| GLASS
HAMMER ‘LIVE
AT NEARFEST’ (NEARFEST RECORDS) The American Progressive Rockband GLASS HAMMER comes with another new CD release. It’s actually a sort of follow-up to the live-DVD, because this CD is also a live recording, but their first live CD, containing material recorded during the NEARfest of 2003. That day the band even saw a guest appearance by none other than RICH WILLIAMS of KANSAS performing the KANSAS classic “Portrait (He knew)”. In total we can enjoy another 73 minutes of high class GLASS HAMMER 70s Progressive Rock (like a combination of RUSH, YES and KANSAS). 11 songs are included, among which great songs like “Tales of the great wars”, “One king”, “When we were young”, “Further up, further in” and of course the KANSAS classic “Portrait (He knew)”. Without a doubt, a must-have release for all Prog/GLASS HAMMER fans! More info at: http://www.glasshammer.com (Points: 8.4 out of 10) FALL OF THE IDOLS ‘FALL OF THE IDOLS’ (INDEPENDENT) Out of Finland comes FALL OF THE IDOLS, and they are not playing your typical Finnish melodic metal, because this band is playing a sort of Doom Metal, sometimes like CANDLEMASS, but then a bit different. Although not all of the 5 included songs are convincing, the CD’s final track “Flowers” is definitely a great slow Melodic Doom Metalsong with a strong chorus. More songs in the style of this 8-minutes counting epic would be very interesting. In the meantime, check out their site at: http://www.falloftheidols.tk and e-mail them at: falloftheidols@muusikko.net (Points: 7.7 out of 10) PRIVACY ‘LONG SHADOWS’ (DEMO CDR) The demo of the German band PRIVACY opens with the words “Hello Houston, are you ready to rock?” (as spoken by Butthead!) and then we get to hear a pure 80s Melodic Heavy Rock/Metalsound, which sounds like a mix between MANOWAR, STEELER, ANGEL WITCH and MAD MAX. Of course this demo is still a demo, so the sound quality is not as good as the label releases, the included music is quite nice. Maybe the vocals should be proudced a bit foreward next time, but we can live with it, because singer Markus S. is a strong lead singer. There are 7 songs on their 2002 release ‘Long shadows’, of which the best songs are uptempo melodic heavy rockers like “Follow the light” and “Ride like the wind”. More info can be found at: http://www.privacy-online.de and e-mail them at: mschul23@web.de (Points: 7.5 out of 10) THE RESURRECTED ‘VISIONS’ (INDEPENDENT) THE RESURRECTED is a German band, and they play a good mixture of AOR and Melodic Rock. The band has a new lead singer, so this CD from a few years ago is slightly out of date, but happily music is timeless, and indeed we can still enjoy the sounds of this CD. The CD contains 10 songs, and especially songs like “Visions” (catchy uptempo melodic rocker), “Relight my fire” (uptempo 80s Hardrock) and “One of my lives” (nice semi-ballad) are quite strong songs. I look forward to hear and review a future CD of this band. For now, check out their site at: http://www.the-resurrected.de (Points: 7.7 out of 10) DRAGON’S EYE ‘SCREAMING FOR METAL’ (INDEPENDENT) This is a Polish band and not that long ago I reviewed some of their demos, but now they have an official CD out titled ‘Screaming for metal’. If you are not aware of DRAGON’S EYE yet, I can inform you they are playing Heavy Metal with very raw vocals, somewhat like an 80s German Metalband (ACCEPT, STEELER) with METALLICAish vocals. ‘Screaming for Metal’ is a good album, because this is a straight-forward Melodic Euro Power Metal record in the style of PRIMAL FEAR, yet with still the vocals a la James Hetfield unfortunately. Nevertheless, it all sounds very good now and highlights on this CD are “Crimson legion”, “Dragon’s eye”, “As I rise my sword”, “Heavy machine” and “Chemnistry of hearts”. More info on DRAGON’S EYE can be found at: http://dragonseye.rockmetal.art.pl and e-mail them at: dragonseye@wp.pl (Points: 7.5 out of 10) TORIAN ‘INTO THE WINTER’ (DEMO) The German band TORIAN sent me a 3-track demo CDR, which sounds very professional and also the included songs are very impressive. Musically TORIAN is playing a sort of pure 80s melodic heavy metalstyle, which has strong MANOWAR similarities here and there. The band has a great guitarplayer as well, and songs like “Torian” and “Into the winter” are very strong Melodic Heavy Metalsongs. Check it out for yourself at: http://www.torian-legion.de and e-mail them at: contact@torian-legion.de (Points: 8.0 out of 10) MERCHANTS VICE ‘AMBER’ (ICESHOP RECORDS) Out of the UK comes MERCHANTS VOICE, and ‘Amber’ is their first full-length CD. The band is playing pure British Neo-Progressive Rock a la JADIS, MARATHON, PALLAS, IQ, PENDRAGON, old MARILLION... The keyboardwork is classy, the vocals are very good and basically this is one of those must-have releases if you’re a Neo-Progfan! Long songs like “Storyteller”, “Glass child”, “The hollow man” and “All our lives” are a wet dream for fans of classic neo-prog, so I can highly recommend this great UK band. Check out their site at: http://www.merchantsvice.co.uk and e-mail them