An Iconic Band

 

What do you get when you get when you throw Michael Sweet (Stryper), Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake, TSO, Cher, Night Ranger), Tommy Aldridge (Whitesnake, Black Oak Arkansas, Thin Lizzy), Marco Mendoza (The Dead Daisies, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, Blue Murder), and Nathan James (Inglorious) into a studio?  You get blistering rock the way rock was intended to be!  As a huge fan of these bands, there was simply no way I was not going to love what Iconic produced, and when they released their first song "Nowhere To Run" from the forthcoming album Second Skin on Frontiers Records, I was not disappointed.  Actually, I was.  I was disappointed I couldn't get any more work done because I had to keep listening to this song over and over!

The Music

Hoekstra and Sweet on the six-string attack...what more could you possibly want?  These guys have worked together on some of Michael Sweet's solo projects, and theirs were always the finest tracks on those albums.  I have had the pleasure of interviewing both axe slingers on my podcast The Wildman & Steve Show, and I can tell you that they are true professionals who continue to dedicate endless hours to getting better at their craft.  Take one listen to "Nowhere To Run," and you will agree.  Their frantic fretwork is fierce, which is just what the doctor ordered.

Moving to the foundation of the sound we get to Tommy Aldridge, one of the all-time greatest drummers in rock, and Marco Mendoza.  Are you kidding me?  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  You could isolate just the drum and bass tracks and you would STILL have a killer piece of music!  These two guys are having FUN, and it comes through in the blistering rhythm section of this band.  And while we're on it, let's just say a word about the overall sound.  This thing is mixed perfectly!  You hear it all, and every lick, every drum beat, every note is crystal clear.

Finally we get to Nathan James.  This man was born to sing the kind of bluesy rock and metal that made the '70s and '80s...well...the '70s and '80s.  I keep coming back to the words "fierce" and "aggressive," and that is what you get when James grabs the microphone as well as your attention.  His voice has grit, but he does not produce the kind of guttural growl that obscures lyrics.  Put simply, he can SING!

The Video

Rock music is a visual artform.  From the over-the-top stage antics of bands to their sets and costumes, there is a visual element that goes with the music that just makes everything so much fun, and that is front and center in this video.  This would have gone straight to the top of Headbangers Ball back in the heyday of MTV.  It starts out with bubbling lava and the band members in silhouette, for heaven's sake!  Can a video get much more metal?  The other word that keeps coming to mind is "fun."  Tommy is having the time of his life, and if you look closely, Marco can barely keep a smile from spreading over his face.  Nathan is a great front man in this video with a presence that matches his voice.  As for our six-string warriors, Joel and Michael are every inch the metal warriors.  Does Joel need sunglasses in the darkened room of the video?  No, and that's why he looks so cool wearing them!  And Michael...yes, he did have eye surgery not long before the video was made, hence the eyepatch, but as for a look, it gives him the appearance of a heavy metal pirate, and those are always two things that go together.

Bottom Line

If the rest of the songs on Second Skin are anything like "Nowhere To Run," we just may be in for a true metal renaissance! 

Second Skin, Frontiers Records

June 17, 2022

Pre-order on all platforms at https://orcd.co/secondskin.

The Detonation of Bloodgood

 

In 1987 I picked up the cassette of Bloodgood's album Detonation.  I was new to metal and wasn't in a place to appreciate fully just how good this album really is.  Did you ever read a piece of literature in school only to re-read it years later and be blown away by it?  Sometimes it just takes maturing of taste to grasp a work of art, and such was the case with this album and me.

In 2013 the band released Dangerously Close, a monster masterpiece that brought me back to the band, and then in 2020 I had the good fortune to interview Les Carlsen with Pastor Wildman on The Wildman & Steve Show.

I found myself spending lots of time, dwelling really, in the Bloodgood catalogue, and now, more than thirty years after buying Detonation on cassette, I am finally ready to offer some thoughts on this magnificent album.

This sophomore release from the band was ranked by Heaven's Metal as one of the best Christian metal albums of all time, but I would argue its position at #23 on that list should be considerably higher.  Let's look at three factors:  instrumental music, lyrics, and vocals.

The lineup includes Michael Bloodgood on bass, Mark Welling on drums, David Zaffiro on guitar, and Les Carlsen on vocals, and a powerful lineup it is.  Michael Bloodgood puts down a solid bass line that gives a heavy, dark feel, which was far less common for a Christian band, even of the metal variety, back in 1987.  Mark Welling's drums are bright and fast, especially on the attack opening of "Self-Destruction."  Taken together, these two set a solid rhythm foundation as good as anything else on the market at the time and making it clear that this is not a group about which you say, "Oh, they're good for a Christian band," but simply, "Man, these guys are GOOD!"  David Zaffiro is simply blistering on the six-string axe.  I get a bit of a Mötley Crüe feel at times, and in general the sound is solid '80s metal, but it still holds up well more than thirty years later.  

When it comes to lyrics, these are some of the best out there.  No, I didn't say some of the best metal lyrics or some of the best lyrics from the '80s.  These are solid, thought-provoking lyrics, period.  Consider just this epic line from "Eat The Flesh."  "Share the bread and living water.  Eat the flesh, drink the blood of Christ."  This is straight from the words of Jesus Himself and about as metal a lyric as you are going to find.  "Battle of The Flesh" opens the album with a lyrical onslaught dealing with temptation, but as many many know, the sheer poetry comes in with tracks 8 and 9, which go together, "Crucify" and "The Messiah."  

