Latest Reviews


		Green River Ordinance "Wait a minute more" (Independent,2010) Producer: Genre: Modern Rock Format: Album Website: www.greenriverordi... Reviewed by: Kaj Roth Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Texas based Green River Ordinance is giving away their new album "Wait a minute more" for free at bandcamp.com, fans of their previous effort "Out of my hands" should head on over right away and get it because GRO continue to deliver classy contemporary modern rock in the same vein as The Script, Augustana, The Fray, Safetysuit and Parachute. The album opens with "Tight rope" and immediately I find myself humming along to this radio friendly song, I was expecting to find the track "Rise up" featured on the new album but it isn´t. It was featured on the Team USA Olympic Soundtrack earlier this year so it remains a non album track. "Here we are" (originally released on the 2007 EP Way back home) sounds like a lost Third Eye Blind song, love it! Highly recommendable!

		Goo Goo Dolls "Something For The Rest of Us" (Warner Music ,2010) Producer: Rob Cavallo Genre: Modern Rock Format: Advance album Website: www.googoodolls.com Reviewed by: Tom Spinelli Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Talk about a career this band has had. The Goo Goo Dolls gear up to release their new album “Something For the Rest of Us” on August 31, 2010. Following up from the last successful album, the band continues to show that they are in the top ranks for best alternative rock band. John Rzeznik and Co. knows what works for them and their fans. This time around the band is in higher spirits with more upbeat tracks. Producing 10 solid potential singles from this album the hits start right from the beginning. “Sweetest Lie” is a more upbeat rocker that sets a good tone for the album. Unexpectedly, a ballad comes in right at number two with “As I Am.” I’ll be honest this is the best song on this album. In the vein of “Without You Here” the band takes this slow emotional track to a huge uplifting chorus. This is setup for a number one hit. “Home” is currently the new upbeat single from the band and can be heard on their Myspace and rock radio. “Notbroken” brings in the acoustic guitars and yet another fantastic moderate temp song. Rzeznik uses his deeper more aggressive vocal range that we were introduced on “Let Love In” on this album. You can tell he is fully comfortable with his range and doesn’t over do it. “Hey Ya” is a great song with a nice solid hook that I would normally expect from the band, but is very refreshing nonethless. A great chrorus that is radio worthy. Overall you get 10 solid tracks with anyone ready for rock radio. This is just another great album from the band and with a few more listens, may be one of my favorites. You get a mix of the ballads plus the upbeat moderate songs. the band knows what works for them and will continue to pour out those hits and movie soundtrack tunes. The Goo Goo Dolls continue to plow full steam ahead as they produce some of the best alternative rock songs out there today.

		Stilldown "The promise and the threat" (Independent,2009) Producer: Genre: Modern Rock (Tough) Format: Ep Website: www.myspace.com/st... Reviewed by: Kaj Roth Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Nashville is the country music capitol city of the world but it´s also the home for modern rock band Stilldown, these guys haven´t been affected at all by the country flavored city and instead rock hard like they would come from Jacksonville Florida for example which is a place where many riff oriented modern rock bands has started their career. This EP was released already last year so they are currently working on the debut full length "Poetic energy" that will be out in late 2010. They´re tight and has a few nice song ideas, the crunchy riff on "This time tomorrow" has lots of edge and I like the attack. The compact "Angel by design" is quite good too but the last track "Emmory" is rather boring with an amateur´s riff. I hope the next album will be more even than this 4 track EP.

		Hour of Shame "Hour of Shame" (Independent,2010) Producer: Genre: Grunge Format: Ep Website: www.myspace.com/ho... Reviewed by: Kaj Roth Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Ohio rockers Hour of Shame formed in 2009 and won the local battle of the bands, one year later their self titled debut EP is released and fans of Alice in Chains and Staind might wanna continue reading this review. The songs on this EP are heavy but melodic, don´t expect any uptempo tracks here because Hour of Shame focus on slow rockers where the singer remind of Layne Staley a lot. The single "Let go" is the best track along with "Innocent disease", the riff on "Breathe" is spooky close to Black Sabbath´s Heaven and hell. Good stuff.

		Petal Shelf "Sweet Sorrow" (Independent,2010) Producer: Genre: Hard Rock Format: Ep Website: www.myspace.com/pe... Reviewed by: Kaj Roth Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

If you want your hard rock a bit infected by post grunge but still with an attitude of the late 80´s high energy rocknroll a la Guns N Roses and Tesla, then the Arkansas based band Petal Shelf might be your cup of tea. They are influenced by Hard Core Superstar and Buckcherry which is easy to tell when you listen to their 4 track EP "Sweet sorrow". There are some really cool riffs on this EP and the first two songs "I said I" and "Borders" do rock hard but the last two songs "Sweet sorrow" and "Medicated" are weaker, especially "Medicated" that is a very poor and mediocre rocker. Still a solid EP worth checkin out.


