Metal Heaven 2007
Review by Satu Reunanen
27 December 2006

Hailing from the city that recently buried one of their finest metal bands Sentenced, Oulu's Burning Point is going on their third release, and since their latest, 2003 release "Feeding The Flames" they seem to have grown stronger in the last three years. This melodic power metal band seems to be going through this natural phase on each release, which has only done good for the band that grew up with classic metal a'la bands Yngwie Malmsteen, Judas Priest, Accept and the likes.

Burning Point now sounds quite mature, being a tight package with powerful, melodic, catchy and very fast songs and they still have an easily recognizable sound of their own. But while their songs are characteristic on their own, the final piece of identity is missing. They occasionally stumble on the cliches of similar metal bands, using melodies that sound too familiar for old school metal fans, which in the longrun make bands faceless. The good thing is Burning Point is now on strong ground with all the good attributes and through those have finally taken place among the best power acts, so cliches can be forgiven.

Metal Heaven 2007
Review by Satu Reunanen
27 December 2006

Faith And Fire, formed by vocalist Tony Moore and guitarist Mike Flyntz (Riot), have gathered a fine group of musicians for this still unknown hard rock group. The other slots are filled by drummer John Miceli (Rainbow, Meat Loaf) and bassist Danny Miranda, who's currently touring with Queen and has shared spotlight with Miceli in Blue Oyster Cult. The band surely promises a lot with its line-up and the album cover is an eyecatcher too.

The band plays with heavy guitars and the vocals reach the needed heights. Faith And Fire rely on the traditional rock style, flavoured with southern rock and groove, and are a very stable band who know how to rock. Moore's vocals are very traditional 70's style, matching the likes of Tommy Shaw or even Geddy Lee, which already puts a certain mark on them. The 70's featured heartwarming bands that played with a feeling that not many bands can match up today. This feeling is shown in the ballads "Ashes", "Breathe" and "Angel" with weaping guitars and touching vocals, and present a Styx/Boston/BOC or any other 60's-70's dinosaur band approach from the band. Yet there's a hint of futuristic sound in the music. Compared to something closer to this day is Damn Yankees, eventhough "Accelerator" is not as easylistening at first and not the same type of earcandy as the other Yankees.

Frontiers 2007
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
29 December 2006

As melodic rock fans know, Kelly Keagy is the drummer and vocalist of Night Ranger, one of the big AOR acts of the eighties. The band is still together and about to release a new album next year, but each one of the band members have released solo albums every now and then. This is Keagy's second one, the first being "Time Passes" a few years ago. It was a good album with some excellent AOR songs co-written by Jim Peterik (Survivor, Pride Of Lions). Keagy has enlisted the services of Peterik for this album as well, giving him even a bigger role. Peterik is credited as co-producer, and I believe that he has co-written most of the songs as well. He also plays a lot of the instruments. Winger/Whitesnake guitarist Reb Beach plays most of the lead guitar though.

One might expect that Keagy/Peterik-combination would be a winning team, but I'm afraid it is not. It'd be too harsh to call this album a failure because it isn't, but it just doesn't work for me as well as "Time Passes" did. Most of the songs are okay, nice enough, but there's nothing to rival a song like "The Journey" off the first record. The best moments are the hard rocking opener "I'm Alive" and the melodic AOR tracks "Life Worth Remembering" and "Everything I Need In A Woman", both bearing Peterik's trademarks. Several of the remaining tracks remind me strongly of Night Ranger's latter day material, of which I'm not too fond of. Of course, that should keep the Night Ranger fans happy, and I'm sure that many of them will rate this album better than Keagy's first effort.

Vespa Music 2006
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
22 December 2006

These Canadian rockers have been one of my favourite bands for a long time, but their previous album "Overload" they had me thinking that maybe they've lost their knack at writing killer melodic rock songs. I haven't really listened to the album after reviewing it, except for a brief revisit during last christmas, when compiling the best of 2005 charts. The album didn't stand a chance to be featured on that year's list, but I'm glad to say that "Human Nature" is surely going to make an appearance in my Top 5 this year!

The Scarems have done the right thing and ditched the aggression and depression that was evident on "Overload". I'm not saying that "Human Nature" is a happy-go-lucky pop album, but it's definitely more light-hearted, catchy and overall positive one than its' predecessor.

The first few songs should make it clear to each and everyone of us that HS have re-discovered the beauty of a killer hook. "Human Nature", "Next Time Around" and "Caught Up In Your World" are all blessed with superb choruses, and are among the best songs the band has ever come up with. "Reality" is a very good song too, while the power ballad "Hanging On" is another track with a monster of a chorus. I'm not totally into the Oasis-like verses, but the chorus more than makes up for them.

The remaining six songs are all strong material, not quite as good as the aforementioned highlights, but still better than anything on the previous album. The Queen-like "Give Love/Get Love" stands out as something a bit different, while "21" reminds me of the likes of Nickelback, although with some familiar HS elements. It's probably the darkest song of the album. The pop gem "Starlight" works nicely as its' counterpart, containing another anthemic hook.

The production by vocalist Harry Hess and guitarist Pete Lesperance is again flawless, and an extra mention must go to the artwork - I don't quite get the idea ("Light at the end of the tunnel might be a train"?), but it looks damn cool!

Rivel Records 2007
Review by Satu Reunanen
19 December 2006

From the many metal releases Essence Of Sorrow will definately catch people's eyes. The founder of the band, Jani Stefanovic, has taken an excellent bunch of musicians on his musical journey, adding names like Mats Levén and Andreas Olsson to the permanent Finnish line-up, which now consists of Timo Kuusjärvi, Christian Palin, Mikko Härkin, Sidi Miettiäinen and Rolf Pilve, among with Jani. The list of bands these people are or used to be involved with is endless, so check out their website for more info.

