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HOT NEW REVIEWS
THE CLAWS
'NO CONNECTION' (DEAD BEAT RECORDS/USA IMPORT)
Out
of Los Angeles comes the sensational band THE CLAWS, whom are making their
debut with No connection. Their line-up consists of Chad Cherry - Singer, Gary
Martin - Guitarist, Terry Love - Bassist and Tony Pacheco - Drummer. The
included music is very much going back to the early 1970s Rock and Roll sound,
with Classic Rock, Garage Rock, bluesy rock with Soul and Glamrock melted together
very nicely. No surprises and perhaps nothing new is brought here, but who
cares if it is done as well as on this record. THE CLAWS could well become the
next big thing if you ask me! Right from the start you can hear that this is a
high quality band with a bright future, because everything seems to sound
perfect here. Opener Little glimmer is the immediate radio-hit here, being a
gutsy rock and roll song like THE ROLLING STONES and HANOI ROCKS, but with a
Glamrock ish clap-your-hands chorus a la T-REX. The smooth soulful midtempo
bluesy rocker No connection follows and is another deadringer for classic
ROLLING STONES. Wasting time follows and is a rather cool Retro Classic Rocker
a la THE BLACK CROWES meets JOHN COUGAR and TOM PETTTY, with a great melodic
catchy chorus a la KIX/CINDERELLA. Devil of choice rocks a bit more with a
beating drum that is very catchy and an easy target for live crowds. Ghost
blood takes a slightly different direction, as this is a slower somewhat darker
melancholic 60s inspired quite melodic THE DOORS meets GOLDEN EARRING meets
B.O.C. ish psychedelic garage pop/rocker. Back to Classic Retro Rock again with
Jackson square, a nice STONES/HANOI ROCKS ish rocker. Following track Stmbling
around is another nice more melodic rock orientated piece that has a clear JOHN
COUGAR/4 OUT OF 5 DOCTORS/THE ROMANTICS ish early 1980s catchy Powerpop touch.
Howl and the buzz is up next, another very good uptempo classic rocker with a
more laid-back sound. And California M.I.A. is a great raw edgy uptempo classic
rocker a la KIX and AEROSMITH. Closing track Just for a moment is slowing
things down to a calmer almost west-coast kinda affair, a very smooth song that
even recalls memories of YOUNG GUN SILVER FOX. Concluded, this pure Classic
Rockband should be checked a.s.a.p. at: http://www.theclawsrock.com
MARTHA RABBIT 'ZODIAKLICHT/DYSNOMIA' (INDEPENDENT)
Out
of Bremen, Germany comes the sensational band MARTHA RABBIT. They were kind
enough to sent me 2 of their albums, Zodiaklicht from 2015 and Dysnomia from
2019. These are their 3rd and 4th record they released since they were formed
back in 2001. MARTHA RABBIT features WOLFGANG ROHDENBURG (synthesizers, drum
machines and sequencers) and MICHAEL J.J. ALLERT (synthesizers), whom have been
making music ever since the 1970s. They create a style that balances somewhere
between Electronic Music and New Age, although I would also add here Progrock,
Synthwave, Ambient, Krautrock and even Dance/Trance/early 90s Techno music
influences. This kind of instrumental Synthesizer based music is not only
interesting for the fans of KLAUS SCHULZE and TANGERINE DREAM, which are of
course their main influences, but also if you like for example CAN, JEAN MICHEL
JARRE, KRAFTWERK, ALAN PARSONS PROJECT, PINK FLOYD or even MAGIC SWORD, this
band is recommended to check out. MARTHA RABBIT's albums contain mostly only a
few songs, but these are all very lengthy, around the 10 minutes mark and as
mentioned instrumental with only synthesizers. It sounds sometimes spooky and
like music from a different planet, always keeping it exciting and interesting
to listen to from start to finish. They do have an own style for sure and are
really Synthesizer crazy, as if it was still the 1970s when this kind of music
was very popular, but also in other music genres from the past decades we have
seen this kind of music pop up. I am quite safe to say that if you like
TANGERINE DREAM, ALAN PARSONS PROJECT, JEAN MICHEL JARRE, KRAFTWERK, MAGIC DANCE
or any 80s Sci Fi soundtrack music of the BLADE RUNNER/THE TERMINATOR kind,
then this band is a must to check out. They offer so many great material on
their albums, of which for me personally the highlights are The colourful
clouds of Rho Ophiuchi and New Eden spaceport from their album Zodiaklicht and
the titletrack and Mercury sunset oddity from their latest album Dysnomia.
Highly recommended to check out these high quality albums no matter what kind
of music you like from the aforementioned musicstyles! More info at: https://www.martharabbit.de/
Out
of Denmark comes a great new band called FALL OF EPISTEME. Some of the members
play(ed) in band called ATLANTIS and TIMESCAPE, but with their same titled
album FALL OF EPISTEME are making their debut. Their line-up consists of Rune
M. Nielsen - Vocals, Kent B. Eskildsen - guitars, Flemming K. Pedersen -
Keyboards, Jan Juel - Bass and Rune R. B. Eskildsen - Drums. The band is
clearly falling in the Neo-Progressive Rock direction, with elements of
Pomprock and AOR here and there. The keyboards are sounding rich (SAGA ish),
there are soaring beautiful guitar melodies all over the place (RUSH ish) and
the vocals are out of the AOR book, including catchy hooks and memorable
choruses throughout each and every song. This can be heard right from the start
during the midtempo Love will stay, which is almost a pure late 1970s Pomprocker
(STYX/ROADMASTER) with 80s Neo-Prog elements (PENDRAGON), although Symphonic
Rock is also very well notable (KAYAK, ASIA, SAGA) and a catchy AORish chorus.
Vocally there is a slight accent to be heard, but fortunately overall this is
not disturbing at all. 6 long tracks are included and after the cheerful
opener, we are heading into a Progrock meets AOR ish semi-ballad direction with
the excellent Experience oblige, which is very much going into a classic
PENDRAGON, PALLAS, early MARILLION, FOR ABSENT FRIENDS style and it features a
remarkable beautiful guitarsolo. After these 2 songs and all the mentioned
comparisons/influences, I think most of you will by now get the picture what
kind of sound FALL OF EPISTEME has. Punchline is another superb SAGA ish Symphonic
Rocker with a sensational Pomprock ish chorus (STYX meets CATS IN SPACE), but
one of the absolute highlights is the amazing Invisible crusader, which has all
the ingredients to become a Progressive Rock classic masterpiece, as it
contains beautiful instrumental parts and a lovely masjectic memorable chorus
in the SUBSIGNAL and THRESHOLD style. Fans of Neo-Prog/Symphonic Rock and
AOR/Pomprock need to check out this band for sure at: http://fallofepisteme.com/
CASPAR
MCCLOUD 'REVELATION ROCKER/GAME CHANGERS' (INDEPENDENT/HEMIFRAN)
Now
here we have a very interesting musician from the UK called CASPAR MCCLOUD, a
multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter who sent me 2 of his albums. He is a
Christian artist and his music is a mix of Progressive Rock, Classic Rock and a
bit of bluesy late 70s AOR/Melodic Rock, while when listening to a song like
Jesus wins, it actually sounds like a mixture between RUSH and DAVID BOWIE
(really!) with some THE BEATLES ish influences as well. His music definitely
rocks a lot, with some great soaring guitar solos in classic JIMI HENDRIX style
and the Rock and Roll he presents is dangerously close to classic 1970s
Rock/Hardrock. Revelation rocker was released in 2018 and his new album from
2020 is titled Game changers. The already mentioned DAVID BOWIE is shining
through each and very song, because Caspar's vocals is quite similar, but the
music rocks a bit more and reflects Classic Rock and Progressive Rock, with
lyrics that are close to PETRA. Both albums are in the same style, rocking a
lot and what is also remarkable is the fact that Caspar did almost everything
on his own, except the drums (Carlos Merced) and additional keyboards (Glenn M.
Taylor) on his new album. Somehow the overall sound pof CASPAR MCCLOUD reminds
me a lot of the 1970s heavy rock records of bands like PIPER, MONTROSE, DETECTIVE,
DERRINGER, MOXY, THE GODZ, BUDGIE, BLUE OSTER CULT, BETHNAL, etc. etc. There is
some great stuff here and I'll bet fans of guitar based heavy rock from the
1970s will like this a lot! More info at: https://www.casparmccloudmusic.com/
Now
this is a fresh breathe of fresh air blowing through the rocksene, because the
British band SYTERIA is playing no-nonsense female fronted Classic Hardrock
sounding band without sounding dated at all on their 2nd CD Reflection. They
are formed around JACKIE CHAMBERS (Lead Guitarist of GIRLSCHOOL) and are based
in Yorkshire, England. The other members are Julia Calvo on vocals, Steph
Dawson on Bass and Pablo Calvo - Drums. Vocally speaking, Julia has a great
rock voice in classic 80s hardrock style (VIXEN, LITA FORD...), the guitar
riffs and solo's as well, while the songs are mostly uptempo rockers with
gang-vocal driven choruses to sing-a-long to, not that far removed from the
classic GIRLSCHOOL sound. 12 songs are included in total, with as highlights
the catchy more Melodic Hardrock orientated Gossips, the lovely early 80s PAT BENATAR
ish uptempo Melodic Poprocker Sorry and the biting uptempo THE DONNAS ish
Moving forward (Angels & Demons) and Guilty!. Highly recommended to fans of
classic female fronted uptempo Hardrock in the style of THE DONNAS, THE
RUNAWAYS, DIRTY DENIMS, GIRLSCHOOL, VIXEN, etc. etc. More info at: https://syteria.co.uk/
Recorded
live during their performance at ‘Het Parktheater’ in Alphen aan den Rijn in
August of 2019, the Dutch band DREAMWALKERS INC. now presents their live album
A night at the theatre on CD. The band's sound is clearly moving into Symphonic
Melodic Metal in the style of KAMELOT, EPICA and SYMPHONY X, which means
bombastic orchestral like guitar driven uptempo Melodic Metal with a focus on
catchy strong melodies sung in lead- and harmony by a male singer (TOM DE WIT)
and a female singer (RADINA DIMCHEVA). The rest of the band consists of Lennert
Kemper - Guitars, Norbert Veenbrink - Guitars, Peter den Bakker - Bass, Vincent
Reuling - Keyboards, K Kenneth Martens – Drums and Cailyn Erlandsson - Vocals
on Dirge. I believe they released a previous album, but A night at the theatre
is a really big project that took quite a lot of effort and thankfully, the
result is recommended to fans of Symphonic Melodic Metal. We can hear a lot of
beautful soaring guitarsolos and other lovely instrumental parts during their
10 songs they performed that night in the small city of Alpen aan den Rijn.
DREAMWALKERS INC. is for me personally unknown, but this CD shows that we are
dealing with a very professional band that not only musically speaking has
everything under control, but also the vocal and chorus departments are
impressive. Fans of mentioned bands will absolutely love such songs like
Chameleon, Surface scratching and New strength. There are also Progrock
influences here and there (Lovesong, Your room and The more we remember), a
very strong pure Melodic Progmetal tune (closing track Anthem) and even a part
Thrash Metal (Aphrodisia), so there is more than meets the eye for sure. The
sound on the CD is a bit rougher than a normal polished studio-album, but on
the other hand it makes this live album a real actual recording of a band with
a bright future ahead of them. The album is available through https://dreamwalkersinc.bandcamp.com/
Points: 8.2 out of 10)
BIOPLAN
'EPITAPH + OCULAR' (DREAMWALKERS INC./INDEPENDENT)
Bassist/guitarist/keyboardplayer
ANDI KRAVLJACA is best known as the Bosnian-born Swedish lead singer of Progressive Metalbands
like SEVENTH WONDER, SILENT CALL, THAUROROD, AEON ZEN and a few others.
