 DRAGONFORCE 'VALLEY OF THE DAMNED'
(NOISE/SANCTUARY/SUBURBAN)
Although they are based in London, none of the members
are really British. Let me explain a bit more about this
new Power Metal sensation from the UK called DRAGONFORCE.
The band has 5 members, and together they form this
multi-culture band, because they come out of France,
Ukraine, South Africa, Hong Kong and an Englishman who
grew up in New Zealand, so not much British about this
band. Nevertheless, they are seen as a UK band, because
they are settled in London, and I must say that their
debut CD 'Valley of the damned' is the best Power Metal
record this year and maybe even one of the best ever!
This
CD stands like a rock, and each of the 8 included tracks
(not counting the intro) is wonderful high class typical
European Power Metal, except the (great) semi melodic
rockballad "Starfire" which reminds me of SHY
and TNT. Furthermore this is a superb Melodic Power Metal
record from the highest level you could possibly think
of. If you're into bands like FREEDOM CALL, HAMMERFALL,
STRATOVARIUS, RHAPSODY, LABYRINTH… then look no
further, because here is the latest sensation! Apart from
the semi-ballad "Starfire" and the intro
"Invocation of Apocalyptic Evil", what remains
are 7 superb fast uptempo melodic Power Metal songs. They
are titled "Valley of the damned", "Black
fire", "Black winter night",
"Discliples of Babylon",
"Revelations", "Evening star" and
"Heart of a dragon".
Each
song has a tight rhythm (brilliant fast drumming by
Didier Almouzni), very catchy hooks all over the place,
melodic harmonyvocals during the strong choruses,
fantastic lead vocals (ZP Theart), excellent keyboardwork
(Vadim Pruzhanov) and impressive guitarplay (Sam Totman
and Herman Li). The CD itself has a HUGE production/sound
quality, thanks to producer/guitarist KARL GROOM from
THRESHOLD, who was also responsible for some other great
Prog/Power Metal releases from the UK this year, like
POWER QUEST, SHADOW KEEP and THRESHOLD's own recent CD
'Critical mass'. Anyway, this CD is a total must for
everyone who is into HIGH CLASS EURO POWER METAL!
Everything sounds perfect and it wouldn't surprise me if
this album ends up high in the 'album of the year' lists
of most Power Metal fans!
(Points:
9.5 out of 10)
 DEPARTURE 'CORPORATE WHEEL'
(ESCAPE MUSIC)
AOR band DEPARTURE is back with a new release and yet
another new lead singer! Every new CD of the band comes
with a new lead singer, and everytime it’s a very
impressive lead singer. I don’t know the exact
reason why previous singer DAVE BALDWIN left, because he
had a great voice and will probably re-launch his
solo-career and hopefully will record a follow-up to his
lovely AOR debut CD ‘Time’ from a few years
ago. Anyway, the new singer of DEPARTURE is no other than
TIMOTHY LEWIS, a singer/songwriter we reviewed and
interviewed a few times over a year ago. Then it became
quiet and now he is the singer of DEPARTURE and he does a
great job! The music on ‘Corporate wheel’ is
pure AOR in the style of JOURNEY (circa
‘Escape’).
Especially
the first 3 songs are very sensational HIGH CLASS AOR!
These are “Listen to what I say” (a song
brought into DEPARTURE by Timothy himself as it was one
of his solo tunes before he joined the band, song itself
is SUPERB big Classic AOR a la JOURNEY with many great
harmonyvocals), “Corporate wheel” (uptempo AOR
a la early 80s JOURNEY) and “Sacrifice” (great
classy AOR, very much like SHY). These 3 songs are
definitely showing DEPARTURE at their very best and I can
easily inform you that this is some of the best AOR heard
in a long time. Unfortunately, after these 3 songs, this
high level of quality AOR isn’t reached and most of
the other songs are just nice.
For
example, “Time”, “Down on my knees”,
“Comin’ my way”, “Fallin’ from
the sky” and “Hallowed ground” are all
nice AOR songs, but they miss the catchiness of the first
3 tracks. However, still this is an enjoyable CD for the
average AOR fan, because from the songs I haven’t
mentioned yet “Every man”, “Giving me a
reason” and “Look in your eyes” (a la
HUGO) are also very good pure AOR, although not as
sensational as the first 3 tracks, still very impressive.
Concluded, not everything on the CD is sensational, but
you can’t deny that this is an impressive AOR
release and Timothy Lewis’ superb lead vocals are a
real contribution to DEPARTURE’s music...
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
 COASTLINE 'ONE STEP' (DEMO CDR)
They did it again! Just a month or so ago I reviewed a
fantastic demo CDR of the Swedish band COASTLINE,
claiming the 4 songs on the CDR showcased some of the
best AOR at the moment. Now the band sent me a new Demo
CDR, containing 5 brand-new tracks, recorded a few weeks
ago, and believe me, also this new CDR contains SUPERB
PURE AOR! Everything sounds perfect again, and I can
easily say all 5 tracks are HIGH CLASS FEMALE FRONTED
AOR, even better than WITNESS and HEART combined!!! 2
songs are midtempo ("Breaking a heart is so
easy" - my favourite and "Desperate
heartbeats"), 2 are uptempo and very catchy
("One step" and "Masterplan") and
finally, there's the great semi AOR ballad "Can't
live here without you". What more can I say about
this record! This CDR, together with the first demo CDR,
contains some of the best AOR available at the moment.
The hooks are catchy, the choruses are very strong, the
production/sound quality is from a high level, the
instruments are played very well and lead singer Helena
Rosendahl has a great voice. This band is highly
recommended to anyone into Classic 80s AOR! More info on
COASTLINE soon in an interview I am gonna do with them.
