DETAINED

Detained was started in Uppsala, Sweden, by David Ahlström, Fredrik Bohlin and former drummer Andreas Engman. After some songwriting by David and some earlier songwriting work from Andreas and Tina Gunnarsson, Detained decided to make an audition with Tina, and from that point the band had a permanent singer. Thomas Jonsson also joined the band on guitar and Thomas Ohlsson became the new drummer. After a short while they decided to record an E.P, at Blueflame productions with producer Dr Müller. The result was mixed by Lawrence Mackrory.

Detained is a new very interesting name coming from Sweden. Musically they describe them self as a female fronted rock`n roll/ metal band and a awesome party metal band. And yes their music really kicks with also influences of melodic metal, modern metal and power metal. With the strong opener I Am, we get a good proof of all this with really tasteful melodic parts and an addictive chorus. The vocals from Tina is perfect for this music with both a smooth soft voice to a more rough/raw side. The sound is good and I like the natural style this band have with a clean production without to much layers in the production and instrumentation. The guitars sounds awesome and I like the bass playing and the hard hitting drums. Day To Die opens heavy, but changes to a more melodic style for the first verse, and then it speeds up for the chorus lines. The groove is really cool and I like the small switches from the verses to the chorus lines. The guitar solo is very entertaining and the vocals in this is really great with a wide capacity! Goodbye is so far the most powerful, but with nice melodic verses. The song builds with more power throughout and reach its top with double bass drums and a cool guitar solo at the end. The chorus lines is also very strong! Reset opens very powerful and modern sounding with a little trace of nu-metal. This song also changes throughout and they manage with all their songs to make me interested and entertained with great variated styles. I like the power and the punch in the music with great vocals and powerful instrumentation with cool details and sound. The male voice in some of the songs is also a plus and give the songs the little extra! The last track Detained is in a way the song that describes what the band themselves like to call their music as a mix of rock`n roll/ metal. A strong song with a good melody and remembering chorus lines. Also here the vocals is very entertaining and give the music what it needs!! I look forward to follow this band in the future, and can`t hardly wait to hear their debut, so check out Detained now!!!!97/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.detained.se

Detained is:

Tina Gunnersson -Vocals
David Ahlström - Guitars
Thomas Tym Jonsson - Guitars
Fredrik Bohlin - Bass
Thomas Ohlsson - Drums

PERPETUATE

Perpetuate is a heavy metal band hailing from Windsor, Ontario in Canada. Guitarists Jamie Hush and Chris Rafinski join forces with drummer Mike Wiznuk and bassplayer Calvin Love, and keyboardist/singer Kim McInnis. Perpetuate has so far shared the stage with some of Ontario’s favorite metal and hard rock acts like Baptized in Blood, Hail the Villain, Today I Caught the Plague, and the legendary Anvil. In November 2010, Perpetuate started recording their debut CD with Glenn Fricker at Spectre Sound. The CD features five original tracks and a cover of the unforgettable “The Trooper” by Iron Maiden. The self-titled CD was released in April 2011 and is now available from CDN Records and digital music retailers everywhere.

Not so often I write about bands from Canada, but Perpetuate is a new and upcoming band from that area. With their self-titled debut that contains six songs I think we here have a band we can expect lot from in the future. Perpetuate mixes lots of styles from classical elements to progressive metal, melodic metal and on this debut they present us lot of good technicality and good song writing skills. Above And Beyond opens the disc, a classic inspired intro leads us to a more melodic progressive oriented style. After the first rounds in the player I was a little confused about their style, but now I understand the songs more and like them better and better for each round. The vocals from Kim is very strong and its cool to hear her variation from the soaring soprano voice to the more aggressive singing style. The band sounds very strong with lot of entertaining details on the guitars, drums and keys. The next Inside Out, have a very progressive oriented style with lots of changes throughout. The choir parts mixed with the aggressive and the technical instrumental performing is great. A little soft beautiful part give the song variation, and this was a challenging little nut!! Chrysalis opens with nice keys and guitars, in a way a more straight forward song with a good melody line and strong haunting chorus lines. The sound is good and I enjoy to hear all the cool details! The Last Stand have an aggressive melodic progressive style with nice guitars, good melodic lines, and I like the part with the talking voices. The song speeds up at the end with a fast technical guitar solo. Medusa opens slow with guitars before it crackles with real life. Partly a very soft song, but at the same time powerful with a special style. A little jewel of a song and I think they are at their best with this! The cover of The Trooper by Iron Maiden, is not the best cover I have heard of this, but they handle it okay, and my advise must be to concentrate on own things, because you have something here that I really would like to hear more of in the years to come, so keep up the great work!! 97/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.myspace.com/perpetuateband

Perpetuate is:

Kim McInnis - Vocals, keyboards
Jamie Hush - Guitar, vocals
Chris Rafinski - Guitar, vocals
Michael Wiznuk - Drums, vocals
Calvin Love - Bass, vocal

SYPHERION - Flames Of The Immortal Heart

Sypherion was born in Barcelona,Spain in 2008, by virtuoso guitar player Fabio Di Angelo. Sypherion mixes progressive metal with baroque classical music and epic orchestrations. The band released their first album "Flames of the Immortal Heart" in late 2011.

Got in contact with Fabio, a while ago and here comes the review! Sypherion is a new very interesting name in the music business, and with the first recording Flames Of The Immortal Heart, they very easy manage to get me hooked on their music! Musically I think Sypherion best can be described as a symphonic metal band with traces of progressive metal, melodic metal and we also hear some baroque and folk influences. The symphonic intro The Battle Of Thermopylae opens the disc. From this point we get a little feeling about what we can expect throughout the CD, a delicate symphonic instrumental with the exact right ingredients. A big symphonic arrangement, cool hard hitting drums and very nice guitars! The next God Of War, starts more progressive, but this have a lot of changes throughout. The first part with the talking voice followed by the male vocals by Manu Esteve sounds really great. Then the male talking voice again followed by Ruth Garlet`s very fine soprano voice. I like this a lot, and also the different vocal parts make it entertaining. The instrumental performing and the sound is just fantastic, the guitar details from Fabio is precise and variated, the keys, drums and bass playing also have a lot of fine details and keep you interested and entertained! Visions Of The Soul is in a way a darker symphonic metal oriented song. The voice from Ruth with the special effects sounds cool in the verses. When the song reach the chorus lines she uses her natural fine voice. Partly a very fine melodic song with some small progressive elements and great symphonic details. Also the keys sound very good and the guitars is stunning! Flames Of Osiris opens with a feeling of baroque, but this is in my opinion one of the most challenging songs on the disc with a lot of different styles. From progressive bits to more melodic parts with nice vocals. They also have some power metal influences in this, like with the up tempo instrumental part. A song that grow the more I hear it! Immortal Dreams is one of the most straight forward songs, but what a jewel this is! I really enjoy the melody in this and the fine vocals. The song reach the top in the chorus parts. The little soft part with piano and vocals followed by a great guitar solo is just stunning! Also the next Pieces Of My Heart is a melodic beautiful pearl of a song, The chorus lines in this is some of the finest I have heard in very long time. The vocals from Ruth is delicate in this and I get in a good mood of fine songs like this! Inside My Sorrow, is in the same style as the two last, a delicate melodic metal oriented song with a strong chorus and a very fine melody. All in all a very strong debut from Sypherion, not a dull moment at all just superb in every direction, so check out Sypherion!!! 99/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.wix.com/sypherion/home

Sypherion is:

Fabio Di Angelo - Guitars
Ruth Garlet - Lead Voice & Keyboards
Manu Esteve - Lead Voice
Abel Sequera - Drums
Edgar Monreal - Bass
Jesús Espejo - Keyboards

ULTIMATE FATE - Beyond The Horizon

Ultimate Fate is a female fronted melodic metal act from Gothenburg, Sweden! In April 2011 Ultimate Fate released the EP - Beyond The Horizon! They are after the release of the EP, continuing the songwriting for the debut album!

Ultimate Fate is not just another good swedish band. After listening up and down to the three songs on this EP, I can hardly wait for the debut to be released!! In my opinion one of the best newcomers I have heard in long time, and their style is also very pleasing. Melodic metal of the finest mark with huge melodies, nice vocals, good musicians and a solid production!! Horizon opens the ball on this EP. A delicate little jewel of a song with a melody and vocals that goes deep into your soul. Together with the fine melodic they also manage to have a dose of aggressiveness in their songs, and the music is built in a way that keep you entertained with changes from the melodic to more power and speed plus that they inflict a brittle side and also a dark side. Singer Jennie Nord have a very good voice and lifts the songs to a high level with her clear alt voice. Retribution opens very beautiful with Jennie`s voice! The song opens like a ballad, but changes to a more melodic metal oriented style. The melody here is addictive and the way the music is arranged is just great! The guitars have lot of cool details, the choir is nice and they easily manage to get me hooked on their style. I also feel there is some celtic influences in this, but maybe I`m wrong! Beyond The Fear is the most powerful song on the EP. It kicks off with a symphonic style, but changes to a more melodic power metal oriented style, but still very melodic. The guitars sounds awesome in this, and the switches from the powerful bits to the more melodic parts is just stunning. Also here the vocals is very strong!! It will be hard to wait for the debut, hopefully it will not take long time!!!98/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.myspace.com/ultimatefate

Ultimate Fate is:

Jennie Nord: Vocals
Oscar Sjöberg: Guitars
Ola Olsson: Drums
Andreas Bergqvist: Keys

TARJA TURUNEN & HARUS - Live At Sibelius Hall

Tarja Turunen & Harus have been a band since 2006, with Kalevi Kiviniemi (organ), Markku Krohn (chimes and kettledrums), Marzi Nyman (guitar), and Tarja Turunen (Vocals), all of them with classical roots. They first shared a stage in the summer of 2006 at Latih Organ Festival. In 2008, they came together to perform a series of Christmas concerts in Finland, a tradition that Tarja begun a few years ago and they have done this for some years now. So about this tradition Tarja felt "...to bring it out of the shadows, closer to everyone...", therefore, she came with this idea to make a recording of the 2009 concert in Lahti's Sibelius concert hall, a beautiful building, and the biggest in Finland built of wood in over a century. Tarja Turunen is a Finnish soprano, internationally known for her unique career combining to different music styles: Classical Music and Rock. Tarja studied church music in Sibelius Academy (1996-2000) and continued studying German Lied music in HfM Karlsruhe (2000-2003) with professor Mitsuko Shirai and Hartmut Höll. After several important performances in Opera and symphonic orchestra Tarja got worldwide known with the metal band "Nightwish" in which she worked as a lead singer between the years 1997-2005 making many world tours and selling several millions of albums. Tarja's solo career continues today releasing chart topping albums, Gold and Platinum Record Awards in Russia, Finland, Germany, Czech Republic and Hungary and touring the world stages.

This album of Tarja Turunen & Harus in concert live at Sibelius Hall is not surprising! Tarja has made people get accustomed to good and exquisite music and this is not the exception of the rule. It was a wonderful idea to make this album, so people can know the fantastic work of this excellent artist, together with these supreme musicians around christmas time every year in Finland. Of course is not the same style music that some of us know about Tarja and her Metal work. This album comes with church and christmas classical songs. Is full of beauty, magic chords from the organ and the guitar and pleasant percussions, this album is simply thrilling!. Arkihuolesi Kaikki Heitä is the first track, sung in finnish; with a nice guitar arrangement and an excellent performance of Tarja this song is magical. Ave Maria op. 80 comes in an operatic version sung in latin with an impeccable pronunciation and an astounding organ sound accompanied by chimes and of course the exquisite tones in Tarja's voice. The next track, Ave Maria begins with a declamation, sung as well in latin in a more known version of this classical piece but the performance of the singer and the musicians turn this song into a piece of art! The organ arrangements is out of this world. Maa On Niin Kaunis, sung in finnish is a beautiful song sung with an extraordinary feeling that makes you nostalgic for your country! Heinillä Härkien has an exciting feeling of sorrow and beauty at the same time, heard in the sound of the guitar and the organ chords that will touch the fibers of your heart, this song is my favorite one, full of classic charming. Varpunen Jouluaamuna, and En Etsi Valtaa Loistoa, in the same style, with amazing performances, classical chords and overflowing of pure beauty. Jouluyö, Juhlayö (Silent Night) is the finnish version of Silent night, simply beautiful and with new brand arrangements that will make you embrace this version from top to bottom. Astral Bells is an instrumental song under a psychedelic and innovative arrangement. Tracks like You Would Have Loved This, sung in english is an amazing ballad with a dreamy musical arrangement, my second favorite one! And Walking In the Air as well is sung in english and is a little stronger and with a straight forward melody but not less romantic and full of classical beauty. This album is classic, full of culture and elegance, made for the most exquisite taste in music without being boringly exclusive. This album is something that everybody must enjoy! 99/100 Reviewed by Maria
http://www.tarjaturunen.com/

Tarja Turunen & HARUS is:

Tarja Turunen: Vocals
Kalevi Kiviniemi: Organ
Marzi Nyman: Guitar
Markku Krohn: Percussion

AMARANTHE

Amaranthe is a Swedish/Danish power/melodic death metal band that originates from Sweden and Denmark. Formed by Jake E. and Olof Morck, the project began taking shape when singers Elize Ryd and Andy Solvestrom signed on, as did drummer Morten Lowe. In April 2011 their debut album "Amaranthe" was released to worldwide acclaim, charting high in Sweden and Finland, and was the 84th most played album on Spotify in the whole world, all genres! In Spring of 2011 they did a full on European tour with Kamelot and Evergrey, and now they set their sights on the world!

Have been aware of this band for a while, but haven`t had possibility to write about them until now. Wow, what can I say! This band really is something very interesting musically and vocally. With three singers they manage to make something that sounds very special. The clean strong high voice from Elize and the clean and clear voice from Jake E, plus the screams from Andy give us something new and something with an own twist in this genre! Musically they move from modern sounding metal with electronic elements to power metal, death metal, melodic metal, progressive metal, pop/ rock, and the new style dance floor metal!! The production is very solid with a huge sound, and I like all the instrumental details and the vocals and choirs from the three singers is just fabulous!! The opener Leave Everything Behind, opens with some cool electronic sounds before it kicks off with a great challenging tempo. The first vocal lines with screams from Andy, followed with the clear very fine voices from Elize and Andy. I really like the style this band have managed to create with changes musically that will blow you away! In one moment tempo then suddenly soft, and then in the next moment aggressive and progressive. They also partly with their big choruses sounds like a big hit you hear on the Radio. Hunger opens very aggressive, the contrasts changes a lot from the sweet nice vocals from Elize to Jake E, and when the screams from Andy comes they perfectly fulfills this vocal parade! Modern sounding keys, aggressive sounding guitars and incredibly good played drums and bass take this band to a high level! The chorus parts is addictive and very remembering, and you will have problems to get them out of your head. 1.000.000 Lightyears is the next bomb! Also here they serve a chorus that get stick, the guitars from Olof impress me a lot with very precise details in riffs and solos. Automatic continues this journey, the three singers continue to impress, and listen to the guitar solo in this! The chorus really blow you off the chair. It`s just delicious to listen to this very synchronized band, and the way they combine speed with melody and great instrumentation is just excellent. Amaranthine is a jewel of a song and a big hit in my opinion, and why songs like this don`t end up as number one on the charts is for me unbelievable. Rain is very aggressive and totally different than the last, but still with great melody parts, great electronic elements and the singers is just something you can not simply miss: Just Fantastic!! Call Out My Name also starts aggressive, but changes totally for the hit like chorus lines. Amaranthe dare to take a step further with their music than many others, and are not afraid at all to mix modern sounding music with aggressive metal, and I admire people and bands like this, because they bring in new elements and styles that sounds new and fresh! Director`s Cut, Act Of Desperation, and one of my favorite tracks Serendipity is just splendid songs. The bonus tracks Breaking Point and A Splinter In My Soul, is no exception together with all the other songs: Just Splendid Work! You on top of this get a bonus DVD with the songs Hunger and Amaranthine, plus behind the scenes, making of the videos, album recording and documentary from European Tour 2011. When doing this week after week, you sometimes tumbles over bands that completely knocks you down! Amaranthe is one of these bands, so check out their debut album now!! 100/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.amaranthe.se/
http://www.roaddust.se/

Amaranthe is:

Elize - Vocals
Jake E - Vocals
Andy - Screams
Olof - Guitars and keys
Morten - Drums
Johan - Bass

OPUS DORIA - Infraworld

The Opus Doria project started in Dax, Aquitaine in France in the fall 2009. After several line-up changes through the first years they are now ready with their first album Infraworld. Opus relates to the marking of numbers in classical music, and Doria stands for the dorian mode to suggest the modal sonorities we can find in music from the medieval and from baroque music. The band is ready to go out promoting their music to the world, and is looking for some gigs, so watch out!!

From time to time it shows up bands that really impress me a lot!! Opus Doria is one of these fine new bands with their debut Infraworld. Over the last few weeks I don`t dare to tell you how many rounds this fine album have spinned in the player, and for each time I listen the album it grows more and more. Musically Opus Doria is a very interesting band with a landscape of music with influences from the medieval, baroque, symphonic classical music, metal, epic film score music, and they also partly sound progressive and heavy. The Sundial opens the ball and from this point you can sit back and enjoy fine arrangements with piano, choirs, cello, great riffing guitars and strong solid vocals from Maela. I like the way they build their songs and the way they manage to inflict different themes, styles and variations. Like with the next The Quest, that starts with a power metal oriented style that changes at the first verse to a more classical medieval style. The guitars is powerful with lot of cool details and solos, the floating piano sounds nice, the choirs and the vocals take the song to a high level! Brain Machine is a heavier sounding song. The church organ plays a big part in this. The vocal melody is stunning and I like the small switches musically in this with the beautiful guitar solo and the classical aggressive part. The Instrumental The First Crusade opens beautiful with a medieval style with nice cello. The song really kicks of with lot of power and tempo, and its great to hear fine compositions like this with a lot of cool details! The Cry Of The Knight takes the tempo down, a classical moody song with a beautiful melody and haunting vocals. The cello, piano and choirs is really entertaining and I admire musicality and creativeness like this: Just Fabulous!! The Mission opens with thunder and lightning and running horses. A jewel of a song and one of my favorite songs on the album! The melody is very strong with big chorus lines, and also the instrumentation with the nice cello solo, the piano. Also this song is very different throughout with up-tempo bits to more heavy and classical parts. Reborn opens with beautiful vocals, strings and piano. A very strong moody classical inspired ballad that will melt you! I also like the sound and production on this album because they really manage to get forward the exact right details this kind of music shall have!! Wind Whispers opens powerful and classic. This is another of my favorite songs on the album! A very entertaining melody with even stronger chorus lines. The style of the song, the instrumental performing with lot of cool details make me want to listen again and again to this song and album! Space Of Dilemma is maybe a bit more progressive oriented than the others. The chorus lines and melody glues into your brain after a few rounds in the player. Also this have solid guitars, big choirs, classical influences and powerful arrangements! The last song the ten minute long instrumental A Lost Planet opens very moody with very beautiful played cello and fine choirs. Throughout this song is very classic, calm and moody! Infraworld from Opus Doria is just a masterpiece of an album and this year this is one of my favorite albums, so check them out now!! 99/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.myspace.com/opusdoria

Opus Doria is:

Maela Vergnes: Vocals
Laura Nicogossian: Keyboards and piano, Choir
Flavie Nicogossian: Cello, Choir
Alexandre Warot: Guitars
Yannick Hubert: Bass

PERGANA - The Mirror of Silence

Pergana is a very interesting new name from Paraguay/Germany. The band was formed in 2007, and already in 2008 they released The Angels Light (demo) followed by the single Frozen Heart in 2010.

Pergana is without doubt a hot name in 2011, even they have been in the business for some years. With the E.P The Mirror Silence from this year they easily manage to catch me with their fine melodic metal/gothic metal. The four songs on their E.P is just fabulous, and have very good quality in all directions! The opening track Let The Silence Sing, is a beautiful melodic metal oriented song with a very strong melody and entertaining chorus lines. The vocals from Audrey is very sweet and passionate, and I like to hear how she handles to sing the lower parts and the higher notes with great capacity. The sound and production is very nice and clear and the piano, keys and the guitars have lot of entertaining details. Frozen Heart is a little bit faster than the last, a very strong melodic song with nice floating keys. Also here the vocals gives the song the little extra to take it to the top. The little jewel Romance Secrête, is an emotional moody song with fine strings, great vocals and the vocal melody went straight to my heart! The Eyes Of A Beast is the fastest song on the E.P, but still with the fine melodic intact! This song have female and male vocals, and I like the style of this! The key solo and the guitar solo is very entertaining, and you remember the chorus lines in this song after a couple of rounds in the player. A very promising new band that I hardly can`t wait to hear the debut album from, so keep up the good work, I will wait for the album!!97/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.pergana.com/

Pergana is:

Audrey Laure - Vocals
Mauro Mercado - Guitars
Adrian Benegas - Keyboards
Alex Holzwarth - Drums (Special Guest)
Oliver Holzwarth - Bass (Special Guest)

SAKARA - Blood And Stone

Sakara is a singer/songwriter from the UK. Ex vocalist in UK bands such as The Craft, L.M.T.D & Kundalini. However after many years working with bands she has now started a solo career and this autumn has seen the release of her debut album "Blood & Stone" Alternative/Experimental. Gothic rock band The Craft was her first real band which she co- founded with guitarist Jon Wilson back in 1999. they were together for 6 years and they released an album called Ghostlands. Although they still write together from time to time, they are no longer a band. Sakara wanted to experiment with many genres of music in an attempt to find her own style. In 2005, She formed her next project called L.M.T.D with ex Craft keyboardist Tom Legge. This was industrial metal and very different from her previous band The Craft. Later on she began doing some session work with black metal band Ancient Plague which she enjoyed a lot. Besides and special appear on the album Archaic Kingdoms. Singing different kinds of music and working in yet another genre, she has gained lot of experience. L.M.T.D ended in 2007 and in 2008 Kundalini was born. Kundalini was made with the idea of creating original music throughout lot of different boundaries but it was hard to find others who shared the same vision, many members came and went and Kundalini died of natural death early 2011. Finally It was in May 2011, Sakara met composer/producer Stephen Clarke and her new solo career began.

Sakara comes with which I will call a masterpiece! Her solo album "Blood and Stone" is clean, impeccable and eclectic. Her music is an expression that reunites gothic, a little of progressive and power metal dotted with some traces of melodic metal and traces of death metal. This particular mixture has a very unique sound which in my opinion is simply supreme!! Bleed, the first track, starts with a particular sound at the beginning, is dark and dreadful with beautiful eerie vocalizations that goes from romantic and sweet to scary and cold. It has gothic tunes and sober guitar arrangements, which make the song an excellent presentation to the album. Rise has an amazing guitar sound with some power metal chords, this songs is a little slow and strong and it will come directly into your chest. Her performance and the way she makes some guttural and screaming vocalizations are fantastic and add some gloom to the interpretation, wow this song is one of the best! and reminds me of Morgana from the fantasy tale called Camelot. Join You is the longest song of the album, is a cold ballad that progressively turns into a faster tone, romantic but not sweet and with a trace of bitterness. With some symphonic keyboards at the background at the beginning and some strong chords of the guitar later on, the music in this song is pleasantly dark and hopeless! In few words: another excellent song! By My Side has some pleasant percussions at the beginning of the song which make it a little different but yet very good. As I have said before, this girl and her music have an unique sound that you like from the very beginning. This song have some slightly traces of progressive and gothic that you can identify and the drums are simply awesome! I really enjoyed this song very much! She Of The Throne with some oriental chords at the beginning and throughout the song, overwhelming whisper vocalizations and some changing in the time, this track is amazing! It has something epic that attracts me a lot! Ishtar is completely epic! is adorably dark, with some vampire atmosphere and with a feeling of despair that gets right into your head and your soul! but at the same time very calm down. This is something you have to listen to. Earth Song follows the same style, is the second longest one; with amazing clear and impeccable vocalizations, excellent arrangements, and it has something celtic that makes it irresistible and is worthy to listen to. This song is a piece of art! 2 Wolves in the same epic style and with some native indian sounds, and a little more lively and melodic this is another piece of art. With more contemporary elements and special style . Excellent! Soul Loss and Kunoichi have more progressive elements and is a little heavier with powerful guitars and strong drums and even some grunts! fantastic. I almost can not wait till the next release of this talented girl! In the meantime I will enjoy over and over this album!! Check it out! 99/100 Reviewed by Maria
http://www.ladysakara.com

ANALGESIA - Beyond Illusion

Analgesia is from Morocco, Rabat. In 2006 they started recording their first album, and after many months with hard work from the five musicians they released Return To Self at the end of 2006. In between the recording they also played several gigs. Through the years there have been some changes in the band and with a new classical female voice in the band and a new keyboard player, they in 2007 gave an acoustical show in the capital of Morocco, for hundred of fans with great sucess.With a new musical direction the second album Era Of The Storytellers saw the light in 2009, and not long ago they returned for the third time with the new album Beyond Illusion.

