Versailles Records 2002
Review by Endre "Bandi" Hübner 13 February 2002

Finally!! A tribute album that is REALLY a tribute to the artists it is dedicated to not just a lame attempt to cash in on well-known names. I've been very disappointed by some of the "tribute" albums that came out lately and approached this one very carefully too. My fears were growing stronger when I saw that the album opens with Satriani's "Always With Me, Always With You", one of my all time favorite instrumental pieces. Then Bruce Kulick's (Kiss, Union, Blackjack, Meatloaf) version of the song washed all my fears away. He has recorded an electro-acoustic version of the song that almost brought the tears into my eyes. If the original weren't so perfect I would even say "better than that" but obviously that's pretty much impossible.

Jake E. Lee (Ozzy, Badlands, etc.) smokes with "Surfing With The Alien", great version, not just playing note-by-note but he manages to add his own personality and style into the final product. This is true for all the performers and this makes the album a real tribute and different from the recent endless flow of fake tribute albums. Another pleasant surprise is Jimmy Crespo and Dave Ragsdale (the rock violinist) doing a great guitar-violin version of "Echo". Gotta be heard to believe! Brad Gillis (Night Ranger) is as good on "Summer Song" as Lee was on "Surfing" which is not surprise after his great solo effort. Neither is Neil Zaza's superb "Friends"; Neil's own stuff is pretty much in the Satch vein anyway.

RV Records 2002
Review by 11 January 2003

Now here's a name to watch out for! Robert Valdes comes...out of the shadows and into the spotlight with an self-produced and financed album that can easily compete with most releases from the independent hard rock labels, when it comes to production and performances. The musical style is melodic hard rock with Robert's furious guitar playing taking the biggest role. He has actually done everything on this album, from writing to singing and playing all instruments. A man of many talents for sure, but I guess he likes to emphasize the "guitar player Robert Valdes", as some of the songs start with a minute or two of guitar shredding before the vocals cut in. Sure enough, Robert's a world class axeman, with a bit of George Lynch in his style. When it comes to vocals, Rob's remind me of Paul Sabu mixed with Dave Meniketti of Y&T.

Escape Music 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,

4 March 2004

Valensia is bombastic, fantastic, theatrical, symphonic, over-the-top music, that you'll either love or hate from the word go. There's no way to stop him once he's entered the studio though as he'll try and add as much music as possible into each and every single track. Born as Aldous Byron Valensia Clarkson in The Hague (The Netherlands) and like fellow country man Robby Valentine (ex-Zinatra), very much inspired by Queen and the whole "Bohemian Rhapsody" sound, I'd say. Add smaller doses of The Sparks, Duran Duran, Kate Bush (the theatrical part), good old 80's melodic hardrock, and you're pretty close to the core.

Valensia is and has always been big in Japan. Not that strange perhaps as the Japs seems to adore all kinds of music really. "The Blue Album" was originally released there back in 2002 and Escape Music had the very good taste in re-releasing it with one bonus track for Europe. It's Pomp music the complex, yet very catchy way, with tons of lovely melodies and harmonies.

Cleopatra 2000
Review by

Another pleasant surprise from the endless flow of tribute albums. The by now "usual" "tributing" artists got together again on this one to cash some money for the label and for themselves but this time we are served quite well.

MTM Music 2003
Review by 13 September 2003

How about a tribute to Van Halen where only 6 of the 12 tracks included are actually Van Halen songs in the first place??? Not since the Spinal Tap days has somthing this weird been wandering around completly lost backstage. The title is a bit out of place and the same goes with some of the artists, I guess.

The remaining songs are all solo-material by Sammy Hagar & David Lee Roth. Where something like "Tobacco Road" is a cover of a DLR cover and "Shy Boy" is a Talas song I believe? How come that you can't find any songs by Extreme then? Since Gary Cherone was after all Van Halen's front person and singer for one album and tour. Can you imagine a Black Sabbath tribute with songs by Dio (Holy Diver anyone?), something with Ian Gillan (No Laughing In Heaven?), a couple of Glenn Hughes songs, some Badlands perhaps?, half a dozen of Ozzy classics, and round it all off with something by Tony "Dry" Martin.

