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PANDOVANI
LELIO
A.S. 7/10 |
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PANIC CELL
T.A. 7/10 |
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PANTOKRATOR
G.K. 4,5/10 |
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PARALLEL MIND
A.S.
5/10 |
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PAST PERFECT
T.A. 7/10 |
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PAUL BLACK’S L.A. GUNS
T.A. 6/10 |
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STEPHEN PEARCY
T.A. 1,5/10 |
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PECCATUM
G.K.
7/10 |
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PEGAZUS
A.S. 7/10 |
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PENETRATOR
G.K. 7/10 |
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PEO
T.A. 8/10 |
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PERFECT WORLD
T.A. 7/10 |
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PHARAOH
T.A. 6/10 |
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PHAZM
T.A. 2,5/10 |
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PHLUID
T.A. 6,5/10 |
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PIG DESTROYER
G.K. 4/10 |
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PILGRYM
A.S. 8/10 |
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PINK CREAM 69
A.S. 7,5/10 |
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PLACKBAND
A.S. 7/10 |
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PLANET ALLIANCE
T.A.
6/10 \ |
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PLANET P PROJECT
T.A. 9/10 |
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PLATENS
T.A. 7,5/10 |
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PLATITUDE
G.K. 8/10 |
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POISON
T.A. 9/10 K.P. 8,5/10 |
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POISONBLACK
T.A. 7/10 |
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POP IGGY
A.S. 7,5/10 |
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PRAYING MANTIS
A.S. 8/10 |
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PRETTY MAIDS
A.S. 8,5/10 |
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PRIDE
T.A. 7/10 |
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PRIMAL FEAR
A.S. 6,5/10 T.A. 5,5/10 |
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PRIMAL FEAR
T.A. 6,5/10 |
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PROJECT:
FAILING FLESH
G.K. 7/10 |
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PRO-PAIN
G.K. 7/10 |
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POWER OF OMENS
A.S. 7,5/10 |
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POWERQUEST
A.A. 8/10 |
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PULLEY
T.A. 7/10 |
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PUMP
A.S. 7,5/10 |
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PYN SIREN
T.A. 7/10 |
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PYOGENESIS
A.S. 7,5/10 |
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PYRAMAZE
A.S. 7/10 |
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Well, no matter how big this picture might be, it’s the quality that
counts. And I can tell that this CD is of good quality. Guitar oriented
instrumental songs, structured upon Pandovani’s guitar skills, which are
outspoken. Whenever I listen to similar albums, my mind goes directly to
Joe Satriani, and especially his two monumental albums “Surfing With The
Alien” and “Flying In A Blue Dream”. In Satriani’s teachings add
here a bit of Al Di Meola and Marty Friedman and you get the picture of
this album. The good thing is that the outcome remains mostly heavy, with
a very good rhythm section. The bad thing is that at the end the whole
listening becomes a bit boring, as happens with most instrumental albums.
I can say that this is mostly music for musicians, although a well-trained
listener will find some very good moments here.
Panic Cell is a brand new band that only a few time ago released its first mini-CD. Now after months of hard work, they are presenting us their debut album, which is titled “Bitter Part Of Me”. The band plays really, heavy aggressive music and seemed to be influenced from bands like Black Label Society, Pantera and Machine Head. Just imagine the heavy guitars of Black Label Society, the melodies of Machine Head and the aggressive (but not too brutal) vocals of Anselmo! That’s exactly the music style of Panic Cell! I think that the fans of the aforementioned bands, have finally found another one strong band to listen to. The production of the album is so heavy and very clear, but it didn’t surprise me at all, especially after I saw that the producer was Dave Chang (Earthtone9, Johnny Truant, Orange Goblin and Linea 77). Highlights of the album are the “hit” “Away From Me” (in the CD we can find and the video clip of the song which is rather good and personally I like it a lot), the heavy “Save Me”, the terrific, mid-tempo “Shallow”, the catchy melodic “Thousand Words”, the homonymous “Bitter Part Of Me” and the heavy rocker “Utter Madness”. If you consider yourself as a fan of heavy aggressive music and you want to “taste” something else than the same, well-known bands, then check out Panic Cell and they won’t disappointed you. Let’s hope that the next step of the band would be even better than this one.
Do you love the sound of the old In Flames? Do you really like Swedish
death metal? Are you interested in adding another replica of In Flames to your CD collection? If the answer to all the above questions is
affirmative (without second thoughts), then this CD is appropriate for you. If the answer is
negative, there is no point in continuing reading this review! So, for the few who are still reading, I must mention a few
words about the group, at the grounds that this is their debut album. Pantokrator have been together since 1996 and after the release of several
demos they signed with Rivel Records in 2002. Their music is a mixture of melodic death metal with some progressive parts. In some tracks the group
uses female vocals, acoustic guitars and even a violin. All the above give
a different feeling to some tracks included here, but the rest of the tracks are so much alike that I doubt if you can listen to all of them
more than one or two times. Another point about this CD is that the song titles and the lyrics are in Swedish, although that the booklet includes
the lyrics translated in English. If you can hold this and read the lyrics, you will see that they are very nice and interesting (they have to
do with God and God’s domination against all evil as it is described in the old and the New Testament). The production is very nice, clean and
powerful and all instruments and vocals can be clearly heard. The best track is, without doubt, “Tidebarb” (in Swedish) or “Ages” (in English),
which is very melodic and melancholic. If this track were not in the album, the grade would be lower…
I think that the story about progressive rock/metal has gone too far.