So what is so special with this band, other than the musicians themselves or that the mixing was done by Carl Johan Grimmark (Narnia, Rob Rock)? The answer is easy. From the first seconds the album kicks off, everything essential is there. If you're into mixed powerful and melodic metal with tiny progressive influences, you've found what you're looking for, and the sounds are as powerful as the music demands. This band could as well be named Essence Of Power, there's no signs of sorrow, it's rather sheer power, energetic and fast riffs and beautifully layered vocal harmonies, something alike to At Vance. The high pitched, yet strong vocal duties are shared between Levén and Palin, and both are shining with their work. It's nice to notice Palin keeps improving each year.

Replica Records 2006
Review by Martien Koolen,
20 december 2006

Wow, what an overwhelming debut album this is!! Outworld is a sparkling, up tempo bombastic prog metal CD dominated by the guitar solos, riffs and melodies of a "new" guitar virtuoso called Rusty Cooley. Just check out his mind boggling solos in songs like "The Never" or "City of the dead" and you will be hooked, just like me.

Outworld’s music actually is a blend of bands like Dream Theater, Nevermore, Judas Priest and Yngwie Malmsteen. Especially the high-pitched screaming of vocalist Kelly Carpenter in tracks like "War Cry" or "Thanatos" remind me of a Priest album like "Painkiller". The entire album is in fact a roller coaster ride through a neo-classical prog metal world. All 9 songs are really powerful and up tempo, sometimes creating a power overkill as there are no resting points on this album; no ballads indeed!

The whole CD is dominated by the sheer magic guitar playing of Cooley, but you can also enjoy keyboard solos, melodic passages, bombastic parts and lots of magical headbanging riffs! The music is so intense that it is sheer impossible to not jump around, bang your head, play air guitar or just move your feet till you drop! My personal favourites are "Raise hell", "The Never", "Prelude to madness" and "Grey Tide", the latter being the song with the best and longest guitar solo on the album.

SunCity 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
14 December 2006

Do you still recall Bonham??? Nope, I'm not talking (writing) about the late and great drummer of Led Zeppelin (John - R.I.P.), but rather the band featuring his drummer (dumber?) son: Jason. Anyhow, they recorded a couple of albums in the late 80's/early 90's and this Daniel MacMaster fella' was indeed their lead vocalist.

"Rock Bonham And The Long Road Back" is a 11-track compilation with songs recorded by MacMaster between the years of 1991 and 2003. The last four tracks are all previously unreleased "Bonham" demos and the rest of the tracks are all pretty similar to Bonham in both style and formula. The main and only difference betwen the two would be the slightly more 'laidback' approach of the newer material. It's more in the vein of Mr.Big and their bluesy melodic hardrock than the raunchy Led Zep clone moniker of you-know-who.

Indie 2006
Review by Petri Kautto 17 December 2006

Grendel is a band that has released several quality demos during the last few years. "Lost Beyond Retrieval" sees the band taking the next step, still unsigned though. Grendel plays melodic, melancholic metal with a pinch of rock in it and their dark-riffed sound is rather impressive at times.

They catch the bull by the horns with the opener "Drifting Away", a song that instantly catches your attention. The same can be said about the catchy riff on "Tears and Sorrow". The ballad "Something to Remind" has a good melody and a sing along chorus so that department is also in order. The vocal scenery in the chorus of "In the End" is excellent, another strong point for the band is. The guitars in general are powerful and in place, but there are times they sound a bit too predictable and repetitive. The solos, which could reinforce a great song into a masterpiece, don’t add value to most of the songs here and I feel that there’s room for improvement. As obvious as their talent may be this album does not totally impress because the overall listening experience is a bit flat. Nice elements and a lot of potential, but the entity is not quite there yet.

WoodHill 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
18 December 2006

Joseph Lee Wood is the U.S. bloke that released a darn fine retrospective AOR CD the other year. You can check out the review in our archive and I believe I wrote a raving review in the lines of: "it came from the 80's, a real monster, etc.". "Speed Of Life" is however not quite as impressive (far from it actually) and the arrangements are sometimes all over the place. The first six tracks are all recently recorded stuff and the music style differs a lot from track to track. Pick of the bunch is pomp-rocker "Don't Loose Your Dream", which happens to be an early 80's styled song with a nice refrain. The other five tracks are pretty bland though and you're better off skipping them entirelly.

SunCity 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
14 December 2006

"Dirty Rhythm - Never Cleaned Up"... and never really interesting to be honest. You know, this could very well be THE reason to why hairmetal died out and grunge became the new thing. This is a CD so bland, so friggin' tiresome, that it could actually work as the perfect remedy for your insomnia problem. Simply spin this sucker a couple of times and you'll be sleeping like a little baby for months.

MR.com 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
12 December 2006

"V 3" is the third and latest complilation by the Tasmanian devil aka MelodicRock.com's Andrew McNeice. It's clearly also the best effort yet and featuring a tracklisting that will please many and/or most wimp rockers. Brother Firetribe hit the nail square on the head with their catchy rock of "Midnight Queen". They've already been given a solid base to build on and will probably generate an even stronger following due to this very compilation. Sweden's Andreas Novak next and his "Said And Done" song is the best I've ever heard him sing. Ehem, I also noticed that it's written by Daniel Flores. Mike Tharin & Danny Vaughn with "Released" is a friggin' marvelous ballad in the best tradition of Tyketto. "Tomorrow" is from the soon to be released second album by Tall Stories featuring Steve Augeri (Journey). Excellent, dreamy, AOR stuff!!!

Jeff "JK" Northrup is responsible for the mastering of "V3" and I guess that Andrew basically had to give him space for his music in return [bummer ;-)]. Anyhow, "So Long" is the song and Northrup has obviously been heavily inspired by Geddy Lee and Rush ... no? He writes in the booklet that: 'I wanted a Robert Plant feel and I like the way it came out'. Well, one thing's for sure, JK can't tell his Plant from his Lee??? But hey, it's a darn fine number that works along the lines of Rush and various hi-tech rock (Terry Ilous of XYZ on vocals). China Blue with Tony Mills (Shy, TNT) as lead vocalist next and "Air To Breathe" turns unfortunately out to be a minor disappointment. Pretty average Journey and/or Hugo inspired AOR with a melody that never really takes off. Poley/Rivera is a collaboration between Ted Poley (Danger Danger) and guitarist Vic Rivera and their "Only Human" demo song is quite similar to previous projects by Ted (take it or leave it).

