Welcome one and all to episode 415 of Signals
from Mars. Yes, since 2009, I'm your host, Victor.
And for this episode, my good friend Jeremy Weltman
is back to talk about new releases that came
out in May of 2025. To keep things going, to
help you lazy listeners out there, to help people
continue to light the fire in music. I'm ready.
Let me kick things off by thanking my patrons
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decibel geek, which is technically Chris Sinzak
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A few episodes back is kind of a peek into what
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building that playlist, that 2025 playlist, got
you covered with Patreon. You know, you'll find
a lot of great music. sometimes not so great
music. There's a little of everything. I like
to dabble in all things hard rock and metal.
So you get stuff that's everything from AOR to
extreme metal. I like to cover all bases and
know that not all of us like all the same stuff.
And maybe that's a detriment because I'm not
in one corner just doing, you know, 80s hard
rock, which is fine because I think that would
drive me nuts. As much as I love talking about
one band or another all the time, and a band
may be my favorite, I need to listen to more
things and talk about more things than just that
one band. And that's not a slag at anyone who
does episodes or does a podcast based on one
band. Speaking of which, next Friday, June 27th,
We shall be talking Megadeth. So if you want
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how that works is I ask people to submit their
10 favorite albums by the band in order, one
to 10 or 10 to one, whatever, however you choose
to sort them. And from there, each album gets
assigned a point. As a result, it's number one,
it gets 10 points. If it's 10, it gets one point.
So it gets assigned points and then it gets ranked
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favorite Megadeth albums are. I do want to thank
you for listening to this episode. Hopefully
this episode helps you check out a new album,
a new track, helps expand that soundtrack of
your life, and hope you guys enjoy it. Thanks
so much for listening, and here we go. Welcome
one and all to another episode of Signals from
Mars. I'm your host, Victor. And for this episode,
I welcome my good friend Jeremy Weltman back
to discuss May 2025 new releases in hard rock
and metal. Jeremy, how are you doing? Yeah, I'm
doing well. Thanks, Victor. Yeah, it's actually
still light here in the UK at this time. So obviously
it's June and it's more of an... aor evening
than a black metal evening i'd say how are you
doing okay doing all right um the sun probably
went down about an hour ago but um yeah for all
you people on the east coast of the u .s the
sun does stay up till 10 or 11 ish uh at night
for us and for jeremy as he's saying And we don't
have those. The 7 p .m. You know where the sun
has gone, but then again, we also don't have
the sun rising at quarter to four in the morning.
So that kind of makes up for it is probably isn't
sunlight here till about seven ish. So I don't
know how it is, how. It is for you in the UK,
which is a little farther up, but for us, it's
that way here. So, all right. Jeremy and I are
going to be talking about new releases that have
come out in May of 2025. And we're also going
to be touching upon some other hard rock and
metal related things. So let's kick things off
with May 2nd. We had new albums from Sky Joggers,
Paradise Slaves, Acres, Crematory, Maestric,
The Crystal Teardrop, Scott Heppel and the Sun
Band, Lux Interna, Leper Colony, Hate, The Flower
Kings, Gypsy Pistoleros, Propagandi, Puddle of
Mud, Under Ruins, Falling from Grace. and Hangfire.
We had live albums from Dune. And that's it for
this week. Jeremy, what did you listen to this
week? Yeah, so I started off the month listening
to three albums. I started off with Age of the
Void by Under Ruins, a band that was formed in
2023 from members of them and Landfear. And it's
actually their debut album. I guess you kind
of describe it as a sort of traditional or sort
of epic metal album. For the most part as well,
I'd say it's a pretty fine effort. It had some
very strong riffs on there. It had sort of plenty
of what I'd describe as ferocity, Nordic influences.
There's a little bit of Doomy influences on there.
It's also very melodic, and it had some really
solid vocals from a chap called Nuno Miguel de
Barros Fernandez. even if there wasn't too much
variation on the album. So, yeah, I like that
one. And then I listened to At The Edge by Grace.
This one was a sort of fierce, sort of thrash
groove metal band from Finland. Unfortunately,
though, it had some sort of growly vocals, which
was a bit of a shame because there was really
some sort of blistering fretwork on this album.
Kind of made me think, too, what it would be
like if sort of Ritchie Faulkner did thrash.
And this is kind of the answer. That was what
I got from this one. There's a sort of a mix
of sort of the very heaviest priest with some
sort of very sort of tight testament type music.
And for that reason, it was for me personally,
it was very listenable. Sort of melodic, groovy
pummeling, you know, just sort of what metal
is all about, really. But just a little bit sadly
ruined by the growly vocals for me because I'm
not that keen on that. So I also listened to
Burn by Hangfire. This one, you know, also had
some sort of quite heavy guitar on it. It had
a female singer as well, so it made it more listenable
in terms of the vocals. It's another debut album.