Every skilful musicians seems to be capable to play progressive music, but
it’s hardly so. Yes skilful musicians can deliver correct, complete,
solid compositions that might be interesting. But that’s all. In order
to produce progressive music (especially good one) you also need to have
inspiration. Especially if the reference present you as a trio that plays
in the vain of Rush and Yes... like what happens here with Parallel Mind.
The musicians are really good, but the compositions are “empty”. This
is deepened by the fact that there are no vocals here. It’s really hard
to compose 14 track songs without lyrics and yet manage to not be boring.
Something that doesn’t happen here.
Along with the promo of Past Perfect I took a flyer that it had a moto that was describing Past Perfect's music and that was "darkedelic" music. That thing made me expect something really dark and atmospheric from that band… and I wasn't wrong at all. Past Perfect play atmospheric music, which seemed to be influenced from the gothic, dark wave and electro genre. The seven songs of the album without being very long made me listen to this album again and again to catch its very dark felling that it exhales… and in the end I was quite satisfied. I totally believe that song like the up-tempo "If", the atmospheric "Deliverance", the gloomy "Our Fatal Dream Tale" and the psycho-trance "A Dream Within A Nightmare" will please all the fans that are hungry for "strange" dark music. If you like electro, atmospheric or dark wave music then "Whispers Of Souls In Silence" is the next album that you should check out.
“Black
List” is not the new work from L.A. Guns as the new album was released
some months before. Here we are dealing with some demo songs of the band
that are played by the original line up of the band back in 1985 which was
consist of: Paul Black on vocals, Tracii Guns on guitar, Nickey Alexander on
drums, Mick Cripps on bass and Robert Stoddard on guitar as well. On this
album we get the original for of some well known songs (like “One Way
Ticket To Love” or “Love & Hate” that turned into “Sex
Action”) that were appeared on the debut album of the band and some other
demo songs that never saw the light of day in the past. Paul’s vocals are
quite good and crispy and not far away from Phil Lewis’s vox. The sound of
the album is not that good but don’t ever forget that those songs were on
tapes that were re-mastered later... and I don’t think that anyone can
make them sound any better than this. 
Stephen Pearcy is one of the best 80’s hard rock frontmen in America. Ratt was huge back in the 80’s and Stephen was totally a king back then. Why am I writing also those things huh? I thought that it would be better to write down some things about Ratt on this review than to say anything about this piece of shit that’s want to be called a record. I’m so disappointed that Stephen made this huge mistake and thought that by playing industrial or so called shit music will bring him fortune and fame again. Stephen you have disappointed you’re loyal fans so better get
well and play some really good music or else let us remember you as the great Ratt frontman as you were in the 80’s. Do not try to destroy all those things that you’ve
achieved through the years.
Four years after their previous release, Peccatum (or in other words
Ihsahn) release their new album titled “Lost In A Reverie”. The band
now is a duet, since PZ has left the band and the two members are: Ihsahn
(ex-Emperor and Thou Shalt Suffer) and his wife Ihriel (Star Of Ash). In
four of the seven tracks included in this album Knut Aalefjζr, who is
a jazz drummer, plays the drums… So, you can understand that this album
has a different sound from their previous releases. The whole album is a
mixture of many styles of music and the final result is very interesting.
You will find black metal, jazz, electronic, darkwave and progressive
influences mixed in a nice way! The music is very emotional and you will
feel desolate, sick, and melancholy when listening to the CD. The vocals
vary from black metal to darkwave and from aggressive screams to wonderful
female vocals. I haven’t listened to the personal works of Ihriel, but
now I found out her abilities I would love to listen to her music project
Star Of Ash. The sound is wonderful and the album was recorded at their
own studio (Symphonique). After this release, Peccatum have become one of
the most experimental groups of Norway and I am looking forward for their
next release. Note that you must be in the right mood in order to feel the
album… Best tracks: “In The Bodiless Heart”, “Veils Of Blue”,
“Black Star” and “Stillness”.
All
right, don't tell me that you don't know what you are going to listen to from
Pegazus. Old-school heavy metal, deeply rooted to the 80's but with fresh production that makes it attractive and pleasant to listen to it even
these days. To be honest the album is full of cliches but it doesn't bust
your balls when listening to it, something that seems to be really
surprising. It seems that the songs are good enough to make time pass easily
and with joy. Pegazus enforce their amalgam of Maiden-meets-Accept-meets
NWOBHM-meets Running wild and carry on as if they are living in their own
world. Those who are fond of traditional heavy metal with heavy riffing,
galloping themes will possibly like it. For me the best part of the album
is the song "Ballad of a Thin Man"! No, it's not a cover to bob Dylan's
song, rather a dedication to our crazy kings Thin Lizzy!!! The structure of
the song is Lizzy-like, with the usual guitar harmonies and the lyrics is a
patchwork of Lizzy's lyrics. Yeah!
