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HOT NEW REVIEWS
SERGEANT
BUZFUZ 'FOX POP' (BLANG RECORDS/UK IMPORT)
Fox pop is already the
7th album of the South London based SERGEANT BUZFUZ, a band formed at least 20
years ago and today's line-up featuring no less than 7 members (William Barr
(12 string guitar, mandolin), Ian Button (drums), Joss Cope (bass guitar), Stu
Crane (slide guitar), Polly MacLean (vocals), Eilish McCracken (violin,
keyboards, flute, whistle, vocals), Joe Murphy (guitar, vocals)). Their new
album Fox pop was mastered at the legendary ABBEY ROAD studios, and here and
there we can also hear some influences of THE BEATLES. However, SERGEANT BUZFUZ
has by now created an own identity that is mostly based around short 3-minutes
melodic chorus driven uptempo Powerpop tunes that recall times when this kind
of music was very popular in the early 1980s, although there are also memories
of both the 60s and mid 90s quirky college rock/psychedelic pop/rock and even a
notch of humoristic pub-rock can be traced, so all together it is very British
pop orientated. If you can imagine a mixture between THE JAYHAWKS, THE KINKS,
DAWES, THE STRANGLERS, THE HOLLIES, THE SMALL FACES and FISCHER Z, then you're
close to the sound of this band. The best songs are the uptempo pieces, such as
There's idiots: then theres idiots with money, Theresa McKee, Rear view mirror
and the catchy Fill in the blanks. Highly recommended to fans of the
traditional British way of combining melodies with pop/rock arrangements. More
info at: http://www.sergeantbuzfuz.com/
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
CHRISTIAN
SHIELDS 'THIS IS ROCK'N'ROLL' (SHIELDS RECORDS/USA IMPORT)
Of course nowadays AOR
and Melodic Rock are mainly an European affair, but back in the 1980s, it was
the USA/Canada that brought us countless new acts in this genre every week. Now
we head over to 2020 and we can find
multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter/producer CHRISTIAN SHIELDS from Austin,
Texas and he is bringing us high quality 80s inspired Melodic Rock that at
first sight sounds quite close to the current European scene of bands like
H.E.A.T., ONE DESIRE, BROTHER FIRETRIBE, etc. etc. but is also not far removed
from legendary acts like PAUL LAINE, DANGER DANGER, FIREHOUSE, DOKKEN, SHIRE, MELIDIAN,
AUTOGRAPH and all those other acts that were signed to major labels in the USA
back in the 1980s. The vocals of Christian are strong, reminding me a bit of
PAUL STANLEY when he was able to sing back in the day, the production is
top-notch and the musicianship is also not bad either, with excellent guitarwork
by Christian himself. Christian got help on drums by KEVIN GUTIERREZ and
guitarist MARSHALL BENSON as well as a few other guest musicians that add some
keys as well to give it a real 80s AOR/Melodic Rock treatment (in a sorta ALDO
NOVA ish direction). 10 songs are included on his debut album This is
rock'n'roll, which is filled with mostly catchy uptempo melodic rockers that
are loaded with strong hooks and memorable choruses and 80s guitarwork, of
which the highlights are Not this time, Lie to me and All or nothing. The song By
the strings is a bit more midtempo AOR/Melodic Rock based and reminding me a
lot of the classic first DANGER DANGER album as well as SLYBOYZ, KNOW ILLUSION
and BABE BLUE crossed with GUNSHY, if anyone can remember them! BRITNY FOX,
RATT and CINDERELLA come around in the somewhat heavier uptempo 80s Party
Hardrocksong Can't get enough, so I guess there's something for every 80s
Hardrock/Hair Metal/Melodic Rockfan out there, which is quite unique for an
artist like Christian, because he was actually born in 1991! Like very 80s Hair
Metal album, the classic Power Ballad also needs to be included and Christian
delivers one in the shape of Without you, a song that recalls memories of the
classic very early 90s days when WINGER, WARRANT, NELSON, FIREHOUSE and many
more had their ballads at the top of the US Billboard Charts! Concluded, this
is highly recommended to all the fans of Melodic Rock out there! More info at: https://christianshields.bandcamp.com/album/this-is-rock-n-roll
and https://christianshieldsrocks.com/
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
NOUKILLA
'SOLEY' (NAXOS/GERMANY IMPORT)
The frontcover of the album of NOUKILLA
shows the extinct Dodo Bird, and as I knew this bird was once an animal
resident of the Mauritius Island a few centuries ago, I knew that this band had
something to do with that country, and indeed NOUKILLA is coming out of
Mauritius. They are the very first band from Mauritius I get to hear and I must
say it doesn't sound bad at all. Their music is called Seggae music, which is a
mix of Reggae, Jazz and Sega Music, so quite interesting to check out, because
I am not familiar with it at all. Sega Music was originally created by Creole
slaves in the 1960s and it became very popular in the next couple of decades on
the island. When Reggae entered the world in the 1970s and 1980s via BOB
MARLEY, PETER TOSH and several others, a Mauritian Rastafari named after the
BOB MARLEY album KAYA started to combine Sega Music with Reggae in the 1990s,
with as result Seggae Music. Kaya by the way sadly died under questionable
circumstances in 1999, and as a tribute many musicians started to create this island's
music the past 20 years. In 2014 NOUKILLA recorded the album Soley, which now
has been re-released on CD by the German label NAXOS. NOUKILLA was formed by
Gilbert Kuppusami (vocals, percussion) and Alain Couronne (bass) from the
Island of Mauritius, who came to Shanghai/China in 2005. They started working
with other musicians from the island to play tunes from their far away home in
Shanghai and that's also the place where they recorded this debut album Soley.
11 songs (sung in mostly the French language) are included and opener Linite
enn nasion is a fun uptempo tune that sounds very refreshing and melodic, as it
is a cocktail of Jazz, Fusion, Pop/Rock and Westcoast, with quite a deadly
catchy chorus and basically being a summer-hit that should be played on all
radio stations. The tempo changes a bit during the next couple of songs that
are more Reggae meets Caribean Music meets African World Music, but especially
with the fantastic Konfizion, the band delivers a unique masterpiece, because
this 1970s/1980s influenced Progressive Rocksong is mixed with the island's
Sega music and the result is a very stunning and melodic song with great
guitarwork and very nice keyboards. Back to actually pure Reggae on the next
couple of songs, because both Kanser relasion and the very catchy Boutique la
street are both pure Reggae a la BOB MARLEY, yet of an incredible high level
with superb vocals. Deside nou combines the Reggae with Sega again and adds a
bit of relaxing Westcoast/Fusion ish vibes and is a wonderful catchy melodic
song that reminds me a lot of the classic westcoast/fusion sound of the 1980s
that became very popular in Japan. Pure Reggae is back in Shame on humanity,
which also reveals Jazz/Fusion elements, while Less li viv is a stronger calmer
jazzy popballad and closing track Valer morisien is a nice relaxing Seggae
Music tune that will please especially people who like BOB MARLEY's music being
mixed with a jazzy touch. Without a doubt, this album completely caught me by
surprise with it's unique mixture of Reggae, Jazz, Fusion, Westcoast, Sega and
strong melodic clean vocals, so if you want to try something beyond the usual
stuff, then do check out this album, which is available through https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=NXW76151-2
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
MIKE
THOMPSON 'NEEDFUL THINGS' (JAZZ AND AL MUSIC/USA IMPORT)
In the past we
reveiwed the debut album of singer/songwriter MIKE THOMPSON from Panama City,
Florida, so it is nice to see a new album of him popping up here. The 2nd album
is titled Needful things and basically follows the melodic rockstyle of his
previous album. The overall sound fits somewhere between FOREIGNER, PHIL
VINCENT, BON JOVI and JADED HEART, so this is pure Melodic Rock. The guitarwork
is very impressive and also the included songs are quite nice to listen to.
Mike gets a little help on this album from the band THE NORTH POLE TRIO
(multi-instrumentalist JJ CREWS, guitarist ANDREW PATE and guitarist BRENT
MASON). We have to wait until track number 6 before we get to hear an uptempo
tune and this particular song Wanderlust is immediately a superb uptempo
melodic rocker with a catchy memorable AOR ish chorus in classic 80s style. It
is after a few spins also the best song on the album. Another uptempo tune is
Can't go back, which is reminding me a bit of a cross between CARL DIXON and
LOVERBOY, with a surprising Soul/Gospel ish break that features guest singer
BRITT SAVAGE. The third and final uptempo rocker is In the air tonight, which
is a catchy little AOR tune. More of such uptempo rockers on a future record
would be recommended, because the balance is now more in favor of
midtempo/semi-ballad material. From those other 9 songs, the highlights are
Million miles (a nice semi-ballad), Fire from within (midtempo melodic rocker)
and She shines on (pretty good BON JOVI ish ballad). Mike is a talented
musician and with this new album he shows he is able to write good decent
melodic rocksongs, but secretly I hope for more of such catchy uptempo rockers
like Wanderlust on a future release, because during this song he really shines
and is at his best songwise, vocally and instrumentally! More info can be found
at: http://www.mikethompsonmusic.com/
(Points:
8.1 out of 10)
MRS.
