Posted in Cd Reviews

Escape Music/Sound Pollution

GARY JOHN BARDEN has an ongoing long career in hard rock. Most will recognize him as the voice of MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP, but he has also collaborated with GARY MOORE, fronted STATETROOPER and PRAYING MANTIS, formed SILVER, plus released quite a few solo efforts. This time he goes solo again, amidst all the MSG activities. Not alone, but in close co-operation with Michael Voss of e.g. MAD MAX. A highlight is promised, tough one, concerning the fantastic new albums by SHY and CHRIS OUSEY on the same label.

Gary opens with the aircraft sounds of “Baghdad”. It is heavier than I thought, but the refrain works and the opening is very ok...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Lion Music/Warner

Lion Music have announced their plans to rerelease the entire back catalogue of CONSORTIUM PROJECT, following their success with their recent, and final, album “Species”. This album dates back to the late 90´s, when Ian Parry wanted to do something new and ambitious. The project has become famous for having great musicians on board, and this was no exception. Or how about Patrick Rondat (ELEGY), Staphan Lill (Vanden Plas) and Thomas Youngblood (Kamelot) on guitars, Arjen Lucasen and Jan Bijlsma (VENGEANCE) on bass, and Dirk Bruinenberg (David Readman, Adagio, Fergie Frederiksen, among many others). And of cause Ian´s voice and keyboards on top of that. Let the story of the select few rising to power after the assassination of President Kennedy begin… and its consequences...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Massace/Sound Pollution

German true metal merchants MESSENGER return for a second shot at stardom with “See You in Hell”. With such a MANOWAR 82 image they have of cause played Keep It True and Headbanger´s Open Air, plus supported RUNNING WILD and ROSS THE BOSS. The leather clothing must be pretty hot in southern Germany, but they mean business and stay true to their aim at playing catchy metal with hooks and energy. How true are they really?

Opening intro “Flames of Revenge” is a like a declaration of independence. The cover opts for more children´s cartoon TV style, but MESSENGER head straight into the title track instead. The folky guitar work hints at some new ideas, and the song ought to go down well in the right (magic) circles...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Angel Air/Border

Just about every charitable issue gets a music project, or a single these days. But here ROBIN GEORGE has gathered no less than 50 artists of various genres for a good cause. Members and ex.members of bands like URIAH HEEP, UFO, DIAMOND HEAD, QUIREBOYS, and ASIA, to mention but a few, have all contributed. The main material comes from Robin´s back catalogue, but there are also added specials, and specially written songs. As further evidence of dedication all profits will go to BCAT, Haven House and the Compton Hospice.

Those who expect only hard rock or thereabouts will have to reconsider, the main object here is musicianship, and not distorted guitars...

Posted in Interviews

Metal bands in the nineties are legion it seems, and few make a major impact on the scene. But NIGHTRAGE do, relentlessly they go their own way but still packs a punch. The phenomenon appeared over ten years ago, in 2000 to be precise, under the direction of guitarist Marios Iliopulos (and Gus G). Members have come and gone but the lineup of Marios and Olof Björck on guitars, Antony Hämäläinen on vocals, Anders Hammer on bass and drummer Jo Nunez seems stable. But the attitude of the band gets them both kudos and hardship. A no nonsense head on metal band without compromise ought to be everyone´s dream…or not? Who better to explain than Messrs. Hämäläinen and Iliopulos? Hi guys, now…

FP: What about the new album?

– We´re only doing what we always do, says band leader Marios.

Posted in Cd Reviews

Thirteen (written as Th1rt3en on the album cover) is the latest album from Megadeth. Their previous album, Endgame was released two years ago in late 2009. Since then Dave Ellefson has rejoined the album making this the firs album for ten years to feature him alongside Dave Mustaine. The album title, Thirteen reflects the fact that this is the bands thirteenth album. The album also has thirteen tracks.

After a career of almost 30 years and a dozen albums released so far, you could understand it if the band had lost some steam, but as soon as you listen to the album you’ll hear that this is definitely not the case – this album is hard and heavy and has all the agressive rebellious lyrics that we’ve come to associate with Dave Mustaine.

As you’d expect from a Megadeth album there’s some f...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

The evening started with some bad news – Arkona weren’t going to be playing. We heard later that this was due to visa problems which prevented them getting into the country. Still this disappointment aside we still had a good lineup to look forwards to – Skálmöld, Trollfest, Alestorm, Finntroll and Turisas.
The plus side was that the reduced number of bands meant that the show kicked off an hour later than originally planned, which gave more fans time to arrive and meant that the venue was pretty full right from the start.

The evenings entertainment kicked off with Icelandic band Skálmöld. Playing in front of a large crowd their heavy folk metal sound impresses a lot of people here tonight and will definitely have earned them some new fans.

Next up were Trollfest...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

I väntan på Graveyard så pratar några killar om att de inte har någon aning om vilka Graveyard är. Visst de har hört någon låt men inte mer. Jag är lika intet vetandes om Graveyard som dessa killar. Jag hade hört talas om dem och att de skulle vara ett riktigt grymt liveband, så nu står jag här med höga förväntningar framför scenen, bara några minuter innan det är dags för Göteborgs finest att äntra scenen.

Efter konserten så slår det mig att dessa fyra killar är ett fenomen och kanske just nu Sveriges bästa rock band! De blandar vilt mellan olika 70-tals band som Led Zeppelin och Black Sabbath men man märker även av lite influenser från band som Pink Floyd och Deep Purple...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Förband till Graveyard är inga andra än Spiders ikväll, som följer med Graveyard på deras Skåneturné. Likt huvudbandet är också Spiders influerat av 70-tals rock blandat med sydstatsstil! Här snackar vi långt hår, massivt skägg, maracas och munspel. Nämnde jag att sångaren är en kvinna? Coolt!

Spiders går ut starkt med sin energi och attityd som tyvärr försvinner varje gång en låt tar slut men går igång igen när nästa låt börjar. Ljudet är väldigt dåligt ikväll! Det hörs inte alls något från Ann-Sofies mikrofon de första tjugo minuterna! Det stoppar dock inte hennes oändliga energi, hon hoppar rundor på scen med sina maracas och med ett väldigt stort leende.
Tjugo minuter in i konserten skruvar någon upp ljudet i mikrofonen och konserten får ett helt...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Tonights opening band was Winter in Eden playing their first London show. The band are a man short as their bassist has just become a father. Their brand of symphonic metal goes down very well with the fans. Singer Vicky has an excellent voice and really puts in a great performance. For anyone who missed them tonight, Winter in Eden will be back in the London area at the end of November when they support Pythia at the Peel in Kingston on 25th November.

Next up was Achilla who have been supporting Lahannya on the whole tour. For the first couple of songs Achilla suffered from sound problems with Martamaria’s voice being far too low in the mix making it almost inaudible. Daniele Panza is particularly impressive on the guitar...