It makes me feel old when a band like Dynazty comes along, and rocks out like it is 1987 all over again. The funny thing is, the oldest member of Dynazty is 24. With the way Bring the Thunder rocks, you would think these guys were veterans of the Sunset Strip. In all honesty, these guys were in diapers when the L.A. Scene hit its peak. Nonetheless, Dynazty brings us a classic sounding rock record with big hooks on their debut release Bring the Thunder.
I quote Rob because he describes this bands energy exactly. Take a listen for yourself.
01 Bring The Thunder Bring The Thunder opens the album in a huge way. This is 80′s metal in 2009! I love the big background vocals on the chorus.
02 Catch The Night
Second up is Catch The Night. It is your typical party song, but the entire thing is pretty catchy. “Drown your sorrows or they’ll drown you”. I love the cheesy cliche!
03 Lights Out (In Candyland) Lights Out (In Candyland) would be the prerequisite “you wanna be my groupie” song from the 80′s. The vocals are extremely tight on this song. The guitar shreds. The bass pounds and the drums crash. I find myself headbanging while driving, so yeah, this song is awesome.
04 Far Away
Acoustic guitars open up the ballad Far Away. It is a decent song. The vocals carry the melody.
05 Top Of The Line
Top Of The Line Top of the Line should have been written in 1986 when Dokken were at the top of their game. I can see the drummer twirling his drumsticks and the lead singer hammin’ it up for the camera for their non-existent video. If you love hair metal, you’ll love this song. Heck, you’ll love this entire album.
06 Monkey Wants, Monkey Needs Monkey Wants, Monkey Needs is a very interesting title for a very interesting song. The hair flair is still flying big on this song, and that is just great!
07 Adrenaline Adrenaline sounds like a straight away party song…
08 Take Me Down
Power ballad or slower rock song? I can’t quite categorize Take Me Down. I love the big background vocals on the chorus, as well as the staggered drum beat.
09 The Devil's Shake
I’d have to say that The Devil’s Shake is the second best song on this disc. The guitar work is supremely solid and the vocals are very strong. This is a chorus you’ll find yourself singing along to!
10 Higher N' Higher Higher N’ Higher is another great song with that 80′s metal vibe.
11 Sail Away (Bonus Track)
I’ll give the Best Track On The Album Award to this song, Sail Away. Everything about reminds me of the metal of the good ‘ol days.
Skillet’s new album, Awake, was released today. It is their first record of new material since 2006′s Comatose(links go to the Amazon.com MP3 store)
Comatose is definitely in my top 20 albums of all times. So it was with great anticipation that I waited for Awake. Here are my initial thoughts: Awake is a good album with some very awesome songs on it. Along with those spectacular songs sit some very boring songs (read “ballads”)
01 Hero Hero starts us off on a rocking pace. It is a song full of energy and conviction that makes you pump your fist in the air.
02 Monster Monster is the second track and it picks right up where Hero left off. This is possibly the heaviest song on the album (and the best IMHO). This should be the title track of the new Wolf Man movie that is soon to be released!
03 Don't Wake Me Up Don’t Wake Me Up is a sleeper of a song (sorry, bad stretch for a pun). I’m hoping this song grows on me, but I find myself reaching for the next button on my iPod whilst listening.
04 Awake And Alive Awake and Alive is quite the opposite of the previous song. The strings at the opening of the song are reminiscent of Rebirthing from Comatose. I like the dual vocal duty of the male and female singers. (I know the lead singer’s name is Jon Cooper, but I have to admit I don’t know who the girl is.)
05 One Day Too Late
Yawn…another mediocre ballad. One Day Too Late doesn’t capture my imagination or my ear. Just like Don’t Wake Me Up, I find myself reaching to the iPod to skip this song. I hope I grow to love these songs, I really do.
06 It's Not Me It's You
Ah, there we go. The Skillet we know and love. It’s Not Me It’s You is another rocker almost on par with Monster and Hero. The chorus is quite catchy. This song is quite angry…I’m glad a Christian band can make a song that isn’t all rainbows and sunshine.
07 Should've When You Could've
Crap…really? Another slower tempo song? Should’ve When You Could’ve breaks the rocker feel that It’s Not Me It’s You set. I think this is what ultimately wrong with Awake. You can never get into that rocker groove, as it keeps getting interupted with sub-par ballad type songs.
08 Believe
And the sub-standard ballady crappy songs continue. Believe is the 8th song of the record and honestly, it’s at this point I’m about to turn of the album and listen to something else.
09 Forgiven
What’s this? Piano? This makes three non rocker songs in a row. Forgiven‘s lyrics are great, but enough with the bad 90′s power ballads already.
10 Sometimes Sometimes finally brings the rock back to the album. This song could be a sequel to It’s Not Me It’s You, with the angry guitar work and the the very angry lyrics. ”Sometimes I don’t wanna be better, Sometimes I can’t be put back together, Sometimes I find it hard to believe there’s someone else who could be….just as pissed of as me.” Very strong and honest words. I hope Skillet doesn’t get any grief for this song. Sometimes is the type of song I wish the entire album was made of.
11 Never Surrender
And yet another slower song. Never Surrender is better than the other slow songs on this record. The structure of the song and Cooper’s vocals make me want to keep listening.
12 Lucy
Cue piano…@#$%$%! another ballad! I know my attitude towards this song should be different as it is about someone who has died. I could possibly like it if it wasn’t the umpteenth slow song on the album.
The Deluxe Version of the Awake includes two bonus tracks (of which I forgot to upload to my server, so no audio is available). Dead Inside is another rocker (yay!) that is pretty good. Would It Matter is, you guessed it, another freakin’ ballad. Monster (Alternate Radio Version) finishes off the album.
All in all, I’d give this album 6.5 out of 10 stars. The good rock songs are great, while the majority of the album is made up of ballads that I just don’t want to listen to. If you are new to Skillet, I would buy Comatose and Collide and then Awake.
I can’t explain it. For some reason, the thought of being online, be it Facebook or Twitter or even writing blog entries, has become an tedious thing. I’m un-jacking from the Matrix for a while and am going to follow the white rabbit into the hole of real real life.
I’m not sure when I’ll be back. I want to take some time to get into the real world and focus on my family and my health.
Rock Of Ages is a Tony nominated smash hit musical comedy currently running on Broadway and starring American Idol’s Constantine Maroulis and Amy Spanger. In 1987 on the Sunset Strip, a small town girl met a big city rocker and in LA’s most famous rock club, they fell in love to the greatest songs of the 80s. It’s ROCK OF AGES, an arena-rock love story told through the mind-blowing, face-melting hits of JOURNEY, NIGHT RANGER, STYX, REO SPEEDWAGON, PAT BENATAR, TWISTED SISTER, POISON, ASIA, WHITESNAKE and many more. Don’t miss this awesomely good time about dreaming big, playing loud and partying on!
Where can I buy tickets for this show? The music is cheesy and fun, just like it was in the 80′s.
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). Rob Rockitt says this:
