Artist: Halladrol Album: The Last Mile on the Earth (EP 2012) Date of Release: Downloadable release – 6th June 2012, hard release – late 2012, early 2013. Label: Violent Journey
1. The Last Mile on the Earth
2. Black New Stars
3. No Rest for the Holy
Halladrol had been in the mindset of ‘Lord Heikkinen’ for a while and has had ambitions of doing something different for some time. With the roots of this project starting back in early 1990´s Soulgrind was born and at the beginning it was a one man project doing avant-garde dark metal. At the time things were a bit different, All was recorded on 8-track recorder over-dubbing again and again and again…
Soulgrind is now more a band as one person and they have many different views in regards of doing things, Lord felt that there should be one project which is totally under his control. No compromises and so Halladrol was born in early 2012.
Starting with the gentle chirps of birds and bells before an early onset of a typical gospel church setting delivers you into the mass mess of noise and confused musical surroundings. There seems to be a real lack of specific direction throughout in the ‘The Last Mile on the Earth’ as unlike the band try to explain it as “A tale of last moments on this planet. It might also tell a story of one´s mind. What happens inside, when the last moments are coming closer and closer” and yet there is a very clear understanding of any of that and although some of the techniques hidden in the depths of sounds are quite clever, the overall sound and track itself is very lost behind everything else.
Onto ‘Black New Stars’ and we’re given a far more technical track starting off with super dive bombs and speed picking with delays and many obscurities leading the way; However when all this does calm down the song again looses all sustenance throughout the vocal sections.
With the horns and chanting within ‘No Rest For The Holy’ I really liked this introduction, full of wonderful textures and obscurities. By far the most complete sounding track on this EP. Even the vocals seem to add up and feel more complete. With the mix of time signature oddities and complexities this song really does give the listener a better example of what the other songs were lacking.
As you progress through the EP one thing seems clear if nothing else does, that there is a serious lack of direction here. Although the mood seems to be that of “be as dark as humanly possible regardless to musicality or sustenance”. With a few clever passages of harmonies, I doubt it is enough to excite the darkest of metal fan out there.
Back in 2010 when Ronnie James Dio passed away, that summer his band Heaven And Hell should have been closing the UK metal festival Bloodstock Open Air. So in tribute to Ronnie, the organisers decided to name the main stage at Bloodstock the ‘Ronnie James Dio Stage.’ The following statement is what the Bloodstock organisers released at that sad time in 2010 –
At 7:45 am on May 16, 2010, rock legend Ronnie James Dio passed away. Ronnie had been diagnosed with stomach cancer in late 2009 and when he finally lost his fight for life we in turn lost a genius, a gentleman and perhaps the greatest voice the metal world has ever known.
Ronnie and his former Black Sabbath band mates – Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice – had been scheduled to round off Bloodstock 2010 in their current incarnation as Heaven And Hell. The festival organizers and the many thousands of fans bound for Bloodstock 2010 were equally ecstatic about the band’s forthcoming headline slot. Heaven And Hell had recently released the critically acclaimed album The Devil You Know and their stage shows, featuring some of metal’s truly immortal anthems, were receiving rave reviews right across the rock press. Heaven And Hell headlining Bloodstock Open Air 2010 would have made history for all sorts of reasons. Sadly, it was not to be.
Although immensely saddened by the news of Ronnie’s death, the Bloodstock team knew, as Ronnie himself knew better than anyone, that the show must go on. And so it was decided to honour his memory and a truly amazing life lived to the full by renaming Bloodstock’s main stage as the Ronnie James Dio Stage. Not for one year, not even for two, but forever. A dedication took place on the stage itself during the festival.
Nothing can ever bring Dio back from the great gig in the sky, but his towering voice, his incredible vision and his timeless music will live forever. Bloodstock is both proud and humbled to join the worldwide brotherhood of metal in remembering and celebrating Ronnie’s spectacular career. His spirit will live on even as the music he did so much to create forges ahead into the future.
The following video was filmed at Bloodstock 2010, dedicated to Ronnie –
A special tribute band was put together in 2011 by Bloodstock Director and Beholder vocalist Simon Hall, called The Last In Line. The band also comprised of Rod Boston on bass (MirrorBlack, Keltic Jihad, Invidia), Simon Cliffe on guitar (ex Beholder), Paul Benford on guitar (Adust), and Paul Carnevale on drums (Black Circus, ex Beholder).
The band played a special acoustic set on the Jagermeister stage, the tent was full to bursting with people spilling out onto the grass and the sun shone down for Ronnie as the band played their fantastic set (I was there and won’t forget it).
