Tag Archives: melodic rock

Quick plays: BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN, ALL THE LUCK IN THE WORLD, RAINTIMES

BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN Hearts Of Glass Proper Music [Release date 09.02.18] www.bethnielsenchapman.com Beth Nielsen Chapman’s latest album is nearly all her own songs, with many of them being re-recorded versions where the piano on the originals is replaced by guitar. … Continue reading

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News: For Your Listening Pleasure…January 2018 – Toto, Judas Priest, Narrow Plains

JUDAS PRIEST - Firepower

A new monthly page where we give a brief mention and/or review to new lead songs from upcoming albums and more… Judas Priest are back with ‘Lightning Strikes’ off their upcoming album ‘Firepower’ which is due on 9 March via … Continue reading

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Gig review: LIONHEART/AIRRACE- Camden Underworld, London, 2 December 2017

Lionheart - Camden Underworld, London, 2 December 2017

Picture a brief point of time in the early to mid-eighties. With the New Wave of British Heavy Metal running out of steam, many of its more enlightened musicians turned their ears westwards to the more AOR sounds that then … Continue reading

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Album review: MAGNUM – Lost On The Road To Eternity

MAGNUM - Lost On The Road To Eternity

SPV [Release date 19.01.18] We’ve always said Magnum should be cherished.  Even more so in 2018, and with the arrival of their 20th studio album.  The latest magnum opus also introduces new members Rick Benton (keys) and Lee Morris now … Continue reading

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Upcoming: New releases (CD/DVD) January – March 2018

Joe Satriani - What Happens Next

Compiled by Jason Ritchie January 12th ASKING ALEXANDRIA S/T Summerin Records AUDREY HORNE ‘Blackout’ Napalam Records AVATAR ‘Avatar Country’ BLACK VEIL BRIDES ‘Vale’ CORROSION OF CONFORMITY ‘No Cross No Crown’ Nuclear Blast FLEETWOOD MAC S/T (re-issue of 1975 album with … Continue reading

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Gig review: H.E.A.T. – Islington Academy, London, 21 November 2017

H.E.A.T.- Islington Academy, London, 21 November 2017

H.E.A.T.’s return to the stage, hot on the heels of their long delayed, controversial but in my view excellent ‘Into The Great Unknown’ album, was eagerly anticipated. However November is a notoriously crowded month in the gig calendar, which this … Continue reading

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News: Get Ready to ROCK! announce Best of 2017 – top albums, live acts

Pop rock revivalists Cats In Space and their second album ‘Scarecrow’ has been selected as Top Album of 2017 by popular music website Get Ready to ROCK!  Reviews Editor Jason Ritchie wrote “Cats In Space have succeeded in taking their … Continue reading

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The Best of 2017: top albums, top live acts – the reviewers’ choice

The Best of 2017

On Sunday 17 December on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, David Randall announced the popular poll results.  This two-hour special includes artists voted for in the various categories: Top Albums, Top Live Acts, Top Breakthrough Acts. Every year we ask … Continue reading

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Gig review: ROCKINGHAM FESTIVAL- Nottingham Trent University Student Union, 20-22 October 2017

Loverboy -  ROCKINGHAM FESTIVAL, 20-22 October 2017

Though this was the third year of Rockingham Festival , the natural successor to the much loved Firefest in its autumnal Nottingham position, it really felt as if the Festival came of age. Having settled on a format that works … Continue reading

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Album review: EUROPE – Walk The Earth

EUROPE - Walk The Earth

Hell & Back Recordings [Release date 20.10.17] Europe returned to our shores, and our record racks, in 2005 on the back of an excellent comeback album.  During the last decade they’ve consolidated their revival with a succession of generally well-received … Continue reading

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Album review: KRYPTONITE- s/t

KRYPTONITE

Frontiers [Release Date 04.08.17] The latest in a series of star-studded melodic rock collaborations on Frontiers, Kryptonite have the pedigree of a bona fide supergroup of some of the top Scandinavian names, headed by Poodles singer Jakob Samuel and including … Continue reading

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Gig review: VEGA – University of London Union, 23 September 2017

VEGA - University of London Union, 23 September 2017

Having boasted GRTR!’s album of 2016 with ‘Who We Are’, Vega continue to work hard to bring their modern brand of melodic rock to the masses. After touring with Dan Reed Network in the Spring, Autumn has brought this headline … Continue reading

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News: Albums of the Month (February-April 2017)

