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HOT NEW REVIEWS
CATS IN
SPACE 'ATLANTIS' (HARMONY FACTORY/UK IMPORT)
Actually the previous
album Daytrip to Narnia of the British band CATS IN SPACE didn't make a real
big impression on yours truly, which is a pity, because I really thought this
band was going upwards after their sensational earlier releases. Anyway, we're
only 1 year later and the whole world has changed meanwhile due to the coronavirus,
but also CATS IN SPACE went through a change, because we enter new lead singer DAMIEN
EDWARDS, an amazing singer who sings like a king out of the classic
Pomprock/AOR heaven from the 1970s and early 1980s. The music is big, anthemic
and bombastic again and Atlantis is definitely the best record CATS IN SPACE
have put out since their start. I can imagine all the AOR/Pomprockfans out
there will absolutely be blown away here by the finest release in this genre
since BOSTON, STYX, TOUCH, ROADMASTER and such delivered their majestic
masterpieces over 40+ years ago! 12 songs are included here and basically you
don't want it to stop, as this is how it should sound like! After the short
intro Dive!, we head into sensational classic 1970s uptempo AOR/Pomp/Melodic
Rock in the style of BOSTON with the superb Spaceship superstar, which sounds
like a soon-to-be-classic in the future. It is clear that the production and
sound of this new CATS IN SPACE album is simply amazing, with a focus on big
harmonyvocals like it was also done by bands like QUEEN, ELO, BOSTON and many
more 40+ years ago! Following Revolution is a big time uptempo melodic
hardrocksong with once again an anthemic harmonyvocals driven chorus and some
THIN LIZZY kinda approach in the guitarsound. Sunday best introduce dut-dut
keys and this is basically Pomprock heaven, dangerously close to the 1979 TOUCH
classic, with also some QUEEN similarities. We're only in the beginning of the
new CATS IN SPACE album and it looks set to be one of 2020's finest album
releases! The vocals, harmonyvocals and overall sound of the following
AOR/Melodic Rocker Listen to the radio is simply amazing and is back to the
classic sound of this genre (BOSTON meets ORION). Here we can hear really well
what an incredible singer Damien is, reminding me of a cross between the TOUCH
singer DOUG HOWARD, ex-LIONHEART vocalist CHAD LOWE, AIRRACE singer KEITH
MURRELL and FRAN COSMO of BOSTON/ORION. The TOUCH/QUEEN ish theatrical epic
semi Pomprockballad I fell out of love with rock'n'roll follows and when
hearing this song it is like we are back in the glorious 1970s again! If there
ever was a possibility to melt the best of 1970s URIAH HEEP, 1970s QUEEN and
TOUCH into one song, it would be the amazing Pomprocker Marionettes, which is
perhaps the finest song CATS IN SPACE ever recorded! It captures everything you
want to hear in a classic Pomp/AOR/Melodic Rocksong, with tempo changes, calmer
parts, uptempo rockier moments and lovely melodies all over the place, somehow
reminding me also of the legendary SUGARCREEK and a bit of KAYAK as well! Bigger
is better is the name of the game during the anthemic arena melodic rocker
Queen of the neverland, which is sounding like the perfect cross between QUEEN
and STYX! Magic lovin' feelin' is the Pomprock/Melodic Rock missing link
between BOSTON, STINGRAY and TOUCH, basically fitting in right between them and
this could have actually been recorded back in 1978. I must say here that I
haven't heard such a wonderful new album in a long time that is as good as this
new CATS IN SPACE album, which is basically a total must-have for anyone who
misses the days of QUEEN, BOSTON, TOUCH, STYX and such Pomprockbands from the
1970s. Can't wait for tomorrow is slowing things down a bit, with superb vocals
of Damian, this is a lovely epic powerful AOR.Pomprockballad in the classic
1970s style. I once again really need to point out that Damian has such a
beautiful voice I haven't heard in ages and it's so great to hear new songs
with such a gifted singer! The album continues with another big anthemic
Pomp/Melodic Rocker titled Seasons change, which also reminds me a bit of
LIONHEART's Hot tonight album from the 1980s, while closing track is the
titletrack, another majestic QUEEN/TOUCH ish semi-ballad anthem. CATS IN SPACE
have reached the absoliute superstardom in Pomprock/Classic AOR/Melodic Rock
with this new album, easily beating any release in the genre of the past 10-20
years! Check them out please for God's sake at: www.catsinspace.co.uk
(Points: 9.3 out of 10)
WILDNESS 'ULTIMATE DEMISE' (AOR HEAVEN/GERMAN IMPORT)
We
are back into Swedish AOR/Melodic Hardrock Heaven again with the debut
album Ultimate demise of WILDNESS. It's incredible how many Swedish
bands are out there, because almost every month there are new
AOR/Melodic Rock releases coming out of Sweden. WILDNESS was formed
back in 2014 and they released their debut album in 2017, which is now
followed up by Ultimate demise. The band has a new lead singer, because
ERIK FORSBERG (ex-BLAZON STONE) replaces previous singer Gabriel
Lindmark. Erik has a great strong voice, sometimes reminding me a bit
of MICHAEL BORMANN. The music is basically pure 1980s, yet modern fresh
sounding Swedish/Scandi AOR/Melodic Rock with superb guitarwork,
cheerful keys, catchy hooks and melodic choruses all over the place in
a same way we heard it back in the day on records of acts like TALK OF
THE TOWN, DALTON, DAVINCI, TREAT, EUROPE, etc. On the other hand,
WILDNESS should probably better be compared to the New Wave Of Swedish
AOR/Melodic Rockbands, such as H.E.A.T., ONE DESIRE, PERFECT PLAN,
DREAMS OF AVALON, WORK OF ART, LAST AUTUMN'S DREAM, etc. etc. Opener
Call of the wild is a short intro to the faster uptempo melodic heavy
rocker Die young, which is a very catchy tune that sounds like a cross
between H.E.A.T., PRETTY MAIDS and MAD MAX. Following songs Nowhere
land and Cold worlds are pure Swedish classic upper league Melodic
Rockers in the style of NATION, NARNIA, TREAT, ONE DESIRE, DALTON and
all those acts that made the Swedish country loud and proud the heaven
for catchy hooks/chorus driven uptempo Melodic Rock. The slightly
faster rockier uptempo Renegades of love reminds me a bit of JADED
HEART in their classic 1990s MICHAEL BORMANN period, while it also
features a superb soaring guitarsolo. I really need to add here that
the guitarwork sounds fabulous on each and every track and the
production is also top-notch, so it is an enjoyable ride through the 11
included songs. Falling into pieces is the first song to slow things
down a bit, and without a doubt, this is a superb early to mid 1990s
sounding high class semi Melodic Rockballad that even recalls the
classic days of FIREHOUSE and once again mid 1990s JADED HEART. As you
can read, the album develops quite nicely and even steps away a bit
here and there from the pure Swedish Melodic Rocksound, which is
definitely making them standout among the rest. Burning it down is a
big time anthemic midtempo melodic rocker like H.E.A.T. also creates
sometimes. Back to the classic 1980s AOR/Melodic Rocksound on My
hideaway, which is a bit like WORK OF ART crossed with AVIATOR's
classic 1986 album, and this song contains a deadly catchy chorus you
will be singing along for days after hearing it the first time around.
Denial is another big time uptempo anthemic melodic rocker with a huge
chorus and excellent guitarwork, quite close to H.E.A.T. again,
although you can also smell a bit of that classic early BON JOVI,
DANGER DANGER and TOBRUK sound. Following Borderline is a nice midtempo
melodic rocker, while closing track The ultimate demise is a calmer
keyboard-led AOR piece that is built around an 80s chorus and basically
shows the incredible range of the band's new lead singer. Definitely a
highly recommended album to anyone who likes classic big time anthemic
Melodic Rock and despite I started the review with me saying it's a
typical Swedish Melodic Rock/AOR affair, WILDNESS definitely has much
more to offer and deliver a masterpiece in our genre here. We will soon
have an interview with this excellent band and meanwhile check out more
on WILDNESS at: https://www.facebook.com/
(Points: 8.9 out of 10)
LAZARUS DREAM 'ALIVE' (PRIDE & JOY MUSIC/GERMAN IMPORT)
It's
great to get in touch again with people from the past, because a very
long time ago (20-25 years!!!) I reviewed the work of German
multi-instrumentalist MARKUS PFEFFER, who released some great stuff
back in the 1990s with SCARLETT and WINTERLAND. Somehow somewhere we
lost touch, but it's now covid year 2020 and Markus has a new
band/project called LAZARUS DREAM. He found a fantastic singer called
CARSTEN LIZARD-SCHULZ, who is of course known for his involvement in a
lot of great bands in the past, such as EVIDENCE ONCE, EDEN'S CURSE,
DOMAIN and several other German Melodic Hardrockbands. Anyway, Alive is
the duo's debut album, which they recorded with drummer Markus Kullmann
(SINNER, VOODOO CIRCLE, GLENN HUGHES) and Markus (number 3!) Teske, who
mastered the album at Bazement Studios (VANDEN PLAS, SAGA, MOB RULES).
13 songs are included in total and right from the start it is clear
that this is a massive sounding album that might be Markus' finest
effort so far! Opener Dawn of time is a big time sounding anthemic
typical traditional German Melodic Hardrocksong in the style of classic
BONFIRE, BOYSVOICE and VICTORY, with a killer chorus to sing-a-long to.
