Fire Fury

A magical proposition from the start, PORTRAIT somehow tapped into heavy metal's unerringly atavistic principles without ever sounding like some self-consciously retro knockoff. Along with WOLF's "Evil Star" and a handful of others, the Swedes' self-titled 2008 debut album gave substance and sustenance to the welcome return of old-school clangor in the 21st century, with some much-needed mystique and malevolence thrown in as a bonus. Vocalist Per Lengstedt's KING DIAMOND-saluting shriek was simply the blood-spattered icing on the cake…

The various white lead guitar gods who began to garner so much critical press during the rock explosion of the late '60s owe more than a lot to Elmore James. While working as a radio repairman in the early '50s, James spent hours rewiring speakers and amplifiers so that they would deliver the kind of harsh and distorted sound he favored when he played electric guitar through them, and that act of rebuilding amps alone would have made him an unsung hero to rock guitarists everywhere a decade or so later, but James also happened to be a pretty damn good player himself, and there may well not be a more powerful and exciting sound on Earth than James' trademark "Dust My Broom" slide guitar riff, which bottled megawatts of power, energy, and passion into one swooping rush…