#ron thal

[walterkov]

Bumblefoot - Little Brother Is Watching [x] @giftober 2024 | Day 3: Gold

[rock--band]

American hard rock band Guns N' Roses was formed in Los Angeles, California with an original recording lineup of lead vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler.

Current Members Axl Rose - lead vocal, 1985–present Duff McKagan - bass, 1985–present Slash - lead guitar, 1985–present Dizzy Reed - synthesizers, 1990–present Richard Fortus - guitar, 2002–present Frank Ferrer - drums, 2006–present Melissa Reese - synthesizers, 2016–present

Former Members Izzy Stradlin - guitars, 1985–1991 Rob Gardner - drums, 1985 Tracii Guns - guitars, 1985 Ole Beich - bass, 1985 (died 1991) Steven Adler - drums, 1985–1990 Matt Sorum - drums, 1990–1997 Gilby Clarke - guitars, 1991-1994 Robin Finck - guitars,1997–2008 Josh Freese - drums, 1997–2000 Tommy Stinson - bass, 1998–2014 Chris Pitman - synthesizers, 1998–2016 Buckethead - guitars, 2000–2004 Brain - drums, 2000–2006 Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal - guitars, 2006–2014 DJ Ashba - guitars, 2009–2015

Studio albums Appetite for Destruction, 1987 G N' R Lies, 1988 Use Your Illusion, 1991 The Spaghetti Incident?, 1993 Chinese Democracy, 2008

Live albums Live Era, 1999

Compilation albums Use Your Illusion, 1998 Greatest Hits, 20074

Video albums Use Your Illusion: World, Tour – 1992 in Tokyo, 1992 Garden of Eden: Strictly Limited, 1993 Don't Cry: Makin, 1993 November Rain: Makin', 1993

Singles It's So Easy / Mr. Brownstone, 1987 Welcome to the Jungle, 1987 Sweet Child o' Mine, 1988 Paradise City, 1988 Patience, 1989 Nightrain, 1989 Knockin' on Heaven's Door, 1990 You Could Be Mine, 1991 Don't Cry, 1991 Live and Let Die, 1991 November Rain, 1992 Knockin' on Heaven's Door, 1992 Yesterdays, 1992 Civil War, 1993 Ain't It Fun, 1993 Estranged, 1993 Since I Don't Have You, 1994 Sympathy for the Devil, 1994 Chinese Democracy, 2008 Shadow of Your Love, 2018 Absurd, 2021 Hard Skool, 2021

100+ Rock Band Posters and Canvas Prints

Print Option: ♦ Framed Poster Print ♦ Canvas Print ♦ Metal Print ♦ Acrylic Print ♦ Wood Prints 🌐 Worldwide shipping

[prettyhatetrentchine]

I draw Ron jsjsja I thing he look fine

I haven't seen many draws of him or fics, idk why not, he's so cute n sexy

[longliverockback]

Guns n’ Roses Appetite for Democracy 2014 Geffen ————————————————— Tracks: 01. Chinese Democracy 02. Welcome to the Jungle 03. It’s So Easy 04. Mr. Brownstone 05. Estranged 06. Rocket Queen 07. Live and Let Die 08. This I Love 09. Better 10. Motivation 11. Catcher in the Rye 12. Street of Dreams 13. You Could Be Mine 14. Sweet Child o’ Mine 15. Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) 16. November Rain 17. Objectify 18. Don’t Cry 19. Civil War 20. The Seeker 21. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door 22. Nightrain 23. Used to Love Her 24. Patience 25. Paradise City Interviews 26. Dizzy Reed 27. Tommy Stinson 28. Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal 29. DJ Ashba —————————————————

Daren Jay Ashba

Frank Ferrer

Richard Fortus

Chris Pitman

Dizzy Reed

Axl Rose

Tommy Stinson

Ron Thal

* Long Live Rock Archive

[rockyoushow]

Derek Sherinian and Simon Phillips to release Live album on August 25

SHERINIAN/PHILLIPS is the musical alliance of Derek Sherinian and Simon Phillips, whose parallel reputations in virtuosic sonic inventions combine on the backdrop of instrumental genre fusion. Though the two had written and recorded together in the past, commitments to other projects had kept them busy in their own circles for a time. Upon their reunion for the recording of 2020’s The Phoenix,…

[ponderingrandomthings]

This is song #2 from the second and final album by the progressive metal supergroup Sons of Apollo.

