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FABRIZIO BONANNO
G.K. 5/10 |
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FAIRYLAND
T.A.
5/10 |
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FAIRYLAND
G.K. 6/10 T.A. 5/10 |
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FAIR WARNING
T.A. 7/10 |
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FAITHFULL
T.A. 7/10 |
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FALCON
G.K. 8/10 |
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FALCONER
A.S. 7/10 |
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FARAZ ANWAR
A.X. 6,5/10 |
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FASTER PUSSYCAT
T.A. 1,5/10 |
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FATAL EMBRACE
T.A.
6/10 |
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T.A. 6,5/10 |
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FAT NANCY
T.A. 5/10 |
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FEAR MY THOUGHTS
G.K. 5/10 |
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FEINSTEIN
G.K. 7,5/10 |
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FELONY
T.A.
7,5/10 |
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FINAL BREATH
T.A. 6,5/10 K.P. 5/10 |
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FINAL FRONTIER
A.S. 6,5/10 |
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FINNTROLL
G.K. 7/10 |
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FIREHOUSE
A.S. 8/10 |
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FIREWIND
A.S.
8/10 |
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FIREWIND
G.K. 7/10 |
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FIRST BAND FROM OUTER SPACE
G.K. 7,5/10 |
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FISSION
G.K. 6/10 |
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FLAGSHIP
A.S.
7,5/10 |
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FLOWING TEARS
K.P. 8/10 |
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FONY
T.A. 4/10 |
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FONY
T.K. 5/10 |
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FOREFATHER
G.K.
6/10 |
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FOREVER UNTIL OCTOBER
T.K. 7,5/10 |
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FORGOTTEN TALES
G.K. 7/10 |
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FOR MY PAIN
T.A. 8/10 |
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FORSAKEN (THE)
T.K. 7,5/10 |
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40FT. RINGO
T.A. 6/10 |
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FRAGMENTS OF UNBECOMING
T.K. 6/10 |
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FRANTIC BLEEP
G.K. 6,5/10 |
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FRAMESHIFT
A.S.
9/10 |
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FRAMESHIFT
A.S. 9/10 |
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FRANKENSTEIN DRAG QUEENS
A.S. 7/10 |
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FRAZE GANG
T.A. 8/10 |
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FREEDOM CALL
T.A. 9/10 |
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FROGG CAFE
A.S. 6,5/10 |
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FROGG CAFE
A.S. 7,5/10 |
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FRONTLINE
T.A.
6,5/10 |
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FRONTLINE
T.A. 7/10 |
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FROZEN SHADOWS
G.K. 4/10 |
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FUELBLOODED
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FUNNY MONEY
T.A. 7/10 |
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Fabrizio
Bonanno is an Italian guitarist who has been playing music for almost 18
years with bands like: 
Fairyland
used to be called Fantasia when they started back in 1998 and then after
some demo releases they change their name to what they are called today.
“The Fall Of An Empire” is the second release of the band and as you can
tell from the band’s name (take a look at the cover as well) there’s no
way not to play power metal music with some symphonic elements. Yes, you are
right… Fairyland is highly influenced by Rhapsody of Fire (aka Rhapsody)
and sometimes I though that I was listening to the Italian band in truth to
be told. They do not have a personal sound and their orchestrations are very
close (not only influenced) to Rhapsody of Fire. Anyway, I’m not totally
satisfied from Rhapsody’s last works (they are good but not exceptional),
so how can I be satisfied from a band that copy them? No, Fairyland is not a
bad group (the song arrangements and the production are OK) but it does not
have a personality… and that’s very important when it comes to music in
general.
Fairyland is a French group, which was formed in 1998, and now they release their first full-length album. The only member of the band that is familiar to me is the female singer Elisa Martin, who was also the vocalist of Dark Moor. The style that the group chooses to play is symphonic power metal. The track are very melodic, full of keyboards, have nice guitars and keyboards, refrains that are sung by the male choir and there is also a narrator, in order to give a more epic atmosphere. Most of you must have already understood that this is the style that has given success to the famous group Rhapsody. Yes, the group has been much influenced from Rhapsody and the greatest similarities with them, except the music, are the vocals. Elisa sings a little bit different from her other group and in this album her voice is the same with the singer of Rhapsody, Fabio Leone! Anyway, I loved her voice in this album as I loved the keyboard player Philippe
Giordana, who surely knows to create great music and melodies. If you can get over that they sound like Rhapsody, you will find many good moments in this CD. I hope that in the future they will be able to add some more personal ideas in their music, cause they have many abilities as musicians. The best tracks are: “Ride With The Sun”, “On The Path To Fury” and “The Army Of The White Mountains” (a wonderful instrumental song). The fans of Rhapsody and Nightwish will find this album very interesting.
Faithfull is a new band in the melodic hard rock genre that’s coming from Portugal. “Light This City” is the debut album of the band and as I can “judge” from the music of the band they can succeed in what they are doing, if they keep it that way. The album is full of good melodies, nice hook lines, and melodic choruses and they grab someone’s attention from the very first listening. I must also say that Faithfull are very lucky cause they managed to find a very good singer, Sergio Sabino (ex-Evidence), where his voice will remind you of Jon Bon Jovi and Paul Laine! While listening to the album, Faithfull left me the best impressions (do not forget that this is their debut album), with songs such as the excellent, homonymous, hard rocker “Light This City”, the melodious “There’s No Turning Back”, the up-tempo rocker “All I Want, All I Need”, the semi-ballad “I’ve Been Missing You”, the mid-tempo “Lesson Learned” and the rocker “The Way I Am”. It is very positive to see new bands in the melodic hard rock genre to release such strong debuts. A good album is something like a “curse” for any band cause it must prove with the next album that they really deserve our support and they can offers us some good music. Faithfull are among those bands and I’m writing those things just to warn bands like them that the road now is getting tougher than in the beginning! If you like easy-listening hard rock music, then Faithfull is for you!
