Tag Archives: melodic rock

Upcoming: UK & Ireland Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2021)

Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy - HRH Prog, November 2017

Compiled by Jason Ritchie All dates are subject to the coronavirus pandemic restrictions.   Please check artist and venue websites for latest information. Your tour not listed? Contact us! UK Festivals 2021 2022 Tour Dates (UK & Ireland) 2021 Tour Dates … Continue reading

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Album review: MEMORIA AVENUE – Memoria Avenue

MEMORIA AVENUE - Memoria Avenue

Frontiers [Release date 05.11.21] Debut album from Memoria Avenue, a collaboration between talented writer/ guitarist/ Producer, Tor Talle, and up and coming vocalist, and fellow Norwegian, Jan Le Brandt. A polished production and neatly tailored arrangements define the early part … Continue reading

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News: POWER QUEST, BEARDED THEORY, GIANT (November 2021)

IAN ANDERSON (JETHRO TULL) - The Lowry, Salford, 14 September 2015

Annihilator release their latest album, ‘Metal II’, on 18 February via earMUSIC. Asia are to release a 10CD boxset The Official Live Bootlegs Volume 1 through BMG Records on 26 November. There will also be a digital album featuring a … Continue reading

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Album review: TONY MITCHELL – Hot Endless Summer Nights

TONY MITCHELL – Hot Endless Summer Nights

AOR Heaven [Release date 26.11.21] Nearly two years on, Tony Mitchell releases his third album as he goes full on 80s AOR. Tony Mitchell spent several months travelling coast to coast taking in the sights, sounds & overall American culture … Continue reading

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Upcoming: European, USA & World Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2022)

Rammstein - DOWNLOAD, 10-12 June 2016

Compiled by Jason Ritchie Please check with venue and/or relevant website(s) to confirm availability. Updated 05/10/2022 Upcoming: European, USA & World Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2023) UK & Ireland Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2022) To search quickly within … Continue reading

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Album review: JEFF SCOTT SOTO – The Duets Collection Vol. 1

JEFF SCOTT SOTO – The Duets Collection Vol. 1

Frontiers [Release date 08.10.21] The pandemic and resulting lockdowns certainly had musicians thinking about ways to carry on with their musical passion. One such artist Jeff Scott Soto wanted to do a retrospective ‘best of’ from the many bands and … Continue reading

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Album review: FANS OF THE DARK – Fans Of The Dark

FansOfTheDark

Frontiers [Release date: 05.11.21] Fans Of The Dark are a new Melodic Rock band formed by songwriter / drummer, Freddie Allen, the driving force behind AOR legends-in-the-making, Houston. He’s brought in Alex Falk on vocals, with guitarist, Oscar Bromvall and … Continue reading

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Album review: HEARTLAND – Into The Future

HEARTLAND- Into the Future

Escape Music [Release date 15.10.21] I assumed Chris Ousey had kicked the long career of Heartland on the head with their last album of new material coming back in 2007. However, after his time with Snakecharmer and also fronting Kingdom … Continue reading

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Album review: ECLIPSE – Wired

ECLIPSE- Wired

Frontiers Records [Release date 08.10.21] Eclipse have been on one the hottest streaks in melodic rock of recent years- even last year’s stop-gap live album ‘Viva la Victouria’ being a reminder of quite how many anthems they have written. And … Continue reading

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Album review: LOVERBOY – Loverboy and Get Lucky (Remasters)

loverboy get lucky

Rock Candy Records [release date 24.09.21] Selling 6 million between them, Loverboy’s self titled debut (1980) and follow up, Get Lucky (1981), have now had the treatment from Rock Candy Records. Forty years of remastering evolution has brought us to … Continue reading

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Album review: LEVERAGE – Above The Beyond

leverage-above-the-beyond

Frontiers [Release date 15.10.21] AOR, Melodic Rock, Power Metal, Progmetal … Leverage are none of these yet they are all of these. On their 5th album now and the music gets harder to define and easier to admire. It’s perhaps … Continue reading

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Gig review: VEGA – Camden Underworld, London, 9 October 2021

P1200808 - Copy

Vega are one of those bands with a lot of lost time to make up as live music resumes. Since the beginning of the pandemic one of the UK’s premier melodic rockers have recorded not one but two albums, with … Continue reading

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Gig review: CATS IN SPACE – The Garage, Highbury, London, 2 October 2021

