Category: Album Review

Octavision – ‘Coexist’ (2020) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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Jeff Scott Soto has played with some incredible musicians throughout his career, and this album sees some players that are beyond description. Octavision is the brainchild of Armenian guitar virtuoso, Hovak Alaverdyan, who wanted to put together music with Middle Eastern and Armenian folk musical sounds and styles into a heavy metal, progressive rock sound. I would say he achieved his goal with the release of ‘Co-Exist’. The album came out on December 29, 2020 in the States and in Japan was released on March 24, 2021 which is the copy I have complete with the precious OBI Strip.

How was Hovak able to create such a worldly sounding record? It was the amazing musicians he surrounded himself. And it is an impressive list to say the least. He had not one, but two bassists including Victor Wooten who is a master-class Jazz/Fusion bassist who has played with the likes of Bela Fleck and then rock & roll bassists extraordinaire, Billy Sheehan who has played with Jeff in Sons of Apollo along with Mr. Big and David Lee Roth. On keyboards, he brought in Murzo (aka…Ara Torosyan) who is an Armenian born cinematic music arranger.

Those guys are great, but he needed people to help capture that particular sound he was looking to achieve. For that, he brought in Avo Margaryan on the blul (which is an open-ended shepherd’s flute if you didn’t know…I didn’t) and Artyom Manukyan on cello. Not pictured in the album sleeve is another musician to help with the sound and that was Anahit Artushyan on kanun (I know what you are thinking..what is kanun…it is a horizontal harp, similar to a zither or dulcimer, I’m sure that helped a lot). And lastly, we need a drummer. For that task, he recruited Czechian, Roman Lomtadze, who is more than up for the task of beating the skins to make sure the rock & roll part of this band shined through.

I haven’t mentioned what Jeff does yet. Jeff, obviously, is on vocals. However, out of the 7 tracks, only 2 have vocals. So like his work with Yngwie, Jeff is here to add flavor to the music and although he isn’t on all the tracks, he is the only singer which is why I included this in the review series. If ‘Rising Force’ can be included, so can this one. And when you hear it, you will thank me for it as well.

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Bon Jovi – ‘Forever (Legendary Edition)’ (2025) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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Last year, Bon Jovi released their 16th Studio album, ‘Forever’. It was an album I wasn’t sure we would ever get. Jon had some serious vocal issues, so bad in fact he needed surgery. Back in 2022, Jon Bon Jovi went under the knife to fix his vocal cord problem that had been well documented by the cruel trolls of the internet. After watching the documentary, ‘Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story’, we got to see first hand how bad things were for Jon. It is amazing he is even able to still sing. When I did the review of the ‘Forever’ album, I asked…will we ever see them live again? We were real unsure back then, now the answer is a resounding yes. They have announced a few shows in 2026 with more to come in 2027 from what I hear.

After the release of ‘Forever’, Jon received a lot of phone calls from artists wanting to cover songs off the album. So many, in fact, he stopped and had an idea. Why have people cover the songs when they could join him and sing with him and make a duet album of all the songs from the album. And that is what he did. The album came out on October 24, 2025. The band added one new track called “Red, White and Jersey” to give the fans a little something new for buying the album again. However, that was not needed as the artists that joined Jon were enough for me to want to grab it. I mean, come on…he has Robbie Williams, Joe Elliott (Def Leppard), James Bay and Bruce Springsteen…that was enough for me. In fact, the list of artist is very diverse covering Rock, Country, British Pop and even Gospel.

Like with the last album, I bought one of every physical format including vinyl and CD. This time around though I went with the standard black vinyl instead of a colored variant. I kept it simple and save a few bucks. My vinyl collection for Bon Jovi is still complete! With format aside, how do the songs stand up as duets, honestly, I was a little surprised at how well they do. We might as well get to it and discuss.

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The Distortion Den: Motley Crue albums of the 80’s

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I had the pleasure of joining Deke to talk about the Motley Crue albums of the 80’s and our favorite memories of the band during that time. And along for the ride was the famous TeeBone!! It was a lot of fun as we walked through Too Fast For Love, Shout at the Devil, Theater of Pain, Girls Girls Girls and Dr. Feelgood. What tours did we catch? What songs did we like? Or not like? What albums were good? Which ones weren’t? We answer all that and more.

Go check it out as it is live now on YouTube. Don’t forget to like and Subscribe to The Distortion Den!!