However, he can also play and compose on the guitar, keyboard and bass, so he
basically stepped out of the Metal world partly here on his own BIOPLAN
project. The 2 EP's he recorded in recent years are now released as 1 album on
CD. The included music is clearly 80s retro sounding, with a big focus on
synths, keys and soaring guitarsolos, like Synthwave meets instrumental 80s AOR
melodies and the result is stunning when you hear songs like the superb Impres,
Perspex cassidy or any of the songs. The whole album feels like one big
adventure that explores melodic soundscapes in an instrumental journey through
the 80s Synthwave, current modern Retrowave, AOR, Melodic Progrock and 80s
Shredding Neo-Classical Melodic Metal world, combining it all together into a
sensational album. It is by far one of the finest instrumental albums I have
heard in ages, as it really focuses on the melodies where soaring guitars and
subtle keys are replacing the missing vocals. Definitely a big recommendation
to fans of any of the mentioned genres. It is stylish and musically speaking
close to and as good as for example the new MAGIC SWORD album, but then with a
more Proggy/AOR Melodic Rock approach, and towards the end it all gets very
Progmetal orientated at an incredible high level. The most interesting thing
however is the mixture of all kinds of styles, because the final 2 tracks
(remixes of earlier songs on the album) are then again pure classic Synthwave
with that lovely 80s Synth/Keyboard touch a la BLADE RUNNER, TERMINATOR, MIAMI
VICE, VINCE DICOLA, ROCKY 4, JAN HAMMER, MAGIC SWORD.. So it should appeal to
fans of a lot of different genres, Progmetal, guitar shredders of the
Neo-Classical kind, Synthwave, 80s AOR and perhaps even Krautrock! More info
at: http://bioplan.se/
CHANTEL
MCGREGOR 'BURY'D ALIVE' (TIS ROCK MUSIC/UK IMPORT)
LUCKY
RUNNERS 'VARIOUS SONGS' (INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
Out
of Texas comes LUCKY RUNNERS, a band formed around guitarist CURTIS MOSLEY. I
actually have not much info on him, but the 2 CDRs he sent featured 2 nice slow
bluesy rocksongs. Let's just ride is his latest song and it is really good, but
hopefully soon we can hear much more of this Texas based musician. Check out a
song at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6UMd8URIuc
(Points: 7.3 out of 10)
AADAL
'SILVER' (APOLLON RECORDS/NORWAY IMPORT)
There
is not much info on the instrumental Norwegian band AADAL, but they are making
their debut with Silver. The band's line up consists of Michael Aadal –
Guitars, André Kassen – Saxophones, Audun Ramo – Bass and Gunnar Sæter – Drums,
and when checking on the internet I did found out that Michael also has another
band under the moniker MICHAEL AADAL GROUP, with whom he already released quite
a few records. Not sure in what direction their music is going, but with AADAL
he delivers brilliant instrumental laid-back material that should appeal to both
Jazz and Progfans. 9 songs are included in total and opener Looking back is a
light Jazzy/Fusion song, while next track Dusty is a very strong Progressive
Rocker with World Music rhythms and some very exciting drumming. Up next is the
titletrack, which is a very melodic song that could easily appeal to both prog
and jazz fans. Revival is a lovely midtempo almost prog/melodic rock ish tune
and one of the most polished songs on the album. After the short Telegram, we
get to hear the most jazzy song on the album, the very calm Follow the sun that
also has some similarities to MARK KNOPFLER somehow. Rememberance could be on
the soundtrack of a Western movie, as it has a lot of Americana influences and
is actually dangerously close to classic THE SHADOWS! Quite a surprise in there
between the more proggy and jazzy tunes, this instrumental classic Americana
tune with it's HANK MARVIN like guitarplaying, which is truly wonderful! The
final 2 songs are the calm jazzy The last walk and the guitarsolo driven proggy
The canyon, which is another huge surprise, because this song develops into a
fantastic uptempo melodic heavy rocker (almost like THIN LIZZY). Without a
doubt, we have here a great debut very diverse album of this Norwegian band and
hopefully more will follow. Recommended to fans of prog and jazz, although be
aware that the material is most of the time very straight-forward, so no
complex jamming or improvising parts, but instead a solid melodic relaxing
album with some superb musicianship. More info at: https://www.facebook.com/pg/AADALMUSIC
HARRY
CLOUD 'THE PIG AND THE MACHINE BLUE VINYL RELEASE' (INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
Now
here we have a very diverse album from Los Angeles with a sound that is far
removed from commercial music. This is the kinda Underground ish rock that is
worshipped by a lot of people who are against any type of commercial music.
HARRY CLOUD is mixing a lot of various music genres, but is probably best described
as an Alternative Rockmusician. He originally comes out of the Georgia state in
the USA, but is currently based in L.A. The Pig and The Machine is the 5th
album under the moniker of HARRY CLOUD, and he did a lot himself, but got help
on bass, piano/synths and percussion on a couple of songs. The album was
recorded by Paul Roessler (THE SCREAMERS, NINA HAGEN...) and features 14 tracks
in total. Harry was kind enough to sent me the beautiful blue vinyl release of
the album, which of course works best when really listening and reviewing an
album. I am not familiar with Harry's previous records, but after a few spins,
it is clear that this is an interesting and very diverse affair.
It
is almost impossible to describe this album, because the 2nd album of the
Norwegian band SOLSTORM sounds as dark, extreme, melancholic and non-commercial
as you can get. To some the 5 long songs may sound like Noise, but there is
definitely a pattern to be heard throughout the album. The band's sound will
probably be labelled as a sorta Post-Doom-Black Metal in in a very slow and
extremely heavy sound. It's not an album you put on to be happy, because it is
very dark and could well be the soundtrack for a Horror movie. I think it's
best to check it out for yourself at: https://solstormdoom.bandcamp.com/album/ii
When
you see a bandname like SWIFAN EOLH & THE MUDRA CHOIR for the first time,
you will probably not forget it, because it is of course a remarkable name for
a band. Immediately you will think about bands from the 1970s with such weird
names like VANDERGRAAF GENERATOR, GENTLE GIANT, JETHRO TULL, GRATEFUL DEAD,
etc. Well, also musically speaking SWIFAN EOLH & THE MUDRA CHOIR fits in
between these acts somewhere. They are coming out of Norway and present us here
their same titled debut album. The band consists of Jarle Alfsen - Drums, Tom
Inge Andersen - Bass and synth pedals, Rune Seip Bjørnflaten - Guitars, words
and vocals, Synøve Jacobsen - Vocals and dancing and Marius Ystad - Keyboards.
The music is very complex 1970s orientated Progressive Rock with some really
experimental moves here and there, although overall the album feels like a real
proggie record, with as highlight the wonderful closing track The key, which
sounds like the most 'normal' progsong on the album that might appeal to fans
of classic 70s GENESIS. If you however are more into adventeruous progrock then
look no further, because most songs on this album are going into the
experimental side of Progrock, and therefore I can highly recommend it to fans
of the aforementioned bands. Check it out for yourself at: https://swifan.bandcamp.com
There
are quite a lot of interesting things to say about this ambitious release from
the North London based band ELECTRIC LITANY, whom have a Greek frontman
(Alexandros Miaris) singing and playing guitar, piano and synths. Under a
common sky is their 3rd album so far and it was actually written at a beach
house in Corfu somewhere around the summer of 2017. For me personally quite
interesting, because me and my girlfriend went on holiday about 10 months
later, and as the band describes it, the album lyrics were inspired by this
beautiful Greek Island, which I can definitely agree with. They recorded the
album eventually back in North London with producer GEORGE BOTIS, a Greek
engineer, musician and producer. The included music is very interesting to say
the least, because it captures the essence of past and present music packed in
9 songs. The music is modern day Progressive Rock with a lot of room for
changing moods, going from very calm atmospheric (Azure) to extremely
experimental and slightly noisy during the end of a song (CFU), like a modern
Child in time, and everything in between on the other 7 songs. The legendary
ALAN PARSONS produced their previous album Enduring days, and he already
praised them as the next RADIOHEAD. Well, they are a little less
polished/radio-ready based and musically speaking perhaps more interesting for
fans of PORCUPINE TREE, ANATHEMA and even PINK FLOYD or ALAN PARSONS PROJECT
when you hear a lovely calmer progrocksong like the beautiful Sealight. England
introduces 80s Synths and even reveals some New Wave influences, but then not
the happy uptempo side, but a slightly dark melancholic slower approach like
JOY DIVISION or even THE EDITORS, although I even think fans of the last TAME
IMPALE record are going to love this! In the same direction goes Bedroom. The
diversity goes on during the following track Under a common sky (Refugee),
which is an uptempo straight forward rocker, with a bit of prog influences.
Slowing things down again during The 7th goodbye, an epic kinda tune that once
again has THE EDITORS similarities. Hit potential can be heard during Embark,
which has an almost U2 ish midtempo pop/rock approach, athough fans of BEAR'S
DEN might love this as well. Closing the album is The world is changing while you
sleep, which is more or less reality nowadays (Corona virus), while the song
itself is a calmer somewhat depressing slow song that builds up from calm to
more bombastic throughout the song and is interesting for the fans of JOY
DIVISION. Definitely a big surprise this album that might appeal to a wide
diversity of people, because progfans of the STEVEN WILSON kind will like it,
the indie fans of TAME IMPALE will love it, but also if you like JOY DIVISION
or THE EDITORS, there's something of interesting, so it should please a lot of
people for sure. Could well become the next big band to beat bands like
COLDPLAY, RADIOHEAD, MUSE, etc. More info at: http://www.electriclitany.com
No
less than 17 songs are included on the 6th album of the Philadelphia based band
MAN MAN. Leader of the band is Honus Honus (real name: Ryan Kattner) and if we
need to describe the music on Dream hunting in the valley of the in-between, it
contains a bit of every music genre, melted together with a sorta sarcastic and
humoristic tone as well, in a way we heard it from FRANK ZAPPA in the past.
After the short intro we are pleasantly surprised with a somewhat groovy
semi-rocking and quite soulful midtempo to uptempo pop/rocksound with excellent
vocals, resulting in a lot of great tunes here. Actually I could not find a
single dull moment on this album, because everything sounds strong and also
very diverse, as the songs contain a lot of diversity of music influences. The
finest songs are the midtempo On the mend (a little bit THE BLACK KEYS ish),
the very catchy uptempo rocking Lonely beuys (huge hit potential, like a mix
between BILLY JOEL and THIN LIZZY if that's possible) and the uptempo late
1970s Powerpoprocker Sheela. However there's so much more, like Jazz combined
with Humor in Goat, Latin Salsa in Inner iggy, boogie-woogie piano bar style in
Hunters (like a sorta RUFUS WAINWRIGHT), an E.L.O. meets 70s progrock trip
during The Prettiest Song in the World etc. etc. If FRANK ZAPPA is up your
alley, then you will definitely like this one as well, but of course there's
much more to find out here and perhaps we can therefore compare MAN MAN at best
to MAN MAN! Yes, they have an own style that has a lot to offer and you can
hear it for yourself at: https://manmanbandband.bandcamp.com/album/dream-hunting-in-the-valley-of-the-in-between
ALWANZATAR
is a side-project of KRISTOFFER MOMRAK (TUSMORKE) from Oslo, Norway and
Heliotropiske reiser is one of the many albums he released so far. The music is
quite experimental, although clearly going into a 1970s Progressive/Space-Rock
adventure, with a lot of Moog, Mellotron, Synths and other strange sounds and
noise effect to make the music sound spooky and interesting. 5 songs are
included on this 2017 released album, and the best ones are longest tracks
Heavy na (a very experimental hypnotic almost pure Electronic/Techno Music
based tune) and Rikosjett (pure 1970s Progrock heaven). It's a great instrumental
journey Kristoffer has given us and in case Progrock/Spacerock/Krautrock is
your thing, then this is definitely interesting to look up, although I also
like the fact that ALWANZATAR goes even a step further here and there with
almost Techno sounding music! More at: https://alwanzatar.bandcamp.com/album/heliotropiske-reiser-2
Out
of Dublin comes HILARY WOODS and her album Birthmarks is a very Dark Folk album
that reminds me a lot of MARISSA NADLER. It is an album that clearly tells
stories and most of them deal with her own pregnancy from the past winter when
recording the album in Oslo and Galway, Ireland. The music has a very
melancholic and calm approach and could also be seen as Chamber Music with the
use of Cello, Sax and such, but it also has a definite dark sinister touch with
the use of heavy synths/bass lines in a Scandi/Icelandic kinda way (JOHN
GRANT/BJORK during for example the beginning of Through the dark, love) and the
lush melodies could come out of any Dreampop book. SINEAD O'CONNOR could also
be a good comparison, but perhaps it is best to stop comparing, because HILARY
WOODS has an own sound. It is beautiful and in the right setting it will grab
you for sure, because a lot of wonderful melodies can be heard during the 8
tracks on the CD. Right from the start with the haunting opener Tongues of wild
boar HILARY WOODS shows she is a gifted singer/songwriter with a clear idea how
to create a song with a unique sound and still a memorable melody for people to
remember. The album continues in this style more or less, with mostly calmer
melodic songs that sound like a combination of Dreampop, Chamber Music and Dark
Folk. The songs can be heard via https://hilarywoodsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/birthmarks
The
Norwegian singer/songwriter FRANK HAMMERSLAND has been in and out of popular
poprockbands the past 25 years and is quite known in Norway. His solo career
continued all this time, although with long pauses, because his debut dates
back to 1997, the follow up in 2007 and the 3rd record Atlantis was released in
2019! The music on his latest album is a mix of calmer somewhat melancholic
singer/songwriter and 80s influenced light Wave/Poprock. His vocals are
definitely not his strongest point and overall he does remind me a bit of MARK
ALMOND, although less alternative and a little more mainstream pop/rock ish.
