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Album review: RITA BLISS – One More Winter
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Album review : SEVEN SPIRES – A Fortress Called Home (Master Key Edition / 3CDs)
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Album review : SHAKRA – Just Live Loud
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Album review: KRIS BARRAS BAND – Monsters We Made
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Album review: THE UGLY GUYS – Highway Shoes
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Album review: STEVE HACKETT & STEVE ROTHERY – The Roaring Waves
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Category Archives: PURE METAL (All posts)
Album review: LILLIAN AXE – Psalms For Eternity (3 CD set)
Global Rock [Release date 6.04.22] This month, Lillian Axe release a 3 CD retrospective on Global Rock, SFM’s brand spanking new Rock and Metal label, grandly called Psalms For Eternity. It’s been curated by mainman, guitarist and songwriter, Steve Blaze, … Continue reading
Album review: ICON – Icon (Remaster)
Rock Candy Records [release date: 18.03.22] Icon’s debut album from 1984 has recently been remastered by leading UK Reissue label, Rock Candy Records. The fact that the band’s set list in those early days included material by Deep Purple and … Continue reading
Album review – SEMBLANT – Vermillion Eclipse
Frontiers [release date: 15.04.22] Semblant’s second album on the Frontiers label sees this Brazilian Melodic (Death) Metal band confidently cement its leading position in the “one to watch” category. The “Death” description is misleading, and only gets used in the … Continue reading
Album review: RIOT ACT – Closer To The Flame
Global Rock Records [Release date 01.04.22] This is the debut album from Riot Act, the band initially formed by former ‘classic era’ Riot members Rick Ventura and Lou Kouvaris and it is a must listen to for any classic hard … Continue reading
News: JOURNEY, MIKE BATT, TIM BOWNESS (April 2022)
Altaria release their new album ‘Wisdom’ on July 8 via Atomic Fire Records. Alter Bridge plan to release their new album in September. Atomic Kings – vocalist Ken Ronk, bassist Greg Chaisson (Badlands, ex-Red Dragon Cartel), guitarist Ryan McKay and drummer Jim Taft … 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), Re-issues/special editions, RIP
Tagged classic rock, folk, gigs, Journey, metal, Mike Batt. prog, New releases, news, punk, rock, Tim Bowness, tours
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Album review: SHINING BLACK – BOALS and THORSEN – Postcards From The End Of The World
Frontiers [Release date: 18.03.22] Shining Black’s 2020 self titled album collaboration was tuned into Hard Rock as much as it was to Melodic Metal. Guitarist, Olaf (Labyrinth, Vision Divine) Thorsen and singer, Mark (Malmsteen, Royal Hunt) Boals’ first musical marriage … Continue reading
Album review: SHEWOLF – SheWolf
Frontiers [Release date: 18.03.22] Aiming to climb the Power Metal mountain, SheWolf release their self titled debut album this month. Led by stunning Greek vocalist, Angel Wolf-Black, the band, The Hunter (guitars), The Predator (bass) and Alpha (drummer) might sound … Continue reading
Album review: NEW HORIZON – Gate Of The Gods
Frontiers [Release date: 11.02.22] New Horizon is a H.E.A.T. splinter group, or splinter duo, to be precise. Being almost famous gives you room to try other things, and so Jonah Tee and Erik Gronwall have been given the opportunity to … Continue reading
Album review: GHOST – Impera
Loma Vista Recordings [Release date 11.03.22] Papa and the Nameless Ghouls are back with album number 5. The last album, Prequelle, took us back to the time of the Plague, but here we join Ghost in more modern times. The concept … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews, The Best of 2022
Tagged album, Bon Jovi, Call Me Little Sunshine, Ghost, heavy metal, Hunters Moon, IMPERA, Loma Vista Recordings, Meloria, nameless ghouls, Papa, review, rock, Runaway, Tobias Forge
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Single review: MORS PRINCIPIUM EST – The Lust Called Knowledge
AFM Records You have to confess that the emphasis is on the “Melodic” when Mors Prncipium Est are described as Melodic Death Metal. New album, ‘Liberate The Unborn Humanity’, which is an interesting proposition, is due out on 8 April … Continue reading
Album review: SERIOUS BLACK – Vengeance Is Mine
AFM Records [Release date: 25.02.22] Sixth album from Power Metal band, Serious Black. Their reputation for international membership has continued throughout a 7 years and counting career. German founding member, Roland (Helloween) Grapow bailed early on. US vocalist Urban (Tad … Continue reading
News: SKID ROW, STEELHOUSE FESTIVAL, BOWLING FOR SOUP (March 2022)
Belle and Sebastian’s new album ‘A Bit Of Previous’ will arrive on May 6 via Matador. Graham Bonnet Band will release a new album, ‘Day Out In Nowhere’, on May 13 via Frontiers. Don Airey guests on one song. Bowling For Soup … Continue reading
Posted in Album News, ALL POSTS, Band Entrees & Exits, Books, Festivals & Large Events, Gigs and Tour News, NEWS, PledgeMusic/Kickstarter Campaigns, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/News, Re-issues/special editions, RIP
Tagged AOR, blues, Bowling for Soup, folk, gigs, melodic rock, metal, New releases, news, prog rock, rock, Skid Row, Steelhouse Festival, tour dates
