Posted in Cd Reviews

High Roller Records/Playground

Växjö band WITCHGRAVE follow up on their first outing, the mini album “The Devil´s Night”. These satanic metal merchants have dedicated themselves to the NWOBHM they say, especially the likes of VENOM, HELL and ANGEL WITCH. Just a few years ago no one spoke of Dave Halliday (R.I.P.) et al, which caught my attention. The lineup is Jocke Norberg, vocals/bass, Tobbe Ander, guitars, Gabriel Forslund, guitars, and Sven on drums. No keyboards here no. The titles are seeping with seventies horror movie themes…so…rock me!

Opener “Raising Hell” is a piece of very raw-edged VENOM-ish music, paired with a sore throat screaming. No similarities with “Save Us from Those Who Would Save Us” there nope...

Posted in Press Releases

Swedish ’Freedom’ rockers, FREE FALL, have just announced their first ever UK show, in London on February 15th. The band are playing as main support to The Datsuns at the Camden Dingwalls.

Formed by members of THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES (Mattias Bärjed, guitar) and THE INTERNATIONAL NOISE CONSPIRACY (Ludwig Dahlberg, drums), FREE FALL are completed by bass player extraordinaire, Jan Martens, and a super talented singer called Kim Fransson. Together they’ve formed a timeless and classic act; the band went into Studio Cobra in Stockholm and have together, with producer, engineer and mixer Martin Ehrencrona, recorded an album that will show the world what FREE FALL and their ’Freedom Rock’ is all about. – Power and volume.

Classic Rock Magazine have described FREE FALL as ”A brash and exhil...

Posted in Press Releases

Fast rising UK rock act Skarlett Riot confirmed as support for Danish rock legends D-A-D and Voodoo Six!

Skarlett Riot have confirmed three more shows. They will open for Danish rock legends D-A-D at Wolverhampton’s Slade Rooms, March 1st and the O2 Academy in London on March 2nd, they’ll also be opening for Voodoo Six at NQ Live, Manchester on March 28th.

Don’t forget Skarlett Riot hit the road with Heaven’s Basement next week for the following shows;
5th Feb – Rugby, The Vault
6th Feb – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
7th Feb – Grimsby, Yardbirds

Skarlett Riot release their debut album ‘Tear Me Down’ on March 25th, through Code 7.
Led by the hugely impressive vocal talents of Skarlett, the four-piece mix powerful guitar lines with huge, memorable choruses on an irresist...

Posted in Press Releases

Rewind – The World’s Biggest 80s Festival returns for its fifth year from Friday 16th August – Sunday 18th August at Temple Island Meadows, Henley-on-Thames.

Tickets are on sale now. Full details about ticket outlets and prices are available from the official Rewind website – www.rewindfestival.com.

Rewind attracts 40,000 festival-goers and has sold out in advance for the last few years.

As with the previous star-studded festivals, this year’s Rewind Henley weekend extravaganza features another stellar line-up of the crème de la crème of 80s recording artists and performers.

This year’s festival promises to be the best ever, and features an exclusive UK festival performance from iconic party pop band The B-52’s on Saturday 17th August, followed by a rare UK appearance from American R...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

THE HIVES & The Fume @ KB Malmö 7/2

Vill du möblera om? Ring The Hives!

The Hives har äntligen återvänt till KB med sin senaste skiva Lex Hives i ryggen (2012). Det har tagit herrarna hela fem år att komma ut med nytt material. Efter att ha spelat oräkneliga festivaler är de äntligen tillbaka till klubbscenen.

Precis som på nya skivan börjar The Hives med Come On. Sagt och gjort, ger publiken svar på tal direkt. The Hives och publiken får den isbildning på kulturbolagets tag att smälta redan under de första tre låtarna. Det är trångt. Det är full rörelse och det hoppas vilt. Alla ville stå längst fram!