Frontiers 2006
Review by Martien Koolen,
12 December 2006

After 8 studio albums Royal Hunt "finally" releases a live album, and the fans will be twice as happy as it is a double album, filled with 17 songs. The neo-classical metal/hard rock of the Hunters is always a pleasure to listen to, but these two CDs (lasting 99 minutes together) are a bit overkill to me. However John West’s (ex-Artension) vocals and Andre Andersen’s keyboard layers and solos are most of the time out of this world.

Most of the songs are up tempo Malmsteen-like rockers with rather catchy choruses with the highlights being "Paper Blood", "The Mission", "Surrender" and "Lies". The best track however is the instrumental called "Martial Arts", great neo-classical prog metal!

Frontiers 2006
Review by Martien Koolen,
12 December 2006

His last album called "Get Up" was already a disappointment as it featured too much vocals and too less guitar playing. His new album "Into the black" is in fact "Get Up" part 2, as again the vocals dominate this album.

Do not get me wrong, Richie can sing already but I prefer him playing the guitar and if you are a guitar freak, like yours truly, then you will be disappointed, again, by the rather meagre solos on this album. The CD kicks off with the rather "heavy" "You Can’t Save Me", which is mainly remarkable beacuse of the explicit lyrics.... The first excellent guitar solo can be heard on "Doin’ What The Devil Says To Do" (which is song number 5 already!!), followed by the best track of this album called "Till You Put Me Down". That one is Kotzen at his best as the song starts with a bluesy intro, followed by two smashing howling guitar solos.

Vallankumoustuotanto 2006
Review by Petri Kautto 10 December 2006

"Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Not Dead" is probably not the most original single title out there but then again King Remedy is not trying to blow your mind with something new and totally different. Their 3-track single is very basic no frills rock ’n’ roll. What makes this band special is their lead singer Antti who has a voice that reeks of attitude. The rest of the band manages to keep up with him but they don’t impress just as much as he does.

Frontiers 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
4 December 2006

Deep Purple, Metallica, Kiss, and now you have yet another rock act jumping on the bandwagon of orchestra albums. Well, it's hardly a bandwagon thing if this strange phenomenon only accures every 10th year or so. Styx with the addition of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra (115 musicians aged between 15 and 19) do sound like a perfect match made in heaven. Indeed, the music of Styx has always been in the symphonic rock formula anyhow and most of the songs do come out as small masterpieces of pomp rock.

This is unfortunately a single CD release with merely 13 tracks of golden oldies. And even worse, they have decided to include three horrible cover tunes among the "classics". James Young does his awful version of "It Don't Make Sense" and "I Am The Walrus" (dope!) and "I Don't Need No Doctor" (WASP does it better), are frankly put, a waste of good and original Styx space.

LionMusic 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
6 December 2006

Yo! Yo! Yo! Waaaaz up? Satyrian's in the house!!! Lock up your daughters, hide all your bling-bling and for the love of God, keep your grandma as far away from the dance floor as possible. What's that you say? You're in desperate search for a danceable Gothic Metal CD for X-mas??? Well, look no further than "The Dark Gift EP" as Satyrian decided to round out the year with a special remix EP, which shows a completely different side to the Gothic metal exploits of the debut.

OK, it's not really all-gothic anymore, it's euro trash disco, electro, house, gothic, remixes of some of the songs from their internationally acclaimed "Eternitas" album. There's no rap included though (praise the lord) and they've merely included a fun dance beat to all the tracks. You know... I must confess that I actually enjoy this EP quite a lot. The remixes made by TmV from the Finnish Gothic/Electro band Shade Factory and by Roman Schoensee of The Dreamside are very eclectic and ehem... danceable. "The Dark Gift" TmV fused radio mix set the pace and standard of all the tarcks and it's more in the vein of "Sweet Dreams" by Marilyn Manson and Eurythmics than "pure" Gothic Metal.

NLDist 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
4 December 2006

Shiva, the Swedish duo of Anette Johansson (vocals) and Mats Edström (guitars) has gone for a brand new concept with "The Curse Of The Gift". This is in fact their third effort already and they've become slightly heavier with each new release. Their basic song structure and philosophy is basically the same as before (kick-azz guitarwork and splendid vocals), however, they've also allowed themselves to include a couple of fresh ideas and moments. It's progressive, daring, and bombastic, melodic metal with just a slight hint of the modern stuff.

They've turned into a "real band" thing with Alyson Avenue's keyboardist Niclas Olson as one of the new faces. The other members are: Mats Ottosson (guitar), Mattias Höijer (bass) and Mikael Malmborg (drums). I've always promoted Annette Johansson as one of the better female vocalists around and probably the best to ever come out of Sweden (keep in mind that I'm merely talking about the melodic metal genre here). This CD will once and for all proclaim her as THE female voice of Sweden and she handles everything from operatic harmonies, fluffy AOR vocals, to the really aggressive and raspy stuff.

RMB Records/ Twilight 2006
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
30 November 2006

Michael Bormann and Jaded Heart went their separate ways a couple of years ago, and there has been some harsh words thrown into air. Jaded Heart bounced back a year ago with their "Helluva Time" album, stylewise a bit different to the old Jaded Heart, but still very good. Now it's Bormann's time, and his "response" is an excellent album that bears all the trademarks of "old-school" Jaded Heart, yet it also showcases some new aspects of Bormann. So, in the end... it might just be that us consumers ended up as winners in the "battle", as we get more quality material from both camps?

The title track is a fine, powerful hard rock track with a strong chorus. The lyrics are obviously about the break-up, and Michael doesn't hold back..."I've been sold down the river... my friends turned into my enemy..."

"It's Only Physical" is the kind of stomping stadium rock track that Bormann wrote for every Jaded Heart album. The big, anthemic chorus reminds me of Bonfire mixed with Def Leppard. A cool song, but not quite as cool as "Stand Up", the album's highlight with great keyboards, thoughtful lyrics and a fantastic chorus. Yes, we're talking about one of the best songs of the year!