Penetrator was formed last year in Toronto (Canada) and managed to sign a
contract with the Greek Sonic Age record label. The band plays heavy metal
in the style of Judas Priest and the American heavy metal music... The
whole album is full of very good riffs, heavy and fast guitars
(“Bulldog” Bess Ross, who has been the personal guitar technician of
Tonny Iommy in the “Never Say Die” tour) that sound like coming from
the 80’s or early 90’s. The vocalist (Maxel Black) reminded me much of
Rob Halford, without touching his physical talent, but the way that Maxel
changes his vocals reminded me much of him. Maxel has a very powerful
voice and he can sing many styles of music... Apart from being a vocalist,
Maxel composes the songs and writes the lyrics! The rhythm section (David
T. Green on bass and Simon Vanderzand on drums) is very heavy and fast and
it could belong to a speed or even a thrash metal band! Apart from the
clearly influences that the band has from Judas Priest I also found many
influences from Black Sabbath, especially in the way that the very heavy
guitars sound in some parts. Other bands that came into my mind while
listening to this album were: Accept, Scorpions, Armored Saint and Cage.
So, I believe that this is one of the best mixtures of Judas Priest and
Black Sabbath and I think that everyone will have a great time by
listening to it! The 32 minutes that the album lasts are enough to remind
us the roots of heavy metal music... Enjoy it!
Another good re-issue by MTM Classix. “Look What I’ve Started” was
original released in 1995 through Pop Productions. Here, we have
Scandinavian lightweight AOR music with some pop elements. Sometimes it
will bring on your mind the solo works of Jimi Jamison and Jim Jidhed. The
songs are very good and especially: “Could This Be Love?”, “It Doesn’t
Matter”, “Only One Love”, “Long Time To See”, “Good Soul Companion”,
“Don’t You Ever Leave Me Now” and “Can’t Bring Me Down”, will make you
listen to this album many times. The production is very good and this
re-release contains 5 bonus unreleased tracks that, in my opinion, do not
offer something more on the whole album, are kind of harder and are not in
the same quality as the other songs. Anyway, this re-issue is a very good
one considering the fact that this album is very hard to be found and if
you find it then you will have to pay much money to get it. Of course now
the album has a new artwork which I like better than the original one. PEO
is offering here qualitative melodic rock/AOR music, nothing more or less.
I totally believe that this album should not be missed from those who love
melodic rock music and of course from all those that are searching like
crazies all the good rock album of the previous years.
Perfect World is a project that was formed from vocalist Kelly Hansen (Hurricane, Unruly Child), along with famed bass player and producer Fabrizio V.Zee Grossi (Ice-T, Cypress Hill, Dope, Wu-thang Clan/Killah Priest, George Clinton & P-Funk, Stereo Mud, Beautifull Creatures, Nina Hagen, Tina Arena, Steve Vai, Steve Lukather etc.). Additionally, a host of well known musicians from the Los Angeles scene contributed to the recordings of this album, including: JM Scattolin (Mike Inez, Steve Bailey, Cypress Hill, Tribe After Tribe) on acoustic and electric guitars, Alex DeRosso (Dokken) on lead guitar, Biggs Brice on drums and Adam Forgione (Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, Yngwie Malmsteen) on piano and additional keys. I do not believe that anyone should have any problem with the musicians that are participating in “Perfect World”. So, let’s listen carefully to the music that Perfect World is offering us. Firstly I have to make clear that the album includes a set of songs originally written for artists like, Amanda Marshall, Natalie Imbruglia, Angela Ammons, Jennifer Paige and more. Thus, as you can imagine some pop songs are being played with rock guitars and of course Kelly’s vocals are once more excellent and many songs are better than the original ones! Take as example the rock cover of “Just Like A Pill”, a worldwide hit of Pink which is included on “M!ssundaztood” album. The song simply got the rock sound that it was needed! Other songs that are gonna make you like this album are the opener, and my beloved, “Here With Me”, the mid-ballad “I Believe In You”, the melodious rocker “Leaving Lonely”, the superb gloomy ballad “Do You Love”, the mid-tempo rocker “Out Of Bounds, and the romantic ballad “Broken”. Well, to sum it up, “Perfect World” is a well-produced album, which gives you a different point of view (a more rock one) about some well-known pop and soft rock songs. Of course Kelly’s excellent performance makes this album better than it would have been without him! So, if you like some of the songs, or if you love Kelly’s voice then you have just found a reason to listen to this album.
“The
Longest Night” is the second album from this 
Phazm
is a French band that features members of Scarve and is trying to combine
some music styles here with not so much success. What I mean? Well, it’s
easy. At first place we have death metal which is combined with black
metal but some “blues” and death n’ roll references makes things
more complex here. If they stayed on death/black music then things would
have been better for them but I hate listening to uninspired “bluesy”
breaks or death n’ roll like vocals that offers nothing to the whole
result. Nevertheless the lyrics are childish (hell darkness violence etc.)
and the artwork belongs to the “wanna scare you – and we are very bad
guys” category which I think is ridiculous for a professional band. On
the other hand, the album has only 8 songs and lasts about 40 minutes. To
sum it up, this is a very boring and uninspired album that I will never
listen to it again in my life. If you think you are bold enough and you
have much money without knowing how to spend them then... do not buy it!
Just give them to the poor!
