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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
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Upcoming: New releases (CD/DVD/Bluray) 2025
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Upcoming: New releases (CD/DVD/Bluray) 2026
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Upcoming: UK & Ireland Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2025)
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Upcoming: UK & Ireland Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2026)
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Upcoming: Festivals UK & Europe (2026)
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Upcoming: European, USA & World Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2025)
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Upcoming: European, USA & World Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2026)
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Author Archives: brianmc
Album review : GIRLSCHOOL – Running Wild – Live in London 1984 (CD & DVD)
Cherry Red [Release date : 11.07.25] We’ve said it before (and will no doubt say it again), Girlschool experienced their share of heartache… label let downs, revolving door membership issues, conflicting views on musical direction and the struggles to sustain … Continue reading
Album review : JACK BRUCE – Harmony Row (Expanded 2 CD : 2 Blu-ray Boxset edition)
Cherry Red [Release date : 27.06.25] Glasgow boy Jack Bruce was brought up on Harmony Row, a mile long stretch of tenements in Govan, on the south bank of the Clyde. They’re gone now of course, as is Bruce, god … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged Blu-ray, Chris Spedding, Cream, Glasgow, Govan, Harmony Row, Jack Bruce, John Marshall, Pete Brown, review, Stephen W Taylor, Surround Sound
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Album review : LYNYRD SKYNYRD – Celebrating 50 Years: Live At The Ryman (CD & DVD)
Frontiers Music [Release date : 27.06.25] “Celebrating 50 Years – Live At The Ryman”, a live album and DVD capturing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s historic 50th-anniversary concert at Nashville’s legendary venue in 2022 is due out on 27 June. The fact that … Continue reading
Album review : VENOM – Blackened Priests (3 CD Boxset)
Dissonance [Release date 27.06.25] CD1: Prime Evil 1989 CD2: Temple Of Ice 1991 (plus EP Tear Your Soul) CD3: Waste Land 1992 Formed in England’s industrial North East in 1979, there was none heavier, none more extreme and indeed none … Continue reading
Album review : AFTER THE FIRE – Bright Lights 1974-1982
Cherry Red [Release date 20.06.25] Bright Lights indeed. After The Fire were (and still are) a British band who formed in 1972, who went on to release five albums between 1978 – 1982. CD1: Signs Of Change (1978) CD2: Early … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), Reissues
Tagged After The Fire, AOR, Billboard Charts, boxset, Bright Lights, ELP, Genesis, New Wave, progrock, review
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Album review : SIGNUM REGIS – Eyes Of Power (2025 remix/remaster)
Beyond The Storm Productions [07.06.25] Eyes Of Power is a 2010 album recorded by the Slovak Power Metal band, Signum Regis, recently remixed and remastered. It’s the third from a 13 album back catalogue to undergo a retooling job. Again, … Continue reading
Album review : INSANIA – The Great Apocalypse
Frontiers Music [Release date 13.06.25] Naming your album The Great Apocalypse leaves Insania with a lot to live up to. Still, there’s nothing wrong with ambition, naked or otherwise. It’s an interesting album, advertised as power metal. In fact the … Continue reading
Album review : LEVERAGE – Gravity
Frontiers Music [Release date 20.06.25] When we reviewed Leverage’s 2021 album, Above The Beyond, we said: “It’s perhaps best described as heavy rock with stunning melodies and a penchant for unconventional song structures, and indeed, challenging lyrical themes.” It would … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Blue Murder, Finnish, Frontiers, GRAVITY, heavy rock, Kimmo Blom, Leverage, Magnum, Paulo Ribaldini, review, Tuomas Hekkinen
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Album review : FAIRYLAND – The Story Remains
Frontiers [Release date : 13.06.25] The Story Remains is the fifth album from Fairyland, the best French Symphonic Metal band since Manigance. The death of founder Phillipe Giordana in 2022 – in the middle of writing and recording the new … Continue reading
Album review : INGLORIOUS – V
Frontiers Music [Release date 06.06.25] Inglorious’s unimaginatively titled fifth album sees bassman Colin Parkinson and singer Nathan James back together. (They resolved their differences over a pint, where else?) Joining them in this new iteration of the band are guitarist, … Continue reading
Album review : GORGUTS – Considered Dead / Erosion Of Sanity (2CDs w/bonus tracks)
Cherry Red [Release date : 13.06.25] Got to hand it to Cherry Red. Few labels are resurrecting the past glories of Metal like they are. Most who do aim for mainstream stuff, bands in the public eye, in the media. But … Continue reading
Album review : RENAISSANCE – Running Hard – The Albums 1974-76 (4 CDs)
Cherry Red [Release date: 30.05.25] This 4 CD Renaissance boxset comprises: CD1 : Turn Of The Cards (1974) CD2 : Scheherazade And Other Stories (1975) CD3 : Live At Carnegie Hall Part 1 (1976) CD3 : Live At Carnegie Hall … Continue reading
Album review : THE SPEAKER WARS – s/t