Abbot Promotions 1998
Review by

A nice surprise...I was told that Johnny's music is similar to Bryan Adams or Tom Petty. It's not really, I think that Johnny has more in common with the current crop of guitardriven pop rockers like Goo Goo Dolls or Soul Asylum than the "old school" AOR guys like Adams. Nothing wrong with that of course, especially when JV does his thing very well!

There are five tracks on the CD, mostly they are rather likeable pop rockers like "One Dance (with Mia Farrow)". It is Johnny's ode to his "obsession" and Woody Allen's ex-wife Mia Farrow. The lyrics are quite funny..."You be the queen, I'll be your king, I'd never chase your offspring"...unforgettable! The ballad "Tug Of War" is also quite good. The only track that didn't appeal to me was "Fifteen Minutes", which lacked the memorabilty of the other tracks.

I'll be looking forward to Johnny's full album. Hopefully it'll include even better songs. This wasn't a bad start though!

Massacre 2002
Review by 1 November 2002

"Melody And Power" is a showcase of the more melodic metal bands from Massacre's rooster, including many bands whose respective CD's from which these songs came from have been reviewed on this site earlier. Therefore I don't think that I should go too much into detail about the songs. They are quite well chosen and well sequenced, there's a nice mixture of uptempo metal tracks, some melodic hard rock songs and a few ballads thrown in for good measure. If you're looking for a nice overview of the current european melodic metal scene, you'll get it in the form of this album: the Heroic Metal style we affectionally here at AOR-E sometimes call "Trottel Metal" is widely represented with bands such as Meduza, Firewind and Majesty, while Edenbridge showcases a more ethreal, angelic style of metal. Then there's the 70'ies-sounding Cornerstone, and the AOR/metal crossover of Pretty Maids...all in all, a solid compilation of current european melodic and metallic music.

AOR Dreamzones 2003
Review by 28 September 2003

Two websites have recently put out albums under their name, and AOR Dreamzones is one of them. This album, compiled by Hans Beljaards and Nicky Baldrian, features mostly indie bands, unsigned or from small labels. In addition to the lesser known names there are a few more familiar ones, namely Ken Tamplin, Jim Peterik's World Stage, Nexx and Haven (with a previously unreleased cover of Heart's "Allies", penned by one Jonathan Cain). It has to be said that these familiar names provide most of the better tracks, but some of the indies do try hard to give them a run for their money. I was quite impressed by Wild West, a band on Brennus Records with a track very much in the XYZ vein, Vinny Records' Coastline with their brand of female fronted AOR and there's was something charming in Two Piece Puzzle's "Money Just Can Buy" too. Lance King's new band Defyance wasn't bad either.

Melodicrock.com 2003
Review by 29 September 2003

The longest running melodic rock site, Andrew McNeice's Melodicrock.com has released volume one of what is to become an ongoing series of albums, and I have to say that "Revealed and revisited" isn't a dodgy start at all. The packaging is very professional looking and the track selection is quite excellent, with some hard-to-find japanese bonustracks, exclusive special versions and a few tasters from worthcoming albums.

Westworld kick things off with "Beautiful", a killer track from the Jap version of "Cyberdreams". AdrianGale follow it with a good cover of Lou Gramm's "Midnight Blue", while Jeff Northrup and Terry Ilous offer us a cool demo from the archives. Hugo's "Forever In My Heart" is a new track and pretty much what you'd expect from him - quality AOR á la Journey. Jim Peterik's World Stage come out with all guns blazing and present us "Gutters Of Gold", an uptempo AOR track with attitude. This track would have suited the Pride Of Lions album really well.

Talisman's "All Wound Up" is from the "Cats & Dogs" sessions, a killer hard rock track that really should've been on the album - it's as good as just about anything on it! The Gregg Fulkerson (Attraction 65) track is something special: it's a piano/vocal version of "Date With Destiny", one the finest unreleased tracks ever. It was orginally written for Meat Loaf, but he never recorded it. Now if Gregg would only release the full band version too...

