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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
Latest Album Reviews
Latest Gig Reviews
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Gig review: PAUL McCARTNEY- 02 Arena, London, 18 December 2024
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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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Author Archives: brianmc
Album review: IRON ALLIES – Blood In Blood Out
AFM Records [release date: 21.10.02] Iron Allies is a band with an impressive Metal heritage. It’s Herman (Accept/ Victory/ Moondoc) Frank’s new band, and if ever an artist invokes the genre it is he. He’s brought in another well known … Continue reading
Album Review: C85 (3CD Various Artists)
Cherry Red [release date: 21.10.22] Taking its lead from NME’s ultra successful C86, this 72 track, triple CD release, C85, celebrates the rise and rise of the Indie band in the UK. In 1986, NME scribe Neil Taylor had the … Continue reading
Album review: EDDIE and THE HOT RODS – The Singles 1976-85 (2 CDs)
Cherry Red [release date: 14.10.22] So much crammed into these two Eddie and The Hot Rods’ compilation CDs. So much history here. Of the band, of the nascent sound of Punk. Of the talent that flowed through the various line-ups. … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged 2 CDs, album, Canvey Island, Proto-punk, pub rock, punk, Question Mark and The Mysterians, R&B, review, Them, Top Of The Pops, Van Morrison
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Album review: BLUE OCTOBER – Spinning The Truth Around
Up/Down Records [Release date: 14.10.22] Compulsive songwriter Justin Furstenfeld of Blue October is long past previous compulsions. The only thing he’s tested positive for in recent years is Covid, and he shook that off pretty quickly. And now this authentic … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, JUSTIN FURSTENFELD, review
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Album review: GUN – The Calton Songs
Cherry Red [Release date 14.10.22] Gun trade in emotions – nostalgia, melancholy and ultimately, optimism. Always have, and they have become expert. The title of their new album, The Calton Songs, confirms this. Born and brought up in “The Calton”, … Continue reading
Album review: GRAND – Grand
Frontiers [Release date 14.10.22] Swedish songwriter/singer Mattias Olofsson teamed up with Wigelius guitarist, Jakob Svensson and drummer Anton Martinez to form Grand in 2020. The band subsequently signed with Frontiers. This is the debut. Grand are as good an AOR/Melodic … Continue reading
Album review: WILDNESS – Resurrection
Frontiers [Release date: 14.10.22] Maybe the title indicates that a move to Frontiers for their third album, Resurrection, is seen by Swedish AOR/Melodic Rock band Wildness as a post pandemic rebirth. Certainly, the band have made significant strides in terms … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, AOR, Dokken, HEAT, Jeff Scott Soto, melodic rock, Pretty Maids, Resurrection, review, Talisman, Wildness
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Album review : KILLER KINGS – Burn For Love
Frontiers Records [Release date: 14.10.22] Killer Kings are guitarist, Tristan Avakian and vocalist, Gregory Lynn Hall. Two names you will immediate recognise from their well documented (in Melodic Rock circles) involvement with near legendary bands Red Dawn, TSO, Heaven & … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged 101 South, album, AOR, Frontiers, Gregory Lynn Hall, Heaven and Earth, melodic rock, Red Dawn, Tristan Avakian, TSO
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Album review: DRAGONLAND – The Power Of The Nightstar
AFM Records [Release date: 14.10.22] First album in ten years from Swedish Power/Melodic Metal band, Dragonland. A lot can change in ten years. A lot can stay the same. This is Dragonland expanded, more ambitious, with a finely developed movie … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews
Tagged album, Anders Hammer, Elias Holmlid, Hans Zimmer, Jacob Hansen, Jesse Lindskog, Johan Nunez, John Williams, Jonas Heidgert, melodic metal, Olof Mörck), power metal, review, symphonic metal
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Album review: BOREALIS – Illusions
AFM Records [Release date: 07.10.22] Four years after The Offering, underrated and often overlooked Canadian metal soundscape supremos, Borealis, step up a gear with new album, Illusion. This is a metal band impossible to categorise. Anyone who thought they were … Continue reading
Album review : PETE WAY – Solo Albums 2000 – 2004 (3 CDs)
Cherry Red [Release date: 30.09.22] In 2019, the late great Pete Way and his band played an unannounced gig in my home town, a few miles from Glasgow, just before the pandemic hit and less than a year before his … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged albums, Cherry Red, Michael Christian, Michael Schenker, Pete Way, review, UFO, Waysted
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Album review: JELLYFISH – When These Memories Fade (boxset 7″ singles)
Newland+ [Release date: 30.09.22] This boxset of 7×7” Jellyfish singles is truly a step back in time to when vinyl was king. An A side and a B side. On the A side was the song the label wanted radio … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Alby Galutin, Andy Sturmer, Badfinger, Beach Boys, boxset, Brian Wilson, Eric Dover, Imperial Drag, Jack Joseph Puig, Jason Falkner, Roger Manning, singles, The 5th Dimension, The Association, The Beatles, The Grays Queen, the Lickerish Quartet, The Turtles, Tim Smith, Vinyl