What do we have here? A 70’s heavy rock album by a new-coming band, which is formed by known metal musicians! Their names are: Perry Grayson (ex-Destiny’s End, ex-Artisan, Isen Torr) on guitars and vocals, Greg Lindstrom (ex-Cirith Ungol) on bass, keyboards (and guitars on three tracks), Darin McCloskey (Pale Divine) on drums and Andrew Sample on live drums! The band also released a demo last year, which included four tracks that are also included in their debut self-titled album. Here you will find influences from Thin Lizzy, Trapeze, Rush, early Black Sabbath and Cirith Ungol! In one track titled “On The Slab” (which is dedicated to the memory of Phil Lynott), Booby Liebling from Pentagram does the guest vocals and he sounds like Phil Lynott at moments! There is also a great cover to the Bang’s track “Redman”. All the tracks seem too be coming from the 70’s and the feeling is real and fantastic! The producer, Chris Kozlowski (Pentagram, The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan and others), has done wonderful work here and the album sounds really heavy. I believe that all the fans of the aforementioned bands and the lovers of the 70’s heavy rock music must listen to this album! Some tracks that pleased me a little more than the rest are: “Downer”, “On The Slab” and “Shelob’s Lair” (Tolkien can still inspire great musicians…)!
This is
weird. The album ends with an amazing song (Busted to the Floor), which shows that the band has potentials to play something
original, as it
is a mixture of power/hard rock with prog bridges. What a grande finale for the
album! Alas! In the rest of the album the band plays typical European
power metal (the ballad "Portals of Light" is really good!), in the path of
Blind Guardian etc. Double bass, nice vocal melodies, guitar harmonies and
the rest are all here, plus some folk elements, which give a variety to the
album. We are talking about an album that one can listen to with
pleasure, but nothing more. The European-power freaks will definitely appreciate it
and place it to the shelve next to the Gamma Ray, Excelsis, Guardian,
Rhapsody, albums with pride. As for the rest, try your luck with something else.
“Abstract
Point Of View” is Faraz Anwar’s debut album, essentially a solo
project that was released in 2001 with zero acclaim, and has now been
re-released by Lion Music. Faraz Anwar honed his craft from the Paul
Gilbert tutorials.
What the hell have happened? We are talking about a total disaster here! At first I was happy to hear some new stuff from one of the best American hair metal bands of the late-80’s… but I was completely disappointed?! Is this Faster Pussycat? I doubt it! What happened to hard rock music that they used to play? Do they become trendy losers know? They do not like what they used to play and they want to become modern nu-metal/industrial freaks?? If that’s what they want to do.. well, please do not bother us anymore… let them find a new audience and forget them… what the fuck is going on here?! Are they loosing their minds as they getting older? Does some told them that the trend now is industrial shit nu-metal music? Pass them by… next release please… do not waste my time… get a job please!!
Thrash
metal is still alive and evil? Well I think so, ‘cause lately I have
listened to many bands that have stayed true to the old school thrash metal,
although the big ones of the genre have separated themselves from the old
thrash school. Dark Embrace is not a new band in the genre… they have been
around for over 13 years and they stay true to their beliefs, the old school
sound and the evil lyrics. They are influenced from bands that years ago
were the leaders of this genre like Slayer, 
“Neo Natural Freaks” is the second release of this Swedish band and it definitely shows the evolution of the band through the years. Fatal Smile, in my opinion, play a hard rock music that has some 80s and modern influences as well… it’s like a blend of 80s hard rock along with the power of today’s hard n’ heavy bands like Velvet Revolver and Zakk Wylde. The combination is successful and powerful although it surely these kind of releases address more to the new hard rock fans that have been raised in the late 90’s and are more familiar with the specific kind of music. Personally I like this album and especially the single “Learn-Love-Hate” which is very catchy. If you happen to see the video clip of the specific song on TV then I’m sure that you will have a desire to listen to the rest of the album as well.
Fat
Nancy is the new rock n’ roll band of the singer Alex Mitchell who used to
be the vocalist of Circus Of Power. The truth is that I was waiting to
listen to good hard rock music but I wasn’t quite lucky this time. Fat
Nancy offers us an amalgam of 70’s rock (The Doors) with some rock n’
roll and punk elements from the 70’s-80’s era. Some may call them a
stoner band but as long as I do not like this characterization I won’t use
it. On the other hand this is no way heavy rock or at least stoner rock.
Anyway, the album has some fine moments with songs like “Hot Lottie”,
“99 Pounds Of Soul”, “Lonely, Fucked Up And Blue” and “Train Song
#69”, but in the very end they can’t drive us crazy by playing music
that we have listened to in the past even better. Maybe some nostalgic
persons who love dirty rock n’ roll or The Doors will find this release
good but it’s not my cup of tea. Sometimes Alex reminded me a little bit
of Jim Morrison and this is a thing that I couldn’t bear at all. Listen to
it first before you get it.