FUN 'TRUTH' (FUNTIME RECORDS/ LASS ONYON PR/USA IMPORT)
Out of Milwaukee comes
the duo MRS. FUN, which is formed around drummer Kim Zick and
multi-instrumentalist (but primarily keyboardist) Connie Grauer. Together they
recorded quite a nice album titled Truth, which musically very diverse and
revealing influences from Jazz, Westcoast, Fusion, Prog and Symphonic Rock. 13
songs are on the album and if we have a look at the material, opener 19 is an
instrumental experimental keyboard orientated piece that takes elements of
classic KING CRIMSON prog and a bit of ZAPPA. Next song Process is the purpose
features vocals and is less proggy, but with Tula's turnaround we're back in
the experimental groovy mixture of Progrock and jazz/Fusion. Especially the
drums sound really interesting here, very complex like we only hear it in the
prog and jazz world. More laid-back ish material is also included and reminding
me a bit of STEELY DAN, such as during the vocal featured Silent mist/How
insensitive. The jazzy instrumental Soulful strut is a very relaxing, almost with
a Westcoast/Fusion kinda feeling. Big 80s keys open Zawinul, and basically this
is reminding me a lot of 3 and EMERSON LAKE PALMER/YES in the 80s, so a bit
symphonic rock orientated. You also get an instrumental STEELY DAN ish version
of the THE DOORS classic Light my fire, which is very well done indeed! House
party has a sorta 80s TV series theme tune feeling, so in the end, I am quite
surprised by this duo's album Truth and if you're open-minded, then this is
definitely worth checking out at: https://mrsfun.bandcamp.com/album/truth
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
THE TRUE
DECEIVERS 'MY OWN HIGHWAY' (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
Formed in 2003, the British band THE TRUE
DECEIVERS has built up a name in the Roots/Americana circuit. Their line-up
consists of Graham Firth (vocals and guitar), Nick Bliss (guitar, mandolin,
harmonica), Dee Coley (bass guitar), Jamie Legg (drums) and Rupert Lewis
(fiddle), and their 3rd album is titled My own highway,
released in 2020. I am not familiar with their earlier releases, but this new
one is a good strong record that has the true rootsy folk/Americana sound like
only the people from the British Islands are able to produce. The songs are
quite catchy and Graham has a strong voice, while the harmonyvocals make the
songs sound very melodic and there is something Irish Folk about them, although
they are really coming out of the south of England. The band is at their best
during the uptempo tunes, such as Tell em something I don’t already know, My
own highway, Changes round here and If I could only. At some moments there are
also TOM PETTY similarities, which can of course especially be heard during the
TOM PETTY cover Listen to her heart. If you fancy Roots/Americana Folkrock,
then this will definitely be up your alley! Check them out at: https://www.thetruedeceivers.com/
(Points:
8.1 out of 10)
JON
DURANT & ROBERT JURJENDAL 'ACROSS THE EVENING' (ALCHEMY RECORDS/GLASS ONYON
PR/USA IMPORT)
The album Across the evening by guitarists
Jon Durant from Boston, USA and Robert Jürjendal from Estland is quite an
adventure in search for new crossover music styles, exploring the world between
jazz, Progrock, Ambient and Sci-Fi Soundtrack sorta music. They got help from
trumpet player Aleksei Saks, percussionist Andi Pupato, vocalist Inna Kovtun,
and bassist Colin Edwin (PORCUPINE TREE). It’s quite hypnotic and sci-fi
orientated, with a prominent role for the guitar, making it sound like a
synthesizer somehow here and there. It actually sounds very relaxing and is for
the greater part instrumental modern calmer prog meets a bit of jazz, with some
interesting melodies created by a guitar, but as already mentioned it doesn't
sound like that at all, such as can be heard during the Middle Eastern melodies
influenced Mirage. The final song Balkan blue is a live recorded song with INNA
KOVTUN on vocals. Some songs are really beautiful, such as Beguiling eyes,
while there’s also time for some improvisations and experimental moves that do
recall memories of KING CRIMSON, although Jon and Robert keep things quite calm
most of the time. It is impressive to see 2 guitarists make a record together
that is never boring, because they are presenting high quality and very diverse
musicianship from start to finish. Check it out for yourself at: https://jondurant.bandcamp.com/album/across-the-evening
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
BOB
BELAND 'HAPPY CAMPER' (WRONG WAY WORKS/GLASS ONYON PR/USA IMPORT)
BOB BELAND is an American musician/songwriter
from Los Angeles, California. He has performed, written and recorded original
music ever since 1974, and his 8th album Happy Camper reflects upon his
experiences while living and performing in California since 1967. Interesting
fact is that he recently collaborated with 10CC legend Kevin Godley on a song
that will be released on Kevin's first solo album Muscle Memory, which should
be released in December 2020. Back to his own solo album Happy Camper, it is
musically quirky Powerpop meets Indie Pop/Rock based. The guest musicians
appearing on the album are Bob Gross (DEANNA BOGART BAND), Richard d'Andrea
(JOAN JETT, THE KNOW), Marty Korth (THE FURYS), Greg Embrey (THE FURYS), the
Canadian Smokey Fennell (DAVID GRAY) and Paula Kuhr (a classical violinist
who is a member of the MESTO orchestra who perform worldwide). Bob’s vocals are
not very strong, but his music is quite happy as the title says and highlights
include Something/Anything (early 80s uptempo quirky Powerpop a la MOON
MARTIN/DONNIE IRIS), the semi ballad I'll see you there and the westcoast ish
midtempo pop/rocker Heartbreakers and soultakers (a bit TOM PETTY ish). Check
it out for yourself at: https://soundcloud.com/bobbeland
(Points:
6.7 out of 10)
HANOVER
FIST '3' (INDEPENDENT/GLASS ONYON PR/USA IMPORT)
Not to be confused with the same named
Canadian Hardrock/Metalband HANOVER FIST, who had a release on MCA RECORDS back
in 1985 and disappeared from the face off the earth after that album. This
HANOVER FIST comes out of Wilmington, North Carolina, USA, was formed in 1996
and released two albums in the first 4 years entitled HF1 and Y2K.
After the passing of their drummer Jamie Mintz, remaining members Ronny Lamanna
(vocals, guitar) and Bud Shepard (bass) played in various projects. However in
2016, they found a new drummer Eric Stahle, who joined them and so the
threesome of HANOVER FIST was back rocking again. 3 is their new album and
musically we are definitely back in the Classic 80s US Hardrock/metal sound,
surprisingly not far removed from the Canadian namesake, yet better and more
melodic, such as can be heard during the semi-ballad Cats and dogs. Vocally
Ronny reminds me a bit of OZZY, although Ronny is a better singer and sounds
quite good actually. There’s some strong guitarwork going on here, which is
also coming from Ronny. 14 songs are included in total and this is really pure
1980s melodic hardrock/metal with the fist in the air as if it is still 1985!