The Collection: Ep. 83 – Kiss ‘Alive!’ (50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition)

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This week on The Collection, we go through the brand new Kiss ‘Alive!’ 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition CD Box Set. Can’t believe it has been 50 years to one of the greatest Live albums of all time (cough, cough). I just received the box set from Fed Ex and figured I would show it to you at the exact time I went through it so we are both surprised or disappointed with what is or is not included. I had so much fun doing the Dressed to Kill box set, I figured let’s do the same thing here with ‘Alive!’. We talk about the book, the Blu-Ray and the live shows that are included and it is all great. I hope you enjoy!!

So go check it out as it is live right now on YouTube. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

38 Special – ‘Milestone’ (2025) – Album Review

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There is one thing I never thought I would say I needed and that was a new 38 Special album in 2025. I didn’t think I would need because I thought the band was done doing albums as it has been 21 years since their last studio album back in 2004 with ‘Drivetrain’. This is a milestone and thus the name of the album is ‘Milestone’. The band has been active since 1974, but sadly there is really only one original member and that is singer Don Barnes. However, there are two members from the 90’s with keyboardist, Bobby Capps (1991), and drummer Gary Moffatt (1996). There are also two members that joined since the turn of the century and that is bass player, Barry Dunaway (2014), and lead guitarist, Jerry Riggs (2019).

The album came out on September 19, 2025and honestly, I forgot to order it when I heard about the new album. Thanks to Tim Durling, he reminded me and I went and grabbed it. Don Barnes produced the album along with Jim Peterik from another classic 80’s band, Survivor. And I can hear that sound in some of the songs, probably cause Jim also helped write a few songs. We have a very special guest singer on one track and simply solid playing and singing throughout the album.

I was a big fan of the band in the late 70’s and early 80’s as their Southern Rock sound was right up my alley as I am from the south. These guys were some of the best. By the 80’s they turned a little more pop and had some big radio hits. They ended up fading away from my mind by the end of the 80’s and honestly, didn’t listen to them much since. But I do on occasion and when I find an album on vinyl, I grab it. The memories of their music etched in my brain so they are definitely a nostalgia band for me. Now, when I popped in the new album, I will say if I didn’t know already it was 38 Special, I probably would’ve never figured out who it was. We have to remember, we are 35 years past when I was listening to them and these guys are older and way more mature. And that is what this album sounds like. The album sounds like a classic AOR sounding album with some really modern productions. And none of that is a bad thing. In fact, let’s discuss the songs.

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The Collection: Ep. 82 – Whitesnake’s ‘Access All Areas Live’ & ‘Forevermore’ Box Sets

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This week we go through the two newest box sets from David Coverdale’s Whitesnake. The first is a box set full of live shows from 2004 to 2015 called ‘Access All Areas Live’. We get 6 different shows (sort of) and the normal goodies. The second box set is for the 2011 Whitesnake album ‘Forevermore’. This set is 4 CDs and Blu-Ray plus the normal goodies. We went through the other 7 sets last year so time to catch us up with the new ones. I hope you enjoy!

So go check it out as it is live right now on YouTube. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

Kiss – Kiss and Ace Demos (1995) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

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I have been doing a Kiss Bootleg Series for years. You get a review every time I add a new one to the collection. Well, after buying 38 Bootleg CDs from John Humphrey’s personal collection, I figured let’s jump right back in and do a whole lot of reviews on the Bootlegs. Oh, if you don’t know who John Humphrey is, you need to know he is a massive Kiss collector. And he is the drummer of the band Seether. John decided to sell off his entire collection…sort of…he kept all the vinyl (like 4,000 of them). He did it through an auction at Backstage Auctions and I had to have a piece of it…and I did wind up with some things.

This time around we have a German demo called ‘Kiss and Ace Demos’. And guess what, that is what is in on it, plus a lot of Wicked Lester tracks. The first 10 tracks are Wicked Lester (but not really). Tracks 11-15 are Kiss Demos (mostly) and Tracks 16-18 are Ace Frehley Demos (one of which I’ve never had before. Track 19 on the list is the radio commercial for Kiss – The Originals release. An interesting add.

Now, the track listing says you get 19 tracks, but that isn’t really true. Like most bootlegs, there are mistakes. Well, a couple errors in this case. First is that tracks 9 & 10 are not what they have listed as “We Want To” and “Shout it out Loud”. Nope that is actually one song called “We Want To (Shout It Out Loud)”. Th other mistake is “Ladies in Waiting” is spelled “Laidies in Waiting”…which I guess makes it take on a whole new meaning…or maybe fits the meaning of the song that much better. And there was a little bonus inside the booklet. There was the actual receipt when this album was purchased back April 12, 1995 (if bought in Europe, then it would be December 4, 1995…not 100% positive on either. But the price was rather high at 49.85 after tax. A little steep back in that day.