This, my friends, is rock theatre, which is no surprise given Les Carlsen's background on the stage.  Even if you only listen to these two tracks rather than watching the full Bloodgood dramatic treatment, the lyrics, which again are drawn straight from Scripture, are unbelievably powerful.

Of course, lyrics have to be sung, and no one does it better than Les Carlsen.  It has become commonplace to compare rock and metal singers with Ronnie James Dio (Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio), but the more I listen to Les, the more I think these two were cast in the same vocal mould.  Les reaches higher than Ronnie, but what they share is power and clarity.  Put that together with the background Les had in theatre, and you have a vocalist who knows how to shape and present a lyric rather than merely belt out words.  

Detonation holds an interesting place in the catalogue of '80s metal.  There are aspects that won't let you forget the era in which it was made.  This is not a bad thing.  Let's be honest.  The Deep Purple Mk II albums could not have been recorded in any other decade than the '70s.  Yet Detonation is incredibly enjoyable today, and not just as a nostalgia trip.  It remains one of my favorites, but only now am I able to appreciate it in its depth.  If you have never heard it or need a reminder, check it out today.

Michael Sweet's Reborn Again

Most fans know that Stryper's 2005 release titled Reborn was originally intended as a Michael Sweet solo project.  Instead, the band reformed with bassist Tracy Ferrie and released it as one of their own.  It was a clear departure from their classic sound of the '80s and included hints of nu metal, a style known for drawing on other musical influences such as alternative, funk, and grunge, all of which can be heard on Reborn.

I was thrilled when it came out and played it endlessly.  It was an exciting new musical direction for the band, and I was on board with it.  In the more than fifteen years since its release, I have continued to enjoy it just as much as I did in 2005.  The lyrics are deep and the music is hard and aggressive, just the way I like it.

Now here we are in 2021, and Michael Sweet has decided to re-release the album under his own name.  As he says on his website, "After years of requests and a lot of thought, I decided to release the original versions/tracks and add some things that I felt were always missing:  guitar solos, high vocal notes, more rhythm guitars, synth parts and an alternative version of 'Passion.'"  The question we have to answer is whether this is a good thing.

My first step was to create a playlist that included the songs from each album in alternating order.  In other words, the first track was "Open Your Eyes" from the Stryper album followed by the same song off the Michael Sweet album and so on.  As I began listening to this song from Reborn Again, I noticed that it sounded a bit cleaner, and had that been the only difference, I doubt I would have recommended the new album, but then the guitar solo hit and my eyes flew open.  Literally.  I was blown away and suddenly couldn't wait to hear each of the others songs paired with the 2005 versions.

Michael Sweet certainly achieved what he set out to do.  There are indeed additional synth and rhythm guitar parts and high notes, but what really knock me out are the guitar solos, and for my money, these make this an entirely new album.  Overall the feeling is heavier in places, perhaps even darker.

Let's also not overlook the cover by Stan Decker, who has worked with Sweet before on the covers of the most recent Stryper albums as well as Sweet & Lynch.  For me an album is a whole work of art, from the lyrics to the music to any graphics included in the packaging, and Decker continues his powerful imagery and color scheme on this cover.

In short, I give this five of five stars.  I can listen to the 2005 Stryper album and then this one and have two completely different musical experiences, each of which is a shot of powerful, aggressive rock.

For the interviews Pastor Wildman and I did with Michael Sweet and Oz Fox along with even more goodies related to Christian rock and metal, head on over to www.wildmanandsteve.com and be sure to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @wildmanandsteve!  And don't forget to subscribe to The Wildman & Steve Show!  Thanks!

The Club That Changed My Life

It is not too much to say that Columbia House changed my life.  The ads for this record and tape club were in the Sunday newspapers and all the music mags back in the day.  In fact, you can find a cool retrospective on the service Columbia House provided millions of music lovers here.

But isn't it a bit extreme to say that such an organization changed my life?  Sure, it offered eleven albums for a penny and the twelfth for free, but why was this different from any other promotional gimmick?

The year was 1987.  I had been part of Columbia House for several years because of my fondness for...wait for it...country music.  Yep.  I was a huge fan of The Oak Ridge Boys, Ronnie Milsap, Johnny Lee, T.G. Sheppard, Eddie Rabbitt, and on and on.  I still am.  Yet one day in 1987 the latest Columbia House mailer arrived and I found in it an album by a band called Whitesnake.  The description listed it as "Zeppelinesque," and while I had heard of Led Zeppelin, I really didn't know that band, so I thought I would dip my toe in the waters of hard rock by getting an album by a band that supposedly sounded similar.

When that cassette arrived a short time later, my life went speeding down the offramp from Nashville straight into the heart of rock and roll.  I was hooked.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  This was like nothing I had heard before, and I played it nonstop.

Eventually a friend told me that Whitesnake had recorded some other albums, and in my search for them in record stores and by doing research in music magazines, I discovered another universe.  Through lead singer David Coverdale, I found Deep Purple, and with Purple I found Led Zeppelin.  I was a kid in a candy store!  I read everything I could find in Hit Parader, Metal Edge, and Circus magazines.  And as I came to know and love the hard rock of the late '60s and '70s, I discovered blues.  At first it was the Delta blues of artists like Robert Johnson and then, just as they had done in actual life, my tastes traveled up the Mississippi to Chicago and the likes of Willie Dixon and so many more.