Phluid is a quite new band from Leeds, U.K. which plays modern rock/punk music that is rather influenced from bands like Blink 182, Dead Kennedys and a little bit from Neil Young. “Release” is the title of their new mini-CD, which delivers the progress of the band from their debut “Cynical Smile”. The music here is quite heavy in some songs like the modern rock/punk-ish “Cruci-Fiction” and in general songs such as the opener “L.O.V.E.D.U.P.” and the psycho-rock “Walk Away”, I believe that will satisfy the fans of this genre. Do not forget that this is not the new full-length album of the band but only a mini-CD, which contains six songs… or shall I say seven? The last song of the MCD which is called “Liberty” lasts about 11:07 minutes! No, do not be afraid, the band didn’t manage to write any prog song here, but there is a fairly big break when the song ends (about 2:50 minutes) and then we listen to a conversation between the band and some fans, probably from a club that the band was playing live. That talking is pretty humorous I must say! Well, to sum it up, Phluid seems to love what they are doing and also they are having much fun doing it! All they ask from us is to follow them through their modern rock/punk streets that they are walking! The fans of that genre better take a look at those punk/rockers around their
neighbor!
Pig
Destroyer has returned with their second assault, after the “Prowler In
The Yard” album. The main characteristic of this band is that they
don’t have a bassist player, although that their sound is extra heavy!
The fans of the grind metal will surely know them and I believe that they
will have already bought this album, since the reviews I read for this
album in the internet are extremely good... For the rest (and for me) this
is just a violent and sick album that there is no way to listen to it more
than once!! Everything here is sick: the artwork, the vocals (J. R.
Hayes), the guitars (Scott Hull), the drumming (Brian Harvey), the thrash
and the punk parts… everything! The album lasts about 32 minutes (21
tracks separated in 99 parts, just like The Dillinger Escape Plan have
done in their last album through the same label…), but they are enough
to make you suffer from the violence and the sickness. The production is
pretty good for a grind band and was made by Scott Hull. If you love
melodies, melodic vocals, great guitars parts and choruses this album will
never please you… On the other hand, those who like grind music will
find some interesting moments. Try something more interesting!
This one’s good! In general the sound of the group is close to prog rock,
but cannot be confined to that, as the band adds many AOR elements and much
synths to create a soundtrack-like music. Although we are talking about prog
rock, the structure of the songs is (most of the times) plain and
“understandable” by all. This means that the album does not target only
the prog freaks. However we should mention that the large part of it is
instrumental, with the voice appearing only when needed. If you have listened
to Tangent’s CD, you know what to expect. Camel meet Marillion meet Survivor
in a great musical journey that never ends. What strikes the attention are the
vocal melodies that (when appear) are really catchy and stick to your head for
hours. I remember when I first listened to the opus “Circus Of The Absurd”
I kept singing the refrain for hours. But above all the album succeeds in
creating what prog rock is supposed to: feelings of melancholy, ascension and
purgatory... offering us some small ports of wisdom. 
How fast time goes by huh? This is the ninth album of the international band (which begun as German). I would never have thought that PC69 would get over Deris’ departure, but it did and delivered some excellent albums since (check “Electrified” for example). The band came up to be a guaranty for good records and qualitative music. And this is what we get here. An album in their usual style, with melodic yet “metallic” hard rock. PC69 has created a trademark sound, which cannot be mistaken... and the same path is followed here too. Harmonies, heavy riffs, power metal elements, amazing production, slow parts mixed with outbreaks and especially “sticky” refrains. I find the new album the best work of the band since “Electrified” - yet always below the unreachable standards of the masterpiece “One Size Fits
All”. But these days are over, so let's enjoy a really good and interesting hard rock album of the
00’s.
When I first heard about this CD, I thought that it was about one more power/true metal album. But I was wrong... because Plackband (what a name!) play pure 70's prog rock. In fact at times it sounds as if I'm listening to a Yes album (of the first period) or to King Crimson. "Is this bad?" you might ask. Well yes and no. Yes because it is a bit anachronistic to sound in 2003 as a band playing in the 70's (for example Spock's Beard manage to play prog rock with the same influences - but do still sound very fresh). No, because we like this music even if it is anachronistic. I bet that a younger fan would never like this one... plus it would be good for him, if interested, to start with the original Yes albums. But for older rockers who would like to listen to something new in the old tradition, this might be really a good choice. Especially if you consider that some tracks in here (like the unbelievable "See The Dwarf") are really great. It's really up to you to choose to which side you belong.
Planet
Alliance is like a European hard n’ heavy “all-star” band… when you
read the names of the musicians that are participating on this album you
will understand that… well we have: Mike Andersson (vocals/keyboards -
Cloudascape), Magnus Karlsson (guitar/keyboards - Last Tribe, Allen/Lande,
Starbreaker, Tony O’Hora), Bob Daisley (bass - ex-Ozzy, Gary Moore),
Magnus Rosen (bass – Hammerfall), Anders Johansson (drums - Hammerfall,
ex-Malmsteen), Jaime Salazar (drums – Last Tribe, ex-Flower Kings), Janne
Stark (guitar – Locomotive Breath, Overdrive), Carl-Johan Grimmark (guitar
– Narnia, Rob Rock) and Mattias “Ia” Eklundh (guitar - Freak Kitchen,
ex-Fate). Indeed an impressive line-up huh? The thing that always matter the
most is music and not really the well-known musicians. “Planet 
Tony Carey is not an ordinary musician. He played in Rainbow’s “Rising” and “On Stage” and in 1983 he formed Planet P Project. By that time “Why Me?” became a smash hit all over the world and Tony’s reputation was growing day by day. In 1984 he released the double “Pink World” which was more
sprawling than the debut. So, after almost 20 years Tony presents the new work of Planet P Project, the first of a trilogy titled “Go Out Dancing”. The album was first released through:
Platens
is brand new band which was formed in late 2003 by the singer and
songwriter Dario Grillo, a young and talented musician, born in Palermo,
Italy. Believe it or not he signs and plays all the instruments here
except for the drums, which were recorded by his brother Alessandro Grillo.
