One of my `Net buddies! :-) [Sorry guys,she`s married; DEAL with it!] Guitar Sarah has,in additon to her own site,an MP3 page containing 7 songs of Neo Classical inspired Metal fused with Sarah`s own high-tech guitar wizardry."Melodic and Crunchy" is how Sarah describes her music, and indeed it is! Although this Metal Method instructor holds a BA in Music, she never lets her considerable technique bog down the songs,a common pitfall with many "Shredders". Drawing from a wide variety of influences,including George Lynch, Michael Schenker,and Wolf Hoffman, Sarah writes, plays,arranges,composes and produces her own songs.AND she can play most of her contemporaries into the cornfield! Check out "When We Were Kings", a Euro-Metal sounding track of epic proportions! Or "Euphonic Crunch". "Ancient Dream" is a fine example of Sarah`s compositional skills,as evidenced by the great guitar harmonies! Hey, don`t take MY word for it; click the link below & find out for yourself! You can also find her homepage there,as well.Go there and sign the guestbook while you`re at it. [and tell Sarah I sent ya!] To sum it all up: Guitar Sarah ROCKS!!!
Now HERE is a band that makes GWAR & The Genitorturers sound like Mannaheim Steamroller! Featuring Gregg Stiff,guitar,Beaver Hensley,Drums,Sherri Stewart,Bass,and the infamous Lance Ozanix,vocals & vomit,Sitzos 12th album goes over the top and THEN SOME! Need proof? Songs such as "Class Dismembered" [featuring Tracey Houser from Outrage on guitar],"Loner" [with ex-Faith No More guitarist Jim Martin doing lead]"Richard Killed Polly","Dahmers Daycare",and personal fave "Decapitated Head Parade",well,you get the idea.Musically,Skitzo is head & shoulders above most of the pack,writing quick,concise tunes packed to the brim with memorable riffs! But be warned: This is NOT for the faint of heart! Proceed at you own risk.......[Thanks to co-producer & Outrage vocalist Kurt Houser for tipping me off to Skitzo,and Lance for sending me the disc,as well as the Dramamine & Prozac!]
The pride of the Upstate New York Death Metal scene has done it again! Poughkeepsies own Darling Demoniac have released a 4-song CD of absolutely BRUTAL proportions!All the qualities that made their previous album such a monster have been TRIPLED here.The band has grown leaps & bounds since then;Jess Darling`s vocals are even MORE terrifying than ever,and the band overall plays with more feel and precision than most of their competition could ever dream of! Tracks such as "Pool of Red", "Flesh Prison","Cull the Herd",and a live version of "99 Fulton Ave."drive this home like a wooden stake! Hopefully, the next elease will be a full-length.How to insure this? BUY THE DAMN CD!!!!!! [HUGE thanks to MicHELLe for sending me the CD!:-)]
And so,that pox on the music world known as "Alternative" has breathed its` last! The time has come for REAL music [you KNOW what kind!] to bring us back to our senses;or,as is the case with this Quebec 5-piece,pound them into oblivion.And that`s EXACTLY what Spelldown does with their own brand of raging,screaming Power Metal! They manage to pull off in 3 songs what most bands mining the same territory take 3 albums [or more] to do! A winner from start to finish,Spelldown covers all the bases; production,song-writing,musicianship,vocals, everything is first class all the way! The epic "Necropolis","Clash of the Swords",and "Mount Olympus" all have that big,loud,wide open sound that any TRUE Power Metal act knows is pre-requisite in order to deliver the sound & fury this genre [and its` followers!] demands.This is one Spell you`ll DEFINTELY want to fall under! KILLER!!!!!
[OK,so this isn`t exactly "new"! Gimmie a break; I`m a little slow..] After the aptly named "Dysfuntional" & "Shadowlife",I had pretty much given up on Dokken.Then I got ahold of "Erase The Slate"! Now, maybe I`ve been subliminally influenced by all the publcity concerning the blood feud between Don Dokken and George Lynch, but I`ve always felt Dokken,even on their best albums,lacked something,a sense of communal "spirit",so to speak.Not so HERE!Former Winger axeman Reb Beach is the perfect replacement fo the now-departed Lynch: "replacement" is a poor choice of words,really.Reb is all over this album,and after listening to it the first time,all I could think of is "George WHO?"! And Don Dokken has never sung better,as proven on cuts like "Maddest Hatter","Shattered", a KILLER cover of Three Dog Night`s "One", and the magnificent "In Your Honor".This is the sound of a band who enjoy what they do; Dokken is DEFINITELY Rockin` now!