Now I co-host with my good friend Pastor Wildman a hard rock & metal podcast, The Wildman & Steve Show, on which I have had the pleasure of talking with many of my favorite musicians, truly a dream come true, and to this day the best way for me to unwind from work or even to get my motor runnin' in the morning is to listen to the classic rock sounds that all started...with the Columbia House Record and Tape Club.

Metal and Me

Michael Sweet of Stryper with my Latin translation of "Soldiers Under Command" I had given him

I'm not sure what strikes people more oddly, that I am a Latin teacher who likes heavy metal or that I am a Christian who likes heavy metal.  However I put it, it raises eyebrows.  The first combination seems strange because Latin teachers and Classicists have an image as people who are scholarly and like the so-called finer things, such as poetry and philosophy, history and art.  Heavy metal music, by contrast, seems to be about a bunch of Neanderthals who barely know three chords screaming inane lyrics that could only be heard as profound by a seventh grader.  The second combination seems equally unlikely, since the metal scene is often perceived as trading in devil worship, sex, and drugs, or even drug-fueled sex as an act of dark worship.  The Christian faith, on the other hand, is about love and joy and light.

Well, I do like to think of myself as a scholar in that I love to study and learn.  I am positively giddy in a used or rare book store and have been absolutely beside myself tracking down a journal article in a large, research library, often in preparation for an article of my own.  I love reading Homer, Plato, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristotle, Cicero, Horace, Catullus, Seneca, Ovid, and Vergil, and perhaps even more, I love teaching them, or rather, exploring them with other learners.  Masterworks of art and architecture thrill my soul, and few things are better than going on a walk while pondering a particular point of philosophy.

I am also a Christian.  I confessed Jesus as my Lord and Savior and was baptized as a boy.  I fully surrendered to His lordship years later with my friend and noted Christian apologist Mark Mittelberg.  I am at a place in life where I truly do not want to think, say, or do anything that is not in accord with the Holy Spirit, and while I do often fail at that, I am confident in the saving grace of Jesus Christ to put me back on the right path.

So how could a guy like me be into heavy metal?

There are three parts to the answer.  It is a matter of taste, it is a matter of style, and it is matter of form and content.

A Matter of Taste

Loud, I wanna hear it loud

Right between the eyes

Loud, I wanna hear it loud

Don't want no compromise

So sang KISS in their 1982 song "I Love It Loud," which has become a staple in their live shows.  And guess what?  So do I.  I love cheering for my favorite teams...LOUD!  I love cranking the beginning of Star Wars and Rocky movies...LOUD!  I love playing my favorite bands...LOUD!  And the reason for that is the last line in the chorus of that KISS song.  I don't want compromise.  As John Cougar Mellencamp put it in his 1987 song "Real Life," "I want to live my life close to the bone."  Such a perspective is not one based in a reckless, adrenaline-junkie, YOLO mindset, but rather in what Jesus offered in John 10:10.  "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."  As a result, I enjoy music that is uncompromising and, well, loud.

I have taught students for three decades to confront problems head on and not in a passive-aggressive, manipulative way.  If you have something to say, say it.  Don't sugarcoat it and don't qualify it to such a degree that you end up not committing to a position.  For me, the straightforward poetry of Alexander Pope, the unflinching songs of blues music, and the face-melting rock of heavy metal all go hand in hand.  They are of one piece for me.  

A Matter of Style

At the end of the school year in 2014, my students gave me tickets to see Mötley Crüe's The Final Tour.  They were sweet enough to give me two tickets, thinking I would want to take my wife.  What they did not know was that my wife has no interest whatsoever in hard rock and metal.  She enjoys country and pop, which is pretty much as far from Mötley Crüe and opening act Alice Cooper as you can get.  Ever the good sport, she accompanied me to the outdoor show, and while I enjoyed and she did not totally hate Alice Cooper, we left just a few songs into the Crüe's set.  There was only so much profanity from the stage and the crowd we could take, along with only so much debauchery amid the lawn seats at the outdoor venue.  I found myself praying as much as singing along, but there came a point where we had to call it quits.

While I thrill to guitar riffs, pounding drums and bass, and soaring vocals, I do not condone and cannot participate in certain activities that some who like the same music seem to enjoy.  Then again, the same can be said for some sporting events I have attended.  When I am in public venues, including theme parks where I have witnessed some truly debauched behavior, I find myself praying.  A lot.  I pray for protection of people who are opening themselves to all sorts of spiritual attack.  I pray for those who do not know Christ to find Him.  I pray for His covering on children who have accompanied their parents and are witness to their less than exemplary behavior.  My point is this.  I can still enjoy a roller coaster despite the woman sporting the "MEN=SH_T" tattoo who is holding the hand of her little boy walking by, and I can enjoy the style of rock and metal without becoming myself the subject of a "Behind The Music" documentary.

A Matter of Form and Content

Here's where I get explicitly Christian.  Hard rock and metal are two of the best genres of music for communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Christian life.  Consider just two quotations from the Bible.

