 CLEARLAND ‘GIFT FROM
TIME’(UBP INTERNATIONAL LTD.) Out of Bulgaria comes CLEARLAND, a duo consisting of vocalist Nikolay Raikow and multi-instrumentalist Konstantin Jambazov. They have just released their debut CD ‘Gift from time’, a very impressive pure 80s orientated AOR album with influences from JOURNEY. 11 tracks are included, and I can asure you that everything is done very professionally and all together this is a very impressive record, which can easily be seen as a sensational AOR record. Therefore this CD is a must for the AOR fans! The vocals of Nikolay are very good, a bit reminding me of GARY HUGHES, while instrumental the guitars and keys sound just like you would expect from an AOR band. Opener “Feel the world” is a very strong uptempo aor/melodic rocker with a nice keyboardsolo. Next track “Gift from time” is pure midtempo AOR in the STREET TALK style, with beautiful vocals and a lovely chorus, which would even make HUGO jealous! Moving on into FOREIGNER meets FRANKE AND THE KNOCKOUTS territory with the calmer ballad “I keep trying”. Following track “Love and tenderness” starts with JOURNEYish harmonyvocals, and ends up being a great midtempo AOR song a la DAKOTA. Then we’re getting to hear a pure 80s AOR rocker (“The way to love you more”), which sounds like a cross between FOREIGNER and JOURNEY. The following song (“I will fly”) is a slight let-down, because it’s a very poppy song, but the following epic ballad “Temptation” makes it up and is a great song with an own identity. Then comes a very nice radio based AOR ballad titled “Keep spirits high”. Up next are the midtempo AOR/Sympho “Vechen sun” and “S teb”, the only songs sung in their own language. Closing track is the bonustrack “Bohemian rhapsody”, the QUEEN cover of course. Although the first couple of songs are definitely the strongest songs on the CD, in general this is a recommended AOR record to check out. Actually, this CLEARLAND CD is a must-have for the AOR fans, and you can get more info through http://www.ubp.online.bg/clearland_bg/htm (Points: 8.7 out of 10)  AYREON ‘THE HUMAN
EQUATION’(INSIDE OUT MUSIC/SUBURBAN) The new AYREON CD is breathtaking, an amazing Rock Opera 2-CD set which even beats the previous AYREON and STAR ONE releases of Mr. Multi-instrumentalist ARJEN ‘AYREON’ LUCASSEN. This time he gathered a list of fantastic lead singers, among them is none-other than JAMES LABRIE from DREAM THEATER! Other singers appearing on the new AYREON double-CD are Heather Findlay, Irene Jansen, Magnus Ekwall, Marcela Bovio, Devin Townsend, Devon Graves, Eric Clayton, Mikael Akerfeldt, Mike Baker and Arjen himself! Back to the CD, the 2 CDs contain in total 20 songs, and tell us the story of a man falling into coma after a serious car accident. A few singers represent the man’s father, his wife and a close friend, while the rest are representing the man’s emotional consciousness fighting to survive, such as fear, agony, rage, passion, love, pride and reason. JAMES LA BRIE is playing the part of the injured man, so he can be heard a lot of times, and I think a lot of people will be glad to hear that. Anyway, the music is of a very high level, with Arjen playing almost all the instruments, except for the drums (Ed Warby), the cellos, violins, flute, bagpipes etc. There are also some additional guest appearances by synthesizerplayers Joost van de Broek (AFTER FOREVER), Martin Orford (IQ), Ken Hensley (formerly URIAH HEEP) and Oliver Wakeman. The small difference with previous AYREON CDs is that there is less space for instrumental breaks, because the story is told (or actually sung) quite extensive, but that’s not really a problem, because both CDs are very impressive. Maybe CD 1 has the better songs in the shape of “Day two: Isolation”, “Day four: Mystery”, “Day ten: Memories” (with THIN LIZZY twin-guitarsound) and “Day eleven: Love” (the best song, also the first single, a fantastic strong epic midtempo bombastic Melodic Progmetalsong). Happily, also CD 2 has it’s moments, such as “Day fifteen: Betrayal”, “Day seventeen: Accident?”, “Day nineteen: Disclosure” and “Day twenty: Confrontation”. The AYREON fan will absolute love this new 2-CD set and I can not find any reason to not give new AYREON CD a high rating! (Points: 9.2 out of 10) SARA LEE ‘DEMO(N)S’ (DEMO CDR) Out of Finland comes SARA LEE, and they sent me a demo CDR containing 12 tracks from their 3 previously released demos. The sound/production quality is very good, and I think you can see this Demo as a full-length CD. Musically it’s typical Finnish, not unlike HIM and THE RASMUS, yet a bit less commercial. It’s Gothic Melodic Rock with a dark feeling, and most of the songs are good uptempo catchy rockers such as “Loveless 666”, “Wounded heart”, “When little things die”, “Everytime” and “Crashing you”. Only the male vocals are not that strong, Check it out at: http://www.saraleeweb.com and e-mail them at: saralee@saraleeweb.com (Points: 7.4 out of 10) DREAMTONE ‘UNFORESEEN REFLECTIONS’ (INDEPENDENT) DREAMTONE is a professional band from Turkey, and they play quality Progressive/Power Metal. The band has been influenced by SYMPHONY X and BLIND GUARDIAN. Although the lead vocals are not very strong, the instrumental parts and the music itself sounds quite impressive for a band from Turkey. 11 songs are on their first official CD, and the best ones are uptempo Melodic Metal pieces like “This flickering light”, “The sacrifice”, “Circus of circumstances” and “The last breath”. If the band would improve the vocal department, then this could well turn out to something sensational. More info at: http://www.dreamtone.net and e-mail them at: dreamtone@dreamtone.net (Points: 7.6 out of 10) ALASKA FIRE ‘FALLING FIRE’ (INDEPENDENT) ‘Falling fire’ is already the 5th CD of the German band ALASKA FIRE. The band is playing classic Melodic Metal, with a slight modern touch as well, but mainly focusing on true Metal. Although there is a keyboardplayer in their line-up, the band is still quite heavy and pure Metal orientated, kinda like PRIMAL FEAR and SINNER. The CD contains 12 tracks, of which the best songs are “Absolution”, “Forces unite”, “Lead me the way”, “Right out of here” and “When heavens shine”. Fans of typical German Melodic Power Metal will like this band a lot, and therefore go to their site at: http://www.damage-records.de.vu and e-mail them at: damage.records@t-online.de (Points: 7.8 out of 10) STARRY EYES ‘FROM GUTTER TO GLITTER’ (INDEPENDENT) STARR EYES is an Italian band, probably named after one of the best MOTLEY CRUE songs ever (“Starry eyes”). They look and sound like a Glamrockband, although their sound is a bit toughened up for today’s Nu-Breed/Punkstyle. Some songs are quite punky, but there’s also some POISON glam here and there. 