Next up we have Mecca's ballad "Time Spent", Jesse Harms' "All I Want Is You" (earlier covered by Freddy Curci), and a new track from House Of Shakira, which promises good things for their next album. Mike Tramp's Springsteen-cover "Born To Run" is ok, although I am not so sure if it really suits his voice.

The next few tracks aren't really my cup of tea: Brian Bart/Kelly Keagy collaboration "Transient State Of Mind" and Balance II's demo "When I Fall Down" are both somewhat forgettable, and I can't get into Billy Falcon's "98 To Alabama" either. The unreleased Nexx track "Meaning Of Two Hearts" is a ballad, and as I said in my review of their albums, I don't think that their ballads are as good as their more uptempo material. "Meaning..." doesn't change my opinion.

The highlight among the last few tracks is Ken Tamplin's "When Angels Cry", a hard rocking, catchy number with an unusual arrangement (for a hard rock song anyway), including horns and strings. Finally, there's Tommy Denander's "Grace", a suitably relaxing number to close the album with.

Z Records 2000
Review by

Here is the long awaited CD from former Tyketto guys. Well three of them, that's why the name is Vaughn, not Tyketto. This was worth the wait. The songs are like Tyketto with something new in there, and why it's still Tyketto to me it's Vaughn's voice. He even wrote a song named The Voice for this album.

Songs are very well played and written and the CD gets better with every time I listen to it. I really like "Handful Of Rain", "Stone Monkey" and "Is That All There Is?". Still I find something new with every listen. Good CD. I have heard that some people don't like this. if they waited for a return to the old Tyketto style music then they might not like this at first, but if they would listen to it more, I know that their minds would change. AC/DC is the only band that repeats itself, and that is what is expected from them, but this is not AC/DC. The Tyketto feel is there, trust me.

No wonder Z Records have been keeping a loud noise when it has been about this CD. This must be one of the better ones again this year.

Z Records 2002
Review by 25 September 2002

Vocalist Danny Vaughn (Tyketto, Waysted, Flesh & Blood) actually writes in the booklet "I love playing live, I also hate live albums" and that he basicially recorded this CD for the fans. "They are usually fixed and repaired in a recording studio somewhere until they aren't really live anymore" Vaughn continues writing.

While I'm 100% behind him in these statements, I'll have to say that "Forever Live" doesn't sound too much of a fake album really. "Live moments are like snapshots, exciting at the moment but far from perfect - Vaughn". Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'd prefer a live DVD instead of a CD. At least you're able to watch the show then and it makes YOU a part of the whole performance somehow.

Word Records 2003
Review by 10 May 2003

I'll admit that I've never heard of Yaci Velasquez before this, although she apparently has sold a lot of albums, appeared in magazine covers and even had a part in the movie "Chasing Papi". This might be explained by the fact that here earlier albums have been more in the style of Latin Music and Contemporary Christian Pop. Now with Word Records (aka Warner Bros. Christian) behind her, she's hoping to make an even bigger impact.

"Unspoken" introduces us a fine young female artist with some excellent pop/rock songs. On the surface Jaci's music doesn't sound too different from the female artists on the charts right now (Christina Aquilera, Shakira, Celine Dion...you name 'em), but if you look a little closer, you'll find that these songs aren't quite as forgettable and "plastic" as most of the recent hits of those "Divas". The lyrics have more depth, and the music is a bit more serious and more appealing for a common rock fan, I guess. "Unspoken" could be described as "Christian version of Amanda Marshall with TOP 40 production"...

Save for a two or three mediocre tracks, the song material is above average. Definite highlights are "Lost Without You", "The Real Me" and "Unspoken", all blessed with great moody melodies. Just like most of the tracks on the album, they're produced and co-written by Matthew Gerrard (of Von Groove fame?? Is it the same Matthew Gerrard?). Other producers are Tommy Sims and Emilio Estevez Jr., and Yaci herself shares a co-producer credit with her live band on one track.

The only (small) problem on "Unspoken" is the relative facelessness. The production is maybe a bit too "mainstream pop", which might lead the listener to think that "hey, is this Britney/Christina/LeAnn/whoever?". Thankfully that sentence would most probably continue with "oh well, this is the best song I've ever heard from her!".

