I'll be honest in saying that progressive music is not my cup of tonic. So perhaps my review will not be as fair as from someone specialized in the subject. [Ed: What? And I thought you couldn't get enough of this stuff!] But I have listened to it enough to say that DREAM THEATER's "Image & Words" is a landmark album that the new generation of progressive bands follows; and ICE AGE is not an exception. "Liberation" is their 2nd album, and it is a display of music that fans of DT and RUSH should not miss. Intros, long songs, complicated musical structures, yet melodic and cohesive. Actually Josh Pincus' (singer/keyboards) voice reminds me of James LaBrie. In the heavier passages I can find some FATES WARNING connotations. I guess that this last comment is out of the picture, but for some strange reason, the prog-sters' lyrics and artworks usually often deal with surrealistic topics. I have the sensation of "listening" to Salvador Dali's pictures whenever I play a progressive album.

This is as far as my musical appreciation goes; hopefully I made justice to ICE AGE. And now back to listen to some wimpy and mellow stuff... PS: And Kimmo; no matter how much you insist, the Magna Carta guys will not send you free ROYAL HUNT merchandise ;P [K the Ed: that remark means that you'll have the "pleasure" of reviewing something even more challenging the next time... more widdlywiddly prog coming your way!]

Vinny Records 2002
Review by 19 June 2002

Finally, after almost a year long delay, the debut album by these Zaragoza based melodic hard rockers is here. The album was recorded at Oasis Studios, Madrid and mastered by Carlos Creator at Rockstudios, Bilbao. Production was done by Tony López (who worked previously with Hiroshima and Tokio, back in the 80's, and lately with SKA-P). Line up is: Salva Insa (vocals), Carlos Agustín (Keyboards), Miguel Bravo (guitars, vocals), Sergio Camin (bass, vocals), Sergio García (drums). They were helped on backing vocals by Julio Rubio and Pablo León (Elyte). Additional guitars by Pablo León and Carlos (Hiroshima).

The band plays hard rock in a retro mood very much in an early Bon Jovi style. Notice Salva won a contest at local karaokes nailing down Jon Bon Jovi's voice. Songwritingwise the album is quite good for a debut. Good ideas, by no means original, but well done. Salva Insa tries his best with his English accent, but is not yet well achieved, first of the weak points of the album. The CD opens with "Sweet Dreams", which has an amazing resemblance to Treat's "Fallen Angel" [thanks for the hint, Kimmo] a keyboard driven track which could have been nice with better back-up vocals. The solo is also a bit boring, but anyway not a bad song to start the album with. Up next is "I Live For You", with a nice keyboard intro. A good rocker that somehow lacks a more dynamic guitar sound as both acoustic and electric ones sound a bit weak for my taste. It works much better live, I tell ya. "Vampire" is one of the highlights of the CD being an uptempo rocker with very catchy chorus that could have been on 7800º F, (my fave Bon Jovi album, btw). Good solo by Pablo León, who is a tasteful guitar player. Again, the back up vocals lack energy, sounding weak on the mix, (something endemic of the album, sadly), except towards the end of the track. "You Just Wait" is the most clearly Bon Jovi-influenced song of the CD, and a really good one, a melancholic chorus, sung with feeling, in an "Only Lonely"/"Come Back" vein, by a way of comparison, (not meaning this is a rip off, but in that style). A very Sambora-like solo does nothing but making clearer where these guys took their influences from. "Angel Of The Night" starts as a mid tempo track soon to evolve into a hard rocker tune in which we can hear one of the best achieved sound on the entire album, here the backing vocals sound decent enough, and the guitar finally cranks up the way it should. The song itself is not one of my faves, but to each their own, it sounds really good compared to others on the album. "No More" is yet another mid tempo tune in a very AORish style and has got a guitar riff before the solo that Sambora would have signed problem free. By now one could start thinking there's nothing really new in here, but it is well done, however. "You'll Never Die" is more of the same, good vocal work by Salva, who sings with his heart and soul (you can argue whether succesfully or not) as he really feels this Bon Jovi-esque style, and thumbs up for that! "I Still Breathe" has always been a song that I liked ever since their demo in Spanish with their previous singer (in Spanish), and is still ok, but I liked it better the way it sounded back then (same with "I Live For You"). "It's The Time" is a hard rocker with no big sustance in it, a bit on the filler side. "Don't Close Your Eyes" doesn't do it for me either as is a bit dull, even boring at places. Finally "One More Time" is another mid tempo that fails to thrill or impress me in any way.