12 tracks in total, most of them are uptempo fun rockers with as best ones “Victim of circumstance”, “Susy and Shane”, “Million copy dolls” and “Weekend girlfriend”. If you like your music to be fun simple punky glamrock, then this STARRY EYES needs to be checked out through: http://www.starry-eyes.net and e-mail them at: info@starry-eyes.net (Points: 7.4 out of 10) AETERNITAS ‘LA DANSE MACABRE’ (SERPINA RECORDS) AETERNITAS is a very strange German band, because they sing in the German language and mix all kinds of Rock and Metal styles with House, Theatrical and Opera elements. In the end, it doesn’t sound convincing at all and I am afraid only a few people will understand the Gothic-Theatre-Metal of AETERNITAS. (Points: 3.5 out of 10) NINETEEN 88 ‘LONG LIVE ROCK’N’ROLL’ (INDEPENDENT) Not much info on this American band, who indeed sound like their name states, like 1988 US Hardrock, reminding me of 80s KISS, KEEL, RATT, KROKUS etc. This means the music is straight-ahead no-nonsense Hardrock with raw vocals, and all 6 tracks resemble that style. Best songs are “Pedal to the Metal”, “Hard rock girls” and “USA” (semi-ballad with good harmonyvocals). It’s not really sensational stuff, but for someone who likes simple pure Hardrock with raw vocals, this might be interesting to check out at: http://www.nineteen88.com (Points: 7.3 out of 10) THE PORTION ‘LITTLE PIECE OF THOUGHTS’ (INDEPENDENT) Here’s a new mini-CD from the Finnish band THE PORTION. 5 songs are on the CD, and musically this is original Hardrock’n’roll with nice melodies, but only the vocals could sound stronger. Not all songs are convincing, but without a doubt the song “Time” is a great uptempo melodic rocker and so is “Out of my thoughts control”. The band has a sort of own style, and you can check ‘em out for yourself at: http://www.theportion.com and e-mail them at: kari@theportion.com (Points: 7.3 out of 10) CRYSTAL PHOENIX ‘THE LEGEND OF THE TWO STONEDRAGONS’ (BLACK WIDOW RECORDS) Out of Italy comes the band CRYSTAL PHOENIX, a female fronted calmer Progressive Rockband, whom released 2 albums so far. The last one is called ‘The legend of the two stonedragons’, which was released on BLACK WIDOW RECORDS. The band has an own style, and also their female lead singer Tina Vadale has her own way of singing, which can not be compared to anyone else. This combined makes CRYSTAL PHOENIX a special band, and you really need to listen a couple of times to their songs before you understand what they are saying with their music. 11 tracks are on their CD ‘The legend of the two stonedragons’ and the best songs are “The new time’s hero”, “Dragon lord”, “War again” and “Lullaby”. These songs are calm and show the band at their best. During the uptempo rockers the female singer can’t keep up with the material, and that’s a pity, because on the slower songs she proves she can really sing. Interesting band if you like for example MOSTLY AUTUMN and KARNATAKA, a bit celtic/folkish female fronted pop/rock. More info at: http://www.crystalphoenix.it and e-mail them at: myriam@crystalphoenix.it (Points: 7.3 out of 10) MENNEN ‘ABOVE THE WATERLINE’ (SNAKEBITE RECORDS) 3 songs are on the CD-single of MENNEN, the Dutch Rockband formed around Joss Mennen, who found fame and fortune in ZINATRA 15 years ago, but has been fronting his own band MENNEN for more than 10 years now. His latest CD was a very good modern Melodic Hardrockalbum and the 3 songs on this CD-single sound pretty good as well, very radio-ready if you ask me. First there’s the campfire acoustic ballad “Above the waterline”, then the great uptempo melodic rocker “Down” which has a strong chorus and finally “Loose somebody”, a nice groovy Melodic Rocker. Concluded, a nice CD-single, ready for radio to play some real Rock’n’Roll instead of all the Nu-Breed/Metal currently being aired. (Points: 7.9 out of 10) STRIDER ‘OMEGA’ (DEMO CDR) STRIDER is an Italian band playing typical Italo Power Metal, and although it all sounds very nice, this is clearly of a demo quality, and I think a future full length production CD will sound much better. Nevertheless, there’s some nice VISION DIVINE/LABYRINTH orientated material on this mini-CD demo, such as “Omega”, “Scum of the human race” and “Book of blood”. Nevertheless, this is clearly a demo, which you can check out at: http://www.stridermetal.com and e-mail them at: webmaster@stridermetal.com (Points: 6.9 out of 10) PE LEMME ‘MOOIE MEIDEN BULLSHIT!!!’ (SNAKE BITE RECORDS) Finally a Dutch band singing in their own language and playing real Hardrock, something we have been waiting for since VANDALE released a couple of albums 25 years ago. However, PE LEMME is not as good as VANDALE, whom by the way recently got their 2 albums re-issued onto CD through the same label that released the first CD and this CD-single of PE LEMME. The CD-single of PE LEMME is called ‘Mooie meiden bullshit’ which means ‘Beautiful girls bullshit!’. Funny lyrics and musically nice Rock/Hardrock, not really heavy, but ok to hear and sing-a-long with. Best song is “Bullshit”, a nice heavy rocker, but the other 3 songs included here are less interesting, because they do not really have strong choruses, so I am afraid PE LEMME will have to prove a lot more on a future record. However, the first shot is not bad at all... (Points: 7.1 out of 10)  KEE MARCELLO’S K2 ‘MELON DEMON
DIVINE’(FRONTIERS RECORDS/BERTUS) Although guitarist KEE MARCELLO is best known as guitarist for EUROPE, he also released albums with EASY ACTION and RED FUN, some solo-records and writing songs for movies and soundtracks. Now he has released a new solo-CD on FRONTIERS RECORDS, an album which has so far only been available in Japan, but as of June the 17th the CD will also be available in Europe. 13 songs can be found on the CD, which musically is a very groovy but melodic Hard/Heavy Rockalbums. Of course it’s very guitar orientated, but Kee also plays keys and sings very well on his new solo-CD. The guitarwork is of course excellent, but like I said Kee’s voice is also quite pleasant to listen to. Songs like “Enemies”, “Blood”, “Falling apart”, “Evil ways” and “Comin’ home” are all very strong groovy Melodic Hardrocksongs. One of the absolute highlights here is the AOR song “Hey Romeo”, a very catchy little tune that could easily become a huge hit if promoted properly on the radiostations. Anyway, Kee makes a good solo comeback here and here’s hoping he will EUROPE join after all when they will do a big tour the coming year(s). (Points: 8.1 out of 10)  STAN BUSH ‘SHINE’
