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| Blessed By A Broken Hearts album "Feel The Power" is an incredibly impressive show in great riff-based progressive pompmetal with wonderful melodic choruses and vocal harmonies that may be as AOR and power pop bands to gasp for breath. This album is a crazy wonderful combo of styles and this is also an album that grows with EVERY listening. I'm incredibly impressed with the production, songwriting, the band's appearance, energy, and not least, the singer Tony Gambino. Do yourselves a favor and take a close look on this band. I've never heard a similar combo of styles. "Shut Up And Rock 'is a stunning mix of City Boy choirs, growl, a boombastic guitarsolo with Thin Lizzy vibes, and I do not know more what to say. The entire album is a smorgasbord of what I like. Amazingly good and this album will end up high of my list of this year's best albums. Just listen to the choir singing and the Progressive duel between keyboards, guitars in the third track "Love Nightmare" and the harmonyvocals a'la Robby Valentine!... And that's just a little of what is offered ... No, enough said ... This disc is only available on the crash. It is long since I was this happy to hear new music. Masterpiece. |
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| Is this a sci-fi film, an epic soundtrack or a missing overture from Beethoven performed as a rock opera? Well, there are many mysterious things about Les Friction where the composer goes under the pseudonym as Helmut Vonlichten aka ES Posthumous and the singer is called Paint. The story within their album "Louder than words" takes place in 2048 AD where humans are able to leave their earthly home and travel to other dimensions, while traveling, a shell of their body remains on earth and functions at a reduced capacity.
Anarchy ensues and the travelers begin to receive millions of S.O.S.’s from their families on earth. Now, they must fight and struggle their way back home to save
earth from certain destruction. The story begins........
This is the work of a genius, a mastermind, a composer that has worked on more than 300 records and 100 TV and film projects. 3 icons died the same year PS Posthumous was born, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin. Of some reason, I do believe their spirit was connected somehow with the child that 40 years later would stop crime and write history with Les Friction. Arjen Lucassen would be proud over such a milestone, and I wonder if not Jared Leto stopped by the studio for some inspiration. Pure pomp my dear friends! |
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| MoeTar is a band that will surprise you in many ways, their unpredictable sound of artprog and classic rock. Their melodies that should make Sparks proud or their complex songstructures that you haven´t since the days of Zappa, you can also add traces of Gentle Giant and Kevin Gilbert into this musical mess and you´ll get the Bay Area band MoeTar. They are Moorea Dickason - Lead Vocals, Tarik Ragab - Bass, Matthew Charlea Heulitt - Guitar, Matt Lefobsky - Keyboards and Dave Flores - Drums. Their debut "From these small seeds" is as adventurous as an album can get and it´s also total extasy for a music freak like myself, I can´t think of any other word than Masterpiece. Thank you and goodnight! |
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| Sheriffwas formed in 1979 in Toronto, Ontario and consisted of vocalist Freddy Curci, guitarist Steve DeMarchi, keyboardist Arnold Lanni, bassist Wolf Hassel and drummer Rob Elliott.The only release wasthis, theself-titled 1982 album, that featured a Canadian Top 40 hit, "You Remind Me" as well as their most famous song, "When I'm with You", which reached #1 in Canada and #61 in the United States in 1983, and later became a number 1 hit in the US 1989, after a radiostation picked it up! But the band had allready split up in 1985, citing internal tensions. Lanni and Hassel went on to form the great band Frozen Ghost and racked up several hits in Canada, the biggest of which was "Should I See.
Back to the Sheriff album... Thanks to the great Rock Candy-label it now once again see the light of day on CD with a great informativebooklet andseven livebonus tracks. Is it necessary to tell you that this is a must buy! Musically we're talking about classy AOR in the vein that it sounded in the early 80's. And the album is up there with the best. Freddy Curci voice is nothing less than amazing and the songwriting and production is also really damngood. A perfect mix of guitardriven songsmixed with classy-keyboards.
