 PHANTOM’S OPERA ‘ACT 4’
(ESCAPE MUSIC)
‘Act 4’ is the fourth CD of the American
Prog/Pomp Melodic Rockband PHANTOM’S OPERA. The band
recently switched from lead singer, Colie Brice has been
replaced by Terry Brock (THE SIGN, STRANGEWAYS, solo
record). Basically, this is a great move from bandleader
Jack Young (keyboardplayer), as Terry is one of the best
singers ever, and on this record he really shines.
Although there are only 9 songs on the album, the tracks
are quite long in length, so enough pleasure for the
fans.
PHANTOM’S
OPERA has an own style, as they mix influences from AOR,
Pomprock, Progressive Rock and Melodic Hardrock. Imagine
a mixture between WHITE SISTER, QUEEN, URIAH HEEP, MAGNUM
and RAINBOW, and you’re close to the sound of
PHANTOM’S OPERA. This is definitely a ‘high
quality’ release that should be picked up by any
Rockfan. Especially the first 2 songs show how good
PHANTOM’S OPERA really is. Opener “Etched in
stone” is a great uptempo melodic rock with a very
big sound. Next track “By reason of insanity”
is lovely AOR/Pomp Melodic Rock with very impressive lead
vocals by Terry. Following track “Shadows on the
wall” is the only let-down of the CD, as this song
has a chorus that lacks. But what follows are 6 more
sensational tracks that mix the best of AOR, Prog and
Pompous Melodic Rock.
Highlights
include the great semi AOR ballad “Hopeless
love” (pure 80s), “Laura 2 –
Revisited” (great uptempo Progressive Melodic Rocker
like 70s URIAH HEEP meets MAGNUM), “Christine”
(70s influenced Pomp-Rock, HEEP meets QUEEN and AVIARY!)
and closing track “God save the king” (superb
AOR/Melodic Rockballad with a very strong chorus). Before
‘Act 4’ I thought the debut CD of
PHANTOM’S OPERA was their best record, which they
would never beat, but their new album is definitely as
good as that classic debut and at some points even
better! Concluded I can easily recommend this CD to all
AOR/Pomp fans, although the ProgRockfans might also enjoy
this awesome record...
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
LIESEGANG
‘NO
STRINGS ATTACHED’ (ESCAPE MUSIC)
With a playing time of 70 minutes, the first CD of
guitarist/ keyboardplayer/bassist Bill Liesegang is a
real appetite for the fans of quality rockmusic. The
album was originally released back in 1996 in Japan, but
now ESCAPE MUSIC has released it for the European
audience. The album features such well-known lead singers
like JOHN WETTON, GLENN HUGHES and DOUGIE WHITE. There
are 16 tracks on the album, and 9 of them are
instrumental, so you’ll get to hear 7 vocal tunes.
The instrumental stuff is good melodic rock, with as best
tracks “No strings attached”,
“Revenge”, “Cryonic babylon” and
“Sabre danse macabre”. From the vocal tracks I
must mention the lovely semi AOR ballads “Crying for
love” and “The thrill of it all” and the
best song of the whole CD, the classy 80s inspired
uptempo Sympho/Pomp/AOR rocker “Flesh and
blood”, with JOHN WETTON shining like in his old
ASIA days. The only weaker tracks I could find were
“Live by the gun” and “Dogs of war”,
both with a singer called Tony Thurlow (of whom I never
heard of, but who is not a real good singer if you ask
me).
Anyway,
this is a great CD with some quality stuff on it,
recommended to fans of instrumental melodic rock, but
also if you’re a fan of John Wetton or Glenn Hughes,
because they do some excellent vocal work on a couple of
songs on this CD. Bill Liesegang is currently working on
new material for a future release on Escape Music. In the
meantime, check out his debut CD.
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
 PLATITUDE ‘SECRETS OF
LIFE’
(SCARLET RECORDS/BERTUS)
PLATITUDE is a very young band from Sweden and their
debut ‘Secrets of life’ can already easily be
seen as one of the best releases in the world of Melodic
Power Metal. The album contains 10 wonderful tracks that
sound like the perfect mix between MALMSTEEN, KAMELOT and
STRATOVARIUS. The songs are all catchy, with killer hooks
and melodic lead vocals, and brilliant instrumental
parts. The band consists of 7 (!) members, and right from
the start you can hear this is a very HIGH QUALITY
release. The production also couldn’t sound any
better, but that’s no wonder, because TOMMY HANSEN
produced the album. The first 3 songs are fast and very
melodic. The songs are titled “Deception”,
“Just one try” and “Dance thru the
fire”, this is prime-time Power Metal at it’s
very best, MALMSTEEN meets STRATOVARIUS, with killer
hooks and catchy choruses all over the place!
The
band slows things down on the good melodic rockballad
“Memories”. Next track “Anima” is
then again very impressive uptempo stuff, this time a bit
more melodic hardrock/metal. Fasten your seatbelts,
because following track “Last sunset” is again
fast and furious, but super melodic and also very
MALMSTEENish! In the same style are the songs
“Secrets of life” and “Evil sky”. The
only tracks I haven’t mentioned yet are the
Progressive Metal song “Raining tears” and the
lovely catchy uptempo melodic metal track
“Illusions”. Without a doubt, this CD will be
one of the top releases of 2003, so every decent Metal
fan must buy this record a.s.a.p.
(Points:
9.5 out of 10)
CRYONIC
TEMPLE ‘CHAPTER
1’ 
(UNDERGROUND SYMPHONY RECORDS/BERTUS)
I remember I reviewed a demo CDR of CRYONIC TEMPLE, a
Swedish band, a long time ago, and they informed their
official debut CD would be released on the Italian label
UNDERGROUND SYMPHONY RECORDS. The album was in fact
released last year, but somehow it never reached our
reviewdesk until now! Anyway, for those of you who
don’t know anything about this release, I can inform
you that ‘Chapter 1’ of CRYONIC TEMPLE is a
‘high quality’ release that mixes German and
Scandi Power Metal, ending up sounding like a mix between
STRATOVARIUS, HAMMERFALL and MAJESTY (or should I say
MANOWAR!). The first 2 songs are as close to MANOWAR as
you can possibly get, with songtitles like “Heavy
Metal never dies” and “Metal brothers”
that’s quite obvious and also musically it’s
pure MANOWAR Metal. The rest of the CD however has not
much to do with MANOWAR, but moves more in a STRATOVARIUS
and HAMMERFALL area and to be honest, this is CRYONIC
TEMPLE at their very best. Highlights include the
fantastic fast melodic uptempo Power Metal pieces
“Warsong”, “The gatekeeper”,
“Rivers of pain”, “King of
Transylvania”, “Mighty warrior” and
“Over and over”. The album was mastered at
Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, just like so many other
Power Metal records, so you know what to expect and
don’t let the first 2 tracks fool ya, because this
Swedish band is really a great typical fast Power Metal
band!