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The Collection: Ep. 81 – Bon Jovi: Forever & Forever (Legendary Edition)

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This week we are going to talk about Bon Jovi’s latest album, Forever (Legendary Edition) as well as the original Forever album. The album came out on October 24, 2025 and I figured we would walk through each song, discuss the duet partners and how much we like or dislike each song. This is the band’s 16th and 17th Studio albums and honestly, I am so happy they are still putting out new music. I haven’t liked everything this band is done, but new music is better than no music. We have vinyl, CDs and even a cassette to show off this week. I hope you enjoy.

So go check it out as it is live right now on YouTube. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

Kiss – ‘Boxx (Vol. 2) – Live in Europe 1984’ (1993) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

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I have been doing a Kiss Bootleg Series for years. You get a review every time I add a new one to the collection. Well, after buying 38 Bootleg CDs from John Humphrey’s personal collection, I figured let’s jump right back in and do a whole lot of reviews on the Bootlegs. Oh, if you don’t know who John Humphrey is, you need to know he is a massive Kiss collector. And he is the drummer of the band Seether. John decided to sell off his entire collection…sort of…he kept all the vinyl (like 4,000 of them). He did it through an auction at Backstage Auctions and I had to have a piece of it…and I did wind up with some things.

This time around we have another Australian Bootleg which means it has a big “UNAUTHORIZED” across the cover. It is called Boxx (Vol. 2) – Live in Europe 1984 and was released in 1993 by a label called Banana and distributed by Apple House Music. What is with the fruit references?? It’s packaging is identical to the other two we’ve reviewed from this company All were made in Australia. This time we get a Gold Disc for the CD which is different.

This show has Bruce Kulick on guitar and he was not yet an official member. All the songs are from a show at the Gaumont Theater in Ipswich, England on October 11, 1984 for the Animalize Tour. I have a full show from this European Tour and it was the October 26 show in Stockholm on the “They Only Come Out at Night” bootleg. This one here is only 10 tracks, it is not a full show, but with only 3 songs are classic 70’s Kiss and the rest are all from the 80’s, I am truly okay with that as I love the 80’s songs. Heck, the 80’s were the era I grew up in. The 70’s, I was a little kid and influenced heavily by my brother’s taste. The 80’s were all my doing.

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Kiss – Boxx (Vol. 1) (1993) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic16 Comments

I have been doing a Kiss Bootleg Series for years. You get a review every time I add a new one to the collection. Well, after buying 38 Bootleg CDs from John Humphrey’s personal collection, I figured let’s jump right back in and do a whole lot of reviews on the Bootlegs. Oh, if you don’t know who John Humphrey is, you need to know he is a massive Kiss collector. And he is the drummer of the band Seether. John decided to sell off his entire collection…sort of…he kept all the vinyl (like 4,000 of them). He did it through an auction at Backstage Auctions and I had to have a piece of it…and I did wind up with some things.

This time around we have another Australian Bootleg which means it has a big “UNAUTHORIZED” across the cover. It is called Boxx (Vol. 1) and was released in 1993 by a label called Banana and distributed by Apple House Music. What is with the fruit references?? It’s packaging is identical to the Live Vol. 1 we did a few weeks back. Both were made in Australia. This time instead of tracks from one show we get them from two. One is Cleveland 1975 and the other is actually Nashville 1984 despite the cover saying ’85. Oops. It looks like songs 1-6 are from June 21, 1975 at the Cleveland Music Hall and was actually part of the King Biscuit Flower Hour Broadcast…which explains why it sounds so good. Tracks 7-13 are from January 11, 1984 show at Nashville Municipal Auditorium.

It starts off with what is called “Intro” so I was expecting a big “You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best…” opening, however, it was simply the intro to the song “Hotter Than Hell” as are only taking songs from the setlist here and not a full show. “Hotter Than Hell” really cooks. The guitars are smoking, the bass is steaming and the drums are explosive. Paul’s vocals are killer and it is hard to believe this is a bootleg. The go right into “Firehouse” like they do in the original full show. And it is more of the same awesomeness. You know how the song goes so no need discussing that, simply know this sounds like a band in their prime and hungry as hell.

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