And this is a band that hails from Washington
State, apparently. And what I like about this
one is it sort of stays well clear of the pop
or the generic metal sort of sound and keeps
a nice hard edge to it. I'd say not every song
is great, but there's a real decent amount of
energy and enthusiasm on the 12 songs. So that
was a good listen as well. And I didn't in advance
pick the one for the week, but looking at the
three, I'd probably go for maybe Age of the Void
by Under Ruins. I think that one probably just
about tips it for me. Okay. I listened to a few
different things. I listened to Hate, their new
album, Bellum Radius, which is a full -on death
metal album. The Flower King's Love, which is
70s throwback prog rock. I mean, if you're into
early Genesis, Peter Gabriel Genesis, that's
probably right up your alley. Propaganda, the
Canadian band, came out with At Peace. There
are aspects of the album that I really like,
and there are aspects that just kind of don't
do anything for me. And I had to check out the
Puddle of Mud album, Kiss the Machine. I will
always say this, that first Puddle of Mud album
is really good. It's incredible late 90s radio
rock. and has a lot of good music on it. What
it is, it's one of the best albums of that time
period, I think. But they've never done anything
that's remotely close to it. And this album is
not good. Anyway, I'm going to have to go with
Gypsy Pistoleros with Welcome to the Church of
the Pistoleros. It's a little mix of everything.
There is... Obviously, some pop music or not
pop. Excuse me. There's punk. There's some metal
music in there, some hard rock. And they cover
an old Ricky Martin song, Living La Vida Loca,
Living La Vida Loca, as it would be properly
pronounced. And I'm listening to it and I was
thinking, OK, interesting. Not my first choice
of covers, but OK. Um, so, uh, that's, um, that's
my album of the week. Uh, which one did you say,
Jeremy? So Asia, the void by under ruins. I just
want to make sure that I note that. All right.
So, uh, five, nine, um, March 9th, we had new
albums from Edinson Tetra arch. Kantars, I guess
that's how you pronounce it, Behemoth, Omnius
Ruin, Liminal Spirit, La Cabra, Arcade Fire,
Steve, Dadian, Black Map, Sleep Token, Statement,
and Paralyzed. EP from Candlemas, which was a
bunch of covers and two new tracks, if I'm not
mistaken. And there was a live album from Håkon.
Jeremy, what did you listen to? Yeah, so I did
give the Statement album, Sinister Thing, a listen.
I believe it's studio album number five from
these Danish hard rockers. And, you know, it's
a perfectly satisfactory listen, really. It's
kind of a... well -trodden path of sort of you
know bang average heavy numbers with sort of
hard -hitting guitars and vocals but you know
all the songs are really played well they're
produced well there's even the occasional sort
of all beat harmonies on the album it's just
that there are sort of very few sort of the ear
what i would describe as earworm melodies and
unforgettable choruses that you know you really
need on a on a better album So, yeah, it was
okay, but it wasn't, you know, didn't really
sort of float my boat too much. I did listen
to Rumble and Roar by Paralyzed. This is a really
sort of good time, old style, sort of free Rolling
Stones, Zep influenced album. It's on the Ripple
label. And the singer is a little bit gruff,
but it's very good. It has lots of contrast on
the album. Railroad is a sort of 70s foot stomper.
There's, you know, the light acoustic interlude
of the myth of love. And I think you can really
imagine what the song Heavy Blues sounds like.
It's all a little loose and it sounds as if it's
live in the studio as well, which is sort of
typical of many Ripple releases. And that isn't
a bad thing. You know, I enjoyed it. It was good.
So I have the thumbs up. And finally for that
week, I did listen to the Black Star EP by Candlemas.
Just four tracks, as you mentioned. Clues the
cover of Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath, which I actually
liked. I thought it was a good cover. The second
track, an instrumental I wanted to point out,
called Corridors of Chaos, had a really sort
of meaty IOMI -influenced riff. Not a band, actually,
that I've given much time to in the past, but
I did like them. I did like this. I thought it
was good. Even though it was only four songs.
So I guess I can't pick that as my album of the
week because it wasn't an album. It's an EP.
So I will go for the Paralyzed album, Rumble
of Roar. You know, we make our own rules here.
So if you want to make that your album of the
week, you can make that your album of the week.
That's true. I could do. But no, I've said it.
The boys from Paralyzed are going to be very
disappointed if I change my mind. Okay. All right.
So, okay. So I listened to, did I mention this?
I mentioned Sleep Token. I'm forgetting here
that, you know, what I just read. But anyway,
Sleep Token, even in Arcadia, I mentioned, I
talked about them in the last episode. I did
give the album a listen. It's not as bad as I
was expecting. I like the first track, actually.
But it's too repetitive for me. A lot of piano,
a lot of mellow vocals, and you get harsh vocals
from time to time, and you get some down -tune
heaviness and double bass from time to time.