Before MATCHBOX TWENTY was due to go onstage, they would get in a huddle and sing the 1978 heat wave hit "Always and Forever".
		Tom Wehrle "Mad City Tragedy" (Espy Records,2010) Producer: Tom Wehrle Genre: Pianobased Singer Songwriter Format: Album Website: www.tomwehrle.com Reviewed by: Henrik Holmgren Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Tom Wehrle is quite well known here at melodic.net by now and here he returns with a new album, entitled Mad City Tragedy. I have always thought Tom handles his slower songs great but when it comes to the up-tempo songs he can falter a bit. So it is nice to see that the main part of this album contains softer, slower songs. Songs built around a piano and Wehrle’s voice. One cool thing is that aside from producing the album he plays every instrument on her as well. That is a sign of talent right there. The first song however is a prime example of what I mean with the up-tempo songs. As soon all the different layers of sound kick in there is something that almost disappears. The voice. I get that Wehrle wants to have variation on the albums but the softer songs are still the best ones. Take the closing song “Pouring Rain”, it is a very good song that gives room for his voice to shine. “I’m sorry” is another gem that is very atmospheric. I have to give Wehrle that he improves with every record and this seems to me like his most consistent album to date. Is by far not perfect but he can be proud of what is his best work so far. That has to count for something, right? Good work Tom!

		Stan Bush "Dream the dream" (Frontiers Records ,2010) Producer: Holger Fath Genre: AOR Format: Album Website: www.stanbush.com Reviewed by: Juha Harjula Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

AOR icon Stan Bush has recorded his 11th studio album called Dream the dream and like on the previous album In this life from 2007, he has worked with producer and guitarist Holger Fath. I thought that on In this life, Stan got his hunger back for music and the album sounded fantastic with plenty of AOR hooks and melodies. The new album sounds even better in my opinion with a couple of stronger tracks that stand out, the production from Fath is faultless and the album sounds tight. The first 9 songs on the album are great AOR rockers in the best Stan Bush style, first up is the great AOR rocker Never hold back with great guitars and a fantastic chorus. I`m still here is another AOR gem a la Bad English with layers of melodies and the chorus is brilliant. Don´t give up on love is filled with Journey sounding guitars and the chorus is amazing. Two hearts is a song that Stan wrote with Bobby Barth (Axe, Blackfoot) and was covered by C.I.T.A on their debut album. This is an awesome AOR song with wonderful keyboards (pick up the air keys), huge hooklines and a powerful chorus. This is AOR heaven. Love is the road is an AOR rocker by numbers filled with brilliant riffs, keyboards and the singalong chorus is pure magic. Best song of the album! The pompish More than a miracle has a top notch chorus with strong hooks and superb melodies, the album ends with an updated version of The touch called Sam´s theme, this version is ok nothing more. Stan has recorded another amazing gem filled with stunning AOR.

		Fee "Hope rising" (Ino Records,2010) Producer: Jason Hoard and Steve Fee Genre: Modern Pop (Christian) Format: Album Website: www.feeband.com Reviewed by: Cor Jan Kat Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Steve Fee and his band Fee are back with the sophomore release of their album “We shine”. The new album is called “Hope rising” and it is definitely a step forward. The band has matured since the debutalbum. The majority of the songs are melodic rocksongs with lyrics of worship. The album kicks off with the anthem “Rise and sing” that will probably do very well on a stage with a live audience. The song isn’t very renewing though. After the opener the album becomes better and better. Listen to songs like “Glory to God forever”, the rocker “God is alive”, the beautiful “Everything falls”, “We crown You”, “Hands of the healer”, the electric “Promised land” and the great “Arms that hold the universe”. The conclusion is that Fee made a very solid second album that leaves me wanting for more. Good work!

		Southern Sons "Nothing but the truth" (BMG Arista,1992) Producer: Genre: AOR Format: Album Website: www.virgildonati.com Reviewed by: Kaj Roth Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

The 90´s isn´t exactly the best decade for AOR releases but the Australian band Southern Sons released 3 very good AOR albums between 90-95 where the 1992 album Nothing but the truth is my personal fave, but the last album Zone from 1995 isn´t far behind. This is the kind of AOR that you don´t hear today with a wonderful mix of westcoast, hi-tech AOR and Aussie rock in a lovely 80´s package. The production is stellar and the performance is world class, my good friend Ove (aka Cryin) introduced me to this excellent band and even now 18 years later, this album sound just as good as it did when it came out. The band features vocalist Jack Jones who later released the Irwin Thomas album in 2002, the guitarist Phil Buckle that worked with John Farnham in the 90´s and drummer Virgil Donati (Soul Sirkus, Planet X, Vertigo, Seven the hard way). I had the honor of meeting Virgil when I saw Soul Sirkus in 2004 and he was a true down to earth guy, he more than willing talked about Southern Sons. Listen to "Lead me to water" and close your eyes, this is music!

		My Dear Addiction "New Blood" (Supernova,2010) Producer: My Dear Addiction / Thomas Johansson Genre: Metal Format: Album Website: www.mydearaddictio... Reviewed by: Kaj Roth Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

It´s time to unleash a new metal bomb from Sweden with My Dear Addiction, formerly known as Blind this band has gone through several line up changes with original members Kim Lindsten (vocals) and Peter Parkeborn (drums) being the core of the band. They have experimented with different hard rock genres through the years but in the end they returned to their roots to play massive in your face metal and the result is "New blood". Mark your calendars on Sept 29th when this truck of an album hits the stores, the new record label Supernova has an impressive roster of April Divine, Treadstone, Cervello, Three Minute Madness and Hate Ammo. My Dear Addiction is in good company and their debut album will be a nice warming light in the dark of the fall, the super strong "Are you ready" is already one of the best metal tracks of 2010 and the opener "Through the ashes" should please any fan of Soilwork with it´s fine combination of growls and clean vocals. Another pearl on this album is "The pages we write" that didn´t move me at first, it´s a grower and now I can´t get enough of this song´s blistering riffs. So out with the old blood and in with the new!

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