Category Archives: ALBUM REVIEWS

Album review: JAN AKKERMAN – My Focus Live Under The Rainbow

Posted on November 10, 2025 by GRTR! HQ

Music Theories Recordings [Release date: 12.12.25] Possibly missed by some, Jan Akkerman played a short series of dates in the UK in February 2025. Fortunately this rare excursion has been captured on a new live album. It seems that Akkerman … Continue reading →

Album review: D’ERCOLE – Reactance Theory

Posted on November 10, 2025 by jason

Rock Company [Release date 05.11.25] It’s album number eleven from D’Ercole and lost count of the number of albums featuring the talented & never seemingly out of the studio Phil Vincent! Joining him are the D’Ercole stalwarts – drummer B.F. D’Ercole, … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, D'Ercole, hard rock, melodic hard rock, melodic rock, Phil Vincent, Reactance Theory, review, rock, Vince O'Regan | Leave a comment

Album review: DRINK THE SEA – S/t

Posted on November 3, 2025 by jason

Website [Release date 03.10.25] It may seem an alien concept for some people, but being in a globally huge band can be tough going at times, the machine utterly taking over your life. Former R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck has always … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged Alain Johannes, album, Barrett Martin, Drink the Sea, Duke Garwood, jazz, Mark Lanegan Band, melodic, Peter Buck, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, REM, review, rock, Screaming Trees | Leave a comment

Album review: SMITH & LIDDLE – Songs For The Desert

Posted on November 2, 2025 by GRTR! HQ

Legere Recordings [Release date 31.10.25] There must be something in the air at the moment, or at least this year. We’ve had excellent albums from Morganway, First Time Flyers, and now Smith & Liddle. The connecting theme is melodic classic pop … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, AOR, classic rock, pop rock, review, singer songwriter, Smith & Little, Songs For The Desert | Leave a comment

Album review : HELL IN THE CLUB – The Joker In The Pack

Posted on November 2, 2025 by brianmc

Frontiers Music [Release date 7.11.25] The Hell In The Club line up comprised originally of ex-members of better named bands, like Elvenking (Dave Moras), Secret Sphere (Andrea Buratto) and Wrathchild (Andrea Piccardi). Of course the HITC band name is old … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged Andrea Buratto, Andrea Piccardi, Hell In The Club, Joker In The Pack, melodic hard rock, review, Terese "Tezza" Persson | Leave a comment

Album review: ASH WING – s/t

Posted on November 2, 2025 by GRTR! HQ

White Knight Records [Release date 07.11.25] This album is one of several that arrived at GRTR! Towers without an accompanying press release. Perhaps this is a new trend: get the journos to do the work. Again, from the Rob Reed … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, Ash Wing, neo prog, Peter Jones, prog, Progressive Rock, review, Rob Reed | Leave a comment

Album review: CHIMPAN A – Music Is Art Vol.1

Posted on October 30, 2025 by GRTR! HQ

Tigermoth Records [Release date 29.08.25] Chimpan A’s debut album was quite a revelation and one of the best low key releases of 2006. (We only got to hear of it some time later). This off-on project is essentially Mike Oldfield … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, ambient, chill-out, Chimpan A, Christine Booth, classic rock, groove, Magenta, Music Is Art Vol.1, review, Rob Reed, Steve Balsamo | Leave a comment

Album review : RONNIE ROMERO – Backbone

Posted on October 30, 2025 by brianmc

Frontiers Music [Release date 24.10.25] Over the last ten years, stints with pre-eminent rock artists like Schenker and Vandenberg, plus spells with Rainbow and Sunstorm have tended to overshadow Ronnie Romero’s solo stuff. When he released Raised on Radio (2022) … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, Backbone, Frontiers Music, Jose Rubio, Rainbow, review, Ronnie Romero, Schenker, Sunstorm, Vandenberg | Leave a comment

Album review: KYLE CAREY – The Last Bough

Posted on October 30, 2025 by jason

Bandcamp [Release date 01.09.25] Gaelic Americana – that’s what this artist plays. Never heard of it? No neither had I, and although it could be a bit of a gimmick, it’s actually not. It’s a vocation for this artist, who spent … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, folk, Gaelic Americana, Kyle Carey, review, The Last Bough, traditional music | Leave a comment

