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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
Latest Album Reviews
Latest Gig Reviews
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Gig review: BLACK EYED SONS- The Lexington, London, 16 December 2024
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Gig review: BRAVE RIVAL – Thames Side Brewery, Staines, 8 December 2024
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Gig review: STRAY – The Cavern, Raynes Park, London, 7 December 2024
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Gig review: THE SHEEPDOGS, THE COMMONERS – Islington Assembly Hall, London, 5 December 2024
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Gig review: GUN – Barrowlands, Glasgow, 14 December 2024
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Gig review: THE DAMN TRUTH – The Grace, London, 26 November 2024
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Featured Album Reviews
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Album review: MIKE ZITO AND FRIENDS – Rock ‘N’ Roll: A Tribute To Chuck Berry
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Album review: WHITESNAKE- The Purple Album
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Album review: IMPELLITTERI – The Complete Beast 1987-2009 (6 CD Boxset)
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Album review: FOZZY – Boombox
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Album review : BONFIRE – MMMXXIII
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Album review: YUKA & CHRONOSHIP – Dino Rocket Oxygen
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Features
Single & EP Reviews
DVD Reviews
Book Reviews
News
Category Archives: PURE METAL (All posts)
Album review: LORDS OF BLACK – Alchemy Of Souls II
Frontiers [Release date 15.10.21] Fifth album from metallers, Lords Of Black, the Ronnie Romero/ Tony Hernando band. They brand themselves as a “Progressive” Power Metal band. You can see strong hints of how this plays out when first viewing the … Continue reading
Album review: ALCATRAZZ – V
Silver Lining Music [Release date: 15.10.21] Now that Doogie White and Joe Stump are onboard, Alcatrazz have abandoned all that wimpy rock stuff, and mainlined themselves into the world of heavy metal, on this, their second album with Silver Lining. … Continue reading
News: RODNEY MATTHEWS, DEPECHE MODE, LILLIAN AXE (October 2021)
Bryan Adams releases his latest album, ‘So Happy It Hurts’, on March 11. Alter Bridge enter the studio next April to start work on their new album. Battle Beast release their new album, ‘Circus Of Doom’, on January 21 via … Continue reading
Album review: FICTION SYXX – Ghost Of My Fathers Past
MR Records [Release date 04.08.21 digital/28.09.21 physical] Here we have the third album from Fiction Syxx who have been pretty consistent in releasing a new album every couple of years since they started back in 2017. The band consists of … Continue reading
Album review: KK’S PRIEST – Sermons Of The Sinner
EX1 Records [Release date 01.10.21] Fans of the perennial metal gods Judas Priest have been lucky on the albums front in recent years. First we had two killer albums from Priest itself. Both 2014’s Redeemer of Souls (recorded after the … Continue reading
Album review: PARADOX – Heresy II, End Of A Legend
AFM Records [Release date: 24.09.21] German giants of Thrash, Paradox are well known within the genre. They have a sizeable coterie of discerning fans who’ve followed them since the band’s inception in 1986. Had their chosen genre been say, power … Continue reading
Album review: SAVATAGE – Sirens and Dungeons Are Calling (remasters)
ear-MUSIC [release date 3.09.21] We’re cranking the machine way back to 1982, and Savatage’s twin debuts, Sirens and Dungeons Are Calling, both independently released. The band, Jon and Criss Oliva, Keith Collins and Steve Wacholz recorded and mixed all the … Continue reading
Album review: IAN PARRY’s ROCK EMPORIUM – Brute Force
Metal Mind [release date 14.07.21] Singer/songwriter, Ian Parry has always been master of his own destiny, moving from project to project and label to label over the course of his 30 year career. He counts Hammerhead, Elegy, Ayreon and Vengeance … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews
Tagged album, Allan Sorensen, Ayreon, Elegy, Hammerhead, Ian Parry, Kris Gildenlow, Lucas Sillito, Metal Mind, Neo Classical, Patrick Johansen, Patrick Rondat, review, Rock Emporium, symphonic metal, Vengeance
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Album review: BRAINSTORM – Wall Of Skulls
AFM Records [release date 17.09.21] Judging by this new release, Brainstorm turned the pandemic related lockdown to good advantage, in writing and recording Wall Of Skulls. It’s no more than an incremental step up from last album, Midnight Ghost, but … Continue reading
Album review: GAMMA RAY – 30 Years Live Anniversary
Ear Music/Edel [Release date 10.09.21] In 2020, it looked like this could become the new normal. A live gig without an audience. Kai Hansen’s Gamma Ray know what it is to play live…they’ve been doing it for 30 years. It becomes … Continue reading
Album review: OVERKILL – The Atlantic Years 1986-1994
BMG [Release date 29.10.21] New Jersey band Overkill, named after the Motorhead album/song, formed in 1980 and were part of the early US thrash scene. Nineteen studio albums, three live and three EPs later, there’s quite a legacy there. There … Continue reading
News: ANVIL, TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT, ALAN PARSONS (September 2021)
Abba release a new album ‘Voyage’ – their first in 40 years – on November 5. They have also announced a new live show, ‘Abba Voyage’, will open at the new 3,000 capacity Abba Arena in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park … Continue reading