I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me. -- Jesus, John 14:6

So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.  But Peter and John answered them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." -- Acts 4:18-20

One thing Jesus was not was confusing.  He made it utterly clear who He was and what a relationship with Him meant, and when it came to His disciples, they followed in His footsteps.  Peter and John were big and bold in their response to the religious leaders.  I can imagine kind people with good intentions telling all of them, including Jesus, that they needed to be a bit more delicate when sharing their message.  They would offer tips on how to fly under the radar and how not to give offense.  But if you think Jesus would have gone in for market-tested strategies, think again and consider passages like these.

To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  And Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead.  But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."  Yet another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home."  Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." -- Luke 9:60-62

And I really don't think Jesus could have been more clear and direct than this.  "For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." -- Acts 9:26

That sort of bold, powerful content finds a perfect form of communication in the guitar-driven, rhythm-pounding, vocal pyrotechnics of hard rock and heavy metal.  Do you want to proclaim the deep theology of the atonement?  You can't do much better than Bloodgood's "Lamb of God."

Do you want to announce what awaits Satan, the great plague of your life, at the end of time?  Or perhaps you just want some music to accompany your study of Revelation 20:10.  Either way, Stryper's "To Hell With The Devil" quite literally screams the truth.

Do you want to draw someone into the excruciating moment of the crucifixion of Jesus?  Jacapone da Todi did it in Latin, and no classical version is better than that of composer Arvo Pärt, but I would argue that W.A.S.P.'s "Golgotha" is every bit as poignant and pleading.  It also has the benefit of being an example of what a new life in Christ looks like, for lead singer Blackie Lawless was one of the most notorious and obscene metal musicians in the heyday of the 1980s.

So, there it is.  If it still doesn't make sense how a Christian and a Classics scholar could enjoy music cranked to eleven, then you'll just have to fall back on that old Latin expression, de gustibus non disputandum est.  There's no arguing about tastes.

Soldiers at 35

"We are the soldiers under God's command," announced Stryper on this day in 1985, and the army of Christian metal fans continues to march thirty-five years later.  For me, the cassette from Enigma Records took up more time in my Sony Walkman and Sears jambox than it did in its plastic case.

 

So what is it that makes this album so good that it has stood the test of time and continues to be blasted not just for the sake of nostalgia?  

It kicks off with the title track, whose opening guitar riff is one of the true signatures in rock history.  Its fast and furious attack makes this an anthem calling everyone to join in, and join in people do.  When the chorus hits, fans over three decades have screamed their heads off in unison with the boys in yellow and black.

"Soldiers Under Command"-Official Video

This is also the song I translated into Latin many years later and gave to Michael Sweet.  A few years after that, I was able to get him to autograph it for me.

"Makes Me Wanna Sing" comes up next with chugging guitar that opens into an unabashed, Christ-glorifying lyric.  "Jesus, King...King of  Kings" then flows into a killer guitar solo of the kind that defined the era of '80s metal.  If you think that metal must be doom, gloom, and depression, then think again.  This song is full on metal, but it, well, makes you want to sing!

The third track, "Together Forever," may be the only metal song in history to feature a doo-wop section.  Not only does it talk about the promise of eternal life, but it shares the way to receive it. "Together, forever...all you have to do is receive the One Who died for you."  And mixed with the screams and doo-wop is more solid guitar riffing along the lines of Poison, White Lion, and the other '80s guitar-driven bands.

"First Love" gives us a chance to catch our breath.  It is an elegant ballad that showcases the upper end of Michael Sweet's vocal range.  Some people were surprised when this was the ballad they chose for their 2015 album Second Coming, which was a re-recording of songs from their first three albums, but give this a listen and you will see why.  It is a powerful, soaring ballad that could seem to be merely a secular love song, but when heard through the words of Scripture reveals a much deeper message.  Plus, and this is a huge plus for me, it is not just a piano-based ballad, but once again has a soaring guitar solo.

Ok.  Break time is over.  The soldiers continue their attack on the next song with "The Rock That Makes Me Roll."  Chugging guitars under gird a lyric that challenges you to "stand up and fight for what you believe in."  And if that seems daunting, we are promised that the rock that makes us roll will give us all the courage that we need.  Air guitarists and air drummers of the world unite, for this is a song that demands you get your whole body into the action.

The a cappella opening of "Reach Out" may make you think we are back for another ballad, but you would be wrong.  This is another great rocker that has become a staple for Stryper fans over the years.  "You don't need the darkness when there's a light to see," proclaim the lyrics, which go on to declare that it is Jesus Who will set you free.  Let's be honest for a moment.  While we older folks love our rock, back in the day music like this had a mostly teenage audience, and as a teacher I can tell you that young people often find themselves in dark places.  This song offers a message of true hope for those who seem to be in the dark.

Organ music.  Next to the guitar, I'm not sure there is an instrument that is more metal than the organ, and that is what opens "(Waiting For) A Love That's Real."  Told from a woman's perspective, something that was a bit unusual thirty-five years ago, it is the story of true love, not the sappy, greeting-card version that society sells. 

From the organ we move to piano for the intro to "Together As One."  This is another song that could be sung from lover to beloved or heard as descriptive of the Christian's life with God.  It is a soaring ballad and one that even now I could sing to my wife.  Beautiful harmonies and delicious guitar combine to make a song that is as moving today as it was in 1985.

