Welcome to the first episode of 2024. It is episode 371 of Signals from Mars with me, Victor M. Ruiz, welcoming you to the new year with an episode discussing our favorite albums to be released last year in 2023. You guys know the drill, all the voting, all that stuff. We'll talk about it next! Kind of cool that this episode is 371 because that way it's easy to keep track of what episode is what during the year.
So hey, it's the first, it's 371, the second of the year, 372, and I'm sure I'll forget by next week. But at the moment it seems like a cool concept. Anyway, yeah, I said at the beginning, you know, like all you guys know, right, because hopefully there are new listeners, there are new people being turned on to the show. And I need to explain this process every time, which I have no problem doing. But what we do is we vote for, in this case, our 10 favorite albums to have come out in 2023.
Each album gets points based on where it is located on your list. So if it's number one, it gets 10 points. If it's number two, it gets nine, all the way down to 10, which gets one point. And we do this to help spread the love of music that's come out in 2023. So many people just give up and say, yeah, I'm just going to keep listening to this Zeppelin album over and over and over again. Me? Kind of sick of listening to the same stuff over and over again. Yeah, look, I love Zeppelin.
I'll go back and listen to them once a year, probably. Or if a song pops in my mind here or there, I'll listen to it. But I don't actively search it most of the time because I've been listening to it for 46 years. The same songs for 46 years. So I don't know, man, I like listening to new things. I like turning people on to new bands and not even that. Maybe you aren't cognizant of a band that you love who's released an album. You know, there's so much information out there.
There's too much information overload. So you're not aware of a band like Docken, for example, who released an album this year. Overkill who released an album. Metallica, obviously, a lot of people know that they released an album this year. So that's what I try to do here. I try to spread the love of just music in general, some stuff you're going to like, some stuff you're not going to like, but just listen to what what we're discussing.
And if something appeals to you, appeals to you based on what we're discussing, then go check the band out. You've got all these streaming platforms or you can sample something beforehand. And you know, if you're part of the crowd that says, I don't use streaming services. All right. You got YouTube. Check out a video. Check out a video by the band. If it turns you on enough, support them.
Pick up their album, you know, or even if you if you like using the digital formats to purchase stuff, do it that way. Whatever whatever works for you. I do want to thank you guys for checking this episode out. I say this all the time. There's a million other things that you can be checking out right now, but I appreciate that you're here with me right now listening to this episode. Please go to signals from Mars dot com.
Check out the follow section where you can subscribe to the show, whether that's the podcast, whether that's the live stream, whether that's social media. Tell your friends about the show. And if you are so inclined, join us on Patreon for as little as two dollars a month to join in on the daily conversation with my patrons. There is a troll free environment. Again, it is an extension of what I do here.
It gives you some further behind the scenes insight on what I do with the podcast and with other things that have come up over time. And that's basically it. Thank you so much for joining us and let's get on with the show. Welcome all to the December 22nd, 2023 edition of signals from Mars. I'm your host, Victor. And joining me are Jeremy Welton in the UK and in Kentucky and like the flash there at Ferguson. How are you gentlemen? Rocking and rolling. Yeah, yeah, doing well. Thanks.
Cool. So this is the last show of the year. And as we've made a tradition, the last show is people voting on their favorites for the year. And we're going to do things a little differently today because, well, we got a kind of a low voter turnout here. And we've only got a few albums where things kind of overlapped. And if you followed any of these shows, you know that the albums that make it towards the top of these lists are the ones that multiple people vote on.
So we're going to do things a little different. We are going to talk about the top seven albums that were voted on because those were the ones that coincided with other people's votes. And we are going to have Ed and Jeremy discuss their top 10 picks of the year as well. So and at some point during the show, Brad mentioned that he would be joining us. So we'll see how that all pans out.
Before jumping on into the entire episode, just remember that you can keep up with the show at signalsfromr.com. Check out the QR code there. You can use it. I promise you we are not stealing your banking information or anything off of your phone. It will take you to signalsfromr.com. Join us on Patreon to appear on screen throughout 2024. And if you want some quick links to everything regarding the show, social media and all that good stuff, you could also go to the link tree.
And yeah, this is great. I have to reset this every single episode. But let me see here real quickly. Let's just why didn't that work? Excellent. Anyway, and this is all out of order. All right. Well, as the door said, we'll take it as it comes. So anyway, the T-shirt got signals from Mars T-shirt. We've got sales from Mars hoodie. Yes, I'm wearing one today. We've got the signals from Mars windbreaker jacket. We also have the signals from Mars bomber jacket. Oh, yeah. After popular demand.
We've got the baseball cap. For the winter, we've got you covered with the beanie. And for Brad Dolla and all of his shenanigans, he loves the bucket hats. So a bucket hat as Brad would wear. There you go. See that? A Brad hat. Oh, I got to rename it. Brad hat and Brad hat. There you go. So anyway, we're going to start things off with the seventh most voted album here. This one came out, I guess, towards the end of the year.
And it's a band that's been around for a while and not going to lie to you guys. Doesn't surprise me. But that is what it is. Multiple people voted for it at seven. It is Raven with all hell's breaking loose. Nice. So Jeremy, was that on your list by any chance? Yeah, it was on my list. Definitely. Okay. Anything you can say about the album? Yeah, I mean, the thing is, you know what you're going to get with Raven, don't you? They play very similar sort of stuff from album to album.
They always remind me of the British Anvil. Everything's done a little bit with a tongue in cheek, but we like that because music should be fun and they sort of make it fun. They sort of made their own genre, athletic rock, rather than sort of general heavy metal like hard rock. They play everything really fast, even though they're getting on a bit now in years. And I thought this was a really good album. It was well produced.
You know, as I say, you know what you're going to get is have the usual sort of riffs that you're expecting, the songs you're expecting. It was a really decent album and you play it loud, you're going to enjoy it. Great band. Cool. Ed, you seem to be agreeing to a lot of this. I do. Yeah. Okay. And you said it sounds like Raven, you know, so you're not getting anything terribly new. But you know, they're such a classic band and a part of our metal history.
I feel really proud of them for how well of a record they've made. And I've kept it in my playlist all year. So it's not a record that I could probably listen to the whole thing. Of course, it's just, you know, there's such a gluttony in music. I feel like I say that about everything now. You know, it's hard to listen to a whole album worth of stuff of anything. But like I said, it's been a good jam every time, you know, iTunes puts it in my shuffle.
