HALL OF FAME
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In this page we will present some albums that we consider them as monuments for the Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Music. Maybe some of them aren't much popular but trust us cause every album that we present in this page is very important and also some of them are extremely rare. We hope that you'll like this page... |
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CASANOVA
by Thanos Aggelakis
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DANGER DANGER
by Thanos Aggelakis |
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BOB DYLAN
by Alex Savatianos |
PRAYING MANTIS
by Alex Savatianos |
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BLACKFOOT
by Thanos Aggelakis |
ROLLING STONES
by Dzean Foxx |
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BLACK SABBATH
by Dzean Foxx |
NEUROSIS
by Dzean Foxx |
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MILES DAVIS
by Dzean Foxx |
DEATH
by Dzean Foxx |
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KING CRIMSON
by Dzean Foxx |
CREAM
by Dzean Foxx |
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DEATH
by Thanos |
RUSS BALLARD
by Thanos & Kyriaki |
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SAVATAGE
by Thanos & Kyriaki |
VIRGIN STEELE
by Kyriaki |
Back in 1992 a brand newcomer band under the name of Casanova released its second album. The first one was "Casanova" and left people with the best impressions. So the second album was going to be like a barometer for the band. As a result, I can say that Casanova they took the bet cause they managed to release, under the unique and terrific title, "One Night Stand", an excellent melodic rock/hard rock album. As genuine Casanovas then would surely have had a lot of "One Night Stands" especially after that album! The sure is that "One Night Stand" is full of melody, power, smart lyrics and will truly made your day if you listen to it! In the late 80's - early 90's the specific kind of music was at its high and a lot of good, great and
also crap bands had appeared in the music industry. I believe that Casanova were one of those bands that had all the potentials to take a leading part in the specific genre. All the omens were with them and nothing seemed that could stop their way to the top! Unfortunately at that time grunge music appeared and it was the reason that many grand bands like Casanova "forced" to split up. That happened cause all the music labels wanted to find groups like Nirvana and to make a "good" and "commercial" album so that they can took as many money as they could before the grunge music crashes down! Damn shit labels you had destroyed so many bands and so much good music in the name of gold!!! Anyway back to the album again, and actually I cannot tell which song from this album is better than the other. I will only refer to my favorite seven songs of the album and do not even think that the rest of them are not good or even better from those that I will refer to. Well, first of all I must refer to my beloved, catchy hard rocker "Sealed With A Kiss" which is one of the best songs of this specific genre and I'm not exaggerating. Other highlights of this album are the semi-acoustic "One Of These Days", the "poser" dynamite "Love's Crashin' Down", the fast and heavy opener "Guns Say Fire", the powerful mid-tempo rocker "Ticket To The Moon", the melodic light-footed "I'll Come Runnin'", and the guitar driven "The Doctor Is In". As a resume, I will only say that all the fans of melodic qualitative rock/hard rock music must have the three first Casanova albums and especially "One Night Stand". Make yourself a gift and go as soon as you can and buy this outstanding album wherever you find it! …"Use your fantasy, is the key, to your dreams…" Casanova says…
