When Apocalyptica appeared on the music scene in 1996 with Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, they were busting the lid off a new can. Their unique blend of heavy metal and cellos was something really remarkable and daring. What was hard to fathom was their target audience. Those that liked classical music would have shunned the recording as sacrilege, and fans of Metallica were a little bemused. Their debut highlighted all of the similarities between classical music and the brand of metal made popular by Metallica. The idea was simple, unconventional, and brilliant. Just take four cellos and some classical arrangements of Metallica tunes, record them, and release to the general public.

Worlds Collide is a different sort of record. It uses a somewhat more conventional approach, and is not really the better for it. Where before the band played it straight with acoustic instruments and no percussion, this album — with its drums and distorted cellos (sounding like guitars) — comes at you more like a rock band. Although this isn’t Apocalyptica’s first release to include drums (they have had a permanent drummer since 2005), one cannot help but feel that they’d be lost without them now. The addition of drums and distortion makes them a different band altogether. Rather than being (as they used to say) chamber musicians who happened to like metal, they have evolved into a metal band that happens to play cellos.

On first listen, the instrumentals on Worlds Collide are overshadowed by the tracks with vocals on them. It can be quite a struggle to keep your hands from the skip button as the tracks with vocal accompaniment sound so much more accomplished. This is where the transition between chamber metal musicians and metal band becomes problematic, as the instrumentals were really what the band used to be about. It would be a horrible shame if the vocal-free songs were avoided in favour of the somewhat (dare I say it) gimmicky tracks with guest stars on them.

Till Lindemann (Rammstein), Corey Taylor (Slipknot), Dave Lombardo (Slayer), and Cristina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil) all offered their musical services to this recording. Tomoyasu Hotei comes and goes almost unnoticed, while Lombardo could frankly be any drummer to the untrained ear, and Scabbia does a passable Evanescence impression. Only Lindemann offers anything that one might call different with his rendition of David Bowie’s “Heroes” in German (the song is credited as “Helden” on the album). On another day, this cover version could so easily have been cheesy, but not today — though I can’t help but smirk every time I hear the initial, earnest, and very guttural “Du”. That’s not to say that the guest spots are without value. Despite my earlier dismissive remarks, they do come over well. Flagship track “I’m Not Jesus”, featuring Corey Taylor, tackles the thorny subject of child abuse by priests, but it has a really catchy chorus to prevent it from burning in hell for all eternity. Re-recorded for the American release of the album, “I Don’t Care” with Adam Gontier (Three Days Grace) on vocal duties is equally memorable, even if it sounds like it’s been lifted from the next Spiderman soundtrack (that is to say, it sounds a bit like Nickelback). However, as commercial as these tracks are, the shift from the unusual to a regular rock band is palpable. Now that Apocalyptica have integrated aspects from “regular” rock music into their sound, what really sets them apart from every other metal band out there?

In the grand scheme of things, there is probably only so much one can do with heavy metal music (I’ll burn for that one). Apocalyptica began their career by marching to the beat of their own drum, but somehow the introduction of percussion has brought them into the mainstream. What they produce is still high-quality material, although ultimately not as groundbreaking as they were 12 years ago, and this is a shame. However, the introduction of mainstream elements and the use of guests from more established acts are likely to bring them new fans. Rather than converting their target audience, Apocalyptica have capitulated and headed for the mainstream.

This review originally appeared on popmatters.com

https://www.popmatters.com/apocalyptica-worlds-collide-2496131664.html

“It’s very butch. Very muscular…” says David Coverdale about the first Whitesnake album in 11 years. Pause for a while and take that in.

The endless 25th anniversary reunion of the masters of hairspray metal is into its sixth year and has spawned Good To Be Bad. Coverdale & Co. are not known for releasing groundbreaking material so one might be forgiven for expecting no surprises on first listen. One would be wrong. The biggest surprise is that it is not a bad record. Sure, it is full of double entendre-fueled cock rock, but as far that oeuvre goes this is a pretty respectable example.

