Reviews

"On the impressively solid 'God Is Dead?', Black Sabbath sound like they just climbed out of the tomb, invented a time machine and zipped back to the seventies, when their final resting place was still freshly dug."

On the remarkably solid "God Is Dead?", Black Sabbath sound like they just climbed out of the crypt, invented a time machine and zipped back to the seventies, when their final resting place was still freshly dug.

»All the Time in the World«, with both of its trimmed-down versions of the new songs, offers a rather bashful peek at the upcoming studio effort from the legendary patriarchs of hard rock, so leave it to their most devoted fans.

The first official live document from the unforgettable Rainbow doesn't quite capture the legendary concert magic radiated by what was probably the most beloved incarnation of this legendary band, but it still offers a very good…

Two years after the death of our world, the golden age of man has arrived. The noise sung out of the chaos stays the same, and the brilliance of garage is confirmed once again.

So "What About Now" keeps up the tried-and-tested outline of stadium-friendly soft rock that the band needs for another massive world tour, so the multi-thousand-headed hordes of the planet can jump up and down to it once again.

An old master with a holiday songbook.

»Collections« is a more ambitious record than its predecessor »Acolyte«, but it also brings the thorny realization that there's still untapped expressive potential in the arrangements.

Electric Light Light Orchestra's return to the active music scene in 2001 sadly fell flat after the tour was called off, but their final studio album, the splendid »Zoom«, was the kind of farewell Jeff Lynne could only have wished for in…

With »High Heels Avenue«, Top Stripper prove that a creative approach can still produce something that sounds fresh and playful.

»Anorak in the UK: Live« is a vivid, high-energy document of what Marillion looked like on stage at the start of the 21st century. Anyone who loves »Anoraknophobia« will get their money's worth from this live recording.

With fifteen studio albums under their belts and a career that's been riding big commercial success almost nonstop since 1977, art rockers Simple Minds deliver an outstanding live document of a set drawn from the band's first five albums.

The Puzzled's music is played by top-notch musicians who can play absolutely anything their imagination dictates, at any given moment. The multilayered, richly colored fragments of this record add up to a strong avant-garde streak and the…

The almighty mill is definitely grinding. It grinds up a heap of the familiar, adds a pinch of its own flavor and spits out Arbitrarij. Of course, the people are hungry and want more. Arbitrarij is a good start, but the miller's…

Art pop rock-leaning »Anoraknophobia« was the 'modern'-sounding album Marillion had been wanting to make for a few years, the late nineties in particular, but the right inspiration and drive always seemed to slip away from them.

At times you could sum up the whole point of Hamo & Tribute 2 Love bluntly: it's a musical experience not far from dropping Cocker into a stripped-down version of the Allman Brothers Band's musical backdrop

With »Marillion.com«, Marillion made one of their strangest studio experiments. It's not without its flaws, but they're easily outweighed by plenty of bright moments, packed with bold, thrilling forays into sonic territory they'd never…

Steve Lukather, one of the most versatile guitarists on the planet and the lead guitar of art rockers Toto, delivers one of his most accessible albums yet with "Transition". The songs are laid-back and "bright", tied together by a compact…

»Rockville II« is the second album from FM, released at the end of this March, just 14 days after its predecessor »Rockville«. It's a touch "softer," and that makes the feels hit even harder.

With »In Absentia«, an album that keeps the listener 'in check' from start to finish, Porcupine Tree may well have made the greatest masterpiece of their career, and without a doubt one of the best moments in the long history of progressive…

Co.Da, the all-Slovenian band, deliver their second chapter, and it confirms that creative juice is never in short supply on the Slovenian scene. But instead of a raw hurricane of emotion, these split waters smell more of the conventional…

This isn't yet another annoying Iron Maiden pocket-picking with a fresh "best of" compilation. At long last we've got the complete, authentic official document of the "Maiden England" tour from way back in 1988, previously available only on…

»A Black Box« was a crystal-clear demonstration that Peter Hammill couldn't have cared less about practically every musical trend of the day, delivering yet another superb, thoroughly dark and experimental studio document where, as usual,…

So the excellent predecessor »Metropolis« wasn't just a one-off swallow. The follow-up album, »Rockville«, really does bring FM a new spring! And it's only the first »Rockville« album. »Rockvile II« is on its way, but more on that next…

Ocean Roar is an incredible piece of work, one that transcends the indie scene because it's simply too big to be boxed in.