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
 ARTHEMIS ‘THE DAMNED
SHIP’
(UNDERGROUND SYMPHONY RECORDS/BERTUS)
ARTHEMIS is one of many new Italian bands to release a
sensational debut CD, and most of these releaseS take
place on the Italian quality label UNDERGROUND SYMPHONY
RECORDS. The debut CD of ARTHEMIS is no exception to the
rule, because also ‘The damned ship’ can be
classified as a fantastic sensational record, full of
super fast melodic power metal tracks a la NOCTURNAL
RITES, LABYRINTH... 9 tracks are included, and with the
exception of 2 instrumental songs and closing track
“The damned ship” (lovely midtempo melodic
rocker a la EDGUY), basically you’ll get 6 long fast
uptempo Power Metal tracks that will be loved by every
fan of this genre. The best of these 6 to me are
“The night of the vampire”, “Quest for
immortality” and “Voice of the Gods”. I
think this album will also find it’s way to fans of
typical Italo Power Metal (LABYRINTH, HYPERION, RHAPSODY,
VISION DIVINE, WONDERLAND, SKYLARK...).
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
ROSAE
CRUCIS
‘WORMS
OF THE EARTH’ (SCARLET RECORDS/BERTUS)
I have not much info on this band, but they hail from
Italy, and are about to release their debut CD on SCARLET
RECORDS. And I really can’t help it, but also this
debut CD of yet another new Italian band is sensational
and basically ‘Worms of the earth’ is another
high quality record. It’s incredible to see Italy
producing so many great new bands and ROSEA CRUCIS is one
of the latest in this ever growing list. Musically and
lyrically, they can easily be compared to THY MAJESTY.
The band has a very good lead snger, and among the 12
tracks included, I would like to mention as highlights
the songs “The justice of Roma”, “Bran mac
morn”, “Escape from eboracum”, “The
blacktsone” and the fantastic “The
dagoon’s moore” (very much like THY MAJESTY).
Fans of Melodic Power Metal have another Italian band to
check out!
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
NO
FEAR ‘OUR
SAYING’ (KICK AGENCY PROMOTION)
NO FEAR comes out of Italy, and their first CD ‘Our
saying’ is a good record that combines elements of
Progressive Metal and Melodic Rock, with a strong 80s
Metal (a la MAIDEN) approach. The result is a great
album, which is a pleasure to listen to. There 10 tracks
on the album, and opener “Born from fire” is
one of the strongest tracks, as this is a great catchy
uptempo Progressive Melodic Rocker. After this song the
band is mixing Prog and Power Metal, resulting in nice
songs like “Free as the wind”, “Virtual
life”, “Moonbluff” and “Ghost
town”. However, other favourite tracks of mine are
the lovely melodic (prog) rockballads “Fake
madness” and “Point of no return”. Without
a doubt, this is a good Italian band to check out if
you’re into quality Prog/Power Metal. More info at: http://www.kickagency.com
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
INSIDE
‘CONTRADICTION’ (KICK AGENCY PROMOTION)
This Italian band has two voices, and it’s a pity
they haven’t just chosen for the melodic female lead
singer, because she sings very well, while the male
singer is just growling and spoiling every song on their
3-track CD. The only track which isn’t that much
disturbed by ‘death-grunts’ is opener
“Contradiction”, a great melodic Prog/Power
Metal song with a very nice chorus and impressive
keyboardwork. However, the other 2 songs are spoiled by
the male growling death grunts, a pity because this band
has potential to become one of the better female fronted
acts. More info at: http://www.kickagency.com
(Points:
7.0 out of 10)
IVORY
MOON ‘DEMO
CD’ (DEMO CD)
There are 7 members in this band, and they have managed
to record a good typical Italian Power Metal demo with 3
catchy songs. If only the production was better, then I
would have given a point higher, because the included
songs are very good, with my favourite being the 8
minutes counting melodic Power Metal track
“Valhalla” (which also has nice keyboardwork).
Closing track “Lord of mountain” has some very
good lead vocals and starts off with nice 80s guitar
riffs. I think the future will tell us more what this
band is able to do, although this 3-track demo already
proves they can make some great Prog/Power Metal. More
info at: http://digilander.iol.it/ivorysite
(Points:
7.5 out of 10)
FIRE
MAKERS
‘FIGHT IN THE SKY’ (INDEPENDENT)
We’re back in Italy again with the band FIRE MAKERS.
‘Fight in the sky’ is the second demo CD of
this band, and it features 3 great songs. The band has a
very impressive strong sound, and I can easily tell you
this is high quality stuff. Opener “Fight in the
sky” is a very good uptempo melodic HR/Metal song
with excellent guitarwork and great lead vocals. Next
track “Lost in your eyes” has an acoustic intro
of 3 minutes, but develops into a good melodic
rockballad. Closing track “The legend will
survive” is then again great uptempo melodic
Hardrock/Metal. Bascially, this FIRE MAKERS is yet
another recommended Italian band, more info at: http://digilander.iol.it/firemaker and e-mail them at: firemakers@hotmail.com
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
SERAPHIM ‘THE EQUAL
SPIRIT’ (ARISE RECORDS/BERTUS)
This is definitely the first band from Taiwan I get to
hear and review in the 8 years I have been doing this
magazine. And I must say they sound very impressive!
