Heavy Glow - The Filth and the Fury

If there is such a thing such as reviving the Psychedelic Hard Rock sound of the late ‘60s and ‘70s, then San Diego’s Heavy Glow is right there and here to stay. Following in the footsteps of Blue Cheer, Budgie, Leaf Hound, Black Sabbath, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, they bring the sound to a huge undertaking, and are definitely one of the most surprising bands to come out of the 21st century. The EP, The Filth and the Fury, which was named after the infamous punk band, The Sex Pistols first TV appearance by using foul language on the Bill Grundy show with the headline after their controversial debut, it seems that Heavy Glow have discovered a Time Machine and traveled to the golden-era of heavy psychedelic metal that carry the roots that they are carrying. Recorded in over 6 hour session during the summer of last year, their mission of the reviving Hard Rock and Psych is a glorified tribute: It’s like looking through a telescope and seeing that Black Sabbath have a grown-up son that formed a band that’s kicking plenty of ass.
Amazingly, the opening number I Almost Prayed sounds more like Sir Lord Baltimore rather than the Yardbirds. The guitar solo in the midsection is shredding like crazy which consists a dooming bass line and the pounding drums making it very dramatic and the line “It almost had me next to you” confirms the confrontations of praying to god and the situation of war is going to have a long, long time to find peace. Their blues metallic sound keeps on running with Hendrix-style beauty lukewarm for a sunset summer: Love Ghost has the homage to their hero by making it sound that if Jimi was in the studio to create an eerie emotional sound as Jared Mullins sings his heart out as he goes into a mesmerizing sound as he solos like crazy bluesy psych sound while Joe Brooks is keeping up the beat very good on the bass on some walking lines as drummer Dan Kurtz almost sounding as a Jazz drummer for a brief second then gets back into the Mitch Mitchell mode on the drums to follow Jared wherever he goes.
Hot Mess, perhaps one of my favorite songs and featured on the Classic Rock Back In Black compilation for July of this year, gets very psychedelic as if Led Zeppelin and Budgie had form together to create a dynamic magnetic rocker and almost an underground single for hard rock fans to sink their teeth into. Very rough and humble in the British Rock tribute with a motorcycle guitar intro and then gets into the metallic film score tribute which is shown on YouTube an homage to Blaxploitation icon, Pam Grier, which would have made her very happy and touched for her and the sex symbols of the ‘70s. Now, on the ferocious Bourgeois Baby, imagine Heavy Glow writing music for Quentin Tarantino of a footage of a hot and sexy woman dancing to this music, it would go something like exactly what the song represents to fit the raunchy pounding beats and headbanging till the break of dawn. Part Grand Funk and a little bit Warhorse psych freak-out style.
The last number, Red July, is a boogie number as the bass done by Brooks sounds very much to the Garage Rock sound, but in this sinister number, it’s very much a tribute to The Doors Strange Days-era in a Sci-Fi rockin’ towards the galaxy. This is one hell of an album to buy that reflects Psych and Hard Rock are here to say surrounding the surface to keep on truckin. To boldly go where no fan has gone before. Very Good and Superb up a notch!

My Trip To San Antonio

Hey everybody. I'm back from San Antonio and here are some pictures I took of the Alamo. Now you may ask 'Why you didn't take pictures of the Towers of America?" Well I did originally, but due to the face of fearing heights (Vertigo style), I just couldn't. Sorry to everybody out there. Here are the pictures I hope you get a real kick out of 'em and the streets of San Antonio look out for an Anime pillow at the very end. Notice I didn't take pictures inside of the Alamo due to restrictions (which is cool) I have to take them outside rather than inside. So please check them out! Notice that one of the six flags photos are a little blurred, but it's worth to look at Texas History!

Le Orme - Felona E Sorona

In just six years, Le Orme, who formed in 1966 in Venice, moved away from the psychedelic sound of Ad Gloriam into the beginnings of Italian Symphonic Rock of the ‘70s. It wasn’t until they released this unbelievable concept album that would have made ELP very happy. The story of the piece is about two planets – one planet (Felona), is filled with happiness and joy to peace to the world while the other planet (Sorona) filled with misery, post-apocalyptic cities, plagues similar to Moses, and death.
The Italian trio consists bassist, guitarist and vocalist Aldo Tagliapietra’s dramatic beauty setting the score to this dramatic rock opera as keyboardist Toni Pagliuca blisters the keyboards to give it a driven mode from beauty pastoral orchestral compositions ala Bach style to a dark and moody atmosphere that sets the entire structures while drummer Michi Dei Rossi is doing his Carl Palmer techniques to give it a real kick in the gut throughout the rest of the concept story of Felona and Sorona.
The opening track, Sospesi Nell’Incredible is a perfect example of the band’s sound and the way the mood is set into place like an Overture with a time changing opening piece that has Paglicua setting the instrumental number that sets the space operatic technique as Aldo comes in to give one the unbelievable vocals that begins the musical number along with a groove that is cosmic to begin the album up while Felona, which was released as a single, could have been Italian’s answer to ELP’s acoustic moog love song, From The Beginning. La Solitudine Di Chi Protegge il Mondo (long title isn’t it?) is almost a bridge to the acoustical Felona as the piece becomes an ambient space-like classical sound between Aldo and Toni as they would come up with amazing sounds as Toni himself does a Keith Emerson classical beauty and then it becomes a complex-like journey into ELP territory of the dramatic territory of L’Equilibro. The second side in which you listen to this, think of it as a two-part rock opera with an intermission break, and then coming back to watch the climatic finale as the two planets collide to be together as one.
It has an eerie quality and very much a darker mellow background with the sorrow planet of isolation, Sorona and the exhilarating moog and bass collaboration with an imaginative force turned into a roller-coaster ride. Attesa Inerte, intersperses the crossover of Camel meets VDGG with a bass line, roaring keyboard works, and drums sounding like a clock chiming while it segues into the Haunted House Ghost-like sound of Ritrattio Di Un Mattino. In this piece, it’s Toni doing a Goblin homage on the Synthesizer at first and then it becomes very heavenly when Aldo comes in to bring a melodramatic sound for the planets to come together as the guitar is very calm and very Genesis-Hackett sound to make sure the planets are together instead of seeing who is the best. All ‘Infuori Del Tempo soars through the heavenly solar systems in a pastoral effectiveness that would lay the acoustical folksy symphonic beauty as we get to the climatic finale, Ritorno Al Nulla, that is unbelievably the sinister and dramatic instrumentals with tension and jaw-dropping closing numbers with the instruments duking it out in the prog ring that is the ending of all endings. All this with a Space Rock Opera that would have made Star Wars creator George Lucas bow to his knees for an unbelivable Prog Space Journey? They really brought something to the table here with this concept album.