Reviews

With "Return to Ommadawn," Mike Oldfield has pulled off a pleasant surprise: he's come back in a big way among the most exciting musical creators of our time and made his best album since the first half of the eighties, one that will take…

It was hard to imagine the current version of Sepultura could put out such a convincing record after all these years. Despite a few flaws, Machine Messiah is Sepultura's strongest release since Derrick Green joined the band. The album is…

Beyond all the musical challenges facing a hugely creative and engaged musician like Andrej Boštjančič - Ruda, Črni Peter are first and foremost a story about garage rock'n'roll, with clearly audible notes of punk rock and blues.

As any true lover of good hard rock knows, the album »Indiscreet« is considered the centerpiece, if not downright the "holy" record, of the AOR genre to come out of Europe in the golden age of the eighties, when the genre was a commercial…

Praprotnice aren't bringing anything unheard-of here, just one more reinterpretation of (mostly) globally beloved folk songs, but in these new times their message is more relevant than ever.

With »Immortals«, and setting aside the clichéd, well-worn story of its chosen historical concept about fearless Greek hoplites, Firewind may have put out the strongest album of their career.

To properly mark their first 35 years and take the edge off the fans' impatient wait for the new studio album, the American »west-coast /AOR« champions have put out a new live document.

Another round of cliché power metal is coming out of Sweden. Lancer and their third studio album “Mastery”.

A Dutch trio returns with their second lo-fi noise album, inviting you on another trip into their universe of almost sinister, if not downright creepy atmospheres, a perfect fit for the soundtrack of a low-budget horror flick.

Listening to the sensational piano improvisations on the album "Fluid" will leave you hungry to dig deeper into the original music of Dejan Berden. He remains an uncut diamond and one of the best-kept secrets of the Slovenian music…

Listening to the sensational piano improvisations on »Fluid«, you'll be gripped by a hunger to dig deeper into Dejan Berden's original music. He remains an uncut diamond and one of the best-kept secrets in the Slovenian music universe.

Smrti sel is a debut any band would be happy to have. Sure, you can still hear the band's relative youth here and there, but the album also lives up to the "hype" that's built up around the band over the last month or two.

This is already the fifth consecutive installment in the yearly "Kočevje špila" series, kept going year after year by the Kočevje Musicians' Association. The main activists show no sign of running out of steam, and that fight of theirs…

With another shorter new album, Zmelkoow stay rock-banal musically, while once again deftly mocking themselves and everyone around them in the lyrics. All wrapped in slick cross-genre implementation. They remain what they are, but with a…

The twelfth album overall, and the third in a row with new singer Nic Maeder, sees Swiss hard rock icons Gotthard once again delivering everything their fans and followers were hoping for.

Eternal Idol are a 100% Italian metal story, one where pure-blooded classical training and education have always come first and the axiom is "more kitsch and pomp, more joy."

With Miss Universe, Carnaval have taken another step forward and proven their maturity with a polished, dynamic, and sophisticated record. It wouldn't be the least bit strange if this record came out on an international label like Southern…

Despite the title, absolutely nothing went wrong for Tomcat on their second studio album.

With »The Wait Of Glory«, Proto-Kaw proved that its predecessor, »Before Became After«, wasn't just a one-off burst of extra inspiration from the 'old cats', as Livgren once again showed that his exceptional songwriting and instrumental…

This is the live document we've been waiting on from Accept, long and feverishly, and it pays off that wait in every way. The band is in outstanding live form in their golden years! There's still plenty of dynamite left in the stockpile.

The new album confirms that, of all the German bands that came out of the German heavy metal wave at the turn of the '70s into the '80s, Grave Digger are the best example of a full-blown second childhood in their golden years.

"On an Island" is a very easy album to listen to, and on the ambient side a gorgeous record with fantastic production, more than suited to unwinding and a restorative nap after a grueling day at work.

Goragorja and their studio debut "Ulkus". An all-instrumental jam from the Goriška Brda hills, wrapped in a free-spirited, newly confessional character that wanders through a gloomy cloak of post-metal and on into post-HC.

Picking a new name makes total sense, because this team-up with current Nazareth singer Carl Sentance is a new musical story, and not quite the one you'd expect. It also delivers another excellent album from the veteran Italian guitar…

»Gimme Your Fire« is a bold HC punk rock confession with the foundations of classic rock'n'roll attitude smoldering underneath, sung out across nine tracks and barely twenty-five minutes of music. After a seven-year break, it's a fine,…

After three albums released between 2010 and 2014, Australian AOR revivalists White Widdow have safely anchored themselves in the bosom of a proven musical recipe that won over fans of melodic rock and AOR.

