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HOT NEW REVIEWS
IRON
JAWS 'DECLARATION OF WAR' (PURE STEEL RECORDS/SOULFOOD/GERMAN IMPORT)
IRON JAWS comes out of Italy, and
Declaration Of War is their 4rd album so far. The band’s music is quite
aggressive fast Thrash/Speed Metal in the DARK ANGEL / TESTAMENT / FORBIDDEN /
OVERKILL Bay Area style of the late 80s, with a Teutonic Thrash Metal touch in
the vocals department of singer ANDREA FINOTTI. Actually they remind me a lot
of the classic underground German bands VAMPYR, NOISEHUNTER and those Scratch
Records releases from the mid-1980s. Most of the 12 included songs are
resembling the described sound, so the fans will know what to expect here! More
info at: https://puresteelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/declaration-of-war
(Points:
7.8 out of 10)
IRONBOURNE
'IRONBOURNE' (PURE STEEL RECORDS/SOULFOOD/GERMAN IMPORT)
IRONBOURNE comes out of Ludvika, Sweden
and despite fact that the bandmembers were active in bands before, IRONBOURNE
really established themselves as a band back in 2019. 2 years later their debut
album is released through PURE STEEL RECORDS, which is quite fast, and while
listening it feels like these guys have been around together for a long time,
because it all sounds very natural and the music is of a high level, so they
developed themselves quite quickly during those 2 years. The band is formed
around Olof Geijer (guitar), Lars Andersson (bass), Stefan Viktorsson (drums),
vocalist Torbjörn Andersson and guitarist Jonas Windle. 9 songs are included on
the album, and musically speaking it is mostly a mixture of midtempo and
uptempo melodic metal pieces, yet with also room for a ballad and some more
diversity throughout the CD. Each song features strong melodies during the
catchy hooks and memorable choruses, while the guitarwork is pure traditional
melodic metal orienated. Torbjorn has his limits as a singer, but does a nice
job overall speaking. IRONBOURNE reminds me of other Swedish bands like
HAMMERFALL, NOSTRADAMEUS, SAINT DEAMON, 220 VOLT, and such, so it is not really
original, but thankfully the guys are doing a great job creating some really
decent songs here. Highlights are The Dreamer, Elusive Reality, the lovely
melodic progmetal ish Varsel (even a bit THRESHOLD) and Covenant (faster piece,
lovely catchy chorus!). Furthermore Too Late is a very nice 80s melodic power
rockballad (a la 220 VOLT), Hit The Wall is pure BLACK SABBATH (TONY MARTIN
period), IRON MAIDEN must have been a huge influence during Runaway and
Twilight Of Gods is clearly MANOWAR influenced, so as you will notice,
throughout the CD the band offers some more diversity, which makes them
interesting enough to check out. Let’s hope they will continue this way on
future releases. For now, this first album is definitely a strong start, which
you can check out at: https://puresteelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ironbourne
(Points:
8.1 out of 10)
DISTANT
PAST 'THE FINAL STAGE' (PURE STEEL RECORDS/SOULFOOD/GERMAN IMPORT)
DISTANT PAST comes out of Bern,
Switzerland, and their new album is titled The Final Stage. The band was mainly
active as studio band between 2002 and 2016, because its members were also part
of other bands, such as EMERALD. As of 2019 the line-up changed a bit, and
consists nowadays of vocalist JVO JULMY, bassist ADRIANO TROIANO, guitarist BEN
SOLLBERGER, guitarist LORENZ LAEDERACH and drummer REMO HERRMAN. Together they
record The Final Stage, which musically is pure early 80s NWOBHM, mostly
uptempo and sounding a bit raw. 10 songs are included, and almost all of them
follow the same youthful uptempo NWOBHM sound, with as highlights Kill the
Dragon, Staring At The Stars, Queen Of Sin, The Power Of Evil and the catchy
Dawn City. If you’re a sucker for a band like TOKYO BLADE, then this DISTANT
PAST is a must to check out at: www.distant-past.ch
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
KIKO
SHRED'S REBELLION 'REBELLION' (PURE STEEL RECORDS/SOULFOOD/GERMAN IMPORT)
The Brazilian band KIKO SHRED'S REBELLION
is formed around (likewise) KIKO SHRED, who is a guitarist known for his work
with TIM OWENS, MICHAEL VECSARA and LEATHER LEONE. Along with vocalist ED
GADLIN, bassist WILL COSTA and drummer LUCAS TAGLIARI he recorded a 4th album
as KIKO SHRED'S REBELLION titled Rebellion. Kiko has been active as such since
2015, and on the new album it is basically pure IRON MAIDEN meets HELLOWEENish
melodic traditional metal in the best 80s style you can think of. South America
and Brazil in particular have been very kind to this kind of Metal the past
30-40 years and I remember the days when I received packages from South
American labels with 50+ CDs of Brazilian bands, and they all went into the
MAIDEN/HELLOWEEN direction. A lot of them were quite good actually, but 20+
years later I hardly hear any Brazilian band I’m afraid. ANGRA and SEPULTURA
are the 2 big Metalbands that made it big outside Brazil, but there’s so much
more and this is one of those albums you will love if this is your kind of
melodic metal. There’s some great material to be found on the album, such as
Rebellion, the DOOGIE WHITE duet Thorn Across My Heart, the instrumental Mors
Non Separabit and Honour To The Fallen Brothers. Although vocally it is not as
strong as you would love to, because Ed is no Kiske or Dickinson, it still
sounds pretty, so please make sure to check out this band if you’re a
HELLOWEEN/ANGRA/MAIDEN fan! More info at: www.facebook.com/kikoshredguitar
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
LOWER
13 'EMBRACE THE UNKNOWN' (PURE STEEL RECORDS/SOULFOOD/GERMAN IMPORT)
LOWER 13 is a band from Cleveland, USA,
and since 2006 they have been active as a trio (bassist/vocalist SEAN BALOG,
guitarist/vocalist PATRICK CAPRETTA and drummer ERIC KRUGER). Embrace The
Unknown is their 4th album and musically speaking it is melodic
US Metal with superb clean vocals, but also aggressive death metal growling
here and there, kinda like MERCENARY and countless other bands. This is a pity,
because the band sounds very melodic and the clean vocals and melodic
harmonyvocals driven choruses are fantastic, making the songs sound very
catchy, such as can be heard during the opening titletrack Embrace The Unknown.
Sadly the growling (and screaming) comes around multiple times, which is
absolutely not necessary, since the ultra-melodic metal sound is much better
off without the growling. Thankfully the growling/harsh vocals is not always
present upfront and during those moments the band sounds very sensational, such
as during the superb Reflection Of Me (BALANCE OF POWER meets TEER meets
SYRIS), the calmer Darker Days Ahead (a la CRIMSON GLORY), Last Of Our Kind and
the beautiful closing track Continue On, which is a ballad. I hope the growling
will be gone on a future release, because then LOWER 13 would be one of the
finest bands around in Melodic Metal! Check them out at: https://www.lower13official.com/
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
HELLANDBACK
'A THOUSAND YEARS' (PURE STEEL RECORDS/SOULFOOD/GERMAN IMPORT)
HELLANDBACK is coming out of Cleveland,
Ohio, USA, and their debut album is featuring typical US Power Metal with
shredding guitarwork, fast drumming, a pumping bass and high pitched vocals of
an excellent screamer by the way, because lead vocalist CHRIS HARN delivers in
the song Disobeying The Gods a fantastic BRUCE DICKINSON improvisation. The
music is mostly heavier and faster than IRON MAIDEN, because we have here
material that reminds me of HELSTAR, AGENT STEEL, JAG PANZER, METAL CHURCH and
even FLOTSAM AND JETSAM. It takes some time before we can hear a calmer part on
the band’s debut album A Thousand Years, but the titlesong has a very nice epic
slow/midtempo/semi-ballad piece that could be classified as prog metal and it
also contains a beautiful guitarsolo by guitarist DAVIR KIRK (or the other
guitarist MATT SCHOSTEK). HELLANDBACK is as already mentioned before making
their debut with this album, and I have to admit that it sounds as if this is
already a well-established act. The music is mostly straight-ahead pure classic
US Metal with those high pitched screams in the right place. Closing track is a
surprising cover of the GRIM REAPER classic See You In Hell. All sounds great
here, and fans of the classic US Melodic Power Metal genre of acts like METAL
CHURCH, JAG PANZER, JACOB’S DREAM, HELSTAR and such, they will definitely need
to check them out at: https://puresteelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/a-thousand-years
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
DARK
ARENA 'WORLDS OF HORROR' (PURE STEEL RECORDS/SOULFOOD/GERMAN IMPORT)
The US Power Metal band DARK ARENA has
released quite some music in the past 15 years, and their ‘new’ album Worlds Of
Horror is their 5th album. However, in 2019 their
bassist/guitarist PAUL KONJICIJA sadly died, so actually this release marks
their final album together in it’s the original trio line-up DARK ARENA was up
until 2019. Besides Paul, the band consisted of vocalist JUAN RICARDO (RITUAL,
ATTAXE) and drummer/keyboardplayer NOAH BUCHANAN (NUNSLAUGHTER), and they
recorded this ‘new’ album in 2018, so actually it concerns recordings from 3
years ago. Musically speaking it is filled with high quality US Melodic Power
Metal in classic JUDAS PRIEST / JAG PANZER / AGENT STEEL / METAL CHURCH /
HELSTAR style, with a few progmetal influences here and there. The songs are
mostly straight-ahead fast uptempo, with a few breaks sometimes, especially
towards the end. Juan is an amazing high-pitched singer who easily reaches the
GEOFF TATE / ROB HALFORD’s high octave skills. Highlights among the 9 songs
included are Worlds Of Horror, Dark Arena, Damnation Within, the catchy Bite
The Bullet (MAIDEN on speed) and the epic Destiny Bridge. Fans of pure US Metal
in the style of the classic bands such as HELSTAR, JAG PANZER, HEIR APPARENT,
METAL CHURCH, SANCTUARY and such, they will absolutely love this band! More
info at: https://puresteelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/worlds-of-horror
(Points: 8.3 out of 10)
NIGHTBLADE
'UNKNOWN TERRITORIES' (NIGHTBLADE MUSIC/UK IMPORT)
The band NIGHTBLADE
comes out of the Birmingham region in the UK, and their latest album is titled
Unknown Territories. The band was formed in 2010 and their current line up
consists of MARK CROSBY (vocals), SAM MORSE (guitar), TIM CUTCLIFFE (bass) and
RICH LAWLEY (drums). Their music is clearly 80s/90s influenced, yet with a
fresh sound that is best labelled as catchy guitar driven uptempo melodic
hard/heavy rock with a focus on soaring guitar melodies and a catchy hook or
chorus. Mark has a typical British voice and as mentioned, the music does
reveal some memories of the 80s. In fact in a number of numbers I smell the
classic NWOBHM vibe of the classic EBONY RECORDS albums from almost 40 years
ago, with MAIDENish guitar solo's, although vocally it reminds me more of bands
like LOST WEEKEND and CHROME MOLLY, if anyone remembers them! Highlights on
their new album are the uptempo melodic hardrocksongs Unknown Territories and
Apparition, the catchy midtempo groovy Weathering The Storm and the lovely
melodic rockballad I See The Best In Everyone. Nice to hear such a great
traditional classic (hard) rock band delivering a great quality album. More
info at: https://nightblade.co.uk/
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
SEVENTH
DIMENSION 'BLACK SKY' (CORRUPTED RECORDS/SWEDEN IMPORT)
Out of Sweden comes SEVENTH DIMENSION and
Black Sky is their 4th album so far. It is quite remarkable that they haven't
been discovered yet, because the new album Black Sky is a superstrong melodic progressive
metal album with catchy choruses in each and every of the 7 (not counting the 2
instrumentals) included songs, and a sound that fits somewhere between SYMPHONY
X and JEFF SCOTT SOTO. Songs like Bad Blood, Kill The Fire (very catchy
chorus), Falling, and the epic semi-ballad As The Voices Fade are a must-hear
for fans of bands like SYMPHONY X, KAMELOT, THRESHOLD, SONS OF APOLLO, SOTO,
etc. The band is formed around Erik Bauer (keys), Luca Delle Fave (guitar), Nico
Lauritsen (vocals), Marcus Thorén (drums) and Rikard Wallström (bass), and they
absolutely deliver a prog metal masterpiece with Black Sky! Check them out
a.s.a.p. at: https://seventhdimension.bandcamp.com
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
AIR
RAID 'FREEDOM RING' (INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
It seems like covid
gave us a lot of new music by bands we never thought they would even reunite,
but after TOUCH recently, also the legendary band AIR RAID reunited and
released a new album titled Freedom Ring. The band's line up consists
nowadadays of drummer JIMMY PORTER, bassist RICK HINKLE and lead singer/songwriter/bassist/keyboardplayer
ARTHUR OFFEN. Back in 1981 the Atlanta, Georgia, USA based band AIR RAID
released their same titled debut album on the 20th century fox label, but like
countless other many bands back then, we never heard anything after of AIR RAID
after their wonderful Pomprock/AOR debut from 40 years ago. However, after a
solo record of Arthur in 2016, on which the other AIR RAID member Rick and
drummer Jimmy also performed, it was decided to release as a trio a follow-up
to the debut from AIR RAID. Now Freedom Ring is released and I have to say it
more or less follows the style of their 40 year old first album, which means
bombastic but melodic Pomp Rock that fits in the category of TOUCH, ZON,
ROADMASTER, STYX, AVIARY and such, although references to bands like URIAH HEEP
and ASIA is also possible. 7 songs are included, of which the 20 minutes
counting Lost Horizon clearly stands out for sure. Arthur's voice sounds quite
good after all these years, perhaps a little rawer here and there, but still