at: info@merchantsvice.co.uk chas.allen@kcom.com (Points: 8.4 out of 10) STEVE GRIMM ‘ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN’ (LEGEND RECORDS) We had to wait a long time before STEVE GRIMM released a follow-up to his ‘Heaven’s in your heart’ CD from several years ago. I believe that record was released more than 8 years ago, and we gave it a big time review back then, because it was a great AOR record. Now almost a decade later Steve returns with a new solo-CD, which musically is a little lighter, with more acoustic guitars, but still the music is pure AOR/Rock, which is a good thing to hear. Steve’s musical career started some 30 years ago in the band BAD BOY, a legendary melodic rockband, whose albums will be reviewed soon, so for now I will stick to the new CD of STEVE GRIMM. The CD is titled ‘On the outside looking in’ and it contains 9 tracks. There’s some really great AOR material on the album, such as “Angel come home”, “Voice of reason”, “You are the fire” and “Outside looking in”, all very catchy semi rockers with also great vocals by Steve. There’s also room for some bluesier pop/rock here and there. Imagine a lighter version of STAN BUSH and JEFF PARIS, and you’re close to the singer songwriter AOR/Poprock style of STEVE GRIMM. Check out his site at: http://www.badboyrock.com and e-mail Steve at: sjgrimm@execpc.com Soon reviews of all BAD BOY albums! (Points: 8.3 out of 10) KICKSTART ‘FUEL’ (MOUSEMEN) Out of Italy comes KICKSTART, a 70s inspired groovy hardrockband. They clearly take influences from LED ZEPPELIN, AEROSMITH, DEEP PURPLE, AC/DC... and this can be heard on their official CD ‘Fuel’. The album looks and sounds very professional. 8 tracks are included, with as bonus a live video CD Rom track. Despite a usless STEPPENWOLF cover (“Born to be wild” of course), the band’s own songs are quite strong, with as best tracks “Don’t stop”, “Touch the sky” and “Devil’s lonely nite” (ballad). This is quality groovy Hardrock with a sort of Biker rock touch here and there. Check it out for yourself at: http://www.kick-start.it and e-mail them at: info@kick-start.it (Points: 7.7 out of 10) JUSTAINER ‘INBORN’ (INDEPENDENT) JUSTAINER is a band from Germany, and their new CD ‘Inborn’ contains 5 songs. Musically they play Melodic Rock, and you can definitely hear they are quite professional, but that’s not such a wonder, because they already exist for 8 years now. Anyway, opener “Insane” is a great strong melodic rocker, a very catchy and memorable song. Other highlights are “Intention” and “Something cruel”. It’s actually hard to compare the band, because they have a sound of their own, but melodic rockfans should check out this German band at: http://www.justainer.com and e-mail them at: christian@justainer.com (Points: 7.9 out of 10)  TYGERS OF PAN TANG ‘BURNING IN THE
SHADE’ (LEMON RECORDS/CHERRY RED RECORDS) For years this was the only album of the TYGERS OF PAN TANG which never was released on CD, but finally now after 17 years the album was first released, it’s available on CD. The re-issue is done through LEMON RECORDS/CHERRY RED RECORDS. Although the album has nothing to do with the original TYGERS OF PAN TANG, because all the original members had left the band by 1987, the 2nd lead singer JON DEVERILL was present, and he was (and still is) one of the best lead singers from the UK Hardrock/Metalscene. I really love his singing on the ‘The wreck-age’ and ‘The cage’, the 2 albums prior to ‘Burning in the shade’. Anyway, musically the band started as a pure Metalband, but with every album they became more melodic, with as resulat that this final TYGERS release in 1987 was a pure AOR record (!). Happily, it was a very good AOR record, which could easily be put next to releases of EUROPE, SHY, TREAT, DAVINCI, FATE, FM... This CD release of the 1987 album comes along with a videoclip of the track “Waiting” from their ‘The wreck-age’ album. Back to ‘Burning in the shade’, I can easily mention here that this is a very good AOR record, with all the elements a good AOR record needs to have, such as catchy hooks, memorable choruses, lots of keys, but also guitars of course and here and there the typical LEPPARD harmonyvocals. Songs like “The first (the only one)”, “Hideaway”, “The circle of the dance” (lovely, like SURVIVOR/JOURNEY) and “Are you there?” are all very strong uptempo AOR rockers, while the band also had a semi AOR ballad “The memory fades”, which could easily have been on a SHY record. Concluded, any 80s AOR/Melodic Rockfan will love this TYGERS album, and now it’s available on CD for the first time, so go to: http://www.lemonrecordings.co.uk for more info! (Points: 8.5 out of 10) SAM KAZEROONI ‘ANGRY PLANET’ (FOSSIL RECORDS) Guitarist SAM KAZEROONI from the USA has a CD out titled ‘Angry planet’ on the US Proglabel FOSSIL RECORDS. The CD contains 16 tracks, and is basically a very impressive instrumental guitar orientated Progressive Metalalbum. Sam showcases he is very good at playing the guitar and he also plays the bass, with only the drums being taken care by someone else (Pravin Mukhi). The songs have a strong Progressive Metal touch, like an instrumental DREAM THEATER. It’s also obvious that Sam is influenced by JOHN PETRUCCI of DREAM THEATER fame, because he plays his guitar in the same style as John does. The CD was actually recorded in Dubai (!), but during the multimedia part of the CD I learned that Sam really is an American guitarist, but check it all out for yourself at: http://www.fossilrecords.net (Points: 8.0 out of 10) SIX MAGICS ‘THE SECRETS OF AN ISLAND’ (UNDERGROUND SYMPHONY RECORDS/BERTUS) The band SIX MAGICS from Chile returns with a new CD release and I am afraid it will not make it, because there are so many releases done at the moment, and most of them are better than the new SIX MAGICS CD. It’s not a bad CD at all, but the music is just too standard and it will be called a RHAPSODY clone, without ever reaching the high level of the Italian band. 17 songs are included, and it’s actually a concept record, and although songs like “Rising of the island”, “Slave of the sky”, “Frozen lips in the night” etc. sound nice, sometimes the music is just too complex (way too many arrangements!), while on the other hand nothing on the CD makes a real impression, so it goes in one ear and out the other. Only recommended to die-hard Italo-Power Metalfans! (Points: 6.9 out of 10)  PRAYING MANTIS 'THE BEST OF PRAYING
MANTIS'(FRONTIERS RECORDS/BERTUS) The legendary UK band PRAYING MANTIS started back in 1977, and to celebrate it's 27-year old anniversary FRONTIERS RECORDS released a best of CD, which included songs from their whole career, although it is a pity that there aren't any original tracks from their classic debut 'Time tells no lies' from 1981. This was one of their finest releases, which was done during the height of the NWOBHM, and the only song included from that album is a poor live version of the song "Cheated". Nevertheless, the remaining 12 tracks show that PRAYING MANTIS has always been a very impressive band, which can be heard on great songs like "Can't see the angels", "A cry for the new world", "Only the children cry", "Forever in time" and "Naked" (re-recorded version). There are some songs unreleased, like the live version of "Cheated", the re-recorded version of "Naked" and "A moment in life". I am looking forward to a new album of PRAYING MANTIS, but in the meantime you should check out this best of, especially if you have not heard any of the band's 7 earlier studio releases. (Points: 8.5 out of 10) SANTERS 'COLD FUSION' (DANDELION RECORDS/BULLSEYE RECORDS) In the early 80s the Canadian band SANTERS released 3 great strong Melodic Hardrockalbums. The band had an own style, but somehow never got as big as for example TRIUMPH or RUSH, which is a pity. Anyway, after the mid 80s it became quiet around SANTERS, although leader Rick Santers played with TRIUMPH for some time. In the mid 1990s the first 3 SANTERS albums were released on 2 CDs by the German label LONG ISLAND RECORDS (under the titles 'First and Second shot'), and in the following years SANTERS made a sort of comeback with the release of Rick's solo album 'Revitalize' and finally the 4th SANTERS CD 'Top secrecy' (which was actually recorded back in 1986!). A few years ago there was then the release of this best of CD 'Cold fusion', which is quite interesting, because there are 2 unreleased bonustracks of demos from the 1980 album 'Shot down in flames'. These are the progressive melodic hardrocksongs "In foreign skies" and "Life in my hands". The other 12 songs are taken from each of SANTERS's 4 studio CDs, with as best tracks uptempo melodic rockers "Mistreatin' heart", "Road to Morocco", "Winter freeze", "Heaven on earth" and the beautiful AOR ballad "Dry your tears". Although I would have picked some of SANTERS' other songs (like the superb classics "Black magic", "Caught in the wind" and "Too young to die") this is still a nice collection if you never heard any of SANTERS' Melodic Hardrock. It's also a must for the SANTERS fans, because of the 2 demosongs. You can buy a copy of the CD through: http://www.bullseyecanada.com (Points: 8.5 out of 10)  MICHAEL WHITE AND THE
WHITE
'A TRIBUTE TO LED ZEPPELIN' (BULLSEYE RECORDS)MICHAEL WHITE (and The White) was one of the first Tribute bands ever, and for the past 20 years they have been doing live shows in tribute to LED ZEPPELIN. In 1995 MICHAEL WHITE released this CD 'A tribute to Led Zeppelin', which contains studio sessions of LED ZEPPELIN classics. 