Spitfire Records, 2002
Review by 23 September 2002

The L.A. Guns are back with a very good cd. It’s back to the music they do best - raw, sleazy rock. This is a very pleasant surprise. The guys have really proved to us that they can still write great songs not that they haven’t done but this is truly a L.A. Guns record.

Tracii Guns knows how to write and there isn’t really nothing wrong with his guitar playing either and I like the way Phil Lewis screams like he was 20 again. Steve Riley bangs the drums like he knows best and new guy Adam Hamilton is giving his bass a hell of slabbing. Very well written and very well performed. Seems like the guys have really been woken from the dead. This cd will wake up the dead who have thought that there really isn’t good sleazy rock out there anymore.

Escape Music 1997
Review by Kimmo Toivonen

I was rather surprised to hear that Paul Laine has released a follow-up to his "Stick It In Your Ear" album quite recently. I thought he had no time for a solo career, now that he is fronting Danger Danger. Maybe these are older recordings, I don't know...

The first Laine album borrowed a lot of ideas from the songbook of certain Mr. Bongiovi, but that doesn't mean it wasn't worth its current semi-classic status. However, I doubt that this album will ever reach similar respect among AOR fans. The songs just aren't nowhere near as good as the ones on "Stick It...", not to mention the current Danger Danger material. Most of this album is instantly forgettable. Especially the heavier songs are quite uninteresting, like leftovers from the first Skid Row album or something... "Two Sides Of Love" was the only uptempo song that I liked, a good AOR-type of a song.

The ballads are the saving grace of this album. "One More Night" is definitely a good song, even though it could have come straight from "These Days"! I know Laine can not help that his voice is similar to JBJ's, but that song particulary has all the trademarks of a typical Bon Jovi ballad! Still, I must admit that it's better than most of the songs on "These Days"...

Few other songs worth mentioning are "Maybe You Don't Love Me Anymore", and "If I close My Eyes", both decent ballads. Sadly that's about it...

AIE 1992
Review by Kimmo Toivonen

Never heard of them? Me neither. I bought it out of curiousity and because I thought they had been positively reviewed in Kerrang! or some other magazine. That may be true, as this is the kind of hard rock that some people can't get enough of. References? Think of Warrant, Tuff, Poison, Dangerous Toys, Roxy Blue...

Even though I like most of those groups I can't say I am too crazy about this bunch. The musicians are obviously competent, even though the vocals of Paul Lancia sound sometimes a little strained, but it's the good songs that really count. And Lancia just don't have enough of them.

To be fair, there are few perfectly enjoyable songs here. "Sweet Melody" is one, a song that reminds me of "Fallen Angel" by Poison. "Goodbye" is my favourite track, a Dokkenish melodic rocker, and then there's the Tuff-like "The Promise". The obligatory ballad "Still In Love With You" is also OK, but songs like "Bad Attitude" and "Poetry In Motion" are just quite awful...

Z Records 2003
Review by 16 May 2003

Holy Crap! Jani Lane's solo album "Back Down To One" is finally scheduled for an "official" release. There's been so many different stories and rumors floating around this record (for the last year or so), that it hasn't even been remotely funny. At first the Warrant vocalist decided to do it all himself, including promoting and everything. Then we heard something about a 'no-go' and to hell with it all? I guess we all thought this to be yet another "Jabberwocky" incident. Still, you've been able to buy it directly from Jani Lane and through a Warrant fansite. That was only a 8-track CD though, while this Euro release, is blessed with 3 bonustracks.

Nevertheless, now it finally seems like Lane's first solo-album has found a place to call home??? This is however only a pre-release copy, that I'm holding in my hands. Fingers crossed, everything should be ready for kick off by end of June. There's been lot of badmounthing, nasty words and broken bottles lately. I think we've all been shocked to find out about Lane's infamous haircut (mohawk) too. Then again... whatever makes him happy, right?

Massacre Records 2003
Review by 21st February 2003

In 1999 Lanfear released their second album called "Zero Poems" and I reviewed it(in the Dutch hardrockmagazine "Aardschok")and my conclusion was that this band was not really outstanding;they had much to learn. A year later singer and keyboarder Stefan Zoerner left the band and he was replaced by keyboarder Richie Seibel and vocalist Tobias Althammer. This also meant that Lanfear decided to change their musical direction,and I think that they have made a good decision because "The Art Effect" is a great album.

