Album Reviews

Tonight’s midweek gig featured two great female blues artists – Erja Lyytinen and Chantel McGregor. Both acts were down to play the same length set so it’s more a double-headline show than a normal headline and support show. It’s the only show the two artists are doing together – the …

Jordan Rudess is the keyboard player in Dream Theater, a role he’s held for twenty years. He’s also a successful business man having formed a software company in 2010 to create new music tools to run on tablets and computers. Alongside this he’s also a busy solo artist with “Wired …

To many of us, the name Suzi Quatro is likely to conjure up memories of her playing bass as she sang hits such as “Can the can” and “Devil gate drive” on Top of the Pops. It’s hard to believe that was the early 70s, and that her music career …

Tonight saw me visiting a venue I’ve not been to before, the House of vans, which turns out to be in an arch under the railway a minutes walk from Waterloo station. The band that brought me here is Australian rock band The Lazys. I’d checked them out on Youtube …

It’s been 34 years since the first Megadeth album came out – and I’m sure that fact will make a few people reading this feel old as like me they remember the release of it. In that time we’ve had 15 studio albums, five live releases and half a dozen …

On completing my first listen of Devin Townsend’s upcoming release Empath, I find myself at a loss for words.  Empath is a genre-bending masterpiece; from start to finish is a chaotic yet utterly blissful masterpiece.  I find myself trying to get my head around the writing, recording and even how …

So the dreaded last day of a fantastic 3 days at Grimm Up North Festival 2019 comes far too soon as first band of the day Sellsword proved to be one of my most enjoyable sets of the weekend as the York based lunatics hammered out just four songs due …

Here we go again as a similar song once said. Curious weather in Bury before the first full day of Grimm Up North 2019 as we had rain, hail, snow and sunshine within an hour so that was a sign of a metal storm to come and it did with …

Chester’s Deaf Centre, which sits next door to the iconic Telford’s Warehouse, by way of Restless Bear Promotions, has become an up and coming venue for the popular underground scene. Tonight, it’s punk duo Crapsons opportunity to shine as they make their Chester debut. This was my first visit to …

Since the sheer delight of the first Grimm Up North Festival in 2017 we have had to wait just over a year for the sequel and what a weekend it was! 23 bands over 3 days giving their all to a room full of metal heads to say a big …

Hailing from Germany and formed 2008, they present their 5th album. Downfall of Gaia are a melting pot of influences, taking pieces from many different genres and making them blend into a seamless onslaught which is full of unexpected twists and turns. There are several long pieces on this album …

Formed in the late 70s, High Treason released their debut single in 1980 and aside from a couple of tracks that appeared on a compilation album, that was their entire recording output despite the band touring until the late 80s. Many years later the Japanese band Gorgon covered one of …

Robin Trower has had a long career so far – the 73 year old guitarist first found fame as a member of Procul Harum (he joined shortly after the release of “White shade of pale”, before starting to release music under his own name. He’s also worked with artists including …

“Neon Highway Blues” is the 21st album from guitarist Gary Hoey. When you consider that his first albumw was released in 1991 (28 years ago), 21 albums is a seriously impressive work rate. It’s certainly not a case of quantity over quality either as anyone who’s listened to his albums …

Keyboard player Reece Wynans has a career that’s already spanned over 50 years. He was a member of Second Coming in the late 60s, he joined Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble in 1985 and remained with them till Stevie Ray Vaughan’s death. In more recent years he’s played with …

Now this is how live albums should sound! Dissonance Productions have raided the heavy metal vaults and dug out this 1980 Live Quartz album, of course by the band Quartz. Actually recorded on December 1st 1979 in their hometown of Digbeth, it sounds stripped down to its bare bones. Three …

Those fine folk at Dissonance Productions have cranked up their time machine and unearthed the self titled debut from Quartz in 1977. Produced by Tony Iommi, they also supported Black Sabbath the same year and appeared at the prestigious Reading Festival (when it used to be rock/metal related) in 1977, …

    Onirophagus sure do pack a mighty punch with the blistering album ‘Endarkenment (Illumination Through  Putrefaction), their first offering since 2013’s ‘Prehuman’ Whilst this technically is the bands second album, to all intents and purposes it could easily be viewed as a debut due to the line up changes …

