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HOT NEW REVIEWS
BURN ‘TIME FOR A
CHANGE’ (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
Well, well, well… back in my early days as music
editor at Strutter’zine, there was a huge wave of new AOR/Melodic Rockbands
going on in the UK. The early-to-mid 90s period brought us so many great bands,
such as ATLANTIC, WALK THE WIRE, PASSION STREET, LOST WEEKEND, THE PROMISE,
DANTE FOX, TEN and loads more, but towards the end of the 90s the scene slowly
died sadly. BURN was also one of those bands, and despite BURN continued, we
now have a new band from the UK that is remarkably enough also called BURN, and
they are playing the exact same AOR/Melodic Rockstyle as the bands I mentioned
(including the old BURN!). It might be a bit confusing, but I am not sure if
this is the same BURN as the one that put out albums in the past, because the
band’s website mentions Time For A Change is this BURN’s debut album, and when
looking at the line-up there are no similar names either. This BURN hails from
Redditch, UK, and they were formed back in 2023 around some veterans of the
scene, Pete Reynolds (Vocals, ex-STEEL WIZARD), Andy Parry (Bass, ex-VIXEN UK,
TOUR DE FORCE), Richard Harris (Guitar/Backing Vocals),Nic Salisbury (Keys) and
Dave Brigham (Drums). As already mentioned the album is titled Time For A
Change, and musically we are heading straight into classic British AOR/Melodic
Rock.
After the short intro Time For A Change, we are
surprised by a classic early 90s midtempo melodic rocker titled Kick A Little
Anarchy that recalls the days of the music I personally grew up with 30-35 years
ago (WHITESNAKE, BON JOVI, EUROPE, etc.), and funnily enough it even reminds me
of the same named British band BURN from the early 90s (remember their 1993
album So Far So Bad?). Then it’s time for the superb uptempo AOR rocker Jealous
Guy, a sensational catchy tune that brings back memories of the classic British
AOR of 30-35 years ago, as it is dangerously close to classic FM, LOST WEEKEND,
THE PROMISE, ATLANTIC, MORITZ, AIRRACE, LIONHEART and the countless other bands
that ruled the Strutter’zine printed pages during the mid-1990s! This song
shows that these guys are serious business, because everything sounds picture
perfect here, vocally and instrumentally with the keys and guitars in the right
80s direction, yet without sounding dated at all.
Get Up follows the same style, so this is another
superb catchy uptempo AOR rocker in the style of the aforementioned bands. Babe
(I Need Your Love) tackles the groovier 80s melodic rocksound, while No More is
a lovely AOR ballad with excellent vocals and a soaring guitarsolo, recalling
the LIONHEART and AIRRACE days. I See picks up the tempo again, and here we have
another SENSATIONAL (!!!) uptempo classic British AOR rocker straight out of
the book of MORITZ, MAGNUM (their 80s period), FM and THE PROMISE, with an
incredible catchy singable chorus that sticks in your head for days after
hearing it!
From These Chains is a midtempo groovier melodic
rockpiece with an EXTREME meets TYKETTO touch, Piece Of The Action is another
sensational catchy uptempo AOR/Melodic Rocker in the classic British style of
THE PROMISE, FM, MAGNUM, and I absolutely adore the keyboardsolo and killer
chorus here. Following track Been A Long Time goes back to the groovy
TYKETTOish melodic rocksound, and Over The Hill is a calmer ballad that starts
acoustic, but develops into a power (ish) ballad, again like TYKETTO and a bit
of NELSON. Closing track So Long is a nice calmer semi melodic rocker.
Concluded, this lovely album is quite a surprise, and
without a doubt it is a must-have if you miss the days of AIRRACE, LOST
WEEKEND, THE PROMISE, MORITZ, FM, 80s MAGNUM, etc. etc. For yours truly one of
the highlights in British AOR/Melodic Rock of the past few years! More info can
be found at: https://burnrockband.com/
(Points: 9.0 out
of 10)
DEADLETTER
‘EXISTENCE IS BLISS’ (SO RECORDINGS/MATTAN RECORDS)
The moment I saw this band live on stage I knew they
had something of interest that could bring them to higher places in the future.
I have seen them 3 times now meanwhile, and they are getting better and better
every time. DEADLETTER is a British band that was founded back in 2020, and
Existence Is Bliss is their 3rd album so far. What sets them apart
from the countless other Post-Punkbands is the fact they have a sax in their
line-up, which gives them a sorta jazzy touch sometimes. The band’s line up
consists of Zac Lawrence: Vocals, Alfie Husband: Drums, George Ullyott: Bass, Will
King: Guitar, Sam Jones: Guitar and Nathan Pigott: Saxophone. This new album contains
12 tracks in total, and after a few spins, it is clear that this might be their
best album so far.
Opener Purity I is quite a lengthy but intelligent
lovely song that has the classic British New Wave sound written all over the
place, yet with that modern take in a way it does remind both of JOY DIVISION/TALKING
HEADS and FONTAINES D.C./WHITE LIES. Somewhere in the middle perhaps, but with
clearly an own identity, which comes out even better during the following song
To The Brim, because here we have the jazzy sax at the start, while the song
develops into classic new breed UK Post-Punk at it’s very best! A Songless Bird
has got all it takes to become a future classic, because it has that jazzy
post-punk hybrid mixture DEADLETTER is known for. Same can be said about the
catchier It Comes Creeping. Other highlights include Cheers!, the ballad ish Focal
Point, (Back To) The Scene Of The Crime and He, Himself, and Him.
Concluded, this is a very strong original album of
DEADLETTER that should easily find it’s way to the fans of FONTAINES D.C.,
WHITE LIES and such, yet as already mentioned, DEADLETTER does have an own
identity for sure! More information at: https://deadletter-band.bandcamp.com/
(Points: 8.7 out
of 10)
THE BOXER
REBELLION ’THE SECOND I’M ASLEEP’ (ABSENTEE RECORDINGS/MATTAN RECORDS)
I once saw the British indie rockband THE BOXER
REBELLION performing live on a small stage as part of the so-called Record
Store Day event in Delft, about 10-12 years ago, and actually despite following
them every now and then, their new album The Second I’m Asleep is the first
full-length album in ages I actually have listened to from start to finish,
because it is a really great record, so this might be their finest album so far.
The band has been around for a few decades now. They were founded back in 2001
by the American Nathan Nicholson (vocals, guitar, keyboards) and Englishmen
Andrew Smith (lead guitar), Adam Harrison (bass guitar), and Piers Hewitt
(drums), and these 4 musicians are still together after all these years.
Musically speaking nothing new is happening on their
new album, but on the other hand, there is a lot of great well-written catchy
uptempo indie poprock included here, such as Flowers In The Water, Last Of A
Dying Breed, This House, Satellite Above, and the calmer beautiful Perception.
Of course there are a lot of other ‘even bigger’ similar
sounding bands around nowadays, such as BEAR’S DEN and THE WAR ON DRUGS that
play more or less the same kinda melodic indie pop/rock, nevertheless this THE
BOXER REBELLION were one of the first generation of new breed indie bands from
the UK 25 years ago and they show they are still putting out great new
material. Check it out for yourself at: https://theboxerrebellion.com/
(Points: 8.2 out
of 10)
THE TWILIGHT SAD
‘THE LONG GOODBYE’ (ROCK ACTION RECORDS/MATTAN RECORDS)
The Scottish band THE TWILIGHT SAD were founded back
in 2003, and their new album The Long Goodbye is their 7th album so
far, however, it’s the first that features the 2 main members as a duo, James
Alexander Graham on vocals and Andy MacFarlane on guitar, accordion, synths and
programming, while the drums are played by David Jeans and the bass, synths and
piano by Alex Mackay. Robert Smith of THE CURE guests on several songs, and
musically speaking we are heading into the 80s post-punk/wave/gothic direction.
Opener Get Away From It All is an almost progressive rock kinda song with
shoegaze and indie pop/rock influences, and despite it takes some time for the
song to develop itself, in the end it becomes a very strong song which you want
to play over and over again.
Following track Designed To Lose is a great uptempo post-punk
piece, while things become very sensational during Attempt A Crash Landing, a
haunting indie post-punkrocker. Waiting For The Phone Call brings 80s Gothic
Post-Punk influences of BAUHAUS into the sound of THE TWILIGHT SAD, and the
dark but still melodic passages combined with synths give it a chilling but
sensational touch that could even appeal to fans of SISTERS OF MERCY or early ULTRAVOX.
The appearance of Robert Smith of THE CURE on guitar is completing the 80s
sound here. After only 4 songs it is clear that this new THE TWLIGHT SAD CD is
one of the highlights of 2026! Other recommended songs are the sensational The
Ceiling Underground, Inhospitable/Hospital (a bit reminding of KILLING JOKE)
and Chest Wound To The Chest.