Analgesia is a new name for me, and its the first time I write about a band from Morocco, since I started 8 years ago. This band really surprise me a lot with their third album Beyond Illusion! This album is a double album where the second CD, is an instrumental CD with the same songs as disc one. Not often bands do things like this, but very interesting to hear the songs in instrumental versions, and the more you hear the two discs the better they gets! After a while you remember the lyrics, and you sing along on the instrumental version. The cover art work and the lyrical concept is also something you will notice. Musically Analgesia is a symphonic metal band with influences from melodic metal, power metal, heavy metal, folk music, and they also sometimes sound a little medieval. Revolution Has Begun opens the album, A song that starts with an intro from a war zone with a speaking voice, machine guns and a symphonic arrangement. The song kicks off with a power metal oriented style, but changes to a more melodic symphonic style. The vocals from Atmen Youssra is really delicate, and this song is very choir oriented, and the vocals and choir parts is just fantastic! The keys sounds great and the symphonic arrangement is made with good balance for the music. The guitars have a lot of nice details and I like the pumping drums. Four Candles For Five Corners starts with some cool sounds and voices. A fast melodic song with nice keys. The classical voice from Atmen Youssra takes the songs to a great level. Beautiful chorus lines and remembering verses. Lots of nice instrumental details make me as listener entertained and the changes throughout in the song gives great variation. The third song The Way To Eminence is a little jewel of a song with influences from the middle age, celtic music and maybe a little doze of baroque. The way the keys is played and the string arrangement and the vocal lines is just fabulous to listen to and you get addicted to this!! Follow Me is a very soft nice ballad, a song with both female and male vocals. The next is a little instrumental called Clock Of All Time, a song that have lines from the first track, but instrumental. Upon A Dream is also a very beautiful emotional song. Great piano, and here you really get the chance to hear the fine voice from Atmen Youssra. The ballad build with a little more power throughout, but this song is just delicious!! Amphion is a more straight forward melodic symphonic metal oriented song. From the a bit dark and heavy start the song changes for the first verse to an more emotional brittle style, but the song builds up for strong symphonic chorus lines. The choirs is really good and the fine guitar solo and bass playing at the end is great! Back To Life opens soft with a male clear voice, a good melody, a little beautiful acoustic sounding pearl! A Bird In Paradise is the last song, a fine melodic song with nice vocals and choirs. The floating keys and the way the song changes throughout make me want to listen again and again! As I said the second CD is the instrumental version of the first, but very cool to hear the songs that way too, so you get a lot for the money investing in this album! A very good album from Analgesia, and I look forward to follow this band in the future to see what they compose next time! Great Work Guys!! 98/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.Analgesia-band.tk
http://www.Analgesia-band.com
http://www.Myspace.com/Analgesiaband
http://www.reverbnation.com/analgesia

Analgesia is:

Atmen Youssra - Lead Vocals
Ahmed Zine - Guitars, Songwriter
Hassan Bourih - Synthesizers
Mounir Houaoura - Bass Guitar, Violin
Samir Houaoura - Drums

TEN YEAR VAMP - Don`t Act Like you Know Me 2009, and Lust 2011

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Ten Year Vamp - female fronted, high energy, modern radio rock with pints full of personality, charm and sex appeal. Ten Year Vamp have sold thousands of CDs... even landing on the Billboard Charts, and have performed over 600 shows. Ten Year Vamp has opened for Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Good Charlotte, One Republic, Lifehouse, Gavin DeGraw, Thriving Ivory, Finger Eleven, Fuel, Spin Doctors, The Gin Blossoms, Flo Rida, Hoobastank, Drowning Pool, Kevin Rudolf, Seven Mary Three, Simple Plan, Young MC, Bo Bice, Ludacris, Nonpoint, Cinder Road, 12 Stones, The Cliks, 30H!3, Sebastian Bach, David Archuleta, White Tie Affair, Jesse McCartney, Lez Zeppelin. They released their debut album Don’t Act Like You Know Me in 2009, and now in 20011 they are back with the five track CD, Lust.

Ten Year Vamp is a new band for me, and after receiving the debut, Don’t Act Like You Know Me from 2009 and their latest effort Lust from this year I must say that this band impress me a lot with their straight to the heart rock!! After just few rounds in the player they easy manage to get me hooked on their energetic modern radio rock. Musically beside being a modern radio rock band, you will hear some influences of punk, pop, new wave, and in some of the songs they also add some electronic elements, and you can also say they are a melodic rock band with lot of energy!! The debut album Don`t Act Like You Know Me kicks off with Never Know. A great rock song with a remembering melody and strong chorus lines. Singer Debbie have a very good clear voice that lifts the songs to big heights. The sound and production is very pleasing, and they manage to give the music a very natural and live sounding sound who is a big plus for this style of music!! Stay is a bit more up-tempo than the first, the guitars sounds cool and the drums and bass playing sounds tight and precise. I like the little slow instrumental part that sounds like a mix between jazz and blues, and also the vocals is very good in this! Say That You Made Love To Me, have a more funky/ ska oriented rock style, and this is a jewel of a song, and its easy to understand when hearing songs like this that Ten Year Vamp have become a very popular band!! Pleasures have nice rock rhythm and style, also this song glues like gum into your hair! The guitar details and the chorus lines with the choir is just fabulous! Faked It is partly a heavier darker song, but this changes throughout and reach the top with the chorus lines. I Don`t Need continues this fantastic album, a glad rock song with a nice style. The vocals is really good, and of female singers I have heard in this genre, Debbie is absolute the best I ever heard! One Night Ticket is one of my favorite tracks, a Ska Rock styled song, but still with the focus on the straight to the heart rock with entertaining vocals, great instrumentation, nice sound and a fantastic melody and chorus! Another Try, Oh So Nice And Slowly is very delicate songs and there is not often you come over albums with 12 songs so good like this! Most bands have some up`s and down`s throughout their albums, but Ten Year Vamp, don`t have any dull moments at all, but high quality and very entertaining songs all the way throughout! Call It is a power rock ballad of the finest mark, a great melody with nice vocals. Rockstar speak for itself, a nice entertaining rock song! The last song on the debut Goodbye, give us a nice end of the album, an up-tempo cool rhythmic song with strong verses and more powerful choruses. I continue with the release Lust from this year, and I was really surprised over the debut and they continue in the same direction with high energetic rock songs of the finest mark. They sound more matured and stronger in every direction on this five tracker, Lust. GoT 2 Me, opens very cool and in this they have added some electronic elements, but they still keep on with what they really can: Energetic Rock!! A haunting melody and the chorus lines get stuck in your head immediately! The next Thinking Of Me is a perfect example of how music like this shall sound. Good drive, great vocals, good melody and a rememberable chorus. They have the right sound and like on the debut I like the natural sound and production! No Risk is a jewel of a song, a beautiful ballad and listen to the vocals in this!! Making Me Want You, a modern sounding rock song. I like the rhythm in the verses and the drums is cool! Ten Year Vamp have played over 600 shows, and I really believe this band is a very good live band, so I hope to see them live one day!! The last song on Lust is, Don`t be Alone with Me, and I have to admit I am totally blown away by the songs from this band, and of bands in this genre Ten Year Vamp is my absolute number one!!! I can promise fans of female fronted rock, you will get hooked on this band and music immediately, so check them out now!!! 99/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.tenyearvamp.com

Ten Year Vamp is:

Debbie Gabrione -Vocals/Guitar
Mark Rose - Guitar
Tim Keenan - Bass
Andrew Foster - Lead Guitar
Gregory Nash - Drums

WHISPERING WOODS - Fairy Woods

Whispering Woods was formed during the fall of 2008, when Doru Căilean (guitar) and former bass player Norbert Gero decided to create the band they always dreamed of when he was a little child. This band would have as a main character the symphonic genre with some other influences. Later on Orsolya Simon in the keyboards and Bogdan Stoica in the drums joined these two friends and finally to complete the line up came along Hilda with her soprano voice. This way Whispering Woods was formed. However, The band have been through many lineup changes, but from the start the musical concept was already defined, which drove the things forward. During the summer of 2010 Cătălina Popa (flute) agreed to join the group. The same way, Cora (keyboards) and Alexandra (soprano) made contact through Cătălina and so the band was in a complete formation. The same year brought the 3rd demo attempt (the previous ones were made with the old lineups) which included 4 songs. Finally, in the end of June 2011, almost a year after the lineup was defined, the band started the recording process of its full length debut album. The raw material was created in studios from Cluj-Napoca and it was mixed and mastered by Frank Renner. Fairy Woods, their debut album, was released on September the 30th 2011.

When I first heard this band from Romania I was impressed in a way I can not describe. First of all I must start saying that is the first time we have the privilege to write about a Romanian band and we are very glad for it. This symphonic metal band is something wonderful. Since I heard them I immediately wanted to write about them. Although I must say they confused me a little at the beginning because of the intro song. The orchestral elements are very well defined in their music but the flute is the most special element of this band among the extraordinary soprano voice of the singer and of course the rest of the instruments which together make of this album a piece of art. The flute is magical, soft, pure and delicate and this in fact, inject to band the woods element. I don't think this band could be the same if they don't have this instrument and I really don't know, after reading their biography, what kind of project the had in mind but the flute is the real whisper of the woods....The vocalist is strong, defined, perfectly in tuned and sweet and dark. The keyboards is gothic enough to make dream of Romania and their vampire tales and of course the guitars and the drums: powerful and heavy as it should be. Well Of Dreams is their first track and is an intro that I may say is very symphonic and with a very well done arrangement but if you ask me I don't think it represents what this band is capable of. This intro is very symphonic and dark but what it comes after is unbelievable!! in The Call Of The Trees is when this journey really begins! With a low-toned beginning of the singer and the sound of the flute what joins as well. After a while she becomes in a higher clean soprano range, plus the classic guitar together with the electric guitar chords that accompany the singer, I can say this song is the first piece of art of this album and will take you to a superior level. Ode To The Leviathan, Oh my Goodness! is definitely my favorite! whit that spectacular entrance of the voice which at first I thought was one of the instrument, whether the flute, whether the guitar. Her tone is desperately right! She speak to the flute! What else can I say? this is a masterpiece! This song have slightly influences of progressive metal thanks to changes in the drums timing and the guitar chords, besides is the longest in the whole album. The solo flute simply blow out minds. Everything is in the right place at the right time in this magical song. Ghost In The Monastery is fast and dreadfully technical with extraordinary keyboards and strings arrangements. In Black Wedding I liked the way they managed to mix the nuptial march with the funeral one. Very smart and ironical! I enjoyed as well the keyboards in Curse Of The Nightingale which chords reminded me a bit of "fuga" by Joan Sebastian Bach. And the guitar and drums?: uff pure luxury! The voice: blowing minds as usual. This song is one of my favorite as well! The rest of the album simply astounding! I wont say more. No waste in this Album. Folks: This is one of the best bands and album I have ever heard. You have to experience this yourselves! 100/100 Reviewed by Maria
http://www.the-whispering-woods.com/

Whispering Woods is:

Alexandra Burcă - vocals
Cătălina Popa - flute
Cora Miron - keyboards
Alex Dascăl - drums
Radu Vâtcă - bass guitar
Doru Căilean - lead guitar

SHELI STEVENS - Come Home

After finishing high school, Sheli was accepted into a renowned song & dance company which toured a lot. Her musical journey started this way, and the Oregon native immediately left her hometown of Boring for Los Angeles. Her singing took her all over the world, performing on countless stages, until she finally decided to take a break from touring and settle in Montreal, where she now calls home. In 2007, Sheli met writer/producer Eric Dick. The two developed a solid friendship, and began working on material for what would later become the 'Come Home' CD. Sheli says she knew an album was around the corner, but the right person just never appeared. After lot of work with Eric Dick, she is now ready with her album Come Home.

The album Come Home from Sheli Stevens take a step away from what I usually write about, but with fine songs like this I couldn`t just let this go by without writing about the album. Musically this is easy listening Radio pop with hints of country, folk and jazz. I hear a lot of songs on the Radio all the time in this genre, but its not everyday I hear songs made like this! First of all I will say that Sheli have a voice made exactly for this kind of music. She sounds warm, comfortable and still with her own character that takes place in your head after some rounds in the player. The album starts with the hit song Still The One, a very calm and relaxing song with piano and very well balanced instrumentation. The vocal melody with the fine and sweet vocals lead the way to remembering chorus lines. The sound and production and the way the songs is performed is very pleasing and relaxing. Undone is a guitar driven pop/rock ballad, a song with a strong melody and chorus that make me in a good mood. The guitar playing in this is entertaining and I like the little solo part, and also the string arrangement give this the little extra plus! I like the style of Since I Let You Go, a mix between country, blue grass and some folk roots. The rhythm is cool and I like the a bit acoustic style of it! Where Does It Go is one of my favorite tunes, a 70`s oriented pop/ rock oriented song. I like the keys in the start, and the sound and style this have is like it is taken out of the 70`s. The vocals is stunning and the instrumental performing is delicate with lots of nice details on the guitars and keys! The last part of the album with Lucky Man, Too Late and Walking On Eggshells is very relaxing and calm, but this is just splendid songs! Into The Black is a bit different than the others and maybe a more experimental song. It sounds more modern in a way and the rhythm and the melody is special with great vocals from Sheli! The last tune Lullabies speaks for itself, a guitar and vocal driven song with some delicate strings. A really good album from Sheli Stevens, and for fans of fine balanced Radio pop with a hint of country and folk this is a must have! In this genre this stands out in my opinion! 96/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.shelistevens.com/ 

UNEXPECT - Fables Of Sleepless Empire

Hailing from Montreal (Canada), Unexpect is a metal laboratory mixing elements of black/death/symphonic/melodic metal; progressive, classical, electro, folk, jazz,  operatic, mathcore, ambient,  noise, circus music and anything else crossing their minds. This band had its beginnings in 1996. After a few lineup changes, the project finally lead to the fabulous one. The collective includes a violin, keyboards/sampling, a singing contemporary dancer, a 9 stringed bass, 2 guitarists/singers and a drum. The vocal performance of the two singers range from an extreme to the other as they alternate between glorious choirs; inhuman screams of deep, high, mid-growl and delirious intensity; theatrical narrations; and clean/sober sections strewn with a female singer who’s angelic voice could melt the will of the most vile politician. The ideas in their lyrics are related to the imagination and the inherent creativeness of all human beings, subjective tales, trancelike sensorial exploration, undercover denunciation of social aspects and subconscious realities. They have shot more than 250 shows all over the world with lots of international bands. Their new album is Fables of the Sleepless Empire (2011). Their critically acclaimed album In a Flesh Aquarium (2006) received distinguished honors and has been incensed by the press. It has been acclaimed nearly unanimously by the critics as a milestone in contemporary metal. Their first full length album was Utopia (1999) was independently released. Followed by their mini cd We_Invaders (2003). They have even been congratulated and incensed by famous Dream Theater’s drummer Mike Portnoy. Unexpect has been personally invited on the PROGRESSIVE NATION TOUR 2009 covering the whole  European Territory with DREAM THEATER, OPETH & BIGELF.

When I say I wanted to write about this band, my husband replied "That's a challenge" and he was right! The first time I heard them I was like.."What the heck is this..?" I was greatly amazed by its particular sound which is obvious I have never heard before nothing similar to this. As a matter of fact I was at one of my biggest challenges since I started writing about music. Their music is made of the amalgam of several extreme metal influences. You can find a bit of almost everything! Unsolved Ideas Of A Distorted Guest is like an ode to a circus which goes from progressive metal to jazz in a blink of an eye. with several changes in the vocal texture and sober choruses mixed with some narratives, grunts and dark metal. The awful and terrible reality of a circus made in a single song! With all its rare and diabolical characters portrayed by the different instruments, vocals and time changings. This song is almost a master piece. Words is a very particular song specially to me. With a terrible mixture of baroque, several metal genres and changing in the vocal texture remind me of a theater of phenomenon, which concept was very popular in the 70's and 80's. Orange Vigilantes has a mixture that you wouldn't believe me, but it makes me think of the Venezuelan "New Folklore" (a new version of the venezuelan traditional music but adding electrical guitar and keyboards elements); with those choruses and beats with piano and violin and the electric guitar at the back. And believe me guys: to reach this point they would have to be possessed!!! Mechanical Phoenix with the grunts and screaming is more progressive and more digestible with some traces of gothic, dark, and death metal. The Quantum Symphony and Unfed Pendulum look like a gothic-progressive metal song made as a theater-playing musical, with orchestral and some theatrical elements you may think as Tim Burton and Johnny Deep meeting the darkest metal genres. In this last one, Unfed Pendulum with some traces of afro latin american influences such as samba, venezuelan new folklore, bossa nova and jazz. The violin solo is amazing as well as the guitar beats. No doubt is one of my favorite! In the Mind Of The Last Whale, Ohh!! it really sounds like one of them. Mysterious, attractive, with a devastating sense of fear ...Its something to listen to. The mixing of voices texture in Silence This Parasite, together with the violin notes are simply fantastic and deliciously weird. A Fading Stance, has some eastern chords adding new elements worthy to be listen to. The whole album is simply a master piece of the theatrical horror in my humble opinion. This is something you guys can not miss at all! Because of their weirdness, originality, professional skills, mastery and innovative at the time to put together all possible genres in one song, they deserve the maximum punctuation. 100/100 Reviewed by Maria
http://www.unexpect.com/unxpct/

Unexpect is:

Syriak : Guitar/Vocals
Artagoth : Guitar/Vocals
Leïlindel : Vocals
Chaoth : 9 Strings Bass
Landryx : Drums
Borboën : Violins

THE STORM - Rebel Against Yourself

Since The Storm was founded in 2006, they have been one of Denmark’s absolute most renowned and talked about bands in both the media and amongst musicfans. Their debut, ’Where The Storm Meets The Ground’ (2007), has already sold platinum. Second album Black Luck, was released in 2010, and now they are back with their latest effort Rebel Agains Yourself.

After the two first albums it seems like The Storm is in for a change musically with their third album Rebel Agains Yourself. With the two first albums they caught the attention even to the metal press with their modern rock/hard rock oriented style. With the new album they is totally changed with a more commercial pop style, and there is nothing much left that remind about their two first albums. Save The World opens the album, and there is not often a band open with a ballad! A delicate song, and the vocals from Pernille is strong as always. The song gets a bit more power throughout, and also the change musically to the more commercial pop style breaks through at the end. The first thing that came into my head when I heard the opening of The Crown was Abba. Also the chorus lines made me think of Abba, and the style is very 80`s, but ofcourse with todays modern sound. Lost In The Fire is a more straight forward pop/rock styled song. The guitars in this is great and the choruses glues like gum into your hair!! The songs is strong all the way throughout with highlights as Ghost River, Dancing and the last The Promise. The last is a jewel and this song is of the songs that glues into your brain and stays. The chorus is easy to remember and this is a hit!! I am very disappointed of the change, because I really liked the two first albums, but I hope that The Storm returns more powerful again next time!!!94/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.thestorm.dk/

TELLUS REQUIEM

Tellus Requiem is a progressive metal band formed in Trondheim, Norway in 2008. The band consists of five members, all with different musical approaches. In 2010 they released their debut album and has got great critic. The team had the * Tommy Hansen * on mixing (Helloween, Jorn, Pagans Mind, TNT) and coverartwork was made by Thomas Ewerhard (Dream Theatre, Symphony X, TOTO). The line-up started up with Arve Hage Grytbakk (vocals), Espen Hektoen (drums), Stig Nergård (guitars), Ivar Hagen Bøe (bass) and Torbjørn Kobberstad (keys). In November 2010, Sondre Lyngwar (vocals) and Anders Sundbø (keys) replaced Grytbakk and Kobberstad respectively, whose both left the band for personal reasons.

This band from Trondheim, Norway has clearly a progressive basis, however comes with other influences such as power metal, heavy metal and some pop rock and hard rock and even some gothic chords. With so straight forward melodies, I feel their style is very laid back and easy to digest. This album is full of sobriety, good taste and good music. Their first track Oblivion is the best presentation to this band. With powerful guitars and strong drums, progressive timing but with a slightly trace of gothic and excellent vocalization this song borders in between melancholy, aggressiveness and sorrow, all in perfect doses. The Pathfinder is one of my favorite ones! is dark, sad, strong and romantic; and have an amazing keyboard arrangement at the back that reminds me a bit of Johan Sebastian Bach, indeed I can say this song have slightly traces of symphonic elements and great guitar beats. Besides I am great lover of viking stories so that's why this song is like a glove. Battle of Kadesh is an instrumental and has some eastern chords that make it interesting. Eastern notes are becoming very popular in some bands in Europe and this is a plus. I hope later on, they can incorporate and develop this elements to the metal genre because the result can be very good to enrich it. Tantalized is heavy, dark, fast and with some traces of gothic which make it very interesting. I really like this song and the guitar sound is superb not to mention the solo and the accompaniment of the keyboards. Worlds Apart, follows the band style, with a great solo guitar, excellent keyboards arrangements and astounding drums!! here the band tries with some classic guitars and time changing and setbacks in the drums resulting in a excellent progressive song with some pop rock beats and an extraordinary solo guitar! Instincts comes with some heavy metal, melodic metal and traces of electronic gothic metal, the guitar solo is excellent and this is all in a progressive bubble, and the background vocals really make me want more!! In Frontiers you can hear some spanish guitar chords through some parts of the song that simply make such a romantic and sweet impression! which leads later on into a heavy and desperate dreadful feeling. Great song! and amazing guitar solo. And so on, the rest of the album just confirm how promising these guys are. Of all the Norwegian music scene, I dare to say that this certainly is one of the best bands I've ever heard. Gratulere! Dere er veldig flink! 98/100 Reviewed by Maria
http://www.myspace.com/tellusrequiem

Tellus Requiem is:

Sondre Lyngwar - Vox
Espen Hektoen - Drums
Anders Sundbø - Keys
Stig Nergård - Guitars
Ivar Hagen Bøe - Bass

BEAUTIFUL THINGS - Dream World

Dina D'Alessandro is the lead singer/songwriter/guitarist for LA-based band Beautiful Things. As a solo artist Dina released two full-length albums before the Beautiful Things album. She started the ambient pop-rock band Beautiful Things for only one reason she says: “I wanted to call my music by a name that was easy to say and spell.”

Beautiful Things is a new name for me, and fronted by lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Dina D'Alessandro, they have really managed to make a very good album. Musically Beautiful Things moves in a landscape of music from Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, classic pop/ rock with main focus on rock. What impresses me with this release is that it sounds to the fingertips very professional with great sound, strong songs, great musicians and after few rounds in the player there is no doubt about that Dina D'Alessandro is a good singer and songwriter. Dina released two solo albums earlier, and this is the debut from her with Beautiful Things, and I am not afraid to say that this can be compared with other big known artists around the world with high quality songs, and a good strong voice. Wonder Why opens the album, I like the mystic sounds in the start before the classic guitar and Dina`voice comes in. A laid back rock song with a moody melody and style. The chorus lines is addictive and I like the instrumentation with the tight bass and I also like the guitar details. Hey Hey Hey is the next tune. A radio friendly rock song with a chorus that glues immediately!! I like the little instrumental part in this and the vocals is very strong. Good To Me opens soft with acoustic guitar and Dina`s nice voice. The song crackles with real life when the rest of the band enters, a good driving rock song with a strong melody. The bass playing is very good and the guitar work is very pleasing! Space Age Love Song reminded me partly about U2, is the way the song is built and also the guitars that give me this feeling. A great stadium rock song with a lot of cool details on the guitars and keys, and also the melody is very strong. Back To Me Again is a very catchy easy to like rock song of the finest mark, and why songs like this isn`t being played on radio is a mystery for me! Astronaut opens with great space like sounds. A very good rock song and one of my favorite tunes on the album. This get stick very fast with a very nice melody and remembering chorus lines. Everything is a guitar driven rock song with a happy mood that makes you happy. The tapping nice rhythm, the vocals and the guitars is very entertaining to listen to, and I also like the choirs in this. Dream World is a bit different than the others with a more down in tempo, and an atmospheric cool mood, great organ in this and the fine vocals give the song the right ingredients! When The Night Comes Down is a little pearl of a song! It starts slow with a great vocal melody and fine guitar work. The song builds up a little throughout with more power before it slows down again at the end with nice instrumentation. I Was Only Dreaming is the last track, and like all the songs on this album, a very strong rock song with high quality. A very entertaining album for a wide public, and I recommend this for fans of really high quality rock, so check it out!! 97/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.myspace.com/beautifulthingsmusic
http://www.facebook.com/beautifulthingsmusic
http://www.summersiderecords.com

Beautiful Things is:

Dina d'Alessandro - Vocals, guitar
Reade Pryor - Drums
Edward Shemansky - Drums
Daniel Todd Ramsey - Bass
Daniel Freedman - Bass
Milo Decruz - Bass, keys
George Kerhulas - Keys
Bruce Leonheart - Keys

RHEIA - Forgotten Gods

Pascale Peng is a song writer from Swiss, and also a sound engineer. She has been playing several instruments since she was a little child. She started playing piano in kindergarten, then the violin and later on the guitar. As a teenager she tried with e-guitar (metal!), some drums, some e-bass and classical singing. And, at the age of 23, she trained to be a sound engineer. Now, “Forgotten Gods” is the final product this song-writing sound engineer. From the end of 2007 to the beginning of 2009, Pascale Peng recorded all the tracks. Monika Hagmann, Kathrin Schlumpf and Mark Gertsch played the guitar. The bass and drum parts were performed by Urs Jossen and Andy Keller. Pascale Peng added the tracks of the orchestra, synthesizer and choir. She worked as well, with the vocal coach Patrik Schwitter and the audio engineer Andy Keller. Finally they were joined by the voices of Margo Cadias, Andrea Dätwyler and Raphael Hilfiker. , and was finally refined by Simon Oberender in the Gate Studio."...At the beginning, there was Chaos, according to Greek mythology. After some time, Gaia, the Earth, rises from Chaos – why this happened, nobody can tell today. Gaia and Chaos love each other, and soon the sky rises out of Gaia: her son Uranos. He will be her lover, and this union leads to the birth of the Titans Chronos and Rheia. After Chronos has castrated his father and half-brother, he weds his sister Rheia. Rheia gives birth to their children Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus – the dramatis personae of the classical Pantheon of Greek mythology. And history takes its course…. Rheia is thus the second Woman and Goddess in the Greek Pantheon. She is the daughter of our Earth, and the mother of the rulers over Heaven and Hell: Zeus and Hades...." This way came to life Rheia which is the name of the band Pascale Peng carefully started making and Forgotten Gods is the result of her hard work.

