#TheMetalDogArticleList
#BraveWords
FIFTH ANGEL Bassist JOHN MACKO Releases Zero-Point Machine Album Featuring FLOTSAM AND JETSAM’s KEN MARY And Others

https://bravewords.com/news/fifth-angel-bassist-john-macko-releases-zero-point-machine-album-featuring-flotsam-and-jetsams-ken-mary-and-others/

#FIFTHANGEL #JOHNMACKO #Bassist #ReleasesZero #powermetal #album #newrelease #BraveWords #metal #music

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#BraveWords
FIFTH ANGEL Bassist JOHN MACKO Launches UTOPIA Solo Project Featuring FLOTSAM AND JETSAM’s KEN MARY And Others; Self-Titled First Single And Music Available

https://bravewords.com/news/fifth-angel-bassist-john-macko-launches-utopia-solo-project-featuring-flotsam-and-jetsams-ken-mary-and-others-self-titled-first-single-and-music-available/

#FIFTHANGEL #JOHNMACKO #Bassist #Launches #heavymetal #album #newrelease #single #announcement #drummer #guitaris...

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#BraveWords
FIFTH ANGEL – “Wings Of Destiny: The Story Of Fifth Angel” Biography Now Available

https://bravewords.com/news/fifth-angel-wings-of-destiny-the-story-of-fifth-angel-biography-now-available/

#FIFTHANGEL #WingsOfDestiny #TheStoryOfFifthAngel #BraveWords #metal #music

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#BraveWords
FIFTH ANGEL Biography Now Available For Pre-Order

https://bravewords.com/news/fifth-angel-biography-now-available-for-pre-order/

#FIFTHANGEL #BiographyNowAvailableForPre #Order #heavymetal #newrelease #BraveWords #metal #music

Sleepless – Through Endless Black Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

Bands who seek to echo heavy metal’s past walk a fine line between regressive repetition and studied homage. Consequently, in a world where source material for these sounds spans the course of decades, the tag indicating this new wave of traditional heavy metal remains wide in scope. Motorcycles? Loin cloths? Swords and dragons? What shall the recipe of hairy-chested riffs and wailing mic blowouts spell? In examining Oregon-based Sleepless’ sophomore outing, Through Endless Black, it’s at least clear that two things are true: the power of riffs indeed compels this collection to rock, and an urgent vocal identity fills its chest proudly. But the question still looms around what brand of traditional showmanship Sleepless displays.

Whether Sleepless knows it or not, their sound on Through Endless Black plays close to the weird power-leaning doom of the ’90s Swedish underground in its manner of rockin’ trad riffs that swing to crawling, soaring choruses. We talk about a lot of things around the water cooler at Casa AMG1, and though many of us don’t see eye-to-eye on the world at large, at least the great Steel and I can agree on one thing: too many bands ignore the potential to copy peak Tad Morose. Determined to set my heart aflutter, melodic leads that drop into heavyweight drags scattered throughout Through Endless Black recalls both the slower cuts of Tad Morose or the more traditional gallop of the similar-minded Memory Garden. Main mind Kevin Hahn, holding chops both in the grip of a traditional axe and tastefully reverbed mic, has spent a lot of time both on the cover band circuit2 and at the engineer’s seat, so I’m not sure that exactly his aim with Sleepless. But different paths can always lead to similar results.

Except not every track across Through Endless Black reeks of that same stench of doomy power, with Hahn’s vocal prowess serving equally as blight and boon. Simple and fluffy rock riffs, the kind that present themselves in the AOR-assisted jams of cruise groove like Fifth Angel, already pull attention away from muscular crushes at the least effective moments (“Cult of the Narcissist,” “Lessons in Tongues”). And in these same gentler excursions, Hahn’s clear and breathy tenor aids further in distancing his performance from the subtle grit and chesty bellow that he displays in horn-raising, fist-pumping amp-shakers (“Consumed by Vengeance,” “Dreams of Mortal Ruin”). Hahn has amazing range, and an incredible ability to lay down harmonized solos in a big Scorpions way, but it really does feel like he’s packing too many contrasting ideas into Sleepless.

However, many of Sleepless’ ’80s and ’90s traditional genre worship excursions come across in a more flattering manner. The best cuts across Through Endless Black lead with refrains drenched in guitar drama, dark synth play, and full volume chord swells, all resolving in well-framed choruses (“Call to the Void,” “Where Fear Lives,” “Dreams…”). And slipping well into the sleaze and heavy metal fervor of the grand and gruff W.A.S.P., Hahn loads an extra venom and swagger into his barking verse work and sliding wails (“Exist Another Day,” “Transcending the Obsidian Throne”), even landing in a ripe pseudo-ballad cheese with the opening chime and croon of “Lost Star.” The supporting rhythm tones aren’t quite what one would expect in this lane, relying less on spacious chords and reverb, and more on compressed guitar crackle and a low-end lurch, but that at least helps pull Sleepless away from pure homage and into foraging a sound in reverence.