An unexpected swerve back to the pioneering days of jazz-rock fusion with blues. And yet even out of the "Vibrato" adventure, the lanky, pointy-nosed beanpole known to everyone as the genius wizard of six-string theory, Paul Gilbert, has…

Stryper - probably the biggest name in the Christian rock movement of the second half of the eighties - are back with an album of re-recorded classics from their first three studio releases plus two brand-new songs. The mission to revive…

Here's proof that Sebastian Bach is still kicking at full gallop in years when you'd expect him to have mellowed out! A release that's interesting almost exclusively to Skid Row fans!

This year you'll be hard-pressed to find a more ambitious, more potently filthy sleaze rock album than De La Cruz's debut, »Street Level«.

Nine years on, the primal blend of blues, filthier sludge and rocker soul is still flawless, and Blast The Tyrant is a loud reminder that the wake-up call came a decade ago.

Palma Violets serve up an album full of great moments, including (among other things) the single of the year (''Best Of Friends'') and loose, youthful charm. It could use more polish, and we wouldn't say no to smarter, more meaningful…

On Med Zarjo, the first glimmer of potential genius already shows: a perfect balance between the conventional and the unconventional, the known and the unknown, pop and alternative, and finally between static inexperience (the debut…

"The Next Day" is the stunning comeback of music's greatest chameleon, and proof that after a ten-year break Mr. Bowie is still one of the most thrilling, unpredictable and unique musical masters of our time. It's easily among the best…

Infused with a rush of fresh energy, Spock's Beard have successfully kicked off a whole new phase of their career with »Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep«, delivering yet another prog rock masterpiece that stands shoulder to…

Label: CelinkaRelease year: 2013Production: Blaž Celarec & Tibor Mihelič SyedAlbum length: 55.51 minGenre: Alternative Rock / Fusion / Experimental / Folk Members of Katalena, Kombo Zlatka Kaučiča, Trus!, Miusow Quartet,…

Brennisteinn EP is a new face of Sigur Rós – with an anger that wasn't there before, with a new emotion the band may not have expressed until now. Could this be a new path for Sigur Rós? Not a language of hope, but some kind of language of…

The album »Runda 2, udri!« is a manifesto of hot-blooded playing with a shot of excess testosterone straight into the bloodstream. No retreat, no hiding, just a wild, full-throttle rush. It's a distinctive crossbreed of metal and punk rock…

Statika is by no means a perfect debut, but practically none are. Statika isn't even a great debut. It isn't even a wholly original debut. But it's certainly the first of its kind on our soil.

Not only has the new Pretty Maids album "Motherland" kept up the quality of its predecessor »Pandemonium«, but for all its pronounced darkness it actually delivers an even bigger melodic payoff than »Pandemonium«!

Two years after the gorgeous, morbid sludge darkness of Weight Of Coronation, the Spanish trio drives its rhino horn even deeper into the guts of the unprepared ...

Thom Yorke stays in the realm of electronic experimentation, this time drawing members of R.H.C.P., R.E.M. and Ultraista into a hypnotic meditation. Running on the spot can be a gorgeous workout for the soul...

Two new tracks, two excellent covers, and the rest of the record filled out with six great live performances taken from the band's most recent headlining tour. Don't worry. None of the tracks on the EP have been released anywhere until now.

»Try Anything Once« was the logical stylistic follow-up to the magnificent The Alan Parsons Project legacy, and it will still grab every fan of the softer side of progressive rock who has a taste for melodic rock sophistication.

M b v isn't Loveless. And that's exactly as it should be. Loveless was simply perfect, and perfection can't be topped. So with m b v, Kevin Shields decided above all to make something different, not Loveless 2, which might have been the…

Half of the duo Da Phenomena, former right-hand man to Magnifico and to plenty of Slovenian "featherweight pop" acts who insist on having the best arrangement-coloring sidemen around, is back with his second solo studio album, "Smoods".

After odysseys through blues and sludge, the bearded boys from Maryland have gone for a more direct rock sound. The earth really does shake, and it shakes properly!

»Absent Lovers« is hugely important historically for all the longtime devotees of the prog rock legends. The cult 1981-1984 King Crimson lineup couldn't have asked for a better send-off, and this live album, with its practically ideal…

»EleKtrik: Live in Japan« may well be the best official live document we have of what is very likely the last live incarnation of the legendary King Crimson, a band that always sounds even better on stage than in the studio.