The slower songs are quite average, but the friendlier uptempo pop/rock songs,
such as the catchy No straight line and Down the milky way show him at his very
best, going for a slight poppier sound a la THE SMITHS. In case you're
interested, then check out more at: https://www.apollonrecords.no/product-page/frank-hammersland-atlantis-ltd-2lp
Ultrasound
is the 2017 released debut album of the Norwegian band PIXIE NINJA, a 4-piece
act with an instrumental sound that is clearly Progrock and Krautrock
influenced, as their music grabs back to the 1970s with lenghty songs and room
for each instrument to show it's sometimes spacey sounds, especially the keys
and synths. Jostein Haugen and Marius Leirånes began to work on the album in
late may 2015 and eventualy Matthias Olsson (NECROMONKEY, ex- ANGLAGARD) joined
as producer and drummer, while Johan Hals Jørgensen later completed the line-up
as organist/keyboardplayer. Together they worked on this album for quite some
time and the result is a stunning instrumental journey through the classic
Progrock and Krautrock fields. The music is most of the time quite relaxing and
has an almost PINK FLOYD touch in a song like Personal improvement cult, while
the Progrock is balanced perfectly in songs such as Elusive the wind vane and
Polysomnographic. All together, this is quite a nice adventure with lots of
room to improvise and include new arrangements not head before, so hopefully it
will be followed soon by a new album of this exciting Norwegian band called
PIXIE NINJA. More at: https://pixieninja.bandcamp.com/album/ultrasound
Love
and let die is already the 5th album of the Berlin based female fronted band
BONSAI KITTEN. I am not familiar with their earlier albums, but their new 2020
released album Love and let die is definitely worth checking out. Their current
line-up consists of Tiger Lilly Marleen: Vocals, Wally: Guitar, Marc Reign:
Drums and Spoxx: Bass and the band's sound is catchy uptempo Melodic Hard/Heavy
Rock with Classic Rock influences and after reading their bio it was clear to
me that they developed this 'melodic' sound through the years, because in the
beginning they were more a raw Punky Rock and Roll based band. There is
definitely a few times still a slight sorta MOTORHEAD meets WENDY O' WILLIAMS
and GIRLSCHOOL kinda vibe to be heard such as during the Heavy Metal orientated
The devil inside you or the fast Punky Now or never and Last days on earth, but
overall the music is a little more mainstream and going for that classic
Melodic Hardrocking sound of acts like DIRTY DENIMS, LITA FORD, THE DONNAS and
such. Among the 11 included tracks we can hear a lot of great very catchy
uptempo Melodic Hardrocksongs, such as Limit to your love and I have freedom.
Of course there is also a moment for a calmer moment, which in this case is the
piano led melodic rock ballad Second self or the excellent bluesy melodic
rockballad Love and let die. Quite nice to hear such a great female fronted
band playing high quality diverse Classic Rock with also some other styles
sometimes (Punk, Blues and Metal)! Check them out at: https://www.bonsai-kitten.de/
Out
of Ontario, Canada comes the band FREUDZ COUCH. They have quite a history actually,
because they were formed a few decades ago and released a lot of music between
1993 and 2003. In 2016 they returned to the scene and after several years
working and recording, Psycho-A is their official first full-length comeback
album in 17 years. The band's music has a traditional Hardrock/Metal sound with
a focus on melodies and guitarwork, with a slight darker approach that sounds a
bit like a cross between mid 90s QUEENSRYCHE and OZZY OSBOURNE. Here and there
we can also hear some very aggressive modern Metal influences in the gang-vocal
department, but overall the mentioned similarities is hearable most of the
time. The band's current line up consists of Nik Paparo - Drums, Vince Therrien
- Bass Guitar, Don Fournier - Guitar and Patrick Veinot - Vocals. 12 songs are
included on the CD, of which the best ones are Stand up (a very strong midtempo
Melodic Heavy Rocker with a catchy chorus, a nice guitarsolo and strong
vocalwork, even a bit going into the HAREM SCAREM sound, with a sorta OZZY OSBOURNE
touch as well), STK 2 (midtempo darker Melodic Metal with a very strong OZZY
kinda way of singing and the already mentioned 90s QUEENSRYCHE sound comes
really upfront here), the uptempo Reflection (with clear LED ZEPPELIN
influences, this is one of the few uptempo rockers and perhaps the finest song
on the album, bluesy melodic heavy rock) and the almost TENACIOUS D. sounding
midtempo Blank wall (where Patrick does a nice JACK BLACK kinda vocal job).
Perhaps next time also a few more uptempo rockers, but overall this band shows
they have a lot of potential and all together a nice album that is highly
recommended if you like OZZY OSBOURNE/BLACK SABBATH! More info at: https://freudzcouch.bandcamp.com/
ow
here we have a very interesting quartet of multi-instrumentalists from London
and Brighton, consisting of Alice Eldridge - cello, Korg MS10, laptop feedback,
piano, Rhodes, vocals, percussion, Rebecca Waterworth - cello, piano, vocals,
percussion,
Caroline
Weeks - flute, guitar, Yamaha VSS200, piano, Rhodes, vocals, percussion and
Quinta - violin, piano, Rhodes, Korg MS10, Yamaha VSS200, vocals, percussion,
saw. They are called COLLECTRESS and are musically speaking combining Classical
Piano Music and Chamber Music with some experimental modern electronic sounds
and lush atmospheric vocals and melodies of the CLANNAD kind, resulting in a
very unique beautiful sound that is warm and will touch a lot of people's
hearts. I feel that live on stage this will probably have a huge impact for
sure! 10 songs are included and the whole album feels like a wonderful
adventure through the fields and minds of these 4 talented musicians. A song
like In the streets, in the fields almost feels like watching a beautiful movie
and that is what this album does so most of the time. I honestly feel the
open-minded prog/pop fans will absolutely love this album as well, because it
is truly from the heart and touches your deeper inner soul when listening.
Check it out for yourself at: https://collectress.bandcamp.com/album/different-geographies
DIFFERENT
LIGHT 'BINARY SUNS (PART 1 - OPERANT CONDITION)' (PROGRESSIVE GEARS
RECORDS/NORTHERN IRELAND IMPORT)
When
listening to the opening track Amphibians of the new CD of the Prague, Czech
Republic based band DIFFERENT LIGHT, I knew once again the exact reason why I
started writing reviews over 25 years ago, because this song perfectly shows
why I am personally so much in love in hearing new melodies. It brings so much
joy to hear such beautiful melodies as presented here that I continue writing
about new music to discover such gems. DIFFERENT LIGHT is a band formed in
Malta back in 1994 and they managed to release several (mini) albums until the
end of the 1990s when they eventually took some time off. They reformed more or
less in Prague in 2008 and have since then released several albums and their
2020 album release is titled Binary suns (Part 1 - Operant condition). The band
is clearly focused on beautiful melodies, vocally speaking and instrumental
they also bring out some brilliant piano/keyboard/guitarwork. The music is
basically pure Neo-Progressive Rock of the ENCHANT/ALAN PARSONS PROJECT/FOR
ABSENT FRIENDS/old KAYAK/MARILLION kind, with even some interesting AOR
melodies that almost touch classic JOURNEY. The line-up consists of the excellent
Singer/songwriter/keyboardplayer Trevor Tabone, Drummer David Filak, Guitarist
Petr Lux and Bassist Jirka Matousek. 6 lengthy songs are included in total on
the band's new CD and without a doubt we have something amazing here. This is
one of those great albums with a long bright future ahead as it will be
considered a classic in it's genre in years from now!
Uneasy
laughter is the 2nd album of the L.A. based band MOANING and while listening to
them, it is like you're listening to a typical British modern day Postpunk or
80s New Wave sounding retro band, because that's exactly what they sound like
on fantastic upempo New Wave poprockers like Ego and Make it stop. The American
band already released their debut on the legendary SUB POP RECORDS back in 2018
and now with this follow-up they should definitely gain a lot of attention. The
band is formed around 3 youngs guys, Sean Solomon on vocals and guitar, Pascal
Stevenson on bass and synthesizer and Andrew MacKelvie on drums. They are at
their very best during the uptempo tunes, such as the already mentioned first 2
tracks as well as Running, What seperates us, the THE SMITHS meetsTALK TALK ish
Radiohit Fall in love and Coincidence or fate. Do not miss this album if you
like all those other New Breed bands in the classic New Wave/Postpunk style,
such as INHALER, SLOW READERS CLUB, BLOSSOMS and such, although MOANING is a
little more laid-back and even drifting into almost Dreampop here and there
such as during the A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS influenced 80s Connect the dots. They
have definitely delivered a high quality album that has a lot of potential and
some easy radio hits but that will only happen if they are lucky enough to be
iscovered. Check them out a.s.a.p. at https://moaning.bandcamp.com/album/uneasy-laughter
and
Now here we have
something quite special, because at first sight you think this is going to be
an extreme heavy band when just looking at the frontcover, but when their album
starts it is very calm actually until… Well, basically BIFMARCK is combining
classic 70s calmer progrock with dark Doom Metal and a lot of Death Metal
growling. Anyway, they come out of Norway and Oneiromancer is their 2nd album.
It contains 5 long songs and despite the calmer start, they are mostly really
into slow Doom/Death Metal, so of less interest for the progfans out there.
