JUDAS PRIEST
Redeemer Of Souls
LUCKY 7
RISE AGAINST
The Black Market
(Interscope)
On their seventh release, The Black
Market, the Chicago hardcore quartet
Rise Against find themselves staring
hard into the deep, dark, truthful mirror. Politics have always been in their
crosshairs, just look to 2008's "Hero Of
War," arguably one of the finest antiwar screeds ever written.
But even that song took the gravity
of war and turned it inward. Which is
precisely what most of the material on
The Black Market does so successfully.
Personal relationships, and the fight to
keep them alive, prove to be a powerful
metaphor for all the unrest at large. On
the record's first single "I Don't Want To
Be Here Anymore" lead singer Tim
McIlrath barks the lines "See I don't
think I can fight this anymore/I'm listening with one foot out the door/But
something has to die to be reborn."
Sexual politics or a Middle East dustup, the band smartly gets to have it
both ways.
Of course it would all just be so
much posturing if the music didn't rise
up and meet the message. Rise
Against's cheat card has always been its
pummeling rhythm section. Joe
Principe (bass) and drummer Brandon
Barnes steer the tempo changes in
"Tragedy + Time" like the ups and
downs of the songs isolationism. They
swing (albeit, like a wrecking ball) one
moment, then an eye blink later, slip
back into a tourniquet tight lock step.
It's the perfect marriage of punk
aggression and pop melodicism.
Even McIlrath's drill sergant howl
seems a bit more subdued throughout,
bringing with it a more personal stake
in the compositions. He's also sly
enough to write in a style that is so universal, the listener can plug themselves
into the narrative, and still feel like he's
addressing them in the first person. It's
micromanaging without the fallout,
and it greatly serves the entirety of The
Black Market.
– Curt Baran
Appearing:
9/11 at the Aragon Ballroom
7
TWIN PEAKS
Wild Onion
(Self)
On Chicago wunderkinds Twin Peaks'
sophomore LP Wild Onion, they channel all
manner of rock ‘n roll heydays, so much so
that the album could serve as a crash course in
the genre's more relevant years. You could
start with early-Beatles innocence ("Mirror of
Time"), move onto The Who's pissed-off catchiness ("Flavor"), take a detour to Floyd's psychedelia ("Strange World"), and end up in
Ramones-tinged punk ("Fade Away").
28 illinoisentertainer.com august 2014
(Epic/Sony)
Heavy metal legends Judas Priest have
been operating above the law (and breaking it) since, yes, 1970. Redeemer of Souls,
the band's 17th full-length album, marks
their 40th anniversary. Given that 2008's
Nostradamus was an adventurous endeavor, though a bit bombastic and missed the
mark. Perhaps that misstep in the band's
musical direction led to the exit of original
guitarist KK Downing. In his place is
Richie Faulkner (ex-Lauren Harris), who
actually bears a slight resemblance to
Downing. Faulkner certainly proved himself during the band's Epitath world tour,
but all eyes and ears will be on him with
his first recorded material for Priest.
Longtime guitarist Glenn Tipton participates in many splendid trade-off solos,
harmonized twin leads and dive-bomb
whammy bar action throughout the disc.
Vocalist Rob Halford is at his best throughout the disc, but he really shines on tracks
"Halls of Valhalla" and "Crossfire." All of
the 13 tracks have an old-school Priest feel
that will sit nicely next to their early-era
back catalog. In fact, some parts sound like
they are straight off their 1974 debut
record, Rocka Rolla. The actual album
clocks in at over an hour, which is too long.
It wouldn't hurt if two or three tracks were
left off, especially with the inclusion of the
five bonus tracks, which are hardly throwaways themselves. Any new recording
from a band of Priest's caliber will certainly be highly scrutinized. But the end result
here is an album that one can proudly call
classic Judas Priest.
- Kelley Simms
Appearing 10/3, Horsehoe Casino,
9
Hammond, IN
YES
Heaven & Earth
(Frontiers)
In terms of line-ups, Yes is definitely no
Rush when it comes to consistency, but the
latest chapter strikes one of the better balances between longtime key members
(bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe,
drummer Alan White), a relatively recent
return (keyboardist Geoff Downes) and
just one rookie, at least when it comes to
recording with the band (front man Jon
Davison). But after touring the globe several times over since 2012, everyone seems to
have gelled seamlessly across this first
entirely new studio album in three years,
which like any textbook Yes collection, is
filled with its fair share of lengthy progressive rock performances ("Believe Again,"
"Light Of The Ages"), a few shorter, pretension-free pop pieces ("To Ascend," "It Was
All We Knew") and plenty of virtuoso playing ("Subway Walls"). Throughout it all,
Davison does a commendable job echoing
the sky high style of beloved former front
man Jon Anderson (even more so than preThe downside to all this nostalgia is not
only that everything on Wild Onion has been
done countless times before, but that the
album falls flat without a true ‘60s-era
American crisis to fuel it. Twin Peaks may
have the mechanics of pentatonic guitar rock
down to a science, but without a Vietnam
war or feminist revolution to protest or
champion, Wild Onion's piss & vinegar is
wasted. The result is an album that's simultaneously furious and celebratory without a
concrete reason for either.
– Matt Pollock
6
Appearing: 8/16 at Glenwood Arts Fest, Chicago
vious replacement singer Benoît David),
while producer Roy Thomas Baker
(Queen, The Cars) helps the group sound
surprisingly contemporary without discounting its groundbreaking past. While
Heaven & Earth is no Fragile, Close To The
Edge or Going For The One, it's much more
substantial, compelling and dare we say
catchy than many of Yes' latter day works.
– Andy Argyrakis
8
NEEDTOBREATHE
Rivers In The Wasteland
(Atlantic)
Five albums and three EPs in, Bear
Rinehart hasn't quite earned the right to
s