Now flying the flag for AOR for thirty five years now, FM fly it even higher on their latest album The Italian Job, a live recording from their appearance at the Frontiers Rock Festival in Milan on April 29th 2018 that features seventeen songs and a bonus DVD released on …

Delain’s new release, “Hunter’s moon” was orignally envisaged as an EP, but grew to be a lot bigger. The EP part is the four new studio tracks, but what was then added to it is basically a full live album – ten live tracks. The live tracks were recorded at …

Tonight’s gig was one I did not want to miss – not only are King King a great live band, but this tour is the final one with the band’s original bass player, Lindsay Coulson who has sadly decided to step down as the band’s growing popularity demands being away …

Tonight’s support act for this special MaYaN show was Dutch My Propane. They released their new album, “Antidote” just over a week before the show, so this was basically an album launch show for them. Their songs are fairly long, especially when played live, so their 40 minute set consisted …

Nostalgia can be a good or a bad thing with some bands but this is not the case for Tygers Of Pan Tang with Hellbound, Spellbound (Live 1981), a gem of an album recorded at Nottingham Rock City. It reaffirms my opinion that the NWOBHM movement was best represented in …

To celebreate their 25th anniversary, Skunk Anansie are releasing a 25 track live album – 25live@25. Of course a standard live album is a bit too normal and uninspired for Skunk Anansie so they’ve added their own twist to it. Rather than the album being recorded at a single show, …

        Atmospheric Doom Metal is incoming from the United States in the form of Chalice Of Suffering with their impressive second album ‘Lost Eternally’ If I had to summarise this album in one short word, then that word would be ‘diverse’. A conclusion I came to right …

    Il Vuoto release the hard hitting album ‘Vastness’ Emanating  from a single mind, this record is a deep and tortured offering. Revolving around the core theme of sorrow in its many forms, ‘Vastness’ is by its very nature an uncomfortable listen at times. Subject matters such as mental …

Since bursting onto the scene in 2015, Cats in space have been busy. As well as touring with the lines of Deep Purple, Thunder and Status Quo, they’ve released three albums and are now preparing to release their fourth – Day trip to narnia. If you’ve never listened to them …

Metal guitarist Tara Lynch releases her debut album at the beginning of March. She not only plays guitar on the album, she also sings – she also can also plays bass, drums and piano but has guest musicians on this album. She’s got some great musicians working with her on …

Herman Frank has been part of the German metal scene for a long time now, first coming to people’s attention when he joined Accept in 1982. He only stayed with them a couple of years, but then when the band reformed in 2005 he rejoined the band and stayed with …

Rantanplan are a German ska-punk band. Formed in Hamburg in 1995, they’ve had various lineup changes over the years and now the only remaining original member is Torben Meissner (vocals/guitar). This is their tenth album. Prior to being sent this album to review I must admit I’d never heard of …

In 2017 Aaron Buchanan and the cult classics released their debut album, “The man with stars on his knees”. Now, newly signed to Listenable records it’s being re-released, this time as a special edition with bonus tracks. Normally I’m not a fan of bands doing special editions of their albums …

Beast in Black was formed in 2015 by Anton Kabanen – guitarist, songwriter and founding member of Battle Beast. In many ways he’s continued with what he was doing in Battle beast – writing catchy power metal songs with some pop influences. I saw Beast in black live for the …

Thrash legends Megadeth are re-issuing two of their albums on 15th February 2019. Both “The world needs a hero” and “The system has failed” have been remastered by Ted Jensen (Guns N’Roses, Mastodon, Machine Head and Trivium) and will be available on vinyl, CD and digital formats – the first …

Thrash legends Megadeth are re-issuing two of their albums on 15th February 2019. Both “The world needs a hero” and “The system has failed” have been remastered by Ted Jensen (Guns N’Roses, Mastodon, Machine Head and Trivium) and will be available on vinyl, CD and digital formats – the first …

For a reviewer personally speaking, ten tracks is fine, twelve is a challenge but come on Fugitive! Fourteen of them. FOURTEEN with new album The Awakening but I digress as I’m only joking as it’s a fine hard rock album to say the least. Due for release on April 5th …

Tobias Sammet releases the next Avantasia album in February. As always it’s music on a grand scale featuring a lineup of top singers. Joining Tobias Sammet on vocals on this album are Hansi Kursch, Ronnie Atkins, Jorn Lande, Mille Petrozza, Candice Night, Geoff Tate, Eric Martin, Bob Catley and Michael …

