 VARIOUS
ARTISTS 'THE LEHIGH VALLEY ROCKS!! - THE BEST OF 1984-1994' (FEVER ROCK
PRODUCTIONS)
The Lehigh Valley area in the USA has brought many past and present musicians for acts like FUEL, MEGADETH, MR. BIG, POISON, LYNCH MOB, ALICE COOPER and even Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake (!!!) and now we are looking at a very interesting 2-CD set that covers the independent/demo hardrock scene from the period 1984-1994. Without a doubt, I am a big fan of 80s rare us rock/metal compilations and most of the rare 80s LP releases are still unavailable on CD. It is even more uncommon to release a compilation nowadays, but this 2-CD set is definitely a fantastic one to check out if you're a fan of classic 80s Hair Metal/Melodic Rock/Metal. Included are loads of rare bands, mostly unsigned and only able to release demos in the 80s and early 90s. The sound of most demos is rather good actually and among the highlights we can count WASHED (awesome DOKKENish melodic rock), IDLE THREATS, OMYNUS ("Don't Ever Say Goodbye" - LOVELY Classic 80s AOR), SAPIENT (Glamrock a la PRETTY BOY FLOYD), MIZERY, DIRTY BLONDE (this band also released 3 label albums, of which the songs "Ladies in Mercedies" and "Hooked on lovin' you" may be considered as classics, but here they have a song "So long" included), TEEZE (one of the few ROADRUNNER signed Glamrockbands, popular CRUEish tune) and the fantastic KRAKEN with an epic progressive/80s us melodic heavy rocker titled "The Dark". In total, this double CD release features 30 songs from 27 past and present Lehigh Valley area bands. All styles of hard rock and heavy metal are covered on the disc. From AOR friendly hard rock, to glam, to progressive metal, and even power metal and thrash. Disc 1 is by far more interesting than disc 2, because the 80s sounds of disc 1 are much more Hair Metal/Melodic Hardrock based, while the disc 2 is focused on the more 90s orientated demos, which sadly saw the US Rockscene changing into a more darker rock/metal area instead of the fun catchiness of the 80s. Apparently more is to be expected and let's hope for many more 80s demos to be unveiled, because I now for a fact there are thousands of awesome unheard demos from the 80s still untouched, but featuring some high class melodic rock/metal. In the meantime, this 2-CD set is an awesome retrospective of some great unheard material of bands from the Lehigh Valley area which by the way is situated in the US state of Pennsylvania. More info at: www.myspace.com/lehighvalleyrocks and www.lehighvalleyrocks.com (Points: 8.5 out of 10) KINGS OF MODESTY 'PROMO CD' (DETHRONE MUSIC) And yet another sensational Finnish band with just a promo CD at this moment. They are called KINGS OF MODESTY and are made up by Jason Flinck on lead vocals, Samuel "Fanta" Hjelt lead guitar, Henkka "Hellraiser" Tuura Bass, Mikael "Mixu" Hjelt keyboards and Rane Simoinen Drums. The four members of this band have played for years together and seperately in different kinds of bands and projects, but now they wanted to put their efforts together and this is the result. Lead singer Jason Flinck is best known as the bassist of BROTHER FIRETRIBE, but here he sings and does a great job. The sound of the 4 included songs on this promo is incredible, not that weird if you know that Mikko Karmila mixed the songs and Mika Jussila did the mastering in the famous FINNVOX studios, where every Finnish Rock/Metal record has been handled the past 10 years. All 4 songs are excellent and sound like the perfect mix between BALANCE OF POWER and VANDENPLAS, with very clean harmonies melodic choruses and catchy hooks, mixing Progressive Metal with Melodic Rock in the typical Finnish sound. Better check out this band asap at: http://www.myspace.com/kingsofmodesty Full CD is coming up soon, so another sensational Finnish CD for 2007 is coming up, but in the meantime check out their 4-tracks counting promo CD. Also keep your ye on their soon-to-be-launched website at: www.kingsofmodesty.com (Points: 8.8 out of 10) DEATHLIKE SILENCE 'VIGOR MORTIS' (DETHRONE MUSIC) Already in the chartsm DEATHLIKE SILENCE is the next strong new band from Finland. Female fronted and making Melodic Heavy Rock/Metal they sound like a mix between NIGHTWISH and . The band has a very strong lead singer (Ms. Maya/Maija Liittokivi) and on keyboards we can find Ms Erna, who was for many years the keyboardplayer in LORDI! The band comes from the Turku area in Finland and were formed back in 2003. Just like any other Finnish Rock/Metalband nowadays, also DEATHLIKE SILENCE broke into the national Finnish charts. Their debutalbum 'Vigor Mortis' released in February 2007 landed at number 35 on the Finnish Albumcharts. The songs of DEATHLIKE SILENCE are very melodic, while the sound of their first CD is huge. Songs like "Next to your grave", "Six feet under the ground", "House on haunted hill" and "Before the dawn" are quite sensational. Yet another Finnish band to check out! More info at: http://www.deathlikesilence.com/dsindex.html and www.deathlikesilence.com/ (Points: 8.3 out of 10)
20 years ago the German band PINK CREAM 69 was formed and they have always been making high quality melodic hardrockalbums, sometimes very modern, but the last couple of albums saw them returning to their classic melodic rocksound while a lot of line-up changes occured throughout the years and it also took the band 3 years to release their new CD 'In10sity'. The new record was produced as always by DENNIS WARD, who only plays bass in PC'69, but is actually a multi-talented musician who can also sang very well (see KHYMERA record) and of course has produced a lot of rock and metal masterpieces the past 10 years. Lead singer DAVID READMAN has an sensational voice and ever since he replaced ANDI DERIS, who went on to sing with HELLOWEEN, the PINK CREAM 69 records have become better and better. The result 'In10sity' is a superb release and by far the best PINK CREAM 69 release since their formation in the mid 1980s. It was actually quite a surprise this release, as I did not expect it to be that sensational. The band's sound is now a mix of the best moments of CITA/GUILD OF AGES, JADED HEART and HAREM SCAREM. With 13 new songs, this new record should be in the hands of every melodic rockfan. The hooks and choruses are deadly catchy, while the vocalwork and instrumental backup is of a very high level. Especially the uptempo melodic rockers "No Way Out", "I'm Not Afraid", "Stop This Madness", "My Darkest Hour" and "Out of this World" as well as the AOR ballad "Last Train to Nowhere" are really superb tunes that will wet the appetite of any melodic rockfan. This new PC'69 record is highly recommended to fans of STEELHOUSE LANE, JADED HEART, HAREM SCAREM, CITA, and definitely a contender to end up high in the best album charts of 2007! (Points: 9.1 out of 10)