Platens’ music style is quite complex, as it combines hard rock music,
with heavy/prog influences and many melodic rock/AOR elements. “Between
Two Horizons” is not another good melodic rock CD and I do not agree
with the characterization of melodic rock band given by Frontiers. Here
you will listen to sentimental, moody ballads like: “Your Heart Will
Claim His Truth”, “Into The Fire”, “The Last Kiss” and “Waves
Of Sea” and to hard n’ heavy tracks like: “Here I Am”, “Can Feel
It”, “My Reason”, “Angel’s Cry” and “Waves Of Sea” which
have a prog feeling underneath. Darios’ voice is very good and sometimes
brought to my mind Jeff Soto and the album in general is well worked and
well produced! I must confess that I didn’t expect to like so much this
album and believe me that is not an easy one and needs several hearings to
get used to it. I’m impressed cause this album is the debut of Platens
and all the songs were composed, played and produced by Dario himself. I
do not know if this is the best way for this band to go no… Dario must
know that. I only know that this is a very good album and it will be a
pity to go unnoticed.
Platitude is an up-and-coming band from Sweden, which managed to impress the metal scene with its previous album “Secrets Of Life”. Now, a year after their debut album, they release the “Nine” album. Their sound is difficult to be described, because it is a strange mixture of symphonic power and progressive metal, hard rock, AOR and neoclassic metal! The group sounds very melodic and technical and the ages of the band’s members vary from 18 up to 24! Erik Blomkvist has a wonderful voice that is very touching and he can sing in all the tones. He will remind you of Roy Khan (ex-Conception, Kamelot) and Jorn Lande (Masterplan, Ark, Brazen Abbot). Also the two guitarists, Daniel Hall and Gustav Kollerstrom seem to be working very well together just like the two (!) keyboardists, Andreas Lindah (ex-Zool) and “Wachen”. The rhythm section sounds very technical and of course no one can devaluate its part in the group. The atmosphere of the whole album is very pleasant and the most interesting part is that you can hear nice and fresh music that you haven’t heard a thousand times in the past! The album was recorded at Jailhouse Studios in Denmark and produced by the band and Tommy Hansen (who has worked with Helloween, T.N.T., Gamma Ray, Metalium, Heavenly, Heaven’s Gate, Rage Pretty Maids and many others!). I don’t know if you are going to find this album as interesting as I did, but if you want to listen to something “different”, from a band that can take a leading part in metal music in the next years then this is the right album for you! Best tracks without any doubts: “Trust”, “Oblivion”, “Catch 22”, “Avalon Farewell”, “Aeromantica”, and “Starlight”.
Poison is maybe
the best poser metal band in the planet! Now they are back in the 00's
to continue offering us their great party-metal music! Poison recorded
"Hollyweird", with the original line up, that they always had,
and they seem to have the same power and fun they had in the 80's.
Nothing is missing from "Hollyweird, which in my opinion is
regarded as one of the best works that Poison ever had. They are still
writing incredible songs for beautiful-hot women, party-orgies and in
general about their way of living. Songs like "Wasteland",
"Shooting Star", "Devil Woman", (which starts with
harmonica), and the absolute hit "Home", are already Poison's
classics and they could be included in the known super album that they
had released in the past and it was called "Open Up And Say…Ahh!"
Another great note is that Bret Michaels sings with a lot of passion and
he seems like he wants to get back all those wasted years for the band.
Also CC DeVille rocks with his guitar very badly! All of you out there
that you love beautiful women, metal music and dirty lyrics about human
relations and all other kind of stuff better listen to the new
impressive album of Poison! The gamins from Hollywood are back with a
lot of inspiration and dominance…just try to follow their way of
living!
Poisonblack for those who might not know is the group (or the "child") of Ville Laihiala (Sentenced's singer, here in the role of guitarist and backing vocalist). So, you may wonder who is the vocalist of
Poisonblack? The answer is simple although it may cause some questions to many of you but the truth is that J.P. Leppaluoto (the voice of Charon and one of the great singers in the gothic metal scene) is the vocalist of
Poisonblack. Well, the music that this band plays is not something extraordinary but it is very clever and pure! The music is something between Sentenced and Charon (due to the vocalist most) and there are some songs like "Love Infernal", "The Glow Of The Flames", "All Else Is Hollow" and "In Lust" that are really astonishing! The guitar work is really great and shows that Ville is also a very good guitar player but also a great songwriter cause he wrote all the songs of this album. Personally I would prefer him to sing also in the album cause I believe that the whole result would have been more amazing or even more "Sentenced"!!! To be honest, I like very much the cover art and more the inlay photos (just imagine what is happening there!) and I believe that the whole atmosphere of the album is rightfully hard, melancholy and sexy! Those who like gothic metal music and who love either Sentenced or Charon should try out
Poisonblack. You will enjoy it undoubtedly!
