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HOT NEW REVIEWS
EDENSONG ‘OUR ROAD
TO DUST’ (THE LASER’S EDGE/SONIC RENDEZVOUS)
Our Road To Dust is the 3rd CD of the American
progressive rockband EDENSONG. It’s almost 10 years ago since their previous
album Years In The Garden Of Years was released, but it’s definitely worth the
wait, because this new CD is a lovely melodic progressive rock affair, with
some typical more melodic American elements in the vocal/chorus department.
Imagine RUSH, KANSAS and DREAM THEATER being melted in a modern SPOCK’S BEARD
ish mix, then you might get close to the sound of EDENSONG. It is clear that a lot
of effort has been put in creating such a strong slightly original progressive
rockalbum that will be a must to check if you like any of the aforementioned
bands. It’s a bit rawer than for example MYSTERY, but basically this is an
album fitting perfectly the needs of a true progrockfan. It’s all there from
start to finish, with both enough room for memorable melodies and long exciting
instrumental breaks. It’s been a while since I last heard such a strong album
that could actually compete with the great SPOCK’S BEARD or even PORCUPINE TREE
(!), but EDENONG definitely delivers with this new CD. The band’s line up
consists of James Byron Schoen - Guitars and vocals, TD "BenBen"
Towers - Bass and vocals, Barry Seroff – Flutes and Nick DiGregorio - Drums and
percussion, and for anyone into pure progrock, this is a highly recommended
album to check out a.s.a.p.! More info at: https://lasersedge.bandcamp.com/album/our-road-to-dust
(Points: 8.7 out of 10)
SPONTUS ‘AR LAGAD
– BLEIZ’ (KLAM RECORDS/L’AUTRE DISTRIBUTION/VEEV.COM/FRANCE IMPORT)
After the instrumental medieval folk sounding Le
menuisier aux mains d'or – Gavotte, the French band SPONTUS introduce acapella
harmonyvocals during the following songs, and start an adventure that take you
straight back to the medieval times with lovely cheerful sing-a-long
traditional French/Breton folk music. The songs are very catchy actually, and
remind me of a French version of the legendary band BOTS from The Netherlands.
The band has been around for quite some time now, and Ar Lagad – Bleiz is their
9th album. SPONTUS consists of Alan Paranthoën: Violin, vocals, Thomas
Hurtel: Bass, vocals, Erwan Bérenguer: Guitar, vocals and Youen Paranthoën:
Accordion, vocals, and it is an enjoyable experience that live on stage will
probably result in a big happy party that combines dancing with beautifully
sung stories in French or Breton. Check them out for yourself at: https://www.klam-records.net/spontus
(Points: 8.1 out
of 10)
IRENE AMATA
‘SEMBIANZA’ (PRODASTAR/INOUIE DISTRIBUTION/VEEV.COM/FRANCE IMPORT)
IRENE AMATA is an italian singer and composer living
in Paris, France since 2014, and her music is a mix of Jazz and Brazilian
music. Right from start of her new album Sembianza, we can hear a lovely voice
with quite relaxed jazzy melodies during the opening song Solo Tu. Irene wrote
all of the songs herself and is assisted by the musicians Maurizio Congiu
(double bass), Fady Farah (piano) and JB Perraudin (drums). It’s a fantastic
album that both musically and vocally are of a very high level, and it’s accessible
music that combines as already mentioned smooth piano led jazz with Brazilian
laid-back music sung in Italian, so quite an interesting mixture we have here.
Irene has a beautiful voice and you can easily listen for hours to her music. Check
her out for yourself at: https://www.ireneamata.com/
(Points: 8.4 out
of 10)
MERCEDES NICOLE
‘TOO HIGH A PRICE TO PAY’ (INDEPENDENT/FRANK ROSZAK PROMOTION/UK IMPORT)
MERCEDES NICOLE is an American blues & Jazz singer/songwriter,
and Too High A Price To Pay is her 2nd album so far. The musicians
on the CD are Jake Sele (Piano & Hammond), Scotty Harris (Bass), Rod Cook
(Guitar), and Andrew Cloutier (Drums), and we can find 13 songs on Mercedes’
new album. The included music is a lovely relaxed/laid-back Blues style with
the characteristic vocals of Mercedes, and it’s a mixture of self-written songs
and covers of ETTA JAMES, JOHN HIATT and several others. It’s a lovely album to
listen to, and the highlights include I’ll Play The Blues For You, Life’s A
Struggle, It Took A Long Time Blues, and the titletrack Too High A Price To Pay.
More info can be found at: https://www.mercedesnicolemusic.com/music/p/toohighaprice
(Points: 8.1 out
of 10)
V&BT ‘DIAMONDS
AT THE RAINBOW’S END (LIVE IN NORWAY)’ (ROLLER RECORDS/FRANK ROSZAK
PROMOTIONS/USA IMPORT)
V&BT (VIGDIS & BLA TRAD) is a Norwegian band
formed around vocalist Vigdis Haugen, guitarist/composer/producer Tom
Pettersen, bassist Bjorn Lokling and drummer Christer Persson, and Diamonds At
The Rainbow’s End is their debut album, which was released in November 2024.
The included music is melodic bluesy pop/rock with a very accessible approach
that includes memorable catchy choruses, while instrumental it has a light
classic rock/bluesy rock feeling. The band was formed back in 2016, and they
have not released any studio albums, but are making their debut with this
rather nice live CD. Guitarist Tom worked with the legendary TRINE REIN in the
past, and you can hear that these are all well-skilled musicians, while the 11
included songs sound quite strong. As already mentioned, the music has a very
melodic approach, which you can hear in great tunes such as Stormy Weather,
Confession (light AOR/Melodic Rocking, even a bit HEARTish), and an AORish
ballad like Caves On My Mind. The blues side can mostly be heard in the groovy
70s WHITESNAKEish guitarsound, because the songs are mostly upbeat melodic
rocking with the catchy hooks and memorable choruses here and there, and
actually this combination works quite well. Check them out at: www.rollerrec.com
(Points: 8.0 out
of 10)
VOODOO RAMBLE ‘IN
THE HEART OF THE CITY’ (INDEPENDENT/CROATIA IMPORT)
BORIS DUGI-NOVACKI (ZAMBA) is a Croatian
guitarist/vocalist/bassist who is the founder and leader of the band VOODOO
RAMBLE. He has been active with his band for a while, and In The Heart Of The
City is the new album which was released recently. The included music is bluesy
classic rock that will go down well during the festivals for sure, because the
material has a wide range of arrangements, including additional female backing
vocalists and trumpets/saxophones here and there besides the usual basic rhythm
section, and the songs are very memorable and easy to sing-a-long. Boris sings
the music in a perfect relaxed raw way, and his guitarplaying is rather
excellent, while the songs are melodic and memorable, being a mixture of
uptempo and slower tunes, of which the highlights are opening titletrack In The
Heart Of The City, Take You Home, Walk Away, 4000 Years Old, and the lovely
Don’t Leave Me 4 Good (sounds like a blues rock classic, kind WALTER TROUT
ish). Here and there it reminds me of a cross between modern day WISHBONE ASH
and a lighter version of URIAH HEEP and DEEP PURPLE melted with classic 70s ZZ
TOP and a blues rock touch of the TROUT/BONAMASSA kind. Basically bluesy
classic rock/heavy bluesy rock at it’s best! Check out more at: www.voodooramble.com
(Points: 8.2 out
of 10)
PHILOSOPHOBIA ‘THE
CONSTANT VOID’ (SENSORY RECORDS/THE LASER’S EDGE/SONIC RENDEZVOUS)
The Constant Void is the 2nd album of the European
metal band PHILOSOPHOBIA. Their line up consists of Domenik Papaemmanouil –
Vocals, Andreas Ballnus – Guitars, Alex Landenburg – Drums, Sebastian Heuckmann
– Bass and Tobias Weißgerber – Keys, and musically speaking they are clearly
progressive metal orientated, yet with an edge that sometimes involves
metalcore elements, which can best be heard in the vocal department, because
Domenik is able to sing clean and do the occasional screams. They remind me a
lot of PAIN AND SALVATION, whom are basically doing the same. The sound and
production as well as the instrumental side of the band is of a very high
level. Mixing and mastering was done by PHIL HILLEN (POWERWOLF and KAMELOT),
and the 9 included tracks are all a joy to listen to for fans of light extreme
melodic progressive metal. I am somewhat surprised this band has not been
praised yet a lot, because they have a sound that should also appeal to fans of
TOOL and HAKEN. Check them out at: https://lasersedge.bandcamp.com/album/the-constant-void
(Points: 8.0 out
of 10)
THE DAVIDSON TRIO
‘COUGAR’ (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
THE DAVIDSON TRIO is a new power trio from Birmingham,
UK, formed around bassist/vocalist OWEN DAVIDSON (ULI JON ROTH), guitarist BEN
BICKNELL and drummer ELLIS BROWN. Together they recorded a strong debut album
titled Cougar, which musically is heavy bluesy hard rock, with a focus on
heavy, so it includes big crunchy guitar riffs and solos as well as here, and
there even high pitched vocals a few times. Hold On is an example of a song
that fits that category. The Cure is a great hard hitting uptempo rocker, but
any song on the CD sounds rather good. The songs are funky, groovy and mostly
midtempo, with heavy guitars and melodic raw vocals, sounding super professional and basically we
have excellent instrumental efforts here by the musicians. Owen’s vocals are
dirty, mean and raw, fitting exactly the heavy blues rock displayed here. At
time it reminds me of BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION, so basically this is a really
great album of this West Midlands, UK based band, and for more info go to: https://www.facebook.com/thedavidsontrio
(Points: 8.1 out
of 10)
ANDERS BUAAS
‘TROLLRINGEN’ (APOLLON RECORDS/NORWAY IMPORT)
Norwegian multi-instrumentalist ANDERS BUAAS has been
around for a while now in the music business, best known for playing in the
bands of PAUL DI’ANNO (MAIDEN) and TIM RIPPER OWENS (PRIEST), yet he is also
active as a solo prog musician. So far, under his own moniker he has released 7
albums, and Trollringen is his 8th album so far. Musically speaking it is
calmer symphonic/progressive rock in the classic 70s style, not far removed
from BO HANSSON and due to the occasional female vocals here and there, we can
also compare it to RENAISSANCE, while there’s also some 70s light jazz fusion
to be heard, but basically it’s a melting pot of 70s proggy styles. It is one
of those albums you can easily put on and enjoy as background music. Anders is
a gifted musician, and you can check him out at: https://andersbuaas.bandcamp.com/album/trollringen
(Points: 8.1 out
of 10)
WHISPERS OF
GRANITE ‘LIQUID STONE’ (APOLLON RECORDS/NORWAY IMPORT)
Out of Germany comes a new project called WHISPERS OF
GRANITE, and their debut album is titled Liquid Stone. The project is formed
around multi-instrumentalist Andreas Hack (FREQUENCY DRIFT, HAVEN OF ECHOES…)
and vocalist Trude Eidtang (ex-WHITE WILLOW and WHEN MARY), while there are
several other guest musicians featured, such as Wolfgang Ostermann on drums,
Michael Fischer on bass, Marek Arnold on sax, and Paul Sadler on guitars. The
resulting album is a beautiful calmer melodic progressive rock album situated
around the lovely laid-back instrumental landscape as created by Andreas and
the exceptionally beautiful vocals of Trude. It’s not that far removed from
bands like KARNATAKA and MOSTLY AUTUMN, yet with an own identity for sure. Just
listen to the amazing opener Spirals, which combines the beauty of the
aforementioned aspects, and it takes you straight into a fascinating journey
you want to keep listening until the end of the CD. No weak moment to be found
here and it’s a joy to listen to the lovely instrumental and vocal melodies of
each and every song of the 8 included in total on the first CD of WHISPERS OF
GRANITE, which hopefully will give us much more music in the future to come!
