HOT NEW REVIEWS

UPDATED ON APRIL 14 - 2004

ALTARIA ‘DIVINITY’ (METAL HEAVEN/BERTUS) Although ALTARIA’s 2nd album ‘Divinity’ is also released on the METAL HEAVEN label, a sublabel of AOR HEAVEN, this album is clearly a pure powerful Melodic Rock and has not much to do with Power Metal actually. ALTARIA is made up of well-known Finnish musicians from bands like KILPI, SONATA ARCTICA and BLINDSIDE, and their new CD is a very impressive powerful Melodic Rockalbum with catchy hooks and memorable choruses. The album was mastered by Mika Jussila at Finnvox studios in Helsinki, Finland and sounds huge! 12 songs are included, and most of them are in the same catchy uptempo melodic rockstyle. If you like one song, you will love them all. Favourites are hard to pick, because all 12 of them sound very good, but absolute highlights are “Prophet of pestilence”, “Darkened highliught”, “Enemy”, “Discovery”, “Falling again” and “Try to remember”, all superstrong uptempo powerful melodic heavy rockers. Definitely a recommended album to fans of Melodic Rock with a typical Scandi touch... (Points: 8.5 out of 10) SARATOGA ‘EL CLAN DE LA LUCHA’ (AVISPA MUSIC) The Spanish band SARATOGA returns with a complete new full-length CD titled ‘El clan de la lucha’. The musicstyle hasn’t changed much happily, so again we can enjoy cheerful Melodic (Power) Metal in the style of TIERRA SANTA and RATA BLANCA (comparisons that are interesting for the fans of this typical Spanish/Latin Melodic Metal). 13 songs are included, and of course the production and artwork is very professional and of a very high level. Also most of the songs on the CD are very impressive, with as absolute highlights uptempo Melodic (Power) Metal pieces like “Maltido corazon” (superb chorus!), “Buscando el perdon” (one of the best songs!), “Nuevo mundo”, “Tu nombre mi destino”, “Blanco y marfil” and the semi-ballads “Decepcion” and “Si amaneciera” (beautiful). Their label mates of AVALANCH released a slightly calmer record last year, but I can assure you that SARATOGA’s new CD is again high class typical Spanish Melodic Power Metal, with very strong melodies (although there are also some Grunts here and there which is the only negative thing to add here) and a huge guitarsound to please all Metalfans. More info at: http://www.avispamusic.com (Points: 8.5 out of 10) BEETHOVEN R. ‘EL LEGADO DE JUDAS’ (AVISPA MUSIC) The Spanish Melodic Metal saga continues in the shape of BEETHOVEN R., a band that has been on the scene for some time now and they play classy Spanish melodic hardrock/metal in the style of SARATOGA, AVALANCH, TIERRA SANTA, NU, MURO, BARON ROJO... 11 tracks are on their new CD, and without a doubt, this is another highly recommended CD if you enjoy this typical Spanish/Latin type of Melodic Heavy Rock/Metal. Most of the songs are uptempo rockers, and as best songs I would like to add “El legado de Judas”, “Larga vida”, “No permitas que esto llegue al fin”, “No puedo esperar”, “El quieres otro mas” and also the beautiful AOR ballad “Que quieres de mi” (radio-ready if you ask me!). Conclusion is of course that any fan of Spanish Melodic Heavy Rock/Metal must buy this CD without any doubts, as it in the tradition of all the other great Spanish bands! More info at: http://www.avispamusic.com (Points: 8.5 out of 10) RICK WAKEMAN ‘OUT THERE’ (MASCOT RECORDS) What more can you say about one of the most established keyboardplayers ever, because basically the YES keyboard wizzard RICK WAKEMAN is a hero in the world of keys and synths. The man started his career in the late 60s, appearing first as session musician on albums by AL STEWART, CAT STEVENS, ELTON JOHN, LOU REED, BLACK SABBATH and many more, before becoming the YES keyboardplayer with whom he shot to the ultimate fame in Sympho/Progworld. In the meantime he landed a solo career, releasing an incredible amount of solo discs, but in 1976 he also released an LP as RICK WAKEMAN with his own group. The album titled ‘No earthly connection’ sold 5 million copies worldwide, so after 26 years he follows this musical concept with ‘Out there’, on which he continues his search for the origins of all music. Anyway, the CD itself is a concept-record, divided in 6 parts, with a total playing time of 51 minutes. Besides Rick on keys, other involved musicians are drummer Tony Fernandez, guitarist Ant Glynne, vocalist DAMIAN WILSON (ex-THRESHOLD) and bassist Lee Pomeroy. It took Rick 5 years to complete the CD, but the result is stunning, because this is a fantastic high quality Melodic Progressive Rockopera that easily can be put next to AINA, STAR ONE, AYREON, NOSTRADAMEUS... Damian sings perfectly, and the music is very strong, big sounding guitars, huge sounding keys and basically the CD features 6 very impressive songs that combine Progressive Rock with Melodic Rock. All 6 songs are sensational, so it’s hard to pick out favourites, but especially “Out there”, “The mission” and “The cathedral of the sky” are really wonderful. This CD is quite different than the stuff Rick has been doing on his regular solo CDs and with YES, as it sounds bigger, more like THRESHOLD, ARENA and AYREON in one package, although songs like “Universe of sound” and “Music of love” are pure SAGA! This CD is highly recommended to any music fan, because it contains something for everyone, no matter if you’re into AOR, Progressive Rock or Melodic Metal, it’s top of the bill music what we get to hear on ‘Out there’! (Points: 9.0 out of 10) BLACK ROSE ‘EXPLODE’ (SHARK RECORDS/CRAZY LIFE MUSIC) In the past 10 years we exist as a magazine/website a lot of times I have reviewed something of the Swedish band BLACK ROSE, ranging from demo CDRs, Tapes to a few full-length CDs. They have built up quite an extensive discography through the years, and the latest release is ‘Explode’ on SHARK RECORDS. The CD contains 10 tracks, and is basically a good typical 80s Melodic Hardrock record with fantastic guitarwork a la MALMSTEEN, but a bit average lead vocals by singer Johan Spinord, who is clearly the weakest link here. Nevertheless the music is nice classy 80s inspired melodic hardrock (with RAINBOW and EUROPE influences) and uptempo melodic rockers like “Explode”, “On your knees”, “Into the night”, “We can make it” and “Paradise is lost” are very nice to hear. Fans of 80s Euro Melodic Rock (a la ZINATRA, EUROPE, TREAT, DALTON etc.) will absolutely like this record a lot, and of course if you liked BLACK ROSE’s earlier releases this is definitely interesting to collect as well. You can buy yourself a copy through their label’s site at: http://www.crazylifemusic.de (Points: 8.0 out of 10) KILPI ‘SIELUT ISKEE TULTA’ (MTG) Last year I reviewed the fantastic CD of the Finnish melodic rock/metal band KULPI, and now they have released a CD-single, which contains 4 excellent tracks and a videoclip of the titletrack “Sielut iskee tulta” which is a great uptempo Melodic Heavy Rocker (a la STRATOVARIUS, yet with Finnish lyrics. The other 3 songs are recorded live, and