Random Track of the Day

[Trollheart]

Title: "Naschtok is Born"
Artist: Aina
Format: Band
Year 2003
Genre: Power metal
Nationality: German
Taken from: Debut (and only) album Days of Rising Doom
Familiarity with artist: I've heard the album
Familiarity with album: As I say
Familiarity with track: But didn't think much of it
Comments: Rock operas can be hit-and-miss, so much more so metal operas, but if there are two subgenres at least suited to the latter then it would be power metal or symphonic metal. This is a bit of both, but that's kind of the problem. Aina (who, I think and don't really care, are some sort of so-called supergroup made up of members from other power metal bands) try to be all things to all men, and kind of fall between the stools in so doing. I listened to the album once, found I was very unimpressed with it, and never picked it up again. Of course, being an opera, you need to follow the plot, and taking one track out of context will always weaken its appreciation, but rest assured: the opera ain't that good, so you're definitely not missing anything. Basically, if you hate power metal you'll hate this, if you love power metal you'll be well aware there is far better available than this. Mediocre, at best.

Rating:

[Trollheart]

Looks like this got past me yesterday, so here's a two-fer.


Title: "Prayers of Steel"
Artist: Avenger
Format: Band
Year 1985
Genre: Power metal
Nationality: German
Taken from: Debut (and only) album of the same name
Familiarity with artist: In name only
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track:
Comments: Oh you just have to cringe at these eighties power metal band names don't you? I mean, come on! Avenger? Prayers of fucking Steel? Do me a lemon! No wonder nobody took them seriously. Seems after their prayers of steel went unanswered they changed their name to Furious Rage, then must have realised either that the first word is superfluous (you can't be in a calm rage can you? Controlled maybe) or that they weren't quite that angry and became just Rage. Oh ho ho. Did they do any better with their new name? Hell yes they did! 25 albums, 5 compilation albums, 4 live albums and no less than 8 boxsets! Guess all they needed was a name change after all. Fair play to them. And still recording and gigging today. Who would have believed it?

As for their Avenger days, well, look, with titles on this album such as "Swords Made of Steel" (certainly better than fellow power metal band Slightly Miffed's inferior "Swords Made of Butter"), "Assorted by Satan" and, um, "Faster than Hell", you know what you're in for. Just try to keep the chuckling to a minimum, huh? I think it's either meant to be a thunderstorm or the roar of some fearsome beast, but it sounds more like they're rolling steel barrels down a flight of steps! To be fair, they're not what I'd call standard power metal, more a sense of Saxon or Angelwitch about them. Hard and heavy, for sure. Ah, there's talent in there; they just had to change the silly name and they were on their way. Feel a bit bad for pre-judging them and slagging them off now. Though not that bad.

Rating:

Title: "In Dreams"
Artist: Ancient Cross
Format: Band
Year 2004
Genre: Progressive Metal
Nationality: American
Taken from: Debut (and only) album Ancient Cross
Familiarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:
Familiarity with track:
Comments: Isn't that odd? Two artists who had only one album (well, under that name anyway). All right, I cheated slightly, but they brought up another fucking Ayreon track and I will be triple cursed and damned before I will listen to another fucking Ayreon track, so sue me. This sounds better anyway. Well, the long-drawn-out death rattle of a man dying from terminal flatulence sounds better than having to listen to another bleeding Ayreon song! Kicks up into a pretty sub-Maiden riff though soon enough, and perhaps there's a reason these guys had one album and were then heard from no more. Did they, too, change their name, and go on to be very successful indeed? No. No, they did not. Seriously, how you can label a band "active" when their last release was over 20 years ago is beyond me, but then, that's EM for you. This is okay, but it's nothing you haven't heard a million times before, and better too.

Rating:

[Trollheart]

Looks like I did it again. On the double, then...

Title: "Magic Mirror"
Artist: Angra
Format: Band
Year 2018
Genre: Progressive metal/Power metal
Nationality: Brazilian
Taken from: 9th album Omni
Familiarity with artist: I'm aware of their work
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track:
Comments: I tell ya, these RTOTD picks are making it look like I have only power and prog metal in my collection. I do have a lot of it, but the more interesting music just isn't being picked. Oh well. Kind of reminds me of a cross between Threshold and Kamelot. If that means nothing to you, I hate you. There are some nice group choruses and also a somewhat embarrassing attempt at "unclean vocals". Interesting: I don't see any keyboard player on this album, nor do I hear any on this song. Always assumed they were vital in a prog or power metal band. Doesn't really sound like the song loses by their absence though. Not bad. Oh no wait: there's a piano passage. And a definite synth backing. Must just not be credited.