It released two albums:

Psychotic Symphony (2017)

MMXX (2020)

The band was formed in 2017 with:

Mike Portnoy - drums

Billy Sheehan - bass

Derek Sherinian - keyboards

Jeff Scott Soto - vocals

Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal - guitars

Mmm… Wait! Bumblefoot? (Ha ha. Err…) Was he clumsy? No. He was helping his wife study for her veterinary exams and in the process he learned about this bacterial infection. "The name went from being just the name of an album, to the name of a record label, to a band name, to eventually his name as a solo artist."

My point of interest for this song Wither to Black is that it was based on a riff written by Mr Bumblefoot - initially called Rushgarden - because it sounded like a mixture of Rush and Soundgarden.

[Yes, it does. Plus the vocals reference a 'modern day' in a line! Good to see Rush-inspired great music.]

[metalshockfinland]

Guitarist Bumblefoot: "Not Everyone Was On Board for New Sons of Apollo Album, Which Killed The Band, From the Ashes Whom Gods Destroy"

Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to (Ex-Guns n’ Roses, Sons of Apollo) guitarist Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal about new band ‘Whom Gods Destroy’ and their upcoming debut album ‘Insanium’ which will be released March 15, 2024, via InsightOutMusic In the chat Bumblefoot discuss how Sons of Apollo ended and how Whom Gods Destroy began. Pre-Order here. When asked how Sons of Apollo…

[iaketpauet]

A guide to Robin Finck in Guns n' Roses for people who can't stand Axl Rose

I've spent months reading, watching and listening to all things regarding Robin's time in Guns so you don't have to.

*extremely long post*

L to R: Chris Pitman, Bryan "Brain" Mantia, Robin Finck, Tommy Stinson, Dizzy Reed, Richard Fortus and Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal. At Download Festival, June 11, 2006.

From Cirque to Guns

In the beginning of 1997 Cirque du Soleil was touring Los Angeles and Axl Rose went to see the show. Matt Sorum (GnR's drummer until then) pointed out to Axl that 'Robin from Nine Inch Nails' was playing the guitar.

"I told Axl to see him and he said, 'That's our guitar player,' I said, 'Bring in Robin to play alongside Slash', but Axl said, 'I want him to play lead.'" - Matt Sorum, 1999.

Robin got a call from Axl and then he started to jam with the band (already without Slash) every Monday, his day off (circus' dark day). In April, Chris Vrenna also joined for a few sessions before he split to focus on his Tweaker project, and Robin brought Billy Howerdel (former guitar technician for NIN) to help him program his sounds, but wound up staying for two and a half years with them.

In June, Robin quit the circus and joined the band.

2 years contract (August 1997 to August 1999)

Over the year of 1998, the band took shape, consisting of Robin and Paul Huge Tobias on the guitar, Tommy Stinson on bass guitar, Dizzy Reed on keys and percussion, Josh Freese on drums and Chris Pitman helping them with writing and engineering. Although Axl was contributing with ideas, he wasn't laying many vocal tracks at that time, as he was allegedly suffering with writer's block.

They wrote at least half of the Chinese Democracy album along with other still unreleased songs and many instrumentals in this period, including parts/ideas Robin had previously come up with during his circus days. Some sources had said they were working on 35 tracks.

Robin and Josh Freese in 1998 (from Josh's Instagram)

They also re-recorded Appetite for Destruction, which was never released but a segment of Sweet Child o'Mine was included in the closing credits of 1999's Big Daddy movie. Axl's intention was to use the entire song, but Slash and Duff didn't allow it, so they made a hybrid of the old version with their new one. You can listen to their segment starting at 2'58, with the second part of the main solo and the last one played by Robin:

It was rumored that Robin recorded an uncredited overdub of backing vocals for the track Mr. Brownstone in the Live Era '87-'93 compilation album. You can listen to it below, around 1'25 min.

Just in time for NIN's Fragility tour v1.0, his contract came to an end in August and soon he went to Bahamas with Nine Inch Nails to begin with their tour rehearsals.

Atlas Shrugged

"I have respect for Axl Rose, I wish him all the success that he deserves and if his album sounds a little industrial, I will take it like a compliment... On the other hand, when we played MTV awards, he made pass a press release announcing that it would cut of his disc all the parts of guitars played by Robin Finck and I find that a little ridiculous, it is a whim of star." - Trent Reznor, 1999.

