Album review: VOODOO CIRCLE – Locked & Loaded

AFM Records [Release date 15.01.21]

Locked & Loaded is Voodoo Circle’s love letter to Led Zeppelin and Whitesnake.

We should all be delighted that Alex Beyrodt got the band back together again. The classic line up, we mean. The team that recorded Broken Heart Syndrome in 2011. Beyrodt, Mat Sinner, David Readman and Markus Kullman. The one where all the pieces fit.

And they’re having fun, enjoying every moment. Even the video trailer – snakes, skulls and scantily dressed women – is old school. It’s infectious. It’s lit up with a kind of knowing intensity. The kind that takes form in the studio, when really great musicians work with other really great musicians.

And before you realise, it reaches out from behind the tongue in cheek posturing and throwing of heavy metal/hard rock shapes, to tattoo some indelible hard rock lightning onto our subconscious.

‘Devil With An Angel Smile’ folds in some densely packed, T Ride type vocal chanting into the perfect commerciality of Whitesnake styled hard rock. The title track belies it’s cliched title by peppering Beyrodt’s ironclad riffolla with hip hop vocal rhythms, and it works a treat.

And it’s so entertaining. The songwriting is strong – ‘Wasting Time’ and ‘Flesh And Blood’ are as good as anything Beyrodt has previously written – and the performances are superb – vocalist, David Readman clearly had carte blanche to project his spot-on Coverdale-isms. His tongue is so firmly in his cheek on the superb ballad, ‘Eyes Full Of Tears’ that you can see it from outer space. And yet, derivative or not, the song’s brooding and intense sense of drama goes beyond pastiche, carried by Readman’s chest swelling self belief, transforming it into an unquestionable album higlight.

Beyrodt brought in Jacob Hansen, the Danish “Godfather Of Sound” to mix and master the album. Hansen captures the analogue warmth and indeed the underrated sonic clarity of many hard rock recordings of the genre’s heyday. Like other masters of the trade, he knows that you do nothing for show and everything for effect. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 16 November 2025.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This 600th show was first broadcast on 18 November 2025

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 1 December 2025

We feature all the artists selected in this sequence in 2025.

Featured Albums w/c 1 December 2025

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings. The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.