Even the authentic sound of the album makes you wonder if this is some sort of
re-issue of old material, so it done very well and it also has a high quality
sound/production. The band is at their best during the uptempo pieces like
Dreamin, Room with a view (lovely!), See you again and closing track Mean old
ax (HEIR APPARENT/LEATHERWOLF ish). HANOVER FIST even included a cover of THE
SCORPIONS classic Black out, which they did quite well. I have to say that I
personally really enjoyed this classic 80s US Melodic Heavy Rock/Metal album,
so I can highly recommend it to the fans of this style! More info at: https://www.hanoverfist.com/
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
WIND
'PROGRESSION - A 25 YEAR PROGRESSIVE ROCK RETROSPECTIVE' (INDEPENDENT/USA
IMPORT)
The Progressive Rockband WIND consists of
husband and wife, Nori & Barbie Kelley, who are based in Lancaster county,
Pennsylvania. So far they have released 17 albums and Eps (!) together, of
which 4 since November 2019. Quite a productive band and thankfully the 2
albums they sent me contain quality progressive rock in the best 70s style of
bands like RENAISSANCE, MOSTLY AUTUMN, GLASS HAMMER and KARNATAKA. Nori is
originally from Japan, but raised in Alabama and living in the USA since his
childhood. As a guitarist he worked with members of KANSAS, YES, BONNIE RAITT
and many others, while Barbie comes from a musical family and has done many
recording sessions as well as currently starting to write a musical. She sings,
plays the flute, acoustic guitar and hand percussion in WIND. Bassist DOUG
STURGILL and guitarist/vocalist CARLY ROOKS complete the line-up. They sent me
an older album titled Seasons and a fresh new one titled PROGression, which is
a double compilation CD that covers the highlights of the 25 years WIND has
been making music, including songs from various albums they released through
the years. 22 (mostly lengthy) songs are included, of which the best ones
are Winter (very relaxing pure 70s calmer prog a la PINK FLOYD, with a
beautiful guitarsolo), Heal our land (pretty good semi melodic rockballad with
catchy chorus, somehow a bit Christian Rock/AOR sounding), the impressive
instrumental Over the horizon, the melodic rock/AOR song I forgive them (pure
late 70s/early 80s) and the instrumental 11 minutes counting Floydian slip,
which is of course PINK FLOYD influenced. Their album Seasons from 2016, which
was also sent to me, it is included here with quite a few songs, so this 2016
album seems to be their finest record so far. I think this best of gives you a
good idea on WIND and they are definitely recommended if you’re into the calmer
70s progrocksound of bands like CAMEL, RENAISSANCE, GLASS HAMMER, PINK FLOYD
and such. More info at: http://windmusic.us/ and https://windworld.bandcamp.com/album/progression-double-album
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
DAVID
WATKINSON ‘JON ANDERSON AND THE WARRIORS – THE ROAD TO YES BOOK’ (SONIC BOND
PUBLISHING/UK IMPORT)
The die-hard YES fans
will probably be very interested in checking out this book, because it covers
the period before vocalist JON ANDERSON joined YES in 1968. He actually started
in the Beatgroup THE WARRIORS in the 1960s and that’s what the main portion of
this book is about. Author DAVID WATKINSON already wrote a book about YES, but
now follows it up with this new pre-YES book about Jon only. David has been a
collector of everything that has something to do with YES since 1975, so I
think he’s going to open a YES museum in the future. Meanwhile in this new book
he shows part of his pre-YES collection, with rare photos of Jon before he was
in YES and also pictures of the very first YES line-up. The story follows the
whereabouts of a young JON ANDERSON looking to become the next star in the THE
BEATLES footsteps. However, he really changed the world when he joined CHRIS
SQUIRE and founded YES in 1968. YES became one of the biggest
Symphonic/Progressive Rockbands ever and they have influenced thousands of
musicians and bands. It is of course always interesting to read about the early
days and that is basically what this book is doing, so any YES fan must check
out this great book by David at: https://burningshed.com/david-watkinson_jon-anderson-and-the-warriors_pb-book
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
MAGICAL
HEART 'ANOTHER WONDERLAND' (FASTBALL MUSIC/GERMANY IMPORT)
Another wonderland is
the 2018 debut album of the German band MAGICAL HEART. This band is playing
typical nice typical German Melodic Hardrock with clear 1980s influences, PINK
CREAM 69/DOMAIN ish most of the time. 11 songs are included on this first
album, of which the highlights are the uptempo pieces, such as Silence and
dreams, Magic (catchy), See the light and Shadows (bit PRETTY MAIDS). The vocals
are clearly with a strong German accent, kinda like MATT SINNER. Some more
diversity in the tempo wouldn't hurt, although the mentioned uptempo rockers
are quite nice nevertheless, but furthermore no surprises to be found here,
just a good production and interesting material for fans of PC 69, SINNER,
DOMAIN, BONFIRE, VICE, VICTORY, MAD MAX, etc. Towards the end of the album it
gets a bit weaker, but it sure ain't bad at all! More info at: http://magicalheart.de/
(Points:
7.8 out of 10)
EXESS 'DEUS
EX MACHINA' (FASTBALL MUSIC/GERMANY IMPORT)
Switzerland stands for
quality rock most of the time and usually the Swiss bands also have strong lead singers and EXESS is no exception
to that rule. This female fronted band makes their debut with Deus ex machina
and I have to say it sounds quite sensational! The band was formed in 2016
around Guitarist Stéphane "Front", Vocalist Céline, Drummer Alan and
Bassist David "DP". The only pity might be that there are only 9
songs on the album, including a lovely cover of the pop/soul classic Sleeping
satellite as bonustrack. However if the music is really good, then it's no
problem at all, except for the fact you want to hear more of them, which
happens to be the case here. Céline is a great female singer and also musically
EXESS is going for strong Melodic Hardrock, with a groovy light Progressive Metal
twist here and there, but always keeping the focus on harmonyvocal driven catchy
hooks and melodic choruses. The best songs are Not an eternal day, Find a
shelter and The letter (superb and very melodic, almost with an AOR chorus!),
but actually all of the 9 included tracks are winners here. There is a perfect
balance between Melodic Hardrock, AOR and Progressive Metal, with a prominent
role for the band's awesome singer! There is also a calmer semi-ballad included,
which is the beautiful Bittersweet lullaby, and here Céline shows what an incredible
singer she is! The only let-down is the death metal growling in the song
Nothing is left, but aside from that, this is a surprisingly sensational band
we have here! Highly recommended to the fans of female fronted Melodic
Hard/Heavy Rock. More info at: https://en.exess.ch/
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
HELLRIDE
'GOODBYES TO FOREVER' (FASTBALL MUSIC/GERMANY IMPORT)
The German band
HELLRIDE has been active for quite some time now and in that period they became
a household name in the Metal industry thanks to succesfull performances at the
big Metal Festivals, such as WACKEN OPEN AIR. The band consists only of 2
acoustic guitarists (Kai Pasemann and Stefan Gassner) and a vocalist (Tom
Klossek), and what they are doing is basically described as melodic Acoustic
Metal, which sounds very impressive actually. It is something different than
the usual stuff, because songs like Someone to hate and the excellent
Napoleonized sound very convincing as being pure Metal, despite the fact that
only 2 acoustic guitars and a singer are hearable. Tom is a great strong singer
in the style of DEE SNIDER and their new album Goodbyes to forever just seems
to sound like a great Metalbum! Besides the aforementioned songs, other
interesting tracks are Air supremacy (a melodic rockballad with drums!), Metal
this not is (pure TENACIOUS D) and the ROD STEWART cover Young turks, which is done
exceptionally well! This is quality stuff for sure and any Metalhead or any
musicfan should check this out to hear unplugged Metal at it's best. More info
at: https://fastball-music.bandcamp.com/album/goodbyes-to-forever
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
MALEFISTUM
'ENEMY' (FASTBALL MUSIC/GERMANY IMPORT)
Multi-instrumentalist
JENS FABER of DAWN OF DESTINY founded MALEFISTUM in 2019 and less than a year
later the debut album Enemy is already released. Jens almost does everything on
his own, but there are a few guests, such as lead singer MELISSA BONNY of AD
INFINITUM, who sings on most of the songs and she seems to be a very diverse
vocalist, as she is able to both growl and sing normally in a melodic clean
range. Also the music is a mixture of Melodic Death Metal and Neo-Classical
Power Metal, so it is sorta a mix between ARCH ENEMY, NIGHTWISH, THEOCRACY and
SONATA ARCTICA/KAMELOT. The production is of a very high level, Jens is a
wonderchild regarding the instruments and fans of the aforementioned bands will
absolutely love this album, because it has a lot of the typical very fast but
catchy melodic singable chorus driven songs included all over the album, such
as This memory, Left without a cause (hello NIGHTWISH!), Time and The seed in
your life. The calmer ballad Fear of tomorrow is a step back to a pure AFTER
FOREVER/NIGHTWISH/WITHIN TEMPTATION dramatic epic ballad direction and here
Melissa shows what an incredible singer she is! Recommended if you're looking
for a beauty and the beast fast melodic fantasy power metal adventure! More
info at: https://fastball-music.bandcamp.com/album/enemy
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
FUDGE 'DUST
TO COME' (FASTBALL MUSIC/GERMANY IMPORT)
The modern metal sounding German band
FUDGE was founded in December 2012 and have meanwhile released a couple of
EP's. Dust to come however is their official first full-length record and it is
clear from the start that FUDGE is taking things more to the aggressive side of
Metal. CROWBAR, PANTERA, RAMMSTEIN and METALLICA influences can clearly be
traced here, but it has as mentioned also a modern sorta symphonic metal touch
due to the fact that singer Chris Techritz also plays synthesizers. The other
members in the band are Maximilian Amberger (lead guitars), Sebastian Michaelis
(rythm guitars), Daniel Hauer (bass) and Jake Curtis (drums). Although not bad
at all, FUDGE are a bit too much going for the more extreme aggressive vocals
most of the time, despite their Metal is instrumentally speaking quite melodic
