, Babbitt’s pipes are strong and crazy riffing shuffles the dust off rappized music shelves. The chorus is so insanely infectious that the groove you loose and “Halle-fucking-llujah” you find in head even two days after. Like a Revolution and So Loud smash ‘n’ grab the best of the mixture as well with a slight decrease in firing the blazing guns. The former one lacks a catchy chorus and the latter desperately is moaning for more ingredients and not only the stale tales. There is no love song or power ballad, only power riffs and fists-and-pumps.

Save Me and Never Enough take the album higher with a concise message of deliberate chaos with good taste. Lyrics are blunt everywhere and the guys need to learn how to pen a good song with good lyrics, not only “You bad cutie”, “You bad ass”, “**ck you all!” attitude. Never Enough delivers more stuff which cannot be described as sophisticated, but with a little of insight one can hear lines like “Whoever’s eyes I try my sight’s still set on you” which shows some progress in the total regress, but You push me away/ I hate you “gems” should be deleted and reframed… pity. There are three great songs, including the title track, Fight ‘Em With Your Rock and Endlessly. Fight ‘Em With Your Rock resembles the good, old stuff of Blackout-era Scorpions with Quiet Riot’s high party penning and smoking soloing and smothering bass drum kicking. Endlessly is rhythmic, but AC/DC-wise in recognition, but if you want to go up higher, you need to take from the heights.

There is a party everywhere and Kiss mammoths would like it. If you plan on having a riffles-down-glass-rise party with your Rock ‘n’ Roll friends, internalize the Taking Dawn’s album, raise your ***king glass and drink for the Good and Bad Times when a Shot in the Dark meant more than only a shot. Take your shot and enter the Crazy Train with those four Las Vegas folks – a good party guaranteed. 

Whitesnake, 1987

• Author:      Whitesnake

  Released:   1987

Genre:        Hard rock, Heavy Metal

Producer:   Mike Stone & Keith Olsen

Rating:       ******* (7 out of 10)

Personnel:                                      

Guitar - John Sykes                                                          
Bass - Neil Murray                                   
Drums - Aynsley Dunbar
Keys - Don Airey and Bill Cuomo   
Vocals - David Coverdale                 

List of Songs

1. Crying in the Rain          2. Bad Boys          3. Still of the Night           4. Here I Go Again '87
5. Give Me All Your Love 6. Is This Love      7. Children of the Night    8. Straight for the Heart
9. Don't Turn Away

1987 witnessed a lot of events, affairs and episodes. Ronald Reagan underwent prostate surgery, Metal Gear was released in Japan, Great Storm of 1987 hit Great Britain, John Paul II issued the encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis and Whitesnake released their self-titled album. This is the point of the review where the band Whitesnake may be used properly as a synonym (or a nickname) for Mr. Medicine Man alias Love Man alias Love Hunter alias David Coverdale (ex- Deep Purple vocalist). David Coverdale established his band in 1978, as Deep Purple split up in 1975/1976 and new career pathway must have been chosen. Up to 1985 Whitesnake had released six less or more successful albums charting on US and UK lists and selling in millions of copies having proved that the beau and the crew made their livings pretty up. However, blues-rock fundaments were being slowly lost and Whitesnake raced like mad towards commercial breakthrough and to win the first prize on the scene of rock. The year 1987 was about to belong to them.

And this is when Whitesnake ‘87 appeared and true revolution sparked off. Stricken relations between the chief and ex-Rainbow and Jeff Beck Group drummer Cozy Powell led to Powell disbanding. Similar tensions were perceptible also between Coverdale and his lead guitarist John Sykes (Tygers of Pan Tang, Thin Lizzy) who had enough the tyranny of the singer. One could think that such unfortunate circumstances do not foster the collaboration among band members, but a willing to become giants of the scene is stronger. And it worked. Released in April 1987 Serpens Albus (as it was named in Japan) turned out to be the band’s greatest masterpiece in terms of charts positions and copies sold. On this album, everything works perfectly – from the very first to the very last song. Even saying nothing of tracks order in several different editions for North America, Europe and Japan and different titles, ingenuity and quality of the material covered with shadows everything else.

Nine songs (or eleven if to include bonus tracks) are loud, rabid heavy rockers with creaky and crunchy guitars dashing and trotting with immense speed. Starting from opus magnus and opener Still of The Night, with Led Zeppelin – esque main riff hitting a listener between their eyes and first astir of true Love Hunter’s lines, and ending up with Children of The Night with virtuosic soloing and fleshy rhythmic session that turn all knobs 361 degrees. Coverdale – Sykes duo proved their ingenuity and writing talents, recording songs that start and end with finest details attached. Medicine Man dusted two tracks from his previous albums, Crying In The Rain (from Saints & Sinners) and their biggest commercial hit, Here I Go Again, written primarily by Coverdale and Bernie Marsden (he left the band in 1982) for Saints & Sinners album. ’87 version sounds too polished and smoothed, covered by redundant layers of ornaments that makes it untrue and inaccurate, being too close to pop-rock gender. Similar, though slightly variant way was chosen for Billboard number 2 hit Is This Love, sang by Coverdale in tender, but moderate style preserving some kind of conservatism in his singing. Drums direct bluesy, even souly rhythm, changing it somewhat throughout the song, laying foundation for swaying guitar work supported by melancholic keyboards. May this not mislead you; gems like Children Of The Night with fretful strings and characteristic hoops of Coverdale or Give Me All Your Love with restrained, but ringing melodies and masculine lyrics (I’ll rock you in the morning/And Roll you in the night, Give me all your loving tonight) – they  rock the ground. Everything works, from the beginning to the last tune.

If Coverdale’s ship wanted to reach mainland of fame and recognition, they succeeded in full dimension. It was not blues-rock band anymore, providing mid-paced, insightfully playing around the strings songs. Since 1987 Whitesnake became a band chucking out furious riffs and even more nasty lyrics, changing style and showing up on the party right in time. This album shakes the earth, and having Bob Rock as a producer by their side, the same guy who produced Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet one year earlier, the fact of smoothed and commercial ingredient included in a couple of songs should be surprise no more.