Indie 2001
Review by 8 March 2002

While the name of the band and some of the song titles ("Eliminate Personal Comments", huh?) might suggest that here's a band that is just too smart for their own good, Obsessive Compulsive isn't thankfully an introspective britpop group with over-intellectual boring songs. They are actually a very impressive modern rock duo, and if the "Crash EP" doesn't land them a deal I am sure that the next demo will! Yep, the band, consisting of vocalist Kelii and guitarist Lee, is probably the most "ready"-sounding unsigned band I have heard lately.

Out of the four tracks here I have to give thumbs up to all of them, and especially the last one; "Love Is Pain" is an excellent piece of "nu-breed" melodic rock, to use a fashionable term. The opening duo of "Crash" and the aforementioned "Eliminate..." is also good, catchy modern rock. If you want comparisons I guess a combination of SR-71 and Manic Street Preachers with Patty Smyth on vocals wouldn't be too close from the truth. The ballad "Still The Door Shut" was the weakest of the four, but still decent enough...sounds like one for the next "Dawson's Creek" soundtrack, except it might just have too much "attitude" for that!

Indie 1999/2003
Review by 9 May 2003

I'm not sure if Lisa Bouchelle is a real October Baby? However, she's indeed a rock babe equiped with a voice out of ordinary... each and every month of the year. She's mostly known to the average hardrock fan as lead vocalist of Mastermind. Bouchelle recorded the album "Angels of Apocalypse", with the Progressive band and a live platter I may add (which name escapes me right now). You can also find her singing lead at some of the Magna Carta releases. Including the superb duet "This Time, This Way" with James LeBrie (Dream Theater), which was featured on the Leonardo project.

"Tales From The Pumpkin Patch" was recorded and produced in New Jersey/USA by Ernie White, a couple of years before above mentioned projects actually. October Baby was formed in New Jersey back in 1996, by Bouchelle (vocals) and LarEu (bass). The line-up on this CD was completed with Rob Peterson (guitars) and John Lewandowski (drums). They are both long gone by now and replaced with other musicians, I may add.

Lion Music 2003
Review by 9 May 2003

There are three well-known musicians behind the project Ohm. The best known in rock circles must be Chris Poland, ex- Megadeth guitarist whose solo album "Chasing The Sun" I reviewed in 2000 [you can find the review in our archives. That album was pretty much a forerunner for this one, so those who got interested in this one may want to read it.]. This time it's Robertino Pagliari on bass and David Eagle on drums. Most of you may know Robertino from his work with Steve Lukather and some of you may remember David was working with Jan Akkerman. However I have to warn you all, this album is nothing like the works of the above-mentioned bands and artists.

Ohm is a fusion project, and though *some* parts may sound smooth and digestible (like the catchy, melodic "Love Song") for ears that are not used to this kind of music, the majority of the album is only for hardcore fans of fusion jams. The opening "Peanut Buddha" stands there as some well-planned exclamation mark: its tricky rhythms, fretless bass lines, countless tempo changes and innovative guitar scales scream "stay away if you are looking for cheap, quick entertainment, and come inside if you have the time, patience, experience to get into this kind of stuff". "Where's my Hat" continues in the same fashion doubling (if possible) the challenge of the listener.

Lion Music 2004
Review by Endre 'Bandi' Hübner,
28 May 2004

This is another release from Chris Poland (ex-Megadeth) led OHM, a fusion project. This time they decided to record two of their live radio performances and release them on CD, even including the DJs intros. Sounds cheapo? You said it! Anyway, since - like their studio album already proved - the project is mostly about technical brilliance and improvisation the idea of recording a live performance was quite appropriate. All you have to do is to get through the most annoying DJ intros of radio history from the most annoying radio voices ever heard. [Do all "independent" radio stations hire people with zero talent on their field only?]

The band is the complete opposite, they are stunning musicians aiming technical perfection, however their music is only recommended to those who are VERY open-minded about their listening habits [see our archives for a review of their studio album]. Their fusion jazz-rock is not easy to get into, it's oriented at those who are able to recognize the technical brilliance of instrumentalism and do not mind memorable songwriting being sacrificed for it. Those who'd expect straightforward riffing characteristic for Chris's Megadeth years or his early solo projects should stay far away from the OHM releases cuz they aren't intended for the same audience those albums were.

RufRecords 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallström,
1 February 2004

"You Can't Stop The Boogie Man" (Quote - Omar & The Howlers/2004). Yeah baby! It's the blues... and we're talking about the real deal from Texas/USA here. If those Gary Moore albums from the early 90's are still you're only encounter with the "blues", than I'm afraid you've been had. This is the true, red, white & blue, roadhouse sound, with everything that goes with that.

The Texas Hall Of Fame member Omar Dykes (vocals/guitars) latest effort is however a bit of a dissapointment. There are simply too many slow-songs included on "Boogie Man" and I wish there were more rockers like the smashing title track. Nonetheless, Omar is held in the highest regard by blues rockers in the states and the guestlist is rather impressive. Joining him on this release are songwriters and musicians including Stephen Bruton, Terry Bozio (best overall drummer?), Chris Duarte, Alejandro Escovedo, Ray Willie Hubbard, Darden Smith, and 'Double Trouble' Chris Layton & Tommy Shannon, the infamous rhythm section of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan band.