and symphonic actually (RAMMSTEIN). Check for yourself at: https://fudge-official.com/band/
(Points:
- out of 10)
DEMONHEAD
'BLACK DEVIL LIES' (FASTBALL
MUSIC/GERMANY IMPORT)
Out of Melbourne, Australia comes the
sensational Melodic Metalband DEMONHEAD. They were formed in 2007 and released
their debut Bring on the moon in 2015. The band has a very strong clean lead singer
called DAVE LOWERS, who also plays guitar and the rest of the line-up consists
of Rüe Power- Lead Guitar, Dean Lewer - Drums and Azz Mammoth - Bass. Their
music is pure Melodic Heavy Metal, with a touch of Power Metal, very close to
the European wave of bands from the early 2000s (DREAM EVIL, NOCTURNAL RITES,
MYSTIC PROPHECY and such) and also somehow reminding me of a band like
NOISEHUNTER if anyone can remember them! The band's new album sounds very
impressive, with 13 tracks included in total, most of them being uptempo with
memorable hooks and choruses to sing-a-long to and big fat heavy guitar riffs
out of the Heavy Metal Book. Highlights are Betrayal avenged (a superb uptempo
melodic power metal piece that has similarities to classic NOCTURNAL RITES),
Children of the night (DREAM EVIL meets MYSTIC PROPHECY, European Melodic Power
Metal at it's best!), Eyes of the insane (NOISEHUNTER meets MYSTIC PROPHECY)
and Face your demons. Definitely a band to check out if you like the mentioned
bands (especially MYSTIC PROPHECY), because DEMONHEAD fits right in between
them, although here and there they also add a slight more modern extreme metal
touch (gang-vocals) to their sound, but most of the time it's pure Melodic
Metal! More info at: http://www.demonhead.com.au/
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
FROM
HELL 'RATS & RAVENS' (FASTBALL
MUSIC/GERMANY IMPORT)
The American band or
should I say project FROM HELL is the brainchild of producer/singer/songwriter/guitarist
GEORGE ANDERSON (aka ALEISTER SINN) who had a vision to create a Horror Metal
band with lyrics that are situated in ancient Eastern Europe. Together with
guitarist STEVE SMYTH (TESTAMENT, NEVERMORE and countless others), bassist
STEPHEN PAUL GOODWIN (VICIOUS RUMORS, BRAD GILLIS) and drummer WESLEY ANDERSON,
FROM HELL recorded their 2nd album Rats & ravens, which is musically a very
dark and close to extreme sounding metalbum that sometimes has NEVERMORE or
SAVATAGE similarities, but heavier and edgier in especially the vocal
department, which is almost growling. If we throw in some VENOM into the
melting pot, you get a little close to FROM HELL. It's not Black or Power
Metal, but somewhere between heaven and hell, and probably closer to hell in this
case! More info at: https://thisbandisfromhell.bandcamp.com/
(Points:
- out of 10)
CROWN
OF GLORY 'AD INFINITUM' (FASTBALL
MUSIC/GERMANY IMPORT)
Formed all the way
back in the 1990s, the Swiss band CROWN OF GLORY has quietly built a reputation
throughout the past 25 years, with a number of releases. Ad infinitum is their
latest album and I must admit that it sounds really good. The band's line up
consists of Hene Muther (vocals), Philipp Meier (keyboards), Markus Muther
(guitar), Hungi Berglas (guitar), Jonas Lüscher (bass) and Lukas Soland
(drums). The vocals are not superstrong (kinda EDGUY ish), but this is saved by
the production (especially during Emporium of dreams and the ballad Surrender
this can be heard very clearly). However, the band is doing things quite well
in general due to the infectious choruses they present in most of the songs. Highlights
are Something (featuring guest singer SERAINA TELLI, a catchy uptempo Melodic
(Power) Metal song with cool keys and a strong harmonyvocal driven chorus that
mixes male and female vocals, a bit reminding of KAMELOT meets SONATA ARCTICA),
Let's have a blast (a catchy uptempo melodic heavy rocker with a sorta big
anthemic Arena-rock/H.E.A.T. ish chorus and a lovely guitarsolo), Infinity (the
kind of fast power metal catchy melodic chorus driven song that will please the
fans of SONATA ARCTICA and HELLOWEEN, as they will be dancing all night to such
songs!) and What I'm made and Say my name (both wonderful catchy uptempo
melodic rockers with choruses you will be singing for days after you heard it
the first time around, not far from H.E.A.T, NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA and
especially CAPTAIN BLACK BEARD). Conclusion is that we have a nice mixture here
of Melodic Rock and Power Metal, so go check them out at: https://www.crown-of-glory.ch
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
VANISH 'ALTERED
INSANITY' (FASTBALL MUSIC/GERMANY
IMPORT)
The German band VANISH
has been in the scene for a few decades now and this Altered insanity is their
latest release, which is actually a mini-CD, with guest vocalists RALF
SCHEEPERS and TIM RIPPER OWENS. Although not all 5 songs are convincing,
because the aggressive Disbelief and the Heaven and Hell cover is not really
impressive, the band does come up with a couple of sensational Melodic Metal
pieces such as We become what we are and the superb ICED EARTH orientated The
grand design. This final song on the album features RALF SCHEEPERS of PRIMAL
FEAR on vocals. Nice little record from VANISH and this will probably soon be
followed by a full-length album. More info at: www.vanish-metal.com
(Points:
8.1 out of 10)
VLAD IN
TEARS 'DEAD STORIES OF FORSAKEN LOVERS'
(ECHOZONE/GERMANY IMPORT)
I was not that
familiar with the German band VLAD IN TEARS, but they already deliver their 8th
album with Dead stories of forsaken lovers. The band was originally formed in
Italy, but the family Vlad moved to Germany in 2012 where they successfully
built their career of their band VLAD IN TEARS, which consists of the family
Vlad (Kris (vocals & piano), Lex (guitar), Dario (bass) and Xander
(drums)), Together they create very melodic dark gothic rock that is dangerously
close to classic HIM and the countless similar sounding Goth bands from the
90s/00s, but also for example SISTERS OF MERCY, POETS OF THE FALL, THE ALARM
and such. Especially the uptempo rockers on this album, which are quite a lot
actually, those are the finest songs with as absolute highlights We die
together, Born again, Dead, Broken dreams and Tears won't fall (almost pure
melodic hardrock), while also the strong melodic rock ish ballad Sleep love
sleep needs to be mentioned. There's no doubt about it that HIM fans will love
VLAD IN TEARS! Check them out at: http://vladintears.com/
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
DEVILS
BRIDGE 'ENDLESS RESTLESS' (FASTBALL
MUSIC/GERMANY IMPORT)
The Swiss female
fronted band DEVILS BRIDGE make their debut with this mini-CD titled Endless
restless. Without a doubt, we have here a very talented young hard rocking band
with a superb lead singer called DANI NELL. The sound is huge and quite groovy,
and the band is close to modern metal with massive guitar riffs, but still
featuring pleasant melodies due to of course the wonderful vocals of Dani. Sadly
only 6 songs are included, because this is high quality stuff and you really
want to hear much more! They remind me a bit of BENEDICTUM, and the highlights
here are the uptempo 555, the midtempo Captain devil and Fire free (huge
melodic catchy chorus). Short but sweet review of a band with a bright future,
so let's hope they are able to deliver a full-length release soon. Meanwhile
check them out at: https://www.devilsbridge.ch/
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
SEA
GIRLS 'OPEN UP YOUR HEAD VINYL RECORD' (POLYDOR/UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP/UK
IMPORT)
It's all about anthems
on the debut album Open up your head of the much-praised London based band SEA
GIRLS. They were formed when the members met each other in highschool back in
2015. Henry Camamile (vocals, guitar), Rory Young (lead guitar), Andrew Noswad
(bass), and Oli Khan (drums) are their names, and together they bring exciting
refreshing and very catchy typical modern day synth driven melodic
indie/powerpoprock. The past 5 years they have released quite a lot EPs and
singles that generated a lot of attention, which resulted in a major label
deal, because POLYDOR/UNIVERSAL MUSIC signed the band and present us here on
vinyl the SEA GIRLS debut album. No less than 14 songs are included on the
album and opener is Transplant. This first track is a picture-perfect modern
sounding uptempo melodic radio/indie poprocker in the style of THE KILLERS, THE
STROKES, WHITE LIES, THE SLOW READERS CLUB... All I want to hear you say
follows the same direction, so this is another catchy hookladen tune that will
be loved by fans of aforementioned bands. Next track Do you really wanna know?
goes a bit further and digs in the 1980s synthpop/powerpop direction, with a
hook and chorus that sounds like a bubblegum radio-ready mixture of RICK
SPRINGFIELD and THE CARS, so this is a job well done I would conclude here! It
seems like the guys are keen to quickly continue with more super catchy songs,
although with Lie to me they slowly drift into a more midtempo direction. Call
me out is speeding up the tempo again and is yet another winner for fans of the
modern British synth driven melodic rocking sound of WHITE LIES, THE SLOW
READERS CLUB... Here and there also similarities to bands like WAR ON DRUGS and
BEAR'S DEN are possible, but the typical British accent of Henry and the way of
approaching things in general makes you forget those comparisons immediately. Closer
is a somewhat jumping almost DURAN DURAN/PSEUDO ECHO ish synthpop tune, while Forever
is the final song on Side-A, and this is perhaps one of the strongest songs on
the album, as Henry does his best to sound like BONO here and he actually gets
away with it, because this is back to the 1980s U2 the way we would like them
to hear them as well!
Side-B opens with
Weight in Gold that somehow reminds me a lot of THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM crossed
with THE KILLERS, so another killer radio-ready anthem we have here. Ready for
more is yet another uptempo piece, this time a bit more early 80s Powerpoprock,
again in the style of those early 80s RICK SPRINGFIELD albums, yet with a
modern synth touch of course. Things become rockier on Violet, which is
definitely the heaviest song on the album, being a damn catchy uptempo melodic
rocking tune with a killer chorus in the style of INHALER. Back to midtempo
again with Shake, another rocking tune, this time close to THE STROKES. No
surprise of course, but following Damage done is back to the catchy
radiofriendly uptempo poprocksound and is yet another great tune, actually
making it hard to choose a radio-hit here, because they are all hit potential!