The multi-layered harmonyvocals makes the catchy uptempo melodic
hardrocksong House of cards sound a bit like classic JADED HEART,
although also Carsten's previous band EVIDENCE ONE comes to mind here.
The album continues this way with a nice mixture of midtempo and
uptempo pieces that always deliver that classic German Melodic
Hardrocksound. Other highlights are the lovely relaxing midtempo AOR
ish Listen, the midtempo Melodic Rockers Wings of an eagle and the
awesome Days of darkness and rain, and the superb catchy uptempo
Melodic Rockers Desert mind and Don't blame me. We will have an
interview with Markus soon about this new project/band of him, while
you can check out more on LAZARUS DREAM at: https://www.facebook.com/
(Points: 8.5 out of 10)
RICK
SPRINGFIELD 'ORCHESTRATING MY LIFE' (AUGUST DAY RECORDINGS/GOMER RECORDS/UK
IMPORT)
The legendary RICK SPRINGFIELD returns
with a new album titled Orchestrating my life, which is a smashing 4-CD Box set
that consists of 1) The main 'Orchestrating My Life' CD
album (newly recorded Orchestral versions of a lifetime of hits and one new
song), 2) Instrumental versions CD, 3) Orchestra Only versions CD and 4) In
Conversation where Rick tells you himself, the story behind each song. There is
a lot to enjoy here and the packaging is truly wonderful. The beautiful thing
here is that you get to hear classic RICK SPRINGFIELD songs in versions like
you never heard them before, because the instrumental classical music versions
of songs like Jessie’s girl, Affair of the heart, Don’t talk to strangers and
Celebrate youth really sound impressive. The vocal orchestrated versions show
once again that Rick is a very decent singer who still sounds as good as he did
50 years ago when he started his musical journey. It took him perhaps 5 decades
to record classical music versions of his hits, but it’s never too late and now
with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, Rick recorded a full album with his
hits and also included is the brand new song Irreplaceable, a song dedicated to
Rick's mother who he lost recently, while he closes the CD with the classic
April 24th, 1981/ My Father's Chair, which is about his father. The only pity
might be that most of the songs are from his golden 80s period, but he has
released quite a lot more albums the past 30 years and before 1980, but the
main focus like on every greatest hits album of Rick is of course the 1980s
period. Nevertheless, the fans will absolutely love this big boxset that also
comes with an autographed postcard! Available through: http://rickspringfield.com/orchestrating-my-life/ and http://www.augustday.net/
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
WANG CHUNG 'ORCHESOGRAPHY' (AUGUST DAY
RECORDINGS/UK IMPORT)
AUGUST DAY RECORDINGS started a new
series, which are boxsets of 1980s popular acts that recorded orchestrated
versions of their classic tunes, along with a few new songs, and these boxsets
include instrumental, vocal and orchestrated versions. We have seen CUTTING
CREW, A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS and RICK SPRINGFIELD pass by and now it’s time for
WANG CHUNG. This band scored a few big hits, such as Dance Hall Days and
Everybody Have fun Tonight, which are timeless 80s classic pop/rock songs.
Along with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the band recorded Orchesography,
which consists of 10 newly recorded versions of their classic tunes, and in the
box set I received are in total 4 CDs and 2 CD-singles. A very impressive set
with all kinds of versions, an orchestral only CD, a remixes CD, a
vocal/orchestral version CD and much more. I have to say that it is a bit
overwhelming at first sight, but when hearing especially the orchestra play the
band’s songs, it is a beautiful emotional affair, and really giving it a new
impulse to re-check the WANG CHUNG timeless classics from the 1980s. Personally
I am not familiar with other songs than the 2 aforementioned hits of the band,
so this is nice welcome to get to know more of them. Bandleader and
vocalist/keyboardplayer/guitarist JACK HUES is a very talented musician, of
whom we recently reviewed his new solo album. However, for most people he will
be remembered for his WANG CHUNG Dance hall days and I can easily recommend
this impressive boxset to the fans of this band! More info at: http://www.augustday.net and https://www.wangchung.com
(Points: 8.5 out of 10)
JAN JOHNSTON 'EMERGING' (AUGUST DAY
RECORDINGS/UK IMPORT)
The British singer JAN JOHNSTON began her
career in the early 90s in a duo called JJ, but her big break was the moment
she started working with some of the world's top trance music DJs and
producers, such as TIESTO, FREEFALL, PAUL VAN DYK and many more, with whom she
recorded dance classics. In 1999 she recorded an album titled Emerging, which
now 20 years later has finally been officially released on CD by AUGUST DAY
RECORDINGS. It’s a miracle this album was not released back then, because the
90s influenced melodic female fronted pop/rock is reminding more than a couple
of times of 90s SHARON CORR/THE CORRS/JENNIFER PAIGE… It all sounds very
smooth, catchy, melodic and radio-ready during especially songs like Silent
Words, Emerging, Before, Alligator Waters and No Excuses. These could all have
been huge hits but the project/album was shelved and not released until 2019.
Also have a listen to the excellent beautiful calmer God’s plan, with its
stunning vocalwork, kinda like the WITHIN TEMPTATION ballads, while Unafraid
(Paul Oakenfold Swordfish Mix) reveals her trance/techno connection. Mostly
this is however a lovely typical 90s female melodic pop/rockalbum. More info
at: http://www.janjohnston.com/
(Points: 8.4 out of 10)
PETER KARP 'MAGNIFICENT HEART' (ROSE
COTTAGE RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
Actually I was not familiar with
singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist PETER KARP before, but after hearing
his new album Magnificent heart, I am very eager to hear much more of this very
talented musician. He began his music career back in the 1980s and started
releasing solo albums from 2000 onwards. He was born in New Jersey, grew up in
Alabama and is now settled in a small village in Tennessee, not far from
Nashville. His music is mainly Bluesrock/Americana orientated, with a bit of
classic Southern Rock here and there. He has a fantastic voice that truly
contributes to the music, because it keeps you interested to listen to over and
over again. 13 songs are included, of which the highlights are Sitting on the
Edge of the World, The Letter, This World and Let It On Out, all excellent
melodic bluesrockers. When things slow down such as during Scared and The Last
Heartbeat, we get to hear some really relaxed light southern rock ish material
that is perfectly suitable for those extremely hot summer days we had. Peter is
a gifted musician, who should be as huge as for example JOE BONAMASSA or KENNY
WAYNE SHEPHERD. Highly recommended album from an underrated musician! More info
at: https://www.peterkarp.com
(Points: 8.5 out of 10)
NEW
CLUE 'MYSTIC WINDS' (UNABLE MUSIC GROUP/USA IMPORT)
Out of New London,
Cincinnati comes NEW CLUE, a band formed way back in the 1980s and after
several periods of inactivity, they reformed in 2014 and have been together
ever since. Their latest recording is Mystic winds, a 4-tracks counting CD that
musically is pure 80s heavy metal in the style of ARMORED SAINT and SAVATAGE,
with some excellent guitarwork. The vocals you need to get used to, because
they sound a bit strained and remind me of VINCE NEIL somehow, but with a
midtempo song like Hail to the kind and the uptempo closing track Illustrious
youth, NEW CLUE comes up with some nice 80s Melodic Metal. Fans of
SABBATH/OZZY, SAVATAGE, ARMORED SAINT and such should check out this NEW CLUE
at: http://www.newclue.band/
(Points:
7.0 out of 10)
JOHN MURRY
'A SHORT HISTORY OF DECAY' (TENOR VOSSA RECORDS/UK IMPORT)
The American
singer/songwriter JOHN MURRY recorded this 3rd solo album in 5 days together
with members of bands like COWBOY JUNKIES, LEE HARVEY OSMIND, THE POGUES and
ELVIS COSTELLO. The included music is very dark calm singer/songwriter
orientated, which recalls memories of LEONARD COHEN and NICK CAVE. The music is
also here and there a bit more midtempo and rocking than those 2 legends, but
the way of singing and presenting the lyrics of his 10 songs is dangerously
close to those 2 singer/songwriters. It's not really happy music, but
nevertheless sounds quite impressive, so please make sure not to miss it in
case you're into COHEN and CAVE! More info at: https://www.johnmurry.com/
(Points:
8.1 out of 10)
TENEBROUS
LIAR 'END OF THE ROAD' (TENOR VOSSA RECORDS/UK IMPORT)
NME Rock photographer
STEVE GULLICK formed TENEBROUS LIAR back in 2006 and have meanwhile released 7
albums, of which this End of the road was released already in 2012. The
included music is clearly early to mid 1990s Grungy Alternative Rock with Noise
and Hardcore influences. NIRVANA comes to mind a lot of times, especially
during a rocker like Expired. The songs are rather short, but it is definitely
of a high quality and when things slow during a ballad like End of the road,
TENEBROUS LIAR show they are also able to become emotional and very melodic,
which is also thanks to the strong vocalwork of Steve. QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE influences
are also notable when they really rock out and during the noisy opener
Bomberhead it feels a lot like SMASHING PUMPKINS. And let's not forget THE
DOORS similarities on a song like Run, run, run. I think by now you will get
the picture what this more or less sounds like. more info at: https://tenebrousliar.bandcamp.com/album/end-of-the-road
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
THE
CHRIS WHITE EXPERIENCE 'VOLUME FOUR PRODUCTIONS SESSIONS' (SUNFISH
PROMOTIONS/UK IMPORT)
ROD ARGENT and RUSS
BALLARD were the big names behind THE ZOMBIES way back in the 1960s, but CHRIS