Frontiers Music [Release date 23.05.25] Writer/producer, Stan Lynch and singer/musician, Jon Christopher Davis crossed paths several years ago in Nashville. Songwriters both, they discovered an emotional connection, subsequently writing a bunch of songs together. This would eventually manifest itself as … Continue reading
Album review : RONNIE ROMERO – Live At Rock Imperium Festival (CD+DVD)
Frontiers [Release date : 23.05.25] Ronnie Romero’s merge of heavyweight hard rock and high powered melodic metal may well have been built on Dio’s lasting legacy, but as time as progressed he’s clearly found his own metier. And in performing … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Cartagena, Imperium Festival, Jose Rubio, Judas Priest, Rainbow, review, Ronnie James Dio, Ronnie Romero, Spain, Sunstorm, Uriah Heep
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Album review : THE FLOWERPOT MEN – Midsummer Dreaming, An Anthology 1967-70
Cherry Red [Release date : 23.05.25] English musicians/songwriters/singers, John Carter and Ken Lewis achieved limited success in the sixties, scoring two top ten hits as the Ivy League, in 1965 and 66. Meanwhile, aside from breeding an anti consumerist counterculture, … Continue reading
Album review : YOUNG AND WILD – A Decade of American Glam Metal 1982-92
Cherry Red [Release date : 23.05.25] The Eighties in the USA: some rock bands rode the Glam Metal wave, propelled by MTV’s insatiable appetite for the genre’s hypnotic theatrics (and, let’s face it, some really great songs). They discarded the … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged 1982 to 1992, American Glam Metal, BANG TANGO, Bullet Boys, Cinderella, Kiss, Poison, Ratt, review, Saigon Kick, White Lion, Winger
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Album review : DON FELDER – The Vault – 50 Years Of Music
Frontiers Music [Release date : 23.05.25] Don Felder enjoyed two six year stints as a member of The Eagles. The second ended in 2001. His vocal presence was limited. He was a prolific songwriter, though Don Henley and Glen Frey … Continue reading
Album review : STATUS QUO – Live! (Super Deluxe 8 CD Edition)
earMusic [Release date : 16.05.24] You’ve really got to hand it to whoever guides Status Quo through the pop and rock music jungle, carefully mining their back catalogue. Brilliantly marketed, with ads that hit all the right notes in the … Continue reading
Album review : GIANT – Stand And Deliver
Frontiers Music [Release date: 16.05.24] This is the Kent Hilli, Jimmy (One Desire) Westerlund version of Giant, along with original members, David Huff and Mike Brignardello. The signature sound of any band is provided by its vocalist, closely followed by … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Coverdale, Dann Huff, Giant, Jimmy Westerlund, Kent Hilli, melodic rock, One Nation, review
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Album review : ART NATION – Re-Revolution
Frontiers [Release date : 16.05.25] Sweden’s Art Nation are getting considerable push from the Frontiers Music label. This month we get a replay of their first rodeo, Revolution (2015), coming hard on the heels of last month’s impressive new album, … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Alexander Strandell, Art Nation, Cristoffer Borg, Frontiers, HEAT, Jacob Hansen, review, Revolution, The Ascendance, Treat, WET
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Album review : FRANCIS ROSSI – The Way We Were Volume 1
EAR Music [Release date: 02.05.25] Francis Rossi – artist as purist making new music from abandoned recordings, not seen as commercial enough to pursue further at the time, or side tracked onto Quo’s then latest album. Rossi : “Collected on … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Bob Young, demos, Ear Music, Francis Rossi, review, Status Quo
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Album review : MAESTRICK – Espresso Della Vita : Lunare
Frontiers Music [Release date : 02/05/25] The progressive metal terrain is well mapped. Few destinations remain undiscovered. Yet, Brazilian band, Maestrick, staked their own claim, blending surrealism with artistry on their well received debut album, Unpuzzle, in 2011. And now, … Continue reading
Album review : RAVEN – Screamin’ Down The House (4 CD set)
Cherry Red [Release date : 25.04.25] Formed in the north of England by brothers John and Mark Gallagher, during a time of social upheaval in the UK, Raven forged their own reflective version of NWOBHM, a proto-thrash metal that found … Continue reading
Album review : DEAR MR.FANTASY Featuring the Music of Jim Capaldi and Traffic (2CD+DVD remaster)
Cherry Red [Release date : 25.04.25] The only surprise with this Jim Capaldi tribute release is that it’s taken so long for any label to do him justice. Cherry Red stepped in this year, and is to be commended for … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Cherry Red, Dear Mr Fantasy, Gary Moore, Jim Capaldi, Joe Walsh, Paul Weller, review, Simon Kirke, Steve Winwood, Traffic
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Album review : RUSS BALLARD – Songs From The Warehouse / The Hits Rewired (2CDs)
Frontiers Music [Release date : 25.04.25] Disc One: Songs From The Warehouse Russ Ballard’s been round the block a good few times, most famously writing mega-hits for other artists en route, like Kiss, Santana, Rainbow and America. Well in his … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged America, Argent, Elkie Brooks, Graham Bonnet, Hot Chocolate, Kiss, Petr, Rainbow, review, Roger Daltrey, Russ Ballard
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