Inside Out 2004
Review by Jorge Antonaya,
15 June 2004

The Human Equation is already the sixth studio album by Arjen Lucassen under the Ayreon moniker. As most of his previous works, this is both a concept album and a rock opera, a genre that nowadays is well alive, and Lucassen is not a lesser part in its come back. The album tells the story of a business man (James LaBrie) that falls into a coma as a result of a car accident (well, at least that’s the initial idea). While, at his bed, his wife (Marcela Bovio), his father (Mike Baker), and his best friend (Lucassen) fear for his life, his character encounters Fear (Mikael Åkerfeldt), Agony (Devon Graves), Rage (Devin Townsend), Pride (Magnus Ekwall), Love (Heather Findlay), Reason (Eric Clayton), and Passion (Irene Jansen) - all of whom are fighting for attention within the consciousness of the injured man. Will he become a different person as a result of this? Well, you’ll have to dig into the story to find the solution.

Musically, The Human Equation is an outstanding blend of different styles, from folk to extreme metal, with progressive metal, melodic rock, pop, and everything else you can imagine. It is incredible how he (Lucassen) manage to give every part of the story the musical environment it needs. More so since, allegedly, he wrote the music first and only then started to write the story and the subsequent lyrics. Absolutely amazing are the vocal performances of each and every singer involved, from James LaBrie, (singing in quite a different way to what we are used to in Dream Theater), to Arjen Lucassen himself. Specially noteworthy is the discovering of Mexican female singer Marcela Bovio who did a great job as the wife of the main character. Lucassen has succeeded in getting the best out of every vocalist, giving each character the performance, feeling and technique needed. The production is also close to perfection, not easy due to the pretty wide dynamics of the music. Pointing out any highlight is difficult partly due to the overall great quality of the tracks and partly due to the nature of the album, a concept one, in which a separate song usually doesn’t put you in the mood of the whole story, however, almost any track in there could do it problem free. Day Four: Mystery, Day Five: Voices, (with storming keyboard driven metal parts), Day Eight: School (with operatic choirs) or the single Day Eleven: Love, an amazing mid-tempo with amazing backing vocals. Some might claim that the second disc, (forgot to mention it, but this is a double album), is somehow weaker than the first one, but to me this is only due to the development of the story, and tracks like Day Twelve: Trauma, Day Fourteen: Pride, Day Fifteen: Betrayal (with an astonishing performance by Irene Jansen), Day Sixteen: Loser (great vocals full of both emotion and humor by Mike Baker), Day Eighteen: Realization (symphonic rock as good as it gets), or the final crescendo in Day Twenty: Confrontation, prove that this second disc is far from weak at all.

LionMusic 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
12 June 2004

It's time for some more of that bombastic, fantastic, over-the-top, pomp music, with lots of influences of opera and Queen. Indeed, it's the bohemian rhapsody all over again and the man behind the Metal Majesty project is none other than Valensia [see also our review of "The Blue Album"]. Sadly underrated all over the world it seems, except for Japan, the only place where 'Metal Majesty' has ever been released before [last year], until now that is.

The remastered European release features four bonus tracks, and that alone should please any Valensia fan I'm sure. Then why the Metal Majesty monicker you ask? No idea really as Valensia handles all the vocals and instruments as usual, except for the drums, which his brother takes care of. Okay, the material is slightly heavier than before... but I wouldn't exactly call it "heavy metal" or anything.

Mascot Records 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
15 June 2004

I was really looking forward to this CD. After “Jing Chi”(2001) and “Jing Chi Live”(2003) this is the third release of the dynamic power trio Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), Jimmy Haslip (bass) and Robben Ford (guitar). Jing Chi summons up the aggressive power of jam bands like The Cream, The Band of Gypsies, The Allman Brothers Band and a few other rock icons of the sixties and seventies. So, this album is filled with instrumental rock/blues/fusion music, with one vocal track, namely the Blind Willie Johnson cover “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”.

“3D” opens with the hard rock Cream meets James Gang track “Colonel Panic”; a song with great guitar solos and pumping bass hooks. In other words, a song that is as solid as a rock. “Chi Town” is much mellower and has a certain Jeff Beck vibe. This song is dominated by a beautiful melody and sometimes Ford’s guitar sounds like Carlos Santana. “Move On” is a rather simple song, or better said it has a simple melody, and it really has influences from the famous Shadows. The first complex song is called “Hidden Treasure”, a real fusion track with an authentic organ solos a la Jon Lord and some excellent six-string work by Ford.

Sanctuary 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
14 June 2004

The Good news, "Hell To Pay" is twice as good as "Long Way Home" and the lads are finally back for the attack again. The bad news, most CD's are actually better than "Long Way Home" [I noticed that I gave it a '4' rating in our archives]. Seriously though, George Lynch is nowhere to be seen or heard and even Jeff Pilson had enough of all the b.s. quite some time ago. The funny part is that it really doesn't matter that much in the end. Guitarist Jon Levin [ex-Warlock] and the experienced Barry Sparks [MSG, Yngwie Malmsteen, Ted Nugent, etc.], has managed to deliver the goods with a professional approach and attitude.

The biggest surprise is however the song material itself. I kid you not, Don Dokken and Wild Mick Brown have "almost" done a complete 180 as we're talking more vintage stuff than usually [lately] here. "Don't Bring Me Down" reminded me a lot of the "Tooth And Nail" era and style, some of the other tracks are indeed similar to the very early days with "Breaking The Chains" and above mentioned album.

LionMusic 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
12 June 2004

Tears Of Anger started out in Sweden in the early 90's as a duo fronted by the Jansson brothers. Originally namned "Mindcrime" they recorded an album for Montezuma Records (Black Mark), which unfortunately never saw the light of day. Guitarist Benny has since created himself quite a rep with some classy instrumental albums in the MacAlpine/Vai type of style. You can also find him as a member of Two Rocks, Snake Charmer, Erika, Svullo, etc. Vocalist Björn has also been working as session singer in and around the Stockholm area [Bjorn & Benny??? Now all we need is Agnetha & Ann-Frid, huh?].

The Jansson brothers were also invited by suggestion of Lionheart Records to record and perform two songs for the big budget movie "Sökarna" [The Searchers], here in Sweden. Back to present date and the debut album "Still Alive", that display a nice mixture of melodic metal and even some progressive, neo-classical stuff. I must give extra credit for Benny's excellent fret work and overall flashy solos. The man is all over the place with funny licks, lots of tricks, and massive power riffs.

SPV 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
10 June 2004

Stand Up! Stand Up You Muthas! That's exactly what I was thinking out loud, while watching this otherwise fine live DVD. Don't you just hate the audience... when all they can do is sit on their lazy asses during an entire rock concert. It's not like they are all cripples or too drunk to stand either. I guess it's the "American" way or something??? Why bother standing up and cheering for your favorite act, when you can sit back and relax instead. Bloody'ell... that's not what rock'n'roll is all about. Thank God for the sheilas at stage left as they're at least trying to bring up the party mood. Nevermind if they're still stuck in the 80'ies... with matching make-up... and dresses.

"Live In Concert" was recorded for A&E's Live By Request at John Jay College in New York City on March 24, 2003. It's the first and only live DVD by the #1 duo of all time? Well, no-one can take away the success of Daryl Hall & John Oates, during the 70ies and throughout the 80ies. The whole she-bang comes along with a nice box set from SPV, with the whole concert on audio CD too. Nice... no need for you maniacs out there to burn the DVD into CD in other words.

BMG 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
13 June 2004

Young Hanna won the first Finnish "Idols"-competition earlier this year on the strenghth of her versions of mostly eighties rock tracks (Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi etc). Her voice made a big impression on me, and I was looking forward to this album. Would the major label try to make a pop singer out of her, or would they allow her to keep her rock-edge? Read on...

