Tag Archives: melodic rock

Gig review: ROCKINGHAM FESTIVAL- Nottingham Trent University Student Union, 20-22 October 2017

Loverboy -  ROCKINGHAM FESTIVAL, 20-22 October 2017

Though this was the third year of Rockingham Festival , the natural successor to the much loved Firefest in its autumnal Nottingham position, it really felt as if the Festival came of age. Having settled on a format that works … Continue reading

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Album review: EUROPE – Walk The Earth

EUROPE - Walk The Earth

Hell & Back Recordings [Release date 20.10.17] Europe returned to our shores, and our record racks, in 2005 on the back of an excellent comeback album.  During the last decade they’ve consolidated their revival with a succession of generally well-received … Continue reading

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Album review: KRYPTONITE- s/t

KRYPTONITE

Frontiers [Release Date 04.08.17] The latest in a series of star-studded melodic rock collaborations on Frontiers, Kryptonite have the pedigree of a bona fide supergroup of some of the top Scandinavian names, headed by Poodles singer Jakob Samuel and including … Continue reading

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Gig review: VEGA – University of London Union, 23 September 2017

VEGA - University of London Union, 23 September 2017

Having boasted GRTR!’s album of 2016 with ‘Who We Are’, Vega continue to work hard to bring their modern brand of melodic rock to the masses. After touring with Dan Reed Network in the Spring, Autumn has brought this headline … Continue reading

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News: Albums of the Month (February-April 2017)

The Best of 2017

Albums of the Month February 2017 BLACK STAR RIDERS Heavy Fire (Nuclear Blast) “The band have thrown off the shackles of the ‘used to be Thin Lizzy’ moniker and have solidly established themselves as a major player in their own … Continue reading

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Gig review: HAIR METAL HEAVEN – Welly Club and City Hall, Hull, 25-27 August 2017

Sebastian Bach - HAIR METAL HEAVEN - Hull, 25-27 August 2017

If eyebrows were raised at Hull’s designation as European City of Culture 2017, the news that a major rock festival in Hair Metal Heaven was taking place there was an even more unexpected story. The Humberside port city may have … Continue reading

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Album review: MR BIG – Defying Gravity

MR BIG - Defying Gravity

Frontiers [Release Date 21.07.17] Mr Big occupy something of a unique space in rock with concise, melodic songs yet delivered by some of the rock world’s most revered musos in Billy Sheehan, Paul Gilbert and Pat Torpey, who in spite … Continue reading

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Upcoming: New releases (CD/DVD) October-December 2017

Mollie Marriott - Truth Is A Wolf

Compiled by Jason Ritchie October 6th AUTOGRAPH ‘Get Off Your Ass’ EMP JEFF BECK ‘Live at the Hollywood Bowl’ JON BODEN (ex-BELLOWHEAD) ‘Afterglow’ THE DARKNESS ‘Pinewood Smile’ Cooking Vinyl LIAM GALLAGHER ‘As You Were’ HEAVEN & EARTH ‘Hard To Kill’ … Continue reading

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Album review: NEWMAN – Aerial

NEWMAN - Aerial

AOR Heaven [Release date 22.09.17] Album number eleven by Newman, the band formed around Steve Newman. Once again he has teamed up with drummer Rob McEwen (who has played on the last nine Newman albums), plus the album also features long … Continue reading

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Album review: H.E.A.T – Into The Great Unknown

earMUSIC Release Date 22.09.17 Back in 2014, with their fourth album ‘Tearing Down the Walls’, and high energy live shows, H.E.A.T seemed on the verge of a major commercial breakthrough as standard bearers for a new breed of melodic rockers.  … Continue reading

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Quick plays: MARTIN SIMPSON, RIVERDOGS, HIRSH GARDNER

MARTIN SIMPSON Trails & Tribulations Topic Records [Release date 01.09.17] Trails & Tribulations’ is Martin Simpson’s twentieth album in a career spanning over 40 years. As he says the album “is a collection of songs about nature, about travels and … Continue reading

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Album review: D2UR – Tic Toc

D2UR - Tic Toc

[Release date 01.07.17] D2UR (pronounced Detour, really?) are a no-nonsense Canadian band built around the partnership of Mike and Diane Isbister.  He plays guitars, she sings. Starting out as a covers band, their debut release Rev U Up (2013) was … Continue reading

