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 …
Read More »Helloween – Brixton academy, London – 14th November 2017
Tonight’s Helloween gig was due to be something special. It’s part of their Pumpkins reunited tour which sees the current Helloween lineup joined by former members Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske. For many fans this was their first chance to see Helloween with these two members. There was certainly a …
Read More »Kiske-Somerville – City of Heroes
Kiske-Somerville is the collaboration between former Helloween singer Michael Kiske (now with Unisonic) and Trillium singer Amanda Somerville. Both singers have also worked with Avantasia as well as separately on various projects. The pair released the album “Kiske/Somerville” back in 2010, and finally found time in their schedules to get …
Read More »Unisonic interview, June 2014
I recently spoke to Dennis Ward and Michael Kiske from Unisonic to talk to them about their new EP, the forthcoming album, touring and their other projects. Hear what they had to say with the player below…
Read More »Unisonic – For the kingdom EP
It’s two years since Unisonic emerged, with a debut EP and album. The band hit the headlines for reuniting two legends of German rock/metal – Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske, reunited 23 years after they formed part of Helloween. Now the band are back with a new EP ahead of …
Read More »Bloodstock Open Air 2013 Review – Saturday 10th August
Rather than start my day with a full on dose of metal, I pleasantly started it with a slice of medieval full contact battling. In the past the Viking battling had been a little on the soft side, wielding wooden swords and could get boring pretty quickly. Medieval battling on the …
Read More »Avantasia – ‘The Mystery Of Time’
Originally founded in 1999 as a means for the then 21-year old Tobias Sammet to produce what he regarded the ultimate rock opera project – something which he apparently eventually drew a line under when he announced the end of Avantasia from the Wacken stage back in August 2011. But, …
Read More »Avantasia – Interview with Tobias Sammett
After apparently calling it quits two years ago, German power metal maestro Tobias Sammett delivered a pleasant surprise to his legions of fans when it was revealed that there would, in fact, be a new Avantasia studio album, ‘The Mystery Of Time’, which is being released at the end of …
Read More »Helker – ‘Somewhere In The Circle’
On first listen, you could be forgiven for thinking that Helker are German: in fact, they hail from that renowned hotbed of heavy metal Argentina, with ‘Somewhere In The Circle’ being their fourth album but the first to be both recorded in English and gain an international release, thanks to …
Read More »Gamma Ray – Skeletons And Majesties.
My introduction to rock/metal came through buying live albums as they represent a band at their peak with their best songs on them so classics like Double Live Gonzo by Ted Nugent, Live And Dangerous by Thin Lizzy, All The World’s A Stage by Rush, Alive II by Kiss, Loud …
Read More »Unisonic – Unisonic Album Review
I had the distinct pleasure of reviewing Unisonic’s debut EP back in February and have been chomping at the bit since then to get my hands on the full debut album to review and finally I’ve managed to bend my ears around it and it has most definitely been worth …
Read More »Interview with Kai Hansen & Michael Kiske, Unisonic.
Ant May from Planetmosh met up with German power metal legends Kai Hansen (founder of Helloween and Gamma Ray), and Michael Kiske (Helloween, Avantasia) to discuss Unisonic – the new band that has them working together again after 20 years apart. Planetmosh: OK can you tell us a bit about …
Read More »Unisonic – Ignition CD Review
Nostalgia is a wonderful thing, but sometimes you can return to something that you once held fond memories of and have them dashed very quickly against what you remembered. I’ll be honest, it’s been a long time since I’ve listened to anything by messers Kiske and Hansen. People will argue …
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