AFM Records 2005
Review by Martien Koolen,
21 December 2004

Two years ago Masterplan released their fantastic debut album; a CD filled with heavy, melodic metal featuring amazing vocals, astonishing guitar riffs and solos and very, very catchy rock songs. That album made it to no.1 in Japan and the band was very successful in Europe as well. “ Aeronautics” is even better than the debut album; the guitar solos are more diverse, especially the twin guitar solos. The melodies are simply awesome and Jorn’s voice is really capable of doing almost anything.

But what makes this CD so wondeful is the fact that all the songs(10) are more varied and therefore the more you listen to this album the more yoy get hooked on Masterplan’s second effort. „Crimson Rider” is a super opener, with a catchy chorus and very fast headbanging guitar passages. The single „Back For My Life” could turn into a real hit for these guys; I cannot get this song out of my head anymore......

Escape 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
20 December 2004

L.A's one and only album release came out some twenty years ago and the band split up in 1986. Not a word or note about them ever since (at least not to my knowledge), and you can imagine my surprise when this brand new double-CD came to my attention. Well... it's nothing new about it really as disc #1 "Unfinished Business" contains a bunch of old demo songs. Originally recorded back in 1985 they have now finally been remastered and released in the year of 2004.

The songs were all intended for their sophomore relase back then and the legendery Tommy Hansen (Pretty Maids, Skagarack, Helloween, etc) is responsible for production and mixing. Although the cover of "Sweet Georgia Brown" seems rather too ambitious for a 80's metal outfit from Denmark, "Creditcard Love" and "High On You" are far more cohesive. There's bit and pieces here that can be traceable back to the US rock of Riot and the first two albums with Pretty Maids. Pretty primative yet still very enjoyable (melodic) metal in other words. There's unfortunately only six original songs included, plus two covers, and two live tracks, both taken off their debut album (Gates To The Sky & Haunted).

Armageddon Records 2004
Review by martien Koolen,
21 December 2004

Anger is a Portuguese nu-metal band which was founded in 1994. “The Bliss” is their third album and if you like nu-metal then you probably will like this CD. The 12 songs on the album can be best compared with bands like POD, One Minute Silence, Incubus and sometimes even Linkin Park.

This means that most of the tracks are rather heavy up tempo, with occasional screaming vocals. Take for instance the rather aggressive “Devil In My Mind” or “Nenemy”, which even reminds me of Sepultura now and then. These Portuguese chaps also use cross over elements, which turns a song like “Gonna Thrown” into a Deftones-like track.

LionMusic 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
19 December 2004

I have no real explanation to why I never got into the bluesier side of Gary Moore (and yes, I know that he's a blues guitarist at heart). It could simply be that I find his hardrock albums to be way superior to all those (lame) blues records. I'm not saying I don't enjoy blues, I'm simply saying that I can't stand Gary Moore's version of it (I'm into the real US roadhouse deal). My hat off to Lion Music and the musicians on this CD as they've only decided to pay a tribute to Moore's hardrocking days. Good on ya' as these cover versions are all pretty decent, except for a couple of tracks or three. The incredibly lame version of "Empty Rooms" comes especially to mind. There's nothing remotely wrong with the musicians or that tasty guitar work... but those vocals... my oh my.

RR 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
18 December 2004

I really don't have that much info about this/these bands. Quite obscure metal musicians who obviously were merely local heroes and an inspiration in the christian scene. They started however out as "Golgatha" on the American west coast in 1983 and you get the entire "Prisoner" 1985 demo and selected live cuts as bonus tracks on this CD (a total of 9 tracks). The demo sound is typical for it's era and don't expect to get the sound quality of 2004 here. The songs aren't all bad really and especially "Follow Me" is a real winner with the melodic but aggressive vocals of Tony Crider (Crossforce). It's twin guitar metal in the style of Metal Church with a touch of early Armoured Saint perhaps. Golgatha split up in 1986 and then came...

Escape 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
13 December 2004

The Ladder CD is in reality the much talked about FM reunion in disquise... And even though it's kind of sad to see that it never really took place, this project sure comes as a fine substitute instead of the real deal. The ex-FM members Steve Overland (vocals) and Pete Jupp (drums), has joined forces with guitarist Vinny Burns (Dare, Asia, Ten, Blue/Burns), and bassist Bob Skeat, to re-record some previously unreleased FM material as well as newer stuff.

To be honest, "Future Miracles" (FM?) may not be the most original sounding CD of the year. However, the songs are all w-a-y above average and a darn fine production by Steve Morris (Heartland), makes it all very enjoyable. Not to mention that Overland's voice bares the expression of soul, more than James 'Friggin' Brown ever could (blasphemy?).

AFM Records 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
16 december 2004

Before the release of the full new Masterplan album you can now buy an EP-CD of this power heavy metal band, which amazed the entire rock scene with their thrilling debut in 2003. On this EP you can listen to 5 songs of which only two will be on the new forthcoming album.

The title track of this mini album is a real hammer song with a superb killer chorus and the second track “Crimson Rider” will also stick into your memory for a very long time. These are the two songs that will also be featured on the new album “Aeronautics”, and if the rest of the album is as good as those two songs, then I can hardly wait to get my ears on that one!

RR 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
10 December 2004

What else to expect from a title like "Love Buzz Harmony" than glammy power-pop? Indeed, the 80's Glam scene strikes back with yet another band from the past. Electrik is like a christian version of Big Bang Babies, Poison, and Tuff, since their music comes out like a mixture of the three. The CD features the original 7 songs found on their limited edition 1993 EP, "Love Buzz Harmony" plus the near-impossible to find 1989 3-song cassette EP "Shine Candy Shine", and 2 newly recorded songs "Count It Joy" and "Daisy".