(FRONTIERS RECORDS/BERTUS)STAN ‘The man’ BUSH returns with another fine piece of AOR/Poprock. Although he will never reach the high level of his first 2 classic solo releases from the 1980s, also the new STAN BUSH has a lot of ‘shiny’ AOR moments. Stan has been in the business for 25+ years now, and he is one of the few who have always been playing AOR/Melodic Rock music ever since his first record with BOULDER in the late 1970s until his newest release ‘Shine’. The new album is a bit short, but the 10 songs on offer here are a pleasure to listen to, especially if you’re familiar with the man’s earlier AOR/Melodic Rock recordings. Less keyboard, and more guitar orientated this time, we get to hear midtempo and uptempo rockers, with here and there also a (semi) ballad or two. Stan’s voice is still excellent, and highlights on ‘Shine’ are definitely midtempo AOR pieces like “Falling” and “Say it ain’t love” and the semi-ballads “I will be there” (best song) and “When I dream”. Another winner for the STAN BUSH fans, but don’t expect an album in the style of Barrage or his 1983 debut... (Points: 8.5 out of 10) STEELWOLF ‘LONG TIME COMIN’ (INDEPENDENT) This band from North Carolina, USA is playing pure 80s Melodic Hardrock/Metal, and they do it very well on the 10 included songs of their debut (?) CD ‘Long time comin’’. It’s like you’re stepping back into time and consider yourself back in 1986 when this kind of US Melodic Metal was very popular. Sometimes the band reminds me of the first couple of RACER X and FIFTH ANGEL albums, so guitar orientated Melodic Metal. The guitars sound very classy and lead singer Cory Weaver has a great voice. Songs like “Vital signs” (fantastic!), “Prophecy of doom”, “Armageddon” and FREE cover “Wishing well” are very strong Melodic Hardrock/Metal songs. Check it out for yourself at: http://steelwolf.iuma.com (Points: 8.0 out of 10)  NEKTAR ‘JOURNEY TO THE
CENTRE OF THE EYE’(ECLECTIC DISCS) Originally formed 40 years ago (!) in a time when Progressive Rock had yet to be invented, but already in 1971 the UK band NEKTAR released a Progressive Rock masterpiece which was an easy target for the fans of ELP and YES. Now some 33 years later the album has been re-issued onto CD by the UK label ECLECTIC DISCS. Without a doubt, the album ‘Journey to the centre of the eye’ of NEKTAR was a very impressive Progressive Rock far ahead of it’s time. The concept-album consisted of 15 songs in total, and especially songs like “Burn out my eyes”, “Astranaut’s nightmare” and “Death of the mind” are classic Progressive Rocksongs in the best 70s style, even with some GENESIS and THE WHO influences here and there. It’s good to see this album re-issued on CD, with the addition of a 2004 remixed version of the entire album, and also 2 bonustracks, not to be found on the original album. Fans of 70s Progressive Rock will be delighted to see this great 70s Progressive Rockalbum on CD! (Points: 8.3 out of 10)  NEKTAR ‘A TAB IN THE
OCEAN’ (ECLECTIC DISCS)Although NEKTAR’s debut album ‘Journey to the centre of the eye’ was indeed a Progrock masterpiece for it’s time (1971), the best had yet to come in the shape of their album ‘A tab in the ocean’, released back in 1972, and now re-issued on CD. The album saw the band moving into a heavier Progressive Rocksound (almost Progmetal!), eventually ending up sounding like a mix between YES and URIAH HEEP. This resulted in 4 brilliant (and very long) progressive rocksongs, with fantastic instrumental parts (guitars/hammond) and also good vocals. Absolute highlight is of course the titletrack “A tab in the ocean”, a 14 minutes counting epic Progressive Rock masterpiece which can easily be compared to YES or early GENESIS. But of course the other 3 songs are also a dream for the Progressive Rockfans, and this re-issue comes along with extensive liner notes, beautiful artwork, the 1976 US mix of the CD etc. Concluded, a must have for all Progrockfans and especially if you’re a NEKTAR fan! (Points: 8.6 out of 10)  NEKTAR ‘RECYCLED’
(ECLECTIC DISCS)The third album of NEKTAR was called ‘Remember the future’ reached the number 19 position in the US Billboard Charts and gave them much success in The States, and hopefully this album will also be re-issued on CD soon. In 1975 the band released the album ‘Recycled’, which has been re-issued onto CD, including a Geoff Emerick mixed version. Also this re-issue comes with extensive written liner notes in the CD-booklet and the sound of the CD is quite perfect, making this CD another must-have for NEKTAR and progrockfans! Actually, this is the best release of the 3 re-issued CDs! From start to finish this is prime-time 70s Progressive Rock the way it was supposed to sound, and although the album is now 30 years old, this record sounds like if it was made for eternity! Any fan of today’s proggenre (SPOCK’S BEARD, FLOWER KINGS, TRANSATLANTIC) will have to agree that NEKTAR was another band of it’s kind, and deserves a place right next to ProgGods like YES, early GENESIS and aforementioned newer bands. If you start collecting NEKTAR CD’s, then better get this one first, as ‘Recycled’ is the best CD out of the 3 re-issued. Hopefully soon a review of their succesfull album ‘Remember the future’, which is also planned for re-issue on CD soon on ECLECTIC DISCS. More info on the NEKTAR re-issues at: http://www.eclecticdiscs.com (Points: 8.9 out of 10)  BOOK OF REFLECTIONS ‘BOOK OF
REFLECTIONS’(LION MUSIC/BERTUS) BOOK OF REFLECTIONS is a new supergroup with an all-star line-up, namely lead singers Andy Engberg (LION’S SHARE), Hubi Meisel (DREAMSCAPE) and Mikael Holm, Vitalij Kuprij – keyboards, Rusty Cooley – guitars, Lars Eric Mattsson - guitars and bass and ddie Sledgehammer – drums. With so many talented musicians out of the Prog/Power/Melodic Hardrockscene you possibly can’t go wrong, and indeed the first BOOK OF REFLECTIONS CD is a very impressive record. Although the album is called a Neo-Classical Power Metal record, I would rather call this a classical Melodic Hard/Heavy Rockalbum, a bit like RAINBOW, some MALMSTEEN and also a strong 80s BLACK SABBATH (TONY MARTIN area!) approach. Without any pdoubts, this is a very good album, and the only pity is the use of 3 singers, because Andy Engberg would have been enough, because his voice is definitely the strongest of the 3 singers. Anyway, highlights are “Going through the motions”, “Tearing down”, “Child of the rainbow” and “You’re not alone”. Most of the songs are straight-forward uptempo with some slight Prog/Neo-Classical influences. Concluded, this album will appeal to a lot of people I think, because it rocks and is very melodic at the same time! (Points: 8.7 out of 10)  STAR QUEEN ‘YOUR TRUE