all together this is a very impressive CD-single, and really can recommend to you to check out this awesome band at: http://www.kilpi.com and e-mail them at: sami.kuronen@mtgmusiikki.fi (Points: 8.0 out of 10) WARTORN ‘3-SONG ADVANCE CD’ (ADVANCED CD) Out of Texas comes WARTORN, and they sent me a CD with 3 songs as a sort of preview of their upcoming CD. The first 2 songs are leaning too much towards Nu-Metal, but on closing track “Brothers keeper” we can actually hear a good 80s influenced Melodic Metal song (some MEGADETH influences) and let’s hope for more songs in this style on their future release. More info at: http://www.wartornmusic.com and e-mail them at: mheald@wartornmusic.com (Points: 7.0 out of 10) EXOTHERM ‘PROJECT 47’ (DEMO CDR) Out of Germany comes EXOTHERM, and they exist since 1998 and released a few demos so far, with ‘Project 47’ being their latest demo CDR release. Musically they play a mix of Power Metal and Thrash Metal, with a lead singer who changes his voice in different directions quite a lot (Gothic, Power Metal, Thrash and Death-growls), so actually this band is very diverse. However, I think they are mixing the styles a bit too much, so it’s hard to put them into one specific genre. Nevertheless Power/Thrash-Metalfreaks (a bit like the last AGENT STEEL) will probably like this band, as it is definitely quality stuff what we get to hear. Check out songs like “Father”, “Icarus” (by far the best song, fantastic clean lead vocals suddenly, and a strong 80s Melodic Metalsound, classic MAIDEN style, a SUPERB song! If the whole demo would have been in this style the band would have gotten a much higher rating) and “Believe in God”. Check out EXOTHERM for yourself at: http://www.exotherm.net and e-mail them at: band@exotherm.net (Points: 7.0 out of 10) KICK ‘NEW HORIZON’ (MAJESTIC ROCK RECORDS) ‘New horizon’ is the third album of the British Melodic Rockband KICK, and with every release they seem to make a progression, with as result that ‘New horizon’ is their strongest effort so far. The CD contains 11 tracks, with a total playing length of 45 minutes, and musically this is classy Melodic Rock with an updated approach, without losing the melodies, a bit like the last 2 HAREM SCAREM albums, yet with an own identity. The best songs are the uptempo rockers (all featuring catchy memorable choruses) “Electric storm”, “New horizon”, “High” and “Access denied”, but also midtempo stuff like “Forever yours” and “Give me something to hold on to”. Concluded, a very nice new album from one of the very few original UK Melodic Rockbands. (Points: 8.0 out of 10) EASY STREET BAND ‘BACK ON EASY STREET’ (INDEPENDENT) The EASY STREET BAND is one of many US bands that emerged in the very early 1980s playing typical Westcoast US AOR/Radiorock, and as suddenly as all these bands entered the scene, we actually never heard something from most of those acts after 1985. EASY STREET BAND was one of those bands, because it took 20+ years after their release before we heard something of them. This band released an EP in 1982, but after that release it became very quiet until 2004, because now there is a CD available that included their EP and other recordings the band did between 1980-1982. Musically we are listening to classy early 80s US AOR/Radiorock, though with a strong Pop touch. It’s a pity this band wasn’t that guitar orientated, because they also brought a sax into their music, and so the link to HUEY LEWIS is the best comparison, but then again EASY STREET BAND came long before Huey scored big time. Anyway, between the 15 songs included here are a lot of Popsongs like “She don’t have to know”, “Should’ve been you”, “California”, “All the fools in the world”, “Last nocturne” and even some Jazz (“Last man out”) that go more into a BILLY JOEL direction than an AOR style. From the non-EP tracks actually only opener “New York” (early 80s AOR/Poprock a la MICHAEL STANLEY BAND, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, RICK SRINGFIELD) and “Take me back” (classy early 80s AOR rocker a la FRANKE AND THE KNOCKOUTS, DAVID ROBERTS) are interesting, because the rest is Popmusic, but quality stuff definitely. We can better talk about their 1982 EP, because the 5 songs from that record are definitely more into the AOR Rock we want to hear. These are the great songs “Love tries” (pure early 80s AOR rocker like PREVIEW, VAN STEPHENSON, FRANKE AND THE KNOCKOUTS), “Let her go” (early 80s aor/poprock) and “She don’t love me” (lovely classy early 80s AOR rocker like 81 RICK SPRINGFIELD, 83 STAN BUSH, 83 BON JOVI – a lot sounding like “She don’t know me”), and the 2 Popsongs “Not about you” and “Romaine”. Basically there are a lot of Popsongs on this CD, but for a die-hard 80s AOR collector there’s definitely something of interest included here. Check it out for yourself at: http://www.easystreetband.cc (Points: 7.5 out of 10) ROBIN GEORGE ‘LIVE’85’ (MAJESTIC ROCK RECORDS) This live recording from ex-THIN LIZZY guitarist/vocalist ROBIN GEORGE is definitely more interesting than his recent new solo-CD ‘Bluesongs’ which was a calm modern/bluesy Pop/Rock affair. Robin had just released his first solo-LP ‘Dangerous music’ in early 1985, of which most of these songs were played the night they recorded this live concert. Musically this is prime-time mid 1980s Hi-Tech Melodic Rock with clear similarities to BILLY SQUIER and JOHN PARR. The CD takes up to 48 minutes and it basically has a very good sound quality, especially for a live recording from almost 20 years ago. Highlights are classy rockers like “Showdown”, “Spy”, “In the night”, “History” and of course the best song ROBIN GEORGE ever recorded: “Heartline”! This last mentioned song is a sort of instant winner for everyone who wants to hear classy 80s AOR, a song with a deadly catchy chorus and the videoclip they made to accompany the song back then is still in my memory, a very fun video to watch. Anyway, this live-CD is recommended to any 80s Rockfan, and of course to people who want to know if ROBIN GEORGE really rocked twenty years ago... (Points: 8.0 out of 10) WASP ‘THE NEON GOD PART 1: THE RISE’ (SANCTUARY RECORDS/NOISE RECORDS/SUBURBAN) It has taken some time, but the legendary Shock Rockband WASP returns with a new CD. However, the new CD is less Shock-Rock as it is another concept record from mr. WASP Blackie Lawless, who also took care himself of the production. After a first couple of spins it is clear that this is a typical WASP record, but it seems that it’s not as good as for example ‘The crimson idol’. Although 14 tracks are included, there actually only 8 real songs included (the other 6 short or instrumental), but you must not see the songs apart from each other, as it is a concept record after all. Anyway, these 8 tracks are still very good strong WASP songs (with clear THE WHO influences), like the uptempo rockers “Sister Sadie (and the Black Habits)” (the best song!) and “X.T.C. Riders”, the midtempo “Asylum #9” and the classy