They can do beautiful slow melancholic songs such as Thahaghghogh Resalat and
Khthon, but their lengthy songs in between reveal incredible sinister dark Doom
Metal with Death Metal growls and it sounds very frightening, kinda like OPETH
in their early years. Hopefully in the future they will concentrate more on the
proggy side of life, just like OPETH has done on their last few albums, because
they are able to create perfect progrock for sure. This means they are still an
interesting band, but for me personally the Death growls are now a bit too much
upfront. More info at: http://www.bismarck.no
(Points:
-)
35
TAPES 'LOST & FOUND' (APOLLON RECORDS/NORWAY IMPORT)
Lost & found is
the debut album of the Oslo, Norway based band 35 TAPES, whom are making
quality Neo-Progressive Rock. PINK FLOYD is obviously one of their inspirations
and I have to say they are doing quite a strong job. 4 long songs are included
here, of which closing track Mushrooms is the longest, almost 20 minutes in
length! The band consists of 3 members, Morten Lund (guitar, keys, vocals),
Bjørn Stokkeland (drums) and Jarle Wangen (bass, guitar, vocals). Vocally it is
not so strong, but instrumental they are really good and highly recommended to
the Neo-Progfans out there. They reminds me of the good old days, back in the
1990s when the legendary SI MUSIC released similar sounding albums. Check out
more on them at: https://www.35tapes.com
(Points:
8.1 out of 10)
PROFESSOR
TIP TOP 'HYBRID HYMNS' (APOLLON RECORDS/NORWAY IMPORT)
Out of Bergen, Norway
comes the band PROFESSOR TIP TOP, whom deliver a sensational new album titled
Hybrid hymns. The band has already quite a lot albums before this one, but it’s
my first time to hear and review their music. Their line-up features Sonja Otto
vocals, keys, Sam Fossbakk guitars and keys/synths, Stein Høgseth bass and
Charlie Wise drums. The music they play is very melodic beautiful calmer 1970s
inspired Progressive Rock, song based with a lot of lovely melodies that
feature perfect close harmonyvocals, reminding of CAMEL and the guitarsolo’s go
into the classic PINK FLOYD/DAVID GILMOUR direction. Overall I am quite
surprised by this high quality release, which has many highlights, but the best
songs are definitely An Awkward Choice, Machine Emotions, Hybrid Minds and The
Final Night. Here and there they even remind a bit of ALAN PARSONS PROJECT,
with a sorta CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG kinda touch. Without a doubt, a
recommended release to all the fans of that crystal clear perfect 1970s melodic
progrocksound of CAMEL, KAYAK, ALAN PARSONS PROJECT, PINK FLOYD, etc. etc.
Check for yourself at: https://professortiptop.bandcamp.com/album/hybrid-hymns
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
SUNWATCHERS
'OH YEAH?' (TROUBLE MIND/37D03D/KONKURRENT)
Out of New York comes
this very rare experimental band called SUNWATCHERS. Their latest album is
titled Oh yeah? And is musically quite a challenge, because it is an
instrumental journey that combines elements of Psychedelic / Jazz / Noise /
Free Rock / Experimental. 6 songs are included in total, of which closing track
The earthsized thumb must be the ultimate ending that clocks in at almost 20
minutes. Anyway, it starts with a sorta post-prog rocker titled Sunwatchers vs
Tooth Decay, which is then followed by a more melodic song called Love paste.
Things become heavier as the album continues with somehow RUSH influences during
Brown ice and The conch that also reveal some Arabic influences. It however
gets completely out of control during the extreme Thee worm store that is a mix
of every possible music style, but the sounding quite loud and hard, even
beating the most extreme Metal song out there! SUNWATCHERS is not just another
instrumental band, because they throw in a lot of diversity in here, sounding
melancholic and dark at times, but still also leaves room open for more melodic
parts. If you’re starting to become interested, then check for yourself
at: https://sunwatchers.bandcamp.com/album/oh-yeah
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
EVE
OWEN 'DON'T LET THE INK DRY' (37D03D/KONKURRENT)
Out of London comes
singer/songwriter EVE OWEN, a talented 20-year-old artist who spent her summer
holidays writing and recording in New York with THE NATIONAL’s Aaron Dessner.
The result is a lovely debut CD titled Don’t let the ink dry, an album that
combines Folk, Singer/Songwriter with modern Eletronic sounds. Eve has a
beautiful voice and her music fits somewhere between LAPSLEY, SINEAD O’ONNOR
and AMY MCDONALD. A song like Bluebird somehow reminds me of Amy, with its
strong melody, this is a hit potential tune for sure. However, most of the
music goes into a calmer melancholic direction, with the lush almost Dreampop
like vocals of Eve and that would be the only complaint, because some uptempo
tunes would have made this album a little more diverse than it is now. Nevertheless,
it is a very strong debut record with fantastic vocalwork and some beautiful
songs like Tudor, Lover not today and After the love. This is high quality
music for sure that will be loved by people who also like the current female
singer/songwriter sound that has electronic sounds as backing music to keep
things interesting. More info at: https://www.facebook.com/EveOwenMusic/
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
A
PERMANENT SHADOW 'SONGS OF LOSS' (APE MUSIC/SPAIN IMPORT)
Out of Barcelona,
Spain comes A PERMANENT SHADOW, a band with a typical modern day British
Retrowave/Post-Punk ish sound on their debut album Songs of loss. They are
formed around singer/songwriter CP Fletcher and are doing this quite well
actually, because especially during catchy uptempo Post/Punk/Wave songs like
Empty, Open door, Now and Radical change, they bring out some great material
that sounds a lot like THE EDITORS, THE SLOW READERS CLUB, ECHO AND THE
BUNNYMEN, etc. The songs are rather short and during the 2nd part
of the album, the songs get a little more experimental and calmer. I think with
a bigger sound, some more uptempo and rockier tunes, this A PERMANENT SHADOW
could well become a lot better. Nevertheless, they already deliver here a nice
debut album that is interesting to check out if you’re a fan of the mentioned
bands. More at: www.apermanentshadow.com
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
ORQID is formed around
TOM BUTCHER, a Seattle based musician who creates music that fits not only the
classic R&B kinda groovy popsound, but also the electronic 80s synthwave
soundscapes. On his latest EP Tenderness, which he releases under the moniker
ORQID, we can hear both genres throughout the 6 included songs. He was kind
enough to sent me the VINYL release of this album, which of course always
contributes big time when writing a review. The first 2 songs on the record are
Tenderness and Our love, both with some really great singing in a very low
kinda Soulful tone and actually these songs feel a bit like BLACK PUMAS, but
also pay respect to past performers of this style of music, such as AL JARREAU.
Anyway, side-A closes with a very calm instrumental Synth/Keyboard driven song
that stays a bit in the same kinda monotone relaxing direction. Personally I
would love to hear more songs in the style of Our love, because the singing is
quite good and songwise it really is good fun clean music that could well be
played on the radio. Side-B opens with a very exciting 80s Synthwave tune
called Melting heart and fans of MAGIC SWORD, STRANGER THINGS, BLADE RUNNER,
80s TERMINATOR and such will absolute love these cool 80s retro sounds that are
pushed upfront and make the song a pleasure to play loud! There is quite a lot
of diversity going on musically speaking here and this is all thanks to the
incredible talent of TOM BUTCHER. I believe he did almost everything by himself
and must admit that he does a great job here. The final 2 songs on the record
are Analytica and Civilizations, both are into the calmer instrumental SciFi
Soundtrack music style. Concluded, we have here an interesting record that
takes us into different directions and is basically more than just another
Electronic Music record. It will appeal to Synthwave fans, SciFi Soundtracks
fans, Classic Soul/R&B fans and perhaps even fans of TANGERINE DREAM/KLAUS
SCHULZE/JEAN MICHAEL JARRE kinda instrumental 70s Krautrock will like some of
the songs here. The record is available through https://store.orqid.co/album/tenderness
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
SIENA
ROOT ‘THE SECRET OF OUR TIME 2020’ (MIG MUSIC/GERMANY IMPORT)
Out of Stockholm,
Sweden comes the band SIENA ROOT, whom started way back in the early 2000s with
as debut a Vinyl release in 2004. Of course that was a few years before the
whole revival of Vinyl Records, so they already knew that this medium was never
going to die. They were right and after already quite a few successful album
releases, they return with a new album titled The secret of our time, which is
their 7th album so far. This is a conceptual album that
explores human nature in relation to present day technology or artificial
realities. The album was recorded with vintage equipment in a studio in the
Swedish northern forest and produced in-house in an 100% analogue manner. The
included music is clearly a step back in time to the classic 1970s Rocksound,
including influences of Progrock, Psychedelic, Blues and Roots rock, where
similarities to BLUES PILLS, classic 1970s HEART, HAWKWIND and such come
clearly to mind. They also remind me a lot of that other Swedish female fronted
band HORIZON, only the vocals here are much better and the overall sound is
probably appealing to a greater diversity of musicfans. The band’s line up
consists of Matte Gustavsson – Guitar, Erik "Errka" Petersson –
Organ, Sam Riffer – Bass, Love Forsberg – Percussion, Lisa Lystam – Vocals,
Zubaida Solid – Vocals and Johan Borgström – Guitar. Highlights among the 9
included tracks are definitely the catchy opener Final stand (uptempo classic
rocker, very melodic and kinda like classic 70s HEART and TANTRUM), the proggy
pure 70s KANSAS ish In your head and the beautiful relaxing 70s ish semi
classic rockballad Daughter of the mountains (pure HEART). SIENA ROOT has
released a highly recommended album for sure and more info can be found
at: http://www.sienaroot.com/
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
DAVE
GREAVES ‘STILL LIFE’ (INDEPENDENT/HEMIFRAN)
DAVE GREAVES is
originally from Hull, England, but now lives a peaceful life with his family in
Scarborough, UK, on the banks of the North Sea. He has had a long music career
that brought him in contact already in the 1970s with legends like JOHN MARTYN
and SANDY DENNY as well as with major labels like EMI and ISLAND RECORDS. Fast
forward to 2020, he has now released a 2-CD set with 22 songs in total, which
musically is concentrating on telling stories in a singer/songwriter kinda
calmer pop/rock direction. He has a great gin-soaked voice that clearly gives
the singer/songwriter music the much-needed push to convince. It is an album
that tells his stories through the life he lived and therefore an interesting
album to check out for all the fans of honest pure singer/songwriter music that
here and there also reveals some MARK KNOPFLER and BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
influences, such as during the great slightly more commercial orientated Danny
and his girl. More info at: https://www.davegreavesmusic.com/music/
(Points:
7.6 out of 10)
TONY
DENIKOS ‘GRAVITY WINS’ (INDEPENDENT/HEMIFRAN)
Gravity is the 5th album
of singer/songwriter TONY DEVIKOS from Baltimore, USA. His music and way of
singing reveals influences from blues, rootsy rock, Americana and Country where
similarities to NEIL YOUNG, JOHNNY CASH and JOHN FOGERTY come to mind when
listening to his new album. It is all nicely done, with all the instruments
played by Tony himself, with a bit of help from album producer SCOTT SMITH.
Check it out for yourself at: http://www.tonydenikos.com/
(Points:
7.0 out of 10)
CARRINGTON
MACDUFFIE ‘I’M THE ONE’ (POINTY HEAD RECORDS/LUNACY/DEWPOINT ENTERTAINMENT
GROUP/HEMIFRAN)
Originally from New
York, singer/songwriter CARRINGTON MACDUFFIE has travelled and lived in quite a
few places throughout the USA, picking up a lot of musical influences along the
way. She released already a few albums and I’m the one is the latest one, a
short EP consisting of 5 fun pop/rock tunes that together have a playing length
of about 18 minutes. Carrington has a great voice like BETH HART meets AMY
MCDONALD and her music is quite melodic, rocks a bit here and there and is also
not far removed from the material of the 2 mentioned female artists. Carrington
pushes the button to a very radio friendly polished direction here and there
such as during I see you in my dream, but I think the fans of classic rock/aor
might appreciate this a lot. It is very well done and definitely a nice EP to
check out at: https://carringtonmacduffie.com/about/
(Points:
7.9 out of 10)
RUBY
LOVETT ‘IT’S A HARD LIFE’ (PUFF BUNNY RECORDS/HEMIFRAN)
Out of Tennessee comes
RUBY LOVETT, who has the picture perfect Country voice (and look) in classic
style of NANCI GRIFFITH, DOLLY PARTON and such. The songs are mostly calmer and
heartbreaking like a real classic Country musician is all about. It’s a hard
life is her 2nd CD and she definitely delivers a great
performance here if you’re a dedicated Countryfan! Check for yourself at: https://www.rubylovett.com/
(Points:
7.0 out of 10)
LONG TALL J 'ALBATROSS' (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
Out of London comes
LONG TALL J, a sensational guitarist who originally comes out of my own country
The Netherlands. He was kind enough to sent me his album Albatross, which
contains 10 songs that are musically go into a melodic progressive/classic rock
direction. 2 songs feature vocals from guest female singer AMARIIA (from the
Ukraine), including the strong opener On my own, with it's excellent vocals a
really fine opener. The album is mostly built around Long Tall J.'s superb
precise guitarwork which is influenced by bands like WISHBONE ASH and PINK
FLOYD. For the drums he hired LEON SCHMITZ and for the bass ELIAS BASTIAAN.