Rod Boston, bass player, had these words to say –
“Ronnie James Dio. My goodness, the man and his music have become part of the very fabric of my musical existence for as long as I can remember. From hearing the seminal ‘Rising’ album as a wee lad, and hearing THAT voice for the first time. A voice that helped shape metal as we know it today……and his influence is felt pretty much right across all of metal’s sub genres. A fantastic performer, indeed among the best i have ever seen……and a man with time and respect for his supporters and friends. I met him on more than one occasion and he was gracious and kind……he will be sorely missed.
So – when I was approached by Beholder’s Simon Hall about performing an impromptu acoustic tribute to Ronnie at Bloodstock last summer (2011) I jumped at the chance. An opportunity to give something back, however small, and pay our respects. Now although we only had 2 3hour rehearsals at the Queens hall in Nuneaton – we were all such big fans of the man’s work – it came together really quickly. ( The band also comprised of Simon Cliffe, Paul Benford,(guitars) and Paul Carnivale (drums)).
The show itself is one that I will always recall with great fondness. The growing crowd was singing every word, with the sun setting behind them. It sounds mawkish, but that’s how it really was. We were all quite overcome as we walked offstage…..and very glad that we went some way to doing Ronnie and his work some justice, and had given him a worthy tribute.
‘Run along the rainbow – before it turns to black’.
Long live Ronnie James.”
The following videos show the talent of the musicians in The Last In Line Band, what a fitting tribute to Ronnie –
As many of you will know, Ronnie did an awful lot of charity work, he was the kind of man who wanted to help people as much as he could, and he did just that.
Ronnie, along with Jimmy and Vivian from Dio decided to put together a heavy metal style fundraiser for Africa’s famine relief, as they found there was a lack of contribution from the metal world, to go alongside projects such as UK’s Band Aid and USA For Africa.
So the three of them wrote ‘Stars’.
The project included many ‘stars’ from the rock and metal world (listed below) and was recorded in May 1985 at the A + M Studios in Hollywood, California.
The lead vocals were shared by several people – Ronnie James Dio, Rob Halford, Geoff Tate, Dave Meniketti, Kevin DuBrow, Paul Shortino, Don Dokken and Eric Bloom.
Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith were touring at the time on their ‘World Slavery Tour’, so they flew in specially to record their parts for the project.
A documentary was also recorded and released when the single was, which was in both 7” and 12” format.
Artists
Vocals
• Eric Bloom (Blue Öyster Cult)
• Ronnie James Dio (Dio)
• Don Dokken (Dokken)
• Kevin DuBrow (Quiet Riot)
• Rob Halford (Judas Priest)
• Dave Meniketti (Y&T)
• Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt)
• Geoff Tate (Queensrÿche)
Backing Vocals
• Tommy Aldridge (Ozzy Osbourne)
• Dave Alford (Rough Cutt)
• Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge/King Kobra)
• Vinny Appice (Dio)
• Jimmy Bain (Dio)
• Frankie Banali (Quiet Riot)
• Mick Brown (Dokken)
• Vivian Campbell (Dio)
• Carlos Cavazo (Quiet Riot)
• Amir Derakh (Rough Cutt)
• Buck Dharma (Blue Öyster Cult)
• Brad Gillis (Night Ranger)
• Craig Goldy (Giuffria)
Chris Hager (Rough Cutt)
• Chris Holmes (W.A.S.P.)
• Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.)
• George Lynch (Dokken)
• Yngwie Malmsteen
• Mick Mars (Mötley Crüe)
• Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins of Spinal Tap)
• Vince Neil (Mötley Crüe)
• Ted Nugent
• Eddie Ojeda (Twisted Sister)
• Jeff Pilson (Dokken)
• Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot)
• Claude Schnell (Dio)
• Neal Schon (Journey)
• Harry Shearer (Derek Smalls of Spinal Tap)
• Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge)
• Matt Thorr (Rough Cutt)
Lead Guitar Solos
• Vivian Campbell (Dio)
• Carlos Cavazo (Quiet Riot)
• Buck Dharma (Blue Öyster Cult)
• Brad Gillis (Night Ranger)
• Craig Goldy (Giuffria)
• George Lynch (Dokken)
• Yngwie Malmsteen
• Eddie Ojeda (Twisted Sister)
• Neal Schon (Journey)
Rhythm Guitar Melody Lines
• Dave Murray (Iron Maiden)
• Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) Bass
• Jimmy Bain (Dio) Drums
• Vinny Appice (Dio)
• Frankie Banali (Quiet Riot) Keyboards
• Claude Schnell (Dio)
A compilation album was also released featuring live tracks by Motorhead, Kiss, Accept, Dio, Rush and Scorpions, track listing below.