Lanfear have chosen to make pure powermetal music,so with all the usual ingredients like staccato guitarriffs, heavy dreambeats,high-pitched vocals and catchy melodies. An excellent example of Lanfear's new style is "Stigmatized", a very fast song with an enormous wall of sound that graps you by the throat and never let's go.

Frontiers 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
27 December 2003

The first "supergroup" of the year 2004 will release its' first album in January. Last Autumn's Dream is the union of swedish vocalist Michael Erlandsson and ex-Fair Warning guitarist Andy Malecek, added with the remarkable trio of John Leven (bass), Mic Michaeli (keys) and Ian Haugland (drums), all members of Europe. Their first collaboration might be a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but mostly this and that isn't too bad at all.

The album kicks off with the band's finest moment, the infectious "Again And Again". It's simply a terrific melodic hard rock track with an instant hook, and for some funny reason it reminds me of "Abba gone hard rock". Echoes of Fair Warning there too. The European bonustrack "Doin' Time" has been oddly placed as track number two, and it marks a change of direction, one of many. To me it sounds a bit like Toto with heavier guitars (West Coast-styled metal?) and I don't consider among my favourites..."Guardian Angel" is the first of the ballads, and it's a very traditional power ballad in the finest European hard rock fashion. It might exlain the placement of "Doin' Time", as a ballad as the second track might have been a bit early in the tracklisting.

"Break The Chains" is one of the heavier tracks of the album, very much in the vein of Talisman with slight neo-classical touches. Then it's an U-turn with "Blink Of The Eye", which is a nice, poppy sing-a-long track, somewhere between Fair Warning and Erlandsson's solo material - quite a logical inclusion really.

The LAD's crank it up with "Talk To Me" again, which is clearly a showcase for Malecek, with lots and lots of guitars. Still, it's one of the finest tracks here, with another killer chorus. Then it's something completely different with "The One", a fine ballad that sounds like a number one pop hit - all it needs is a high profile singer and major label, or a truckload of luck.

"I Never Let You Go" sees the band going to a more AOR direction. This bouncy and easy-going track wouldn't sound out of place on a Journey or Steve Perry album! "High Up" starts promisingly with Malecek delivering stylish soloing and crunchy rhythm guitars, but the song falls flat on its' face thanks to a plodding chorus that sounds like it has been lifted from Autograph's "Turn Up The Radio". "Movin' On" isn't really convincing either, a song that might have suited an Erlandsson solo album better. Interestingly it reminds me of the solo work of fellow Europe member Joey Tempest...the plot thickens?! The album is closed in grand fashion with "Going Home", a ballad with some classical melodies and dramatic arrangement.

Frontiers/Now & Then 2001
Review by Satu Reunanen 13 June 2001

Here's a melodic, prog influenced band from Sweden that doesn't really offer much new to cling to. The choruses are good and catchy and everything works out well, except for some drum and guitar parts that kinda hit you in the face with a weird surprise. But still it's lacking something.

The singer Rickard Bengtsson has a kind of a "dark" voice, but he can hit higher notes too. And you can hear that guitarist Magnus Karlsson has played guitar in fusion bands. Also played guitar & banjo in a Celtic folk group called Hot Pebble that toured in Scandinavia.

I can also hear influences from Dream Theater (I think it was the keys in "Flying High" and some other things) and some keyboard parts sound like Jens Johansson from Stratovarius. You know - baroquesound and fast tempo?!

Frontiers 2002
Review by 21 March 2002

The Swede’s are back with a vengeanc ! If you heard the first album “The Ritual” and didn’t think much of it, this new one will surprise you with the amazing power the guys have captured here. Since the first album the bassist has changed into Dick Löwgren, who’s worked with bands such as Arch Enemy and In Flames and the drummer to Jaime Salazar from Midnight Sun and The Flower Kings. These guys have what Magnus Karlsson (guitar, keys)needed for the “Witch Dance” with highly advanced progressive elements.

It’s quite hard to name any faves from here, the whole cd is filled with power and catchy stuff. After the intro the title track already offers those, followed by another great track “Messenger”. “Wash Your Sins Away” has those prog influences and interesting arrangements with Dream Theater- style prog guitar solo. But damn, even though I love those prog parts it’s the melody and hooks that count after all. Though prog works for me on the dance floor too. But “Wake Up The World” has melody and hooks and powerful drums. And I love the title too.

Frontiers 2003
Review by 19 October 2003

Swedish melodic metal act Last Tribe caught us by surprise last year and released one of the higlights of the genre with "Witch Dance". "By surprise" because their first album released a year before didn't really rock my world...Now they're back with album number three, again produced by Anders Theander and band leader Magnus Karlsson. This time it's no surprise that the guys can deliver the goods...it's a fact!

