Rock Blog #37: The Brave, Oz Hawe Peterson's Rendezvous, Find Me, Peaceful Minds, Keys, Fate, Crossbone Skully

Just in time before the new year, here are the last reviews for 2024. I've written these during the last few weeks, but frankly I've forgotten to post them! There's a lot of stuff I haven't had the chance to listen, but I try to get through most of the releases I have access to, because the "Best Of 2024" list has to be put together...

THE BRAVE released their first album ”Battle Cries” in 1991. It was produced by the Elefante brothers John and Dino, and over the years it has reached a semi-classic status. The second album ”Trust” saw a change in direction from the anthemic rock of its’ predecessor. The next album ”Rise” was released twenty years later and featured a female vocalist Amanda Z. The album itself featured several re-recorded older tracks and a few new songs. 

”Evie’s Little Garden” emerged in 2021, with guitarist Stayce Roberts as the lead singer. I liked that album, it was more in the vein of the band’s debut contained some very good songs. Their next album ”Gravedigger” (2022) has completely flown under the radar, I thought that this new album was the follow-up to ”Evie”! 

”Carnival Of Sins” (RRRR) is a rather good mixture of Harem Scarem, Winger, Def Leppard and Alice Cooper with some modern rock thrown in. And Christian message in the lyrics. The songs aren’t immediate hits, but I recommend you give them some time, I wasn’t as convinced yesterday as I am today. The more AOR-type of tracks like ”When You Believe” and ”Undertow” are the ”easiest” ones I guess, but there are some really good ones among the others as well.

OZ HAWE PETERSSON’S RENDEZVOUS is a project put together by Osukaru guitarist Oz Hawe Petersson and keyboard player Matias Rosén. The vocals are provided by several fine vocalists, including Fredrik Werner (Osukaru / Daytona), Jane Gould, Chris Rosander and Boulevard singer David Forbes. The songs range from smooth AOR of the Forbes-sung ”These Tears” and ”All Roads Lead Back To You” to more hard rocking songs such as ”Midnight Lady - Dangerous Game” (trouble deciding the title or what?). It’s all pretty classy stuff with no real fillers in sight, so easily worth an RRRR rating.

I’ve liked all previous FIND ME albums quite a lot, but ”Nightbound” (RRRr) is a bit disappointing. None of the songs are really bad, but they’re just fairly standard AOR stuff. Robbie LaBlanc does his best to elevate them and he does succeed to a degree, the small ”r” is for his performance. There’s one song that stands out, and that’s the Survivor cover ”I See You In Everyone”. The others can’t really compete with it, even though there are two Jim Peterik songs among them.

PEACEFUL MINDS is a Swedish band and ”Til’ I’m Dying” (RRRr) is their first album as far as I know.  The album features Within Temptation guitarist Stefan Helleblad as guest artist, and he can surely adapt to a more classic rock style too. Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy and Europe are few of the names that pop up when listening to this. Pretty good stuff, and ”Caught In The Middle” is the top pick for me.

”The Grand Seduction” (RRR) is the second album from KEYS. The band features the keyboard maestro, super songwriter Mark Mangold and Cyhra/ex-Amaranthe vocalist Jake E. The idea behind the band is that all music is done with keyboards, using plug-ins, samplers and whatever gadgets. Kind of a modern approach, yet at the same time the sound of the album harkens back to the seventies. The biggest downside of the album are the drums, they sound very mechanical and lifeless. 

Mangold’s background as an AOR hit writer doesn’t shine through, these songs are somewhere between classic 70’s rock and progressive rock. Jake E’s Amaranthe connection does raise its’ head with ”Vortex”, the song sounds like it could have been written for that band. Probably the best chorus of the album.

FATE are trying to ”Reconnect N’Ignite” with their latest album, but if I didn’t know, I couldn’t tell that this is the same band that released ”A Matter Of Attitude”. Actually it really isn’t, as there’s only bassist Peter Steincke from the early line-ups present. Vocalist is Per Johansson who is in the band for the third time, he was featured on the fine ”Scratch ’n’ Stiff” album in 1990, then he was a part of the band’s first comeback between 2004 and 2009 and in 2023 returned to the band again. His sound has changed quite a bit, he sounds grittier than before, but at times you can hear some echoes of the said ”S’n’S” album. As for the music, the happy pop metal sounds are gone, replaced by something more sinister and metal. Only some of the keyboard work and couple of the songs remind me of the old Fate. RRR.