More info can be found at: https://frequencydrift.bandcamp.com/album/liquid-stone
(Points: 8.5 out
of 10)
WE LOST THE SEA ‘A
SINGLE FLOWER’ (BIRD’S ROBE RECORDS/DUNKL RECORDS/TRANSLATION LOSS RECORDS/NEW
NOISE/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
WE LOST THE SEA is a band from Sydney, Australia, and
they have been around for over 15 years now. Their previous album Triumph &
Disaster dates back to 2019, and now they release their 5th album A Single
Flower. In homeland Australia their albums reached the charts, and they have
been touring worldwide, so in their branch of rock music WE LOST THE SEA have
become a household name. Their music is pure instrumental post-progressive
rock, with a melancholic dark cinematic approach, while still blending melodies
during the heavier almost doom-a-like instrumental guitar controlled choruses
of each and every song of the 6 that are included here on A Single Flower. The
band’s line up consists of Mark Owen - Guitars, Piano, Matt Harvey - Guitars,
Noise, Kieran Elliott – Bass, Carl Whitbread – Guitars, Mathew Kelly - Piano,
Synths, Fender Rhodes and Alasdair Belling - Drums, Positivity. The absolute
highlight is the superb Bloom (Murmurations at First Light), which has an
amazing guitarsolo climax that takes you straight into an epic trance like only
instrumental post-progbands are able to fabricate. Without a doubt, a fantastic
return of this Australian band, which I can highly recommend to fans of this
popular underground genre! More info at: https://welostthesea.bandcamp.com/album/a-single-flower
(Points: 8.7 out
of 10)
BINGO CROWD
‘MANNERS’ (CRISPIN GLOVER RECORDS/STICKMAN RECORS/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
BINGO CROWD is a art/synth-popband from Norway, formed
around musicians Andreas Kjerkol Elvenes, Eivind Brønstad and Svein Segtnan,
and Manners is the follow-up album to their debut album Sinecure, which came
out way back in 2008! Anyway, fast forward to 2025, the band is back with a
strong pure 80s synth driven popalbum that is based around synths, keys and
dark slightly depressing vocals, while still keeping it attractive through the
rather catchy melodies of songs like Observatory, Mapmaker’s Dream and the
intense JOY DIVISIONish Litljtatlj. Imagine a mix between a calmer DEPECHE
MODE, YELLO, 80s DAVID BOWIE, CLAN OF XYMOX, SOFT CELL, JOY DIVISION and such
80s sounds, yet done in a rather slow depressing kinda approach. It’s epic,
nostalgic and very melancholic, so perfectly suitable for fans of 80s dark
synth pop/ light gothic rock! Do not miss the song Weekend House, which sounds
like a retro pure 80s classic hit! More info at: https://bingocrowd.bandcamp.com/album/manners?from=discover_page
(Points: 8.4 out
of 10)
AUTOMATISM
‘SORMLAND’ (TONZONEN RECORDS/CARGO/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
Out of Stockholm, Sweden comes AUTOMATISM, an
instrumental band formed around Hans Hjelm: electric guitar, synthesizer,
percussion, Gustav Nygren: electric guitar, acoustic guitar, tenor saxophone,
percussion, Mikael Tuominen: bass, synthesizer, electric piano, grand piano,
percussion and Jonas Yrlid: drums, percussion. Per Wiberg (keys) and Jesper
Skarin (percussion) make guest appearances on this rather nice instrumental
album, which is quite diverse and combines psychedelic rock, progressive rock
and indie rock. More info can be found at: https://automatismband.bandcamp.com/album/s-rmland
(Points: 7.5 out
of 10)
STONEHOCKER ‘HELLO
MR. HYDE’ (INDEPENDENT/CANADA IMPORT)
STONEHOCKER comes out of Calgary, Canada, and they
were kind enough to sent me their CD Hello Mr. Hyde. The band is formed around
vocalist/guitarist/keyboardplayer MARK STONEHOCKER, along with drummer JEFF
TOWERS. Together they recorded a nice calmer aor/poprock album that has a clear
melodic old school vibe. Mark has a good ‘poppy’ voice, which can be heard
right from the start with the catchy radio-ready Who Am I. There are 12 songs
on the CD, and musically speaking as already mentioned it is light aor/poprock
crossed with a bit of 70s singer/songwriter pop. No weak moments, so basically
this is a very enjoyable pop/rock album. More info can be found at: https://stonehocker.bandcamp.com/album/hello-mr-hyde
(Points: 7.5 out
of 10)
THE CHRIS WHITE
EXPERIENCE ‘VOLUME SEVEN’ (SUNFISH RECORDS/UK IMPORT)
Bassist/singer/songwriter CHRIS WHITE is best known
for being one of the members of the band THE ZOMBIES, a 60s band whom had
massive hits back then, including of course She’s Not There and Time Of The
Season. After that band split up, he co-wrote songs for the band ARGENT,
including the classic Hold Your Head Up, which was one of the first
Pomprocksongs! Throughout the following decades he did a lot of writing,
producing, performing and much more in the music business. Since 2019 he has
been collecting his recorded material from the 1970s-1990s in a series called
THE CHRIS WHITE EXPERIENCE, and now here we have volume 7! 13 songs are
included in total, and there is a variety of music styles and featured
musicians and vocalists. Opener Keep On Running Away (featuring Tim Renwick on
vocals) is a lovely 70s relaxing funky soul/pop/Westcoast mixture, while
following keyboard driven How Do You Do It? features the legendary JOHN VERITY
on vocals, and this is a pure 80s powerpop/poprock piece that situates somewhere
between THE POLICE and ASIA. Next song Never Been Used Love (featuring Rachel
Robertson) is a sorta musical JAMES BOND theme alike classical piano piece with
beautiful vocals that gives you a BARBRA STREISAND meets SHIRLEY BASSEY vibe.
And then we have the legendary COLIN BLUNSTONE on vocals during On My Way, a pure
80s hi-tech synthpop song with late 80s African choir singing… So, 4 songs in,
and you will understand that this is quite a melting pot of music styles. Other
interesting songs are the 70s STYX/Tommy Shaw ish rocker Losing You Down To The
Street Life (featuring Tim Renwick), the 80s MAI TAI ish soulful R&B
Pleasure (featuring a superb singer called Bianca Kinane), the 80s bluesy On
The Rack Jack (featuring the legendary Joe Lee Wilson on vocals) and .
Concluded, despite the incredible diversity of music
styles here, and the fact that some of the recordings might sound dated, this
is definitely an interesting album to check out. The CD booklet contains all
extra information you need to know about each song, and it is a very nice
journey through the recording life of the talented and legendary musician CHRIS
WHITE. More information at: https://www.thechriswhiteexperience.com/
(Points: 7.8 out
of 10)
KYLE CULKIN ‘SHADES
OF TROUBLE’ (TONEBUCKER RECORDS/FRANK ROSZAK PROMOTIONS/USA IMPORT)
Shades Of Trouble is the 4th album of the
American guitarist/singer/songwriter KYLE CULKIN. He played support at BB
KING’s 80s birthday, so definitely is one to watch out for in the future. He
sounds a bit like a lighter version of LAURENCE JONES vocally speaking, while
instrumental he is doing more or less the same as ANA POPOVIC, which means a
mix of typical American blues, soul, roots, funk, pop and rock. Along with a
swinging rhythm section consisting of bassist Buford T. Shagnasty, Jamieson
Trotter on Piano, B3 Organ, and Wurlitzer, drummer Adam Gust, backing singers Jade
MacRae and Bek Jensen and especially Karl Hunter on saxophone, this album is
very enjoyable from start to finish. 12 songs are included, and a lot of songs
are blessed with a saxophone solo instead of a bluesy guitar solo, so I guess
you can say that this album more feels like a typical American rootsy soul
record with “just” a bluesy touch. Whatever you want to call it, this is a
strong album that has many highlights, such as Shades Of Trouble, She’s Evil, Wishing
Well, Yes I Do and Ophelia. I was not familiar with this talented musician and
singer, so this new CD of him is definitely recommended to check out if you
like a soulful blues affair! More info at: https://kyleculkin.hearnow.com/
(Points: 8.1 out
of 10)
SOLO NOI ‘VARIOUS
RECORDINGS’ (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
SOLO NOI is not the legendary TOTO COTUGNO song, but
the name of a British duo consisting of John (The Captain) Fitzsimons and
Robert S Smith, 2 seasoned musicians who first met in the 80s, but started this
journey together in 2017, and they were kind enough to sent me several
recordings they did. John used to be in a legendary cult glamrockband called
THE MIGHTY PLOD, a 70s band that actually created some interesting classic 70s
glamrock tunes I just found out thanks to the accompanied bio sheet. Anyway, SOLO
NOI (Italian for Just Us) is musically speaking in the old school
singer/songwriter pop direction, reminding of PAUL MCCARTNEY quite a bit, also
in the somewhat fragile vocal department, although if you like RANDY NEWMAN you
will also like this duo. I was sent 2 albums (of which Due is the better and
most diverse one), and a CDR with singles the duo recorded the past few years.