The album opens with a few fairly strong tracks. The title song is a breezy, laid-back number which showcases Hanna's vocals quite well. A bit of a grower, so give it a chance. "Run" is an instantly likeable rock track from Jorgen Elofsson and Phil Thornalley, the same songwriters who wrote a lot of the highly-recommmended Jamie Meyer CD, great hooks all over the place. I quite like "Fearless" too, although it owes virtually everything to the earlier hits of Britney Spears. You can almost visualize a big dance-production video for this...except that I don't see Ms. Pakarinen doing that sort of a thing.

From this point on, things start to go wrong. "How Can I Miss You" is a decent, if a bit bland pop ballad, but the two contributions from Finnish big-time songwriter Risto Asikainen are quite sub-standard. "Ejected" sounds like a reject from Nylon Beat (a girl duo for whom Asikainen has written a lot of hits) with a totally irritating "Ah-ah-ah" hook, while "Love's Run Over Me" is a dark rock-styled track but with a chorus that sounds just painful. Still, "Don't Hang Up" is even less impressive, an easily forgettable funky dance pop track.

"Save My Life Tonight" is an okay ballad that is raised to the next level by Hanna's great performance on it. "Sorry" is a very cool modern rock track with a strong hook, and same could be said of "Superhero". Between these two excellent tracks is the biggest disappointment of the album, a cover of Bryan Adams' "Heaven". Hanna sang the song on the very first round of the "Idols" competition, and that unaccompanied performance was something extra-ordinary. Now this version...the song has been given a contemporary pop treatment, and the life has been sucked out of it. The sterile, computerized "drums" and easy-listening keyboards just turn this classic track into something else. This song will always has a special place in my heart as it was our "wedding waltz", but this version I'd rather forget about. A simple piano or acoustic guitar version would have been so much better.

Last but not least there's the chart-topping "Love Is Like A Song", another Elofsson-penned track that could be a latter day Bon Jovi-ballad. It almost washes away the bad taste of the "Heaven"-sacrilege...to sum it all up, an okay album, not as safe and pop as one I was adraid it would be, but not quite as rock as I was hoping for either. Hanna's vocal talent is undisputed though.

Aerial Music 2004
Review by Endre ’Martien Koolen,
14 June 2004

Cea Serin, a progressive metal band, was started by composer and multi-instrumentalist J.Lamm. Soon guitarist and sound engineer Keith Warman joined the band, but prior to the release of their debut album Cea Serin was also joined by several other musicians to set their music to a live stage.

This new album has it all, metal, prog, you name it and it definitely is music that you cannot name or cage in one sentence. It is not death metal, although you can “enjoy” some heavy grunts and screaming in e.g. “Scripted Suffering”, it is however very technical music and very complex and mind racking. Some musical influences are without any doubt In Flames, Dimmu Borgir and Children of Bodom. This therefore means spooky aggressive vocals, pumping bass hooks, staccato guitar riffs and lots of bombastic musical elements.

CIC 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
14 June 2004

This UK cult 80'ies hard rock band made a surprise comeback a couple of years ago by re-releasing their only album in CD format. The release was warmly welcomed, and the band started to put together a long-awaited follow-up. Now, 15 years after the original release of the first album, the second Statetrooper album is available. And they say that Def Leppard or Boston take their time between albums...

"The Calling" is produced by the band and Michael Voss, who's involved in vocalist Gary Barden's other project Silver as well. To be honest, some of the songs sound a lot like Silver, they're similary dark and grandiose. Barden's unique voice does leave its' mark on them too.

The opener is the title track, one of the most "Silver-like" songs, a big, pompous rocker with hints of Whitesnake in it. A good track but somehow a bit hollow. Same could be said of the whole album actually, it's good, but there's something cold and hollow about it that I really can't explain. Oh well..."Casablanca" follows, a good track if not among my top three songs of the album, unlike the next two. "I'm Alive" and "Amerisians" a quite excellent songs, both extremely melodic and catchy with huge, anthemic choruses. The intro of "I'm Alive" sounds dangerously familiar though...very early eighties' styled synth sequence...was it The Spys? Prophet? White Sister? Some obscure band like that anyway...

"Love Lies Bleeding" is the better of the two ballads, the other being a somewhat tiresome "Don't Say Goodbye". "D.O.A" is the token frantic rocker, and not one of the bands' strongest tracks. I quite like "Marionettes", although the funny whistling part is something you wouldn't expect! "How Does It Feel" is vintage eighties' melodic rock from the Desmond Child book of songwriting, and I'll admit it, I can't resist these kinds of songs, no matter how unoriginal they may be.

The album is closed with another Silver-type of a song "Twilight's Last Gleaming" and the semi-acoustic laidback singalong pop of "I Believe" which for some reason reminds me the 70'ies pop rockers Smokie.

All in all a decent album, although I didn't really warm up to all the songs or the overall vibe.

Indie 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
14 June 2004

In 2003 five young musicians create a band with only one goal in mind: to come up with a rock sound without its equal. After only a couple of months of intense composing and rehearsing a five-track demo was recorded and together with a live experience of more than 1,000 shows Cooper brings you a dynamically musical journey and your trip begins here….

“Music From The Heart”, is the “acoustic” rock opener and it is a mainstream track with a certain Extreme, Thunder and Gotthard flavor. The second track “Who Is The One?” kicks off as a rock song, but because of the background vocals it sounds a bit too sweet sometimes. This one definitely reminds me of White Lion; John “JayCee” Cuijpers voice almost sounds like Mike Tramp here. “Backward Glance” is the best song; it has a great instrumental intro, followed by deja-vu guitar riffs and some Arabic/Oriental guitar solos and hooks. “Angel” is the odd one; a boring acoustic ballad which I already hated after one minute!

Mayan/Sanctuary 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
8 June 2004

The thinking man's metal in the past... but hardly anymore? Well, I'd think twice before buying this new and completely pointless live CD. It lacks of everything from energy, a good production, to the excellent material of the heydays. I'm not totally against the "new" Queensryche, I don't believe they should try and record another "Operation Mindcrime" either. However, it surely helps if you could remember any of the songs from the last 2-3 albums.

After listening and going through the first ten tracks on "Art Of Life", which includes: "Tribe", Sign Of The Times", "Open", "Losing Myself", "Desert Dance", "Great Divide", "Rhythm Of Hope", "My Global Mind", "Road To Madness", and finally "Della Brown", all I can manage to contribue with, is a big huh? and a bunch of question marks??? What the heck happened to the best progressive metal band in the world. "Tribe" was a average album and if the title track was uninspiring metal, this live version especially will have you screaming for the door. And that goes for most of these tracks I'm afraid, just listen to the awful "Open", where Geoff Tate [the best metal voice ever, next to Halford], howls like a mad dingo in heat. Add that I don't ever wanna hear tracks like "Losing Myself" again either.

MTG 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
14 June 2004

The second band singing in Finnish on this site, if I'm correct...Domestic metal and hard rock with Finnish lyrics is currently more popular than it has ever been here, with several bands enjoying tremendous success and even mainstream airplay - Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus, Kotiteollisuus and Kilpi (the very first band with Finnish lyrics reviewed on this site and Voodoo's labelmates) are very familiar to our Finnish readers I'm sure. Voodoo are the latest metal-styled band, with rumbling, low-tuned guitars, aggressive vocals and a lot of attitude. However, while they will be compared to the bands above, they do have a style of their own.

The one track on the single is well-produced, short burst of energy. The rough vocals of Marko Hartinkainen are complemented by clean, smooth backing vocals. Musically the song reminds me of a weird combination of Metallica and nineties' Alice Cooper, with heavier guitars...imagine that?

Frontiers 2004
Review Martien Koolen,
9 June 2004

The story of Voodoo Hill is actually the story of songwriter/guitar player Dario Mollo. He started his musical career in 1981 with a band called Crossbones. After that Dario devoted his time to the improvement of his style and technique and he built his own recording studio. He wrote a couple of songs, teamed up again with Don Airey (Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, Deep Purple) and recorded an album known as “ The Cage”. This debut album, with Tony Martin (Black Sabbath) on lead vocals, was very successful with fans and critics.

