Category Cd Reviews

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“Chasing The Night” is the second album from Leeds singer/songwriter Rupert Stroud. Mixing alternative, indie, rock and acoustic the album is an interesting mix of influences. The lyrics are semi autobiographical and are emotive and at times thought provoking. The album has been produced by Will Jackson (The Kaiser Chiefs, Embrace, The Cribs and The Music) at the Soundworks Studios in Leeds

Cynics would say that ”singer songwriter” is a glorified name for a busker, which I have to admit in some cases is probably true, but in some cases then it’s an unfair criticism. Singer songwrite could also be descibed as ”solo artist who doesnt fit neatly into any of the usual musical genres” – Rupert Stroud falls into this latter category...

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Deals Death are a melodic death metal band from Sweden that was formed in 2007. An early lineup of the band featured members of Sabaton. Based in Gothenburg, this is their second album. The first album was released in 2008 and was only available digitally. Since then the band has changed it’s lineup and worked on their second album, Elite, which was recorded in May 2010 – presumably the delay of two years in releasing it has been partly down to finding a suitable record deal. The band are now signed to Spinefarm and have just released Elite .

With nine songs and clocking in at just 34 minutes this isnt the longest album in the world, but Deals Death aren’t alone in producing a short album sadly, and with genres like death metal it is more acceptable – a 34 minute Prog album would be u...

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At the beginning of June, Jettblack are due to release their second album, Raining Rock. Before then we have the first single from the album being released. For the single they’ve chosen the title track of the album – Raising Rock. I can see that causing a bit of confusion with people asking when ”Raising rock” will be released – the date depends if they mean the single or the album.

I’ll say one thing, if the title track is any indication of how good the album will be then I suggest you don’t waste any time and order the album now. This is one hell of a good track – well written with a great catchy chorus. Great vocals, some nice guitar work and pounding drums, this is probably one of the best songs Jettblack have released so far.

The B sides (for those that don’t know why they’re ca...

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”Stones grow her name” is the oddly named seventh album from Sonata Arctica. It’s been three years since the veteran Finnish Power Metallers released their last album (The days of grays). With all six of their earlier albums going Gold in Finland then they obviously have a lot to live up to.

Some brief comments on a few of the songs…

”Shitload o’ money” is an unusual name for a song, but lets be honest the name is fairly unimportant as long as the song itself is good enough, and this song is certainly a good strong song.

”Cinderblox” is an unusual track – totally unlike the rest of the album. It opens with a rapid melody on the banjo before the rest of the band kick in giving it a Hillbilly heavy metal feel...

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SPV/Playground

RUNNING WILD was formed in 1976, and have achieved a unique status. They are still attracting new fans, heralded by the ubiquitous Rock´n´Rolf Kasparek, in spite of soon being a 40 year old band. From the highly acclaimed “Under Jolly Roger” in 1983 onwards the band adopted a highly fashionable pirate image, starting out in more leather and seventies style. Being an essential part of the German metal scene in the eighties they managed to stay on top of their game for ten albums, or until 2002. The many lineup changes must have had some effect on the band, that had boosted members like drummers Jörg Michael (ex. GRAVE DIGGER, ex. RAGE, STRATOVARIUS) and Stefan Schwarzmann (ex. UDO, ACCEPT)...

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SPV/Playground

In the late eighties I first heard a young German band called MAD MAX. The album “Night of Passion” soon became a favorite with me and the guys I hung out with, not least since of the others had a girlfriend who was seventeen… Max Norman had produced and sales must have been healthy. But the 80´s were soon over, and so was the band. Vocalist Michael Voss has kept a healthy profile in the music business, and so has drummer Axel Kruse. Bass player Jurgen Breforth and Michael reunited in the late nineties, resulting in the full-length “Never Say Never”. But it was around the mid 2000´s that the return was stable. From 2006 onwards the band has released six outings of various lengths. This is their latest opus, I say opus since the revival seems to be a fact...

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Pandoras Pinata is the third album from Swedish band Diablo Swing Orchestra. Diablo Swing Orchestra are one of those bands that can’t be descibed easily (if at all) as they really don’t fit into any normal musical genre or category. I can imagine if you taught the inmates of a lunatic asylum to play and sing the results would be more normal than this – DSO really is quite utterly crazy music, but its also absolutely brilliant. The old saying says that there is a fine line between genius and insanity, and Diablo Swing Orchestra are proof of that – what they produce would sound insane if you descrbe it, but when you hear it then it becomes clear that its a work of genius.

Lets start with a quick look at the instruments used on the album – electric guitar, synthesiser, drums, bass (sounds ...

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Formed in the North East of England in 2009, symphonic metal band Winter in Eden have already released an EP (At the edge of the world) in 2009 and an album (Awakening) in 2010, and are now releasing their second album, ”Echoes of betrayal”.

The band have a rich symphonic sound with nice warm vocals from singer Vicky Johnson.

The album has an impressive 55 minute running time – sadly some bands still persist in releasing albums that are barely over half an hour, and with 40-45 minutes being a typical album length then this album is certainly good value. It’s well packaged (something some smaller bands overlook) with the CD booklet including the song lyrics as well as artwork and a photo.

Brief comments on a few of the songs.

Opening track ”For the few” is a great track – opening with a ge...

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Driver originally formed in the late 80s from the ashes of M.A.R.S. (A ”supergroup” consisting of guitarist Tony MacAlpine, drummer Tommy Aldridge, singer Rob Rock and bassist Rudy Sarzo), and released a 5 song EP before disappearing. In 2009 the band was reformed and released ”Sons of thunder”, their debut album which consisted of re-recorded versions of the 5 songs from the EP plus 7 new songs. Now they are releasing their second album which once again is a mixture of new material and old demos that have been re-recorded.

Brief comments on a couple of the tracks

”Countdown” starts off great – hard and heavy metal, and then the vocals kick in, and before long its a melodic rock song.

Some of the best guitar work is found in ”Babylon”, which seems a shame as its a European bonus track, s...

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Limb Music/Sound Pollution

Volvo´s dealing in metal all the time, but now they also deal in heavy metal! Back in 2004 production line workers Stefan Jacobsen and Freddy Olofsson met at work, discovering their mutual enjoyment of HELLOWEEN. Two years later their first demo “Land of Dreams” appeared, and they got hold of keyboard player Stefan Malmenlid. Along with him came his brother Jimmy who assumed bass duties. The trio of Stefan, Stefan and Jimmy are the core of the band today. Musicians have come and done, and due to that the discography is made up of demos, and this latecomer of a debut. Melodic power metal is the name of the game and the band is compared to bands like STRATOVARIUS, THUNDERSTONE and BLIND GUARDIAN in the info sheet...