August 23, 2024 • 56 mins
🚀🎸First Half Of 2024 New Music Roundup on Signals From Mars with Jeremy Weltman! 🌟
🎧 Jeremy Weltman returns to dive into the releases that came out in the first half of 2024! If you're a music enthusiast struggling to keep up with the latest tracks, don't worry – we've got you covered on Signals From Mars. 🎶
🔍 We're breaking down some of the hottest releases of 2024, ensuring you're in the loop with the latest tunes. Perfect for those who want to stay ahead in the music scene and an essential guide for nailing those year-end polls! 🏆
🎤 Tune in and let us be your ultimate music insider, bringing the latest hits straight to your ears. Don't miss out on the must-hear releases that are setting the tone for the year in music! 🤘
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome everyone to episode 392 of Signals from Mars. I'm your host Victor.
(00:05):
And for this episode, welcome back Mr. Jeremy Weltman. This is the first half of
2024 albums review. We're gonna touch upon a bunch of different albums that
stood out to the two of us throughout the first half of the year, basically what I
said from January to June. Check it out next.
(00:54):
To quote William Bailey, better known as W. Axl Rose from 1991's Use Your Illusion,
sometimes I feel like I'm beating a dead horse. But these episodes are done for
(01:16):
people that haven't been checking out music and I get it, or haven't been
checking out new music that's been coming out this year and I get it. Life
gets in the way, every one of us has different things that's going on in our
lives. We can't always do it. So that's why Jeremy and I are here to help out by
pointing out some cool albums that we've been listening to throughout the year.
(01:41):
Initially the idea was to just talk about a few, now we talked about a whole
lot more. So I hope you guys enjoy this episode. It is always fun to talk music,
talk rock, to talk metal. Can I say that? We were talking metal. It's fun to catch
(02:01):
up and just talk about music that we love and help spread the word to others
because there's so much out there and sometimes it's just difficult to sort
out so much material. But it's there. Just have to find it. The episode is the
episode again. I don't want to say it's great. I don't want to toot my own horn,
(02:22):
but I think it is a good listen. It is a good listen, especially if you've
missed out on any of these albums that we're mentioning. So I do want to remind
you guys to go to signalsfrommars.com. You can support the show by either
(02:47):
picking up merch. We have t-shirts, we have sweatshirts, we have jackets, bucket
hats, baseball caps, all types of things, various ranges and sizes and different
designs. You also have the ability to sign up for Patreon for as little as two
bucks a month. You get my additional podcast, the Victor M. Ruiz podcast. You
(03:13):
get videos posted on a daily basis which are discussed and a bunch of other fun,
I almost said fun and annoying. No, not annoying, just fun things that we chat
about. Maybe I can be annoying, but I don't try to be. Anyway, yeah, so there's
there's a bunch of different things that you can do to support there. There's
(03:36):
Amazon, there's PayPal, buy me a coffee slash pizza, so on and so forth. Anyway,
just go to signalsfrommars.com and if you can't support economically, which
nobody's holding a gun to anybody's head, help share the episodes on social media.
(03:57):
Follow on all the more popular and even less popular social media platforms
that I'm gonna go dark on some of those for the next month or so just because
I'm gonna be on vacation. It's gonna be difficult to keep up while I'm away, but
everything is programmed out. Everything is scheduled out so that if you are
(04:21):
subscribed to the RSS, you will continue to get episodes and I will have to do
some finagling, but that's fine. I'll see what I can do. I'll do my best. How
about that? Hope you guys enjoy this episode. Hope you guys are having a
great summer and we've got another episode next week which will be what if
(04:43):
John Bush and in September hopefully I will be back with some cool interviews
and other cool concepts to discuss with you guys. Alright, let's get on with the
episode folks.
(05:14):
Welcome one and all to episode. I can actually give this an episode number.
This is gonna end up being episode 392 of the audio version. This is essentially
our recap of the first half of 2024 when it comes to releases, when it comes to
albums, EPs, compilations, live albums, but for the most part we always focus on
(05:37):
new music and joining me as usual my trusted companion for these types of
chats, Mr. Jeremy Weltman. Jeremy, how are you sir? Hi Victor, yeah doing really well.
Thank you. Listening to a lot of rock and metal at the moment which is always a
good thing with it being summertime it's time to play a lot more stuff than in
the winter. Absolutely. You wake longer. You wake longer and also you can kind of
(06:04):
interject music on walks and runs and bike rides and drives out on the
weekend so there's a lot of different things as opposed to just I mean it's
cool sitting at home and listening to music but if you can get out and kind of
combine the two that's always neat as well. Yeah. So cool we're gonna go back
(06:28):
and forth. I'm not sure what Jeremy has on his list and Jeremy's not sure what I
have on my list. I'm sure there will be some sort of overlap but the initial
idea is to discuss five different albums of our choosing and we're gonna go back
(06:48):
and forth. I'm gonna let Jeremy start and we'll see where we go from there.
Yeah you've limited everything by saying only five because as I sort of
mentioned just off air just as we're about to start you know probably got
about 19 different albums on this list because there was so much great music
(07:10):
that's been released so far this year. I can't believe it to be honest. I didn't
expect it. That was one thing. There's a lot of famous names on my list but
there's also a few that you know haven't released albums for a while or they're
slightly lesser names and I think that's good as well. I'm gonna mention for my
number five an album by a British band Lionheart, The Grace of a Dragonfly
(07:35):
which came out in February, February the 23rd I believe. As you know Lionheart
been going for a long time. Dennis Stratton was in the band. There's a few
other famous names who've been in and out the band over the years and
they haven't released a lot of music you know all the time and to be honest I
(07:55):
did remember them back in the day. I think I picked up an album by them you
know in the 80s and then I kind of forgot all about them to be honest but
this album is a really really good, it's a sort of concept album
about war and you know around the sort of second world war really and
(08:16):
it has some really great songwriting on it. It's very well produced and you know
it's got great melodies to the music and you know listen to it several
times. Really enjoy it. I think they made a really good job of it. So that
would be my number five. There's not much more to say about it you know I just
(08:38):
really enjoy it. I think it's a good old British sounding
album as well you know if I can say that. There's quite a few this year you
know that have a lot of melody to them and we may mention one or two others
as we go on. I think it's been a great year for British metal probably better
than some. So I'm going to keep things in the UK as since you started out
(09:05):
there. I'm going to continue there and I'm gonna hit you up with Orange Goblin
and Science not Fiction. There's gonna be a common theme here because a lot of the
music that I've really dug this year is really in that vein of doom metal, stoner
rock, stoner hard rock, stoner metal, however you want to call it. Drinking
(09:30):
from the the well that was first
Plenished Full of Water by Black Sabbath of Drinking from that Sabbath well I
should say I've gotten to see Orange Goblin live. This is their first album in
quite a few years and they've never disappointed. They're heavy punishing you
(09:53):
know it's funny when a lot of people bring up high on fire and bands of that
ilk not to besmirch them in any way shape or form but Orange Goblin is
always one of my go-to bands when it comes to that style of heavy metal. So
yeah for me the my fifth mention and and this isn't us saying this is our top five
(10:18):
or whatever this is just us throwing out albums for you the listener to check out
if you aren't aware of any of these but yeah so the first thing I want to mention
is that Orange Goblin Science Not Fiction. Yes interesting Orange Goblin
they were formed in the mid 90s and often when this bands formed around that
time I've not really got into them very much because of just things going on in
(10:42):
my family life you know I got married and we were having children all that
sort of stuff and I didn't get into you know as much metal as I should have at
that time and so they are on a band that I'm as familiar with as some other
people and so you know you're recommending the so really going back
into their back catalogue as well as listening to this album which yes you
know I will plan to do and that could be that could be some good fun to you know
(11:06):
to do that over the next few months. There you go some homework. Yeah.
