Showing posts with label Revolution Saints. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Revolution Saints. Show all posts

CD Review: Revolution Saints – Revolution Saints

CD Review: Revolution Saints – Revolution Saints
Frontiers Records
All Access Rating: A-

Revolution Saints - S/T 2015
A star is born, in this case the particularly luminous ball of gas being Deen Castronovo, drummer and backing singer for arena-rock stalwarts Journey.

Playing matchmaker again, Frontiers Records President Serafino Perugino sought to find an appropriate vehicle for Castronovo to display his talents as a lead vocalist, ultimately surrounding him with former Whitesnake guitarist Doug Aldrich and Night Ranger bassist/vocalist Jack Blades in a trio called Revolution Saints.

With a slight rasp in his powerful throat, Castronovo is a poor man's Steve Perry, his soaring, expressive vocals carrying the band's uplifting motivational messages and yearning romanticism skyward. Revolution Saints is the album Journey fans have been waiting for since Escape, its bold, high-energy rushes of melodic hard rock as infectious and galvanizing as its power ballads are heartfelt and impassioned.

Tightly constructed, with generous hooks and big choruses planted throughout fertile ground, "Back On My Trail," "Turn Back Time" and "Dream On" are bright, punchy pieces of guitar-driven pop-rock, the kind that would have been surefire hits back in the '80s. So would the softer stuff, like "Don't Walk Away," "Way to the Sun" – with Neal Schon helping out on guitar – and "You're Not Alone," featuring some backup vocals from Arnel Pineda. Here, gentle piano and acoustic guitar intros lead into big, sweeping, slow-moving waves of guitars and yearning emotions, eventually yielding once again to dramatic, tension-building rockers like "Strangers to the World" and "Better World" reminiscent of Survivor.

Some might take Revolution Saints to task for its formulaic songwriting, predictability and saccharine, banal sentimentality, but to do so would needlessly throw a dark cloud over something that exudes a great deal of light and would undoubtedly resonate with the masses if this was a different, less cynical age. Aldrich's guitar solos are fiery, compelling and a good fit for the songs. There is unabashed joy and exuberance coursing through its veins, they know what their audience wants, it's not arty for the sake of being arty and Castronovo rises to the challenge, smartly avoiding tricks and modulations and just letting his natural ability shine through. People get ready, these Saints are marching in.
– Peter Lindblad

Revolution Saints' second video sees light of day

Clip for 'Back On My Trail' unveiled
By Peter Lindblad

Revolution Saints - S/T 2015
Not everyone can be as clever or creative as Red Fang.

What the Portland metal maulers can do with a shoestring budget is genius-level stuff, as Red Fang has created some of the funniest and most imaginative music videos of this, or any, era – the big-budget days of MTV included.

Today, the newly formed supergroup Revolution Saints unveiled its second video in anticipation of the release of their debut self-titled album, which is happening Feb. 24 via Frontiers Music Srl. It premiered on Billboard.com.

If you were expecting a grand cinematic masterpiece on the scale of something like "Citizen Kane," you reader have ridiculously high expectations. That said, while the video for "Back On My Trail" won't ever be a threat to take home an Oscar, it should generate excitement for one of the hotly tipped releases of 2015. Judge for yourself here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_-oy6dRJt8

The setting for basically what amounts to a performance clip appears to be a well-appointed home studio, where Journey drummer Deen Castronovo, Night Ranger's Jack Blades and former Whitesnake guitarist Doug Aldrich are playing "Back On My Trail" with gusto – somebody off-camera having tuned them in via an old FM radio, after some compelling vintage knob-twiddling footage. Aside from that, it's a high-energy clip for a song with a bumper crop of melodic hard-rock hooks, with Castronovo – the band's singer – wailing about trying to belong somewhere in a confusing and often cold, cruel world.

Clear and masculine, with just a hint of vulnerability, Castronovo's powerful vocals are phenomenal, and finally, he gets to show off what are some pretty amazing pipes. There's a searing solo from Aldrich, with the cameras getting in there close to capture his dizzying finger work and everybody seems to be having a jolly time, a behind-the-scenes shots thrown in to capture the group's obvious joie de vivre.

Fast-paced and edited tightly to make the action come alive, the filming is actually rather stylish for what it is: a simple, unabashedly fun romp through a fairly cheesy, but nevertheless utterly infectious, '80s-style rock anthem and while it's not arty or challenging in any way, it'll be a crowd-pleaser of a song. Previously, the band released a video for "Turn Back Time," which, as it turns out, is not a cover of the glitzy Cher hit and it's somewhat more melodic, with sunsets and landscape shots interspersed throughout. It was directed by Devin DeHaven, who's credits include videos for Rick Ross, KISS, R. Kelly and Whitesnake. Expect more of the same from Revolution Saints.

Of the song "Back On My Trail," Castronovo said, "'Back On My Trail' was the first song I recorded drums and vocals on. It was a new experience for me and really was the beginning of Revolution Saints. I pulled no punches, and I hope everyone can hear the fire on that track."

Available for pre-order at Amazon in standard CD format at http://geni.us/RevSaintsAMZReg, with a deluxe version combined with a DVD available at http://geni.us/RevSaintsAMZDlx. Those who order the album digitally via iTunes at http://geni.us/RevSaintsiTunes will get automatic downloads of "Turn Back Time," "Back On My Trail" and "Way to the Sun (featuring Journey guitarist Neal Schon).

