Welcome one and all to episode 413 of Signals
from Mars. I'm your host, Victor. In this episode,
we welcome Jeremy Weltman back. And we combine
the reviews of two months. We do March and April
of 2025 all in this episode. We go over eight
weeks worth of album releases. Up next. I'm ready.
Let's do it. one wrapped up episode. We may do
things this way a few other times during the
year. I didn't release any episodes in April,
not because I didn't want to, just couldn't.
He didn't have a voice, was sick. Jeremy had,
he mentioned it during the 1989 episode that
his father passed away. He also had some other
family issues come up. And as much as I would
love to make podcasting my full -time gig or
something related with podcasting in 2025, after
starting this in 2009, so it is going to be 16
years in September, actually. Actually, June
is when I started. Podcasting on my own. It's
cool to see that Mark Striegel is doing stuff
again with Talking Metal. He's releasing an episode
once a month. I do appreciate immensely that
he gave me a shout out during one of the episodes.
Not going to lie to you guys, you know, for a
long time. Did a lot of work for Mark behind
the scenes. Did a lot of stuff with his Patreon.
And, you know, the unseen, the ghost contributor
behind the scenes and stuff. Wish some of that
could have carried over more here, but is what
it is. And I always have my ups and downs here
where I talk about how, you know, it doesn't
bother me that this isn't bigger. Sometimes it
does, sometimes it doesn't. I am appreciative
that you right now are listening to this episode.
There's millions of other shows out there. There's
millions of other podcasts out there. There's
millions of other forms of entertainment, but
you're listening to this. Hopefully some of the
albums that we discuss help turn you on to music
that you like. I don't expect you to like everything.
I know that for a lot of people that come here
and listen to a lot of the same stuff that is
featured on the show, especially my taste in
music isn't always lined up with what Jeremy
likes, for example, or what other people that
come to this show or similar shows are into.
It's all subjective. So, I mean. Whatever you
like, whatever you listen to that you enjoy out
of what we discuss, I'm glad that you take the
time to do so. I want to send, Jesus, tongue
tied. I want to send a quick shout out to all
of my patrons. I want to send a... Shout out
to you guys, anyone that's sharing this, anyone
that is passing this on to your friends, anyone
that's saying, hey, you know, I found out about
so -and -so on the Signals from Mars episode.
And I don't know about that one host, but that
Jeremy guy, he, you know, stuff he's picking
is really the stuff that I'm into. So that's
cool. I'm fine with however you guys. Take in
what we talk about and hope you enjoy most of
it. How about that? In any event, I just want
to say thanks again for listening. And we are
going to move along into the episode, folks.
Help share, help spread the word. See you. Here
we go. Welcome one and all to the latest episode
of Signals from Mars. I'm your host, Victor,
and joining me is Jeremy. Jeremy, how are you?
Yeah, good. Thanks, Victor. We had a very lovely
day here, really sunny and warm here in the UK.
So, yeah, looking forward to talking about some
metal with you. Excellent. Just real quickly
here, the video just went black. So, uh, anyway,
we will, uh, I don't know if you want to try
to reconnect. If not, we could just go for it
as is. Yeah. I don't know what's happened. I'll,
I'll try and reconnect. You have a little chat
for one second and I'll, I'll come back. Okay.
Sure. So, um, uh, we're going to be doing two
months worth of, uh, album reviews here today.
Um, there was, Just a bunch of things going on
due to illnesses and family issues that prevented
us from doing these shows, the previously scheduled
show anyway. And we're here to make it up with
two months. We're going to be doing March and
April today. So hopefully you guys do enjoy the
episode. Jeremy is trying to work out some technical
difficulties here, and hopefully we can get all
that sorted out in a second. There we go. All
right. Jeremy is back. Awesome. Yeah. So as I
was mentioning. Not quite back in black, but
just back. Not quite back in black. I want to
keep you still visible here. So we're going to
go back to March here. And there was a lot of
stuff that I listened to anyway. So let's go
back to March 7th. We had new releases from Christian
Mistress, Edge of Paradise, Mind Wars, Raging
Speedhorn, The Wild Hearts, Cryptosis. Destruction,
Grey Mountain, Caballero, Void Chaser, Sacrosanct,
Overdrivers, Sculpture, Amber Asylum, Deathless
Legacy, Rainbows Are Free, Spirit Box, White
Chapel, EP from Crown Magnetar. And Reconciler
reissues from Disturbed and Alter Bridge. Jeremy,
what did you listen to? Yeah, well, I started
off listening to Glory or Nothing by the band
Overdrivers, sort of an ACDC airborne type of
band. Didn't take itself too seriously. They
also hail from Australia, as it happens. Perfectly
acceptable hard rock. The production was good.
It's just that they don't really write very good
hooks or melodies. Not only does the songwriting
let them down a bit, but it's also a little bit
pedestrian as well. So it's all a little bit
of a shame because I was hoping it would be somewhat
better than that. I listened to Nightwolf by
the British extreme metal band Raging Speedhorn.
That was a lot better. This is actually studio
album number seven for the band. I'm not always
kind of won over by this type of music, to be
honest, including the vocal style. But it did
have, you know, a good edge to it. The rhythm
kind of reminds me of bands like Clutch. The
guitars sort of, you know, they bite down quite
hard. And, you know, it was a considerable sort
of effort made, really. Decent songs. Just let
down a little bit as well by the sort of similar
pace to the songs and the riffs on, you know,
on some of the songs. So, again... I couldn't
really pick it as my album of the week. I moved
on to Silver and Gold by Rainbows of Free on
the Ripple label. This is a heavy stoner band
from Phoenix. You kind of know what you're going
to get, you know, from that kind of band. It's
a decent listen, but I did have a few misgivings
about the vocalist's ability. So again, not going
to choose that one. So I was kind of a little
bit lost as to what I was going to choose, but
then I... I kind of went for the deluxe edition
of One Day Remains, the debut album by Alter
Bridge. You know, I can't say I've ever been
a big fan of the band. I did actually fall asleep
one afternoon watching them at Download Festival,
as it happens. But I definitely think this album
is worth a revisit. You know, some really good
songs on it. It shows that the band, you know,
really sort of deserve to go on and get some
success. You know, you can kind of tell that.
It's very polished. It has a nice balance to
it. It mixes up ballads and hard hitters. There's
some real sort of decent riffs there from Mark
Tremonti. And the other thing about it is that
Miles Kennedy is a younger man. So I think that
he's not as nasally as he became sort of later
on in his career as well. So, you know, the final
track as well really ends it nicely with, it's
actually called The End Is Here. Very solid track.
Very solid album, and I'm afraid I'm just going
to have to pick that one as my album of the week.
Okay. That, to me, actually is their best album,
their first album, I think. I do think that after
that first album, a lot of what they released
just became very samesy, and there's just a lot
of stuff that was... like overly polished to
kind of radio friendly. I don't know, but yeah.
Anyway. Okay. So I listened to children of the
earth from Christian mistress. Not bad. A throwback
kind of new album type band. Uh, listen to mind
wars, uh, V or five. That's a lot more modern
sounding. Listen to the wild hearts, satanic
rights of the wild hearts. It's not a bad album.
