FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
“Starting the show off with a seamless segue from set opener “Are You Ready” straight into “Waiting For An Alibi”, it became clear right away that this wasn’t some thrown together slapdash attempt at cashing in on the band’s previous glories. This six piece band is tight as hell and know the material inside out.”
Sean Palmerston reviews the March 30th concert by Thin Lizzy at Toronto’s Sound Academy. Photos by Albert Mansour.
“Hellbent for Cooking is a compilation of culinary classics of every culture from metal bands and artists around the world… I have decided to record my thoughts and experiences while cooking my way through Hellbent for Cooking, also providing my view on the bands that graciously donated their recipes.”
Ola Mazzuca serves up some delicious meals straight from the Hellbent for Cooking in part 2 of “Blasphemous Meals”.
Part two of Adrien Begrand’s comprehensive wrap up of Sanctuary’s deluxe Motörhead reissues, from 1983’s diamond in the rough Another Perfect Day to 1987’s not-so-great Rock N Roll.
Literally, a “dark horse” is an unexpected or unknown victor, a competitor that defies the odds, mocks the prognosticators, and pulls off a win that nobody saw coming. While its short game may have fizzled and its medium game may have been relegated to disowned curiosity, Another Perfect Day’s long game has proven durable and significant to an extent that nobody could have anticipated.
Minor quibbles aside, this is a great collection that features enough rarities and previously unreleased material (including a great four song Peel session from 1980 and BBC sessions from ’80 and ’86) that on musical merits alone this would be worth purchasing.
What makes The Devil’s Blood successful is its masterful gift for restraint. The band knows how to hold back, painting a partial musical portrait consisting solely of shadows and allowing the listener to infer the details using that most horrifying of artists: the imagination.
Tate Bengston gives us a great review of the latest output from traditional metallers, The Devil’s Blood.
A lot of bands attempting to pull off the same thing simply wind up sounding too eclectic to get anything of substance across. But Dark Ages, varied though it is in influence, is still a focused and precise monster, and it’s likely to be another one of those records that will wind up on many a Best-Of list come year’s end.
Are You Ready? is an interesting visual document of Thin Lizzy during what is one of the lowest periods of their original run. While the band was still a good live act and a decent draw, by the time they released their Chinatown album in 1981 there were many cracks in the machine that spurred the band on. Filmed live in Loreley, Germany by WDR for their Rockpalast program, one of the coolest live music programs on the planet, this nineteen song set is good but not great.
Released in 1978, Thin Lizzy’s Live & Dangerous is considered essential. An about-face to the band’s hit-and-miss studio output of the time, that offering boasts a tight, almost untouchable act. Therefore, news of a follow-up effort recorded around the same time, Still Dangerous: Live at the Tower Theater Philadelphia 1977 comes across as a double-edged sword.