To get familiar with the band and the making of the album, here's an EPK for the album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOKjuLhUkKs


Dead of winter: New music to warm your cold bones

What upcoming releases are we dying to hear?
By Peter Lindblad

Venom will release 'From the Very
Depths' on Jan. 27, 2015
January can be a cold, barren time in the music business, such as it is.

After the frantic run up to Christmas, with a fall full of notable releases from high-profile artists singing for their holiday suppers, the whole industry often seems to go dark at once – at least temporarily.

The silence doesn't last long, however. Soon, the factories that feed the music-consumer beast will begin humming again, and in no time, a steady stream of news regarding upcoming albums, EPs, DVDs and tours will flood an already well-saturated market.

Even now, though, in this very bleak mid-winter, there's a trickle of news coming out regarding some hotly anticipated releases and other events for 2015. Just this week came word from the Nuclear Blast label that metal heavyweights Slayer, Testament and Meshuggah will all be issuing new material in 2015, as well as new tour dates for Helmet's 20th anniversary celebration of their landmark LP Betty. At the end of "Wilma's Rainbow" is a pot of gold, and this is it.

Here are some more upcoming releases we're salivating over:

Venom - From the Very Depths 2015
Venom – From the Very Depths: Satanic imagery and punk-fired black metal will bring the thaw, as Venom returns with From the Very Depths on Jan. 27, coming via Spinefarm Records.

Front man Chronos has a message for his followers.

"This album is perfect," he said. "All three members are totally over-the-top confident with the new songs and the production. We had a great atmosphere in the studio while we were recording – Dante created pure thunder from his drums, while Rage tears the flesh off your face with his riffs, making everything fall into place so well ... it's a strong release and really shows the band maturing into an unstoppable force of pure Black Metal. We can't wait to play the songs live for the legions ... Hell yeah!"

Having just recently received an advance copy – expect a review very soon – my initial reaction is From the Very Depths sounds like classic Venom. It's fast, dark and rugged, an incendiary hell broth of seething guitars and explosive rhythms.

Revolution Saints - S/T 2015
Revolution Saints – Revolution Saints: Super groups seem to be a dime a dozen these days, what with your Rated Xs and your Kings of Chaos all doing their thing.

Here's another one, featuring guitarist Doug Aldrich – fresh off his leaving Whitesnake – and Night Ranger's Jack Blades, as well as Deen Castronovo, the drummer from Journey. A self-titled LP is due Feb. 24 from Frontiers Records.

There won't be any EDM found here or any of that bearded folk-rock melancholy that all the kids seem to love. Expect melodic hard-rock of the highest order from industry pros, with an emphasis on songs that are all heart and soul and top-notch musicianship. And, on top of that, Castronovo will be handling lead vocals. Didn't see that coming, did you?

U.D.O. - Decadent 2015
U.D.O. – Decadent: U.D.O. is preparing for class warfare, and Decadent drops a bomb of hard-charging traditional metal and blistering social commentary on the wealthy and the entitled.

Keeping up with his old band Accept isn't easy, considering what an unbelievable roll they're on with their last three records. Still, Udo Dirkschneider and those legendary teeth-gnashing vocals of his take a backseat to no one, and his most recent studio effort, the titanic Steamhammer, was simply unstoppable, a unsinkable battleship of a record that found glory in tumult. A live release that followed brought to bear all the power and majesty of this version of U.D.O.

The hope is Decadent, album No. 15 from U.D.O. and the second since the departure of longtime collaborator Stefan Kaufmann, will make Steamhammer seem like child's play, as Dirkschneider looks to eat the rich – metaphorically speaking, of course.

"Decadent behavior by privileged society exists in the whole world in completely different shades," says Udo. "Decadence is almost like a universal language. What bothers me the most is the egocentrism that goes along with that. People who have everything seem not to really care about the world around them anymore; it's like they use their own privileged status as an absolution for that. Also they do not seem to see that there's a correlation between their own luxury and the poverty of others."

Those are, indeed, fighting words. Decadent drops Feb. 3 via AFM Records.

Toto - Toto XIV
Toto – Toto XIV: On the softer side of things, there's Toto. Some may scoff, but we've missed their sterling musicianship, their ability to craft memorable pop-rock ear candy and their grandiose arrangements. And quite frankly, we all could stand some romance, some adventure and some positivity in our lives. I do sorely miss the rains down in Africa.

It's been almost 10 years since Toto's last opus, Falling in Between. A date's been set for the release of Toto XIV (they do love their roman numerals, don't they?), with the glorious event taking place March 24, courtesy of Frontiers Records Srl. It'll be coming out in all kinds of different formats, a two-LP vinyl set among them.

Guitarist Steve Lukather can barely contain his excitement. "When you put us in a room, and everybody brings in their pieces, the next thing you know it all fits together," says Lukather. "Everybody's performances are top-notch. We are really bringing our best out, forcing ourselves to make personal best choices, what's best for the music. I'm really excited to hear what people think."

Lord Dying - Poisoned Altars 2015
Lord Dying – Poisoned Altars: Time to restore some street cred. Poisoned Altars is the second outing from Lord Dying, one of the most fearsome and powerful new doom-metal outfits out there. Its churning riff magma will undoubtedly cause fiery, blackened, aural devastation and destruction on an apocalyptic level.

Will Lord Dying be able to avoid the sophomore jinx, after 2013's monstrous Summon The Faithless? That's a given, considering Toxic Holocaust's Joel Grind is handling the production end of things. Let's just go ahead and give Lord Dying a spot on the Best of 2015 list right now. Poisoned Altars comes out Jan. 27 on Relapse Records. Great cover by the way. Lord Dying, you've really outdone yourselves.