OLIVER WEERS: "Evil's Back"

Rating: 7/10

Label: Metal Heaven 2011

Review by Alan Holloway

Oliver Weers is apparently a bit of a household name in Denmark. Rejected from their X-Factor competition in 2007, he was invited to perform at the final due to public outcry and blew everyone away. Fair play to him for that, and also for releasing solid rock music instead of the insipid ballads forced upon UK participants. “Evil’s Back” is his oddly named second album (is he known as “Evil Oliver” or something?), and something tells me we’ll be hearing more from him.

To be honest, at first I wasn’t that impressed. The first few tracks are okay but nothing special, and I was getting more bored of mid range hard rock by the second, Then, out of nowhere, the double barrelled rock shot of “Hero” and “Need It Bad” gave the album a well needed kick up the arse. Fast, melodic and beautifully written, these two tracks should have kicked off the album without a doubt. Token ballad “Beautiful Rain” is rather dull, but after that the good times keep on coming. Weers has a fine voice for this sort of edgy, melodic hard rock, and his backing band handle everything with aplomb. In the end, what you have here is seven outstanding tracks, three average ones (unfortunately right at the beginning) and a ballad that could go either way depending on your preferences. I’d say it’s definitely worth checking out for the better tracks, and you may like the others more than I did, so give it a bash.

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JAKKS: "Fire"

Rating: 6/10

Label: Z Records 2011

Review by Alan Holloway

Argentina isn’t known for producing high class melodic rock bands, but Jakks are certainly doing their best to remedy the situation with this, their debut album, their sound is unashamedly melodic, taking in elements of Bonfire, Bon Jovi and a host of Eighties wannabes. The wannabes element has to come in because Jakks are no Bonfire or Bon Jovi, and more remind me of a dozen bands who tried hard but ultimately failed to hitch a ride on the coat tails of the big guns.

This is not to say that “Fire” is a bad album, because there’s some good, upbeat music here, most notably the bouncy, keyboard laden “For Your Love”, but it is an album that very rarely delivers anything more than you are expecting from a South American debut. Alec Michaels has a good voice, although a bit too accented at times, and he is helped by some competent playing and a pretty strong production, although the less said about the scary retro clothes in the band pictures the better. As a starting point, this has plenty of heart and some rather pleasing songs, but the next one needs to be that much better to give Jakks a chance of getting anywhere.

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TWISTED SISTER: "Love Is For Suckers"

Rating: Re-issue

Label: Eagle Rock/Armoury 2011

Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

"Love is for dreamers - Love is for believers. Love is for losers - Love is for suckers". Also known as the "MTV commercial" and radio friendly album in the back catalogue of Twisted Sister. Not as raw and primitive as in their early days and definitely intended to please the album buying masses of U.S. Top-100. Sure, it's not as groundbreaking and "original" as their early albums, but I've always enjoyed this sucker. The songs are once again "catchy" and more fun than the rather uninspiring "Come Out And Play" (see review elsewhere). The band decided to bring in outside help from guitarists and songwriters Ronnie LeTekro (TNT), Reb Beach (Fiona), and there's obviously the slick and utterly commerical production by Beau "Posh" Hill.

Simply wave goodbye to the smell of burning flesh and say hello to a close to nice and polite Twisted Sister. Well, they still got one bad habit (one bad habit) they like to rock n' roll!!! The sing-a-long friendly single, "Hot Love", doesn't have too much in common with past material as it's a rather typical (but darn catchy) hair-metal anthem with a refrain that reeks of "1987" (well, duh!). The title track is another fun and catchy number that will instantly have you thinking about the Alice Cooper material of the era ('ala Constrictor and Raise Your Fist and Yell). It's not every man's poison, but I like it a lot and me thinks "Love Is For Suckers" is a underrated album. Their record label came up with a different conclusion and with Atlantic dropping them the band split.

There's a total of four bonustracks on this re-issue (Feel Appeal, Statutory date, If That's What You Want, I Will Win) and the latter is actually quite similar to the Quiet Riot sound of III. The others are all okay, but hardly the stuff that hits are made of. It's still a pretty essential platter if you enjoy the typical (catchy) eighties rock. Play It Loud, Mutha!

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TWISTED SISTER: "Come Out And Play"

Rating: Re-issue

Label: Eagle Rock/Armoury 2011

Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

"Twisted Sister... come out and play! Twisted Sister... come out and plaaaayyyy!!!". Yes, yes, it's obviously a complete rip-off from the "Warriors" movie of the late seventies? early eighties??? Hell, I can't be bothered to google since this is supposed to be about the re-issue of the 1985' Twisted Sister album and not some dodgy film. The beginning of the end according to most SMF's and no really the follow-up they wished for after the very successful "Stay Hungry" (what a classic little album). The arrangements are all a bit too familiar to previous TS albums by now and the lack of a proper hit single did not exactly help the band.

What about, "Leader Of The Pack", you say? Fair enough, it did cause a few spin at MTV and helped to get the wheels in motion. It's a sixties pop cover though and their own material are kind of stuck in secod gear throughout the album. The title track and the Alice Cooper duet, "Be Chrool To Your Scuel" are a couple of highlights worthy of the same praise as previous albums. "Out On The Streets" displayed a more melodic and commerical sound, a path the band would continue to stroll down on the following and last album in 1987 (see review elsewhere). The Eagle Rock/Armoury re-issue comes with the bonustrack "King Of Fools" and it's a decent tune. Definitely the worst of the Sister' albums and just barely interesting enough to add to your Jay Jay and Dee collection.