ballad “What I’ll never find” (a very impressive song). Concluded, the WASP fans will love this record, but it’s not as good as his classics ‘The headless children’ or ‘The crimson idol’... (Points: 8.5 out of 10) CANS ‘BEYOND THE GATES’ (SANCTUARY RECORDS /NOISE RECORDS/SUBURBAN) HAMMERFALL lead vocalist JOACIM CANS recently decided to record a solo-album, and the result is ‘Beyond the gates’, an album which he feels is more an album record than a solo-album, so therefore he choose the bandname CANS and formed a band around him to perform on the first CANS CD. He also wanted it to sound different than the HAMMERFALL records, and I think he succeeded in doing that, because ‘Beyond the gates’ is a very strong darker Melodic Metal record with also influences from Progressive Metal and Melodic Rock here and there. Musicians appearing on the album are HAMMERFALL guitarist Stefan Elmgren, HALFORD guitarist Metal Mike Chlasciak, FATES WARNING drummer Mark Zonder and PRIMAL FEAR bassist Mat Sinner. The CD contains 12 tracks and it’s actually a very sensational album, which I think is even better than HAMMERFALL (!!!). The songs are quite diverse, sometimes uptempo, then midtempo, progressive and dark, but always very very melodic and of course with the fantastic vocals of Joacim. Musically it sounds like a mixture between EDGUY and BRAINSTORM, together with very catchy melodic choruses and some Progressive Metal touches here and there. Highlights are “Fields of yesterday” (strong uptempo Melodic Progressive Metal), “Red light” (fantastic midtempo Melodic Metal a la EDGUY), “Garden of evil” (bit epic midtempo Melodic Progressive Metal with a very strong chorus, not unlike EVERGREY), “Merciless” (uptempo Melodic Metal), “Silent cries” (midtempo epic piece with sharp guitar riffs and a very strong chorus) and “Dreams” (catchy uptempo melodic rocker with even 80s AORish dut-dut keys). Concluded I can easily state that this is a very strong album by Mr. Hammerfall and I recommend it to every fan of Melodic Metal, even if you don’t like HAMMERFALL, you might like this record a lot! (Points: 9.0 out of 10) UNSHINE ‘CD-SINGLE’ (INDEPENDENT) Out of Finland comes UNSHINE, and they sent me a very sensational 2-track CD-single. The band has a very good female lead singer (Susanna) and musically they play the typical Female Gothic Melodic Rock/Metal which has been made popular by Dutch bands like WITHIN TEMPTATION, AFTER FOREVER, THE GATHERING, EPICA and the Italian LACUNA COIL, although people will probably also compare them to EVANESCENCE. Anyway, the 2 songs included here are the uptempo “On the broken line” and the semi-ballad “Patron saint”, both very strong Melodic Gothic Metalsongs that can easily be mentioned alongside mentioned bands. Check out this band at: http://www.unshine.com and e-mail them at: band@unshine.com (Points: 8.5 out of 10) FOUR WAYS ‘LONG WAY’ (SHARK RECORDS/CRAZY LIFE MUSIC) Out of Spain comes FOUR WAYS, a very good Melodic Power Metalband, and their debut CD ‘Long way’ is definitely an impressive record. The band is influenced by KISS, RAINBOW, Y&T, VIRGIN STEELE and IRON MAIDEN. 13 songs are featured, including a KISS cover (“Love gun”) as bonustrack. Musically it is typical Euro Power Metal with lots of keys, very good clean lead vocals (by singer and bassist Rikky) and strong melodies, not unlike PRETTY MAIDS and HELLOWEEN actually, but maybe a bit more leaning towards Melodic Rock sometimes (reminding me a lot of SWALLOWS and JANNYLEE, 2 French bands I reviewed years ago if anyone remembers!). Most of the songs are uptempo and the best tracks are “My last goodbye” (very catchy melodic rocker), “Secrets and lies”, “Like yesterday” and “That call progress”. Concluded, a great record from this Spanish band, and let’s hope for more releases of them in the future, because it would be a pity if it would just be this release, which was done exactly one year ago (March 2003) by the way. You can buy yourself a copy through their label’s site at: http://www.crazylifemusic.de (Points: 8.5 out of 10) WAR AND PEACE ‘THE WALLS HAVE EYES’ (Z RECORDS) WAR AND PEACE is the new band from former DOKKEN/DIO/MSG bassist JEFF PILSON. Their first album ‘The walls have eyes’ will be released soon on Z RECORDS. The album contains 14 tracks and is musically very groovy modern Melodic Hardrock affair, not really anything like classy 80s DOKKEN. Especially the first 4 songs are a bit too modern and groovy I think (like TESLA’s recent release), but from track 5 on it gets better and more into good traditional Melodic Hardrock. Best songs are therefore songs like “Stranger in my own land” (good melodic hardrock like DOKKEN/MSG), “Rock and roll breakdown” (nice uptempo heavy rocker with great guitarwork), “Black in the mirror” (slowtempo a la BLUE MURDER) and “Desperate hearts” (best song, great slowtempo melodic rocker). I am not exactly sure who sings here, but the vocals are very strong, only sometimes the music takes a step into modern groovy stuff, although it is still in general speaking a good decent Melodic Hardrock release that will mostly be appreciated by fans of the recent TESLA. (Points: 7.5 out of 10) MEMORIZED DREAMS ‘THEATER OF LIFE’ (SOUND RIOT RECORDS/ROCK INC.) The Power Metal releases are unstoppable nowadays, but at one point there’s more quantity than quality stuff out there and I am afraid MEMORIZED DREAMS will not get noticed between all the other better releases in this genre. The artwork is beautiful, the production is very good (by Tommy Newton) and the music if ofcourse strong Melodic (Power) Metal, but I don’t think this is as strong as for example DIONYSUS and definitely not as good as EDGUY. Vocalist Terje Haroy is the weakest link here, especially on the songs “Light above all” and “Haloes and wings” he completely fails to impress and sounds boring actually. Guest vocalist Olaf Hayer (DIONYSUS/LUCA TURILLI) however is showing on 1 song how it all can sound sensational, as he sang lead vocals on the great Melodic Power Metal song “Gates of heaven”. Apart from the fact that this band lacks an own identity, and is just playing your typical standard German Melodic Metal, fans of EDGUY, GAMMA RAY, DIONYSUS, HEAVENLY might want to check out this band, although don’t expect anything as good as those bands. Besides “Gates of heaven” other highlights are opener “Cardinal sin” and “Revelating paradise”. A nice debut from the Norwegian band MEMORIZED DREAMS, but just not good enough to make it a true must to own... (Points: 7.5 out of 10) BEDLAM ‘ANTHOLOGY’ (MAJESTIC ROCK RECORDS) We’re moving back in time to the year 1968 (!), so that’s 36 years ago! That year a band called BEDLAM began to record their songs, and one of the members was the legendary drummer COZY POWELL, who sadly died sometime ago. Anyway, unreleased demo and live recordings of BEDLAM between 1968 and 1975 have been put on CD by MAJESTIC ROCK RECORDS, so none of the 19 included tracks here are available on any of the original BEDLAM