Yeah, I think we've become maladjusted with the advent of the playlist where we can kind of pick and choose what kind of stands out to us. And we don't necessarily have to take in an entire album. There are some of these albums that I went back and listened to. And some were better than what I remembered them. And others were not as good as what I remembered them. Where similar what you're saying, Ed. That happens a lot. Yeah. You think, okay, well, yeah, so there's three good songs off of this.
The other ones. All right. So it's kind of like the C version of this other song of theirs. So let me just, you know, add these other two, which are cool to the playlist and just, all right, okay album, but maybe not as strong as what I originally thought. Whatever they're doing now is worlds better than the records that they were producing kind of mid to late 80s. Right. I'm kind of forgetting the name of those records all of a sudden. But you know which ones I'm talking about.
You know, after the all for one live record, whatever they, two or three records after that, they, yeah, this stuff is much better. Yeah. A lot more thrashy. Like kind of like the Raven, you know, that influenced bands like Metallica in the beginning. They're kind of back to that sound to me. Yeah. They got the mojo back really. I think there's, they're really sort of playing for what they want to do now.
And rather than thinking they've got to do something commercial or, you know, I guess again, the production can help. That's right. All those bands are getting pressured to do that in the eighties. If you wanted any kind of success, they were being made to do that stuff. Weren't they? Yeah. It's nice that some of these bands aren't caring anymore because they can do it on their computer and put it on the internet themselves now if they want to.
Yeah. And I think that's the perfect point where they, they, they're not going to sell a whole ton of albums. They've got a diehard following that's going to pick up pretty much everything that they're going to release. And at the same time, with, as you mentioned, Ed, with the advent of being able to make a lot of stuff at home and trade files and they're drummers and producer. So I'm sure all of that helps.
And you know, I'm sure that as you're saying, Ed, you know, they, they kind of started to steer away. They kind of tried to go that commercial route that the labels wanted them to go. And now they don't have to do that. And there's still labels that are interested in them, but they're interested in Raven for being Raven, not, you know, Raven for trying to be Motley Crue per se. Yeah, good for Raven to make a, the seventh position. They deserve it.
Cool. So moving on to number six, a band that I personally know, Angela's of Patrida with aftermath. Yeah. I think that this album to me is kind of a return to form for the band, not to say that the self-titled album that they released previously was bad. I just think that that album was, was heavy.
It's probably their heaviest album top to bottom, but I think it was missing some of the key ingredients that they brought back for this album, mainly some of the melodies, some of the change of paces with some of the songs where everything doesn't have to be just full bore. There's, there's a little more variety on this album, which I thought that they were kind of finding their stride on, on, on the album before the self-titled album.
And I think that there was kind of a backlash here, here in Spain, because people didn't interpret what they were doing in the same fashion. I think that because they were experimenting with a lot of different things that people weren't maybe appreciating some of the stuff and wanted a more heavy album. So they delivered that. But now it seems like they've come back to really experiment with certain things again. And I think it kind of came out pretty well. Ed, this was on your list as well.
What do you think of this album? I agree with what you just said. It's interesting to hear you say that about the self-titled record, because that's the first album I heard by them. They're a newer band for me that I'm just getting into. And I loved every track on that record. So to hear you say that kind of makes me excited to dig into their older records some more. I've got them all.
Because I spent so much of the year trying to listen to the new stuff so I can do this show with you, I don't get into those as quickly. And this record, I agree, it seems to have a little more variety, a little more melody. Man, that song they did with Jamie Josta, Snob. What a good thrash that one was. I also liked Jurnica. You know how to say that? Jurnica. Jurnica. Of course, Cold, the single, that's a good track.
So far, everything I've heard on this record, I have not heard a bad song by this band pretty much, nor a bad guitar solo. The only thing that I wish is that they had a little more of the heavy jug sound, because I just love that. As much as I love thrash, I always like the bands that have more of that Metallica anthrax bottom end to it, because that just makes it heavier. So when I want to listen to thrash, that's what I'm looking for, bands like that. This music is produced great.
But yeah, I wish it was just a little bit heavier, but man, I still can't complain. It's great stuff. Any thrash metalhead that hasn't heard this band needs to just go buy it. You'll be happy you did. Very cool. Let's see here. Brad Doll is joining us. Hey, Brad. After the show tonight. And Brad, we've decided that I need to update and change the name of this item. From a signals from Mars bucket hat to a signals from Mars Brad hat. Oh, that'd be good on you.
Yeah, I'm definitely gonna have to get one of those. Yeah. Yeah. I'm all about the bucket hat. So bring it. Something great for 2024. Look at that on the fly. Look at what it says. Oh, wow. There you go. Very nice. Perfect. I should have the cap named after me though. Because I'm going to buy the cap as well. I love it. Where's your mustache, Brad? I left it in my other jeans. That's your son? Yeah, that's my son. And the son was there with a mustache.
Yeah, this is I'm actually at his house right now because I'm back in Utah. All right, cool. So at number six, I'm glad that Brad has joined us because I believe this is on his list. Not sure. Is it Jeremy's list perhaps as well? Let me see here. Where's Jeremy's list? It's on Jeremy's list. No it is not, but I'm sure that Jeremy has listened to this album.
A lot of people have mentioned how this band that is best known for their hair metal slash glam rock ways maybe transition more into a prog rock type band, especially with our last few releases. And at number five is an album called Seven. By Weir. Yeah, that's a good album. So Brad, what stands out to you about this album? When I first got it, I thought, yeah, this sounds more like a Kip Winger solo album rather than a Winger album.
And after hearing the interviews with him and hearing that he pretty much was pretty heavy handed in this, was able to really focus on it. I see why. But the songs are just great. I mean, it's not like I said, it's not like a typical Winger album, but it sounds really good. The songs are really good. The performances are really good. I love that they got all the whole Winger crew on this album. So Paul Taylor, who's now back in the band, he played on it.
And actually he played his first guitar lead on a Winger album anyway on this album. It's good stuff. So and yeah, I hear what you're saying about the prog thing, but I wouldn't say really. I mean, I think it's all heavily about the songs. Good album. So yeah, if you don't check this out, then you're not really a rock fan. That's what I'm gonna say. Okay, I better listen to it. You better. Yeah, Ed. Yeah, it's not gonna thrash, but it's a really good album.
