Promotional release, 2000 (?)
Review by Kimmo Toivonen

There's a first time for everything, and now it's a first time for me to review a spanish-sung album! Won't go into details about the lyrical content here... This CD-R was handed to me by my Peruvian friend Chris, and the band are from Peru too. That sums up all I know about them! I only got the CD and a piece of paper with the songtitles on it, but I let the music do the talking, as they say...

Aliados play goodtime AOR, somewhere between Van Halen and early Danger Danger. Most of the songs sound really positive and energetic, even the ballads have that "happy" feel. Maybe it's the fact that I can't figure out the lyrics, they might be singing about cutting their wrists and burning churches for all I know!

It would be hard to pick out individual songs from this album, as they are all almost equally good. There's nothihng that really stands out, but nothing average either. The musicianship is good throughout the album, and the vocalist is quite good too, sounding a bit like Freddy Curci of Alias. I must applaud the production too, it is really good for an indie release. I have no doubt that these guys could make a big impact on the AOR scene, if it wasn't for the language barrier.

Unreleased Gem
Review by

Remember the golden days? 1990. All the Top 20 charts of the world (even of MTV) were filled with bands like Nelson, Warrant, White Lion, Tuff, etc. and with Alias. Who of us wouldn't remember the wonderful ballad "More Than Words Can Say"? As far as I can remember "Waiting For Love" also made it to some of the charts from the awesome debut. And after the absolutely successful first album we haven't heard anything from the guys again. They were rumored to have the recording of the second album finished but it never hit the streets; they were dropped from the label. They continued on separate ways, some of the songs of the unreleased second album appeared on Freddy Curci's solo album. The actuality of this review is strengthened by the fact that Freddy is about to release a retrospectacle best of album.

Some said the EMI had its reasons dropping the band (other than the grunge flow) and the album was never as powerful as the debut. Now, believe me they were all wrong. I doubt anyone saying something like this has ever heard the material at all. Can anyone seriously say an album would have been bad if five of its songs were absolute success on other artists' albums? Oh yeah, some of the songs of this album were recorded on James Christian's fantastic solo album "Rude Awakening". "The Warden" and "No Pleasure Without The Pain" made it to the original and "Woman Enough" to the reissue of it. Any of you having the album could know how great those songs are. Well, the original Alias versions are just as good as the James Christian versions; although Freddy's high-pitched voice is completely different from James' whisky flavored mannish vocals. Still the songs sound perfect from both of the singers. Just a short note to Jimi Jamison: Hey Jimi, it's the SONG and NOT the SINGER!!!

Some of you might know "All I Want Is You" and "Life Goes On" from Freddy's solo album, they both are great Alias style ballads with huge vocal melodies, hooks that stick in your ears, and with outstanding performance with lots of, lots of feeling. You might have recognized so far that this album is a bit more ballad-orientated than the debut, but who is to say it's bad? Everyone should stick to what they do best and these guys have great instinct to write catchy refrains and huge melodies. "Diamonds" is one of those great ballads too, also on "Dreamer's Road", but there's a nice musical experiment called "Play Me A Song" a southern gospel flavored vocal song with great vocal performances. "How Much Longer Is Forever" would please any ballad lover too, it lives up to the reputation of "More Than Words Can Say".

However the band delivered the best ever rocker they have written on this album, titled "Bare Necessity". Now that song has a refrain that won't let you sleep at night because you can't stop singing it in yourself. The world would have been richer to have it released back then! This one song alone is worth hunting down a copy of the record somewhere (Ed's note: it's on the Freddy Curci comp!) but I'm sure you won't be disappointed with the rest of the songs either. "XTCOI" or "Wild, Wild One" are rockers that almost explode of energy and would paint any skies blue when playing. Go for it!

DVS Records 2003
Review by 17 November 2003

I never heard their debut album called “Field Of Names”, but I do remember the very positive reviews about that cd. Alias Eye were called the German Spock’s Beard and their music was a collection of different music styles, ranging from symphonic rock to pop and even classical influences.

