This is Kiss 4th album. They had broken through with their previous album "Alive!" On this album they tried some new ideas with childrens chorus and a philharmonic orchestra but in my point of view it was a big disaster since it ruined the songs since they had no clue of what to make of these, by producer Bob Ezrin, newly introduced ways of making music. The songs are way too simple but they got a lot of airplay and hits on the toplists just because the songs were so melodic and simple. But I think this album really sucks!

1)Detroit rock city (7,5) Wonderful intro with a man listening to the news in the morning and leaving with his car humming to Detroit rock city on the radio. A superb livesong but it gets a little flat on record.

2)King of the night time world (6,5) Powerful fistraiser but too repetitive.

3)God of thunder (3,5) With better production this could have been a powerful song but it's not here. It's just a mess of devilish vocals, childcries and strange noises.

4)Great expectations (3,0) Absolutely terrible kind of a ballad with no finesse whatsoever. Were they trying to be something else with the choir and orchestra?

5)Flaming youth (5,0) Footstomping chorus x 100. What's the point?

6)Sweet pain (5,0) Same as above.

7)Shout it out loud (6,0)  A slightly better song but whats point in singing the refrain 100 times?

8)Beth (8,0) A wonderful ballad sang by Peter Criss and cointaining violin.

9)Do you love me (7,0) At last a better hardrocktune.

Score: 5,72

Paul Stanley (Stanley Harvey Eisen) -vocals and guitars (b.1952)

Ace Frehley (Paul Daniel Frehley) -guitars (b.1951)

Gene Simmons (Chaim Weitz) -bass and vocals (b.1949)

Peter Criss (George Peter John Criscuola) -drums and vocals (b.1945)

After some good albums, the southern rock-boogie band Point Blank started to become more pop-oriented. Some songs still had good quality but there are some that just aint as good as they used to be. For the first time John O'Daniels did not sing but Bubba Keith made a good job on the vocals. Keith was the vocalist in The James Gang 1975-1976. Mike Hamilton had replaced Karl Berke on the keyboards.

See also:

36)Point Blank-Point Blank 1976 7,81

48)Point Blank-Second Season 1977 7,94

68)Point Blank-The Hard Way 1980 7,25

1)Let me stay with you tonight (6,0) A very melodic and poppy song aimed for the toplists but the ending has a good solo.

2)Walk across the fire (7,5) Very cool riff and superb wild and energic singing in the vein of the former vocalist O'Daniels.

3)Nicole (6,5) The band's best known song but it's just a melodic bluesrocker with a boring  and catchy refrain.

4)Go on home (3,0) Ouch, this is really terrible poppy and strange.

5)The getaway (6,5) An okey song with a toned down guitarriff and a very ZZ Top-ish solos.

6)The way you broke my heart (7,5) A short and bluesy melodic rocker that would have been perfect for Foreigner.

7)Restless (8,0) Really nice driving, groovy and heavy rhythm, strong singing and background vocals.

8)Cadillac dragon (7,5) Cool harp-riffed heavy blues.

9)Do it all night (6,0) A rocking end but nothing special.

Score: 6,50

Bubba Keith-vocals, guitar, percussion and harp

Rusty Burns-guitars

Kim Davis-guitars and harp. Bass on 4. (1952-2010)

Bill Randolph-bass

Buzzy Gruen-drums

Mike Hamilton-keyboards. Drums on 4 and lead vocals on 8.

This is Aerosmiths 4th album and was a big success, also on the commercial side since it charted 3 singles on the Billboard top 100-list. It has been ranked as nr.176 on The Rolling Stone list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. According to Kurt Cobain from Nirvana, the album was one of his favorit ones and both James Hetfield from Metallica and former Guns'n'Roses guitarrist has said that it inspired them to want to learn to play the guitar. But it is really that good? Well, for the time it was certanly a raw and rocking album that appealed to a lot of rockers but now I don't see that it is so very extraordinary. It contains some good hard rocksongs but overall it's just an average or below average album.

See also: 4)Aerosmith-Rock In A Hard Place 1982

1)Back in the saddle (7,0) An okey opener but typical Aerosmith-strange-chaos at the end.

2)Last child (7,5) Very simple riff in this funky peace. Nice guitarsolo and I just like this song.

3)Rats in the cellar (9,0) Love this rocker! Driving rhythm, singing and guitarplaying simutainesly and the bass/guitar/harmonica-break is just fantastic.

4)Combination (7,0) A pretty strange and chaotic song but Aerosmith is Aerosmith and gets away with it.

5)Sick as a dog (7,0) Nothing special.

6)Nobody's fault (6,5) Same as above.

7)Get the led out (6,0) Led Zeppelin-feel to the sound on this one but it gets too weird at the end.

8)Lick and a promise (7,5) Rock'n'roll!

9)Home tonight (6,0) Quite boring ballad with chaotic guitarsoloing.

Score: 7,06

Steven Tyler-vocals, keyboards and bass on 5. (b.1948)

Brad Whitford-guitars (b.1952)

Joe Perry-guitars and bass (b.1951)

Tom Hamilton-bass and guitar on 5. (b.1951)

Joey Kramer-drums (b.1950)

+

Paul Prestopino-banjo on 2.

New Orleans doom-core-heroes return with the first album in 6 years. Are they getting old? Are their sound getting more melodic with age? No way, this album is full of aggression and attitude. The music reminds of Candlemass doom mixed with modern american metal and is heavy as hell. James Hetfield-like singing but rawer. The problem is that they manage to make one hour of metal that sounds exactly the same for 12 songs. Whats the point? With some interesting guitarplaying and some breaks here and there it could have been much better. I like the cover and logo, which suits the music. It's dark and it's evil.

Kirk Windstein is also guitarist in Down. He was born in England.

Pat Bruders also plays in Down and has played with Goathwhore 1997-2004.

1)Isolation (Desperation) (7,0) Doom fucking heavy metal!

2)Sever the wicked hand (6,0) First faster but turns into doom-state again, but not the best song I've heard.

3)Liquid sky and cold black earth (5,0) A rather boring, very slow and heavy tune that is too long.

4)Let me mourn (6,0) Cool riff but the rest is...not good enough.

5)The cemetery angels (5,5) First furiously fast but it gets boringly superslow after a while.

6)As I become one (6,0) A little better midtempo tune but there's just aint nothing happening. Only a boring bassbreak in the middle.

7)A farewell to misery (5,0) A dark piano-guitar-male choir 3-minute break.

8)Protectors of the shrine (6,5)

9)I only deal in truth (6,0)

10)Echo an eternity (4,0)

11)Cleans me, heal me (6,0)

12)Symbiosis (5,5) Nice coversong that suits Crowbar's music.

Score: 5,71

Kirk Windstein-vocals and guitars (b.1965)

Matt Brunson-guitars

Pat Bruders-bass

Tommy Buckley-drums