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JAG PANZER: "The Scourge Of The Light"

Rating: 7/10

Label: SPV/Steamhammer 2011

Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

"The Scourge Of The Light" is a return to the basic "classic", more melodic power metal style of Jag Panzer. They were rightly criticised for their most recent studio recording (Casting The Stones in 2004) as it displayed a rather blunt and boring version of the band. Not too aggressive in my opinion but they forgot somehow to include melodies and memorbale hooks as in their 'heydays' (pretty much the same story as what happened to Judas Priest in their 'Ripper' era). Well, I guess they band must have listened to their fanbase as it's once again a very enjoyable album in the style of Priest, Dio, Manowar. I know it's hardly fair to refer to the band's material as merely a one third mix of all the above mentioned acts (especially since they've been recording albums since 1984). However, it's just to simplify things as you can't really expect everyone who reads this to be familiar with the band's past and music?

The core of the band is still very much the same as back in the days of "Ample Destruction". Nope, there's no Joey Tafolla on lead guitars, but you still have 'The Tyrant' on vocals (Harry Conklin), guitarist Mark Biodry and bassist John Tetley as the fearful three aka the good, the bad, and the ugly? Since guitarist Chris Boderick, who was a band member between 1997 and 2007, left to join Megadeth, Jag Panzer have returned to their old forte. Back in the ranks, former band member Christian Lasegue, who was previously with the band for three years in the mid eighties.

The fact that the band have gone back-to-basic becomes immediately understandable as opening track, "Condemned To Fight", bears more than little resemblance to their eighties riffing and style. Wicked twin guitar attack and a big salute to the metal community as this is "typical" U.S. Power Metal with a nice hook and powerhouse vocals. Lasegue is apperantly not too keen on the blunt riffing of modern metal as it's defintely 'old skool' throughout the CD. "The Setting Of The Sun" continues on the same path and there's a nice twist to "Bringing The End" as it clearly speaks of Sabbath, Rainbow, and Dio influences. "Call To Arms" is a brother of metal to the Manowar sound and 'The Tyrant' sings as loud and powerful as ever. Ehem, merely ten tracks and it's all over before you've figured out what to say about the album? It's a very solid effort without any real ups nor downs. Just plain old metal which goes hand in hand with manditory headbanging and the sign of the devil \m/

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MR. GIL: "Light And Sound"

Rating: 5/10

Label: Electrum 2011

Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

Who's that Mr Gil and what's the thrill with Light and Sound? Well, guitarist/composer Mirek Gil (ex-Collage) is appearantly an important figure of the Polish Prog scene? Ignorance is bliss they say as this is a first time experience with his band and music. So did we miss out on music spectacular in the past? Not quite sure yet as this is a very laidback affair with plenty of cello, haunting pianos in the dark (epic echoe style) and acoustic guitars.

It's the sort of music you're supposed to listen to while drinking wine infront of a fireplace and looking extremely bored or whatever. You know... you're supposed to be utterly relaxed and just let yourself be carried away by the ultra soft arrangements. Rest your weary head my dear. It's jazzy, but not quite jazz, more like atmospheric relax music and I know that some people would even describe it as new age. Neo-prog? it's the sound of Nosound gone haywire with a tapestry of ballads and no amount of coffee will keep you up and perky at the end of the CD. It's frankly just too much of a 'good' thing (depending on your definition of 'good', much like any Michael Bolton album in the last twenty years) and even though it's very professional done and executed, I wish they could just break out into an uptempo number.

There's a total of ten tracks, a couple of instrumental and one of them in their native language. Karol Wroblewski is a strong and rather impressive vocalist while Paulina Druch is quite the cello goddess. Decent and probably worthy 'wine drinking music' to some of you out there

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MUSTASCH: "The New Sound Of The True Best"

Rating: 3/10

Label: Gain Music 2011

Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

Mustasch??? It's more like a Father Christmas beard covered in stains of mustard and various greasy food. Leftover? Nah, it's very much the same story as the "new" Kingdom Come album, the Swedish band has decided to re-record their old songs and it's a disasterious decision really. The new arrangements and versions are frankly put worse than the originals and it's not like they needed to be recorded again (due to either being very old and/or stuck with a dodgy production of the past). The band has merely been around the block for the past ten years and let's merely hope and pray this isn't the new standard in hard rock and metal.

Blimey, we certainly do not need these kind of albums to float the metal market and scene in the future. The band obviously thinks this is a good idea, since, and I quote, "we wanted the fans to hear and re-discover the songs as they would sound like in 2011". No, no, and no again!!! That's clearly not the correct way to enjoy music, you're supposed to connect through a special time and place in your life and not by the band's re-recordings every new decade. "I'm Frustrated" and it's like some kind of "Dubbel Nature", "Parasite", came up with the grand idea in the first place. "Angel's Share" is the only new composition and it works as a single (get it as download and forget about the rest), "The New sound of The True Best" is however a real shocker though. Avoid and simply get the original CD's!!!

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TORMAN MAXT: "The Problem Of Pain Part 2"

Rating: 3/10

Label: Deadmedia 2011

Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

Torman Maxt's "The Problem of Pain Part 2" is a very ambitious conceptual album based on the Old Testaments Book of Job. It's supposed to be the old book of "Progressive rock and metal" too, the actual music is unfortunately not quite as spiritual and uplifting as the main story. Well, uplifting? Job, not exactly all praise and happy happy joy joy forever after (even though that's the main idea, yeah?). Poor Job goes through every bit of plea and complaint and words such as these: "they sit in judgement of my life, they scoff and they blame me, righteous friends like these feel like enemies", hits ya' right between the eyes.

Hmmm, yes, The U.S. Messaro Brothers [Tony - vocals/guitar, Dominic - bass, Vincent - drums] are trying to melt together their melodies into some kind of "christian" version of early Rush and Pavlov's Dog. Brother Tony is extremely important for the overall sound of Torman Maxt as he's the main songwriter as well as the producer. Perhaps too important at times as the melodies are blury and samey while the production leave much to ask for... and about for that matter. The drums are close to tin-cans and the bass guitar is way way back in the mix. The end result is a folk-rock-prog fusion which unfortunately doesn't always work. To sum it up in the lyrics of The Problem of Pain, "when God spoke Job was silenced", the music however continued and the band played on... 'sigh'. Ambitious but not quite as successful.

