Every year when Spring rolls around a slew of new releases slide their way across the bar top and into my lap; I set down my beer, peer at the blooming trees from my barstool and say to myself, “Self, this is the year that good old fashioned rock and roll is going to gain control of the ears of America.”  Rock and roll is custom made for the warm months, nothing makes the blood race quite like opening the windows and cranking the rawk.  Yet every spring and summer all I end up hearing is the annoying “Whump, Whump” of the latest hip hop singles shaking the body panels off what looks like low rent versions of the You-Can’t-Polish-A-Turd, Fast And The Furious, pieces of 4-cylinder junk heaps.  It’s time to inject some 8-cylinder muscle into the CD player and see if something can jar the rust out of peoples ears. 

American Heartbreak – American Heartbreak 

The second full-length release from San Francisco’s American Heartbreak features ex-Jetboy guitarist Billy Rowe, ex-Exodus bassist Michael Butler and vocalist Lance Boone.  The buzz on American Heartbreak is that the band is here to claim the 70’s rock crown and bring rock back to the masses.  I won’t argue that the disc owes a big tip of the hat to bands like Starz and Cheap Trick, there are hooks aplenty all over this sucker but this is more than just a 70’s flashback.  Opener “Somebody” and “Raise Up Your Hands” are custom made crowd chanters and the ballad “The Girl Who Knows Nothing At All” sounds like it would be right at home on an 80’s Faster Pussycat record.  

American Heartbreak wear their influences on their sleeves, listen to “The Last Of The Superheroes” where they name check many of them, but this is a disc that would fit right at home on modern rock radio.  If you could take Fall Out Boy and extract the whiny emo nonsense, you would be left with a pretty solid rock band.  That’s exactly what you have in the release American Heartbreak, a solid rock release chock full of hooks that cast a nod to the 70’s and 80’s but could still pass as a modern rock band ala Valencia or Fall Out Boy.  I’m not ready to hand them the 70’s rock revival crown just yet, Detroit’s Dirty Americans have a firm grip on it for now; but if you are looking for a power-pop release in the vein of Cheap Trick, this will sound just fine blasting out of your car windows.

 RATING: 76/100  

Crucified Barbara – In Distortion We Trust 

Sweden’s Crucified Barbara is a four piece metal band made up of four extremely beautiful women. 

So what. 

Seriously.  Does it really matter once you drop the needle in the groove (or the laser, for that matter)?  Remember the first time you heard Alice Cooper “Killer?”  I bet by the end of side one you weren’t even thinking about the makeup or concert theatrics, you were just thinking about getting to side two and hearing more.  I guarantee that by track 3 of In Distortion We Trust you aren’t even going to care about Crucified Barbara’s sexual gender, you’ll be too damned busy reaching for the volume knob. 

Attitude, humor, anger, swagger and Motorhead-worthy riffs pop up all over In Distortion We Trust.  “Play Me Hard (The Bachelor’s Guitar)” opens things up with vocalist/lead guitarist Mia Coldheart chiding, “I hate your stupid songs and when you play them on me.”  The songs sway from taunting to straight out metal on the tune “Motorfucker” and then saunter to the sexy, riff-heavy “Hide Them All.”  Throw Joan Jett in a blender with Motorhead and Backyard Babies and you’ll be getting warm to what Crucified Barbara is all about. 

Rock solid production and performances make this disc one that will stay in heavy rotation on your stereo.  The US version boasts a Barbarized version of Motorhead’s “Killed By Death” and 3 bonus videos.  Bottom line is that Crucified Barbara should get some decent stateside press due to their gender; if that’s what it takes to get notice in today’s market, so be it, because when the buyers slap this in the CD player, they are in for one helluva surprise. 

