Tag: Joel Hoekstra's 13

What to Expect in New Music in 2026!!!

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2026 is upon us and it is always fun anticipating what new albums will come out in the year. Since today would normally be a Friday New Release post, let’s look at the new releases coming our way in 2026. There are quite a few we already know about, but some haven’t been officially announced or even a date set yet.

Last year, there were a few artist I was hoping would release an album that might have or might not have released one.  It is always fun to hope for new music from these bands, but sometimes there are disappointments.  Here are the ones I was hoping to get new albums from last year and what actually happened…

  • Def Leppard – It is time for The Collection Vol. 4!! Come on boys, give it to us!! Or a new album…whichever you want. Well – we didn’t get a new album, but we got a new live album with ‘Diamond Star Heroes’, but honestly their live albums bore me.
  • Kiss – I will keep this on the list until I die!!  Time to start up more Soundboard LPs or another box set…give us something! We got a brand new Soundboard LP as well as 2 Box sets with Dressed to Kill and Alive!!  Yes!! That is more like it boys!!
  • Guns ‘N Roses – Rumors, Rumors, Rumors!!  Will we ever get a new album! – Still nothing, but we did get new songs…sort of…they aren’t really new as they are leftover tracks from Chinese Democracy with the current line-up…come on boys…do better!!
  • Aldo Nova – He keeps talking about a 2CD set for over 3 years and still nothing much, but will he get around to releasing the full Life & Times of Eddie Gage? I hope so. – Nothing at all from him in 2025 but he did mention a new album in 2026!! We will see.
  • Billy Idol – There are rumors of a new album and even Steve Stevens showed a test pressing..could it be??!!  We got one!! Yeah!!  ‘Dream Into It’ came out in 2026…I didn’t care for it too much so that is disappointing.

Okay, are there albums I want to see this year from some of my favorite bands that haven’t been announced or in some cases even rumored?  Of course there are.  These are the bands I want new albums from this year…but it might not happen.

  • Def Leppard – It is time for The Collection Vol. 4!! Come on boys, give it to us!! Or a new album…whichever you want. The new album has been hinted at so fingers crossed
  • Kiss – I will keep this on the list until I die!!  Will we get another soundboard or any more box sets??? I hope so!
  • Aldo Nova – He keeps talking about a 2CD set for over 4 years and still nothing much, but will he get around to releasing the full Life & Times of Eddie Gage? I hope so. He has now mentioned something coming in 2026…I will believe it when I see it.
  • Creed – Will there be new music in 2026? Oh, please say it will be so! There have been rumblings and rumors…I think they will at least work on a new album in 2026.
  • Poison – We need a new album, but I don’t expect one. What I do hope we get is a 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of their debut, “Look What the Cat Dragged In”. That would be cool.
  • Guns N Roses – Will we get a full album. You know what, I don’t think I really care. The older I get, the more overrated this band really is!! Only one great album in their minuscule catalog.
  • Jeff Scott Soto – Now, Soto puts out a ton of albums every year. I would love a new solo album as it has been years. At the very least, a SOTO band album. But please, NO MORE ART OF ANARCHY! That was awful.

From what I have gathered around the internet, here are the bands that should have new albums out in 2025 or are rumored, but no dates announced yet. The ones I would give a try will be highlighted in Blue. The ones with Dates Announced are at the bottom of this post. The list is building up nicely!!

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Jeff Scott Soto – All The Albums Ranked Worst to First (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic21 Comments

It took me 20 months to get through Jeff Scott Soto’s catalog and have been through 89 reviews of items in my collection. That is an insane amount of albums, singles and collector’s pieces to have in a collection, let alone one artist. Jeff started way back in 1984 with Yngwie Malmsteen and has been on over 50 studio albums, numerous live albums, compilations and tribute albums, soundtracks and anything else you can think of and it was a personal goal of mine to visit every single one. I don’t think you will find any website with a more extensive collection of Jeff Scott Soto Reviews then right here at 2 Loud 2 Old Music.

Not every album he has done is good..not at all, but most of them for me are at least a 3 out of 5 or better. And the ones that aren’t, have at least a few songs to add to an already impressive playlist. Along this journey, I have had the pleasure of meeting Jeff twice after his shows and he has been so kind each time and signed numerous album covers for me. However, I was never able to get the interview I had hoped for, but I am not giving up hope as one day it will happen. Until then, let’s go through every studio album where Jeff is the main singer and rank them from the worst album to the best album and everything in between.

There are 53 studio albums that I have where Jeff is the featured singer and we touch them all. I hope you enjoy the walk though the albums and maybe find something you would like to hear. If you discovered at least one album as a result of this series, then my work is done. If not, “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU???”…kidding. Sorry, lost my head there. Enough of this chitchat, let’s get to the list.