Yeah. Yeah, let me know what you think. I thought it was a quite a good album when it was released. I mean, it just shows you how many great albums are released during the year, because if they don't make your top 10, it doesn't mean to say that they're not a good album. And yeah, it's a very listable album. It's good rock, you know, rocking tracks on. So yeah, it's good. Yeah, my first list that I made, and I just went through the albums that I liked out of last year, I had, I think 58 albums.
And I was like, holy crap, how am I gonna pair down 58 albums to 10? And so I, you know, I did like a first cut, got it down to 18, and then kind of went down from there. And as Victor can testify, I had three number 10s that ended up did not making the list because I think I had two number sevens. So yeah, it was it was a very difficult thing to make a top 10 out of this really good music this year. Yeah, definitely. I mean, I had, I think I had like 20, 25 albums.
And then in the end, earlier today, I just sat there and thought, okay, which of these albums am I going to listen to? Or what songs off of these albums am I going to listen to consistently in the next few years? So that's where, where my mind went with my voting. My criteria was how, what did I listen to the most? Which of these albums that I listened to the most? Right. As you know, I'm always listening to new music for yard metal.
And it's I can't just keep listening to the same album over and over because I keep getting new music and I have to listen to that. And all of my top 10 albums, I probably listened to at least five times each. Wow. Top five a lot more than that. So okay. Okay, Brad, since this, oh, go ahead, Ed, I'm sorry. Brad. So I've, you know, I've never spent one cent on Winger, but I'm kind of interested in Kip Winger.
He's a interesting fellow and he was interviewed for that documentary they did on Hulu or something about that. Yeah. Do you know what I'm talking about? Yeah. I haven't seen it though, but I know what you're talking about. And that's where I learned that he also has this classical music career, which I love that too. And I'm very interested to hear. And he's apparently composed a lot of classical music, right? Yeah, he's got a new one.
He's got a new one coming out this next year, a classical album with the, I think the Nashville Philharmonic or something like that, but I haven't listened to any of that. So can you tell that that affected the newer music that he's doing? And maybe might even be why some people are giving that, or hearing some of the prog things. I'm interested to hear the record actually. I am going to listen to it. Yeah. I think it's still pretty much a rock album.
I don't know that the classical stuff really drifted into that. I don't know how he can't, you know, pull influence from other stuff that he's writing into what he's writing. Like the songwriting, I would think. Yeah. Yeah. I need to listen to one of his classical albums, but that's a hard listen for me sometimes, but who knows? Maybe I'll really like it. That's right. Yeah. Well, he seems like an interesting fellow. He'd be a cool guy to sit down and have a beer with. Let's do it.
Yeah, we should. He lives closer to you than me. But I'd come out for that. Yeah, interestingly enough, Brad, I've heard people say exactly what Ed just said, that his classical music is creeping into what he's done on this album. Yeah. And well, for starters, he's got three guitarists throughout the album. Wow. Yep. And then also from some behind the scenes stuff that I've been told, I won't divulge my source, decibel geek. Yeah, I was going to say it had to be somebody in Nashville.
Yeah. Members didn't really care for the album because of that. Interesting. It kind of felt that it was more of a Kip solo album than it was a full band release. Yeah, that's what it does certainly sound like that. But I mean, Reb obviously has, I mean, he wrote a lot of the previous couple of Winger albums. He wrote the music for them because Kip was busy with his other stuff. And so they're more rocking. But Reb obviously has more outlets for his music now.
I mean, probably not writing anymore for Whitesnake, but he certainly wrote a lot on that last Whitesnake album. And you know, with Black Swan. Yeah. He's on Black Swan, isn't he? Yeah. Yeah. So, you know. Brad, real quickly, can you run down your top 10? Do you remember? Do you want me to run it down for you? Yeah, you run it down. I left all my massive list at home. So, okay. So here's the good list because like Brad said, he sends to me multiple times. So at 10, it is tempt by tempt.
Yeah. I got to say one quick thing about that because it's probably not going to make any of this list is that if you're a Def Leppard fan, this is the album you've been waiting for. You've been waiting for 30 years to hear because that Def Leppard won't do. You should check this out. If you're a Def Leppard guy, you're going to love this album, especially Hysteria era. But in these guys, I mean, I don't know if you remember when Mark interviewed the singer for this band quite a while ago.
I mean, they were in their young 20s at that time. Who knows how old they are now, but they're just kids by art, by my standards, they're kids and they're rocking. I mean, guitars, the songs are really good. The playing is really good. The production's great. So yeah, if you like that kind of thing, get this album. It's self-titled. Go on. What are they called again? Tempt. T-E-M-P-T. And that's the title of the album as well. I had to get them. Yeah, they're New York guys.
They're in New York City. I'll check that out. Yeah, check that out. Let me know what you think. Okay. At nine, you've got Stereotypical by Roxanne and Metal Dan, I'm sure, Jammed Out 20. Yeah, that's a shout out to Metal Dan because he got me to listen to these guys and this album. I mean, there's a lot of Queen influence in the instrumentation, especially the guitars, and it's just a solid rock album. There's a really cool song with Doug Pinnock singing duet with him while alternating parts.
They got a video for it too, which I think is called Only A Phone Call Away. It's a great, I mean, lyrically, it's a great song. And yeah, everybody needs to know, we're only a phone call away, all right? Okay. I'm here for all you guys. I mean, that's anybody watching this right now. I'm only a phone call away. Give me a call. That's a great album. Brad missing his poison control days. Yeah, I do miss them. Let's see at number eight, King's Crown with Closer To The Faith or Closer To The Truth.
Excuse me. Yeah, I have Jeremy to blame for this one because he he hit me to it. And I've listened to this several times and it's solid stuff. And I was trying to figure out without looking where these guys are from. And I thought maybe this is a UK band because there's some of these UK bands who are going for more classic rock type sound, but they're not UK band. They're Swedish. So and they don't sound like a Swedish band to me, but they're really, really good.
I mean, it's just your classic rock kind of stuff. Big guitars, Hammond, Oregon and great singing. Yeah, the singer is great. So a really good solid album. Okay. At seven, Rock City Music Co. with Rock City Music Co. Yeah, I just stumbled across these guys from one of their videos popped up on my YouTube feed. This is the cover of Bob Seger's Ramblin Man. And I was like, these guys are kicking the crap out of this. And so I checked out the album. I don't know if it's a full album or not.
