The Music Thread.

[DeadPoolX]

There's a cover band from the Ukraine I found on YouTube called Sershen & Zaritskaya. It's named for the band's rhythm/lead guitarist (Sergey Sershen) and their vocalist (Daria Zaritskaya). Sergey is an amazing guitarist and Daria has a really powerful voice that works well for hard rock and metal. Plus, her looks get her a lot of attention.

The last video on the list (a cover of KISS's I Was Made For Lovin' You) was a collaborative effort between Sershen & Zaritskaya and Addie Nicole Amick, the lead singer of an American band called Halocene. They did a reverse collab on Halocene's channel that covered Motley Crue's Kickstart My Heart.

[MusicallyInspired]

Hmm. Where would Pink Floyd be, then? Psychedelic rock?

I would call Pink Floyd Progressive Rock.

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm. *googles Progressive Rock*

Progressive Rock, n. A style of rock music popular especially in the 1970s and characterized by classical influences, the use of keyboard instruments, and lengthy compositions.

"The song lasts nearly fourteen minutes and is a classic example of all that's good in progressive rock"

Oh! *raises eyebrows* I've never heard that term before. Thanks, MusicallyInspired! I learned something new. Heh. Then again, the whole of life is a learning process.

[Tawmis]

There's a cover band from the Ukraine I found on YouTube called Sershen & Zaritskaya. It's named for the band's rhythm/lead guitarist (Sergey Sershen) and their vocalist (Daria Zaritskaya). Sergey is an amazing guitarist and Daria has a really powerful voice that works well for hard rock and metal. Plus, her looks get her a lot of attention.

The Heart cover is great. Not a fan of the "I Was Made For Loving You" - they took the "fun" out of the song and made it too crunchy metal.

[DeadPoolX]

There's a cover band from the Ukraine I found on YouTube called Sershen & Zaritskaya. It's named for the band's rhythm/lead guitarist (Sergey Sershen) and their vocalist (Daria Zaritskaya). Sergey is an amazing guitarist and Daria has a really powerful voice that works well for hard rock and metal. Plus, her looks get her a lot of attention.

The Heart cover is great. Not a fan of the "I Was Made For Loving You" - they took the "fun" out of the song and made it too crunchy metal.

Huh. It's interesting how our likes and dislikes can vary so much.

I thought their "I Was Made For Lovin' You" cover was their best one (although I could've done without Halocene) and a million times better than the original song. IWMFLY is pretty good when KISS sings it live, but the studio recorded version is awful.

To be fair, the studio recorded version of IWMFLY is a product of the disco-laden 1970s and I have a near-pathologic hate for the 1970s. Don't get me wrong, some great stuff came out of the 1970s overall, but that decade's overall aesthetic disgusts me. There's probably some weird psychological hangup going on here, but I'll be damned if I know what it is.

Their cover of Barracuda was pretty good, but I prefer their cover of You Shook Me All Night Long. Admittedly, the lyrics don't make a whole lot of sense when it's a woman singing, but whatever.

[Tawmis]

I've never heard of this band before - but an article on Blabbermouth mentioned some acoustic versions of songs they recorded while in lockdown...

And, they're good. But when she uses the wine glasses.... So awesome.




Some other songs they did from this...




But this is why I originally listened to these...

[Tawmis]

Huh. It's interesting how our likes and dislikes can vary so much.
I thought their "I Was Made For Lovin' You" cover was their best one (although I could've done without Halocene) and a million times better than the original song. IWMFLY is pretty good when KISS sings it live, but the studio recorded version is awful.
To be fair, the studio recorded version of IWMFLY is a product of the disco-laden 1970s and I have a near-pathologic hate for the 1970s. Don't get me wrong, some great stuff came out of the 1970s overall, but that decade's overall aesthetic disgusts me. There's probably some weird psychological hangup going on here, but I'll be damned if I know what it is.
Their cover of Barracuda was pretty good, but I prefer their cover of You Shook Me All Night Long. Admittedly, the lyrics don't make a whole lot of sense when it's a woman singing, but whatever.

Yes, I love the song IWMFLY because of how silly/campy feeling it is. I was a big KISS fan back in the day (they're not even on my radar anymore after Crazy Nights).