If you like Franke & The Knockouts, Foreigner, Styx and Wrabitand you for some weird reason missed this one - get it at once. For us guys and girls who've lived with the album for 30 years - buy it as well due to the nice booklet, remastering and the bonustrack. Favorite songs - well - just mentioning the start - You Remind Me, California, Makin My Way and When I'm With You... And after that you have another bunch in the same calibre. |
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| I remember back in late 2010 when I heard Futures for the first time. I liked their Jimmy Eat World-inspired pop/rock music full of energy. Since then the band have been working their way through the underground scene, leaving a trail of great live shows behind. Now they return with their major debut the Karma Album. Instantly I hear a better sound and stronger material, as expected. One song made it on here from the indie release and I will get to that later on. We are off to a slow start on the album but it gets better as soon as the first big chorus kicks in. We are treated to dreamy pop music like a softer side of JEW or Kids in Glass Houses without any hints of screaming. Valencia and The Dangerous Summer might also be good references. Almost every song on here is super catchy with nice harmonies and big choruses. A classic formula but hey, why change a winning concept? Islands in the Sea is a prime example, a song that is impossible to sit still while listening to. Futures manage to balance the lyrics so that they are not cheesy and it is refreshing to hear songs that are not only about heartbreaks and misery. Karma Satellite is another grower and it gets bigger and better as the songs go. It just goes on and on, song after song that will make you smile, nod your head and maybe even dance a little. The Boy Who Cried Wolf is the only song that made it from the indie album and it is such a great song, once again with a killer chorus. I have a hard time finding any flaws here and I will not spend any more time looking for then either. If there really is Karma, this album will bring the big break for Futures. This is a brilliant pop album! Better than Anberlin, Mae and such acts, that is not a bad feat for a band that has been around for a little over three years. The final lines on the album are: “hey hey, we are on our way” over and over again and I do believe that they are on their way to stardom. Album of the year so far in my books and I can tell you this: GET IT TODAY! |
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| Mark Spiros album 'Care Of My Soul" which was released in 1994, is one of the best albums ever released. The genious pop that Mark presented on the album is all that is needed to satisfy me. Great songs, great lyrics, a wonderful production and on top of that Mark Spiro unique and personal voice. Now - 18 years after the disc was released for the first time, it comes in a version with two extra songs that are also world-class - Hey Daisy and the track Encinitas which have a little more modern production in the programmed drum beat as an extra spice. The disc is released in a beautiful digipack with a thick booklet with of course all texts included. Have you not heard this brilliant man before it's not too late to discover him. Do it today. For those of you who already have "Care Of My Soul " in you collection. Buy it again. First, for the nice package and partly for the two extra tracks. Music does not get better than this. |
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| In 1982 i was 15 when i got the "Racing Time" album by Santers. I was so impressed by this release that i got their debut "Shot Down In Flames" one week later. Funny enough i never saw them live until now, 30 years later !
On sunday oct 21st they played their exclusive European continent show in Helmond at a venue called The Lakei.
Sunday nights are the worst to organize a gig, and especially when the band released their 3 albums between '81 and '84 ("Top Secrecy" recorded in '86 only came out late 90's).
The average age of the audience was of course between 40 and 55 but nevertheless Santers came, saw and conquered.
The night before they played at Firefest but this time they performed longer. Kicking off with "Winter Freeze","Time After Time" and "Loa/Black Magic". Then the magical "Mystical Eyes" with the awesome riff in-between, following was "Still I Am","The Rapper","Back Streets" and the outstanding ballad "Dreaming" from the Guitar Alley album. The sound was good until now but became excellent and more improving with "Dog Without A Home" and their cover version of "All Right Now" (i still love that guitar scratch thing in the middle). Rick Santers proved that he's still a great performer, as in playing guitar, as in singing and this after all these years. But also Rick Lazaroff knows his job very well as a bass player. "Shot Down In Flames" continued, further on "You Turn Me On" and Mark Santers on drums gave away his part of the show with a awesome drum solo. "Mistreatin' Heart" was absolute brilliant and they ended the show with "Can't Shake You". When they came back for the encore they played "Mississippi Queen" with brother Mark on vocals and closed off the show with public favorite "Road To Morocco".
Like i said, not many people witnessed this outstanding performance but the ones who did were really up lifted with nostalgic memories. I really hope it won't take another 30 years before i see Santers live again. And if it would be like that, i would be 75 .... but i can guarantee you i would still know every single lyric of "Racing Time" !!!
