PARKWAY DRIVE: Deep Blue

Produced by Joe Baressi

There's nothing like playing to your strengths when you're at the height of your popularity. It's OK to take genre-bending wanders through hitherto-unexplored artistic avenues when the fanbase has started to die off (or before it swells), but when you're at the top of your game in the fickle world of rock, stick to what you know best. On Deep Blue, Parkway Drive does exactly that. Nothing less and not much more. It's catchy and it's safe, and goes precisely where it needs to go. But it's also very good. In the almost three full years since Horizons, Parkway hasn't changed that much. They've just gotten better at what they do.

Engaging the more well-rounded Joe Baressi as producer instead of sticking with metalcore specialist Adam Dutkiewicz hasn't done a lot to their overall sound but it does show a willingness to tinker with a formula without breaking it. While maintaining that level of melodramatic anger and angst that's difficult to imagine could still come out of a bunch of surfer punks living a rock n' roll fantasy (two Top 10 albums, endless world tours, mass adulation), Deep Blue harbours a level of maturity and sophistication that some of the bands they've inspired still lack. Among the bursts of furious rage, ridiculously catchy twin-guitar riffs, the insane chugging breakdown in "Deliver Me" and the groove-laden plod in the likes of "Wreckage", Parkway Drive has also sprinkled some refreshing and subtle introspective moments. They don't last long before getting swallowed up by the energetic and furious metallic attack however, an attack given further emphasis and focus due to Baressi allowing the rhythm section to breathe under the guitars.

Winston McCall's lyrics do little to explore much more than the usual PD fare, but they've came a long way since the tryhard posturing of Killing With a Smile. His delivery is typically more aggessive and convincing than many others, and on the occasions that the band veers directly into the serious metal territory of the Dark Tranquillity-style "Alone" he steps up with a frost-bitten shriek. These little diversities and his steadfast refusal to adopt any form of melodic clean vocals help to ensure that while Parkway Drive is yet to fully break out of their generic mould they are at the very least staying well out at the head of the pack.

1. Samsara
2. Unrest
3. Sleepwalker
4. Wreckage
5. Deadweight
6. Alone
7. Pressures
8. Deliver Me
9. Karma
10. Home is for the Heartless
11. Hollow
12. Leviathan I
13. Set to Destroy

Rating: 85%

OZZY OSBOURNE: Scream

Produced by Ozzy Osbourne and Kevin Churko

Ozzy Osbourne's thirty-year solo career has always been a hit-and-miss affair. Take away his first two albums and the opening pair of the Zakk Wylde era and you're left with maybe one full CD of good songs. Scream, his tenth studio release and only the third in a decade (not counting the surprisingly passable Undercover), probably brings that tally up to another half a disc's worth. Having read a bunch of reviews long before I actually got to hear this in its entirety, I'd already dismissed this as less than worthless, but if you can get over the fact that Ozzy's vocals are now more processed than ever and that it doesn't sound that different from anything he's done since 1990, then without it being anything more than average it's fair to say I found it better than it had been painted.

Scream is the first Osbourne album in 22 years not to feature Zakk Wylde, whose role is taken here by Greek facemelter Gus G -- a dude who was only 7 years old when Zakk took over from Jake E. Lee. At first, the difference is almost unnoticeable thanks to the familiar-sounding sludgy riffs and guitar tone. But Gus is a more lyrical and diverse player than Wylde, and if there's anyone who shines here, it's him. He solos with colour and flair without overpowering the song (what there is of it) or falling back on the endless repetition of pitch harmonics. He also adds a hauntingly Rhoads-like intro to "Diggin' Me Down", which is far and away the album highlight. Most of the rest are patently generic Ozzy Osbourne songs without much to distinguish them from any of the others he's pumped out over the last few albums, except for being somewhat better than most. "Let Me Hear You Scream" has a truly immense singalong chorus and "Let it Die" steals a little bit from Black Sabbath and to these ears a tiny bit from Rob Zombie, but that could be the spectacular amount of processing on Ozzy's voice that makes him sound barely human. "Life Won't Wait" is his standard ballad, but not really one of his better ones (are there any?) and "Latimer's Mercy" is a stand-out late in the piece.

As usual, Scream is Ozzy doing enough, and that's it. It's probably better than the last three Zakk Wylde albums, but that isn't saying a lot.

