Yearly Archives: 2013

Album review: H.I.M. – Tears On Tape

Cooking Vinyl His Infernal Majesty aren’t the sort of band to go reinventing themselves for every album, and Tears On Tape pretty much follows the usual musical formula found in some of their older records, but Ville Valo and co. … Continue reading

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Gig review: DEMON – Winking Man, Leek, Staffs, 4 May 2013

This was a rare UK appearance and a fairly low key gig in Demon’s home town of Leek which had been billed as part of the “Leek Arts Festival 2013”. The Winking Man pub is in the middle of nowhere … Continue reading

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Album review: KINGDOM COME – Outlier

Kingdom Come - Outlier

SPV www.spv.de [Release date: 29.04.13] Kingdom Come’s new “Outlier” album could more accurately be credited as a Lenny Wolf solo effort as the band’s main man handles everything bar the guitar solos, these being provided by Eric Forster. Wolf also … Continue reading

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Book review: AC/DC – The Early Years with Bon Scott by Neil Daniels

Independent Music Press Engaging, easy to read and authoritve, Neil Daniels’ latest offering “AC/DC- The Early Years with Bon Scott” is essential reading for fans of the band. Having grown up watching a Brian Johnson fronted AC/DC and only hearing … Continue reading

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Album review: TOM KEIFER – The Way Life Goes

Tom Kiefer - The Way Life Goes

Merovee Records [Release date 29.04.13] For me, Cinderella always stood head and shoulders above the general hair metal bands that they would unfairly be lumped in with. With grittier songs, real feeling subject material and a more mature outlook the … Continue reading

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Quick plays: KILL FOR EDEN, CIRCA, MELINDA ORTNER

KILL FOR EDEN – S/T www.killforeden.com Interestingly, anyone I have mentioned West London band Kill For Eden to has enthusiastically told me how good they are and the general feeling is that their debut, and self titled, album should do … Continue reading

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Album review: TIME GRID – Life

      Open Your Eyes Records [Release date: 21.01.13] Time Grid is French/Swiss prog metal band who have taken nearly a decade to realise their musical vision. ‘Life’ is by no means an unblemished slice of prog metal, but … Continue reading

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Album review: CHASING VIOLETS – Jade Hearts

Chasing Violets - Jade Hearts

AOR Records [Release date 14.06.13] I think producer Frederic Slama compromised Chasing Violets’ debut album ‘Outside Heaven’ (2012) by re-using the songs (and the backing tracks) for his own project album ‘LA Temptation’. Slama is a respected LA-based AOR mover … Continue reading

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Album review: CTHULHU RISE – 42

Cthulhu Rise

Musea Records This incredible heavy but inventive album may sometimes border on the cacophonous as it blasts away the cobwebs of complacency with monumental fractured riffs, but the underlying fast changing time signatures, unrelenting metal dirge (sludge metal anybody?) and … Continue reading

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News: SCHEMATA THEORY’s new album ‘Dry Lung Rhetoric’ out in June

‘Dry Lung Rhetoric’ ABAF Records, June 3. ‘A beautiful blend of progressive textures and soaring vocal arrangements.’ – TheNewReview ‘Purely sensational music and experimentation.’- Throwing Shapes Media & Reviews “Dry Lung Rhetoric is a calling card from a band destined for … Continue reading

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Album review: I SEE HAWKS IN L.A. – Mystery Drug

I See Hawks In L.A.

Blue Rose Records [Release date: 01.05.13] Alt-country outfit I See Hawks In L.A. are “dabblers” says their guitarist Paul Lacques. “There really are about 20 different ways to chop up country roots music”, he adds, while singer Rob Waller summarizes … Continue reading

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Gig review: AUDREY HORNE, Camden Underworld, 2 May 2013

You often wonder why some bands are not bigger names than expected, when talking music with fellow fans.  Threshold and their modest following in their native UK are often one that crops up and I’d add Audrey Horne who played … Continue reading

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Album review: RUBEN HOEKE BAND – Loaded