Now, two years later the band returns with their second album, filled with nine new tracks, which are again full of musical styles. I cannot hear the resemblance with Spock’s Beard but I certainly detect another influence, namely that of Scandinavian progressive pop/rockers A.C.T. . “A Clown’s Tale” is a very strong opener of this album, because it has a very recognizable guitar riff, mixed with Arabian influences, a smashing guitar solo and some swinging saxophone parts. “Fake The Right” is a funky pop rocker, which reminds me of the Dutch band Alquin and “Your Other Way” surprises me because of the accordion parts and the relaxing piano passages. Alias Eye prove that they can swing as well, just listen to the tasty guitar melodies in ”Icarus Unworded”

Nuclear Blast 2003
Review by 18 May 2003

From year 1992 to 1999 the French Alkemyst was known as Endless, till they had to change their name prior to another band going by the same name. We all know the drill. Their singer changed along the way too, and today the vocals are mastered by none other than Ramon Messina, from the band Secret Sphere. Ok ! Take a deep breath and let me finish the introduction. The other guys are guitarists Severin Bonneville and Arnaud Ménrad, Denis Mellion-bass and Arnaud Gorbaty-drums. Alkemyst’s 2 track demo „A Path To Heaven” earlier got praised by critics and awoke the attention of the fans. As for ”Meeting”, the album was first recorded in 2001, but due to an accident it all had to be done over again. It was mastered by Mika Jussila at Finnvox studios in Finland.

The whole ”Meeting” cd sounds good and the music is somewhat reminiscent to old Helloween, Gamma Ray and the likes. There’s high-pitched vocals of course and the choirs in the background and all those progressive/thrash/speed influences along with technical difficulty. But to put it simply, if you’ve heard the other French band Heavenly, these guys are along the same lines, though Heavenly is catchier and easier to listen to. French metal sure has evolved during the past ten years as you can hear with these guys too, they can play.

But eventhough Alkemyst has taken concideration from almost all aspects of music, it’s not all that perfect. The whole cd is a bit lame even with all the different influences and the talents in the band. The title track at first seemed a bit disappointing. It seemed to be a dragging midtempo song which speeds up in the very end, but at that point it’s too late to do anything anymore when the song is almost through. But when you listen to the song a bit more it starts working better, though it would’ve needed a bit more of those speedy parts. The piano at the end is beautiful. The other highlights here were ”It’s Time”, ”Hold On To Your Dreams” where the chorus kicks in and an epic ”Nameless Son” with two chapters and I liked this one because it stayed well within the form all the way through. Unfortunately there’s no ballads here.

Indie 2003
Review by 31 January 2003

Here's a really fine, professional done CD by an independent artist. In fact, David Allen is the living proof to the old saying "you don't have to be mega-famous, to be good". There are just too many musicians out there who frankly needs, to be brought up into the light and attention of people.

Born in the small town of River Falls, Wisconsin, Allen started singing with his father in church at the age of four(4). Not to mention, standing in front of the mirror, singing along to Glen Campbell & Billy Joel records etc. This is really the next episode of his life and Allen continues on the path of his heroes.

Blue Car Records 1999
Review by Kimmo Toivonen

Mark Allen Band is six-piece group (no prizes for guessing!) from California, featuring 3 guys and 3 ladies. Their music is blues-flavoured rock with some AOR elements. The blues/rock style seems to dominate, and since that is not my cup of tea, I am not too crazy about this album. However, occasionally the band adopts a more AOR'ish approach and that's when things start to happen.

The opener "Wishing Well" is a straight-forward rocker with some Chicago-like horns (or synths), the vocals of Mark Allen sounding a little like that geezer from Legs Diamond. "Take My Heart" however, is stylewise close to Tyketto, with Allen sounding a lot like Danny Vaughn this time. A good track with a great melodic bridge. The next good track is "I Will Be There", a full-blown AOR track with keyboards upfront and a good chorus. It reminds me a little bit of Survivor's "Burning Heart". "Same Old Star" is another highlight, a song that sounds like a cool combination of Tyketto's "The End Of The Summer Days" and "Don't Treat Me Bad" by Firehouse. The bluesy ballad "Fear Of Falling" is quite enjoyable too.

