Posted in Cd Reviews

Debemur Morti/Sound Pollution

The strictly preaching REX MUNDI inflict divine fury on mankind. They are purveyors of raw and pure black metal, bringing forward alleged lost wisdom of creation. The band members; Metatron, commander of legions and proclamations of faith, Seraphiel, unearthly presentations, Nahanael. Minister to the lost, and Chamiel, uncoverer of secrets and shadows really seems hell-bent on what they do. Convince me!

The demonic atmosphere of “J´Imagine (Be-Reshit)” is creepy, it is all very theatric. But as their hypnotic theatrics transform into the most churning black metal, quite a lot of the ancient wisdom is lost. They may throw in some clear vocals and loud praying but the baseline is not to be saved...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Debemur Morti/Sound Pollution

NUNFUCKRITUAL sounds like a name conceived while inebriated, and why not? Behind the name stands Espen T. Hangård of ALTAAR, vocals, effects and keyboards, guitarist Teloch of MAYHEM, Andreas Jonsson on drums (TYRANT) and NUCLEAR ASSAULT bass man Dan Lilker. Extreme metal is on the menue, of cause, and blasphemy galore. The conception of the album has taken its toll, the first steps being taken back in 2006. Nothing much is said about the band´s future, if there is one with all members being in demand elsewhere, but here goes…

First out is “Theotokos”, heavy and d r a g g e d out opener with many effects. It may drag forever on but it is also very occult. Attila Csihar guests on the worst drag of them all, “Komodo Dragon”...

Posted in Interviews

Festivalphoto recently asked The Undertones bassist Michael Bradley a few questions before the bands forthcoming tour.

Festivalphoto: Your last album (excluding compilations) was released in 2007. Are there any plans for a new album?

Michael: We have some new songs, and we hope to record them sometime next year. We havent practised them much , so we wont be playing them live this time round.

Festivalphoto: Your current tour is the 35th anniversary tour where you’ll be playing your first album in its entirety. What else can fans expect you to play on the tour?

Michael: As the first LP is only thirty two minutes long, we will include as singles as we can...

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...

Posted in Cd Reviews

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...