The ballad "Two Of A Kind" features guest vocalist Anette Blyckert of Alyson Avenue sharing vocals with Michael. The chorus is quite excellent, but somehow the verses are a bit too sugary for my taste. Still, it could be a big pop hit, if it was recorded by some major pop artist. "No Regrets" is the albums' other highlight, a truly magnificent melodic rock track with again a terrific chorus. Yep, another contender for the "Song Of The Year" title!

The next two tracks "Devil's Son" and "Ain't Just A Bit" are both among my least favourite tracks of the album. I've never been into this kind of bluesy hard rock style, favoured by the likes of Badlands, Tattoo Rodeo etc. The AOR-styled "Living Just A Lie" is more to my liking, featuring the one and only Tommy Denander on guitars and co-writing (among other things). There's a bit of a Toto-vibe in it, as many Denander-related things tend to have, but it does rock more than Toto usually does. I detected a bit of an Axe influence in it too - Bormann might have picked a few things from Bobby Barth & the guys during the recordings of Jaded Heart's "IV" with them.

It's ballad time again with the awesome "Reaching Out". It's a slightly bluesy track too, but this time the blues-element only adds character to the song. The chorus is pure AOR though, reminding me of such bands as China or Treat. The pounding rocker "One Man One Soul" is another strong track, even though the chorus bears similarities to the Jeff Paris-written Y&T-track "Let It Out". "So This Could Be You" has been co-written by the members of Relapsed (formerly known as Guild Of Ages and CITA), and it sounds very much like their material, but better. I especially like the bombastic, layered vocals of the outro - great stuff.

I do hope that Bormann hasn't been completely serious when writing "Amazing". It could just as well be called "A Tribute To The Hit Ballads", as it sounds like an amalgamation of several popular rock ballads of the last twenty years - both musically and lyrically. You could play a game of "spot the songtitles" with it... take the chorus for instance: "You're so amazing, you're the air that I breathe / so amazing, you give me all that I need / You're amazing, I'm burning for you / It's so crazy, but I'd die for you / Thank you for loving me...". The lyrics might be sincere and heartfelt, but I have trouble taking them seriously. Musically, the song sounds like... well, no prizes for those who guessed, Aerosmith's "Amazing" and "Crazy" and Bon Jovi's "Thank You For Loving Me".

The album is closed with the ethreal ballad "Samirangel", which does sound genuinely heartfelt and sincere. It's a bit hard to get a grip of, because it's more like a mood piece than a typically constructed song. It's not one of my favourites, but I don't mind it either.

Out of the three Bormann-sung albums released during the last two months, this one is the strongest one, hands down. Good production, exceptionally good vocals and several killer songs should make this an essential buy for everyone into melodic hard rock.
www.michaelbormannpage.de

RCA/Sony 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
26 November 2006

There's two kinds of Foo Fighters fans really. First you have the ones that started out as Nirvana die-hards and merley see them as a nice attempt and continuing of their sound. Secondly you have the true, blue, no-clue, kiddies, that will simply adore everything they touch and couldn't care less about their past and history. I'll have to say that I'm "sort of" a part of the first bunch and will obviously compare this to a certain MTV unplugged release by Nirvana.

They were certainly fast when it came to releasing "Skin And Bones". This particular recording took place at the Pantages Theater, Hollywood, CA in August 2006. Mixed and mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway in Portland and quickly rushed to beat the worst christmas traffic for a late November release. Indeed, Christmas is the season for CD's (and to be jolly?) and what better than waking up with this little ripper under the Christmas tree???

Columbia/Sony 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
27 November 2006

Rogue Traders? Well, they come from the land downunder (Australia) and is fronted by the foxy actress/singer: Natalie Bassingthwaighte. She's very popular downunder (ehem, I'm not going a make a sleazy remark here) due to the neverending story and soap-opera of the "Neighbours". Yup, the very same TV soap that gave us ozzie musicians like Jason Donavan (who?), Kylie Minogue (meow!), Natalie Imbruglia (wow!) and Delta Goodrem (ka-blam!).

Their debut CD was released earlier in Australia and has produced a bunch of semi successful singles there. I seriously doubt that this will reach the top of the pops in Europe though. Sure, Rogue Traders play a nice and friendly rock/pop that won't upset folks nor attract much attention due to overall decent, but hardly great material. The music end up somewhere between the past rock of Blondie, and the present sound of Sweden's The Sounds (Living In America) and the punk-iest approach of Pink and No Doubt. Throw in tons of electro-pop for good measure and a flashy image and you're pretty close to its core.

Frontiers 2006
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
29 November 2006

Former Sheriff/Alias vocalist Freddy Curci is among my all-time vocalists, and I've been looking forward to this project, which has been in the making for quite some time. Now that I've listened to the album a few times, I have to say that I'm bitterly disappointed. The biggest reason for this is the production, which isn't very good, to put it mildly. I actually had to check whether my stereo equipment was working all right, because the sound quality varies so much. No, it wasn't the CD player... the overall sound is a bit muddy, and as a rule, as the songs fade out, it gets even worse.

Frontiers have been hyping about the super songwriters involved (Jeff Paris, Marc Ribler and Bob Marlette), but I can't say I'm that overwhelmed by the songs. I don't know who wrote what and it doesn't really matter, all I know that there's way too much average material here. Sure, there are a few rather good songs like "How Much Longer Is Forever" and "Who Do You Think You Are", but they've been in the circulation for some time as Alias demos. Of course it's nice to have them actually released, but with this kind of production they aren't that much better than the demos. Out of the newer (?) songs the opener "All It Takes Is A Minute" and "The Sky Is Falling" would be my picks, but that's about it.

It's great that Curci has overcome his health problems and returned to the scene. It's just too bad that this album doesn't paint a great picture of his talents.

