Revival is the third studio album from Irish rockers The Answer. For a lot of people their first exposure to the band came when they supported ACDC on their last world tour – an opportunity that saw them play in front of over a million fans around the world. Although the bands previous album ”Everyday demons” was released during the tour, it had been recorded before the tour so this new album, ”Revival” is the first chance we have of seeing what if anything the band learnt from their time with ACDC. From listening to the album, I think the answer is clearly ”a lot” – this is the bands best album yet by far.
At this time of year there is huge competition with album releases with what seems like three quarters of the worlds rock bands all releasing albums in a two month period in the peak...
För er som inte känner till Syster Sol så är hon grundare och sångerska i det svenska reggeabandet Livelihood, men sedan 2008 är hon den första etablerade svenska sångerskan inom reggeagenren.
Och för er som inte känner till General Knas så är han en svensk reggeamusiker som är känd för sin mörka sångstil. Han var även medlem i nu mera nedlagda reggeabandet Svenska Akademien.
Även om ni inte vet vilka dessa två artister är så ska jag förklara det med General Knas egna ord; Reggea på Svenska.
Syster Sol:
The Tivoli är en ganska liten och intim scen! Den rymmer ungefär 150 – 200 människor. Även om det är en liten skara människor i lokalen så är kärleken större här än någon annanstans i Helsingborg stad.
Högtalarna spottar ur sig sköna reggealåtar och ...
Read MoreAFM/Sound Pollution
Nine albums, plus a live DVD, that is the impressive output of BRAINSTORM since the start in 1989. All three founding members; guitarists Torsten Ihlenfeld and Milan Loncaric plus drummer Dieter Bernert are still in the band. Vocalist Andy B. Franck and bass player Antonio Leva complete the line-up. For more info please see the interview dated a few weeks back. The band specially emphasize that the album was created together producer Axel Heckert of Studio 22 in Ludwigsburg.
They seem that pleased, is it a necessary album to have and to hold?
Well opener “below the Line” ranks among the finest I have heard from the BRAINSTORM…ever. The epic outline and the contagious mid-pace just simply does it for me...
Read MoreFrontiers/Sound Pollution
URIAH HEEP recently turned 40 (in 2009). They may be older than quite a few of their fans,but Messrs.; Bernie Shaw, vocals, Mick Box, guitars, Trevor Bolder, bass, Phil Lanzon, keyboards, and “new boy” Russell Gilbrook, drums seem happier than ever. Many oldie bands have apparent motivational problems, URIAH HEEP played approximately 250 shows on their 2009 tour. One of the nights was spent in Armenia, with hired equipment and other difficulties. But here it is, alive, warts and all.
The joy of the crowd is not to be mistaken, and the Eastern Bloc was once a rescue mission for an ailing band in the late eighties. Now they return triumphant...
Read MoreFestivalphoto: For anyone who isn` t familiar with Cornerstone, can you tell us a bit about the band including where are you from and when you were formed?
Steve: we have begun to perform cover-Versions of REM, SOUL ASYLUM and THE CURE in the livingroom of Mike’s former girlfriend in 1997 (*laughs*) …that was it. After a time a friend of Mike – Markus Bousska – joined the group, he has played drums, so the band was born, we have started, to write own songs. At the beginning Mike was the leadsinger, but – let me say it this way – there are some things in the band, he can do better than singing…(*laughs*).
Michael: yeah, so a singer joined the band, we have changed the name to “Cornerstone” in 1999, and started to perform...
Read MoreFestivalphoto spoke with Sy Keeler and Andy Rosser-Davies from Onslaught just before their London show on their UK tour.
Festivalphoto: Earlier this year you released your latest album, Sounds of violence. Can you tell us a bit about the album?
Sy: The album in general, or the aftermath, or a bit of both? OK, the album is produced by Jacob Hansen who is a Danish gentleman and he has produced a fantastic album for us. We have how many songs on there?
Andy: Ten originals – eight songs, one outro one re-record and a cover version.
Sy: It was a great working environment – we went to Denmark to record, no distractions, the nearest bar was ten kilometres, not that we drink much anyway...
Read MoreTormenta are a new band from an area of the world not known for Heavy metal music – they hail from the Maldives. Despite this, these guys certainly know how to make brutal thrash metal.
I’m not sure if this should be called an album or an EP. With only 6 songs and 28 minutes of music, its nowhere near long enough to be an album, but its a bit too long to be an EP – it falls somewhere in between. Even the band seem confused as its referred to as both an album and an EP. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and call it a very good value EP.
Right from the start with first track, Judgement, we get screaming/growling guitars, pounding drums and a good solid bass sound – really good thrash. The vocals fit the music well too.
I’d describe the music as old-school thrash – Slayer, Megadeth...
Read MoreFormerly best known as a doom metal band, While Heaven Wept have moved towards a new more progressive style of metal, and this album see’s little trace of their Doom roots.
One criticism is the length of the album – only 7 songs ! Admittedly, the last song (Finality) is eleven minutes long, but you’re still only looking at 37 minutes of music in total.
I have to be brutally honest and say that I was very disappointed in this album – the songs lack sufficient variation and tend to blur into one another, and there is little here that I’d class as memorable. Certainly a short time after listening to the album none of the songs stick in the mind.
Track Listing:
1. Hour Of Reprisal
2. Destroyer Of Solace
3. Obsessions Now Effigies
4. Unplenitude
5. To Grieve Forever
6. Saturn And Sacrifice
7...
Ry Cooder is a legend of American music having a career that spans over 40 years. He has worked with musicians including Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Warren Zevon, Arlo Guthrie, Catain Beefheart, Randy Newman and the Rolling Stones, and has also won several Grammy awards.
Musically he has a very diverse career spanning blues, folk, rock, country as well as world music, including The Buena Vista Social Club, and has worked with musicians from as far afield as Africa and India.
The album kicks off with a biting satirical look at bankers in ”No banker left behind”. There’s a simple but surprisingly catchy tune to accompany the cutting lyrics – e.g. ”with champagne and shrimp cocktails, and that’s not all you find, there’s a billion dollar bonus, and no banker left behind”.
”Dirty Chateau” look...
Read More”World war live: Battle of the Baltic sea” is the first live album from Swedish Power Metal band Sabaton. Having released six studio albums, they have plenty of material to pick from, so the time certainly seems right for a live album from a band who’s live performances are always great. The album was recorded on the Sabaton cruise in 2010.
While Sabaton are naturally addressing the crowd in Swedish here given that the cruise took place in Sweden so most of the crowd will have been Swedish, it’s quite unusual to hear a live album where the talking between songs is in anything other than English, and given that a large percentage of their fans are in English speaking countries, it does seem a slightly odd choice to record a show in Swedish which means that the vast majority of their fans ...
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