Category Archives: ALBUM REVIEWS

Album review: ADAM SWEET – Sink Or Swim

Posted on August 23, 2020 by petefeenstra

Adam Sweet Music [Release date 11.09.20] Although credited as an Adam Sweet solo album, the conceptually titled ‘Sink or Swim’ is very much a band effort. Singer songwriter Adam Sweet has taken a step up by working with an A-team … Continue reading →

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Album review: VICIOUS RUMORS – Celebration Decay

Posted on August 22, 2020 by jason

SPV Records [Release date 21.08.20] Vicious Rumors found a home at Germany’s SPV Records four albums ago. In fact, Europe’s always offered a warm welcome to the band, right from the start, back in 1985. Now, everything has changed. But … Continue reading →

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Album review: ONSLAUGHT – Generation Antichrist

Posted on August 21, 2020 by jason

AFM Records [Release date 07.08.20] When, on the 29th of April this year, the British Thrash metallers Onslaught announced that singer Sy Keeler had decided to once more part ways with the band, I felt pretty sad indeed. The band … Continue reading →

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Album review: KATRINA – Hearts, Loves & Babys

Posted on August 21, 2020 by jason

KATRINA & THE WAVES – Hearts, Loves & Babys

Independent [Release date 28.08.20] Now a solo artist, Katrina, ex of The Waves, will always be known for her monster, worldwide hit, ‘Walking On Sunshine’. It can be an albatross as much as it can be a permanent passport to … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, country pop, Darren Loveday, Hearts Loves & Babys, Katrina, Katrina & the Waves, Kimberly Rew, melodic, pop, pop rock, review | Leave a comment

Album review: DEE SNIDER – For The Love Of Metal Live!

Posted on August 18, 2020 by david.wilson

Napalm Records [Release date 31.07.20] To front a rock band takes a few special ingredients. The candidate should be larger than life, outspoken, overblown, like the sound of their own voice, have massive self-confidence and not give a flying f**k for … Continue reading →

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Album review: LEE ABRAHAM – Harmony/Synchronicity

Posted on August 18, 2020 by jason

F2 Music/Festival Music [Release date 04.09.20] ‘Harmony/Synchronicity’ was written and recorded during an intense 8 week period between April and early June 2020, and follows less than a year after Lee’s highly recommended ‘Comatose’ album. Lee is joined Gerald Mulligan … Continue reading →

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Album review: BLACK ROSE MAZE

Posted on August 16, 2020 by jason

Frontiers Records [Release date 07.08.20] Black Rose Maze is Quebecois singer, Rosa Larichiutta. She comes to us via a major Canadian song contest, by way of The Trans Siberian Orchestra. So if you’re immediately imagining rock opera, and you’d be … Continue reading →

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Album review: BLUE OYSTER CULT – 45th Anniversary Live In London

Posted on August 16, 2020 by jason

Frontiers Records [Release date 07.08.20] In 2017, to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Blue Oyster Cult’s debut release, a string of dates across Europe – festivals, stand alone headline gigs – was put in place, culminating in this concert at … Continue reading →

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Album review: FLYING COLORS – Third Stage Live In London

Posted on August 15, 2020 by jason

Music Theories Recordings [Release date 07.08.20] Filmed during Flying Colors’ 2019 US and European tour on the 14 December at Shepherd’s Bush Empire on the final night of that tour. They had only played nine shows on the tour, which … Continue reading →

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Album review: RAVEN – Metal City

Posted on August 15, 2020 by jason

SPV/Steamhammer [Release date 18.09.20] Athletic Rock legends Raven, long associated with the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, issue their new album (their fourteenth) and what a blistering revelation it is too. While 2015’s Extermination was universally well received, a … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, INTERVIEWS, Interviews/Rock Stars | Tagged album, athletic rock, interview, John Gallagher, Mark Gallagher, metal, Metal City, Metallica, NWOBHM, RAVEN, review, speed metal, thrash metal | Leave a comment

Album review: DUKES OF THE ORIENT – Freakshow

Posted on August 14, 2020 by jason

Frontiers [Release date 07.08.20] Dukes Of The Orient – vocalist John Payne (ex-Asia, GPS) and keyboardist Erik Norlander (Last In Line, Lana Lane, Rocket Scientists) – return with their second album. Dukes Of The Orient has more of a band … Continue reading →

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Album review: ARCTIC RAIN – The One

Posted on August 14, 2020 by jason

Frontiers [Release date 07.08.20] Arctic Rain’s music is gloriously reminiscent of the melodic rock genre’s more hypnotic moments. On most tracks, you can tell that they have been thumbing through a dog eared copy of the Eighties’ AOR Blueprint. Doesn’t … Continue reading →

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Album review: ALAN HULL – Alright On The Night (Live At Clifton Poly 1975)