"Surrender" is one of my favorite songs every by any band.  Screams and guitar assaults open this song that grows and expands into a chorus that bellows, "Freely surrender!  Open up unto His majesty!"  It is the battle cry of an army that conquers in love, for as these soldiers sing, "Jesus Christ is the lover of your soul."  This has been a guarantee in every Stryper concert set list for more than three decades, and it's no wonder.  It has the message and in-your-face sonic attack that we metal heads love.

The album closes out with "Battle Hymn of The Republic."  This is a powerful hymn from the days of the American Civil War, and I have loved singing it in choirs.  It is the perfect hymn to get a metal makeover.  Its ominous opening grabs your attention.  Its trumpet call remind you that this is a song that came from a time of war.  It builds and builds so that by the time Michael Sweet finishes the first verse, you are prepared for the heavy assault that follows.  A battle hymn is indeed the perfect conclusion for these soldiers under command.


*As always, check out my podcast with Pastor Wildman called Classic Christian Rock Podcast! Links are on the sidebar.

Carrying Fire

Usually when I review an album, I go through it track by track, discussing the lyrics, musical highlights, and ways it connects with other bands or work previously done by that artist.  That will not be the case with Carry Fire, the eleventh solo album by Robert Plant, and you will see why.

First, however, I owe myself an apology, for I am truly sorry I did not purchase this the day it came out in 2017.  I was aware of it, listened to a few tracks, and even had it on a couple of birthday and Christmas lists, but for whatever reason, I did not purchase it until recently, and for that I am deeply regretful, for it is from top to bottom one of the finest musical experiences I have every enjoyed.

Back in 1988, I purchased Plant's fourth solo album after the demise of Led Zeppelin, a work called Now and Zen, and I loved it, especially tracks like "Tall Cool One," "The Way I Feel," and "White, Clean, and Neat."  Now, "Tall Cool One" certainly had a Zeppelin vibe, which it could not help but have given that Jimmy Page played on the track and that it included numerous references to Zep songs.  The other songs, especially those noted above, carried a wispy feel that took me to another place and time, and it was clear even then that Plant would be exploring musical territory far beyond the boundaries of hard rock and metal.

I did not really keep up with Plant's solo work after that, although I did enjoy the collaborative project Raising Sand that he did with Alison Krauss in 2007 and the accompanying, and quite wonderful, performance they gave for the CMT show Crossroads, many videos from which can be found on YouTube.

In fact, it was this album that made get back into Plant's work, for in this collaboration, he showcased just how far he had come from the "Hey, hey, mama" days of Led Zeppelin.  You could feel the soulful sensitivity that he was searching for, and often found, and the creativity he sparked with the other musicians made so much else on the market pale in comparison.

And so we arrive at his 2017 release Carry Fire.  Most of the time I can only listen to a few songs, and even then, I must occasionally stop a song in its middle.  They touch too deeply for me to listen to more at one time.  There is only one track that hearkens back to Plant's rock roots, "Carving Up The World Again...A Wall And Not A Fence."  The rest are musical streams that carry you away in their gentle currents to places in your soul that you may not have known existed.  It is an album best enjoyed with a good pair of headphones.  Close your eyes and let the lush, exotic, instrumental sounds, including the delicate instrument of Plant's voice, wash over you.  Now, if that sounds strange to those who grew up on his chest-beating wail in songs like "Rock And Roll," then listen to the opening track "The May Queen," the exquisite "A Way With Words," or the title track "Carry Fire."  I think you will agree that "delicate" is the perfect descriptor for a voice that is feeling its way carefully toward...well, whatever it is, we find ourselves grateful to go along on its journey, more than willing to carry fire to light its way.

When Eleven Goes To Ten

It has already been said that Michael Sweet's latest album, Ten, goes to eleven, which of course is a reference to the 1984 metal mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.  In that film, guitarist Nigel Tufnel (played by Christopher Guest) explains that his custom amplifiers go to eleven when he needs "that extra push over the cliff."  The question, however, is where to go after eleven, and Michael Sweet has answered that.  You go to Ten.  This album is a monster of creative exploration and pure metal madness.

It kicks off with "Better Part of Me," the first video to be released before the album came out.

It has the feel of Stryper until the 2:30 mark when the solo by Jeff Loomis kicks in.  Suddenly you realize this is not Stryper at all, and by the time your head has stopped spinning, the song screeches to a stop.  So, what's going on here?  First of all, Sweet brought in a different guitar soloist for each song but the ballad, and this speaks to his continuing love for musical experimentation.  We hear it on the two Sweet & Lynch albums, on his last solo album, and on the last three Stryper albums, and this is part of what keeps fans coming back for more.

My eyes flew open at the intro to "Lay It Down," the second track.  It's hard, dark, and chugging, which is what a good metal fan wants.  The chorus could have come from the Stryper album Fallen, but that is it.  This song is well outside what we've heard from Sweet before, and while there is fine, melodic noodling on the six-string later in the song thanks to Marzi Montazeri, that heavy chugging and pounding drums prove that Sweet wasn't making things up in the pre-release interviews when he said this would be a true metal album.

What would happen if Jimi Hendrix brought his "Foxey Lady" to a Michael Sweet concert?  You would get the song "Forgive, Forget."  While the opening riff is Hendrixesque, it moves into a Stryper-flavored thing with a hint of Sweet & Lynch thrown in, and you ask for the first of many times, "Who IS this beast of an artist named Michael Sweet?"  Howie Simon's solo makes it abundantly clear that while Ten may have been influenced by other of Sweet's works, it cuts its own metal path.