CROSSBONE SKULLY is a project by Tommy Henriksen and Tommy Denander, but what has raised the project’s profile the most is the fact that legendary producer Mutt Lange is involved. If you’re expecting something like ”Hysteria” or ”Waking Up The Neighbours”, you might be disappointed, as ”Evil World Machine” (RRR) is very much in the vein of ”Back In Black” and AC/DC, especially the first few songs. 

There are some songs which are more in ”Pyromania” style, like ”Ima Bone Machine”, ”I’m Unbreakable” and the balladic ”The Last Night On Earth”. ”Let’s Bust The Trust” is a bit of a departure from the overall sound, it sounds like an Irish drinking anthem! ”High On You” is the only song that moves to the Adams/Twain direction, a slightly country’ish pop rocker.

Rock Blog #37: Fans Of The Dark, Atlantic, Pleasureland, Counterline, Danger Zone, Hydra, Sweet, Heartwind, Circle Of Friends

FANS OF THE DARK are unashamedly longing for the eighties. Their two previous albums have drawn inspiration from the movies and music of that decade, and that continues even more on the latest one, simply called ”Video” (RRRRr). It’s by far their best album so far. I’m not sure whether they’d agree, but I hear a lot of early Michael Bolton in their songs, mixed with keyboard sounds from Stranger Things soundtrack and some vintage eighties metal! They’ve got the ”Fools Game”/”Runaway” staccato keys on a couple of songs (”Let’s Go Rent a Video” and ”Find Your Love”) and I’ve always been a sucker for those… then they successfully combine Iron Maiden with AOR (AOR Maiden!) in ”The Neon Phantom” and ”Savage Streets”, while ”The Wall” sounds like Sabaton without the rrrough vocals! 

”In The Bay Of Blood” is another highlight, where you’ll find some rather unusual lyrics for a melodic rock track; ”Slash my wrist/Crush my skull/Death is just a gift/In the Bay of Blood”… don’t know about you but I find this refreshing, instead of the typical ”fire - desire - higher” stuff. 

The only weak track is the moody ”Tomorrow Is Another Day”, which doesn’t seem to go anywhere, and ”The Dagger Of Tunis” is maybe a couple of minutes too long, with some unnecessary doodling. Otherwise, this is one of the best albums of 2024 so far! Oh yeah, special mention for the soulful vocals of Alex Falk, he’s quite a character!

ATLANTIC released one album ”Power” back in 1994. It was good album, it didn’t make them household names but it did give them a cult status. This year the band has made a comeback, although with a different line-up. They recently played their first gig at Firefest. ”Another World”, their second album, was released a few months ago. 

”Another World” (RRr) is a pleasant sounding, nicely performed AOR album, but I have to wonder whether it would have been released if it wasn’t for the cult status of the band. With songs called ”Hold On”, ”Missing You”, ”I’ll Be Waiting” and ”Ready Or Not”, you’ll get the idea… ”AI, generate 11 song lyrics about finding love, losing love or missing love, using top 50 AOR albums of the eighties as reference.” Ok, maybe that’s a bit harsh, and I could tolerate these lyrics if the music was super brilliant, but it’s not. It’s as generic as these song titles, mostly mid-tempo or balladic melodic rock by numbers. The last song ”This Ain’t Love” is a bit harder-edged, classic rock in Bad Company vein, but not doesn’t score any more points than the others. 

PLEASURELAND’s first, self-titled album gets a RRR rating. They are from Sweden, which doesn’t surprise anyone I guess… in fact, sometimes it feels like I should write that ”all bands reviewed here are from Sweden, unless otherwise stated”! Anyway, their songs range from 70’s styled disco-rock of ”Shotgun City” to more typical Scandi-AOR of ”Before I De” or ”Hate Stronger Than Love”. My favourite track is ”White Light”, a fine pomp rock track in the vein of Touch. The band has two singers, Björn Segerblad and Jonna Sailen. Björn sings most of the songs, and he sounds like a curious cross between Kenny Lecrkemo and Fergie Frederiksen!