Indie 2000
Review by 8 December 2000

The first noticeable thing about Alliance's three track CD single "In Control" is the rather stylish packaging, which gives a good impression. The music isn't bad either, traditional melodic metal that reminds me of early Queensrÿche, with touches of Stratovarius, Clockwise and maybe even Dokken in there.

All three tracks are decent slices of melodic metal, with good production and confident musicianship. The only thing that bothers me are the vocals of Atro Tossavainen. He has a good voice, but he seems to have a habit of going up and down the scale a bit too much, and at the high end his vocals just aren't powerful enough. Okay, my dislike for falsetto vocals has been very well documented on this site, but I still think he should concetrate on the songs that do not require King Diamondish "Mickey Mouse In Trouble" vocals!

Alliance 2002
Review by 16 November 2002

I reviewed the first Alliance release "In Control" a couple of years ago (see archive A), and compared the band to Queensrÿche, Stratovarius and Dokken. It seems that during the last two years Alliance has changed direction more and more towards traditional metal á la Iron Maiden, although it's impossible to have a big picture, as this CD is just a two track single. What's more, the band has signed a publishing deal with SongStrong Productions from USA, and recruited a new vocalist.

The title song is a slightly more commercial number reminding me of several eighties' Maiden singles, while the other song "No Apologies" is a full-on metal track with new vocalist Tomi Viiltola using his high register a lot. He has a very personal vibrato that can only be compared to David DeFeis of Virgin Steele (a blast from the past, eh kids...), and it might take some time to get used to. Since I'm not a big fan of over-the-top heavy metal vocalizing, I prefer the first track.

Mercury 2003
Review by 25 November 2003

In 1971 The Allman Brothers Band played the famous Fillmore East in New York five times. The recordings on this album are from 12 and 13 of March and 27 June and prove that this was the best southern rock band ever...

With "super stars" Duane Allman(guitar) and Berry Oakley(bass guitar) - both deceased - this band fills your ears with southern guitar rock that is second to none. The original "At Fillmore East" double lp only featured 7 songs; on this de luxe edition you can enjoy 13 tracks, inclusive the famous classic "Midnight Rider", which was recorded on 27 June 1971.

Sanctuary/Showtime 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
20 March 2004

The first, best, and biggest southern rock band? I'm sure that Lynyrd Skynyrd would like to have a word or two in there too. Nevertheless, at least these chaps never "stole" their sports teachers' name and turned it into a touring band. The late Duane Allman is the not-so-living proof to that and another fallen hero is bassist Berry Oakley (R.I.P.).

"One Way Out" is a marvelous double live CD recorded at The Beacon Theatre - New York in 2003. Not as legendery (yet) as their previous live album "At Fillmore East" perhaps, but it surely proves that southern rock is still alive and well. I was actually quite suprised to find out that as many as six (6), tracks are all from their lastest studio album, "Hittin' The Notes - 2003". These "old farts" bands are usually only including one or two new songs and rely mostly upon old material and hits.

Altaria 2001
Review by 5 October 2001

In the footsteps of Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica and a bunch of others comes Altaria, a new melodic metal band from Finland. But fear not, Altaria seems to have a sound of their own and they do not rely on recycled Helloween-tracks like so many of the other melodic metallers do.

Altaria features Sonata Arctica's Jani Liimatainen on guitars and the former Stormwing vocalist Johan Mattjus, so there's plenty of talent and experience in the band. The major songwriters are in the rhythm section though, bassist Marko Pukkila and drummer Tony Smedjebecka have written most of the material. And good material it is, very professional sounding, well arranged and well performed! All three songs contain plenty of melody and excellent backing vocals, so they might appeal not only to the melodic metal fans, but also to the AOR die-hards. My favourite song is "Kingdom Of The Night", a good midtempo track, but the other two are not too far behind.