And if that's your thing... And so be it. I know
that a lot of people are really into them right
now. I was trying to draw a comparison because
I really like Poppy. And obviously it's in her
name. She's very poppy at times, but very heavy
as well with a lot of guttural vocals, but with
a lot of melodies. And what the difference is
between Poppy and Sleep Token. I think what Poppy's
doing is a lot more exciting to me than what
Sleep Token is doing, personally. That's just
my personal opinion. If you like Sleep, check
the album out. Arcade Fire, for example, was
on one of the metal sites. Arcade Fire is a huge
band, and no one's going to confuse them with
a hard rock or a metal band. This was straight
up pop. You know, where Sleep Token, I think
a lot of people are trying to say, oh, well,
they're the newest evolution of metal. This is
where metal is going. And I just don't see it.
I mean, if I throw heavy distorted guitars on
Depeche Mode, are they metal all of a sudden?
I would say no. You know, even though they're
drummers playing double bass in concert and stuff
like that, it's still Depeche Mode. It's still,
you know, pop. My album of the week is going
to be Tetraarch with The Ugly Side of Me. I really
love this band, really love what they're doing.
Yes, this is regurgitated 90s new metal. Still
poppy, still heavy, still melodic is what I should
say instead of poppy. It's got a lot of really
cool melodies to it and a lot more hooks than
their previous album. And I really like it. So
that is... My pick for this week. All right.
Let's see who we have here in the chat. Edgar
Winterson. Jeremy put 50 pence, I guess, 50p
in the meter. And he says, if you need sleep
token, you need help. Well, the UK press and
Andy Copping are the ones that are really behind
them. And what Edgar is probably alluding to
is that, Jeremy, I didn't want to say anything
just for the fluidity of the show, is that your
camera is completely black. It stuttered there
for a second and everything. You became the spinal
tap and or Metallica self -titled and or back
in black. Oh, so am I still blanked out? Is that
what I want? Yeah. Yeah. I am. So I should really
leave and rejoin. So you're going to read out
the next albums. I'm going to quickly, shall
I quickly go back in? Yeah. Yeah. We did that
last time and it worked. Yeah. I'll give it a
go. Give it a go. So, um, May 16th, we had new
albums from patchwork giant rocket. You're still
actually in black, Jeremy. Oh, no, I don't believe
it. Yeah. Larcenia Rowe. Droth. Anthropomorphia.
Nightland. Novelist. Buried Tomorrow. Wounded
Touch. Tarja. Executionist. Eleventh Ray. Arms
Length. Death Before Disorder. Waltari and Magic
Pie. So there we go. We can see you again. Yeah.
There are reissues from Art Nation. Three from
Hex House. And Linkin Park is released from Zero
Deluxe Edition. And there's a compilation from
Metalville, a Paul D 'Anno in memory of. All
right. So what did you listen to this week, Jeremy?
Yeah, this is weird because I can hear you. It's
like we've got a new stylus. It's just so clear
and it's just great through the stereo headphones
there. Yeah, so I listened to Stand and Deliver
by Giant. This was, this is obviously the US
melodic hard rock band. At the back, you know,
with the sort of the 80s influenced brand of
melodic stuff that they do. Sixth studio album,
only the third apparently since returning in
2010. And obviously, you know, there's a lot
I like about this really. It's my kind of thing.
There's Kent Hilley for one thing, gives it,
you know, the Coverdale -esque vocals. Then there's
the choruses and the sort of general heavy sort
of AOR feel to it. At times, I think they remind
me of that band. Do you remember a band called
Only Child from the 80s? I think they released
an album called Only Child, which I think I bought
as well. I think I've got it in my collection
somewhere. So they do remind me a little bit
of that. They've got some nice riffs. They've
got lots of Saurian guitar solos, really for
fans of Europe, Journey, all those sort of bands
in between. And, you know, I like that sort of
stuff, as you know. So for me, it was good. It
wasn't brilliant, but it was good. And that's
fine. I listened to Bad Choices by Rockets. This
is a sort of great uptempo rock and roll album.
Touches of Buck Cherry on there. It's got bits
of Volbeat on there. It's got little bits of
ACDC, I guess, all welded together with sprinklings
of New Wobham. So, you know, it's good for me.
It's a five -piece band from Finland. I know
very little about them. I've not come across
them before, but it's album number three as it
happens. And all three, I went back and listened
to the other two. All three have a very different
production sound. So, you know, that was interesting.
But this one's a really enjoyable listen, so
I like that. My album of the week, though, was
very clear this week. It was a surprise as well
because I knew nothing much about this band and
not really listened to them. They're off the
radar. maestro by magic pie real surprising delight
this album real eclectic mix of songs um real
sort of unique sounds you know they are touches
of sort of modern deep purple it turns out they're
a norwegian progressive rock band i didn't know
because i you know don't follow progressive rock
that much Very interesting, very well produced,
very rewarding. So sometimes you just have to
pick up an album and it can really reward you
for that time. And apparently they did back to
2001 and it's album number five. So I need to
go back and listen to a lot more. But I really
liked it. Really good songs on there. And if
you like, even if you don't really like progressive
rock, if you like a bit of deep purple, you're
going to like this. And so I'm going to pick
my show by Magic Pie. Okay. I only got a chance
to listen to two albums this week. I got a chance
to listen to Nowhere Bound from Death Before
Disorder and Nations Neurosis from Waltari. Two
completely different albums. And Death Before
Disorder is a hardcore band. They're not reinventing
the wheel here, if you've heard. Death Before
Disorder Before, and you're a hardcore fan, check
this album out because you'll probably enjoy
it. And The Waltari, they're a Finnish band,
if I'm not mistaken. They're big in Finland.