Forgotten Gods is not a concept album, different topics are approached in their lyrics as well as their music is influenced by different genres raging from symphonic metal, melodic metal, some gothic metal and pop rock. But I must say that all this elements come together in their lightest style, that means: not heaviness at all!. Guitars are not strident and drums are not powerful. Vocalization is very easy going. It is not pompous, not acidity or sourness, not sweetness neither and definitively not bitterness. Indeed, vocalizations are very plain and I can say has no emotion. It sounds to me like coldness, yes!! coldness! is the right word to describe the feeling of this album. and lack of expression which contrasts with the feelings of the melodies. On the contrary, melodies are very sweet, easy going and with no complications in their structure. And this is a very particular feature which I can not say is bad at all. I must admit this is something different and of course it takes time to listen and appreciate the elements of art in it. And after a while their melodies get sticked into one's mind. Forgotten Gods which also gives the name to the album is the one most representative song to describe the scent of this band together with Call To The Elements. Nice melodies and cold vocals: an interesting mixture. WebLady is a lil' bit darker but with no emotions at all and very light performing in the instruments. In Trying you can feel more the guitar beats and together with some orchestral elements and the bass arrangement make of this song one of my favorite. Indeed this song has some 60's hardcore chords that make it adorable! is the same case with Scorpion's Revenge and Deal, those songs have some vintage elements that make them different and easy to like to. Brothers, the same as the Intro have a very nice violin arrangement which I really enjoyed. Change is more pop rock and reminds me a bit of some pop rock bands from the 90's. If you guys like trying new things and you would like to relax at home after a bloody hard day at the office, then you must have this album! 96/100 Reviewed by Maria
http://www.rheia.ch/

DORIAN OPERA - Crusade 1212

Dorian Opera is a progressive metal band from South Germany formed in 2007 by 4 professional musicians. Oliver Weislogel ( guitar ), Joe Eisenburger ( bass, vocals ) , Andrew Roussak ( keyboards, backing vocals ) and Harry Reischmann ( drums ) had already an experience of playing together in various bands in Baden- Wuerttemberg, South Germany . The band name of DORIAN OPERA was chosen to underline a link between classical and rock music (Dorian is a scale mostly often used in rock compositions ). Their debut CD No Secrets was released in June, 2008 by a progressive rock label called MALS in Russia. The second studio album CRUSADE 1212 was released in March 2011. Crusade 1212 is a concept album relating to the Children's Crusade of 1212. It tells the story of a young boy who was visited by Jesus Christ. He then began to gather children, as many as 30,000, and lead them to the Holy Land. Unfortunately, while their jorney many of the children were ravaged by exhaustion, starvation, slavery and one disaster after another. The protagonist of the story is Jan, born in North Germany and destined to become leader of the Crusade. It is an epic story of love, hard times and tragedy.

This band Dorian Opera comes with their second production Crusade 1212 more or less in the same concept we can see lately in some symphonic metal bands lately in the european scene, which is, concept albums that tells about a particular story, generally speaking an epic story. However, Dorian Opera is a progressive metal band in which performances we can find some symphonic metal and power metal elements. This band has two singers (female-male) but their are not operatic singers. They are two singers in a popular style whose voices and harmonies contrasts with the operatical elements in the music. According to my point of view, she is very calm and in control of the despair you can feel at certain point of the album, and he has a great warm voice that adds drama to the scene. Together they don't complement themselves but each one has their own vocal pattern. And as I said before, their popular style can smoothes the strength in the performances and sometimes you may think of some pop rock traces. So I warn you guys this can sound a little different from what we are used to. It is a very particular combination of styles and elements which deserve a chance of being listened to and appreciated as it comes. Throughout the whole album, you can find changes in tempo, chords and melodies that speak about their progressive style. Bars and setbacks are also techniques used by these excellent musicians. The sounds of the guitar all along the album are simply awesome and I enjoyed very much the keyboards arrangements as well as the guitar solos. In conclusion, the music with all the instruments and production are very very good. I recommend this album, specially to all those that enjoy progressive metal with some symphonic elements and like trying new things and innovation. Check them out!! 96/100 Reviewed by Maria
http://www.dorian-opera.de
http://www.myspace.com/dorianopera
http://www.powerofprog.com/dorianopera

Dorian Opera is:

Sven The Axe - vocals
Alexandra Goess - Guest Vocals
Oliver Weislogel - Guitars
Andrew Roussak - Keyboards
Wolfgang Fetzer - Bass
Harry Reischmann - Drums

ISIS CHILD - Strange Days

After 12 years playing with great musicians from New York and New Jersey, Freddy Mazzucco ( All Guitars, songwriting & production) decided to return to the French Riviera and form his own band. He met rock vocalist Nathalie Pellissier. Their first album “Ailleurs” was recorded in 2008. A year later at Noise Factory Studio in Belgium, ISIS CHILD recorded their first English album called Strange Days. This album will features 12 songs, with Bass player Alain Rinallo, Mathias Lechartier and Hugo Adam, drums, David Zecca and Chris Drouin, Keyboards, Robert Geoffroy and Julien Spreutels, All background vocals by Nathalie Pellissier, Except: Magali Luyten ( vocals coaching + Background vocals on the song "stop looking down on me") and Alex Perdriel from the band "Orion"( Background vocals on the song "even if") . The recording is done by the engineer and owner of the studio Noise Factory (Belgium), Gerald Jans and the mixing and mastering is done by Pelle Saether, singer from the band “Grand Design” and owner of the studio “Underground” in Sweden.

I discovered this fine band some weeks ago, and just after hearing a few samples of their music I understood we here was dealing with a little jewel of an album and band! I don`t write so much about bands in this genre any longer, but the songs on this album went straight to my head, and in my opinion its not everyday we here work like this! Musically Isis Child blend Melodic Rock/ Hard Rock with some hints of Classic Rock and AOR, and of albums I have heard lately this stands out with twelve high quality songs from start till the end. Let`s Take A Walk opens the album, a song with a cool rhythm and songs like this give me a good mood! The vocals from Nathalie is really strong and her voice carry the songs eminently and take them to the exact right level and give the songs real life! The guitars sounds great and all the instrumental details is just great! Dancing sounds a bit heavier and rougher than the first with a feel of blues. Good melodic verses leads the way to rememberable chorus lines. The key solo and the guitar solo is entertaining and give the song the little extra! With Can`t You Hear Me, they take the tempo down a little. A beauty of a song with very nice melodic verses, and I like how the song builds with more power for the choruses. The vocals is just fantastic and the sound, production and the instrumentation on this album is very delicate and pleasing! I Love The Way opens with nice guitar playing. This song is also very good, soft fine verses with haunting melody lines, powerful choruses and the way the instruments is performed with great guitar details, good keys is just fabulous to listen to! Loneliness is what I will call a perfect example of a power ballad, and songs with style like this take me back to the biggest moments from the 80`s. If You Wanna Be Mine is one of my favorite songs on the album, a really strong melodic hardrock oriented song with big guitars and keys. The vocal lines is easy to remember and the instrumental part with the guitar and keys gives the song the little extra. It`s Always The Same is a more melodic rock/ AOR styled song, and in my opinion a perfect example of how a song in this genre shall sound. A catchy rhythm, melodic verses, strong choruses and the exact right ingredients to take the song to a high level! Looking For The One have a cool funky rhythm, a song that balances between AOR/ pop/ melodic rock and all the songs on this album is very easy to listen to, and I think the songs catches a very wide audience the way they goes, and I think many of the songs on this album could have been big hits with some Radio playing!The title track Strange Days, have somekind of sadness, I don`t know exactly what make me see it like this, but maybe the way it goes the style of it, and also the lyrics who is very good, give me this feel. Even If, Someone and the last song Stop Looking Down On Me are all really great songs, and the whole album from Isis Child is a gem in my opinion. The vocals from Nathalie is also some of the best I`ve ever heard in this genre, and for fans of female fronted Melodic Hard rock, Melodic Rock, Classic Rock and AOR, this is a must have album, so check them out now!! 98/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.myspace.com/isischild
http://www.facebook.com/isischild
http://www.germusica.com

Isis Child is:

Nathalie Pellissier - Vocals
Freddy Mazzucco - Guitar
Alain Rinallo, Hugo Adam, Mathias Lechartier - Bass
David Zecca / Chris Drouin - Drums
Robert Geoffroy / Julien Spreutels - Keyboards

FIREBRAND SUPER ROCK - St

FIREBRAND SUPER ROCK is a band from Edinburgh, United Kingdom, and they come with real classic heavy metal. Since forming in in late 2004, FIREBRAND SUPER ROCK have been working tirelessly, they have played at several festivals f.e. Bloodstock Open Air and Hammerfest and supported bands such as Slayer, Trivium, Mastodon and Amon Amarth at London’s Hammersmith Apollo. Press such as Metal Hammer, Airplay and others have supported the band's sound with some good reviews. The band have recently been signed to Rising Records and their debut album will be "re-released" worldwide on 5th December. There will be a tour announced hopefully fairly soon in support of the album.

Firebrand Super Rock is a classic heavy metal band. No doubt about it! I can say that nowadays there are very few bands whose have the real sound of the classic heavy metal and this band is one of them. Laura Donelly has a strong and powerful heavy metal voice as not so many ones have. Her texture reminds me a little bit of Linda Perry from the american band 4 non blondes, and this is already much to say. There can be many heavy metal female singers but not all have the right color, texture, power and attitude they must have to say "I can sing heavy metal"!. First of all Mrs. Donelly have a dark colored voice, deep and thick but hey! with the correct vocal range to reach at ease when it is necessary! Very in tuned and you never get tired of listening to her. Her vocal skills stand out in songs like River Of The Death, Into The Black, Wheel Of Pain, The Unborn, and so on where she shows off what she can do. Of course a good heavy metal band is not only about the lead vocal. Vocals must be supported by expert musicians that must know how to rock! Guitars are awesome! and drums are powerful and rhythmic. You can feel the heavy creepy darkness of the guitars specially in songs such as Icon Void, Hells Mouth (with an extraordinary bass background sound) and Falling Down.....And if you enjoy and appreciate heavy metal guitar solos you can not miss solos in songs like The Unborn, River Of The Death, or Hells Mouth. Special mention to Beneath The Nameless City, Born To Die and Cleansed By Fire which have "some chords" that resemble to our father of metal Mr. Ronnie James Dio (RIP) and these are big words! In few words: the whole album is worthy. Since so long time ago I haven't heard so good music in this genre at this times! I really enjoyed this album and to the band I say: all of you guys are fantastic artists! This album can become a pearl of the heavy metal of the present times. Congratulations!! 98/100 Reviewed by Maria
http://www.firebrandsuperrock.com/

Firebrand Super Rock is:

Laura Donnelly - Vocals
Jamie Gilchrist - Guitar
Frazer Marr - Bass
Andrew Scott - Drums

EOWYN - Beautiful Ashes

Eowyn is an American sucsessful independent christian rock singer, and with radio play in over 200 cities and with two Top Twenty rock singles, and with lot of live playing she can without doubt call her self an national artist in the U.S. She has shared the stage with some of the biggest artists in the Christian industry including Krystal Meyers, Petra, Staple, Tait and others. She has toured throughout the U.S from California to Florida. Eowyn released her debut album Shattered Illusion in 2003, followed by her second effort Silent Screams in 2008. Her latest work Beautiful Ashes was released in May 2011.

Eowyn is an new artist for me, and her third album Beautiful Ashes is the first album I have heard from her. Eowyn`s music is modern sounding hard rock with metal guitars, strings, and industrial electronics. I like the style on the music, and its not so many female solo artists in this caliber around the world. Many bands can be compared with Eowyn`s style, but not so many solo artists. With the opener You Had To, we are served a delicate song with some cool electronic elements. I like the switches from the electronic sounding verses to the darker sounding choruses! Eowyn`s voice is powerful, but also very varied, and its cool to hear how easy she handles to sing all the different styles with the exact right twist to take the songs to a high level. The title track Beautiful Ashes is the next. A real goody of a song with an addictive melody and big choruses that glues like gum into your hair! In a way a more straight forward song, but what a good song this! More Than Yesterday opens with some moody electronic sounds and Eowyn`s nice voice. A more emotional tune that builds with more power throughout. This song sounds and reminded me of a mix between the bands Saga and Ultravox. Fail-Safe starts with some strings before it kicks of with a cool hard rocking rhythm. Also this song have nice sounding keys and I like the changes in this from the rocking bits to the more soft and also the instrumentation in this is entertaining with lot of cool details. The vocals is fantastic, and this song gets better and better for each round in the player. Dream is one of my favorite songs, a cool opening with strings and sounds and rhythms. The dark aggressive guitars and the melody lines in this is just beautiful, the song also have rememberable chorus lines. There is lot of cool details in this too with talking voices, great floating keys and lot of other sounds. Cliché sounds more experimental in some parts. The verses sounds special, but the song builds for some remembering chorus lines. The instrumental part with all the sounds is cool!! Burning Pages opens with a very modern sounding style. The sound and production is very good and keep me as listener entertained with a lot of cool sounds, instrumental details and great vocals! Alive starts with a nice rhythm, electronic sounds and vocals. An interesting song with pop/ rock sounding verses, the song gets more power in the chorus lines and also this sounds more experimental than the others. All I Need opens with piano and Eowyn`s fine voice, a little jewel of a song with nice soft verses. The changes in this from the soft verses and the rougher chorus parts is great. The strings, the drums and the guitars and with Eowyn`s voice on top it sounds just great! The last song The Music Box, make a find end to this fine album from Eowyn. After getting to know the songs on this album from Eowyn, I need to check out her earlier releases too, because this was really a good album! An album for fans of modern sounding hard rock with some electronic elements and strings, so check out now!!!97/100Reviewed by Arne
http://www.eowynmusic.com/

Eowyn - Vocals
Travis Wyrick - Guitars
Rob Tate - Guitars
Mike Dearing - Guitars
Dakota Tate - Guitars
Mike Dearing - Bass
Lester Estelle - Drums

ANKOR - My Own Angel

Ankor was formed in May, 2003, in Spain, when some fourteen-year-old friends decided to get together and create music. After performing lot of concerts and publishing several demos in their country, their first album ‘Al Fin Descansar’ ( in Spanish), was released by the Spanish label ‘Santo Grial Producciones’, in January 2008. The band received huge acceptation by the public, as well as good reviews by the press specialized in rock music, especially considering that the average age of the members was only 19. Various Japanese distributors acquired the album to distribute it in Japan, where it was sold out within only a few weeks. During the last months of 2010, a new CD (now in English), called ‘My Own Angel’, was recorded and produced by Ankor. The video of the first single, ‘Remaining’, was shot in Revolver Studios by the renowned Swedish director Patric Ullaeus (In Flames, Within Temptation, Arch Enemy, Europe, Kamelot, Children of Bodom…) With a much more mature, personal and evolved style, the band will present their new album in 2011 and they hope to extend their music all over the world.

This melodic metal band from Spain really surprised me!! They are young, good looking, talented and with so much feelings and great music. The way they present their music which indeed is a very good melodic metal has also pop rock elements and I think is because the way they perform. With emotion, melancholic rhythms and sweetness. The music? heavy, strong and tender at the same time. I really like this band. Remaining, the first track got an excellent introduction with some grunts, very melodic rhythm, fast timing, pop elements, and sweetness in Rosa de la Cruz voice and the guitar solo is gorgeous and skilled. Is very interesting the mix of grunts and pop voice. It does not sound bad at all!! Indeed is good, adorable and fresh! their second track Completely Frozen enforces what I am trying to explain. Folk This is music! Good good music. with some traces of sadness, desperation in the melodies and some evilness in the grunts but with a great feeling of hope due to the sweetness of this girl. Again the guitar solo highlights the song accompanied by strident distortion at background and powerful drums. It Would Be Easier together with Awaiting Your Awakening are one of my favorite. Simple, nice and easy and with some rock and roll and hard rock traces, reminds me of my years in high school and these guys really know how to rock the young fiber in ones heart. I have always liked bands from Spain and Indeed in my high school years some spanish bands were so in fashion such as Ilegales, Hombres G and some others. However with these guys although they are in a very different style from those, some how they touched my heart, of course because my generation has evolved with the times and nowadays this is the music I think the young people want to listen to. Songs such as No Matter What, My Own Angel (which gives the name to the album), Pride (also one of my favorite) and so on... in the same thematic, freshness, sweetness, full of youth and much energy. I must say I simply adore all the guitar solos and I would like to make an special mention to the second male voice in some of the tracks is warm, gorgeous, fresh and very nice in tuned and the grunts according to the band style!. This is an album made by young people for young people but contemporary adults also can enjoy it very much. The songs are well written, pronunciation is excellent and arrangements very professional. You guys have a blessed talent which I hope it can be appreciated all over the world. As I have said in some reviews before, I am very glad that spanish speaking bands are taking a step further and are recording in English. That fact speaks very well about the effort and dedication some bands are making to take their art to levels that can be known in several parts of the world and this way contribute with the world wide music history. Finally, I can tell you people this is an album you can not miss!! Enhora buena chicos! Muchas bendiciones, desde aca todo mi apoyo y a trabajar duro! 99/100 Reviewed by Maria
http://www.ankor.es/
http://www.stf-records.de/

Ankor is:

Rosa de la Cruz - Vocals
David Romeu - Guitar and vocals
Fito Martínez - Guitar and back vocals
Rubio (Javier Casanova) - Keyboards
Julio A. López - Bass, screams and back vocals
Jordi Vidal - Drums

CELLESTE - Ready To Fly

Already by the age of five Celleste told her mother she would be a star!! The Montral native, singer, songwriter is now ready with her debut album Ready To Fly. After finish high school Celleste decided to start her own band, singing cover tunes. She also in this period started to write her own songs. She played as opening act for some major local artists and she also started to perfect her art by taking vocal lessions. After some years she met producer Eric Dick, and she also became lead singer in Eric`s band at that time. In 2006 Celleste and Eric started to work on some material that today have become Celleste`s solo album Ready To Fly.

I have had this album for some weeks, and have had good time to get to know the songs and style. Musically Celleste moves in different genres from melodic rock, 60-70`s rock, folk, blues, country, pop, and if you blend all this together we can say you get a good dose of modern classic rock. With inspirations from Led Zeppelin, Chet Atkins, Lenny Kravitz, Sheryl Crow, Steven Tyler and Madonna, I think Celleste have made a really good album where she presents us eleven strong varied songs with a little bit for everyone and music for a wide public! With the opener Real Love we are taken back to the 70`s and listening to this song it make me think of big moments from that time. A nice rock song with great guitars and a cool driving rhythm, the vocals from Celleste is strong and have the exact right character for this type of music! Yer Going Down sound different than the first, but still with a feel of the 70`s, but with a more funky rocking style. The vocals is very good and give the song a cool mood, and also the instrumentation with the guitars and the keys give this song its own flavor! Best I Can, is a softer song than the two first, a very Radio friendly song with a lot of potential to become a hit. A pop/ rock/ country oriented song with a strong melody and remembering choruses. Drive continues a bit like the last, good melody and strong catchy chorus lines with cool choirs. This song reminded me about a song from Lynyrd Skynyrd. Falling opens with Celleste`s voice and piano, a very nice ballad with a little blues feel. The string arrangement and Celleste`s voice take this song to a high level. Whatcha Doing To Me is one of my favorite songs on the album, and a song that describe Celleste`s music very good with a little dose of rock, blues and country. A cool melody and great chorus lines! Yer Going Down (reprise) is a short bluegrass inspired instrumental if I can call it that! What Are We Waiting For have a blues oriented start that changes to a more rock/ country style throughout. The singing in this is just fantastic and the different instruments specially the keys and guitars is great to listen to. The end of the song almost gave me a feel from a gospel choir with the choir and style. Say What You Want is a more country/ rock like song. This song have one of the finest melody lines on the album, a cool song with an acoustic style. Beyond Words and the last song the title track Ready to Fly is two very calm and beautiful songs. The last Ready To Fly opens very emotional, but changes to a more rock oriented song with an experimental touch, and I like it a lot! All in all a good varied album from Celleste with a little bit for everyone, the only thing I can wish for on her next album is that she make more rock oriented songs!! 97/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.celleste.com/
http://www.mightymusic.ca/

HYPERSONIC - Fallen Melodies

Hypersonic was formed in 2006 in Italy by Salvatore Grasso and Emanuele Gangemi. After a couple of weeks, the line-up stabilized with the arrival of Maria Rita Randazzo on vocals, Francesco Testaì on keyboards and Giuseppe Cartiotto on bass. Some circumstances lead after the exit of Maria Rita and Giuseppe, promptly replaced by Vera Romeo (vocals) and Francesco Caruso (bass). The band in 2007 made his first demo ("Demo 2007") containing the first pieces composed by the combo Grasso-Gangemi. Nextly, Hypersonic separate themselves from the singer Vera Romeo and welcome the new singer Alessia Rapisarda. In early 2008 the band released their first EP entitled "Inspiration Is transpiration", receiving good responses from magazines and various radio promotion. In the following months Francesco Testaì left the band for personal reasons and as far away from the project. Is readily replaced by keyboarder Dario Caruso (Francesco's brother) and finally stabilizes the line-up, creating numerous live shows and participating in festivals. Between April and March of 2009 the band entered at Tower Hill Studio (CT) to record their first album "Fallen Melodies", mixed by Luigi Scuderi and Salvatore Grasso and mastered by Riccardo Samperi at TRP MUSIC Studio (CT). In December 2010 Hypersonic was released online the new single "Rebirth" extracted from the album. In January 2011, the band sign a record deal with the historic Italian Metal label Underground Symphony for the release of their debut album "Fallen Melodies", scheduled for January 31th.

This is the first album I have heard of this melodic metal band and I must admit it caught my attention immediately! Specially because I thought the vocalist was a male vocalist. When I was told the singer was a girl I right away wanted to write about them! I admire this type of voice coming from a woman. Is dark, powerful, dark, strong, delighting and with character! What else can I say? simply gorgeous!. Although this band has suffered constant changes in the line up this band has managed to survive and even to get the right staff for an impeccable combination of skills that finally lead into this excellent album. With a nice introduction with some symphonic elements in The Last Apocalypse, this album comes along with good melodic metal with reminiscences of power metal. You can also find some pop rock keyboards in songs such as My Spirit Free, Rebirth, A Lovely Creature, and Heaven which resemble a bit to Van Halen at the times they surprised the world with this keyboard elements in the hard rock genre. And of course lot of heavy metal elements that make of this album a great experience. In my opinion, Rebirth and Wheels Of Fire are the most representative songs of the scent of this fantastic band. They got sweet melodies, pop rock keyboards, hard rock feelings and traces of pure heavy metal which the whole stuff put together make them two of my favorite songs!! This band have the magic in right doses to blend keyboards, guitars and drums to blow minds out! In songs like A Lovely Creature, Atlantis Treasure and Diamond Hope (with very lit grunts doses), have something darker, I wouldn't say that have some rests of gothic metal but if you dig deep maybe you can reach into a hidden gothic fiber that would be interesting this band can work on later on. Excellent album! Italian talent for exporting! 99/100 Reviewed by Maria
http://www.myspace.com/hypersonicmetal
http://www.undergroundsymphony.it

Hypersonic is:

Alessia Rapisarda - Vocals
Salvo Grasso - Drums
Emanuele Gangemi - Guitar
Dario Caruso - Keyboards
Francesco Caruso - Bass

FIONA - Unbroken

Multipersonalitied recording artist Fiona hails from NJ, USA. Pushed on stage by desperate teachers since first grade because of her unusually loud speaking voice and complete lack of stage fright. As a singing bandleader in the high school, she knew immediately her destiny. Encouraged by her father to be a newscaster or a nun she ignored this advice and moved to NYC. After some demos with Eddy Offord and The Dixie Dregs and a day job with iconic photographer Andrew Unangst led the way to her Atlantic Records debut with the album Fiona in 1985. Fiona released two more albums on Atlantic, Beyond The Pale in 1986 and Heart Like A Gun in 1989. After this Fiona switched label to Geffen and released the album Squeeze in 1992. In this first years of her career she did a well known duet with Kip Winger, Everything I Do. She also did some acting roles in the movie Hearts Of Fire and the Miami Vice second season episode “Little Miss Dangerous”. After 20 years she now returns with her new album Unbroken.

