The End

Tue
26
Mar

THE END MACHINE - The End Machine (Review)

information persons: 
content: 
65%
Label: 
Frontiers
Score: 
65
Categories: 
Reviews
 
George Lynch, Jeff Pilson, Mick Brown, and Robert Mason - it should be a slam dunk, home run, guaranteed hard rock monster right? Well not in this case.
 
Straddling a line between classic and modern rock, the album sounds sonically great and you can't argue that the performances of the critically acclaimed personnel isn't to their usual high standard. But why is the album stuck in a nowhere zone?
 
For me its the songs. They just aren't there. I'm not finding any compelling reason to come back to the album once it's finished playing. I think Robert Mason is a powerful singer, but I've never warmed to any album he's been involved in. For example, the second Lynch Mob album he fronted was a huge let down after the classic debut. I think he sings great, but without the necessary personality to own any project he's fronting.
 
The emphasis on down tuned guitars and that modern hard rock sound leaves me cold and the similar mid-tempo pacing throughout keeps me reaching for the skip button.

I was hoping there would be a more Dokken or even Lynch Mob flavored sound here or at least some kind of personality, and while there are hints of both, neither takes hold. For me it is just another modern American hard rock album in a pool of too many other similar projects. They guys needed better songs and more personality.

 

 
Wed
07
Nov

THE END: machine - New Moniker For DOKKEN Alumni

Categories: 
News Feed
 
George Lynch, Jeff Pilson, Mick Brown, and Robert Mason have announced that they are changing the name of their previously announced new band, Superstroke, to THE END: machine.
 
“The recordings are nearly done and we are really happy with the way it is turning out,” says bassist/producer Jeff Pilson. “We think that, notwithstanding the obvious nod to our past experiences together, The End: machine sound has a unique identity. Sonically, this is not just ex-Dokken members with a different singer or a rebooted incarnation of Lynch Mob. This is a new sound. Everyone has been doing great on the album and there is a lot of energy and a lot of focus.”
 
THE END: machine, featuring George Lynch , Jeff Pilson, and Mick Brown from the classic Dokken lineup together with singer Robert Mason of Warrant (and previously, Lynch Mob) will release their debut album in Spring 2019, via Frontiers Music Srl.
 
Follow their just launched Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/TheEndMachine

 

 
Thu
17
Mar

BLACK SABBATH Wraps Up Leg One of 'The End' Tour

Artist: 
Release Year: 
2015
Categories: 
Tour News
BLACK SABBATH
WRAP LEG ONE OF
"THE END" WORLD TOUR
 
SECOND RUN OF NORTH AMERICAN DATES
TO GET UNDERWAY AUGUST 17 AT
NIKON AT JONES BEACH THEATER
IN WANTAGH, NY
 
 
Ozzy Osbourne (Vocals), Tony Iommi (Guitar) and Geezer Butler (Bass) wrapped the first dates of BLACK SABBATH's massive 2016 THE END world tour last week (3/7) in Vancouver, BC to an overwhelming response, from fans and critics alike.  The first leg of sold-out North American shows will be followed by a run of summer performances including return visits to Los Angeles (at the iconic Hollywood Bowl), New York, Chicago and 14 additional cities.  Tickets for the summer shows are available at www.Livenation.com.  See BLACK SABBATH's world wide itinerary below. 
 
Here's some critical feedback from 2016's THE END tour:
 
"From the pulverizing opening tritone of 'Black Sabbath'...the show was more a celebration of the pioneering heavy-metal band's legacy than an epitaph...each of the musicians was in stellar form in Chicago...now may be the beginning of the end for Black Sabbath, but, as they proved in Chicago and over the years, their music will echo through the ages."
--Kory Grow, ROLLINGSTONE.COM, 1-23-16
 
"The beginning of The End happened Friday in Chicago at the United Center, where the band played a two-hour set of snarling hard rock songs, played according to the rules of strict minimalism but always with brawny execution...Black Sabbath remains a genre of its own, combining space jazz and prog-rock, gothic imagery and riff-heavy thunder."
--Mark Guarino, THEGUARDIAN.COM, 1-23-16
 