RATING: 86/100  

Dio – Holy Diver Live 

I’m a sucker for live releases, some folks dismiss them as cheap stopgaps to fulfill part of a band’s contract but I’ve always thought of them as a snapshot of a band at a certain point in time.  I guess growing up cutting my teeth on live sets from Cheap Trick, UFO, The Nuge and KISS have made me a mark for live recordings.  Not to say all live sets are a slam-dunk, I’ve heard just as many clunkers as keepers.  I’d like to call this release nothing but net, but like many live recordings it hits the rim a few times on the way in. 

Recorded last year at the London Astoria Holy Diver Live is a two disc set, disc one featuring the 1983 release from beginning to end and disc two featuring highlights from Ronnie’s stints with Rainbow, Black Sabbath, plus a few more solo highlights.  I’ve seen Dio live many times over the past twenty years and I’ve never seen an off performance; Ronnie has always been a complete professional and has consistently surrounded himself with a solid group of musicians.  Maybe it was an off night or it might be the fact that my own expectations were so high, but at times Holy Diver Live showed itself to be a bit long in the tooth.  

Not to say this disc falls into the clunker category of live releases by any means; it’s just at times it stumbles under its own legs.  Disc one kicks off with “Stand Up And Shout” and shows Dio’s voice in a bit of a shaky light.  The band featuring Doug Aldrich on guitar, Rudy Sarzo on bass, Simon Wright on drums and Scott Warren on keyboards is spot on thought both discs.  The surprising part here is the usually sturdily voiced Dio at times struggles with the material.  Not that it’s enough to spoil the disc, by track 3, “Gypsy”, Dio regains his footing and does a fine job for the rest of the performance of Holy Diver.  My only other quibble with disc one is the extended drum solo on “Gypsy” and Aldrich’s too long solo spot during “Shame On The Night.”  I won’t argue the fact that these are talented musicians that deserve a bit of the spotlight from time to time but we’re talking about a Dio disc, not a Rush live set. 

Disc two runs from the flat out killer “Tarot Woman” to the dead on the launch pad version of “Sign Of The Southern Cross.”  At the end of the day I’m going to give Dio bonus points because he could have pulled a KISS move and snuck in the studio to redo all his live vocals.  While not the best live Dio recording, there still is enough here for the hardcore fan to sip on. 

RATING: 71/100 

Venom – Metal Black 

Few bands give me that warm and fuzzy Spinal Tap-like mixture of bombast, and over the top (yet unintentionally hilarious) seriousness; Manowar tops my list but Venom comes in a close second.  I still remember buying Black Metal on cassette back in the mid eighties and for a second mistaking the murky mix for a defective tape.  Twenty-four years later and Cronos is still going strong, albeit without Mantas and Abaddon, with the not so originally titled Metal Black. 

I’m not going to sit here and argue the virtues or negatives of the black metal scene; truthfully, I could care less about most black metal acts.   I’ve always considered Venom in a class all their own, hell, they pretty much invented the genre.  The first thing you notice when first spinning Metal Black is the mix.  While other acts take advantage of modern recording methods, Metal Black pretty much sounds like it was recorded in my basement.  But then again, twenty years ago, Venom records sounded like they were recorded in my backyard shed, so I guess they have modernized their recording methods somewhat. 

Actually, the recording and mix isn’t nearly as scary as it sounds, midway through opener “Burn In Hell” you become used to the mix and to tell you the truth, a clean mix would take away from the intensity of this record.  While not as groundbreaking as their first two releases, Metal Black still satisfies.  With the original lineup long gone, Venom is pretty much Cronos’ baby at this point with guitarist Mykvs and Antton on drums doing a commendable job filling some big old satanic shoes.  Tracks like “Assassin”, “Lucifer Rising” and the tongue twisting “Maleficarum” will have you simultaneously grinning and saluting all things evil. 

All in all, Metal Black contains fourteen tracks chock full of chugging, punky, black metal with barely a stinker in the group.  If you are a fan of metal and either missed Venom the first time around or were just too damned young, pick this sucker up and scare the shite out of the neighbors.  Now if only we could get a Venom/Manowar tour…

RATING: 82/100

Reviews by O.M.O.M.