Updated May 2025

First, the ones that scored 2 or less out of 5 Stars

THE WORST: Bakteria- ‘Defecate! Suffocate! Mutilate! Masturbate!’ (1992/2009)

Musically, it is pretty freaking heavy. Uptempo, speed metal vibes at time and as the sticker says, a mixture of Metal/Sludge/Crust/Punk. All I know is it sucks. Jeff sings in almost a growl, that is deep and completely unrecognizable as it is borderline guttural vocals at times. I listened to this in the car on the drive home from work one day and I thought to myself, “If I have a wreck and die, the police and my family are going to wonder what the hell I was in to with that crap playing in my car.” I was actually a little embarrassed to be listening to it. I am a little embarrassed to actually own this and have it in the collection, but my Soto Collection isn’t complete without it sadly. My Overall Score is a 0.0 out of 5.0 Stars! And that is being nice. It is the WORST ALBUM I HAVE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE!!!

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Friday New Releases – June 16, 2023

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic20 Comments

You made it through another week and you should celebrate by getting yourself some new music. Luckily for you, I have a list of a lot of new releases that come out today and there are some goodies in here. There a few I’ll listen to this week as I will see if I still don’t like Queens of the Stone Age by listening to their new one. I think I’ll enjoy Joel Hoekstra’s 13 new album even if Jeff Scott Soto isn’t doing main vocals…and lastly, probably blow through the Finger Eleven’s Greatest Hits album and of course The Alarm’s new one as well. Let me know what you want to hear this week or what we may have missed so everyone can know. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

  • 616DayuH8VL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Queens of the Stone Age – In Times New Roman… – (Matador Records)
  • 817nreOQ3YL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Joel Hoekstra’s 13 – Crash of Life (Feat. Girish Pradhan) – (Frontiers Records)
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Joel Hoekstra’s 13 – ‘Dying to Live’ (2015) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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Joel Hoekstra might be one of the best hired guns in the business. From his time in Night Ranger, to Whitesnake, to Cher, to Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) to now Revolution Saints. And in between he has done several solo albums of instrumental music. This time, he wanted to showcase his songwriting abilities and so he started a new project called Joel Hoekstra’s 13 and he brought along some heavy hitters. Helping on this album were none other than Tony Franklin (Blue Murder, The Firm, Whitesnake) on bass, Vinny Appice (Last in Line, Heaven & Hell, Dio & Black Sabbath) on bass and then on vocals he brought in the great Russell Allen (Symphony X, Adrenaline Mob, Allen/Lande, TSO) to handle the vocals. But the reason for the post is the final connection with Jeff Scott Soto.

Jeff was brought in to do backing vocals, but Jeff being the powerhouse and force of nature he is, ended up singing about half the songs on the album. Yes, he is that good. Now, Joel wrote all the songs including music and lyrics which is why this has his name stamped on it. He did have help on one song that he did with Russell called “Changes”. This has been treated as a solo project, but really this is something more. Heck, in fact all of these people would be back for second album a few years later (except Jeff would be only backing vocals on that one – and we wont’ review if for this series as a result.

Even with all these major players on the album, there is still some more help brought in. We get the great Derek Sherinian on keyboards, Charlie Zeleny on percussion and Dave Eggar on the cello for the final song on the album “What We Believe”. And that isn’t all. He also wrangled in Toby Hitchcock (Pride of Lions) and Chloe Lowery (TSO) to do some duets with Mr. Soto. This line-up is pretty damn impressive so the music has to be good…right? Ahhh…you are damn straight!! I missed this album when it came out, not realizing Mr. Soto was on it and if I did, I would’ve been all over it. But I am going to say something that surprises even me, my favorite parts of this album aren’t Jeff Scott Soto…no sir. They are Russell Allen. I forget how awesome he is vocally and this stuff really makes him shine. Alright, let’s get to it, shall we.

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October 2022 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs

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Happy Halloween!! October was not a good month for me. It was mostly Tricks and few Treats! The tricks were that I was recovering from an appendectomy and after two weeks of that, I caught a virus and then a bacterial infection and was sick for 2 more weeks. My motivation is now at all time low and I have no desire to write or even buy as my energy level is completely wiped. I haven’t written much at all this past month and don’t know when I will get back in to a full time mode, if I ever do. It was hard enough to even put this simple post together, but I am trying.

This month might be my smallest number of purchases in quite some time, but doesn’t mean it doesn’t have what I think are some really sweet Treats! I did get to one record store during the month on the sole day in between recovery and illness where I felt good. It didn’t last that long because by the afternoon, it all went down hill. Noble Records was having their 3rd Anniversary Drop and what a drop it was. I picked up a Kiss Bootleg. More to come on this one down the road, but this is a 1981 reissue of a 1978 bootleg of Kiss My Axe 1978.

While there I picked two albums I had reviewed in my You Pick It Series that won for albums I had never heard before. I grabbed Frank Zappa’s Hot Rats and George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass which was the owners personal copy. It is so clean and even includes the poster!!

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