I found out about them two or three albums ago
where there were a few tracks by them that I
really enjoyed. I need to give this a further
listen, to be honest with you. It's got a little
of everything. It's got hard rock. It's got some
more modern stuff on there. There's a track called
Diversity, which mixes a lot of different styles
of music. And because of that, that's going to
be my album of the week. It's going to be the
Waltari album. Like I said, the Death Before
Dishonor, if you're a hardcore fan, check that
one out. Moving on to the 23rd, we had new albums
from Chapang, Skunk and Antsy, Ceresian Volat,
More Than John, Senna, Year of No Light, Unmerciful.
Ossuary. Your camera just went black again. Onslaught.
Moonlight haze. Holler. Midnight. Crystal spiders.
You're back again. The devil wears Prada. Head
P. Or head P. Sweet. Cream, live from Ronnie
Romero, and a compilation from Don Felder, The
Vault, 50 Years of Music. Jeremy, what did you
listen to this week? Yeah, this one I listened
to Steel, Rust, and Disgust by Midnight, the
band from Cleveland, actually set up originally
as a side project by Athanar of the band Boulder.
There's been a few albums released to date. And
I'd say this is really sort of solid speed stroke,
sort of black metal with a sort of a Venom -like
vocal, you know, a bit more melodic than Venom.
And it's, you know, to be honest, it sort of
works in a peculiarly, if I can say peculiarly,
spectacular way. Yeah, it's a little bit more
sort of rock and roll than the, you know, sort
of Venom are. So, yeah, that's interesting. They
sort of write sort of old -style, black, sort
of Sodom -type metal songs with sort of new album
influences that you'd expect from the sort of
Venom influence there. So it's not entirely unique,
but it's sort of strangely compelling, I'd say.
It's got very short, punchy, punky songs to it.
So, yeah, it was an interesting lesson. I quite
enjoyed it. Sinister Seduction by Crematorium,
a sort of traditional thrash band from Croatia.
A little problematic for me, really, because
the vocalist has a sort of heavy accent and not
quite the power required for that kind of album,
I'd say. So, you know, it's full of tight thrashing
rhythms, some strong riffs to get your teeth
into. But there's something a little bit missing
from it. But anyway, it's the band's second album.
It's, you know, there's some fun bits to it.
It's just the sort of lyrical qualities a bit
lacking, which, you know, you get with some bands.
Not quite up there. And finally, I listened to
Live at Rock Imperium Festival by Ronnie Romero.
Ronnie appears, as we know, on absolutely everything.
But there's three things I like about Ronnie.
One is I like him in Elegant Weapons. I think
he does a really good job on that album. I like
him in Lords of Black because I like him when
he does it heavy. And I like him on this because,
again, he's doing... mostly his own songs he
does a cover of dio's rainbow in the dark and
it's pretty good because he really you know he's
got a really good guitarist playing here but
so you know adds a lot of bite uh he's got a
good song selection he's leaning on the latest
album which was his best solo album too many
lies too many masters because before that he
was doing sort of covers and being quite soft
and you know that wasn't so good so and i went
back and listened to that studio album and I
really like it. I forgot, you know, we sort of
covered it in a week, and I thought, yeah, it's
actually stood the test of time. It's a good
album. So, yeah, I think overall I'm going to
give it to Ronnie for doing a really decent live
set and, you know, hyping up the crowd, and he
hyped me up. Okay. So there we go. Excellent.
So I listened to The Painful Truth by Skunk and
Ansi. And this is a band that I've followed for
over 30 years at this point. And their first
two albums are probably their heaviest. Their
second album, Stoosh, is probably my favorite.
This album is probably their most complete album
since Stoosh, at least for me, because there's
a lot of... There's a little of everything on
here. I was going to say it's probably more rocking,
but there's some poppy type things on here as
well that sound good. Skin has a great voice.
The rest of the band is great as always. So if
you're a fan of the band, check this one out.
But I'm going to give my album of the week to
the band that says that... But they're the forerunners
in the subgenre of rotten roll, which you already
described before. It is still rust and disgust
by midnight. It's funny because I think you described
it perfectly. Every time they put out a new album,
I think, oh, I think we've heard everything that
they've done before. And then you listen to the
album, you're like, yeah, but it's still catchy.
There's still cool stuff to it that makes you
want to listen to the songs over and over again.
So I'm going to give it to Midnight for this
week. All right, so let's get into the last week
of May was the 30th. We had new albums from The
Speaker Wars, Wolves at the Gate, Gridiron, Doobie.
Deathrattle. Something and Finish. Graceless.
