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« January
Wednesday, February 22
LACUNA COIL – “DARK ADRENALINE”
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Wed 22 Feb 2012 00:18 GMT
Milan-based Atmospheric/Gothic Metalers Lacuna Coil have managed to capture the attention of fans and music media through a string of highly successful commercial-sounding releases and through a really clever marketing strategy – one that takes full advantage of the fact that the band has in its ranks Cristina Scabbia who is one of the most beautiful looking women in the music industry. These very reasons, which brought many people closer to the band’s music these last eighteen years, were also the ones that steered me as far away from them as possible – I am not a great fan of the superficial. So, how did I end up preparing a review for the band’s sixth full length release “Dark Adrenaline”, one might rightfully ask? Believe it or not, something possessed me to actually ask the band’s label Century Media to grant me access to this release and I am truly happy to have done that as this has proven to be a thoroughly enjoyable experience! more »
Monday, February 20
RE-ARMED – “WORLDWIDE HYPNOTIZE”
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Mon 20 Feb 2012 20:18 GMT
Ever since Amorphis first graced us with their presence back in 1990, Finland witnessed a slow but steady growth in its number of Heavy Metal bands, to the point that our beloved music is now in terms of popularity to the Finns what Lady Gaga is to the rest of the world! Throughout this process, the ‘land of the thousand lakes’ has enjoyed its own quite distinctive sound and scene so it is very strange to witness a new band such as Re-Armed looking towards neighbouring Sweden for inspiration. Anyhow, the fact remains that Re-Armed are about to release their debut album “Worldwide Hypnotize” through Massacre Records and what remains to be established is what this nine track album has to offer to Metalheads like you and me. more »
RAGE – “21”
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Mon 20 Feb 2012 19:53 GMT
Germany has for many years been the “breeding ground” for some of the most impressive Metal bands around and even though naming the most important Teutonic Extreme Metal band of all time may well be a matter of personal choice, only a fool would doubt the fact that Rage, the Power/Thrash trio with Herr Peter “Peavy” Wagner at the helm for the last twenty years, may well be the most prolific of them all! Why? Simply because there are not many bands that I know from this part of the world who are about to release the 20th studio album of their career! Riding on the success of last year’s truly impressive “Strings To A Web”, the power trio prepared yet another album full of passion and raw energy – an eleven track opus entitled “21”. more »
Thursday, February 16
VENDETTA – “FEED THE EXTERMINATION”
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Thu 16 Feb 2012 20:26 GMT
1987 was a very important year for me. Having been introduced to the likes of Metallica and Slayer through older acquaintances friends and the invaluable guidance of the Greek Metal Hammer, it did not take long before I realised that Thrash Metal was my genre of choice. That is when the epic task of obtaining every single Thrash Metal album available began – an almost impossible task, due to the fact that the distribution of the most obscure albums of the genre was almost non-existent in my beautiful country at the time. I cannot remember how and when it happened but at some point in the early to mid-90s a copy of “Go And Live…Stay and Die”, Vendetta’s 1987 debut album, finally landed in my hands and, even though the material on offer could hardly be described as innovative, these German thrashers made enough of an impression on me so as to be genuinely pleased when I found out that twenty five years later they are about to release their fourth studio album entitled “Feed The Extermination” – an album whose review you are now about to read. more »
Tuesday, February 14
Enochian Theory - Life...And All It Entails
by
Jason
on Tue 14 Feb 2012 23:24 GMT
Formed in 2004 this is the band's second album and for a three piece they make a wide soundscape. The band's line-up is Benedict Harris-Hayes (throat/guitars/piano), Sam Street (drums/percussion) and Shaun Rayment (bass) plus the Lost Orchestra who add synths/sound FX (the Lost Orchestra is composed and arranged by Benedict). ... more »
Monday, February 13
The Magnificent
by
Jason
on Mon 13 Feb 2012 09:28 GMT
Mr Big “Live From The Living Room” (Frontiers)
by
Jason
on Mon 13 Feb 2012 09:27 GMT
Recorded in January 2011, whilst the band were playing promotional dates in Japan in support of their recent “What If...” album, Mr Big are about to release new album “Live From The Living Room”. Recorded in front of an intimate audience at Tokyo’s WOWOW TV studio, the set ... more » Sunday, February 12
ANGEL WITCH – “AS ABOVE, SO BELOW”
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Sun 12 Feb 2012 21:44 GMT
