Welcome everyone to episode 396 of Signals from Mars. I'm your host Victor and we continue
with our album reviews. Man, catching up from over the summer and as a result at the end
of September we are talking about August. But it's all good, it's all good music and
me and Jeremy will be up next. I'm ready. Let's do it.
So I was on Facebook and I don't remember if it was Classic Rock Magazine or Rock Candy
or Brave Words or one of these groups that I follow. And the original post mentioned
something to the effect of what I say here during these shows that there are a lot of
lazy listeners out there and people have stopped listening to new music after they graduated
high school. And there was somebody that pretty much agreed with the notion and said something
to the effect of what I say here in that there's always good new music coming out. And then
there was somebody that was incredible, responds with, no, the people that are lazier, those
that will accept any form of music and not actually they don't have criteria to differentiate
between good music and just anything. So this is your typical fan who is set in their ways
and I will not try that hamburger because it is not as good a quality as the hamburger
that I tried back in March of 87, that day after my football contest, where I so happened
to savagely ravage the other team. And as a result, my performance has not been as good
as what it was then. So I retired because I could never top that. It's just this idiotic
notion that, oh, it's not as good as what it once was. Right. Nothing is ever going
to emotionally connect. I've said this a million times with stuff that got you hooked on a
form of music or on a band for the first time. Again, nothing is going to be as good as that
time that you played with your best friend in front of the house. That first time that
you know, your grandmother made you that dish, so on and so forth. But it does not mean that
all of a sudden, no, it's not going to be as good. So I'm not even going to give it
the opportunity because I am better than something new. Dude, that's how you feel. That's fine.
Then maybe this isn't for you. But to constantly beat that dead horse and constantly beat that
drum that nothing is as good or whatever nonsense you've formed, what opinion you formed doesn't
mean that the rest of us have to live up to the same thing. So for those that want to
check out new music, want to check out different things, Jeremy and I do these shows. Doesn't
mean that we're right. There's nothing factual. It is just opinion. There are things that
speak out to us and make us think, hey, maybe I should recommend this to people. And again,
I've mentioned this a bunch of times. I try to pick different things so that we give you
guys a dichotomy of things to choose from, not just one or two things. Sure, there are
times that we agree on things, but there's kind of no reason to always just review the
same things. We have different tastes and we hope that that shows through on the show.
And it hopefully turns you people on to something that you may or may not enjoy. You may think
that we're crazy and whatnot, but anyway, let's get on with the show.
Welcome one and all to Signals from Mars. I am your host, Victor, and joining me for
the second straight week is Mr. Jeremy Weltman. How are you, Jeremy?
Yeah, doing well. Thanks, Victor. And I'm joining you on Friday the 13th, which of course
is a really good time to be talking about metal, even though it will probably go out
later.
Yes, that's funny. And I'm glad that you mentioned that because it was something that I wanted
to bring up as well. It is always like a quintessential day for metal, the whole horror tie in and
all that. And I've recorded more than one show on Friday the 13th. So we are back for
our monthly review of albums. We are doing August 2023 in the middle of September. August
2024 in the middle of September 2024. How about that? Even screwing the year up.
Yeah. So listen, folks, life gets in the way and we're getting to this as quickly as we
can. Regardless, hope you enjoy this episode and it helps you with your year end polls.
So August was an interesting month, at least with the stuff that I had to work with here,
some of the albums that were sent my way. It seems to be a little leaner than other
months, but still had some great music regardless. So we're going to talk about some of our
favorite releases that came out this year. And then as usual, we're going to talk about
some points that we've kind of thrown back at one another here. So anyway, on August
2nd, we start out with a new Smashing Pumpkins album, a Forie Morie Mae, I guess is how you
pronounce it. Blind Guardian, Somewhere Far Beyond Revisited, actually, that's a reissue.
Well, it's actually a re-record of that album. Anyway, Ron Keele with Keele World, Blues
Pills with Birthday, Mr. Misery with Self-Titled, Mr. Misery, Fourth Dominion with Diana's Day,
Richie Newton with Moments, EPs from Hyrax, Faster Than Death, live albums from Lord of
the Lost, live at Valken Open Air, two reissues from Steve Hackett and one from Three Inches
of Blood. Jeremy, what stood out to you this week?
Thought for a moment, my wife had actually done an album about me called Mr. Misery,
but no, she hasn't. So I checked out Moments by Richie Newton. This was actually an EP
of six songs and 24 minutes of music, despite him actually advertising it as an album. I
don't know much about this guy really, except that he's German. He founded the band Hellfire,
which I've kind of heard of, and that he now seems to front a rock show as well. In any
event, this was, I thought, mostly sort of good time, classic hard rock fun. It was pretty
enjoyable stuff, really. It was without breaking any barriers. It was underlined by the song
titles Born to Rock, which has a chorus that could have been written by any band from the
80s. But it was an enjoyable kind of listen. Talking of those sort of 80s bands, as you
mentioned, Keel is back with a new album called Keel World. 13 new songs by his many bands.
