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 -

Review of Leaves’ Eyes Spectacular “Sign of the Dragonhead”

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Leaves’ Eyes is:

Elina Siirala – Vocals

Alexander Krull – Vocals

Thorsten Bauer – Guitar/Bass

Pete Streit – Guitar

Joris Nijenhuis – Drums

Sign of the Dragonhead

Any fan of Symphonic, female-fronted Metal is intimately familiar with, now legendary, Leaves’ Eyes. Over the course of the last fourteen years, the band has released a total of six albums including Lovelorn (2004), Vinland Saga (2005), Njord (2009), Meredead (2011), Symphonies of the Night (2013) and King of Kings in late 2015. Based on a myriad of Nordic themes such as the mystical, underwater world of the mermaid, adventures of the ancient mariner, Celtic folk songs, tales of heroic women over the course of mankind’s existence and, most recently a concept album revolving around the first king of Norway, Leaves’ Eyes has carved their epic status in stone and set a firm foundation for the entire Symphonic sub-genre of Metal. By April 2016, Finnish vocalist Elina Siirala replaced long-standing front-woman Liv Kristine amid much drama and controversy. Fans from all over the world held their collective breaths as the first act of the band played out to its close. Once Elina proved herself at Hammersonic in Jakarta, Indonesia, Metal Female Voices, Wave Gotik, Treffen, Masters of Symphonic Metal, Full Metal Cruise and many other, fans breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Elina had what it takes to carry the standard. This should come as no surprise since Liv had a hand in choosing her replacement. Last year, Leaves’ Eyes ventured on their most bold world tour yet, hitting Europe, Asia, North America and South America; even being joined by one of my favorite bands, Sabaton, among many others and selling out shows throughout. Unfortunately, I have not had the pleasure of seeing Leaves’ Eyes live but are said to have “shows [that are] are spectacular events featuring breathtaking stage sets like a Viking ship or the unforgettable ‘Swords in the Stone’ monument.”

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Guitar God Joe Satriani Shows Us “What Happens Next”

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What Happens Next musicians:

Joe Satriani – Guitar

Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple and Black Country Communion) – Bass

Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers ) – Drums

Mike Fraser (AC/DC, The Razor’s Edge and long time Satriani collaborator since Crystal Planet) – Producer/Engineer/Mixer

Joe Satriani certainly needs no introduction and remains one of my favorite guitarists of all time. What will be sixteen albums over the course of thirty one years, teacher of many other great guitarists (Kirk Hammet, Andy Timmons, Steve Vai, Alex Skolnick, Charlie Hunter, Larry LaLonde, Kevin Cadogan, Rick Hunolt, David Bryson, Geoff Tyson, Phil Kettner, to name a few), member of supergroup Chickenfoot, undeniably one of the most influential guitarists of all time, multiple Grammy Award nominations, headliner of G3 since 1995 featuring a veritable who’s who of the greatest the guitar world has to offer and a man that just exudes passion and fun on every stage he has ever landed on are just a few meager mentions of this man’s incredible talents. I have had the pleasure of seeing Joe quite a few times over the course of his long career and he so obviously loves what he is doing now more than he ever has. He just keeps getting better and enjoying it more and more as the years wear on. Where a jaded view of the music business has tainted the passion of so many other bands I have seen lately, Satriani hits the stage with continued wide-eyed wonder. Honestly, I think Satch enjoys playing more than his fans like watching him slay his beloved Ibanez.

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State of the Art: Nebraska – Fallen Reign

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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 Nebraska!

On this week’s State of the Art spotlight of Metal from Nebraska, I would like to introduce a Progressive/Power Metal band that call Omaha home. Members include guitarist/vocalist Jody Kermoade, bass player Leigh Jamieson, drummer Andrew Pace and Rocky Pulley covering keyboards during live shows and will be featured on their forthcoming album. The band is Fallen Reign.

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Allegaeon’s Release of Their Second Rush Cover, “Animate”

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Little did we know that Allegaeon, whose album Proponent for Sentience hit our lists for best of 2016 (check out our extensive review here), recorded not one, but two spectacular Rush covers! Those of us that heard “Subdivisions” immediately fell in love with their rendition of it and made it their most streamed song off of the aforementioned album. Celebrating today’s date, January 6, 2018, the date version of the band’s song “1.618”, Allegaeon have just cut loose with “Animate” worldwide on all of the digital music services. It can be sampled and bought at your favorite source here.

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Review of “Dark Matter” By Auditory Armory

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Auditory Armory is:

April Rose – Vocals and Guitar
Oscar Garcia – Drums
Dennis Burns – Guitar
Justice Maynard – Bass

Dark Matter

Auditory Armory is a female fronted Alternative Metal band that manages to take the best of Hard Rock, Metal, Progressive Rock and even some Jazz and cleanly distills them into a sound that can only be identified as theirs. This is the advantage of taking on music with wide, curious and wandering eyes instead of within the confines of what is and what should be for any certain genre/sub-genre of music and the die-hard fans that constantly in-fight these categorizations to death. This has always been a pet peeve. Categories should be used simply as a way of describing a sound to someone that has not heard of the band, not as some confining boundary of what music should sound like. Imagine, if you will, a musical landscape where Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Gershwin, Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, The Beatles, Elvis, Hendrix, Yes, Rush, Michael Hedges, Pink Floyd, Eddie Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Judus Priest, The Big 4, Chuck Schuldiner, Pantera, Cannibal Corpse and Venom chose not to think outside of the box. Got it worked out? Not a pretty picture, huh? This is precisely the reason I actively search out and share bands that throw the whole “writing within a box” thing to the wind. Auditory Armory is, obviously, one such band that fits the mold of not fitting in one.