1. Let it Die
2. Let Me Hear You Scream
3. Soul Sucker
4. Life Won't Wait
5. Diggin' Me Down
6. Crucify
7. Fearless
8. Time
9. I Want it More
10. Lastimer's Mercy
11. I Love You All

Rating: 58%

BRET MICHAELS: Custom Built

Released July 2

At first glance, Bret Michaels' latest musical effort looks like a new album. He's got the theme song to his forthcoming show on there and a sprinkling of new tunes including one featuring Miley Cyrus (!). But on closer analysis, it's mainly smoke and mirrors: Custom Built is only half-new, a strange jumble of new tracks with a bunch of re-mixes, demo takes and re-issues thrown on to push it out to album length that ultimately serves no purpose. The blend of genres is all over the place, a confused and jarring hodge-podge of musical styles from slick AOR to sleaze rock to country rock to tracks with heavy dance beats.

A couple of them aren't that bad: "Riding Against the Wind" is decent radio rock and "Lie to Me" rocks hard, but neither are anything more than average and neither are good enough to lift this album beyond novelty status. For some reason, there's two versions of "Nothing to Lose", one of which features Miley Cyrus singing flat and hopelessly off-key as if she's never even heard the song before. Her performance is so bad, it makes you wonder how it was allowed to be released. And given the apparent nature of the lyrics, it's downright creepy that a teenager should even be singing this with a 47-year old man. There's a version of Sublime's "What I Got" that sounds like Michaels driving out to Brad Nowell's grave marker and dancing on it, and "Wasted Time" is a re-hash of "Every Rose Has its Thorn", except suckier. To cap that off, the country version of "Rose" from Freedom of Sound appears just two tracks later as if Bret wanted to show everyone just how crap "Wasted Time" actually is. Then there's a "club mix" (yes, that means horrible early-90s style techno-rock mash up) of "Go That Far" and a rock version of "Driven". After some more adequate but unspectacular country-rock newies, Custom Built finishes with "I'd Die for You" from the Letter from Death Row soundtrack.

I suppose with all his TV work and health issues, Michaels has just found it difficult to put together many new songs since his previous solo album. After all, it was only five years ago. It's really hard to see the point to this at all.

1. Riding Against the Wind
2. Lie to Me
3. Nothing to Lose
4. Wasted Time
5. What I Got
6. Every Rose
7. Got That Far (club mix)
8. Driven (rock mix)
9. Open Road
10. Rock'n My Country
11. Nothing to Lose (demo version)
12. I'd Die For You

Rating: 20%

HALFORD: Live in Anaheim - Original Soundtrack

Released July 2

Just shy of a year since Judas Priest's live statement A Touch of Evil, Halford has issued this "soundtrack" to the forthcoming DVD of the same name (due August). Unlike Priest's disappointingly brief set however, this one weighs in with a hefty 23 tracks and brings together cuts from the three metallic phases of his career. Recorded back in 2003, before he finally rejoined his famous band, Live in Anaheim sounds more like Judas Priest than Judas Priest then did, a searing, energetic, thoroughly metal concert powerhouse.

The strength of any live album relies on its track-listing. Iron Maiden's have repeated the same songs so often that most of them are redundant, but even though this is the second live release for a band that had only done two studio albums at the time, Halford comes up trumps here. True, some of the tracks were also on Live Insurrection and two featured on A Touch of Evil but there's also a rare concert reading of the awesome "Rapid Fire" and the Stained Class track "White Heat Red Hot" that Halford announces has never been played live before, along with "Never Satisfied", a deep album cut from Rocka Rolla!. The version of "Painkiller" that opens this release blows the one from last year right out of the water and "Diamonds and Rust" is fully metalised, totally dispensing with acoustics. The band, Roy Z, Metal Mike, Bob Jarzombek and Mike Davis, are superb and Halford is spectacular. Much has been said in recent years about Rob's decaying voice, but here it only partly lets him down once. After pushing himself to the limits of his range in "Resurrection", he sounds almost out of puff during "Made in Hell" only to recover nicely in time for the Gothically sinister "Golgotha" -- one of two tracks (along with "Heretic") that are repeated in alternative, "bonus" versions on disc two that aren't included on the DVD, and probably added mainly so the twin CDs aren't seriously lop-sided. Whether they are completely necessary or not, they don't subtract from the quality. Indeed it would be hard to be disappointed with this other than some minor quibble over the track-listing but without a serious dud on here you'd be hard pressed to argue even with that.

Live in Anaheim is a stunning, heavy-hitting metal show that is testament to Halford's experience and prowess. A seriously good live album.

