Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Top 10 Albums from 2014

2014 is almost over and it's time to summarize the music year. I think it has been a pretty good year for the kind of music I'm interested in. Early in the year we got one of Edguy's best albums ever, we got super-strong "follow ups" from HEAT and The Treatment. Legends like AC/DC and Ace Frehley woke up later in the year and delivered the goods. We also got an amazing sort-of-comeback from Ryan Adams and the year's biggest surprise from Sixx AM. These are the best albums from 2014.

1. Edguy - Space Police: Defenders of the Crown

2. Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams

3. H.E.A.T - Tearing Down The Walls

4. The Treatment - Running With The Dogs

5. Sixx A.M. - Modern Vintage

6. Sabaton - Heroes

7. AC/DC - Rock Or Bust

8. Within Temptation - Hydra

9. Hammerfall - (r)Evolution

10. Ace Frehley - Space Invader

Top 10 songs from 2014

This year's best albums and other releases has resulted in some kick-ass songs to fill up my playlists in 2014 and here's the best of them.

1. Ryan Adams - Gimme Something Good

2. Edguy - Space Police

3. H.E.A.T - A Shot At Redemption

4. Sixx A.M. - Gotta Get It Right

5. Young Guns - I Want Out

6. The Treatment - Running With The Dogs

7. Sabaton - Resist And Bite

8. Within Temptation - Paradise (What About Us?)

9. In Flames - Through Oblivion

10. Ace Frehley - Space Invader

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Richie Kotzen

Richie Kotzen. What an amazing musician. The talent is overflowing in both guitar playing and singing. This is all live and it's pretty much perfect. Enjoy.

Doin' What The Devil Says To Do

High

Remember

Stand

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

KISS at Hell & Heaven Festival setlist

KISS headlined the Hell & Heaven Festival in Mexico City a couple of days ago. There was a couple of big surprices regarding the setlist. It's probably the most diverse setlist since Hot In The Shade or Revenge tours (not counting the KISS Kruises). They opened with Creatures of the Night, followed by Psycho Circus and War Machine. WTF?! That is awesome, that is the best concert opening in 15 years! And they sound pretty good too. Wish I could have been there. Let's hope they keep Creatures in the setlist in the future.

Creatures of the Night / Psycho Circus

Take a look at this setlist:

Creatures of the Night
Psycho Circus
War Machine
Plaster Caster
Tears Are Falling
Let Me Go Rock & Roll
Lick It Up
Calling Dr. Love
Hell or Hallelujah
I Love It Loud
Detroit Rock City
Love Gun
Black Diamond
Shout It Out Loud
I Was Made For Lovin' You
Rock And Roll All Nite

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Throwback Thursday - Avantasia videos

How about some Avantasia for Throwback Thursday?!
I was just looking through some of their stuff on Youtube and found some stuff that I had totally forgotten about, like the Klaus Meine track Dying For An Angel. And I have to say Tobias Sammet is one sharp dressed man. So, some pretty cool videos but most of all some damn good music!

Dying For An Angel (feat. Klaus Meine)

Carry Me Over (feat. Eric Singer)

Lost In Space (feat. Eric Singer)

Sleepwalking

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

The Driftwood Sign

The Driftwood Sign is a melodic rock band from Sweden who recently released a new single and video called "Disorder". The band focuses on riff-heavy rock with a strong melody focus.

After some research I found out that they opened up for Alter Bridge a couple of years ago. Their sound is in the same vein, and the singer actually sounds a bit like Myles Kennedy too as you can hear in the final video below!

The Driftwood Sign - Disorder

Alter Bridge feat. Driftwood Sign - Rise Today

So check these guys out at:

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

AC/DC - "Play Ball" // New single, album cover, tracklist

AC/DC has just released their new single from the upcoming album that will be released on December 2nd. The tracklist and album cover is also out now!



Tracklist
1. Rock or Bust
2. Play Ball
3. Rock the Blues Away
4. Miss Adventure
5. Dogs of War
6. Get Some Rock & Roll Thunder
7. Hard Times
8. Baptism by Fire
9. Rock the House
10. Sweet Candy
11. Emission Control



Monday, October 6, 2014

More from Ryan Adams, this time with some covers...

Let's continue on the Ryan Adams theme, who has been very active lately to support his new album and appeared on a number of talk shows, clips and articles around the web.

Besides the album stuff, there is also two popular clips of Adams performing covers of "I want to know what love is" (Foreigner) and "Run to you" (Bryan Adams) out. The former one has even received praise from Mick Jones himself in a short response clip.

