HELL, YEAH! In their own words, Poughkeepsie based PIPEBOMB has lit a fuse under the ass of the upstate New York metal scene! [along with Darling Demoniac, another Poughtown favorite!] PIPEBOMB leans towards the Modern side of the Metal scene, with their CRUSHING 7-string guitar attack & all, but they are not, repeat NOT KoRn wannabees, nor do they sound like any of the Rap/Metal inbreeds currently polluting the Metal genre. This vicious 5-track displays a band possessed of great compositional skill, in terms of both songwriting AND intelligent lyrics. [unlike many of their contemporaries, who think creativity means using "THE F WORD" every third word!] The band is made up of Shark, vocals, Flynn, guitar/vocals, J. Michael Prizzi,guitars, Kevin Trabucco, drums and Jason Palmer, bass. For a group that has only been in existence for a year or so, PIPEBOMB is way ahead of the game! All are first rate musicians, as tracks like "Dead, "Shep", [my favorite!] "Knock", "Neighbor", and "Restitution" make VERY clear. But the band also strikes a delicate balance between intense, gut wrenching power and more introspective moments, using clean guitars and soulful, dreamlike vocals to achieve the same effect, while at the same time making the songs memorable AND catchy; not an easy thing to do! But PIPEBOMB has done JUST that, and from the looks of things, will continue to do so for a long time! Can`t wait to see these guys turned loose in the studio for a full-length recording! One of the BEST indie releases of 2001! Many, many thanks to Kevin Trabucco for sending me the CD!! For more information, check out the bands` website below......
They`re BACK! One of Los Angeles` HEAVIEST bands, CutThroat have released the much anticipated follow-up to their S/T debut from 2000. "Slave" is superior to their first in every way, songwriting, production. sheer heaviness, EVERYTHING! A lot o` Blood, Sweat & Beers went into this baby and Anger seems to be the dominant emotion throughout the 11 tracks. Not that whiney, temper tantrum kind of "anger" that`s pushed on us by angry young twits like Machine Head, Korn, Rage Against The Machine, and the rest of that ilk! "Slave" moves, it has melody, it ROCKS!! A far cry from that 7-string downtuned horse s**t that passes for Metal these days. No "Power Ballads" either, thank God, just POWER! Powerhouse drums and bass [Ramsay Bisharah and John Anderson, respectively], super charged riffs, death-defying guitar solos, [Darwin DeVitis and Ken Snyder] and the pipes-from-Hell of Sean Okin assure CutThroat a place at the forefront of the 21st Century`s Metal revival! "Revival" is not an appropriate choice, really; Metal never went away, and bands like CutThroat are going to make sure it NEVER will!! Click the link below and check it out for yourself..........
Yeah, I know this is 4 years old! So WHAT! It`s MY site, isn`t it? And I just HAD to post this baby! Saber Tiger is led by Japanese guitar whiz Akihito Kinoshita, who also produced. "Project One" features the thunderous rhythm section of Naoto Shibata [bass] and Hirotsugu Homma; both of these guys can be heard on the most recent Loudness albums "Heavy Metal Hippies", "Live and Loud", "Ghetto Machine", "Dragon", and "Engines", which are all great, by the way! The big surprise here is Ron Keel on vocals! Confession time; I have never been a Keel fan. I liked some of his Keel releases, but I just wasn`t that interested. However, after listening to Ron`s performance on "Project One", all that has changed. On this album, Keel`s vocal delivery is some of the rawest, most emotionally charged that I have heard in YEARS! Want proof? Check out his singing in "Ride Like The Wind"; pure, passionate, and straight from the gut! In other words, everything that Heavy Metal vocals SHOULD be! I wouldn`t be surprised to find that this [as well as the other tracks on the album] was a first take. Mr. Keel, you have won a new convert! And is there something in the water in Japan, or what? Why does Japan have so many fantastic guitar players like Kinoshita? This guy NEVER lets up! Psychotic, super heavy riffs, mind bending solos, inventive song structures, all in all a perfect a Metal statement if there ever was one! Can`t believe I missed this one! This is a Japanese import, so it`s tough [and expensive] to get, but WELL worth it!! [You can find out more information at the links below.]