Do not miss this sensational original album that combines
influences of a lot of genres, ranging from post-punk, 80s gothic, new wave,
indie to even a tiny bit of progrock. It might sound dark, haunting and
depressing here and there, the songs are very melodic and memorable. More info
at: https://thetwilightsad.com/
(Points: 8.7 out
of 10)
JOHN HOLLIER &
THE REVERIE ‘RAINMAKER’ (WHOLLYABAR/THIRTY TIGERS/THE ORCHARD/MATTAN RECORDS)
Out of Nashville, USA comes the talented
singer/songwriter/guitarist JOHN HOLLIER, who melts elements of typical
American genres such as Americana, Heartland Rock, Country and Soul with a
poprock element to give it a modern catchy touch. His 2nd album is
titled Rainmaker, and his band to accompany him with is called THE REVERIE,
consisting of Teddy Thibedoux Jones: Saxophone, Zachary Scott Kline (or Cline):
Lead Guitar, Ray Akers: Bass and Brian Cox: Drums. The music is overall
speaking not too complicated and quite melodic, with a special mention that
John’s vocals sound very good. Actually a catchy uptempo piece like If She’s
Lonely is not too far away removed from SAM FENDER, and there’s some BRUCE
SPRINGSTEEN and THE WAR ON DRUGS similarities to be heard as well. Other
memorable songs on this rather strong album are Holding Too Tight (midtempo
piece with a rather excellent sax solo), Saturday Night Polly (almost BOB
SEGERish heartland rocker) Somewhere Down The Road (a country/folk southern
rock ish semi ballad), the uptempo hard rocking titletrack Rainmaker and .
John is definitely a recommended singer/songwriter,
who has the ability to become bigger if he is able to perform live on stage as
good as on this new album. More info at: https://www.johnhollier.com/
(Points: 8.4 out
of 10)
RUA DAS PRETAS
‘POVO BRASILEIRO’ (HARMONIA/THE ORCHARD/VEEV.COM/FRANCE IMPORT)
Out of Lisbon, Portugal and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
comes the collective RUA DAS PRETAS, led by the Brazilian composer and
guitarist PIERRE ADERNE, and completed by musicians from both Portugal and Brazil,
including Cape Verdean singer Zulu (Boa Vista), the Portuguese fado singer Ana
Margarida Prado, the multi-instrumentalist Nilson Dourado (São Paulo / Sintra),
the flautist Letícia Malvares (Rio / Madrid), and musicians from Cordão do
Boitatá (a popular street carnival block in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil). Their 12th
album Povo Brasileiro is a high-quality world music journey that blends Bossa
Nova, Fado, and Afro-Brazilian, and especially at the beginning of the CD it
gives you that holiday kinda feeling for us Europeans, because such music as
displayed here is heard when we are on holiday. If you’re familiar with the
typical Brazilian and Portuguese traditional music, then this is an album you
need to check out a.s.a.p. A song like Um Menino Chamado Brasil could easily
become a huge radio hit during the upcoming summer months, because it gives you
that warm relaxing feeling you get when the ordinary working week is finally
over. There are no weak moments here, and if you enjoy acts like SEU JORGE or
MADELEINE PEYROUX, with whom Piere also worked with in the past, then you will
absolutely love this release. More info can be found at https://www.ruadaspretas.com/
(Points: 8.1 out
of 10)
MANSFARROLL
‘AFRICA SI’ (M. PERCUSON/INOUIE DISTRIBUTION/VEEV.COM/FRANCE IMPORT)
Cuban percussionist ABRAHAM MANSFARROLL returns with
his third album entitled África sí. In the past he worked with legends like
CHUCHO VALDÉS and IBRAHIM MAALOUF, and even appearing at the Paris 2024 Olympic
Games with LADY GAGA! Anyway, his new album is a masterclass in Afro-Cuban jazz
fusion. You have the Cuban and African rhythms to melt with jazz here, and the
list of guest musicians is quite extensive, and includes a lot of established
people from the Afro-jazz scene, such as Yaroldy Abreu Robles: percussion,
vocals, Ballaké Sissoko: kora, Pierre Marcault: djembe, bougarabou, Patrick
Bebey: pygmy flute and kalimba, Jorge Vistel Serrano: trumpet, Irving Acao
Sierra: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone and flute, Julien Chirol: trombone, Aude
Publes Garcia: vocals and backing vocals, Monika Kabasele: vocals and backing
vocals, José Ramón Cabrera Montes de OcaJ: piano-Fender Rhodes, Felipe Cabrera
Cardenas: double bass, Gino Chantoiseau: bass guitar, Abdoulaye Kouyaté:
electric guitar, Daniel Garlitsky: violin, Jérémie Visseaux: violin, Nina
Tonji: viola and Mimi Sunnerstam: cello. Opener and title track África sí starts
with a heavy polyrhythmic drive, featuring the trumpet work of JORGE VISTEL
SERRANO and the deep groove of FELIPE CABRERA CARDENAS on double bass. Things
get really interesting on tracks like Kora-Zon, where the legendary BALLAKÉ
SISSOKO guests on kora, and combined with the Cuban piano of JOSÉ RAMÓN CABRERA
it gives you a very nice mixture. The v0ocal department is top-notch too, with
AUDE PUBLES GARCIA and MONIKA KABASELE providing soulful, soaring melodies that
remind me of ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO. World Music doesn’t get any better than this,
because here Africa and South American are united with the Jazz of North
America and Europe! More info at: http://www.mansfarroll.com/
(Points: 8.1 out
of 10)
WE STOOD LIKE
KINGS ‘PINOCCHIO’ (KAPITAN PLATTE/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/SONIC RENDEZVOUS/GERMAN IMPORT)
WE STOOD LIKE KINGS is a Belgian band formed around
Judith Hoorens: Piano & Synths, Diego Di Vito: Guitars, Colin Delloye: Bass
Guitar/Guitars and Lucas Vanderputten: Drums, and they were founded back in
2011. Pinochhio is their 6th album so far, and musically speaking we are
heading into crystal clear massive sounding instrumental post-progressive
rock/post-metal at a very high level. They are piano-driven, although on this
new album they dive quite a lot into a heavier guitar dominated direction, and
without a doubt, the overall combination of the 9 included tracks put you into
this typical post-progressive rock trance. The band does their job very well,
and I’ll bet live they will do likewise deliver in a same way we have seen from
other similar bands like MONKEY 3, TIDES FROM NEBULA, SLEEPMAKESWAVES, LONG
DISTANCE CALLING, COLLAPSE UNDER THE EMPIRE, etc. etc. More information on WE
STOOD LIKE KINGS at: https://www.westoodlikekings.com/
(Points: 8.4 out
of 10)
BLKE ‘BLKE’
(TONZONEN RECORDS/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/CARGO RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
Out of Berlin, Germany comes the band BLKE, and they
are releasing their debut with this same titled album BLKE. The band is formed
around Jakob Buraczewski: Vocals and Guitar, Michael Drummer: Drums, Steffen
Kahles: Guitar and Synthesizer and Alex Kozmidi: Bass, and these musicians have
been active in many bands since the 1990s but now joined forces as BLKE. Their
music is psychedelic rock with influences of shoegaze, noise rock, kraut and
progressive rock. The vocals are in the shoegaze department, yet also with an
own identity that is quite experimental (even a bit punky during So Do I),
although instrumentally speaking there is a healthy mix of the aforementioned
genres. A lot of the songs are energetic and uptempo, so it is quite uplifting,
and comparisons are hard to make, because BLKE has created an own kinda sound.