comparable to DENNIS DE YOUNG for example. Highlights on this excellent massive
sounding late 1970s Pomp Rock/AOR affair are the beautiful Island Song, the
superb sensational classic 70s uptempo US Prog/Melodic Rocker Derby Day (a la
STARCASTLE/ROADMASTER), the epic prog masterpiece Lost Horizon and . Nice
comeback album of AIR RAID, and one to check out if you also liked the recent
new albums of TOUCH, STYX, DENNIS DE YOUNG, BLUE OYSTER CULT, etc. It's
available through: https://www.arthuroffen.com/
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
THREE
COLOURS DARK 'LOVE'S LOST PROPERTY' (FIREFLY MUSIC/UK IMPORT)
In 2020 we reviewed the first album of
THREE COLOURS DARK, a British duo formed around ex-KARNATAKA/THE REASONING
vocalist RACHEL COHEN and PANIC ROOM/LUNA ROSSA musician JONATHAN EDWARDS. The
resulting first album The Science Of Goodbye was a lovely melodic progressive
rock affair that was not too far removed from MOSTLY AUTUMN, KARNATAKA and
such. Especially the soaring guitar melodies, the cheerful piano/keys and
angelic vocals gave THREE COLOURS DARK such a beautiful sound, and also on the
follow-up Love's Lost Property we can hear more of the same high quality
melodic laid-back song based progressive rock music. Besides Rachel on vocals,
and Jonathan on piano, rhodes & synths, the duo is assisted by
guitarist/bassist TIM HAMILL and special guests Steve Balsamo - vocals, Andrew
'Wal' Coughlan - double bass, Dave Gregory - electric guitar, Kate Ronconi -
violin, Steve Simmons - tenor saxophone and Catherine Tanner-Williams - oboe. Right
from the start with the titletrack Love's Lost Property we are straight into a
sensational melodic dream that is called THREE COLOURS DARK. This is one of
those albums you put on and leave it alone until it is finished, because it has
such a relaxing vibe that should appeal to anyone who likes real music. Other
highlights on this wonderful new album are the piano-led Requiem, Last Day On
Earth (beautiful celtic orientated piece, a bit like a cross between JON
ANDERSON, MIKE OLDFIELD and CLANNAD), The Circus and the DURAN DURAN cover
Ordinary World. During the corona period we have seen new bands and projects
creating beautiful new music, and THREE COLOURS DARK is definitely one of the better
acts to come out of this pandemic, and let's hope they will continue deliver
more of such beautiful music in the future to come. Meanwhile, check out this
lovely new album of THREE COLOURS DARK at: http://www.threecoloursdark.com and
https://threecoloursdark.bandcamp.com
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
OCTANTRION
'II' (QUART DE LUNE/UVM DISTRIBUTION/FRANCE IMPORT)
Out of France comes the duo OCTANTRION,
which was formed in 2014 and II is their new album. The duo consists of
ELEONORE BILLY on folk instruments like the nyckelharpa, tenorharpa,
hardingfele, and GAEDIC CHAMBRIER on guitar, nordic bass cister), mandocello,
percussion, etc., while JEAN-PHILLIPE VIRET guests on double bass. The included
music could be described as a modern take on traditional old Viking/Nordic folk
music, which is called Pagan Folk. You might compare OCTANTRION to a band like
THE HU, but then in a Scandinavian jacket, despite the fact that the musicians
are coming out of France. The resulting album is a lovely piece of original
music that reveals a lot more after listening to the 15 included songs, so you
might perhaps better call it Pagan Folk with World Music influences. There is a
lot of energy and the sound is incredibly rich with lots of variations and
rhythms that take you on a journey through lots of beautiful parts of the
world. The music is mainly instrumental, but here and there it also features
vocals such during a song like The Dead King. It is a fascinating adventure
that showcases the amazing talent of these 2 musicians, because the sounds they
create on their folk instruments is absolutely beautiful. It’s a breathtaking
album that needs many more listens to discover all those melodies and it really
gives you the feeling you’re back in the medieval times of Europe. Check it out
for yourself at: https://octantrion.bandcamp.com/album/octantrion
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
PIERRE
BENSUSAN 'AZWAN' (LE TRITON/L'AUTRE
DISTRIBUTION/FRANCE IMPORT)
Azwan is already the
15th album of the French-Algerian guitarist PIERRE BENSUSAN. He
made his debut back in 1975, and throughout the decades he established himself
as one of the finest World Music guitarists in the world. This new album
contains 12 new songs, and it’s mainly Pierre on the acoustic guitar playing
all the beautiful melodies. He is assisted by STEPHANE KERECKI (bass),
JEAN-MARIE ECAY (guitar) and CHRISTOPHE CRAVERO (alto & violin). The
resulting album they made together is a vibrant relaxing mainly instrumental
release, with Pierre’s voice here and there, and influences that range from
Celtic, Folk, Jazz, new-Age and World Music to pop melodies. I was not familiar
with this amazing guitarplayer, but I am surely going to check out his back
catalogue. More info on him and his new album can be found at: https://www.pierrebensusan.com/
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
THE
OSCILLATION 'UNTOLD FUTURES' (ALL TIME LOW RECORDS/UK IMPORT)
Out of London, UK
comes THE OSCILLATION, which is a project formed by DEMIAN CASTELLANOS, who
plays Guitar, Keys, Synths, Percussion, FX, while he is assisted by Tim Weller
on Drums and Jem Doulton on Percussion. He has already released a lot of albums
as such, and Untold Futures is the new album. Musically speaking it’s a mixture
of distorted krautrock, psychedelic rock, synthwave, post-progrock and dark
wave. Mainly instrumental, this is a lovely journey through strange noises and
sounds, while each and every song of the album brings haunting melodies that
take you into a hypnotic trance. This is underground music at it’s very best
and it creates a same vibe you once got (and still get) when listening to acts
like TANGERINE DREAM, CAN and SWANS. I am an absolute sucker for this kind of
music and anyone who wants to think outside the box and is interested in
hearing a musician making a sound that puts you into a dark trance mood like
happens during trance/house music parties, this THE OSCILLATION is much more
interesting, because it’s all done on real instruments instead of a computer
file. Check it out for yourself to discover at: https://theoscillation.bandcamp.com/album/untold-futures
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
BEN
GINDER GROUP 'BEN GINDER GROUP' (HOUSE OF LIGHT RECORDS/USA IMPORT)
Out of Pennsylvania, USA comes the BEN
GINDER GROUP. This band is formed around Ben Ginder: Vocals, Lead Guitars, Luke
Newmaster: Drums, Logan Ruth: Bass, Vocals and Zach Salem-Noll: Lead Guitars,
and they deliver a lovely classic rock/melodic rocksound on their same titled
debut album. Ben has a wonderful voice, not unlike JOHNNY VAN ZANT of LYNYRD
SKYNYRD/VAN ZANT, and also musically the classic rock/American melodic rock
grabs back to the past. Groovy guitar riffs and melodic vocals are the winning
combination here, and fans of bands like LYNYRD SKYNYRD, VAN ZANT, RIVAL SONS,
BLACKBERRY SMOKE and such will absolutely love his high quality band. 10 songs
are included on the CD, while 5 covers are added as bonus here, including songs
by BLACK SABBATH, BOC, THIN LIZZY, JIMI HENDRIX and THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND.
Although done very well, we are here to talk about the band’s own songs, and I
loved all 10 original songs, of which the highlights are Ride It Out (The One
For Me), Since You Came, the uptempo melodic rocking Paradise, the superb
rougher rocking Keep Me Warm, and the epic southern rock masterpiece Get Me Out
Of Here (featuring lovely twin-guitarwork!), although the ZZ TOPish All She
Does and the instrumental Stone Age Symphony should also be mentioned. Highly
recommended band to fans of the classic rock/southern rock genre! More info
at: https://bengindergroup.bandcamp.com/releases
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
BERNARDO
LANZETTI 'HORIZONTAL RAIN' (SNV/ITALY IMPORT)
The Italian multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter
BERNARDO LANZETTI has been in the music business for over 50 years now. He was
part of the well-known Italian progbands PFM and MANGALA VALLIS in the past,
and now releases a new solo album titled Horizontal Rain. The included music is
high quality prog/sympho rock orientated, yet with influences from other genres
as well, which is also thanks to the long list of guest musicians, which even
reveal a few very well-known names. Besides Bernardo on vocals, acoustic
guitar, harmonica and programming, the other involved musicians are Alesia
Baltach: cello, Marco Brioschi: trumpet, Andrea Cervetto: guitar, bass, keys,
Kim Chandler: backing vocals, Marco Colombo: guitar, David Cross: violin, Tony
Franklin: bass, Pier Gonella: guitar, David Jackson: saxophone, flute, Tony
Levin: stick, Dario Mazzoli: bass, Sara Wilma Milani: backing vocals, Jonathan
Mover: drums, Carlo Napolitano: trombone, Alex Polipo: drums, Giancarlo Porro:
saxophone, Derek Sherinian: keys and Pier Vigolini: keys. 9 songs are included
in total, and as aforementioned there is a lot of diversity. The lovely
midtempo Time Is King has some similarities to DAVID BOWIE, both vocally and
musically speaking. On the other hand you have a real proggy ZAPPAesque tune
like Genial! Theatrical (progressive) music is also hearable a lot of times,
with Bernardo singing in a high falsetto theatrical octave, but most of the
time it’s still progrock related and therefore quite interesting if you’re
familiar with a band like PFM. Other highlights are the heavy midtempo rocking
titletrack Horizontal Rain, the excellent symphonic bombastic opener Walk Away,
the funky Heck Jack and the closing track Different. The music takes a dramatic
direction a lot of times, but for progfans it’s definitely a recommended piece
to check out. For more info please go to: https://bernardolanzetti.blogspot.com
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
PLUTO
JONZE 'AWE' (BIRD'S ROBE RECORDS/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
PLUTO JONZE is an
Australian singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist and Awe is his 2nd
full-length studio album. Although a few guest musicians appear, Pluto did most
of it on his own, and I have to admit that he did a really great job here. The
included music is modern yet retro sounding melodic pop/rock, with a focus on
catchy melodies around Pluto’s ‘sweet’ vocals and his pianowork. It does remind
me a bit of ROBBY VALENTINE, although without the rock element most of the
time, while TAME IMPALE also comes to mind, yet then again Pluto’s music is
more upbeat than TAME IMPALE during the 10 included songs. Highlights are the
catchy uptempo Rumschpringe, the surprising Moonmaking that changes from a
dreampop tune into an almost THE BLACK KEYSish rocker halfway the song, the
lovely midtempo 80s pop tune Dot (TEARS FOR FEARS meets KING), the slow catchy
duet (with ANNA DAVOLL) Walk Off The Edge With Me, the rocking Kelsey In
Corduroy (THE BLACK KEYSish again) and the romantic old-school popballad I’ll
Try Anything (ALAN PARSONS PROJECT/ELO meets a lot of late 60s psychedelic THE
BEATLES/JOHN LENNON). Great diverse effort here, melting dreampop, old school
romantic pop/wave and psychedelic rock. The album contains all the ingredients
to make him a superstar actually, so hopefully it will give him a much deserved
breakthrough! More info at: https://plutojonze.bandcamp.com/album/awe
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
CLOSURE
IN MOSCOW 'FIRST TEMPLE' (BIRD'S ROBE RECORDS/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN
IMPORT)
Formed back in 2006,
the Australian band CLOSURE IN MOSCOW released their debut album First Temple
back in 2009. The band is formed around guitarist-singer Mansur Zennelli,
guitarist Michael Barrett, drummer Salvatore Aidone, bassist Duncan Millar and
lead singer Christopher de Cinque. Their music is typical modern day
progressive rock with high pitched vocals and melodies that seem to come out of
the emo/American modern rock genre, not far removed from a band like COHEED AND
CAMBRIA or THE MARS VOLTA. CLOSURE IN MOSCOW are doing a wonderful job on this
first album, sounding crystal clear, catchy, very melodic and modern, while
still coming up with complex progressive rock structures. Even now some 12
years later it sounds fresh, and so it is a good thing to see this band’s first
album being re-released by their label BIRD’S ROBE RECORDS. Although the band
released another album in 2014, we have not seen any more releases ever since,
although they still seem to be active, so let’s hope with this re-release
CLOSURE IN MOSCOW will get another chance and start recording new material. The
fans of modern American melodic post-progressive rock in the style of
aforementioned bands will absolutely love this band for sure. The catchy
melodic choruses are a pleasure to listen to for sure! Check them out at: http://www.closureinmoscow.com/
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
HAZARDS
OF SWIMMING NAKED 'OUR LINES ARE DOWN' (BIRD'S ROBE RECORDS/CREATIVE ECLIPSE
PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
The Australian band
HAZARDS OF SWIMMING NAKED are one of many bands from Australia that play
innovative instrumental post-progressive rock. The band released 2 albums so
far, of which Our Lines Are Down was released in 2009. Now 12 years later it
has been re-released by their label BIRD’S ROBE RECORDS. The 5-piece band was
formed back in 2005 and consists of Adrian Diery (guitars), Cameron Diery
(bass), Rick Anzolin (drums), Chris Lait (guitars) and Gareth Rigden (guitars).