Ok I'm not an Iggy fan, but I can accept his contribution to rock music - especially with The Stooges. The thing here is that Iggy as solo artist had released average albums lately (especially his latter three works were weak), so this could be a step away from his bad self, or one deeper into the ground.
But there is one qualitative difference with the new "Skull Ring": it is Iggy's first studio collaboration with the Stooges since "Raw Power" in 1973. And to be honest Ron Asheton's contribution here seems to bring the magic touch with his great guitar riffs sounding as brilliant as ever. If you combine this with Iggy's bestial performance you get an excellent piece of work! So what we get here is 18 (!) tracks of punk rock the way its Godfather knows to play. Loud, heavy, dirty, catchy and with a loads of style. Don't ask me for song highlights, as once the opening track ("Little Electric Chair") explodes you can get carried away. Iggy's fans - and not only them - will love it.
It is really strange how this band managed to survive after all these years, taking into account that it never enjoyed the success it deserved (for more information take a look at our "Hall of Fame"). For those who don't know Praying Mantis, I have to say that the band begun in the late 70's as part of the NWOBHM movement but differed quite a lot from groups of the genre as it adopted a melodic, lyrical approach. Now, three years after the successful "Nowhere To Hide" (2000), the band returns with an even better album. The approach of the group hasn't changed a lot: melodic heavy metal, based in harmonies and the inspired guitar riffs and solos of Tino Troy. The keyboards play a more significant role here, and I have to say that at times the music reminds me of Magnum (early days). The band these days consists of the Troy brothers, Dennis Stratton, Martin Johnson, and in the vocals John Sloman and Dougie White, with the latter of those delivering some amazing performances, adding even more quality to the songs. Fans of the group have already bought the album and have placed it next to the legendary "Time Tells No Lies". As for the rest, give it a try and you won't regret it. Intellectual heavy metal!
Too
many come backs this year huh? Well, this is a dynamic one. I have in my
hand this CD for more than two months now, but I was reluctant to listen
to it, as I thought that it would be a boring old-fashioned album....and
now I feel so embarrassed!!! Goodness, Pretty Maids can blow your brains
out with this album. I feel so awkward for neglecting it for so long.
Fresh and vigorous, the tracks of the album grab you from the neck and
leave you in a state of panic! I cannot distinguish if this is hard rock
or heavy metal. I think it is hard rock played by HEAVY guitars with
thunderous riffs. I have to mention that the production of the album is
modern, making the songs sound fresh and heavy. No, don't even thing
about any nu-metal elements here. We are talking about heavy music, fast
melodic, with catchy refrains, loads of variety between the tracks,
great ballads. Ho-ho this is a CD with huge balls my friends! You
definitely have to listen to this. My only objection is the cover of the
album which is so unoriginal (Van Halen and Savatage have used this
cover in the 80's), that might mislead someone...and it would be such a
shame! It's unfair to mention only 2-3 songs from this album, as all of
them are great. But if you need to listen to only one to just have a
taste of what you are going to buy...then try "Playing God"...and
you will definitely go to the cashier!!!
I have to say that I didn't know many things about Pride. So, when I put the cd on the cd player I didn't really know what should I expect from them. Fortunately what I've listened to, was the kind of music that I like, thus I had to give more attention to this specific album. In this point I ought to say that when I've listened to for the first time the album it didn't' surprised as there were only two songs that I liked much. Moreover that's one reason that someone should listen to an album many times to draw a better conclusion. So, I've gone back through "Signs Of Purity" several times and I realized that Pride have released a very good melodic hard rock album up to White Lion's alley. No, Pride are not a clone of White Lion and won't even remind you a lot of this band, but if I have to say a band that came on my mind while listening to "Signs Of Purify" then this would probably be White Lion. Aside from that, this album has some truly melodic rockers like "Could You Believe", "Somewhere, Someway", "It's Just Me", "Say You're Not Lonely", and "No Reasons Why". Well, I should not forget to refer to my beloved catchy semi-ballad "Still Raining" and of course to the acoustic ballad "Heaven's Waiting". Those songs actually are fantastic! Also I should mention the awesome artwork of this album, which brings
on my mind the movie: The Matrix! To cut it short, Pride released a good melodic hard rock album that every fan of this genre should at least listen to. "Signs Of Purify" has some amazing songs that it will be a pity to miss them. The choice, as always, is up to you.
The German group is a special case indeed. In a way when it released its first album everyone believed that we would see the new Judas Priest, something that was unrealistic anyway (there will never be new Judas Priest). However the first two albums have been really good and interesting, with refreshing pure heavy metal. The previous album was rather crap and now this.... which is not bad at all. The band seems to have returned to the usual paths: Judas Priest, meets Iron Maiden, meets Saxon. We are talking about pure metal meltdown with fury riffs and thunderous rhythm section. Of course Ralf Sheepers glows here with his performances, which are on top standards (although I’ve always preferred he had stayed with Gamma Ray). There are some really good songs like “Visions Of Fate” and “Soulchaser” for instance. However the problem concerns basically the time of the release. If a band keeps playing in the same way it used to play in its first albums, which means in the same way that Priest played in the 80's and early 90's, then there is a problem. And this is what decreases the final grade. However no one can ever blame a band, which delivers pure fury heavy metal.