"Now or Never" is up next, and opens with a big, epic, almost orchestral metal sound with a touch of metal opera in the middle.  The guitar solo by Gus G is simply thrilling, and you just want to replay this song again, only louder.  As I said in my review of Sweet's prior solo album, One Sided War, he can bring a Dio-esque quality to his vocals, something he did on that album's song "I Am."  He continues to show himself the true successor of Ronnie James Dio on this dark and dramatic track.

The title track comes in with a swagger befitting its lyrical content.  Written from the perspective of God as

He gave the Ten Commandments, this could easily have been on a Stryper album and was the third video from the album.  The Duke of Metal, Rich Ward, brings his royal touch to the solo, making this a solid rocker.

The second video for this album was for the next song, "Shine," which again opens heavy and showcases Sweet's signature lyrical theme.  Michael Sweet writes positive songs.  Period.

Then again, what would you expect from a guy who claims Jesus as his Lord?  Ethan Brosh, who worked on Sweet's One Sided War, is back, and it's a complete toss up whether to focus more on the music or the lyrics.

In addition to soaring high note vocals and virtuoso guitar playing, Michael Sweet is known for his ballads.  Obligatory on a metal album, perhaps, but "Let It Be Love" goes beyond the typical boyfriend/girlfriend scenario.  It is not just a song, but a salve for a bruised and wounded world.  This is one to hold hands with your neighbor and sway to or hold up a light in the arena when it is played.  Sweet handles the solo, and it is straight from the '80s, perfectly matching the melodic, powerful lyrics.

Okay.  Ballad time is over.  Track 8, "Never Alone," is back into hard, dark, and heavy, chugging, metal, and again comes the question, "Who IS this beast of an artist?"  There is simply nothing not to like about this song.  It and the next one were co-written with Joel Hoekstra of Whitesnake and Trans-Siberian Orchestra, who takes on the solos.  Hoekstra had worked with Sweet on One Sided War, and this is truly a musical partnership from which the world needs to hear more and more.

"When Love Is Hated" opens with a '70s hard and heavy metal sound and expands into soaring vocals reminiscent of the '80s.  The solo is something the must make David Coverdale jealous that it was not on the last Whitesnake album.  This is the second Sweet-Hoekstra collaboration on this album, and for my money, I could take an entire album of songs like this.  It's pure, classic metal.

"Ricochet" bounces up next with more of that '70s/'80s feel coursing through the blood-pumping veins of this tune.  None other than Tracii Guns sets the six-string on fire, and you start thinking how great this collaborative project really is.  Sweet has brought in musicians from throughout the decades and across the spectrum of metal and has given the world a taste of what amazing music they can make.

"With You Till the End" takes us back to classic Michael Sweet territory as the familiar-yet-fresh sounds assault the ears.  Ian Raposa accompanies Sweet on vocals, making you think of great sounding, different-but-complementary vocal pairs like David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes in the Mark III lineup of Deep Purple.  Mike Kerr handles the guitar solo and lends a drive and passion to this song that make it one of the true standouts.

The album concludes with a full frontal sonic assault in "Son of Man," with no less than Todd LaTorre on shared vocals and Andy James on guitar.  The video for this has killer graphics to match

the brutal, heavy attack of this song that, like the opening number races right to the edge of a cliff and then stops.

Bottom line:  This is quite simply the best solo album Michael Sweet has released and one of the best of his career.  If you love metal, get it now!

Swamp Rock

I used to joke that the day the music died was not, per Don McLean's famous song, February 3, 1959, when The Big Bopper, Buddy Holly, and Ritchie Valens died in a plane crash, but rather December 31, 1989, for it was my contention that no good music had been released since then.  There has, of course, been much good music since then, although for my money most, if not all, has been by artists that got their start decades ago.  So, what do you do when you discover some truly original music recently released by a longstanding musical legend?  You buy Beau Weevils:  Songs In the Key of E and you listen to it over and over, stopping only to tell everyone you know to get it, too.

This is the latest album by Charlie Daniels, and if you want to see the talented lineup on it, head over to Charlie's website.  CD himself describes it as "Downhome, Swampy Rock meets Funk with a little taste of 'Delta' type of style."  Now, if that doesn't at least make you curious, something's wrong with your curiosity glands.  This album has me slapping the steering wheel in rhythm and singing along loud and proud as I drive to work.  Here's the track-by-track rundown.

1.  Geechi Geechi Ya Ya Blues...There is simply no way a song with this title could be anything other than great.  The first ten seconds grab your neck and start forcing your head to bop with the rhythm, and a huge "Awww, yeah!" rises up from your gut, and even if it isn't true that your "alimony payments are way past due and the Lake Charles cops are lookin' for" you, too, everyone knows what it means to have the geechi geechi ya ya blues.  You may not have known what to call that feeling, but now you do, and you have the perfect song for the occasion.

2.  Bad Blood...This is a story song, a true ballad, but not of the romantic variety.  It tells of the murderous lineage of one family that is passed along in the bad blood of its members.  The main character's brother is serving a life sentence in prison, his daddy kills a deputy sheriff who finds his still and is forced to go on the lam, and the main character himself commits murder in a crime of passion.  As the family patriarch tells his son before fleeing on a midnight train, "It's time you knew what's comin' to you like my daddy passed on to me.  Ain't no escape, it's like a copperhead snake crawlin' up the family tree."  And we learn that "all the while the devil smiled, feastin' on the risin' flood.  Bad blood."