Sadly, both the production and the last 3 tracks prevent me from giving them a higher rating. I can't understand how the producer, who had previous experience with melodic rock bands, has failed in such a way to achieve the proper sound for this album. Overall the sound is weak, specially the backing vocal dept. So are the guitars and drums. With some more work this album could have sounded much better. As I said, songwriting is good in a bunch of tracks (6-7 tracks out of 11). Not original at all, very 80's but still good. One would feel tempted to dismiss this album as way dated, some of you will probably do so, but if you take this album for what it is, an unpretentious, vintage, retro album or kinda early Bon Jovi revisited, it is a quite decent one. Maybe they should have tried to add a more personal approach to the stuff, but again it's a debut album and ideas are not yet well defined (or at least that's my guess). What they definitely need to work hard on is on the accent issue (Salva has worked really hard, I'm aware of that, but needs to improve anyway) and above all they need a much better production for a next album. Should this album had a proper sound, it would be much more appealing to early Bon Jovi fans like me. And to the rest of the fans, me guess, as so many times we have listened to bands who do this kind of approach to big 80's names (Bon Jovi, Leppard, Journey, etc) and liked them cause they were good at it, Ice Blue are good, I've seen them a couple of times live and can assure you so, but need a better studio sound. If you're in Spain go and see them live as they are worthy, IMHO. And wherever you are, give them a chance, as this is a decent debut, could have been better, but still worth a spin if you are in a retro mood.

SPV 2003
Review by 11 October 2003

"The Reckoning" is near... I reckon??!! This is just a taster of things to come really as the new CD... wont see the light of day until January 2004. I'm sure you're all familiar by the new metal situation by now (unless you've been hiding under a rock for the last couple of months). Ex-Judas Priest vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens, is the new frontman of Iced Earth and the hype is bigger than ever... I believe?

Steamhammer/SPV 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
13 January 2004

Jon Schaffer wrote these songs as a result of the 11 September attacks in New York. All the eleven songs that are on this ambitious epic deal with the world history in a nutshell. The songs were first recorded with Matt Barlow on vocals, but because of personal reasons he left Iced Earth, and Jon had a bit of a problem; namely to find a new singer. Fortunately Tim “Ripper” Owens just got the sack from Judas Priest, so he was available and willing. If I listen to the fantastic vocals on this album I think that Judas Priest is going to be very sorry to let Tim walk away...

The cd starts with the American national anthem “The Star -Spangled Banner” played on electric guitar(maybe a bit too patriotic to start with??), followed by the great power metal track “Declaration Day”. That song is loaded with superb vocals by Tim, so hear the only suitable comment would be: Matt Barlow and Rob Halford eat your heart out!!! “When The Eagle Cries”, is about the actual attack on the twin towers and it is a power ballad hymn like I have never heard from Iced Earth before. However “The Reckoning” sounds like an “old” Iced Earth track, fast, heavy, brutal guitar riffs and great “shouting” by Tim. If you like high-pitched screaming, like Rob H., in his best days, check out “Greenface”. “Atilla” shows a very bombastic beginning and has some outstanding refrains and choruses, whereas the semi-ballad proves that Tim can do more than just scream and shout. You can also enjoy a very crisp and melodic guitar solo from Jon in the latter.

1985 MCA
Review by

One of the greatest albums ever. I remember when I first heard this album and didn't think much about it, but as the years passed I really started to get into it. However, I sold my vinyl copy of it a few years ago, and for a couple of years I didn't even have a tape of it! Thanks to Christian from USA I have had a CD version of the album for some time now.

