Target Records 2001
Review by 12 December 2001

Let me start this review by saying that Teri Tims is probably the best female vocalist to have emerged from the AOR scene during the last few years. She has a voice that can be described as a combination of Alannah Myles, Shania Twain and Debbie Davis (of cult AOR band Witness), and I might add that she has got the looks to match too...Paul Sabu, his husband and the producer/co-writer of this a album is talented guy too, having produced and penned some excellent songs for the likes of Silent Rage, Alexa and Only Child. Unfortunately, 1 + 1 isn't always two, this time it's more like 1 and a quarter!

There are two major problems with this album: the songs and the production. I would say that the thin and lifeless production is the biggest flaw, I think that a more vivid and powerful sound might have helped a few of the songs to come to life, but now they just sound like pre-production demos. The programmed drums and the metallic guitar sounds do not appeal to me at all. Actually, the closest reference soundwise would be those early Shania Twain demos that Mr. Sabu also produced.

When it comes to the songs, there's at least light at the end of the tunnel: there are a few quite good songs here, like the awesome AOR track "Midnite In Your Eyes", very Sabu-like "Rock Hard" and the new country-ish ballad "Home Is Where The Heart Is". However, many of the other songs do not have hooks sharp enough to raise them above the dull production. And what the hell is "I Can Never Dance Enough" anyway? A country rock track with a Nu-metal chorus?

If it wasn't for Teri's brilliant vocals, my rating would've been lower. The next time around I sincerely hope that Teri and Paul will a) write quite a few songs as good as "Midnite In Your Eyes" and b) hire a drummer for gods sake!

Kivel 2003
Review by 27 September 2003

It is the year 1989, and this is L.A...except that it of course isn't, but that's the first thing that comes to mind when you're listening to TNA. 15 years ago this album would have been released on a major label and the band would have spent their big advances on sport cars and high livin'...in 2003 things are different, but what's important, the music's still good. Actually, to be totally honest, TNA aren't completely 80'ies oriented, there are traces of modern rock in some of the songs, especially in Mike MacManomon's excellent vocal delivery.

The opener "Guns, Lies And Violence" sounds a lot like something off "Not Fakin' It", the Michael Monroe solo album from 1989 - straightforward rocker with a brash attitude. I'm more impressed by the next few tracks though: "Do You Rembember" with its' catchy riffs and melodic hooks, Winger meets Lillian Axe -styled "Walk Before You Crawl" and "Rain", which is blessed with a killer hook.

MTM Music 2003
Review by 12 June 2003

Oi! Oi! Oi! "Cuz I'm TNT I'm dynamite, TNT and I'll win the fight, TNT I'm a power load, TNT watch me explode". Lock up your daughters and hide all your gold as the Norwegian vikings are back in town. Indeed, even the US born Tony Harnell has been running bezerk with broadsword and sky-high screams in the studio this time around.

MTM 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallström,
15 February 2004

Danger!!! Handle With Care!!! Indeed, the new TNT is explosive stuff that will most certainly blow up right in your face. I can honestly say that "My Religion" is their best overall album ever. They may have done a couple of better songs in the best (10.000 Lovers, As far As The Eye Can See), but I can't find any better CD release. They were either too short, too instrumental, or simply too lame (the first two), to be considered as near perfect or great.

However, you need to spin this a couple of times to really get into the groove. It must also be said that you probably need to enjoy some 'Westworld' too as this comes out like a mixture of the two acts fronted by Tony Harnell. Even if they've sort of returned to TNT's original sound and it's definitly more retro than, say, Transistor. Then again... remove the out of ordinary vocals of Harnell and the excellent guitarwork by Ronni LeTekro and you'll end up with what??? Well, let's just say that these musicians are actually better than the material itself sometimes. Don't get me wrong... the songs are great, but it would never work with Ron Keel and CC Deville (if you see my point?).

Spinefarm Records 2003
Review by 8 november 2003

Somehow I’ve managed to go all these years with ever getting to know Throne Of Chaos that closer, except from compilations and one demo. TOC, as they go today, was already formed back in the mid ninetees in Finland. I must say I’m very impressed with ”Loss Angeles”. The band’s name might give you the wrong impression of their music even after they’ve changed it, but the promo picture leads more closer to their sound, though the guys look like a cross between a ’70’ies hippie and a hard rocker. But they’re more than that. In the early days TOC’s music was more influenced by growling vocals and black metal with keys, but today their music is mixing lots of influences.