"And they just said, 'Come over and do some stuff.' It's a long story to be honest and I won't bore you with all the details, but Axl was feeling that he was in a difficult place because the guitarist that he'd been working with on this new album had sort of replaced Slash, because they fell out, sadly. [...] The guitarist that had done most of the tracks had departed and Axl had a real emotional attachment to what he'd done, and yet he didn't want him on the album - and I hope I'm not saying too much here - he didn't really want him to stay on the album because he'd disappeared, you know - so he's feeling a kind of divided loyalty and he said: 'Brian, can you come and do stuff which I WILL LIKE, (laughing) and I won't feel too bad about ditching this other stuff?'" - Brian May, 2000.

While Axl was trying to cut Robin's work out of Chinese Democracy, hiring high-profile guitarists such as Dave Navarro and Brian May to lay guitar tracks, he started recording vocals for some of the songs, like HardSchool (now Hard Skool), Catcher in The Rye and The Blues (now Street of Dreams). Among them, the still unreleased Atlas Shrugged has lyrics which are allegedly about Robin.

An excerpt from Atlas Shrugged lyrics.

Whether it's about him or not, the lyrics go along with feelings of "following his heart" Robin expressed through interviews from that time.

"It was a difficult decision to make because I was so wrapped up in what I was doing at the time and I was proud of the work I'd done. But when it came down to it, I couldn't imagine NIN going out without me or with somebody else. I'm in a good place right now." - Robin Finck, 1999.

Prior to quitting the band to form A Perfect Circle with Billy Howerdel, Josh Freese helped Axl getting in touch with Buckethead. In early 2000 Buckethead was convinced to join in.

3 guitars lineup

"Originally it was gonna be a two-guitar player group. I split forever so I thought and went back to Nine Inch Nails. In my absence they were looking to replace me and Josh Freese, the drummer at the time, had brought Buckethead in to essentially fill the slot I had left. They really liked him but he's kind of a stunt guitar player. He does a very specific thing and he has a real genius sensibility about him. But he rarely plays the same thing twice ever and when you're trying to cruise through 'Nightrain' that just makes it a little (laughs) too different. So they needed someone to anchor the songs. They kept Buckethead to do what Buckethead does and they needed someone else to play alongside." - Robin Finck, 2014.

In late 2000 Robin returned to Guns for the upcoming gig as headliner act of Rock in Rio III Festival. As a sort of warm-up show, the band was booked for a New Year's Eve gig at The House of Blues in Las Vegas. It was the first time Robin performed live with Guns n' Roses.

Robin and Buckethead playing Paradise City at The House of Blues, January 1st, 2001.

With two lead guitarists, rumors that Robin and Buckethead weren't getting along very well began to emerge. And it seems that Axl encouraged competition between them.

"So it's taken a long time to pull these guys together and then have them develop a chemistry with themselves. When we first did our first show in Vegas, Robin and Buckethead didn't know each other at all, and you've got two lead guitar players trying to kill each other. You know, with their abilities. It's like when I tried to bring Zakk and Slash together. That didn’t go too well. (...) It was fun to watch." - Axl Rose, 2002.

Although neither Robin or Buckethead talked about it, years later Tommy Stinson showed his disdain for Buckethead on interviews and soon-to-be a member Richard Fortus has talked extensively about how difficult it was to make a lineup with three guitarists work. I'll return to this topic later.

Skullet

For these shows, Robin appeared with an extreme form of the mullet hairstyle, the skullet. Differing from his previous tours with Nine Inch Nails, this time he maintained the same haircut for the whole touring cycle: from the few performances in 2001 until their last gig in 2002. The only difference is that he straightened his hair in 2002.

At The Joint, Las Vegas, December 31st, 2001. Photo by Robert John.

From their US leg of the tour, 2002. Photo by George Chin.

Better

Between his comeback and early 2001, Robin came up with a song working titled 3 Dollar Pyramid, which turned out to be Better, the only song released with credits attributed exclusively to him and Axl Rose.

"[Better] was brought in after Josh [Freese] and was written by the band. It was Robin Finck’s song. We jammed it for a couple weeks and then went into the studio and recorded it." - Bryan "Brain" Mantia (GnR's drummer from May 2000 until June 2006), 2009.

