Reviews

"All in all, the mission is more or less accomplished. Sammet sounds fresh again on the project's new release, even if it still holds a few things back."

“Distance Over Time” is once again a more listenable moment in Dream Theater's career. No artistic progress, then. But in everything it embodies, it's a Dream Theater album from head to toe. And of course, a very good Dream Theater album.…

"“Lotus” is yet another excellent studio album from Soen. With it, the band keeps hardening its artistic focus and expressive stance. It feels remarkably unified, and it's the most focused of everything they've released so far."

"This one's a must for every King Diamond fan, and for anyone who swears by the good old school of classically tempered metal riffs dressed up in a signature "horror show" theatre. "Abigail" has been born again, and with it, of course, that…

"The Verdict" is a good album. It has a different character, which is a good thing, but it could once again get some fans turning up their noses.

"»Srce imaš tako veliko« is an album that grabs you and holds you close from the first moment to the last. It's a manifesto of Leon Matek's remarkable maturing and one of the strongest singer-songwriter albums to come out of Slovenia in the…

Label: AFM RecordsRelease date: 08.02.2019Produced by: Herman FrankAlbum length: 68.58 minGenre: Heavy Metal Ever since he joined the legendary Accept in the early eighties, Herman Frank has been one of the key figures forging heavy…

Label: Celinka Release date: 01.09.2018 Producer: Dejan Berden Over the years Ethnotrip have developed a chemistry all their own. It's a singular weave of instrumental playing, ruled of course by an endearing, endlessly yearning female…

"»The Nature Of The Beast« is so good that it deserves a spot right next to the debut »Stand In Line« (1988). "

"»Dysphoria« takes the Starbreaker project to a completely new level of expression and character. Strikingly fresh in both production and style. Given the consistency and quality of this new effort, it would be wonderful if the project ever…

"Toby Hitchcock is back with an album that's exactly what you need if you've been missing a new record from Pride Of Lions for a good while now."

"The material used on the Devil's Hand debut must be a leftover stash of songwriting for a possible new Seveth Key album, which has been nowhere to be seen for ages now, years in fact."

"After »Najlepši neuspehi« (1992) and »Bendologija« (1999), this is actually the third compilation from the famous singer and musician, whose one-of-a-kind, instantly recognizable, incredibly distinctive, warm and totally velvety voice has…

With their fifth studio album, Obscura show no signs of letting up. You can feel the consistency, the thoughtfulness and the progressiveness.

With "At the Edge of Light," Steve Hackett proves once again why he enjoys the greatest respect among prog rock fans of all the former members of the unforgettable Genesis, especially when it comes to studio work, which remains at an…

"Mob Rules are back with a great new album, "Beast Reborn", one of the few standard-bearers of the first power metal generation still defiantly carrying on in their basic, old-school form of ossified Euro power metal."

The Roxy Music debut built a strange and wildly innovative bridge between progressive rock and glam rock, and along with Sinfield's superb production and Ferry's half-metaphysical, half-lovesick lyrics, that was one of the key ingredients…

"Zemljin sin" is really a continuation of the story that stalled at the point where his band Eskobars left off."

"Yes. »Iz konteksta« keeps all the originality, all the piercing and shattering confessional distinctiveness of its predecessor, the studio debut."

"So what we have here is an exceptionally strong act, firmly rooted in alternative rock (all the way to metal), whose presence gratefully enriches an otherwise perpetually undernourished Slovenian rock scene."

"'Duša' is a really lovely, polished pop and rock album. In a way it reflects a distant, yet (in terms of Slovenian musical heritage) deeply internalized, 1980s pop-song sentiment, judging by its structure and emotional vibe. A personal,…

“Land of Cockayne” was in many ways a product of its time and a reflection of where the eighties jazz fusion scene was at. Even though it's not without its charms, it's light-years away from the classic Soft Machine approach to jazz fusion…

"»Metal Souls« is a real "bomb" of an 80s hard rock and metal revival. Stylistically it's an astonishingly precise album. Precise in the sense that it was composed by a Japanese musician who, at the same time, knocks so effectively on the…

Label: Office 4 Music Release date: 09.01.2019 Production: Žarko Pak EP length: 27.32 Genre: Alternative Rock / Indie Rock Buy the album! And here it is! The new release from Bališ, the Austrian-Carinthian band with Slovenian roots, and…

!The band rules the revival of that original school of guitar phrasing, walking the path of the legacy it wrote, together with a few elemental bands of the first American wave of heavy metal, back in the eighties."

