Frontiers 1998
Review by Kimmo Toivonen

Much has been said about this group's resemblance to Harem Scarem, and to an extent I would have to go along those lines. There are certainly a couple of songs where the Scarem influences shine through: the pre-chorus vocals of "Heart On The Line" are totally HS, and couple of the heavier, slower numbers remind me of the newer albums of Harem Scarem. I can also imagine Dokken being a strong influence, the guitar parts remind me often of George Lynch. But fear not, Emerald Rain are not a useless copycat band. They may have a bit familiar sound, but when the influeces are this good, who's complaining?

And the songs... The title track is like a perfect mixture of Tyketto and Harem Scarem, great melodic number. "Heart Of Stone" is a heavier song slightly in the Dokken vein, and "In My Eyes" is one of those moody "Scaremish" songs. The excellent AOR ballad "Heavens Light" follows, and just as excellent is the aforementioned "Heart On The Line".

"High Road To Nowhere" is just about the only disappointing song here, a "party"-rocker á la Firehouse/Roxy Blue etc. "Desperation Sleeps" and "Misery Loves Company" are both balladic numbers, quite heavy though. "Dream Angel", a great Dokkensque song is one of my favourites, and so is "Fortune Never Found". The album closes with "When You Go", an OK track but I feel the chorus is a bit of a letdown.

There you have it, a great album from a great new band. Gongratulations to Frontiers for finding them!

Frontiers/Now & Then 1999
Review by Kimmo Toivonen

While the first Emerald Rain album was a good slice of Harem Scarem-influenced hard rock, this second effort sees the band maturing and finding a sound of their own. The HS influence is still quite strong, and there are traces of Dokken, Lillian Axe and even Metallica there, but the band has managed to filter them nicely into their own style.

The songwriting has also improved, and the album is full of strong songs. At best these songs are dangerously infectious, take "Your Disguise", "Barely Holding On" or "Endless Grey" for example. With "The Method" ER go for a heavier style, as the song is a Metallica-like riff-fest. The chorus is typically melodic though. Another attempt to cover new ground is the title song, which is the most AOR'ish thing on the album, a bit lighter in approach. The only disappointments are the very average "Never Surrender" and the ballads, which are OK, but not quite as good as the more rocking numbers.

Frontiers / Now & Then 2000
Review by Kimmo Toivonen

Old L&C favourites Emerald Rain have put out a lve album, that offers no surprises. 15 tracks in all, including live and studio versions of "Take A Stand", a track originally featured on the Japanese version of the band's last album "Age Of Innocence".

The tracklisting features 8 tracks from "AIE", 4 from the band's debut "Broken Saviours" and a short drum solo. Too bad that they have chosen to include two of my least favourite ER tracks in the set, namely "Never Surrender" and "High Road To Nowhere", while neglecting the likes of "Sleeping In The Fire", "Dream Angel" and "Barely Holding On". Madness! I guess you can't please everyone...

The live renditions of the songs are very faithful to the album versions, even though the background vocals aren't quite as high on the mix. I would have liked to hear some new variations of the songs, as now this album sounds almost like a compilation with some crowd noise and a different production. Therefore, I doubt that I will be playing this too often, since I prefer the studio versions with the fuller production. The one "new" track and a drum solo won't make me dig this one up, especially since "Take A Stand" isn't that good a track.

Still, as an introduction to ER this works pretty well, and will probably please the real die hard fans and completists to no end. I'd rather see them live, but I guess this is the best kind of a substitute...

Point Music/Rock Inc 2003
Review by 29 July 2003

If you like Harem Scarem and/or Lillian Axe then you must like Emerald Rain, as their tone and vocals sound almost the same…. Of course fans already have and appreciate their other albums like “Age Of Innocence”(1999) or their best album so far “Perplexed In The Extreme”. Emerald Rain also disappointed us with a rather boring live-album and now they release their new one called: “Short Sighted”.

These guys really sound like Harem Scarem, when I hear tracks as “Everyday Hero” or “Think Of Me”, I really think I am listening to a Harem Scarem “ripp-off”… The typical sound, the vocals and the singalong refrains are so “identical” that it is sometimes frightening. This is no coincidence anymore, but you never know as these guys are also Canadian….. But enough of that, “Short Sighted” is just a great album; songs like “Wouldn’t You” or “Need To Fly” are superb melodic rocksongs with smashing guitarsolos, beautiful vocals, razor sharp guitar licks and amazing community singing.