He also started to work on another ambitious project, with a totally different line-up. He wanted to work with Glenn Hughes, the voice of rock, Roberto Gualdi (drums), Max Matis (bass guitar) and Dario Patti (keyboards). Frontiers records offered him a contract for the worldwide release of the new project, which was to be called Voodoo Hill. The result is simply amazing; this album really rocks and sweeps you of your feet. It is also the heaviest album on which Glenn Hughes has ever sung and his voice is just overwhelming and mind blowing; his voice gets better and better, as he grows older.

MTM 2004
Review by Satu Reunanen,
4 June 2004

How many times have you wondered how unfair the world is? Sure there are unbelievable success stories too. The first time I heard Human Temple on a demo I already knew this band should have their share of success. Their singer Janne Hurme, well known in Finland from his earlier singing career as a pop singer to the older crowd, was never a stranger to hard rock and metal and he always carried the right attitude that also worked on stage. Hurme and Petri Lehto, drums, are the original members of the band formed in 1998. The rest of the members in the band today are Harri Kinnunen, bass, Tony Green, keys, b. vocals and Jari Salo, guitars, b. vocals. The band has been working hard since day one and hard is the road in Finland to reach anything huge with their melodic hard rock music. But I always believed in them, and now they’re signed to MTM, one of the best labels in this genre. Way to go guys and congratulations! It’s always a pleasure to see finnish bands going somewhere. This kind of music has never been big in Finland, which is strange considering how little it differs from pop and entertaining music and how popular the other one is.

However, even though Human Temple write great songs with huge hooks and there aren’t bad songs on ”Insomnia”, actually most of them stick to you like glue and get you going, some of the songs cry out for more notes, more layers to the backing vocals and echo. A certain simplicity and hollowness bothers at times which is a shame really and that’s why I couldn’t give this a niner eventhough I would’ve so much wanted to. At least more echo would’ve brought a spaceous, arena band-like athmosphere to them, which suits these kinds of bands well. The production doesn’t bring out the best from their music even though it’s quite vigorous, but the emotional charge roams over well enough, that’s what really matters here. ”I’m Sorry” kicks the album off real good. After all ”Insomnia” still is catchy and sentimental from beginning to end, not forgetting the ballads either, ”Desert Rain” and ”Forever” with piano accompanying the feelings. ”Walk Between The Shadows” and the epic like ”Judas My Brother” are the striking faster songs, even being intriguing and really heavy too. The only song having a leftover shadow on it is ”Animal” with its slow tempo that seems to drag a little, but it also has its moments.

Lion Music 2004
Review by Endre 'Bandi' Hübner
6 June 2004

As much as I used to love playing and listening to cover versions of songs, I started to hate "tribute" albums with at least that big enthusiasm, mainly because of their endless flow and low quality lately. When I saw this one, I was really negative because there were about a zillion artists before who tried to cover Jimi's music and the majority of them failed miserably. The "spirit" was usually missing. Despite my negative attitude this tribute album managed to convince me of its values, mostly because besides professional musicianship, the free and innovative spirit that was so characteristic for Hendrix can be sensed in almost all the tracks of the album and innovative approach and own versions of the well-known songs make a tribute album credible.

Sadly the album opens with two of its worst tracks. First Sun Caged doing a musically okay but nothing special version of "Freedom" with vocalist Andree Vuurboom failing miserably. Then Mistheria and Andrea Rivera (Italian keyboardist and guitarist) putting on the greatest performance (and arrangement!) of the whole album on "Gypsy Eyes" but the whole thing gets totally ruined by Max Romano's bloody awful vocals. I never thought anyone could sing a Hendrix song any worse that Jimi did - well, I was wrong. Too bad cuz both the acoustic guitar intro and the organ solo parts smoke on this one and the arrangement is really unique.
It may sound strange but when doing a Hendrix tribute the vocals play a crucial part, Jimi -not being a real singer- only "sketched" the vocal parts of his songs letting the music and the spirit sell the whole thing and it worked well. The singer is free to build his own versions from these sketches using his own musicality catching the spirit of the song. Some can do it, some cannot.
The first "compact" track is "Highway Chile" by Cyril Achard, a heavy, tight version with everything at its place but the first real winner is Arabesque's "Crosstown Traffic" with a funky arrangement, a great, tight drum- bass groove, cool backing vocals, and really good female lead vocals by Katia Salemi. This one track alone was worth putting the whole album together. Eric Sands does justice to "Stone Free", really good guitar sound here, especially at the wah-solo part (that is most of the times the part where cover versions of the song fail).

AEZRA/EMI 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
7 June 2004

Alt-Metal flavored Magna-Fi will play more than two dozen dates at this years OzzFest (kick off July 10, Hartford, USA). They will probably do well among the average US brat as their debut album "Burn Out The Stars", is filled with fast selling melodies and slightly down-tuned guitars.

They're definitely above average though as they mix Beatles and Cheap Trick influences, with their more contemporary rock heroes of Foo Fighters, Nirvana, and Alice In Chains. Formed by the Szuter brothers [Mike - vocals/guitar, C.J. - guitar], in their hometown of Cleveland, they were told by Paul Gilbert [Mr.Big, Racer X], to settle down in Glitter Town [Las Vegas], were they also found success and a large fan base shortly after the move.

Playground/MTM 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
7 June 2004

I can't decided upon if I'm feeling disappointed or merely just not-fully-satisfied with "Beneath The Shining Water". What's the difference you ask? Well, you can't really blame Darren Wharton [ex-Thin Lizzy] and the lads, for being crap musicians or coming up with crappy material. However, you'll get a strange feeling of deja vu' while playing this disc, and it's all very laidback as their previous two albums.

It's seems like Wharton has been spending too much time infront of the Celtic channel lately [is there such a thing?], and not enough time with VH-1 Rock. The music is sometimes endlessly beautiful and with a sentimental touch all over the place, while other times it's incredibly boring and darn-right sleepy. It almost feels like listening to one of those CD's in the "Relax With" series [desert winds, the sound of ocean, crackling fire, old people farting, etc].

CultMetalClassics 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
5 June 2004

How original... a Power Metal act from Athens, Greece!!! Like, do they play anything else down there anyway? Well, I can't recall a single new Greek band lately, that hasn't been raving about plastic sword fighting, dungeons, or dragons for that matter. There must be something in the water I guess, since they're all steeped into this "true metal" formula.

Bloodstained was formed in the year of 2000 by veteran drummer Agelos Tsouklas. He's been bashing the skins for Greek bands like Phantom Lord, Power Crue, and Vice Human, in the past. The other metal warriors here are: vocalist Theodoros Gourlomatis (ex-Secret Show), guitarist Giorgos Kalavrezos (ex-Secret Show), and bassist Stavros Aivaliotis (ex-Fading Reality).

LionMusic 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
5 June 2004

Holy Crap... now these chaps are really "out there" with their music. The experience of listening to their sophomore release "Bad Heir Ways", ends up somewhere on a scale between weird and fascinating. It's like this eclectic journey of several different music styles, which have obviously been thrown together into one messy stew. You need to pull out the most complex material by King's X, add one dose Nu-Metal, and finish it all off with lots of progressive rock.

I can't recall anything similar or even remotely close as they REALLY don't sound like every other band out there. The project was together by guitarist and main songwriter Eric Zimmermann, he has previously participated in Lion Music's "Warmth in the Wilderness – A Tribute to Jason Becker". Born in Kings Park, New York, Zimmermann acquired his first guitar during high school when he traded in his porn collection for a friend's guitar. He soon thereafter began studying under Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci. In addition to being an accomplished musician and producer, Zimmermann is also a Grammy-nominated mastering engineer. Other musicians include Fates Warning's Mark Zonder (drums), and bassist Matt Bissonette (David Lee Roth, etc).