There aren't too many albums that have stood the test of time as well as "NOTC". The production still sounds good, and the songs put most of the newcomers to shame. "Naked Eyes", "Missing", "Frozen Tears", "Shot At My Heart"... This is the kind of stuff that should please any AOR fan! Some credit must go to Bob Halligan Jr., who wrote or co-wrote six of the ten songs. And believe me, these songs are in my books six of the best songs he has ever written.

Icon made two albums after this one, the very average "Right Between The Eyes" in 1989 and the cassette-only album "A More Perfect Union" in 1987, which I haven't heard. It has been released on CD with extra tracks as "An Even More Perfect Union"... Does anyone have a spare copy?

Atenzia Records 2003
Review by 18 January 2003

2003 is shaping up to be a great year, if the first two releases from Atenzia are anything to go by. Jim Jidhed's album is reviewed elsewhere, and this one's even better! Following in the footsteps of such magnificent artists as Giant, House Of Lords, Unruly Child and Steelhouse Lane, Ignition delivers us a near perfect album of majestic, melodic hard rock with a production to match the classics. Granted, the band members have only written two of the eleven songs here, but since the others aren't some recycled leftovers, but absolute gems from top-notch writers like Billy Sherwood, Clif Magness and Mark Baker, you cannot really hold it against them.

The band consists of vocalist Jan Johansen, drummer Johan Kullberg, bassist Pontus Egberg and guitarist/keyboardist/producer Peter Söderström, who has worked with a lot of Scandinavian pop and rock artists. Johansen has also a number of pop hits under his belt, but it doesn't mean that this album is a lame attempt at hard rock by jaded pop artists, far from it! As most of us know, there's not a lot of money to be made at AOR or melodic rock, so the guys are obviously in it for the love of music.

"Down On My Luck" starts the album in grand fashion, a big hard rock anthem penned by Martin Briley and Baton Rouge's Kelly Keeling and Lance Bulen. The curiously spelled "Tell Me Your Mine" is a bit more in the AOR vein, brilliant moody melodic track. "Father (Save Me)" is the heaviest track of the album, and one that reminds me of House Of Lords - this one could have been lifted off any of their albums. "Fire With Fire" is a step towards the moody AOR style again, and one of the finest tracks here I might add.

Söderström's own composition "You Can't Fool Me No More" proves that Ignition is more than a vehicle for other people's songs, while "Babylon" will be ear candy for anyone into Steelhouse Lane and the likes, with it's subtle progressive touches. Hard rocking Sherwood/Allison-collaboration "Night After Night" is naturally a bit in the vein of Unruly Child (their main band), quite heavy though. Even though the title might be misleading, the uplifting and uptempo "Goodbye To The Good Times" starts a triple treat of melodic gems. "Should Have Done You Right" is the obligatory - but excellent - ballad, while Mark Baker's "First To Cry" might just be the best AOR track you'll get to hear this year, very much in the vein of Signal, for whom Baker wrote several songs. I was instantly hooked to this one! Last but not least, there's "Time Is Running Out", a good uptempo rocker co-written by Söderström and Matti Alfonzetti.

There you have it. It's going to take one hell of an album if this one isn't on the top of my list of 2003.

Demo 2003
Review by 24 May 2003

Did anyone say Children Of Bodom or Nightwish? Well, I’m all ears ! This Finnish Helsinki-based Imperanon is following the footsteps of those two, mixing the best sides of both bands and doing it damn well too. This demo has only three songs, but when the first song ”Wild One” kicks in, you don’t have to think twice if you like this band or not. Imperanon was formed back in 1999 and the guys are fairly young, from 17 to 24 years of age, but they’ve all been playing for years and it shows. They’ve been influenced by a variety of bands, but COB is the one that comes out the strongest here. Even more so when the singer, Alexi Sihvonen, is a male too and growls like a pro.

Ruf Records 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
10 May 2004

Imperial Crowns, with a name like that you almost expect it to be black metal, right? Dead wrong as these geezers play some marvelous old time blues (every once in a while). This is swamp music recorded in the spirit of Blind Willie Johnson or even Otis Redding. With a slightly more updated sound quality of course [:-)].

