Posted in Cd Reviews

Napalm/Sound Pollution

We always save the best for last, don’t we? When CANDLEMASS announced their final studio album I was saddened, they´ve been around as long as I remember metal. Previous outings after MESSIAH´s stormy exit have been a tiny bit uneven, but with shining highlights. And now that Robert Lowe (SOLITUDE AETURNUS) has been ousted I can only regret it. But with Mats Levén on board, the promise of retirement from the studio might end up like JUDAS PRIESTS ditto?

CANDLEMASS 2011 consisted of stalwarts Lasse Johansson and Mats “Masse” Björkman on guitars, Leif Edling on Bass, Janne Lindh on drums and Robert Lowe on vocals. As the massive sound of “Prophet” hit my MP3 headphones I was amazed, so fresh, so true to their past and yet so fabulous...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Rapid Fire Entertainment/Border Import

Julie Westlake and HYDROGYN returns with their sixth album since 2004. The band first album, “Best Served with Volume” appeared some eight years ago, and now they have seen the release of the ir fifth studio outing. One live and one DVD has also seen the light of day, and players like James Lomenzo and Jeff Young, both with a past including a.o. MEGADETH adds some star quality to the band. Sponsored by the likes of Budweiser and Harley Davidson the band has scored on the US charts, but over here in Scandinavia they are a more unknown entity. The info promises a return to their more melodic roots, let´s hope so…

Opener “Something to Say” delivers with a simple but effective riff and a rather strong refrain...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Lion Music/Border

STATUS MINOR debuted in 2009 with “Dialog”, and now strikes while the iron is hot. The concept album hovers on the subject of the love-related cycle. The foundation of the band was laid by Sami Saarinen in 2002, and has stabilized to the stable line-up of Sami on guitars, vocalist Markku Kuikka, keyboardist Jukka Karinen, bassist Eero Pakkanen and drummer Rolf PIlve, many of whom are parts of more bands. This album is said to be more straightforward than the prima opus, has a bigger feel and is more heavy and cohesive. Not bad…

“The Wind” creates that effect, as promised. The riff immediately makes me think of classical music, and there is absolutely no lack of progressiveness. The beautiful and well-arranged “Hollow” is certainly more cohesive...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Ulterium/Sound Pollution

END OF SEPTEMBER started out in 2009. Formed by guitarist/vocalist Erik Tordsson, who´s got a past in both heavy and extreme metal, a demo was made with former vocalist Victoria Sundberg. A deal with Ulterium was secured, but Victoria left, and a 2 year hiatus commenced. In 2011 Elin Redin was attached to the line-up, now consisting of Erik, Victoria, and bass player Johan Nöjd and drummer Johan Svensson. END OF SEPTEMBER recently played Jönköping´s Zaragon Rock Club as support to AMARANTHE, which I missed. How good are they in the studio?

As most female fronted bands they lean towards EVANESCENCE, and the sound has more than a modern touch. My player started with track four, “Exile”, for some reason, that wasn´t flattering for the band...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Gray Music Entertainment/Warner

Finnish band CARMEN GREY has had minor hits and massive hits in their native Finland since their formation in 2006. The band boosts routine, with three members having played together for two decades. The info also talks about a wild, fresh and exciting band with influences ranging from THE BEATLES to DAVID BOWIE, and GUNS´N´ROSES to SKID ROW. I wonder how this will turn out…

The title track is oozing DAVID BOWIE like an over-cooked stew. The seventies tinged sound and the attempt at a slow moving sing-along refrain kills off my interest. But the pace rarely quickens. The two hit songs “”Heroes and Losers” and “Two Wannabes” are surprisingly meek...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Lifeforce/Sound Pollution

Swedish fresh death metal merchants MISERATION release their third outing, spiced up with both eight string guitars and the Indian harp Esraj. Christian Älvestam, vocals, Jani Stefanovic and Marcus Bertilsson, guitars, and drummer Oscar Nilsson (not sure about bassist Christian Lundgren) are hellbent on going for the so called difficult third album. They don´t go in unarmed, the album is said to be filled with fresh ideas, folk instruments, special vocal styles etc. So, what came out of it?

Opener “Stepping Stone Agenda” is a fine piece of identity-creating Swedish death metal with razor-sharp drumming. The end it off with piano without losing credibility amongst the brutality loving hordes…I believe...

Posted in Cd Reviews

French power metal band Nightmare was founded in 1979 and released their debut album ”Waiting For The Twilight” in 1984. ”Power Of The Universe” was released the next year and then shortly after the band split due to musical differences.

In 1999 the band reformed with drummer Jo Amore giving up the drums and becoming the vocalist and frontman The vacant position of drummer was filled by Jo’s brother David. Since then the bands have released five albums, with ”The burden of god” being the sixth since reforming (eighth overall). The band have played several major festivals and toured with bands such as Sabaton and Blind Guardian.

Brief comments on a couple of the songs..

The album opens with an orchestral number, ”Gateways to the void” which is purely instrumental apart from a short s...

Posted in Cd Reviews

London singer-songwriter Lettie’s has released her third album – Good Fortune, Bad Weather. Lettie has been described as a “memory collector”, obsessed with collecting pieces of the past in the forms of books, postcards, second hand shop finds and newspaper clippings.

This memory collecting and accompanying sense of nostalgia is clearly seen in ”Good Fortune, Bad Weather”, which is filled with haunting melodies, lyrics that obsess over the past and classic synth sounds. All this is wrapped up in a modern electro-pop shell.

As well as Lettie, the album has a number of other talented musicians performing on it including Danny Blume, Zachary Alford (Bowie, Springsteen, Stefani), Sara Lee (League of Gentleman, B52s, Gang of Four, Ani diFranco), D. James Goodwin and many others.

Brief c...

Posted in Interviews

I recently spoke with vocalist Joel Ekelof and guitarist Kim Platbarzdis from Soen, shortly before they played their first UK show, supporting Amaranthe at the Garage in London.

Festivalphoto: Soen are a fairly new band, so for the benefit of anyone who hasnt come across Soen yet, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Kim: We’re from Sweden and America. I think the idea, the original seed to it started as Martin’s side project to Opeth. I got involved in 2004, he was looking for a guitarist, I was looking for a drummer for a band, but we did it this way instead...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

As far as my experience goes in Netherlands or with Dutch people, I can use the word ’practical’ when it comes to describing them. And that is also applied to the Fortarock festival which has the biggest advantage of being a one day festival. A young and growing festival, located in the Brakkenstein park in the city of Nijmegen, walking distance from train or bus stations and starting at noon, its duration makes for such an enjoyable Saturday afternoon. I’ve been to three or four days festivals and while there’s plenty of fun parts in that, I consider that we’re way over the days when people hardly had access to live concerts, hence their desperate need for once a year event where they could see all the big bands during three to seven days...