<>Continental 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
4 June 2004

One of few influencial and major hardcore acts (others: Biohazard, Life Of Agony, Sick Of It All, etc), now returns with a "Fistful Of Hate". Pro-Pain has always been a ruthless onslaught of edgy melodies and brutal riffs in the past. No need to drift away from their usual deliverence of chugga-chugga material either... since they're now merley a tool in the hands of their old image and fans.

I honestly believe they're mostly bringing us the crap we expect them to... by now. The unmistakable sound and feel of the album, hardly differs anything from their recent albums. It's blunt, brutal, aggressive, and most certainly to the point of being ridiculous. They're (still) trying to convince us that Pro-Pain is a bunch of young, poor, mislead musicians, with hatered and anger as their only motivation and religion. Something which obviously did work in the past... when they were still young, poor, and full of themselves.

Frontiers 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
27 May 2004

Before the release of his last album "Language Of The Heart", Stan Bush told us in an interview that it would "rock". While it was a pleasant album, it most definitely didn't rock too much. Naturally I wasn't too convinced when Frontiers reported that this album would be similar to the classic "Stan Bush & Barrage" album (1987), and that it would be very rock-oriented. But damn it, this time they were right on the money!

The album kicks off with the title track, a gutsy rocker with a similar vibe to "Take It Like A Man" or "Primitive Lover" from the "SB & B" album. It has a great hook and the guitars are cranked up. The production is quite raw and "live", but it suits these songs just fine. "Falling" comes next, a fine, traditional AOR track with a big chorus, just the way we like 'em! This is supposedly the "single", at least a video has been made for it. "I Will Be There" and "I Turn To You" are both solid AOR numbers, the first one being a bit balladic one and the second a laid-back rocker. Then it's time for the Big Ballad of the album, and Stan sure knows how to pen those..."What You Mean Tonight" is a textbook example of a good rock ballad, and features a terrific vocal from Stan.

AFM Records 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
1 June 2004

Personal War was founded by Matthias Zimmer(singer, guitar player), Martin Buchwalter(drums), Sascha Kerschgens(guitar) and Frank Buchwalter(bass guitar) in 1996. In 1998 they recorded their first album “The Inside”, while two years later they already released their second CD “Newtime Chaos”. In March 2002 Personal War changed their name into Perzonal War because of legal reasons and they signed a record deal with AFM-Records.

Their third album “Different But The Same” got some amazing reviews and it really was a killer metal album. So the band got lots of opportunities to play live with i.e. Rage and Nevermore, but this also meant that the bass player split with the band in January 2003. Newcomer Sven Krautkramer can be heard on the new album and with him the line up of Perzonal War is as perfect as it can get. “Faces” is a fantastic metal album that reminds me of the good old days of speed metal with bands like Overkill, Megadeth, Flotsam and Jetsam and last but not least Metallica; when they still had some musical balls….. The opener “Devil In My Neck” hits you in the face like a sledgehammer; it is a really fast, almost brutal song with Annihilator riffs and a rather catchy chorus and the vocals definitely remind me of James H.

Atenzia 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
29 May 2004

The New Jersey native returns with his first solo effort after leaving Styx. For the second time actually as he was originally the replacement for Tommy Shaw in the late eighties. You can find a re-recording of "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye", taken from the latest Styx album "Cyclorama" here. I really don't see any point with this, since you can hardly tell any difference in style or quality from Styx' version. A kick ass song nontheless even if "Welcome To Hollywood" could as easily have done without it.

What else then? Well, difficult question really as you find a broad variety of modern rock, classic Burtni(c)k stuff, and even pomp-ish songs. The arrangements are always quirky, mostly scrumptious, and hardly ever dull or boring. You can discover a new detail or hangup to discuss among friends every time you play the disc. It's like this neverending source of over-the-top material, which gets a bit too radical in all its pomposity at times. But damnit if "Roses" isn't one of the better songs of the year. Opener "Super Boy" is a great rock song with a catchy refrain. "Another" is pompy stuff, while "Cry" is a real tear-jerker with its sentimental touch and message (cry - you can't hold back forever... sigh!). "Follow The Muse" is actually closer to the stuff Gowan (his old Styx partner), did in the past, except for the rap part of course. "When The Shit Hits The Fan", and I believe it just did, since this is one awful and aggressive rocker 'ala Rage Against The Machine. There's unfortunately a couple of more fillers included and you REALLY need to be open minded, about different music styles and genres in general. You can keep in mind that he's been working as songwriter for Don Henley, Cyndi Lauper, John Waite, Patty Smyth, Randy Travis, etc, in the past. He also turned down his place with Bon Jovi back in 1983 or so (not that it really matters by now).

AOR Heaven 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
29 May 2004

Well it's been a while since we reviewed anything from swedish producer/guitarist/songwriter Tommy Denander's rock factory...was it last week? Seriously though, during the last two years Tommy's been very active, with numerous projects he's been ivolved with. Deacon Street is the latest one, and it's seems that "the well" isn't even close to drying up, as he has come up with a solid selection of songs once again.

Tommy says that "Sometimes it's fun to just write and record good music with good friends for the fun of it and not be so pretentious about it." I may be hearing things, but somehow one can hear the loose, relaxed vibe in these songs. Make no mistake, these recordings sound totally professional and polished...

The cast of the album is quite impressive: Jan Johansen (IGNITION), Jamie Meyer (Popstars), Bruce Gaitsch (RICHARD MARX, MADONNA), Marcel Jacob (TALISMAN, YNGWIE), Magnus Weinemo (SPIN GALLERY), Lars Chriss (LION’s SHARE), Jeff Northrup (XYZ) and SAYIT are all involved, although don't ask me who sings what or especially plays which part, I don't have that information.

The song selection is quite diverse. Many of the songs don't try to hide Tommy's love for the AOR legends Toto, but then there are some very pop-oriented songs which wouldn't sound out of place on a Backstreet Boys album. Interestingly enough, a pop song can be followed by a very hard rocking number, as it is with "Love Got A Hold Of Me" and "Find Me A Meaning". Both are quite good though.

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.

Eagle 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
30 May 2004

This is one huge-step-back (without going full circle) to the sound of "Dreamboat Annie", "Dog And Butterfly" and most of their 70's stuff actually. Don't expect to find anything as fluffy as "Alone", or any of their AOR-inspired music in the past. "Jupiter's Darling" comes hardly as a surprise for the fans... when you look back at the last ten year period of time. The Wilson sisters has mostly been playing around with acoustic rock and the Lovemongers project.

Ehem... the slightly "hippie" inspired title will certainly give away some clues. It's all very acoustic, cozy, and perhaps without those major hit songs of the 80's/90's. Does it stink??? absolutely not!!! and I'll never grow tired of listening to Ann Wilson by the way. Have you noticed how posh reviewers always enjoy to label her as "the best FEMALE vocalist out there". Is there such a thing??? What a stupid and ignorent comment!!! In my opinion she's one of the best singers of rock music, period! [she's got more balls than most hacks and wannabees anyway].

Brilliant 2004
Review by Petri Kautto 31 May 2004

New album "Sulphur" by German hardrockers Toxic Virgin is an interesting mix of hard rock melodies, big choruses and even folk music, thou folk music is not dominant in most of the songs. They do have a wide scale of styles but they manage to keep it together without making this too disperse. Before I revieved this album I also listened to their previous album "Circle of Power" and the band has not changed that much, thou I think they are stepping away from using the folk melodies as much which I think is good for them.

The first song of the album is "Evil Days" and it has a catchy melody and a deep, dark chorus and it rolls on nicely. "Born to Run" is an uptempo song, a pretty basic rocker that has a rough riff on which the song builds on. "Mad as Hell" was not one of my favourites thou it has a catchy refrain. "Paradise" is quite slow song that has a moody feel to it and a dark, layered chorus. "The Clown" is a positive, up-beat rocker that has some folk music features in it. Representing the heavier part of the album is a song called "It Smells of Leather" and it has nice elements to it thou the chorus is not the catchiest of the album.