SERAPHIM is playing melodic Gothic Prog/Power Metal a la
NIGHTWISH, DELIGHT, EDENBRIDGE, WITHIN TEMPTATION and
AFTER FOREVER. The band has a very good female lead
singer, but unfortunately male bassist Jax is spoiling a
lot of the songs with his irritating Death/Black grunts.
This fact is really a pity, because if female lead singer
Pay had sung all tracks alone SERAPHIM could have easily
been placed next to NIGHTWISH and DELIGHT. Nevertheless,
there’s still a lot to enjoy on this album, as it
still is a high quality record. The best tracks of this
album are “Deep”, “Think this world”,
“Pride of twilight”, “To leave”,
“Vanishing destruction” and “The equal
spirit”. Basically, this Gothic Melodic Prog/Power
Metal record is an album of a very high level, but
it’s sometimes spoiled by very weak Death/Black
grunts. If you don’t mind such grunts (a la AFTER
FOREVER), then you’re gonna love this record.
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
CONSCIENCE
‘BEREAVEMENT
BEFORE DAWN’ (PROMO)
CONSCIENCE is a new French band, and their 4-track promo
CD ‘Bereavement before dawn’ is a very
impressive Prog Metal record with some DREAM THEATER
orientated pieces here and there. The best songs are
“Through our windows” and “The
cycle”, both lovely melodic Prog Metal with 80s
guitar riffs. The 4 songs are quite long in length, and
the band has a very good lead singer, so this French band
is a recommended Prog Metal act. More info at: http://www.cyberconscience.com and e-mail them at: contacts@cyberconscience.com
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
ENDLESS
TIME ‘ANCIENT
TALES’ (INDEPENDENT)
ENDLESS TIME is yet another Italian band, but unlike so
many other bands, they are a bit less sensational. The
problem is the weaker lead vocals of female singer Laura
Terragni. The songs are nice uptempo Power Metal, such as
“Screaming of my soul” and “King of the
waves”, but the lead vocals really need to sound
better to make a bigger impression between the thousands
of other acts in this genre currently active in Europe.
Anyway, more info on them at: http://www.endless-time.it and e-mail them at: brenno@endless-time.it
(Points:
7.0 out of 10)
VOODOMA
‘FROM
GLORY AND SHADE’ (INDEPENDENT)
This is a 2-piece band from Germany, and their demo CD
contains 4 tracks. Musically it’s good melodic rock
with a very strong sound and production, but
unfortunately the lead vocals are average, but
instrumental everything is in good shape with VOODOMA.
The best songs are the melodic rockers “Somewhere in
life” and “The master passes by”.
Hopefully a next record will see some improvement on the
vocal part. More info at: http://www.voodoma.com and e-mail them at: contact@voodoma.com
(Points:
7.0 out of 10)
STAIRWAY
‘ON
HALLOWED GROUND’ (INDEPENDENT)
Out of the UK comes STAIRWAY, a very good band that is
mixing Melodic Hardrock and N.W.O.B.H.M. ‘On
hallowed ground’ is their third album. The band has
a very strong singer, and most of the 9 included tracks
are very good, sounding like a mix between SAXON and
DOKKEN. The best tracks are “Under the gun”
(great uptempo melodic hardrock), “Stop the
pain” (DOKKEN meets SCORPIONS) and
“Saviour” (another great uptempo melodic
hardrock tune). The only weak song was closing track
“Foolish heart”, which is a blues track that
totally falls out of place between the other songs of the
CD. Nevertheless, this is a recommended melodic
hardrockalbum! More info at: http://www.stairwayonline.co.uk and e-mail them at: stairway.deoduce@virgin.net
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
 A.C.T. ‘LAST EPIC’
(ATENZIA RECORDS/BERTUS)
The Swedish act ACT is back with their third release, and
without a doubt, this album is their strongest effort so
far. ‘Last epic’ is the best album you can get
when mixing QUEEN, SAGA, STYX, KANSAS an lesser-known
acts like MOZART, KAYAK and ROBBY VALENTINE. If these
acts are your cup of tea, then ACT’s new album is
also a must for you. This album attracts fans of the
genres Pomprock, AOR and Progressive Rock, which the band
calls ‘theatrical rock’. ACT has created an own
style, taking all of their influences into one melting
pot, and the result can easily be called stunning! The
album tells us a long story, which I will not prevail
here, and is divided in 14 tracks. My favourite songs are
“Wailings from a building” (lovely
Prog/AOR/Pomp with a great chorus, mix of QUEEN, SAGA and
KAYAK), “Torn by a phrase” (great semi Prog
melodic rocker), “Manipulator” (great midtempo
Prog/Pomp, pure late 70s, with keys and a strong chorus,
STYX meets 70s QUEEN!), “The observer” (another
lovely semi prog melodic rocker), “The cause”
(excellent AOR/Pomp a la first URBAN TALE) and “The
effect” (best song on the whole album, really
awesome late 70s AOR/pompous melodic rocker in a style
reminding me of STINGRAY and AIRBORNE, with a TOUCH
similarity as well). It is pretty clear that this new ACT
CD is a must for fans of theatrical AOR/Prog/Pomprock,
especially if you like any of the mentioned acts. The
band is currently performing support gigs for SAGA, and I
am dying to see one of the shows soon!
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
KING
LEORIC
‘PIECE OF PAST’ (INDEPENDENT)
KING LEORIC is a German 3-piece band, and they have
released a very good pure Metal CD. As the frontcover
predicts, this is a pure 80s Metal record, reminding of
such classic acts like DIO, RAINBOW, ANGEL WITCH, SAXON,
TOKYO BLADE, and also some ACCEPT and HAMMERFALL
similarities can be heard. The album contains 12 tracks,
has a good production and most of the included tunes are
quite good. The band has a very strong singer called
Jensi, who also plays bass as well as writing a lot of
the songs. Opener “King leoric is rising” is a
great high quality melodic metal piece that sounds like
HAMMERFALL meets WARLORD. Up next is “Metal
poison” and this brings you right into 80s German
Metal, like ACCEPT (meets MANOWAR), with some very good
guitarwork here and there. Then comes one of my favourite
tracks, namely the awesome strong melodic heavy rocker
“Last words”, a song with a catchy melodic
chorus. The great semi-ballad “Pray for you”
follows. A bit less sensational is the RAINBOW/DIO
influenced heavy rocker “Thirsty magician”,
although the keys sound pretty nice here. “Black
heart” is again more in the ACCEPT/MANOWAR style.