Stars
1. “Stars” Dio, V. Campbell, Bain
Hear ‘n Aid
2. “Up to the Limit (live)”
Hoffmann, Kaufmann, Baltes, Fischer, Dirkschneider, Deaffy
Accept
3. “On the Road (live)”
Burston, Kilmister, P. Campbell, Gill
Motörhead
4. “Distant Early Warning (live)”
Lifeson, Lee, Peart
Rush
5. “Heaven’s on Fire (live)”
Stanley, Child
Kiss
6. “Can You See Me”
Hendrix
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
7. “Hungry for Heaven (live)”
Dio, Bain Dio
8. “Go for the Throat”
Meniketti, Alves, Kennemore, Haze
Y&T
9. “The Zoo (live)”
The Stars project was said to raise one million dollars within a year.
The video below shows an interview with Ronnie discussing the Stars project on the Monsters Of Rock cable show in 1985 –
The following video shows the Stars video –
A rare live recording of Stars in California from 1987 –
Children Of The Night
Ronnie was involved in this charity for many years. They are a privately funded organisation ‘established in 1987 dedicated to rescuing America’s children from the ravages of prostitution.’ (mission statement)
The organisation is run by Dr Lois Lee and the dedicated team offer long term support during the children’s stay and for as long as is needed after they leave, through the ‘Alumni Programme.’
They also may help with finding jobs or financial assistance for books and school supplies.
Artist – My Scarlet Eyes Album – The Sound Of Our Revolt Ep Label – Dead Valley/Indie Year – 2012
Track Listing
1. Cold Stars
2. One Voice Rising
3. For Your Brown Eyes
4. The Sound Of Our Revolt
My Scarlet Eyes were born in a hot summer of 2011 in Imperia, a small and boring town in North of Italy. Four guys wanted to form a hardcore/metalcore band, mostly inspired by bands as Caliban, Darkest Hour, Ghost Inside, Parkway Drive, Killswitch Engage and many others, trying to merge the pure hardcore sounds with melodic death metal of the Scandinavian tradition.
After a first period spent in writing brand new songs, and looking for a drummer, they met the fifth member, and they entered in studio to record their first promo. “The Sound Of Our Revolt”, containing four tracks (“For Your Brown Eyes”, “One Voice Rising”, “Cold Stars” and of course, “The Sound Of Our Revolt”). They are all Listenable on their Facebook, Myspace and Youtube official page. All tracks were recorded and mixed at Dead Valley Studio, owned by one of the guys. Now the five guys are working hard to record their first album, coming out in late winter, 2013, and of course they’ll play live during summer around Italy, to make brave people mosh hard!
The first song on the Ep is Cold Stars when you start playing this you are hit with the full power of this band you have pounding drums, real deep screaming vocal work, really good guitars and it doe’s slow down with a good little riff two or three times in the song which gives it a good tempo to it. The second song is One Voice Rising this song starts with an up tempo beat and a good riff then the vocals come in with that easily recognised vocal style. The song has some real good guitar work in there along with the drums makes this a song that you could easily get a circle pit going to. The Third song is For Your Brown Eyes this song is a full assault on the ears you can really feel the power on this song it has some good guitar work and some good extras within the song. The power of the galloping guitars and pounding drums make it another top song by these guys. The Fourth and Final song on this Ep is the title song The Sound Of Our Revolt and this is well worth waiting for as it is full on power and with some good vocal work, pounding drums and shredding guitars in the middle on the song it slows right down with some clean guitars and vocal work which gives the song a bit of an edge then it’s back to the heavy guitars and some really good riffs towards the end it is a real good song that deserves to be the title song of this Ep.
Overall
This Ep is really good, it’s full of good heavy riffs, pounding drums and good quality vocals. The Ep is I hope the start of this bands rise to glory cause they have made a real good Ep here if you like Cradle Of Filth and those types of bands you will like these. These guys are here for a long time to come.
