Album

" Elixir have risen once again and, once more, stood their ground. They've kept all their trademarks and carried them over to their sixth studio album, which sounds just as you'd expect, as if it were lost in time and space."

"Duke is the album that loudly announced Genesis had entered the eighties too, riding a gradual storm of stylistic changes, just like plenty of their prog rock contemporaries."

"Another studio effort that's pretty damn good overall. Not perfect, nowhere near outstanding, but very nicely packaged and worth your attention. For the more demanding music fans who've followed Ozzy since forever, the new album might…

"The old fart isn't giving up, and in what he takes on with the incredibly inspired “Born Of Fire”, he's hellishly good again and practically untouchable (especially when it comes to his generational uniqueness)."

As if 24 years hadn't passed between the new and previous studio album, but three at most. Welcome home, boys. Let's hope “The God-Shaped Void” isn't your last act.."

“Ballistic, Sadistic” grabs you in a thoroughly “Annihilator” way, no doubt about it, it just doesn't ignite quite the way a longtime fan of the band might have wished or expected."

"The third witches' gathering, dancing with the Devil!"

"Album "#13“ is a fresh, fascinating dive into classic hard rock, Gotthard-recipe style, which the band can't and won't deny. "

"The release of "40th Anniversary - Agents Of Fortune - Live 2016" is a welcome move, if only because it's a nice wake-up call that the iconic fossils of heavy rock aren't done yet and are coming back (let's hope soon) with a promised new…

" Experience, know-how, routine, seasoning, and a long twelve-year stretch of gathering solid songwriting ideas and solutions. All of it has added up once again in just the right place."

"The new, fourth chapter of top-shelf "bonkers" jazz-rock fusion, highly eclectic in nature, serves up more easygoing musical accessibility than theatrical muscle-flexing."

" Fans of Biff Byford's iron voice and Saxon's music in general will be thrilled once again. That's the fundamental takeaway, along with the fact that this is, all in all, a very good new album, backed by a revered vocalist who long ago…

"Lynch's guitar playing has always needed a strong, authoritative vocalist at its side. This time he got one, and "Dirty Shirley" is a phenomenal combination of virtuoso chops and execution from two top-class musicians who, simply put, wow…

"Victor Smolski, whom we've always remembered in the best possible light, delivers a new top-shelf power metal read with the Almanac album "Rush Of Death". It's the hardest Almanac album yet, and in energy it sits close to the Rage-era…

"The album's pile-up of radio hits (from the golden age of AOR) is once again seriously huge, just like the outrageous bombastic hunger The Night Flight Orchestra keep cultivating, "Aeromantic" included."

"The album is exactly what only old, seasoned tomcats who breathed hard rock in the eighties can conjure up and deliver. An incredibly nostalgic record that would have given Black Swan instant commercial success if it had come out in the…

" Sons Of Apollo have grown as a band. The songs feel far more detailed, defined and, for all their progressive looseness, tighter too. Whether this is the creative zenith of the prog-metal Apollos or not, time will tell, but artistically…

"“Circle Of Dolls” doesn't stir up the same interest and excitement as, say, its predecessor “Scatterbrain.” It feels like KXM hit some kind of expressive zenith that closes out their evolution."

"A 'Jornification' of evergreen, radio-friendly hits and a few rock classics, tailor-made for Jorn's most hardcore fans"

" Compared to his two previous solo studio albums, the new one, "Ten," is closer in musical identity and production to what Sweet does with Stryper, though it's a fully self-contained story and a fresh step forward on the colorful musical…

"If you're into melodic rock, the album »Rise« is going to be right up your alley. It's played, written and produced at an exceptionally high level, and the quality shows. With names this big behind Revolution Saints, you wouldn't have…

"The album "22" boldly smashes the usual templates too. In a tense theater of dark vistas, the kind Ščapec's inner world lays bare in a "brave new mad world," it rattles and shocks the listener. In the feelings it creates, a hopeless…

"Arrangement- and sound-wise, “Vtora mladost, treta svetska vojna” is the band's most mature record to date, and it's also their most ambitious."