CATS IN SPACE- The Garage, Highbury, London, 2 October 2021

I will freely admit that Cats in Space are one of my very favourite bands to have emerged in the past few years. Their sound is unashamedly inspired by the second half of the seventies but the combination of lush … Continue reading

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Album review: VEGA – Anarchy and Unity

VEGA- Anarchy and Unity

Frontiers Records (Release date 17.09.21) Vega’s seventh album ‘Anarchy and Unity’ breaks their cycle of a new release every two years, coming  less than 18 months after ‘Grit Your Teeth’. That not entirely successful predecessor took the UK melodic rockers … Continue reading

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Upcoming: New releases (CD/DVD) October 2021 – December 2021

TONY MITCHELL – Hot Endless Summer Nights

Compiled by Jason Ritchie January-March 2021 April-June 2021 July-September 2021 January-June 2022 October 1st ASKING ALEXANDRIA ‘See What’s On The Inside’ Better Noise Music RONNIE ATKINS (PRETTY MAIDS) ’4 More Shots’ (EP) Frontiers BLACK SABBATH ‘Technical Ecstasy’ (4CD, 5LP) BMG … Continue reading

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News: Albums of the Month (July 2021 – September 2021)

Albums of the Month (July-September 2021)

EDGE OF PARADISE The Universe (Frontiers) It’s passionate, articulate symphonic metal, occasionally conducting lightning raids onto hard rock terrain… ****1/2 Review by Brian McGowan AMANDA LEHMANN Innocence And Illusion (indie) Lehmann is not afraid to explore different moods on this … Continue reading

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Album review: DANNY DANZI – Tribulations

DANNY DANZI - Tribulations

Escape Music [Release date 24.09.21] Danny Danzi is back with his third album (hardly prolific as his debut was released back in 1999!). His 2003 album ‘Danziland’ still gets regular plays by this reviewer. This album has been ten years … Continue reading

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Album review: INGLORIOUS- Heroine

INGLORIOUS - Heroine

Frontiers Records (Release Date 10.09.21) In the seventies it was not uncommon for bands to release two albums a year but it is virtually unheard of these days. So I was surprised when I learned that a little over six … Continue reading

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Feature: Albums that time forgot…THE STORM (Gregg Rolie, Ross Valory, Steve Smith)

The Storm - 1991

Interscope/Atlantic 1991 The Storm is very much a case of “what we did in our down time”.  With Journey on hiatus in the late eighties Neal Schon formed Bad English then Hardline (debut album Double Eclipse in 1992) whilst Journey … Continue reading

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Album review: NEWMAN – Into The Monsters’ Playground

NEWMAN- Into the Monsters' Playground

AOR Heaven (Release date 10.09.21) For a remarkable near quarter of a century Steve Newman has turned out a series of finely crafted albums. He never remotely hinted at the big time, but as compensation his name enjoys almost universal … Continue reading

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Album review: PETER H NILSSON – Sign Of Myself

PETER H NILSSON – Sign Of Myself

AOR Heaven [Release date 10.09.21] Peter H Nilsson’s debut ‘Little American Dream’ was a very enjoyable AOR/ West Coast listen and still played regularly by this reviewer. The good news is that this follow-up album sees Nilsson still teamed up … Continue reading

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News: ANVIL, TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT, ALAN PARSONS (September 2021)

UFO – Shepherds Bush Empire, London, 4 April 2019

Abba release a new album ‘Voyage’ – their first in 40 years – on November 5. They have also announced a new live show, ‘Abba Voyage’, will open at the new 3,000 capacity Abba Arena in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park … Continue reading

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Album review: BLOOD RED SAINTS- Undisputed

BLOOD RED SAINTS- Undisputed

Frontiers Records (Release Date 06.08.21) Blood Red Saints’ fourth album sees them come full circle, not only with a return to Frontiers  Records, but to the style of their impressive debut album before exploring a more guitar dominated and modern … Continue reading

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Album review: NIGHT RANGER- ATBPO

Night Ranger- ATBPO

Frontiers Records (Release Date 06.08.21) Night Ranger’s first album in four years, the title ‘And the Band Played On’ is a nod to the challenges of making music during the pandemic, though to reduce the album title to its less … Continue reading

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Gig review: COLLATERAL – The Cavern, Raynes Park, London, 19 August 2021

COLLATERAL- The Cavern, Raynes Park, London, 19 August 2021

Back at the start of 2020, I began what I hoped would be a big gigging year with Collateral at a packed Cavern. It was also promising to be a breakthrough year for the Kent rockers whose first full-length album … Continue reading

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