I couldn't quite grasp what was going on really, as he's sort of representing all the bands
he's been in, like Keel, Steeler, Iron Horse, and even Black Sabbath in the guise of a group
called Emerald Sabbath. But No Fair Game, which I believe he was also in, so that's
not there. The pluses on this, well, you get a sort of bona fide, a Ron Keel voice. You
get great production. You get sort of super clarity on it. But I'm afraid it really sort
of falls down a bit, because the first four songs on it are all a little bit boring for
me, until a song called Give Me Guitars or Give Me Death, the sort of Steeler effort
kicks in, which just sort of cuts the mustard for me. The real problem, I think, is it needs
a little bit more room. A younger man who can sort of inject more energy into it, to
me, doesn't quite sort of know whether he's a rocker or a countryman, a country music
man. And it sort of tends to slip into a bit of a Linus Skinner feel as the album progresses.
So in the end, I went on to Spot Eye and I got the right to rock out and sort of enjoyed
that instead. So it wasn't really me. Fortunately, the next album was very much better. It was
the Swedish band's Blues Pills. I've not been very much of a fan previously, if I'm
honest. But this one, it's called Birthday, and it got me really interested from the start.
The title track itself gets off to a very sort of suitably groovy start, great hooks
on it. And what follows are really sort of smatterings of soulful blues and rock and
roll, you know, sort of all topped off with the very listenable larynx of Ellen Lange,
the larynxist. And so if I'm going to pick one for the week, it's going to be Blues Pills.
Okay. Real quickly there, the Emerald Sabbath is a tribute album that came out a few years
ago and it was called Emerald Sabbath because the person behind it was Irish. So that's
why it has that name. But on that he sings, I think, two Sabbath tracks on the original.
I haven't checked the Kill World album out to see what ended up on that. But I listened
to the Mr. Misery self-titled album. I've liked music by them in the past. This was
kind of missing the hooks that led me to them, made me kind of really enjoy their music.
It's not bad. It's just kind of same throughout. I listened to the Blues Pill album as well,
Birthday, which I thought was okay. But by and far, this is something that I'm going
to have to get on vinyl and it may end up on my year end list because Rob Halford once
said, Rob Halford once said in an interview that when this band cooks, they're absolutely
awesome. I know people don't like lead singer Billy Corgan's voice all the time, but the
Smashing Pumpkins have brought the heavy riffs back into, I would say, more than half of
this album. The last Smashing Pumpkins album that really caught my ear is Ziedgeist. I
still listen to it today because of the heaviness and because of the riffs on it. This is the
follow-up that I've been waiting for them to release ever since. We're talking about
an album that came out, let's see here. Exciting, hearing me tap away. It came out in 2007,
so I've been waiting 17 years for a follow-up to that album. Not bad. I'm also excited because
they have Kiki Wango in the band, at least the touring lineup. I have to get a physical
copy of this to find out if she actually plays anything on the album itself. If not, I hope
she does play some stuff with the band in the future. That's my pick and I wasn't expecting
to enjoy that as much as I did. I was actually playing it today. Let's move on to August
9th. We have new releases from Hammerfall, Mushroom Head, King Gizzard and the Lizard
Wizard. I watch you from afar. Siamese and a rising force. I wonder if Enve will be suing
them for that. Three issues from Godsmack, Savatage, Dark Funeral, Fireball Ministry,
Big Destroyer and two Rush-related issues. Victor album and Geddy Lee's My Favorite Headache,
both solo albums, one from Alex Lifeson and one from Geddy Lee. The Smashing Pumpkins
re-released The Rotten Apple and The Smashing Pumpkins. Greatest Hits, something I almost
picked up in the States, but the difference in price wasn't all that different from what
it was here. A live album from Blue Oyster Cult, the 50th anniversary show, Second Night,
compilations from Jim Petrik and World Stage. Jeremy, what did you listen to this week?
I kind of missed out on that Blue Oyster Cult live album, so I'm going to go back and probably
give that a listen because I kind of like some of the Blue Oyster Cult stuff. I actually
listened to Elements by the Danish rock band Siamese. This is their seventh studio release.