But the song has become a joke between the wife and I - like I do pelvic thrusts when the "rockets" fire in the normal song (usually on long road trips where I am driving and that song comes on, much to the dismay of my wife)

[Rath Darkblade]

Pelvic thrusts, eh? Like this guy used to do, which obviously heralded the end of civilisation?

[BBP]

It's the pelvic thrust that really drives you insane!

[Tawmis]

Going back to my first post, talking about following/listening to music from an artist you know, who was in other bands...

Carl Albert, who would go on to sing for Vicious Rumors, and put Vicious Rumors on the "heavy metal" map (for those deep into Heavy Metal; but not to the Metallica, Bon Jovi, etc., level) - before tragically passing away (from a car accident) in April 22, 1995 - just as Vicious Rumors was getting more recognition.

So I discovered he was in other bands - called "Scratch", "Ruffians" and "Villains." All super rare, demo type tapes. I found them, essentially recreated the demo covers, and threw them on Youtube. Probably of no interest to anyone here (just pretty much sharing) because of how "raw" the music is from being a demo stuff - especially the Scratch stuff. The Villains stuff, actually sounds good, and was "reprinted" onto CDs in Europe with an old (pre-thrash) Pantera CD called "Power Metal."

Anyway...

[Tawmis]

The Eddie Van Halen mural.

[Tawmis]

So I had seen Moriah Formica open for Stryper a few years ago (probably like 4 years ago now?) up in Los Angeles area.
She was very, very, very talented.

She first appeared (as far as I know) on The Voice doing an amazing job of Heart's Crazy On You.
Here she is opening for Stryper doing their song To Hell With the Devil. Undoubtedly same tour I saw her with Stryper.
And here she is singing with Michael Sweet of Stryper, again covering Crazy On You by Heart.
And here she is singing Evanessence - which is insanely difficult to match Amy Lee's tone and vocals - and she nails it singing Bring Me To Life.
She did a great cover of Shallow.
Here's Brooke C (the drummer of what I am about to mention) - covering TOOL's Forty Six And 2.

So she (Moria) has now formed a band called PLUSH - and here's a preview of their song:

Hate.

[Tawmis]

So Ronnie Atkins, who sings for a band called PRETTY MAIDS (who I freaking love; they're so good!) - awhile ago was diagnosed with cancer. Went through some treatments (33 to be exact). Thought things were going good when they said he was cancer free - then suddenly was told it's now Stage 4 and incurable.

So he's releasing a solo album... here's a two songs so far.

I really like this song; seems very personal to what he's going through.





Another one that seems very personal as to what he's going through.




More from Blabbermouth, if you're inclined to reading more:
https://blabbermouth.net/news/pretty-ma ... lo-single/

Frontiers Music Srl will release "One Shot", the new solo album from Danish vocalist Ronnie Atkins, album on March 12. The official music video for the disc's second single, the title track, can be seen below.

"To be honest, I initially had no intention to do a solo album to begin with, but for various reasons, and in particularly my own personal health situation, I finally decided to have a crack at it," says Atkins.

"Around Easter 2020, and only some six weeks after I was told that everything seemingly looked very positive for my health, I was, unfortunately, diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and told it was incurable, which was devastating news for me. Needless to say, that was a total game changer and I went into kind of a panic situation for a while. But when the dust had settled, I realized there were two ways to approach the situation. I could sit down, accept the facts, and feel pity for myself or I could pull myself up, set some goals, pursue my dreams, and carry on living. And with fantastic backup from my family and true friends, I went for the latter."

With the global pandemic shutting down touring for the foreseeable future, Atkins knew a tour promoting the latest PRETTY MAIDS album, "Undress Your Madness" (2019), was not going to be in the cards anytime soon. Suddenly, the timing for working on a new solo album seemed to have presented itself.

"Well, I couldn't change the way things were, by any means," he says. "The whole world was on a lockdown and the future prospects of concerts were very uncertain and still is to this day. Basically, that meant that if I was gonna carry out the idea of a solo album, it had to be now since I don't necessarily have all the time in the world. I had all these ideas recorded on my iPhone that I felt were too good to never see the light of day and I was writing a lot at the time to help ease my frustrations."