"A conformist, safe stance, but one Peavy still handles with skill and knows inside out, and once again it wins him a poker hand full of aces."

"An album where you run into everything, and one you won't get to the bottom of any time soon. From metal to blues, electronic music, jazz, even classic prog rock and psychedelic shenanigans. Want a surprise? Expect the unexpected."

"»Radiocarbon« is the work of battle-hardened old tomcats who know exactly how a composition has to be built in the genre sphere they've been prowling for years, so it grabs you instantly and completely. Innate Swedish perfectionism and…

"“Coat Of Arms” is another superb studio achievement from a legendary band that stays true to its traditional (chiseled) style. On the new album, Wishbone Ash radiate expressive freshness, creative sparkle and even a cheeky playfulness,…

Label: Steel Panther Inc.Release date: September 27, 2019Producer: Jay RustonAlbum length: 35.55 minGenre: Glam MetalRating: 8.0 / 10 Who else but Steel Panther? Finally, an album that clocks in under forty minutes. If only most…

"So the verdict stays the same as with the debut. Worth a try, and after that, whether you take the album or leave it comes down strictly to your criteria, and yours alone."

"This year marks 50 years since the album that "saved" Van Der Graaf Generator's career and clearly set the compass needle for the band's further evolution. An album that arrived ahead of its time and, with its avant-garde weirdo swagger,…

Label: Samo RecordsRelease date: 17.02.2020Album length: 48.16 minProducer: Samo ŠalamonGenre: ECM / Jazz FusionRating: 10 / 10Buy the album! »Rare Ebb« is the second of two releases born from the collaboration of three refined…

Label: Samo RecordsRelease date: February 17, 2020Album length: 50.14 minProducer: Samo ŠalamonGenre: ECM / Jazz FusionRating: 09 / 10Buy the album! This February saw the release of two albums by a trio that pools the untapped…

"With »Septet«, All Strings Detached reach a new artistic level, one that sends the two women climbing toward musical horizons of new expressive dimensions."

"Damir remains caustic and bilious beyond all limits, a rapid-fire dismantling of the system we're all enslaved to, and in reflecting on the times of our mad present he once again brings it to life with an incredibly juicy, unbridled…

"Rotten GrilZ thus deliver with "Punk You" a unique approach to fusing jazz and rock, and without a guitar! Of course, the scales tip toward jazzy free-spiritedness throughout, but the album (especially thanks to Eva Poženel) also leans…

"As always, and for the seventh time running! The compilation »Kočevje špila S srcem« is yet another flawless lexicon of the rich musical pulse of the Kočevje region, serving up a hefty harvest of homegrown original creativity and an…

"Free Steelar Trio and Rob Mazurek walked onto the stage with no plan whatsoever. They played a good 55 minutes of music and just one single track (Age Of Chaos). The result? A one-of-a-kind adventure."

"The feeling that the record could have offered more interesting substance is definitely there, and yet. Both musicians were brave and bold enough to take on this project, which on the flip side brings plenty of lucidity, mocking gallows…

"With »Kontrapunk«, Koromač have outgrown »Punk Enough?« in artistic maturity. They reach for new approaches and challenges of musical inspiration, and skillfully fold them into their musical vision."

"What Wild Strings Trio pulled off so beautifully on their gorgeous studio debut "Lost Weekend", they now deepen, expand and keep nurturing on the new record "Bendjistan"."

"A meeting of great truthfulness between two poets, each living in his own time. As the album “Rob” shows, it's one more proof that tear-clear sincerity in art brings evergreen freshness and a timeless quality to a work of art."

"An abrasive rock’n’ roll storm from Prlekija, captured for new times on the fifth outing from this brilliant band of the wide Slovenian rock underground, is a fresh, biting and razor-sharp manifesto of honest rebel attitude and…

"Orlek are back with a mighty, swaggering swing, riding a wave of newly found creative freshness and every element of their trademark miners' rock'n'roll preaching, while showing a whole lot of artistic maturity and wisdom."

