High ‘N’ Dry – Def Leppard

This is the second album released by Def Leppard and the first by them to be reviewed in these communications. Of the four albums by Def Leppard that I know this is probably the weakest. It does have a lot of reasonable songs and the sound of the guitars is a decent 1980s sound which I like. I’m not quite sure what’s missing.

All the songs have good energy [apart form the ballads]. The beat is up tempo. It is well produced. But it lacks. Especially when comparing to the albums either side in release order. It’s probably the Def leppard last album I would choose to play unless I really want some quality 80s rock. You’ll have to wait for my review of On Through The Night but given how anthemic it is this album leaves me wanting.

Herzeleid – Rammstein

This is the first Rammstein album I have reviewed in these communications and I will tell you that it leaves me feeling quite excited. I was first given this album and another in the early 2000s. Listening to the heavy German sound was so different, so exciting and refreshing. The clear crispness and utter heaviness was astounding. I didn’t care that I couldn’t understand what was being said, I’ve listened to English speaking singers and not had a clue!

Rammstein are a band where you can start right at the beginning and just keep working through their albums. There isn’t a bad album.

Herzeleid came out in 1995. It doesn’t show. Buy this, give the band some of your money and enjoy.

This band a is dangerous and great fun.

Grind Ya Down – Motörhead

Every now and then I buy a Motörhead album and pretty often I am disappointed. There is a good reason for this. “No Sleep ‘Till Hammersmith” is a live album that will [eventually] be reviewed here. I will let you know now it’s the dog’s bollocks, an absolutely brilliant album. And that’s where the problem lies. All other Motörhead albums are going to pale in significance.

As far as I can make out this is a compilation album, probably to make a quick profit for those liking the whole “Ace Of Spades” thing. The track listing has some very good songs, but when you have already heard them on the aforementioned live album these songs seem a little bit tame.

I suggest you just get No Sleep ‘Till Hammersmith.

Gorillaz – Gorillaz

I actually bought this on CD. I remember liking the song being played on TV and the radio and thought I’d get the whole album. I did like the characters in the videos and how they looked quite anime.

I think if I played this album I would recognise a couple of songs but I’m pretty sure I’ve only ever used it as background music, it’s not something I’ve listened to actively.

Isn’t some Blur member in the band?

Ghosts – Nine Inch Nails

These two albums are instrumental calming albums from the beast that is Nine Inch Nails. I listen to these when I’m writing reports at work or marking stuff. It makes a very good background noise to block out other distractions. I would recommend these albums to anyone. It’s just good stuff.

Girls, Girls, Girls – Mötley Crüe

I grew up in the 80s. I remember the 70s but from the age of 8 to 18 the primary decade was the 1980s. Those formative years when music tastes settle in and I was living through the 80s! You know when you get a “Greatest Hits Of The 80s” album or CD or stream that stuff now and you think, “Wow, what a decade to live through music”. Well, I’d like to remind you that you have 30 of the very best songs and maybe a couple that are a bit shit. If that’s the best a compilation compiler can come up with then it really is evidence that the rest of it was shit. As an example, Vienna by Ultravox didn’t make number one in the once relevant charts. It was held off by John Lennon (which I guess is fair enough) and then Joe Dolce’s song “Shaddup You Face”. You see, it was shit.

Music tastes change bit by bit but the stuff that still affects us is the stuff we obsessed over as teenagers. People ten years older than me at work love Pink Floyd and easy 70s rock. People ten years younger than me look back in fondness at the utter shit that was Oasis. And so it’s clear I can’t help liking 80s rock. I’ve written about my descent into metal. It started with Bon Jovi, headed through Mötley Crüe into Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer.

I have change recently and it’s weird. I’ve headed to industrial. Electronic stuff with a nasty edge. I wouldn’t be too fussed about attending a metal festival although I’d go if the right bands were playing.