Sony/BMG 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
26 November 2006

The Gallagher brothers, a couple of dirty, rotten, filfthy, stinking, rich, pair of tossers or just a couple of smooth Manchester geezers? They are not United but City fans and the more I think about it, Psycho Pearce is probably the ultimate manager in the eyes of the Gallagher's. So... what about British music of the mid 90's? well, I can't recall a thing about The Blur (it's all a blur, except for that song # whatever... the whaoh tune), The Suede were frankly too weird, and merely The Oasis left an lasting impression really.

They once said they wouldn't release a compliation until the band had folded/split. I'm not sure, but this could at least be their last album release at Sony Records. "Stop The Clocks" is a 18-track, 2-CD set, personally put together by Noel, and includes five tracks each from the first two albums, merely one each from the next following two, two from last years effort, and four b-sides of the past. Not a single new track nor any rare or previously unreleased material. Ohw, c'mon you lads, what's up with that anyhow? Surely they must have some goodies to give away to the fans??? A kick-azz booklet with all the lyrics, band history and glossy pictures could serve as a small surprise and that's it really. By the way, 18 tracks on 2CD's??? Talk about waste of a lot of unused space, they could almost squeeze in all 18 tracks on 1 CD, you know.

Epic/Sony 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
27 November 2006

Spinal Tap, Weird Al Yankovic, Bad News, Manowar, Poison, the rock history is full of comedy acts of the past. Tenacious D is the fat rocking duo of comedian/musician: Jack Black (School Of Rock, Nacho Libre) and Kyle Glass and "The Pick Of Destiny" is the soundtrack of their new comedy. The movie starts in the religious Black household headed by his father, played by Meat Loaf. A young Jack comes in and rocks the dinner table with a vengeance, causing his mother to pray and his dad to chase him into his rock poster filled room. Meat Loaf comes in to sing against the power of rock, and to tear down the young Jack's posters of The Who and AC/DC. But as he slams the door, young Jack asks his poster of DIO for guidance. The poster comes to life and DIO points Jack towards Hollywood to conquer the streets with his guitar.

Anyhow, Black & Glass meet to form Tenacious D and the rest of the movie is a quest for "The Pick Of Destiny". The CD comes with a Parental Advisory note (all hail Tipper Gore... her "bright" idea only made the hardrock albums sell more copies) and contains more swearing than a drunk Ted Nugent at a bible study in Notre Dame (what the f**k, no guns in heaven???). Sure, it's all comedy, however, the music is deeply rooted in the 70's and 80's hardrock and it's rather fun and innocent entertainment for the moment. Opening track "Kickapoo" features both Meat Loaf and Ronnie James Dio on guest vocals and it's a epic story about Black's family in the movie. There's an acoustic intro, a riff similar to "Takin' Care Of Business" (BTO), Meat Loaf start to sing against the power of rock, and Ronnie James Dio's part sound an awful lot like... ehem... DIO. "Baby" is a corny little ballad that sure made me laugh out loud, especially the ending where Black cries like a little baby is quite hysterical (:-)].

SPV 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
20 November 2006

"Here's a song for ya" - God bless David Coverdale, you can always count on him to use the same old opening phrase on each new song. Indeed, The Saltburn By The Sea born gentleman of British hardrock has appearantly decided to release another live effort under the Whitesnake moniker. There's been a bunch of compilation CD's & DVD's lately and you can't help to wonder if they've simply turned into KISS??? No need to save your money to buy the Whitesnake coffin as of yet as there are some good news up ahead.

"Live... In The Shadow Of The Blues" is indeed a 2-CD live release, however, you can also find four (4) brand new Whitesnake studio tracks. They've all been co-written by Coverdale and guitarist Doug Aldrich (ex-Lion, Hurricane, etc.), and are easily the most uptempo, rocking, tunes since the late 80's and "Slip Of The Tongue". In fact, it wouldn't be completely wrong or out of order to describe them as a continuing of the 'SOTT' sound. "Ready To Rock" will also remind you of the Coverdale/Page affair since it's very much in the vein of Led Zeppelin at times [don't tell Dave though, oh-no, not the old Coverdale vs. Plant comparsion again ;-)].

The guitarwork is quite brutal and upfront and Aldrich/Beach are using the same effect on the following "If You Want Me (I'll Come Running)". This is a fun uptempo rocker with a decent refrain and hook, not quite up to standard though. "All I Want Is You" is a great ballad in the U.S. rock style of Whitesnake and darn close to the sound of "Now You're Gone". The last of the four new studio tracks is titled "Dog" and it's more of a groovy, throw-away rocker. It's merely a (nice) taster of things to come though as they will (finally!) release a brand new studio album next year.

LionMusic 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
22 November 2006

Hailing from the U.S of A, this energetic power-trio play a kind of Rush and Dream Theater-tinged progressive metal, the kind of stuff that switches from melodic winsomeness to utterly boring guitar wanking. As a debut "Speaking To Stones" is an assured piece of work that promises more for the future to come. To name this an absolutely stunning debut or future classic would be too much praise, but don't get me wrong, it's classy stuff for sure.

"Still Life" has some great prog moments from the vocalist, who imbues the songs with a character all too often missing in this kind of music. And with the following, "Rescue me", they have managed to get their own sound standing them apart from the million and one Dream Theater copyists around. "Waiting For" is a melodic prog journey into Dream Theater and Genesis. However in their explorations "Down" and "My Final Sin" they seem to get lost into the whole 'Dream Theater' concept from time to time. It's frankly too much of a cover band at times.

LionMusic 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
20 November 2006

The second effort by Book Of Reflections is a decent slab of neo-classical, melodic, power metal. As always with the excellent Lars Eric Mattsson behind the six-string and the two lead vocalists Björn Jansson (Tears Of Anger) and Martin LeMar (Tomorrow's Eve). Add to this line-up: a mad skin-bashing drummer (Eddie Sledgehammer), guitarist Anand Mahangoe (Solo, Sphere Of Souls) and keyboardist Mistheria (Bruce Dickinson), and you'll know that we're talking about top-notch musicians.