Better without vocals

Richard Fortus

In 1999 Richard auditioned for Robin's place. He wasn't the chosen one but became good friends with Tommy. When Paul Tobias stepped out of his role as rhythm guitarist, Tommy called Richard to replace him for the 2002 tour.

Soon Richard and Robin formed a strong bond, which could be seen on as much as offstage throughout Robin's tenure, with Richard stating several times how much he loved working with him afterwards.

Richard and Robin during Nightrain at Allstate Arena, Chicago, November 18th, 2002.

Refusing to leave

After the 2002 tour being cancelled halfway through and "Guns' inability to complete an album", Buckethead quit in late 2003. In spite of the uncertainty of their situation as a band, Robin preferred not to leave them this time to tour with Nine Inch Nails. According to Reznor, his choice was driven by greed.

"Robin Finck [was] getting paid loads of money to hang out with Axl Rose and his house was getting paid for. You know what, f*ck you." - Trent Reznor, 2005.

Robin has never touched on this subject, but there are two things that need to be stressed: The album was very close to be finished and Guns was planning to perform in late 2005 - which only became reality in 2006 - so his decision might have been because of it.

2 guitars lineup?

"As far as I know, he [Buckethead] hasn't been replaced, but we already have enough guitarists". - Tommy Stinson, 2004.

"At the moment, Robin Finck and I are the only guitarists in the band. We switch off between lead and rhythm." - Richard Fortus, 2005.

They kept rehearsing as a duo until a few weeks before their warm-up gigs for the European tour at the Hammerstein Ballroom in May 2006.

"It was just Robin and myself, and we were doing rehearsals and Brain, and it was phenomenal, I mean, absolutely amazing. And literally, I think it was two days before we were supposed to do our first show, the energy was palpable. [...] Axl came down, he was like, 'This is the band I've always wanted.' The next day Bumblefoot comes in, and I guess, they found this guy and he came in, and the whole dynamic just completely shifted." - Richard Fortus, 2020.

Bullying Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal

Tommy had stated that they weren't doing auditions for a new guitarist, but Axl's team contacted Ron in 2004. Although nothing happened from it, in April 2006, Axl called him to "jam" with the band while they were rehearsing for their tour. Ron became Buckethead's replacement and stayed with them until 2015. In the beginning, he wasn't treated well by "some" members.

"Well, when I first joined the band, they did not want me in the band. And it’s not me - they just didn’t want a third guitar player. 'Cause at the time they had worked it out for two guitar players. Then suddenly the old manager at the time hits them up one day, and the tour was, like, two weeks away. He said, 'your new guitar player is coming down'. And they’re like, 'what the hell - who the fuck is this?', and I showed up, and they wouldn’t even look at me. For that first tour, you know, I was treated like shit. Like absolute shit. They wouldn’t really talk to me. If I spoke, they’d roll their eyes and walk out of the room. I was made to feel as unwelcome as possible. Until, finally, I had to get a little violent. And then they started realizing that I’m not gonna leave. They’re gonna get hurt. Physically. Then they realized that they couldn’t bully me, and that I was gonna fight at a level they weren’t prepared for. [...] ‘Cause I didn’t know why they were so cold to me, and I realized that they would have treated anybody that way. It was a set of circumstances, a lack of communication from the management that was there at the time, that set it up so it was almost like a stranger thrown into a crowded cage." - Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, 2013.

Note: By "physically", he meant he "tried to stab three people on stage at a show in 2006", as he told WickedInfo in 2010.

Extreme makeover

Robin playing the main solo of Sweet Child o'Mine in Chicago, 2002 (left) and in Los Angeles, 2006 (right).

"A third guitarist stood apart from the others both visually and sonically, effortlessly tearing through every riff and solo like a man possessed; think Jimmy Page on ecstasy. Even after Rose introduced the bearded, sunglass-wearing phenomenon by name, dressed like a cross between Jim Morrison and Chris Robinson, I still couldn’t believe I was looking at Robin Finck. [...] Exuding a confidence no amount of posturing can imitate, he brought a searing intensity to each Guns song with impassioned intricacy and soul. [...] Finck was great before his apparent bohemian awakening, but this was something else entirely. He was essentially running through a gallery of world-renowned portraits and landscapes, the best of their time and sacred to many, casting his own colors and impressions onto each canvas. Somehow, blasphemy be damned, he made improvements." - Antiquiet review of Guns N' Roses' performance at Gibson Amphitheater, December 16th, 2006.

