NEW MUSIC CORNER #198 RICHIE KOTZEN/LEVEL 10

Richie Kotzen - Cannibals

1. Cannibals

2. In An Instant

3. Shake It Off

4. I'm All In

5. Stand Tall

This new RK album came out very quietly. I stumbled across it, I think on melodicrock.com. I was pretty excited about it. But it's different than what I expected. Very different. It's practically R&B. There is a guest appearance by Dug Pinnick on I'm All In and the "low lead vocal" on Stand Tall is sung by Billy Sheehan. And as usual, everything is written and performed by Richie with the exception of one song that doesn't appear here.

Level 10 - Chapter One

6. Soul Of A Warrior

7. When The Nighttime Comes

8. One Way Street

9. Last Man On Earth

10. All Hope Is Gone

This is a collaboration between Russell Allen (vocals) and Matt Sinner (bass). I guess it's metal. Hard rock at the very least. I'll leave it up to you to decide if it's any good or not.

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Permalink Reply by Jon on February 9, 2015 at 8:17am

Richie Kotzen--Thumbs in the middle

Just seems like something quickly thrown together, the production seems a bit weak. But, I did like the last four songs, especially the one with dUg. It does have a funky feel, and I do like me some funk so it was enjoyable. First song wasn't that good so have to dock points for that as well as the aforementioned production. Not a purchase for me.

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Permalink Reply by Jon on February 9, 2015 at 10:01am

Level 10--Thumbs Up

Kinda reminds me a little of Symphony X, but not much. Not really prog metal, so it must be the voice. I guess there's a bit pf prog. Don't know if this sounds like Sinner because I haven't listened to the one Sinner album I have for, like, forever. Maybe a bit of prog metal, maybe melodic prog kinda metal, but whatever it is, it's a fine album.

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Permalink Reply by Scott on February 10, 2015 at 3:38pm

RICHIE KOTZEN ... Thumbs 3/4 up

I liked that first track, kinda catchy if'n you ask me! No complaints on the second track either, I'm likin' the funky and melodic feel to this. Has a great Hall and Oates feel to it. I didn't care for the production on Shake It Off, sounds weak. Production restored on Im All In and the funk continues... Stand Tall is cool too. I like this but I can see where a continuous play may start to sound monotonous, I'm going to revisit this later and see if it sticks!

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Permalink Reply by Scott on February 10, 2015 at 5:43pm

Level 42-32=10 ... Thumbs indifferent

See what I did there? 42-32=10? Seriously, I love Level 42. Should showcase them sometime... No idea who these guys are by the way, should I? Wasn't thrilled to hear the down tuned intro but the tune recovers nicely and has a cool bass riff. Vocals work nicely. Not sure I really cared for the opener but I didn't NOT like it, it had me interested. This is definitely more suited for Jon than me, he's all Nu-Metal with Celtic mixed in and I'm all not that!