"Black Sun" is the new album of Primal Fear. And as you have guessed the band is playing powerful heavy-power metal, mostly affected by the 80's metal scene. It's obvious that the band love Judas Priest and especially Rob Halford is something like an idol for the singer of the band Ralf
Scheepers. And if some of you are still wondering for what they may listen in this album, I will put it simply enough: Heavy guitars, fast rhythms, powerful screaming vocals and some forceful songs like
"Lightyears From Home" , "Armageddon", the mid-tempo "Magic Eye", the melodic "Silence" and "Revolution". Another thing is that "Black Sun" is a very well produced album with a heavy and sharp sound. So, the fans of the band should already have "Black Sun"!
Primal Fear are a very good band and with every new album that they release they gain more popularity in the metal community. I hope that they will continue to offer us, in the future, such good quality albums like "Black Sun". 
The
following trio created the band called Project: Failing Flesh: Eric Forrest
(ex-Voivod, E-Force), Tim Gutierrez and Kevin 131. The band uses the thrash
metal music as a base and experiments with this sound. Their music is a very
good mixture of thrash, death and industrial metal… Their main influences
must be Voivod, Fear Factory, Ministry and Strapping Young Lad! The use of
instruments like viola, piano and violin add a variety in this album. Anyway
the guitars are thrashy and the vocals sound like coming from an oldschool
thrash metal band! The 10 tracks included on this CD, have a big variety
because some of them have samples and keyboards, others are thrash metal
dynamites, others are a fresh mix of trash and industrial metal etc… The
final track of this album is a cover of the track “Warhead” (Venom) and
sounds very good. The album has a great sound and Kevin 131 together with
Tim Gutierrez have made the production. Generally, the album is very
interesting and has many fresh and modern ideas. Best tracks: “A Beautiful
Sickness”, “9mm Movie”, “Long Silent Voices”, “Taste Of The Lie”
and “Highwire Act”.
Pro-Pain is a very popular band in the
metalcore community and I think everyone has heard an album or a song
from the band. Taking for granted that the band creates good and
interesting albums, how could this one differ? So, the ninth studio album
of Pro-Pain has everything that we want from Pro-Pain and some new
elements that may not please the band’s fans. The past good parts are
here: heavy guitars (Tom Klimchuck and Eric Klinger), excellent rhythm
section (Gary Meskil on bass and JC Dwyer on drums), hardcore and thrash
metal influences, aggressive vocals (Gary Meskil) and lyrics that are
really nasty and raw. Lets go now to the new added music parts that are
the melodic parts. This time Pro-Pain have used many melodies and that
makes the album more groove than many of their fans would want. You will
find catchy refrains, choruses with clean vocals and many melodic guitar
solos! The production is great once again and the album sounds very heavy,
but it may lacks of aggressiveness. Finally, some guest musicians have
added their personal style in this album and these are: Stephan Weidner
(vocals on “Godspeed”), Krazy-K & Drew and Nick Warren (vocals on
“Cut Throat”, “Can You Feel It?”). I think that their die-hard
fans may have some objections about the new elements on their music, but
generally I think that most of you will like this album very much.
This is the second full length album of the American
power-progsters (the first one being "Eyes of the Oracle" - 1998), and I can tell you that this is a very good
album, coming to prove that this genre of heavy metal is on the rise
again. To be honest I didn't know anything about the band, so listening to the album was a nice
surprise. Long songs (average 7 minutes long), based on high technique and excellent
ideas. Just to give you an idea of how the band sounds, imagine a mixture of Heir Apparent
(of their second album), Fates Warning (of their second period -
"Awaken..." & "No Exit"), Mystic Force and a bit of Crimson Glory at
parts. Band members seem to know very well their instruments and how to use
them. Special reference shall be made to the really good singer, who delivers some very expressive
executions. The only disadvantage of the CD, according to my opinion, is that it is really long
(total running time 75 minutes). Given the complexity of the music and length of the songs it is difficult for someone to listen to it at once for several
times. However I strongly believe that this is a band with potentials, and I'll be looking forward to their next
steps.
