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| 4 ARM – Submission For Liberty (CD) | Australia | April 2012 | Robin van Tilburg |
| Style: Thrash Metal | Running time: 49:30 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Over the past couple of years, I've reviewed quite some albums that were released through Rising Records. Some were good, some were average and some were just flat-out boring. For 4 Arm's debut album on the label, I'd like to add a new category: F*cking awesome! This Australian based metal band was formed in 2004 and has released several album, of which 'Submission For Liberty' is the first one through Rising Records. With this deal, they will probably gain more attention for the band, which I surely hope. Why? Because 4 Arm profile themselves as a modern Thrash metal band in without losing the spirit and feel of how it was played in the eighties. While listening to the album, bands like Exodus and Testament come to mind, but also the feel of a relatively new band like Warbringer is present. The up tempo, speedy music contains traditional thrash riffs, pounding drums and a vocalist that suits the music really well. Despite all the classic influences that you clearly can discover, the music doesn't sound dated. This due to the mixing collaboration with Matt Hyde, who also worked with Trivium, Slipknot and Machine Head in the past. 'Submission For Liberty' has turned out to be a recommendation for the all-round thrash metal enthusiast. I hope they will come to Europe in order to promote this album. There is always interest in energetic music like this! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.facebook.com/4armofficial
Recordlabel: http://www.risingrecords.org MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/4armofficialscars |
82/100 |
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| ANOTHER DESTINY PROJECT - Tell Me What You See … (CD) | Italy | April 2012 | Michel van Hassel |
| Style: Progressive Metal | Running time: 38:09 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| The main man in this project is producer, composer and guitarist Peter Pahor, who founded this project together with vocalist Federico Ahrens. The rest of the members are all musicians that were hired to play their part. These guys are Emanuele Petrucci (drums), Davor Pavelic (bass-guitar) and Gabriele Giorgi (guitars). “Tell Me What You See …” is the debut-album of Another Destiny Project. It is a concept album about dream and madness. After a short intro, named “R.E.M.”, dominated by synth/keyboards and sound tracks, played by Pahor, it is time for the second track, “Insomnia”. This track is also an instrumental and filled by loads of synth/keyboards and all kind of sounds supported by some heavy guitars. The third track, “Sleepwalker”, has Ahrens singing for the first time on this album. This fast song is full of fantastic guitar playing. There is plenty of musical diversity on this one. The fourth track, “Doomsday”, starts of with some double bass. All the different sounds ranging from pounding drums and bass, screaming guitars and strange sounds will intimidate you. Like most of the songs, they are loaded with musical craftsmanship. Ahrens' voice circles above the music, as it doesn't really blend in. Heavy pounding combined with heavy riffing and completed by a layer of keyboards are the base for “Once Again”. This one is with it's almost six minutes the longest track on the album. Parts of the lyrics are spoken word. Halfway the song it gets a bit more straightforward with repeating lyrics. After a heavy part, the lyrics almost get “Rammstein-like”. “Sand” is played on acoustic guitars. Ahrens should have made more impact on this beautiful modest song. To me this is a missed opportunity. “Rorschach” sounds quite German and has some great guitar playing to start. It turns really heavy with Ahrens who starts screaming and growling. A sturdy rhythm section combined with keyboards and screaming guitars are the base for Ahrens vocals. “Life Of Lies” is a power metal track, but unfortunately Ahrens' voice doesn't suit the song very well. “Assembly” is a fast song with great riffing and with a rhythm-section that lays down a sturdy foundation. The last track, “In My Name” is a softer track that has same great melodies. There are some beautiful parts on this album but the overall conclusion is that the potential is there but it needs to be perfected. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.anotherdestinyproject.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/anotherdestinyproject |
75/100 |
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| ARMAGEDDON – Necromantic Celebration (CD) | France | April 2012 | Kees Schijven |
| Style: Black / Thrash Metal | Running time: 42:25 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Armageddon is a solo project which started 10 years ago by Silvere Catteau. At first Armageddon was his stage name when he entered Lord, a black metal band, in 1999. Besides his work in Lord as a drummer, he also started practising guitar and bass. His studio experiences with Lord also gave him the taste for sound engineering and he started to equip himself with studio gear. This was how it all started with Armageddon the solo project, in 2002 a demo was recorded entitled 'Through The Endless Torments Of Hell' with a blend of his metal influences, mostly black, death and thrash from the likes of Bathory, Possessed, Kreator and Slayer to name a few. After releasing the demo, he engineered Lord's second album 'Hell's Fucking Metal' which was released in 2003. Armageddon carried on, but in a very slow motion as he was busy with bands like Lord, Unholy War and Excruciate 666. In 2011 Armageddon's debut album was finished with 10 songs and a cover art by Joe Petagno (Motorhead). The result of his hard work is an album full of black thrash metal in an old school way, superbly well done, fast paced, dark and morbid, maybe not the most original, but definitely true, from a man who has passion for metal. A very enjoyable album for liker's of this genre of metal, ripping songs like 'The Shadow Of The Beast' or 'I Am Your Torment'. There is also a cover on the album from Running Wild, 'Branded & Exiled'. While the vocals on this album are done in a black metal style, the music is very thrash orientated which is a perfect combination on this album. I really love this album, and you will too if you're into this kind of metal, respect for this man, who did all this on his own, which raises the question if we will ever see Armageddon perform live, as it is a solo project. | |||
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Visit their website: http://armageddon.online.fr
Recordlabel: http://www.emanesmetalrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/dieatarmageddon |
87/100 |
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| AT VANCE – Facing your Enemy (CD) | Germany | April 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Hardrock / Melodic Metal | Running time: 49:49 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| At Vance is a real 'metal hammer' from Mainz in the Rhineland of Germany. The band started in the late nineties of the former century. Their first albums had that powerful neo-classical vibe: Strong power metal riffs, progressive touches, good vocals (of Oliver Hartmann back then) and big, crunchy guitar solos of mastermind Olaf Lenk. In 2002 AFM Records in Germany signed this metal quartet and the band started touring with Angel Dust, Rhapsody and Kamelot. After their 'Only Human – album ' Oliver Hartmann suddenly left the band and with the former Yngwie Malmsteen, ex -Abstrakt Algebra and former Treat-singer Mats Leven the Germans started their second musical life. Their albums “The evil in you”, “Chained”, “VII”, “Ride the sky” and the 2010'compilation “Decade” were successful in many European countries. Mats Leven was replaced by power shouter Rick Altzi . And with Altzi, Lenk, Alex Landenburg (former Annihilator drummer) and Wolfmann Black (from the German band Justice) this power quartet starts firing on all six. Their new opus is called “Facing your enemy”. It starts very furious with the speed metal track “Heaven is calling“ . But there's a lot more to enjoy. The vocal versatility of Rick Altzi is fantastic, the guitar solos of Olaf Lenk are very tasteful, speedy and they breath that Yngwie Malmsteen / Chris Impellitteri-vibe. The rhythm section sound thick as a brick (Just listen to the instrumental “March of the dwarf “, you'll hear what I'm talking about). All ingredients for a solid, tough album with a lot of surprises in the songs are there. You'll hear the Alcatrazz, Rainbow, Dio, Rising Force and even Whitesnake / Coverdale- touches in a lot of musical themes, but At Vance are no copy-cats. The German band sets his more commercial power metal course, and to be honest , the performance is very classy. The acoustic ballad “The things I never needed” closes the album in a moody atmosphere. This album is strong, powerful, but is has a commercial feel, without losing the 'power attitude '. I'm glad the guys are back! The band will start touring after this release, on some of the gigs At Vance will be accompanied by their fellow-furious-neo-classical rockers of Iron Mask. Check them out! | |||
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MySpace: http://www.myspace.come/atvance
Recordlabel: http://www.afm-records.de FaceBook: http://www. facebook.com/pages/At-Vance |
84/100 |
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| AXEL RUDI PELL – Circle of the Oath (CD) | Germany | April 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Melodic Hardrock | Running time: 1:00:59 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Axel Rudi Pell doesn't need an introduction: He's one of the hardest working musicians of Germany and since he left the band Steeler in 1988, Axel Rudi has sold 1,5 million albums worldwide so far. His secret? Just hard work, stick to your favourite genre, give the fans what they want and be close with your musical friends. From his first 3 track-demo in 1989 to his latest release, “Circle of the oath” , Axel has a good feeling for melodic metal with hints of Deep Purple, Rainbow and hard rock from the seventies of the former century. Old fashioned? Yes, you can say that, but when it's played with this big balls' sound, with fierce guitar solos from the master himself, surrounded by this thick keyboard melodies by Ferdy Doernberg, accompanied by one of the best rhythm teams of Europe (Mike Terrana on drums and his former Steeler companion Volker Krawczak on bass) and when it is sung by power vocalist Johnny Gioeli (former Hardline vocalist) you simply can't go wrong. Axel Rudi Pell has also a nose for composing powerful ballads and his Ballads-compilation albums (he penned four of them) gained good reviews and commercial successes. “Circle of the oath” is Axel Rudi's fourteenth album (all on SPV !) and it's a feast of recognition: An atmospheric intro, a speed up track, hard rocking mashers, a moody ballad, some fierce rockers and a 'mini-opus ', it's all (again) on this album. Aren't there any changes? Yes, Axel Rudi Pell has changed his lyrical themes: The dragon forces, the castles, the myths and magics are gone and they made room for more in-depth lyrics and actual themes. Axel Rudi Pell has released a very good, very solid and stable record again. Pure, heavy and very recognisable! The digipack-version of this release will contain one extra track form the 2011 Bang Your Head festival: the mighty “Temple of the king”. The Circle of the Oath- tour starts on the 20th of April and the Germans of Mad Max will be Axel's special guest in a lot of European countries. Go check them out! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.axel-rudi-pell.de
Recordlabel: http://www.spv.de MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/axelrudipellofficial |
84/100 |
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| BADFARE STATE – Socially Dead (CDemo) | Spain | April 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Thrash Metal / Crossover | Running time: 18:00 (Tracks: 6) | ||
| BADFARE STATE is a Crossover Thrash Metal band from Spain, and exists of Sordeath (vocals), Chiky (guitar), Mon (bass) and Rojas (drums). The band was formed at the end of 2010, and this 6-track EP "Socially Dead" is the first recording of these guys. Actually, there are only four real songs on this EP, because "Incoherent World" and "St. Matthew 18" are short intros. Those four songs are titled "Rich Men's War", "Genocide Maniac", "Jail For Politicians" and "Pedopriest". I must say that these songs are sounding nice. But to be honest, to me it's all not that notable. Don't get me wrong, it's absolutely not bad, because these guys play their instruments well. So, Thrash and Crossover fanatics, if you are interested in this EP of BADFARE STATE, check them out on their MySpace page, where you can listen to their songs. | |||
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MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/badfarestate |
68/100 |
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| BLEEDING UTOPIA – Demons to Some, Gods to Others (CD) | Sweden | April 2012 | William Nijhof |
| Style: Melodic Death Metal | Running time: 47:08 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Bleeding Utopia brings you very technical and progressive death metal with a great atmosphere in it. This band brings you a great mix of melodic death metal in vein of Amon Amarth but also the rawness of thrash bands like Dew Scented. All the songs are filled with variety. The guitar riffs are straight in your face and filled with groove and melody, but then they also bring you great thrash riffs and solos. The drums are straight in your face and filled with double bass parts and a lot up tempos. The vocals light grunts but they sound very strong and evil. I`ve never heard of this band but this album sounds brutally good and makes you listen to every song! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.bleedingutopia.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/bleedingutopia |
75/100 |
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| CRAZY LIXX – Riot Avenue (CD) | Sweden | April 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Sleaze Metal (New Wave of Swedish Sleaze) | Running time: 47:09 (Tracks: 11) | ||
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Crazy Lixx is the name of a plastic Japanese toy guitar. But it's also the name of one of the top bands of the 'New Wave of Swedish Sleaze'. Crazy Lixx was one of the first bands from Malmö playing the European variant of the American sleazy, glam metal music
And Crazy Lixx is a popular band, following the footsteps of their Swedish colleagues of Crashdiet, Hardcore Superstar, Babylon Bombs and Vains of Jenna. Crazy Lixx differs somewhat from the other names, the music is more '80 influenced, more classic based.
Crazy Lixx started in 2002 and the founding members all played in Blindead, a popular heavy metal band in the Malmö area. The band made some demos and Crazy Lixx won a local music competition in Helsingborg. After that victory things went fast. Crazy Lixx opened for Hardcore Superstar and Gilby Clarke (former guitarist of Guns 'n Roses). Gilby was impressed by their live status and offered them a record deal.
Producer Chris Laney took care of their debut album “Loud Minority “, recorded in the Polar Studios in Stockholm. The album came out in 2007 (on Swedmetal Records) and it was a smash hit in Sweden. The band toured worldwide as a support act for their friends from Hardcore Superstar. In 2009 Frontiers signed the band and the label released their second album “A new religion” in January 2010. Again Chris Laney produced the songs of this great album. There was again a lot of good feedback towards this record and Crazy Lixx became a household name in 'sleazy Europe and Asia'. In 2011 the band worked on their newest record: Riot Avenue, and what a great record this is. Powerful sleazy rock with big guitars, power chords, great lead and gang vocals and many hints of the American sleaze acts like Buckcherry, Faster Pussycat, Guns 'n Roses, the Euro sleaze acts like Hardcore Superstar and the US major rock league of Kiss and (early) Aerosmith. From the first track ”Whiskey tango foxtrot” to the tenth track “Be gone” , Crazy Lixx is on fire and they deliver hell! The great ballad “Only the dead know “closes the album in style.
The musicians are skilled players and the production is crispy, crunchy and mean with an accent on the vocals and the guitars. Nice job!
Crazy Lixx stays close to their former albums, this album has more mid – paced songs than the other albums, but any fan of sleazy rock will give this album a very warm welcome. Crazy Lixx will start their tour in May, the band will have a new bass player as Loke Rivano (bass player for the past seven years) has left the band. The band had lost a few friends and musicians before (f. i. guitarist Vic Zino left the band in the past to join his buddies from Hardcore Superstar, he was replaced by Sharp –guitarist Andy Dawson). I'm sure this line-up change won't diminish the incredible live status of this Swedish sleaze act! Well done guys! Tracklisting: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot; Young Blood; Riot Avenue; Fire It Up; Downtown; In The Night; ChurchOf Rock; Heatseeker; Sweet, Bad & Beautiful; Be Gone; Only The Dead Know. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.crazylixx.com
Recordlabel: http://www.frontiers.it MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/crazylixxmusic |
83/100 |
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| CRYSTAL VIPER – Crimen Excepta (CD) | Poland | April 2012 | Frans Neelen |
| Style: Heavy Metal | Running time: 51:35 (Tracks: 10) | ||
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Looking for some true pure Heavy Metal with screaming female vocals? Don't look any further then this Polish Crystal Viper with Marta Gabriel after the microphone. Founded in 2003 by Marta herself (who also plays the guitar damn well) they released several cd's and ep's since then; all filled with classic Heavy Metal. Their 2010 “Legends” already proved what they were capable off and showed further progress, but with this example they take another step forwards. Crimen Excepta - a concept effort about holy inquisition, black magic and witches, where fiction is mixed with historical facts – is yet more aggressive, darker and heavier then their previous releases. The influences of Iron Maiden (the old style from the first two classics) are unmistakable and are mixed with furious, razor sharp guitar hooks and fine solo's. Some songs even have those unexpected breaks like Mercyful Fate used to have. The darker side is, for example, represented in a very good cover of Vader's “Tyrani PiekieL”(!) with guest vocals by Peter himself. Another guest appearance is that of Hell's David Bower on the more epic title track “Crimen Excepta”. All songs are damn good without any exception and represent the good old days of NWOBHM. Just listen to the furiousity of “Witch's Mark” and “It's Your Omen”, the melody in “Child of the Flame”, the pounding “Medicus Animarum” (hello Priest) and the pure headbanger “Hope is Gone, Here's New Law”.. Worth mentioning is the ballad “Ghosts of Sherwood”, a theme song they lately recorded for the forthcoming 3D cinema horror movie "Robin Hood: Ghosts Of Sherwood". Marta here shows here quality in a more slower song and proves that she's very versatile and a brilliant vocalist for this pure Heavy Metal. Make sure you get the limited edition of the cd, because this one contains the extra tracks “Tyrani Piekiel” and “Ghosts of Sherwood”. As every real Heavy Metal band this album will be released on lp containing “Ghosts of Sherwood” and the Demon cover “Night of the Demon”. Well, let that be my favourite Demon track and damn I miss just that one on this download. Well, can' have everything, so up to the lp. It will be worth it, just like this whole album. Great album, great band. Anyone who is into classic Heavy Metal should check this one out. Satisfaction guaranteed! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.crystalviper.com
Recordlabel: http://www.afm-records.de MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/crystalviperofficial |
84/100 |
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| DIABULUS IN MUSICA - The Wanderer (CD) | Spain | April 2012 | Frans Neelen |
| Style: Gothic Metal | Running time: 54:49 (Tracks: 12) | ||
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Diabulus in Musica is a Spanish Gothic Metal band whose star is rising quickly. Their 2010 debut “Secrets” on which they worked together with Sasha Paeth and Ad Sluyter (Epica) was received well and almost immediately opened doors to prestigious concerts like Metal Female Voices Fest and as support of Manowar, Theatre of Tragedy, Doro, Therion to name a few. Indeed “Secrets” was a fine album that mostly reminded of Epica but the songs and melody listened away easily. Anyway, a damn fine start so to say. Napalm took their chances and signed the band, providing them Jacob Hansen for mix and mastering and Mr. Epica Mark Jansen himself does his well known job in “Blazing a Trail”. If that wasn't enough to make their ambitions also John Kelly and Maite Itoiz come along to. Seems Leaves' Eyes has set a standard on Meredead with that respectable duo. Now back to what all the above has resulted in. To be short, Diabulus in Musica delivers a fantastic album here that has everything in it to become a success. After “Secrets” many called hem the Spanish Epica, but with this product that make very clear that they deserve better. More rock, more bombast, more metal more choirs, more power results simply in a fine, versatile album that is a must for those who love their music dark, symphonic and gothic. Listen to the super catchy single “Sceneries of Hope” the brutal “Shadow of the Throne” and the adventurous monster track “No Time For Repentance (Lamentatio)” and you know this is an album more than worth checking out. Big plus for the band is that I now they are capable performing this stuff life after seeing them in 2011 at the MFVF. This year they perform there again and I think they are going to collect several souls there. With good performances and good albums that's the least they deserve of course. Mighty good album filled with passionate, sweeping and powerful songs. What do you want more? | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.diabulusinmusica.com
Recordlabel: http://www.napalmrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/diabulusinmusicaband |
86/100 |
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| ELVENSTORM – Of Rage and War (CD) | France | April 2012 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: Power Metal | Running time: 38:51 (Tracks: 9) | ||
| Elvenstorm is a female fronted band that just debuted through Inferno Records. Just by looking at the awesome epic cover I could guess the musical direction of the band. Pure f**king heavy-power metal! The band is primarily influenced by early Helloween and Running Wild and is definitely on the same side as Lonewolf, Stormwarrior and of course Poland's Crystal Viper. 9 blistering fast paced songs, 38 minutes of banging Teutonic metal. As I usually say in situations like this, originality is not the case. It is about having fun and banging your head to true metal anthems. Well done guys and girl. This is a fine, entertaining album! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.reverbnation.com/elvenstorm
Recordlabel: http://www.inferno-records.net MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/elvenstorm73 |
79/100 |
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| FAIR WARNING – Best of and More (2CD) | Germany | April 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Melodic Hardrock | Running time: 2:27:56 (Tracks: 32) | ||
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The forces of the German bands V2 and Zeno collaborated in 1991 in a new Hannover based melodic rock band Fair Warning. Their first album (on the WEA-label) was filled with bombastic, very good melodic rock, filled with strong songs, diverse melodic structures, good vocals and fine guitar work. The band became very popular in Japan, Fair Warning had a small headline tour in 1992 and 1993 out there and the second and third album made their break in the land of the rising sun. Fair Warning released some Ep's and an acoustic mini album in Japan ( “Live at home”) as well, all very successful. But the European continent didn't seem to hear the quality of the albums “Rainmaker”, “Go” and “Four”. After the release of another live album ( “Live and More”, recorded in Japan in 1999 ) the band decided to split. Tommy Heart, the singer, became involved in the pounding hard rock quartet Soul Doctor, Andy Malecek (guitars) joined forces with some Swedish friends in Last Autumn's Dream, Helge Engelke (guitars), Torsten Luderwald (keyboards) and CC.Behrens (drums) started the band Dreamtide and Ule Ritgen (bass guitars, the main composer) even started to make paintings. But six years later Fair Warning was alive again(in 2006). Their newest albums didn't gain success in Europe, but the far East re-welcomed the band again. The albums “Brother's Keeper” and “Aura” were very good albums and in 2009 the band filmed and recorded a few shows in Japan for their latest album so far: “Talking ain't enough – Fair Warning Live in Tokyo “. Once again, this album showed what Fair Warning's music is all about: melody, adventure, very strong musicianship and songs with a story and a solid backbone. This year SPV is going to release a compilation album with 32 (!) tracks on 2 cd's. Absolutely amazing stuff! You'll get the best tracks of almost any Fair Warning album, even the Japanese releases aren't overlooked. Fair Warning 's version of the Led Zeppelin-classic “Rock 'n Roll ' is also added, a nice surprise! The real fans of German melodic rock in general or Fair Warning-fans in particular will have or know most of the tracks, but this “Best of and More” is the perfect acquaintance with this Hannover- super band as well! Nice compilation. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.fair-warning.de
Recordlabel: http://www.spv.de MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/fair_warning |
90/100 |
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| FROZEN RAIN Rain – Ahead of Time (CD) | Belgium | April 2012 | Jordy Brouwers |
| Style: AOR / Melodic Rock | Running time: 52:19 (Tracks: 11) | ||
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“Ahead of Time” is the new album of the Belgian AOR rock band Frozen Rain. It is released four years after the release of their self-titled debut album. In 2008, the dream of song writer Kurt Vereecke became reality when this debut was released. The music on this album was heavily influenced by the classic AOR sound of the `80s. The positive feed back paved the way for a second release: “Ahead of Time”. The line-up on this album contains six musicians. Besides Kurt Vereecke (Keyboards, Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals), Jurgen Vitrier (keyboards) and Vincent de Laat (bass) were also present on the debut album. These musicians are now accompanied by Kurt`s brother Hans Vereecke (Drums) and Rik Priem (Rhythm, Solo and Acoustic Guitar). The position of lead singer is occupied by Carsten “Lizard” Schulz. Kurt Vereecke and guitarist Rik Priem worked intensively on the arrangements and the production of the new songs. Their aim was to give them an up-to-date guitar oriented AOR / Melodic rock sound but with enough space for the keyboards. In my opinion, Frozen Rain has delivered a real good album. What I really like is the epic guitar work of Priem. Listen for example to the opener of the album: Believe it or Not. This is how good AOR has to be made! This bombastic song is the highlight of the album. I can also appreciate the more up-tempo “The Last Dance Ain`t Over”, but I do not want to deprive the other songs. There is enough space for all the musicians to show their skills. “Ahead of Time” is an album which never bored me. If you like good, well-played melodic rock, listen to this album! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.frozenrain.be
Recordlabel: http://www.avenue-of-allies.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/frozenrain |
82/100 |
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| FURYU – Cio' Che L'Anima Non Dice (CD) | Italy | April 2012 | Michel van Hassel |
| Style: Progressive Metal | Running time: 31:39 (Tracks: 5) | ||
| Furyu has been around since 2000 but this is their debut-album. This is not your regular progressive metal band. If you look at the album-cover and the booklet or if you see the album-title, it is obvious that his band is something far away from the ordinary. After a real heavy and fast start, it is time for a little piece of rest followed by some spoken word. As I don't speak any Italian, I don't have a clue what is being said. Halfway this first track by the name “Illusione Dei Miei Giorni” there is some heavy guitar riffing. Throughout the song, there are all kind of different sounds and rhythms. It ranges from the heavy parts to some funky stuff. Towards the end of the song, there is even some more spoken word to be heard. “..E Poi La Luce” is the second track, which has a quite fast start. The vocals are limited to some spoken words or softly sung lyrics and are being performed by Giovanni Notarangelo. There is also some galloping and a kind of freaky jazzy stuff to be heard on this track. After this part, it is time for Michele Zappoli, the bass-player, to pluck his strings and for the guitarists Giulio Capitelli and Federico Melandri to show their musical qualities. On this track, again it is a variety of all kind of different tempos brought together in one strong arrangement. Furyu know how to write and perform great songs! There are some strange effects, produced by Damiano Storelli, at the start of “Un Momento: Vado A Fuoco” and again it's Notarangelo who sounds very desperate as he speaks out. On this track, there is plenty of space for Riccardo Grechi to hit the skins. Furyu's songs are packed with great music that takes you by the throat without letting you go. The complete band is competing against each other and by doing so they deliver an exciting song by the name of “Finalmente Io Sono”. A great composition that stays interesting throughout the almost six minutes. The last track with the unbelievable title, “La Vastita' Del Mio Tempo/ Cio' Che L'Anima Non Dice”, is also a good display of what these guys are capable of. Towards the end of the song, the acoustic guitars take over as the music slowly fades away. This is a special bunch of musicians but to me it is a pity that after so many years they only produced just over thirty minutes of music. I must admit that they have packed these minutes with loads of superb music. I am curious what they have in store for us in the future. Furyu, please don't wait so long for the next release. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.furyu.it