It's raw, down'n'dirty music, with a touch of soul and the pyschedelic groove of Captain Beefheart. You wont find any musical influences beyond the late 60's on this disc. In fact, "(Simply) Just A Dream", with its Rolling Stones similarities a'la 1966, is the most 'up-to-date' music to be found here. The Stones similarities isn't that strange really as they 'stole' all their music from the old blues masters. The three gringos Jimmie Wood (vocals/harmonica), J.J. Holiday (guitars), and Billy Sullivan (drums), has jam packed their "Hymn Book", with slide guitar, smokey vocals, harmonica, and overall nice groove. "Mr. Jinx" could actually have been a ZZ Top tune in the early 70's. The rest of the tracks have more in common with old timers from the 30's, 40's, and indeed some of the 50's blues.

Nuclear Blast 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
13 April 2004

In Flames do it again, without denying their roots they create thrilling metal in the right balance of classical death origins and modernity. This album is immense, extreme and mind blowing; this is how metal supposed to sound in 2004.

„Friend"is a very heavy opener with screaming vocals and devastating guitar riffs, followed by the first single "The Quiet Place", a song with keyboard samples and rather "melodic" singing. "Evil In A Closet" sounds mysterious and dark; it could almost be a gothic track. In fact it is a semi-ballad that could do well on a Marilyn Manson album. "In Search For I" is a good old school speedster song, fast and furious, a real neck breaker. "Touch Of Red" is filled with guitar walls and "Superhero Of The Computer Rage" is again very speedy and brutal; mind that duo singing in there.

TTS Media Musik/Al!ve, 2003
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
9 January 2004

"This is okay, I guess". This was the first thing that I could come up with after listening to this album. There's nothing particulary wrong with it, but that "something special" is missing, which prevents me from raving about the band...but they're okay, take my word for it.

The band's been compared to Bon Jovi, which isn't hard to believe since any band playing melodic rock is going to get that comparison, but I don't really hear much Jovi in their music. In fact I'd be so bold that I'd compare them to a more hard rock-flavoured HIM with a female vocalist. Take tracks like "Touch My Skin" and "Lost In Your Arms" for instance, if one added a bit of Goth seasoning to it, we'd be talking about a feminine version of HIM (would it be HER then?).

Other things worth mentioning? Well, vocalist Miriam reminds me a lot of the girl in Alyson Avenue...the songs that were more to my liking seemed to be on the second half of the album, with "Is It A Sin?" (track number 7) being the first one that really made me stop and listen..."Call Of The Road" sounds a bit like Poison's "Fallen Angel" (similar riff)...there's something about the lyrics that bothers me, not the content but the fact that some of the songs just seem to have too many words, and therefore are a bit of a mouthful to sing...the word "Passionately" (track "Touch My Skin") just doesn't work in a song, at least not in this one, it's doesn't roll out comfortably...that's enough random thoughts.

Frontiers 2004
Review by Endre "Bandi" Hübner,
3 February 2004

Believe it or not Frontiers also caught the tribute-epidemic many of the smaller labels of the genre "suffer" from. However - since Frontier is obviously the market leading label of the genre - the line- up for this Mr. Big tribute is as impressive as it can only get. Still the whole thing smells as fishy as all those other "tribute" albums, especially if we take into account that 3 musicians of the latest Mr. Big line-up are featured on the album.

Having to go through countless tribute albums lately I have developed a measurement system for their tracks. If the track is better (it happens VERY rarely) than the original it is a plus, if it's different but still enjoyable it's zero and if it's worse than the original it's a minus. Yet this system was absolutely useless with Mr. Big because it's almost impossible to make a Mr. Big song better than the original. So there was only one way to do this review: going through the album track by track trying to list their strengths (if they had any) and their weaknesses.