Titles such as ”Acid Highway”, ”Mary Lou Is Dead”, ”Bite The Bullet” and ”Break-A-Neck” give you an example of their sound, think about what images they give you. There’s basic hard rock, hippie, groovy elements, melancholy and growling’s still there in the small scale. Add a bit of prog (say Pain Of Salvation, Dream Theater) in it and you’re pretty much there. The whole album is a moody package and yet hiding inside of all that appears this entertaining side of the band. The short, entertaining parts show these guys are capable of more than what is heard here. And at times songs such as ”Mary Lou Is Dead”, ”Acid Highway”, ”Blue Lady” and ”Bite The Bullet” reach that certain Sub-Urban Tribe lightness and atmosphere and bring out this pop side from TOC, which suites the band too. Both that and the heavier side work great.

Tuomas Nieminen has improved from his early days as a singer (his other band being Bride Adorned, who are also showing improvement) and it’s a pleasure to listen to him, he’s very versatile and really lives the songs and gives emotion to them. And the band gives its everything, which shows. TOC has a sense for style and each song is a masterpiece. Even their cover of the old and too often played ”Smoke On The Water” is amazing, TOC has given it more rage and speed and the outcome is only following the old version in the chorus, otherwise it sounds really fresh and really gives a new meaning to the song and a new spark. ”Loss Angeles” has the soft side for girls and the edge, testo and kick-ass drive for guys, definitely one of the best albums that have come out this year.

TGIF Productions 2002
Review by 22 December 2002

I usually shy away from reviewing instrumental albums, but since I wanted to have this one included in the last update of the year, I didn't send it to our resident (evil) Widdlymaister Bandi. Besides, this CD amused me even before I had played it, as the song titles are some of the funniest I've seen. They all follow the theme of "Too Old To Rock", so you'll get songs like "Bingo Night At Emily's", "Hair Today Gone Tomorrow" and "Viagra Falls". Not to mention that the cover features two elderly "axemen" rockin' and rollin'. And no, "Too Old To Rock" aren't that old, Jim Reindel (gt) and Chris Hattingh (gt, bs, drs) seem to be a bit younger than the gentlemen on the cover.

"Too Dumb To Quit" is all instrumental guitar rock songs, ranging from classic rock and hard rock to more progressive stuff and acoustic ballads. My favourite tracks are the 80'ies hard rock-styled "Goodbye Spandex" (figures!), the beatiful ballad "Viagra Falls" , "Pass The Geritol" which has a Satriani-vibe to it and especially the brilliant "Bingo Night At Emily's", a pure instrumental AOR track in the vein of Journey.

Columbia 1998
Review by

Call me crazy, but I think that Toto have never made a really great album. Sure, some of them are "almost there", like "Isolation" and "The Seventh One", but even those have songs I'd rather skip. This anniversary collection of unreleased material is in that respect a typical Toto album: Some very good songs, some decent ones and some dull ones. The fact that Toto have never been afraid to experiment with styles may be the reason for this. I have never been into the jazzier elements of their music...

The highlights of "XX" from my subjective point of view are the brilliant AOR tune (and the first single) "Goin' Home", co-written by Joseph Williams but sung by Bobby Kimball, the big ballad "Right Part Of Me" and the furious live version of rocker "On the Run". The live version of "Africa" is also one of the better tracks.

hy 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
10 March 2004

Again another disappointing album from a so-called rock band. Tower is the name and the group has two lead guitar players among its ranks, but I never hear them; where are the f…. guitar solos, guys???

Most of the ten songs are just boring, commercial(?), middle of the road rock songs, which you will forget immediately after you heard them. The only two “reasonably" good songs are “I’d Give You My Life"(a hard melodic rock song with AOR influences) and “Say A Prayer"(an AOR track with Def Leppard influences). The rest is almost redundant material; “Doesn’t Really Matter"(ordinary rock), “Ain’t It Sacred"(rock and roll) or “I Wanna Know Why"; just too much singing.

