Reviews roundup – Savatage vs. Darren Hayes vs. Andreas Vockrodt vs, Framby & Worner vs. Spiraling Suns
SAVATAGE
Return To Wacken
earMusic
C’mon! It’s Savatage! And they’re back! And they’re going to be playing at Wacken!
Fourteen years on from their last album, and thirteen years of from their last Wacken appearance, and it promises to be a show to remember. “Return To Wacken” is, apparently, based on the setlists of their performances at Wacken Open Air 1998 and 2002. In other words, it’s a greatest hits set. And prog / power metal doesn’t get much better than Savatage at their peak.
Of course, if you’re a fan, you will already own these tunes, so it’s up to you if you want another copy of ‘Hall of the Mountain King’. ‘Gutter Ballet’, ‘Edge of Thorns’ and ‘The Wake of Magellan’, as well as seven other fabulous tunes. However, there is probably a whole generation of metal fans out there, who’ve never experienced the wonder of Savatage, and this is a good place to start.
I’ve only got the vanilla promo, but they do say that the album booklet “gives some real insights into the band with personal memories of Jon Oliva, with rare pictures and press quotes to the two past performances at Wacken Open Air.” So there.
DARREN HAYES
Too Close For Comfort DVD
Absolute
Blimey! Darren Hayes. I’d forgotten all about him. I would have forgotten about Savage Garden as well, if Vintage TV didn’t have that song from Sliding Doors on every bloody day. But they were huge back in the late nineties, when their two albums of pop-lite were global smashes. Goodness knows why they broke up, but rumour has it that the other bloke didn’t know about it until after it was announced in the papers. Hmmm. However, with 23 million albums sold worldwide, you would have thought it would be a dawdle for the singer to strike out on his own, and this concert from his first solo world tour (filmed over three nights in 2002 at London’s Hammersmith Odeon), would make you think that too.
But after a relatively successful debut, it was off to the where are they now file for Mr Hayes. Quite why anyone is going to buy this, who didn’t get it when it came out ten years back is a mystery to me, but maybe there is a secret cabal of Darren Hayes fans waiting to thrust him back into the mainstream.
This package isn’t a straight reissue, though, as it comes with an eight track live CD with songs from the show and a replica of the original tour programme, so there is some novelty value. It’s also the first in a three part series of reissues, so those lonely Savage Garden fans will have something to look forward to.
ANDREAS VOCKRODT
Adventures From Foggyland
independent
Crazy name, crazy guy. Yes, it’s Andreas Vockrodt, the man responsible for the greatest world record in the history of world records. Yes, the one that featured 1802 guitarists playing “Smoke On The Water”.
As befits such a legend, he is also a guitarist and guitar teacher, and you won’t be surprised to learn that the likes a bit of instrumental shred. Of course, that goes with the territory, and on “Adventures From Foggyland” he sets out to show that he can shred with the best of them. There is a lot of metal in there, there is a wee bit of jazz, there is some seventies classic rock, and a lot of the tunes like instrumental version of Queensryche songs.
Which isn’t a bad thing, and he certainly can pick a guitar with the best of them. It’s very listenable, with ‘March of the Spider’, ‘Sergeant Tapper’s Amazing Box of Lulabies’ and ‘The Foggy Waltz’, the best of the bunch to my ears. Fans of instrumental metal will enjoy this, so give it a go.
FRAMBY & WORNER
Mockingbird
independent
And I thought Andreas Vockrodt was a kerrazy name! But they’re probably perfectly normal over there in Germany, whence cometh Messrs Dan Framby und Jochen Wörner.
The former used to be in metal and rock bands such as Ender and Black Honey, the latter was in Montreux, Paradise and Diamond Rain, bagging some support slots with the likes of Wishbone Ash and Girlschool along the way, before going solo. However, they’ve been working together since 2012, and have put out a couple of records prior to this one.
And it sees them looking back to the seventies classic rock sounds of my youth, as they rattle through some excellent tunes like ‘Brotherhood of Rock’, ‘Gim Me Ya Lovin’ and ‘Whole Lotta Woman’, all of which sound exactly as you would expect them to. Herr Framby has a very listenable voice, and there are some excellent performances all round. You’ll probably want to stream before you buy, but give it a go, if you yearn for simpler times.
SPIRALING SUNS
Accidental Truth
Laughing Apsis
Woah! Hippy alert! “The name Spiraling Suns reflects a creative interest in the mythology of ultimate truth and the far-reaching effects of paradigm shift. We often assume the permanence of objects and concepts in a universe in which continual change appears to be the rule. If the Earth fell out of orbit during some unexpected cosmic event, the Sun might appear (in our remaining moments as tiny beings on a small solar satellite) to spiral from the Earth.”
Help ma boab! If that’s how they talk in Michigan, I’ll score it off my bucket list. But each to their own, and if that’s how Nick Petroff (guitar and vocals), Rob Avsharian (drums), and Adam Meindel (bass) roll, then so mote it be. However, they are basically a post grunge band with a large Pearl Jam back catalogue tucked away somewhere. And there is nothing wrong with that, if it’s what floats their boat.
They’re good musicians, and have a couple of good songs tucked away, with ‘One Less Thing’ an excellent way to rock out at the start of the album, and halfway through you get the King’s X alike ‘The Thing Is’, which is by far, the album highlight.
The Rocker - The Artist Formerly Known As Zeitgeist. TAFKAZ 
Leave a comment