Robin's definitive departure

On April 4th 2008 NIN.com broke the news that Robin was back to the fold with a picture of him at the studio. Without knowing for sure Robin's position, Axl showed being open for a return.

"Last I was aware, he had some interest in touring, though I can't say what that means until then. In our opinion, he's made things a bit awkward publicly, but that's just his way." - Axl Rose, 2009.

Unfortunately, even with the Chinese Democracy's release in the end of that year, Robin didn't come back afterwards.

One night reappearance

The guitarist had a surprise appearance on March 12 2012 at House of Blues venue in Los Angeles to perform his song, Better, and that was the last time he got up on stage with Guns.

That's it, most of the info and rumors here I've gotten from GnR forums: MyGnRforum.com, a-4-d.com and GnRevolution.com, so a big thank you to everyone.

[moochilatv]

Sierra Levesque presents: U ARE MY DRUG

Music it's our drug :)

The artist said:

"This is an upbeat pop/rock song with Avril Lavigne inspiration, and catchy melodies that you'll be singing all day long!"

It's a great song for your daily playlist.

Sierra Levesque is a Rock singer/songwriter, guitarist, pianist, bassist, and drummer from Pembroke, Ontario, Canada.

Her goal is to help lead the NEW GENERATION of Rock 'N Roll. Recognized by Guitar.com as being “Gen Z’s Most Ambitious New Guitarist” and one of "10 Young Shredders Shaping Rock and Metal Today", Sierra's love for Rock music came from listening at a very young age to many Classic Rock and Heavy Metal bands from the 70s and 80s. Sierra has been described as a combination of the powerful voice of Ann Wilson and the skilled, catchy guitar playing of Nancy Wilson. Her musical influences throughout the years have been Pop, Rock and Metal acts such as Avril Lavigne, Ghost, Heart and Scorpions. Having won the 2019, 2022, and 2023 MyFM Spirit Award for "Best Local Musician" in Pembroke, Sierra has already gained notoriety from large media outlets, as well as from some powerful figures in the Rock music industry including Nancy Wilson (Heart), Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal (Sons Of Apollo, Asia, ex Guns 'N Roses), DJ Ashba (SIXX A.M, ex Guns 'N Roses), Desmond Child (Songwriter for Bon Jovi, Joan Jett, KISS), and Mark Slaughter (Slaughter) to name a few.

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[turisiancom]

TURISIAN.Com - Ahmad Dhani, personel Dewa 19 sekaligus Ketua PT Dewa 19 All Stars Promotor, resmi mengumumkan pengunduran jadwal konser Dewa 19 All Stars 2.0.Semula dijadwalkan berlangsung pada 18 Januari 2025 di Stadion Utama Gelora Bung Karno (SUGBK). konser tersebut kini dipindahkan ke 6 September 2025. Langkah ini diambil untuk mendukung penuh laga timnas Indonesia melawan Bahrain pada Maret 2025. Dimana Timnas akan berlaga sebagai bagian dari kualifikasi Pra Piala Dunia. Keputusan tersebut juga menjawab kekhawatiran publik terkait kondisi rumput stadion yang dikhawatirkan rusak jika konser tetap digelar pada Januari. "Kita semua peduli pada timnas. Rumput GBK harus prima untuk pertandingan melawan Bahrain," ujar Dhani dalam konferensi pers, Senin malam 30 Desember 2024, seraya menegaskan bahwa keputusan ini diambil dengan rasa tanggung jawab. Penyesuaian Jadwal Bintang Tamu Sementara itu, konser yang akan menggandeng sederet musisi rock dunia. Seperti Eric Martin dan Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big), Nuno Bettencourt dan Gary Cherone (Extreme). Bakal, tampil juga  John Waite (Bad English), juga harus menyesuaikan jadwal para bintang tamu. BACA JUGA: Rayakan Akhir Tahun di Ancol, Ada Tiket Spesial Rp 164 Ribu dan Konser Musik Spektakuler "Jadwal mereka akhirnya cocok di 6 September," ujar Dhani. Nama-nama besar lain seperti Ron Thal alias Bumblefoot, Dino Jelusick, dan Derek Sherinian turut dipastikan hadir. Mereka akan datang, bersama tiga vokalis Indonesia: Ari Lasso, Virzha, dan Ello. Dukungan untuk Timnas Sementara itu, CEO PT DEWA19 All Stars Promotor, Sugiresky, menyebutkan bahwa jadwal baru juga mempertimbangkan waktu pemulihan rumput stadion. Selain laga Maret, GBK akan digunakan kembali untuk pertandingan pada Juni. Jika konser tidak digelar September, kemungkinan besar harus ditunda hingga 2026. Sedangkan, Kepala Divisi Humas Umum dan Administrasi GBK, Asep Triyadi, mengapresiasi keputusan Dewa 19 dan promotor. "Ini menunjukkan komitmen mereka terhadap kemajuan sepak bola Indonesia," katanya. Konser Dewa 19 All Stars 2.0 yang digadang-gadang sebagai perayaan kolaborasi musisi rock legendaris. Tentu saja, juga akan ada penampilan para bintang lokal  yang dijanjikan tetap takalah spektakuler, meski mundur dari jadwal awal. "Kami tidak hanya ingin menghibur, tapi juga menjaga kehormatan negara," tutup Ahmad Dhani. ***