From the instrumental songs the highlights are Sixty, Epic and the titletrack
Albatross, while the other vocal featured track should also be mentioned here
(Time is a lovely midtempo almost AFTER FOREVER ish midtempo Prog/Symphonic
Metal tune). I think he really needs to compose much more material with the
wonderful singer AMARIIA, because those vocal songs shows that he is capable of
writing a really decent vocal tune as well besides the lovely instrumental work
he shows us most of the time on this album. More info can be found at: https://www.longtallj.com/
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
KOYO
'YOU SAID IT' (88 WATT/WASTED YOUTH PR/UK IMPORT)
In 2017 the Leeds, UK
based band KOYO broke through with the release of their debut album, and now
they follow it up with You said. The new album was produced by MIKE HORNER
(FRANZ FERDINAND/EVERYTHING EVERYTHING) and contains 11 tracks. The band's line
up consists of Huw Edwards (lead vocals, guitar), Jacob Price (sampling,
synthesisers), Dan Comlay (bass), Seb Knee-Wright (guitars) and Tom Higham
(drums). It starts with a fast and furious uptempo Garage Punkrocker titled
Same mistake twice that sounds pretty raw and edgy, while the following song
Circles is way more melodic. Circles is almost pure Melodic Rock bliss, with a
relaxing guitarsound and lush vocals and is basically a sensational Summer ish
tune that almost sounds like BRYAN ADAMS meets STEREOPHONICS, which is in
contrast to the raw punky opener that was more closer to a band like FRANZ
FERDINAND or ARCTIC MONKEYS. And actually the whole album is a mix of these 2
styles, combining the slightly more typical UK Alternative Garage Rocksound
with a radiofriendlier Melodic Rock/Indiepop ish sound, of which further
highlights are You said it, Surrounded and the damn catchy Out of control that
almost sounds like THE SLOW READERS CLUB. It takes a while before we can also
hear some Post/Progressive Rock influences, because during track 8 Confused and
the lengthy closing track Against all odds they reflect those influences, while
the aggressive Obelisk shows the very dark side of the band. Somehow the 2nd
part of the album is much darker and heavier than the beginning, but in generl
it is a pleasure to listen to this album, which could easily bring the band an
even bigger audience. The mature big Indie/melodic meets post/garagerocksound
they show on this 2nd album is definitely the way forward and let's hope that
if one day they will be able to perform live again, they will show that live on
stage they can do great things. For now, their new sensational record You said
it already shows that we are dealing here with a professional sounding act with
enough diversity to become a household name in the future! More info at: http://www.koyoband.com
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
TALAMBO
'DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR' (ECLIPSE MUSIC/XANGO MUSIC)
All the music on the
album of TALAMBO is composed and arranged by the extremely talented Finnish
musician JORI HUHTALA. He is actually a bassplayer who performed and recorded with
many Jazz artists, well-known Finnish acts and was involved in several other
bands, but his studio project TALAMBO is his own baby where he did a lot on his
own (except drums, organ, tenor sax and some guitars which were done by guest
musicians). Delusions of grandeur is the first release of TALAMBO and musically
speaking it is a very enjoyable jazzy affair that also leaves room for progrock
and some world music influences. It is not too complex either, so the 5
included songs are quite nice to listen to on a rainy sunday evening. Voice of
reason opens the album quite jazzy, but following track Man number nine shows
the Progrock influences and sounds quite modern actually. World music rhythms
are added to Time to escalate and the final 2 songs are the guitar driven Thimbu
& talambo and the beautiful Classic Jazzy Supermelon. Concluded, a nice and
very interesting album by an incredible talented musician from Helsinki,
Finland. More info at: https://talambo.bandcamp.com/album/delusions-of-grandeur
and https://www.jorihuhtala.com/
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
TEREZ
SLIMAN 'WHEN THE WAVES' (KIRKELIG KULTURVERKSTED/XANGO MUSIC)
Out of Palestina comes
singer/songwriter TEREZ SLIMAN, who is quite well-known in her part of the
world. Her new album is titled When the waves and features 9 songs, of which the
lyrics were all written by Tereze herself. She got help from a few guest
musicians, such as Raymond Hadded (who also composed the music of most of the
songs) on Bass and modular synthesizer as well as 2 musicians from Norway; Helge
Norbakken on drums and Eivind Aarset on guitars. The result is a very
impressive album that really captures the classic Middle Eastern sound, with
all it's traditional rhythms, although overall the melodies give it a much
wider World Music kinda approach that will appeal to a lot of people. Almost
the whole album was recorded in Norway, except for 2 songs that were recorded
in Nazareth. Without a doubt, we have a beautiful album here with an impressive
sound and especially the vocals of Terez are giving it an extra dimension with
an own identity. The songs are sung in her own language, but thankfully the CD
booklet comes along with English lyrics, which makes it easier to speak about
the songs. Hunger is one of the absolute highlights here, with it's beautiful
melodies, although each and every song is a winner. For example one should also
hear the very slight Reggae ish influence in a song like Like water and actually
we can add much more diverse music influences throughout the album, with even
some Rap and Electronica. The mixture of light rapping and some great cool Rock
riffs with a catchy chorus on top ot if all, this is making the song When the
tables will turn another absolute highlight. Also the SADE meets BARBRA
STREISAND ish When the waves is very impressive and goes for a smoother almost
Western pop direction. All together, it makes this album stand out between the
rest of the Middle Eastern Music album releases due to it's variety in styles
and of course Terez' amazing vocalwork. It's best to hear her music for
yourself at: https://soundcloud.com/terez-sliman
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
JOLA
'HIDDEN GNAWA MUSIC IN BRUSSELS' (MUZIEK PUBLIQUE/XANGO MUSIC)
40 Gnawa musicians
currently resident of the Belgian capital Brussels may well be called the Gnawa
capital of Europe and now after twenty years of living in Belgium, JOLA brings
them together in an album that reflects the world of the Gnawa of Brussels. The
music is World Music with the African rhythms, dancing and singing together
like the big masses only know it from the legendary SHAKA ZULU series. The
incredible thick booklet tells us everything about the Gnawase musicians
involved here and the music is very cheerful to listen to, although I always think
that live in front of you the impact is even bigger. Done very well and a
beautful piece of music history can be found here. One for the collectors for
sure. More info at: https://muziekpublique.be/concerts/cd-release-jola-hidden-gnawa-music-brussels/?lang=nl
(Points:
7.5 out of 10)
NOOGIE'S
CREW 'TILL DARK RETURNS' (INDEPENDENT/MALTA IMPORT)
Out of Malta comes
NOOGIE'S CREW and so far they have released an EP CD and this CD Till dark
returns since their formation in 2011. 8 songs are on this new album of them
and musically it is clearly Melodic Metal in a traditional style, so with
infuences from BLACK SABBATH, IRON
MAIDEN, SAXON and such. The band is formed around Nigel 'Noogie' Buttigieg -
Lead Vocal and Guitarist, Charles Buttigieg - Bassist and Backing vocals, Mario
Dalli - Drummer and Backing vocals and guitarist Jonathan Camilleri. Opener For
the truth is good uptempo Melodic Metal with a slight METALLICA touch, which has
it's highlight in the chorus. Next song The dark returns is definitely an
improvement on all aspects, as this is a very strong sensational midtempo
Melodic Metal piece with not only a catchy chorus, but also fantastic MALMSTEEN
ish guitarwork and great vocals, while the song overall has a BLACK SABBATH
kinda vibe. MAIDEN ish guitarwork meets a pure 80s Heavy Metal sound can be
heard in the catchy Sky turned black that really makes you want to go for that
fist in the air and shout out loud the chorus in a style we heard a lot back in
1985 (ACCEPT, SINNER, STEELER...). On the following track Drive me home they
are going for a faster Melodic Heavy Rock/Metal sound in the style of MAD MAX,
PRETTY MAIDS and also SCORPIONS circa the late 1970s. Breakout is a somewhat
simpler 80s Heavy Metal song that worked well 35 years ago, but is now perhaps
a bit too easy when you compare it to the band's other much stronger material. Dragon
slayer is high class Melodic Metal that even reminds me a bit of DREAM EVIL and
halfway the song there is a beautiful instrumental break that gives the whole
song a sensational touch! Eleven reveals METALLICA influences and is a nice
song with loads of cool guitar shredding, but is just a bit less interesting
somehow. The album closes nicely with Cheap thrills, a midtempo Melodic Metal
tune with BLACK SABBATH influences and once again very 80s inspired (even a bit
FIFTH ANGEL) in the catchy Guitar riff and melodic chorus that both come
straight out of the Classic Metal bible! Concluded, there is a lot to hear and
fans of classic guitar shredding traditional Melodic Metal will definitely like
this band a lot! More info at: https://www.facebook.com/NoogieAndCrew/
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
RESIDENT
ONE 'MAKE MY MILLENNIUM' (59X RECORDS/USA IMPORT)
Formed in late 2016,
the Atlanta, Georgia, USA based band RESIDENT ONE already released a debut
album in 2017 and the follow-up Make my millennium in 2018, so in the 3+ years
they exists 2 albums have been released, of which Make my millennium was sent
to us for a review. Quite remarkable that in such a short time they come up
with a very strong impressive professional sound. The threesome (Craigan
Hogeland: Vocals/Bass, Peter Catalano: Vocals/Guitar and Parker Bradshaw: Drums)
is influenced by bands like BLINK 182, SUM 41, THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM... and
although at first sight they sound like a typical American 90s
Poppunk/Emorockband, they are definitely a bit more mature and even come up
with songs that are close to Melodic Hardrock. Opener Stranger things and A
song for the recently deceased are the finest songs here, both being catchy
uptempo Melodic Heavy Rockers in the style of HAREM SCAREM. However, most of
the time the band is leaning towards the Emo/Punkrock side of life, especially
during songs like Celebrate, Pelham road, Between your heart & the scene
and The book of Kevin. Not bad at all, but some more diversity and tempo
changes in the songs, with hopefully more Melodic Hardrock orientated material
next time, it could definitely lift up the overall level. On the other hand,
the band is offering a lot of catchy uptempo lightweight Punkpop here that
should easily find it's way to the fans of aforementioned bands. I feel that
there is more possible here with this band, so who knows that will happen on a
future album. Check them out at: https://residentone.bandcamp.com/album/make-my-millennium
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
PUBLIC
PRACTICE 'GENTLE GRIP' (WHARF CAT RECORDS/KONKURRENT)
Out of New York comes
the rather unique sounding PUBLIC PRACTICE whom are making their debut with
Gentle grip. The band is formed around Sam York/Vocals, Vince McClelland/Guitar,
Drew Citron/Bass/Synth/Vocals and Scott Rosenthal/Drums, and they truly capture
the late 1970s New York PostPunksound in the style of TALKING HEADS, ROXY
MUSIC, PATTI SMITH and even a bit BLONDIE. Their debut album contains 12 tracks
and the start is very experimental actually with a rather dangerous song called
Moon that sounds like an outta-control TALKING HEADS, but then with a modern
and scary fast uptempo aggressive punky approach towards the end of the song.
Things get truly late 1970s from the next track on with the catchy
Postpunkrocker Cities that has somehow also a light commercial poprock chorus a
la BLONDIE. Disposable continues in this style and is really close to TALKING
HEADS, with some quirky pop/rock elements as well. Each other is also quirky,
but then more uptempo like something THE PRETENDERS could have done if they had
recorded a song with PATTI SMITH on vocals. The song that could turn out into a
major radiohit worldwide is the incredible catchy midtempo pure 1970s retro
sounding Underneath, with a cool guitarsolo, a great lush female vocal vibe and
a damn catchy chorus besides the big 70s synths that are clearly ROXY MUSIC
influenced. See you when continues that almost pure 70s Funkdisco touch,
although it is a little less catchy, but will then perhaps be more appreciated
by the TALKING HEADS fans. I have to say that Sam has a really wonderful voice,
both when she is singing and like in See you when, where she is almost talking
instead of singing. We're halfway the album and My head is once again changing
the sound a bit, this time towards a late 70s/early 80s Reggae ish Poprock
friendly sound and here Sam shows once again she has a really great voice a la
BLONDIE. Speaking of BLONDIE, the following song Compromised is a damn catchy
uptempo early 80s Poprocker that is very 'jumpy' and should live on stage go
down very well I think. This is probably one of the finest songs on the album.
