PocketWatch

Released in the UK this week and I see Amazon US says available on Monday there. Album No. 4. Oceans of Time Warning: auto-plays first song. The new album is a bit of a change in style from the last two but still very impressive. Touchstone are at the "prog metal" end of prog, somewhat akin to Dream Theater. Though I don't think they'd want to pigeonhole themselves.

I find with all new Rush albums these days, i.e., past 20 years or so, that it's impossible to decide from one listen what I think of an album. They always sound chaotic! I've listened to CA twice now and still have no opinion. It usually takes me about eight listens before I can form an impression.

QUOTE (RUSHHEAD666 @ Feb 25 2012, 02:25 AM)QUOTE (Snowman @ Feb 24 2012, 11:04 PM) QUOTE (micgtr71 @ Feb 24 2012, 02:26 PM) QUOTE (driventotheedge @ Feb 23 2012, 05:07 PM) QUOTE (Snowman @ Feb 23 2012, 12:12 PM) I like them better than Zep! Yeah, I wasn't sure how to respond. This worked well. Knew this comment would create some feedback..... But actually I mean it. I listened to Zep a lot in my youth and I got bored of them. Whilst I still listen on Kingdom Come albums, maybe not the first clone album but the ones after with massive synth themes, cool riffs and very good melodies. "Hands Of Time," "Bad Image," and "Twilight Cruiser" are killer records! Underrated band! I agree they're killer records and KC are underrated. Plus yes cool riffs and very good melodies.

OK, so some contrasting opinions here. A few points. I don't mind if a band copies or sounds like another - at first. Rush, of course, were also compared to Led Zep in the beginning and there are a few other detectable influences on that first album. Kingdom Come's first album, especially on two or three songs, really was about as close as you could get. Nonetheless, I like the album. On subsequent albums they developed a more distinctive sound that might not be apparent to a casual listener. Lenny Wolf is a good composer of melody and his lyrics are half-decent too IMO, given that English is not his first language. By "decent" I mean they're well-constructed, not that the content is necessarily remarkable. I wouldn't say they are highly original but hardly any musicians are - almost by definition. Pioneers are of necessity few. But artists can be good without being original.

German melodic rock/metal (but they sing in English). These days it is essentially the Lenny Wolf Band, i.e., Wolf plus musicians that go by the name of Kingdom Come. They started off by being a very good clone of Led Zeppelin and still suffer from that tag even though over the years Wolf has managed to craft a distinctive sound IMO. Plenty of killer riffs. My favourite albums are Bad Image, Master Seven and Independent but I like them all.

In my own mind I expected the release around May. Not sure why!

QUOTE (metaldad @ Feb 21 2012, 01:25 PM)They have Not made a Great album since Signals.....carry on I consider Signals a below-par album, partly hampered by its following Moving Pictures. Having said that Signals does contain some of my favourite Rush songs!

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Feb 18 2012, 01:35 AM)There are Rush albums I'm not crazy about, but VT is the only one I truly hate and think is an embarrassment to their legacy. All I can say is thank God for S&A as it redeemed them somewhat. Pretty much my view. I wouldn't necessarily call it an embarrassment but it's certainly the only one I can't tolerate.

I like all the Rush studio albums except Vapor Trails. I agree that the production leaves something to be desired but it is primarily the music for me. I like about four songs on it and the rest just leave me cold. I know that Rush albums, certainly from the past 20 years, require a longer time to get into than earlier ones. Knowing this I did give VT a good run but it just didn't work for me.

I saw them for the first time in October having scarcely heard them until that time. I first became aware of them via the song Joker in the Pack which was on a Classic Rock Prog CD a couple of years ago. I hope they get bigger.

To coincide with the US release (a few days ago) of their latest album, UK prog rock outfit Touchstone (mentioned a few times in these forums) are streaming The City Sleeps in its entirety at AOL Music. This was released in the UK in October and has generally had good reviews in various rock web sites and mags. They are a 5-piece with female lead and also shared male-female lead. A great bunch of musicians and the drummer, Henry Rogers, is in Neil's class IMO. Their previous album, Wintercoast, is also excellent.