Billion Dollar Babies - Die For Diamonds

Billion Dollar Babies - Die For Diamonds
2010, Esmerelda Music Group

I think I just relived my much-maligned childhood. Sweden's Billion Dollar Babies managed to capture the zeitgeist of 1980's hair-metal in 38 minutes of pure rock n roll glee on their latest album, Die For Diamonds, due out September 8, 2010. You'd guess the members of Billion Dollar Babies were raised on a regular diet of Alice Cooper, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Journey, Loverboy, Billy Squier, Whitesnake, The Scorpions and perhaps a bit of Ratt from the flamboyant flair and more than competent rock n roll they espouse. Just sit back and take Die For Diamonds in; you could imagine most any of these songs rolling out of the radio or showing up on MTV circa 1985.

Die For Diamonds opens with "Boy's Night Out" featuring a purely 1980's approach to hard rock complete with a horn section. Vocalist Frankie Rich is a dynamic and engaging front man even on CD, able to deliver lyric passages or work up a rasp that even David Coverdale would be proud of. "Boys Night Out" is very catchy and highly familiar although it appears to be an original track. "Highest Mountain" is a big rock tune that's deeply melodic but has enough of an edge to it to feel modern. This transitions into the big open arrangement and vocal triads of "Restless Minds", a great tune that soars. Rich sounds like something of a cross between Steve Perry and Klaus Meine here. Billy Squier fans will love "Lose It", which sounds like it might have been an outtake from one of his mid-1980's recording sessions. The song has an animalistic, urgent feel, and a melody so catchy you'll be humming it for days.

"Key To My Heart" is pure power rock love song, and would have made Billion Dollar Babies the kings of MTV at one time. "Right On Time" is all about the virtues of Friday night out with the perfect girl. There's some classic rock n roll piano work buried in the middle of this song that's worth checking out. You won't be able to help yourself from singing, tapping or even dancing along. Billion Dollar Babies show a bit heavier edge on "Stand Your Ground" and "Nineteen Ninety Four". The former is a solid album cut that would play great in a big stadium, while "Nineteen Ninety Four" is a catchy beast with one thing on its mind. The song isn't much on subtlety but certainly is entertaining. Die For Diamonds closes with "We Don't Live Forever", an energetic rocker reminding listeners that life is short and admonishing them to make the most of every moment.

Billion Dollar Babies may date themselves with their sound, but the songwriting is fresh and sharp and fun. This is a band that's having fun making music, and it shows on Die For Diamonds. If you crave 1980's hard rock/hair metal but want the sound of a band you haven't heard hundreds of times in the past twenty-five years then Billion Dollar Babies will be right up your alley. This is rock n roll at its best.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Billion Dollar Babies at http://www.billiondollarbabies.nu/ or www.myspace.com/bdbabies.   Die For Diamonds drops on September 8, 2010.  You can order digital copies from Amazon.com.  The CD version can be order directly from Billion Dollar Babies on their website.

Review: Seasons After – Through Tomorrow

Seasons After – Through Tomorrow
2010, Dirtbag Records

Wichita, Kansas quintet Seasons After has a nu-metal vibe with old-school roots; blending arena-rock vocal harmonies with guitar work influenced equally by Iron Maiden and Sevendust with a bit of Faith No More blended in for good measure. Since forming in 2006, Seasons After has won the regional Ernie Ball Battle Of The Bands twice, as well as being invited to perform on Headline Dirtbag Records’ main stage at SXSW 2009. With prior features in both Revolver and Metal Edge magazines, Seasons After has developed a level of name recognition that is enviable. The band tries to build on the buzz with their latest album, Through Tomorrow.

Through Tomorrow opens with “Some Things Burn”, predicated on blistering, crunching guitar work with alternating lyric and screaming vocal lines. The song has a decent melody delivered in dark overtones inside of a big, pulverizing sound. Seasons After make it clear they can hold their own on stage with the heavy hitters of rock and metal “Through Tomorrow” is both powerful and catchy, but would work perfectly well (perhaps even better) without the periodic emo/scream style vocal parts. In this case such histrionics actually detract from the song. Seasons After sounds a bit more formulaic during “On Your Own”, but the harmonies are solid and the song is at least decent.

