Sometimes you just need a good old dose of rock and roll, and when you get to hear the new release from StoneWire that’s what you get. It’s been a long time since they last scratched out some vinyl (5 years in fact) but like a good wine they seem …
Read More »Edenbridge – Dynamind
After Nightwish started to become well known in the late 90s a number of other bands sprung up producing symphonic metal with clean female vocals. Edenbridge were one of the early bands to come along and are still going strong, with this being their tenth album. These days there are …
Read More »Mike Zito and friends – Rock’n’Roll, A tribute to Chuck Berry
Blues artist Mike Zito has a new album about to be released. It’s not a Blues album though – it’s a tribute to Chuck Berry and features 20 of Chuck Berry’s songs. An important detail in the album title is the “and friends” bit – the album features a staggering …
Read More »Motorhead 1979 – Double Vinyl Box Set.
Forty years? Has it really been that long since the titanic trio of Lemmy Kilmister, ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke and Philthy ‘Animal’ Taylor bashed out not one, but two ground breaking albums in 1979? From 1976-1982, Motorhead ,with this line up shook the Earth to its very core! Overkill on March …
Read More »Officium Triste – The Death Of Gaia
Masters of all things Doom, Officium Triste return with their latest album ‘The Death Of Gaia’ 2019 marks a momentous landmark in the history of Officium Triste, as the guys from Rotterdam celebrate their 25th anniversary. And what better way to fly the flag and remind us …
Read More »Wayward Sons – The Truth Ain’t What It Used To Be
Wayward Sons – The Truth Aint What it Used to be – Album Review In a world full of twisted illusions Wayward Sons have delivered a rock-solid classic album with The Truth Ain’t What It Used To Be. Toby Jepson is the voice and his band are the musical soundtrack …
Read More »Twisted Tales – Bringer Of Woe
Twisted Tales are a Serbian Thrash / Metal band releasing this their 2nd studio album. It’s actually very good, if a little naive in places, but it’s hindered by timing issues which we’ll come to shortly. You can tell straight away who influences these guys. The guitaring is heavily influenced …
Read More »Michael Monroe – One Man Gang
Michael Monroe, the stage name of Matti Antero Kristian Fagerholm founder and frontman of the iconic glam punk band Hanoi Rocks, (formed when he was a teenager back in 1979) has just released his ninth studio album One Man Gang via Silver Lining Music. The talented Mr Monroe not only sings but …
Read More »Articulus – I
Newcomers Articulus are bringing their own take within the progressive metal framework. Being a debut it has just taken that bit longer to fully digest and shake off any pre-conceived notions. Chris Willumsen and Erling Malm are the mainstays behind this project and have brought in Dirk Verbeuren the current …
Read More »Her Despair – Exorcisms Of Eroticism
London based Her Despair are back with their third release Exorcisms of Eroticism. They combine pagan and symphonic metal with guitar based Goth to create nuggets of melodramatic adventure. I found it easy to be immersed in the atmospheric sound of the six varied tracks, often with the music taking …
Read More »Joe Bonamassa – Live at the Sydney opera house
Joe Bonamassa’s new album is out on 25th October. Like many of his previous live releases it’s been recorded at an iconic venue – in this case, the Sydney opera house. In fact I think Joe Bonamassa must have sat down with producer Kevin Shirley at some point and made …
Read More »Keywest – Ordinary superhero
Keywest started as buskers in Ireland around a decade ago and gradually honed their skills and started to draw crowds to watch them perform. These days they’ve outgrown busking having sold 150,000 copies of their debut album in Ireland. They’ve toured Ireland, the UK and Europe and played festivals including …
Read More »Burnt Out Wreck – This Is Hell
I first came across Burnt Out Wreck at a RACPA festival in Nottingham a few years ago and to say I was blown away by their full on delivery is an understatement. Thankfully that vibe has been caught in the studio for their latest album This Is Hell, currently on …
Read More »Down ‘n’ Outz – This Is How We Roll
Down ‘n’ Outz, the side project of Def Leppard‘s frontman Joe Elliott was founded back in 2009. Heavily influenced by Mott The Hoople the band also features a somewhat stellar cast with members of The Quireboys, Wayward Sons & Vixen. You can find out the history behind the project from …
Read More »District 13 – Soma.
Caught this groovy three piece at a festival in the Waterloo Music Bar in Blackpool last April. First band on at 1pm since being on the road from 5am in London, District 13 tore the place apart so here they are now doing the same thing in the studio with …
Read More »Wednesday 13 – Necrophaze
Wednesday 13 has just released his latest album – Necrophaze. As always it’s got a horror theme which works well for him and other artists such as Alice Cooper, and inevitably there are going to be comparisons between the two. To be honest I’ve never understood why Wednesday 13 isnt …
Read More »Epica – Design your universe (Gold edition)
To mark 10 years since the release of their “Design your universe” album, Epica have released a “Gold edition” version of the album. So what’s new? Well its not just a remixed version of the album – instead Epica have gone back to the studio and recorded something new. As …
Read More »Helloween – United alive
For Helloween fans, 2017 and 2018 were a great period as the modern lineup of the band reunited with former members including Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske for a special tour – Pumpkins united. It was a fantastic tour and for many fans it was their first chance to see …
Read More »Phil Campbell – Old Lions Still Roar
Older rock fans (myself included) would remember Phil Campbell from heavy metal band Persian Risk but most know him as lead guitarist from Motorhead whom he played with from 1984 until 2015 when band founder Lemmy Kilmister sadly passed away. It did not take Phil long to get back onto …
Read More »Eye Licker – Once More Into The Rabbit Hole
It’s funny how certain events and moments that happen in life can be the difference between hearing a great band, and never hearing them at all. A friend of mine posted a video on Facebook of a track called ‘Filth ‘ by Manchester based Eye Licker at a recent gig …
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