Ryan Adams - I Want To Know What Love Is

Ryan Adams - Run To You

And for all of you metalheads and hardrockers out there, here he is again covering Iron Maiden.

Ryan Adams - Wasted Years

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Ryan Adams feat. Johnny Depp live in London

Came across these clips when I was browsing around Youtube, taken from Shepherds Bush in London on september 18th. The clips features Ryan Adams and his band with a very special guest in Johnny Depp. Depp played guitar on a couple of songs this night and the crowd went nuts. Adams and the band also sounds super good, especially on the perfect version of Kim. 

Kim

Mother

I Love You But I Don't Know What To Say

Friday, October 3, 2014

Music of the Week (40)

Tom Petty - The Waiting
//A feelgood track, as is the mark of Petty's songwriting//

In Flames - Through Oblivion
//Great song from the new album, heavy and an unusual display of vocals//

Richie Kotzen - Paint It On
//Kotzen is a killer songwriter, and this is his best ballad//

Lenny Kravitz - New York City
//Strong comeback track, very groovy and nice album cover//

Ryan Adams - Stay With Me
//The second best song of his latest album, his voice is gold//

Masterplan - Far From the End of the World
//Powerhouse vocals from one of the best, yet still melodic and catchy//

Sonata Arctica - Paid In Full
//Melodic metal like this is not made anymore, sadly//

Monday, September 22, 2014

Top 10 Edguy songs

Yesterday I went to see Edguy in Malmö, Sweden. It was a great gig with Tobias Sammet in great shape, teasing and working hard with the audience. Lot's of great songs from a great band!

Here's the setlist from last night!

Love Tyger // Space Police // Out of Vogue // Superheroes // Defenders of the Crown // Vain Glory Opera // Ministry of Saints // Rock Me Amadeus // Tears of a Mandrake // Lavatory Love Machine // Save Me // King of Fools //

With this is mind it's definitely time to do a list of all the best Edguy songs!

1. King of Fools
2. Vain Glory Opera
3. Space Police
4. Lavatory Love Machine
5. Do Me Like A Caveman
6. Tears of a Mandrake
7. Superheroes
8. F*cking With Fire
9. Ministry of Saints
10. Catch of the Century
 -  -  -  -  -
Almost made it:
The Headless Game
I'll Cry For You
Love Tyger
Save Me

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Music of the Week (38)

Ryan Adams - Gimme Something Good

Volbeat - Dead But Rising

Buckcherry - Say Fuck It

Richie Kotzen - Doin' What The Devil Says To Do

Ace Frehley - Space Invader

Survivor - Man Against The World

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Ruby Tuesday - The Rolling Stones

An incredible song I just happened to come across. For some reason I've never heard it before and now I can't get it out of my head. Pure quality. And if that wasn't enough, there's also a cover version made by the Scorpions which is just as good (if not better). Great lyrics too!


She would never say where she came from
Yesterday don't matter if it's gone
While the sun is bright
Or in the darkest night
No one knows, she comes and goes

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

Don't question why she needs to be so free

She'll tell you it's the only way to be
She just can't be chained
To a life where nothings gained
And nothings lost, at such a cost

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

"There's no time to lose", I heard her say
Catch your dreams before they slip away
Dying all the time
Lose your dreams and you will lose your mind
Ain't life unkind?

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

(lyrics: Jagger/Richards)

Thursday, September 4, 2014

The perfect work-out mix

The locker room:
Resist and Bite - Sabaton
Creatures of the Night (live) - Kiss
Inferno - HEAT

Warm-up:
Black John - Stone Sour
Dead But Rising - Volbeat
Double Nature - Mustasch

Lifting weights:
Primo Victoria - Sabaton
Deuce (live) - Kiss
Pool of Booze, Booze, Booza (live) - Volbeat
Where The Dead Ships Dwell - In Flames
Hector's Hymn - Hammerfall
Ghost Division - Sabaton
Ten Thousand Fists - Disturbed
Fear Is The Weakness - In Flames
A Warrior's Call - Volbeat
Attero Dominatus - Sabaton
Absolute Zero - Stone Sour
Deliver Us - In Flames
Stricken - Disturbed
Afterlife - Avenged Sevenfold
The Quiet Place - In Flames
Warrior - Disturbed
Into the Light - Papa Roach

The abs:
Departed - The Treatment
No Way Back - Foo Fighters
D***k, F**k, F***t - The Treatment
Satellite - Rise Against
I Bleed Rock + Roll - The Treatment
Say Fuck It - Buckcherry
The Doctor - The Treatment