albums.. The sound quality is not the best you can get, because these are old dusted tapes and not taken from mastertapes, so really old stuff directly put on CD. Nevertheless, it has a historical value, because musically BEDLAM was playing a sort of Progressive Hardrockstyle in 1968 and that was definitely the start of this style, which was only done by CREAM and JIMI HENDRIX at that time. Around the same time of course DEEP PURPLE, BLACK SABBATH and LED ZEPPELIN started their long careers, but BEDLAM was just a bit earlier. The results can be heard on this double-CD, which features some great 60s Progressive Hardrock in the shape of “1812 Thrashed”, “Swlabr”, “Hideaway”, “For your love” and “Stepping out”. If you don’t mind a weaker sound quality, and you’re interested in some of the very early Progressive Rockstyle music, then this is a must to check out. (Points: 7.5 out of 10) THE BYRON BAND ‘LOST AND FOUND’ (MAJESTIC ROCK RECORDS) MAJESTIC ROCK RECORDS is keen on releasing material that feature musicians who passed away, because after PHIL LYNOTT, COZY POWELL, they present us with the legendary David Byron. David used to sing with URIAH HEEP, but left the band somewhere in the 1970s, and then he started his own band THE BYRON BAND, together with guitarist ROBIN GEORGE. Anyway, they released a few albums, and this 2-CD set contains unreleased demos and live recordings from the period 1980-1982. The music is good typical 70s Rock/Hardrock, a little bit different than URIAH HEEP, but also not that far away sometimes. Highlights are great straight-ahead rockers like “Fool for a pretty face” and “Safety in numbers” and the semi-ballad “One minute more”. The live recordings also feature HEEP classics like “Sweet Lorraine” and “July morning”, so in the end it’s a recommended CD to the true HEEP fans, but I need to inform you that the sound quality of the CD is not that great, but for a real HEEP/BYRON fan that doesn’t matter that much I think, because they are interested in hearing the legendary David Byron once again... (Points: 7.0 out of 10) SHAMAN ‘RITUALIVE’ (AFM RECORDS/ROCK INC./BERTUS) The Brazilian band SHAMAN, featuring ex-ANGRA lead singer Andre Matos, played and recorded a show in Sao Paulo, Brazil exactly one year ago, and this particular concert has now been released on both CD and DVD. In France it is released through NTS Records and available as a DVD/CD package, while in the rest of Europe AFM Records released the DVD and CD seperately. Anyway, I would definitely prefer the DVD version, as this a very impressive show that you must not only hear, but actually watch too. It’s unbelievable that SHAMAN put on such a fantastic show, because they had at the time they played this show released just one album. Nevertheless, they played a full show of 100+ minutes and everything went perfect, with a lot of guest musicians making their appearance as well. They played all the SHAMAN songs (10 tracks), 3 ANGRA songs, 1 AVANTASIA song and 1 HELLOWEEN song. Special guest musicians included Tobias Sammet (EDGUY, AVANTASIA vocalist), Sascha Paeth (producer KAMELOT, AINA etc.), Andi Deris (HELLOWEEN), violin player Marcus Viana and several others. This was without a doubt an excellent high quality show, which is as good as the ANGRA shows, so Andre Matos made a good move to leave ANGRA and go on with SHAMAN, a band that also features 2 brothers (Hugo Mariutti on guitar and Luis Mariutti on bass) and drummer Ricardo Confessori, all very professional excellent musicians. The concert itself is perfect, with 18 songs in total, and the highlights are definitely the SHAMAN songs “For tomorrow”, “Over your head”, “Blind spell”, “Pride” (with guest singer Tobias Sammet), the HELLOWEEN cover “Eagle fly free” (with Andi Deris as guest singer), the ANGRA classic “Carry on” and of course the AVANTASIA classic “Sign of the cross” (with once again Tobias as guest singer). Concluded, this is a perfect show you really need to watch, so the DVD is a must and as a bonus there are also 2 professional videoclips of the SHAMAN songs “Fairy tale” and “For tomorrow” included, a 20 minutes counting making of Ritual tour and some more stuff. So this is a highly recommended DVD by SHAMAN, and if you can’t get enough you can also buy the CD version, which features the whole concert and the multimedia bonustrack “Carry on” (especially for the people who only want to buy the CD version). This DVD is one of those must-have items, so better get yourself a copy a.s.a.p.! (Points: 9.0 out of 10) HALLOWED ‘FORGOTTEN PEOPLE’ (SHARK RECORDS/CRAZY LIFE MUSIC) HALLOWED is a band formed in Germany by Irish, American and German musicians, and ‘Forgotten people’ is their debut CD. The band is playing classy 80s Melodic Metal in the style of HELLOWEEN, MAIDEN, PRIEST... 11 songs are on the CD, and everything sounds pretty good actually, even reminding me of the early 80s NWOBHM movement. Most of the songs are uptempo, without complex tempo changes, so just straight-ahead and very melodic actually. Highlights are “Forgotten the people”, “Seed of hope”, “No escape” and “End of time”. Recommended if you like traditional Melodic Metalbands such as DOMINE, SYMPHORCE, BRAINSTORM, MACHINE MEN... You can buy yourself a copy through their label’s site at: http://www.crazylifemusic.de (Points: 8.0 out of 10) EERINESS ‘A LIFE BEYOND THE SHADES OF TIME’ (SHARK RECORDS/CRAZY LIFE MUSIC) Out of Switzerland comes EERINESS, and they play your typical Female/Male-vocal Gothic Metal (a la AFTER FOREVER, EPICA), so with the clean soprano female vocal (Katarina Kremarova) and the growling male vocal (guitarist Philipp Gnos). There are 9 songs on the CD, and it’s only a pity that the male singer sings more than the female singer, because she has a much better voice and could easily carry the music on her own (like NIGHTWISH). Anyway, the music performance is of a very high level, and most of the songs are also very good Melodic Gothic Metal songs, with as highlights “Grotesque misery” (great keyboardwork), “The unbounded misfortune”, “Only the rain” and “Graveyard birds”. Check it out if you’re into AFTER FOREVER, LACUNA COIL and THE GATHERING... You can buy yourself a copy through their label’s site at: http://www.crazylifemusic.de (Points: 8.0 out of 10) VARIOUS ARTISTS ‘W.O.A. ROADSHOW 2003’ (ARMAGEDDON/ROCK INC.) Last year the famous German festival WACKEN OPEN AIR celebrated it’s 15th anniversary and the label ARMAGEDDON released some items of the WOA 2003 event, such as the double live-CD a few weeks ago and now there’s a DVD out with the Wacken Open Air Roadshow, so these are actually the pre-shows performed before the actual festival. This DVD counts 115 minutes of footage, with 2/3 songs performed live by each of the following bands: MOB RULES, AMON AMARTH, LORDI and UNKEL TOM. Of course MOB RULES’ performance is the most interesting one to check out, as this is a fantastic Melodic Progressive Metalband, but you can also have a laugh while watching