Light and Heavy: The Best of Iron Butterfly
Artist: Iron Butterfly

Although the compilation is quite generous, featuring 21 tracks on CD, Light and Heavy:The Best of Iron Butterfly isn't all that entertaining, due to Iron Butterfly's difficulties with producing compelling material. All of the group's highlights from 1968-1970 are included, although the career-making, 17-minute "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is presented... Read More

Water
Artist: Saigon Kick
Community Score: 10.00

Water is another fine album by Saigon Kick that unfortunately undermines its own merits by trying to employ too many sounds at once. The same problem plagued Saigon Kick's first two releases, as the bandmembers hedged their bets while trying to embrace the dying metal scene as well as the embryonic alternative one at the same time. The band... Read More

Groove Family Cyco
Artist: Infectious Grooves
Community Score: 10.00
Built to Perform
Artist: Phantom Blue
Community Score: 8.00

Boasting impressive performances and arrangements, Built to Perform could be the most instrumentally accomplished all-female melodic hard rock recording ever. After Phantom Blue caused quite a buzz with their 1989 eponymous debut, this follow-up was delayed years, causing the band to loose all commercial momentum as their '80s style had become a... Read More

1982-1992
Artist: Europe
Community Score: 10.00

1982-1992 is a 17-track compilation that contains all of Europe's greatest hits ("The Final Countdown," "Carrie," "Rock the Night," "Cherokee," "Superstitious"), plus several album tracks and a pair of rarities, the single edit of "Prisoners in Paradise" and the acoustic version of "I'll Cry for You." While this is certainly the way to go for... Read More

Animal Instinct
Artist: Gary Hoey
Metal Works '73-'93
Artist: Judas Priest
Community Score: 10.00

Although the double-disc Metal Works '73-'93 is an intoxicating listen, it isn't quite the definitive Judas Priest retrospective it could have been. Six of the band's 11 U.K. chart singles aren't here, and while "Johnny B. Goode" probably won't be missed, Hell Bent for Leather's "Take on the World" and "Evening Star," British Steel's "United,"... Read More

All the Aces: The Best of Motörhead
Artist: Motörhead
Community Score: 6.00

Although it isn't as extensive as No Remorse, All the Aces: The Best of Motörhead does gather the best of the best of that collection, as well as the cream of the uneven, Bill Laswell-produced Orgasmatron (although the "Ace of Spades" remix that closes the original track listing could have been left off in favor of another, more necessary item).... Read More

Clumsy
Artist: Samiam
Community Score: 6.00

Conventional wisdom holds that when a well-regarded indie rock band buckles down and signs on to a major label, the cash flow increases and the credibility ceases, both overnight. No one bothered to tell that to Samiam: although Clumsy, their first high-profile release, is a career highlight musically, it was virtually ignored by the general... Read More