In the late 80's glam rock/poser metal musical movement became very popular. Many bands were tying to take advantage of the labels that were looking with a lot of anxiety to find the new "idols" of this genre. That fact was as bad as it was good, cause although many newcomers bands were born, in the other hand, numerous copycat acts followed the path of great bands like Poison, Hanoi Rocks (they started all - although they were coming from Finland), Ratt, and Bon Jovi, and finally they caused repletion in this genre sooner than it was expected. Then in 1989 a band, which was formed in New York's Queens, presented its first self-titled album. That band is called Danger Danger. This album contains eleven songs, which are full of melodies, energy, power, sensitivity, and the most important of all, inspiration! Even though that album was at least incredible the band didn't managed to make a big break in the crowd. I believe that this injustice, even it is very late, must finally be over. Danger Danger is a band that had released tremendous albums like "Danger Danger", "Screw It" and "Dawn" and they have never taken what they truly deserve! If they were more bands like Danger Danger in this genre, then it would never had touched bottom! If you like melodic hard rock/metal music and you are looking for "old" diamonds, which may still are behind the lights, then you should (or shall I say must?) check out immediately Danger Danger. Be sure that every album that we present here in Hall Of Fame really deserves not only your money but the most important of all your precious time and for sure all the albums that are in this section are at least classics. May not be very popular (we didn't want to present very known albums like Iron Maiden's "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son", cause we all know that albums like that are truly classics.) but here we are trying "to bring back to life" albums that under other circumstances such as better promotion, they could have become legendary! One of these albums is totally "Danger Danger". I "challenge" you to listen to songs like the unique hard rock hymn "Under the Gun", the playful "Naughty Naughty", the melodic "Fells Like Love", the sensitive "One Step From Paradise", the rocker "Rock America", the catchy "Bang Bang", and finally the rest songs of this incredible album and you will surely understand that you have lost a lot of things not to have listened to "Danger Danger"! In this point I must say that the singer of the band Ted Poley is one of my favorites singers and also I should give many congratulations to Bruno Ravel (bass), Steve West (drums), that together they have composed this magnificent album! You will surely have a good time listening to Danger Danger!
Scene from the movie "High Fidelity": Saturday morning inside the packed second hand vinyl store (which belongs to John Cuzak). The fatty assistant (music-freak) of the shop passes on to the ignorant customer the "Blonde On Blonde" vinyl, hugs him and whispers: "Don't you have this album? Ssshhh, don't say it to anyone. Don't worry - take it and everything will be all right". If there are 4-5 persons/groups who have literally changed modern music's history, then Bob Dylan is definitely one of them. To argue that one of his albums is the best one would be objective (although "Highway 61 Revisited" is for sure the most influential), so I can say that "Blonde On Blonde" is among his top class works, and my favourite one. The amazing thing here is that we get 14 songs (73 minutes of music) without a single weak moment. The sound of the album sticks to the sound of his early days where it belongs: a mixture of folk/blues/rock. I can hardly highlight the number of anthems included here: "Rainy Day Women Nos 12 & 35", "I Want You", "Just Like A Woman", "Absolutely Sweet Marie", "Visions of Johanna" ....You know what, the music-freak in the movie was right. Whenever I play this album, everything is all right!
England, 1978. NWOBHM was in the making. Two brothers, Tino and Chris Troy formed a band with the name "Praying Mantis", recorded a three track demo and took it to the famous DJ of the Soundhouse Neal Kay. He instantly loved the songs, offered them a gig there and by 1980 the demo topped the Soundhouse and Sounds HM Charts. This was the beginning. In 1981 Mantis released their first full length album "Time Tells No Lies", which remains a monumental work, placed among the best debuts in NWOBHM history. Mantis differentiated their position from traditional NWOBHM, because their approach was more elite, lyrical, based on melody and harmonies. The band presents high skills, creating songs that aren't just "heavy metal". Although Mantis somehow still manage to release albums, they never enjoyed the respect they deserved. Unfortunately like many other excellent bands of their era, Mantis has been neglected. Today "Time Tells No Lies" is remembered by the older ones as one of the best NWOBHM albums - for bad luck though (and although is has been released in CD once) the album can rarely be found. Trust me and whenever you get so lucky to spot it somewhere, "bite" it immediately - it's a guaranteed masterpiece!