This is a nostalgic trip for me most definitely, because at the start of STRUTTER'ZINE, the band DANTE FOX was unsigned and I received a demo tape of them back in 1995/1996. This demo tape blew me away and not long after that the band was signed to NOW AND THEN RECORDS, on which they released their sensational debut CD 'Under suspicion'. This was one of the finest releases around that time and featured probably some of the best female fronted melodic rock ever to come out of the UK and surely in the 1990s, because 10+ years ago female fronted rock was very rare, unlike nowadays of course. DANTE FOX was formed in September 1989 by vocalist Sue Willetts and guitarist Tim Manford (EXPRESS) and it is unbelievable why it took so many years before they could release an official CD, but in the mid 90s it all went very fast and a CD emerged, followed up a few years later in 1998 with the album 'The fire within'. Sadly then it became very quiet and now almost 10 years later finally a new DANTE FOX is being released. Sue still shows she is one of the best female singers out there and it is really sad why such an amazing singer has record so few record, this being the 3rd CD she has released. Sue simply blows away any of the so-called singers appearing on the IDOLS/X-FACTOR shows worldwide. Anyway, musically not that much has changed, maybe a little edgier than before, but still presenting very impressive AOR/Melodic Rock. Songs like "The Last Goodbye" (uptempo melodic rocker) and semi-AOR Ballads such as "Love Tried To Find You", "Lucky Ones" and the epic 9 minutes counting "Under The Seven Skies" are truly wonderful songs. OK, it might not be as sensational as their debut CD, but DANTE FOX still shows they are one of the best female fronted melodic rockbands out there with this new CD release. (Points: 8.5 out of 10) WINGER 'DEMO ANTHOLOGY' (FRONTIERS RECORDS/ROUGH TRADE) WINGER was one of the many US Bands in the late 80s to score a majordeal and having a bunch of major US hitsingles, including the US top 10 single "Miles away", the classic 80s Power (AOR) Ballad. Sadly most of the bands went down the drain when the Grunge entered and WINGER had the unfortunate luck to be taken uncool in the Beavis and Butthead cartoon series. Anyway, KIP WINGER put everything aside and went on solo, but more or less also continued WINGER and last year saw a comeback album of WINGER as a band and now there is a 2-CD set available, which contains all demo recordings WINGER made. Especially the pre-debut album demos are interesting, because a bunch were unreleased until now. Sound is very good and musically we are mostly hearing a classic 80s DOKKEN kinda Melodic Rocksound. Most of the songs from the first 3 albums can be found here in a demo version, so actually only interesting for the die-hard fans. However, also a bunch of demos that are unreleased are included, so interesting for everyone of us, especially the fact it is a 2-CD set, with over 2 hours of WINGER music. The unreleased songs are "Only Love", "Star Tripper", "All I Ever Wanted", "Skin Tight", "Never", "Someday Someway", "Written In The Wind", "Until There Was You", "Without Warning" and "Give Me More". Most of the rest of the songs included can also be found on the band's studio CDs, but here in original demo version, although not too different from the final album version. Basically a nice collection, especially recommended to the WINGER fans, but also interesting if you never heard anything from WINGER before. (Points: 8.3 out of 10) DOKKEN 'FROM CONCEPTION - LIVE 1981' (FRONTIERS RECORDS/ROUGH TRADE) Starting in the late 1970s, DOKKEN found his band getting more and
more popular while performing night after night in the LA clubscene, just
like VAN HALEN had done a few years earlier. Eventually DON DOKKEN sang
backing vocals on the famous SCORPIONS album 'Blackout', while their
producer DIETER DIERKS went into the studio with Don's own band DOKKEN to
record the classic 'Breakin' the chains'. However, prior to the album, the
band had been playing shows in and around LA for a few years and now 25+
years later a CD has been released with a very impressive DOKKEN concert
from 1981. The sound is teriffic and with a setlist consisting of rare
unreleased DOKKEN tunes and songs from to 'later-to-be released debut album
of the band, this is an unique concert to own. The CD has been released
through FRONTIERS RECORDS, the Italian label which currently signed DOKKEN
and so it seems almost every 80s US Rockband is signed to the label. DOKKEN
is also working on a new CD, which is once again a return to their old
style, but we have heard that (Points: 8.3 out of 10) MOONLIGHT AGONY 'SILENT WATERS' (DOCKYARD 1/ROCK INC) MOONLIGHT AGONY is a Swedish band formed in 1999, with their debut CD 'Echoes Of A Nightmare' released in September of 2002 on MASSACRE RECORDS. A switch of label and new line-up has resulted in the new CD 'Silent waters'. Eventually after having different singers since their formation, they found a local singer called David Ã.kesson, who has got a very strong voice. Musically the band is playing pure Scandi Melodic Metal and the start is very impressive, with the uptempo catchy "Leaving Solitude". The rest of the material is not that strong and also a bit rawer here and there, but nevertheless this is yet another impressive Scandi Melodic Metal release that should be picked up by fans of HIGHLAND GLORY, TWILIGHTNING, THUNDERSTONE, SONATA ARCTICA, DRAGONLAND, NOSTRADAMEUS, etc. etc. (Points: 8.3 out of 10) CHRIS CAFFERY
'PINS AND NEEDLES' (METAL HEAVEN) (Points: 6.5 out of 10) SNAKE EYES SEVEN ‘PROMO’ (CHAVIS RECORDS) It took some time, but the American Melodic Rocklabel CHAVIS RECORDS is working on some new releases. The first promo of 2007 I received was from SNAKE EYES SEVEN, a band made up of members from the bands KICK AXE, INTO ETERNITY, WRATHCHILD and LOVE HUNTER. Musically they play a sort of dark 80s Rock/Metal style, with a strong BLACK SABBATH/TROUBLE kinda heavy groovy Metal riff here and there. The choruses are melodic, although none of the 10 included tracks is really sensational, a pity because vocally and instrumental it sounds pretty good. However, it’s the song that counts and most of the tracks go in one ear and out the other. The production is also a bit under par, so I am afraid only the die-hard Rock/Metal fans might want to collect this one. More info at: www.snakeeyesseven.net (Points: 7.7 out of 10)
2007 is bringing us a lot of comebackalbums of established acts. Lead singer DOUGIE WHITE and ... Return with a new CORNERSTONE album. Musically less Melodic Rock based than the previous efforts, because new record 'Two tales of one tomorrow' is a heavy 70s guitar riff based melodic heavy rockalbum that has a lot in common with DIO, RAINBOW and BLACK SABBATH. The keyboards are almost gone in favor of the guitar, which sounds quite heavy as well. Vocally it is of course a blessing to hear DOUGIE WHITE, as his voice has got that DIO/TONY MARTIN kinda vibe. The music is really close to the latest TONY MARTIN solo-record, so anyone into that release will most definitely like this new CORNERSTONE, although I still long back to their fantastic debut CD. (Points: 8.2 out of 10) SIGHT UNSEEN ‘RESURRECTION’ (MYSTIC RADIO RECORDINGS) Now here’s a very impressive band from California, USA with a CD release that musically contains some lovely very melodic but progressive orientated rock/metal. Comparisons to ENCHANT, SHADOW GALLERY, CAIRO, STRIDE and such are very easy to make and I am safe to say fans of those bands will really like this SIGHT UNSEEN. Their CD sounds amazing from start to finish and although this is just a 3-piece band, they show they are quite incredible both instrumental and vocally. Singer BRETT INMAN is doing a pretty good job and the 8 songs on their CD are really sounding impressive. The production could be a little better and edgier, but I guess fans of mentioned bands will like this 32 minutes counting piece a lot, with even AOR fans liking a song such as “Catharsis” a lot due to it being a catchy tune with some pleasant melodies. Fans of RUSH, ENCHANT, SHADOW GALLERY should check out this band asap! More info at: http://www.sightunseen.net and e-mail at: info@sightunseen.net (Points: 8.1 out of 10)