LORDI (do we need to take this band serious? In a few years nobody talks anymore about this very average band). There’s also soem behind the scenes footage and a couple of other things. It would have been better if each band was featured for let’s say 40 minutes, instead of just a few songs of each band, but nevertheless this DVD gives a good idea of the pre-shows before the big WACKEN OPEN AIR festival starts. Let’s hope the people at ARMAGEDDON RECORDS are able to release a DVD with the TWISTED SISTER performance from last year, because that would be really interesting to watch... (Points: 8.0 out of 10) DEFENDING THE FAITH ‘RADICAL CHANGE’ (SHARK RECORDS/CRAZY LIFE MUSIC) DEFENDING THE FAITH is a German band, featuring amongst others STORMWITCH guitarist Robert Balci. Their debut CD ‘Radical change’ has been released on SHARK RECORDS, and the band is playing high class Melodic Progressive/Power metal with very good strong lead vocals by singer Jurgen G. Allert (who indeed like the bio says reminds me of CANDLEMASS frontman Messiah Marcolin). The songs are catchy and very melodic, with sharp guitar riffs, musically they may be compared to VICIOUS RUMOURS, old QUEENSRYCHE, BRAINSTORM, SYMPHORCE... Songs like “Trust”, “Dreams”, “D.T.F.”, “Secret fear” and “Helpless” are very strong Melodic Progressive/Power Metal songs that really stick in your memory after hearing it the first time. So, a strong sound, memorable songs, a fantastic lead singer, well, this is a hgihly recommended little CD from the German band DEFENDING THE FAITH, which really needs to be heard by the fans of high class Melodic Prog/Power Metal, because sometimes it is as good as for example SYMPHORCE... You can buy yourself a copy through their label’s site at: http://www.crazylifemusic.de (Points: 8.7 out of 10) GUTTER SIRENS ‘MEMORY ANALYSIS’ (SHARK RECORDS/CRAZY LIFE MUSIC) GUTTER SIRENS is a Polish band, signed to the German label SHARK RECORDS, who released the band’s album ‘Memory analysis’. The CD contains 11 tracks, and is a well-produced melodic Prog/Power Metal album with a strong European approach, very much like SONATA ARCTICA, STRATOVARIUS, LABYRINTH... Maybe it’s not from such a high level as mentioned bands, still GUTTER SIRENS is a recommended band if you like this kind of Prog/Power Metal. The band has a very good lead singer called Doman, while there’s a lot of interesting keyboardwork to be heard, played by Alex. The highlights on the CD are “Chameleon”, “Appearances”, “Diamond tear” and “Tears in dragon’s eyes”. Good record by this new Polish band, and recommended to fans of SONATA ARCTICA, THUNDERSTONE... You can buy yourself a copy through their label’s site at: http://www.crazylifemusic.de (Points: 8.0 out of 10) AOR ‘NOTHING BUT THE BEST’ (INDEPENDENT) The AOR project of French guitarist Frederic Slama started in 2000 and so far 4 CDs have been released. Now there’s a best of release available, which is a collection of the best songs from the 4 albums, with the addition of 3 new unreleased tracks. Musically it’s a mixture of pure 1980s AOR and Westcoast, somewhere between TOTO, SURVIVOR and CHICAGO. The list of guest musicians is unbelievable, because the whole LA Session Musicians scene made an appearance on the AOR albums, including the complete TOTO line-up (Steve Lukather, David Paich, Mike Porcaro, Steve Porcaro and the late Jeff Porcaro), BRUCE GAITSCH, TOMMY DENANDER, GORAN EDMAN, MICHAEL LANDAU, RICHARD PAGE, BILL CHAMPLIN, MICHAEL THOMPSON, DAVID ROBERTS, STEVE OVERLAND etc. etc. Without a doubt, a very impressive list of musicians and singers, and although the regular AOR CDs were a mix of AOR and Westcoast material, this best of has the balance of going into a pure AOR direction most of the time, which is a good thing of course. There’s a lot of excellent AOR material on this album, but let’s start with the 3 new songs, which are “Desperate dreams” (Lead vocals by Fergie Frederiksen, high class 80s AOR rocker like SURVIVOR meets a rockin’ TOTO), “In my crystal ball” (nice westcoast AOR, early 80s style, a la GREG GUIDRY) and the lovely AOR ballad “Only in my dreams”. The remaining 12 songs are taken from the 4 AOR CDs, with as highlights such as fantastic AOR songs like “Leave her to heaven”, “You’re my obsession”, “Love has found it’s way”, “Sensation” and “A quiet storm”, although there are also a few Westcoast/Popish songs. However, the main style here is AOR and so the bandname is indeed true, and without a doubt this is a highly recommended AOR CD, especially if you haven’t been able to buy any of the AOR CDs so far. This album is made by professional musicians and is by far a very high quality record, so check it out if you’re into AOR music! The CD is available through http://www.aorheaven.com (Points: 8.5 out of 10) HYPNOTIC FACE ‘THE END OF SANITY’ (SHARK RECORDS/CRAZY LIFE MUSIC) This is a band from Czech Republic and they play 80s Thrash-Metal with a Rock’n’Roll approach. They actually sound like a typical 80s German Metalband, a bit like RAGE and very early BLIND GUARDIAN. It’s not bad at all what we get to hear, but it sounds all a bit dated and the songs do not really impress. 11 tracks are included, and the production/instrumental part sounds pretty good, but vocally it doesn’t sound really strong. Still we can enjoy songs like “The devil within”, “The end of sanity”, “Nameless” and “Trash” are nice typical 80s Heavy Metal songs and recommended if you like bands such as RAGE, HIGH TENSION, NOISEHUNTER, LIVING DEATH, VAMPYR (remember any of them???), but if you want to hear some more up to date Melodic Metal this CD is not really interesting for you, but there are enough people out there who are still interested in classy 80s (German) Metal and then they can check out this CD by a non-German band who play exactly like the German Metalbands did in the 1980s... You can buy yourself a copy through their label’s site at: http://www.crazylifemusic.de (Points: 7.5 out of 10) LEASH LAW ‘DOGFACE’ (BLACK LOTUS RECORDS/ROCK INC.) LEASH LAW is a new supergroup featuring 5 talented well-known musicians. The line-up of LEASH LAW is as follows: Wade Black on vocals (CRIMSON GLORY/SEVEN WITCHES), Richard Christy on drums (ICED EARTH, DEATH), Rick Renstrom on guitar (ROB ROCK and solo-records), multi-instrumentalist Emo Mowery (NOCTURNUS) on guitar and bassist Stephen Elder (ROB ROCK, RICK RENSTROM). The music these 5 guys together bring is high quality 80s US Melodic Metal meets today’s European Power Metal, and from start to finish this is really a sensational album, with 9 fantastic tracks that contain excellent vocals and brilliant guitarwork. This is Melodic Metal at it’s very best, as good as the classics by METAL CHURCH, VICIOUS RUMORS, HELSTAR and SEVEN WITCHES, because in that style you must think when you’re interested in knowing how LEASH LAW exactly sounds like. Some songs also remind me a lot of REIGN OF TERROR, also due to the fact that lead singer Wade Black sounds a bit like Mike Vascara, but