WHITE was also part of the band and he always continued writing and producing
songs for others and also himself after THE ZOMBIES disbanded. Now there is a
nice collection of his work available and sadly I missed the first 3 volumes,
because Volume Four is now available in the productions sessions of Chris,
which cover basically cover his whole career. There are songs from the 1960s
until more recently included here and so we also get musically speaking quite
some diversity. 12 songs are included, starting with the RUSS BALLARD written opener
Do you want to make love is, which is typical RUSS BALLARD late 1970s/early 80s
catchy poprock with a memorable hook and catchy chorus. The music is very
lightweight 70s poprock most of the time, with a sorta humoristic touch and
reminding of bands like CHARLIE, TRICKSTER and CITY BOY in their early days,
especially when you listen to songs like Mr. Galileo, Ball and chain and
Alexis, you're a circus (a la BILLY JOEL), but also a bunch of sappy 70s
ballads can be found here. The 60s bubblegum shuffle Oh Doctor and the 80s
synthwave poprock of Dancin' heatwave take Chris into different directions
during the times they were originally recorded. Clockwork is a nice recent
(2007) singer/songwriter tune and closing track New world is probably the best
song, as this is a pretty good melodic uptempo 80s Pop-AOR with ALAN PARSONS
PROJECT/JAY GRUSKA similarities. It's a trip through more than 50 years in
music history, so a nice overview of Chris' work over the past decades. More
info at: https://www.thechriswhiteexperience.com/
(Points:
7.8 out of 10)
WKW
'MEN OF STEEL' (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
WKW stands for the 3 involved musicians,
vocalist/guitarist Bruce Watson, vocalist/guitarist Jamie Watson and
vocalist/guitarist/bassist/drum programmer Thomas Kercheval. Bruce and Jamie
Watson are current members of BIG COUNTRY and THE SKIDS, while Thomas is an
independent American musician. Together they recorded a strong album titled Men
of steel, which rocks very well, although it only has 9 songs included. The
album starts very promising with the catchy uptempo Melodic Rocker Edison's
last stand, which has a real Classic Rock kinda vibe. A little bit of DROPKICK
MURPHYS' Punk and a lot of Irish kinda/Scottish Celtic-Rock with THIN LIZZY-ish
guitarwork can be heard during the strong rocker Killiecrankie. Nationwide is
basically pure fast uptempo Punkrock like it was done a lot in the late
1970s/early 1980s, even akin to THE EXPLOITED and GBH. The midtempo The river
stays the same sounds pretty modern and has a very catchy melodic chorus. Rose
red is without a doubt an anthemic for the fans of Celtic Rock, while the
uptempo Lay the coin is a very strong melodic rocker. Quite a nice surprise we
have here that sounds here and there rockier and edgier than BIG COUNTRY, but
still captures the typical Scottish/Irish kinda Celtic Rock with a lot of room
for pleasant memorable melodies and choruses. Recommended to check out at: https://wkwmusic.com/
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
DEADBLONDESTARS
'DEADBLONDESTARS' (ROCKOSMOS/UK IMPORT)
Out of Yorkshire comes
DEADBLONDESTARS, a band formed in 2012 around guitarist/vocalist Gary Walker,
guitarist Tom Gratton, guitarist Oliver Thompson, bassist Matt Simons and
drummer Jamie Machon. They already did some recordings together, but I believe
they are presenting here their official same titled full-length debut album.
The included music is of a very high level, quite obviously influenced by the
heavy big fat 90s guitar riff orientated Stoner Rock/Alternative sound of bands
like SOUNDGARDEN, ALICE IN CHAINS, ALTER BRIDGE, CREED and such. They are doing
it very well actually during the 11 included tracks, with a sound that could
have easily been released on a major US label some 20-25 years ago. However in
the USA this kind of rock is still quite popular and therefore they could
easily breakthrough if they are lucky. Higlights are Bitter tongue, Cypther, Shotgun
and Cuckoo. Definitely a big recommendation to the fans of American modern
hard/heavy rock in the style of the aforementioned bands. More info at: https://www.deadblondestars.com/
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
BRAD
HELLER 'THE SENTENCE' (INDEPENDENT/DOUG DEUTSCH PUBLICITY/USA IMPORT)
Out of North Carolina
comes the talented singer/songwriter/guitarist BRAD HELLER, who delivers a very
strong and impressive new album titled The sentence. Together with Bobby Frith:
lead guitar, vocals; Everett Dimenna: bass; Robert Dillenbeck: drums and Ted
Crenshaw; electric guitar, bass, 12 strong songs are recorded. Opener Eternal
season is a classy piece of typical American working class music like BRUCE
SPRINGSTEEN, TOM PETTY, THE JAYHAWKS, CALEXICO, JOHN FOGERTY (a lot of CCR
actually), JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP, DANNY VERA and such, so mixing up Heartland
Rock, Americana, Country and Pop/Rock to an exciting melodic raw rootsy
rocksound. The album continues this way until the very end, with a nice mixture
of calmer Americana/Country ish songs and slightly more uptempo rockier
material, fitting in perfectly between other story-telling rootsy rocking
singer/songwriters like BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, JOHN COUGAR and JOHN FOGERTY. Fans
of such artists need to listen to BRAD HELLER for sure, because he definitely
delivers here at a very high level, with as other highlights besides the strong
opener Eternal season, also Gone, The greatest crime and Time's the enemy. Make
sure not to miss this album if you're a fans of the mentioned acts! Check it
out for yourself at: https://bradhellermusic.com/
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
THE
PAPERS 'FAHRENHEIT IN A CENTIGRADE WORLD/IN VIENNA' (HOT CORE RECORDS/UK
IMPORT)
Out of Brighton comes
the sensational band THE PAPERS, whom were formed back in the late 1970s and
they were kind enough to sent me an album they released in the past titled
Fahrenheit in a centigrade world. This album sounds like it was recorded way
back in the early 1980s, which is no problem at all, because the 12 included
songs of THE PAPERS on this album sound really good. Opener Miracles is a
classic early 1980s British New Wave/Quirky Poprock/Post-Punk mixture, but from
the following tracks on it's Ska or Reggae Rock as the band calls it! Dead
man's shoes, Reggae on the radio and Telephone are basically pure Ska-Rock 1981
style, very catchy and easily reaching the quality of such legendary bands like
MADNESS, THE BEAT, THE SPECIALS and such. With The only one I see, the band
goes for a more melodic pop/rock approach that sounds like a mixture between
THE ARROWS (Canadian band) and THE CURE. You might also hear somre similarities
to THE POLICE here and there (such as during the catchy uptempo
post-punkpoprocker Fahrenheit in a centrigade world), so I guess if you mix all
the mentioned acts, then you might end up with THE PAPERS! They also sent me a
CD-single titled In Vienna, which is a brand-new song that is basically a nice
slowtempo Reggae/Ska ish tune and let's hope more new material will pop up soon.
Check out this band at: https://thepapersmusic.co.uk/
(Points:
8.1 out of 10)
HARRY
STAFFORD 'GOTHIC URBAN BLUES/GUITAR SHAPED HAMMERS VINYL LP' (BLACK LAGOON
RECORDS/CARGO/UK IMPORT)
I discovered the music
of Manchester's HARRY STAFFORD just very recently, because I was not familiar
with him at all, despite the fact he's been in the music business for several
decades now. It's never too late of course and thankfully I got to learn his
music due to the fact that I received the 2 vinyl records which he released in
the past 3 years. Harry is the founder, guitarist and vocalist of post-punk
gothic rockers INCA BABIES, with whom he relesed 4 albums and a lot of singles,
as well as doing JOHN PEEL sessions in the 1980s. After 35 years in this band,
he decided to go solo in 2015 and the result 5 years later are these 2 albums,
Guitar Shaped Hammers (2017) and Gothic Urban Blues (2020). His band GUITAR
SHAPED HAMMERS includes drummer Rob Haynes (THE MEMBRANES, INCA BABIES),
trumpeter Kevin Davy (LAMB, CYMANDE), guitarist Andy Mills, and Vincent O’Brien
on Weisseborn slide guitar. Before we go into detail on his new album Gothic
Urban Blues, we first need to discuss the debut album Guitar shaped hammers,
which musically is slightly different than the follow-up. The album is filled
with 9 tracks that is singer/songwriter orientated in the NICK CAVE style, with
blues and some gothic rock influences here and there, although never really
going for a pure bluesrock direction. Harry is a storyteller and thanks to his
strong vocals, it is a pleasure to listen to songs like The Glass Coast, the 7
minutes counting midtempo Dagger (catchy and most rocking tune on the album),
Three Wishes Blues and Down In The Shadow (hello TOM WAITS!). Moving on to the
2020 album Gothic urban blues, this new record sounds more like a full band and
also showing an own face. The album was mixed and engineered by DING ARCHER
(THE FALL, PJ HARVEY) at his 6Db Studio in Salford, UK and contains in total 10
tracks. The first couple of songs are a melting pot of all kinds of styles, such
as Gothic, Blues, Rock and some sort of Mexicana (CALEXICO) influences, and out
of those 3 I would pick the midtempo titletrack Gothic Urban Blues as the best
one. This is also reflecting the sound Harry is trying to achieve overall
speaking, because it is a new genre he more or less invented himself. After
repeated listens of his albums I actually begin to understand the term
completely! After these more or less 3 rockier tunes, the slowtempo Piano-Bar
room boogie of Painted Ocean is taking things into another direction, while closing
track of Side-A of the vinyl record Infinite Trust taps out of a different
style again, because this is a piano-led singer/songwriter ish ballad that
sounds like a cross between BOB GELDOF, JOHN LENNON and BOB DYLAN, and actually
could become a classic in the future.