Metal Mayhem 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
29 May 2004

There seems to be a never ending stream of melodic hardrock from New Jersey. Snakeryder is yet another fine example of the fact that Jersey rocks. This may not be the most original sounding album lately, but it will surely please many hardcore 80's fans. Vocalist/guitarist A.J. Fedz was the original singer and founding member of Adriangale (yep! THAT band). It all ended in tragedy though as Kivel (their manager at the time), "stole" the name and released "his" version of the band.

Fedz is now back with a vengeance and the debut album of his new act. The line-up now consist of ex-Tokyo Rose guitarist Karl Karltson, bassist Joey Reno, and fellow ex-Adriangale member, Dino Castano (drums). Their music could be described as a mixture of Firehouse and Cinderella (a bit more of the latter though). Add that Fedz also comes through like a 50/50 singer of the the two above. Not that strange perhaps as he was a member of the same band (White Fox) as Cinderella guitarist Jeff LaBar, back in the days.

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.

MTG 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
31 May 2004

Patrick Linman is the man behind one of the most sought after, obscure Finnish AOR albums, namely "Heaven Calls", released under the name of Linman. I have never heard that album and doubt that many of you readers have either, but his Place-2-Go band a few years ago might be more familiar. They had a couple of minor hits in Scandinavia and a video that was aired on MTV. Now Linman's going solo again.

Poko 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
31 May 2004

Well this has been something that Finnish hard rock fans have been waiting for...the return of ZERO NINE! The band started their career over 20 years ago, released 7 albums during the eighties, called it a day for a few years, made a decent comeback album in the mid-nineties, only to call it a day again. Now with the 80'ies Hard Rock enjoying some kind of a revival, the time was right for the band to give it another go...and they do it with style!

"Key To The Paradise" starts with unusual, almost reggae-like rhythms, but fear not, when the pre-chorus kicks in, the guitars are cranked up, and the chorus is as big as they come, with a bit of a "Pour Some Sugar On Me"-vibe. The second track "Rock Talk" is a more straight-forward rocker, with a chorus that reminds me a bit of Baton Rouge's "Doctor".

The album's due out in July, and needless to say I'm really looking forward to it...Well, I guess I said it anyway! With "Key To..." most probably all over Finnish radio, both House Of Mirrors and Human Temple releasing their new albums in June, and who knows what else, I think it's going to be a hard rockin' summer over here!

Drakkar 2004
Review by Jorge Antonaya,
25 May 2004

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Xandria, the new sensation of Gothic Metal! Well, not really, but anyway… Ravenheart is already the sophomore album by this German band, after last year’s debut Kill The Sun. The info sheet included with the promo copy claims that their music is somewhere in the middle of Gothic Metal and melodic rock. Well since I like both genres I thought I should give them a chance. What I found out was, however, slightly different of what I expected, but interesting nonetheless.

Ravenheart contains 12 tracks of, so to say, fat-free gothic metal, with lots of keyboards provided by band’s guitarist and songwriter Marco, and haunting vocals delivered by female singer Lisa. They could be described as a softer version of Within Temptation, with distant resemblances of other acts in the dark scene. Note I say dark and not Gothic; because not all the similarities come from that genre, but there are others that have in common a dark or melancholic feeling. The title track reminds me of a lighter version of Within Temptation’s Mother Earth, same bombastic keys, dreamy vocals, but with slowed down tempo and less power on the guitars. Unlike Sharon den Adel, Lisa’s voice doesn’t sound operatic, yet still lyrical and fairy-like. The Lioness is one of the best tracks of the album, with its poppy guitar arpeggios ala The Cure, whilst maintaining the momentum gained on the previous track. Good vocals and layered keyboards. Back To The River has a really mesmerizing chorus and Lisa’s voice sounds like a cool mix of Sharon den Adel and Amy Lee of Evanescence. Eversleeping is the first ballad of the album and it’s on a Tory Amos/Kate Bush mood. Fire Of The Universe is, by far, my fave track on the album, a keyboard driven modern rock song with bombastic guitar sound, synth drums loops and layered vocals to die for (not the band!). Killer song indeed! Some Like It Cold is another ballad with a doom feeling all over it, slight traces of The Gathering, and a strong resemblance on the voice to All About Eve’s (does anybody remember them?) Julianne Reagan. Answer has both gothic sounding keyboard ambient and a chorus that give the song an overall melancholy feeling. Curiously enough the harmonic patterns used here are quite common on the AOR/Melodic rock, so maybe the bio was not too out of focus. My Scarlet Name’s intro could have been in any The Lord Of The Rings soundtracks. It becomes an Evanescence-like song with some flamenco sounding guitar solo. Snow-White has the same kind of Arabian sound characteristic of early After Forever, but less bombastic and elaborated, and of course a completely different type of vocals. Black Flame is halfway between modern rock and Rammstein, but Lisa’s vocals (both lead and backing) turns it into a very interesting gothic rock tune ala Sisters Of Mercy. Too Close To Breathe is the last ballad of the album and here we have again the All About Eve spirit. This track goes in a passionate crescendo and works very well for my taste. Finally, Keep My Secret Well brings back the Within Temptation connection with crunchy guitars and ethereal vocals.

Bad Habits Records/Playground 8
Review by Petri Kautto 23 May 2004

Private Line is good news for those who like their rock music delivered loud and with a cocky attitude. The band is from Finland and this is their 1st full length album. The band does not hide the fact that they take their influences from bands like WASP, GNR and Hanoi Rocks. All in all this is a solid effort by a band that stays true to what was typical for that era; catchy hooks, refrains, loud guitars and judging by the album cover, looks.

1-800-Out-of-Nowhere is the first song and I was pretty impressed with the opener. It kicks off with a nice rowdy riff that soon builds up to a catchy chorus and it’s just a fun rock song. Third song “Forever and a Day” was their first single in Finland and it peaked at # 3 in the Finnish charts. It’s a mid tempo song that again focuses on a catchy chorus and melodic guitars. Lead singer Sammy has a voice that dominates many of the songs, thou the guitars have been given the space they need to really come out. A few songs are a bit too polished for my taste which does not suit the “decadent” image that I feel they are trying to create around them.

SPV/Steamhammer 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
22 May 2004

Ehem... Rod Stewart must have been pissed off about these geezers in the past??? Bloody 'ell, Spike stole (borrowed?) everything he ever knew, and then some, from the Scottish haircut 100. British pub rock has never sounded more Rod-ish than The Quireboys, and now they're back with even more of the same medicine.

I've been playing this non-stop for a couple of weeks by now... and it's not even all that catchy or hit friendly. It's all "Too Familiar" and the band's "Well Oiled" machinery, picks up where they left us some ten years ago. It's 3-4 chords, some honky-tonk piano, and a mean harmonica in the background. Business as usuall in other words and the three original members: Spike (vocals), Guy Griffin (guitar), and Nigel "Yes-I'm-A-Relative-To-Phil" Mogg (bass), are now being followed by the new hangarounds, Paul Guerin (guitar), Keith Weir (keys), and drummer Pip. However, no matter if it's rain or shine, you can always depend on these guys to come up with some solid material. It's hardly original or groundbreaking stuff, but it surely kicks better than most acts out there. There's unfortunately only nine tracks included here and it's all over too soon and/or quickly. Add that opener "Good To See You", is too noisy to be good somehow and you're down to eight. "Sweet As The Rain" are one of those great ballads with fat hammonds, soaring guitar solo, and lovely barbwire vocals by Spike. The refrain with its catch phrase "Sweet As The Rain - Cold As The Highway", sticks like glue onto your forehead (!?). "Lorraine Lorraine" is pub rock at its finest, while tracks like "You've Got A Nerve", "Too Familiar", "What's Your Name", could all have been The Faces' material in the 70's.