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| Get ready for a huge dose of smashing active rock from Swedish hard rock band Straight Frank, their major label debut on Sony Music kicks ass and it´s even better than the impressive independent debut from 2010. Only one song has been re-recorded from their first album and that´s the superb "We all die young", the rest is just brand new killer songs all from the new single "Monster" to the super heavy "Misery". This must be one of the best modern rock albums I´ve heard lately, imagine Chris Cornell singing with a band of members from Foo Fighters and Alter Bridge and you´ll get Straight Frank. This is a massive record and you´ll be sorry if you dont check it out. |
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| Swedish H.e.a.t are back with a new album and talk about high expectations. These youngest took the AOR-world by surprise with their debut album (2009) and followed up with another monster album called Freedom Rock (2010). Soon after Freedom Rock was released lead singer Kenny Leckermo decided to leave the band and question was could they survive that? The answer is a BIG YES. Erik Grönwall a former winner of Swedish Idol took over as front man with class. I was a bit unsure if he could fill Kenny’s shoes, but I have to admit that he does a damn fine job on Address The Nation. H.e.a.t is a group that can write huge AOR-songs and the arrangements are just outstanding. The production is the strongest they had so far and that thanks to Tobias Lindell that has done a brilliant work. Tobias has found the right mixture of the twin guitars from Dave Dalone and Eric Rivers with Jona Tee’s fantastic keyboard sound. Songwise this is the weakest (still far away from bad) album in my opinion and it took couple of spins for me to get hooked on few of the songs, but after that I can only say that this is AOR by huge numbers. The album opens up with the Arena rocker Breaking The Silence with powerful whoa-whoa-whoa´s in the best Giant style and the chorus is huge. Next up is the first single Living On The Run and this is an AOR with everything from stunning melodies to brilliant hooks and a chorus to die for. This could be the AOR-song of the year. Falling Down takes hold of your right away with a bombastic chorus and Erik sings awesome. The ballad The One And Only could have been written by Europe in the heyday but in the H.e.a.t standards this is just OK. Stunning keyboards opens up Better Off Alone and the pre-chorus is just amazing and runs into an outstanding chorus in the best Giant style and you don’t get closer to AOR-heaven and they have even a keyboard solo. In And Out Of Trouble is built up little like Straight For Your Heart from the debut, but what the hell did they bring the saxophone that ruins almost the song. Heartbreaker in another song with whoa-whoa-whoa choirs and this rocks big time with great riffs and a sing-a-long chorus that won’t leave your head when you heard it. The album rounds off with Downtown that grows for every spin, but I miss a strong chorus on this one, but still an enjoyable song. Well, H.e.a.t are back with strength and has recorded an outstanding album that won’t disappoint any fans out there and might even get new ones. So don’t hesitate to get yourself a copy of this monster album in the best Europe (Out Of This World), Giant and Starship (Love Among The Cannibals) style.
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| The Irish-born vocalist Robin McAuley is probably most famous asthe singer in theMcAuley Schenker band, Far Corporation, and a late version ofSurvivor. But before these bands he had his best period, and that withGrand Prix,a band thatrecordedthree albums in the early 80's, of which this album, the third was released 1983. The album is REALLYreally good and I remember when I bought it in the local record store and heard the song 50/50 for the first time.It completely blew me off the chair and the disc contains a lot of strong songs in the same pompous AOR with the typical British tone. It's just to name titles such as "Here We Go Again", "Countdown To Zero" and "Somewhere tonight" and you realize what an amazing power this albumsits on. The producer John Eden (why havent he produced more records in this genre?) did a great job with the album and it still sounds really fresh about this album. Besides a reallylovely booklet and great remastering Rock Candy Recordsoffers two bonus tracks in the form of two live songs where the bandprove how good they sounded live. Buy it today AOR folks. Caue it's worth the money due to the nice booklet and the remastering, cause I hope all of you allready are awareof thisclassic AOR-album. |
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Wow! A Silent Film have with their second album "Sand & Snow" provided us with a candidate when it comes 2012's best albums. Did enjoy their debut "The City That Sleeps" which was released on Bieler Brothers in 2010, but this is clearly better as it offers atmospheric and beautiful rock at its best. The opening tracks "Reaching the Potential" and "This Stage is Your Life" sets the level directly and really shows the best out of todays British bands.
Should you look for any differences from the debut, it feels like "Sand & Snow" is more progressive and electronic. It is also a bit more up-tempo, but even more beautiful which makes the album feels both fresh and innovative. Certainly there are some similarities to Coldplay and Keane, but A Silent Film have found something of their own here and have every chance to get their big break this year.
Other tracks worth mentioning are "Let Them Feel Your Heartbeat" and "Love Takes a Wrecking Ball", but could have chosen any other track at any time when the level is impressively high from start to finish. One of 2012's best albums to date clearly!
