Reviews

This album is a first-class surprise for me! When I got it in my hand, I just waved it off with, "Ah, just another chirpy power-metal oompah band!" Especially judging by the typical power metal cover. No way

Strapping Young Lad? Yep, the mad metal scientist, or rather metal mad doctor, Devin Townsend! Who wouldn't know him? The guy is one of the bravest creatures around while also being one of the biggest oddballs in the music business, all…

When keyboard wizard Keith Emerson broke up The Nice, one of the best proto-prog bands around, because they'd become too cramped for his extraordinary talent, he knew full well he was setting off on a whole new musical adventure. And when…

Anthony Phillips is without a doubt one of the most respected former members of Genesis. Even though the sound Ant had cultivated since his earliest days with Genesis was in commercial decline at the time thanks to punk, he didn't much care…

The return of Shark Island! Who would have thought? Chances are many of you, like me (I sometimes have to educate myself "retroactively" in cases like this), never had the time to get to know this band, which already

Three years after the masterful debut "Voyage of the Acolyte" (1975), and a year after leaving Genesis, who had stopped backing his innovative musical ideas, Steve Hackett decided to put out "Please Don't Touch&l

After the brilliant »Heavy Traffic« (2002), its follow-up was eagerly awaited. »The Party Ain't Over Yet is also an album that's pure Status Quo! It's got all the typical Quo ingredients. »Quo boogie driv

Easily one of the toughest reviews of my life! Not that I didn't want to write it! Quite the opposite! This album is so perfect that no amount of words can get to the bottom of it! So I gave it over 5 months to somehow si

"Simplified" isn't really a proper Simply Red album, not one you could file under "studio album" in the band's existing discography. It's actually a selection, a compilation of old songs and hits, to which

The legendary Austrian band got back together twenty years after splitting up, and they've finally managed to record a new album! No Bros are no greenhorns in the music world, but a band that put out four excellent albums in the eighties

"Vox In Excelso" is a concept album built on the mysteries and controversy of the historical role of the Crusader Knights Templar (medieval knight-monks who were handed a license by the first pope, the guy who made up the Templar order

The sound alone, and the polish of the new album from Danish "power" metallers Evil Masquerade, tops anything the band has done before. Evil Masquerade have put together songs with a red thread running through them, with well-crafted motifs…

Vengeance, the band founded in 1983 by guitarist Arjen Anthony Lucassen (today the mastermind of the progressive rock outfit Ayreon), are back with their "heavy rock 'n' roll" record, the real old-school traditional stuff from the eighties

This one-of-a-kind American vocalist, who has sung with Danish melodic hard rockers Royal Hunt since 1999 and is known for working with prog rock legends Artension, followed up his 2001 album "Earth Maker" with its successor "

The brilliant, and until then rather enigmatic, guitarist Steve Hackett became the first member of Genesis to go solo, and right out of the gate he proved to the music world that he was far more than just a guitar virtuoso. Steve is

Last day, last show of the UK tour! It's October 22, 2005 (the CD booklet has a typo, listing the date as 22.10.1995). London's Astoria is sold out, with a total of 2,000 devoted heads packed inside. They're waiting impatiently for a full…

Up to the album "Black Moon Pyramide", Axel was unfairly pegged as Germany's Ritchie Blackmore. From that record on, though, every new release carved out a bit more room for him under the open sun

The new, this time single-disc "live" Dio CD, which first came out as a DVD practically right after it was recorded, took a full three years to find a home on a regular audio CD too. It's just proof that the

The fifth album from Englishman Steve Newman proves it's downright ideal to be blessed with multi-instrumentalist talent, own your own studio and write exactly the music you want, without having to bend to the wishes of other members, the…

The guy who played Postojna a few years back as part of singer John Lawton's (ex – Uriah Heep, ex-Lucifer's Friend) touring crew, and who has already recorded four albums with the venerable Mr. Lawton, is a renowned session guitarist

Authentically live, completely unpolished! Axel's second live record since "Made In Germany" from 1995, also recorded in Germany. This time at Bochum's Zeche this past May. A fantastic l

Label: Island Records / Atlantic RecordsRelease date: December 10, 1970Production: Robert Fripp & Peter SinfieldLength: 42.30 minGenre: Progressive RockRating: 9.5/10 In mid-1970, King Crimson were still in an unenviable spot,…

The legend of the eagle taking off and landing is clearly far from over! The veterans who survived the N.W.O.B.H.M. days seem to cook up a new chapter in the saga of their beloved little eagle every decade of their existence. So now we've…

"Walking On H2O" is the third Mind's Eye album and the first in four years! Let me quickly refresh your memory. The band's leader is keyboardist and drummer Daniel Flores, who is also responsible for most of the compositions on the new…