It's kind of a full-on sort of modern melodic assault on the ears, I'd sort of describe
it as. It's got those kind of generic sounds we sometimes rail against, but in its favor,
it does have very solid production. It does have really good soaring melodies and mostly
some solid sort of heavy guitar overtones as well. So it's a sort of band that would
really sort of go down well at festivals, I believe. Even an old git like me quite enjoyed
it if I'm honest. So yeah, that was a, you know, got a thumbs up. But I didn't listen
to a lot in this particular week and the one that I'm going to go for is Truth by a Rising
Force, which you just mentioned. Banned from Minnesota in the US, originally signed in
2020, that seems to have had its fair share of travails along the way as well. They parted
with their original singer. Apparently the record company president died of COVID, unfortunately,
and that sort of forced them to reclaim their music rights and move to another label. So
this is their third album and I like it a lot. It's very solid hard rock. It's old
school heavy metal that hasn't been overly polished. Sort of band that you in particular,
Victor, trump it on shows like this. It's one that will appeal to patrons and listeners
alike, I think we can sort of describe it as. I like it because it kind of lures you in
and makes you sort of want to play the songs again and again, which is always a good sign
of an album. You don't have to really like it straight away, but you want to go and have
a proper listen. They aren't also, you know, they're not very straightforward. And I think
that, you know, there are some influences there. You can hear Dockin quite a bit, I
think, and numerous other 80s bands, I would say as well. But yeah, it has a sound of its
own and it's my pick of the week.
Excellent. And do you remember what label they were on?
I don't offhand, no, no.
Okay, because I'm trying to think it wasn't Rat Pack. There was another label COVID that
I was actually in touch with the owner. And I know that he and his wife were, I don't
want to get into the political side of things, but they were deniers and they both passed
away from it.
Just looking up now. So they're currently on Dark Star Records.
Right. Yeah, that's what I have written down as well. Okay, for me for this week, I listened
to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. If you're looking for Southern rock in the vein
of Black Crows, it's something that I would recommend. The album is called Flight V741.
And the other thing that I listened to was Mushroomhead's Call the Devil out on Napalm.
I would make that my pick of the week. I mean, they're not breaking any new ground if you're
into Mushroomhead. It's more along the lines of what they've done. I will say that this
is probably their best release out of their last few only because the album is a little
bit more solid beginning to end.
Some of the previous two albums just had a lot of tracks that I would skip over because
I was like, okay, well, we've heard this before, they've done this before. And although that
may be true with the new album, I think they've added enough entertaining elements to it that
it's made my pick of the week. How about that?
Cool. So let's move on to the 16th here. Not too much that I have listed here. I have Dark
Tranquility, End Time Signals, I've Falling in Reverse, Popular Monster, Trench with Between
Inverted Worlds, We Are Scorpio with Self-Titled Album, and Dead South Dealers, reissues from
Creed Human Clay 25th Anniversary Edition, and Armored Saint Larazza and Revelation,
both of which I have ordered and will be arriving as soon as the Alice in Chains Black Gives
Way to Blue is reissued. I believe that may have even come out today. But I'll be getting
that to some point later this month. Jeremy, how about you? What do you recommend for this
week?
Yeah, August the 16th. That's my anniversary, actually, my wedding anniversary. Yeah. So
I did have time to listen to albums and I tried out We Are Scorpio by, as you say, We
Are Scorpio, Self-Titled, two really soulful black girls from Detroit. First thing to mention
on this is that these girls can really sing. They've got very sort of 70s disco voices.
Secondly, most of the songs are written with other artists, so there's plenty of collaborations
on this album. And the third thing to say that this is real sort of rap and roll in
a living color kind of way. So it's kind of got a little bit more soul and for the most
part it works. So, you know, it does sound a little bit samey at times, something that
I think Living Colour sort of avoid on their albums. And they kind of avoid going really
metal as well on this album. They sort of lean more on the soulful rap most of the time,
with the exception of the song Jim Crow, which is a really sort of nice, heavy, Beastie Boys
style riff on it. So overall, you know, I kind of liked it in parts. I just wish they
would have got a little bit more heavy at times. There wasn't a lot in this particular
week, but I did try out The Noise, The Sky, The Melody by Dead South Dealers. And I'm
very much glad I did. This is an album produced really on a limited budget, but it's really
worth a listen, you know, worth your time. It's a band from Greece. They've been active
for just over a decade, apparently, although they started recording after winning a Battle
of the Bands competition in 2015. They had a new singer who took over in 2017. He isn't
the greatest singer really over the full ranges, but you know, overall, I thought it wasn't
bad. There's plenty of heavy rock, plenty of traditional metal. There's no cover tunes.
It's all their own material. They sound a little like the sort of the new wave classic
rock that's kind of sweeping across the UK at the moment. And they get a little bit heavier
in parts as well as some really sort of chunky, thrashy riffs. So overall, yeah, it's a thumbs
up for Dead South Dealers.