"Love Buzz Harmony" is therefore mostly a retroactive look at their bubble gum glam. However, Electrik are still together with many new tricks up their sleeves I'd expect (check out their homesite for more info and soundclips). Some of these tracks are sadly lacking both in originality and hooks department though. It definiteley gets a bit too rehearshed at times with all those reused melodies and riffs.

Perris 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
13 December 2004

"The Glam That Stole Christmas" is a rather "decent" CD actually and not at all as dodgey as I expected it to be at first. Well... as long as you're still in touch with your child within and don't take it all too seriously. 80's Glam Rock is the perfect holiday attribute somehow as the image made them all look like friggin x-mas three's anyhow. The best songs featured here are "The Greatest Christmas Song Ever" by American Heartbreak (this is fun nu-breed rock), "Here Is Christmas" by Lillian Axe, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" with ex-Pretty Boy Floyd guitarist Kristy Majors, "Rock'N'Roll Sleigh Ride" with Rockin' Scroundlers (fun KISS rock), and the rather morbid "Dead By X-mas" by the Decadenza.

Reprise 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
12 December 2004

Ho, Ho, Ho! Seriously... where's all the... ehem... nevermind. What a wicked thing to do as Chris Isaak takes a closer look at this jolly-old-thing called Christmas. The birth of Christ? Huh? In reality it's all about how much turkey (or ham) you can eat... until you'll have to barf. Or how much of this kind of music you can stand... (until you'll have to barf?) before you'll have to run bezerk with the chainsaw in your merry little neighborhood (they're playing the music for months at the local mall).

Not since the days of Elvis & Roy Orbison have I heard such a vocal performance. It's all done in the tradition of his obvious heroes and you can find a lot of traditional numbers here. How about "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", for starters? The latter is a duet with Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac fame and they're singing that this "big, fat man is coming to town". I guess they've also heard about the Mötley Crue reunion, huh? (ouch!).

Sony 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
13 December 2004

Let's really step back in time for a while and let's have a party while we're at it. If you can't relate to the past then how the heck are you supposed to embrace the future? I can't say that I was around back then (I'm brought up with that "horrible" 80's music), and I can't say that I have *that* much in relation to any of the artists on this 2-CD compilation. Yet I could sing the words to almost each and every track and yet I knew all the artists by name and rep (except 2-3 of them). Why's that you say? Because it's all classics and it's all good music in the end.

It's been 50 years since this thing called Rock'N'Roll took and shook the world by storm. What you have on this double-disc are 48 tracks that all left their trademark in the history of rock. And it doesn't get any bigger than opening track "Jailhouse Rock" with Elvis The Pelvis. You have other rockers like "Great Balls Of Fire" by the wild-man, Jerry Lee Lewis, "See You Later, Alligator" with Bill Haley, "C'Mon Everybody" with Eddie Cochran (great stuff), "Good Golly Miss Molly" by crazy-man Little Richard, and "Johnny B Goode" with Chuck "do-the-duck-walk" Berry.

Frontiers Records 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
9 december 2004

I really love all the Brazen Abbot albums, they have released so far, especially the last one "Guilty As Sin"(2003). Brazen Abbots trademarks - melodic hard rock with magical vocals and superb guitar playing by Nikolo Kotzev - make this band able to "compete" with classic rock bands like for example Deep Purple and Rainbow.

This new live album, recorded in Bulgaria, features a fantastic line-up, namely: Nikolo Kotzev (guitars), Joe Lynn Turner (vocals), Lars Pollack (keyboards), Wayne Banks (bass guitar) and Thomas Broman (drums). On this album you can listen to songs from the first ten years of Brazen Abbot. The highlights of this excellent live album are: "Mr.Earthman" (which sounds like a well-known Deep Purple song), "One Life To Live", "Guilty As Sin"(which sounds like the Rainbow song "Mistreated") and "I'll Be Free". Great hard rock songs with Kotzev's guitar solos in the spotlight and of course the remarkable singing of Joe Lynn Turner.

Lion Music 2004
Review by Endre 'Bandi' Hübner
3 December 2004

With a title like that you can only release a progressive instrumental album, right? Well, that's what we got from Faraz Anwar and a very good one at that! Six tracks in a full-length album with no downsides and even the 10+ minute-long tracks are entertaining and digestible. The main reason of the entertaining factor of this album is that it's not only about flashy solos and complex musical patterns but about mature songwriting and compositions where all instruments play an equally important role to transfer the message of the songs.

Neither Dream Theater nor Satch-Vai fans will be disappointed with the album as you get the best of both worlds here. Long and complex tracks like the opening "Through the Passage of Time" or the closing "Why?" would please the "thinker" listeners while the straightforward "Don't Ever Let Your Spirit Die" or "Last Summer" are more orientated at those who prefer the "entertainer" type of guitarists like the above mentioned duo. My personal favorite was "Last Summer", reminding me of Vai's "I Would Love To" with its happy, uptempo groove and catchy melodies. But we all know I ain't no thinker after all. :) Those who prefer to spot different influences in music will be pleased with the ethnic touches of "Why?" or with the jazzy parts of "Maze".

Frontiers 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
6 December 2004

This oddly named project is centered around Dario Grillo, an Italian vocalist best known for his work with the netal group Thy Majestie. This album isn't metal though, instead it's a collection of melodic rock tracks ranging from AOR to somewhat more progressive songs.

Grillo's attempt at melodic rock has to be applauded. His songs are quite orginal sounding, yet there are enough familiar elements to make them easily approachable. Not every song is a hit, there are a few less interesting and long-winding moments here, but stuff like "Here I Am", "Can Feel It", "Into The Fire" and "Chasm Of Madness" is really excellent.

The AOR-meets-Progressive sound of Platens isn't something that one comes across too often these days, and one has to go a few years back to find comparisons. The fact that Grillo's vocals remind me a lot of Tracy White draws inevitable comparisons to his band Shotgun Symphony. Other names that came up when listening to this were Prophet, CITA and even Bon Jovi...the latter was probably caused by the "Runaway'ish" keys of "Into The Fire".