E-mail them at: speedlund@spray.se
(Points:
9.5 out of 10)
 EVIDENCE ONE 'CRITICIZE THE TRUTH'
(POINT MUSIC/ROCK INC.)
EVIDENCE ONE is a hot new band from Germany, and I think
we can better say that this is a project, because
EVIDENCE ONE consists of members of FRONTLINE, DOMAIN and
SHAKRA. All together they recorded about 20 albums, so we
can easily claim that these are 4 highly skilled
musicians and therefore much is expected from their debut
CD. I must admit that the typical Melodic Hardrock of
EVIDENCE ONE sounds rather impressive, and comes across
like a mix between JADED HEART and FRONTLINE, with some
touches of FIREHOUSE and PRETTY MAIDS here and there. The
sound is big, the songs are great and the performance is
very well, so concluded, this is a highly recommended CD
to anyone into typical German Melodic (Hard) Rock!
Highlights include uptempo melodic rockers like
"Trust vs. Heart" (a la FRONTLINE),
"Fool's gold" (fantastic), "Different
worlds/different times" (JADED HEART meets
FRONTLINE), "Spend the top with me" and
"Perfect love". Also very good are the midtempo
melodic rockers "Criticize the truth" and
"Frozen in time". Actually, all 10 songs are
great, so buy this CD a.s.a.p. if you're a melodic
rockfan!
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
SOUL
DOCTOR 'SYSTEMS
GO WILD' (POINT MUSIC/ROCK INC.)
'Systems go wild' is the 2nd CD of the German band SOUL
DOCTOR, the band formed around the fantastic lead singer
Tommy Heart. It's a pity Tommy has chosen to follow a raw
hardrock'n'roll style with SOUL DOCTOR, because we all
remember him from his time with FAIR WARNING, one of the
best AOR/Melodic Rockbands to hail from Germany! I am not
saying SOUL DOCTOR is a bad band, but it's nothing like
FAIR WARNING. The album is filled with quality but not
sensational raw punchy Melodic Hardrock, not unlike a mix
between KING KOBRA, MR. BIG and SHAKRA. The new CD has a
strong sound, and most of the songs are in the same
style. The only time the band sounds a bit like classy
FAIR WARNING is during the ballads, such as the great
semi-ballad "See you in heaven" and the
acoustic "Waitin'", but I general this CD is
filled with prime-time straight-ahead raw Hardrock'n'roll
(just listen to songs like "All systems go",
"Livin' the life", "Wrong or right",
"Get it on" etc.). It's a good album, but I am
afraid it will not stand up against all the other
'better' releases done at the moment, however, I need to
admit that Tommy has done once again a great job, but
songwise there's not much sensational on the record, just
a good playable Hardrockalbum, nothing more, nothing
less…
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
 VALIANCE 'WAYFARING'
(BLACK LOTUS RECORDS/ROCK INC/BERTUS)
I haven't got much into on this band, but VALIANCE is an
Italian band with a CD release on a Greek label. The
album has a great big sound and is easily recommended to
fans of high quality Prog/Power Metal. Imagine a mixture
between ANGRA, THRESHOLD and RHAPSODY, and you know what
to expect from this band. There's some very impressive
stuff on this album, such as "The secret" (high
quality Prog/Power a la ANGRA, with a very catchy
chorus), "Neverending flame" (very impressive,
lots of keys), "Victim of my pride" (a bit like
THRESHOLD) and "Recall" (very good lead vocals,
semi prog metal a la THRESHOLD again). Without any
doubts, this is a highly recommended album to fans of
high class Prog/Power Metal!
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
 PHANTOM LORD 'CIRCLE OF THE WASTED'
(BLACK LOTUS RECORDS/ROCK INC/BERTUS)
'Circle of the wasted' is the third album of the Greek
band PHANTOM LORD. They play a mixture of Euro Power
Metal, US Prog/Power Metal and some tiny aggressive Metal
touches here and there. The band sounds like a mixture
between HELLOWEEN, EDGUY, PYRAMID and some MAIDEN.
There's some very impressive material on their new CD,
but also a few fillers (3 intro's and a weak track called
"Inferno"), but left are still 8 great tracks.
The best tracks are the Progressive Metalsongs
"Liquid state" (nice keyboardsolo) and
"Private universe" (great melodic chorus), the
fast Euro Melodic Power Metal tunes "No
strains" ( a la EDGUY) and the melodic rockballad
"Lust for your touch". So we can conclude that
this is yet another interesting Prog/Power Metal release,
recommended to fans of EDGUY!
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
EVEN
HORIZON 'DEMO
2002' (DEMO CDR)
Sometime ago I reviewed the first demo CDR of this French
band EVEN HORIZON, and now they have already released a
new CDR. The CDR contains 2 tracks, and production wise
and also songwise it sounds very impressive. The first
song, "Lady Godiva", is a great melodic
progressive metal song with some very nice keyboardwork
and also a strong chorus. The other track, "In
deepest ocean", is a nice instrumental progressive
rocker. So, basically this is another good CDR of EVEN
HORIZON, and I look forward to the time when they are
able to release a full-length CD, because they definitely
are one of the better French bands at the moment. Check
out their site at: http://www.even-horizon.com and e-mail them at: f.leibo@wanadoo.fr
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
 HIGHLORD 'BREATH OF ETERNITY'
(NORTHWIND RECORDS/ROCK INC./BERTUS)
HIGHLORD is an Italian band, and they have recently
unleashed their 3rd CD. They play good typical Italo
Power Metal, although they are not as good as RHAPSODY or
LABYRINTH. Nevertheless, their new CD is still quite good
and recommended to fans of this genre. Interesting is
that HIGHLORD is very keyboard orientated, almost every
song has the keys upfront and contains lots of
synths/keyboardsolo's. This is due to the fact that the
leader of the band is the keyboardplayer, Alessandro
Muscio, who (co-) writes most of the songs. Fans of
typical Italo Melodic Power Metal will probably like this
CD a lot, especially uptempo Power Metal songs like
"The dreamer and the deep ocean", "Dream
chaser" and "Stream of illusion". My
favourite tracks are the 80s Euro Metal inspired songs
"Back from hell" (PRETTY MAIDS style) and
"Show me your kingdom". Towards the end, the
songs are getting less good, but what remains is still a
good decent Power Metal record, recommended to fans of
the genre.