All right so what is the next album that you would like to discuss? So this is an
interesting one for me at this stage because I've got my top three sort of
bolted on but I'm really gonna make a decision live on air here or at
(11:31):
least on the recording for when everyone listens to it because there are about
five or six that I could put into the next slot which I think it's just a
little bit above Lionheart in the quality and the listenability but I
hadn't really made up a mind I'm gonna go for the Grand Slam album Wheel of
(11:52):
Fortune that was released in June and by the way I could have mentioned others I'll
probably just mention those now in passing it could have been Pray Mantis
it could have been Witherfall it could have been one or two others we might
mention others later so I'm gonna go for the Grand Slam album I didn't
necessarily really like this when I first listened to it I thought it had a
(12:15):
you know it's a little bit of a sort of poor thin Lizzy but when I listened to
it again and again I really got into it I thought yeah this is just one of those
really enjoyable listens you know I think again they got the melodies right
the production was right and they've produced you know some songs that do
sound a bit sort of Lizzy type as if you know if Lizzy were going now they might
(12:38):
sort of do that kind of stuff and it was just great to hear Grand Slam again
because you know they haven't been around producing music all the time and
sometimes you know we welcome back into the metal fold the classic rock fold
bands that haven't you know been around for a while and they want to produce
music again and I think that's a really good thing so yeah I'm gonna go for
(13:02):
gonna go for that Grand Slam effort okay for me I'm gonna kind of keep it in that
same orange goblin type of vein this is a band that I've mentioned to my patrons
several times turned I think quite a few you guys onto them they're a band out of
(13:23):
Sweden the name of the album is wheel of illusion the band is the quill and
similar type of vibe as orange goblin maybe a slightly more melodic and I
would say the album is probably better than the album from orange goblin not
(13:47):
to say that you know again that the orange goblin is bad because I mentioned
it but I think off of the orange goblin there's like five songs that went into
my 2024 playlist and for the quill was something like nine so it's really a
fantastic album again it's in the doom stoner vibe really cool because you get
(14:13):
that Swedish kind of side of things so there's some different ingredients going
on there but it's definitely a worthwhile listen it's something that I would
definitely recommend people checking out oh Jeremy what what do you pick next
yeah so my number three on my list was quite easy really so we're sort of
(14:37):
discarding a lot of stuff which was all super but I'm gonna go for the the dust
ball album sound and fury which came out in February dust bolts are a band as
you know that tend to do just basic thrash and you know they're good at it
I've enjoyed a lot of their stuff in the past they came out with something
(15:00):
quite different they even look different they they sort of wore from what I
remember they wore clothes that were all white on the cover they decided to go
you know in a more sort of modern progressive direction but they but they
had some great songs on there and a lot of power they didn't discard the thrash
(15:22):
completely you know it was there but they've they've crafted out a new sound
for the band of course it raises the question as to whether they're gonna
continue in that vein or whether this is just a one-off and they're going back to
you know doing what they did before but I thought it was very brave I thought it
worked I enjoyed the album I enjoyed listening to it again and it's you know
(15:47):
as a super release very early in the year so yeah dust bolt brilliant okay
awesome I just wrote down to check that album out again I completely forgot
about revisiting that one let's see for my number three here this is hard yeah
(16:13):
we may have to do quite a few honorable mentions definitely I'm gonna go with the
Lucifer 5 album you know what you're getting when you hear Lucifer it's a
throwback to the 70s again very very occult theme to it and that's really not
(16:39):
what makes me gravitate to it but the melodies the female vocals on
top of it's it's it's Sabbathy it's it's a bit deep purple sounding as well maybe
(16:59):
without as much prog it feels like 60s pop at times as well there's a lot of
different things going on and Lucifer always seems to deliver with the album
there's there's always a few songs off of each album that that end up in a
(17:22):
playlist somewhere and I definitely think it's one that people should go
back and check out
yeah certainly one I'd like to have a listen to as well it's amazing when we
do these things how we're coming at these things from you know we're picking
out completely different albums and that's a great thing and you know the
(17:44):
listener out there's got so much choice really and we're just proving it by
these are our top five as well they're not just any bands that we're talking
about yeah okay go ahead what do you have number two number two is I think
there's probably no surprise here and I know Brad Dahl will be listening to this
(18:08):
at some future point and he'll be clapping his way through this because
it's Saxon with Hell, Fire and Damination came out in January as you
know I'm a big Saxon fan so that helps as you know they're one of the great
British institutions so that helps it also helps that they've been producing
some very consistent music over the last sort of three or four albums one or two
(18:32):
of them are better than others some songs are better than others but they
you know they get the production right on most of them they get that sort of
Saxon feel throughout you know which is always there great live act and it's
great to hear some of those well I did hear you know three three tracks off
this album live this year I don't think it's you know they're very very best
(18:57):
album but I do think it's you know good eight out of ten and it's a very
listenable album it's one that you know I'll go back to and listen again and
again and that's why I put it in second place it also features Brian Tatler on
guitar now and he's you know had a little bit of an influence on the
guitar but well on the on the songwriting a little bit and we'll
(19:18):
probably get a bit more of that on the next album I guess so that was
interesting and Biff's voice just sounds great and you know if you play a
Saxon album really loud and you like Saxon this is gonna appeal to you it's
a you know it's a great lesson and oh by the way one extra thing they did a song
called 1066 and many Saxon fans were saying they can't believe that Saxon
(19:42):
had never done a song called 1066 before which obviously you know the Battle of
Hastings which is very important in British history and of course they do
all these songs about all types of British history right through to the
modern era and they've never done one on 1066 so that that was quite remarkable
(20:02):
cool so um my second pick here one that hasn't gone over with everyone on
patreon it is the latest album actually came out last month it is from the band
Kitty the Canadian band the four-piece female band one possibly the only band
(20:29):
no not the only band one of the only bands that I've actually interviewed all
four members at one point in time so I'm thrilled that they're back with a new
album I didn't expect to enjoy the album as much as I do I've been listening to
it quite a bit these last few days the name of the album is fire I think I've
(20:52):
posted four or five videos to patreon because they've released quite a few
videos leading up to the release of the album and like I said I've interviewed
them a bunch they've been I don't know if I want to say that they've been
(21:12):
forgotten because with any of these bands they they have a they have a die
hard audience and when I got to see them I've actually seen them live as well
which is where I interviewed two of them the place was was relatively packed and
(21:33):
they're a band that I think laid a lot of groundwork during the 90s did a lot
of things that females at the time were not known for doing and even though you
have your arch enemies and stuff like that where you had an Angela go so take
over and and others afterwards or you started to see female vocalist and
(21:59):
whatnot no this was email vote female singer guitarist sister drummer bass
player and second guitarist so it's still to me I mean I think it's a big
deal that this band came around when they did they should be more famous than
they are but is what it is they are a metal band after all and not everyone is
(22:24):
into the growling we know that so anyway so I would recommend checking out fire
by Kitty if you're into again I wouldn't say it's extreme extreme metal because
there's a lot of clean melodies as well there's there's a mix of of clean and
guttural vocal so cool out check it out interesting yeah so we're at that number
(22:50):
one stage what is our number one album of the half year and of course I'm gonna
pick Judas Priest invincible shield came out in March it's beyond belief I've
listened to this many times I've got the picture disc and I play it pretty
(23:14):
regularly and I play it you know reasonably loud I think I think this is
possibly and I'll stick my neck out here possibly their best album that they've
ever made yeah yeah it's certainly the most enjoyable album at the moment that
I'm listening to that may may change you know obviously I'm not dissing any of
(23:36):
their back catalog I'm not dissing the old great songs that we've done in the
past I just think for a band that's so late in their career to produce an album
that is this good that is lasting in my ears and is better than firepower quite
remarkably so I think it's it's really amazing that they could do that I think
(24:00):
they've got the tempo right on this album whereas they didn't quite get it
on the last two they did get it quite right on firepower yeah it was a much
better effort than the previous one but I think this one it's got such an energy
to it I don't know whether it's because you know the guitarist are knitting
together now because they've been playing together a while or what it is
(24:22):
whether you know because Rob Holford is now feeling much better you know we know
he's had cancer in the past I don't know what it is but they've just got it right
on this and I think the songs are amazing I haven't got a favorite song
because I like it all I just like it all they all seem to get gel together they
(24:45):
all have that essential Judas Priest melody that essential Judas Priest
heaviness and you know as you know I love the band anyway but but this was a
real step up a real rung on the ladder and if this is our last album they've
gone out on the highest of highs that no other metal band has done I don't think
(25:08):
yeah if this was the year-end definite list this would be my number one as well
I think I'm like the songs off of firepower a little more okay but I will
say this when revisiting the album because I haven't listed in a few months
(25:31):
purposely because I didn't want to you know there was a point there where I was
just listening to this over and over again and I said I'm gonna burn myself
out on it I don't want to do that so so I kind of gave it a rest what I think
they got right with this album was I think they were trying to do the same
(25:56):