Check for yourself at: https://blke.bandcamp.com
(Points: 8.0 out
of 10)
DRAKEN ‘HERE BE
DRAKEN’ (DARK ESSENCE RECORDS/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/PLASTIC HEAD/GERMAN IMPORT)
DRAKEN is a band from Oslo, Norway, and they were founded
back in 2019. Here Be Draken is their 3rd album so far, and the band consists
of Even Helte Hermansen: Guitars and Vocals, Hallvard Gaardløs: Bass and Vocals
(also of SPIDERGAWD and ORANGO) and André Drage Haraldsen: Drums. The band
sounds quite sensational on this new album, and offers classic Scandinavian
Hardrock/Metal at it’s very best, with the melodies in the right place,
especially during the fantastic opener The Great Deceiver and the massive
sounding Here Be Dragons and BLACK SABBATHish Crimson Sun, while It Serves You
Right is borderline Thrash Metal meets Melodic Power Metal a la MYSTIC
PROPHECY. There is a Stoner Rock influence as well (HIGH ON FIRE ish) and some
MOTORHEAD and BLACK SABBATH influences, but also here and there raw fast aggressive
metal moments such as during Saturday Night Head Removal Extravaganza
(ENTOMBEDish), so basically, it’s a mixture of all kinds of Hardrock and Metal
styles, ranging from slow doomy to very fast and everything in between, while
the vocals are a mix of calmer melodic OZZY alike singing to Thrash Metal
gang-vocal aggressiveness and a bit of Metalcore, so all together a nice
diverse package here you can check out at: https://drakentheband.bandcamp.com
(Points: 8.0 out
of 10)
ATSUKO CHIBA
’ATSUKO CHIBA’ (MOTHLAND/THE ORCHARD/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
Influenced by MARK LANEGAN, TALK TALK, CAN and
PORTISHEAD, the Montreal, Canada based band ATUSKO CHIBA has developed an own
experimental rocksound that is now further finalized on their 4th album, which
is self-titled. The band was founded about 15 years ago, and their line up
consists of Karim Lakhdar: Vocals, Guitar, Synthesizer, Kevin McDonald: Guitar,
Synthesizer, David Palumbo: Bass, Vocals, Anthony Piazza: Drums, Live
Projections and Eric Schafhauser: Guitar, Synthesizer. Their music might be
experimental at first sight, but if you listen closely you can hear underneath
a lot of beautiful melodies, which can already be noticed during the album opener
Retention. There’s modern progrock hidden as well, and a funky bass line here
and some nice backing vocals there to give it an extra memorable melodic touch.
This is one of those albums you need to revisit every now and then to discover
layers of interesting moments one ach and every of the 6 included songs. THE
MARS VOLTA and SIGUR ROS also come to mind sometimes and why not mention
PORCUPINE TREE or PINK FLOYD when hearing a song like Future Ways. Without a
doubt, this is a highly recommended album and a band to check out at: https://atsukochiba.bandcamp.com/
(Points: 8.5 out
of 10)
SUGAR HORSE ‘NOT A
SOUND IN HEAVEN’ (FAT DRACULA RECORDS/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/ROUGH TRADE/GERMAN
IMPORT)
Although at first sight, the Bristol, UK based band
SUGAR HORSE sounds like a very melodic modern proggy band, suddenly it all
changes when the vocals become distorted and extreme, while massive Industrial
Metal influences kick through as well. It makes them sound quite original and
reminding of a cross between LEPROUS, DEPECHE MODE and RAMMSTEIN, with
Metalcore screams every now and then! It’s like Gothic, Prog, Industrial and
Extreme Metal is melted! SUGAR HORSE already released 2 albums before Not A
Sound In Heaven, and it’s remarkable they have not gotten that much attention
yet, although they might be a bit too gothic industrial here and there for the
proggies out there, while the extreme screams are also a bit out of the
ordinary, but when the clean melodic vocals are upfront, it sounds very melodic
actually. This is one of those bands you need to listen to for yourself to make
up a good judgement, because there is something of interest for sure, but you
must be very open-minded musically speaking. More info at: https://sugarhorse.bandcamp.com
(Points: 8.3 out
of 10)
CHRISTINA CROFTS
‘THE BEST OF BOTTLENECK’ (FOGHORN/AUSTRALIA IMPORT)
As soon as opener Voodoo Queen opens the new album of
Australian blues guitarist singer songwriter CHRISTINA CROFTS, it is clear we
are dealing here with a powerhouse musician here. In the 90s she started
playing in bands but eventually went solo and released a few albums. This new
album is actually a best of release, because Best Of Bottleneck is collection
of her finest slide guitar tracks and the album hit #1 on the Australian Blues
Roots charts. No wonder, because she is a killer guitarist and singer, so it is
unbelievable we haven’t seen anything about her yet in Europe. She would go down
very well on the European summer Blues Festival circuit with her raw powerhouse
vocals (somehow reminding me of a cross between JOAN JETT and LUCINDA WILLIAMS)
and sliding guitarsolos. Besides Christina, there are a few other musicians
included, such as Stan Mobbs on bass and Tony Boyd on drums. Without a doubt,
this is a sensational hard rocking album with many highlights, such as
Breakaway, Lookin’ Back On You, Someone Younger, Lucy and Like We Used To. 12
rocking tracks that should be played loud and proud! Do not miss this
sensational Australian musician if you like for example BONNIE RAITT, BYWATER
CALL, BEAUX GRIS GRIS & THE APOCALYPSE, ALLY VENABLE, SAMANTHA FISH, SARI
SCHORR, ERJA LYYTINEN, etc. More info at: https://www.christinacrofts.com
(Points: 8.5 out
of 10)
LEXIE BLUE ‘TOO
GLAM TO GIVE A DAMN’ (INDEPENDENT/FRANK ROSZAK RADIO PROMOTIONS/USA IMPORT)
Too Glam To Give A Damn is the new album of Detroit,
Michigan based singer LEXIE BLUE, who is joined on this CD by Pete Bullard:
Guitar, Kevin Schoepke: Bass, Gary Martin: Drums, Jack Rivers: Keyboards, Mike
Puelson: Trumpet and Joe Rodrick: Trombone. The included music is soulful
bluesrock with a funky twist and passionate powerhouse vocals of Lexie. I believe
it’s her 3rd album so far, and it surely sounds pretty good actually. BETH HART
comparisons are definitely possible, especially during songs like Break Up
Kiss, Too Glam To Give A Damn and Ain’t Good At Drinking. Check it out for
yourself at: https://www.lexieblue.com
(Points: 8.0 out
of 10)
SAN ANTONIO KID
‘GREETINGS FROM SAN ANTONIO KID’ (OFF LABEL RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
SAN ANTONIO KID comes out of Augsburg, Germany,
although their 2nd album Greetings From San Antonio Kid sounds like
a spaghetti western psychedelic rock piece from the deep south of the USA, with
that Tarantino kinda vibe. They are doing their job very well, and I am quite
interested to check out one of their shows. The band’s line up consists of Matthias
"Matti" Jähn: Lead Vocals, Guitar, Songwriting, Florian Jähn: Guitar,
Christian Heiß: Bass, Lukas Heiß: Keyboards / Organ and Bastian Walcher: Drums.
You can find more info on this German band at: https://sanantoniokid.de/
(Points: 7.8 out
of 10)
MAIORANO ‘GLORIOUS
DAYS’ (OFF LABEL RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
Italian/German musician ALEX MAIORANO had a nice
successful career along with THE BLACK TALES, with whom he played and recorded
raw garage punk rock in the classic 50s/60s style. However, recently he
released a new album under the moniker MAIORANO, and musically speaking this
particular album Glorious Days is a step into a more 70s orientated mash-up of
powerpop, early 70s glamrock and a tiny bit of rock and roll. Especially the
powerpop takes over here and there, but all done very well and sounding as if
it was recorded over 50 years ago! Besides Alex on Lead vocals, electric
guitar, and piano, the other musicians are Alessio D’Alessandro: Drums and
percussion, Markus "The Kid" Siebold: Bass guitar and backing vocals,
Rieko Okuda: Keyboards and synthesizers and The Duke: Saxophone. Fans of ELVIS
COSTELLO and especially JOE JACKSON will absolutely love this album! Catchy
powerpop at it’s finest! More at: https://www.maioranomusic.com/
(Points: 8.2 out
of 10)
THE BLUES AGAINST
YOUTH ‘TRAPPED IN THE COUNTRY’ (OFF LABEL RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
THE BLUES AGAINST YOUTH is a one man band from Rome.
It’s basically only Gianni Tbay on guitar, voice, bass-drum, hi-hat, whistle
and the "invisible iron snare", and all instruments are played
simultaneously during his one man shows. Musically speaking comparable to that
famous one-man band SEASICK STEVE, the music is strong heavy blues rock and
roll, with a JOHNNY CASH vibe here and there. Gianni has released quite a lot
of albums, of which Trapped In The Country dates back to 2013. He has a great
voice and the music is authentic and original, and actually quite catchy,
especially during songs like A Dirtier Job, On The Hill, Soul, Mercenary Blues
and Honey Don’t. More info can be found at: https://thebluesagainstyouth.bandcamp.com/album/trapped-in-the-country-12-lp-cd
(Points: 8.2 out
of 10)
MOJO JUJU AND THE
SNAKE OIL MERCHANTS ’ANTHOLOGY’ (OFF LABEL RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
The Australian singer/songwriter MOJO JUJU RUIZ DE
LUZURIAGA is a well-known musician in Australian who went solo after fronting
the band MOJO JUJU AND THE SNAKE OIL MERCHANTS between 2006 and 2010, with whom
she released 2 independent albums, Mojo Juju & The Snake Oil Merchants
(2007) and Sellin' You Salvation (2009) before splitting up. The German label
OFF LABEL RECORDS released an Anthology CD in 2015, which was a compilation of
their earlier material. Besides Mojo on vocals, guitar and banjo, the rest of
the band consisted of Steve "T-Bone" Ruiz de Luzuriaga: Trumpet,
percussion, and ukulele (Mojo's brother and consistent collaborator), the Duke
of Erlington: Drums, backing vocals, and keyboards, The Turk: Double
bass.KatAttack: Accordion, keys, and tambourine, Baron DeLude: Musical saw and
harmonica and Akira Weller-Wong: Trombone. The band’s music was quite unique,
because it was a mixture of 20s, 30s and 40s music, melting ragtime blues,
rockabilly and cabaret jazz into an exciting vibrant style that live on stage
would go down very well. More or less comparable to CARO EMERALD, this MOJO
JUJU AND THE SNAKE OIL MERCHANTS should have been much bigger, but it’s nice to
hear and review their Anthology CD from 2015. The mixture of uptempo swinging
tunes and calmer emotional material is making it a joy to listen to this
extremely strong band, and especially the vocals of Mojo sounded excellent.
