Music Discovery Monday – 1/30/17

Music Discovery Monday – 1/30/17

Music Discovery Monday shines a light on artists that are not getting the radio attention that they deserve, while also showcasing new singles by established bands that are likely to get airplay in the future.

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

 

 

 ADAM WALDMAN – (Publisher, Hard Rock Daddy)

BLACK STAR RIDERS – “When The Night Comes In”

It has never been more challenging than the present day to make a living in a rock and roll band.  That doesn’t mean that “rock is dead,” as many are quick to proclaim.  It just means that there is so much great music out there, and a limited amount of dollars to go around.  The one advantage that longstanding artists have over up-and-comers is name recognition and history.

Black Star Riders come from the DNA of legendary Irish rockers, Thin Lizzy, in particular guitarist Scott Gorham (who was in the band with Phil Lynott).  Numerous bands have stayed the course with a revolving door of lineup changes (especially singers), but to their credit, Black Star Riders wanted to blaze their own trail.  Even though their sound is similar to Thin Lizzy with Ricky Warwick’s vocals, they chose to honor Lynott by continuing on under a new moniker.

If you’re a Thin Lizzy fan, you will also be a Black Star Riders fan.  However, if you are too young to fully appreciate the brilliance of Thin Lizzy, you will have a second bite at the apple with Black Star Riders.  The timeless quality to all of their music (including their latest single, “When The Night Comes In”) would have made them just as relevant throughout the past four decades as they are today.  As the saying goes…”it doesn’t have to be old to be classic.”

 

 

DROPKICK MURPHYS – “Blood”

With the exception of AC/DC’s “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock And Roll),” bagpipes in the rock genre are far from commonplace.  Of course, if you’re familiar with Boston’s Dropkick Murphys, you already know that bagpipes most certainly have their place in rock and roll.

What started out as a bunch of friends looking to play music for fun in the basement of a barber shop has evolved into a band with staying power.  Formed in 1996, Dropkick Murphys have just released 11 Short Stories Of Pain & Glory (the tenth studio album of their career).

If ever there was a band of the people, Dropkick Murphys are it.  They state as much in their bio…

“The band’s main goal is to play music that creates an all for one, one for all environment where everyone is encouraged to participate, sing along, and hopefully have a good time.  In the true spirit of punk rock, we view the band and the audience as one in the same.  In other words, our stage and our microphone are yours.”

Because of the bagpipes and Irish influence of this Celtic-American punk rock band, there was a temptation to feature the band’s latest single (“Blood”) closer to St. Patrick’s Day, but the song is too good to wait on.  The more you play this one, the more it gets your “blood” pumping!
 

 

 

ANDY CHEUNG – HRD Music Scout

WITHERFALL – “Nobody Sleeps Here”

What do you get when you sum up the talents of musicians from bands such as Iced Earth, White Wizzard and Into Eternity?  You get a masterpiece of a band called Witherfall.  A combination of power and progressive metal (I tend to lean more towards the progressive side), “Nobody Sleeps Here” comes from the band’s new album, Nocturnes and Requiems.  This album was a long time in the making.  While originally recorded in 2014, Adam Sagan unfortunately passed away during the final mixing of this album.  If the rest of the album is as dynamic and powerful as this song, it should be a great release.

 

EQUILIBRIUM – “Rise Again”

This folk/progressive metal band from Germany has released their fifth album, Armageddon.  Like the title, the subject matter on this album is dark and nihilistic, singing about the plight of the earth, the evils of mankind and how we are all to blame for the destruction of life.  The music is heavy and fast with death metal growls.  Couple that with the lyrical content, Equilibrium makes for one hell of a metal album.
 

 

 

ROB DELL’AQUILA – HRD Music Scout

PLACE VENDOME – “Light Before The Dark”

Place Vendome united ex-Helloween frontman Michael Kiske with musicians from Pink Cream 69 and Vandenplas, to perform melodic rock crafted specially for Kiske by various songwriters in the field. The collaboration was a great success that has seen the band put out a new album every four years. They are right on schedule to release their fourth album, Close To The Sun, late next month.

 

XANDRIA – “Call Of Destiny”

They went through six singers in six albums, but Xandria may finally have settled on Dianne van Giersbergen as their vocalist.  She becomes the Dutch/German symphonic metal band’s first singer to last for more than one album, as she fronts the band on their just-released seventh album, Theater Of Dimensions.

 

SUBMISSIONS

To be considered for Music Discovery Monday, please e-mail a link to the song being submitted on YouTube and an artist bio to – submissions@MusicDiscoveryMonday.com