Understanding is a bit more quirky and funkier with ROXY MUSIC influences. The
final 3 songs are the Funk/Disco meets New Wave song Leave me alone, the
excellent uptempo Postpunkrocker How I like it and the slow funky Hesitation
(somehow reminds me a bit of DAVID BOWIE's Fame). PUBLIC PRACTICE is doing
things very close to the classic late 70s New York Clubscene PostPunk sound,
yet with also influences from the genres that were also popular in those years
(ranging from Funk/Disco to Poprock to even Reggae). Check out all info on this
exciting new band at: https://publicpractice.bandcamp.com/album/gentle-grip
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
THE
CAROLYN 'THIS WILL BEGIN TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT VINYL LP' (59X RECORDS/USA
IMPORT)
Out of Atlanta, Georgia comes THE CAROLYN,
a 3-piece band formed around Oli - Bass/Vocals, Andrew - Guitar/Vocals and Dave
- Drums. They have already released a few albums in the past and This will
begin to make things right is their latest one, which was sent to me in a cool
vinyl record version and I even believe it is only avilable as vinyl album. 11
short songs are included and most of them are uptempo, mixing typical 90s
American Emo/Poppunk, Melodic Rock and Indie/College Pop/Rock. The result is
really nice to listen to and easy to sing-a-long to, basically sounding very
American and with clear influences from bands like GIN BLOSSOMS, GOO GOO DOLLS,
THE AMERICAN REJECTS, GREENDAY, BLINK 182, THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM... The band has
a sound that fits in right between those acts, sometimes a bit punky and at
other times more like a typical rockband, but always keen on catchy melodies.
If you like one song, you will love them all, but the highlights for me
personally are Every move, Rot and Sympathy. Check them out at: https://thecarolyn.bandcamp.com/album/this-will-begin-to-make-things-right
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
THE
DOGSHIT BOYS 'FLASHROCK MASSACRE VINYL LP' (INDEPENDENT/FINLAND IMPORT)
The Finnish band THE
DOGSHIT BOYS has been in the music scene for a long time now and they released
quite a number of EP's, Singles, splits and such, but a real album never really
happened, except for Puke! in 2014 perhaps. However, now they have been able to
release a full-length album entitled Flashrock massacre, which was digitally
released through INVERSE RECORDS, while the band released the album
independently themselves on both VINYL and CD. They were kind enough to sent me
the Vinyl Record, which always helps in hearing and reviewing the music at it's
very best. The album contains 10 songs and was recorded at the Wolfthrone
studios in Ostrobotnia, which has a reputation for punk and black metal. The
music of THE DOGSHIT BOYS is dirty mean raw and non compromise fast uptempo
Punk/borderline Hardcore and reminding on especially the very aggressive first
2 songs on the album (Aivoradio and Kaytoshairio) of classic GBH and EXPLOITED.
The 3rd song Shoreline is a cover of a popular Swedish musician (HENRIK
BERGGREN) and this slows the tempo a bit down to a more Melodic (Punk)
Rocksound and for me personally this is one of the highlights on the album, as
the band really goes for a perfect mix of rock, punk and melodies on here. The
band also has clear MOTORHEAD influences, while during a song like
Telemarketing they even remind me of the legendary ROGUE MALE, if anyone can
remember them! They have a look that is somewhere between Gothic and Punk, but
when turning on to side-B the music is clearly the fast Punk/Hardcore sound once
again, which is very fine to hear and enjoy, especially closing track Flashrock
massacre. Fans of the aforemenoned bands will definitely like this band a lot,
although the Finnish lyrics of some of the songs will make it hard to really understand
what they are singing about. However a fan of GBH or EXPLOITED will not mind at
all, because THE DOGSHIT BOYS are doing exactly what they need to do to fulfill
the demands for this kind of Punk/Hardcorefans! Check them out for yourself at:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/dogshitboys
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
MASERATI
'ENTER THE MIRROR' (TEMPORARY RESIDENCE/KONKURRENT)
Out of Athens, Georgia,
USA comes a very interesting Synthwave Metalband which was formed 20 years ago.
The band's line up consists of Coley Dennis, Matt Cherry, Chris McNeal and Mike
Albanese and they have already released a lot of albums in the past, of which
Enter the mirror is their latest. It starts very calm and light JAN HAMMER ish,
but as the album continues, the sound becomes heavier and heavier, close to
hypnotical 80s influenced uptempo Synthwave with huge modern Progressive Metal
guitar riffs. I can imagine that some might find a song like Der Honig very
heavy, complex and borderline distorted Noise. On the other hand, there's also
the pure 80s uptempo Wave sound of a song like Welcome to the other side that
sounds like it almost came out of Transformers, but then played by a Metalband.
7 songs are in total on the album, some quite lengthy, and all together they
form a sorta theme, also soundwise. The sound of the album is huge, which is
thanks to Grammy Award winning producer JOHN CONGLETON (SWANS, ANGEL OLSEN). This
is absolutely highly recommended heavy Synthwave that should be checked if you
like for example PERTURBATOR, CARPENTER BRUT, MAGIC SWORD... More info at: https://www.ihaveadagger.net/ and https://maserati.bandcamp.com/album/enter-the-mirror
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
THE
STROPPIES 'LOOK ALIVE!' (TOUGH LOVE RECORDS/KONKURRENT)
The 8 songs on the new
album Look alive! of the Melbourne, Australia based band THE STROPPIES make up
a playing time of less than 20 minutes. So it is a very short album, but
thankfully the included music is nice early 80s inspired quirky poprock meets
90s Indie Pop. Most of the songs are uptempo and very song based, sometimes
bordering Jangle Pop like R.E.M. meets THE BANGLES, but then calmer and lighter.
Check for yourself if you're interested how that sounds like at: https://thestroppies.bandcamp.com/album/look-alive
(Points:
7.2 out of 10)
GLEN
FOSTER GROUP 'NOT FAR AWAY' (COPYRIGHT RESCUE RECORDS/CANADA IMPORT)
Out of the beautiful
Vancouver Island, Canada comes singer/songwriter/guitarist GLEN FOSTER, who has
already done a lot musically speaking. His latest release as THE GLEN FOSTER
GROUP is titled Not far away, which is a very diverse album that is mostly a combination of classic rock and roll,
Heartland Rock and rockabilly. If we only already look at the first 2 songs, we
can hear TOM PETTY ish light Heartland Rock in Dusty roads and pure Rockabilly
a la THE STRAY CATS in the song Party out there tonight, which is a very catchy
tune actually. The great thing about this CD is it goes through all these
classic rock'n'roll styles during the 9 songs that are included, because
Rockabilly fever is ELVIS going Rockabilly and the aforementioned TOM PETTY
similarities can also be heard during Brains brawn and beauty. On the other
hand there are also Folk influences in songs like Dalgety bay and Fruit of the
spirit, while going for a fun Scottish sorta Skiffle in a song like Do like you
do. It's all there and done at a high level, so definitely worth checking out
at: https://glenfoster.ca/
(Points:
7.8 out of 10)
PAPA
SATCH 'REBOUND' (INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
Out of New York comes
PAPA SATCH, a band formed around singer/songwriter Bob Sachnoff (PAPA SATCH),
multi-instrumentalist/lead singer STEVE RONSEN and keyboardplayer JOHN ZYCH. 11
songs are on their album Rebound and I must say it impressed me big time due to
it's ultra-melodic and 80s rock vibe. Opener Driving time grabs you right away,
as this is a very catchy uptempo Poprocker somewhere between RICK SPRINGFIELD
and THE POSIES. Next track Everynight is a very impressive strong tune that is
midtempo pop/rock/AOR ish and reminding me a bit of early RALPH VAN MANEN, JOHN
WAITE, JOHN KILZER and RICHARD MARX, so with a sorta late 1980s touch. Here it
really is clear that the vocals of Bob are just perfect and reminding me of all
those 80s AOR/Poprock performers like the ones just mentioned. He even goes for
a pure 80s semi-Melodic Rock Ballad during the BRYAN ADAMS ish Meet depressed. Other
highlights are the BILLY SATELLITE ish Twenty days, the catchy uptempo
Poprocker Rebound (close to classic BRYAN ADAMS, great vibe!) and Get around
(slightly early JOHN COUGAR ish, with also similarities to THE RAVIJNS and THE
PRODUCERS kinda early 80s Powerpop). I can bet the fans of 80s AOR/Poprock of
the EDDIE MONEY, RICK SPRINGFIELD, JOHN WAITE, BRYAN ADAMS kind are going to
like this album a lot! More info at: https://www.reverbnation.com/papasatch
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
SAINTS
TRADE 'TIME TO BE HEROES' (ART OF MELODY MUSIC/BURNING MINDS/ATOMIC STUFF/ITALY
IMPORT)
I remember in my early days as a reviewer
that in Italy there were just a couple of bands playing Melodic Rock. It was
around 1995 when you had HEAVEN'S TOUCH, ELEKTRADRIVE, ULTIMATUM, DHAMM and a
few more bands playing this kind of rock. The following years the new Italian
label FRONTIERS RECORDS started to sign each and every big International
AOR/Melodic Rockband from the past and present, which probably influenced many
new Italian bands to also start playing AOR/Melodic Rock. Especially in recent
times a lot of new bands pop up here and there, with since a few years a new
Italian label that focuses mainly on Italian AOR/Melodic Rockbands (with a few
exceptions). The label is called ART OF MELODY MUSIC and one of the bands is
SAINTS TRADE. At the moment of writing this review we are of course facing the
Corona Virus worldwide and one of the hotspots in Europe is the city of
Bologna. SAINTS TRADE is coming out of that city, so this must have made a huge
impact on them. They were formed back in 2009 and already released a couple of
albums since then and now Time to be heroes is released in these strange times.
What is clear that music always survives and a great new album like this one
gives enough spirit to carry on. The band consists of Santi Libra - Vocals, Andrea
Sangermano - Bass Guitar and Claus - Guitars and their new album features 11
well-produced tunes. Livin' to rock starts very strong, a great catchy uptempo
Melodic Rocker in classic 80s style and also following track Night children is
in a similar style. They are not far away from the classic Italian Melodic
Rockband HEAVEN'S TOUCH, but as probably not many people know them, I can
better mention bands like DANGER DANGER, 80s BON JOVI, H.E.A.T., ONE DESIRE,
JADED HEART and such. If we go through the rest of the album and point out the
interesting songs I definitely would like to mention the midtempo Higher, a
song with a fantastic guest female singer called ELEONORA MAZZOTTI. I wonder
who she is, because her voice is just amazing and right up there with ROBIN
BECK! Other highlights are the uptempo melodic rockers Born hunter (not the
prey), Twist in the tail and The rose and closing track Middle of nowhere,
which is a very catchy midtempo/semi melodic rockballad. Concluded, this is a
recommended Melodic Rockalbum, done quite well and interesting to check out if
you want to sing-a-long like it is still 1987 and BON JOVI ruled the Living on
the prayer airwaves! More info at: http://www.saintstrade.com
and https://www.burningmindsgroup.com/art-of-melody-music/releases/119
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
ROOM
EXPERIENCE 'ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE' (ART OF MELODY MUSIC/BURNING MINDS/ATOMIC
STUFF/ITALY IMPORT)
5 years ago ROOM EXPERIENCE from Italy
released their debut and now the follow-up Another time and place is released.