Vinny Records 2003
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallström,
3 January 2004

What if The Cult actually came from Spain, decided to hire an Italian vocalist with poor accent, and wrote laughable lyrics to go along with the matching music. High and low fives all around people as you're certainly in for a treat... if you happen to find the above statement interesting and/or irresistible.

Velvet Dreams was formed in Tenerife/Spain (a couple of years ago), by Italian singer Max Mucelli and half? Scotish guitarist Ricardo Walls. I guess Walls never bothered to pick up anything from his Scotish roots, huh? Mucelli on the other hand, was one of those DJ's/musicians, in any of those Spanish bars down the coast. The two of them met while touring the Canarian circuit and lovely music accrued.

Columbia 2002
Review by 29 December 2002

The Lennons are back with another package of pure Pop/Rock bliss. Indeed, the "Lennon's" with: Kipp, Mark, Michael & Pat are all cousins and brothers in some weird or twisted way. I never really bothered to figure out, how they are 'connected' to eachother. I only hope they are not all cousins/brothers at the same time :-)

I know for a fact, that the family comes from Venice in US and that's also their band name (duh!). I must admit that I've kind of lost track of this band over the years. I haven't actually heard their 2 or 3 latest albums!!! But man!! This CD hit me like a ton of bricks over the head.

Provogue Records 2003
Review by 5 Mars 2003

Supertramp guitarist Carl Verheyen's new album "Six" is a cocktail of Rock, Blues and Fusion. Not always easy listening music and it gets a bit boring from time to time. I really like the rock part of this CD, where you can find some similarities to his 'full-time' band.

The blues isn't all that bad either and if there's a red line in here somewhere, I'd say "Six" is blues more than anything else. However, when it gets too spacey and jazz-fusion like, I simply can't get into the mood at all I'm afriad. Let's face it... there's good fusion and then there's crappy fusion-like music.

Frontiers 2003
Review by 7 September 2003

Vertigo is a project based around vocalist Joseph Williams, best known from his work with Toto in mid-eighties. He recorded two albums with them; "Fahrenheit" and "The Seventh One", of which I rate the latter as the band's finest work. "Vertigo" bears some similarities to that album, but it does rock more than your typical Toto album.

Opener "Not Enough Hours In The Night" has been provided by ex-Survivor songsmith Jim Peterik (is he an in-house writer for Frontiers these days?), and while it's not bad, it's not one of the stronger tracks. The song builds nicely but the chorus is somewhat of a let-down. But fear not - the next few tracks offer more hooks than you could ask for: "Straight To Your Heart" is carved from the same wood as Toto's "Only The Children" and doesn't pale in comparison, "More Than Enough" is a classic AOR ballad and Stuart Smith-penned "Never Let You Go" is a fine example of modern day AOR with some hi-tech production things. "I Don't Want To Go" is another great ballad, followed by one of the hardest rocking tracks here, "I Want To Be Wanted". It's a cover of a Dan Lucas track co-written by another melodic rock hero, Kane Roberts. Now that that we got to the covers, there's a couple of those still in store: the midtempo AOR number "China Sky" is a track by cult US band Xenon and hard rocking "Love Is Blind" has previously been recorded by Uriah Heep.

The remaining three tracks are bit on the lighter side, somewhat reminding me of mid-eighties Starship mixed with Toto. "Sarah" is actually a bit too light, and ranks as the weakest track of the album. I'm not too fond of the title track either, although the powerful chorus does raise its rating a bit.

Mascot Records 2003
Review by 11 April 2003

I haven't been all that impressed by the previous solo-work of vocalist Michael Vescera. A bit sloppy and not always up to the standard we expect from him really. Especially since some of his work in the past (with bands such as Obsession, Loudness & Yngwie Malmsteen), has been of good quality indeed.

His latest effort is a step in the right direction though as "The Altar" is heavier than before. Is heavier the same as better??? Well... yeah! At least when it comes to Vescera and his voice ability. His singing style fits the 'Melodic Metal discription' better and this material goes hand in hand with the voice.

