An AC/DC album always sounds like an AC/DC album! Even if the Australian-British bandmembers are now between 65 and 73 years old, they have no reason to change their formula as its their usual prescription that everybody wants: short, sharp riffs, heavy rock infused with blues, metronomic rhythms, stadium anthems and minimalist, haiku-like lyrics. It could be said that there's a bit of a lyrical revolution going on throughout Power Up: for the first time since Fly on the Wall (1985), none of the twelve tracks contain the word ‘rock’! Is this a sign? Not really… Recorded like its three predecessors in Bryan Adams’ Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, Power Up is AC/DC's first opus since the death of rhythm guitarist Malcom Young in late 2017 (Young had been battling dementia for several months). Already in 2014 for Rock or Bust illness had kept him away from the recording studio with his nephew Stevie filling in for him. It was only right that his younger brother, the brilliant Angus Young, put this 17th album together as a kind of testament to his older brother. "I know Mal's not with us anymore, but he's there with us in spirit. This band was his baby, his life. He was always one [to say], 'you keep going'. He always said, 'If you're a musician, it's a bit like being on the Titanic. The band goes down with the ship.'"Over the course of their 45-year career, the two brothers had always kept skeletons of song ideas and hoards of guitar riffs. These musical treasure troves were instrumental in the conception of Power Up which features riffs written by the late Malcom Young. Having already been at the helm of production for Black Ice (2008) and Rock or Bust (2014), American producer Brendan O’Brien mixed the perfect sound to match the timelessness of the songs. Rarely have we heard such purity and simplicity from AC/DC since Back in Black (1980), with an added efficiency similar to that of the Bon Scott era, as on the single Shot in the Dark. Little to no fat here! Even Brian Johnson holds his mic with more steadiness. Occasionally, the blues spirit of the grandiose Powerage (1978) floats in the air, as does the fraternal and juvenile energy of Highway to Hell (1979). It's true that some tracks are only loosely held together by guitar riffs, ignoring fundamental harmony and melody. However, on the excellent Through the Mists of Time AC/DC really do some exploring, and Demon Fire makes it difficult to stay in your seat! Even if Power Up isn't particularly surprising in what it has to offer, you still have the invigorating feeling of having taken a big slap of Rock’n’Roll electricity straight to the face. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Far Beyond Driven may have been Pantera's fastest selling album upon release, but it's hardly their best. In fact, although it shot straight to the number one spot on the Billboard sales chart in its first week (arguably the most extreme album ever to do so), this incredible feat doesn't so much reflect its own qualities as those of its predecessor, 1992's Vulgar Display of Power. A true landmark by any definition, Vulgar Display had seen the Texan quartet quite literally reinventing the heavy metal wheel in ways not seen since Metallica's rise to fame in the mid-'80s. But when the time came to follow it up, the members of Pantera seemed unsure about how they could possibly top it, so they decided to try and out-heavy themselves, resulting in a less cohesive record which often sacrificed songwriting for outright aggression. Guitarist Dimebag Darrell (recently re-baptized from the far more glam Diamond Darrell) took it upon himself to conjure the heaviest guitar tones imaginable, turning up the volume and dissonance to sometimes painful thresholds with his massive, grinding riffs. As a result, songs like "Becoming," "Shedding Skin," and the particularly vicious "Slaughtered" still stand head and shoulders above most of the heavy metal competition, but only die-hard fans may be able to withstand their systematic sensory bludgeoning long enough to get to the hooks hidden underneath. Indeed, except for wisely chosen first single "I'm Broken," the rest of the material (and especially over-long tracks like "5 Minutes Alone" and "25 Years") generally lacks the iron-fisted discipline and controlled power captured on the band's previous triumphs. Worst of all is probably "Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills," which wanders aimlessly in formless feedback and is topped with vocalist Phil Anselmo in gratuitous, stream-of-consciousness mode -- a sketchy proposition at the best of times. In the end, it's probably the band's need to justifying their faithful cover version of Black Sabbath's gentle "Planet Caravan" in the album's liner notes that sheds the most light on their embattled frame of mind at the time. With or without this evidence, however, the bottom line is that Far Beyond Driven doesn't match the hype -- but it sure proved its weight in platinum at the bank.© Eduardo Rivadavia /TiVo

"...A soul-stirring entity all its own....[carries] an emotional heft that most of today's radio-ready pop ballads would be hard-pressed to match." - Rating: B+ © TiVo

