Heavy Metal Resource Reviews - DGM, High Spirits, Source, Iron Mask, and Stepfather Fred

Index

This is a heck of an album. There are obvious progressive transitions and elements. Lot's of amazing musicianship and a very catchy melodic element as well. The album is a complete package and most importantly, the songs are really good. This is the bands ninth album to date and shows a lot of confidence. Production has a good polished feel to it. There are also some notable guests on the album including Tom Englund of Evergrey and Symphony X guitarist Michael Romeo. Overall, this is a very good record with a great collection of songs. Definitely will have an appeal to a wide audience!

Release Date: August 26, 2016

The new album from High Spirits titled 'Motivator' is the 500th catalog record of High Roller Records. What 'Motivator' also is is a good slab of metal very similar to the NWOBHM era. What struck me is how not only are the songs structured in a similar fashion to bands from that era, but in ways the sound is as well. The tones and elements like that have a bit of a retro feel to them. The music is pretty consistent throughout the listen and maybe the only downside if you want to call it that is it is a fairly short album, which coincidently is how they used to do it as well. Pretty cool retro sounding album!

Release Date: September 16, 2016

To me, the debut album from Boulder, Colorado rockers Source is a bit of a unique experience. It's obvious that this is a progressive album. Most of the songs clock in around nine to ten minutes long and display a fair amount of tempo changes and elements usually found in this genre. What makes it a bit different is the fact the band is much more modern then what you usually hear with other bands of the genre. There also appears to be a decent amount of depth and quite honestly, it's almost hard to believe that this is a debut record. Will be interesting to see how this band grows from here!

Release Date: September 23, 2016

You know, I hadn't listened to this band for quite some time. Upon checking out the this latest release 'Diabolica', it was apparent how solid this band is. There seems to be a lot of substance on this record in terms of both music and subject material. What I found interesting is how this album starts off really well, by the time you hit the half way point, it jumps up another notch. Some of the songs at this point in the album had me reminiscing back to some of the stuff that Dio released. It's a pretty polished and confident album and should bring some positive attention to this good band!

Release Date: October 14, 2016

If you are looking for a pretty energetic record, this is it. I had personally never come across this band before now, but they caught my attention pretty quick. The music isn't always very predictable, but is always pretty exciting. I did dig back a bit to some of the bands older stuff and while everything I heard sounded pretty decent, you could also tell the band have turned it up a notch with this latest release. This is an album that is meant to be played loud. If you are concerned about the neighbors, but them a copy too. This is a really good band with a pretty impressive new record!

Release Date: September 9, 2016

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