Point Music/Rock Inc 2003
Review by 24 May 2003

Again another power metalband from Finland and the main question is: are they any good? When I looked at the line-up my expectations were very high. As there is: Jouni Nikula (Requiem), Jani Liimatainen (Sonata Arctica), Emppu Vuorinen (Nightwish), Marko Pukkila (Blindside) and Tony Smedjebacka also from Blindside; so these guys already stood their musical ground.

But after listening to "Invitation” a few times I am not that enthusiastic anymore, Altaria play too much on the safe side!! The sound is okay, the melodies groove, the songs are not too bad and ofcourse the musicians are great, but something is missing. However I really cannot put my finger on it what is wrong…..

Metal Heaven 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
15 May 2004

They've been proclaimed as just another "Power Metal" act from Finland. This may or may not have been the truth in the past. However, they're definitly taking a huge step towards classic, Scandinavian, Melodic Hardrock, with their new CD. New vocalist Taage Laiho is perhaps the one responsible for the sudden change? Finns will recall him as being the frontman for 80's styled rockers Kilpi.

Nontheless, guitarist Jani Liimatainen (Sonata Arctica), and the two Blindside members, Markko Pukkila (bass) and Tony Smedjebacka (drums), are still the musicians behind this side project. You wont find that many influences from their fulltime acts though. The music is actually closer to Germany's Axxis (their most melodic side), and U.K.'s Ten, than anything else.

SPV 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
27 March 2004

110% Rock??? Try 30% rock, 30% skateboard punk, and the remaining 50%(?) is mostly annoying stuff and fillers anyway. Alternative Allstars is the German act, where famous skateboarder Claus Grabke, hangs out when not doing a 380* or flipping someone the birdie. The band is also said to be influenced by "fun" acts like The Strokes and White Stripes nowadays (omg).

When they're great they're really great though. Tracks like "Rubberball", "Take Me Higher", and "Totally Wrong", are excellent rock in the Good Charlotte meets Johnny Thunders approach. Most of these tracks are however more about attitude than music. Not so much that Grabke (vocals/guitars), Mark Wiechert (bass), and Sven Pollkötter (drums) would come out as lousy musicians. It's rather the somewhat childish approach towards their music in general. The fact that Grabke is way over his 40-ies, is kind of confusing too, since this is MTV music for the average 13 year old skater. Too old to rock? Act like your age? I wouldn't go that far... but name any kid who'd think it's cool to watch a geezer in baggy pants.

AOR Dreamzones 2003
Review by 28 September 2003

Two websites have recently put out albums under their name, and AOR Dreamzones is one of them. This album, compiled by Hans Beljaards and Nicky Baldrian, features mostly indie bands, unsigned or from small labels. In addition to the lesser known names there are a few more familiar ones, namely Ken Tamplin, Jim Peterik's World Stage, Nexx and Haven (with a previously unreleased cover of Heart's "Allies", penned by one Jonathan Cain). It has to be said that these familiar names provide most of the better tracks, but some of the indies do try hard to give them a run for their money. I was quite impressed by Wild West, a band on Brennus Records with a track very much in the XYZ vein, Vinny Records' Coastline with their brand of female fronted AOR and there's was something charming in Two Piece Puzzle's "Money Just Can Buy" too. Lance King's new band Defyance wasn't bad either.

AOR Heaven 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
30 April 2004

Geeez... I'm a sucker for catchy hooks and awful wimpy melodies like these. And believe me... it doesn't get much wimpier than Alyson Avenue and their female fronted AOR. I kid you not, tracks like "Echoes Of My Heart", could melt any harden heart out there. The verse actually borrows a lot from Foreigner's "I Wanna Know What Love Is", while the refrain is deadly catchy.

