Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Disappointing releases from bands you like

I noticed a thread with a similar title over at the Scream magazine board, and thought it was kewl enough to totally jack and revive over here. The point isn't to diss bands you didn't like to begin with, but rather to list releases you found to be not what you expected from bands or artists you actually enjoy.


  • Megadeth - Risk. Big fan of Dave, but he totally rolled the dice and lost on this one. He even admits as much himself, in that he uncharacteristically caved in to pressure from record label and band members to change the musical direction to something that would move more product in the brief period of time when "alternative" music was hot.
  • Iron Maiden - Virtual XI. Just...NO. Good job that Bruce Dickinson returned.
  • Poison - Native Tongue. On paper, replacing C.C. DeVille with a technically superior guitar player - Richie Kotzen - looked like it could work. Upon closer inspection, DeVille wrote most of the music and Kotzen didn't want to play anything but inferior, white boi blues. Thus, the album sucked and still sucks, with the possible exception of "Until You Suffer Some More".
  • Running Wild - Rogues En Vogue. OK, this was the final Running Wild album before Kasparek decided to call it a day, but this release is still very much disappointing.
  • W.A.S.P. - Still Not Black Enough. One would have thought that Blackie Lawless got all of the introspective rebel in search of acceptance, identity and love out on the spectacular "Crimson Idol" concept album. If so, one would be very much mistaken. Not the same quality in songs as on "Idol" either.
  • Joe Satriani - Crystal Planet. Guitar deity Joe Satriani on a synthesizer and techno trip. Ugly. Very ugly. Two thumbs way down.
  • Yngwie Malmsteen - Unleash The Fury. By normal standards, this album reeks of awesomeness. Compared to Yngwie's usual gold standard, it just reeks.
  • Rhapsody - Symphony Of Enchanted Lands II: The Dark Secret. Following up the wonderful "Power Of The Dragonflame" with a name change (Rhapsody Of Fire,due to some copyright issues) and recycled, lameness is just that - lame. Coincidentally, right before this release, the band solicited the management services of one Joey DeMaio from Manowar - the Overlords of All Things Bad about Metal. Subsequent albums have sucked hard. Quite the coincidence...thanks a lot Joey, ya greasy guido POS.
  • Luca Turilli - The Infinite Wonders Of Creation. The guitarist from Rhapsody also hosted a successful side project with similar but more hard-core guitar-oriented music. His first two solo albums, featuring the vocal stylings of Olaf Hayer, totally rule. His third album, with the dubious title featured in bold type, features Nightwish-like vocals, tons of synth and an overall goth vibe. From king of the world to chumpstain in three albums or less, by Luca Turilli.
  • Last Tribe - The Uncrowned. Strong contender for the title of my absolute favorite band not featuring Yngwie Malmsteen. Their debut album "The Ritual" is in my opinion one of the best albums EVER, and the follow-up is also kick-ass. Their third and final album thus suffers from not being able to live up to the phenomenal standard set by Magnus Karlsson and his former bandmates.
  • Eminem - Encore. The low point in Eminem's solo career, as he even admits to himself. Just not his usual standard. Very few strong tracks....
  • Sonata Arctica - Reckoning Night. "Silence" was a phenomenal power metal album by any standard. "Reckoning Night" is a weak attempt at moving away from power metal and into harder material. Fail.
  • Helloween - Pink Bubbles Go Ape. Right off the bat it's a major downer with a title like that. Coming off of two fantastic albums like "Keeper ..." I and II it's pretty hard to keep the trend going, but that's not really an excuse for this reekazoid product.
  • Gary Moore - Blues For Greeny. I much prefer the hard rock version of Gary Moore to the blues version, but all things considered, I really like "Still Got The Blues" and "After Hours". With "Blues For Greeny", however, the Moore-train really goes off the tracks as far as my musical preferences are concerned.
  • Extreme - Waiting For The Punchline. Still waiting...
  • ...many more I'm sure...

4 comments:

Torbjørn said...

Can't say I have heard many of those...


First that comes to my mind is Twisted sister's "Love is for suckers".

Then whatever Extreme made after "pornografitti" - the one you had on your list?

Michael Jacson's releases through the 90's.

Cinderella's "Homebound Train".

I guess there are plenty more out there...

Wilhelm said...

Then whatever Extreme made after "pornografitti" - the one you had on your list?

That's teh one...

I'm sure you'd love "Silence" by Sonata Arctica. Checketh out songs like "Weballergy" on YouTube

Anders said...

Chris Whitley - Din Of Ecstasy
In my opinion, the low point of mr. Whitley's career. In others opinion, his master piece (but what do they know about music?). Go figure. After Living With The Law, mr. Whitley decided to plug in and rock out. It does feature some good songs, but I do prefer the more low key version of Chris.

Keb' Mo' - anything after Just Like You.
His first album made me believe he was a great, new and young blues player, playing blues with a modern touch. The second release (Just Like You) was a decent effort, but after that, it was all down hill. Now it's slick pop in the singer-songwriter genre, with just a hint of blues. What happened? Dude even got a real blues name.

And there are many more, but now it's bedtime for Bonzo.

Wilhelm said...

Keb' Mo' - anything after Just Like You.

City Boy is on what album?