MTM Music 1998
Review by

The first Tower City album "A Little Bit Of Fire" was high quality AOR with a bit of a Winger flavour. "All Or Nothing" is their second effort, an it is even better! The band has written a handful of songs that can only be described as melodic rock masterpieces. Two of these masterpieces, "Fire With Fire" and "I Won't Surrender", were apparently so good, that producer Mike Slamer wanted to record them with his own project Steelhouse Lane! Other gems include "Hungry", "Two Sides Of Love" and the "Leppardesque" title song, which unfortunately has fallen victim to technical problems.

Other songs I want to mention are "Another Brother", which is quite different from the rest of the album, a funk/Rock hybrid in the Dan Reed Network/Stevie Salas Colorcode vein, and "I Just Wanna Be The One", another very Leppard-like number. There is also a hidden bonustrack, a new version of "Surrender" from their first album.

Brilliant 2001
Review by 6 December 2002

Toxic Virgin are a German hard rock who have been around since '95 and have two CD's prior to this one under their belt, one full-length CD and an EP, all self-financed. They have played together with bands like Doro and Bonfire, and have made it twice to the the finals of German Rock Musicians Awards. Quite accomplished musicians, and judging by this album, quite ready to be picked up by a record label for a wider distribution.

"Broken Wings" is the opening track, and it's an interesting hard rock track with a melody that takes its' cues from folk music. "Son Of The Sun" and "Waiting For The Rain" are PC69-styled uptempo numbers, and in between them there's "Restless Hearts", a more melodic rock track and one of my favourites. Heavy rocker "Rock Tonight" is unfortunately as dull as its' title leads one to expect, although it must said that Markus Litsch manages to sound a lot like Vince Neil on this track.

"Until The End" is a good ballad in the vein those late eighties' hard rock hit ballads. It is followed by something completely different, the furious "Alien Love Song" which has a riff that reminds me of Judas Priest ("Breaking The Law") and a good hook. Check out our MP3 Vault for proof, the song is featured there. And talking of good hooks, the moody and highly melodic "Our Only Hope" has one to look out for - this one is seriously catchy!

The folk melodies return in "Sailor", which is more like a folk song played with rock instruments than a folk-influenced rock track. Then it's back to hard rock with the next three tracks, even though I have to say that they don't sound particulary inspiring - kind of standard riff-fests and especially "Don't Know What I Want" and "Walk On Water" sound really similar to each other. The last track "All For One" is not one of the highlights either, although better than the previous trio, It's obviously the band's attempt to write a sing-along track for the gigs, and while it's quite catchy it curiously reminds me of a glam rock band doing a Manowar cover, if you can imagine that.

The production is good, and there's nothing to complain about the performances. Litsch has a good voice and the other members Dirk Reiners (gt), Carlo Bertini (gt), Klaus Peltzer (b) and France Ecke (drs) provide a good foundation. Just a little bit of finetuning when it comes to the songs, and we'll be talking about a serious contender! By the way...what's a "Toxic Virgin" anyway?

Brilliant 2004
Review by Petri Kautto 31 May 2004

New album "Sulphur" by German hardrockers Toxic Virgin is an interesting mix of hard rock melodies, big choruses and even folk music, thou folk music is not dominant in most of the songs. They do have a wide scale of styles but they manage to keep it together without making this too disperse. Before I revieved this album I also listened to their previous album "Circle of Power" and the band has not changed that much, thou I think they are stepping away from using the folk melodies as much which I think is good for them.

The first song of the album is "Evil Days" and it has a catchy melody and a deep, dark chorus and it rolls on nicely. "Born to Run" is an uptempo song, a pretty basic rocker that has a rough riff on which the song builds on. "Mad as Hell" was not one of my favourites thou it has a catchy refrain. "Paradise" is quite slow song that has a moody feel to it and a dark, layered chorus. "The Clown" is a positive, up-beat rocker that has some folk music features in it. Representing the heavier part of the album is a song called "It Smells of Leather" and it has nice elements to it thou the chorus is not the catchiest of the album.

CMC International 1998
Review by

Former White Lion vocalist Mike Tramp has chosen to jump off the grunge bandwagon and return to his melodic rock roots. Even though the two albums he made with Freak Of Nature weren't that bad, I have to say that I find his current style more suitable to him.