Fear My Thoughts were formed in 1998 in Germany. After some releases that are now assumed as classics, from the fans of metalcore sound, the band strikes again with a new album. This new album sounds a bit different from their past releases, cause here you can find death metal influences mixed with hardcore. The oldschool hardcore influences they used to have in the past are now gone. So, I really can’t say if the band’s fans will find this CD interesting, but people who like bands like Heaven Shall Burn, Caliban, God Forbid and As I Lay Dying will find many familiar elements. The riffs are very tight and heavy and will remind you the previously mentioned bands. The vocals are very aggressive or even brutal in some parts and are mainly influenced from death metal vocals. The rhythm section sounds very heavy and fast and reminded my of the classic death/thrash metal rhythm sections. You will also find some mid tempo moments or even some melodic parts, which as you can guess, derive from the Swedish death metal bands. Anyway, I can’t say that Fear My Thoughts sound like the standard metalcore bands. They sound like a modern Swedish death metal band in my ears, which has some hardcore elements…
If you don’t remember who David Feinstein is, it is acceptable because he had disappeared from the music scene for many years. David Feinstein was the guitarist of Elf, the group in which Dio, David’s cousin, started his carrier in 1972. He has also been a member of The Rods. Now the experienced musician recorded this album together with John West (ex-member
of Artension, Royal Hunt and others), where they both give their best performance! The other members of the band, which also give their best performance, are: Jeff Howell on bass (Karma), Nate Horton on drums and Bob Twining on keyboards (Artension). This CD contains wonderful heavy/power metal and hard rock tracks, nothing less nothing more! Here you can find wonderful riffs, great melodies, refrains that are easy to remember and excellent vocals! David seems to be in great shape, because all the compositions are very inspired. When you listen to this album many classic albums from great groups will come in your mind. The great surprise is the vocalist, whose voice is really appropriate for this
kind of music and is very touching! Generally, I can say that some songs will remind you classic tracks, but I believe that lovers of this kind of music will find this CD very enjoyable. Finally, the production was made by Joey DeMaio and is very good. Listen to the following tracks if you want to check this album, “Regeneration”, “Streaming Star”, “Third Wish”, “Rule The World”, “Masquerade” and “Live To Ride, Ride To Live”.
I
wasn’t familiar with the band until I got the promo in my hands and I
found out that Felony is coming from 
Final
Breath is a quite new band that comes from Germany, which plays thrash/death metal
music. "Mind Explosion" is the second album
that they release. The songs of the album are very heavy and the voice
of their singer is brutal enough. They seem to be influenced from the
German thrash scene and another influence for the band must be for sure
the grand band, which is called Death. After so many times that I have
listened to the album some riffs brought on my mind the old (and mighty)
Metallica. Anyway, some very interesting songs of the album are "To
Live And To Die","Breakdown" and "When Love Turns To
Hate", but in this point I have to say that the rest of the songs
are not so good as the previous ones. And that thing is something not
very good for the album's overall result. Well, for the end I'll suggest
to the fans of this genre to take a look on that album, cause they may
find some very interesting elements on Final Breath's work.
Regular
readers of the site, might remember the impression that made us the second
album of the melodic rock band last year. The way they managed to revive the
spirit of Styx (of the radio-friendly period) was remarkable. This year’s
effort seems to be a little bit hasty and according to my opinion a
repetition of their successful release. I wouldn’t expect them to change
their style or anything but the songs here follow a specific stereotype,
without any surprises, evolving to “sunny” but sometimes naive
compositions. A fan of the AOR sound who likes to digest things easily might
like it, as some songs are really good (“Beauty And The Beast” for
example) and funny to listen to. But for the more demanding listener the
approach here is not enough. However the CD might be useful for summer days.
By the way, I have to mention the obvious capabilities of the guitarist who
manages to save part of the game for the band.
This interesting band was formed in Finland in 1997 by Somnium (Impaled Nazarene and Thy Serpent) and Katla. Now that Somnium is dead and Katla had some problems with his voice, the band strikes again with a new album. The members that took part in the recordings of this CD and the EP are: Tundra on bass, Trollhorn (Moonsorrow) on keyboards, B. Dominator (Barathrum, Rapture) on drums, Wilska (Sethian) the vocalist Skrymer and Routa on guitars. Their music is a mixture of death/black metal with Finnish folk melodies. Imagine melodic and epic music with brutal vocals and folk melodies! Their style is something like the music that Moonsorrow and Einherjer play… From the moment that the first track begins until the final track, you will only listen to pleasant and enjoyable music, which sounds wonderful despite the death metal vocals. The lyrics, as you must have expected, are not in English and I think it’s Finish or Swedish. Before the release of this album, Finntroll also released an EP tiled “Trollhammaren”, which musically has no differences with the album. “Trollhammaren” is a track, which you can find in the album and the EP and it is one of the group’s best tracks. The production on both CDs is good and clean. This album is recommended to people who like folk melodies and of course to the group’s fans, since “Nattfodd” is the bands best album to date.
We had many reunions and comebacks during the last couple of years. Taking for granted that glam/melodic rock is on the rise again, it comes as a natural thing that Firehouse have been reunited to give as a new album.... which is really good to be honest! No, no it's not really good, it's a fuckin' dynamite!!! The opening track might estrange you for a while as it sound like Aerosmith of the "Pump" period, but then things are... Firehouse. Dirty glam rock, with heavy riffs and suitable for a Friday night at the club. It seems that the band managed to resurge its glorious days of the self-titled album. No joking now, tracks like "Crash" (one of my favourite ones for the year), "Perfect Lie" and "Body Language" are able to burn your speakers! By the way some keyboards at times play a crucial role to give depth to the tracks. Plus what is weird for the band is that the album contains only one pure ballad. I feel as if I live in the late 80's again and I like it!! Fans of the genre don't imagine not checking this one out!
This
band has good potentials if it does not remain confined to the
clichés of the genre in uses to serve. The spiritual child of
talented guitarist Gus G. offers us here its third discographic effort,
which is by far its best one. The heavy metal approach of the group is
well designed and breathes good mood and mirrors a lot of work. Many
changes of moods, good songwriting, powerful melodies and tempos,
thunderous solos describe the scene of the album. If you add the really
good vocals by Chity Somapala and the bombastic production, you understand
that you have to deal with a really good heavy metal album. Indeed the
album contains some excellent songs, from the atmospheric mid-tempo “Hate
World Hero” and “The Forgotten Memory” to the power-like “Beware
The Beast”. To be honest I would say that the approach here resembles
the one of Dream Evil or Primal Fear... but to be honest the songs here
are much better. So, those who are still thirsty for pure heavy metal know
where to turn their heads.