Rosy Vista were Germany’s first all-female hard rock band, forming in 1983 before splitting in 1989. During that time they released an EP and two singles, but now they’re back and are finally releasing an album. The album consists of 12 tracks – the five songs that were on their …

This isn’t a normal Arch Enemy album – it’s actually an album full of cover versions – 24 of them in fact. There’s a wide range of artists covered including Tears for fears, Pretty maids, Judas Priest, Mike Oldfield, Iron Maiden, Queensryche, Manowar, Carcass, Discharge, GBH and Scorpions. The songs …

It’s less than five years since metal band King 810, from Flint, Michigan, hit the scene with the release of their debut album, “Memoirs of a murderer”. Initially they divided opinion among metal fans in the UK but a 2017 appearance at Bloodstock open air saw them win over a …

For over 35 years King Diamond has been releasing albums, first with Mercyful fate and then under his own name. Among a strong catalogue of albums, a firm favourite among fans is the 1987 album “Abigail”. This new live release from King Diamond sees him perform that album in full …

      Illimitable Dolor return with ‘Leaden Light’, the follow up album to their stunning self titled debut offering from 2017   When I first came across this band in 2017, I was completely blown away. The debut album was produced with such depth of feeling and emotion ( …

Portugese thrashers Toxik Attack release their debut full length LP on the last day of January. This follows EP ‘Thrash On Command’ which was released way back in 2016. Formed in 2012, they also released a demo in 2014. As far as thrash goes, this is ok. But is it me …

      German Sludge/Doom trio, Eremit announce themselves proper with ‘Carrier Of Weight’ An initial glance of the track listing shows a mere three songs, so more of an E.P. than an album you might be forgiven in thinking. How wrong could we be, these three mighty slabs of …

Formed in 2000, Visions of Atlantis have been through quite a few lineup changes over the years with drummer Thomas Caser being the only original member left in the band. Current vocalist Clementine Delauney is the band’s fifth female vocalist over the past 19 years, and having joined in 2013 …

So, the new Within Temptation is finally almost here. Originally due to be released in December it was announced just a couple of weeks before the release date that it had been postponed till February 2019. It’s not a good start to their new record deal and to be blunt …

Ukrainian band Jinjer formed in 2009 and released their first EP the same year. I first heard them in 2013 and loved their albums but was disappointed in my hopes to see them when in 2014 their drummer Yevhen Mantulin fell out of a window and broke his back leading …

Over the last 28 years, blues-rock guitarist Eric Gales has released 18 studio albums – a fact made more impressive by the fact he’s only 44 years old now, making him just 16 when his first album was released. Needless to say, he’s a superb guitarist but on this album …

Sunday night at The Corporation, Sheffield and Last Great Dreamers are putting on a Christmas show with special guests  Leeds own Boomville which features guitarist Mark Yates of Terrorvision fame.  And they’ve also brought along with them compere and comedian Pete K Mally. It’s not every day you have a compere …

This was the first HRH Vikings event. Like HRH Metal, CROWS and Sleaze, it’s held at an O2 Academy venue rather than a holiday camp. Despite being the first one, it’s proved popular with the place being busy right from the start of the first day. With headliners Turisas and …

Wille & the bandits will release their new album, “Paths” on 1st February 2019 and are due to follow that with a 19 date UK tour in March with Rainbreakers as special guests. If you’ve seen them live you’ll know Wille & the bandits are a superb live act with …

Country/Southern rock band The Steel Woods released their debut album “Straw in the wind” in 2017. Now as 2019 starts they’re releasing their second album – “Old news”. There are nine original songs on the album plus several cover versions – “Changes” (Black Sabbath), “Whipping post” (Allman brothers), “The Catfish …

Slim Chance is the band founded by Ronnie Lane after he left the Small faces. Although Ronnie died many years ago, the band lives on, and it’s latest incarnation dates back to 2011 when some former members reunited to restart the band. Between them the current members have an impressive …

Dutch band Mozes and the Firstborn are described as unpredictable – and they see that as a compliment. It’s certainly a good description of their new album – Dadcore. It’s a mix of grungey garage rock and pop The press release for the album had this to say…”Ask an average …

Caustic Vomit unleash a mind warping beast of a demo in the form of ‘Festering Odes To Deformity’   That first listen of an Album/EP/Demo is a defining moment. Although your feelings may change or alter over the course of multiple spins, a lot depends on that initial exposure. I …