Okay. I'm going to be honest here. I really only listened to one of the releases this
week, which is Dark Tranquility's End Time Signals, mostly because the lead singer who
is also in the Halo Effect and something that I discussed with you off air, Cemetery Skyline
I was confusing whether some of the songs that I listened to were from that latter project
that I mentioned or if it was from Dark Tranquility. So I gave this album a listen and excellent
musicianship. It's just that the vocals are just something that just never do it for me
with this band. The thing though is that his vocals for the Cemetery Skyline, which the
album is called Nordic Gothic, it comes out a little later this month. The vocals are
very like Gothic in flavor, very much like the Finnish band Hymn. So that's what caught
my attention. This again, the End Time Signals, I really enjoy the musicianship, but I just
can't get into the singing itself. Why is this doesn't? Okay. Yeah. So does Mikhail
Stan, I guess? Yes. Yeah, that is correct. He was the original lead singer in Hammerfall,
by the way. Nothing like what he did in that band. Yeah, I would check this album out and
I'm noting which ones you listened to and set out to you so that I can go back and listen
them as well. The 23rd saw albums from Zeal and Ardor, Nile, Flesh, God, Apocalypse, Mike
Tramp, Simone Simmons, Aliviate, Aliviate, is that how you pronounce it? Me and my illiterate
self, Nebula, Warlord, All 4 Metal, Rising Insane, Chained Saint, Perilidium, and the
Georgia Thunderbolts. EP's from Wounded Touch and reissues from Miss May I, two from Virgin
Steel and two from Zimmer's Hole. What did you listen to that stood out to you this week?
Yeah, it's quite a varied mix for me this week. I began by listening to the album Universe
Calls, which was the second full length release by Perilidium, the progressive metal band
from Sweden, which hopefully I've pronounced right, which got delayed from earlier in the
month. I actually enjoyed this more than I thought I would. There were just sort of seven
songs on it and 50 minutes of music, but it's all really well done. The vocalist Alexander
Leike, or Lika, or Luka, I'm not sure how you pronounce it, is also a stage actor. He's
really good. What do you expect from a Swedish singer? You're going to get a decent vocalist.
The music is very melodic, it's expertly played. Think Dream Theater with the guitars really
well layered over the keyboards, that sort of thing. The mix and production really add
to this really. Even if there's a song called The Arcane Exploration Parts 1 and 2 on it,
they perhaps over stay their welcome a little bit. They rack up a combined 25 minutes of
music. You know what you're going to get. It's that kind of thing. It was pretty good.
I moved on to Rise Above It All by the Georgia Thunderbolts, a band that hails from, yes,
Georgia in the US. Of course, you may be able to guess from the title. It's very much a
Black Crowes, Linus Skinner, Blackstone Cherry influenced band. It's all very well done.
It's their second studio album. You may not be into that sort of southern sound, I don't
know, but that type of band, it sort of hits the highs with this sort of music. They do
the blues well, they rock well, the ballads are good, the production is good. They have
the vocalist who has that southern lilt to his voice. It ticks all the boxes, that's
what I'm trying to say. There's 13 songs to choose from. It's a very listenable album.
You know what you're going to get with that type of music, but they do it very well. That
was a good album. My pick of the week though is an album called Blindside. It's the debut
album from a bunch of very young men calling themselves Chain Saint. In fact, this turns
out that it's a student garage band from South Florida. They're clearly influenced by all
the big thrash names, particularly Metallica. It's very raw, it's uncompromising, it's
a real step back in time. It reminds you of the very, very beginnings of bands like Metallica
and Overkill. It's very raw, very genuine, and you simply cannot ignore it. It's kind
of one of those that you want to dismiss it and say, these guys are just playing early
Metallica, what's the point? They don't even have the songs that Metallica have, but they're
playing like them. Then you really get into it, you think, well, wait a minute, this is
the band I'd really like to watch in a pub. It's great to hear a new generation playing
that sort of stuff. We've said this before, there's a load of ACDC style bands out there
that have made a living out of it. Why can't these guys? They're very, very talented for
their age. Apparently, they're going to release it on vinyl very soon. I'm very tempted to
buy it. It's my pick of the week.
I got a chance to listen to Mike Tramp and Songs of White Lion, Volume 2. This is on
Frontiers, I believe. Who's asking for this to be released? I mean, honestly, as much
as I enjoy the White Lion albums, it seems like he's picked all the songs that I usually
skip on all the albums. There's a few that I absolutely love that he redid, and some
of them are really heartbreaking to hear this new rendition. I mean, what teen is running
out to pick this up? What's the purpose? Because any of the die-hards or people that are in
our age group or 10 or 20 years younger are going to be reaching for the original. There's
really no reason to release this.