Cariga. Lord Vigo. Horrenda. Low Before the Breeze.
Rivers of Nil. Catone. The Dead Daisies, who
put out a blues album. The Haunted. An Obsidian
Tongue. An EP from Vader. A reissue. The reissue
everyone was waiting for from Skid Row. Revolutions
Per Minute. And a live opera album from La Suspendida
is the name. How do you pronounce it in Spanish?
It's The Suspended. So anyway, what'd you listen
to this week, Jeremy? Yeah, this, this particular
week I thought was one of the worst that we've
had. Um, you know, it's kind of like the week
before Christmas where there's hardly any, anything
out that we want to listen to. I mean, I did
listen to the dead daisies album because, you
know, as you know, I, I am a bit of a fan of
the dead daisies probably more than anyone in
the, in your patron group. And, um, Yeah, I thought
it was okay. You know, I thought they covered
all the traditional blues numbers that you'd
expect to hear on a blues album. But I thought
they did some of them quite well. They did them
in the sort of, they got a bit of an Aerosmith
-y tone to them. So yeah, I thought it was okay.
It was listenable and it was fine. But I didn't
go, I did listen to one or two other albums beyond
that, but I didn't get anywhere near selecting
any that I thought I really enjoyed. There just
wasn't anything out there that particular week.
And it was a bit of a disappointment really,
because we're only in June and I expected, you
know, to have something better for that week.
So I'm going to have to pick the dead daisies
for, for that particular week. Okay. I think
after having a few really strong months, April
and may have been kind of weak months for, for
releases there. I mean, don't get me wrong. There
were some good things that came out in April.
For example, if, if I look back, you know, I
have been listening to the sick and beautiful
a lot. I have been listening to the ghost quite
a bit. The Wednesday 13 album as well. But then
I get to May and time picking out. I listened
to the haunted songs of last resort. And again,
if you're into what the haunted is, has done,
especially after they've gotten back together
again and their earlier releases, this is going
to be right up your alley. It is, is them doing
their brand of thrash. And it is that there really
wasn't anything else that stood out to me this
week. And that's why for me, it's going to be
the haunted songs of the last resort. So let's
go over this again. Let's see for the first week
for, for May 2nd, Jeremy picked, is this falling
from grace at the edge? No. You picked Under
Ruins. That's right. Age of the Void. I picked
Gypsy Pistoleros. Welcome to the Church of the
Pistoleros. On the 9th, you picked Paralyzed,
Rumble, and Roar from, yeah, by Paralyzed. I
picked The Ugly Side of Me from Tetraarch. For
the 16th, you picked Magic Pie with Maestro.
I picked Waltari with Nations Neurosis. On the
23rd, you picked Ronnie Romero live at Rock Imperium
Festival. And I picked Midnight, Steel, Rust,
and Disgust. And for the last week in May, the
30th, you picked... Looking for trouble by the
Dead Daisies, and I picked Songs of Last Resort
from The Haunted. So, cool. Let's... It's stuck.
Play. Those are our picks for May 2025. And,
uh, we're going to get into some other topics
here. Uh, Jeremy, did you get a chance to listen
to episode, uh, 414, which was released this
morning in audio? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I want
to hear your take on my take of the, um, Iron
Maiden set list. Yeah, yeah, I thought you were
going to ask that question. Yeah, I mean, let's
just sort of summarize what your take was on
it. Your take was that it was a decent list,
but there wasn't enough deep cuts, and you were
a bit disappointed by it. Is that a resume of
it? Yes, I would say it's a good set list, but
after them saying, oh, we're going to... play
songs we've never played live before, which is
already false. We're going to play songs that
we haven't played in a long time. There really
isn't anything that they haven't played since
Bruce and Adrian has come back. The closest thing
to that is they played killers for the first
time since 99. But again, they played it when
Bruce and Adrian just first came back. Yeah.
So. As cool as that is, as cool as a lot of those
songs are, and as much as I appreciate the Clairvoyant
and Killers and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son,
not exactly Drifter or Only the Good Die Young
or Sea of Madness or... twilight zone or purgatory
or flash of the blade for that matter you know
there wasn't that oh shit moment to say oh my
god they're playing this one now you know it's
just okay cool yeah so you've dug this song out
after 10 years after previously playing it on
the previous five tours yeah yeah And the crucial
issue was really what you pointed out in your
podcast, was that they'd actually flagged this
beforehand. They sort of said, or they intimated,
that they were going to play some deep cuts,
they were going to retire songs, and they were
going to sort of shake it up a bit, basically.
That's what they were hinting at. And we look
at this set list and we think, well, yeah, we
can see one or two there. We can see three or
four there. but it's not quite what we were expecting.
I think we were kind of expecting, well, maybe
at least half the set list would be songs that
either have never been played or haven't been
played for a long, long time. Obviously, you
expect the three encores to be, you know, the
favourites. I was expecting actually Number of
the Beast to be, you know, an encore with maybe
Running Free or, you know, The Trooper, those
sort of songs. But, yeah, I agree to a large
extent with you because I think we were all sold
a little pop and, you know, we were sold the
fact that get tickets for the tour because you're
going to hear different songs on it. And it's
not quite that way, but I'm sort of thinking,
just dialing it back a bit, I'm thinking from
their point of view, these are old guys now.
