Wig Wam - 'Wall Street' (frontiers) 4/5

Now I'm convinced that somewhere in Scandinavia there is a big machine where talented musicians are thrown in one end and great glam rock bands come out the other, over the past year we've had Crazy Lixx, Royal Republic and many others hitting  us up with great new albums; now we have Oslo band Wig Wam with their fourth studio album Wall Street.Now if you think you have come across this lot before, then your probably either a fan of Scan-glam or your a regular viewer of the Eurovision Song Contest, this lot represented Norway in 2005 with a track called In My Dreams, a song that was number 1 in Norway for a long long time and has made them household names in their homeland.

Anyway enough of the history lesson, whats this album like? Well there are 11 tracks on offer here and over all its pretty good. The opening two cuts Wall Street and OMG (I Wish I Had A Gun) are both balls out rockers that take a swipe lyrically at cash culture, bankers, the state of the word economy. Heavy? Nah not really, its all tongue in cheek highly headbangable fun stuff. Then we have a quick change of gear for the highly quirky Victory Is Sweet with a huge chorus, children's choir, orchestral backing and massive sing-a-long hooks. And so it continues... I'm not going to give a track by track breakdown, but take it from me its all good stuff. Other highlights include The Sweet sounding The Bigger The Better, the lighter waver of a ballad in the form of Tides Will Turn (again look out for a massive hook), the dark and driven One Million Enemies and the sleaze filled sex out of Try My Body On (with the biggest hook of all!!) Not really a weak moment on show, even the aforementioned ballad isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Now if there is any justice in the world, Wig Wam would be international superstars with albums like this under their belts, but we all know that justice and the music biz don't exactly walk hand in hand, but  have no doubt that Wall Street will at the very least become a bit of fave with those who like to seek out the good music that lays beyond the stuff served up on mainstream radio.

Pretty Damn Good

For fans of... L.A.Guns, Crash Street Kids, The Sweet, Ratt, Crazy Lixx.....

Modern Day Escape - ' Under The Gun' (standby) 4/5

With out doubt the real surprise of 2011 was the success of Black Veil Brides as they exploded out of the California underground to stake a real claim at world domination. Now we have Ohio post emo boys Modern Day Escape attempting to follow in their wake of their label mates with this their second album.

Now with former BVB stickman Sandra Alva thumping the pig skin and taking a very similar approach to production as BVB followed on their 'Set The World On Fire' opus it would be too easy just to dismiss this lot as a band of bandwagon jumpers and move on. But to do that would be to do MDE a huge disservice, cos this record is a pretty impressive work in its own right.

There are eleven cuts on offer here and to be honest they are pretty good. Cuts like Life's A Bitch, Tigers Blood and Feels On The Darkside are all prime slices of top notch commercial mainstream hard rock; bursting with angst fueled teen attitude, mosh pit friendly headbangable aggression and enough catchy hooks to keep a tuna fisherman going for several weeks. All good fun stuff.

All the classic hard rock influences are on show, you get dollops of Moltey Crue, hints of Iron Maiden, Kiss style riffage, post hardcore shouty bits and more... and the end result is another album that could just well help in making the mainstream cool again.

OK its not all good news, there are a few places, especially on the opening cut City of Thieves where the sound is a bit confused and messy and the result is that this album isn't as immediately accessible as the aforementioned BVB opus, but its worth sticking with, especially when it comes to the closing cut Demons Down Below, a track that has 'classic' scrawled all over it.

The bottom line is that this is the sound of the new mainstream, and if it means more of this kind of stuff, and less Nickleback, 30 Seconds To Mars, Theory of a Wifebeater kind of yawn rock then the world is going to be a better place.

Pretty damn good

For fans of... Black Veil Brides, Halestorm, Dear Superstar, Shinedown etc....

Blessed By A Broken Heart - 'Feel The Power' (Tooth & Nail) 4.5/5

Canada's Blessed By A Broken Heart are a band who have come along way since their metalcore debut inspired debut album back in 2004, slowly changing over each release until we have this one, their third studio opus.

Now as I've said before in this review blog, my metalhead was fixed on in the 1980's, inspired in equal measures by the NWOBHM, the thrash explosion and the hair metal outfits of the time.  And its from the later wicket that BBABH are now batting. Playing this one through I can't help but notice the thumb prints of Dokken, Quiet Riot and Ratt all over it, and I for one aint gonna moan about that.

Kicking off with the gloriously Dokken fueled Deathwish and the Ratt influenced Shut Up And Rock, this one had me wondering if I could still get away with wearing spandex and bullet belts and if the girlfriend would object to me getting a bubble permed mullet. It's damn infectious, expertly played, packed with feel good rock and roll attitude, produced perfectly for the genre and has immediately become a bit of a fave of mine.

Tracks like Holdin' Back For Nothin', Rockin' All Night, Scream Like You Mean It and Sleepless Nights boogie past in a glorious parade of the best of LA circa 1987, as hats are tipped to the likes of Motley Crue, Poison, Cinderella and the rest. But there is something deeper going on here in a few places such as on the track Love Nightmare the ghost of this bands hardcore past lifts is head to remind us that BBABH have a certain fire so many of the other 80's rock revivalists often lack.

Over this is a great record, highly listenable and is a worthy addition to the current crop of 80's revival albums that are around at the moment

Highly Recomended

For fans of.... Black Veil Brides, Halestorm, Ratt, Dear Superstar etc......