There are some great ideas on this CD, most notably "Unfold The Future", which fits nicely in with the other neo-classical, 'Blackmore' sounding atcs. "Heal Me" houses the kind of mellow rock elements that lead you to believe that there's more to this band than "Chapter II - Unfold The Future" shows. "Ashes To Ashes" marches along in a mid-paced Rainbow groove, completed with smashing guitarwork by Lars Eric Mattsson.

Sony BMG 2006
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
25 November 2006

Having scored a gold record from the USA with "Dark Light", HIM are on the verge of becoming major stars. They'll probably have to wait for their next real studio album though, as these two new compilations (with a twist) are too left-field to push them to the superstardom. Stranger things have happended though...

The first one of the "Uneasy Listening" albums has been released before the biggest music buying season of the year, and it's apparently the slower, more mellow one. I'm pretty sure that this will be a very popular christmas gift item - it's suitably sentimental for the season, contains many familiar songs and the grandmas are more comfortable buying this than something with skulls and bones in the cover!

To the band's credit, it has to be said that this is a bit more interesting concept than just a regular compilation album. They did release one two years ago, so a normal compilation would have been seen as a complete cash-in product. At least now the die-hard fans get different versions of the familiar songs. It's another thing whether they'll like 'em.

I don't think that any of the alteranative versions here are actually better than the originals, but some of them are enjoyable enough. The likes of "The Funeral Of Hearts", "In Joy And Sorrow" and "Gone With The Sin" are fine songs even unplugged, not "uneasy listening" at all. The inclusion of "Join Me In Death (Strongroom Mix)" and "When Love And Death Embrace (AOR Radio Mix)" seems a bit unnecessary as they don't sound that different to the original versions, but I guess they are worthy to the HIM collectors.

There are a few occasions when the listening experience gets a bit "uneasy" indeed. The 60'ies styled version (for Finnish readers: "Badding"-styled) of "It's All Tears" is quite odd and Ville Valo's falsetto shrieks in the chorus are downright annoying. The "Deliverance version" of "Buried Alive By Love" is most probably delibrately clumsy and raw, but it doesn't work for me. The "Thulsa Doom version" of "Salt In Our Words" is weird, industrial flavoured and what's even worse, it reminds me of Björk. No, I'm not a fan. Actually, the further we go in the tracklisting, the less appealing the album gets, and the last few songs are just way too dull for their own good.
www.heartagram.com

Frontiers 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
21 November 2006

Cosmo as in Kramer??? Nope, we're not talking about the "I'm-not-a-racist (but I sure luv to use the N-word)" actor of Seinfeld fame. The Cosmo brothers, Anthony & Fran of Boston (and Orion The Hunter) fame, join forces under their rather suitable rock moniker. However, don't expect to find anything in the style of Boston and Orion The Hunter, since the Bro's are exploring the white spots on the map of rock territories. It's difficult to get a firm grip around this CD as its lack of real quality in the songwriting department is quite obvious.

Opening track, "Communication" is a decent mix of Kingdom Come and Led Zeppelin melodies. You sure can't help to draw similarities to a certain "Communication Breakdown". Those who like their rock with an grungy crossover feel will warm immediately to songs like "Don't Tell Me Your Lies", "No Surprise" or the following "Gravity". The first of the above three is a lite version of Nickelback (nice), the second is a mix of mid-90's grunge and the lost album with Steelheart (Wait - later released on Z Records), and the third number is utterly boring and typical Seattle rock of the past.

Target Records 2006
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
21 November 2006

This is the second album from the German band ToJa, and it's a quite well-produced set of classic hard rock in the vein of Deep Purple, Rainbow and even Judas Priest. The band's label doesn't save on superlatives in the accompanying press blurb, and while this isn't that bad, the songs do not "raise every music lover's heartbeat"...

This is one of those albums that you can play over and over again, yet it'd be damn hard to hum a single melody afterwards. Right now as I write this, the last song just ended, and by looking at the songtitles, I can't say much about most of the songs. Well, the opener "Killed By Ignorance" was OK, the second song had a bit of a celtic theme with tin pipes or what ever "folk" instruments...okay chorus though...The next few songs are all a bit blur, where did one end and where did the next one start...don't have any bad vibes about them so they might've been ok. I didn't like "Father" at all though, but "Help Me" was possibly the best songs of the album. The closing ballad "Requiem" was ok as well, one of the better ones.

Eagle 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
22 November 2006

Ho, Ho, Ho... How I love the voice of Ann Wilson... she's one of few vocalists that could sing the yellowpages and still make it sound interesting. Nontheless, this was probably her toughest mission yet, turn a sappy Christmas platter into something interesting to the average rock fan is perhaps a task too hard to handle? Eagle Records thought the world of the album though, they are now re-releasing it for the European market in 2006.

"A Lovemongers Christmas" is an eclectic blend of holiday songs ranging from the weird "Balulalow" (a 13th century traditional) to standards like "Ave Maria" and "Oh Holy Night", along with original compositions and two newly recorded tracks "Mary" and "Let's Stay In". Well, Thank God for the originals since I can't stand listening to an entire album with the same old Christmas carrols as always. I believe that a majority of the material is the original work of the Wilson sisters and it's all very cozy and acoustic performed music.

MTM Classix 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
16 November 2006

Confession time: The selftitled Da Vinci debut from 1987 happens to be one of my favourite pet hate objects when it comes to utterly boring AOR. It featured childish arrangements and truly awful melodies in the melodic school of things. "Back In Business" is however their second effort from 1989 and the Norwegians went through quite a change during those years. Yep, they sure knew how to bounce back from a dodgy start as we can find melodies of finest Scandi-rock tradition on this release.

Yo, "Back In Business" has now been remastered by MTM Classix with an exclusive bonus track. Well, the bonus track (Blame It On The Radio) has indeed been officially released for the first time, but you could already find it on the original demos intended for their third album. In fact, Da Vinci have an entire album of demos on the bootleggin' market and it's perhaps time to officially release them all on CD???

