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Gig review: BAND OF FRIENDS- 229 Club, London, 4 January 2026
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Gig review: PUNCHDRUNK SAINTS – Fairycroft House, Saffron Walden, December 27 2025
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Gig review: STEVE OVERLAND AND JIM KIRKPATRICK- The Weir, Brentford, Middlesex, 9 December 2025
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Gig review: JOHN OTWAY – Face Bar, Reading, Thursday 11 December 2025
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Category Archives: ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile)
PAUL SABU – In Dreams
www.z-records.com Z Records continue their fine re-issue series of Paul Sabu’s back catalogue and this album first saw the light of day as a Japanese import back in 1994, before Now & Then picked it up. … Continue reading
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Tagged Angel, AOR, In Dreams, Lee Aaron, melodic rock, Paul Sabu, Z Records
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DEMON DUDE’S REVENGE – An Adolescent Fantasy Volume 1
www.demondudesrevenge.com Steve Watts was the keyboards player in Demon between 1985 and 1991 and co-wrote much of the band’s output in those years along with vocalist Dave Hill. After leaving Demon he all but disappeared from the … Continue reading
BLEAK ANGEL – Reborn
http://www.bleakangel.com/ Second album by this UK folk rock band, who are currently down to a duo of Tim Balmford (songwriter/vocals) and Daisy O’Halloran (vocals) although former member Steve Morse (not the Deep Purple one!) plays 12 string … Continue reading
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Tagged Bleak Angel, Daisy O'Halloran, folk rock, Reborn, Tim Blamford
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Quick Play: BLUE ORIGIN, BROWNSVILLE STATION
KATTAH Eyes Of Sand www.kattah.net Formed in Brazil in 2006, this album tells a story based around Arabian culture mixing Brazilian rhythms and heavy metal. So the PR goes. From the outset it’s solid if rough’n’ready trad metal. A touch … Continue reading
FOCUS – X
Eastworld Recordings (2012) One of the great rejuvenations of recent years has been the Thijs van Leer version of Focus, things seemed to click with the arrival – in 2006 – of original drummer Pierre van der Linden and they’ve … Continue reading
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Tagged album, Dutch, Focus, Holland, music, Netherlands, Pierre van der Linden, prog, progressive, review, rock, Thijs van Leer, X
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TRAIL OF MURDER – Shades Of Art
Metal Heaven www.aorheaven.com (Release date 29th October) A new name but the band’s members have some real musical pedigree as you have vocalist Urban Breed (what a great name for a metal singer!) formerly of Tad … Continue reading
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Tagged Evergrey, melodic metal, Morgana Lefay, power metal, Tad Morose, Trail Of Muder
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DISTRICT 97 – Trouble With Machines
Laser’s Edge This album shouldn’t work. In the blue corner we have a bunch of post-prog instrumental experimenters from Chicago. In the red corner is an American Idol Top 10 Female Finalist with a slightly nasal twang. However, the resulting … Continue reading
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Tagged American Idol, DISTRICT 97, Leslie Hunt, prog rock, Trouble With Machines
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REDLINE – Vice
Escape Music www.escape-music.com UK five piece whose debut album ‘Vice’ has a classic metal sound with an 80′s leaning and is not your normal fare of Escape Music. This is a strange album as the first … Continue reading
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CIRCLE II CIRCLE – Full Circle – Best Of
AFM RECORDS – Out Now Zachary Stevens is a man who should really need no introductions! Following a very sucessful stint as the frontman of the mighty Savatage between 1993 and 2000, he went on to create similarly impressive music … Continue reading
CATUVOLCUS – Gergovia
Deathbound Records (Release Date – Out Now) History tends to be littered with battles and brutality, especially where the Roman Legions are concerned, so the retelling of the Gauls’ battle against the Romans was never going to be … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Pure Metal/Album reviews
Tagged Catuvolcus, Gergovia
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VORPAL NOMAD – Hyperborea
Metalodic Records (Out Now ) The accompanying biog provided with this disc contains the lofty claim ‘ the best power metal CD you will ever hear’, so does it meet these high standards ? No is the simple … Continue reading
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Tagged Hyperborea, Vorpal Nomad
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QUICK PLAYS – Police Dog Hogan, Nicole Maguire
POLICE DOG HOGAN – From The Land Of Miracles As the name might perhaps suggest Police Dog Hogan are a rabid high-energy bunch – an eclectic seven-piece, combining fiddle, finger picking banj and mandolin, drums and guitars with four-part harmonies … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), Quick Plays
Tagged acoustic, album, folk, Nicole Maguire, Police Dog Hogan, review, rock, singer, songwriter
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THE GATHERING – Disclosure