DVS Records 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
9 december 2004

Voyager is a new metal band from down under, which was founded in 1999 by Adam Lovkis (drums), Mark Baker (keyboards) and Danny Estrin (vocals, guitar). Guitar wizard Mark De Vattimo, well known from the successful Kiss tribute band KariSSma joined the band and later on Geoff Callaghan(drums), Daniel Estrin (keyboards) and Melissa Fiocco (bass guitar) replaced the other guys, making the perfect line-up for this promising new band.

The music that you hear on this album can best be described as a mix of power metal, progressive music, melodic rock and groovy twin guitar sounds. This blend of different music styles makes the sound of Voyager rather unique, although I hear certain influences of Italian power metal bands like for instance Labyrinth or the German rock band Dreamscape. The album opens with a classical intro, followed by guitar riffs and solos, a perfect opener. "To The Morning Light" is a diverse metal track with rather weird vocals, followed by "Cosmic Armageddon Part 1", which starts with beautiful keyboards and guitar melodies and in the middle Mark De Vattimo plays a ferocious guitar solo.

SPV 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
7 December 2004

Let's be frank... Marino is a product of the hippie generation and spent most of his youth getting as stoned as possible (while listening to The Doors & Hendrix). I'm sure you've all heard the urban legend about how Marino took this overdose and woke up from a coma in the hospital and somehow became the spirit of Jimi 'Friggin' Hendrix. The truth about it is that Marino actually learned how to play guitar while recuperating from a bad acid trip. However, Hendrix was still alive when this happened... far out dude!!!

"Real Live" was recorded at Club Soda concert hall September 8th 2001. It's a real restrospective look at Mahogany Rush and Frank Marino's career over the past 33 years. 2-CD's and a total of 32 tracks should be enough to please any fan of the hippie man. The early Mahogany Rush stuff is really out there with psychedelic overtures and flower-power music. He really was/is the one to pick up the torch as every Hendrix move, riff, melody, and singing style, has been copied down to the bone. You only have to listen to a couple of seconds of opener "Voodoo Child" (Hendrix), to realize that he's paying the man a grande tribute.

Frontiers 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
4 December 2004

Oh the irony... to have the main character of this concept story (Aryon) living in a coma for years. "The Second Coming" of The Sign is the sound of the 70's pomp rock all over again. There's simply not a note of music from the past 25-30 years to be found on this record. Then you'll have to decide among yourselves if that's a good sign (no pun intended) or not. It definiteley helps if you were there in the first place I guess. I'm a child of the 80's music and can't help to think that some of these tracks are simply too pompious in all its modesty.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my pomp/fantasy/art rock as the average 70's fan of the genre. However, it certainly helps to have some kind of structure and meaning with your music. A refrain to sing-a-long to, a killer guitar riff, or that magical keyboard fanfare, which instantly hits you like a sledgehammer. Something which I sadly must say that The Sign has failed miserably with this time.

RR 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
4 December 2004

Is it X-Sinner or is it The Angry Einsteins??? Well, I guess you can say that Angry Einsteins was the musical alter ego of X-Sinner. Therefore you can't really expect to find *that* much music in the old tradition of the Christian band (mostly AC/DC, Def Leppard, inspired stuff).

Greg Bishop (vocals, guitars), Rob Kniep (bass) and Rex Scott (drums), decided to do a more mainstream project, which they obviously called the "Angry Einsteins". They named the project as such because they saw themselves as these mad scientists in the studio, creating and writing the music as they went along. However, you can still find some pure X-Sinner tracks as both "Down For You", "In Your Eyes", and "Hearts That Never Beat", could as easily have been included on "Get It" or perhaps even more on "Peer Presure". It's back to basic rock as always with that Angus Young alike riff and the husky vocals of Bishop upfront.

Sound Riot Records 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
9 december 2004

Ghost Machinery is a new powermetal band, which consists of: Pete Ahonen (vocals, guitar, Burning Point), Tapsa Pelkonen (bass guitar, Wildcard) and Jussi Ontero (drums, and also Wildcard). This Scandinavian trio signed a two record deal with Sound Riot Records and "Haunting Remains" is their first album.

Ghost Machinery's debut is a complete mix of metal and hard rock cliches you can think of… As there are: double bass drums rhythms throughout the complete album, fast Helloween-like guitar riffs, high-pitched vocals, rather simplistic lyrics and of course the obligatory power ballad. So, songs like "World Of Unbelievers", "Blinded Eyes", "From The Edge Of The World" or "Heaven Or Hell", sound very familiar and have no surprise in store on any level.

Frontiers 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
3 December 2004

It's no secret that I'm a big White Lion/Mike Tramp fan, and unlike some other members of our RockuUnited team, I do like Mike Tramp's vocals...but this album is a bit of a disappointment. These 16 tracks are unused recordings from Mike's vault, and even though he says that they "aren't any worse or better than the material that ended up on albums" in the press release, I think I can see why they didn't make it to the "real" albums...

I'm not saying that "the songs left behind" are really bad since they're not, they are just very average and unmemorable. You won't find yourself climbing the walls or get an urge to change the CD in your player when you're playing this, but chances are that you won't remember much about it either. The overall feel is somehow very polite and nice although there are a couple of more edgy rockers included. The melodies are kind of harmless and repetitive, sometimes even country'ish.

The highlights would have to be the opener "Sometimes" which has a good hook, reminding me of the material on White Lion's "Big Game" and the two versions of songs that did make it to Tramps' other albums, "Falling Down" and the nice ballad "Darkness".

RR 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
5 December 2004

I haven't been listening to Bride since their disappointing "Drop" album back in 1995. "This Is It" was released independently by the band last year and has now been picked up for distribution through Retroactive Records. The band has taken a small step back to the groovy rock of "Kinetic Faith", rather than trying to keep up with each new trend. Bride always sounded like a grungy, sleazier, version of Led Zeppelin anyhow, and they've simply continued to release their music ever since the late 80's.