also reminds me of Mark Boals at times. Anyway, highlights are the uptempo Melodic Metal Masterpieces “Fight”, “Stealing grace” (fantastic!), “Martial law” and the ballad “Banion”. The debut CD of LEASH LAW has been released on the Greek label BLACK LOTUS RECORDS, and will be available from the 19th of April, and I can easily say that it is a total must for the fans of powerful guitar orientated Melodic (Power) Metal in the style of SEVEN WITCHES, REIGN OF TERROR, BRAINSTORM, METAL CHURCH, SYMPHORCE... (Points: 8.5 out of 10) CHARIOT ‘SWEATING BLOOD DVD’ (MAJESTIC ROCK RECORDS) Recently we had 2 CDs of re-issued material from the band CHARIOT on MAJESTIC ROCK RECORDS, and now there’s even a DVD release of this legendary UK Metalband. It’s also the first DVD release on the British label, so let’s hope for some more of such releases in the future. Anyway, it’s of course very obscure to see a DVD of a concert from a band that never really got out of the underground, but CHARIOT was definitely a remarkable band in 1986. This was due to the fact that they were one of the few British bands that didn’t change their style into Americanised Melodic Rock, but kept focusing on playing early 1980s NWOBHM. While watching the concert you can witness the enormous enthusiasm of the audience, who are jumping, screaming and shouting for more and more and more. Unfortunately, the concert only lasts about 52 minutes and there’s no extra stuff on the DVD, so it’s a bit short, but if you’re a NWOBHM freak you will enjoy this DVD a lot, because CHARIOT played a great gig that night at the Marquee Club, London on the 11th of April 1986, 18 years ago! 13 songs were played in 60 minutes, and most of them were uptempo NWOBHM Metal pieces (like “When the moon shines”, “Burning”, “Strangers”, “Warrior” etc.), but every now and then there was this fantastic 80s Melodic Metal piece (a la Y&T/SCORPIONS/MAIDEN) such as “So blind”, “Horizon”, “Screams the night” and the closing track “Vigilante”. Although the short running length and the sound quality is not really terrific, this DVD is still highly recommended to those who liked the NWOBHM movement and CHARIOT in general, because then this concert CHARIOT played 18 years ago is very interesting to watch. (Points: 8.0 out of 10) EVERGREY ‘THE INNER CIRCLE’ (INSIDE OUT MUSIC/CMM PROMOTION/SUBURBAN) The Swedish band EVERGREY returns quite soon after last year's 'Recreation day', which was one of the strongest efforts of the band so far. Their new album 'The inner circle' continues the style created on their earlier albums, so again we can hear dark Melodic Progressive Metal and on this record they show that they clearly have created an own sound, which is both dark and heavy, but also very melodic with in every song a strong memorable chorus. Opener "A touch of blessing" for example has a fantastic melodic chorus and is basically a very impressive midtempo Melodic Progressive Rocksong. Next track "Ambassador" is heavier and built around some excellent big guitar riffs, and this is truly pure Progressive Metal, but it also features a strong memorable chorus. And happily the whole CD continues in this typical EVERGREY style, combining strong melodic choruses with heavy guitar riffs and pack it all together in a dark updated Metal approach which will appeal to all Metalfans! Besides the first 2 songs, other highlights are “Harmless wishes”, “More than ever” (fantastic chorus!) and “Where all good sleep”. Concluded, this CD is a total must for everyone who enjoys original Progressive Metal, which means bands with an own identity, just like THRESHOLD and VANDENPLAS, also EVERGREY has got an own style which is perfectly showcased on their new CD ‘The inner circle’. (Points: 9.0 out of 10) TOC ‘LOSS ANGELES’ (INSIDE OUT MUSIC/CMM PROMOTION/SUBURBAN) I have absolutely no info at all on this band called TOC, so I can’t tell you if there are any famous musicians in this band, because they just came out of nowhere and landed on my desk. Anyway, they have released a CD on INSIDE OUT MUSIC, and it actually sounds pretty good. They play a sort of Melodic Hardrock meets Progressive Metal style, which falls somewhere in between TNT, VANDENPLAS and HAREM SCAREM, yet with a strong own identity. There are 11 tracks on the CD, and the band has a good strong lead singer, while most of the songs are actually quite catchy with strong choruses. There are a lot of great uptempo melodic heavy rockers on the CD such as “The window”, “Acid highway”, “Wait” (imagine a mix between VANDENPLAS and TNT, some beautiful melodies in this song!!!) and bonustrack “Night crawler” (great typical Euro Melodic Power Metal), but also the midtempo “Mary Lou is dead” (with a beautiful chorus) and the semi-Progrockballad “Bite the bullet” need to be mentioned here. The only songs that fall completely out of place here are the Nu-Metal song “Break-a-neck” (what were they thinking!!!) and the Thrash version of the DEEP PURPLE classic “Smoke on the water” (doesn’t make any sense!). Nevertheless, this is sort of a surprise, because TOC comes out of nowhere with a great high quality release that might attract both Melodic Rock and Prog. Metalfans... (Points: 8.0 out of 10) JERRY GASKILL ‘COME SOMEWHERE’ (INSIDE OUT MUSIC/CMM PROMOTION/SUBURBAN) JERRY GASKILL is the drummer of KING’S X, and he just released a solo-CD on INSIDE OUT MUSIC. KING’S X is not one of my favourite acts, and this solo-CD of Jerry is also not really interesting for our readers, because the music is sort of modern alternative pop/rock which sometimes sounds very experimental. 15 short songs are included and I can actually only recommend it to KING’S X fans... (Points: -) BILLY BUTCHER ‘PENNY DREADFUL’ (OUTLAW ENTERTAINMENT) If you like ROSE TATTOO, AC/DC and that sort of Boogie Hardrock you might actually like the CD of the American guitarist/vocalist BILLY BUTCHER, but I think this CD is a bit too average to make any impression, especially on the Melodic Rock/Prog/Power Metal crowd here in Europe. This sort of boogie Hardrock was very popular in the 1970s, but it never got that big again, only recommended to the die-hard TED NUGENT/PAT TRAVERS/ROSE TATTOO fans! (Points: 6.0 out of 10) TILES ‘WINDOW DRESSING’ (INSIDE OUT MUSIC/CMM PROMOTION/SUBURBAN) ‘Window dressing’ is the new CD of TILES, and just like their previous albums also this new album has been produced by TERRY BROWN (RUSH, CHARLIE, BAD COMPANY). Musically it is pure Progressive Rock with a modern touch and akin strongly to RUSH, but also with a lot of YES type of harmonyvocals, while on the other hand keeping it quite modern. 