I have to confess I’ve never tripped over The Gathering – a Dutch band who started out in 1989 pedalling death/doom metal, but who like the rest of us have mellowed with the passing years and evolved into something quite … Continue reading
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Tagged album, Disclosure, Dutch, electronica, Holland, prog, progressive, review, rock, The Gathering
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HEART – Fanatic
What the hell are Heart sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson on? The Lance Armstrong performance enhancement programme? It must be something with one hell of a kick, because they just aren’t sticking to the script. Artists who’ve been treading boards … Continue reading
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Tagged album, Ann Wilson, Fanatic, Heart, music, Nancy Wilson, review, rock
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ROSCO LEVEE & THE SOUTHERN SLIDE – Final Approach To Home
Rosco Levee is only twenty eight but listen to this album with his band Southern Slide and you’d think he has been around much longer. What’s more amazing is that he is British yet the album sounds like a real … Continue reading
MOSTLY AUTUMN – The Ghost Moon Orchestra
Mostly Autumn are one of those bands who seem to consistently top the Championship, but never quite make promotion to the Premier League. Constant squad changes, and player rotation has perhaps not helped their cause, and there’s also that Pink … Continue reading
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Tagged album, Bryan Josh, Iain Jennings, Mostly Autumn, music, Olivia Sparnen, prog, progressive, review, rock, The Ghost Moon Orchestra
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JON LORD – Concerto For Guitar And Orchestra
earMusic Rock and Classical music have long been awkward bed fellows. And while it’s over four decades since John lord first dipped his toes into the water to meld his Deep Purple organ licks with orchestral music, his ‘Concerto For … Continue reading
JEFFERSON STARSHIP – Roswell UFO Festival 2009
HST051CD Sprawled around a nebulous concept of a ‘Sci-Fi Extravaganza’ this overblown 4-CD set was recorded at the UFO Festival, Rosswell, New Mexico, and is a case of never mind the quality, feel the width. The Jefferson Starship line-up is … Continue reading
Album Review: SKINNY MOLLY – Haywire Riot
Ruf 1184 Skinny Molly’s ‘Haywire Riot’ is the album they have always threatened to make. It’s an excellent southern rock album with a bluesy feel, some lovely guitar tones, fine harmony singing and above all Mike Estes’s excellent songs. And … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Video Interviews
Tagged album, Haywire Riot, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Mike Estes, review, Skinny Molly
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JEFF LYNNE – Long Wave
Frontiers www.frontiers.it Nothing for years and then along comes a re-recorded best of E.L.O. and a solo album from Jeff Lynne on the same day. “Long Wave” is titled in tribute to the old radio shows that … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Books, Festivals & Large Events
Tagged ELO, Frontiers, Jeff Lynne, Long Wave
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THE TRAGICALLY HIP – Now For A Plan A
www.thehip.com The Tragically Hip (or the Hip as they are called by their fans) return with their thirteenth album and they have been going since 1983. They are massive in their native Canada where nine of … Continue reading
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Tagged Canada, Now For A Plan A, THE TRAGICALLY HIP
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LOUDNESS – Eve To Dawn
Frostbyte Media (Release Date – Out Now) Eve To Dawn has been released to celebrate 30 years of Loudness. The Japanese rockers’ career peaked in the mid-eighties with the release of ‘Thunder In The East’ ,‘Lightning Strikes’ and … Continue reading
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Tagged Eve To Dawn, Loudness
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KISS – Monster
Loud & Proud/Roadrunner I will admit I am not the world’s biggest Kiss fan but was mightily impressed by their last album ‘Sonic Boom’. Now we have ‘Monster’, an album which by the band’s own admission they have gone back … Continue reading
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Tagged Eric Singer, Gene Simmons, Kiss, Monster, Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer
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PRIDE OF LIONS – Immortal
FRONTIERS RECORDS Bringing together ex Survivor keyboardist and songwriter to the stars Jim Peterik with relatively young singer Toby Hitchcock, Pride of Lions are something of a Marmite band in AOR circles. Among the many – myself included- who drooled … Continue reading
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Tagged AOR, Frontiers, Immortal, Jim Peterik, melodic rock, Pride of Lions, Survivor, Toby Hitchcock
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E.L.O. – Mr. Blue Sky – The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra
Frontiers www.frontiers.it Over the years there seems to have been literally hundreds of compilations calling themselves “best”, “essential”, “ultimate”…so what at first glance this appears to be yet another one…but no…the wonderful Mr Jeff Lynne has seen … Continue reading