The lyrics of "Head Lookin' For A Bullet" really makes you stop and think for a while. The guitarwork by Troy Thompson is way out there and brother Dale sings with a passion as always. "Evil Geniuses" simply oozes of Guns'N'Roses & Pearl Jam rock, while "Revolution" is more aggressive and straight forward than any old Rage Against The Machine tune.

Threeman 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
6 December 2004

No, No, No! The music of Vicious Art is like a badly painted landscape with badly painted waterfalls and dark clouded skies. Not a sight for sore eyes and your ears will be begging for mercy by the end of track nine. I think you get the picture by now, it's all very metal, very predictable, very scary, very crap.

Not the type of music you'd expect from such experienced musicians as Jörgen Sandström (Grave, Entombed, Krux), Matti Mäkelä (guitar) & Robert Lundin (drums) of Dark Funeral. It's the same old Death Metal stuff which has been coming out of Sweden for the +10 years by now. Blastbeat riffing guitars with a aggressive over-the-top vocalist and some truly scary lyrics to go along with the image. The info sheet tells us, "the lyrics are very diverse and deals with topics such as the darker sides of relationships, suicide, the undead ones, the death of family members, twisted poets, and Killer Bob's wicked love to Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks. There is depth and power behind it". Ehem... yeah, original and groundbreaking stuff to be found here.

GEP 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
29 November 2004

Hmmm... yet another twentieth anniversary with a touch of madness and hickups (there seem to be a problem with getting these right somehow? see RAGE review). Only this time they are three years too late as IQ's annivarsary party took place at the Mean Fiddler in London on December 15, 2001. No songs included from this years "Dark Matter" album in other words and that's a shame really. I thought the "Subterranea" DVD was a nice display of the band in action back in 2002. However, in retrospective you surely could have wished for more and especially more special features. "The Twentieth Anniversary Show" will supply you with everything of that and then some as you'll get a double DVD with a running time of approx 230 mins. The best part? Not many songs of the Sub DVD are on this one. Which basically means they are a great compliment to each other.

Disc #1: The Show - The band enter the stage to the music of Harry Potter!!!??? before they take off into this fantastic adventure of prog music. I could have wished for a couple of more tracks from "The Seventh House" though. This was filmed during that very tour after all and three of them are simply not enough in my books. Ehem... then again... there's only six tracks to be found on that CD in the first place. I truly enjoy the camera movement as they're using this "split-screen" segment at times. It's actually great fun to witness up to four musicians at the same time. The entire band is in great form and "The Last Human Gateway", ticks in at way over 20 minutes here. With the usual Dolby Surround sound of today, you get a marvelous eye and ear experience at a not-too expensive price.

SPV 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
21 November 2004

Angra's fifth studio effort "Temple Of Shadows" is a daring concept album. Its story was created by guitarist Rafael Bittencourt and tells the saga of The Shadow Hunter, an 11th century crusader soldier who questions the catholic church ideals. I haven't been paying much attention to the Brazilian band of lately, however, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the CD.

Sure enough, it's still pretty "typical" Euro/German Power Metal with everything that goes along with that. Guest musicians such as Kai Hansen (Helloween, Gamma Ray), Hansi Kursch (Blind Guardian), and Sabine Edelsbacher (Edenbridge), will only add rather than subtract communion to the genre. The song material is solid stuff though and it's definitely the band's most mature and creative album up to date.

SPV 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
21 November 2004

Bottoms up? Pop the champagne corks, it's party time? Well, excuse me for being such a party-pooper... but it's merely been 18 years since RAGE first came up on the German metal scene. Indeed, it's been 20 years since bassist/vocalist Peavy Wagner recorded his first album under the AVENGER monicker... but that's not the exact same thing as Rage... or is it??? There's a first time for everything I guess, but I've never heard of a band that included their previous acts background into their anniversary celebration??? I told you I was a party-pooper...

"From The Cradle To The Stage" is on the other hand a quite remarkable live album. 2-CD's filled with German Metal and screamin' chicks (or girly-men? you'll have to say it with a heavy German accent 'ala Arnold The Terminator) at front row seating. Recorded at the Zeche in Bochum (Germany) on January 25, 2004, Rage performed an three-hour show, playing the most important tracks from every phase of the band's career.

Intact 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
24 November 2004

Playing marbles on the road? Why not? Marillion latest album is their best release since the golden Fish years in my opinion. Indeed, I'am one of those who prefer the first four albums to the later days material with Hogarth (even though I didn't discover Marillion until after Fish had already left the band). The rest of the band has continued however and never really looked back as you won't find a single track from those days on this new DVD.

Filmed over a sell-out weekend at London's Astoria (10-11th of July 2004), this concert documents the entire "Marbles" album live as the band goes through all of the songs here. Using 15 different cameras and Dolby's surround sound, you surely get the full, big, picture and then some. The singles "You're Gone" and "Don't Hurt Yourself" has been very successful all over Europe and especially the latter is a personal favorite. It's the most "commercial" song by the lads in a long time and the chorus is really irresistible and catchy. Encores include "The Uninvitied Guest" and the brilliant "Cover My Eyes".

MTM 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
23 November 2004

The pompous attitude and fluffy keyboards of RPM were definiteley state of the art material back in 1982. I'm trying to figure out somehow why this album didn't attack the American Billboard charts back then??? It's all a big mystery as it's absolutely filled with radio friendly rock of highest quality. Pretty much a must have if you're into the whole AOR she-bang with Foreigner, Spys, I-TEN, and Franke And The Knockouts, upfront.