Despite the success that Sleepless finds throughout Through Endless Black, a certain lack of wildness—of rugged bravado—holds it back from turning its glory into grandiosity. Steeped in studied sounds, Sleepless never feels wanting in execution. Though some of that same polish leads Through Endless Black to engorge with a textbook battlefield vigor, that same educational approach does not lead to many surprises and allows the lesser sputters present to pull down the total experience. I do have high hopes for Sleepless though, as a sophomore cobbling of this quality shows, potential, promise, and perhaps a sword simply too deep in its sheath.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Warrior Records
Websites: sleeplessmetal.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/sleepless
Releases Worldwide: October 31st, 2024

#25 #2024 #AmericanMetal #FifthAngel #HeavyMetal #MemoryGarden #Oct24 #ProgPower #ProgressiveMetal #Review #Reviews #Scorpions #Sleepless #TadMorose #ThroughEndlessBlack #WASP_

Impellitteri – War Machine Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

As the eponymous outfit of American shredhead Chris Impellitteri, Impellitteri has wielded the heavy metal chorus call and neoclassical solo response for near forty years. Though presenting a style that rollicks about Malmsteen-like fretboard gymnastics in a 80s rockin’ manner in the ballpark of the flamboyant Racer X or rough ‘n’ riffy Chastain, Impellitteri has maintained a workmanlike vigor in their long-standing songcraft. Virtuosity in runs and power chord progressions call the shots in this well-attended line of fire-fingered, efficient attacks. And though times are different than when Rob Rock (of his own eponymous works and ex-Axel Rudi Pell), first joined the Impellitteri crew, his continued presence alongside the nimble band leader aims to find that same consistency with this newest War Machine.

Understandably, War Machine veers little from the Impellitteri way. Though the American stalwarts materialized in 1988 as an affair similar to the Rainbow-on-shred names popular of the time, debut Stand in Line even featuring ex-Rainbow, ex-Alcatrazz vocalist Graham Bonnet, Impelliterri grew to thrive less on AOR shakin’ and more on power metal adjacent triumph on successive releases.1 And with the introduction of Rock on mic, Ken Mary (Fifth Angel, ex-Chastain) on kit, and Ed Roth (Driver) on keys, 90s peaks Screaming Symphony and Eye of the Hurricane offered a thrilling and overloaded version of a sound that already possessed much flexing force. Though low on variation, Impellitteri’s style through to War Machine remains classic and guitar-forward, a combo that to lovers of the olde and solo-wild will rarely be displeasing.

Despite the similar nature of everything, both to past Impellitteri works and within its own walls, War Machine comes stacked with bombastic guitar work against ridiculous themes. Reaching for a standard-issue bag of neoclassical tricks, along with spacey phasers that give whiffs of Van Halen party energy (“Superkingdom,” “Just Another Day”), Impellitteri’s licks endure as swift and truly heavy metal. And relying on the intensity of a post-Painkiller world, tracks like “Hell on Earth” and “Light It Up” find an extra rhythmic propulsion that keeps the horns raised high against double-kick assaults.2 Testament to Rock’s not-ageless but studied bravado, his performance, while not striking the highest highs of his younger days, lives in full commitment against campy themes of AI takeover (“Superkingdom”) and getting rowdy in the mosh pit (“War Machine,” “Light It Up”). Adding that all-too-important warmth and earnestness to the smoky stage romp that Impellitteri embodies, Rock persists as a link vital to keeping the War Machine on course.

When Impellitteri fires on all the cylinders still at their disposal, War Machine lives up to its name. But that makes up only about half of its forty-three-minute runtime. At this point in the Impellitteri catalog, the line between filler and iterated event runs thinner than the cutting tone Mr. Impellitteri loves so to highlight his lightning-speed scale laps. In that sense, it shouldn’t matter that “War Machine” is another “Turn of the Century” (Crunch, 2000) shred-laced groove that sets a marching tone, nor should it be a bother that “Beware the Hunter” utilizes one of the most common riff patterns that Impellitteri has ever put to tape. The War Machine versions of these tested sounds should land on their own merit—at cranking speeds (“Wrath Child,” “Light It Up”) and proudest arpeggio (“Superkingdom,” “Just Another Day”) they do, and Impellitteri shows they have ideas left in the tank. But when all eleven tracks don’t show this same fervor at this stage of their career, Impellitteri needs to spend a little more time in curation than creation.

