One thing is when you operate a radio station you end up listening to or at least hearing a LOT of music. Some good, some not so good and the reality is sometimes stuff comes at you so fast all you can do is scan it and see if it fits our format. Hard Rock, Heavy Metal and some \u201cregular type rock stuff\u201d that you hope people will enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Honestly I\u2019m pretty particular myself and I desire Heaven\u2019s Metal Streaming Radio to be a place that anyone who wants to hear cool new stuff, classic old school and everything in between to come and enjoy it. So by know many of you are wondering \u201cWell that\u2019s all good and all but who is Rusty Shipp and WHY are you reviewing them?\u201d (if you were like me feel free to read on\u2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Great question and firstly let me say that I\u2019d never heard of them before, well until last year when I think we received a promo notification about their track \u201cBottom of the Barrel.\u201d Russ sent it to me I think or Doug Van Pelt. I listened and thought \u201cPretty good, it\u2019ll add some diversity to our rotation.\u201d And I kinda left it at that, how did I know what was coming. More singles, and some I just couldn\u2019t get to several of them because 2022 was an amazing year of Metal and Rock releases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However let\u2019s cut to the chase. Rusty Shipp\u2019s latest album \u201cDark Side of the Ocean\u201d is a fantastic array of song writing, production, performance and style. To my chagrin I completely overlooked this complete work since I only received singles initially. With a high nautical theme of all things oceanic, in the ocean and on it, the metaphor lyrically is of high order. You can enjoy the sailor themed lyrics or take a look beneath and dig deeper. I find this extremely pleasing and enjoy the hunt, Grave Robber is perhaps my other favorite band that does this so well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a sound that combines grungy guitar, classic rock stylings, reggae, Pirates of the Caribbean (minus the Johnny Depp drama), even a little punk with a whole lotta fun you get Rusty Shipp. The brain child of Russ T. Shipp, \u201cDark Side of the Ocean,\u201d is their 3rd<\/sup> album release. I feel like I\u2019ve been missing something pretty special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The songs themselves are catchy with enough groovy heaviness that should grab most fans of heavier music, unless it needs to sound like a cement mixer to capture your interest. The did win a Grizzly Award for the track \u201cBottom of the Barrell\u201d and rightfully so, hooky, dark spooky and catchy as all get out. However this isn\u2019t the only home run hit on this album, \u201cWhat\u2019s Kracken\u201d (you like that play on words? Genius!) is another bit of musically whimsy that digs it\u2019s claws in deep and doesn\u2019t let go. I\u2019m not going to do a full song by song description here, needless to say there is a lot being said lyrically. Wrapping it in a delightful hard music package. They even cover a Pink Floyd tune, \u201cUs and Them\u201d which fits the narrative and atmosphere here. (The album this song is taken from isn\u2019t lost me either.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n By Russ\u2019s own admission lyrically you can get a deep as you want with their music. The lyrics may not scream a spiritual message on first blush, but if you spend a few moments and THINK about what is being sung a deeper message becomes clear. This I appreciate due to the fact it adds to my own enjoyment when I discover the more obvious meaning it becomes more personal to me and the music becomes my own. There is a complete story that accompanies this release on the bands website. I do wish it had been included along with lyrics and such on the physical release, but alas not the case. It\u2019s all about cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rusty Shipp \u201cDark Side of the Ocean\u201d should\u2019ve been in my top 10 of 2022 however due to my neglect it wasn\u2019t. Please please do yourself a favor and check out this absolutely stellar of 2022 if you haven\u2019t already done so. Buy a CD, Shirt, support the artist, this album is a classic IMO. Memorable, well crafted, and far above the usual rock din released these days. Ahoy Matey!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One thing is when you operate a radio station you end up listening to or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":9766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1020],"tags":[338],"class_list":["post-9765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-rusty-shipp"],"yoast_head":"\n