Side-B opens with another piano-led song
titled Black Rain, where we can trace some NICK CAVE and JOHNNY CASH kinda
similarities, although by now it is actually clear that Harry really has his
own identity and sound. Once again I feel that this song has something to say
to us and could well become a huge hit if Harry is lucky enough that someone at
a radio station will pick it up. The song has a dark somewhat dramatic approach
and should perfectly fit as theme song for a movie (QUENTIN TARANTINO
perhaps?). Sideways Shuffle takes once again a different route, with a sorta
TOM WAITS dark bluesy gothic kinda feeling, with underneath a light jazzy 30s
touch. Disappearing starts with slightly distorted guitar before turning into a
piano-led singer/songwriter ballad that is not far from NICK CAVE, although a
bit more uplifting. Man In A Bar is back to midtempo more melodic Americana-ish
pop/rock that even reminds me a bit of our own DANNY VERA and also JOHNNY CASH,
so definitely another fantastic tune! Closing track Into The Storm is back to
the piano-led bar room boogie that should actually earn him a spot on JOOLS
HOLLAND! Concluded, Harry delivers here some great records that sound very
original and are of course a must-have for fans of aforementioned acts, but on
the other hand there is clearly an own style notable on especially his new
album, which is called Gothic Urban Blues! More info at: https://harrystafford.bandcamp.com/album/gothic-urban-blues
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
JACK J.
HUTCHINSON 'WHO FEEDS THE LOCKDOWN? VINYL RECORD' (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
I received this album
on beautiful glossy purple vinyl and I believe this is the very first official
vinyl release that was recorded during the lockdown, so therefore it is titled
Who feeds the lockdown?, which is the follow-up to Who feeds the wolf?, the
previous album of the British band JACK J. HUTCHINSON. It's actually a live
recording that took place earlier in 2020 while touring in Brazil and returning
back home in the U.K., all done during the corona lockdown. It includes tracks
from the first 2 albums of JACK J. HUTCHINSON, a band formed around of course
Jack himself on vocals and guitars, but also featuring bandmembers Lazarus
Michaelides on bass and drummer Felipe Amorim. Together they recorded a very
strong live album here that is a nice introduction to Jack's music, because I
was actually not familiar with his first 2 studio albums. The new record is as
mentioned special because it was recorded entirely live (without audience)
during lockdown and now a few months later already released on vinyl record.
This is a great gift from Jack to keep recording, performing live and releasing
that during these hard times where live performances are very rare. 10 songs
are included in total, beginning with Justified, which is a groovy midtempo
Classic Rocker with a slight late 80s heavy bluesy hardrock vibe in the style of
BLACK CROWES, BADLANDS, BLUE MURDER, KINGDOM COME and such, with superb
shredding guitarwork and strong vocals as well. Haunted bones follows in a more
uptempo style, with a fuzzy guitarsound that almost touches BLACK SABBATH. Kiss
your ass goodbye is a sensational slower and very melodic Southern Rocker with
a light bluesy touch, kinda like a fantastic mix between RIVAL SONS, JOHNNY VAN
ZANT, JOE BONAMASSA and LYNYRD SKYNYRD. Groovy hardrock can be heard again
during Peace of mind, while the lovely semi Southern/Bluesy rocker Autumn
leaves closes Side-A of the vinyl record, and this song is a deadringer for
fans of KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD and the more melodic side of JOE BONAMASSA.
Side-B opens with the
uptempo straight-ahead rocker Winds of change which is another lovely classic
rock tune that sounds like a cross between BADLANDS, FREE and BLACK CROWES. Slowing
things down again to a more bluesier rocksong titled Rattlesnake woman, which
is another winner for fans of JOE BONAMASSA, including some incredible
shredding from Jack. He is not only a gifted vocalist, but he is a superb
guitarist as well and he is also able to write some great original material!
Without a doubt, he should get a lot of attention, so let's hope this Lockdown
live release will gain him more popularity. Following track Lucky man is groovy
Hardrock all the way, while Rapture is uptempo classic Hardrock in the somewhat
late 1970s VAN HALEN style. The album finishes with an awesome cover of the
BLACK SABBATH cover War pigs, which in this version somehow sounds a bit like
classic CREAM.
Concluded, Jack and
his band are delivering something quite unique and sensational here with this
lockdown recorded live vinyl record. Fingers crossed that this incredible
talented musician from London will be able to perform live soon again, because
he could easily become the next big bluesrock guitarist/vocalist! More info at:
https://jackjhutchinsonmusic.com/
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
LIGA
LATINA 'LIGA LATINA' (MULTINATION/XANGO MUSIC)
When listening to the
debut album of LIGA LATINA, you would honestly think this is a band from South
America, but they are coming out of Denmark of all places! The band was formed
by songwriter Mike Hecchi (The Sexican) on vocals, Cuban trés and Spanish
guitar, and the rest of the lineup consists of Michell Boysen (Otro Mundo) on
double bass, Bo 'BoJo' Johansen (Little Havana) on percussion, Theo Hjorth on
piano and Rune Krogshede (Latin Dance Band) on trumpet. Most of the musicians
are connected with especially Cuban music in one way or the other, either
studying or performing with Cuban musicians in Cuba. That’s where they picked
up the Cuban/Latin influences and together with a few guests, such as
L.A.-based Danish jazz guitarist, Alex Olesen, Lasse Høj Jakobsen on violin and
American-Cuban jazz vocalist Cassia De Mayo, the result is a very impressive
first album. The same titled album contains perfect summer sun music that is
basically a fresh Spanish/Latin/Cuban cocktail breeze with some slight jazzy
interludes, sounding really excellent and ready for the world to become the
next band following the footsteps of the legendary BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB.
There is a nice mix of male and female vocals, and the overall sound is very
relaxed and smooth. The best songs are La Venganza, Cuarto De La Banda and
Cacique (with male vocals) and Cariño Corazon and Revealed (with female
vocals), of which the latter could easily become a huge hit! This is just a
lovely record, with a very relaxing vibe going on and it’s picture perfect for
those summer days! More at: https://www.ligalatina.dk/
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
MASSIMO
GIUNTINI 'THE LONELY SUNFLOWER' (RADICIMUS RECORDS/XANGO MUSIC)
I was not expecting an
Irish/Celtic sounding album from an Italian musician, but MASSIMO GIUNTINI
seems to be a master in creating this. I am not familiar with his earlier
albums, but The lonely sunflower sounds exactly like a classic Irish Folk music
album, very happy and uplifting with the use of the instruments that made the
Irish culture a popular one. Massimo himself has been in the music business for
over a couple of decades now, working, producing and recording with countless
others in different music genres. With this new album, you can expect
instrumental Irish Folk Music from start to finish, done at a very high level.
Check for yourself at: https://www.massimogiuntini.com/
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
NEAL
BLACK & THE HEALERS 'A LITTLE BOOM BOOM BOOM' (DIXIE FROG RECORDS/AUSTRIA
IMPORT)
The American blues musician NEAL BLACK was
already a well-known name in the USA back in the 1980s and 1990s, but after
touring in Europe, he settled himself in South France in 2004 and has been
working on his career with fellow American musicians in Europe ever since. The
latest album is titled A little boom boom boom, which he recorded with Mike
Latrell: Piano and Hammond, Abder Benachour: Bass and Natan Goessens: Drums.
