Thursday 29 April 2010

Dave Evans - Judgement Day

Original AC/DC vocalist (and co founder!) Dave Evans latest release Judgement Day, comes via Rocksector Records.

Now this album was originally released back in 2008, and is now being pushed as He has a short UK tour planned for the end of May.
The sound itself is nicely uncluttered, the guitars all low slung and with a nice bluesy tone. The AC/DC comparisons are inevitable, and opening track 'We Don't Dance To Your Song', really sets the tone for this album, and the AC/DC comparisons continue with "Little Headbanger", its not dissimilar to "Let There Be Rock". The vocals are reminiscent of Dave's AC/DC replacement Bon Scott, and show an energy in Evans but again is slightly let down by lyrics, which are a little clumsy and cliched at times. Don't get me wrong, this album isn't all about paying homage to ACDC, at times it tips its hat in the direction of NWoBHM bands like Saxon etc, so there's a little diversity there.

If you like your rock in the classic AC/DC vein, with a touch of Saxon thrown in their then you really should check this album out.
Good old fashioned low slug dirty blues boogie rock for ya!

Enjoy

website - http://www.myspace.com/daveevansrocks

rating 9/10

Moth Circus - Sideshow Sweetheart

Norwegian rockers Moth Circus unleash their debut album, Sideshow Sweetheart, upon the world on June 28th via Rocksector Records. Moth Circus bring us 14 tracks of Groove laden heavy rock, with hooks Ginger (Wildhearts) would be proud of. Crushingly heavy in places, harmonically melodic in others, and for some strange reason vocalist Johnny Olsen's voice and vocal style bring one Rob Zombie to mind at times.

The band describe themselves and their music as " "Pamela Anderson masturbating at a freak show..." and who am I to argue?
What I can say is that Sideshow Sweetheart is one hell of an album!
Tracks like opener 'Dreamland', 'MIA', 'A Dog and His Junkie', and 'Death Living' are all awesome, and destined to be classics.
Moth Circus are here to stay, and Sideshow Sweetheart is destined to be a classic album.
Catch these guys live on their short uk tour in July if you can, You WONT be disappointed!

website - http://www.myspace.com/mothcircus

rating 10/10

Call The Doctor - Call The Doctor mini album

Call The Doctor are a female fronted Bristol (uk) based jerky pop / punk / dance band, blending so many different elements together its unbelievable.

This mini album was recorded and mixed over 10 days by Paul Tipler (idlewild/placebo/elastica) which is amazing considering the quality of the songs on display here.
Vocalist Patti Aberhart has great and distinctive voice, which really add an extra spark to the six tracks on offer here.
The stand out tracks for me are ' For Your Leisure' and 'Little Bones'
Call The Doctor have all the ingredients needed to be huge given that they get the right exposure, and have already been featured on Steve Lamacq's unsigned band of the week, BBC Bristol Introducing's Record of the Week, been on Gill Mill's (NME Radio) Best Of Myspace podcast, and had their track, 'Gregory, You're a Star' daytime playlisted on BBC Bristol, it looks like they're on the right track and knocking on the right doors!

Check em out

website - http://www.myspace.com/ctdoctor

rating 9/10

The Lidocaine - The Voices and Noises of Kiling Koling

The Lidocaine are a Finnish 3 piece rock / metal / prog band hailing from Helsinki.

The Voices and Noises of Kiling Koling was originally released in Finland last summer to rave reviews but now finally see's its international release.
All the songs here are very solid, and well performed, and given the right exposure I believe The Lidocaine could do quite well internationally, if not quite setting the world on fire.
Stand out tracks for me include, ' All That You Ever Were', with its Dio era Rainbow Esq mid section, 'Dig Your Own Cave' and 'Enjoy The Ride'
The Lidocaine, a good band, The Voices and Noises of Kiling Koling, and good and interesting album.

website - http://www.thelidocaine.com/
rating 8/10

Steevi Jaimz - Glam Damnation

Ex - Tigertailz front man brings us his latest release via Swedmetal Records, which happens to a collection of material spanning the first couple of decades of his career.