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EP review: THE CRUX – Time and Space
Facebook [Release date 22.04.22] The Crux were founded in 2009 by heavy metal loving brothers James Boyd & Neil Ward. Having released a self-titled EP in 2009 under the name Warcrux, they played multiple shows in Northern Ireland & Ireland … Continue reading
Album review: THE RODS – Metal Will Never Die (The Official Bootleg Boxset)
Cherry Red/HNE [Release date: 25.02.22] Metal Will Never Die is an understandable assertion from The Rods, a band who’ve survived multiple assaults on their place in the genre’s popularity over the last 40 years. The band, a trio, consisted of … Continue reading
Album review: SPIRITS OF FIRE – Embrace The Unknown
Frontiers [Release date: 18.02.22] Classic Metal band, Spirits Of Fire release their second album, Embrace The Unknown. The band was formed from scratch in 2017 by Chris (Savatage) Caffery, Steve (Testament) DeGiorgio, and Mark (Fates Warning) Zonder with the estimable … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts)
Tagged album, Aldo Lonobile, ANGRA, Chris Caffrey, Classic Heavy Metal, Fabio Lione, Fates Warning, review, RHAPSODY OF FIRE, Roy Z, Savatage, Secret Sphere, Spirits Of Fire, Testament, Tim Ripper Owns
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Album review: TRICK OR TREAT – Creepy Symphonies
Scarlet Records [Release date 01.04.22] ‘Creepy Symphonies’ is the seventh studio album from Trick Or Treat, who always entertain with their music. Like Freedom Call, Trick Or Treat like to think of their music as happy metal. Vocalist Alle Conti … Continue reading
News: SAXON, ALICE COOPER, THE UNDERTONES (February 2022)
Accept have signed with Napalm Records. Aerosmith release ’1971: The Road Starts Here’ on April 8. Angel Nation release their new album ‘Antares on April 8 through Inner Wound Recordings. Autograph have signed with Frontiers with a new album due … 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 albums, Alice Copper, AOR, blues, February 2022, folk, gigs, melodic rock, metal, New releases, news, prog, rock, Saxon, The Undertones, tours
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Album review: BATTLE BEAST – Circus of Doom
Nuclear Blast [Release date 21.01.22] Album number six from Battle Beast, after a bit of a gap since 2019’s highly enjoyable ‘No More Hollywood Endings’. Their line-up remains the same, namely Eero Sipilä (bass), Pyry Vikki (drums), Janne Björkroth (keytar), … Continue reading
Album review: SAXON – Carpe Diem
Silver Lining [Release date 04.02.22] Saxon, one of the world’s most consistent and reliable classic metal bands, a name synonymous with the New Wave Of British Heavy (NWoBHM); there were there at the start in the late 70s. Hits such … Continue reading
Album review: SONATA ARTICA – Acoustic Adventures: Volume One
Atomic Fire Records [Release date 21.01.22] After Sonata Artica toured in 2016 with an acoustic set and then again in 2019. From these two successful tours the idea was born to capture these versions on two acoustic albums, the second … Continue reading
News: BIG BIG TRAIN, DIAMOND DOGS, NICK MASON (January 2022)
Alestorm begin work on their next album, ‘Seventh Rum Of A Seventh Rum’, which will be released on Napalm Records later this year. Arch Enemy will release their latest studio album, ‘Deceivers’, via Century Media Records on July 29. Big … 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 AOR, Big Big Train, blues, Classic Rock Magazine, Diamond Dogs, folk, gigs, Melodic Rock Records, metal, news, Nick Mason, prog, re-issues, rock, tours
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Quick plays: BLACKLITE DISTRICT, NORTHTALE
BLACKLITE DISTRICT – 1990 AK19 Entertainment, LLC [Release date 31.12.21] Kyle Pfeiffer is better known by the name Blacklite District and has been releasing music since 2011. The album title gives a little clue to the sounds contained within, as the … Continue reading
Album review: MINISTRY – Bad Blood, The Mayan Albums, 2002-2005 (4 CDs)
Cherry Red [release date: 17.12.21] There are Industrial Metal bands and there is Ministry. After the breakthrough in 1983, Al Jourgensen’s minimalist metal-in-extremis became the benchmark for the genre pretty rapidly. You could argue that this 4 CD snapshot, originally … Continue reading
Album review : STAHLMANN – Quarz
AFM Records [release date: 10.12.21] 7th album from German band, Stahlmann. When Rammstein released their first album, in 1995, the German music press coined a new phrase, Neue Deutsch Harte. NDH became a cutting edge calling card for other bands … Continue reading
News: ELLES BAILEY, STONEDEAD, URIAH HEEP (December 2021)
Tim Arnold releases his new album, ‘Maybe Magic’, on January 7 via Bandcamp. Pretty Maids vocalist Ronnie Atkins releases his new solo album ‘Make It Count’ on march 18 via Frontiers. Elles Bailey has opened pre-orders for her next album, ‘Shining in … Continue reading
Posted in Album News, ALL POSTS, Band Entrees & Exits, Books, Festivals & Large Events, Gigs and Tour News, NEWS, PledgeMusic/Kickstarter Campaigns, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/News, Re-issues/special editions, RIP
Tagged alternative, blues, blues rock, Elles Bailey, festivals, folk, gigs, indie, melodic rock, metal, news, pop, prog, rock, Stonedead, tours
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