An album like "Make Some Noise" is something Guns N' Roses could have knocked out in their heyday, the late eighties, without any problems or brakes.

»The Book« is a gorgeous album with a classic hard rock stance and inspired compositions that will light up concert stages like hell, right next to the Rainbow, MSG, Impelliterri and Alcatrazz classics.

Unbelievable. A band that, with its sixth album, once again dishes up a chewed-over musical recipe with no secrets left after all these years. It's the poster child for generic, yet it keeps getting repackaged with skill and slyly served up…

When you come out of the tornado of dark battles that life throws at you stronger, more mature and wiser! A fresh creative wind, new artistic sails and another superb achievement from Northern Ireland's The Answer.

Anyone who loves singable, punchy, melodic, infectious and not-too-complicated power metal will perk up their ears at Gallop Through the Stars like a unicorn at a rainbow.

I can't call it a masterpiece, but it proves once again that he's a giant with fame reaching far beyond Italy, all the way across the world. He pairs his mother tongue with English on a few tracks in a really charming way, which gives the…

Right at the tail end of the year, the Slovenian music scene got one of the most perceptive and profound records this year's ethno/folk pulse here has produced.

"The duo's new studio album, “Španabije,” keeps that vision alive from start to finish. But with one important difference. Bakalina have been hit by the “composer's rays” of layered musical arranging. In that sense, the album title…

A Maze of Recycled Creeds shows Gorod as a seasoned band, one that makes it clear the French metal scene is worth paying attention to.

»Klubski Maraton 16« keeps its mission alive. It remains a detector of interesting musical discoveries that grow independently and organically in the Slovenian music underground! This time with a much heavier focus on electronic music.

With the polished, charismatic debut »Reframing«, Kontradikshn put themselves, at least on our scene, right at the center of the push into new dimensions of electronic music.

With Pantheon of Bionic Gods, Cordura has completely overshadowed their debut and leveled up in every way.

"New Life" keeps the wave of unbridled, bubbling passion rolling, through a new musical adventure in Tilen Pusar's restless, endlessly creative self-challenge. Stylistically it's very close to the debut, but it radiates a different vibe of…

" So Up N'Downs have dropped their studio debut, which counts as one of the nicest rock surprises ever to come out of Slovenia, and we can safely call it one of the best rock albums to hit the Slovenian music scene this year."

A seriously bold studio debut that brazenly announces the outstanding musical character and potential of Mozirje's Up 'N' Downs.

Probably the biggest strength of »This House Is Not For Sale« is that the album leaves a better impression with every new spin, rather than the other way around, which is what happened with most Bon Jovi albums over the last…

»57th & 9th«, despite the big expectations, sadly isn't the Sting 'comeback' rock album that some folks have been waiting on for years, after getting thoroughly fed up with his orchestral and Renaissance projects that have left a good…

»On Air« is packed with great live material for anyone who loves the English rock legends, especially those who hold their early years dear.

»Where The Light Resides« is one of the strongest releases to come out of Slovenia's singer-songwriter scene this year, and it has masterfully earned a spot where it can compete flawlessly on the international stage.

The »split CD« move feels totally right, and not just because the two bands are stylistically compatible. Both Debeli precjednik and Mašinko react to what's going on in society right now, at the very same time, with strikingly similar…

Judging by what the debut »Open« delivers, the link to the »Away« EP is still traceable, but with this new record Jure and Matevž have leapt toward fresh artistic challenges on their evolving musical path. At its core, it's pretty much…

Too bad Kee Marcello didn't bring in an extra vocalist to sing for him on »Scaling Up«, because otherwise the album is a solid, very nice hard rock record from head to toe, with a retro sound that even leans AOR.

Most of Neal's loyal followers will, like they do with every new Neal prog-rock studio effort, hammer "The Similitude of a Dream" into the stars all over again and declare it the peak of Morse's career once more.

"Live From The Hidden Courtyard" is a superb live document that shows remarkable nerve and confirms the adventurous, homegrown jazz art rhetoric of one of the most interesting instrumental outfits in Slovenia.

"Live From The Hidden Courtyard" is an excellent live document that shows remarkable courage and confirms the adventurous, homegrown jazz-art rhetoric of one of the more interesting instrumental bands in Slovenia.

Hardwired... to Self-Destruct is nice proof that the old bones aren't quite played out yet.

