Starbynary - Dark Passenger

I am a sucker for a few things: progressive metal and cool album artwork, and this has both. (I will admit, I have bought releases based on cool artwork and have been disappointed, but not so when it comes to Starbynary).

Starbynary is a Progressive Metal trio founded by some of the most talented musicians in the scene. ‘Dark Passenger’ is the band’s debut album, and it is an exciting concept inspired by Jeff Lindsay’s ‘Darkly Dreaming Dexter’ (as the highly successful TV series ‘Dexter’), a musical journey in the vein of classic Progressive bands of the Seventies with a modern touch and outstanding technical abilities displayed throughout the record. ‘Dark Passenger’ was produced by Peter Pahor in Trieste, Italy, and features a very special guest appearance by Mike LePond (Symphony X) on bass. The beautiful artwork was handled by renowned artist Felipe Machado Franco (Blind Guardian, Rage, Secret Sphere)

Nightglow - Orpheus

In past reviews I have mentioned how I often pick up and try bands based on their cool cover artwork. Well, at first, this artwork was not impressive enough to make me give it a look, it just seems kind of remedial, and yet at the same time kind of eerie.The artwork was blah, but the color scheme and content was a bit captivating.

Then I read a little of the band's style and the term "Classic Heavy Metal" appeared, which is one of my fave styles, so I read on.

Nightglow saw the light of the day in 2003 and soon established themselves as a Classic Heavy Metal band devoted to the great English acts of the Eighties. After many years of live performances (also as the official Manowar Italian tribute band), collaborations with many international acts such as Lizzy Borden, Eric Martin, Kiko Loureiro, Fabio Lione, Jack Starr to name a few, and a critically acclaimed debut album, Nightglow are ready to come back with a new effort combining all their past influences and projecting them to the future. ‘Orpheus’, this is the title of the new work, sounds heavy and refreshing, delivering great melodies, powerful guitar riffs and groovy rhythms like there was no tomorrow. The album was recorded at B-Demolition Studios, with mixing and mastering by Tuvo (Shake Well Before) at Try Studios. The artwork was handled by Alessandro Conti (Trick or Treat, Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody). A special guest appearance by Sara Ciucci from folk metal band Artaius has also been announced.

Book Review: Paul Stanley - Face the Music: A Life Exposed

People usually write books about themselves in order to put themselves in a good light, and tear down other around them. Paul's band mates Ace and Peter did that (more so in Peter's case). So I expected that from Paul's side here. Well, there is a little of it, but not near as much as I expected.

When I read the Peter Criss biography, at times I felt sorry for him and the way he was treated by Gene and Paul (at least from his perception of things), but for the bulk of his book I just shook my head thinking what a total loser he was to continue time and time again to screw things up in his self-destructive life. He was an addict and abused drugs, and let it screw up his career. Understanding how his self-destructive lifestyle was in his own words, it has to make you wonder just how much of his "stories" about band abuse are remembered clear enough to be accurate.