LionMusic 2003
Review by 3 April 2003

Things you need when you're building an Empire: A power vocalist, a flashy guitarist, a solid bassplayer, a experienced keyboardist, and a couple of great drummers. I'm not sure if you need a couple of drummers though? but the more, the merrier or whatever? And last but not least... you'll need some strong songmaterial to complete it all.

This particular Empire, do have a great line-up with musicians, who are forever a big part of hardrock history... in the past. Then again, you can't live on old merits for all eternity!!! The people need to know that you can still deliver the goods!!! There's really no need for worries though, since these musicians (still) got what it takes. Vocalist Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath, Giuntini, Rondinelli, The Cage, etc.), bassist Neil Murray (ex-Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Gary Moore, etc.), keyboardist Don Airey (Deep Purple, ex-Rainbow, Ozzy, Gary Moore etc.) & drummer Anders Johansson (Hammerfall, ex-Yngwie Malmsteen, etc.), are all a big part of this project.

Frontiers 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallström,
17 February 2004

Empty Tremor is the original act for the creator of "Genius - A Rock Opera", that Frontiers released last year. Daniele Liverani (keyboards/writing) came into the picture already back in 1995 and has since been the leading force behind the Italian outfit. "The Alien Inside" is their third album and progressive metal with classic rock influences is the game.

They've recruited Germany's Oliver Hartmann (ex-At Vance) as their new vocalist and it's obviously a very good choice. I've always been a fan of the man and he disappoints no-one with his solid performance here. However, the material still leaves much to ask for and mostly in the chorus/refrain department I'd say.

Spikefarm 2004
Review by Satu Reunanen,
14 March 2004

Get ready for a plunge into bitter sweet romanticism. These finnish gothic metal masters Entwine first started out as a death metal band in 1995, but the band as it is today, five guys and a female keyboardist, have taken the right move when choosing gothic metal instead. The band gets better and better each year, as their latest and their fourth album shows. This time the band hasn’t gone too soft though, all the songs rock without any soft female vocals filling the space from the ever stronger vocalist Mika Tauriainen.

The whole album is one of Entwine’s heaviest since "The Treasures Within Hearts" and the songs work even better when they’ve been kept as short as in average of three minutes, which is pretty short though. Still the dominating idea is a dreamy, atmospheric and euphoric soundworld and even when the album only consists of rock songs (a few mid-tempos here you could call "Entwine-ballads"), in general the album ends up being quite euphoric. "DiEversity" isn’t a bad album to say the least, but "Gone" and "Time Of Despair" are still the most softest and bitter sweet stuff you ever tasted from Entwine.

Dreamcatcher 2002
Review by 4 September 2002

There's always been a special place in my heart for the power-pop of Enuff Z'Nuff. Heck! Even Dave Letterman & Howard Stern (media gurus) admits that Chicago's soul brothers, namely Donnie Vie (vocals, guitars) and Chip Z'nuff (bass) are one of their favorite musicians and rockbands. And why shouldn't it be? Since they've done some marvelous, Beatles inspired rock in the past.

"Welcome To The Blue Island" is their 11th album since the self titled debut, back in 1989 and there's been a lot of up's and down's along the way. Heroes, villains, high drama, ugly fights, drugs, success, disappointments, rock bottom, are just some of the words to describe this band.

Perris Records 2003
Review by 28 June 2003

This is [finally] the US release of the latest Enuff Z'Nuff album. "Welcome To Blue Island" came out last year here in Europe and thanks to Perris Records, can US citizens also find the bugger much easier. I've already reviewed this once, so please check the archive for all the details and such

Z Records 2003
Review by 19 April 2003

OK... since I'm completely without sin, I'll cast the first stone here. On the other hand... better not [:-)]. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't expect much to come out of this project in the first place though. Unfortunately it seems like I was partly right too. Now don't go thinking "he must have something against the band from day one", since nothing could be further from the truth really.

