Global Rock [Release date: 15.07.22]

This 3 album/double CD set from Ivan Stalev (John Steel) is quite a coup for SFM’s new metal/rock spinoff label, Global Rock.

Effectively, the package backs up the release of Steel’s new album, Distorted Reality, w/David Reece (Pink Cream 69/Voodoo Circle) on vocals, with his two previous releases: Freedom (2014), with Blaze (Wolfsbane/Iron Maiden) Bailey, and Everything Or Nothing (2017) featuring Doogie (Rainbow/Alcatrazz/Tank) White.

This new stuff is captivatingly  like the old stuff, when Maiden, Saxon and other NWOBH behemoths strode the Heavy Metal stage like they owned it.

Any student of the genre will tell you that lyrically and thematically, Steel’s songs fall into the “chaotic” category of heavy metal writing, where the subject matter is dark and doomy, and is dominated by extremes… ‘War’, ‘Evil Sky’, ‘Nightmare’, ‘Rise From The Dead’, and so on.

With Readman, he’s got a vocalist who sings like he means it, without leaning on the crutch of howls and wails. He wrings maximum emotion out of weighty songs like ‘Messiah’s Day’ and ‘Fallen Angel’. His scorched voice emoting like he’s lived every moment, while behind him, Steel’s axework bites and stings.

It’s clean, coherent, streamlined metal, and that’s a point worth emphasising. Too often, heavy metal bands clutter things up with a narrative whose ambitions far outreach their collective grasp, or musical arrangements that suffocate the songs.

That said, often, what first seems simple isn’t. And the fact that major tracks like ‘Women Of Ice’ and ‘Dante’s Retribution’ take time to reveal themselves means they’re not immediately lovable. But it’s the effort required to get there that counts, and that in itself is a large part of the payoff. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

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Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

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

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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 3 November 2024.

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 show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

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

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
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Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
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More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

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Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)

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