Category Cd Reviews

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London singer-songwriter Lettie’s has released her third album – Good Fortune, Bad Weather. Lettie has been described as a “memory collector”, obsessed with collecting pieces of the past in the forms of books, postcards, second hand shop finds and newspaper clippings.

This memory collecting and accompanying sense of nostalgia is clearly seen in ”Good Fortune, Bad Weather”, which is filled with haunting melodies, lyrics that obsess over the past and classic synth sounds. All this is wrapped up in a modern electro-pop shell.

As well as Lettie, the album has a number of other talented musicians performing on it including Danny Blume, Zachary Alford (Bowie, Springsteen, Stefani), Sara Lee (League of Gentleman, B52s, Gang of Four, Ani diFranco), D. James Goodwin and many others.

Brief c...

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Herman Frank has clearly been a busy man recently. As guitarist for Accept he’ll have been busy working on their latest album, Staligrad, which was released in April, and has also been busy on his latest solo album – ”Right in the guts”. As a member of Accept he’s been one of the top metal guitarists in Germany since the early 1980’s but is also a producer who has produced albums by bands including Saxon, Rose Tattoo and Molly Hatchet.

Brief comments on a few tracks..

The album kicks off with ”Roaring thunder”, and the track certainly lives up to its name, opening with a wall of sound from the electric guitars and the relentlessly fast pounding drums. This is a fast, heavy metal track that really gets things off to a superb start.

”Right in the guts” is another powerful track – At Van...

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Kelly Padrick is a singer from New York who has just released her latest album – Soulmate. Once again she has teamed up with her producer and songwriting partner, Nancy Hess and has created an excellent album.

The music and singing is beautifully ethereal and atmospheric and at times is very haunting. Kelly Padrick has a lovely voice and these soft gentle songs work really well with her voice. This is an album that is perfect for listening to while you’re working or doing something else – it’s lovely to listen to but doesnt distract from whatever you’re doing. Equally it’s great to just relax and listening to as it’s got a very peaceful feel to it.

Although it’s hard to describe the music it’s very good – I’m thoroughly enjoying listening to it, and if you like laid back ethereal musi...

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Music Buy Mail/Sound Pollution

Aw wow. UDO DIRKSCHNEIDER, ROB ROCK, STEVE GRIMMETT, Mike DiMeo of MASTERPLAN and RIOT fame etc., need more introduction? EMPIRES OF EDEN is the brainchild of Aussie guitarist Stu Marshall, ex. DUNGEON, and a host of world renowned vocalists. So fames there is little information about the rest of the band. This is the sophomore effort, the first, “Reborn in Fire” was well-received and they seem to be going for the throat seriously this time.

First out is a mid-paced effort featuring ROB ROCK. The bass is heavy and the guitars run amok, what more can you ask for. The next track has a patented pipe of UDO filling out the sound picture, I wonder if anyone ever tires of him? “Hammer Down” has all the characteristics of a true heavy metal song...

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Frontiers/BAM

MICHAEL THOMPSON is a solid guitar player. An alumnus of Berklee College of Music he has provided his craft for such luminaries as THE SCORPIONS, VINCE NEIL, MICHAEL BOLTON…and even MICHAEL JACKSON. He has also recorded the legend album “How Long”, under the moniker MICHAEL THOMPSON BAND. That very album was re-released about five years ago by Frontiers, and here is the next step. This time around the MICHAEL THOMPSON BAND consists of; vocalist Larry King of SOLEIL MOON, drummer Khan Parker and bass player Alan Berliant.

The basic mood is gentle and caressing. The distortion is moderate and the refrain somewhat faded but still the craftsmanship shines through...

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Escape/Sound Pollution

Multi-instrumentalist Mike Walsh has been involved with the likes of Dean Fasano, Mark Thompson-Smith, BON JOVI and ALDO NOVA. In 1998 he and DEPARTURE gave us their self-titled debut. Featured were vocalist Ken Michaels and David Rosenthal (RAINBOW, RED DAWN). The band came across as a mix of SAGA, JOURNEY and TOTO, and a follow-up was soon issued. “Open Your Mind” hit the shops a year after, now with vocalist Dave Baldwin. More pomp put them in the direction of KANSAS and STYX. Third outing, “Corporate Wheel” came in 2001, this time with vocalist Timothy Lewis, which was the subject of raving reviews. Now ten years later the fourth installment arrives, and, as seems customary the vocalist is new. Andi Kravljaca of SILENT CALL has filled that position...

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Frontiers/BAM

Jack Blades is widely known as the talented bass player and vocalist of NIGHT RANGER, who also did well in DAMN YANKEES. He has also collaborated with Tommy Shaw of STYX/DAMN YANKEES, and RINGO STARR. On the lyrics side there is no writing block as he has supplied the likes of OZZY, ALICE COOPER and JOURNEY with stylish material. In 2003 he released a solo album, which I bought, and was a massive success the info says. I was less thrilled as there was preciously little of his usual sun-drenched feel-good rock. Merely the title here says return to home base, but let´s make sure…

Opener “Back in the Game” is not un-missable, but still a good sign compared to the previous solo effort...

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Unnecessary to over explain it. Dödren from Göteborg made something new, something unusual giving an incredible mood of music listening by it…

The band’s debut album- called Maen came out in the end of April- surprising the metal-funs, all around the world, collecting appreciative comments also from India and Brazil. But… despite of the success, hard to declare or name Dödaren’s first album’s real style. „Our style is so tricky…”- says the band. The guys in Dödaren see themselves as moving along an undefined dimension of style, and thus lets others do the categorizations. And this is what makes this eight songs so great.
Eric, Martin, Fredrik and Jon have prior to the formation of the group played in several different constellations in genres ranging from the softest blue...

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If you arent familiar with Maledia it’s hardly surprising – these days the internet means there are so many bands competing for our attention that it’s impossible to keep track of them all, and sometimes great bands like Maledia struggle to get noticed among the mediocre bands. Where the internet really does help though is getting a small band attention around the world.

Maledia are an Italian Gothic metal band who date back to 2000 although they only released their debut album ”She and her darkness” in 2010. Now two years later they have just released their second album – ”Your angels cry” via UK based Ravenheart music – a label that’s building a big reputation for itself among fans of female fronted bands with it’s releases by a whole host of lesser-known but very talented bands.

Despi...

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Highlight Kenosis are a Romanian band formed in 2008, who have now relocated to Germany. This is their second album, and it was recorded in Sweden at the Blueflame studios in Uppsala.

The album opens with ”Ouverture in D minor” which starts with some voices speaking over some gentle music and then moves into a lovely piece of classical music. A nice start to the album

From here on the album gets down to business with some great catchy guitar-driven songs, many of which remind me of Krypteria.

”Outro…With Angels” reminds me of the theme from the old TV series, Twin Peaks. It’s an absolutely beautiful song and is the highlight of the album for me.

There’s a definite prog feel to the album, but at the same time its still firmly in the rock/metal camp with some really catchy stuff...