My pick of the week is Zeal and Arter with Grief. This is the first album where I haven't
found them doing something really kind of innovative or revolutionary or just different.
Where in the past they've mixed gospel with really heavy elements of music, and it's been
an interesting mix. This time around, it seems like they took a little less chances, and
it's kind of same-sy throughout in places, which kind of surprised me, given how diverse
their first two albums were. Still not a bad album, and that is why it is my pick of the
week.
Let's fast forward to the last week in the month, August 30th to be exact. We had new
releases from Winter Sun, Throne, El Ende, Spanish Allende, Leprous, Nails, Oceano, Wunderhorse,
Rosetta Stone, reissues from Lamb of God, and a live album from Elder. What did you
listen to this week?
I actually dipped into quite a few albums this week, including a very lot of death and
black metal that really grated with me. I was struggling to pick out ones that I was
going to recommend. I kind of like the 80s sound of Under the Weather by Rosetta Stone.
It reminded me of my youth with those heavy new romantic drum and keyboard synths. It's
quite a different one to the ones we normally recommend on here, but I think you'd probably
like it, Victor. Again, a very different album is Time Two by Winter Sun. This one is just
six songs spanning 48 minutes. I wasn't sure I'd like it at all, but it was the sort of
prog metal stuff that you can expect. It's a Finnish band. They really kick up a storm
with it. It's great production. It's nicely put together. You have to be in the mood.
You have to sit through some fairly complex and expansive tunes, really, but it's very
melodic. If you like Dream Theatre again or Sons of Apollo, it's worth your time. My Pick
of the Week is a bit of a surprise, really, to me and probably will be to you as well.
It's Midas by Wunderhorst. It's an alternative band, a laid-back sort of guitar sound. I
think it sort of touches on Oasis and late Beatles influences at times. In that respect,
it's nothing new, really, but the more a lesson to it, the more I kind of liked it. It's very
different to the sort of traditional rock and metal we normally listen to and review
here. They write really good songs. They do have those Oasis and John Lennon-style sort
of melodies you might expect from a band that I've just mentioned like this. With all the
attention on Oasis at the moment, it's a reminder, really. There are other talented and very
listenable bands out there, much in the same vein, that aren't the big rock stars, but
they're trying to cut it. Well worth a listen. I think they're making a bit of a wave out
there with the fans. Again, different album, but it's my Pick of the Week.
All right. Cool. For me, my pick is going to be the Wintersun album, Time Two. Just
dovetailing on what you said. This album offers so many different things. There's a prog element
to it. There's melodic death metal at times. There's even some symphonic metal elements
as well. It's an interesting mix of different things. That's what really stood out to me
for this week. That's what I'm going to go with.
Real quickly here, August 2nd, I picked the Smashing Pumpkins and you picked the Blues
Pills, correct? Yep, that's right.
The following week on August 9th, I picked the Mushroom Head album, Call the Devil, and
you picked A Rising Force with Truth. On the 16th, I picked Dark Tranquility with Endtime
Signals and you picked Dead South Dealers with The Noise, The Skull, and The Melody.
Yeah, even The Noise, The Sky, The Melody. The Noise, The Sky, The Melody. Okay.
Let's see, on the 23rd, you went with the Georgia Thunderbolts, Rise Above It All, and
I went with Grief from Zeal and Ardor. No, I went with Chainsaint.
Oh, okay. Yeah, Blindside. Definitely Blindside. I
blindsided you there. Yeah, you blindsided me. I wasn't expecting.
And on the 30th, I went with Winter Sun x2 and you went with Vunderhorse Midas.
That's it. All right. Finally tripped over one of those.
Okay, excellent. As usual, if you've come to a list of these shows, you know that me
and Jeremy like to throw topics back and forth and discuss them. So I'm going to be honest
here. There's five. I offered up one and Jeremy did the other four. But yeah, I think we've
got enough information to discuss this. The first point here, Remix Rockarola coming out
from Judas Priest plus Remastered. I'll be interested to listen to this because there's
plenty of classic priest on here that we've heard over the years where even though the
band hasn't really touched upon some of the tracks off of this album, there's still special
songs to a lot of us. Let's see. I'm going to look up the exact songs. Jeremy, what's
your opinion on this? Yeah, I've listened to Rockarola a fair few
times in the past and I've always thought it to be a very disappointing album, only
because it's a very poorly produced album. So they're going to do that. I think it needs
a bit of a better mix. They're going to do that. I would have liked it if they actually
re-recorded them, which would have been even better. But I'm really interested to hear
what they're going to do with it because I think you hear the bare bones of Priest on
this very first album. There's some good songs on there, but they're not as well developed,
let's say, as the ones that came later on the next few albums. So yeah, I'm really looking
forward to hearing it. I'm not sure yet whether I'm going to buy it, but if it sounds so much
better maybe it's going to be a must buy because it's an overdue thing. I think they've bought
back this album and maybe the next one after. I think they were owned by somebody else and
I think now Priest own them. Or a company's taken ownership and they've decided to release
them and redo it and put out a better package. I don't know if there's going to be any extras
with it. I haven't seen anything yet. I suppose if it's just a vinyl there wouldn't be, but
if anyone was getting it on the CD then I suppose they might have something more with
it.
