CL1
are a four piece Toledo band who describe themselves as working class punk.
Eric, Sam, Marc, and Jenn are hardly new to the local scene, all carrying a
pretty impressive resume of past ventures(i.e, PKM; Slave March; Anti-; Social
Angst; Left for Dead; Broadzilla; and The Ballistic Idiots). Their debut
offering, ‘Life in the 419’, is hardly a ground breaking innovation, but never
pretends to be. It’s straight forward punk rock heavily influenced by the likes
of Rancid, Discipline, The Ramones, and basically any classic Oi! band. There is
really nothing left to say about this album except that if you like classic
sounding, anthem-y, Oi!, punk rock, then cop this album. If you’re looking for
something new and innovative (good luck on that), then this 6 song demo by CL1
may not be for you. For more info on the band, please visit
www.soundclick.com/bands/6/cl1.htm . (Dave Evans)
The godfather of heavy metal is back, this time with a
noteworthy blistering slab of good old fashioned HEAVY METAL that old-line
head-bangers like myself pine for. You know, it gets a bit redundant to keep
saying "this is the best Dio release in years", because quite a few reviewers
have said that about the past three Dio releases. And yet, the master of the
metal yell keeps, somehow, coming up with music that's just as fresh and vital
as in his "heyday" of the late 70's/early 80's when he tore up the music scene
with Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and the first Dio solo band (featuring current Def
Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell). Just when you think "that's it...he's got
to make a sucky album next time...nobody can keep writing this many great songs
in a row!", then he comes out with surprise after surprise. One of the standout
tracks, "The Man Would Be King" is an out-of-character political statement about
our moron-in-chief. Other killer tracks include "Shivers", "Living The Lie", as
well as the title track. CHECK THIS OUT! The Heathen Hippy gives it four
pointy-fingered devil horns salutes. (Taliesin A. Govannon)
There’s not a lot of info on this homemade disc from this
Columbus band, other than a list of song titles and contact information. This CD
only contains three tracks “I’m Lost”, “Rattlesnake Shake”, and “We Don’t”.
They’re all pretty good. But in this day and age it’s really hard to single out
a punk band that’s doing something that hasn’t been done one-thousand time
before. Personally I always hate getting a mediocre review. As Johnny Rotten
once said “a negative reaction is better than no reaction at all.” I like these
guys, and I know from experience that playing original music in Ohio is always
an uphill battle (I’m sure Columbus is no better than Cleveland, Kent, and
Akron). So, just keep rocking and fuck anyone who says you don’t rock! For
more info, go to www.ericwrong.com. (Scott Stemple)
This year marks Fates Warning's 20th year as a recording
entity, and to celebrate this they've released their tenth studio album,
appropriately titled ‘FWX’. I've long believed that Fates Warning is one of the
most underrated progressive-metal bands ever, and this album just drives home
that fact. ‘FWX’ is a wonderful piece of intelligent, thought-provoking hard
rock, marked by inventive arrangements and memorable vocal lines. Sole
original member Jim Matheos' guitar work is crisp yet powerful, and Ray Alder's
vocals have aged well. The only complaint I may have is that there seems to be
little of the groove-twisting odd time signatures that have been a constant of
Fates Warning's sound over the years...hell, this is a band that once released a
*single* in 5/8 time! However, the strength of the songwriting more than makes
up for all of the 4/4 measures, especially on songs like "River Wide Ocean Deep"
and "Another Perfect Day". The tenth track on this tenth album, "Wish", wraps
things up nicely. The Heathen Hippy gives this four measures of 7/8 time.
(Taliesin A. Govannon)
CL1
are a four piece Toledo band who describe themselves as working class punk.
Eric, Sam, Marc, and Jenn are hardly new to the local scene, all carrying a
pretty impressive resume of past ventures(i.e, PKM; Slave March; Anti-; Social
Angst; Left for Dead; Broadzilla; and The Ballistic Idiots). Their debut
offering, ‘Life in the 419’, is hardly a ground breaking innovation, but never
pretends to be. It’s straight forward punk rock heavily influenced by the likes
of Rancid, Discipline, The Ramones, and basically any classic Oi! band. There is
really nothing left to say about this album except that if you like classic
sounding, anthem-y, Oi!, punk rock, then cop this album. If you’re looking for
something new and innovative (good luck on that), then this 6 song demo by CL1
may not be for you. For more info on the band, please visit
The godfather of heavy metal is back, this time with a
noteworthy blistering slab of good old fashioned HEAVY METAL that old-line
head-bangers like myself pine for. You know, it gets a bit redundant to keep
saying "this is the best Dio release in years", because quite a few reviewers
have said that about the past three Dio releases. And yet, the master of the
metal yell keeps, somehow, coming up with music that's just as fresh and vital
as in his "heyday" of the late 70's/early 80's when he tore up the music scene
with Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and the first Dio solo band (featuring current Def
Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell). Just when you think "that's it...he's got
to make a sucky album next time...nobody can keep writing this many great songs
in a row!", then he comes out with surprise after surprise. One of the standout
tracks, "The Man Would Be King" is an out-of-character political statement about
our moron-in-chief. Other killer tracks include "Shivers", "Living The Lie", as
well as the title track. CHECK THIS OUT! The Heathen Hippy gives it four
pointy-fingered devil horns salutes. (Taliesin A. Govannon)
There’s not a lot of info on this homemade disc from this
Columbus band, other than a list of song titles and contact information. This CD
only contains three tracks “I’m Lost”, “Rattlesnake Shake”, and “We Don’t”.
They’re all pretty good. But in this day and age it’s really hard to single out
a punk band that’s doing something that hasn’t been done one-thousand time
before. Personally I always hate getting a mediocre review. As Johnny Rotten
once said “a negative reaction is better than no reaction at all.” I like these
guys, and I know from experience that playing original music in Ohio is always
an uphill battle (I’m sure Columbus is no better than Cleveland, Kent, and
Akron). So, just keep rocking and fuck anyone who says you don’t rock! For
more info, go to 
This year marks Fates Warning's 20th year as a recording
entity, and to celebrate this they've released their tenth studio album,
appropriately titled ‘FWX’. I've long believed that Fates Warning is one of the
most underrated progressive-metal bands ever, and this album just drives home
that fact. ‘FWX’ is a wonderful piece of intelligent, thought-provoking hard
rock, marked by inventive arrangements and memorable vocal lines. Sole
original member Jim Matheos' guitar work is crisp yet powerful, and Ray Alder's
vocals have aged well. The only complaint I may have is that there seems to be
little of the groove-twisting odd time signatures that have been a constant of
Fates Warning's sound over the years...hell, this is a band that once released a
*single* in 5/8 time! However, the strength of the songwriting more than makes
up for all of the 4/4 measures, especially on songs like "River Wide Ocean Deep"
and "Another Perfect Day". The tenth track on this tenth album, "Wish", wraps
things up nicely. The Heathen Hippy gives this four measures of 7/8 time.
(Taliesin A. Govannon)