"Paeth has basically shown up to the party a good 15 years late with this one."

"“Face the Music” easily picks up where the first three albums left off and keeps all the excellence of this quartet, who, with expectations sky-high, have delivered exactly what they had to!"

" It's all in one! A finished package! Essential and one of a kind, carved out of the unique Angel recipe. Yes. It's possible. Even in 2019. Another unexpected win at this year's "gathering of rock'n'roll dinosaurs."

" “Angel Of Light” isn't as varied as its predecessor “As Above, So Below”, but it keeps all the core elements that define the character of this cult band."

"Of all the artistic moves Tatler has boldly made with his band over the years, often gambling dangerously with the credibility of an old-school metal pose, "The Coffin Train" is the one where Diamond Head come closest, and most…

"It's fair to say the current incarnation of the band hit its creative peak with »Ritual«, and that Tygers Of Pan Tang are living through a kind of new renaissance, a rebirth, and, as our own Avtomobili would put it, a late spring. "

"Michael Schenker crossbred with his "Flyin' V" electric guitar! Literally. The symbolic "fusion" of the iconic guitarist with his axe lives on with the new Michael Schenker Fest album, another artistic bloom and renaissance"

"Did anyone actually doubt it? The extreme theme park keeps rolling at undiminished speed. Not (yet) at light speed, but extreme in every other way. Just like the (self-parodying) album title says!"

"No Work Of Art album has ever sounded as hungrily revivalist and AOR-ish as "Exhibits". Despite the perfect sound-production and songwriting aesthetic it achieves, it could do with a touch more variety of ideas, and some organic liveliness…

"'Paradigm' is an album where Eclipse merely keep up the level of quality songwriting they've already reached, without developing in any way anymore. That's why 'Paradigm' can no longer surprise you in the slightest."

"All in all. A nice album from a legendary musician. Worth a spin. But all three cult classics of the eighties remain untouchable."

"Old-school true believers will probably stick with this band's older records, because this time around Steel Prophet are dancing through notes that are just too soft."

"Frankly, and no beating around the bush: there's not a single artistic stumble on this album. An excellent new studio effort from an incredibly seasoned and experienced band."

"The Ghost Experiment – Awakening is exactly what you'd expect from a progressive metal band as good as Vanden Plas."

"Over 66 minutes, the new album has Flying Colors serving up top-notch musical rhetoric, without a single solitary moment that steals the listener's time"

"Old-school thrash metal strikes back!"

"The new album is exactly what its two predecessors delivered. It keeps every one of their qualities. For the occasion, Moratti kept the same crew of musicians in the studio who already worked on »Transcendence«."

"With »II«, CoreLeoni deliver exactly what everyone expected: a second helping of fun, freshly reworked Gotthard classics!"

"If you know Karlsson, Romero and Terrana, you already know what to expect from the album “A New Evil”."

"Let him keep teasing Anderson this effectively."

»II« is a brilliant follow-up to the cult debut. From the first spin, when it kicks off with the excellent Don't Say You Love Me, it grabs you by the ears and won't let go. If it had come out (to exaggerate) in 1986, that verdict wouldn't…

" Put on "Winds Of Change" and you'll wish the eighties had never ended. Better still, for a good 55 minutes, you're right back in them. "

"With this album, Rock 'N' Roll got yet another proper affirmation of its mission. Long before Christmas, The Darkness have moved it to Friday, October 4, 2019, and, like we said, cancelled Easter without a shred of respect!"