They are originally from the North of Australia, but are now settled in
Brisbane. Despite the fact this album was recorded quite some time ago, it is
now internationally available and that is really good to see because it is a
superb instrumental post-progrock album that recalls the best of PURCUPINE TREE
and LONG DISTANCE CALLING. The melodies in each and every of the 10 included
songs is a joy to listen to and every time you discover something new in the
music of the band. Their label BIRD’S ROBE RECORDS keeps on releasing these
gems and let’s hope there will be much more to enjoy. This masterpiece by
HAZARDS OF SWIMMING NAKED definitely deserves a second chance and for fans of
instrumental post-progrock / krautrock it is an absolute joy to explore
further. More info on the band at: https://hazardsofswimmingnaked.com.au/
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
TOEHIDER
'TO HIDE HER' (BIRD'S ROBE RECORDS/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
Out of Melbourne,
Australia comes TOEHIDER, a band/project formed around
singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist MIKE MILLS. So far they have released 4
studio-albums, of which their very first To Hide Her from 2011 has now been
re-released. TOEHIDER combines 80s pop metal, melodic rock, progressive rock
and modern rock, with an important part for Mike’s amazing high falsetto 80s
progmetal/aor vocal skills that recall the days of QUEENSRYCHE, MARA, ROBBY
VALENTINE, and also musically speaking TOEHIDER fits somewhere between those
acts, with almost always the QUEEN reference somewhere hidden in the bombastic
theatrical progressive pomprocksound of the band. I am quite impressed by
TOEHIDER actually, because they sound really original despite all the
references. Lyrically they are also much further than your average rockband
(ZAPPAish actually) and for example a song like The Most Popular Girl In School
is a lovely theatrical progressive melodic rocker that sounds like a cross
between PHANTOM’S OPERA, MARA and early 90s DREAM THEATER, with superb
musicianship and lovely high pitched vocal melodies (here and there even akin
to classic TNT/SHY!). Other highlights are the lovely semi progressive
AOR/melodic rocker Daddy issues (pure MARAish chorus and amazing hooks), the
superb There’s A Ghost In The Lake (MICHAEL SWEET/STRYPER meets HAREM SCAREM in
a modern progrock jacket) and the sensational Giants To Walk With Man (another
powerful prog melodic rock masterpiece!). I am quite surprised that this band
has not been picked up yet by the prog and melodic rock community yet, because
they have a picture-perfect sound on this 2011 album which has now been
re-released worldwide. Here and there they sneak in some other musicstyles,
such as punkpop during Everybody Knows Amy and even dark instrumental Krautprog
during closing track Aren't They Just Out Playing On The Swing?. Hopefully I
will be able to check out more albums of this rather interesting band, and
perhaps soon we might even welcome a new release of TOEHIDER, because such
talent should not be left undiscovered. Check them out a.s.a.p. at: https://toehider.bandcamp.com/
(Points:
8.8 out of 10)
STRANGE
ADVANCE ‘4’ (STRANGE SOUNDS RECORDS/CANADA IMPORT)
In the 1980s Canada was one of the most
productive countries musically speaking, and looking back it was very hard to
keep track of all those acts and it's releases, but luckily I managed to get
hold of the Canadian pop / rock music encyclopedia by JAIME VERNON a few years
ago to catch up a little. Even now in 2021 while reading the book it still surprises
me with bands I never heard of or read about artists and bands that released
much more than the albums I own. I was familiar with the Vancouver based band
STRANGE ADVANCE, of whom I even own 2 vinyl records, but somehow I never really
listened close enough to their material until I received their 4th album 4 on
CD very recently from the band themselves. STRANGE ADVANCE was quite popular in
Canada during the 1980s with their 3 successful album releases on major label
CAPITOL RECORDS during that decade, but eventually they split up when the 1990s
approached. 30 years later the band reformed in a line-up that is actually a
duo consisting of Darryl Kromm (Vocals, Guitar, Songwriter) and Drew Arnott
(Vocals, Keyboards, Drums). The new album is actually a mix of old and "not-so-old"
songs recorded throughout the years with various other musicians. The result is
a superb album that might perhaps even be the finest STRANGE ADVANCE album ever
released. The idea was to create an album that could have been the 4th album of
the band back in 1990. Although each member went their own way, the 2 remaining
members always wanted to do something together again, but I think it's best
that you check out their website to read all about the story behind the album
4. Nice fact I read somewhere is that Drew played mellotron on the AEROSMITH
classic Angel! However, back to STRANGE ADVANCE and their 4th CD, which is now
available. 15 songs are included, of which a few have already been released,
but the majority (11 songs) are released for the first time here. Opener Way
Past Midnight has a clear 80s synthpop touch, like PLATINUM BLONDE meets a bit
of 80s SAGA and BODY ELECTRIC/SHY TALK. It's definitely a great tune, but
things get really sensational with the superb uptempo melodic poprocker Perfect
Day, which sounds so 80s Canadian that it immediately puts me back in the
HAYWIRE, HONEYMOON SUITE and THE ARROWS mode. You can't get much closer to the
pure 80s Canadian poprocksound than this song! Things get even rockier during
the fantastic late 70s/early 80s new wave influenced melodic rocker Kisses In
Chrome, which reminds me a lot of the early LOVERBOY and PRISM sound, while the
chorus is basically pure HARLEQUIN. Lady With A Blade changes the sound to an
80s European New Wave ish pop/rock direction that is actually reminding me a
bit of 80s DAVID BOWIE in his Let's Dance period. ULTRAVOX must have been a
huge influence during the following song In Your Mind, which is an uptempo
melodic rocker that also reminds me a bit of Aussie acts like HUNTER/DRAGON,
AVION and 1927. Flow My Tears continues this new wave ish melodic poprocksound
that even has a slight similarity to early INXS, while Heavens Light is a great
bombastic midtempo SIMPLE MINDS ish 80s powerpop/new wave melted song. More
ULTRAVOX similarities during the lovely uptempo New Wave/Post-punkish face With
Grey Eyes. Just Like You has even more 80s British New Wave influences, kinda
like VISAGE, with some strange synth noises, but also a catchy DURAN DURAN ish
chorus. Breathe In is a short instrumental, and then we get to hear the superb
ultra-catchy 80s uptempo Canadian style poprocker I Just Sing. This song sounds
like it was lifted from a popular 80s feel-good high school movie, reminding
once again of the first 2 HAYWIRE classic albums, although SAGA also comes to
mind. I always felt that 80s Canadian Poprock took the best of both worlds,
meaning that it melted rockier American 80s AOR/Melodic Rock with the
European/British New Wave pop/rock sound, and STRANGE ADVANCE clearly showed
this perfectly in their sound. Following song They Don't Know is revealing
LOVERBOY influences, yet with a Synthpop touch. Turn Away continues in a
similar style, however with a pure North American 80s catchy hookladen AORish
chorus, although the guitarsound has an 80s U2 approach. Love Insane is a pure
80s hi-tech synthpop piece in the European style of ULTRAVOX/VISAGE, while
closing track Do What You Want is a midtempo somewhat groovy and even light
prog orientated synthpop tune. Concluded, this album represents a pure 80s
Canadian pop/rock sound that sometimes leans close towards the 80s European new
wave popsound, while at other times it goes for a typical North American
AOR/Melodic Rock chorus direction. Check out everything on this wonderful
Canadian band at: https://www.strangeadvance.com/stories
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
RICK
CASSMAN ‘SOLOTUDE’ (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
The British musician/singer/songwriter
RICK CASSMAN has a long music history that started in the 1970s in the band
STRAIGHT EIGHT, with whom he recorded 3 successful albums and did a support
tour for QUEEN! After the split of that band, Rick built a studio, which saw
SUEDE and FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM record music. During the 1990s he moved his
studio to a different place and started composing music titles for film and TV.
Eventually he went back to performing and recording again with a band called
THE DEPUTIES, and also STRAIGHT EIGHT reunited meanwhile. The last couple of
years he managed to go for a solo career, of which 2nd solo
album Solotude is the result of the pandemic, because he wrote and recorded the
10 included songs at home after the UK went into lockdown. The music is a
mixture of styles, although it’s mainly featuring uptempo (power) pop/rock
pieces like Got My Engines Running, Hard Times and Don’t Stop The Music, and a ballad
here and there (That’s All I Can Ask) during the beginning of the CD. Overall
it does remind me a bit of the 1970s westcoast pop/rock of bands like POCO,
ORLEANS and even THE DOOBIE BROTHERS sometimes, with sweet crystal clear lead-
and harmonyvocals and a light country/Americana ish guitarsound, although
powerpop influences are also very clear, especially during the 2nd part
of the album, which seems to show a slightly different and diverse sound. In
other words, there’s more than meets the eye, because the lovely midtempo 80s
tingled pop/rocker When This Is Over is close to classic TEARS FOR FEARS
actually, while the bluesier midtempo rocker Cry Cry Cry is then again quite
different than the aforementioned songs, because this song even reveals a TOM
PETTY meets THE BEATLESish direction. The most rockiest song on the album is
the strong uptempo melodic rocker Breakdown, which has a clear early 80s
rocking vibe. Rick does a pretty good job on his new CD, which sounds quite
diverse and I am now very interested to check out his past efforts. More info
at: https://rickcassman.com/bio
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
FROSTLAKE
'THE WEIGHT OF CLOUDS' (DISCUS MUSIC/NO MAN'S LAND/UK IMPORT)
Now this is a very interesting release on
the DISCUS MUSIC label, because it is early 70s prog/psychedelic folk related
and features female vocals, which is something we haven’t heard before on this
label. It concerns the 3rd album of FROSTLAKE, which is the
pseudonym of multi-instrumentalist JAN TODD. Jan sings and plays guitar, E-bow,
harp, viola, clarinet, electronics, percussion and a lot more, and I have to
admit that she is a very talented musician/singer/songwriter when hearing her
sing and play. Along with TERRY TODD on bass and 12-string guitar, they wrote
and recorded together the new album The Weight Of Clouds, which consists of 16
songs that were written and recorded during the pandemic. The result is a
lovely diverse album that clearly has an own identity, although you can smell
the influences of the early 1970s British psychedelic/folk very clearly. I
think people who appreciate for example artists/bands like MARISSA NADLER,
JESSICA PRATT, ANNA VON HAUSWOLFF, PENTANGLE, RENAISSANCE, and such, they will
also love the psychedelic calm dark atmospheric (electronic light) folk of
FROSTLAKE. I enjoyed this album from start to finish, and I’ll bet live on
stage it will put you into a sorta hypnotic trance. You absolutely need to
listen to the whole album, which has a playing time of more than 70 minutes by
the way, because there are beautiful ‘hidden’ melodies to be discovered, such
as the amazing Five A.M. There’s not a single weak moment to be heard, and
while listening it definitely puts you in a Nordic mood, kinda celtic/folk/scandi
ish if you know what I mean. Without a doubt, this is a surprising release and
one to check out if you want to hear something really authentic. More info
at: https://www.facebook.com/frostlakemusic/
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
DAS RAD
'LAIK TORS' (DISCUS MUSIC/NO MAN'S LAND/UK IMPORT)
Out of Sheffield, UK comes DAS RAD, and
Laik Tors is their 3rd album so far. The band is formed around
NICK ROBINSON (guitars, keys, electronics), MARTIN ARCHER (woodwind, keys,
synth bass, electronics) and STEVE DINSDALE (drums, keys, electronics).
Although I mentioned somewhere in a review of another DISCUS MUSIC release that
the label owner’s Martin usually goes for complete free improvisation jazz
direction on the albums where he plays himself, the DAS RAD album on which he
plays is going for a slightly different direction. It still is complex and
touches jazz here and there for sure (Satanic Particles), it rocks just a bit
more and actually feels like an interesting complex instrumental progressive
rockalbum with free style jazz parts. It sounds modern for sure, sometimes
(post-) prog ish (Kapow!), yet with a 70s jazz-fusion touch for sure like we
could hear almost 50 years ago when acts like WEATHER REPORT and BILLY COBHAM
released some really adventurous music. On the other hand a song like the
electronic Lebensmude reveals pure Krautrock/Synthwave ish influences, kinda
like KRAFTWERK meets MAGIC SWORD. It’s hard to just label a certain direction
to DAS RAD, because the 9 included songs are very diverse, so open-minded prog,
jazz and modern music fans definitely need to check out this original album.