“Marked” shows a more pop/metal orientation, with potential for crossing over between radio genres without giving up the sonically heavy presentation. Perhaps what is most impressive about Seasons After is the quality of musicianship. Metal bands can often get by with average proficiency in most spots if one guitarist is above-average, but the players in Seasons After all appear to be top-notch. “Hell Is…” finds Seasons After returning to their heavier oeuvre in a decent but not spell-binding effort before moving into the banal “Save You”. “Save You” is redeemed by some seriously enviable guitar work, but the rest of the song is somewhat forgettable.

Seasons After tries to marry pop and metal in the awkwardly constructed and ultimately unsuccessful “The Knife”; featuring strong guitar work and a fair effort. In the end, the blend just doesn’t work. The emo/scream vocals seriously detract from “The Knife”; a choice that’s befuddling considering the extent of musical talent here. “Let Go” is built on a guitar riff that sounds as if it might have come out of an old Motley Crue session. The song itself is a bit of a mess, galloping off at its own pace in the verse before cleaning up nicely for the chorus. The weakest track on the disc may end up being the most popular. “Cry Little Sister” is a painfully obvious attempt at a pop/metal crossover. The harmonies as solid and James Beattie and Chris Dawson offer powerful guitar work, but Chris Schlichting is somewhat pedestrian as a rock/metal front man. His voice is decent enough, but the charisma you’d expect out front just doesn’t come across on CD. Seasons After gets the pop/metal blend down on “The Worst Parts”, showing the rock n roll presence that is missing on “Cry Little Sister”. Through Tomorrow closes with an acoustic take on “Cry Little Sister”; an improvement on the plugged version that still sounds somewhat contrived.

Seasons After shows big talent on Through Tomorrow, standing in stark contrast to some big challenges the band faces. Vocalist Chris Schlichting comes across as an adequate front man on the album, but the passion and energy you’d expect just don’t shine through in the studio. The songwriting ranges from solid, above-average material at its best to contrived and poorly conceived at its worst. Seasons After is a band you’ll want to like right out of the gate, but they tend to trip on their own attempts to both be true to their muse and craft commercially viable musical nuggets. The attempts to write to a virtual non-existent audience constituted by a demographic tends to defer the honest emissions of a band that writes its own material, and that seems to be the over-arching fate of Seasons After on Through Tomorrow. The talent is here, particularly on the instrumental side, but until Seasons After begin to pursue commercial success on their own terms they may be doomed to repeat the half-measures that seem to plague Through Tomorrow. Through Tomorrow is decent, but not what it might have been.

Rating: 2.5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Seasons After at http://www.seasonsafter.com/. You can purchase Through Tomorrow from Amazon.com as either a CD or Download.

Review: Jeff Litman - Postscript

Jeff Litman - Postscript
2009, Born Enormous Music

New York City singer/songwriter Jeff Litman was born in Minneapolis, and was devouring hard rock and metal songbooks by the age of ten. Litman went from Bon Jovi and Motley Crue to Metallica, Guns N Roses and Nirvana before becoming ensnared in the melodic Pop of acts such as Elvis Costello, The Beach Boys and The Beatles. Litman's next step was into classical music, entering a doctoral program before realizing that his true love lay in Rock and Pop. Litman began writing almost immediately for his debut album. The result, Postscript, promises Indie-Pop with big hooks, infectious melodies and a classic sense that universal themes of love and heartbreak always bring. Postscript is a breakup album, and Litman's refreshing honesty places the listener not so much in the role of observer but directly into reverie.

Postscript is a story within an album, following the rise and fall of a relationship, including the aftermath. It is written at a distance from the events that perhaps allow more perspective, but the raw emotional content is very real, if tempered by time. Postscript opens with Anna, a catchy song about unrequited love that will definitely get your toes tapping. A Beatles influence is very clear here and the backing vocals are superb. This is a complete song; a classic. Complicate digs into the emotional consequences of a breakup. It's a sunny tune full of regret and melancholy. Wife is a song that could put Litman on the Popular Music map; a marriage proposal in song. The gorgeous arrangement, including strings centers on acoustic guitar and Litman's voice. Don't be surprised if Wife gets licensed and recorded by other artists down the line. Either way the song is destined to become a wedding song of choice and is also likely to be co-opted for individual proposals over time.