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
THUNDERSTORM
'WITCHHUNTER
TALES'
(NORTHWIND RECORDS/ROCK INC./BERTUS)
THUNDERSTORM
is another Italian band, with already an album in their
discography, making this 'Witchunter tales' their 2nd
effort. Musically we have to deal here with an
interesting band, as they mix slow Doom Metal with
Melodic Metal, sounding a bit like CANDLEMASS and PALACE
OF BLACK. The band has a very good melodic lead singer
called Fabio Bellan, and together with their heavy slow
music, this combination makes THUNDERSTORM a very
interesting band to check out. The new CD contains some
great songs, like "Witchunter tales",
"Parallel universe", "Unchanging
words" and "Glory and sadness", all great
slow melodic metal songs. The only weaker songs are the
slightly modern Metal orientated songs "Inside
me" and "Star secret", and also the
inclusion of the BLACK SABBATH cover "Electric
funeral" is needless. However, this is still a good
album with some nice moments, interesting for people who
want something else than all the fast happy metal we hear
so much these days…
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
KALEDON 'LEGEND OF THE
FORGOTTEN REIGN'
(NORTHWIND RECORDS/ROCK INC./BERTUS)
Today there are so many Power Metal acts out there, you
sometimes forget the count and then you have to decide
which band is better when deciding to purchase a CD.
Well, it's clear that not all bands in the Power Metal
genre are quality bands. I am afraid I have to count
KALEDON to one of the bands that will probably not make
it big. They play nice Power Metal and try to sound like
RHAPSODY at times, but they forget they are a few levels
lower when it comes down to quality Power Metal. Songs
like "In search of Kaledon", "Army of the
undead king", "Streets of the kingdom" and
"Hero of the land" are nice melodic metal
pieces, but nothing more… The vocals are a bit
average and even 'false' towards the end of the CD, so I
am not that enthousiastic about this release. Maybe a
future CD will bring us a better sounding KALEDON,
because now they sound too average to become as big as
for example RHAPSODY, VISION DIVINE, LABYRINTH… The
cheap cover of the CD also proves we have to deal here
with a band that is not ready to compete with other Power
Metal bands.
(Points:
7.0 out of 10)
 IGNITION 'IGNITION' (MTM
MUSIC/SUBURBAN)
This is a new Swedish band formed around
multi-instrumentalist Peter Soderstrom (former member of
TREAT, TALISMAN, FRONTIERS). Together with lead singer
Jan Johansen and LION'S SHARE members Pontus Egberg and
Johan Kullberg they form the new band IGNITION. The first
CD release is done on MTM MUSIC, and I have to say it
sounds quite impressive. Together with EVIDENCE ONE, this
IGNITION CD is one of the top releases in Melodic
Hardrock from the past few months. Although not all songs
are sensational, the CD has a huge sound and above all,
the melodic hardrock sounds like it should sound, which
is big, and guitar orientated with the right ear for a
good melody and more importantly, some very good lead
vocals by singer Jan Johansen. Imagine a mixture between
the first UNRULY CHILD album, JADED HEART and BONFIRE
(circa 'Fireworks'), and you're basically close to
IGNITION. Highlights are "Down on my luck"
(great big midtempo melodic rocker a la JADED
HEART/BONFIRE), "Fire with fire" (very strong
fantastic semi melodic rockballad), "Goodbye to the
good times" (great melodic rocker with strong hooks
and a catchy chorus), "Should have done you
right" (great melodic rockballad), "First to
cry" (pure 80s uptempo melodic rocker a la first
UNRULY CHILD with a slight Desmond Child influence) and
closing track "Time is running out" (strong
uptempo melodic hardrock a la first SARGANT FURY).
Everyone who likes good old melodic hardrock (with a big
sound quality) will love IGNITION, highly recommended to
fans of mentioned bands…
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
 MIKAEL ERLANDSSON 'THE GIFT'
(MTM MUSIC/SUBURBAN)
MIKAEL ERLANDSSON is a well-known singer/songwriter in
Sweden, who has been making music for 25 years now and he
even performed for Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest
in 1990. Anyway, in between he released a few
solo-albums, and 'The gift' is the latest album he has
released. The album contains Mikael's typical melodic
poprock that sounds a bit more modern than on his
previous records, but is still reminding of the glory
days in the 1980s when BRYAN ADAMS, DANNY WILDE and RICK
SPRINGFIELD made this kind of music. 12 tracks are
included and apart from a few weaker songs, most of the
album is quite nice to listen to. The best songs are the
catchy uptempo melodic poprockers "Out of
champagne", "I love you", "Million
dollar girl" and "24 hours" and the great
semi AOR ballads "I send you my heart" and
"Love's got a hold on me". There's also some
clear modern day BON JOVI/BRYAN ADAMS to be heard in
songs like "Stop", "Stay" and
"Excuse me baby", but mainly this is a very 80s
inspired catchy melodic poprockalbum.