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The COLOURPHONICS: "The Colourphonics"

Rating: 6/10

Label: ProgRock/TheRecordLabel 2011

Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

Thunder from down under? More like a rainy Adelaide as The Colourphonics have been strolling around the oz scene since 2007 where they've angrily sliced through various musical genres, thrown them into a cliff-bound clown car (huh?) and greased the steering wheel. Ehhh, the latter according to their imagitive press-release and not the work of this particular bozo. What to expect from their debut release at ProgRock Records??? The unexpected really as this is a mish-mash of influences and styles. It's jazzy rock (Steely Dan), seventies funk, soul, fusion, the whole she-bang with a horn section and everything, and perhaps even the occasional prog-rock tune (but I wouldn't really expect too much of the latter here even though they're signed to progrock records' sister label).

The excellent female vocalist Miranda Maz has clearly been influenced by the sixties heroins (hello Dusty, Joplin, and Jefferson Starship) and it's more in the vein of "Duffy" than "Doro" if you catch my drift? It's the sixties groove all over again and have a listen to "My Daydream" for a perfect display of retro rock. Miranda is top notch while it's not quite as fun listening to their male singer, Tony Minniecon. Don't get me wrong, he's no schmuck and his set of pipes are way above average, it's still no match to the lovely Maz though and I'd rather have her singing all their boppy tunes in the future.

With the band's overly sixties, early seventies influences and barrier-breaking music, The Colourphonics are pretty much out on a limb within rock circles and it's difficult to catagorize the songs. I know for a fact that I would not have enjoyed this as a kid, but now it feels now natural and fitting to have playing in the background while working at the PC or whatever. Not bad, not too shabby at all.

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EMBASSY OF SILENCE: "Euphoralight"

Rating: 6/10

Label: Supernova 2010

Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

Embassy of Silence from Finland is female fronted Gothic Metal in a similar style as previous attempts of the genre. Ines Lukkanen is the real deal though and a proper vocalist (Thank God!) and not nearly as irritating and plain awful as Tarja (how many more classic hard rock songs are going to be completely butchered by the woman?). It's not all "Goth" though and you can probably find just as many 'melodic hardrock' tracks on this platter. The keyword here would be 'melodic' as "Euphorialight" speak of quality and influences that stretch from Heart to Nightwish and all the way back to the eighties rock and goth pop. Depressing and dreary at times while it's easy to see how this works as an counterpart to their rather catchy melodies and overall (goth) poppy overtures. The result is quite pleasing to the ears even though it's all very mid-paced and steeped in a similar formula. The material-wise lack of change(s) in both tempo and style is clearly the band's weakest link and I hope they've managed to fix this in time for the next album.

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APRIL DIVINE: "Redemption"

Rating: 6/10

Label: Supernova 2011

Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

It's been described as the most unnecessarily release in Sweden by some local hobo borderline journo? Hmmm... to predeterminate or not is the main question??? Well, they've also been voted 'best unsigned band of 2007' by radio P3 in Sweden??? Hmmm, which foot to stand upon and where to cast my vote? I know, I know, it's sort of lame (sitting on the fence), but I'm really torn in two and the rating will have to be something in between. April Devine and "Redemption" is an album with a decent vibe, decent production by American Rick Beato (Bullet For My Valentine, Vince Neil, Shinedown), decent musicianship and decent tunes (quite catchy at times to be frank).

The band are nice and so contemporary that they even play the kind of crossover metal/pop that will have some teenagers in tears of joy. It's very U.S. today friendly and you can't blame them for being original nor groundbreaking. There's 10,000's of these kind of bands in the states and the sound is not quite as popular here in Europe. It's quickly and unfortunately becoming the "country" sound of metal as the songs and singers are all the same and you can't tell one band from the other. You can read more about the album at www.RockUnited.com as there's an "All About The Album" episode to be found here. Decent schtuff.

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COLDSPELL: "Out From The Cold"

Rating: 7/10

Escape 2011

Review by Kimmo Toivonen

I remember reviewing a demo from this bunch, and being quite impressed by the quality of it. The only thing the demo songs were lacking was memorable hooks. The band did land themselves a deal with Escape Music, recorded a well-recieved first album that I haven't heard, and have now released their second effort via the same label.

The band still manages to impress me with the overall quality of the performances, arrangements and the production. What's more, they've come up with some really memorable hooks this time. Their European-sounding melodic hard rock (Pink Cream 69 meets Europe) is the kind of stuff that I normally enjoy, yet I'm not completely sold on this album. At their best Coldspell is brilliant, but I'm sorry to say that half of the material doesn't really put me under its' spell, if you excuse the pun...

Many of the band's weaker songs are somewhat midtempo, I might even say "plodding". The band's first video track "Heroes" is a good example of that, a midtempo heavy rocker with a chorus that just doesn't grab me at all. "Save Our Souls", "Fate" and "Six Feet Under" (to name a few) are similar, well performed yet a bit bland hard rock. However, when the band raises the tempo, they suddenly start sounding much better. Right after the aforementioned opener "Heroes" they give us the rather good "Run For Your Life", followed by the album's strongest midtempo track "One In A Million". The album's absolute highlights come a little later, namely tracks number 5 and 9, "Time" and "Seven Wonders". Now this is what I'm talking about! These songs don't plod along, they roll, and both have superb choruses. Two nominees for the "Best Of 2011" list, mark my words...

With 12 tracks, this album is maybe a couple of songs too long for its' own good, but credit where credit's due - some bands could never come up with a song as good as "Time" or "Seven Wonders". For that, I'm willing to forgive the band for a plodder or two... but not them all, hence the rating. More uptempo stuff for the next album please, and maybe a big ballad too?