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/projectfuryu |
86/100 |
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| HELP! FOR JAPAN – Help! (MCD) | Different Countries | April 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Melodic Rock | Running time: 20:24 (Tracks: 4) | ||
| On March 11th 2011 Japan was hit by a disastrous earthquake. Well, the aftermath of that earthquake is still apparent, and to the present day the Japanese people are still facing the impact of it. Now one year later, some of Europe's leading Rock artists have united to join a campaign initiated by singer Tommy Heart (SOUL DOCTOR, FAIR WARNING), and recorded a new version of THE BEATLES classic "Help!". This "Help! For Japan" EP features four versions of "Help!, namely "Help!", "Help! (Tommy Heart version)", "Help! (guitar version)" and "Help! (extended version)". Some names of musicians and singers who contributed to this project are the singers Tobias Sammet (EDGUY, AVANTASIA), Bob Catley (MAGNUM), Andi Deris (HELLOWEEN), Marc Storace (KROKUS), Michael Kiske (ex-HELLOWEEN, UNISONIC), Ralf Scheepers (PRIMAL FEAR) and Tommy Heart, and musicians Leo Leoni (guitar, GOTTHARD), Neil Murray (bass, ex-WHITESNAKE), Hena Habegger (drums, GOTTHARD) and Don Airey (keyboards, DEEP PURPLE). All versions on this EP are produced by Tommy Heart, Tommy Remm and Rene Schostak, and are all ballad versions in the style of TINA TURNER's cover version of "Help!" (which is on her 1984 album "Private Dancer"). And the "Help! (guitar version)" is a fantastic instrumental version. Anyway, this is a very good EP and of course a fantastic initiative. Important is, that all the income from the sales of this EP of this project will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.helpforjapan1.wordpress.com
Recordlabel: http://www.avenue-of-allies.com |
78/100 |
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| LELAHELL – Al Intihar (MCD) | Algeria | April 2012 | William Nijhof |
| Style: Death Metal | Running time: 27:00 (Tracks: 6) | ||
| Lehahell from Algeria brings you smashing death metal with a lot of strange influences in it. This band is new but the members are well known in the scene because of their previous and other bands (check the metal encyclopaedia). This band brings a combination between brutal death with black and extreme music that is not standard. It is strange to explain but I will give it a try. The guitar riffs are brutal death that turns into heavy metal with melody but it has also elements of blackmetal in it (still got it?). And then you got the drums that first start as a train that cannot be stopped and then turns into a progressive masterpiece with rhythms that are not standard. The vocals are deep and dark growls combined with a very dark and evil scream that sounds like it has been resurrected from the grave. The variety of the songs are highly placed with these guys because every song sounds different. But they have a treat for us because the last track is a cover of Mayhem (Freezing Moon). I prefer the original but it is definitely not bad because they give it their own sound and twist! This is their first EP released by their self, and they are hoping to find a label who will release it for them. | |||
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MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/lelahellband |
72/100 |
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| MARCHE FUNEBRE – To Drown (CD) | Belgium | April 2012 | Dennis van Dommelen |
| Style: Doom/ Death Metal. | Running time: 1:04:23 (Tracks: 7) | ||
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Damn! What were the guys from Marche Funebre thinking when they were writing the music for their debut album? “Lets put some ingredients from all kind of doom periods in a blender and see what comes out? ” Maybe we could mix some Candlemass vocal parts (that sound like Danny Cavanagh's, Anathema vocals on “Eternity” but more false) together with some early Paradise Lost stuff? After the first two tracks it's as stale as that box of cornflakes that's been sitting in the cupboard for the past three years. Only at some points does this album really have any sort of interesting arrangements. Most of the songs follow the same formula which is my biggest complaint about albums like these. What ever happened to developing your own writing style? This is the tragic flaw of atmosphere-based genres (black metal and doom, for example) they're bloated, and very few bands tend to add to the formula. And while Marche Funebre tries to get away with it by as stated above the formula still stays the boring same! “To Drown” is a hindered recording; it's hindered by the lack of creativity in most of the song writing and the cliches in the lyrics. But some slightly interesting moments are heightened into sounding like gold when compared to the rest of the album. There's definite talent in this band, but they're writing too close to the formula. If they wanted to get any better, they'd have to start expanding their formula a bit. Sadly this debut album is nothing more than a second division subtopper at best. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.marchefunebre.be
Recordlabel: http://www.metalzone.be MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/marchefunebretheband |
50/100 |
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| MEKONG DELTA – Intersections (CD) | Germany | April 2012 | Michel van Hassel |
| Style: Progressive Thrash Metal | Running time: 53:22 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| This fantastic band has been around since 1985. The main man and founding member is Ralf Hubert (bass). The present line-up has been updated in 2008 when Martin LeMar (vocals), Benedikt Zimniak (guitars), Erik Adam H. (guitars) and Alexander Landenburg (drums) joined Hubert. This album is a re-release of the classic songs from the eighties and nineties but this time recorded with the new line-up. From their self-titled debut-album, dating back to 1987, the first track, “The Cure” and the seventh track, “Heroes Grief” are present on this album. Two songs, “Prophecy” and “Memories of Tomorrow”, represent the second album, “The Music of Erich Zann”. The album that is represented the most is “Kaleidoscope”. The three tracks on this album, “Sphere Eclipse”, “Heartbeat” and “Innocent?” were originally released in 1992. The three remaining tracks on this release were taken from “The Principle of Doubt” (Shades of Doom) , “Visions Fugitives” (The Healer) and “Dances of Death(and Other Walking Shadows) (Transgressor). As all tracks were released between 1987 and 1994 it is clear that the re-released tracks have a more modern and better sound. I must say that Mekong Delta's songs have survived the test of time. The songs remain timeless and this means that Mekong Delta was ahead of their time. Back in the old days, everything around Mekong Delta was kept secret but it is obvious that Hubert was and still is the creative mastermind behind Mekong Delta. I love this band as they play a special kind of thrashy progressive metal. If you are familiar with Mekong Delta's music this is a great collection of some of the best tracks provided with a modern sound. If you do not know Mekong Delta this is a great opportunity to get to know their superb quality and perhaps buy one of the earlier albums although they are not easily available. I have been lucky to see Mekong Delta live three times the last couple of years. I must say that the current line-up puts down a fantastic show while performing both old and new material in a great way. The songs on this album were already great songs but by recording them with the current line-up they were given an extra boost and turn out to be even better. It is difficult to describe Mekong Delta's music. It is progressive metal with thrashy influences. If you want to hear something different, buy this album and remember that these songs were written in the late eighties and early nineties. Former band members include Jörg Michael (Stratovarius, Running Wild), Uli Kusch (Helloween, Masterplan) and Peavy Wagner (Rage). As they have released albums in 2007 (Lurking Fear) and 2010 (Wanderer on the Edge of Time) it is obvious that Mekong Delta is here to stay. I hope that we do not have to wait very long for the next studio-album. In the meantime, I will sit back and relax while listening to “Intersections”. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.mekongdelta.eu
Recordlabel: http://www.spv.de MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/mekongdeltaband |
89/100 |
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| MY HIDDEN PHOBIA – My Hidden Phobia (CD) | Italy | April 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Emocore / Metalcore | Running time: 44:11 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| MY HIDDEN PHOBIA is a band from Italy, and exists of Mark (vocals), Ale (guitar, vocals), Ricky (guitar), Dario (bass) and Andrea (drums). On their MySpage page isn't any information to find, so I can't tell you when this band is formed. Well, these guys have released their self titled debut album "My Hidden Phobia", and features twelve songs. The album was recorded at the Westlink Studios and produced by Alessandro Paolucci, and sounds very good. The CD starts with the spoken "The Sun Won't Rise Again", followed by the fantastic "The Endless Void". The band exists of good musicians. On this album you get clean vocals as well as brutal grunts. I am not sure if Mark is only doing the clean vocals and guitarist Ale the brutal grunts or if the brutal grunts are also done by Mark. Anyway, after several times listening to "My Hidden Phobia", I can't deny that it's a bad album, in fact it is a nice album. Okay, personally I do prefer the clean vocals above the brutal grunts, but about the songs, well these are very good compositions. The songs which, in my opinion, are the best, are "The Endless Void", "Behind The Mask", "What Lies Beyond", "Darkness In Daylight", "Choose Your Weapon" and "Last Horizon". For emo- and metalcore freaks absolutely worth checking out. | |||
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MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/myhiddenphobia |
78/100 |
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| NYA – Nya (MCD) | United Kingdom | April 2012 | Frans Neelen |
| Style: Alternative Metal | Running time: 15:33 (Tracks: 4) | ||
| Nya from London UK was formed in 2008 and play a mixture of melodic hardrock/metal with an alternative/nu-metal touch. Heavy grooves alternate with more mainstream rock and it all sounds pretty good. Anezka Piska's vocals could use a bit more variety but that's only a matter of time. The four tracks are quite good and listen away easily. They all have that rocking feeling supported by crunchy, heavy grooves and sometimes male vocals like in the faster “The Beckoning”. This 4 track makes curious to catch this band live; the tracks scream for playing loud and live. I think they kick ass because it all grooves and hooks like hell. “Fall of Man” is the last track and invites to push the repeat button. Promising newcomer from the UK. Should make a fine line up when they would team up with the awesome Die So Fluid for a tour. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.nyaofficial.com
Recordlabel: http://www.skratchthesurface.co.uk MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/nyametal |
73/100 |
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| ON TOP – Top Heavy (CD) | USA | April 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Heavy Metal | Running time: 46:54 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| ON TOP is a 3 piece Metal band, and exists of Jaron Gulino (vocals, bass), Alex Kulick (guitar, backing vocals) and Danny Piselli (drums). I didn't get any biography of the band with this CD, so I can't tell you when ON TOP was formed. Well, I looked at the band's MySpace page, and couldn't find much info about them as well, I only saw they are from Downington, Philadelphia, U.S.A.. Anyway, this album, which is released by Horror Pain Gore Death Productions, is the debut album of ON TOP and features eleven tracks. I have listened to "Top Heavy" several times, but could not get impressed each time. These guys can absolutely play their instruments well, no doubt about it, only the level of the songs is very moderate. Really, there is not one song on this album that I find entirely good. And lyrically, some parts are repeated too much. Although "Top Heavy" features very moderate songs, I have to admit that the CD is very well provided. The booklet has a picture of each member and the lyrics in it, but the album cover is, by the way, most striking of all. The album cover shows us a young lady, all dressed in black, sitting on a red couch, and showing a bit of her boobs. But that's not enough of course, because it's all about the music, and not about a pretty lady on a cover. Anyway, one of the songs on "Top Heavy" is titled "Sick And Tired", and to be honest, I'm getting sick and tired of this weak album. The production of this CD, which was done by Carson Slovak, is okay. Well, with such moderate album, ON TOP never will be on top of the metal scene, that's for sure. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.horrorpaingoredeath.tk MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/bandontop |
67/100 |
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| PANCHRYSIA – Massa Damnata (CD) | Belgium | April 2012 | Dennis van Dommelen |
| Style: Black Metal | Running time: 47:38 (Tracks: 7) | ||
| In about twelve years of recording and releasing music I'd have to say that “Massa Damnata” is the finest hour of the Belgian conjurer Panchrysia. Surpassing not only their former album “Deathcult Salvation” in quality but everything else. It's also an album that again sounds a little bit different from their other ones. On the other hand its not an album that exactly deviates in the pure black metal parts from bands like Watain and Ofermod it just handles everything that much better than on their past releases, from the blazing tangle of melodies to the occult atmosphere being wrought from the lyrics, orchestral segues, and the practiced implementation of variation between tracks to that this doesn't come off as another ribald blast-fest to nowhere. This is also not some overproduced mass, but a pretty thinly sliced selection of ingredients which work wonders in tandem. The drumming is dead accurate whether the band is blasting or reducing itself to an atmospheric crawl, and there are so many melodies present that the album becomes a matrix of near-complexity. The bass is clearly audible and so has an own identity. The lyrics are largely self-centered examinations of both the spiritual interior and the cosmos. Handling the basic Nietschzian lessons and crushing the Christian morality. From the opener “The Praise of Folly” to last song “The Curtain of Darkness and Death” this some really good melodic black metal quallity that deserves to be heard. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.panchrysia.be
Recordlabel: http://www.metalzone.be MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/panchrysia |
79/100 |
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| SEITA – Asymmetric Warfare (CD) | Brazil | April 2012 | Robin van Tilburg |
| Style: Thrash / Death Metal | Running time: 44:48 (Tracks: 10) | ||
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When you live in Holland, it's possible that you've seen this band on one or more occasions at a concert or festival. The band members are originating from Brazil, but live in Amsterdam for a couple of years now. My first acquaintance with Seita was, off course, at a live show and soon thereafter I purchased their demo 'Imprint Forever.' I remember to be very fond of this record because of the energy and aggression. They've managed to capture the live intensity on the record. Therefore I was pleasantly surprised to receive their first full length 'Asymmetric Warfare' that has just been released through SAOL (check their website, it's an interesting concept). The album is a logical follow up to the 'Imprint Forever' demo, however the band grew a lot in terms of variety and song structures. The songs still contain the aggression and energy, but are much more balanced now, resulting in an interesting album that can hold you attention the entire time. The mixture of thrash/death metal works well within this four piece metal band. Good examples of this are 'The Awakening' and 'Know your Enemies.' Based on the approximately twelve times I've listened to 'Asymmetric Warfare', I didn't discover any instant classics yet, but overall the band has a very nice album to tour on. The music will do great during a live show, which is still their strongest aspect. Make sure to check them out! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.seitaofficial.com
Recordlabel: http://www.saol-music.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/seitaofficial |
75/100 |
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| SERPENT SAINTS – All Things Metal (CD) | Denmark | April 2012 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: Heavy Power Metal | Running time: 44:23 (Tracks: 9) | ||
| Danish ensemble Serpent Saints debuted in 2008 with the mini cd “Leather Lucifer”. It was a very energetic debut, dedicated to the vintage metal sound of the early 80s. It took the band almost 4 years to come up with a full length debut and the main problem was that the guys had to overcome the institutionalization of the vocalist who was facing some major mental issues. They started recording the album and had the idea of inviting several vocalists to do guest appearances but in the end they decided that Soren Adamsen, current vocalist of the legendary cult thrash act Artillery, was the right guy for the entire album. “All Things Metal” is a vintage heavy metal album with a N.W.O.B.H.M. touch, influenced primarily by non other than the mighty Mercyful Fate. There are also some speed metal references and the album manages to sound rather fresh without being a copy like so many other bands during the last few years… | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.facebook.com/officialserpentsaints
Recordlabel: http://www.emanesmetalrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/officialserpentsaints |
75/100 |
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| SIMONE TERIGI – Rock Meditations (CD) | Italy | April 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Rock | Running time: 45:18 (Tracks: 7) | ||
| In October 2011 I reviewed the album "Visions From Cosmos 11" of Italian band LUCID DREAM, and I was really surprised by that album. Guitarist of LUCID DREAM, Simone Terigi, has released his first solo album, titled "Rock Meditations", all by himself in December of 2011. Well, it's a complete instrumental album, and it sounds totally different than what he does with LUCID DREAM. Because on LUCID DREAM's "Visions From Cosmos 11" album, Terigi sounds more like JOE SATRIANI. Anyway, for this solo album, Terigi got help from Nicola Paoli (cello) and Davide Zalaffi (percussions). "Rock Meditations" is not a very heavy album, in fact, the seven songs which are on it are all very quiet with beautiful guitar passages and solos. The songs on "Rock Meditations" are titled "Sea Notes" (10:03), "The Bells Of Awakening" (5:09), "Lardee" (6:09), "Astral Memories" (2:31), "The Heart's Home" (10:31), "Into The Future" (4:48) and "Destiny" (6:04), and all these songs give a pretty soothing feeling. You also could say that this music comes very close to ambient-like music, and is also perfect to listen to during a romantic diner. One thing is for sure, Terigi is a very talented and excellent guitarist. The first part of "The Heart's Home" we hear Simone play the mandolin, and half way the song it turns into electric guitar again. Sometimes it also reminds me of PINK FLOYD a bit. What can I say more about this album, although it's not heavy, it is a very beautiful instrumental easy listening album. Guitar freaks should check this fantastic album out. My favorite tracks are "Sea Notes" and "Lardee". | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.simoneterigi.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/simoneterigi |
79/100 |
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| SONIQ THEATER - Overnight Sensation (CD) | Germany | April 2012 | Jordy Brouwers |
| Style: Symphonic / Electronic Progressive Music | Running time: 52:39 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Last year, the album Force Majeur was my first acquaintance with Soniq Theater, the one-man project of Alfred Mueller from Stuttgart (Germany). With the release of Overnight Sensation, Mueller`s has released his twelfth album. Or, according to his own words: the dozen is full! Last year, I assigned 68 points to Force Majeur but at the same time, I had some criticism. This new album shows in my opinion nothing new and this is a disappointment for me. I miss inspiration; the music is all quite the same. Unfortunately I have not so much inspiration to write an inspiring review of this album too. However, if you are still interested in heavy keyboard orientated music, check Soniq Theater`s website. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.soniqtheater.de
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/soniqtheater |
58/100 |
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| SPIRES – Spiral of Ascension (CD) | United Kingdom | April 2012 | Robin van Tilburg |
| Style: Prog Metal | Running time: 65:15 (Tracks: 8) | ||
| Spires is a progressive metal band from England and their debut album 'Spiral of Ascension' was originally released in 2010. It took a while before the album reached the office of MMM, but I'm glad it did eventually. This album deserves international attention. It consists of eight songs, which last between three and fifteen minutes, which is often the case in this genre. Album opener 'Euilibrium' starts with a riff that immediately illustrates the potential of this band. Not just technically, because there is no doubt that the members are skilled musicians. No, they manage to create song structures that grow on you, like the epic 'Broken Hourglass', 'Symmetry' or the title track. The songs are well balanced and especially the accessible vocals, doomy atmosphere and guitar melodies give the songs a lot of depth. The lyrics, accompanied by the music, creates a dark and beautiful atmosphere. The artwork is therefore very suitable. With 'Spiral of Ascension' the band has delivered a very professional album with an excellent production. I therefore was very surprised that this band is not signed yet. And based on the other reviews I've read on this album, I'm not alone in this. If you dig qualitatively good progmetal, make sure you check out Spires. They deserve it! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.spiresband.co.uk
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/spiresmetal |
85/100 |
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| TEMPLE – Structures in Chaos (CD) | The Netherlands | April 2012 | Kees Schijven |
| Style: Death Metal | Running time: 37:53 (Tracks: 9) | ||
| Temple is a brutal death metal band started once by A.J. van Drenth (Beyond Belief) and Rachel Heyzer (ex-Sinister) from the Netherlands. This is the debut album of Temple, filled with the most extreme and brutal death metal, comparable to bands like Hate Eternal and Morbid Angel, but with their own unique ingredients. Rachel is no longer a part of Temple due to family life circumstances, and the recording line up consists of; A.J. van Drenth on guitar and vocals, Michiel Dekker ( The Monolith Deathcult) on bass and Eric de Windt (ex-Destroyer 666) on drums. Also a lot of vocal guest contributions from Marloes (Izegrim), Stephan Gebedi (Thanatos, Hail of Bullets), Masae (Debt of Nature), Sonja and Sven (Dictated) and Michiel Dekker. This is absolutely a very fast and brutal death metal album, very well done and extremely tight played. Temple really done an excellent job in creating their own sound of extremity. This is Brutal with a capital B, without losing eye for technicalities, and some great vocal duties with a load of guest vocals as before mentioned. Get blown away by 'Rituals of Marduk' and 'The Algol Planet' or 'Cover Her in Blood' all quality death metal songs, makes me wonder how they will do live on stage and Temple will enter the stage this year with a special live line up consisting of A.J. van Drenth, Eric de Windt and Erwin Harreman (Supreme Pain). No weak points on this debut album, if you like it Brutal and Extreme you might not wanna miss this band, Temple is the name! | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.non-serviam-records.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/templeprojectofficial |
86/100 |
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| THE LOVING TONGUE – Shadows of Innocence (CD) | Australia | April 2012 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: Hard Rock | Running time: 76:03 (Tracks: 14) | ||
| This band with the rather strange name originates from Adelaide, Australia. This is my first contact with them although they exist since the early nineties and have released 3 full length cds and a mini cd. “Shadows of Innocence” is not that fresh since it was released in 2009 but wouldn't reach MMM till now. I don't think I can qualify the band's music as heavy metal. It is somewhat heavy (the “Marching On” tune for example) but the hard rock element dominates the album. I guess it could fall under the Hard 'n' Heavy label. It is quite reminiscent of Uriah Heep though. Don't get me wrong but this could easily qualify as a Heep album. The vocals, the keyboards, the songs, everything yells Heep to my ears. And since I am a Heep fan I enjoyed this record. Nothing fancy but quite enjoyable. The only negative thing is that it lasts a staggering 76 minutes! With the omission of 2-3 songs the album would function in a much better way. | |||
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MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thelovingtongue |
71/100 |
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| THE MARY MAJOR – Grinding Teeth, Guard Down (CD) | Sweden | April 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Metal / Rock | Running time: 41:24 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| In March of 2010 I reviewed the debut album "04:13" of Swedish band THE MARY MAJOR, which got 80 out of 100 points. Now the band is back with their second album "Grinding Teeth, Guard Down", and was released in January 2012 on the band's own label TMM Productions. THE MARY MAJOR still exists of Lotta Höglin (vocals), Erik Molarin (vocals), Daniel Elofsson (guitar), Jörgen Ström (bass) and Jonas Strömberg (drums). The band, which originated of BESEECH in 2006, recorded eleven tracks for this second album in their own studio. Just like on the debut album, also on "Grinding Teeth, Guard Down" the band reminds me very much of THE SISTERS OF MERCY, but this time you can also hear some METALLICA influences. Like I also wrote in my review of "04:13", the combination of male and female vocals works perfect. If you are already familiar with the band's debut album, then you know that every song is sung together by Höglin and Molarin. To me, the dark voice of Molarin reminds me of Andrew Eldritch (THE SISTERS OF MERCY). To be honest, I like most of the songs, but there are also some less songs on this second album. The last track of this album, "Anxious", is even pretty boring. The songs which I like the most of "Grinding Teeth, Guard Down" are "Letter To Myself", "Ahead Of You", "Without Sequel", "High On Demand", "Visitors", "Basement" and "Backfire". Well, "Grinding Teeth, Guard Down" is not a spectacular album, just a nice one to listen to now and then. If you are interested, check it out yourself. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.themarymajor.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/themarymajor |
76/100 |
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| TORMENTOR – Violent World (CD) | Germany | April 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Speed / Thrash Metal | Running time: 42:36 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| This Speed-, Thrash Metal band TORMENTOR comes from Guben, Germany and was formed in 2006 by Max Seipke. When he formed TORMENTOR, Max was only 12 years old. Wow, respect for that. In 2008 TORMENTOR had released their first and only demo "Lesson In Aggression". Now, TORMENTOR is back with their first full length album "Violent World". The line-up on this album exists of Max Seipke (vocals, lead guitar), and newcomers Kevin Hauch (rhythm guitar), Christian Heiko Schomber (bass) and Thomas Wedemeyer (drums). Well, this debut album "Violent World" is my first acquaintance with TORMENTOR, and I must say it was a nice acquaintance. These guys play old school Speed-, Thrash Metal like in the eighties, and to me, the band reminds me very much of early KREATOR. They even recorded the KREATOR cover "Tormentor" (from the "Endless Pain" (1985) album), which is the last track on "Violent World" and is a nice version. Okay, it all sounds not that original, and not all the songs on this album are even strong, but this band really has potential. The band exists of good musicians, and Max's voice fits perfect for this type of music. The album starts with an intro, simply titled "Intro", but takes in my opinion a bit too long. Also I don't like the intro of "Speaks Your Testament" very much, the rest of that song is okay. Anyway, the best songs on "Violent World" for me are "Black Area", "The Hidden Beholder", "Annihilation Of Life" and "Suicide Commander". Well, "Violent World" is a nice debut album. Not very original and spectacular, but any old school Thrash fanatic should check this album out. So, if you are interested in this album, check Iron Shield's web-store. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.ironshield-records.de MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/tormentorthrash |
77/100 |
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| TRIXTER – New Audio Machine (CD) | USA | April 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Hardrock / Hair Metal | Running time: 43:38 (Tracks: 11) | ||
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Trixter was founded in 1983 and as a New Jersey club circuit band Trixter shared the stage with state fellow musicians Skid Row, Glen Burtnik and Bon Jovi. In 1990 the band was signed by Mechanix / MCA and their debut album, released in May 1990, was a real killer and a big sell out. It became a 1990 top 30 album and the singles “” Give it to me good”, “Once in a million” and “Surrender” became very popular on MTV and Rock Radio stations. Trixter delivered some tracks for the movie soundtracks “If looks could kill” and “The white knuckle scorin'- Nintendo-movie” in the last months of 1991.