Artist – Desert Album – Star Of Delusive Hopes Label – Sleaszy Rider Records Year – 02 January 2011
Track Listing
1. The Unsubdued
2. Massada Will Never Fall
3. Letter Of Marque
4. Victim Of The Light
5. Release Me
6. Soul Of A Wanderer
7. Whispers
8. Lament For Soldier’s Glory (Order 227)
9. Star Of Delusive Hopes
Desert was founded in 2002 by guitarist Max Shafranski in one of Israel’s industrial and cultural centres the city of Beer-Sheva. The band’s name was chosen for a reason – it was located in the middle of biblical sands where Moses has led his people to the Promised Land ages ago. In 2004 vocalist Alexei Raymar and keyboard player Oleg Aryutkin (just 16 years old at the time!) joined the band and things became serious. Desert has expanded it’s musical palette since then,
mixing in some darker colours to go with power metal glitter. Desert has been gigging various venues ranging from small clubs to open-air festivals, sharing bills with acts like Sabaton, Draconian also Nightmare and Tim “Ripper” Owens. Desert’s debut album, entitled Star of Delusive Hopes, was released in late 2010 through Greek label Sleaszy Rider. The Internet single Lament for Soldier’s Glory, featuring a guest performance by Joakim Broden, the lead singer of Sabaton, received an instant recognition by fans in both Israel and Europe. Star of Delusive Hopes tells stories of great men and women who lived and gave there for freedom and beliefs, stories of lost hopes and betrayal.
The album starts off with The Unsubdued, a cracking riff that gets my head nodding straight away the vocals are dark which goes in a growl then switches into clean vocals which are done very well. The keyboards in the song give’s it another edge musically but throughout the song you have a great riff, the solos are done very well this is a great start to the album. The next three songs are Massada Will Never Fall, Letter Of Marque & Victim Of The Light, All of these song have some fantastic guitar work from the riffs to the solos the vocals are outstanding. The drum work in Letter Of Marque is superb from the start of the song to the finish also the keyboards on the songs could not be any better just brilliant. The Fifth song on the album is Release Me this starts off slow with a quality intro then the vocals come in slow and clean but with desire. Then the a heavy guitar riff comes in purpose but keeping that slow tempo in the background you hear the chiming of bells that leads you right into an outstanding guitar solo. The vocals come back in till near the end of the song which ends with the chiming of the bells. The next Two songs are Soul Of A Wanderer & Whispers are full of the same quality dark and clean vocals, brilliant riffs, stunning solos, fantastic keyboards and quality drumming. The Eighth song on the album Lament for Soldier’s Glory features vocals of Joakim Broden of Sabaton the song starts of with the keyboards slow but purposeful then the vocals come in slow and clean with Alexei and Joakim’s taking in turns with the vocals. This song tells a great story of the soldiers glory it is that good it gave me goose pimples just listing to it. It has some brilliant guitar work in it along with the keyboards and the vocals make this song one of my favourites on the album. The Ninth and last song on the album Star Of Delusive Hopes starts of with the keyboards then the guitar comes smashing in over the keyboards. Then the vocals come in and again they are absolute quality. The solos in this are again stunning this really is a great ending song to the album.
Overall
The album overall has been just brilliant from the first song to the last there is something for everyone on this it has good quality vocals, superb keyboards, heavy quality riffs and stunning solos. The best song on the album for me has to be Lament for Soldier’s Glory it tells a fantastic story and it has Joakim Broden of Sabaton doing some guest vocals. But every song on the album is brilliant they have been well written and perfectly produced.
9/10
Members
Alexei Raymar – vocals
Max Shafranski – guitar
Sergei Metalheart – guitar
Sergei Dmitrik – bass
Oleg Aryutkin – keyboards
Assaf Markowitz – drums
Originally formed with Elf’s members and then going through many line up changes over the years, in 1975 Ronnie joined the legendary Deep Purple guitarist Richie Blackmore, to form Rainbow.
The name was inspired by the ‘Rainbow Bar and Grill’ in Hollywood, where Ronnie and Richie spent some of their free time.
The bands debut album entitled ‘Richie Blackmore’s Rainbow’ was released in 1975 and it was the start of all the medieval fantasy lyrics that Ronnie became so famous for, including such classics as ‘Catch The Rainbow’ and ‘The Temple Of the King’. His powerful and unique vocals now exploded into life with true heavy metal style.
The band started touring the world when their second album ‘Rising’ was released and Ronnie was at home up there on the stage delivering his magical songs to the world. The masterpiece on the album regarded by many fans was ‘Stargazer’ at 8 minutes and 26 seconds long, recorded with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.
As demonstrated with the above mentioned songs, Ronnie wrote some of the first power metal lyrics whilst in Rainbow dazzling fans with a whole spectrum of colour.