Beggars And Thieves - 'We Are The Brokenhearted' (frontiers) 4.5/5

New York rockers Beggars and Thieves have been around for a while now, although they haven't always had the best sense of timing, they arrived on the world stage just at the time when the world and his wife were going grunge crazy and attempted a come back at the height of the Nu Metal revolution. The result was their distinctive brand of prog influenced melodic hard rock just was never right for the time and they seamed destined to remain firmly in the also ran camp. However Louie Merlino and his crew are a persistent bunch, and at times persistence can pay off. So when they issued a low profile ep to great acclaim last year it looked like this time the world may take a bit more notice of the band, so as a result we have 'We Are The Brokenhearted' their fourth full length studio offering, and the first full album in 12 years.

Now I've been living with this one for a few weeks now and I've been meaning to review it for a while; but you know how things go, you sit down to start typing, the phone rings or something else crops up that demands immediate attention and you put it off for another few days... but when this has happened I've tended to leave the album playing in the background, and I've grown really fond of it as a result.

The over all sound is a very ear friendly blend of old school melodic hardrock that sounds not unlike Warrant meets Magnum; poppy prog in the It Bites, Asia style and even a slice or two of early U2 / Simple Minds / Energy Orchard type of celtic influenced stadium rock. all in all a nice and diverse blend of influences and styles that sit together nicely and make for a damn good listen.

There are some damn fine personal musical performances on show here, Mr Merlino has a great voice, it's natural sounding, mid ranged and very distinctive. There's none of that cliched power wailing or screamed high notes that singers in this genre are often suckered into - here's a guy who knows his own voice and uses it to maximum effect. The guitars of Ron Mancuso are a real joy to listen to, there no over the top hysteronics, just some very nice playing that ranges from some soulful and beautifully under played acoustic lines to some tasteful melodic lead lines that Floyds Dave Gilmore would be proud of. Add in the rhythm section of former Left for Dead Stickman Bobby Borg and bassist Phil Soussan returning from his various outings with the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol and Dio and you have a well tasty line up capable of peddling some first rate, intelligent rock music.

Picking individual highlights from this one is tough, the whole album is damn good, but I have a big soft spot for Midnight Blue, a great hardrock number which resolves into a very tasteful piano lament at the end. Then there's the title track that sounds a bit like Simple Minds jamming with Bruce Springstein, turns into an air punching anthem to die for and ends up going sort of left field jazz at the end; and then there's Oil & Water a prog rock influenced little number that wouldn't sound out of place on a classic Pendragon album - complete with a Nick Barret style solo. Or how about Seven Seconds with its sleaze rock riffage and Paul Toner (Energy Orchard) style guitar bridge section....

...I could go on, but don't wanna give you a full track by track breakdown (it annoys me when reviewers do that - I like to give a few pointers and let the listener explore the record for themselves), but I will say I don't think there's a single weak moment on show here, this is a great record and if there's any justice in the world it will be the record that after all these years will show the world what a great band Beggars and Thieves are.


Well worth checking out.

For fans of... Simple Minds, Warrant, Boston, Pendragon, Queen...etc

The Kix - 'The Kix (demo ep)' (Self Released) 5/5

Women in rock bands are nothing unusual these days, but all girl rock bands are still a fairly rare beast. This is a shame cos in the past we've seen outfits like Fanny, The Runaways, Girlschool, Rock Goddess, Vixen, Jezzabelle, L7 etc who have all proved that the so called 'fairer sex' can lay down just as much thunder as the fellas. Well now we have The Kix come along to add their names to the honour role of women who can rock with the very best of the blokes.

The Kix are based in Aberdare, South Wales, and play rock of the old school in the vein of Girlschool, Rock goddess etc. Now I can't help but notice some interesting parallels between these talented young ladies and the classic NWOBHM outfit Rock Goddess. They consist of two sisters on guitar and drums and a best friend who plays the bass, they are still in their late teens and early 20's and play an infectious brand of groove driven rock and metal (hell drummer Charlotte even looks a little like RG drummer Julie Turner did in the early 80's). All of this is fine with me, I loved Rock Goddess and always thought they should have been huge.

But don't think for one minute that these girls are a Rock Goddess clone outfit. There is a lot of good stuff going on this five track offering. the opener Look Alive cuts in with a riff that sounds a little like Orgasmatron era Motorhead, then has a couple of riffs that sounds a bit Groundhogsy. Louder Than Words is a glorious glam punk work out in the Runaways style, Out of The Blue has a hint of the Iron Maidens about it. Same Old Story is a stomping semi blues fueled rock-out track with a delicious break down section in the middle and Off My Back has the feel of a classic Suzi Quatro number. Not a duff track on offer here and the louder you play it the better it sounds.


Much praise is due here for the musicianship on show as well, vocalist / guitarist Sam Bolderson has the looks and voice of Joan Jett and the guitar playing ability of the late great Kelly Johnson, her sister Charlotte on the kit is duck arse tight and smacks the pig skin with a power that is inversionally proportionate to her size and underneath it all is the rock solid bass playing of Kate Marshall who must surely rank along side the aforementioned Ms Quatro and Enid Williams as proof that women can play as good as any man. Whats more, I've seen these girls live and and they can do it in concert as well as in the studio and to say I'm blown away by The Kix is an understatement.

In short - A fantastic demo from a band that should be bound for big things.

For fans of... Girlschool, AC/DC, Motorhead, Aerosmith, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue etc...