Their follow-up album “Hear “was released in 1992, but the musical climate began to change. Grunge music became very popular and the hair-metal bands didn't gain that much success and sales anymore. “Hear” became very popular in Japan and Germany, but on a worldwide scale it didn't reach the sale-level of the debut album. Trixter toured with Kiss, Poison and Warrant to promote their second album but in 1993 it was all over. MCA dropped the band and a cover - EP ( named “Undercovers”) on the “Backstreet –label” didn't help the band. After the headline –America- tour Trixter decided to quit the business. Thirteen years later the band was brought to life again by the original members. A reunion tour in Japan was successful and the band has released a “Live in Japan” album and a “best of” compilation since then. In 2009 Trixter toured with Dokken, Boston and Poison and many rockfans could see that the band was alive and kicking again. Frontiers, the Italian melodic rock label , signed the band and Trixter's new opus: “New audio machine” is in my cd player. And I'm very happy with it. The songs have that hair-metal-accent from the '80 of the former century, the vocals (by Pete Loran) are amazing and the guitars of Steve Brown are very prominent in the mix of the record. The rhythm section( P.J.Farley and Gus Scott) is tight and the production is thick, sleazy and with a lot of attitude. Rachel Bolan (of Skid Row fame) and Glen Burtnik (former Styx band member and a fantastic singer – songwriter) helped the band with some songs. For the fans of eighties' rock “New audio machine “will be a feast of recognition. Fans of Skid Row will recognise “Walk with a stranger “ a former demo of this band, written by Dave Sabo and Rachel Bolan. “New audio machine” starts with an acoustic prelude and a vocal warming up, but when the big guitars make their appearance Trixter is firing their guns! The ballad “Live for the day” marks the easy-listening breather of the album. Some songs soun da little similar, one-dimensional, but that's the only critical remark towards this comeback album! Trixter will start their US Comeback Tour with Warrant and special guests Firehouse and Dokken in May this year. It will be a great party seeing all these guys on stage. There's one thing for sure: Trixter is back, back with a vengeance! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.trixterrocks.com
Recordlabel: http://www.frontiers.it MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/trixterrocks |
88/100 |
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| TYKETTO – Dig in Deep (CD) | USA | April 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Melodic Hardrock | Running time: 46:44 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Every melodic rocker should know the debut album of Tyketto: “Don't come easy “is an instant classic, every song is a winner, Danny Vaughn (former Waysted singer) and Brooke St. James (guitars) are the absolute protagonists on this gem and the Richie Zito production rules the game! After their monster album Tyketto toured with Whitesnake and Bon Jovi. The second album of Tyketto had some delay: Their label ( Geffen) dropped the band and CMC International / Music for Nations picked up the release almost four years after their debut. “Strength in numbers” was a solid album as well, but when grunge music changed the musical climate the hopes of a big breakthrough for Tyketto began to recede. Super vocalist Danny Vaughn left the band to take care after his wife who had developed cancer. His follow up Steve Augieri (of Tall Stories, he became a Journey vocalist later) brought in a more late '70, balladesque atmosphere that didn't suit the band very well. An album with live takes and demos was released ( “Take out and served up Live “) , but it was the swan song for Tyketto. Danny Vaughn, Jamie Scott (bass player for Tyketto from 1992) and Michael Clayton (drums) would reunite in the band Vaughn. Vaughn released a couple of albums that were good, but the shadow and the greatness of the first two albums of Tyketto was never touched. In 2007 the Tyketto- members rejoined and (again) an album with demos, outtakes and alternate versions of the Tyketto classics was released. More concerts followed and Tyketto began to record some demos for a new album at the end of 2009. That wasn't easy: Brooke St. James is a Las Vegas inhabitant, Danny Vaughn lives in Spain, and Michael Clayton, original bass player Jimi Kennedy and Bobby Lynch (keyboards) are New Jersey-musicians. The exchange of demos took a while and finally the demos had become songs for the new Tyketto record : Dig in Deep. And the result? Well, melodic rock fans could be relieved. “Dig in deep” is a solid album with sentiments of the magical debut album (“Sound off”, “Monday”, “The fight left in me”, “Faithless”), melodic acoustic based stuff (“Battle lines”, “Love to love”) and ballads with a rich atmosphere (“This is how we say goodbye”). Danny Vaugn is the absolute star of the album, his typical vocal approach hasn't got that super high pitch and power anymore, but what a classy, strong vocalist he is. The guitars sound good and tasteful, the production is fair, but a little more heavy approach could have given the album more “balls”. “Dig in deep' is the third chapter of Danny Vaughn in Tyketto, I'm glad melodic rockers can hear some good quality of music from this band. “Dig in deep” isn't the new legend album “Don't come easy” , but the album marks a fair comeback of a great melodic band. Frontiers will release this album at the end of April. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.tyketto.de
Recordlabel: http://www.frontiers.it MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/tykettomusic |
85/100 |
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| WARBEAST REMAINS – Stronghold (CD) | Belgium | April 2012 | William Nijhof |
| Style: Old School Death Metal | Running time: 45:08 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Warbeast Remains is a young and new death metal band from Belgium that brings you total devastation. They released a demo in 2009 and this is their debut album “ Stronghold” released by Shiver records. 10 tracks of pure old school death metal. The guitar riffs are heavy and in vein of the 90`s. The drums are straight in your face and groovy. The vocals are deep grunts with a raw twist. The songs are filled with variety and got a lot of banging parts in it. The production of this album is also exactly what you want to hear. Is this original? No, but this album grooves and listens very easy away (well done). If you like bands like old Benediction, Entrails or the first Six Feet Under then you should give it a try! | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.metalzone.be/shiver.php
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/warbeastdeathmetal |
70/100 |
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| WOLFCRUSHER – Virgin Tapestry (CD) | United Kingdom | April 2012 | William Nijhof |
| Style: Melodic Death Metal | Running time: 35:40 (Tracks: 7) | ||
| Wolfcrusher from the UK brings you melodic death metal with a very easy listening feeling. This is their debut album and sounds really good! 7 songs of well executed melodic death metal. The gitar riffs are heavy and they are filled with melody and solos. The drums are technical and progressive abut also have a very stewing groove in it. The vocals are light screams that sometimes reminds me a bit of Carcass and the grunts are deep and evil. The variety of the songs are also straight in your face but and makes you listen to all the songs because this is really groovy and heavy. You got death metal with a lot of melody and you can also hear some stoner in it! Well not everything can be positive, I do not like the clean vocals, but that is a question of taste. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.wolfcrusher.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/wolfcrusher |
78/100 |
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| WORMHOLE – The String Theory (CD) | Italy | April 2012 | Frans Neelen |
| Style: Alternative Metal | Running time: 43:21 (Tracks: 9) | ||
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This Wormhole comes from Italy and was formed in 2003. After a promo cd in 2004 and the 2006 4 track ep “Longing for Darkness” this full length “The String Theory” is their third attempt to get attention in the over flooded genre of rock/alternative with female vocals. “The String Theory” is a concept album in which the subjects of all nine tracks can be referred to two main themes: the inner trip and the trip through the cosmos. For this reason they decided to divide the album into two parts corresponding to two sides of old vinyl albums: “Inner side” and “Cosmic side”. Musically there's no really a difference between this dividing parts. Wormhole rocks pretty well. Musically it's all in good order; the band plays tight; the songs listen away very easily and sometimes they are pretty dark qua atmosphere. Nothing really wrong with this record; descent, rocking, good production, musically skilled, pretty good vocals etc. The songs should show a bit more versatility to lift this band and album up to the next level. Sometimes they sound a bit flat. Nevertheless promising enough to make their way up and lift their heads above the average level. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.wormhole.it
Recordlabel: http://www.ladymusicrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/wormholepostdark |
72/100 |
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| XANDRIA – Neverworld's End (CD) | Germany | April 2012 | Frans Neelen |
| Style: Symphonic Gothic Metal | Running time: 63:48 (Tracks: 12) | ||
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Beng !!! What, the hell ! Now that's what I call a more then pleasant surprise. Xandria is back with a bang and leaves me completely speechless. I have always been a fan of Xandria because they had an own sound and they were capable of combining power, strong vocals and heavy interludes into catchy songs. “Ravenheart” and especially “India” with powerful tracks like “Fight Me” and the superb creepy “Black and Silver” are undervalued albums.
“Salomé; The Seventh Veil” was, despite the strong “Vampire” a bit sweet but live they always convinced; also because singer Lisa Middelhauve sung some tracks much creepier and heavier than on the albums, giving them a surprising touch. But Lisa left the band and the only thing I thought was, damn, another good band flushes away down the drain …. Until I got the chance to review this new example of, shall I say Xandria 2.0 ? “ A Prophecy of Worlds to Fall” immediately blows me away, leaving me rather confused. Is this really the same band ? What an overwhelming power ! This combines the best of the Nightwish Tarja era. The whole album breathes that orchestral, symphonic bombast with operatic vocals. Speaking of those, new vocalist Manuela Kraller sets the tone here and does a splendid job. No comparisons with Lisa can be made, because they're totally different. Manuela however is the right person for this newborn Xandria that demolishes everything they have made before. What a bunch of symphonic power metal this album gives you. Hard, heavy pounding, dark, yet melodic and catchy, indeed like the first Nightwish albums, that's unmistakable, but wow, what a splendid job they do here. “Euphoria”, “Valentine”, “Forevermore” are the catchy, dreamy tracks, “A Thousand Letters” and “The Dream is Still Alive” the beautiful, tearjerkers; in “The Call of the Wind” and “The Nomads Crown” we have the folky epics and the rest …. Well, the superb monstrous good ones are yet to mention. “Blood on my Hands” rocks like hell and that leaves us to the all superlative “Soulcrusher” and “Cursed”. Please, please wake me up for this kind of stuff. Heavy, dark, pounding they pulverise everything I've heard in symphonic metal until now. Xandria has set a new standard here. I don't know who has been responsible for kicking Xandria's asses, but he or she deserves a statue, Hopefully they are capable of performing this live. If they do, then Xandria has everything to become the next big thing in symphonic metal. Stunning album and a must have for everyone ! Press that repeat button again and enjoy! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.xandria.de
Recordlabel: http://www.napalmrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/xandria |
94/100 |
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| AFTER ALL – Becoming the Martyr (MCD) | Belgium | March 2012 | Mario van Dooren |
| Style: Thrash / Power Metal | Running time: 19:09 (Tracks: 5) | ||
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Again an After All release; after 7 full length albums the band also release their 7th EP so far! Im not going to tell you anything about the bands biography because I reviewed nearly every album/EP they released during the last years. Especially since singer Sammy Peleman and bassplayer Frederik Vanmassenhove (ex-Aborted) joined the After All ranks the band attracts my attention a lot. This band can compete with EVERY US thrashmetal band these days! I was always complaining about Sammy's predecessor Piet Focroul because he was a very moderate singer. Well with Sammy taking the helm this band has a bright future if you ask me! Again a marvellous EP with excellent songs and superb musicianship! Im a FAN!! Check them out; you wont regret it!! This EP was produced by Dan Swano and contains 3 new songs and 2 re-recordeD songs from their latest full length CD “Cult of Sin”. Hope they release a new full length soon! I cant hardly wait! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.afterall.be
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/afterallmetal |
95/100 |
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| ANGELINE – Disconnected (CD) | Sweden | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: AOR / Melodic Hard Rock | Running time: 52:58 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| In September of 2010 I reviewed ANGELINE's debut album "Confessions" (2010). Although the band exists since 1987, that album was my first acquaintance with ANGELINE, and it was a very nice acquaintance, because I liked that album very much, and still do. Anyway for more information about these Swedish melodic rockers, see my review of "Confessions". Now, the band is back with their second album, "Disconnected", which again has been released by Avenue Of Allies records. And just like "Confessions" also this new album "Disconnected" is a fantastic melodic Rock album. The line-up of ANGELINE still exists of Jocke Nilsson (vocals, guitar), Janne Arkegren (guitar), Uffe Nilsson (bass) and Tobbe Jonsson (drums). Also "Disconnected" is, just like "Confessions", produced by Jocke Nilsson and sounds excellent. There is just nothing negative to mention about "Disconnected", because the level of the songs is very high. And like I said in my review of "Confessions", besides being a producer, guitarist and songwriter, Jocke is a fantastic singer. He sounds very much like Jon Bon Jovi. And that's why the band reminds me very much of BON JOVI. In the title track, there's even the line 'It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not' (of BON JOVI's "Livin' On A Prayer"). This album, which is very accessible, features a few ballads ("Found" and "In Times Like These"), and the rest of the tracks are fantastic solid melodic rock songs. I like all songs very much, but some favorites are "When The Lights Go Down", "Falling Into You", the catchy "Take A Little Time", the superb "I Had Enough", "Run Run Run", "Disconnected" and "First Time Around". My conclusion is, that this second album of ANGELINE is again a real recommendation for all lovers of fantastic melodic Hard Rock. Great band. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.angelinetheband.se
Recordlabel: http://www.avenue-of-allies.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/angelinetheband |
85/100 |
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| ANGELWITCH – As Above, So Below (CD) | United Kingdom | March 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: NWOBHM | Running time: 35:40 (Tracks: 8) | ||
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Angelwitch was one of the great bands that started the New Wave of British Heavy Metal in 1978. The South London based band drew the attention of EMI Records, delivered one song on the legendary Metal for Muthas album and their first single (Sweet danger) was a small hit. But the EMI- record-deal didn't took place. The small Bronze label released their first offspring on vinyl and this first Angelwitch-album is an instant classic. Kevin Heybourne's unique guitarsound, his typical lyrics, his sharp voice and most of all the songs shined on this album. After the release of an EP Angelwitch stopped in 1981 and the reincarnations in the mid-eighties of the former century were not successful. Heybourne left the UK and he tried to start a band in the US. At the beginning of this century Kevin Heybourne returned to Beckenham (Kent) and he picked up his job again (i.e. taking care of injured trees). A serious accident made him lose his job and that was the epiphany moment. Kevin knew what he had to do: Revitalize his love and passion for rock music. Kevin tried to revamp Angelwitch again and now on the Suburban / Rise Above-label their opus 'As above, so below' will be released in March. And the music? Well, Kevin knows how to fire his classic guns! This record has a retro-feeling and most of the songs are very reminiscent to the NWOBHM-sound. They're compact, fast, heavy and the guitars / vocals are very recognizable. Kevin and his fellow musician's didn't look at trends, the fashion songs and the modern rock music. The songs mark the early start of Angelwitch. The production by Jamie Gomez Arellano is very thick, dry and speedy. The drum sound is even fantastic (not a surprise, just before taking care of productional matters in his Orgone Studios, Colombian Jamie Gomez Orellano was a very creative drummer). As a surprise Kevin brought back four songs from the heydays of Angelwitch (for example “Guillotine” and “Into the dark” were part of their live sets in the mid-eighties of the former century). This new Angelwitch' album doesn't overshadow their iconic debut album, but it's a mighty fine comeback for sure! Angelwitch has plans to play at some festivals and a smaller venue-tour is in the can as well. Welcome back, boys! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.en-gb.facebook.com/angelwitchofficial
Recordlabel: http://www.riseaboverecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/youranangelwitch |
83/100 |
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| A SOUND OF THUNDER - Out of the Darkness (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Michel van Hassel |
| Style: Heavy Metal | Running time: 61:41 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Guitarist Josh Schwartz and drummer Chris Haren founded this Washington DC based band in 2008. In the years following the start vocalist, Nina Osegueda and bass- and keyboards player Jesse Keen completed the band. So far, they released an EP, a charity single and a full-length self-produced album. Kevin “131” Gutierrrez produced this second full-length album. A Sound Of Thunder's music is based on the 70' and 80' metal, but then of course, updated to modern standards. At the beginning of the album, there are some scary sounds. Very soon after that, the doomy guitar sound takes over followed by the powerful but clear fantastic voice of front woman Osegueda. This first track, “The Day I Die”, lasts eight minutes and thirty-one seconds and so throughout this song A Sound Of Thunder has plenty of time to show their musical qualities. According to the label this release is for fans of Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Deep Purple, Blue Oyster Cult, Dio, Accept, Rainbow, Ozzy, Hammerfall, Primal Fear and Sabaton. As one can see, most of these bands have their roots in the 70's and 80's. Some are a bit older and some are a bit younger but they are all linked to decent traditional heavy metal. A big difference compared to the other bands is the presence of a lead female singer. The second song, “The Nightwitch” is a scary song with all kind of spooky noises that gives you a horror feeling. The next track, “Kill That Bitch”, which is a nice song-title by the way, is with it's almost four minutes the shortest track on this album and is just plain heavy metal. “Murderous Horde” is a very heavy track with a lot of power. The next song is similar to the band's name and is a song filled with lots of great music. To me this is one of my favourite tracks on this album. Following this fifth track, it is time for the title-track on which Osegueda screams like an air-horn. There are also some deformed vocals on this track. This is a typical fast heavy metal song. The structure is great with of course some beautiful guitar soloing while the rest of the band pushes on. By the way, this woman is a real powerhouse. One of the longer tracks is “Calat Alhambra”. Osegueda sounds more like an opera or gothic singer at the beginning and in the middle of the song. The tempo goes up and down on the song that again includes magnificent guitar playing by Schwartz and superb singing by Osegueda. “Calat Alhambra” also has some Spanish vocals and guitars to it. On “Fight Until The End” there is a driving rhythm section completed by the overwhelming vocals of Osegueda. Schwartz also delivers big time on this song. “This Too Shall Pass” starts very quietly with Osegueda singing very passionately accompanied by some very modest guitar playing and keyboards. This is a real down-to-earth-song. The last track, “Discovery” also starts with some acoustic guitars but very fast, the tempo goes up and this song turns into another heavy metal song with all its great ingredients. Towards the end of the song again there is a very quiet part combined with some great guitar playing. This release is a great example how exciting traditional heavy metal can be. The songs are great; the band is superb but what about to say about Nina Osegueda. The only thing I can think about is: SHE RULES!!!! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.asoundofthunderband.com
Recordlabel: http://www.nightmarerecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/asoundofthunderband |
88/100 |
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| BEEHLER – Messages to the Dead (CD) | Canada | March 2012 | Mario van Dooren |
| Style: Thrash / Speed Metal | Running time: 38:40 (Tracks: 11) | ||
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BEEHLER? Does it sound familiar? Yes, indeed! Drummer/Vocalist Dan Beehler was the figurehead of one of my all-time favorite bands; EXCITER! Especially during the time that he was in Exciter the band released several classic albums and for me “Heavy Metal Maniac” is still the best metal album ever! Not that it was all that technical; it simply was extreme heavy stuff for 1983!!! Dan Beehler also used to be one of my heroes; it's quite unique when a drummer is also the lead vocalist of the band. Well after his departure from Exciter it was years very quiet around his person. Several years ago he played for a while in a deathmetal band and he also released some demos with his own band called….BEEHLER. One of these demos was already reviewed on MMM in 2004 (see Archive CD/DVD Reviews)!! I was very positive about that demo in which also his old Exciter partner Allan Johnson was playing bass again. After some very good shows at the Headbangers Open Air festival in 2008 & 2011 I was so curious about the first full length of the band. Well, the more I was disappointed; an album that can't fulfil my expectations at all. Most of the songs are weak compositions; Dan is singing out of tune sometimes and production wise it's also very weak. And I don't even speak about the death grunts that uses to appear every now and then on the album. Sorry Dan; you're still one of my all-time heroes and live BEEHLER really kicks ass but this album has slipped up badly…. I listened the album about 15 times and still it cant convince me at all…hope next album will be much better or otherwise the band has to keep his focus on their live appearances (MMMeeting???) | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.beehlermetal.com
Recordlabel: http://www.hrrecords.de MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/beehlerheavymetal |
60/100 |
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| BLOWSIGHT – Shed Evil (MCD) | Sweden | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Alternative Rock / Metal / Punk / Emo / Pop | Running time: 20:15 (Tracks: 5) | ||
| Well, this 5 track EP "Shed Evil" (2011) is my first acquaintance with Swedish band BLOWSIGHT. This band, which, if I am right, was formed in 2003, released the following products so far: the demos "Reality" (2003) and "Only Time Will Tell" (2004) and the albums "Destination Terrorville" (2009) and "Dystopia Lane" (2010). Through the years, BLOWSIGHT did have several line-up changes, but the current line-up on this EP exists of Niklas "Nick Red" Fagerström (vocals, guitar), Serban "Seb" Carapancea (guitar, backing vocals), Mao Stridsman (bass, backing vocals) and Fabien "Fabz" Perreau (drums, backing vocals). Anyway, the band really surprised me with this EP. The catchy songs which are on this EP are "Magic Eight Ball", "The Girl & The Rifle", "The Sun Behind The Rain", "As Wicked As They Come" and "Live Die Surrender". These 5 songs are all very good compositions, and I'm sure this band will do very well among the young teenage generation metal freaks, punks (especially among teenage girls). The songs do sound very heavy but poppy as well. You can expect screaming vocals, grunts as well as clean melodic vocals. The band reminds me of a mixture of NICKELBACK, DESTINE, FALL OUT BOY and SIMPLE PLAN. For example, songs such as "The Sun Behind The Rain" and "As Wicked As They Come" do sound very much like NICKELBACK. Anyway, this is an interesting band and an excellent EP, which makes me very curious about the previous albums. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.blowsight.com
Recordlabel: http://www.fastball-music.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/blowsight |
79/100 |
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| COASTLAND RIDE – On Top of the World (CD) | Sweden | March 2012 | Jordy Brouwers |
| Style: AOR | Running time: 47:05 (Tracks: 11) | ||
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In the summer of 1997, three friends (who are musicians too) Mikael Bohlin (Keyboards and Guitars), Anders Rybank (Keyboards, Guitars and Bass) and Markus Nordenberg (Lead and Background Vocals) got together. They developed the idea to record and produce some songs they had written but not recorded yet. They did not want to focus on a specific style but their aim was to record songs with the best possible sound. Since they had all a different background, the music style became a mixture of AOR, “Westcoast Style” and Pop music. Their first album was released in 2003 at the German AOR Heaven label and was called “Coastland Ride”. Due to different circumstances, it took 9 years before the songs for the next alum (“On Top of the World”) was finished. In the fall of 2011, the band and the German record company Avenue of Allies started a partnership resulting in the release of “On Top Of The World”. Together with this release, their self-titled Coastland Ride album was re-released. “On Top of the World” was recorded at various studios in Sweden, produced by Coastland Ride and mixed by the band and Patrik Norman. The band was supported by several guest musicians. Jonas Ekström was in charge for mastering the CD as well as for re-mastering the debut cd. In my opinion the best songs are at the beginning of the album (Act of Faith) and at the end (Nail Me to the Cross). The songs in the middle are (a little bit) to poppy and superficial for me. These songs miss some spirit. During the song Strange Confusion, Coastland Ride uses a drum computer, this makes it quite clinical. This is a pity because the band shows that they are able to compose heavier and interesting AOR music too. The contribution of the guest musicians is good with sometimes nice surprises like the saxophone solo during “Second Chance”. With two albums released, Coastland Ride will now focus on releasing more new material. They have promised that it will take not another nine years before a new album is released. This is good news for the fans. I hope that they will make a more adventurous album and that they will not use a drum computer again! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.coastlandride.net Recordlabel: http://www.avenue-of-allies.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/coastlandride |
70/100 |
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| COMBAT – Age of Discord (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Kees Schijven |
| Style: Thrash Metal | Running time: 37:25 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Second album from COMBAT is out now, called 'Age of Discord', the follow up to 'Ruination' which I reviewed here in January 2008. And again only one problem with this album, and it's the same one as with their earlier one, it's too short! This is the true stuff, hardcore/crossover thrash metal like it was made in the old days, but without sounding old. The band plays fast and furious, while the vocals of Bob Eubank strongly remind of John Connely of Nuclear Assault in their early days, as their music does too by the way, but in a good sense. Where bands like Municipal Waste are new bands reviving the oldschool days of thrash, Combat does the same, but with a difference, they are from the oldschool days and prove it still works! Songs like 'Under the guise of terror', 'The cannibal cabal' or 'blessings from the dead saint' are all jewels of thrash if you know what I mean. Jeff and Rex Rossbach (Napalm) play as if their asses are on fire, while Bob complete's this perfectly, highly recommended and enjoyable for every thrash fan who also digs forementioned bands, support this band! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.deadfoot.com
Recordlabel: http://www.myspace.com/thatsheavyrecords |
88/100 |
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| CRIMES OF PASSION – To Die For (CD) | United Kingdom | March 2012 | Michel van Hassel |
| Style: Melodic Hard Rock | Running time: 62:18 (Tracks: 13) | ||
| After a debut-album that was released in 2008 this is Crimes of Passion's second effort. On this album the two new guitarists, Charles Staton and Harry Griffths can be heard as they replaced original guitarist Andy Lindsay. Still around are singer Dale Radcliffe and drummer Kev Tonge while Simon Fearn is playing the bass. The album is opened by “Be Still My Beating Heart”, which is a short but great instrumental track. “Body and Soul” is more a heavy rock song than a metal song. It is a catchy song with a good structure and it has a lot of variation in the song. The guitar playing is very controlled and the overall sound is great. This song sticks to your mind right away. The third track, “Blown Away” is available twice on this album. The first time as a single version and the second time as an album version. This is a mid-tempo song and the choice to release this song as a single is obvious as it has great vocals and some beautiful guitar playing on it. The fourth track, “Hell and Back” starts really heavy and has a great feel to it as the vocals stick to your mind right away. There is a heavy pounding vibe throughout the song combined with plenty of choruses. “I Dare You To Try” is a faster song but never without losing a great arrangement out of sight. Radcliffe excels on this track, that to me, is one of the highlights of the album. “Love Is To Die For” has part of the album-title included and is beautiful power ballad. Radcliffe sings the song in a very passionate and soulful way. Let us not forget the rest of the band as they put down a great piece of music. After a short acoustic intro, it is time for “Blackened Heart” that includes a guest appearance by Biff Byford (Saxon). Halfway the song there is some heavy riffing followed by great guitar soloing. What to say about “I Think I Can Save You” and “Dream Again”. These songs are yet another example of great and well- produced compositions. “Let The Punishment Fit The Crime”, which is a great song-title by the way, contains some deformed vocals. It is a fast heavy song with lots of power to it. “Sacrifice, No Question Why” has plenty of diversity in which the members of Crime of Passion can show what they are capable of. On “Accidents Happen, Even Here” it is Andy Deris (Helloween) who contributes to the song. Personally, I think the material is strong enough and there is no need to have other singers contribute except for the promotional value of it. The album's version of “Blown Away” ends the album. This is real mature, well-arranged and produced album. If you get a chance to see Crimes of Passion live, be sure to do so. They did a tour supporting Saxon in 2011 and they will be playing Wacken en Metalcamp, Slovenia in August 2012. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.copmusic.net
