Category Cd Reviews

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Lifeforce/Sound Pollution

Marios Iliopulos & Co., also known as NIGHTRAGE, sure have made their mark in metal history. Since their formation in 2000 they have released five studio albums, filled with melodic death metal, thrash, progressivity and some serious guitar work. Once sporting ex AT THE GATES vocalist Tomas Lindberg, the band now consists of Marios and Olof Mörck on guitars, bass man Anders Hammer, vocalist Antony Hämäläinen, and drummer Jo Nunez. This new album has been much anticipated, no more guessing, here goes…

The sixth album (including a compilation), that surely means they are past the most difficult stages. They seem a relaxed band as they commence with an intro of ok style. But “Delirium of the Fallen” is the sign of greatness...

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Music Buy Mail/Sound Pollution

HOLY FORCE may sound pretentious, but why not? Behind the moniker stand; Mark Boals (ex. YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, ex. ROYAL HUNT), Mike LePond of SYMPHONY X and SEVEN WITCHES, Kenny (Rhino) Earl (ex. MANOWAR, ANGELS OF BABYLON) and Taiwan hot shot guitarist Ango Chen, most known for his work with MIKE VESCERA. This experienced lot has joined forces to play something melodic. So, impress me!

After a somewhat inauspicious start with the self-titled opener and “Flying”, the non-descript instrumental “Breathe” leaves me with a lot more to desire. And that is exactly what will happen. “Seasons” is the logical continuation to the previous instrumental, providing meaning to the latter. The pace quickens and Mar´s vocals seem to be right there when the tough gets going...

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Massacre/Sound Pollution

Fellow Swedes SILVERDOLLAR used to play covers (I´ve seen them) but opted for an original repertoire in 2002. Their first release, “Covers from Hell” was of cause a covers album, but since 2005 they have marketed their own material. Their first full-length, “Evil Never Sleeps” popped up in 2007, so this is the follow-up to was quite likeable. Now they have hooked up with Massacre for worldwide release, will this be their big moment?

The rather flat opening tracks, “CO2” and “Damage Done”, says that the damage is done. SILVERDOLLAR is all about old school hard rock/heavy metal, hence the tag “likeable”. But they initially comes across as an old major band on half-hiatus...

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The new Machine Head album is finally here. There’s been a lot of speculation about whether or not they’ll be able to live up to the high standard set by The Blackening, but when you give Unto the locust a listen then you’ll soon find out they’ve surpassed themselves – this could well be their best album yet.

The first minute of the opening track will have Machine Head fans panicking on their first listen – some soft chanting choral vocals hardly sounds like something you’d expect from a Machine Head album, but that’s how they’ve chosen to open the album.
Thankfully after a minute the guitars kick in and we’re back to what we love from Machine Head – some seriously powerful metal.
In fact the song quickly turns into some seriously heavy thrash metal !

There is plenty of variety in this al...

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Dead by April hail from Gothenburg, Sweden and are a band who are likely to divide opinion amongst metal fans. Their musical style is hard to categorise as it doesnt fit into any of the neat genres that reviewers often love to use. Dead by April blend synth-rich pop music with death metal screams/growls and clean vocals. If this description sounds at all familiar then you’ve probably listened to fellow Swedish band Amaranthe who produce a similar blend of musical styles. A major difference is that Amaranthe use clean female vocals in addition to the clean male vocals and male growls which gives them more depth and variety than Dead by April are able to manage.

This is a very difficult style of music to succeed with – for many metal fans this is too much like pop, but for many pop fans t...

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”Welcome 2 my nightmare” is the latest album from Rock legend Alice Cooper. The album is intended as a sequel to his 1975 hit album ”Welcome to my nightmare”. Musically its much more like ”Welcome to my nightmare” than it is to his more recent albums.
The album has cleverly incorporated themes from ”Welcome to my nightmare” into this new album – a short piano refrain for instance.

The album is incredibly diverse. While many bands try to incorporate a change of pace or two to add variety, Alice Cooper has produced a wide range of radically different sounds into the album, and yet still managed to tie them together to sound like they belong together – the nightmare concept helps in this respect.

Comments on a few of the songs….

The album starts with ”I am made of you”, which immediately l...

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If this album sounds familiar it’s because it was released last year on Powerage records, but now The Treatment have signed with a major label, Spinefarm it is now receiving a re-issue through Spinefarm which should bring it to the attention of a far wider audience. The album has been fully re-mastered and comes with two bonus tracks, so even fans who bought the original release will be tempted by this re-release.

The band only formed in 2008 so are doing amazingly well for such a new young band – to have their debut album released then to be snapped up by a major label who then re-release the album is impressive. They certainly deserve it though they put on great live shows and the album is excellenr – more on that below.

The Treatment have a sound influenced by classic rock bands and sl...

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Revival is the third studio album from Irish rockers The Answer. For a lot of people their first exposure to the band came when they supported ACDC on their last world tour – an opportunity that saw them play in front of over a million fans around the world. Although the bands previous album ”Everyday demons” was released during the tour, it had been recorded before the tour so this new album, ”Revival” is the first chance we have of seeing what if anything the band learnt from their time with ACDC. From listening to the album, I think the answer is clearly ”a lot” – this is the bands best album yet by far.
At this time of year there is huge competition with album releases with what seems like three quarters of the worlds rock bands all releasing albums in a two month period in the peak...

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AFM/Sound Pollution

Nine albums, plus a live DVD, that is the impressive output of BRAINSTORM since the start in 1989. All three founding members; guitarists Torsten Ihlenfeld and Milan Loncaric plus drummer Dieter Bernert are still in the band. Vocalist Andy B. Franck and bass player Antonio Leva complete the line-up. For more info please see the interview dated a few weeks back. The band specially emphasize that the album was created together producer Axel Heckert of Studio 22 in Ludwigsburg.
They seem that pleased, is it a necessary album to have and to hold?

Well opener “below the Line” ranks among the finest I have heard from the BRAINSTORM…ever. The epic outline and the contagious mid-pace just simply does it for me...

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Frontiers/Sound Pollution

URIAH HEEP recently turned 40 (in 2009). They may be older than quite a few of their fans,but Messrs.; Bernie Shaw, vocals, Mick Box, guitars, Trevor Bolder, bass, Phil Lanzon, keyboards, and “new boy” Russell Gilbrook, drums seem happier than ever. Many oldie bands have apparent motivational problems, URIAH HEEP played approximately 250 shows on their 2009 tour. One of the nights was spent in Armenia, with hired equipment and other difficulties. But here it is, alive, warts and all.

The joy of the crowd is not to be mistaken, and the Eastern Bloc was once a rescue mission for an ailing band in the late eighties. Now they return triumphant...