It seems pretty short. And it's just solid. Just I mean, there's nothing new here, boys and girls. But maybe it is new because there's not people rocking like this right now. But you go back to the 70s and give everybody a Red Bull. And that's what you're going to get right here. Guitars and great singing. And just yeah, yeah, it's the funnest, the funnest album out there right now. Okay. Number six, a band from Poland that you saw live Riverside with ID Entity. Yeah, this is a great album.
This is a great band. They've always been kind of they're very much in the porcupine tree land. I mean, they're really close to what those guys are doing, but they kind of got their own spin on it. I saw these guys last year in a club in Salt Lake, and it was they were just mind blowing. The singer plays bass, unbelievable bass playing bass tone. Of course, that speaks to me. But they were just good, man. It was fun.
It was a I mean, the keyboard player was kind of the guy to watch in the whole thing. And I mean, how many bands can say that? Because most bands, the keyboard player is absolutely nothing to watch. It's like, we should have just rolled tapes for that. But yeah, these guys are really, really good. And I like I'm glad they're picking up steam. They've been around for a long time now. So yeah, get Yeah, check that out. If you're if you even slightly like porcupine tree, check these guys out.
That's a great album. Okay. At number five, Jericho by Last in Line. Yeah, I know, Victor, you got your problems with these guys. But I don't know that that's purely musical or something else. But I really like this album. I know you said you kind of felt when you first listened to it anyway, it didn't quite scratch it for you. Their second album, I thought was just OK, not quite up to par with the first album. But I'm kind of liking this one actually more than the other two. So there you go.
Here's here's here's my rebuttal to that. Yes, I got to hear these songs live, though. I'm hoping they're going to be doing some shows next year. So it seems like their paths and mine hardly ever crossed. OK, I'm going to skip over number four because that's something that we'll talk about later. I actually picked one that made the top list. OK, go number three. Yeah, it's partly your fault, Brad. Number three is the Winger album, which we just discussed. Number two, it has it has a note.
Should I read the entire note out, Brad? Go on. Read it. Yeah, go ahead. It is UDO Touchdown. And he adds, Jeremy is wrong about this one. So wrong. Oh, my gosh, you're so wrong. Yeah, I'm about to go. Johan here. No, tell me why. Well, I'll tell you why, OK, because when I heard your review of it before I even heard the album, I was like, oh, well, that's too bad that it's just kind of a so so album. I put it on to pick out some songs to play on your argument.
I'm like, OK, yeah, that first one was really good. Second, wow, that was really good. Third one. Wow, that was really good. Fourth one. That was really good. What the hell is Jeremy talking about? These are all really good songs. The only song I really kind of was like on was the last one, Touchdown, the title track. I still don't know why these guys. I mean, they're all well, mostly German. There's a Russian in there somewhere.
Why they're why they've got an American football theme on this album. Why? That makes no sense at all. Sure. Yeah. Selling the band to America. No, that's the thing. They're not popular in America. But that's not at all. They can't even get arrested unless they're playing Princess of the Dawn and Balls to the Wall. That's the only way they're going to get a gig here. Right.
But they're figuring that if they do a football themed album and anthem, that somehow they're going to get played in some podunk town, you know. So that's that's it. And is Udo's son, I know he's German, but has he spent maybe more time in the States than he has in Germany? I don't know. No, no, he hasn't. No, he's he's German. He's a good dude. And I like him a lot. Yeah. Check out the interview with Udo and Sven on the Yard Metal YouTube page.
Check out the interview where I talked to both those guys. Those guys are so damn cool. So nice. And just it was it was fun chatting with them. Yeah. So yeah, if you're if you're a metal guy, if you're a rock guy and this is an album that you don't even have to work hard to listen to because they're not again, they're not doing anything new here, kids. It's just metal by numbers. And they're doing it really, really well. It sounds great. The playing is great. And Udo is Udo's Udo. There you go.
Jeremy, go ahead. What were you going to say? I was just going to say the only problem that I have with it is not that the songs aren't particularly great. It's the fact that they've released so many albums that they are starting to sound the same. That's the only problem I have with it. You know, you could you could buy one of his albums or the band's album, you know, in the past five or six albums and just have one of them. You know, this is what I'm saying. They're very, very similar.
And he tries to force a lot of songs onto each album as well, which gives me the impression that, you know, they're just it's not it's not that they don't sound great. You know, you can listen to any single album on its own and you can enjoy it. I can understand why you enjoy it. It's great stuff. But in fact, I'm thinking that except to get him very like that as well, very similar because they keep releasing album after album after album and they start to sound very, very much the same.
That's the only thing I've got a problem with it. It's not, you know, I think that's a fair argument, although I, you know, unlike except in their their albums sounds so much the same. I think they're using the same producer on every album. So yeah, they do run together. It's not like all of a sudden this album sounds different. I'm going to tell you right now, touchdown, I think sounds a little different. Well, it's actually sounds a bit different, a bit different than previously.
So give it give it another listen next time you're in the car. Next time you're in the car and you want to piss your wife off or that's usually what pisses Shelley off is if she has a Udo quotient, it's like she'll only do like one song an hour and a thing. Cool and your number one is Magnus Carlson's. Matt's Carlson. Matt's Carlson. Okay. Yes. That's my number one. And I'm sure that and the only reason it's my number one is because I've listened to this album so much. I just love it.
It's a great rock album, but it's not just all rock and the songs are written really well and even though it's got the was it big yellow cab or whatever cover that I'm not a real fan of that song. It's done quite well and I'm not a lyric guy, but his lyrics are just fantastic. But it's just it is a great, great rock album and it doesn't sound like anything else that anybody else is doing right now. I think it does have its own flair to it.
So yeah, that's your assignment America, Europe, Asia down under the whole thing is listen to this album. Give it one spin. Let me know what you think. What's that one called again? It's called mood elevator. Right. Okay. Yeah. I don't have the scoop on what he's what he's going out with that. There's a song on their mood elevator, but I think it's about elevating your mood. Yeah, it's a real positive album, which that always makes me happy too. Yeah. Okay. And he's Swedish. So there you go.
Check. He's a he's a guitar player from 220 volt. Super good dude. I'm gonna find an interview with him also on my on the yard metal YouTube page. Great guy. Excellent. All right. So let's move on here with the list at number four band from my home state of New Jersey. It is overkill with the album scorched. And did you get a chance to listen to this album? Yeah I've listened to it even today. But it's I've had a hard time getting into this one.