Highlights are Dark Night, Best Of All, Open The Door, The Ballad Of Ellie May,
Don’t Fall In Love (their best song, a haunting atmospheric almost proggy
piece), the folky I’ll Be Here and The Promised Land. The only remark I would
like to make is that the duo definitely needs a real drummer, because the
programmed drums make it all sound less authentical. More info can be found at:
https://www.solonoi.co.uk/
(Points: 7.3 out
of 10)
GRIMORIO ‘ON THE
PATH OF THE MORNING STAR’ (LOGIC IL LOGIC RECORDS/BURNING MINDS GROUP/ATOMIC
STUFF/ITALY IMPORT)
(Points: 8.0 out
of 10)
THE GREAT MACHINE
‘WORKING CLASS ANARCHIST’ (NOISOLUTION RECORDS/EDEL/GERMAN IMPORT)
Out of Israel comes the band THE GREAT MACHINE, and
this trio consists of Aviran Haviv (bass, vocals), Omer Haviv (guitars, vocals)
and drummer Dan Deutsch. Their debut album is titled Working Class Anarchist,
and musically speaking it is a mix of stoner rock, punk, grunge and doomy heavy
metal, sort of mixing FUGAZI, BLACK SABBATH and THE MELVINS. It sounds raw,
somewhat aggressive and quite heavy and distorted on the guitar department,
while vocally it seems like there are shared vocals, and the band sounds at
their best during an uptempo piece like ABQ, which combines post-punk and BLACK
SABBATH. Also the song Mysterious Lady sounds like an underground proto metal
tune as if it was recorded in the 1970s, so quite an Interesting band to check
out at: https://thegreatmachine1.bandcamp.com/
(Points: 7.9 out
of 10)
WALTARI ‘NATIONS’
NEUROSIS LIMITED ORANGE VINYL LP’ (METALVILLE RECORDS/SUBURBAN/BERTUS)
WALTARI is a Finnish band that has been active ever
since 1986, so they have almost been on the scene for 40 years! Nations’
Neurosis is their 14th album so far, and through the years their
line up changed several times (and featured members whom later would be part of
bands like KREATOR, CHILDREN OF BODOM and ENSIFERUM), while musically speaking
they have done a lot of various genres. The band’s main members are Kärtsy
Hatakka on lead vocals, bass, keyboards and Jariot Lehtinen on guitars, backing
vocals, while the rest of the current line up consists of Sami Yli-Sirniö on
guitars, backing vocals, Ville Vehviläinen on drums, Kimmo Korhonen on guitars,
backing vocals, Jani Hölli on keyboards and Antti Kolehmainen on guitars,
backing vocals. As already mentioned, the music of WALTARI was a melting pot of
many music genres, but alternative metal is the basic description here, yet
with influences that range from punk to hip hop to progressive metal to techno
to industrial and everything in between. I have to say that on this new album
the band is mainly active in a melodic heavy rock/metal direction. I received a
beautiful orange vinyl edition of their new album, which contains all the
information and lyrics of the 11 tracks.
Opener Nature Rules is a superb catchy hookladen
uptempo symphonic rocker with clear elements of progressive metal and a melodic
chorus that is quite easy to sing-a-long. I wasn’t expecting such an earworm as
first song, but WALTARI definitely delivers here a radio-ready catchy tune that
would even please fans of NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA. Following Open The Gate is
also a catchy tune, but this song also includes some World Music elements
during the instrumental parts, although the song itself is pure uptempo melodic
heavy rock. It seems the band has now chosen to go this direction, because the
first part of the album is settling nicely in a comfortable melodic heavy rock
direction that is not even far removed from bands like EDGUY, PINK CREAM 69,
MOON DOC’, PRAYING MANTIS, PRETTY MAIDS and such, yet with a clear Alternative
touch here and there. However, after a few songs it starts to sound a bit
heavier and aggressive (Do You Accept?), while during the Industrial influenced
Murder Plot and the modern hip hop pop inspired Diversity the band grabs back
to their earlier experimental direction. Side-B of the vinyl edition has 5 more
songs to offer, and here we once again have the mix of the more melodic symphonic
heavy rock direction that I personally like a lot (Sun and Flowin’) and the
experimental side of the band (Higher and Last Chance). Basically, WALTARI is
offering a lot here and is trying to reach both the regular melodic heavy rock
market and an experimental market like they did in the past. Anyway, everything
sounds quite impressive, both musically and vocally speaking, while the
production is crystal clear, especially on this vinyl edition! Without a doubt,
WALTARI has delivered another great new album that might see them approaching a
more friendlier sound than in the past, but fans of melodic heavy rock/metal
and alternative rock/metal will definitely appreciate it! More info can be
found at: https://www.waltariband.com
(Points: 8.1 out
of 10)
DERAPS ‘VIVA
ROCK’N’ROLL LIMITED CLEAR RED VINYL LP’ (METALVILLE RECORDS/SUBURBAN/BERTUS)
DERAPS is a Canadian/Australian duo that debuted a few
years ago with a great first same titled album, which is now followed up by
Viva Rock’n’Roll. 11 songs are included on the beautiful looking clear red
vinyl edition I received. The liner notes and inner sleeves of the vinyl album
gives us all the information we need, which includes extensive liner notes, a song
lyric sheet, pictures and a cool sheep cartoon cover that is standing up for
real original rock and roll to write your own original songs! DERAPS is a duo,
but sounds like a full band with only self-written material, although they do
not hide their 80s influences, because opener Viva Rock N’Roll is classic 80s
boogie American Hardrock all the way, dangerously close to classic VAN HALEN
circa early 80s including the guitarwork and catchy harmonyvocals driven
chorus. The 80s continue with the catchy midtempo melodic rocker Animal Eyes
that is once again very much reminding of the early 80s DAVID LEE ROTH fronted
VAN HALEN era. Vocalist/guitarist/bassist/producer JACOB DERAPS is however a
better singer than David has ever been, so there’s an improvement. Jacob is
also quite an excellent guitarist, although there is only one EDDIE VAN HALEN
of course! Not so strange they sound close to early VAN HALEN, because Canadian
Jacob met his counterpart, the Australian drummer JOSH GALLAGHER in DERAPS
online through a YouTube VAN HALEN cover channel. The Aussie influences can be
heard during the following faster uptempo Hardrocking The Legend Of Larrikin
Laddie. Equinox is a short instrumental, following song is the superb catchy
uptempo melodic rocker Last Fall, which of course has again VAN HALEN
similarities, yet a bit more leaning towards the melodic powerpop/AOR side of
life, so there’s also FIREHOUSE/AUTOGRAPH/MONEY (remember them!), Y&T,
HEAVY PETTIN’ and DEF LEPPARD influences during this rather catchy little
melodic rocking tune! In fact, if this was 1985 it would not have been out of
place on one of the records of the aforementioned bands, and it would probably
have been a highlight! Closing song of side-A is the midtempo melodic rocker
Solitaire.
Side-B opens with the 80s Power Ballad Setting Sun
that sounds like a classic tune from long ago, reminding of the memorable
ballads of WARRANT, NELSON, WINGER, FIREHOUSE, SKID ROW and HEAVEN’S EDGE.
Bring back the Hair Metal Power Ballad is the statement of DERAPS, sounding
better than ever on this vinyl edition! Next track Born To Die is a nice
tougher uptempo melodic rocker in classic VAN HALEN style again. Blindside is a
slightly slower but rather catchy semi bluesy midtempo melodic rocker
(reminding me a lot of classic FIREHOUSE!). The Dawg Stomp is a midtempo groovy
cool AEROSMITHish hard rock tune, while closing track Black Sheep Boogie is another
VAN HALENesque boogie monster rocking song.
Concluded, this new DERAPS album, and in particular
the red vinyl edition is a must-have for any VAN HALEN and 80s American
Hardrock/Hair Metal fan out there! Check out all information on this band at: https://www.derapsofficial.com/
(Points: 8.6 out
of 10)
BAD MATRIX
‘DANGEROUS GAME’ (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
As soon as the catchy hookladen opener Masquerade
blasts through the speakers I had a smile on my face, because this is prime
time late 80s American Melodic Hardrock at it’s very best, sounding dangerously
close to the heydays of DOKKEN, FIREHOUSE, HEAVEN’S EDGE, RED DAWN, KNOW ILLUSION,
STRUTT, STRYPER, 80s BON JOVI (of course), DANGER DANGER and the countless
other bands that ruled the American radio (and MTV) during the late 80s/early
90s. BAD MATRIX are a band out of UK originally, because actually they were a
band formed in the late 80s as BAD ATTITUDE, and back then they were close to
release a major label album, yet sadly that didn’t happen, so the band
eventually split up. Fast forward to 2023, the Spanish wife of guitarist Rob
Sas convinced him to re-record the old material and release it as a CD. So he
did, and along with Rob came Polish singer Peter Zaleski, RITCHIE
BLACKMORE/YNGWIE MALMSTEEN keyboard player PAUL MORRIS, drummer Paul Mallyon,
and bassist Phil Crombie, they released as BAD MATRIX the first album Dangerous
Game.