Going home:
Had Enough - Danko Jones
Carolus Rex - Sabaton
Man Against The World - Survivor


Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Amazing celebrity guest performances

Sting feat. Robert Downey Jr - Driven To Tears

Bruce Springsteen feat. Paul McCartney - I Saw Her Standing There & Twist and Shout

Sting feat. Lady GaGa - King of Pain

Eddie Vedder feat. Johnny Depp - Society

Lady Gaga feat. Brian May - You And I
(Dave Grohl's reaction at 3:01 is hilarious)

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Music of the Week (19)

Songs That She Sang In The Shower - Jason Isbell

The Heart - NeedToBreathe

Sunny - Giuliano Palma & The Bluebeaters

Everyday Is Like Sunday - Morrissey

Love Is Easy - McFly

Queen of California - John Mayer

Thursday, April 24, 2014

H.E.A.T - Tearing Down The Walls

New album from H.E.A.T recently arrived to the melodic rock genre! This rocking band from Sweden plays contemporary melodic rock with some influence from the 80's.

Tearing Down The Walls delivers powerful and energetic melodic rock with amazing vocals. The singer Erik Gronwall really has an incredible range and power which is apparent throughout the album.

Album starter Point Of No Return is obvious, because when listening to it there is no return because now you want to hear the rest of the album. Next follows the strong single A Shot At Redemption, the highpoint of the album together with the amazing track Mannequin Show. 

Inferno is probably the heaviest track on the album, with aggressive and powerful vocals and lyrics. The song shows a tougher sound and can surely be a great live song. Emergency is another one that needs to be mentioned as well, classic melodic rock!

A Shot At Redemption
Mannequin Show (live)
Inferno

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Edguy - Space Police: Defenders of the Crown

Edguy has just released a new album! The title is Space Police: Defenders of the Crown. This is a title that represents the Edguy spirit very well, a bit tongue-in-cheek and fun...

This Edguy spirit I'm talking about is about having a good time with some good old heavy metal, it's about having fun, goofing around and not taking yourself too seriously. This album delivers precisely that! A bunch of high quality, fun, accessible heavy metal songs with powerful guitars and big choruses.

The album starts off hard with Sabre & Torch to set the tone for the album. The title track Space Police follows and here we go! As soon as we reach the first chorus I'm smiling like a f*cking retard at how good fun it is! I also have to mention Love Tyger, a straight forward heavy metal glam bomb that takes me back in time to the 80's. More contemporary sounding is Do Me Like A Caveman with it's amazing bass-line, another truly fantastic not-so-serious-but-still-metal track...

A great album, certainly among the best Edguy has ever done. It deserves all the praise it can get, which I hope it does, which in turn will annoy a lot of people that take both themselves and their music way too seriously. This album will put a big stupid smile on your face, which is what it's all about! Tobias Sammet has done it again...

Sabre & Torch (video)

Love Tyger (video)

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Top 10 McFly songs

1. Shine A Light
2. Not Alone
3. Too Close For Comfort
4. Lies
5. Star Girl
6. Five Colours In Her Hair
7. Party Girl
8. Please, Please
9. Do Watcha
10. That's The Truth

Not Alone (acoustic) - Live in London 2006.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

The Envy - Conception & Deception

I have to mention The Envy again. I recommend everyone to give this great band a listen! They are not on Spotify, so you will need to find them on iTunes Store or Youtube. These are the groups two EP's, with only good songs on them. Modern sound - sort of a mix between U2 and Coldplay but with heavier guitars!

1. Music To My Ears
2. Midnight Messiah
3. Bleach
4. Food For Worms
5. You're The Sex
6. Skin On Skin

1. Label Whore
2. Bones
3. Moth To The Flame
4. Cold
5. Unfaithful

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Swedish Idol delivers the goods

Here I Am Now - Petri Vehvilainen (best idol audition ever)

Black Jesus - Jay Smith 

Like A Prayer - Jay Smith

18 And Life - Erik Gronwall

Run To The Hills - Erik Gronwall

Lies Beyond - Mariette Hansson

Faithful Disgrace - Alexander Eriksson

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

The best talent show auditions ever

The talent shows that our TV's have been flooded with over the past decade usually has one purpose: to create a new pop star. With varying results. Of course, we hate popstars made for the big record companies' market plans. Nothing real about them. BUT! In these talent shows there actually appear some gems from time to time and I have tried to collect a few of them here.
The demands to get on this list, however, is tough. No goosebumps = no place on the list!