I think maybe metal Dan was making that point to you know it sounds for production wise it sounds just as great as the other ones. But I think the songs to start grabbing me as much as the last few records. And there's one song on there called Bag of Bones that iTunes keeps playing over and over again and I'm kind of sick of that because it's got a funny riff to it. But it's like you know it's good overkill. I don't really know what to say about it.
I don't know why I'm not liking it as much as the others. But I'm guessing it's just the songs aren't having the hooks that I'm you know that grab me. But you know everybody's different. Everyone else might like this one better than the ones prior to it. Right Jeremy you're nodding your head. I absolutely totally agree with that. We must have listened to it with the same ears because I find I'm thinking exactly the same. I tried it three or four times.
I don't know what it is about it that I don't it doesn't hit me. It doesn't I don't feel it like I felt some of the previous ones. And you know I'll listen to one or two tracks and I think yeah they're OK. They're good. The production's fine on it. It sounds like overkill. There's no you know there's no difference. But yeah I think it must be the songs. The songs are not hitting me. One thing that does capture my attention are some of his guitar solos.
Like in the videos that you posted Victor his guitar solos are pretty amazing. Right. So I think that may be one reason why I do keep listening to the songs because I'm listening to him play. Well just so you guys know this album didn't make my top 10 and it's the first overkill album to not make my top 10 because I'm of the same opinion of the two of you guys. It's got two or three OK songs on it but it just isn't as strong as the last few.
I think they really hit their stride with trying to think of the album that had the green and the black on it. But I think from that album onward really they kind of reinvented themselves and kind of hit a new stride. And this album just kind of doesn't have the songs that these last four or five albums have had. So I agree with you guys. Yeah this might make my top 10 either. I actually thought it was an OK album but obviously some people liked it because it made our list.
So yeah a few people did vote for it. Those people need to be here. We're here to talk about that one. Yeah. Tell us where we're on. He's going to blast us later isn't he? Quite possible. Ed do you want to run down your top 10 real quick here? You want me to read that? Do you have them in front of you? I do. So a new one for me that I've really enjoyed and I think I'm saying it right. Earn? You are in me? I've never heard anybody speak the band's name so I could be making it up.
Oh I've fumbled over that when I'm reading off the new releases. So yeah I believe it's Earn. So they're kind of like if you look them up on Wikipedia or something they'll be called a sludge metal band. I didn't get that impression listening to this record but I can hear that. They're very eclectic mix of styles which is one of the reasons why I like it. My favorite bands as time goes on as the years go by are bands that are doing some you know mixing genres together.
Kind of like what thrash metal did but these bands are doing it on a whole other level you know including thrash. So this band here they're heavy, they're sludgy. I mean it's heavy metal though it's that heavy where you'll be I'll be driving down the road banging my head to their riffs and they keep changing the songs up in ways that keep you interested and every song I've heard has been like that. Very good stuff. Okay. Dyeth? Did I say that one right? Yeah. Yeah that was great.
That's the one with Ellison in there playing bass. I don't know what they're going to continue to do in the future but that record by itself was really good. It's got a lot of good heavy groovy stuff kind of like a it's kind of it's not total thrash metal but it's kind of you know it's heavier than just heavy metal. It's got some thrash and death metal influences. Another new one for me was the Mystical Hot Chocolate Endeavors. That is a very interesting record. Yes it is.
Yeah and it sounds beautiful and it sounds heavy at the same time. Another eclectic bit of music I guess you could say to where you know there'll be a kind of it'll kind of be a mellow track and he's got a beautiful voicing and some beautiful melodies and they kind of layer it with different sounds and then it turns into something very heavy you know kind of post hardcore post metal with some hardcore vocals you know.
So the songs always kind of build to a point I guess you could say and they leave you satisfied when you're done hearing it. That band name kind of sounds like one of the enema calls I've had. I didn't think to describe it that way but yeah interesting. Enforce put out another good record you know it sounds just like the other two the way it's produced you know they're like doing the same thing every time but it's still it's still a good jam.
You know Cannibal Corpse came out with a new record and you know I'm not like disappointed in the album but I'm disappointed that I'm not liking it more. I was so excited to hear this one but this you know it's still death metal but it's more on the slower heavier sludger side and it still has you know a lot of fast you know death metal beats but when you compare it to some of their earlier records like the one before at Violence Unimagined I liked a lot better.
We talked about Angelus. Is Evile on the list? Yeah Evile is on your list. Am I the only one that picked them? They're not on the top they're not in the top 10? No they're not in the top 10. Man that album there is amazing and it's funny because they apparently just pulled a Metallica and did like a black album thing. You know they're a thrash metal band with this record yeah they slowed it down they're doing heavier jugger songs that are more like Metallica when they did the black album. Right.
I'll tell you what if Metallica's black album had sounded like this I would have still been a Metallica fan because this album man whoever produced it did a wonderful job. It sounds big and heavy but it's still kind of like in your face in the speakers. When you listen to the black album it's got that huge booming stadium sound but you kind of feel like you're somewhere in the stadium. With this one it's got that same big sound but it's a little more in your face.
I like his vocals a lot better than listening to James sing. How do you spell the name of this band though? I gotta check this out. What did you say? How do you spell the name of the band? I want to check this out. E-B-I-L-E. Oh I think I heard one of these on Victor's Patreon. Yeah I posted a couple videos off of this album. So that was great. Which by the way, Patreon, Victor's Patreon, only two dollars a month and you get to hear all this new music every day sends out new music.
And the last two, Dying Fetus, loving that record, it's just a good old classic throwdown death metal, you know kind of on the thrashy side. Not overproduced but still big heavy throwdown sound. If you like that just good old classic as heavy as you can get death metal without it being just a thousand miles an hour the whole time, you'll like that. And then number one for me was the Cattle Decapitation.
And I think that was on a lot of people's number ones in the extreme metal reviews that I've seen. You know it's produced great, it's got and actually this is kind of new for me too and I'm going to start going into their back catalog because I hear they've got other records that are as good as this one. But you know this is an eclectic mix of extreme metal styles. It's you know black metal flavored death metal I guess you could say.
They keep you know changing the beats and the tones and the vocals go back and forth between death and black metal and that kind of thing. And then they'll have some breakdowns you know that have you kind of moshing around the living room. So it's number one on my list. So I think that covers all ten for me. Yeah I'm trying to see here if there's anything else that you had on here that you didn't mention. Metal oculips? Did I have that on there? Yeah yeah yeah Death Clock is the other one.