Unlike many of their "rivals", Last Tribe don't see it necessary to stick to the tried and tested melodic metal formula, with lots of double bass drums, macho choirs and pompous keys. They do it with more flair, incorporating elements from progressive rock, 80'ies metal and hard rock, never forgetting strong, melodic choruses.

Highlights: "Healer", "The Uncrowned", "Otherworld", "Sound Of Rain", "Only The Innocent", "Call Of The Tribe"...this is melodic metal at its' best, with emphasis on the "melodic". The melodies aren't your usual metal melodies either, they actually remind me of "Harem Scarem gone metal" at times, check out "Only The Innocent" for example. Great guitarplaying, not Malmsteenish neoclassical shredding all the time, but sharp riffing and solos that made me think of the glory days of George Lynch. Excellent keys too!

Escape Music 2003
Review by 20 July 2003

Laudamus is a new act at Escape Music and maybe unheard of (?) for most of you out there. They're mostly known to christian rockers and others in the northern parts of Sweden. I remember catching them at a gig some 10 years ago and became partly very impressed by their show, especially by the lovely female keyboardist at the time (she's sadly no longer a member of the band).

"Lost In Vain" is the second full lenght CD and the only original member left is Peter Stenlund (vocals/guitars). The line-up is now completed with his brother Jonas Stenlund (bass) & Jonas Cederteg (drums). The music has also changed a bit since last time I heard them. They are now mixing their melodic melodies with some crunching guitarwork a'la Freak Kitchen or heavier stuff. There's some really cool riffing going on here for sure.

MTM Music 1998
Review by Kimmo Toivonen

Just by looking at the credits you get the feeling that this has to be a good album: the co-writers include such names as Robert White Johnson, Rick Neigher and Stan Meissner, and the musicians include Dann "Giant" Huff and Tim Pierce! A good album this is, but not the AOR classic I was half expecting. Most of the songs are pretty good, but not the kind of material that classics are made of, and I must say that I am not the biggest fan of Lawrence's voice. It sounds a bit strained and forced from time to time. But that's enough of negativity, at his best Lawrence can easily challenge the likes of Stan Meissner and Brett Walker!

The highlights for me were the excellent opener "All We Have Is Our Dreams", which reminds me of Bon Jovi mixed with Stan Meissner, the very catchy "Rose Tatoo" and the very... cool "Cool Blue". I also liked "Tonight I Got The World" (fantastic pre-chorus there!) and "One Night Like This", but to my surprise the song co-written by Stan Meissner, "Fight For Your Love", was a bit of a disappointment. Well, one can not be expected to succeed everytime!

Locomotive Music 2004
Review by Martien Koolem,
4 May 2004

The story of Leaf began almost four years ago. Songwriter Jaime Scholz and Timo Brauwers were asked to contribute a song to the soundtrack for the movie called “The Amulett”. Doing this, these two musicians decided to form a band and they asked Martin Rollin and Marcel Romer to join Leaf.

In 2003 they released their first demo and lots of people liked it and it was played on radio stations as well. In the same year Leaf signed a record deal with Locomotive Records. The music of Leaf can be categorized as a mix between grunge and nu-metal, as their music is filled with heavy riffs and melodic catchy choruses. “Breakable” even reminds me of Linkin Park sometimes. While “Circle Of Ways” features some typical Staind or Nickelback guitar riffs. It is real live music to which you can jump along, but Leaf also plays songs like “Swimming”, which starts really heavy with Fear Factory riffs and contains some angry “shouting”.

Aaries 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
25 April 2004

Rock'N'Roll always had an "Bad Influence" upon people in the past. The devil's music as some liked to name it, and the music sure did possess the mind of the young Vick LeCar in the 70's. This is his tribute to all those great bands, whom forever changed rock'n'roll history. LeCar has always worked with excellent singers in the past. Even the legendery Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow, Deep Purple, Malmsteen, HTP, Solo, etc), did some vocals on a not-so-official release... there were some problems between them two. However, this time the guitarist decided to do all vocals by himself and it didn't exactly work out for the best.