Colombian COUNTERLINE offer us their second album, simply called ”Two” (RRRr). If anything, the album shows how important a stronger opening track is. ”Night Of Rock and Roll” isn’t actually a bad song, but it’s a bit of a ”plodder”, and would have worked much better a bit later in the track listing. The band should have used one of the more captivating, energetic songs like ”Fantasy” or ”Beast Unleashed” as the opener. 

The album is a very solid effort from the (slow) start to finish. All the songs are decent, there are no weak links but then again, no real hits either. Musically the closest reference might be early Jaded Heart, especially since vocalist Harold Waller sounds a lot like Michael Bormann. 

DANGER ZONE from Italy are hard rock veterans, who have been in the game since the early eighties. Their first full-length album was released in 2012 though. ”Shut Up!” (RRRr) is their fifth album, and it’s a pretty good melodic hard rock with gritty vocals and excellent keyboards. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the first half of the album, but the more melodic approach of the second half convinced me. The fourth full ”R” wasn’t far…Highlights; ”Hurt”, ”When You Broke My Soul”, ”Tell Me Truth”. The Vocals of Giacomo Gigantelli are an acquired taste, he’s not your typical smooth melodic singer, more like Brian Johnson or Marc Storace.

HYDRA’s second album ”Rehydration” (RRRR) sounds a lot like Isolation-era Toto on steroids, with a strong injection of that Swedish AOR potion as well. Yes, they are from there… It’s all good material, with ”We Belong” and ”Eye Of The Storm” as my current favourites. There may be a few too many bands with a similar sound around, but credit where credit is due, Hydra are very good at what they do. 

SWEET have been around for a long time. In the seventies they scored a lot of bubblegum pop rock hits penned by the Chinn-Chapman duo, before branching out on their own. ”Fox On The Run” and ”Action” were two of their self-penned hits, and they’ve been covered by several hard rock bands who cite Sweet as one of their biggest influences. 

Once the band’s mainstream popularity waned, their story got so complicated that I won’t even attempt to summarize it. Now in 2024, the Sweet that has recorded ”Full Circle” (RRR) contains the original guitarist Andy Scott and a cast of British musicians, including vocalist Lee Small of Shy/Lionheart fame.

The echoes from the seventies are evident some of these songs. You’ll hear the swirling synths of ”Fox On The Run” somewhere there, and the high-pitched harmonies the band was known for. Some of the songs. Aren’t really blessed with good melodies, but there are a few rather fine, timeless melodic rock tracks among the 11 songs: ”Fire In My Heart”, ”Rising Up” and the power-balladic ”Everything” with its’ massive chorus.

HEARTWIND’s ”III” (RRRR) is almost like a compilation album, ”Best of Swedish Hard Rock”. The core of the band is the trio of Göran Engvall (guitar), Mikael Rosengren (keys) and Peter Svensson (drums), who have been active in the Swedish rock scene for several years.  Engvall and Rosengren were also heavily involved in writing the songs on the first Circle Of Friends album. For this third album they’ve invited a lot of familiar Swedish rockers to participate. Vocalists include Jacob Samuel (The Poodles), Robert van Der Zwan (Remedy), Matti Alfonzetti (Bam Bam Boys, Jagged Edge), Andreas Novak (House Of Shakira), Rick Altzi (Masterplan) and Thomas Vikström (Talk Of The Town), while other musicians include Nalle Påhlsson, Fredrik Folklore and Henrik Bergqvist, to name a few.  

An all-star cast doesn’t necessarily mean an amazing album, but in this case the outcome is very good. The Heartwind guys know how to write melodic rock songs, and the 10 songs here are all enjoyable. My favourites include ”Warrior”, ”Facing The Night”, ”Now Is The Time” and ”Brothers”. 