Spinefarm Records 2004
Review by Jorge Antonaya,
19 May 2004

Hailing from Suomi (Finland) here comes Virtuocity, yet another neoclassical power metal band from the land of the thousand lakes (curiously enough that’s the title of one of the tracks included on this album), much in the vein of Nightwish, Stratovarius, Sonata Artica (the design of the cover reminds you a lot of this last band), and such. Northern Twilight Symphony is their sophomore effort after their Egyptian inspired debut Secret Visions. This time their source of inspiration has been their homeland and its legends, myths, etc. I know it may not sound too appealing but anyway, this album has interesting moments, so let’s go with it.

Northern Twilight Symphony is a quite well done neoclassical melodic metal album, surely it will remind you of the bands mentioned above, and one starts to think most of the Finnish metal bands sound alike, but what one cannot discuss here is the overall good quality they have, as it’s the case with Virtuocity. The musicians here are undoubtedly skilled ones. The songwriting of Jaron Sebastian Raven (guitarist and main man of the band), yet not original is good enough to produce a more than decent album. The vocals by Peter James Goodman (these names doesn’t sound Finnish at all, maybe a case of aliases?) are one of the main attractions of the album, as he avoided the high pitched vocals ala Kotipelto that are the common rule on this kind of albums. Along the main pair we have on this album Joey Edith on drums, Tom Joens on bass and Michael Thomas on keyboards [are you trying to fool someone with the names you suomalaisia? ;-)], especially remarkable is the work of this last, as this album has plenty of gorgeous keyboards. The style here moves very little, from the Stratovarius with a more appealing voice, (at least to your truly), up-tempos Forever Young, Wheels Of Time, Wings Of Dawn, to the Yngwie-ish Flames In The Sky, or Moonlight Shadows (one of the best tracks on the album, despite the Mike Oldfield rip-off title) or the ballad Within My Heart, passing through more Nightwish oriented tracks like the mid tempo Winter Nights or Land Of A Thousand Lakes (impressive title, isn’t it?). Maybe the more “original” tracks in the album are Paradise and Shaman Beat (with its proggy sound). Finally the title track is a neoclassical instrumental. I’ve been considering lowering the rating because three songs in a row (Wings Of Dawn, Whitin My Heart and Light In The Dark) start the lyrics with the same sentence: “When I Look…” unforgiveable! But all in all the quality of the songs in here is good enough for a 7.

MTM 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
23 May 2004

Edge Of Forever is a new Italian project with famed keyboardist Alessandro Del Vecchio (Glenn Hughes, Time Machine, Bruce Kulick, Patrick Rondat, etc). Formed in 2002 with the remains of several different groups in Italy, the line-up now consist of Matteo Carnio (guitar), Christian Grillo (bass), and Francesco Jovino (drums). Add to this US vocalist Bob Harris (Axe, Steve Vai, Frank Zappa), and you'll end up with a rather interesting act.

It must also be said that power vocalist Jeff Scott Soto (Talisman, Eyes, Yngwie), helps out with excellent background vocals. Not to forget the power duel and intriguing duet "Prisoner", where the two vocalists clash heads. This is a fun uptempo rocker in the Malmsteen/Talisman tradition and style. Soto's fellow musician and partner in crime, Marcel Jacob (Talisman, Force, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Norum, etc), is the man responsible for the production of "Feeding The Fire". And all this is resulting in a nice melodic metal hybrid, with quite some similarities to Talisman, Yngwie Malmsteen, and even Axe (the latter is mostly due to Harris of course).

Century Media 2004
Review by Jorge Antonaya,
25 May 2004

Already 5th album on these German Goth metallers, first with their new vocalist, Helen Vogt, who does a quite interesting job with her dark, deep voice. Having not listened to their previous efforts I cannot compare, but Razorbliss is indeed a short of German response to Evanescence, so to say, mixed up with some HIM elements here and there but quite like the American band, mostly with a modern metal approach quite close to nu metal. Quite remarkably none of the 12 tracks here (except Pitch Dark Water) clocks over 4 minutes.

As the album flows, one gets deeper and deeper in the dark, gloomy atmospheres brought by the keyboards and tuned down guitars, and the voice of Helen Vogt really brings in feelings of melancholy, sadness and obscurity. The opener title track have some hypnotic keys that gets you in a somehow oniric (nightmare would be more suitable?) world. Believe does indeed reminds of Evanescence with the male vocals full of anger (courtesy of Dirk Thurisch of Angel Dust/Mercury Tide) and tuned down guitars. Virago is a more classic Gothic tune, in a Sister Of Mercy mood and again great keys. Undying is got to be my fave of the album so far, a gloomy midtempo with a catchy chorus and tempting whispering vocals. Through the album, along with the vocals, both the guitar work (specially in the dense, no nonsense riffs and the short yet effective solos) and the keyboard department both held by Benjamin Buss stands out of the pack. Radium Angel has some Paradise Lost resemblances, whilst Firedream comes closer to American Nu-metal. Ballad Of A Lonely God stands somewhere halfway between Paradise Lost and slow tempo HIM. Snakes Of Grey has some techno beats melted with some lighter (as opposed to dark) sound than the rest of the album. Mine Is The Ocean is HIM mixed with Sister Of Mercy (when they rocked more) and again that dark techno beats not lacking of some 80’s German pop flavour in it, and another fave of mine. Maladine is a somewhat minor track on this album, a bit dull for my taste. Unspoken proves once more the band’s fancy for techno beats ala 80’s. And finally, Pitch Dark Water will remind you almost immediately of Lacuna Coil, but with a different approach on the vocal department.

BMG/Jive 2003
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
23 May 2004

Three Days Grace has sold a cool half a million copies of this album in the US, but their fame hasn't really spread to this side of the bond yet - at least they were completely unfamiliar to these ears. However, they do sound familiar - so much that I can not help but to compare them to two current hit rock bands, Nickelback and Linkin Park. One might add a touch of Metallica and Creed to the mix as well...obviously from these ingredients one comes up with something that's appealing to the rock radio programming directors. It doesn't hurt to be on a major label either!

So, we're dealing with aggressive modern rock here. It's not nu-metal really, but they might end up being lumped with the likes of Linkin Park, because there are lots of similarities, and I could imagine LP fans enjoying this album as well. The choruses are certainly similary attitude-fuelled, with the vocalist almost screaming rather than singing his lines. However, TDG doesn't mess around with rap or scratching, which does make them a lot more tolerable for me...

MTM 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
20 May 2004

"Afterlife" is the brand new title with vocalist Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt, Quiet Riot, Badd Boyz), and guitarist J.K. Northrup (King Kobra, XYZ, Cage). They have once again teamed up to work together, eleven years after the somewhat successful Shortino album "Back On Track". And they have even managed to come up with a couple of classy rock songs this time. The title track was included on a MTM sampler earlier and I still find it similar the Quiet Riot album with Shortino (the closing of the song is definitely Whitesnake though). I was actually surprised to find out, exactly how much this reminded me of Whitesnake/Blue Murder on certain tracks. Check out "Gypsy Soul", "Slave", or "Prisoner", for your daily dose of Coverdale/Sykes material.

There's unfortunately not enough goodies to go around the entire album. Shortino's voice is quite shot and raunchy nowadays, I guess he's not actually supposed to sound like Brian Johnson (AC/DC), every now and then? (a bit harsh I know). Nevertheless, dull and boring moments like "Crossfire" or "As I Fall", doesn't add much to the big picture either. "Crazy Mind" is (boring) rock in the Led Zep tradition, and the fact that ex-King Kobra/Foreigner vocalist Johnny Edwards, sings on this duet, doesn't really help much I'm afraid.

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.

Mascot Records 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
24 május 2004 ,

A new album by Kevin Dubrow, is he still alive and kicking and is he still in the rock business? The answer to all three questions is: yes. But I am not quite sure if Kevin Dubrow still "deserves" a place in the modern rock world….But first let me tell you something about Dubrow's past, especially for the younger readers.

Kevin Dubrow took America by storm in the mid eighties as the lead singer of the famous band Quiet Riot. Their third album "Metal Health"(1983) sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Fuelled by Dubrow's cocky stage performance and his raspy vocal style, the band was definitely one of the most well known bands on the eighties metal scene, although I never really liked their rather simplistic hard rock music.