structure on Angel of Retribution and I'll explain why on Angel of Retribution
they have a song that oh well we need a song that sounds like as if it came off
a painkiller okay so there's this song oh we need another song that sounds if
it was a British Steel song okay let's do that we need a ballad let's do that
(26:18):
you know so it seemed as if they were picking and choosing and trying to
create songs in the ilk of as opposed to just kind of letting things go I think
with this album with invincible shield
I think they and this is what Andy Sneap does to bands Andy Sneap will tell them
(26:42):
listen to your music or listen to what influenced you at the time of when you
were recording this or what you were doing with that the reason that I bring
it up is because there's little nuances things where how Scott Travis is playing
which is very reminiscent to Les Binks is playing in the in the 70s he's
(27:06):
playing certain notes on the hi-hat he's doing certain syncopated beats that's
similar to what they've done during stained class and and those albums in
that period excuse me so I think that they've they went back to an idea that
(27:27):
kind of didn't work and they made it work this time because I think much so
what you're saying is they're more of a team now so yeah Andy is the producer
but he's been on tour with them for how many years I have to check the songwriting
credits to see what Andy Sneap wrote with the rest of the band if he wrote
(27:49):
anything maybe he didn't but I think he's got a better feel for
where the band should go definitely what you said there's no other band none that
sounds remotely like they do with this album Maiden hasn't come close to this
in a long time I mean you know because I've mentioned this to you I've
(28:16):
mentioned to a lot of people since Halford has come back and Gangel of
Retribution has one great song and the rest of it is just kind of okay it's not
bad but it's not great it's not where I want priests to be
Nostradamus was terrible Redeemer of Souls is for the most part terrible the
(28:39):
sound is just so bad on that that album that album was a cry for what we talked
about in the previous previously we recorded and we talked about the
interview I did with Anvil with with Lips and the importance of a producer
they self-produced Redeemer of Souls that guitar sound is terrible it is one
(29:06):
of the worst guitar sounds not only for priests but for any band ever and it
just makes you think well why are they doing this they can afford to have a
producer come in and I get it it's a lot of it is ego to be able to be told you
know hey you need to do this you need to do that and they haven't they didn't do
(29:27):
it on that album I think Firepower righted the ship and this all comes down
to opinion but I think this continues what they started to do I think maybe
Sonic this panic again with with them phasing in different eras of of the band
(29:53):
I think panic attack with those keyboards is definitely you know could
have been on turbo or ram it down easily but yeah I'm I yeah I love panic attack
I love the beginning of that it's it's great I agree with you on the Sonic the
(30:13):
Sonic sound you know just think that it's it is a huge improvement on on all
that you know they've gone better and better on the last couple of albums right
and that's in the sound yeah credible yeah so I I purpose I I didn't want to
rank these because I think that these will shift and because my number one I
(30:36):
mean I kind of going in any sort of order to be honest with you the the last
album that I want to mention and I've really really thought to myself no it
sounds too generic in places it sounds too commercial but damn does it sound
(30:59):
good when it's good it's great some people are gonna shit on me for
this it is the other side of Mars from McMars okay yeah a lot of what he's
doing on here is sorely missed with what Motley Crue has done for a long time the
(31:26):
riffs are great the melodies are great like I said there's some stuff that's
way commercial way radio-friendly way let's get on the radio let's get a hit
which isn't indicative of the entire album but I think I think it's an album
that really should be checked out person yeah I agree I agree I think yeah I
(31:52):
really enjoyed that album when it came out it's not one I've played much since
so that I probably haven't returned to it but I probably will and again you
know could feature at my top ten for the whole year yeah because it was great and
and you're right about it being better you know it's what Motley Crue should
be doing that sort of putting more energy into the stuff and writing better
(32:13):
songs and yeah that's what he does but he's also you know he's got a bit of
freedom to do what he wants and he's done it yeah I I agree so I have a few
other albums on here that I want to ask you about because I know that you've
listened to them and I want to know if they're anywhere on that list of 19
(32:37):
hmm there's two in particular so one is one is humanoid by except would that
happen to be part of your 19 yeah it is yeah okay so I've listened to this a few
times this last week more so that when it came out and it's helped to kind of
(33:00):
change my opinion on this album okay I do think that similar to what we said
with priest I think that we're seeing how some of the newer players have maybe
influenced where they've gone with this album a little I mean not a whole lot
(33:21):
because let's be honest priest is or not priest except is is one person after
after and Peter Balz has even said that that during this last run that he was
just a employee that he really didn't have much say so I'm thinking that
(33:48):
Wolf Hoffman has decided to listen to some of the other people that are that
are now part of the band because they've got three guitars if they've got
obviously a new bass player as well this is funny on on Google it lists Michael
(34:13):
Wagner who's who's a producer as a member of the band so he is not he is
is produced the band this is interesting Google does not list the actual band so
let's see what Wikipedia says okay so so there is a contingent so the band has
(34:49):
two Germans one guy from New Jersey and three guys that are from the Nashville
area I'm thinking that and especially Philip Schaus who is now the third
guitarist in the band has had a lot to do with the songwriting because he's
(35:12):
been involved with people like Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley and and others
like that playing in their touring bands he's been known to play in a lot of
other bands over the years does a lot of cover stuff in Nashville I have to look
(35:34):
at the credits I don't know if he's credited or not but I also wouldn't be
surprised if he's again just an employee so so he's not getting the full full
songwriting credits but I think that the album is better than the last few and
again not at priest level but but I do think that yeah so on this do you expect
(36:02):
this to be part of your top ten at the end of the year that's a good question I
think I need to listen to it more like you have because I'm like that with
except you know I can put them put them down for a while and then I'll play them
in fact I was playing Stalingrad this week because I just pulled it out and I
thought you know that's a great album give it a listen I'm never overly won
(36:24):
by except I think sometimes they grab me you know if I play them loud enough and
I'm in the mood but what I would say is I really like the rise of chaos which I
think was probably what about three albums ago and I really like that one I
thought there's some good songs on it when I listened to this one I just
thought well it was very samey I thought it was better than too mean to die the
(36:48):
previous one which I thought was probably you know the the weakest of the
of the current current lot right but I wasn't overly won over by this one I
thought you know it's it's except it has that except sound the songs are all the
same sort of riffs rehashed but you know I'm willing to give it another try it
(37:09):
wasn't terrible it's nothing that I would you know I would toss out I mean if
someone was to send me a free copy of it of course I'd be very happy to receive
one and I'd play in the car or whatever it's just that I didn't think that they
made the progress that I was expecting or they were doing something a little
bit different and maybe I you know I shouldn't be expecting that of except
(37:29):
that's the band that won't do you know much that's different so yeah okay I'm
open to hearing it again and I'm not sure whether it's gonna feature in my
top ten that's where I am at the moment okay all right so interesting because
Andy Sneep produced this again and as I'm saying so Martin Motnik who is the
(37:55):
bass player has co-written quite a few songs off of this our Torneo has
co-written everything that the bass player hasn't co-written so that's so
yeah so so there you go and even so what I said Phil Schaus has no writing
(38:21):
credits on here so so it is the it is the bass player it is Martin Motnik who
is the one that along with Torneo who who are the ones that have helped kind
of evolve the sound look it's I'm not gonna say that it's not same Z because
(38:43):
it is interesting so he was part of a band called the Rocks who's from
Nashville from not mistaken and I remember seeing them
on on headbangers ball the last iteration of it and enjoying some of
(39:06):
what they released all right so the the second album that I wanted to mention to
you is quantum phase by the end machine this is an album when it came out that
grabbed me right away I've always loved the pairing of George
Lynch and Jeff Pilsen they almost always come up with something really good I
(39:32):
don't know why they waste their time with this rubbish of covering modern pop
songs like they have recently with two releases because they're just so good
together this album is the first one without Robert Mason with the end
(39:53):
machine it has garish the chronicles on lead vocals it's much better than what I
expected and this is kind of if you're wanting a classic docking album in the
field of those original few docking albums this is what I would point you to
(40:13):
Jeremy is this part of your 19 yes it is another one that's there so I did
consider this one for the top five so it could end up again on in on the top ten
we never know yet I agree with you I think Girish does a good job here
replacing Mason I think you know I bought the previous album and I really
(40:38):
like it I thought it had some good songs on it you know good sort of classic rock
sounding to it we know the guitar works gonna be good I thought this one was a
little harder for me to get into I don't know whether it's because I'd heard the
previous one and in my mind I was thinking well that's probably enough for
me from this band you know some bands you get you know you just want an album's
(41:00):
worth of material and when they release another one which is fairly similar
you're thinking well like that you know I'm not too bothered so I think I'm
gonna put part that one in the same category as except where I'm gonna
actually have to give it another listen because I don't think I've really
listened to it properly since it first came out and that's that's the issue but
I think you know giving it time giving a little bit of a lapse I might be really
(41:25):
into it you know the second time okay because that happens okay let me ask you
this out of those 19 which would you say kind of stands out for being really
different from the rest where maybe even people would think wow I wouldn't expect