They want to play a lot of familiar songs. They
don't want to play too many new ones. They've
also got a new drummer on board who, you know,
may be familiar with some of the big songs that
Iron Maiden are known for because he sort of
plays them anyway and didn't want to sort of
play stuff that, you know. is a bit less, a bit
out there, shall we say. So I'm just being devil's
advocate and sort of thinking it through. As
you know, I'm going to go and see them on this
tour. I'm going in a couple of weeks in Manchester.
And, you know, I'm going to be quite happy listening
to all of that, obviously, because, you know,
there's some songs there I've never heard them
play because I, you know, they haven't played
them for a long time, but I didn't actually hear
them myself at that time. So, yeah, you know.
I am blaming the drummer for the set list, yeah.
A little bit. A little bit. So, yeah, I mean,
yeah, I guess on one hand, I'm a bit disappointed.
And on the other hand, listen, Iron Maiden is
still going. And that's a great thing. Yeah.
My thing with that, I mean, you're bringing Simon
Dawson in. Wouldn't you have already said, all
right, listen, Simon, you've got to learn these
20 songs. So, I mean, he's obviously an employee.
Based on how they set things up, Nico still seems
to be on the payroll somehow. Nico just isn't
going to tour anymore. So does that mean we're
going to get Nico on an upcoming album? Does
it mean Simon's going to be the one playing on
the next album? And it's just funny seeing people
criticize him and saying, I mentioned this last
week, the size of his drum set. And then it's,
oh, well, he plays Nico's songs differently.
Well, no shit. He's going to play songs differently.
He's not Nico. For as much as I practice and
try to play the Nico songs like Nico. There's
still going to be my flavor to it. So it's not
going to sound exactly alike. And the same thing's
going to happen with him. And listen, maybe the
band doesn't want the songs to sound exactly
like Nico or Clive playing. Maybe it's the band
saying, you know what? We want you to have your
own identity. So there you go. Edgar Winterson
breaking some news here. Nico told me he's still
a studio drummer. Well, let's hope if that's
the case, they can make Kevin Shirley the studio
gopher as opposed to the engineer producer. So,
yeah, I mean, you're going to enjoy the show.
My other thing is, oh, we don't do greatest hits
shows. This looks a lot like a greatest hits
to me. Yeah. Yeah, it does. It does really. Yeah.
I mean, what are you missing? Can I play with
Matt? Can I play with madness? I mean, what,
what else are flight of Icarus? I mean, there's
a few singles they haven't included, but for
the most part, these are all singles that were
released at one point or another. Yeah, I guess
they're a band now with a huge catalogue. They've
decided to do just a certain amount of albums
on this, the early albums. And they're going
to be damned if they do, damned if they don't.
They also probably do have to think about an
audience. We're the kind of guys who like to
see deep cuts because we like to listen to lots
of stuff. But there's lots of fans out there
who really just do want the hits, if we're honest
about it. There's people buying tickets out there,
and I wouldn't be surprised if at least half
the audience, maybe more, just want to hear all
the hits. They might have only seen Iron Maiden
twice, and that's what they're going for. Yeah,
could be. So you brought up another point, which
is seeing bands, putting bands back together
that we either haven't seen before. or haven't
seen in a long time. I'm assuming this is something
that you've been thinking about for quite some
time. Well, yeah, but it was also what jigged
my memory was the Triumph sort of get -together
very recently. It's on Blabbermouth about it.
Then they're playing just a one -off three sort
of track gig at some live sports event. And that
is one band that I would like to see live. They
didn't really play a lot in the UK, but I used
to like them. And then that got me thinking about
another Canadian band, which Johan is going to
be very pleased I mentioned, because obviously
I'd really like to see Rush together. I know
it's only the two of them, but that would be
nice to see some sort of Rush reunion. But yeah,
I suppose there are a few bands out there that
I would like to see. come back and play. I would
also like to see Whitesnake do a little bit more.
I believe David Coverdale can't do it anymore.
So that's obviously the reason. And the rest
of the band, they've got together and they're
also playing some Whitesnake stuff as a one -off.
um because we discussed this so a while ago i
think and we were sort of saying whether white
state would come back as a you know the name
only without david and i sort of said no it wouldn't
happen well i guess you were kind of right because
they have come back and they are going to do
this one off but i think that's all it is uh
just you know i think it's a guitar festival
actually so uh yeah there's a few bands out there
that would like to see reform and do it and i
guess kiss is another you know i'd like to see
kiss continue and do some more stuff. But obviously
I realized that, you know, guys in the seventies
can't put on their boots and the, all the, you
know, all the stuff and play it live. But yeah,
there's one or two out there. What about you?
Who's, who's the guitarist for Whitesnake? It's
Joel Hulkster. And who's the second one? Yeah.
