*U.S. pressing.
Contains 16 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: R&B
Label Number: ATM-CD-51611
© 2005 Song/Artemis Records
*No professional reviews are available for this release.
tags: jaguar wright, divorcing neo 2 marry soul, to, 2005, flac,
September 27, 2026
Motionless In White - Creatures (2010)
*U.S. first standard pressing.
Contains 12 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Metalcore
Label Number: FRL 30142-2
© 2010 Fearless Records
In a genre with a laundry list of cookie-cutter bands all fighting to grab the attention of a young audience, sometimes distinguishing yourself is a matter of degrees. On their debut full-length, Motionless in White attempt to do just that. Delivering a heavy-hitting does of horror themed metalcore, Creatures finds the band exploring a more gothic sound. With lots of breakdowns, reverse drum swells, good cop/bad cop vocals, and bass bombs, there’s a lot about the album that feels pretty much by the book. Where Motionless in White are able to make it interesting is in the use of their electronic elements. Rather than going for the usual dance-pop sound, the band uses their synthesizers to create a dark and uneasy atmosphere. This blend of the frightening and the familiar gives Creatures not only the ability to draw fans in with something they’ll immediately click with, but which will keep them coming back for another helping.
tags: motionless in white, creatures, 2010, flac,
Motionless In White - Infamous (2012)
*U.S. first standard pressing.
Contains 12 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Metalcore
Label Number: FRL30171-2
© 2012 Fearless Records
*No professional reviews are available for this release.
tags: motionless in white, infamous, 2012, flac,
Motionless In White - Reincarnate (2014)
*U.S. first standard pressing.
Contains 13 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Metalcore
Label Number: FRL30200-2
© 2014 Fearless Records
Settling into the more industrial sound they started transitioning into with Infamous, Motionless in White deliver a more assured and consistent performance on their third album, Reincarnate. Blending the dark and seedy edge of Marilyn Manson with a driving, melodic edge, the album effortlessly combines the styles of the band's previous efforts, creating an explosive sound that feels more fully realized than anything they've done up to this point. From the outset, the thing that listeners will be initially taken aback by is how massive the record sounds. Songs like "Reincarnate" and "Dark Passenger" are packed floor to ceiling with monstrous guitars, twisting synth lines, and explosive drumming, giving the music a density that would be overwhelming without Motionless in White's knack for melody, which allows them to hook in listeners to even the most foreboding passages with ease. Not content to go at it alone, Reincarnate features some solid collaborations, with Cradle of Filth's Dani Filth dropping by on "Puppets 3 (The Grand Finale)," In This Moment's Maria Brink lending her vocals to "Contemptress," and Tim Sköld sitting in on "Final Dictvm." With the album running close to an hour, the guest spots help to add a little something different here and there, mixing things up before they have a chance to go stale. With so much going on, however, it's hard to see how any Motionless in White fans could be bored with the offerings laid before them on Reincarnate. With so much confidence and gothic swagger, it's hard not to be entertained by this album, and listeners who may have been thrown by their inconsistent early work would do well to dive back into the abyss with this third effort.
tags: motionless in white, reincarnate, 2014, flac,
September 11, 2026
Uriah Heep - High & Mighty (1976)
*U.K. first pressing.
Contains 10 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Hard Rock
Label Number: CLACD 191
© 1976-1990 Castle Communications/Bronze
By 1976, Uriah Heep was on shaky ground. Although they had scored a big success with Return to Fantasy, the group was suffering from personality conflicts (vocalist David Byron left after this album) and division over their musical direction. This tension is visibly apparent on High and Mighty, an album that shows flashes of the group's old firepower, but is ultimately sunk by a combination of unfocused experimentation and uneven songwriting. It starts promisingly with a solid first side: "One Way or Another" is a surging, dramatic hard rocker that features Ken Hensley trading verses with bassist John Wetton, and "Misty Eyes" is an engaging up-tempo tune that trades the group's hard rock thunder for a sound built on some tasty acoustic guitar riffs. It also contains one of the group's finest songs in "Midnight," a meditation on the price of success that neatly balances Mick Box's soaring guitar leads with an array of lush keyboard textures from Ken Hensley. This song is also notable for the dramatic, heart-wrenching vocal it is given by David Byron. However, High and Mighty fails to maintain this standard of quality on its second side. Several of the songs find the band flirting with pop elements in a way that doesn't complement their hard rocking style: "Can't Stop Singing" starts curiously with "Monty Python"-style mock tribal chants before devolving into a silly keyboard pop tune, and the hard rock energy of "Woman of the World" is sunk by the ridiculously bouncy beat and English music hall-style piano it is saddled with. The second side also sports a surprisingly lame and derivative rocker in "Make a Little Love," a throwaway that sounds like an uninspired attempt to duplicate the sound of Bad Company. All in all, High and Mighty is far too uneven to win Uriah Heep any new fans, but it contains enough solid rockers to make it worth a listen for the group's devoted ones.
tags: uriah heep, high and mighty, 1976, flac,
Uriah Heep - Firefly (1977)
*U.K. first pressing.