The problem for me with this album is it sounded
more like a ginger solo album. I have no problem
with it being all over the place, but. There's
like two, three really strong songs and the rest
is kind of like scattered ideas where it's like,
you know what? Had he worked with someone else
on this or worked as a group effort, he probably
would have been able to get something stronger
out of it. I don't know. And I also listened
to Edge of Paradise Prophecy. They've switched
over to Napalm. This is a little heavier than
their last release, which was on Frontiers, but
it's still along the lines of what you could
expect from them. I really like the album. I
really like a lot off of it. I will say that
my album of the month, or album of the month,
yeah, album of the week. His Spirit Box with
Tsunami Sea on pale cord. I think it's a good
progression by the band. There are a few songs
off of this, specifically one of the, I think
it was the first single they released off of
this, Soft Spine, which is something that I've
listened to quite a lot these last few months.
So that kind of edges it out over the... uh,
edge of paradise album for me. Uh, but two very
strong albums, you know, I could have gone with
a, a favorite a and B for this week. So, um,
cool. Let's move on to the 14th here. We had,
um, new albums from, wow. I don't even know how
to pronounce this. This a Darium, I guess. Black
and Damned, Streetlight, Derision Cult, Thursome,
Thursin, Thurnsin, Third Times a Charm, I guess,
Soam, Warbringer, Dorothy, Ricky Warwick, Coheed
and Cambria, Envy of None, Night Stalker, Sanhedrin,
Stephen Wilson, And Temperance reissues from
Camelot and Mad Season. Live albums from John
Anderson and the Band Geeks. Heathen, Jimmy Page,
and the Black Crows. And Metallica. Metallica
and Jimmy Page and Black Crows are really reissues.
Metallica is just a... vinyl version of a DVD
of theirs from years ago. Compilations from Simon
McBride, Red Fang, and the all -encompassing
Ozzy Osbourne See You on the Other Side 2 .0,
which is essentially everything he's released,
but on vinyl. I listened to a lot of music for
this week. What did you listen to? Yeah, well,
I didn't listen to Ricky Warwick, but actually
I would have listened to Ricky Warwick. Warwick,
okay, my bad. For you British listeners out there.
Yes, yes, yes. No worries. No worries. Anyway,
so my question is, have you ever wondered what
it would be like if Ozzy and Black Sabbath decided
to jam at his final gig at Villa Park? Because
if you did, you know, not playing Black Sabbath
songs, but just jamming. wonder no more because
listen to return from the no point of no return
by night stalker it's a stoner band from athens
in greece and i think actually i might have heard
them before a little bit in passing but it's
definitely one that i'm going to do a deep dive
into in their other albums because um you know
i i would actually suggest play the title track
first and you're immediately transported into
a sabbath time machine possibly with zach wilde
rather than um Tony Iommi. But in any event,
sit back, enjoy some really top -notch stoner
on this. It was really good. I'm not exaggerating
to say this was probably the best stoner album
I've heard in a very, very long time. Wow. There's
some really good brooding songs on it. It's actually
their ninth studio album. This is why I said
I wanted to go back and listen to some of their
earlier stuff, and I haven't done that yet, but
I'm hoping to over the next few weeks. It gets
a really big thumbs up from me, that one. It
wasn't my album of the week, but it was very,
very close. I actually moved on to the traditional
thrash of Warbringer. I think possibly you've
heard this one as well. Wrath and Ruin, their
seventh album. I enjoyed it as I would any similar
thrash band, but I couldn't help thinking it
sounded a little bit like a sort of poor death
angel with slightly inferior production quality.
It had its moments. The CD also comes with a
bonus disc of live tracks that, you know, fans
will enjoy, recorded across Central Europe in
2023. It does sort of get over the power and
the strength of the band, the live stuff. You
know, I thought the live stuff was really good.
So a very impressive live act was, you know,
the album itself, I thought was a little bit
so -so. But I guess really no surprise to you
that my album of the week goes to Sanhedrin,
the New York Three Piece. You know, it's their
fourth album. I think it's possibly their best
album. It's called Heat Lightning. You know,
the bass player and singer Erica Stoltz gives
the band, you know, a real trademark sound with,
you know, sort of unique vocals, really. Very
apt for this type of band. There's also, I think,
a bit of an edge to this album that they haven't
had before. You know, it's sort of aptly illustrated
on the very fast tempo above the law, the brooding
King of Tides. and the metal stomp of High Threshold
for Pain. So I just think, you know, it's another
winner for me, and it's very easy for me to pick
its album of the week. Okay, cool. Yeah, so I
listened to a lot of stuff this week. I listened
to The Warbringer, as you mentioned. Good album
in line with what they normally put out, but
I think gets kind of samesy after a while. I
think what separates some of the albums... is
that they've had more songs where they've switched
up tempos and things where it's kind of kept
me a little bit more engaged. It's not a bad
album. And if you just want a full on thrash
album, this is as good as you're going to get,
you know, without looking at one of the classic
bands. I listened to the Dorothy album. She's
on Jay -Z's rock label. I don't remember it right
now. what the name is. The album isn't bad. It's
just a little too radio friendly for me. There's
a track with Slash on it. She's got a great voice.
I just wish that they would gear it more towards
a hard rock audience as opposed to a radio rock
audience. I think she's got, again, great vocals,
but it kind of crosses over into like country
and some pop rock in certain places. And I like
pop rock, but I just wasn't expecting it from
this. So it wasn't what I was looking for. The
Ricky Warwick album. I'm a huge fan of the almighty,
enormous fan of the almighty. I like something
off of all of their albums. This album is a huge
letdown to me. I could put this next to the Robin
McCauley album with what I was expecting and
what I got. God bless him. You know, he's doing
what he wants to do. But again, an angry Ricky
is what I want. I want an angry, angst -filled...
you know, Ricky Warwick, which is what he was
in, in the almighty, um, with this, it just kind
of feels like black star writers light, you know,
the, the, and there's some things on here that
are just way too poppy for me, like way to the
track that he does with Lita Ford. I listened
to that. I was like, wow. You know, I'm not a
huge Lita Ford fan. I'll admit that. And I was
thinking, how's this going to pair up? I hope
it isn't close my eyes forever part two. It wasn't,
but it's still, you know, let's get a few plays
on radio out of this one type of a deal. So it
was kind of a letdown for me. Coheed and Cambria
completely lost me as well. The Sanhedrin, I
think, is very good. Just to give you guys a
little something different, I recommend the Sanhedrin
as well. But I really like the new Envy of None
album called Stygian Waves. This is Alex Lifeson
from Rush, his new band, second album with a
female singer. this is a little less experimental.
It is experimental, but not as much as the first
album. It seems like they've found more footing.
There's a little more rock quote unquote to it.
But by saying that I don't want to alienate anyone.