10 songs are included, 8 studio recorded versions and 2 live songs. All the LED ZEPPELIN classics are included, such as "Communication breakdown", "Immigrant song", "Stairway to heaven", "Whole lotta love", "Dazed and confused" etc. This is by far one of the best Tribute bands you can imagine, because Michael White is a copy of Mr. Robert Plant and also instrumental the band is doing their best to make this sound like pure LED ZEPPELIN, which succeeds completely. I believe this was just volume 1, so more CDs will follow, but it has now been 9 years since the release of 'A tribute to Led Zeppelin', so it takes some time for more volumes. Nevertheless, the CD may be purchased through: http://www.bullseyecanada.com (Points: 8.5 out of 10) KILLER DWARFS 'STAND TALL' (BULLSEYE RECORDS) For about 20+ years the Canadian band KILLER DWARFS has been a very successful band in their home native of Canada. Through the years they did quite a few album releases, of which 'Stand tall' from 1986 is probably their finest release. This album is now also on CD available through BULLSEYE RECORDS, and I am glad to see it out on CD, because this is one of those great moments of 80s Melodic Hardrock. Canada brought us APRIL WINE, TROOPER, MOXY, HELIX, SANTERS, TRIUMPH, RUSH, SAGA, LOVERBOY, STREETHEART and so many other bands, including this outfit called KILLER DWARFS, a highly underrated band outside Canada. 'Stand tall' was filled with pure Melodic Hardrock, like a mix between the Melodic Rock of TRIUMPH/SANTERS and the more Party Hardrock of US bands like RATT, CRUE and DOKKEN. Most of the tunes were uptempo melodic heavy rockers, with as favourite ones "Human survival", "Borderline", Keep the spirit alive" and "Believe in me", but also the midtempo "Up to you and me" needs to be mentioned here as one of the highlights. This is most definitely an album to check out if you're a Melodic Hardrockalbum, because this KILLER DWARFS album is a very impressive underrated 80s Melodic Hardrock release that now finally gets a second chance… You can buy a copy of the CD through: http://www.bullseyecanada.com (Points: 8.6 out of 10)  JEFF SCOTT SOTO 'BELIEVE IN ME'(FRONTIERS RECORDS/BERTUS) Frontman number one returns with a new solo-CD, although 'Believe in me' is just a sneak preview mini-CD, because his real new full-length CD will be out later this year. In the meantime, this mini-CD contains enough new material to make it through this summer if you're a fan of Jeff (and who isn't?). Included are 5 new songs and a videoclip of the titletrack, on which by the way NEAL SCHON of JOURNEY performs. Neal is of course now doing a new project with Jeff called SOUL SIRKUS, and the song "Believe in me" on Jeff's mini-CD shows that the two are able to work nicely together, because this is a fantastic catchy uptempo melodic rocker and definitely the best song on the mini-CD. The other 4 songs are all calmer ballads, with as best one "As I do 2 U", a beautiful AORish ballad in the style of KISS "Forever" and JOURNEY. Concluded, a nice preview of even greater things to come, with JEFF SCOTT SOTO once again proving he is one of the best singers out there! (Points: 8.5 out of 10) INTENSE 'SECOND SIGHT' (UNDERGROUND SYMPHONY RECORDS) It took the UK band INTENSE some time to record this full-length CD, more than 7 years after their EP release 'Dark season', but now they managed to release a quality record, which doesn't happen too often with a British band nowadays. In the Thin Ice studios of Karl Groom (THRESHOLD) they recorded this great Melodic Metal album, which sounds a lot like ICED EARTH, no doubt about that! Although there is a (live) keyboardplayer in the band, the band is definitely going into a heavier direction, and is very guitar orientated, making them a pure Power Metal band sometimes. Songs like "One twenty", "The winged", "Autumnheart" and "Path of the dark" are all strong Melodic (Power) Metal songs, which will be loved by fans of ICED EARTH, although vocally it isn't that strong sadly, because singer Sean Hetherington sings at the same level the whole time. Nevertheless, a nice Power Metal record and you can check out the site of the band for more info at: http://www.intense-uk.com (Points: 8.1 out of 10) MOXY 'RAW' (BULLSEYE RECORDS) In the 1970s the Canadian band MOXY was a popular band in their home country of Canada, which made them a sort of legendary band. Original lead singer BUZZ SHEARMAN sadly died in the late 70s, so they had to come up with a replacement, which became singer MIKE RENO, who later found fortune and fame in LOVERBOY. Although he managed to sing on an album of MOXY, the band didn't reach anymore success, and split soon after. A few years ago however MOXY reformed with another new singer (Brian Maxim), released the '5' album and played some live shows, of which this 'Raw' CD release is a nice collection of these performances. Although it is not as good as the classic MOXY from the 70s, still this live CD captures the spirit of the 70s Bluesy Hardrock of the band, especially on great songs like "Midnight flight", "Can't you see I'm a star", "Out of the darkness", "Riding high" and "Time to move on". Highly recommended to all MOXY fans! You can buy a copy of the CD through: http://www.bullseyecanada.com (Points: 8.1 out of 10) LIGHTNESS 'LIGHTNESS' (INDEPENDENT) The German band LIGHTNESS was reviewed a few years ago, but now they have a new full-length independent CD out. Musically this is quality Melodic Neo-Progressive Rock in the style of JADIS, IQ and SYLVAN. Anyone appreciating those bands will also love this LIGHTNESS, as this is your perfect kind of Neo-Prog, with a lot of long instrumental passages, but also good FISH/MARILLIONish vocals of singer Karsten. 