The piano-ballad You over anyone has a Let it be of THE BEATLES kinda feeling,
although the song itself is not that far away from a band like KEANE. Closing
the album is Moving on, a midtempo synthpop tune that is dangerously close to
BLOSSOMS.
Despite the guys are
not really original in their sound, they do know how to come up with 14 catchy
tunes, so I am safe to say that this SEA GIRLS is one for the big masses and if
only corona did not get in the way, these guys could easily become the next big
British band. Along with THE SLOW READERS CLUB, this SEA GIRLS are the hope for
the future generation in British pop/rockmusic. More info at: https://www.seagirls.net/
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
TODD
SUCHERMAN 'LAST FLIGHT HOME' (AQUA PULSE
RECORDS/USA IMPORT)
For over 25 years now,
TODD SUCHERMAN has been the drummer for STYX, and I actually never knew he is
also able to sing. This can be heard on Todd's first solo-album Last flight
home, which has recently been released. Todd is no TOMMY SHAW or DENNIS DEYOUNG
of course, but for the music he presents us on Last flight home, it perfectly
fits. The songs are mostly in a slowtempo or midtempo direction, with somehow
for me personally a sorta 1990s kinda feeling musically speaking, yet with some
THE BEATLES influences as well, especially during a song like Sacred book of
favorite days. The songs are very melodic and sometimes even poetric in a
singer/songwriter AOR direction (a la JOHN WAITE/MARK SPIRO), such as the
lovely Ad lib everything and An invitation, which are both sensational songs
with a real melancholic feeling of the good old days. I also hear similarities
to NEAL MORSE sometimes, so I think you'll get the picture in which direction
you need to look for. Joining him on the album are his wife TAYLOR MILLS (of
whom we reviewed a CD 13 years ago!) on backing vocals, NICHOLAS MARKOS on
electric guitar, TOM WARDLE on acoustic guitar, MICHAEL BAHAN on tablas, a
string section and multi-instrumentalist J.K. HARRISON, who plays most
instruments here except of course the drums, which are likewise being take care
of by Todd himself. Other highlights besides the aforementioned songs are the
uptempo rocking The damage and the semi-ballads She's red velvet and I can't
use them anymore. This album is really a surprise and despite all the praising
for the new DENNIS DEYOUNG album on FRONTIERS RECORDS, I think this TODD
SUCHERMAN solo debut album is actually better and should definitely be heard by
anyone who likes their music to sound very melodic, yet in a sorta 90s/00s singer/songwriter-AOR
direction of artists like JOHN WAITE, MARK SPIRO, PHILIP BARDOWELL, DAN LUCAS,
WAYNE SMART, BRYAN ADAMS, etc. More info can be found at: http://www.toddsucherman.com/
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
NINE
LIES 'ENDEMIC PROMO CDR' (INDEPENDENT/NORTHERN IRELAND IMPORT)
The Northern Ireland
band NINE LIES is back with a superstrong new album titled Endemic. In the past
we reviewed one of their earlier records and it seems like they have become more
and more popular in especially their homecountry. The band was formed in
Belfast back in 2003 and their line-up consists of Stevie Mann (vocals, lyrics
and production), Dave Kernohan (guitar and vocals), Nick Black (guitars),
Stephen 'Stoogie' McAuley (drums) and John Rossi (bass guitar, keyboards and
vocals, ex-SNOW PATROL). 11 songs are included on this 3rd album and most of
the songs are uptempo and balance somewhere between AOR and Melodic (Hard)
Rock. The vocals are very strong and each and every song is built around a
catchy hook and a memorable melodic chorus, and as mentioned the songs are
mostly following a fun uptempo melodic rocking direction that reminds me of THE
PROMISE, LOST WEEKEND, early HAREM SCAREM, HONEYMOON SUITE, MORITZ and such
melodic rockbands, so Canadian meets UK AOR/Melodic Rock. Highlights among
those uptempo melodic rockers are Slippin away (very close to that 90s Scottish
Melodic Rockband THE PROMISE), Gotta hand it to you (even a bit AORish in the
style of the legendary fellow Belfast AOR band WINTER'S REIGN!), Touch the sky
(HAREM SCAREM style) and the LOVERBOYish 80s Poprocker Too late. The band also
throws in a (semi) melodic rockballad towards the end, which is Truth will out,
a song reminding me a bit of SHOGUN, SHY and CHROME MOLLY, if anyone can
remember those bands! Anyway, this is well done guys and Endemic is definitely
highly recommended to all the AOR/Melodic Rockfans out there! More info at: http://www.ninelies.net
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
IT'S
ALIE 'LILITH' (ROCKS OF ANGELS RECORDS/GORDEON MUSIC/GERMAN IMPORT)
Out of Italy comes IT'S ALIE, a
sensational new female fronted Melodic Hardrockband with a huge sound on their
debut album Lilith. The band is formed around Giorgia Colleluori - Vocals,
Raffaello Indri - Guitar, Camillo Colleluori - Drums and Simon Dredo - Bass.
Giorgia is a great singer, who reminds me a bit of DORO and also musically the
WARLOCK similarities are present. The band got help from a few well-seasoned guest
musicians, such as guitarists Jorn Viggo Lofstad (PAGAN'S MIND, JORN) and Alex
Beyrodt (PRIMAL FEAR, VOODOO CIRCLE), while MAT SINNER sings a duet and
produced the album, which was by the way mixed and mastered by DENNIS WARD
(PINK CREAM 69). All together a nice line-up of involved musicians and the
result is therefore also a very strong massive sounding album that is mostly
Melodic Hardrock/Metal orientated, with as best songs Silver, Lost (excellent
chorus), the MAT SINNER duet Hurt and the beautiful semi-Melodic Rockballad
Eyes (very 80s sounding like ENVY, MISSLEAD and MEGHAN, superb song!). Between
the 12 included songs are also a couple of fillers and there is a HEART cover
(Barracuda) towards the end of the record, but for a debut album, this sounds
really good and especially Giorgia is an excellent singer. Although she has a
slight accent, we accepted this in the 1980s from the German singers in
WARLOCK, ROUGH and countless others as well, so it is no problem here either,
especially since the music is also close to those legendary bands. Check them
out at: www.facebook.com/itsalieband
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
MIKE
ZITO 'QUARANTINE BLUES' (GULF COAST RECORDS/USA IMPORT)
American
singer/songwriter/guitarist MIKE ZITO is quite a busy musician and when corona
hit big time while touring in Europe, he flew back to The States and started
recording an album he would share for free. The result is a fantastic album
titled Quarantine blues, which is probably the first album to be entirely
written and recorded during the corona crisis. The result is very good, with a
wonderful Mike on both vocals and guitars. In total 11 tracks are included, of
which the highlights are Looking out this window (a great midtempo rocker with
a TOM PETTY vibe), Don't touch me (a straight-ahead melodic hardrocksong like
GARY MOORE did in the 1980s or even CROWN OF THORNS, with a classic rocking
vibe and LENNY KRAVITZ ish vocalwork, Mike worked with TRACII GUNS of LA
GUNS/GUNS'N'ROSES on this song by the way!), the Southern Rock ish ballad What
it used to be. This is actually perhaps Mike's finest effort so far, because it
is little less bluesrock on a few songs and combine other rocking influences.
This makes it a very diverse album, although the overall feeling of the record
is of course still bluesrock, which can best be heard during Walking the
street, the sensational Dark raven, the midtempo Call of the wild and the
calmer After the storm. Check out this strong new corona album from MIKE ZITO,
an underrated vocalist/guitarist who definitely deserves a lot more attention.
More info at: https://www.mikezito.com/
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
KAPREKAR'S
CONSTANT 'DEPTH OF FIELD/MEANWHILE' (TALKING ELEPHANT RECORDS/UK IMPORT)
It's quite unbelievable that the British
band KAPREKAR'S CONSTANT is not yet so familiar with most people, because what
they are bringing us on their latest album Depth of field is of an incredible
high level. The album is their 2nd so far and if we have a look at the line-up,
we can find a member of the legendary band VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR, namely
David Jackson on saxophone, flute, whistles. The rest of the band consists of
Dorie Jackson/vocals, Al Nicholson/acoustic guitar, electric guitar, classic
guitar, mandolin, keyboards, Nick Jefferson/bass, electric guitar, keyboards,
Mike Westergaard (THE BLESSING)/keyboards, piano, vocals, William
Jefferson/vocals and Mark Walker/drums. 7 songs are on the album, of which a
few are quite lengthy, especially the 23 minutes counting White star's sunrise.
If we go through the songs, we can get deeper into the sound of KAPREKAR'S
CONSTANT. When the male vocals come through during opener Rosherville part 1, I
immediately connected with them, because they sound very pleasant to the ears.
