A Matter of Life and Death (It’s More Important than That)

As promised here is my take on the ‘Best of 2006’ offerings I have received, starting today with that from Billy. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you “A Matter of Life and Death (It’s More Important than That)”......

Peace Among the Ruins – Presto Ballet. Both Billy and I eyed this up over several weeks in Windows and Billy bit first. In many ways I’m surprised I didn’t jump for it as I thoroughly enjoyed Kurdt Vanderhoof’s 2 solo efforts but there you go. This has a very strong Kansas vibe and if you throw in a bit of ‘80’s Rush you will get the general idea.

Pure – Lost Horizons. It’s like listening to Monowar on steroids with passages frighteningly reminiscent of the ‘Flashing Blade’ theme tune. Not sure I could sit through a whole albums worth but I would give it a go and I enjoyed this track in isolation.

Some Sane Advice – DeadSoul Tribe. Basically a solo effort from Devon Graves this is a lot more listenable than I had imagined it might be. The one song that keeps coming to mind when I hear this is Cat’s in the Cradle by Harry Chapin. I think I’m going to have to check these out a bit more.

House of Plague – Wolverine. Hard to pinpoint this one as they seem to be covering as many bases as they possibly can. The guitarist sounds very similar to Alex Lifeson and Queensryche are perhaps the band that they resemble most closely. Have to say I don’t like the cymbal sound on this, for some reason it bugs the hell out of me.

Volte-Face – Riverside. Polish band who play fairly straight ahead modern prog. Considered by many to be at the vanguard of modern prog alongside Porcupine Tree. Not really sure what to make of this, it’s just a bit boring and it doesn’t really do that much for me.

Song Of Our Depair – Circulus. I guess the obvious comparison for this lot are Jethro Tull with a bit of Steeleye Span thrown in for good measure. I do like this and will probably hunt out the album to purchase at some point.

Vicarious – Tool. This came very close to making my own ‘Best of’ but matters of space meant it was omitted at the 11th hour. I love the disturbing, staccato riff and excellent bass sound.

The Other Me – Frost. Roland Keating’s songwriter turns prog(ish). Very eighties in feel with quite obvious nods to Gary Numan and Tears for Fears amongst others. Not my cup of tea.

Fly – Blind Guardian. The only track to double up between Billy and myself so I obviously can’t argue with this choice.

People – Kino. Prog ‘supergroup’ with members from Marillion, It Bites, Porcupine Tree and Arena. Sounds like a mish-mash of all the above and doesn’t really convince me that I should be looking any closer at their releases.

For the Greater Good of God – Iron Maiden. 9 minutes of epic Iron Maiden and it does exactly what it says on the tin. I can see why most critics have hailed this as the best thing to come from the Maiden camp in years but personally I would rather listen to either of the first two albums.

Witchcraft – Wolfmother. Regressive Rock anyone? I love this and was one of the tracks from the album under consideration as my own choice.

Knights of Cydonia – Muse. The off the wall album closer from Devon’s finest. Manages to merge Telstar and the theme from any number of spaghetti westerns into a protest song. Has to be heard to be believed.

So there you go Billy’s picks of the year. Only a couple that didn’t do anything for me which isn’t a bad ratio and a few bands that I will be actively looking out for from now on. Next up the offering from Rob.