Thor Against The World
Smog Veil Records
Long before Chris Jericho, Chris Angel (Mind Freak) and even the mighty Manowar, there was THOR! Since his emergence in 1977 Thor has been bending steel bars, having concrete jack-hammered off his chest and blowing up hot water bottles with sheer lung-power onstage while performing his unique blend of '70s glitter-glam meets '80s power metal. Although THOR has received tons of international press and media attention and was even featured in several major motion pictures (he produced several films as well, including one of my all-time favorites - FUBAR - a true underground cult-classic!) he is still a relatively obscure entity and known primarily through the rock/metal underground. Hopefully that image will be shattered with the Smog Veil release of Thor Against The World. Backed by a multi-talented band of acclaimed underground musicians, including Frank Meyer and Bruce Duff (who also produced this CD), Chris Markwood, Vince Meghrouni, and Brian Kehew, Thor is back in action bringing back his extravagant stage show and powerful imagery. The songs on Thor Against The World are a throwback from his heyday sounding very reminiscent of his early '80s releases, which should please the old Thor fans but, quite honestly, I don't see a new generation or rock/metal fans thriving this sort of sound. The title track and follow-up track "Creature Feature" show heavy traces of '70s glam rock sounding very similar to early Twisted Sister (in fact, "Creature Feature" sounds a bit too close to "Shoot 'Em Down"). Much like Welcome to My Nightmare era Alice Cooper, it's apparent that the songs featured on this disc are definitely geared for the live audience, as they honestly don't quite come across in the studio. Some of the tracks such as "Glimmer" and "Megaton Man" sound like they could have been outtakes from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. While Thor was indeed a musical visionary back in the late '70s unfortunately today's music buying public would most likely write this off as corny and Spinal Tap-ish.
BRAND NEW DISASTER
Hold Fast The Summer
Tribunal
This is the sophomore effort from Virginia based band Brand New Disaster. Much heavier and much more exciting than the recent crop of nu-metal bands, BND play high-energy rock with solid metal riffs and a punk rock attitude. The vocals get bland and somewhat annoying after a while but the music holds up, blending in nice melodies to their screamo (i.e.: nu-metal meets emo) sound. Not particularly my cup of tea but I can see them doing well with the Warped Tour crowd. If you're into this type of stuff, Brand New Disaster are one of the better bands of this genre.
Shockwaves CD REVIEWS ISSUE 12 Page 12