SELF’(LION MUSIC/BERTUS) Female lead vocalist of STAR QUEEN, Stella Tormanoff from Bulgaria, seems to have taken some vocal lessons, because after her very weak performance on the first STAR QUEEN album, this 2nd CD of the band sounds not only musically better, but especially Stella’s vocals show a big improvement. Of course she is still not as good as LANA LANE or NIGHTWISH, but nevertheless, this album sounds so much better. Musically it’s slower Gothic Metal now, with influences from a WITHIN TEMPTATION, and like I just said most of the included 11 tracks are slow pieces, so you will not find any uptempo tracks. That’s no problem, because Stella’s voice only can handle slower songs. After a few spins of the new STAR QUEEN CDs, I came to the conclusion that this is a good album, nothing sensational, but definitely something worth checking out if you’re into typical female fronted Gothic Melodic Rock/Metal! (Points: 7.7 out of 10)  PILGRYM ‘PILGRIMAGE’(HOLYGROUND RECORDS) The UK based band PILGRYM features among others, keyboardplayer/guitarist/bassist and vocalist ANDY WELLS. Andy used to play in AOR/Melodic Rock related acts (VERITY, VOYAGER – a band who recorded a fantastic demo in the 1980s, but never managed to release a full CD unfortunately – and BABY TUCKOO), but with PILGRYM he is moving into a sort of Symphonice AOR direction, not unlike ASIA/JOHN WETTON. The CD contains 9 tracks, in total a playing time of almost 60 minutes, and the music is really beautiful, with very good lead vocals and instrumental excellent musicianship. I am very impressed with this CD and although it is said to be a typical British Neo-Progressive Rockalbum, the style on ‘Pilgrimage’ is clearly more 80s orientated Sympho-AOR with a lot of Synths/Keys and strong memorable choruses, so in the end this band might attract both Neo-Prog and AOR fans, just like ASIA did in the 1980s. Some songs are very relaxing slower Symphonic epic rocksongs like “Circus of the absurd” and “Ghosts of years”, but here and there we can also find an uptempo AOR/Sympho-Rocker like “Believe me now”, which has 1980s written all over and this is really good to hear from a new UK act, whom mainly follow the trends. The CD also has a lot instrumental parts, which is a pity, because the first 3 songs with vocals sound very good and from then on you keep hoping on more songs like that, but we have to wait until the end of the CD for more vocal orientated songs like “Black sun” and bonustrack “Reborn”. I think this CD offers enough for both the Sympho/AOR and Neo-Progfan, so go check out PILGRYM at: http://www.pilgrym.co.uk and e-mail them at: andywells@hydeaway.fslife.co.uk (Points: 8.6 out of 10)  SAENS ‘PROPHET IN A
STATISTICAL WORLD’(CYCLOPS RECORDS) The French band SAENS has released a new CD titled ‘Prophet in a statistical world’, a concept album which will be loved by the fans of true Progressive Rock, because the material on this album is very impressive and is a real winner for fans of IQ and PENDRAGON. The songs are quite lengthy and all together it tells us a story, which you can read in the liner notes/songlyrics of the booklet, so I will not bother you with that, but it is inspired on famous books like ‘1984’, ‘A brave new world’ and ‘Time machine’. Anyway, songs like “XX84”, “Lenina”, “Time machine”, “Statistical world” and “The prophet” are a must-have for fans of classic Neo-Prog in the best British tradition, although SAENS is definitely a French band! The first pressing of the CD will also contain a 2nd CD, which includes 15-20 minutes versions of their songs “Les souffrances de Juene Pierre” and “Game of patience” and “The beast of Gevaudin”, so I think I am safe to say here that the Neo-Prog fans need to buy the new SAENS CD asap! (Points: 8.5 out of 10) SKY’S SHADOW ‘FATE’ (MOKAMBO MUSIC) SKY’S SHADOW is a Melodic Hardrockband from Germany and their debut CD is titled ‘Fate’. The Melodic Rock of SKY’S SHADOW also contains some symphonic influences, especially in the keyboard approach. 9 songs are included and all together the band sounds very impressive actually. There is some great (epic) Melodic Rock material on this album, such as “S.O.S.”, “I lose my faith”, “Road of music”, “In the light” and “Stroke of fate 2”. The band exists for 8 years now and I think this debut CD represents a very good band, which is recommended to check out if you’re into quality Melodic Rock. More info at: http://www.skys-hadow.com and e-mail at: pascal@skys-shadow.com (Points: 8.2 out of 10) KARDA ESTRA ‘VOIVODE DRACULA’ (CYCLOPS RECORDS) Actually this is a Classical Music piece, because the material on this album is mainly focused around keys, violins, cellos and flutes mixed with guitars/bass. All together more suitable as background music for a Horror movie (Dracula in this case) than a real rockalbum. Nevertheless it’s been done very professionally and it shows a good instrumental mixture of classical music and light prog. 5 songs are included on the CD, and well I think this CD is interesting for progfans who want to explore something totally different. (Points: - )  TRINITY ‘PRECIOUS