Check for yourself at: https://mojo-juju-and-the-snakeoil-merchantsun.bandcamp.com/album/anthology-featuring-music-from-the-film-bestefreunde
(Points: 8.4 out
of 10)
JONAH GOLD &
HIS SILVER APPLES ‘POLLUTE THE AIRWAVES’ (OFF LABEL RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
It’s a pity that the German band JONAH GOLD AND HIS
SILVER APPLES only released this CD Pollute The Airwaves back in 2014, and has
not released anything new aside from a cassette only album in 2021, because
their music is a healthy mix of garage rock, blues rock and classic 60s rock
and roll. The band consists of Jonah Gold: vocals, guitar, harmonica, Granny
Smith: drums, percussion, screams, Doktor von Boskoop: bass, backing vocals and
Captain Braeburn: guitar, backing vocals. Especially during uptempo pieces like
Train To Milano, Karmann Ghia, Miss You So and Just a stranger the band sounds
very tight, and even remind me a bit of classic THEM, 60s ROLLING STONES, JD
MCPHERSON, etc. Done extremely well, this is a much-recommended CD to check out
if you like classic upbeat authentic garage rock and roll. More info at: https://jonahgoldandhissilverapples.bandcamp.com/album/pollute-the-airwaves
(Points: 8.4 out
of 10)
LAINO & BROKEN
SEEDS ’SICK TO THE BONE’ (OFF LABEL RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
LAINO is an Italian-American band formed around Andrea
Laino on Lead vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, resonator guitar (dobro), Gaetano
Alfonsi on Drums and percussion and Quentin Rollet on Saxophone. Together they
create this raw dusty and sorta apocalyptic bluesy rocksound that here and
there reminds me of THE BLACK KEYS. Their album Sick to the Bone was released
back in 2017, but still sounds fresh and up-to-date, and in case you missed it
the first time around, then do get yourself a copy of it a.s.a.p., because it
absolutely rocks big time in this raw psychedelic yet melodic bluesy rocking
sound. More info at: https://laino.bandcamp.com/album/sick-to-the-bone
(Points: 8.4 out
of 10)
O LENDARIO
CHUCROBILLYMA ’THE CHICKEN ALBUM/MAN MONKEY’ (OFF LABEL RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
SEASICK STEVE is one of the most popular one-man bands
in the world, but likewise there are many more out there doing this authentic
raw street punk blues thing, and O LENDARIO CHUCROBILLYMA from Brazil is one of
them. His real name is KLAUS KOTI by the way, and there’s some great stuff on
his albums, so go and check out such great anthems like Coconutroad. Raw blues
and street punk melted with a Brazilian touch, more info at: https://www.facebook.com/fonfonrecords
(Points: 7.5 out
of 10)
DON MARCO &
DIE KLEINE FREIHEIT ‘GEHST DU MIT MIR UNTER/EWIG UND DREI TAGE’ (OFF LABEL
RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
DON MARCO & DIE KLEINE FREIHEIT comes out of
Germany and his 2 CDs are filled with late 70s/early 80s inspired Neue Welle
pop/rock which melts powerpop, new wave, light punk, poprock, glamrock and
indie into an exciting catchy German lyrics sung sound that can be hear right
from the start with the uptempo Nervos on his CD Gehst Du Mit Mir Unter. You
can hear all kinds of influences, although THE CURE, THE STRANGLERS, WILCO, THE
CRAMPS, ELVIS COSTELLO, NICK LOWE and everything in between comes to mind while
listening to the 2 CDs (released in 2021 and 2022) that were sent. Despite the
German lyrics, the 38 rather short songs on the CDs all sound quite catchy and
it’s a pleasure to listen to them. Don is an underrated musician, who should
get a lot more attention. He is a multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter, but
got help from musicians such as Tim Jürgens: Bass, Backing Vocals, Handclaps, Kristof
Hahn: Lap-Steel-Gitarre, E-Gitarre, Akustikgitarre, Backing Vocals, Handclaps,
Kevin Ippisch: E-Gitarre, Backing Vocals, Philip Bradatsch: E-Gitarre,
Akustikgitarre, Backing Vocals, Piano, Maria De Val: Schlagzeug, E-Drums,
Percussion, Keyboards, Bacling Vocals, Teresa Staffler: Piano, Keyboards,
Backing Vocals, Maxi Pongratz: Akkordeon, Clemens Finckenstein: Bass, Nick
Buttermilch: Schlagzeug, Handclaps and Bonifaz Prexl: Piano, Moog, Keyboards,
Backing Vocals, Handclaps. Bass. Well done and quite diverse actually, because
as already mentioned the influences of new wave, punk, powerpop, indie and even
70s glamrock pass by here and there, with as other highlights uptempo songs
like Osnabruck, Topspiel Der Woche, Warten, Fahrscheinkontrolleur, Bis Zur
Rente and Zehnfleisch. More info can be found at: https://donmarcounddiekleinefreiheit.bandcamp.com/
(Points: 7.9 out
of 10)
POLY-MATH
‘SOMETHING DEEPLY HIDDEN’ (THE LASER’S EDGE/SONIC RENDEZVOUS)
POLY-MATH is an instrumental progressive/math rock
from Brighton, UK, and they were founded back in 2012. The band consists of Timothy
Walters (guitars), Chris Woollison (drums) and Joseph Branton (bass), Josh
Gesner (Keyboards and synthesizers), and Something Deeply Hidden is their new
album, which is their 5th album so far. The included instrumental
music is progrock at its finest, with incredible musicianship, and basically
the 7 featured songs are together making this album a superb instrumental
masterpiece. If you’re into KING CRIMSON, THE MARS VOLTA and such slightly
experimental progressive rock, then this new POLY-MATH CD is a must-have. Without
a doubt, this is a highly recommended album to check out! More info at: https://polymath.band/
(Points: 8.7 out
of 10)
ANY DIRTY PARTY
‘YOU HATE ME, I KISS YOU’ (OFF LABEL RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
Sadly only 5 songs on this CD that was released in
2015, and since then no new releases of this Berlin, German based band called
ANY DIRTY PARTY. They played typical British Garage-Punkrock with an indie
touch here and there. Straight forward uptempo rockers like Just Let Me Know
and Little Blonde Girl are great songs that reflect memories of bands like
KAISER CHIEFS, THE VACCINES, THE HIVES… Not more info available, but if you
come across this CD, then be sure to check it out!
(Points: 7.8 out
of 10)
ALEX MAIORANO
& THE BLACK TALES ‘EVERYTHING BOOM!’ (OFF LABEL RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
ALEX MAIORANO is originally from Abruzzo, Italy, but
relocated to Berlin, Germany, where he and THE BLACK TALES recorded an original
authentic classic rock and roll record titled Everything Boom! back in 2015. Besides
Alex on Vocals, electric and acoustic guitar, the other musicians include Alessio
D’Alessandro: Drums and percussion, Adriano Angiolini: Bass, Fab Cirotti:
Backing vocals and tambourine, The Duke: Saxophone and Rieko Okuda: Keyboards.