[childrenofbodomlegacy]

LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 02: Musicians Alexi Laiho (L) and Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal present the "Best Guitarist" award at the 5th annual Revolver Golden Gods award show at Club Nokia on May 2, 2013 in Los Angeles, California.

[gamboagarcia]

Gracias de antemano por sus comentarios Bumblefoot, llenará de rock el Centro Cultural Paso del Norte esta noche Ciudad Juárez, Chih. - El Gobierno del Estado de Chihuahaua, a través de la Subsecretaría de Cultura Zona Norte, en colaboración con el Consulado General de los Estados Unidos en Ciudad Juárez y la Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez presentan a Bumblefoot en concierto en el Centro Cultural Paso del Norte. Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal es un g... Sigue leyendo: https://www.adiario.mx/estado/juarez/bumblefoot-llenara-de-rock-el-centro-cultural-paso-del-norte-esta-noche/?feed_id=172840&_unique_id=66e335980eccd

[prettyhatetrentchine]

Another Ron fanart jahsjs I love draw this man

[projectmetalmusic]

Whom Gods Destroy - Insanium (2024) Album Review.

Whom Gods Destroy is an international progressive metal group. The band members are Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Sons Of Apollo, Black Country Communion) Keyboards, Ron Bumblefoot Thal (Guns N’ Roses, Sons Of Apollo) Guitarist, Dino Julesick (Whitesnake, Trans-Siberian Orchestra) Vocals, Yas Nomura (Bass) and Bruno Valverde (Drums). I am going to listen to the band’s 2024 album Insanium and…

[thisaintascenereviews]

Art Of Anarchy - Let There Be Anarchy

Serious question, does anyone remember the hard-rock band Art Of Anarchy? This band’s name was really familiar to me when I saw their new album, Let There Be Anarchy, and after some research, turns out these guys have been around since the mid 2010s, and they’re a supergroup composed of former members of Guns ‘N Roses, Creed, Sons Of Apollo, and Stone Temple Pilots, but not at the same time. The band’s had a rotating and inconsistent lineup of vocalists, first having the late Scott Weiland on their debut, and then Scott Stapp on their second album, but finally landing on Sons Of Apollo singer Jeff Scott Soto (guitarist Ron “Bumblefoof” Thal was in that band with Soto as well). I’ve listened to their 2017 sophomore album with Stapp, entitled The Madness, since listening to their newest album, and it’s a good album. It’s been seven years since that record, but it looks like Soto has been part of the band since 2020. I can wonder what took them so long to drop a new album, but COVID-19 might have a lot to do with that.

Terrible and amateurish artwork aside, I was curious to listen to this, especially when I’ve been looking for some solid hard-rock / heavy metal. The length made me a bit scared, as this album clocks in at 52 minutes, but for all I knew, the length could be justified. After listening to this album a handful of times, I would say that it is, although it’s not quite a perfect album. I like this album, but I don’t quite love it, as it does have a few problems that prevent me from really loving it. It’s still worth hearing if you want a good hard-rock album, but it won’t quite blow your mind or change the way you think about the genre. There’s still a lot on here to appreciate (even though the artwork is really bad).