CD 1:

1. Painkiller
2. Rapid Fire
3. Heretic
4. Resurrection
5. Made in Hell
6. Golgotha
7. Into the Pit
8. Light Comes Out of Black
9. White Heat, Red Hot
10. Never Satisfied
11. Breaking the Law
12. Hearts of Darkness
13. Handing Out Bullets

CD 2:

1. Diamonds and Rust
2. Hellion
3. Electric Eye
4. Riding on the Wind
5. Victim of Changes
6. You've Got Another Thing Comin'
7. Heretic (live in Japan)
8. Sun (live in Japan)
9. Golgotha (live in Japan)
10. One Will (live in Japan)

Rating: 85%

HELLYEAH: Stampede

Produced by Vinnie Paul and Sterling Whitfield
Released: July 13

I'll be the first to admit that I thought Hellyeah's debut was far from the best metal album of 2007 -- or even the best album from April 2007, the month it was released -- so the prospect of a new release from this apparent "supergroup" hardly filled me with anticipation. Still, the hate that has been directed towards this band by people who have probably not even heard them is way out of proportion to their actual "crimes". Unlike most of those who have ripped into Hellyeah on the stength of the one song that's been leaked so far, I've actually listened to the whole album, several times now, and for what it is it really isn't that bad.

No one in Hellyeah, from Vinnie Paul to any of his less-illustrious bandmates, has ever suggested that their music is anything more than heavy metal, so anyone looking for sophisticated messages or blistering technicality or anything other than a heavy metal album will be disappointed. Stampede is just metal, and that's all it tries to be. "Cowboy Way" comes charging out first up, brimful of machismo and swagger, just an old fashioned rock out. It says little and means little and it's nothing you haven't heard from any of these fellas before, setting the tone for an album of upbeat party metal. And so it proceeds throughout, with added sprinklings of angst and aggro and huge, mosh-friendly grooves. First single "Hell of a Time" is the most radio friendly track with a huge catchy gang-vocal chorus neatly off-setting Chad Gray's shaky clean singing. The balladic "Better Man" doesn't add anything to the genre or even the album. If anything, it interrupts the flow of the album. "It's On!" is the heaviest and grooviest track and "Cold as a Stone" probably outpoints the rest for inherent catchiness and the slow-burning Mudvayne-like "Stand or Walk Away" is made of sheer radio hit smarts -- if radio would actually play it, that is.

The riffs are effective even if Gray's vocals become tiring after a while and Vinnie's surprisingly colourless drumming doesn't really elevate the songs much above the average. Stampede isn't brilliant and it's not special or outstanding, but it isn't bad for what it is.

1. Cowboy Way
2. Debt That All Men Pay
3. Hell of a Time
4. Stampede
5. Better Man
6. It's On!
7. Pole Rider
8. Cold as a Stone
9. Stand or Walk Away
10. Alive and Well
11. Order the Sun

Rating: 72%

JOHN 5: The Art of Malice

Produced by Chris Baseford and John 5

Released: May 11

To anyone not that familiar with John 5's work beyond his teamings with Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson, the idea of him as a solo instrumentalist may come as a surprise. But long before he changed his surname to a numeral, he was swinging the plank with David Lee Roth, Lita Ford and others, and The Art of Malice is his fifth solo release since 2004.

5's number five showcases the depths of his talent and the diversity of his playing that his work with Manson and Zombie may not so clearly display. Not surprisingly, he chooses to open with the brisk metal of "The Nightmare Unravels", immediately showing his chops as a lightning-fast and clearly innovative player. He is quite a breathtaking guitarist, but if the whole album had been like this it would become very boring very quickly. Fortunately, John 5 breaks up the shredtastic array of face-melting arpeggios and scales-based fret-blazing with other moves. On "Can I Live Again?" he adds some cool slide playing and on "J.W." and "Steel Guitar Rag" he steps out with some blues and ragtime workouts (not to mention the country feel he invokes in "Wayne County Killer"). The Art of Malice also serves as something of a tribute to the guys who influenced him: "Fractured Mirror" is an Ace Frehley cover and "Ya Dig" -- featuring Billy Sheehan -- is a Van Halen-inspired piece. Combining the solo from Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" with the riff from "Rock and Roll" in "Portrayed as Unremorseful" is also a clever touch.

Whatever one may think of the other bands he's played in (including Halford's 2wo, by the way), there's no doubt that John 5 is a spectacular and talented guitarist. The Art of Malice doesn't exactly break any rules when it comes to instrumental shred albums and doesn't have the same cross-over appeal that Vai and Satriani do, but guitar fans will certainly dig it.