The following 4 songs are very good, and pure 1980s
N.W.O.B.H.M. They are titled “Broken bridge”,
“Revenge”, “Arrival of the king” and
“Strangers in the past” and should please any
fan of bands like TOKYO BLADE, WOLF, ANGEL WITCH,
STORMWITCH... “Dragonship” is a bit weaker, but
closing track “Gods of Heavy Metal” is like the
title says pure Metal, the early 80s British way that is,
and this time very much like SAXON! If you’re
looking for an independent high quality Metal record,
then please go for this KING LEORIC. More info on them
can be found at: http://www.king-leoric.de
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
THE
LIMIT
‘EYES FOR YOU’ (INDEPENDENT)
Do not confuse this THE LIMIT with the other AOR same
named act whom released a great CD a few years ago. This
THE LIMIT take us back even further, as they recorded
some material in 1986, but it’s now finally
available on the net, and as a CD. The CD contains 15
tracks, and is basically a great pure 80s period
AOR/Poprockalbum that sounds like a mix between THE
OUTFIELD, LOVERBOY, EDDIE AND THE TIDE And BRYAN ADAMS.
It’s not that heavy, but damn catchy sometimes! Back
then the band only released a 6-track LP, so this CD
should not only please new, but also older fans who
always loved the band’s music. THE LIMIT was quite
successfull back then, as they even played shows with
EDDIE MONEY, ELP, JOAN JETT, PATTY SMYTH, THE PRODUCERS
and many others. The material on this CD is like I said
mid 80s period AOR/Poprock, and to pick out some of my
favourite tracks I would have to add “Jezebel”
(great catchy 80s uptempo AOR a la HAYWAIRE, LOVERBOY,
URGENT), “Eyes for you” (another catchy
poprocker), “OK! All right!” (pure THE OUTFIELD
Poprock), “All about you” (big 80s keyboard
orientated AOR a la BENTWOOD ROCKER) and the fantastic
PRISM type of uptempo early 80s AOR/Rockers “Name in
lights” and “What I need”. This record is
a good deal of 80s AOR/Poprock, which was so popular in
the US back then, fans of JOHN PARR, RICK SPRINGFIELD,
EDDIE AND THE TIDE, BENTWOOD ROCKER, DANNY WILDE, THE
OUTFIELD, LOVERBOY might wanna have this. Go to: http://www.mp3.com/the_limit_from_richmond and e-mail at: thescottsandme@aol.com
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
GRENDEL ‘FIGHT AGAINST
TIME’ (INDEPENDENT)
Another Finish band on the horizon, and their 6-piece
demo CD was mastered at the famous Finnvox studios.
Although musically at first sight GRENDEL sounds like
another Power Metal act, they are different than the
other bands in this genre, mainly due to the lead vocals.
Lead singer Mikko Virtanen has a sort of ‘dark
Gothic’ voice that even reminds me of THE CULT. This
combined with the melodic Power Metak of GRENDEL makes
them sound quite unique. Although this is interesting for
some of you, and the CD has a great quality sound, the
songs aren’t as catchy and sensational as all those
other
Finish bands currently making their breakthough.
Nevertheless, 2 songs stand out between the rest, these
are “Fall from the top” and “The
scar”. I think a future release will tell us more
about GRENDEL. In the meantime, check out their site at: http://www.grendel.musicpage.com and e-mail them at: grendelcrew@hotmail.com
(Points:
7.5 out of 10)
GHIBLI
‘DEVIAZIONI
ELLETRICHE’ (INDEPENDENT)
Back in 1993 Italian vocalist/guitarist GHIBLI released
an album called ‘Vento di rock’, a nice
pop/poprock album that sounded a lot like TOTO, but also
included many saxsolo’s, so not really interesting
for AOR freaks. However, 10 years later GHIBLI has
released a new CD titled ‘Deviazioni
elletriche’, and this time it sounds more like a
pure AOR/Melodic Rock record. The lyrics are in Italian,
but musically it’s an awesome record that sounds a
bit like STAN BUSH. In other words, this is a highly
recommended AOR album! Favourite tracks are catchy
excellent uptempo AOR rockers like “Mondo
straniero”, “Vorrei”, “Deviazioni
ellettriche”, “Oro caldo” and “Sogno
in austrada”, all very much like STAN BUSH. This
album is as good as other Italo AOR records we reviewed
in the past, such as ORO, DHAMM... More info at: http://www.vitaminic.it
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
OXYGENE
8 ‘POETICA’
(INDEPENDENT)
This band from Mesa, Arizona, USA is sounding different
than any other band I reviewed in my reviewing period.
OXYGENE 8 is playing semi-instrumental New Age influenced
Progressive Pop/Rock with epic parts, and wicked female
lead vocals that sometimes are spoken instead of singing.
Anyway, 2 songs are better than the rest of the CD,
“Hold on” with it’s good melodic chorus
and “Cathedral” which is a pretty good Prog
Rock. The rest of the CD is very wicked and complex
sometimes, with instrumental songs and quirky
pop/rocksongs. It’s not a bad CD, but I also
don’t know what to do with this album, but feel free
to check it out at: http://www.oxygene8.com and e-mail at: oxygene8@juno.com
(Points:
6.5 out of 10)
 DRIVE SHE SAID ‘REAL LIFE’
(FRONTIERS RECORDS/BERTUS)
DRIVE SHE SAID is back with their long awaited 4th CD
‘Real life’ and I can easily confirm that this
is their best release so far. This album is as close to
pure CLASSIC AOR as you can get. The keys, the hooks, the
choruses and basically the whole sound of the record is
SUPERB AOR. This is the album MICHAEL BOLTON never made
after his classic debut record. And if you were waiting
for a new TOUCH sounding record, then look no further,
because MARK MANGOLD finally made the return of the sound
he made with TOUCH back in 1979. There are 13 tracks on
the CD, and with a playing length of over 60 minutes,
this album gives you enough pleasure to fullfill your AOR
dreams! It’s really hard to pick out favourite
tracks, but I have to mention songs like “Real
life” (high class 80s midtempo AOR with big keys,
like TOUCH meets DRIVE SHE SAID), “Stronger”
(classic uptempo AOR with a very catchy chorus), “We
live for love” (great semi AOR ballad),
“What’s it gonna take?” (one of the
catchiest AOR songs in years!), “Find your
place” (classy 80s AOR with lovely keys, a lot like
TOUCH), “When will it belove?” (CLASSIC AOR at
it’s very best!) and closing track
“Believe” (lovely semi AOR ballad a la
SURVIVOR). Do I need to add more? This new DRIVE SHE SAID
record is a TOTAL MUST if you want to hear Classic AOR in
the best 80s spirit!
