George Lynch’s Swan Song, Chris Bailey’s Final Bow, and the Live Tapes Nobody’s Heard Till Now
A Hard Rock Legend Says Goodbye (Again), Australian Punk Royalty Gets Its Last Word, and Dream Theater Reunites in Paris
Dig Me Out’s 2025 Thankful Episode: 50+ Releases Worth Your Time
Another year spinning down. Another Thanksgiving approaching. And once again, we gathered some members of the DMO Union to celebrate the new music that mattered. What stuck. What brought joy in a year that kept flooding our feeds with more music than any human could reasonably absorb.
New Releases
Lynch Mob — Dancing with the Devil
George Lynch’s hard rock band says this is it. Final album. (We’ve heard that before, but let’s pretend.)
Markus Heavy Music Blog cuts straight to it: “there’s no doubt you’re listening to George Lynch. His signature guitar sound is unique.” That roaring tone, the one that defined Dokken in the ‘80s, fuels the whole record. Blues-soaked hard rock with modern production that blends their late ‘80s DNA with contemporary energy.
“Golden Mirror” strips things down to acoustic confession. “Sea of Stones” goes slow and sinister, pure Sabbath worship. “Saints and Sinners” unleashes a blistering solo. Gabriel Colón’s voice fits the material like a glove. The musicianship is tight. The hooks land.
What’s missing? Rock Report notes “no real hook guitar catches,” which they found disappointing. If you’re looking for the band to push into new territory or surprise you, this isn’t that record. It delivers exactly what you’d expect, for better and worse.
Is it really the end? Markus Heavy Music Blog credits them with “providing a fitting conclusion to what began in 1989.” If so, Dancing with the Devil serves as a solid final statement. If not, well, we’ll see you in three years.
The Saints — Long March Through The Jazz Age
Chris Bailey’s final album. Full stop.
The Australian punk pioneer, the voice behind 1976’s “(I’m) Stranded” that predated the Sex Pistols and The Clash on vinyl, passed in 2022. He left behind rough demos that Fire Records transforms into something profound. Recorded at Church Street Studios in Sydney with longtime drummer Pete Wilkinson and guitarist Sean Carey, it captures Bailey’s voice “with a new-found depth and breadth that surpass anything heard before,” according to Wilkinson himself.
The album ranges from Dylan-esque majesty to r’n’b swagger. Spanish guitars open “Empires (Sometimes We Fall).” Big swooning ballads drip with organ, strings, and horns. The title track hits with “a mournful trumpet break as spine-tingling as anything you’ll hear,” per Fire Records.
BrooklynVegan notes “the Saints’ later years were more jangly and melancholic and that’s the mode that this album is in.” Punk purists expecting raw edge might find this too polished. But this is Bailey on his own terms, one last time. Elsewhere.co.nz calls it a “moving farewell.” Nick Cave called The Saints his favourite Australian band. This legacy holds.
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine — Avon Calling! Live at Phoenix Festival 1994
The witty UK duo, Jim Bob and Fruitbat, captured live at their peak. Just before Britpop swallowed everything.
July 15, 1994. Phoenix Festival. Rough Trade describes it as “raw and raucous,” with the band “firing through classics like ‘The Only Living Boy In New Cross,’ ‘Sheriff Fatman,’ and ‘Lean On Me I Won’t Fall Over.’”
Louder Than War quotes Jim Bob: “We didn’t want to be tied down to a drum machine anymore... Some of those beats were brutal.” Fruitbat adds: “When we played live, Wez’s monitors were more powerful than most venue P.A.s. The sound level on stage was incredible. I don’t know why we aren’t all completely deaf.”
The trade-off? This is a lo-fi recording with rough edges. Some will love the authentic atmosphere and unfiltered energy. Others will wish for cleaner production. But that rawness is the point. That’s where the energy lives. Politically charged, witty, absolutely relentless.
Josh Freese — Just a Minute, Vol. 2
Twenty-five songs. Twenty-five minutes. Every track exactly sixty seconds.
The guy who’s kept time for Foo Fighters (currently), Nine Inch Nails, Weezer, Devo, and A Perfect Circle proves you can pack wit, hooks, and energy into bite-sized bursts. The Music Universe calls it “chaotic, often hilarious, and undeniably hook-heavy.” Track titles like “God Gave Rock N’ Roll To You, Satan Wants It Back” and “Cybertruck LOL” hint at the playful chaos within.