This is a summer blockbuster of a record. It is akin to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the CGI Gopher in so far as it does exactly what it says on the tin. People will enjoy both because they provide an opportunity to relive past youth (and hair) without taxing the brain in any way, shape, or form. Granted, Harrison Ford will be banking more cash as a result of his endeavor, but that is what you get if you keep retiring and then coming back, Dave.

This album ticks all of the boxes for devotees of the band. It drives down the familiar lane of Led Zeppelin riffs, big choruses, and is overflowing with “sexy” lyrics. While unlikely to win over any new fans, it will give the band something to sell at gigs. So, take her top down, ease the seat back, slide it in, and ride her at full pelt with this blasting from her speakers at full volume. Sometimes it’s Good To Be Bad.

This review originally appeared on popmatters.com

https://www.popmatters.com/whitesnake-good-to-be-bad-2496129880.html

Some people have been waiting since 1978 for a new Paul Stanley solo album. The last effort was the second best out of a batch of four solo albums that KISS did during a short hiatus from being the hottest band in the world. The Ace Frehley solo album was the surprising winner of that competition. Temporarily released from the tour shackles of “The Tribute Band Formerly Known as KISS” (TBFKK for short) Stanley announced a new album and tour. He stated quite clearly that this time he is doing it his way, with no compromise. Lapsed members of the KISS Army like myself perked up and waited with anticipation. Stanley certainly was the ringleader of the more pop period in KISStory, and this leads one to believe that he may have a finger on the pulse somewhere. I was hoping that drinking from the cup of Moloch has not left him artistically barren; particularly after that piece of musical doo-doo that his KISS colleague Gene Simmons released a couple of years ago. (Check out Simmons’ version of the Prodigy’s “Firestarter” for an example of cringing nonsense on par with your dad trying to dance “cool” at the family wedding.)

The album begins well in the sense that it sounds quite contemporary. Big fat Nu Metal guitars announce the opening track Live To Win, which really does rock albeit in a sub-Nickelback kind of way. This theme is carried forward for the next couple of tunes. Stanley’s 1980s pop rock sensibilities are masked to the point of obscurity, sounding somewhere between Linkin Park and Bon Jovi little brother. Then the third track cuts through with cheap sounding drum machine and cheesy synth-strings sounds coupled with the chorus from that KISS song that was a bonus track on the third or fourth “best of” album that was released in the later half of the 1980s. This is familiar territory for Paul. He is happiest here, I think, because he doesn’t really stray from this ground for the remainder of the album. It shouldn’t really come as any great surprise that a songwriter who has pretty much made a career out of churning out the same five songs over and over again may have run out of ideas. KISS were never about breaking boundaries, they were a great party band, and now they are their very own tribute band.

From the release notes Stanley would have us believe that he is doing his own thing and doesn’t want to compromise his creative talent anymore. A fine sentiment, and one that you cannot argue with. Cool Paul, go right ahead break your neck. Push the boat right out, perhaps bring in some new creative talent to counterpoint your own. After all, your last album was last century. What? Oh you’d rather use Desmond Child like you have done for the last 30 years; OK that’s fine too. Yes, of course you can write with Holly Knight again, I have no objections. Who is this new guy that you have brought in, a pop genius with his feet firmly in the 21st century no doubt? Nope, Andreas Carlsson, who was famous for penning tunes for some youngster called Britney Spears, a bunch of losers that went by the name Backstreet Boys, Hillary Duff (who?), and, ah surprise surprise, Bon Jovi. Way to do it your way, Paul.