The band kind of changed their sound for this album a little bit, and the reason why this album’s length is justified is because it seems like adding Soto brought a progressive-metal influence to their sound (as Sons Of Apollo is a prog-metal supergroup). The first song on this album is almost 8 minutes long, but it’s this prog-rock / hard-rock track that never feels pretentious or self-indulgent, and it has some cool riffs and solos that keep the song engaging. What’s interesting is that this album switches between two modes — longer prog-influenced songs and shorter and more straight-forward hard-rock cuts. The album doesn’t feel disjointed because of it, because the riffs and solos sound pretty similar, but one of the big problems I have with this album is that some of the hooks just aren’t memorable. Soto is a good vocalist, but the hooks don’t really hit the way they should, at least on certain tracks, but that is because they lean into their progressive side a lot.

If you want a hard-rock album with some prog leaning sounds, and that sort of lean too far into it but without becoming pretentious, you’ll enjoy this. They take themselves out of it from time to time, and a handful of tracks are more are straightforward hard-rock cuts, such as “Vilified.” This song is a perplexing one, because the song itself is more or less a straightforward hard-rock cut, but this song brings up the other main problem I have with this album — its lyrics are very questionable at times. “Vilified” is a track that’s about people who are misunderstood in some way being vilified by society, and one can assume that would mean people of color, LBGTQ+ folks, disabled people, or many other kinds of people that the “mainstream” doesn’t really quite understand. Well, I suppose you can take that from track, but the song has fakes clips of a news reporter (weirdly done by former Queensryche vocalist Geoff Tate)talking about the Joker movie from 2019, and how it’s inspiring people to commit heinous acts. The song, according to actor Cuba Gooding Jr (who appears in the music video) is “not a song, but a statement, a message, and a warning. It is a reflection of the many issues that are being brought to the forefront within our society. Mental illness, mass shootings, institutions, people being demonized without proper information or due process.”

This makes me uncomfortable for a couple of reasons, mainly that the Joker is such a dated and cringy reference (especially with a “we live in a society” type of narration that appears in the song and it’s so funny because of how bad it is), but Gooding Jr has a history of sexual harassment. Him saying that last part makes me think he’s whining about being charged for that, and thinks that he didn’t do anything wrong, even if he doesn’t come out and say it. I can understand the mental illness part, but mass shooters should be vilified, so I don’t know what they’re trying to say there. This song reminds me a lot of “Bad Man” by Disturbed, because there’s a very purposely vague message in these songs that either side of the political spectrum can utilize for their own. I look at “Vilified,” and think of the song as being about minorities and people who are oppressed being vilified by the powers that be, but I can see conservatives look at this song and thinking that they’re being “vilified” for being bigoted. It just doesn’t sit well with me, even though I can ignore the implications of the vagueness of the lyrics.

Most of the lyrics are fine, but they do kind of follow the same formula of not saying anything interesting or pointed, so they’re not about anything at all. The lyrics fall to the wayside for me, and it’s kind of a shame, because Soto is a good vocalist, but the hooks and lyrics don’t stick. It’s really the riffs and solos that work quite well, so if you want a hard-rock / metal album with some cool instrumentation, you’ll dig this. The lyrics kind of stink, but they’re not as offensive as they are purposely vague, and like I said in my review of that forgettable Disturbed album from 2022 (that I remember being okay, I haven’t gone back to it since, and its lyrics were bad), the lyrics being vague is almost worse because they can say they’re not being “political” or express favor to one side in particular, but the main difference with this is that the music is actually pretty cool. I wish the lyrics and hooks were better, but it’s okay. I’ve heard a lot worse, and it’s worth a listen, least, but you’re not quite missing anything if you don’t listen to it.

[rockyoushow]

DEREK SHERINIAN And SIMON PHILLIPS To Release ‘SHERINIAN/PHILLIPS LIVE’

SHERINIAN/PHILLIPS is the musical alliance of Derek Sherinian and Simon Phillips, whose parallel reputations in virtuosic sonic inventions combine on the backdrop of instrumental genre fusion. Though the two had written and recorded together in the past, commitments to other projects had kept them busy in their own circles for a time. Upon their reunion for the recording of 2020’s The Phoenix,…