"Along with its fascinating character and its painstaking fusion of musical moves, the album »Open Your Eyes« stands out as one of the most interesting and daring pop releases to come out last year on the sunny side of the Alps."

"Dave Bruebeck, who?!?! Ha, ha."

Judging by the setlist alone, this live document can also double as a great entry point for anyone who doesn't know the band yet. It's a superb cross-section of the discography, and an introduction to the band's output from 1988 to 2018.

The Canadian masters of unconventional art rock feats, who have always had their strongest backing in Germany, are in superb form throughout the whole set captured on “So Good So Far”, a live document that will delight fans of every…

Listening to "Alive & Well," you'd never guess Soft Machine were on the verge of (a temporary) split, because even while playing brand-new material, the band still sounds like a well-oiled machine.

"Softs" was a thoroughly solid effort from the Jenkins-era Soft Machine, but a few less inspired ideas kept it from making the leap into their canon of classics. Still, they weathered Ratledge's departure pretty well.

"»Second Coming« is yet another album tailor-made for fans of Pretty Maids, Eclipse and W.E.T., while also aiming at the wider crowd of melodic-but-bristling hard rock lovers."

Soft Machine are back! Along with Gryphon's new record, »Hidden Details« is another big surprise of 2018: a hugely successful comeback studio album from a legendary prog rock band we thought would never set foot in a studio again

"With their debut, D'Neeb come across as artistically mature and just plain fun the whole way through, with a pile of catchy, nicely varied little tunes that bring a good time and a proper party. "

"»Untold Stories« is considered one of the best hard rock releases of 2018, or AOR too, if you like. With it, Airirace bridge the influential seventies with incredible juiciness, add a nostalgic AOR flirt from the eighties, and fuse the two…

Label: Zavod OrbitaRelease date: 05.10.2018Production: SmetAlbum length: 46.15Genre: Country / Blues Smet is an interesting musical hybrid! Special and downright unique. Independent and homegrown. In its whole essence and expressive…

"If »Alpska psihadelija« was truly yet another Renaissance »one man band« outpost, »Sammy Automatic« is still technically a »one man band« album, but it doesn't necessarily feel like one. The arrangements are more varied. Samuel Blues is…

"So this album is aimed at listeners who keep up with what Revolution Saints and the new (and old) Hardline are doing, and who feel at home with the golden era of AOR (Journey, Bad English). »Set the World on Fire« is a really nice album.…

In the early nineties, Jade Warrior enjoyed a minor sonic renaissance with the thoroughly solid "Breathing the Storm".

"“Live At Red Rocks Amphiteater” is a true snapshot of where Opeth's creativity stood in 2017 and 2018. With a bit less of Akerfeldt's chatter between songs and a better-balanced setlist, it could have delivered more. As it is, it's still…

“Time Is The Key” was a thoroughly decent album that cemented Moerlen's approach to melodic, ambient-rich jazz fusion with the odd prog rock element, but there was (no longer) much to say about any great innovation, since the basic recipe,…

"Miha Renčelj is a master of mood. That's what makes him a one-of-a-kind artist, and it's why his original music is so special, which is of course the whole point, the key ingredient that draws the listener in and "enchants" them.…

»Another Fine Tune You've Got Me Into« was a slightly less exciting but solid follow-up to the Gilgamesh debut, and it closed the book on a short but fun Canterbury story. The album came out in 1978, when Gilgamesh were already history.

"An album that grumbles with style."

"The album is wildly bold and varied in its ideas. The opening, more subtly pitched Jesenska already signals that it comes across a touch more serious, let's call it more focused and concise in how it hones its arrangements, compared to the…

With "Raingods With Zippos," the Scottish prog rock veteran created one of the shiniest gems of a solo career, and it's still something to be immensely proud of today.

With "What We Did On Our Holidays," Fairport Convention, thanks above all to Sandy Denny, slowly stepped into their classic and still most beloved creative era, right in the middle of a gradual sonic transition.

With the crushingly dull "In the Hot Seat", their last and probably worst studio effort, ELP hit their creative rock bottom, and even though they kept going as a live outfit for another four years, it was clear that this was now really the…

"Pin Ups" is one of the few Bowie albums you can't call a rock classic. It's nothing but covers of his favorite artists from his teenage years, and it's mostly interesting for anyone who wants to know who shaped his musical development.