More info can be found at: https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/laik-tors-119cd-2021
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
MARTIN
ARCHER & JOHN JASNOCH 'PROVENANCE’ (DISCUS MUSIC/NO MAN'S LAND/UK IMPORT)
On his own label DISCUS MUSIC the album
releases are quite diverse, but on the albums he plays himself, label owner
MARTIN ARCHER is mostly going for Free Improvisation Jazz. Such is also the
case on the new album he recorded with his long-time friend JOHN JASNOCH. They
didn’t play together for almost 2 years due to the pandemic, but Provenance is
a recording of an improvised performance they did in the same place at the same
time on 1 day in July 2021. The result is an experimental and rather complex
improvised jazz recording where Martin plays sopranino, saxello, alto, tenor
& baritone sax, flute and bass harmonica, and John plays guitar, mandolin,
banjo, oud and the ukulele. If you’re already familiar with Martin’s past
efforts, then you will love this album as well. Both musicians do not hold back
to try out new stuff and despite its divided into 6 long songs, it feels like
one long interesting adventure to explore. More info at: www.discusmusic.bandcamp.com
(Points:
8.1 out of 10)
T BELLY
'I NEVER WANT TO SEE ME AGAIN' (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
The Brighton, UK based band T BELLY was
formed in 2013 by vocalist/keyboardplayer RUSSELL KEEFE. In 2015 they released
their first album Dead Men Don't Pray, and now we welcome their 2nd album
I Never Want To See Me again. Besides the fantastic voice of Russel, the other
involved musicians are CONNOR BAXTER on guitar, PIP MAILING on drums, JADE
WOODHOUSE on cello and as special guest DENNIS DUNAWAY of the original ALICE
COOPER GROUP is playing bass on the titletrack. The album has a mix of slower
bluesier tunes and uptempo rock and roll pieces. Tired Of Listening Bone for
example is an uptempo BILLY F. GIBBONS/ZZ TOP ish raw boogie rock and roll tune
with a cool 70s Hammond organ solo, while the slow bluesy If Only I Wasn’t A
Dog shows what an incredible singer Russell is, because he almost sounds like a
mix between JOE COCKER, PAUL SHORTINO and LOUIS ARMSTRONG! Same goes for the
amazing rocking I Know You’re Mine. I Guess I Must Say and Lightning Tree are
beautiful calmer bluesy ballads, while Walk With Me, Automatic Boy and the
titletrack I Never Want To See Me Again all have a lovely sorta JOE BONAMASSA
vibe, and actually each track of the 12 included tracks is a pleasure to listen
to due to the perfect musicianship and the superb original sounding raw ‘dirty’
bluesy vocals of the amazing Russell. I have no idea why he has not yet been
discovered, but with this new T BELLY album he will definitely appeal to a lot
of people. Such an unique voice should be a guarantee for success, and together
with a rocking band backing him up we can’t wait to catch him live someday
soon! Check out more at: https://tbellyband.co.uk
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
FIVE
POINTS GANG ‘WANTED’ (LUNARIA RECORDS/UK IMPORT)
Now here we have an excellent bluesy
classic rock/power trio rock band from the UK consisting of JOE PEARCE from
Wales on guitar and vocals, relocated Brazilian DINHO BARRAL on bass and French
(newcomer) GAET ALLARD on drums. The resulting new album Wanted is a super
piece of classic rock meets powerhouse heavy blues rock in the classic
1960s/1970s style of bands like FREE, BAD COMPANY, ZZ TOP, JIMI HENDRIX
EXPERIENCE and CREAM, yet with a modern (groovy) melodic rock touch as well.
They fit in right between those legendary bands, with a focus on strong rocking
pieces that contain superb shredding bluesy guitarwork, excellent soulful
vocals, groovy rhythms and memorable melodic rocking choruses. The band has
nevertheless an own style and we can discover a lot more when listening to this
sensational new album Wanted. Highlights are the uptempo rocker All In All, the
groovy midtempo let’s Stay Together (FREE meets LIVING COLOR somehow, with an
AORish chorus), the funky rockers Drifting Away, What Kind Of Man and the LENNY
KRAVITZish All-Points Bulletin, and the soulful ballads All She Said and Love
By The Gun. I am actually quite overwhelmed by this superb authentic classic
power rockband, so I can highly recommend their wonderful new album! More info
at: https://fivepointsgang.com/
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
MYSTERY
ROSE ‘SOCIALLY DISTANT' (INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
MYSTERY ROSE comes out of California, USA
and Socially Distant is her debut album. She is only 18 years old, but is
clearly a gifted singer/songwriter with music that is a mix of pop-punk (very
light), alternative pop/rock and poppy folk-ballads. Here and there it has a clear
1990s female fronted pop/rock approach, kinda like TORI AMOS meets MEREDITH
BROOKS meets AVRIL LAVIGNE when listening to songs like The Carnival Girl and
Lovebirds On The Weekend, but there’s much more to discover. She gets help from
DAN WEST (guitars, pianos, keys, synths, bass), JERRY BUSZEK (drums), AZALIA
SNAIL (percussion), SAM MORGAN (flute) and a few more, while Steve Hanft (BECK,
THE CURE) directed music videos for the singles that have been lifted from
Socially Distant so far. All together they did a great job to give MYSTERY ROSE
a first push to stardom. Hopefully she keeps on the alternative side of life
and does not go a polished pop princess direction! She writes everyday lyrics,
but some of the songs are really interesting lyrically speaking, such as A
Creative Introvert In Love. I think teenagers can really relate to such lyrics
and the music has the teeny pop/rock approach for sure, although we can already
hear some surprises, such as the flute solo during the folky In November Last
Year and the beautiful dark atmospheric Picture Perfect (MARISSA NADLERish).
Basically, there is a lot of diversity going on when you have heard the whole
album, so check out everything on this upcoming new female star at: https://mysteryrosemusic.com/
(Points:
7.7 out of 10)
THE
SUNSET SINNERS ‘THE SUNSET SINNERS’ (INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
THE SUNSET SINNERS are a band from Kansas,
and they sent me their same titled debut album. The band is formed around Tony
Bowell (vocalist and guitar), bassist Brad Johnson, drummer Blake Blackim and
lead guitarist Chris Brungardt, and they call their music Whiskey Barrel Rock,
which is a fusion of Southern & 70's Rock blended with Red Dirt Country. 10
songs are included on the album, and basically this is good old time rock and
roll, with the aforementioned clear southern USA rock approach. The guys are
doing a great job here, because the sound is tight and pure classic rock and
vocally Tony has a superb rock voice, while Chris shreds like no other in each
and every song. They rock a bit harder than the usual southern rockbands, such
as LYNYRD SKYNYRD, JOHNNY VAN ZANT BAND and BLACKFOOT, although they clearly
took their influences from those bands. From start to finish this is how real
classic (1970s) American Rock/Hardrock should sound like, with as highlights
Always Time For One More Beer (uptempo rocker), Hanging With The Sinners
(groovy, a bit like RIVAL SONS meets THE BLACK CROWES meets ROBERT JON &
THE WRECK), the fantastic Southern Rockballad Old Glory, the pure 70s rocker
What Could Go Wrong (ROD STEWART’s Hot Legs style) and Mine All Mine. As
already mentioned, the vocalwork is amazing and lifts up this band to higher
places. If you like Southern Rock, THE BLACK CROWES, ROBERT JON & THE
WRECK, and also the typical MASCOT RECORDS sound, then this THE SUNSET SINNERS
is yours to take! Back in the late 80s/early 90s this band would have been
signed to a major label! Make sure not to miss this superb band and check them
out a.s.a.p. at: https://www.whiskeybarrelrock.com/
(Points:
8.9 out of 10)
DONNA HERULA 'BANG AT THE DOOR' (INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
Out of Chicago comes DONNA HERULA, a
gifted singer/songwriter/guitarist who releases her 3rd album
with Bang At The Door. Besides Donna on vocal, resonator/slide and other
guitars, we can hear FJ Ventre (upright bass), Dana Thalheimer (drums and
percussion), John Shain (producer, mandolin and guitar on two tracks) her
husband Tony Nardiello (sings and plays guitar on a couple of tracks), Tony
Pons on trumpet, Doug Hammer and Daryl Davis on piano, Bill Newton on harp, and
Anne Harris on fiddle, while as backing vocalists we can hear Rebecca Toon,
Katherine Davis, Janine Grandsart, and Chris Holda along with Shain, Ventre,
husband Tony and herself. There are 14 songs on her new album, which musically
speaking is a mixture of acoustic driven old school Chicago Bluesrock and Delta
Blues/Country/Americana, with a focus on Donna’s amazing vocal talents.
Highlights on her new album are Can’t Wait To See My Baby (duet with Tony
Nardiello), Not Lookin’ Back, I Got No Way Home, Black Ice and the superb
Fixin’ To Die. Donna has had a rough period, losing both her mother and her
mother-in-law, and then the pandemic hit the world, so this album Bang At The
Door is indeed sounding like a big bang record with strong lyrics, great
musicianship and lovely vocals by Donna. More info can be found at: https://donnaherula.com/
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
MOMENTUM
‘UIT HET LEVEN GEGREPEN’ (INDEPENDENT)
Out of the Dutch city of Hoorn comes the
band MOMENTUM, and they are doing something quite unique I think, because they
play progressive rock/progmetal with Dutch lyrics! I am familiar with some
rockbands singing in Dutch, and I do recall a band called TARGET from the 1980s
that was slightly close to prog/sympho with Dutch lyrics, but MOMENTUM are
definitely a pure progrock band and they are singing in the Dutch language!
Personally speaking I am not a huge fan of music in my own language (except for
80s Dutch nederpop), but MOMENTUM are doing at such a high level, you can’t
help loving this band right from the start on their debut album Uit het Leven
Gegrepen. The funny thing is that lyrically for yours truly it feels very
different, because it is now really easy to understand what they are singing
about. Normally speaking you have to think a bit further when bands sing in the
English language, but now every sentence is crystal clear straightaway. The
band is not too positive lyrically speaking, but we are still in a pandemic, so
it reflects their feelings, especially during a song like Fak!, so it is all
quite acceptable. Anyway, the band consists of Fons Flotman (keys, samples,
vocals), Raimon Schaap (guitar) and Marc Schouten (vocals, bass, drums,
guitar), and their music is as already mentioned progrock/progmetal orientated.
It’s actually a mixture of neo-prog and heavier (yet still melodic) progmetal,
with influences from bands like THRESHOLD, DREAM THEATER, RUSH, IQ, PENDRAGON
and many more.
11 songs are included, and after the
instrumental Ouverture, the CD gets on the way with the progressive metal piece
Als Ik Nu, which is a great start, but things get really sensational with the
superb midtempo melodic progmetal piece Het Wisselkind. This song features
lovely melodies and is a very catchy tune, reminding a bit of THRESHOLD and
SUBSIGNAL. The excellent guitarwork is of an incredible high level, and there
are zero issues that the band sings in the Dutch language, because actually it
makes them stand out from the rest! Following Fak! features some rapping,
however it is still prog metal with a melodic chorus, but it’s just a bit more
aggressive than the rest. Next song Bij De Keel is a superstrong midtempo
melodic prog metal piece that reminds a lot of THRESHOLD, but then of course
with Dutch lyrics, although the keyboardsolo reveals neo-prog influences. De
Tranen is slowing things down, as this is a beautiful calmer semi-acoustic
neo-prog piece that reminds me of FOR ABSENT FRIENDS.