And while on the subject of CIRCLE OF FRIENDS…”Cherokee Moon” (RRRr) is the second project under that moniker. Just like the first one ”The Garden”, this one features a few covers and songs especially written for it, sung by various singers. I liked the first one more, mainly because the songs were better. There are a couple of very good originals on this one too, and the covers aren’t bad, but mostly not that exciting either. The highlights include ”Starlight”, sung by Olivia Dei Chicci, who is the daughter of Robin Beck and James Christian and the Rainbow classic ”Can’t Let You Go”, featuring Harry Hess of Harem Scarem. The Spotify version and Japanese CD edition include ”No Candle In The Window”, which is sung by Jeff Scott Soto. The song is a remake of the James Christian solo track from his first solo album, but for some reason the chorus has been re-written, and I wonder why? It was perfect as it was, and now the song kind of loses momentum when the chorus comes. 

BLIND EGO: “The Hunting Party”

Gentle Art Of Music 

Rating: RRRR 

Review by Martien Koolen 

"The Hunting Party" is Kalle Wallner’s (guitarist of RPWL) fifth studio album since his debut in 2007 and after a couple of spins I can honestly say that this is again a great new Blind Ego album, although I have some problems with the rather “odd” vocals of Kevin Kears. He normally supplies the lead vocals for the metalcore band Cyant.. Fortunately, Wallner’s guitar playing, picking, riffing, shredding, and soloing is again second to none and again the obvious comparison with legendary guitarist David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) is not hard to find. But, then again, who cares about that when you get goosebumps from several Wallner guitar solos on this awesome album. 

Wallner’s new album kicks off with the title track, a song with an extraordinary strong melody and beautiful soaring guitar solos, while follow-up "The Stranger" features a catchy chorus, and "Spiders" is definitely a harder song, a so-called up-tempo rocker indeed. The second part of The Hunting Party features the two longest songs: "In A Blink Of An Eye" – a very emotional track with a stunning guitar solo – and "Breathless"; the latter almost being a prog metal song packed with hard guitar riffs and really dark, mysterious tones. Finally, Blind Ego closes the album with "When The Party’s Over" and this one, a beautiful ballad, has some obvious Pink Floyd influences and of course again brilliant guitar picking by Kalle. 

Overall, The Hunting Party is a very enjoyable album, highlighting, again Wallner’s more than excellent guitar playing, but just for the records, for a new Blind Ego album I would choose another lead vocalist as Kevin Kears’ singing is not really my cup of tea, but as we all know, there is no account for taste; so enjoy this new album and play it LOUD. 

Listening tip: "In A Blink Of An Eye"

https://www.blind-ego.com/

https://www.facebook.com/blindego/

DAYTONA: ”Garder La Flamme”

 

Escape Music 2024

Rating: RRRR

Review by Kimmo Toivonen

Today is the release date of ”Garder La Flamme”, the debut album by Swedish newcomers Daytona. Featuring former and current members of Miss Behaviour, Eclipse and Osukaru, the band has taken on the mission to create an album in the style of late eighties hard rock/AOR scene. That’s an ambitious task, considering that the bands of the era usually had huge budgets, songsmiths and name producers helping them create polished and commercially viable products. 

I would say that Daytona have succeeded quite well. ”Garder La Flamme” is a polished and great sounding album with a strong late eighties vibe. ”Last Of The Runaways” by Giant has obviously been a huge influence, you’ll even find a lyrical nod to ”the days of innocence” in the majestic opening track ”Welcome To The Real World”. As for being ”commercially viable”, I’m afraid that’s not really possible for an AOR album in 2024, but I guess that band isn’t expecting to find themselves on the Billboard charts. Within the melodic rock scene, this is one of the more interesting debuts of recent years.

Apart from Giant, you’ll hear echoes of Toto, Foreigner and many others, but not in a ”copy/paste” way thankfully. My favourite track is the irresistible single ”Looks Like Rain” with ”Town Of Many Faces” being the runner-up. That song sees the band taking a bit of a departure from their chosen ”late eighties”  style, as there are 70’s styled disco elements in the song, similar to The Night Flight Orchestra’s material. 

https://www.facebook.com/DaytonaMusicOfficial/

Rock Blog #36: a few reviews - A Neverending John's Dream, Timeless Fairytale, Victory, Sam Millar

Here’s a few new or at least not that old albums… let’s start with one of the strangest band names in recent history, A NEVERENDING JOHN’S DREAM. Their album ”Coming Back To Paradise” (RRRR) is a decent slice of keyboard-driven, slightly progressive AOR. Apparently this kind of an album has been a dream of band leader, vocalist/drummer Joan ”John” M. Heredia, hence the name. Thanks to John’s rather unique voice and the interesting arrangements, this doesn’t sound like a generic AOR album, John and co. have a sound of their own. There are touches of GTR, Zeno and Rush to be found here. My absolute favourite songs are the magnificent title track and ”Prisoners Of This Life”. 