The most important fact is that their lead singer is the legendary DAVID
READMAN (PINK CREAM 69, KHYMERA, etc.) who of course has that Golden voice
needed to rise above the masses in the Melodic Rockworld. His voice makes this
album an absolute winner for the Melodic Rockfans out there. When hearing the
beautiful catchy melodic choruses of each and every of the 11 included songs
(the bonustrack features a different singer), you can hear the typical DAVID
READMAN ish melodies which are very plesant for the ears. Of course the rest of
the band also needs to be introduced here, because ROOM EXPERIENCE is an
Italian band with Italian musicians whom are doing a great job here. Their
line-up besides David on vocals consists of Gianluca Firmo: Keys, Backing
Vocals & Vocals, Davide "Dave Rox" Barbieri: Keys, Backing Vocals,
Pierpaolo "Zorro11" Monti: Drums & Percussion, Simon Dredo: Bass
and Steve De Biasi: Guitars. The album kicks off with 4 excellent uptempo
rockers, of which Hear another song and Wild heart are Melodic Rock based and
the sensational Disappointed and Strangers in the night are lovely catchy AOR
hook/chorus driven like in the good old 80s days. The distance slows things
down and is a very nice semi AOR/Westcoast ish ballad (and featured twice on
the album, with the band's keyboardplayer GIANLUCA FIRMO on vocals) and so is
Your voice inside. The only comment could be that some more diversity wouldn't
hurt, because 9 out of 11 tracks are uptempo rockers in the same style, but on
the other hand who cares, as the fans of catchy uptempo Melodic Rock/AOR a la
80s BON JOVI, early JADED HEART and the very first HAREM SCAREM will be singing
all night to anthems like Shout, Another time and place, The miles that make a
road and the AOR party anthems Night goes on and A thousand lies. It is done at
an incredible high level and I can therefore highly recommend this album to
fans of mentioned bands and of course everyone who likes DAVID READMAN's music.
More info at: www.roomexperienceofficial.com
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
CONFESS
'BURN 'EM ALL' (STREET SYMPHONIES RECORDS/BURNING MINDS/ATOMIC STUFF/ITALY
IMPORT)
Out of Stockholm,
Sweden comes CONFESS, a Sleazy Hair Metal/Hardrockband with a sound that is
very refreshing and super melodic, ready for today's world, but they also capture
the classic late 80s spirit and actaully reminds me a bit of that classic PRETTY
BOY FLOYD record Leather boyz with electric toyz when hearing such sensational
uptempo rockers like Malleus, the superb Welcome insanity, My vicious way and
Heresy, but especially during the closing track One for the road that is like
the greatest Glamrocksong since the late 1980s ended! CONFESS do it perhaps a
little more the Melodic Hardrock way, but the vocals are very Glam based and
quite strong actually, reminding me of the classic late 80s days when only US
bands had such lead singers that also sung this kind of music, although
CONFESS's singer JOHN ELIOTT is a thousand times better than VINCE NEIL! They
have already released 2 albums, making Burn 'em all their 3rd album and
probably their finest one so far. Besides the aforementioned Glamrock references,
the band also has a heavier approach here and there, such as can be heardduring
the very fast titletrack or 509 that are almost like PRETTY MAIDS with CRUE ish
Glamrock choruses, but the super melodic Is it love even touches AOR, reminding
me of a cross between TOBRUK and WHITE LION. I think it's best to say that
CONFESS is somewhere between all the aforementioned bands and they are doing
this at an exceptional high level, so basically this Swedish band should be
ranked along the countless other Swedish bands that are ruling the
Hardrockworld at the moment (H.E.A.T., DYNAZTY, NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA, ONE
DESIRE, CRASH DIET, ART NATION, GATHERING OF KINGS, etc. etc.). Make sure not
to miss this gem! More info at: http://www.confess.se
(Points:
8.9 out of 10)
KING
ZEBRA 'KING ZEBRA' (INDEPENDENT/SWISS IMPORT)
6 songs are included on the same titled
debut album of the Swiss band KING ZEBRA and I have to say when opener Bad
reputation kicks in, I get a smile on my face, because this is really cool
classic 80s Hardrock. The guys are doing a great job here, both the music and
the vocals, while the production is also at a high level. GOTTHARD comparisons
are very clear in a great uptempo Melodic Rocker such as King Zebra, so
actually you can put KING ZEBRA next to Swiss acts like GOTTHARD, SHAKRA,
KROKUS and such. Perhaps not original, but this ain't a problem at all when
you're doing it the right way and that is what they are doing here. KING ZEBRA
was formed in 2012 and their line up consists of Eric St. Michaels – Lead
Vocals, Lauer – Lead Guitar, Vocals, Jerry – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals, Manu Judge
– Bass, Vocals and Ben – Drums. Besides the GOTTHARD similarities, KING ZEBRA
also has some slight 80s Party/Glamrock influences in the MOTLEY CRUE/WASP
style, which can be heard very clearly during such uptempo pieces like Bad
reputation and Firewalker. Like a hurricane is perhaps very cliche tingled 80s
Hardrock, but for me personally it is the highlight as being such a great tune
that is just simple back to basic. The only slight remark might be that all 6
songs are uptempo rockers and perhaps some more diversity in tempo or even a
semi-ballad or so could show a different side of KING ZEBRA. Nevertheless,
countless bands (AC/DC) have been belting out such uptempo hardrock for decades
and they have only become more popular and KING ZEBRA do it really well (just
hear the guitarwork in a song like That's what I like for example!). I am quite
positive about this band and look forward to hear more from them in the near
future! Check them out at: http://www.kingzebra.ch
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
RICH
KID EXPRESS 'BUBBLEGUM RADIO' (SQUIB KICK RECORDS/USA IMPORT)
Now this is what real
classic 80s American Hardrock needs to sound like!!! When opener You went too
far from the debut album of the North Carolina based band RICK KID EXPRESS
kicks in, it is immediately clear that we are dealing here with a sensational
picture perfect sounding band. They have a 1980s Major Label sound and bring
back memories to the days when this kind of US Rock was the leading sound for
labels to sign new acts. They remind me of all those classic 80s US bands that
were involved in the whole Sunset Strip Major Label scene, such as RATT, WASP,
MOTLEY CRUE, QUIET RIOT, KEEL, BLACK'N'BLUE, DANGEROUS TOYS, DIRTY LOOKS,
BRITNY FOX, etc. etc.. The funny thing however is that RICK KID EXPRESS is a
one-man's band formed around multi-instrumentalist ROB RICHARDSON. He did everything
himself and creates a sound which in the 1980s took millions of dollars and
countless involved musicians, producers and others! Highlight is the incredible
catchy stompin' Hardrocker Steamroller, but any of the 5 included songs here
are a must-hear for fans of that glorious 80s LA/Sunset Stripsound! More info
at: https://richkidexpress.bandcamp.com/track/bubblegum-radio
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
CHRIS
LEWINGTON 'THE MAN WHO SAVED THE WORLD CD-SINGLE' (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
Only 1 song can be
found on the CD-single from London based musician CHRIS LEWINGTON. He is a
singer/songwriter with a melodic 70s inspired pop/rocksound that is quite
cheerful and vocally Chris has a strong voice. The song included is The man who
saved the world, which is a really fine melodic pop/rock song with influences
from 70s BOWIE and late 60s BEATLES. Hopefully we are able to review a full
length album of Chris someday soon. Check out more on Chris at: https://www.chrislewington.co.uk/more-music
(Points:
7.3 out of 10)
FIRST
NIGHT 'FIRST NIGHT' (INDEPENDENT/FINLAND IMPORT)
Now this is a huge
surprise from Tallinn, Estonia, because the band FIRST NIGHT is probably not
only the first AOR/Melodic Rockband from that Baltic country, but also a really
good one I sadly missed in 2019. They released their debut last year, but it is
never too late to discuss an album and so here we are looking at the same
titled independently released debut album of a great 3-piece band. Formed
around Reneck Sweet (vocals), Mikk Tivas (Lead guitar,backing vocals,mixing)
and Kristjan Aasamäe (Drums,backing vocals), these guys deliver high quality
catchy 80s driven AOR/Melodic Rock where everything sounds picture perfect! The
melodies, the songs, the hooks, the vocals, the sound... it's all in the right
place right time! After a short intro we are heading into high class uptempo
AOR/Melodic Rock that vocally reminds me a bit of classic 80s WHITE LION's MIKE
TRAMP meets the ROXETTE singer PER GESSLE and also the STAGE DOLLS singer
TORSTEIN FLAKNE (so very Scandi!) comes to mind here, although the sound of the
band is much more towards 80s AOR, especially the fabulous guitarwork that is
right there in the Classic AOR sound of bands like ROXUS, FM, STRANGEWAYS and
such. Next track Breaking my heart follows that same path, with a chorus that
is actually close to the classic 3rd PSUEDO ECHO album Race, with yet once again
the MIKE TRAMP ish vocals. I think by now you will more or less understand what
FIRST NIGHT is all about and with 14 songs included in total, there is a lot to
enjoy here! Other highlights are the excellent midtempo Stop dragging me around
(pure AOR like REFUGEE meets STAGE DOLLS while wrapping it up with a DEF
LEPPARD ish chorus), Dangerous (uptempo picture perfect AOR by the numbers,
also interesting for the fans of H.E.A.T., ONE DESIRE, GATHERING OF KINGS and
such), the pure light 80s DEF LEPPARD/DE MONT ish cheerful summer uptempo
Melodic Rockers Going down and Endless night and the midtempo AOR dream Night
is calling me (wih a short saxsolo a la BOULEVARD). This FIRST NIGHT must not
be missed by the AOR/Melodic Rockfans out there, especially if you're familiar
with STAGE DOLLS for example and don't mind a lighter AOR version of WHITE
LION/DEF LEPPARD/80s BON JOVI either! I highly recommend you to check them out
if any of the mentioned acts is up your alley, then go to: https://www.facebook.com/pg/FirstNightEst
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
LEELA
GILDAY 'NORTH STAR CALLING' (DIVA SOUND RECORDS/CANADA IMPORT)
While reading a British magazine and
listening to the CD which was included, I found out about the amazing singer
LEELA GILDAY. I knew rightaway that she is an exceptional singer that needed to
be reviewed a.s.a.p. Leela comes out of Canada and is an aboriginal Canadian,
who started in the music business 25 years ago and released quite a number of
albums so far. North star calling is her 5th album and for some of her past
albums she was awarded and that is absolutely not strange when hearing that beautiful
voice and also the songs on her latest album show her enormous skills. Her
music combines Western Melodic Pop/Rock with Aboriginal sounds/voices and the
result is very impressive. Right from the start with opener Rolling thunder we
have a winner on our hands as this very strong midtempo Pop/Rocksong with World
Music elements, which will appeal to a lot of people out there, mostly thanks
to the amazing vocal range of Leela. Leela is a singer/songwriter and she wrote
all the 10 songs on this album by herself, along with playing the acoustic
guitar. There is also a long list of guest musicians to be heard (Backing
Vocals – Damhnait Doyle, Sate, Bass, Electric Upright Bass – MJ Dandeneau, Cello
– Cris Derksen, Drum Programming, Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals – Hill
Kourkoutis, Drums – Tony Raybould, Guitar – Jason Burnstick, Lane Arndt, Raven
Kanatakta, Rick Fines, Kanjira – Debashis Sinha, Organ – Anthony Wright), whom
all together give it a rich full sound. Most of the songs are in the English
language, except for a few, such as the beautiful calmer K'eintah natse ju. Besides
these 2 songs, other highlights are Space ( a song that somehow reminds me of
ILSE DE LANGE, HEATHER NOVA or KT TUNSTALL, so a lovely very melodic
vocal/harmonyvocal driven calmer pop/rock song), the superb uptempo light
AOR/Poprocker Let it roll (close to JAIME KYLE, CHALLENGE and LENITA ERICKSON)
and the acoustic/vocal closing Yake gotine which has the Aboriginal Canadian/First
Nations sound. I think this album will cut both ways, because both fans of
World Music and Melodic Pop/Rock will appreciate this and especially the voice
of Leela should be heard by millions of people! Please check out this
incredible talented lady from Canada at: https://www.leelagilday.com/
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
ROBERT
CRAY BAND 'THAT'S WHAT I NEED' (NOZZLE RECORDS/THIRTY TIGERS/UK IMPORT)
Guitarist/singer/songwriter
ROBERT CRAY is a true legend who creates his own mixture of blues, soul and
R&B for over 4 decades now. He hit it big time in the late 1980s with the
absolute classics Don't be afraid of the dark and Right next door and despite
he didn't repeat that success in the following 30 years, he always kept
releasing music. Up till now he has released over 20 albums and he won 5 Grammy
Awards. His new album That's what I need was produced by STEVE JORDAN (SHERYL
CROW, KEITH RICHARDS, BOZ SCAGGS...) and guests include the legends RAY PARKER
JR. and STEVE PERRY (ex-JOURNEY). In total 12 songs are included and if you're
familiar with Robert's music, then you will know what to expect here. This is
music with a real soul, played and sung at the highest possible level. It is a
mix of bluesy licks, soulful vocals, a classic R&B rhythm/beat and lovely
melodies that might easily give him new radiohits. The album starts quite
rocking with the groovy Anything you want that might even appeal to the fans of
the newer generation Blues rockers like JOE BONAMASSA and KENNY WAYNE SHEPHARD.
