Rock Blog #33: Kissin' Dynamite, Sonata Arctica, Smokin' Aces, New Horizon, JD Miller

 I guess you can expect weeks and weeks of silence after this sudden burst of blog entries... we'll see. But anyway, here we go again!

KISSIN' DYNAMITE's "Back With A Bang" (RRRR) was a hugely anticipated release, and indeed it went straight to #1 in their home country Germany on its' release week.  It's a good album, although not quite as brilliant as their previous album. There are a couple of songs that among the best ones released this year, but there are also a number of songs that leave me a bit cold. My favourites include "My Monster", "Queen Of The Night" and "The Devil Is A Woman", which sounds so much like recent H.E.A.T. material that I had to check whether they've been co-writing. Nope...  The second half of the album is less to my liking, the songs aren't bad but not great either.

SONATA ARCTICA claim to have gone "back to the roots" with their latest album "CLEAR COLD BEYOND" (RRRr). Yeah, I'll buy that, it's mostly uptempo melodic metal and maybe a bit more straight-forward that most of the material they've released during the last few years. Tony Kakko has a theatrical style to write and sing and it's an acquired taste, but I like it. Stand-out tracks: "California", "Dark Empath" and "First In Line".

Swedish SMOKIN' SNAKES play sleazy hard rock, and "Danger Zone" (RRRr) is their debut album. Their sound is a bit diffenrent to most of the other sleaze bands, I'd say they have a more metallic edge, think ACCEPT and LORDI. Razor-sharp riffs, rough vocals and some catchy choruses , "Lady Luck", "Restless And Wild" (not an Accept cover!), "Rocking To The Morning Light" for example. The  vocals of Brett Martin are what holds me back from giving them a better rating, there's not a lot of variety in his delivery. 

NEW HORIZON is a power metal project by H.E.A.T. keyboard player Jona Tee. On the first album he enlisted his former bandmate Erik Grönwall to sing, but on this second album "Conquerors" (RRRRr) on vocals he's got another well-known Swedish singer, Nils Molin of Dynazty and Amaranthe. A worthy replacement! While the songs on the album sound very familiar at times, I can't deny that they are all quality melodic metal, and at their best, bloody brilliant! "King Of Kings", "Messenger Of The Stars", "Apollo"... great stuff in the vein of Sabaton, Battle Beast with a touch of H.E.A.T. melodies. Not a weak song in sight really. Molin's bandmate Elize Ryd is featured on the balladic "Before The Dawn" and "Alexander the Great" is an Iron Maiden cover.  

I don't know what to make of JD MILLER. Their latest album "Empyrean" (RRRR) isn't definitely "just another AOR album", which is a good thing. They aren't trying to bring the eighties back with it, instead they play modern day melodic rock/metal with lots of different influences. They are heavy, yet they have some highly infectious pop hooks ("Out Of Control" as the best example). Some songs have an industrial, modern vibe, but they also have very smooth harmonies. Take "One In A Million" for example - it kicks of with eerie keys, crunchy guitars and aggressive vocals, but then they get to the chorus, which reminds me of Autograph or something! Then they jump into a midsection straight from a Rocky soundtrack with pulsating keys... all this and more in 3 and half minutes. Anyway, I was a bit unsure about the rating, but now that I played this again, it's such an ambitious and different album and it gets better after every spin, so it deserves 4 R's. I think these guys are onto something!