TIMELESS FAIRYTALE are another band who have recently released their first album ”A Story To Tell” (RRRr). Masterminded by one Luca Sellitto from Italy, the band also features former Royal Hunt vocalist Henrik Brockmann. That might explain why I thought that ”damn, this sounds a lot like early Royal Hunt” when I first listened to this, without knowing who was in the band. It’s just not the vocals only, Timeless Fairytale definitely operates on the same field. You can hear some influences from Yngwie Malmsteen in his prime and Sonata Arctica. Good stuff, but I’m missing a couple of hard hitters, really memorable songs.

VICTORY have been around for decades, but I haven’t really followed their career since the mid-nineties. "Circle Of Life” (RRR) might be the first Victory album I’ve heard since ”You Bought It, You Name It”. And… it’s fairly standard riff-oriented hard rock. A few of the songs have decent melodies and hooks, but there are quite a few which do not, and they end up being instantly forgettable. Current singer Gianni Pontillo has a good, raspy voice that reminds me of their former singer Fernando Garcia and Marc Storace of Krokus and only original member Herman Frank churns out solid riffs, but it’s not enough in the end.

You know the label Earache? The home of Napalm Death, Morbid Angel, Carcass and the likes? One wouldn’t expect them to release one of the finest AOR albums of 2024, but that just what they’ve done! 

At its’ best SAM MILLAR’’S ”Virtual Summer” (RRRRr) is like a breath of fresh air to the genre. It’s a superb mix of 80’s melodic rock and pop, glam, synthwave vibes and modern touches. The choruses are positively explosive, just check out the first two tracks ”The Killing Floor” and ”Fooling Yourself” for example. And how many times have you heard the term ”Neanderthal Man” being used in a rock song, especially combined with a healthy dose of  ”na-na-na”s?  

Rock Blog #35: a round-up of recent releases: Nightwish, Eclipse, Fighter V, SteelCity, Wake The Nations, Stryper.

 Last week’s Friday was the release date of a few interesting new albums. Let’s have a look at some of them (and a couple of slightly older ones).

Finnish symphonic metal masters NIGHTWISH released their latest opus ”Yesterwynde”. As expected, it’s an ambitious, cinematic album with lots of textures, levels, nuances… having listened to it maybe twice, I can’t claim that I’ve given it the time it deserves. What can I say at this point is that it appeals more to me than their previous album, but does it appeal to me so much that I’ll play it a lot? I don’t know. There are no easy hits on it, maybe ”The Children of A’ta” being closest to that. Somehow, ”Yesterwynde” is closer to an opera or a symphony than a rock album… interesting, but not necessarily suitable for casual listening. I can’t rate this yet.

ECLIPSE released the sequel to their ”Megalomanium” album, called ”Meglomanium II” (RRRR). One might think that it’s some kind of collection of left-over material but that’s not the case. If anything, this might be the better of the two. It’s quite uptempo, ”in your face” and possibly the most modern out their albums. Still, the Eclipse sound and their melodic sensibility hasn’t been sacrificed. A great example of band evolving but not losing their essence. My favourite tracks at the moment: ”Apocalypse Blues”, ”Falling To My Knees” and ”Until The War Is Over”.

Swiss band FIGHTER V left a good impression with their first album a few years ago.  Now with a new singer Emmo Ecar they’ve released their second album ”Heart Of The Young” (RRRR), which is bound to raise their profile even more. Acar has a deep, raspy voice that took a while getting used to, but I really like his delivery, he’s an expressive and passionate singer. His voice reminds me a bit of David Reece (Accept, Bangalore Choir) and also Chris Cade from Melidian (an obscure late eighties band). Musically the band have  a sound straight from 1989, with smooth harmonies, cool riffs and great keyboards. If you need a more contemporary reference, think Brother Firetribe, H.E.A.T… My favourite tracks include the title track, ”How Long”, ”Miracle Heart”, ”Run N’ Hide Away” and ”Radio Tokyo”. When the band try to rock harder, as in ”Speed Demon” and ”Power”, they kind of lose their charm, but when they stick to the more melodic format they’re really good. 

