Kane Roberts, Puppy, Jetboy + More

Here are some of the new albums that come out today, January 25th.

Kane Roberts – The New Normal

The former Alice Cooper seems to really be back with a vengeance.  I have followed Kane on Facebook for years, so I knew he had been working on an album for a while.

When I saw that he signed with Frontiers it was 50/50 for me, I either love the material they release, or it does nothing for me, there is honestly no in-between, at least for me.  Once it was announced the album was coming out, it immediately intrigued me.

Was it a guy coming back just to collect a paycheck or someone that was going to blow my face off and say “take notice, I’m back?”  Roberts was recently interviewed on Talking Metal and discussed how he was allowed to take as long as he wanted on the album, and it shows, I haven’t heard one negative review of the album, and quite the opposite, I keep hearing “you have to check out The New Normal.”

The album is littered with guest appearances from Alice Cooper, to Alissa White-Gluz, John 5, to former Cooper bandmates Kip Winger, Paul Taylor, and Ken Mary, as well as current Alice guitarist Nita Strauss.

Puppy – The Goat

This has been an early revelation for 2019, initially, I thought, no way I’m checking this band out due to the name. But I decided to give it a shot, and I have to say that I’ve listened to The Goat quite a bit since I received the promo in December.

The band is a lot of different things, I’ve seen reviews that say there is nothing like them, but I like to think they’re an amalgam of several bands, which are hopefully their influences. You have crushing riffs like Chevelle and early CKY, mixed in with melodies that will get stuck in your head for days that are like a mix of Muse, and Ozzy.

Add solid bass, and drums to the mix, and you have Puppy.  They happen to make it all their own, and I have to admit that this is an album I expect to see on my end-of-year list.

Jetboy – Born to Fly

This album was recently reviewed on the site by Tyson Briden. I have yet to heard Born To Fly yet, but Tyson gave it a 9.5 out of 10, and that speaks volumes. Based on his review, and that of others, it is bringing together the old with the new, it definitely sounds like Jetboy, but the band was smart enough to take advantage of modern-day studio entrapments, enough so the album sounds fresh and new as opposed to other bands just trying to do more of the same old same old.

Here is a mix of vinyl reissues and live albums that may also interest you:

Bring Me The Horizon – Amo

Evergrey – The Atlantic

Incite – Built to Destroy

Eagles Of Death Metal – Death By Sexy (Vinyl)

Eagles Of Death Metal – Heart On (Vinyl)

Every Time I Die – Hot Damn! (Vinyl)

Killing Joke – Killing Joke (Vinyl)

King Diamond – Songs For The Dead Live

King’s X – King’s X (Vinyl)

Obscura – Cosmogenesis (Vinyl)

Obscura – Omnivium (Vinyl)

Obscura – Retribution (Vinyl)

Quiet Riot – One Night in Milan

Suffocation – Souls To Deny (Vinyl)

Suffocation – Despise The Sun (Vinyl)

Weezer – (Teal Album)

Article by Victor M. Ruiz of Mars Attacks Radio & Podcast, and Galaxy Of Geeks Podcast.  Connect with him on Twitter:  @vmr907