Von Hertzen Brothers - Red Alert In The Blue Forest (Doing Being Music)
Red Alert In the Blue is the eighth offering from Nordic siblings Von Hertzen Brothers. After adding many more radio friendly melodies and shorter timings to their music in recent years. Much of their audience were drawn in by the longer, progressive structures from their earlier records. Always an intriguing, enlightening and entertaining listen VHB, have taken in to consideration the 2+ years of lockdowns etc to focus on making this new record one that goes back to their roots, figuratively and literally. Figuratively by conceptually basing the album around the climate emergency, these Finns burn bright on this album, putting environmentally charged lyrics in all of the 11 songs that feature.
Literally by this record just being the three brothers Jonne, Kie and Mikko, recording in their native Finland and releasing it through an independent label. The three men are polymaths as I'v discussed before so let loose in their studio they have decided to hark back to their earlier years with intricate, multilayered musical explorations that still retain the melodic, accessibility of their most recent albums. Red Alert... starting creepily and inauspiciously with Day Of Reckoning, those lush vocal harmonies and some delicate synth and guitars, building and building, until it opens into some the driving straight ahead rocking of Nine Lives and A New Day Rising, a fist pumper of an opener welcoming you back into the musically dense world of VHB.
Blue Forest is the first longer song, coming in at over 8 minutes, this again starts with an introspective, but righteous message of deforestation, before oddly then building into full EDM, all electronic drum loops and pulsating synths. The brothers then take us to a campfire with the folksy, percussive, acoustic The Promise and the definitive single of the album All Of A Sudden You're Gone, which is simplistic number, but one that has a huge amount of depth behind that sing along chorus. Despite the hard hitting lyrical inspiration of the climate emergency, VHB look for hope on Red Alert... and you get that on tracks such as Peace Patrol which features a parping Pink Floyd/King Crimson like sax solo and soaring guitar solos. Pirates Of The Raseborgian meanwhile has a shanty-like style to it, Anil taking heavily from Yes.
In conjunction with the album the brothers have set up the The Blue Forest project which is a combination of music, art and nature conservation! Featuring 12 artists donating paintings inspired by the album to be sold at auction to protect the forest area of Southern Finland, so Red Alert In The Blue Forest not only sounds good, but also does good. The band putting their money where their mouth is. Musically adventurous as usual but with a clear message. VHB bring back the prog on Red Alert In The Blue Forest. 8/10
Leslie West - Legacy: A Tribute To Leslie West (Provogue Records)
Leslie West was true guitar great. The main driving force in Mountain along with bassist/vocalist Felix Pappalardi, his unique style, phrasing and songwriting has been an influence to a myriad of artists in various genres. Already in the works as a retrospective collection of West re-recording some of his best known works before his death in 2020. After his untimely passing this record then became a tribute to the great man. Compiled and executive produced by his widow Jenni, his manager Bob Ringe and music industry veteran John Lappen, Legacy: A Tribute To Leslie West, is probably the ultimate kudos for one rock music's most influential. Featuring an all star cast of performers, there were queues around the block to be on the album.
With the exception of two tracks, West's longtime rhythm section of bassist Rev Jones and Bobby Rondinelli power these songs, the guest artists then adding their parts. Most of the the tracks special guest vocal and guitar performances the majority of the vocal turns done by Ronnie Romero (Lords Of Black/Rainbow) who is paired up with top gun six stringers such as Steve Morse (Deep Purple), Robby Krieger (The Doors) and Elliot Easton (Cars), for some of the deeper cuts on this record while there's also the vocal excellence of Joe Lynn Turner on tracks such as Nantucket Sleighride and For Yasgur's Farm where West's guitar playing is emulated by shred lord Marty Friedman and Martin Barre (ex-Jethro Tull).
You can hear the way the guitarist play with reverence on these tracks with some of the one man outings such as Zakk Wylde on Blood Of The Sun and Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke on Silver Paper both encompass their respective covers, the latter having been befriended by West relatively recently. With the original rhythm section there's an authenticity on this record, especially in the songs that perhaps are not as well known. However the two biggest 'hits' benefit from the most star power as Theme From An Imaginary Western is given a theatrical reworking by Dee Snider's vocals as he's backed by Twisted Sister axe man Eddie Ojeda, Ozzy/Quiet Riot bassist Rudy Sarzo and Mike Portnoy on drums, Snider appears again on Never In My Life which has Mr Scary himself George Lynch.
The erstwhile Mississippi Queen gets the louche rowdy touch of Slash with Marc Labelle of Dirty Honey behind the mic. Tribute records always need the right mix of song choice, special guest appearances and of course love and respect for the original artists. Legacy: A Tribute To Leslie West has all of this, making for a an ideal entry point to the man's music (then check out Climbing! by Mountain) as well as a great tribute for long time fans. 8/10
Bomber - Nocturnal Creatures (Napalm Records)
Nocturnal Creatures, sounds like the title of a Kiss album, or a tell all documentary about a sleazy New York Nightclub. Well this Nocturnal Creatures is an unashamedly retro feeling with nods to 70's and 80's, it's what the Swedes do well and Bomber live up to this billing as being yet another excellent addition to the Swedish retro rock/metal scene. A Walk Of Titans (Hearts Will Break) adds a touch of the epic, The Tiger adds a little of Y&T, kicking out those late 70's feels. Zarathustra meanwhile has the bite of AC/DC, though Fever Eyes and the cheeky Black Pants Magic has some AOR/Glam tendencies.
Anton Sköld's lead vocals are excellent, vibrant and melodic locking in to the twin harmonies with Max Huddén on the Lizzy-like You've Got Demons. It's Love Andersson's bass and Rasmus Grahn's drumming that brings the thunder on Hungry For Your Heart and open the groovy instrumental Kassiopeia which nicks a bit of Billy Idol. Nocturnal Creatures features some great, throwbacks to the glory days of rock n roll but wrapped in modern trappings. Live for the night and love rock n roll, that's the message that's loud and clear on this full length debut. 7/10
Night Crowned - Rebirth Of The Old (Noble Demon)
Four tracks of nihilistic brutality from the Swedish blackened death metal act Night Crowned. Rebirth Of The Old is a stopgap EP that intends to bridge the gap between their previous record Hädanfärd and their as yet unreleased new record.
The EP features three tracks from that second album but with English vocals so Rex Tenebrae stays the same but with Christian Älvestam (Solution. 45/ex-Scar Symmetry) but Fjättrad becomes Shackled and Ett Gravfäst Öde translates to A Fate Sealed In The Grave, the songs basically maintaining that same level of ferocity as the originals but with English lyrics, giving those that don't speak their native tongue more understanding of the lyrics.
They've also included a cover of Old Man's Child's Born Of The Flickering to hit the ground running with some out and out black metal mastery. If you're fan of Night Crowned then you'll get a kick out of hearing these three tracks a little differently as well as their take on the Norwegian band, other than that though this is nothing more than a collectors piece. 6/10