Are you looking for an album, which could transfer you directly back to the 80’s and early 90’s? Are there still any posters of Gamma Ray, Stratovarius or Van Halen on your wall? Do you still enjoy stories and fairy tales about lost worlds, quests for glory and freedom, knights, magicians, holy lands etc.? In other words, are you fond of power metal? Then you’ll certainly love the second album of the English power metal band Powerquest. From the very beginning of the CD you understand that these guys have great skills and they know exactly how to perform power metal. The first track “Neverworld”, a nine-minute outstanding song, puts you right in the middle of power heaven, showing what is about to follow. Everything you may want to listen in a power album is here. Thunderous guitar riffs and solo’s, clear vivid vocals by Alessio Garavello who gets along very well with high notes, great never-boring melodies, but the best part is the emphasis that was given to keyboards. Almost every track is accompanied with great synthesizer tunes that will blow your mind. Excellent work!! The album contains eight bouncing songs and the power metal ballad “When I’m Gone” a classic-style, catchy piano song talking about… leaving and the memories which remain after. The keyboards in the tracks “Edge Of time” and “Lost Without You” reminds me exactly of Van Halen’s “Jump” and this could be a reason for complaints and criticism about the originality but anyway as long as the final result is great I don’t care. Furthermore I missed 80’s style and sound. Powerquest offer a real power flashback. Don’t miss
it…
“Matters” is Pulley’s fifth release on Epitaph and they still offering us good melodic punk rock music. Of course their music is being influenced form the great Bad Religion but their songs have also a Pulley’s mark. This time the production of the album was made by Matt Hyde (Slayer, No Doubt, Sum 41, Fu Manchu, Monster Magnet, etc…), and I must say that is terrific! The songs are very good and most of them are in high tempo and a few others in mid tempo. The singer Scot Randinsky is truly one of the best vocalists of this genre. Best songs of the album are without a shred of doubt, “A Bad Reputation”, “Blindfold”, Huber Breeze”, “Insects Destroy” (my favorite one), “Immune”, “YSC”, “I Remember” and “Suitcase”. The last song of the CD, “Thanks” it’s an acoustic tribute to the fans of the band. Also the CD contains four video clips, in which we can see scenes from the studio of Pulley while they were recording this album, and have some comments from the members of the band as well. Do not expect any drastic changes in the music style of Pulley here. As we said before, this album is recommended to the lovers of punk rock music and especially to the fans of the band. You will totally enjoy it.
Ok, this a bit late to present here, as it was released in
late 2003, but the company just sent us the promo and it does worth making the review. So, by listening to the CD without
having read anything about the band you can bet that it comes from the States. Wrong! This is a German band that plays hard
rock in the American way and does it really well! The thing is that the more I listen to the album the more I like it! It
must be this amazing work on the guitars, with the imaginative solos and bridges that make it distinct from
other similar releases. Straight hard rock in the path of bands like Skid Row, Pretty Maids and Pink Cream 69 (of the
old days). And to be honest I like this CD much more than the latest works of the aforementioned bands. Another plus for
the group is the amazing production by Tommy Newton. Ah by the way I should also mention that the singer here is Markus
Jurgens (x-Brainstorm). I strongly suggest you to listen to the whole album and not only a couple of songs – it’s a
really good one. The CD is full of “on the road” feeling and when taking into account that this is a debut, I should tell
you that this band has potentials.
Well, what do you have here? A totally hard rock album, which will make you, think that you are still livin' in the late 80's! Yes, you are reading damn right. I have told long ago that I believe that the hard rock/poser metal genre is about to resurrect, and the proof to that, among others (the last year's Poison's and L.A. Guns' album and etc.) is the Pyn Siren's album! When I put the cd on the cd player I thought that I was listening to Skid Row! It is more than obvious that Pyn Siren are influenced from Skid Row, Poison, Warrant and in general from a few bands from the late 80's hard rock genre. The band plays really hard rock music with attitude and a lot of energy. 10 tracks of hard rock music in the vein of Skid Row and a singer that sings like he is the twin brother of Sebastian Bach! Some songs that I truly like are the opener "Cry Me A River", the rocker "Die", the mid-tempo heavy "Higher" the creepy "Sister Whiskey", and the Poison-like "Dance For Your Lover". If next time, Pyn Siren manage to write more melodic and catchy choruses in all of their songs, then I'm sure that they will upheave in the hard rock genre. As a conclusion, "Slave To The Master" (does the title reminds you something?) is a good hard rock album and for sure the fans of Skid Row, and generally all the fans of 80's hard rock, should check it out. Personally, I love very much the 80's era of hard rock. Sister whiskey…looking down the bottle…
The great mysteries of
life...Who would ever believe that Pyogenesis would end up playing punk/radio
rock??? Surely not me! We are talking about total change of style, as
there is nothing to remind the old death metal band they once have been!
Even their image is different, as they appear with red ties and things...What
can I say? They possibly realized that they didn't have any great future
with death metal and changed their style in order to make a break to
larger audience. If you are still one of the romantics who judge music
according to motives, then don't touch this CD. If you are death metal
fan (and especially fan of the group in its previous days) and you
cannot accept this change, then don't touch either! Because here we have
typical punk rock songs, targeting to cheer you up, without any need to
"deepen" your listenings to the album. "1-2-3-4"
songs, up-tempo, melodic/catchy refrains etc. Is it good? Yes! I think
if you isolate the history of the band and you perceive them as a brand
new band, then the album is quite good. Ah you also have to like punk
rock, otherwise you will swear at them all the time. As for me? I prefer
their new style much more than the old one! At least they cheered me up...and
I know that this CD will visit my stereo very often.
This is the debut band of the Danish group. The distinctive feature here is the very young ages of the band’s members. The only exception is Lance King (ex-Balance Of Power) on the microphone, who is an experienced musician and adds much to the whole record. The band plays modern heavy metal and does it quite well to be honest. The amalgam of Iron Maiden, meets Iced Earth meets
Stratovarius is a very common to be honest, but the band here manages to differentiate it’s tracks by using many moods in each one. This means that the songs pass from acoustic intros to thunderous couples and dark bridges to power refrains etc. This is good because it makes the whole listening interesting. The production is the usual as in every album of this style, clear with respect to the guitars. I ‘m personally fed up with the common and repeated heavy-power, but I have to confess that this one is good. My final grade is a bit higher because this is a debut album and the band is promising.