11 songs are included, and songs like "At sea" and "Watcher" are very strong Neo-Prog songs. Fans of mentioned bands need to check this out asap at: http://www.lightness.info (Points: 8.0 out of 10) GLEN BURTNIK 'WELCOME TO HOLLYWOOD' (ATENZIA RECORDS) 16 songs are on the new GLEN BURTNIK album, and although it has not much to do with the 80s AOR/Poprock he used to make, and most of the time this is pure (Nu-Breed) Melodic Poprock, still almost all songs have catchy strong melodies. Glen decided to fully concentrate on his solo career, and therefore left STYX sometime ago and maybe he did a good move, because his new solo-CD is his strongest effort so far. If you ask me, this is a radio-ready release, with such great Melodic Poprocksongs like "Super boy", "Another", "Kiss your ass goodbye" (very catchy!) and "Roses" (fantastic melodic rocker), with only towards the end of the CD a few weaker songs ("When the shit hits the fan" for example). Lovers of today's nu-breed melodic poprock will absolutely love this new GLEN BURTNIK CD! (Points: 8.0 out of 10) LONDON CALLING 'YOU'RE SO LUCKY' (ATENZIA RECORDS) Only 2 years old and already a CD out, but happily this LONDON CALLING has delivered a good quality CD. The band is playing pure modern nu-breed Poprock, sometimes very catchy, and without a doubt far better than anything else in this genre, mainly due to the fact that the lead singer of the band is JAMIE ROWE, who sang on great Melodic Hardrockalbums by GUARDIAN and ADRIAN GALE. This makes LONDON CALLING so much better than for example SUM 41, NICKELBACK, AMERICAN HI FI and FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE. The band also has some clear 80s Melodic Poprock influences (hello early 80s RICK SPRINGFIELD!), and even some 70s CHEAP TRICK/THE SWEET can be heard here and there. Concluded, this is a very fine release which sounds updated for today's rock format, but still is very melodic. Highlights are melodic poprockers like "Super natural", "Beautiful day", "So in love", "One in a million", "Daydream" and "Haunting me" (very catchy chorus). Not only recommended to fans of Nu-Breed Poprock, but also the open-minded melodic rockfan might like this a lot! (Points: 8.3 out of 10) FLUIDSOL 'I'M ON YOUR RADIO' (ATENZIA RECORDS) I don't know if this is a side project of singer/songwriter MITCH MALLOY, but musically his new band/project FLUIDSOL is completely different than his solo releases. Instead of 80s AOR you'll get updated modern nu-breed poprock, which of course sounds still quite good, but is not as good the MITCH MALLOY CDs. Anyway, 2 songs are on his CD, and especially "Empty" is still a great midtempo Melodic Rocker. I think I am still looking forward to a full-length CD release of Mitch's new band FLUIDSOL. (Points: 7.9 out of 10) ARCANSIEL ‘SWIMMING IN THE SAND’ (MUSEA RECORDS) It’s a pity the sax disturbs a lot of the songs on this CD, because musically ARCANSIEL is playing high quality Neo-Progressive Rock a la early MARILLION, IQ, PALLAS, PENDRAGON... The band comes out of Italy, and they released 3 albums between 1988 and 2004, of which 6 re-recorded versions of their best songs are featured on this best of CD. Songs like “Angel of March”, “I’m still searching” and “Evelyn” (21 minutes!) are very good melodic neo-progsongs, which may also be compared to bands like 70s GENESIS, PFM and BANCO for the die-hard progfans among us. It’s a pity I haven’t heard of this band before, because they are really a highly recommended Neo-Progband to check out asap! (Points: 8.2 out of 10) GODDO ‘KINGS OF THE STONED AGE’ (BULLSEYE RECORDS) The legendary Canadian Rockband GODDO found fame and fortune in the late 70s, and in the following period they had some success, but we had to wait until 2003 before the band really makes a big comeback with the new CD ‘Kings of the stoned age’. I myself am not too familiar with GODDO’s earlier recordings, but this new CD shows they grab back to the 70s Retro Classic Rock/Hardrocksound like a calmer MOXY, TROOPER and APRIL WINE. Best songs on the new CD are “Such a fool” (bit AORish) “Chainsaw love”, “I wanna be on my own” and “Moroccan girl”. Nice comeback of this legendary band, maybe soon reviews of their re-issued 70s/80s records... You can buy a copy of the CD through: http://www.bullseyecanada.com (Points: 7.9 out of 10) THE FIRST TIME ‘THREE SONG EP’ (BULLSEYE RECORDS) Typical Nu-Breed Melodic Poprock is what we get to hear from the new band THE FIRST TIME out of canada. Happily, it’s quality stuff, which can easily be compared to RUBBER/HAREM SCAREM. Only 3 songs are included on this EP, “New day dawning”, “Hit the ground” and “Why do you do this to yourself” are all uptempo catchy melodic heavy poprockers. Check it out if you’re a fan of the ATENZIA RECORDS releases and of course RUBBER/HAREM SCAREM fans need to check this out asap! You can buy a copy of the CD through: http://www.bullseyecanada.com (Points: 7.6 out of 10)  WILD T AND THE SPIRIT ‘TRUE BLISS’