Album review : DEFECTO – Echoes Of Isolation

Posted on October 28, 2025 by brianmc

Frontiers Music [Release date 31.10.25] Strongly encouraged by famed producer, Flemming (Rainbow/ Metallica/ Pretty Maids/ Blind Guardian) Rasmussen, Danish singer/ guitarist/ songwriter, Nicklas Sonne put Defecto together in 2011. Echoes of Isolation is their fourth studio album, and the band … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged Aries Ascendant, Danish, Defecto, Echoes Of isolation, Flemming Rasmussen, Frontiers Music, Nicklas Sonne, progressive metal, review | Leave a comment

Album review : SHIRAZ LANE – In Vertigo

Posted on October 27, 2025 by brianmc

Frontiers Music [Release date 24.10.25] Finnish rock band Shiraz Lane have been a going concern for ten years now. In Vertigo is their 6th album, with a smattering of EPs released in between. It’s described by the label as “an … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, Alexander Kronlund, HEAT, In Vertigo, Max Martin, Per Aldaheim, Reckless Love, review, Santa Cruz, Shiraz Lane | Leave a comment

News: Albums of the Month (July – September 2025)

Posted on October 24, 2025 by GRTR! HQ

A quarterly feature highlighting album releases rated highly by the GRTR! review team and worthy of your investigation. We try and pick out a cross-section of albums that reflect the range of genres reviewed at the website. The star rating … Continue reading →

Posted in Albums of the Month, ALL POSTS, NEWS | Tagged 2025, albums of the month, Americana, August, blues rock, classic rock, hard rock, July, melodic rock, metal, Progressive Rock, roots, September | Leave a comment

Album review : LEAH MARTIN-BROWN – Love & Other Crimes

Posted on October 24, 2025 by brianmc

Frontiers Music [Release date 24.10.25] Australian born, but now resident in Europe via the USA, amazingly gifted singer Leah Martin-Brown releases her debut album on Frontiers Music this month. She’s got a lot going for her before we hear a … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged Def Leppard, Eurythmics, Jens Lundberg, Joan Jett, Leah Martin-Brown, melodic rock, Mutt Lange, review, Tony Denander, Tony Nilsson | Leave a comment

Album review: LAURA COX – Trouble Coming

Posted on October 23, 2025 by jason

earMusic [Release date 31.10.25] Album number four from Anglo-French guitarist and singer Laura Cox, who first came to wider attention via her YouTube channel in 2008. The album was mixed and engineered by Jean-Marc Pelatan, with tracks mastered by Ted Jensen … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, blues rock, guitarist, Laura Cox, melodic, review, rock, Trouble Coming | Leave a comment

Album review: STEVE MORSE BAND – Triangulation

Posted on October 22, 2025 by petefeenstra

Music Theories Recordings [Release date 14.10.25] Steve Morse Band’s ‘Triangulation’ is a complex, intense and yet accessible virtuosic album which successfully evokes the conceptual ‘Triangulation’ album title. The ‘triangulation’ concept refers to geographically pinpointing your exact location at a specific … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, blues, Dave LaRue, Dixie Dreggs, Eric Johnson, Flying Colors, funk, fusion, instrumental, Jeff Beck, Jethro Tull, John Petrucci, Kevin Morse, King Crimson, prog, review, Robert Fripp, rock, Scott Sim, Steve Morse, Steve Morse Band, Triangulation, Van Romaine | Leave a comment

Album review: PAUL KELLY – Seventy

Posted on October 22, 2025 by jason

Website [Release date 07.11.25] Question – how many Australian artists do you know? Not many I am thinking. There are the usual suspects, AC/DC, INXS, Midnight Oil possibly, Johnny Deisel perhaps, and Nick Cave who is really an honorary Brit. … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, Billy Bragg, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, folk, Paul Kelly, review, Seventy, singer songwriter | Leave a comment