22 years down the road and RPM has now finally been re-issued through MTM Classix with 5 bonus tracks (all previously unreleased). Add that you can hear yet another previously unreleased song on the latest MTM sampler (10th), and Christmas certainly came early for the long time fan. The ballad "I Don't Feel The Same" bare obvious similarities to Foreigner's "Waiting For A Girl Like You", while "Envy" simply continues on the same path of rock. "You" is a marvelous uptempo rocker and "I'm A Wreck" is yet another "Foreigner" ballad. The bonus tracks are all nice actually and especially "On Again, Off Again", while have any AOR fan jumping up and down to the rhythm of dut-dut keyboards and a catchy refrain.

Mascot 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
23 November 2004

The rasping vocals of Joe Leste has always been the trademark of Bang Tango's music. Just as well as Leste is the only remaining member since the heydays. Gone are all K's with Kyle's and Knight's upfront and instead you get to experience the crunchy guitars of Alex Grossi (Beautiful Creatures) and Anthony Focx.

"Ready To Go" is more or less the new Beautiful Creatures CD (the act Leste has been fronting for the last couple of years). Don't expect to find any Goth-rock 'ala Dancing On Coals or the early sleeze of their debut album. It's more like a hybrid of some vintage Bang Tango, Beautiful Creatures, and the sleeze rock of Pretty Boy Floyd and Faster Pussycat.

Threeman 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
26 November 2004

Get into the stoner groove with The Mighty Nimbus!!! This CD is simply oozing of sludgey undertones and venomous doom metal. It's a mayhem of pyschedelic tunes, down-tuned, crunchy guitars, chuncky drums, and powerful songs, that will have any old St Vitus or Black Sabbath fan in ecstasy.

The Mighty Nimbus is the new project of ex-Alabama Thunder Pussy guitarist Erik Larson, and the two Sixty Watt Shaman members, Minnesota Pete Campbell (guitars), and Dan Soren (vocals). They were cleaved into existence in the summer of 2002 and have toured together in North America ever since. The debut album is darn impressive and way better than what the tacky frontcover (see above pic) may suggest.

Universal 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
22 November 2004

The Hellacopters has been with us for a staggering 10 years by now and here's the anniversary walz. The brand new 6-track CD "Strikes With Lightning" is at closer look rather dated actually. The songs are all leftover from previous attempts and dates all the way back to 2002. It kind of gives a poor impression to the people as you wouldn't bring smelly old cheese to your party? Or perhaps you would??? Nevermind, it's 3-4 chords as usual and one helluva attitude that will most certainly attract the oldies and some new fans.

Mascot 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
25 November 2004

Kelly Keeling (Baton Rouge, Heaven & Earth, Blue Murder, John Norum, etc) will release his first real solo album "Giving Sight To The Eye" in 2005. This is a two track single taken from the forthcoming album and according to these tracks, we may be in for a major and very positive surprise next year. "Rising Of The Snake" flirts with both Deep Purple (Glenn Hughes material) and Whitesnake.

BMG 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
24 November 2004

2003 was The year so far for Dutch gothic sensation Within Temptation. Their CD “Mother Earth” conquered and captured the hearts of the European rock community. The singles “Ice Queen” and “Mother Earth” climbed into the top 20 in Germany and the video clips were shown almost every day on the Box. So, everyone wondered if they could top this massive success and maybe that is why it took Within Temptation so long to come up with “The Silent Force”. After listening to their newest opus several times I can only conclude that WT did it again. “The Silent Force” sounds even more powerful, more modern and more sensual than “Mother Earth”.

Sharon’s voice seems to have grown even more passionate and pure, and the music on TSF is more bombastic then ever before. This is due to the fact that WT called in the help of an 80-piece orchestra and a choir (recorded in Moscow), giving this CD an almost complete new musical dimension. Just listen to the almost classical intro, where the orchestra and the choir mix brilliantly with the superb voice of Sharon. Follow up “See Who I Am” really represents the pure dynamics of an orchestra and a rock band; heavy guitar riffs, bombastic violins and intense singing are the keywords of this song.

AOR Heaven 2004
Review by Petri Kautto 15 November 2004

Melodic rock/AOR is the case here and the Swedes are at it. Peter Lindberg, Niklas Hammarberg, Ulf Merkell, Petter Eriksson and Erik Pettersson are Higher Ground and this is their second full length album. “A Thousand Pieces” will please melodic rock enthusiasts and AOR’sters will not be disappointed either.

This album is steady in a sense that there are no weak efforts. Higher Ground is obviously a bunch of talented rockers and you can spin this in your CD a few times without wearing it out. On the other hand you don’t feel compelled to listen to it at all times. Thus in steadiness lies the strength but also the weakness of this album.

2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
25 November 2004

The Dutch progressive rock band Ricocher was founded in 1993(first they were called Truss by the way) and in 1994 they released a demo tape called “A Scream For Help”. Six years later the band came up with their first record entitled “Quest For The Heartland”, and the reactions and reviews were all very positive. After that release the band started to tour and Ricocher played some great gigs together with bands like Saga, Arena, Pallas and Threshold.

In 2001 Ricocher was awarded best new band in the English magazine “Wondrous Stories”. The first “real” album “Cathedral Of Emotions” was released in 2002 and later on Ricocher played at the famous Baja Prog Festival in Mexico. Their latest album “Chains” was recorded in August of this year and the CD presentation will take place in Weert on 26 November.

Rock Inc. 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
25 november 2004

Sustain is a new Dutch melodic rock band, that was actually founded by guitar player Raymond "Hille" Helebrand and Rick Olmeyer(vocals). These two guys had written a couple of songs, which they were very eager to record. So, together with bas player Ron Bormans, they recorded their debut album in the Marlstone Studio in The Netherlands and the recording and mixing was finished in July of this year. To get this show on the road, they also needed to establish a complete band. And in Aram Rogalski (bass guitar), Ralf Haan (drums) and Guido van den Brink (guitar) they found the right persons for the job.

