life, and a little more

Los Angeles – Neverland

Jan 15

metalman777audio, music aor, hard rock, melodic rock No Comments

Wow! I’ve had this band on my iPod for about 4 weeks but haven’t had the chance to listen to them until now. What a wasted 4 weeks that has been!

Los Angeles’ Neverland is a melodic rock masterpiece! The songs are hook-laden and very well produces. The entire album, from start to finish, is a quality listen.

This is from Frontiers Records website:
Frontiers Records is pleased to announce the release of LOS ANGELES second album entitled “Neverland” on December 4th 2009 in Europe and January 12th 2010 in the USA.

LOS ANGELES debut album revealed to the unsuspecting international Melodic Rock audience, the talents of the awesome Italian singer Michele Luppi. He cut his teeth at the VIT Los Angeles, with Robin Randall (co-writer of hits for FM, Mark Free, James Christian etc) as one of his musical coaches. He teamed up in 2007 with bass player and producer Fabrizio Grossi (Glenn Hughes, From the Inside, Vertigo etc.) to give birth to a project that could make him express his Melodic Rock artistic roots.

Michele’s name became known during the years in the Hard Rock and Metal scene, when he became the singer of the Italian Progressive Metal band Vision Divine, on 3 studio albums and one live DVD. More recently he became the leader and frontman of a new Melodic Metal band named Killing Touch.

LOS ANGELES concept is to tribute the AOR greats that shaped Luppi’s singing and songwriting abilities. Contrary to the first record that relied heavily on external songwriters, this new album sees the songwriting collaboration between Luppi and Grossi blossomed in full, with more contributions from Eric Ragno (China Blue), Joey Sykes (Hugo), Roberto Priori and ex Dokken axeman George Lynch (on “Nowhere to Run”). There is also a stunning new version of Richard Marx’s “Nothing to Hide”: another fitting tribute to one of AOR music giants and two songs offered (“Wait for You” and “Tonight Tonight”) by Tom and James Martin (Khymera, Sunstorm, House of Lords).

Musicians include Tommy Denander, Joey Sykes, Roberto Priori on guitars, Eric Ragno on keyboards, Tony “AJ” Morra on drums and of course Fabrizio Grossi on bass. While Luppi’s astounding vocals can be described as Mark Free meets Eric Martin, LOS ANGELES “Neverland” is a true AOR beauty which is truly a must-buy for all the Melodic Rock fans.

“Neverland” tracklisting includes:
Neverland (MP3 sample)
Nothing to Hide
City of Angels
Promises (MP3 sample)
Wait For You
Nowhere To Run (MP3 sample)
Tonight Tonight
Higher Love
Living Inside
Welcome To My Life
Paradise

3 Is The Magic Number

Nov 03

metalman777Christianity, audio, music aor, christian rock, hard rock, Mastedon, melodic rock, review 1 Comment

[UPDATE 12-14-09 - YOU CAN NOW BUY THE MP3 VERSION OF THE ALBUM AT AMAZON.COM FOR $8.99.  CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK!]

from wikipedia:

Mastedon is the name of a Christian rock band formed by brothers Dino and John Elefante (former members and songwriters of Kansas) in the mid-80s. The band was formed mainly as a studio project and released two full-length albums and two stand-alone songs on compilation albums.

from me: I’ve been a huge fan of Mastedon since 1989.  Being a young Christian metalhead, I stumbled upon this band with awe and reverence.  I was at their one and only concert at Cornerstone ‘91!

The Elefante brothers were the founders of Pakaderm Records which released some  great Christian metal albums.  X-Sinner and Guardian got their start on this label.  Mastedon also released their second record, Lofcaudio, through Pakaderm.   I’ll give you a minute to find the connecting dots of the names…Elefante brothers, Pakaderm Records, Mastedon…

Mastedon has always been head and shoulders above other Christian metal bands.  All the other bands had their secular counterparts:  Whitecross was the Christian Ratt, Barren Cross was the Christian Iron Maiden, X-Sinner was the Christian AC/DC.  Mastedon had their own sound and their music was better than any other melodic metal band, secular or Christian.

After 19 long years, Mastedon has released some new tunes, and they have only gotten better.  3 is destined to become a classic, must-have for any melodic rock collector.

I have audio samples from each song from the new album below.  If you love what you hear, and want Mastedon’s back catalog, you can but it from .  iTunes is much cheaper than Amazon.com.  They do not have the mp3 downloads.

01 Revolution of Mind

02 Slay Your Demons

03 Nowhere Without Your Love

04 One Day Down By The Lake (See You Real Soon)

05 Water Into Wine (Fassa Rokka)

06 Questions (It's About Time)

07 You Can't Take Anything

08 Lying

09 Western World

10 Close Your Eyes

11 Dust In The Wind (Bonus Track)

I have give a big shout out to Bravewords.com, as they were crucial in my finding out about the new Mastedon album.  They are a wealth of information for the avid music fan!

I’m Very Fond of Tall Stories

Oct 28

metalman777audio, lost but now found!, music hard rock, lost but now found!, melodic rock, music, tall stories No Comments

I will always refer to the 1980’s as the era in which the best music in the world was created.  80’s rock ‘n roll will always be my preferred music of choice.  As the 90’s rolled around, grunge seemed to take over the world and all was bleak and hopeless.

Or so I used to believe.  I’ve recently discovered that the 90’s was a great time of melodic rock; bands such as Pink Cream 69, Harem Scarem, Jaded Heart, Novella, and Mastedon were creating some unbelievably great music.  It wasn’t the flashbang spandex big hair in your face rock of the 80’s, but a much more mature sound in which the bands took control of their music and craft.

I have recently “discovered” a band who call themselves Tall Stories.  They released one self titled album in 1991 and another album entitled “Skyscrapers” in 2009.  I downloaded the self titled album and was absolutely amazed.  These guys were GOOD!  This is an almost perfect melodic rock album.

A quick Google search reveals the following facts about the band:
Hailing from New York City, the band Tall Stories consisted of lead singer Steve Augeri, guitarist Jack Morer, bass player Kevin Totoian, and drummer Tom DeFaria. The band was generally dismissed as another slick, corporate-style rock act and had the misfortune of releasing their self-titled debut as grunge acts were breaking. The ill timing resulted in an album that sank without a trace despite garnering fairly strong support from the fading AOR format. Augeri went on to join Tyketto, but by the late ’90s, he had retired from music and was working in the maintenance department for the Gap chain in Manhattan. In 1998, he was tapped to replace Steve Perry as the lead singer for Journey.

There is some talent in this band!  I’m waiting until payday so I can buy their 2009 album.  If you love melodic, AOR style music, you’ll LOVE this band!!

Here are few samples for your listening pleasure:

01 Wild On The Run

02 Chain of Love

03 Crawling Back

04 Sister of Mercy

05 Stay With Me

06 Somewhere She Waits

07 World Inside You

08 Restless One

09 Never Enough

10 Close Your Eyes