1. The Nightmare Unravels
2. The Art of Malice
3. All Will or Spite
4. J.W.
5. Ya Dig?
6.  Can I Live Again?
7. Portrayed as Unremorseful
8. Steel Guitar Rag
9. Wayne County Killer
10. Fractured Mirror
11. The S-Lot
12. The Last Page Turned

Rating: 75%

BURIED IN VERONA: Saturday Night Sever

Produced by Fredrik Nordström
Released: June 4

Fredrik Nordström must be getting pretty well used to being the go-to man for Australian metalcore bands now. Following in the footsteps of the likes of Contrive and I Killed the Prom Queen, Buried in Verona is the latest local act to beat a path to his door. This band's previous album was a rather flat, lifeless collection of generic metalcore that ticked all the right boxes but generally failed to step outside the circle. Nordström's production has at least given Buried in Verona a punchier sound that's more in line with their metal pretentions.

Despite the cringe-inducing title and the artwork that looks like a toddler chewed up a crayon and then vomited, Saturday Night Sever makes better use of melodies and features more memorable songs than Circle the Dead, but the band still refuses to really break any new ground. Buried in Verona has improved without really changing very much, apparently still content to follow the most basic metalcore template available without injecting too much of their own personality. There's a dash of electronics on a couple of tracks, most noticably at the beginning and towards the end, but unlike Anime Fire, who weave beats into their music, here they're just tacked on as if the band felt a last-minute need to make a half-arsed attempt at individuality. Like the previous album, the song titles don't seem to have much to do with the lyrics. There's another Cluedo-inspired one ("Professor Plum...") and most of the others just plain suck: "Hangin' Hoes by Their Toes" plumbs the depths of immature tough-guy posturing directly reflected in their lyrics. Even the promisingly-titled "Rohypnol Sunrise" offers nothing more than another melodramatically angry song full of homicidal rage as if these guys have never had a relationship in their lives that didn't end in betrayal and murder, and totally lacking in any sense of irony, self-mocking or humour. Still, the album sounds huge. The drumming is rock solid and without being earth-shattering, the riffs are vicious and catchy. The lead guitar work has also taken a turn for the better, although BiV was never shabby in that department. They also rely much less on breakdowns than many other bands.

Saturday Night Sever is a marked improvement on Buried in Verona's 2008 effort, but it is unlikely to appeal to those who aren't already fans of their strictly generic angst-ridden overkill. If you like to throw yourself around a moshpit while a dude screams about how much life sucks and how hard he'd punch your face, this will more than satisfy you. For those seeking a more sophisticated, mature worldview, look elsewhere.

1. The End
2. Temptress
3. Saturday Night Sever
4. Professor Plum in the Ballroom With the Candlestick
5. Hangin' Hoes by Their Toes
6. Go Go Gadget Suicide
7. Rohypnol Sunrise
8. Bell Ringer
9. You Left Me With No Goodbye
10. Cut Wrists & Sinking Ships
11. The Beginning

Rating: 68%

JORN: Dio

Produced by Tommy Hansen

Released: 2 July

In some cases, timing is everything. Jørn Lande began working on this tribute to his hero early last year, wrote a massive, Dio-esque homage to open it, finally got it done and then, on the eve of its release, the man it is dedicated to died. Now, what should have been a testimonial has become a memorial. The release of Dio (the album) was unfortunately announced the same week that Dio the man passed on, prompting calls from the peanut gallery that this was nothing but a heartless rip-off. Even with today's studio technology, though, it would be almost impossible to have knocked out an album as great as this in the short time since May 16, and Dio -- artwork and all -- has been in the can since before that, so arse to that theory.

If ever there was a guy who could successfully pull off a set of Dio covers, Jørn Lande is the man. In fact, with a voice so similar to the master, it would have been almost a disappointment if he hadn't done this, if not now then at some time in the future. On tracks like "Lonely is the Word", "Lord of the Last Day" and "Sunset Superman", Jørn is such a convincing mimic you could be forgiven for thinking you're listening to Dio himself. Possibly even Dio would have had trouble telling the difference. The resemblance is beyond remarkable: "Sacred Heart" and the live version of "Straight Through the Heart" should rightly give any listener chills.

In helping to lift this to a level of greatness beyond the limit of awesome, Jorn (the band) equal their singer's phenomonal achievement, doing for the music what he does for the vocals. The guitar team of Tore Moren, Tor Erik Myrhe and U.D.O.'s Igor Gianola step out with some stunning work that sets the songs ablaze. "Song for Ronnie James" is a majestic eight-minute opus that Dio himself could have written, and was intended for him to hear. The real tragedy of this album is that he never got to. The triumph of it is that it's brilliant.