Recordlabel: http://www.theglobalmusicgroup.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/crimesofpassionrock |
85/100 |
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| CROM – Of Love and Death (CD) | Germany | March 2012 | Frans Neelen |
| Style: Epic / Melancholic Metal | Running time: 45:22 (Tracks: 8) | ||
| Crom is a grim and gloomy god, ever watching from atop his mountain in dark clouds and obscuring mists, ready to pass a disapproving judgment on any and all, but he is said to approve of courage and tenacity, even if the human is too frail to succeed. That is the Crom we now from Robert E. Howard's tales of Conan the Barbarian who's frase “By Crom' is even legendary as Conan himself. Walter “Crom” Grosse (ex-Dark Fortress) is the one man army behind this Crom who delivers his third album after bringing out the 2003 EP “The Fallen Beauty” and the full length “Vengeance” in 2008. So the man takes his time to deliver, but hey he does it all alone. Eight epic melancholic songs with strong, clear vocals are presented and that makes this a damn fine spherical, peace giving album. All the songs have that bleak, gloomy sphere that makes it epic and keeps the attention. Over all you can say it's a bit too much overall because sometimes it needs some more power. “My Destiny” is by far the best track but also “Reason to Live”, “Lifetime” and “Just One Blink” are worth taking your time listening. So if you expected music that would sound like the ultimate savage soundtrack for a Conan the Barbarian movie then this is going to disappoint you. But this Crom approves of courage and tenacity and that is enough to be worthy, by Crom! For those who appreciate depht and darkness in metal a fine album to lay back and enjoy. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.croms-revenge.com
Recordlabel: http://www.purelegend-records.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/cromsrevenge |
80/100 |
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| DARK EMPIRE – From Refuge to Ruin (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Michel van Hassel |
| Style: Progressive Metal | Running time: 60:35 (Tracks: 9) | ||
| This is New Jersey's Dark Empire's third release. The band consists of lead guitarist/ main songwriter Matt Moliti, who also uses his death vocals, new vocalist Brian Larkin, bass-player Randy Knecht and session-drummer Matt Graf. This is their follow-up to 2008's “Humanity Dethroned”. Right from the first tones, it is progressive metal at its best. “A Plague In The Throne Room” is a very fast song with a lot of grunting vocals succeeded by clear vocals, that sound a little bit like Russell Allen (Symphony-X). The total package makes this track very interesting. Towards the end of the song, Moliti lets his guitar do the talking. “Dreaming In Vengeance” has some Oriental sounds at the beginning of the song. Shortly after that, Moliti starts grunting and shredding his guitar big time. On to “The Crimson Portrait” that starts very quietly for a few seconds. It turns into a heavy pounding song with plenty of double bass accompanied by Larkin's powerful vocals. Moliti sings the second voice “death-style”. Overall this a bit slower track. The tempo goes up at “Dark Seeds Of Depravity”. The guitar riffing is a bit odd but the combination of both vocal-styles is great especially as Larkin himself also sings in different ways. This is a very heavy song with lots of screaming vocals and guitars while the rhythm-section is adrift. Now it is time for the title-track. The song builds up in a great way. The heaviness differs throughout the song, as are Larkin's vocals that sound from very emotional to very heavy. There is even some flute to be heard on this track. Halfway the song Moliti plays a fantastic guitar solo. This is not all, because Larkin shows his vocal qualities as he competes with Moliti for the number one spot. Track number six, “Lest Ye Be Judged” is played at high speed with all musicians going for it. All songs on this album clock above four minutes so there is plenty of time in the songs for a great arrangement. “What Men Call Hatred” and “Black Hearts Demise” are two of the shorter songs but even these songs are filled with lots of great musical ideas. The last track of the album is also the longest by far. These almost fourteen minutes, called “The Cleansing Fires”, result in a true epic song. The intro is very quiet with some acoustic guitars and Larkin singing very passionately. There is church-bell chiming just before the double-bass bombardment by Graf hits you in the face. Both singers fight a vocal-battle as they take turns at each other. Towards the middle, there are some organ-samples to be heard. All through the song, there are heavy parts but also beautiful controlled guitar solos. This is the best song on the album. The album ends when the church-bell chimes. According to Nightmare Records, fans of Nevermore, Symphony-X and Opeth will like this album. I like all of the above band and I agree but in the case of Opeth I would add, fans of the earlier Opeth albums, and for the fans of the other bands, keep in mind that there are quite some death vocals on this album. Anyway, just come over to Europe, for instance Progpower Europe in Baarlo and show us your live skills. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.nightmarerecords.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/darkempireband |
90/100 |
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| DEAD LABEL – Sense of Slaughter (CD) | Ireland | March 2012 | William Nijhof |
| Style: Metal Core / Death Metal | Running time: 45:34 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Dead Label started spreading their rage since 2008 and released an EP (self-release) in 2010. This is their full length debut. The first song is an instrumental intro and then the chaos begins. Heavy guitar riffs with a lot of progressive moves. The drums are also straight in your face. But then you get the vocals which are not so good performed. Bad grunts combined with a emo like scream that is definitely not my cup of tea. The composing of the songs are really in the style of bands like Lamb of God so that is a good thing. But the production of this album is not the best I ever heard. If you like bands like the one I mentioned you should give it a try! | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.risingrecords.org
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/deadlabelireland |
70/100 |
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| DIE HARD – Evil Always Return (CD) | Sweden | March 2012 | Mario van Dooren |
| Style: Death / Thrash Metal | Running time: 39:06 (Tracks: 12) | ||
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Late 2005 Harry (bass) formed a band with the intention of bringing the spirits of the past back to life. The goal was to play old-school thrash metal in the vein of Venom, Celtic Frost, Slayer, Exodus, Possessed, Sodom and At War. One year later, after many line-up changes, a band consisting of Harry, Hasse (guitar/vocals), Micke (guitar) and Nicke (drums) started rehearsing. In February 2007 Die Hard entered studio Hell for the recording of their debut-demo "Emissaries of the Reaper", which later on was released as a 7" EP by Germany's Anger of Metal records. IN 2008 the band had some line up changes. After a few months of intense rehearsing the trio entered Studio Blueflame to record the MCD "Evil Always Return. In august 2008 Die Hard signed to the Polish label AGONIA Records and released several releases on this label; "Nihilistic Vision" (2009), “Thrash Them All" (2010 and “Hatred's Black Flame" (2011). This release is not a new one; it's a compilation of the “Emissaries of the Reaper” demo, the “Evil Always Return” EP and as a bonus some rehearsal recordings. But nevertheless a very nice album for fans of the above mentioned bands. Check this album, and all their later releases, out!!! Oldschool to the bone!! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.diehard.se
Recordlabel: http://www.officialabyssrecords MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/diehardthrash |
75/100 |
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| DRAVEN – Mirror (CD) | Switzerland | March 2012 | Robin van Tilburg |
| Style: Hardrock | Running time: 38:36 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Draven has been part of the metalscene for over fourteen years and has released several albums. Their new album 'Mirror' is my first acquaintance with this duo from Switzerland. It the past, the band has frequently been labelled as 'Gothic Metal.' Based on the new record it's fair to say that in some parts these influences are still there, but overall the music is more straight forward (hard)rock with some metallic hooks. The band masters the craft of writing a compact, catchy and qualitative good song. Good examples of this are 'Perfect system,' 'Never be divided' and 'Clear my mind.' The verses are heavy while the choruses are subtle and mellow. Almost like a heavier version of 3 doors down of Creed, but definitely not as cheesy. In the heavier parts the band sometimes reminds me of Linkin Park. This mainly because of the vocal style. 'Mirror' has become an album the might be of interest to the (hard)rock enthusiast who digs easy to consume songs. The new material is not available on their MySpace yet, but their website should give you a good impression. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.draven.ch
Recordlabel: http://www.fastball-music.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/dravenscave |
68/100 |
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| ENDLESS PAIN – Chronicles of Death (CD) | Italy | March 2012 | William Nijhof |
| Style: Thrash / Death Metal | Running time: 46:10 (Tracks:11) | ||
| Endless Pain is active since 2001. After releasing 2 demos and 2 self-released albums; this is their 3rd album and it sounds a bit like a demo (in my opinion). Eleven tracks of death thrash metal that sound ravaging (if you listen through the production). The guitar riffs are thrash and progressive. The drums are technical and progressive but way to hard in the mix compared with the guitars. The vocals are screaming grunts. The composing of the songs are straight in your face and filled with variety. The only problem that I have is that the production is definitely not the best. But if you can listen through that then you can hear that this is a band that clearly knows how to play. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.endlesspain.it Recordlabel: http://www.nadirmusic.net MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/endlesspainband |
70/100 |
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| ENTRAILS – The Tomb Awaits (CD) | Sweden | March 2012 | Mario van Dooren |
| Style: Death Metal | Running time: 43:51 (Tracks: 12) | ||
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Entrails are a Swedish Deathmetal band that was originally already founded in 1991! After several years of playing and band member change overs the band quit in 1998. Eleven years later a resurrection was a fact! This is the bands second release so far and it's a damn good one; oldschool Swedish Deathmetal in the vein of bands like Entombed and Dismember. The band describes it as: - Entrails doesn't come with something new in style. - Entrails doesn't follow the death metal scene of today - Entrails does what the Swedish death metal did best 20 years ago; Simply playing pure old school Swedish death metal What more do I need to say?? Check them out if you're into oldschool Scandinavian Death Metal!! | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.fda-rekotz.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/entrailsreborn |
80/100 |
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| ENTRENCH – Inevitable Decay (CD) | Sweden | March 2012 | Kees Schijven |
| Style: Thrash Metal | Running time: 40:25 (Tracks: 8) | ||
| Entrench was formed in 2005 by Fredrik (Guitar, Vocals), Hannes (Guitar) and Victor (Drums). They recorded 2 unreleased demos in this line up, and in January 2007 Joel (Bass) joined in. The first demo they did release was called 'Into Oblivion' and was recorded in May 2007. During the summer of 2008 the 'Trails of Death' demo was recorded in Studio S116 in their home town Vasteras. Then Victor left the band in autumn 2008 and new drummer Gustafsson joined the band that winter. A fifth demo was recorded in 2009 and after that they got signed by Abyss records in 2010. They started recording their debut album of which this is the result! In the meantime Hannes left the band, and also Gustafsson left. Entrench plays oldschool thrash metal at it's best, with some early Death Metal influences executed at a neckbreaking speed according to their bio. Actually that says it all, great oldschool stuff with songs like 'As Dawn Breaks' or 'Into Oblivion' they can't go wrong, except for one thing! The only bad thing about this album is the production, it also sounds as if it is produced in the early eighties. This album has a really thin sound, and with a heavier, fatter production they would have scored at least ten points higher! Certainly nothing wrong with this band or their music, I just hope their next album will have a much better (read heavier) production, so they get the sound this music deserves. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.officialabyssrecords.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/entrench |
78/100 |
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| ERASE – May I Sin? (CD) | Italy | March 2012 | Robin van Tilburg |
| Style: Metalcore | Running time: 42:37 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| The Italian based metalband Erase was founded in 2008. Their first E.P. entitled the 'Erase E.P.' was recorded no later than the summer of 2009. After many live shows, the band decided it was time for their first full-length record. 'May I Sin' was released in the end of 2011 by Buil2Kill records. The musical style of Erase can be described as Metalcore, but the band has proven to be a nice addition to the genre because of their melodic approach. The songs, which off course include the typical Metalcore breakdowns and grunting/clean vocals, are very easy do digest. Accessible is perhaps a good word to use. The music is very melodic and combined with the catchy choruses it almost has a 'poppy' feel to it. And by that I mean that that it sounds very recognizable and you can listen to the album front to back. Because of this, Erase has proven not to be your average Metalcore band. If they continue to develop their songwriting, they are definitely a force to be reckoned with. Very nice debut album. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.eraseband.net
Recordlabel: http://www.buil2kill.com |
75/100 |
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| EVIL-LYN – The Night of Delusions (CDemo) | Sweden | March 2012 | Mario van Dooren |
| Style: Melodic Power / Heavy Metal | Running time: 22:47 (Tracks: 5) | ||
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EVIL-LYN was originally formed by the guitar duo Salonen & Heikkilä and drummer A. Haveneth with the intent to play more hard rock oriented material. Unfortunately, Haveneth left the band because of musical differences when the band changed its direction towards darker and eerier King Diamond -like Heavy Metal. The next incarnation of Evil-Lÿn came to life in the spring of 2007 when the remainders of the former line-up hooked up with the drummer Juha Arola. In the autumn 2007 bass player O. Niemimäki (the longest serving member after Salonen & Heikkilä at that time) decided to give up bass playing for good and left the band. This was too bad, for his contribution to the band had been crucial. Luckily, in August 2008 bass player Marko Niemi stepped in to complete the band's rhythm section. With the addition of singer Heikki Haapaniemi in the early 2009, the full line-up was finally established. Arola left the band during summer 2009 but was quickly replaced by Antti Lumijärvi. New drummer Jani Niemelä was found in January 2011. Immediately after Jani joined the band, Evil-Lÿn found a new female singer with a better vocal range and more dynamics in her tone and the new chapter was started. So far the biography according the bands website. . Evil Lyn plays melodic heavy metal is a way I like it very much; full speed songs but also some midtempo compositions. Productionwise this demo is also very good and according their website this demo will even be released by an official recordlabel; Iron on Iron Records. Well done guys & girl! The band reminds me to some other Scandinavian bands like Torch & Oz but because of the female singer I also hear some Mystery Blue and even Doro influences back in their songs. Technically its all even much better than the above mentioned bands; they have several tempo changes which indeed do remind me to the earlier Mercyful Fate and King Diamond songs. And that's a compliment! Need to get this band over to Mario's Metal Meeting festival some day! Very good release!! | |||
| Visit their website: http://www.evillynband.com |
83/100 |
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| FURYON - Gravitas (CD) | United Kingdom | March 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Melodic Hard Rock / Modern Rock | Running time: 57:29 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Remember the Brighton based band Pride? This band released two melodic rock albums with touches of AOR at the beginning of this century. Pride was founded by Ivan Gunn, the keyboard player in Balance of Power. After the release of the second album “Signs of purity” he left the band. Pride did a small tour and melodic rockers could see the band in the last Gods of AOR-festival and in the first Firefest-line up in Bradford (UK). The band went on, without their founder, but the musical climate had an influence on the recording process of the third record. Musical differences had their effect. The band decided to change its name into Furyon. The band recorded an ep in 2006 ( “32 hours “) and in 2010 an album was finished. This “Gravitas “album was picked up by the Italian Frontiers label. I'm surprised as Furyon's music is somewhat different from the catalogue that Frontiers brought us so far: The music is darker, moodier, more modern and heavier with some progressive and metal touches. Producer Rick Beato ( Fozzy, Shinedown, Bullet for my Valentine, Vince Neil, a.o.) and a friend of the band, Kip Winger, asked the band to come to Atlanta to record the album. I'm glad they did, because the sound of this band is mega-huge! The music is still melodic, the catchy choruses, the sing along ideas shine on this, but the fat and rich production and the structure of the songs made me think of Nickelbag, Alterbridge, a little bit of Creed and Soundgarden. I like this stuff, it's a pleasant surprise! From the rousing opener “Disappear again” to the bombastic closing track “Desert suicide” the music haunts you and never let you down! Great stuff!. Nice comeback! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.furyon.net
Recordlabel: http://www.frontiers.it MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/furyon |
89/100 |
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| HARPOON – Deception Among Birds (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Kees Schijven |
| Style: Modern Hardcore | Running time: 37:01 (Tracks: 8) | ||
| From Chicago we have here the new Harpoon album 'Deception Among Birds', their second full lenght release. Harpoon is a 3 piece band consisting of D.J. Barraca (Bass, Guitar, B.V.), Dean Costello (Guitar, Drum Programming, Keyboards), Toney Vast-Binder (Vocals) and have been around since 2007. Harpoon released their first album in 2009 called 'Double Gnarly/Triple Suicide', they also released a couple of splits with The Muzzler and Locrian. I never heard of this band before, so I wasn't sure what to expect judging by the cover which didn't tell me that much, I even had questions when I read they used drum programming and keyboards on the album. But luckily for me, they really surprised me very positively, Harpoon plays a kind of hardcore, punk and modern grindcore mix with a lot of energy and melody in there. Vocals range from more hardcore screaming up to clean, which I like a little less, but hey it can't be all perfect right. I like their musical ideas, not that it's something completely new, far from that, but they really sound refreshingly well. Songs like 'To The Tall Trees', 'Dreadnought' or 'Shit Wizard' are all songs with a lot of variety in them, sometimes full speed, and then turning to more sludge sounding, with a variety of vocal styles. This album is absolutely worth listening to, some songs did even remind me of Voi Vod at times, maybe because of the more experimenting side of their music. There's a lot of potency in Harpoon, they prove that for sure with this album, if you wanna be surprised give this a listen and make your own opinion! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.freewebs.com/harpoonrockin4u
Recordlabel: http://www.seventhrule.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/harpoonrockin4u |
75/100 |
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| HEMINA – Synthetic (CD) | Australia | March 2012 | Michel van Hassel |
| Style: Progressive Metal | Running time: 79:44 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Hemina is a Sydney-based five-piece that got started in 2008 and have released an EP in 2010 so far. “Synthetic” is their debut concept-album about an angel born onto the world, forced to live through our modern world. Tommy Hansen (Helloween, Circus Maximus, Redemption, Seventh Wonder, Jorn) has provided this album with a fantastic mix. The band itself consists of Douglas Skene and Mitch Coull on guitars, keyboardist Phill Eltakchi, whilst the drums are being played by Mathew Irsak, who replaced Andrew Craig in January 2012, and the bass by Jessica Martin. Besides guitarist, Shene is also the vocalist. “This Hour Of Ours” is the opening-track that starts with the sound of heavy rain in a spooky environment as Skene joins the quietly played guitar. After this short opening-track that flows into “To Conceive A Plan”, it is still raining. Hemina plays beautifully together. There is some piano to be heard as the guitarists put down superb solo's on a solid foundation of great progressive metal. The keyboards take over and all musicians melt together on this track that has a big variety of styles. All tracks on this album flow into to next one. “The Boy Is Dead” is with over nine minutes another long track on which Hemina is able to display their musical ideas. The vocals range from very quiet to death-like. The same goes for the music as it changes from church-sounds to heavy riffing to some great guitar playing while the rhythm-section lays down a sturdy base. It all ends with some strange sounds and computer-like shooting. The next three songs, “For All Wrong Reasons”, And Now To Find A Friend” and “With What I See” have been released on the “As We Know It”-EP in 2010. The first one starts with great vocals accompanied by acoustic guitars. The song builds up to get a bit heavier but it remains a very controlled beautifully sung track. Another eleven plus minutes track is “And Now To Find A Friend”. This is a great song with lots of space for all kind of different moods. The last song of these three tracks is another beautiful song with plenty of displays of great progressive metal. Just sit back and relax is my advice. The last minute of this track is filled with some computer-like sounds combined with spooky noises. “Hunting Is For Women” is more progressive rock than progressive metal at the beginning until the guitars start screaming. The sound of burning wood turns into some keyboards that get turned to the highest speed. “Even In Heaven” starts very heavy with a heavy riffing guitar, and drums and bass pounding. There are multiple tempo-changes on this track. It is great to conclude that Hermina perform superb both on the slower parts as on high speed. “Conduit To The Sky” is filled with choir-like vocals and keyboards followed by acoustic guitars. It is a very quiet song. “Haunting Me!” is a bit more straightforward song that has some great guitar solo's and vocals aboard. The closing track is “Divine” and this one lasts for thirteen minutes and twenty-eight seconds. What to say about a song like this? All what has been mentioned before comes back in this song one way or the other. To love this album you need to be able to listen to some long tracks, but they are worth it! This is a fantastic band and to me the biggest surprise in years from Down Under. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.hemina.com.au
Recordlabel: http://www.nightmarerecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/heminaaus |
88/100 |
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| IAIN ASHLEY HERSEY – Vintage Love - The Best (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Hard Rock | Running time: 78:01 (Tracks: 15) | ||
| IAIN ASHLEY HERSEY is a very talented guitarist, bassist and keyboard player, who was born in New England, and released the following albums so far: "Fallen Angel" (1999 Japan release, 2001 on Frontiers), "Holy Grail" (2005) and "Nomad" (2008). Now Avenue Of Allies Records released a compilation album of IAIN ASHLEY HERSEY, titled "Vintage Love - The Best". This compilation features 4 tracks ("Goin' Down And Dirty", "Distant Memories", "Hold On" and "The Outcaste") of the "Fallen Angel" album, five songs of "Holy Grail" ("Blood Of Kings", "Walking The Talk", "Calling For The Moon", "Blink Of An Eye" and "The Holy Grail") and also five tracks ("Voodoo Spirits", "Sacrifice The Sun", the RAINBOW cover "L.A. Connection", "Vintage Love" and "When Will My Love Fade") of "Nomad". The last track "Red Head Rampage" is a previously unreleased song. All songs are re-mastered by Allessandro Del Vechhio. Personally I am not familiar with any of his above mentioned albums, so to me this is my first acquaintance with IAIN ASHLEY HERSEY. Hey, this man is playing old school Classic Hard Rock, so I like it anyway. And IAIN ASHLEY HERSEY is a fantastic guitarist, who is influenced by classic Hard Rock bands such as LED ZEPPELIN, DEEP PURPLE and BAD COMPANY, and guitarists like Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Ritchie Blackmore (DEEP PURPLE, RAINBOW). Anyway, IAIN ASHLEY HERSEY got collaboration of different singers, namely Graham Bonnet (RAINBOW, ALCATRAZ, M.S.G.), Paul Shortino (ROUGH CUTT, QUIET RIOT, KING KOBRA), Doogie White (RAINBOW, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN), guitarist Mike Stone (CRISS, QUEENSRYCHE), Carsten "Lizard" Schulz (ex-DOMAIN, ex-IRON MASK), David "Swan" Montgomery (LED ZEPAGAIN), Randy Williams and Dante Marchi. All songs on this compilation do have an average playtime of 5 minutes. Fans of RAINBOW, WHITESNAKE, DEEP PURPLE will absolutely like fantastic songs as "Goin' Down And Dirty", "Distant Memories" (both sung by Dante Marchi), "Hold On" (sung by Paul Shortino), the superb "Blood Of Kings" (7:24 - sung by David "Swan" Montgomery), the quieter "Blink Of An Eye" (sung by Randy Williams), "Sacrifice The Sun", "Vintage Love", "Red Head Rampage" (all sung by Carsten Schulz) and RAINBOW's "L.A. Connection" (sung by Doogie White). Anyway, this compilation album is a very nice acquaintance for anyone who's into classic Hard Rock and is not familiar with IAIN ASHLEY HERSEY previous albums. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.avenue-of-allies.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/iainashleyhersey |
78/100 |
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| INTENSE – The Shape of Rage (CD) | United Kingdom | March 2012 | Michel van Hassel |
| Style: Power Metal | Running time: 51:36 (Tracks: 9) | ||
| This U.K.-based band has been around for over twenty years and this is their third full-length album and their debut on Pure Legend Records. Right from the start the power is on. The first track, “Anubis” combines twin-guitars and a galloping rhythm-section. Sean Hetherington's voice suites the song very well. By the way, this song sticks to your mind right away. “The Elemental” starts where “Anubis” ended, as this is also a great power metal song with beautiful guitar parts. The overwhelming power attack is not over yet as “One Man's Word” also does not give you any chance to escape the power metal stranglehold. On the album there are clearly some Iced Earth and Iron Maiden-influences but to me never in a disturbing way. On the fourth track, “For the Fallen” the pace goes down, as this is a beautiful ballad. Although being a ballad there are some real heavy parts with lots of power. Combined with acoustic guitar, some beautiful guitar playing and an excelling singer the result is a great song. On “Save Me From Myself” it's back to business as the band gallops away accompanied by some fierce and fast guitar riffing. The song is filled by both great twin guitar-attacks and beautiful guitar soloing. This is a real high-speed power metal attack. “Lie” is yet another song is played on high speed without forgetting the structure of the composition. One of the compliments that must be made is that the songs are arranged in a great way. “Haunted” is made with the same recipe although the speed is a bit less and there is more space for regular heavy metal and ditto vocals. The longest track on the album, clocking eight minutes and thirty-nine seconds is “Skull of Sidon II (The Final Stand). This song starts with some howling winds, followed by some real steady heavy metal until halfway when the tempo goes up. This song develops into a real epic song. To me this is one of the highlights of the album. The last track is also the title-track. This song starts rather quietly until the guitarists take off. There is plenty of space for them to show their qualities and they deliver. There is even a tiny piece of keyboards to be heard. This is not a high-speed song but just a piece of great power metal that includes all ingredients. The people responsible for this great piece of work are Sean Hetherington (vocals), Nick Palmer and Dave Peak (guitars), Stephen Brine (bass) and Neil Ablard (drums). It is a shame that these guys have been around for so long and only have released three full-length albums so far. Continue the good work guys and hopefully we keep on hearing from Intense in the future. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.intense-uk.com
Recordlabel: http://www.purelegend-records.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/intense |
85/100 |
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| JACK BLADES – Rock 'n Roll Ride (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Hard Rock / Melodic hard rock | Running time: 47:50 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Jack Blades is best known as the bass player / singer of Rubicon, Stereo, Nightranger, Damn Yankees, Tak Matsumoto and Shaw / Blades, but many artists like Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Cher, Vince Neil, Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne and Roger Daltrey perform songs of this great musician daily. Jack has had an extensive career as a musician and in his home country he hosts a popular weekly radio show in Denver / Phoenix as well (Backstage Pass with Jack Blades). In 2004 he released his first solo-album, a bit of a mixed bag. The album contained very melodic songs that reminded you of his Nightranger – heydays, but it held also some modern rock songs with that laid back-feel from his collaboration with his long- time - friend Tommy Shaw (guitarist and vocalist of Styx / Damn Yankees). In 2007 Nightranger signed to Frontiers Records in Italy and their latest offspring (Somewhere in California) was a huge killer-album! Jack's plans for a second solo record came through and after hearing this Rock 'n Roll Ride I'm glad he showed us the fruits of his hard labour. The first part of the disc has a lot of Nightranger-similarities (catchy songs, Beatlesque harmony vocals, nice, crunchy guitars), after the seventh track (the moderate “West Hollywood”) the album gets a more laid back, unilateral course ( the guitars of the eight track “Say you will” by Brad Gilles shine, though). It's a pity that the strong level of the beginning of this record doesn't last until the end. The nice ballad “Hey now” closes the album. I like this album, the vocals (and the guest vocals by Robin Zander of Cheap Trick), the exuberant guitars (mostly by his Nightranger –friends), the production stand firm, some of the songs just don't do it for me, too bad. The last Nightranger-opus so far felt much better, it had a more constant level and a stronger attitude. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.jackblades.net