Included here are tracks from Jaimz's time with Crash K.O. at the beginning of the 1980s, the Kick The Habit EP from St Jaimz, and his post Tigertailz projects War Party and Jaimz Gang. This collection is as good as anything released back in the Sunset Strips heyday, and my congratulations must go to the people whom handled the re mastering, as they have done a great job leaving every track with a very fresh feeling, almost as though they were recorded over the past couple of years. A great collection of tracks showcasing a great talent!
If you're looking for a nostalgia trip this album is an excellent choice.

website - http://www.myspace.com/steevijaimz

rating 9/10

No Bounds Tonight! - Rock n Roll HxC

French Punk / Rock / Hardcore bring us their debut album Rock n Roll HxC via N.B.T. Records. Drawing from influences that include the likes of Rancid, Social D, Dropkick Murphy's etc, No Bounds Tonight bring us 10 tracks of high energy attitude filled angst.

They have enough melodic material to keep the pop / punks interested yet enough raw attitude to interest the true hardcore punks too.
Stand out tracks include ' Hard To Believe', Whiskey Cigarettes', 'No Return' and ' Think By Yourself'
These guys could be killer live!

website - http://www.myspace.com/noboundstonight

rating 8/10

Greed - Burn It Down

Swedish rockers Greed, consisting of members from Mental Hippie Blood and Glorious Bankrobbers among others, release their debut album 'Burn It Down' via Swedmetal Records. What we get is 11 tracks of high octane, dirty, sleazy, classic scorpions inspired rock n roll. The only fault I find with this album is that all 11 tracks seem to follow the same formulae, and therefor it can become alittle difficult to distinguish between them at times. But that said, this is only Greed's debut, maybe they will surprise us on the follow up

If you like your Swedish rock and metal, then give Greed a spin, they have all the right elements.

High octane gasolinefilled rock n roll!!!
Enjoy

webiste - http://www.greedsweden.com/

Rating 7/10

Sunday 25 April 2010

Introducing Eyes Of The Raven


Eyes Of The Raven are a Midlands based Groove metal band featuring the talents of, Dave Horan (Voacls), Damon Cartwright (Drums), Matt Walters (Bass), Ross Pickett (Rhythmn Guitar and Vocals) and James McHugh (Lead Guitar).
The band has its origins back in 1998 when Matt joined the band 'Hybrid' which featured Ross on vocals, Mike Lea on guitar, and Stuart Marsh on drims. In 1999 Dave joined Hybrid and took over the lead vocal duties with Ross moving on o Rythmn Guitar. Shortly after Mike quit the band and was replaced by Dan Hinton (Master Warbeast), and the band changed their name to 'Deviant'.
Deviant recorded a three track demo but unfortunatley never gigged. Deviant split up in 2000.
Skip forward nine years and in April 2009, Matt and Ross along with drummer Ulrich Pflanz (Footgang) decide to form a new band. Ulrich is working in the Uk at the time on an industrial placement whilst studying at university. During this time the band write the basis for the song 'Im Gone', which will later feature on their debut live demo. Autumn 2009 see's Ulrich returning back to his native Germany, with his place being taken up by new drummer Damon. 'The Bass Song' and 'Buffy Song' (working titles)are written at this time and shortly after Dave joins the band to take up the lead vocal duties. The band felt that they needed a second guitarist, so they placed an ad on bandmix, one guitarist auditioned but sadly didnt work out. A month or so later Matt saw an ad for a guitarist in Birmingham and decided to get in touch. James quickly joined the band, quickly learning the songs that were already written, adding his own touch to them, and the band descovered a natural chemistry which ensured that they were quickly writting new songs.
Early 2010 saw the band enter Basement studio's oin stourbridge to record their debut live demo, which they made available as a free download via the bands website. (http://eyesoftheraven.freeiz.com/)
They soon hit the road recently completing a short series of headline gigs, and I was privilidged to be able to interview them for this article, so now we'll let the band introduce themselves.
Ladies and Gentlemen, here are Eyes Of The Raven -



How would you describe Eyes Of The Raven?


Dave - 5 blokes who like their beer and metal far too much!
nah, joking aside, we've all (well almost all, but you'd never tell!)been in different bands before, but to be fair back then we were too busy trying to emulate the current trend, instead of doing what we were all comfortable with. Now we're a band that writes what we want to write as opposed to what we thought everyone wanted to hear. Whilst that may lose us some fans, the people that do like what we're doing will be appreciated more for the fact they understand what we're about.
Ross - I don’t know, it’s a name of a band, a no Bullshit band who come from the heart and fucking soul of metal, and I don’t mean born of black wind fire and steel though the black country is also the home of industry, I’m talking about the birth place of Heavy Metal, We are a proud bunch of people and to say I live less than a mile from where it all started is a very cool thing to be proud of.
James - Just five guys coming together to play simple, catchy, metal tunes. Have a laugh and see where it takes em.
Damon - I Would describe Eyes Of The Raven As Beer Influenced Metal lol
Matt - Five mates who enjoy playing the music they want to hear and don't follow what happens to be in trend at the time.
How would you describe your music?

