Monthly Archives maj 2011

Posted in Cd Reviews

Quam Libet Records/www.cdbaby.com

Swiss band PYLON releases their fourth full-length album on their Quam Libet Records. New on drums is technical new addition Andrea Tinner, and we are promised some double bass drums! Apart from that they claim to be both faster and slower, as well as ready to offer us a cover of CANDLEMASS` “Somewhere in Nowhere” from “Tales of Creation”.

The duo of Matt Brand, guitars, vocals, production, and Jan Thomas, bass, aerophones and voices, remain. With the drummer change come straighter and more metallic sounding songs. “The First Church” opens with both doomy guitar work and lighter keys. The slow style from their previous outing feels distant. Matt´s voice is not very polished, but not as unpolished as many of their competitors...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Frontiers/BAM

1984, det var startåret för KING KOBRA. Gruppen bildades av (redan då) erfarne trummisen Carmine Appice (VANILLA FUDGE, ROD STEWART, OZZY OSBOURNE), som samlade ihop ett ganska okänt gäng. Gitarristerna David Michael-Philips (senare i LIZZY BORDEN), och Mick Sveda (senare i BULLET BOYS), basisten Johnny Rod (senare i WASP) och sångaren Mark Free (senare i UNRULY CHILD och SIGNAL) ficka alla en knuff i karriären av att turnera med band som IRON MAIDEN och TED NUGENT. Det blev några hits för KING KOBRA, inte minst med ”Never Say Die (Iron Eagle)” till filmen med samma namn. Bandet gjorde ett återföreningsförsök 2001 med plattan ”Hollywood Trash”, men det vara bara Mick och Carmine som var med på det bottennappet...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Popadelica
7 maj 2011

Den lilla festivalen Popadelica hade sålt slut på sina 2000 biljetter redan innan portarna öppnades. Snart vimlade Huskvarnas Folkets Park av poppare uppblandat med diverse annat folk från framförallt Jönköpingstrakten. För även om den nu 6 år gamla festivalen försökt bredda sig lite med band som Graveyard och Royal Republic är det ändå pop som den här festivalen andas och lever för.

Medelåldern på besökarna är långt ifrån hög och det poppigt barnsliga förstärks av upphängda gungor, tutor och pysselhörn. Folkparken med dess tre scener har helt enkelt blivit en väldigt trevlig plats att ha en försommarfestival på och vädret hade knappast kunnat bli bättre.

Med en inte alltför spännande line-up och ett största namn på Daniel Adams-Ray ...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Tonights show is going to be a busy night – five bands on one bill. Originally advertised as a Houston headlining tour, it was later changed to a Houston/Crashdiet co-headlining tour, but judging by the queue outside where most people seem to be wearing Crashdiet T-shirts then you could easily assume it was a Crashdiet headlining tour. Tonight Crashdiet will be headlining (they’ve been alternating with Houston), and judging by reports from other shows where Houston have headlined and half the crowd have left after Crashdiet then its probably a good job that Crashdiet will be the last band to play tonight.

The other bands on the bill tonight are Serpentine and Miss Behaviour, both of whom have been on the rest of this UK tour, and they are joined tonight by Vega.

First band tonight is ”Mi...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Sensory Overload is the first album from Michael MOnroe’s new band. The lineup is impressive – Michael Monroe (Hanoi Rocks), Sami Yaffa (Hanoi Rocks & New York DOlls), Steve Conte (New York Dolls), Ginger (Wildhearts), and Karl Rockfirst (Danzig), but an impressive lineup doesnt always translate into great albums. Thankfully in this case though, it does.

The album isnt a case of Hanoi Rocks under a new name – its got quite a different sound and feel to it, but not so radically different that it wont still appeal to Hanoi Rocks fans. There is a lot more of a punk feel to the album with The Ramones being one obvious influence, but it still retains traces of Hanoi Rocks...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Explorer is the latest album from Welsh Singer-songwriter Cerys Matthews. Cery’s first rose to fame as the singer of rock group Catatonia, but since the bands split in 2001 she has released several albums of folk and traditional music. She is unusual in that she sings in a mixture of English and Welsh.

The album features some unusual musical instruments – the Duduk (an Armenian woodwind instrument), A Sitar, An Oud (a middle eastern instrument similar to the Lute), Chinese temple blocks, Vibraslap (a percussion instrument), a Shekere, a Kalimba and many other more instruments of varying degrees of familiarity as well.

Explorer is a mix of songs written by Cerys and traditional songs...

Posted in Cd Reviews

”The Unforgiving” is the fifth studio album from Dutch Symphonic metal band, Within Temptation. For this album, Within Temptation have opted to release a concept album, so the album is accompanied by a comic book release and a series of short videos. The danger of this strategy is that while their hardcore fans will probably buy the comic and watch the videos, a large part of the fanbase will not, so the album has to be strong enough to stand by itself.
As it’s four years since the last studio album (The heart of everything) then expectations are always going to be high. Happily Within Temptation havent changed direction significantly and have produecd a strong album that their fans will love.

The album starts with ”Why not me” – a short track with a spoken introduction to the story bac...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Napalm/Sound Pollution

German band SERENITY plays symphonic metal, and has done so for a decade. They now release their third album, with a lot of symphony, enforced by guests like Charlotte Wessels (DELAIN), Ailyn (SIRENIA) and Amanda Somerville. This is an album about historic persons like Christopher Columbus, Casanova, and Sir Francis Drake. Is that the road to fame and fortune?

The intro, “Set Sail to”, feels like a matinee movie. It is probably very scrutinized considering the album´s historical themes. The symphonic progressive “New Horizons” has a good ring to it. Georg Neuhauser´s voice and Mario Hirzinger´s keyboards are the main focuses, as is the very strong melody. It is all historically pompous as an epic adventure film, and goes down well with me...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Soulseller/Sound Pollution

Åtvidaberg´s finest, MAIM , skips all varieties and go for old fashioned death, influenced by the likes of; AUTOPSY, NIHILIST and MOTÖRHEAD. They debuted on Soulseller in 2009 with From the Womb to the Tomb”. Here is number two, and their third outing is obviously finished already!?

Krille and Scott, guitars, Richard, bass and pukes, and Otto, drums, are the line-up all in all. “Gravedigger Sacrifice” opens sobbing but from then on it is old school death only. Vocals with some echo remind me of OCTURNUS. The vocals are also quite clean, not many effects here, odd paces or other tinsel. “Morbid Desecration” is close to doom, and the guitar solo has an enigmatic hypnotic effect...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Introduction
One of our favourite festivals for the past couple of years, this year was to be no different!
This was Camp Bestival’s third year, Iiinside have been lucky enough to attend both previous years, and this year we were kindly offered the chance to go again but with a slight difference. The guys down at Get Involved were more than amazing by offering myself the opportunity to take my wife and kid, giving us the chance to cover the event from a point of view of what it was designed for… families.

The event, held at the stunning Lulworth Castle, promised outstanding performances from George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic, Calvin Harris, The Human League, Ellie Goulding, Madness and much more.

Camp Bestival is a unique family festival experience...