Label: Kundrat Productions Released: December 11, 2007 Born in the Basement is original Overkill drummer Rat Skates’ documentary about the early days of thrash metal, from its punk rock and New Wave of British Heavy Metal roots to the days of its major label success. While there is some mention of other thrash bands like Metallica and Slayer, Skates focuses… Read more »
Label: Get Off My Bach/MRV/Caroline/EMI Released: November 20, 2007 In light of the number of 80s hair metal has-beens trying to cash in on a sadly nostalgic public, I didn’t have tremendously high hopes for Sebastian Bach’s latest, his first album in eight years. The upside of this record is that Bach didn’t entirely bow to the past. From the… Read more »
Label: Universal Music AB Released: October 3, 2007 Even as an undercurrent to mainstream rock, a glam revival was one of the last things I expected to see. But this year has proved that a genre that was crumbling under its own bloated self twenty years ago might still have a little bit to offer. Sure, it’s full of “reunions”… Read more »
Label: Arclight Records Released: 2007 Over the course of rock history, “Louie Louie” has been covered countless times. Its simplicity and infectious hook make it an easy task for even the most pedestrian bands. On the other hand, to my knowledge, only one band has covered Lungfish’s “You Are the War.” There’s a few reasons: Lungfish is fairly far outside… Read more »
Label: Arclight Records Released: November 13, 2007 Some bands cover songs, others rename songs, but Magnet School has made an album out of a song. At no point do they play or even directly lift anything from “Bullet the Blue Sky,” but its presence is profound throughout. Magnet School captures the blues, rock, psychedelia and even the passion of U2’s… Read more »
Label: Exile Productions Ltd. Released: November 6, 2007 In over 40 years of performing, Van Morrison has released records on a variety of labels. Until now, there has apparently not been a best of culled from his entire catalog. Still on Top is a single volume anthology of Van the Man’s hits ranging from his time in the mid-60s with… Read more »
Label: Severe Records Released: December 4, 2007 A superficial reaction to Paris Luna’s City Lights might be to dismiss it as light folk rock. While it does have a few nods to bands best left forgotten like America, there is more behind it. Over the course of the album, Paris dabbles in folky pop, bluesy rock, light funk and soul… Read more »
Label: Metal Mind Productions Re-issued: 2007 Metal Mind Productions has recently re-issued Gang Green’s Roadrunner catalog on limited edition CDs. While this period may be just past their prime (1985’s Another Wasted Night), they still find Gang Green in high gear. You Got It is a lot closer to its predecessor than I remembered and it remains one of the… Read more »
Label: Metal Blade Records Released: October 2, 2007 When I saw that Lizzy Borden had a new album coming out, I had mixed expectations. While I liked several of their early albums despite the silly theatrics, I began to lose interest in the late 80s and didn’t even pay attention to their thin output over the last 17 or so… Read more »
Label: Holden Records Released: 2007 There is no real question that mash-ups are a novelty. Unlike a song that merely contains samples, a mash-up relies strictly on the strength of the songs that are colliding. True, there is some talent to hearing that two songs will work together and then mixing them into one. However, the result is never greater… Read more »