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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: 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: AL ROSS & THE PLANETS – Blue Crystal
Wienerworld Music [Release date 10.09.21] Al Ross & The Planets’ “stylistically diverse” (it sez ere) second album, Blue Crystal, had a difficult birth. As well as being handicapped by the pandemic’s side effects of lockdown and quarantine, this international band … Continue reading
Album review: BETWEEN WORLDS (feat Ronny Munroe) – Between Worlds
Frontiers [release date: 10.09.21] Ronny Munroe, Alessandro Del Vecchio (Frontiers’ inhouse producer / writer / arranger) and Pete Alpenberg, now aka Between Worlds, have brought in the heavy artillery for this, their self titled debut. After ten years fronting Metal … Continue reading
Album review: ANETTE OLZON – Strong
Frontiers Records [release date 10.09.21] A Symphonic Rock album for the ABBA generation, Anette (Dark Element/ Nightwish) Olzon’s collaboration with maestro, Magnus Karlsson, titled Strong, is huge, confident and full of heartstopping hooks. It has a lovely gloss to it… … Continue reading
Album review: VANDENBERG – The Complete Atco Recordings 1982-2004 (4 CD Boxset w/bonus tracks)
Cherry Red [release date 27.08.21] Vandenberg (1982) Heading For A Storm (1983) Alibi (1985) Demos and Live (2004) Emerging unbloodied and unbowed from the golden age of AOR, Vandenberg’s 3 albums (now remastered) embody all that was good and all … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged albums, Alibi, bonus tracks, boxset, Coverdale, demos, Heading For A Storm, Japp Eggermont, Kolodner, live, melodic hard rock, review, Vandenberg, Whitesnake
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Album review: LYNCH MOB – The Elektra Years 1990-92 (2 CDs w/bonus tracks)
Cherry Red [Release date 27.08.21] A 2 CD Lynch Mob package. Wicked Sensation (1990) and Lynch Mob (1992). All that’s missing is the “best before 1989” label. And that problem undermined any notion of commercial success. Either one of these … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged albums, Dokken, George Lynch, Lynch Mob, Mick Brown, Oni Logan, review, Robert Mason, Wicked Sensation
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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
Album review: BRENT WINDLER – New Morning Howl
Goldstar Records [release date 27.08.21] New Morning Howl is the debut album from Kansas City singer/songwriter, Brent Windler. Big things are expected of this exceptionally talented artist. There’s definitely a touch of Paul Simon about Windler, in the way that … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Americana, Brent Windler, Brian Wilson, Burt Bacharach, Jellyfish, New Morning Howl, pop, review
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Single review: MANIMAL – Armageddon and The Inevitable End
AFM Records [Release date 06.08.21] ‘Armageddon‘ is the title track and third “single” release from forthcoming new album from Sweden’s Manimal. As the song title suggests, this video version has lots of footage of global warfare, nuclear of course, clearly … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, Single and EP reviews
Tagged AFM Records, Armageddon, Manimal, melodic metal, power metal, review, singles
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Single review: PARADOX – Mountains And Caves
AFM Records [release date 13.08.21] 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, melodic … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, Single and EP reviews
Tagged Charlie Steinhauer, Heresy II, new album, Paradox, review, single, thrash metal
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Album review: FRANKIE MILLER – Full House and Double Trouble (remasters w/bonus tracks)
Rock Candy Records [Release date 30.07.21] With 3 outstanding albums under his belt, but no substantial success, you could have forgiven Frankie Miller for just accepting his fate. Judging by his genre hopping fourth album, Full House, (1978) he never … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged Ace, album, Andy Fraser, blues, ELO, Eric Troyer, Frankie Miller, Free, funk, Jack Douglas, Marvin Gaye, Mike And The Mechanics, Paul Carrack, pop, review, rock, Rock Candy Records, Squeeze, Steven Tyler, The Record Plant
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Album review: DONNIE IRIS AND THE CRUISERS – Remasters
Rock Candy Records [release date 30.07.21] Back On The Streets (1980) King Cool (1981) High And Mighty (1982) Fortune 410 (1983) Donnie Iris’s first 4 albums have at last been nailed down by Rock Candy Records. The pursuit has been … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Boston, Brian Wilson, Donnie Iris, Mark Avsec, Police, Powerpop, review, rock, Talking Heads, Wondermints
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Album review: MIRKA RANTANEN’s CIRCUS OF ROCK – Come One Come All