From that emotional high Litman dips down to the emotional low of Everything You're Not; an upbeat, Beatles-inspired song of hopeful spite. Litman then shifts gears into full-on Rock N Roll in Detroit Layover. If you've ever been stuck someplace out of your control and just wanted to get home then this song will speak to you. It's very upbeat and danceable and has a classic sound that will appeal across genre lines. Postscript is one of those albums where it becomes difficult to pick a favorite song, but one of the contenders has to be Maine. Litman sings a duet with Kelly Jones on another song about going home. This is one of those songs that simply sounds perfect in presentation, and Jones has an amazing voice that complements Litman's perfectly.

Knock Me Down will get you up and moving. This active-rock song is presented in a brilliant arrangement with amazing vocal harmonies and a melody that won't quit on you. Postscript is another candidate for favorite song; it's a theatrical tune about the end and aftermath of a relationship. Postscript is stark and melancholy without being whiny, and is one of the better Pop songs written/released in 2009. Open Arms represents the bargaining phase of grief. He's willing to take her back temporarily for the joy of it even it means she'll rip his world apart all over again. Litman never begs during Open Arms but that's only a semantic justification. Open Arms shows a tremendous balance of lyrics, melody and arrangement in a wonderful pop tune that isn't far behind Postscript. Let You Go chronicles the Acceptance phase of loss with a song that sounds like it was heavily influenced by Elvis Costello. Litman closes out with It Wasn't Me. This epilogue is stark and honest and unfettered by sorrow. Litman sees everything from the distance and perspective of time with his healing mostly done; it's a fitting close.

There are albums you see coming from a mile away; the artist reputation, the cover art, the buzz all combine to create an understanding of what you're getting into. But every once in a while an album takes you by surprise. Jeff Litman's Postscript is in this latter category. Postscript is a brilliant display of songwriting and performance. The songs are subtle, nuanced and intelligently written and the album is an absolute pleasure from beginning to end. There isn't a poor song on the album, and Litman delivers each with an aplomb that grows from the intersection of artfulness and grace. Postscript is brilliant; a Wildy's World Certified Desert Island Disc. Make the time.

Rating: 5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Jeff Litman at http://www.jefflitmanmusic.com/ or www.myspace.com/jefflitman. You can purchase Postscript as either a CD or download from CDBaby.com.

Review: Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus: Conquering Heroes

Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus: Conquering Heroes
2009, Fuel Label Group
Carmine Appice has legendary status in the world of Rock N Roll. A founding member of Vanilla Fudge, Cactus and Beck, Boggert & Appice; Appice has also played with KGB, Paul Stanley, Pink Floyd, Stanley Clarke, Ted Nugent, King Kobra, Blue Murder and Ozzy Osbourne. Appice also played in Rod Stewart's band for a time, co-writing Young Turks and Do Ya Think I'm Sexy. In 1995, Appice created the Guitar Zeus project, an opportunity to do one-off performances/recordings with some of the best guitarists in the world. A total of three Guitar Zeus albums were released during the 1990's, featuring most of the top guitarists of the previous 20 years. Conquering Heroes, released August 25, 2009, compiles the best of those performances on two CDs.

Fans of 1980's Rock will have a field day with Conquering Heroes. Take your pick: Mr. Big's Paul Gilbert is here, Neal Schon (Journey), Brian May (Queen), Jennifer Batten (Michael Jackson), Elliot Easton (The Cars), Mick Mars (Motley Crue), Warren DeMartini (RATT), Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi) and even Steven Seagal. If the 1970's are more your thing, you can choose between Steve Morse (Sea Level/Deep Purple), Ted Nugent, Denny Laine (Moody Blues/Wings) or Bruce Kulick (KISS, Meat Loaf). Highlights include the Progressive guitar wizardry of Yngwie J. Malmsteen (This Time Around), Wayne DeMartini (Perfect Day), Ted Nugent (Even Up The Score, Days Are Nights), Ty Tabor (Killing Time, Trippin' Again), Slash (Where You Belong), Kenji Kitajama (My Own Advice) and Mick Mars (Under The Moon And Stars).

Conquering Heroes is a great opportunity to catch some of the biggest guitar heroes of the past two generations doing what they do best, and occasionally offering some surprise turns in the process. This is some of Appice's finest work behind a drum kit, and each tune runs over with the vibrant energy of a new relationship. If you yearn for the days of the strutting guitar god, then Conquering Heroes is for you. Very well done.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Carmine Appice and the Guitar Zeus project at www.myspace.com/guitarzeus or http://www.carimappice.net/. You can purchase a copy of Conquering Heroes at Amazon.com.