Alkaline Trio - From Here To Infirmary

Alkaline Trio – From Here To Infirmary

Vagrant Records

4 Stars

Alkaline Trio are a punk rock band that don’t really sound like anyone else completely, they are punk, they are alternative rock, they are even a bit pop. From Here To Infirmary is the bands third album and first on punk rock label Vagrant Records and has a big hard rock sound but the punk rock basics are there and the songs are equal parts great rock n’ roll fury and amazing lyrics a trend that will stay with this band.

It’s hard to find anything bad to say about Alkaline Trio and this album works well for a lot of audiences. If you are on the edge of musical preferences and dabble in the punk scene but largely prefer mainstream alternative rock this album will work for you. This is the first album that I heard by the band and it kept me interested and wondering what was coming next and thankfully I was able to get more because the band had already released their next album Good Mourning.

Your best start here would be Private Eye, Stupid Kid, Crawl, Armageddon and You’re Dead which contains one of my favorite lyrics of all time “Cause if assholes could fly, This place would be busier than O’Hare” it’s a little crude but totally fits the mood of Alkaline Trio.

Suggesting other bands like Alkaline Trio is a little difficult sometimes I think maybe a little MXPX is in there but for me they always just sound like Alkaline Trio and if you like alternative rock played fast like good old punk rock with vocals that aren’t too over the top and have a sing along quality you need to get into Alkaline Trio and this album is a good place to start.

Copyright © 2010 Kevin P. Johnson all rights reserved.

Album art and song titles and lyrics are used as fair use for review purposes and will be removed at the copyright holders request.

Iron Maiden - Virtual XI

Iron Maiden – Virtual XI

1998 CMC International Records

1 Star

Virtual XI (Virtual Eleven) is Iron Maiden’s eleventh studio album an second to feature vocals by Blaze Bayley. This album is terrible. This is Iron Maiden’s worst selling album ever. It’s full of weird keyboards the guitars aren’t anything special or new and Blaze Bayley should not have been the singer for Iron Maiden. The only thing I like about this is the album cover.

I can’t even stand to listen to it while I review it. Don’t buy this unless you just have to have everything and even then you could pretend it’s not a real album but a Virtual one.

Copyright © 2010 Kevin P. Johnson all rights reserved.

Album art and song titles and lyrics are used as fair use for review purposes and will be removed at the copyright holders request.

Iron Maiden - Best Of The Beast

Iron Maiden – Best Of the Beast

1996 Raw Power

5 Stars

Best Of The Beast is Iron Maiden’s first greatest hits (best of) album and unfortunately I do not have the two disc limited edition which includes a lot of the songs every Maiden fan needs to have including the Live After Death version of Rime Of The Ancient Mariner.

There is not a lot to say about this album besides it’s a wonderful introduction to Iron Maiden and would be the perfect starting point for any new fan (and maybe all they ever need). If you don’t have all of Iron Maiden’s albums already this is where to start

Normally I’d give you a to start with song list but you should get all of these songs

1. "The Number of the Beast"

2. "Can I Play With Madness"

3. "Fear of the Dark" (Live)

4. "Run to the Hills"

5. "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter"

6. "The Evil That Men Do"

7. "Aces High"

8. "Be Quick or Be Dead"

9. "2 Minutes to Midnight"

10. "Man on the Edge"

11. "Virus"

12. "Running Free" (Live)

13. "Wasted Years"

14. "The Clairvoyant"

15. "The Trooper"

16. "Hallowed Be Thy Name"

This 77 minutes and 53 seconds of heavy metal thunder will rock you every single time you play it.

Copyright © 2010 Kevin P. Johnson all rights reserved.

Album art and song titles and lyrics are used as fair use for review purposes and will be removed at the copyright holders request.

Iron Maiden - A Real Dead One

Iron Maiden – A Real Dead One

1993 Capitol Records

3 Stars

Live albums are usually hit or miss and on this album I think Iron Maiden missed. It’s not bad it just is not really special. The songs were not recorded from one show and they faked the crowd noise to run the songs together as if it were one concert. A lot of the hits are here and they are played well but just don’t have that wow factor that makes you want to play it a million times on your stereo when the studio versions of this are far better.

Iron Maiden have released a lot of live albums at least ten so far although A Real Dead One has been combined with A Real Live One to give us A Real Live Dead One. The best thing about this live album is the album artwork and the awesome Iron Maiden Family Tree poster that is included.

I don’t suggest this album unless you are an Iron Maiden completist and have to have everything. I do however suggest getting their first live album Live After Death.

Copyright © 2010 Kevin P. Johnson all rights reserved.

Album art and song titles and lyrics are used as fair use for review purposes and will be removed at the copyright holders request.