With »Valentyne Suite«, thanks to its title-track masterpiece, Colosseum hit their artistic peak and delivered the defining album of their career. For a short while they found themselves among the elite of the best and most important…

»Club Ninja«, packed with plenty of seriously interesting metal/hard rock gems, ranks among the most overlooked Blue Oyster Cult albums.

With "Waters of Change", where every track was crafted with exceptional fire, Beggars Opera created the crown jewel of their discography, an album that can stand up even to the best work of their better-known symphonic prog rock peers.

“Turn of the Tide” confirmed that BJH had pulled off a fairly successful transition into the eighties as a slimmed-down lineup. Despite a few ugly misfires and some shortcomings, especially on the keyboard front, it was still a solid and…

"Amar Caballero" couldn't live up to the standards Babe Ruth set with "First Base," but it's still a solid effort, and these days it'll appeal mostly to prog rock fans who like a quality female lead vocalist.

The often-overlooked "Silent Nation", which boasted excellent production from Payne, was in many ways not your typical Asia album, and that's exactly what remains one of its biggest draws today.

Brimming with untamed energy, Colosseum's debut »Those Who Are About to Die Salute You« was a hugely important album in the story of early progressive rock and jazz fusion, and it's still of interest to most blues rock fans today.

Allan Holdsworth is the main reason "Bundles" is now counted among the classics of English jazz rock fusion.

"It took Gary Hughes just one year to create an excellent new album, which proves the man is at the peak of his creative powers, especially considering that Ten are a band almost 30 years old, one you could say left their best years far…

With the gorgeous ambient journey »Earth Is Sleeping«, which will be most interesting to anyone who knows her story and her work, Dyble has proven once again that it's never too late to come back from musical retirement, or from near-total…

"Over the years, Siddharta have become true masters of their craft. They know exactly how to command their own musical vocabulary. They keep repackaging their musical recipe and serving it up again so well that the whole thing feels fresh…

"Last summer, Accept played an exclusive show in front of 80,000 fans at the eternal Wacken Open Air festival, joined by a symphonic orchestra. A full dose of fun and a one-of-a-kind experience for the band, but ultimately, from a fan's…

»The Time Machine« was one of the better moments of Alan's solo career and a worthy part of the legendary The Alan Parsons Project legacy, even if it had a few less dazzling moments too.

It's hard to believe that "Broadway the Hard Way" came out of a grueling, cut-short tour after which Zappa wrote off the whole rock-band concept for good, because listening to it, Frank's crew sounds like a well-oiled machine having the…

Seven Days In May are a special, one-of-a-kind band. They're building their own unmistakable musical dossier. They draw their inspiration from the heyday of mid-'90s alt rock and translate it into the present incredibly well in their…

Right out of the gate with debut "Persona", Imset have absorbed the fashionable aesthetic of Slovenian alt pop-rock culture remarkably well. This is the real launchpad for a band that's now got the doors open to growing their popularity on…

"A shift is needed. A move. So that the feeling that Lumberjack occasionally come across as a Big Foot Mama clone disappears in the future. Admittedly a thankless remark, but still. At least you know this is a 100% pure-blooded Slovenian…

"Sur la Mer," which had nothing to do with the classic The Moody Blues sound, landed squarely in the 'quickly forgotten' category, thanks to the label's burning desire to cater as much as possible to the trends of the MTV generation.

"We old farts who listen to Nazareth and wrote the band off after McCafferty left have had to eat our words. 'Tattooed On My Brain' puts the band back in an upright rock'n'roll stance, fired up with truly erect fervor. They come across with…

No hiding places here: true fans of this band will gladly add this new album, a proven fusion of German-school power and thrash metal orthodoxy, to their already enviable Brainstorm discography.

A band with untapped creative potential that turned it into something concrete on its studio debut, stepped it up artistically, and ended up with "Where If Not Now", a work of great artistic aesthetics and a gorgeous tribute to shoegaze.

"After an excursion into heavier experimentation, Dan D have gone back to more defined arrangements, delivered a dozen infectious tracks, tried out new things, skillfully folded them into their musical body, and grown another step through…

»Victory« is also going to go down a treat with fans of classic AOR sound, decently "reheated," "translated," and "repackaged" for new times. That said, White Widdow have started repeating themselves, and at this rate they'll have a hard…

"Headless Cross," one of the most overlooked achievements in the saga of the masters of metal darkness, ranks among the very best Black Sabbath records without Ozzy or Dio on vocals.

An album tailor-made for true Symphony X fans and for anything that, in terms of compositional expression, touches the refined, filigree fine mechanics of Michael Romeo's "godly hands."

