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Author Archives: brianmc
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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Album review: GERRY MARSDEN – My Home Town
Angel Air [Release date 26.06.21] Back in 1963, the song ‘How Do You Do It’, penned by prolific UK hit writer, Mitch Murray, was offered to Gerry &The Pacemakers, manager Brian Epstein’s second signing. This was after the Beatles had … Continue reading
Album review: DUFFY – Scruffy Duffy (remaster w/bonus tracks)
Cherry Red [Release date 25.06.21] An undiscovered gem of an album. That’s a familiar phrase, and one that too often disappoints when exposed to the light. Scruffy Duffy doesn’t let us down. This was Brit band, Duffy’s second album, recorded … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged 1973, album, Beatles, bonus tracks, Cherry Red, pop, prog, remaster, review, rock, Rush, Uriah Heep
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Album review: SOCIAL DISORDER – Love 2 Be Hated
AFM Records [Release date 18.6.21] Social Disorder is not just another punk rock band, in fact despite its misleading name (and album title), it’s not a punk rock band at all. Love 2 Be Hated is pretty cool melodic metal, … Continue reading
Album review: VARIOUS ARTISTS – I’m A Freak Baby 3
Cherry Red Records [release date 25.06.21] The immortal words of Edgar Broughton – I’m A Freak Baby – have reached their third iteration in Cherry Red’s estimable series of “The British Heavy Psych and Hard Rock Underground Scene 1968-1973” collections. … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged 3 CD Boxset, album, British Heavy Psych And Hard Rock Underground Scene 1968-1973, Deep Purple, Free and Trapeze, Hawkwind, Mott, Nazareth, review, Spooky Tooth, The Deviants and the Edgar Broughton Band, The Pink Fairies, Thin Lizzy, UFO, Uriah Heep
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Album review: KENT HILLI – The Rumble
Frontiers [Release date 18.06.21] After two albums fronting A Perfect Plan, Kent Hilli has gone solo (helped by wunderkind, Michael Palace, who has arranged and produced), with The Rumble, on which he has written the bulk of the material. Unsurprisingly, … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged A Perfect Plan, album, AOR, Crown Of Thorns, eighties, Foreigner, Frontiers, Giant, Kent Hilli, melodic rock, Michael Palace, review, Survivor, the Storm
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Album review: TIMO TOLKKI’s AVALON – The Enigma Birth
Frontiers Music [Release date 18.06.21] Living legend of power/symphonic metal, Finland’s Timo Tolkki has again hooked up with fast rising guitarist/ writer/ producer Aldo (Secret Sphere/Sweet Oblivion) Lonobile on this, Avalon’s fourth album. As the memory of Tolkki’s longtime band, … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews
Tagged album, Aldo Lonobile, Avalon, Caterina Nix, Fabio Lione, Frontiers, Jake E, James LaBrie, Marina LaTorraca, PELLEK, Raphael Mendes, review, Stratovarius, Symphonic Rock Metal, The Enigma Birth, Timo Tolkki
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Album review: DOOGIE WHITE – As Yet Untitled (2 CD remaster)
Pete Feenstra chatted to Doogie White for Get Ready to ROCK! Radio. First broadcast 8 August 2021. The Store For Music [Release date 07.06.21] In 2011, ubiquitous gun-for-hire Doogie (Rainbow/Malmsteen/Schenker) White released a cracking little solo album called As Yet … Continue reading
Album review: THE BULLETBOYS – The Warner Albums 1988-93 (3 CDs)
Cherry Red Records [release date 18.06.21] No doubt about it, The Bulletboys started out as contenders. This package of CD remasters, comprising the band’s first 3 albums, The Bullet Boys, Freakshow and Za-Za, covers the most important chapters of the … Continue reading
Album review: TERRA ODIUM – Ne Plus Ultra
Frontiers Records [Release date 11.06.21] In its more expansive moments, Norwegian band Terra Odium’s album resonates with the sci-fi dissonance of tech metal. The kind that Brad Fiedel and Wendy Carlos wielded on “The Terminator” and “The Shining” film scores. … Continue reading
Album review: BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER – S/T
Frontiers Records [Release date 11.06.21] Frontiers clearly think highly of Brother Against Brother. The label compares this recording by two vocalists, Renan (Electric Mob) Zonta and Nando (Sinistra) Fernandes, relatively unknown outside of their native Brazil, to the Allen/Lande project. … Continue reading