It was a surprise when I discovered that Fiona was back with a new album. I followed her in the 80`s and the beginning of the 90`s, and at that time she was one of my favorite female rock singers. At that time it wasn`t so many female rock artists, but together with Pat Benatar, Lee Aaron, Robin Beck and bands like Heart and Headpins, she was absolute one of my big favs at that big time!! When she now returns after so many years out of the business I think she have managed to do a comeback she can be proud of! Her voice is better than ever and the songs on Unbroken, is very Fiona as we left her in 1992 with then the album Squeeze. On Unbroken she have got help from producer and musician James Christian (House Of Lords), and also Tommy Denander, Holly Knight, Marc Tanner and UK pop production team, The Elements. Musically this is catchy melodic rock/ hard rock with strong melodies and big remembering chorus lines. The album opens with Loved Along The Way, a very Fiona oriented song, and wow its so cool to hear her again with songs like this, a strong melodic rock song with a very 80`s sounding style. As I remember many bands from that time they had this big chorus lines that went straight to your head and the catchy rhythm, the guitars and most of all the vocals from Fiona is so so cool to hear again!! Broken open with nice guitars before it kicks off! A good melody that take us to nice and easy remembering chorus lines. The vocals is great, and here she have this a bit raspy, soaring touch in her voice that I always have liked very much! The next I`ve Released You, is in my opinion a big hit! A pop/ rock oriented song, and a bit special song with nice remembering lyrics, and the chorus lines glues like gum into your hair!! The next is a remake of Shadows Of The Night, with DL Byron’s original dark lyrics, a tribute to the beloved 80’s band, Prophet. The album continues with great rock songs like Badge Of Love, Wild One and This Heart, who is a duet between Fiona and famous rock singer Robin Beck. These two ladies together is like a dream come true for an old fan of both these artists! Get Your Kix is one of my favorite tunes, A classic sounding rock song with big hooks and a catchy rhythm and cool vocals with melody lines and chorus lines you remember very easy. Salt On My Wings is a heavier sounding song with great guitars, the rhythm and the way it goes and builds up to the chorus lines is entertaining! I Love You But Shut Up is also a very addictive cool rock song, I promise you remember the chorus lines in this after the first round in the player. The album ends with the fine rock/ power ballad Everything You Are, and from the start till the end we are served eleven high quality songs who will go straight to the head of fans of 80`s rock, so if you yet haven`t discovered Fiona you better do it now!!97/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.fionarock.com

WEREWORLD

Wereworld is a symphonic metal band from Madrid founded in 1999 by Guillermo Riesgo. They first was named Epsylon, and with this name they in 2002 produced a homemade demo. In 2004 they entered the stage with their first concert at the "Asociación de Músicos de Móstoles". With lots of changes in the line-up and some stops the first years, the band reformed in 2010 with Ana Rochas on vocals, Guillermo Riesgo and Albert Toledano on guitars, Danny Growl on bass, Jaime Sarabande on keys and Ru Corleone on drums under the final name "Wereworld". With the promising self-titled debut Wereworld, the are now ready to conquer the world!!

Got in contact with guitar player Guillermo Riesgo a while ago, and here comes the review of Wereworld`s debut!! First of all I will say that this band impresses me a lot with their special style, and its not everyday we here bands from Spain with caliber and creativeness like Wereworld have! Musically it was a challenging album with a special style, and it took me a while to get familiar with all the songs. The music is powerful symphonic metal with a lot of injections from other styles and genres. What I like with Wereworld is that they don`t seem to be hanging on to only one special style, but with lots of twists and turns and changes they have managed eminently to create something special and something that is their own style. In one moment we are served music with a big symphonic arrangement, in the next moment they sound very powerful and aggressive, and then suddenly comes a bluesy guitar solo. There is some folk inspirations in the music, and also great choirs, you will also hear accordion. I also sometimes feel traces from film score music or music from musicals or theatre. The music change a lot and when a song start you never know what comes in the next moment. The compositions and the creativeness from this band is just fantastic, and also the sound and production is very good and pleasing! The title track Wereworld opens the album. It opens very classic with piano and choirs before the drums, guitars and vocals enter the song. A very changing song with lots of different passages, twists and turns. The male clean vocals from Guillermo together with Ana`s nice voice make the songs interesting to listen to. The Land Of The Fading Sun opens with cool choirs and drums. The verses is soft in a way and build up to some great chorus lines. The symphonic arrangements is nicely arranged and the instrumental performing is great with lots of details on the drums, bass, guitars and keys. Soulless opens fast with some nice electronic sounds. The first verse with duet singing also give the song something special. The guitar solo in this is really fantastic, and the tempo changes the twists and turns throughout is challenging, but really pleasing and I enjoy to hear creativeness like this! I also think fans of progressive rock/ metal will enjoy this album because of all the different styles, changes in the music. Children of War opens beautiful and emotional with piano and Ana`s voice. A symphonic nice song and the two voices from Ana and Guillermo is cool to listen to. The song gets more power throughout, and I like the instrumental pumping part in this and also the choirs. Requiem for the World opens very special with very nice choirs, and it sounds like you are in a dome with a choir. Melodic verses leads us to more aggressive chorus parts. Ana have a good voice and its cool to hear how she handles to sing all the different bits in the songs. This song have nice bass playing and I like the guitar details and solos and the floating keys! I F.L.Y. Starts with cool keys and a good drive. The verses have a special twist and style, the song reach its absolute top with the remembering chorus lines. The dark aggressive instrumental part is cool. In a way one of the most straight forward songs, but still special! Origin of Hate is cool and starts with metal fuzed with a brazz band. Both Ana and Guillermo sings in this song, a very varied song that changes a lot and with Wereworld`s music you never know what to expect round next corner! Dead Spring opens with cool guitars! Fast special verses, good instrumental parts. Crimson Summer opens with piano and strings before Ana enters the song with her fine voice, a beautiful ballad with a fine mood. The guitar solo in this is very nice! Autumn Song have some traces of folk music, and the accordion in this is a cool detail! A really jewel of a song and one of my favs on the album. I like the melody lines, the choirs, and the operatic vocals in this is cool! The last song Raw Winter open with great bass playing, and some cool riffing guitars, partly a very symphonic song, but also this have lot of different styles and changes. One of the most interesting releases this year, and if you look for something that stands out in the mass of bands in today`s music world, you definitely have to check out Wereworld!! 98/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.facebook.com/wereworld
http://www.myspace.com/wereworldweb
http://www.twitter.com/WEREWORLDweb
https://plus.google.com/u/0/114066844334384358638

Wereworld is:

Ana Rochas -Vocals
Guillermo Riesgo - Guitars
Albert Toledano - Guitars
Danny Growl - Bass
Jaime Sarabande - Keys
Ru Corleone - Drums

SILENT OPERA - Immortal Beauty

"...At the dawn of times, in the Far East, a child was born, beautiful as no one had ever seen, daughter of the water and the earth. As a reward for her purity and kindness, she received the gift of eternal life. Because of her beauty and wisdom, though, every men of the kingdom longed to have her. ..." That's the way this band started their own story, however this Synphonic Metal band from Italy was formed in early 2010, by Lady Victoria (lead singer), Rain (guitars), Alexandre (bass) and Shadow (drums). After a hard work with some live presentations, in August 2010, the can finish recording their first Cd and has signed with Ravenheart Music Record for the release of their first album "Immortal Beauty".

Very original the way these guys have presented their first album. Based on the story of a lady (Lady Victoria) who has stolen a sacred lilly and has created an elixir of immortality and eternal beauty, keeping the last drop of it for someone worthy of her love. For this daring act, she has been cursed by the Gods so this way every time she falls in love she lost her beloved one. After many years of searching for true love, finally she met a charming man (Rain) who shares her passion for life's pleasures. She gives him the last drop of the elixir and he becomes eternal as well. However, due to her cursed fate, they both can not be lovers. This way they spend their lives enjoying whatever they desires are up to and sharing they true passion for music. Later on they encounter the handsome young knight (Sir Alexadre), who is half man half ice; as well as a mysterious stranger called Shadow and so starts the legend: "Silent Opera".... Is like this way how they have developed this fantastic album. The first song "Mask Manor" is the perfect introduction to this symphonic metal band. Very dark and melodic with few orchestral elements but in my opinion, worthy of being called symphonic and with some gothic traces. And the lyrics couldn't have been better, with a meaning which I interpreted as the way many of us hide behind masks and want to be surrounded by so many people but at the same time feeling so lonely...Who haven't feel this way at certain point of ones life? Next tracks such as "Chapter 7", "Morning Star" or "Farewell" is more or less the same thematic, loneliness, broken heart and mysticism...You can easily feel identified with this lyrics which I liked so much. "Lillium" is the most symbolic song of this album. The heart and center of the tale. With a magical mixture of poetic lyrics, hard rock and gothic metal which together with the extraordinary soprano voice of Lady Victoria make of this song the scent of the band. Indeed is the promotional track and the video clip is simply excellent. Very according to the image this band has!! "Selene", wow! one of my favorite songs. Sung in Italian and one part in English, this song has everything! I must say the voice of this girl is amazing! Obviously soprano however has a texture and a color that you can feel is very dark. She has something sinister devastating....drama and sweetness in few doses that make it impressive!..and so on the rest of the album is something worth listening to. There is no way you can feel exhausted listening to this band...! Excellent arrangements, well written songs and very good looking image! What else you want in a symphonic metal and? To be their first album, I can say these guys have many many years light to delight us with their work if they keep of course a cable down to earth and don't get dazzled by the success..!! Congratulations guys! Well done! 98/100 Reviewed by Maria
http://www.silentopera.it/
http://www.ravenheartmusicrecords.com

Silent Opera is:

Lady Victoria - Vocal
Rain - Guitar & Keyboards
Alexandre - Bass
Shadow - Drums

JANE HELEN - St

In the last seven years Jane Helen, have established as band in Oslo, Norway, with their melodic hard hitting rock. In 2007 they released the E.P, Huh, followed by the self titled debut album in 2010. They participated in the Norwegian qualification rounds for Eurovision Song contest, and went all the way to the last chance. They have good reputation as live band with an exciting mix of music from the brutal to the brittle, emotional and melodic.

Always cool to write about bands from my own country!! Discovered Jane Helen a while ago but haven`t had the opportunity to write about them before now. Musically Jane Helen is a very interesting band with a mixture of songs that have influences and inspirations from many genres. Throughout the album they serve us hard hitting songs that moves from hard rock/ metal to more straight forward melodic rock/punk and a little hint of glam and pop. They also have an aggressive brutal side in some of their songs and you will also find a more emotional brittle side that give the band a lot of variety musically! The opener Recipe For A Perfect Night, is a perfect starter, a great driving rocker with a cool melody and strong chorus lines. I like the sound they create and the instruments and vocals sounds very tight and clean. Singer Christine have a very good special voice that suits this kind of music perfect. It`s also cool to hear how she handles the different styles from the aggressive to the sweet throughout the album. Liar is one of my favorite songs, not so straight forward as the first, but with different parts. It starts with a cool rhythm with great played drums, bass and guitars and cool vocals. The song speeds up a little after a while for the chorus lines, but goes back to cool rhythmic parts for the verses. The third Wasted Shadows is also a very strong song. It opens with some cool guitar sounds, a more soft styled rock song from the start that builds up with more power throughout. The guitar playing in this is very nice and also the vocals shows like two different sides with a sweet style in the verses and a more aggressive style in the more powerful parts. Comfortable Prey is also one of my favs, a cool rocker with a great drive. The guitars sound just great in this and the little instrumental part with the bass solo and the drums and guitars is cool and give the song the little extra! Shuffled opens with some cool bass lines, the song kicks off with a great rhythm. The chorus lines have a very aggressive screaming style, but this is something that is very cool with this band, and make great variation from song to song. Wake Up Call is a heavier sounding song with a darker style. The nice melodic verses leads us to heavier and more powerful chorus lines. Also in the instrumental details is very cool! Lame Refrain have a more experimental style in a way, but what a cool song this, and I like the changes in this! Trapped also sound a bit experimental with great rhythms and different styles. Beautiful is one of the most advanced songs, and it took me some listening's to get to know it, but this grow for each round in the player, a song that show cool instrumentation and the song shows a fine side and a more brutal aggressive side! Pinball Highscore is a more straight forward rocker and the pinball sounds in the start is cool! Sally is in a way a softer rock song with nice melodic verses that crackles with real life and more power in the choruses. I like the instrumentation in this!! The 8 minute long last song Not Yet, sums up many of the styles from Jane Helen in a perfect way. A great Norwegian band that its really worth checking out, so take some minutes of your spare time to check them out!! 96/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.myspace.com/janehelen
http://www.nordicrecords.no/

Jane Helen is:

Christine Litlekalsøy - Vocals
Dordi Drønen - Bass
Sandra Cecil Ekhdal - Guitar
Solveig Vaaland - Guitar
Thomas Golding - Drums

DISDAINED - Kill My Only Enemy

This band from Sweeden started-up in 2005, with a doom metal style the band has evolved and the music has made tremendous leaps forward. Well laid, theatrical sceneries, together with fire eater performances by the female singer contribute to a solid live act which has proven to be a success at the Nordic music festivals. In 2008 Disdained opened up for Mustasch (Swedish Grammy winner) at Vadstuck festival. During 2010 the band performed at Sweden rock festival, receiving great credit and recognition from the audience, stood proud as the Stockholm winner, as well as awarded for "best guitarists" at the Stockholm/Sweden/Nordic final in the world's biggest music competition, Emergenza music festival! My Space with over 150.000 visitors since 2008 and receiving attention from record labels and music magazines has meant a lot to boost gigs, development and confidence. Niklas and Tomas have previously released four studio albums with the power metal band Insania (Stockholm), a band that among other things played at Sweden Rock festival, been a supporting act to Saxon and during 2007 went on an extensive tour in Europe with the Finnish band Ensiferum. Therése has previously been a theatre actress and has great experiences with several well known Swedish musicians. Johan has played drums in various constellations mainly in south-eastern parts of Sweden with members from Satanic Surfers and others. Guitar player Johan Hartman has prior to Disdained mainly been on the non-mainstream scene focusing on progressive self-indulgence. "Kill my only" was released the 31: st of august on Rambo/Sony music and is now available as CD and digital download.

Let's see... I can find several definitions for this band. Some says this a gothic metal band, other says they are metal progressive and they defined themselves as a doom metal band. Well I really don't know what they mean by this term. According to Wikipedia doom metal is a sub genre from heavy metal characterized by slow tempos, low-tuned guitars and much thicker sound than other metal genres and both music and lyrics intend to evoke a sense of despair, dread, and impeding doom. But then again can one of you tell me what gothic metal band doesn't want to have this reaction in their audiences? Of course this band has many features that make it special. The first of them is the lead vocal's voice. She has a beautiful alt voice with a nice texture, color and warmness and with a wide vocal range. I wouldn't say the tempos are slow but certainly they are very easy going, lay back and digestible. This band have many melodic elements that make you want to listen to more and more. The first time I heard them I immediately liked them and I said to myself I will write about this band. There is something about them that attracts me irresistibly to their impenetrable and dark music. With sustained notes sometimes, or low notes others together with the distortion of the guitars and the simply but sentimental lyrics this band can be a total success. "Prelude To A Dream" has some orchestral elements and as an introduction to the album is simply phenomenal regardless the way is finished which particularly speaking I didn't agree so much. "Eternal Night" as well as "Numb"remains me some chords from Tarja in her solo album. Very dark and slow guitars but very hardcore and with so much feeling. I specially like the solo guitar in "Eternal Night"...excellent! "Longing For Serenity" has something gothic despite the low-toned vocals which increases at certain point of the performance. This girls has flavor but you can not define what it is. Some whisperers of grunts complete this great song. "Kill My Only Enemy" is the song that also gives the name to the album, however I wouldn't say is the most representative of the scent of the band although it has all the elements to be accepted by the audience. Songs such as "Two Pages", and "Redemption" have something dreadful but when you listen to that warm voice it gives you some kind of release. "I live for your Pain" is the faster song of the album, very melodic and with female grunts that I just loved!! Terrifying and daring and determination that is what you feel with this song. The singer has a powerful voice that I really enjoy a lot! In short terms this album really deserves a shot! Is very good, very professional. And you will like them since the very beginning. I highly recommend it! 97/100 Reviewed by Maria
http://www.disdained.se/
http://www.facebook.com/disdained

Disdained is:

Therése Thomsson - Vocals
Niklas Dahlin - Guitar
Johan Hartman - Guitar
Tomas Stolt -Bass
Johan Persson - Drums

VIC ANSELMO - In My Fragile

Vic Anselmo is a Latvian Gothic/Alternative singer and songwriter (At the moment lives in Essen, Germany). She is also the first Latvian alternative female singer that got to be known outside the Baltic States. Her debut album Trapped In A Dream, was released in Europe in October 2008 and got a great response from music media: Newcomer of The Month in Orkus 10.2008, 2nd place in Zillo’s sound check, and lot more. Vic have been on two european club tours with her band, and she have also played on lot of festivals. She have also appeared as guest singer for Duncan Patterson Project and she became member of Inner Fear, the project from Cradle of Filth drummer Martin Marthus Škaroupka. Vic both perform with her band and as solo artist with her piano and voice.

Second time I write about Vic Anselmo, and like the first album I wrote about and listened to, she also this time impress me a lot with her song writing skills, her voice and her musical talents. The new album In My Fragile is once again a stunning piece of musical art from Vic Anselmo. After listening up and down many times to the album it feels like somekind of soundtrack from a nuclear catastrophy movie. Throughout the album we hear a lot of sounds like clicks of radiation, air attacks, explosions and lot of other sounds. Also the CD cover shows a picture of a global disaster, and in this case you see ruins of Riga, Vic Anselmo`s hometown. The lyrics also reflects different themes concerning what people going through in war time, hopelessness, desperation, ironic, help, piece and freedom to mention some of the things. With a wide musical horizon, and her own way to compose and make music we are taken onto a special musical journey that starts with an Introduction that leads us to the first song More Than You Can Comprehend. It starts with a cool rhythm and great riffing guitars, partly a dark mystic song with a mood and style that will melt of you! The vocals from Vic is just fantastic to listen to, and its really nice to hear how she balances between the brittle emotional and the more powerful parts! Open Wide is more difficult than the first, the sounds and the musical style is special with a lot of variety. One moment dark heavy in the next moment emotional and moody and among female composers, singers and musicians in the music business today I will say Vic Anselmo is without doubt one of the best. Horizon is a jewel of a song, a fantastic melody and vocals. This song and melody got stuck in my head immediately, the song have a special mood, soft and emotional. The instrumental performing is really good and the sound and production is very pleasing! Wellspring opens with piano before Vic`s nice voice enters. An acoustic beautiful song with only vocals, piano and some strings. The vocals in this is just stunning, and the clarinet and horns also give this pearl the little extra! Bone`s Blues speaks for it self, a bluesy song with cool ingredients, and when blues is made like this I can like it! Ashes is another haunting beautiful masterpiece of a song. A soft fine tune with a very strong melody, the song builds with a bit more power for the chorus parts, and the vocals here give me goosebumps. The floating keys and the piano at the end of the song and throughout in the song is great. Secrets Of The Universe opens with a ticking clock and a siren, a more advanced song in a way, and to describe the music from Vic Anselmo is hard because there is so many different styles and moods on this album. In my opinion you find a bit of everything and I will say she catch a wide public with her creativeness and music that have electronic elements, acoustic parts, pop/ rock, gothic rock/ metal, some progressive elements, folk, classic and almost everything you can think of! The next song is a cover song called Das Dunkle Land, made originally by Das Ich. For me a new song that I haven`t heard before, but after hearing this I need to check out more about this. An electronic gothic rock oriented song. In The Darkness is a beauty and one of my favorite songs. A moody mystic song, the melody lines and vocals is just beautiful and the clarinet and oboe give this its own character. The Day is also a very good song, this have like three maybe four different styles, a soft emotional side, progressive bits, powerful almost a bit aggressive style and some cool instrumental bits. The four last songs is bonus tracks, and is made acoustic live, and here you really hear what a musician and singer Vic Anselmo is. Vic Anselmo is without no doubt one of my favorite female singers and composers, so take your time and listen to her work!! 99/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://vicanselmo.com/

Vic Anselmo - The Songstress
Herman Rigmant – guitars, electronic percussions
George Kadolchik – keyboards
Pēteris Pāss – bass
Mārtiņš Miļevskis – drums

FASTLANE FLOWER - Deadline

This Norwegian metal band started for serious the autumn of 2008. With a baggage of experience both live and with band projects Chris Slettvoll, Marius Sommernes and Michael Johansen again gathered, this time in the capital of Norway, Oslo. The line-up was complete in 2009; Eline Stølan, Jan Tore Varne and Alexander Klæboe were now a part of Fastlane Flower. The same year the plans for the debut album were nailed down. With producer Hans A. Horntveth Jansen on the team and under Music Division Studios, they finally created the album in the winter of 2010. The autumn of 2010, Fastlane Flower signed a deal with the record company Nordic Records and together they released the debut album “Deadline” January.24.2011.

Here we have a metal band very straight forward, direct, uninhibited, unabashed and sometimes challenging. With a few elements of hard rock, heavy metal, traces of pop and attempts of death metal this a Pandora box so you can find something different every time you listen to this album. Starting with the lead vocal Mrs. Eline Stølan is a very multifaceted singer, sometimes warm and sweet sometimes sour and disgusting sometimes very sober and technical. First time I heard this album it grew in me a feeling of contained despair, translation: I wanted to kill people! hahahaha. Second time I heard it I felt I liked it and indeed remained me of a very popular pop chilean band called "Kudai" songs such as "Wisteria Lane Concept", "State Of Emergency" or "Monkey Business" and specially "Blue Moon", have some chords that, with their sticky choruses, some dramatic hilarious desperation colors and even Emo elements that, of course, respectfully saving the differences, evoked in me few years of my life where I for some reason had the chance to listen to this band "Kudai". So this way Fastlane flowers! With some very metal introduction in these songs to develop into a very high purified electro pop because of the mixture of the voices textures, the languid keyboard chords, the dramatic harmonies in the background vocals and the devastating guitars! resulting in a very interesting and eclectic style with some traces of progressive metal which in my opinion could become in a pearl of the Norwegian musical history. "Secret Archive" is one of the most symbolic songs of this album together with "Before I'm Gone" and "At the Rainbow's End"; very metal, melodic and with progressive traces and some grunts that make them one of my favorite. And the rest of the album are very well arranged and technical but not less good! This band in the words of my husband are "....one of the most promising band made in Norway" and I don't doubt it! and I hope from my heart you guys can get all the support from the Norwegian people. Flott!! 97/100 Reviewed by Maria
http://www.fastlaneflower.no/

Fastlane Flower is:

Eline Stølan - Lead Vocal
Chris Slettvoll - Guitar
Marius Sommernes - Bass/bgv
Michael Johansen - Keys
Jan Tore Varne - Drums
Alexander Klæboe - Guitar/bgv

ONLY FATE REMAINS - Breathe

Only Fate Remains (former Trisomy) consists of six band members. Each of the members has its own musical roots ranging from rock 'n roll to black metal, but all share their passion for creating strong melodic (subtle) sophisticated music. The versatile background and the shared passion together melt into a group of highly motivated musicians wanting to share their creations with the world. Over the years, Only Fate Remains have received very good response from the audience, other bands and magazines Their latest CD demo titled "V" has been downloaded over 30.000 times by people from over 100 countries worldwide. Only Fate Remains have performed at a lot of concerts (100+) in The Netherlands and abroad in many famous Dutch venues like 013, Vera, Kade, P60, Mezz, Tivoli and festivals like Summer Darkness Festival. Only Fate Remains shared the stage with bands like The Gathering, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, Epica, After Forever, Delain, Stream of Passion, Orphanage and Autumn.