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
 SECTION 16 'IDENTITY CRISIS' (DCA
RECORDINGS)
Out
of the ashes of PSYCO DRAMA, an American Progressive
Metalband, comes the new band SECTION 16. Their CD
'Identity crisis' is a mixture of modern Nu-Metal and
classy Progressive Metal. It's really a pity the band
isn't fully focused on classy Progressive Metal, because
that's what they do best, as you can hear clearly on 3 of
the songs on the CD. I am talking about the SUPERB HIGH
CLASS melodic Progressive Metalsongs "Alone",
"All you know" and "Once in a
lifetime", really beautiful songs that sound like a
mix between classy QUEENSRYCHE, DREAM THEATER and SHADOW
GALLERY. The closing track "Once in a lifetime"
also includes a hidden track, a classy QUEENSRYCHE cover.
All these songs sound really fantastic, and also contain
very impressive lead vocals.
I
am afraid I can not say that about the rest of the album,
because that's way too Nu-Metal orientated, such as the
very average songs "Live through me",
"Time", "The way" and
"Scattered". There are also some songs that
contain elements of both Nu-Metal and Prog Metal like on
"Never again" and "Monkey patch",
ending up sounding like PAIN OF SALVATION. Anyway, it
reminds a mystery why they make such beautiful melodic
Progressive Metal like on the 3 songs mentioned earlier
on in this review, and on the other hand they play that
uninteresting Nu-Metal style. Let's hope a future CD will
bring us more of the classy Prog Metal… In the
meantime, more info on SECTION 16 at: http://www.dcarecordings.com and e-mail them at: EGC@DCARECORDINGS.COM
(Points:
7.0 out of 10)
KIUAS
'THE
DISCIPLINE OF STEEL' (INDEPENDENT)
Herr's another good quality Finish melodic Metal band.
Their CD contains 4 tracks, and the sound is pretty good.
Only vocally I think lead singer Ilja Jalkanen needs to
practice some more, because sometimes he is using his
voice in a wrong way (or he intends to do this) and is
more screaming/growling than singing. Anyway, the best
song is definitely opener "Until we reach the
shore", a good uptempo melodic heavy rocker. They
have a long way to go, but this CD already proves KIUAS
is able to make good quality music. Check 'em out for
yourself at: http://kiuas.darkgod.net and e-mail them at: kiuas@email.com
(Points:
7.0 out of 10)
ADRENALIZER
'ADRENALIZER'
(AARDVARK RECORDS)
Out of the UK comes ADRENALIZER, and I'm not sure because
I don't have any info, but I think they were called BLACK
ROSE before they adapted the bandname ADRENALIZER.
Anyway, I can easily inform you that this band's debut
CD, soon to be released, is a great high quality
AOR/Melodic Rockalbum. There are some very strong
impressive songs to be found on the ADRENALIZER CD. I
hear some strong similarities to typical British Melodic
Rockbands such as FM, WHITESNAKE, DARE, MAGNUM…
The
highlights among the 9 included tracks are "Don't
walk away" (great semi AOR ballad), "Crying in
the dark" (lovely semi AOR ballad with excellent
chorus), "Home thoughts" (another awesome semi
AOR ballad), "The hunter" (classy early 80s
British melodic rock a la WILDFIRE, RAGE, NIGHTWING,
EXPORT…) and the WHITESNAKEish semi melodic
rockballads "Lonely now you're gone" and
"Living on a knife edge". The CD mainly
consists of semi-ballads, but the few rockers included
are very UFO based, such as opener "I guess it's
over". However, if you're into high class
AOR/Melodic Rock with a British accent, then better check
out ADRENALIZER at: http://www.aardvarkrecords.co.uk and e-mail them at: musicman@aardvarkrecords.co.uk
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
 MASTERPLAN 'MASTERPLAN'
(AFM RECORDS/ROCK INC./BERTUS)
A few weeks ago I reviewed a single of the new
band/project MASTERPLAN, and now there's the first
full-length CD of this project. MASTERPLAN is formed
around lead singer JORN LANDE (ARK, MILLENIUM), IRON
SAVIOR bassist Jan S. Eckert, keyboardplayer Axel
Mackenrott and former HELLOWEEN members Roland Grapow
(guitarist) and Uli Kosch (drums). The CD has a very good
production/sound quality, thanks to producer Andy Sneap
(BLAZE, NEVERMORE) and mixer Mikko Karmila (STRATOVARIUS,
ELEGY). The music is high quality Melodic
Progressive/Power Metal. Right from the start you hear
that this is gonna be one of those great albums everybody
loves!
Especially
the first 3 songs are from a very high level, these are
"Spirit never die" (fantastic catchy faster
uptempo melodic metal like AT VANCE meets PRETTY MAIDS),
"Enlighten me" (superb catchy chorus, this was
the first single/video of the CD) and "Kind hearted
light" (great fast uptempo melodic metal).
"Crystal night" is the first song that is just
nice, a midtempo Metal tune that sounds a lot like DIO.
The following 3 songs are then again very sensational.
These are "Soulburn" (great midtempo Prog
Metal), "Heroes" (a duet with Michael Kiske,
song itself is very catchy uptempo melodic metal a la
HELLOWEEN) and the fast Power Metal song "Sail
on". Towards the end of the CD, we can unfortunately
also hear 2 weaker songs, namely the modern "Into
the light" (a la HAREM SCAREM!) and "Bleeding
eyes" (bit like ARK). The remaining songs are the
great uptempo Power Metal track "Crawling from
hell" and closing track "When love comes
close" (nice semi-ballad). This CD is an easy target
for a person who likes high quality Melodic Prog/Power
Metal!