Album review : WEST, BRUCE & LAING – Out In The Fields – The albums 1972-74

Posted on October 21, 2025 by brianmc

Esoteric [Release date : 31.10.25] Three searing samples of the red hot rock’n’roll that emanated from supergroup, West, Bruce & Laing. No surprise really. Their genesis lies in the live improvisations of Jack Bruce’s previous band, Cream, and the hard … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged Corky Laing, Cream, Jack Bruce, Leslie West, Mountain, Out In The Fields, review, seventies, West Bruce & Laing | Leave a comment

Album review : WRATHCHILD AMERICA – Climbing the Walls / 3-D (2 CD remasters w/bonus tracks)

Posted on October 19, 2025 by brianmc

Cherry Red [Release date : 24.10.25] Back in 1984, founding member, vocalist and bass man, Brad Divens gave up a career in the straight world to “make it” with his Thrash Metal band, Wrathchild America. It was a high risk … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews | Tagged 3-D, Alex Perialis, Brad Divens, Cherry Red, Climbing The Walls, review, Shannon Larkin, thrash metal, Wrathchild America | Leave a comment

Album review: ROBIN ADAMS – The Beggar

Posted on October 18, 2025 by jason

Website [Release date 09.11.25] Ok, lets tackle the elephant in the room – this could be Nick Drake’s fourth album. And I say that with the utmost respect and admiration. From the phrasing to the melodies the guitar tone and style … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, folk, Nick Drake, review, Robin Adams, String Driven Thing, The Beggar | Leave a comment

Album review : ATOMIC ROOSTER – Circle The Sun

Posted on October 17, 2025 by brianmc

Cherry Red/Esoteric [Release date 10.10.25] 40 years between albums is pushing it a bit. But for Atomic Rooster, that’s where we are. The band’s last album, Headline News, was their seventh, released in 1983. Two generations ago, give or take. … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged Atomic Rooster, Cherry Red, Circle The Sun, Progressive Rock, review, seventies, Steve Bolton, Vincent Crane | Leave a comment

Album review: MARTYN JOSEPH – Troubled Horses

Posted on October 15, 2025 by jason

Website [Release date 07.11.25] Well I’m ashamed to say, Martyn Joseph has released a staggering 28 studio albums, 15 live albums, and 4 EP’s. He’s been in the music business since 1983, and I am only just listening to him … Continue reading →

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Album review: JOHN LEES’ BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST – Relativity

Posted on October 14, 2025 by jason

Cherry Red Records [Release date 17.10.25] More than seven years in the making and some twelve years since the release of ‘North’ its 2013 predecessor, John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest’s second studio album, ‘Relativity’ proves that time well spent can … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, Cherry Red Records, classic rock, John Lees Barclay James Harvest, melodic, prog rock, Relativity, review, rock | Leave a comment

Album review: BRINSLEY SCHWARZ – Shouting At The Moon

Posted on October 12, 2025 by GRTR! HQ

Fretsore Records [Release date 14.11.25] Brinsley Schwarz emerged from the pub rock boom of the early 1970s. They will be best remembered for their infamous press junket in 1970 and a disastrous US debut. Oh, how times change. ‘Shouting At … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, Brinsley Schwarz, classic rock, review, Shouting At The Moon | Leave a comment

Album review: ROOMFUL OF BLUES – Steppin Out!

Posted on October 11, 2025 by petefeenstra

Pete Feenstra chatted to Chris Vachon from Roomful Of Blues for Get Ready to ROCK! radio. First broadcast 19 October 2025. Alligator Records [Release date 24.10.25] ‘Steppin’ Out!’ is Roomful of Blues’ first studio album for 5 years and their … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, INTERVIEWS, Radio interview | Tagged Al Copley, album, Big Maybelle, blues, Buddy Johnson, Candye Kane, Chris Vachon, DD Bastos, Duke Robillard, horns, jazz, Otis Grand, R&B, review, Rich Lataiile, Roomful of Blues, Smiley Lewis, soul, swing | Leave a comment

Album review: PAVLOV’S DOG – Wonderlust

Posted on October 10, 2025 by GRTR! HQ

Ruf Records [Release date 03.10.25] As we’ve indicated elsewhere, reviewing the 5-CD retrospective, Pavlov’s Dog have never received the success they might deserve and never sustaining the acclaimed heights (and large sign-up fee) of their debut album released in 1974. … Continue reading →