9 songs are included in total, and after that stunning
opener, we get to hear many more great melodic rockers that also have an AOR
touch, such as the catchy Hole In My Heart, Dangerous Game, My Resort (featuring
awesome guitar vs keyboard solo’s at the end of the song) and Heaven Above. All
together it reminds me besides the aforementioned a lot of the early 90s UK
Melodic Rocksound, which is not that strange considering the songs were written
during those times. BURN, LITTLE ANGELS, FM, KICK, BIG GUNS, BIG CHILL, MORITZ,
RADIO MOSCOW, BB STEAL, etc. etc. Don’t miss this great comeback of a band that
now seems to have a bright future that makes up for their missed opportunity 35
years ago! More info can be found at: https://badmatrix.com/
(Points: 8.1 out
of 10)
THORBJORN RISAGER
& THE BLACK TORNADO ‘HOUSE OF STICKS’ (MASCOT/PROVOGUE RECORDS/DENMARK
IMPORT)
House Of Sticks is the 9th album of the
Denmark based band THORBJORN RISAGER & THE BLACK TORNADO. They are formed
around Thorbjørn Risager – Vocal, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Emil
Balsgaard – Piano, Organ, Wurlitzer, Mellotron, Clavinet, Joachim Svensmark –
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards, Viola, Background Vocals,
Mellotron, Drum Programming, Kasper Wagner – Alto Sax, Baritone Sax, Flute, Hans
Nybo – Tenor Sax, Peter W Kehl – Trumpet, Fluegelhorn, Sousaphone, Trombone, Søren
Bøjgaard – Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Synthesizer, Bass Synthesizer, Electric
Guitar, Piano and Martin Seidelin – Drums, Percussion. 10 songs are included on
their new album, which contains a variety of music styles. Opener is the
titletrack House Of Sticks, which is a calmer Chicago bluesy song, while it is
followed by the fantastic uptempo heavy blues retro rootsy rocking Already
Gone. This song has some similarities to THE BLACK KEYS, and shows what an
incredible high level Thorbjorn is able to reach. Light Of Your Love shows the
band’s and singers’ diversity, because this is a beautiful calmer 70s soulful
piece (a la MRCY/THE BLACK PUMAS) that is centered around the amazing vocal
skills of THORBJORN RISAGER. I love the rather catchy uptempo vibe of the
rocking Long Time Ago, a song that would make LENNY KRAVITZ jealous. And the CD
continues with many more diverse superb songs, of which the highlights are the
70s funky Inner Light, the groovy bluesy soul injected Out Of The Rain and the
catchy uptempo Climbed A Mountain.
Check out this sensational new release of Thorbjorn,
and hopefully he will perform a concert someday soon closeby, because I’ll bet
live they are a really interesting act to check out. More info at: https://risager.info/
(Points: 8.7 out
of 10)
MONKEY HOUSE
‘CRASHBOX’ (ALMA RECORDS/UNIVERSAL MUSIC CANADA/CANADA IMPORT)
If there’s one band that needs much more attention and
a ticket for a European Tour, it surely must be the Canadian classic 70s
orientated Westcoast pop/rock band MONKEY HOUSE. We have featured them before,
and now they return with probably their finest album so far, which is the 7th
album Monkey House. The band from Toronto was founded back in 1992, and through
the years there have been several guests on the albums of the band (including
the legendary JAY GRAYDON, ELLIOTT RANDALL and many more). MONKEY HOUSE’s main
member is singer/songwriter/composer/producer DON BREITHAUPT, a musician who
has performed with legendary acts like KIM MITCHELL, RIK EMMETT and SASS
JORDAN, while his songs were covered by the legendary ALFIE ZAPPACOSTA (one of
the finest singers of all times!), MARC JORDAN and many others. However, MONKEY
HOUSE has always been his baby, and in the current line-up we can also find Mark
Kelso – drums, Pat Kilbride – bass and Justin Abedin – guitar, while Don takes
care of the lead vocals and keyboards, but there is a very long list of guest
musicians, including MARC JORDAN. It’s a real Canadian product when mentioning
all those legendary names, and to my surprise even HARRY HESS of HAREM SCAREM
mastered the album! I am safe to say that along with Harry’s own band HAREM
SCAREM’s recent new album, this MONKEY HOUSE belongs to the 2 better releases
of 2025, and they’re both Canadian!
In total we can find 12 tracks on this new MONKEY
HOUSE album, which has a superb huge crystal clear sound. Opener Return Of The
Mayfly is basically pure STEELY DAN, with the same groove and melodies, but
there’s also some LITTLE FEAT influences to be heard here. Following Someplace
On Madison has a superb Westcoast-AOR chorus reminding of the classic late
70s/early 80s, while STEELY DAN returns during the lovely titletrack Crashbox.
Disappear In Plain Sight slows things down, although it is a beautiful semi-ballad
with a real classic 70s Westcoast vibe and somehow reminding a bit of 10CC. Up
next is What’s Left Of This World, which is another pure LITTLE FEAT meets
STEELY DAN 70s groovy soulful pop/rock tune with smooth melodies.
Sundaying continues the classic 70s vibe of STEELY
DAN, although perhaps a little bit more polished, even picking up a THE BEACH
BOYS influence, yet also a slight jazzy piano touch is included as well. Smoke
‘Em If You Got ‘Em is one of the few straight ahead uptempo rocking pieces
during the rather catchy AOR chorus. Actually this song could have been on a
classic TOTO album from the late 70s/early 80s, and there’s also some great
guitarwork to be heard here. Despite all the references and influences, MONKEY
HOUSE definitely has an own identity. They are doing more or less the same as
for example YOUNG GUN SILVER FOX or SUPER DB, so I think you will understand
what to expect here. Bring The Stars Down is a calmer piece, while You Just
Don’t Know It Yet is a superb groovy little Westcoast-AOR piece with a deadly
catchy chorus and a jazzy piano.
Chasing The Muse is a superb Westcoast AOR piece with
once again a memorable chorus, slightly reminding of the aforementioned YOUNG
GUN SILVER FOX and SUPER DB. Friday Night Jam is in a similar style, yet a bit
more uptempo rocking, and the killer chorus of this song is probably making it
the best song on the CD. Closing track Feeling You breathe is a beautiful
calmer KAYAKish semi-ballad to end this lovely album. Concluded, this album is
a must-hear if you like the old school late 70s/early Westcoast pop/rock sound
of acts like STEELY DAN, TOTO, KENNY LOGGINS, LITTLE FEAT and more recently,
YOUNG GUN SILVER FOX and SUPERB DB. Throw all these acts together, and you’re
close to the MONKEY HOUSE sound. Check out their new album at: https://www.monkeyhouseofficial.com/
(Points: 8.9 out
of 10)
LES DUNES ‘FROM
ETNE TO THE EDGE OF SPACE’ (KAPITAN PLATTE/CARGO/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN
IMPORT)
LES DUNES is a Norwegian instrumental band formed
around Per Andreas Haftorsen on guitar, Morten Jackman on drums and Per Steinar
Lie on bass. This is their 2nd album so far, and musically speaking
they are doing a great mixture of melancholic indie post-rock and atmospheric
progressive rock. Although they are not doing anything really original, because
we have heard this kind of instrumental music before, yet LES DUNES does have
something really good to offer here, and they perform their music at a very high
level. The music gives you a lovely melancholic kinda feeling that almost puts
you in a trance while listening to a wonderful song like Lost Signals From Utsira.
MONKEY3 comes to mind here and there, yet less bombastic I think. Anyway, fans
of instrumental post-progrock will definitely like this album. More info can be
found at: https://lesdunes.bandcamp.com/album/les-dunes
(Points: 8.2 out
of 10)
VIBRAVOID ‘REMOVE
THE TIES’ (TONZONEN RECORDS/CARGO/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
The German band VIBRAVOID was founded all the way back
in 1990, so they have been active for 35 years and during this period they have
released many albums. Their new record is titled Remove The Ties, which
contains pure Neo Krautrock as people call it. Actually this means a mix of
progrock and straight ahead 70s psychedelic rock, melting PINK FLOYD and
KRAFTWERK influences with a typical 70s Psychedelic rocksound of the HAWKWIND
kind. The band consists of guitarist/vocalist Christian Koch, bassist Thomas Pojonie,
drummer/vocalist Oliver Lück and Organplayer Lutz Dittmann. The opening song
Computer Dreams is as close to KRAFTWERKish electronic Krautrock you can get,
while the lovely following uptempo rocking Neustart has got that typical 70s psych-prog-kraut-rocksound
of bands like JANE, HAWKWIND, GROBSCHNITT, BIRTH CONTROL and countless more.
The rest of the album offers much more of this excellent pure 70s underground psychedelic-kraut-rocking
sound with many highlights (such as The Power Of Dreams and Follow Me Follow
You). I can easily say that this new VIBRAVOID album is a must-have for fans of
the aforementioned bands. More info at: https://www.facebook.com/vibravoidofficial
(Points: 8.3 out
of 10)
RED MESS ‘HI-TECH
STARVATION’ (NOISOLUTION/EDEL/GERMAN IMPORT)
Founded in Brazil back in 2013, the band eventually
moved to Berlin, Germany after corona, and now they release their 2nd
album Hi-Tech Starvation. The band consists of Lucas Klepa – Bass/Vocals, Thiago
Franzim – Guitar and Douglas Labigalini – Drums, and musically speaking we dive
into a 90s direction, melting big fat heavy groovy stoner rock riffs, doom
metal and alternative grunge rock. Imagine a mix between QUEENS OF THE STONE
AGE, BLACK SABBATH and the 90s Sub Pop rocksound, then you have RED MESS. 7 songs
are included, and for fans of aforementioned genres, this is definitely a band
you want to check out. The highlights are the instrumental Xenon and closing
track Uncanny Valley. More info at: https://www.redmess.com.br/
(Points: 7.7 out
of 10)
HENCE CONFETTI
‘DURESS’ (BIRD’S ROBE RECORDS/MGM/GERMAN IMPORT)
HENCE CONFETTI are an Australian band with a short ‘6
songs counting’ mini-CD on the Aussie label BIRD’S ROBE RECORDS. It’s their 2nd
release, and it all starts with opener and titletrack Duress, which is an
extremely heavy piece with industrial metal influences and death metal growls.
Following song Promise is a much more melodic piece that has memories of
MASTEDON and also TOOL comes to mind, so a modern heavy progressive metal tune,
and without a doubt, this is the best song on the CD. Shang Tsung is back to
the extreme metalcore again, while The Road Is Thinning is more of the heavier
post-progressive metal direction, yet angry growls here and there. The
sound/production is quite impressive, and this band definitely has something of
interest. Besides the short instrumental Void, the final song is the extreme
metal tune Onslaught. HENCE CONFETTI are on the extreme side of metal, which
you either love or hate. They are definitely recommended to fans of MESHUGGAH, NILE,
CANNIBAL CORPSE, CHILDREN OF BODDOM, LAMB OF GOD, GOJIRA, etc. etc. Check them
out at: https://henceconfetti.bandcamp.com/album/hence-confetti
(Points: 7.0 out
of 10)
WHITE TYGER ‘BACK
OF THE CLASS’ (SKUM TOWN RECORDS/UK IMPORT)
Out of Wolverhampton, UK comes WHITE TYGER, a hard
hitting melodic hardrockband with a massive sound on their 2nd album
Back Of The Class. The band was founded in 2015, and their line up consists of
lead vocalist/guitarist Nip Turner, guitarist Chris Hingley and bassist Ste
Timmins and drummer Jack Ryland Smith. The new album is actually a mini-CDR,
but despite only 7 tracks are included, the music featured here is of a rather
high level from start to finish.