I strongly believe that 'Siogo" is the best but one the less known works of Blackfoot. They become very known with albums like "Strikes" and "Tomcattin', and they took their name from an native race with whom Medlocke was related. Another thing that makes "Siogo" so special is the presence of Ken Hensley who he also wrote some of the songs. The result was the great hard rockin' (with also some southern rock elements) "Siogo" which was far away from what they had done till that moment. In this album someone can find eternal hard rock hymns like "Teenage Idol", and "Send Me An Angel", so it's a deep shame for a hard rock fan not to have this album or even worse not to have listen to those historical songs!!! I'm not exaggerating but it's generally acceptable that "Siogo" is one the diamonds of this music and especially of the hard rock genre. All of you that you are eternally searching things out and you are wild spirits grab this unique album wherever you find it! Don't loose the chance to listen to such a damn good album. It's absolutely recommended my friends!
Trying to figure out my favourite Stones album was something like searching for a needle among great, huge haystacks.... anyway I ended up with the most influential as far as music seem to evolve under my own prism... the record begins with "Brown Sugar". A song that Stones used to play live at the back of a van during their early attempts to promote their music over the Atlantic...just like the old blues legends used to do... as of course is understood, bands like the Stones didn't need to try any harder than that. The record continues with songs like "Sway", "Midnight Rambler", "Sister", "Morphine", "Dead Flowers"... indeed many people tried to copy the Rolling Stones vibe and ability to transmit their music so widely between the masses from punks, rockers, hippies, folk music funs and blues lovers, to politicians, yappies and generally to other influential people of which the musical opinion is worthless. Everybody has at some point or another listened to the Stones and that is their magic. The bible of all stoner rock has to be a Rolling Stones record!
Back in those days everything that was coming out of band-geniuses like Sabbath, was pure...not like today...sniff! Ozzy, Geezer, Tony, and Bill managed to rule the world at the time and influence hundreds of younger bands. Heavy metal was there and the proof was Black Sabbath. Their fifth album meant to seal the zenith of their creativity, imagination, sales and patience... another album with Ozzy (Sabotage) and that was it...after that? Check out "Born Again"... I am not saying that Sabbath did something wrong, or that Ozzy was the soul of Sabbath, but that their chemistry wore - off, enhanced probably by shitloads of drugs and alcohol gar...anyway,
is a must for the young - respect.
Neurosis: Steve Von Till
(guitar /vocals/percussion), Scott Kelly(guitar/vocals/percussion), Dave Edwardson (bass/vocals), Noah Landis
(keyboards/samples/ tapes), Jason Roeder (drums/ percussion). The group was formed in 1985 in California, maybe the most productive of the musical capitals of the world, never made it to the top as their subject themes seem to establish them deeply underground.
A band that headed philosophically for their confused feelings to be expressed and succeeded in many ways not readily obvious
indeed..also check: "Enemy Of The Sun", & "A Sun That Never Sets"- the band always played live after dark as they thought of themselves insignificant at the sun's
presence! What do you think of that? Outstanding...
Improvisation...for
some people that term, expressed all music ever existed, for most of the
people though, jazz was a very specific music, not readily absorbed by
the listener due to it's complexity.1969 and Miles Davis, already in his
40's was one of the very few jazz artists capable, financially, to
"hire" top musicians like Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea, Herbie
Hancock, Keith Jarret on the electric piano (praised the newcomer at
that time fender rhodes piano), John Mclaughlin on the guitar, Dave
Holland on the bass and Jack Dejohnette on the drums. Usually on live
shows, a second drummer would be present on stage. Finally, Wayne
Shorter on the sax with Miles "the leader" on trumpet were the
brass section.... the result meant to be a record that 1) Transformed
all the artists involved into superstars 2) Columbia records made
numerous releases of the music that Miles recorded and performed live in
the time between 1969 - 1971, incorporated in only two albums ("In
A Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew")...(really what can you
say about the industry?) 3) Made the big old crowd able to listen to
music of the highest quality, music that was created right before their
poor eyes and ears...we were born too late to understand the full scale
of this masterpiece...
Every
time I have to do a review on one of my favorite albums, I don't know
where to start. Maybe is the fact that memories from the past still
remind me that noone's taste is the same with another, or maybe is that
not all the people who read this are going to agree with what I write.
