Mad Association/MusicBuyMail/Sound Pollution French surprise band strikes from nowhere featuring some true talents in the vocals department. Prior to 2013 I had never heard of SHANNON. The band formed in 1998 with Patrice Louis on guitars and Thierry Dagnicourt on keyboards. They soon found Olivier Del Valle (ex.JANNYLEE) on vocals, bassist Claude Thill (ex. DER…
Mausoleum/Border Newcomes RAVEN LORD boosts one of the more interesting lineups of 2013. Front man Csaba Zvekan of KILLING MACHINE has joined forces with guitar hero Joe Stump, ex. TONY MARTIN bass player Jamie Mallender, drummer Lawrence “Larry” Paterson (ex. BLAZE BAILEY), guitarist George Karafotis and keyboard player Alessandro Duo. The combo sets out to…
Napalm Records/Sound Pollution VAN CANTO mastermind Stefan Schmidt is behind this one, enlisting the aid of classic drummer Jörg Michael and a bunch of classical composers. Modern, undoubtedly German, power metal meets classical music in various doses. The BLIND GUARDIAN choir is here in part, the same goes for Stefan´s friends in VAN CANTO. Everything…
Napalm/Sound Pollution The info sheet tells of universal praise, all hell breaking loose and the next league of thrash. Canadians MOTRILLERY has created a buzz, but they may not be filling those shoes today. It is a matter of taste, as they have a female vocalist on the verge of cracking her voice, some punk…
Massacre/Sound Pollution UK newcomers DAMNATION ANGELS show more than the term “newcomer” hints at. The lineup of main man, guitarist, orchestrator and backing vocalist William Graney (CRADLE OF FILTH orchestrator), vocalist Per Fredrik Asly (PELLE K for short as an artist), drummer John Graney, bassist Steven Averill and pianist Dawn Trigg have been around since…
Escape Music/Sound Pollution RAGE OF ANGELS is a bit mythical, as I find preciously little about their first three albums and double live farewell “Never Say Goodbye”. But Ex. TEN TYKETTO touring member keyboard player Ged Rylands probably knows the story as he has feature on all albums. After a ten year hiatus for family…
Frontiers/BAM Fabulous but born 25 years too late Norwegian vocalist Jorn Lande releases yet another album that is not brand new material. Some of the material is simply enhanced with symphonic parts, others have been remixed to make more room for the orchestral parts. Apparently JORN has strived to chose 14 songs which he felt…
Massacre/Sound Pollution TAINTED NATION is a new acquaintance to me, but Messrs. Pete Newdeck, vocals (!), Ian Nash, guitars, Pontus Egberg, bass, and Mark Cross, drums, sure are not. Pete has been/is the drummer in bands like GRIM REAPER, PAUL DI`ANNO, and of cause EDEN`S CURSE, Ian is most known for GRIM REAPER, Pontus is…
Escape Music/Sound Pollution EDGE is an overused word in the hard rock etc. business. But in this case I´ll make an exception. EDGE hails from Karlskoga in Sweden, and started life as a project. Jonas Forss, vocals, guitars, keyboards, and Tobias Andersson (SHADOWLAND, SEVEN WISHES), keyboards, guitars, shared musical dreams and had spent a lot…
Frontiers/BAM Swedish rather successful band CRASHDIET formed in 2005, and soon became part of the so called new wave of sleaze. They are said to have gained their record contract by impressing the record company staff drinking outside a liquor store. Their first album “Rest in Sleaze” was augmented by a commercial on Swedish TV,…
Steamhammer/SPV/Playground Let’s move backwards to the latter half of the eighties. Not one thing Rolf “Rock´n´Rolf” Kasparek did was wrong in the eyes of me and my friends. His looks, his vocals, his songwriting, nothing was other than cool. Back to 2013, and a change of scenery. After a farewell gig at Wacken RUNNING WILD…
Frontiers/BAM Danish/Swedish/American band ROYAL HUNT has been through so many changes. Founded by eternal keyboard player Andre Andersen in 1989 they have conceived eleven studio albums, four live albums and no less than six best of releases, primarily in Japan though. Vocalists like Henrik Brockmann, John West and Mark Boals have been in the fold,…