Opener Almost Home shows right from the start we are
dealing here with a sensational classic late 80s/early 90s sounding American
Hair Metal/Melodic Hardrockband. Their sound is not far removed from bands like
FIREHOUSE. STRUTT, TRIXTER, XYZ, LILLIAN AXDE, BABYLON A.D., ICON, SLYBOYZ,
KNOW ILLUSION, DANGER DANGER, BANGALORE CHOIR, AUTOGRAPH, DOKKEN and so many
more of that time period, yet WHITE TYGER does have a slightly heavier and
modern touch, which gives them an own identity. Following song Brown continues
in a similar direction, yet a bit heavier, kinda like SKID ROW, but still with
a hooky melodic part and catchy chorus. Vanilla Circus is a rather kick-ass
uptempo melodic hard/heavy rock tune that melts SKID ROW with FIREHOUSE, but
also adds a CRUEish TOMMY LEE alike sounding drumsound, while the chorus is
deadly catchy and quite melodic! Instafine is a change in style, because this
is a rather great slowtempo heavy blues rocker with a certain XYZ/WHITESNAKE
vibe, including some great vocalwork and also the guitar department absolutely
delivers here. Nip is a really good singer, who has an own identity. Dog House
Blues is another heavy groovy bluesy melodic hard rock piece in the late
80s/early 90s style of SKID ROW, EVERY MOTHER’S NIGHTMARE and WHITESNAKE.
Starlight is a superb pure 80s semi Power Ballad in
the classic SKID ROW, TESLA, GREAT WHITE, WARRANT, LILLIAN AXE style, while
closing track Fire is a rather fast uptempo melodic speed/power metal piece
that is full speed ahead and not looking back. Basically this last song is SKID
ROW on fire and doing a JUDAS PRIEST imitation, so a little bit different than
the rest of the album. Concluded, this is definitely a band to watch out for in
the future and a must-have to anyone who likes classic late 80s/early 90s
American orientated Melodic Hardrock/Hair Metal a la LILLIAN
AXE/FIREHOUSE/XYZ/SKID ROW and such. Check them out at: https://www.whitetyger.net/
(Points: 8.5 out
of 10)
TOM MARSHALL
‘CATCH A FALLING STAR’ (SUNFISH MUSIC/UK IMPORT)
Originally recorded all the way back in 1973 in the
middle east, the British musician TOM MARSHALL finally released these 50+ years
old recordings he made on rather simple recording equipment back then! Catch A
Falling Star is the title of the CD. Tom meanwhile played and recorded in
several bands the following 50 years, such as HARMONY GRASS, LIQUID GOLD and
SPARROW, but these recordings are rare and now released for the first time. It
contains some really good melodic American orientated Westcoast singer-songwriter
pop/rock of the late 1960s/early 70s period in the style of BUFFALO
SPRINGFIELD, POCO, CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG, THE BYRDS, etc. etc. 10
songs are included, and it’s like we stepped in a time machine and went back to
the years 1969-1970 straight to the city of San Francisco where this kind of
music emerged and began to reach people worldwide due to its melodic harmony
vocal driven soft rock approach. Bands like JEFFERSON AIRPLANE and GRATEFUL
DEAD gave it a psychedelic touch, but TOM MARSHALL played the original softer
hippie kinda sound. Highlights include Together, Blue Train (lovely uptempo
piece) and Cloak & Dagger Maker. It might sound a bit dated here and there,
but considering the fact that Tom wrote, performed and recorded everything on
his own back in 1973, definitely an interesting CD to check out if you’re a fan
of the late 60s Westcoast genre. More info can be found at: https://www.thechriswhiteexperience.com/
(Points: 7.8 out
of 10)
XII DOORS ‘INTO
THE UNKNOWN’ (INDEPENDENT/IRELAND IMPORT)
Here we have a new sensational melodic
hardrock/progmetal band from Shannon/Limerick, Ireland called XII DOORS. Their
debut album is titled Into The Unknown and right from the first few seconds of
album opener Unleash The Beast, it is clear that this might be one of the best
new Irish bands of the past few years. The band consists of DJ O’Sullivan
(vocals / guitars), Flash Murphy (guitars), Pat “Pablo” Byrne (bass) and Cian
“Whoasley” O’Sullivan (drums), and their music is a mix of progressive metal
riffs and melodic hard/heavy rock melodies, with superstrong lead- and
harmonyvocals. They can be compared to MAMMOTH WVH, DAUGHTRY, ALTER BRIDGE,
THOSE DAMN CROWS and such modern hardrock/metal acts whom combine big heavy
modern distorted guitar riffs with catchy memorable melodic choruses.
Especially the first 2 songs (Unleash The Beast and Sorceress Of Lies) are
absolutely wonderful catchy tunes that bring up memories of the aforementioned
bands. DJ’s lead vocals are exceptionally strong and giving the music a boost
needed to built up a name between the countless other bands around these days.
Other highlights on this excellent debut CD of XII DOORS are Lead The Way, the
superb Face The Truth, and titletrack Into The Unknown. Do not miss this
sensational new Irish band! More info at: https://xiiidoors.bandcamp.com and https://www.xiiidoors.com/
(Points: 8.7 out
of 10)
SPRINGHOUSE ‘FROM
NOW TO OK’ (INDEPENDENT PROJECT RECORDS/USA IMPORT)
SPRINGHOUSE is a band from New York, formed all the
way back in 1988, and they released several albums during the early 90s, but
after a long pause they eventually released a new album in 2007, From Now To
OK, which was also their last album so far. This album was released on
INDEPENDENT PROJECT RECORDS, a label that is known for it’s beautiful
letter-size CD packages, and now 18 years later the album has been re-released.
In addition there is a bonus CD, which includes unreleased bonus tracks, demos
and live recordings. The music of SPRINGHOUSE is calmer shoegaze indie folk
pop/rock with a late 60s kinda vibe a la THE BYRDS, THE BEATLES and BUFFALO
SPRINGFIELD, but also with a strong early 90s kinda college indie pop/rock
sound of THE JAYHAWKS/CROWDED HOUSE style. The band’s line up consists of Mitch
Friedland - Guitar and vocals, Jack Rabid - Drums, Larry Heinemann - Bass,
keyboards, additional guitar, and this album is a nice introduction to their
beautiful melodic music that is soft, calm and collected, with a focus on
peaceful vocals and melodies, and mostly acoustic, almost country ish tingled
guitarwork. Definitely recommended to fans of the aforementioned bands. More
info at: https://springhouse.bandcamp.com/album/from-now-to-ok
(Points: 8.0 out
of 10)
ZEN ORCHESTRA ‘ZEN
ORCHESTRA’ (SOUND STUFF RECORDS/TENACITY/UK IMPORT)
The progressive rockband ZEN ORCHESTRA from Luton, UK
was formed all the way back in 2012, but it took them until 2025 before an
official debut album was released, but now it’s time to reveal their wonderful
same titled debut album Zen Orchestra. The album is split in 2 parts, and holds
together 7 songs in total. The music is of a very high level, clearly in the
classic melodic progressive rock/prog metal genre, settling somewhere between
THRESHOLD, ARENA and IT BITES. The reason why it took so long to release their
first album is also quite sad, because it was original bassist STEWART MILNER’s
death in 2023 that postponed the debut album for over 2 years. Eventually the
album is now released and features Mark Barrett on vocals, Steve Smith on
Keyboards, bass player Stewart Milner(RIP) and replaced with Alberto Rigoni,
Steve Rix on drums and finally guitarist James Stephenson. All together a great
bunch of musicians whom recorded a great melodic progressive rockalbum that has
all the ingredients needed to make sure every prog fan will get a copy of the
CD a.s.a.p. The vocals are strong, the melodies are memorable, instrumental and
production wise all sounds picture perfect and there is not a single weak
moment to be found on this massive sounding progressive rock journey!
Highlights include Minds, Billionaires and Coda. Check it out a.s.a.p. if
you’re a fan of any of the aforementioned bands at: https://www.zenorchestra.com/ and https://zenorchestra.bandcamp.com/album/zen-orchestra
(Points: 8.2 out
of 10)
AURA ‘INNOVATIONS’
(MORRISON RECORDS/SWEDEN IMPORT)
Out of Sweden comes AURA, and we reviewed several
earlier albums of them. Now they return with Innovations, a 15 tracks counting
CD that musically speaking is quite diverse as it has influences of melodic
rock, popmusic, 80s dark gothic rock, some singer-songwriter, progrock and a
bit of synthwave. Each song sounds differently and reflect the band’s
diversity. The shared male and female vocals give it even more diversity. Don’t
expect a full-blown melodic symphonic rocking album here, because it has this
underground kinda rocksound that sounds at best during the catchy uptempo
melodic poprocker Evil Angel. It’s already their 9th album so far, and follows the previous record Communications, which had a similar approach musically speaking. More info at: https://aurasweden.com/
(Points: 7.5 out
of 10)
PURPENDICULAR
FEAT. IAN PAICE ‘BANNED - VINYL EDITION’ (METALVILLE/FLYING DOLPHIN
ENTERTAINMENT GROUP/BERTUS/SUBURBAN)
Banned is already the 4th album of the band
PURPENDICULAR. Originally started as a DEEP PURPLE tribute band formed around
lead singer ROBBY THOMAS WALSH from Ireland, the band eventually developed
themselves into a full blown classic (hard) rock band writing their own
material that likewise sounds very much like classic DEEP PURPLE. Along the way
original DEEP PURPLE drummer IAN PAICE joined PURPENDICULAR. Ian played on
every single album of DEEP PURPLE, while also co-founding them back in the late
60s, so he now plays and records in 2 bands that are making classic rock like
we now it from DEEP PURPLE since the late 1960s! Anyway, besides Ian and Robby,
the other members in the band are Murray Gould (ERIC CLAPTON, ELTON JOHN, JOE
BONAMASSA) on guitars, Alessandro Debiaggi on keyboards and Mauricio Torchio on
bass.