Dave - The bastard love child of Down, Metallica and Entombed (don't ask me how there came to be 3 parties involved!) We've always had a thing for making music with a groove to it, whether it be underlying or more prominent, it's always been there in some capacity.
Years ago, as I said in Q1, we were more concerned about popularity compared to the current state of metal as opposed to being ourselves. We try and make sure we write and play tunes where people can either mosh, headbang or simply stand at the end of the bar and nod along to with a beer in hand.
This I think will go a long way to at least showing some originality in what we do.
Ross - Beer drinking sounds from Hell? All I want to write are tunes that people will drink beer to and remember, put on their iPod (spits on floor – long live Zune) and show their mates, u know I had a kid ask me at our first gig if I was Ross from Eyes of the Raven, I was so fucking stoked and I don’t mean I was like fuck yeah people know me, all this kid wanted to say was you’re a pretty cool band, a big smile came across my face as I said cheers dude.
James - You know it's hard to pin us down, sometimes we'll have a groove style going on and then it'll go all old school like on 'My life'. 'I'm Gone' is another style again, with a more rockish feel with big riffs. don't get me wrong I mean we have our softer tracks as well, with a little bit of heaviness in there. One of the new tracks we're doing has some great dynamics, starts off up there, drags you along, and drops you off to chill for a second or two before picking you up again and running with.
Haha we're the Frankenstein of metal.
Damon - Hard But with a melody
Matt - Heavy groove based riffs which a strong emphasis on melody. We draw on each band member's influences to create a sound unique to us.

What are the origins of the band’s name?

Dave - Ha, this'll make you chuckle! I was at work one day and popped out for a smoke. On the roof opposite were a load of seagulls fighting over scraps of food. Then, out of nowhere, a huge raven appeared on the roof, stormed through the middle of em all and grabbed the food. Looking at em all as if to say 'you want it, come get it!'
I penned some lyrics to a song and called it Eyes of the Raven. When I told the rest of the band they thought it was a good name for a band too. We stuck with our original name for a while though, Fractured in Five Places. I came back from a weekend away to find they'd decided that Eyes Of The Raven was a better name. A move which I totally agree with, as the previous name was far too emo when looking back in hindsight.

Would you say that Eyes Of The Raven is a natural progression from your previous bands of Hybrid and Deviant?

Dave - No, not at all. I'd been in a couple of different bands between those two and getting back together with the guys. Whilst they didn't last, they did give me the mindset that we should be doing this for us as much as anyone else. And as I keep saying, we're not trying to be the next best thing with Eyes Of The Raven. We're just making tunes we hope people will enjoy.
Ross - Fuck yeah, from the very start we have always gone for a groove to the tunes, the last band Dave and myself were in was with a dude called Warren Taylor he played guitar and I moved to Bass was called moment of isolation and I wasn’t a million miles away from this sound either.
Matt - I would say that Eyes of the Raven takes the best parts from those two bands; the catchy metal riffs from Hybrid and the heavier groove based riffs from Deviant, and merge's them together. For example, 'My life' was written back in '98 in Hybrid but has been remolded to fit our current style. We have all matured as artists since those days and have a better ear for song arrangements and catchy tunes. Also, James has added a new dimension to the band in terms of harmonized guitar leads that form an essential part to Eyes of the Raven's sound.


What are your main musical influences?