With Figure Number Five, Soilwork continues on the melodic, streamlined path forged on previous platter Natural Born Chaos (which marked a departure from the hectic, At the Gates-style death/thrash of the group's first three releases). Releasing Figure Number Five barely a year after its predecessor, the Swedes apparently struck while the iron was hot, riding the inspired wave of Chaos' songwriting into an even more hook-heavy realm. Immediately noticeable is the conciseness of the songs -- only one surpasses the four-minute mark, the band trimming any unnecessary fat from the arrangements and scoring with several strong, hard jabs and a couple of jaw-busting uppercuts (i.e., "Rejection Role" and "Figure Number Five," the album's most aggressive track that proves Soilwork, despite an increasing emphasis on melody, is still cut from post-death metal cloth), "Light the Torch," and "Brickwalker," although the power ballad (!) "Departure Plan" doesn't quite convince. Vocalist Björn "Speed" Strid sounds more natural transitioning between the thrashy howl of the verses and the clean singing during the choruses, and the neo-prog keyboards mingle well with the carefully constructed riffs, which are compellingly thick and aggressive without being too busy or distracting from the song. Figure Number Five is a thoroughly fresh and exciting record, growing more powerful with each listen, even if death metal purists will bristle at the band's lack of "brutality." Point being, with each successive album, Soilwork is getting even more difficult to categorize, and therefore rising above any genre limitations. (Initial pressings of Figure Number Five came packaged with a bonus CD consisting of six raw, thrash-heavy, and difficult-to-listen-to demo recordings from 1997, which serve to show a seedling of the band's ambition and further illustrate how much the band had progressed over six years.) © John Serba /TiVo

Like some kind of Lovecraftian construct, maddening in its ever-shifting, non-Euclidean nature, I Set My Friends on Fire are a tough band to paint a picture of. With a sound that’s constantly shifting in any and all directions, their second album, Astral Rejection, pushes and pulls listeners in almost every direction at the same time, switching from glitchy electronic to math metal to Auto-Tuned pop not only within the same song, but sometimes within the same minute. What really sets them apart from the ultra-ironic metal-turned-crunk of Brokencyde or the mind-bending electro-metal experiments of Genghis Tron, however, is that there is seldom an attempt to merge all of these things, instead allowing everything to exist in its own world with minimal bleed, giving the impression of a radio that’s pulling in just a hint of another station. In a lot of ways, Astral Rejection feels like a series of tests designed by I Set My Friends on Fire to test the listeners’ endurance by shocking their sensibilities at every turn, and if you can push through the Auto-Tune, you might be surprised by what you find.© Gregory Heaney /TiVo

After the stopgap Blues Pills Live in 2015, the international rock quartet returns with Lady in Gold, a proper sophomore full-length. It also marks the studio debut of drummer André Kvarnström. When the title track single was issued, some fans of the Blue Cheer-meets-Janis Joplin attack on the first album were taken aback by its embrace of rocking soul. Some even went so far as to accuse vocalist Elin Larsson of trying to emulate Adele. Evidently, they'd either forgotten -- or didn't know -- that Adele derived her singing style from Aretha Franklin. Larsson is a rabid Queen of Soul fan. Lady in Gold was recorded in analog over two years with producer-engineer Don Alsterberg. The sound is much warmer, and the writing more varied. It's more reliant on psychedelic R&B than bluesy hard rock. The single opens the set with a pumping piano that recalls the production Norman Whitfield used with the Temptations (think "Friendship Train" circa 1970). Larsson pushes right into the guitars and bassline before soaring above them in the dense mix; she epitomizes the power and expression in the lyrics about death as a woman. The thrumming bassline and distorted wah-wah guitars create a spiraling racket underneath. "Little Boy Preacher" is deeper, heavier. It's a take on psychedelic gospel, with Kvarnström's funky, shuffling backbeats, Larsson's layered backing chorus vocals, and a stinging, fuzzed-out guitar vamp from Dorian Sorriaux. Zack Anderson's roiling bassline pushes everybody into the red. "I Felt a Change," introduced by Larsson's croon with a Rhodes piano and Mellotron, is an uncharacteristic ballad, weaving sweet Northern soul and Muscle Shoals rhythm & blues. "Gone So Long" makes use of a glockenspiel, organ, and a slide guitar in a sinister, dramatic, blues-inflected rocker. In "Bad Talker," Larsson re-employs her grainy Joplin-inspired falsetto in the opening section. But when the band kicks, she opens up and lets it rip, powering through them. The groove is like Delaney & Bonnie jamming with the Mad Dogs & Englishmen house band. "Won't Go Back" is a throbbing rocker with a whomping Wurlitzer, a vicious fuzzed-out bass, spiky guitar, and a double-time, popping snare rave-up under Larsson's Tina Turner-esque wailing delivery. The set closer is a completely reworked version of Tony Joe White's "Elements and Things" (from his 1969 Monument classic ….Continued). Rather than use the Swamp Fox's chart, the Blues Pills choogle and swagger through the melody and riff from the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog" to thunderous result. Qualitatively, Lady in Gold goes way past the band's self-titled debut: Blues Pills' songwriting is more sophisticated, diverse, and confident. The production, while offering a willingness to experiment, doesn't sacrifice the raw power in their performance either. Forget the sophomore jinx, this set delivers on the promise of that first album and then some. © Thom Jurek /TiVo

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