1. Song for Ronnie James
2. Invisible
3. Shame on the Night
4. Push
5. Stand Up and Shout
6. Don't Talk to Strangers
7. Lord of the Last Day
8. Night People
9. Sacred Heart
10. Sunset Superman
11. Lonely is the Word - Letters from Earth
12. Kill the King
13. Straight Through the Heart (live)

Rating: 95%

DREAMKILLERS: Pockets of Water

Produced by Jeff Lovejoy

Released: 7 May

The very first review you find for this CD on the iTunes site is by "helltrip 10" who opines this "don't sound the same" as the old Dreamkillers line-up, and in many ways that's totally fair. Mustachio'd miscreant Les Jobson resurrected this group with completely different people from the 90s version for a one-off bash back in 2006, only to find that the beast wouldn't die and 12 years on from Character Building Hell Trip the 'Killers don't sound quite like they used to. Bassist Antz brings some Post Life Disorder influence into "Doom Trollop" as it opens this EP with a huge sludgey groove. There's no mistaking Jobson's idiosyncratic vocals, however. His strange blend of melodic singing and half-shouted/spoken ranting was the distinguishing feature of this band, and nothing has changed in that regard.

If the first track has a distinctively metallic edge then "Lil' Darcy" swings the balance back the other way, to the fast, intense riffs of prime hardcore territory. "Verbal Violence" and "Bonebag" show that Jobson has lost none of his talent for sharp, satirical social and political comment while the band carries out a scathing sonic attack with regular bursts of surprising melody. It all comes together on "Smoke Over Marysville", a stinging rebuke of the political clusterfuck of Black Saturday that culminates in a chilling sample of a terrified man leaving a farewell message for his family. In a time when punk and hardcore don't seem to mean what they used to, it's clear that Jobson hasn't forgotten. They might sound tidier and tighter thanks to Jeff Lovejoy's production, but the Dreamkillers still pack a whallop.

1. Doom Trollop
2. Li'l Darcy
3. Smoke Over Marysville
4. 70 Percent of Them
5. Verbal Violence
6. Bonebag

Rating: 83%

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT: The Heart & The Crown

Released: June 2010

Over the course of their EP series, The Devil Rides Out established themselves as masters of the grooving heavy rock vibe, gradually refining their art until the gloriously raw and gritty "Volume III" from nigh on two years ago. After taking out the WAMi Award for Best Hard Rock Act and doing shows with bands like Monster Magnet and Clutch, The Devil has now unleashed a full-length that should elevate them to the very pinnacle of Australia's rock pile.

The Heart & The Crown is a mammoth collection of rock powered by enormously fuzzed out guitar, booming drums and a voice that won't just strip paint from the walls but bring the plaster with it. "Watch it Burn" kicks in with a gigantic bouncing riff and a bottomed-out sludginess not heard since Kyuss crawled out of Sky Valley and before you can recover The Devil cranks up a gear into the endless roadtrip of "Broken White Line". "Hard Love" sounds every bit like its title would suggest, as if ZZ Top turned evil and had John Bonham as a drummer. Joey K's sinister, rumbling snarl in this track is astounding. After that, we're back on the road with the high-gear "Right Lane Man" and if this track was a truck you would get right the fuck out of the way. Only four tracks in and The Heart & The Crown is like a bare-knuckle brawl between bikies and truckies at the sleaziest roadside bar on earth. Production-wise, it isn't as raw as the previous releases, but that just makes the guitar sound fatter and has the drums rattling the window-frames. The groove-laden blues swagger is the perfect frame for Joey's tales of world-weary, loner anger.

Following the intensity of the opening salvos, the title track is rather ponderous, but also somewhat of a relief that allows the listener to take a breather before The Devil cranks up again with "Inheritance". Into the back half of the album and K's lyrics shift toward social commentary with the sardonic anti-terrorism diatribe "Gentlemen Prefer Bombs" and equally ascerbic cuts like "The New Idle" and "Ain't No Music in the Money". The enormous groove of closer "Lost Town" ends things the way they began: huge guitars, thunderous drums and that extraordinarily sinister vocal rasp.

Anyone looking for the monstrous fuzz of Cathedral or Kyuss crossed with the caustic venom of Crowbar and Eyehategod should find exactly what they're after with The Heart & the Crown. It's a riff-monster just waiting to eat your soul.

1. Watch it Burn
2. Broken White Line
3. Hard Love
4. Right Lane Man
5. The Heart & the Crown
6. Inheritance
7. Phosphorous
8. Gentleman Prefer Bombs
9. The New Idle
10. Mean Season
11. Ain't No Music in the Money
12. I Keep Secrets
13. Lost Town

Rating: 86%