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[21 November 2024]
>>> Live On Stage >>> Rhapsody Of Fire & Freedom Call live in Heerlen, The Netherlands Power Metal heroes rode into town, and our reporter was there to witness their triumphant show!
[23 October 2024]
>>> Live On Stage >>> Nestor & Cruzh live in Tampere, Finland The Swedes invaded Tampere! Nestor, supported by Cruzh, live at Olympia-kortteli, Tampere, Finland.
[22 October 2024]
>>> Live On Stage >>> Y & T in The Netherlands The legendary Y&T are celebrating their 50th Anniversary and still going strong. Martien Koolen saw them in Heerlen, The Netherlands.
[15 October 2024]
>>> Live On Stage >>> WITHIN TEMPTATION We saw Within Temptation last week, with Annisokay as support act. Alex Yarmak and Tarja Turunen made special appearances. Check out our (phone) photos and a mini-review.
[8 August 2024]
>>> Live On Stage >>> SMUGGLERROK 2024 A Ro(c)k Festival in the middle of a town? That's Smugglerrok, celebrating its' 10th Anniversary with Anssi Kela, Michael Monroe, Battle Beast and others. This concludes our run of three festivals this summer.
[17 July 2024]
>>> Live On Stage >>> KARJUROCK 2024 "The hardest rural festival in the world" is one of their slogans... we drove into the woods, and there, "out in the fields" it was, KARJUROCK. This year the main attractions for us were TARJA TURUNEN and MARKO HIETALA together again, the new incarnation of YÖ with JP Leppäluoto, MICHAEL MONROE, SKÄDÄM, RUST'N RAGE and KÄÄRIJÄ.
[17 July 2024]
>>> Live On Stage >>> VAUHTI KIIHTYY TURKU Vauhti Kiihtyy Festivals take place in four different cities here in Finland. We visited this summer's first one in Turku. Highlights included Popeda with their new singer Olli Herman, the ever-so-reliable Battle Beast, Portion Boys' party anthems and our old friend Janne Hurme.
[30 May 2024]
>>> Interviews >>> REMEDY interview I know, we haven't done many interviews lately, but once in a while a new band comes along and we just have to ask a few questions.... REMEDY has been a huge favourite here at RockUnited HQ, so we thought what the heck, let's put together an interview! Their main man Roland Forsman was kind enough to answer our questions, even the strange ones.
[10 August 2023]
>>> Live On Stage >>> SMUGGLERROK 2023 Smugglerrok 2023 took place in Lieto, a small town nearby RockUnited.Com Headquarters. Amaranthe, Beast In Black, Lost Society and more, check out our review.
[10 August 2023]
>>> Live On Stage >>> Battle Beast at Logomon Terassikesä 2023 Battle Beast live in Turku - mini-review and photos. There was a major festival RUISROCK in Turku at the same, but since there's very little rock there, we chose this event!
[25 June 2023] Oh how time flies. It occured to me that the domain ROCKUNITED.COM was reserved for us in 2003, which means that it's our 20th Anniversary year! We did start a few years earlier as AOR-Europe.Com as an union of few other sites, so the roots go deeper into the nineties. Happy Anniversary to us anyway!
[20 June 2023]
>>> Live On Stage >>> ROCKFEST 2023 The second part of our ROCKFEST 2023 review is now on line. The 69 Eyes, Crashdïet, Nestor, Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard and more.
[14 June 2023]
>>> Live On Stage >>> ROCKFEST 2023 We visited the biggest rock festival in Finland this summer, ROCKFEST. Here's the first part of our live review, starring LORDI, VV, PANTERA, BATTLE BEAST and others! Second part to be added soon, along with lots of photos to our Facebook page!
[14 March 2023]
>>> Live On Stage >>> GEOFF TATE in Turku 2023 Geoff Tate celebrating the 30th anniversary of Empire, a couple of years late thanks to Covid.... "Rage For Order" was also played in its' entirety. Support act: LEKSI.
[25 October 2022]
>>> Live On Stage >>> H.E.A.T. in London 2022 H.E.A.T. electrified London with Collateral and Mason Hill!
[25 August 2022]
>>> Live On Stage >>> TOTO + Reckless Love, H.E.A.T. & Brother Firetribe LIVE in Turku 2022 The legendary AOR band Toto played four gigs in Finland in August 2022. We saw the last one of them in Logomo, Turku. A review and a photo gallery in Facebook. We didn't get a photo pass for this gig, but at least we were in the frontrow with our phones.
>>> Live On Stage >>> QUEEN + Adam Lambert A band that needs no introdution - QUEEN. They brought their Rhapsody Tour to Finland, and with was a spectacular show. You can check out our photos, merely phone snaps from our seats but you'll get an idea of the size of the show anyway.
[23 June 2022]
>>> Live On Stage >>> KISS - The End Of The Road, Helsinki 2022 It's the end of the road! The last chance to see KISS in Finland! Of course we took it, and we loved it... LOUD! Ignore the naysayers, Kiss can still put on a hell of a show!