(41:48):
Jeremy to be into this one or it's something completely different they kind
of catch people off guard yeah there's probably there's probably quite a few
but I'll try and limit it I quite enjoyed the witherfall album now people
may sort of say well that's not unexpected because I picked that out as a
(42:09):
you know their previous album as I think album of the year but they are a very
different type of band aren't they the very sort of prog sound but they do it
really well they have that unique unique vocal this one follows the previous
album very much in a similar vein but there is you know probably about four or
(42:30):
five songs on it that are excellent that the playing is superb you know I mean
they can't off play their instruments and when they get the songs right as
well you know they're on to a winner so that that would be one another one maybe
because I've I've never really been into the band at all much since the very
(42:54):
early days is riot V so you know I liked riots when they released Narita and one
of the album I can't remember what it is back in the day and I haven't really
listened to the band at all since then didn't know much about what they're
producing now and I listened to that one and I thought yeah that's that rocks
(43:17):
that's that's good good heavy heavy old-school metal rock it's great so yeah
I enjoyed that one and I think the third one if I could just mention the third
one that you may not again similar type of thing really is the Rod's album very
simplistic kind of metal rock but I think they do it really well they have
(43:40):
some really catchy songs on it and again it's a band that I only ever heard their
debut album I think back in the day and then sort of lost interest I guess you
know amongst all the famous bands and bands that sort of rose through the
ranks and I think the Rod's just faded away for me so yeah that'd be another
one if you had to reach for the new anvil album or the Rod's which one would
(44:07):
you go for oh that's a good question because I've heard the anvil one very
recently and the Rod's I haven't heard for a little while I think overall
probably the Rod's okay the reason the reason that I ask is because I would say
that they're both kind of in the same kind of I don't want to say category but
(44:35):
I think if you listen if you like the Rod's you would probably like anvil and
vice versa yeah so not to say that they're copies of one another I think
fans of the other so for me and and if you've listened to this show one of
these really isn't that far stretched it is from the I guess you could say
(45:03):
German-American band now KMFDM let go they're an industrial metal band that
I've been into since the 90s to me they're they're hit or miss either I
absolutely love stuff that they release or I don't care for it there's there's
kind of like no in between so I hadn't listened to this album in a while and
(45:25):
it's funny as soon as I turned it on I'm like oh yeah I remember this song I
remember the other song so it was cool they're they're great at heavy guitars
with you know a kind of dancey beat to it great vocals great melodies great
melodies sing-alongs that get stuck in your head and make you want to you know
(45:47):
sing over and over again that always it's great the the other one is a band
called slope I believe this is their third album third full-length name of
the album is freak dreams reminds me a lot of suicidal tendencies early red hot
chili peppers really funky and heavy guitars at the same time really cool
(46:13):
different sounding a real throwback and I appreciate what what this album is all
about it's it's completely different to anything that I usually listen to and
revisiting some of the tracks this week I was like wow this is this is cool this
is again a throwback and something you know kind of a refresher that will then
(46:33):
make you want to go back and listen to some of these other albums or songs
with you know a kind of different look so I'd recommend checking that out I
don't expect you to have either slope or came FDM on no no you're right
(46:53):
you're completely right yeah okay and I have a dark horse album here okay okay
one that I thought initially it's gonna be a death metal band because the name
of the band is cryptos the name of the album is decimator and that to me had a
(47:16):
death metal written all over it and it couldn't sound more like new wave of
British heavy metal if it tried okay okay I don't want to say that it's it's
definitely not low-budget production it sounds like a throwback it's got modern
(47:39):
take on some things enough to make it still sound old-school and at the same
time there are some things that are thrown in there to kind of differentiate
it from a band that's only trying to do retro heavy metal so there are some
thrashier things thrown in there and I think it's I think it's a cool album
(48:01):
that I think a lot of people like yourself may be interested in checking
out yeah I've actually written it down as you were speaking and I'm gonna check
it out that's that's where we are with that one yeah so you're gonna do that
and any sort of underdog pick for you any like lesser-known band that you
(48:22):
recommend people checking out yeah I mean I could mention a couple of the
bigger names as well that we haven't even touched on but I will pick one out
that's a bit of an underdog Demon the British New Wapham band actually were
new wave a British heavy metal band they were always a bit of a melodic outfit
they're probably not very well known now I wouldn't have thought you know by
(48:43):
everyone but they released an album called invincible in May I thought it
was really good I thought it was very melodic again great songwriting I think
this is a typical of the British albums that have been released this year the
songwriting has been good and they kept to sort of a nice pattern of melody you
(49:03):
know on those albums and I really liked it I thought the the lead singer who's
the original singer is getting on a bit now he sounds old I think I mentioned at
the time that I thought he might have even had a stroke because um okay he was
struggling a little bit with this with his vocal but actually listening to it
again and again I really like his gruff voice so you know it's good it's quite
kind of unique and I think you know that they put out a really good effort that
(49:28):
they could be proud of and it's worth a listen cool very very good on that note
I do want to bring something up that that kind of came to mind as you were
mentioning it the singer having some health issues we recently heard about
(49:49):
Jack Russell having to step down from being an active touring artist that's
known for Great White we knew that Andrew Freeman was going to be fronting
the band for a few dates there we talked about it a little while back there now
we know that he's got a the same disease that yeah is it Louie bodies yes yeah
(50:19):
yeah cuz I know my dad does that as well yeah it's I think it's a very
variant on the on Parkinson's or dementia variants on dementia I think so
you know it affects people in a similar way to those sort of illnesses right
yeah tends to come with age I guess don't know a huge amount about it because my
(50:43):
dad's only in the sort of early stages of it that kind of thing but I think it
can get worse yeah yeah from from the article that or from the information
post posted on blabbermouth it mentioned that it's oftentimes misdiagnosed as
Alzheimer's or Parkinson's yeah a lot of the a lot of the symptoms are very
(51:09):
similar yeah they're all neurological diseases so it's unfortunate I'm
wondering if he's at a point where he could still record yeah can't tour but
maybe I don't know maybe frontier still has a four album deal left that he has
(51:35):
to shore up and and we're all of a sudden gonna see another Russell guns
album this year and something else you know to kind of tie up that contract I
don't know yeah it depends how far advanced it is a guess and but I would
imagine that he could sing certainly you know record quite easily because from my
(51:57):
experience of that in its early stages is that you know you might get some
shaking you might get some forgetfulness so you wouldn't be able to remember your
lyrics on stage without you know a prompt or whatever and you won't be able
to sort of stand very easily or whatever but you know in a studio I think you'd
be pretty reasonably fine I don't think it affects you your actual singing voice
(52:19):
from what yeah certainly not initially well we definitely wish him the best the
other thing that I thought was kind of cool was that mark Kendall from great
white did come out and say you know even though we've had and this is the kind of
(52:43):
I'm paraphrasing it because I couldn't I should have prepared for this I didn't
know that I was gonna go on this tangent so the demon subject brought this up but
Mark Kendall said something to the effect of you know our differences are
(53:04):
business-related he's still a brother to me and I don't wish him any ill will and
stuff like that so I thought that was kind of cool to see that and you know I
hope that Jack can traverse life and the best way possible how about that yeah
(53:25):
absolutely second that yeah anything else that you would like to touch upon
before we wrap things up just say an honorary mention for Sebastian Bach's
album which we didn't mention an honorary mention for Sonic Universe
honorary mention for praying mantis there are so many everyone needs to go
(53:46):
back and listen to the weekly episodes that we do as we do them on a monthly
basis and you know we review every single week yeah I agree it's it's
served up for you on the silver platter if you go to signals from ours our
comrade on the home page if you scroll down you'll find our album reviews our
(54:09):
monthly album reviews there and you can go back and check out the six that have
come out before this episode and then you can check this one out again to see
where we stand with some of these albums after six months and we'll see in a few
months how some of these stands where we actually have to decide our top ten
(54:35):
that should be exciting yeah I always look forward to that one excellent so on
that note I believe that we will be ending the episode I want to thank you
guys for joining us for watching this episode the episode will be released
(54:56):
you're watching this quote-unquote live this will be coming out on August 16th
and we are recording this on July 24th so there you go we're pulling back the
curtain there a little and letting you guys know some of the the secret sauce
ingredients but always fun to talk to Jeremy about music and hope that you
(55:18):
guys can appreciate the chemistry that we have talking about these albums and
hope that this serves for you guys to go back and check out some of this great
music so remember there's always some good music coming out you just have to
search it out do not be a lazy listener
(55:38):
absolutely awesome so on that note we bid you farewell everything is is ready
to go from here to September so we will see you back at the end of summer
beginning of fall thank you Jeremy for coming on and for everyone's support and
we'll see you next time right here on signals from Mars see you folks
(56:11):
thank you for listening to the signals from Mars podcast you can subscribe to
the show on all your favorite podcast platforms like Apple podcast Spotify
Google podcast Amazon and more go to signalsfrommars.com for more information
this concludes our show
Welcome everyone to episode 392 of Signals from Mars. I'm your host Victor.
