ROCK HARD FESTIVAL 2019 – first bands announced
First bands are announced for the 2019 edition of Rock Hard festival in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Bands that are confirmed already are promising. Death metal pioneers Cannibal Corpse are part of the festival, as well as US metal legend Fifth Angel and prog metal heroes Heir Apparent. Furthermore it is German instrumental postrockers Long Distance Calling, NWoBHM icon... Continue Reading →
CD review BETONTOD ‘Vamos!’
(7/10) One year after having released the very successful ‘Revolution’ album, German punk rocker Betontod launched their newest album ‘Vamos!’ a few weeks ago. The story of Betontod is a successful one. The band from Reinberg, Germany started in the early 90’s and after having published some demos it was the ‘Hier kommt Aerger’ album... Continue Reading →
CD review HAMMER KING ‘Poseidon Will Carry Us Home’
(8/10) Even though Kaiserslautern, Germany has no geographical connection to the sea, it’s Hammer King that got inspired by the ocean. The band, consisting out some Ivory Night members, is fronted by former Ross The Boss singer Titan Fox V. In contrary to the assumption of a Manowar copycat and in contrary to the debut, Joey... Continue Reading →
CD review MAYAN ‘Dhyana”
(9/10) Dutch powerhouse MaYan is back with a new longplayer. It’s not that the band released many records over the last years, but it’s the quality of each of the albums that’s stunning. After having debuted in 2011 with ‘Quaterpast’ the band unveiled their next strike with ‘Antagonise’ in 2014. Both records were critically acclaimed... Continue Reading →
CD review STRATOVARIUS ‘ENIGMA: Intermission 2’
(8/10) I guess that most of you are familiar with Stratovarius' 'Intermission' album from 2001. The record was a compilation that mainly featured live recordings, B-sides and bonus tracks of the Finnish powerhouse. 17 years later, Stratovarius reveals a new album and it's called 'Enigma: Intermission 2'. As with part one, also volume 2 comprises... Continue Reading →
CD review CINDERELLA ‘The Mercury Years’ – Box-set
(*/10) American rock band Cinderella is one of the most influential bands when it comes to hardrock and glam metal. In contrary to many other bands in this genre, Cinderella didn’t came for the US West Coast, but was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The start of the Cinderella was in 1982 and it was the... Continue Reading →
CD review BRANT BJORK ‘Mankind Woman’
(7/10) Brant Bjork’s musical history is a long one and it’s legendary Kyuss that was, next to the success of the band itself, a springboard for new adventures in the fields of rock. Bjork was part of quite some projects and bands after he left Kyuss. Bands like Vista Chico and Fu Manchu were bands... Continue Reading →
CD review SLASH feat. MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS ‘Living the Dream’
(8/10) Slash albums attract success and chart positions as almost nobody else does in the fields of rock. I can't imagine that anybody, that's interested in music, doesn't know the iconic guitarist from London, England. Guns'n'Roses was the mega-successful springboard, followed by solo albums and many musical cooperations. The first solo album Slash unveiled was... Continue Reading →
CD review ACE MAFIA ‘Ace Mafia’
(8/10) Ace Mafia is a hard rock band, hailing from the UK. The band was founded by Geos Letona and it was now less the current Judas Priest axeman Richie Faulkner that played with Ace Mafia for several years. In March 2010 the band’s debut ‘Vicious Circle’ was released, supported by some live shows. Faulkner... Continue Reading →
Live (Photo-) report L.A. GUNS/JARED JAMES NICHOLS/STONE TRIGGER, Gebr. de Nobel, Leiden – 10.09.2018
American sleaze rock veterans L.A. Guns embarked on a European tour and stopped at Gebr. de Nobel In Leiden for one show. The opener on this Monday night was Stone Trigger, hailing from Dublin. The guys premiered when it comes to playing a concert in The Netherlands and they did a quite remarkable job with... Continue Reading →
CD review ANN WILSON ‘Immortal’
(8/10) I don’t think that I have to introduce Ann Wilson to readers of Markus Heavy Music Blog. The singer is very well known from Heart, the band she and her sister Nancy celebrate huge success with. Ann Wilson worked recently on a solo album that will be released mid-September. ‘Immortal’ is the title of... Continue Reading →
CD review IRON LAMB ‘Blue Haze’
(7/10) Swedish Iron Lamb will release their newest longplayer end of October. ‘Blue Haze’ is the crucial album number three in the bands history and follows ‘Fool’s Gold’, which saw the light of day in 2015. The new record isn’t an album that’s extremely overloaded with songs. Actually it’ a rather limited amount of music... Continue Reading →
CD review HELRUNAR ‘Vanitas Vanitatvm’
(8/10) ‘Vanitas Vanitatvm’ is the title of Helrunar’s next studio album. The German masters of pagan metal created a 11 songs comprising album that has it’s inspiration from bands like the legendary Bathory. What’s fascinating with Herunar is the fact that the band doesn’t solely focus on simpleminded speed. Helrunar takes thing much further and... Continue Reading →