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Album review: IMPELLITTERI – Wake The Beast (3 CD anthology)
Global Rock Records [Release date: 30.09.22] New kids on the block, Global Rock Records have recently licensed Impellitteri’s total back catalogue. That is quite a coup for a non-major label. This 3 CD anthology, Wake The Beast, curated by Chris … Continue reading
Album review: STATUS QUO – Quo’ing In, The Best Of The Noughties (2CDs/3CDs)
earMusic [Release date 16.09.22] Quo’ing In… is a compilation album from one of rock’n’roll’s great survivors, Status Quo. It looks back on the band’s recordings released since the year 2000, embellishing the material selected with up to date studio rerecordings, … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged 3 CDs, album, boogie, classic rock, Francis Rossi, live, pop rock, Quo'ing In, review, rock 'n' roll, Status Quo, The Best of the Noughties
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Album review: GINEVRA – We Belong To The Stars
Frontiers [Release date: 16.09.22] Ginevra is a kind of Europa League supergroup. Not exactly Champions League status. Not yet anyway. Kristian Fhyr, vocalist/ songwriter with Seventh Crystal was the instigator, and with the label’s help, the rest of the band… … Continue reading
Album review: HOUSE OF LORDS – Saints And Sinners
Frontiers [Release date: 16.09.22] On this, their 11th studio album, House Of Lords deliver aggressive, in your face melodic rock. The music comes out of its corner swinging, ready for the fight. James Christian now has Mark (Touch, Drive She … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, BJ Zampa, Drive She Said, eighties, Frontiers, James Christian, Jimi Bell, Mark Mangold, melodic hard rock, review, Touch
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Album review: EDENBRIDGE – Shangri La
AFM Records [Release date: 16.09.22] Edenbridge’s Sabine Edelsbacher has such an expressive voice. It flows, taking its time, making its mark. Her clear, classy enunciation adds an element of sophistication to every note she sings. Band leader, Arne “Lanvall” Stockhammer, … Continue reading
Album review: ALLEN OLZON – Army Of Dreamers
Frontiers [release date: 09.09.22] The Russell Allen, Anette Olzon, Magnus Karlsson triumvirate mined a rich seam of melodic metal on their well received Allen Olzon debut, Separate Worlds, in 2020. Individually, they are accomplished musical artists… primarily, Olzon fronted Nightwish … Continue reading
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Tagged album, Anette Olzon, Hans Zimmer, Magnus Karlsson, melodic metal, review, Russell Allen
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Album review: TABOO – Taboo
Frontiers [Release date: 09.09.22] Taboo is an interesting marriage of the old and the new… Pretty Maids’ guitarist and guiding light, Ken Hammer and H.E.R.O’s singer, writer, producer Steffan Stjerne. Sony recording artist, H.E.R.O is “Big in Japan”, racking up … Continue reading
Album review: IRON SAVIOR – Reforged Ironbound Volume 2
AFM Records [release date: 26.08.22] You could argue that Piet Sielck and Kai (Gamma Ray) Hansen kick started the entire Power Metal genre in Europe when the former Helloween bandmates formed Iron Savior in 1996. That was then. More recently, … Continue reading
Album review: DYNAZTY – Final Advent
AFM Records [Release date: 26.08.22] Guided by Love Magnusson and Nils Molin, the band’s influential guitarist and vocalist respectively, Dynazty successfully transitioned from melodic rock to symphonic rock several albums ago, with 2018′s Firesign getting the target “formula” just right. … Continue reading
Album review: LILLIAN AXE – From Womb To Tomb
Global Rock [Release date : 19.08.22] There’s a thin line between pretension and serious minded rock’n’roll. Lillian Axe do a high wire balancing act on this, their first album for ten years, titled From Womb To Tomb. Mainman, songwriter, guitarist, … Continue reading
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Tagged album, arrangements, hard rock, heavy metal, melody, MTV, review, Saigon Kick, Steve Blaze, symbolism, Trance metal
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Album review: JOHN SLOMAN – Two Rivers
Red Steel Music [Release date: 12.08.22] John Sloman’s ninth solo album is a tale of two cities. His life has been a neverending musical quest to find success and certitude. All the time torn between his hometown of Cardiff, where … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged blues, Captain Beefheart, Cardiff, Frank Zappa, gospel, groove, John Sloman, London, Memphis, psychedelic, review, rock, Todd Rundgren
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Album review: SUNSTORM – Brothers In Arms
Frontiers [Release date: 12.08.22] All that accumulated weight from the Joe Lynn Turner era has been thrown overboard, and Version 2 of the new, invigorated Sunstorm is writing and performing with confidence and skill. Ronnie Romero remains from Version 2′s … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Doro, hard rock, Joe Lynn Turner, Luca Princiotta, metal, review, Ronnie Romero, Simone Mulanari, Sunstorm
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Album review: HYDRA – Point Break
Frontiers [Release date: 12.08.22] Hydra is a project put together by rock’n’roll impresario, Daniel Flores, built around the songs of Swedish wunderkind, Henrik Hedstrom. Flores has brought in another highly talented musician, Andy Kravljaca, to sing and add lead and … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Andy Kravljaca, AOR, Christopher Cross, Daniel Flores, Henrik Hedstrom, Hydra, melodic rock, review, soft rock, Toto
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