Rating:

Title: "Watchers Eyes"
Artist: Black Tower White Mountain
Format: Band
Year 2018
Genre: Drone/Post-rock/Stoner rock/Ambient
Nationality: American
Taken from: 2nd album Wall of Glass
Familiarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:
Familiarity with track:
Comments: I had to search and search for this, and finally, having exhausted all my usual sources, checked out Bandcamp, where I found these guys. Recorded, they say, in the "spirit of fun", the album was recorded in, and I quote, a 12x10 bedroom, over two months. The boys cite Kyuss and Sleep as two of their influences, and as you can see, their music seems to range across quite a few genres. This one comes across as perhaps acoustic drone with some stoner thrown in, and I guess if you like the aforementioned bands you may like this. It's good I'm sure, but really not for me personally. Unsurprisingly, no YouTube, but you can check out their bandcamp page below.

Rating:
https://blacktowerwhitemountain.bandcamp.com/album/wall-of-glass

[Trollheart]

Title: "Drop the Bomb"
Artist: Bloodbound
Format: Band
Year 2011
Genre: Power metal
Nationality: Swedish
Taken from: 3rd album Unholy Cross
Familiarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:
Familiarity with track:
Comments: You know, I don't think these guys know what power metal is all about. They have titles on their albums that seem to speak more to death/doom/thrash or even black metal - Nosferatu, Book of the Dead and this one - and they sound more in the mould of thrash metal to me than power; heavy, grinding guitars, coarse vocals (as in, raw sounding voice, not lyrics based on questionable subjects), and I would see them more as a cross between maybe Saxon and Maiden, with a bit of Kreator thrown in. Even their name is hardly power metal - Bloodbound? Sounds very black metal. Hmm. They have keyboards but at least on this track you don't hear them much. It's not a bad song, and to be fair, not at all derivative, as I've been constantly going on at power metal for being, and it's relatively catchy too. Not half bad, as the man says. Nice to hear someone breaking out of the often-rigid power metal tropes. If they are power metal. Which I doubt.

Rating:

[Trollheart]

Title: "Angel Palace"
Artist: Air
Format: Duo
Year 2014
Genre: Ambient
Nationality: French
Taken from: 4th EP Music for Museum
Familiarity with artist: Quite a bit
Familiarity with album: Not so much
Familiarity with track: Don't know this
Comments: Finally, something without a shred of metal in it.  I would have said anything with 9 tracks on it would be more an album than an EP, but apparently the French duo consider this to be the latter. As you'd expect, if you know Air, the music is very minimalist and ambient, atmospheric and ethereal. As they say, music for museums. For what it is though, I think 10 minutes it way too long.

Rating:

[Trollheart]

Title: "Endless Silence"
Artist: Also Eden
Format: Band
Year 2013
Genre: Progressive Rock
Nationality: English
Taken from: 4th album [Redacted]
Familiarity with artist: Some; I've heard their music
Familiarity with album: None
Familiarity with track:
Comments: Yet another prog rock track turns up on the randomiser. Very what they call neo-prog this, a lot of Marillion and Genesis in it, quite atmospheric, nice and laid back. The singer reminds me so much of Tim Bowness that I would swear it's him, except I know it's not. High praise indeed. No video appears to be available, sadly.

Rating:

[Trollheart]

Title: "Easy Groove"
Artist: Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Format: Band
Year 1977
Genre: Hard rock
Nationality: Canadian
Taken from: 6th album Freeways
Familiarity with artist: Very little; I know the singles
Familiarity with album: None
Familiarity with track:
Comments: Everyone knows BTO for the hits "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" and "Taking Care of Business", but that's about all I know of their music. This album apparently was their first to be a commercial flop, so it's unlikely that, unless you're a fan of theirs, you'll know this one. Honestly, I can see why the album failed to impress. Despite the genre tag used, this is about as heavy rock as ABBA: more like some sort of Canadian bastardised soul or something. There even seems to be an orchestra involved here. Certainly not a song you'd pick out, were you presented it without any idea where it had come from, as one of the Canadian band's compositions. Good for what it is, but unrecognisable as BTO.