Surveillance are representatives of melodic hard rock from the UK, and what sets them apart is Lee Small's vocal approach. He makes no secret of flirting with the style of the legendary Glenn Hughes. Lee has a mastery of the soul-drenched…

Another band that's far from new (their story started back in 1984) is releasing a new album after a long absence. Michael Voss (Casanova, Demon Drive) and Axel Kruse (Jaded Heart) joined forces again last summer and brought Mad Max back to…

Empire are releasing the follow-up to "Trading Souls" (2003)! This is a band that will grab the attention of all fans of late Black Sabbath, or, to put it roughly, fans of all the "Sabbath" albums with Tony Martin on the main

"Moonmadness" is Camel's fourth album and the last one to feature the original, classic lineup (that's Latimer, Bardens, Ferguson and Ward). After the release of their instrumental concept masterpiece "The S

Two car crashes, the mumps, and Hysteria. What on earth do they have in common? Def Leppard! On New Year's Eve 1984 in Sheffield, Rick Allen, drummer of what was then the most successful rock band in the world, was in a car accident that…

Toward the end of the seventies, with the punk revolution still at its peak and a pile of new punk and new wave acts popping up on the scene every week, a band called Café Racers emerged in 1977. They later renamed themselves Dire Straits…

A year after a flawless debut album, Dire Straits came back with a very worthy follow-up. Even though the "critics" have branded it Dire Straits' weakest album, that claim is light-years away from the truth.

Mark Knopfler and his crew proved on this album that they're true masters! Five tracks, one of them the most incredible single in music history, a fourteen-minute masterpiece, a single that never really was one, and two killer tunes to…

I can easily say that on this album quality beats quantity! Seven fairytale tracks, each better than the last. On his third album, Knopfler entered his masterpiece phase.

It's incredible how much this great musician has given us over his career, starting with Trapeze (for quick orientation: that's where former Judas Priest drummer Dave Holland and guitarist Mel Galley also played, who crossed paths with…

Another promising band from our own backyard is here. RattleSnake (read: rattlesnake) has hissed and rattled its way in among us to hit hard, shake up the Slovenian mainstream and put things back where they belong. RattleSnake offer a rough

This album from the legendary Wishbone Ash was a long-awaited one, given how excellent its predecessor "Bona Fide" (2002) was. Wishbone Ash, who are undoubtedly enjoying a new bloom in their golden years, stick to their standard formula on…

With "Bona Fide", Wishbone Ash have delivered an album that's bursting with freshness and songs that stick in your head instantly, thanks to that quality, rare these days, that an album like this demands.

This is a seriously hard swerve away from the previous record. The guitar is more aggressive and crushing in the riffs than ever before. The main culprit is of course the production, which buries the keyboards and orchestral arrangements…

Before the release of their third album, Jethro Tull, with the singles "Sweet Dream" and "Witch's Promise", were already one of the most successful and promising bands of early progressive rock. "Benefit"

" "Benefit" is not only better produced, it's a far more mature album than its predecessor. It's where the band finally shaped its signature identity. "

After a bluesy start with "This Was" (1968), Jethro Tull decided to change their sound and musical direction on "Stand Up". That meant gradually dropping the blues elements and steering into folk-hard rock waters,

Label: Island RecordsRelease date: 7/25/1969Production: Terry Ellis & Ian AndersonAlbum length: 37.48 minGenre: Folk Rock / Blues Rock / Heavy Rock / JazzRating: 8.0/10 After the bluesy start of "This Was" (1968), Jethro Tull…

Tony Levin is one of the first names that comes up whenever anyone mentions bass playing, a guy whose innovations sparked a revolutionary rise in the popularity of the instrument, and of the Chapman stick in particular, since Tony was…

"This Was" is the very first album by the legendary Jethro Tull. Back then, as singer, flautist and bandleader Ian Anderson stressed more than once, Jethro Tull were "a small blues band". But an incredibly talented blues band,

"Even though Jethro Tull only showed their true musical direction and full potential on later albums, "This Was" is a thoroughly likable "progressive blues" record that shines above all in its remarkable originality."

To the Ancient Greeks, Comus was the god of revelry and excess. His notorious rites were the scene of countless debauched orgies, mostly fueled by all sorts of intoxicating substances, which later spread to Ancient Rome as well. Just like

"First Base" was the first album from this legendary band and also their biggest commercial success. Rightly so, because it's one of the best rock debuts of the early 70s. The album sails very successfully along

»Roadworks« is actually Ten Years After's first "live" CD, or rather the second release in the official bootleg series after »One Night Jammed« (2003). It's a concert recording from one of the band's shows in Germany in 2004. Everyone

The man who goes down as a co-creator of heavy metal, music that had a major influence on how metal developed on European soil and on the development of the branch tagged with the word "power" or symphon