The debut Breathe is my first acquaintance with Only Fate Remains, and thanks to Dave at Ravenheart music records I got the chance to review this band and their album Breathe. Musically Only Fate Remains combine Rock/Metal with inputs of gothic, atmospheric, electronic, melodic and some progressive elements, and with Eva Kokken`s powerful clear voice on top this sounds really good! Nightly Walks opens the ball, and from this moment its just to sit back and enjoy melodic entertaining songs. The opener starts with some mystic windy sounds, a hard hitting song with cool electronic elements. The song have strong melodic lines with Eva`s clear powerful vocals. I like the switches from the melodic nice verses to the more powerful choruses. Fall is the next, a melodic metal oriented song with a huge melody line and big choruses! The floating piano, the small beautiful guitar solos throughout in the song and the string arrangement takes this to a high level! Shallow Water sounds darker and heavier than the two first, but still melodic and with great guitars! The electronic elements give this the little extra, and also here I like the switches between the verses and chorus lines. The Essence opens powerful, but slows down when the vocals enters. This is little jewel of a song and one of my favorites. The vocals in this really shows the strength in Eva`s voice. The instrumental details is entertaining and the melodic fine guitar solo and the keys is really nice to listen to! The Real You have nice verse parts with cool instrumental details and strong vocals. The chorus lines is rememberable and glues into your head. The instrumental part after 2 minutes and 30 seconds is delicate and give the song its own identity. Cravings opens with a pumping heavy rhythm. The song slows down a little for the verses, and the vocal melody in the verse lines is just beautiful with strong vocals. The song builds up with more power for the chorus lines. Also this song have an cool instrumental part at the end! Lost have some cool twists and turns throughout, a melodic song , but also some progressive hints in this with the changes. Heal Me have a cool rhythm, the heavy riffing guitars, the piano and the tight and steady rhythm in this is entertaining. The song reach the absolute top with the fine chorus lines and the nice singing! The last song Imprisoned, sounds in a way a bit symphonic maybe because of the keys. At the same time it have a little progressive touch, but still melodic. All in all a very strong melodic album with addictive strong songs, so for fans of the more melodic this is a little jewel you must have!! 97/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.myspace.com/onlyfateremains
http://www.trisomy.nl/home
http://www.ravenheartmusicrecords.com

Only Fate Remains is:

Eva Kokken - Vocals
Michiel van Veen - Guitars
Jacques Maas - Guitars
Maarten Siem - Synths, piano
Pieter van den Berkmortel - Bass
Marc Bruijn - Drums

ARMONIGHT - Suffering And Passion

Armonight were born in 2007, by guitarplayer Lara, and her friend Fjord (guitar). After some line-up changes, drummer Ricky and Singer Sy, join the band. With this line-up they start to record the first full-lenght, Suffering and Passion. The first label interested in their work is Heart of Steel Records, and they start work for the world wide distribution of the album. Armonight also starts to organize some live shows around Italy and abroad. In July 2010, Frens become permanent bassplayer, and later same year Hokuto join the band as the new keyboardplayer. Their drummer Ricky is forced to leave the band because of health problems, but is replaced with Nicolas P. The band tours in Wales (UK) in 2010, and also tours UK, in 2011. The band have already started working on their next release

Armonight is a really big surprise! I have had their album Suffering And Passion, for some weeks now, and this is a really delicate album! Musically they move in a mix between gothic music, pop/rock/ melodic rock/ hardrock and metal. I was for many years a big fan of Melodic Hard Rock, but got a little tired of all the bands that sounded very much the same. When I sat down and started listen to Armonight, many of the big moments from the melodic hard rock period returned in my head. This is one of the things I like a lot with this band, and at the same time that they mix melodic hard rock with some gothic elements and a little dose of metal, pop and rock. The songs is very melodic with big melodies and strong choruses, and I couldn`t stop listening to this CD. As the band say self: we play what we feel, and Armonight really manage to catch me with their delicate songs. The symphonic inspired intro Revenge opens the album, and leads us to a jewel of a song called Past Shadows. A nice floating melodic masterpiece of a song with beautiful vocals, great played keys and really strong melody lines and chorus lines that glues like gum into your hair! The guitar solos and the small instrumental details is entertaining. It continues with Free Spirit, a melodic fine song with nice floating keys. The sound and production is very good, and let me as listener take part in all the fine instrumental performing and the strong sweet vocals! Emotions, opens with piano. A more darker gothic inspired song, and what a pearl of a song this is! The piano throughout give the song the little extra, the soft fine sung verse parts is just delicate, and the song reach its top in the chorus parts. Long time since I have heard songs made exactly like this, and I have to admit that the style Armonight have is just perfect for me!! Into My World, starts a little classic inspired. This is one of my favorite songs with a huge melody and big choruses. The vocals from Sy is delicate, and the keys, the piano and the catchy rhythm in this is addictive. What We Were opens with fine played keys before it kicks off with a melodic symphonic rock oriented style. Each song on this album is in my opinion perfectly made melodic rock/ hard rock/ gothic rock songs of the finest mark, and its many years since I have heard such good songs like this! Heaven`s Below is a more pop/ rock oriented song, and a little softer than the others, but what a good song! Sy`s voice carries the music perfect, and all the songs on this album is very easy to listen to, and this type of music reach a very wide audience with the remembering melodies and strong choruses. Yellow Flowers is a perfect example of this, a rock ballad with a haunting melody, the fine instrumentation is also very pleasing and catch you right away! Crystal Tears starts with cool played keys, a very strong song with a little darker style, but still with the very fine melodic intact. The way the music is made, set together and played plus the production is just fantastic, and I really admire and appreciate work like this! The last song I lost My Serenity is no exception together with all the other great songs on this very fine album from Armonight! It will be really interesting to follow this band further in their career to see what they comes up with next time! I can`t hardly wait!! 99/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.armonight.com/
http://www.myspace.com/armonight
http://it-it.facebook.com/pages/Armonight/225508074374

Armonight is:

Sy: Vocals
Lara & Fjord: Guitar
Frens: Bass
Hokuto: K-board
Nicolas P. : Drums

MEDEN AGAN - Erevos Aenaon

Meden Agan was firts formed in November 2005 in Paris, France by guitarist Diman Koutsogiannopoulos. Their first demo, released in April 2006 received good reviews and feedback. Their first full-length album, Illusions, was released in November 2007, and contained progressive metal songs with male vocals. During that period, the band shared the stage with bands like Pain Salvation, Skyclad, Within Temptation, After All, Bloodtales, ETHS, and The Old Dead Tree. After a one-year hiatus as Diman returned to Greece, Meden Agan started working on new songs featuring lyric leggero soprano vocalist Iliana Tsakiraki and a new keyboardist. Soon, they released their first EP, which was called Nemesis – Promo 2010. This promo contained five progressive/symphonic metal songs with operatic vocals. Soon after, the band entered the studio in order to record their album Erevos Aenaon. The album was released in September 2011. It was recorded at ARTemis Studios, and was produced and mixed by Mark Adrian (Elysion, Bare Infinity, Bob Katsionis). Before releasing the album, Panos was replaced on drums by Ploutarchos Tsouris.

Meden Agan, a progressive/symphonic metal band from Greece is an expression of art, the way I see. The guitars and bass lines follow the gothic metal techniques and their vocalist Iliana Tsakiraki, is a well trained soprano in opera singing, however, she has an special vibrato which makes her performance a bit different adding much more drama to the symphonic element. I wouldn't say they have so many elements of progressive metal but power progressive metal because of the speed and timing they put in their melodies and these mixes make the band sound an innovation in this style. Particularly speaking the vibrato, the very high tunes and the soft precision of the vocalist add drama without being exhausting at all! but pure coldness and fear of the middle ages with modern elements represented in some melodies on the keyboards. You can find these modern elements in songs such as "Black Sky" with a great keyboards introduction very well arranged, in "All seems Lost", the keyboards add romanticism to the song and the tunes of the soprano, very well made make the whole track a piece of art. "Blinded By Faith", combines the modern elements on the keyboards sounding a lit bit progressive sound and the drums add a power metal background; with classical gothic/symphonic lines and an spectacular guitar solo I must say WOW! well done guys. "Tribute to Life" personally speaking is my favorite! the rhythm is a perfect mixture of power, melodic and gothic with no symphonic elements but yet very classical because of the vocalist who reaches the tunes at ease. I really would like to see this girl live! I'm sure she is as good as in studio!! I don't know why this song makes me feel it has something "latino" in its rhythm that attracts me so much! maybe the drums that sounds together with the keyboards a lil african and with the powerful guitars make this song really special. "Dissolve Into Grey" and "Erevos Aenaon" are very classical, very gothic and dark, stand the vocalization! it is impressive, I love it!, the keyboards and the guitars chords? simply great. In songs such as "Nemesis", as well as "From the Ashes of Sin" (both versions), and "Erevos Aenaon", ...... They attempts grunts and in this part I want to emphasize something: As I have said before, in gothic styles "grunts" is a very important element, indeed is the element which represents the evilness, the beast, but also the hope of a better frame of mind. So what I mean is that "grunts" must be strong, deep enough without being necessarily low, grievous, nasty but yet desperate for redemption, warm and dignified. Technically speaking must be dark and in tune. I know is not easy as far as this is a difficult technique which requires practice, but not impossible. And I have to be fair enough and say not so many bands have the right grunts. Grunts can make a plane song sounds great but also can spoil a great song however great songs with great grunts can get you out of this world!!. So grunts in Meden Agan is effective. That means that it meets the objective but as a lover of this gender and with my best wishes to point it at as an opportunity of improvement, I would like to advise if you guys don't mind, to work a little bit more in making the grunts stronger and deeper. This band has wonderful songs, an amazing style, thoughtful lyrics, extraordinary vocalist and excellent melodies, so grunts can not be just fine! it must be PERFECT! and that's why I dare to give them a piece of advice. And to the guy who plays grunts I say just keep on it because I believe you have a great potential and as I just said this is an opportunity to improve!! Congratulations!! all you guys rock! 97/100 Reviewed by Maria
http://www.myspace.com/medenagan0
http://www.facebook.com/pages/MEDEN-AGAN/222614997752557

Meden Agan is:

Iliana-vocals
Diman-guitars
Apostolos-keys
Aris-bass
Ploutarxos-drums

REPSEL - The Double Mask of Human Kind

The Repsel project started in 2003, the name being an acronym of the initials of the original members. In August 2007, with a new line-up they enters the studio to record a new album with new contents and sound, characterized by a mix between metal and prog rock. The Double Mask Of Human-Kind, narrates the two faces of war; the fears and the hope of the very people that suffer through wartime, and the sarcastic smugness of those who look out for their own political and econimical interests.

Repsel is a new very interesting Italian band, and together with a lot of other good bands coming from the same country I think Repsel have managed to create their own style! Repsel`s music is hard to describe with a lot of influences from different genres. On the debut album The Double Mask Of Human Kind, we are taken on a musical journey mainly built around progressive metal/ rock, but for each time I listen to their album I discover new things and styles like melodic metal, power metal, gothic metal/rock and they also have some folk influences and small hints of pop and rock. Their album is a challenging piece of musical art, and it took me many listening's to get to know all the songs and the different changes and styles. The opener Fairies Of Dream, was the first song I heard of the band, and this song is also the first official Video from the band. This song made me curious about this band immediately, and the song is special with a challenging style. It opens with some cool mystic sounds and great riffing guitars. When the vocals comes in for the first verse you get surprised over the rhythm and the style they manage to create. The song changes a lot throughout with nice melodic parts to more aggressive progressive bits. Singer Marta have a really strong voice for this type of music, and I admire vocal work like this! Also her violin playing gives the music the little extra. The sound is great and the instrumental performing sounds tight and precise in every direction. The next Please Don`t Throw The Dice, starts with heavy riffing guitars and a cool rhythm. A little more advanced than the first, the verse parts is a bit tricky to get into, but with vocal work and instrumental performing like this I will say this album and songs is a jewel for fans of progressive music that takes a step away from the ordinary. No Hope is one of my favorite songs! The a bit dreamy opening with the violin, guitar and drum details is just great! The song kicks off with an aggressive style, and the guitars sounds really good! When the first verse starts the song change to a more melodic oriented style with very fine vocal lines. The chorus lines is remembering and the changes in this song is very entertaining. The guitar solo and all the instrumental performing is solid and have class! Guantanamo Bay is a special song, not only the music, but also the lyrics is very good with an opening line like this: I`m walking up and down along my cell of wire net exposed to the sun. Not only this song have interesting lyrics, but also many of the other songs have good lyrics that narrates the two faces of war; the fears and the hope of the very people that suffer through wartime, and the sarcastic smugness of those who look out for their own political and economical interests. Also like the next with the historic title The 6th Of August 1945 ( the date for the atomic bomb Hiroshima). A really entertaining song with a cool style, the melodic verses is strong with more up-tempo choruses. The violin gives this song a cool mood, and this have few hints of folk and I got a feel of marching drums in parts of this. The Constant Fear of Losing You, show a more emotional moody style from Repsel. A beautiful song with very nice vocals. A special song with great rhythms, and the mood in this is haunting! Also this song have some folk influences with the violin and guitar playing. Frontier open with cool bassplaying before the rest of the band enters. It open a bit dark and heavy followed by melodic nice verses that build up to more progressive advanced chorus parts. The instrumental part after 3 minutes and 12 seconds is very delicate! The Silence Of Angels is also one of my favorite songs. It opens a bit advanced, but change to a softer style with very nice singing before it builds up to the most rememberable chorus lines on the album. The classical guitar playing followed by the electric guitar solos and violin solo at the end is just fantastic! The Doubt opens with fine instrumental performing. In every song Repsel have their own twist on their style, and I feel they have managed to create something own that they can be proud of, and I will not compare Repsel with other bands/artists because I feel they have their own style! War Machines ends this very interesting album from Repsel, and I like this band more and more for each round in the player, the songs grow and becomes stronger and stronger, so I recommend this album with warmth to fans of progressive metal/rock! 99/100 Reviewed by Arne http://www.myspace.com/repsel

Repsel is:

Marta Iacoponi - vocals, violin
Lorenzo Catarini - Guitar
Giorgio Napoleone - Guitar
Alessandro Presti - Bass
Paolo Dossi - Drums

HIGHLAND GLORY - Twist Of Faith

With a history as norwegian power metal pioneers Phoenix Rizing, who released 2 albums worldwide ; "Rise From The Ashes" (1998) and "Eternal Crusade" (2000), the band changed singer and formed Highland Glory in the spring of 2001.With a fresh new start and an increased potential, the band developed their style of melodic metal in a heavier and more traditional direction on the debut album, From The Cradle To The Brave (2003). Due to the versatility of the new line-up, the material took a more diverse, atmospheric and epic direction. In 2005 they release their second album Forever Endeavour. In the autumn of 2007 singer Jan Thore Grefstad left the band, and in the winter of 2008 the band finally found a worthy replacement in Trine Elise Johansen. The change from a male to a female singer naturally affects the bands sound, but the trademark is still intact on the long-awaited new album Twist Of Faith (2011).

Highland Glory a melodic metal band from Norway comes with their new release Twist of faith. This band combines melodic elements with the traditional heavy metal resulting in a very nice and fresh proposal. Its sticky melodies and the powerful sound of the guitars together with the rest of the elements create a refreshing of the heavy metal of the 80's but adding new elements that make them sound as part of this decade. The vocalist Elise Johansen has a natural tone that is very easy to be digested for your ears. Songs such as "Holocauster Ride", "Limitation Of Life", "Temptation Highland" and the ballad "Without You" are very relaxing metal, easy to listen to, easy to understand and the melodies are easy to remember. It is interesting the way you get transported to the 80's memories and to all of those who have never experienced the hard rock of the 80's, I think through this band is a superb way to acknowledge the splendor of the heavy metal of those times but saving some respectable differences and of course in this band we can find some "pink" colors because of the nice natural tone of the vocalist which smoothes the chords and adds sweetness to the performances. Listening to this band makes me a bit nostalgic and if you give them a shot you will know why if you are a contemporary adult. The song "Twist of faith" is different! Here they try something different with some power metal and the vocalist attempts some lower tunes that remains a little of some high school grunge band from the 90's that together with the guitar solo make the whole song my favorite one!. "Far Cry From Freedom", are a bit darker with some slightly traces of gothic sounds that make it powerful as well as cold. Is the same case for "Diary Of The Dying", which I must say this style is not bad at all!! on the contrary, this style looks very promising if the band decides to polish a lilt bit more the gothic elements in their compositions. ballads such as "Earthbound Spirit" and already mentioned "Without You", in the same line of the tradition of heavy metal are very well made and have excellent arrangements. And of course I have to mention that they have an interesting version of the song "Alone" very popular in the 80's by the american band Heart and with this I corroborate what I've been said about their particular style greatly influenced by the 80's hard rock genre. Very professional, excellent arrangements and matured musically speaking; this band deserves all the support. Specially by norwegian people. I must say Norway has a great potential with excellent musicians and amazing bands which deserve to be known all over the world, and they have contributed to the metal environment in Europe. However we must work harder in developing a more entrenched metal culture in Norway and make people embrace more their bands!! Thumbs up for you guys! 96/100 Reviewed by Maria
http://www.highlandglory.com/
http://www.myspace.com/highlandglory

Highland Glory is:

Trine Elise Johansen - vocals
Jack Roger Olsen - guitar, backing vocals
Lars Andre Larsen - keyboard, guitar
Knut Egil Tøftum - bass
Morten Færøvig - drums

DIARY OF DESTRUCTION - Outside The Shade, EP

Diary Of Destruction is a French metal band from Lille, born at the end of 2007. Drawing its inspiration from the trends death melodic and metalcore, its feminine voice being at once melodic and suddenly becoming furious and guttural allied to incisive guitars and powerful drums to explode in an alchemy between sadness and hatred. Diary of Destruction is based on the metaphor of the personal diary (symbol of the stand back) and Destruction (rough and impulsive aspect of the man). 2010 and 2011 were marked by the release of the Maxi " Outside the shade ", very well welcomed by the critics, and by many live performances in all France and Belgium. 2012 announces the release of the debut album of the band under a more personal and accomplished aspect.

Outside The Shade is my first acquaintance with Diary Of Destruction, and after several listening's lately I think this band have a bright future with their good songs. The six song Maxi starts with the title track and intro Outside The Shade. The intro piece is a mystic modern electronic sounding song with a cool mood and style. The first song Without Beauty, sounds totally different than how the maxi starts with the electronic style. This is metal with a lot of power and punch, and at the same time they sound very melodic and strong. The vocals from Audrey are very nice, and she has a very strong voice that lifts the songs to a great level. Sometimes very sweet sounding, and in the next moment powerful with a very wide range. The music also pleases me with aggressive sounding guitars with lot of cool details and riffs. The style of the opener is melodic metal of finest mark, and I like when the song speeds up at the end! Men Blunder, opens with cool bass playing, great guitars and nice punching drums. This song is partly much more aggressive than the last, but still with the melodic element intact. This song also has some growls. Also here the vocals from Audrey give the song the little extra. Storm is the next, I like the guitars and drums in the start!! I like the style and rhythm in this, and I like how the song goes and changes throughout. This song have in my opinion a little hint of progressive metal with its changes and style. Also this song have cool verses and strong chorus lines! Unbreakable kicks off with double fast bass drums and heavy aggressive guitars. The song changes to a finer style for the first verse, and I enjoy the vocal lines. A growling part leads us to very nice chorus lines. This song is one of the most advanced and experimental, but for each time I play it the more I like it! The Other Side is the last song, partly a heavy and darker sounding song. Also here they keep me entertained with nice melodic verses and the tempo changes and the aggressive in this is very cool. I also like the guitar solo and the soft moody parts with the fine vocals is just great! I look forward to hear the debut album from Diary Of Destruction, after getting to know them on this six track Maxi, Outside The Shade!! Check them out immediately, I think we will hear lot more from them in the future!! 95/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.diaryofdestruction.com/

Diary Of Destruction is:

Audrey Ebrotié : Vocals, Grunts
Anthony Dutilleul : Guitars, Growls
Johan Debacq : Drums
Berengere Bulckaen : Bass

GATES OF DAWN - Lucid Dreaming

Founded in 2005, the band from Germany perfoms a mixture of guitar wave and electronic soundscapes by creating seductive songs full of sweeping beats, romantic melodies and uncanny atmosphere. Following the successful 2008 record “Parasite”, the bands third CD, Lucid Dreaming, marks another step in achieving an unique sound experience. In 2011 “Lucid Dreaming” is going to be performed live as a multimedia-based show including especially produced video clips (some video works can be seen on YouTube channel . The new album was recorded and produced by the band itself, mastered at the TS-Musix Studio Zweibrücken and is published by the German label Sonorium.

The band from Germany Gates of Dawn which style is self-defined as electronic- gothic metal brings out an interesting proposition. It's what I will call a "new dawn for gothic metal", but this time adapted to the new times. This band flirts with electronic pop elements which adds "postmodernism" elements into the gothic of 21th century, making this band style "eclectic". It comes with casual voices, no grunts, no pompous sopranos, no cumbersome partitures, just simply casual male-female voices affordable to everybody! and humble electronic-gothic melodies! but I must say: yet in tune and sync which is very important in this new style. When you listen at this album you think in a very minimalist pop art with postmodernist gothic elements, coldness and a totally lack of pertinence defined this band, very according to the globalization process world is being through for the last 25 years. Songs such as "For you", "Hunting me", "Disappear" and so on.. are full of "androgynous vampirism" and what do I mean by this term? well, very simple, you don't detect the difference between the male and female needs. Hey! but I'm not talking about the sound of the voices that is clearly defined by a male-female duo in their respective octaves with not much harmonies but yet complementing each other. I'm talking about their attitude to interpret the different melodies and lyrics, with very lows, plane tunes with a trace of "I don't care attitude" and electronics elements that adds sub-urban pop to the performance. The coldness and passive-agressive atmosphere of their songs and feeling of "no blood in the veins" that remains you of the Vampire Lestat. This is the meaning of my personal attest of "androgynous vampirism"! Despite of the total lack of empathy of this style you still can feel deep inside a desperate silent scream for help that makes this band adorable!! "Ghost of Tomorrow" the way I see, is like an ode to a post apocalypses era. This band represents the present times!. Times where women and men are pretty much the same, where the rolls are not well defined in the society and a dangerous cold criminality is our daily bread. Times where much people seem not to acknowledge the existence of God and if so they seem not to care. Times where everything is the same whether you are in South America or in Scandinavia and nobody seems to care about races, religions or traditions but inside there is something that is about to explode. The hiding need everybody has of something. This is what this band represents and let me tell you something: I love it!!! This is it!! This is our world nowadays! and you guys bring it out in an easy way! It is worthy to an special mention to the symphonic elements such as violins and orchestral keyboards! The final touch of this extraordinary band! Well done guys!. 98/100 Reviewed by Maria
http://www.gates-of-dawn.de/
http://www.myspace.com/GATESofDAWNmusic

Gates Of Dawn is:

Martina - Vocals
Matthias - Vocals
Niko - Drums
Tina - Violine
Christoph - Keys
Sebastian - Guitars
Jan - Bass

AKRIBI - Black Morning Sun

Akribi are a new Swedish female fronted Progressive Metal band who combines excellent technical musicianship with some great melodies and excellent (but also unique) vocals. Black Morning Sun is their debut album.

Akribi is as It already been said a Swedish Female Fronted Progressive Metal band, and this band is no doubt one of the best female fronted progressive metal bands I`ve ever heard!! First of all I will say this is a challenge of an album with a substance and creativeness from musicians of very high caliber, and it took me a lot of listening to get familiar with the challenging fine songs on this excellent release! The sound is crystal clear and the production is just great, and let me as listener hear all the very good instrumental details. Singer Jessica Åhman, is a very good singer and to sit back and listen how she uses her voice throughout the album is very pleasing and entertaining. The album Black Morning Sun, opens with the song Puppies Of War, who also is the first official Video from the band. Puppies Of War is a very technical and advanced song, but its a pleasure to listen to creativeness and musicality like this. The guitars is excellent with lots of details and great solos. The keys also floats nicely together with the music, and you will hear fingers that goes incredibly fast and precise over the tangents. The drum playing also impresses me with a lot of different rhythms and changes. The bass player is also very good and this guy is not only playing, but you hear how good the bass floats like solo playing with lots of cool details. Where The Water Meets The Sky, opens with some cool riffing guitars. The vocals and the aggressive melody lines is just fantastic, and I like the vocals very much in the chorus lines! This nine minute long song is filled with lot of cool details and changes, and for fans of new progressive metal this is a must album to have, you can not simply go around it!! The key part in this is very special with a cool jazz sound. Surface, starts a little dreamy and slow, and you will love this song that have a great melody with fine singing. The song changes a lot throughout from melodic dreamy bits, to progressive aggressive parts and instrumental bits, and the way the guys handles their instruments is just superb!! The next Angel Kiss, starts with piano, and this ballad is one of the finest I have heard in many years. The vocals is fantastic, and here you really hear how good the voice from Jessica is!! The melody lines and chorus lines went straight to my heart! The piano and the very well balanced instruments is really good to listen to, and gives me a good mood. The guitar solo also gives me goosebumps! Blue Clay opens with cool bas splaying. An advanced technical instrumental song with lot of changes, and to sit back with headphones and hear the instrumental performing is just excellent! Carry The Rain, opens a little softer from the start with great vocals and a great melody. The almost ten minute long song changes from the emotional to a more aggressive progressive style, and for me with all the details and parts it feels like it only last for five minutes! All the songs on this album grow for each time I hear them, and I also discover new details for each listening. Wither And Die, opens heavy with keys that sounds like the big moments from the 70`s. A bit different song than the others with a more heavy and dark sound. The song still have the exact right ingredients with the progressive feel and the vocals is just fantastic! The Plains Of Nevermore, is a beautiful ballad oriented song with piano, vocal, and some string arrangement. It can remind of songs from musicals. Also this is one of the finest songs I`ve heard in very long time! The Sum Of It All, is progressive metal of finest mark! An advanced song, but still with a good melody and cool chorus lines. The different instrumental parts with all the details is entertaining and very varied! I also heard some folk inspired lines in this tune. The album ends with the title track Black Morning Sun, the song opens with some fine instrumental details. The vocals comes in, and I really enjoy the voice from Jessica. Partly a very moody dreamy song, and I can promise you that this is a jewel of an album, and a must have for fans of new progressive metal!99/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.akribi.org/

Akribi is:

Jessica Åhman -Vocals
David Lidell - Guitar
André Berntsson - Guitar
Andreas Tiberto - Keyboards
Alexander Bringsoniou - Bass and Chapman Stick

EARLYRISE - What If

Earlyrise started in 2009, the band was founded by Orly Lari (vocals, piano) and Raz Klinghoffer (guitar player and producer), who combined their different styles and started writing music together. They were later joined by Itamar Goldwasser (Drums) and Dima Grossman (Bass) and finally emerged with their debut album "What if" which was self released in May 2011.

Earlyrise is a new band for me, and the first band I write about that comes from Israel! After listening to their debut What If, for some weeks now I really like this band and their music. Musically this band blend Rock/ Hard Rock/ Metal with some small symphonic elements. The album kicks off with Become Mad, a really strong song that starts with a talking voice and cool electronic sounds before the nice guitars breaks through. I like the sound and production that is crystal clear, and the way the band build their songs is very good and entertaining. This first track changes from sweet sung parts to harder edged guitar driven bits with strong melody parts and cool chorus lines. Leave Me Alone, is a more straight forward rocker in a way. The melody lines and vocals from Orly Lari is very good with a wide range. All the instrumental details is entertaining and I like the drive and edge in the song. The title track What If, open a bit softer than the two first songs. An addictive song, and my recommendation for the band must be to make a Video of this, because I think it will give you a lot of attention. Strong melody and good chorus lines that is easy to remember, and the changes from the fine piano parts to the harder bits is great to listen to! Memories is a softer song, the piano and vocals is delicate and I like the string arrangement. The song gets more power throughout, and what a jewel of a song this is!! Old Friend, opens more metal oriented, but changes to a softer style in the verses before it builds up with great guitars and more power for the choruses. Face Me, is a more advanced experimental song. The melodic fine verses is strong, the song gets a more advanced experimental style when it builds up to the choruses. The vocal effects in this are cool, and I like the sound on the guitars and the playing. China, opens with fine guitar playing and calm strong vocals. A more pop/rock oriented song, the mood in this is cool and I have played this over and over many times! Shell, is a modern hard rocking song with an experimental touch, and the more I hear this the better it gets. Wasteland, is one of my favorite songs. A harder edged song with nice verses and powerful chorus parts. The instrumental details with the guitars and the symphonic bits is great! Goodbye, starts with piano and strings. A delicate ballad oriented song with very fine vocals and a huge melody and haunting chorus lines! Over, have a cool style that remind me of a mix of many big moments from the 70`s and 80`s. If you take a doze of 70`s rock and blend it with a bit of the glam rock and hard rock from the 80`s you will end up near the style this have! Junkie, have a cool mood in the start with fine vocal lines, the song gets more power for the choruses: Just Great!! The last song Falling From Grace, starts with some cool electronic sounds. A fine emotional song with an experimental touch, and what a fine song this is!! 97/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.myspace.com/earlyriseband
http://www.facebook.com/EarlyRise

Earlyrise is:

Orly Lari - Vocals
Raz Klinghoffer - Guitars
Dima Grossman - Bass
Itamar Goldwesser - Drums

SHIELD OF WINGS - Solarium

Based in the Chicago area, Shield of Wings is a symphonic metal band comprised of four members, Grace Meridan, James Gregor, Patrick Eulitz and Jeff Olsem. Since the start, the bands lineup have changed, developing it's own unique methods of writing, musical direction, and style++.