However, Enzign is more or less the solo-project by TEN guitarist John Halliwell. Who??? Oh yeah, that's right... the anonymus, second chap in the third row from the left, I believe??? Yeah I know... a bit harsh and unfair maybe? Nevertheless, Halliwell has been a member of TEN for the last seven (7) years. Still no-one could place him, when I mentioned his name for a dozen of die-hard Melodic Hardrock fans or so.

Transmission 2003
Review by 7 September 2003

The Phantom Agony is the debut album by Epica, the new band of former After Forever guitarist Mark Jansen, featuring mezzo soprano Simone Simons a young but quite interesting vocal talent. For being released on a small label, it is indeed a very well crafted product, both musically and as a presentation. Producer is no other than Sascha Paeth (Kamelot, Angra, Rhapsody). And that's not the only connection with Kamelot, as the name itself was taken from the band's famous album.

The Phantom Agony is quite an interesting musical proposal, as it melts the orchestrations, male-female vocal contrasts and choirs of After Forever into not so gothic, but more classical heavy metal approach. At the beginning, my first impression was, "ok, After Forever meets Nightwish, interesting", but as I gave more spins to the album, I founded less Nightwish and more After Forever. It's not that the bands are clones, but certainly related in their songwriting, which shouldn't be that strange since Mark Jansen was a leading part on that department on AF. Lots of neoclassical harmonies, choirs here and there with lyrics in Latin may sound too dense for a more conventional hard rock or metal fan, but they are indeed quite well written and performed. Obviously, it's Simone Simons vocals that are the highlight here, but quite remarkable too are the grunts by Mark Jansen himself, very clear for what one can expect in more gothic bands. The band performance is quite solid, with lots of dense riffs and tempo changes without falling in the depths of, let's say, progressive metal. Highlights here are Sensorium, filled with double bass drums and keyboards, and perhaps the more Nightwish alike track on the album (if only for the grunts here are minimal), and Façade of Reality, an 8 minute song which could be the perfect summary of Epica's musical style. The track is about Sep. 11th, and indeed takes you in the mood of feeling intolerance, hate, suffering and fear. No fillers here as the rest of the stuff is strong too, like Run for a Fall, Cry for the Moon, or the title track, to name a few. The production is really outstanding, which shouldn't be an easy task if you bear in mind the lots of strings arrangements, choirs that you can listen to all very well melted into the band's sound. Songwriting is excellent too, and really the only downside of the stuff is that it would be really hard to take in on the stage, unless, of course, you have many parts pre recorded.

MTM Classix 2004
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
9 January 2004

Now this is what one could call a classic! Swedish AOR queen Erika's first album from 1990 gets a re-issue on the new MTM sub-label, which means that you won't have to pay those silly prices people are asking for it in Ebay and the likes.

"Cold Winter Night" is a curious album. Erika is not the best female vocalist you'll ever hear and the production sounds a bit cold and artificial, but still, this is one of the finest albums of its' kind. Once again it all comes down to the songs, and there's no shortage of good ones here!

The opener "Together We're Lost" was major hit in Sweden and I recall it getting some airplay here in Finland too. No wonder, as it is a huge AOR/Pop Rock anthem. It's not the only one of its' kind, "Hurting So Bad", "Cold Winter Night", "Living Like A Hurricane" and "Last Call For Love" are similary infectious hook-laden AOR gems. Great wall-of-sound backing vocals and more choruses than you could ask for. The remaining four songs aren't too bad, with "Love In Vain" and "Heavenly" being decent ballads, and "Line Of Fire" and "Emergency" hard rockers...although it has to be said that both "Heavenly" and "Line Of Fire" have choruses that aren't quite as strong as the others...there's something a bit corny in them. The horn-fueled "Emergency" doesn't get the full points either, despite Erika's then-husband Y. Malmsteen providing the guitar solo to it.

To sum it up, I've always thought that the songs on this album were really pop tracks with a hard rock coating, and indeed songwriters Almqvist/Ljunggren are profilic pop songsmiths these days. Still, this combination of ultra-catchy pop melodies with hard rock sounds did work and it still does work...

MTM Music 2003
Review by 8 January 2003

MTM Music kicks off in 2003 with one of their better releases in a long time. The Swedish musican Michael Erlandsson is back with his 4th and best album up to date. He started out as angry punk-rocker in the late 70's. Before switching to POP music with bands such as Crash or N'Gang in the 80's & early 90's. He's a solo artist since 1993 though.