Long time ago I received really good independent AOR releases, but MICHAEL BLAKLEY from Georgia/USA released a CD, which reminds me a lot of all the independent AOR releases I reviewed personally some 10 years ago, such as DAVE BALDWIN, JOE ROBINSON, DAVE BALDWIN, JOHN TAGLIERI, DAVID KUHN and such. Man those were good times and MICHAEL BLAKLEY is not only a great singer, but also a talented multi-instrumentalist, as can be heard on this disc, which is a melting pot of 80s AOR, 70s Classic Rock and some modern melodic pop/rock. A song like “Stranger” is a superb catchy 80s AOR/Melodic Rocker a la STAN BUSH. Of course the production is not high class and the vocals/harmonyvocals are not as clean as it used to sound in the 1980s and please do not compare this to the big FRONTIERS productions, because it all really sounds like an independent CD, but the music definitely is very good and interesting for sure. MICHAEL BLAKLEY surely knows how to make pure 80s AOR, because most of the 13 tracks contain the classic AOR spirit, such as the JOURNEY/SURVIVOR AOR ballad “In your eyes” and the aforementioned “Stranger” as well as the almost FORTUNE/WHITE SISTER sounding SUPERB AOR ROCKER “Getting closer” (HUGE KEYS!) are really purest AOR! Anyway, 61 minutes long it is a journey through classic rock and aor sounds from the past, all created by MICHAEL BLAKLEY, who did a great job. If only it would feature a big sound/production in 80s style and some more polished vocals, this CD would be an AOR jewel. Highly recommended to especially the AOR fans among us, imagine AOR singer/songwriters like MICHAEL O’BRIEN, MICHAEL MORALES, DAVE BALDWIN and DENNIS DEYOUNG doing some STEVE PERRY/JOURNEY stuff together, although during the rockier songs it even reminds me of SURGIN. One way or the other, this is something to check out if aforementioned names are familiar to you! More info at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/michaelblakley and http://www.michaelblakley.com and e-mail at: mike@michaelblakley.com (Points: 8.0 out of 10)
Nostalgica here, because the American band FAITH NATION was one of those bands we could not stop raving about 10 years ago. In the early days of Strutter'zine, this band released an amazing sensational AOR CD with classic tunes like "When God Came Down", "Then Love Came In", "Book Of Life" and "Eternally". In the following years, the band had several line-up changes and now in 2007 the only original member left is guitarist Hewey Peterson. It is a shame the singer from their debut of 1997, Chris Gilbertson, left the band, because his voice was truly superb. The band has another new singer, who replaces the former THE BRAVE singer SHANE MARTIN, who sang for FAITH NATION several years. His name is Pete Meados and he sings on the 6 songs of the new FAITH NATION CD 'Welcome to the western World'. Musically the KANSAS/SURVIVOR/JOURNEYesque AOR of their debut is long gone and nowadays the band is more playing a sort of progressive melodic rockstyle, close to RUSH at times. The best song by far is the slightly uptempo AOR related "Playland". The rest of the material has a kinda TALL STORIES/JOURNEY circa 'Red 13' as well, so psychedelic progressive melodic rock with just minor aor influences. Of course their debut from 1997 is still their best effort, but FAITH NATION still shows to be a high quality band. More info at: http://www.faithnation.com (Points: 8.2 out of 10) WESZT 'MORNINGAFTERLIFE' (RHYMEDORANGE RECORDS) WESZT is a band from Florida/USA with a 5 track mini-cd titled 'Morningafterlife'. The band has a modern sound, very American o today, with distorted guitars and melodic choruses. "Can't erase you" is a very catchy tune indeed with a lovely melodic chorus, very American and in the style of THREE DAYS GRACE/30 SECONDS TO MARS and you name it further.... Definitely high quality stuff, although not very original. More info at: http://www.weszt.com (Points: 8.2 out of 10) SWITCHES 'ALBUM SAMPLER' (ATLANTIC RECORDS) The latest sensation from the UK as the Rock Press calls THE SWITCHES. Musically they are playing typical UK type of Rock from today with influences from the 70s, think a mix of T-REX/NEW YORK DOLLS meets KAISER CHIEFS meets THE DARKNESS and you're close to the big sound of these boys. THE SWITCHES are gonna make it for sure and could well become the next big thing. Their song "Drama queen" is a damn catchy tune, radio-ready, while "Snakes and ladders" is pure 70s Glam/Glitter Rock and roll, a rather cool tune a la SWEET/SLADE/T-REX. Both songs are taken from a 5-track sampler CDR I received. The band's debut CD should released on ATLANTIC RECORDS, so better keep your eye on their site at: www.switchesmusic.co.uk (Points: 8.4 out of 10)
The German Neo-Progband SYLVAN is a very active band, because in the past few years we nearly receive a new CD almost every year and 2007 starts with 'Presets', the follow-up to their 2006 album 'Posthumous Silence'. The 6th CD was recorded and produced in parallel to 'Posthumous Silence' and includes twelve brand new songs. The bio mentions bands like PINK FLOYD, COLDPLAY, KEANE, MARILLION, etc. as comparisons and actually the band's new CD indeed sounds dangerously closer to British modern progpop like mentioned bands. Especially the beginning of the new SYLVAN album is sadly close to COLDPLAY/KEANE. Happily the 2nd part of the album is more akin to the Neo-Prog of the band's previous albums, because the songs "Cold suns" and "Presets" are very proggy, but like I said before, in general speaking the new SYLVAN CD is much more something for the open-minded progfan, who also enjoys COLDPLAY/KEANE and such. (Points: 8.0 out of 10) DORRN 'OVERSEXED AND UNDERFUCKED' (STF RECORDS) Sometime ago we reviewed the debut CD 'We're out' of the Hamburg/Germany based female fronted rockband DORRN. I remember the band was playing a sort of modern Metalstyle, very raw, but still quite melodic. DORRN is basically a heavy dark modern rockband with a female singer who reminds me of WENDY O. WILLIAMS. Songs like "Soul sister", "Tough girl", "Bad girl" and "Me" show this band has a sound that is indeed like the songtitles predict, a very tough Girl Power Metalsound, although the rest of the band is made up of male musicians. Nevertheless, recommended to fans of female fronted rock/metal with a modern twist (think OOOMPH) Check out this German band at: http://www.dorrn.de and e-mail at: info@dorrn.de (Points: 8.0 out of 10) PRIVATEER 'THE TRAITORS' (STF RECORDS) PRIVATEER is a band from Poland, founded on 5th July 2005 and already 20 months later they have their debut CD released. The band started with covering songs of bands such as NIGHTWISH and HELLOWEEN, but soon started developing their own songs, which now has resulted in the release of their very first CD 'The Traitors'. The band is playing very strong melodic metal with keyboards and remind me of the Austrian band SERENITY and a bit Italo style a la WONDERLAND/VISION