"This Is Now" contains 11 melodic rock tracks, which could be best described as a mix between Bodine, Vengeance, Picture, Mennen and Gotthard. So, in other words, good old classic melodic hard rock with lots of vocals, catchy choruses, melodic guitar solos and also some rock and roll cliches. The album opens with one of the best songs,"Dancing". A typical hard rock track with lots of melody and a beautiful guitar solo. "Doomsday Theory" is a groovy track, while "Don't Give Him An Alibi" is a rather nice ballad. "Hold On Tight", a rather "heavy" track will probably turn into a live killer song. So far, so good, the only real weak song on this CD is the rather boring acoustic ballad "Now Until Forever".

Majestic Rock 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
12 November 2004

This is *the* album that Million (of) fans have mulled over for years and the band have long promised. Now we can finally hear what these Swedes are really made of as they've gone for the "Kingsize" formula of rock'n'roll. This is what they always wanted, but never really managed to deliver in the past? at least not since that cracking debut album in the early 90's. The boys have always known how to construct gonad-endangering riffs, only this time they've also included a bunch of killer hooks and big choruses into their music.

This is what it's all about it. Everything between opener "Eyes Of A King" to closing track "Those Eyes", will grab you by the throat and never let go. It's old school Swedish hardrock with its roots deeply into the 80ies stuff. A lovely mixture of everything that *used* to be considered as fun back then. "Rock'N'Roll Nation" with its "Raise Your Hands In The Air" and "We Are One - We Are Strong attitude, will have you up and dancing on the tables. "On And On" opens up with a riff 'ala KISS, during their "Lick It Up" days (Vinnie Vincent), before it simply explodes into this Swedish Power Meatball of Rock'N'Roll. "Forbidden Fruit" is a very emotional piano ballad with Ulrich's vocals upfront and a lonely violin in the background. Check out the guitar solo too as it's kind of "simple" yet very effective and suitable to the music. "Zombies" is what you'll get after playing 'Resident Evil', and it's big, loud, rock, with a massive riff and catchy refrain.

Lion Music 2004
Review by Endre 'Bandi' Hübner
11 November 2004

Don't throw this one away when taking a look at its cover!! The inside is worth every instrumental guitar lover's attention. Out of the blue comes Patrik Carlsson and impresses with his Phraseology, an album of vivid songwriting, technical diversity and brilliance, 15 tracks of great guitar and production work.

The album starts out with "Jimi's Tribute" which is not as Hendrix favored as its title suggest, rather a modern groovy-funky rocker with a ripping lead while the following "The Survivor" could easily be titled "Yngwie's Tribute" and evokes the early MacAlpine albums. The moody "Still Believe" is as catchy and melodic as it can only get with a little Satriani feel but with a soloing approach that is not as smooth and polished as Satch's giving the song a special feel. At first I thought here "This must be the very-own Carlsson-approach" but then he showcased some happy-go country stuff (God only knows why he titled the song "Twighlight Zone"), some smooth atmospheric relaxation music with "Aeryn Sum", some Vai-like ripping in "Epsilon Indi" and a brutal tongue-in-cheek "look how fast I can be" intro [Paul Gilbert comes to mind] that turns into a groovy rock number in "High Pitch". So I have to admit that getting to the half of the album I had absolutely no idea what the "real" Patrik Carlsson is like.

MTM Classix 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
12 November 2004

Here's a blast from the past! Originally released in 1986, the first Zeno album has now finally been re-released through MTM Music with 5 bonus tracks. Zeno Roth, the younger guitar playing brother of one-time Scorpions man Uli Jon, was born in Germany 1956. He started to play guitar on self-taught basis and formed his first real band (Black Angel) in 1974. After spending most of the 70ies in Hanover's local rock scene, he formed ZENO in 1983 with bassist Ule Ritgen (Fair Warning, Dreamtide) and vocalist Michael Flexig (ex-Uli Jon Roth).

Zeno's brother (Uli Jon) appearentely helped him receive a contract with EMI, who put a awful lot of money into the band. They spent almost two years of recording and perfecting this album and the result turn out to be a real disaster (at least for the record label, when it comes to sale figures, etc). It's actually known as one of the most expensive debut albums in the history of hardrock. Zeno was able to choose from a wide range of session musicians, Don Airey (Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Deep Purple), Chuck Burgi (Rainbow, Balance, Meatloaf), Stuart Elliot (Russ Ballard, Kate Bush), Chris Thompson, two producers were hired (Terry Manning - ZZ Top, Fastway & Jon Mathias - J.Geils Band), and engineer Ian Taylor (The Cars), all took care of the massive wall of sound effects. It was actually recorded in Denmark of all places??? and mixed in both England and USA.

Frontiers 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
19 November 2004

Last year's first Pride Of Lions CD was a big hit among the AOR fans, and this one is very likely to repeat the band's success. The formula is pretty much the same, ex-Survivor songwriter/keyboardist Jim Peterik has written a dozen of melodic rock songs for himself and young vocalist Toby Hitchcock to sing, staying true to his trademark AOR style of writing. This time the songs are occassionally a bit more heavier, with more emphasis on guitars, but then again, there are a couple of ballads which are really polished, almost sugary.

The album gets a fine start with two excellent uptempo rockers, "The Courage To Love Somebody" and "Parallel Lines". The first reminds me a lot of Signal's "Arms Of A Stranger", not the actual melody but the vibe and Toby's very Mark Free-like vocals. "Parallel Lines" is a fantastic, agressive (in an AOR sort of way!) track with a great, if unashamedly 80'ies like keyboard-driven chorus. "Back To Camelot" is a great power ballad, and has just the correct amount of sugar...

"Born To Believe In You" is as heavy as this band gets, a fast rocker but still very melodic, while "What Kind Of Fool" is a good mid-tempo track with a strong chorus. "Man Behind The Mask" sees Peterik going for a Styx-like Pomp rock sound - not my favourites but quite ok. Actually, that could be said of the next three songs as well: "Light From A Distant Shore" is a ballad that doesn't really do it for me, "Letter To The Future" a very Survivor-like track but somehow a little predictable and finally there's the title song, nice enough but not one of the most memorable ones here.