It mostly sounds like if he was singing with a really bad cold. You know... thick in the head and trouble with breathing through your nose. Never really out of tune or anything, but it's obvious that LeCar isn't that natural born singer. The guitar work is excellent as always and you can tell by the tracklist, that Blackmore is a huge influence and inspiration. Four of the ten tracks included are composed by 'The Man In Black' (or hat?), and you'll get two covers each by Rainbow and Deep Purple. "Stormbringer" and "Holy Man", from the days with David Coverdale & Glenn Hughes in the band (mark: whatever?!). "Long Live Rock'N'Roll" is early Rainbow with Dio upfront, while "Stone Cold" is the US radio version of the band with JL Turner. Not a bad collection of songs, but they all have one important thing in common. Freakin' great singers!!! And sadly I'll have to say that LeCar's voice doesn't exactly do them justice. It works the best with Bachman Turner Overdrive's old hit "Let It Ride" or Jimi Hendrix's "Fire".

Chavis 2003
Review by Endre "Bandi" Hübner 21 March 2003

Legacy is the brainchild of Lizzy Borden bass player Marten Andersson and according to the press release by Chavis Records the music is "in your face hard rock". Well yeah, I may be skeptical but this is pretty much "thrown in your face" hard rock. The album sounds as if it was a bunch of demos collected. Not having read anything on the band's site before playing it first I had the impression the songs were recorded in different studios because there is no coherent sound here. Then I read that the whole album was recorded "within a few short weeks". That explained it all to me.

I have to admit that there's some stunning musicianship on the album, some light-speed solos, some cool drum themes, (as you'd expect Marten's precise bass playing is in the front of the mix) but overall this is far from being enough to impress me. The songs are very monotonous in the end, most of the vocals are rather some uptempo chanting than singing, with the exception of "Autumn Rising" which is a great song with a balladesque intro, a cool uptempo power rock refrain, high-pitched clear vocals, good backing vocals and great fill-in guitar soloing. That one song clearly shows that the band is capable of big things, so it's really beyond me why the rest of the album is so flat, and how come that Chris Roseberry's vocal performance is bordering being off-key on many of the songs. Being an instrumental fan I really enjoyed "2.4.1." (the real winner on the album) a cool track that could have been on any of Vinnie Moore's albums. Weird but the second ballad "Can't Remember Love" was the next song to impress me, a typical power ballad in the W.A.S.P. vein (talking about the "Headless Children" era). The second instrumental "Astral Sundown" is a lot more progressive than "Autumn Rising", it even shows some jazzy influences, I liked it but some rock fans may be shied away by it. "Thank You" will surely wash their bad taste away as it is a beautiful instrumental piece to close the album.

Brennus Music 2003
Review by 20 October 2003

After thirteen years of silence... Leviticus is finally back together again... praise the lord and pass the ammunition. Their first comeback gig was recorded "Live At BobFest 2003" here in Sweden on the 14th of March by Swedish Radio P4. Which stands for quality I may add, there's absolutely no need to worry about this being yet another crappy live recording.

Bjorn Stigsson (guitar) produced, mixed, and mastered it by himself at the BTS studios. Something which he has done for Pop artists such as E-Type, A-Teens, Fame (Eurovision Song Contest contender) etc, lately. Tierd of being 'just a producer' Stigsson decided to reunite one of the best hardrock acts ever from Sweden. Sadly underrated by many and truly loved by those who appreciate music with a uplifting message.

Escape Music 2003
Review by 8 Mars 2003

Holy Crap! Here's something we haven't noticed before... Glenn Hughes guest appears on a rock album!!! Sarcastic mode off!!! I believe the good, old, ex-Deep Purple vocalist/bassist is more or less famous, for lending out his voice to each and every darn project. Then again... you can't find a much better singer out there either!!! When he doesn't do his 'banshee screams' all of the time, that is.

"No Strings Attached" with guitarist Billy Liesegang was originally released in Japan only, back in 1996. The UK label Escape Music, decided to give it a proper release here in Europe in 2003. Not such a bad idea at all really, since you can find some quality music (not all of the time tough) with great musicians here. This is a '50/50' CD, where half of the 16 tracks are instrumental and the other half isn't (well, doh!)

Z Records 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
10 March 2004

There is no information to be found about this band...No biography, no nothing, where do these guys come from and is this their first album, I really would not know. But maybe that is not always that interesting, let’s talk about the music on this CD, what can you expect?

Unfortunately this album is packed with 12 middle of the road tracks, which tend to get on your nerves after a while. The title track, and also the opener of this album, is the best one that Life can offer: it starts as a ballad, but then we are treated to some nice AOR/rock guitar riffs and even some a capella singing. The remaining eleven songs are much too poppy, – “For You", “One" or “The Key" -, too funky – “Hogtied", “Devil Wears White" or “Barefoot" or even worse: just too boring, like “You’ll See".