Stay Tuned is the project of Austrian multi-instrumentalist Bernhard Welz. Put simply it’s an album he put together with a few friends, with money going to the Linda McCartney fundraising centre charity. Of course with a project like this it really helps to have the right friends, and Bernhard Welz …

Jawbone are a new London based band formed by Marcus Bonfanti and Paddy Milner, both established solo artists. They then recruited Evan jenkins and Rex Horan to finish the lineup. Between them the band members have played with the likes of Tom Jones, Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton, Van Morrisson, David …

In my opinion, the NWOBHM movement started in Newcastle Upon Tyne and Raven burst onto the scene when they signed to local label Neat Records in 1980 and released their classic single ‘Don’t Need Your Money’. They still play with the same verve, point proven on this warts and all …

In January 2018, Magnum released their 20th studio album, “Lost on the road to eternity”. Coming forty years afte the release of their debut album it was a great album that demonstrated that they’re still making great music and got great reviews. The release of the album was followed by …

The Buzniks are a new band formed in 2017 by Squeeze bassist John Bentley. While he’s known for his work with Squeeze, he nearly didnt join them as he auditioned to join Suzi Quatro’s band the same day he auditioned for Squeeze, and was offered both jobs. He chose Squeeze …

Heavy Drapes were a fast rising band on the punk scene and had grown rapidly in the space of a couple of years. Then in June this year, just 48 hours after performing at Rebellion festival in Amsterdam, singer Garry Borland died, not living long enough to see the release …

I’ve always believed that it is vital to review and support up and coming talent whenever I can. Tonight at The Skerries in Bangor, North Wales I witnessed four solid reasons why I continue to do it. I also took the opportunity at this gig of chatting with Mike & Andy from …

Blues legend Walter Trout is back with a new album in January. It’s an album of cover versions, but whereas most people cover well known blues songs, Walter Trout has taken the opposite approach and chosen old obscure songs to cover and bring to a new audience. It’s an approach …

The T Clemente band was formed by guitarist and songwriter Teddy Clemente. “Man machine” is the band’s fourth album and has a definite 80s rock sound with a bit of a 70s influence. The first thing to hit me was the excellent vocals from Amanda Dieck. As the album progressed …

It’s around 15 months since Deer Tick broke their four year silence and released two albums on the same day – “Deer Tick Vol 1” and “Deer Tick Vol 2”. The two albums were very different musically hence why two albums rather than one double album, but the idea of …

Thunder release their new album in January. It’s available as a single CD or a two CD edition as well as digital formats and vinyl. The album isn’t a typical new album though – there’s no new material and no cover versions either. Instead, Thunder have chosen to look back …

Albie Donnely was a founding member of Supercharge in 1974 and 44 years on he’s still going strong, doing lead vocals and tenor sax. Supercharge may not be a band some readers have heard of but they were signed by Richard Branson to his Virgin records label and among their …

“Mother” is the fourth studio album from Australian rock band Electric Mary. The band formed in 2003, and as well as three studio albums and a live album, they’ve also released several EPs and toured extensively. Over the years the band have toured with acts including Whitesnake, Judas Priest, Deep …

In recent years Black Stone Cherry have been going from strength to strength and these days are headlining arena tours. A Black Stone Cherry gig is always something to look forward to, but on this tour the support makes it even more of an event. Opening the shows is Monster …

It’s a miracle! It’s a Christmas miracle! Our saviour is here! No no no, not that fictional story we were told at school but the debut album Physical Copy by the five wise members that make up Cadence Noir!  The eight year wait has finally come to fruition with a …

All the gigs I’ve been to in 2018 met their Waterloo at the Waterloo Music Bar on Friday 22nd December 2018, a date that will be forever etched in my memory as this little gem of a venue was packed to the rafters with four sets of high octane rock …

Formed in 2008 hailing from Ireland, Zealot Cult have built themselves a reputation based on hard work and attention to musical detail which is presented here on their first full length in all its glory. The title track arrives with a bang, no intro, no false sense of security – …

High energy metal rockers The Last Band are pumped up and ready for action tonight at The Parish in Huddersfield. Before their set, I had the opportunity to grab an interview with The Last Band singer Coffe Blood. Chatting with singer Coffe Here’s an excerpt of some of the question’s …