Sex on Fire - Jamie Archer (X Factor UK, 2009)

Anthem - Jai McDowall (Britain's Got Talent, 2011)

Nessum Dorma - Paul Potts (Britain's Got Talent, 2007)

Amazing Grace - Jotta A (Brazilians Got Talent, 2011)

Your Song - Janet Devlin (X Factor UK, 2011)

And of course, the most famous of them all: 
I Dreamed A Drem - Susan Boyle (Britain's Got Talent, 2009)

Music of the week (10)

I Shall Be Released - Bob Dylan

Gravity - Soul Asylum

Emergency - The Treatment

City of Angels - Thirty Seconds To Mars

Keep Together - Hunter Hunted

Gun - Chvrches

The King and All of His Men - Wolf Gang

Monday, February 24, 2014

Top 10 unusual Bruce Springsteen songs

All fans of Bruce Springsteen know that he is a master on the live stage with his E Street Band. They are extremely versatile and can play pretty much anything the audience wishes for. The crowd knows this, Bruce himself knows it - so the audience frequently brings big signs with a song title they want to hear and hold up. When Bruce sees a song he likes, the band plays it. This way we've been treated with a lot of rare songs over the years, but here's a couple of songs I would want to hear more often. At the same time these are songs that the average listener should discover when it comes to Springsteen, it's just pure quality. A nice variation from Born In The USA if you ask me....

1. She's The One
2. The Ties That Bind
3. Night
4. Johnny 99
5. Brilliant Disguise
6. Two Hearts
7. Candy's Room
8. Reason To Believe
9. Racing In The Street
10. Atlantic City

Sunday, February 23, 2014

KISS on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

KISS' induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is kind of going viral right now. Original members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss (that has not been in the band for over 10 years) made statements that KISS would not perform with the original lineup at the award ceremony. The tone was very critical against Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley who calling the shots nowadays. 
Gene And Paul then made a statement that because the rock hall refuses to induct all members of the band (past and present) there will be no concert with any line-up, since Gene and Paul insist that all members be inducted. This has happened on multiple occasions before, non-original members inducted, so I don't understand why the hall is refusing this time...

But, the way I interpret this, is that if the hall were to recognize and induct ALL members, they would not refuse to play with Ace and Peter?! So really, it's the hall that's being kind of dicks? Why not make a compromise; induct all members and have the originals do a couple of songs without makeup! That way you give Gene+Paul what they want (all members inducted), you give Ace+Peter what they want (media exposure), the hall gets what they want (tickets sold) and the fans what they want (originals reunited on stage).

But I guess it's politics and the hall certainly seems to have an ego almost as big as Gene Simmons'...

From the official press-conference where the reunion tour in 1996 was revealed.

Les Morts Dansant

Les Morts Dansant. The Dancing Dead.

That is the title of the british rockband Magnum's best song.

Magnum is an 80's band with a mix of prog-rock and classic eighties glamrock with heavy synthesizers. They were never a real commercial success so, sadly, not many people know them. The frontman and vocalist Bob Catley is instantly recognized by his amazing vocal talent and distinct sound. Magnum is really a predecessor to all modern "epic" metal bands with their storytelling fantasy-style songs and album covers. As an example Tobias Sammet from Edguy/Avantasia considers both Bob Catley and Les Morts Dansant as big influences on his career choices.

Les Morts Dansant is considered their best song and it's taken from, what is considered, their best album: On A Storyteller's Night form 1985. The song is about a soldier getting executed by a firing squad. If you have any interest in music, you should give this fantastic song a listen!

Les Morts Dansant - Magnum

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

The 10 best metal ballads

Here's a spontaneous list of the 10 best metal / hard rock songs. It's just one of those days when some cheesy stuff just feels right, and I don't even care. C'mon - every rocker is a bit of a softie inside, right?! Enjoy!

1. Cry Just A Little - Avantasia
2. I Still Love You - KISS
3. Sorry - Buckcherry
4. The Story Ain't Over - Avantasia
5. Forever - KISS
6. Snuff - Slipknot
7. Nothing Else Matters - Metallica
8. All I Need - Within Temptation
9. Save Me - Edguy
10. Leader Of The Broken Hearts - Papa Roach


Cry Just A Little - Avantasia (with lyrics)

I Still Love You - KISS

Snuff - Slipknot

Monday, February 17, 2014

Real music of the week (08)

H.E.A.T - A Shot At Redemption

José Gonzalez - Step Out

Capital Cities - Safe And Sound

The Gaslight Anthem - National Anthem

Mando Diao - Black Saturday

Sabaton - Carolus Rex

McFly - Do Watcha