Recordlabel: http://www.frontiers.it MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/jackblades |
76/100 |
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| JEFF SCOTT SOTO – Damage Control (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Melodic Hardrock | Running time: 49:26 (Tracks: 13) | ||
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Jeff Scott Soto needs no introduction. The Brooklyn born singer is in his late forties and he still sounds great. Jeff started his international career in 1984 as a singer of Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force. After that experience he joined forces with Kuni (Takeuchi), the great Talisman (still showing the most impressive work of Jeff's vocal career, according to many fans), Eyes, Axel Rudi Pell, Takara, Human Clay, Humanimal, The Boogie Knights, Soul Sirkus, Journey, WET, The Trans-Siberian Orchestra and many, many tribute albums, soundtracks and (guest)vocal escapades. Jeff's vocals thrive in a melodic rock sound with big guitars and many hook lines. In 1995 he released his first solo-album (Love Parade) and on this album we could hear strong, affectionate nods to the other music that had an impact on Jeff's youth: Funk, Motown, Queen and Prince. His second (Prism) and third solo album (Lost in the Translation) marked the return to the fellow musicians and the music of his past: Melodic rock with strong melodies, a solid backbone, fantastic fretwork and a lot of fun. After his short-lived Journey adventure Jeff released his “Beautiful Mess-album” filled with a wider diversity of songs, composed and played with new musicians (from the Spanish group Tempest, a.o.). The album had divergent reviews, but the response to the album in England garnered a lot of airplay. After his Beautiful Mess Tour and a live album of one these concerts, Jeff toured with the TSO all over the world. And now he's back! Back with a vengeance! Back to the 2003 – 2004 period with small hints of his recent (solo) stuff ( WET, Talisman's 7 -record, Beautiful Mess). His new band members rock their socks off, the production is dry and loud, the guitars shine and shred and Jeff's vocals sound rough, melodic, but also a bit harsh and hoarse. His pitch seems a little lower than before. But Damage Control is a mighty fine record with a lot of surprises: Dave Meniketti of Y & T, Joel Hoekstra of Nightranger, Casey Grillo of Kamelot and his long-time friend, Jamie Borger form Talisman and Treat back up the vocalist who's still in control. Great stuff and a triumphant return of the phlegmatic vocalist with the extensive back-catalogue! | |||
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Visit their website: http://jeffscottsoto.com
Recordlabel: http://www.frontiers.it MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/sewtoe |
85/100 |
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| KADAVRIK – N.O.A.H (CD) | Germany | March 2012 | William Nijhof |
| Style: Melodic Death Metal | Running time: 48:20 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Kadavrik was born in 2003. They released 2 demos in 2005 and the debut album “Until the Die is Cast” in 2007. Their second album “Wine will Turn to Blood” saw the leight in 2009. This is their 3rd album and it sounds great. All the songs are filled with variety and good composing. The guitar riffs are technical thrash/death riffs filled with groove. The drums are also straight in your face and filled with double bass. The vocals are grunts combined with screams and they listen very well away. The keyboards in the songs give it a great atmosphere and melody. This band brings you great death metal but also a great combination through doom with black metal (especially the last 4 songs). | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.kadavrik.com Recordlabel: http://www.sonicattackrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/160623909 |
75/100 |
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| KISSIN' DYNAMITE – Money, Sex and Power (CD) | Germany | March 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Glam Metal with sleazy influences | Running time: 39:40 (Tracks: 10) | ||
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Hannes Braun was a young teenage-singer and after winning a nationwide Idols-vocal-competition he made a tough decision that would change his life. Instead of making an album with the mighty German pop-songwriters, he formed a band with his brother Ande and some friends. This band, Kissin'Dynamite, released a demo in 2007 and this demo was picked up by EMI Germany. Kissin'Dynamite made two albums full of flashy rock with a lot of sleazy and glammy influences. The vocals, the guitars (by Jim Müller), the thick sounding rhythm section and most of the songs stand out on these albums. On the second album 'Addicted to Metal ' the former Accept-vocalist Udo Dirkschneider helped the band with his drilling voice. Last year they did a short European Tour that was very successful. The third album of these young Germans shows us some changes. The songs are faster and the sleazy influences are more obvious. The songs have a lot of power and most of the songs sound speedy. Hannes still has that powerful voice to make the simple lyrics sounding mean and vicious. The rhythm-section (Steffen Haile on bass and Andi Schnitzer on drums) sounds fierce and the guitars rule on this album. The former album had a bit more quality and some surprises (They did a great cover of “High enough 'by Damn Yankees), but the fans of catchy glamrock with sleazy overtones won't be disappointed with this release, the first release on the AFM label. Keep on rockin'guys! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.kissin-dynamite.de
Recordlabel: http://www.afm-records.de MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/kissindynamiterocks |
77/100 |
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| LAMB OF GOD – Resolution (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Thrash Metal / Groove Metal / Metalcore | Running time: 56:25 (Tracks: 14) | ||
| After three years LAMB OF GOD is back with their sixth studio album "Resolution". I reviewed LAMB OF GOD's previous album "Wrath" (2009) for MMM in March of 2009. And just like the very successful "Wrath", also this new album "Resolution" has been produced by Josh Wilbur. Anyway, "Resolution" is the band's second album on Roadrunner Records, and it features fourteen fantastic tracks. Well, what can I say about "Resolution", because these guys again delivered a brilliant album. If you are familiar with LAMB OF GOD's previous albums, then you'll know what to expect. Killing guitar riffs, awesome grooves, fantastic drum work and of course the brutal and aggressive vocals of Randy Blythe. Musically LAMB OF GOD is in fact a perfect mixture of PANTERA and SLAYER. LAMB OF GOD belongs to the top of the "new generation" American Metal bands for years now, and with delivering such awesome albums, they will be on that top for many years. I'm sure of that. It's unnecessary to say that "Resolution" is a highly recommended album. Notable songs on this album are "The Number Six" and "King Me", but although these two songs are notable, they don't belong to my favorite ones of "Resolution". "Barbarosa" is a short instrumental track, which in fact is the intro for "Invictus". Openings track "Straight For The Sun" reminds of early BLACK SABBATH. It is more a sludge metal song with its ultra heavy and slow guitar riff and is the intro for the fantastic "Desolation". Anyway, compliments for these guys from Richmond, Viginia, because with "Resolution" they have already released one of the best Metal albums of 2012. Great work guys. My favorite songs of "Resolution" are without a doubt, "Desolation", "Ghost Walking", "The Undertow", "Cheated", "Insurrection", "Terminally Unique", "To The End" and "Visitation". | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.lamb-of-god.com
Recordlabel: http://www.roadrunnerrecords.nl MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/lambofgod |
93/100 |
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| MAAX – Unholy Rock & Roll (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Kees Schijven |
| Style: Heavy Metal | Running time: 45:16 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| MAAX started out in the summer of 2006 by founding members Kyle Kreider (guitar) and Jeff Brown (drums). MAAX have already released a debut album 'Dawnbringer' in 2009, after which original vocalist/bassplayer Sky Kingrey left the band. The band found an interested independant label in Abyss Records who released their album. Soon after that the 'Six Pack Witchcraft'EP was released in 2010. Newest addition to the band followed in the person of Jeremy Starkey (Necrophagous) on bass, while Brett switched to second guitar. In this line up the band recorded their latest, third opus and second full lenght work of art, called 'Unholy Rock & Roll'. MAAX plays a mix of old school black thrash n roll metal, A lot of Motorhead and Venom influences can be heard throughout their music, just listen to the song 'Maax' and you know what I mean, nothing wrong with that, certainly not since I am a long time fan of both mentioned bands. So originallity is not their main goal, that's for sure, but what they do, they do best, they will get every party going, they are the US equivalent of european thrashers Tankard, though with a slightly different kind of music. The devil of rock n roll has arrived, his name; MAAX, songs like 'Rot n Roll', 'Do What Thou Wilt', or 'Black Thrash Em All' tell it all. This is a very enjoyable album, not the most technical or original, but efficiently well done. To my personal favorite tracks belong 'Overthrone' (really black) , 'Black Thrash Em All' with black raspy vocals and thrashing guitars. The production could have been done a little heavier or fatter, especially where the drums are concerned, but overall it's a great, enjoyable album! | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.officialabyssrecords.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/maaxmetal |
78/100 |
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| MAD MAX – Another Night of Passion (CD) | Germany | March 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Hard Rock | Running time: 47:36 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Mad Max was founded in Münster in 1981 and Michael Voss came in after their debut album. Mad Max signed with Roadrunner, the famous '80 Dutch label and various tours with Uriah Heep, Yngwie Malmsteen and Pretty Maids in the mid-eighties of the former century were quite successful. In 1986 the band started working at their best album: “Night of Passion”. This album, produced by Dirk Steffens (former Accept-producer) and mixed in Florida by Dan Johnson ( he engineered Crimson Glory and Savatage –albums in their initial phase) was a real killer, filled with Dokken-shaped songs, nice guitarwork and good vocals. An American release and a planned tour in the US were almost in the can, but Michael Voss left the band suddenly. Keith Ellis was his successor, but the band fell apart in 1989. Michael Voss started a reformed Mad Max in 1999. He was involved in many musical projects at that time, it was very easy to pick the musicians he wanted. Mad Max made a few albums, but these albums didn't have the magic, the formula and the songs of the band's” Night of Passion”-album. In 2011 Michael contacted his former bandmembers of that magic album to write and record new material. The result of this collaboration is named after the ultimate Mad Max album and it's a good one: Fresh guitar driven, melodic songs, that remind you of Dokken, Cinderella and the typical German rock style. Michael Voss has lost some of his vocal depth and his pitch is a bit lower and rougher, but he's still a vocalist to be recognized. The production is dry, a little thin and one-dimensional, but fair enough to enhance the songs of this “Another night of passion”. I think this Mad Max album is better than the former albums Michael Voss has been working on. There is also a limited special edition of this album, that includes an 11-track live album, recorded in Berlin. Mad Max will be the special guest on the Axel Rudi Pell-tour starting in April in Germany. Nice comeback! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.kidroom-music.de
Recordlabel: http://www.spv.de MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/madmaxmusic |
79/100 |
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| MAGNETRON – A Measured Timeframe (CD) | The Netherlands | March 2012 | Mario van Dooren |
| Style: Thrash Metal | Running time: 25:38 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Magnetron (what's in a name!!) already exist for about 15 years; released six demo's and contributions to several compilations. Now the band self-released their debut full-length 'A Measured Timeframe'. The CD is packed in a nice digi-pack, contains ten tracks and was produced by Robin Cornelissen of Milkman fame. Well personally im not impressed by the production of this album. It all sounds to tame and especially the rhytm section is sounding like a cookie can! Pitty because the band is maybe not playing very original thrash but it has potential. And with a moderate production its not doing any good at all. The band plays slight disorderly oldschool thrash with some hardcore elements. Last year the band played at my own Mario's Metal Meeting 5 festival and live they where really good! If you check them out live; you can buy their album for only 8 Euro or otherwise you can order it at the bands website/webstore. Food for oldschool thrashers that don't complain about the moderate production. | |||
| Visit their website: http://www.magnetronthrash.nl |
70/100 |
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| MARK SPIRO – It's a Beautiful Life (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: A.O.R. | Running time: 41:21 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Famous American songwriter Mark Spiro is responsible for some of the greatest A.O.R and Westcoast anthems. He has penned songs for T.V. series and movies as well as for famous acts like Heart, Winger, Kansas, Giant, Bad English, Reo Speedwagon and countless others. This is his 8th solo effort after almost 7 years and the “Mighty Blue Ocean” album. Although I adore all the aforementioned bands involved with Spiro, I never had the chance to ear one of his solo works so unfortunately I cannot make any comparisons with his past efforts. Mark Spiro handles pretty much everything on this album and his voice bears resemblance to John Waite's own. “It's a Beautiful Life” is a Pop - Westcoast album with a laid back, carefree feeling, dominated by acoustic guitars and keyboards. Although I am an A.O.R. - Westcoast fan, I didn't find the album interesting enough. It lacks the hooks that Mark Spiro usually delivers when writing for others and the songs are too Pop oriented for my ears. I lost interest after the first half of the album and not even the energetic tune “Dream Big, Pray Hard” could turn things over. Sorry Mark. Writing this review though gave me an appetite for spinning some Bad English… | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.markspiro.com
Recordlabel: http://www.aorheaven.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/markspiro |
50/100 |
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| MARTYR LUCIFER – Farewell To Graveland (CD) | Italy | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Progressive Dark / Gothic / Doom Metal | Running time: 56:17 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Well, "Farewell To Graveland" is the first solo album of MARTYR LUCIFER, for whom Martyr gathered different session musicians, which are members/ex-members of bands such as HORTUS ANIMAE, PARADISE LOST, NOKTURNAL MORTUM, OPPOSITE SIDES. The line-up on this debut album "Farewell To Graveland" exists of Martyr Lucifer (vocals, synthesizer, programming, formerly HORTUS ANIMAE, OPPOSITE SIDES, SPACE MIRRORS), Arke (guitar, formerly of HORTUS ANIMAE, OPPOSITE SIDES), Evgeniy "Vrolok" Antonenko (5-string bass, formerly of NOKTURNAL MORTUM), Bless (piano, keyboards, formerly of HORTUS ANIMAE), Adrian Erlandsson (drums on tracks 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8, ex-AT THE GATES, ex-THE HAUNTED, ex-CRADLE OF FILTH, PARADISE LOST), Grom (drums on tracks 1, 2, 9, 10 and 11, formerly of HORTUS ANIMAE, DOOMSWORD) and female singer Leit, who does additional vocals on tracks 2, 7 and 11. Well, listening to this album, the band musically reminds me very much of a mixture of THE SISTERS OF MERCY, TYPE O NEGATIVE and PINK FLOYD. And especially the low dark vocals of Lucifer reminds me very much of Andrew Eldritch (THE SISTERS OF MERCY) and the late Peter Steele (TYPE O NEGATIVE). The whole album has a very dark atmosphere. Not strange, because as mentioned on MARTYR LUCIFER's biography, this debut album follows a musical direction that goes rather far from what previously traced by Martyr before, being mostly inspired by the darkwave/goth movement, alternative rock, as well as 70's progressive and psychedelic rock, and featuring electronic synthesizer arrangements but still maintaining a certain metal touch. Anyway, "Farewell To Graveland" starts with a short intro, titled "Janus" (0:52), followed by the title track. The longest track on "Farewell To Graveland" is "The Horseride" (10:10) and is absolutely the best song of the album. Other fantastic songs are "Farewell To Graveland", "From Under The Ground", "Onironauta (The Demon Of The Earth)" and "They Said With Time All Wounds Heal". The most quiet song is "L'albero Ed Io", which is more a medieval acoustic song, and is the least song of the album. Anyway, this is a very atmospheric dark album, which would do well among Gothics, Darkwavers and Doom freaks. Very interesting band and a perfect album. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.martyrlucifer.net
Recordlabel: http://www.buil2kill.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/martyrlucifer |
80/100 |
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| MAXXWELL – All In (CD) | Switzerland | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Sleaze Rock / Hard Rock | Running time: 42:51 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| MAXXWELL is a band of which I never had heard of before. This five piece band, which was formed in December of 2008, comes from Lucerne, Switzerland and exists of Nobi Suppiger (vocals), Hef Häfliger (lead guitar), Cyril Montavon (rhythm guitar), Kusi Durrer (bass) and Oli Häller (drums). The band's debut album “Dogz On Dope” was released in 2009, and according to their website, that debut album got a lot of great reviews. Anyway, now these guys are back with their second album, titled “All In”, and I must say that I was really surprised. “All In” features eleven tracks, of which I like most of the songs very much. These guys really can write some fantastic songs. Besides that the band exists of skilled musicians, they also have a very good singer in Suppiger. These Swiss guys really know how to kick some ass. The first four songs on “All In” are very strong compositions. After these great songs, we get one of the two ballads, namely “Still Alive”. The other ballad is “Anything”. And to be honest, in my opinion “Anything” is the best of those two ballads. But nevertheless I do prefer the songs which really kick some ass. The album was produced by Häfliger and Häller, and sounds very good. To me, the best songs on this album are “Dead End Street”, “Heads Or Tails”, “Trouble”, “Outlaw”, “No Pain No Gain” and “Hellride”. Anyway, “All In” is a very nice acquaintance to me, so my conclusion is: great band and excellent album. Check it out. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.maxxwell.ch
Recordlabel: http://www.fastball-music.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/hefhaefliger |
79/100 |
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| M.I.C. – On All 4's (CD) | China | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Rock | Running time: 41:06 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Exactly one year ago, in March 2011, I reviewed M.I.C.'s third album “3rd Degree”. So far I reviewed every album of M.I.C. (MADE IN CHINA). The band's self titled album “Made In China” (2008) was reviewed by me in February 2010, and the second album “Out 2 Rock” (2010) in April of 2010. So far, with every new album the improvement slightly continues. But now on this fourth album, the level stays the same as on “3rd Degree”. I am still of opinion that M.I.C. is not a great band. In that case the songs are sounding way too simple to me. In my review of “3rd Degree” I wrote 'what notices me also is, that with every new album the band has a new line-up'. And band leader Yvon Serre (vocals, guitar) did it again this time. He has gathered a complete new band around himself. The new members of M.I.C. are Janice Atem (vocals), Sam Lafleurs (bass), Brad Williams (drums) and Rick O'Donald (keyboards). For this fourth album M.I.C. recorded eleven songs, and as usual, the album was produced by Serre himself. It's just like with the previous M.I.C. albums, I listen a few times to the new album so I can write my review, and then I never listen to it again. Then I'd rather listen to an album which I really like. If I should listen to a M.I.C. album, after the review is published on MMM, it would be a waste of time, because there are way much better albums to listen to. And another thing is, I can't imagine that M.I.C. is selling so much albums with each new release. Also on this fourth album there are just a few songs which I like a bit. Well, I hope that someday Yvon Serre will understand that his band M.I.C. is actually nothing for MMM, because I'm sure of it that no one of the readers of MMM are interested in M.I.C.'s albums. So, I'm curious if he still will continue by sending new releases of M.I.C. to Mario's Metal Meeting? If so, I'm sure I have to review the fifth album as well. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.yvonserre.com/mic
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/madeinchine |
64/100 |
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| MICHAEL THOMPSON BAND – Future Past (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: AOR / Westcoast | Running time: 53:05 minutes (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Michael Thompson is the elite session guitar player in the world. His string-skills shine on hundreds of albums from the start of his career in New York in 1978 until now. Michael is a Berklee University of Music alumni and a many times rewarded musician. In 1988 he made his first solo-album 'How Long 'and this album is the absolute classic AOR album of all times. During and in-between his musical sessions for other artists Michael made two guitarminded albums after his groundbreaking debut ( “MT.Speaks” and “The World according to MT”). In 2007 he made a record for the Italian label Frontiers with John Robinson and vocalist Mark Williamson ( TRW ”Rivers of Paradise”) and he started working on a new project that saw the light in 2012. On “Future Past” Michael's guitar work shines every second. His solowork is brilliant and the rhythm guitarparts of the mainly Westcoast-archetype songs are also unique. But Michael Thompson is not the only star on this album. The vocalist of MTB ( Michael Thompson Band) is Larry King from the band Soleil Moon. This Larry has a great voice and a more rockier approach than the former MTB-vocalists (Moon Calhoun, Mark Williamson). Larry and Michael produced the album together and the sound is clear, a bit dry with a lot of focus on the guitar and the tonsil troubadour. “How Long” stays Michael Thompson's major opus, but this “Future Past” is a pleasant meeting with the beautiful songs of MTB. One of the songs of “How Long” , the beautiful “Can't miss”' is even re-recorded for this album. Great come-back! | |||
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Visit his website: http://www.michaelthompson.cc Recordlabel: http://www.frontiers.it |
84/100 |
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| MISTHERIA – Keys of Eternity (CD) | Italy | March 2012 | Frans Neelen |
| Style: Classic Music | Running time: 51:41 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| After reviewing keyboard virtuoso Mistheria's second neo classical progressive attack “Dragon Fire” in 2010, he's back with an album that represents his most intimate and personal moments. That turns out to be an album filled with laid back piano and keyboard numbers which aren't made for metal maniacs. So let's hope this one was just for himself, his own satisfaction and maybe some classical music lovers and that he returns later with the more bombastical heavy stuff. This is nothing for me, but it's not even near rock or metal so no points given here. Why this review then ? Well, just to let you now that getting it blindly because you liked “Dragon Fire” you must be aware that this is something completely different. Don't say I didn't warn you. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.mistheria.com
Recordlabel: http://www.sifare.it MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/mistheria |
--/--- |
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| MOETAR – From these small Seeds (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Artistic Prog Poprock | Running time: 48:34 (Tracks: 11) | ||
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Moetar is a very unique band. Their opus 'From these small seeds ' has a great variety, the songs are well-penned, the bandmembers show off their capability and their skills. Moetar's music is diverse: Jazzy basslines of Tarik Ragab (Tar), versatile keyboard lines (Matt Lebofsky), thick drums (David Flores), flashy guitars ( Matt Heulitt) and the Laurie Anderson / Kate Bush' stylistic vocals of Moorea (Moe) Dickason all compiled in songs that remind us of Gentle Giant, The Sparks, ELP, Zappa, Yes, The Beatles (harmonics!) and Kevin Gilbert. Just sit back and relax and spend some time with Moetar's music. You will discover a lot of depth and surprises in the songs and the lyrics are very intelligent and they make the songs even more poetic. Let the small seeds grow, take care of them and you'll listen to a beautiful album. Originally released by the band in 2010, it's picked up by the Magna Carta label and the album will be released in March 2012. One of the artistic surprises of the year so far! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.moetar.com
Recordlabel: http://www.magnacarta.net MySpace: http://www.facebook.com/moetar |
87/100 |
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| MORTICIAN – Mortician (CD) | Austria | March 2012 | Robin van Tilburg |
| Style: Heavy Metal | Running time: 56:12 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Approximately two years ago I've had the pleasure of reviewing Mortician's previous compilation release 'No war and more,' which contained all the material that the band had recorded up until that point. It captured the band's activity between 1983 and 1989. After that, the band split to be resurrected in 2009, which was followed by the 'No war and more' release through Pure Underground Records. Because of the renewed interest in the band and some successful live shows, the members decided that it was time to release the very first full-length of Mortician. It only took about twenty-five years… In the announcement towards the new record, Mortician claimed to maintain their much appreciated style. They indeed did this, but with a production that is fitting for today's standards, making sure that the music doesn't sound dated. The songs itself however are unmistakably classic Heavy Metal songs. Opening track 'Change your behaviour' shows that the band has not slowed down since the eighties. The same goes for 'Prepare for death' and 'Reflection of your soul' in which the band excels in recognizable riffs, sing along choruses and melodic soloing. All very traditional in the vein of the classic acts in the genre. The beginning of the title track 'Mortician' is an obvious tribute to AC/DC, but later on it becomes the bands anthem, which will most likely be on the set list. This song pretty much sums up what this band, and Heavy Metal in general, is all about. The same can be said of 'Worship' in which the lyrics handle about the love for metal music. The remaining three songs don't have the same intensity and catchy hooks as the mentioned songs, but overall I've grown very fond of this record. As a bonus, three live versions of classics 'Street Warrior,' 'No War' and 'Sacrifice of Sin' are added to the album. These songs were recorded during the Keep It True gig in 2010. It's quite an accomplishment to come back like this after more than twenty years. Mortician knows how to get the job done. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.pureunderground-records.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/morticianaustria |
80/100 |
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| MR. BIG – Live from the living room (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Melodic Rock (acoustic) | Running time: 49:47 (Tracks: 10) | ||
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Formed in the late eighties of the former century, Mr.Big gained a lot of success and the American quartet released fantastic melodic rock albums. Their popularity in Japan was even bigger than expected and lasted until their farewell-live album in 2002. In 2009 the famous quartet celebrated the tenth anniversary of their debut album and a short reunion-tour in Japan was extremely successful. A live CD / DVD was recorded at The Budokan and after this release Pat Torpey, Billy Sheehan, Paul Gilbert and Eric Martin went into the studio to record a new album “What if”, that saw the light in December 2010. Frontiers, the Italian melodic rock label distributed the album in Europe. In January 2011 Mr.Big was invited in the WOWWOW-TV-studio to perform some of their hits from their back catalogue. When the rumours of a special TV-recording and a nationwide broadcast spread around, Mr.Big decided to do something special with this performance. They played ten acoustic songs, seven songs from their latest studio album, and three 'classics ' in an acoustic presentation. On the last four songs the guys are even backed up by a string quintet conducted by Takashi Miyazaki. The result is a very laid back, intimate and warm sounding acoustic live-album featuring famous fretwork of Paul Gilbert and Billy Sheehan (sometimes they even play electric parts as well!), tight percussion and drums by Pat Torpey, big choruses ( by the Big-four) and great lead vocals by Eric Martin. This albums brings back memories of their former acoustic live-album “Live at Channel V- Live at the Hard Rock Café”, released in 1996. Back then the quartet had to perform more hits and this time the band made a choice to perform and to represent their newest songs. Mr.Big have released maybe a dozen official live albums in Japan (and in the rest of the world) and while the “Back to the Budokan”- reunion-live-album being my favourite, I like this new intimate release as well. It was released in Japan by Victor Entertainment and it will be released by Frontiers in Europe. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.mrbigsite.com
Recordlabel: hhttp://www.frontiers.it MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/mrbigmusic |
80/100 |
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| NEMESEA – The Quiet Resistance (CD) | The Netherlands | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Gothic Metal | Running time: 55:57 (Tracks: 14) | ||