I didn't expect to like that one so much but every time I'm hearing a tune off of that one even today it's a good jam. That metal oculips. Yeah I think I might even buy that vinyl if I keep enjoying that as much as I have. Very cool. Great. So back to the the list here the overall votes and coming in at number three a band that Ed just mentioned a few different times. It is Metallica with 72 seasons. Jeremy this one was high on your list give us your run down on this one.
Yeah I was really looking forward to hearing this after the last couple of albums and I thought it was I thought it was slightly better overall. I thought they got their mojo back a little bit on this one. You've got to play it loud. They got you know a fair selection of tracks on there. I thought they kept them fairly tight as well rather than you know having too many songs that went on and on which they've done on previous albums which helps.
There's nothing particularly new on it you know they're probably playing what they've played you know over the last three or four albums.
You know they're rehashing some of the riffs and you know they got into that groove that style that they've been doing on previous stuff but I thought overall it was great you know there was some catchy stuff on there but there's some stuff that a bit of a deeper listen and it was very typical Metallica and it was really well produced nicely finished with the vinyls you know the vinyl stuff was excellent that they came out with but you
know you'd expect that from a top band and it was it was up there for me as one of the one of the better albums of the year. Excellent anyone else want to mention something about this album? It's the first Metallica album I've ever bought. Is it? Okay. Yeah and I agree I think it's I think it's an enjoyable listen. Yeah every time one of these songs comes up on Yard Melk's and playing a few of them I'm like yeah this is pretty good. That's Metallica nice. So yeah good album.
Ed anything to say about 72 Seasons? About the same as I told you earlier in the year I like the songs that you put videos of like the first three tracks they released they were kind of thrashy after listening to the album you know when it was released I've not been able to enjoy it much.
I'm still listening to it you know seeing what might catch me and what doesn't but it's kind of like the overkill it's just the songs aren't catching me as well this time as I think I enjoyed Hardwired quite a bit better. I know you didn't like that one as much but yeah for me it's the opposite I like Hardwired a lot better. I still prefer Death Magnetic over both of them. Well I do too that yeah for sure.
Yeah you know I really like this album when it came out and this is one of these that after listening to the other stuff that ended up being on my top 10 it just didn't make my top 10. Like you said Ed I think the first three songs they released are probably the strongest off of the album and there's maybe two others that I kind of like but the rest is I don't know I was listening to this album the other day and my first thought was they've become Motorhead.
Yeah you know the album kind of you know and that's not a bad thing you know the album is steady it's consistent but it also really doesn't have anything outside of those like five songs that really jumps out at me to say oh yeah okay I can listen to this one over and over again. You know they're cool riffs cool parts the songs but just something there that you know I want something more and that's not to say again that there isn't stuff off of this or hardwired that I enjoy.
I have a playlist that I kind of put together that actually has songs off of the last three albums off of Death Magnetic, Hardwired and 72 Seasons and I think combining what I feel is the best off of those three you get a good mix of songs.
I think a lot of these songs you know the ones that are kind of you know mid it's you know there'll be riffs that sound good at first and get kind of bored like I feel like the song starts off it sounds great and then James starts singing and because they're long songs it's like okay we're about to spend a whole bunch of time listening to him you know sing over the same riff for a while and then I just get bored and I'm sorry I love
Kirk I respect the guy big time but I just I never get excited for the guitar solo that's coming up because it's usually just a wah-wah shreddy thing that just I don't know it's just not like listening to what Dave Mustaine puts together you know when it comes to guitar solos and yeah. So there's not much there to keep me in the song you know and the song kind of stays that tempo to the end you know there's not you know something to get excited about towards the end you know.
And that's another good point because I think with Death Magnetic he kind of had to prove that they were wrong to not have any solos on St. Anger so he kind of went out of his way to do really good solos on Death Magnetic but I think everything's been kind of vanilla since then they've like you're saying it's just a solo with some wah and hearing him on their podcasts say oh well I'm not gonna play this solo note for note anymore I'm just
gonna play whatever comes to mind every night and I'm thinking well that solo kind of was boring so that doesn't surprise me you know and I'm hoping that whatever he supplants it with is better than the snooze fest that ended up on the album. And yet this album is number what on our list? Three. Number three. But I mean here's the thing and this is something that I read somebody say years ago Metallica could literally put out an actual turd and I think they didn't they do that with St. Anger?
Well they did it with Lulu. Oh yeah I would say Lulu is more. I would say there were a few turds on that. Yeah. Lulu was a whole pile of crap. But again how many millions did that sell? Yeah I don't think anyone had heard it. Yeah well true but that's my point. I think that just given the sheer magnitude of this band and how many people love this band people are still gonna vote for them. People are still gonna give this album a shot in anything that they release a shot.
So I have a question for you guys. So since you guys are big Metallica fans do you think that kind of makes it more difficult for a new album to impress you? Yeah. Whereas for me who's not a big Metallica fan I can listen to this album and go yeah this is pretty good this is fun. I like it.
That happens in general because I think the Slayer album that I like the most is World Painted Red and it's one of their latter albums where I think a lot of people a lot of die hards don't like the album you know they pan it and will only focus on their early part of their career. Why do I like that album? Well because I don't have preconceived notions from the first few albums and I think that's kind of the same with this. You've really not been into Metallica before.
This is the first one that kind of grabbed you. So you know you're more lenient with what's on there as a result. Now if it was a Blue Oyster Cult album and it's nowhere near as good as Secret Treaties then then all of a sudden you're crapping on the album or you're kind of talking about the album the same way that we're talking about this album. Yeah that's a fair point. Yeah. They've only got one album that I'm kind of rag on but we won't go into that now.
I was going to say something about all of this stuff but I was going to say you know Jeremy if you hadn't listened to all those other Udo albums you'd like this new one better. See that? It's the same kind of thing. Jeremy do you want to run down your list? Yeah so I had Elegant Weapons number 10, Horns for a Halo which obviously Richie Falkner's first attempt at a solo album and I thought it was a good one.
I thought it was you know I wouldn't say it was a classic album but I really liked a lot of the songs on it. We know that Ronnie Romero was singing on it but I thought he did a pretty good job on it really considering you know it's a bit heavier than some of the stuff that he does so yeah that was good. Number nine was Mammoth WVH with number two. Thought that was really good. Thought that was very classy sounding. Whether I'll play it a lot I don't know.