Neal has a great voice, perhaps a little dirty, raw and mean like TOM WAITS or
CHRIS REA, but on the other hand he has after all these years created an own
identity and this perfectly fits his bluesrock. Throughout the years he built
up a reputation and a sound that finds its way again through the 11 originals
and 2 covers that are included on this new album. He is shining on the cover of
the classic Why Do People Act Like That of BOBBY CHARLES, but also during his self-written
tunes, Neal shows he is a great singer/guitarist, such as can be heard on songs
like Don't Follow Me There, Saints Of New Orleans and Going Down Together. The
material is quite diverse as well, because there are rockers and calmer songs,
but also instrumentals. The list of guests is also very impressive, including
the appearance of the legendary ROBBEN FORD. Concluded, this is Bluesrock the
way it needs to sound, raw, dirty and mean when necessary, but also relaxing
and smooth at certain moments. Check out all info on Neal at: https://www.nealblack.net/
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
EVA
CORTES 'TODAS LAS VOCES' (BLUE FERN RECORDS/XANGO MUSIC)
Recorded in New York,
the album Todas las voces is a very nice new album of Honduran/Spanish singer,
songwriter and composer EVA CORTES. On her album is a list of guest musicians,
including Elio Villafranca: Piano, Roman Filiú: Sax, Christian McBride: Bass,
Luques Curtis: Bass, Doug Beavers: Trombone, Luisito Quintero: Percussion and
Eric Harland: Drums. The included music is a fresh mixture of flamenco and
blues-tinged Latin jazz, with about half of the songs sung in English and the
others in Spanish. The result is quite nice actually with strong vocals of Eva
and overall a very relaxing vibe, with for me personally a soft spot for the
Spanish sung tunes, such as Canción con Todos, Desterrado, Gracias a la Vida
and Sólo le Pido a Dios. It’s a bit Latin, some Jazz and a touch of Blues, all
mixed together in a relaxing summer ish sound. Check for yourself at: https://www.evacortes.com/
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
PFM
'LIVE IN ROMA/DA MOZART A CELEBRATION' (AEROSTELLA/IMMAGNIFICA/ITALY IMPORT)
One of the major
influential Progressive Rockbands to emerge from Italy is of course PFM, which
feels like an institute when talking about Italy and Progrock music. They were
one of the first Italian bands with an album in the US Billboard Charts back in
the 1970s and despite nowadays only 1 real original member is left, they are
still going strong, performing and recording in mainly their homeland Italy. I
received two 2-CD sets of the band, which both contain live recorded material
in Italy back in 2012/2013. The current line-up also features a couple of
long-time members, but in 2020 only Franz Di Cioccio (drums, vocals) is left
from the original line-up that started the band back in 1970. The concerts on
these CDs are as already mentioned dating back to 7-8 years ago, with PFM In
Classic Da Mozart being a very interesting recording the band did with a
Milanese Orchestra and as the title already predicts, the main portion is
focused on classical music of MOZART that is being reworked to progrock versions
by PFM. Live in Roma from 2012 brings a special guest, namely IAN ANDERSON of
JETHRO TULL. Both releases contain very impressive high quality progressive
rock with of course as mentioned on the live Classic Da Mozart a focus on
classical music being played by a progband, kinda like EMERSON LAKE PALMER did
50 years ago. On this 2-CD set we can also hear a few PFM originals, such as
the beautiful Maestro Della Voce. I am safe to say here that this might be one
of the best albums of PFM, because it shows them at their very best and being
accompanied by an Orchestra, which suits the classical music just perfect and
along with some of their own material, this concert was definitely a highlight
in the band’s career. The other live CD is basically the PFM like we know them,
playing classic Progressive Rock with a nice selection of songs they recorded
on their studio albums through the years as well as a bunch of covers. The
band’s music is clearly in the style of classic 70s progbands such as GENESIS,
YES, JETHRO TULL, ELP and such, but then with Italian lyrics of course. They
have an incredible discography, of which I am not that familiar with, but this
live album gives a nice overview of their career. As mentioned before, IAN
ANDERSON makes a guest appearance on a few songs, and all together this 2-CD
set is a must-have if you want to check out PFM in a nutshell and you want to
hear them perform their music live at a very high level. More info: http://www.pfmworld.com
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
MANDOKI
SOULMATES ‘LIVING IN THE GAP + HUNGARIAN PICTURES CD + VINYL + BOOK BOX SET’
(RED ROCK PRODUCTION/GERMANY IMPORT)
In my 25+ years as a
reviewer I have never received such an impressive promotion package of a new
album as this 2020 release from MANDOKI SOULMATES. The package includes an old
fashioned massive press kit, a book, a Blueray, 2-CD set and a full blown
Book/Vinyl/CD boxset! I am safe to say that this is the ultimate way to promote
your new album, because it definitely already impresses when opening the
package and checking all the included items! The story behind MANDOKI SOULMATES
is very interesting, because this project is the lifework of German-Hungarian
musician LESLIE MANDOKI, who came as a refugee from Hungary to Germany during
the 1970s and has since then built up an impressive career in the music
business. His dream was to work with his heroes of the classic rock, prog and
jazz genres from the 1970s and in 1992 this became reality when JACK BRUCE
(CREAM), IAN ANDERSON (JETHRO TULL) and AL DI MEOLA joined his MANDOKI
SOULMATES band. In the following 30 years he gathered a lot of musicians around
him to join his adventure to perform classic rock live on stage and also record
some original material that was a mix of Progrock, AOR, Jazz and Classic Rock,
with as result countless live gigs and a bunch of album releases that featured
some of the greatest names in the rich history of Rock, Pop and Jazz music. I
was not familiar with the full story and also did not knew about original music
of MANDOKI SOULMATES, but this is one of the finest introductions I have ever
had! This is truly an all-stars project, because through the years involved
singers and musicians were JIMI JAMISON, JACK BRUCE, GREG LAKE, MICHAEL
BRECKER, ROBIN GIBB, JON LORD (all 6 sadly already no longer with us), STEVE
LUKATHER, LOU GRAMM, KATIE MELUA, MIDGE URE, NICK VAN EEDE, BOBBY KIMBALL,
CHAKA KHAN, ERIC BURDON, CHRIS THOMPSON, AL DI MEOLA, TONY CAREY, UDO
LINDENBERG, PETER MAFFAY, SIMON PHILLIPS, RICHARD BONA, PAUL CARRACK, NIK
KERSHAW and countless more. Some of them also appear on this new album, which
is by the way a double album consisting of 2 parts, Living in the Gap and
Hungarian pictures. Originally this whole project was a tribute to the classic
1960s and 1970 pop and rockmusic, with also several album releases that
featured such timeless classics such as Davy’s on the road again, Hold the
line, Sunshine of your love, Blinded by the light, House of the rising sun and
many more Classic Rocksongs performed by the real legends of Rockmusic, but
somewhere along the way new original songs written by Leslie were recorded and
several albums were released. However, the new 2-album set is without a doubt
his most ambitious release so far! The book/vinyl/cd boxset is a joy to listen
to and look at visually speaking, because there is a lot of beautiful artwork,
pictures and drawings included, as well as all the lyrics and involved
musicians. It’s fascinating what Mandoki has built up through the years,
because he was/is involved in many productions and recordings, but also
contributes to the music for such big giant firms like BMW or Football club
BAYERN MUNICH. However, he never forgets where he came from, because he fled
from Hungary because of the horrible dictatorship in that country that lasted
until the late 1980s. His new album tells the whole story in a concept form
about unity, which we need in today’s world, featuring songs that are against
division. Especially in these corona times it is clear that there is still a
lot of dictatorship in the world where the people have nothing to say, so with
this album there is new music available to unify the world. With the help of
musicians whom played in such classic bands like BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS, ELP,
TOTO, CREAM, SUPERTRAMP, JETHRO TULL, MANFRED MANN’S EARTH BAND, CUTTING CREW
and countless more, this is definitely on paper a massive band/project!
After the longest
introduction to the actual music I ever did, let’s get to the music itself,
because that is what this is all about of course. The Living in the gap album
opens with the excellent groovy midtempo funky pop/rocker titletrack Living in
the gap that sounds very fresh and shows rightaway we are dealing here with a
lovely massive sounding album. The production by Leslie himself is very
impressive and feels like the good old big 80s productions, yet without
sounding dated at all. Next track Young rebels is a superb 80s inspired
midtempo AOR/Poprocker that actually reminds me a lot of the recent ROBERT HART
album, so sounding very smooth and crystal clear. Things become a bit poppier
on Turn the wind, and despite Where we belong starts calmer as well, this song
develops into a bombastic and very powerful semi-ballad. Side-B shows a
slightly different face at first sight, because opener Let the music show you
the way is an acoustic piece, and following Too much pride adds some
jazzy/fusion arrangements, although this song develops into a nice
Westcoast-Pop/AOR tune with a clear TOTO vibe. Old rebels continues the TOTO
vibe, and this is actually even more going into a classic AOR direction, not
far from LE ROUX, I-TEN, FRANKE & THE KNOCKOUTS, with a touch of ASIA and
you will get the point what this is more or less sounding like. A very relaxing
Westcoast approach to the classic 80s AOR/Pop sound is what it is all about
most of the time here, with also some jazzy influences. Welcome to real life
basically further explores that late 1970s mixture of Westcoast, Pop and AOR,
very much like TOTO or even VAN STEPHENSON, and this features a beautiful saxsolo
and hammond-solo by the way. The vinyl version misses 4 songs, but as the
entire box consists of both the vinyl and CD, you can listen to those on the
CD. Hottest queen of cool (a STEELY DAN ish Jazzy Westcoast Pop mixture), Wake
up (very strong female vocals, the song itself is a lovely Soulful pop/rock
song that is radio-ready and reminding me of the classic 80s), Mother Europe (a
song with a lot of different singers and musically very close to pure mid 80s
We Are The World and such benefit money fundraising kinda songs) and I'm not
your enemy (very nice relaxing jazzy popsong with strong vocals of Leslie's
daughter Julia) are the missing ones on the vinyl record.
The 2nd LP in the box
is the album Hungarian pictures, which sounds a bit more epic and Progressive
Rock meets Jazz/Fusion orientated than the 1st LP and album Living in the gap.
It opens with Sessions in the village and Utopia for realists, which is a
lovely calmer Melodic Progrocksong that has some memories of bands like CAMEL,
PINK FLOYD and such, with female and male vocals all over the songs that seem
to be connected with each other, because you can hardly trace the moment it
jumps from one song into another. The vocals are by the way really good and
very diverse all over the 2 albums, but especially BOBBY KIMBALL is very
notable on a number of songs, which also gives it that TOTO feeling. As
mentioned, this 2nd vinyl record is definitely more into the progrock
direction, because with the 19 minutes counting Transylvanian dances we head
into pure prog again, and I have to say it is a very enjoyable journey that
shows an enormous amount of diverse music genres, including World Music, Middle
Eastern and Spanish guitar, but always packed in a proggie tune. The other
songs on Hungarian pictures are You'll find me in your mirror and Return to
Budapest (great progsongs a la PINK FLOYD), Barbaro (experimental instrumental
jazz/prog/fusion affair) and The torch (calmer progressive popsong in 1970s
style).