It's once again totally unashamed soft rock in the tradition and style of Tone Norum. People not aware of this Swedish AOR Goddess of the 80's, could perhaps settle with the Heart, or even better, Robin Beck comparison instead. Just think even more 'poppy' and with those Swedish melodies all over the place. You could also say that "Omega" is this years 'Crystal Blue' CD. Both acts stay true to the 80's influences and you surely can't blame them for being all that original either. It doesn't matter as long as the songs are mostly top class material.

Now & Then 1997
Review by Kimmo Toivonen

The swedes have always been good at this thing... AOR that is. Amaze Me are no exception to the rule, they have created a good album. Most of the songs are absolute gems, like "Danger","It's All Over" and "Hold On To Love" to name a few. In fact, apart from the awful "Wild Dogs" and a couple of "almost but not quite" tracks this is great stuff. The vocals of Conny Lind (and Peter Broman) could be better, but what the hell, those are minor details.

Outlaw 2002
Review by 22 September 2002

Hailing from the redneck district of Columbus, Ohio, American Dog are the epitome of white trash, working class rock'n'roll. The ex. Salty Dog & Dangerous Toys member Michael Hannon (vocals/bass) and his merry and sometimes very drunken crew of Steve Theado (guitars)& Keith Pickens (drums) are back with their second full length CD.

Guitarist Steve Theado was struck by a car while attempting to change a flat tire on his vehicle earlier this year. The hit and run driver fled the scene like the bastard he was and left him behind to die like a dog... well, you don't get rid of an American Dog that easily. Two broken legs and two weeks later the band started rehearsing for the new album with Theado in a wheelchair. Hannon writes in the press release: "If anyone could survive this type of thing it was Steve. I've seen him fall down two flights of stairs after a show and get up still holding his beer".

ANAND: "Joy 4 Ever" 9

Music For Nations 2003
Review by 13 November 2003

This is a band I had lost contact with long time ago. I own two of their releases, "Serenades" and "Alternative 4", and like them, specially the latter, but that's been it until now. Some good friends of mine fans of the band already warned me about their evolving musical, and to tell you the truth I was both a bit sceptical and scared of what I could find on this "Natural Disaster". But I'm glad to tell you I liked what I listened to, very much indeed.

Anathema's music style has changed quite a bit within the years, from their early doom sound in Serenades to the more Goth realms of Alternative 4, on to what was compared to a more Radiohead friendly sound, and now, with A Natural Disaster, they pretty much step into the mood of ambiental rock. By a way of comparison, (and by definition all comparisons are unfair), it's like what The Gathering have achieved with Souvenirs, but more keyboard oriented instead of the more guitar-based sound of the Dutch band. A Natural Disaster is sure an album that won't work live (or so I think) but a great exercise of musicianship, that can take you into a real warm and relaxed mood. Tracks here can be put in two different categories, the "rocking side" with songs like Harmonium, with those synth drums and layered vocals leading into maybe one of the more rockiers songs of the album (as far as distorted guitars are concerned), Pulled Under At 2000 Metres A Second it's in fact a very self descriptive title for this energetic track; and the "ethereal" side with tracks like Closer (kinda Alan Parsons revisited song), Are Youd There? which reminds me a lot of Sade with male vocals, (handled by Danny this time), but same sort of smooth, soft sound, Childhood Dream lead us into the above mentioned PUA2KMAS in a very oniric way, the title track has Lee Douglas handling lead vocals and she handles them quite nicely (am I the only one who can hear Tori Amos influences here?), Flying is a melancholic, semi acoustical track, whilst electricity, despite its name is a piano-voice ballad that brings in some reminiscences of Marillion, (some might say Pink Floyd in this and other tracks on this album). The ending Violence, an almost 11 minutes long thrilling intrumental, would be a combination of both sides having slow, ambiental parts at the beginning and the end while the central part is more rocking.

Suspect Records 2001
Review by 10 September 2002

'The Hardest Part Is Letting Go' - the words are blasting out through my loudspeakers as I turn up the volume to max, while listening to the opening track "Until You're Gone" by Californian rockers Anatomic. It's also pretty hard to let go of this CD once you've played it!! Call it cheesy, call it lame... melodic hardrock is for sure the game.