The music itself is also quite superb and very 1970s based, in the typical
British calmer slower melodic Progressive Rock direction of bands like CAMEL,
PINK FLOYD and such, although halfway the song the tempo changes a bit and goes
into a slightly more uptempo Symphonic Rock direction a la KAYAK. We can also
hear strong female vocals somewhere in the middle, so basically this is really
a perfect start of the adventure of KAPREKAR'S CONSTANT. The somewhat shorter
Holywell street follows in the same path and is also very impressive. Next
track Ghost planes starts uptempo Symphonic a la ASIA before changing after a
minute into a lovely calmer melodic progrock song again, in the PINK
FLOYD/CAMEL/ALAN PARSONS PROJECT style, with also a beautiful stunning catchy
melodic chorus. Following track The nightwatchman is even calmer and
acoustic/piano tingled, with a slight Folk touch as wel. Then comes that long
epic White star's sunrise, a real 1970s Progressive Rock journey about the
legendary steamboat ships that left Northern Ireland to set sail for the New
Worlds 100 years ago. The music is as mentioned quite calm and progrock
orientated, but then without the long instrumental complex passages, because
this band is all about the melodies and can therefore best be compared to bands
like PINK FLOYD and ALAN PARSONS PROJECT. Also the other songs on Depth of
field and the 4 lovely songs on their new 2020 EP Meanwhile… are
following that route, so I can highly recommend KAPREKAR'S CONSTANT to the fans
of old-school melodic calmer progressive rock! More info at: http://www.kaprekarsconstant.com/
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
BOBBY
MCK 'LOST INNOCENCE' (INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
We recently reviewed
an album of multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter BOBBY MCK from Missouri,
USA and he was kind enough to send me also his Lost innocence CD as well as a
new mix 7.2.1. mix of his recent album. The music is AOR/Melodic Rock in 80s
style, such as Hold on, which is a nice bluesy AOR/Melodic Rocker and Hold on
to your heart, which is strong 80s influenced uptempo Melodic Hardrock in the
style of DOKKEN and STRYPER, with awesone shredding guitarwork. Other highlights
are the ballad Don't look away and the uptempo melodic rockers My lady and
Nowhere, while on the new mix CDR, the song Walking with the angels is a very
nice semi AOR ballad. Sometimes it really feels like the 1990s independent
melodic rockalbums I received 20+ years ago and also PHIL VINCENT is a good
comparison here. The only thing is that vocally it is not so strong, because
Bobby sings in a monotone lower octave and for AOR/Melodic Rock the vocalist is
very important, as he or she needs to be able to reach those higher notes (see
JOURNEY/SURVIVOR/FOREIGNER for example). I would recommend Bobby to look for a
singer, because that would definitely bring a new dimension to his melodic Rock
music. Check out more at: www.bobbymck.com
(Points:
7.3 out of 10)
ARCANA
KINGS 'LIONS AS RAVENS' (BAD REPUTATION RECORDS/FRANCE IMPORT)
Lions as ravens is the debut album of the
Canadian band ARCANA KINGS, although they were previously known as THE JOHNNY
MCCUAIG BAND. They already built a name in their part of the world and are
proud of the fact that their song Here we go is played before every game of the
The Saskatchwan Roughriders. Anyway, they call themselves an Arena Rockband,
but what sets them apart from the rest is the fact their bandleader Johnny
McQuaig is not only singing and playing guitar, he is also playing bagpipes.
This is of course not common in the Arena/Classic Hardrockgenre, so an
interesting side-fact, although the music is not really different from other
bands in this genre. The rest of the band is James Picton - Lead guitar,
Allan Morrison - Rhythm guitar, backing vocals, Kevin Kyle - Bass
and Martin Zinger - Drums, backing vocals. Only 9 songs are included, and
regarding the Bagpipes, they can be heard very clearly in the aforementioned
Here we go. Johnny is a very good charismatic singer, who gives the band an own
identity with a fresh modern approach and actually ARCANA KINGS is quite
sensational here and there. They only should have left out the SLADE cover Run
runaway, because their own original songs are much better than this average
cover. If we look at the highlights, we can find 4 songs that standout,
starting with Unbreakable, which is a bit more uptempo aor/melodic rock ish and
is basically a very strong superb catchy tune that has hit potential (80s Out
in the fields style meets GOTTHARD), so this is definitely a highly recommended
must-hear song that gives you that good feeling of fun and rock and roll like
in the good old days when rock was all about fun and having a good time. Mother
is a lovely midtempo big time melodic rocker with anthemic chorus to
sing-a-long to, Fight is another anthemic uptempo melodic hardrocker and
Modern Man is the kind of modern guitar rock riff/anthemic chorus that should
gain them a lot of popularity, so this could well be a very catchy radio-ready
hit tune. Concluded, a nice band with a mixture of various rockstyles, because
the songs I haven’t mentioned yet are mostly rougher Classic Hardrock orientated.
Check them out for yourself at: https://www.arcanakings.com/
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
ERIC
MCFADDEN 'EMF DOES AC/DC' (BAD REPUTATION RECORDS/FRANCE IMPORT)
Californian Blues
Guitarist ERIC MCFADDEN has already released a lot of album and now pays
tribute to AC/DC with his latest album EMF Does AC/DC and normally speaking I
would pass, but Eric did it in such an original way, I am glad I was able to
hear the album. It is a very cool acoustic tribute, so the 12 included songs on
EMF Does AC/DC sound completely different than the originals and that is
exactly what you need to when covering someone else’s work. Eric also has a
voice that is more bluesy and JOHNNY CASH ish, so this contributes to the fact
this does not sound like AC/DC at all, despite these are all AC/DC songs. Eric
gave it a new twist and if you just listen to Whole lotta Rosie for example,
you can hear how well it is done! Recommend to check out if you want to hear
really original covers of AC/DC classics like Hells bells, Rock n roll
damnation, You shook me all night long, Sin city, It’s a long way to the top,
etc. etc. Check out all on Eric at: https://www.ericmcfadden.com
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
WRECKING
CREW 'FUN IN THE DOGHOUSE' (BAD REPUTATION RECORDS/FRANCE IMPORT)
Now this is really
interesting and sensational as well, because the Australian band WRECKING CREW
recorded an album way back in 1993 with producer KEVIN SHIRLEY (JOURNEY/IRON
MAIDEN/JOE BONAMASSA/MR. BIG and countless others). However, the album did not
get a lot of attention back then, which is correct, because I was already
following the scene quite close around 1993 and I can’t remember anything about
them. They released a few singles, but I guess the changing music climate
killed the band and so it is a fantastic gift from the French label BAD
REPUTATION RECORDS to re-release the album Fun in the doghouse with new artwork
which was done by MARK WILKINSON (MARILLION/JUDAS PRIEST/IRON MAIDEN) and the
addition of 3 new songs besides the 10 original remastered songs from 1993. It
also feels like a whole new album to most of us and it should also be treated
like this, because WRECKING CREW is also back as a band after 25 years! The
sound is very early 90s groovy Hardrock, which is quite clear when listening to
the songs, but that is no problem at all, because they sound really sensational
and come across like a mix between TESLA and GREAT WHITE, so with a bluesy
touch as well. The band’s singer DAVE WILKINS has a great voice and the sound
of the band is of a very high level, so it is great this band is back with this
album to re-launch their career. Highlights are Welcome to the circus, Sister mercy,
Going down (this is really back to 1990 with its chorus reminding of so many
major label signed acts back then, just before the grunge hype), Soul train
(groovy bluesy mixture of KINGDOM COME/BADLANDS/SALTY DOG) and the uptempo
Round and round (uptempo with a lot of soul, BLACK CROWES ish). Available
through https://badreputation.fr/REISSUES
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
RICKY
DIAMOND 'ALREADY DEAD' (BAD REPUTATION RECORDS/FRANCE IMPORT)
At first I thought
this was a singer called RICKY DIAMOND, but this concerns a 3-piece band with
the name RICKY DIAMOND and they hail from the southeast of Spain. Originally
the members come from different places, because Arikat Yuseft (Vocals &
Guitars) is half Spanish, half Palestinian, Iban Rubio (Bass Guitar) is Spanish
and Max Evilsen (Drums & Percussions) is Danish and the music on their
debut Already dead is big fat heavy stoner rock with massive metal riffs. They
sound American, dirty, mean and quite rough, sometimes quite aggressive and
groovy, almost like PANTERA during Sweet & salty, but thankfully it is all
of a very high level actually and more melodic during songs like W.T.O.I.L.,
Doglike devotion, Bullet in your soul and Wall of stone. I think this is a bit
borderline Metal for some of you, but if you appreciate the MASTODON, HIGH ON
FIRE and the aforementioned PANTERA, so a mix of Stoner Rock and 90s groovy
aggressive Metal, you might want to check out RICKY DIAMOND, because what they
are doing on their first album Already dead is quite good. You can hear more
at: https://rickydiamond.bandcamp.com/album/already-dead
(Points:
7.6 out of 10)
2 BIG
MC'S 'LIVE AT THE PATRIMONIO' (BAD REPUTATION RECORDS/FRANCE IMPORT)
2 BIG MC’s stands for
2 guitarists, PAT MCMANUS and ERIC MCFADDEN. Pat is from North Ireland and best
known as member of the legendary MAMA’S BOYS, while Eric is a solo guitarist
with a number of releases, including the recent AC/DC acoustic tribute, and he
also worked with bands like JACKSON BROWNE, ERIC BURDON and FISHBONE. The 2 got
together one hot summer night at a French guitar festival on the island of
Corsica. The result can now be heard on this live album, which consists of a
lot of covers and own material, including Pat doing a MAMA’S BOYS original!
