Judas Priest-Redeemer of Souls   ©2014 Epic Records
​After the disappointment of 'Nostradamus' for me, I was hoping the band may return in some form to their former glory. Well, they delivered just that in spades. This album has a very classic Priest feel to it. It's not necessarily geared towards the sounds of 'Painkiller', but to me leans more towards the earlier 80's and maybe even late 70's sounding Priest music. I found this release to be consistent in terms of heaviness and quality. It feels pretty uniform throughout. The limited edition has some great bonus tracks. Rumor has it that this is the band's finale. I'm definitely hoping not as I would love more of this!
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Big Engine-Shot Like a Rocket   ©2014 Pavement Music 
​I really like this record. Spent all week listening to it and it has a definite classic hard rock feel with a great groove. Having not been familiar with this band, I went back and found out that they have shared the stage with some pretty big names and have been releasing for awhile now. The songs to me are memorable with some of them having a decent sense of humor. It's nice to be able to sit back and enjoy an album start to finish in the spirit of what rock is about. The word is a rather messy place at the moment and in some ways music makes it a little better and Big Engine are no exception. Solid!
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Ted Nugent-Shutup&Jam  ©2014 Frontiers Records
​The latest from Ted Nugent had me thinking more about his classic stuff and the similarities. You always get that Nugent feel to his stuff and there is always lots of guitar. No exception here. While nothing really stands out as new, this is a good record that should appeal to Nugent's fanbase. Some of the stuff I like best on the album is the more Blues based stuff, especially the Blues version of 'Never Stop Believing'. Uncle Ted has been staying pretty busy when it comes to his music. If you like this type of stuff, you will probably not want to miss this. Got some Sammy Hagar guesting here as well!
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Adage-Defined   ©2014 Pavement Music
​Hailing for North Carolina is Modern rock band Adage. Good heavy stuff here that has a nice amount of melodic element infused into all that intensity. I tend to enjoy a lot of these modern bands and Adage is no exception. First thing I would do is go straight to radio with the song 'Best of'.  Instantly likeable in my opinion and could bring the band to another level. Quite honestly, there really isn't a bad song among the 5 offered on 'Defined'. I would love to see the band with another full length album with this kind of quality. When you have the goods like this band, there should be no stopping them.
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Tesla-Simplicity   ©2014 Tesla Electric Co.
​Came away from this album pretty mixed. It's not a bad record, but unlike the bands first few releases, I didn't feel anything really stood out. To me Tesla feels comfortable as the sound of this record is kind of what I expected, so those expectations were met. What I miss however is that 'Mechanical Resonance' punch to the music. That is still on of my favorite albums of all time. This album is raw and sticks to the formula. I do have a lot of respect for this band as I have been a fan for a long time. To summarize, this album is decent, but I will probably not go back to it much like some of their other albums.
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