(00:05):
And for this episode, welcome back Mr. Jeremy Weltman. This is the first half of
2024 albums review. We're gonna touch upon a bunch of different albums that
stood out to the two of us throughout the first half of the year, basically what I
said from January to June. Check it out next.
(00:54):
To quote William Bailey, better known as W. Axl Rose from 1991's Use Your Illusion,
sometimes I feel like I'm beating a dead horse. But these episodes are done for
(01:16):
people that haven't been checking out music and I get it, or haven't been
checking out new music that's been coming out this year and I get it. Life
gets in the way, every one of us has different things that's going on in our
lives. We can't always do it. So that's why Jeremy and I are here to help out by
pointing out some cool albums that we've been listening to throughout the year.
(01:41):
Initially the idea was to just talk about a few, now we talked about a whole
lot more. So I hope you guys enjoy this episode. It is always fun to talk music,
talk rock, to talk metal. Can I say that? We were talking metal. It's fun to catch
(02:01):
up and just talk about music that we love and help spread the word to others
because there's so much out there and sometimes it's just difficult to sort
out so much material. But it's there. Just have to find it. The episode is the
episode again. I don't want to say it's great. I don't want to toot my own horn,
(02:22):
but I think it is a good listen. It is a good listen, especially if you've
missed out on any of these albums that we're mentioning. So I do want to remind
you guys to go to signalsfrommars.com. You can support the show by either
(02:47):
picking up merch. We have t-shirts, we have sweatshirts, we have jackets, bucket
hats, baseball caps, all types of things, various ranges and sizes and different
designs. You also have the ability to sign up for Patreon for as little as two
bucks a month. You get my additional podcast, the Victor M. Ruiz podcast. You
(03:13):
get videos posted on a daily basis which are discussed and a bunch of other fun,
I almost said fun and annoying. No, not annoying, just fun things that we chat
about. Maybe I can be annoying, but I don't try to be. Anyway, yeah, so there's
there's a bunch of different things that you can do to support there. There's
(03:36):
Amazon, there's PayPal, buy me a coffee slash pizza, so on and so forth. Anyway,
just go to signalsfrommars.com and if you can't support economically, which
nobody's holding a gun to anybody's head, help share the episodes on social media.
(03:57):
Follow on all the more popular and even less popular social media platforms
that I'm gonna go dark on some of those for the next month or so just because
I'm gonna be on vacation. It's gonna be difficult to keep up while I'm away, but
everything is programmed out. Everything is scheduled out so that if you are
(04:21):
subscribed to the RSS, you will continue to get episodes and I will have to do
some finagling, but that's fine. I'll see what I can do. I'll do my best. How
about that? Hope you guys enjoy this episode. Hope you guys are having a
great summer and we've got another episode next week which will be what if
(04:43):
John Bush and in September hopefully I will be back with some cool interviews
and other cool concepts to discuss with you guys. Alright, let's get on with the
episode folks.
(05:14):
Welcome one and all to episode. I can actually give this an episode number.
This is gonna end up being episode 392 of the audio version. This is essentially
our recap of the first half of 2024 when it comes to releases, when it comes to
albums, EPs, compilations, live albums, but for the most part we always focus on
(05:37):
new music and joining me as usual my trusted companion for these types of
chats, Mr. Jeremy Weltman. Jeremy, how are you sir? Hi Victor, yeah doing really well.
Thank you. Listening to a lot of rock and metal at the moment which is always a
good thing with it being summertime it's time to play a lot more stuff than in
the winter. Absolutely. You wake longer. You wake longer and also you can kind of
(06:04):
interject music on walks and runs and bike rides and drives out on the
weekend so there's a lot of different things as opposed to just I mean it's
cool sitting at home and listening to music but if you can get out and kind of
combine the two that's always neat as well. Yeah. So cool we're gonna go back
(06:28):
and forth. I'm not sure what Jeremy has on his list and Jeremy's not sure what I
have on my list. I'm sure there will be some sort of overlap but the initial
idea is to discuss five different albums of our choosing and we're gonna go back
(06:48):
and forth. I'm gonna let Jeremy start and we'll see where we go from there.
Yeah you've limited everything by saying only five because as I sort of
mentioned just off air just as we're about to start you know probably got
about 19 different albums on this list because there was so much great music
(07:10):
that's been released so far this year. I can't believe it to be honest. I didn't
expect it. That was one thing. There's a lot of famous names on my list but
there's also a few that you know haven't released albums for a while or they're
slightly lesser names and I think that's good as well. I'm gonna mention for my
number five an album by a British band Lionheart, The Grace of a Dragonfly
(07:35):
which came out in February, February the 23rd I believe. As you know Lionheart
been going for a long time. Dennis Stratton was in the band. There's a few
other famous names who've been in and out the band over the years and
they haven't released a lot of music you know all the time and to be honest I
(07:55):
did remember them back in the day. I think I picked up an album by them you
know in the 80s and then I kind of forgot all about them to be honest but
this album is a really really good, it's a sort of concept album
about war and you know around the sort of second world war really and
(08:16):
it has some really great songwriting on it. It's very well produced and you know
it's got great melodies to the music and you know listen to it several
times. Really enjoy it. I think they made a really good job of it. So that
would be my number five. There's not much more to say about it you know I just
(08:38):
really enjoy it. I think it's a good old British sounding
album as well you know if I can say that. There's quite a few this year you
know that have a lot of melody to them and we may mention one or two others
as we go on. I think it's been a great year for British metal probably better
than some. So I'm going to keep things in the UK as since you started out
(09:05):
there. I'm going to continue there and I'm gonna hit you up with Orange Goblin
and Science not Fiction. There's gonna be a common theme here because a lot of the
music that I've really dug this year is really in that vein of doom metal, stoner
rock, stoner hard rock, stoner metal, however you want to call it. Drinking
(09:30):
from the the well that was first
Plenished Full of Water by Black Sabbath of Drinking from that Sabbath well I
should say I've gotten to see Orange Goblin live. This is their first album in
quite a few years and they've never disappointed. They're heavy punishing you
(09:53):
know it's funny when a lot of people bring up high on fire and bands of that
ilk not to besmirch them in any way shape or form but Orange Goblin is
always one of my go-to bands when it comes to that style of heavy metal. So
yeah for me the my fifth mention and and this isn't us saying this is our top five
(10:18):
or whatever this is just us throwing out albums for you the listener to check out
if you aren't aware of any of these but yeah so the first thing I want to mention
is that Orange Goblin Science Not Fiction. Yes interesting Orange Goblin
they were formed in the mid 90s and often when this bands formed around that
time I've not really got into them very much because of just things going on in
(10:42):
my family life you know I got married and we were having children all that
sort of stuff and I didn't get into you know as much metal as I should have at
that time and so they are on a band that I'm as familiar with as some other
people and so you know you're recommending the so really going back
into their back catalogue as well as listening to this album which yes you
know I will plan to do and that could be that could be some good fun to you know
(11:06):
to do that over the next few months. There you go some homework. Yeah.