House Of Lords, who came back on the scene trying to imitate modern sonic adventures with "The¨Power And The Myth" (2004) and tried to cash in, which didn't work out, have with »World Upside Down« finally

Mötley Crüe, reunited last year, also hit the road last year on a concert tour that turned out to be one of the most-attended tours of 2005. They definitely have their huge fan base to thank for that, because musical

Here's the thing: anyone with five minutes to spare… Well, well… anyway, the wondrous multi-instrumentalist Akira Kajiyama and Joe Lynn Turner, a seasoned old fox (ex – Deep Purple, ex Rainbow, ex- Y.J. Malmsteen's Rising Force, if

It's anything but a walk in the park when you head into the studio to write an album and the band has no guitarist-vocalist rolled into one, blessed with the rare luck of having a playing and singing style you'd recognize from a mile away.…

If you listen closely to hits like Photograph and Armageddon It, it's obvious why Def Leppard decided to pay tribute to their teenage heroes and record a covers album, YEAH! Considering their latest

Wishbone Ash are without a doubt one of those bands you just can't pin down or squeeze into a genre box. They explored every possible side of early-'70s British rock in their music, without

"Raging Silence" is Uriah Heep's seventeenth studio album, and the one that, after another commercial stumble (or outright wreck) with "Equator" (1985), got the band back on its old tracks and back on its feet.

"Playing The Angel", their 11th studio album, proves that Depeche Mode have grown up and left the toys they were building sandcastles with twenty years ago far behind. It's incredible how much has grown and

The solo work of King Crimson's most off-the-wall member has gotten its epilogue with "Side Three", the third and final part of the trilogy he kicked off last year. After "Side One", which came out in January 2005, and "Side

After the most commercially successful makeover of their career, Yes carried on with the "90125" lineup and, of course, tried to make a new record that would chase the success of its predecessor "90125"

Imagined in fiction, or say you're a passing observer who plants yourself at a spot in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, "Union" is the record that geographically united East and West Yes. So where were we?

Legendary multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald's (currently a member of 21 Century Schizoid Band) first solo album arrived almost twenty years after his double-platinum days and big commercial success with Foreigner, and exactly

»Dobrodošli na dvor« is the fifth studio album from Mi2 and a textbook case of where the »mainstream« of the Slovenian rock scene should be sitting today. Mi2 have fired off an incredibly mature record, a great jigsaw of p

Lovers of improvisation, this album is for you! With "Starless and Bible Black," King Crimson made one of their most experimental and innovative records. The big thing about this album is that it was recorded almost entirely live, with the…

They were small steps, taken at home for private fun... This live recording by the excellent English progressive metallers Threshold comes from the Z7 club (Pratteln, Switzerland) and was captured during the "Subsurface" tour

To draw attention to their new project Icon, rock legends Geoffey Downes and John Wetton put out an EP called "Heat Of The Moment - 05" three months after the studio album "Icon". As the title already tells you, the EP's main song is Heat…

This is the "comeback" album from Danish "melodic/AOR/hard rock" legends, some of whom you might remember from their self-titled debut in 1984, followed in 1986 by "A Matter Of Attitude", as the Danish version of

"Acoustic TV Broadcast" is something different. Asia and Icon "the acoustic way". For those of you who don't like long reviews, let me say up front that the instrumental castration on "Acoustic TV Broadcast," apart from being different and…

After eight studio albums and one acoustic live CD, the top dogs of Swiss "hard rock", Gotthard, have finally managed to put out their first real live album, recorded on the last night of their "Lipservice"

Seven years after the utterly fascinating creation that was "Giuntini Project II," the Italian guitar wizard is back with his third outing, "Giuntini Project III." He's kept the lineup exactly the same

Ambition is a project. So what the hell kind of ambition is hiding behind it? The ambition to bring the excellent, forgotten singer Tom Griffin, who once sang for the legendary pomp rockers Trillion, back "from the dead" and onto the stage.…

After the release of the debut "Giuntini Project I" (1994), Aldo Giuntini (he took his name from an Italian classical composer who lived in the last century and is counted among the representatives of Futurism) in the year

This is unbelievable! Are we witnessing a real "revival" of AOR hard rock melodics? The stream of excellent records just won't dry up. This time it's the release of "Different Angles" by Shadowman, who two years ago

»Three Friends« is the third album from these masters of experimental symphonic prog rock, and their first concept album. The concept itself is incredibly simple at heart, telling the story of three friends who start out inseparable and…

»The Snow Goose« is a concept-album masterpiece, the record where Camel hit their creative peak. It's also their most mature work, pairing flawless musicianship with exceptional sonic beauty and a brilliant concept.