11 songs are included, and some of them are quite lengthy, such as the 17 minutes counting opener, titletrack “Window dressing’, so in total this CD has a playing length of almost 78 (!) minutes. Happily what we get to hear is nothing but quality stuff. Opener “Window dressing” is not the best track offered here, because especially the following 3 songs (“Remember to forget”, “All she knows” and “Capture the flag”) are very sensational Melodic Progressive Rocksongs that sound quite a lot like the recent RUSH studio-album ‘Vapor trails’. The band also slows things down here and there, such as on the beautiful ballad “Tear-water tea” (this song has 70s YES written all over). The second part of the CD features 3 calmer instrumentals (“Stop gap”, “Unicornicopia” and “A.02”) and some more good Progressive Rock material in the shape of “Paintings”, “Slippers in the snow” and “Spindrift”. Concluded, this new TILES CD is a must for every Progressive Rockfan and is as good as the latest RUSH release! (Points: 8.0 out of 10) OFF THE EDGE ‘SITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION’ (INDEPENDENT) The South-African band OFF THE EDGE is back with another new CD release, but also with a complete new line-up. The only original member left is guitarist/bassist/drummer/songwriter Peter Hanmer, who is also the leader of the band. New lead singer Clint Cunningham has a good voice, a bit raw, and close to Southern Rock, reminding me of BOBBY BARTH and JIMMY BARNES. The music is happily still classic 80s Melodic Rock with some AOR influences. It sounds now like a mix between 38 SPECIAL, AXE and WORK FORCE (remember them?). The new CD counts 12 tracks, of which 4 are instrumental, and from the remaining 8 vocal tracks the best ones are the AOR rockers “Taking it to extremes” (a la AXE), “Only if it rains” (like SURVIVOR) and “Off the edge”, but also very nice are the semi-ballads “That ain’t how it works” (a la 38 SPECIAL) and “Time will tell”. Concluded, a fine new album by the South African rockers of OFF THE EDGE, and for more info you need to go to: http://www.cd.co.za/offtheedge (Points: 8.0 out of 10) GLOW ‘FLIPSIDE OF REALITY’ (BRENNUS RECORDS) I got a promo CDR version of the new album of the Norwegian band GLOW, a band featuring among others former members of ONE 2 MANY, a good typical female fronted aor/poprockact that released 2 albums. Now as GLOW the band released an album on BRENNUS RECORDS. Musically they play an own kind of Melodic Progressive Rock with some Pop influences as well, sounding like a mix between MARILLION, GENESIS, U2 and LED ZEPPELIN. The songs are most of the time calm and a bit epic, but it always features some good melodies, and the album’s highlights can be found in the shape of “Close our eyes”, “Push”, “Too far gone”, “Look away” and “Masters of the universe”. Check out this quality Norwegian band at: http://www.glowsong.net and e-mail them at: glowsong.records@start.no (Points: 8.0 out of 10) SPOCK’S BEARD ‘THE LIGHT – SPECIAL EDITION’ (INSIDE OUT MUSIC/SUBURBAN) The legendary American band SPOCK’S BEARD recorded 10 years ago their debut ‘The light’, which till this day contains a few classic songs which the fans still beg the band to play during live concerts. It took them almost 5 years to actually release the album. They wrote the album in 1990-1991, recorded it in 1994 after looking for a record deal for several years, and the official release through INSIDE OUT MUSIC was done in 1995. Now almost 10 years later the label re-released the very first SPOCK’S BEARD album in a special edition, with the addition of a bonustrack, the original home demo version of “The light”, a real teaser for the die-hard SPOCK’S BEARD fans. The re-release of ‘The light’ has been completely remastered from the original mastertapes, and it sounds as a real classic now. The band created their own kind of Progressive Rock, which was already found on this debut ‘The light’, which counts only 4 tracks actually, but all 4 are very lengthy experimental Progressive Rock songs with an own identity and containing so many tempo changes, melodies, instrumental parts and influences from all sorts of musicstyles, because the band changes a lot during their songs. I was lucky enough to catch them live last year and it was my real experience that SPOCK’S BEARD music comes out best live, as they are the masters when it comes down to improvising (as good as DREAM THEATER). Anyway, their regular studio-albums are for the Progressive Rockfan a must and if you don’t own any of the SPOCK’S BEARD albums, then start off with their debut ‘The light’ from 1995. This remastered version sounds really impressive, and only makes clear that for example “Go the way you go” and “The light” are the songs that made SPOCK’S BEARD that popular. The departure of Neal Morse, who was the original lead singer and keyboardplayer of the band, didn’t affect the band’s live peformances, but listening to the band on their studio records, such as on ‘The light’ you can hear that SPOCK’S BEARD in the studio was at their best with Neal in the line-up, because the recently released ‘Feel euphoria’ is definitely not as good as this debut album ‘The light’, although the best SPOCK’S BEARD releases followed after this debut CD. (Points: 8.5 out of 10) SPOCK’S BEARD ‘BEWARE OF DARKNESS – SPECIAL EDITION’ (INSIDE OUT MUSIC/SUBURBAN) SPOCK’S BEARD followed ‘The light’ up just one year later with the classic ‘Beware of darkness’, and considering the fact that their debut ‘The light’ was a very experimental affair, ‘Beware of darkness’ was a more typical 70s Classic Progressive Rockalbum (a la 70s KANSAS and RUSH), with an addition in the line-up, namely the entrance of keyboardplayer (or actually more hammond/mellotronplayer) Ryo Okumuto. Now the line-up of SPOCK’S BEARD was completed, and as follows, Neal Morse on vocals (and some piano/guitars), his brother Alan Morse on guitars, Dave Meros on bass, Ryo Okumuto on hammond/mellotron and Nick D’Virgilio on drums. This was going to be the line-up of SPOCK’S BEARD from this 2nd album ‘Beware of darkness’ until the 6th album, after which Neal left the band and started a solo career, and drummer Nick D’Virgilio took over on the lead vocal job (and remarkably is doing a great job we could witness live last year!). Anyway, the 2nd album of SPOCK’S BEARD was probably one of their best releases, as it contained such wonderful Progrock classics like “Beware of darkness” (BEATLES cover), “The doorway” (strong KANSAS influences), “Walking on the wind” (superb midtempo late 70s Pomprock piece) and “Thoughts”. This remastered special edition version also contains home demo versions of “The doorway” and “Beware of darkness”. Without a doubt, ‘Beware of darkness’ was one of the strongest SPOCK’S BEARD releases that can easily be mentioned alongside 70s KANSAS records, so this CD is a must-have for the Progrockfan! (Points: 9.0 out of 10) SPOCK’S BEARD ‘THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS – SPECIAL EDITION’ (INSIDE OUT MUSIC/SUBURBAN) In 1997 SPOCK’S BEARD released it’s third album ‘The kindness of strangers’, and the remastered special edition version of this album contains an additional 5 bonustracks, all radio edited or home demo versions of original songs of the album, so not really unreleased new tracks. Nevertheless, the extra liner notes, written