All right so what is the next album that you would like to discuss? So this is an
interesting one for me at this stage because I've got my top three sort of
bolted on but I'm really gonna make a decision live on air here or at
(11:31):
least on the recording for when everyone listens to it because there are about
five or six that I could put into the next slot which I think it's just a
little bit above Lionheart in the quality and the listenability but I
hadn't really made up a mind I'm gonna go for the Grand Slam album Wheel of
(11:52):
Fortune that was released in June and by the way I could have mentioned others I'll
probably just mention those now in passing it could have been Pray Mantis
it could have been Witherfall it could have been one or two others we might
mention others later so I'm gonna go for the Grand Slam album I didn't
necessarily really like this when I first listened to it I thought it had a
(12:15):
you know it's a little bit of a sort of poor thin Lizzy but when I listened to
it again and again I really got into it I thought yeah this is just one of those
really enjoyable listens you know I think again they got the melodies right
the production was right and they've produced you know some songs that do
sound a bit sort of Lizzy type as if you know if Lizzy were going now they might
(12:38):
sort of do that kind of stuff and it was just great to hear Grand Slam again
because you know they haven't been around producing music all the time and
sometimes you know we welcome back into the metal fold the classic rock fold
bands that haven't you know been around for a while and they want to produce
music again and I think that's a really good thing so yeah I'm gonna go for
(13:02):
gonna go for that Grand Slam effort okay for me I'm gonna kind of keep it in that
same orange goblin type of vein this is a band that I've mentioned to my patrons
several times turned I think quite a few you guys onto them they're a band out of
(13:23):
Sweden the name of the album is wheel of illusion the band is the quill and
similar type of vibe as orange goblin maybe a slightly more melodic and I
would say the album is probably better than the album from orange goblin not
(13:47):
to say that you know again that the orange goblin is bad because I mentioned
it but I think off of the orange goblin there's like five songs that went into
my 2024 playlist and for the quill was something like nine so it's really a
fantastic album again it's in the doom stoner vibe really cool because you get
(14:13):
that Swedish kind of side of things so there's some different ingredients going
on there but it's definitely a worthwhile listen it's something that I would
definitely recommend people checking out oh Jeremy what what do you pick next
yeah so my number three on my list was quite easy really so we're sort of
(14:37):
discarding a lot of stuff which was all super but I'm gonna go for the the dust
ball album sound and fury which came out in February dust bolts are a band as
you know that tend to do just basic thrash and you know they're good at it
I've enjoyed a lot of their stuff in the past they came out with something
(15:00):
quite different they even look different they they sort of wore from what I
remember they wore clothes that were all white on the cover they decided to go
you know in a more sort of modern progressive direction but they but they
had some great songs on there and a lot of power they didn't discard the thrash
(15:22):
completely you know it was there but they've they've crafted out a new sound
for the band of course it raises the question as to whether they're gonna
continue in that vein or whether this is just a one-off and they're going back to
you know doing what they did before but I thought it was very brave I thought it
worked I enjoyed the album I enjoyed listening to it again and it's you know
(15:47):
as a super release very early in the year so yeah dust bolt brilliant okay
awesome I just wrote down to check that album out again I completely forgot
about revisiting that one let's see for my number three here this is hard yeah
(16:13):
we may have to do quite a few honorable mentions definitely I'm gonna go with the
Lucifer 5 album you know what you're getting when you hear Lucifer it's a
throwback to the 70s again very very occult theme to it and that's really not
(16:39):
what makes me gravitate to it but the melodies the female vocals on
top of it's it's it's Sabbathy it's it's a bit deep purple sounding as well maybe
(16:59):
without as much prog it feels like 60s pop at times as well there's a lot of
different things going on and Lucifer always seems to deliver with the album
there's there's always a few songs off of each album that that end up in a
(17:22):
playlist somewhere and I definitely think it's one that people should go
back and check out
yeah certainly one I'd like to have a listen to as well it's amazing when we
do these things how we're coming at these things from you know we're picking
out completely different albums and that's a great thing and you know the
(17:44):
listener out there's got so much choice really and we're just proving it by
these are our top five as well they're not just any bands that we're talking
about yeah okay go ahead what do you have number two number two is I think
there's probably no surprise here and I know Brad Dahl will be listening to this
(18:08):
at some future point and he'll be clapping his way through this because
it's Saxon with Hell, Fire and Damination came out in January as you
know I'm a big Saxon fan so that helps as you know they're one of the great
British institutions so that helps it also helps that they've been producing
some very consistent music over the last sort of three or four albums one or two
(18:32):
of them are better than others some songs are better than others but they
you know they get the production right on most of them they get that sort of
Saxon feel throughout you know which is always there great live act and it's
great to hear some of those well I did hear you know three three tracks off
this album live this year I don't think it's you know they're very very best
(18:57):
album but I do think it's you know good eight out of ten and it's a very
listenable album it's one that you know I'll go back to and listen again and
again and that's why I put it in second place it also features Brian Tatler on
guitar now and he's you know had a little bit of an influence on the
guitar but well on the on the songwriting a little bit and we'll
(19:18):
probably get a bit more of that on the next album I guess so that was
interesting and Biff's voice just sounds great and you know if you play a
Saxon album really loud and you like Saxon this is gonna appeal to you it's
a you know it's a great lesson and oh by the way one extra thing they did a song
called 1066 and many Saxon fans were saying they can't believe that Saxon
(19:42):
had never done a song called 1066 before which obviously you know the Battle of
Hastings which is very important in British history and of course they do
all these songs about all types of British history right through to the
modern era and they've never done one on 1066 so that that was quite remarkable
(20:02):
cool so um my second pick here one that hasn't gone over with everyone on
patreon it is the latest album actually came out last month it is from the band
Kitty the Canadian band the four-piece female band one possibly the only band
(20:29):
no not the only band one of the only bands that I've actually interviewed all
four members at one point in time so I'm thrilled that they're back with a new
album I didn't expect to enjoy the album as much as I do I've been listening to
it quite a bit these last few days the name of the album is fire I think I've
(20:52):
posted four or five videos to patreon because they've released quite a few
videos leading up to the release of the album and like I said I've interviewed
them a bunch they've been I don't know if I want to say that they've been
(21:12):
forgotten because with any of these bands they they have a they have a die
hard audience and when I got to see them I've actually seen them live as well
which is where I interviewed two of them the place was was relatively packed and
(21:33):
they're a band that I think laid a lot of groundwork during the 90s did a lot
of things that females at the time were not known for doing and even though you
have your arch enemies and stuff like that where you had an Angela go so take
over and and others afterwards or you started to see female vocalist and
(21:59):
whatnot no this was email vote female singer guitarist sister drummer bass
player and second guitarist so it's still to me I mean I think it's a big
deal that this band came around when they did they should be more famous than
they are but is what it is they are a metal band after all and not everyone is
(22:24):
into the growling we know that so anyway so I would recommend checking out fire
by Kitty if you're into again I wouldn't say it's extreme extreme metal because
there's a lot of clean melodies as well there's there's a mix of of clean and
guttural vocal so cool out check it out interesting yeah so we're at that number
(22:50):
one stage what is our number one album of the half year and of course I'm gonna
pick Judas Priest invincible shield came out in March it's beyond belief I've
listened to this many times I've got the picture disc and I play it pretty
(23:14):
regularly and I play it you know reasonably loud I think I think this is
possibly and I'll stick my neck out here possibly their best album that they've
ever made yeah yeah it's certainly the most enjoyable album at the moment that
I'm listening to that may may change you know obviously I'm not dissing any of
(23:36):
their back catalog I'm not dissing the old great songs that we've done in the
past I just think for a band that's so late in their career to produce an album
that is this good that is lasting in my ears and is better than firepower quite
remarkably so I think it's it's really amazing that they could do that I think
(24:00):
they've got the tempo right on this album whereas they didn't quite get it
on the last two they did get it quite right on firepower yeah it was a much
better effort than the previous one but I think this one it's got such an energy
to it I don't know whether it's because you know the guitarist are knitting
together now because they've been playing together a while or what it is
(24:22):
whether you know because Rob Holford is now feeling much better you know we know
he's had cancer in the past I don't know what it is but they've just got it right
on this and I think the songs are amazing I haven't got a favorite song
because I like it all I just like it all they all seem to get gel together they
(24:45):
all have that essential Judas Priest melody that essential Judas Priest
heaviness and you know as you know I love the band anyway but but this was a
real step up a real rung on the ladder and if this is our last album they've
gone out on the highest of highs that no other metal band has done I don't think
(25:08):
yeah if this was the year-end definite list this would be my number one as well
I think I'm like the songs off of firepower a little more okay but I will
say this when revisiting the album because I haven't listed in a few months
(25:31):
purposely because I didn't want to you know there was a point there where I was
just listening to this over and over again and I said I'm gonna burn myself
out on it I don't want to do that so so I kind of gave it a rest what I think
they got right with this album was I think they were trying to do the same
(25:56):
