Monthly Archives augusti 2012

Posted in Press Releases

earMUSIC releases “Concerto For Group And Orchestra”
on 1st October 2012, the first studio recording of Jon Lord’s groundbreaking meeting of rock and classical music.

On 1st October 2012, earMUSIC , the Hamburg based rock label part of Edel Group, releases the first studio recording of Jon Lord’s groundbreaking meeting of rock and classical music – ”Concerto For Group And Orchestra”

“Over these last years since leaving Deep Purple, I’ve played it over 30 times with different orchestras and conductors all over the world, and, of course, in 2000 I did it well over 30 times with Purple on the Concerto tour, so I’ve been honing the piece live on stage, and I’ve had the opportunity to change things in the score that weren’t sounding quite right...

Posted in Press Releases

Slam Cartel announce the release of their third single from debut album Handful of Dreams: haunting track Breathe – already a favourite with critics and fans – will be released via digital outlets on 21st August. To support the release, the band will be hitting the road for their first full UK tour, also called “Breathe”, visiting venues and festivals across the country over the rest of 2012 to give fans what they have been asking for, for a long time… Slam Cartel LIVE. Additional shows are still being scheduled.

Since Handful of Dreams was released in 2011, Slam Cartel have been steadily conquering press and public with their now familiar true rock sound, combining memorable hooks and incendiary riffs...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

As with the other parts of the review, apologies to any bands I omit from the review.

Sunday at Bloodstock started for me with Kobra and the Lotus performing on the main stage. This is a band who have been working hard over the last few years playing gigs around the country as well as in their native Canada, and have played smaller festivals before, but with the release of their new album they’ve exploded this summer playing pretty much all the major festivals around Europe including Download, Graspop, Wacken and many more, and now its the turn of Bloodstock. Frontwoman Kobra Paige has a superb voice, and really shows its power as she belts out the songs...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

As with the friday review, apologies to any bands I missed or cover here with a one-line review – seeing so many bands means that to do them all justice would lead to this review being ridiculously long.

Saturday at Bloodstock got off to an early start with Apollyon on the New Blood stage. Some great heavy guitar work helped the coffee to wake me up, but all too soon it was over to the Sophie Lancaster stage for one of the bands I’d been looking foward to seeing – Splintered Soul. They played the New Blood stage back in 2010 but since then have undergone lineup changes, including a new vocalist. Well they were definitely worth the wait – a really good performance...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

When the clock struck midday on Thursday 9th August, this was cause for celebration – not just because I wouldn’t be back at work till Tuesday the next week, but for a far better reason – time to set off for Bloodstock, the highlight of many metalheads calendars. A quick drive to Catton Hall followed by picking up my press credentials and it was time to enter the arena once again.
I knew there were bands due to play on Thursday night but had no idea who – when the festival released the stage times they omitted the Thursday night lineup for some reason, but never mind, it would be a surprise.
In the end one band cancelled due to having broken down abroad and not being able to get to the site in time, leaving just three bands to play. Of those I watched two...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

This was my first time at V festival and I’d heard mixed reports about it, so was keen to see for myself what the festival was like.

The festival is held at two sites – Chelmsford, Essex and Weston Park, Staffordshire on the same weekend with bands who play one site on the saturday, playing the other on the sunday and vice versa. It’s a good system as it lets the organisers effectively split one massive festival into two more manageable sized ones.
First impressions were good – the site was well signposted from the motorway all the way through to the sites...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Limb Music/Sound Pollution

BLACLK MAJESTY started out as KYMERA, which was probably taken why they switched names. Two years they spent working on their debut “Sands of Time”, released in 2003. From then on they have been releasing discs just about every other year, with the exception of “In Your Honour”, which took three years to be made. The band seems to have withstood the pressure and consists of vocalist John Cavaliere, guitarists Steve Janevski and Hanny Mohamed, drummer Pavel KOnvalinka, and …that´s it, there has never been a steady bass player. For live and studio time they rely on buddies, that´s one way of doing it. Roland Grapow has mixed again, and the cover adds some modern touch to that classic RAINBOW song that might just have been the object of the title…

Nine...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Två gånger är en vana, tre gånger är tradition. Vad fem gånger är vet jag inte, men Scribblefestivalen har blivit ett stående inslag i Mjölby under slutet av sommaren. När det arrangeras för femte gången är lineupen förmodligen den starkaste hittills.

Night Train från Vadstena inleder festivalen på eftermiddagen. En ung hårdrockstrio som låter som att de har spelat ihop bra mycket längre än de förmodligen har. Musikaliskt riktigt duktiga och låtmaterialet håller hög klass hela vägen. Snygga riff och klockren sång. Fortsätter de så här kommer de att bli riktigt stora vad det lider. (3/5)

T.Y.P.O från Skänninge fyller sin speltid med covers. Stor inledning med Danko Jones kanske bästa låt, Had enough, men bäst är ändå Lady Gagas Pokerface i punkkostym...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Ett timglas av döda kroppar och texten ”Timme efter timme rinner sanden sakta ner till timglasets botten. Likt den bottenlösa nakenhet i människans bisarra värld, där vi ruttnar.”
Det är vad man möts av när man kommer in på Eldrimners hemsida. Ingen glad historia det här således…

Eldrimner bjuder på black/döds med få lugna stunder. Mest av allt är det ett hänsynslöst manglande. Ett kaos som tar mer än en lyssning att sätta sig in i, men när låtarna väl fastnar är det värt kämpandet. Det blir aldrig tråkigt utan det finns en skön dynamik över låtarna och plattan som helhet, mest tydligt kanske i “Ditt sista andetag” som är en av plattans höjdpunkter.

Alexander Andersson (även i Marionette) levererar texter på modersmålet med en rasande ansats...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Cyclone Empire/Sound Pollution

THE GROTESQUERY rose to prominence in early 2009, and here is the second opus. Formed by Rogga Johansson of PAGANIZER and BONE GNAWER fame and Kam Lee, the voice of MANTAS/DEATH and MASSACRE. Completing the blasphemy on bass and drums respectively are Johan Berglund and Brynjar Helgetun. The first album, “Tales of the Coffin Born”, was a major hit and success, and now…I fear they might repeat the achievement.

Fear, horror, H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe all infest this release. The sheer brutality, melody and ease of reinventing the scene are ubiquitous. Opener “The Madness (Of Mason Hamilton)” is very good, but no more in this collection of songs...