Dave - Entombed are major influences on the parts of the writing process I can be involved in. They were the first proper heavy band that showed you can be heavy and still have a groove to the tunes you write. I'm also a big fan of Corrosion of Conformity, mainly from Blind onwards. Best thing they did putting Pepper on vocals.
Ross - Growing up I think every kid has a bit of their parents influences in them mine was county from my dad and t-rex/zeplin from my mom with a touch of soul thrown in for good measure....yeah I know were aint it but as I grew I couldn’t stand the shit that was in the charts, common bros and new kids on the block fuck it was shit, I found Guns and Roses and took it from there then one day I was in a local boozer (kings head – Pensnett) and I met up with Dave, we hadn’t seen each other for years and I had just found out about this stuff called heavy metal and been as how Dave had hair down to his arse and he was stood next to a dude from a well known bike club.....I asked him “Dave I wanna be a rocker” (he aint let me live that sentence down to this day) he gave me a mixed tape! And took me to see anthrax!!! Fuck yeah I was hooked from that second so you could say Dave influenced me to listen to metal, soon after I found Pantera and Sepultura these 2 bands shaped me musically and Dime bag gave me all the inspiration I needed to go buy a guitar..
James - ah mine ain't so many, Metallica( Hetfield's downpickin' skills) Zakk Wylde, I wish I could play half as well that dude. Hendrix is all ways a must in my eyes, ain't anyone you loves guitar and don't like the Hendrix...
Can I say myself?
Damon - Slipknot, Metallica, A Day To Remember Etc
Matt - Bands: Metallica, Bullet For My Valentine, Iron Maiden, Machine Head, Pantera
Bassists: Cliff Burton (Metallica), Steve Harris (Iron Maiden), Duff Mckagan (Guns N' Roses)

Where do you draw your inspiration from for your lyrics?

Dave - I try not to be too cliché (although occasionally a little might creep in) and sing about hating people, wanting to kill someone and how shit life is, that just gets monotonous after a short while. I try and take situations, emotions or things that happen to everyday people and twist them slightly so when people hear or read my lyrics they can either take their own meaning from them, relate to them on a certain level or both.

You have your debut live demo available (from the website) and you have you have recently played your debut headline gig’s, what’s the reactions been like to

a) The Gig's

Dave - The people who've seen us live have been very generous with their praise. Take the A&B gig, when we sound checked, some of us (mainly me)were suffering from a slight case of nerves. We sounded a little subdued. After a couple of cheeky halves and the chance to get our shit straight, we came on and shocked/surprised a few people. We had folks who came to see us exclaiming they never expected us to be so a) accomplished and b)energetic. We had people saying it was like watching a signed band play, which was very humbling and pushed us on to keep the writing going on the same level as we have done so far!
Ross - everyone that went even the guys that didn’t like metal said they enjoyed it so very fucking well thank you.
James - I had a few friends and family there that wasn't really into our kinda music. But having said that they all seemed to get what we were about, the energy and flow of the songs had folks talking the next in detail, as to what the lyrics were about, which I mean I dunno I’ve never asked Dave myself to be fair. They though we are a good band and they'd all becoming to O2 Academy 3 show in Birmingham, and that means a lot to me for sure.
Damon - Amazing Everyone Was Really Nice And Gave There Honest Options Which Was Nice So We Knew What To Work On For Future Gigs
Matt - Really positive, good crowd reactions to all our songs.

b) The Demo

Dave - The reactions to the demo have been a little less favorable in places, not so much for the content or our ability, simply for the recording quality. Yes, we state it's a live recording, but we realise it could've been better. Hence the reason we're off back into the studio at the end of May to record at least 6 songs properly. Hopefully with a better, improved in quality sound, we can push on further. As for the content/ability itself, people have been very encouraging and supportive. They have said the songs and performance of them are extremely good.
Ross - I think putting it up for download for our site has helped a lot, people liked it and want more, so were gonna give ‘em more and do a proper one!
James - In my eyes the demo could have been so much better, and I’m gearing up for the real deal recording that we have planned. Don't get me wrong it's served its purpose but I know we can do so much better.
Damon - Yeah The Same As The Gig, We Knew It Wasn't Going To Be The Best Sounding Demo In The World But The Fans Seemed To Enjoy It
Matt - People liked the songs but criticised the recording/production quality, which is fair comment as it was only a cheap live recording.

Would you care to describe Eyes Of the Raven's song writing process?