(Points:
9.0 out of 10)
RING
OF FIRE ‘DREAMTOWER’
(FRONTIERS RECORDS/BERTUS)
MARK BOALS and co. are back with the 2nd release of his
project RING OF FIRE. Additional musicians include among
others, keyboardplayer Vitalij Kuprij from ARTENSION and
guitarist TONY MACALPINE. With such a line-up you
possibly can’t go wrong and of course they
didn’t, because this new RING OF FIRE album is
better than the debut CD, and is also one of the best
releases on FRONTIERS RECORDS from the past few months!
The opening track “My Deja-Vu” is a deadly
catchy uptempo melodic rocker like a mix between the
first 2 albums of EUROPE, MALMSTEEN and RAINBOW. Just
listen to the beautiful lead and harmonyvocals during the
intro and the chorus, this is really superb stuff of a
very high level! The rest of the album is clearly high
quality Progressive Melodic Rocker that will please all
fans of ARTENSION, MARK BOALS and MALMSTEEN. Other
highlights are “The pharaoh’s curse”
(great uptempo melodic heavy rocker with a lovely
keyboardsolo), “Blue sky” (great semi melodic
rockballad with terrific vocals), “Until the end of
time” (very catchy fast
uptempo melodic Power Metal like MALMSTEEN meets
STRATOVARIUS, Japanese are gonna love this tune!),
“Invisible man” (awesome uptempo melodic
rocker), “Make believe” (wonderful AOR/Melodic
Rockballad) and closing track “Undone” (very
nice uptempo melodic heavy rocker with again cool keys).
Basically, this album is a must for both AOR/Melodic
Rockfans and Progressive Rock/Metal lovers.
(Points:
9.0 out of 10)
 GALLOGLASS ‘LEGENDS FROM NOW
AND NEVERMORE’
(LIMB
MUSIC/SUBURBAN)
They hail from Hannover, Germany, the same city that
brought you SCORPIONS, MSG and VICTORY decades ago. And
GALLOGLASS is the new sensation in the Power Metal scene!
Their music is of a very high level, and sounds like the
perfect mix between KAMELOT, MOB RULES and STRATOVARIUS,
which is crystal clear hooklined uptempo super melodic
Power Metal! It’s a pleasure to listen to the 10
tracks on this CD, and not only the songs are great, also
the band’s lead singer Carsten Frank has a great
voice and the fantastic production by Olaf Reitmeier
(LUCA TURILLI, KAMELOT) is also making this CD a true
winner! GALLOGLASS is one of the absolute top newcomers
lately, and I have already played their record a few
times, and no doubt about it that other Power Metal
freaks will go nuts over this band. Recommended tracks
are “A wintertale” (catchy chorus a la
KAMELOT), “Remember the fire” (great Prog/Power
Metal a la MOB RULES), “Legends from now and
nevermore” (very catchy, classic HELLOWEEN stuff),
“Eye to eye” (fasten-your-seatbelts melodic
uptempo Power Metal) and closing track “The last
stand” (just like most of the other tracks on the
album, fast uptempo melodic Power Metal!). This is one of
the best releases LIMB MUSIC has done in a long time, and
for a new band it’s a complete surprise, because
with a release like ‘Legends from now and
nevermore’ the future looks very bright for
GALLOGLASS.
(Points:
9.0 out of 10)
 JIM JIDHED ‘FULL CIRCLE’
(ATENZIA RECORDS/BERTUS)
Former ALIEN lead singer Jim Jidhed is back with a new
solo-CD, and let me inform right away that this is a HIGH
PRIORITY RELEASE for every AOR fan out there! This record
is filled with some of the best AOR I’ve heard in a
long time, even beating last year’s Atenzia
Records’ releases HARLAN CAGE and 101 SOUTH. Jim has
a superb voice, maybe of the best in the music world! The
fact that he comes out of Sweden is making this release
yet another gem from that Scandinavian country. Jim gets
help on his new solo-CD ‘Full circle’ from
guitarist TOMMY DENANDER, who also produced the record,
and further we can hear URBAN TALE members on backing
vocals, while there’s also a STEVE PERRY song on the
CD.
From
the very first seconds until the last piece of the CD, I
have enjoyed it a lot, and can easily say that this is
one of the best AOR records at the moment. Jim has a
golden voice, and makes every song interesting. The best
songs can be found during the first part of the album,
with as true highlights “I will never leave you
now” (fantastic super catchy uptempo AOR with a
classy chorus, not unlike JOURNEY circa’83 and
STREET TALK at their rocking best), “Silence of your
heart” (AOR DREAM! SUPERB UPTEMPO AOR a la first
record of URBAN TALE), “Someday” (hello 1980s
JOURNEY, great semi AOR ballad), “Now we cry”
(great HUGE 1989ish midtempo AOR like BAD ENGLISH and
Warren/Child penned tunes), “Lost angels” (the
STEVE PERRY penned tune, awesome midtempo AOR like
JOURNEY at their very best), “I’ll be ready
then” (BIG AOR Ballad of which JOURNEY would have
been jealous, this could easily become a big hitsingle!)
and the fun 80s type of uptempo Summer AOR rockers
“Falling in love” and “Anyway you want
it” (1983 sound!). As you can see, this album
totally grabbed me, an awesome record that should be in
the collection of every AOR fan!
(Points:
9.0 out of 10)
 EXHIBITION ‘THE SIGN OF
TOMORROW’
(LIMB MUSIC/SUBURBAN)
The American band ETERNITY X released 2 awesome Prog Rock
records, but then vanished into nowhere, until now.