This song has two effects on me.  First, it breaks my heart.  There are many people who feel cursed by their family heritage and see no hope.  It is just one generation after another of pain and dysfunction.  Second, it makes me want to cry out to the characters in the song, "It doesn't have to be this way!  There is redemption in Jesus Christ.  His blood can run through your veins and replace that bad blood."

3.  Mexico Again...This is another ballad set in Mexico and with a story and musical line that conjure memories of Marty Robbins.  This is one is just pure fun, and if you like a story with a place called "Hard Luck Sally's, just a little juke joint stuck way back up in the alley," then this is the song for you.

4.  Louisiana Blues...Mmm, mmm, mmm.  I do love the slow groove of a brush on drums, and this song's got it.  Be careful listening to this while driving.  It makes you want to close your eyes and swing your head back and forth.  Even listening to it as I write this, I have to take my hands off the keyboard to snap my fingers in time.

5.  Oh, Juanita..."I'm gonna keep on buzzin' around you, girl, like a king bee around a honeysuckle vine."  With a line like that, nothing more needs to be said.

6.  Smokey's Got Your Number...This song chronicles the misadventures of a variety of drivers who pay no attention to posted speed limits.  Again, this is a dangerous song to listen to while driving as it makes you want to mash that gas pedal yourself and pull your hands off the wheel for some serious air guitar.  And for those of you who grew up watching The Dukes of Hazzard on Friday nights, you can almost feel the General Lee catching air with this one.

7.  Mudcat...This is probably the standout track on the album.  It tells the story of Mudcat, an old man who plays the devil's blues on the front porch of his shack with "a half a gallon of homemade wine."  It seems old Mudcat learned his craft from Robert Johnson, with whom he played "every old funky kind of backwood juke."  When things turn spooky in the swamp and there's "big things bumpin', little things jumpin'," Mudcat hightails it out of there.  Great lyrics and great music combine to make this a top number.

8.  Everybody's Gotta Go Sometime...The brush on drums returns for another swingin' number that gets you snapping your fingers to the timeless truth that it doesn't matter who you are, everybody's gotta go sometime.  With its admonition to "live today like it's all you've got," the song reminds you not to take yourself or other things too seriously, a worthy reminder in our hectic world.

9.  We'll All Have Some...This is the one whose chorus line I find myself singing long after I've stopped listening to the song.  It's in the tradition of songs like "All My Rowdy Friends Are Comin' Over Tonight" by Hank Williams, Jr., and is a fun number about a party featuring barbecue, rum, and Brunswick stew, and if that doesn't kill you, then "we'll all have some."

10.  How We Roll...Southern rock the way the way it was meant to be!  "I'm as country as a bale of hay, and I don't care who knows it.  I'm as redneck as a rodeo, my disposition shows it.  I got a tricked out 4X4 that'll flat blow off your doors, and I like cornbread."  There it is, folks.  That's how the Beau Weevils roll, and it pretty much sums up the whole album.

If any of this intrigues you, makes you curious, or gets your bad blood a-boilin', then, as Charlie sings on the final song, "come on down and git ya some!"

Evil Be Damned

The #1 album on Amazon's Hard Rock list is the new release by Stryper, God Damn Evil, and while we may be waiting on certain evils in the world to go away, one thing is clear.  The evil of wimpy music has been condemned and the triumphant flag of hard rock has been planted on its grave with the release of Stryper's twelfth studio album.

Everything about this release is old-school, yet updated for the 21st century.  Back in the day, a band would release singles that we heard on the radio, getting us excited for the full album.  In the '80s we had music videos that told stories and took us into the world of the songs.  With the release of God Damn Evil, Stryper and Frontiers Records went back to this strategy and gave the world "Take It To The Cross," "Sorry," "Lost", and "The Valley" before the album came out today.  Each one had its own video, and the ones for "Sorry" and "The Valley" were true MTV-era works that featured a dramatic story along with shots of the band in action.

To say that this strategy got fans hyped is an understatement, and I know this because of the 21st century part of the formula, social media.  Michael Sweet is one of the savviest users of Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.  He knows how to light a fire and stoke it to a blaze with words, pictures, and videos sent at the just the right times to keep conversation about the record at a fever pitch.  And of course, there are all the fans and fan groups that keep the Internet buzzing with retweets and shares of everything that comes out from or about the band.

Early reports said this would be Stryper's heaviest and best album to date, and Michael Sweet confirmed this in numerous interviews.  Guess what?  Those articles were right.  This is an album that is clearly in the Stryper catalogue while making hard rock and metal relevant with fresh, new sounds worthy of being blasted from the best speakers of you've got.

"Take It To The Cross"...Opens with an eerie, moody sound that evokes images of swirling mists in the darkness.  And then the doors blow off with a fierce drum attack and what quickly became the early talking point surrounding this album, the thrash sound of the course and the high vocals screaming, "TAKEITTOTHECROSSTAKEITTOTHECROSSTAKEITTOTHECROSS!"  This song is perhaps the biggest departure from the traditional Stryper sound, but the guys handle it well, and let's be honest.  True musicians aren't just making music for commercial reasons.  They like to experiment, and this experiment produces a great result.