Posted in Album News, ALL POSTS, Band Entrees & Exits, Books, Exhibitions, Festivals & Large Events, Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Gigs and Tour News, NEWS, PledgeMusic/Kickstarter Campaigns, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/News, Re-issues/special editions, RIP
Tagged Alan Parsons, albums, alternative, Americana, anvil, blues, country, festivals, folk, gigs, melodic rock, metal, New releases, news, pop, prog rock, RIP, rock, singles, Temperance Movement, tours
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Album review: ORANGE GOBLIN – Healing Through Fire (2CDs w/bonus tracks)
Cherry Red Records [Release date 20.08.21] This expanded Orange Goblin compilation centres on their 2007 Disaster Album, Healing Through Fire. Only a Heavy Metal band could take The Great Fire Of London and the Great Plague as the theme for its … Continue reading
News: VANGELIS, SLADE, GENESIS (August 2021)
Bryan Adams has signed with BMG who will release his new album later this year. Elles Bailey has released a new single ‘Cheats & Liars’. It’s the first single from her third album ‘Shining in the Half Light’ which is due next … Continue reading
Posted in Album News, ALL POSTS, Band Entrees & Exits, Books, Festivals & Large Events, Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Gigs and Tour News, NEWS, PledgeMusic/Kickstarter Campaigns, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/News, Re-issues/special editions, RIP
Tagged Album News, All Posts, Americana, Band Entrees & Exits, blues, books, country, Festivals & Large Events, folk, melodic rock, metal, rock, Vangelis
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Album review: INNER STREAM – Stain The Sea
Frontiers [Release date 16.07.21] Produced by talented Argentinian producer, Guillermo De Medio, Inner Stream’s debut album, Stain The Sea is a minor delight of Symphonic Metal, programmed sounds and Gothic Rock. The band is primarily singer/songwriter, Inez Vera Ortiz, who … Continue reading
LAURENNE/LOUHIMO – The Reckoning
Frontiers [release date 09.07.21] Laurenne/Louhimo’s The Reckoning is an interesting new release from Frontiers. A musical “lockdown made me do it” marriage of Smackbound’s Netta Laurenne and Battle Beast’s Noora Louhimo. They’ve written a dozen or so Symphonic Rock songs … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews
Tagged album, Alicia Keys, Battlebeast, Frontiers, Laurenne Louhimo, Netta Laurenne, Nino Laurenne, Noora Louhimo, Norah Jones, review, Smackdown, Symphonic Metal Rock, Thunderstone
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Album review: THOR – Alliance
Deadline/Cleopatra [Release date 16.07.21] Canadian bodybuilder, historian, actor, and musician John Mikl Thor has produced some very fine metal over the years, debuting in the mid 70s. Since the turn of the millennium Thor has been particularly prolific, and this … Continue reading
Album review: SOCIAL DISORDER – Love 2 Be Hated
AFM Records [Release date 18.6.21] Social Disorder is not just another punk rock band, in fact despite its misleading name (and album title), it’s not a punk rock band at all. Love 2 Be Hated is pretty cool melodic metal, … Continue reading
Album review: TIMO TOLKKI’s AVALON – The Enigma Birth
Frontiers Music [Release date 18.06.21] Living legend of power/symphonic metal, Finland’s Timo Tolkki has again hooked up with fast rising guitarist/ writer/ producer Aldo (Secret Sphere/Sweet Oblivion) Lonobile on this, Avalon’s fourth album. As the memory of Tolkki’s longtime band, … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews
Tagged album, Aldo Lonobile, Avalon, Caterina Nix, Fabio Lione, Frontiers, Jake E, James LaBrie, Marina LaTorraca, PELLEK, Raphael Mendes, review, Stratovarius, Symphonic Rock Metal, The Enigma Birth, Timo Tolkki
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Album review: TERRA ODIUM – Ne Plus Ultra
Frontiers Records [Release date 11.06.21] In its more expansive moments, Norwegian band Terra Odium’s album resonates with the sci-fi dissonance of tech metal. The kind that Brad Fiedel and Wendy Carlos wielded on “The Terminator” and “The Shining” film scores. … Continue reading
Album review: BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER – S/T
Frontiers Records [Release date 11.06.21] Frontiers clearly think highly of Brother Against Brother. The label compares this recording by two vocalists, Renan (Electric Mob) Zonta and Nando (Sinistra) Fernandes, relatively unknown outside of their native Brazil, to the Allen/Lande project. … Continue reading
Album review: NERGARD – Eternal White
Pride & Joy Music [release date 21.04.21] Norwegian musician/songwriter/producer, Andreas Nergard creates symphonic experiences which enthrall audiences. The fact that he uses “Metal” as his chosen vehicle is almost incidental. You could add that the fact he uses voices is … Continue reading
EP review : RHAPSODY OF FIRE – I’ll Be Your Hero
AFM Records [Release date 04.06.21] There’s no band more adept at sucking us into their fantasy world of bombastic, exhuberant Metal than Champions League Melodic Metal band, Rhapsody Of Fire. This is one of those rarities we call an EP. … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Single and EP reviews
Tagged AFM Records, album, EP, melodic metal, power, review, RHAPSODY OF FIRE, symphonic
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Album review: BLOODBOUND – Creatures Of The Dark Realm
AFM Records [release date: 28.05.21] When Bloodbound’s principal songwriters, Fredrik Bergh and Tomas Olsson rerouted their musical artistry from the AOR of Street Talk to the land of Power Metal, they brought the underlying principles of hooky melodic rock with … Continue reading
Album review: SUNBOMB – Evil And Divine
Frontiers [Release date 15.05.21] An outsider may see Sunbomb as the completion of Michael Sweet’s journey to the darkside. A restlessly talented musician finally freeing himself from the strictures of Christian Rock, crossing into the world of the Sunset Strip’s … Continue reading