Ronnie's next step was to hook up with good friend and PRETTY MAIDS bandmate and producer Chris Laney to begin the work of putting these ideas together into songs. Chris is overseeing production, Jacob Hansen will mix, and musicians/singers appearing on the album include, in addition to Laney, Allan Sørensen, Morten Sandager, Pontus Egberg, Pontus Norgren, Kee Marcello, Olliver Hartmann, John Berg, Anders Ringman, Linnea Vikström Egg and Björn Strid.

"Not being able to handle the recordings myself since I'm old school and a complete idiot when it comes to IT, Pro Tools, etc. I hooked up with my PRETTY MAIDS friend and firesoul Chris Laney, who literally cheered me up and convinced me to go ahead with it," Ronnie says. "So, I decided to get moving and literally recorded my ideas on either piano or guitar and with a mellotron click to keep the beat and the accompanying vocal. Then I would send these along to Chris, who did the instrumentation in Stockholm and would then send back demos to me. Then I recorded the vocals first, which is totally the opposite of what you'd normally do, but based on the uncertainty of my health situation, I wanted to get them down. After that we did the basic tracks, drums, guitars, keys, backing vocals, etc. Odd way of doing it, for me at least, but it worked. And so, this procedure slowly moved on during the summer and finally turned into an album of 12 new songs."

"I wouldn't have been able to carry out this project without the enthusiasm of Chris, who has been my constant partner in this project from day one," Atkins adds. "On top of that, I had the pleasure of working with a variety of great musicians/singers such as Pontus Norgren, Kee Marcello, Olliver Hartmann, Pontus Egberg, Linnea Vickström Egg, Björn Strid, and at last, but not at least, my PRETTY MAIDS relatives Allan Sørensen and Morten Sandager.

"Musically and lyrically, this album has been a different process for me, considering everything going on. Musically, it could have gone in various directions. It's always a question of what you want it to be. A good song is a good song, so it's really a matter of how it is packaged. But I decided to make it appeal to the fans, the supporters who've been following me for almost 40 years, so this is basically a melodic rock album with a heavy twist. Lyrically, it also has a different approach. I found it hard to write about sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll, etc. due to the situation I'm wrapped up in, so I guess it turned out a bit more personal and maybe melancholic at times. But it reflects my thoughts at the given time these lyrics were written."

"One Shot" track listing:

01. Real
02. Scorpio
03. One Shot
04. Subjugated
05. Frequency Of Love
06. Before The Rise Of An Empire
07. Miles Away
08. Picture Yourself
09. I Prophesize
10. One By One
11. When Dreams Are Not Enough

Lineup:

Ronnie Atkins: Lead and backing vocals
Chris Laney: Rhythm guitars, keyboards and backing vocals
Allan Sørensen: Drums
Morten Sandager: Keyboards
Pontus Egberg: Bass

Acoustic guitars: Anders Ringman
Lead guitars/solos: Pontus Norgren, Kee Marcello, Olliver Hartmann, John Berg, Chris Laney
Additional backing vocals: Chris Laney, Linnea Vikström Egg, Olliver Hartmann, Björn Strid
Produced by: Chris Laney
Mixed by Jacob Hansen

The 56-year-old Atkins was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2019 and underwent at least 33 radiation and four chemotherapy treatments in the fall of that year before being declared cancer-free. In October 2020, he announced that his cancer had returned.

Photo credit: Tallee Savage

[Tawmis]

I swear she has the voice of an angel. And this song is so incredible. <3

I'd pay SO much money to hear a song with her and Adele singing together.

[Tawmis]

People reacting to one of my all time favorite songs "Hall of the Mountain King" by Savatage! Rare! Because Savatage is never got SUPER popular - so I was amazed to find these.




These two mispronounced SAVATAGE, but... are OK.



She's difficult to understand (mutters it seems like)...




These two ... are meh. They liked it but they're pretty boring.



And this dude reacts to one of SAVATAGE's most emotional songs... "Believe."






Two young girls reacting to SAVATAGE's "Gutter Ballet"



The second dude I mentioned also reacts to SAVATAGE's "Handful of Rain"...




This dude has HEARD of SAVATAGE - but had stopped listening after Jon stopped sing and Zak came on - which is this album. (You can barely hear the song) He's very... weird... as a side note.