Dave - Eclectic! Another jest, we have a couple of different ways we write. James, Ross and Matt get together regularly to jam out ideas. These have proved to be our main source of material, although the tunes usually end up sounding totally different after we've spent a couple of weeks at practice refining them. We've also just started trying writing the lyrics first, obviously I’ll have a vocal pattern in mind when writing, so I’ll try it out and see what the guys can come up with.
Ross - We all write stuff at home and bring it in to the studio where we can further evolve it. And what James said
James - We all seem to come to practice with ideas floating around, I know a few of us knock stuff up at home and post it to our mesh folder. And from time to time someone will say you know that riff you did on the day on that track let’s try that out....and that's where I forget how to play normally.
But then sometimes you just have this mad thing where the song just forms outta nowhere, there's this one track we're on and after a few discussions it just popped into place without too much effort, and that's when you know a band has clicked cause you get those magic writing sessions that just work
Damon - Ross, James And Matt Will Show There Riff Ideas And Come Up With Something And I’ll Put A Beat Over Which I Think Will Work And After We Got The Song Down Dave Will Put Lyric Ideas Over It.
Matt - Everyone contributes to the song writing process. We each have ideas and then jam them out at the studio to see what works and what doesn't. The songs usually end up sounding very different from conception to finished product. Dave will write lyrics to fit the riffs and contributes a lot to the song arrangements and structure to suit his vocals.

Anything else you would guys would like to add, messages for the readers etc just add here!

James - Line6 get in touch and endorse me please!!! haha nah I just want to thank everyone for the support and to keep loving the metal. Cheers.
Matt - Just to say thanks to everyone who has taken the time to come to our shows and listen to our music. We hope to continue getting the support we have, and intend to put on bigger and better shows with each gig we do, as well as showcasing some new material for you all....
Damon - Feel Free To Come To Our Gigs And Say Hi.
Ross - Thank you for supporting us we will always stay true and always deliver!
Dave - Yes, to all the people who are fans or just caught us on the off chance, thank you for your continued support. It's extremely humbling!


Catch Eyes Of The Raven live at the one of the following gigs
April 23rd 2010 - Varsity Wolverhampton

May 8th - Base Studios Stourbridge
June 3rd 2010 - o2 Academy - Birmingham
August 5th 2010 - Gifford Arms -Wolverhampton
(more to follow)

 
Eyes Of The Raven - From The Ashes available to download free from http://eyesoftheraven.freeiz.com/downloads.html
 
Eyes Of The Raven home page
Eyes Of The Raven Facebook
Eyes Of The Raven Myspace -

Thursday 22 April 2010

Taking Dawn - Time To Burn

A great classic rock album from a great classic hard rock band! This album is just filled with attitude, fist pumping rock n roll, sure its a little cliched at times, but who cares when it sounds this good?

Tracks like ' Fight Em With Your Rock' (almost pure classic Skidrow!), 'Take Me Away', 'Time To Burn' and 'Close Your Eyes are destined top become rock classics!
Pure raw rock with just the right amount of attitude, I truly do hope that these guys last the distance because they do indeed rock!
Presently on tour opening for Kiss so get along and check em out!

website - http://www.myspace.com/takingdawn
rating 9/10

Castrovalva - We Are A Unit

Leeds trio Castrovalva bring us their debut album, We Are A Unit, which is a unique blending of punk rock and hip hop.

Now rap and rock have been crossing over for years, no better than with the likes of Rage Against The Machine, Insane Clown Posse, Twiztid and Hed Pe, but punk well that's different..
Tracks like 'Pump Pump' and 'Thug Poetry' really really give you a good idea of what these guys are all about.
An interesting release, maybe an acquired taste, and despite me being a huge Insane Clown Posse and Twiztid fan, this album just didn't do it for me, sorry

website - http://www.myspace.com/castrovalvamusic
rating 7/10

Bon Appetite - Volume 2

A three track ACDC tribute cd thats lots of fun featuring, Helix with 'Long Way To The Top', Ford T with 'Sin City' and Derek St Holmes with 'You Shook Me All Night Long'.


How could you really go wrong with classic songs like that, none disappoint, but for me the stand out has to be Helix and ' Long Way To The Top'.

website - http://www.perrisrecords.com/

rating 8/10

Two Choices - Have You Heard

Brighton 4-piece Two Choices bring us their new Ep in the form of Have You Heard. (Before i forget i should also note that physical copies come with a bonus disc featuring their previously released 7 track debut Ep The Longest Journey!)

The bands influences include everyone from Elton John, Bon jovi, Green Day and quite possible the kitchen sink, as their musical range seems to touch on everyone!
The result is a great set on tracks, and an accomplished performance from the guys.
The inclusion of the previous ep allows you to see the bands progression in both songwriting and production which is a nice touch too.
Looking forward to a full length album soon I hope


website - http://www.myspace.com/twochoices

rating 8/10

Danger Angel - Danger Angel

Greek hard rock band, Danger Angel bring us their new EP simply titled Danger Angel via Perris Records.