This Symphonic /Metal Gothic band comes with a very sweet and unique style, I particularly speaking like them a lot!. Although they accomplish with all the techniques of a band of this gender, they have something very special that makes them adorable. And I think one of the things that contributes to their special sound is the vocal. Grace Meridan has a very sweet texture and natural tunes without being necessarily speaking the classical pompous soprano very common in this gender. Her voice is simply sweet and puts sour & sweet flavor to the compositions. In Essence and The Moon her voice contrast with the gothic sound strongly defined by the guitars and the orchestral elements that make this type of songs irresistible to your ears. Solarium is one of my favorite because it compiles the sweetness of the beauty in the voice of Grace, the soberly class of the symphonic keyboards and the miserable bitter of the guitars & drums that attack directly my chest! and of course the lyric make you think twice....all the elements combined perfectly to define the essence of the band. In the track War And Rapture, Oh my goodness!! guess what? the fatal attraction of the beast: the grunts!!, my favorite element to appreciate this type of band. The grunts are simply the final touch to take the band to the ALMOST perfection. Grunts are strong and well-defined but with the warmness you need to feel the security in your soul when your are totally lost. Of course I have to mention the awesome background of the guitars and drums and the sweetness of the final melody to make the whole stuff out of this world. The song Malady, is very gothic, very dark, hopeless and humble, is the perfect song to picture gothic landscapes in your mind. The voice and the lyrics blow out my mind together with the melodies. The instrumental Thereshold has some oriental notes as a perfect prelude to Carnival Mirror which I dare to say is the most lyrical song of this album and together with the grunts are just magical! The whole album, although not so long, is something you really need to listen to. 99/100. Reviewed by Maria
http://www.myspace.com/shieldofwingsrock

Shield Of Wings is:

Grace Méridan - Lead Vocals
James Gregor - Guitar/Vocals
Jeff Olsem- Bass
Pat Eulitz - Drums

ECHOTERRA - Land Of The Midnight Sun

ECHOTERRA was formed by Jonah W and Yan Leviathan in 2007. The duo spent most of 2007 and 2008 writing the songs for Echoterra's debut, The Law Of One. In 2008, vocalist Suvi Virtanen (Therion) joined the band, along with Brian Hollenbeck (Avian) on bass and vocals and John Gensmer (Epicurean) on drums. The Law Of One was released in North America via Blinding Force Recordings in September of 2009. It is available world-wide via Amazon, CDBaby, iTunes and other popular sites. In late 2009, Melissa Ferlaak replaced Suvi on vocals and Adam Sagan replaced John on drums to allow the opportunity for performing live and released the EP, In Your Eyes in March 2010. Sam Van Moer replaced Brian
Hollenbeck on bass in the summer 2011.

Echoterra have been around for some years, and I have missed their first releases, so Land Of The Midnight Sun, is my first acquaintance with the band. Echoterra`s music is a blend of symphonic metal/rock and power metal. After The Rain opens the ball, and it starts with a cool symphonic intro backed with great riffing guitars. The pumping rhythm and the power in the music is really good. Melissa have a good soprano voice, and the verses and chorus parts sounds very good with her voice. The keys is strong and the band sounds tight and steady in every direction. The Best Is Yet To Come is the next, and here they really sparkles with a nice blend of the symphonic, the melodic, some speed and different parts that gives the song its own identity. I like the a bit soft bits with Melissa`s voice, but I also like how the song builds up to the choruses. The instrumental part at the end is great! All The Lies, is a bit more advanced with a progressive touch, but still melodic and powerful. The switches in this is cool from the speedy bits to the softer calm parts. The Ghost Within My Heart, is one of my favorite songs, a more straight forward softer song with a huge melody and addictive chorus lines. I also like A Different Story, more melodic with great verses and great chorus lines.Welcome My Friend Of Misery, have a cool start with great keys. Also this is one of my favorite songs with a very rememberable melody and strong chorus lines. From The Gutter To The Throne, is also a jewel of a song, the keys play a big role in this. The song switch from nice melodic verses to more up-tempo chorus parts. The vocals in this is very operatic, but also more down tuned and nice! All in all a good album that is absolutely worth checking out, so take your time and check Echoterra! 96/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.myspace.com/echoterra

Echoterra is:

Melissa Ferlaak - Vocals
Jonah W - Keyboard
Yan Leviathan - Guitar
Adam Sagan - Drums
Sam Van Moer - Bass

AMAZON - Nature`s Last Ride

This band came up in 2002, in Valinhos, Brazil. That year, they decided to record, mix and produce their first demo called, "While There Is Time", which was sponsored at the beginning of 2003 by Rock Brigade Magazine. Later on in 2004, they released their independent debut album "Victoria Regia" at the same time, they started building up their career with several concerts and their hard work had been rewarded at the end of that year when they made the opening for a Nightwish concert. In 2009 they produced the single "The Poem & Eden" followed by the second album Nature`s Last Ride in 2010.

This band is characterized by a modern melodic metal sound. The singer Sabrina Todt has a multifaceted voice that goes from a very natural and popular tone to an operatical mezzo tone regardless of the feeling she puts in her performances. This album is full of freshness. I can say is a new heavy metal with some reminiscences of melodic and symphonic elements that make the album an interesting case worthy to be listened to. The first song Black Star is a very good introduction to feel and understand this band style, with a very straight forward and natural voice that she mixes with some operatical voices in the choruses and in part of the song, the singer let you know their sense of natural art that honors the name of the album and the guitar solo is so clean that remains you the best times of heavy metal. In Conceived once again the different textures of the voices adds operatical elements that make you think in a symphonic sound but very simple and sober...just a trace, and the result is very melodic specially when it comes to the guitar sounds. I should mention that this band also has some gothic metal traces in some of their songs such as Come, Nature`s Last Ride, Falling, Prisoner and Heretic; where they emphasized the gothic sound with instruments such a flute, piano and cellos but always with their natural guitar melodies and the changes in the vocal element which keep the strong connection to the classic and pure heavy metal that makes this band so interesting. And of course I have to add the fact that this band comes from South America, and I'm so glad when I hear bands from this part of the world are contributing somehow with their hard work and dedication to the global metal history. As a south american born from here I want to urge the entire latin american community to support our bands, specially this types of band and this way we can have our place of honor in the metal music, I know for a fact this type of music has so many followers all the way long from Mexico, South America and the Caribbean so...Let`s do it!!!..and to the band I say: Parabéns! em frente com trabalho duro e dedicação. 96/100. Reviewed by Maria
http://www.amazon.mus.br/
http://www.myspace.com/metalamazon

Amazon is:

Sabrina Todt - Vocals, Flute
Renato Angelo - Guitars, Keyboards, Programming
Danilo Angelo - Bass
Marcos Frassão - Drums, Percussion

DARK WHISPER - From Now On

Dark Whisper is a band from Argentina, that was formed in 2006 in Ramos Mejía neighborhood, province of Buenos Aires. The band's first lineup was composed of two guitars, a keyboard, a bass, drums and one lead vocalist. The first concert took place in september 2006 in Buenos Aires. At the end of 2006, the lineup changed to become what we know today as Dark Whisper. The band has performed with many bands within the Argentine scene, and during 2008 and 2009, Dark Whisper performed as opening band for Paradise Lost, Nightwish, Tarja Turunen and Stratovarius. The band released their first EP, March for Glory, in 2009, and now in 2011 they released their debut album From Now On.

Oh my God!!! I'm so glad listening to this band...The first track of the album From Now On, March of Glory is simply impressive! definitely this is an authentic representation of the South American melodic metal environment, as I always have said, Argentina has three steps ahead in this type of music and has nothing to envy to european bands. With two female vocalists this band is writing history in the metal music. Dark Whisper has a particular combination of different styles that goes from power metal to symphonic gothic resulting in a very own style. One vocalist, clearly mezzo soprano accompanied by a warm alt perfectly sync to add new elements to the gothic metal with symphonic traces. No grunts this time but then again, not necessarily neither. Songs such as Never The Same Again, Hades, Treasures Of The Waters and Oath Of Victory......are characterized by a sense of gothic beauty and the vocals are fantastic, their sticky choruses and sweet melodies and harmonies make me hum the songs and even make me want to be there and sing with them!. Even though the whole band is excellent with their musical arrangements, strong guitars and special symphonic elements, what impress me the most are the vocals which together with the rest just get your mind out of this world. Maybe because of the concept or the way the vocals are structured in the right tune and melody that make you feel this is something that is innovating the gender. I have to mention that their lyrics are very good and straight forward that get into your heart, and is something I appreciate if we take in consideration that this is an speaking spanish band, however their meanings and pronunciation are impeccable. Songs such as Disappointment, Opened Doors and so on confirm what I'm saying. Once again I must ask for the cooperation of the latin american fans and followers of this type of music to support our bands. They are as good as others from North America or Europe and we have to value the fact they actually are recording in English which is a very good sign and talks very well of their effort to reach further. Felicidades chicos!! les reitero mi apoyo desde aca y sigan esforzandose porque el arte sudamericano llegue a todo el mundo!! 99/100. Reviewed by Maria
http://www.darkwhisper.com.ar
http://www.myspace.com/darkwhisperdw

Dark Whisper is:

Daiana Zagaglia : Vocals
Patricia Pascual : Vocals
Fernando Pizarro : Guitar
Gabriel Di Fini : Keyboards
Iván Da Ros : Bass
Diego Davidson : Drums

ASTRAY PATH - Desert

Astray Path was founded in February 2003, in Ulm, Germany. With some changes in the band the first years, they after a while established as band and started playing live. In 2006 they recorded their debut album Follow The Path. In April 2008 they went to studio again to record the follow-up album The Hidden Line. 19th of February this year they released their third effort Desert.

The third album Desert is my first acquaintance with Astray Path. I have had this album a while and have had good time to get to know the songs and their musical style. First of all I will say that this is a very interesting band with really strong songs, and they also in my opinion have managed to create their own style! Musically they are a bit hard to describe with influences from many different musical genres. Gothic rock/ metal, symphonic and progressive elements, and they also have some influences from folk music, celtic music, and small bits reminded me of music from the middle age. The short Breeze Over Dunes, opens the album. A delicate instrumental song with flute, the song ends with the calm narrator voice from Niklas Mühlich. This great start of the album leads us to the tune The Call. I get in a good mood immediately with this nice tune. They manage to create a special mood with their music, a strong melodic gothic rock song with an haunting melody. The voice from Kathrin Kaifel is very good and suits the music perfect. The instrumental details is also nicely arranged with piano, flute, great guitars and a very tight rhythm section. The next song Hate, is a heavy tune, but I like the way they part their songs with nice verses, that changes to a bit more progressive oriented style. The piano, the french horn, the drums and the vocals is just fantastic to listen to. The melodic fine guitar solo also give this song the little extra!! The eleven minute long title track Desert, opens with some eastern influences. A really pearl of a song that shows many of the styles from Astray Path. Here you have melodic calm verses with nice floating piano, and at the same time you have more up-tempo bits with nice instrumental details. There is also a progressive side with this song, and the more I listen to this the more I like it! Also here the vocals is very good and Kathrin shows a lot of variety with her voice in this. An Empty Shell, is a more straight forward song with a very good melody. Also here they manage to make me very interested all the way with a lot of cool details. This song changes much throughout and this is one of my favorite songs! Körperklau is the first of two songs with German lyrics. I really enjoy the mood and the style this song have. Musically a mix between the middle age, celtic music and gothic rock! Endless Sleep, continues this fine album. A very good gothic metal oriented song, with strong sung verses and the chorus lines glues like gum into your hair. The guitars, the floating piano is just great to listen to and the whole band manage to create something I really enjoy a lot!! Sunset opens with didgeridoo and Kathrin`s nice voice. The flute and the mood in this is very dreamy, but also here the song change style at the end with more power! The nine minute long Night, opens with a clock work like sound before it goes off with more power and a good melody. The symphonic elements in this is very good, and I like the switches throughout with a lot of interesting details, good instrumentation and beautiful vocals! The last song Stell Dir Vor is the second song with German lyrics. An emotional song with great singing and I like the cello playing in this. The song builds up a little throughout with a great guitar solo, the piano part is very fine, and this song have a great mood! Astray Path is a band I definitely will check out more, and I already look forward to hear what they comes up with next time after getting to know them with the album Desert! 98/100. Reviewed by Arne
http://www.astray-path.de/
http://www.myspace.com/astraypath

Astray Path is:

Kathrin Kaifel - Vocals
Simon Kaifel - Keys
Simon Hirth - Guitars
Elmar Heckmann - Guitars
Dora Tamswell - Bass
Wolfgang Kley - Drums

A NEW DAWN - Seven Faces Of Truth

The start for A New Dawn was in 2005, when A New Dawn released the E.P, The Wisdom Of Hindsight. The band already back in 1997 released a demo tape under the name A New Dawn, but this was as I know a completely different chapter. The E.P, The Wisdom Of Hindsight’ was initially recorded as a project, but later A New Dawn, became a real band. Already with the recordings of their E.P., they experimented with two female lead vocalists and grunts. In 2006, they recorded a promotional CD with some new songs. The debut album Falling From Grace was recorded in 2008 in Excess studios. The year following the release of the album, the band went through many line-up changes. Three new songs were recorded in 2010, and released on the E.P, Finally. After this they started working on a new full-length, and Seven Faces Of Truth, was released in May 21st 2011.

This Dutch eclectic metal band, indeed has a very eclectical style. First time I heard this band and its album "Seven faces of Truth"; I thought to myself ...."Its a little too much.." but then again, their music get sticked in my head. I can say this band has a mixture between gothic and progressive metal. The beginning of the album its a little impressing leaving a desire of listening more and more...This band characterized by two female vocals and grunts is innovating in the metal music environment. You can think their choruses are a lit extravagant and it is because maybe, not so many people are used to listen to a first and second voices plus grunts. However, after a while you can appreciate the art in it. The harmony is almost perfect and the background grunts gives them the power and confident to the metal performance to their songs. As a matter of fact, my favorite is the grunts voice, because when you are listening to the different songs throughout the album and the grunts starts up in every song you immediately can feel the emotion and release of a good gothic metal sound in the very best style of "The beauty and the beast", just that this time are two beauties and one beast!! Among other things, their lyrics are very straight forward, you can feel empathetic with them as I do. In the very best gothic style you can find songs such as Contradiction, Desire, Composition of Life and so on..........With a slightly progressive trace, you can hear songs such as Battle in Twilight (Contradiction part II). One of my favorite songs, Masque of the Red Death, you can find a bit of "Epic" with traces of progressive. An interesting baroque introduction in The Madness Within, made me remember some epic bands from the 80`s and 90`s, which I like very much. Its worthy an special mention to Theatre Of Fears, which in my opinion resume all the essence of this band, and indeed is my favorite song. Of course all of the songs have a high vocal quality, perfect grunts and the melodies and powerful guitars will let you craving for more...97/100.Reviewed by Maria
http://www.anewdawnband.nl/

A New Dawn is:

Misery - Jamila Ifzaren - vocals
Joy - Alysia van Horik - vocals
Hate - Mike v.d. Heuvel - grunts
Ecstatic - Michiel Glas - guitar
Reason - Elbert de Hoog - guitar
Fear - Peter Groen - bass
Heart - Rik Bruineman - drums

JULIAN`S LULLABY - Dreaming Of Your Fears

Julian’s Lullaby is a female fronted heavy metal band from Greece. In 2008 they released a demo CD, called, I can Hear You Thinking. They also participated on a few compilations namely MNR V3 (Midwest Nailgun Records, USA) and "Greektures of the night" tribute CD to Kiss (distributed & produced by Rock Hard magazine and Kiss Army - GR). The band played live at Hermoupolis Indie Rock Fest II and Kiss tribute live night in Athens. In 2009 the band went through a lot of changes, but with a new fresh line-up the band continued their work. They started recording & mixing of the debut album in September 2009, and they finished after a long year in October 2010.

I found this band through a link on another website a while ago, and got interested in their work. Musically Julian`s Lullaby mix a lot of styles and is a bit hard to describe, but the music is dark, powerful, romantic and the violin, piano and strings is plays a big part in their music. Where We Stand There We Fall, opens the album, a song that opens with some folk influences. When it kicks off it sounds heavy and dark, the melody lines is strong and lead us to good chorus parts. This song changes from the dark aggressive to the brittle and emotional with nice violin. The two female singers do a good job, and their voices fit very good together like we hear in the next song Scarlet Reign. A song that opens symphonic, I like the mood in this and the guitars sounds nice! The verses in this got stuck in my head, the chorus lines is a bit more advanced, but good. The strings, the orchestral arrangements gives the song the little extra. Ocean Of Tears, opens with violin and this band have their own twist on their songs. This is a more straight forward gothic rock oriented song. The guitars sounds a bit confusing in this, the verse parts is nice and I like the mood at the end of the song with the talking voices. Kiss Me Not, is a more acoustic rock oriented tune, and the changes from song to song is good and keep me interested. This song gets more power throughout, and the speedy instrumental part is cool! Would It Be, opens soft and acoustic with fine vocals. A beautiful song and one of my favorite songs on the album! Where Are You, opens symphonic and this song have a progressive touch with a lot of changes. A good song that grow for each listening. Sand On Your Hands, has a cool rhythm throughout, and I like the changes in this. The male voice together with the nice female vocals gives this its own twist. I also like the aggressive guitars in this! Turn Me To Dust, a melodic gothic rock song with a good melody. Disinfecting My Heart starts very nice with piano and violin. A special song that grow for each round in the player, in some parts it reminded me about music from a musical or film score music. Just For That Day ends the album, and this song is also added as an acoustic bonus track. I have to admit I like the acoustic version best! I like the mood and the style of this song and the vocals is very good. The strings and the piano and violin also give this something special! I look forward to hear the next work from this band, because there is a lot of potential here that they can do a lot of development with for the next release! 95/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.julian-lullaby.com
http://www.stf-records.de
http://www.myspace.com/julianslullaby

Julian`s Lullaby is:

Margina; Lead & backing Vocals
Efthimia Aprilia Manassi; Lead & backing Vocals
Steve Georgakopoulos; Lead & rhythm guitars
Elias Negrin; Guitars, samples & arrangements
Charis Kambitsis; Drums

LAPIS LAZULI - A Loss Made Forever

The story of Lapis Lazuli started in the late summer of 2005, when Timo Hautamäki played with the idea of starting a symphonic metal band while watching a Nightwish DVD. Timo already had other projects going on, and member after member joined him. The first gig was 2 months later. They released a demo in 2006 called Last Hour. In 2007 they mainly did cover gigs with Timo on vocals since their singer lived 300 kilometers away from the rest of the band. They in 2008 released the debut album Tides Of Sorrow, then under the name Aftermath. After some changes in the line-up, the band continued working hard on new songs, and it was first in 2010 the band changed their name to Lapis Lazuli.

Oh yes!! Lapis Lazuli is a really good newcomer from Sweden, and after playing this a lot the last weeks I am sure this band have a bright future in front of them. The music can best be described as symphonic metal with strong orchestral arrangements. The introduction Ascension is a great proof of their symphonic influences. A Loss Made Forever continues symphonic metal oriented, a really jewel of a song with very good vocals from Frida. The melody lines is strong and I like the floating keys and the guitars. They also manage to create different parts that make me as listener to enjoy a lot! The song speeds up a little at the end, and the vocals from Timo is very strong. There is no doubt about that Timo is a very talented musician, composer after listening to the work on this seven tracker. The next The Silence, is also the first official Video from Lapis Lazuli. I like the piano in the start and when the song crackles with real life with cool guitars and a tight and steady rhythm it sounds just fabulous! The song slows down a bit when the vocals comes in, but not for long. I like the way the song is built with different parts from the emotional to the symphonic, aggressive and in parts with progressive influences. The key solo and the melodic nice guitar solo will please you: I promise!! Home is the next, it opens with an electronic touch. In my opinion a very modern electronic sounding symphonic metal oriented song. The verse lines and vocals is very good and strong, and also this change throughout and this song grow for each listening! Serpent (Black Sun), also opens with cool electronic sounds, a pumping metal oriented song with both Timo and Frida behind the mic. The two voices is very good together and separate, and many bands try this at the moment, but not all make it sound so good as this! When Dreams Collide, is a more straight forward song in a way, but also here there is lot of cool details and parts that take the song to a high level. The chorus lines is very rememberable and I found myself singing and whistling to the lines several times. The last song on this seven tracker Dragged Into Shade, opens with Timo on vocals. A very strong melodic symphonic metal song with cool keys and I like the drum playing in this! It will be very interesting to follow Lapis Lazuli in the future and to see what they create next time. In my opinion a highlight among new bands, and one of the best bands I`ve heard in this genre from Sweden, so check them out now!! 98/100. Reviewed by Arne
http://www.lapislazuli.se/

Lapis Lazuli is:

Vocals: Frida Eurenius
Keyboard and Vocals: Timo Hautamäki
Guitar: Johan Karlsson
Guitar: Tobias Rhodin
Bass: Henrik Nyman
Drums: Jocke Ivarsson

WEEPING SILENCE - Theatre Of Life

Weeping Silence is from Malta, and has been in the metal scene since the mid-90s. They released their debut album Deprived from Romance, in 2000. The second album End Of An Era, was released in 2008, on the Greek Record Label Sleaszy Rider Records. In 2009 they released Promo 2009, that featured 4 songs, before they released their third album Theatre of Life, in early 2011, on Ravenheart Music Records. In summer 2010 the band went on a UK tour with To-Mera, Liquid Sky and Winter Storm.

I reviewed End Of An Era, some years ago, and have waited to hear the new album Theatre of Life. After the first rounds in the player I was a little disappointed, but after many many rounds the songs grow and get stronger and stronger for each listening. Musically I feel this is a total different album than the last. The music still have a progressive touch, but this time more symphonic, gothic and darker in a way. The starter Of Light And Shadow, shows us all the styles mentioned, and with most of the songs I needed much listening to get to know them. Rachel Grech is a really good vocalist, no doubt about that, but this time compared with the last album I think in some parts it would be better to keep the voice some levels lower. The next Dark Waters, is in a way a more straight forward tune. The verses is really strong and the song builds up to nice chorus parts. A slower instrumental part in the mid of the song sounds very delicate and good performed. I also like the aggressive guitars in this! Within White Walls, opens soft like a ballad. The song builds gradually with more power and the vocals in this is just fantastic! The instrumentation with the floating keys, the bass lines and the guitars is really interesting and entertaining. The title track Theatre Of Life, is one of my favorite songs! A very good song that present the emotional, the progressive, the dark and gothic symphonic with great choirs and many nice instrumental details! Season`s Journey, opens a bit mystic. The piano and string arrangement and Rachel`s voice in the start is really good. The song gets more power after 2 minutes and 43 seconds, a bit dreamy song with good keys and huge choir. The vocal lines throughout is strong and the dark riffing guitars gives this the little extra! Promises Broken is more progressive, at the same time a song that change much with soft beautiful verses to more progressive/ aggressive chorus parts. Also this is one of my favorite songs that I have played a lot! The instrumental Monuments is a special song, and the instrumental performing from the guys here is very good, and I like the bass playing and the bass sound is relaxing and comfortable. This song starts slow, but gets more power throughout before it slows down at the end. The last song Innocent Cries, shows many sides of the musical style from Weeping Silence, and give the album a good end!! Weeping Silence is a really good band and its really cool to follow the changes musically from album to album, and I already look forward to hear the next album!! 96/100.Reviewed by Arne
http://www.myspace.com/weepingsilence
http://www.weepingsilence.com/

Weeping Silence is:

Rachel Grech -Vocals
Joseph Grech -Vocals
Manuel Spiteri -Guitars
Mario Ellul -Guitars
Sean Pollacco -Bass
Alison Camilleri -Keyboards
Angelo Zammit -Drums

AGAINST MYSELF - Sky Ashes

Against Myself was born in Argamasilla de Alba, in Spain in August, 2009. After short while as band, they released their first EP called Eterna. This first E.P, was well received by the audience and the specialized press. At the end of 2011, Against Myself released their first studio album called Sky Ashes, with 9 symphonic metal songs completely in english which is on sale by Santo Grial Records.