"So what we've got here is an incredibly strong, emotional and masterfully composed piece of work, the final artistic statement from Tony Mills, a perfect vocalist whose far too early departure leaves a very real hole in the modern melodic…

"“Hold On” is Kirk Fletcher's fourth studio album overall. It's his first to be fully self-written and, frankly, the one where Kirk finally nails down his own musical label and the trademarks of his guitar playing. A brilliant piece of…

"The album is once again good, solid and quality. But with no standout moments whatsoever. So, nothing special. Despite the detours Mat Sinner took with a female vocalist, extra guests and a more varied genre styling on some of the tracks."

"In every respect, »48 Seconds« is the very definition of artistic brilliance, a record you can't add a thing to or take a thing away from. A perfect, flawless piece of work. "

"On »Wings«, Picture sound like a dinosaur waking up from a hundred-million-year sleep. Ten tracks follow everything we know and understand under the name Picture. It sounds ancient, ossified, primal, jagged, and in every way it can, it…

"HammerFall didn't let us down this time either. The masters stick to their tried-and-true formula, which has always lit up the room and which they've got down cold. "

For "Contribution To the Common Mandess", his fourth solo album overall, Aleksander Arsov transformed into his alter ego Unhappy and poured out an electronic record of remarkably alluring avant-garde provocation and genre fusion."

"Šinobusi could have pulled off a fully retro-sounding prog rock album, but they'd rather stick to shorter, tightly arranged little tunes that pack in absolutely everything."

"A band with character, a fully formed vision and a potent creative drive that isn't afraid to flirt with "otherness" and try the untried, so it would be no surprise if the third album turned out significantly different again, from both the…

"A new Prekmurje quintet of seasoned musicians is devoted to crossing traditional folk songs from Prekmurje and Porabje, which in their musical vision they dress up into a fresh musical conglomerate, delivering a new, hugely interesting and…

“Svetilnik” is an album you need to spend real time with, because it's packed with vivid arranging and sonic fullness. Although it's blessed with big musical appeal, Čedahuči pulled quite a few sonic-experiment moves on it, which for the…

"An album signed in sweat and blood. With the pedigree to grow into a classic of Slovenian hard rock, that's Mary Rose on "Resničen svet"! Thirteen years after the release of "Feniks", they're happily back among the living!"

"The foundations of a new era are laid. Now it's up to Mary Rose to pour as much energy as possible into promoting the album, find their place on the airwaves and concert stages, and claim the spot in the music world that the most carefully…

"“Flesh And Blood” is, generally speaking, a very good hard rock album, written, composed and produced just the way it should be for the Whitesnake name in 2019"

"»Conundrum« is everything we want from Alex Skolnick and his trio. This seven-year cycle between the trio's album releases works out great."

"The whole confessional "circus" served up by this devilishly titled album could be a sublime answer to the band's hidden pact with the devil. The artistic growth in the punch of its message is plain to hear."

"All in all, an exceptionally beautiful jazz album, and really an elegant culmination of the maturity of all the knowledge, experience and skill picked up along the musical road of one of the greatest drum masters in Slovenian jazz."

"After two excellent albums, “Hymns for the Broken” (2014) and “The Storm Within” (2016), both truly top-notch, the question was whether Evergrey could hold on to that incredible creative streak and carry it over to a new record. The…

"Knjiga pohval in pritožb is the expanded edition of the album "Milo za drago", and the moment Dan D keep taking successful steps down the road of artistic self-evolution and individuality."

"While in every way a worthy successor to the last four Overkill albums, “The Wings Of War” isn't among the hardest, sonically sharpest and most possessed Overkill releases that remain burned into the minds of the band's longtime devotees.…

"With »Nouvi sad«, ŠKM Banda have soared straight to the zenith of their creativity, delivering an album we can already call one of the best Slovenian rock releases that 2019 has given us or ever will!"

"However "Shock" ends up splitting the band's fanbase, one thing is clear. It's a different Tesla album. Different from everything Tesla have recorded so far. That was the band's wish, and they pulled it off. At what cost, though? We'll…

"For fans of Hardline, Axel Rudi Pell and Crush 40, adding the album »One Voice« to your CD collection is an absolute must."

"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…

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

"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."

"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."

"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,…