The Best of 2017

Albums of the Month February 2017 BLACK STAR RIDERS Heavy Fire (Nuclear Blast) “The band have thrown off the shackles of the ‘used to be Thin Lizzy’ moniker and have solidly established themselves as a major player in their own … Continue reading

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Gig review: HAIR METAL HEAVEN – Welly Club and City Hall, Hull, 25-27 August 2017

Sebastian Bach - HAIR METAL HEAVEN - Hull, 25-27 August 2017

If eyebrows were raised at Hull’s designation as European City of Culture 2017, the news that a major rock festival in Hair Metal Heaven was taking place there was an even more unexpected story. The Humberside port city may have … Continue reading

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Album review: MR BIG – Defying Gravity

MR BIG - Defying Gravity

Frontiers [Release Date 21.07.17] Mr Big occupy something of a unique space in rock with concise, melodic songs yet delivered by some of the rock world’s most revered musos in Billy Sheehan, Paul Gilbert and Pat Torpey, who in spite … Continue reading

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Upcoming: New releases (CD/DVD) October-December 2017

Mollie Marriott - Truth Is A Wolf

Compiled by Jason Ritchie October 6th AUTOGRAPH ‘Get Off Your Ass’ EMP JEFF BECK ‘Live at the Hollywood Bowl’ JON BODEN (ex-BELLOWHEAD) ‘Afterglow’ THE DARKNESS ‘Pinewood Smile’ Cooking Vinyl LIAM GALLAGHER ‘As You Were’ HEAVEN & EARTH ‘Hard To Kill’ … Continue reading

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Album review: NEWMAN – Aerial

NEWMAN - Aerial

AOR Heaven [Release date 22.09.17] Album number eleven by Newman, the band formed around Steve Newman. Once again he has teamed up with drummer Rob McEwen (who has played on the last nine Newman albums), plus the album also features long … Continue reading

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Album review: H.E.A.T – Into The Great Unknown

earMUSIC Release Date 22.09.17 Back in 2014, with their fourth album ‘Tearing Down the Walls’, and high energy live shows, H.E.A.T seemed on the verge of a major commercial breakthrough as standard bearers for a new breed of melodic rockers.  … Continue reading

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Quick plays: MARTIN SIMPSON, RIVERDOGS, HIRSH GARDNER

MARTIN SIMPSON Trails & Tribulations Topic Records [Release date 01.09.17] Trails & Tribulations’ is Martin Simpson’s twentieth album in a career spanning over 40 years. As he says the album “is a collection of songs about nature, about travels and … Continue reading

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Album review: D2UR – Tic Toc

D2UR - Tic Toc

[Release date 01.07.17] D2UR (pronounced Detour, really?) are a no-nonsense Canadian band built around the partnership of Mike and Diane Isbister.  He plays guitars, she sings. Starting out as a covers band, their debut release Rev U Up (2013) was … Continue reading

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Gig review: STEELHOUSE FESTIVAL, Ebbw Vale, 28-29 July 2017 (Part One)

Trucker Diablo - STEELHOUSE FESTIVAL, Ebbw Vale, 28 July 2017

The annual pilgrimage climbing the mountain in the valleys of South Wales seems to have come around far quicker this year than any other, and the reliable Welsh weather played a major part in some issues regarding camping and parking.  … Continue reading

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Gig review: SUMMERFEST – Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, 28 June-9 July 2017

In a world of constant change in popular music, for a festival to celebrate its 50th year, as Milwaukee’s  Summerfest did this year, represents a lifetime. I’d been to the festival certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s biggest … Continue reading

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Gig review: LEE AARON – Camden Underworld, London, 16 July 2017

LEE AARON - Camden Underworld, London, 16 July 2017

In the testosterone-heavy rock  climate of the 1980’s, women performers who held sex appeal for metal-loving youngsters were few on the ground. It was therefore unsurprising that  the petite Canadian rocker Lee Aaron’s picture in Kerrang’s ‘Ladykillers’ feature must have … Continue reading

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Album review: FICTION SYXX – Tall Dark Secret

MeldodicRock Records [Release date 21.08.17] Fiction Syxx is the brain child of songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Mark Allen Lanoue who has had these musical ideas for some time now. To help him realise his musical vision he is joined by guitarist JK Northrup (King … Continue reading

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Interview: CORNERSTONE

We caught up with Alina Peter (Vocals/Guitars) and Michael Wachelhofer (Bass/Keyboards/Vocals) of Cornerstone to see what they have planned for this year and beyond, plus how their latest album ‘Reflection’ has been doing… Have you been pleased with the response … Continue reading

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