One of the strongest songs is the
fantastic Eén Leven, which starts calm, builds up to a midtempo melodic
progrock/metal piece a la THRESHOLD again, with another change halfway when the
song speeds up the tempo and features amazing shredding guitarwork besides the
catchy melodic ‘harmonyvocal-driven’ chorus. The chorus of the uptempo melodic
progressive rocker Eenzaam Bestaan is sensational, and belongs to the absolute
highlights of the CD. Red Mij is a perfect cross between THRESHOLD and
SUBSIGNAL, while Ga Je Mee? is an uplifting uptempo neo-progressive rocker with
a clear fun 80s touch, kinda like 80s IQ and early FOR ABSENT FRIENDS. Closing track
Morgen Komt Het Licht is another absolute highlight, starting calm but
developing into a superb powerful melodic (prog) rockballad with a memorable
chorus. MOMENTUM delivers here a wonderful album that is highly recommended to
fans of the aforementioned bands, despite the fact they are singing in the
Dutch language, because actually this makes them even more interesting! Check
out more info on this lovely high quality (melodic) progrock/progmetal band
at: www.facebook.com/bandmomentum
(Points:
8.6 out of 10)
VARIOUS
ARTISTS ‘ESSIEBONS SPECIAL – GHANA MUSIC POWER HOUSE’ (ANALOG AFRICA/GERMAN
IMPORT)
ANALOG AFRICA brings us another wonderful
rare compilation of music recorded in Ghana between 1973 and 1984. Included are
14 songs in total by about 7 acts that musically speaking have a specific sound
that combines SANTANAish latin rhythms, Jazzy fusion and a bit of Progrock, yet
with an African rhythm and singing as finishing touch. In the end it sounds
like typical groovy 1970s music, which is not that strange if you consider the
fact that the recordings took place in that era. This CD concerns recordings
from the ESSIEBONS LABEL that was active in Ghana during the 1970s. Label owner
was Dick Essilfie-Bondzie, who sadly died recently, and he was a legendary
producer, businessman and founder of the aforementioned label and this here
concerns a mixture of well-crafted songs that were recorded by acts like ERNEST
HONNY, JOE MEAH, CK MANN, SANTROFI, SEABOY, NYAME BEKYERE, BLACK MASTERS BAND
and several others back then. The recordings still sound crystal clear, and
musically speaking it is all very interesting, because sometimes it’s pure
African sounding, with the rhythms and tribal way of singing, but then suddenly
you get these cool psychedelic synths/hammonds in a classic 70s way, like we
heard it by prog, jazz-fusion and psychedelic rockbands back then and SVEN
HAMMOND SOUL now. This is timeless world music, which nowadays is also quite popular
thanks to a band like ALTIN GUN, although they of course took middle
eastern/Turkish influences into their sound, while over here it really is
African/Ghana influences that are added to the sound. I absolutely loved the
psychedelic/progrock parts in the songs by JOE MEAH and ERNEST HONNY and
concluded, this is definitely a great compilation CD to check out. More info
can be found at:
https://analogafrica.bandcamp.com/album/essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
CAPER
CLOWNS 'ABDICATE THE THRONE' (GATEWAY MUSIC/DENMARK IMPORT)
In Denmark the band CAPER CLOWNS is quite
popular and now also abroad the band seems to breakthrough, especially now with
this rather fantastic new album Abdicate The Throne. I visited a
Powerpop/Garage Rock festival in Liverpool a few years ago (International Pop
Overthrown Festival), and they would make a perfect fit for that festival,
although they Could also quite easily perform at the Left Of The Dial Festival
I visited last week here in Rotterdam. Anyway, back to CAPER CLOWNS, they have
already released 2 great albums in the past, The Buca Bus in 2016
and A Salty Taste To The Lake in 2018. The band was kind enough to sent me all
their albums, and I have to admit that their previous 2 albums are also really
good and showing a pure Powerpop band, with some Indien Rock and College Rock
influences as well, kinda like a mixture between TEENAGE FANCLUB, BIG STAR, THE
JAYHAWKS, R.E.M., THE BEATLES, VENICE, JELLYFISH, MATTHEW SWEET, FOUNTAINS OF
WAYNE and CROWDED HOUSE. Their new album Abdicate The Throne seems to bring
them in a more pure Powerpop direction, so dropping the indie influences here
and there, which means that it's all about melodies and a bit more electric
guitar, because we can also hear some psychedelic rock influences. The band is
formed around Rick Kingo – vocals, guitar, keyboards, Peter Højgaard – vocals,
keyboards, guitar, Christian Højgaard – vocals, bass guitar, Henrik Krogh –
vocals, guitar, banjo and Rasmus Almlund – vocals, drums. 14 songs are on their
3rd album and Pineapple Songs starts the album. This is a superb midtempo melodic
powerpop rocking tune with memories of CROWDED HOUSE, THE BEATLES, VENICE and
TEENAGE FANCLUB. CAPS LOCK ON is a funny uptempo melodic powerpop/poprocker
piece with a very catchy classic 70s chorus that even reminds me a bit of THE
RASPBERRIES. The groovier rocker Four Letter Season follows and shows that this
band is very diverse musically speaking, which can also be heard during the
calmer acoustic driven Bonsai Tree that is a nice mixture between CROWDED HOUSE
and THE BEATLES. The powerpop gem Be There is a lovely piece filled with
melodies that would make BIG STAR, SHOES and THE ROMANTICS proud! Other
highlights on this excellent powerpop album are The Club Of Humanity (this song
has a superb melodic rocking chorus), April Fool (superb classic 80s tingled
uptempo Powerpop/Poprock a la THE OUTFIELD, FOTOMAKER, THE PLIMSOULS, THE
MOTORS), the melodic rockballad What She Became, the heavy harmonyvocal driven
catchy uptempo psychedelic (hard) rocker In Your Kaleidoscope (like a perfect
between ENUFF'Z'NUFF, JELLYFISH and KING'S X), and the lovely midtempo melodic
powerpop gem Space & Time. This is a total surprise from Denmark! My
memories of great Powerpop albums is mostly going back to the 1980s, because
from the past 20 years (if my memory serves well) the sensational powerpop gems
came from NELSON's Life and THE CLICK FIVE, but I can easily add this new CAPER
CLOWNS album to that 'small' list! Check out this lovely melodic band at: http://caperclowns.com/
(Points: 8.7 out of 10)
THE FAR
CRY 'IF ONLY...' (INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
THE FAR CRY is as prog
as you can possibly get, with all the ingredients needed to make their debut
album If Only... a winner, such as soaring guitars, cheerful rich keys,
melodies all over the place, calmer parts, rockier complex moments and it might
take a few minutes, but the chorus of the opening song The Mask Of Deception
reveals the American AOR touch like we know it from KANSAS, SHADOW GALLERY,
ENCHANT and so on. This is progressive rock at it's very best, reaching the
level of SPOCK'S BEARD and TRANSATLANTIC quite easily, yet with the
aforementioned KANSAS touch as well during the melodic vocal/harmonyvocals
choruses. Anyway, THE FAR CRY comes out of Manchester, CT, USA, and it's main
members Robert Hutchinson (drums, percussion, bells and spoken words) and Jeff
Brewer (lead/backing vocals, bass, bass synth, bass pedals and guitar) already
worked together during the mid 1970s and the 1980s in various bands, but as of
2013 they started THE FAR CRY, which along the way saw Bryan Collin (guitarist)
and Chris Dabbo (keys, piano) join forces, and now in 2021 the debut album If
Only... is released. 8 songs are included in total, some of them quite lengthy,
and after the first progrock piece the next song Programophone is a bit more
experimental due to the spoken word vocals and the groovy rhythm that reminds
me a bit of TALKING HEADS in a ZAPPAish progrock jacket. After a short
instrumental piece titled Winterlude, we get to hear clean vocals again from
Jeff in the 13 minutes counting Simple Pleasures, a nice progressive rock piece
with some great guitarwork. The other 4 songs are the instrumental prog rock
pieces The Missing Floor (bombastic 80s synth driven neo-prog/symphonic rock a
la ELP/3/IQ with DREAM THEATERish prog metal part), Winterlude Waning (short
interlude) and Dream Dancer, and the 16 minutes counting titletrack If Only...,
which is a sensational epic prog/sympho rock masterpiece in the best style pf
SHADOW GALLERY, SPOCK'S BEARD, KANSAS, TRANSATLANTIC, etc. Concluded, prog/sympho
rockfans should definitely check out this band a.s.a.p. at: https://www.thefarcrygroup.com/
because this band's debut album is filled with high quality music from start to
finish.
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
VAMP
'TELEPHONE LOVE AFFAIR' (METALLIC BLUE RECORDS/REWIND/USA IMPORT)
There were so many
bands in the USA and Canada active during the 1980s that everywhere around the
world nowadays there are still labels releasing the rare material that never
saw the light of day back then. METALLIC BLUE RECORDS is such a label, and if
you read all our reviews, then you probably already have seen a lot of reviews
of albums that were released on this interesting label. VAMP is a bandname we
have seen multiple times in the past, but this here concerns a band from Salt
Lake City, Utah that started in 1986. Actually they were close to a major label
signing deal somewhere along the way, but this didn't happen due to their
bandname that was already taken by another band on the label that was
interested in them (!). Anyway, on this CD we can find 16 songs they recorded
about 35 years ago. Part of the material was recorded live (in Hawaii!), while
a total of 9 original studio songs of VAMP can be found here. The band's line
up consisted of Kurt Johnson (guitar) and his wife Joanna (keyboards), vocalist
Larry Dee, drummer Dan Medley of THE TAKE and bassist Mark Morrison (THE JACK,
VICE). Although I was not overwhelmed by the lead vocals at first sight when
hearing the first couple of songs on the CD, it started to sound better as the album
continued. Addicted for example is a strong midtempo melodic rocker with keys
upfront a bit, and fans of AUTOGRAPH will definitely love this tune! Things
become quite sensational during the lovely semi-ballad Legends, which has a
sorta southern rock meets melodic rock approach like we saw a lot during the
late 1980s after BON JOVI scored a major hit with Wanted Dead Or Alive. Bands
like MELIDIAN, BANGALORE CHOIR, SONS OF ANGELS, BABYLON A.D., FIREHOUSE and
such come to mind when hearing this VAMP. One of the absolute highlights is the
superb uptempo AOR/Melodic Rocker Civil War, which has excellent
vocals/harmonyvocals, a catchy soaring chorus and precise melodic guitarwork
while having a strong pompous drum/bass rhythm backing things up. The band
sounds on this song like a cross between WHITE SISTER and KING KOBRA, so
definitely reaching the upper league of 80s melodic rock! Another highlight is
the keyboard driven cheesy melodic rocker Full Time Trouble, which is
dangerously close to AUTOGRAPH and SIC VIKKI. Here and there we can also trace
some SKID ROW/MOTLEY CRUE influences, especially in the vocal department, but
when listening to Rock On I also hear some similarities to classic ICON. Eventually
VAMP changed their name to HARLOT, under which another CD has been released by
the way and this is also reviewed by yours truly. As with every release on
METALLIC BLUE RECORDS also this VAMP CD contains an extensive booklet with a
lot of information and rare pictures of the band. The label put a lot of effort
into this release, so please make sure to check out this highly recommended CD
if you're an 80s US Hair Metal/Melodic Rock addict! The CD is available through
https://www.metallicbluerecords.com/
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
HARLOT
'POSITIVELY DOWNTOWN' (METALLIC BLUE RECORDS/REWIND/USA IMPORT)
Following the VAMP CD
release on METALLIC BLUE RECORDS is the HARLOT CD. As already explained in the
review of the VAMP CD, VAMP became HARLOT due to band name issues. Their line
up and sound also changed a bit, because the keyboards were dropped and
eventually 2 guitarists joined the band (JIMMY GOBLE and BALDY MENDEZ) and Kurt
and Joanna left the band. The new sound was edgier, groovier and very much
reflecting the early 90s US Melodic Hardrock sound of bands like EVERY MOTHER'S
NIGHTMARE, SKID ROW, SPREAD EAGLE, INNUENDO, SLAUGHTER, ROXY BLUE, TORA TORA,
HERICANE ALIVE, SOUTH GANG, etc. etc. This was the in-between transition period
of grunge and alternative rock/metal taking over everything that was considered
80s and melodic back in those early 1990s. It would take until 1996/1997 in the
independent scene before the 80s influenced Hardrocksound was completely
vanished, so it was not all over when NIRVANA, PEARL JAM, ALICE IN CHAINS and
SOUNDGARDEN became the new standard in 1991/1992. HARLOT's recordings here date
back to 1992/1993 and musically speaking it's pure Melodic Hardrock. Highlights
on this CD are the SLAUGHTER meets FIREHOUSE meets WARRANT's melodic power
rockballad All The Angels Fly, the catchy uptempo melodic (hard) rocker Let 'Em
Ride (pure KIX), Open Up (tough 80s Hardrock with gang vocals like early ICON
and 80s KISS), Legends (which was also on the VAMP CD) and the uptempo soaring
guitar driven melodic rocker Kiss Kiss (You're Dead). Sadly it wasn't meant to
be, because both VAMP and HARLOT didn't make it big and went under the radar until
30 years later someone in Utah wanted to release all of their material on CD.
METALLIC BLUE RECORDS did once again a great job and the CD is available
through https://www.metallicbluerecords.com/
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
LITTLE
FEAT 'TIME LOVES A HERO VINYL RECORD' (WARNER BROS RECORDS/SPEAKERS CORNER
RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
Although they never scored major hit
singles that we still hear a lot nowadays, the legendary American band LITTLE
FEAT was quite popular during the 1970s, but after their main
guitarist/singer/songwriter LOWELL GEORGE disbanded the band in 1979, and also
died shortly thereafter, it was all over for this innovative band. The band was
reformed by surviving members in 1987, and they have since then continued to
record and perform, but they never reached the magic they had during the 1970s.
The only original member of the first line-up from 1969 is BILL PAYNE, so if we
talk about their real classic album releases we have to grab back to their
1970s catalogue. Time Loves a Hero was LITTLE FEAT’s 6th studio
album, produced by the legendary TED TEMPLEMAN (VAN HALEN, THE DOOBIE BROTHERS,
AEROSMITH…), originally released back in 1977, which was a few weeks before
yours truly was born! SPEAKERS CORNER RECORDS has now 44 years later fully
remastered the album by using pure analogue components only and re-released it
on vinyl. I have to say that the sound is absolutely amazing if you compare it
to the original vinyl record release from 1977, because it sounds like it was
recorded yesterday! LITTLE FEAT’s music was a mix of all kinds of styles, which
was very common to do during the 1970s. Rock and roll, blues, jazz, soul,
country, R&B, southern rock and westcoast were perfectly melted on the LITTLE
FEAT albums, and now 45-50 years later we can easily call these album classics.