It really is no exaggeration to say that London-based NWOBHM combo Angel Witch is one truly unique band. Having formed back in 1977 (under the moniker “Lucifer”) by guitarist/vocalist Kevin Heybourne, Angel Witch went through quite a decent number of line up changes prior to releasing their 1980 classic opus “Angel Witch” – an album whose power and influence was such that it granted the band legendary status but also an album which, according to many fans and media reps, has not been surpassed to date by Heybourne and his numerous collaborators. The band’s story becomes ever so comlplicated as the years go by and even though quite a few releases managed to see the light of day along the way, the last studio offering was back in 1986 – a nine track album entitled “Frontal Assault”. Twenty five years later (!) and featuring yet another new line up, Angel Witch are about to finally release their fourth full length album “As Above, So Below” and the one thing that I am sure most of you are wondering, as I certainly did, is whether this is still a band whose work is worthy of attention from fans and media alike. more »
ALCEST – “LES VOYAGES DE L’AME”
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Sun 12 Feb 2012 21:42 GMT
One of the things that music journalists love to do, especially the ones involved in the ever expanding Metal scene, is to create new sub-genres and then christen them with all sorts of complicated names. While this tends to become an overty complicated and ever so confusing process, there are times when one could say that it is totally justified as there are numerous bands out there whose musical orientation can no longer be confined by the strict boundaries first set more than three decades ago. One such band that defies categorisation is the French duet Alcest – an outfit that has been under the spotlight for quite a few years now and whose third studio album “Les Voyages De L’ Ame” will soon occupy a prominent position on the shelves of record stores – real or virtual - around the world. more »
Friday, February 10
Various - Hooked On Number Ones 100 Non-Stop Hits
by
Jason
on Fri 10 Feb 2012 15:28 GMT
The 80’s saw a raft of pop medley albums from Star Sound’s ‘Stars On 45’ through to the popular Hooked On…series, where the classical ones conducted by Louis Clark (of ELO fame) proved very popular. Then there is this one created by Geoff Morrow (from pop band Butterscotch) and Howard ... more » Thursday, February 9
Tuesday, February 7
Styx ‘The Grand Illusion/Pieces Of Eight – Live’ (DVD)
by
Jason
on Tue 07 Feb 2012 16:37 GMT
Starting with a young kid ... more »
This Uneven Sky
by
Jason
on Tue 07 Feb 2012 14:21 GMT
A band from Manchester featuring Noel Fraser (vocals, guitar, keyboards, mandolin), Andy Chemney (drums. backing vocals), Steve Ferguson (guitar, backing vocals) and Mark Murray (bass). They cover a multitude of musical styles from rock to folk and blues and they already have a fan in ‘Classic Rock’s’ Dave Ling. Sunday, February 5
Various - Songs Of Anarchy: Music from Sons of Anarchy
by
Jason
on Sun 05 Feb 2012 21:35 GMT
A fifteen song compilation from the TV series 'Sons Of Anarchy' that like any compilation is a mixed bag. The Forest Rangers back-up most of the vocalists on here and the pick of the album are Paul Brady's version of the Stones 'Gimme Shelter' and the Lions who do a ... more »
Michael Thompson Band – Future Past
by
Jason
on Sun 05 Feb 2012 19:46 GMT
Fiona “Unbroken”
by
Jason
on Sun 05 Feb 2012 19:42 GMT
“Unbroken” is the fifth album from Fiona, and comes 19 years after her last release. Big, polished and harking back to the ‘80’s in places, the album was produced by House of Lords main man James Christian- whose wife, Robin Beck, duets on the track “This Heart”. The sound of ... more » Saturday, February 4
WARP DRIVE - Something To Believe In
by
Jason
on Sat 04 Feb 2012 21:44 GMT
Warp Drive caused a stir with their debut album 'Gimme Gimme' back in the late 80's but then along came grunge and knocked them for six. This is their second album which they started to record back in 1990 but it never got released until now after those lovely folk ... more »
Envy The Fallen - Hoist The Colours
by
Jason
on Sat 04 Feb 2012 20:17 GMT
Another emerging new British hardcore metal act, this time from
Newquay. Envy The Fallen are exponents of fairly extreme metal core of
the shouty vocal persuasion. It is fast and furious stuff from the off
and over the six tracks on the EP they prove themselves more than
capable.
Of ... more »
Stemm - Crossroads
by
Jason
on Sat 04 Feb 2012 20:16 GMT
Stemm have been about in various forms for a number of years and
have developed into a very tight and very heavy hardcore metal band.
Their music was adopted early in the band’s career as the soundtrack to
the Ultimate Fight Championship which suits their musical style to a T.... more »
Captain Black Beard - S/T
by
Jason
on Sat 04 Feb 2012 20:14 GMT
With a name like Captain Black Beard I was fully expecting some
full-on, swashbuckling Pirate metal from this crew. This album though is
less “Aaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr” and more AOR. The Captain and crew have been
playing around the clubs of Stockholm for a couple of years and this is
their first ... more »
Wednesday, February 1
Human Temple ‘Halfway To Heartache’
by
Jason
on Wed 01 Feb 2012 15:53 GMT
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