My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade

My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade
2006 Reprise Records
5 Stars

Emo rock opera is how I would describe the third album from My Chemical Romance. This album tells the story of a person dying of cancer. The album tells the sad tale at a rapid pace and with a catchy alterno-pop sound that grabs from emo, punk, rock, 1970’s era Queen and all that made the 1990’s alternative scene work. The first time that I listened to The Black Parade it blew me away and I instantly thought that it was going to be the album of the year for sure but only reached number two on the Billboard 200 chart and only Welcome To The Black Parade reached number one on the Hot Modern Rock Chart.

For an album that is loaded with songs that deal with depressing subject matter it makes you want jump and dance and even feels kind of good. This album keeps you interested from start to finish with songs that have many different layers with excellent musicians backing up the amazing lyrics. It may sound strange but an album that is filled with so much sadness in the end sounds really fun and almost happy.

I suggest you listen to the entire album in one sitting to get the best experience of The Black Parade it will rock you from start to finish. The best tracks on the album are DEAD!, This Is How I Disappear, Welcome To The Black Parade, I Don’t Love You, Cancer, Mama, and Teenagers and don’t forget the hidden track Blood.

This band needs no other to be compared with but I think if you like Queen, concept albums or rock operas you will enjoy The Black Parade.


Copyright © 2010 Kevin P. Johnson all rights reserved.
Album art and song titles and lyrics are used as fair use for review purposes and will be removed at the copyright holders request.

L.A. Guns - Hollywood Vampires

L.A. Guns – Hollywood Vampires
1991 Polydor Records
4 Stars

The third album from L.A. Guns is an excellent but darker sounding twist for the band. On Hollywood Vampires the songs still have that sing along quality that Cocked & Loaded expressed so well but this time out there was more mainstream success with three singles charting in the US and UK. Some Lie 4 Love, Kiss My Love Goodbye and It’s Over Now. This album is loaded with great guitars and the trademark raspy vocals by Phil Lewis that made L.A. Guns a unique sounding band in the metal era.

Ironically It’s Over Now is one of the biggest hits in the career of the band and would be the last mainstream hit the band would have to date. The band would start falling apart in the next few years. Eventually the band would split so much that there are now two bands being called L.A. Guns since 2005.

Hollywood Vampires is among the last of the great 1980’s heavy metal albums as musical styles changed and fans moved on to more alternative sounds in the 1990’s. as with Cocked & Loaded this album has lots to offer but starting out you’ll want to hear Over The Edge, Some Lie 4 Love, Kiss My Love Goodbye, Crystal Eyes, It’s Over Now, Dirty Luv and I Found You.

Fans of Guns N’ Roses, Motley Crue, Faster Pussycat, Love/Hate, and Ratt would enjoy this album.


Copyright © 2010 Kevin P. Johnson all rights reserved.
Album art and song titles and lyrics are used as fair use for review purposes and will be removed at the copyright holders request.

Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

Iron Maiden – Piece Of Mind

1983 Capitol Records

5 Stars

Iron Maiden is arguably the greatest heavy metal band of all time and on their third album The Number Of The Beast they proved not only to be considered among the greatest band they produced what is thought of by many as the best heavy metal album of all time. This album featured first time lead vocals by Bruce Dickinson and classic metal guitars by Adrian Smith and Dave Murray that would influence every band claiming to be a metal band from that point forward.

In 1982 The Number Of The Beast came out and found itself being protested and the band being accused of being Satanist. The band often uses dark imagery in their songs but the lyrics of the song The Number Of The Beast were inspired by a dream bass player Steve Harris had after watching the movie Damien: The Omen II. This dream was a nightmare and scared him and things that scare you sometimes make the best art and so the song was created. Iron Maiden are not Satanist they pull inspiration from horror films, television shows, books, biblical references and even other songs by other bands. They are fairly harmless they just want to scare you a little bit.

I did not acquire the album for many years after its release because as a ten year old child you really didn’t have a shot at getting your parents to buy you an album called The Number Of The Beast that featured a monster (band mascot Eddie) and a devil on the cover. Honestly the album scared me back in those days a friend of mine had it on vinyl and we’d go to his house and scare ourselves listening to it. Kids always want to be scared and I remember winning a poster of the album cover at a local festival and I put it on the wall inside my closet because it scared me but I still liked it and wanted to look at it every now and then . . . plus my parents didn’t know I had it and it probably wouldn’t have went over well.

Of the eight songs on the album two of the greatest heavy metal songs ever written appeared one being the previously mentioned The Number Of The Beast and the amazing Run To The Hills. You will want this whole album if you want to know metal at its best but for those of you on a budget and buying tracks from iTunes or some other download service you’ll want to be sure to get Hallowed Be Thy Name and The Prisoner. Newer versions of the album contain either one or two bonus tracks.

If you like any heavy metal band that has ever made its existence known then you probably should own this album.

Copyright © 2010 Kevin P. Johnson all rights reserved.

Album art and song titles and lyrics are used as fair use for review purposes and will be removed at the copyright holders request.