Because EXHIBITION is the follow-up band to ETERNITY X,
with as difference that the band has a new lead singer
(Bobby Lucas from SEVEN WITCHES) and the style has
changed from melodic Progressive Rock into 80s inspired
US Power Metal with a strong QUEENSRYCHE approach
sometimes. There are 9 songs on the CD, and it all sounds
pretty impressive, although it’s not as good as
ETERNITY X. Highlights of the CD are “Strange
reality” (great Prog Metal a la 80s QUEENSRYCHE),
“Wings of the dragon” (awesome fast Euro Power
Metal, one of the strongest songs on the album),
“Shattered memories” (great semi Progressive
Melodic Rockballad with very nice keyboardsolo), “A
new beginning” (very good semi Prog Metal) and
closing track “Voices in the night” (lovely
Prog/Power Metal with big keys, best song on the album).
Like so many of their other releases, also this LIMB
MUSIC release of the first EXHIBITION CD is a recommended
piece, especially if you like quality 80s US Power Metal!
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
 GUN BARREL
‘BATTLE-TESTED’
(LIMB MUSIC/SUBURBAN)
The German band GUN BARREL is back with their third
release. Musically nothing has changed, so again we get
to hear Heavy Rock/Metal in the style of STEELER, SAXON,
MANOWAR, ACCEPT, RUNNING WILD and GRAVE DIGGER. The album
was produced by Piet Sielck (IRON SAVIOR, HEAVENLY, BLIND
GUARDIAN) and Uwe Lulis (GRAVE DIGGER, WIZARD). Not all
songs are convincing, but here and there we get to hear
some great material, such as opener
“Battle-tested” (catchy uptempo melodic metal
like a mix between MANOWAR, STEELER and VICTORY),
“Rebel tune” (great catchy midtempo Metal a la
MANOWAR), “Scream of the killer” (faster
uptempo Metal), “The raven” (strong midtempo
Metal, pure SAXON) and “Save my heart for you”
(great strong uptempo melodic hardrock a la
KROKUS/STEELER). Less interesting are the songs “My
last Ale”, “Party in the hall of fame” and
“Lover like a gun”, but still this is a great
record and a must for fans of pure Metal a la SAXON,
MANOWAR, STEELER...
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
 TOTAL ECLIPSE ‘ASHES OF
EDEN’ (LIMB MUSIC/SUBURBAN)
Out of the Bay Area in San Francisco comes TOTAL ECLIPSE,
and ‘Ashes of Eden’ is their offical debut CD.
The album is produced by Uwe Lulis (GRAVE DIGGER, WIZARD)
and contains 11 tracks. It’s definitely a quality
record, but somehow the band’s lead singer Andrea
Giardina didn’t impress me much, even after a couple
of spins of the whole album. The songs are pretty good
and they make up the loss of a good lead singer.
Musically they play ‘German’ orientated Melodic
Metal with a strong US 80s Power Metal influence.
Highlights are “Storm warning” (great strong
80s US Prog/Power Metal a la SYMPHORCE), “Crystal
sky” (good melodic heavy rock/metal with a big
guitarsound), “Frozen in time” (uptempo melodic
metal with a catchy chorus) and closing track “Winds
of war” (great straight-ahead catchy uptempo melodic
metal). Although this might sound all quite good, I have
to say once again that the lead singer is the weakest
link in this band, because on songs like “Heaven on
their minds” and “In remembrance” he
completely fails to keep up with the music. Anyway,
it’s still a nice Melodic Metal, but a better lead
singer could have brought them to higher places.
(Points:
7.5 out of 10)
MISSA
MERCURIA ‘MISSA
MERCURIA’
(GENERATION RECORDS/SUBURBAN)
MISSA MERCURIA is a new project featuring members of the
bands SILENT FORCE (lead singer DC Cooper), VANDENPLAS
(all members!), PINK CREAM 69 (3 members) and EDENBRIDGE
singer Sabine Edelsbacher. With such a line-up you
possible can’t go wrong and they didn’t,
because the CD is filled with fantastic melodic
Prog/Power Metal of a very high level. I will not bother
you telling about the story and concept idea behind MISSA
MERCURIA, which basically is a holy Message of a God. If
you are familiar with the music of VANDENPLAS,
EDENBRIDGE, SILENT FORCE, ROYAL
HUNT... then you know what to expect from this album.
There are 16 songs on the CD and with a playing length of
more than 60 minutes a pleasure to listen to for quite
some time. If we have a look at the songs, my favourite
ones would be “Divine spark” (great faster
uptempo progressive melodic heavy rocker like ARTENSION,
ROYAL HUNT, KAMELOT, with very strong vocals and a catchy
chorus), “Whisper of the soul” (great midtempo
melodic ProgMetal a la LANA LANE, EDENBRIDGE),
“Spirit of wisdom” (great melodic ProgMetal a
la VANDENPLAS, with a very strong melodic chorus),
“The fairytale of truth” (awesome AOR/Melodic
Rocker) and “Rectificando” (lovely ProgMetal a
la BALANCE OF POWER). Fans of any of the involved bands
must buy this CD as soon as possible, but also if
you’re interesting in hearing high quality
Prog/Power Metal, then this MISSA MERCURIA is the album
to check out.
(Points:
9.0 out of 10)
SINOPOLI
‘THE
EYES NEVER LIE’ (GENERATION RECORDS/SUBURBAN)
The brothers Joey and Nicky Sinopoli have been active in
the music business for quite some time, working with
DORO, BATON ROUGE, ALICE COOPER, JACK PONTI and releasing
an album under the moniker ANGRY TEARS. Now they have
released a CD as SINOPOLI on the new German label
GENERATION RECORDS. On the album we can welcome as
co-producers famous Rock producers EDDIE KRAMER (KISS,
LED ZEPPELIN) and JOHN REGAN (PETER FRAMPTON, ACE
FREHLEY). The album is nothing special actually, because
the 80s orientated rockers are nothing better than
anything else we heard in that classic decade. Songs like
“Let’s get the party started”, the DAVID
BOWIE cover “Moonage daydream”, “I like
it” and “Love on the terrace” are very
weak and remind me of a poor man’s ALICE COOPER.