I'm looking to see...
I always wondered whether they would get away with the rocker roller symbol on the front
because it's very like Coca-Cola. I thought they would have got sued for that by now.
I guess Coke figured that there wasn't enough money there. I don't know.
Yeah. Well, possibly nobody at Coca-Cola has ever heard of Jesus Priest.
I'm seeing that on Amazon they have a 2007 release which is like a splattered violet
color.
Yeah. When the remastered version came out, Diamonds and Russ was added on as an extra
as a bonus track, presumably on a CD version. This album was originally released in 1974
so it's really old. I got really into early versions of albums, 70s stuff. I kind of like
it. It's good. I'm really looking forward to hearing this.
All right. A limited edition powerslave and somewhere in time being released by Iron Maiden,
a special vinyl and something that we were discussing off air because what's going to
be released for somewhere in time is available in the States at Walmart. It is a yellow vinyl
with a future past poster in it. As Jeremy and I were discussing off air, it was somewhere
in the neighborhood of twenty seven ish dollars. The powerslave looks really cool. I've already
tried to preorder that. You can't order yet because it's being released in November. I
was told that as soon as preorders are available, I would be able to preorder one for myself.
That said, I mean, I haven't heard anything to the contrary that I won't be able to get
my hands on it. I originally saw it from an Irish site. I hope that it does that it ends
up here. The Armored Saint albums that I mentioned apparently are import albums here in Spain.
So we'll see. What are your thoughts on these two releases?
I suppose the first thing is that they say it's a limited edition, but we don't know
how many editions there are. That would be interesting to know because we're all scrambling
to get it. I mean, there's going to be a lot of Iron Maiden fans out there who want
to buy them. Just as we've had the ACDC releases recently, the gold versions of the albums.
It's always great to have better and newer albums of the old stuff that we've had. They
do look really good. They're both very good albums as well. We're not talking about
Virtual Eleven here. We're talking some classic Maiden. There might be two or three
couple of tracks across both of them that you're not so keen on. They've got some
classic songs on as well. So they're real collectibles. Yeah, I think there's going
to be big demand for them. I'd probably like copies myself. It's Maiden. It's always
welcome. Probably more welcome than the new albums really. More listenable.
The interesting thing though is one of the reasons why I didn't pick this up in the
States is because here in Spain, they've re-released everything from the first album up to somewhere
in time, up to Seven Son of a Seven Son. So my idea was, okay, I'm just going to pick this up when I get back to Spain.
There's a local company that's selling it and they also sold all of the ACDC reissues.
So I don't know. This is... Oh, get out of here. I'm trying to look up the prices for
the Iron Maiden and I saw something. Sorry, not to get sidetracked.
Speaking of limited edition, it has a Kiss Army logo on it. This is a limited edition
to the brand Lids in the US. It says right there, Lids exclusive. But the neatest thing
about this, I've never seen anything like it before. Under the brim.
Oh, right. Yeah. That's pretty cool.
Yeah. So, or yeah.
Only you know it's there most of the time.
I saw that. Wasn't going to get it. And then I went to our local Lids and they said,
no, we don't have it. That's exclusive to specific stores only. So I thought crap. I need to go back
to the place where I originally saw it. But luckily in New York City, I found it.
It's marginally better. Well, possibly not even marginally better, but on a par with the hat I'm
wearing, which is a signals from Mars cap, which you can buy. Where from, Victor? You tell us where
we can get this cap from. You can go to this QR code right here. There we go. Yeah. That's the cap that I'm
wearing now. Yes. And you're actually also wearing the signals from Mars hoodie. There we go.
Why be cold this winter when you can have a hoodie just like that?
Which we can both attest to the fact that they are extremely warm.
So now I'm not going to be able to find the Iron Maiden vinyl that I was going to tell you about.
I suppose one thing I'd like to interject with the Iron Maiden discussion really is whether I
prefer a picture disc or the vinyl that they're releasing. I kind of like picture discs and
thinking maybe if they brought out those, I might be more tempted. I don't know.