Sony BMG 2006
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
17 November 2006

Carmen Gray might just be the next Finnish band to make some waves outside the borders of this country. They're signed to a major label, have a strong album and a radio hit under their belt. What's more, while they have a style of their own, they have some common elements with the successful Finnish Rock acts such as HIM and The Rasmus.

Right from the start the band make it clear that they are not just another suicidal goth-rock band, by offering us a trio of catchy hard rock tracks. "Looking For Love" does have its' share of heartache, but musically it's strangely uplifting, reminding me of early Bon Jovi's moodier moments, with modern production values though. "Lost In My Mind Again" is the band's first hit single, and I wouldn't be surprised if the success would continue abroad. It's a very catchy song with hooks all over the place. "I'm No Good Anymore" continues in the same vein, full of energy and a positive vibe, despite the sad story told in the lyrics.

The pace is slowed down with "Unbeloved (Me & Suzy)", a good ballad with a bit of a HIM vibe. "My Mistake" follows, a somewhat 80's-like hard rock track. "Color Blind" has been chosen as the second single, and in a way it's a safe choice, as it sounds tailormade for the rock radio of today. Can't say I'm that fond of it though. The ballad "Lying With You" sounds more like a hit to me, a very cool song with fine melodies. My guess is that this song will become one of the bands' signature songs, and in a few years we'll be tired of hearing it on the radio...

The band falls into the dark and gloomy world occupied by the likes of HIM and 69 Eyes with "Misunderstood", but crawl their way back into the light with the glam-pop of "A Thing About Love", which could be a Poison or Pretty Boy Floyd track, if the contemporary production was stripped away. "Pieces Of My Broken Heart" is a strong hard rock track, once again reminding me a bit of HIM, mixed with Bon Jovi. The last track "A Grain Of Sand" is a bit of an "epic", 7 and a half minutes with grandiose arrangement and instrumentation, even a dramatic narrative bit somewhere there in the middle. Different, but good.

A set of good songs, superb production by T.T. Oksala and a talented band - what else is there to say? It's a good one!
www.carmengray.net

SPV 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
12 November 2006

There's a tendency within Power Metal, particulary European Power, to think very narrow-mindedly when it comes to making music. It's the same old dungeons & dragons lyrics and plastic swords as usual and some of the Swedish bands are actually the worst. Thus why Angra comes down like fresh breath of cold mountain air (I really need to work on my clichés and phrases), and their latest effort (Aurora Consurgens) happens to be a very solid album indeed.

Then again, the Brazilians are so much more to music than merely "power metal". The new CD is perhaps slightly heavier than previous attempts, however, it doesn't mean the usual style of the band is lost. In fact, all tunes still rely on influences of Brazilian music and there's a lot of percussion in the arrangements. They have definitely matured over the years and "Aurora Consurgens" is a fine mix of Queensryche, Iron Maiden & Helloween, inspired metal..

Black Cat Music 2006
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
9 November 2006

Tara's Secret are a new indie AOR band from UK, who are steadily building a good fanbase for themselves. "Tomorrow The World" is their second album, and while it's not the best thing since sliced bread, it does sound promising. There's still a bit too much contrast between the stronger and the weaker numbers - the best songs are top-notch stuff, but the weaker tracks make me reach for the skip-button quite fast. Thankfully there isn't too many of those.

The album starts with one of the band's finest songs, the Journey meets Bon Jovi-like "Drive Me Home". The song is a homage to classic melodic rock songs, and the lyric is based on song titles. It's quite hard to create a story that actually makes sense by using just song titles, but Tara's Secret succeed in it... at least to a degree.

The next two songs are from the other end of the spectrum: "I Believe" doesn't seem to work for me at all, and the laidback "Summer Days" is just too laidback for its' own good. The hard rocking "King Of Melville" gives a much-needed boost to the album, and it showcases the talent of vocalist John Trowbridge, a chameleon-like character who pulls out a cool Dave Meniketti-impersonation on this track! On most of the other tracks he sounds like a mixture of Richie Sambora and Steve Augeri with a touch of Meat Loaf thrown in...

"The Storm Inside" is a fine AOR-track and one of the highlights of the album. The next three tracks, "Love Shy", "Train Of Love" and "In Movies" are all okay, good album tracks - nothing more, nothing less. The dramatic "Shepherd's Warning" is quite impressive, sounding very much like Richie Sambora's solo material. "Final Regret" is even better, a truly fine and moody melodic rock track with some tasty guitar solos.

"Fantasy Girl" is a simple pop-rock track, and while it's not one of my favourites, I can't deny that it's quite catchy. "The Light" closes the album, and in keeping with melodic rock traditions, it's a big ballad. Quite a good one too.

Conclusion? The good songs are indeed very good, the production isn't too bad either, and I even like the album cover - it surely beats most of the lame science fiction covers we've seen during the last few years. Had this been a 10-track album without the two weakest tracks ("I Believe" and "Summer Days"), I wouldn't have hesitated in giving it a better rating.
www.taras-secret.com
www.myspace.com/tarassecret

Target Records 2006
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
15 November 2006

Multi-instrumentalist Frank Tiedemann of Seven Seals fame has put together a rather good pomp/hard-edged AOR album under the band name of Crow7. Musically I'm hearing similarities to Robby Valentine, Royal Hunt and Newman, although the latter does come more from the occasional vocal similarity between Tiedemann and Steve Newman than the actual songwriting.

The album kicks off promisingly with "Vidid Eye", a very cool track with a strong chorus, progressive passages and pompous keyboards. "Demons On A Ray" is another good song, followed by a ballad called "Time". While it's a decent ballad, it becomes increasingly obvious that Tiedemann should have considered hiring a vocalist for the album. His voice works okay in lower ranges, but the higher notes are painful to listen to.

The midtempo track "Crystal Wall" reminds me strongly of Steelheart's "Can't Stop Me Loving You", even the lyrics are dangerously close...still, I quite like the song, even though the backing vocals of the chorus are rather chaotic, as if there was a children's choir singing there!

The hard rocking "Fallen Angel" doesn't really impress me, but "Somewhere In Heaven" does. This semi-ballad is very much in the vein of Robby Valentine's material with interesting melodies and a good chorus. The ballad "Son Of A Hero" could be a Robby Valentine song as well, with its' bombastic chorus.