The next couple of songs will surely wake you up again: "Second Hand Life" is another excellent uptempo track and "Falling Back To Then" a very cool rocker with a strong chorus. I'm not so sure about "The Gift Of Song", which is a bit too sentimental and sweet for me, I could imagine Barbra Streisand or Celine Dion singing it! Well, they'd probably have trouble with the uptempo part towards the end of the song...

Nuclear Blast 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
7 november 2004

One of the best trash metal bands ever now release their first compilation album. And what an album it is!! Only “old” stuff can be found on this CD that will guide you through the beginning years of this New York trash metal band.

Founded in 1981 by Scott Ian Anthrax became ome of the major trash bands in the last twenty years and just as it seemed that their musical career was over, they came back with a blast. Their latest album “We’ve come for you all” is again a masterpiece in their long lasting career and their last tour was a complete success. I can still remember their fantastic performance on Bospop in July of this year.

Sony Music Entertainment Inc 2004
Review by Satu Reunanen
16 November 2004

The US-band Lamb Of God aren’t no newbies in music business. They’ve been around since early 90s, released three independent albums before this one and their newest conquests were co-headlining the first ever MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball Tour 2003 and headlining the Ozzfest 2004. Their ”Ashes Of The Wake” continues where they left with ”As The Palaces Burn”, yet again offering a powerfully produced album with material that doesn’t really offer anything new but hasn’t lost anything either along the way. This kind of music works better live though than from a cd, it’s striking and straightforward without too much trickery going on but aggressiveness, you can’t really go bonkers at home with such energetic music. There are interesting guests on the album, Alex Skolnick (Testament) and Chris Poland (Megadeth) both play solos on the instrumental title track ”Ashes Of The Wake”.

Lamb Of God is as intense as Machine Head and their music is a cross between MH, Pantera, Fear Factory, In Flames and the likes. There’s no actual breather on the album, though the title track is a bit slower paced, but it’s nice to notice the diversity in the songs. The band would probably work fine with just aggression, but the small progressive parts give the music more spark and make it more tangible. If they had more of that they wouldn’t be just repeating themselves and the songs would have more personality to them. Their vocalist Randy Blythe soars through the whole cd with anger, so you can’t really label the band progressive just because they’ve got some influences. Swallow this as you would swallow Pantera, maybe not as good with some choke effects, but still going down nicely with the neck headbanging to some extent. A lamb has never growled this deep and terrified.

Escape 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
10 November 2004

The first couple of tracks had me seriously worried about the quality of this CD. Yet another hardrock re-union straight down the drain? Well... almost anyhow, "All Beauty Must Die" clearly isn't Casanova's best work and it's actually quite mediocre at times. Sure enough, as soon as you'll get past the first 4-5 tracks, the songs do stomp along with the same overblown sense of self importance with hearts held high and razor sharp hooks as always.

They've certainly embraced the modern melodic rock influences and perhaps a bit too much in my opinion. At least opening tracks like "Happy" and "Would I", reminded me of a softer and weaker version of the Swedes, Anders Johansson and Martin Stenmarck (Sha-Boom). It's even more shocking to find out that Russ Ballard co-wrote the latter song. The verse and pre-chorus are great, but there's something truly annoying about the refrain, even if I can't put my finger on it. Don't get me wrong though, there's absolutely nothing wrong with 'modern rock', however, these tracks are simply not catchy enough.

Nuclear Blast 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
7 november 2004

Just two years ago I reviewed the debut album of Evidence One (see archives), an album that was actually written for fun. But it turned out that they were asked to do a lot of live gigs and during that time the band started to write material for a new album. Early this year the band signed a contract with Nuclear Blast Records and their first official release with NB is now final.

The rather short (only 43 minutes) album is a true classic rock/metal album that shows those typical German metal/rock melodies and riffs, like you have heard a thousand times before already. Just after listening to “Moonsigh” and “Virus In My Veins”, you know what to expect from the rest of the album. Variety and originality are not the key words on this CD, but I must say that the guitar work and the melody parts are sometimes rather worthwhile to listen to. Of course there are also the typical hard rock/metal cliches, like in a song called “When Thunder Hits The Ground”, which are: rather simplistic lyrics, fast familiar guitar riffs, the sing along chorus and the sometimes high-pitched vocals.

Threeman/Playground 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
4 November 2004

Two simple questions: #1 - Where's the DVD and #2 - why did we have to wait two freakin' years for the CD release? The Swedish metal kings of Entombed recorded "Unreal Estate" already back in Mars 2002 and it's been a loooong wait ever since. Imagine the hardcore fans disappointent when they finally realize... there's not going to be any DVD documentary of this very unique metal happening.

Indeed, this was something out of the ordinary and as "corny" as a ballet, performed together with the Swedish Royal Ballet Ensamble at the Royal Opera in Stockholm/Sweden. I'm sure you've heard all about it in the past, especially since it was performed with the whole she-bang, including a prima' ballerina and a massive overkill of wimpiness (my-oh-my).

MTM 2004
Review by Endre 'Bandi' Hübner
11 November 2004

When reading about Heartplay being Kimmo Blom's (Urban Tale) project I expected it to be high-profile AOR with a faultless vocal performance but after giving the album about a dozen spins I ended up rather disappointed with it. It starts out as a promising AOR album with two well-produced midtempo rockers, nothing special, just a good guitar sound and memorable melodies, enough to please any fan of the genre.