A rich sound, world-class vocal and instrumental performances, fantastic arrangements and thoughtful lyrics make this an album where even after repeated listens you keep finding new nuances and secrets of the kind of heavy metal that makes…

Label: K-Scope Records Year of release: 2013 Production: Steven Wilson and Alan Parsons Album length: 53.03 Genre: Progressive Rock / Art Rock Steven Wilson, the ultimate workaholic of the progressive rock scene and, when he's not busy…

"The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories)" is Wilson's best solo album to date and yet another entry in an unbroken run of modern progressive rock masterpieces, once again confirming this versatile musician and producer as the…

On their debut, Panikk show what brutal thrash metal is and how it's played!

Ljubljana/Kranj hard 'n heavy outfit Tomcat deliver one of the strongest contenders for "feel good" album of the year with Bits 'n Pieces.

The 20th studio album from the legendary band. Another document of the infallibility of a one-of-a-kind metal sermon. A hell of a heavy record, but not the heaviest of Saxon's career. Bringing in Andy Sneap as producer is the original sin…

A live document that's an artistic one-of-a-kind, giving Dan D fans an experience where, through a challenge of reworked arrangements, the band's household-name standards sound like brand-new songs.

With the solo-minded and rather sprawling »Works Volume One«, ELP alienated plenty of old fans who had believed until then that the legendary trio ran on the musketeer principle of 'all for one, one for all'.

Pelhan arrive on the scene with their studio debut »V neznano« (if you want to keep quotes plain: "V neznano"), right on cue, and they confidently announce that the lull before the new hard rock storm in Slovenia is finally…

With Razirklinga, the Drava Valley tavern bluesmen of Kvinton prove they've got the chops and the hunger to go toe to toe with the more established guard of their genre peers.

The poets of down-to-earth rock from Prlekija are back with another biting string of vignettes that lay 20 years of our history painfully bare, with not a single hair on the tongue. Fakti hit the nail right on the head!

Zasavje is rich in music. A lineup of acts with a few tried-and-tested names shows that off proudly. So let's hope the compilation becomes an annual tradition, even though it doesn't deliver as much homegrown originality and musical…

On top of RATM, Audioslave and The Nigtwatchmen, Tom Morello, the controversial guitar enfant terrible of modern rock, has found time for some street sweeping and a fresh dose of rap-spiced rock.

Voivod on a mission - target: Earth!

Naive political satire beats silence any day, and on their sixth record Pridigarji wrap a blunt sermon around it, landing just at the right moment, in the age of the collapse of all values.

After two decades of waiting, the borders have come down in the southbound direction too. The first to tear down their walls were the garage artists and alternative crowd.

No Time is the kind of record you'll play everywhere. And that "everywhere" covers both space and time – you'll definitely make the time for No Time.

An album of simple, punchy impact, driven by the passionate delivery of tried-and-tested, fiery Russian tunes set in a trendy punk rock frame, which opens the doors of relevance to the band and gives them a shot at breaking through on the…

The ties to the past are still felt and seen, and the legacy of Miladojka and Lolita is a gravitational field Alterra can barely tear themselves out of.

»Radiation« is still seen today as a pretty 'quirky' album that, thanks to its experiments with some of the popular sonic trends of the nineties and its generally rather 'sleepy' atmosphere, is fully to the liking of only a few Marillion…

An incredibly colorful music compilation, tight and tangible in its substance, that surprises with how much homegrown, authentic musical creativity can be found in the Kočevje region. Here comes the compilation "Grupni - Kočevje špila,…

»Mysterium« brings back only part of the muscular look of Manilla Road's once-brilliant epic metal punch and stature. The guitar riffs are once again pushed into the background, and how inventive they are is questionable too. The album only…

On »Better By Far«, whose title is sadly way off the mark, it became obvious that Caravan were slowly running out of steam for bigger musical adventures and had started glancing around way too much, trying to somehow hold on to their…

The new album hits harder than its two predecessors. It's got an even rawer, even more garage-live sound, plus more of a provocative streak in its musical experimenting. It's a document of the maturity and newfound creative drive of this…

The new album brings more musical definition, while the post-hardcore "screamo" punk attitude remains the best thing about Cripple And Casino! Uncompromising garage punch with zero primping, which the band pours out unrestrained from its…

»Straight Out Of Hell« ranks, alongside »Gambling With The Devil« (2007), as the most polished and expressively complete "post-The Dark Ride" era Helloween album. A "brighter" record than "7 Sinners" (2010), with more of the band's…

»Resonance« is a quality double live recording that shows the classic Asia lineup in the best possible light, with long-running hits and newer material nicely spread out, so that every album from the original and most beloved lineup is…

The group's core engine is still Zak Stevens' one-of-a-kind vocal tone and delivery, plus the arranging approach to songwriting the guy picked up during his time in Savatage.

