gemini

Wow, the Helstar! Great in the '80s, and as you rightly say, never really lucky and/or appreciated by the audience (just like other giants of American metal, Jag Panzer, Vicious Rumors, Riot... but whatever). Since their reunion, they've released some good albums, sure, maybe a bit anachronistic and decidedly cheesy, to the point that they can make you smile when it comes to themes and image... but for an hour of good old metal, they are more than fine.

"How influential they've been in the Hard Rock scene and the emerging Heavy Metal is hard to say..." well, I would say that Iron Maiden owes a good 50% of their career to them, (the other 50 to Thin Lizzy ;)

I was there too (interesting...) Due to scheduling, I missed Amphitrium and Zico Chain, but it doesn’t matter much. I didn’t know Voodoo Six, and they were pretty good: energetic, just the right amount of grit, with a nice groove. The Ghosts, well, they don't really move me either way: good performance nonetheless. As for Mastodon, I join those who couldn’t stand them—not just because their sound doesn't sit right with me, but also due to the truly awful audio quality: as a result, I took a nap during their set, only somewhat revived by Blood & Thunder. A great disappointment, however, was Megadeth: overly low tunings, terrible sound, a terrible setlist... I'm sorry to criticize them because they are one of my favorite bands, but it’s been since Endgame that they haven’t hit the mark with an album, and live, Dave keeps getting worse (oh, one small clarification: they didn’t play Prince of Darkness; it was the intro before their concert. Yes, I’m nitpicking, but it's the heat's fault)... and as for Maiden, what can I say? War machines, indestructible even at 60-something years old :)

Having been standardized for years with the formula that made Eclipse successful; personally, it's been since that album that a new release from them has captivated me like this. I would also say that this Circle is definitely better than the previous one; however, with a band named Amorphis, one always expects something more, a shift in sound, some innovation capable of surprising... especially considering what they’ve done in the past years. Nonetheless, it’s a very good job overall.

Discone! I just discovered it recently and it's been on heavy rotation for several days now: epic and melodic doom just the way I like it; despite the obvious similarities to Candlemass, it doesn't come off as a mere copy, but as an album with its own identity... excellent, truly.

Well, I don't understand... you say you'll overlook it, that you feel too generous and lenient to give him a failing grade, and then you wrap it up with a nice 52/100 which then turns into 3 stars out of 5... go figure! The album, however, isn't bad; of course, after 40 years it's hard to expect masterpieces, but it seems to me that Uncle Alice is doing reasonably well in these last few years.

The cover of Come Undone is terrible; the rest, I don’t know... neither praise nor blame. Given the names involved, I expected more, certainly not something in the Dream Theater-Symphony X style, but something with a bit more personality. I agree with those who say that Allen is wasting his immense talent by always singing with that "similar growl" which works for a few songs, but when you do 90% of the album the same way (this, but also Iconoclast) it gets tiring...

Not bad, after years and years their proposal is this: a lot of power but also a lot of melody. I have to say, however, that I clearly prefer the previous "Strings to a web"; of this one, however, not much has really stuck with me... perhaps releasing an album every two years turns out to be a bit counterproductive (among other things, the next one should already be in the works, this time with the orchestra...)

Mediocre album and a huge step backward compared to the very good previous one. Some tracks are redeemable (the single, Never dead, Deadly nightshade), others are bearable (Sudden death, New world order, Black swan, although I preferred the original versions of the last two), and then there's simply the most flat or ugly stuff Megadeth have ever done in their entire career (We the people, Guns drugs and money... rubbish!). It could just about reach a passable mark because they are skilled musicians, but even here: everything feels too cold and done just for the sake of doing it...

... and this time I was there, I managed to see them. The BSC were great, of whom I knew a few scattered singles: they seemed to me like yet another Nickelback-style band, but they were really very good. As for Alter Bridge, I agree with everything: terrible sound at least for the first three songs (the bass was so loud that it felt like it was bouncing off my clothes, damn) and a very good Myles but not as impressive as when I saw him with Slash... (can I ask, due to my ignorance, what "twang" means?)