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TURISAS: "Stand Up & Fight"

Rating: 6/10

Label: Record
Label 2011

Review by Alan Holloway

It’s been a few years since Turisas impressed with “The Varangian Way”, and the battle metal specialists are finally here with their third album. Whilst that album was all quite a novelty to me at the time, it’s four years now and I wondered whether there was still a place for Turisas in the metal world.

Well, of course there is, because whatever else happens there will always be young men who want to hear tales of fighting and general manliness whilst quaffing flagons of beer and waving pointy objects in the air. Not a great deal has changed in the Turisas camp, but there is certainly a hint of maturity in some of the songs and arrangements that may help them appeal a bit more to the casual listener. This sort of thing always works better in a live arena, but songs like “The March Of the Varangian Guard” or the title track will have you bouncing along happily, whereas “Hunting Pirates” is as jolly a romp as you will find. Other tracks can suffer from too much grunting over actual singing, but overall this is a pleasing album that has plenty of drama, excitement and overblown pomp to bring a smile to the faces of those who like to sail the high seas from the safety of their own living room. Can’t wait for the live shows, though, because that is where the new material can truly shine.

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KINGDOM COME: "Rendered Waters"

Rating: 4/10

Label: Record
Label 2011



Review by Alan Holloway

Okay, so you may remember Kingdom Come from the “Great led Zeppelin Controversy” that surrounded their first album, mainly because it sounded pretty much like Led Zeppelin. Some people overlooked the fact that regardless of this it was a fantastic album, and it wasn’t long before Kingdom Come drifted off many radars. “Rendered Waters” comes at us 23 years later, and is an odd disc, consisting of three new tracks and eight re recordings, including one from Lenny Wolf’s previous band Stone Fury.

I suppose it’s only fair to tackle the new tracks first. “Blue Trees, which is a rather generic KC track, heavy on the bass rhythm with Wolf playing the Plant angle up as much as he ever did. It’s not bad at all, just nothing too special. “Is It Fair Enough” mixes acoustic and electric quite well, but again there’s nothing that gets under the listener’s skin, nothing to really get excited about. “Don’t Remember” is pretty similar, building up to a crunching mid section from a slow start. Again, it has it’s moments, but on a full album would be considered filler.

Of the re recordings, nothing really stands out as an improvement on the original, although I have to admit it was great hearing Stone Fury’s “Break Down The Wall” again, mainly because it’s a cracking track. On the whole, the album would have been better if the original recordings had been polished up rather than redone, because there’s nothing wrong with them. I can’t really recommend this to avid fans of the band, as the three tracks hardly make it value for money, and if you’re new to the band you should check out the original albums instead. Ultimately, this album is for Lenny Wolf, so I hope he enjoys it, because as good as some of the songs are there’s nothing here that anyone else needs to purchase.

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VOODOO CIRCLE: "Broken Heart Syndrome"

Rating: 7/10

Label: AFM 2011

Review by Alan Holloway

The first Voodoo Circle album was pretty good, and well reviewed back in 2008, with most people agreeing it was a unashamedly retro sounding heavy rock record but none the worse for it. Founder Alex Beyrodt (Silent Force, among others) has come back with a vengeance, pre-empting David Coverdale’s new Whitesnake album with a set of tunes that at times rock like a pissed off thunder god.

Any number of tunes off “Broken Heart Syndrome” can be picked apart by anyone, unravelled into their source material of Rainbow, Dio and the aforementioned Whitesnake. When you just want to enjoy the music, though, that’s three bands you really don’t mind overlapping, especially if there’s a bit of Deep Purple thrown in at times as well. Vocalist here is the ever reliable David Readman (Pink Cream 69), who I was surprised to learn recently is part of a Whitesnake tribute band called Quitesnake. This explains how he is so adept at the traditional Cocerdale-esque screams that pepper the album. That said, he is in no way a Coverdale clone, just that he can sing the same style of music with an ability that almost reaches that of the master.

The songs are mainly pleasingly upbeat, handled well and pretty much guaranteed to raise a smile and provoke a few nods of the head. Tracks like “No Solution Blues” or “Heal My Pain” really turn everything up to eleven - angry, passionate blues rock with real bite and some lovely guitar from Beyrodt. “King Of Dreams” is a Whitesnake song from the start, although lacks real punch, whilst the title track lays on some very Purpley keyboards and a Dio/Rainbow vibe throughout.

“Broken Heart Syndrome” has some very, very good tracks on it, echoing some of the better stuff from the late seventies and early eighties. Readman does a great job on vocals throughout, and there’s no stopping Alex Beyrodt when he wants to lay down some nifty guitars. Having said this, it had to try hard to keep my attention all the way through, and there are a few tracks that lack the excitement of the ones at the top end. I think that I prefer the debut, but there is still plenty of good shit here for fans of classic, British style rock music.

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EDEN'S CURSE - "Trinity"

Rating: 9/10

Label: AFM 2011

Review by Alan Holloway

I don't mind admitting it - I'be been looking forward to this, the appropriately titled third release from Eden's Curse, a band that have so far done a great job of throwing in plenty of melody to compliment their metal backing. Named for vocalist Michael Eden, their first two efforts showed a fine grasp of what a heavy melodic album should sound like, although neither was as accomplished as this, which may just be the one to tip them into the bigger leagues.

So many albums these days start with a rather pointless "mood setting" intro, and "TrinitY" is no different, with "Trinitas Sanctus" ensuring a swift deletion from the iPod, because if I want mood I'll forget to put the bins out. Thankfully, things go swiftly uphill with the title track, which is the best thing the band have done since "Angels & Demons", and follows a similar style, mixing speed and melody with a killer chorus. The next two tracks follow suit, and there's some brilliant showcasing of Eden's high pitched (but not too squeaky) vocals and Thosrton Koehne's intricate guitar work. Eden's Curse border on power metal, but I feel are more melodic heavy rock, but hey - labels aren't important at the end of the day, it's the music that counts.