This is geared more towards nineties alternative
rock. It's geared more towards like what garbage
was doing in the mid nineties, late nineties
type of a deal. um if you're into that i would
definitely recommend you check it out i think
it's um a change up where listen you could hear
me bitch about things being too poppy and you
may listen to this and say well this is all full
of pop uh okay i guess but it isn't a rock band
trying to chase a fad in my opinion it's somebody
trying to to Touch on something that was popular
at one point as opposed to just putting out something
that was slick modern production to try to get
on radio now. I think Alex Lifeson doesn't care
about getting on the radio. And he's trying to
write music based on the members that he has
in the band and trying to leverage them to the
maximum of their ability personally. So if you're
into that. You're into 90s alt -rock. You're
into garbage. Check it out. March 21st. Again,
we're still recapping March. We'll get into April
in a second here. We've got two more weeks of
March to go. New albums from Imperial, Triumphant,
Bloodywood, Dead Bars, Pop Evil. Pop Evil. Excuse
me. Evil. Um, Catla, Cradle of Filth, Disocia,
Aversid, Cabal. Actually, Cabal came out this
month. I just listened to it. Um, Orc, O period,
R period, K period. Not sure what it stands for.
Goddard, uh, Lordi, Withersake, Nidvind. Izzy
Rain, Foxy Shazam, Gates of Hell, and Spirit
World. EPs from Big Big Train, reissues from
another release from Big Big Train, and a Finnish
band on Ripple. Viskard Sudden. And the Rush
50 compilation. Well, we had Ozzy releasing absolutely
everything on vinyl the previous week. We had
Rush do it the following week. So, Jeremy, what
did you listen to for this week? Yeah, it was
a bit of a difficult week for me, this one. There
weren't that many albums for me to personally
get my teeth into. I began with the self -titled
debut album on the independent label Fixed by
Izzy Rain or Kristen Matskoff, as she's otherwise
known. A singer and producer with pink hair and
a modern, if somewhat generic, sound mixing sort
of, you know, Madonna with Enter Shikari, I think,
among other bands. Actually, it wasn't a bad
listen at all. I kind of enjoyed this. You know,
I could have done without some of the growly
add -ons that she does, but she has a decent
voice. She can write a good song or two. There
were definitely three or four on there that I
liked, possibly more. They sort of hooked me
in with a sort of mix of poppy metal, quite high
quality. So, yeah, that was okay. I moved on
to Hell Dorado by Spirit World, the US metal
band that was formed in 2017, described themselves
as sort of death western. a genre that i think
is very apt as it kind of captures what you get
um it's a bit of an eclectic mix actually there
are some sort of thrash elements on it as well
you can sort of think maybe testament on the
tracks like no vacancy in heaven and oblivion
uh there's sort of a kind of a rasping chuck
billy type vocal on there very sort of pummeling
guitar lines uh but then on songs like bird song
of death the band show you know sort of mellow
and definitely sort of more of a western theme
It's a very interesting type of album. I'm not
totally sure I was really into it, but definitely
one to give another listen to and definitely
one for the listeners out there to maybe pick
up and see for themselves. So really, for that
reason, I've kind of opted for a safer choice
as my album of the week. I've picked the Swedish
band Gotthard with Stereo Crush, their 14th studio
album since 1992. I mean, I wouldn't say this
is a particularly favourite band of mine, but
I guess they kind of do Bon Jovi and Def Leppard
soft rock better than those two bands today.
You know, with a sort of, you know, kind of a
mix of hard rockers and whimsical ballads. But,
you know, who doesn't do it better than Bon Jovi
and Def Leppard? You know, what you get is you
get a great singer, you get a fine air for melody
and chorus. There's a decent reworking of the
Beatles song Drive My Car. It's heavier than
the original. It's kind of true to its roots,
so it's well worth a listen. Clearly a band that's
been influenced by the Beatles because there's
another track on it about a student road trip
called Liverpool. This won't obviously appeal
to real metal fans out there, you know, the real
Harden fans, but I thought it was a good listen
and it's going to be my album of the week. Did
you say Swedish or Swiss? I said Swedish. They're
Swiss. They're Swiss. Okay. I got my Swiss, Swiss,
Swedish mixed up. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. No problem.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're like, like you're
saying they're in the vein of like, uh, heat
or, um, eclipse or, or someone like that. Yeah.
Yeah. All right. So I listened to a bunch of
different things this week as well. Listen to
the Imperial triumphant. Been wanting to get
into that, but we've got enough bands with masks,
folks. And not even in a Slipknot type of way.
I mean, I interviewed Sermon two years ago at
this point. Imperial Triumphant is a three -piece,
very avant -garde, and a lot of, like, Noise
Rock. Let's see. What else? I listened to Pop
Evil's What Remains. Very radio friendly. So
really not my thing. Cradle of Filth. The Screaming
of the Valkyries. I mentioned this when I posted
one of the videos to Patreon a little while ago.
This is probably thrashier than some of their
previous releases. Uh, they're one black metal
band that I've, that I listened to. I can't say
quite frequently, but I like stuff off of each
of their albums. Um, I do think that Danny Filth
has a way of mixing in melodies and different
things that, uh, others don't do. They're, they're
working on a project with Ed Sheeran right now,
actually, who's a longtime fan of theirs. Um,
It's a cool listen. It's different from what
they've done in the past. I listened to the Ork
album as well. I would consider this a mix of
Led Zeppelin, Days of the New. I'm trying to
remember... Oh man, a band that did a... They
did a duet with Lizzy Hale last year, and they
were on that one music contest show that had
Lizzy Hale and Gavin Rossdale and Alice Cooper
and all these people picking different bands.
They were the runners -up. Damn, I don't remember
the name of the band. I could actually look it
up real quick. This is the most exciting part
of the show is having me search for things. Mercy.
It is the native howl. There you go. All right.
Native howl. It's kind of in that vein. Kind
of sounds cool. It's got more electric stuff
going on than native howl does. I listened to
the Izzy Rain as well. To me, she's trying to
do what Poppy's doing. And like you said, it's
not bad. It's just that I think Poppy does it
slightly better. So she kind of fills that gap
for me. And also I listened to the Animality
Opera by Foxy Shazam, who's gotten back together.
New York band, if I'm not mistaken. And it was
OK. I was expecting something a little bit more.
More rock. That's that's how I'll put it. This
is kind of bluesy. It's kind of experimental.
It's not. And I'm not a huge fan of theirs. So,
you know, there could be some diehards that say,
you know, you don't know what you're talking
about. But my album of the week will be Bloodywood.
with New Delhi. They are the new metal band out
of India. So it is New Delhi as in NU. It mixes
a lot of new metal aspects from the late 90s,
early 2000s. This is their second album, to my
knowledge. A little bit more experimental. I
do like the way that they... do mix in some of
their native music from India. So that to me
is always something that sells me on acts that
experiment like that. So yeah, that's what I
would recommend. I know that I'm all over the
place with what I listen to here and what I'm
recommending, but trying to give you guys different
flavors and different things to listen to. All
right. March 28th. We had new albums from Vigil
Hunter, Alliance. Geneva. Phil X and the Drills.