(BULLSEYE RECORDS)Although influenced by HENDRIX and YES, I am afraid this WILD T AND THE SPIRIT is a bit too much going into a R&B/Blues direction, because it has nothing to do with Rock/Hardrock. It’s not bad at all what we get to hear, but it doesn’t belong on our pages I think. Still check out some cool songs like “High school confidential” and “Dangerous”. You can buy a copy of the CD through: http://www.bullseyecanada.com (Points: 7.2 out of 10) VISITOR ‘THE ARRIVAL’ (DEMO CDR) VISITOR comes out of the Uk and instrumental they sound very good, but vocally there’s too much variation. The band has a Death/Black/Thrash ish lead singer and a more clean melodic singer, the contrast is quite big and sometimes it makes the music go into a Thrash/Death-Metalstyle, which is not really interesting. Happily, the choruses of most of the 6 songs are still quite strong, like in “Star destroyer” and “Worship me”, which makes this band in the end a Power Metal band (a la ICED EARTH) with strong Thrash/Death-influences (a la SEPULTURA). Check it out for yourself at: http://www.visitormusic.com and e-mail them at: info@visitormusic.com (Points: 6.9 out of 10) CHEAPER THAN THERAPY ‘TERMINAL ADOLESCENCE’ (BULLSEYE RECORDS) CHEAPER THAN THERAPY is a Canadian Hardrockband, who performed as support for bands like GODDO and SANTERS. Their debut CD ‘Terminal adolescence’ is a sort of 70s roots inspired Hardrockalbum, with some nice songs like “Terminal adolescence”, “Normal”, “Desperation”, “Everything about you” and “Not enough hours”. However, I am not that impressed with the band, because to me they sound more like a weaker version of GODDO and THE GODZ. You can buy a copy of the CD through: http://www.bullseyecanada.com (Points: 6.6 out of 10) CANDELA ‘CANDELA’ (DEMO CDR) Out of Germany comes CANDELA, whom already lost the lead singer on this demo (Pedro Fuentes), who went to Chile and therefore the band searched for a new singer (and found a singer called Christian Kulike). Anyway, this demo is with the old singer, who actually had a good voice, so I wonder if the new singer is as good as him. Nevertheless, this demo CDr contains 4 well-performed Melodic (Progressive) Metalsongs, with as highlights “You never learn” and closing track “Hard to say goodbye” (without a doubt, the best song, with a very catchy strong chorus, like DOKKEN meets FATES WARNING). Check out this band for yourself at: http://www.candela-metal.de (Points: 7.8 out of 10) JOHANNA BALOGH ‘THE WORLD’S BEST KEPT SECRET’ (DEMO CDR) The female keyboard/piano-player JOHANNA BALOGH is also a member of the progressive rockband AWAKENING THE DREAM, but in the meantime she works as a solo musician. Her demo CDR contains 4 tracks, and musically this is sort of classical music, because it’s piano orientated and it has nothing to do with Rock/Metal. However, it shows that Johanna is able to play very well on the piano, and she proves to be a skilled musician too, which hopefully will also lead someday to a Progressive Rock release with her other band/project. If you’re interested in instrumental piano based music then do check out: http://www.awakeningthedream.com (Points: 7.3 out of 10) BLAKLYTE ‘SONGS FROM THE HEART’ (DEMO CDR) It’s a pity the sound quality is not that impressive, because musically BLACKLYTE is playing classic late 80s LA Hardrock like a DOKKEN, FIFTH ANGEL, LION or even LA GUNS. Despite the weaker sound quality, we can enjoy some great Melodic Hardrock material, with as best tracks “Competition”, “Attitude” (with awesome guitarwork) and “One day”. Check it out for yourself at: http://www.soundclick.com/blaklyte and e-mail them at: guitarsjm@msn.com (Points: 7.4 out of 10) STEREOKIMONO ‘PRISMOSFERA’ (IMMAGINIFICA) ‘Prismosfera’ is the 2nd CD of the Italian band STEREOKIMONO, and again they show they are able to make high quality instrumental Progressive Rock. The album is released on the IMMAGINIFICA label, and on the Cd we can find 7 songs, of which “Onda beta”, “Xetrov 5” and “L’Uono nuvola” are the highlights. You can check out this great instrumental progrockband at: http://www.stereokimono.com and http://www.immaginifica.it and e-mail them at: sk@stereokimono.com (Points: 8.0 out of 10) SILVER LINING ‘THE INNER DRAGON’ (MUSEA RECORDS) The French band SILVER LINING recently released their new CD ‘The inner dragon’, a very impressive progressive rockalbum. The band has a violin player in the band (like KANSAS) and the 12 tracks on their CD deliver us 60 minutes of pleasure, because the (semi-instrumental) progressive rock of SILVER LINING is of a very high level. Sometimes a bit straighter, and with a lot of instrumental passages, the band sounds like a cross between early GENESIS, IQ, MOSTLY AUTUMN and KANSAS. Highlights are “Opaline”, “Castaways”, “A powerful wand”, “Finale” and “Lovestalgia”. Every decent progressive rockfan might want to check out SILVER LINING at: http://pero.club-internet.fr/acidrago/silverlining.htm (Points: 8.4 out of 10) ROB BAN ‘ABOUT GODDAMN TIME’ (INDEPENDENT) Out of Sweden comes lead singer/guitarist ROB BAN, who released a CD titled ‘About goddamn