Frontiers 2003
Review by 15 February 2003

Who the heck is On The Rise anyway? After listening to some samples of the band earlier, I've been actually looking forward to this release. This is the pink and fluffy stuff that lame and out of fashioned AOR is/was made of!!!

Indeed, the Norwegian duo consisting of Bennech Lyngboe (vocals) and Terje Eide (vocals/guitars) are some fifteen years too late here. At least that's what most of the established journalist core would say anyway. They are of course right as today's music has nothing to do with catchy melodies or quality what so ever. Just take a look at the charts and then try to sing-a-long to the rap-crap music.

Frontiers 2003
Review by 26 July 2003

"Once And Future King" is the Rock Opera based on the legend of King Arthur. The mastermind behind this epic is Gary Hughes, who has reached notable success with his band TEN during the last few years. An all-star cast has been put together for these two albums: Hughes himself sings the part of King Arthur, while Bob Catley (Magnum) is Merlin, Danny Vaughn (Tyketto, Waysted) is Lancelot and Diamond Head's Sean Harris is Galahad. The female leading role of Guinevere has been given to Lane Lane with Irene Jansen in the supporting role of Morgana. Damian Wilson sings the part of Prologue Narrator.

The story begins with the prologue "Excalibur", which is somewhat of a shocker. Hughes has done his best to write a Power Metal song! The song is a full-on double bass drum banger with a chorus that would be totally Manowar, if it was sung by a macho male choir. A bit of a surprise and not entirely successful, but still quite catchy in a corny way.

The next two tracks are more typical Hughes-material. "Dragon Island Cathedral" starts like an Iron Maiden-tune, but turns out to be a more Ten-like melodic hard rock track. "At The End Of The Day", a duet between Hughes and Lane is a ballad and quite a good one. Lane Lane's vocals add another dimension to it and clearly make it a stronger track.

Vaughn-sung "The Reason Why" isn't among my favourites, although it has to be said that it doesn't sound that "Hughes-like", and it adds variety to the album. Still, I found it to be a bit bland, despite Vaughn's fine performance. Irene Jansen sings the lead on "Shapeshifter", which is an interesting and a bit aggressive track, somehow reminding me a bit of Nightwish.

Merlin aka Bob Catley gets to sing two tracks, "King For A Day" and "In Flames". They are decent but nothing too special I'm afraid. Same goes for Sean Harris-sung "Sinner". The highlights of the second half of Part One are "Avalon" and "Lies", sung by Vaughn and Hughes respectively. "Avalon" is the pure AOR track of "Part One", very much in the vein of first Ten album. The chorus does sound disturbingly familiar though...Finally there's "Lies", an excellent, dark ballad.

Frontiers 2003
Review by 3 August 2003

The second part of the Gary Hughes written rock opera (based on the myths and legends of King Arthur & Avalon), will be released shortly after the first one. This magnum opus project of Hughes, has been in the works for over two years, and the result are a couple of rather various sounding CD's. Like a night at the opera, you'll have to bring in all the aspects at once, and the show ain't over until the fat lady sings.

In this case, it's however not over until Harry Hess (Harem Scarem) sums it all up, with the appropriate title track. The classic and sometimes very dramatic sound of TEN, is indeed still present here. You will notice differences though, mainly due to the use of several lead characters and musicians (well, it wouldn't be a "opera" otherwise, would it?). The material is also slightly more progressive and sometimes even aggressive(?), than in the past. This is surely not a album for TEN fans only as I believe it to be wider and more across the border(s) than "that".

The story picks up where we left it last time, and opener "Kill The King" is here sung by DC Cooper (the role of King Aelle). Other new characters since the first part is: Sabine Edelsbacher (Edenbridge) as Nimue, Dougie White (Rainbow, Yngwie Malmsteen, Cornerstone) as Mordred, and Harry Hess (Harem Scarem) sings the part of epilogue narrator. You can of course freely chose if you wish to follow the storyline to its fullest or play the songs individualy. Each track tell its own story though and some of them are pure AOR, while others are more Progressive or Metal-ish.

OPEN SKYZ: "Open Skyz"

BMG/RCA 1993
Review by

Now here's an album I have wanted to have for ages. Thanks to Richie from Australia, I have it now! The band used to be called "Valentine", and I really liked their first (and only) album. Sadly, this album isn't quite as good, but then again, that "Valentine" album is a classic. What we have here is a decent album, but without any real killer songs. However, some of the songs, like the very Steve Perry/Journey-like "Nothing Without You" and the ballad "Take Me There" are pretty close...

Indie 2002
Review by 12 September 2002

Are you ready for some smooth and radio friendly music the Scandinavian way? Then make sure to write down the name Orange Crush somewhere in your notice book, since I believe we'll hear a lot about them in the near future. This is really a project across the borders as the members met while studying at Musicians Institute in Hollywood, CA in 1998.