This is an exciting album with the classic garage punky rock and roll sound of
the 1950s/1960s, in a same way like early ROLLING STONES, THE STOOGES and even
NEW YORK DOLLS, so it sounds a but raw, unpolished and with both a punky and a
Motown touch. This is easily one of those albums you put on loud and proud, and
people will be dancing and singing along to the friendly tunes. More info at: https://www.maioranomusic.com/
(Points: 8.3 out
of 10)
PHILIP BRADATSCH
‘WHEN I’M CRUEL’ (OFF LABEL RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
When I'm Cruel is the solo debut CD of the German
singer/songwriter PHILIP BRADATSCH, who used to be in the band DINOSAUR
TRUCKERS. He has a great voice to sing his mix of self-written well-crafted
singer/songwriter, country and folk songs. It’s a joy to listen to his voice on
the 9 songs of the CD, so go check it out for yourself at: https://www.philipbradatsch.de/
(Points: 8.0 out
of 10)
STEVE LEON &
THE ACCUSATIONS ‘LOUCHE’ (OFF LABEL RECORDS/GERMAN IMPORT)
Out of Antwerp, Belgium comes STEVE LEON & THE
ACCUSATIONS, a band formed around Steve Leon (vocals, guitar), Mila Francis (vocals,
violin, mandolin and guitar), Kristof Van de Vliet (bass), Yannick Hermans (guitar),
Bouke Cools (pedal-steel and banjo) and Tim Martens (drums). Together they
released a nice EP that contains alternative country pop/rock at a very
reasonable level, especially during the rather catchy uptempo piece Too Little
Too Late. At times they remind a bit of THE JAYHAWKS, so it has a definite 90s
alternative underground kinda vibe. Check them out for yourself at: https://steveleonandtheaccusations.bandcamp.com/album/louche
(Points: 7.7 out
of 10)
DA ‘DA’ (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT)
DESOLATION ANGELS were one of many British bands that
was active during the glorious 80s NWOBHM movement, but eventually after a
couple of releases in the 1980s, it became quiet and the band went on hiatus
until the 2010s. They reformed and continued releasing new material, but in
2023 original guitarist Robin Brancher left the band and formed D.A. along with
Matt Oakman: Vocals, Neil Craddock: Bass and drummer Dan Smith. With D.A., the
music has become more modern and much heavier, while still keeping the melodies
from the 1980s. This mixture can be heard on the band’s same titled debut album
DA, which is a very strong modern day melodic metal release with exceptionally
strong lead vocals of singer Matt. His voice lifts the material to higher
place, while the songs are quite strong and very melodic as well, which can be
heard right from the start during the opener Daisy Chains. There’s a lot of
great hardrocking material on this CD, and here and there it does remind a bit
of a mix between JUDAS PRIEST, OZZY, ALTER BRIDGE and even a bit LEATHERWOLF,
especially during the fantastic Pillars Of Death, while other highlights are
the ALICE IN CHAINS ish Rock It!, the proggy QUEENSRYCHE meets 90s OZZY ish
Angels (excellent midtempo tune) and the semi ballad Forever Enslaved. I am
almost safe to say that this D.A. sounds better than anything DESOLATION ANGELS
has released, but comparing should not happen, because D.A. is a totally
different new band that shows they have a bright future ahead of them with the
release of their highly recommended debut CD. More info can be found at: https://www.dametal.co.uk/
(Points: 8.3 out
of 10)
CAMINOS ‘CAMINOS’ (PIMENT ROUGE
PRODUCTION/ACEL WORLD WIDE/INOUIE DISTRIBUTION/VEEV.COM/FRANCE IMPORT)
CAMINOS is an international band consisting of Germain
Chaperon (France): Guitar and compositions, Neda Cainero (Switzerland/Italy):
Vocals, Marek Eichler (Czech Republic/Netherlands): Bass and Sven Clerx
(Belgium): Drums, and their same titled debut EP is an original mix of
Flamenco, Latin and other World Music styles. The vocals of Marek are in an
exceptional Spanish Flamenco style, while instrumentally speaking there is a
lot more to be heard during the 5 included songs on the EP CD, so it feels very
good to travel around the world in such a short time while listening. Especially
the last couple of songs are very interesting and musically quite diverse, with
also jazz and prog elements hidden inside the World Music sound of CAMINOS. Check
for yourself at: https://veevcom.com/en/caminos-presente-son-ep-eponyme/
(Points: 7.9 out
of 10)
JEAN-LUC THOMAS QUARTET ‘SILLONS’
(HIRUSTICA/INOUIE DISTRIBUTION/VEEV.COM/FRANCE IMPORT)
Out of France comes the talented flutist JEAN-LUC
THOMAS, and he has already been in the music business for over 25 years. He has
released quite a lot of albums so far, and Sillons is the latest release.
Besides Jean-Luc on flute and composer/arranger of all of the songs on the
album, the quarter consists of Timothée Le Net: Diatonic accordion and
arrangements, Simon Le Doaré: Double bass, arrangements, and orchestration and Hugo
Pottin: Drums and arrangements. Guests include Catherine Delaunay: Clarinets, Marie-Suzanne
de Loye: Viola da gamba and Pauline Willerval (or Line Willerval): Gadulka
(Bulgarian violin). The featured music is a lovely mix of world music and slightly
experimental jazz at a very high level, calmer and uptempo parts can be heard,
and it’s all done extremely well. Jean-Luc flirts with a lot of music genres,
because here and there we can also hear prog related pieces. Without a doubt,
from start to finish this is an enjoyable journey that can be checked at: https://www.jeanlucthomas.com/projets/jean-luc-thomas-sillons
(Points: 8.3 out
of 10)
BRICK BRISCOE
‘FOUND FOOTAGE’ (TENACITY PR/UK IMPORT)
Multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter BRICK BRISCOE
is an Indiana-born musician who has been travelling all over the world, and
recording several albums (14 I believe), of which his latest is Found Footage.
I believe he sings and plays most instruments by himself, but there are a few
guests appearing on the new CD. Musically speaking it is a mixture of
singer-songwriter, folk, dark poetic slow soft post-punk and such, reminding a
bit of IGGY POP, LEONARD COHEN and especially NICK CAVE. I like the song
Scrambled Eggs and Mondays in particular, because it is a duet with a female
singer, while a song like Poor Boy Brick is a rather catchy uptempo post-punk
ish IGGY POP kinda rocker. Altogether, a recommended album if you like any of
the aforementioned acts. More info at: https://brickbriscoe.bandcamp.com
(Points: 7.7 out
of 10)
ANNI PIPER ‘MEN
ARE LIKE POTATO CHIPS’ (FRANK ROSZAK PROMOTIONS/INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
Out of Australia originally, but now living in
Portland, Oregon, USA, ANNI PIPER is a gifted vocalist/bassist/composer, who
releases her 7th album with Men Are Like Potato Chips. The included
music is a mix of heavy blues rock, some 1930s jazz and a light touch of
melodic pop/rock. She has a great voice, and is joined by her son Flynn Piper
on backing vocals; guitarists Ted Swanson and Tim Langford (Too Slim and the
Taildraggers), keyboardists Steve Kerlin and Ted Swanson; drummers Brian
Foxworth and Joe Trump; and percussionist Jimi Bott. Together they have
recorded a great rocking album of a very high level, thanks to both the
singer/songwriter skills of Anni and the musicianship of the aforementioned
singers. Anni has been around for a while, and it surprises me that she is not
better known yet, because judging her new album I can only conclude that this
is a highly recommended CD. Especially opener Devil Bride and Cactus Girl are
sensational rockers, but a step into a1930s jazz world is also quite nice
(titletrack Men Are Like Potato Chips). More information can be found at: https://annipiper.com/
(Points: 8.3 out
of 10)
THE SCOTT O’NEAL
BAND ‘CALL ME MR. BLUES’ (LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE RECORDS/USA IMPORT)
Out of Arizona, USA comes THE SCOTT O’NEAL BAND, a
band formed around SCOTT O’NEAL, who plays guitar and sings. He has a raw raspy
NEIL YOUNGish voice, while his music is more bluesy and quite melodic and
relaxed actually. There’s some funky, some groovy, some bluesy and a bit of
Westcoast even here and there. Quite a strong album actually, and besides Scott
on guitar and vocals, we can hear Brian Waterbury; Guitar, Carl Dalgren ;
keyboards, Mark Winley; Bass Guitar, Mike Hutchenson; Drums, Max Bouchard;
Trombone, Mary Kelley, Meri McKee, and Casandra Long; Backing Vocals, Brad
Moors; Trumpet, Flugelhorn and Alex Holland; Tenor and Alto Saxophone.
Definitely a recommended laid-back blues record from a talented musician! More
info at: http://thescottonealband.com/
(Points: 8.0 out
of 10)
PATRICK DOROBISZ
‘NARVIK (SYMPHONIC INTERACTIONS)’ (ATYPEEK MUSIC/THE ORCHARD/CREATIVE ECLIPSE
PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
PATRICK DOROBISZ is a French minimalist composer and
visual artist from Lille, France, born to a Polish father and a Lithuanian
mother, and he has been in the music business for over 5 decades now. His new album is a
tribute to the wartime bravery of his father, a mountain troop commando in the
Polish forces. The included music is instrumental ambient electronic music with
elements of classical music, prog and krautrock as well as New Age. It’s a very
short album consisting of 20 minutes music that is put into 2 songs. Patrick
did everything on his own, although he did it digitally, with complex computer
music software. More info can be found at: http://www.patrickdorobisz.com/
(Points: 7.9 out
of 10)
DOPPLeR ‘POURQUOI
CE DISQUE?’ (ATYPEEK MUSIC/THE ORCHARD/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
Pourquoi Ce Disque? is the comeback album of the
French band DOPPLER. It’s the 3rd album of the trio that is based
around Xavier-Alexandre Amado, bass and vocals, Yoann Brière: Guitar and vocals
and Yann Coste: Drums and vocals. Their music is a mix of math, prog rock and
noise rock, and I think fans of the band and the genre will find something of
interest in this new album of the band, which took them 15 years. More info at:
www.dopplermusic.fr
(Points: 7.7 out
of 10)
ZAC HARMON &
THE DRIVE ‘LIVE’ (FRANK ROSZAK PROMOTIONS/INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
Out of Jackson, Mississippi, USA comes the blues
guitarist/singer/songwriter ZAC HARMON, who has been in the scene for over a
few decades, and wrote and performed with a lot of high profile acts, including
THE O’JAYS, THE WHISPERS and many others. His new live album shows he is an
incredible singer and guitarist, who also performs some great original songs.
