Category Cd Reviews

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Avenue of Allies/Sound Pollution

ALYSON AVENUE makes a comeback after losing lead singer Anette Olzon to NIGHTWISH in 2007. Remeaining members song writer and keyboard player Niclas Olsson, guitarist Tony Rothla, guitarist/bass player Thomas Löyskä and drummer Fredrik Eriksson have not only kept the band going, they also recruited a phenomenal replacement in Arabella Vitanc. Half a dozen guests wer invited, notably ex-vocalist Anette, the well-travelled Michael Bormann (ex. JADED HEART, BISS), guitarists Mats Edström (SHIVA), Rob Marcello (DANGER DANGER), plus keyboard player Fredrik Bergh of STRRET TALK. The band may have a history since 1989, found their shape with Anette around the turn of the millennium and are in for a new and interesting chapter.

The first half of the album is ...

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Pulverised/Sound Pollution

Greek death metal vehicle NECRONOVOROUS debuts with foul and sickening death metal, is that flattering? Doomy overtones and firm roots in the early nineties are promised. The blurred artwork may bring on connotations if days gone, but what about the music?

With a guitarist/vocalist called Archfiend DevilPig my expectations lower. The info recommends this album to fans of AUTPSY, ASPHYX and DEATH, the latter sounds intriguing. The rest of the guys in the band are apparently known as Shiteater, drums, Grave Defiler, bass, and Soul Extractor, lead guitar. There is actually hope for this fiendish and messy lot...

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”Livin’ my dream” is the new album from Swedish glam/sleeze rockers Bai Bang. The bands last album, 2009’s ”Are you ready” was nominated as the best glam/sleeze album at the Swedish metal awards and was also voted as the ”Best all round party anthem album of the year” in the Australian magazine, The Rockpit. As a result, the new album has a lot to live up to. Happily I can report that the album exceeds expectations.

”Livin’ my dream” is the bands seventh album (sixth if you exclude the 2006 ”best of” album). The band were active from the late 1980’s through till 2001 when they released the ”Attitude” album. This was followed by several years of quiet before they started touring again in 2007 and released ”Are you ready” in 2009.

Comments on a few of the tracks..

The album gets off to...

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Mongrel are an American female fronted punk band from the Boston (Massachusetts) area.

Founded in 2003, Mongrel has toured extensively, playing with bands such as FEAR, Blitzkid, Trashlight Vision, Michale Graves, and shared stages with the MISFITS, GWAR, Korn, Otep, Prong, Wednesday13, Luchagors, Fu Manchu, Psychostick, Dizzy Reed (Gn’R), Piggy D (Rob Zombie) and many more.
To date they have released one full album (2006’s ”Fear, lies & propaganda”), and three EP’s – ”Revenge” (2009), ”The new breed of old school” (2010), and their current release, ”Declaration” (2011).

”Start the riot” kicks off the EP with lots of power, great music and lyrics. Really thats how the whole EP goes – great music and lyrics with lots of attitude.

”Declamation” is a great EP...

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”Quid Pro Quo” is the latest album from British rockers Status Quo. In an unusual move, the album is only available via Tesco. The album has been released as a double album – disc one being the new album, and disc 2 being an ”official live bootleg” – i.e. a live album.

There is nothing in the new album that will surprise Status Quo fans – after over 40 years, the band has a tried and tested formula which they stick to – ”if it isn’t broken then don’t fix it”. Its a good album, but I’m not sure that any of the tracks are likely to become classics.

The live disc is great – it includes some of the bands classic hits including ”Caroline”, ”Rockin all over the world” and ”whatever you want”, along with other tracks that regularly make up their live setlist.

The inclusion of the live disc ma...

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Crescendolls are a Swedish three-piece band that describe themselves as a ”riff-party band” – not a term I’ve heard before I must admit.

The album was recorded live – something many bands have moved away from these days, but it certainly seems to have worked well here – and it gives you the confidence that the band can reproduce the album in a live concert, whereas many bands these days rely so heavily on samples and backing tracks that they struggle to make the material sound good live without backing tracks to help them.

There’s a real 1970’s rock feeling to this EP – which certainly isnt a bad thing. Some great guitar riffs combine with great tunes and good vocals to make a very good EP...

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”Held High” is the debut album from Swedish band Wraptors.

The band talk about not following rules, well that may be the case, but the album feels like they are sometimes doing things just to be different and as a result the music feels disjointed and fails to flow. You get brief bursts of something that sounds great, then the tune shifts and spoils what was starting to be a promising song.

The bands website comments ”When death metal guitarists join forces with an awkwardly tight rock rhythm section the outcome is something completely different”. Well from listening to this album, sadly it would appear that what happens is that any death metal influences are thrown in the bin, leaving behind a fairly bland indie/prog rock album.

I was very disappointed by this album...

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Amaranthe is a power metal/melodic death metal band that originates from Sweden and Denmark. Amaranthe break the traditional mold for this type of band with their vocalists. Usually when the band has a female singer, they do the clean vocals and a male band member does the screamd and growls. Amaranthe have chosen to have two lead singers doing clean vocals – one male and one female, with another band member doing the screams and growls. This simple change does make a big difference to how they sound, and helps them stand out from similar bands.

In some of the tracks, the vocals at times, remind me far too much of Ace of Base – this is particularly noticeable at several points during ”Automatic”...

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Frontiers/BAM

NIGHT RANGER don´t really need an introduction, but here goes. Formed back in 1982, after some years as a trio under a different moniker, consisting of Jack Blades (ex. RUBICON), bass/vocals, guitarists Brad Gillis (ex. RUBICON) and Jeff Watson, drummer Kelly Keagy (ex. RUBICON) and keyboard player Alan Fitzgerald (ex. MONTROSE, ex. GAMMA). Their early eighties albums are all legends, and they made a name for themselves with songs like “(You Can Still) Rock in America” and the perennial power ballad “Sister Christian”. In the latter part of the eighties the band encountered harsher times, with members coming and going in vane attempts at a return. Things seem only to have started stabilizing in the late nineties and not until now they feel like a proposition to count on...

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Avenue of Allies/Sound Pollution

Italian band LIONVILLE is a brand new but nostalgic AOR/Westcoast project from Italy. Perhaps international is a better word since guitarist, vocalist and main man Stafano Lionetti has attracted an impressive host of musicians from all over the world; vocalists Lars Säfsund (WORK OF ART, ENBOUND), and Arabella Vitanc (ALYSON AVENUE), and Erik Mårtensson (WORK OF ART, WET), guitarists Bruce Gaitsch (RICHARD MARX, CHICAGO), Tommy Denander (RADIOACTIVE, HOUSTON), and Sven Larsson (STREET TALK), plus a heap of others. The project is a labor of love with hand crafted songs by the involved musicians, as well as a carefully selected cover of JOHN FARNHAM`S movie track “Thunder in Your Heart”. Anyway, on with the show!

Opener “Here by My Side” is classic and ...