I received a lovely vinyl edition of the new album,
which comes along with inner sleeve lyric sheets and all the information on the
recording process. The frontcover shows a fire in the background of the
horizon, which is also giving away something about the album recordings,
because originally the band started working in a remote village high in the
mountains near Porto, Portugal, but the extreme summer heat back in July 2024
led to wildfires that had spread too close to them, so they were no longer safe
to keep recording over there. Instead they continued writing and recording
elsewhere, and eventually wrote a full concept album titled Banned.
Opener Inferno is a sorta short instrumental with a
70s PINK FLOYDish vibe, while following Beast actually reminds me a bit of
ALICE COOPER, but the true DEEP PURPLE sound comes alive during the lovely The
Escape. Blood Red Moon follows the same midtempo groovy rocking direction and
is basically another classic DEEP PURPLE sounding tune, although also here we
have some ALICE COOPER similarities, while the hook feels like classic 70s
RAINBOW. You Better Behave closes side-A, and this is one of the strongest and
most melodic tunes on the album. This song also has some excellent instrumental
work with solo’s on both the Hammond organ and Guitar, while ending the song
with the beautiful melodic chorus.
Side-B opens with the titletrack Banned, a critical
song that has a strong groove and also a slight funky 80s touch during the
keyboardwork. Too Hard To Please is a great groovy but melodic classic DEEP
PURPLEish rocker, while Seventies Kid has early 80s WHITESNAKE written all over
the place. Closing song The End is likewise the ending of the album, and this
is a nice long epic bluesy rock ballad like ZEPPELIN, WHITESNAKE and PURPLE.
Concluded, PURPENDICULAR recorded another strong album
that is as good as the last few DEEP PURPLE studio albums, so basically here we
are looking at the future of DEEP PURPLE in the next 30-40 (?) years, although
at 77 years of age, it might be the last album to feature Ian on drums,
although never say never, because after all we have seen many musicians over
80+ years of age still performing and recording all over the world. Make sure
to get yourself a copy of the black vinyl edition of this new PURPENDICULAR
album! More info can be found at: https://purpendicular.lnk.to/Banned
(Points: 8.3 out
of 10)
NILS PATRIK
JOHANSSON ’WAR AND PEACE - VINYL EDITION’ (METALVILLE/FLYING DOLPHIN
ENTERTAINMENT GROUP/BERTUS/SUBURBAN)
War And Peace is the 3rd solo album, and I
received a lovely vinyl edition of this new solo album of NILS PATRIK JOHANSSON.
He did record a great new ASTRAL DOORS album a little while ago, and now it’s
time for a new solo album. Besides Nils on vocals, other musicians involved
here are Lars Chriss on Guitars and Bass, Saecred Spirit Anuviel on Keyboards
and Nils’ song Fredrik Johansson on Drums. Nils is also the lead singer in
LION’S SHARE, the band that also features Lars, so I guess you can say that if
you like ASTRAL DOORS and LION’S SHARE, then you will like this new solo album
of Nils. The music is a mix of melodic metal and power metal in the style of
AXEL RUDI PELL, and overall the sound and production is very good. Vocally you
either love or hate Nils, because he has a voice that is compared to RONNIE
JAMES DIO, although I’m afraid he doesn’t reach the level of the Metal God. I
remember well that during his time with ASTRAL DOORS he did sound pretty good,
but on this new solo album it sounds a bit strained and forced to sound like
classic DIO, yet I’m afraid this album will not go down in history as a classic
and the material itself is just nice for the absolute die-hard metalfans out
there I think. More info at: https://www.facebook.com/Nilspatrikjohansson
(Points: 7.2 out
of 10)
AGROPELTHER ‘THE
BOOK OF HOURS’ (THE LASER’S EDGE/SONIC RENDEZVOUS)
The book of hours is the debut CD of the Norwegian
band AGROPELTHER. Actually it is a project formed around KAY OLSEN, who plays
guitar, bass, keyboard, Hammond, synths and Church Organ besides writing his
own songs, which in this case are instrumental songs. Guests on the CD are Jonas
Reingold (Steve Hackett, The Flower Kings, Kaipa, Karmakanic) on fretless bass,
Mattias Olsson (Änglagård, White Willow, Molesome) on percussion, vintage synth
overdubs and atmosphere, Andreas Sjøen (Umpfel, VÅDE, Sean Ashe) on drums along
with lots of classical musicians on various strings and woodwinds. The overall
sound of the album is massive, and it is a very nice record to listen to from
start to finish.
Flute Of Peril is a short intro to the first song
Levitator, which is a lovely 80s inspired neo-progressive/symphonic rocker with
pure 80s AOR synths of the SURVIVOR/ASIA kind, while the song itself continues
as a pure neo-progrocker in the IT BITES/PENDRAGON/IQ direction, yet
instrumental all the way, with a precise soaring guitarsolo, cool synths and an
interesting church organ part. After another short piece titled Burial Mound,
the following track is the main song (and final tune) of the whole album, which
is the titletrack The Book Of Hours. This epic song is actually split in 4
parts, and has a playing time of 35 minutes. It contains all the aspects of
music we love so much, as it is not only a great midtempo synth driven
symphonic rock opera alike tune, with many interesting tempo changes, but it
also has aspects of other genres, such as classical music. However basically we
have some similarities to KAYAK and ALAN PARSONS PROJECT, while the guitarsolos
are absolutely stunning and basically make this epic song sound picture perfect
for any progfan out there!
Do not miss this CD, because Kay is a very talented
musician with a bright future. More info at: https://lasersedge.bandcamp.com/album/the-book-of-hours
(Points: 8.5 out
of 10)
THE ZAC SCHULZE
GANG ‘STRAIGHT TO IT’ (RUF RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
Out of Gillingham, Kent, UK comes THE ZAC SCHULZE
GANG, a band formed in 2020 around front-man Zac Schulze on lead guitar and
vocals, his brother Ben Shulze on drums and bassist Ant Greenwell, also on
vocals. They have released a few mini EP’s and a live CD, but Straight To It is
the official full-length debut album. They are now signed to RUF RECORDS, and
without a doubt are delivering a high class and very diverse first album.
The album starts quite rocking with the fast heavy
garage rocker The Rocker, while following I Won’t Do This Anymore keeps up the
tempo, but in a more melodic heavy blues boogie rock direction, and the same
actually goes for High Roller, both featuring some really cool harmonica as
played by NIGEL FEIST. Raw to the bone this is how bluesy classic hard rock and
roll should sound like! It gets a bit more melodic rocking during Betterland, a
sorta radio ready tune. Back to the heavier faster garage rock and roll with
Runnin’ Dry, while Angeline is a very interesting sensational semi melodic
rocker that somehow sounds like LENNY KRAVITZ meets TYKETTO during the 90s. Damaged
Man picks up the classic 50s rock and roll sound, and this is a very strong
uptempo rocker that live should do its work. Actually I have witnessed one of
their live gigs during Culemborg Blues in 2024, and they did a great job
indeed. Back Again is another faster boogie classic garage rocker (a la THE
HIVES), while Turning To Stone is a great groovy soulful DE WOLFF ish rocker
with a strong melody. Keep It Up is a great garage rocker with strong vocalwork
and closing track Things Change is a very nice power ballad.
Concluded, ZAC SCHULZE GANG is a band with a bright
future, and it has now started with this first studio CD. Also catch them live,
because they definitely deliver the goods! More info at: https://www.zacschulzegang.rocks/
(Points: 8.4 out
of 10)
DEAD BEES IN
BOURBON ‘CRYSTALS’ (ECHOZONE/BOB MEDIA/GERMAN IMPORT)
DEAD BEES IN BOURBON is a band from Cologne, Germany,
and the were formed during the summer of 2023. Their line up consists of Yen
Anetzberger (vocals), Arndt Bander (guitar), Ingo Hannen (bass/synths), and Ben
Overmann (drums), and Crystals is their debut CD. The album starts calm but
very interesting, with the laidback darker semi melodic rocker Quiet Pulse,
which also has elements of progressive rock and gothic rock. The female vocals
are strong and while the song develops it gets more uptempo in a slightly THE
MISSIONish direction, including 80s guitarwork. Well done for a start for sure,
and the album continues with many more great songs such as the superb catchy
uptempo melodic rocker Weight Of You, Rooftops Of Zion (an interesting fast
almost gothic power metal piece towards the end), On Your Own, the shoegaze ish
Distant Call and the very melodic Open Skies. The combination of shoegaze,
melodic rock, gothic rock, metal and even post-punk here and there, along with
the strong female vocals of Yen, it gives DEAD BEES IN BOURBON an own identity,
and Crystals is therefore an interesting album you can easily check out. If you
really want a comparison, then DOOL and GARBAGE come to mind here and there,
but it’s best to hear and judge for yourself. More info at: https://echozone.bandcamp.com/track/weight-of-you-2
(Points: 8.3 out
of 10)
FLYING CIRCUS ‘THE
ETERNAL MOMENT’ (FASTBALL MUSIC/BOB MEDIA/GERMAN IMPORT)
Founded over 35 years ago, the German band FLYING
CIRCUS has been a steady band throughout this period, releasing up Michael Dorp
– lead and backing vocals, Rüdiger Blömer – organ, e-piano, violin, Michael
Rick – electric and acoustic guitar, Roger Weitz – bass, keyboards, percussion
and Ande Roderigo – drums, percussion. I believe this is either their 7th
or 8th studio album so far, and they have released quite a few live
albums as well. The Eternal Moment is the title of the new album, and musically
it follows the sound of their previous efforts, so we get to hear a mix of 70s
hardrock and 70s progressive rock, with influences from GENESIS, GENTLE GIANT,
CAMEL, WISHBONE ASH, YES, KANSAS, PINK FLOYD, LUCIFER’S FRIEND and a lot of
URIAH HEEP. It’s done quite well, with as best songs this time Green, A Sweet
Thing Called Desire and especially the uptempo URIAH HEEPish What Remains and
Movie Moments. Vocally Michael is clearly aging, sounding a bit raw and rough
here and there, but it actually fits the music quite well, and fans of
aforementioned bands will definitely like this new album of this unstoppable
German band. More info at: https://www.flying-circus.band/
(Points: 8.0 out
of 10)
NEED2DESTROY
‘ANTI’ (FASTBALL MUSIC/BOB MEDIA/GERMAN IMPORT)
NEED2DESTROY is a German band formed around Diego
Carabajal (vocals), Wolle van Hogh (Bass), Milan Tajdic (Guitar) Simon Koesling
(Drums), and Anti is their new album. Musically speaking it’s a very modern
affair with screams, kinda melting influences of nu-metal, alternative rock and
90s rock. The band is quite angry and their new album should appeal to the fans
of the more extreme side of rock/metal. Check out more at: https://www.need2destroy.com/music/
(Points: 6.0 out
of 10)
BAD RAIN ‘LOUDER
THAN WORDS’ (FASTBALL MUSIC/BOB MEDIA/GERMAN IMPORT)
BAD RAIN is a new German band with a debut CD entitled
Louder Than Words. The band consists of Veit Schlembach: Drums, Zoran Misic:
Vocals, Daniel Davis: Guitar, Chris B. Bass and Adnan Basic: Guitar, and
musically speaking they play high quality late 80s/early 90s American
orientated Melodic Hard/Heavy Rock, not far removed from bands like BABYLON
A.D., BANGALORE CHOIR, DEAD DAISIES, WHITESNAKE and such. Zoran has a good
vibrato in his voice, and the material sounds really good and very well
produced. I can honestly say that this album sounds more authentic than the
over-produced FRONTIERS RECORDS 80s wanna-be hardrock releases. Opener High And
Above shows right away we are dealing with a very strong and highly recommended
band, and later on the album we can hear some more sensational songs, such as
the superb midtempo Louder Than Words, Kingdom, Your Chains and Heartattack.
