Hard Rock Music Time Machine – 11/17/16

Hard Rock Music Time Machine – 11/17/16

Each Thursday, Hard Rock Music Time Machine takes a journey back in time to feature a variety of songs that date back as far as the ’70s, the ’80s (the glory days of hard rock), hidden gems of the ’90s and hard rock/metal songs of the new millennium (as recent as a few years ago).

Whenever possible, it will also contain interviews from featured artists discussing the inspiration and meaning behind their songs.   On the last Thursday of each month, we will be doing special themes that feature songs based on specific categories or years.

In addition to appearing on the embedded YouTube playlist below, all songs featured on Hard Rock Music Time Machine can be listened to individually by clicking on the hyper-linked song titles above each review.
 

 

 

 ADAM WALDMAN – (Publisher, Hard Rock Daddy)

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH – “The Bleeding” (2007)

Five Finger Death Punch is arguably the biggest rock band of this generation.  They’ve become so popular that you expect every single that they release to be somewhat successful at the very least, and more often than not, battling to reach the top of the Active Rock radio chart.  Once upon a time, the band was just breaking onto the scene with their debut album (The Way Of The Fist) and their first single, “The Bleeding.”

The song, about love and loss, was written about frontman Ivan Moody’s previous band (Motograter) and his ex-fiance.  The two partings came around the same time, on the heels of the loss of a close friend.  According to Moody, “The Bleeding” is probably the most personal song that he’s ever written.

It’s hard to think of another vocalist who taps into the angst the way that Moody does, wearing his emotion on his sleeve in a visceral way that makes you feel his pain.  If you listen to the lyrics, you can almost visualize the struggle going on inside of Moody’s mind.  Like most FFDP songs, “The Bleeding” is raw, powerful and real.
 

 
THE WILDHEARTS – “29x The Pain” (1994)

The Wildhearts have had a successful career in their native Britain, but have failed to achieve worldwide commercial success for various reasons, ranging from battles with their record company to drug and depression problems.  With the exception of the band’s founder/singer/guitarist/songwriter, Ginger (David Walls), the band has featured a revolving door of musicians.

Although “29x the Pain” is over 20 years old, I just discovered it recently when a friend (that I worked with in 1994) shared it on social media.  In the song, the band pays homage to a number of Ginger’s musical influences ranging from The Beatles to Kiss to Twisted Sister to Kurt Cobain to Cheap Trick and beyond.  The most notable mention is of Husker Du, whose song “59 Times the Pain” was the inspiration for “29x the Pain.”  The song is about the uplifting effect that music has on a fan.

If you’re a fan of mood-lifting Cheap Trick songs like “Surrender” and “Dream Police,” make sure to check this song (and band) out.
 

 

 

 ANDY CHEUNG – HRD Music Scout

ARCH ENEMY – “My Apocalypse” (2005)

One of the most impressive and enduring death metal bands from Sweden has to be Arch Enemy, not just because of their female vocalist (Angela Gossow), but because of how great the musicianship was.  Members of the band all played in various other bands such as Carcass, Carnage, Mercyful Fate and Nevermore (to name a few).  “My Apocalypse” – from Arch Enemy’s sixth album, Doomsday Machine – is a great example of this musicianship.  It’s heavy, melodic and the intro makes the listener bang their heads and growl along.  Gossow left the band a couple years ago to manage Arch Enemy, but her replacement (Alissa White-Gluz) is just as great a frontwoman.

 

LACUNA COIL – “Swamped” (2002)

Continuing with my homage to female-fronted metal acts, Lacuna Coil was always a favorite of mine.  Although their newer albums have been a little more radio-friendly and “poppier,” their first several releases were straight-up heavy goth metal along the same lines as Type-O-Negative.  “Swamped” is from the band’s third album, Comalies.  What drew me to this band was the sheer heaviness of the riffs, coupled with the keyboards and Cristina Scabbia’s haunting voice that gave the band a goth feel that totally worked for them.  They were able to develop moods and feeling to their songs, while playing heavy riffs that any fan of metal/goth metal would appreciate.
 

 

 

ROB DELL’AQUILA – HRD Music Scout

WHITESNAKE – “Love Ain’t No Stranger” (1984)

Whitesnake is the band that vocalist David Coverdale formed after his departure from Deep Purple.  In 1987, the band exploded in popularity with their eponymous seventh album, where they adopted a sleeker, more polished sound.  The songs they wrote for that album were nothing short of brilliant.  The commercial success that they achieved with this record was well earned, but they’d been enjoying a fair measure of success already with their earlier material.  This favorite from the previous album, 1984’s Slide It In, is representative of a grittier, bluesier sound that was still rooted in the ‘70s.

 

LOS ANGELES – “I Will Carry You” (2007)

Michele Luppi made headlines last year when he was recruited by Whitesnake as their new keyboardist and backup vocalist.  But he had a rather impressive resume prior to that recruitment, including three albums with the Italian metal band Vision Divine, and his recent work with Secret Sphere (which I’ve covered previously for Music Discovery Monday).  Here he shines on vocals in a collaboration with the band Los Angeles.