[04 January 2022]
>>> Live On Stage >>> ROCKIN' SCANDINAVIA 2021 Well, it was our goal to get this done by the end of the year, but life got in the way and there was a slight delay. Anyway, here it is, our first festival review since July 2019! Reckless Love, Dynazty, One Desire and Cruzh!
[24 December 2021] Merry Christmas! The somewhat overdue Rockin' Scandinavia review will hopefully be uploaded before the end of this year, it's been hectic at RU HQ and there hasn't been any time to devote to it lately. Anyway, we hope you have a nice Christmas and you get to spend quality time with your family and friends, and maybe listen to some quality rock music too! [9 December 2021]
>>> Live On Stage >>> BATTLE BEAST and ARION Live In Turku You'd have to scroll down all the way to 4 Dec 2019 to read our previous concert review, so it was about time that we got to cover a major gig! And yes, we liked it!
[16 November 2021] A couple of mini-reviews / photo sets from recent gigs:
[20 April 2021]
>>> SPECIAL FEATURES >>> THE TOP 100 SWEDISH HARD ROCK / METAL SONGS OF THE EIGHTIES This has been a labour of love, a big project... after spending hours of digging through his record collection and archives, our Swedish editor Urban put together this list of 100 essential Swedish hard rock / metal songs of the eighties. There are classic songs by classic bands on the list, but there are plenty of surprises and bands you might not have heard of. What's more, it's not only a list of songs, we got in touch with many of the artists, and they told us how these songs were born. As a "side order". you'll get a brief history of Swedish HR in the eighties - the triumphs, the losses... and a Kee-O-Meter?! We made Youtube and Spotify playlists to accompany this article. The Youtube one is complete with ALL the 100 songs, we could only find about 80% of these from Spotify.
[06 December 2020] It's Finland's Independence Day today, and we're celebrating it here at RockUnited HQ. However, the two interviews published today are with bands from our western neighbour country.
Michael Palace is a name you can find on many of the recent AOR releases. PALACE is his own band, and he has just released his third album. We talked about that. And GTA.
Take a portion of Grand Illusion and another of Work Of Art... you'll get Art Of Illusion, a new AOR band, featuring Anders Rydholm of Grand Illusion and Lars Säflund of Work Of Art.
[04 December 2020] I forgot it last week, but here's NEW VIDEO THURSDAY again, a fine selection of new videos!
[22 November 2020]
The new generation of Swedish AOR (TNGOSAOR for short... oh never mind!) is represented by Erik Modin and his band Wildness, who just released a new album.
Bombastic Metal is the name of the game with Eternal Idol, and the might even like Black Sabbath a bit.
Murder Of My Sweet-vocalist Angelica Rylin has just released her second solo album "All I Am". We asked what is this all that she is.
[19 November 2020] It's thursday and we've got new videos for you!
This week, we've got new stuff from Royal Hunt, Wolfgang Van Halen, Vandenplas, Heartwind, Hangarvain, Barbara Black, Ashley Barron, Blue Hour Ghosts, Mirko Hirsch and Return To Void...
[12 November 2020] Our weekly selection of the latest videos, as chosen by RockUnited.Com - NEW VIDEO THURSDAY! This time we've got Stan Bush, Simulacrum, Wig Wam, Black Paisley and many more.
[5 November 2020] Something new...a weekly selection of the latest videos, as chosen by RockUnited.Com - NEW VIDEO THURSDAY!
[3 November 2020]
They're vikings from the north, armed with swords, shields and Heavy Metal... wait, what? They're from Basque Country? Now that's twist! With a new album ready, they're ready to go "Straight To Hell"!
[31 October 2020]
We had a chat with Black Paisley, a "new classic rock" band from Sweden. They have recruited former ELECTRIC BOYS lead guitarist Franco Santunione to the band, and are about to release their third album "Rambler" soon.
[23 October 2020]
She was once a Runaway, the went Out For Blood and Danced On The Edge, before making it big with a Deadly Kiss and Ozzy... Ladies and Gentlemen, LITA FORD.
They were huge in Sweden back in 1988, had an encounter with The Blob, changed singers, had several periods of inactivity, reformed with the original line-up, then became the trio they are now, and are looking "Into The Future" with their soon-to-be-released, heavier new album. Here's an ALIEN sighting for ya!
Their first album "All Rise" made people stand up and take notice. With their recently released second effort "Time For A Miracle" they've moved straight to the A-list of new AOR groups... seems like they had a PERFECT PLAN!
[11 September 2020]
After a lengthy hiatus, we're bringing back "Trackrecord", the series of interviews where we look at certain songs and talk to the songwriters. The first of these new interviews is one with RAY COBURN, who wrote Honeymoon Suite's big hit "Feel It Again".
[20 August 2020]
To most of our readers, TANNA is a new band, with its' roots in PRAYER, a Finnish AOR group who released three albums between 2005 and 2018. To our Finnish readers, who know the 80's rock scene, Tanna is not a new name...
[10 May 2020]
"Michael Bolton? Rock? Isn't he the housewifes' favourite", you ask? Well, back in the eighties he released a few bonafide AOR classics, and while he has moved away from that style, he's still a great singer. Check out our favourite tracks from Sir Michael of Bolotin...