Besides Lowell and Bill, the other members of LITTLE FEAT on this album were
Paul Barrère (guitar, vocals), Sam Clayton (congas, percussion, vocals), Kenny
Gradney (bass) and Richie Hayward (drums, percussion, vocals) besides a list of
guest musicians, such as several trumpet/sax players and DOOBIE BROTHERS
members MICHAEL MCDONALD (vocals) and PATRICK SIMMONS (guitar, vocals). The
resulting 9 songs featured this amazing organic sound that was basically
resembling the 1970s spirit, which was being innovative and putting a live /
jam like session on every album release a band did back then. This is also the
reason why bands released so many albums during that decade, and they all
sounded very natural, because they went into the studio and started recording
whatever they had in mind! Anyway, when hearing the album opener Hi Roller, we
can hear the pure 1970s mixture of westcoast, jazz fusion, pop/rock, soul and
southern rock. This song is a superb classic piece of music that melts all the
music styles into 1 organic song that has a healthy mix of guitar, hammond
organ, funky bass, groovy drumming, pop melodies/hooks etc, kinda like STEELY
DAN meets ZAPPA, and all these acts were on top of their league during the
1970s! The following titletrack Time Loves A Hero is slightly calmer, but
Rocket In My Pocket and especially the instrumental progressive rocking Day at
the Dog Races rocked again, and they are both showing the diversity of LITTLE
FEAT’s sound. Also the fact there were 3 singers in the band was very typical
for the 1970s, and instrumental they were spot-on from start to finish. Side B
opens with Old Folks Boogie, which is a groovy poppy soulful HALL &
OATES/BILLY JOEL/STEELY DAN mixture, with also jazzy and bluesy influences like
TOTO also did sometimes. The following songs Red Streamliner and New Delhi
Freight Train are lovely polished westcoast pop/rock pieces with a funky vibe,
reminding of KENNY LOGGINS/MESSINA and very early LE ROUX, while the bluesy
Keepin' Up With The Joneses is basically pure STEELY DAN. The album closed with
Missin' You, a nice calmer acoustic singer/songwriter piece a la JAMES TAYLOR.
It surprises me that this album stood the test of time quite easily and now
with this remastered vinyl release, I can highly recommend everyone to check
out one of the greatest underrated bands from the 1970s. Time Loves A Hero is a
superb album after all these years, and LITTLE FEAT should definitely get the
same recognition as bands like TOTO, ZAPPA, STEELY DAN, DOOBIE BROTHERS and
such, because I feel they have never been as big as those acts, which is a
shame, but also understandable since they lost one of their founding and most
important members during their successful years, so they couldn’t continue in
their strongest line-up after 1979. Anyway, if you’re not familiar with them,
get yourself a copy of this wonderful LITTLE FEAT album! The remastered vinyl
album is available through: https://www.jpc.de/?lang=en (Europe)
and http://www.acousticsounds.com (USA).
(Points: 8.8 out of 10)
CARLO
SANTANA & MAHAVISHNU JOHN MCLAUGHLIN 'LOVE DEVOTION SURRENDER VINYL RECORD'
(COLUMBIA RECORDS/SPEAKERS CORNER RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
In the spirit of JOHN COLTRANE two
legendary musicians recorded an album together in the early 1970s. CARLOS
SANTANA and JOHN MCLAUGHLIN were both huge back then with their bands SANTANA
and THE MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA, but with this album they went for an experimental
improvised sound that here and there sounded like extremely complex progressive
jazz-rock. Now SPEAKERS CORNER RECORDS has remastered the album, so a new vinyl
record release is done at the best possible analogue way like they do with each
release. The 5 included songs on the album were recorded in 1972 and 1973 and
they are a mix of JOHN COLTRANE covers, a traditional Gospel song and 2
self-written songs by John. Besides Carlos on guitar and John on guitar and
piano, the other involved members were Mahalakshmi Eve McLaughlin – piano,
Larry Young (under his Muslim name Khalid Yasin) – piano, organ, Doug Rauch –
bass guitar, JAN HAMMER – Hammond organ, drums, percussion, BILLY COBHAM -
drums, percussion, Don Alias – drums, percussion, Mike Shrieve – drums,
percussion, Mingo Lewis – percussion and Armando Peraza – congas, percussion,
vocals. An incredible line-up with as result an album that is one of the most
difficult and complicated albums CARLOS SANTANA has even been involved with. It
might also be his heaviest record, because already during the opener A Love
Supreme there’s a lot of shredding going on by Carlos. It’s improvised
heavy proggy jazz-fusion rock, with a rather cool twin-guitar solo as well
halfway, while a hammond comes along with some vocals later on and all together
that gives it an exciting twist. This 8 minutes counting tune is followed by a
calmer piece titled Naima, which is mostly situated around the Spanish guitar.
The Life Divine clocks in at 9:30 minutes and is an interesting mixture again,
with some more melodies this time due to the vocals that feel like tribal
singing and this song is basically progrock orientated, yet with the vibe of
World Music, African meets Latin rhythms and here SANTANA delivers an
incredible guitarsolo! I do miss however the melodic SANTANA sometimes here,
because it is a lot of shredding we hear on the record, something that would
make YNGWIE MALMSTEEN jealous! Carlos plays on the longest song of the album,
the Gospel traditional Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord, as if he is
playing a complicated jazz saxolo, with a lot of guitar shredding and some
moments it is really quite heavy, almost complex progressive rock you could call
this. Closing track Meditation is a calmer piece, a relaxing piano/acoustic
guitar dominated song that is much needed after the previous heavy complex
tune. Once again the perfect sound of this remastered album sounds like Carlos
and John recorded it yesterday, but as already mentioned the music is quite
extreme here and there, not the kinda SANTANA music you're probably familiar
with. On the other hand, the fans of complex prog and jazz in the classic 70s
improvisation direction will absolutely love this album. The vinyl album is
available through: https://www.jpc.de/?lang=en (Europe)
and http://www.acousticsounds.com (USA).
(Points: 8.3 out of 10)
BROTHER
JACK MCDUFF 'TOBACCO ROAD VINYL RECORD' (ATLANTIC RECORDS/SPEAKERS CORNER RECORDS/GERMAN
IMPORT)
I was not familiar with this album before,
but thanks to SPEAKERS CORNER RECORDS I received a test pressing vinyl edition
of this remastered album that was recorded within 2 days about 55 years ago! It
was recorded at the famous Chess Studios in Chicago on August 22 and August 23,
1966! Tobacco Road is the 2nd album on ATLANTIC RECORDS of
American organist BROTHER JACK MCDUFF, and it is a sensational album that
definitely sounds on this new vinyl edition as if he and his fellow musicians
are standing in the same room playing for you instead that you’re listening to
an album on your record player! This new carefully remastered vinyl release is
therefore a must-hear for anyone into real music! Brother Jack is no longer
with us sadly, but he did a lot of great things in the past, playing with
legends like KENNY BURRELL and GEORGE BENSON, and he released a lot of music.
In fact, he discovered George when he was very young and played in Brother
Jack’s band. Jack was mainly active in the hard bop and soul jazz era of the
1950s and 1960s, and this particular record shows that his organ sound was
phenomenal. Tobacco Road also has a funky vibe, something which you didn’t hear
on the countless other Jazz/Blue Note albums at the time. Besides Brother Jack
on Hammond, other involved musicians were Fred Berry and King Kolax on trumpet,
John Watson on trombone, Red Holloway on tenor saxophone, Danny Turner on tenor
saxophone, flute, Lonnie Simmons on baritone saxophone, Bobby Christian on
vibraphone, percussion, Roland Faulkner and Calvin Green on guitar, Loyal J.
Gresham on electric bass, Joe Dukes and Bob Guthrie on drums and J. J. Jackson
as arranger and conductor. The 9 included songs were a mix of 2 originals
composed by Jack himself, and 7 covers of songs originally composed by RUDY
TOOMBS, JOHN D. LOUDERMILK, BOB DYLAN, IRVING BERLIN and several others. The
music is a mix of beautiful calmer songs and swinging uptempo pieces. This is
very relaxing smooth jazz record in the old school style with various
instrument solo's such as organ, flute, sax, but of course Jack’s organ is the
most notable instrument. Among the beautiful calm pieces we can note The Shadow
Of Your Smile and This Bitter Earth, while swinging pure jazz can be heard
during And The Angels Sing (with saxsolo) and Alexander's Ragtime Band (with
its many twin-sax melodies sounding absolutely fantastic!). The tight rhythm
section and fantastic sound quality are making this new vinyl edition of the
album an absolute winner, but the real highlights for me personally are the
fantastic uptempo soulful Can't Get Satisfied, which also features some vocals
and this song also has this aforementioned funky vibe, kinda like JAMES BROWN.
I am in love with the lovely Hammond organ work by Jack here, because this is a
real party tune and also closing track Wade In The Water has that same feeling,
yet no vocals here. Funnily enough these are the 2 songs Jack composed himself,
so he showed that on his own he could deliver timeless masterpieces that stood
the test of time, especially now on this new high quality vinyl release.
Definitely something you need to hear, no matter if you like jazz, funk, soul,
prog or anything else, this is a fantastic instrumental Hammond Organ
orientated album. The vinyl album is available through: https://www.jpc.de/?lang=en (Europe)
and http://www.acousticsounds.com (USA).
(Points: 8.7 out of 10)
ERIC
DEVRIES 'SONG & DANCE MAN' (MIG/TENACITY/UK IMPORT)
ERIC DEVRIES is a
Dutch singer/songwriter and he recorded his new album Song & Dance Man
entirely live in a studio. It’s an almost fully acoustic album that really
invites you to sit down and listen. The music is typical singer/songwriter
music, American orientated quite clearly, so you could easily call this a pure
Americana album. Along with producer and multi-instrumentalist JANOS KOOLEN and
bassist LUCAS BEUKERS, Eric recorded 12 songs, and among the highlights are
definitely the songs that also feature some more guests on backing vocals and
violin player JOOST VAN ES, such as the lovely Time Is All. Eric has a clear
Dutch accent in his voice, but this never gets annoying. It’s Eric’s 4th solo-album
since he started in 2004, while in-between he also recorded albums with HIDDEN
AGENDA DELUXE and MATTHEWS SOUTHERN COMFORT. A talented gifted
singer/songwriter with a nice new album, so please check him out at: https://ericdevries.lnk.to
(Points:
7.5 out of 10)
MISSISSIPPI
MACDONALD 'DO RIGHT, SAY RIGHT' (APM RECORDS/CENTRAL PRESS/UK IMPORT)
There’s all kinds of
blues, but if we want to hear the real old school blues, we usually need to go
back in time, but MISSISSIPPI MACDONALD is the exception to the rule. He is a
gifted singer/songwriter/guitarist from London and he absolutely delivers a
fantastic performance on his new album Do Right, Say Right. Backing him up here
are PHIL DEARING (keys, guitar), ELLIOT BOUGHEN (bass), MARK JOHNSON-BROWN
(drums) and backing vocalist LUCY DEARING, but Oliver himself is of course the
star. He has the voice of a classic Soul singer and his guitarplaying is subtle
laid-back a la BB KING. This is soulful blues at it’s very best, something to
enjoy live somewhere in a small pub. Songs like I Was Wrong, Drinker’s Blues,
Your Wife Is Cheating On Us (superb! Love the lyrics!) and Let Me Explore Your
Mind already sound like timeless Blues classics now! I’ll bet he will live on
stage blow away everyone. You can’t get much close to pure Blues than this, so
make sure to check out this amazing talented musician at:
https://mississippimacdonald.com/
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
THE
VEGETARIANS 'BILL HALEY' (INDEPENDENT/HEMIFRAN/SWEDEN IMPORT)
The Swedish band THE
VEGETARIANS consists mainly of composer/musician Hans Annellsson from Malmo,
because the rest of the band (or should I say project) consists of guest
singers such as John Tabacco, Marc Mollan, Ashley Scrace Wendel & John
Marshall Gibbs, while drummer Morgan Ågren (Devin Townsend, Mats/Morgan Band,
Zappa's Universe), keyboard/harmonicaplayer Mats Öberg (Mats/Morgan Band,
Zappa's Universe) and keyboardplayer Dan Bornemark also appear on the album.
The included music is loaded with fun lyrics, while the music is progressive
rock with a humoristic approach, very much like ZAPPA when you hear songs such
as Where's My Yoko?, Reptilian's Folly and Louie. Done very well, this is a 70s
progrock orientated album that will be loved by fans of JETHRO TULL and ZAPPA.
More info at: https://thevegetarians.bandcamp.com/album/bill-haley
(Points:
7.7 out of 10)
MARK
ROGERS 'RHYTHM OF THE ROADS' (INDEPENDENT/HEMIFRAN/SWEDEN IMPORT)
Although he tried to
start up a career back in the early 1980s, the synth dominated 80s gave him
such a hard time that he quit until 2015. Since restarting his music career 6 years
ago, this Rhythm Of The Roads is his 2nd album so far. Musically speaking Mark
is in the Americana/Country mash-up direction. 10 songs are included on the
album, and especially during uptempo pieces like Fifty Dollar Fine, Every Once
In A While and Just So You Know, it all sounds quite uplifting. Mark reminds me
a bit of PAUL SIMON here and there, but the music is as mentioned more uptempo
based. Check for yourself at:
https://markrogers1.bandcamp.com/album/rhythm-of-the-roads
(Points:
7.3 out of 10)
GEORGE
ENSLE 'BE A BETTER ME' (PUFFBUNNY RECORDS/HEMIFRAN/SWEDEN IMPORT)
Out of Austin, Texas
comes country music singer and songwriter GEORGE ENSLE, who has been in the
music business since the early 1970s. His debut album Head On was released in
1980, but it would take a few more decades before we could hear new material of
this musician. Be A Better Me is his new album, and basically it contains old
school calm country balladry material, which also has a raw singer/songwriter
touch in a great song like Scarecrow and some VAN MORRISON can be heard during
a song like Gone Fishin’. However, BOB DYLAN meets WILLIE NELSON would be the
best description here I think. Check for yourself all info on this musician
at: http://georgeensle.com/relese.htm
(Points:
7.3 out of 10)
MARCO
R. WAGNER 'BACK TO THE PLOW' (SEVERAL RECORDS/HEMIFRAN/SWEDEN IMPORT)
Back To The Plow is
the 6th album of the American singer/songwriter MARCO R.