The second album of Firewind is released after only one year of their debut album "Between Heaven And Hell ". The masterminds of the group, Gus G. (Dream Evil, Mystic Prophecy, ex-Nightrage) on guitars and the vocalist Stephen Fredrick, found a new bassist named Petros Christo (ex-Breaking Silence) and a new drummer Stian Kristoffersen (Pagan's Mind) in order to replace the members that left the band. The Greek and very young guitarist (he is only 23 years old) Gus G. reveals his talent for once again, cause all the guitar work in this album is excellent! This time the guitars are heavier, tougher and even more technical without and that does not mean that you cannot find nice melodic riffs and solos here. Also, I believe that the voice of Stephen Fredrick, is perfect for the music style of the group. The refrains are very catchy (most of them are accompanied with backing vocals) and stuck in your head at once. The rhythm section is very strong and makes the sound of this album more powerful and heavy and that's why this CD can be heard only in the highest volume! Finally, the production is very clean and makes the album sound the way it should be sounding. A wonderful album full of power and melody for all the fans of the melodic speed metal.
What
do we have here? A band with an unusual name, which is coming from
Gothenburg of Sweden! Sounds very interesting to me... The band was formed
(or landed as they prefer) in 2001 and its members use strange nicknames, as
you will see below. As you can understand from the above, the band plays
progressive space rock ‘n’ roll in a very interesting but also weird
way. The music is full of space/synthesizer sounds (JonasFromSpace who also
sings and plays the guitars and SpaceAceFrippe who is also the bassist and
does some backing vocals) and it is very psychedelic. The vocals fit very
well the music and so does the rocking guitars, which are sometimes heavy.
In the album you will be able to listen to acoustic guitars and rock ‘n’
roll electric guitars! The rhythm section (StarfighterCarl on drums) is soft
and tries to follow the synthesizers... The influences of the band can be
found among these bands: Hawkwind, Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk etc... The band has
some guest instruments in this CD and so, MoonbeamJosue plays various kinds
of flute such as: silver flute, pan flute, kena flute and others! The whole
album is like one track that is separated in six chapters, which last from 5
up to 20 minutes! The music in general is hypnotic, psychedelic, interesting
and it sounds like coming from outer space... The production is very good
and the space/cosmic sounds are very effective... I haven’t heard of many
space rock albums, but this one is really great! I hope that the few fans of
this kind of music will discover the band and travel with them through space
and time...
Benny Hagglund (the live session drummer of Vintersorg) formed the Fission band in 2002. His main purpose is to create music that combines aggression and melodies as he has said. The other person who helped Hagglund (drums, guitars and bass) is Vintersorg (vocals and keyboards). Benny has composed all the tracks and Vintersorg has only recorded the vocals and the keyboards. The album combines both death and thrash metal with more melodic kinds of metal music. This is not something very original and if you recall that they both come from the same band (Vintersorg) that almost plays the same kind of music you will think that there is no point for releasing this album! In a way, you are right, but here you can find more melodic parts. The vocals are brutal in some parts and clean and melodic in others. The whole atmosphere of the album changes many times from hellish to more calm and melodic. The production is very good and heavy enough. The fans of Vintersorg and those who love the death/ thrash metal combined with melodic parts will find this album interesting. The best tracks are: “Crater”, “Accelerator”, “Magnetism”, “Mind Vortex” and “The Chaos
Algorithm”.
Wow!
This album has worked as a purgatory for me... because I listened to it
right after I had listened to the total crap from Nil (see elsewhere). But
either way this album has the credentials of a qualitative listening:
Christian Rivel and Linus Kase, vocals and keyboards in Narnia
respectively. Hmm... this project differentiates itself from the original
music of the band, without ever really turning things upside down. What we
get here is “traditional” symphonic rock of the 70’s. The two
talented musicians pay their tribute here to bands like ELO, 
Flowing Tears are well known to the metal community since 1996, as an extremely talented and very young
band. Flowing Tears -Formerly known as Flowing Tears & Withered Flowers - are
back. The band has just released a very interesting and special album with the equivocal title
"Serpentine". The new album, with 12 tracks is a very good choice for those who are into gothic metal music but who also like the musical
experimentations. The female singer Stefanie Duchene, definitely is doing a great work but Benjamin Buss
(guitars and programming) is doing a good work too! The other two members of Flowing Tears are Frederic Lesny on Bass and Stefan Gamballa - on the
Drums. All of them are surprisely young! So…the future is wide open for this
band!!!
Most of the songs are well written and contain many interesting parts and ideas in the composing area and not
only. Choruses, melodic guitar leads, harmonic keyboards and of course Stefanie's atmospheric vocals which is a big plus for the final
result, gives this specific outcome. In addition the production, is very
clear, and it comes as a vital part and final that completes "Serpentine" in the best possible
way.
The album has amazing songs like the homonymous "Serpentine" or
"Carnage People". Those are songs that are belonging to that
kind: the melody may "stuck" into your head for hours! But, for those who are not into this kind of
music, I wouldn't suggest to get this album. I'm sure they will bore to
die! The truth is that in this album there are a few parts that are rather boring but this not something that characterizes the whole
album. Thus, I'm sure that Flowing Tears, very soon could be one of the top Metal bands in their
genre!!!
Fony finally decided to release a new live album this time instead of a
studio one. I do not know why they decided to do such a thing because till
now they have only released two studio albums, so the release of a live
album seems too early for me. Anyway, although I’m not the biggest fan of
live albums in general I will try to write down some things about this band.