Their are some great songs on here, with Jeff Scott Soto guesting on vocals on one track, ' Never Let You Go' and 'Till the End of Time' featuring a guest female vocalist who does a blinding job, (unfortunately I cant find out her name anywhere but this lady rocks!).
Main vocalist Jimmy Cage has a distinctive voice, which could be an acquired taste, but on a whole this CD is a solid release.

website - http://www.myspace.com/dangerangelrock
rating 8/10

Cherry Street - Monroe

Here we have one of Cherry St.'s best albums, re-released with three bonus tracks - and strangely enough with one of the original tunes missing! Re issued via Perris Records.


Cherry St unfortunately always had a kind of revolving door policy with its band members which left them with a certain instabilities which can sometimes be heard in their music, but it also gave us some great tunes, like 'One More Tonight' (w/ Marq Torien on vocals), and 'Joker's Wild' (w/ Kevin Steele on vocals). Monroe is a great collection of catchy and understated rock songs, pure glam rock with a nod in the direction of ACDC!

website - http://www.perrisrecords.com/

rating 8/10

Wednesday 14 April 2010

Obsessive Compulsive - Dreams of Death and the Death of Dreams

The debut album from Manchester Gothic / punk / rock band Obsessive Compulsive is a fine piece of work.

Kicking off with ‘$$‘, grunge laden grooves are thrown at you, intertwining with front woman Kelii’s pseudo-hypnotic snarl. The chorus brings forward an attitude that runs through the entire album, “You are the enemy, and we will not be deceived”. Musically it is bold, raw and dirty. Pulsing with energy you can easily pick up hefty nods towards the likes of Hole and Killing Joke. Obsessive Compulsive work best when they are running at full tilt and ‘Spit The Medicine’ is a real belter of a tune 9which for some reson brings to mind lost 90's rockers Die Cheerleader), and ‘Exit’ gives you a track that is destined to be a live classic with audiences bouncing along. The hypnotic Marilyn Manson-esque ‘A Cocktail Of Toxins’ forces itself under your skin and into your psyche showing that they can pull off the darkened slower tracks, and ‘Hell Is a Circle’ simply gives you the creeps.

Dreams Of death and the Death Of Dreams is an album full of raw energy and attitude that just gets better with each listen.

Highly recon mended!
website - http://www.myspace.com/obsessivecompulsive

rating 10/10

Advantage - The Beat Single

Dance Floor Punk with Brass to dance to, is the first line in the bio that comes with this CD, and to be honest that's the best way to describe this release from punk / pop / ska rockers Advantage.

The Beat is a double a side release, 'The Beat' (Get Up) and 'Wait' (Is This Love) being the two tracks on offer here. 'The Beat' is a great up tempo dance track which will have the dance floors bouncing in all the clubs that play this whilst 'Wait' is a mid tempo ballad type of song. Both tracks are very well written and executed.
Advantage may have struck a rich vein and discovered a new genre with their 'aggressive mix of pop punk dance and rock'.

website - http://www.myspace.com/advantagemusicuk

rating 10/10

Adrenaline 101 - Twelve Step Programme


Swiss rockers offer up Twelve Step Programme a great contemporary melodic rock album.
This stunning debut album was surprisingly the album was mastered by the legendary GEORGE MARINO in New York, not bad for your debut heh?
Most of the songs are straight-ahead with some AC/DC meets early 80s DEF LEPPARD guitar riffs and melodies, but still sounding fresh. Actually they do remind a little of AIRBOURNE here and there, but with songs like “Brand new day”, “Golden frame” (very catchy tune, really sounding like something DEF LEPPARD could have done back in 1983) and “Your touch” they even deliver some great catchy pure uptempo 80s type of US melodic rock a la LOUD’N’CLEAR, KNOW ILLUSION, SIC VIKKI, AUTOGRAPH...
Frontman Delon Cyclon has a great set of pipes on him, really bringing the songs to life.
Adrenaline 101 have a bright future ahead of them, this CD is highly recon mended!

website - http://www.myspace.com/adrenalineone0one

rating 9/10

69 Shots - 3 Track demo

69 Shots are a Midlands based Rock / Metal / Punk / Sleaze band, playing the kind of music that they want "and if you like us, come join the party! If not, GO HOME! ‘cause we don’t have to fuckin’ impress you!"