Wet. Broken Love. Flesh Spoil. Yeah. Severed
Angel. Chiarosuko. Sick Puppies, Arch Enemy,
Memphis Mayfire, Telepathy, Sixth Sense, Lauren
Babic, Uzziel, Alien Weaponry, The Darkness,
Death Haven, Donner. I already had... I will
omit that. Delete. Masters of Reality. Returning
after a bunch of years, Savage Master, reissues
from Black Sabbath, Paranoid, High Fidelity Vinyl,
compilations from Halloween with March of Times,
The Best of 40 Years, and a new live album from
New Model Army. Jeremy, what did you listen to
this week? Well, yeah, I began the week on a
good note. I checked out the latest solo album
from the veteran keyboardist, Don Airy, Push
to the Edge. A really great start to the week.
It was a fine blend of keyboards, sort of embellishing
songs rather than sort of a seemingly annoying
afterthought. You know, the Deep Purple Ivory
Tinkler, he's going to be 77 in June. Just take
that in. But he shows no signs of slowing down.
He's got that sort of, he's got a really good
backing with him. He's got Simon McBride on guitars.
He's got Carl Sentence and Mitchell M sharing
the vocal duties. And he's also got the greatest
gift to 70s hard rock. He's got the Hammond organ.
which he's pummeling away. It's actually an A100
for the purists out there. I have no idea what
that means, but that's what he plays, and it
sounds fantastic. I mean, it's a solo album,
and there's some variation on it. There's a little
prog here and there. There's some Arabian influence.
There's a touch of keyboard, sort of Queensryche
in there, and the song Rock the Melody. Not every
song will be to everyone's liking, of course,
You know, no expense has been spared on the mixing,
the production. Really fine listen. You know,
if you like old school sort of 70s rock, you're
going to enjoy it a lot. And I did. So then I
moved on. I checked out the new album by The
Darkness called Dreams on Toast. A really nice
pun on that old British favorite. You know, I
enjoyed the first two albums that they did. But
I think, but like sort of Guns N' Roses, I think
they faded a bit after that. The joke wore off,
I guess. But I think there's a certain maturity
on this album. If you can describe The Darkness
as a maturing band, I mean, there's some more
laid -back Queen influences, I'd say, than the
hard -rocking ACDC on this one. And I don't think
that's a bad thing. They're quite good at it,
as it happens. It's just that The Darkness, for
me, were a sort of a jokey band, sort of intended
to make a bit of fun. and make rock fun. And
that's what they did when they sort of burst
on the scene about 20 years ago. And this album
doesn't do that. So you've got to sort of get
your mind around that. They do have the daff
lyrics, of course, and they just aren't as ridiculous
as they used to be. So, you know, if you really
want something more ridiculous, we'll all wait
for the new Spinal Tap film that's coming out,
you know, later this year. So that was OK. But
I guess it was really a toss up for me whether
to go for the Don Airy album as my album of the
week or this one, which I'm going to pick. It's
Dark and Dangerous by Savage Master. I must admit,
this was a new band to me, but they'd actually
formed in 2013 by Adam Neill on guitar and the
vocalist Stacey Savage. And they come from Louisville
in Kentucky. What you kind of get is a sort of
evil and occult inspired metal, so very much
in the new wave of British heavy metal style.
So there was a lot for me to like, at least.
It was kind of paced quite right. It's heavy
enough without being sort of over the top or
amateurish. And I kind of like the female vocalist
as well in that style. So there's a lot of ticks
there. What are two songs a little bit pedestrian?
uh, okay. I guess, but, um, good listen overall.
And if you kind of like sort of Joan Jett, Susie
Quatro, rock goddess, girl school, you know,
that sort of sound with the, with the sort of
heavy new album style that you're going to kind
of dig this. So, um, yeah, I'm going to pick
that one as my album of the week. Cool. Sounds
interesting. Um, so I listened to a bunch of
different things. I did listen to the Don Airy
album. Um, similar to what you said. Album does
not disappoint. It's heavier than what I expected
as well. You know, I think it might actually
be better than what he's releasing with Deep
Purple, to be honest with you, because it's a
little bit more in the vein of what I'm into.
So, yeah, I listened to the Bon Jovi guitarist
Phil X and the Drills album. This album has been
written over the last, I believe, decade or so.
There's some tracks off of this that are really
good. And there are others that are just not
there. But I do like a lot of it. I listen to
Sick Puppies, Wave the Bulls. A few tracks off
of it that I really enjoy. But for the most part
is Radio Rock. Let's see. I listened to the Deaf
Haven album, Lonely People with Power, in vain
with what they've done in the past. Some melodies,
a lot of noise rock going on. Let's see. I listened
to the Masters of Reality. I really like a lot
of their earlier music. There's the first album
that Chris Goss has released in a long time.
He's teamed up with Alan Johannes on this one,
but it's a lot mellower than what I wanted from
them personally. I like when they get into the
deep, heavy, thick Sabbath -like riffs because
I think that they do it well, but it's just not
present on this album. Let's see. I listened
to Alien Weaponry's Tehran. It's a good return
for them. I really enjoyed their debut album.
I think the second album, maybe they rushed to
put it out and it wasn't as strong. I do think
that this album, not as good as their debut album,
but still has some really cool mix of new metal,
some, again, tribal music from New Zealand. um,
the, uh, Maori, uh, influence. I hope I'm pronouncing
that correctly. Um, so I really enjoyed that,
but, uh, my, my album of the week is going to
go to a band that I kind of gave up on and said,
you know, I'm, I'm done with their, um, with
their heavy and growling. And then we get to
the Eurovision -y. A happy chorus all of a sudden.
It's Arch Enemy with Blood Dynasty. I really
enjoyed this album. It's their first album without
Jeff Loomis in some time. Joey Concepcion from
Connecticut, who I interviewed a few years back,
is now the second guitarist in the band. The
musicianship is great. They've let Alicia Goose
White. include some more harmonies this time
around some more clean vocals which i think helps
at least for me um brings more interest or interests
me more in the album uh so that's why it's it's
my pick you know i was thinking oh just another
arch enemy album and i was like a lot of the
songs really stood out to me and i really enjoyed
it so uh before moving on to april I'm just going
to recap here the albums that we picked for March
7th. Jeremy picked the One Day Remains 20th anniversary
from Alter Bridge. I picked Spirit Boxes, Tsunami
Sea off of Pale Chord. For March 14th, Jeremy
picked, I didn't write it down. Sanhedrin. Yeah,
Sanhedrin. How did I not remember that? And I
picked Envy of None. For March 21st, Jeremy picked
Goddard's Stereo Crush. And I picked Bloody Wood's
New Delhi. And for the final week in March, Jeremy
picked Savage Master with Dark and Dangerous.
And I went with Arch Enemy Blood Dynasty. So
there's a lot of good music that came out that
month. There's always good new music coming out
all the time. Hopefully this helps turn you on
to some things that maybe you didn't give a shot,
didn't know came out. Whatever the case may be,
the idea is to have you check these bands out
and hopefully you drop some money and help some
of these bands out as well. All right, let's
move on to April. April 4th, we had new albums
from L .A. Guns, Smith -Cotson, Elysian, Benediction,
Lopan, Bleed From Within, Warfield, Frantic Amber,
Buried Realm. Another one of these tongue twisters
here. Kiritsis, I guess. Moon Destroys. Luna
Kills. Wow. Interesting. Okay. Debt Neglector.