Oh crap. All right. So the presale is
on this site for the, it's called
picture disc, Zotrope edition. It is 38.99 euros is what they're offering it for.
And interestingly enough, the new Richie Cotson album is being offered up with Iron Maiden. Look
at that. He puts out an album and an EP with Adrian Smith and it's being grouped together.
Okay. Yeah. So it's actually not terribly priced. All the other vinyls are 22.98.
Powerslave is 38.99.
Now it makes me think I should have maybe picked up somewhere in time in the States. Oh well,
it is what it is.
Anyway, moving on. Motley Crue will be playing a small LA club tour. I kind of glanced over this
on blabbermouth, but what information do you have about this? Yeah, I don't have a great amount of
extra information really, apart from what you just mentioned that I sort of saw they're going out on a
small club tour. They're going back to the clubs that they played originally, which you can understand
why they want to do it. They find it fun. They probably think that they're going to fill it out.
There'll be a small crowd there and they're going to have a, it'll be a good time for everyone.
I don't think it's going to be particularly a good time because I think that if you want to see
Motley Crue in a club, you wanted to see them when they first came out, when they were there originally,
when they were, you know, they didn't give a shit. They were, you know, up all night. They were
boozing, taking drugs. Not that we condone any of this stuff, but you know, they were wild
and they would have been fantastic to watch. They would have had the makeup on. They would have had
the clothes. And what you're going to get is a load of old men minus one old man who's not there.
And they're not really much fun anymore, are they? Let's face it, you know, they're trying to
recreate their youth, but they're struggling. They've done a cover version of a Beastie Boys track
and they've released another song, which really wasn't Motley Crue at all.
So, you know, I don't know, maybe I'm just being a little bit negative because I do go and watch
old bands that, you know, are good. And maybe people are going to say, you know, I've got a
close and personal with them and they played some of the hits and it was, it was a fun night out.
I'm not going to diss that, but I'm not really running to see it. Obviously I'm living a long
way from it.
Yeah. Remember a few months back, I posted a video of them playing early on and I remember
instantly, Johan said, Oh, thank you for posting this. You know, I'd never seen this footage and,
you know, it was them playing in the clubs, hungry and really taking no shit from anyone.
They were, you know, they lived up to that hype to being dangerous and really something that you
needed to see. As you're saying, you touched on a great point. It's much like seeing Def Leppard at
the whiskey. Okay, cool. You were there, but you wanted to be there, you know, during high and dry
or pyromaniac or, you know, back then when the band was hungry and they were looking for a
band, you know, they were looking to claim scalps, you know, it's not, it's not a bunch of 60 year
old guys that, unless they're planting people in the crowd or paying people to go in, it's going
to be people way older than us at this show. So cool idea, practicality. Yeah, I don't know.
Next point here, Paul Diano remakes Raff Child with his EP, 3,
Formula of Dragon Force and Skid Row. And apparently this is for his book,
Book of the Beast or from upcoming Book of the Beast album. Wait, what? He just released an album.
Yeah, we reviewed that album. Yeah. Yeah, that's Warhorse. So now, wait a second,
he's releasing two albums in like the span of two months.
He's obviously been writing a lot of shit material. It's easy when it's crap. You can check it out.
Let's see here. Sorry, Paul, if you're listening.
Sorry, not sorry.
Paul Diano, okay. Oh my goodness.
Yeah, it has nothing to do or Apple has nothing regarding this album. Let's see.
What Google has to say. Okay.
Well, it's not a cheap album.
Because I'm seeing it's okay. So it's double album 2525.
Yes. So this is just another greatest hits.
So you have tracks from throughout his career, like the Living Dead, which is solo track Children of
the Revolution, which he did with killers as he did feel my pain and I believe chemical imbalance.
Children of Madness is from Battle Zone. Okay. So remember tomorrow with Tony Martin,
Rats Child with ZP3, Black Metal, a cover of the Venom Classic, Dream Keeper, Euro Radio
acoustic version. You know, that's going to be burning up the charts. The Serpent and the Shrew
unreleased recording, Three Words, 1996 pre-tour rehearsal recording. The Beast is Back,
2003 home demo. And then you're going to get a second disc, which is a bonus DVD,
Murders in the Room Org Live, The Beast Arises Live, Protector Live. I originally read Protractor.
I'm like, well, why is he singing about a tool of measurement? Singing about a tool of measurement.
