"Rise Up" With a Band Called Swirl

Ever heard of a band called Swirl?  Yes that's right I said a band and not some style of tasty dessert which is rather what it sounds like.  Well, neither had I until I was recently contacted through The Meister's Facebook Page and sent the seven song EP for review considerations.  Sometimes a gem just falls into your lap and that's exactly what's going on here.

The lead song on this EP is "Fourth of July", an up tempo bluesy kind of rocker, laden with catchy hooks and guitar solos that charges out of the gates running.  Swirl had my attention right off and I certainly didn't miss the irony as July 4th was the very date that I had cued it up for a spin, it was like fate!  By the time the funky bass lines of the lead in to "Spell" were halfway through I was scouring the internet for info about this great new band.  Turns out that they have been around for more than ten years starting out in Seattle, before relocating to Los Angeles. This EP is not the first Swirl output with their initial CD, titled Out of Nowhere, being produced by Carlos Cavazo, guitarist for the classic era of Quiet Riot and Matt Thorr of Rough Cutt/Jailhouse.  In the third song of the current collection we find the beefy riffs of the guitar driven lead single "Rise Up", possibly the best of the compilation with an insanely catchy chorus that could certainly be heard on today's rock radio.  "We Are Alive" has a little more thrashy style overtones to it that had my fist in the air during the chorus.  Swirl has a motivational "Message" for us that rings true in this track loaded with the emotion of this hungry independent band.  The membership of Swirl consists of 50% being held by brothers Duane
 DT Jones (guitarist and founder) and Brian "Bam Bam" Jones (drums) with Alfred Ramirez handling vox and Shane Carlson the bass.  Back in 2008 Duane T. Jones and Alfred Ramirez teamed up with Fred Coury, drummer for multi-platinum selling 80's hard rock act Cinderella.  The result of this pairing was two songs, "Time to Fly (Adrenaline)" and "Mad Disease (Sleepwalker)", on both of which Coury plays drums as well as produces.  Swirl have included these two cuts as the closers to the seven song EP that frankly just ends way too soon.  On the band's website (Swirl) there are listening samples of five other songs, presumably from Out of Nowhere, but the actual CD does not appear to be for sale........the search is on!

Swirl have toured in the US and Japan setting the stage for such heavy hitters as Extreme, Ratt, Slaughter, George Lynch and more.  The band is now located in Pasadena, California and they issued this EP in 2013 to overwhelming reception from their fan base dubbed "The Swirl Society".  I certainly hope the boys of Swirl have more gas in the tank and look forward to their next, hopefully, full length effort.....I guess I'm now part of the Swirl Society, and you should be too!

Cheers,
The Meister

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(Swirl Website) (Swirl Facebook) (Swirl Twitter)

Staring Down a Gun Barrel

German heavy rock band, Gun Barrel, has unleashed Damage Dancer officially on May 13, 2014 in North America and it's something that you should check out if you're a fan of straight ahead hard rock.

Gun Barrel came together around 1998 in Cologne, Germany and issued an EP, Back to Suicide, in 2000 which garnered some attention and led them to a record deal.  Since then they have created a five album back catalog consisting of Power-Dive (2001), Battle-Tested (2003), Bombard Your Soul (2005), Outlaw Invasion (2008) and Live at the Kabuna (2010, a live album celebrating their 10 year anniversary).  And yes, you can place some sure bets that I'll be questing to add these releases to my already extensive music library after hearing Damage Dancer!  Plagued by lineup adjustments, guitarist Rolf Tanzius is the only original member from the Back to Suicide days and is joined by vocalist Patrick Suhl (who also lent his talents to Brace for Impact), bassist Tomcat Kintgen (who has been around since Bombard Your Soul) and drummer Toni Pinciroli has been a stalwart hidden behind the kit from Power-Dive to the present.

The album opens out with a short, less than a minute long, introduction simply listed as "Intro" on my MP3 promo copy, but appears to be officially titled "Unleashing the Hounds" according to the band's website.  The title track, "Damage Dancer" is up next and gets the ball rolling quickly with a high energy in the fast paced rocker.  "Bashing Thru" has such a familiarity to it, but I can't quite place the comparative song.  Definitely one of those songs that sticks with you after the listen is over and is probably my top choice here.  The rest of Damage Dancer moves along quite well in the same vein as the first two tracks with Patrick Suhl's vocals having just the right amount of grit to them throughout the release which is peppered with groovy rhythms and short, uplifting solos containing enough riffage to satisfy.  Standout cuts for me are the aforementioned "Bashing Thru", the peppy "Building a Monster" and the fantasy based "Ride the Dragon".  The over six minute in length epic, "Vultures are Waiting", is another gem not to be missed near the end of the album.

Check out some Gun Barrel with this record company promo for the song "Damage Dancer".

Cheers,
The Meister

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Meister's Buried Treasure: Arch Rival - In The Face Of Danger

Wow was this "Buried Treasure" project ever hard!  It seemed like such a great idea at first and I quickly chose what I thought would be a great album to feature for my "Buried Treasure".  As I cued it up for a listen it reminded me of another album, which reminded me of another.....which reminded me of another......which reminded me of yet another.....and so on and so on for three days now!  Enough! I'm stopping here and going to feature Arch Rival's In The Face of Danger.  I'm sure that I'm not the only one of our writers that experienced this problem as I know that we all have a vast knowledge of music and immense collections....perhaps "Buried Treasure" should continue each month?

With the constant spin of albums added to the playlist being cut off I came to rest on Arch Rival.  Perhaps some of you have heard of them, but I think this will be a new venture for many of you.  With no official website or Wikipedia entries and a Myspace page containing only some songs from In The Face Of Danger along with a couple more from their later releases, information on the band proves rather difficult to find.  Their Facebook page with a meagre 419 likes does seem to be in fairly recent use with some posts dating back to July.  Arch Rival is a band from Dayton Ohio, made up of Michael Harris on guitar, Gary Rigmaiden (bass), Greg Martin (drums) and Steve Snyder handling the vocal duties.  The band was together playing the club scene for several years before Steve Snyder joined the ranks.  They released their début record, the aforementioned In The Face Of Danger in 1991.  Two more albums followed, Wake Up Your Mind 1993 and Third Degree Burns 1997.

This excellent collection of melodic metal starts off on a high note with the title track to the album.  I've included the you-tube link for the official video below and really that speaks for the record, so give it a listen.  "Time Won't Wait" maintains the precedent established at the outset with it's catchy chorus, while the third track "Me Against The World" begins acoustically before pumping up about a minute in.  "Rock The Night Away", a standard rocker takes us through to the excellent "Fortune Hunter" and it's grinding riff.  "God Bless America" comes before the cover of the Beatles' "Revolution" and then we get "Mr. Attitude", another stand out track.  The sleazy flavoured "Shotgun At Midnight" and "Siren's Song" precede the album closer of "Can You Tell Me Why".  All in all the eleven tracks add up to about 45 minutes jam packed with catchy, hooky riffs, decent guitar work, melodic vocals and choruses.  There's not a bad song on here and this is a great find for fans of the likes of Dokken or Brighton Rock.  I'm surprised that with their radio friendly hard rock sound that Arch Rival did not become more of a household name....perhaps they were just another victim of the impending evil of the grunge era?

As Twisted Sister would say "Play it loud Muthas"

Cheers,
The Meister