Without a doubt, if you’re into classic late 80s melodic hardrock, then you
definitely need to hear this baby! Check them out a.s.a.p. at: https://badrainband.com/
(Points: 8.5 out
of 10)
DAVID JUDSON
CLEMMONS ‘EVERYTHING A WAR’ (PURPLE 7 RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
The American guitarist/singer/songwriter DAVID JUDSON
CLEMMONS has been in the music business since the late 80s, in bands like
MINISTERS OF ANGER, DAMN THE MACHINE, JUD and THE FULLBLISS besides running a
solo career. He is now settled in Berlin, Germany, and his new solo CD is
entitled Everything A War, which is musically a mix of progrock, melodic rock
and Americana/singer/songwriter pop melodies in a somewhat darker post-rock background.
Besides David on vocals and guitar, the other musicians whom are helping him
out here are drummer Felix Ritz, bassist/guitarist Robert Goldbach, Anna De
Wolff (Violin, Cello, Viola) and on backing vocals David’s daughter Maischa
Judith Clemmons. 7 songs are included in total, and opener Learns To Resist
shows right from the start that we are dealing here with a strong album,
because this is a beautiful melodic progressive rock song with the focus on the
vocal melodies and not any extensive instrumental complex parts. It has a bit of
IT BITES thrown in here and some ENCHANT similarities there. All together a
great start, and thankfully the album continues this way with the superb and
very melodic Drones & Satellites, which has a fantastic uptempo catchy part
where the melodies take it straight into melodic rock actually. David is a
gifted singer and he can also write a good tune besides playing the guitar, so
a real interesting musician to check out. Other highlights are the beautiful
melancholic No Fear, No Love, No Lie, the midtempo rocking Truce and closing
track The Old World Is Gone. It’s actually hard to compare David’s music,
because there is a lot to discover on this epic concept album that keeps it
interesting to listen to the album over and over again. On the other hand, I
guess the progrock/melodic rockfans might enjoy this a lot, and fans of let’s
say KING’S X might also want to check out this high quality CD of David. More
information can be found at: https://www.djclemmons.com/
(Points: 8.5 out
of 10)
MARK BOGERT ‘ANTIQUITY
NEON’ (CONSTRUCTION RECORDS/SUBURBAN)
If there’s one guitarist in The Netherlands who is
able to let his guitar sing, it’s MARK BOGERT. He is an exceptional guitarist
from my hometown Dordrecht, and it’s also there at the Prosound Media Studio
where he recorded his 3rd solo CD Antiquity Neon. The legendary
STUART HAMM (JOE SATRIANI, STEVE VAI) plays bass on one of the songs, while
EDWARD REEKERS (KAYAK, AYREON) sings on the beautiful Light Of Love. There’s a
few more guests making their appearance (including several drummers), but of
course guitarist Mark himself is the star here. 10 songs are included in total,
and opener Thermal Properties is a stunning uptempo rocker with beautiful
guitar melodies in the neo-classical melodic school direction of the legendary
guitarists STEVE VAI, JOE SATRIANI, JOHN PETRUCCI, NEAL SCHON, PETE LESPERANCE,
the late HELGE ENGELKE, the late ZENO ROTH, etc. etc. Up next is the calmer but
extremely lovely melodic rockballad Mercury Glow, which is followed by the
catchy uptempo melodic rocking Chemically Inactive. Although instrumental, the
melodies are simply incredible here, and it’s not far removed from an
instrumental version of FAIR WARNING and HAREM SCAREM, and a bit of VAN HALEN
of course. In Japan they will absolutely go nuts when hearing this CD! Shine On
You is another superb piece of shredding melodic guitar rocking brilliance. Further
on the CD are uptempo melodic rockers Specific Wavelengths, Artistic Shapes and
Whisky A Go Go, 3 more masterpieces, and so are the midtempo AOR/Melodic
Rockballad Future Invention, the acoustic ballad Light Of Love and the
piano/guitar duet of closing song The Extinguishing Of Light.
Nothing but praise from my side, and perhaps this is
one of the finest instrumental albums of the past few years! I must admit that
I don’t hear many instrumental albums nowadays, unlike in especially the 1990s,
when I received countless instrumental albums, but this MARK BOGERT CD is
definitely in the upper league. He shreds in a melodic way it reminds me of the
aforementioned guitarists, and that’s definitely a compliment! Better make sure
to check out this album a.s.a.p.! A true
instrumental melodic rocking masterpiece!
(Points: 9.0 out
of 10)
SERAINA TELLI
‘GREEN VINYL LP’ (METALVILLE/FLYING DOLPHIN ENTERTAINMENT GROUP/BERTUS/SUBURBAN)
It doesn’t get any greener than this release, because
the vinyl edition I received is green, the frontcover, backcover and inner
sleeves are all green of this album, which is also entitled Green! Therefore it
is a record which will definitely make an impression if you own it in your
vinyl collection! It concerns here the 3rd solo album of ex-BURNING
WITCHES Swiss singer SERAINA TELLI. I was not that familiar with her earlier
efforts, but this new vinyl album sounds quite impressive actually. The fact
that she also plays guitar and piano besides singing, and she also wrote almost
all of the songs, except the excellent THE BEATLES cover Get Back, this gives
me the impression that Seraina is a very talented singer/songwriter you need to
check out if you like catchy melodic (pop) rocking music! Other musicians on
the album are drummer Rico Horber, who also co-produced the album together with
Seraina, and bassist Marc Maurer and drummer Mike Malloth. The music is catchy,
melodic and radio-ready and still rocks, and especially Seraina’s vocals make
this a recommended album, because she has a fantastic voice. Consequences for
example is a very strong midtempo rocker with catchy melodies and superb vocals
that reminds me of a mix between ALANIS MORISSETTE and KT TUNSTALL. Without a
doubt, this song could easily become a huge radiohit! Other highlights are the
catchy ANOUK ish rocker 17, the big time 80s Arena Rocker In Your Face Rock,
and the catchy poppy Love. Here and there, we get to hear the na-na-na, oh yeah
and la-la-la parts during the songs, which should have been skipped because
they are unnecessary and cliché tingled, so that would be a recommendation for
improvement for a future record. Also a song like opener Let It All Out has a
huge Eurovision Song Contest vibe, which is not really representative for the
whole album, but nevertheless, fans of catchy female fronted melodic pop/rock
with a focus on extremely strong vocals, this a great record to check out! More
information at: https://serainatelli.com/
(Points: 8.3 out
of 10)
THE BLACK CAT’S
EYE ‘DECRYPTING DREAMS OF WEIRD ANIMALS AND STRANGE OBJECTS’ (TONZONEN
RECORDS/CARGO/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
THE BLACK CAT’S EYE comes out of Frankfurt, Germany,
and Decrypting Dreams Of Weird Animals And Strange Objects is the band’s 2nd
album so far. The band consists of Christian Blaser - Electric Guitars,
Keyboards, Wolfgang Schönecker - Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Steffen Ahrens
- Electric Guitars, Jens Cappel - Electric Bass, Vocals, Keyboards and Stefan
Schulz-Anker - Drums and Percussion. There are 6 songs on the album, and
despite the line-up reveals vocals, it’s an instrumental album most of the time
(except for closing track The Magic Balloon), but that isn’t a problem at all,
because it sounds very strong and impressive. Hell Bent For Saether kicks off
the album, and this is a really good straight-forward uptempo rocking tune that
is closer to melodic rock actually than the krautrock of the bands CAN,
MOTORPSYCHO and such to which THE BLACK CAT’S EYE is compared to. Actually, I
would rather put this band in the melodic progressive rock direction than
experimental kraut/stoner rock, because the music is actually quite accessible.
Other highlights are the calmer proggy PINK FLOYDish The Walls Of Crystal Keep,
the lovely midtempo psychedelic progressive metal piece Unicorn and the superb
melodic precise guitar uptempo rocking Sternenfiles Space Gate. Definitely a
highly recommended instrumental release! More info can be found at: https://theblackcatseye.bandcamp.com/
(Points: 8.5 out
of 10)
ELECTRIC LITANY
‘DREAMS’ (MUTING THE NOISE/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
Here we have a very modern electronic sounding band
from London, UK. ELECTRIC LITANY has been around since 2010, and supported a
band like INTERPOL in the past, and they have already released a few records.