Yet it goes on with the average, a bit too Journey-like ballad "Never Again", a song that gets very repetitive by the end (with the refrain repeated far too many times). The Survivor-like, midtempo "Grateful" restores some of the faith (the song even has the "classic" 80s tut- tut keyboard chord progression in its refrain – one of the few highlights of the record) but right after that the album takes a turn downhill. "Tempted" sees (hears) Kimmo probably in his worst form ever, not being able to hit the desired height, struggling awfully through the bridge of the song, bordering being off- key. I could hardly believe my ears the engineers left it as is. Too bad cuz the song has a beautiful piano base laid down by Sakari Salli, it would have deserved a better treatment. "This Time" is another okay midtempo track; probably the closest of all to modern melodic rock or power pop. But that's it; the rest of the album is just simply a bunch of skippers.

Black Mark 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
7 November 2004

There's so much more to New Zeeland than any old geezer in pointy hat, hobbit, or girly-man (elf), could ever express. However, I'm sure the Uruk-Hai's would gladly headbang along to the music of 8 Foot Sativa (enough with the Lord Of The Rings characters already). These orches (crap!) have risen from Auckland to become a household name in NZ, with break-through chart positions and exposure in the main stream media. Their debut album (Hate Made Me) is fast approaching gold status and "Season For Assault", entered the album chart at #6, beating all other rock releases (including Nickelback, Linkin Park, Evanescence, and Audioslave).

"Season For Assault" is their first label release as they're now signed to Black Mark in Sweden/Europe and Roadrunner (Australia). I'm impressed by the stamina of the band as they're playing a rather furious mixture of (Swedish) Death Metal, hardcore, and 80's Thrash. They're speeding down the highway -pedal to the metal style- from the word go, and never seem to run out of gas. Justin 'Jackhammer' Niessen is a traditional growler/aggressive singer with a lung capacity not of this world. Not always as confident as you'd wish him to be though as he hardly ever "sings" more than a second or two.

Nuclear Blast 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
17 november 2004

Stormwitch is one of the cult bands of heavy metal (since when?), and during their career(1984 – 1994) they made 8 albums. With “Shogun” Stormwitch recorded their last album before the witch was buried. However in 1998 a high quality best-of compilation was released and the band started thinking about recording a new album.

“Dancing With The Witches”(2002) was the first Stormwitch CD after eight years and it was welcomed by the fans as if they had never left the metal scene. Later on the band started to write material for their ninth studio album and they also found a new label, namely Nuclear Blast.

MTM 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
2 November 2004

The Silver line-up 2004 is very impressive with the main players: Gary Barden (MSG, Statetrooper, Praying Mantis), Michael Voss (Casanova, Mad Max, Demon Drive, Bonfire), and current Deep Purple keyboardist Don Airey (Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Whitesnake) upfront. The crux is, does it deserve your well earned money? and I'd have to say that it's all very questionable.

With the exception of tracks like "Never Let Me Go", "Why Did You Come Back", the marvelous "This Is My Life", and "Leaving Tonight", the songs are at the best standard rock and at its worst, limp, insipid affairs. There's simply too many fillers included and each effort since their debut has been duller than the previous one. It feels like they are stuck in second gear and the wheels are hardly in motion anymore. The creativity rather than the integrity is what's in question here and you can't help to think that you've heard it all before (been there, done that, bought the t-shirt).

SPV 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
5 November 2004

I can't believe that any respectable artist would want to release a compilation with ballads and ballads only. Michael Bolton, yes... but he's been lost to the hausfrau section for more than +10 years anyhow. Really? What's the point? I most certainly enjoy listening to a soft-song every now and then, but 11 of them??? at the same time!!! by the same artist??? You almost feel like screaming by track #5 -"Goddamnit!! pace!!! this CD sure could need some pace!!!"

Spinefarm 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
10 November 2004

"Our Love Is A Bed Of Nails, Love Hurts Good On A Bed Of Nails, I Lay You Down And When All Else Fails, I'll Drive You Like A Hammer On A Bed Of Nails" - The horrible little Children Of Bodom are back with a vengeance and a supreme taster of things to come. And things are obviously looking good as the two new songs are very intense and darn impressive at the same time. The recordings of this EP/DVD (the new audio tracks), took place at Astia Tudios with Anssi Kippo once again behind the engineering desk (as he was on COB's last international success "Hatecrew Deathroll").

With "Trashed, Lost & Strungout" and "Knuckleduster", the Finns has managed to create a new dimension of "Melodic Black Metal", still sounding definitely and unmistakeably very much like COB. It's basically the stuff that nighmares are made of and that includes demonic vocals by Alexi Laiho and amazingly executed keyboards by Janne Warman. The video clip of "Trashed..." takes place at a dusty ware house, not the most original concept perhaps, but it certainly works and should bring even more success to the Finnish knuckleheads. The bonus material leaves much to ask for though and especially "Trashed & Lost In Helsinki - The Boys Night Out", is a truly lame story and not exactly what I'd call a "real" documentary. COB's version of Alice Cooper's 1989 hit "Bed Of Nails" is freakin' great, and they've even managed to record a nice cover of Andrew WK's "She Is Beautiful".

MTM 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
17 November 2004

Wow! I'm really impressed by the overall song quality on the new MTM sampler. It's unreleased material only and judgeing by these songs, 2005 will become a freakin' good year for the average AOR/Melodic Rock fan. I know it's just a little taster of things to come, and you can't really say that all the fothcoming releases will rock. However, the songs performed by Martie Peters Group (a whole lotta White Lion/Mike Tramp influences to be found here), Shylock (a tribute to ex-soccer player Tomas Hässler), FATE (yes, they are back with a new album next year, catchy!!!), Brunorock (Italian power rock), SIN (yet another Hässler tribute), SHY (they sound more and more like Journey for each release), ZENO (unbelievable catchy stuff and marvelous guitar work!) and Novak, are all major winners in my book.

You can find older reviews and everything else in the Reviews Archive. We also have othe reviews of 2004 linked above for an easy access to them. If you're looking for a specific title, use the search engine on frontpage or on the Reviews Archive page!

If you came to this page from a search engine, click the logo to view the entire site!