time’, containing nice updated modern AOR/Nu-Breed-Melodic Poprock like a mix between BRYAN ADAMS, MIKAEL ERLANDSSON, NELSON‘Life’ and THE OUTFIELD. Rob wrote some songs for CRYSTAL BLUE and LAST AUTUMN’S DREAM in the past, and now he presents his first solo record. It’s definitely a quality CD like only the Swedish can deliver them, so very catchy aor/poprocksongs fro start to finish. Songs like “She don’t really mind”, “Just like that”, “Brand new day” and “Hard to believe” (one of the few uptempo melodic rockers) are all very strong aor/poprocksongs with a slight modern approach, so don’t expect any pure 80s related stuff here. More info can be found on: http://www.rob-ban.com and e-mail Rob at: rob@rob-ban.com (Points: 8.1 out of 10) PATRIK CARLSSON ‘PHRASEOLOGY’ (LION MUSIC/BERTUS) Guitarist PATRIK CARLSSON comes out of Sweden and ‘Phraseology’ is his first CD release. 16 songs are on the CD, and I think the guitarfreaks will like this CD a lot, as the instrumental guiutar orientated hardrock has strong similarities to VAI, SATRIANI, etc. The past 6 years Patrik also recorded 10 CDs with other bands/projects, but now he finally is able to show his talents on his own CD, which is a recommended album to guitarfreaks! (Points: 7.9 out of 10) FARAZ ANWAR ‘ABSTRACT POINT OF VIEW’ (LION MUSIC/BERTUS) Guitarist FARAZ ANWAR is a guitarist who delivers a great instrumental Progressive Rock/Metalalbum with ‘Abstract point of view’. 7 long songs are included, and the guitarwork of Faraz is very impressive, especially on songs like “Through the passage of time”, “Prophet” and “Why?”. This is definitely one of the better instrumental releases on LION MUSIC... (Points: 8.3 out of 10) STRANGE HEART ‘DEMO’ (DEMO CDR) Out of Finland comes another AOR/Melodic Rockband called STRANGE HEART. Although they are not as good as their countrymen of HOUSE OF MIRRORS, HUMAN TEMPLE, FAULTLINE and URBAN TALE, the 3 songs on their demo still sound very impressive. Opener “Tearing my heart’ is a very nice uptempo AOR/Melodic Rocker, while next track “Follow your soul” is a great midtempo melodic rocker with some progressive influences. Closing track “Alone in the dark” is definitely the best song featured here, because this is a very sensational catchy uptempo AOR/Melodic Rocker in the best 80s spirit. Concluded, another recommended band from Finland to check out at: http://www.strangeheartmusic.com and e-mail them at: info@strangeheartmusic.com (Points: 8.3 out of 10) VARIOUS ARTISTS ‘SHAWN LANE REMEMBERED VOLUME 2’ (LION MUSIC/BERTUS) Volume 2 of the tribute to the legendary guitarist SHAWN LANE (1963-2003) has been released on LION MUSIC once again, and this time 13 guitarists paid tribute to their hero, who sadly passed away way too soon last year. Featured guitarists this time are (among others) ROGER STAFFELBACH, PATRIK CARLSSON, TOBERN ENEVOLDSEN, ALEX MASI, MARCOS DE ROS and 8 more musicians. This is another great tribute to SHAWN LANE, recommended to all guitarfans! (Points: 8.2 out of 10) LEST ‘3937’ (INDEPENDENT) I don’t have that much info on this French band, but what I do know is that they have released a very good debut CD, which contains a mix of Progressive Rock and Melodic Hardrock, a bit like a mix between CONCEPTION and AXXIS. I don’t know the songtitles, but it’s a full-length album, which is based around an original story taking place in the year 3937. The band sounds instrumental very impressive (guitars, keys), while vocally it isn’t bad either, although a strong French accent can be heard. The CD contains 18 tracks, with a total playing time of almost 80 minutes, so definitely value for your money! I recommend fans of melodic heavy rock with a slight progressive touch to check out this band at: http://www.lestband.com and e-mail them at: alcibiade@alcibiade.org (Points: 8.3 out of 10) VARIOUS ARTISTS ‘THE SPIRIT LIVES ON – THE MUSIC IF JIMI HENDRIX REVISITED VOLUME 2’ (LION MUSIC/BERTUS) In a few months it will be exactly 34 years ago when the legendary guitarist/vocalist JIMI HENDRIX died at the young age of 27. A few months ago we saw the release of Volume 1 of the JIMI HENDRIX TRIBUTE on LION MUSIC, and now Volume 2 has been made available. Volume 2 features contributions of LARS ERIC MATTSSON, WINTERLONG, DAVE MARTONE, PROJECT ALCAZAR, TORBEN ENEVOLDSEN, JAMES BYRD, TONY HERNANDO, TOMMY DENANDER, CONDITION RED and BALTIMOORE. Without a doubt, another high class tribute to one of the greatest guitar players of all time, let’s hope for more volumes in the future! (Points: 8.4 out of 10)  KINGDOM COME ‘PERPETUAL’(FRONTIERS RECORDS/BERTUS) The German band KINGDOM COME had a very succesfull start in the late 1980s, just like so many other German bands had back in 1989 (think of AXXIS, PINK CREAM 69, BONFIRE, ZENO), but when Grunge became the next big thing all these bands faced a hard time, but happily none of them changed their musical styles. This also happened to KINGDOM COME, a band formed around LENNY WOLF, who now sings and also plays all the instruments (I wonder how this is solved live on stage!). KINGDOM COME