It was a great year for Undertow. The trade press celebrated the current album 'Bipolar' and the live concerts culminated at Metal Hammer Paradise festival. Therefore, at the end of the year, the "most underrated, best whatever metal band in the world" just says thank you and sends a thoughtful, calm video out into the... Continue Reading →
Review THE PRETTY RECKLESS ‘Other Worlds’
The Pretty Reckless have with 'Other Worlds ' a new album in the starting blocks. After the band released with 'Death by Rock and Roll' a regular full-length studio album last year, it is this time a somewhat different output of the four Americans. 'Other Worlds' is a release with well-known songs, be it newly... Continue Reading →
Live report SONATA ARCTICA & ELEINE, Fabrik, Hamburg – October 25th, 2022
What started as a small project has developed into an almost standalone program. Finland's power metal outfit Sonata Arctica started to convert some of their songs into acoustic songs a few years ago and toured the home country. The band just wanted to challenge themselves and what came out of it is an amazing acoustic... Continue Reading →
Review SONATA ARCTICA ‘Acoustic Adventures – Vol. 2’
Actually, the Finns of Sonata Arctica stand for melodic metal that they regularly package on records since 1999. For this reason it was rather unusual that the band decided to go on tour with an acoustic set in 2016. The background was to challenge themselves and to regroup. At first, the band played only at... Continue Reading →
Live report THE PINEAPPLE THIEF & TROPE, Fabrik, Hamburg – March 16th, 2022
The last months and years have been tough for the music industry. Pandemic and lockdowns have brought venues, artists and their professional community to their limits. But also fans had to suffer and could only experience their favorite artists 'live' in livestreams. Slowly the fog of the non-concert time seems to lift and the one... Continue Reading →
Review D’VIRGILIO, MORSE, JENNINGS ‘Troika’
It seems like the pandemic hasn’t had an impact on the musical creativity of Neal Morse. The musician from California has various outlets for his creative flow and with D’Virgilio, Morse, Jennings a next project was started by the singer and multi-instrumentalist in 2020. Sometime during the pandemic and lockdown, Morse wrote songs that in... Continue Reading →
Review SONATA ARCTICA ‘Acoustic Adventures – Vol. 1’
When Sonata Arctica started shortly before the new millennium, the signs were on melodic power metal, mostly also presented with higher pace. The Finns from Kemi remained true to this successful formula, which led to ten albums with which the band could establish itself in the scene. Of course, Sonata Arctica have always remained true... Continue Reading →
GREEN CARNATION and ‘The Acoustic Verses – Remastered’
Fans of Green Carnation know it already, ‘The Acoustic Verses’ isn’t an entirely new album. It’s a re-re-release of the 2006 longplayer that featured seven songs. 15 years later, Season Of Mist and Green Carnation put some spotlight on this acoustic album that features all seven songs from the original release plus three extra tracks.... Continue Reading →
Review RONNIE ATKINS ‘4 More Shots’ – EP
Legendary Pretty Maids frontman Ronnie Atkins was diagnosed with cancer in 2019 and after some positive signals, cancer returned in October 2020. But Atkins is a fighter and doesn’t give up easily. The 2021 longplayer ‘One Shot’ with its stellar songs is a clear indication of the singer still being connected to his passion and... Continue Reading →
Review THE ORDER ‘Out of Order’ – EP
Good things never come with a wrong timing. For The Order, a hard rock outfit from Switzerland, this good thing was the release of their ‘Supreme Hypocrisy’ album and the chart entry in Switzerland. The guys aren’t rookies in their home country and getting into the Top 30 is certainly a success. To celebrate this... Continue Reading →
Review SWALLOW THE SUN ’20 Years of Gloom, Beauty and Despair – Live in Helsinki’
Jyväskylä, Finland isn’t a city that you reach by coincident. 270 kilometers North of Helsinki it is nature that surrounds the town, endless forests that unveil their beauty in every season of the year. Besides that, Jyväskylä is also know for a vital rock and metal scene with bands like Swallow The Sun belonging the... Continue Reading →
Review JUSTIN SULLIVAN ‘Surrounded’
This review is about an album that focusses on the calmer and gentle facets of music instead of challenging the speakers through hard riffs and massive beats. 'Surrounded' is the title of an album that comes from Justin Sullivan and is his second solo release in 18 years. The iconic singer, being known from the... Continue Reading →
THE PINEAPPLE THIEF unleashed ‘The Soord Sessions: Vol. 1-4’
Bruce Soord and The Pineapple Thief performed four streaming concerts in 2020 of which one was released already in December last year under the banner of 'The Soord Sessions - Vol. 4' in different formats. On April 16th this year, The Pineapple Thief released a four disc featuring set that includes all four sessions with... Continue Reading →
CD review DEVIN TOWNSEND ‘Devolution Series #1 – Acoustically Inclined, Live in Leeds’
Devin Townsend has the fascinating quality of remaining true to himself while demonstrating the flexibility of an artistic chameleon. Next to the creative output of Devin Townsend, the musicians comes also with tremendous willpower and it seems like even a pandemic can’t stop him in a way. Of course, live shows aren’t possible for Townsend... Continue Reading →
CD review BONFIRE ‘Roots’
Bavaria's metal and rock veterans Bonfire have regained strength over the past few years. 'Temple of Lies' and 'Fistul of Fire' are evidence of a band that has picked up momentum. Singer Alexx Stahl certainly added his share to this positive development, as Bonfire mainman Hans Ziller has now again a good frontman next to... Continue Reading →