DIVINE can also be heard, although they never reach the high level of these bands. Nevertheless, for a starting band, this is an Impressive debut, especially during the uptempo pieces like "A flaming bath", "Night Escape" and "Monolith". Check out this band at: http://www.privateerband.com (Points: 8.1 out of 10) HYADES 'AND THE WORST IS YET TO COME' (MAUSOLEUM RECORDS) Here we have an Italian band playing pure Thrash Metal as if it was still 1987 the Bay Area/San Francisco. Their CD 'And the worst is yet to come' is not that bad as the title predicts, but still after a while the TESTAMENT/FORBIDDEN/DARK ANGEL type of Thrash Metal is getting a bit too standard. Only interesting for fans of this genre! (Points: 7.0 out of 10) STEVE THORNE 'PART TWO : EMOTIONAL CREATURES (GIANT ELECTRIC PEA) This CD has been two years in the making, but finally the follow up to 'Part one: Emotional creatures' of UK singer/songwriter STEVE THORNE is complete. Musicians involved are TONY LEVIN, PETE TREWAVAS, GEOFF DOWNES, GAVIN HARRISON, NICK D'VIRGILIO, JOHN MITCHELL, DAVE MEROS and many others, all known from the progscene. In the last twelve months, Steve has been out playing with PENDRAGON, IT BITES, KINO and MARILLION, both at home in the UK and in Europe. Now it is time to release his new solo-CD, which is filled with lovely high class Neo-Prog and will be loved by fans of afforementioned bands. The new STEVE THORNE CD is really featuring excellent progressive rock which is very melodic too. Any progfan will love this for sure! More info at: www.myspace.com/stevethorne and www.steve-thorne.com/ (Points: 8.5 out of 10)
2006 brought a surprise in the form of the debut release of BLOODBOUND, a Swedish band formed around Guitarist Tomas Olsson (STREET TALK), lead singer Urban Breed (TAD MOROSE) and bassist Fredrik Bergh (STREET TALK). Their first release was one of the highlights in Melodic Metal last year. Cliché as hell, comparisons to HELLOWEEN, DREAM EVIL, NOCTURNAL RITES and HAMMERFALL were very clear, but still super catchy with even an own sound. Sadly the band sort of had their problems during it's first year, with their singer leaving the band. They found a new singer (Kristian Andrén, who worked MEMENTO MORI, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, DEAD END WORLD, STREET TALK and TAD MOROSE), but he also left and then it would almost mark the end of the band if it wasn't for singer MICHAEL BORMANN to step into the spotlight. This well-seasoned German veteran of such acts as JADED HEART, ZENO, JÜRGEN BLACKMORE, THE SYGNET, SILENT FORCE and RAIN is sort of the JEFF SCOTT SOTO equivalent in Europe, singing on many Melodic Hardrockalbums of various acts. It then went on very fast and after all the recordings the band did in the early months of 2007, the new BLOODBOUND album 'Book Of The Dead' is finished and happily, it is a sensational Melodic Metal record once again. So, another MICHAEL BORMANN featured record, but this one is really pure Classic Melodic Metal. Anyone into HELLOWEEN, DREAM EVIL, MYSTIC PROPHECY, NOCTURNAL RITES and HAMMERFALL will love this record and at the end of 2007 we will probably be looking at the top 5 best albums, which will include this one. Highlights this time are the very fast songs "Into Eternity" and "Turn To Stone" as well as the uptempo riding-a-horse--like-a-medieval-knight-with-a-sword-in-your-hand type songs "The Tempter", "Flames Of Purgatory" and "Black Heart". Be sure to check out this release if you wanna hear the best Cliché sounding Melodic Metal record of 2007! Only the new NOCTURNAL RITES CD might beat this release! More info at: www.bloodbound.se (Points: 9.1 out of 10) 21 EYES OF RUBY 'CONQUER THE WORLD PART 2' (PROMO CDR) 21 EYES OF RUBY is a Dutch band, playing a modern mix of typical American bands like THREE DAYS GRACE/DISTURBED etc and some European progmetal. It sounds pretty good, although their demo CDR has a very independent/demo sound quality. The best song is definitely opener "Million seconds". You can clearly hear this is a band just starting up, but their demo cdr definitely shows they have a future. More info at: http://www.21eyesofruby.com and e-mail at: 21eyesofruby@gmail.com (Points: 7.8 out of 10) KILL THE ROMANCE TAKE ANOTHER LIFE' (LOCOMOTIVE MUSIC/ROCK INC) Kill The Romance was founded in Finland in the beginning of the 2004 and their debut album 'Take Another Life' on the Spanish label LOCOMOTIVE MUSIC sounds like this band has been working on it for many more years than the 2-3 years they exist now. The sound is huge and they mix Death Metal growls, Metalcore, Thrash Metal and here and there very strong Melodic Metal with clean vocals/catchy choruses, so close to the superb INTO ETERNITY. However, there is way too much screaming and growling throughout each song and only during the choruses the band gets super melodic and that's a pity because these choruses are really impressive. If they would take away some of the endless screaming and add some more clean vocals it would be much better as now we have to get through a lot of screaming and growling. The band has a HUGE SOUND, lovely choruses but a lot of screaming, well it is INTO ETERNITY with a lot more screaming and growling than necessary ... (Points: 8.0 out of 10)
Australian band THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT has rapidly become a very popular act, especially in their homecountry. They are coming out of Brisbane, were formed in 1999 and their latest CD titled 'Imago' was released on June 17, 2006. It debuted at #2 in the Australian official album charts and it took until now before the album was released in the rest of the world. In the USA it will be released through the legendary Metal label MEGAFORCE RECORDS. However, most of the rest of the world the CD gets a SONY BMG release. The band's music is not very original, very American orientated and recommended if you like bands such as THREE DAYS GRACE, DISTURBED, COHEED AND CAMBRIA, 30 SECONDS TO MARS, etc. etc. Distorted guitars and super melodic choruses, with clean vocalwork, that's the name of the game of this Australian band that could easily have been a US act. Songs like "Aisles of White", "Gone", "Before They Knew", "In a Memory" and "This Year" all have superstrong melodies. Basically a band that could easily breakthrough everywhere, besides their success in Australia. Their latest CD 'Imago' is the living proof! (Points: 8.4 out of 10)
Not really original this Canadian band, but nevertheless currently
making a buzz in Canada. MARIANA'S TRENCH are all about making catchy
Punkpoprock and they do remind me a lot of our Dutch band DIRECT, although
thousands of US bands sound the same. MARIANA'S TRENCH adds a slight
different approach, some poppy elements are included, while some of the
included songs take a different twist with BEACH BOYS influences and an
unexpected rhythm instead of just rocking out straight-forward. Still, the
best songs are the uptempo Punkpoprockers "Say anything", "September" and
"Far fom here", all very catchy tunes, radio-ready and very melodic, but
still very typical North American teenage melodic Punkpoprock. Band leader
Josh Ramsay's dad, Miles, once owned Little Mountain Sound, the Vancouver
recording studio that in its 1980s prime hosted Aerosmith, Bon Jovi and
AC/DC. The band's CD was mastered with input from a string of producers.