| "The Quiet Resistance" is the third studio album of Dutch metal/gothic band NEMESEA. The band, which was formed in 2002, comes from Groningen and the current line-up of NEMESEA exists of Manda Ophuis (vocals), Hendrik Jan de Jong (guitar), Sonny Onderwater (bass), Frank van der Star (drums) and Lasse Dellbrugge (keyboards). The band's debut album "Mana" was released in 2004, and the second album "In Control" in 2007. Personally, "The Quiet Resistance" is my first acquaintance with NEMESEA. So, I can't compare "The Quiet Resistance" with the former two albums. Anyway, what I can say is that "The Quiet Resistance" is a very good and accessible album, which will do very well under a wide audience. Musically, NEMESEA sounds like a mixture of EVANESCENCE, LACUNA COIL, WITHIN TEMPTATION and a bit LINKIN PARK. And it is not strange that the bonus track "Allein", sounds like RAMMSTEIN, because it features guest vocals of Heli Reissenweber from RAMMSTEIN tribute band STAHLZEIT. The album is produced by Joost van den Broek (former keyboard player of AFTER FOREVER) and sounds terrific. Manda Ophuis is a fantastic singer, and she sounds like Amy Lee (EVANESCENCE). The album starts with the short intro "The Quiet Resistance", followed by the fantastic "Caught In The Middle". Of the 14 tracks on "The Quiet Resistance", which are all fantastic compositions, two songs are ballads, namely "If You Could" and the semi-ballad "I Live". As I said, this is just a very accessible album. Okay, it all doesn't sound very original, but it sounds just damn good. The best songs for me are without a doubt "Caught In The Middle", "Afterlife", "High Enough" (featuring Charlotte Wessels from DELAIN), "Say", "It's Over" (featuring Matt Litwin & Marcus Klavan from BULLETPROOF MESSENGER), "Stay With Me", "Release Me" and "Allein". Well, if you like the above mentioned bands, then you will like this album as well. Great work. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.nemesea.com Recordlabel: http://www.napalmrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/nemeseaband |
84/100 |
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| PHARAOH – Bury the Light (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Frans Neelen |
| Style: Power Metal | Running time: 49:49 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Since their 2003 debut “After the Fire” this American 4 piece delivers high quality pure U.S. Powermetal filled with progressive influences and neck breaking, complex riffs. This is the real stuff my dearest readers. “Bury the Light” again proves evolution since the former 2008 “Be Gone” and last summer's EP “Ten Years”. This is metal with adventure. Opener “Leave Me Here To Dream” shows immediately what this band stands for and collects the finest ingredients that makes metal interesting and enjoyable. Think of US Powermetal with prog influences filled with speed, mid tempo and dreamy passages and high class vocals. Because of the complexity of the songs it takes time to value quickly but they are catchy enough to keep on hanging in your head. No simple structures here, but a fine mixture of Powermetal meets the old Rush. Just listen to the power of “The Wolves” and “Castles in the Sky” and the beauty of “The Year of the Blizzard” and you know this band is special and really creates music. I must admit that it seems that in some songs the complexity sounds a bit overdone but maybe even for me after listening to it about five times, this album has to grow a bit further. Nevertheless I'm sure that when you let this album reveal itself to you, you'll be sold. Powermetal with a strong adventurous bite! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.solarflight.net
Recordlabel: http://www.cruzdelsurmusic.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/pharaohmetal |
86/100 |
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| PICTURE - Warhorse (CD) | The Netherlands | March 2012 | Frans Neelen |
| Style: Hardrock / Heavy Metal | Running time: 57:03 (Tracks: 13) | ||
| Good old Dutch Metalers Picture are back on track since they released their “Live 2008” album. Picture paved the way for Hardrock/Heavy Metal in the early eighties with classic album like “Heavy Metal Ears”, “Eternal Dark” and the suburb “Diamond Dreamer”. Like the old fart I am, I have to say those were the days man! Seeing Picture in some old small establishment like “Het Veerke” surrounded by bikers and other “outcasts” wearing only denim, leather and spikes is a happening that unfortunately doesn't come back anymore. What does come back is the music. After the pretty good “Old Dogs, New Tricks” in 2009 this “Warhorse” can easily level with Picture's best efforts. No, it's not as good as “Diamond Dreamer” which is filled with pearls like “Lady Lightning”, “Diamond Dreamer”, Night Hunter”, “Lousy Lady” and “Message from Hell” but their close man, their close. The strong point of this album is that it has no dips this time. All strong, pure metal tracks with a brilliant hard hitting production by Oscar Holleman. From opener “Battle Plan” till the rerecorded classic “Eternal Dark” it's one big headbanging party. Whooping guitar work, hard hitting drums and screaming vocals by Pete Lovell who delivers his best performance until now. They really sound reborn, they definitely kick ass man. “Killer in my Sight”, “Shadow of the Damned”, “The King is Losing His Crown”, “Warhorse”, “Were Not Alone”, oh man they really blow you away! Even the ballad “Think I lost My Way” fits in and certainly doesn't stand for what they present right now. It really pleases my metal heart this Dutch Metal Diamond. Old days are reborn and Picture sets the tone again, just like 30 years ago. An achievement that deserves deep respect. So pick up you're denim, leather and spikes and blow your speakers. This album is worth it! Picture rules again! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.pictureofficial.com
Recordlabel: http://www.artiststation.de MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/pictureholland |
88/100 |
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| POINTS NORTH – The road less Traveled (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Instrumental Guitar / Shred Metal | Running time: 52:24 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Eric Barnett is a very skilled guitar player. He was a studio musician for many artists, a composer for the guitarmusic of a lot of famous video games, a Guitar Player Superstar Competition's finalist and he has shared the stages with mostly many modern rock bands. In 2010 he became friends with two musicians that shared a lot of enthusiasm towards his musical ideas and expression: the bluesy drummer Kevin Aiello (former drummer of Paul Butterfield and Mark Ford) and the former Whitesnake and Alicia Keyes' bass player Uriah Duffy. The trio formed Points North and their debut was released by the Magna Carta label. When you'll hear the first ten seconds of the beginning of this musical adventure, I'll bet you will mention one musical guitaricon: Steve Morse. His influence, his fantastic sound, his lyrical interpretation are all over the songs on this album (one song is even called “Steve's Morsels”). Eric Barnett's style is very unique and his phrasing is fantastic. I like the songs, variation is everywhere and Eric shows us the tricks of his heroes: Eric Johnson (in the song “The Source”), Alex Lifeson (in the song “Grace under pressure”) Scott Bradoka, Michael Landau and the rhythm section is tight and creative. This release is a warm welcome to Eric's guitar music, his fellow musicians and the fans of the guitarists of the major league mentioned above. | |||
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Visit their website: http://pointsnorthband.com
Recordlabel: http://www.magnacarta.net MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/pointsnorthband |
83/100 |
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| PORTRAIT – Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae (CD) | Sweden | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Heavy Metal | Running time: 53:42 (Tracks: 8) | ||
| On January 26th, 2012 I saw Swedish Heavy Metal band PORTRAIT as one of the two support-acts of English Thrashers EVILE in the small hall of 013, Tilburg, Holland. I didn't know the band so far, so this was the first time I saw the band live. And man, they really surprised me that evening, because PORTRAIT really sounds like the legendary MERCYFUL FATE during their self titled 4-track EP “Mercyful Fate” (1982), and the albums “Melissa” (1983) and “Don't Break The Oath” (1984). So, after their show I bought their second album "Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae". Anyway, PORTRAIT was formed in 2006, and in 2007 they released the limited edition 7" EP "Into The Nothingness" (which is completely sold out). The self titled debut album "Portrait" was released in April of 2008. In March of 2010, the band released again a 7" EP, titled "The Murder Of All Things Righteous". This second album "Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae" was released on Metal Blade Records in May of 2011. The line-up of PORTRAIT on this second album exists of Per Karlsson (vocals), Richard Lagergren (guitar), Christian Lindell (guitar), Joel Pälvärinne (bass) and Anders Persson (drums). In October 2011 bass player Pälvärinne was replaced by David Olofsson. But what a great album this is. Unbelievable. “Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae” features eight songs, of which one track (“The Wilderness Beyond”) is an instrumental one. The album opens very strong with “Beast Of Fire”, which is a superb song. Actually, except the aforementioned instrumental “The Wilderness Beyond” (2:24), which sounds nice and is in fact the intro for “Bloodbath”, all other songs are really great. Per Karlsson, who's in the band since the “The Murder Of All Things Righteous” EP, is a fantastic singer who sounds like King Diamond (MERCYFUL FATE, KING DIAMOND). But believe me, “Beast Of Fire” (7:51), “Infinite Descension” (6:47), “Bloodbath” (6:34), “Darkness Forever” (8:11), “The Nightcomers” (5:37), “The Passion” (6:46) and “Der Todesking” (9:34) are all awesome songs, that makes of “Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divine” a superb album. This CD is a real recommendation. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.portraitband.se
Recordlabel: http://www.napalmrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/portraitmetal |
90/100 |
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| PRETTY MAIDS - It comes Alive (Maid in Switzerland) (2CD & DVD) | Denmark | March 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Hard Rock, Euro Rock | Running time: 1:56:36 (Tracks: 21) | ||
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Pretty Maids debuted on the English Bullet-label in 1983, but the band is still going strong and steady. Their singer, the famous Ronnie Atkins and their guitarist Ken Hammer, are members from the early start in Denmark thirty years ago until now. The band has released eighteen albums and a lot of ep's so far and they're still alive and kicking. The former album “Pandemonium” was very successful in Europe and this album, a 2-cd and a DVD set, shows the band at the top of their game. The songs, the spirit, the 'best of'- setlist and the enthusiastic, highly explosive crowd, all ingredients are available for this stunning live-album, recorded in Pratteln in Switzerland, during the Pandemonium Tour on the first day of October 2011. Ronnie takes his time to present the songs to the audience, he lets the rhythm section (Rene Shades on bass guitar and Allan Tchicaja on drums) do their tight musical companionship, the keyboards by Morten Sandager give that extra touch to the back catalogue and the exuberant guitars of Ken Hammer sound thick and heavy! I was very fond of Pretty Maids' former live albums (“Screaming Live”, released in 1995 on the Massacre-label, and “Alive at Least”, released in 2003 on the XIII Biss label), but this one is also an absolute winner! The special edition contains a live DVD as well. Great to see the band 3D-technicolour-live! “It Comes Alive (Maid in Switzerland)” will be exclusively released in a lavish 2cd/dvd digipack release and will include the following tracks: CD1: Pandemonium; I.N.V.U; Hell on high heels; Wake up to the real world; Destination paradise; Another shot of your love; Scream; Walk away; It comes at night; Queen of dreams; Savage heart; Clay. CD2: Yellow rain; Rock the house; Back to back; Rodeo; Lovegames; Future world; Little drops of heaven; Please don't leave me; Red hot and heavy; Lethal Heroes* * bonus track DVD Contents: Pandemonium; I.N.V.U.; Hell On High Heels; Wake Up To The Real World; Destination Paradise; Another Shot of your love; Scream; Walk Away; It Comes At Night; Queen Of Dreams; Savage Heart; Yellow Rain; Rock The House; Back To Back; Rodeo; Love Games; Future World; Little Drops Of Heaven; Please Don't Leave Me; Red Hot & Heavy. Rockumentary (incl. backstage footage and interviews with the band) | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.prettymaids.dk
Recordlabel: http://www.frontiers.it MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/pmaids |
87/100 |
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| RADICAL NERVE DISTORTION – Nailgunning Your Dome (CDemo) | The Netherlands | March 2012 | Kees Schijven |
| Style: Hardcore / Thrash Metal | Running time: 12:25 (Tracks: 5) | ||
| Radical Nerve Distortion originally started out as Rager in 2002, but after recording their first promo original members Hans B. (guitar) And Hans K. (drums/vocals) decided to change their name to R.N.D. In 2003 Tommy J. Joined them on bass, and a second promo was recorded, with a.o. 'Meatman', 'Divebomber'and 'Slowmotion Menace' on it. Januari 2005 their next recordings were made, including one of their best songs 'Every Knee Shall Bow'. At the end of 2006 R.N.D. decided to go look for a frontman/singer, who was found in Stefan (ex-Buttscratcher 2000, Binford), who's hardcore screams perfectly combined with the singing style of Hans K. At the Excess studio in Rotterdam their debut album 'Old Style Scare Tactics' was recorded. After a while Stefan decided to quit the band. Springtime 2010 a new 5 track promo is released with a.o. 'Swimming with Sharks', 'Kneecapping' and 'Execution of the Parricide' on it. To get a heavier guitar sound, and with the intention to perform, a second guitar player is added to the band in the person of Lars A. Early 2011. Right after the recordings of 'Nailgunning Your Dome', Hans B. decided to leave the band in November 2011, and the band decides to go on as a powertrio. Radical Nerve Distortion plays a mix of hardcore thrash oldschool style, without too much technicalities. First track is 'Broken Beyond Repair', a nice mid tempo song with a great riff in it, but with 'Six Dead, Seven Missing' the pace goes up, more hardcore style the oldschool way. Next up title track 'Nailgunning your dome' a heavy, up tempo song with a real nice mid part and brutal vocals, as said before no flashing guitar solo's on here, just some brutal heavy riffing, short, mostly fast tracks, which bring back some eighties memories of D.R.I. , Suicidal Tendencies, M.D.C., well you get the picture by now I guess. 'Scumbags' is up next, one of my favorite tracks, does remind me a bit of the british punk style of the Exploited and G.B.H. not too complicated but effective! Last song is 'Glasgow Smile' an aggressive song with brutal vocalities, makes me wanna hear more, luckily new recordings are expected around summer 2012, so that's not such a long wait, also the band wants to do some performances (which will be their first as far as I know) in the near future! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.radical-nerve-distortion.nl
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/radicalnervedistortion |
80/100 |
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| REBEL YELL – Rebels On The Loose (CD) | Belgium | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Sleaze Rock / Hard Rock | Running time: 42:04 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| In September 2011 I reviewed the 5 track EP “Welcome To The Show” (2010) of Belgian Sleaze Rock, Hard Rock band REBEL YELL. Now these Belgian Sleaze Rockers have released their debut album titled “Rebels On The Loose”. The line-up of REBEL YELL still exists of Diether (vocals, guitar), Dag (guitar, backing vocals), Herman (bass) and Marc (drums, backing vocals). The band recorded 11 songs for this debut album, and I must say that I like most of the songs very much. There are just a few songs on “Rebels On The Loose” which are in my opinion a bit less. And the album features one instrumental song, which is the last track of the album, titled “Godspeed”. In REBEL YELL's songs you can hear influences of bands such as AC/DC, IRON MAIDEN, THIN LIZZY, MOTÖRHEAD and GUNS N' ROSES. So far, I never have seen REBEL YELL live, but I'm sure they are a very nice live band as well. The best songs on this album are in my opinion “Rebels On The Loose”, “Kill Girl Kill”, “Parasite”, “Home Sweet Beer” and “Wanted Dead”. Anyway, REBEL YELL delivered a nice debut album with “Rebels On The Loose”. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.rebelyell.be
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/rebelyellmusic |
76/100 |
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| SACRIFICIAL SLAUGHTER vs. ENFUNERATION – American Death Thrash (Split CD) | USA | March 2012 | William Nijhof |
| Style: Thrash Death Metal | Running time: 42:34 (Tracks:10) | ||
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Fuck yeah a split album of two very good death thrash bands is always a good thing. This album begins with 5 songs of Sacrificial Slaughter. They started with their rage in 2002 and already have 2 full-lengths and a single on their name. These five songs bring total devastation and sound ravaging. The guitar riffs are a bit thrash metal orientated with a lot of aggression in it. The drums are furious and straight in your face. Then you got the vocals very aggressive light grunts that sound filthy combined with backing grunts. This band clearly knows how to bring a good and brutal sound and music (I love it!). Fast and furious songs with a good and heavy production. The next band on this album is Enfuneration that started in 2006 with their plague. This band plays more technical death metal with some old school elements in it. 5 songs in vain of bands like Malevolent Creation and Krisiun. They released a demo and this Split album. The songs are very fast but also have great old school groove in it. The first song starts with a blast but also have elements in it that reminds me of Morbid Angel (especially the solo). The second song starts with an easy listening intro that goes into total rage. The variety of these songs are great and the production is also straight in your face and brutal. The good thing about split albums is that you get 2 bands for the price of one, and these 2 bands are good example of great US death metal. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://hpgd.comoj.com/index.html
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/enfuneration MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/championsofmetal |
78/100 |
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| SAVAGE MESSIAH – Plague Of Conscience (CD) | United Kingdom | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Heavy Metal / Thrash Metal / Progressive Metal | Running time: 53:19 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| By accident I saw this CD “Plague Of Conscience” of SAVAGE MESSIAH in my local record store. I didn't know the band so far, so I didn't know what to expect. I decided to take a listen. Wow, what a real surprise this album was to me, because SAVAGE MESSIAH plays a mixture of Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal and Progressive Metal. So, I bought the album. When I arrived at home, I put the CD in my CD-player and in the meantime I was listening to this album I searched on my PC for some more information of the band. Well, SAVAGE MESSIAH comes from London, England and was formed in May of 2007. But when you hear this band, you wouldn't believe they are from London, England, because they do sound so American. The band exists of Dave Silver (vocals, guitar), Joff Bailey (guitar), Stefano Selvatico (bass) and Mauricio Chamucero (drums), and have already released the following two albums: “Spitting Venom” (2007) and “Insurrection Rising” (2009). “Plague Of Conscience”, was produced by Scott Atkins and features ten songs, which are all real masterpieces. Believe me, from the first track “Plague Of Conscience” until the last track “The Mask Of Anarchy” it is absolutely high quality what these guys present on this album. The band exists of very technical and skilled musicians. Just listen to the killer riffs and fantastic guitar solos of Silver and Bailey. Not to forget the awesome drum work of Chamucero. Man, what a super drummer he is. Besides a guitarist, Silver is also a very good singer, who's voice reminds of Dave Mustaine (MEGADETH) sometimes, but he can sing pretty high as well. Since I bought this album, it already made many spins in my CD-player. Well, SAVAGE MESSIAH is a real discovery to me, and they are a very promising band. “Beyond A Shadow Of A Doubt” has a kind of SAVATAGE riff in it. Songs such as “Plague Of Conscience”, “Carnival Of Souls”, “All Seeing I”, “The Accuser” and “Shadowbound” are fantastic Thrash Metal songs, and songs like “Architects Of Fear”, and “In Thought Alone” and “The Mask Of Anarchy” are brilliant Prog Metal pieces. Although all songs are excellent, my favorite tracks are “Plague Of Conscience”, “All Seeing I”, “Architects Of Fear”, “The Accuser” and “Shadowbound”. This third album “Plague Of Conscience” is a superb album which any Thrash Metal fan, Prog fan, and fans of MEGADETH will like very much. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.savage-messiah.co.uk Recordlabel: http://www.earache.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/savagemessiahmetal |
90/100 |
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| SONIC STATION – Sonic Station (CD) | Sweden | March 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Westcoast / Smooth AOR | Running time: 48:03 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Westcoast-music, a crossover between adult orientated rock and smooth, jazzy, classy- vocal pop is a popular subgenre in Sweden. Some record labels even specialise / specialised in recording, launching and distributing Swedish Westcoast-artists ( Zink Music, Avenue of Allies, Atenzia, a.o.) and artists like State Cows, Sven Larsson, Daniel Andersson, Peter Friestedt, Crossfade, George Grunwald, Rolf Jardemark, Josef Melin and Spin Gallery have quite a lot of followers and fans. Sonic Station is the brainchild of the former Music College of Stockholm' guitar student Alexander Kronbrink. The eleven songs on Sonic Station have a typical brand of Westcoast-music with a lot of hints of Steely Dan, Lee Ritenour, Pages, Airplay, Jason Scheff and Jay Graydon. The songs are smooth, warm, blessed with a nice pop-structure and a strong musical background. Alexander worked on the album with four singers and Marika Willstedt, who also co-wrote a lot of the lyrics and some music, and the high-pitched-vocalist Kristoffer Fogelmark are the most striking vocalists on this opus. I like the guitar work (obviously influenced by Jay Graydon),the keyboards of Jonathan Fritzen, the strong rhythm-section and the poppy-interpretation of the songs. A pleasant surprise for Westcoast fans! | |||
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Visit his website: http://www.sonic-station.com
Recordlabel: http://www.frontiers.it MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/sonicstationband |
80/100 |
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| SUNSTORM – The Visitation (CD) | USA / Germany | March 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Melodic Rock / Hard Rock | Running time: 45:00 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Joe Lynn Turner needs no further introduction. He was the singer in Fandango, Rainbow, Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force and he made a lot of successful solo albums in the nineties of the past century. In 2006 he joined forces with the Italian Frontiers label and they asked him to re-record some of his old demos. The Sunstorm-album was the result of this and it gained wide recognition. The second Sunstorm album in 2009 (House of Dreams) contained also famous song from the 'Joe Lynn Turner penned catalogue'. The third Sunstorm release, 'Emotional Fire', is again mainly filled with songs from the heydays of the melodic rock genre and Joe has chosen for some vocal sessions he did in the 80's as background vocalist for other artists (Michael Bolton, Cher). The European songwriters Tom and James Martin, Soren Kronkvist and Daniel Pamlquist provided the other half of the album. Ëmotional Fire has a thick production by Dennis Ward, the German back-up band for the melodic offspring sounds very tight and the songs are 'instant classics' with a revitalised touch. Joe's vocal pitch has lost some power and some height but Joe is still the distinct vocalist for this eighties' rock-flashback! Well done. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.joelynnturner.com
Recordlabel: http://www.frontiers.it MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/joelynnturner |
80/100 |
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| SUPERBUTT – Music For Animals (CD) | Hungary | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Metal | Running time: 40:56 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| SUPERBUTT is a five piece Metal band from Hungary. Personally I never had heard of the band before. SUPERBUTT was formed in February of 2000. So far, the band released the following albums: “2 Minutes For Roughing” (2001), “The Unbeatable Eleven” (2003), “Black Soup” (2006) and “You And Your Revolution” (2008). And besides those albums they also released one EP titled “Szájon át” (2007), which is sung fully in Hungarian. Anyway, the line-up on this fifth studio album exists of Andras Voros (vocals), Attila Kovacs (guitar), Tamas Praznek (guitar) György Neddluhr (bass) and Adam Fellegi (drums). But according to the attached biography, the current line-up of SUPERBUTT exists of Andras Voros (vocals), Szabolcs Szucs (guitar), Zsolt Szentpeteri (guitar), Salim Mahboubi (bass) and Bela Gabor (drums). So, with this I assume that SUPERBUTT did have many line-up changes in the past, and that only Andras Voros is steady member of the band. Well, about “Music For Animals”, it features ten songs. And to be honest, there isn't any song, which really impresses me. Okay, the members play their instruments well, but it's mainly the vocals of Andras Voros which really annoys me. It really hurts my ears, hearing him sing. Maybe there are metalheads who will like this band, well I don't. After two times listening I had enough of it. Luckily I got better albums from Mario to review. So, next album, because to me “Music For Animals” is just a waste of time. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.superbutt.net
Recordlabel: http://www.sonicattackrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/superbutt |
58/100 |
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| T.C.F. – Where Madness Reigns (CD) | The Netherlands | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Thrash Metal / Hardcore / Crossover | Running time: 28:55 (Tracks: 13) | ||
| T.C.F., which stands for THRASH CORE FANATICS, have released their first full length album, titled “Where Madness Reigns”, on Malevolence Records. In 2008, the band, which exists of Hans (vocals, bass, ex-ENFORCER), Nick (guitar) and Rob (drums, ex-INCREMENTAL), recorded their “Core '88” demo, and their 5 track EP “Speed Or Bleed” (2009), was reviewed by colleague Kees Schijven (see MMM update of March, 2010). So far, I've seen the band twice live (in 2009 and in 2010), and they are a fantastic live band. Well, these guys actually started the band as a joke, but soon it became clear T.C.F. was more then a joke, so it all became very serious. And indeed, because what T.C.F. presents on “Where Madness Reigns” is serious old school Crossover. Anyway, “Where Madness Reigns” features thirteen great songs, and believe me, the level of those songs is constantly high. I can't find any weak song on this album, which by the way has a beautiful cover. The band exists of excellent and talented musicians. Just listen to the fantastic guitar solos of “Noise Gate” Nick. This guy is really awesome. And the vocals of bassist Hans fits perfectly for this type of music. And to tell the truth, with this debut album, T.C.F. easily can compete with the new generation Thrash/Crossover bands such as MUNICPAL WASTE, GAMA BOMB, WARBRINGER, BONDED BY BLOOD, S.S.S., HAVOK etcetera. Every song on "Where Madness Reigns" can create a circle pit during a T.C.F. show. Well, what else can I say about "Where Madness Reigns", it is just a marvellous Crossover album. Although I like every song very much, my favorite ones of this CD are “Face The Truth”, “Slave Of The Suit”, “Where Madness Reigns”, “An Eye For An Eye”, “Justified Violence”, “Punch In The Face” and "Duck And Cover". What a fantastic debut album this is. Great work guys, looking forward to see you on the road again real soon. Thrash fanatics, hardcore freaks check this album out, you won't regret it. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.malevolence-records.us MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thrashcorefanatics |
88/100 |
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| THE EMBODIED – The Embodied (CD) | Sweden | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Heavy Metal / Melodic Death Metal | Running time: 37:49 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| This self titled debut album of Swedish Metal band THE EMBODIED was released in October of 2011 on Pure Legend Records, a division of Pure Steel Records. The band had already released the demo-EP “Relatively Fade” (2006) and the single “Chapter One” (2008) by themselves so far. THE EMBODIED exists of Marcus Thorell (vocals), Chris Melin (guitars), Jonathan Mortensen (guitar), Agust Ahlberg (bass) and Axel Janossy (drums). On the attached biography the band's music is described as melodic classic Heavy Metal and Death Metal. Well, actually melodic Death Metal with clean vocals (screams are used sporadically), because while listening to this fine debut album, the band reminds me of bands such as IN FLAMES, AT THE GATES and DARK TRANQUILITY. This album was produced by ex-KING DIAMOND guitarist Andy La Rocque, and sounds very good. La Rocque even does a solo on “Heaven Burns Tonight”. The band exists of excellent musicians, and they do have in Marcus Thorell a fantastic singer. About the songs, well, I must say they do sound damn good and are equally strong. Okay, this album won't get the status of a classic metal album, therefor it isn't sounding very original, but you can't deny this is a damn good debut album. So, anyone who likes the above mentioned Swedish metal bands, should check this debut album out. I'm sure you will hear the resemblance with these bands. Well, it doesn't matter, because “As I Speak”, “Dead Man Walkin'”, “Born From Shadows”, “Flawless”, “Northern Lights”, “Heaven Burns Tonight” and “Deception” are all great songs. Anyway, I like this album very much, and I'm sure it will make more spins in my CD-player so now and then. Like I said, check this album out, because it's really a good one. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.theembodied.com
Recordlabel: http://www.purelegend-records.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/theembodied |
83/100 |
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| TRI STATE CORNER - Historia (CD) | Germany | March 2012 | Jordy Brouwers |
| Style: Rock | Running time: 40:40 (Tracks: 12) | ||
|
When I have a first look on the album cover, I am really surprised of the nice artwork! The cover is really attracting me so I have to complement Art Director Martin Kolejak! But, of course, I have to focus myself on the music on the album. Tri State Corner (TSC) started in 2004 and it is an international group with members from Germany, Poland and Greece. Guitarist Janni introduces the Greek culture in the music by using a typical Greek instrument: the Bouzouki. This makes the music on Historia quite special/exotic. The other musicians are Lucky (Vocals), Christoph (guitar), Markuz (bass) and Chris on drums.
