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Metal/Prog Metal CD Reviews

Alcatrazz No Parole from Rock ‘N’ Roll Review by Gary Hill This act not only featured Graham Bonnet on vocals, but also Yngwie Malmsteen on guitar It’s cool to hear this new reissue. The CD includes the full album followed by instrumental renditions of all the songs. I have not done track reviews on the instrumental versions because there are basically the same tunes. This lands in the neighborhood of both Malmsteen’s solo stuff and Rainbow along with some Deep Purple and more. It’s good stuff start to finish. . This includes the entire album and then bonus tracks of instrumental recordings of the whole album. Since the songs are essentially the same the second time through, just without the vocals, I’ve only done track reviews of the main album. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2015 Volume 6 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review

Island in the Sun Progressive rock, hair metal and more merge on this opening cut. The vocals are pretty raw in their rock sound. In a lot of ways this really does feel like a cross between Rainbow and Yngwie Malmsteen’s solo stuff.

General Hospital This is more pure metal. It’s also a real screaming hot number. I like this one much better than the opener. Everything works better here. There is a bit of Queen element on the bridge.

Jet to Jet This fast paced rocker makes me think of Deep Purple in a lot of ways. I suppose Rainbow is a valid reference, too. This is less metal and more proggy, too.

Hirosima Mon Amour One of my favorite cuts here, this is a smoking hot hard rocker. I love the vocals on the cut. Then again, I love just about everything about this one. It’s again a bit like Deep Purple. I love the balance between the rocking and mellower stuff.

Kree Nakoorie After a cool proggy introduction, some keyboard sounds that make me think of the music to a horror movie join. The cut works out from there in some classically tinged metal. This is a powerhouse stomper as works out. It’s another of my favorites. The instrumental section mid-track here is very much progressive rock.

Incubus Less than a minute and a half in length, this instrumental is very much metallic progressive rock. It is quite neo-classical in texture, too.

Too Young to Die, Too Drunk to Live More of a pure metal song, this is solid. The instrumental section brings some real neoclassically tinged progressive rock. This is a good change and a strong piece by itself.

Too Young to Die, Too Drunk to Live More of a pure metal song, this is solid. The instrumental section brings some real neoclassically tinged progressive rock. This is a good change and a strong piece by itself.

Big Foot This kind of technical metal is very much an influence on modern epic power metal. This has some great vocal moments in a unique arrangement. Of course, the instrumental work really stands tall, too.

Starcarr Lane Here is another with more of a straight ahead hard rocking sound. I like this one a lot.

Suffer Me This is more of a slow, blues styled cut. It’s metal and killer rock all at once. It’s one of the strongest cuts here. That makes it an excellent closer.

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Metal/Prog Metal

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Progressive Rock

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