STEELCITY’S ”Reverence” (RRR) has many ingredients which should make it a safe bet for me, but for some reason it just doesn’t resonate with me. Good vocalist in Roy Cathey, solid guitar work, keys and a hard rock style straight from the ”golden era”, with influences from Dokken, Skid Row… but it’s just okay. I don’t dislike any of the songs, they’re all pretty decent, but nothing really stands out. 

I won’t hide the fact that I’m friends with the guys in  WAKE THE NATIONS. I’ve heard the songs from their latest album already a few months ago, and my initial reaction was that they’ve moved too far from the AOR style of their previous albums. Now that I’ve listened ”Heartageddon”  (RRRr) again, I’ve changed my mind somewhat. I still prefer ”Heartrock”, their 2019 album to this new one, but I kind of understand their need to try new things. If they used to be firmly rooted in the eighties, now they’ve got another foot in the nineties… 

My favorite tracks: ”Don’t Call Me Tonight”, ”The Shadows” and ”Bulletproof”. Then there's ”Lifesaver”, which is just way too alternative rock-sounding for me...

The latest STRYPER album ”When We Were Kings” I’ve played quite a few times recently. I wasn’t won over straight away, but some of the subtle hooks found their way and I must say that this it’s a good one. Easily better than ”The Final Battle”, the previous one, but not quite as good as the one before that, ”Even The Devil Believes”. Anyway, if your only knowledge of this band is via their biggest MTV hits ”Honestly”, ”Calling On You” and ”In God We Trust”, you might be surprised that these days they rock a bit harder. Most of these songs have sharp riffs and they can be classified as Heavy Metal, pure and simple. Having said that, my personal favourites are the more melodic, hook-driven songs ”End Of Days”, ”When We Were Kings”, ”Grateful” and ”imperfect World”. RRRr. 

Rock Blog #34: Mike Tramp, Marko Hietala, The Swedes strike again...

 So, over a month has passed since the last entry, as I suspected after the sudden peak in activity in July/August. I thought I'll go through the list of new albums and write some reviews, but I really can't. I haven't had the time or drive to listen to them properly. It seems I've mostly listened to older stuff or bands that are "in the spotlight" for one reason or another. For example, we bought tickets to see Within Temptation next month, and I've been listening to their albums quite a lot. Same with Crashdïet, who we saw last Friday, there's a mini-review and photos on our Facebook page. And Nestor and Cruzh are coming to Finland next month too, they've been getting some airtime.

Anyway, there are a few things I want to write about. MIKE TRAMP has just released his second album of re-recorded WHITE LION songs, called "Songs Of White Lion, vol. 2". The songs have been re-arranged to suit Tramp's diminished range, and compared to the originals they sound very different. I tried to listen to them as if I heard them for the first time, but it was impossible. The original melodies are etched to my soul, and these versions just pale in comparison. Still, as some of them are among my all time favourite songs, even as "flattened versions" they are quite enjoyable. The slower songs like "You're All I Need" and "Road To Valhalla" work well. I still like the timbre of Tramp's voice. RRR. 

The new single from MARKO HIETALA took me by surprise - big chorus, haunting keyboards and Marko's great vocals of course. Certainly one of the best songs I've heard from him in quite a while. Here's the video:

And then the Swedes. Goddamn it, they just churn out these catchy tracks one after another. Here's a set of new Swedish hard rock videos:

FANS OF THE DARK - Meet Me On The Corner

SMOKING SNAKES - Rocking To The Morning Light

Daytona - Looks Like Rain

Eclipse - Still My Hero

Rock Blog #33: Kissin' Dynamite, Sonata Arctica, Smokin' Aces, New Horizon, JD Miller

 I guess you can expect weeks and weeks of silence after this sudden burst of blog entries... we'll see. But anyway, here we go again!