Looking back at the 80s rock scene now and thinking about what they were actually saying about women and I am horrified. You could argue that it was just the scene and in reality they were nice people but the misogyny was rife and that enters culture and then behaviour. Perhaps the world was more misogynistic then anyway, I don’t know, whatever it was it shouldn’t have been. I don’t think I ever really thought I was sexist, or that I could be like that but I endorsed a culture of that behaviour by buying the music and playing the songs and liking the music.

I really like this album. I can’t help it. I’m programmed to like it. It’s such a part of my youth. I saw the Crüe once at Wembley Arena and it was a great concert. See this page for the concert list. I love the sound of the guitar, I love the galloping bass, the drums and even Vince Neil’s voice. It’s just a fucking shame it’s all sexist. I still like it. Damn [exasperation].

Wild Side – fantastic, upbeat, riff-tastic.
Girls, girls, girls – so good and so bad. In the video they had a hot tub in the back of a limousine.
Dancing on glass – good.
Bad Boy Boogie – good “rocky” song, but AC/DC already have a song called this and it’s better.
Nona – There is ALWAYS an incredibly shit song on every Crüe album. This is the one here. Perhaps they let the butler write a song?
The rest are all pretty good songs although the ballad they wrote for the charts is pretty poor “You’re All I Need”, bleaugh.

So, when I saw them at Wembley Billy Idol came on at the end, clearly off his face, and they sang Jailhouse Rock. There’s a live version of it on this album and it seriously starts with Vince saying:

We’re recording live right here tonight. And I think you’ve got to fucking jive. ‘Cos we’ve got some bad beat boogie woogie for you boys”

They actually kept that on the album! Metal it isn’t. 80s rock it is. I wish forgiveness for the decade in which I matured and the shit I like listening to now.

Gentle Death – Excessive Force

This band was a side project of KMFDM. Excessive Force is a electronic industrial album with undertones of heavy guitar work. It’s actually quite a calming album and a good listen. I recommend this as a starter into the heavier stuff.

Gardens Of Seth – Reaper

After getting into aggrotech I was searching for music. Reaper was an artist I really liked, the album The Devil Is Female is pretty awesome. So, I found some more albums by Reaper. But, it turns out there are three artists called Reaper. I’d downloaded all of them. The Gardens Of Seth is labelled as “METAL” on my phone to remind me that it is an album of metal and not hellectro.

Do I like the album? I haven’t listened enough. It’s pretty hard and heavy with large themes overall. It’s an occasional listen.

AFAIK the band are Italian.

Garage Inc – Metallica

I do own both CDs of this double album, but I have no idea what is on the first one. I didn’t want to listen to it. I was more interested in having a digital version of Garage Days Re-Revisited. I used to listen to a tape of these songs when I was younger and I was always impressed by the songs and the sound. The songs are cover versions, played to introduce Jason Newsted to the band.

Garage Days Re-revisited:

  • Helpless (Diamond Head)
  • The Small Hours (Holocaust)
  • The Wait (Killing Joke)
  • Crash Course In Brain Surgery (Budgie)
  • Last Caress / Green Hell (Misfits)

All of these are great songs and I am happy to have seen Diamond Head play and also Killing Joke.

Other songs of note on this CD are:

  • Am I Evil?
  • Blitzkrieg
  • Breadfan
  • The Prince
  • So What

The rest are boring.

All of these written in this communication are worth listening and playing over and over obnoxiously loud.

Fuckit – :wumpscut:

This was the first album by :wumpscut: that I bought. Along with my descent into aggrotech and hellecktro I started searching and reading Wikipedia about the genre trying to find new artists. There also seems to be cross pollination within the genre as quite often songs are re-mixed by other artists so by reading credits on albums it’s easy to see which bands associate with others. For instance Rotersand have remixed stuff for Aesthetic Perfection. Another method for finding new bands is to read the gig leaflets given out at venues [even if the mostly end up on the floor like a carpet of unwanted postcards].

wumpscut

So, :wumpscut: has been around for ages. This is a nicely produced album with some great tunes. It’s never going to make the mainstream but all the songs have a good beat and it’s well worth a listen. Youtube carries plenty of the music with people adding their own images. Go have a look.