Fractal Universe. Air Dawn Daggers. EPs from
Scal and Midnight Vice. Reissues from Meshuggah.
Meshuggah. Live albums from I've got everything
out of whack here. Live album from rotting christ
okay so um damn it uh jeremy what did you listen
to this week yeah so a bit of a whirlwind in
april i'm going to probably offend you right
from the off because i listened to the la guns
album uh their new album Left me a bit cold,
if I'm honest. I've never been that massive a
fan of them. I always think that their songwriting
is not really as good as it should be for me
personally. But I did like the previous album.
I think you remember we picked that in our top
10 and I really liked that one. But I couldn't
get into this one. I found it quite boring, if
I'm honest. I'm sure you're going to be commenting
on it in a minute. So I'll leave you to... elucidate
on it and fill out the bits that I can't do because
I really couldn't get into it at all. So I went
into the Midnight Vice seven -track self -titled
EP. It lasts about 28 minutes. I thought that
was pretty good. It's a sort of fast -paced 80s
new album -style homage by a band from Tampa,
Florida. Nothing new on this, of course. It's
very sort of a well -trodden path. usual rehash
riffs, you know, a high -pitched singer, a band
that's sort of guaranteed to give you an enjoyable
night out in a pub or club. But it gets better
as you go through the tracks, and I really like
the track Mysteria. I don't know if that was
a bit of a mistake on Hysteria by Def Leppard.
Particularly enjoyable, that one. The record
close of White Witch I liked. Very classic new
album. So that was very good. All Your Angels
by Scowl is probably going to be my pick of this
particular week. It's the second studio album
from the Santa Cruz, California outfit. Has its
roots, I guess, in sort of blondie, Nirvana,
lots of old rock and punk, that kind of music.
There's 11 songs on it. They don't outstay the
welcome. I think you sort of described it as
an EP. You're probably right. As you can imagine,
it's a sort of fast -paced punky band. But what
I like about this is the song construction. There's
a real sort of variety to it, which you don't
always get from these sort of punky short songs.
I love the female vocalist Kat Moss throughout.
I think she really sounds good, especially on
Not Hell, Not Heaven. Great tone to her voice,
really sort of molds well into the music. And
so definitely gets my nod for Album of the Week.
I enjoyed that one. Cool. I'm surprised you didn't
check out the Smith's Carton album. No, I didn't.
But it happens. There you go. Going to have to
do some homework for the end of the year. Okay.
So for me, I listened to the LA Guns. I think
their last two albums are a bit weak, to be honest,
and I'm a huge fan of theirs. This album has
some good tracks on it, but there's just a lot
missing on this album personally. The new Allegiant
album, The Ossuary Lens, came highly recommended.
It is a death metal album and just not up my
alley. Listened to Benediction, Ravage of Empires
with John Setti, a .k .a. Giovanni Durst, formerly
of White Wizard. And it's an okay album. Um,
just gets kind of samesy after, after a while,
uh, bleed from within their new album. They've
they're back after a bunch of years, a mix of
guttural vocals with some clean melodies and
it's all right. Nothing new. Uh, Warfield with
the old breed, um, classic thrash with a bit
of a more like black metal type vocals to it.
Um, and I will have to say that my album of the
week is low pan get well soon. Low pan, uh, has
members of the original version of God smack.
Uh, it's got their original, uh, guitarist and
drummer, if I'm not mistaken, at least they used
to, um, The album, I mean, it doesn't sound anything
like Godsmack. It's a little bit more in a stonery
type vibe than Godsmack is. It's not bad. It's
not anything revolutionary or anything new, but
it's still my album of the week. April 11th,
new albums from Epica, Cabal, Ye Brandish Privateers.
Celestial Sanctuary. I think I may have mentioned
that already. No. Some other Celestial stuff.
Okay. Elven King. Messa. In the Woods. Tower.
The Lord Weir. Sloth Fane. Samtar. Diabolizer.
Rockout. Exiled Hope. You get a kick out of all
these mispronunciations. Anisoke. Valahor. Black
Map. Ryoji. Shinomoto. Teen Mortgage and Reissues
From. Ah, Terminality and Swallow the Sun. What
did you listen to, Jeremy? That was a testing
week, I think, the pronunciation, that one. Well,
I'm going to give you a very easy one to pronounce.
The Swiss band Rock Out. was the first one I
listened to. Let's call it Rock and Roll on Frontiers.
I mean, it was okay. It's a sort of well -trodden
path of Aussie -style stomping rock, very similar
to Crocus. Sounded a little bit at times like
the Dead Daisies, so you kind of know what you're
getting on this one. You will hate the lyrics.
I hated the lyrics as well, to be honest. But
it was good time stuff. It just sort of works,
thanks to a professional edge, polished riffs,
a decent singer, likeable choruses. Just, you
know, was something we've heard before, I guess.
By the way, they rose to fame in 2022 on national
TV. And they're very popular on the local festival
circuit as well. You can understand that because,
you know, they're enjoyable to listen to, but
it's nothing new. So I listened next to Shining
by Swallow the Sun, the Finnish Death Doom band.
This one has sort of everything you might expect.
It's very well crafted. I really like the haunting
clean vocals and characteristic melodies. But
before you mention it, I know it was originally
released in October. I think I reviewed it back
then as well, very favorably as well. But this
is the deluxe version. And it was in a week where
I didn't have too many to pick from. So I thought
I'd give it another listen. And, you know, sometimes
it's good to revisit an old record. Was I right
the first time? And yeah, I think it was because
it's a good listen. So I'm glad I got to listen
to it again. I then moved on to Beyond the Stars
by Val Hallor. This one's a kind of melodic Eamon
Amarth that is sort of described as symphonic
folk metal from Brisbane in Australia. Whatever
it is, it's actually not bad. Sort of really
draws you in, even if it's not all that great.
uh you know some sort of quite heavy moments
in there there's a nice folk ballad with sort
of wishbone ash overtones called wayfinder um
and overall you know i kind of listened to it
all the way through and i thought yeah i'm quite
enjoying it if you ask me to pick an album of
the week i'm gonna struggle on this one because
you know all three were not really up to the
usual quality so um i may go back to the rock
out one with you know let's call it rocker all
simply because you know it's it was easy to like
if you know what i mean so i'll pick that one
a lesser of all evils yeah yeah uh okay so i
listened to cabal everything rots death metal
um This week inspired me to propose some things
to you earlier this week because death metal
isn't my thing. Elvin King, kind of the same.
And the Lord Weird Sloth Fang. Traveler Supplement
1, the Imperial Glades. Listen to that. It sounds
like straight up 80s heavy metal influenced by
new Wabham stuff, stuff that was going on mid
80s coming out of specifically England. Not bad.
But I'm going to go with the Italian band Mesa
with The Spin. It's a little mix of everything,
kind of gothy, kind of hard rockish. maybe dipping
its toes back in into like love from the cult,
but with a female singer. So there's a lot of
atmospheric stuff in there as well. It's a good
listen. It surprised me. I posted a video on
the Patreon to get the kind of wet everyone's
whistle there. Get you guys to check it out.