(Points:
9.0 out of 10)
 SHIVA 'SHIVA' (Z RECORDS)
After many announcements the official debut CD of the
Swedish band SHIVA has finally been released. We have
discussed demos of them the past few years, and now the
British label Z RECORDS has released the first CD of
SHIVA, a female fronted Melodic Rockband. The band mixes
Hardrock/Metal riffs with the melodies of AOR/Melodic
Rock, which makes them appealing to fans of both sides.
Opener "Marilyn" is definitely one of the
strongest songs of SHIVA, as this is a superb pure 80s
uptempo AOR rocker in the style of Classic SHY. The song
is about Marilyn Monroe, and the fantastic catchy chorus
is making this song a true gem and one of the best songs
of 2002!
What
follows are 10 rough melodic heavy rocksongs with strong
vocal performances and biting guitarwork. The highlights
are "Dow Jones index" (rough uptempo Melodic
Hardrock, like WARLOCK meets GOTTHARD), "Lead you
on" (another catchy uptempo melodic hardrocksong),
"Free may soul" (fantastic faster uptempo
melodic metal) and "No place for the living"
(SUPERB CATCHY CHORUS, classy 80s melodic metal). The
rest of the CD is less sensational, but still good
performed quality Hardrock a la HEADPINS ("Stay
out", "Another mans wife", "Would you
lie to me", "Shame on you" and "Right
on time"). The only track I haven't mentioned yet is
the nice semi AOR ballad "One more day". The
list of new Swedish female fronted melodic (heavy)
rockbands continues, because next to TWO PIECE PUZZLE,
BROKE'N'BLUE, ALYSON AVENUE, COASTLINE, we can easily add
SHIVA. Their debut CD is a must for all fans of quality
melodic hard/heavy rock with a female voice!
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
 DAVID ALLEN 'FOREVER AND A DAY'
(INDEPENDENT)
Out of Wisconsin, USA comes David Allen, a
singer/songwriter who already released a CD before
'Forever and a day', his latest effort. I did a review of
his debut CD from a few years ago, but I can't remember
how it sounded. Anyway, his new CD sounds soft at first
sight, and also doesn't contain any uptempo rockers
unfortunately. But after a complete listen to the 10
included tracks, I was quite satisfied with the result of
the new CD of David Allen, as it turns out to be a high
class pure AOR Ballad album that sounds like a mix
between STAN BUSH, SURVIVOR and RICHARD MARX. David's
vocals are very good and some of the songs on his new CD
are very sensational. The best songs are
"Dreams", "Again" (catchy), "One
more second chance" (pure STAN BUSH, with a
beautiful chorus!), "Love can" (pure SURVIVOR),
"One sure thing" and "You are
forever" (STEVE PERRY/ JOURNEY). The production is
also very impressive for an independent record, and
despite a few Pop orientated songs ("Follow
me", "Back to me" and "Tomorrow's
child"), this is a highly recommended CD to the AOR
fans, although don't expect any uptempo rockers. More
info on David at: http://www.davidallen.tv and e-mail them at: davidallentv@msn.com
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
HIT'N'RUN
'REACH
THE DAY' (INDEPENDENT)
Here's another great band from Sweden. They are called
HIT'N'RUN and their demo CD is titled 'Reach the day'.
The album contains 5 well-performed (and produced)
melodic heavy rocksongs that have a strong 'German band'
approach, not unlike PINK CREAM 69. The best songs are
"Another flight" (uptempo melodic heavy rock),
"No more" (catchy uptempo melodic hardrock a la
PC'69) and "Reach the day" (slow start, but
turns out to be a great catchy uptempo melodic metal
song, best track of the whole demo CD). Basically this
Swedish HIT'N'RUN has much to offer if you like 'German'
style Melodic Hard/Heavy Rock. More on them at: http://www.hitnrun.se and e-mail them at: ht_n_run@hotmail.com
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
TANTALUS
'LUMEN
ET CALIGO 1' (HEADLINE RECORDS)
The English Progressive Rockband TANTALUS is back with a
new CD release entitled 'Lumen et caligo 1'. This is a
2-part CD project, with part 2 being released in 2003.
The album contains 11 tracks and is definitely a highly
recommended quality record that will please especially
fans of JOHN WETTTON. The music is calm, but very melodic
and is mixing elements of Neo-Prog, Sympho and AOR into
one exciting style that will attract fans of all these
genres. Most of the songs are quite long in length, so in
the end you get really worth your money. The highlights
include "While there's still time",
"Eyes", "Finger painting",
"Dancing on eggshells" and "Black
dream" (a cover of a 1972-song written by Nicky
James - member of MOODY BLUES). The lead vocals of
guitarist Bob Leek are very impressive and remind me of
VAN STEPHENSON and JOHN WETTON. TANTALUS is a very
impressive band, and their latest effort, 'Lumen et
caligo 1', is one of the best Neo-Prog releases from the
UK in a long time. More info at: http://www.hinotemusic.com
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
THE
MORRIGAN 'HIDDEN
AGENDA' (HEADLINE RECORDS)
'Hidden agenda' is the new CD of the British
Progressive/Folk Rockband THE MORRIGAN. This band is
making a mixture of mediaeval folkish sounds and today's
progressive rock. They remind me of bands like KAYAK and
CAMEL, so there's some Celtic and Sympho mixed into the
Progressive Folk Rock of THE MORRIGAN. I must say that
everything sounds very well, but sometimes it's getting a
bit too soft. There are only a few rockers on this CD,
such as "In the end", "A night to
remember" and "The other", these are also
the highlights, because the rest of the CD is very calm
almost pure Folk Music. If you enjoy the
likes of CAMEL and RENAISSANCE, then you definitely need
to check out the new CD of THE MORRIGAN, but I am afraid
the average Prog fan won't find anything of interest on
this disc. More info at: http://www.hinotemusic.com
(Points:
7.0 out of 10)
THE
ROB SBAR NOESIS 'WAGON WHEELS AND ATOM BOMBS' (AGGREGATE
RECORDS)
Guitarist Rob Sbar comes out of New York, and this is his
first CD. The CD contains 9 tracks and is basically a
good quality instrumental record. The music played here
is a mixture of Groovy Hardrock and Funky Rock, resulting
in listenable tunes like "Lexical city",
"16 shades of gray" and "Blue
harvest". There's some JEFF BECK and JIMI HENDRIX
influenced material on this disc, and in general it is
recommended to the Guitarfreaks. It's not your typical
straight-ahead instrumental Hardrock, but more with a
clear groovy style and some interesting freaking moments.