Besides Zac on Lead vocals and lead guitar, other featured musicians are Kingston
“Soul Fingers” Livingston: Guitar, backing vocals, Corey “Brown Coy” Lacy:
Keyboards, backing vocals, Nate “The Bass” Robinson: Bass guitar, and Gino
“LockJohnson” Iglehart: Drums, backing vocals. The included music is
sensational heavy blues rock with a focus on melody, and definitely recommended
to fans of BB KING, GARY MOORE and JOE BONAMASSA. Especially this live album
gives you a good idea how good Zac is! Check him out at: https://zacharmon.com/home and https://zacharmon.com/album/3902474/zac-harmon-the-drive-live
(Points: 8.5 out
of 10)
NICKY T AND THE
SNAKE CHARMERS ‘AIN’T WASTING TIME’ (MAC RADIO PROMOTION/FRANK ROSZAK
PROMOTION/INDEPENDENT/USA IMPORT)
Out of Detroit, USA comes NICKY T AND THE SNAKE
CHARMERS, a band formed around guitarist/vocalist Nicholas "Nicky T"
Tabarias, who is joined on his 2nd CD Ain’t Wasting Time by Keyboardplayers
Chris Codish and Andy Szymanski, bassists Alex Lyon and Frank Greenhalgh and
drummers Todd Glasso and Pete Berg, while there are several guest appearances
of people like vocalist Greg Nagy, harmonica player Kurt Crandall, and renowned
blues guitarist Ronnie Earl. The included music is high class soulful Detroit
Blues with a strong comparison to classic BB KING, BOBBY BLAND, MAGIC SAM,
RONNIE EARL (who also guests here as already mentioned) and many others. Nicky
has a great voice and his guitar skills are phenomenal, and the 11 songs are a
mixture of original songs, co-written songs and a few covers. It’s a healthy
mix of uptempo rocking tunes and calmer bluesy ballads, and without a doubt, it’s
a must-have for the fans of soulful blues. More info can be found at: https://nickytblues.com/home
(Points: 8.2 out
of 10)
THE SHAELYN BAND
‘CHAPTER 3’ (HOUSE OF BERRY RECORDS/MAC RADIO PROMO/USA IMPORT)
THE SHAELYN BAND comes out of the legendary ‘southern
rock’ town of Jacksonville, Florida, USA, and they deliver high class bluesy
soul funk rock. The band was formed back in 2020, and Chapter 3 is their 3rd
album so far. The band consists of Shaelyn "Shae" Mulberry – Lead
Vocals & Songwriter, Tim Mulberry – Drums, Keyboards, Piano, & Musical
Director / Producer, Isaiah Gaytan – Trumpet, Win Carlson - Back Erik Guess –
Lead Guitar, Curtis Harris (aka Memphis Flash) – Bass Guitar, Mark Barner –
Background Vocals, and Joe Acosta – Keyboards / Touring Musician. Their music
is not far removed from BYWATER CALL and a softer groovier slower version of
MOTHER’S FINEST. It has a lot of soul thanks to the powerful vocals of Shaelyn,
while the music has a great groovy vibe, and overall most of the material rocks
big time too, so I guess we have a winning combination here. There are 14 songs
in total on this CD, and the mix of groovy rockers and soulful ballads make
this an enjoyable journey from start to finish. Check it out for yourself at: https://shaelynband.com/about, and
let’s hope this powerful rocking band will make it live on stage in Europe
someday soon!
(Points: 8.3 out
of 10)
JOHN PRIMER AND
FRIENDS ‘TRIBUTE TO THERESA’S LOUNGE’ (BLUES HOUSE PRODUCTIONS/MAC RADIO
PROMO/USA IMPORT)
JOHN PRIMER has been active since the early 1960s and
even played with the legendary MUDDY WATERS back in the 1980s. At 81 years of
age he is still playing live concerts, and just recently I saw him live at a
festival in Utrecht. He also continues to release new albums, of which Tribute
to Theresa’s Lounge is the new album, and besides John on Rhythm guitar, lead
guitar (slide) & vocals, we can hear Carlos Johnson – Guitar & vocals, John
Watkins – Guitar & vocals, Willie Buck – Vocals, Mary Lane – Vocals, on Harmonica
Billy Branch and Harmonica Hinds, on Drums Twist Turner and Tony Mangiullo and
on Bass Guitar Bob Stroger and Jeff Brinkman. I think this album represents
some of the best Chicago Blues musicians of the past 100 (!) years, because
most of them are 50+, and especially a mention need to go out to 91-year-old
Mary Lane, who sang as only female singer on this CD. John himself is as
already mentioned 10 years younger, but as good as the other older Chicago
Blues rockers, such as BUDDY GUY. Definitely a must-have for the fans of the
genre! More info at: https://johnprimerblues.com/
(Points: 8.1 out
of 10)
ROMEO ‘DEJA VU
LETTERS’ (STREET SYMPHONIES RECORDS/BURNING MINDS GROUP/ATOMIC STUFF/PLASTIC
HEAD/ITALY IMPORT)
ROMEO comes out of the east coast of Italy, and they
deliver a great debut album titled Déjà vu Letters. Musically speaking they are
clearly going for a melodic classic rock style that has it’s roots in the
glorious 70s, with a touch of glamrock as well. CHEAP TRICK, THIN LIZZY and TOM
PETTY and THE HEARTBREAKERS are a nice description of their sound. The band was
formed just recently, so they are doing a great job already with this first
album, which has been released on STREET SYMPHONIES RECORDS. The band consists
of Max Colliva – Lead vocals and guitar, Andrea Zanolli – Guitar, Max.Rudy B. –
Bass guitar and Luke Cocchieri – Drums, and especially during uptempo rockers
like Frankfurt Lights, Italian Guy, the TOM PETTY cover I Need To Know and
What’s Going On, we can hear this band has something to offer. Highly
recommended to classic rock fans! More info can be found at: https://www.burningmindsgroup.com/street-symphonies/buy/248
(Points: 8.2 out
of 10)
VOODOO RAMBLE
‘MADE IN THE UK LIVE’ (INDEPENDENT/CROATIA IMPORT)
VOODOO RAMBLE is a wonderful heavy blues rock band
from Croatia, and they delivered another nice album, which was recorded live in
the UK. The band is formed around guitarist, singer-songwriter, and producer
Boris Dugi-Novacki, aka "Zamba". Besides Boris also British lyricist,
co-songwriter and promoter is very important, because he joined VOODOO RAMBLE
back in 2020 to help them in specifically writing the songs. Along with his
British live touring band, consisting of Iain Ecclestone – Lead & Rhythm
Guitar, Ed Gerlach – Bass Guitar, Josh Armitage – Drums, Hannah Bartlett &
Felicity Dickson Boardman – Backing Vocals, he played a superb live concert
that showcases this man’s talent on both guitar and vocals. His raw vocals and
shredding guitarwork make it sound a bit like WALTER TROUT, yet with an own
identity that even reveals some classic rock influences here and there,
especially during the wonderful uptempo rocking opener Baby I’ve Been Loving
You, the melodic Midnight Train and Little Blues Queen and even some 90s JOE
LYNN TURNER during a song like The Smell Of Money. However, it’s mainly pure
heavy blues rock and VOODO RAMBLE is very good at it, sometimes reaching the
level of JOE BONAMASSA, so let’s hope he and his band will do some gigs soon in
Holland or a performance at a festival like Culemborg Blues. More info at: https://voodooramble.com/index.php/en
(Points: 8.3 out
of 10)
TAIHR ‘ALLICANTO’
(TONZONEN RECORDS/CARGO RECORDS/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
TAIHR is an interesting German band, because they melt
different music influences and their female singer has got an unique voice that
is somewhere between TORI AMOS, the PARAMORE singer, CINDY LAUPER, the WET
LEG/THE LAST DINNER PARTY singers and even LOLA YOUNG. Musically speaking the
band is mixing influences of progressive rock, jazz, funk, pop, post-punk and
even latin due to the origins of some of the members. The band’s line up
consists of Génesis Trinidad Gálvez Jaramillo – Vocals, Mauricio Ricardo
Inostroza Andrade – Keyboards, Synthesizer, Flugelhorn, Backing Vocals, Leon
Schmidtke – Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin, Maximilian Hartmann –
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Tobias Losch – Electric Bass Guitar, David
Zilz – Drums, Percussion and Martin Halbfass – Saxophones, and the diversity of
the songs on their 2nd album Allicanto is remarkable and highly
interesting from start to finish. There is a lot to discover here, and perhaps
a song like Playing Cards sums up everything perfectly what to expect of this
band. Definitely a band to watch out for! More info at: https://www.instagram.com/taihrmusic/
and https://taihr.bandcamp.com/
(Points: 8.2 out
of 10)
HANS HJELM ‘THE
NIGHT ELECTRONIC’ (KUNGENS LJUD & BILD/AMUSE/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN
IMPORT)
The Night Electronic is the 3rd solo album
of Stockholm, Sweden based musician Hans Hjelm. The music is created with programmed
drums, drum loops, synth bass, and analog synthesizers, sounding very
electronic, and it was recorded between 2023 and 2025, with some guests
appearing, such as Jesper Skarin (Gösta Berlings Saga, ex-Switch Opens), Mikael
Tuominen (Kungens Män, ex-Switch Opens), and Per Wiberg (Switchblade, ex-Opeth),
and female singer Hildur Omilia. The music is calmer electronic based minimalistic
dreampop meets slow synthpop and a bit of shoegaze, with a clear modern edge.