Is it Red Beach? It's not Red Beach. No, he's
gone, isn't he? Who's in there now? Can't remember
who's in there now. They have so many guitarists,
don't they? They go in and out all the time.
I know Joel Hoekstra is definitely... Let's see.
Can't remember who was last in it. Doug Aldridge.
Well, Doug's a while ago. No, but he's... Because
he's gone off to dead days. He's been in dead
days as well. He's definitely... Oh, you mean...
You mean for this one -off? There's one off.
Yeah, so it's Marco Mendoza, Dino Jeralicic.
Yeah. I pronounced that wrong. Jalusic, okay.
Yeah. All right, so they're going to have Tommy
Aldridge, Joel Hoekstra, Marco Mendoza. And the
keyboard is Michelle Lupe. Okay, so they've only
listed one guitarist. Right, right. That's interesting
because, I mean, for the most part, they've always
been a two -guitar band. Yeah. I mean, outside
of when John Sykes was in there, I think is probably
the only time they were a one -guitarist band,
but I don't know. Did they have a second guitarist?
During his tenure? I can't remember now. Yeah,
I can't remember. Okay. Yeah. But so many guitarists
that come in and out of that pen, though. Right.
Because obviously Vandenberg was in for a while,
wasn't he, as well? Yes. So to answer your question,
we would have to resurrect the dead to make this
happen. Oh, yeah. Black Sabbath with Dio. With
Dio, yeah. Yeah, you can't argue with that. I've
seen Dio. I've never seen Black Sabbath, and
I've never seen Black Sabbath with Dio. Right,
I have. You have seen Black Sabbath with Dio.
Yeah, they were heaven and hell. Yeah. So, yeah,
I've seen Black Sabbath twice. I've seen Dio
twice. And I've seen Black Sabbath with Dio once.
Okay. So you've seen Sabbath with Ozzy twice
or it was once with Ozzy? No, twice with Ozzy.
I saw them on the farewell tour and I saw them
at Download Festival headlining. And I saw Dio
twice on his own when, you know, he's in his
heyday, when he released Holy Diver and then
the album after that. And I've also seen Heaven
and Hell, which would be sort of not far before
he died, really, I suppose. Right. And that was
a really loud concert. I think they were supported
by Lamb of God. I've got a feeling Lamb of God
was supporting them. And I walked into the arena
and it was so noisy when I walked in because
I wasn't sort of warmed up to the music. So I
didn't like Lamb of God so much, but yeah, Heaven
and Hell. And they were really noisy as well.
I mean, they were loud, to say loud, but very
melodic, obviously. Yeah, I saw Dio on his final
solo tour where he wasn't playing any Black Sabbath
as a result. Because he was going back to heaven
and hell. Yeah. So, all right. So here's another
thing now that we're on the Sabbath topic. You
can now purchase pay -per -view of the concert?
Yeah, I saw that today. Yeah, that's interesting.
So how much is it? Do we know? Yeah, it's 27
euros. 27 euros, right. That's not bad. It's
not bad. Yeah. And so what will that be? That'll
be the whole day. You can just watch the whole
stuff. Yeah. It's saying live access to watch
the entire, the entire back to the beginning
event, starting July 5th at 3 PM British standard
time, Eastern standard time and 7 AM Pacific
standard time. VOD replay access to rewatch the
entire event. VOD available from July 5th, shortly
after event conclusion until July 7th at 3 p
.m. British Standard Time, 10 a .m., so on and
so forth. Well, I guess I'm very tempted to pay
that. It's £25 roughly, UK. the same as you'd
pay for, uh, you know, a day out anywhere else.
Uh, so yeah. Um, if it's from three o 'clock
in the afternoon, you could just sit down and
watch the whole thing from the comfort of your
living room, make sure you got plenty of food
on hand. And, uh, yeah, I think that'd be, that'd
be quite fun. Um, I'm hoping that this is released
somehow on DVD at some point. Because I can't
watch it, unfortunately. Right, right. I would
guess it will be. I've got a feeling that this
is going to be sold forever. And yeah, there's
going to be ways of seeing this somehow. I wouldn't
be surprised if it actually comes up as a repeat
some other way in the future, you know, on a
music channel or, you know, some other way where
you'd be able to watch it for free eventually.
Yeah, so. So they have it billed as Black Sabbath,
House of Osborne, Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Slayer,
Tool, Pantera, Gojira, Hailstorm, Alice in Chains,
Lamb of God, Anthrax, Mastodon, and Rival Sons,
and many more. It's kind of like a metal live
aid because the proceeds are going to charity
as well. Yeah, so there you go. Edgar Winterson
is saying he'll wait. For the bootleg. If they're
streaming this, it'll be online somewhere. All
right. And the last thing that you brought up
was the last three things that you had purchased.