Fony has become more accepted due to their previous album “Circles” but on
the other hand they never managed to became really popular and I’m afraid
that will never become as popular as they want. So, I will say it once
again, it was too early for a live album regarding the fact that they do not
have a strong fan base. Nevertheless this live album was recorded at the
Harlequin Theater in Redhill, Surrey, UK and it was the last show of the
band after a three month tour. The production of this album is not quite
good and if you want to capture the live feeling of the band and of the
fans, you can’t do it sound better! The remarkable thing with this release
is that along with the live album you will get a free DVD as extra, which
has all 5 promo video clips of the band and a 6 song set recorded for a
broadcast on Spanish TV, which aired last December. If you consider yourself
as a Fony’s fan then do not miss this double release... but if you are not
into their music then try some of their studio albums first.
These guys claim
that they’re Nu-metal. If they are, I say it’s the first serious Nu-metal shit I hear from the UK. But since Tool and In Flames are not nu-metal so they are not either. They are not bad, neither thieves. They have a Sweden-new-wave guitar sound and melodies, when they decide to explode they miss that Nu-Metal destructive energy, when Phil (vocals) wants to be mysterious he just can’t reach Tool’s intellectual character. I admit that nu-metal is easy listening and predictable sometimes, but it has other advantages. These guys are too easy listening and predictable to be nu-metal and they are also lacking of heaviness and aggression, but they are really trying. So I’m gonna try to foresee their future. Maybe you’ll see a clip of them on the MTV (the self titled song “Circles” suits perfectly) and never see them again. Maybe next year they will release their third record in which they will finally manage to sound like what they are trying today, and get me to double their grade.
The
epic metallers from England strike back with their fourth album “Ours Is
The Kingdom”. Their past album were released by their own label, but
know they have signed a contract with Karmageddon Media and I think they
are going to release their past albums through their new label. The two
masterminds and brothers of the band Athelstan (guitar, bass and
keyboards) and Wulfstan (guitar, bass and vocals) created a nice epic/
Viking metal album for once again. The drums are programmed in a drum
machine and in the fast parts they sound annoying, but in the mid-tempo
and slow parts they have done good work. The vocals vary from black metal
screams to clean, epic and melodic vocal lines. The guitars sometimes play
fast black metal riffs and others are more melodic giving this way a nice
difference between the twelve tracks included in this album. Generally,
the album has a nice epic and aggressive atmosphere and the different
kinds of metal are mixed pretty well, but the drumming is sometimes very
bad… Anyway, if the band finds a real drummer and built their sound
through a professional production they will manage to impress the epic and
Viking metalheads. The best tracks are: “The Shield- Wall”, “The
Golden Dragon”, “The Sea Kings” (instrumental track with wonderful
samplers), “The Folk That Time Forgot” and “Keep Marching On”.
A debut. I love reviewing debuts. These British guys surprised me at first with their name. I was expecting a goth-full of tears band with an anorgasmic chic singing because her boyfriend told her that he would love her forever but he left her in October. Fortunately I was wrong. Five guys which remind me of Pearl Jam jamming with Puressence and definitely sound more American than British. Easy listening but really interesting I should add. By listening more than once this release I noticed that they are very good performers and know what they want to sound like before they started recording and that’s important. They also have some spontaneous progressive tensions and combine 90’s rock with a less commercial play and groove. So this debut took the fancy out of me and I’m really looking forward to their next release. Well done.
Forgotten
Tales is a band coming from Quebec, Canada. “All The Sinners” is the
second album for the band and it is released in Canada, Japan and Germany
and their label is looking for distributors in the rest of the European
countries. The band consists of the following musicians: Patrick Vir on
bass, Cedric Prevost on drums, Martin Desharnais on guitars, Frederick
Desroches on keyboards and finally, Sonia Pineault on vocals. Their music
is based on the European power metal and you will find influences from
bands like Helloween, Stratovarius, Rhapsody, Heaven’s Gate, Nightwish
and others. The melodic guitars, the wonderful female vocals and the
majestic keyboards are their main characteristics. Their music may not
differ very much from the above-mentioned bands, but I think that they
like what they are doing and that’s why the final result is so good.
Forgotten Tales are much better than many European power metal bands
because of their devotion and love for the music. The production is also
great and very clean and the artwork as you can see is wonderful! I think
that you will have a great time when listening to this album and I believe
that the distribution companies in Europe should be interested in the
band! Finally, I must mention that Rene Pineault (Sonia’s brother) is
almost the sixth member of the band as he is the producer (together with
Martin Desharnais), does the choir vocals together with the other members,
has helped in the lyrics for one track and he is the band’s manger…
I have never hidden my preference to good gothic metal music and I always tried to support that kind of music, although the good bands are fewer than the average
and the bad ones. So, as it concerns that specific genre, I was always (and I will continue to be) selective, cause I strongly believe that the majority of those bands are copying the good ideas of the big ones. Thus, For My Pain is a newcomer band from Finland, but the members of that band are not new to the music community. The idea to form For My Pain was Altti Vetelainen's (bass - ex
EtoS) and Petri Sankala's (Drums - ex EtoS), as they also asked their old friends Tuomas Holopainen (Keys -
Nightwish) and Lauri Tuohimaa (Guitar - Embraze/Maple Cross) to join them. Also
Olli-Pekka Torro (Guitar - ex EtoS) and finally Juha Kylmanen (Vocals -
Reflexion) joined the band. So that was the final form of For My Pain. I do not think that anyone can be disappointed as it concerns the members of that band huh? Like that they released their debut album "Fallen". Those who might think that For My Pain will have similarities in the music style with bands like Eternal Tears Of Sorrow or Nightwish better throw away immediately this thought. For My Pain are playing gothic metal music in the vein of
Charon, Entwine and Sentenced, with some atmospherical elements from song to song. Sometimes I thought that I was listening to the softer site of Charon and Sentenced or even to a heavier site of Entwine! Did I tamper you? Well, things here are quite easy. Just listen to the rock melodic hit "Rapture Of Lust", the melancholic "Broken Days", the catchy "Dancer In The Dark" (Miriam Renvog of
Ram-Zet, sings also in that song), the opener goth hymn "My Wound Is Deeper Than Yours" (the intro of that song remind me
"Heart Of Wilderness" of EtoS) and the dark, mid-tempo "Sea Of Emotions" and you will get in the point! For My Pain is a brand new band and I believe that they will surprise us more in the near future. The fans of the bands that I said above and in general the fans of good gothic metal music should check out "Fallen" immediately.