Much better are AOR/Melodic Rockballads such as “Be
my lover” and “American dream”, but I am
afraid this will be one of those releases that not many
people will even notice. The ANGRY TEARS was definitely a
better release of the SINOPOLI BROTHERS, but if
you’re really a 80s Rockfreak you might enjoy this
as well.
(Points:
7.0 out of 10)
TATTOOBAR
‘WHITE
RUSSIAN STYLE’
(GENERATION RECORDS/SUBURBAN)
A hot new band comes in the shape of TATTOOBAR and they
play a mixture of 80s Party Hardrock, 70s Rock, Melodic
Hardrock and Sleazy Metal. Sometimes the band sounds a
bit too diverse, which makes them hard to compare to any
other band, which is normally a good thing, but in case
of TATTOOBAR not, because they play great Melodic
Hardrock at one hand, while at other times they sound
like a cheap late 80s LA band. Let’s start with the
highlights of the CD, which are “Used to love
her” (great catchy classy 80s uptempo melodic
rocker) and “Mad evil” (strong midtempo melodic
hardrock a la VICTORY, PC’69). Also quite nice are
opener “Rock this place” and closing track
“Love to hate”, both pure 80s rough Party
Hardrock a la BRITNY FOX, DIRTY LOOKS, KROKUS. However,
there are also a handful of average rocksongs on the
album, such as “Boogie with Stu” (HANOI ROCKS
meets AC/DC), “Loveslide” (LA GUNS style),
“Reason”, “Turn on the wheel” (early
70s style), “Call me round”
(ENUFF’Z’NUFF style) and “Happy”
(Boogie Hardrock). If they had continue the high level of
the first 4 songs, then this would have been a great
album, now it’s just one of those albums you only
pick up if you’re a collector of every Rockgenre.
(Points:
7.5 out of 10)
 BRIAN HOWE ‘TOUCH’ (MTM
MUSIC/SUBURBAN)
Lead singer BRIAN HOWE is best known as the BAD COMPANY
singer, with whom he released 4 fantastic AOR/Melodic
Rock records that made this former Bluesy Hardrockband
sound like FOREIGNER. After he left the band, it became
very quiet. He released a solo-record in Japan, which now
finally has been released in Europe through MTM Music.
The music is soft, and has not much to do with Rock, but
still ‘Touch’ is a good quality album that can
be labelled as Easy Listening AOR/Pop in the style of
JOHN WAITE, RICHARD MARX and FREDDY CURCI. Some of the
included songs are perfectly suitable for a romantic
evening with your girlfriend (or boyfriend), especially
the song “Tangled in blue”, which would have
been a major US radio hit if it had been released in the
1980s, as they loved such ballads back then from acts
like JOURNEY, REO SPEEDWAGON and MICHAEL BOLTON. Anyway,
most of the included 11 tracks are smooth (semi) ballads,
with as highlights “I remember”, “Just
because”, “All I want is you”, “How
does it feel” and “How it could have
been”, all with wonderful lead vocals of Brian and
really emotional song. This is not a Rock CD, but a good
Love/Romantic AOR Ballad album that will please all the
female music fans and also those of you who like RICHARD
MARX, JOHN WAITE, late 80s MICHAEL BOLTON...
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
VARIOUS
ARTISTS
‘THE KEEPERS OF JERICHO/A TRIBUTE TO HELLOWEEN PART
2’ (ARISE RECORDS/BERTUS)
The German band HELLOWEEN has had a major influence on
all the young new Metal bands currently making their way
through the European mainland. Especially in Finland,
Sweden, Spain and Italy lots of new bands has emerged,
and this is 2nd Tribute CD to HELLOWEEN is focused on
some of the best new bands. Highlights on part 2 are the
HELLOWEEN songs covered by AXENSTAR, DRAGONLAND,
HIGHLORD, RED WINE, STEEL ATTACK and ARWEN. 13 bands are
featured on this great tribute CD, which should please
all HELLOWEEN fans, as this is really a quality Tribute
record.
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
 EVERGREY ‘RECREATION
DAY’
(INSIDE OUT MUSIC/CMM MUSIC)
EVERGREY is back with a new CD, and this might be one of
their best releases so far. ‘Recreation day’ is
an excellent Melodic Prog Metal that combines darker raw
lead vocals with melodic uplifting choruses. The CD
contains 12 tracks and has a playing time of 60 minutes.
I haven’t got any additional info, but I believe
this album is also a concept album, which tells us an
interesting story about recreation, but figure that out
yourself when you purchase this awesome album. The best
songs on ‘Recreation day’ are such fantastic
Progressive Metalsongs like “As I lie here
bleeding”, “Recreation day”, “Your
darkest hour” and “Unforgivable”. The only
let-down of the album was the average
“Fragments”, but further this is a great album
that is a total must for every Prog Metal fan.