Yeah, not quite that. The question was not quite
that. It was three albums that kind of like put
your money where your mouth is. I was trying
to sort of say, you know, we do all these reviews
over the years. And obviously we go out and actually
purchase albums as well. We actually do purchase
the stuff. So just sort of thinking any three
that you want. I mean, if it's the three last
albums, that's fine. It doesn't matter. It can
be three. I picked like the last album I purchased,
but also two over, you know, several years back,
over the last sort of three years or whatever.
And yeah, I just wanted to pinpoint a few that
I purchased. um and i've actually got them here
so i can i can maybe do one at a time maybe we
can do one each and then yeah um yeah so uh the
very last album that i purchased was this album
which i reviewed i think only a week ago and
it's the heat welcome to the future album okay
there it is uh quite melodic album as i mentioned
really into it really like heat the band seen
them once live at download festival thought they
were good Missed them on this tour, which is
a bit of a shame. But I like this album, and
I like the particular, like, Children of the
Storm, which if you read a lot of the reviews
of this album as well, they all mention that
particular song. Really good song, which probably
Europe would have loved to have released. It's
in that vein. So, yeah, great. They always keep
the quality up, and it's that type of music I
like. Okay. All right. For me, I'm going to go
with right over here, Jerry Cantrell, I Want
Blood. Love the title track. I love a lot of
the aspects of this album. It was my album of
the week when this came out last year and an
album that I still listen to all the time and
just posted the new video for the title track
on Patreon. Go ahead. What's your next one? Yeah,
yeah. So the next one is the Victory album. This
is not the latest album. It's the one before
it, which is Gods of Tomorrow, which I really
like this album. I think it's great. It's got
a real tempo to it. There's some really, really
good rocking songs on here. And I think it was
a really good production. And I think at the
time, if I remember rightly, because it's a few
years old now, but I gave it a good review at
the time. And I do remember hearing it. um, originally
on young metal, which, uh, as we know, one of
our friends does that Brad. So, um, yeah, he,
he got me into victory really. I listened to
it on there and I thought, yeah, I like this
band. This is real sort of typical hard rock,
which, um, you know, I like, so yeah, I play
that a lot. And, uh, there it is. Victory. Great.
Cool. Uh, my next choice is leave a scar. Oh
yeah. Great, great album. Makes me wonder why
he doesn't want to release any more new music.
I get it. It doesn't sell. It takes up too much
time. So on and so forth. But I think fans would
love to continue to receive albums just like
this one. It's a great album. Again, this came
out in 2021. It's four years old at this point.
And I still listen to it. Yeah. So that was number
two. Yeah. That's the thing about us buying albums,
isn't it? Because they're the stuff that we really
like and we are going to listen to them. And
that's the great thing about having vinyl, having
CDs, having physical music. You know, you're
going to put it on and you can feel it. You can
touch it. You can read the liner notes, all that
sort of stuff. So, yeah, my next one is from
2023. It was another one that we recommended.
It is Night Demon with Outsider. This is a band
which I think I reviewed favorably at the time.
I must have done because I bought the album.
And it's also a band which I saw live. They supported
Michael Schenker Group, not this latest time,
but the time before I saw him. And they were
really good live. We all enjoyed it. I went there
with a couple of friends and we all thought they
were really good live. They played three or four
tracks from this album. There's only eight tracks
on here. They're a good rocking band and they
deserve support. So I bought Night Demon with
Outsider. All right. So the next one here, this
came out in 2019. I don't remember if we go this
far back with doing these monthly album reviews
or not, but I know that this was a video of the
week. When I was doing them on Patreon, it is
Anesthetic by Mark Morton, the Lamb of God guitarist.
This has a lot of different types of hard rock
and metal on it. And it's just designed just
really neat. These are tarot cards, actually,
that they designed. So it's really neat. And
they're all based on each of the songs. I'm also
going to give you a bonus here because this is
from an interview that I did years ago, 2021.
So this is newer. It is Armageddon by the band
Manimal. Oh, yeah, I remember that one. That's
a great album. This is a really strong album.
It is really good. If you're really into Judas
Priest and Queensryche. This is going to be right
up your alley. I mean, when I interviewed the
singer, there was no shame at all with him saying
that those were his two biggest influences. So
that's kind of what you get on here. So anything
else you want to bring up? As far as purchases
like that? No, I haven't got access to any more
next to me. So I think everyone's going to have
to wait till next time. So I think we might have
to revisit this again. This is a good little
feature, I think, where we're showing off all
our albums. Now that I understand what you're
going for, I'll be ready next time for our little
version of show and tell here. Yeah. Anyway,
so I do want to thank everyone who is watching
this live. Edgar Winterson in the chat. I want
to thank anyone who's listening to or watching
the replay of this. We're helping all you folks
out with albums to check out and new music that's
coming out. Not every month is definitely a home
run, but we try to help out in any way that we
can. Edgar Winterson is telling us that his pick
is fallen angel of doom by fallen angel of doom.
All right. There you go. Awesome. On that note,
we will end today's show. Thank you, Jeremy,
for joining me once again, and we will see you
guys right here on signals from ours. See you
folks. podcast you can subscribe to the show
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this concludes our show