[5 May 2020]
We had a chat with Pete Ahonen of STARGAZERY, who have a new album "Constellation" coming out soon. We also talked briefly about Pete's other bands BURNING POINT and GHOST MACHINERY.
[29 April 2020]
This Canadian band was big in their home country and even knocked on the door to international success. They had some minor hits and did extensive touring, but for some reason the big success eluded them. We've been listening to them a lot lately, and can't understand why - they had a lot of good songs! What's more, their recent material has had its' moments too.
[15 April 2020]
Their new album is called "Change The World", which is a poignant title for these times... World as we know it is changing indeed. Harem Scarem aren't, not too much anyway. They're still delivering us quality melodic hard rock!
In Greek mytology, "Chimera" was a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature, composed of the parts of more than one animal. In modern AOR culture, Khymera started out as a vehicle for Kansas vocalist Steve Walsh, but it soon shed its' skin and became a fully-fledged Dennis Ward project. "Master Of Illusion" is the latest album, and it's very good.
[2 April 2020]
Frontiers Records are trying new things, like signing SEMBLANT, a melodic death metal band from Brazil. But are they a melodic death metal band or something else? We asked, their guitarist Juliano Ribeiro answered.
[31 March 2020] How's everyone doing during these strange times? RockUnited.Com staff hasn't caught the virus, but it has had a huge impact on our lives. All concerts have been cancelled and the summer festivals are in jeopardy, album releases postponed... We'll see how things turn out. Hopefully this thing will blow over sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, since most of us are "socially distancing" and spending time home, let's try to make the best of it and listen to some great music, old and new! Right now we're going to introduce a couple of new artists to you, one with a debut album just released and one with a second album under their belt.
UK's latest rising hard rock stars PASSION and the band's main man Dan Rossall interviewed. They may be a bit of a parody of the eighties' scene, but it's all done with love!
CCD stands for Compulsive Composing Disorder... what? CCD's Robin Vagh tells you more about this particular condition. [27 February 2020]
The legendary band fronted by the Wilson sisters Ann & Nancy is in the spotlight this time. Yes, we are not ashamed of liking their "mainstream era" the best... they may have not written all of those songs themselves, but they made them their own and they can be very proud of them.
They're arguably the best German Pirate Metal band of all time! They might be also the only German Pirate Metal band too, but who's counting? Put on your eye-batch and read on!
[13 December 2019]
I recieved this article from Urban a few days ago, and started working on it on tuesday morning. Didn't get it finished and thought that I'd get it ready for publishing later that day. A few hours later the news of Marie Fredriksson's death reached us... it became our tribute to her. The songs will live on forever... but "Things Will Never Be The Same".
[06 December 2019]
He's back! He's "Better Than The Rest"! There's no easy way out from our interview, even if you're a cult AOR hero!
[4 December 2019]
>>> Live On Stage >>> AMARANTHE, BEYOND THE BLACK & SMASH INTO PIECES Live In Turku The Swedish pop metal hybrid put on an explosive show, Beyond The Black and Smash Into Pieces supported.
[19 November 2019]
Here's a brand new interview with Robert Säll of WORK OF ART, who just released their latest masterpiece "Exhibits".
[16 October 2019]
This time we're celebrating the life and the music of Eddie Money, who recently passed away. He left a legacy of some very fine songs, and we chose our favourites.
[15 October 2019]
It's a MADHOUSE! Don't go thinking 'Anthrax' though! This is lunatic Hair Metal and Sleaze/Glam in the fun tradition of the eighties glamour. Here's our interview with the Austrians Glam Rockers!
[27 September 2019]
Who says that rock music is like video rental stores, going exctinct? We don't care and we certainly don't agree! Neither does BLOCK BUSTER, Finnish hard rock band who just released their debut album on Frontiers records.
[19 September 2019]
"Pure NYC Street Metal" stands in their T-shirt and who are we to argue? You may remember their "Switchblade Serenade"... SPREAD EAGLE is back, with a new album in its' claws.
Metal without guitars? Is there such a thing at all? Enio Nicolini and The Otron think so and they call it "Cybermetal".
[22 August 2019]
>>> Live On Stage >>> MICHAEL BOLTON LIVE The one and only Michael Bolton played his first ever gig in Finland. Once upon a time he was an AOR God, so we had to see this concert.
[24 July 2019]
>>> Live On Stage >>> The Return Of Sauna Open Air The almost legendary hard rock/metal festival SAUNA OPEN AIR returned after a few years' hiatus. We were there in the heat of the night, and it was good!
[27 May 2019]
Swedish Prog masters Seventh Wonder played in Turku earlier this month, with local progsters Simulacrum supporting.
[25 April 2019]
A man of many projects, including Chinawhite, Tragik and Cranston, is now going solo for a change. We talked about his new album "Hypocrite" with him.
Alice Freya answered our questions about Last Flight To Pluto and their new album.
[5 April 2019]
They released their debut "Soak Your Brain" in 1993, produced by Dino and John Elefante, the legends of Christian Rock scene. Now they're about to release their second
album!
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