SECONDS’(CYCLOPS RECORDS) ‘Precious seconds’ is the 2nd album of the British band TRINITY, and it really sounds very impressive after a couple of spins. The 5 long songs on the CD take up to a stunning 67 minutes of high class Progressive Rockmusic. The band has a very good lead singer (Chris Campbell) who gives the Progressive Rock of TRINITY a slight Pomprock approach (STYX/KANSAS) because of his Dennis DeYoung meets Steve Walsh orientated vocals. Sometimes even the Progrock reminds me of STYX and KANSAS, but it always has a British Progrock touch (a la PENDRAGON, CAMEL, IQ). Anyway, this is really a sensational CD, which will attract not only Progrockfans, but also like I said fans of US Pomprock (KANSAS/STYX). Opener “Livin’ a lie” builts up to a sensational climax with a strong chorus, and like every progressive rockband the song is not based around the chorus, but around the instrumental keyboard and guitar parts, however I can’t help loving the chorus as well. The other 4 songs are going in the same approach, with lovely melodic vocals of Chris and classy keyboard (Paul Gath) and guitarwork (Rob Davenport), just listen to the fantastic instrumental part of “Run before you walk” and you’ll have to agree with me that this is a truly wonderful record! The absolute highlight of the record is closing track “The last great clim”, a 20-minutes counting epic which easily is as good as classic songs by IQ or KANSAS! This CD is therefore a highly recommended piece and maybe one of the best recently released on CYCLOPS RECORDS, the British quality label! (Points: 8.9 out of 10) THE PYTHONS ‘FOUR STONES’ (VALERY RECORDS) Out of Italy comes the band THE PYTHONS, and their mini-CD ‘Four stones’ contains 4 tracks. Musically they play strong 80s Melodic (Hard) Rock and especially the uptempo melodic rockers “Shadows”, “Black stone” and “Hide” are very impressive and reminding me of DANGER DANGER and 80s BON JOVI, although not that polished perhaps. The band truly captures the spirit of the 80s Melodic Rocksound, because everything sounds very good on the album. I think this band has a bright future in front of them, so keep your eye on their website at: http://www.thepythons.it and e-mail them at: info@thepythons.it (Points: 8.1 out of 10) MOONGARDEN ‘ROUND MIDNIGHT’ (GALILEO RECORDS/DISQUE) Out of Italy comes MOONGARDEN and they play Progressive Rock with a slight modern touch. I don’t have much info on the band, but I can inform you there are 9 tracks on their CD ‘Round midnight’, a recommended album to the Progressive Rockfans who don’t mind a slight modern approach sometimes. It’s remarkable to see that the album’s best track is the 10 minutes counting epic Progrockmasterpiece “Learning to live inder the ground”, a song with a strong 70s approach and also a bit reminding me of ENCHANT. The other songs are all a bit more modern influenced Progrock, with as best tracks “Round midnight” and “Wounded”. Not a bad record at all, but only recommended to die-hard Progrockfans! (Points: 7.9 out of 10) SCHUGAR/SCHENKER ‘UNDER CONSTRUCTION’ (DEMO) Out of Arizona,Texas comes female singer/guitarist AMY SCHUGAR, who recorded a CD with the help of none other than MICHAEL SCHENKER on guitars, but he also wrote all the music on ‘Under construction’. Anyway, 8 songs are included and although this is not really a heavy record and it’s impossible to label it a Metal/Hardrock release, it’s still a very impressive record with good soulful vocal work of Amy and excellent guitarplaying of Michael. Musically it’s a sort of bluesy/groovy Melodic (heavy) Rock/Poprock kinda style, which has a sound of it’s own and especially songs like “Surrender”, “I need this feeling” and the fantastic closing track “Victim of the system” are making this CD a very good one. The production could’ve been a bit better maybe, but nevertheless this is a recommended piece to fans of female fronted rock. More info at: http://www.amyschugar.com (Points: 7.9 out of 10)  ULI JON ROTH
‘METAMORPHOSIS’ (SPV)Guitarist ULI JON ROTH returns with a new CD release on SPV RECORDS. This time it’s Uli’s version of the classical music piece of Vivaldi ‘Four seasons’. Uli plays the sky guitar, with as backing musicians a complete orchestra. The piece was written by Vivaldi almost 300 years ago, so Uli thought is was time to make a new version of this legendary classical music piece. It’s very impressive to hear how Uli plays the whole piece on his guitar, which would made Vivaldi astonished if he had heard it when he lived 300 years ago. The piece is divided in 24 songs on this CD, which comes as a deluxe digipack version. The booklet is as extensive as you can get, with lots of liner notes written by Uli himself, and also pictures from the recording process. I can imagine fans of ULI JON RUTH want to check out this asap, but even classical music fans might want to hear this modern version of the legendary Vivaldi piece! (Points: 8.6 out of 10) ZERO NINE ‘KEY TO THE PARADISE’ (POKO RECORDS) In a time when Finnish bands are very popular and 80s orientated (Hard) Rock is making a sort of comeback, a lot of bands start to reform and now we can also mention the return of the Finnish band ZERO NINE. This Finnish band released quite a lot albums in the past, of which a few were re-issued onto CD by POKO RECORDS (also reviewed by us), and now there’s a new CD-single titled ‘Key to the paradise’. This CD-single contains 2 songs, the midtempo “Key to the paradise” (a good song) and the uptempo straight-ahead rocker “Rock talk” (AC/DC riff). A fine return, and now it’s waiting for a new full-length CD from ZERO NINE. More info at: http://www.poko.fi (Points: 7.9 out of 10)  FORGOTTEN SUNS ‘SNOOZE’(MAGIC ROPE MUSIC) ‘Snooze’ is the new CD of the Portuguese band FORGOTTEN SUNS, and it’s not just one CD this time, but 2 full-length CDs, and as bonus a multimedia part (which is a video of the song “Senses”, making of the video and some more stuff)! Musically nothing has changed, and so we can still enjoy a lot of high quality Progressive Rock. The band’s lead singer Linx sings without an accent, and also instrumental (and production) it all sounds very impressive and FORGOTTEN SUNS could have been an English band, but they definitely hail from Portugal. Although only 11 tracks are included on the 2 CDs, the playing lenght of almost each song easily reaches 8/9 minutes, with some even being 20 minutes long! This is definitely a must-have release for the Progressive Rockfans, because from the start until the end you will enjoy the sounds of FORGOTTEN SUNS. The band has some RUSH influences, but a few songs are also akin to ProgMetal, although most of the time the music is very melodic Progressive Rock, with as absolute highlights the songs “Strange affair with the night”, “Dream killer”, “Pay The price” and “Struggle” (a la YES). Without a doubt, this is a highly recommended Progressive Rockalbum! More info at: http://www.magicropemusic.com and http://www.forgottensuns.net (Points: 8.7 out of 10)  XYSTUS 'RECEIVING TOMORROW'(THE ELECTRIC CO./UNIVERSAL MUSIC) 6 years ago the bandmembers of XYSTUS started playing instruments, and now they have released a very professional CD titled 'Receiving tomorrow'. Their label is a new independent label that has a license deal for sales and distribution with the big UNIVERSAL MUSIC label, and I must admit that the album sounds very sensational. XYSTUS can easily