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.

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!

The Purple Tour

On December 12, 2015, Whitesnake played Genting Arena in Birmingham, England, a stop on The Purple Tour that saw them playing songs from David Coverdale's Mark III lineup of Deep Purple as well as classic Whitesnake tunes.  The cameras were rolling, and the result is a live CD and Blu-Ray of that concert.

I had pre-ordered this so I would get it on the day of its release.  As I have written, Coverdale's project to "snake up" classic Purple songs on The Purple Album was a success, so I couldn't wait to see and hear these and other serpentine songs live.  Bottom line...I was well rewarded.

On the Blu-Ray disc you get thirteen songs from the concert.  These are the same as on the CD.  The Blu-Ray also gives you 5.1 Surround versions of "You Keep On Moving," "Stormbringer," "Lay Down Stay Down," and guitar solos from Reb Beach and Joel Hoekstra called "Lotsanotes."  Listen carefully, and you will catch Hoekstra tearing his way through a bit of "Amazing Grace."  There is also the new video for "Burn" and a fun interview of Hoekstra and Beach by bassist Michael Devin in which you learn what the guys enjoy on their off days and everything you wanted to know about bacon.  Yes, bacon.

But let's get down to what matters, the concert.  First of all, David Coverdale, who will turn 67 this September, looks and sounds great.  I truly do not understand comments that he has lost his voice.  Has it changed?  Of course it has.  He first sang "Burn" when he was 22.  Yet he still has power and the emotion to carry any song.  Ian Gillan, by contrast, as I noted in a post on Deep Purple's Long Goodbye tour, has lost much of his vocal gift, but Coverdale's is still there.  And don't let anyone tell you he can't hit the high notes anymore, for he digs down deep into the private reserve of his vintage vocals for as powerful and earth shattering a "Here I GOOOOOOOOOOO" as ever.

Whitesnake has always been a twin-guitar band, and axe-slingers like Hoekstra and Beach demonstrate why this works.  Hoekstra simply wails on the six-string, and the solos passing back and forth between him and Beach are electric.  As for Reb Beach, that guy has all the cool of a '70s southern rocker and looks as if he would be just as at home in Lynyrd Skynyrd.   Actually, his look fits in well with the full beards of Michael Devin and guitarist Michele Luppi, and even Coverdale's own extended sideburns are a good look for this '70s-meet-21st century rock extravaganza.

Let's face it, rock is about image almost as much as it is about music, and the visuals of this concert accentuate the songs.  We see the "Coverdale candle" from the cover of the original Burn album on the big screen during some of the Purple-era songs,

pictures from Whitesnake's 1987 tour book behind songs from the '87 album, and the band's original logo during tunes from the earlier years.  And when it comes to image, Hoekstra frequently steals the show for me with too-cool guitars.  He starts with a white Les Paul emblazoned with a stylized snake and the Whitesnake amulet, switches to a purple glitter axe, and then back to a black and gold version of his opening Les Paul.

Don't think that the rhythm section isn't in on the action. Throughout the concert bassist Michael Devin just has fun.  In fact, he seems to be having such a good time that he could just as easily have been standing next to you in the audience, singing along as one of Whitesnake's biggest fans.  Tommy Aldridge's drum solo comes along about halfway through during "You Fool No One," and when he tosses his sticks to the crowd, he begins pounding and flailing away like a madman, only to find another set of sticks for his final percussive attack that ends with the Christian drummer holding them aloft in the shape of a cross.

The concert opens with a sonic tsunami, but by the time you hit the middle, you begin to settle in and realize something.  These are simply incredible songs.  For example, for the longtime Whitesnake fan, there is just nothing like seeing the band play "Ain't No Love (In The Heart of The City)" and joining the world-famous Whitesnake Choir to sing along.  You move from epic to epic as "Mistreated" comes next, and it dawns on you what amazing music Coverdale has created and delivered for more than four decades. And then comes "Soldier Of Fortune," an exquisite song telling a beautiful story that reminds of you how great songs can transport you to another time and place.  By the time you get to "Here I Go Again," you feel as if old friends have gathered to sing the songs of favorite memories, and there is something in the Snakes' performance of this beloved hit that reinforces the comfortable, fun, relaxed feeling.  

The Blu-Ray captures the energy and enthusiasm of this historic concert and ends
with "We Wish You Well," a song the Snakes have never played live but with which they have ended most of their concerts for nearly forty years.  Having the same songs on CD makes it nice to be able to hear the concert anywhere.

Official video of "The Gypsy" from The Purple Tour