Frontiers [release date 06.08.21] Circus Of Rock is a multiple guests band … singers, musicians … put together by King Company drummer boy, Mirka Rantanen. The album, Come One Come All is the realisation of a life long ambition, a … Continue reading
Album review: SPEKTRA – Overload
Frontiers [Release date 06.08.21] Still mining Brazil’s rich seam of hard rock heroes, Frontiers latest South American hopefuls are Spektra, a melodic rock band built around the talents of the vocalist/ guitarist with no name, BJ. And like his countryman, … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Alirio, BJ, Boston, Edu Cominato, Foreigner, Jeff Scott Soto, melodic hard rock, review, Winger
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Album review: ALIRIO – All Things Must Pass
Frontiers [Release date 06.08.21] Alirio (Netto) is big in Brazil. Arguably, he’s paid his dues several times over, appearing on stage in several rock musicals through the years to considerable acclaim, as well as being the frontman for Khalice, Age … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Alice Cooper, Alirio, Brazil, Frontiers, hard rock, Icon Of Sin, Inner Stream, Journey, Raphael Mendes, review, Vera Ortiz
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Album review: VARIOUS ARTISTS – Separate Paths Together (An Anthology Of British Male Singer/Songwriters 1965-75, 3 CD set)
Grapefruit [Release date 30.07.21] Hard to see how an anthology could get any more specific. And interesting that it’s a companion piece to 2017′s female version. Well, interesting that the female version came first. In those ten years that spanned … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Al Stewart, album, anthology, boxset, Donovan, Eric Clapton, Gerry Rafferty, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Graham Gouldman, Grapefruit Records, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, John Martyn, like Richard Thompson, Ralph McTell, review, Singer songwriters
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Album review: JAGGED EDGE – Fuel For Your Soul / Trouble (Remasters w/bonus tracks)
Bad Reputation [Release date 30.07.21] A cracking little package: 2 CDs remastered and laden with bonus material, from Eighties’ hard rock band, Jagged Edge, brought to us by French label, Bad Reputation. The band, formed by guitarist Myke Gray in … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged album, Bad Reputation, bonus tracks, Matti Alfonzetti, melodic hard rock, Myke Gray, reissue, remaster, remasters, review
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Album review: BLACKTHORNE – Afterlife and Don’t Kill The Thrill (2-CD package)
In October 2021, Pete Feenstra chatted to Jimmy Waldo about Blackthorne for Get Ready to ROCK! Radio. First broadcast 3 October 2021. The Store For Music [Release date 23.07.21] Blackthorne is probably one of the more obscure Graham (Rainbow/MSG/Alcatrazz) Bonnet … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, INTERVIEWS, Radio interview, Reissues
Tagged album, Alcatrazz, Blackthorne, Bob Kulick, Chuck Wright, Frankie Banali, Graham Bonnet, hard rock, interview, Jimmy Waldo, Kiss, MSG, New England, Quiet Riot, Rainbow, review, WASP
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Album review: 38 SPECIAL – Wild Eyed Southern Boys and Special Forces (2021 Vinyl Remasters)
Snakefarm Records [Release date 30.07.21] In 2008, a major fire in Universal Studios’ Hollywood Warehouse devastated the company’s music archives. 38 Special were one of the bands to suffer a significant loss…and if nothing else, that gives these releases added … Continue reading
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
Single review: MAGPIE – Dancing With The Devil
3MS Records [Release date 17.07.21] It’s no exaggeration to say that the late Cozy Powell’s seventies’ classic, ‘Dance With The Devil’ is etched into every rock fan’s consciousness. It’s an eminently durable mini masterpiece that has withstood sweeping changes in … Continue reading
Album review: RIAN – Twenty Three
Frontiers [Release date 16.07.21] Here’s a genuine contender. Rian, a Swedish melodic rock band formed by singer/writer, Richard Andermyer. On their second album now, and first for Frontiers. It’s produced by the hugely talented musician, Daniel Flores. He gives the … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Blue Tears, Brother Firetribe, Eclipse, Frontiers, Gotthard, Harem Scarem, melodic rock, review, Rian, Twenty-Three, Work Of Art
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Album review: RESURRECTION KINGS – Skygazer
Frontiers [Release date 16.07.21] The Resurrection Kings are less of a supergroup, and more a ragtag collection of talented musicians who struck gold at the box office a few times, but most often found their place in supporting roles. Craig … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Black Sabbath, Derringer, Dio, Dokken, Foreigner, Frontiers, Giuffria, metal, Resurrection Kings, review, rock, Rough Cutt, Skygazer
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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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