Howlin´ Pelle och gitarrvirtuosen Nicholaus Arson ligger lika mycket över publiken som de står på scenen! Undertecknad fick agera stödben åt dessa två herrar större...

Posted in Press Releases

Pianist Simone Dinnerstein and singer-songwriter Tift Merritt join forces for the first time on NIGHT, a unique collaboration uniting folk, rock and classical worlds, exploring common terrain and uncovering new musical landscapes. Available on March 18h 2013, NIGHT was recorded at the Academy of Arts and Letters in New York by Grammy-winning producers Adam Abeshouse and Ryan Freeland. Dinnerstein and Merritt will launch the new recording by performing NIGHT live in cities including Munich, New York, Durham, Tampa, and Saratoga in Spring 2013.

Though Simone Dinnerstein (a Juilliard-trained classical pianist from Brooklyn) and Tift Merritt (a singer-songwriter from North Carolina whose father taught her to play by ear) could not come from more different musical backgrounds, when the two met...

Posted in Press Releases

Ra Ra Riot have announced the release date for their third album Beta Love as March 18th for the UK on Barsuk Records. The album marks the band’s first outing as a four piece with members Wes Miles on vocals, Milo Bonacci on guitar, Mathieu Santos on bass and Rebecca Zeller on violin forming the core of the group. Beta Love’s songs are informed by the works of cyperpunk novelist William Gibson and futurist Ray Kurzweil’s musings on the technological singularity and transhumanism.
Inspired by their lean new lineup, the recording process found Ra Ra Riot’s members exploring and re-defining their roles within the new makeup of the group. They built upon demos created mostly by Miles and producer Dennis Herring (Modest Mouse, Elvis Costello, Wavves) at Sweet Tea Studios in Oxford, MS...

Posted in Press Releases

When Syd Arthur emerged in 2012 with their debut, self-recorded, self produced, self released album On An On, it didn’t take long for them to rocket to critical acclaim. Hailed as natural successors to Canterbury’s famous folk-prog sound, they not only connected with fans of Caravan, Soft Machine and Gong, but with fans of contemporary artists like Tame Impala, Devendra Banhart and Wolf People. Rave reviews across Q, Mojo, Uncut and The Guardian followed. With the release of the single Dorothy in late 2012, the band had their first taste of UK radio support, scoring plays across Radio 2, 6 Music, XFM, Amazing Radio, NME Radio, Q Radio and more.

Greatly inspired by the sonic pioneers of the late 60s and early 70s, they have patiently learned how to engineer, produce and mix themselves,...

Posted in Cd Reviews

High Roller Records/Sound Pollution

DEEP MACHINE may not have the same ring to their name as some of their peers from the halcyon day of the NWOBHM. Since their formation in 1979 they have featured the likes of Dave DuFort, Kevin Heybourne, John Wiggins, Ricky Bruce and even Roger Marsden in their ranks. Don´t know about them? Kevin is ANGEL WITCH, Dave (also ex. EF BAND) and Ricky are former members of the said band, John is still part of TOKYO BLADE (and ex. BATTLEZONE and LONE WOLF) while Roger was one the lead vocalist of Swedish phenomenon EF BAND. In short this is a band with a lot of NWOBHM pedigree...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Pure Underground Records/Sound Pollution

Returning with a vengeance from as short spell with SACRED HEART guitarist Byron Nemeth returned to the spotlight with this album. Some twenty years on this album gets a full-blown (albeit limited to 333 copies) re-release on vinyl in a gatefold. The info speaks of charm, dreamy, straight forward and unique, let´s check this one out.

Opening intro “Into Infinity” is rather pompous and dreamy. It doesn´t really have to do with metal but it´s not a bad start. The sound is rather thin, but the chorus and very progressive refrain parts of “Graveyard of the Dragon” is entertaining but not spot-on. The vocals courtesy of Dan Mattingly are feel quite fragile, and would not be out of place in pop, which also adds to the this feeling...