Avispa 2004
Review by Jorge Antonaya,
24 May 2004

This is already the third album by this Madrid based hard rockers. One of the most popular acts in the Spanish rock underground scene, Beethoven R suffered a lot after the departure of their former vocalist Ivan Urbistondo, now in Cuatro Gatos. Finally they found a replacement in Kiko Hagall and headed into the studio to record this new album. Again, misfortune happened in the form of several problems and delays that ended up making a huge gap (3 years) between their former album, Un Poco Más, and this one. Pity, since they were then at the top of their fame and will have to overcome this long absence. And I’m afraid El Legado de Judas won’t help to bring them back as good as we all would have liked.

Beethoven R were always a band with catchy sing-along songs, and indeed there are some of those in the new album. The Whitesnake guitar oriented Larga Vida is a good proof of that. So are La Ley Del Látigo, No Permitas Que Esto Llegue Al Fín, Siempre Unidos Al Rock & Roll, No Puedo Esperar, or the nice ballad Qué Quieres De Mí, all of them with good backing vocals (one of the band’s strengths both live and on studio) and catchy hooks. Problem here is the horrible production and one of the most horrible vocal performances I have listened to in years, because sadly, Kiko is not up to the level Beethoven R music requires. Don’t get me wrong, the band is not the quintessence of technical skill, of course, but nonetheless, they had achieved a certain status that cannot be maintained with such poor vocals as they got on this album, as simple as that. But the only problem doesn’t lay only in the lead vocals as the band fails to keep the songwriting quality level throughout the record. Along with the good songs above mentioned, there are quite a few sub par tracks, like the title track, El Tren De La Inocencia, El Amo Del Harem (probably the worst song in the album), Viviré or Si Quieres Otro Más that simply shouldn’t be on the album for quality reasons.

Steel Heart 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
23 May 2004

I wrote in a demo review of this French act earlier "let's hope Mystery Blue will continue to write songs in the style of - Roller Coaster Ride". Yeah, right... instead they continued to pen down rubbish like "Dark Visions", only ten times worse.

The history of Mystery Blue dates back to the mid-80's, when they released their self titled debut album (Axe Killer/1984). They toured all over France, Germany & Belgium as the opening act for Def Leppard, Saxon & Motörhead. Guitarist Frenzy Phillipon is the only remaining member left and they now have a female vocalist. The lovely Nathaline Geyer is indeed a little siren with sky-high vocals and mosterous screams. The songs are really a chapter of its own and only "Roller Coaster Ride", is a winner among the bunch. The rest is truly awful stuff, without any memorable hooks or melodies. Like a poor man's version of already poor, early, 80's NWOBHM acts, like Witchfynde or Heritage.

Nuclear Blast 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
19 May 2004

This is Nightwish’s sixth studio album and probably it is their most ambitious one, that will exceed all expectations. “Oceanborn”(1999) and “Wishmaster”(2000) were my favorite Nightwish albums so far, but after listening to this masterpiece for several times, I truly believe that this is their best achievement. On this album the band has been able to merge elements of classic and metal almost to perfection and they created a bombastic and powerful album that will set standards for this type of music. So let's describe the songs...

“Dark Chest of Wonders” is a fantastic opener with a great chorus, and here the London Session Orchestra adds its first musical exponent, although the heavy guitar riff dominates the song. “Wish I had an Angel” could also be a hit single, with a radio-friendly chorus, great vocals by Tarja and additional vocals by Marco. “Nemo”, the single that is already known by lots of listeners, is probably the weakest song of the album. “Planet Hell” starts almost classical with a choir and the orchestra, before it turns into a heavy, bombastic power song. The first highlight of this album is “Creek Mary’s Blood”, which starts folkloristic, with flute and acoustic guitar, whereas the chorus of this song sounds like a track from the Aina-album; a great, very diverse bombastic track.

Insideout 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
14 May 2004

Evergrey's "The Inner Circle" is a concept album about religion, or rather the strange and bizarre cult happening, within this ever-so-popular genre. It's basicially about the dark messiah and the ever so growing stream of false preachers out there. Just look at the 'Knutby' incidence here in Sweden recentely. It's a gloomy story about fanaticism and the way these "false preachers", feed off people's insecurity and lack of belief in themselves.

Not your ordinary metal lyrics perhaps, then again, Evergrey is far from ordinary in any way. This is complex, melodic, progressive metal of today, with atmospheric keyboards and a certain auora of goth. You can actually still hear some 'My Dying Bride' influences in the background. I'm not saying it's the "Operation Mindcrime" (Queensryche) album of today. However, you can definitely draw similarities and compare notes as the story goes on. There's even a female part included (here sung by Carina Englund), much like 'Sister Mary' from above mentioned 'Mindcrime'.

Nothing To Say 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
15 May 2004

Besides being a fan of prog metal music I also have always been a real guitar picking lover. Therefore my CD collection is filled with albums of Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Vinnie Moore, Yngwie Malmsteen and last but not least Jimi Hendrix. French guitar player Patrick Rondat has already released four instrumental albums, of which “Amphibia”(1996) was the best, so far.

Patrick Rondat is also famous for his cooperation with Jean Michel Jarre, his participation on two albums of The Consortium Project and being a member of the Dutch progressive metal band Elegy. Furthermore Patrick played 14 French dates of the G3 tour with Joe Satriani.

Since 1999 we have not heard much from Rondat’s solo career, but now he releases a brand new instrumental guitar album again. The recording of this album took place at the Bazment Studios in Germany from October till December 2003, with Patrice Guers (bass guitar), Dirk Bruinenberg (drums) and Markus Teske as sound engineer and co-producer. The 11 songs on this album are a must for guitar freaks, just check out “Donkey’s Island”, a very aggressive and melodic track with lots of Oriental and Arabic influences. The title track is one of the highlights of this CD, and it begins with an acoustic guitar part accompanied by piano, which is later followed by melodic guitar riffs, hooks and solos like I have not heard in a long time. Diversity is the keyword here and the last 2,5 minutes of this track are just divine. But this CD even becomes better with a song called “Tethys”, which is really a guitar orgasm of 12 minutes; the solos in this track really take my breath away. It cannot get any better than this, but Patrick can play faster, and he proves this in the Malmsteen-like song “Avalonia”, this is neo-classical prog metal like it should be. Rondat’s motto in this song is: fast, faster, fastest, just listen to that ferocious solo. This fantastic album ends with a rather classical song, an adaptation of a piece by Johan Sebastian Bach, although I wonder if Bach would have approved of this rather heavy and super fast version of “Partitan In B For Solo Violin”. Get this magical guitar album now!!!

Atenzia 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
17 May 2004

I have grown a bit sceptical about all these so-called "nu-breed" sensations, which seem to pop up at an alarming rate these days. Sure, the likes of Waltham and 40ft Ringo have released fine albums, but I really haven't gotten into the more punk-oriented bands or the really quirky ones. To be honest, even the ones I liked are in danger of starting to sound like each other...London Calling manages to avoid that trap quite well, but not completely.

London Calling are fronted by Jamie Rowe, the vocalist of hard rock act AdrianGale and formely of Guardian. Vocals are indeed very good, much better than on many other nu-breed albums, and Jamie has adopted a suitably attitude-filled style for this album.

The album opens with arguably the bands' finest song, a high-energy melodic rocker "American Dream". Nu-Breed doesn't really get any better than this - catchy riffs, good lyrics, killer chorus with harmonies that remind me of Bad Religion at their best. Other highlights include "Super Natural Girl", a cool midtempo track, although straight from the Butch Walker Book of Songwriting, the catchy rockers "Beautiful Day" and "Haunting Me", almost Nelson-like "So In Love", the balladic "Fade Into Grey" which reminds me of Warrant for some reason, and finally the cool cover of "One In A Million", a song by The Romantics originally. The lyrics of the song are funny, as they sound like they're made up of 80'ies power ballad titles, but apparently they're not..."Something About You/makes wanna Keep On Loving You/And when I'm Without You/ I Feel I Need You Back In My Heart"..."That Was Yesterday, now we've gone our Separate Ways"...okay, I made that last bit up but it just as well could've been in the song.