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Gig review: STEELHOUSE FESTIVAL, Ebbw Vale, 28-29 July 2017 (Part One)

Trucker Diablo - STEELHOUSE FESTIVAL, Ebbw Vale, 28 July 2017

The annual pilgrimage climbing the mountain in the valleys of South Wales seems to have come around far quicker this year than any other, and the reliable Welsh weather played a major part in some issues regarding camping and parking.  … Continue reading

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Gig review: SUMMERFEST – Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, 28 June-9 July 2017

In a world of constant change in popular music, for a festival to celebrate its 50th year, as Milwaukee’s  Summerfest did this year, represents a lifetime. I’d been to the festival certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s biggest … Continue reading

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Gig review: LEE AARON – Camden Underworld, London, 16 July 2017

LEE AARON - Camden Underworld, London, 16 July 2017

In the testosterone-heavy rock  climate of the 1980’s, women performers who held sex appeal for metal-loving youngsters were few on the ground. It was therefore unsurprising that  the petite Canadian rocker Lee Aaron’s picture in Kerrang’s ‘Ladykillers’ feature must have … Continue reading

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Album review: FICTION SYXX – Tall Dark Secret

MeldodicRock Records [Release date 21.08.17] Fiction Syxx is the brain child of songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Mark Allen Lanoue who has had these musical ideas for some time now. To help him realise his musical vision he is joined by guitarist JK Northrup (King … Continue reading

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Interview: CORNERSTONE

We caught up with Alina Peter (Vocals/Guitars) and Michael Wachelhofer (Bass/Keyboards/Vocals) of Cornerstone to see what they have planned for this year and beyond, plus how their latest album ‘Reflection’ has been doing… Have you been pleased with the response … Continue reading

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Album review: JOHNNY LIMA – Johnny Lima/Made In California

JOHNNY LIMA - Johnny Lima/Made In California

MelodicRock Records [Release date 01.03.17] These two albums by Johnny Lima – his self-titled debut from 1996 and 2003′s ‘Made In California’ – have been made available again by MelodicRock Records and not before time I say! Johnny Lima’s debut … Continue reading

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Album review: TREAT – The Road More or Less Traveled

TREAT - The Road More or Less Traveled

Release Date 21.04.17 On paper the release of Treat’s live set at the 2016 Frontiers Rock Festival in Italy is was a release I was looking forward to. Not only were Treat- alongside bands like Fate and Skagarack- one of … Continue reading

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Album review: SNAKECHARMER – Second Skin

SNAKECHARMER - Second Skin

Frontiers Records [Release Date 12.05.17] If their 2013 debut album of original compositions was an unexpected  twist for a band that started out paying homage to vintage Whitesnake with two former members, Snakecharmer’s follow up is perhaps even more of … Continue reading

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Album review: HAREM SCAREM – United

HAREM SCAREM - United

Frontiers [Release date 12.05.17] This is Harem Scarem’s second album since reuniting back in 2013 – three if you count their re-recording of their classic ‘Mood Swings’ album they did to get back their ownership of the songs. Original members … Continue reading

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Album review: CRAZY LIXX – Ruff Justice

CRAZY LIXX - Ruff Justice

Frontiers Records [Release Date 21.04.17] For over a decade now Swedes Crazy Lixx have been proving a youthful take on the glam and sleaze bands that dominated the airwaves and MTV in the second half of the eighties. I’d always … Continue reading

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Album review: BOBBY KIMBALL – We’re Not In Kansas Anymore

BOBBY KIMBALL - We

Purple Pyramid/Cleopatra Records [Release date 21.04.17] For many, Bobby Kimball is the definitive voice of Toto and performed with that band during the halcyon years of 1978-1984 (rejoining and touring  1998-2000).  Since that time he has forged a semi-cabaret existence … Continue reading

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Gig review: ECLIPSE – The Borderline, London, 22 April 2017

ECLIPSE- The Borderline, London, 22 April 2017

With each album Eclipse’s reputation is finally spreading beyond the confines of the small but loyal melodic rock community. There was a significantly higher crowd to see them at a packed  Borderline than on their previous visits, and yet what … Continue reading

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Album review: ONE DESIRE- s/t

One Desire

Frontiers Records [Release Date 24.03.17] The latest in a seemingly endless line of melodic rock talent from Scandinavia, a real buzz is building around One Desire, a new name but boasting former Sturm and Drang singer and guitarist Andre Linman. … Continue reading

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