Anyway, the music is likewise bluesy rock/classic rock and it is all done quite
well and it must have been wonderful if you experienced it also live those 2
nights. I have to say that Pat’s voice is not as good as Eric, who has a much
stronger voice. It starts with Pat and his PAT MCMANUS BAND with 3 songs before
Eric joins him on 2 covers (JIMI HENDRIX’ Purple haze and ZZ TOP’s La Grange)
and later on, Eric takes over with his ERIC MCFADDEN TRIO. Eris is definitely
live the best of the 2 performers, although Pat is also a pretty good
guitarist. Check out more at: https://badreputation.fr/TWO-BIG-MCS-LIVE-AT-PATRIMONIO/en
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
THE
CHRIS ROLLING SQUAD 'SPITFIRE' (WORMHOLEDEATH/ITALY IMPORT)
Out of France comes
the rock and roll band THE CHRIS ROLLING SQUAD, a fast and furious threesome formed
around Chris Rolling (Guitar, Lead Vocals), Brice Duval (Bass, Backing Vocals)
and Thib Adlersend (Drums, Backing Vocals). They make a mixture of classic
NWOBHM (RAVEN meets MOTORHEAD), Hardrock (ZZ TOP meets THIN LIZZY) , Rockabilly
(STRAY CATS) and catchy melodic choruses, which is quite interesting and well
done on their debut album Spitfire. Vocally Chris is reminding me a bit of GENE
SIMMONS and when opener Back on the horse again kicks in, this is basically
pure fast classic early 1980s NWOBHM and so are the songs Crash & Burn and
The world is going down, all sounding like a cross between RAVEN and MOTORHEAD,
with guitarsolos all over the place. It is clear that this is high quality
stuff, because everything sounds good here, including Chris' vocals. A song
like We can be one has an excellent catchy melodic chorus and is basically a
superb uptempo heavy rocker in classic 1970s style, not far removed from THIN
LIZZY. Also the closing track The sharpest knife has a bit of THIN LIZZY and
perhaps also TRUST comes to mind as comparison for this interesting French
band! The most notable about them is that they have a drummer and bassist whom
together play as if they are in a Rockabilly band, but Chris is flat rocking
out quite hard as if it is still 1980! Go fuck yourself shows this kinda
mixture of Rockabilly and Boogie Hardrock quite well and reminds me of ZZ TOP
mixed with STRAY CATS. On the other hand, the band also goes for a pure classic
80s uptempo melodic powerpop/rock sound in a catchy tune like Get back there,
which is a really great memorable tune that sounds different than most of the
other songs, kinda like what VOLBEAT also does now, but THE CHRIS ROLLING SQUAD
sounds more 80s in this song than them. There is so much diversity going on
here, you just have to check out this awesome record, which is also available
on vinyl I believe. More info at: https://chrisrolling.bandcamp.com/
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
NORTH
OF SOUTH 'THE DOGMA AND THE OUTSIDER' (WORMHOLEDEATH/ITALY IMPORT)
The Spanish band NORTH
OF SOUTH is actually a project of multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter
CHECHU NOS, who sings, plays guitar, bass, keys and does drum programming on
the debut EP The dogma and the outsider. 8 songs are included and it is said to
be a mixture of Progrock, Latin, Fusion and Metal, although for the greater
part it is Progrock/Metal orientated. In addition, some guest female singers
join Chechu on a couple of songs (like the singer of the Symphonic Metal band
DIABULUS IN MUSICA and ANNA MURPHY), such as can be heard during the powerful
uptempo melodic metal piece We refused to hear them. There's definitely some
interesting prog meets flamenco going on as mentioned earlier on, like in the
album opener Ember remains, but the best song is the catchy uptempo Thicker
than progress water with it's strong melodic chorus. A surprise is the
instrumental calmer Jazz/Fusion of On unexpected shores, which is quite a
contrast to the rest of the album. Also 2 covers are included, namely the BJORK
song Hyperballad and the STING classic Englishman in New York, which closes the
album quite nicely. Nice starting point for Chechu and perhaps an idea to use a
real drummer next time, because that sounds more natural. Not bad at all, but
co-operating with other musicians sometimes also work in the benefit of making
it sound more natural and of course could lead to new thoughts about the
direction. Furthermore the use of female singers is definitely a compliment,
but give them more space next time and perhaps go for real duets. Anyway, for
more info please go to: https://northofsouth.es/
(Points:
7.8 out of 10)
AEROSTATION
'AEROSTATION' (IMMAGINIFICA/SELF DISTRIBUZIONE/ITALY IMPORT)
I must have missed
this album the first time around, because when listening to the opener Wide
eyes and wonder of the same titled debut album of the Italian band AEROSTATION,
I hear a sensational pure Melodic Neo-Progressive Rocker in the style of KINO,
LONELY ROBOT, BLIND EGO, SOUND OF CONTACT and SUBSIGNAL. Everything sounds
perfect here (vocals, guitars, keys, chorus, production), so we have a real winner
in our hands that deserves much more attention, despite it was already released
back in 2018. AEROSTATION is a duo consisting of ALEX CARPANI (vocals, keys,
virtual guitars) and GIGI COCCHI (drums), with as additional musician on this
album DARK LUNACY bass player JACOPO ROSSI. Alex has a fantastic voice, which
sounds very relaxing and calm, kinda like PETER GABRIEL and JOHN MITCHELL, and
their music is as mentioned moving in the same direction. I am honestly
surprised how good this album sounds and don't understand why the prog
community has not praised this band yet, because AEROSTATION's debut is
sensational from start to finish! Other highlights are the uptempo Progressive
Melodic Rocker Straight to the sun (a bit like PALLAS in their heydays), the
Progressive Rock diamond Fourteen days of lightness (a little bit 80s IT BITES
ish) and the superb Progrockclassic The ghost bride (reminding me a lot of
SUBSIGNAL). Go get yourself a copy a.s.a.p. of this AEROSTATION if you like
your progrock to sound song/melodic rock orientated with beautiful melodies in
the style of the aforementioned bands! I truly hope more releases will follow
in the future, because this should absolutely not be their final release! This
album sounds like one of the better Neo-Progressive Melodic Rockalbums in the
past few years! For more info please go to: http://www.alexcarpani.com/aerostation/
(Points:
8.8 out of 10)
OAK OSCILLAZIONI
ALCHEMICO KREATIVE 'GIORDANO BRUNO' (IMMAGINIFICA/SELF DISTRIBUZIONE/ITALY
IMPORT)
Multi-instrumentalist and
singer/songwriter JERRY CUTTILO is quite well-known in his homeland of Italy
for his involvement in composing TV tunes and ethnic music besides scoring a
massive hit with the song We just as the pseudonym MOSES. However, such
musicians always record a Progrockalbum at one moment in their career and in
this case he has his own project O.A.K. (which stands for OSCILLAZIONI
ALCHEMICO KREATIVE) which has always
been a creative music hotspot to record/perform something proggy. This project
was started in 1993 and I believe Giordano Bruno is his first official release.
Jerry himself plays most instruments himself and also sings, but together with
the help of an impressive long list of guest musicians (Anna Maria Manzi /
vocals, Sonja Kristina (of CURVED AIR) / vocals, Valentina Ciaffaglione /
vocals, Richard Sinclair / vocals & bass, Jenny Sorrenti / vocals, Alexa
Trinity Bersiani / backing vocals, Francesco De Renzi / grand piano, Hammond
organ, David Jackson / saxes, Fab Santoro / bass, Pat Rowbottom / bass, Maartin
Allcock / bass, Giacomo Pettinelli / drums, Charles Yossarian / drums, Derek
Wilson / drums and Mirko Valtulini / timpani), he recorded a very impressive
full-length CD here that musically is pure 1970s Progressive Rock with all the
arrangements, ingredients and tricks we know from legendary bands such as
GENESIS, YES, JETHRO TULL, GENTLE GIANT, PFM, ALAN PARSONS PROJECT and so on.
Jerry did a wonderful job here and from start to finish this epic concept
progrockalbum is a joy to listen to and also quite diverse actually, just what
you would expect from a 70s orientated progalbum! There is a long story behind
this album, because the rock opera/concept album is about the life and dreams
of a philosopher called GIORDANO BRUNO, who was born in Nola in 1548 and he
believed in an infinite universe, which was at the time quite controversial.
