The name Victor Smolski should be familiar to most of you. The multi-instrumentalist started his solo career in 1996 when he released with 'Destiny' a first EP. With 'The Heretic' followed an acclaimed debut album and Smolski became really popular as guitarist of Germany's metal icons Rage. Smolski was part of their line-up from 1999... Continue Reading →
Review KATATONIA ‘Sky Void of Stars’
Katatonia have their roots in Stockholm. Jonas Renske and Anders Nyström started up a band in the Swedish capital, which today belongs to the true greats of dark and atmospheric metal. While in the beginning it was the doomy death metal music, the sound of the band has changed over the years. Katatonia became more... Continue Reading →
Review DOKKEN ‘The Elektra Albums 1983-1987’
Dokken, this name stands for quality, at least in the 80s. Named after Don Dokken, who started the band in 1978, the band was joined a year later by former Xciter guitarist George Lynch, who became Dokken's songwriting partner, and it was this combination that brought the band great success. The debut album 'Breaking the... Continue Reading →
Review STEVE VAI ‘Vai/Gash’
Steve Vai is definitely one of the all-time greats of rock music. His collaboration with Frank Zappa, countless solo albums, his time with Whitesnake, etc. made the guitarist one of the most important representatives of his craft. These days Vai releases a new album, which is actually not that new. Vai/Gash' contains songs that were... Continue Reading →
Review TEN ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’
UK-based hard rock outfit Ten has a new album in the starting box with a release date on January 20th. ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’ is the title of this ten songs featuring longplayer that presents the typical Ten sound. The driving force behind Ten is Gary Hughes, singer and guitarist since the very beginning... Continue Reading →
Review TWILIGHT FORCE ‘At the Heart of Wintervale’
It was in 2019 when Twilight Force released their third album to date and three and a half years later the Swedes return with 'At the Heart of Wintervale'. The band has not changed anything in their basic musical concept and continues to build on fast and very catchy power metal which they themselves describe... Continue Reading →
Review FOR I AM KING ‘Crown’
For I Am King (FIAK) is a Dutch metalcore outfit. Starting in 2013 the band premiered in 2014 with releasing an EP called ‘Revengeance’. Two years later the debut album ‘Daemons’ hit the shelves, followed by some live shows. The sophomore longplayer ‘I’ started to shine in 2018 and nowadays it will be ‘Crown’, the... Continue Reading →
Review LIV SIN ‘KaliYuga’
After Swedish metal group Sister Sin disbanded in 2015 singer Liv Jagrell started with Liv Sin a new band. Premiering in 2016 with ‘Follow Me’ the band unleashed their sophomore album ‘Burning Sermons’ in 2019. Another three years late the next record will hit the shelves, a longplayer called ‘KaliYuga’. The band’s third longplayer features... Continue Reading →
Review RIVERSIDE ‘ID.Entity’
Riverside started in 2001 and hail from Wasaw, Poland. The progressive metal outfit premiered with ‘Out of Myself’, an album that was independently released and led to a deal the band inked with Inside Out Music. The band was on a successful journey through the hemisphere of multi-layered music and unleashed pretty successful records. Then... Continue Reading →
Review LAURA COX ‘Head Above Water’
"Part French. Part English. 100% Rock'n'Roll", that's what it says on the album cover of Laura Cox's latest album. The guitarist is one of the rising stars in the world of guitar-based rock music, and has her latest album, 'Head Above Water', in the starting blocks as we speak. Cox is the child of English/French... Continue Reading →
Review BLACK STAR RIDERS ‘Wrong Side of Paradise’
It was 2012 when Thin Lizzy members Scott Gorham, Damon Johnson, Marco Mendoza and Ricky Warwick started writing new songs. Out of respect for Phil Lynott (R.I.P.) and due to the fact that Darren Wharton and Brian Downey were not interested in recording new music, the quartet started releasing new songs under the moniker of... Continue Reading →
Review AUTUMN’S CHILD ‘Starflower’
Mikael Erlandsson is no stranger to Swedish AOR. Known from his time with Secret Service, it is mainly the Last Autumn's Dream albums that helped Erlandsson gain awareness among a larger group of AOR and rock fans both, inside and outside of Sweden. After 14 albums and many years of collaboration, Last Autumn's Dream came... Continue Reading →
Review TURMION KÄLITÖT ‘Omen X’
Sometimes chicken; sometimes feathers - that goes for everything in life. If you get a new record on the table, then you are certainly curious about the direction in which things are heading. Well, in the case of Turmion Kälitöt it is rather 'feathers'. The Finns from Kuopio are already active since 2013 and have... Continue Reading →
Review BEYOND THE BLACK ‘Beyond The Black’
Beyond The Black had a comet-like rise, with their first live show being nowhere else but at the legendary Wacken Open Air. This was in 2014, so even before Beyond The Black had a debut album on the market. To make something like this happen, one certainly needs influential promoters and while some bands have... Continue Reading →
Review VILLE VALO ‘Neon Noir’
If there was one in particular that made the dark side of rock mass compatible in the 90s, it's His Infernal Majesty, also known as H.I.M.. The Finns started in 1991 and kept going, with a small interruption in the mid-90s, until 2017. The debut album 'Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666' helped the band to gain... Continue Reading →