If a younger Dolph had written this review, some of War Machine’s issues of repetition may not have stuck out in as flagrant a stumbling manner. However, Impellitteri, since first entering the fold of cetaceous enjoyment in the mid-00s, has released album after album of lowering differentiation with infrequent flashes of a former shining self. When the past was more recent, less littered by minds who wanted the same 11-dialed Marshall and scalloped Strat in the limelight, Impellitteri’s recursive ideas were more forgivable. But at our current juncture in time, growing every year closer to four decades of Impellitteri occupation, the War Machine must stand against those who preceded and inspired its existence, those who grew shoulder-to-shoulder in shred, and those who have raised themselves on the entirety of that history. And that’s all more fight than War Machine gives.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Frontiers Music
Websites: impellitteri.net | instagram.com/chrisimpellitteriofficial
Releases Worldwide: November 8th, 2024

#20 #2024 #Alcatrazz #AxelRudiPell #Chastain #FifthAngel #FrontiersMusic #HeavyMetal #Impellitteri #NeoclassicalMetal #Nov24 #PowerMetal #RacerX #Rainbow #Review #Reviews #RobRock #Shred #WarMachine #YngwieMalmsteen

Axel Rudi Pell – Risen Symbol Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

Axel Rudi Pell has been around for a long time—longer than I’ve been alive, truthfully. As the eponymous band of German guitarist Axel Rudi Pell, who broke off from the Deutschland-nested Steeler way back in the 80s,1 Axel Rudi Pell has since released album after album of crunchy-riffed, flamboyantly-soloed, chorus-led heavy metal. Embracing both the neoclassical in lead and classic arena rock in power chord progressions, ARP has innovated little and iterated less for each of the now twenty-two albums of no-cover-charge good(ish) times.

ARP’s christening lineups boasted various powerhouse vocalists like Rob Rock (Impellitteri) and Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Yngwie Malmsteen, Trans-Siberian Orchestra), aiding the foundation on which ARP coasted. And to their credit, the albums from that era hold up pretty well as sometimes-Scorpions, sometimes-Rainbow, always-less-than-Fifth Angel slabs of flashy heavy metal with too many ballads but just enough power to make it through. Of course, Mr. Pell hasn’t gone anywhere, along with his long-time bassist Volker Krawczak (ex-Steeler). And since ’98, he’s been ridin’ steady with the golden pipes of Johnny Gioeli (Crush 40,2 Enemy Eyes) and the gently harmonizing keys of Ferdy Doernberg (Rough Silk). If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

It turns out, though, that if you continue to release the same kind of album with the same people through the same lens of influence, then the experience begins to wear out quickly. Risen Symbol busts its energy in the unwelcome foreplay of “The Resurrection (Intro)” into the mildly invigorated “Forever Strong.” Maybe you’ve never encountered ARP before, so you’ve probably never heard them play these riffs with these chorus progressions (and in “Guardian Angel” and in “Hell’s On Fire” and in “Right on Track”… you get it, right?)—but if you look, you don’t have to search far. And though ARP has, to date, six3 collections of ballads—most of which are covers—and two full-length releases dedicated to covers, there persists an ARPian for more covers. So we get an ambiguously MENA-mooded cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.” Bet ya never heard that either.4

In addition to lacking diversity, Risen Symbol shows the cracks of aging ideals against a production style that attempts to bolster it. It would take a miracle for Gioeli to sound the way he did when he landed with ARP over twenty-five years ago. And since those kinds of acts are in short supply, his vocals find pumped volume pockets with extra mic distortion as a grit substitute (most egregiously while trying to Plant it up in “Immigrant Song”). While this kind of all-fists-pumping rock does not require a heavily trained voice, Gioeli has carried similar tunes better before, or at least less noticeably pitchy when he sat with less volume in the mix. Pell himself too fires on fewer cylinders, it seems. ARP has never been as shredtastic as visually similar acts like At Vance or Impellitteri, but drawing heavy inspiration from legends like Blackmore and Hendrix, Pell’s leads typically soar. But in most of Risen Symbol’s run, he mulls about in a flimsy-toned rhythm, and solo spots sputter (loudly) about as lazy melodic accouterment by his own past standards.

The world needs neither another vapid ballad (“Crying in Pain”) nor another desert adventure song lesser than Rainbow’s “Gates of Babylon” (“Ankhaia”). And up until the fake-out driving epic that closes Risen Symbol, the world didn’t really need more Axel Rudi Pell—certainly not a whole hour no matter how you slice it. I don’t know Pell’s full story, but I’m sure he came to be in a manner similar to how many become engrossed by rock and metal: he fell in love with the sound of a screeching guitar. That love shines through in his best works, and while he feels its throb enough to conjure more full-length collections, I don’t hear it resonating quite that way any longer. Never boundary-pushing enough to set a global audience ablaze, never sloggish enough to catch a whiff of public infamy, Axel Rudi Pell carries on in the local touring zone of “too good to crash and burn.” However, Risen Symbol inches this marathon-marked vanguard that much closer to a sparkless fade-out.

Rating: 1.5/5.0
DR: Somebody Call Me a… | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: SPV/Steamhammer | Bandcamp
Websites: axel-rudi-pell.de | axelrudipell.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/axelrudipellofficial
Releases Worldwide: June 14th, 2024

#15 #2024 #AOR #AtVance #AxelRudiPell #FifthAngel #GermanMetal #HardRock #HeavyMetal #Impellitteri #Jun24 #LedZeppelin #Rainbow #Review #Reviews #RisenSymbol #RobRock #Scorpions #Steeler #YngwieMalmsteen