Due to her frustration with today's lame music scene, the Metal Warrior Queen searches her massive archives to find the sound that nourishes her soul. As she re-energizes her super powers, she realizes there are many others suffering the same demise. In an attempt to save the world from complete sonic hopelessness, the MWQ releases collections of music in order to remind us all that music was once a pleasure to listen to.
The first three collections in the series are:
80's FOREVER (Focusing on US and British Metal of the Glory Decade)
THE GRUNGE YEARS (The cream of the Seattle crop)
LAST SCREAMS OF THE 20th CENTURY (The hybrid strains of 90's metal)
Future collections may include:
INTO THE ARENA (Classic rock heroes of the 70's)
SPACEFUZZ (Stoner rock and doom)
ROCK OF AGES (Album Oriented Rock from the 80's)
The Hidden Hand, Divine Propaganda
Wino's been awfully busy these days, with having two full time bands in The Hidden Hand and Place of Skulls, as well as doing guest appearances and whatever else. He handles both guitar and vox in the Hidden Hand, with his playing style being a paradoxical "laid back intensity" which is the most notable thing about this record.It's not an immediate listen, but one worth absorbing. Great packaging and Wino's quirky vocals (which I've grown to like) are further pluses. Still, I have a feeling that the new Place of Skulls, featuring the legendary Victor Griffin, is going to be even better. www.meteorcity.com or www.stonerrock.com
P.S. I was right...Place of Skulls rules all!!!!!
HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE, The August Engine
Hold on tight! This is a side project created by the two main members of The Lord Weird Slough Feg, John Cobbett and Mike Scalzi. If you know Slough Feg, you know these guys are about as creative and talented as they come in metal these days. They have joined forces with two amazingly talented ladies, who add lush vocals (as well as bass and keyboards) to this eclectic work that ranges from Iron Maiden-inspired metallic riffage, to the minstrel-like tales of such power metal outfits as Blind Guardian, to a song that out-dooms anything that Wino played on this year! Now that's saying something! But it's true, "The Trial And The Grave" is the most outstanding single song I've heard in 2003. The lyrics tell a tragic story of a woman unjustly put to death and the torment of her afterlife; the stark delivery of the two female vocalists chills to the bone. An amazing album that reminds me of why I don't listen to Korn.
1. Place of Skulls, With Vision
TIE:
1. Hammers of Misfortune, The August Engine
2. The Hidden Hand, Divine Propaganda
3. Solace, 13
4. The Lord Weird Slough Feg, Traveller
5. Legend, Still Screaming
6. Anthrax, We've Come For You All
7. The Quill, Hooray! It's A Deathtrip
8. The Sabians, Shiver
9. Sir Hedgehog, Sir Hedgehog
Honorable Mentions:
- Dirty Power, Dirty Power
- The Haunted, One Kill Wonder
- YOB, Catharsis
- Vanderhoof, A Blur In Time
- Jack Starr, Under A Savage Sky
Lost Classics: Scorpions, Taken By Force
Jack Starr/Rhett Forrester, Out of the Darkness
Blind Illusion: The Sane Asylum
Trans-Siberian Orchestra!
Beacon Theater, NYC 12/10/03
For my Live4Metal.com review,
Click Here!