An album tailor-made for true Symphony X fans, and for anything that, in compositional terms, taps into the refined, filigree fine mechanics of Michael Romeo's "hands of God."

»Crossing the Tracks« was a bold move and a thoroughly atypical album for Cross's solo career so far, one that, after some possible initial hesitation over a few unexpected turns, will probably win over most of his followers

»Crossing the Tracks« was a bold undertaking and a totally atypical album for Cross's solo career so far. After some possible initial hesitation over a few unexpected moves, it will probably win over most of his followers

If anyone stands by their deeds after more than 30 years in the game, we can say it without hesitation about the cult British N.W.O.B.H.M. heavyweights Satan! With »Cruel Magic« they've once again aced every test of time and creative…

If anyone stands behind their deeds after more than 30 years in the game, we can say it without a second thought about the cult British N.W.O.B.H.M. heavyweights Satan! With "Cruel Magic" they've once again passed every test of time and…

At a time when fresh, quality releases in the prog folk rock realm are almost chronically missing, the new Gryphon album arrived right on cue, even though it took a whole forty-one years to get here.

At a time when new, quality releases in the prog folk rock world are almost chronically missing, the new Gryphon album arrived right on cue, even though it took a full forty-one years to get here.

Big Big Train are in outstanding form at Cardogan Hall, with an extra brass section backing them up, and you can hear it all through “Merchants of Light”, which is stuffed with a colorful selection of some of their best moments from the…

Big Big Train were in outstanding form at Cardogan Hall, backed by an extra brass section, and you can hear it all the way through "Merchants of Light", which is stuffed with a varied selection of some of their best moments from the past…

Riverside have survived.

“The easiest way to describe »Groundbreaker« is as a Work Of Art-style album, just with the FM singer on vocals. “

With »The Living Dead«, Boltendahl hasn't handed fans yet another pig in a poke, but his 'gravediggers' still aren't in the kind of form that promises anything more than a solid-to-average effort, one that stays firmly in the shadow of…

"“Groundbreaker” is easiest to describe as a kind of Work Of Art album, but with the FM singer on vocals."

Boltendahl hasn't handed fans another pig in a poke with »The Living Dead«, but his 'gravediggers' still aren't in the kind of form that promises anything beyond a solid-to-average effort that stays firmly in the shadow of their classic…

"With "Wasteland", Riverside have kept all of their musical brilliance and credibility, passing the big "artistic endurance" test with flying colors. Without the key man in the lineup, no less. Inspired, sensual and bursting with artistic…

No secret here. Over the past three years U.D.O. have well and truly hit the reset button and delivered a long-awaited album, played with unbelievable zeal and boiling fire. There isn't a single moment on it that invites discouragement.…

Release date: 31.08.2018 Label: AFM Records Production: Jacob Hansen Rating: 9.0 / 10 Udo Dirkschneider hardly needs an introduction. Where did the last three years even go? So much has happened for the man known as the former lead…

The cult is back!

release date: September 28, 2018 label: El Pueblo Records production: Necronomicon rating: 8.5 / 10 Not the krautrockers of the same name. This Necronomicon are an old-school Teutonic thrash metal outfit from the German town of Lörrach.…

»Swan Hunter« is basically a teaser for the most impatient Big Big Train devotees, who needed a fresh musical 'fix' from their favorites before the release of the current live offering »Merchants of Light«.

»Tunguska« keeps all the compositional and arranging elegance and expressive maturity of its two splendid studio predecessors.

release date: September 14, 2018 label: Frontiers Music Srl. album length: 52:25 production: Peter Mansson & Anders Wikström rating: 9.5 / 10 Treat are long-lived Swedish hard rockers, a band with the track record of Europe's…

»The Chemical Wedding«, which Dickinson's devotees jokingly nicknamed 'the best Iron Maiden album since »Seventh Son of a Seventh Son« (1988)', was a true metal masterpiece the moment it dropped, and its cult status has only grown over the…

»Live At Hammersmith« is a live document from British rockers The Darkness. You have to wonder what on earth the guys were up to all these years that we had to wait so long for it. A superb record, taken from the band's show in London on…

»Live At Hammersmith« is the concert document from British rock outfit The Darkness. You have to wonder what the lads were up to all these years that it took so long to get it out. It's an outstanding record, taken from the band's show in…

"Live At Rockpalast" is a stunning live recording that catches the maestro Hammill and his three bandmates in unbelievable live form, right in the short-lived window just after the reunion.