structure on Angel of Retribution and I'll explain why on Angel of Retribution
they have a song that oh well we need a song that sounds like as if it came off
a painkiller okay so there's this song oh we need another song that sounds if
it was a British Steel song okay let's do that we need a ballad let's do that
(26:18):
you know so it seemed as if they were picking and choosing and trying to
create songs in the ilk of as opposed to just kind of letting things go I think
with this album with invincible shield
I think they and this is what Andy Sneap does to bands Andy Sneap will tell them
(26:42):
listen to your music or listen to what influenced you at the time of when you
were recording this or what you were doing with that the reason that I bring
it up is because there's little nuances things where how Scott Travis is playing
which is very reminiscent to Les Binks is playing in the in the 70s he's
(27:06):
playing certain notes on the hi-hat he's doing certain syncopated beats that's
similar to what they've done during stained class and and those albums in
that period excuse me so I think that they've they went back to an idea that
(27:27):
kind of didn't work and they made it work this time because I think much so
what you're saying is they're more of a team now so yeah Andy is the producer
but he's been on tour with them for how many years I have to check the songwriting
credits to see what Andy Sneap wrote with the rest of the band if he wrote
(27:49):
anything maybe he didn't but I think he's got a better feel for
where the band should go definitely what you said there's no other band none that
sounds remotely like they do with this album Maiden hasn't come close to this
in a long time I mean you know because I've mentioned this to you I've
(28:16):
mentioned to a lot of people since Halford has come back and Gangel of
Retribution has one great song and the rest of it is just kind of okay it's not
bad but it's not great it's not where I want priests to be
Nostradamus was terrible Redeemer of Souls is for the most part terrible the
(28:39):
sound is just so bad on that that album that album was a cry for what we talked
about in the previous previously we recorded and we talked about the
interview I did with Anvil with with Lips and the importance of a producer
they self-produced Redeemer of Souls that guitar sound is terrible it is one
(29:06):
of the worst guitar sounds not only for priests but for any band ever and it
just makes you think well why are they doing this they can afford to have a
producer come in and I get it it's a lot of it is ego to be able to be told you
know hey you need to do this you need to do that and they haven't they didn't do
(29:27):
it on that album I think Firepower righted the ship and this all comes down
to opinion but I think this continues what they started to do I think maybe
Sonic this panic again with with them phasing in different eras of of the band
(29:53):
I think panic attack with those keyboards is definitely you know could
have been on turbo or ram it down easily but yeah I'm I yeah I love panic attack
I love the beginning of that it's it's great I agree with you on the Sonic the
(30:13):
Sonic sound you know just think that it's it is a huge improvement on on all
that you know they've gone better and better on the last couple of albums right
and that's in the sound yeah credible yeah so I I purpose I I didn't want to
rank these because I think that these will shift and because my number one I
(30:36):
mean I kind of going in any sort of order to be honest with you the the last
album that I want to mention and I've really really thought to myself no it
sounds too generic in places it sounds too commercial but damn does it sound
(30:59):
good when it's good it's great some people are gonna shit on me for
this it is the other side of Mars from McMars okay yeah a lot of what he's
doing on here is sorely missed with what Motley Crue has done for a long time the
(31:26):
riffs are great the melodies are great like I said there's some stuff that's
way commercial way radio-friendly way let's get on the radio let's get a hit
which isn't indicative of the entire album but I think I think it's an album
that really should be checked out person yeah I agree I agree I think yeah I
(31:52):
really enjoyed that album when it came out it's not one I've played much since
so that I probably haven't returned to it but I probably will and again you
know could feature at my top ten for the whole year yeah because it was great and
and you're right about it being better you know it's what Motley Crue should
be doing that sort of putting more energy into the stuff and writing better
(32:13):
songs and yeah that's what he does but he's also you know he's got a bit of
freedom to do what he wants and he's done it yeah I I agree so I have a few
other albums on here that I want to ask you about because I know that you've
listened to them and I want to know if they're anywhere on that list of 19
(32:37):
hmm there's two in particular so one is one is humanoid by except would that
happen to be part of your 19 yeah it is yeah okay so I've listened to this a few
times this last week more so that when it came out and it's helped to kind of
(33:00):
change my opinion on this album okay I do think that similar to what we said
with priest I think that we're seeing how some of the newer players have maybe
influenced where they've gone with this album a little I mean not a whole lot
(33:21):
because let's be honest priest is or not priest except is is one person after
after and Peter Balz has even said that that during this last run that he was
just a employee that he really didn't have much say so I'm thinking that
(33:48):
Wolf Hoffman has decided to listen to some of the other people that are that
are now part of the band because they've got three guitars if they've got
obviously a new bass player as well this is funny on on Google it lists Michael
(34:13):
Wagner who's who's a producer as a member of the band so he is not he is
is produced the band this is interesting Google does not list the actual band so
let's see what Wikipedia says okay so so there is a contingent so the band has
(34:49):
two Germans one guy from New Jersey and three guys that are from the Nashville
area I'm thinking that and especially Philip Schaus who is now the third
guitarist in the band has had a lot to do with the songwriting because he's
(35:12):
been involved with people like Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley and and others
like that playing in their touring bands he's been known to play in a lot of
other bands over the years does a lot of cover stuff in Nashville I have to look
(35:34):
at the credits I don't know if he's credited or not but I also wouldn't be
surprised if he's again just an employee so so he's not getting the full full
songwriting credits but I think that the album is better than the last few and
again not at priest level but but I do think that yeah so on this do you expect
(36:02):
this to be part of your top ten at the end of the year that's a good question I
think I need to listen to it more like you have because I'm like that with
except you know I can put them put them down for a while and then I'll play them
in fact I was playing Stalingrad this week because I just pulled it out and I
thought you know that's a great album give it a listen I'm never overly won
(36:24):
by except I think sometimes they grab me you know if I play them loud enough and
I'm in the mood but what I would say is I really like the rise of chaos which I
think was probably what about three albums ago and I really like that one I
thought there's some good songs on it when I listened to this one I just
thought well it was very samey I thought it was better than too mean to die the
(36:48):
previous one which I thought was probably you know the the weakest of the
of the current current lot right but I wasn't overly won over by this one I
thought you know it's it's except it has that except sound the songs are all the
same sort of riffs rehashed but you know I'm willing to give it another try it
(37:09):
wasn't terrible it's nothing that I would you know I would toss out I mean if
someone was to send me a free copy of it of course I'd be very happy to receive
one and I'd play in the car or whatever it's just that I didn't think that they
made the progress that I was expecting or they were doing something a little
bit different and maybe I you know I shouldn't be expecting that of except
(37:29):
that's the band that won't do you know much that's different so yeah okay I'm
open to hearing it again and I'm not sure whether it's gonna feature in my
top ten that's where I am at the moment okay all right so interesting because
Andy Sneep produced this again and as I'm saying so Martin Motnik who is the
(37:55):
bass player has co-written quite a few songs off of this our Torneo has
co-written everything that the bass player hasn't co-written so that's so
yeah so so there you go and even so what I said Phil Schaus has no writing
(38:21):
credits on here so so it is the it is the bass player it is Martin Motnik who
is the one that along with Torneo who who are the ones that have helped kind
of evolve the sound look it's I'm not gonna say that it's not same Z because
(38:43):
it is interesting so he was part of a band called the Rocks who's from
Nashville from not mistaken and I remember seeing them
on on headbangers ball the last iteration of it and enjoying some of
(39:06):
what they released all right so the the second album that I wanted to mention to
you is quantum phase by the end machine this is an album when it came out that
grabbed me right away I've always loved the pairing of George
Lynch and Jeff Pilsen they almost always come up with something really good I
(39:32):
don't know why they waste their time with this rubbish of covering modern pop
songs like they have recently with two releases because they're just so good
together this album is the first one without Robert Mason with the end
(39:53):
machine it has garish the chronicles on lead vocals it's much better than what I
expected and this is kind of if you're wanting a classic docking album in the
field of those original few docking albums this is what I would point you to
(40:13):
Jeremy is this part of your 19 yes it is another one that's there so I did
consider this one for the top five so it could end up again on in on the top ten
we never know yet I agree with you I think Girish does a good job here
replacing Mason I think you know I bought the previous album and I really
(40:38):
like it I thought it had some good songs on it you know good sort of classic rock
sounding to it we know the guitar works gonna be good I thought this one was a
little harder for me to get into I don't know whether it's because I'd heard the
previous one and in my mind I was thinking well that's probably enough for
me from this band you know some bands you get you know you just want an album's
(41:00):
worth of material and when they release another one which is fairly similar
you're thinking well like that you know I'm not too bothered so I think I'm
gonna put part that one in the same category as except where I'm gonna
actually have to give it another listen because I don't think I've really
listened to it properly since it first came out and that's that's the issue but
I think you know giving it time giving a little bit of a lapse I might be really
(41:25):
into it you know the second time okay because that happens okay let me ask you
this out of those 19 which would you say kind of stands out for being really
different from the rest where maybe even people would think wow I wouldn't expect