Ruben Hoeke Band

Dimensions records [Release date: 23.03.13] Dutch Guitarist Ruben Hoeke is firmly established as both a guitarist in his own right as well as a high profile interviewer, radio presenter and festival booker. His guitar chops are certainly evidence on ‘Loaded’, … Continue reading

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Gig review: DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT – The Garage, Glasgow, 30 April 2013

Devin Townsend

There is a fine line between genius and madness and it is one that Devin Townsend has been balancing on precariously for many years. I recall seeing him for the first time fronting Vai when they supported Aerosmith on their … Continue reading

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Album review: STATUS QUO – Bula Quo

Status Quo - Bula Quo

Fourth Chord Records/Warners (2CD) [Release date 10.06.13] Status Quo have gone silver screen in Kiss fashion with a film Bula Quo, shot in Fiji, with the band playing themselves. The film’s soundtrack (disc 1) features 9 new tracks and kicks … Continue reading

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Quick plays: MARC RING, LENKA, THE PROWLERS

Marc Ring

MARC RING – The Long Road Home www.marc-ring.co.uk Marc Ring was previously a member of folk rockers Jasper (who have recently had a re-issue campaign through Angel Air) and Good Thinking, who released a comeback album back in 2011. For … Continue reading

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Album review: SNOWFALL – Cold Silence

      Escape Music www.escape-music.com Norwegian band formed from the ashes of Winter Parade and they feature Tore Meli (guitars/keys), ‘PB’ Riise (bass/keys) and Coldspell’s drummer Perra Johnson, who has also recently appeared on the Love Under Fire album. … Continue reading

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Album review: JAMES COTTON – Cotton Mouth Man

James Cotton

Alligator records [Release date: 06.05.13] Grammy award winning Chicago blues-harp legend James Cotton is back! Well he’s never really been away, but ill health robbed him of his vocals making it all the more remarkable that ‘Cotton Mouth Man’ is … Continue reading

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Gig review: SUICIDAL TENDENCIES,DRI,Waking the Dead – Amos’ Southend,Charlotte,NC,26 April 2013

They say the sun shines on a dead dog’s ass from time to time. Can’t think of a more accurate cliché that fits my life. After a long ofrun of seeing some awesome shows it seemed that the well had … Continue reading

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Album review: PETER GREEN SPLINTER GROUP – The Very Best Of

Snapper Music (double CD) Peter Green was a founding member of Fleetwood Mac (having previously been in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers) and he was a key driver in that band’s early blues rock sound. He left Fleetwood Mac in 1970 due … Continue reading

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Album review: ARTLANTICA – Across the Seven Seas

        SPV www.spv.de (released 24th May) New band in name, although they have morphed out of Angel of Eden who released a cracking album ‘The End Of Never’. That line-up featured former Royal Hunt vocalist John West, … Continue reading

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Album review: THE JAN HOLBERG PROJECT – Sense Of Time, At Your Service

The Jan Holberg Project - Sense Of Time

Sense Of Time (2011) Norwegian bassist Jan Holberg has a good philosophy outlined in his liner notes to 2011′s ‘Sense Of Time’: that with music there should be no boundaries.  So in his first ‘solo’ venture he explores AOR and … Continue reading

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Album review: TRUCKER DIABLO – Songs Of Iron

Trucker Diablo - Songs Of Iron

Ripple Music [Release date – 13.05.13] Back in December 2011 Trucker Diablo’s first album ‘The Devil Rhythm’ dropped onto my door mat ripe for review. After listening to said disc my one issue with the album was that it had … Continue reading

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Album review: JOHN NICKOLOFF – Get Out Of My Way

John Nickoloff

Independent/TSM [Release date: 02.05.13] John Nickoloff opens his debut 5 track EP/CD ‘Get Out Of My Way’ with hard rock pretensions but gradually moves towards radio friendly MOR material. Either way he’s got a great rock voice that effortlessly brings … Continue reading

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Album review: SWEETKENNY – Jennifer’s Box Of Junk

Sweet Kenny

Waterfall Records/TSM [Release date: 2013] ‘Jennifer’s Box of Junk’ is both a title and concept. As song writer/ guitarist Kenny Sutton explains: ‘each song had to be something you would put in a box of junk’. Make of that what … Continue reading

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