There
is something magical with these people from Sweden. Even though they are
so many they always have their own ID. The Forsaken work really hard, this
is their third release since 2001(!), produced by Tommy Tagtgren (legacy)
reminding me a lot of things. The more, the better. Hypocrisy, The Crown,
Swedish NW, Swedish old-school, a little bit of Florida, much more variety
than their previous work. Lindberg vocals and steady but mysterious play
sometimes rotten, sometimes thrashy and groovy plus a blastbeat (with
dignity) “Blackened” cover. They will never become No 1 but no fan of
the genre can disrespect them, they will always have people in the clubs
and venues they perform, and I am really expecting to see them play live.
Hail Swedish competition! Produces quality and raises the standards.
40ft. Ringo is a truly strange name for a
band. So, lets see what is about that band. I've read somewhere that the
singer-guitarist of this band, Steve Brown and the bassist PJ Farley, were playing together back in the 90's in a band called
Trixter. Everyone, who ever knows Trixter or even liked their stuff, then has a few reasons to check out 40ft.
Ringo. As it concerns the music that 40ft. Ringo plays I would characterize it as melodic pop rock with a lot of punk
elements, or maybe better, as nu breed. "Funny Thing" has thirteen
songs, from which eight were included in the demos of the band, when they guys were searching for a contract with a
label. Finally they found one in Atenzia records, which I cannot understand what an AOR
"driven" label has to do with a band like 40ft. Ringo, but anyway as long as they thought that is near the other releases of the
label, then it is ok with me! The other five songs are totally new and
influenced, by the modern rock, pop nu-breed sound. The album has some happy rock songs that especially modern rock fans will like such
as, "Anyway", "Unbroken", "Miss You Blue",
"Book Of Virtues", and "Tough". Also the production of the album is pretty
good, but that fuzzy sound on the guitars, ala 182 Blink, getting on my
nerves! Well, to tell the truth "Funny Thing" isn't a bad album and time passes by very easily and happily when you listen to
it. But you should consider the thing that this album is for nu breed and modern rock fans and not for metalheads or even hard rockers cause they will surely waste their money if they buy
it. As it concerns me as I'm not (and I will never be) a modern rock (what an
expression!) fan, then I should rate it considering that I really hate bands like 182 Blink
(although
40ft. Ringo music style isn't close to that band)…
Let us suppose that the year is 1997 and Fragments Of Unbecoming release this record. In 2004 people will be speaking of the great Swedish school, of bands like Dark Tranquility, In Flames and these guys here. Unfortunately the present year is 2004 and this band is so Dark Tranquilized. The sound and songs are exactly as in “The Mind’s I”, titles like “Skywards”, “The Seventh Sunray Enlights My Pathway”, “Insane Chaosphere”, generally Sweden sweet Sweden. The songs are very good, the band is also performing really nice, the vocalist is cool, the artwork is chaotically beautiful but the whole thing is so Swedish. And these fellows are from Germany!! I am disappointed because people with composing and performing talents, are in danger of being called wannabes and get so tightly imprisoned to their desires and passions. I mean what is the reason for someone to purchase this one? Including things you’ve heard years ago! If you are some kind of Sweden fanatic and demand to own everything that is being released, take it. I am sorry to say that but this is 2004 so…
This band, with the strange name, comes from Norway and has released one
demo (“Fluctuadmission”) in 2002, which led them to a contract with
The End Records in 2003. Now, it’s time for their debut album. I would
characterize the band as a progressive band because their music is
basically progressive although there are many parts and vocals that are
coming from the black, death, doom and gothic metal scene! The only groups
I could bear some resemblance to these guys are: In The Woods and Opeth…
The band’s music has many melodic parts and clean vocals (Paul Mozart
Bjorke who is also the bassist) and on the other hand it has aggressive
guitars (Patrick Scantlebury and Eywin Sundstrom) and black/death metal
vocals. The whole album has a dark feeling, which is due to the
atmospheric keyboards (Patrick) and the ethereal vocals (they even use
female vocals). Generally, this CD includes prototype music and it’s up
to you to decide whether you like this mixture of different types of music
or not. I believe that the real fans of the Progressive Music (I mean
those who don’t care if the music is aggressive, has brutal vocals etch)
will like this album. My favorite tracks are: “The Expulsion”, “Sins
Of Omission”, “Mausolos” and “Mandaughter”.
Well,
this guy (Henning Paul) seems to be destined to drive us crazy! Most of
you might remember last year’s extraordinary debut album, with James
LaBrie on vocals, which blew our brains out with its techno prog
metal-rock mixture. This year Henning returns with one more dynamite, yet
completely different than the previous album. The approach here is more
direct (although the songs are “growers” here - which means that they
need several listens in order to get into their climate), more hard rock
and harder! Furthermore there is a big change here, namely the vocalist:
Sebastian Bach is the leading singer here and comments should rest. The
blonde diva is back with ass-kicking vocals (both in lines and in
expression), pumping a more “street” attitude to the songs. The hard
rock elements of the first album become here more vivid, while some
extravagant technical parts subside. But again there is no point in
comparing the two records. What we have here is a great talent that
manages to produce magnificent music (whatever kind it may be). Again the
ghost of Queen is present, Skid Row, Pain Of Salvation, Thunder,
Audioslave are some bands whose elements you can spot in here. I guess
from now on I have to say that something is like Frameshift. It’s really
hard to classify such a diversified sound... you have to invest on this
album for sure. No point to mention highlights - the whole CD is a
highlight on its own.