"The iconic rockers were able to bid farewell in style...If this was truly the band's last show in Washington, the quartet had left its fans with a night they'll never forget."
--Ernest Jasmin,TACOMA WEEKLY, 2-8-16
 
"Sabbath sounded so strong that, at times, it seemed like an absolutely ludicrous idea for these guys to even be thinking about hanging it up. Yet, if the goal is to go out on top--in peak fighting form--then Sabbath is right on track."
--Jim Harrington, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 2-10-16
 
"Osbourne was confidently strutting the length of the stage, imploring the audience to clap along...Osbourne led the band through classics like 'War Pigs' and 'Children of the Grave,' exuding bravado and, often, joy.  The night didn't belong to Ozzy, though. While bassist Geezer Butler remains rock-solid...Iommi's effortless leads and power-chord riffs laid the groundwork for generations of hard-rocking axe-slingers, yet his attack still sounds fresh and resonant, and his vibrato-laden shreds are as precise as they were four decades ago..."
--Jeff Miller, BILLBOARD.com, 2-13-16
 
"Black Sabbath put on as perfect of a farewell show at the Pepsi Center [in Denver] as you could have hoped for. They played, sounded and yes, sung as well as they did in their prime...Instead of leaning on theatrics, they let tight riffs take the audience away...Their astonishing performance Monday night proved the band to be going out with remarkable live chops."
--Mike Long, DENVER POST, 2-16-16
 
"One of the strongest live rock shows in recent memory...Sabbath performed the music with such power and conviction that songs many of us have heard ad nauseam seemed fresh and new...The fluid rhythms, the interlocking, crushing dynamics between the rhythm section, and Iommi and Osbourne's uncanny ability to switch in and out of the role of avatar of doom and avuncular hype man, rousing the crowd, made for a show that was much more than merely a great performance. It felt inclusive."
--Tom Murphy, WESTWORD(Denver, CO), 2-16-16
 
"Black Sabbath turned its The End farewell tour into a celebration--albeit one steeped in a little bit of Satanic mechanics...the 100-minute, 14-song show was standard issue Sabbath--Spartan and leaden hard rock played with tight precision."
--Gary Graff, THE OAKLAND PRESS (Detroit, MI), 2-20-16
 
"Black Sabbath, from Birmingham, England, was foundational for metal, but the music it played on Thursday--all of it recorded between 1969 and 1976--is full of scales related to the blues, which has its own long tradition of despair masking joy. That joy on Thursday was in sound and feeling. You could hear the band in giant, clear, present detail, unusual for the Garden..."
Ben Ratliff, NEW YORK TIMES, 2-26-16
 
"...he [Osbourne] was on fire last night, hitting all the notes exactly the way you remember them. All the stretched out vowels, all the 'ohh yeahh!'s, everything. In even finer form was Tony Iommi, whose riffs were as crisp today as they are on the early records, and whose solos still screamed. No disrespect to Geezer Butler of course, who shined all night and especially on his bass solo in 'N.I.B.'...There really wasn't a moment where you weren't hearing some of the best heavy metal ever written...The show was also a serious reminder of how even with legions of excellent doom bands popping up for decades, still nobody can do it like Sabbath."
--Andrew Sacher, BROOKLYN VEGAN, 2-27-16
 
"If this in fact was the end for Black Sabbath, then it was one hell of a farewell."
--Dean Pilling, CALGARY SUN, 3-5-16
 
"Black Sabbath were magnificent...what sets Black Sabbath's music apart is how fresh it still sounds...a night free of stage effects or gimmicks, packed with a selection of brilliantly performed songs from the best heavy metal band there ever was and ever will be."
Robert Collins, CTV NEWS VANCOUVER, 3-8-16
 
These dates mark the end of the epic journey that BLACK SABBATH began nearly five decades ago.  The massive 2016 THE END world tour by the greatest Metal Band of all time will take the band to Australia and New Zealand in April, then Europe fora mix of summer headlining and festival performances, before returning to North America in August.
 
As previously announced, a special fans-only CD featuring original artwork by Shepard Fairey/Obey Giant is being sold at shows along the tour route.  The CD is comprised of eight previously unreleased tracks: four songs are outtakes from BLACK SABBATH's worldwide #1, Grammy Award-winning album 13 and four live songs from the band's critically acclaimed 13 World Tour.
 