Anatomic is actually a reformed version of long-time Bay Area favorites Shy Tiger, a band that toured a lot through the years and played opening gigs for Bon Jovi, Nightranger, Ace Frehley etc. Their debut album "In For The Thrill" has been out there for quite a while already, but me thinks it's worthy of a proper review here at AOR-Europe. This is the follow up to Shy Tiger's last release 'Feed The Kitty' back in the mid 90's and the sound is way bigger and better than before.

Frontiers/Now & Then 2002
Review by 9 June 2002

Although Royal Hunt hasn't been exactly resting on its' laurels, releasing two albums (one full album and the compilation/live one) during the last year or so, main man Andre Andersen has found time to put out a solo album as well. If you have enjoyed the RH albums, "Black On Black" is a safe investment. The vocalist may be different (it's Ian Parry on this album), but the musical style and sound is quite close to that of the 'Hunt. Plenty of keyboards, as one would expect (keys are Andersen's instrument in RH), and some what progressive elements mixed with some strong hooks. The only major difference is probably the inclusion of a couple of all-instrumental tracks - Royal Hunt haven't released too many instrumentals.

The Island Def Jam Music Group, 2001
Review by 28 February 2002

Party Hard! What more can I say about this album. This rocks your socks off. Just take a bottle of your favourite beer into your hand and enjoy. Play this as loud as possible so you get the full effect. Party album of the year!

This album is full of great party songs like “It’s Time To Party”, “Party Hard” and “Party ‘Til You Puke”. Not an everyday house party but a real rocking party where beer flows and all women look beautiful during the evening. That might totally change the next morning but who cares as long as you’re having fun.

The formula of the songs is the same but it’s ok and suits this music perfectly. The album rocks all of its’ 36 minutes or so. Who needs lame ass ballads during a party. No fillers, just pure fun - well, one might think different when looking at the titles of some of the songs...“Ready To Die” and “Got To Do It”. The lyrics are also something to watch out but it’s all fun. You should not take this album too seriously - even the title says that this is not too serious or what can you say when a guy names his album “I Get Wet”. Don’t know any men who get “wet”.

Magna Carta 2002
Review by 15 december 2002

I have to start out by saying this doesn’t really belong into Aor-Europe where we introduce you the melodic bands, sometimes a bit heavy but still melodic. Andy West (bassist of Dixie Dregs/ The Mistakes)has put together an album that is so freaking weird, that only the musicians on the album can understand. The musicans are:Toshi Iseda/Mike Keneally/Andy West on guitar; Rod Morgenstein/Jonathan Mover/Mike Portnoy on drums; Jens Johansson/Keneally/ T Lavitz/Kit Watkins/West on keyboards; Keneally on vocals on one song; West on bass.

The whole album except for one song (Old Meat Frame) is an instrumental with a lot of jazz influences. Sometimes it gets a bit heavier, but it is too complicated for the normal listener to get into. You get a lot of technical skills and notes spilled on you with what I could easily imagine a “New York night clubs’ sophisticated atmosphere”, not necessarily a jazz club, but something artsy anyhow. This sure is a journey to the weird human mind. And as Andy puts it: “I’m always juggling lots of different influences and energies”, this is just that. Also it says on the backsleeve of the cd: “All songs by Andy West with individual parts composed by each player”. Now I’m not wondering at all why this sounds like such a disaster !

Not that I’m complaining about the musicians, they’re great. Jens Johansson is a great player and Stratovarius one of my favourite bands along with Dream Theater, where Mike Portnoy plays drums in. I’ve also got Johansson’s solo albums, so hearing him play in a cd such as this is not a surprise. The man’s crazy, but this is just the right place for his experiments, where all of the musicians are just letting their ideas flow where ever they’re willing to go.