What more can I say
about this release than that this has been a fantastic adventure to explore so
much in just one new album release, but with a book, press kits and a full
blown 2-LP/CD set, it is clear that visual items in front of you are a lot of
more interesting than a Spotify listen to the same album. The impact now is so
much bigger and the result is a journey which should be heard by as many people
as possible, The Westcoast/AOR/Poprock fans will love this for sure, but also proggies
will find something of interest in here. More info can be found at: https://mandoki-soulmates.com
(Points:
8.8 out of 10)
JORDAN
BLUM ‘DREAM THEATER - EVERY ALBUM, EVERY SONG BOOK’ (SONIC BOND PUBLISHING/UK
IMPORT)
Writing about every
song of DREAM THEATER is almost impossible, because if you really go into
detail about this band’s song catalogue, then you will be facing a hard time
and put yourself in a dangerous position, because there are certain songs of
this band that basically contain every music genre or rhythm, while still
sounding like a Progressive Rock/Progmetal song. Welcome DREAM THEATER, one of
the most influential bands in Progressive Rock and Progmetal since the days of
YES, GENESIS, ELP and RUSH. I think together with QUEENSRYCHE and FATES
WARNING, DREAM THEATER took it all one step further and introduced us to a new
genre nowadays call Progressive Metal, which likewise combined the establish
Progrocksound of the aforementioned 4 big ones from the 1970s with the 1980s
young metal bands. The result was astonishing, because complexity and melodies
blended together perfectly, while it still rocked quite hard. In the following
3 decades after DREAM THEATER’s debut in 1989, we have seen countless bands
following their footsteps, so we can easily say here that a book about
everything DREAM THEATER has recorded and reviewing this in full detail, this
is something which will appeal to a lot of fellow musicians and fans out there.
Author JORDAN BLUM is an American editor of several publications and teaches
English courses at various colleges. His English is likewise quite superior and
I cannot imagine writing a review here about his book and impressing him with
it, but we are here to inform you about this interesting book that handles
every DREAM THEATER album, so let’s focus on that. Jordan has a lot of
knowledge and works his way very nicely through the band’s massive catalogue. I
lost touch somewhere along the way with DREAM THEATER’s studio albums, because
there have been a lot and so it is nice to catch up here. I went to a couple of
concerts and must say that the musicianship beats every other band out there.
DREAM THEATER is one of those bands which you need to experience live, as they
are so much better on stage than in the studio, because they are the masters of
improvise and play a certain song in one take without getting into trouble.
It’s a gift when you have a band doing it so perfectly and of course their
1990s studio albums are timeless classics and also during the 2000s they came
up with some impressive albums. After all these years I think the Metropolis
part 2 album Scenes from a memory is the absolute finest concept progrockalbum
of all times! Reading about this album is a joy and brings back great memories
of a band I haven’t followed that much anymore after drummer MIKE PORTNOY left
the band about 10 years ago. I also wasn't always that impressed with lead
singer JAMES LABRIE, who remains to be the weakest link in the band I’m afraid.
However, they have done so much great stuff in the past and their contribution
to Prog is without any doubts something we must never forget, so this book is
the perfect bible to read about their songs. Well done Jordan! Available through:
www.burningshed.com/sonicbond
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
JACOB
HOLM-LUPO ‘TOTO - EVERY ALBUM, EVERY SONG BOOK’ (SONIC BOND PUBLISHING/UK
IMPORT)
I was not familiar
with the new book-series Every album, every song of legendary Rockbands, but
the first one I ever received was this one from TOTO. It was written by
Norwegian musician/journalist JACOB HOLM-LUPO, who is a member of the bands
WHITE WILLOW and THE OPIUM CARTEL and he also runs a recording and mixing
studio. TOTO are of course part of the big 5 (BOSTON, FOREIGNER, JOURNEY,
SURVIVOR) that basically set the foundations for AOR music. In this book we can
read Jacob’s thoughts on every song TOTO ever recorded and released on an
official album. Jacob is a musician, so he is basically going into full detail
most of the time, really exploring and informing us how incredible TOTO was and
still is, because TOTO makes it all sound very simple, but in fact it is very
hard to follow every move of every musician involved in a TOTO song. The
line-up of TOTO changed a lot during the decades, but they always kept the
quality very high of new material and really sounded like a band. The strength
of the band has always been the use of multiple singers (Steve, Bobby, David,
Joseph) and creating a song that fits the singer’s capacity and still make it
sound like a classic TOTO tune. Especially in Europe, TOTO has never been away
ever since they shook the world with their classic debut record in the late
1970s. The concerts are always sold-out and new material always sounded
top-notch, and in this book we start with that classic debut up to 2015’s Toto
XIV. I have been to many TOTO concerts and they were always a joy to hear so
many hits and musicianship at the same time during one evening. Don’t forget
these guys played on countless classic albums besides TOTO, such as of course
MICHAEL JACKSON’s Thriller and Bad, BOZ SCAGGS, STEELY DAN and many more. Back
to the book, it is very well organized and professionally reviewed, and for
every TOTO fan a joy to read for sure! The thing is that when you are reading
the reviews of the songs, you immediately want to re-listen to the particular
song even though you already know it for ages by now. Jacob however writes in
such a way that you actually should listen to the TOTO catalogue while reading
this book. You will discover a lot of new things thanks to this book, so I
would highly recommend it to pick up a copy if you’re a TOTO fan! Available
through: www.burningshed.com/sonicbond
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
CHRISTOPHER
P. HILTON 'THE RISE, FALL AND REBIRTH OF HAIR METAL BOOK’ (BOWKER/UK IMPORT)
Well, well, well… Hair
Metal and the 1980s, this will forever be connected to each other I think!
Personally I grew up as a teenager in Europe, so Hair Metal never became that
big over here and despite I was only 12 years old back in 1989, I started
discovering new bands that played this kind of Rock/Metal myself through
various ways. Remember that these were the pre-internet days and finding about
new bands was possible through printed magazines, record stores, libraries
where you could rent albums and MTV of course! Between 1989 and 1993 I was
completely hooked to this genre and basically got to learn about each and every
band, with favorites including NELSON, POISON, MOTLEY CRUE, FIREHOUSE,
SLAUGHTER, PRETTY BOY FLOYD, RATT and quite a lot more. I was however keen on
discovering more and more, so when starting an own fanzine at 17 years old back
in 1994, I started digging and ended up in the independent/underground scene,
finding about all those bands that never made it big due to the music climate
change around that time. Eventually towards the end of the 1990s the genre had
almost completely died, but when the internet took over most of our lives in
the early 2000s, Hair Metal became very slowly fashionable again, thanks to new
young bands and old bands starting up again. The image and looks were not as it
was like back in the 1980s, but musically speaking we headed into the right
direction again. One new band took it a step further and became very popular
towards the end of the 2000s. STEEL PANTHER is the responsible band to give
Hair Metal a new injection, although lyrically they gave it a more humorous
approach. On the other hand, MOTLEY CRUE and POISON were popular again and so
during the 2010s Hair Metal came back and it actually is still alive and
kicking in 2020! Especially in Sweden and Italy numerous new bands were formed,
signed to labels, releasing high quality albums (CRASH DIET, CONFESS, H.E.A.T…)
and did successful touring through Europe. Back to this book, which tells this
story in full detail, it is of course for a fan of the genre a great read and
joyful adventure that brings back memories of the good old fun rocking times.
Available through: www.HairMetalForever.com
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
THAT
JOE PAYNE 'BY NAME.BY NATURE' (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
Recorded over a number
of years, THAT JOE PAYNE from Northampton finished his debut solo album By
name.by nature during the start of the covid pandemic. He was a member of the
legendary Progressive Rockband THE ENID for a while in the 2010s, but went solo
in 2016. His first solo-album is quite a departure from THE ENID, because if
you listen to the first couple of songs we get to modern pop with hi-tech
influences, while a song like What is the world coming to is basically a
bombastic classical musical rock piece in the style of VALENSIA, JOHN MILES and
VALENTINE. It's actually quite hard to categorise this album, because it is a
mixture of hi-tech modern pop, bombastic piano-led baroque pop with MIKA/QUEEN
ish harmonyvocals, a touch of RUFUS WAINWRIGHT and even ELTON, JOHN, very diverse
and perhaps even appealing to the fans of old fashioned 70s pop. However, THAT
JOE PAYNE is definitely an incredible singer, which can be heard very clearly
during the lovely ballad Love (Not the same) that could easily bring him fame
and fortune due to the fact it sounds very original in this fabricated world. The
song reminds me a bit somehow of the VAYA CON DIOS classic What's a woman
without man, crossed with SIMPLY RED's Holding back the years and with vocals a
la RUFUS WAINWRIGHT. If Joe is lucky, this will be picked up by radio and turn
into a hitsong! The song I need a change is a sensational melodic rockballad
that is actually not that far from classic QUEEN! There is definitely something
of interest on this album, which starts a bit quirky and experimental, but
develops into an impressive piano-led/baroque popsound that should appeal to
the aforementioned acts. Especially fans of VALENSIA, VALENTINE, QUEEN and such
will probably like this a lot! More info at: https://www.thatjoepayne.com
(Points:
8.1 out of 10)
CIRCULIVE
'NEW VIEW LIVE CD/DVD/BLUE RAY' (INNER NOVA MUSIC/USA IMPORT)
The joy of Progressive
Rock is that you discover almost daily new bands you never heard of before and
worldwide there have been thousands of acts active ever since the 1970s. My
latest discovery is CIRCULIVE, a band from the USA which started as a
PROGRESSIVE ROCK TRIBUTE BAND called DOWNING GREY, covering classic songs of
bands like RUSH, UK, KING CRIMSON, GENTLE GIANT, PINK FLOYD... However, they
developed themselves into an original band with own material and under the
bandname CIRCULIVE they released a couple of studio albums. In 2017 they played
the Progstock Festival, of which the original recording is now released on CD,
DVD and BLUERAY as a package. The band's line up consists of Darin Brannon
(drums/keys/percussion), Andrew Colyer (keys/vocals/percussion), Natalie Brown
(vocals/percussion), William "Billy" Spillane
(vocals/guitars/percussion), Joel Simches (bass/drums), and Alek Darson
(guitars/percussion). Their sound is rich and is at it's best during live
concerts, so this 2017 concert is definitely perfect for a starter. They remind
me quite a lot of GLASS HAMMER, due to the fact there is a healthy mix of male
and female vocals, with also room for interesting improvised instrumental
passages. The band is keen on melodies, like we know it from KANSAS and very surprising
is the conclusion of the SOUND OF CONTACT cover Pale blue dot, because that
band of the son of PHIL COLLINS is not that well-known actually. I saw them in
concert once and met bandleader SIMON COLLINS after this great show, but sadly
the band never really broke through. Anyway, nice to see them being covered
here, although the band is at very their best during their own songs, such as
the marvelous Nautilus. If you call yourself a dedicated Progrockfan, then this
is definitely a recommended band to check out at: https://circulinemusic.com/
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
WILL
BUTLER 'GENERATIONS' (MERGE RECORDS/KONKURRENT)
Out of Brooklyn, New
York comes WILL BUTLER, who is better known as a member of the established act
ARCADE FIRE. Generations is his first solo album, which musically is a
departure from the sound of his band. 10 songs are on the album, on which Wil
(vocals, piano, synths, guitar, bass guitar, percussion, drum machines, snare,
claps) is joined by Miles Francis: drums, drum machines, percussion, synths,
acoustic guitar, singing, claps, Sara Dobbs: pre-production, singing, claps,
Julie Shore: synths, piano, electric guitar, singing, claps and Jenny Shore:
synths, singing, claps. After a somewhat slow start that sounds a bit
psychedelic with Outta here, things get uptempo rocking on the following track
Bethlehem, a great fun tune that could almost be labelled as a Powerpoprocker.