Their new album Dreams combines elements of various genres, although synth pop,
electronic, new wave and a bit of dreamy post-rock seems to be the band’s most
obvious choices. They sound more experimental than for example COLDPLAY,
although vocally CHRIS MARTIN definitely comes to mind here. Musically speaking
ELECTRIC LITANY is definitely more interesting than COLDPLAY, because their
music reveals a lot of original ideas, such as the wonderful Reciprocate. Their
line up consists of Alexandros Miaris (vocals, guitars, piano, synths), Richard
Simic (drums, pads, samples), Jason Tsontilis (synths, percussion), and George
Alevizakis (bass), and actually their new album is a very relaxed original
album that needs to be played a few times before getting the picture straight.
As mentioned, there’s actually quite some diversity going on here, although
fans of synthwave/electronic danceable pop/rock will most likely be interested.
THE MIDNIGHT comes to mind here and there, although there’s not really much 80s
influences to be heard, although the light THE CUREish post-punky indie
pop/rocker Diamonds does capture a slight 80s touch. Anyway, ELECTRIC LITANY is
without a doubt a recommended band and Dreams is a recommended CD to check out
at: https://electriclitany.com
(Points: 8.1 out
of 10)
THE SOUND OF PAROS
‘SPACETIME’ (ARTS CULTURE EUROPE/INOUIE DISTRIBUTION/VEEV.COM/FRANCE IMPORT)
Paros is one of many beautiful Greek Islands, and back
in April 2025 a group of musicians came together in order to make an album that
would musically represent the spirit of the Island. The resulting album
Spacetime is released as a band called THE SOUND OF PAROS, which consists of Marc
Buronfosse: Fender VI, doublebass, Ferruccio Gadani: percussion, Arnaud Ginioux
: electric bass, Panagiotis Kostopoulos: drums, Yiannis Papadopoulos: piano and
Stavros Manthos: saxophone, and we can also hear some guests, such as Marc
Buronfosse: Fender VI, doublebass, Ferruccio Gadani: percussion, Arnaud Ginioux
: electric bass, Panagiotis Kostopoulos: drums, Yiannis Papadopoulos: piano and
Stavros Manthos: saxophone. Without a doubt, it’s a very diverse album that
musically contains influences of calmer progressive rock, world music, fusion
and jazz, all blended together nicely into a melodic melting pot. 8 songs are
included, of which opener Soul, Wake Up, shows a very melodic almost jazzy prog
band from the 1970s, sounding like a cross between RENAISSANCE, DIANA KRALL,
MELODY GARDOT and SOLUTION if that makes sense. The album continues more or
less in this rather beautiful melodic direction, with instrumentals and vocal
dedicated songs, and so it is a very enjoyable relaxing album to listen to,
with some exceptional saxophone sounds here and there as well. Fans of smooth
70s fusion jazz and a bit of prog will definitely like this a lot, but to
represent the Island of Paros, there are also clear World Music elements to be
heard throughout the album (such as the instrumental Ali Baba), so there’s
enough to enjoy here! More info can be found at: https://thesoundofparos.com/
(Points: 8.3 out
of 10)
BLOOD BROTHERS
‘HELP YOURSELF’ (GULF COAST RECORDS/MAC RADIO PROMO/USA IMPORT)
Help Yourself is the 2nd studio CD of BLOOD
BROTHERS, an American supergroup formed around the legendary blues
guitarists/singers MIKE ZITO and ALBERT CASTIGLIA. They recorded this album
within 4 April days earlier in 2025 at the Shock City Studios in St. Louis,
Missouri, USA, along with bassist Scot Sutherland, keyboardplayer Lewis
Stephens, and drummers Matt Johnson and Ray Hangen. 20 self-written songs were
recorded, and the album has this real authentic natural vibe going, as if
you’re listening to a band playing live in front of you, including some amazing
guitar shredding. Both Mike and Albert are of course highly regarded guitarists
who can also sing very well, and apart from each other they released many
solo-albums. Joining forces together here gives us as listener the chance to
hear them challenging each other to come up with some great guitar licks, riffs
and solo’s, such as can be heard during the instrumental Soulard Serenade.
However, the real highlights include the superb stompin’ midtempo heavy blues
rocker Can’t Be A Prophet (a la THE BLACK KEYS), the lovely soulful semi-ballad
Alive, the uptempo ROLLING STONESish rocker Low Down, the laid-back midtempo
Prove My Love and the uptempo rootsy rocker Ol’ Victrola. Without a doubt, this
is a lovely classic blues/roots/rock record with a lot of soul as if it is
played live in front of you! Check out more info at: https://www.bloodbrothersband.com/
(Points: 8.5 out
of 10)
THE CHORUS ‘THESE
STONES VINYL SINGLE’ (AAZ RECORDS/AAZ RECORD/UK IMPORT)
There were so many active bands during the 80s in the
UK, and of course sadly the majority of them never made it big due to the large
amount of successful bands, but all’s fair in love and war, there’s always a
second chance, and for the Leeds, UK based band THE CHORUS it seems like they
are getting another shot at fame with the re-release of their vinyl only single
These Stones from 1985. The band’s 2 permanent members, vocalist JOHN PARKES
and bassist PETE SOLOWKA went on doing many other things with other bands
(including THE WEDDING PRESENT), but they never forgot their short time they
had in THE CHORUS during the mid 80s. The original and re-released vinyl single
contains 3 songs in total, and opener and single These Stones is a catchy
uptempo Post-Punk piece that stood the test of time for sure, because this kind
of rock is still very much alive and well across the UK and Europe with many
new bands playing a similar catchy post-punk rock and roll style. Diamond Mine
and The Verse are on the flipside of the single, both also with the typical 80s
ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN/THE SMITHS alternative catchy 80s British Indie Post-pop/rock
sound. I am quite surprised this band didn’t breakthrough back in the 80s,
because they were quite good actually. The band is preparing an official vinyl
record or CD with more songs from the past, so we will be looking forward to
that for sure. Meanwhile, try to get yourself a copy of their rare single from
40 years ago or it’s re-release! More info at: https://thechorusleeds.bandcamp.com
(Points: 8.2 out
of 10)
KIP MOORE + GARETH
WEDNESDAY MAY 28TH / 013 VENUE, TILBURG, THE NETHERLANDS
ARENA ROCK at it’s
very best!
It was a warm weekday evening
when I went to the city of Tilburg to catch a show of one of the greatest
American singer/songwriters at the moment. His name is KIP MOORE, he’s from
Georgia, and although he is labeled as a country musician, his music is very
diverse and is actually closely related to 80s Arena Rock during the rockier
songs, but still keeps things modern here and there, while during the intimate
moments it has a beautiful authentic warmness that shows his
Americana/Singer-Songwriter skills. Anyway, before Kip would do his 2+ hour
show, it was up to GARETH to serve as opening act. Besides Gareth (acoustic
guitar and vocals) on stage, there was also his electric guitarplayer to
assist, and he gave Gareth’s calmer melodic acoustic country/singer-songwriter
Americana a slight rocky touch. Gareth has a great voice, and he belts out some
really beautiful memorable melodies, so it was a nice set from beginning to the
end.
Then we had to wait for roughly
30 minutes before Kip would start his show, and meanwhile through the speakers
we could hear a mixture of classic rocksongs from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Kip has
recently released a great new album titled Solitary Tracks, which was quite a
personal album that featured 23 new tracks. Especially the first part of that
album contains some of his most authentic calmer singer-songwriter orientated
material so far, and surprisingly Kip started the set at 9 o’clock sharp with
the first song from that new record. It’s the song High Hopes, which was
followed by the final song of the new album, the lovely midtempo AORish Only
Me, and the intimate titletrack Solitary Tracks was up next. After this sorta
introduction to the new album, Kip and his fantastic band THE SLOWHEARTS began
to rock hard in a way that reminded me of the 80s Arena Rockbands, yet then
done in his own KIP MOORE style. The following bunch of songs were a mix of
songs from all of his previous records. Kip released his debut album back in
2012, and has ever since released 5 more records, so he is quite a busy
musician/singer/songwriter.
For a full hour Kip was
rocking, and he had no time to do any interaction with his audience or the
band, because he was delivering all these high class American rock pieces with
all of his energy during the first part of the set. Kip’s voice is a mixture of
the late STEVE LEE (of GOTTHARD), the late JIMI JAMISON (of SURVIVOR) and BENNY
MARDONES, so basically a man with a Golden raspy voice. His music is as already
mentioned this mixture of 70s/80s classic American Rock with a pop/rock touch
and also authentic singer/songwriter Americana influences. Basically if you
like to hear someone in the style of BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, BRYAN ADAMS, TOM PETTY,
RICK SPRINGFIELD, JOHN COUGAR and HUEY LEWIS, and someone who actually writes
his own catchy songs in the style of these legendary singer/songwriter
musicians, then look no further, because KIP MOORE is your guy to check out
a.s.a.p.
Anyway, halfway the set Kip
started to talk between the songs, do some improvising here and there,
introduce the band, and it was like a complete facelift, because the rest of
the show was a wonderful mixture of sensational songs performed in perfection,
while still entertaining the audience via sing-a-long sessions, jumping up and
down by Kip and his bandmembers, walking to the crowd and do a speed-date
signing session, and much more. It’s also very enjoyable to watch Kip finish a
few rockier tunes with just him on acoustic guitar singing the same tunes, but
then stripped, but perhaps the absolute highlight was the song Sweet Virginia,
when we could hear each band member sing the chorus, and especially the 2nd
lead guitarist (HANK BORN) showed he has an amazing voice as well! Anyway, it
was Kip’s show, so perhaps in the future we might enjoy Hank’s solo adventures,
who knows…
I have to say that this was an
outstanding rock and roll show the way it needs to sound and look. Kip and his
band are amazing performers, and they made it look so easy, but delivering more
than 2 hours of high class music is definitely champions league! My favorite
songs of the show were Only Me, Damn Love, Crazy One More Time, Plead The
Fifth, Beer Money, Red White Blue Jean American Dream, She's Mine, Love And War,
Heart On Fire, Come and Get
It and Tough Enough, and most of these are
reflecting the aforementioned description of classic true American 80s Arena
Rock/Poprock/AOR with both a modern pop and country touch. Throw in JOHN
COUGAR, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, BRYAN ADAMS and BENNY MARDONES in a blender, then
you will have KIP MOORE, one of the greatest new upcoming stars in the arena
rockworld. If he continues touring like this in Europe, and deliver more great
new material, we might be looking at the future for real authentic melodic rock
music. Check out Kip’s music, both his albums and his shows, because it is
worth it 100%!
(Points: 9.3 out of 10)
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