You know I've played it a few times this year but whether you know this is a good test isn't it because you have to go years ahead to look back on stuff and think would you still rate them in the same way. Number eight was The Answer, the Northern Irish band which I followed through their whole career. I thought they had a bit of a dip in the last few albums particularly I think it was the last one called Solis which was quite poor.
This one I thought was a bit more of a return to form so I think I was comparing it to that one called The Sundowners and I liked it you know there's some good songs on that. Number seven was Buck Cherry, volume 10. A band I've come to really really like. I like a lot of their stuff. Very good rock and roll band. And you know maybe some fans would say well they're going to compare this album to that album but I took it for what it was and really liked it.
Number six we already talked about which was The Raven album. And then number five I put LA Guns with Black Diamonds. This is a band that the Victor actually got me into. Sorry I was just reading a small comment there which I've taken on board. So yeah Victor got me into LA Guns because I'd never really followed them very much or I probably did hear them and never really got into them properly. But I have got into them and I really like this album. I think it's good.
They show a lot of quality in their songwriting and they're a little bit different to some of the you know the mainstream stuff that comes out. I can't say it's their best album that I've heard by them but you know it was a good listen. We're going to skip number four and then so number three is the Alcatraz album Take No Prisoners. There's a couple of reasons to like this. I mean I obviously like the vocals on it which is Doogie White doing the vocals and I love Joe Stump's guitar playing.
I just think that they write on this particular album. I think it's probably the best Alcatraz album since the early days. And really great songs. Looking forward to seeing them next year. They're playing with Raven, Girl School and Air Race all in one show. So that's really good. And that's the one actually that I've played the most this year. So maybe that should have been my number one but we'll get to my number one after and we'll talk about it and it was probably better.
And then number two is Port Metallica. And I missed off that list a few others. Just give a couple of very very quick mentions to a few others. I did rate the Evil album that Ed mentioned. I also rated the Anthem album Crimson and Jet Black. I really like that. Quite like the Alice Cooper album. It's very typical Alice stuff. Very much like the Night Demon album Outsider. Your Eye Heap. It's a great album. Yeah. And that's about it really.
Yeah, that was the Night Demon was one of Brad's several number tens. So yeah, it was. I wanted so badly to get it in there because it's such a really good album. You know, anybody listening to this, if Jeremy says listen to something, listen to it. He's never wrong except for when it comes to Udo. Other than that, Jeremy's totally on point, man. He's got great ears. Those albums were on my list that didn't quite make the top 10 just because I didn't listen to him enough.
But they're all stellar. So can't go wrong with any of Jeremy's recommendations. There's also one other, but I'm going to leave that to the very very passing comment right at the end before we say goodbye. So leave that one. There's one more. Okay. So at number two, Jeremy and I share our number one for the year. And it is Rival Sons with Dark Fighter. Jeremy, you were going to say something about this album before I said don't talk about it. So did you just miss number two out though?
I thought it was Metallica number three and then... Metallica's three. Number two is Rival Sons. Oh, two is Rival Sons. Okay. So it's two. It was our number one. It was our number one. Right. You threw me. Okay. Fine. Overall, it is number two. Yeah. Yeah. I think this is equivalent to Led Zeppelin IV, this album. I think if this was released instead of Led Zeppelin IV at the same time, we'd be talking about this as a classic album. It is almost perfect. It's their best album.
I think there's only eight tracks on it and maybe they could have swapped one track off the second album that came just after it. I think they ruined it by having these two albums come out in the same year. They shouldn't have done that. They should maybe even have made it a nine, 10 track album. But it's just a great thing. I mean, it just shows the quality of the musicianship, the songwriting. They're a sellout here in the UK now.
It's hard to get a ticket in time to go and see them because they're such a good band. They are the new Led Zeppelin. They are the new Bad Company. We all have to sort of follow other bands. The very last track on the album, which I think is that one called, is that Lightbringer, that one? It might be the title because they swap around the title tracks of the albums, I think, don't they? I can't remember what it's called now, the very last song on side two. It's a very long one.
It's their Stairway to Heaven. It's just an unbelievable listen. It's so brooding. It builds. It has very heavy parts. It's an incredible track. I think Vitz is going to find it. One second. Yeah, it would be nice if I could hear. I should have brought my copy down with me. It's quite a long track. Last track is, this might be out of order for me, is Dark Side? Dark Side, that's it. Yeah, because I think they've got a song, Dark Fighter, on the Lightbringer album. Yes, correct.
Yeah, okay, so Dark Side. There's other great songs on there. Mirrors is a fantastic song. There's the one, is it the Horses? Is it Horses Breath? Horses Breath, yes. Horses Breath is a great song. I mean, there's not much you can say about it. You've just got to listen to it. It's a very, very varied album as well. Very light lead Zeppelin 4, where you're going to listen to different tracks, some folky ones, some heavy ones. What do you think, Victor? I agree.
I agree with everything that you've said. I mean, this album just captivated me from the first time that I listened to it, as much like the Winterfall album, or Witherfall. Witherfall. Yeah, Witherfall. I'm mixing Game of Thrones again. But yeah, it was much the same where I heard it. And I was like, wow, this is good. It sounds tight.
It sounds, you know, and I think I get why they released two different albums, because I think Dark Fighter is more of a 70s rock album, where the other album, damn it, I can't see the title now. The other one is Lightbringer. Yeah, Lightbringer is more of a 60s album. It really has a lot of 60s elements to it, like the song Mercy, the song Redemption as well. They're very 60s. There's more of a pop element to those songs, in my opinion.
Not to say that it's full on pop, but it's more of like the Who as opposed to, or like the Razzberries as opposed to Zeppelin and Bad Company is what I'm trying to get at. It has everything. It has everything. And it's, you know, we talked about this last week, how we're kind of sick of hearing all the same Zeppelin songs all the time. Well, this is like the perfect thing to supplant that, where it's something in the vein, which is really, really good.
And I mean, they're not the only band doing this kind of stuff. You mentioned the Answer before, but that album by the Answer is nowhere near as good as this, not all the way through. And any band that I can make up, Blackberry Smoke, or what did I say, Black Cherry Smoke the One Time. So yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's a mix of Jay Buchanan on vocals and Scott Holliday is a fantastic guitarist. I mean, he's the new Jimmy Page. He's kind of like a Jimmy Page, the Edge kind of guitar player.