is now more than 15 years releasing on and off albums, and ‘Perpetual’ is their latest CD release. The album basically continues the slow groovy bluesy Hardrockstyle of the earlier records. Of course heavily influenced by LED ZEPPELIN, the band still drives on very slow depressing songs with the unmistakeble ROBERT PLANTish vocals of Lenny. Highlights are “”Silhouette paintings”, “Connecting pain”, “Watch the dragons fly” and “Inhaling the silence”. Although I still think their debut was their best release, I am pretty sure the KINGDOM COME fans will love this new record, but outside the KINGDOM COME camp it will be a hard time to get into this new KINGDOM COME, which basically has not much new to offer... (Points: 7.9 out of 10)  JEAN BEAUVOIR ‘CHAMELEON’(FRONTIERS RECORDS/BERTUS) Multi-instrumentalist JEAN BEAUVOIR is best known as the leader for the fantastic Melodic Hardrockband CROWN OF THORNS. Sadly that band hasn’t released anything new the past 2 years, so I think Jean is now focusing on a solo career, which he started in the 1980s. Musically his latest solo-CD has not much to do with Hardrock or Rock in general, because a lot of the 12 included songs are Pop based tunes (even a co-written tune by LIONEL RICHIE is present), but here and there we can hear some of Jean’s past AOR/Melodic Rock influences like in the pure 80s orientated poprocker “Something to believe in” (tribute to THE RAMONES, but actually more akin to that classy 80s hi-tech poprocksound a la RICK SPRINGFIELD!) and “Addicted to us”. Songs like “Even more”, “I wanna know” and “Dying end” sound not too far away from what DEF LEPPARD was doing on their ‘X’ album from last year, so if you dig that record you’re gonna love this new JEAN BEAUVOIR CD. Sadly I still find this release a bit too Pop based and therefore it’s only a recommended piece if you’re a die-hard fan of Jean, but don’t expect anything like CROWN OF THORNS. Please Jean, make another CROWN OF THORNS record in the style of their debut CD, because the solo-records are way too poppy for us! (Points: 7.6 out of 10) PRIDE OF LIONS ’BLACK RIBBONS’ (FRONTIERS RECORDS/BERTUS) 4 days after the tragic train explosion in Madrid, Spain JIM PETERIK wrote the tribute song “Black ribbons”, which can be found on this new 3-track CD-single of PRIDE OF LIONS. The wonderful AOR ballad “Black ribbons” is paying tribute to the 191 people who died and the 1800 injured on the 11th of March in Madrid. The other 2 songs are live recorded versions of “Gone” and “I can’t hold back”, both performed excellent earlier this year, and all together this is a nice taster of even greater things to come later this year, when we will see the release of the 2nd PRIDE OF LIONS CD. In the meantime buy this CD-single, because the benefits will go to the Association of the Victims of Terrorism. (Points: 8.9 out of 10) DISCUS ‘...TOT LICHT’ (MUSEA RECORDS) Out of Indonesia comes the band DISCUS, a band which is signed to SONY MUSIC in their homecountry of Indonesia, but outside the CD is available through MUSEA RECORDS. The band clearly has created an own sound, which is a melting pot of all kinds of musical styles, although the main style here is Progressive Rock/Metal. The band sings in their own language (with a few Dutch words!), and it’s impossible to compare this band to any other band, because their sound is so different, with many instruments being used, different vocal styles (male and female) and lots of tempo changes, so DISCUS is definitely an interesting band, because of their unique sound. 6 long songs are included, of which the best ones are “Breathe”, “Verso Kartini – door duisternis tot licht!” and “Anne”. Recommended to the Progfans, more info at: http://www.discusprog.com (Points: 8.4 out of 10)  FROM THE INSIDE ‘FROM THE
INSIDE’(FRONTIERS RECORDS/BERTUS) We had to wait 13 years before we finally got to hear DANNY VAUGHN from TYKETTO releasing a full-blown Melodic Rockalbum, but he has done it with the new project FROM THE INSIDE. In the mid 1980s Danny released a great melodic hardrock record with WAYSTED, in 1991 the TYKETTO classic ‘Don’t come easy’. The following 13 years Danny focused on bluesier Hardrock, until now, because FROM THE INSIDE is an instant Melodic Rock classic, which is almost as good as the TYKETTO classic debut from 13 years ago. 11 songs are included, and from start to finish this is the way we want to hear Danny sing, basically top melodic rock! It feels like it took Danny so many years struggling and trying out other Rockstyles, and now this is the result, a full-blown new Melodic Rock Classic in the shape of FROM THE INSIDE! Everything is included, uptempo, midtempo, (semi) ballads, it’s all there, and as absolute highlights I would like to add “Suddenly” (uptempo melodic rocker), “Fight for love” (midtempo AOR/Melodic Rock), “Losing game” (semi-ballad) and “Stop” (lovely catchy uptempo AOR rocker, SURVIVOR style). Concluded, a must-have for all Melodic Rock and TYKETTO ‘Don’t come easy’ fans! (Points: 9.3 out of 10) (All reviews by Gabor Kleinbloesem, except where noted) |