Insightful Minds At Ease: A Review of the Abandoned Souls Album

Abandoned Souls are a band from London, Ontario, Canada currently consisting of vocalist/bassist James Todd, drummer Steve Thomas and guitarists Derek De Kort and Tim Thompson.  I must admit that I was unfamiliar with them until they reached out to me after seeing The Meister's Decibel Geek review of Lee Aaron's concert on December 6, 2014 in Whitby, Ontario.  The evening previous, (attended by DBG photographer Brian Ronald) in London, Ontario saw Abandoned Souls setting the stage for the Canadian Metal Queen.  The band has also opened for Skid Row, Red
Dragon Cartel, and Kings X among others in their Southern Ontario stomping grounds.  In 2006, they issued their debut record, Circles of Shadows, trailed with Some Never Will, both of which assisted in garnering the band nominations for two London area music awards and appearances on many music shows and programs according to what I can find about them on the internet information highway.  Damned If You Don't dropped in 2012 and their latest offering, released October, 2014, is called Insightful Minds At Ease.  Insightful Minds At Ease is actually the first part of a two-disc collection that was the "result of some blistering songwriting and recording sessions throughout 2013 and 2014".  The second CD is set for a mid-2015 release.  The album was self-produced by James Todd/Abandoned Souls and recorded at Foundation Studios in London, Ontario.  The album features photography and digital mastery skills from Darkophoto.  Citing interests like Three Days Grace, Godsmack, AX7, Alter Bridge, BLS, Ozzy, Pantera, AIC, Shinedown and Disturbed I fear that this one may have a little too modern of a flavour for my particular tastes, but with Helix's Brian Vollmer supplying guest vocals on one track my mind is definitely open.

Insightful Minds At Ease opens up with the lead single, "Leave It Behind", and it's familiar (to those of us old enough to remember) sound of a phonograph needle hitting the vinyl.  The track quickly blossoms into a powerful up-tempo rocker and excellent choice for the album's representation.  "Want And Need" is next in the roster and holds up the qualities of the opener, having great harmonic melodies to the chorus, somehow reminding me a little of Alice In Chains.  We then have "Black", ripping off at a fast pace after the more melodic predecessor and in the fourth position, we find "Save It All", the track featuring the assistance of guest vocalist Brian Vollmer of Helix fame.  Now at the halfway point, only being eight tracks contained on Insightful Minds At Ease, "Take Yourself Away" begins the second half and doesn't seem to offer me anything different than we've already received from the collection.  To be totally honest I was beginning to lose interest by the time we hit "Anybody" as this more modern, grungy-flavoured style of rock is not particularly my preference, but that certainly doesn't mean that these are poor quality tunes.  "Sad Eyes" was more memorable with a chorus that seemed to stand out a little more to me, but I wasn't keen on the I Mother Earth reminiscent title track, "Insightful Minds At Ease" that serves as album's final inclusion.

Overall I found Insightful Minds At Ease to be a little thick sounding and modern for me to spin this on a regular basis, but for fans of that style, this album is definitely right up your alley!  I did find that separating the tracks and listening to them one on one while mixed into a playlist of other music caused them to fare much better than the whole package from start to finish.  Just my personal opinion, but certainly these Canadians are worth checking out, especially if you're into this sub-genre.  A Meister score of 7/10.

Cheers,
The Meister

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CONFIRMED: I am a Rockaholic!

I have had the pleasure of going on the first three Monsters of Rock Cruises and I am currently booked on the upcoming fourth one in April 2015. One band that I am still surprised about their absence on the cruise so far has been Warrant. They have all the qualifications – American, MTV stars, late 80’s/early 90’s sound and they are still touring. Maybe there is a story behind why that I have yet to learn. However, I did get my chance to see them live on Sunday September 7th, 2014 as they pulled into the Western Fair in London, Ontario for a one off Canadian date.

Local band Nail started things off as they began to attract the fair goers towards the concert stage area. By the time Warrant arrived the place was packed. My sister Donna accompanied me to the park. She then asked me the infamous question us concert freaks get all the time. “So, how many originals left in the band?” I was quick to mention that the band consisted of the four original players from the heyday of their fame - Joey Allen and Eric Turner on twin lead guitars, Jerry Dixon on bass and Steven Sweet on the drums. The only replacement was at lead vocals once greatly held by the late Jani Lane who passed away in 2011. In the case of Warrant it is hard to complain about a band that wants to continue on despite the fact a member has passed on. I DO in fact have issues where bands have all original members but can’t get along long enough to give the fans what they really want – especially at this stage of our lives and theirs. Skid Row, Queensryche, Great White, Journey, the list goes on and on. (Don’t get me wrong – some of these newer renditions are pretty damn good.....but!). End of rant.

New on vocals since 2008 is none other than the great Robert Mason (Lynch Mob, Big Cock etc.). He truly has a great stage presence and really engages the crowd. He has a very distinctive voice but can pull off the lighter ballads such as "Heaven", "I Saw Red" and "Sometimes She Cries" with perfection. Although their set was short and sweet, clocking in around 1 hour and 15 minutes they managed to squeeze in all the faves and a few from their latest album Rockaholic. Warrant has the claim to fame in my books of having one of my all-time favorite songs from that era (or any other) in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and one of my least favorite songs “Cherry Pie”. This show I heard them both live back to back to end the night and in between snapping pics I was actually snapping my fingers and fist pumping to the latter.

The power of loud, live rock and roll can do that to a person.

Here are a few pics from Warrant and openers Nail from the event.....enjoy!!
Thanks Brian
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