More info at: http://www.rob-sbar.com and e-mail him at: aggregaterecordings@hotmail.com
(Points:
7.0 out of 10)
DREADFUL
MINDS
'LOST MY HEART' (INDEPENDENT)
Unfortunately there are only 3 tracks on the CD of this
German band, because they sound very impressive. DREADFUL
MINDS is playing high quality Melodic Progressive Metal,
somewhere like a cross between VANDENPLAS and VANISHING
POINT. The production is very good, instrumental the band
sounds perfect, the lead vocals are very very good and of
course the songs are really fantastic! Opener and
titletrack "Lost my heart" is fantastic melodic
Prog Metal that reminds me so much of Aussie VANISHING
POINT, with some VANDENPLAS thrown in for good measure.
Up next is the uptempo "The growing fear", a
very melodic tune. Closing song is the superb catchy
uptempo melodic metal of "What you give is what you
get", a song reminding me of BALANCE OF POWER.
Concluded, this DREADFUL MINDS is a new Prog Metal
sensation from Germany, so better check out their site
at: http://www.dreadfulminds.de
(Points:
9.0 out of 10)
SISTER
MANIK 'VARIOUS
DEMOS' (DEMO CDRs)
Out of Finland comes SISTER MANIK, a female fronted band
that is combining elements of AOR, Gothic into a Big
Metalsound, coming across like a mix between
NIGHTWISH/WITHIN TEMPTATION and VIXEN with some modern
touches here and there. The songs that hit me most were
the excellent "Hold on" (lovely AORish chorus)
and "Calling my name" (uptempo Gothic AOR
rocker). All 4 songs on the 2 demos have a high quality
sound and only the song "Sir evil" was not that
interesting, but further what we have here is a good
interesting band to check out, and more importantly, they
have created an own sound which is both modern and very
melodic. In other words, they might appeal to both fans
of AOR and Gothic Rock/Metal fans. More info on SISTER
MANIK at: http://www.sistermanik.net and e-mail them at: sistermanik@surfeu.fi
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
ELVENPATH
'2002'
(DEMO CDR)
We're back in Germany again with yet another quality
band. They are called ELVENPATH, and their demo is a good
piece of Melodic Power Metal, with influences from GAMMA
RAY, MANOWAR… The production of their 3-track
mini-CD is very good, and also vocally everything's well
mixed and sung, so I can easily recommend this band to
fans of typical Euro-Power Metal. The first song is the
midtempo "Kingdom of the weird", a great song
that has something in common with MANOWAR, although more
melodic. And then it's time for typical fast melodic
uptempo Euro Power Metal in the style of GAMMA RAY,
STORMHAMMER and BLIND GUARDIAN in the song "Eternal
quest". Closing track is the only weaker song,
namely the simple Metal tune "Thunderose" which
reminds me of ACCEPT and SINNER, though with better
vocals. However, this band is highly recommended to fans
of typical European Power Metal, and it wouldn't surprise
me if one of the major labels will sign this band soon,
because they prove they are as good as their fellow Power
Metal bands in Germany. For now, more info on them at: http://www.elvenpath.com and e-mail them at: elvenpathmetal@hotmail.com
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
QUELONIO
'BUSCANDO
UNA LUZ' (INDEPENDENT)
Out of Valencia, Spain comes QUELONIO, a great high
quality melodic power metal band that can easily be put
next to their countrymen of TIERRA SANTA, NU, MURO,
SARATAGO, AVALANCH, MAGO DE OZ… It's a pity the CD
hasn't got the same kind of big sound/production as
aforementioned bands, because then it would have been a
super high quality release, ready for a big label
releaseStill this is a highly recommended record, because
songwise everything sounds great on this record and the 8
included tracks are very well performed uptempo melodic
power metal tracks. Highlights are "La daga del
Odio", "Cabalgando hacia el sol",
"Buscando una luz" and "Castillo de
Satanas". If you enjoy typical Spanish melodic power
metal, then do check out QUELONIO at: http://www.quelonio.org
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
DEFENDER 'REMAINING TALES'
(INDEPENDENT)
DEFENDER was one of many pure Heavy Metal bands in the
80s over here in Holland. They managed to release a
handful of demos in the mid 80s and a single-CD in the
late 1980s. To make this material easier to obtain for
the interested public, they recently decided to release a
full-length CD with all their recorded songs. The CD is
titled 'Remaining tales' and contains 12 tracks. Although
the songs were all recorded in the 1980s, I have to say
they still sound very good and up-to-date! Comparisons
are other Dutch bands like ANGUS, ALLIED FORCES, MARTYR,
ELISE etc. , but also a bit the American band MANILLA
ROAD and some 80s US Power Metal (a la early FATES
WARNING) can also be heard. Best tracks on 'Remaining
tales' are "The journey" (midtempo melodic
metal), "City ad mortis" (prog metal meets 80s
US Power Metal), "Counter attack" (typical 80s
US Power Metal), "Defender" (typical early 80s
N.W.O.B.H.M. style), "The redeemer" (another
NWOBHM stylish song) and the ballad "Passing
by". Basically, this is a high quality CD filled
with typical 80s Melodic Metal without sounding dated, so
fans of this style will like DEFENDER a lot. More info
at: http://www.defender-music.com and e-mail them at: info@defender-music.com
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
 FAHRENHEIT 'EPIC ENTER'
(INDEPENDENT)