by NEAL MORSE in January 2004, so a few months back and almost a year after his departure from the band, are making these special edition releases very interesting. Neal wrote something about every song on the first 3 albums, so that’s an interesting read for the die-hard fans. Anyway, this third album was clearly following the same path chosen on their 2nd album ‘Beware of darkness’, so again this was a classic piece of 70s Progressive Rock. Highlights on this CD were definitely “The good don’t last”, “In the mouth of madness”, the ballad “June”, and the closing 2 classics “Harm’s way” and “Flow” (both between 10 and 15 minutes and definitely some of the best SPOCK’S BEARD music recorded through the years!). Concluded, ‘The kindness of strangers’ was another highlight in the SPOCK’S BEARD catalogue, and with 5 bonustracks, this new version is highly recommended to the die-hard fans of the band. Besides, every one of the 3 re-releases comes with extensive written liner notes by NEAL MORSE, so therefore these 3 special editions of the first 3 SPOCK’S BEARD albums are very interesting to check out, especially a must if you haven’t got any of the albums this amazing American Progressive Rockband has released. This band belongs to the best, and may be mentioned along with other great acts from the 1970s such as YES, KANSAS, GENESIS, KING CRIMSON, PINK FLOYD... (Points: 9.0 out of 10) THRESHOLD ‘EXTINCT INSTINCT - SPECIAL EDITION’ (INSIDE OUT MUSIC/SUBURBAN) It has already been 7 years ago since the British band THRESHOLD released it’s 4th CD ‘Extinct instinct’. This re-release comes along with 3 unreleased bonustracks, and together with a lot of extra liner notes written by guitarist Karl Groom and keyboardplayer Richard West, this remastered special edition version of that THRESHOLD album is definitely a must for all the fans of the band. The new version contains 14 songs, and has a total playing time of almost 80 (!) minutes. The music is of course high quality Melodic Progressive Metal, just like their other albums. ‘Extinct instinct’ was not as good as for example ‘Wounded land’ and ‘Hypothetical’, but is still a very impressive album. Highlights are definitely “Exposed” (featured in 2 versions), “Eat the unicorn” (great epic midtempo Melodic Progmetal), “Forever” (beautiful semi-ballad), “Virtual isolation” (classy Melodic Progmetal) and “Life flow”. All together a highly recommended new special edition version of a great THRESHOLD album. (Points: 8.5 out of 10) VARIOUS ARTISTS ‘MUNICH’S HARDEST HITS VOLUME 5’ (POINT MUSIC) The best rockstation on the internet has just released it’s 5th compilation CD, as always filled with some of the best underground AOR/Melodic Rock at the moment. The CD contains 15 quality tracks and included acts this time are such wonderful AOR/Melodic Rocksongs by bands like RENEGADE (by far one of the best on the whole CD), PRIOR PARK, DE ALLEN, DARK ILLUSION, FATAL ATTRACTION, NORDICA, FAITHFUL and several other released songs, but there are also some unreleased songs on this CD. These are songs by the bands STATETROOPER (their song “Casablanca” is from their upcoming new CD), JON QUINN (former ALPHA member, his song “Just needed to know” is great AOR a la JOURNEY), KEN TAMPLIN (a new song can be found in the shape of “Let me be the one”, a nice AOR ballad), ANDY URBECK (lead vocalist of HOTWIRE is featured with “Always by my side”) and SEVEN LTD. (the Spanish band is working on a new CD and their included song here is titled “Wherever you are”, an awesome midtempo AOR ballad a la HEARTLAND and DARE). This is another great compilation CD of the German Rock Station MUNICH’S HARDEST HITS, and as always it comes along with an extensive booklet that contains all info on the 15 featured bands, so go check it out for yourself at: http://www.munichshardesthits.com (Points: 8.5 out of 10) TRIUMPH ‘A NIGHT OF TRIUMPH LIVE’ (CHIPSTER ENTERTAINMENT) Back in the 1980s the Canadian band TRIUMPH had one of the most spectacular and technical stage shows of all the bands in the scene. Their shows were filled with many lights and lasers, making a TRIUMPH night always a special event, and now there’s a DVD available that contains one of these famous concerts. The featured concert was recorded in 1987 at the Metro Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in front of 10,000 spectators. The legendary trio was assisted on this tour by guitarist/keyboardplayer RICK SANTERS, and all together this was TRIUMPH at their very best, because they had just released their best album ‘The sport of kings’ back then. Together with a perfect setlist, which included such TRIUMPH classics like “Tears on the rain”, “Somebody’s out there”, “Lay it on the line”, “Follow your heart”, “Take a stand”, “Magic power” and “Fight the good fight”, this was a perfect TRIUMPH night! Along with last year’s ‘Live at the US Festival’ DVD, this is another highly recommended TRIUMPH DVD, as this showed the big stage show of the band. Bonus material can be found in the shape of 2 videos (“Just one night” and “When the lights go down”) and backstage video footage of the band before their show. Concluded, a must for the TRIUMPH fans! Soon there will also be a DVD of the ‘Greatest hits’ of TRIUMPH, which includes all the videos the band made in their career. And at the end of this year the complete back catalogue will be re-released, completely remastered with unreleased bonustracks added to give them a new touch. In the meantime, check out their site at: http://www.triumphmusic.com (Points: 9.0 out of 10) MIDNITE SKY ‘ROCK THE PLANET’ (TTS MEDIA MUSIC) Out of Germany comes MIDNITE SKY, a band playing a mix of 80s German Hardrock and 80s American Melodic Hardrock, with some Partyrock influences as well (“Bombastic plastic”). The band was formerly known as ZARDOZ, but they changed their name into MIDNITE SKY. As ZARDOZ they also released a CD titled ‘Broken mirror’, which we also reviewed sometime ago. Anyway, the new MIDNITE SKY CD is a good quality Melodic Hardrockalbum which will please the fans of SHAKRA, BONFIRE, GOTTHARD, KROKUS, VICTORY etc. 11 songs are included, and the highlights are “Hard as a rock” (awesome faster uptempo 80s Euro Melodic Metal a la PRETTY MAIDS), “Summer in my heart” (classy FIREHOUSEish American Melodic Hardrock), “Running through the night” (midtempo AOR/Melodic Rock) and “Call my name” (catchy melodic rocker). Some of the rest is pure SHAKRA/KROKUS/VICTORYish 80s straight-ahead Hardrock, with also some great songs like “Goodbye to yesterday” (hello SHAKRA!) and “Go” (uptempo melodic hardrock). Although the lead singer has a strong German accent (with a slight BON JOVI touch too), the music is great fun 80s guitar orientated Melodic Hardrock to sing-a-long with (sometimes a bit like JADED HEART too), recommended to fans of mentioned bands, then go to: http://www.midnitesky.de and e-mail them at: info@midnitesky.de (Points: 8.5 out of 10) (All reviews by Gabor Kleinbloesem, except where noted)