Anyway, considering that I don't give a shit about anyone else as far as
the music of my likes is concerned, I will continue with the filthy role
of reviewing for you "Symbolic". Chuck Schuldiner, with the
help of Gene Hoglan released under the name of Death in 1995 one of the
best death metal records of all time. The creativity of Chuck, primarily,
is pretty obvious and really expected after masterpieces like "Spiritual
Healing". Symbolic created a couple of years after "Individual
Thought Patterns" was meant to be the deserved continuation, and
with the sound of...Chuck died ...living the passionate language behind,
from the new listener's point of view. "Symbolic" is filled
with aggression expressed via superb technical playing by all members of
the band at that time, but also with sensitive, poetic-like lyrics,
which are easily understood and stay in the listener's mind. The result
can only be mentioned in such a section of the Metal Abyss site (Hall Of
Fame) as the gigantic status of this album influenced many of the
younger musicians.
"Red"
by King Crimson appeared in my way pretty surprisingly and thankfully
occupies a big big portion of my heart. Robert Fripp, the guitarist,
composer and generally the psychotic father of King Crimson made his
miracle again. And the word miracle to characterize the music of this
album is not considered personal estimation. Proof to that is the fact
that their point is made again understood to anyone who will listen to
this record even after all these years. Again the musical ingredient of
the record is very delicate and advanced technically, as most of King
Crimson's works.
Back
in the early - mid 60's not many top musicians were available...Ginger
Baker, Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton were only three of them...hence the
name. Cream, the top. This might sound a super ego-boosting name for a
band to adopt but Cream were something else. They reached a level, in
their music, that only very few bands have ever, ever achieved. Take a
listen to "Crossroads - Robert Johnson cover" and you will see
what I mean about Cream the best psychedelic, rock, blues, afro-beat
fusion that was generated and fuelled by this high-power trio. The years
have passed and music has changed indeed...but Cream, for those who
loved them, were a great inspiration without a doubt...some of the most
original music ever captured and performed. Big money though, always
changed the man...each member of the band became a self-admiring freak,
Jack and Ginger were not even talking for a good few years after Cream
separated, Clapton was trying drugs so he didn't have the time... so
this is a message from Foxx to all of you kids who think that they're
doing something really worthy... don't you ever let your pathetic
egomania grow larger than the status of your music...to your ears...
The
least thing that we could do in memory of Chuck Schuldiner is to present
"Individual Thought Patterns" in the HALL OF FAME. Well,
personally, I believe that this is the best album that Chuck has ever
made and one of the best albums in the history of METAL! And of course
this is obvious if someone check out the line up in this unique record:
Andy LaRocque on lead guitar (no comments!), Steve DiGiorgio on bass (Magician!),
and Gene Hoglan behind the drums (Titan!). 
When
we say the name Russ Ballard, our mind always goes to the great hits
that this musician has wrote, sang with his bands, or gave to other hard
rock or metal bands. All of them became super hits! The homonymous
record that we present here has a great place to the "Hall of Fame".
This album was released in 1984, containing 8 brilliant hard rock songs,
and it's definitely the best that Russ ever made! 
Well
SAVATAGE with "Gutter Ballet" mixed the heavy riffs with
progressive elements and the result was an excellent record! Jon Oliva
and his brother Criss with the addition of the great producer Paul O'
Neill wrote all the songs of this album that features slower tempos,
heavy/acoustic guitars, great ballads, and sensitive lyrics.
The
name of Virgin Steele, is absolutely connected with Epic Metal. The
album "Guardians Of The Flame" is the first album of Virgin
Steele, that has elements of Epic Metal. With Jack Starr on lead guitar
and David Defeis on vocals, "Guardians Of The Flame" offers to
the metal audience, authentic and pure heavy metal music. With inspired
changes from the dynamics rythms to soft melodies this album definitely
deserves a place ot the "Hall Of Fame", but more on you album
collection.