The following excerpt is taken from an early Rainbow radio interview in 1975 –
Richie’s thoughts of Ronnie – ‘Ronnie has an incredible voice, a very good voice, and is very good at improvising. I found this lacking in my former bands.’
Ronnie – ‘We want to make music, we don’t care about the stage set and everything that goes with it, but we have to to keep up with other bands. We just want people to enjoy the music, the theatrics need to come second to the music.’
The next and last album Ronnie was to appear on with Rainbow was ‘Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll’ released in 1978, as with the previous ones on the Polydor label. The album includes yet more classics, including the title track, ‘Kill The King’, ‘Lady Of The Lake’, and ‘Gates Of Babylon.’
After the world tour for the album, during 1977 – 1978, Blackmore decided he wanted to change the bands direction to make it more commercial, moving away from the ‘sword and sorcery’ theme. Ronnie didn’t agree with this and decided to move on.
Ronnie then replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath in 1979. The band enjoyed something of a resurgence with the release of ‘Heaven And Hell’ in 1980. Ronnie tells the story in this RockEyez interview –
‘You spent 4 years with Rainbow and then eventually you left the band due to musical differences and were almost immediately recruited by Black Sabbath as their new front man to replace Ozzy Ozbourne. How did that all come about?’
‘Well it wasn’t quite that immediate. When I was gone from Rainbow, they carried on and I was living in Connecticut at the time. I had gone back to L.A. where I had come from because that was more of where the hub of the industry was but I really didn’t know anybody. Then, probably, about six months later, I saw Tony (Iommi) in a place called “The Rainbow” and we went up to the place where they were rehearsing. Ozzy wasn’t there at the time (Thank God!), they played me some things, I met Geezer and Bill, then they played me a song and were like, “Can you do anything with it?” And I said, “Give me a moment.” I went over, wrote some things down, came back and said, “Ok, let’s try it!” It turned out to be the song “Children of The Sea.” From that moment, Tony was like, “I don’t want to play with Ozzy anymore, I want to play with him!” So I got into the fold that way.’
‘You had some pretty big shoes to fill at the time. Were you ever nervous about how the long time Black Sabbath fans would respond to you?’
‘I was never nervous because my place in the band was not to be Ozzy, but to be the singer who just performed and wrote on the “Heaven and Hell” album. You can’t replace a legend… you can only try to become one yourself.’
‘You ended up recording 3 albums (initially) with Black Sabbath. “Heaven & Hell,” “The Mob Rules” and “Live Evil” which are all just about considered classics now by Sabbath fans and metal fans alike. Did you realize or think that, at the time, you were taking your first steps to becoming a legend?’
‘My aim was never to be a legend, but to be as good inside Sabbath as I could. The strength of the “Heaven and Hell” album and those that followed propelled all of us into higher regions.’
The Heaven and Hell album, showcasing such songs as Die Young, Children Of The Sea and Neon Nights attained gold certification in April 1982 and was the only Black Sabbath album to do so.
The music for the song Heaven and Hell was written mainly by Tony and all lyrics were written by Ronnie. He later explained that the song is about ‘how every individual has ‘heaven and hell’ inside him or herself, as well as the ability to choose good or evil’.
Mob Rules was released in November 1981, including such classics as Voodoo and The Mob Rules.
In the ’30 Years Of Heaven And Hell’ interview, Ronnie said ‘It was very different this time, we hired a studio and it made for a different kind of attitude, it made it a lot harder for me. It wasn’t happy like ‘Heaven and Hell’ was, I found the process a lot more difficult.’
When asked about ‘Live Evil’ which was released as a result of the Mob Rules tour, Ronnie said ‘During the mixing of that album things fell apart, it was Vinnie and I versus Tony and Geezer, but I never knew why. So these problems led to the end of my role in Black Sabbath that time.’
Ronnie rejoined Black Sabbath again in 1992 to record Dehumanizer, their 16th studio album, the first Sabbath album in over a decade to feature Ronnie on vocals.
Ronnie spoke of the reunion – ‘Geezer approached me at a Dio show and that planted the seed. We started to write but it wasn’t a happy situation and it spilled over into the tour again.’
Ronnie’s involvement with Black Sabbath ended again in November 1992, when he was told they would be opening for Ozzy Osbourne at the Casa Mesa reunion shows. Ronnie said, ‘I wasn’t happy with comments made by Ozzy to other band members, so I refused to play. The band wanted to play, so off they went and I was no longer in that band, again.’
To be continued …..
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