"Trinity" manages to hit all of my buttons, whether it's with full on rockers like "Saints Of Tomorrow" or "Black Widow", or the well structured ballad "Guardian Angel", another track that sees Eden shine. The album is rounded of with a very good cover of Dio's "Rock & Roll Children", and I for one hope the band put it in the live set, as it sits very well with their own material. There's already been some fine releases so far this year, but I have no problem in putting "Trinity" at the top so far. If you like power, melody and a good dose of pop sensebilities, then this is a must buy, but be careful - you'll be singing some of the choruses in your sleep.


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STRYPER: "The Covering"

Rating: 9/10

Label: Big 3 Records 2011

Review by Alan Holloway

My relationship with Stryper goes back some way, to a time when I was enamoured of the Lord and didn’t giggle at their lyrics, instead taking each one as a reason to pump my fist in the air and Praise Him before playing some serious air guitar and saying to Hell with the Devil. About the time they decided to take a few steps back from thumping their bibles, with the excellent “Above The Law” album, I fell off the bandwagon myself. Regardless of this, Stryper will always have a special place in my heart, as some of their music is genuinely brilliant, whether you are a Christian or not, and on this album they’ve decided to let us in on some of their influences.

What you get for your bucks is twelve first class covers, plus a new Stryper track that kicks ass in all the right ways. Let’s get that one out of the way first, as it’s a real throwback to the Stryper of “To Hell With The Devil”, simply called “God”. Take a pinch of “More Than A Man” and another from “Soldiers Under Command” and you have this big, meaty metal track that will delight fans of the band. Full of melody and power, it rocks like a bastard. The rest of the album, however, is something completely different…

First up is a track called “Set Me Free”, which I thought was a Saxon song (from “Crusader”). It turns out that I’m a buffoon, because it is in fact a song by The Sweet, and both Saxon and Stryper have delivered great versions of it, mainly because it’s so good it doesn’t need improving. It’s a little odd that Stryper would cover such songs as “Heaven & Hell” and “Breaking The Law” (as if they would!), but I think it just shows that they don’t buy into all the crap that was spread about certain rock bands being Satanists back in the day. We also get a rollicking version of “The Trooper”, some awesome guitar work on “Carry On My Wayward Son” and the full on keyboard experience on “Highway Star”. Personally, I much prefer Sweet’s vocals to Ozzy’s on “Over The Mountain”, and they really nail Van Halen’s “On Fire”, with Oz Fox obviously enjoying getting his widdling groove on!

Definitely musical heaven without a trace of hell, “The Covering” is an absolute joy from start to finish. There’s no reason for heathens to avoid it (except the last track, but even that rocks more than it preaches), and every reason for fans of the band to just buy it and have a good time. It’s so nice to be able to just listen to them make quality music, showing all their talent to the full, without cringing at the message. No fillers, no ballads, just kick ass rock music all the way.


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STATE COWS: "State Cows"

Rating: 9/10

Label: Avenue of Allies Music 2010

Review by Endre 'Bandi' Hübner

When Kimmo asked me to review this band instead of him doing that he justified skipping it with the following words: they make Toto sound like heavy metal. Other than LMAO I got interested right away; good old fashioned westcoast stuff can always find its way to my CD player.

Well, the State Cows sure know how to get the feeling right. Guess they start every rehearsal with a yell like "Chicago, eat your heart out!" or something to that effect. If you didn't like Chicago in the late 70s, early 80s you might as well scroll on to the next review because honestly I did not know where these guys end Peter Cetera and the rest of the dudes start. Okay, if you like Spyro Gyra or any other smooth, melodic jazz you might as well be interested, now that I think a bit more about it, mild funky fans might not have to leave the hall either. In the end we'll have quite a party here, someone bring my bell-bottom pants, I gotta work on my sideburns though.

The more than 50 minutes long running time of the album shall be enough for most of the party, especially if we take into account that there's not one skipper here. All these tunes are brilliantly produced, westcoast pop-rock tunes with great piano-guitar work, the obligatory horns and thick backing vocals but groove-junkies will have their treat by the stellar rhythm section, too. With other words: it doesn't get any better than this for a good retro dancing backyard party. Check the website, the soundbytes and the videos to see/hear what I'm talking about.

www.statecows.com

Steve CICHON: "Cranial Feedback"

Rating: 6/10

Label: Nightmare Records 2010

Review by Endre 'Bandi' Hübner

I'm a bit puzzled by this album. The artwork with the color scheme and the graphic image is that of a typical braindead "neoclassical" shredder album, the inside-sleeve photo of Steve looks like an Italian jazz-session musician, the sunburst Les Paul calls for some moody blues stuff and the virtually no-name record label suggests some underproduced stuff. Well, as you have guessed correctly I was a victim of some serious bias, the album turned out to be none of these...

It is some interesting progressive instrumental rock with decent production and musicianship even though all the instruments were played and recorded by Steve himself and he was responsible for mixing and mastering, too. Normally programmed drums bother me but the soundfonts he was using sound natural enough and the grooves are also realistic therefore I've got no complaints. His guitar sounds are also stunningly vivid and none of the keyboards sound any cheap either. What was beyond me the crowd noise between songs, now that completely sucks. The record is obviously a studio creation but between songs there's a cheering crowd noise of a massive sized crowd, probably about a 100 times as big as a crowd Steve could ever realistically hope to play for. Wot gives?!

I really liked "Siren" with its moody keyboards and cathcy melodies as well as "Headrush" which is Kitaro meets heavy metal but "Backlash" has something to give to progressive metal fans, too. Actually you can discover something in each and every track depending on your taste; this may sound as an advantage yet it might as well be a downside of the album. It's difficult to determine its actual audience, a couple of things are granted though: the ideal listener is an instrumental guitar fan, has no problem with the "keyboards over guitars" approach here and there, is open-minded to tolerate countless musical influences, is a friend of multiple tempo changes within songs, and has a uniquely long attention span. If you recognize yourself, make sure to check Steve Cichon out.