Few bands today hold on to a strictly defined stance of artistic uniqueness and a one-of-a-kind, instantly recognizable musical substance the way Poland's Riverside do. And their new album is a shining example of that.

A step up from the continuity of its predecessor »W.E.T.« (2009). The Eric Mårtensson (Eclipse) and Robert Såll (Work Of Art) tandem has once again proven to be one of the most effective arranging duos around when it comes to bringing the…

"With this album Riverside have once again outdone their predecessor, reached a new point in their artistic evolution, masterfully risen to the challenge of a fresh artistic temptation, and come out of it as artists who, together with a…

"This Strange Engine" doesn't come up much when people rank the best Marillion albums, but it's still one of the most interesting art rock records of the nineties, and the one that let this legendary British band successfully open the first…

Player's comeback album, in grand style. A real masterclass in song arrangement, and a textbook example of balancing rock and pop elements in songs born for radio play. An organic album of sonic perfection lost in time, an album of…

Hands down the strongest Stratovarius album of the post-Tolkki era.

»30 Years – Live From the Sunset Strip« is the album the guys had to put out to drown out Russell's version of Great White. Thirty years together is a great alibi for it. And with it, the white shark proves it's nowhere near done wearing…

»Blind Dog at St. Dunstans'« was the sign that Caravan were slowly starting to slide past their artistic peak, though there's still a fair few brilliant moments on it that instantly remind you why these eternal clowns used to rank among the…

After a year of silence, the heralds of "camel" metal Gonoba are back among the living, loud and proud. Their new record Endless Cycles is an adrenaline shot of first-rate death/thrash metal. Even with plenty more Slovenian metal releases…

To get signed by Frontiers Records for your debut, you have to be really good. Really good right from the get-go. And with "Overdrive", Diamond Dawn show they're a talented new "Scandi Melodic Rock" outfit with plenty of room to grow.

Styrian heretics have birthed an orthodox debut that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the late The Haunted.

Since 1979, Vicious Rumors, legendary champions of the old school of American speed metal, have been fighting for metal honor and for their lineup! And here at last is their third officially released live document!

"Drenov Grič" doesn't just hold onto the musical identity Nula Kelvina laid out on their debut, it deepens and expands that story. It does so partly at the expense of the occasional shot of rock energy, which now opens up room for the…

A lovely, easygoing, relaxing, infectious art pop record. Tight and concise in its moves, it's an expressive step up from its predecessor "Srce". This richly dynamic dose of music across two discs proves, through splendid arrangement…

"»Drenov Grič« hasn't just held onto the musical identity Nula Kelvina laid out on their debut, it digs deeper into that story and stretches it wider."

On Too Many Years of Silence, Exsilium pull off a great fusion of folk and black metal. And in their world, thank the Slavic gods, there's no room for mindless drinking and party songs.

Jorn fans will be thrilled, especially those who know the Allen/Lande project, where keyboards and the symphonic catchiness of the arrangements play a major role. The collision of classical and rock music works. "Jorn goes to Broadway".

"Snakecharmer" is the album of a super rock band led by Micky Moody and Neil Murray, the kind of record David Coverdale has only been dreaming about for years.

Even though »The Savage Playground« is the band's artistic graduation exam, what stays front and center is a manifesto of original sin in the making. It's exactly what Crashdiet want and, let's face it, exactly what we want from Crashdiet!

Werefox have set their sights high, and this all-star team-up of excellent musicians works perfectly in far more harmonious waters than anything they've done before.

A fresh dose of top-notch hard rock from the thoroughly trustworthy artistic conglomerate that is Pink Cream 69 has spent almost six years of waiting ripening into pure honeyed indulgence, with all the genuine charm of classic retro rock…

"On the Way to Everything" is a solid piece of work that, over its running time, doesn't quite hold the coherence of comparable modern studio efforts in the west coast AOR / melodic rock vein. Still worth checking out for fans of the genre.

After the medication-comatose Meds, Placebo are waking up and getting back on track. B3 is proof that the passion and the flames of excellence haven't died out yet.

A dirty rock n' roll riff, with a patch of punk nonchalance and a heap of melodic pomp sugar, will daze you into unconsciousness. A generally likable product, even though we've all heard these riffs before. Kiss, The Dakrness, Def Leppard,…