WAGNER. Musically speaking it is honest acoustic guitar based singer/songwriter
folk music that breathes a campfire atmosphere. 13 songs are included and they
tell us stories like the good old troubadours BOB DYLAN, NEIL YOUNG, LEONARD
COHEN and such did in the past. Here and there a bit more melodic, such as
during Some Years From Now, but overall this is the kind of raw typical
American singer/songwriter music like we heard it a lot back in the 1970s. More
info on the talented MARCO R. WAGNER at: http://www.marcorwagner.com/
(Points:
7.5 out of 10)
FASCINATION
CURVE 'CORONA TIME IN AMERIKA' (CMR/HEMIFRAN/SWEDEN IMPORT)
The Norwegian/American
KARL LUNDEBERG (producer, keyboardplayer, guitarist, singer/songwriter) started
a new project during the pandemic titled FASCINATION CURVE, and along the way
other musicians joined him, such as guitarist Marc Bonilla (KEITH EMERSON),
vocalist Ken Stacey (AMBROSIA), vocalist Amy Keyes, bassist Mha Bhati,
saxophone player Tim Riess and drummer Gregg Bissonette (RINGO STARR/KEITH
EMERSON). The result is a full blown epic concept album about the corona virus.
Musically there is so much going on here, so many different music styles, and
it’s absolutely amazing to listen to the 5 long songs included on the album.
Highlights are definitely I Will Breathe With You and Corona Time In Amerika,
both containing lovely progressive rock parts, but also jazz, funk, pop, aor,
westcoast, fusion, blues and even world music influences can be traced on this
CD. It sounds overall like a progressive rock mixture between PETER GABRIEL,
STEVEN WILSON, NICK CAVE, MARK KNOPFLER (vocally) and DAVID BOWIE, so I guess
you can then make up your own mind what this more or less could sound like!
Actually, FASCINATION CURVE has an own style, which is very melodic and mostly
melancholic, with also superb soaring guitar solo’s by Karl, and as already
mentioned, vocally he (or one of the other singers, as I’m not sure who sings
when) reminds me of MARK KNOPFLER somehow, which means he is mostly singing in
a calm whispering style. Without a doubt this album is very interesting for
fans of concept progrock albums, because that is the main ingredient of Corona
Time In Amerika. There is very little info on this release to be found, but
let’s hope it will be picked up very soon by the media, because it is a great
album. It might be a bit dark and negative here and there, the finished product
is still a soon-to-be legendary album about the pandemic that took us all by
surprise since early 2020. More info at: https://www.hemifran.com/news/detail/u/697/Fascination%20Curve/Corona%20Time%20In%20Amerika/
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
AEON
STATION 'OBSERVATORY' (SUB POP/KONKURRENT)
Observatory is the
debut album of AEON STATION, a band formed around KEVIN WHELAN of THE WRENS.
It’s a mixture of songs that were written and recorded by Kevin over the past
14 years, and musically speaking it’s a mixture of indie, lo-fi, dreampop and a
touch of catchy uptempo poprock. Overall it sounds quite good and very strong
most of the time, as none of the 10 songs is below average. The material is a
mix of very calm melancholic songs to more uptempo pieces, such as the
excellent catchy uptempo melodic poprocker Fade. Other highlights are the
lovely melancholic 70s inspired westcoast/middle of the road ish Everything At
Once, the garage rocker Queens, the beautiful calm SIMON & GARFUNKELish
Empty Rooms and the uptempo powerpop piece Better Love. Well done for sure and
hopefully it will be a project Kevin will continue in the future. More info can
be found at: https://aeonstation.bandcamp.com/album/observatory
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
ORIGINAL
MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK 'HALLOWEEN KILLS' (SACRED BONES RECORDS/KONKURRENT)
During my teenage
years I was a sucker for horror movies such as A Nightmare On Elm Street,
Maniac Cop, The Lost Boys, Scream, Friday the 13th and of
course Halloween. I didn’t follow the horror movie industry for over the past
20 years, so I am not sure what has been going on since the turn of the
century, but no doubt about it that these classic movies probably have all had
a remake by now. Halloween Kills seems to be a new movie, and I received a CD
with the original motion picture soundtrack of this new volume of the Halloween
series. Musically speaking nothing has changed, because it has the same kinda
classic theme music as the classic 80s movies, yet sounding more up-to-date
likewise. I read that Jamie Lee Curtis is even still acting in the movie, so
it’s like we stepped in a time machine back to the 1980s. I absolutely love the
sound of the album, because it has this exciting terrifying approach that
easily gives you the 80s feeling when all those horror movies had such music
that we nowadays call synthwave (such as best can be heard during the song
Unkillable), but of course the older people among us will call it krautrock in
the TANGERINE DREAM style of the 1970s. Anyway, the legendary JOHN CARPENTER,
CODY CARPENTER and DANIEL DAVIES did a great job here and if you’re familiar
with the movie and the music of these fantastic composer, then you exactly know
what to do here!
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
TASHA
'TELL ME WHAT YOU MISS THE MOST' (FATHER/DAUGHTER RECORDS/KONKURRENT)
Out of Chicago comes
musician Tasha Viets-VanLear, better known as TASHA, and Tell Me What You Miss
The Most is her 2nd album. This talented singer/songwriter
debuted in 2018 with her album Alone At Last. Her music is funk/soul
orientated, but done in a sorta bluesy singer/songwriter jacket, so with the
use of guitars, bass and drums, a bit like YOLA, yet vocally TASHA has a lush
relaxing approach in her voice that is closer to LANA DEL REY. This combination
works really well, and all together TASHA has an own identity that sounds
really sensational during songs like the catchy Perfect and the beautiful Lake.
Tasha is not only a gifted singer, but she also plays guitar and bass, while
Ashley Guerrero is playing drums, and a few more musicians appear, but Tasha
herself is doing most things on her own. Check her out at: https://tashamusic.bandcamp.com/album/tell-me-what-you-miss-the-most
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
ALAN
CLARK ‘BACKSTORY' (PONDEROSA MUSIC RECORDS/XANGO MUSIC)
British musician ALAN
CLARK is a keyboardist/pianist who played with DIRE STRAITS during their
heydays in the 1980s and 1990s, but he played with many others, such as PHIL
COLLINS, VAN MORRISON, BILLY JOEL and countless other legendary musicians.
Backstory is a new solo album he released, and on this CD he is doing
piano-only versions of classic songs he was involved with, and basically
everybody knows iconic songs such as Have I Told You Lately, Private Dancer, License
To Kill, Brothers In Arms, Love Over Gold, etc. It’s great to hear piano-only
versions of these memorable songs, because now you get to hear them in a
complete different setting, which feels very jazzy like BILL EVANS or something
in that direction. Check out more info on this release at: https://www.alanclarkmusic.com/
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
TANGUEDIADUO
‘ASTOR PIAZZOLLA ‘SOLEDAD’ (VISAGE MUSIC/XANGO MUSIC)
ASTOR PIAZOLLA is a
legendary Argentinian tango composer/musician who was groundbreaking, because
with his introduction of the instrument bandoneon, tango players could walk and
still play instead of only sitting while playing, which meant a revolution in
both the music and political history of anything related to the tango music.
Besides, the introduction of the instrument gave the tango sound a new twist,
and therefore Astor is an absolute innovator in that music genre. Astor
Piazzolla Soledad is a tribute that the Tango duo TANGUEDIADUO recorded in the
late 1990s, and this has now been re-released on CD. The Argentinian duo
consists of Barbara Tartari (flute) und Claudio Farinone (guitar), and together
they did this wonderful tribute to the late Astor, who sadly died 30 years ago.
His legend lives on and on through these 12 wonderful songs TANGUEDIADUO
recorded 2 decades ago. More info at: https://www.claudiofarinone.info/projects-media/tanguediaduo/
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
DERYA
YILDIRIM & GRUPA ŞİMŞEK ‘DOST 1’ (BONGO JOE/CATAPULTE RECORDS/FRANCE
IMPORT)
When the first few seconds of the debut
album of DERYA YILDIRIM & GRUPA ŞİMŞEK blast through the speakers, it is
clear we are dealing with something special. ALTIN GUN has had an enormous
influence the past few years, so it was only a matter of time before new bands
would follow their footsteps. DERYA YILDIRIM & GRUPA ŞİMŞEK from Hamburg,
Germany was already established a few years ago, and they already delivered
their debut album Kar Yagar back in 2019. Dost 1 is the follow-up, and let’s
hope they will now be able to tour and promote it, because due to the pandemic
this has been hard the past 2 years. Anyway, the band consists of Greta Eacott
- drums, percussion, Antonin Voyant - guitar, bass guitar, flute, Graham
Mushnik - organ, synthesizers, clavinet, bass guitar and Derya Yıldırım -
bağlama, vocals, and the music of these 4 gifted musicians combine influences
of Anatolian Folk and modern grooves, 70s Psychedelic Rock, Jazz and Funk to a
danceable sound. 6 songs are included on this 2nd CD Dost 1,
which has a playing time of almost 30 minutes. The way the organ opens the
instrumental first song The Trip, in combination with the psychedelic 70s
Turkish sounds, it gives you goosebumps and the band’s sound will grab you
right away. It’s like DEEP PURPLE from 1970 in a groovy Turkish delight! The
female Turkish vocals join during the following relaxing Haydar Haydar that
combines the elements of their influences (), with also once again that
fantastic organ sound as well as cool funky synths. ALTIN GUN is not far when
hearing the Turkish 70s psychedelic folk piece Deniz Dalgasiz Olmaz. The
longest song Hastane Önü is the most interesting songs, because it takes you
into the band’s journey of exploring different sounds, so it melts all the
previous mentioned influences and should even appeal to progressive rockfans!
Hop Çerkez and Sunrise are the remaining songs that continue the wonderful
diverse sound of DERYA YILDIRIM & GRUPA ŞİMŞEK. Do not miss this talented
band and go check them out at: https://deryayildirimandgrupsimsek.bandcamp.com/
(Points: 8.5 out of 10)
ELECTRIC
HAZE ‘GET IN LINE’ (IDLE NORTH RECORDS/SWEDEN IMPORT)
Out of Sweden comes
the 4-piece band ELECTRIC HAZE, and they have delivered their classic rock
sounding full-length debut Get In Line recently. The band is formed around
Anton Ekstrom (vocals), Tommy Toya (guitars), Andre Ekstrom (bass) and Yuppie
Anderson (drums), and musically speaking this is pure Classic Rock that reminds
me a lot of BLACK ROSE (Sweden) from the 90s or ROBERT PEHRSSON’s HUMBUCKER,
but it’s probably better to mention their influences of AC/DC, WHITESNAKE, RAINBOW,
THIN LIZZY and such. Despite it might not all sound very original, ELECTRIC
HAZE does a great job here with 9 strong songs that have a great
sound/production, and also vocally Anton does a good performance on all of the
songs. The band is at their best during the uptempo pieces, such as Succuba,
Woah!, and also the groovy LED ZEPPELIN influenced classic rocker Clenched
Fist. There’s also a late 80s light hair metal touch to be heard a few times,
such as during the WARRANTish groovy All I Ask For, and one of the highlights
is the beautiful pure 80s melodic power rock ballad Cavern Of Pain, which
reminds me of Dutch bands that delivered ballads in the 1980s (VANDENBERG,
HELLOISE, PICTURE, HORIZON). The band is also not shy from early 80s fast
NWOBHM such as can be heard during Lest We Forget, while closing track Cryin’
is an interesting strong epic semi-melodic rockballad, with a slight proggy
touch and some of Anton’s best vocal performances on the album. Concluded,
ELECTRIC HAZE is a nice addition to the never-ending list of Swedish (hard)
rockbands. Check them out at: https://electrichazeswe.bandcamp.com/
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
BEATNIKBIKER
‘RESPITE FROM THE MAINSTREAM’ (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
JOHN MORGAN is the man
behind BEATNIKBIKER and despite Respite From The Mainstream is his debut album,
he was already in the music business during the 1970s when he played in a band
that featured MICK HUCKNALL of SIMPLY RED for a short while. John went on doing
other things all over the world, but finally found the time to do something
musically with his BEATNIKBIKER band. Under this moniker he released this great
album in 2019. It’s musically quite laid-back actually, but still rocks in a
sorta dark melancholic way. John has got this unique voice, which is sometimes
close to whispering, but it feels right for this type of music that fits
somewhere between early 80 slow dark post-punk, 90s Britpop, Blues and a proggy
touch. 9 songs are included, and I have to admit it all sounds really
impressive and very original. A song like How Do We Solve A Problem Like Simon?