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Odyssey’s Top Ten Albums of 2017!

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Best of 2017

Like every year, we have been inundated with tons of killer, new Metal in 2017. Thankfully, we here at Metal Nexus have the freedom to share what we personally liked over the course of the year. No sales numbers. No record label affiliation or pressure. No sub-genre infighting. No BS. Just an honest list of what struck us individually. Like past years, my list is as broad as my musical tastes and covers everything from instrumentals, to Tech Death, to Power Metal, to Thrash and even a top-notch Progressive Rock band. Hopefully, some of my favorites will become yours and will propagate the audience for each and every band listed below. I sincerely hope that 2018 brings bands and albums this good. Enjoy and continue expanding our Metal family!

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Sunshine & Bullets, “The Centauri Conspiracies Part 1 – The Awakening”

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Sunshine & Bullets is:

Rich Keane, Jr. – Guitar/vocals

Amanda Hamers – Bass/vocals

Kyle Wolfram – Drums

Former members (bass) – Sam Brown, Chandler Cornell

The Centauri Conspiracies Part 1 – The Awakening

Just as the year passes from 2017 into the dawn of 2018 it seems appropriate to look backwards and forwards at the same time in preparation for Part 2 of The Centauri Conspiracies, due out in the early part of the year by one of Florida’s premiere and unique bands, Sunshine & Bullets. While the first album, The Centauri Conspiracies Part 1 – The Awakening was released about a year ago, it deserves a review to get those that have not heard of this incredible band before caught up and jonesing for the new release.

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A Not So Silent Night – 2017

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Support local music. We keep saying that because bands of the future almost always start with a local fan base; the exceptions being, so called, super-groups or bands that are put together by someone already on a label. There is no shortage of bands busting their collective butts to get a name for themselves so that they can make what they love their career or simply as an outlet to share their musical perspective with a wider audience. The constantly evolving music business is tough, ultra-competitive and many times frustrating for “undiscovered” talent throughout the world. They work so hard and, many times, get so little in return outside of the pride of producing something from their souls that they can call their own. Support local, no matter where local is. Today I would like to share some local talent from all over Florida through our annual, A Not So Silent Night 2017 concert held at Mavericks Live in downtown Jacksonville, FL, showcasing some of our best Rock and Metal bands. Special thanks going out to Brian Woodward of Bleeding In Stereo for not only hosting, but putting us on their guest list. Always a good time brother!

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Positive Brilliance In Stayne Thee Angel’s “Time & the Hourglass”!

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Stayne Thee Angel is:

Darren Good – Lead vocalist/Lyricist
Justin Watson – Guitar & Backing Vocals
Frank “Knuckles” – Bass
Brian“VicitimEyez” – Drums
George Whitaker Jr. – Guitar

Founded in 2010, Stayne Thee Angel is a modern Hard Rock/Metal outfit that hails from my home town of Jacksonville, FL. They have been around for quite some time and have had a number of personnel over the years, leaving founding member and vocalist Darren Good the last man of the original line up still standing. Thankfully, his tenacious and overtly positive spirit kept this ball rolling, because the maturity shown on Time & the Hourglass is nothing short of spectacular (more on this shortly). After discovering their infectious form of music at a number of local shows, I was immediately hooked. Their sound is an interesting amalgamation of 90s Grunge-esque Rock, Classic Hard Rock and Metal which speaks to an enormous swath of music fans. With the collective influences of NoFx, Rancid, No use for a Name, Bouncing Souls, Mark Tremonti, John Fogarty, John Cooper and Brad Noah, it becomes very clear that finding a pigeonhole to stick Stayne Thee Angel in is damned near impossible though. Add to this grounded, intelligent, honest and positive lyrical themes that permeate their music and you have a winning combination that continues to gain traction wherever they play. Hell, I have seen them play with everything from Classic Rock bands to cover bands; all the way to Thrash bands and they fit equally well with all of them. Truly a testament to their broad sound and killer song writing style. Their first EP, entitled Change has been well received locally, but Time & the Hourglass is sure to thrust their fan-base onto a much wider plane. Let me explain…

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CD Release Party for Stayne Thee Angel’s “Time and the Hourglass”

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I cannot think of a better way to spend Veterans Day than attending a show of rabidly patriotic bands brought together for the release of Stayne Thee Angel’s new CD Time and the Hourglass. At the last minute, I decided to review the show since I have been unable to attend many shows as of late. Held at one of my favorite local haunts here in Jacksonville, FL, Jack Rabbits, I got there a couple of hours early to hang out with my friends in Inner Demons, listen in on their sound check and meet the other bands, both of which I have seen a number of times and highly enjoy listening to; not to mention I was anxious to hear what Stayne Thee Angel had to offer with their new CD. Let’s just say this was one helluva good night!

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