Against myself a spanish band self defined as a symphonic metal band, However, I wouldn't think of them as symphonic metal. Despite of the fact they have some orchestral elements in their music, I could say its more kind of melodic metal. Their album Sky Ashes is fair enough to say that flirts with some gothic traces, their lyrics are gothic and with some interesting subjects in it. The four first songs of the album, Desert Legend, Sky Ashes, The Dream and Remember; are very melodic with high defined symphonic elements without being tiring but pleasant. Their vocalist Irene Villegas has a very sweet texture without the pompous soprano style you can find in others bands with female vocals of the same gender, which gives the band freshness in their perfomance.The rest of the album has an interesting proposal to the new melodic/symphonic metal environment in Spain and it could be for the rest of Europe as well if they work hard. It is a very good sign the fact the album is completely recorded in English and besides to be the first one is very positive and is worthy to give a shot to their music. In songs such as My Life is Yours and After the Storm, the sweetness of the vocalist gives it a romantic feeling turn. You can listen a very interesting attempt of grunts in Lilith (Mother of Vampires) which is not that bad, and the whole song resulted in a gothic expression that indeed was very interesting and I liked it a lot. They should keep polishing this style, I could predict It would be a total success!! Enhorabuena chicos!!! Continuen con trabajo duro, esfuerzo y dedicaciòn!! y pronto veràn los resultados!! desde aca mis mejores deseos.... 96/100.Reviewed by Maria
http://againstmyselfmusic.com/

Against Myself is:

Irene Villegas - Vocals
Carlos Carretón - Guitars
Agustín Moya- Vocals & keyboards
Luismi Heredia - Bass
Jesús Serrano - Drums

VISIONS OF ATLANTIS - Delta

Visions of Atlantis was formed in 2000. After a demo CD, it took less than a year before the band found a label in Black Arrows/TTS. The company released the first full-length album, “Eternal Endless Infinity“, in Europe and later worldwide. With lot of positive feedback, the band toured with bands like Lacuna Coil, Nightwish and Edenbridge, and they also played at festivals across Europe, Latin America and Asia, including the Busan Rock Festivals in front of more than 20,000 spectators. In the summer of 2003, singer Mario Plank joined Visions of Atlantis, and the band signed a recording deal with the well-known Austrian label Napalm Records, which released the band’s second studio effort ”Cast Away“ worldwide in November 2004. The band got a great chance to present the album on their first European tour alongside Epica. In 2005 and 2006, Visions of Atlantis worked hard on new material and played gigs with the likes of Elis, Nightwish, and Edenbridge. In May 2007, the third album “Trinity“ was released by Napalm Records. The following autumn brought Visions of Atlantis to the United States, where the band toured together with Epica for 6 weeks and won numerous new fans. After some changes in the line-up, the remaining members continued their work and their fourth album Delta, was released worldwide by Napalm Records at the end of February 2011.

I have followed Visions Of Atlantis from the start, and through the years there have been some changes in the band, but with the feet planted on the ground they keep on with what they are good at, and that is to make good solid symphonic power metal of the finest mark!!. Delta is the fourth album, and I think they sound better than ever! The new female singer Maxi Nil, also bring something new into the band with her very good voice. So far I think Maxi is the best female singer the band have had!! Black River Delta, opens the album, and from this moment its just to sit back or jump up and down and enjoy from the first note. The song opens with some great keys before it kicks off with a fast rhythm. I enjoy listening to the two singers from verse to verse and in the chorus parts. The guitars is cool and the keys play a big part in the music. An addictive melody and remembering chorus lines. The next Memento, opens with a song from an old gramophone. This song opens symphonic with fantastic vocals from Maxi. A bit slower and melodic this song than the first. Mario have a really strong voice, and have the exact right tone that take the music to a very high level. The song changes with different tempos throughout, and the symphonic elements, the choirs and the vocals is just great!! New Dawn is a speedy tune. The vocal melodies and the two voices together is very pleasing. The sound and production is very good, and you are entertained with a lot of cool instrumental details and other cool musical arrangements. Where Daylight Fails, is in a way a bit more experimental, but what a pearl of a song this is!! A great melody with big chorus lines! Conquest Of Others, starts with some sirens and bombs. I like the aggressive vocal style in the start that changes throughout with a more delicate style in the choruses. The operatic voice from Maxi in the background give the song the little extra. The keys is huge and the guitars pumps great riffs all the way! Twist Of Fate is in a way a more straight forward song. In my opinion a hit song with melody lines and choruses that glues like gum into your hair! Maxi and Mario sings in a bit lower level in this tune, and that only show us how talented they are with their voices. Elegy Of Existence is partly a bit more advanced with some cool rhythmic verses. The song reach its absolute top in the chorus parts, and also the guitar solo is very entertaining. Reflection takes the tempo down, a nice ballad with lot of feelings. Maxi sings this ballad perfect! The short instrumental Sonar, leads us to the last song Gravity Towards Fatality. A great song and one of my favorite songs on the album. A song that describe the musical style very good with lots of power, great vocals, symphonic elements and different parts with great instrumentation. My favorite album so far from Visions Of Atlantis, so if you yet haven`t heard this fine band you better do it now!!98/100.Reviewed by Arne
http://www.myspace.com/visionsofatlantisofficial

Line-up:
Maxi Nil - Vocals
Mario Plank - Vocals
Werner Fiedler - Guitars
Mario Lochert - Bass
Martin Harb - Keys
Thomas Caser - Drums

DOTMA - Sleep Paralyses

Dotma was formed in a small city called Hyvinkää in Finland around year 2005. The band went into the studio for the very first time in 2007, and released their first promo CD called Dotma the same year. The second promo CD, Dances With The Shadows, saw the light in 2009. In december 2009 they started working on the debut album at Rockstar Productions, Hyvinkää, Finland, with sound engineer Lari Takala. The album was mastered in May 2010 in Cutting Room Studios with Björn Engelmann in Sweden. In December 2010 they signed a record deal with Scarlet Records for the debut album, "Sleep Paralyses", that was released in the beginning of 2011.

Got in contact with mister Harri Koskela, a while ago, and here we are!! Dotma is a totally new name for me, and after listening over and over to the debut Sleep Paralyses, this band really surprise me with their a bit advanced musical style. Dotma don`t follow any special genre, in my opinion they have eminently managed to create their own style, and they stands forward today amongst the mass of bands with their own twist on the music. The music is as I said a bit advanced, and I needed to listen a lot to really get into the songs. In one moment they are dark and symphonic, and in the next moment they sound melancholic and beautiful. The dark synths and the charismatic singing is also something you will enjoy much with this band. The way the songs goes and the way they build their music is very good, and they manage in my opinion to create something new!! Legend Of Blackbird opens the album, and from the start we are served high quality music with great sound and a good production. I like the creativity this band have with lots of different influences and styles. One moment symphonic and operatic, and in the next progressive, emotional and dark. Johanna Lesonen have a great voice that carries the music very nice in all the different parts. Also the instrumental performing is very entertaining with lots of great details all the way, and I really enjoy listening to musical art like this!! Reborn opens heavy and darker, but changes throughout with different styles. The combination of the female and male voices in this song is just fantastic. Many bands have started to do this now with a female and male voice, but no one I`ve heard before sound so good as this!! Silent Sunshine is in a way more melodic than the two first songs, but also here they change the style throughout from up-tempo bits to more emotional parts. The choir parts in this song is also very strong. The keys is very nice arranged and played and the guitar solo in this song is just beautiful! Indian Fall opens mystic with some great sounds and classic guitar before Johanna enters the song with her very nice voice! A soft emotional brittle song that gets more power in some parts. I get goosebumps listening to this!! Whispering opens with some great synths before it crackles with real life. Partly an up-tempo song, but the verses is softer and builds up with more power and speed for the chorus parts. The soft part with the synths and drums and the voices is just fabulous, and I also like the choir and the dark male voice in this! The Cave is one of my favorite songs, a more symphonic oriented song with a great vocal melody. I also like the rhythm guitars that sounds really good with an own twist and style. The male talking voice also give the song the little extra and the instrumental details and parts is just superb!! The eleven minute long Kingdom Of The Sky, is also a pearl of a song! The guitars that opens is cool, and the synths and the rhythm is cool. A fast opening of the song that slow downs a little for the first verse. I admire the creativeness this band have, and in my opinion there aren`t dull moments at all, every song sounds different and varied with lots of cool details, tempos and styles. Also Johanna give this band something very special with her huge voice! The last song Memory Worth Dying For, opens dark and symphonic. The soft verses is beautiful. This song also partly have an more experimental and progressive style. I needed some rounds in the player with this, but the more I hear it the better I like it: just fantastic!! So far this year this is one of the biggest highlights for me, so take your time and check out Dotma!!! 100/100. Reviewed by Arne
http://www.dotma.net/
http://www.myspace.com/dotma

Dotma is:

Johanna Lesonen - Vocals
Harri Koskela - Keyboards
Leo Saarnisalo - Guitars
Niko Kalliojärvi - Guitars
Aapo Lindberg - Bass
Joonas Pykälä-aho - Drums

RENAISSANCE OF FOOLS - Fear, Hope & Frustration

This band from Falun/Borlange, Sweden, started up in 2008, when Daniel Magdic and Magnus Karlsson, both of them with a respectable musical background; gathered together with BjörnTauman and Mathias Henrysson, after they came back form their studies in LAMA (Los Angeles Music Academy), and finally to complete the band came up Kjell Bergendahl who is the singer. They started recording their debut album which was mixed by PelleSaether in Studio Underground. The mix was then sent to Alien Beans studio in USA where it was mastered by Ty Tabor of Kings X. The album also contains a guest appearance by Per Wiberg from Opeth.

The band style is characterized by progressive rock chords, as they define themselves, where their musical progression and the mixture of several texture and timing gives them a very particular sound. However, the first album I have heard of this band is "Fear, Hope & Frustration" and I heard it because it came into my husband post. That day we needed to go out so he picked it up and quickly played it up while driving. It immediately caught my attention, when the first song Precious Life started sounding!! Their clean guitars and their melodies are a fair portrait of what in my opinion should be a gothic metal song, which nowadays are so twisted with so many mixes, despite the fact they call themselves to be a progressive metal band!!. The second song, Misguided Mind, is what I will personally speaking call,"a return to the sweet and bitter melancholic flavor and texture of a real gothic feeling" and their lyrics confirm what I am talking about, the sweet sorrow and desperation feelings came into my chest but at the same time you can feel powerful just with the texture of the melodic guitars from the background. It is worthy to mention songs such as Polarized Round, Claws Of Norms and Sleep, are what I would call a respectable representation of progressive rock and even in the songs Chains of Thought and Intervention Pt I & II; I could remember some chords from The Cure. But still, as I said, with a stream of pain and sorrow at the back that I couldn't simply stop thinking of gothic pictures in my head. So the whole album will take you into a sweet and sour and at the same time very classic and romantic trip to what It could end into a feeling of hopelessness. On top of this, the voice of the singer Kjell Bergendahl is so warm that the whole stuff together with the background vocals and the melodies are simply merely of a chance to listen to....If you are classy tasted and like fair progressive rock with some streams of gothic metal you can not miss it!!!96/100.Reviewed by Maria
http://www.myspace.com/renaissanceoffools
http://www.renaissanceoffools.com

Renaissance Of Fools are:

Daniel Magdic - Lead Guitar, Vocals.
Magnus Karlsson - Drums.
Bjorn Tauman - Bass, Vocals.
Kjell Sjostrom - Guitar, Lead Vocals.

SNOVONNE - It’s Sno, Baby - Not Sugar

Snovonne is a singer and songwriter living by turns in Germany, London, USA and Slovakia. The abum, It's Sno, Baby - Not Sugar, Was recorded by Sno at her home studio in London. She spent the last days of 2009 in Hannover, Germany with Jan Nemec, known for working with Celtic Frost, Grave Digger and Running Wild. I got in contact with Sno a few weeks ago, and got interested in her work.

Snovonne is a new acquaintance for me, but amongst female artists she stands forward with a great mix of songs with lots of heavy riffs, a strong voice and at the same time a varied album with a little bit for everyone. Sometimes dark heavy, in the next emotional with lots of expression, and the lyrics in her songs is personal experiences, and they are very good! The album starts with the titletrack It's Sno, Baby - Not Sugar. A bit dark going song with lots of punching guitars and rhythms. The voice from Snovonne is very special, but very good! She have a bit dark voice, but throughout the album we here different vocal styles from her, and her vocals give the music the little extra twist. Dressed In White is more advanced than the first, and I needed some rounds with this to get to know it. Musically I will call this art rock or theatrical rock with hints of dark rock, gothic metal, punk and lot of other styles. If you take a dose of The cure, Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson and mix it with The Damned, The Mission and Vic Anselmo, you end up near the style from Snovonne. At the same time she definitely have her own style. Damn Years is totally different than the two first, a more pop/rock/ballad oriented song. It starts slow with piano and vocals, throughout it builds with more power, and I like the melody and chorus lines. Wasting Time continues a bit like the last, not so tough. The verse parts is delicate and the rougher chorus lines is addictive!! The next Useless, is really cool!! The instrumentation have a special style, and it sound very live!! First when I heard this I said to myself what is this, but after giving the whole album some time I like this album more and more. Things I Can't See is a song that make me think of Marylin Manson. I don`t know why, because I have never been a big fan of him, but I think it must be a video or something that makes me think in that direction. Cradlesong speak for it self, an emotional beautiful song with a good melody, the song builds up throughout with more power. The strings gives this song the little extra! My Sweet Fiend, opens with thunder, lightning and rain. The ticking clock make me a little stressed, but cool details! A special song with a special melody and rhythm. The song reach the top in the chorus lines. If I'm Not Me Then Who Is, is a dark song. The vocals from Snovonne is different in this with a higher tone. One of the most experimental songs with lots of details and voices, the instrumentation is hard to follow the first times. Life Needs Fools, opens with piano. Also this hard to describe with its special style. The partly talking voice and the rhythms is a bit confusing, but there is something with Snovonne`s music that is very interesting, so with a little time each song grow and grow! Tired, opens with a whispering voice, a strong melodic song with a good melody. Not Me, have very modern touch, a song that is a mix between pop/ rock and gothic rock, A great song!! This album have four bonus Tracks, (Sleep Well) Jermaine, Fatalism, Tears Are Pretty (Epilogue Version) and the last Temper. My favorite of these are the last Temper, a hard punching song with great driving guitars! It will be cool to follow Snovonne, and see what she comes up with next time. 96/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.snovonne.nfo.sk/

DELUSION SQUARED - St

The French trio Delusion Squared was formed in 2009, and so far has preferred to keep a low profile as far as any further background goes. The band issued their self-titled debut effort in the fall of 2010, and as many artists opt to do these days, they released the CD themselves.

The French trio Delusion Squared is a new very interesting name. Musically the trio plays a mix of art- rock, progressive rock/ metal with some influences of pop and modern melodic rock. On the album they serve us a very well written science fiction based story about a girl who grew up in an arcology. The story also talks about war, religion, society, politics, technology and our ultimate fate. The story is very good and they manage to grab me with the written lines!! The album opens with The Very Day, a very straight forward rock song with a good a melody and rememberable chorus lines. The vocals from Lorraine is very good, and the instrumentation is solid with great guitars, a steady rhythm and nice floating keys. This is not very technical progressive music like Dream Theater and Pagan`s Mind, but I will relate them more with bands like Porcupine Tree, IQ, Karnataka and Mostly Autumn. In My Time Of Dying, is a very nice soft song with a great mood. The guitars and vocals in the beginning of the song and throughout is just fabulous! They manage to catch me with a great melody, nice instrumentation and strong vocals! The song gets more power at the end. Copyrighted Genes, is very different from the two first. It starts like a pop song with some electronic elements. The song changes many times throughout from the a bit poppy to a more prog metal oriented style. This song is more advanced and I needed some rounds to get to know it. The melody lines is strong and the chorus lines is remembering. The Betrayal, have a start that remind me about the 80`s pop. Don`t misunderstand me, the song gets an more aggressive style, but Delusion Squared never goes over the line, but instead they manage to inflict different elements and parts in their songs that will keep you entertained with good vocals, nice instrumental details and good melodies. Sentenced, opens a bit mystic. The guitar in the start is very nice and the vocal lines sounds special with an own twist. A soft rock song with a great mood! By The Lake (Mourning), opens with waves, and it sounds like you are by the beach! A moody beautiful instrumental song! The second part of the song By The Lake (Seeding), is a soft electronic oriented song. A good melody and I admire the changes in the music from song to song on this album. Rebirth, is a more prog rock styled song with some hints of jazz, and this is one of my favorite tunes. A bit advanced song in a way, but a song that grow for each listening with the varity it have. What We Will Be, is maybe one of the finest songs on the album, a moody ballad like song with piano, fine singing and guitar playing with lots of fine details! The Departure, opens with piano, a short beautiful song with lots of good vibes. A Creation Myth, is the last song on the album, and also the longest. It opens with some electronic elements before the guitar and vocals comes in. Also this song is very soft and moody with a good melody and strong vocals. Delusion Squared is a good band that it will be great to follow in the future, a special album that will please fans of art-rock, prog-rock, so check them out!!96/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://delusionsquared.com/
http://delusionsquared.bandcamp.com/

Delusion Squred is:

Lorraine Young – Vocals; guitars
Steven Francis – guitars; keyboards; drums
Emmanuel De Saint Meen – bass; keyboards

DAMA - Eirwen

By a coincidence singer and author Barbara Scera Vanoli, meet drummer Pier Tarantino. After Pier listen to Barbara`s songs they immediately start a cooperation. The rest of the band members is very soon founded with keyboard player and sound engineer Danilo di Lorenzo, bass player Robert Gelli and guitar player Cristian Comizzoli. In 2008, Dama released a five track CD. After this Dama continued working on new songs for their debut album. The work was completed in 2010, and it is a double album with an Italian version that is called Immaginario, and an English version that is called Imaginary. The titles underline the fact that Eirwen, is a fantasy world created and inhabited exclusively by Barbara`s creativity and Imagination. To keep hold on both languages didn`t prevent the band from getting a record contract. In the end of 2010, Dama signed with the English label Ravenheart Records, and the debut Eirwen was released June 13, 2011.

Oh yeah I have waited for this debut album from Dama. Since the release of the five track CD, in 2008, I have followed the progress for the release of the debut album Eirwen, and my expectations have been really big to hear the finished result. I was very impressed by the five tracker, and the debut is just fantastic!! I have had the album some weeks now, and after many listening`s lately I have problems to get these very fine melodies out of my head! Musically Dama moves in a landscape of music with influences from Rock/pop and symphonic gothic metal. The melodies are haunting, and the vocals from Barbara is just fantastic. I also like the production and sound on this album, it stands forward with crystal clear sound and the instrumental details gets the exact right touch that make me very entertained and comfortable. At the same time the production and sound is never exaggerated as many other releases, but of very high quality that will impress you! They ended up with a double album. The first Cd is called Immaginario, and have eight songs in Italian. The second CD, Imaginary has four of the songs from the first CD, but with english lyrics and different titles, not translated directly from the Italian songs. There is also three more songs on the second CD. I choose to write about the first CD, and the three different songs on the second CD. The album kicks off with Alba ( Breaking Dawn), a beautiful song that opens with piano and some electronic sounds. I really enjoy the mood they manage to create, the amazing vocals from Barbara, the instrumentation, the sound, and the way they build their songs is just fantastic to listen to. Regina d'Inverno (Your Winter), was one of the first songs I heard from Dama, and what a pearl this is!! A darker song with symphonic elements. The melody lines is remembering, and I have had this lines in my head since first time I heard the song. The third Scatola di Vetro (Oriente), is a bit softer in a way than the last. A song with symphonic elements, and the changes throughout from the brittle emotional to the harder darker parts is really cool. Barbara`s vocals is really beautiful in this and I like the drums. Aprile opens with great drum playing and symphonic elements before the vocals comes in for the first verse. The first part is soft and emotional, but the song builds up with more power for the chorus lines. Is hard to describe what I like so good with this band and their music, but in my opinion they have something no one other have. There is something with the mood, the sound, the instruments and the vocals, and they stands forward in the mass of bands with a sound and production that is just delicate. Seta is a more straight forward song, but also here they manage to put right ingredients to take it to a very high level. The next Lei, is a beautiful ballad. The vocals is very nice, and I like the mood with piano and symphonic arrangement. Ombre (Rainy Roads), is a great proof on all this, a song with piano, great melody and I like to hear how good Barbara handles to sing the different parts in this. Oltre Eclisse is a very y fine song, a more straight forward song in a way, but with a mood and style that is very relaxing and comfortable. The male speaking voice in this give the song the little extra. A haunting melody and with vocals you will love!! The second CD, opens with a jewel of a song called Eliot. A great rocking song, a song that make me get a good mood with its fresh pumping rhythm and style. The version of Live To Tell, originally released by Madonna, is in my opinion better than than the original. If you heard this on Radio you wouldn`t recognize it as a Madonna song. I like when bands manage to make versions of cover songs when they sound like this. Dama without doubt bring new life to this song with their version! The last song Scarlet Thoughts in Room, make a beautiful end of this jewel of an album from Dama. A very nice piano and vocal driven song. A great album from Dama, and for fans of symphonic metal/rock and gothic metal/rock this album is a must have!! 99/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.damamusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/damaitaly
http://www.ravenheartmusic.com/

Dama are:

Barbara Schera Vanoli - vocals
Pierfrancesco Tarantino - drums
Danilo Di Lorenzo - keyboards
Roberto Gelli - bass
Cristian Comizzoli - guitar

LEAGUE OF LIGHTS - St

League of Lights is a modern melodic rock group fronted by Farrah West and featuring members of Threshold, Fates Warning and Within Temptation. The band is formed around vocalist Farrah West and keyboard player/producer Richard West from British rock band Threshold, League of Lights have just recorded their debut album with contributions from some of the rock world's leading lights, resulting in a powerful band recording. On guitar is Ruud Jolie from multi-platinum selling Dutch symphonic rock act Within Temptation, on drums is Mark Zonder from US progressive metallers Fates Warning, and on bass is Jerry Meehan best known for his work with UK vocalists Robbie Williams and Bryan Ferry.

British band League Of Lights is really a surprise among releases lately. I got this album some weeks ago and I have played it over and over again many times. Musically League Of Lights is a modern melodic rock/hard rock band with orchestral arrangements, electronic elements. I`m Alive opens this very interesting release from League Of Lights. Nice keys opens before the song kicks off. A great driving song with a cool style that changes from soft verses to more hard driving chorus parts. This song have lot of different styles from fine melodic parts to progressive influenced instrumental bits, and also nice orchestral arrangements. Farrah West is a great singer, and she easily manage to catch me with her voice in all the different styles in this song. Cover Me Now, is in a way more straight forward than the first. The melody lines is strong, and the chorus lines is very remembering. The instrumental performing is on a high level with nice floating keys and cool guitar details. The first time I heard the next song The Last Sunset, it reminded me in some parts about a theme from a musical. A softer song than the two first with beautiful vocals, and I like how it goes and change from part to part. Half Light is a hit in my opinion!! After playing this song for people around me they came back to me and asked to hear it again! A haunting song that glues like gum into your hair, and the melody lines and chorus parts glues into your head easily! Ambertown is also a very strong song. I like the guitars in this and the floating piano throughout. The symphonic arrangement and the vocals is entertaining, and keeps me as listener entertained and enjoying very much all the way. You Light My Way is a beautiful ballad that opens with piano and very nice vocals. Its cool to hear how this song increases in strength throughout. A song with a strong mood and with a lot of emotions and feelings. Don`t Leave Me Behind opens with a cool rhythm, it crackles with real life when it kicks off. A modern melodic rock song with electronic elements, piano and symphonic arrangement. Strong melodic verses leads us to remembering chorus lines. The production and sound is very pleasing, and all the instrumental details is cool with lot of nice details. Anime opens with piano before the vocals and band comes in. A soft touching pop/rock ballad of the finest mark. Cool Of The Day opens a bit mystic. A song that partly sounds more experimental than the others. A slow piano driven song with great vocals! The last song Heaven Sent A Star is one of my favorite songs. I like the opening that have a more metal oriented touch and together with the nice melodic verses and the nice chorus lines this sounds really fantastic! Absolute one of the biggest highlights in the melodic rock/hardrock genre this year, so check out League Of lights now!! 98/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.leagueoflights.com/

League Of Lights are:

Farrah West - Vocals
Richard West - Keyboards
Ruud Jolie - Guitars
Jerry Meehan - Bass
Mark Zonder - Drums

AKIN - The Way Things End

Akin was formed in 1999, in Lyon ,France. They released their first demo CD, Stanzas, in 2000. The demo was well received by the spezialiced press as demo of the month in Hard N'Heavy and Rock Hard Magazine in January 2001. All this led the band to sign up with Sacral Productions. In 2001 they released their debut album Verse, and in 2003 they released the EP, Forecast. Both releases where reprieved by the press, and in France the metal press had the albums as top albums for these years. With all the positive feedback Akin got the opportunity to open for bands like Within Temptation, Dark Tranquility, Epica and The Old Dead Tree. It took some years before the band started working again, but in 2009 they got back to work, and this time with a string quartet. The result is the second album The Way Things End.

