Return of the dinosaurs!

Share my joy! 2008, what a year it's been! For someone like me who is an avid fan of the music of the 1970's and early 1980's, it's been nothing short of fantastic. A lot of the dinosaur rock bands from days of yore have released strong albums this year, and there is still more to come!

I'd like to point out some of the highlights of dinosaur-variety rock this year so far, for those that may be that way enclined!

February brought us a new Magnum live double-album, Wings of heaven live. Magnum have been on a roll lately with several good studio albums in a row!

In March, Denmark's White Lion returned with a new album called Return of the pride. A bit quieter than the rock of their heyday, it did nonetheless contain some great song-writing. After seeing them on tour a few years ago though, I was a tad disappointed at the rock-song to ballad ratio!
The same month, Nazareth returned with an album called The News, to coincide with their 40th anniversary tour! Longevity! This is also the first studio album without original drummer Darrell Sweet who died in 1999.

In April, the mighty Whitesnake slithered forth once more with a good, old-school sounding album of punchy rock songs and slightly masked zep-tribute! Good to be bad hopefully is the beginning of a new period of creativity for the 'snake!
Not ones to be outdone, Def Leppard returned with a new album called Songs from the sparkle lounge, led off by fantastic singles Nine lives and C'mon C'mon. After some lean years, it's good to have the Leppard back as well!
Rush also weighed in this month with a live album, Snakes and arrows live.

Fast forwarding a bit to June, two mighty dinosaur bands of the 70s and two from the 80s treated us to some great albums, and one not so great!
Judas Priest seem to be back on form, with original singer Rob Halford back in the fold and the double-concept-album Nostradamus meeting favourable reviews in most places. A double concept album with a symphony orchestra ? How very un-Priest! But how cool! Digital era be damned, they even released it as a double-vinyl deluxe package!
One of my personal faves, Uriah Heep also came back on the album-scene with Wake the sleeper, a slight return to their late 70s sound but with a contemporary edge. Great stuff all around. AOR heroes Journey released an album with their new singer Arnel Pineda, who managed to sound uncannily like Steve Perry! For the dedicated, the album was released in a double-CD edition with a bonus cd of re-recorded Journey classics with Pineda on vocals. I still prefer the originals, tho the new album is fantastic.
Mötley Crüe unfortunately sounded kind of tired on The Saints of Los Angeles, but then I've never been a huge Crüe fan. Still, as tired as they sounded they totally LOOKED worse. Seriously, Mick Mars looks like he's dead.

July was host to the return of Alice Cooper with a concept album of his own, Along came a spider. His band play tight, and Alice being Alice came up with a spooky story set to his fantastic lyrics. Triumph!

In August, the kings of dirty rock 'n' roll Motörhead issued forth yet another studio album, Motörizer. Motörhead are like AC/DC in that you usually know what to expect from them! But repeating the same formula doesn't mean a decline in quality! Another great album from the 'head. Once poodle-permed rockers Extreme also returned, with an album called Sausades de rock, which at the time of writing I've yet to listen to. Friends tell me it is not quite a return to the glories of the past.

September... oh September! The mighty Metallica released a new studio album, Death Magnetic, their first since the horrible St. Anger. After all the hype (back to the old style, Rick Rubin producing) the album definetly lived up to the expectations of the majority of fans, if reviews are anything to go by! Face-melting riffs, shredding Hammett-solos and Lars Ulrich actually using DRUMS! Fantastic!
And as if that wasn't fantastic enough, Queen + Paul Rodgers also released a new album! The Cosmos rocks had about a 50-50 chance of being good, and I must say for my money it's a great album. They avoid wearing too much on the legacy of Queen and Rodgers' previous bands Free and Bad Company, by blending the styles and adding a more contemporary sound. The album works well as a whole, and while not containing any new 'classics', it's certainly a worthy first effort from these aging rockers!

As if all this wasn't enough, we've also had compilations from riff-machine Megadeth, british rockers UFO and NWOBHM pioneers Iron Maiden, DVD releases from boogie-rockers ZZ Top and Deep Purple and in October, none other than AC/DC release a new studio album! What a year for rock and metal fans!