within the past decade and a half, Phil Anselmo has probably been one of the busiest guys in all of metal... Down, Arson Anthem, Phil Anselmo & The Illegals, En Minor, Scour, and Superjoint (they dropped "Ritual" from the band name for this new release)... to be honest, I never thought we'd get another album from them, but surprisingly, we do. the bottom line is, if you enjoyed their first 2 albums, then you'll definitely dig this one. its really no different.
STP has long been plagued with bad luck. from all of the on again off again presence of their troublesome vocalist Scott Weiland and his demons, to his untimely death, to the brief period of activity with his replacement Chester Bennington, to his untimely death... its good to see them finally in a good place with some good luck. is this album in league with their legendary first 3 albums? no, but its still an impressive rebirth of some great, memorable songs nonetheless.
out of all the tracks on this album, about half of them are different, alternate recordings of songs that most Hendrix fans know and love. but as for the other half - some are songs that have only previously been heard on bootlegs, while the rest are songs that have never surfaced or been known to exist. all in all, for obsessive Hendrix fanatics, this is yet another superb release by the Hendrix estate.
the title of my review summary pretty much says it all. and with this being the deluxe, expanded version, its that much better. SO many great songs on these two discs.
as a rabid, diehard, hardcore Sabbath fan, I can honestly say that this is probably my favorite album from them. this is probably the last album they did before they started using keyboards & synths in their songs. the new remastering job is great, and accompanying booklet & photos was a nice added touch.
if you're familiar with the past several albums they've done in the 21st century, then you pretty much know what to expect here. simply put, its a decent U2 album - no more, no less. not their best work, but still not a bad records by a long shot.
Iron Maiden are one of the greatest bands to come out of the UK... 40 years later, and still going strong. and one thing you can always count on (even this late in their career) a great live album, documenting their current tour. this one is even more special considering that this is their first major tour after Bruce's recovery from oral cancer. for a bunch of old guys, this is an amazing live recording, with a set that spans their entire discography.
everyone knows that Helmet peaked back in the early to mid 90's. after that, their popularity and quality of material went on a slight decline. especially after most of the original line-up was replaced, sometime around the early 00's... since then, Helmet (essentially the Page Hamilton band at this point) sort of evolved into a more straight-forward rock band, with a slightly different vocal approach. the next few albums were above average at best, but with this new album - Dead To The World - Helmet has made a record that is better than expected, for a band that is 2 decades beyond their glory years. definitely worth checking out for sure.
in my mind, the first 3 Black Sabbath records are their absolute best work ever. they've never done any better than those. and some of their greatest songs are on Master Of Reality. most people usually point to Paranoid as their best, but in my opinion, this one is every bit as good. and what's better - Rhino records' remastering job, and inclusion of a whole bunch of bonus material on a second disc. well done, guys.
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how do you improve on a legendary heavy rock album that is probably the greatest record ever made? you do what Rhino records did - remaster it, and release it as a 2-CD set with lots of alternate takes, demo recordings, unreleased tracks, etc... I love Rhino records, and I love Black Sabbath. I don't think they ever did anything better than their self-titled debut album.