Meat Loaf returns, but this time without Bat series co-creator Jim Steinman, promising a more personal collection of songs. In fact, Meat has already called this 12th studio effort his most honest ever. Well, it’s certainly one of his angriest — despite the presence of a bunch of his oldRead More

The debut of the supergroup featuring former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, Symphony X singer Russell Allen, Sonic Stomp guitarist Mike Orlando and Disturbed bassist John Moyer, who was added only recently after the recording of the album, should be intriguing. I’m a big fan of Symphony X, and IRead More

Back in the mix, indeed. You might initially be drawn in by the compelling new arrangements of “Lament” by J.J. Johnson, Cole Porter’s “Falling In Love With Love” and “Tenderly” by Gross and Lawrence, but you’ll keep coming back to Dan Wilensky’s fourth album of a leader because of itsRead More

Benocchi, Budd and Guthrie isn’t so much a trio as it’s a partnership: Harold Budd taps out sparse, ethereal notes from his classical piano, Robin Guthrie surrounds it with supplemental instrumentation (mainly guitar and keyboards) and sound architect Eraldo Bernocchi plays electric piano and along with Guthrie applies the finishingRead More

After the blast of intensity and creativity of Remission, fans expected nothing less than more of the same. Oddly, Leviathon does not deliver and listeners are the better off for it. Instead of continuing where the last album left off, with an apocolyptic, dense roar, Mastodon opted for variety andRead More

I think it’s pretty cool that the band opted to not carry the Black Sabbath moniker for their tour in support of the material Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi and Co. recorded as Black Sabbath in the early 1980s, then again in the early 1990s, and once again this yearRead More

Atlanta guitarist Jacob Deaton began the year with a new album—his first one, in fact—and makes a good initial impression. These six songs, all Deaton’s, vary in tempo in mood but the common thread throughout them all is that they are crisp post-bop with simple melodies and advanced harmonies. ThisRead More

What struck me first about the Nick Moran Trio’s second album No Time Like Now were the instantly likable melodies and the righteous grooves. But listening to it closer reveals other reasons to like this record: the subtle tempo shifts (“Wishful Thinking”), a soul-jazz take on the blues that retainsRead More

Mark Lindsay, coming off a career-making period as frontman for Paul Revere and the Raiders, proceeded to reel off a string of solo hits for Columbia in the early 1970s — only they had little, if anything, in common with the initial fancy-pantsed garage-rock outbursts of his old band. ByRead More

It’s tempting to think that Nelson’s 1972 flip-off single “Garden Party” — written after the former teen popstar was booed off the stage at Madison Square Garden, he says, for daring to play some of his newer stuff — was the end of the road. But Nelson, in fact, wasRead More