SPV 2003
Review by 4 October 2003

The DVD "River Runs Again: Live 2003" was recorded during Life Of Agony's sold-out reunion shows at Irving Plaza in NYC earlier this year. Vocalist Keith Caputo is back behind the mic again and so are the rest of the original line-up. In other words, upset fans do not need to worry about Ugly Kid Joe's Whitfield Crane anymore, since he's thankfully not involved in the reunion.

Life Of Agony were one of few bands that actually managed to crossover the hardcore (grungy) stuff with classic metal or thrash. Though I'm sure most 80's Glam fans thought of them as yet other crap band in the 90's genre. This should perhaps not be mistaken for a "real" comeback as all members do still have their "sideprojects". On the other hand, they will tour Europe and maybe they'll continue with LOA after all.

Johnny LIMA: "Johnny Lima" 8

Shock Pop 1998
Review by Kimmo Toivonen

This guy is totally unknown to me, but I think he might gain himself at least a cult following soon. This is his first album I believe, and it's a good effort. I haven't read a single review of it yet, but I think that I won't be the only one to say that this sounds a lot like a certain band from New Jersey. If someone had given me this tape and claimed that it's Bon Jovi's lost album circa 1986 I would have probably believed! What we have here is a dozen of good songs, from the rockers with huge hooks like "Reckless Heart" (one of those songs with a healthy dose of "WHOA!'s"!) to ballads like "Fly Angel". There's even a song that wouldn't sound out of place on a glam album, "Rock'n Roll River", it reminds me of Pretty Boy Floyd. So, if you're into, say, Danger Danger, Blue Tears and early Bon Jovi, you might do yourself a favour and try to locate this album.

Now & Then/Frontiers 1999
Review by Kimmo Toivonen

You may remember me raving about Johnny's first album some time ago. Now here is the follow up to that album, and I am happy to say that this is another great piece of melodic rock.

"Leavin'In The Morning" starts the show, a Danger Danger-like party rock number with a tongue-in-cheek lyrics (I hope?!). A good song, but pales in comparison to the next track. "My Country 'Tis Of Thee" is simply an awesome uptempo track, very much in the early Bon Jovi mould, but that hardly is a crime! The next three numbers are a bit more mellow, "Touch Of Love" and "Memory Lane" being midtempo AOR tracks, while "Star" is a great power ballad that reminds me of Blue Tears.

"Wild, Young, Crazy In Love" is a sing-along pop rocker, with some glam overtones, a bit like "Rock 'n Roll River" on Johnny's first album. The anthem of the album is "Shout It Out", a song with a pro-rock message that I can fully endorse! "Too Late" is a cool song with some interesting effects and a great orchestration. It's a bit different to the rest of the album, and so is "Sweet Sixteen". When I first heard it, I thought it was a cover of some sixties' song, like "Leader Of The Back"! Anyway, it's a good song, again a bit "glammy", and the sixties' feel is quite authentic...

"Only The Strong Survive" is another anthemic song, while "In Someone Else's Arms" is the big ballad of the album. The Bon Jovi comparison raises its head there again... The album is rounded up with the pop rocker "Girl Next Door". And there you have it, a very good album without a single song that I would call a filler! "Shine On" is sure to find its way to the collections of most melodic rock lovers!

NOTE: I just heard from Johnny that the last two tracks will not be included on the European version of the album. Too bad, even though they are not the best tracks here...

Frontiers 2003
Review by 19 October 2003

I guess it's an understatement to say that this album has been long-awaited, as Mr. Lima started working on this one way back in 2000. It was almost starting to turn into one of those albums that never seem to be finished (Guns'n Roses anyone?). Well, I've got the finished promo copy in my hands, and unless something goes terribly wrong, the third Johnny Lima album will be available in good record stores on December 1st!

"Made In California" is a natural successor to the previous two Johnny Lima albums. The style is still a cool combination of those big 80'ies acts like Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and Poison, with the emphasis on strong choruses. Just to keep things exciting, Johnny flirts with the nu-breed sounds a bit, and does it very well - just listen to the catchy and tongue-in-cheek pop-punk-glam-rocker "Another Girl" and the brilliant cover of The Beatles' "Help". There's no shortage of traditional melodic rock/AOR tracks here either, as virtually all of the other tracks fall into that category. Highlights for me are "Go On, Go Away", "Love Ain't Enough", "Something About You", "Where Are You Now" and my favourite track "Welcome To My Paradise", which has terrific keys and a great, original chorus. Surely one of the top ten tracks of 2003!