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| I'll never forget when I heard Celldwellers debut album from 2003. The disc completely blew me off the chair with a sound that was a unique mix of modern rock and electronic music. Much has happened over the years Celldweller has played, and the new album is amazing and real damn good. It is more synth and electronica than the previous work, yet also more progressive. And raw. And melodic. And, incredibly well produced and well performed. All spiced with huge strong song material that grows for each listening. This is a disc that will play a lot of Winberg's house the forthcoming years and I am completely stunned with the way the disc sounds and the songs it contains. A big bloody roar that screams - YEAH! |
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| Second album out by the guy who’s something like the BILL CHAMPLIN of Sweden. We’re talking about ANDREAS ALEMAN, a Stockholm guy with a splendid voice that fits westcoast/soul perfectly. If you liked his debut album (“This Is Life”, Eidolon 2008) all you need to do is open your wallet and buy. Yes, it’s that simple! As always, there’s a fine share of funk mixed into Andreas’ songs, and it shows already in the opener “Power”. MICHAEL McDONALD wouldn’t have done it better. Anyone into AIRPLAY? OK, lend an ear to “If it’s a dream”, where you get a cool collaboration between the lead guitar, the horns and the rest of the ensemble. This is music that’s carefully crafted – each song and arrangement has been thought through before recordings. The nice variations on this CD are accentuated by “Right out loud2, since it’s more like ERIC GADD but with a more interesting production. Actually not too far from OLE BÖRUD’s stuff either. And boy, it swings! I could go on with every son here, but I won’t. The slight “Georgy Porgy” beat in “Helplessly in love” shall be mentioned, and this tune has a lot of AL JARREAU vibes! TOWER OF POWER pops up in my mind when I hear “keep on keepin’ funky”, and I’ll finish here. This is a really good CD that every westcoast fan must have. Great musicians once again, with real instruments all over. Songwriting is mainly involving ALEMAN and his usual suspects, and by that I mean BRIAN HOBBS, ADAM FIETZ (ACT), STEFAN GUNNARSSON and a few more. Keep ‘em coming, Andreas! |
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| I was really impressed when I heard the guys in Paper Route way back and when they released their first fulllength-album "Absense" back in 2009 I fell in love completely with their ambient poprock with a minor progressive edge. A few month back they released the follow up - "The Peace Of Wild Things" and what can I say more that this album will end up high on my top 10 list of albums from 2012... It's completely marvellous. The impressive production and sound, the songs and the performance is just brilliant and these guys playes in the same league and division as Mute Math, Flickerstick, Copeland, Mew and Lovedrug added with a retrosound a'la Ultravox in songs like "Glass heart Hymn". Actually enough said folks... If you like the modern ambient progressive rock Paper Route may have done the best album in the genre this year. Marvellous. |
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| Pay attention now because Wigelius is a new AOR sensations from Sweden that delivers a high class debut album. These guys are strongly influenced by classic AOR bands for sure and Daniel Flores (Issa, The Murder Of My Sweet) has guided them to record a stunning album. If you’re a fan of Work Of Art, H.E.A.T, Grand Illusion and Xorigin then this is an album you can’t miss. The album opens up with the huge AOR-rocker "Angeline" with catchy hooklines and a catchy chorus, AOR by numbers. "Talking About Love" is a wonderful mid-tempo song with nice harmonies and a strong chorus. "Next To Me" is another AOR winner with riffantastic guitars and an awesome chorus and reminds little of Stan Meissner, not a bad thing. The only filler on this album is "Piece Of The Action" that don’t come up to the same level as the rest, just an average song. Too Young To Fall In Love is a superb AOR-rocker with lovely melodies, crunchy guitars and a great chorus. Don’t miss the pompish part after the chorus, brilliant stuff. Fans of H.E.A.T first album will jump of joy when they hear "Right Here Right Now" because this is a fantastic AOR-song with layers of melodies and a huge chorus, the guitar solo is brilliant. The Richard Marx sounding acoustic ballad "Love Can Be That Much" is good were Anders Wigelius sings outstanding. Anders is a new vocal sensations from Sweden that has both power and feeling when he sings. Rest of the band is Erik Wigelius (drums), Jake Svensson (guitars) and Chris Pettersson (bass), these guys have done a fantastic debut album and will be on many play-list this year. Daniel Flores had done a top-notch work on the production and the sound is huge. So don’t hesitate to buy this album, get it right now. |
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Did you know that?
Gene Simmons of KISS was once an elementary school teacher.
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latest reviews
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