Well, the full booklet with the song lyrics tells the full story of this beautiful
story telling progrock conceptalbum that is a must-have for fans of
aforementioned bands. Check out more at: http://www.oaksound.com/
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
BAROCK
PROJECT 'SEVEN SEAS' (IMMAGINIFICA/SELF DISTRIBUZIONE/ITALY IMPORT)
Although Progressive Rock originated in
the UK in the late 1960s/early 1970s, the whole of Europe gave birth to
countless new bands and especially Sweden, Holland, Germany and Italy brought
us a lot of new Progressive Rockbands in especially the 1970s. When prog went
underground after 1980, it took a while to recover, but the past 20 years a whole
new revival of wonderful progressive rockalbums is coming out of Europe and the
U.K., with Italy also taking an important percentage. BAROCK PROJECT is one of
those bands from Italy who are about to step up to the big boys in Progrock
with their 7th album Seven seas, which was released in 2019. The band was
formed by pianist, vocalist and composer LUCA ZABBINI. Luca has a fantastic
voice, is able to compose at an incredible high level and is clearly combining
elements of prog/sympho and classical music with AOR/Pomprock melodies. I am
not familiar with the earlier BAROCK PROJECT releases sadly, but this new album
Seven seas is sensational and a must-have for the proggies among us. Besides
Luca, the other musicians taking part in BAROCK PROJECT are Francesco Caliendo
on bass, Alex Mari on vocals, guitar, Marco Mazzuoccolo on guitar and Eric
Ombelli on drums. 11 songs are included in total and while opener Seven seas is
quite a complex progressive rock adventure, following song I call your name is
built around a catchy effective melodic chorus like SAGA or AVIARY (remember
them?) also did in the past. The calmer piano-led Ashes is a beautiful little
melodic semi progressive rocker that starts as a ballad, but develops into an
uptempo piece and is overall is close to classic KANSAS and a little bit
SPOCK'S BEARD. Cold fog is shockingly sensational, with it's superb vocals of
Luca, lovely structures and beautiful melodies all throughout the lengthy song,
this is a real Progrock classic for the future, a song which would even make a
band like QUEEN or ROBBY VALENTINE jealous, because there is something
classical/opera like to be heard in this song. The melodic chorus, piano-led
parts and tempo changes is making this song almost as good as for example
Innuendo (QUEEN) and although we are now in 2020, I am safe to say that if I
had known this song back in 2019, then I would have called it the Progrocksong
of the year 2019! The album continues at this incredible high level and if
you're looking for a perfect cross between KANSAS and QUEEN, then look no
further, because this is your album! A song like the epic lengthy Hamburg is
the real deal to understand this description, because it fits right in between
those legendary bands! Towards the end of the album, the songs get a little
less sensational, such as the quirky poppy I should have learned to (weaker
chorus, somehow reminding me of KENNY LOGGINS!) and the heavier Moving on (a
little bit early DREAM THEATER ish), but on the other hand closing track The
ones is another superb symphonic melodic AOR/Rockballad like KAYAK meets QUEEN,
so why complain at all! In case you missed this album in 2019, like undersigned
did, check out this BAROCK PROJECT a.s.a.p. Especially if you're a fan of late
70s Pomp/AOR influenced Classical Music driven Symphonic/Progressive Rock, then
this is right up your alley! More info at: http://www.barockproject.net/
(Points:
8.9 out of 10)
JOE
LOUIS WALKER 'BLUES COMIN' ON' (CLEOPATRA BLUES/CLEOPATRA RECORDS/USA IMPORT)
With a career over 56
years and counting, Blues guitarist/vocalist JOE LOUIS WALKER is one of the
great musicians who played and recorded with basically every big name in the
Blues/Rockworld. He started a solo career with own material in 1986 and has
meanwhile released an impressive list of records. His latest album is Blues
comin' on, which contains 12 songs, mostly covers, but also a few originals. We
welcome an impressive list of guest musicians and singers, such as ERIC GALES,
JESSE JOHNSON, MITCH RYDER, KEB' MO', ALBERT LEE, WADDY WACHTEL and countless
others. Joe is a fantastic singer and a gifted guitarplayer, which can be heard
on such great bluesy rockers like Feed the poor, Blues comin' on, Come back
home (quite melodic and catchy) and Seven more steps. The diversity of Joe's
Blues is also notable, because you can hear funky rhythms (The thane(, soulful
old school R&B (Someday someway), Soulful melodic (Come back home), Gospel
(Lonely weekends), pure Blues old school (Bowlegged woman, knock-kneed man) and
rocking out big time (Feed the poor, Blues comin' on...). If you're such a
talented guitarist/vocalist with an incredible portfolio that started in 1964,
there is a deep respect from the music world and therefore Joe was inducted
into The Blues Hall Of Fame back in 2013. With this new record he shows that at
70 years of age you're never too old to rock and basically it's the saying like
a good wine, the older you get the bluesier it gets!
More info at: https://joelouiswalker.bandcamp.com/album/blues-comin-on
and https://www.joelouiswalker.com/
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
SHIRLEY
KING 'BLUES FOR A KING' (CLEOPATRA BLUES/CLEOPATRA RECORDS/USA IMPORT)
SHIRLEY KING is the
daughter of the greatest Bluesrock musician ever, the late BB KING. She sang
with her father regularly, but also worked on her solo career, with every now and
then a new album. The new album Blues for a king contains 11 tracks and
features guest guitarists such as PAT TRAVERS, ROBBEN FORD, ELVIN BISHOP, JOE
LOUIS WALKER, etc. Most of the songs are covers of old classics, such as BLIND
FAITH's Can't find my way home and ELVIS' That's all right mama. She does a
pretty good job here singing these old classics in her bluesy and very soulful
direction. I can't believe she is already 70 years old, while her father died
only 5 years ago, so if we can hear Shirely singing for another 25 years that
would of course be very pleasant. Check out more info on her new album at: https://cleorecs.com/store/shop/shirley-king-blues-for-a-king-cd
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
EX
NORWEGIAN 'HUE SPOTTING VINYL RECORD' (JUNO RECORDS/UK IMPORT)
Described as
Art-Psych-Pop-Indie-Rock-Shoegaze, this Miami Beach, Florida settled band is
doing things differently than most other bands. The first 2 songs, Fear
Backwards and Comfort Sands, they are both a mix of Indiepop, Prog, College
Rock, Shoegaze, Dreampop and New Wave, sounding quite British actually.
However, this band comes out of the Sunshine State and here and there you can
hear the somewhat American Summersun melodies like we know it from for example
THE BEACH BOYS, yet musically EX NORWEGIAN is completely different, so please don't
get me wrong here. I can even smell some THE KINKS influences, especially
notable in a song like Bloody parrots!, but on the other hand this band has own
face, which is not that strange, because their new album Hue spotting is their
10th album so far. You would now probably think that with such a back catalogue
they were formed somewhere in the 1990s, because they also have that sorta
underground early 1990s vibe of a band like TEENAGE FANCLUB crossed with the
slightly depressing British 1980s vocalstyle of the singers of bands like THE
JESUS AND MARY CHAIN, THE SMITHS or THE CHURCH, but EX NORWEGIAN was formed as
recently as 2008! They are just very productive and their label JUNO RECORDS was
kind enough to sent me their new album on vinyl record for this review, which
is always deeply appreciated over here and it is a guarantee for a lenghty
review! Listening to an album on vinyl always gives you a detailed view and
look on the particular album. What surprises me of this album is that secretly
EX NORWEGIAN throws in influences from other music genres into their sound,
because a song like You turn papers colour is basically a slow bluesrocksong
with even a bluesy guitarsolo, but it still sounds like EX NORWEGIAN. When
you're able to do that, then you're convincing the listener! Side-A also has 2
more rockier tunes on the table, which are Something 2020 and Hue spotter,
which rocks quite a bit with it's 1970s ish guitarsolo, both songs are by the
way strong Psychedelic Pop/Rocksongs.
Side-B opens with another strong 90s
influenced Psychedelic Rocker titled Post Post Malone and here TEENAGE FANCLUB
comes to mind again, which is definitely not a problem at all! A slight 80s
dut-dut keyboard and soaring guitarsolo can be heard during the uptempo
Powerpoprocker Your mind is mine, which once again changes the sound a bit and
moves over to an almost quirky late 1970s/early 80s direction, reminding me of
a cross between TALKING HEADS, ROBERT PALMER and MOON MARTIN, if anyone can
imagine that! Back to 90s Psychedelic Dreampop/rock of TEENAGE FANCLUB again
with the slow Not Underground, which however also reminds me of TAME IMPALE a
little bit, yet crossed with THE DOORS. This song is probably the finest one of
the record, with quite an extensive shredding guitarsolo towards the end and in
general it has a very hypnotic late 1960s PsychProg kinda vibe going on (very
early PINK FLOYD). Closing the album is Night is long (as long as night), which
is another change in style, because this is a very relaxing midtempo melodic
pop/rocker that reveals a lot of THE BEATLES Sergeant Peppers' influences and
has a catchy chorus.
Normally I start a review with background
info and I also did it in this review up to a certain point, but if you thought
this is a real band, don't let them fool you, because EX NORWEGIAN is 'almost'
an one-man's band of a talented multi-instrumentalist by the name of ROGER
HOUDDAILLE. He did get some help on the drums, guitar and sitar by FERNANDO
PERDOMO and backing vocals by MICHELLE GRAND, while live on stage he is joined
by Giuseppe Rodriguez (bass), Tatiana Blades (vocals) and Josie Hernandez
(drums), so except for the drums and some guitar/sitar, he did almost everything
on his own here, and therefore my comparison to TAME IMPALE. Also musically it
isn't far removed from that Australian musician/band, so if you're starting to
become interested, then please go to: https://shop.exnorwegian.com
and https://www.exnorwegian.com/
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
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