And yeah, that's my album of the week. uh, for
the 11th of April. Okay. Moving on to, uh, April
18th. We had, uh, albums from the Melvin's Melvin's
1983. Um, I had this list that is coming out.
I couldn't find it on streaming. So it's possible
that this was just a vinyl only release or something
like that. But, uh, I have to check out some
of the, um, promos that were sent to me if in
the event that I do have it there. All right.
So, uh, what else? Uh, albums from, uh, Therion,
Lick, Lauren, Lojimo, Sick and Beautiful, uh,
X, Extraminitus, uh, Fractured Fairy Tales, Empyrean
Sanctum. Dormant Ordeal, Super Heaven, and Mayonique
x Urosun. Okay, and reissues from... What is
this? Okay. I've got this mixed up here. All
right, so I do apologize. So it looks like that
last one was an EP. All right, so reissues from
The Quill and from Sweet. Compilations from Madball.
True to the Game, The Roadrunner Years. Okay.
Jeremy, what did you listen to for this week?
Well, without wishing to sort of bring the tone
down too much, this was a week in which my dad
died, and so I didn't listen to anything at all
in the week of it, you know, for obvious reasons.
I didn't listen to any music at all. I'd written
down that later on I did listen to the Superheaven
album. It's an old rock band, you know, from
Daylight, apparently, in Pennsylvania. I didn't
know there was a place called Daylight. It sounds
really good. There's a lot of weird names in
Pennsylvania. There we go. I never really went
back to listen to much. And I think partly it
was because I looked at the list of albums and
band names and I didn't really, nothing really
sort of shot out at me. And I'm kind of glad
that that week is kind of empty. So I'm going
to leave it empty for me personally. And I'm
going to let you let you say what you thought
was good. Yeah. So first of all, condolences
to you for the. Passing of Your Father. Thanks.
So that's, I mean, more than understandable.
I listened to the Therion album, Beyond the Darkest
Veil of Time, Not My Thing, Symphonic Metal,
the Lauren Lojimo. This is another project that
Frontiers has put together similar to what they've
done in the past with Russell Allen. and with
Bjorn, but this is their female version with
the singer of Battle Beast and the singer of
Smackbound. Again, just too melodic for me. It's
Frontiers. It's your typical AOR Frontiers put
-together project. There's plenty of people that
love it. If you like it, check it out. Um, what
else did I listen to here? Um, I listened to,
Oh, I listened to lick necro. That is a death
metal also. Uh, but my album of the week is the
Italian band. I've picked two Italian bands straight
sick and beautiful with horror. Um, or vacui,
I guess is how you pronounce it. I guess it's
Latin or Italian or, you know, a derivative thereof.
But I dig this band. I really enjoyed their last
release as well. It's a mix of industrial hard
rock. If you like Rob Zombie with female vocals,
it's kind of what you're getting here. without
as much grunting and with a little bit more searing
vocals. Now we come to the 25th of April, which
by far to me is the strongest week in April.
I'm going to be honest with you. I think when
I started listening to a lot of the releases
for April, this month was kind of a letdown for
me because I think every month previous to this,
has been fairly strong where even with March,
there's a few weeks there where I was like, damn,
what do I pick? There's, there's several things
here that are, that are, that are strong. So,
um, yeah, so this is by far to me, the strongest
week in April. I don't know if Edgar Winterson
is telling us he's pregnant or just that he showed
up late to the show. Edgar, welcome aboard, sir.
All right, so we had, there's a lot of things
that came out this week. We had the new album
from Ghost, new album from Machine Head, new
album from Wednesday 13, Russ Ballard, Liv Christine,
Elevatia, Heat, Caliban. Trick or Treat, Harem
Scaram, Kardashev, Cadaver, Conan, Game Over,
Tony Butler, Art Nation, Employed to Serve, Beholder,
Cancer, Avenger of Blood, Deserted Fear, Landmarks,
Akamkara, Coffin Feeder, Bark, Phantom, Sacred
Steel, Teaser Suite, and Ghost Seeker. Live albums
from Klaus, Schulze, and Sirith Ungle. The legendary
LA band Sirith Ungle, which... My good friend
Bob Nalbandian, the late great Bob Nalbandian,
used to talk them up all the time. All right,
Jeremy, what did you listen to on the 26th? I
remember listening to Sirith Ungold back in the
day as well, a long, long time ago. I, first
of all, listened to Ritual Supremacy by Sacred
Steel, the German band. It's a sort of mix of
power metal, traditional old school. The riffing,
I thought, was pretty good on the whole, but
very much like other German bands who do that
sort of stuff. But a little bit let down, I think,
by the songwriting, especially the vocals, which
was all a bit evident on a track like The Watcher
Infernal. You know, great riffs, but let down
by the vocals. Now, this is interesting because
I don't think we've ever had this, Victor, but
we have a dead heat. for album of the week. I've
listened to these two albums I'm going to mention
now for a good week or so and probably a couple
of weeks. I've bought one of them. I've got the
other one on order. I cannot split them. I have
gone down to a granular level and I can tell
you now that they both are 8 .93276 points out
of 10. So there is no way you can split them.
So the two albums, of course, one of them is
Skeletor by Ghost, which is a really good album.
I'll come to that again in a minute. I'm sure
you're going to comment on it as well. And the
other one is Welcome to the Future by Heat, which,
as you know, I really like Heat. I've liked their
recent albums. And they're very different albums,
both from the same country, of course, as well.
I really like the Heat album because it's got
all the same melodic stuff. It's got some...
some killer songs on there. It's got ballads
on there. You know, it's kind of what I would
expect from a Def Leppard -y type, Bon Jovi type
band. And they do it far better. And they even
outdo Europe, I think, at times. So I really
like that album. I bought it straight away. I've
been playing it a lot. And, you know, I don't
like every song, but then I don't like every
song on the Ghost album either. But I do like
the majority of both of those albums. Ghost album,
I think, is not quite as good as Impera, the
previous one, which I thought was their peak
album for me. But I think there's some great
songs on it. They've got great melodies. There's
a reason why Ghost are very popular, and you
only have to listen to their songs to understand
it. They have a great commercial aspect to their
music, but they... you know, the lyrics and the
sort of the way they project those songs with
that sort of mystique, you know, that sort of
early Black Sabbath type mystique. They don't
have to play it all very heavy, but they certainly
know how to construct a song, construct a chorus.
So, yeah, those two albums for me, I can't split
them. I'm not going to choose between my two
daughters. I'm not going to choose between those
two albums. They are the very first tie of the
week. Okay. So I listened to Unatoned by Machine
Head. This album is head scratching to me. What
the hell is Machine Head doing in 2025? Machine
Head has gone through different phases where
they've put out albums where they've pissed their
fan base off. A lot of people really liked the
last album because it was super heavy. It was
a return to them being super heavy. This album
is them being heavy and then giving us that good
old happy Eurovision chorus in the middle. They're
copying bands like Architects and Bring Me the
Horizon and stuff like that. to where they're
trying to be hip and cool to the young kids is
what they're doing. This album, to me, seems
like for everything that people bitched about,
the burning red with them pandering towards new
metal and stuff like that, I find this to be
worse. Because as much as they were trying to
follow a fad there, some of those songs worked.