He performed for Sweden at the Eurovision song contest with N'Gang in 1990. The latest news is that he will actually perform this year again!! First at the Swedish contest for qualifying for Eurovision, with a song written by Tommy "I've Played Guitar With 'Em All" Denander.

AB Records 2001
Review by 17 May 2002

Equiseti is another Italian band from Fabrizio Bonanno, who also plays in Wounded Knee, Rainbird, Arcane Visions, Nautilus, etc.The man’s got his hands everywhere and all his bands have their own styles. Equiseti is about progmetal, rock, funk, samba. Don’t get scared about the samba part, they’re mostly prog or as they call themselves - “ethno prog metal”!

The mood is pretty relaxed on the cd, their songs aren’t that fast, good example would be the opening song “Cristal Square (The Cube)” . It’s pretty placid prog with an utopistic world and the guitar sounds pretty fragile. The singer has trouble with the pronounciation though. This was one of the best songs on the cd along with “Wind Of Freedom”, which is an instrumental. It's the same vein as the first song, but in the middle you get a wacky part with notes being thrown here and there. Wacky but interesting.

There are three instrumentals here, which is quite a lot. This band isn’t for the common listener anyway, there’s no catchy choruses, but fooling around with instruments. Just what prog fans want. One of the instrumentals is “Winterlake”, which has more of that samba style, but the guys handle it well. The third instrumental is “Hunt The Hunter!” continuing in the more proggish style.

And of course there just has to be a few songs sang in italian. Those are “Nerone” (I could imagine in an italian pop show), “Le Valli Perdute”, a sleepy lullaby, “Wayana”, a soft prog-samba and the last song “Il Bosco”, which is a soft duet with a female singer.

The texts are written by Federica Rubino (bass)and Marino Giusti and are inspired by nature from different points of view. One of the reasons I like progressive music is that it’s not just "sex, drugs and rock’n’roll". This music makes you think about what is important on this planet.

On a whole I’d call this band pretty unconvincing. They need to work a bit more on their songs, ‘cos I didn’t get enough out of them. Technically they should have everything and they have imagination, just what a prog band needs.

MTM Music 2002
Review by 2 September 2002

Eternal Fire was founded in Germany back in the early 90's and "King Of The King" is the follow up album to their debut 'Desire' in 1998. It's their first release at MTM Music and this is very much music in the tradition of Rainbow (yes sir!), mixed with the 'typical' German rock of early Mad Max, Roko, or Stormhammer. The latter is not that strange really as the ex. Stormhammer vocalist Michael Schinkel is the lead singer here.

I must say that the cover artwork of this CD is the worst I've seen in years (not counting independent releases). I'm not sure who's responsible for it, but he/she really should bow his/her head in shame. Sure, it's the music that matters... but the whole package is pretty important right? I wouldn't look twice at this in the CD store and many others will probably do the same. Well... let's hope they'll read this review then huh? ;-)

Goimusic 2003
Review by 7 July 2003

Portugal calling...but no Moonspell present. Not much anyhows. Eternal Mourning was formed back in 1995 and along the years a female singer was added to the group. With a touch of Moonspell here, the band still stands out on it’s own and can’t be compared to their fellow country men in the long run. Their music is very melancholic, black and doomish with melodies of course. The overall feeling is a sad one and too deep for me, it’s so depressing that I can’t listen to it. ”I wanna hang myself !”– I hear myself shouting over and over again in my mind. This band shouldn’t be introduced for the weak minded.

Low Frequency Records 2003
Review by 18 May 2003

„Black burnt shell-frozen inside ! Disgraceful-all cold inside !” With such dark mood Evemaster from Lappeenranta kicks off with „Wither”, their second album and the song „Disgraceful”. And we all know where this leads to, right ! Evemaster was formed in 1996 and consists of Jarno Taskula-vocals and Tomi Mykkänen-guitars/bass, but their session musicians are: Producer Anssi Kippo-synths, Mika Lindberg-clean vocals(Colonian/Cradle Of Filth(Midian)/Mortiis), Late Penttilä-background vocals (ex-Horna/Satanic Warmaster), but the most interesting names must be Jaska Raatikainen-drums (Children Of Bodom) and Marco Hietala-background vocals (Nightwish/Tarot). Something to look forward to, huh ?!