The album continues with a couple of calmer soulful almost Gospel like 50s/60s
R&B shuffle songs (Burying ground and You're the one) in the style of good
old SAM COOKE. Then we get to hear classic ROBERT CRAY with the fantastic
midtempo catchy This man that has a really great beat and melody, which even
recalls memories of BLACK PUMAS, although of course Robert already made these
kind of songs 30+ years ago. Back to classic SAM COOKE, CURTIS HARDING, LEON
BRIDGES, CHARLES BRADLEY with the beautiful Soul Ballad You'll want me back.
Hot brings the tempo back to uptempo swinging moods and is a really great
catchy tune. The second half of the album continues this way, so a mixture of
calm soulful ballads (Promises you can keep, To be with you and Can't make me
change) and bluesier rocking tunes (My baby likes to Boogaloo, A little less
lonely and the superb funky/groovy classic 70s orientated Do it). Concluded,
this is a sensational new record from a legendary musician who still blends
Soul, Pop, R&B and Blues just perfectly and comes up with 12 great new
Classics! Check out all on him at: https://robertcray.com/
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
JASON
ISBELL AND THE 400 UNIT 'REUNIONS' (SOUTHEASTERN RECORDS/THIRTY TIGERS/UK
IMPORT)
When the first couple
of seconds of the new album of the American singer/songwriter JASON ISBELL is
playing on the stereo, it is clear that we are listening to something of an
incredible high level. Jason has a very warm beautiful voice and his music is
light bluesy Americana pop/rock with a singer/songwriter approach, kinda like
JOHN MAYER and RYAN ADAMS mixed with a bit of CALEXICO and even JOHN COUGAR. Jason
once was part of the American Southern Rockband DRIVE BY TRUCKERS, but went
solo in 2007 with the release of his debut Sirens of the Ditch. 5 albums
followed and his rise to stardom went stead. His last two albums went up high
in both the US and UK charts and I can easily imagine that his new album
Reunions will also be welcomed with open arms by his fans. 10 songs are on the
album and opener What've I done to help is an instant hit, as this midtempo
light bluesy pop/rocker is going into a pure JOHN MAYER style. Jason's vocals
are just superb and a pleasure to listen to in each and every song, especially
when things slow down to a calmer singer/songwriter direction such as during
the magnificent Only children. This song is as good as for example DANNY VERA's
Roller coaster, which is the Americana Singer/Songwriter Classic tune of the
past few years. Other highlights on the album are the midtempo rocking Overseas
(with it's light Heartland Rock touch reminding me of JOHN COUGAR), Running
with our eyes closed (terrific calmer melodic Americana pop/rock song) and the
uptempo rocking Be afraid and It gets easier (both reminding a bit of JOHN
FOGERTY/CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL). Concluded, we have here a wonderful
sensational album that should bring JASON ISBELL even more fame and fortune,
because he deserves to become as big as for example JOHN MAYER, BRUCE
SPRINGSTEEN and that category of Americana rocking Singer/Songwriters. More
info on Jason can be found at: https://www.jasonisbell.com/
(Points:
9.0 out of 10)
SADLER
VADEN 'ANYBODY OUT THERE?' (DIRTY MAG RECORDS/THIRTY TIGERS/UK IMPORT)
Somewhere else on
these pages you can read the review of the sensational new album of JASON ISBELL,
but in his band 400 UNIT there is another huge talent, namely SADLER VADEN.
Sadler also has a solo career going on and he has a new record out, which is
around the same time as Jason's new album, on which he plays. He originally comes
out of Charleston, South Carolina, USA, but is now setlled in Nashville. He is
a huge talent, playing acoustic and electric guitars, mellotron, electric piano,
singing and writing all of his own songs. Anybody out there? is Sadler's 2nd
album and musically speaking it a mix of 70s Classic Rock, Americana Pop/Rock a
la TOM PETTY and some Singer/Songwriter pieces. 10 songs are included on the
album and opener Next to you is a great strong uptempo Melodic rocking piece in
an almost late 80s kinda JUDE COLE direction, while following track Don't worry
is a lovely laid-back TOM PETTY ish Americana bluesy pop/rocker. So far so good
and thankfully the rest of the album is definitely keeping up that high level
with many more great tunes that feel like a classic 70s rocking record when
listening to songs like Golden child, Anybody out there? (truly superb pure 70s
Classic Rock vibe here!), Peace + Harmony, Tried and true and the TOM PETTY
clone Modern times. He also takes his time to bring some calmer tunes, such as
the beautiful acoustic Curtain call, so all together, this is a highly
recommended piece that is almost as good as the new JASON ISBELL! I wonder when
we will be able to catch them live again, since of course Corona will make that
impossible for the coming period. Fingers crossed and meanwhile check out their
both albums a.s.a.p. More info on Sadler can be found at: https://www.sadlervaden.com/ and https://sadlervaden.bandcamp.com/album/anybody-out-there
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
SHOEGAZERS
'LOVE NOTES' (59X RECORDS/USA IMPORT)
Out of Kennesaw, Georgia comes the band
SHOEGAZERS whom are delivering a nice little EP titled Love notes. The band is
formed around Chase Sammons (Bass), David Mulazzi (Drums), Jake Bowers
(Guitars) and Jake Bowers (Vocals) and together these 4 create a catchy
Poppunk/Alternative/Emo/Melodic Rock mixture. All 5 included songs (To You and
Yours,Warm Water, Slipping Away, Felt Your Heartbeat andThe Real Way) are
uptempo and very catchy. There are a lot of bands out there playing this
kind of rock, so SHOEGAZERS is not doing anything new, but that is no problem,
because they are doing a great job here. Check it out for yourself at: https://shoegazers.bandcamp.com/album/love-notes-ep
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
WISH
'STAY HERE MY FRIENDS' (INDEPENDENT/ITALY IMPORT)
The Italian band WISH has been active
since 1992, but it took them until 2019 to release an album. Their current
line-up consists of Drummer Massimo Mercurio, Guitarist/Bassist Giorgio
Simonetti, Keyboardplayer Salvatore Patti and Lead singer Piergiorgio
Franceschelli. They were kind enough to sent me this debut album, which contains
6 lengthy songs in total and has a beautiful frontcover. Instrumental they
sound very good and are your typical Neo-Progband with all the ingredients that
make it interesting. In fact they have that classic Italo Progsound like we
know it from the glorious 1970s and 1980s. Especially during the instrumental
parts of their 4 vcoal songs and the 2 instrumental songs Like a yes and
Scrambled eggs, we are able to hear some great high quality Neo-Prog. However,
the lead vocals are not so strong and are perhaps the weakest link here. It
could be that if sung in Italian it could work better, because now the backing
harmonyvocals here and there as well as the high quality of musicianship are
saving the lead vocals. On the other hand, I think if you can accept that and
you're keen on hearing the instrumental side of the band, as that part is
really good, you can still enjoy this album. They do remind me a bit of TWELFTH
NIGHT and it could well be a real grower for the Neo-Progfans out there. Check
them out at: https://wish-music.bandcamp.com/album/stay-here-my-friends
and https://wish-music.com/
(Points:
7.0 out of 10)
NAP
EYES 'SNAPSHOT OF A BEGINNER' (JAGJAGUWAR RECORDS/KONKURRENT)
Out of Halifax, Canada
comes the Indie/Alternative Rockband NAP EYES whom are delivering their 4th
album with Snapshot of a beginner. Here and there they are already being praised
for releasing a very strong and impressive album that could become their
breakthrough, but when listening to the album it took me a few spins before it
really made a lasting impression. On the other hand that is not always a bad
thing, because sometimes such records turn out to be the best ones. In this
case the Indie Pop/Rock of NAP EYES is a good example, because their album
starts quite average with a slow depressing song titled So tired that has a 90s
Indie Pop approach, but as the album continues, the material gets more
uplifting and has some similarities to a band like THE WAR ON DRUGS, yet
without their slightly commercial catchy touch. Mark Zuckerberg for example is
an uptempo Indie Rocker that shows the band at their best. NAP EYES has been
active for quite some years and their line-up consists of vocalist Nigel
Chapman, guitarist Brad Loughead, bassist Josh Salter and drummer Seamus Dalton.
Nigel is not the greatest singer around, but for this type of music it matches
quite well, His BOB DYLANesque way of singing or perhaps almost speaking in a
depressive way works quite well actually. In total 11 songs are included and
besides the earlier mentioned Mark Zuckerberg are Fool thinking ways, If you
were in prison (great song, uptempo College Rocker in 90s style, almost like
WEEZER and TEENAGE FANCLUB, with even a cool rocking guitarsolo), the midtempo
Real thoughts (that starts like Paint it black's first few seconds) and the
uptempo Indie/Poprocking closing track Though I wish I could. They do not sound
Canadian at all and despite they sorta have an own face, the band does come
across like a mixture between BOB DYLAN, R.E.M. and THE WAR ON DRUGS. More info at: https://napeyes.bandcamp.com/album/snapshot-of-a-beginner
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
BECCA
MANCARI 'THE GREATEST PART' (CAPTURED TRACKS/KONKURRENT)
The Staten Island/New
York born Singer/Songwriter BECCA MANCARI has Italian/Puerto Rican roots and
her debut album from 2017 was received very well by especially ROLLING STONE
magazine. This resulted in a rather quick breakthrough of her as an artist in
the USA, which also led to a collobaration with ALABAMA SHAKES frontwoman
BRITTANY HOWARD and all hopes are now on the follow-up The greatest part. The
music is modern and typical female fronted like we have seen it from a lot of
other acts, but still Becca has a sorta own identity. She sings in a way like a
cool breeze on a beautiful warm sunny day. The music is a mix of lush Dreampop,
some modern Hi-Tech parts, typical melodic Indiepop and classic 1970s calmer
Westcoast, almost Yacht kinda melodies/harmonyvocals, but on the other hand it
does sound like Becca herself. Opener Hunter starts quite experimental in a way
like we know it from NATHALIE PRASS, LAPSLEY or FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE, but the
song still features a memorable chorus. However, next song First time is more
laid-back chamber pop/rock with a more traditional sound and an upfront catchy
melodic chorus that even reminds me a bit of THE CARPENTERS, but then like we
have also seen it in a modern jacket recently by RUMER or the band WEYES BLOOD.
In fact, a lot of the songs are going into that direction, such as Pretend, the
lovely Westcoast ish Stay with me and the superb and very catchy I'm sorry
(even a tiny bit KATE BUSH meets LANA DEL REY here), although with the montone
Lonely boy she aims a bit for the Indie hipster generation. This is one of
those albums that really offers something special and everytime you hear
something new, so it could well be that BECCA MANCARI now releases her absolute
major breakthrough album for the rest of the world, because she is already a
rising star in her homeland USA. Check her out at: http://www.beccamancari.com/
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
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