Grateful Web quotes Freese: “This is the Kill Bill 2 of rock records. The sequel is as good, if not better, than the first one. I’m proud of it and think I finally got all the 60-second songs out of my system.”
He zips between punk, pop, groove, and delicate instrumentals. Tight. Punchy. Memorable despite the brevity.
PLOSIVS — Yell At Cloud
Two underground rock legends team up: John Reis (Rocket From the Crypt, Hot Snakes) meets Rob Crow (Pinback).
Their 2022 self-titled debut proved the pairing worked. Yell At Cloud dials it in further. Lead single “Metacine,” per Stereogum, is “a pounding, melodic rocker that would be all over rock radio in a better world.” The interplay between Reis’ manic energy and Crow’s precision cuts sharp.
Recorded at No Fun Club studio in Winnipeg, they captured spontaneous chemistry in just a handful of takes. Swami Records describes the result as searching “for an oasis within. From lurching dissonance to uplifting harmonic convergences.”
Blut Aus Nord — Ethereal Horizons
French avant-garde black metal innovators. Three decades of refusing to repeat themselves. Album sixteen pushes into cosmic dreamscapes.
Wonderbox Metal captures it: “a far warmer and more organic feel, yet also dreamy and ethereal.” Tremolo riffs collide with apocalyptic choirs. Vocals shift from snarling to emotive. GRIMM Gent calls it “the band’s best installment since Hallucinogen”: “mind-blowing virtuosity. Sweeping tonal palette. Soaring dramatic choirs. Furious, potent riffs.”
But nattskog identifies what’s missing: “What is lacking for me is that sinister element that was lurking on most of their prior works... there still isn’t that feeling of excitement or danger or mystery that pulls me in past it sounding nice.” Montreal Rocks agrees: “the beauty overwhelms the darkness to the point where you might forget you’re listening to black metal.”
For those willing to journey through cosmic soundscapes rather than pure aggression, this rewards deeply. For purists seeking venom, it sounds nice but lacks bite.
Dream Theater — Quarantième: Live à Paris
The prog metal goliaths. Forty years. The classic lineup reunited. Mike Portnoy back on drums for the first time since 2010.
November 23, 2024. Adidas Arena, Paris. Nineteen songs. Nearly three hours. Deep cuts like “Home” alongside “Metropolis Pt. 1” and “Pull Me Under.”
Louder Sound calls it “a fitting monument to a band who, quite remarkably, remain at the peak of their powers.” The Metal Pit praises the production as “arguably the best of any of their live recordings” and notes that “The Mirror” and “As I Am” are “actually superior to the studio songs.”
The weak spot? The Metal Pit notes: “It’s not fair to expect LaBrie to hit those soaring high notes like he did in the early to mid ‘90s. However, he sounds a bit stretched during moments” on “Under a Glass Moon.” Placed as track twelve, maybe his voice would’ve sounded fresher earlier in the set.
Technical precision. Emotional delivery. Portnoy’s monumental presence and background vocals back where they belong. Markus Heavy Music Blog: “the band presents some of their finest work.”
X Marks The Pedwalk — Insomnia
The German electro-industrial duo. Synthesizer pioneers since the late ‘80s. Thirteen albums in. Ten new tracks about sleepless nights.
I Die: You Die notes that lead single “Light Your Mind” delivers “uptempo and unabashedly melodic stuff” with “sheer bubbly infectiousness.” Opener “A Heart In The Dark” establishes the mood: synth pop mixed with darkwave and industrial elements. Flyctory notes: “the first moments reflect the typical sound of X Marks The Pedwalk.” “Bury Me” shifts fierce and intense.
Plastichead describes themes of “loss and farewell, love and pain,” creating “an intense, electronic soundscape full of depth, emotion, and captivating melancholy.”
The critique? Flyctory points out that some tracks shift away from the band’s darker core. “Lines” is “a nice song, but lacks a bit of character.” The five-minute “One Minute” starts “very pop-ish” and “would definitely work on more mainstream-alike dancefloors.” For those seeking the band’s industrial edge throughout, the poppier moments may feel like detours.
Electronic beats. Analog synths. Dark pop melodies. Classic retro touch. The atmospheric depth lives in those slower passages, if you’re willing to sit with them.
George Lynch. Mr Scary. What an awesome catalog no matter the music he’s playing. Always deserved more, but that’s what’s likely kept him humble and creating all these years.