There are two title songs here, "The Picture" part one and two. They have the same lyrics, but the music is different. I have to say that I don't like either... Tiedemann is a bit too optimistic about his vocal capability on them. "Kiss Of Death" is the heaviest track of the album, and also one of the weakest tracks, with no chorus to speak of. Out Of the remaining songs, "Invisible Voice" and "Hand In Hand" are both good ballads, while "Janus" is a average heavy rocker.

I hope that on the next Crow7 album Tiedemann brings in a vocalist, who could truly do justice to his songs. www.crow7.de

MTM Music 2006
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
13 November 2006

"Stronger" is the second collaboration of former Jaded Heart vocalist Michael Bormann and Norwegian musicians Per Helge “Peppa" Bruvoll (drums), Lars Forseth (guitar) and Tore Moren (guitar). Stylewise it's not too far from the Jaded Heart material of the past, but I find it hard to get that ethusiastic about these songs. While Bormann & the guys are in good form, the hooks aren't that sharp and some of the songs are just plain boring.

"Do You Like It" opens the album, sounding like an modern-sounding version of a typical slow paced Jaded Heart song. This might be good live song with its' simple chorus, but no, I don't like it that much... Still, I rate it better than "Insobriety" which is downright annoying with it's repetitive chorus. "Get Over It" sees the going for a modern rock sound, with influences from the likes of Lacuna Coil and Within Temptation. It's a moody song and I quite like it.

Bormann's been called as the German Jon Bon Jovi, and the next few songs remind us of that. "Crazy" is a good, laidback melodic track in the vein of Jovi's "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night", while "I'd Die For You" is not a BJ cover, but a very BJ-sounding ballad. "Flesh & Blood" is another easy-going midtempo rocker, and even though it doesn't offer anything eartshaking, it's enjoyable enough. Same could be said of "Let Me Be Your Favourite"... quite good.

The guys have another go at writing a Bon Jovi ballad with "The Other Side". It's a good attempt, and to be honest, it is probably just as good as most of the recent Jovi-ballads have been... that doesn't mean too much though.

The three remaining songs aren't among the best ones. "Deserve It" is a laidback track that reminds me a bit of Nelson, "Love Is By Your Side" a acoustic-driven ballad, and "Lovesong" yet another BonJovisque ballad with an intro that sounds like "We Are The Champions" or something. I don't dislike any of these songs, but I can't say that I actually like them either.

While "Stronger" has its' moments, compared to the two other Bormann-sung albums released within the last two months (Zeno's "Runway To The Gods" and his solo album "Conspiracy"), it draws the shortest straw.
www.rain-web.de

Sonic Vibe Records 2006
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
9 November 2006

a quick search in our archives revealed that the previous Accomplice album ("s/t") has been reviewed by Urban a few years ago. He compared the band to the likes of Yes and Kansas, but the times have changed and these days the band deals with powerful hard rock. Some progressive elements are still left in their sound, but mostly it's more rock than prog!

"She's On Fire" has been produced by Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Billy Idol) and Simon Phillips (Toto). I was kind of surprised about that, since the production values seem to vary a lot from one song to another. Especially the drum sounds are quite muddy at times. Maybe that is intentional, to go for a "lo-fi" sound every now and then.

Apart from name producers, there's a lot of talent in the band. The main writer/guitarist Sean Michael Clegg has over 20 album credits to his name, while keyboard player Michael T. Ross is also a member of Angel and Hardline. Bassist Scott Snyder and drummer Richard Arbuckle are acknowledged players as well. Last but not least, on vocals there's one Johnny Gioeli, known for his work with Hardline and Axel Rudi Pell. His performance is as excellent as always - he truly is one of the great vocalists of today.

It all comes down to songs though, and I'm afraid that Accomplice can't win me over with this material. After several spins, only two of the songs stand out: the bluesy, yet catchy "Cry Again" and the Van Halensque pop-metal track "City Walls". I can't really say much about the others, as none of them really left a mark on me... there were traces of Led Zeppelin in some of them, so if Zep's your kind of stuff, do check this out! Of course this album is a must for all die-hard Johnny Gioeli fans too.
www.accomplicemusic.com

Eagle 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
14 November 2006

This live outing was recorded at the legendary Fillmore and it's packed with faboulous guitar playing, gravelly singing and real passion. It is the vital ingredient that lifts The Black Crowes above so many other bluesy hardrock acts. The Atlanta/Georgia born Robinson brothers (Chris - vocals, Rich - guitar) has always refused to compromise it in anyway to appease current trends and record companies. This is basically the same old rock as usual and it still reeks of The Faces, Humble Pie, and The Stones.

They have indeed managed to capture their true essance with this 2-CD release. The Crowes open their gig with "Halfway To Everywhere" and have the audience eating out of their palms throughout the entire set. Hits like "Jealous Again", "She Talks To Angels", "Hard To Handle" (a cover of Otis Redding's 1968 hit), and "Remedy" ensure that the adrenalin is surging. You also have a couple of slow songs which causes even the non-smokers in the audience to get out their indispensable lighters.

MajesticRock 2006
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
14 November 2006

Waysted are one of those bands with its own, totally recognisable sound, and if you listen to their latest effort (Back From The Dead - 2004), you'd be both deaf and dumb if you couldn't find any similarities between it and earlier recordings. Fin is still as raspy and far-out as always and Pete Way is still a solid rock (ehem, quick, hide your bottles) on the bassguitar.

"Organized Chaos Live" was recorded live at the Barfly, Glasgow on the 21st of September 2005. Mixed and mastered by Robin George (yeah, the Grand Slam bloke with the 'Heartline' hit), the overall sound is raw and honest without being too sappy or lousy. I most however admit that I miss the guitarwork of Paul Chapman (ex-UFO) and even the steady beat of Andy Parker. There's nothing particular wrong with their replacements (Chris George, Paul Haslin), I guess they just don't have the same background and history.

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