MANOWAR / Kings of Metal (1998)

It's Heavy Metal with a capital H and a capital M. It's also cheesy as hell, but get a good amp and a set of floor-standing speakers and it'll kick your eardrums out your ass. I unashamedly love Manowar, and if you like your Metal traditional, with widdly solos, pounding bass and the loudest drums ever recorded (Guinness book of records agrees), then maybe you will, too. Just remember to have a laugh at yourself once in a while, because it keeps life bearable.
It's rumoured that if you slip into an unwashed loincloth and wave a plastic sword around, it will increase your listening pleasure of Kings of Metal.

WARNING: May cause excessive manliness and a love of leather pants.

Songs of Note:  ALL of them, but try: Wheels of Fire; Hail and Kill first.

5 tales for the grandkids out of 5

DIRTY BEACHES / Badlands [2011]

Try to imagine Wong Kar Wai directing a tripped-out Nick Cave music video in The Roadhouse in Twin Peaks and you get a pretty good idea as to what Dirty Beaches is like.
Crackling lo-fi distorted rockabilly sounding like a bad drug trip is Canadian Alex Zhang Hungtai's idea of a good time and I have to agree with him. His reverberated voice is sometimes so muffled it's difficult to tell what he's saying but it's fine as it just ads to the haunting atmosphere created by the rattling music ringing in your ears.
With only 8 tracks and clocking in at barely 30 minutes, Badlands is all too brief but well worth revisiting over and over again.

4½ Chris Isaak's on LSD out of 5

Songs Of Note: Horses; Lord Knows Best

DUM DUM GIRLS / Only In Dreams [2011]

Sounding like Chrissie Hynde possessed by the heartbroken spirit of The Leader Of The Pack, the Dum Dum Girls seem like they're having a great ol' time on their second full-length Only In Dreams.
It's filled with head-bopping pop songs arranged and produced like classic songs of the '60's about heartbreak and crying into your pillow. Complimented with emotionally powerful vocals that are immediately likable and a tight rhythm section, the Dum Dum Girls couldn't be anymore fun than this.
This is girly rock pop filled with melodic hooks at some of it's best in many, many years. Keep an eye on these girls, I think they've got a bright future.

4 Shangri-Las out of 5

Songs Of Note: Bedroom Eyes; Heartbeat (Take It Away)

SOCIAL DISTORTION / Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes [2011]

Over 30 years being together as a band it'd be just too easy to churn out albums for a quick cash-grab or go on "Best Of" arena tours. Rockabilly country-punker Mike Ness & Social Distortion have never been the ones to take the easy route though.
The SD boys never really venture into new territory and stick pretty close to the exact same sound they had in the early 80's and that's all right. Ness' songwriting skills are still solid as ever and you can tell the man still gives a damn about his music.
It's familiar territory and it's great.

3½ Hank Williams with a 'tude out of 5

Songs Of Note: Road Zombie; Diamond In The Rough

BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE / Beileid [2011]

The German doom-jazz quartet Bohren & der Club Of Gore's latest album Beileid once again ventures into a murky, depressing world reminiscent of a rainy noir-ish cityscape created by David Lynch.
After 4 years of hiding, you'd think Bohren would have come up with a longer album, however this not the case. Clocking in at only 35 minutes and featuring only 3 tracks, Beileid is just a little too short to really get into the mood they set out to make. The second track, a cover of Warlock's Catch My Heart, features guest vocalist Mike Patton and for some reason just doesn't work.
With only 2 tracks worth seeking out, Beileid is a no-brainer for hardcore fans but if you're just dipping into Bohren I'd seek out Sunset Mission or Black Earth.

2½ condolences out of 5

Songs Of Note: Zombies Never Die (Blues)

NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING BIRDS / Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds [2011]

After the inevitable end of the '90's Britpop outfit Oasis, Noel & Liam Gallagher started their own projects hoping to outshine the other.
While Liam's Beady Eyes' effort was a so-so album full of boastful rawness, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds proves that the older brother is in fact finely in tune with the tasteful craftmanship of songwriting. Gone are the pompous intros and lagging straight-faced guitar solos of Oasis and are now replaced by tight little pop songs that are just pure fun and even silly in spots.
Without his younger brother, Noel does sound a little naked and isn't afraid to admit it. It might not be a classic Gallagher album but is certainly a step in the right direction.

3 Shy eyes following you out of 5

Songs Of Note: The Death Of You & Me; AKA...What A Life!

GREEN DAY / Awesome As F**K [2011]

Recorded in 2009-2010 while on tour in support of their rock opera 21st Century Breakdown, Green Day release their second official live album Awesome As F**k.
It's enthusiastically energetic and filled with great songs both old & new (plus a few rare surprises) only the sound quality dips up and down and is just...well...pointless after the release of their perfectly executed live album Bullet In A Bible only a few years before this.
The boys in Green Day are all in fine form here never losing their high octane performance abilities even once, it's just this album seems like a label cash-grab in between the long waits of 21st and whenever the next album is released.

2 hey-ho's out of 5

Songs Of Note: Cigarettes & Valentines; J.A.R.

DOOMTREE / No Kings [2011]

It's not often that punk rock hip-hoppers Doomtree release an album as a complete collective, so their 3rd album No Kings is a noteworthy release of 2011.
It's filled with a thickly layered production quality, vocals attacking you from all sides (P.O.S.'s work here is magnificent) and an attitude that is one part Fugazi and one part Wu-Tang Clan.
With 7 different creative forces at work here it can get a little heavy and bloated at times but it's a hardly a problem with some of the best work coming out of the Doomtree since 2007's False Hopes.