Steve Cichon

The REX CARROLL Band: "That Was Then, This Is Now"

Rating: 5/10

Label: Retroactive Record 2011

Review by Endre 'Bandi' Hübner

I guess it's kinda fitting that a label named Retroactive comes out with an album titled "That Was Then, This Is Now"... Add that the man on the cover looks like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Allen Colling reincarnated in one single body and you get the picture. However musically The Rex Carroll Band is somewhat less polished and more straightforward than Lynyrd Skynyrd or Stevie Ray, it's still hard rock rooted in blues but with a rather rough sound, a bit like Blackfoot and the alikes.

All in all the above mentioned references and the fact that there's some solid musicianship to be heard on the album would call for a better rating however I can't get past the fact that Rex handles the vocals himself which he shouldn't do. He's a much better guitar player than singer (can't help but recall that late Gary Moore here) and that takes much of the fun away. These songs would come alive with a better singer as they are all decent bluesy hard rock tunes, simple stompers with tight drum-bass grooves and damn good riffs.

My personal favorites were "Foolsgold", a track where Rex shows there's more to his playing than midtempo blues rock, and "My Train" a decent track with cool lyrics and some catchy guitarwork. The Rex Carroll Band might be just another band who are a lot more entertaining live in a pub than on a disc, so make sure to give them a chance once they come to town.

Robin BECK: "The Great Escape"

Rating: 9/10

Label: Her Majesty's Music Room 2011

Review by Kimmo Toivonen

Looking back at Robin Beck's career since her breakthrough hit "First Time" back in the late eighties, she hasn't released anything truly dodgy, only quality release after another. Okay, some of them were merely decent enough ("Wonderland" being my least favourite one), but especially her latest albums have been of high quality. I'm glad to say that "The Great Escape" continues on that same path, it might even be her strongest album since the classic "Trouble Or Nothin'" (1989).

Just like on the 20th Anniversary Edition remake of the aforementioned "Trouble..." album, Robin and his producer (and husband) James Christian have teamed up with Swedish AOR maestro Tommy Denander. The trio has penned most of the album, with only "Baby I'm Not A Bitch" provided by The Elements Pop Production Team and "Till The End Of Time" being a song co-written by Tommy Denander, Bjorn Lindblom and Jim Jidhed, the vocalist of Alien. Christian and Denander have shared the production duties, and the result is highly impressive.

Now that we've gotten the credits out of the way, let's take a closer look at the songs (which means "listening" in this case, because you can't really look at songs, can you?). First track of the album is called "The One", and it indeed is the One, a suberb slice of melodic rock with a massive chorus that stole my heart instantly. the next track "Got Me Feeling Sexy" features some groovy licks courtesy of Tommy D., but otherwise it doesn't win me over. That doesn't matter too much since the next three songs are all rather brilliant: "Inside Me" is a bit moodier, darker AOR song, while "That All Depends (On What You Do Tonight)" features Joe Lynn Turner dueting with Robin and another massive chorus. "Baby I'm Not A Bitch" may be written by outside writers but it works very nicely alongside the other material. The Elements might be a "Pop Production Team" but this song rocks.

The second half of the album isn't quite as strong as the first, but there are some fine songs on it as well. "Everything Is Alright", "Cross My Heart", the ballad "Don't Think He's Ever Comin' Home" and "Till The End Of Time" (feat. James Christian on vocals) are all very good. The remaining two tracks (the title track and "All The Rivers") have their moments, but they both suffer of weaker choruses.

My last year's favourite album was Seventh Wonder's "The Great Escape". Now in mid-February my favourite album of 2011 is again "The Great Escape" but by a different artist... we'll see if it can hold the top position all the way to the end of the year, but it's weird enough as it is!

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SIDEBURN: "Jail"

Rating: 5/10

Label: Metal Heaven 2011

Review by Alan Holloway

Ho hum, here comes another AC/DC clone, this time fresh out of Switzerland and calling themselves Sideburn. “Jail” is their fifth album in over a decade, and it really is twelve tracks of bar room boogie that is about as middle of the road as you can get without painting white lines on the drum kit.

Sideburn set their stall out early with “Live To Rock”, a track that couldn’t be more AC/DC if it came wrapped in a schoolboy cap and some plastic devil horns. Whilst Airbourne have proved that this sort of thing can still stand up as a fresh, energetic style of metal, Sideburn never quite reach the heights of the Aussie quarter. They get close with the highly enjoyable “The Red Knight”, but it’s a rare peak in an album laden down with pub rock anthems and nothing more. Vocalist Roland Pierrehumbert does an okay job, and the band keep things together without being in any way spectacular, and the end result will keep you sort of entertained, but that’s about it. By the time “Long Beard & Boogie” comes along 9 tracks in, it’s hard to care very much what comes after, especially as it’s “Good Boy”, a track that 100% rips off the chorus of “Hell Bent For Leather” in a bad way. There’s something here for fans of the genre, but ultimately “Jail” just isn’t good enough for anyone else to get worked up about.


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PRAYING MANTIS: "Metalmorphosis"

Rating: 8/10

Label: Praying Mantis Records 2011

Review by Alan Holloway

There’s a reason that Praying Mantis were one of the foremost bands in the NWOBHM thingumydoodah, and it’s not because they had cool Rodney Matthews covers with big ass insects on them, although that probably helped. No, Praying Mantis had some pretty good music as well, melodic and powerful, much of which stands up today (as a quick trip to YouTube will show.)