Holy shit!!! I'm afraid that I can speak about this album for ages, describing its novelty, outrageous technique, feeling, inspiration.... this is art!!! We have regretted that the CD fell in our hands too late and we couldn’t name it Album or Surprise of the month, as the places were covered. Mastermind of this project is Henning Pauly (guitars, bass, keyboards, production) with the help of James LaBrie on the vocals. No joking now, the music here (written on James’ voice) is excellent, tremendous, imposing and lyrical at the same time. We are talking about progressive music in the real term of the word. It would be confining to call it prog rock/metal, cause the album is flooded by AOR/hard rock elements (a tribute to James’ past with Winter Rose). Funk, classical and soul bridges also appear and all those things are binded in exceptional orchestrations with multiple vocals and fancy bridges. For sure some parts of the album remind us a lot of Dream Theater (mainly because of the voice), but then a march of influences appear too.... Queen, Yes, O.S.I, Mullmuzzler, Journey.... and the list doesn’t stop. If you add that the whole thing is a concept about human evolution and genetics based on Steven Hawkins’ writings, the interest is even bigger. Don’t miss one of the great moments of our music. If you are open minded...
If you don’t know the band... and if you are into funny things then this CD is a good opportunity to meet these drag queens! Although the main target of the band is to have fun and transmit to the listeners as well, the whole outcome can be taken seriously, as it is a very good sample of shock rock. The lyrics and the attitude are hilarious, but the songs are dynamite. They come in plain rock forms that are embellished by many punk rock elements in the vein of Ramones (listen to “Rambo” for example and then compare it to Ramones’ “Commando”... and half their discography actually...). The singer brings us to mind our dark prince, Alice Cooper a lot. The production is modern making the songs sound heavy enough to nail you down. Ah, not to forget that Danzing is another great influence here. So, 18 songs of horror rock that represent the band’s carrier? Yes please!
Fraze Gang is a new Canadian band that was formed by Greg Fraser (guitar, vocals), Stevie Skreebs (bass) and Phil Epp (drums). Maybe some of you are aware with the two first names, as those guys were playing in Brighton Rock back in the 80s. Now, you may think that Fraze Gang is just a clone of Brighton Rock, but things are not like that at all. Greg used to be Brighton Rock’s basic songwriter so you will find many elements from BR in Fraze Gang’s music as it is natural… but keep in mind that many years have passed since the early 90s and that Greg is also the singer in this band. So, I would say that Fraze Gang is a melodic rock band that has some rock n’ roll, blues, southern elements on its music along with some melodic hard rock (Brighton Rock) influences. The things here are very simple. Fraze Gang can rock you for good ‘cause their songs have nice melodies, great guitar themes and a very solid rhythm section. Songs like “Blow Me Away”, “Savior”, “Broken Hero”, “Rainbow Eyes”, “I Stand Alone”, “You Had It All”, “Stargazer” and “Roll With The Punches” will prove you why you should always look for bands that do not have the big promotion that others may have. Rock music will always be music that comes straight from the heart and that does not need any money in order to be good. If you love rock music then give them a chance ‘cause they deserve it.
I always liked Freedom Call and all the albums that they have released in the
past. So here we got the new album of the band and once again we can find all those elements that made us love them and also many
good-surprising songs. This album features good power metal songs with multiphonetic refrains such as
"Metal Invasion", "Flying High" (one of my favorites),
"Ages Of Power" with the black/death vocals! at the end of the
song, and the melodic mid-tempo "Bleeding Heart". But I assure you that is very hard to choose which song is better than the other because almost all of them are
striking. This is an excellent album from a band, which every album that release is better than the previous
one! Other highlights of the album are, the mid-tempo elegy "Flame In The
Night", the super-"hit" "Land Of Light" and the super epic emotional
"Turn Back Time". Freedom Call released a superb album full of melodic astonishing songs that many great bands from German are incapable to write
anymore! But that's how the whole story goes. We must depend on the
"new" bands like Freedom Call cause the "big" ones is really hard to release an album with the quality that this one
has. Freedom Call was always a very good band but "Eternity" shows that they want to take a leading part in the
heavy/power metal scene. And believe me they got the capacities to do such a
thing!
Hmm, interesting CD indeed. Especially the opening track makes you enter into a fantasy strange world, where paradox seems to be the common reality. For those who haven’t understood so far, we are talking about a new (hopefully - as I don’t have any additional information) band that plays prog rock. But Frogg Cafe don’t seem to be inspired by the usual Yes – Spock’s Beard approach that has flooded the genre. On the contrary the band seems to follow the paths of King Crimson and
ELP. Consequently we are talking about more “twisted” melodies and guitars and more “jazzy” influences here. By the way at time the whole outcome reminds me a lot of Kaipa’s latest CDs. What we get here is four long songs (approximately 8 minutes) and a 21-minutes suite to close the album. It’s a good effort, but at least to my ears it falls in the usual prog trap: it becomes a bit tiring in the middle. If you are too much into prog rock you can try it.
