Posted in Cd Reviews

Frontiers/BAM

There is a lot of talk about the Scandinavian melodic rock scene at the moment and it will to expire after this release. The modestly named THE MAGNIFICENT is the joint venture of guitarist/producer Torsti Spoof of LEVERAGE and vocalist Michel Eriksen of Norway´s most promising act CIRCUS MAXIMUS. The song writing department also has a lot of BROTHER FIRETRIBE, CIRCUS MAXIMUS and URBAN TALE injected and the backing band are; drummer Rolf PIlve, bass player Sami Norbacka, keyboard player Jukka Karinen and backing vocalist Antony Parviainen. A couple of guests from their respective bands are there too of cause. Is it a bnad, is it a project, is it promising at all? I press play…

The reflection of a spandex clad WHITESNAKE is there in opener “Holding On to Your Love”...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Music Buy Mail/Sound Pollution

The band name VAIN brings a smile to my face. I remember their cocky debut as if it way yesterday. The single “Bite the Bullet” was a fine slab of sleazy hair metal with tons of attitude. Then they disappeared off my radar for years. VAIN has actually released six albums since then, but the efforts made in the grunge years must have been well of the post at the time. In 2005 original guitarists Jamie Scott and Davey West plus bass player Ashley Mitchell returned. Original drummer Tom Rickard also returned, only to depart again and be replaced with Louie Senor. So they are back in action and almost with the entire original line-up. I expect nothing but hits now!

Aw well, sometimes wishes don´t come true...

Posted in Interviews

Anthony May from Festivalphoto spoke by phone with Richard Drummie from Go West to talk about their forthcoming UK tour and the band in general.

Festivalphoto: You’re about to start your 3D live UK tour. What can fans expect from the shows – a greatest hits setlist or something different?

Richard: Well I wish we had so many hits that we couldn’t squeeze them all into a show without making it the same as usual, but we will be doing all our hits, we always do really. Sometimes there’s one or two that aren’t right for the venue because they’re too quiet or whatever, but no, all the hits will be there but we always on every tour try to play new things...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Typically when a record company releases a collection of stuff from an artist its either a single CD greatest hits album or sometimes a double album. Occasionally though you get something a bit more comprehensive. ”The kinks in mono” is definitely in the latter category – this is one seriously impressive collection.

Firstly it contains the bands first 7 albums – Kinks, Kinda Kinks, Kontroversy, Face To Face, Something Else, Village Green Preservation Society, and Arthur. Then you have four EPs – ‘Kinksize Session’, ‘Kinksize Hits’, ‘Kweyt Kinks’, ‘Dedicated Kinks’ and finally another two discs (entitled The Kinks Mono Kollectables) of unissued tracks and various singles from around the world. All the discs are in Mono.
That’s ten CD’s in total !!

Sanctuary haven’t skimped o...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Universal music and Time Out magazine have got together to create a compilation album of songs inspired by London. When I heard that, I had a think about London inspired songs and only managed to come up with a handful of songs, yet this CD contains 20 of them by well known artists including Roxy Music, The Kinks, Pet shop boys, David Bowie, Gerry Raffery and many more

There are a few obvious omissions from the songs included here – The Clash’s classic song, London Calling being top of the list – especially since a poll in Time Out voted it as the best London song...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Frontiers/BAM

MECCA is that almost mythical proposition of a band that made headlines in 2002 with their debut ”Mecca”. They were compared to the likes of JOURNEY and TOTO. Of cause some might say, main man and vocalist Joe Vana was aided by ex. TOTO members Fergie Frederiksen and David Hungate, plus the song writing and production skills of Jim Peterik (SURVIVOR). Since then various efforts has been made to create a follow-up involving Tommy Denander and guitarist Christian Wolff. The core band that emerged was Joe on vocals, his son Joey on guitars as well as Mark Alano, bass player Wally Hustin, drummer Rick Witek, synthesizer player Paul Pisciotto, and keyboard man Brian Moritz. An album that spent seven years in the making should either be a masterpiece…or a disaster.

The gentl...

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Limb Music/Sound Pollution

SANDSTONE has been around since 2003. Founded by guitarist Stevie McLaughlin and singer Sean McBay they opted for their own material right from the start. Bass player David McLaughlin (yes, they are brothers) and drummer Paddy Flemming completed the line-up. First up was a debut album, “Tides of Opinion” in 2006 followed by a follow-up in 2009, “Purging the Past”. The latter was praised by no other than Bruce Dickinson of IRON MAIDEN. Now it´s time for the difficult third album, and it seems they go for progressive melodic metal. The major changes since last time is the drummer switch, Paddy´s been replaced by Dan Lafford, and Sean has taken on rhythm guitar duties. Aw well, convince me!

Opener “Reckless Thought” says Ireland not out of the game...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Lion Music/Warner

In the mid-nineties vocalist Ian Parry was looking to follow up the success of his solo album “Thru´ the Looking-Glass”. He wanted something ambitious, and it would take until 1999 before this album was finalized. The ELEGY touch surely helpend sales, as did probably the inclusion of world-renowned guitarist Patrick Rondat and ex VENGEANCE bassist Jan Bijlsma. Today it might be at least as helpful to have KAMELOT guitarist Thomas Youngblood and AYREON star ARJEN LUCASSEN as guest on one track, playing the bass. Other musicians in the first incarnation were; guitarist Stephan Lill (VANDENPLAS) and well-travelled drummer Dirk Bruinenberg. Apart from the eleven originals this re-mastered edition contains two bonus tracks.

The story of power hungry people´s quest for a...

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Napalm/Sound Pollution

Norwegians LONELY KAMEL is in the business of stoner rock. Surely no-one doubts that after seeing the band name and the cover… The band has only been around for three years, still they have released two albums and shared stage with bands like MONSTER MAGNET and KARMA TO BURN. Blues, grooves and booze seems to be the band´s motto, and it works well enough for them to have a go at their third release. I wonder if tracks like “Grim Reefer” will be enough to make every listener high on the music alone?

Bluesy stoner it is, straight from the opening chord of “Grim Reefer”, the hypnotic voice of guitarist Thomas Brenna fills my ears. They change pace once, but mostly the stubborn repetition of the likeable riff is the main concept...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Frontiers/BAM

Introducing BOBBY KIMBALL and JIMI JAMISON feels like asking a catholic who the pope is. But anyway… Bobby rose to fame as the voice of TOTO between 1977-84, and 1998-2008, while Jimi was, and is the returning lead vocalist of SURVIVOR. Both of them has been solo artists, or are, and have a wide experience of making music. To enhance things further they have enlisted the aid of a.o. Jim Peterik (SURVIVOR, PRIDE OF LIONS), JOHN WAITE and Erik Mårtensson of W.E.T and ECLIPSE, while Mat Sinner (SINNER) handled the production. The backing musicians are; excellent German guitarist Alex Beyrodt, bass man Mat Sinner, keyboardist Jimmy Kresic and drummer Martin Schmidt. I sthis what the melodic rock community has been waiting for?

Well, after “Worth Fighting for” I´d say yes! Actu...