These just don't work for me. There's a lot of
cutting and pasting where we've got this great
riff, we've got this heavy part. Let's paste
something catchy in here. You know, unlike the
Arch Enemy, where it's worked out and it's meticulous
and it's layered and there seems to be a blueprint
behind it, Machine Head just kind of doesn't
work for me. Just my opinion. Russ Ballard. Songs
from the warehouse, the hits rewired. This is
Russ Ballard. It's a two -album release. The
first album is all new material, and the second
album is reworkings of a good majority of hits
that he's written for other people over the years.
The album is just not for me. It's just too...
80s commercial rock for me to kind of trying
to fit in with Jackson Brown and Bruce Springsteen
and stuff like that. And he's written a lot of
good stuff over the years. But the reworks of
some of these songs just don't work for me. He
does Since You've Been Gone, of course. He does
I Surrender, which was another hit for Rainbow.
He does Voices, which was a song that made it
on Miami Vice, which I really like. That's like
one of his only like quote unquote hits that
he only did. It's been covered by other people,
but not like New York Groove, for example, or
God Gave Rock and Roll to You, which Ace Frehley
and then Kiss made those respective songs more
popular. The album isn't bad. Bores me. It's
just not my thing. What else? Caliban. Just full
on death metal. Just not my thing either. This
week does have a lot of other stuff in the vein
of heat. Trick or Treat, Harem Scare Em, Conan,
which I didn't check out, but that's a little
bit more of like stonery with death metal type
vocals. I didn't get a chance to check that out.
That's something that I'll check out. The Beholder
album is something I'll check out as well. But
for me, it's funny. I've been deliberating since
checking these albums out. Damn, I'm going to
have a tie. So when Jeremy just said that he
was going to have a tie, I said, heck yeah, I'm
going to have a tie as well. So my tie, I'm going
to go with the one that Jeremy already mentioned.
It is Ghost with Skeletor. I think you're right
on the money. The good tracks on here are great.
The other tracks kind of remind me of their earlier
material where it was more hit and miss for me,
where Imperia was really good except for one
track or two tracks. The album before that, I
forget its name. Melioria. Yeah, so that one
is similar. to Imperia as well in the sense that
there's two tracks that I kind of wasn't into
and I was really into the rest. There's still
a lot of stuff off of those two albums that I
listen to all the time. So Skeletor by Ghost
is my one album of the week and my tie. Man,
did this surprise me. It is Wednesday 13 with
Mid -Death Crisis. I've liked stuff that Wednesday
13 has released over the years. But this is probably
my favorite album that he's released. It's just
solid from beginning to end. It's one song after
another, after another. And it's like, nope.
That one's as good as the last one. Is this one
a skipper? Nope, this one isn't either. I really
enjoyed this album. It really harkens back to
the stronger parts of what he's released that's
kind of drawn me to his previous albums. So I
don't think you can go wrong with either one
of those albums. So let's recap our picks for
April real quick here. April 4th, Jeremy did
Scal with We Are All Angels. I did Lopan with
Get Well Soon. Let's see, for the 11th, you went
with Rock Out with Let's Call It Rock and Roll.
And I went with Mesa with The Spin. That's Mesa,
M -E -S -S -A. And for the 18th, I went with
Sick and Beautiful with Horror Vacui. And then
on the 25th, we both had two picks. We both went
with Ghost and Skeletor. And Jeremy also went
with Heat and Welcome to the Future. And my second
pick was Wednesday 13 with Mid -Death Crisis.
Do you want to touch on some of those topics
that we went back and forth with real quickly?
Yeah, sure. Okay, cool. So we usually just do
one month at a time and we throw some topics
back and forth at one another. And we had these
way back in March. I do get that some of these
may have maybe kind of old news at this point
in time, but I think that they're still important
enough to touch upon. So first up, we have a
bunch of Judas Priest related things. Richie
Faulkner let everyone know that he had to relearn
to play guitar because he suffered a stroke.
And he's also insinuated at the fact that there
could be follow -ups to Invincible Shield and
to Elegant Weapons sooner than later. The Elegant
Weapons album may already be recorded, if I'm
not mistaken. And the Judas Priest is something
that's in the infant stage and they'll possibly
work on it next year. So I would assume that
we would be looking at a 2027 release for that.
But man, Richie's been through a lot from heart
issues to now stroke. And for anyone that's ever
doubted his place in Priest, I think that people
have kind of let up on that with all the things
that he's gone through and come back to the band
and help the band carry on. So, Jeremy, what
are your thoughts on all this stuff? Yeah, it's
quite interesting that Richie has said that he's
struggling a little bit to play certain little
bits because they've been on a massive tour,
haven't they? They've played a lot of gigs. They're
playing again a few festivals over the summer
in the UK. They're playing a place in Scarborough,
just an open -air gig. I think they're doing
maybe one in London and then they're playing
some other stuff around the world again. They're
constantly touring, which for a man who has been
so ill and possibly finds a little bit of a struggle
playing certain bits, you do wonder whether he's
getting a little bit of help technically, technologically.
Full marks to Richie for keeping going because
he's a great player, as we know. I really love
his stuff. Talking about the albums, the two
albums, it's going to be difficult to top those
two because I really like those two albums. I
think they're great. I've listened to Elegant
Weapons a lot since it came out. I bought that
one. Really good album. Really good album. And
so was The Judas Priest, as we know. I think
it was probably my top album of the year. Right.
Me too. Yeah, I just wonder how they're going
to top it. They're going to have to do something
a little bit different rather than just copying
the ones that have come out. And I just hope
they don't. It's not a step back because, you
know, you don't want to peek and then put out
something that's not quite as good. But would
be looking forward to hearing both. So, you know,
if the Elegant Weapons comes first, maybe this
year, later this year, that'll be great. As we
know, Judas Priest probably won't be until next
year. But listen. They're old guys. Richie's
not as old as the rest of the band. Some of the
older guys in the band. And we just have to be
thankful that Richie and Judas Priest are playing,
still playing together. And long may it continue.
And I just hope Richie keeps well. Yeah, I agree.
And much to your point, I've heard that Andy
Sneap has said no to producing or mixing. other
people's stuff at the moment. So that makes me
think that he's just going to focus on the priest
stuff. And maybe they're feeling that pressure,
that invincible shield and firepower. When invincible
shield came out, remember, I didn't like, um,
panic attack initially because I was thinking,
Oh, you know, that intro sounds like turbo. And
then it sounds, you know, the course is kind
of generic and this and that. And then that album.
won me over big time. You could, damn, you could
almost make like a greatest hits out of just
those two albums, you know, because you could
combine both and really be the, the twin turbo
album that we were all kind of looking for, you
know? But yeah, it's good. It scares me on the
one hand that it's a letdown, but. After listening
to Invincible Shield so much, it made me think,
bring it on. If they're going in this trajectory,
and I believe in Andy Sneap. I believe in what
he can do. He's got the Midas touch, and I think
he knows what bands need to do. And I think that
it's not a mistake. That he's still in the band.