(Points:
9.0 out of 10)
WISDOM
CALL
‘WISDOM CALL’ (RIVEL RECORDS)
Although the debut CD of the Swedish band WISDOM CALL was
released back in 2001, a review never appeared on our
site, until now! WISDOM CALL is playing excellent melodic
heavy rock that combines the best of RAINBOW, early
EUROPE, STRYPER, PRETTY MAIDS and IMPELLITERRI. The band
is formed around the fantastic lead singer of NARNIA,
Christian Liljegren. He is one of the best singers in
Sweden at the moment, and it’s great to hear him
sung on such a great album, besides the fantastic stuff
he already has done with NARNIA! This WISDOM CALL is
basically a great album and a must if you like NARNIA. 10
songs are included and most of them are quite
sensational. My favourite tracks are “The lost
generation” (great uptempo melodic hardrock, heavy
STRYPER style), “Never satisfied” (excellent
catchy uptempo melodic metal), “Through fire”
(superb midtempo melodic rocker), “One way out”
(very strong uptempo melodic rocker), “15
years” (late 70s/early 80s uptempo melodic hardrock
a la URIAH HEEP, RAINBOW) and closing track
“Time” (midtempo melodic heavy rocker with
heavy riffs and a catchy melodic chorus with
harmonyvocals not heard since STRYPER). Concluded, this
is an awesome releases that should have been featured
earlier on our site, but it’s never too late, so if
you didn’t pick this one up yet, go get a copy of
WISDOM CALL a.s.a.p. More info at: http://www.wisdomcall.com
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
VARIOUS
ARTISTS
‘POWER FROM THE SKY’ (RIVEL RECORDS)
The Swedish label RIVEL RECORDS is focusing on new
Swedish bands, musically ranging from AOR/Melodic Rock,
Progressive Pop/Rock to Progressive/Power Metal and even
Death Metal. There are some awesome bands on this CD, let
me introduce you to the best ones. First off,
there’s WISDOM CALL, which some of you might already
know, great EUROPE influenced melodic rockband with the
NARNIA singer. Then there is a band called CRIMSON
MOONLIGHT, who play Melodic Prog Metal, and they do it
very well on their song “Touch of emptiness”. 2
songs can be found by a band called HEAVEN, not to be
confused with the awesome Norwegian AOR band with the
same name. Their 2 tracks are nice melodic hardrock, but
not really sensational. The awards should be handed out
to the bands LAUDAMUS and AYENNA, both bringing superb
Melodic Prog Metal a la DREAM EVIL, MORIFADE... Both
bands can be labelled as sensational, and therefore
hopefully soon more info (reviews, interviews) on them.
In the meantime, check out the CL MUSIC website for more
info at: http://www.rivelrecords.com
(Points:
- )
BRIGHTEYE
BRISON ‘BRIGHTEYE
BRISON’ (RIVEL RECORDS)
The Swedish band BRIGHTEYE BRISON has a released a nice
calm Neo-prog album with some Pop influences here and
there. You can compare their music to early GENESIS (with
Peter Gabriel) and MARILLION, yet with a Sax sometimes
disturbing the sound. The best song by far is the
30-minutes counting epic “One year alone”.
Basically this is a good Neo-Prog Pop album, but some
more rocking tunes could have lifted up the rating I am
gonna give to this new Swedish band.
(Points:
7.0 out of 10)
 GOTTHARD ‘HUMAN ZOO' (BMG)
I
am not sure, but I believe this is the 8th CD of
GOTTHARD, although then I also count a Best of and a Live
release. Nevertheless, they have built up quite a
reputation and with every album it seems they are getting
stronger. They started as a Melodic Hardrockband like a
cross between KROKUS and WHITESNAKE, but through the
years they headed for a more AOR style with BON JOVI
influences here and there. In Switzerland they have
beaten KROKUS as most popular Rockband, as 6 of their
previous albums went to number one, with as absolute
highlight the previous studio-CD 'Homerun' which was the
best selling album of 2001 In Switzerland! This album
will also become an instant hit, because 'Human zoo' is a
continuation of the previous albums, so a great mixture
of melodic rockers and semi AOR ballads, with of course
the excellent lead vocals of singer Steve Lee, who sounds
so much like DAVID COVERDALE. Anyway, the new album was
recorded in the USA, and produced by Marc Tanner (FIONA,
NELSON). The CD contains 12 tracks and although there are
more (semi) ballads on the CD then rockers, it's still an
excellent highly recommended AOR/Melodic Rockalbum. My
favourite tracks would be the fantastic melodic rockers
"Top of the world" (a la early HAREM SCAREM),
"One in a million" (superb, very catchy!) and
"Where I belong" (very strong chorus, kinda
like WHITESNAKE circa 1987), but also gorgeous (semi) AOR
ballads like "What I like", "Still I
belong to you", "First time in a long
time" (a la JOURNEY) and closing track "What
can I do". 'Human zoo' is maybe the best GOTTHARD
album so far, although people expecting good old
fashioned straight-ahead Hardrock, like GOTTHARD used to
make, might not be so enthusiastic about this new
GOTTHARD record. However, the AOR/Melodic Rockfreaks who
want to hear good clean quality songs with great melodies
will totally love this CD. More info on GOTTHARD at: http://www.gotthard.com
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
OCTOBER
BABY ‘TALES
FROM THE PUMPKIN PATCH’
(WET DUCK RECORDS)
OCTOBER BABY is a female fronted Rockband from New
Jersey, formed around lead singer Lisa Bouchelle. She has
already done some interesting things, such as singing on
a couple of MASTERMIND albums, including the fantastic
‘Angels of the apocalypse’ album, which is her
best effort so far. She also sang on tracks on the
LEONARDO album with James LaBrie and the soundtrack for
‘The wheel of time’. And she fronts her own
band OCTOBER BABY. Musically this is something different,
as it has absolutely nothing to do with the Progressive
Rock/Metal of her other recordings. Nevertheless,
it’s still quite an interesting release, as OCTOBER
BABY is playing good 80s influenced female fronted
melodic hardrock/poprock like a mix between LITA FORD and
early PAT BENATAR. There are some really fantastic tunes
on this record, but also a few weaker songs (“South
street”, “The detective”, “Red light
saturday night” and “Wanna be your dream
instead”) that remind me of SHANDI in her quirky
Poprockdays. However, the really interesting songs are
“Commercial world” (80s type of uptempo melodic
HR a la LITA FORD), “Plane tickets unlimited”
(great semi melodic rockballad, very strong impressive
song like JAIME KYLE meets a polished LANA LANE),
“Lifeline” (strong uptempo melodic
Hardrock/Metal), “Free tonite” (very strong
chorus, a great semi melodic rockballad), “I get
along” (nice calmer AORish ballad) and closing track
“Step by step” (great AOR ballad with fantastic
lead vocals of Lisa). Needless to say is that Lisa’s
vocals are really great all throughout the CD, like she
also showed on her other recordings, as this girl is one
of the best female singers from the US at the moment. I
hope she records another similar record in the style of
MASTERMIND’s ‘Angels of the apocalypse’ in
the future, because that was such an impressive record.
In the meantime, check out this release that contains
some great 80s influenced melodic hardrock. More info at:
http://www.octoberbaby.com and e-mail them at: info@lisabouchelle.com
(Points:
7.5 out of 10)
(All
reviews by Gabor Kleinbloesem, except where noted)
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