MTG 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
31 May 2004

Patrick Linman is the man behind one of the most sought after, obscure Finnish AOR albums, namely "Heaven Calls", released under the name of Linman. I have never heard that album and doubt that many of you readers have either, but his Place-2-Go band a few years ago might be more familiar. They had a couple of minor hits in Scandinavia and a video that was aired on MTV. Now Linman's going solo again.

Frontiers 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
17 April 2004

Lionsheart, the band lead by Steve Grimmett, returns after being dead and buried for a few years, and whaddaya know, the band's alive and kickin'! I quite enjoyed their first album a decade ago (or thereabouts), especially the killer tracks "Can't Believe" and "Portrait", but then the band seemed to lose the plot and released two more albums which were gradually weaker than the debut. The break has done them a lot of good though, and I'd say that they're now as good as they ever were.

Indie 2001
Review by 19 July 2001

Liquid Horizon are a new melodic metal act from Germany, and the oddly named " Restarting System..." is their first CD, a five track "mini-album". It's stricktly a self-produced affair recorded "in their own location", whatever that means.

Promo 2002
Review by 4 february 2003

Don’t go astray like I did when I got this cd. I thought I was getting Lost Horizon’s latest, but this time ended up with this German melodic metal band Liquid Horizon that was formed before the new millenium. Earlier they’ve released one cd „ Restarting System...” that got good feedback all over the world. For me this is a new band though. The members are Oliver Kilthau-vocals/guitar, Michael Heck-keys, Marc Schroth-bass and Ralf Windisch-drums/percussion.

At first listen there were little things that were sticking out that bothered me. The guitar and drums didn’t seem to come together with the songs here and there, the sounds were too rugged and unfinished and there was too much echo in the vocals. Especially the starting song „Liquid Sky” really frightened me with the vocals. They were too harsh and intense and in some songs this spoiled the aor-like mood. The vocals seemed to work best on the slower songs like „Won’t Go” and „Standing In The Shadows”, where they were more cleaner and nicer. But „Zen Garden” was the best track from the fast ones. At times this band sounded like Praying Mantis, there’s those good melodies that the english band is also so good at. And at times I could pick up something like Van Halen or Stratovarius here too.

Frontiers Records 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
4 május 2004

After two years of waiting Daniele Liverani brings us his second part of the Genius trilogy called “In Search of the Little Prince”. The first part, released in 2002, was one of the best power metal albums of that year, so I was really eager to listen to this second part.

We left the two main characters Genius(Mark Boals) and Twinspirit 32(Daniel Gildenlow) in the European twinspirit land, trying to find a way to escape from the Maindream soldiers. In this they succeed and during the entire second episode Genius and Twinspirit meet several other characters that will help them solve the various problems caused by Genius presence on the forbidden dream world and ultimately to save King Mc Chaos, wrongly considered responsible for allowing a human being into dream world.

Frontiers records 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
4 május 2004

The original name of the storybook that Italian multi-instrumentalist Daniele Liverani developed into the Genius rock opera trilogy was this album called “Daily Trauma”. As a first natural step Daniele composed some instrumental songs that followed the events of the story and that was later used in the Genius trilogy. The result of this creation on the Daily Trauma story was an instrumental album that contained 17 songs. All the songs were connected to the story and Daniele plays all guitars, bass and keyboards, while Dario Ciccioni played the drums.

“Daily Trauma” is an instrumental soundtrack album and the music is heavy and up-to-date and ranges from influences like The Liquid Tension Experiment till real classical opera sounds. The opener “Kingdom Gate” is extremely heavy and fast with furious guitar solos like David Chastain or Vinnie Moore. “Wild Tribe” sounds like Michael Lee Firkins and “Dream League Raid” features a fantastic neo-classical guitar theme a la Yngwie Malmsteen.

Mayan Records/Sanctuary 2003
Review by 14 September 2003

The reason to why Lenny Kravitz turned into a multi-million project? Perhaps not the entire truth as these chaps were always so much more than just plain "rock". The original line-up with Corey Glover - vocals, Vernon Reid - guitar, Doug Wimbish - bass, and Will Calhoun - drums, are all back with a brilliant and long awaited comeback album.

It's almost like they were never gone too. "Collideoscope" picks up where they left us some ten years ago. Actually, I'd say this is Living Colour's best release since their 1988 debut "Vivid" and as always, it's a lovely mixture of rock, funk, jazzy tunes, electro rock, and even dub reggae. You could say it's music for the opened and not the narrow minded person.