It’s been thirty years since PM released their debut “Time Tells No Lies”, and to celebrate/cash in/stave off boredom, the current line up have fully re recorded five tracks from it and tagged them with the clever label “Metalmorphosis” (whoever thought of that deserves a cream bun at the very least). What you get for your buck are the following tracks: “Children Of The Earth”, “Praying Mantis”, Lovers To The Grave”, “Panic In the Streets” and “Captured City”. For a band who did a stunning job reinventing themselves with the top class “Sanctuary” album, it’s nice to see the band haven’t forgotten where they came from, and they do a first class job on every track. “Captured City” has NEVER sounded so good, and “Praying Mantis” would not have been out of place on “Sanctuary”. For me, Mike Freeland is a n absolute gem on vocals, taking the band’s already AOR friendly tunes to new heights of melodic cuddliness, although there’s still plenty of grit there as well.

Praying Mantis were one of those bands that never quite made it as far as they should, although they still had a decent career and a loyal following. “Sanctuary” showed us a band who can put it out there with the best of them even today, and “Metalmorphosis” should be a hook to recapture some of those old fans who may have fallen by the wayside over the years.

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PUSHKING: "The World As We Love It"

Rating: 8/10

Label: Ear Music 2011

Review by Alan Holloway

Sometimes you really, really want to like an album before you’ve even played it, and as soon as I eyeballed the back of this epic release from Russia’s Pusking, I so wanted it to be good, and breathed a sigh of relief when my worries were dissipated straight away. You see, “The World As We Love It” is a compilation of 18 Pushking tracks from their 15 year plus career. If you haven’t heard of them, don’t worry - they’ve been pretty much a Russia only exclusive, although apparently they do well there. The reason you may have heard of them this year is because the album has an absolutely stellar cast, as they band have roped in a veritable who’s who of rock music to help re record their songs in English.

Take a deep breath, because on this album you will find Billy Gibbons, Nuno Bettencourt, Alice Cooper, John Lawton, Steve Stevens, Paul Stanley, Stevie Salas, Graham Bonnet, Glenn Hughes, Jeff Scott Soto, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Martin, Udo Dirkschneider, Dan McCafferty, Joe Lynn Turner and Jorn Lande, and probably a few I’ve missed. Interested now?

Simply put, it’s an astounding compliment to the band that their songs live up to the talent involved. It’s all pretty much old school rock stuff, your bog standard heavy rock with a big helping of melody on the side, but when the likes of Glenn Hughes and Graham Bonnet are singing the songs they really come alive. Hughes even gets paired up with Black Country Communion bandmate Joe Bonamassa for the excellent “Tonight”. Jeff Scott Soto is given a bit of a bum deal with “I Believe”, a meandering tune that doesn’t really give him much to do, whereas Jorn Lande grabs you by the balls with “Heroin”, a track that could have been written just for him. Pushking themselves slip in and out unannounced and unnoticed amongst the cavalcade of star names, content to do the donkey work and let the songs shine.

Not since “Hear n Aid” have so many high quality musicians from the rock world been part of such a cool product. With 18 songs, it can be a little hard to digest all at once, but the variety in the players helps this a lot, and you will find yourself checking the CD booklet constantly to see just who you are listening to. The whole thing is a wonderful coming together of musicians, with the added bonus of some genuinely great tracks.

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MYLAND: "Light Of A New Day"

Rating: 7/10

Label: Point Music 2011

Review by Alan Holloway

A couple of years ago I was very impressed by Myland’s last album “No Man’s Land”, an incredibly polished effort that took several cues from Journey. The brainchild of Paulo Morbini, Myland was more of an Italian rock super group rather than a fixed concern, and so this new CD sees a different line up under the same name, with Paulo still banging away at the drums and also (I assume - info is rather stingy) writing the music.

The big hook for Myland last time was the soaring vocals of Guido Priori, which courted the Journey comparisons but also brought life to the songs. This time round we’re introduced to Franco Campanella, who has a slightly high pitched vocal style but with a throaty rasp on top. Although at first I found it hard to see this as a Myland album, the music gradually overcame any reservations, and once I had got used to Camponella as vocalist I was able to enjoy it for what it is - a quality melodic rock album. Although there’s still a very polished feel to it, the songs have at times been beefed up a bit from the previous album, with tracks such as “Never Stop Screaming Rock” and “Hey You” throwing in crunchier guitars and a punchy style that is more suited to the new vocalist. Through it all, it is still very apparent that Morbini is a very talented songwriter who understands just what goes into a good melodic rock song.

“Light Of A New Day” is another example of the high quality of melodic rock that seems to be flooding out of Italy these days. For my money it’s not as good as Myland’s last album, although when it peaks it does so with style, and there are no bad tracks to be seen.

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TWISTED SISTER: "Club Daze Volume 1"

Rating: Compilation

Label: Eagle Rock/Armoury 2011

Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

Attention - SMF's all over the world!!! It's yet another Twisted 'Fookin' Sister release (originally released by Spitfire Records in 1999) and now reissued by Eagle Rock/Armoury in twenty eleven. Not quite sure why they've decided to re-release "Club Daze Vol: 1 - The Studio Sessions" though? especially since it's basically the same old packaging, booklet, liner-notes, production, and mastering as the Spitfire release in the late nineties.

Nevertheless, when everything's said and done, this is pretty much essential 'must-have' material to any die-hard fan of the band. Why? simply because it contains rare studio versions of original songs performed by the band while playing the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut club scene between the years of 1974 to 1981 (tracks 1-8 were recorded in studio in 1978, 9-12 in 1979 by Eddie Kramer at the Electric Lady studios, and the closing track "Shoot 'Em Down" in 1981). Clearly not the best of sound quality at times, yet strangely better than your average Frontiers' release??