The music is overall a mix of modern pop and rock, sometimes even going into a
JAMES BAY kinda style (Surrender), with also clear JACK WHITE similarities.
Hard times goes for a very experimental synthpop approach, while Promised
sounds like something DAVID BOWIE could have done in the early 1980s, so in the
end, this is really a mixed bag which sometimes works, but during other moments
fails a bit, especially during the more synth orientated second part of the
album, which then again might be of interest for fans of ROXY MUSIC. Check for
yourself at: https://willbutler.bandcamp.com/album/generations
(Points:
7.5 out of 10)
FLYING
CIRCUS '1968' (FASTBALL MUSIC/GERMANY IMPORT)
The German band FLYING CIRCUS has been
active since 1990 and released quite a lot of albums so far. They are so to
speak an established band by now with a sound that is clearly influenced by the
1970s progressive rocksound. Also their new album 1968 reveals similarities to
bands like NEKTAR, ELOY, PINK FLOYD, GROBSCHNITT, RUSH and such, so mixing
Krautrock, Progrock and a tiny bit of very early SCORPIONS is what this band is
all about. I vaguely remember reviewing one of their albums, but starting fresh
in 2020 with this new album is a good thing, because the band has delivered a
strong concept album that is all about the year 1968. A lot of events happened
in this year and the band wrote 10 songs that are mostly named after a city
where the event took place in 1968, such as Paris, New York, Prague, Derry,
Berlin, etc. The band's line up features Rüdiger Blömer (keys/violin), Michael
Dorp (vocals), Michael Rick (guitar), Ande Roderigo (drums) and Roger Weitz
(bass), and despite a few songs go for a more experimental direction here and
there, the songs that go for that classic melodic progrocksound are showing
FLYING CIRCUS at their very best, such as the lovely The hopes we had in 1968
and Berlin (SAGA meets RUSH). Nice new album of FLYING CIRCUS and for more info
please go to: https://www.flying-circus.com/
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
JIM
KIRKPATRICK 'BALLAD OF A PRODIGAL SON' (US ONE RECORDS/CENTRAL PRESS/UK IMPORT)
It took guitarist JIM
KIRKPATRICK 14years before he was able to release a follow-up to his solo debut
album Ballad of a prodigal son, but meanwhile he toured and recorded with quite
a lot of bands and projects, of which of course FM was his main band since 2008.
He now has finally finished a new solo-album titled Ballad of a prodigal son,
which is a very strong heavier blues rock album with some very strong melodies.
Besides being an amazing guitarplayer, he is also a gifted singer/songwriter,
which can be heard on the 12 included songs on this new record. He got help
from quite a few other musicians for the bass, drums, keys, harmonica and even
horns (heard on the BERNIE MARSDEN co-written Always on the road). A few songs
are instrumentals (such as the lovely THE ALLMAN BROTHERS ish Blue heron
boulevard), but most of the time Jim sings and plays the guitar, and I have to
say that alone is quite impressive all throughout the album. Another very
positive note is that Jim is also able to write some very strong original
material on his own, so I am safe to say we have a real winner here! The sound
is quite close to KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD actually, so there is a focus on the
song and not too much endless freaking around like JOE BONAMASSA sometimes does.
One of the finest examples of this song orientated melodic bluesrocksound is
the awesome Ain't goin' down alone, a very smooth midtempo song with superb
vocals and a lovely melodic chorus, while still keeping that bluesy melody and
personally I think this is one of the finest blues orientated songs of 2020!
However, the absolute highlight for the fans of WALTER TROUT/GARY MOORE ish
heavy bluesrock is definitely the excellent and Brave new world, with it's
superb guitarsolos. Jim also goes for rawer and edgier heavy bluesrock on a
number songs, such as during the groovy Skin and bone or the STEVE OVERLAND
(FM) co-written No such thing as a sure thing), while he couldn't leave out the
bluesy ballad either (Talk to me and All you need (is all you have)). Overall
speaking, this is a highly recommended album for the bluesrockfans out there,
although even melodic rockfans of the FM kind will find something of interest
on Jim's new solo-album. More info can be found at: https://www.jimkirkpatrick.com/
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
BIG
PACIFIC 'WELCOME TO THE PARTY!' (SARAH FRENCH PUBLICITY/CANADA IMPORT)
Sometimes the rock and
roll you make as a band should not be too complicated to be succesfull, because
after all AC/DC, ZZ TOP , ROLLING STONES and STATUS QUO are the biggest names
in rock and they never really changed their somewhat simpler rocksound which
made them so popular in the first place. The Canadian band BIG PACIFIC fits
right in between these 4 bands on their latest album Welcome to the party! The
band hails from the beautiful Vancouver Island and was formed in 2015 by a
group of well-seasoned musicians whom already deliver their 2nd album as BIG
PACIFIC with this Welcome to the party! 12 songs are included on the new album,
which is as mentioned a bluesy boogie rock and roll affair, with mostly uptempo
rocking tunes that are close to STATUS QUO and ZZ TOP, while the band even
comes up with a catchy melodic rocker here and there like Slip away (a la BLUE
OYSTER CULT) and Lovin' arms. One of the members (keyboardplayer JOHN HANNAH)
played in the touring bands of HEART and BRYAN ADAMS, so we are definitely
dealing here with musicians whom already earnt their dues in the music history.