I think that they've probably come to realize
that, you know, he's he's more than just that
guy helping us out on stage. He's now part of
what makes their music continue to grow and continue
to be relevant. Yeah. OK, so at the time, also,
there were some rumors about possible Black Sabbath
avatars. And the possibility that the band could
go virtual after this concert coming up this
summer? Is Sabbath a band that could do that?
I think you can't say no. You've seen it. We've
seen ABBA avatars. We've seen KISS are going
to be doing this sort of thing. Listen, if a
band is going to be finished completely, They
can't do it anymore. Sabbath are playing this
final concert. They're going to play five songs.
And Ozzy is really struggling even to play those
five songs. If the audience wants to go and see
it, then it's fine to do it. I mean, you have
to decide yourself whether you want to go, whether
you've seen Sabbath in their heyday, whether
you've seen them live, whether you think it's
worth it. As to questions as to whether Sabbath...
should be doing it because they're popular enough
to do it. I think they are. And I think there'll
be an audience to see that kind of thing. I think
there's other bands that could do it. I think,
you know, maybe Motorhead. You could do one for
them. So, yeah, I think just go ahead and do
it. It's up to the audience as to whether it's
a good thing. And I've heard great reports about
the ABBA one. I'm sure the Kiss one is going
to be fantastic, and I'm sure if Black Sabbath
did one, it would be amazing as well. And we
just have to accept that the band is no longer,
and that's the only way you can see the band.
Do you think that these avatars would be just
the Aussie era? Would there be a chance of them
doing some Dio -related stuff as well? It's a
very good question, and I think the answer is
no, because I think that Sharon will be organizing
it. I think as long as she's in charge of it,
it won't be Dio. But I think if somebody else
had the rights to do it, I think, yes, they might
do both eras, and it would be an interesting
way of doing it. But I think she's only going
to keep the Aussie band alive. Right. Okay. Bon
Jovi has announced a new tour. Will the ticket
prices break the bank? Yeah, they seem to be.
Listen, the first thing to say is that Bon Jovi
are nowhere near as good as what they were in
the 80s, and many bands aren't. I'd love to see
maybe a Bon Jovi with Richie playing because
that's the only band that I'd want to see, but
I've kind of seen what he can sing like live,
and it seems pretty dire. I'm not a huge fan
of Bon Jovi, but I can see you'd pay a certain
price to see a top band. You'd pay $100 or 100
quid. You'd pay 150 maybe. But come on, what
are they charging for this? It was absolutely
horrendous prices. I mean, there's some people
out there that have got pockets. I mean, we've
seen it recently with the Gene Simmons roadie.
One guy paid, I don't know what it was. It was
over $10 ,000, wasn't it? Over $12 ,000. It was
over $12 ,000. I mean, listen, this guy doesn't
care about the money. And so there's going to
be a lot of people who go to a Bon Jovi gig.
They'll pay whatever they want to pay because
they've got the money. And that's what it is.
But it's absolutely ridiculous. And I certainly
wouldn't pay. I'd pay 40, 50 quid to see Bon
Jovi, and I don't think I pay much more these
days. Okay. I wouldn't even pay that. No. That's
neither here nor there. Yeah. All right. And
last topic here. David Lee Roth sees a reissue
of his solo work. Does it hold up, in your opinion?
You know what? Dave seems to be really enjoying
himself. That's the first thing I would say.
Every time I see him playing live and doing stuff
at the moment, he seems to be really enjoying
himself. And he's kind of reinventing himself.
He kind of wants to play more gigs and play songs.
And he's coming out with various songs and various
stuff. And I think that's good because, you know,
there's a lot of people out there who like Dave,
a lot of people who like Van Halen. And, you
know, as we know, Eddie's dead now. He's keeping
the songs alive in terms of Van Halen. And he
also has his own stuff as well. And I liked a
lot of his early stuff. I thought his solo albums,
the first couple of solo albums were great, but
they have a bit of an 80s sort of sound to them,
80s sort of 90s sound. And maybe today they sound
a little bit old. That's what I'd say in terms
of the production or whatever. I think Dave should
just do what he wants to do. I think, again,
the audience will determine. Does it appeal to
me personally? No, I've had enough of Dave Lee
Roth. I don't need to see him. I don't need to
see him live and I don't need to see him again.
I want to remember him playing in Van Halen or
doing his first couple of solo albums. And I've
got all that, you know, on vinyl. I've got it
all on. I'll get those out now and again and
really enjoy it because Dave was Dave in his
heyday. I don't want to see an old Dave doing
stuff now. So for me, he doesn't need to re -record.
He doesn't need to re -release. He doesn't need
to even issue anything. If he wants to play a
few gigs, that's fine. Yeah, at M3, he was looking
like Elvis from one of his... reunion specials
there all in black leather and with the uh handkerchief
around the neck with the four backup singers
as well handling the uh heavy lifting for a lot
of the songs but um yeah i gotta say eat em and
smile to me is on par with uh those classic van
halen albums he was on i would personally take
that over any of the uh van hagar albums um skyscraper
i think is very strong as well i think it got
a bad rap back in the day um a little ain't enough
has its moments and your filthy little mouth
which is the last one that's included in that
box is i just did not i've never gotten into
that album and that's your typical album that
To me, you pull it out once a year and say, now,
why didn't I get this album? You know, there's
people that I know that like this. Let me check
it out. And you start to listen to it. It's like,
wow, this isn't good. You know, the lyrics aren't
good. The guitar playing isn't as good as, let's
be honest, Steve Vai, Jason Becker. You know,
these are world -class guitars. Yeah. Especially
when those albums are recorded. So in any event,
we've covered a lot of material today. I do appreciate
Jeremy coming on here and talking music. Like
I said, it's important to get the word out for
new music that's coming out, whether it's from
bands that you love and don't know that they're
releasing new music. whether it's a band you've
never heard of and we've described them and you
want to give them a shot, or even if it's something
that we mentioned but we didn't even talk about
what they're about, sometimes you can check out
the labels that they're on and kind of get an
idea with what that label is signing. And there
are other times where... It's a crapshoot. So
thankfully with streaming, you can check out
as much of this stuff as you want, but I stand
by what I said before. If you like something
enough, fork some money over, support the bands,
you know, find out, go to their websites, find
out where they're selling their albums. And maybe
you can't pick up a vinyl, but you can pick up
a CD or a t -shirt or, or something along those
lines, help them out. the greatest thing that
I hear all the time is my wife is going to kill
me. Uh, I've spent way too much money on music
this month and it's all your fault. So, uh, I
like hearing that, uh, their wives may, uh, you
know, put a brick in their, uh, pocketbook and
hit me over the head one of these days, but,
um, is what it is. Uh, in any event, folks, thanks
for listening. Thank you, Jeremy. Uh, thank you,
Edgar Winterson, even though, uh, you showed
up late. Thank you to all the people that jumped
in and watch this show live tonight. I do appreciate
it. And thank you to anyone that's watching or
listening to this show. Um, after the fact on,
on YouTube or, uh, rumble or any of the other
platforms where you can check this, uh, video
version out, or if you're listening to the podcast
version of this, thank you so much for your support.
We will see you next time. Right here on Signals
from Mars. See you folks. Thank you for listening
to the Signals from Mars podcast. You can subscribe
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