One very positive thing to mention is the production of the album (by Pat Regan) that - unlike 90% of the tribute albums - is really great, the tracks sound as good as the originals. "Mr. Big" opens the album with Paul Rodgers on vocals (and the rest of the musicians of Mr. Big on it). Youngsters may not be aware that it's the cover of a cover of a cover (yes, it's as crappy as it sounds!) and Paul was the vocalist of the band Free who wrote this song. This is the only excuse I can think of for this version of the track. This song was made come to life by the way Mr. Big played it and mostly because of Eric Martin's extraordinary vocal talent. It's not easy to fill Eric's shoes and it was unfair to make Paul try to do so because the comparison is inevitable. Bad choice. Not to mention that it's the worst possible choice for an opener as the song is dragging its leg anyway. Thankfully "Take Cover" featuring Doug Pinnick and Ty Tabor of King's X washes the bad taste away. These guys never fail to impress and they add a special and rather enjoyable flavor to the original song making it live up to the original. "Colorado Bulldog" brings a musically different version again with Marty Friedman and Lanny Cordolla re- working the guitar tracks. I adore them as players and the changes are okay, interesting, technically brilliant, it's just a personal taste thing that I prefer Paul Gilbert's version. Joe Lynn Turner on vox does justice to the song. [Dare I say he sounds better than he did on his own albums in the last couple of years?!] It's nice to hear the man rip again!

I could have definitely done without "Wild World" especially because musically this version is even more simple as the cover of the original. John Waite's minimizing vocal style suits it perfectly. [For as long as I can remember I've always had a strange feeling about Waite. Whenever I hear him singing I always want to shout something like: "Man, you can give much more than this. Come on and let it out! Work a little!" Well, this is the first song he sang where I felt there was no need to give more than that. One couldn't make it any better. The song sucks, no matter what the vocalist does.] If I had the feeling that JLT did better here than he had done on his own albums, I had the very same feeling with Glenn Hughes. Somehow his albums failed to impress me but his contribution to the rock opera Nostradamus and here to "Price You Gotta Pay" are just awesome. Chuck Wright's raunchy bass-lines and Lanny's tricky guitar-work spiced up with Steve Lukather's solo make it another welcome addition to the album. But the real breakthrough is "Promise Her the Moon" featuring Ann Wilson of Heart. It's one of the most soulful Mr. Big ballads anyway and I know it may sound like a blasphemy but this version is even better than the original. Ann sounds as good as ever; her voice makes the song shine, and the extra female backing vocals along with Ann's own interpretation of the vocal lines add a whole new dimension to the song. This one track alone was worth all the fuss about this whole project and it makes the album a must buy not only for Mr. Big but for Heart fans as well.

No Fashion Records 2003
Review by 19 January 2003

The swedish/finnish group Insania has been around since 1992 and the line-up today is: Henrik Juhano/Lead Guitars, Niklas Dahlin/Lead Guitars, Tomas Stolt/Bass, Patrik Västilä/Keyboards, Mikko Korsbäck /Drums and they found a new singer in Ola Halén last year after they departed ways with David Henriksson. Ola fits Insania well and even sounds like Michael Kiske at times. The expectations from this album were quite high after hearing their song “Carry On” at Finnvox Studios and their “Sunrise In Riverland” album being such great power metal from start to finish.

“Fantasy” doesn’t have quite the same kind of stuff you would’ve expected to hear though. This one isn’t giving you the space for a breather! From the “Introduction” it’s pure blasting all along the way till the very end, no ballads for you gals out there! “Life After Life” is the second song starting with helluva speed and high vocals and has a catchy chorus, which made this one the best songs here along with “Carry On” and “Universe”. “Life After Life” is a smooth song and the sounds are great all over of course and this also applies to the rest of the songs too. “Fantasy” is a great album to listen to.

“Illusion” is a bit faster one with even higher vocals, but a bit boring in its flatness. The song is over five minutes and that’s where the band decided to stay in this album, most of the songs are over five minutes in length. “Carry On” is also quite flat, but has the kind of spirit I would’ve wanted to hear more from the guys, there’s ghostlike background singing that is leading to the catchy chorus with keys in the background adding their own thing. The keys/guitar solos are also nice ones, very longing. I wish I only would’ve gotten the lyrics with the cd, so I could’ve gotten more out of the music. The lyrics are part of the music in the end. At least they count a lot for me and get you more closer to the music.

