A Cold Paradise’s self-titled debut album is an enigma. A bit like the parable of the blind men and the elephant, where each one touched a different part of the animal and drew different conclusions about what it might look like. But before we proceed, let me warn you that a bit of “gatekeeping” is required to properly assess the album most honestly. But when it comes to Metal, its core message was gatekeeping: Metal rules; all other music sucks. This concept was the inspiration behind many of Judas Priest’s anthems; what faith did you think they were defenders of? It was also advertised in the early days of Twisted Sister as the band sold “Death to Disco” shirts.
Tag Archives: Pop Music
ALBUM REVIEW: Luxury Skin – I’ll Get You Out of Here, Baby
Luxury Skin is the alter-ego of New York-based artist Juliet E. Gordon, who has contributed to many releases over the years. I’ll Get You Out of Here, Baby (Self-Released) is the second album under the Luxury Skin moniker, following 2023’s It’s All Over. Gordon, who contributes vocals, piano, synth, keys and drum programming, is joined by a plethora of other musicians, performing bass guitar, upright bass, drums, percussion, cello and guitar. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Des Rocs – To Hell and Back
Regular readers might have been clued in on the fact that I like pop music, so I am not opposed to artists who have a little help from producers. This seems to be the case on Des Rocs’ new album, To Hell and Back (Sumerian Records). If you find yourself like me, going into this album knowing nothing about Danny Rocco, then let’s get you caught up. He got his start playing in a band called Secret Weapons, which had enough connections in the industry to open for Fall Out Boy and Panic at the Disco. Despite writing songs for Zayn from One Direction, it’s unlikely Rocco is going to get called out for being an industry plant, since he is not pretending to be Metal. What they are going for here is big area rock in the vein of Queen, but only focusing on their more flamboyant, soccer stadium shakers than their ventures in prog and disco. Continue reading