Frontiers 2002

Review by 11 May 2002

Eldritch members Terence Holler and Sean Henderson accompanied with Pete Daniels and BB Nick are Vicious Mary. Their self titled album brought some cheer to my life as I didn’t really know what to expect from this album and I was pleasantly surprised. Melodic rock with occasional rougher sounds in the lights of Whitesnake and Winger and not bad at all I might add.

Sean Henderson’s excellent keyboards complement most of the songs well, not dominating too much but kinda adding nice spice to the sounds. Vicious Mary rocks tighly through the whole album not forgetting the ballads and in the end it all adds up to a solid entity.

None of the songs really struck me as a masterpiece that just keeps coming to your mind over and over again. I did enjoy the album as a whole. “The Call”, again with strong keys, is a great song with a touch of Bon Jovi. Also the first song “Love or Hate” with a cool riff and a catching chorus, “Crying for You” which is one of the better ballads that I’ve heard in a while and the heavy guitars in “Outside” raised above the others. It will be interesting to see if Vicious Mary will come up with more material in the future because this seems just a break from the Eldritch “day job”. Still a good album and it would be nice to hear more from these guys.

Frontiers
Now & Then Productions

MTM Music 1999
Review by

Originally recorded in 1991, this is the solo album of Velocity leader David Victor. Musically this is more AOR-oriented than Velocity. The strongest influence seems to be Rick Springfield, especially the brilliant opener "Getaway Machine" sounds like it could have been taken from Rick's "Working Class Dog" or "Living In Oz". A great hard-edged pop rocker with killer hooks and cool backing vocals, easily my favourite track here.

The rest of the songs are rather likeable too, although some of them slightly pale in comparison to "Getaway Machine". Not all of them though, the power ballad "Look What You Did To My Heart" (reminds me of the obscure 80'ies band Jet Red) and the very catchy "Stand By You" are also pretty damn good! Actually, only the Van Halen-like party rocker "One Minute To Midnight" and the balladic title song I might skip, otherwise this is an ejoyable album!

SPV 2003
Review by 19 September 2003

Did you catch them live at Wacken Open Air earlier this year? Anyhow, Germany's Victory (over what?) is back with an old line-up and new CD. Hardly to no-one's suprise either as it seems like each and every day, you'll find news of yet another 80's comeback. The return of Victory is not that poorly executed at all really... honest!

They've managed to snatch away Charlie Huhn (also ex-Gary Moore, Ted Nugent, Humble Pie) from the states again. The US vocalist recorded what's considered to be the band's finest moment by most fans (Don't Get Mad - Get Even, Hungry Hearts, etc). Original members Tommy Newton (guitars) and bassist Peter Knorn (both ex-Fargo) are as always the main force behind everything such as production and songwriting. The line-up is completed with returning guitarist Hermann Frank (ex-Accept, Sinner, Hazzard) and drummer Fritz Randow (Saxon, Eloy).

Grand Recordings 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
22 April 2004

Viking Skull is the latest thing from UK, at least according to all the major rock magazines over there. Formed in a haze of booze during mid 2003 in order to bring back "real metal" back to the people or something. Roddy Stone (vocals), recruited Darren (guitar), Frank (guitar) and Gordan (drums) from Raging Speedhorn, and Roddy dragged his housemate Waldie in to play bass.They had their first rehersal within days and recorded this 6-track EP a couple of weeks later.

What we get on their "Fist Chapter" release is a rather polite mixture of old Black Sabbath riffs, a singer that sometimes sounds a lot like Ian Astbury (The Cult), thrown in some Monster Magnet of course, and end it all up with the aggressive side of The Almighty.

Lionmusic 2002
Review by 30 December 2002

Elias "E.Vil" Viljanen is a new guitar-shredder from Finland, with a remarkable debut album. In fact, "Taking The Lead" is such a stunning release (when it comes to instrumental rock). That you're almost preperd to compare him with heroes such as Vai or Satriani, and this with his very first CD.

Viljanen started out playing acoustic guitar at the age of nine. Heavily influenced by KISS at the time, he would later play both Thrash & Death Metal. His Death Metal band even got a recording deal from a French record label (at the age of 17). However, this is all in his past now. There's no need to worry about growls or other disturbing death metal roars here. Well duh! It's instrumental guitar rock for crying out loud.