Under-Radio - Bad Heir Ways


Year of Release: 2004
Label: Lion Music
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 46:51:00

The only work I knew from Gregg Bisonette, were his drum parts on the albums of Lana Lane and Erik Norlander. Now, in a different musical environment, I was curious to his sound here. Unfortunately Under-Radio is not a project of Bissonette, but from Eric Zimmerman, who previously appeared on two Lion Music tribute projects. The line up also includes Mark Zonder (Fates Warning on drums (track 4 only) and Matt Bissonette (David Lee Roth Band) on bass. Vocalist Robbie Wyckoff is unknown to me. With this, more stable, line up, Zimmerman brings us the second Under-Radio disc.

While the previous, self titled, album was more of a project and instrumental, with Bad Heir Ways, he created something you cannot easily pigeonhole (which is a pain in the butt for reviewers ... LOL). The first time I played it, opener "Bad Heir Ways" almost scared me, for it came on to me with such force. My first thought was this was some kind over late grunge album in the vein of Soundgarden. But after listening to the album, it turns out almost every song has a different sound and it is not all rage and anger. Speaking of scary, what do you think of this title: "You Won't See The Blood Until Your Throat Is Cut"? Hmmm ... and yet this is maybe the best song on the album, together with "Cornerstone," as they nicely blend into each other. The first is an instrumental that comes very close to New Age music, with soft, almost acoustic guitar parts. "Cornerstone" is the longest song on the album, 8:12, and here I really hear some progressive elements in the music. In the instrumental intermezzo in this song, the violin "battles" with the drums and shows the precision drumming of Gregg Bisonette.

Bad Heir Ways starts out as a pretty heavy, raw album, but along the way holds some surprises and turns out to be a very varied album. Altogether I think it is closer to hard rock than to prog-rock, but it is a nice album nonetheless. As Zimmerman is also a Grammy nominated mastering engineer, it will be no surprise the production and sound are crystal clear! In the audio section of their website, you can hear a sample of the music as well as the inspiration for the songs, so check it out.

[This review originally appeared August 2004 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]
Tracklisting:
Bad Heir Ways / Centerpiece / Noel (The Christmas Truce) / Wedding Song / You Won't See The Blood Until Your Throat Has Been Cut / Cornerstone / Devil's From A Midwest Town / 1916 / Build A Monument / Safety In Numbers

Musicians:
Gregg Bissonette - drums
Eric Zimmerman - guitars
Matt Bissonette - bass
Robbie Wyckoff - vocals
Mark Zonder - drums (4)

Discography:
Under-Radio ()
Bad Heir Ways (2004)

Genre: Other

Origin US

Added: November 27th 2004
Reviewer: Marcel Haster
Score:
Artist website: www.under-radio.com/
Hits: 2721
Language: english

  

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