4½ disobeying the kings out of 5

Songs Of Note: No Way; Little Mercy

LYKKE LI / Wounded Rhymes [2011]

Swedish singer Lykke Li drops the bubblegum poppy insecurities of her debut, Youth Novel and comes out bloody nosed and fists a flailing on her sophomore effort Wounded Rhymes.
Li still maintains a certain type of sweetness and keen sense of 60's-esque melodic hooks, only now she's grown more self-certain and certainly more forceful which makes for a wonderful record. With thundering percussion heavy anthems to vulnerable, stripped down campfire ballads Wounded Rhymes is an impressive turn into the right direction for Li and confirms that she'll be around for awhile yet.

5 knives into the sand out of 5

Songs Of Note: Youth Knows No Pain; Jerome

TOM WAITS / Bad As Me [2011]

Most artists would be treading water in the dinosaur pool of rockstardom when they're 40 years into their musical career. Not Tom Waits.
Sounding just as fresh as he did on Rain Dogs and Swordfishtrombones, Waits' 2011 album Bad As Me captures that bourbon soaked, bat-shit crazy attitude that still remains untouched by the sands of time. A fine little collection of 13 short songs, Bad As Me charges by so quickly and with such fierce, heartbreaking demeanor it demands back-to-back repeat listens a plenty.
This is Waits at some of his best songwriting in over a decade and easily one of the best albums of the year.

5 swings down from the gallows out of 5

Songs Of Note: Talking At The Same Time; Pay Me

JEFFREY LEWIS / 12 Crass Songs (2007)

It's anarchic British punk band CRASS covered by an American in an acoustic indie (anti)folk style. It really shouldn't work, but it does. Acoustic guitar, vocals, bongo drums and piano married to punk sensibilities and scathing lyrics make it one of the more unique albums on my hard drive.
The songs are the same, and you'll recognise them instantly if you're at all familiar with the originals. There's an occasional lyric change but nothing disrespectful. CRASS never got the recognition they deserved for their lyrics - hearing them delivered in such a clear manner gives them a new, modern power that finds much of what's said still relevant, despite being decades old.

Songs of Note: I Ain't Thick; System System

4 Punk is Folk is Dead out of 5

S.O.D / Speak English or Die (1985)

Written and recorded in a week, S.O.D. (Stormtroopers of Death) were Billy Milano of M.O.D., Dan Lilker of Nuclear Assault, and Scott Ian and Charlie Benante of Anthrax having a laugh, but it became a cult release. It was purposefully offensive, and if it gets your undies in a twist then the joke's on you. The sound is like hearing Nuclear Assault cover Anthrax with some M.O.D. thrown in to keep it fresh; so, basically exactly what you'd expect, given the talent involved. It's a wonderful party album (if your parties are populated with people that like thrash music, or alternatively good for clearing a room if they don't). Songs range from 5 seconds to 2 mins 30 secs, so never outstay their welcome.

Songs of Note: Anti-Procrastination Song; Kill Yourself

4 pre-menstrual Princess' out of 5

DANZIG / Circle of Snakes (2004)

It sucked being a Danzig fan for many years, but it did eventually get better. Before that, however, we got Circle of Snakes. The numbers ended (if you were counting, it's number VIII) and, yes, there's another new line-up. Jebus. Revolving-door-zig. The music is uninspired, with Glenn's vocals lower in the mix than ever before. There are times when he almost manages to be the Evil Elvis of old but it's not like coming home, it's like remembering home while being stuck in a shitty motel. The song Night BeSodom reminds of Danzig III (1992), but the new guitar sound of Tommy Victor (Prong) isn't well-suited to the vocals. I hope Fonzig regretted getting rid of Christ, Von and Biscuits all those years ago.

Songs of Note: 1000 Devils Reign; Black Angel, White Angel

2½ snakes and stuff... meh out of 5

CARCASS / Swansong (1996)

I forgot I owned this album. It never gets played. It's not very good. The production is the biggest problem; it’s just too polished and boring to be a Carcass album. The guitars are too low in the mix, the bass is too loud and fuzzy, and while the drums sound fine they're a lot more simplified than previous releases. Jeff Walker's vocal delivery is the only thing that holds it together. The gore/grind/death metal of old is replaced with something resembling bad Megadeth, and seeing as how 90% of Megadeth is bad Megadeth, we don’t need any more of that, thank you very much. It's maybe a good thing this was their actual swansong.

Songs of Note: R**k the Vote; Black Star

2 bad rot n’ roll out of 5

THERAPY? / Nurse (1992)

The Therapy? sound is a love it or hate it, or love parts of it and hate parts of it, thing. After two experimental E.P.s their first album took the trio to new places. It's a blend of indie, punk and occasional industrial sounding guitar riffs. The guitar sound is full of antagonism and has a 'not caring if they're pleasing the listener' attitude. The drum sound can take a long time to appreciate, or at the very least tolerate; Fyfe Ewing was actually a damn good drummer, but the removal of the strands on the snare was something that many people hated. In the end it became the thing that defined them. Nurse needs to be pulled from the vaults and re-released with a fresh remaster so that people can hear Therapy? at their best.

Songs of Note: Nausea; Teethgrinder

4 thoughts rushing at full speed out of 5