KISSIN' DYNAMITE's "Back With A Bang" (RRRR) was a hugely anticipated release, and indeed it went straight to #1 in their home country Germany on its' release week.  It's a good album, although not quite as brilliant as their previous album. There are a couple of songs that among the best ones released this year, but there are also a number of songs that leave me a bit cold. My favourites include "My Monster", "Queen Of The Night" and "The Devil Is A Woman", which sounds so much like recent H.E.A.T. material that I had to check whether they've been co-writing. Nope...  The second half of the album is less to my liking, the songs aren't bad but not great either.

SONATA ARCTICA claim to have gone "back to the roots" with their latest album "CLEAR COLD BEYOND" (RRRr). Yeah, I'll buy that, it's mostly uptempo melodic metal and maybe a bit more straight-forward that most of the material they've released during the last few years. Tony Kakko has a theatrical style to write and sing and it's an acquired taste, but I like it. Stand-out tracks: "California", "Dark Empath" and "First In Line".

Swedish SMOKIN' SNAKES play sleazy hard rock, and "Danger Zone" (RRRr) is their debut album. Their sound is a bit diffenrent to most of the other sleaze bands, I'd say they have a more metallic edge, think ACCEPT and LORDI. Razor-sharp riffs, rough vocals and some catchy choruses , "Lady Luck", "Restless And Wild" (not an Accept cover!), "Rocking To The Morning Light" for example. The  vocals of Brett Martin are what holds me back from giving them a better rating, there's not a lot of variety in his delivery. 

NEW HORIZON is a power metal project by H.E.A.T. keyboard player Jona Tee. On the first album he enlisted his former bandmate Erik Grönwall to sing, but on this second album "Conquerors" (RRRRr) on vocals he's got another well-known Swedish singer, Nils Molin of Dynazty and Amaranthe. A worthy replacement! While the songs on the album sound very familiar at times, I can't deny that they are all quality melodic metal, and at their best, bloody brilliant! "King Of Kings", "Messenger Of The Stars", "Apollo"... great stuff in the vein of Sabaton, Battle Beast with a touch of H.E.A.T. melodies. Not a weak song in sight really. Molin's bandmate Elize Ryd is featured on the balladic "Before The Dawn" and "Alexander the Great" is an Iron Maiden cover.  

I don't know what to make of JD MILLER. Their latest album "Empyrean" (RRRR) isn't definitely "just another AOR album", which is a good thing. They aren't trying to bring the eighties back with it, instead they play modern day melodic rock/metal with lots of different influences. They are heavy, yet they have some highly infectious pop hooks ("Out Of Control" as the best example). Some songs have an industrial, modern vibe, but they also have very smooth harmonies. Take "One In A Million" for example - it kicks of with eerie keys, crunchy guitars and aggressive vocals, but then they get to the chorus, which reminds me of Autograph or something! Then they jump into a midsection straight from a Rocky soundtrack with pulsating keys... all this and more in 3 and half minutes. Anyway, I was a bit unsure about the rating, but now that I played this again, it's such an ambitious and different album and it gets better after every spin, so it deserves 4 R's. I think these guys are onto something!  

Rock Blog #32: Reviews! Again! Judas Priest, Bruce Dickinson, FM, Lionheart, Issa.

 I'm on a roll! More reviews coming your way right now, only a couple of days after the previous bunch! Let's start with a few legendary artists.

Some have called the latest JUDAS PRIEST album "Invisible Shield" (RRR) as one of their best. I don't know, for me they were at their best during "Defenders/Turbo" era. Yes, I might be a heretic. A few of the songs on this album are very much in "Painkiller" vein, fast and/or furious with simple refrains, probably pure gold for those who enjoy their Priest as heavy as possible. I prefer them when the inject a bit more melody to their metal, luckily there are a few songs like that on the album: "Gates Of Hell", "Crown Of Horns" and "Fight Of Your Life" for example. With 14 songs, there's just too much to absorb, a trimmed-down version with the 10 best songs would get a better rating. 