FAHRENHEIT is probably the first band from Mexico playing
typical European Melodic Power Metal in the style of
LABYRINTH, STRATOVARIUS, RHAPSODY… Their CD 'Epic
enter' sounds and looks very professional. The booklet
and artwork is very impressive and the 5 included tracks
are quite nice to listen to. The band consists of 7
members, including 2 singers (male and female). The CD
clocks over 30 minutes, and from start to finish it's a
pleasure listening to such great uptempo melodic power
metal pieces like "Dark storm", "Ride with
the moon" and "The war I wage", and
Progressive Metal songs such as "The sea" and
"Wandering still". Maybe it isn't as good as
LABYRINTH or RHAPSODY, I can easily inform you that this
FAHRENHEIT is one of the best European styled Power
Metalbands from Northern America. More info on them at: http://www.fahrenheit.mx
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
 PAGAN’S MIND 'CELESTIAL ENTRANCE'
(LIMB MUSIC/SUBURBAN)
The Norwegian band PAGAN’S MIND has returned with
their new CD ‘Celestial entrance’, their 2nd
effort. The album was produced by Fredrik Nordstrom
(HAMMERFALL, SYNERGY) and contains 12 tracks, with a
total playing length of more than 70 minutes! The music
is high quality Melodic Progressive Metal with some clear
80s QUEENSRYCHE influences here and there, and a modern
touch a few times. Some of the songs also feature
aggressive vocals but most of the time lead singer Nils
K. Rue is singing normal, and then he sounds very
melodic. The CD has a very big sound, and from start to
finish you can hear that this is really a quality band
with some exceptional playing all throughout the album.
The absolute highlights are “Through Osiris’
eyes” (fantastic uptempo melodic heavy rocker),
“Dreamscape lucidity” (a la early QUEENSRYCHE),
“The seven sacred promises”, “Aegean
shores” (very catchy melodic chorus) and “The
prophecy of Pleindes” (very much 80s QUEENSRYCHE,
CRIMSON GLORY). It is quite obvious that this CD is a
highly recommended album to fans of quality melodic
progressive heavy rock/metal.
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
 ORATORY 'BEYOND EARTH' (LIMB
MUSIC/SUBURBAN)
ORATORY comes out of Portugal, and ‘Beyond
earth’ is their 2nd CD release. Their debut
‘Illusion dimensions’ was released 2 years ago,
and I remember that it was a good decent album, but after
hearing their new release I must confess to prefer
‘Beyond earth’ for playing in the future. This
new CD of ORATORY is filled with impressive sensational
uptempo melodic power metal and uptempo melodic hardrock,
with some very good female lead vocals by Ana Lara, who
has replaced sucessfully the previous lead singer Marco
Alves. Most of the songs are in the same style, uptempo
rocking and very melodic at the same time. The best
tracks are the uptempo melodic rock/metal songs
“Beyond earth”, “Living wisdom”,
“Heroes from the past”, “Old man’s
prophecy” and the ballad “Story of all
times”. I also need to mention here the last song
“A new quest”, a great fast power metal track
in the best German tradition, but if you listen further,
you’ll note a hiddentrack at the end of the CD,
which is a nice cover of THE BANGLES “Eternal
flame”. Anyway, this is another highly recommended
LIMB MUSIC release for you, go get your copy as soon as
possible!
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
 IRON MASK 'REVENGE IS MY NAME'
(LION MUSIC/BERTUS)
IRON MASK is a Belgian project formed around guitarist
Dushan Petrossi (MAGIC KINGDOM), who is clearly
influenced by YNGWIE MALMSTEEN on his debut CD
‘Revenge is my name’. It’s a pity there
are 5 instrumental songs on the CD, because the 7 songs
with vocals are very impressive melodic heavy rockers
like a cross between AT VANCE, MALMSTEEN, AXEL RUDI PELL,
RAINBOW and KELLY SIMONZ’s BLIND FAITH. The lead
vocals by singer Phil Letawe are very good, and needless
to say, Dushan is delivering some great guitarwork. This
all combined results in a very good debut CD release of
IRON MASK. Recommended songs to listen to when purchasing
this CD are “Revenge is my name” (faster
uptempo melodic heavy rock like MALMSTEEN, RAINBOW, AT
VANCE), “March of victory” (midtempo melodic
heavy rock monster), “The wolf and the beast”
(12 minutes counting epic) and “Hold the light”
(best song, classy 80s fun uptempo melodic rocker a la
JADED HEART). Fans of MALMSTEEN’s latest opus
‘Attack’ will enjoy this CD as well I think, so
better check out this classic melodic hardrock/heavy rock
piece from Belgium!
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
 TYRANT EYES 'THE DARKEST HOUR'
(SCARLET RECORDS/BERTUS)
Out of Germany comes the Power Metal band TYRANT EYES.
There are 9 songs on their 2nd CD ‘The darkest
hour’ and the first few songs like “Night of
the defender” and “Magic touch” were not
really promising if you ask me, as they turned out to be
very dark songs with even Thrash parts, and very
aggressive raw lead vocals. However, apart from these 2
songs, the rest of the CD is quite good and even
sometimes sensational melodic Prog/Power Metal like only
German bands are able to make. Examples are such great
songs like “Out of the dark” (catchy hookladen
melodic Prog Metal), “The dawn” (very good
faster uptempo melodic Power Metal), “Delight in
dying” (great Prog/Power Metal),
“Gladiator” (fast Power Metal) and closing
track “The last light” (lovely melodic Prog
Metal, best song, with some very good lead vocals!).
