81db - A Blind Man's Dream

Ouzo, baklava, gyros, and now metal? Man, those Greeks never quit innovating stuff.One of the coolest things about modern metal is the sheer amount of diversity in its influences and musical permutations. Such is certainly the case with Italy's 81db and their latest effort, A Blind Man's Dream. Founded by guitarist Kostas Ladopoulos, the band interfuses modern alternative metal with the folk music of Ladopoulos' native Greece in a very natural way. The result is a unique and fascinating sound that works well in a heavy context.

Since their forming in 2006, the band has released two previous albums and gained a good following in Europe and it's easy to see why. It took me a while to realize that acoustic parts were almost exclusively played on a bouzouki, having no problem being juxtaposed with the more energetic heavy rhythyms. In fact I honestly didn't even realize what was going on musically until read the bio on the band. Going back to those parts of the songs and listening again I could hear the very traditional Greek melodies and marvelled at how well they blended into this modern metal music. It's really rather amazing. Dig the intro of Sirens and how the balls and chunk™ kicks in at 0:14 for good example of how this all works.

Thematically, the album's narrative is based on One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, though I've never seen the movie and know nothing about the story. But the music is what stands out, at times even sounding progressive, almost like a European version of Tool. It's fresh, heavy and invigorating - everything I enjoy about good metal music.

The Bottom Line: Opa! 81db is another great example of how metal transcends geopolitical boundaries (which makes it such a fascinating musical genre), and their blending of traditional Greek folk music with modern alternative metal is nothing short of genius. Looking for something different? Check this out.

Songs To Drink Ouzo To In Your Leather Foustanella: Manicomium, Sirens, When The Cat's Away

- Genghis would love to own an authentic bouzouki...

Almah - Unfold

Damn, if those Brazilians don't know how to rock some world class prog/power metal. And how have I never heard of Almah before?Listen, it's no secret in the metal world that South America has had some serious players in the game for decades now. And one of those players are the Brazliian progmetal masters of Angra. Over the course of the last 20 years they've made some really great metal, spawning some pretty great bands in the process, the latest being Almah.

Edu Falaschi, having handled lead vocal duties in Angra since 2001's Rebirth, has since left to focus on Almah, which began as a solo project. Interestingly, Almah has put out as many records since their self-titled debut in 2006 as Angra put out Edu when sang for them. Whether that has anything to do with his decision I have no way of knowing, but I couldn't be happier with Almah's latest album, Unfold, which is quite simply: fucking phenomenal.

Seriously, this album sounds amazing from start to finish. From the thundering drum intro of the proggy opener In My Sleep you get an immediate sense of the power stirring within this album. And the rest of the album rarely lets up on the throttle after that, save for a couple of introspective moments like Warm Wind, the opening of Treasure of Gods, and the closer Farewell. In particular, some inspired moments of out and out metal glory can found in tracks like the anthemic You Gotta Stand, with its Alice In Chainsey harmonized vocals and a larger than life guitar tone that's so ballsy you just know it's gonna rock the fuck out of any live show they unleash it on. What an album.

The Bottom Line: This is state of the art Brazilian power/prog metal, so if you are looking for a fix waiting for the next Angra - and for some reason haven't already heard of Almah, get. on. this. shit. right. now.

Tracks To Make You Spontaneously Yell "É nóis na fita, mano!": The whole damned album

- Genghis now assumes they just hand Brazilian babies a guitar when they're born (Crimeny!)...

Unsolved

Unsolved is a murder mystery in which college students are given the task of solving previously unsolved cases. The story centers around the Dean's daughter and her boyfriend. The two have chosen to try to solve a case, of a girl that was murdered at the University, but the closer they get to solving the case, they run into several obstacles.

The story line and acting are actually good, but the film comes off as more of a Lifetime movie than a legitimate horror flick.  I was initially sucked in by the cover art, thinking it was going to be a horror flick, but instead all I got was a made for TV drama.  Don't get me wrong there is some blood spattering, but for the most part, it was PG.  All in all not a bad flick, just not what I was expecting.

Bottom Line: Not a horror flick by any sense of the word.  A well done action/thriller, that seems to be made for Tv.  It appears to be a college student film, which was done well, but a little too tame for me.

- Ragman is wondering if this one has made it through to Lifetime yet...

Metal Church - Generation Nothing

Metal Church kind of fell off my radar, several years ago.  For the most part, I lost interest, in the band, after the departure of David Wayne (R.I.P.) in the late 80's.  I still followed them, but was never blown away by them again, as I had been with their first two releases.  It wasn't just the departure of Wayne, because it seemed like the songwriting fell off, right around that same time.

The Metal Church line ups, as well as their releases have been fairly hit or miss, over the last several years, but they have shown some stability as of late.  Ever since the band re-united back in 2004, the line up has been fairly stable.  To be honest, the band did shut it down in 2009 for approx. 3 years, before resurrecting once again.  In 2012 the band fired up again, and their first release since re-uniting is Generation Nothing.

Generation Nothing is the first thing I've heard the band do, since their somewhat disappointing 2004 release, A Light in the Dark.  I have to say, I was pretty excited to hear the band had new material coming out, so I jumped at the chance to review this one.  It is like that old friend you hadn't seen in about 10 years, your curious to see what they've been up to.  Know what I mean?

Generation Nothing starts off a little stale with the somewhat generic track Bulletproof.  It is your run of the mill, up-tempo rocker that just sounds like, been there done that.  Truthfully, it sounded like a poor man's Overkill tune.  I think I'm thinking Overkill because vocalist Ronny Munroe has a similar singing style to Mr. Blitz.  The CD didn't come alive for me, until the track Noises in the Wall, which starts off a little eerie, which brings back memories of classic Metal Church.  It is a well constructed tune that is melodic an heavy at the same time.  Killer tune.  From this point on, the CD gets pretty strong.  Though some of the tracks come off as a bit generic, there is still enough good material on this one to make it a keeper.

Standout Tracks: Noises In the Wall, Suiciety, Scream and Hits Keep Comin'.

Bottom Line:  Metal Church dusting off the cobwebs to give it another go.  This is probably the strongest thing that band has done in years, and is worth checking out.

-Ragman is thinking he may be digging into some classic MC for the weekend.

Portnoy, Sheehan, MacAlpine, Sherinian - Live in Tokyo

Ready for a shred fest?  Well, that's exactly what you'll get with the new release, Live in Tokyo, from 4 powerhouse musicians. The band is comprised of some folks you might of heard of before: Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, The Winery Dogs), Billy Sheehan (Talas, DLR, Mr. Big, Vai, The Winery Dogs), Tony MacAlpine (Project Driver, Planet X, Vai) and Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Planet X). All of these guys have a common bond between them, being virtuosos, but they've also played together before, in some combination, in other projects.

The idea for this collaboration is basically an avenue for the guys to play together live and showcase some tunes from their various catalogs together with some well-placed covers; Bill Cobham's Stratus and Jeff Beck's The Pump. Let's face it, this is an instrumental wankfest (the only song with vocals is the Talas classic, Shyboy), as all involved are masters of their respective instruments, and it's no wonder they work so well together live. Portnoy takes the role of frontman from behind the kit and provides a good entertaining banter between the songs. All in all, this is a very entertaining listen.

Standout Tracks: Stratus, Lines in the Sand, The Stranger and Atlantis Part 1, and Apocalypse 1470 B.C.

Bottom Line: From the billing, you know this one will be amazing.  With this many talented guys jamming instrumentally only good things could happen - and they did, live in Tokyo. The video for this one must be amazing.

- Ragman wonders what it would sound like if these guys made a record full of original new material(please!)...