The opening song is one of the best tracks here and based on that you do get the point across what the plan is here. There’s a typical death metal groove (if you can say so) here that dominates these bands today and so these guys aren’t really bringing anything new out here. And the fact that most of the songs just blast straight off and fast does make this cd a bit boring. The vocals are as brutal though as required. Most of these kinds of bands at least in Finland are trying hard to copy Children Of Bodom after their success and of course this band has their similarities too (talk about the same drummer..), yet Evemaster isn’t as melodic. And with so much growling vocals here, this band isn’t going to find their way that easily to the shelves of the COB fans, but more likely to the shelves of „real” dark/death metal fans.

There’s not enough clean vocals here either to scare off dark metal fans or at the same time attract the other party. There’s just tiny pieces here and there that are alike to the clean vocals of Amorphis. Kind of a shame really, but if that’s not the case here, then deal with it. There’s old-school Metallica influences found here too, especially the guitar sound brings to mind songs such as „Creeping Death” at times or the likes. Or Iron Maiden. I mentioned the lyrics already, but really, these guys are sticking to the typical formula of the likes, everything’s so bloody dark and dead ! But of course you can’t go singing about love and happiness either. And these guys aren’t from the worst side, it’s just a depressing mood that’s controlling here.

Insideout 2004
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
14 May 2004

Evergrey's "The Inner Circle" is a concept album about religion, or rather the strange and bizarre cult happening, within this ever-so-popular genre. It's basicially about the dark messiah and the ever so growing stream of false preachers out there. Just look at the 'Knutby' incidence here in Sweden recentely. It's a gloomy story about fanaticism and the way these "false preachers", feed off people's insecurity and lack of belief in themselves.

Not your ordinary metal lyrics perhaps, then again, Evergrey is far from ordinary in any way. This is complex, melodic, progressive metal of today, with atmospheric keyboards and a certain auora of goth. You can actually still hear some 'My Dying Bride' influences in the background. I'm not saying it's the "Operation Mindcrime" (Queensryche) album of today. However, you can definitely draw similarities and compare notes as the story goes on. There's even a female part included (here sung by Carina Englund), much like 'Sister Mary' from above mentioned 'Mindcrime'.

Mascot Records 2002
Review by 9 May 2002

"Bridge" is the fifth album from Dutch progressive rockers Everon, and it should help to establish them as major players in the genre. They have enough melody to keep a common melodic rock fan (like me) interested for most of the time, yet their music will probably be complex enough to please the most ardent prog fans as well. What's more, while most of the newer progressive bands seem to be raised on a diet of Dream Theather and Queensrÿche, Everon sound like they've been listening to a wider spectrum of artists.

The album opens with the "Bridge Theme", a melodic and pompous piece that leads into "Across The Land", a quite catchy number that reminds me of Asia. "Juliet" is a big balladic track that does remind me of Dream Theater, while "Travelling Shoes" is a short, sentimental acoustic ballad. It works as an intro to "Driven" which is another quite mellow track, except for the powerful chorus. "If You Were Still Mine" is yet another ballad, not quite as good as the previous tracks though.

"Ten Years Late" is a welcomed uptempo track with some cool hooks and one of the highlights here. "Not This Time" is one of the more progressive tracks and not really my cup of tea, although not too bad either. The instrumental "Puppet Show" is just way too progrock for me, but both "Carousel" and especially "Harbour" are more enjoyable, the latter being quite close to a standard AOR ballad actually. Finally, there's the title song, a heavy and dark track that isn't one of my favourites, although the weird HIM-like gothic ending and piano-outro borrowed from Billy Joel are quite interesting.

A few more uptempo numbers would've made this album a bit easier to digest, but it's not too bad as it is.

Mascot 2002
Review by 13 September 2002

Just a few months after the release of "Bridge", Everon have another CD out. Apparently these albums were recorded at the same time, but the band and/or the label chose to release them a few months inbetween. It might have been a good idea to start with "Bridge", as this album isn't quite as accessible as that one. "Flesh" is more experimental and one might say even introspective. Apart from the normal band instruments, this album features strings and female vocals (courtesy of Judith Stüber), which add some new colours to the whole picture.