I am not a huge Iron Maiden fan, and I haven't really listened to much BRUCE DICKINSON's solo material either. I didn't have any expectations for "The Mandrake Project" (RRRr), knowing that Bruce does what he wants and it could be anything. I was positively surprised though, this album is fairly traditional heavy rock with modern influences. Dickinson being the voice of Iron Maiden and one of the songwriters, there are a bound to be similarities and indeed there are.  The most obvious one is "Eternity Has Failed", a very close relative to the Maiden song "If Eterenity Should Fail" from "Book Of Souls".  My favourites are the Ghost-like "Many Doors To Hell", "Afterglow Of Ragnarok" and "Mistress Of Mercy".

FM are AOR veterans, and "Old Habits Die Hard" (RRR) is their 14th album. Their first two albums from the eighties are classics, but they've released decent stuff since their reformation too. However, I find it hard to get into these tracks. All very well constructed and immaculately sung by the great Steve Overland, but somehow they are just... unexciting. There are glimpses of their greatness here and there, but overall "Old Habits Die Hard" is one of their weaker efforts.

LIONHEART had their brief moment in the early eighties, when they were dubbed as the first "NWOBHM supergroup", with ex-members from Iron Maiden, Tygers Of Pan Tang and Def Leppard. Once they got around to releasing their first album, some of those members had been replaced and their "Hot Tonight" album turned out to be polished AOR. The band didn't last for long, 1986 it was over for them. Fast forward to 2016, when the band reformed with new vocalist Lee Small. Since then, they've released three albums, "The Grace Of A Dragonfly" (RRRR) being the latest one. The albums by the reformed band have been slightly heavier than "Hot Tonight", I could even say "more british-sounding", and this one follows on the same path. Anyway, they've got some fine, melodic songs, with big hooks here:  "V Is For Victory", "Little Ships", "Just A Man" and "UXB", to name a few.

ISSA's latest album "Another World" (RRRR) was one that I had big expectations for: the Martin brothers James and Tom have written and produced it, and their track record has been quite good. It is a decent album, no doubt about it, but maybe I was expecting something even better... oh well, if I put my unrealistic hopes aside and look at "Another World" as it is, there's not really much to complain about. All songs are good, the arrangements are lively and colourful and Issa herself belts out the songs with passion. My choice as the best song: "The Hardest Fight".

Rock Blog #31: Palace, Amaranthe, Black Diamonds

MALMÖ MELODIC is going on as I write this, I should be there but it wasn’t possible this time. Apparently some really good sets have been played by bands like Houston, Romeo’s Daughter and Grand, to name a few. Maybe next time…

Meanwhile, I’ve been listening to a lot of music now that I’ve been on my own a couple of days, catching up on new releases and looking back at some old ones. 

The most listened artist this week has been PALACE, who just released his best album so far, ”Reckless Heart” (RRRRr). It’s tailormade for beautiful summer days and nights: uplifting, melodic, catchy! Some of the melodies have that annoying ”where have I heard this before” thing, but somehow it doesn’t bother me much, because the songs are so good!  There’s a song called ”Back To ´85” which might give you a clue about the style - the 80’s vibe is very strong here. You need references? How about Toto, Alias, Journey, Brother Firetribe, Nestor… that sort of ear candy.

I revisited the whole Palace back catalogue yesterday, and I think my second favourite album is ”Rock And Roll Radio”, with ”One 4 The Road” and ”Master Of The Universe” close behind. Strangely enough, Palace’s second album ”Binary Music” doesn’t really work for me, none of the songs made it to my ”Best Of Palace” playlist.

AMARANTHE’S ”The Catalyst” was released in February and it kind of slipped through the cracks after the first spin. I gave it another go the other day, and I like it. A few albums ago I was slowly losing faith in the band, but they’ve found their magic again. The title track, ”Damnation Flame”, ”Interference”, ”Outer Dimensions” and ”Resistance” are among my favourites. ”Bangers”, as the youngsters call ’em. RRRR

BLACK DIAMONDS, Swiss sleaze rockers left a positive impression with their previous album ”No-Tell Hotel”, and their latest one ”Destination Paradise”  (RRRR) is at least as good as that one. The vocals of Mich Kehl have that nasal snarl dominant in the glam/sleaze genre, but musically the band isn’t really that sleazy at all, their songs are melodic hard rock with strong hooks. Check out ”After The Rain”, ”Paradise” or ”Everyday Heroes”! Oh yeah, they cover Belinda Carlisle’s ”Leave A Light On”.

To be continued any day now!