“Master Of My Mind” starts with Halloween-like keys (the movie)and goes to “heavy picking” guitar (sorry, I’ve totally forgotten my guitar-vocabulary), that also is kind of a longing song at the mood and yet pretty flat again. In the end there’s a choir and an instrumental part that is just too long. “Universe” is more traditional metal in the style of Stratovarius, which is also showing in a lot of other songs. This one is of course a little slower, a gigantic one at over eight minutes with orchestra, beautiful, airy guitar solo and the “testosterone / church” choir. I say testosterone/church, because both have their dramatic features and the power. “Face The King” also has a few dramatic features with the keys, something Children Of Bodom do in their music, but in the end it is too smooth to be an outstanding song. There’s nice bass parts though. “Fantasy”,“Vengeance” and “Reflections Of Mine” are continuing in the same style, all have their little tricky moments and are ok party tunes if you heard them seperately somewhere. “Mankind” is a little bit slower song, eight minutes long again, having slower parts, Strato-style guitar solo/ orchestral part and a bit more variety than the rest of the songs.

Wood/Hill 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallström,
19 February 2004

The lads of International Pop Overthrow are obviously very inspired by the four gentlemen from Liverpool. In fact, their selftitled album is absolutely jam packed with Pop/Rock or Nu-Breed melodies in the tradition of The Beatles. Very nicely done I must say and this power trio consisting of Chris Lund (vocals/guitars), Sean Lund (vocals/drums) & Don Allen (bass), are all gifted musicians and songwriters.

I actually believe that a majority of the Enuff Z'Nuff fans will truly appriciate this kind of music too. They will recognize both the harmonies and most melodies anyway, even if this is of course the 'lighter' version of it all. Not that 'light' actually as famed producer John Plum (Candlebox, Pearl Jam, Queensryche), manage to squeeze out the best of the band.

Intuition 1994
Review by

Hey, label people! Are you sure the album cover isn't misprinted? Are you sure it's not some unreleased Danger Danger album? Isn't it Ted Poley on vox? What year is it at all??? 1988? And why does the sun start to shine right away when playing this album? Why do I feel the need to shout all the refrains out in the void while cruising in this unexpected sunshine?

How come I don't really care that I have already heard "these songs", "these albums" a million times? How come I don't mind that for the first listening I can finish the lines of the lyrics? Didn't Chris McCoy buy new synthesizers since 1985 or so? Is Dave Messenger using Richie Sambora's gear he used for "Slippery When Wet"? Is there anyone out there who minds it at all? Why does this sound make me so happy? What's this big smile doing on my face?

How many million times have I heard a song with the title "Going Crazy"? But did any of them have as big hooks and chorus in the refrain as this one? Why does "Don't Let Me Go" remind me of Mötley Crüe's "Home Sweet Home"? Maybe because of the plain piano, and Dean Jason's almost off-key, definitely not really confident, high-pitched vocals? Was Dave Messenger taking lessons from Vito Bratta (White Lion) before writing "In Love Again"? Or were these guys just grown up on Poison, Mötley Crüe, White Lion and those great glam/melodic rock bands of the 80s just like me? Is this the only reason I like this album so much?

Hey, people at the music faculty of the Teacher Training College! How come that the piano theme of "Don't Let Me Go" isn't compulsory literature yet? Now that we've surfaced the field of education: How could I get rid of that kindergarten picture in my mind when listening to "Night by Night"? Hey, Kindergarten Teacher! Where are my nappies?? And why did you forget to teach me these nursery rhymes? I want to sing them along with the boys!

Would the world be better if we still had tons of albums like this coming out? But then why does it make me so happy that this one is still to find in 2000? "Are you ever gonna grow up?"...Hey, you shut up, Mom! What the hell are you doing here anyway??? Is this supposed to be an album review or what?!

Standard Records 2001
Review by 10 February 2002

Once again a nice surprise that I found from the selection of AorHeaven. These guys come from Australia. I guess that these guys are doing pretty good in Australia (Need to check that out). This is not as rock as Marvelous 3 and not as soft as Savage Garden but right there in the middle.