Rating:

[Trollheart]

Title: "Call of the Sea"
Artist: David Arkenstone
Format: Composer
Year 2011
Genre: Celtic/New Age
Nationality: American
Taken from: 4th compilation album Celtic Journeys: A David Arkenstone Celtic Collection
Familiarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:
Familiarity with track:
Comments: You either like new age or you don't. Pair it with Celtic stylings, and if you like it, you probably love it. I know I do. The sort of music you could hear being played as a backdrop to ancient Irish folk tales or even a fantasy series like Lord of the Rings or The Last Kingdom, but with some added punch from drum machines and synthesisers.

Rating:

[Trollheart]

Title: "War Feeds War"
Artist: Blind Guardian Twilight Orchestra
Format: Orchestra
Year 2019
Genre: Orchestral
Nationality: German
Taken from: 11th Blind Guardian (and debut and only Blind Guardian Twilight Orchestra) album Legacy of the Dark Lands
Familiarity with artist: A little, not much
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track:
Comments: Interesting idea. Power/symphonic metal band Blind Guardian go the whole hog and record with an orchestra. Not only that, they write a concept album based around Solomon Kane in the Thirty Years War. Yeah, me neither, but it's an intriguing concept. The orchestra certainly changes the direction of BG's music while yet retaining the drama and grandeur of it. This is an instrumental, so basically I guess think of it as film music.

Rating:

[Trollheart]

Title: "Flesh and Bone"
Artist: Bon Jovi
Format: Band
Year 2004
Genre: Pop rock
Nationality: American
Taken from: Boxset 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong
Familiarity with artist: Total; love this band
Familiarity with album: I've never listened to it all the way through but I've heard a lot of it on playlists
Familiarity with track: Zero
Comments: Box set compilations of rarities, out-takes, B-sides and unreleased material can be a very hit-and-miss affair, and while I've, as I say above, not listened to this all the way through, even for a die hard Bon Jovi fan, there's a lot of dross here. There are also some shining jewels. Which category does this fall into? Sort of the former. It's nothing special, and they do use the middle-eighth/guitar solo from "Keep the Faith", which is a bit disappointing.

Rating:

[Trollheart]

Title: "The Outer Limits"
Artist: Alien Skin
Format: Solo artist
Year 2008
Genre: Synthpop
Nationality: Australian
Taken from: Debut album Don't Open Till Doomsday
Familiarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:
Familiarity with track:
Comments: The brainchild of Australian composer George Pappas, who seems to have had quite a prolific career, releasing over 15 albums, sometimes two in the same year. This sounds fairly ambient, with a bass line very reminiscent of Pendragon circa Men Who Climb Mountains. Kicks up soon into a fairly uptempo (if not upbeat) synthy tune. Not bad. I hear some Alan Parsons Project in here too. Apparently he was with a band called Real Life? Means nothing to me.

Rating:

[Trollheart]

Title: "Livin' for You" (live)
Artist: Boston
Format: Band
Year 2002
Genre: Pop rock
Nationality: American
Taken from: 5th album Corporate America
Familiarity with artist: Very familiar
Familiarity with album: I've heard it
Familiarity with track: But not this track, which is from another album
Comments: I think it would be fair to say Boston are a band who are hostage to their own early success, and have been damned by it ever since. Anyone who's heard the self-titled debut will agree it's always going to be their best album, and the follow up was dismal to the max. Third Stage came close to reaching the heights of that debut, but fell slightly short. After that, I kind of lost interest. I've heard this album once, for review, and don't remember being particularly impressed by it; this view seems to be borne out by not only critics and reviewers, but band leader Tom Scholtz himself, who called the album a "disaster" and even went so far as to sue the record label for poor promotion.

At any rate, in some ways that's all moot, because this track is from the fourth album, Walk On, which I don't think I know at all. It has a nice "Foreplay"-style keyboard intro, and is one of their many ballads. In fairness, it's not bad, and probably better than much on the actual fifth album. It's hard though to listen to any Boston song without wanting to close your eyes and slip awaay-aay-ayyy!

Rating: