Author Archives: Odyssey

About Odyssey

I have had a life-long love of music, but from the first time I heard Kiss and Black Sabbath with my landlord's son in Nicholasville, KY in the mid 70's, I have been hooked on Hard Rock and Metal. While my tastes in music have done nothing but expand since then, Metal remains closest to my heart. In addition, I have played bass, still play guitar and have literally 1000's of CDs/MP3s, so my knowledge is long steeped and honest. I don't buy the whole splintered, sub-genres thing and choose to like bands and music based solely on individual merits. Obviously, this is always colored by my mood, what I need at any given point and time and what is generally pleasing to my ear. I also don't like to rip any music or band, instead having an open mind and ear for it all because I have a passion for it all. It is completely subjective and in a constant state of flux. Consider me a music "nerd" not a music "snob". As an extension of this love, I hope to share this passion with everyone here and learn from your passion as well! - Odyssey -

TILT “Hinterland”: Progressive Rock Classic, Now!

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Progressive Rock fans rejoice! Steve Vantsis, David Stewart, PJ Dourley, Paul Humphreys and Robin Boult along with John Beck and John Mitchell have joined forces to create TILT. For the uninitiated, Vartisis, Stewart and Boult are better known for recording, writing and touring with legendary FISH for years. Yes, THAT FISH! Steve Vantisis was also the primary songwriter for FISH’s “13th Star” and “Feast of Consequences”. With augmentation by It Bites keyboardist John Beck and guitarist John Mitchell (Lonely Robot, Kino, Arena and It Bites), expectations are extremely high with their much anticipated release of “Hinterland” on June 30th, 2016. Metal Nexus recently obtained a copy of it from Mr. Vantsis, and let me tell you, it is simply amazing!

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Ripper Radio Spotlights And Interviews Our Friends Dollar Llama

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Ripper Radio (Ripper Radio) has spotlighted our friends in Dollar Llama in their 100th podcast.  We would like to thank Dollar Llama for the mad props and their continued support!  Check it out!

Check out Dollar Llama: Facebook  Web  Soundcloud  BandCamp

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Denner/Shermann “Masters of Evil”: A New Twist on Old School Metal!

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When news started to circulate that the legendary guitar duo from Mercyful Fate, Michael Denner and Hank Shermann were putting together a supergroup called Denner/Shermann, there was a collective breath taken in the Metal world. When the line-up was completed with Mercyful Fate, King Diamond and Dream Evil drummer Snowy Shaw, Demonica’s Marc Grabowski on bass and the spectacular vocal range of DeathDealer and CAGE vocalist Sean Peck, that breath was quickly taken away. With the band’s October 2015 release of the “Satan’s Tomb” EP, all air was sucked out of the atmosphere with a huge gasp. This is the stuff Metalhead dreams and others’ nightmares are made of. Their EP was received with rave reviews and with a deafening scream for more material. That wish, thankfully, comes true June 24th, 2016 with the Metal Blade release of Denner/Sherann’s “Masters of Evil”.

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10 Years Of Whitechapel Culminates With “Mark Of The Blade”

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Whitechapel was formed early in 2006 in Knoxville, TN. Damn. Ten years ago. Hard to believe that it has been so long since first hearing “The Somatic Defilement” shortly after its release in 2007. Since then, Whitechapel has developed a huge, devoted fan base with their extreme brand of Deathcore Metal, made a few line up changes, released five devastating albums and landed in the top ten of the Billboard Top 200 with “Our Endless War” from 2014. Stepping up their game at every stage of their musical careers, the June 24, 2016, highly anticipated release of “Mark of the Blade” marks not only a celebration of ten years together as a band but also a musical turning point.

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State of the Art: RipFence

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 *This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State*

This month’s State is Maine!

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Lewiston, Maine. North of Portland, South of Augusta and Bangor. It is the second largest city in Maine with a population just South of 40,000. Only about 92 square miles and sits squarely in the middle of Androscoggin County. A quaint, historic town founded in 1854. Sigh. That is until you start digging around. Back in the corner, where the dust and cobwebs reside (and what is that aweful smell?!?) and it is found that this town is not immune from a brutal form of Melodic Death Metal outfit called RipFence.

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3Eighty3: “Raw F*ckin’ Power”!

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Remember the Hard Rock and emerging Metal bands in the 70’s and early 80’s? Hard driving, guitar based Heavy Blues with straight attitude and catchy, clever lyrics. Dance, bang your head, fist in the air, good times, Rock n’ Roll. Did you start to loose interest when the glitz, glam and cheese took over? Did you get a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when MTV told you that Guns N’ Roses and the up and coming Grunge bands were the future of Metal? Did you breathe a sigh of relief when Pantera dropped “Cowboys From Hell” and quickly dispelled all that nonsense? Yeah, me too. Funny thing is, that I still love the sound of the first wave of Hard Rock here and the British Invasion from overseas. Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, early Motley Crue, Cinderella and Triumph. Well, I recently discovered a band that has its roots deep in this era of our beloved music. If you have not heard of them, let me introduce you to Alvarado, Texas’ 3Eighty3. Continue reading →

Soften the Glare “The Funky Lady Tour” coming to a town (hopefully) near you!

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Have you heard of Soften the Glare? Sure you have, just maybe not in this particular form. Heard of Mudvayne? How about that bad-ass bass player and songwriter? What’s his name again? Oh yeah, right: Ryan Martinie. You game now? Alright then, add the mind-bending guitar talent of Bon Lozaga. That’s right, the one from Gong, Tiny Boxes and been featured with other notable guitar gods as Allan Holdsworth, Kai Eckhardt, David Torn, David Fiuczynski among many others. This match made in heaven is joined by the drumming skills of Mitch Hull who has played with Gongzilla, Staxx, Chameleon, War 4 Peace and shared the stage with Tiny Boxes and many other in the past. Well, now you know and you can see them on “The Funky Lady Tour” that kicks off tomorrow in Jacksonville, NC!

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Cairiss: Black Metal Forever Changed With the Release of “Fall”

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Black Metal is usually a polarizing sub-genre of Metal. Very fast. High-pitched vocals; oftentimes dealing with oppressively dark and/or overtly Pagan/Satanic subject matter, barked out at an unintelligible rate. It is usually either loved or absolutely hated for one or all of the reasons above. Every now and then, however, a band rises above the genre and puts out a release so striking, it ruptures the box attempting to surround it. One such band is Southampton, UK’s, Cairiss.

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A New Breed of Shredding: Toronto Canada’s Mike Milan Dedic

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Today I bring you something special to me. As you all know, I love solo guitar work and have since the inception back in the early days of the Neo–Classical, shred guitar craze. Uli Jon Roth, Yngwie Malmteen, Cacophony (Marty Friedman and Jason Becker), Joe Stump, Andy Timmons, Vinnie Moore, Steve Vai, Satch, Dream Theater (I know, not solo, but Petrucci has to be in this list) and many others. These were my heroes when I started playing guitar and bass when I was in my mid-teens. I could not get enough of them and still listen to all of the same music more than 35 year later. It never gets old and never gets boring. Needless to say, with this pedigree, it is hard to impress me when it comes to this form of music. This is a very, very tough form of guitar skill to play and play well. I don’t say that to be a guitar snob, but just stating the fact that this is a hard row to hoe when these are still the go-to artists for shred.

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