be put next to other recent new sensational Dutch Prog/Power Metalbands like SILENT EDGE and SUN CAGED, which means they play Progressive/Power Metal with a lot of Neo-Classical influences, kinda like SYMPHONY X and KAMELOT. Most of the 13 included songs are uptempo, of which the best tracks are "Journey: Shadow of today", "Into the void", "Everlasting burden" and "Forgotten years". We had to wait for almost a year, but now finally the Dutch band XYSTUS has released their first CD, and it's a highly recommended piece to the fans of Neo-Classical Prog/Power Metal a la SYMPHONY X, KAMELOT… (Points: 8.8 out of 10) IVORY SPIDER ‘DEMO’ (DEMO) Out of the USA comes IVORY SPIDER, a classic 80s sounding Metalband whom sent me a 3-track CD. The sound is quite professional and this is basically a good deal of Melodic Metal what we hear, with some good vocals (high-pitched) and flashy guitarwork, especially on opener “Victims of the night”. Next track “We all need rock&roll” is a little more Melodic Hardrock orientated, but still very 80s and actually a great good-old-time rock’n’roll song like a mix between KEEL, VAN HALEN and FIREHOUSE. It’s a pity only 3 songs are included, because final track “Voodoo man” is another great song, even a bit sounding like SAXON, so early 80s NWOBHM orientated! In the end, a great diverse band, basically playing pure 80s Hardrock/Metal and you can check it out for yourself at: http://www.ivoryspider.com and e-mail them at: josephdillon@msn.com (Points: 7.5 out of 10)  BLIND FURY ‘OUT OF
REACH’(MAJESTIC ROCK RECORDS/BERTUS) 20 years ago the band BLIND FURY from the UK released the album ‘Out of reach’ and it had to wait until now before it got released on CD. MAJESTIC ROCK RECORDS re-issued the album onto CD, so now we can enjoy the sounds of BLIND FURY finally on CD, Musically this is high class 80s Melodic Metal and especially the first 3 songs are very strong (“Do it loud”, “Out of reach” and “Evil eyes”). The band is also known for it’s theme song for the Dynamo Open Air Festival, which can also be found on this CD, namely “Dynamo (there is a place)”. This song was dedicated back in 1984 to the only True Metal Festival in Europe, the Dynamo Open Air in Holland. Anyway, 20 years later a lot of things have changed, and European Metal Festivals are held every weekend, but back in 1984 Dynamo was one of the first. Anyway, back to the CD re-issue of BLIND FURY, the 8 original songs are included, so no bonustracks or whatsoever, but still this album on CD is a welcome for all 80s Melodic Metalfans, so go check it out asap! (Points: 8.4 out of 10) BIG BERTHA ‘LIVE IN HAMBURG 1970’ (MAJESTIC ROCK RECORDS/BERTUS) This is really early stuff, with COZY POWELL behind the drumkit, and musically BIG BERTHA was playing late 60s Psychedelic Progrock with strong THE DOORS influences, yet also akin a lot to JIMI HENDRIX and very early 1970s Rock. The sound quality is not really good on the 2 CDs of BIG BERTHA, which comes a double CD release on MAJESTIC ROCK RECORDS. However, people who want to check out how Rockmusic sounded some 35 years ago and if you’re eager to hear COZY POWELL play on one of his first drum recordings, then do check this out. BIG BERTHA never released an official album and these recordings were actually taken from a dusted tape. The material on these 2 CDs were recorded in Hamburg, Germany back in 1970 and besides original songs, also some covers were played that night, such as THE ZOMBIES/SANTANA classic “She’s not there”. To some this might sound dated, while others will probably want to check out this release asap... (Points: 7.3 out of 10) BLOYD ‘WANNA PLAY?’ (OCTOPULSE RECORDS) BLOYD stands for guitarist Brian Loyd, who recorded a CD together with bassist Reuben Drake and keyboardplayer.drummer Howard Helm. The CD is titled ‘Wanna play?’ and is filled with good instrumental guitar orientated Rock, not far away from a STEVE VAI or JOE SATRIANI. 11 songs can be found on this CD, and if you’re into instrumental guitar music this might well be a must for you to have, because Brian plays the guitar very well. You can check it out for yourself at: http://www.brianloyd.com and e-mail him at: info@brianloyd.com (Points: 7.5 out of 10)  MIND KEY ‘JOURNEY OF A
ROUGH DIAMOND’(FRONTIERS RECORDS/BERTUS) MIND KEY is a band from Italy, formed 5 years ago and making their debut with ‘Journey of a rough diamond’, which has been released on FRONTIERS RECORDS. The music is very melodic Progressive Metal with also some AOR/Melodic Rock influences. 8 songs are included, of which some are quite lengthy, but that’s always the case if we’re listening to a Progressive Metalband. Furthermore I can easily say that this MIND KEY is a really great band, with a high quality Progressive Metalsound, a very impressive lead singer (Mark Basile) who sounds like the LABYRINTH/VISION DIVINE singers, and a lot of the songs also feature very strong melodic choruses, however it’s still pure ProgMetal, just a slight touch of Melodic Rock. Highlights are definitely “Secret dream”, “Deep inside”, “World of illusion” and “Waiting for the answer”. Of course there are clear RUSH and DREAM THEATER similarities to be heard on the MIND KEY CD, but that doesn’t mean you should avoid the album, because I think this one is a winner for the ProgMetalfans! (Points: 8.6 out of 10) ZERO BY NONE ‘IMPRESSIONS’ (TRIPPING ON GRACE MUSIC) Out of the New York area comes a very strong new US Progressive Metalband. They are called ZERO BY NONE, and their first CD is titled ‘Impressions’, an album which was actually released 3 years ago, but somehow never found it’s way to Europe. Happily, now I am able to do a review and I must admit that this ZERO BY NONE CD is quite good. Although labelled as Progressive Metal, I think the band goes in a slightly different direction sometimes, with clear Modern approaches here and there, but happily, the lead vocals and choruses are all very melodic, which makes them a modern sounding Progressive metal band with rock influences and very melodic strong tunes. 