Jadis have made a fairly predictable record, but one that is played superbly and arranged with finesse, and it offers plenty of pleasant ambient moments even for those who don't feel any special love for experimental music.

The new album embodies everything the band has stood for since its mid-eighties beginnings, now with a mature, evolutionary, artistic step into new times. But the essence is right there, and it says one thing: "Panda!"

"“Stoletni ples” is a magnificent album from a mature band. It took a good while to make, but the payoff is an exceptional level of polish and refinement. In these songs you can feel the band's real power and their by now “folk-classic”,…

»The Devil Rides Out » is this year's contender for best European album in the old-school heavy metal tradition, tailored to the core apostles of the orthodox German metal bible.

Label: AFM RecordsRelease date: 11/18/2016Production: Charlie BauerfiendAlbum length: 52.05 minGenre: Heavy Metal Herman Frank is a renowned and highly respected German guitarist. His name has been written into the book of metal in…

What the "Roth Brock Project" album delivers is basically a neat blend of the best that vocalist Terry Brock and multi-instrumentalist John Roth each bring from their own musical worlds and backgrounds.

»The Four« is the album we Moonlight Sky fans have basically been craving ever since its predecessor came out, which means that, taken as a whole, it more than lived up to every expectation while also serving up some very pleasant…

Biffy Clyro could have made a better album, but that doesn't mean it's bad! It has a few tracks that can mow down the competition on today's radio stations. Maybe they'll do a better job of packaging the whole thing on the next record.

So what we have here is the album »Acoustic«, on which Simple Minds serve up a string of their best-loved radio hits and most recognizable songs in acoustic dress.

"In many ways it's an even more aggressive and faster version of its excellent predecessor "Dark Roots of Earth", packed with some seriously fun surprises, and it keeps its pissed-off, totally vampiric nature from start to finish, so it's…

»Brotherhood of the Snake« is a classic Testament album. That means a merciless dose of supersonic thrash metal brutality, soaked in killer, technically top-shelf guitar passages, while Chuck's vocals sound from start to finish like he just…

As an overture to the big concert celebrating their 40th birthday, Pankrti are releasing a live document recorded at Belgrade's Kalemegdan, and they're tacking on two tracks, Slovan and Adijo Ljubljana, that became impossible to find soon…

Even though the material on Incubation's studio debut comes off pretty schizophrenic in places, Human Anomaly still has some seriously strong moments.

Hamo and his crew have come up with an effective formula for turning the point of blues and rock'n'roll into an appealing musical groove, one that even in these new times of "strange reality" Slovenian radio airwaves can stomach, and that…

"If you haven't caught Dirkschneider on stage yet, this fall is your last chance. Given the huge success that took Udo and the crew completely by surprise, Dirkschneider have extended their stay with one more tour. This one will deliver…

Dirkschneider managed to sell out thirty-one of their forty-five European shows. This live document comes from one of them, on 02.04.2016, when they played a pure-blooded Accept catalog in Memmingen, Germany.

»Live At Montreux 1991« is one of the few live recordings of Toto featuring the four-piece »Kingdom Of Desire« lineup with Jeff Porcaro, which alone makes it interesting for longtime fans, who won't mind the short running time or the…

"»Tygers Of Pan Tang« is a record that will go down best with fans of heavy rock heroes like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy, yet it also has plenty of moments that bring back the 'good old days' of the…

Tygers Of Pan Tang have pleasantly surprised us with their self-titled album, which is above all a big hard rock party with a lively pulse and a gleaming production. Even though plenty of people have written them off too early more than…

The year isn't over yet, but with new Overland and Mecca albums out and a new White Widdow album on the way, this is one of the main favorites for the best melodic rock and AOR release of 2016.

So here we have the first installment of an unbridled power-blues-rock goulash, an electrified bluesy fury, full-throttle, high-octane jam kinetics, all under the command of Sayce's one-of-a-kind genius.

»Cemetery Junction« is one of the better albums released in 2016 by the 'surviving' names of the NWOBHM scene, so the guys in Demon have every reason to be proud of it.

Leprous still want to create something unique. They don't want to sound watered-down like neo-prog rock, or without a shred of ideas like the retro-prog bands. With an inventiveness that loves to brush up against the avant-garde, Leprous…

With »Too Late to Hate«, Lucifer's Friend have made an impressive comeback album that, mostly thanks to the outstanding vocal talent of the (still) unbelievable John Lawton, turns out better than most people would have expected from a band…

In a year with slim pickings for new studio releases in melodic rock and AOR, "Mecca III" is a proper balm for fans of both genres, and it'll cheer them up and comfort them big time.