The weakest and heaviest two songs of the album open the show, and although they are quite melodic, they just don't work too well."Pictures Of You" is more to my liking, a beatiful balladic track, while the title song is 14-minute long progfest, and a bit dull at that, I'm afraid. "Missing From The Chain" is another beautiful ballad with an orchestrated arrangement. "The River" is yet another balladic track, which reminds me of Blackmore's Night in places, partly thanks to the female vocals.

"Half As Bad" is probably my favourite track. The song is probably the catchiest one I've heard from the band, and the lyrics are very good and orginal. It's not really a love song, but a bittersweet, humorous look at one relationship. Worth checking out! Finally, there's "Back In Sight", a melodic, ethreal track written by the band's former keyboard player Oliver Thiele.

If "Bridge" was a bit ballad-heavy, "Flesh" is even more so, and considering that more than half of it doesn't really appeal to me, I think it deserves a lower grade. Had the band combined the best tracks of the both albums, they would've easily scored the title of Progressive Rock Album of the year in my books!

Perris Records 2002
Review by 18 January 2003

Hard rock. That’s what you get here, nothing more, nothing less. Every Mother’s Nightmare’s “Live Songs from Somewhere!” shows what this band is about. Production in this album is ok and EMN let’s the music do the talking. There are some live albums that are unable to convey the feeling of a live show. At first I thought this was the case here too but this album grows as it progresses. I got in on the EMN-experience from the fourth song (“Deeper Shade of Gray") and from there on this album was a joy to listen to.

Judging from this album EMN is a good live band. I’ve never had the pleasure of witnessing them live but I’m sure that people who have liked what they saw and heard. Songs like “Sympathy”, “Solid Ground” and brilliant version of Alice Cooper’s “Eighteen” just make you wanna listen to this album over and over again. You can feel the guitar solos in your spine and I felt a few shivers here and there. Good stuff.

EVICK: "Anachronism" 7

Point music 2002
Review by 3 December 2002

Sometimes the promotional leaflets that you get along with the promo copies are interesting to read. A lot of brave words but the reality is often different. When a few people from separate bands get together for a side project to make an album and the promo says: “it almost seems like the guys have naturally been producing and playing together for years” you tend to think “here we go again”. But not this time. I agree with what they promised 100 per cent! Considering that “Criticize the Truth” is the first album from “Evidence One”, this is something special. Carsten Scultz (Domain), Robby Boebel (Frontline), Thomas Bauer (Frontline) and Roger Tanner (Shakra) have put out an album with good songs, great riffs and excellent (melodic) rock.

The title track is the opener and somehow Schulz’s voice reminds me of Geoff Tate and the atmosphere is like that of Queensryche’s “Empire”. Next song “Trust vs. Heart” is a nice melodic rocker and “Different Worlds - Different Times” goes to the same category. “Like Never Before” starts with quite “Helloweenish” guitar but it is still a melodic song. The next song “Frozen in Time” really got me into this band. This is a melodic song with good keyboards and also really delightful balance with background vocals, Schulz’s voice and the rest of the band. “Fools Gold” takes up the tempo a bit. This song has nice guitar parts and it’s overall a good song. The next song “In the Beginning There Was Fire” starts with acoustic part and just as you wonder what the hell is this the fierce guitar wipes the floor with you. The best song of the album in my view is “Spend the Top With Me”. The melody is catchy, the hooks are there and I really can’t complain about the guitar either. “Perfect Love” is a mid tempo rocker but the last song “Heavy Heart Betrayed” is again a bit heavier song.

Overall, a diverse album with a bit of everything. This will please melodic rock fans but also people who like a wee bit rougher guitars. The production is good and the band is tight. If you don’t believe me go to their website and listen to the mp3-samples.

Frontiers 2004
Review by Satu Reunanen, 5 April 2004

Mighty kick is the arse ! Yeah, that’s exactly how Evil Masquerade sinks in. They’re a theatrical, symphonic and light-hearted metal band in the vein of Blind Guardian, with a little twist of Yngwie Malmsteen of course. I never was a Blind Guardian fan, but this band somehow does it for me with the same style. That amazing, evil line-up features members from bands such as Royal Hunt, Moahni Moahna, Sinphonia, Yngwie Malmsteen, Wuthering Heights, Majestic and Time Requiem. And the expectations are high of course. But Evil Masquerade fills them easily.