Contains 8 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Hard Rock
Label Number: CLACD 190
© 1977-1990 Castle Communications/Bronze
After losing founding vocalist David Byron in 1976, many hard rock fans thought Uriah Heep had reached the end of the line. However, the group bounced back in 1977 with Firefly, an album that pursued a stripped-down sound harking back to the group's early-'70s successes. They also boasted a new singer in John Lawton, a vocalist who had made his fame working with artsy German hard rockers Lucifer's Friend. Although he lacked the multi-octave range of David Byron, Lawton boasted an impressive and emotionally rich hard rock voice that instantly jelled with the Uriah Heep sound. An ideal example of this new synergy was provided by the opening track, "The Hanging Tree," which featured Lawton dramatically delivering a narrative about an outlaw on the run over a spooky musical track that blended echo-drenched synthesizers with some typically gutsy guitar riffs from Mick Box. Other memorable tracks on Firefly include "Who Needs Me," a spirited slice of boogie rock with a rousing singalong chorus, and the title track, a miniature prog epic that deftly blends balladry, hard rock, and acoustic-styled folk into one cohesive outing. Nothing on Firefly hits the epic heights of "Gypsy" or "July Morning," but it contains none of the failed experiments that weighed down High and Mighty and it further benefits from a nice sense of consistency that is built on tight songwriting and inspired performances. In the end, Firefly remains one of the most cohesive albums from Uriah Heep's mid- to late-'70s period and is guaranteed to bring a smile to the faces of the group's fan base.
tags: uriah heep, firefly, 1977, flac,
Uriah Heep - Innocent Victim (1977)
*U.K. first pressing.
Contains 9 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Hard Rock
Label Number: CLACD 210
© 1977-1990 Castle Communications/Bronze
After breaking in new vocalist John Lawton on the back-to-basics outing Firefly, Uriah Heep once again found themselves feeling the need to experiment a bit on Innocent Victim. The resulting album doesn't cohere as neatly as Firefly did, but manages to keep the listener engaged thanks to a combination of slick performances from the band and a handful of truly great Uriah Heep songs. Overall, Innocent Victim's blend of sharp, short rockers and pop-friendly ballads feels like an attempt to court the American AOR market. The rockers are all pretty strong stuff: "Free 'n' Easy" is a fast-moving tune built on an ear-scorching guitar riff that feels like boogie rock in overdrive, while "Roller" is a stylish midtempo track that blends funky, languid verses with a faster, bass-driven chorus that ups the song's rock quotient. The band also weaves in some experimental tracks that hit the bull's eye: "Illusion" is a spacy tale about dreaming that creates a rich atmosphere through an arrangement built on strong keyboard and vocal textures, while "The Dance" successfully marries a reggae beat to its prog-like melody. Meanwhile, the album's ballad leanings brought Uriah Heep one of their biggest international hits in the form of "Free Me," a tune whose acoustic style and accent on harmonies brought the group dangerously close to Eagles territory. The downside of Innocent Victim is that it works a little too hard at being radio-friendly: despite their high level of energy, songs like "Keep on Ridin'" and "Flyin' High" are too contrived and self-consciously poppy to sit comfortably alongside gutsy rockers like "Free 'n' Easy." Despite this unevenness in tone, Innocent Victim remains a likable album with enough strong material to satisfy Uriah Heep's admirers.
tags: uriah heep, innocent victim, 1977, flac,
Uriah Heep - Fallen Angel (1978)
European first pressing.
Contains 10 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Hard Rock
Label Number: CLACD 176
© 1978-1989 Castle Communications/Bronze
On Fallen Angel, Uriah Heep continued the push toward an AOR-friendly style that began with Innocent Victim. The resulting album is too poppy to please hardcore metal fans and too eccentric to fit the bill of an AOR record, but it still manages to be a surprisingly enjoyable listen. Fallen Angel focuses squarely on crafting driving rock tunes leavened with a series of pop hooks: "Woman of the Night" pairs guitar-bolstered verses with a harmony-drenched chorus reminiscent of Queen while "One More Night" cleverly conforms the sloppy good cheer of boogie rock to a pop song format. Other tracks find the band stretching their heavy-AOR ambitions into other genres: the burbling synthesizers and stuttering bassline of "Whad'ya Say" lend that song a disco feel while the insistent, naggingly catchy "la la la" chorus of "Love or Nothing" suggests the group had spent some time listening to old bubblegum pop singles. This surprising diversity points out the problems with Fallen Angel: it goes in so many different directions that it never coheres the way a really good album should, and it strays too far from the group's original sound to really fit in with the rest of their catalog. Nonetheless, it is simply too energetic and well-crafted to be rejected as a bad album. Patient Uriah Heep fans will also be rewarded with some stunning tracks that hark back to the group's gothic metal style: "I'm Alive" is a barnstorming anthem of self-affirmation that layers Mick Box's soaring yet mournful slide guitar leads over a furious, double-time backbeat from Lee Kerslake and the title track is a gothic-tinged ballad about a lost romance that is built on a haunting chorus and an atmospheric backing of acoustic guitar and synthesizer. All in all, Fallen Angel may not please Uriah Heep fans who favor the group's Demons and Wizards-era style, but it offers enough slickly crafted music to please any fan of '70s AOR sounds.
tags: uriah heep, fallen angel, 1978, flac,
