Posted in Interviews

After their performance supporting Sabaton at Koko in London, I spoke to Hell’s guitarist Andy Sneap in their dressing room. We were then joined by his fellow guitarist, Kev Bower.

Festivalphoto: OK, Hell was around in the early ’80s before splitting. What sparked the decision to reform in 2008 after so long?

Andy: Obviously we never really thought we could do it. I’d always wanted to record Hell’s material because I grew up listening to them and going to see them, and it wasn’t until I bumped into Kev again, it was probably late 2007. We got talking about old times and it made us realise, because he’d seen the studio and he came over to visit me, basically we were just sat in the studio and said it would be great to record some of these songs...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Battle Beast are a Finnish band who released their debut album, Steel in April 2011 through Hype Records. Sadly the album was only released in Finland, but the band have now signed a deal for Nuclear Blast to release the album throughout the rest of the world.
Battle Beast have supported Blaze Bayley in Finland and after winning the WOA: Metal Battle in Finland they got to play the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany which is sure to have made them some new fans. They will be playing across continental Europe in the spring as they have been announced as support for Nightwish.

If you’ve noticed that Battle Beast have a female singer, you may assume that since they are supporting Nightwish on their European tour then they must be symphonic metal...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Dick Venom & The Terrortones are a Psychobilly band from Nottinghamshire. In case you haven’t come across Psychobilly before, it’s best described as a blend of Rockabilly and Punk rock.

”Rockin Rollin Vampire Man” is the new single from the band. Technically according to the press release its a Double A side – ”Rockin Rollin Vampire Man” and ”Sticky pants trance”, but since the CD cover only has Rockin’ ROllin’ Vampire Man on the front then that’s a normal single as far as I’m concerned.

The packaging is nicely done – instead of the usual stuff you find in a CD booklet – photos of the band, ”the band would like to thank..” and a track listing, with this CD you get a nice change – a short Dick Venom comic.

Ok so what about the music? Well the punk rock element comes through strongly, and...

Posted in Cd Reviews

”Jerusalem” is the latest release from Swedish metallers, Astral Doors. Formed in 2002 the band have released six albums plus an EP and a ”best of” compilation, and have toured extensively in Sweden and Europe (although its five years since they last visited the UK).

Lyrically the album is a strange mix, with most songs being about wars, ranging from the crusades to World War 2, and the Iraq war, but there are also a couple of songs that simply don’t fit in lyrically – ”child of rock’n’roll” being the most obvious. It feels as though the original plan was to write an album of songs about the crusades but they couldnt find inspiration to get enough songs, so chose a few others to fill up the album.

There are strong powerful vocals from singer Nils Patrick Johansson who is often compared ...

Posted in Cd Reviews

”Invisible empire” is the second album from US rockers Riotgod. Riotgod was formed by Monster Magnet members Bob Pantella and Jim Baglino who then recruited Garret Sweeney and Mark Sunshine.
The music is described variously as stoner rock, hard rock or stoner metal. Having listened to the album a good few times I’d describe it as 70s hard rock with some stoner rock and metal influences – its good hard rock with plenty of groove.

”Gas station roses” is a nice change of pace with its acoustic guitars and allows Mark Sunshine to display another aspect to his vocals, and which sounds to be quite Led Zeppelin influenced.

”Saving it up” picks the pace up a bit and is a great track – one of my favourites on the album.

”Looseley bound” is another great track with some great singing, a great tun...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Mark Spiro is an American singer-songwriter with an impressive track record – 45 gold and platinum records, and six solo albums. He’s written songs for a number of films and TV series – most notably the song ”Mighty Wings” which was performed by Cheap Trick for the film Top Gun. He’s written songs that have been recorded by bands including Heart, Winger and REO Speedwagon.

With that track record then I was looking forward to listening to this new album. Sadly that excitement didn’t last long. The vocals are beautiful, the songs are well written (as you’d expect) and the guitar is lovely and melodic, but the drumming really feels flat and lifeless, and the album just lacks any punch – its rock’s version of ”Easy listening”.
I suspect the problem comes from the lack of conflicting influe...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Tonight’s entertainment started with the support band, Serpentine. Many people saw them as an odd choice to support Amaranthe with most fans expecting a female fronted band, so it was going to be interesting to see how they’d go down with the fans on the night. By the time they came on stage the venue was already very busy.
For anyone who hasn’t come across Serpentine yet, they’re a British AOR band and are well worth a listen. Tonight they put on a great show that goes down well...

Posted in Cd Reviews

”Get fit, in association with London 2012” is a compilation album designed for use with a workout. I’ve come across hundreds of compilation albums before, but this is a new idea for me – an album designed to tie in with your workout. The idea is that the tracks, played in the correct order rather than on random play, gradually increase in tempo before slowing down, so if you exercise in time to the music then you start out gradually, work up to a peak and then gradually cool down.

The songs all have a good strong bass beat to them – essential for a fitness class to be able to keep time with the music easily. There is a mix of musical eras with songs from the ’80s as well as current chart acts. The CD also containts an informative fold out poster booklet gives you useful training tips.

Posted in Cd Reviews

Dangerous Dog Records/Border

Scottish band STRANGEWAYS formed in the early eighties and did three albums in six years that made them hot; the self titled, “Native Sons” and “Walk in the Fire”. The band name might have been aptly since they seem to have been ripped off my managers and record companies alike, but still returned for two more obscure albums in the nineties. The 21ct century opened with a new album, “Gravitational Pull”, and nothing more until they returned on Frontiers Records with “Perfect World” in 2010. Now they´re on their own label and united in full; vocalist Terry Brock, guitarist Ian J. Stewart, bassist David Stewart, keyboard player David Moore and drummer Jim Drummond. Still eager not to be pinned down in a certain genre you never know what to expect...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Massacre/Sound Pollution

German old school giants VENDETTA returns with their fourth album in 24 years. More cult than VENDETTA sounds impossible! Starting out in 1984 only Klaus “Heiner” Ullrich on bass remains, lead vocalist Mario Vogel came aboard in 2002, guitarist Frank Schölch in 2007, and drummer Thomas “Lubber” Krämer in 2002. An almost totally different band made the classics “Go and Live…Stay and Die” (1987) and “Brain Damage” (1988). First disbanding in 1990, the band must have noticed the great interest via the internet and came back around 2003 with a demo, a precursor to their comeback album “Hate” in 2007. But can anything beat the old Teutonic terror they created in the late eighties on Noise Records?

They sure opens with the title track, but the la...