When this tour concludes, it will truly be THE END, THE END of one of most legendary bands in Rock 'n Roll history...BLACK SABBATH.
 
BLACK SABBATH's remaining 2016 tour dates are as follows:
       
AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND
Fri 4/15 Perth, AU Perth Arena
Sun 4/17 Adelaide, AU Entertainment Centre
Tue 4/19 Melbourne, AU Rod Laver Arena
Sat 4/23 Sydney, AU Allphones Arena
Mon 4/25 Brisbane, AU Entertainment Centre
Thu 4/28 Auckland, NZ Vector Arena
Sat 4/30 Dunedin, NZ Forsyth Barr Stadium
       
EUROPE
Wed 6/1 Budapest,Hungary Groupama Arena
Wed 6/8 Berlin, Germany Waldebuhne
**Sat 6/11 Donington, UK Download
Mon 6/13 Verona, IT Arena Di Verona
Wed 6/15 Zurich, Switzerland Hallenstadon
**Fri 6/17 Dessel,Belgium Grasspop
**Thu 6/23 Halden, Norway Tons of Rock
**Sat 6/25 Copenhagen, DE Copenhell
Tue 6/28 Vienna, Austria Stadthalle
Thu 6/30 Prague, Czech Rep. 02 Arena
Sat 7/2 Krakow, Poland Tauron Arena
Tue 7/5 Riga, Latvia Riga Arena
**Thu 7/7 Helsinki, Finland Monsters of Rock
**Sat 7/9 Stockholm, Sweden Monsters of Rock
Tue 7/12 Moscow, Russia Olympisky Arena
       
**Denotes festival appearance
       
NORTH AMERICA
Wed 8/17 Wantagh, NY Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
Fri 8/19 Philadelphia, PA Susquehanna Bank Center
Sun 8/21 Washington DC Jiffy Lube Live
Tue 8/23 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
Thu 8/25 Boston, MA Xfinity Center
Sat 8/27 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
Mon 8/29 Toronto, ON Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
Wed 8/31 Detroit, MI DTE Energy Music Theater
Fri 9/2 Indianapolis, IN Klipsch Music Center
Sun 9/4 Chicago, IL Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
Wed 9/7 Dallas, TX Gexa Energy Pavilion
Fri 9/9 Albuquerque, NM Isleta Amphitheater
Sun 9/11 Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheater
Tue 9/13 Portland, OR Sunlight Supply Arena
Thu 9/15 Oakland, CA Oracle Arena
Sat 9/17 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
Mon 9/19 Hollywood, CA Hollywood Bowl
Wed 9/21 Phoenix, AZ AK-Chin Pavilion
         

Details on Tickets, VIP packages and more for the North American shows can be found at:  www.Livenation.com
 

 

 
Wed
28
Oct

BLACK SABBATH Extends 'The End' Tour in 2016

Artist: 
Release Year: 
2015
Categories: 
Tour News
BLACK SABBATH TRIUMPHANTLY RETURN TO NORTH AMERICA DUE TO OVERWHELMING DEMAND, "THE END" TOUR EXTENDED INTO FALL 2016 WITH ADDITIONAL NORTH AMERICAN SHOWS
 
Due to overwhelming demand, the road to THE END just got longer.
 
 
On the heels of their much-anticipated performances in North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, BLACK SABBATH will end the epic journey they began nearly five decades ago with another run of North American dates in fall 2016.  These shows will follow a mix of summer headlining and festival performances throughout Europe.
 
The second run of North American dates kicks off August 17 at Jones Beach Amphitheater in New York and includes stops at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles (where the band last performed a sold-out show on their wildly successful 13 world tour in 2014), Chicago, Philadelphia, Toronto, Detroit, and Dallas, among others, before wrapping September 21 at AK-Chin Pavilion in Phoenix, AZ.
 
 
The massive 2016 world tour by the greatest Metal Band of all time marks THE END for Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler as they close the final chapter in the final volume of the incredible BLACK SABBATH story with this tour.  BLACK SABBATH's THE END farewell tour promises to surpass all previous tours and will feature the band's most mesmerizing production ever.
 