"Capricorn" is a collection of laid-back semi-acoustic rock songs which remind me of the material on Joey Tempest's first solo album. At times Tramp sounds like John Mellencamp ("Running Out Of Life" maybe), and naturally there are a few songs that bring back memories of White Lion. One such tune is the ballad "Love Will Come And Go", which would not have sounded out of place on "Mane Attraction". A couple of the songs feature female backing vocals, which provide a little welcomed variety.

Highlights aren't too easy to pick out, which can only be a good thing, as it means that the quality of the songs is quite consistent. The aforementioned two tracks are definately ones, but also "If I live Tomorrow" and "Wait Not For Me" are very good songs.

Ulftone Music 2002
Review by 10 October 2002

Wow! I can hardly find the correct words to describe this CD as "Recovering The Wasted Years" is simply marvelous from start to finish. The ex-White Lion, Freak Of Nature vocalist Mike Tramp may just have done his masterpiece and best overall album ever here. That's right!! No matter how much I love his old White Lion material, I doubt very much that he ever been this good in the past.

His first solo album "Capricron" was a bit of disappointment really as many of the songs were a bit flat and dull somehow. However, this album is full of catchy melodies and hooklines from melodic rock heaven. The music is basicially in the same style as his previous album though, only catchier, a bit tougher, much better, and with more "uptempo" tracks (it's still pretty 'laid-back' though).

Inside Out/SPV 2003
Review by 15 October 2003

Finally it has been released: "Transatlantic Live In Europe"; two cds with probably some of the best prog rock songs of this moment in time. Funnily enough I was present at the recording of this album (013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands), so this makes it even more interesting for me.

After the very well received albums “SMPTe”(2000) and “Bridge Across Forever”(2001) Transatlantic now show what they are capable of during a live gig. Of course they already released a live album in 2001 “Live in America” but this live recording is much better and is therefore a real thrill to listen to.

Lion Music 2002
Review by 16 June 2002

One thing's for sure: you can't accuse Transcendence of being one-dimensional. This album is quite hard to describe, as the band changes styles from Black Sabbath-like heavy rock to melodic rock, via progressive metal!

The opener "Endless Reich" is a fast progressive metal track with swirling keyboards and fast double bass drum groove. Vocalist Greg Drew sounds a bit like Tracy White from Shotgun Symphony, and the guitars by Jeff Ford are heavy and crunching. "Echoes From The Past" is a very heavy, mid-tempo track that reminds me of Black Sabbath, while "No Trace" is something completely different again. It's a good ballad in the vein of Queensrÿche or Dream Theather, although heavier than any of the ballads of theirs.

"The Wake" is another progressive, heavy track - cool keyboards but not quite catchy enough for me. The short, fast and furious instrumental "The Fall Of The Meridian" leads us to one of the highlights of the album, the hook-laden "Filtered Lenses". Then it's time for yet another change of pace, as we move on to "Set Fire To The Sky". It is very European-sounding power metal or something, with drummer John Von Rosenberg kicking his bass drums like there's no tomorrow.

"Israel" is another highlight, a beautiful ballad that should appeal to the AOR fans too. Unfortunately, the remaining three tracks represent the more progressive side of the band, and while they are good at that, they do not really appeal to me.

Blues Brureau/Shrapnel 2003
Review by 4 July 2003

The old rock/blues legend Pat Travers has been "snortin' whiskey" ever since the birth of the earth. Well.. at least since 1976 and the release of his first solo album. Travers started out in Canada back in the 60's and ended later up playing with Ronnie Hawkins of "The Band". He actually moved to England during the mid 70's, where he also secured a record deal with Polydor (after a rather successful gig at the Reading festival by the way).

Lots of other musicians has been part of his band during all these years. Tony Carey, Pat Thrall, Barry Dunaway, Tommy Aldridge, and a young-er Nicko McBrain, are only some of all ex-members. The power trio consist this time of Pat Travers (vocals/guitars), Gunther Nezhoda (bass) and Aynsley Dunbar (drums). The latter has of course been playing with everybody from Whitesnake to Journey through the years.