John Webster (Tom Cochrane), Warne Livesey (Matthew Good Band, Midnight
Oil), Brad McGivern (Bif Naked, Lillix) and the Nickelback combo of Chad
Kroeger and Joey Moi helped out MARIANA'S TRENCH. This all helped the band
in getting signed on a sublabel of UNIVERSAL, which gave them already some
big Canadian hits. Not as good as SIMPLE PLAN and more akin to early
GREENDAY, fans of the genre will love it, but if they break out of Canada is
a big question. Check out the band at:
http://www.marianastrench.net/
and (Points: 8.2 out of 10)
The Finnish band EXCALION was formed in late 2000, with their debut album 'Primal Exhale' released in autumn 2005 on the Portuguese label SOUND RIOT RECORDS. That record was reviewed by us, but I am afraid it was not really an album that made a big impression. Anyway, 2 years later the new CD released on the Japanese label ART UNION RECORDS is released. The CD is titled 'Waterlines' and contains very strong typical European Melodic (Power) Metal in the style of DESTYNATION, DIONYSUS, NOSTRADAMEUS, THE DOGMA, etc. Maybe not original, but for sure a very strong album with some very catchy tunes like "Life on Fire", "Losing Time", "I Failed You", "Arriving as the Dark" (excellent) and the superb "Delta Sunrise". Quite a surprise this new release of EXCALION, very strong and highly recommended to fans of DESTYNATION, DIONYSUS, NOSTRADAMEUS, THE DOGMA, etc. Although now out in Japan, LIMB MUSIC will put it out in Europe soon. In the meantime, you can get this Japanese release at: www.artuniongroup.co.jp/ and for more info on EXCALION at: www.excalion.com or www.myspace.com/excalion (Points: 8.5 out of 10)
Formeed in the summer of 2001, the French band WILDPATH became quite popular through the demos they released in the early years. Then they signed a deal with the Japanese Melodic Metal/Melodic Rock Label STAY GOLD/ART UNION GROUP and now we are looking at the band's debut CD. Sadly it is not really impressive, because the band is playing average Melodic Metal with soprano vocals. It's not that female singer Caroline Michaud is a bad singer, because she can sing well, but never changes her way of singing if you know what I mean. The music is never reaching the high level of NIGHTWISH, because the songs go in one ear and out the other, so I guess the band should be working harder next time. One song stood out and that was "Everlasting Wish", which also features Elisa C. Martin (ex-DARK MOOR/FAIRYLAND/DREAMAKER) on guest vocals. I am afraid this release will not make it, considering there are many releases done each month in this female fronted Melodic Metal genre. Check for yourself at: www.wildpath-metal.com/ and buy this Japanese release, which comes with a bonus video, at: www.artuniongroup.co.jp/ (Points: 7.7 out of 10) VARIOUS ARTISTS 'PERRIS WORLDWIDE NETWORK CD 2' (PERRIS RECORDS) PERRIS RECORDS has been known for many years as a label for underground Glam and Hardrockbands, with many releases through the years. Also their compilation CDs are focused on the unheard bands of the present day and so this Perris Worldwide Network is another interesting CD, because most of the featured bands are new to most of us. The musicstyle is mainly Hardrock - Glam - Sleazy Metal with a sidestep to Punk or Melodic Rock here and there. If you enjoy the style of the late 80s/early 90s of bands like BRITNY FOX, DIRTY LOOKS, LA GUNS etc. then you will definitely like most of the featured bands here. As the title predicts, the bands come from all over the world. Highlights are the bands LYDIAN FORTUNE-USA ( www.lydianfortune.com ), SEX DEPARTMENT-ITALY ( www.myspace.com/sexdepartment ) and BIG MAMA SCANDAL-BULGARIA ( www.bigmamascandal.hit.bg ). In total you get 17 tracks and although it is less interesting for the melodic rockfan, it surely is highly recommended to fans of the late 80s Sleazy US Hardrockstyle. More info at: www.perrisrecords.com (Points: 8.0 out of 10
Although announced as an AOR style like EUROPE, GIANT and ASIA, the debut CD 'Heaven's gate' of the Norwegian band KELDIAN is a tad heavier and more closer to Melodic heavy rock/metal. On the other hand, it is a very impressive release that sounds like a heavier TTEN meets PRAYING MANTIS meets PRETTY MAIDS. The band has a very good lead singer (Maja Svisdahl) and most of the 10 included songs are very strong uptempo melodic heavy rockers. The best ones are "Heart Of The Sun, "Requiem For The Light", "Heaven's Gate" and "Beyond The Stars". The album has been released on PERRIS RECORDS and without a doubt, this is their strongest release in years! A real Melodic Hardrock/Metal masterpiece! Also recommended to fans of DESTYNATION, DIONYSUS, NOSTRADAMEUS, THE DOGMA, etc. More info at: www.myspace.com/keldian and http://www.keldian.com and www.perrisrecords.com (Points: 8.6 out of 10) ADRENALINE FACTOR 'ADRENALINE FACTOR' (PERRIS RECORDS) ADRENALINE FACTOR is a new band formed by DANGEROUS TOYS/DIRTY LOOKS/BROKEN TEETH guitarist Paul Lidel and BIG BALLS frontman Lee Scott. They are based in Austin, Texas, USA and play the dirty mean Hardrock many Texas/Aussie based bands play, which is close to DIRTY LOOKS/AC/DC, BRITNY FOX, KINGS OF THE SUN, etc. 10 songs are included and if you like this style you will surely like ADRENALINE FACTOR. Ballsy straight-forward Hardrock at it's best! More info at: www.perrisrecords.com and www.myspace.com/adrenalinefactor (Points: 7.9 out of 10)
The US band SEQUEL returns with a new CD, after the re-issue of their early 80s records. The CD was released independent last year and now PERRIS RECORDS decided to release it. Musically still very much in 80s Classic Hardrockstyle, the band seemed to have dropped the classic aor/melodic rock influences unfortunately. 10 songs make up this new album, which has a playing time of 30 minutes, so not really lengthy. Most of the songs are uptempo rockers that sound a bit like STRANGER, THE B’ZZ and KROKUS, real American feel good Hardrock/hair Metal (with even a WARRANT reference in a song like “The good stuff”), but that said, it is a pity the classic AOR/Melodic Rock of their first 2 albums are less prominent this time, although a few times they throw in some AOR melodies such as in the 38 SPECIAL/BON JOVI type “Rock N Roll girl” and “Heart on the line”. Nevertheless, this is how classic Hardrock sounded in the USA 20 years ago, but I have to inform you the band’s 2 earlier releases were better. Better check it out for yourself at: http://www.sequelrocks.com and www.perrisrecords.com (Points: 8.0 out of 10)
In the past few years I have been very enthousiastic about BLIND ALLEY, a Swedish band formed around multi-instrumentalist MAGNUS OLSSON (who also sings some songs), lead singer Hans Dimberg and some additional vocals/guitars from Pierre Glans. They released some great stuff in the past, with their previous album ‘Infinity ends’ even reaching 9,5 points! Now Magnus is back with another strong new record, which musically combines elements of Progressive Rock with high class 80s Scandi AOR/Melodic Rock into a very sensational style, which is a must to hear for people who like a mix between TOTO, EUROPE, DAKOTA and RAINBOW. It is not as good as the previous records, but it does offer some really amazing material here and there. I even think this CD is a grower, which in the coming months might turn out to be even better than I think it now is. Magnus has created some gems once again, especially the songs “Another day”, “Until I see”, “Silhouette”, “Fire and ice” (pure 80s Scandi AOR) and “Talk of the town” are filled with all the elements of the typical Swedish AOR we all love so much. The CD was available as independent release for some time, but now finally a label released it and it is none other than PERRIS RECORDS to release a pure AOR album. Definitely an album to own if you like RADIOACTIVE, AMBITION, TOTO, DAKOTA... More info at: http://listen.to/blindalley and www.perrisrecords.com (Points: 8.5 out of 10) SWITCHBLADE 'ROCK N ROLL 4EVER' (PERRIS RECORDS) PERRIS RECORDS signed the Danish band SWITCHBLADE for a 2nd worldwide deal with a new studio release titled 'Rock N Roll 4ever'. Their debut release 'Switchblade Serenade' was also released on Perris. Musically we can hear dirty mean rock and roll a la THE FOUR HORSEMEN/CIRCUS OF POWER/JUNKYARD... 11 songs are included and fans of mentioned bands will love this release. SWITCHBLADE just opened for PRETTY MAIDS in Europe, so catch them live and for more info go to www.switchblade.dk and www.perrisrecords.com (Points: 7.7 out of 10)