When this tour concludes, it will truly be THE END, THE END of one of most legendary bands in Rock 'n Roll history...BLACK SABBATH
 
 
Photo credit:  Mark Weiss
 
BLACK SABBATH's 2016 Tour Dates are as follows:
 
NORTH AMERICA
 
Wed
1/20
Omaha, NE
CenturyLink Center
Fri
1/22
Chicago, IL
United Center
Mon
1/25
Minneapolis, MN
Target Center
Wed
1/27
Winnipeg MN
MTS Centre
Sat
1/30
Edmonton, AB
Rexall Centre
Mon
2/1
Calgary, AB
Scotiabank Saddledome
Wed
2/3
Vancouver, BC
Rogers Arena
Sat
2/6
Tacoma, WA
Tacoma Dome
Tue
2/9
San Jose, CA
SAP Pavilion
Thu
2/11
Los Angeles, CA
The Forum
Sat
2/13
Las Vegas, NV
Mandalay Bay
Mon
2/15
Denver, CO
Pepsi Center
Wed
2/17
Kansas City, MO
Sprint Center
Fri
2/19
Detroit, MI
The Palace of Auburn Hills
Sun
2/21
Hamilton, ON
First Ontario Centre
Tue
2/23
Montreal, QC
Bell Centre
Thu
2/25
New York, NY
Madison Square Garden
Sat
2/27
New York, NY
Madison Square Garden
 
 
AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND
 
Fri
4/15   
Perth, AU      
Perth Arena
Sun
4/17  
Adelaide,AU    
Entertainment Centre
Tue
4/19  
Melbourne,AU   
Rod Laver Arena
Sat
4/23   
Sydney,AU    
Allphones Arena
Mon
4/25   
Brisbane, AU
Entertainment Centre
Thurs
4/28  
Auckland,NZ  
Vector Arena
Sat
4/30  
Dunedin,NZ   
Forsyth Barr Stadium
 
 
EUROPE
 
 
Wed
6/1
Budapest,Hungary
Groupama Arena
Wed
6/8
Berlin, Germany
Waldebuhne
**Sat
6/11
Donington, UK
Download
Mon
6/13
Verona, IT
Arena Di Verona
Wed
6/15
Zurich, Switzerland
Hallenstadon
**Fri
6/17
Dessel,Belgium
Grasspop
**Thu
6/23
Halden, Norway
Tons of Rock
**Sat
6/25
Copenhagen, DE
Copenhell
Tue
6/28
Vienna, Austria
Stadthalle
Thu
6/30
Prague, Czech Rep.
02 Arena
Sat
7/2
Krakow, Poland
Tauron Arena
Tue
7/5
Riga, Latvia
Riga Arena
**Thu
7/7
Helsinki, Finland
Monsters of Rock
**Sat
7/9
Stockholm, Sweden
Monsters of Rock
Tue
7/12
Moscow, Russia
Olympisky Arena
**Denotes festival appearance
NORTH AMERICA
 
 
 
 
 
Wed
8/17
Wantagh, NY
Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
Fri
8/19
Philadelphia, PA
Susquehanna Bank Center
Sun
8/21
Washington DC
Jiffy Lube Live
Tue
8/23
Holmdel, NJ
PNC Bank Arts Center
Thu
8/25
Boston, MA
Xfinity Center
Sat
8/27
Uncasville, CT
Mohegan Sun Arena
Mon
8/29
Toronto, ON
Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
Wed
8/31
Detroit, MI
DTE Energy Music Theater
Fri
9/2
Indianapolis, IN
Klipsch Music Center
Sun
9/4
Chicago, IL
Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
Wed
9/7
Dallas, TX
Gexa Energy Pavilion
Fri
9/9
Albuquerque, NM
Isleta Ampitheater
Sun
9/11
Salt Lake City, UT
USANA Ampitheater
Tue
9/13
Portland, OR
Sunlight Supply Arena
Thu
9/15
Oakland, CA
Oracle Arena
Sat
9/17
Las Vegas, NV
MGM Grand Garden Arena
Mon
9/19
Hollywood, CA
Hollywood Bowl
Wed
9/21
Phoenix, AZ
AK-Chin Pavilion
 
 
Details on Tickets, VIP packages and more for the North American shows can be found at:  www.Livenation.com
 
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