• New Music Reviews
• |
• Archives
• |
• News
• |
• Submissions
• |
• About
• |
• 
• |
• 

November 2024

• Voodoo Circle: Hail To The King
• Lionville: Supernatural
• Starchaser: Into The Great Unkown
• Empires Of Eden: Guardians Of Time
• Lonerider: Down In The Dust
• Seventh Crystal: Entity
• Neal Morse & The Resonance: No Hill For A Climber
• Beardfish: Songs For Beating Hearts
• Impellitteri: War Machine
• Brothers Of Metal: Fimbulvinter

October 2024

• Casandra's Crossing: Garden Of Earthly Delights
• DGM: Endless
• Daytona: Garder la Flamme
• Fate: Reconnect 'N Ignite
• Frost*: Life In The Wires
• Aries Descendant: From The Ashes Of Deceit
• Fans Of The Dark: Video
• Radioactive: Reset
• House Of Lords: Full Tilt Overdrive
• Cleanbreak: We Are The Fire

September 2024

• Sinner's Blood: Dark Horizons
• Serious Black: Rise Of Akhenaton
• Eclipse: Megalomanium II
• SteelCity: Reverence
• Hydra: ReHydrated
• Heartwind: III
• Gabrielle De Val and the Dragonlords: Tiger
• Find Me: Nightbound
• The Nail: The Nail
• Timeless Fairytale: A Story To Tell
• Stryper: When We Were Kings
• Phil Mogg: Moggs Motel
• Pure Reason Revolution: Coming Up To Consciousness
• Jordan Rudess: Permission To Fly

August 2024

• Siege Perilous: Creation's Call EP
• Paralydium: Universe Calls
• Mike Tramp: Songs Of White Lion Vol. II
• Bite The Bullet: Looking For Paradise
• All For Metal: Gods Of Metal (Year Of The Dragon)
• Hammerfall: Avenge The Fallen
• Jim Peterik & World Stage: Roots & Shoots Vol. 2

[ More Music Reviews ]

Famous Underground: Famous Underground

(Melodic) Heavy Rock/Metal

4.0/5.0

Website Facebook Twitter YouTube
Dust on the Tracks Records
by Craig Hartranft,  06.06.2013

Famous Underground is the new band created vocalist Nicholas Walsh, formerly front man of the band Slik Toxik. This Canadian band had some success in the early Nineties receiving a Juno Award in 1993 for their full length debut Doin' The Nasty. The band expired several years later thank to the suffocating grip of grunge. Now Walsh, teaming with long time bass player Laurie-Anne Green, return to their hard rock roots in this self-titled debut.

Famous Underground: in a dark alley.

The album could be characterized as late Eighties, early Nineties, hard rock, still picking up on the late LA sleaze side of things, with melody and a definite metal edge. Famous Underground may be a cue from current hard rock and metal of the last decade with this darker heavier vibe. You catch much of this Necropolis (see video below) and Mommy Is a Junkie by example.

Yet, Famous Underground doesn't stray far from those early roots. You hear this in the anthem On Broken Wings and the ballad Forever and Day which reach for that large arena rock sound. Other rockers do same like the speedy and catchy Bullet Train, the heavy and bittersweet Love Stands Still, and the opening Wasteland, which mimics, lightly, a GnR sound. Throughout Walsh is steady, clearly still having the vocal chops to carry every song. The album also includes two bonus tracks: an unplugged version of Dead Weight, which is actually better than the original, and alternate version of On Broken Wings, which is basically Walsh with acoustic guitar. All in all, this debut finds Famous Underground resurrecting old school hard rock with some new school vibe. Recommended.

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

With Famous Underground, vocalist Nicholas Walsh (ex-Slik Toxik) revives his late Eighties hard rock roots with a new vigor and some modern heaviness on their debut album.

Alphabetical Index

eviewing my archives, I was pleased to find that I have had the privilege to review every Lionville since their self-titled debut in 2011. Formed by Stefano Lionetti, a songwriter, singer and guitarist based in ... [ Read More ]