NTS 2003
Review by 18 November 2003

This has been my very first contact with these Brazilian metallers. And evend though I thought a live album with all their hits would be a nice way to start, I must say it wasn't such a good idea. This is the audio version of their DVD of the same title, and it seems that the double CD has poorer audio quality than the DVD version.

The performance here even though one can figure out it was full of energy, lacks of any power due to the poor sound mix, specially in the vocal department. Sadly, this recording sounds more like a (good) bootleg than an official release. On the striclty musical side, the band sounds good enough, and even far from innovative or original, the play a nice blend of euro power and more classic metal sounds. The technical level of the band members is quite ok, but songwriting-wise, they sometimes fall on the more obvious commonplaces of the genre, pity, as I honestly think this band has potential to be one of the references of the Latin American metal scene. In fact it must be just me who hadn't listened to them untill now, but blame it on the poor sound quality of this live double album, I'm not too thrilled. Highlights here are Heroes Of Sand, the epic track Metal Icarus, or specially the very melodic Make Believe on CD1; whilst CD2 seems to include more dense stuff with some proggie elements like Rebirth or Time, the uptempo Running Alone is traditional Euro power metal, and Nothing To Say (gotta wonder if their French label is named after this track?) has got some good ideas but gets a bit too long and end up boring me, which is a common feature of this second CD, it is a bit dull compared to the first part. Angra's cover of Iron Maiden's The Number Of The Beast adds nothing to the original, and even though well performed, I guess it's only for the crowd's enjoyment, but not being a Maiden fan at all excuse me if I don't go crazy with this one.

Massacre 2002
Review by 7 September 2002

German progressive metal band surprises positively with their second album "Symmetry". Even though their songs have complicated tempo changes and a lot of typical prog-rock "widdlybits", they also have choruses and hooks. What's more, vocalist Nuno Miguel De Barros Fernandes has a very good voice, and the keyboard work of Marion Niessner adds a cool pomp rock-flavour to the mix. Imagine Queensrÿche jamming with White Sister!

The opener "N.E.W." represents the more techical side of the band, and while it's good, the three following songs have more to offer: "Symmetry", "The Mirror" and especially "Dreaming" are excellent tracks with strong hooks. "Moonlight" is again more progressive and heavier than the previous few songs, while "Maze Of Emotions" is more accessible again, a good ballad. "Obsidian Lies" falls somewhere between the more melodic and the heavier tracks, while "The Decision" is just a short instrumental. The closing number "Fear Of The Rain" is again in the more melodic style.

Perris Records 2002
Review by 16 January 2003

"And I Want, And I Need, And I Luv, Animal". To be frank, this A-A-A-Animal doesn't really have much in common with the deaf leopard. It's the return of guitarist Randy Piper (ex-WASP) and I guess it's more 'f**k like a beast', than anything else.

Racing fans will be disappointed to find out that Piper no longer has that freakin' exhaust pipe on his back. While others will be glad for the simple reason, that he won't pass as much gas anymore [:-)]. Seriously though, this is heavy metal with crunching guitar riffs and overall pretty nice material.

AFM Records 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
20 April 2004

The first two Annihilator albums are still classic heavy metal trash albums; "Alice In Hell" (1989) and "Never, Neverland" (1990) are a must for lovers of heavy guitar metal CDs. To be honest I never would have thought that Jeff Waters could make another fantastic album like those two anymore. But much to my surprise "All For You" is just a superb metal killer album with lots of diversity, extreme fast guitar work and most of all superbly composed songs.

The opener "All For You", " Dr.Psycho" and "Bled" are examples of melodic powerful metal tracks like I have not heard in a long time from Annihilator. "Demon Dance"(can Jeff play any faster than this??) and "Both Of Me" are true metal up your ass songs, which are ideal to torture your neighbors with. "Holding On" and "The One" consist of heavy, trashy parts combined with acoustic melodic parts, and really show the emotional side of Jeff now and then. The whole album is raw, aggressive and very heavy, just like Annihilator should sound like. This album is without a doubt another milestone in the history of Annihilator and heavy music.