Old Ironsides – The Path To Madness (TSM)

Bostonians Old Ironsides were formed back in 2005 when the bands two leading lights, Ryan Rickerson and Alex Boccia, started writing songs that were in a different direction to what they were playing at the time. From these early seeds, the two embarked on this project releasing an EP back in 2008 which was backed with a number of local gigs and some higher profile support slots. This then lead to the band recording ‘The Path To Madness’ which was released as download only in 2010 and attracted label interest, which has led to this physical release.

‘The Path To Madness’, it would seem, is paved with some tasty slabs of prog metal. Lead track ‘Breaking Loose’ acts as a good introduction mixing hard and heavy riffs with more intricate passages the create a good overall sound. The playing throughout is top notch, taking all the different elements in their stride.

The tracks I found of most interest were ‘Tomcat’ which sounds not dissimilar to Metallica circa ‘Kill Em All’ and the final three tracks which are a trio of songs entitled ‘March To War’. The tracks are broken down into ‘Rise’, ‘Fall’ and ‘Redemption’  starting off heavily, chilling out acoustically in the middle, then thumping home with a  big ending in fine style.

If you like a bit of prog metal or even metal with an interesting twist, then travelling down ‘The Path To Madness’ may just be a journey worth making.

***1/2
David Wilson

SickTrust – SickTrust

Philly rockers SickTrust are an amalgamation of various local talent that first gathered together seven years ago, but only officially formed into what we have presented here in 2010. This album first saw the light of day in August 2011 and is only now finding its way across the ocean.

Metal is the band’s weapon of choice, heavy of course, with a bit of a thrash edge to it. Guitarist and singer ‘Chaly’ Piacentino sounds not unlike Cronos from Venom and musically the band are in the same ball park. Big dirty solid riffs are pummelled to within an inch of their lives, but over the course of the nine tracks they do get a bit repetitive. The mixing of the album doesn’t help the cause either being poor and muddy. Track wise ‘Not Dead Yet’ and ‘Blacklisted’ are about the best of the bunch, but nothing worth writing home about.

SickTrust aren’t a bad band, but essentially they are not that great either, which leaves them stuck in metal’s middle ground and on this hearing I can’t really see them breaking out of any time soon.

**
David Wilson

Broken Lungs –We’re In This Together

Broken Lungs are a new 4 piece from Liverpool who only got together back in August 2011. This is then their debut EP, unsurprisingly, and for a work in progress it is not a bad starting point. The guys take their cues from the Foo Fighters and Biffy Clyro and the influences can be heard, but this is not Foo’s by numbers.

I am unsure what the average age is of the band, fairly low I’ll hazard, but there is talent on show hear. Well written melodies and competent playing mean that this is more than your typical bedroom project. Highlights on the disc are the first couple of tracks, namely ‘We Stand Tall’ and ‘I’m Done With Desperation’ which show a lot of promise.

This is a solid starting block for a band that can count their career in months rather than years and they still have a way to go to reach the level of their peers, but there is promise.

**1/2
David Wilson

MELLOW BRAVO S/T Small Stone Records (2012) www.mellowbravo.com

A relatively new band having formed in 2009 and this is their debut album. It’s a decent mix of stoner rock like ‘Ridin’ through to the  classic rock balladry of ‘When I’m In Pain’. The band’s secret weapons though are the two vocalists, Keith Pierce and Jess Collins who try to outdo each other on the passionate vocals on ‘Love Hammer’. Great stuff on record and I would imagine even better sung live. There are many reference points in the band’s music from QOTSA, Widespread Panic (especially in Pierce’s vocals on the slower, stoner rock songs) and even a little Pink Floyd in some of the extended guitar workouts. A band certainly worthy of further investigation and an album to enjoy many times over.

****

Jason Ritchie

CHRIS KLIMECKY ‘This Journey’(2012) www.chrisklimecky.com

Chris Klimecky has been playing and recording music since the mid-90′s including playing in a prog rock band and releasing some solo albums. On this new album he plays everything himself, wrote all the songs except a few with lyrics by Cait Rosellini.

A mixed bag ranging from the Cheap Trick meets Collective Soul of ‘Lap Of Luxury’, where he adds layers of lovely harmony vocals through to the not so good ‘Ride The Wind’, where the song seems to want to be alt rock but the tune sounds AOR like. Adena Atkins adds her vocals to ‘Water Colors’ adding a little variety and the title track has a strong, memorable chorus.

Worth a listen via his website and perhaps with a band or another musician of similar musical direction we could have a stronger album.

***

Jason Ritchie

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Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

Next session: Sunday 19 January

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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 1 December 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 3 December 2024.

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)

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