The oldest tracks (Follow Me, Can't Stand Still, TV Wife) are typical "Glam" and basic meat and potato rock songs of the early/mid seventies (The Hoople, Grand Funk, etc). They're all written by Jay Jay French and "Follow Me" from 1973 as a homeage to The Raspberries hit 'Go All The Way' (there's a Starship connection). Jay Jay took care of lead vocals between the years of 1972 to 1976, when at the suggestion of the band's agent, Dee Snider joined as new lead vocalist and eventually songwriter. This about the song, "Pay The Price", and I quote: "That was the first song I/Dee ever wrote. I was not the songwriter in the band, I was the new guy and I wasn't very happy with the material that was being written for the band. And I remember clearly having a meeting where I was complaining to the band about it, and the guys said to me 'Uh, could you write songs? do you write songs?' And I said 'Yeah' and they said 'what have you written' and I said 'nothing!'. And they said ' then shut up until you've got something better'. At that point I started writing, and I thought 'oh I'll show you writing' And I started to overwhelm the band with material", end quote.

Final words: Are the songs just as great as in their eighties "heydays"?? No, of course not, some of them are crap indeed, however... any die-hard fan of the band would be a fool to leave out this CD of your collection. Play It Loud -Mutha!!!

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MISTHERIA: "Dragon Fire"

Rating: 7/10

Label: LionMusic 2010

Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

Mistheria is the name of the rather mysterious classical trained pianist, keyboardist, keytarist, organist (he sure likes his ivory and ebony) and composer of bombastic melodic heavy metal. The Italian born musician is located in Zagreb/Croatia nowadays and he's been working with the likes of Bruce Dickinson, Neil Zaza, Rob Rock, etc. in the past. "Dragon Fire" - his latest release at LionMusic Records and the CD features the following great cast of lead vocalists: Rob Rock, John West, Mark Boals, Titta 'Look' Tani, and Lance King.

Mistheria hired John Macaluso (ARK, Riot, Yngwie Malmsteen, Powermad, TNT, Spread Eagle, Starbreaker, etc) as the drummer of this particular CD and the man entered the studio to record the whole album in one day? one day!! That's hardly impressive, you say? Well... perhaps not, if you've just recorded a 'back-to-basic' Punk-Rock album. However, these compositions are more... ehem, dare I say "advanced"? Not quite as easy to recall, especially considering he didn't receive demoed versions for practicing up until at the very last moment. Excellent drumming and on top of this - neo-classical arrangements as well as a very definite influence from symphonic and classical music (well, that's also neo-classical metal, no?), this is obviously most notable within the smashing work and keyboards by Mr.Mistheria.

The different styles of vocals provided by the singers mentioned above, might at first glance seem a bit odd put side by side, but it actually works greatly in Mistheria's favor to have a variety of top notch performances on this record. In fact, "Dragon Fire" refuses to lay back with the typical albums of the genre (even if the Mark Boals' track is very similar in sound to the Yngwie material) as Mistheria explores other musical styles and avenues with an eager enthusiasm. Yeah, "Dragon Fire" would/could have been reviewed months ago (at the same time as I did the "All About The Album" article), however, I did not receive a review copy until just recently... so, there ya' go. Classy, but-hardly-groundbreaking, neo-classical hard rock.

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PAVLOV'S DOG: "Live And Unleashed"

Rating: Live

Label: RockVille Music 2011

Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

"Live and Unleashed" is the first Pavlov's Dog live album in the band's close to 40 year history. The violin at the centre of attention at times and turned up louder than you would fancy it to be on hard rock albums. It is by no means always right up in the front of the sounds, but, is clearly heard during several of the dog's classic tracks on the 'Live and Unleashed" album, occasionally breaking out into it's own little dimension of things. Ehem, yeah, this could surely take its toll on any traditional rock fan, just due to that darn violin cutting through everything and becoming ehem, slightly irritating. Then again, it never stopped Jethro Tull from having a dozen of die-hard fans and this live album is after all dedicated to Sigfried Carver (their original violin player who sadly passed away in 2009 - RIP). Some will say its beautiful violin rock melodies while others will simply think it's too much to bare in the long run.

Speaking of irritating, did I mention the voice of Surkamp? No, I don't personally find him all too irritating (at least not for the moment), but I completely understand if you simply can't stand vocals 'ala 'Geddy Lee on laughing gas'. Unique is supposed to be a positive thing, no? The Pomp/Prog sound of the band is definitely dated and not nearly as interesting some 35 years down the road, I would guess? To be honest, the overall material is lacking memorable melodies and it's more a question of being a cult band rather than sensational firstclass 'metal' act of the past. Going through older songs mixed with "Heart Of Mine" (originally a Hi-Fi song from the early eighties with folk-rock musician Ian Matthews) and "Wrong" and "Looking For My Shadow" from Surkamp's solo album 'Dancing On the Edge Of A Teacup' and four songs from the 2010 'Echo & Boo' album, the bottomline: they are really not intended for the 'eighties' music fan.

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HINDER: "All American Nightmare"

Rating: 7/10

Label: Universal Records 2010

Review by Kimmo Toivonen

Hinder scored big with their debut album "Extreme Behaviour", selling triple platinum in the States. It was a decent album of Nickelback'ish modern hard rock, but paled in comparison to their second album "Take It To The Limit", which had a more of an eighties' vibe and plenty of killer songs. Despite that, the album wasn't such a big hit, and now with their third album, Hinder is trying to find their way back to the platinum league. We'll see if that happens...

After first listen, this album sounded very ballad/mid-tempo driven. It is actually 50/50, with half of the songs more or less balladic and the other half more hard rockin' uptempo songs. Unfortunately the rockers are mostly really average and dull, full of attitude but not a lot of memorable hooks. The only rocker that gets my vote is "Striptease" with its' rumbling bassline and cool lyrics ("You better shake that ass because we all know you can't sing"). Yeah, it's all about those plastic pop starlets...

Hinder have always known how to write a good ballad, and the slower tracks save this album too. "Everybody's Wrong", "Red Tail Lights" and "The Life" are all excellent songs, and the remaining two tracks aren't too bad either. There's certainly serious hit potential in these songs, and with a bit of luck and successful marketing, the band might find themselves on the top of the charts with one of them. However, I must say that after the brilliant "Take It To The Limit", "All American Nightmare" with its' mediocre rockers is a bit disappointing.


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