ALBUM REVIEW: Colorblind – Who Sold You This Truth – Was It Yours To Hold


Gatekeeping has become an ugly word, but perhaps we’ve become a little too entitled as a society, that we now think anything can be whatever we want it to be. When it comes to consuming a product, this can feel like false advertising. Thus making it my obligation as not only a music journalist but a fan of music to present things in the most honest context possible. As a kid in the eighties, I would often pick out albums based on the album covers alone since this was before the days of the interwebs, and I did not have access to any magazine outside of Hit Parader at the time. My worst waste of an allowance was buying Uriah Heap’s Abominog album. The monster on the cover made me think it would be at least as heavy as Iron Maiden, but it was sadly the band’s turn to commercial Pop Rock, so let me inform you that Colorblind’s Who Sold You This Truth – Was It Yours To Hold (Solid State Records) is not unlike what might happen if a modern male Pop vocalist sang for a Myspace-era “Metal” band. 

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ALBUM REVIEW: A Cold Paradise – A Cold Paradise


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. 

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Former Uriah Heep Singer John Lawton Has Died, Age 74


John Lawton, who rose to fame in the mid-1970s as the singer for Uriah Heap has died. He was 74 years old. He was the frontman of the band from 1976 to 1979, appearing on three of the band’s studio albums: “Firefly” (1977), “Innocent Victim” (1977) and “Fallen Angel” (1978). He had rejoined the band for a tour of Europe in 2013 as a fill-in. News of Lawton’s passing was announced via the bands’ official social media accounts with the devastating news. 

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