8 songs are included on the CD, and especially “No promise”, “Summerland”, “Technicolor” and the epic closing track “Impressions”. Check out this band at: http://www.zerobynone.com (Points: 7.9 out of 10) SERAPHIM ‘AI’ (ARISE RECORDS) SERAPHIM is a band from Taiwan, and we did review their previous CD sometime ago, but now they are back. The CD follows the same style as their previous album, so again high quality typical European female fronted Gothic Melodic Power Metal (a la NIGHTWISH). The CD has a big sound and although SERAPHIM is the only band (I know) from Taiwan, they are really very impressive. Everything looks (artwork/CD booklet) and sounds (production, the 13 included songs) very impressive, so this is without a doubt a recommended piece! Most of the songs follow the same path, so big-time Gothic Power Metal in the NIGHTWISH style, with most of the time the good clean female lead vocals of PAY, but also some Death/Black-grunts of bassist JAX. Highlights are songs like “Tears”, “Resurrect”, “Can’t take”, “In the air” and “Instantaneous”. Also the instrumental “Aone” is quite impressive. Without a doubt a highly recommended CD to fans of NIGHTWISH! More info at: http://www.seraphim-metal.com (Points: 8.5 out of 10) BENTE SMARVIK ‘MATURE’ (INDEPENDENT) Some 10+ years ago this female lead singer from Norway sang on a couple of awesome AOR releases, namely BLONDE ON BLONDE and PERFECT CRIME. Well it became quiet around these bands, but now she has gone solo and released a CD-single. The CD-single is self-financed and contains 3 tracks. Musically it’s a bit poppier than the AOR with her former bands, such as the very poppy dance orientated “Baby love”, which is very 70s Radio/Disco orientated (!) Happily, the other 2 songs are so much better, because both “Can’t get over you” (midtempo) and “Leaves in the wind” (semi-ballad) are very strong aor/poprock orientated songs with also very good vocals of Bente and catchy choruses, radio-ready if you ask me! Now we only have to wait for a full-length CD in the near future, let’s then hope also for some uptempo rockers, and one more thing I hope os that BLONDE ON BLONDE and PERFECT CRIME CDs will be re-released someday soon, because these are 2 AOR gems that need to be made available again (MTM CLASSIX maybe???). Anyway, for more info on Bente go to: http://www.bentesmaavik.net and e-mail her at: bentesmaavik@hotmail.com (Points: 7.8 out of 10) SCAVENGER ‘MADNESS TO OUR METHOD’ (SENTINEL RECORDS) The bandname SCAVENGER is a very popular name, because in the 80s there was a Belgium SCAVENGER, recently we featured a Dutch band and now we welcome a band from Ireland called SCAVENGER. Musically all 3 bands have in common they play 80s orientated Melodic Heavy Metal (with MAIDEN influences), so there’s much confusion in the Metal scene now! However, this SCAVENGER from Ireland is the best one I’ve heard so far, because their debut CD ‘Madness to our method’ has a very professional sound, which is of course clearly 80s Melodic Metal (a la MAIDEN/PICTURE), yet also with some Progmetal influences here and there and (sadly) also some Thrash metal parts (such as towards the end on the opening song “On the outside”). Anyway, 6 songs are included, and especially “Storm warning” (uptempo a la ICED EARTH), “Ethereal journey” (midtempo) and “Unstoppable motion” (very melodic) are good strong Power Metal songs. Go check out this metalband from Ireland through http://www.sentinelrecords.com and e-mail at: press@sentinelireland.com (Points: 7.9 out of 10) REFLEXION ‘JOURNEY TO TRAGEDY’ (DEMO) It seems like every Finnish band is heading to the Finnvox studios, because also this band REFLEXION has went to the famous studios and recorded 3 songs, which can be found on this demo. The sound is therefore fantastic, and also musically they are sounding as fresh as their popular countrymen of HIM, THE RASMUS and STRATOVARIUS. The band is playing Melodic Rock with that typical dark Finnish approach, although everything still sounds very melodic. Opener “Crashing down” is definitely the strongest song, because this is a fantastic uptempo Melodic Rocker. The other 2 songs are a bit slower, but still quite nice, however that first song is definitely the winner of this mini-CD. Imagine a mix between HIM and THE RASMUS, but then a bit heavier and more metal orientated, although the band also has an own sound, so I think the best thing to do here is to check them out for yourself at: http://www.reflexionmusic.com (Points: 8.0 out of 10) AURALAST ‘THE VOICES’ (INDEPENDENT) Out of Arizona, USA comes the female fronted band AURALAST. They sent me their CD ‘The voices’, which musically mixes very modern heavy groovy Metal sounds with melodic vocals of singer Donna. It doesn’t always work well, but songs like “Secrets”, “The voices” and “Visions” are very good midtempo groovy melodic metal pieces. Maybe a comparison to EVANESCANCE is possible, although this AURALAST is heavier and definitely more a pure Metalband, in a way the Americans always do (which is with very heavy aggressive groovy guitar riffs). Check it out for yourself at: http://www.auralast.com and e-mail them at: auralast@auralast.com (Points: 7.5 out of 10) SKULGRINDER ‘ISLAND OF LOST SOULS’ (KNIGHT MUSIC PRODUCTIONS) It’s heavy, it’s groovy and it’s typical US Metal, but happily it’s not Nu-Metal, no way! This is prime-time original 80s US Melodic Power Metal with some very heavy groovy guitar riffs by guitarist Michael Knight (riffs a la BLACK SABBATH) and a powerful lead singer (Brian Andersen). 13 songs are included on the CD, and songs like “Tattooed city”, “Jack City Jesus” (fantastic song), “Forgotten prisoner” and “Nevermore” are very strong US Metal songs, with strong vocals and flashing guitarwork in a classic JAG PANZER meets ICED EARTH style. Together with a big production, this band is recommended to fans of classic US Metal (a la JAG PANZER, METAL CHURCH, VICIOUS RUMORS, ARMORED SAINT...). More info at: http://www.kmrecords.com and e-mail them at: darknite@optonline.net (Points: 8.1 out of 10) AKACIA ‘AN OTHER LIFE’ (INDEPENDENT) This US band is playing typical 70s British Progressive Rock, with strong early GENESIS and YES influences. Vocally it could maybe sound a bit stronger, but in general speaking this is a nice Neo-Progressive Rockalbum in the IQ/early MARILLION style. The production is fair, although don’t expect a big label sound here. 4 songs are included here, some are very lengthy, which is of course normal for prog standards. Especially the 22 minutes closing epic track “Journal” is like a dream come true for the fans of true 70s Progressive Rock, because it has YES and ELP written all over and is basically a prog masterpiece! The other 3 songs are a bit more Neo-prog, like IQ, but also these songs are quite nice, so in the end I think all Progfans will have to check out AKACIA at: http://www.akacia.net (Points: 8.0 out of 10)  IGNITOR ‘TAKE TO THE