Album review: NERGARD – Eternal White
Pride & Joy Music [release date 21.04.21] Norwegian musician/songwriter/producer, Andreas Nergard creates symphonic experiences which enthrall audiences. The fact that he uses “Metal” as his chosen vehicle is almost incidental. You could add that the fact he uses voices is … Continue reading
Album review: SILENT RAGE – Shattered Hearts and Don’t Touch Me There (Remasters)
Rock Candy Records [release date 07.05.21] US rock band, Silent Rage’s worldwide hit song, ‘Don’t Touch Me There’ (1989) gained them considerable notoriety. Perhaps a surprise then that once you peel away the risque lyrics, you reveal a band of … Continue reading
EP review : RHAPSODY OF FIRE – I’ll Be Your Hero
AFM Records [Release date 04.06.21] There’s no band more adept at sucking us into their fantasy world of bombastic, exhuberant Metal than Champions League Melodic Metal band, Rhapsody Of Fire. This is one of those rarities we call an EP. … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Single and EP reviews
Tagged AFM Records, album, EP, melodic metal, power, review, RHAPSODY OF FIRE, symphonic
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Album review: FRANKIE MILLER – Once In A Blue Moon, High Life and The Rock (remasters with bonus tracks)
Rock Candy Records [release date 7.05.21] Glasgow singer/songwriter/actor, Frankie Miller always seemed to have more success when other people sang the stuff he had written. And no matter the critical acclaim his own releases enjoyed, reviews always seemed to end … Continue reading
Album review: GHOSTS OF MEN – Exhale
Regent Street Records [Release date 21.05.21] No psychodrama queens, Ghosts of Men are as comfortable as any rock band can be in writing about mental health. It’s hardly a selling point, but on this their second album, they undercut the … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Black Keys, Exhale, Ghosts Of Men, Mental Health, review, White Stripes
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Album review: BLOODBOUND – Creatures Of The Dark Realm
AFM Records [release date: 28.05.21] When Bloodbound’s principal songwriters, Fredrik Bergh and Tomas Olsson rerouted their musical artistry from the AOR of Street Talk to the land of Power Metal, they brought the underlying principles of hooky melodic rock with … Continue reading
Album review: VARIOUS ARTISTS – Beyond The Pale Horizon, The British Progressive Sounds of 1972 (3 CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date 28.05.21] Respected music critics have often expressed the opinion that Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry never wrote a better set of lyrics than he did for ‘Virginia Plain’, the band’s first hit single. Medium.com’s Phil Adams described … Continue reading
Album review: KIK TRACEE – No Rules and Field Trip (2 CDs)
Bad Reputation [release date 14.05.21] Kik Tracee were one of the fallen in 1992′s Grunge assault on the Sunset Strip/Glam/Bandana/Sleaze (delete as appropriate) Rock’n’roll supremacy. A young band, clearly “inspired” by Guns’n’Roses, you can hear they had something to offer, … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Bad Reputation, Dana Strum, expanded version, Filed Trip, glam rock, Guns'n'Roses, Kik Tracee, No Rules, Poison, review, Slaughter
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Album review: LOU GRAMM – Questions And Answers (3CD Atlantic Years Anthology, 1987-89)
Cherry Red [Release date 28.05.21] As with most rock bands, the singer and guitarist driving force is a dynamic that ultimately shudders to a halt, at least on a temporary basis: Steven Tyler/ Joe Perry. Mick Jagger/ Keith Richards. Robert … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, anthology, AOR, Dann Huff, Foreigner, Giant, Lou Gramm, melodic rock, Mick Jones, Nils Lofgren, Peter Wolf, Question And Answer, review
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Album review: SUNBOMB – Evil And Divine
Frontiers [Release date 15.05.21] An outsider may see Sunbomb as the completion of Michael Sweet’s journey to the darkside. A restlessly talented musician finally freeing himself from the strictures of Christian Rock, crossing into the world of the Sunset Strip’s … Continue reading
Album review: SONIC HAVEN – Vagabond
Frontiers Music [Release date 07.05.21] Sonic Haven is Herbie Langhan’s band. He of Firewind, Avantasia and others fame. He’s produced it, Sacha Paeth has mixed it and old Radiant chum, Carsen Stepanowicz plays guitar. So, with three vastly experienced artists … Continue reading