"Sorry"...I commented on the YouTube video that the early riffing is reminiscent of "Ready An' Willing," the title track from Whitesnake's 1980 album.  The vocals would have worked well on a Sweet & Lynch album or a Michael Sweet solo project.  He is very aggressive on this, yet the guitar solo is melodic and simply delicious.

"Lost"...If the first track was the greatest departure from the typical Stryper sound, "Lost" will be the most familiar to longtime fans.  A great guitar attack with impossibly soaring vocals on the chorus make this a number that would have been at home on the No More Hell To Pay or Fallen album.

"God Damn Evil"...This is my early favorite, hands down.  A swaggering opener turns into a scream that demands your attention.  Although it could easily have been a bonus track on Fallen, this one is sure to be stand-alone and concert favorite. The lyrics are in your face as is their delivery, but it is that chorus that, when translated, says, "Get your fists in the air and scream this one back at the band to help take the decibel level in the concert hall to a deafening level."  Oh, and there is a twist starting at 2:56 that just puts a smile on your face.

"You Don't Even Know Me"...This is a slower, thoughtful number, but with a solid, hard rock punch.  The guitar solo takes you back to the glory days of guitar solos in the '80s and has you rocking right along with the band.

"The Valley"...This track opens with Oz Fox reading Psalm 23:4, which, when combined with lyrics about fighting the good fight, makes this song the rightful successor to "Marching Into Battle."  Once again, there is swagger and attitude to spare in the vocals and guitar work.  Hey, if you were looking for the meek and mild, try the easy listening station at the office, because you certainly won't find it on this song.

"Sea Of Thieves"...Michael Sweet said in an interview I did with him that he was always a Deep Purple fan, and that shows in the intro to this song.  It pays homage to "Bloodsucker" from Purple's 1970 In Rock album and then comes back throughout the song.  This one caused me to stop writing this review and break out my own air guitar.

"Beautiful"...Robert Sweet's drum opener will turn your head from whatever it is you're doing while listening.  It is unlike anything on any other Stryper album.  This, my friends, is a rock ballad.  I have to confess that I often fast-forwarded (in the days of cassette tapes) through the obligatory ballads on metal albums, but I won't be skipping this track.  Yes, it is a ballad and, true to its title, is quite beautiful, but there is enough punch and, oh, yeah, a guitar solo, that make it impossible to forget this is a rock record.

"Can't Live Without Your Love"...Let your mind drift back to the '80s.  Can you see your favorite band on MTV in a video?  The scenes cut back and forth from the band on stage to the members standing along a cliff as the sea breezes blow their hair that is long than their girlfriends' and then transitions to a dramatized mini-play of the lead singer and his girl.  That's what you get with this song.  And the guitar solo...good grief, this is fine stuff!  I'm going to have to replace the strings on my air guitar when I listen to this!

"Own Up"...This has another opener that makes you ask, "Is this Stryper?"  This is in no small part because of Robert Sweet's rhythm again.  I may need to break out the thesaurus to find another word for "swagger" in this review, but there it is, making this a hugely fun song to sing along with.

"The Devil Doesn't Live Here"...Fast and hard!  It may just be me, but I had a faint impression of Motorhead.  With a title like this on an album titled God Damn Evil by a band that has regularly told the devil where to go, you have to know that this is going to be a sonic blitz against sappy music and a vocal attack on Satan even as it lifts up Jesus Christ.

Fans of rock and metal, this is as good as it gets.  Buy this thing now and you'll see what I mean.

Stryper faithful, your band has given you an amazing gift, new music that reminds you of why you have listened to them for decades even as it takes you to a whole...notha...level.

Chaotic Resemblance-The Interview

Stryper's Oz Fox with LA Ellis introducing Chaotic Resemblance at Rocktoberfest

October 29, 2016.  It was an epic night of metal.  Rocktoberfest in Indianapolis, IN, saw Whitecross, Petra, and Stryper together, with Stryper headlining the evening on their 30th anniversary To Hell With The Devil Tour.  On top of that there were three opening acts, and while I was there for Stryper and the other big name bands, the icing on the cake, the surprise in the Christmas stocking, was the band from Oklahoma, Chaotic Resemblance.

These guys rocked as hard as anything in the heyday of metal during the '80s, and I had to have more.  A quick trip to iTunes helped, but it wasn't enough, and when the guys came back to Indiana for the Kingdom Come Festival in June of the following year, I was there.  It was a true metal experience as winds from the coming storm whipped the band members' hair, and when the clouds opened up, no one left.  We just kept banging our heads in the pouring rain.

These guys are the real deal.  They've got the metal chops to take them to the next level, and with the likes of Stryper's Oz Fox working with them, you know they've got true metal cred.  So sit back and enjoy this interview with Travis McConnell and LA Ellis of Chaotic Resemblance as they share the story of the band, talk about the relationship between metal and their Christian faith, and tell us about their new album coming out this year.   

Interview with pictures, music, and more on YouTube     

Audio-only interview on SoundCloud      

Webpage  http://chaoticresemblance.com/

Twitter       @chaoticresembl, https://twitter.com/CHAOTICRESEMBL

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/ChaoticResemblance/

Instagram  @chaoticresemblance, https://www.instagram.com/chaoticresemblance/ 

GoFundMe support for their upcoming album gofundme.com/chaoticresemblance