This album is full of great pop rock songs and the songs that I really like are “Desensitized”, “Chances Are”, Blame It On The Stars” and “It’s Getting Personal”. There is no a weak track on this album and I hit reply buttom right after the last song has played. Some of the songs are pretty computerized - those are the ones that remind me of Savage Garden. When the music sounds more natural then it’s the M3 comparison.

I’ve been known to have a softer side to my taste in music and this band fits there perfectly. I really like some of the songs that Savage Garden and M3 have made so it is no surprise that I like this one too. A very good band in my opinion and I hope that this only is not th album they put out and don’t fade away right when there is some more intrest in them.

Lionmusic 2002
Review by 1 January 2003

Holy cow!!! Belgium's #1 guitar hero Dushan Petrossi, is obviously very influenced by Yngwie J Malmsteen on this CD. Like this wasn't already enough, Dushan is also a real deadringer for the fast shredding guitarist. Did I mention that he's actually a look-a-like to Yngwie, some 15 years or 15 pounds of donuts ago.

Iron Mask is actually a side project to Petrossi's full-time(?) band, Magic Kingdom. The other members here are bassist Vassili Moltchanov (also Magic Kingdom), Youri Degroote (keyboards) and vocalist Phil Letawe (ex-Cryme). The whole situation gets even more confusing(?), when you hear this Letawe sing. He's singing voice reminds me a bit of Mark Boals from time to time. Not a real deadringer though, but you can surely spot some similarities.

Noise/Sanctuary 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
31 May 2004

I think I'll fast rewind past the opening and title track "Battering Ram" from now on. Kudos to Iron Savior, for at least trying to come up with something original or out of ordinary here. However, the song takes a nose dive... worse than anything you've seen Pippo "The Human Sub-Marine" Inzaghi do inside of the penalty area lately... or anywhere else on the pitch for that matter [sport - a soccer player at Milan/Italy - RockUnited].

It's otherwise a very solid performance by the German Power Metal outfit. All the important ingrediences, which in the end makes a tasty metal dinner, are indeed present here. You have those powerful guitar riffs in the tradition of Running Wild, Judas Priest, along side the sing-a-long refrains of Helloween and Accept. Yeah I know... but it works in theory.

Chavis Records 2002
Review by 30 August 2002

'Are You Ready To Roll, Are You Ready To Roll? Put The Pedal To The Metal, Cause I'm Ready To Roll'. To be honest... judgeing by the poor opener with its lame chorus and goofy lyrics, I guess I'm not ready to rock either. At least not to the opening track by New Jersey's white elephant... the underground band from the 80's, Ivory Tower.

It only gets better with each track though as the first two songs are actually the weakest of the bunch. The Jersey boys of Ivory Tower recorded and released their self produced, independent LP, "Heart Of The City" in the late 80's. Throught hard work and ruthless promotion they sold over 10.000 copies back in the days.

Guerilla Records 2003
Review by Kimmo Toivonen 25 April 2003

Ivory Tower Project takes the listener to a real time trip to early nineties with this 4-track EP. Their music is unashamedly old-fashioned, with a sound firmly rooted in classic rock/AOR of the said era. As soon as one pops this EP into the CD player, memories of acts such as Styx, Legs Diamond, Aldo Nova and Kansas might come up. Swirling keyboards, pompous arrangements and big hooks galore! Seriously, if someone had told me that these are some old recordings from 1982, I would have bought the story - every aspect of these songs and the production is so convincingly "early eighties".

The band is working on a new album, and it remains to be seen whether it is as retro-sounding as this EP. Personally, i don't mind at all - there certainly aren't too many bands working in this genre right now. There's still room for improvement though, some early eighties' elements could be toned down and the songwriting isn't 100 per cent "there" yet, especially some of the lyrics ("fire - higher - desire" rhyming should be against the law these days). Anyway, you can check out soundbytes of these songs from the bands' website, if you're in the mood from some classic AOR sounds!