Akin is a totally new name for me. This band have in short time managed to impress me a lot with with their album The Way Things End. Got in contact with guitar player Julien, a while ago, and after a lot of listening lately this album have become one of my favorite albums so far this year!! Musically Akin, is a hard nut to crack with a wide and very very interesting musical landscape. Here you get all you can think of from progressive rock/metal to pop, art rock, beautiful ballad parts and flute, and lot of other things. Every song is very delicate with lot of nice instrumental details, and the vocals from Adeline is just fantastic! Also the string quartet gives the album an own identity. With the first song The 92nd Flight, its just to sit back and enjoy! It opens progressive, before it slows down a little with great instrumental details on guitar, flute, strings. I like the vocals, that takes the music to a high level. The changes in this song is just fantastic to listen to, from small aggressive parts to more soft dreamy and emotional parts. The guitar solo in the end gives me goosebumbs! Cassandra is the next, and what a jewel of a song this is! It opens beautiful with guitar and strings before it kicks off. In a way a more melodic straight forward song, but this song went straight to my heart, and in 2011 this is one of my favorite songs! Also this song have a lot of different styles, and you will be thrilled by the creativeness that this band have. Unhearted opens with a really great vocal line, a difficult song the first times you listen to it with lot of different styles. When is a more heavy powerful song in the start, it changes to a softer style in the verses, but builds up again with more power. Miracles opens with some really cool guitar playing. A song that have traces of jazz, but still a melodic nice tune with a great melody! Throughout this album you will discover new things and elements all the time, and I have no problem with saying that this band is one of the most special and creative I have heard in long time. Akin definitely have their own style and flavor, and this sounds just fantastic!! Burning Skies shows great vocal talents, a short song that goes into the next Enter Spaceman. I really like the string arrangement in this and the vocal melody is beautiful. I also like the little part with male vocals. No Second Ride have a funky metal style, and from song to song they come up with something different and make me as listener very entertained and interested all the way. Before The Storm is a short acoustic song, acoustic guitar, flute and strings. Resilience continues this fantastic musical journey! One of my favorite songs on the album, a great melody and the vocals sounds just fantastic! The storytelling male voice also give this song the little extra together with great guitars, flute and nice floating keys. Falling Deeper opens with cool vocals and nice choir. A more poppy funky song, but still with some heavy guitars. They also create a very good mood and I am really impressed by this bands work!! Miller`s End opens with a storytelling voice accompanied by drums, bass, keys and great played strings. I also like when the powerful guitars comes in, and the instrument dilruba also gives this song the little extra! Coma opens with some cool bass playing before the song kicks off. A more difficult progressive song, but with a cool melody and the instrumentation throughout in this is just fantastic! No Betrayal opens soft with Adeline`s nice voice. A progressive atmospheric song with a cool melody and this song also changes a lot with soft parts to tougher bits. The flute solo and the guitar solo is delicate! A better End, is the last song, and I don`t have words enough to say how much I like this album, just a fantastic album that you need to check out! 100/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.akin69.bandcamp.com

Akin are :

Adeline Gurtner – Lead vocals
Luc Babut – Bass guitar
Matthieu Baker – Guitars ׀ Backing vocals
Philippe Chauviré – Flute
Julien Chometton – Rhythm guitar
Romain Fayet – Drums
Pierre Lucas – Keyboards

The string quartet performing on this album (from the CNSMD de Lyon) are :
Elsa Claveria and Rachel Givelet – Violin
Samuel Hengebaert – Viola
Florian Nauche – Cello

RAVENSCRY - One Way Out

The project Ravenscry was started in August 2008, near Milan, by guitarist Paul Raimondi, bass player Andrea "Fagio" Fagiuoli and drummer Simon Carminati. They shortly after completed the line-up with guitarist Mauro Paganelli, and a month after the four musicians found the perfect voice for the band with Giulia Stefani. A talented vocalist that comes from Rome. With a complete line-up Ravenscry started to work hard, they composed 12 original songs in a few months, and in March 2009 the band recorded the entire repertoire at Fear Studio in Ravenna, Italy. In summer 2009, Ravenscry are busy with several live dates, and in December 2009, they releases their self-titled EP. The EP, is well received by the press. Spring 2010 is full of commitments for Ravenscry, starting with the video, Nobody, followed by a photo shooting. In October 2010 they sign a publishing and distribution deal with Wormholedeath/Dreamcell, for their first full length album called One Way Out. In November 2010 Ravenscry went on a 7 gigs tour across UK and Belgium, playing in 7 different cities: Antwerp (Belgium), Bristol, Carlisle, Wakefield, Stockport, Barnsley and London.

Ravenscry is an Italian surprise, I heard a few samples some weeks ago, and I got really curious about this band and their music. With the album One Way Out, they are one of finest bands I`ve heard coming from Italy, in long while. This band have managed to create their own style, something I really admire!! Musically they primarily move in a place between rock and metal, but at the same time they involve a lot of other elements in their music like new electronic influences. I also like the switches in the music from the fragile and emotional to the more aggressive and progressive. The Lyrics is also interesting with themes about difficult relationships between parents and children, and protest against a system where meritocracy does not exist and the sacrifice has a purpose often illusory. One Way Out, opens with Calliope, and already with the opener we can hear the bands own style. A dark heavy song with cool electronic elements. The dark riffing guitars is great, and the choir bits also give the song an own twist. Giulia`s voice is perfect for the music, and I really enjoy to hear her vocal range. The melody parts is very good and the changes from the more emotional to the aggressive is entertaining! Elements Dance opens with acoustic guitar and Giulia`s fine voice. When the song kicks of it has a special rhythm, but still with a cool melody and the vocal lines is really nice. The instrumentation is very entertaining with a lot of details on the keys, guitars, bass and drums. Nobody starts with some cool electronic elements. This was the first song(Video) I saw of the band, and it was enough for me to understand that this was a band I wanted to know more about!! A strong song and the vocals here are just fantastic! A Starless Night opens with cool electronic elements before Giulia enters the song. Partly a softer song, but this builds up with more power for the chorus lines. The switches from the emotional to the aggressive is cool to listen to, and all songs from Ravenscry is songs you need to hear a couple of times before they sink in. Redemption I - Rainy, starts with piano and vocals, and you will love the singing from Giulia. A moody emotional brittle song with lot of feelings!! Redemption II - Reflection, is in a way a more straight forward song, a very strong melody and good chorus lines. Also here they manage to inflict details and changes in the music that keep me as listener entertained. Redemption III - Far Away, opens with a nice string arrangement. This four minute song is a moody instrumental song! The next Embrace, is a more heavy punching song. I like the different parts in this, the rhythmic verses is cool, and I like how this song goes with in one moment progressive aggressive and in the next moment more soft and melodic. Journey has partly a pop/rock touch, but also this changes throughout with different styles. The guitar playing is fantastic with a cool sound! Back To Hell opens very experimental progressive, but the melodic vocal lines and the chorus lines is just amazing! The eastern influenced part also gives this song it`s own flavor. This Funny Dangerous Game, is a hard hitting song. This is one of the most experimental songs, but absolutely a song that grows the more you hear it! The last song My Bitter Tale, is a song that show many of the styles from Ravenscry, and if you look for something different that not sounds familiar with many other bands, you can with my recommendations go for Ravenscry!! 98/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.ravenscryband.com/
http://www.myspace.com/ravenscryband
http://twitter.com/ravenscryband
http://www.youtube.com/RavenscryBand
http://ravenscry.fanbridge.com/
http://www.reverbnation.com/ravenscryband
http://ravenscry.bigcartel.com/

Ravenscry is:

Giulia Stefani - Vocals
Paul Raimondi - Guitar
Mauro Paganelli - Guitar
Andrea "Fagio" Fagiuoli - Bass Guitar
Simon Carminat - Drums

ONE WITHOUT - Sweet Relief

In 2009 One Without, released Thoughts Of A Secluded Mind, by Lifeforce Records. After this they have toured with Evergrey, Katatonia and The Genitorturers, and shared stages with bands like Soulfly, Epica, Doro, Krypteria, Paradise Lost, Carpark North, and All Ends. They have also performed on festivals and played live on Swedish national radio. The album received great reviews, and the band has been interviewed and featured in numerous magazines and radio shows all over the world. With the second album titled Sweet Relief, the band take a step further with their special sound and style. Sweet Relief was mixed by Mattias Wänerstam (Avatar, Within Y, Suicide Nation) and mastered by Dragan Tanaskovic at Bohussound (Mustasch, Europe, In Flames, Evergrey)

One Without took me as a storm with their debut album Thoughts Of A Secluded Mind, a few years back. They are now back with the follow-up album Sweet Relief, and yes they continue their musical journey where we left them on the debut. Musically they haven`t changed much from the debut, but they sound a bit rougher this time with a harder edge. They have also added more screaming in their music, something I`am not a big fan of. The album opens with Hunger, a solid One Without song of the finest mark! The melody lines is very nice, and Catrin have a really good voice that fits the music perfectly. They also this time add some nice electronic elements, the music is aggressive, punching and heavy. The sound and production is also very good, and One Without have their own twist on their music. Catatonic is one of my favorite tunes, a song that nicely balances between the a bit softer to the more aggressive. The verses is just fantastic, and I like how the song build up with power and the aggressive style. Souls of Thousands is also a a song more in my taste, a good melodic song with calm nice verses. The switches in this are delicate from the a bit soft to the more heavy and aggressive. The vocals from Catrin is really strong in this. The up-tempo Nothing To You, have addictive chorus lines, and I had problems to get this song out of my head after some rounds in the player! Burned Once Again, reminds me of a hit from the 80`s, but I don`t remember what song. A good melodic song, the opening guitar riffs and the chorus lines is really strong! Pretender is in a way a little more experimental with more electronic elements: also one of my favorite songs! An album filled with 17 great quality songs, so if you yet haven`t discovered One Without, you better take your time now!!95/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.myspace.com/onewithoutsweden
http://www.onewithout.com/

One Without is:

Catrin Feymark - lead vocals
Joonas Niskanen - guitars, backing vocals
Kenny Boufadene - guitars, screams, backing vocals
Jonas Kaartinen - Bass
Oscar Nilsson - Drums



SYRENS CALL - Raging Waters

Syrens Call was created in late 1997. They recorded their first song "Strange Reality" at the LB LAB, in 1998. The debut album Fantasea was released in 2000, by Brennus, in 15 countries. The same album was also released in Brazil by Helion Records, and in Japan by CD- Maximum. In 2003, the band recorded their second album Emoceans, in their own studio. The album was mixed and mastered by Bruno Levesque(Silence), and officially released in 2004. Their singer, Valérie Paul, left the band in 2004, but is replaced with Soroya Hostens in 2005. Their next release is the five track EP, Against Wind And Tide in 2006. They same year they also went to the finale in the French Metal Battle. The band celebrated their 10th anniversary in 2007, with a special show. In 2008 the band signed up a new contract with the label Thundering Records. They released the DVD, Live From The Abyss in 2008, a DVD recorded at their anniversary show. In 2009 they started recording the third album Raging Waters. Mixing is done by Frank Manier and the mastering is done by Mika Jussila at the Finnvox studios, and Raging Waters was released 12 of November 2010.

I have followed Syrens Call from the start, and with Raging Waters, they deliver their best album so far in their career. From the start in 1998, with each release as band, songwriters and musicians they have matured a lot, and it`s always great to have the opportunity to follow bands like Syrens Call to see the development through the years. Musically the move perfectly in a landscape built of Power, Melody and Emotion. I have had their album a while now, and after several listening's I like it better and better!! Their music is inspired by a lot of different genres from symphonic rock/metal to melodic metal and I also like the switches from the up-tempo to the emotional and brittle in their songs. I also like that they add some very modern electronic elements in their music, something that spices up their songs and give the songs an own identity. Hang On To Life opens the album. The opening is like its taken from a modern dance floor, but when the song kicks off it changes to a more melodic metal oriented style. The melody is huge and the choruses glue like gum into your hair!! The instrumentation is very good with a lot of interesting details on the keys, guitars and drums! The vocals from Soroya is also very very good, and she lifts the songs with her special voice that have a great capacity! The next I`m Your Only One, opens with some nice modern keyboard sounds. A more progressive oriented song with different tempos and styles. The melody parts is beautiful and I like how this song changes from the emotional to the more speedy bits. The keys sounds amazing and the small symphonic/ progressive instrumental parts sounds just perfect! I also like how Soroya uses her voice, and its really nice to hear how she throughout the song handles to sing the different parts!! Ashes Of Destiny is a jewel of a song, a song that partly is very melodic with a great melody and nice vocal line. Also this song changes with different styles, and I never get tired of listen to nice songs like this. The instrumental part with the speaking male voice is great, and the keys and guitars is just fantastic to listen to! Cruel Love opens symphonic, but changes to a more heavier darker style. The soft first vocal lines is beautiful. This song moves from the emotional, but builds up to a faster tempo, and I really enjoy to listen to creativeness like this from song to song. The soft well played guitar solo will melt you! Perfidious Paradise opens with a fast tempo, but slows down a bit for the first verse. A good melody with nice vocals and I like the chorus lines. The key played instrumental part is huge, and I like the switches in this song with a lot of different styles! Never Come Back Home has a pumping cool rhythm throughout, and this is one of the more experimental songs, but still very entertaining and this song grows for each time I hear it. The instrumental part is progressive oriented and delicate with lots of cool details! Desecrated Past opens very soft. The vocals from Soroya the first seconds is beautiful, and throughout with different styles you will hear the strength in her voice! The songs kicks off with more tempo. A rememberable melody and chorus take this song to a great level. The guitar solo give me goose bumps!! One Bloody Kiss is a perfect example of Syrens Calls music, you get a doze of all the styles they perform, and this is one of my favorite tunes on the album. Relapse is an instrumental song, and for people that like instrumental music, you will love this!! The Dance Of Light ends this excellent release from Syrens Call. A thirteen minute long jewel of a song. It opens symphonic the first minutes. The emotional first verse is beautiful, the song have throughout a lot of different styles and parts, and this is high quality entertainment, and for fans of music with power, melody and emotion, you need to check out Syrens Call!! 98/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.syrenscall.com
http://www.myspace.com/syrenscall

Syrens Call is:

Soroya - Vocals
Frank - Keyboards
Eric - Bass
Sebastien - Drums
Stéphane - Rhythm Guitar
Thibaut - Lead Guitar

WITHIN TEMPTATION - The Unforgiving

Within Temptation formed in 1996 by guitarist Robert Westerholt and vocalist Sharon den Adel. They where a well-kept secret in the Netherlands for the first few years of their existence, the band exploded into the mainstream spotlight across Europe upon the release of their second album, Mother Earth, in 2000. Since then, they have gone from strength to strength selling in excess of 2.8 Million CDs & DVD's with releases in 48 countries, receiving 30 Gold and Platinum awards and 4 Export Awards of the Netherlands as well 2 MTV European Music Awards, 2 World Music Awards and many more. The band's fifth studio album The Unforgiving, was released in March 2011, alongside both a comic book series and a series of short films that together encompass a story. The first single, Faster, was released on January 21, and the first short film, Mother Maiden, was released on January 31. The second short film, Sinéad, was released on March 21.

I have to admit that Within Temptation have been one of my favorite bands for many years. The Unforgiving is a proof that they without doubt are in the elite of bands in their genre. They have changed from album to album, and maybe this time they sound more commercial than ever, but still they have the exact right ingredients in their music that take them to a very high level. Many other bands are influenced of Within Temptation`s music, and I think they can be proud of bringing and giving inspiration to many new talents with their music and creativeness. Like a very few other in their genre there isn`t any others that do the things to the fingertips the way Within Temptation does. The album opens with the storytelling opening sequence Why Not Me. This get more meaning if you see the DVD, that follows with the limited version of The Unforgiving. Shot In The Dark continues the album, and as always this band manage to take me with their melodies, the voice from Sharon, the instrumentation and the symphonic. Even this album so far in their career is the most commercial and straight forward, they have something no one else can create the same way as Within Temptation!! In one moment symphonic and in the next dark and mystic or emotional and brittle. In The Middle Of The Night is an up-tempo song. Sharon carries this song with her fantastic voice and the melody and chorus is breathtaking. The pumping heavy guitars, the symphonic elements, the choir and the mood they manage to create is just fantastic to listen to. Faster is a song I for sure can tell you goes straight to your head. The repeating Faster, faster, faster gets stuck in your head already after the first listening. In my opinion this song should have been on top of all the hit lists around the world, A BIG HIT!!! Fire And Ice opens symphonic, the piano and Sharons voice that follows is just beautiful and give me goose bumps! A power ballad of the finest mark, and no one else do it like this, its just perfect! Iron kicks off with more tempo. The combination of the instrumentation and the symphonic is also a thing that always have pleased me a lot listening to Within Temptation through the years. Their melodies, the mood, the vocals and the band is just fantastic to listen to, and the sound and production is as always on a very high level. Where Is The Edge is a bit more experimental compared to the other songs, and maybe a bit more back to the older songs from WT. A haunting melody and chorus lines that goes straight to my heart. Sinéad is also one of the Videos on the DVD, and this song has a very modern sounding style with some cool electronic elements. A hit song with a very strong melody and chorus. The song reach its absolute top in the little part with only Sharon`s voice and the strings. Lost is a beautiful power ballad with all the right ingredients, a strong melody and a big chorus. The choir, the symphonic, and the guitar playing and solos also gives this all it needs to take it to the top! Murder is also one of the more experimental songs, partly a dark sounding song that really crackles with life round and in the chorus part. I like the arrangement with the instruments and the symphonic arrangements in this. A Demon`s Fate opens with some cool electronic elements and a symphonic arrangement. A big song from Within Temptation, and also this remind me of some of their old songs. Stairway To The Skies ends this fifth studio album from Within Temptation. Like all their other releases I am blown away by this band also this time, and I really look forward to see them live in Oslo this autumn. 100/100 Reviewed by Arne
http://www.within-temptation.com/

Within Temptation is:

Sharon denAdel - vocals
Robert Westerholt - guitar
Ruud Jolie - guitar
Jeroen Van Veen - bass
Martijn Spierenburg - keyboards
Mike Coolen - drums

BEYOND THE LABYRINTH - Chapter III - Stories

Beyond The Labyrinth, is from Belgium, and have been around since 1996. Set together out of a group of accomplished musicians they have through the years been able to perform with other bands as support like Uriah Heep, Threshold, Pain Of Salvation and Epica. The 3rd BTL album “Chapter III - Stories” was released May 13th 2011.

Beyond The Labyrinth is a new acquaintance for me, after listening over and over to Chapter III - Stories, I will say that this band is one of the bands in their genre that have impressed me very much lately compared with others. Musically they are a melodic hard rock oriented band with elements from metal, symphonic rock/metal and also with hints of progressive rock/metal. All this together is what makes this band so interesting compared to many others. The Girl With The X-ray Eyes opens the album, and they took me from the first note on a journey of music with lot of creativeness good song writing skills and nice instrumental performing. The opener have the little extra, a modern sounding melodic hard rock oriented song with a very good melody and a big chorus, and with songs like this they takes me back to big moments from 80`s and 90`s. Where Kindred Spirits Meet is also a solid proof of good quality melodic hardrock. The keys is nicely arranged and with the riffing guitars and the tight and steady rhythm section this sounds just great! Singer Jo De Boeck, is also one of the best singers I heard in this genre in long time, and he takes the songs to big heights with his good quality voice! Hidden Agenda, is partly a little more experimental, but the heavy and tight rhythm in the first verse is just fantastic! A good melody builds up to cool chorus parts. The choir parts is nice, and the instrumental details is of high quality! Oceans Apart opens with piano and guitar, a slow nice song with a huge melody and chorus. It really pleases me to hear songs like this, because today there is not so many bands or artists that do it exactly like this, and make it sounds so good as this! Fear`s The Killer is a heavier sounding song, the riffing guitars, the melody lines that builds up to the choruses is great listening. The keys throughout floats nicely together with the rest of the instrumentation, and the guitar solo in this song is just delicate! The Darkest Page opens symphonic, a heavy tune with a cool melody. I like how this song changes throughout, and the vocals sounds a bit majestic and give the song an own identity. Saturation Point is a more straight forward song, but also here they have the little extra that takes the song to a very high level. First of all the vocals is amazing! Then they have a great taste of making good strong melodies, plus nice instrumentation. Stories Waiting To Be Told takes the tempo down, a beautiful song that goes straight to your heart! Raise The Horns sound a bit more classic rock oriented like a mix between Uriah Heep and Deep Purple! Hypersensitive starts with some very modern electronic sounds, before it changes to a heavier sounding style. A more experimental song that grow the more I hear it. The Peter Principle is a very good strong song. I like the style of this that changes from melodic hard rock to a more pop/rock oriented style, and partly it reminds me of Saga. The last tune Strength sums up this album very good, and this tune present us to many of the styles from Beyond The Labyrinth on an eminent way! For me this album is one of the best I have heard in it`s genre for many years, so check out Beyond The Labyrinth now!!!97/100
http://www.beyond-the-labyrinth.com/

Beyond The Labyrinth is:

Jo De Boeck - Vocals
Geert Fieuw - Guitars, Keys, Song Writing
Gerry Verstreken - Bass
Michel Lodder - Drums

HARDLINE - Monumental

27 years after their self titled debut album Hardline, Hardline returns with the new effort Monumental. I personally saw this band many times live here in Norway in the 80`s, so it was really great to sit down again and hear this band again after so many years away. Hardline is a classic hard rock band with a great groove and hard hitting songs that will please fans of good old hard rock/ metal.

I grew up with this band locally here I live, so its a bit funny to have them back after so many years and to write about them. The opening song Shout kicks off with a lot of power and energy. I like the drive in the music, and the rhythm section sounds really tight! The vocals is raw, and singer Børge have a voice made for this music. The guitar playing is also very very good, and this man know how to play with lot of feeling! Go To Waste starts heavy and slower than the first track, but throughout this song changes in tempo. The guitar playing in this tune is just fantastic! Musically they sometimes is a bit hard to describe, but this is for me a mix between 70`s hard rock plus a little hint of grunge and modern metal. Call My Name opens a bit experimental, but changes to a more melodic hard rock oriented style for the first verse. The choir in this is cool and give the song the little extra. A song you easily remember!! The title track Monumental is a very up and down track. Starts heavy, but changes many times throughout with faster parts and more experimental bits, but this song is after several listening's one of my favorites. Still More Days takes the tempo down, a classic rock ballad with a good melody, the vocals lifts this song to big heights, the raspy, dark and raw voice is cool! Sweet Reverie is also a more soft rock oriented tune, a really good melody and the guitar solo really blows you away! Caveman is more complicated in a way, and it took a few listening's before I started liking it. The melody parts is good and the chorus parts also have something that get your attention. Days Of Supression have a cool rhythm, the slow little part and the guitar solo gives this the little extra. Showdown is also one of the big highlights on the album, a song that take me back in time to bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Times To Come opens with vocals and guitar, a special rock ballad with strong vocals and a very cool melody, you remember this song because it is special! Leave Your Home have a more modern touch in a way. The melodic verses lead the way to more up tempo chorus parts. A good album from Hardline, and a good comeback after 27 years since the first album! I really hope it does not take 27 new years before the next album!!94/100
http://www.hardlineofnorway.com/

Hardline is:

Børge Pedersen - Vocals
Svein Grostad - Guitar
Odd H. Ellingsen - Drums
Jomar Johansen - Bass

DORIS BRENDEL - My Last Adventure

In 1991 I bought the album The Fire Sermon, with a band called The Violet Hour. Since that time this album have followed me through the years, and I have tried to search after this band sometimes to find out what was going on with the band. I for a little while ago stumbled over the singer from The Violet Hour, Doris Brendel, searching through the net. I got in contact with singer Doris Brendel, and have lately listened over and over through her latest effort My Last Adventure. After discovering that this lady still was working with music I found out that she after The Violet Hour album have released five solo albums with the latest one, My Last Adventure.

Musically Doris Brendel moves in a landscape of music I usually don`t write so much about, but I found this release very interesting, varied and entertaining, so I couldn`t just let this go by without writing about it. What an album this is, and musically very very hard to describe, but you find everything from easy listening rock to classic melodies, classic Prog-Rock to Classic Rock, Opera/Pomp, Beatle-esque pop, Art-Rock, Rockin' Funk, and with hints of the old celtic / medieval. With the opener What are You Saying we are dragged onto a journey of music with creativeness and songwriting skills you have to look long time to find. Doris Brendel have a voice you will love, a bit dark and crispi, but at the same time very varied, and to hear her sing all the different styles on this album is just fantastic. The rocking opener gives a proof of her voice, and the arrangement with the instruments and the mood in this song is really enjoying. Also the Flagolet playing from Doris is very nice, and give the music its own flavor. The title track The Last Adventure opens with piano and Doris haunting voice. The melody here is top notch and the chorus parts is addictive. The choirs in this song is really cool and I like the guitar solo. I'm Not Old I'm Experienced changes a lot musically from the two first songs. A more funky song with nice instrumental performing. I like the keys in this, and the more rock oriented chorus parts is fantastic! Latest Fantasy opens with a piano, a song that takes me back to the the big moments on The Violet Hour album. A beautiful melody and the vocals is amazing. The flagolet playing is also delicate, and I like the mood in this! What Have I Done is a song that make me happy an easy listening rock song. A strong melody and very rememberable chorus takes this song to the top. Work In Progress opens with some nice played keys and Doris nice voice. A more prog rock oriented song with some great choirs, and partly it gives me a marching feeling. The aggressive guitar playing in it is also something that gives this song the little extra! With Get A Life the tempo goes up, a funny rock song with a good melody. You're Almost Perfect is one of my favorite songs. The song opens soft, but throughout we are taken on a musical journey with a lot of different styles and tempos, a song I feel mix many of the styles on the album. Be My Guitar is a more funky rocker, the hammond sounding keys is cool, and also this song sounds very happy and give me a good mood. Why Are You Still Here opens with some cool guitar playing and keys. Partly a darker sounding song and also one of the most experimental songs. I like the moody melody lines and the ecoing chorus lines have its own twist, and make this song be very interesting to listen to. The flagolet solo and the instrumental part at the end is also very entertaining! My Town is more funky oriented, and I really enjoy this album because the diversity from to song. I never get tired of this album, but can listen over and over because of the diversity and creativeness. The last song Memory also takes me back to the Violet Hour days. I am really impressed over the work on this album, an album hard to describe musically, but its long time since I heard such creativeness and song writing skills like this! Also the voice of Doris Brendel is very special, so take your time and check out this album!! 99/100
http://dorisbrendel.com/
http://www.myspace.com/dbdriving

Doris Brendel - Lead and backing vocals, fiddle, flagolet
Dave Beeson - Guitars, backing vocals
Mike Wesson - Keyboards
Andre Harewood - Bass, backing vocals
Steve Clark - Drums, Percussion
Aitch McRobbie, Julie Harrington, Julie Winchester, Lynne Butler, Jo Maloney, Mark Dalton - backing vocals

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