The three track on offer here are 'Lost In It All', 'Wipe The Walls' and 'Guilt Trip City', with 'Lost In It All' and Guilt Trip City' proving to be the strongest of the three. 69 Shots have a sound reminiscent of early LA Guns / Drugdealer Cheerleader and at time long lost Brit Glam hopefuls Rich Rags.
The riffs are solid, the solos great (if not electrifying, but then I should state that the three tracks are just rough mixes at the moment!).
69 Shots have some solid songs and a great rock n roll attitude, and must be a shed load of fun live. I'm definitely interested in hearing the full length album after these three tracks have wet my appetite.
Great good old fashioned Rock N Roll!

website - http://www.myspace.com/69shotsonline

rating 8/10

Friday 2 April 2010

Silverjet - Silverjet

Now this CD has been out for a little while, originally seeing it release back in 2008, but Ive only just stumbled upon it and by god I am so happy that I did!

From the opening track of 'Crazy' the scenes set for a good old fashioned classic rock album jammed packed with high quality tracks!
As I have just said, Silverjet play a classic hard rock with a southern blues edge, which is really evident on the albums second track 'Broken'.
The bands influences red like who's who of the classic / hard rock genre, but they manage to maintain a kind of unique sound, and as I said this debut albums jam packed with 12 excellent songs. Vocalist Dave Kerr can hold his own amongst the best of them, Silverjet a really a force to be reckoned with!
Even when the band slow things down little like on 'The Final Chapter' and 'Lie With Me' the songs maintain the strength and power!

A great album from a great Sheffield (Midlands UK) based band that you really should check out!

They are currently searching for a new Rhythm guitarist, but the future looks good!


website - http://www.myspace.com/silverjet

rating 10/10

Die Wasted - Wasteland Fugitives



Die wasted are a Glam / Metal / Punk band from East St. Louis, Illinois USA, playing a kind of loud proud gutter rock that would make motorhead proud. Wasteland Fugitives is two track self financed single (b/w Into The Tavern - My Last Drink).

Imagine Cowboy Prostitutes playing Motorhead tracks and you may get an idea of what these guys sound like, lots of fast screaming sleazy guitar riffs and some screamed almost shouted vocals. Just what the doctor ordered.

Well worth checking out!

website - www.myspace.com/diewasted

rating - 9/10

Speedjackers - Favourite Sons

Italian hard rock / punk / rock n rollers, Speedjackers return with their second official full album release in the form of Favourite Sons.

The bands sound has matured since the release of their debut album, moving more towards the classic rock end of the spectrum, as witnessed by the two strong opening tracks 'Shake' and 'A Little Boom'.
One of the few problems that I do have with Speedjackers unfortunately comes from lead vocalist Kekko. Now please don't get wrong, Kekko is a fine vocalist, but unfortunately his accent remains very very prominent and at times detracts from the over all feel of the songs, and also for the international market there are a two tracks that have been left in their native Italian language, but with that said, the album contains 10 very well written songs performed by a talented and obviously passionate group of musicians.

If you want to hear promising set of track then Favourite Sons is worth checking out!

website - http://www.myspace.com/speedjackers

rating 8/10

Ictus - Handmade & Homegrown

Leicester-based pop / punk quartet bring us their new 5 track mini album, Handmade & Homegrown, which is released 10th May.


With influences ranging from The Offspring, Fall Out Boy and Green Day (being the more obvious ones) you can kind of guess how these guys are going to sound before you even hear the first note, an infectious blend of melodies and choruses.

Ictus front man Aaron Murray has the sort of shiny-smooth voice that was made to sing this kind of music, even though at times his voice does have its limitations, especially on the shout along choruses. Of the five tracks on offer here Id have to say that 'Car Crash Heart', (upon which Ictus really do try and court the Emo brigade!), and 'Call Me On' are the picks of the bunch even though the softer more mellow 'Papers and Pens' is a pretty damn fine track too!

If you are a fan of the bands mentioned earlier then I see know reason as to why you wont love Ictus, if not, well then maybe you should give these guys a wide birth, for me though personally I don't see any problems with bouncy poppy punk tracks!

website - http://www.ictusrock.com/

rating 8/10