Artist: Lillian Axe
Title: “Sad Day On Planet Earth”
Label: Blistering Records
Release Date: 6/30/2009
Genre: Hard Rock
Rating: 4/5
We last heard from Lillian Axe with their “Dark Waters” album which found the 80’s Hard Rock band back in action and choosing to not follow the original Glam style that they had been largely known but instead opting to upgrade their musical game by delivering well-placed heavy riffs under very melodic vocals. If you liked that one, it is a guarantee that you will love what’s happening on their follow up CD “Sad Day On Planet Earth” The practice of tasty riffs blended skillfully with melodic singing and backing choruses continues as this band that should have been bigger than they were delivers a very enjoyable release. The first thoughts I had about the album was that one didn’t need to be a legacy fan of the band to understand or appreciate the goings on with the release and that each track while working with its brothers on the CD seem to be able to stand alone strong. It begins with a nice instrumental track and then the hard hitting groove of “Megaslowfade” draws you in with pounding drums and a sleek guitar riff. The bands lone original member stands with Steve Blaze who delivers some outstanding leads on the album while Derrick LeFevre shines again and again as the bands vocalist. The group is rounded out by Sam Poitevent (guitars), Eric Morris (bass) and Ken Koudelka (drums) and I enjoyed getting the sense that the guys were in a lock on every track. There is a little of something for everyone musically with this one as heavier tracks like “The Grand Scale Of Finality” rock you while the slower ballad type tracks such as “Sad Day On Planet Earth” tug at the necessary heart strings. While you cannot really compare the band to any particular group should you need to do so, I will admit that “Down Below The Ocean” reminded me a lot of Saigon Kick with some of its groove and that was fine with me since I loved that band so much. With fifteen tracks on the album to choose from, I was able to let this one straight through without being bored and how after it completed found myself referring to a couple of key tracks that I enjoyed the most. Among them “Ignite” and “Hibernate” being the first choices that I made.
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Artist: Joe Lynn Turner
Title: “Live In Germany”
Label: Blistering Records
Release Date: 10/21/2008
Genre: Hard Rock
Rating: 3.5/5
While his career has been an illustrious one for almost three decades, singer Joe Lynn Turner came into his biggest prominence thanks to his spending a few years in Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. He replaced Dio and seemed to fit right in as he helped deliver two albums that generated some really big hits for the band. After Rainbow he embarked on a very active solo career and even found time to record with the band Brazen Abbott, but the recordings on this CD find Joe doing his own thing and doing it best with a group of talented musicians. The band that accompanies Joe for the recording is made up of Karl Cochran (guitar), Greg Smith (bass), Carmine Giglio (keyboards) and Michael Sorrentino (drums). Cochran is a road warrior guitarist who has worked with more performers than a single page allows to line out while Greg Smith is a player who also had worked in Rainbow for a few years. The band is tight and the material that is presented on the legendary side depending on how long you have been following Joe Lynn Turner. He still sounds good, but does not seem to be hitting all of the super high notes at this stage of his career. I didn’t expect this after thirty years but it seems as though some folks always find the time to complain about singers not sounding like they did when we first heard them. If this doesn’t bother you at all then you will have no trouble listening to and enjoying what Joe and company are doing on this album and I had to say that I was rather pleased with some of my longest lasting favorites. Songs like “Street Of Dreams”, “I Surrender”, “Cant Let You Go” and “Stone Cold” really fulfilled the need I had for those years of Rainbow but he would have made my day had he included “All Night Long”. Of course this was a Graham Bonnett number, but I always felt that Joe did it better than he did. Also missing is anything that the singer did with guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen. As many recall, Joe sand on “The Odyssey” and this was a fine presentation of what he could do. Of course he might not have been able to deliver them on a release due to licensing and having not seen him in concert as a solo artist I can’t confirm if he even plays this stuff for the audience.
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