It’s evident how influenced the guys are by classical music, check out their version of Bach’s ”Badinerie” for instance. Familiar notes keep flowing throughout the album with baroque-keys and even Queen-like massive rock-opera style has a strong hold in each song, taled with a dreadful mood at times. Henrik Brockmann’s vocal work amazes, he really shines in each song, perfecting his style even more so from the Royal Hunt days. His vocals are just perfect for this material, flowing with a great mood and the backing vocals join in on all the right places. The overall sound is very clear, without losing any power from it. From the first notes the massive, operatic neo-classical atmosphere takes a hold of you. ”Welcome To The Show” also takes influence from the classic hard rock with the simple, catchy choruses and guitar riffs, then again kicking to the difficult scales, the sky’s the limit. Eventhough it’s very fast material, there’s enough space also to make everything click together well making sense to the songs, not making it just another technical band.

Nuclear Blast 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
10 February 2004

What a great come back album this is. I never expected that these Bay Area thrashers would make an album like this one ever again. You can compare this album with killer albums like “Pleasures Of The Flesh” or “Fabulous Disaster”. Singer, or better said shouter Zetro sounds like fifteen years ago; still going strong after all these years.

The complete album is extreme brutal and heavy and the opener “Scar Spangled Banner” hits you like a fist in the face. The rest of the song material is also very heavy and trashy, just like in the good old trash days. “Blacklist” is a real “mosh” song, perfect for in the pit and definitely a live killer. „Shroud Of Urine” is packed with a very heavy bass guitar riff and the guitar sounds like Black Sabbath there.

Magna Carta 2002
Review by 1 november 2002

Now what can I say about Explorers Club? I’ve been a huge Dream Theater fan since ’91, so I’ve always kept an eye on the guys and their projects. But somehow the first E.C. cd went through my ears. Maybe it was the lack of time at the moment, but it’s still collecting dust on my cd shelf. I’ve only had a few listens on it, so I better not mention the album here at all, since I don’t have an opinion about it. But on “Mammoth” the musicians are still interesting: Terry Bozzio (a drum virtuoso from many bands), Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth), Trent Gardner (Magellan), James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Kerry Livgren (Kansas), John Myung (Dream Theater), Mark Robertson (Cairo), Steve Walsh (Kansas) and Gary Wehrkamp (Shadow Gallery, another amazing progband worth checking out) as mentioned on the backsleeve.

There’s zillions of tracks on this cd or four or 44 or as Trent Gardner prefers, only one. I think I prefer four. All the songs are pretty tightly connected to each other that you can’t much tell them apart, but there are clear endings too. This cd kicks off with three short instrumental songs, (approx one minute long) in „Raising The Mammoth part one”, which consists of „Passage To Paralysis”, „Broad Decay” and „Vertebrates”. Those first three songs are mostly intros to the album. The second one gives a hint towards old Frank Zappa and his wacky geniousity or ELP. The fourth one isn’t much longer either, but it’s the first song with vocals. The album continues with short songs, the longest stretching to about three and half minutes. If you count all the 44 songs that is...So in that case this isn't your average prog album. But in whole this is. And even more. The Explorers combine old prog in the vein of Pink Floyd and the ’70’ies style and the new, more technical one. So this is a really huge prog orgasm if I may say.

But even as I am a big prog fan, after the first parts the orgasm turns into instrumentals and I’m left wondering inside my own thoughts ready to go into deep sleep. Those long instrumentals just aren’t the best part here. The second part (songs 20-27)must be the best one here, since that’s where James LaBrie takes lead. And it offers the best action here along with the first part (1-19). The third and fourth parts are instrumentals (28-44), named “Raising The Mammoth 2-Aka Prog-O-Matic” and “Gigantipithicus” and are mostly mid-tempo, dark, ominous and somewhere along of course some jamming. Here and there throughout the album utopia is taking over. All this fun and especially near the end the irish-influenced keys ends into should I say a funeral, it’s such a sad feeling there.