You got those little bits into his playing that it's only him. And when you've got those like little unique sounds, you create a new thing. Yeah. Yep. I agree with you. So if you want to check out my top 10, that's actually going to be the Patreon podcast that I'm going to do this weekend. That gives me some material for that. So I can expand upon that and some of the others that I checked out. So another reason to check out Patreon. All right. So our number one.
Again, I thought that this album was really good when I first listened to it. The first person that came to mind was Dee Snider because I think a lot of his last two solo albums sound a lot like this album, in my opinion. This got the most votes overall. It was voted by more people than any other album. So it is Alive by Robin McCauley. I don't even know what that is. Explain it to me. Go ahead, Jeremy, explain it.
Yeah. So Robin McCauley, you know, the lead vocalist has been in the Michael Schenker group recently. I saw him live actually a few months back, front in the band. He's done a few solo albums and this is his latest solo. It's a really fantastic mix of classic hard rock sounding, very melodic. But he's written some really good songs and he performs them very well. And it's just a great album. We liked it from the off and I think we all still like it, who bought it or are playing it.
And yeah, I really enjoy it. I think he's a good vocalist. I think he's one of the best ones that Michael Schenker's ever had. And he's not a young man. He's getting on a bit and yet he can still produce a really good album like this. Yeah. And the songs, which is where I draw a lot of similarities to the Dee Snider albums. I mean, look, it's not Jamie Josta writing them or producing them, but the songs are heavier than what I expected them to be.
They're heavier than the stuff he's done with Schenker over the years and the stuff that he's known for doing in Black Swan and all of that stuff. So this to me was an album that I thought, just another Frontiers album, not going to be that great. And then I listed and I'm like, shit, this is good. This is better than a lot better than what I had expected. So it also passes the Ed test, Ed was saying, it's hard to listen to an album all the way through at the beginning of this conversation.
But this is an album you can play all the way through. You'll enjoy it. You just play it from one track to the next and keep it going. There you go. Brad, want to mention anything about this album? No, it made my top 10. And yeah, it's a solid album. It's very, very enjoyable. And Robin, I don't know how I think he sounds vocally better now than he did back in the old Michael Schenker days, back in the 80s. I think he sounds just fantastic.
He's really taking good care of his voice and he's just a real likable dude too. So it's good to see good people making good albums and having some success. You just wonder how much longer he can keep doing. I think he just turned 70. He looked good live. He still looks fresh and enjoying himself. When you see Glenn Hughes out there, he's a similar age and they all look great. We don't all age the same. So yeah, it's a good album.
So if you haven't listened to it, you should definitely listen to this one. You know, real quickly there, Brad, you just mentioned something real interesting about albums not aging the same or what not or bands not aging. Just a real quick point. Just remember, Kansas, the greatest American rock band of all time. Yeah, I really screwed up because I meant to open up my portion of the show by saying, if you guys already talked about the new Kansas album, but there isn't one.
And I messed it up too, because instead of mentioning the Macaulay album, I was actually going to mention Kansas' first album. The greatest album cover ever right there. We all know. Yeah, this is a mural from the Capitol, isn't it? The Capitol, I believe. Yes. The Capitol. Topical. I actually saw a documentary on those guys that was actually quite interesting and fascinating. But yeah, their music, their last album, which everybody raved about, I bought it.
And I don't know, there's some good parts to it, but it's a bit of a snooze fest for me. I don't know. Not as good as this one? No, that album right there, that'll go down in history as the greatest American rock band album. Oh, man. All right. So anyway, I'm going to go ahead and get started. If only Blues Saraceno played on there, that would have put it way over the top. Yeah. We will hopefully be revisiting that shortly. We'll see. Oh, please, please. What's he up to nowadays anyway?
Come on, Blues, where are you? He's a producer. He's playing. He's a producer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's played on album. Ziggy Marley and like some other like pop stuff as well. He's not what you would expect. All right. Hey, look, there's Edgar. Edgar Winteson. Can we start over? Yes, we can. Now that you're here, we've been waiting for you, Edgar. Where have you been? So real quickly before closing out the show at seven, we had Raven with. Let me get back to the graphics here.
Yeah, that's a good album, by the way, the Raven one at seven. Raven with all hell's breaking loose. Love that great bass stuff on there. Six, Angela, Patrida with Aftermath. Five, an album called Seven by Winger. Four, Scorched by Overkill. Three is 72 Seasons by Metallica. Two is Dark Fighter by Rival Sons. And number one, Robin Macaulay with Alive. So I do want to thank everyone that joined us tonight. I do want to thank Sean and now Edgar, who is in the chat.
I do want to thank Ed, Jeremy and Brad for being here tonight as well. Hey, it works. You finally got it to work, Brad, after persisting. I thought it only worked in Utah. I mean, in Idaho. Now it works in Utah. See that? Yeah. So and real quickly, I do want to just run down my patrons since it is the last show of the year. We have Chris from Despo Geek. We have Tony Espin. We have Anthony Mackey, who has a show with the Middle Ages tonight. We have Johan up in Sweden. He's wrapping presents.
We have Jose in Connecticut. We have Gabriel in Rue. Gabriel in Rue, as Gabriel in New Jersey. We have Mike Jones, who is also in New Jersey. We have Steve Hoker, who is also in New Jersey. And right next door to New Jersey is Steven Saylor in Pennsylvania. So I do want to thank all my patrons for all of their support this year. It means a lot to me. And the one thing that I like to pride myself on is giving people a voice, allowing people to vote, allowing people to appear here.
There are other shows that maybe have bigger followings and tout that kind of stuff, the little other shows in the process. But at least I do give a shout out to my patrons and not just the same old same old that retweet stuff on the Internet for what it is worth. Edgar, you need to join us. Throwing down the gauntlet 2024. Come on, hang out with us. Edgar, if you join this, you would know who Robin Macaulay is. So that's true. Here you go. Anyway, thank you guys.
Season's greetings. Happy New Year. We'll be back at some point in in January. And I will continue to put out shows on Patreon in the meantime and post stuff on Patreon as well. And there is some exciting stuff in the works. Hopefully will come to fruition. We shall see. So that is all, folks. Thank you so much for joining us tonight and we will see you next time right here on Signals from Mars. See you, folks.