»Resonate« isn't exactly the new »Stormbringer«, but let's be honest, not even the most devoted fans expected that from 'The Voice of Rock' anyway. Still, it's a seriously solid record that, with its passionate mix of hard rock, funk and…

A mature rock'n'roll album of pure-blooded Slovenian origin, the kind only a generation could make today if you froze it in 1984, woke it from hibernation thirty years later and sent it straight into the studio to record an album

Kingmaker plays it safe with the proven recipe and the recognizable artistic ID card of the legendary Danish hard rockers, so longtime fans will once again welcome it with open arms.

If you're a fan of authentic guitar tone, can't stand the kitsch and glitter of "hiding" behind distortion effects, and look for the raw, elemental delivery of feeling and passion in instrumental music, then Jeff Aug is an artist you…

»Time Vaults« is a collection of unfinished rarities and obscurities, meant first and foremost for the most devoted VDGG fans, who won't be bothered by the poor sound quality of the demos or the odd half-baked songwriting idea.

On the more-than-solid »Princess Alice and the Broken Arrow«, Magnum once again put a bit more emphasis on the art rock elements that defined some of their most beloved achievements in the eighties. But the album lacks that real creative…

With "DOT," Karmakanic have made an utterly likable record that will, as expected, appeal most to fans of The Flower Kings and the modern prog-rock revival, where the usual Scandinavian gloom is a rare sight and an at-times almost…

»Infra« and »Ultra« are sister albums, practically Siamese twins in terms of expression, so having them share the same carrier makes perfect sense. It's actually a no-brainer.

At a time when new albums from the Canterbury prog scene had become rarer than rain in the Gobi Desert, Caravan did a good job with "The Unauthorised Breakfast Item", turning out a thoroughly solid and very listenable record.

The album of a calling card that follows its predecessor »Danger Zone« and, as a result, sensibly keeps the connection to the debut studio album.

The tenth studio album from Gothenburg's power metal standard-bearers sounds awfully familiar, like an old friend you've heard a hundred times.

Attic Mist are young, promising rockers from Kranj who blend elements of hard rock and rock'n'roll into their musical story, with a pinch of blues rhetoric in the mix too. The whole thing has a retro sound.

Devoted to the legacy of British AOR, »Contagious« carries on down the path of artistic brilliance, one the seasoned vocalist keeps following faithfully with a crew of proven names who helped him out in the studio.

With »The Dark Saga«, a dark musical tale of Spawn's suffering and vengeance, Iced Earth created one of the peaks of their career, even though the album mostly wasn't greeted by the metal crowd with as much enthusiasm on release as its…

The album »Gde ćeš« confirms that the Belgrade trio, through the albums »Sve što vidim je prvi put« (2008) and its follow-up »Dobrodošli na okean« (2012), keeps sticking effectively…

You couldn't really ask for a better Slovenian "mainstream" album, one that reflects old-school rock melting into the trendy pop aesthetics of today, than Leonart's debut "Visoko v nebo".

With »Valkyrie«, a thoroughly enjoyable concept effort, Glass Hammer have once again shown how modern symphonic progressive rock should sound.

With its acrid, unconcealed reckoning with the delusions of the "brave new world," the album "Rodoljubac" is biblical proof that the kings of the Soča Valley rock underground won't be giving in or renouncing the primal spirit of the punk…

Fans of a harder-hitting approach to prog rock will get their money's worth with »All That You Fear Is Gone«. Headspace's latest studio effort has excellent production and top-notch technical execution, plus a string of…

With The Violent Sleep Of Reason, a powerful, varied and complex record, Meshuggah prove they're still at the peak of their powers. It's an album that also flirts with their past, and it'll no doubt win over new fans as well as that small…

David Cross Band, fronted by a cult violin virtuoso, has pulled off a surprise: a modern prog rock/prog metal masterpiece with a post-apocalyptic vibe and fantastic production. Beyond King Crimson fans, it's bound to win over a few new…

"When the sounds of »Curious Voiume« kick in, the best part is realizing that the band can still pull off an album with the charisma of thirty years ago. Immodestly put, it's up there with the debut »Rellentless«."

The collision of three musical worlds, each tied to its own homegrown legacy of world music and shaped since forever by the geography where each of those worlds is born, is a guarantee of absolute uniqueness of musical expression right from…