martindavey87 2014’s ‘Men of Honor’ is the second full-length album by American metal band Adrenaline Mob. It is the bands fifth overall release in just three years of existence, and follows on with the same sound and style the band have polished and refined over the years prior.

If the name of the band wasn’t a big enough clue, Adrenaline Mob’s formula is simple... heavy, melodic and grooving metal, with aggressive and powerful vocals. Lyrical themes include the usual, manly, testosterone-induced stupidity, such as “feeling the adrenaline”, fighting, loyalty (to “the family”, or course), various pseudo-gang references and the occasional soppy tune too. But you don’t go into an album by a band like this expecting deep, meaningful introspection. This is high-voltage, fist-pumping rock at its finest.

The production on ‘Men of Honor’ is fantastic. Heavy, beefy guitars are well accompanied by a thumping bass and a pounding drum to make this an incredibly “loud” album, and the performances by everyone are exceptional. Guitarist Mike Orlando is an absolute riff machine and his guitar solos wail away at dizzying speeds, and Russell Allen’s vocals, as always, are unmatched, whether loud and aggressive or quiet and beautiful, the guy is one of metal’s all time greats.

With highlights including ‘Dearly Departed’, ‘House of Lies’, ‘Mob is Back’, ‘Judgment Day’, ‘Let It Go’, the title track itself and the beautiful ‘Fallin’ to Pieces’, it’s clear that there’s an abundance of groove metal anthems here, that, as touched upon above, if you go in expecting nothing more than dumb, fists-in-the-air head-banging madness, you’re in for a huge treat.

martindavey87 ‘Dearly Departed’ is a 2015 compilation by groove metal band Adrenaline Mob. Released a year after the groups second studio album, it features a mixture of original, cover and acoustic tracks.

However, as much as I like this band (and I really like this band!), this compilation, much like their previous EP’s, just does nothing for me. The covers range from average to adventurous, though none of them are ones I’m particularly bothered about listening to, and the acoustic versions of previously released songs are alright, though I prefer the originals.

The only real saving grace is the title track. Originally taken from the 2014 ‘Men of Honor’ album, ‘Dearly Departed’ is a great track, which features some nice guitar work and Russell Allen’s powerfully heavy yet melodic vocals in full effect. But for what it’s worth, I’ll just listen to it on the studio album itself, which is actually a fantastic album.

In fairness to A-Mob, they seem pretty consistent with putting out high-quality albums, with some kind of EP, compilation or filler release in the interim, and for what it’s worth, it’s a nice little nugget for fans, and certainly a harmless addition to the collection, but that’s all this really is to me, an addition to the collection.

martindavey87 2013’s ‘Covertá’ is the second EP, and third overall release, by American groove metal band Adrenaline Mob, and features eight tracks, all of which are covers by various well-known classic rock and metal groups. There’s always a number of ways to view these types of releases; are you a fan of the original compositions? Are you a fan of the covers? Is the selection of songs any good? Do they hold up well on their own?

To be honest... the answer is mostly no to all of these.

I mean, there’s some heavy hitters such as Van Halen, Dio, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and The Doors... but none of the covers are really all that good, and mostly sound uninspired and bland. Which is a shame considering the absolutely monumental amount of talent involved. No doubt the musicianship is incredible, and the sound and production makes all these tracks a lot heavier and polished than their originals, but in this case, that’s not enough to win me over.

In fact, the only two covers I find remotely interesting are Black Sabbath’s ‘The Mob Rules’, (which was already covered on their debut EP), and Rainbow’s ‘Kill the King’. But realistically, I either prefer the original recordings, or covers by other bands.

Overall, after a fantastic debut album, this is a fairly disappointing EP. Of course, these types of things aren’t really meant to be taken too seriously, and are just filling time between studio albums, which is why this is probably best saved for fans of the musicians involved.

martindavey87 I knew immediately upon their formation that I would love this band! Formed by three of my all-time musical heroes, Rich Ward of Stuck Mojo and Fozzy, Mike Portnoy, one year removed from his tenure with Dream Theater, and Russell Allen, powerhouse vocalist of Symphony X. Some of my favourite bands right there. This was amazing!

Except, their debut self-titled EP was a bit of a disappointment to me. Not only was it the most expensive single CD I’ve ever bought (being sold directly by the band themselves and having to be imported from America), I was gutted to find out that Rich Ward (my hetero man-crush) didn’t actually play on the recordings, but merely posed for the pictures. Unfortunately he’d already left the band by this point, leaving sole guitar duties to virtuoso Mike Orlando.

And with that, the band recruited Disturbed bassist John Moyer and released their debut album, 2012’s ‘Omertá’, a hard-hitting, pull-no-punches and take-no-prisoners affair, which offers traditional heavy metal with a huge dose of groove and energy. Brimming with driving guitar riffs and a pounding rhythm section, the music is unapologetic in its raw aggression and attitude. And vocalist Russell Allen, renowned for his incredible range and passion, really nails the anger and emotion needed to bring the music to life.

The production on this album is fantastic as well, giving the music an incredibly heavy and thick sound, and helping the band live up to their name. Tracks like ‘Undaunted’, ‘Indifferent’, ‘Psychosane’, ‘Feelin’ Me’, ‘Hit the Wall’, ‘All on the Line’, ‘Believe Me’ and ‘Down to the Floor’ are all massive metal anthems that can make you feel unbeatable, and not only do they make up for the rather shoddy EP the group had released the year prior, but establishes Adrenaline Mob as more than just another supergroup side-project, but a legit band with a bright future ahead of them.

martindavey87 I was ecstatic when this band announced their formation to the world. Mike Portnoy, formerly of Dream Theater, Russell Allen from Symphony X, and 'The Duke' Rich Ward from Fozzy and Stuck Mojo. Three of my musical heroes in one group. As a long-time fan of all of these guys' respective bands, this line-up seemed incredible!

So what is the music like? It's hard and heavy, and as the name of the band suggests, they're all high-octane, energetic metal tracks, but with five songs, at around 25 minutes (one of them a Black Sabbath cover), there's just nothing here to really reach out and grab me by the throat. Most of the music was written by guitarist Mike Orlando (who I'd never heard of before this band), and whilst he is an absolutely insane shredder, this EP is still pretty bland all-round.

Since this was A-Mob's first official release, we just need to see it for what it is; nothing more than a sample of what this band are doing. And in that regard, not only is it more than passable, but there's certainly potential here for some great things, if they could just polish up their sound a bit.

All musical criticisms aside though, my biggest gripe with this release is simply that Rich Ward didn't actually write or record on it. It took me four years to find a copy of this CD, and it cost me £22 to have it sent from Florida to the UK, and after all the excitement of owning a physical copy of the EP (which was only released through the band prior to the release of their first album), I was gutted when I found out that The Duke's only involvement was posing for the promotional photos.

Still, despite the musical content being pretty generic, the collector in me is still glad to finally own the CD. But that's all this is, something for collectors.