Sweden has been since ABBA, EUROPE, MALMSTEEN and ROXETTE scored massive hits worldwide a very strong nation when it comes down to making quality music. Especially a lot of Rock/AOR/Metalbands have emerged from Sweden since the mid 1980s and not just standard bands, but really sensational stuff has been coming out of Sweden the past 20 years. Anyway, also during the late 60/1970s Sweden offered a lot of music and this new book contains everything you want to learn about Swedish Prog and Psychedelic Rock from before 1980. So many obscure bands it's almost unbelievable. The only familiar band is KAIPA, a sort of FLOWER KINGS forerunner band from the 1970s. Prog in Sweden died after 1979, as melodic rock/aor became a very popular musicstyle to play and so prog was out of fashion. This book however is the perfect encyclopedia to look up all these obscure Swedish progbands from the late 60/1970s. Comparable to the fantastic Swedish hardrock and heavy metal encylopedia from a few years ago, this book is all about Prog. It guides you through every single artist and group that ever had a progressive record released on major labels as well as the small independent offerings. They are presented in detail along with all the individual musicians that made it all happen. Not many of you have heard of bands like International Harvester, Made In Sweden, Hansson & Karlsson and Mecki Mark Men, November, Träd, Gräs & Stenar, Hoola Bandoola Band, Blå Tåget, Nationalteatern and Kebnekajse. All are included, as well as highly collectable acts like Radiomöbel, Taste of Blues, Gandalf and Epizootic. This superbly produced full-colour book presents all the essential ins and outs of 400 artists and their records with a collector´s valuation guide for the original vinyl records and with all sleeves pictures! Collectors of 70s Swedish prog will absolutely be stunned and need to buy this book asap! It comes along with a CD that contains a previously unreleased 32-minute recording by Baby Grandmothers, from the legendary Club Filips in Stockholm, 1967. A really nice addition when purchasing the book. The book is available through: http://www.premiumpublishing.com/all_books/progg/progg_x.html (Points: 8.6 out of 10) OCEANS OF SADNESS 'THURISAZ' (SCARLET RECORDS) The Belgian Doom Metal band OCEANS OF SADNESS were formed in the mid 1990s and recently signed with the Italian label SCARLET RECORDS for the release of their latest CD 'Thurisaz'. The Doom Metal of this band is indeed slow, but sadly the vocal department is very dark and death growling can be heard most of the time. Not at all a CD to get if you're looking for Doom a la CANDLEMASS/SABBATH, because this is more Doom/Death with influences from even TYPE OF NEGATIVE. Check out the band's site for more info on their new CD at: www.oceansofsadness.com/ (Points: 7.6 out of 10) GBH 'VARIOUS RE-ISSUES' (CAPTAIN OI! RECORDS) Legendary UK Punkband GBH has 3 more re-issues on the CAPTAIN OI! RECORDS label. These are the albums 'A fridge too far', 'From here to reality' and 'Church of the truly warped'. All beautifully packed with extensive liner notes, digipack edition and additional bonustracks, besides a fantastic sounding remastering of the original albums of GBH. The Punk/Hardcore of GBH was far ahead of it's time and I guess if you're familiar with the band you know what to expect here. Available and more info at: http://www.captainoi.com (Points: 8.2 out of 10) DESTRUCTORS 666 'SPLIT CD WITH RADICUS' (ROWDY FARRAGO RECORDS) Another new mini-CD of the British metalband DESTRUCTORS 666, also another split-CD with this time other songs by the band RADICUS and while writing this review we received another one, split-CD with the band SUP. Musically a mix of Punk and classic NWOBHM. Good stuff, check out their site for more info at: http://www.destructors666.com (Points: 7.9 out of 10) MAGNI ANIMI VIRI ‘HEROES TEMPORIS’ (INDEPENDENT) Out of Italy comes MAGNI ANIMI, a new Italian Project/Rock Opera which sounds very impressive to say the least. The lyrics are in Italian, but don’t let that put you off, because this CD sounds quite superb. Without a doubt, this CD is filled with high quality music that is very much comparable to that of NOSTRADAMEUS, AYREON, STAR ONE, GENIUS, etc. Instrumental, vocally, production… it is all sounding excellent. However, this MAGNI ANIMI VIRI is not just a band, but a collaboration between Italian musicians and some very well-known musicians, such as JOHN MACULOSO (MALMSTEEN), RANDY COVEN (STEVE VAI) and MARCO SFOGLI (JAMES LA BRIE). Musically a mix of Progmetal, Melodic Rock and Opera/Classical themes, very typical Rock Opera style, but without a doubt of a very high level, with different vocalists and tenors. 60 minutes in length, divided into 18 tracks this journey through the symphonic/progressive and melodic rock/metal world with sidesteps to Opera/Classical music is worth it all the way. Better check out this sensational release at: http://www.mavband.net and e-mail at: press@magnianimiviri.com (Points: 8.4 out of 10)
'Victory' is the 3rd CD of the Norwegian band GAIA EPICUS, but the first released on their own label. Their previous 2 albums 'Satrap' and 'Symphony Of Glory' were released on the Portuguese label SOUND RIOT RECORDS, but due to some conflicts the band decided to leave the label and start their own label, on which this is the first release, with more to follow, also from other bands in the future. The CD was mastered at the famous Finnvoxx, so the sound is superb and the music is quite good Melodic European (Power) Metal, not really original, because comparisons to GAMMA RAY, HELLOWEEN, STRATOVARIUS, SONATA ARCTICA are very easy to make. 11 songs are included and without a doubt, this is a high quality release, although nothing really new is brought. Most of the songs are uptempo and if you like the typical European melodic metalsound you are gonna love this record most definitely. Songs like "New Life", "The Sign", "Through The Fire" and "Victory" are all reflecting the typical Euro Power Metal sound with catchy melodies. Not sure how to get this CD, but all info on the band can be found at: http://www.gaia-epicus.com (Points: 8.3 out of 10) ROBERT CALVERT
'LUCKY LEIF AND THE LONGSHIPS/CAPTAIN LOCKHEED AND THE Released in the mid 1970s, the 2 albums of musician ROBERT CALVERT are quite ordinary, although during the 1970s many strange sounding records have been released. Especially the UK was a place where many weird sounding records were released. ROBERT CALVERT's 2 albums from 30+ years ago have been remastered and now re-issued onto CD with fully restored artwork and several bonus tracks including a previously unreleased extended version of "The Right Stuff" which will definitely appeal to fans of HAWKWIND, because that is the closest comparison to give this record, although the sound on both records are quite different. Quirky Poprock is what is the best description and actually almost impossible to compare, maybe a mix between HAWKWIND, THE MUPPETS and ELTON JOHN would be best. Now very dated in sound, but collectors of rare quirky 70s pop should check it out for sure. More info on these 2 releases at: http://www.eclecticdiscs.com (Points: 7.0 out of 10) NIK TURNER'S SPHYNX 'XITINTODAY' (ECLECTIC DISCS) This Eclectic Discs reissue features previously unreleased recordings made in the Great Pyramid, together with a fully restored 20-page booklet and additional liner notes by Nik Turner.Remastered from the original master tapes, 'Xitintoday' the sound quality is very good, but musically it is something completely different, a typical 70s UK product, maybe interesting for fans of TANGERINE DREAM (yes a German band!) More info at: http://www.eclecticdiscs.com (Points: 7.0 out of 10) VARIOUS ARTISTS 'PROGRESSIVE ROCK COVERS' (MUSEA) MUSEA RECORDS is probably one of the ultimate progressive rocklabels in the world, because they have released hundreds of records. Also their amount of compilation CDs is quite extensive and the latest addition is this PROGRESSIVE ROCK COVERS CD, which features cover versions of songs by EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER, PINK FLOYD, LED ZEPPELIN, TRACE, Manfred MANN CHAPTER THREE, VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR, DEEP PURPLE, GONG and THE DOORS. In total 12 tracks are included, from each band 1 song. Included bands are GERARD (Japan), PANGAEA (USA), BLUE SHIFT (USA), ARS NOVA (Japan), LONDON UNDERGROUND (Italy), TWENTY-FOUR HOURS (Italy), QUIDAM (Poland), HALLOWEEN (France), NOW (Belgium), DIFICIL EQUILIBRIO (Spain), CRUSEM & L'AUTRE SYSTEME (France) and VISIBLE WIND (Canada). All performances are very impressive, with PANGAEA's cover being the best, but not that strange if you know that this is one of the best US progbands from the past 15 years. Check it out for yourself at: www.musearecords.com (Points: 8.0 out of 10) ENSIFERUM 'VICTORY SONGS' (SPINEFARM RECORDS) ENSIFERUM is one of the more popular bands in Finland at the moment, even scoring a number 1 hitsingle recently. The band exists for 10 years now and their latest release is 'Victory songs'. Musically they play Folk Metal and do it very well. In the vocal department, Petri Lindroos from NORTHER handles the growling death metal like vocals, while guitarist Markus Toivonen is singing the clean vocal melodies, although it’s a pity there are more death growls than clean vocals. This mixture together with a huge sound is making this CD a high quality release and a typical Finnish export product. The band recently released a DVD as well and I guess if you're familiar with ENSIFERUM, then this new one will get you busy as well. (Points: 8.0 out of 10) FINNTROLL 'UR JORDENS DJUP' (SPINEFARM RECORDS) It seems like 2007 will yet be another Finnish year with new albums of SONATA ARCTICA, THUNDERSTONE, TWILIGHTNING, etc. Just like ENSIFERUM, also FINNTROLL is playing Folk Metal and both bands release new CDs at the same time. However, FINNTROLL is singing in a mediaval Viking language (or Scandinavian language I am not familiar with, perhaps Swedish???). Anyway, Their new concept album, 'Ur Jordens Djup' ('From the Depths of the Earth') was recorded at the Sonic Pump Studios with Nino Laurenne (ENSIFERUM, KIUAS, THUNDERSTONE) in October 2006, and is the fourth full- length album of the band. It was produced by Trollhorn and Tundra and the band delivers a rather unique mixture of black metal, folk music, punk, and all kinds of other styles, ranging from epic classical symphonies into total madness. If you're a FINNTROLL a fan, this new CD is a must-have, although it is really heavy, aggressive and vocally mostly growling and screaming, so you really got to love that… (Points: 8.0 out of 10)
Time goes by quickly, because it took the Finnish band TWILIGHTNING 4 years to complete their 3rd CD 'Swinelords', the follow-up to the albums “Delirium Veil” (2002) and “Plague-house Puppet Show” (2003). Musically TWILIGHTNING started as a typical Finnish melodic power metalband a la SONATA ARCTICA/STRATOVARIUS/THUNDERSTONE... yet with their new CD 'Swinelords' they have completely changed their sound. I was unsure if this was the same band that delivered such great melodic power metal 4 years ago. The band nowadays sounds like a mixture between LOVEX and HIM, especially on catchy uptempo melodic rockers like “Isolation Shell”, “SwineLord”, “With the Flow” and “Wounded & Withdrawn”. If you put this new album next to their 2 previous albums you would think this is a different band. Still the new TWILIGHTNING CD is a strong album that is highly recommended to Melodic Rockkfans who also like LOVEX, HIM, CHARON… (Points: 8.4 out of 10) COLLARBONE 'THE BACK OF BEYOND' (SPINEFARM RECORDS) A new young band with a CD on the big SPINEFARM RECORDS. The band's debut CD 'The Back of Beyond' was produced by Jonas Olsson, who has previously worked succesfully with the likes on DISCO ENSEMBLE and CALLISTO. The mixer of the album is Jens Bogren (OPETH) and finally, it was mastered at the famous Sterling Sound in New York, by Ue Nastasi (PANIC AT THE DISCO, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, TYPE O NEGATIVE, SEPULTURA). Musically we get to hear pure Americanised Emo/Melodic Punkpoprock in the style of a zillion American bands play at this moment across the Atlantic, yet COLLARBONE come out of Finland. Nevertheless they do it very well and with the song “Up North” they even deliver a very catchy song that sounds like HIM/LOVEX. In the end, a pretty good new Finnish band once again! More info at: http://www.myspace.com/collarboneband (Points: 8.2 out of 10) HANGING GARDEN 'INHERIT THE EDEN' (SPINEFARM RECORDS) In the summer of 2004 bassist/keyboardplayer Matti Reinola (SHAMRAIN) and vocalist Ari Nieminen (DAUNTLESS) decided to start a new band, which would concentrate on playing slow and doomy metal, in contrast to their extreme metal with their own bands. 'Inherit the Eden' is the band's first album and it is already called the most impressive doom metal debut out of Finland in years. Not that hard, because true Doom Metal is rare in Finland. Anyway, the first HANGING GARDEN album is indeed a strong album, although it is sad there are no melodic clean vocals to be heard, because vocally it is death metal growling what we get to hear. So therefore no comparisons to CANDLEMASS this time… (Points: 8.0 out of 10)
The Austrian band VISIONS OF ATLANTIS has been around for a while now, with a couple of releases so far and now we are looking at their new CD 'Trinity', which is by far their best effort so far. Although at first sight the band sounds like a standard Goth female fronted Melodic Metalband, after listening to the whole album, they are clearly different from bands like LUNATICA, NIGHTWISH, WITHIN TEMPTATION, XANDRIA... The band has a female and a male singer (Melissa Ferlaak and Mario Plank). The female singer can sing soprano and in a normal clean vocal range, while the male singer is singing a bit raw. This combination works quite well and it definitely helps that their songs are very catchy. Ranging from midtempo to uptempo, there are a bunch of songs on the new CD of VISIONS OF ATLANTIS which are very sensational actually. The recent releases of FELONY and SERENITY are definitely similar sounding albums, although when not being familiar with those records, I can tell you that this new VISIONS OF ATLANTIS CD is a very strong release that contains perfectly produced Melodic Metal the European way! More info at: http://voa-on-napalmrecords.com (Points: 8.5 out of 10)
Lead singer STEVE OVERLAND is perhaps one of the greatest UK singers of all time, but he never got that much credit for it. With FM he released one of the best AOR albums of all times in 1986, 'Indiscreet'. He released quite a few records with FM the past 20 years, but never managed to beat their own AOR Classic debut from 1986, also due to the fact they went into a more bluesy rock area, although still melodic rock orientated. Besides some other projects and singing on various other records, THE LADDER was a more Melodic Rock Based project Steve started in the early 2000s. Their debut 'Future Miracles' from late 2004 now has a follow-up titled 'Sacred'. This time however, Steve put everything aside and added a lot of modern rock influences, while still featuring some very catchy melodic choruses. The guitarsound however has been downtuned a bit, distorted, very much like most of the major label releases sound nowadays, with of course as difference the wonderful vocals of Steve and a bunch of catchy choruses. Some songs are really wonderful, such as "Body & Soul", "Sacred" and the amazing "Sea Of Love". I think this is really a strong release, although you have to understand it is different than everything Steve did in the past, because it all sounds very modern, but still with very catchy melodic