Not bad at all, especially due to Hildur’s strong emotional dreampop vocals,
and perhaps it might be too light for the progfans, this is definitely an
enjoyable release that somehow also reminds me a bit of some of the old EARTH
AND FIRE material crossed with COCTEAU TWINS and the modern sound of a band
like LONDON GRAMMAR. Go check it out! More info at: https://hans-hjelm.com/ and https://hanshjelm.bandcamp.com/
(Points: 8.1 out
of 10)
KALAMATA
‘ZENOSYNE’ (COPPER FEAST RECORDS/MADE OF STONE RECORDS/SOUND EFFECT
RECORDS/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
Out of Hildesheim, Germany comes the exciting heavy
psychedelic stoner rockband KALAMATA. Zenosyne is their 3rd album
since their formation in 2014. They are a trio consisting of Peter Jaun –
Guitars, Niki Hosseinian-Sereshki – Bass and Olly Opitz – Drums, and musically
speaking their instrumental heavy psychedelic stoner rock is not too far
removed from the usual suspects. KALAMATA however is doing it extremely well
and not just following the footsteps of bands like ALL THEM WITCHES and KYUSS.
This album sounds absolutely superb all the way, basically it’s picture perfect
in combining fuzzy guitarwork and haunting melodies, while the rhythm section
is doing it’s job rather nicely with a fat groovy almost progressive rock beat
backing it all up. 5 songs are included that together forms the sentence There
Is No Coming Back. There is not a single weak moment here, and any Stoner Rock
will go mad when hearing this gem! More information can be found at: https://kalamata.bandcamp.com/album/zenosyne
(Points: 8.7 out
of 10)
BLITZ ‘BITTER ME’
(FASTBALL MUSIC/BOB MEDIA/GERMAN IMPORT)
There have been many bands named BLITZ in the past,
but apparently this BLITZ is new and comes out of Boston, USA. The one-man band
is formed around Edge Dennis (Elijah Dennis) – Founder, songwriter, lead
vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, and Bitter Me is the debut
album. The music is Industrial Metal, yet with a melodic touch in both the
vocal and guitar department, taking a bit of the 80s American Hardrock, yet
melt it with big modern synth pop and industrial drums. It’s rather a nice
catchy mixture that brings a lot of exciting material on the first CD. The
music is heavier than for example MAGIC DANCE, yet still remains RAMMSTEIN
light most of the time (except for a song like Sudden Death), so somewhere in
between might be a good description! The best songs are Blitzkrieg, The Score,
the ultra-melodic semi-ballad My Enemy and Take Me Alive. The best songs are at
the start, as halfway there is some weaker material, but it’s best to have a
listen for yourself here, and this is one of those acts that could easily play
at the well-known GRAUZONE FESTIVAL in The Hague. Check them out at: https://fastball-music.bandcamp.com/album/bitter-me
(Points: 8.0 out
of 10)
JIMMY MARTIN ‘PAST
TO PRESENT’ (SONIC REVOLUTION/BOB MEDIA/GERMAN IMPORT)
Memories… The Luxembourg singer JIMMY MARTIN was once
the singer of the French Melodic Hardrockband FISC in the 1980s, and in the
1990s he released a few solo CDs. I actually reviewed one of his earliest solo
albums more than 30 years ago when press kits and CDs were sent all over the
place. It was the time of underground AOR labels like LONG ISLAND RECORDS, MTM
RECORDS, NOW&THEN, ESCAPE MUSIC, Z RECORDS and countless more. At the time
his release didn’t stand a chance, because there were many other great AOR
releases released in a short period of time, while the material on the JIMMY
MARTIN CD was sounding quite dated in the 1990s. Anyway, in the following 30
years I vaguely remember he did release a few more albums and songs, of which
the duet with RICK SPRINGFIELD is best remembered. Anyway, now out of the blue
there is a new disc out there entitled Past To Present. This CD is a best of,
featuring 20 songs from Jimmy’s 40-year music career. His music has always been
in the AOR/Poprock direction, which you can hear all throughout the album,
despite the years when they were originally released.
Opener Mystery Girl is basically the picture-perfect
early 80s American style uptempo AOR/Radiorocksound with the catchy hooks and
memorable chorus we all love so much. It reflects the 1983 sound of PREVIEW,
STAN BUSH’ same titled album from 1983 and such pure AOR. Vocally Jimmy is not as
good as the major league AOR singers, but the song itself sounds so catchy,
this isn’t a big issue. Love Never Dies is slightly weaker and softer, a bit
Westcoast ish, while the European AOR of Keep On Dreaming is a simply but catchy
tune in the style of TOKYO and a little bit SYNCH. I Can’t Fight Love is
clearly drifting into a mid-80s Euro Hi-tech AOR/Poprock direction a la JOHN
PARR, DAVID HALLYDAY JR., RICK SPRINGFIELD and even CHESNEY HAWKES (!), and so
is Hearts In Trouble. Apparently Jimmy also participated in the Eurovision Song
Contest back in 1993 with a song called Donne Moi Une Chance, representing his
country Luxembourg. Anyway, if we look further on the CD we can find all kinds
of songs recorded somewhere in the past 40 years and also a few re-recorded and
re-worked versions. An AOR ballad duet with ROBIN BECK, a cover of the THE
KNACK classic My Sharona, the duet with RICK SPRINGFIELD of his classic Love
Somebody and loads more. The material gets a little poppy here and there, with
a couple of ballads that sound a bit like DAN LUCAS actually, although a great
melodic rocker such as Break Free is also featured. Towards the end it gets
again more melodic rock orientated, with even a surprising cover of the RUSS
BALLARD classic A Woman Like You Not bad at all, and despite this is nowhere
near a classic AOR release at all, it is nevertheless a nice collection of old
school 80s orientated AOR/Poprock! More info at: http://www.jimmymartin.de/
(Points: 8.0 out
of 10)
JASON RICCI AND
THE BAD KIND ’13 HOURS’ (GULF COAST RECORDS/MAC RADIO P ROMO/USA IMPORT)
Out of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA comes JASON RICCI.