With "Octopus," Gentle Giant created one of their finest works. The album offers a whole spectrum of unique musical ideas that the band could always toss off like it was nothing. As outstanding masters of countless in&scaro

One magical evening in 1981, mid-tour for the "Nude" album, Camel stopped in London, at the legendary Hammersmith Odeon to be exact, and played an unforgettable show. The lineup at the time included, besides the two original

Right off the bat I have to say this is a concept album built on yet another successfully cracked case of the ever-fearless and infallible Sherlock Holmes (yeah, I'm already feeling inadequate). This time he's wrestling with the Baskerville…

Hm, this record is one of the more controversial ones in metal. Well, at least for 2004. You hardly know where to start with a review. Every plus comes with its minus, which means the new Iced Earth album is pretty neutral in character

Yes, this is the manifestation of white-hot, ossified hard rock in the best possible way. Band leader and guitar wizard Nikolo Kotzev didn't want to leave any room for doubt, so he went at it without compromise. O

Just when it looked like Iron Maiden had set standards for heavy metal in the first half of the eighties that nobody would top for a good long while, bands like Queensrÿche and Fates Warning came along and showed,

If "Nursery Cryme" (1971) was their first classic and the record that finally brought the band the attention it deserved, "Foxtrot" is another step forward in the band's constant progress and one of the great

"Nursery Cryme", Genesis' third album, is probably the most important record in the band's history. It's also one of the most important albums for progressive rock. With it, Genesis finally stood shoulder to shoulder with the established…

This outstanding German melodic "hard rock band" really doesn't know how to ease off and keeps charging full steam ahead! Ever since they landed under the watchful wing of AOR Heaven, Frontline have carried on their

They survived, 18 years after their last studio album. Survivor, that is. The forever-hot Eye Of The Tiger, one of those songs that might be the most-used soundtrack for either films of typical Ameri&scaro

Raw, wild and sensual! This guy with a hard-hitting guitar grip serves up the real, live, classic "Gibson" sound of hard rock. On top of that he sings with that unmistakable voice, completely immersed the whole way through. There are few…

Willowglass is the project of Andrew Marshall, a guy who is definitely not "born yesterday". He's a seasoned musician who honed his chops playing in various local bands from Yorkshire over the last 20 years. The album

Rock granddad Ian Gillan is enjoying his "golden" years, and he's earned every minute of it. The man has given his huge 40-year legacy a fresh spin, and he's taken all those newly re-recorded classics, dressed up as a "big party" in the stu

King Crimson came back with "Larks' Tongues In Aspic" completely reborn. And in a good way. Robert Fripp, the band's undisputed leader from this album on, lost his patience after the end of the previous tour, for the album "Island

"Earthbound", their first live album, is without a doubt the most obscure release in the band's catalog and really something of an anomaly. It's a bootleg recorded in the final days of the Fripp/ Burrell/Collins/Wallace lineup and is…

"Islands" is the most meditative and mellow album in the band's catalog, and the one with the fewest parts for Fripp's electric guitar. It still doesn't skimp on adventurous musical ideas, as befits King Crimso

Gary Barden is a hard rock singer probably best known for his stint in MSG (Michael Schenker Group), and these days he sings with the reunited English hard rockers Statetrooper. Two years ago he put out a debut that's definitely worth a…

And then there were two…When Phil Collins left Genesis after the "We Can't Dance" tour, almost nobody seriously expected the band to keep making music. But the indestructible original members, keyboardist Tony Banks and guitarist/bassist…

The second live release from the "We Can't Dance" tour, following "The Way We Walk – Volume One – The Shorts" (1992), is also the band's fifth live album, and it collects their longer pieces. These are the progressive, comp

"The Way We Walk - Volume One - The Shorts" is the first of two live records taken from the "We Can't Dance" tour and the band's fourth live album. It's dominated by mostly shorter, commercial

After "Invisible Touch" (1986), their commercially most successful album, the legendary band took a long break. Plenty of people figured they'd never come back, mostly because of Collins's huge solo fame, which he

"Part II" is light-years away from "Part I," but it's also light-years away from the sadly underwhelming "Q2K" (1999) and "Tribe" (2003).

What old fans of the band feared most has happened. On "Invisible Touch," Genesis finally gave in to Collins' solo career and became his pop backing band. The transformation from one of the best and most creative bands of 70s prog rock into

Sure, Spock's Beard don't change so drastically over the course of their career that old material wouldn't interest them live anymore (unlike, say, the chameleonic King Crimson), but they clearly still can't hide their excitement about the…

By the time "Three Sides Live", Genesis' third live album, came out, they were already one of the most famous and commercially successful bands of the '80s, while at the same time increasingly pushing their

With their self-titled record, Genesis pleasantly surprised everyone. If "Abacab" (1981) was a letdown for most fans of prog-era Genesis, thanks to its musical inconsistency and a few below-average songs, then "Genesis" (also called…