Johannes Stole (vocals/keys) from Norway (also singer in Pedestrians Of Blue) and the two Swede's Daniel Palmqvist (guitars) and Max Flovik (bass) discovered they shared many of the same musical ideas and influences back in the states. They decided to recolte to Sweden and their first 5-track CD (EP) is really something out of the ordinary. This is very much piano/keyboard orientated rock/pop/westoast or whatever you'd like to call it.

LionMusic 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallström,
1 February 2004

Neo-classical, symphonic, power metal, with traces of progressive ditto!!! Pheeew... I believe I covered it all there... even though I'm not quite certain really. "A New Dawn" is however the debut album from these Italian rockers with the impressive vocalist Joe Lombardo, upfront.

Actually, the whole line-up with Antonello Condorelli (guitar), Riccardo Failla (guitar), Carmelo Siracusa (bass), and Tony Zappa (drums/keys), are all excellent musicians. Fast shredding guitars in the school and tradition of Yngwie 'Speedy' Malmsteen, is only to be expected with this kind of music. It's something which Condorelli & Failla handle with bravura and tempo furiosa, by the way.

Escape Music 2003
Review by 12 December 2003

Escape Music and early 80s rock from Canada are two things we've learn to connect to each other lately. There's no need to sit on one's hands about it either, since the result has often been very positive over all. Here comes yet another try with the Orphan kids as they were never really adopted by a large family/audience in the past. Now you can find them begging for your attention with this lovely 2-CD set (digipack).

Chris Burke-Gaffney (vocals/bass) & Brent Diamond (keyboards), were former members of The Pumps, who recorded the album "Gotta Move" on Polygram Records in 1980. They went on to become Orphan a couple of years later, with the addition of Steve McGovern (guitars) & Ron Boisvenue (drums). The first album "Lonely At Night" was recorded at the Power Station studios with Lance Quinn and Tony Bongiovi at the helm. Released by CBS in Canada and Portrait in the USA by 1983, this is typical Rock/Pomp for its time with similarities to both Aldo Nova (mostly) and Loverboy. Opener and title track "Lonely At Night" has a keyboard sound that Jon Bongiovi (Bon Jovi), probably found very cool as he used it later on. By the way, Jon was sweeping the floors at the studio while Orphan recorded their album. "What Kind Of Love Is This" sweeps down on you with tooth and keys and the ballad "Miracle", reminded me of Eddie Money actually. "Any Time At All" could have included on any of the first two Aldo Nova records and no-one would have known the difference in the first place. They even include that typical "echo" effect, which Nova played around with back then. "Hello" continues on the same path only with less success this time. Some excellent crafted rock music is to be found on disc #1 though.

Century Media 2004
Review by Jorge Antonaya,
25 May 2004

Orphaned Land is the first band ever from Israel I had the chance to check out. This is already their third album (out of seven? Oh well…) and the whole title is “Mabool: The Story of the Three Sons of Seven”. It is a concept album telling the story of three heroes with the mission of avoiding the rage of God, they fail and hence the Flood (Mabool). This pretends to be a symbol of the three main religions of the middle east in brotherhood and such. Anyway, let’s focus in the music.

Orphaned Land sink their musical roots in both metal and traditional folk music from their homeland and surrounding countries. As the story flows, we can find the sound evolving, from melodic mixed with folk (Ocean Land, Nora El Nora) turning epic by moments (The Kiss Of Babylon, Halo Dies), progressive at times (A Call To Awake, Mabool, The Storm Still Rages Inside), all of it spiced with a few ounces of grunts throughout the album. From an outsider to Jewish culture I’d say the adding of the traditional elements and chants help a lot to create the soundscape, to get you into the picture where the story is told. Listen to A’salk or Building The Ark and you’ll find yourself on the deserts of Palestine many centuries ago. More so, in fact each and every part has its role, I can imagine the grunts represent the wrath of God, the evil of the world, the sins, etc. The melodic lead vocal as the voice of the Three (the heroes), and all that… You get the point, right? There are also beautiful instrumental passages like The Calm Before The Flood where you can almost listen to the thoughts of the Three before the flood starts, or the ending Rainbow, where you can almost smell the wet land. No doubt these guys know how to create a musical environment to a story.

Frontiers 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
13 April 2004

Ladies and gentlemen, the first strong "Album Of The Year" candidate has arrived! Mickey Thomas, the vocalist of Starship returns after a lengthy break, fronting this project called Over The Edge. The primus motor behind it is producer Fabrizio V. Zee Grossi, who has previously worked on somewhat similar projects Perfect World (with Kelly Hansen) and Vertigo (with Joseph Williams) for the same label.

The songs for this album have been gathered from some of the biggest AOR songwriters, including Journey's Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain and Jack Blades of Damn Yankees/Nightranger fame. Most of the songs are new to me, only "Thief" is a cover of a Martin Stenmarck song from his "One" album (2002). There's not much one can say about this collection of songs, except that there's not a single weak song here, and that some of them are among the finest AOR tracks I've heard lately! The absolute highlights include the hard-edged modern day AOR of "Forest From The Trees", the more classic sounding "Turn Away" and the Jonathan Cain-penned ballad "Eyes Wide Open", but you can safely pick any of these songs and not end up being disappointed. Lots of fine melodies to be found!