choruses. Only for the melodic rockers who don't mind a modern approach! (Points: 8.4 out of 10) VINTERSORG 'SOLENS ROTTER' (NAPALM RECORDS) VINTERSORG was founded way back in 1994 and through the years they have developed an own style, which combines all kinds of influences and the band nowadays sound almost as diverse as INTO ETERNITY, although not that good. The band's latest CD 'Soldens rotter' is released through NAPALM RECORDS. Although featuring some high quality musicianship and even strong choruses, there are also quite a lot growls and black metalish screaming here and there, which spoils the listening a bit. It is a very diverse CD that might attract both fans of Black Metal, Folk Metal and Melodic Metal, although you have to stay open for such a mixture. More info at: http://www.vintersorganic.com (Points: 7.9 out of 10) New band, new chances... EMERALD SUN is a Greek band which musically goes into a Melodic Power Metalstyle that will please fans of HELLOWEEN, STRATOVARIUS and RHAPSODY. Their debut CD on German label LIMB MUSIC was mixed and mastered by R.D. Liapakis (MYSTIC PROPHECY, JACK STAR, DAVID CHASTAIN). Without a doubt, this is a very strong release of this rather new band and with songs like "Scream out loud", "Eyes of prophecy" and "Escape from twilight" they offer some very catchy tunes indeed, although vocally it is not that strong. EDGUY, DIONYSUS and DESTYNATION are perhaps better comparisons, although not always the band reaches that level. (Points: 8.2 out of 10) VARIOUS ARTISTS 'THE RIDDLE MASTERS - A TRIBUTE TO MANILLA ROAD' (SOLEMNITY RECORDS) MANILLA ROAD has been one of those ultimate cult underground bands that have gained a lot of respect from especially classic metal/doom metal sounding bands. A lot of new bands have been inluenced by them and so this 2-CD set pays a very nice tribute to this legendary US Metalband that started way back in the 1970s and had it's finest releases during the 1980s. Included are bands like WEIRD LORD SLOUGH FEG, VIRON, BATTLEROAR, IRONSWORD, SLAUGHTERHOUSE, TEMPUS FUGIT, HOLY MARTYR, BATTLERAGE and many more from all over the world. Of course these bands are not that well-known, but without a doubt, this double-CD set is highly recommended to the fans of underground classic Metal/Doom! (Points: 8.4 out of 10) VARIOUS ARTISTS
'TAKE ACTION VOLUME 6 CD+ DVD' (SUBCITY RECORDS/SONIC Yet another compilation with all kinds of North American Punk/Rock/Metalacts, some of which are quite popular to say the least. The compilation is released by SUBCITY RECORDS and contains 2 CDs and 1 DVD, with songs and videos of bands like INTO ETERNITY, THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS, ALL TIME LOW, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, PARAMORE, IN FLAMES, CRASH ROMEO, SENSES FAIL, ANTI-FLAG and many more. Some of them are of course very well-known, selling millions of records in the USA (MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE), but happily there are also a bunch lesser known bands on this quality compilation. (Points: -)
KADDISFLY is a band from Oregon/Portland/USA which was formed in 2000. They have just released their 3rd CD 'Set Sail the Prairie' on SUB CITY RECORDS. The band has a large audience in the USA, but that is not really a surprise, because the music of the band is typical American Emo/Punkpoprock and their new CD is a true winner if you're into bands like FALL OUT BOY, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, BLINK 182, GOOD CHARLOTTE... The band is quite hot at the moment, touring with other up-and-coming bands RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS and EMERY. The new album is unique in that it features 14 tracks, 12 of which are assigned to a specific month (all titled in various foreign languages) of the year, and two that are named after the solstices found on the Gregorian Calendar, summer and winter. All nicely done and very creative, but the music is just the standard American Emo/Punkpoprock, quite good actually, but far from original. Still highly recommended to fans of mentioned bands. More info at: www.kaddisfly.com (Points: 8.2 out of 10)
THE LOVECRAVE is an Italian band and they are quite a surprise to me. I had never heard about them, so this CD of them was an introduction to a rather interesting band. 'The angel and the rain' is the band's debut-CD, which musically is featuring fantastic female fronted goth melodic rock that sounds very much like LUNATICA, XANDRIA, VISIONS OF ATLANTIS, EDENBRIDGE, yet vocally is more like the 80s (Gothrock a la TERRI NUNN). It sounds very melodic with catchy aor hooks and very strong choruses, actually kinda like a female version of HIM/LOVEX. The band has released their debut CD on the German label REPO RECORDS. Songs like "Vampires", "Little suicide", "Runaway" and "Nobody" are just 4 awesome catchy uptempo melodic rockers... If I would really have to make a good desciption, it would be that THE LOVECRAVE is a mix between HIM, BERLIN and THE CORRS, although very Gothic Rock, it may easily also be called Melodic Rock. A very impressive album, very catchy and radio-ready too. More info at: http://www.thelovecrave.com/ (Points: 8.3 out of 10) THE MOCHINES 'HIRE THE LOSERS' (LANDSPEED RECORDS/SONIC RENDEZVOUS) THE MOCHINES is a band from Capetown, South Africa and they released their album 'Hire the losers' in 2005. Musically containing pretty good classic rock la JET, yet a bit sleazy too, dirty mean rock and roll at best. Really a high quality CD and very much in the style of all those new British Rockbands. If you like CASANOVAS and THE ANSWER for example you will also love this THE MOCHINES. Songs like "Rock you all night long", "Cry wolf" and "Dog house" are typical Classic Rock sounding tunes with the spirit of the old 1970s, yet with an updated British kinda Rocksound. Check out this band for yourself at: www.the-mochines.co.uk/ and http://www.myspace.com/themochines (Points: 8.2 out of 10) LEFTOVER CRACK & CITIZEN FISH 'DEADLINE SPLIT CD' (FAT WRECK RECORDS/SONIC RENDEZVOUS) New York City based band LEFTOVER CRACK has released a new split-CD with the band CITIZEN FISH. Both bands play Ska-Punk and they do it quite well. Funny thing is that the line-up of LEFTOVER CRACK changes fairly often, drawing on members of other New York City punk bands such as THE STOCKYARD STOICS and THE X-POSSIBLES. Both bands play in a similar style, with some very catchy songs here and there. Especially the catchy songs "Baby-punchers" and "Genocidal tendencies" of LEFTOVER CRACK are very strong. Nevertheless, I am sure the Ska-Punkfans will love both bands. More info at: www.fatwreck.com/record/detail/720 (Points: 8.1 out of 10) (All reviews by Gabor Kleinbloesem) |
PINK
CREAM 69 'IN10SITY' (FRONTIERS RECORDS/ROUGH TRADE) 
DANTE
FOX 'UNDER THE SEVEN SKIES' (FRONTIERS RECORDS/ROUGH TRADE) 
CORNERSTONE
'TWO TALES OF ONE TOMORROW' (MASSACRE RECORDS/TRUE MUSIC) 
MICHAEL
BLAKLEY ‘DEEP’ (INDEPENDENT) 
FAITH
NATION 'WELCOME TO THE WESTERN WORLD' (INDEPENDENT) 
SYLVAN
'PRESETS' (POINT MUSIC/BERTUS/ROCK INC) 
BLOODBOUND
'BOOK OF THE DEAD' (METAL HEAVEN/ROUGH TRADE) 
THE
BUTTERFLY EFFECT 'IMAGO' (MODERN MUSIC/SONY BMG AUSTRALIA) 
MARIANA'S
TRENCH 'FIX ME' (604 RECORDS/UNIVERSAL CANADA) 
EXCALION
'WATERLINES' (STAY GOLD/ART UNION RECORDS/IMPORT JAPAN/LIMB MUSIC) 
WILDPATH
'NYX SECRETS' (STAY GOLD/ART UNION RECORDS/IMPORT JAPAN) 
KELDIAN
'HEAVEN'S GATE' (PERRIS RECORDS) 
SEQUEL
'BACK' (PERRIS RECORDS) 
BLIND
ALLEY ‘DESTINATION DESTINY’ (PERRIS RECORDS) 
TOBIAS
PETTERSON AND ULF HENNINGSSON 'THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SWEDISH PROGRESSIVE MUSIC
1967-1979 - FROM PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIMENTS TO POLITICAL PROPAGANDA' (PREMIUM
PUBLISHING) 
GAIA
EPICUS 'VICTORY' (EPICUS RECORDS) 
TWILIGHTNING
'SWINELORDS' (SPINEFARM RECORDS) 
VISIONS
OF ATLANTIS 'TRINITY' (NAPALM RECORDS) 
THE
LADDER 'SACRED' (ESCAPE MUSIC) 
EMERALD
SUN 'ESCAPE FROM TWILIGHT' (LIMB MUSIC) 
KADDISFLY
'SET SAIL THE PRAIRIE' (HOPELESS RECORDS/SUB CITY RECORDS/SONIC RENDEZVOUS)
THE
LOVECRAVE 'THE ANGEL AND THE RAIN' (REPO RECORDS/SONIC RENDEZVOUS)