Well
this is the 3d studio album for the New Yorkers. I remember that their
second album last year, made quite an impression to me. Especially the
unique ability of the band to combine creatively jazz with rock music. As
I have written in the past Frogg Cafe introduce you to a fantasy strange
world, where paradox seems to be the common reality... well this is what
happens again with this new album. The approach isn’t much different -
art rock, that meddles with jazz and fusion improvisations. However I feel
that the process of songwriting is better developed this time. I mean the
songs here are more... complete songs, if you know what I mean. With one
foot on the legacy of Frank Zappa, King Crimson and Utopia and the other
on more “traditional” prog rock listenings like Yes, the band provides
us with a very good album. This time we don’t get a very long suite,
rather seven (approximately 7 minutes long) songs. According to my
opinion, this makes the album more direct, and avoids the trap that it
might become boring to the not so exercised listener. Open minded prog
rock fans will appreciate this one.
Sooner that I was expecting Frontline came back with a new album. Not far
away from the heavy “The Seventh Sign” but with better songs and a
slightly better production in my opinion. Frontline is a remarkable band
that has offered some very beautiful albums within the years. “Circles”
is a very heavy album with melodic vocals and nice keyboard layers. Even if
you do not think of getting this album try to listen to those songs: “No
One”, “Did You Ever (Taste The Pain)”, “Say What You Have To Say”,
“Don’t Run Away”, “Hunter” and “It Is You” and I’m sure that
you will change you mind in the end. Do not expect any new elements-tings on
Frontline but more mature songs from album to album. The sound of this album
has again trademark sound of the band and the nice vocals of Stephan are
combined very well with Robby’s heavy guitars. Not much thinking here…
if you like the back-catalogue of the band then try out this album without
any fear.
Frontline is a band that knows how to offer good music to its fans. I do not believe that this band has ever betrayed its fans or has not released a good album. Although their debut is far the best work that they have ever done… that does not mean that their other albums are not good enough. The new album of the band, which is titled “The Seventh Sign” is a good one and it is moving in the known hard rocks style of Frontline, although this time the production is even better than their previous “Against The World” and the guitars are harder. “The Seventh Sign” also has some very good hard rock songs like “This Lie”, “Like You Do”, “Part Of My Life”, “Where’s The Love” and “Melt My Ice”. To tell you the truth I believe that their previous album “Against The World” is a little better than this one. I say so, cause in their previous album there were a couple of songs that could have become hits. “The Seventh Sign” does not contain a hit song but all the songs here are well written and they are rockin’ pretty good! The fans of the band should get this album cause it will satisfy them and that’s for sure. As for the others who are unaware of the band better get their debut first, then “Against The World” and finally this one… but hurry … can’t you see “The Seventh Sign”?!
Frozen Shadows were formed in 1995 by Myrkhaal (vocals/ keyboards) and Namtar (guitars/bass) in Canada. They have
already released one more full-length album by their own label and after this, they signed with Holy Records a
four-album deal. From the name of the band you can very easy guess that these guys play “cold” black metal. Their main influences are Immortal, Carpathian Forest and Satyricon. The
guitars and the drumming are sometimes slow and mid tempo and others are extremely fast and aggressive. The blast beats are
incredibly fast and I don’t know if they are really played by their drummer (Melkor)… The vocals are always satanic and
extreme no matter of the track’s speed. Also the keyboards give a magical atmosphere but they are not used, as much I
would like. The lyrics are in English in the tracks that are titled in English and in French in the tracks that are titled
in French. Most of the tracks last too much that the whole album becomes boring… The production is just good and although that the vocals are sometimes in front and others back of the
instruments, it is very good for a classic black metal band. Generally, if you want to listen to new groups that don’t
experiment with their music and they only play black metal influenced from the groups I mentioned before, you can check
them out. All the others better stay away from it.
This is a good and technical thrash band. Of course this is the debut album
of the band but consider the fact that Fuelblooded official they exist since
1989! Better late than ever, as a philosopher (Socrates) use to say, and
Fuelblooded finally release a good album that will appeal to all the
“modern” death/thrash fans that like bands like The Haunted, Darkane,
Mercenary, Terror 2000 and Arch Enemy. The album was mixed and mastered by
Jacob Hansen (Mercenary, Invocator, Raunchy, Communic) and the artwork was
made by the well known Travis Smith (Katatonia, Opeth, Anathema etc). The
band has the passion, the power the riffing and the attitude that a
death/trash metal band needs, especially in 2006. I may not be a big thrash
metal fan anymore but I can definitely tell a good album from a bad one and
Fuelblooded has released a good album that needs your support. After all we
are not talking for any young kids that play this kind of music just for
fans, but for some adults that are true to their beliefs for almost 17 years
now!
Do you like sleaze rock music? Do you miss the old days when that kind of
music was very popular? Do you also believe a new wave of this music is coming? Then you have many reasons to check out the new Funny Money album.
Steve Whiteman (Kix), shows us that he truly love this kind of music and he do not indent to stop singing/playing in the same sleaze/poser way that
he used to do. “Skin to Skin” except of its “hot” artwork, has some songs
that reminds us in the better way what this music’s all about: Fun, sex and beers! So, get some beers, turn on the volume and listen to songs like
the cheerful rocker “I Don’t Care About Everything”, (who really cares?!!), the sleaze rocker “Good Boy Gone Bad” (does the same thing
happened to me?!), the up-tempo “Just One Dance”, the Kix-like “Bad Luck”,
and the catchy rocker “Ain’t Standing Still”. I only wanted of this album
to have a little better production and then the whole result would be much
better. No, the production is not bad, although it could be a better one. The good thing, one the other had was to see the former Kix members Ronnie
Younkins and Jimmy Chalfant make guest appearances on this album! That was
pretty good! To sum it up, I must make clear that Funny Money’s new album
is only recommended to those who love sleaze/glam rock music and especially like
Kix. If you wanna good fun rock music, for relaxing and
many beers then Funny Money can offer you that for sure!