Sanctuary Live, Three Words Live, Children of the Revolution promo video, Die by the Gun promo video,
Rats Child promo video, Rats Child acoustic. Remember Tomorrow acoustic, Dream Keeper acoustic,
and Strange World acoustic. Interesting. Okay. This also comes with, if you get it here now,
you get a free tarot card set. And that's a deal breaker for 23 euros more. You can pick up,
you can add the best of the Beast t-shirt as well, featuring a young Paul on top,
and an older bald Paul on the bottom. So let's get on to the matter at hand,
because you asked me if I had listened to the remake. What's your opinion?
My opinion is it's not terrible because it's the song, Rats Child. So Rats Child is a great song,
which I remember. It's just totally pointless because you listen to the original,
and the original is perfect. It's got those bouncy bass from Steve Harris. He's changed it.
He's changed it slightly. I don't like the way his voice is projected even more forward on it
in some ways. And I just think, why has he done it? He's done it because he's done it,
because he's trying to keep all these old songs in the limelight. He's trying to pretend that
he was a big, big part of Iron Maiden, which he kind of was for two albums. Let's face it, he was.
But really, I had made him, left him behind, and there was a reason,
and that's because he's not that good. He's certainly not that good now.
You can argue the toss that he was pretty good at that time, but he's certainly not that good now.
You can argue the toss that he was pretty good at the time because he had that punky voice for
Maiden. I really don't like this version of Rats Child, and I really like the original version of
Rats Child. I saw the original version on top of the Pops, actually. They played it live.
They didn't mime to it. They played it live like a proper rock band should do. And of course,
Iron Maiden were carrying it through, really, more than he was. So I just think, no, I don't
want to hear it again. Yeah, the changes to the song drive me crazy. The change to the
timing where he changes the bass and changes the drum part
just doesn't make any sense to me. I listened to it, and instantly I said,
what? And my kids like, what's wrong? I'm like, this shouldn't be there.
I'm going to be charitable. I'm going to say that if you were to hear him in a pub,
say he came down to a local bar or a local pub and he played it live, it might sound OK live just
because he's doing his version of it live. And you're sitting there at the time and Iron Maiden
aren't there. You're never going to hear Maiden sing it. Maybe it'd be OK. But I'm being very
charitable. That's the only thing I would say. I would actually listen to it. I would never buy it
and I'd never want to hear it again on the studio version. As much as I don't like the re-record with
Bruce singing it, I prefer it to this. And I will say this, and this is a question to ponder,
because we've gotten new albums from Bruce, Paul D'Ano, and Blaze Bailey this year.
And unfortunate, but true for me, is that I think the Blaze Bailey album is the best of the lot.
And that's not saying much because I think the War Horse album, we talked about it last episode,
the Depeche Mode covers the best song off of it. And the Bruce album,
I think watching paint dry could be a little bit more exciting.
It's kind of like Iron Maiden throwaway songs, isn't it? That they didn't put on the book of souls.
Absolutely. Real quickly here before we wrap things up, we're closely approaching the end of the hour
here. Magnum has announced that they're continuing. They're saying that they're going to do this
as a tribute. Jeremy, your thoughts?
Yeah, I was really excited when I heard Bob wanted to go back out on the road.
He's taking the original album, and he's going to be doing the same thing.
I was really excited when I heard Bob wanted to go back out on the road. He's taking the original band out.
Obviously, he's talked to Tony Clarkin's family about this, and they probably wanted to do it.
They thought it was a good idea. They're all going to get a little bit of money out of it as well.
I'm sure Tony Clarkin's family will get something out of it. The fans, I've noticed, are very much up
for it. They want to hear the hits. They're going to do two hours. They're going to have a little break
in between. They're only playing four dates. Fortunately for me, they're playing in Manchester,
and I bought my ticket today with a friend of mine. I think it's a win-win because it's the
last time we'll ever hear Magnum with Bob Catley singing those songs because I don't think they'll
ever do it again. I don't think they'll do any new music. You never know. You can never say never.
I've heard a little rumour that possibly they're bringing back a few old band members, so maybe
Mark Stanway will be coming back just to have a little tinkle on the ivories. That'll be a nice
way to finish off, to see some of the living members that are still around come back and
play along. It'll be for old people like me who remember them. In some ways, it might even be a
little bit of a better concert because you're going to hear a proper hits show, whereas you
would have heard stuff off the new album or whatever and you might not have liked that one.
It's going to be good. Is it true that the Magnum ticket is harder to get than the Oasis ticket in
Manchester? Not quite, but amongst Magnum fans, you might hear that.
Yeah. Excellent. Well, Jeremy, thank you as usual. It is always fun to catch up with you with these
episodes. I hope you guys enjoyed this. We'll be back in a few weeks with our September episode.
A lot of cool music coming out still between now and the end of the year. Jeremy and I will be here
to help you guys keep up with all of it. On that note, we will see you next time right here on
Signals from Mars. Bye folks.
Bye.