Posted on August 14, 2020 by jason

Singsong Music [Release date 18.05.20] This digital reissue from Singsong Music features an Alan Hull solo concert, originally recorded for Radio Trent at Nottingham’s Clifton Poly on 17th November 1975. It has been mastered from the original tapes and sounds … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Digital only, Reissues | Tagged album, Alright on The Night (Live At Clifton Poly 1975), Alun Hull, Lindisfarne, review, Singsong Music, Solo | Leave a comment

Album review: JOE BONAMASSA – A New Day Now (20th Anniversary Edition)

Posted on August 13, 2020 by petefeenstra

Provogue [Release date 07.08.20] While it’s hard not to be sceptical about a project like this – Joe Bonamassa’s relentless marketing campaign has now come full circle with this special 20th anniversary release – this remixed and re-recorded version of … Continue reading →

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Album review: ROD CLEMENTS – Stamping Ground

Posted on August 13, 2020 by jason

Singsong Music [Release date 28.08.20] To mark the 20th anniversary of Lindisfarne founder member Rod Clements’s solo album “Stamping Ground”, Singsong Music are making it available again on digital platforms. The album is entirely self-penned (or co-written) and begins with … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Digital only, Reissues | Tagged album. solo, Kathryn Tyckell, Lindisfarne, review, Rod Clements, Stamping Ground, Syd Griffin | Leave a comment

Album review: JOSH TURNER – Country State Of Mind

Posted on August 13, 2020 by jason

Snakefarm Records [Release date 21.08.20] In the world of country music, an album of duets is definitely not a lonesome trail! Nor in fact is an album of country standards – in fact they are well worn trails. However, that’s … Continue reading →

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Album review: LEGACY PILOTS – Aviation

Posted on August 10, 2020 by GRTR! HQ

Laterne [Release date 23.07.20] I do find in these strange days of Lockdown I am automatically drawn to the unusual and the previously unknown in terms of bands and albums. Maybe even the underdog. And especially those that don’t necessarily … Continue reading →

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Album review: STARING INTO NOTHING – Love

Posted on August 10, 2020 by GRTR! HQ

Antares Records [Release date 13.03.20] Southern California based Staring Into Nothing – Steve Rogers (keys/vocals) and Kurt Barabas (bass/vocals/guitars) – are a highly melodic, mildly proggy, rock combo, who bring a wide range of guest musicians into the studio to … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, Gregg Bissonette, Love, Mike Keneally, progressive, review, rock, Staring Into Nothing | Leave a comment

Album review: NEAL SMITH – Pop 85/95

Posted on August 10, 2020 by GRTR! HQ

Kachina Records [Release date 01.06.20] OK, hands up – greatest ‘garage’ band of all time? Easy – the ‘original’ Alice Cooper band. Under the tutelage of Bob Ezrin, they produced one of the finest rock albums of the 1970′s in … Continue reading →

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Album review: BEN REEL – The Nashville Calling

Posted on August 10, 2020 by GRTR! HQ

Ceol Music [Release date 03.03.20] Recorded in Nashville, produced by Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack, and featuring E Street Band’s Garry W Tallent on bass, Ben Reel’s 9th studio album finds him paying homage to The Boss. At least, in … Continue reading →

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Album review: LIONHEART – The Reality Of Miracles

Posted on August 10, 2020 by jason

Metalville Records [Release date 31.07.20] Lionheart’s second album since returning in 2016 and big expectations from this reviewer as their 2017 release ‘Second Nature’ was a classy piece of melodic hard rock. Lionheart have done it again, quite possibly pipping … Continue reading →

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Album review: ALCATRAZZ – Born Innocent

Posted on August 9, 2020 by jason

Silver Lining [Release date 31.07.20] There’s still heavy traffic on the rock’n’roll road back from obscurity, with Alcatrazz among an elite few jockeying for position in the fast lane. The band threatened to break through several times in the eighties, … Continue reading →

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Album review: THE MIGHTY BOSSCATS – Ticket to Memphis

Posted on August 9, 2020 by petefeenstra

Self Release [Release date 24.04.20] Richard Townsend’s ‘Ticket To Memphis’ is another impressive release from a singer song writer and band leader with a world view. That said, ‘Ticket To Memphis’ isn’t quite what it appears to be. Firstly, it’s … Continue reading →

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Album review: CAYLEE HAMMACK – If It Wasn’t For You

Posted on August 9, 2020 by jason

Spinefarm Records [Release date 14.08.20] This is Caylee Hammack’s debut album – a huge moment in any artist’s career, and invariably something they’ve been working towards for a long time. In Caylee’s case she has pedigree – and that can … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, Caylee Hammick, country, country rock, debut, If It Wasn't For You, melodic, Reba McEntire, review, Spinefarm Records | Leave a comment

Album review: MARY COUGHLAN – Life Stories

Posted on August 8, 2020 by petefeenstra

Hail Mary Music [Release date 04.09.20] Mary Coughlan’s ‘Life Stories’ is a beautifully crafted and partly autobiographical work that finds her in reflective mood, some 35 years after her breakthrough ‘Tired & Emotional’ album. In many ways she’s still “tired … Continue reading →