Don’t let the first few songs scare you off, becase
in the end, TYRANT EYES is another great melodic
Prog/Power Metal from Germany...
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
VARIOUS
ARTISTS 'A
TRIBUTE TO JASON BECKER PART TWO'
(LION MUSIC/BERTUS)
Last year a Jason Becker tribute CD was released and back
then already plans were made for a follow-up, and now
LION MUSIC has released the 2nd CD of the tribute to the
legendary guitarist JASON BECKER. Again a lot of
well-known musicians are involved, such as STEVE VAI,
TOMMY DENANDER, MARTY FRIEDMAN, SLAV SIMANIC, JK
NORTHRUP, LARS ERIC MATTSSON and many others. The CD is a
double CD set with a total of 27 tracks. Almost all the
songs are instrumental of course, with such highlights
like “Colors”, “Temple of the
absurd”, “Temple in the cellar”,
“Utopia”, “I.M.N.U.”, “Speed
Metal Symphony” and “Peace of mind part
1”. However, my favourite tracks are 2 songs with
lead vocals, namely opener “Desert island”
(lovely 80s melodic rock a la MALMSTEEN, RAINBOW, with
very good lead vocals by Norwegian singer Geir Ronning)
and “Lady luck” (midtempo melodic rocker with
great vocals by Chris heaven). If you purchased part one,
then you must also buy this 2nd Tribute CD. Together with
the BOSTON tribute, this JASON BECKER tribute belong to
the best tributes ever done!
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
CYRIL
ACHARD 'CONFUSION'
(LION MUSIC/BERTUS)
The French guitarist Cyril Achard is back with a new
solo-CD. The album is titled ‘Confusion’ and
contains like his on previous records high quality
instrumental progressive rock/melodic rock. The best
songs are “Hiros”, “Des illusions”,
“Barock” and “Pharaons”. A must for
fans of guitar orientated instrumental
Progressive/Melodic Rock!
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
BLACK
HORIZON 'THE
FIRST DOOR' (INDEPENDENT)
The French band BLACK HORIZON has just released a new
CD-single. It contains 2 songs, “The choice”
and “The first door”, both good Prog Metal
songs. The sound and production of the single is quite
impressive, and so we can add another quality French prog
Metal band to the growing list. Not as good as MANIGANCE,
but still also this BLACK HORIZON is a band to check out.
More info at: http://blackhorizon.free.fr and e-mail them at: black_horizon@libertysurf.fr
(Points:
7.5 out of 10)
EMPYRIA
'SENSE
OF MIND' (SCRAPE RECORDS)
‘Sense of mind’ is already the 4th CD of the
Canadian Progressive Metal band EMPYRIA, and I must say
that this is probably their best effort so far, because
the new album is filled with HIGH QUALITY Melodic
Progressive Metal/80s US Power Metal in the style of such
legendary bands like HELSTAR, CRIMSON GLORY, LETHAL,
early QUEENSRYCHE, yet with a bit more melody than these
bands. The band has a fantastic lead singer called Phil
Leite, who sounds a lot like LANCE KING from BALANCE OF
POWER. The production by guitarist Mike Kischnick is very
impressive, and so are the 10 included tracks, so we can
easily call this a highly recommended album to all the
Prog Metal freaks out there! Highlights include “No
more lies”, “Sense of mind”,
“Prejudice reigns”, “Long road home”
and “Forever”. Without any doubts, this CD
should be purchased by every fan of quality Prog Metal!
More info at: http://www.dreamwavemedia.com/empyria and e-mail them at: empyria@dreamwavemedia.com
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
REQUIEM
'ZADNJA
MOLITEV' (PLAY RECORDS)
The Slovenian Rock/Metal band REQUIEM released 3 good
albums before ‘Zadnja molitev’, but with this
new CD they clearly show they are a band to watch out for
in the near future. ‘Zadnja molitev’ is a great
very strong album that mixes classic 70s Hardrock (a la
URIAH HEEP, RAINBOW) with 80s Melodic Rock (WHITESNAKE),
ending up sounding a bit like the Slovenian version of AT
VANCE. I must admit that this is really a great album,
with many highlights and in general, it is a recommended
album, despite the language barrier. The best songs on
the album are “12 Let” (uptempo melodic
rocker), “Armageddon”, “Revolution”
(pure URIAH HEEP) and “Magic” (bit AORish). The
good news is that they are working on a new English vocal
full-length CD, to be released soon, so that could become
a true winner. In the meantime, you still need to check
out this REQUIEM as soon as possible, especially if you
count bands like RAINBOW, URIAH HEEP, MAGNUM as your
favourite acts. More info, e-mail them at: rockerija@siol.net
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
POWELL
YOUNG '2065
FLYING FINGERS' (LION MUSIC/BERTUS)
The past few months the Finish label LION MUSIC has been
releasing a lot of instrumental records, and at one point
you’re fed up with these releases, but when playing
the actual albums you realise that it’s another good
quality instrumental record, and so there’s so
reason why not keep on reviewing these albums. Also this
CD by guitarist Powell Young is another great high
quality instrumental straight-ahead hardrock record.
Highlights include “Run to space”,
“Trouble water” and “Dust in the
air”. I haven’t got much into on Powell, but
after reading some of the liner notes, I suppose the man
got help from a bunch of Chinese (???) musicians for the
Bass and Drums parts. Anyway, the guitar freaks will like
this CD a lot, just like the other 2 instrumental records
on LION MUSIC in December 2002...
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
(All
reviews by Gabor Kleinbloesem, except where noted)
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