Historia is TSC`s third album. In 2007, they released Changes, followed in 2008 by Ela Na This. Historia is nevertheless my first acquaintance with TSC. The album is a concept album which tells the story of an immigrant who leaves his comfort home ground and moves to a brand new world. All his experiences like for example love, aggression, sorrow and fear are expressed on Historia. The band has a desire to create inspiring hard rock with its own sound that is finding its roots in nations all around the world. As regards to the music, it is basically not really special, but the Bouzouki, combined with heavy guitar riffs, gives the whole a special touch. But the band takes also a risk by using this instrument, it sometimes makes me a little bit nervous. Fortunately this happens not so much. The albums has a lot of variety. It starts and ends with an up-tempo rock / metal song but it contains also ballad-like songs like I Swear. Something what I like is that the music sounds quite pure without electronics or something else. I can appreciate this. Historia is a well-produced album for people who have a progressive mind (because of the Bouzouki) and who can appreciate the use of unique instruments. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.tristatecorner.de Recordlabel: http://www.fastball-music.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/tristatecorner |
70/100 |
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| UFO – Seven Deadly (CD) | United Kingdom / USA | March 2012 | Manfred Werger |
| Style: Hard Rock, Bluesy Rock | Running time: 53:40 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| The band UFO needs no introduction to 'the rockland landscape'. UFO is / was responsible for releasing the best live-album ever (“Strangers in the Night” is their ultimate major opus). After their artistic heydays with Michael Schenker (1974 – 1978) came the commercial breakthrough with guitarist Paul Chapman. It lasted until 1983. UFO had some rebirths after that period (with guitarists Tommy McClendon, Laurence Archer and Michael Schenker (again)) but the flight of the' new UFO' didn't last that long. In 2005 UFO reformed again, this time with neo-classical guitar virtuoso Vinnie Moore. The musical direction changed into a more bluesy approached style of rock music. The albums with Vinnie were quite successful and the 2009' album The Visitor was even very good. UFO released 'Seven Deadly ' a few days ago and I like the album very much. Seven Deadly starts with the two best songs on the album (Fight night and Wonderland, two ferocious rockers), after that the bluesy, midpaced / midtempo songs set the course. But songs are quite good, they have a strong backbone that clears the path for vocalist Phil Mogg. His vocals and his evocative lyrics sound better than before, but the star on the album is Vinnie Moore. His shredding style of his first solo-albums in his Shrapnel days has gone, but the rhythm guitars, the absolute stunning solos on Seven Deadly are amazing. What a guitar player! It's too bad the band has picked up slower songs predominantly. A few rockers on full speed would have created an absolute killer album of these veterans. The album closes with the with one of the two bonustracks of the album, the old fashioned, moody “Bag of Blues”. UFO has done it again and the survivors start their European Tour on March 15th. Opening act for a few UK'shows will be the vintage rockers Heavy Metal Kids. It will be quite a party! Great record! Keep on rockin'guys! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.ufo-music.info
Recordlabel: http://www.spv.de MySpace: http://www.ufo.davewood.org |
85/100 |
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| VAN HALEN – A Different Kind Of Truth (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Hard Rock | Running time: 50:12 (Tracks: 13) | ||
| Wow, after fourteen years there's finally a new album of VAN HALEN, and what an album "A Different Kind Of Truth" it is. Yes folks, "A Different Kind Of Truth", which is the band's 12th studio album, is almost in the classic VAN HALEN line-up. Only bass player Michael Anthony (ex-VAN HALEN, CHICKENFOOT) has been replaced since 2006 by Wolfgang van Halen, who's the son of guitar hero Eddie van Halen. So, the line-up of VAN HALEN on "A Different Kind Of Truth" exists of David Lee Roth (vocals), Eddie van Halen (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Wolfgang van Halen (bass, backing vocals) and Alex van Halen (drums). Well, I'm a fan of VAN HALEN since their debut album "Van Halen" (1978). The only two studio albums which I don't have of VAN HALEN are "OU812" (1988) with Sammy Hagar (MONTROSE, ex-VAN HALEN, CHICKENFOOT) on vocals, and "Van Halen III" (1998) with Gary Cherone (EXTREME). Anyway, "A Different Kind Of Truth" features thirteen songs, and it really sounds like old times. And it seems that a number of songs are based upon demos and unused lyrics written by the band in the 70's, and are rewritten for "A Different Kind Of Truth". The album opens with the first single "Tattoo". It's a nice song, but to me it's just not that great as a single. In my opinion there are way much better songs on the album. Second track is the heavy "She's The Woman", which has an awesome guitar riff. It's absolutely one my favorite songs on the album. "Honeybabysweetiedoll" is a nice song, only it has a bit of a weird opening, what is less of that song. As usual, it's a real pleasure to listen to Eddie's awesome guitar solo's. And it's great to hear Diamond Dave sing again. The album was produced by VAN HALEN and John Shanks and sounds excellent. Songs such as the aforementioned "Tattoo", "You And Your Blues", "Honeybabysweetiedoll" and "Big River" are nice sounding VAN HALEN songs, but in my opinion the best songs on "A Different Kind Of Truth" are "She's The Woman", "China Town", "Blood & Fire", "Bullethead", "As Is", "Outta Space", "Stay Frosty" and "Beats Workin'". Anyway, all VAN HALEN fans in the world will be very happy with this excellent album. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.van-halen.com
Recordlabel: http://www.interscope.com |
88/100 |
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| VENGEANCE – Crystal Eye (CD) | The Netherlands | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Hard Rock | Running time: 44:29 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| At the end of January 2011, the Dutch Rock scene was shocked by the death of VENGEANCE guitarist Jan Somers, who died from a heart attack on January 28th, at the age of 46. Now, VENGEANCE released their 9th studio album "Crystal Eye", which is, of course, dedicated to the late and talented Jan Somers, on SPV. Notable on the album cover is, that the old VENGEANCE logo is back. "Crystal Eye", features eleven tracks, of which the last one ("Jan's End Piece") is one of the last guitar solos of Jan Somers (R.I.P.). When you are listening to "Jan's End Piece", it just reminds you of what a fantastic and talented guitar player Jan Somers was. Well, he will always be remembered. Anyway, almost three years after "Soul Collector" (2009), VENGEANCE is back, but this time in an all-star line-up. In fact, Leon Goewie, who's the only original member of VENGEANCE, used the band members of AC/DC tribute band CHRIS SLADE STEEL CIRCLE (CS/SC), where he is singing in as well, as the new line-up for VENGEANCE. The makers of this fantastic album "Crystal Eye" are Leon Goewie (vocals), Timo Somers (guest guitar on two songs), Jan Somers (guitar, R.I.P.), Michael Voss (guitar, backing vocals; MAD MAX), Chris Glen (bass; formerly of M.S.G., CHRIS SLADE STEEL CIRCLE) and Chris Slade (drums; ex-MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND, ex-AC/DC, CHRIS SLADE STEEL CIRCLE). "Crystal Eye" was produced by Michael Voss, and sounds fantastic. Most of the songs are written by Goewie and Voss, but also Tony Martin (ex-BLACK SABBATH wrote a song ("Whole Lof Of Metal"), and the title track "Crystal Eye" was written by Arjen Lucassen (ex-BODINE, ex-VENGEANCE, AYREON, STAR ONE). In my opinion the song "Crystal Eye" sounds more like an AYREON song, than as a VENGEANCE song, but it is a great song anyway. The most commercial sounding song to me is the third track "Barbeque". It's a nice song, but not one of the best if you ask me. "Crystal Eye" also features two ballads, which are "Promise Me" and "Missing". Well, Leon Goewie sounds just as great as ever, and he still belongs to my all time favorite Dutch Rock singers. To me, the best VENGEANCE album ever is (and always will be) the self titled debut album "Vengeance" (1984). My other favorite VENGEANCE albums are "We Have Ways To Make You Rock" (1986), "Arabia" (1989) and "Back In The Ring" (2006). "Soul Collector" was a good album, but I think "Crystal Eye" is a better one. To me, the best songs on "Crystal Eye" are "Me And You", "Bad To The Bone", "Desperate Women", "Whole Lot Of Metal" and "Crystal Eye". Well, VENGEANCE delivered with "Crystal Eye" a fantastic album. Can't wait to see the band on the road again. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.vengeanceonline.nl
Recordlabel: http://www.spv.de MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/vengeancebackinthering |
84/100 |
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| WIDOW – Life's Blood (CD) | USA | March 2012 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: Heavy Metal | Running time: 48:12 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| Widow is no stranger to the fans of traditional heavy metal. The band was formed 12 years ago and has already 3 albums under its belt with “Life's Blood” being the fourth. It is pity though that the band never got the attention it deserved although other similar sounding ones went under the spotlight instantly. Let's hope that Widow will make it with strike four cause “Life's Blood” is an album which deserves everybody's attention. It is an album filled with energy and melody, clearly influenced by the N.W.O.B.H.M. sound but with an approach that sounds fresh and not dated. I was captivated from the first moment and was compelled to press the play button several times. There are some heavy metal anthems in this record such as “Another Fallen Angel”, “The One I Know” and the kick-ass opener “Lady Twilight” although each and every cut has quality. The band doesn't try to dazzle the listener with ultra fast songs and dual guitars but emphasizes on mid tempo anthems with strong choruses. This is definitely one of the highlights for 2011. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.reverbnation.com/widow
Recordlabel: http://www.puresteel-records.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/widow |
82/100 |
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| WYVERN – Lords Of Winter (CD) | Italy | March 2012 | Ronny Elst |
| Style: Symphonic Power Metal | Running time: 64:01 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| This Italian band already exist since 1985! After releasing 2 demo's, their first album "The Red Flame Of Pain" came out in 1990. In October 2010 they finally released their second album "Lords Of Winter". It's not a real "new" album, because there are re-recorded songs from their '94 and '96 demo's, and songs from their 2002 compilation album. In comparison of their old speed/heavy metal style, there are now also elements from prog and thrash metal. Wyvern is a typical Italian symphonic power metal band there were many in the 90's, but...only the strong like Vision Divine, Labÿrinth and Rhapsody survided. Wyvern is certainly not as good as the mentioned bands, but it's okay that they continue to play the music that they like!! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.wyvern.it
Recordlabel: http://www.jollyrogerstore.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/wyvernpowerspeed |
71/100 |
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| XCLAYM – Premium Asskicking Speedrock (CD) | Germany | March 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Speedrock | Running time: 30:41 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| XCLAYM exists of Billy Cocaine (vocals, guitar), Sverige van der Storm (guitar, backing vocals), Fallout George (bass) and Jim "The Weasel" Wodz (drums). I didn't get any biography of the band with this CD, so I had to search on the internet for some more information. Well, on the band's MySpace page, there isn't a biography written, so I can't tell you when this band actually was formed. I assume that "Premium Asskicking Speedrock" is the debut album of these guys. Anyway, when I listened to "Premium Asskicking Speedrock" for the first time, I wasn't that impressed. I thought to myself 'well, this is again one of those many moderate albums'. After listening a few times more to this CD, it didn't change my opinion. Okay, it is not that bad, only it all sounds very cliché. So, "Premium Asskicking Speedrock" is not a very spectacular album. Of course there will be others who will find this a good album, but to me it still is a moderate one. On "Save Me", June Dia is doing additional vocals. Billy Cocaine as a singer, isn't that fantastic as well. To me, he has a bit of a hoarse voice, and it sounds as if he is screaming his lungs out of his body. Musically, these guys play their instruments well, and the production, which was done by Patrick Fleischer and Daniel Beutner, sounds okay. But this all makes not great album. Anyway, in thirty minutes we get 12 songs, and the few songs which I like are "What I Want", "Rock 'N' Roll Radio", "Spring" and "Ride The Bullet". Still interested in this album of XCLAYM, check it out yourself. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.fastball-music.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/xclaym-music |
67/100 |
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| ABNORMAL THOUGHT PATTERNS – Abnormal Thought Patterns (MCD) | USA | January 2012 | Michel van Hassel |
| Style: Progressive Metal | Running time: 20:52 (Tracks: 7) | ||
| This is another project with a Zero Hour background. This time around, Jasun (guitars) and Troy (bass) Tipton together with Mike Guy (drums) have released an instrumental EP. I must admit that I really love these guys but that is no surprise as the quality of their releases has been superb so far. It does not matter if you listen to one of the six Zero Hour-albums, the Death Machine stuff or the Cynthesis cd that came out last year. They rule!!!! The opening-track, “The Machine Within”, starts with some strange sounds but then changes into the characteristic “Tipton-sound”. When Jasun's fingers start moving the magic happens. The rhythm-section knows each other so well that it completes the sound in a great way. With only 2 minutes and thirty-eight seconds, this is only a short display of their craftsmanship. The next four songs are called “Velocity and Acceleration Movement” and are divided in part 1, 2, 3, and 4. This four-part track was one of the two songs that started this project. The first part of “Velocity and Acceleration Movement” kicks off with a short intro. Then it is Jasun on the first part of the song and Troy on the second part of the song and Mike throughout the complete song that excel big time. If you are familiar with the Zero Hour-material, you know what I'm talking about. If you are new to their music, just sit back and be overwhelmed by extreme technical progressive metal. The song ends rather abrupt, as is the beginning of the second part that is a lot heavier and faster but still with the same technical control that this trio possesses. The third part has some heavy riffing before Jasun takes off on his shredding solo-trip. The last part of this four-part track is just another display of what these guys are capable of. They play all kind of odd rhythms and fantastic shredding-solo's. To some other musicians it might even sound intimidating. They know how to play their instruments. The shortest track, clocking just less than one minute is “Ulnar Nerve Damage” and shows Troy doing a bass-solo that he wouldn't have been able to play some time ago because of problems he had with his “Ulnar Nerve”. The closing-track is also the longest one on the album. “Electric Sun” lasts just over five minutes. The beginning shows Jasun playing in a different way. It is more like a long relaxed guitar-solo with all kind of different themes inside the solo. Towards the end the sounds gets softer and the tracks fades out quietly. I'm not a big fan of instrumental records, but the quality of this album is very high. I hope that the Tipton-brothers will be able to come over, play, and let us enjoy the music of one of their bands/projects. This album is the first release on CynNormal Lab Recordings the record label that Jasun started. I guess this won't be the last great release on this label. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.abnormalthoughtpatterns.com
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90/100 |
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| ALFONZETTI – Here Comes The Night (CD) | Sweden | January 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Melodic Hard Rock / AOR | Running time: 39:13 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| "Here Comes The Night" is the third solo album of ALFONZETTI. The first two solo albums of Matti Alfonzetti, who was born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, are "Ready" (2000) and "Machine" (2002). Personally, I never had heard of Matti Alfonzetti before, but this guy has played in BAM BAM BOYS and sung in bands like WESTERN FRONT (with THIN LIZZY guitarist Scott Gorham), JAGGED EDGE, TALISMAN and SKINTRADE to name a few. So, "Here Comes The Night" is my first acquaintance with Matti Alfonzetti, and I have to admit that he's a fantastic singer and songwriter. Actually, his voice sounds very much like David Coverdale (DEEP PURPLE, WHITESNAKE). In fact, "Here Comes The Night" is a very accessible album, with very good melodic Rock songs and ballads, like "Losing You", "Here Comes The Night", "Heartbreaker" (ballad), "Don't Listen To Your Heart", "Why Can't You Love Me", "Rock 'N Roll Heart" and "Set Me Free" (ballad). This album was recorded by Matti Alfonzetti (vocals, bass, guitar) and Daniel Flores (drums, keyboards), with special guests Marcus Jidell (lead guitar) and Emil Fredholm (lead guitar). All songs were written and produced by Matti Alfonzetti, so he's a very talented guy. It's very odd that, especially in these times, Matti Alfonzetti doesn't have his own website or MySpace page. Anyway, "Here Comes The Night" is a good melodic Rock album, which is a real recommendation for all melodic Rock fans. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.aorheaven.com |
80/100 |
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| ANCIENT BARDS – Soulless Child (CD) | Italy | January 2012 | Frans Neelen |
| Style: Symphonic Epic / Power Metal | Running time: 66:35 (Tracks: 10) | ||
|
Bands from Italy seem to like their metal powerful and epic. Ancient Bards is such a band.
“Soulless Child” is their second full (and I mean full, clocking 66 minutes!) length after their 2009 debut “The Alliance of the Kings”. To be short “Soulless Child” is filled with atmospheric keyboards, catchy riffs, sensitive piano pieces, delightful guitar solo's and trigger drums all combining a dark dreamy atmosphere. Epic Powermetal at his best; musically performed very well and you can say it could be the soundtrack for a good fantasy movie. So musically there is really nothing wrong with it, it's all high class, certainly for fans of Rhapsody Of Fire, Darkmoor to name a few. The critical points for me are the sometimes a bit too happy sounding tracks like “Broken Illusion” and the fast “Valiant Ride”; the trigger drums which are too much present and begin to irritate and the vocals of Sara Squadrani which aren't always powerful enough. Gladly these critics are blown away easily in the suburb classics. “Through My Veins”, “Soulless Child” and “All That Is True”. Brilliant tracks that make me forget my criticism and where the band gives everything they got. Also Sara shows here qualities here, proving she is capable enough for this stuff. Who likes his music bombastic and orchestral filled with power and lots of variation this Ancient Bards is highly recommended. The beautiful artwork by Felipe Machado Franco is also worth mentioning. Certainly a band to check out. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.ancientbards.com
Recordlabel: http://www.limb-music.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/ancietnbards |
80/100 |
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| ARRAYAN PATH – Ira Imperium (CD) | Cyprus | January 2012 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: Power Metal | Running time: 63:33 (Tracks: 13) | ||
| Arrayan Path (formerly Arryan Path) is probably the leading force of Cyprus power metal. Every album of this very talented band is an amazing feat of epic yet melodic power metal and Ira Imperium couldn't be different. Only one year after its previous effort Terra Incognita, the band shows no signs of slowing down. Nicholas Leptos' soaring vocals send shivers down my spine once again while the rest of the band delivers excellent power metal full of melodies and emotion. The oriental elements are always present giving that Eastern Mediterranean twist to the band's music. Vocal titan Tony Martin and Sanvoicen's frontman Vangelis Maranis participate as guests and contribute some jaw dropping performances. I really hope this album reaches a wider audience because it deserves to be heard by every power metal fan out there. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.pitchblackrecords.net
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/arryanpath |
90/100 |
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| CRUSADER – Rise Of The Templars (MCD) | USA | January 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Heavy Metal | Running time: 14:37 (Tracks: 4) | ||
| The attached info sheet with this EP only tells that CRUSADER was formed out of the ashes of Horror Punk band GRAVEDIRT, and that the band exists of Hoagy (vocals), Brad (guitar), Joe (guitar), Ian (bass) and Colin (drums, programming). So, I tried to find some more information about CRUSADER on the internet. Through their Facebook page, I know CRUSADER comes from Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., but can't tell when CRUSADER exactly was formed. Anyway, these guys recorded four very nice sounding songs in October of 2010 for this debut EP "Rise Of The Templars", which has been released by the band themselves in 2011. The songs, which are "Rise Of The Templars", "Engineface", "Asgard's Fire" and "Iron Forge", are all in the NWOBHM tradition. Not strange, because these guys are influenced by bands like IRON MAIDEN, MOTÖRHEAD, JUDAS PRIEST, VENOM, ANVIL et cetera. The production of this EP, which was done by Dan Precision, sounds very good. I like all four songs of this EP, which makes me very curious for a full length album. Check this band out, because this is a very nice EP. | |||
| Visit their website: http://www.crusadermetal.wordpress.com |
76/100 |
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| DEAD – Hardnaked...but Dead (CD) | Germany | January 2012 | William Nijhof |
| Style: Death / Grind Metal | Running time: 41:07 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| DEAD from Germany is a band that definitely needs no introduction. These guys have an arsenal of albums, splits and EP`s. Founded in 1990, so you can say their one of the survivors of those days. But the last album is good but doesn`t get me the way as I hoped. The guitar riffs are old school and heavy. The drums are straight in your face but very bad in the mix. The vocals combined with lower grunts sound good but also too loud in the mix. The composing of the songs is good, but the production is a bit too crap for me. But even though the production isn`t too good, the songs are great and filled with variety. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.dead-slaves.com/home Recordlabel: http://www.fda-rekotz.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/deadofficial |
65/100 |
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| DEADLY CARNAGE – Centiero II – Ceneri (CD) | Italy | January 2012 | William Nijhof |
| Style: Black Metal / Doom Metal | Running time: 41:43 (Tracks: 6) | ||
| Deadly Carnage from Italy started spreading their rage in 2006. They released their first demo in 2006 and an EP in 2007. Their debut album saw the light in 2008. This is their second full-length. Well what can I say, there are six songs on this album and I already have a love and hate relation with this album. The guitar riffs are heavy acoustic and filled with leads. The drums are furious and groovy. The vocals are evil and filthy black screams. The composing of the songs are very epic and very chaotic but also very relaxed, can you dig it? Hahaha, I will try to explain it better. The songs are long and epic. It has a very raw production and it sounds like this is made with extreme hate and pain. If you like bands that are underground and very pure and raw but with a very epic twist then you shoul give it a try. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.deadlycarnage.altervista.org Recordlabel: http://www.atmf.net MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/deadlycarnage |
70/100 |
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| DISQUIET – Scars of Undying Grief (CD) | The Netherlands | January 2012 | Robin van Tilburg |
| Style: Thrash Metal | Running time: 55:05 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| Disquiet is active since the beginning of this millennium, but has just recently released their debut album 'Scars of Undying Grief.' The constant line-up changes were part of the reason that this didn't happen sooner. It was worth the wait though, because 'Scars of Undying Grief' is probably one of the best Dutch based Thrashmetal albums I've heard in a very long time. The style reminisces strongly of the Bay Area style Thrash, but also a name like early Sepultura comes to mind. The latter is also represented in the vocal style, because the singer sounds a lot like Max Cavalera. But enough with the comparisons. The album contains twelve tracks full of powerful riffing, complex drum patterns and in your face vocals. Good examples of the potential of the band are opener 'La Camorra,' 'Trenches of Blood,' '' No Mery Left' and 'Craved Soul.' Overall the quality of the music and production is very high and stays interesting until the last note. A true recommendation for the Thrash Metal enthusiast. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.disquiet.nl MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/disquiet |
85/100 |
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| ENDLESS VOID – Apparitions (MCD) | USA | January 2012 | William Nijhof |
| Style: Heavy Metal / Doom Metal | Running time: 20:27 (Tracks: 4) | ||
|
All right what we have here is 4 track promo from James L. Owen (founder of Endless Void from the USA formed in 1986). This album is a kind of a preview and it sounds great. The music sometimes reminds me a bit of a combination between Place of Skulls and Saxon. The guitar riffs are heavy Rock riffs combined with some stoner influences. The vocals are very epic and clean. The drums are groovy and gives it a very groovy relax feeling. The production is very raw but that gives it a very old school feeling so I like it. This is just the preview of their forth coming album but I can tell you that you are going to get some interesting music that keeps you listen to it. If you like 70`s rock combined with stoner and doom then you are going to enjoy it. There isn`t much more to tell because I cannot find anything about them; but the new album is coming soon! Because this is a preview I am not going to give it a rate. E-mail band; crazeartjames@yahoo.com | |||
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| ESKIMADA – Eskimada (CD) | Italy | January 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Crossover / Alternative Rock / Metal | Running time: 32:39 (Tracks: 9) | ||
| In July of 2007 Italian crossover band ESKIMADA was formed under another name, NAKED WEAPONS, but after several line-up changes, they decided to change the name into ESKIMADA. The band picture in the booklet of this self titled debut album "Eskimada", shows us the line-up of Raffaele Pibiri (vocals), Ivano Pischedda (guitar), Enzo Di Ciaccio (bass) and Giovanni Ambrosino (drums), but on the attached info sheet there's a line-up mentioned of five members. The band has added a second guitar player named Alessandro Derosas. Anyway, this album, which was released by the band themselves in 2009 (and now promoted by Red Cat Promotion), features 9 nice sounding songs, to which I can listen to now and then. It's not a spectacular album, just a nice one. Personally I wouldn't buy it myself easily. The musicians play their instruments very well, and Pibiri is a nice singer with a varied voice, mostly clean but sometimes also brutal and aggressive. The production is good as well. So if you are into alternative Rock/Metal, then you could check this band out. The bands says they are influenced by bands like TOOL, INCUBUS and FAITH NO MORE. Anyway, ESKIMADA is a nice Italian band, with at least a good singer. | |||
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MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/eskimada |
70/100 |
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| EVADNE – The Shortest Way (CD) | Spain | January 2012 | William Nijhof |
| Style: Melodic Death / Doom Metal | Running time: 65:18 (Tracks: 8) | ||
| Evadne from Spain plays melodic death doom since 2000. They released there first demo in 2004 and their debut “The 13th Condition” in 2007. This is their second full-length and it sounds great. There are only 8 songs on this album but they are long and interesting. The guitar riffs are typical heavy doom combined with melody and acoustics in it. The drums are groovy and very steady. The vocals are deep grunts but very well executed and the balance of the vocals in the music sounds furious. They also use clean backing vocals (which are not too loud in the mix). The composing of the songs are very well done every song is filled with atmosphere and makes you listen to the entire album. Even though this band is unsigned you can definitely not hear that in the music. This band has the entire package: good music and a killer production. If you like bands like Doom:vs , Helevorn or other doom metal bands with grunts then you are going to enjoy this album | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.evadne.es MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/evadneband |
80/100 |
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| EXXPLORER – Vengeance Rides On Angry Horse (CD) | USA | January 2012 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: Power Metal | Running time: 54:49 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| U.S. Metal legends Exxplorer return after 15 years of silence. Their last effort was unfortunately below average and that somehow disappointed the fans. But the band was determined to make a great comeback. Their appearance at the Keep It True and Headbangers Open Air festivals in Germany was just the beginning. Vengeance Rides on Angry Horse is a genuine return to the roots. With a sound between the first two albums and a great 80's feeling, it will satisfy every fan of true U.S. metal. Legendary vocalist Lennie Rizzo fronts the band with his epic voice while the trademark guitar melodies of Kevin Kennedy fill the air. This is one of the best surprise comebacks of the last years and I hope that it will not pass unnoticed. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.reverbnation.com/exxplorer
Recordlabel: http://www.puresteel-records.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/exxplorerband |
87/100 |
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| FATE – Ghosts From The Past (CD) | Denmark | January 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: AOR / Melodic Rock | Running time: 59:04 (Tracks: 13) | ||
| Danish Metal band FATE was formed in late 1984 by guitarist Hank Shermann, who had left MERCYFUL FATE, together with Jeff Limbo (vocals), Pete Steiner (bass) and Bob Lance (drums). Well, about MERCYFUL FATE, the self titled four track EP "Mercyful Fate" (1982), and the albums "Melissa" (1983) and "Don't Break The Oath" (1984), still belong to my all time favorites, and are all classics. And after MERCYFUL FATE broke up, I did follow KING DIAMOND for several years. I did have the albums "Fatal Portrait" (1986), "Abigail" (1987) and "Them" (1988) on vinyl. But when Shermann formed FATE, I have to admit that I never checked the band's albums. The albums which have been released by FATE so far are “Fate” (1985), “A Matter Of Attitude” (1986), “Cruisin' For A Bruisin'” (1988), “Scratch 'N' Sniff” (1990) and “V” (2006). And in 2010 there was a compilation album released, titled “25 Years – The Best Of 1985-2010”. Shermann, who's now playing in superb Thrash band DEMONICA, only played on the first two albums, and left FATE in 1988. Several other line-up changes followed, and in 1993 the band called it quits. Years went by and in 2004 FATE did a reunion show at a festival in Germany. The albums “A Matter Of Attitude” and “Scratch 'N' Sniff” were re-mastered and re-released by MTM Music. And because of the overwhelming success of those two re-releases, which both featured some bonus tracks, FATE decided to give it another shot. This resulted into the album “V”, which was released in April of 2006. Anyway, "Ghosts From The Past" is the sixth studio album of FATE, and is my first musical acquaintance with FATE. It features thirteen fantastic and catchy melodic Rock songs. The line-up of FATE on this album exists of Dagfinn Joensen (vocals), Torben Enevoldsen (guitar), only remaining original member Pete Steiner (bass), Jens Berglid (drums) and Mikkel Henderson (keyboards). All songs are excellent compositions, which makes "Ghosts From The Past" a delicious album to listen to. Joenssen is a fantastic singer, and Enevoldsen, who's also in SECTION A and FATAL FORCE, is a great guitar player. It's a pleasure to listen to his guitar solos, which do not dominate the songs. Also the production of the album, which was done by the band themselves together with Thomas Pedersen, sounds fantastic. “Ghosts From The Past” is a fine melodic Rock album, with fantastic songs such as “Children Of The Night”, “Miracle”, “Seeds Of Terror”, “At The End Of The Day”, “All That I Want”, “Daddy's Girl”, “Murder” and “The Last Time”. All Melodic Rock fans should check this album out, because I'm sure you will like this album very much. It's a real recommendation. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.fatetheband.com
Recordlabel: http://www.aorheaven.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/fatedk |
82/100 |
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| GRAND DESIGN - Idolizer (CD) | Sweden | January 2012 | Jordy Brouwers |
| Style: Melodic Rock | Running time: 49:07 (Tracks: 10) | ||
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Grand Design was formed in 2006 by vocalist / producer Pelle Saether, Peter Ledin (Guitars) and Richard Holmgren (Drums). In the following years, the guys worked hard on “capturing the big 80`s melodic rock sound” and writing songs. Grand Design`s 1st album “Time Elevation” was completed early 2009. During the production of this album, Anders Modd (Bass) and Dennis Vestman (Guitars) completed the line-up. This release was quite a success and was awarded “best album” and “best song” by BeRockRadio and received numerous top 10 positions for “best album 2009”. Now, two years later, it`s time for Grand Design`s second album: Idolizer. The recording process was handled similar to the first album with the same line-up. The sound and the songs are in the same style. Saether says: “We knew we had found a formula to make an 80`s rock record work in the 21st century – so why change it?” The record contains ten songs en contains everything from up tempo melodic rock to slow love ballads. Before I received the album, I was not familiar with Grand Design, but after listening some songs of the debut album (“Time Elevation”) on the internet, it became clear that the band proceeded musically with Idolizer where the debut ends. The first thing that occurred to me was the observation that the music on Idolizer (and also on the debut album) sounds very much like Def Leppard and Queensryche. In this respect, they succeeded very well in “copying” the 80's sound. But this is also my biggest point of criticism, it sounds not all very original! However, if you forget the “copying”, Idolizer is just quite a good album to have. Musically, it`s all ok an the production is fine too. This album is an advice for those who like the genre of bands mentioned above and for people who like nice melodic rock. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.listn.to/GrandDesign