Is basically PINK FLOYDish prog, but then done in a somewhat bluesy way, and
when the guitarsolo comes around it’s a pity the song fades out, because it
sounds really beautiful. On the other you have a song like Stay A While that
breathes an early/mid 90s Britpop direction like BLUR meets BECK. NICK CAVE
also comes around a few times, such as during the slow opening song The
Coachmans Hat, while TOM WAITS would be jealous on a song like Peace Must Have
Its Turn and Times Of My Life (which also has some prog influences). The
melodic 80s influenced midtempo All Gone South features lovely melodies that
makes it sound like a cross between THE STRANGLERS and MANIC STREET PREACHERS,
yet BEATNIKBIKER always gives it his own twist due to the unique ‘low pitched’
vocalwork of John that is moving somewhere between MARK KNOPFLER, NICK CAVE and
DAVID GILMOUR. There’s actually no weak song to be found here, so make sure to
check out this album in case you’re starting to become interested. More info
at: https://beatnikbiker.co.uk/
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
REBEL'S
END 'SING TO THE DEVIL' (PURE STEEL RECORDS/SOULFOOD/GERMAN IMPORT)
The past 10 years Belgium is very active
in the rock/metal field. In the 1980s there were just a couple of bands, such
as OSTRAGOTH and KILLERS, while the 1990s brought us CHANNEL ZERO and quite a
bit more, but it was when TRIGGERFINGER broke through in the 2000s when Belgian
bands really began to deliver strong material. I just visited a festival last
week where I saw a couple of sensational new Belgian bands (RAMKOT, HEISA and
POTHAMUS), and now here is REBEL’S END from Belgium. Sing To The Devil is their
2nd album and musically speaking it is straight-ahead raw
no-nonsense Hardrock/Metal with a sleazy approach and mostly catchy uptempo
tunes that bring back memories of classic LA GUNS and GUNS’N’ROSES during
excellent uptempo sleazy hardrocksongs like Black Crow, Rawhead, Death &
Destruction (a bit CRASH DIETish), the catchy ultra-melodic rocking End Of Me
and Blood From A Stone. There’s also some faster metal ish tunes here and
there, but most of the time this REBEL’S END is recommended to the fans of
aforementioned bands. More info at: https://puresteelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/sing-to-the-devil
(Points:
8.3 out of 10)
SCEPTOR
'RISE TO THE FIGHT' (PURE STEEL RECORDS/SOULFOOD/GERMAN IMPORT)
Although the American/German band SCEPTOR
consists of members that played in established bands like TITAN STEELE,
ATTACKER, ALCHEMY X, HAMMER KING and such, the band’s 2nd CD
Rise To The Fight is not as good as those Metal bands, although the music of
SCEPTOR is definitely pure (Power) Melodic Metal. The weakest link here is the
band’s singer BOB MITCHELL, who doesn’t have such a powerful voice I’m afraid.
11 songs are included and although it’s not bad at all musically speaking, the
vocals of Bob do not impress and after a while SCEPTOR seems to loose grip on
delivering really memorable tunes, which is desperately needed in this kind of
Metal. Check them out at: https://puresteelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/rise-to-the-light
(Points:
6.5 out of 10)
EXXPERIOR
‘ESCALATING CONFLICTS' (PURE STEEL RECORDS/SOULFOOD/GERMAN IMPORT)
Now here we have a Thrash Metal album that
sounds quite aggressive at first sight and reminding of the good old Bay Area
thrashing days of the late 1980s, but there’s clearly more going on here,
because EXXPERIOR from Germany adds progressive metal and even
classical/symphonic music influences to their sound. This combination makes
them sound different, and along with a 28-sided booklet, this 76-minutes
counting CD has a lot to offer. The band started back in 2010 by lead singer
TOM LIEBLING, who is also a multi-instrumentalist, although there are guest
appearances on the EXXPERIOR albums, and live on stage there is a full band
backing him up. Anyway, there have already been quite a few releases by
EXXPERIOR in the past, and Escalating Conflicts is the new album. Tom is very
angry and most of the songs are quite aggressive, fast and furious, with a
certain SLAYER kinda feeling here and there, but every now and then things calm
down quite nicely. However, the fans of aggressive thrashy metal (of a high
level) will be interested in checking out this band at: https://exxperior.bandcamp.com/album/escalating-conflicts
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
JIMMY LEE ‘BROKEN’ (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
Out of Bristol, UK comes the talented
JIMMY LEE, a multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter who already released
quite a few albums, and also toured all over the world. He is a real
singer/songwriter troubadour in the classic BOB DYLAN style, telling stories in
the songs he delivers. The music is not too positive or uplifting, because it
is a very emotional and depressing kinda direction we’re heading, which
reflects a certain LEONARD COHEN meets NICK CAVE ish approach in the song
writing. The highlight on his new album Broken is definitely the beautiful
Ghost In Blue Jeans. Besides Jimmy on vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica,
ukulele, drums and percussion, other involved musicians are Graham J Nicholls
(electric guitar, slide guitar, banjo, bass), Pete Gill (piano) and Joe Allen
(contrabass). The music is as mentioned singer/songwriter orientated, but
definitely based on country, blues and folk influences that also reflect a lot
of JOHNNY CASH kinda influences besides the aforementioned comparisons. If this
starts interesting, then you better make sure to check out JIMMY LEE a.s.a.p.
at: https://www.jimmyleegigs.com/bio
(Points:
7.5 out of 10)
THE OLD
COUNTRY CROWS ‘VARIOUS ALBUMS’ (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
Out of Kent, UK comes THE OLD COUNTRY
CROWS, a band formed around Gary Virtue (vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica,
songwriter), guitarist Mark Griffiths, drummer Craig Wild and bassist Tim Geer.
Their same titled debut from 2013 already showed some great material, such as
the incredible catchy classic 60s influenced uptempo Powerpop/Garage Rock tune
There’s Always Tomorrow that sounds like a mix between classic 60s Merseybeat
THE BEATLES/THE HOLLIES, early 80s THE KNACK and 00s THE MADD, so this is
basically picture perfect super melodic rocking powerpop at it’s very best, and
this would have been a huge hit back in 1965! Furthermore the variety of styles
is notable, because there’s also Bluegrass/Rockabilly, a bit of Americana, pure
Celtic-Folk and some Singer/Songwriter (BOB DYLANesque) Folk, but mostly it is
thankfully catchy uptempo Garagerock/Powerpop like the aforementioned song. The
album was produced by the legendary late BERNIE TORME (OZZY, GILLAN, DESPERADO,
ATOMIC ROOSTER), and other highlights on this CD are the other uptempo catchy
60s powerpop/garagerock pieces Out In The Sun, Missing You (pure THE MADD!),
The Places I Have Been and A Different Angle. This THE OLD COUNTRY CROWS is
definitely one of the finest pure/authentic Merseybeat/60s Powerpopbands I have
heard in ages, but as mentioned there’s also folk and Americana in-between
these powerpop tunes. The band followed this full-length debut album with a
Christmas album in 2017 and another full-length titled Behind The Rain in 2020.
This album continued the diversity in styles of the previous full-length debut
album, with once again as highlights the catchy uptempo melodic fun 60s
powerpop pieces such as My Head Is Alright, Hand Of Fate and Not So Long Ago,
although this time a midtempo song like Florida Sun and a ballad ish song such
as the closing titletrack Behind The Rain sound really great. And now in 2021
there is a new EP titled Listen To Me, which contains 5 songs and is musically
following the same path as their earlier albums. Opening titletrack Listen To
Me is once again 60s Garage Rock/Powerpop orientated, but slightly more edgier
than the band was before, which of course we don’t mind! Early THE BEATLES is
clearly a reference and following this great start is the calmer folky Without
You, while All Summer Long has a TOM PETTYish catchy midtempo Americana poprock
sound. Burned To The Ground is a midtempo THE KINKS/THE BEATLESish folky
pop/rocker and closing track Help Me Man is their most rocking so far, because
this is a great uptempo classic rocker with a STATUS QUO approach. Slightly
less powerpop ish than the earlier albums, THE OLD COUNTRY CROWS shows they are
a great diverse band which develops with each new album release, so go check
them out at: https://www.theoldcountrycrows.co.uk/
(Points:
8.4 out of 10)
MARYANN
’TRANSPARENT’ (INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
Out of Florida, USA comes the talented
singer/songwriter MARYANN STEFANIK who was kind enough to send me her album
Transparent from 2017 and a new CD single titled The Outsider. Maryann has a
great unique ‘old school’ raspy voice like ROSMARY BUTLER, KIM CARNES and
RONNIE SPECTOR, while musically speaking she goes for a slightly early 80s
AOR/Poprock direction during the first couple of songs, which are the midtempo
HTF 060617 and the uptempo BLONDIEish You Really Got Me Going Again. However,
there’s also blues and country influences here and there, and during a song
like Hips, Lips & Eyes she goes for a really cool 50s influenced jazzy
rocking AMY WHINEHOUSE/CARO EMERALD ish style. Besides self-written material
there are also covers to be found of classic tunes from BILL WITHERS, VAN
MORRISON and CHRIS ISAAC. Another highlight is the beautiful Rosebud and also
the catchy BackUp Man and the rocking closing track That’s All should be
mentioned. Backed by a list of guest musicians, Maryann is a gifted
singer/composer and I look forward to a new full-length album in the near
future. Meanwhile check her out at: https://maryannsmusic.com and
discover hew new single The Outsider, which is a nice rocker.
(Points:
7.2 out of 10)
MARIO
ROSSI BAND ‘HEAVY’ (INDEPENDENT/BRAZIL IMPORT)
7 songs are on the new CD of the talented
Brazilian guitarist/singer/songwriter MARIO ROSSI. His music has a typical
retro bluesy hardrock approach that is obviously influenced by JIMI HENDRIX. As
a guitarist Mario is amazing, because he shreds like some of the best, but
vocally he is just like Jimi limited, however that is no problem at all if you
are surrounded by other talented musicians, which in this case are EDE
BOY/keys, drummer RAFAEL CACAVALLO and bassist MICHAEL MULLER and OTHOM
RIBEIRO, although Mario himself also plays bass here and there. Highlights on
Heavy are Nemesis (a great groovy funky bluesrocker with the sensational
guitarwork of Mario), I Could Be Good For You Now (a nice calmer semi melodic
rockballad with a lovely soaring guitarsolo, and here Mario sounds quite good
as a singer), the jazzy influenced groovy bluesrocker When The Summer Ends and
closing track Acid/Chemistry, which happens to be the best song on the album, a
real lovely JIMI HENDRIXish groovy guitar based bluesrocker with also strong
vocals of Mario. As mentioned, the guitarwork is phenomenal, like HENDRIX meets
MOORE meets SANTANA, yet vocally it’s not always convincing as you could read
in the review, so that’s something to improve, but the guitarfreaks will
absolutely love this talented guitarist from Brazil! More info can be found
at: www.mariorossiband.com
(Points: 8.0 out of 10)
SLEEPMAKESWAVES
'LIVE AT THE METRO' (BIRD'S ROBE RECORDS/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
The sensational instrumental
progressive post-rockband SLEEPMAKESWAVES from Australia performed a show at
Sydney's Metro Theater back in 2015, and this new release is a live recording
of that wonderful performance. Without a doubt, this band has got to be one of
the finest modern instrumental prog/post-rockbands around these days. 9 songs
are included and from start to finish you find yourself in a sorta adventure
that you just don't want to leave. It's full speed ahead with all these massive
sounding songs that will especially appeal to fans of LONG DISTANCE CALLING and
PORCUPINE TREE. The album is also released as double-LP and I can highly
recommend you to check out one of Australian's best innovative rockbands at the
moment. More info at: http://www.sleepmakeswaves.com
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
MALO
MORAY & HIS INFLATABLE KNEE 'IMPROVISATIONS FROM THE SOLAR SYSTEM (INDEPENDENT/CREATIVE
ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
Now here we have
something quite experimental that recalls memories of works by BRIAN ENO or
JOHN ZORN. It concerns a project by German bassist/multi-instrumentalist/concept
artist Martin ‘Malo’ Riebel who combines strange noises, such as tape recording
machine, nature sounds and such with his bass playing and other electronic
devices. The result feels like an avant-garde soundtrack to a documentary or a
sci-fi movie, sometimes haunting and suspense like, but at other times very
natural and organic. Definitely recommended to people who want to hear
something completely different. Check for yoursel at: https://malomoray.bandcamp.com/
,
(Points:
8.2 out of 10)
CLAYHANDS
'IS THIS YES?' (BIRD'S ROBE RECORDS/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
Is This Yes? is the debut album of the
Australian band CLAYHANDS from Sydney, Australia. 6 instrumental songs can be
found on the album by this band, which is by the way formed around Heather
Darvey (drums, percussion, conga, glockenspiel, etc.), Matthew Brazel (guitars,
synths, FX, etc), Ronan Geraghty (piano, keys, drums, bass, synths, etc) and
Ricky Thom (guitars, kalimba, percussion). Musically speaking there are
definitely influences of YES, so to answer their question I would say no,
because the music is much more modern and combines all kinds of influences. I
would say CLAYHANDS melts progrock, synthwave, avant-garde sci-fi movie music,
krautrock and all kinds of other out-of-the-ordinary noises and sounds, ending
up sounding like a really great instrumental band that puts you in a trance
during each and every song on the album. HANS ZIMMER and TANGERINE DREAM fans
will absolutely love this album, and I definitely enjoyed CLAYHANDS, because
they add a bit more prog/symfo/synths to their sound than the aforementioned
krautrockacts, and hopefully we will be able to someday see them live on stage,
because I think they will be able to put on a great show. Meanwhile, check out
this great band at: https://clayhands.bandcamp.com
(Points:
8.7 out of 10)
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