Monthly Archives mars 2012

Posted in Cd Reviews

In May 2010 the world of Hard Rock / Heavy Metal lost one of its most talented stars, with the passing of Ronnie James Dio. During his career he sang for Rainbow and Black Sabbath, as well as his own eponymous band (Dio). With his incredible vocal range he sang some of the real classic songs in rock and metal

Three of the Dio albums – ‘Holy Diver’, ‘Sacred Heart’ and ‘Last in Line’ are being re-released this month. As well as a re-mastered version of the original album, these reissues each feature a bonus CD containing lots of extra material including B sides, the EP and live tracks. There is also an expanded booklet with notes from Malcolm Dome. The reissues have been endorsed by Ronnie’s widow Wendy Dio.

As you’d expect from the remastered version of the album it sounds...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Flying Colors is the new band founded by former Dream Theatre drummer Mike Portnoy and Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse. Joining them are Neal Morse (Spocks beard, Transatlantic), Dave LaRue (dixie Dregs), and Casey McPherson (Alpha Rev). So you’ve got a mix of musicians with backgrounds in classic hard rock, prog rock and pop – an interesting mix.
Unbelievably the album was written and recorded in just 9 days ! At a time when bands seem to spend months writing before even starting to record an album to do the whole thing in just over a week is a breathtaking achievement, and even more so when you hear the album and get blown away by its quality.

There really is a great mix of styles in this album, yet the songs feel like they belong together

Comments on a few of the songs on the album…

Posted in Cd Reviews

”The Wilderness” is part four of a very ambitious schedule from Cowboy Junkies – The Nomad series. The Nomad series is four albums released over an 18 month period. For most bands, 18 months between albums is around normal, so to release 4 in that period is almost unheard of – thats one new album released every four and half months. The first album in the Nomad series was ”Renmin park”, followed by ”Demons” and ”Sing in my meadow”, and the series ends with this new album, ”The Wilderness”. As if releasing four albums in 18 months wasnt ambitious enough, there are actually bonus EP’s available (digital downloads only) to accompany two of the albums, so thats 4 albums and 2 EPs in 18 months !

Over the last 27 years, Canadian band, Cowboy Junkies have released 16 studio albums, several li...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Melbourne Soundwave had been inked in to my mental calendar for almost a year. The excitement brewed as I pulled myself from the comfort of bed and into the shower, fighting a hangover from the previous night’s exploits. I hit the ground running, trying to make it to the festival in time for one of my fave bands Steel Panther.

Despite the long queues to get in to the venue, and early start times for the bands I actually made it in time to catch some of their set. Between the high Kicks, hair flicks and amazing stand-up comedy they had the crowd jumping. They played songs from both “Feel the steel” and their latest album “Balls out”. Definite crowd faves being “Community property” and “Death to all but metal”, with which they closed the show with...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Artist: AtomA
Album: Skylight (Napalm Records)
Genre: Apocalyptic Post Rock/Metal

AtomA såg ljuset för lite drygt ett år sedan och består av fyra musiker från Stockholm. För att måla upp stämningen på debutalbumet lyder en del av presstexten såhär:
”AtomA sets the environment for its debut in outer space, where a few astronauts are lost and travelling through planets, searching for a refuge. The songs and lyrics picks up moods/atmospheres in these astronaut’s minds and emotions, as they’re drifting through space to ultimately find a unique anomaly on a strange planet, the monolith symbol of AtomA.”

Låter det intressant? Och kanske lite flummigt? Det är det. Att beskriva AtomAs musik är närmast omöjligt...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Universal Music Catalogue’s new “Re-presents” label takes well known and loved albums from decades gone and releases them in a new form. This release is Nik Kershaw’s 1984 album ”Human Racing”. Human Racing was released in February 1984 and achieved platinum sales and a nomination for “Best Album” at the 1985 Brit Awards. The album reached number 5 in the UK album charts and spent 61 weeks in the chart – an impressive figure.
The album includes the massive hits ”Wouldn’t it be good” and ”I won’t let the sun go down on me”, both of which reached the top 10 (numbers 4 and 2 respectively), as well as the top twenty hit ”Human racing”.

It’s been digitally remastered from the original tapes to ensure it sounds as good as possible...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Following the release of their latest album, Love Catastrophe, in July 2011, the band have decided to release a six track EP which contains three brand new songs, a Christmas single that was released online in December, a Flamenco version of the song “Falling Rain” and a piano & vocals version of the track “We Run”.
Singer Chandler Mogel says, ”We wanted to give the fans a little something extra this time around. These songs pick up where the last album left off and at the same time serve as a road sign as to where we’re going. Hopefully this will hold everyone over until the third album is ready, which we’re currently beginning to work on.”

The release of the EP comes as a surprise as its only seven months since the album was released, but I’m certainly not going to complain – m...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Prick kl.21 så drar introt till Patient Zero igång. KB är infekterat av HammerFall-sjukan!

HammerFalls nya fläskiga ljudbil slår rakt mot en som en taskig käftsmäll. Ljudet är rent och tydligt. Cans sång hörs riktigt bra och är väl mixad med instrumenten. HammerFall är ute på en intensiv klubb-turné för att komma sina fans riktigt nära. Det finns inget kravallstaket och det blir en fantastisk känsla av gemenskap mellan band och publik.

Det är en fröjd för ögat att se Anders jonglera med trumpinnarna och gitarristen Pontus Norgren gå fram till scenkanten och dra ett solo och får det att se hur enkelt ut som helst då han ser helt avslappnad ut. Oscar står som en mindre virveltornado i sin läderrock medans Fredrik Larsson står bredbent och piskar skiten ur sin bas...

Posted in Press Releases

Multi-platinum American rock band, Counting Crows have announced they will be releasing their first new album in over 4 years on 9th April 2012. Underwater Sunshine (or What We Did On Our Summer Vacation) is a collection of songs, both familiar and obscure, interpreted by one of the most soulful and recognizable bands of the past two decades.

Underwater Sunshine is a testament of a band geek-obsessed with music. “There’s a million great songs written every day that you discover, and wish your friends could appreciate as much as you do,” says singer/songwriter Adam Duritz. “These songs come from bands young and old, stretching from the early 60s to last year. They’re all great and will hopefully be heard by a few more people now.”

Produced by Counting Crows and Shawn Dealey, U...

Posted in Press Releases

“Chasing The Night” is Leeds singer/songwriter Rupert Stroud’s accomplished follow up to his debut album. Mixing alternative, indie, rock and acoustic sounds the album is confident in its eclecticisms. It truly showcases his versatility as a writer and highlights his growing maturity as an artist.

Rupert began writing his debut self titled album in 2008 backing it up with regional tour dates. By 2009 Rupert had found eminent British producer Will Jackson (a member of 80’s band Magna Carta. Will’s previous credits include The Kaiser Chiefs, Embrace, The Cribs, The Music… to name a few). After listening to Rupert’s music Will was adamant in bringing him into the studio to record. Yet it was only a tentative step towards this, the highly refined and gripping follow up album.

C...