Recordlabel: http://www.aorheaven.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/granddesigner |
71/100 |
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| GRAND ILLUSION - Prince of Paupers (CD) | Sweden | January 2012 | Jordy Brouwers |
| Style: Melodic Rock | Running time: 56:03 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| A year after the release of “Brand New World”, it is time for the 6th Grand Illusion studio album. This new album is entitled Prince of Paupers. On this release, the Grand illusion trio consists of Anders Rydholm, Peter Sundell and Per Svensson. These three musicians are accompanied by some very good (studio) musicians: Steve Lukather (Toto), Jay Graydon (Airplay), Tim Pierce (Rick Springfield), Gregg Bissonette (David Lee Roth), Paul Buckmaster (Elton John and David Bowie), Muris Varajic, Kjell Klaesson and Staffan Stavert. The songs for the new album were written and produced by Anders Rydholm and most of the lyrics were penned by Arlene Matza-Jackson. De band started 25 years ago in 1986 under the name Promotion and released 2 albums in 1997 and 1998. In 2001, the band changed their name into Grand Illusion and started a more active record carrier. During a period of 3 years, they released 4 albums. In 2005, the band took a time out and reunited 5 years later with the release of “Brand New World”. And in 2011, Prince of Paupers is released. This album is an album which can be bought blindly by melodic / AOR rock fans. The album opens strongly with Gates of Fire and the band is able to keep this high level constantly. Of course, ballads like So Faraway (with a guitar solo of Steve Lukather!) are also present, I personally prefer the more up tempo and also harder songs. In my opinion, Prince Of Paupers contains no mistake. "St. Teresa's Love”, “Eyes Of Ice”, “Gone”, “On And On” and “Under The Wire” have all strong melodic compositions. It becomes clear that the 25 year of experience of the core trio has led to a nice melodic rock album! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.grand-illusion.se
Recordlabel: http://www.aorheaven.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/gisweden |
77/100 |
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| HIGH SPIRITS – Another Night (CD) | USA | January 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Heavy Metal | Running time: 34:55 (Tracks: 9) | ||
| From Chicago, Illinois , U.S.A. comes, just like CRUSADER (see also this months update), Heavy Metal band HIGH SPIRITS. The band, which was formed in 2009, exists of Chris (vocals), Mike (lead guitar, backing vocals), Scott (lead guitar), Bob (bass) and Ian (drums). This album, “Another Night” really surprised me. The band plays NWOBHM. Think of early IRON MAIDEN, TYGERS OF PAN TANG, but also THIN LIZZY. And the vocals of Chris reminds me very much of Jon Anderson (YES). Songs like “Another Night In The City”, “Do You Remember”, “I'll Be Back”, “Where Did I Go Wrong” and “Nights In Black” are very good, but the best songs for me on this album are absolutely “Full Power”, “Demons At The Door”, “You Make Love Impossible” and “Going Up”. Those four songs are AWESOME and very addictive, and have great riffs and fantastic twin guitar solos. Really, I can't get enough of this fantastic album, and especially those four songs “Full Power”, “Demons At The Door”, “You Make Love Impossible” and “Going Up”. Fans of the NWOBHM era should absolutely check this album out. I also have listened to the demo songs on their MySpace page, and these songs are sounding very nice as well. These demo songs are also compiled on CD. Anyway, “Another Night” is a great album. Well done guys. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.hrrecords.de MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/highspiritsrock |
89/100 |
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| ILLNATH – Third Act in the Theatre of Madness (CD) | Denmark | January 2012 | William Nijhof |
| Style: Melodic Black Metal | Running time: 53:30 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Illnath from Denmark play melodic black metal with symphony in it. They started in 1997 under the name Flagellation (not to be confused with the Polish or Swedish Flagellation) and changed name in 2000. That year they also released a demo and in 2001 an EP. In 2003 they released their debut “Cast into Fields of Evil Pleasure” and their second album “Second Skin of Harlequin” in 2006. After that they released another EP and Demo. This is their third album and sounds very surprising. This album contains 10 tracks of very melodic metal. The only part that is black metal is the effort of the vocalist who is trying to sound evil. The music is very good. The guitar riffs are very heavy riffs in vain of Children of Bodom. The drums are also very straight in face with steady kick and progressive parts in it. They also use keyboards that are sometimes a bit too hard in the mix but not annoying. As I already mentioned about the vocals I will try to explain it a bit more. When I read that it is supposed to be melodic black metal then I personally expect a sharp and evil scream. This scream is more in the neighbourhood of Children of Bodom but not so good... But the rest of the music is filled with solos and melody and the composing and production of this album is also great. If you like bands like I mentioned then you should give it a try. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.illnath.dk Recordlabel: http://www.pitchblackrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/illnathofficial |
70/100 |
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| JACK STARR'S BURNING STARR – Land of the Dead (CD) | USA | January 2012 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: Power Metal | Running time: 60:29 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Jack Starr is a living legend of American heavy metal music. Skilled guitar player and composer, he has been serving the metal sound through his solo works, Virgin Steele and numerous projects for almost 4 decades. On 2009 and after several years of silence, he returned with a new band and the album Defiance which was a great sample of American power metal with epic attitude. 2 years later he delivers the natural continuance which is Land of the Dead. This album rises over its predecessor! It is full of epic metal anthems with powerful vocals by Todd Hall, thundering drums by Rhino, galloping bass by Ned Meloni (a long time musical partner of Starr) and of course Starr's excellent melodies and riffs. Ross the Boss, David Shankle and Marta Gabriel also appear as guests, adding their metal genius to this magnificent album. If you like Manowar and Virgin Steele then this record is for you! One of the best releases for 2011 without a single doubt! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.jackstarr.com
Recordlabel: http://www.limb-music.info MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/jackstarrmetal |
90/100 |
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| MORGANA – Rose Of Jericho (CD) | Italy | January 2012 | Frans Neelen |
| Style: Hard Rock | Running time: 39:30 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| According to her bio Morgana seems to been out of business for a while.This “Rose of Jericho” marks her return after 20 years. Well, listening to it that may be right. The production and music is definitely late 80's Hard Rock. Was it released in that period it wouldn't be great, nowadays it's even worse. To be honest, it has something, it's so 80's, so pure for that period but hey, it's another decade now. Musically it's not a punishment, it's done well but overall it doesn't really excite. Problem is that Morgana de Laude's voice lacks power and variation and sounds very monotonous. The first four tracks are real toe crunching and the vocals are responsible for that. A pity but in a few further tracks she sounds better. “ Bang, Bang” (cover !) and “I Will not Return” are simply good tracks. The, most instrumental, …..”And Kickin'” is even a very good one. But this certainly ain' t enough to save this album. Respect for people who hold on to their dreams but unfortunately it doesn't guarantee a good record. Pity of her voice; some songs deserve more. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.morganadelaude.com
Recordlabel: http://www.nadirmusic.net |
55/100 |
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| MOSFET – Deathlike Thrash 'N' Roll (CD) | Austria | January 2012 | William Nijhof |
| Style: Death Thrash 'n' roll | Running time: 42:04 (Tracks: 13) | ||
| Mosfet from Austria is going to kick your ass!!! Why? Because their new album kicks ass! But first a bit of their history. They started in 2003 and released their demo in 2005 and their debut album “Sickness of Memory” in 2009. This is their new album and it rocks. Thirteen tracks death/thrash 'n' roll. Groovy tracks with a filthy thrash grunt on it. The guitar riffs are thrash combined with rock and roll. The drums are also straight in your face and filled with double bass and groove. The composing of the songs are great and the production is also good. This entire album grooves and sounds terrific. If you like thrash with a big rock factor in it then you are going to enjoy this album! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.mosfet.at Recordlabel: http://www.refusedrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/mosfetaustria |
75/100 |
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| NORDIC NOMADIC - Worldwide Skyline (CD) | Canada | January 2012 | Jordy Brouwers |
| Style: Psychedelic Folk Rock | Running time: 39:52 (Tracks: 9) | ||
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You can call it quite vague, the album “Worldwide Skyline” from Nordic Nomadic. This is a solo project of Chad Ross which is normally active in the Canadian band Quest for Fire. Here, he plays the guitar and he sings too. I am not familiar with this band. “Worldwide Skyline” is the second full length album of Nordic Nomadic. His first solo album was released in 2007, at Toronto`s Blue Fog Recordings. This record company is specialized in psychedelic / folk / metal music. I do not know the title of Nordic Nomadic`s first album, there is not much information available about Nordic Nomadic. This second album is released at TeePee records. The songs on this album have all a psychedelical character. In my opinion, it is not meant for metal minded people. The best way to listen to this music is in a “dark room” with a huge joint and liquid projections just as in the 60`s. The music is all sounding quite minimalistic (most of the time only finger picked guitar and synthesizers) so most of the songs sound quite the same. Also the relatively monotonous voice of Ross contributes to this. However, it is never getting really boring and this is a compliment. “Worldwide Skyline” is produced for progressive minds who like for example the early work of Porcupine Tree. I also want to warn you: this is not music for depressive people! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.nordicnomadic.blogspot.com Recordlabel: http://www.teepeerecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/nordicnomadic |
70/100 |
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| RAIN – XXX: 30 Years On The Road 1980/2010 (CD) | Italy | January 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Hard Rock / Metal | Running time: 52:45 (Tracks: 13) | ||
| My first acquaintance with Italian band RAIN was when they played at the fifth edition of MARIO'S METAL MEETING on October 15th 2011. And to me, RAIN were one of the bands I liked the most that day. I still remember they played a fantastic cover version of THE CULT's classic “Rain” on MMM5. Now a few months later I got the compilation album “XXX: 30 Years On The Road 1980/2010” to review. This album features thirteen tracks from the band's eight previous albums, and are a bit re-arranged. So, I assume all songs on this album are re-recorded. But to be honest, while I listened to this CD several times, I wasn't that impressed anymore. There are just a few good songs on this album, which was released in October 2011, like “Whiskey On The Route 666”, “Rain Revolution”, the fast “Born To Kill”, “In The Night” and “Fight For The Power”. But the rest of the songs do sound very moderate to me. Okay, these guys play their instruments very well, and they have in Francesco Grandi a good singer as well, but that's all. The band recorded one exclusive track for this album, which is titled “End Of Time”. And the last track on this CD is an acoustic version of “Rain Are Us”, a song which originally is on the band's last album “Dad Is Dead” (2008). Like I said, I have listened several times to this album, but every time I only do like the above mentioned songs. So, live RAIN is a nice band, but on this album they can't really convince me, because in my opinion it has just too many fillers. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.raincrew.com
Recordlabel: http://www.auralmusic.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/raincrew1980 |
70/100 |
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| RIOTGOD – Invisible Empire (CD) | USA | January 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Stoner Rock | Running time: 59:37 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| I already knew the band RIOTGOD by name, but never heard any music of them so far. Well, now I received the band's second album "Invisible Empire" to review. And I must say that I was really surprised, because "Invisible Empire" is a fantastic album. Anyway, RIOTGOD is a Stoner Rock band formed by the rhythm section of MONSTER MAGNET, namely James Baglino (bass) and Bob Pantella (drums). In 2009 the band released their self titled debut album "Riotgod". Besides Baglino and Pantella the band also exists of Mark Sunshine (vocals) and Garret Sweeney (guitar; also in cover band PSYCHO DAISY). This second album features fourteen songs, and opens very strongly with "Breed", which has an awesome guitar riff and grooves as hell. Second song on "Invisible Empire", titled "Fool", reminds very much of PEARL JAM, SOUNDGARDEN and ALICE IN CHAINS. RIOTGOD does have in the person of Sunshine a real great singer, who's voice sounds very much like singers such as Robert Plant (LED ZEPPELIN), Layne Staley (ALICE IN CHAINS) and Andrew Stockdale (WOLFMOTHER). And Sweeney is an excellent guitar player, who treats us on marvellous guitar solo's. And of course Baglino and Pantella are a very tight rhythm section. The third track on this silver disc, "Crossfade", has an ultra heavy guitar riff. Well, I could go on and on, but there's just no weak song on "Invisible Empire", because all songs are fantastic compositions and are sounding really great. Anyway, songs which remind of LED ZEPPELIN are the acoustic "Gas Station Roses", "Loosely Bound" and the acoustic "Rebirth". This album is fantastically produced by drummer Pantella, and sounds excellent. In fact I don't have anything negative to mention about this album. It's a real masterpiece, which already has made many spins in my CD player. With such fantastic songs, makes it extra hard to tell which songs are my favorite ones. Just listen to songs such as "Breed", "Fool", "Crossfade", "Slow Death", "Firebrand", "Loosely Bound" and "Lost" and discover yourself these are all great. "Invisible Empire" is a superb album, and a real recommendation for all Stoner Rock fans. Great work guys. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.riotgod.com Recordlabel: http://www.metalville.de MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/riotgod |
85/100 |
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| SANDSTONE – Cultural Dissonance (CD) | Ireland | January 2012 | Michel van Hassel |
| Style: Progressive Melodic Metal | Running time: 47:10 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Roaming from Ireland this is Sandstone's third release. There aren't many well-known progressive bands from Ireland but Sandstone has the quality to become one. The band consists of the McLaughlin-brothers, Stevie (guitars) and Dave (bass), Sean McBay (vocals, guitars) and Dan Lafford (drums). Right at the beginning of the first song, “Reckless Thought” you hear the twin guitars duelling until McBay steps in. He has a very pleasant clear voice that suites the song, which keeps on changing, very well. This is a great song with all kind of moods put together in one track but still it remains a real song. “Little Forgeries” is a beautiful song with McBay singing great and Stevie McLaughlin letting his guitar doing the talking. This is a beautiful composition. The third track, “Fading”, starts with some great guitar playing. This is also a song where everything seems to fit in just fine. The song is very catchy as are the vocals. The fourth track, “Leaning on an Arrow” is a fast power-/progressive metal piece. It includes fantastic fast guitar solos, great singing and some piano/keyboards. The song is played by a rhythm-section that knows how a song is meant to be played. Piano starts “Carefree Moment”, but it quickly turns into a melodic metal song. McBay performs a mini-rap in the middle of the song, followed by a screaming guitar solo. At the beginning of the next song, “Silent Suicide”, a little child says: “Mom is that how you spell suicide?” What follows is yet another song with catchy vocals and a great vibe to it. “Black Skies” is a bit heavier but like on most of the songs there is something to the vocals, which sticks to you. “No More” is with it's three minutes and forty-three seconds the shortest song on the album. It's is a mainstream melodic rock track, thus very pleasant to listen to. Some acoustic guitars and a very modestly singing McBay are the trademarks for the start of “Sleep”. The song remains a very quiet and slow song with a beautifully played guitar solo from the middle towards the end of the song. On the last track, “Trick of Mind” the tempo is back again. This again is a good progressive melodic metal song, with a lot of focus for detail and for the song structure. One of the things that keep on coming back on this album is the fact that most of the songs are very catchy and stick to your mind quite easily. I must say that Sandstone is a big surprise to me and I'm looking forward to their European tour supporting Ripper Owens in September. First, I'm going to listen to the two other albums they released earlier. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.sandstonerocks.com Recordlabel: http://www.limb-music.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/sandstonerocks |
85/100 |
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| SCARLATYNA– Till the End (CD) | Germany | January 2012 | Michel van Hassel |
| Style: Progressive Power Metal | Running time: 36:01 (Tracks: 7) | ||
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I don't think many people remember this band as they released three demo's in 1989, 1991 and 1992 followed by a self-released live album in 1993. On this compilation all of the seven tracks of the last two demo's, “Scarlet Ball” (1991, three tracks) and “Till the End” (1992, four tracks) are present. As these are demo-tracks dating from the nineties the sound and the production of this release aren't superb. As Scarlatyna have reformed, it was time to release the old demo's. The band, responsible for the music on this album, consists of Chris Jamie Marino (vocals), Jörg Weilinger (guitars), Mike Stanzel bass) and Klaus Hardt (drums). The opening-track, “The Truth” is a mix of heavy pounding and quiet parts with some calm vocals. Towards the end, the guitar playing gets a lot of variety and Marino starts singing in a King Diamond way but by far not as good. His vocals balance on the edge. “We” starts very slow and quietly, but not for long as the tempo and the power go up. This is power metal nineties-style with a lot of variation within the song both musically and vocally. On the third song, “Wings of the Night”, Marino sings very high on some parts. The guitar playing is very controlled. Scarlatyna's style can best be described as a mix of prog-, power- and a slice of U.S. metal. Marino's start of “Self-Made Destruction” isn't great but luckily he rehabilitates a bit throughout the song. The guitar playing is beautiful towards the end of the song. After a short intro with some organ sounds, all hell breaks loose on “The Tower”. Marino sings with a very rough and powerful voice. This is a real fast heavy power metal song. Towards the end of the song it's Weilinger that takes the solo-spot in style. The title-track is filled by great guitar soloing and Marino singing yet in another way. The variety in his singing on this album is extremely big but I don't like all styles he uses. The last track on this album is “Temple of Despite” that begins with a big laugh by some monster-like person. On this song, Marino uses his powerful rough voice once again. The conclusion is that this is a great way to get to known some rarities from the nineties, but keep in mind that this are demo-recordings dating from that era. Apparently, Scarlatyna are working on new material so let's wait and see what they can achieve using modern technology and a proper release. If you want to see them perform live, visit the Swordbrothers festival next September. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.pureunderground-records.com
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71/100 |
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| SINCERA – Cursed and Proud (CD) | Norway | January 2012 | Dennis van Dommelen |
| Style: Black / Death Metal | Running time: 36:55 (Tracks: 9) | ||
| Sincera is a sideproject with members from Norwegian Death/ Black metal bands: Fester, Algol, Decipher and Psychotic Pain. Cursed and Proud is oddly divided into two parts. The first four songs are studio recordings the the following four are live recordings and the last one is a enterance song for the infamous Norwegian wrestler Byron Lawless. The Norwegians are quite technical, rich in harmony and texture. There are quite a lot of rhythm-changes but it's mainly well-composed and purposeful. The melodies are folky in places, thrashy in others, occasionally on the Dissection side of things, but generally very good. Uff, I have to say that "Cursed and proud" material is very uneven - it's an album, which I have to divide into two parts – first one gathers great songs and riffing, with some truly memorable anthems such as (the opening riff on) “A Griever's Soul” (though the guitars are sounding a bit false throughout the song, while on the other half it has lower quality riffs and unnecessary weak ideas like in the song “Cursed” and simply looses the feeling and aggression. The live recordings are all a all more straightforward and in your face. And although the soundquality isn't as good as on the studiotracks I like them more. Hopefully they will follow the more agressive path in the future. For now this debut is a irregular but that doens't say it's bad. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.officialabyssrecords.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/sinceranorway |
75/100 |
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| STEEL PANTHER – Balls Out (CD) | USA | January 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Hard Rock / Glam Rock / Metal | Running time: 47:36 (Tracks: 14) | ||
| The Glam boys of STEEL PANTHER are back with their second album "Balls Out". Okay in 2003 these guys released the album "Hole Patrol" under the name METAL SHOP, but they changed their name into STEEL PANTHER in 2008. And in 2009 the first STEEL PANTHER album "Feel The Steel" was released, which I reviewed for MMM in June of 2010 and got 90 out of 100 points. Well, "Feel The Steel" was a smash hit worldwide and is already a real classic album if you ask me. Now, Michael Starr (vocals), Satchel (guitar), Lexxi Foxxx (bass) and Stix Zadinia (drums) have released their second album "Balls Out" in October of 2011. "Balls Out" is a logical continuation of "Feel The Steel". Lyrically it's again an album full of jokes, and musically Michael, Satchel, Lexxi and Stix treats us on excellent 80's Hair Metal. Just like “Feel The Steel” also “Balls Out” is fantastically produced by Jay Ruston. Some guest appearances on this album are this time from Nuno Bettencourt (EXTREME), who is doing the guitar solo on “It Won't Suck Itself”, Chad Kroeger (NICKELBACK), who is doing lead- and backing vocals on “It Won't Suck Itself” and Brett Anderson (THE DONNAS) who's doing backing vocals on “I Like Drugs”. Songs which I like bit less are “If You Really Really Love Me” and the last track of the album “Weenie Ride”. But the rest of the songs are again fantastic. I'm sure “Balls Out” will be a success album as well. My conclusion is that "Balls Out" is, just like "Feel The Steel", again an awesome album. My favorite songs on "Balls Out" are "Supersonic Sex Machine", “Just Like Tiger Woods”, "17 Girls In A Row" (superb), "It Won't Suck Itself", “Tomorrow Night”, “That's What Girls Are For”, “Gold Digging Whore”, “I Like Drugs”, “Critter” and “Let Me Cum In”. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.steelpantherrocks.com
Recordlabel: http://www.universalrepublic.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/steelpantherkicksass |
89/100 |
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| THE BRAINS – Drunk Not Dead (CD) | Canada | January 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Psychobilly | Running time: 28:55 (Tracks: 13) | ||
| From Montréal, Canada comes Psychobilly band THE BRAINS. The band, which was formed in 2002, released the following albums so far: “No Pain, No Brain” (2005), “Hell N' Back” (2007), “The Brains” (2009) and “Zombie Nation” (2010). “Drunk Not Dead” (2011) is the fifth album of THE BRAINS. The line-up on this album exists of Rene De La Muerte (vocals, guitar), Colin The Dead (upright bass) and Pat Kadaver (drums). These three guys have recorded 13 fantastic and very catchy songs for their fifth album. The album, which was produced by De La Muerte, starts with the short intro “Horsemen”, followed by “Four Beasts Ride”. Next song is the catchy “Take What I Want (Souvenir Of Monte Christo)”, of which the band has shot a very nice video clip. While listening to THE BRAINS, the band reminds me very much of Psychobilly bands such as KOFFIN KATS, THE CREEPSHOW, MAD SIN and NEKROMANTIX to name a few. There are two songs on the album, which aren't sung in English. The first one is “Gato Calavera” which is sung in Spanish, and the second one “Pourquoi Me Laisser” is sung in French (one of the two Canadian languages). Anyway, like I said, this album features very catchy songs. If you have heard songs like “Take What I Want (Souvenir Of Monte Christo)”, “We Are The Brains”, “Six Rounds” and “Drunk Not Dead” you can't get them out of your head. To me, this is an album to which I can listen anytime. So far, this CD already has made many spins in my CD-player, and it will make many more. Well, if you like the above mentioned Psychobilly bands, then you will like THE BRAINS as well. Although I like all songs very much, my favorites of this album are “Take What I Want (Souvenir Of Monte Christo)”, “We Are The Brains”, “Six Rounds”, “Premonitions”, “High On Speed”, “Drunk Not Dead” and “I'm Your Nightmare”. Superb album. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.peoplelikeyourecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thebrains |
87/100 |
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| THE GARDNERZ– The System of Nature (CD) | Sweden | January 2012 | Dennis van Dommelen |
| Style: Death/Doom Metal | Running time: 50:46 (Tracks: 10) | ||
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The Gardnerz are a relativealy new band to the scene. “The System of Nature” is their debut album on the American label Abyss records.
As time goes by, the quest for the unique in music exponentially grows in futility, and one question is asked: "maybe instead of looking for originality in music we should just appreciate those all they do is the same-old, yet do it awesomely? Or is it me, blabbering again, having absolutely no idea how to open this darn review?" Anyway, The Gardnerz is just that kind of a band – just as the homophone suggests, "routine" would be the name of the game and an immediate association that rises in all things concerning the album in question – tempo and feel-wise, the premise "The System of Nature" mostly dwells in is a moderate, quasi-gracious and self-important stride (the almost-exclusive use of major scales significantly contributes to that "majestic" feel), with a cue emphasis on basic, melodic musical approach and rather rudimentary thematic resolutions with catchy hooks and harmonies to please your ear, but without grabbing your attention all too much really. As far as the music goes, though, the most suitable way to describe is that it that the doomy death metal delivers. I'd like to deviate from the common procedure by addressing the sound and production of the album first, since it would be the first thing to captivate your attention upon hearing this album as well – not only it's highly crisp and clear, you'd be overwhelmed by the ferocity it comes at you from the very get go. Imagine having an enormous frying pan swung at your face, hitting it in several different places simultaneously as it lands – same goes with this album. That it says mastered at the legendary Unisound studio by Dan Swano will clearify this. So in the end The Garnerz aren't inventing the wheel again but do present an interesting various doom/death metal album. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.officialabyssrecords.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thegardnerz |
79/100 |
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| THOUSAND YEAR WAR – Tyrants and Men (CD) | USA | January 2012 | Robin van Tilburg |
| Style: Death Metal | Running time: 39:20 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| 'Tyrants and Men' was officially released in 2009, but now enjoys a re-release through Abyss Records, the new found label of the band from Alaska. Swedish Death Metal fans beware: you're probably going to like this. Thousand Year War combines all the best elements from this scene and created an album that you can purchase without a doubt. I've already read it in several other review but I think the same thing: this sounds very much like Amon Amarth. The band also gives their own twist to the music, but overall it sounds very familiar. Fans of Amon Amarth or Swedish Death Metal in general have another great band to listen to! At this moment, the band is working on a new E.P. so we will probably will hear from them soon. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.thousandyearwar.com
Recordlabel: http://www.officialabyssrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thousandyearwar |
70/100 |
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| VANDERBUYST – In Dutch (CD) | The Netherlands | January 2012 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Hard Rock / Heavy Metal | Running time: 36:02 (Tracks: 8) | ||
| For more information about Dutch Hard Rock trio VANDERBUYST, see my reviews of their self titled EP "Vanderbuyst" (2008) (MMM update March of 2009) and self titled debut album "Vanderbuyst" (2010) (MMM update November of 2010). You also can read the interview I did with guitarist Willem Verbuyst for MMM in December of 2010. Anyway, since the EP I am very impressed by VANDERBUYST. So far I've seen VANDERBUYST eight times live, and I really enjoy every show I see of them. Now Jochem Jonkman (vocals, bass), Willem Verbuyst (guitar, backing vocals) and Barry van Esbroek (drums) are back with their second album, titled "In Dutch". It's again released on German label Ván Records. On their debut album they also recorded a brilliant cover version of UFO's "Rock Bottom". This time there isn't a cover version on the album, only fantastic songs written by Verbuyst (6 songs) and Verbuyst & Jonkman (2 songs). If you already are familiar with the EP and debut album, and you have seen VANDERBUYST live, then you know these three guys have a real passion for classic 70's Hard Rock and 80's Heavy Metal. Just like the aforementioned EP and debut album, also "In Dutch" is produced by Pieter Kloos at the Void studio in Eindhoven, Holland. Guitarist Selim Lemouchi (THE DEVILS BLOOD), who played together with Willem in POWERVICE, is, just like on the EP and debut album, also doing a guest appearance on this album. Lemouchi is doing the third part of the first guitar solo on "Leaving The Living". The only song, which I like a bit less, is the last track "Where's That Devil". It's a bit a depressive ballad, with darker vocals of Jochem. Although that song is a bit less to me, it still features great guitar solo's of Willem Verbuyst. Like I said in my review of the debut album, Verbuyst is just a SUPERB guitarist. It's really a great pleasure to listen to his awesome guitar solo's. So, you understand that I also enjoy all of his guitar solo's on "In Dutch". The album opens very strong with "Black And Blue", and I must say that VANDERBUYST is working hard by creating their own recognizable sound. Songs like "Anarchistic Storm" and "Leaving The Living" are very good, but my favorites of "In Dutch" are "Black And Blue", "Into The Fire", "String Of Beads" (superb), "Reap The Fields" and "KGB". "In Dutch" is again an excellent Hard Rock album. If you already liked the EP and the debut album, then you will like "In Dutch" as well. Great work guys, and see you on the road. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.vanderbuyst.com
Recordlabel: http://www.van-records.de MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/vanderbuyst |
85/100 |
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| WHEN ALL LIGHT DIES – Transitions (CD) | The Netherlands | January 2012 | Robin van Tilburg |
| Style: Metalcore | Running time: 34:47 (Tracks: 9) | ||
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My first encounter with 'When All Light Dies' was when they played the Borstrock festival in 2010. I remember to be quite impressed with the aggressive metalcore and the energetic, professional stage presence. After that I lost sight of them, but to receive a copy of their debut album 'Transitions' was a pleasant surprise. And it still is…... Because with 'Transitons,' the Dutch formation is showing that they're a force to be reckoned with in the metalcore scene. The album offers nine songs that are well written and nicely balanced. The in your face riffs and aggressive breakdowns are from a very good quality and that is a compliment. Especially since the metalcore genre is quite busy already and it is therefore hard to stand out. 'When All Light Dies' does, and with the professional artwork of 'Transitions' and touring experience, they have all the right ingredients to become more known to the public. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.whenalllightdies.nl MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/whenalllightdiesnl |
80/100 |
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| ZANDELLE – Shadows of the Past (2CD) | USA | January 2012 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: Power Metal | Running time: 66:54 (Tracks: 13) | ||
| Zandelle is one of those few American bands that hold the banner of true heavy metal up high. In a country were classic metal is almost obsolete, bands like Zandelle keep the flame of the underground burning. With numerous releases under their belts, George Tsalikis and co. release this kind of a compilation. Shadows of the Past is a link between the band's past and present sound. The 10 first songs are re-recorded versions of tracks featured in the bands first two releases (now impossible to find). There are also 2 unreleased tracks and a Whitesnake cover (Bad Boys!). A bonus disc features these 10 tracks in their original raw form so that the listener can get a picture of how the band evolved in terms of musicianship and production values. Zandelle has not altered the core of the songs. These are just re-recorded versions with a better sound and Shadows of the Past will appeal to both old and new fans. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.zandelle.net
Recordlabel: http://www.puresteel-records.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/zandelle |
87/100 |
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