He is a singer/songwriter who already released 14 albums. On his new album 13
Hours he sings and plays harmonica, while his band THE BAD KIIND consists of
female singer Kaitlin Dibble, guitarist Brent Johnson, bassist Bill Blok and
drummer Benny Piazza. The new album is a tribute to late drummer John Perkins,
who was part of THE BAD KIND, but sadly passed away in 2024. Musically speaking
it is a very diverse album that captures everything we love about the southern
part of the USA, which means a cocktail of jazz, blues, rock,
singer/songwriter, soul, funk and even bluegrass. Kaitlin sings quite a few
songs, and especially during the songs Tired Of Trying, Long Twisted Night and
Renegade we can hear the highlights on the album, because they capture the
essence of blues, soul and funk, while the lengthy closing titletrack 13 Hours
is also worth mentioning. A song like Big Diseasy is quite a surprise, because
here we have even a touch of hip-hip besides the funky New Orleans Jazz-Blues
crossover vibe. The blues rock fans will most certainly enjoy songs like Sick
Of This Shit, Leo Watkings Rag, Long Twisted Night and Bubble Gu Pop, so
there’s something for everyone on this excellent album. Jason and his band
could easily play at the North Sea Jazz Festival with their brilliant mix of
styles. Check out more info at:
(Points: 8.4 out
of 10)
THE ANTHONY PAULE
SOUL ORCHESTRA FEATURING WILLY JORDAN ‘WHAT CAN WE DO?’ (NOLA BLUE RECORDS/MAC
RADIO PROMO/USA IMPORT)
It’s back to the 1960s and 1970s with this San
Francisco based band that melts soul, blues, funk and classic Memphis R&B
as if they were active more than 50-60 years ago, but they are truly a new
band. It’s a 12-piece band consisting of vocalist/percussionist Willy Jordan, guitarist
Larry Batiste, Tony Lufrano (Organ/Piano), Timm Walker (Bass), Bowen Brown
(Drums) and the Horn Section: Derek James (Trombone), Charles McNeal (Tenor
Sax), Ethan Pires (Trumpet) and Johnnie Bamont (Baritone Sax). Founded by
Anthony back in 2007, the band already released 7 albums, so What Can We Do? is
their 8th album so far. 12 tracks are included, and actually it’s
quite a diverse record.
The titletrack What Can We Do? sounds like a classic
from the 1960s retro soul/old school R&B/Motown style shuffle ballad era,
kinda like SAM COOKE and BEN E. KING. On the other hand there is uptempo bluesy
funk-soul with the cheerful massive sounding opener Still Smellin’ Smoke. This
mix of (semi) soul ballads and uptempo cheerful funky blues tunes is a joy for
the ear. A band like DEWOLFF would be jealous if they hear this CD! From start
to finish this is high quality stuff, and of course I also need to give
compliments to the horn section and the strong vocals of Willy. More info at: https://www.anthonypaule.com/
(Points: 8.5 out
of 10)
CONFIRMATION BIAS
‘CENTURY MORNINGS’ (CB RECORDS/NORWAY IMPORT)
Now here we have a great new album by a Norwegian
progressive rockband CONFIRMATION BIAS! The band name CONFIRMATION BIAS means
“The tendency to favor information that confirms or strengthens your beliefs”,
and Century Mornings is their 2nd studio album so far. The Norwegian band was
formed back in 2013 as a RUSH tribute band, but through the years they evolved
into an original progressive rockband with self-written material, which now
results in another full-length release. The band consist of Lars Martin Aasgård
– Lead Vocals, Ørjan Risa Svensen – Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Vocals, Jon
Martin Haarr – Bass, Pedals, Keyboards, Vocals, Fredrik Skår – Keyboards and
Vocoder, Kai Gabrielsen – Drums and Percussion and Eirik Hanssen – Acoustic
Guitar and Vocal, and right from the wonderful start of the 11 minutes counting
epic Residence In You, we are overwhelmed by an incredible high level of
musicianship. The lead vocals and choruses are very strong, and musically the
band’s melodic neo-progressive rock is not too far removed from SPOCK’S BEARD
or GREEN CARNATION, so the sound is quite massive with a clear vision on
keeping the melodies upfront. Both the vocals and instrumental parts are
sounding crystal clear and so this album is a picture-perfect release for
progfans out there! Other highlights include Living With The Lie, In Memory Of…
and the epic titletrack Century Mornings, but actually the whole album is a
highlight and a must-have for the die-hard progfans! Check them out at: https://www.confirmationbias.no/
(Points: 8.4 out
of 10)
35 TAPES ‘VEI ON
LIFE’ (APOLLON RECORDS/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT))
Here we go into pure (neo) progressive rock territory
that is situated somewhere between SYLVAN and CAMEL. The band is called 35
TAPES, and they are coming out of Oslo, Norway. 35 TAPES consists of Morten
Lund: Vocals, guitars, keyboards, Jarle Wangen: Vocals, bass guitar, guitars, Jo
Wang: Keyboards, Andreas Eriksen: Drums, percussion, keyboards and Kai
Lundewall: Drums. The band’s name 35 TAPES pays homage to the classic Mellotron
keyboard, which relies on a mechanism of exactly 35 magnetic tape loops to
produce its iconic, retro symphonic sound, and I have to admit that the
included music is a joy to listen to. The material on their 4th album Vei On
Life consists of long melodic songs with beautiful instrumental passages, although
vocally it is not that strong here and there, but this is compensated by the
musicianship and excellent use of harmonyvocals. Finest moments are Hallway,
Clueless and closing track Cities, and I can guarantee you that the
progrockfans are going to love this album! More info at: https://35tapes.com/
(Points: 8.1 out
of 10)
HEX A.D. ‘SURGICAL
CUTS IN THE COSMOS’ (APOLLON RECORDS/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
Surgical Cuts in the Cosmos is already the 7th
studio album by the Norwegian/British band HEX A.D.. The Norwegian band was
formed in 2011, and on this new album their line up consists of Rick Hagan:
Lead vocals, drums, rhythm guitar, Rowan Robertson: Lead guitar (Former
guitarist for DIO), Magnus "Mags" Johansen: Keyboards, organ,
mellotron, horror atmospheres, Are: Bass guitar, and Matt: Drums. The album
consists of 7 tracks, and it all starts with the heavy but melodic uptempo
BLACK SABBATHish Reintroducing A Bit Of Heat, while following A Bloody Mess is
speeding things up a bit more into melodic metal territory, even reminding a
bit of MYSTIC PROPHECY. The guitarwork is massive, and has traces of doom,
stoner and classic heavy metal, while the vocals are on the rougher, rawer side
of Metal. Black Rope Candy is basically pure CANDLEMASS ish lower Doom Metal,
sounding dark yet melodic in the clean vocal department. 3 tracks on, it’s
clear that this is quite a diverse Metal album. It sounds modern, yet still has
the traditional riffs, vocals and melodies. Fans of CANDLEMASS, EVERGREY, BLACK
SABBATH and even MANOWAR will like this band! Other highlights are the somewhat
catchy midtempo classic Melodic Metal piece Perfectly Fatal and the epic
closing track Death of A Thousand Cuts. Concluded, a strong album for the True
Metal fans, high quality from start to finish! More info at: https://hexad.bandcamp.com/album/surgical-cuts-in-the-cosmos
(Points: 8.4 out
of 10)
FALAREN ‘LJORA’
(APOLLON RECORDS/CREATIVE ECLIPSE PR/GERMAN IMPORT)
Out of Trondheim, Norway comes FALAREN, and Ljora is
their debut album, released on the Bergen, Norway based APOLLON RECORDS. The
band is trying to mix traditional Scandinavian folk music, fuzzed-out
psychedelic shoegaze, and bright Nordic jazz-rock. There is a secret behind
this band or should I say project, because the specific individual names of the
musicians in FALAREN are intentionally kept anonymous and uncredited on the
liner notes of the album. Anyway, we are here to judge the music, and without a
doubt, it all feels very natural and sounds really strong. The album has a very
melodic melancholic sound that combines the best of classic progressive rock
and modern indie/folk harmonies, kinda like the melodies of FLEET FOXES with
pure progressive rock like we know it from bands such as PURE REASON
REVOLUTION, PORCUPINE TREE, YES and such. A very natural and pleasant album to
listen to with a focus on melodies, both instrumentally and vocally speaking,
with as highlights the wonderful rocking opener Ruinam, Leilani Part 1 and 2,
and Molthra. The prog and folk fans need to reunite here and look for this
interesting debut album of FALAREN. More information on this band can be found
at: https://falaren.bandcamp.com/album/ljora
(Points: 8.4 out
of 10)
SIDI BEMOL ‘GUELLAL MONTREAL’ (CSB
PRODUCTIONS/L’AUTRE DISTRIBUTION/VEEV.COM/FRANCE IMPORT)
Guellal Montréal is the 13th album of Sidi
Bémol, an Algerian-born singer-songwriter/guitarist who is originally called Hocine
Boukella. Along with Youssef Boukella: Bass and backing vocals. Abdenour
Djemaï: Guitar and backing vocals and Maamoun Dehane: Drums and backing vocals,
he recorded an album which musically is called "Gourbi Rock". Sidi is
now settled in Canada, and combines North African Berber traditions with the
Indigenous (First Nations) cultures of Quebec, while he sings in a blend of
Arabic, Kabyle, French, and English. The foundation of the album relies heavily
on the guellal, a traditional Berber percussion instrument central to Algerian
Oranese popular music. The beginning of the album has a strong American Blues
sound, while after a few songs the Algerian influences are going slowly
upfront, and actually then it reminds me of acts like TAMIKREST. World Music
packed in a sorta Blues Rock jacket, and actually it sounds really well during
the 12 included songs. Check out more at: https://csbprod.net/sidi-bemol-guellal-montreal/
(Points: 8.2 out
of 10)
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