SPV/Playground KILL DEVIL HILL sounds like someone running out of good ideas for a band name. But behind these words stands none other than Vinnie Appice of BLACK SABBATH and DIO fame, and bassist Rex Brown, formerly of PANTERA. Also appearing are vocalist Dewey Bragg who resembles Layne Staley of ALICE IN CHAINS, and guitarist…
SPV/Playground The title here refers to Lita´s early days of girl band splendor, as well as the bad days of her life. In retrospect I can´t help wondering if it was a call to find out if the other ex-members of THE RUNAWAYS were into the idea of a reunion, which seems to be happening….
Prime Entertainment/Music Buy Mail/Sound Pollution WILD FRONTIER releases their fifth album since 1994, one with several meanings to the title. The title actually implies both the birthday of their vocalist Jens Walkenhorst, but also impending doom as 2012 has been prophesized to happen this year. Firering on all six, the five-piece; Jens, vocals/guitars, Mario Erdmann,…
Frontiers/BAM Youthful new Swedish AOR band WIGELIUS was probably founded after vocalist Anders Wigelius sang JOURNEY´s top hit “Don´t Stop Believin´ “ on Swedish TV. Raised on the likes of RICHARD MARX, JOURNEY and FOREIGNER there was precious little debate of how the band would sound. Luckily brother Erik plays drums and Anders himself seems…
Frontiers/BAM I remember this lot from the early nineties, but I didn´t know they formed as early as 1983. They flet quite fresh-faced and young back then… Their self-titled 1990 debut gave them hits like “Give It to Me Good” and “One in a Million”, and secured the release of their sophomore effort “Hear!”, the…
Frontiers/BAM RICHARD MARX started out with a single, “Don´t Mean Nothing”, in 1987, talk about a misleading title! From then on he released an album, and ended up selling three million copies! In 1989, “Repeat Offender” sold an amazing seven million copies, not least vanguard by the single “Right Here Waiting”. Live, studio and compilation…
Napalm/Sound Pollution Canada has contributed a lot to rock and metal over the years, albeit more often in the shadow of big brother the US of A. This is the second album of STRIKER, the first being “Eyes in the Night”(2010), and there is also an EP by the name of “Road Warrior” (2009). The…
Lion Music In 2005 DUSAN PETROSSI`S IRON MASK released this stomper, which is now re-released in a very limited run. The band consisted of Dusan on all guitars, iron lung vocalist Goetz “Valhalla Jr” Mohre, and Oliver Hartmann as a guest, keyboard wizard Richard Andersson, and the Russian rhythm section of Vassili Moltchanov on bass…
Frontiers/BAM PRETTY MAIDS has a pretty unique outlook, they can capitalize on both their success of the eighties, and in present times. Arguably their finest releases all came in the heyday of heavy metal around the mid-eighties, but 2010´s “Pandemonium” offered a plethora of prospect titles for future best of albums. 21 massive tracks, and…
Limb Music/Sound Pollution BLACLK MAJESTY started out as KYMERA, which was probably taken why they switched names. Two years they spent working on their debut “Sands of Time”, released in 2003. From then on they have been releasing discs just about every other year, with the exception of “In Your Honour”, which took three years…
Cyclone Empire/Sound Pollution THE GROTESQUERY rose to prominence in early 2009, and here is the second opus. Formed by Rogga Johansson of PAGANIZER and BONE GNAWER fame and Kam Lee, the voice of MANTAS/DEATH and MASSACRE. Completing the blasphemy on bass and drums respectively are Johan Berglund and Brynjar Helgetun. The first album, “Tales of…
Ravenheart/Rock´n´Growl Italian band SILENT OPERA debuts with Ravenheart Music, after some lineup changes. First signs of life came in 2007, and the will to mix symphonic metal with visual art rose. The band now consists of guitarist and main composer Claudi Ranieri, a.k.a. Rain, vocalist Ambra Gerussi, a.k.a. Aria, drummer Loris Volcizzi, a.k.a. Shadow and…