(41:48):
Jeremy to be into this one or it's something completely different they kind
of catch people off guard yeah there's probably there's probably quite a few
but I'll try and limit it I quite enjoyed the witherfall album now people
may sort of say well that's not unexpected because I picked that out as a
(42:09):
you know their previous album as I think album of the year but they are a very
different type of band aren't they the very sort of prog sound but they do it
really well they have that unique unique vocal this one follows the previous
album very much in a similar vein but there is you know probably about four or
(42:30):
five songs on it that are excellent that the playing is superb you know I mean
they can't off play their instruments and when they get the songs right as
well you know they're on to a winner so that that would be one another one maybe
because I've I've never really been into the band at all much since the very
(42:54):
early days is riot V so you know I liked riots when they released Narita and one
of the album I can't remember what it is back in the day and I haven't really
listened to the band at all since then didn't know much about what they're
producing now and I listened to that one and I thought yeah that's that rocks
(43:17):
that's that's good good heavy heavy old-school metal rock it's great so yeah
I enjoyed that one and I think the third one if I could just mention the third
one that you may not again similar type of thing really is the Rod's album very
simplistic kind of metal rock but I think they do it really well they have
(43:40):
some really catchy songs on it and again it's a band that I only ever heard their
debut album I think back in the day and then sort of lost interest I guess you
know amongst all the famous bands and bands that sort of rose through the
ranks and I think the Rod's just faded away for me so yeah that'd be another
one if you had to reach for the new anvil album or the Rod's which one would
(44:07):
you go for oh that's a good question because I've heard the anvil one very
recently and the Rod's I haven't heard for a little while I think overall
probably the Rod's okay the reason the reason that I ask is because I would say
that they're both kind of in the same kind of I don't want to say category but
(44:35):
I think if you listen if you like the Rod's you would probably like anvil and
vice versa yeah so not to say that they're copies of one another I think
fans of the other so for me and and if you've listened to this show one of
these really isn't that far stretched it is from the I guess you could say
(45:03):
German-American band now KMFDM let go they're an industrial metal band that
I've been into since the 90s to me they're they're hit or miss either I
absolutely love stuff that they release or I don't care for it there's there's
kind of like no in between so I hadn't listened to this album in a while and
(45:25):
it's funny as soon as I turned it on I'm like oh yeah I remember this song I
remember the other song so it was cool they're they're great at heavy guitars
with you know a kind of dancey beat to it great vocals great melodies great
melodies sing-alongs that get stuck in your head and make you want to you know
(45:47):
sing over and over again that always it's great the the other one is a band
called slope I believe this is their third album third full-length name of
the album is freak dreams reminds me a lot of suicidal tendencies early red hot
chili peppers really funky and heavy guitars at the same time really cool
(46:13):
different sounding a real throwback and I appreciate what what this album is all
about it's it's completely different to anything that I usually listen to and
revisiting some of the tracks this week I was like wow this is this is cool this
is again a throwback and something you know kind of a refresher that will then
(46:33):
make you want to go back and listen to some of these other albums or songs
with you know a kind of different look so I'd recommend checking that out I
don't expect you to have either slope or came FDM on no no you're right
(46:53):
you're completely right yeah okay and I have a dark horse album here okay okay
one that I thought initially it's gonna be a death metal band because the name
of the band is cryptos the name of the album is decimator and that to me had a
(47:16):
death metal written all over it and it couldn't sound more like new wave of
British heavy metal if it tried okay okay I don't want to say that it's it's
definitely not low-budget production it sounds like a throwback it's got modern
(47:39):
take on some things enough to make it still sound old-school and at the same
time there are some things that are thrown in there to kind of differentiate
it from a band that's only trying to do retro heavy metal so there are some
thrashier things thrown in there and I think it's I think it's a cool album
(48:01):
that I think a lot of people like yourself may be interested in checking
out yeah I've actually written it down as you were speaking and I'm gonna check
it out that's that's where we are with that one yeah so you're gonna do that
and any sort of underdog pick for you any like lesser-known band that you
(48:22):
recommend people checking out yeah I mean I could mention a couple of the
bigger names as well that we haven't even touched on but I will pick one out
that's a bit of an underdog Demon the British New Wapham band actually were
new wave a British heavy metal band they were always a bit of a melodic outfit
they're probably not very well known now I wouldn't have thought you know by
(48:43):
everyone but they released an album called invincible in May I thought it
was really good I thought it was very melodic again great songwriting I think
this is a typical of the British albums that have been released this year the
songwriting has been good and they kept to sort of a nice pattern of melody you
(49:03):
know on those albums and I really liked it I thought the the lead singer who's
the original singer is getting on a bit now he sounds old I think I mentioned at
the time that I thought he might have even had a stroke because um okay he was
struggling a little bit with this with his vocal but actually listening to it
again and again I really like his gruff voice so you know it's good it's quite
kind of unique and I think you know that they put out a really good effort that
(49:28):
they could be proud of and it's worth a listen cool very very good on that note
I do want to bring something up that that kind of came to mind as you were
mentioning it the singer having some health issues we recently heard about
(49:49):
Jack Russell having to step down from being an active touring artist that's
known for Great White we knew that Andrew Freeman was going to be fronting
the band for a few dates there we talked about it a little while back there now
we know that he's got a the same disease that yeah is it Louie bodies yes yeah
(50:19):
yeah cuz I know my dad does that as well yeah it's I think it's a very
variant on the on Parkinson's or dementia variants on dementia I think so
you know it affects people in a similar way to those sort of illnesses right
yeah tends to come with age I guess don't know a huge amount about it because my
(50:43):
dad's only in the sort of early stages of it that kind of thing but I think it
can get worse yeah yeah from from the article that or from the information
post posted on blabbermouth it mentioned that it's oftentimes misdiagnosed as
Alzheimer's or Parkinson's yeah a lot of the a lot of the symptoms are very
(51:09):
similar yeah they're all neurological diseases so it's unfortunate I'm
wondering if he's at a point where he could still record yeah can't tour but
maybe I don't know maybe frontier still has a four album deal left that he has
(51:35):
to shore up and and we're all of a sudden gonna see another Russell guns
album this year and something else you know to kind of tie up that contract I
don't know yeah it depends how far advanced it is a guess and but I would
imagine that he could sing certainly you know record quite easily because from my
(51:57):
experience of that in its early stages is that you know you might get some
shaking you might get some forgetfulness so you wouldn't be able to remember your
lyrics on stage without you know a prompt or whatever and you won't be able
to sort of stand very easily or whatever but you know in a studio I think you'd
be pretty reasonably fine I don't think it affects you your actual singing voice
(52:19):
from what yeah certainly not initially well we definitely wish him the best the
other thing that I thought was kind of cool was that mark Kendall from great
white did come out and say you know even though we've had and this is the kind of
(52:43):
I'm paraphrasing it because I couldn't I should have prepared for this I didn't
know that I was gonna go on this tangent so the demon subject brought this up but
Mark Kendall said something to the effect of you know our differences are
(53:04):
business-related he's still a brother to me and I don't wish him any ill will and
stuff like that so I thought that was kind of cool to see that and you know I
hope that Jack can traverse life and the best way possible how about that yeah
(53:25):
absolutely second that yeah anything else that you would like to touch upon
before we wrap things up just say an honorary mention for Sebastian Bach's
album which we didn't mention an honorary mention for Sonic Universe
honorary mention for praying mantis there are so many everyone needs to go
(53:46):
back and listen to the weekly episodes that we do as we do them on a monthly
basis and you know we review every single week yeah I agree it's it's
served up for you on the silver platter if you go to signals from ours our
comrade on the home page if you scroll down you'll find our album reviews our
(54:09):
monthly album reviews there and you can go back and check out the six that have
come out before this episode and then you can check this one out again to see
where we stand with some of these albums after six months and we'll see in a few
months how some of these stands where we actually have to decide our top ten
(54:35):
that should be exciting yeah I always look forward to that one excellent so on
that note I believe that we will be ending the episode I want to thank you
guys for joining us for watching this episode the episode will be released
(54:56):
you're watching this quote-unquote live this will be coming out on August 16th
and we are recording this on July 24th so there you go we're pulling back the
curtain there a little and letting you guys know some of the the secret sauce
ingredients but always fun to talk to Jeremy about music and hope that you
(55:18):
guys can appreciate the chemistry that we have talking about these albums and
hope that this serves for you guys to go back and check out some of this great
music so remember there's always some good music coming out you just have to
search it out do not be a lazy listener
(55:38):
absolutely awesome so on that note we bid you farewell everything is is ready
to go from here to September so we will see you back at the end of summer
beginning of fall thank you Jeremy for coming on and for everyone's support and
we'll see you next time right here on signals from Mars see you folks
(56:11):
thank you for listening to the signals from Mars podcast you can subscribe to
the show on all your favorite podcast platforms like Apple podcast Spotify
Google podcast Amazon and more go to signalsfrommars.com for more information
this concludes our show
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