SKY’ (INDEPENDENT)This band from Texas, USA sounds very strong, not only the production of their mini-CD is very impressive, but also musically we are dealing here with an impressive female fronted Melodic Metalband. Of course links to DORO are easy to make here, but IGNITOR is definitely much more than just that, because this is real Melodic Power Metal at it’s very best, actually in true German tradition, so fast riffing heavy guitars, a straight-uptempo sound and strong vocal and choruses in each song. I am very impressed with this band, and they could easily end up signed to some European Metal label. Anyway, 6 songs are included on their mini-CD, of which the best songs are the fantastic opener “Demonslayer”, “Grey ghost”, “The last king tiger” and “Take to the sky”. This is Melodic Power Metal at it’s very best, with superb strong biting guitarwork and fantastic powerful female lead vocals. Check it out for yourself at: http://www.ignitor.org and e-mail them at: ignitor_band@hotmail.com (Points: 8.6 out of 10)  DARKSUN ‘EL LEGADO’
(GOI MUSIC)It has been quiet for some time around the Spanish Metalscene, but happily the label GOI MUSIC has released a few excellent new albums from Spanish bands. First there is DARKSUN, a new band who are making their debut with ‘El legado’. The sound is big, instrumental it all sounds perfect, the vocals are very good and even most of the included songs are quite impressive, so this means that we are dealing here with something sensational, as long as you don’t mind the Spanish lyrics. Musically we get to hear the typical Spanish Melodic Metalsound (SARATOGA, AVALANCH, TIERRA SANTA, MAGO DE OZ) and this DARKSUN fit in quite nicely with their debut CD. The band has a female keyboardplayer by the way, and although the band is playing Melodic Metal, there are also traces of Progmetal and even Melodic Hardrock to be heard. This mixture makes them sound a little different than the standard uptempo Power Metalstyle of afforementioned bands. Highlights are “Traicion”, “Dentro de ti”, “El ultimo viaje” and “Gloria & Poder”. Concluded, a great album, which is a must-have for the people who are into Spanish Melodic Metal... (Points: 8.6 out of 10) LONEWOLF ‘UNHOLY PARADISE’ (GOI MUSIC) LONEWOLF is a French band, with a new CD out on the Spanish label GOI MUSIC. Although instrumental everything sounds perfect (pure True Metal), I am afraid the lead singer is not strong enough to make LONEWOLF an interesting band to check out. His voice just isn’t strong enough to convince, it’s too raw and maybe only the GRAVE DIGGER fans will like this, but I think the True Metal of LONEWOLF is just o.k., but nothing that special. Of course here and there we have some nice MANOWARish songs like “Behind the cross”, “Stronger than evil” and “Phantomride”, but this CD needs to be listened first before purchasing, unless you’re a die-hard True metal collector... (Points: 7.3 out of 10)  ABYSS ‘SIN ANGELES’
(GOI MUSIC)The Spanish band ABYSS has already released a few CDs, but I am very impressed with their new CD ‘Sin angeles’, which I think is their best effort so far, as everything seems to sound quite perfect on this new album. The band has succeeded in bringing an excellent mixture of Melodic Rock, Progressive and Power Metal, and together with a big sound this CD is a true winner for all Hardrock/Metalfans. Of course the band sings in Spanish, but I don’t think this should be a big issue, because the music is very sensational. There are 9 songs on the CD, of which some are quite long, so the total playing time is more than 65 minutes, which is of course a good thing! Highlights on the new ABYSS album are opener “Sed” (best song!), “De fuego Y traicion” and “Esclavo de mis suenos” (fantastic). Concluded, another must-have for fans of Spanish Melodic Metal! (Points: 8.6 out of 10)  MINDFLOW ‘JUST THE TWO OF
US...ME AND THEM’(HEAVENCROSS RECORDS/ROCK INC.) Out of Brazil comes MINDFLOW, a Progressive Metalband whom have released a very impressive debut CD called ‘Just the two of us...’ on the Spanish label HEAVENCROSS RECORDS. The band is clearly influenced by the Progmasters (YES, RUSH, DREAM THEATER), but they have managed somehow to come up with an own kind of Progressive Metalsound. It’s heavy, it has an up-to-date sound and it’s sounding very melodic, thanks to the fantastic lead singer Danilo Hebert. This is Melodic Progressive Metal the way it is supposed to sound. I believe this is a concept album told in 16 songs, with a total playing time of about 60 minutes. From start to finish this CD sounds impressive, so it’s hard to mention favourite tracks, but best songs would definitely be “Meeting her eyes”, “Logic behind heads or tails”, “Another point of view”, “Honesty” and “2nd dawn”. I can easily recommend this CD to all ProgMetal fans, so go check it out if you’re a fan of bands like AZTEC JADE, MAGNITUDE 9, DREAM THEATER... More info at: http://www.heavencrossrecords.net (Points: 8.5 out of 10) STORMWARRIOR ‘NORTHERN RAGE’ (REMEDY RECORDS/ROCK INC) The German metalband STORMWARRIOR returns with their 3rd CD ‘Northern rage’. Musically nothing has changed, so again we can hear typical German (Power) Metal. The CD contains 10 songs and has a playing time of 47 minutes. Songs like “Valhalla”, “Thy laste free”, “Odinn’s warriors” and “To foreign shores” will be loved by the fans of German ‘Steel, Warriors and Swords’ Teutonic Medieval Heavy (Power) Metal in the style of GRAVE DIGGER, PRIMAL FEAR, so what more can I say to you then to check out this release asap if you’re a fan of such kind of Metal! (Points: 8.4 out of 10) MODEL A ‘TRANSMISSION LOST’ (MODEL A MUSIC) Out of California comes MODEL A, a band that somehow manages to create a sort of mix between classic 70s Progressive Rock and Modern Rock, ending up sounding like a mix between MARILLION and RADIOHEAD. The band has an own identity, due to the ‘new wave’ ish vocals of singer Brandon Schilling, but musically this may be filed under Progressive Rock. At times it gets a bit experimental, but with a playing length of 38 minutes, divided in 6 long songs, this might well be a CD to check out if you’re into the more experimental modern type of Progressive Rock (a bit like the CYCLOPS releases). Especially songs like “Chimera” and “We all die young” are songs that fall exactly in this style I just mentioned. For more info go to: http://www.modelamusic.com and e-mail them at: Booking@modelamusic.com (Points: 7.5 out of 10) (All reviews by Gabor Kleinbloesem, except where noted) |