If you like old-fashioned no-nonsense rock and roll, then look no further than
this BIG PACIFIC, whom also remind me a bit of legendary Canadian bands like
TROOPER and HELIX, if anyone can remember them! Check out all info on them at: https://www.bigpacificband.com/
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
PHILIP
RAMBOW 'CANADIANA' (FRETSORE RECORDS/UK IMPORT)
As the title predicts,
this is the Canadian version of Americana musically speaking! PHILIP RAMBOW
comes out of Canada, and he has been in and out of bands all his life and wrote
hits for legendary artists like NICK GILDER, but also had a solo career going
on, of which this Canadiana is his latest album release. The included music is
a very nice mixture of classic Countryrock, Americana and Rootsy rock and roll,
sounding a bit like ELVIS here and there. He is a real singer/songwriter and
leaves the rest of the music for backing him up to other musicians and also
sings 2 duets with the wonderful female singer SHARLENE HECTOR. 11 songs are
included and the material is quite diverse, with both uptempo rocking pieces
(like the first 2 songs Things Are Not Looking Good and American Buffalo) and
calmer songs (like those 2 duets) as well as some out of style kinda songs like
Springtime in my heart and the typical British comedy sorta song Making up for
lost time. I really have to say that the songs with Sharlene are very
interesting, because when you hear a lovely Americana/Soulful ballad like
Oceans apart, you can hear Sharlene is a very talented singer as well. However,
we are here to talk about Philip, and he has that kinda voice that really suits
his old school Americana/Countrystyle. Upon checking his past, he really did a
lot different music styles and it definitely interests me to check this out,
especially his solo album from 1981, which featured JOHN WETTON as guest. Check
for yourself for now this new solo-album of Philip in case you like your rock
to sound a little Americana/Country ish. More at: https://www.fretsorerecords.com/philiprambow/
(Points:
7.8 out of 10)
BERNIE
CHIARAVALLE 'THIS IS WHAT I SEE' (BERNOIT MUSIC/USA IMPORT)
BERNIE CHIARAVALLE
from Tennesse, USA has already had a long career behind him with many solo
recordings, but he is also part of MICHAEL MCDONALD's touring band for several
decades now, and even joined THE DOOBIE BROTHERS for a short period back in
1995. This is what I see is Bernie's latest album, on which he does almost
everything on his own. The result is a fresh sounding classic Westcoast/AOR/Pop
album in the style which was so popular in the late 1970s in the USA. The
production is very strong and there is quite a lot of sensational songs on This
is what I see. Opener So good sets the record straight from the start, because
this is an ultimate Westcoast sounding song like we know it from for example bands
like YOUNG GUN SILVER FOX and VENICE, rather excellent tune with superb vocals
and a real relaxing vibe. Only one try follows in a somewhat more AOR ballad
ish direction, with even BRYAN ADAMS similarities. Another highlight is I
believe in love (This time), a lovely Westcoast pop/rock song with that classic
late 70s yacht rock vibe, once again like VENICE and YOUNG GUN SILVER FOX. Very
smooth TOTO ish ballads are Nobody but you and Love you now. Don't know where
we're going is a lovely midtempo VAN STEPHENSON ish Westcoast/AOR tune and Two
wrongs is a more straight-ahead uptempo early 80s AOR/Poprocker a la BRYAN
ADAMS' early work. LITTLE RIVER BAND/DAKOTA ish midtempo westcoast pop/rock/aor
with lovely melodies harmonyvocals can be heard during Know it all. Those were
the times is yet another smooth midtempo Westcoast song that sounds a lot like
classic VAN STEPHENSON circa China girl. And closing track This is what I see
is a beautiful relaxing Westcoast/AOR ballad that sounds so lovely. Basically
this is one of the finest Westcoast releases in a long time and as good as
YOUNG GUN SILVER FOX if we have to mention a similar sounding act. Bernie
however has been making this kind of music for 40 years now and it is great to
see him release such a sensational new album such as this one. More info at: https://www.berniechiaravalle.com/music
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
MISTY
BLUES 'WEED 'EM & REAP' (INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
When hearing this album I can not
understand this is an independent release, because it sounds too good for that
and could have easily been a major label release. MISTY BLUES comes out of
Williamstown, Massachusetts and was founded in 1999 by GINA COLEMAN, who is a
singer with a very charismatic voice you will immediately recognize when
hearing, kinda like YOLA CARTER, also musically speaking, although it might be going
more into the THE BLACK PUMAS direction. She plays cigar box guitar, bass and
percussion herself and has a band around her which includes Bill Patriquin
(bass/trumpet/vocals), Benny Kohn (keys/vocals), Rob Tatten
(drums/trombone/vocals), Aaron Dean (sax/flute) and Seth Fleischmann
(guitar/vocals), while guest spots are filled by Diego Mongue (bass/drums) and
Wes Buckley (guitar). 11 songs are included on their new album Weed 'em &
reap, which is already their 9th record! If we work our way through the
included material, a song like Blues coaster does have a lot of lovely Soul
influences, while Don't send me home, with it's hammond and guitarsolo, this is
a real bluesy affair and the instrumental Phunk'n'Grewv with it's sax/trumpet a
jazzy funk touch is in a pure classic 1970s style. An instrumental like
Nice'n'mellow has a very relaxing smooth sorta late 80s Fusion/Jazz vibe to it,
although I even smell a bit of STEELY DAN here. Closing track Treat me like I
want has that great midtempo bluesy rock approach that just feels very good on
a sunday morning, which happens to be the moment when I listened to this album!
Concluded, there is a lot of diversity going on here, with Mississippi blues,
good old fashioned Soul/R&B, Gospel, some jazzy influences and a little 70s
groovy rock all blended together quite nicely. The main ingredients are of
course the vocals of Gina and the Blues as a basic starting point, which works
at best during a slow song like the beautiful Hold me tight that has a lot of
incredible Soul due to Gina's Gospel way of singing and the stunning saxsolo by
Aaron, it almost sounds like a female version of the legendary CHARLES BRADLEY.
Let's hope that once corona is over, we can welcome MISTY BLUES at one of the
many Blues or Jazz festivals here in The Netherlands, because they would
definitely impress! More info can be found at: https://mistyblues.hearnow.com and https://mistybluesband.bandcamp.com/releases
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
DIRTY
CHEETAH 'NEVER TOO LATE VINYL RECORD' (NO FRONT TEETH RECORDS/RESURRECTION
RECORDS/CANADA IMPORT)
Out of Montreal, Canada comes the dirty
mean rock and roll band DIRTY CHEETAH and they were kind enough to sent me
their debut album on Vinyl. Without a doubt, this always pushes me easily to
listen to and review the album the minute it arrives! You would not expect this
band to come out of Canada actually, because they sound very British in every
possible way! The band is formed around Pat Panic - Guitar - Lead Vocals, Dirty
Frank - Guitar - Vocal, Don Lucas - Bass - Vocal and Lynda Kicks - Drums. Their
LP sounds quite professional and is basically pure classic Punkrock like done
in the late 1970s in the UK, with a touch of Garage and even a bit of Glamrock
here and there. 10 short songs are included with Addicted kicking off and this is
a very cool strong straight-ahead raw uptempo rocking piece with a catchy
chorus, sounding like a mixture between classic Punkrock of the late 1970s with
a bit of the gang vocals of the 80s Glamrockscene, like a mix of DEAD BOYS and
WRATHCHILD, but also reminding me a bit of the current Scandi/Italian punky
Glamrocksound of bands like CRASH DIET, CONFESS, BACKYARD BABIES and HARDCORE
SUPERSTAR. Next song Dr. Jerkoff is dirtier and meaner, with a real Punky
Garage Rock atttitude, but done very well in classic Punkrockstyle. Robot keeps
the uptempo fast and is a lovely classic melodic punkrocker with singable
chorus you will absolutely love if you're into the late 70s British Classic
Punkrocksound. Heartbreaker follows the same route, but perhaps is a little bit
more rock and roll ish like TURBONEGRO, HARDCORE SUPERSTAR, BACKYARD BABIES,
THE HELLACOPTERS and MOTORHEAD, while closing track of Side-A is the punky Got
caught.
Basically Side-B continues the uptempo
punkrocking style of Side-A with 5 more songs that are just simple plain but
effective rock and roll/punkrock tunes like a mixture of aforementioned bands.
The best one of these 5 is definitely the catchy After you, which also has a
nice melodic guitarsound and a great Glamrock ish chorus a la CRASH DIET. This
song is by the way followed by the punkiest song on the album, which is the
gang-vocals driven Psycho-pat. This is definitely a highly recommended band if
you're fed up with anything modern, polished, soft or complicated, because
DIRTY CHEETAH makes life simpler with this new album that is without a doubt
one of the better Punk/Garage Rockalbums of 2020! Check them out at: https://dirtycheetah.bandcamp.com/album/never-too-late
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
THE
SADE 'GRAVE VINYL RECORD' (GO DOWN RECORDS/ITALIA IMPORT)
Originally released on
CD independently in 2016, the Italian label GO DOWN RECORDS released it on
VINYL in 2018. The label had also released the band's first 2 albums in the
early 2010s, so eventually it was back to this label for the Italian band THE
SADE with their 3rd album Grave in order for it to be released on vinyl as well
and it was also sent to me in this physical format for a review, which is of
course always motivating me to do a detailed review on a release. THE SADE was
formed all the way back in 2008 in the province of Padova, and this Grave is
still their latest album. It somehow did not manage to gain a lot of press a
few years ago, which is weird, because it sounds like a high quality release! The
band has always been a threesome, although bassist MARK SADE was replaced by
bassist SILVIA after the release of this 3rd album, while the 2 other members
are still part of the band, including founder/vocalist/guitarist/piano/synth
player ANDREW POZZY and drummer MATT SADE. 10 songs are on their album and opener
Prayer grabs your attention right from the moment it starts, because this is an
impressive strong uptempo somewhat dark gothic heavy rocker like THE CULT meets
THE DOORS, with Classic Rock guitarwork and guitarsolo like a mix between KISS,
THIN LIZZY and BLUE OYSTER CULT. You absolutely cannot start an album better
than this to interest me to listen to the full album! It continues with a more
Gothic Rock orientated piece in a sorta 90s style (HIM) in the song The raven,
while the catchy fast rock and roll of Seek seek seek sounds like a perfect
cross between THE HELLACOPTERS, HARDCORE SUPERSTAR, DANZIG and DANKO JONES, so
getting a bit sleazier and punkier at the same time, yet also with cool IRON
MAIDEN ish guitarwork all over the place. This mixture of sounds and influences
makes THE SADE actually a very diverse band. Afterdeath is going for a more
melodic route, because this is a strong uptempo Gothic Melodic Rocker with
again the HIM similarities. Closing Side-A is the slow Doom Metal of Black
leather that is once again changing the band's sound and is more akin to a
cross between DANZIG and BLACK SABBATH.
Flipping the vinyl
record over to Side-B, it opens with the uptempo rocking Graveyard that is pure
classic retro rock like a lot of Swedish bands are doing these days, kinda in a
classic THIN LIZZY direction. Yet another change in direction with the dark
almost Psychedelic Americana orientated uptempo JOHNNY CASH meets THE DOORS ish
Coachman, this surely could be in a QUENTIN TARANTINO movie! Burnt is back to
rock again, this is a little dirtier and meanier, kinda like FOO FIGHTERS meets
THE CULT, with a rather catchy gang-vocals driven chorus that can be heard at
best during a short break in the middle of the song. The final 2 songs on the
album are Nyctophilia (slow Doom/Stoner Rock) and Charlie Charlie (short
acoustic piece). Check out this very interesting and diverse Italian band at: https://thesadeband.bandcamp.com/
(Points: 8.4 out of 10)
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