EDG Music 2003
Review by Jorge Antonaya,
17 January 2004

Hira is a metal band hailing from my homeland, the Basque Country, a true nest of good bands over the years. Like many other bands there, they sing in Euskera (the Basque language), which, whilst give them plenty of support from the local authorities (namely plenty of chances to play in local festivals, kind of economical aid, etc), becomes a burden when it comes to become know anywhere else in Spain. Pity since many times there are really good bands up there that due to the above mentioned facts don’t get the recognition they deserve, and Hira is one good example. Oztopoak Gaindituz (that could be translated as Overcoming the adversities), is in fact their second effort after the debut Nortasuna, which became number one album in Euzkadi Gaztea (one of the main radio stations in the Basque Country) for thirty some weeks. Not bad for a new act, right?

This new album is indeed a well crafted product with plenty of good tracks. The base is power metal ala Judas Priest (Painkiller era) with plenty of melody, catchy hooks (even if you speak no Basque at all). Ibai Marin (lead vocals and guitars) does a fine job with no spectacular screams or anything like that, but very decent at his role. From the rest of the band, I’d like to point the dense riffs out of Oskar Lopez guitar, and the solid rhythm section of Manex Etxeberria (bass) and Alain Fernandino (drums). All of them can speed up on the mainly uptempo metal tunes in the record but slow down and have melody in mind when needed. Another strength of this album is the really good production by Javi and Juanan San Martin, who managed to make the albums sound quite alive and fresh, with the live sound of the band in mind, me guess. The album is full of potential hits, like Aingura (a video clip of which is included on the album as a bonus), a melodic metal tune with sing along chorus, Metal Ohiua, an straight in your face uptempo metal tune with special appearance of Aitor Gorosabel, singer of Su Ta Gar (the most famous Basque metal band), Altzairuzko Hegoak, which is meant to become an anthem for Basque patriots due to its highly compromised political lyrics, or the passionate Goizegi (a ballad that deals with the loss of a friend, gone Too Soon, that is what the title means)… I could go on with almost any track in the album, but I guess you get the idea. As a bonus, besides the above mentioned video clip you can find the track La Bestia, which is Piztia (one of the tracks of the album) with lyrics in Spanish.

Frédéric Slama 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
17 May 2004

Frédéric Slama has released 4 albums under the name of "AOR", all of them featuring internationally known AOR/Westcoast musicians. This album is a "Best of" compilation with a few new songs, and the line-up on these songs is virtually a "who's who" of AOR/westcoast music...Steve Lukather, David Roberts, Tommy Denander, Bill Champlin.

I wasn't expecting much, since the only other "AOR" album I had heard, last years' "Dreaming Of L.A.", had been a way too west-coast-like and soft for my taste. Sure enough, this album isn't a hard rocking one either, but it does feature a bunch of really fine songs, and some of them do "rawk"!

The new songs (or at least "previously unreleased") represent the extremes of Slama's style: "Desperate Dreams" is excellent classic melodic rock, while "In My Crystal Ball" is more west-coast styled, jazzy track. The third track "Only In My Dreams" is a balladic, AOR-styled song, somewhere between the two extremes. I would prefer if Slama concentrated on the first mentioned side of his writing, but that's just my opinion (coloured by my enternal jazz-allergy).

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,
17 May 2004

"Live Invasion" is recorded like a metal diary of the success of their previous three studio albums: Stairway to Fairyland (1999), Crystal Empire (2000) and Eternity (2002). Not to mention successful tours with Hammerfall, Virgin Steele, Angra, Stratovarius, Blind Guardian, etc. Indeed, the Nuremberg quartet do play similar music to all above and especially their 'typical' German influences, shines through a lot.

This is a 2-CD set for the price of one, where disc #1 are 13 tracks live. Freedom Call are mostly going through their well-known material without trying anything new or too advanced. "We Are One", "Freedom Call", The Quest", "Heart Of The Rainbow", "The Eyes Of The World", etc, are all clean of sudden surprises or hick-ups. They sound no different from their studio versions and it's all too sterile in my opinion. Live performances isn't (only) about trying to be as perfect as possible, you need a bit of soul and that feeling of 'anything goes' too. Don't get me wrong, this is fine music by fine musicians, but it could as easily have been performed by machines or robots for that matter [:-)].

AOR Heaven 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
17 May 2004

Frontline have been around for fifteen years or so, and they have released good albums one after another. Naturally the expectations were high when I found a copy of their latest album in the mailbox the other day. And...while this is not a bad album, it's less that we've learned to expect from Frontline. If this was a new band, I'd say "they have a lot of potential", but since I know what this band is capable of, this can only be described as a bit of a disappointment.

Productionwise this album is very good. The band seems to have toughened up their sound a bit, and the closest compararison I can come up is the classic Valentine debut. The guitarplaying by Robby Boebel is very tasteful and stylish, and Stephan Kaemmemer's vocals are as good as ever. The one ingredient that isn't on the normal level seems to be the songwriting, especially when it comes to the choruses. Frontline have written some truly magical songs in the past, but none of the songs on this album can match their finest moments.

Apart from the brilliant "This Lie", virtually all of the songs seem to suffer from the same thing: dull choruses. Most of them build up nicely towards the "peak", but then we're subjected to very average and repetitive hooklines. Just listen to "Take Me Higher", "Where's The Love" or "Melt My Ice" for example, good songs ruined by hooks that just aren't too catchy. Especially "Melt My Ice" could have been so much more, with Boebel showcasing his cool axemanship and adding nice textures to it, but the song just never really takes off.

LionMusic 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
16 May 2004

"Loud And Clear" and straight for the jugular!!! The debut album by Canada's Smeer is a fallout of aggressive guitars and heavy melodies. Not exactly the kind of stuff you expect to end up at Lion Music label. It's eleven tracks of intense rock in the tradition of Soundgarden, Nickelback, and the more uptempo tracks of Saigon Kick.

The band was originally formed back in 1998 and has since gone through a couple of changes. Smeer consist nowadays of Ryan Leclair (vocals), Deny Boucher (guitars), Bryan Cote (bass), and Niall Mellors (drums). "Loud And Clear" was released last year in Canada (this is the Euro-release), and their third single "Seed", was ranked #3 in CFAI's "Song Of The Year 2003". Only Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life" and Audioslave's "Like A Stone", ended up higher on the list.

Vinny Records 2004
Review by Jorge Antonaya,
17 May 2004

Calling Everywhere is the debut album by these Barcelona based melodic rockers called Hardreams. It was recorded at Auhra Studios and Nautilus Studios, in Barcelona and it’s self produced, although production credits have been given as well to Carlos Creator, who mixed and mastered the album. The info sheet attached to the cd names Asia, Magnum, Dokken, Queensryche, Survivor and Whitesnake. Believe it not, at there’s little or none at all from the above here, not even nearer.

Let’s put it straight, Calling Everywhere is a rather dull, flat record with nothing outstanding on it. Same old cliches, same old dated sound, uninspired songwritting along with a sub-par production makes of this a completely forgetable album you don’t need to have in your collection. I wish I could say otherwise, since it’s always nice to have a melodic rock release by an Spanish band these days, but I’m affraid it takes a lot more than Hardreams have done to make a decent album. The voice of Manu Esteve (lead vocals) sounds quite flat, and so does the music behind it. As so often, it’s difficult to pick up any highlits, but this time because of the lack of good songs in here. The only interesting moments comes near the end of the album, with tracks like the ballad A Place For Love, the AORish Million Miles Away or the pomp sounding Pain, but they come too late to change the overall boredom feeling that this album puts me into.

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