The result is unfortunately a retread of everything you ever heard by KISS in the sans-make up period (think Hot in the Shade, where the songs were also co-written by Child and Knight). It is a fun but not very satisfying chunk of slick, over-chewed bubble gum. I say that like it is a bad thing, but in honesty it sometimes really isn’t. Messrs Stanley and Simmons have only really ever wanted to push the pop buttons and catch the pennies when they fall. They never made any secret about it. In their heyday they grabbed everything that they could, branded it with the KISS logo and sold it. Even the last Paul Stanley solo album was marketed so. Without the KISS banner to prance in front of, Stanley is making it all too obvious that he has nothing new to say.

I’m not sure that I should have expected anything different.

The review was originally posted on popmatters.com

https://www.popmatters.com/paul-stanley-live-to-win-2495793734.html

Despite the fact that the band seemed to go their separate ways in 1995, it is difficult to discuss Vernon Reid without mentioning Living Colour, so I will get it out of the way right at the beginning, but I can’t promise that I won’t mention it again. When Living Colour hit the scene back in the 1980s, they promised to be a fusion of metal and funk and soul. This was a promise that they almost made good on, and they went on to spearhead the funk-o-metal carpet ride that rock music became between 1988 and 1990. They took up a lot of column inches and they brought with them into the limelight such acts as Fishbone, Jane’s Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, and (ahem) the Dan Reed Network. The stand out members of the band were Corey Glover, for his powerful and sometimes soulful vocals, and Vernon Reid, for his amazing technical ability to make the guitar sound like it was a wild beast that needed taming. Since 1995, Reid has done turns for the likes of Tracey Chapman, Jack Bruce, and DJ Spooky, as well as recording another Living Colour album in 2003.

“Masque is about identity,” claims Reid. He maintains that it is this question that has informed everything that he has done from the beginning of his solo career. On listening to Other True Self, it is difficult to see how Mr. Reid has spent his time exploring this question. As an analytical tool, the compact disc format is not exactly foolproof, but it does offer a snapshot of time that one can look at in more depth. Regrettably, he offers no insight into his true self, unless this particular self is disjointed and confused and asks more questions than it answers. As a closet social psychologist, I am willing to believe that is the case. Even more problematic, this particular exploration of the psyche can be a trying experience at times.

The album opens with “Game Is Rigged”, the kind of instrumental that tended to uncomfortably sit on a Living Colour album. It sets the tone for the rest of the album in terms of temperament. The song is poorly behaved; it refuses to stay in one place, like a hyperactive child desperate to grab your attention. One second it is harmonics and hammer-ons, the next it is syncopated beats with a lounge style organ and lots — and I mean LOTS — of guitar. Next up, we get a cover of Radiohead’s “National Anthem”, from their Kid A album. Musically, it is note perfect, but robbed of Thom Yorke’s paranoid ramblings the song loses all of its tension and claustrophobia. The pinnacle of this album has to be the instrumental (did I mention that this album was an instrumental?) version of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence”. This is another note-perfect tune that almost lifts off, but then just falls into yet another safe guitar noodle. Reid explores his identity all over Martin Gore’s masterwork, replacing its dark and moody conclusions with diddlydiddlydiddlywahwah followed by a jazz club-style bass solo. You can almost hear bass player Hank Schroy’s head nodding as it happens. Mine too, but for a different reason. Frankly, I would have enjoyed the silence had there been any.

That’s the main issue with this collection and albums of this type. Vernon Reid is clearly a very talented guitar player. However, guitar players do not need to breathe in between musical phrases, thus instrumental sections lack natural gaps and pauses. As Emperor Joseph II said in Amadeus, “It’s quality work. But there are simply too many notes, that’s all.” After a while, the rambunctious noodling becomes tiresome, and when you add this to the scarcity of any songs, or even tunes masquerading as songs, you find yourself wishing the whole experience was just over. I mentioned Living Colour so much at the beginning of this piece because when you listen to this album you realise precisely what it was that made them great. They had songs with words in them that allowed the listener a little recovery time before the next guitar offensive.

originally on popmatters.com

https://www.popmatters.com/vernon_reid_and_masque_other_true_self-2495676723.html