Archived Reviews: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Reviews Index

Klytus Records 1999

Guitarist John Bruno is a superb guitar bender who really knows how to use his axe. He provides some really flashy solos and complex riffing like on the song "The Scream". This is a great uptempo Melodic Metal song á la Extreme with a groove, not far from the great (and only album) from the band T-RIDE. The chorus is really catchy and vocalist Andre Vanchot sings like a God! The song "Lie" might be a little bit too brutal for this 'zine, with some crunching guitars and vocals like Pantera But thank God... it´s the only song that sucks. "Shadow" is a great midtempo song that sounds both like the Mid-80´s metal band Obsession & Prog Metal like Dream Theater. Now the track "B*A*M*F* (hmmm, can anyone guess what it means) is a superb song that could easily have been on EXTREME´s best album "Pornograffitti" cuz it rocks Big Time in a funky way. So fans of above mentioned artists make sure to check out this band at their site www.xfactorx.com find out more about them and buy the CD!

Indie 2000

So don't expect any crunching guitars or screaming vocals on this 3-track CD! What you will get, is pretty good music that you can enjoy while driving your car down the rainy ? snowy ? boring ? highway. "20th Century man" is a nice semi rocker that sounds like a mix between Def Leppard & Ultravox maybe not as good, but still pretty catchy. "Together" is a good AOR/POP song with a catchy chorus and a bridge that sounds very much like QUEEN or EXTREME. Last track "Another world" is best of them all with a sound that reminds me of ULTRAVOX (again) but with some influences from BON JOVI! It´s a good semi ballad with some great harmony vocals. Find out more about X-FEARS at: www.get.to/xfears you can also buy the single there.

The music is however rooted into the 80's scene and you'll find everything from (melodic) Thrash Metal to wimpy Sleaze/Glam here. The smashing "It Isn't Love" is straight from the textbook of Bret Michaels and Poison, while "Don't Curse The Darkness" is very similar to Barren Cross or even Annihilator is the 80's. They are both great examples of the diversety of the band and both songs had me up and dancing on the tables. "I've Had Enough" is great metal with powerful drumming and aggressive lyrics. Opener "Wake Up" reminded me of early Anthrax and the title track "Wolves", is a bit similar to Bride, during their "Kinetic faith" period. The excellent "Calm Before The Storm" and the power ballad "We All Need A Hand To Hold", are also worthy of some praise. Especially the latter goes straight to the heart with touching lyrics and catchy sing-a-long chorus. The production is not bad at all even if it's kind of raw in places. Hunt's voice is somewhere between Bret Michaels and Vince Neil and Anne Kachline helps out with nice backing vocals every now and then. You may have heard some of these songs before and there's some fillers included too. However, I would strongly recommend you all to check out soundclips at CDbaby (link below) as X-Terra rocks in the end.
www.cdbaby.com/xterra
www.xterrarocks.com

This is rather more in the vein of Evanescence than anything else. Maybe even more melodic/poppy and not with as many "crunching" guitars either. You will obviously also find some similarities to the music of Nightwish and Edenbridge. They've already been climbing the charts in their homeland Germany and success waits around the corner. They haven't been around long enough perhaps and this is after all, only their debut after some two years together as a band. Something which you can tell by their strange approach to music in certain places. There are still things to work with here, and that's a good sign after all I guess. The closing track "Calyx Virago" is one weird tune... like the late 60's acts, whom invitied you for an acid trip while listening (yuk!). The first 5 tracks are almost magical though, the title track can actually be described as the female version of HIM, only with some celtic(?) influences. Magical was the word and Lisa sings like the little angel she is (puuuurrrrr!!!). Change that to mermaid perhaps as "Mermaids" is simply breathtaking. Like a lovely mixture of Evanscence and HIM, this song will have you gasping for air. Very dramatic, emotional, atmospheric, gothic, Pop-metal, with tons of melancholic, beautiful, melodies. A couple of really lame fillers wont stop this from being really good in the end.
www.xandria.de

The album was recorded at Pleasure Park Studios in Belgium. Production and mix run by José Alvarez-Brill who did a remarkable work as the CD sounds great. After the first spins I was going to give the album a lower rating as both the guitars and the vocals sounded a bit too soft for my taste when it comes to Gothic rock, but the more I listen to this album the more I like it, so I’d better do the review now to prevent overrating ;-) Truly recommended if you like Within Temptation, All About Eve or Evanescence. Also recommended if you always wanted to give Gothic Metal a try but where a bit scared of too extreme sounds. Well, this album can be all that you want but extreme, in fact is closer to melodic rock sounds that you can think, so why not to give it a try?
www.xandria.de

Unicorn Records 2002

It's very easy to fall in love with their music at first as opener "In The Scent Of The Night" is one of the better songs this year. They mix catchy melodies with tons of keys and the sound of mostly (early) Asia and Saga is very present here. This song would have been huge in the early 80's, track #2 "Over The Sea" is another winner with lovely keys and a catchy chorus. You know, I can tell your right away that if you've been searchin' for a Swedish 'Asia' (he!?) you simply can't go wrong here. However, the downside would be that many of the songs are in the same midtempo format, and it gets a bit boring at the end of the disc. Still, tracks like "Last Flower Of The Year", "Timing", "Maybe Time", "Across The Styx", "Blind Is The Light" are all candy for smooth, progressive AOR lovers. It woudn't hurt to include a couple of more uptempo tracks next time though. Well worth checking out, if you're into the above mentioned bands as everything is very professional done here.
www.unicornrecords.com

The comeback album is groovier than previous work and more in the style of Led Zeppelin than Dokken. You could almost name some of the songs to be 'grungy', even if I prefer to call it groovy 70's rock. New guitarist JK Northrup (King Kobra, Shortino, Solo) is responsible for co-writing many of the tracks. And original drummer Paul Monroe gets a helping hand from Vinnie Appice (Dio, Black Sabbath etc), on a couple of tracks. They've unfortunately done a "Whitesnake" here though. Meaning they've re-recorded two songs (What Keeps Me Loving You, Tell Me), originally taken from XYZ's debut album. I don't know about you, but I find this to be poor judgementship if anything. Who needs these re-recordings anyway? The first two tracks "What's On Your Mind" and "Letter To God" are very alike somehow. They are both, nice, groovy rockers, which I know some would even call 'grungy'. This is not grunge-rock like Nirvana though, there's no need to worry. However, it's a bit dark and moody rock and not really the slick 80's rock, like in the past. Lots of Led Zeppelin vibes are going on here for sure. It's not that far from Ilous 'Cage' project even if these songs are better. "Rainy Day" is very much like Led Zep though, complete with acoustic guitars and everything. The ballads are simply all great and especially "All I'm Asking", goes straight to the heart. Very sentimental with both piano, violin, and Ilous voice is almost magical here. Without a doubt, the ballad of the year so far!!! "Touch The Sky" and "Burn It Up" is more in the style of Whitesnake/Blue Murder than anything. Bottomline, I find "Letter To God" to be a bit too 'groovy' and there's a couple of really, horrible tracks included. The final verdict will have to be good/nice but still not quite there.
www.mtm-music.com