RELEASE YEAR: 2025 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/wetofficialpage/ Receiving a new album by the fabulous international constellation known as W.E.T. is always a treat and this fifth full-length LP of theirs is no exception. Their line-up is akin to a wet dream (see what I did there?) to lovers of fist-pumping melodic hard rock and there is nothing…
Brazilian melodic hard rockers Landfall impressed me greatly with their spirited and energetic debut offering titled The Turning Point (2020) as it contained plenty of catchy tracks delivered with a sense of class and youthful vigor. The follow-up from 2022, Elevate, was a bit of letdown as it lacked those big, juicy hooks and memorable…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://theactualdarkness.bandcamp.com/album/dreams-on-toast Who could possibly resist the temptation of surrendering oneself wholeheartedly to a sparkling new album by the UK’s finest exponent of uplifting and raunchy rock ‘n’ roll, namely The Darkness? Not me, that is for damn sure! Dreams on Toast is basically the sound of the kick-ass outfit firing on all…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://rwake.bandcamp.com/album/the-return-of-magik It has been a long and occasionally torturous wait for a new album by the Arkansas mystics known as Rwake, but March this year will see the release of a vigorous new opus via Relapse Records titled The Return of Magik. More evocative and beautifully haunting than past exploits, these six…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://sykofantband.bandcamp.com/ The previous effort by the musically devious Norwegian prog rockers Sykofant, namely the self-titled album from last year, inhabited and exuded so many wonderful traits and positives that it became one of the highlights of 2024 to this scribe. The ferventness and vigor of said record also permeates this delightfully…
Last year I had the great pleasure of witnessing the hard-hitting Norwegian metal quintet known as Tessia live on stage in Bergen when they were competing in the Wacken Metal Battle semi-finals, and it was a night to remember. Not only was it a hugely memorable performance with the band firing on all cylinders and…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://omnibuspress.com/products/mc5-an-oral-biography-of-rock-s-most-revolutionary-band In this day and age, it might be nigh on impossible to imagine or even fathom just how pivotal MC5 truly were. Inhabiting a musical landscape that laid somewhere between raw garage rock and fierce proto-punk, these Detroit-based rebels essentially spearheaded a new movement that challenged pretty much every norm and…
– VENUE: Grieghallen – DATE: 21.02.2025 – ORGANIZER: Stageway The legendary Norwegian hard rockers TNT embarked on their Out from Under the Black Cloud tour roughly a week ago, and last night we had the great pleasure of witnessing the majestic event at one of Bergen’s best-sounding venues, namely the renowned Grieghallen. With very few…
VENUE: Cosmopolite SceneDATE: 11 February 25ORGANIZER: FKP Scorpio Full photo gallery: Rolling Quartz, an all-female rock band from South Korea, has been making waves in the global music scene since their formation in August 2019. The group emerged from the merger of two bands, Rolling Girlz and Rose Quartz, bringing together the talents of vocalist…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.sonicbondpublishing.co.uk/other-books/phil-lynott-renegade A few years ago, I had the great pleasure of reviewing a thoroughly engaging and superbly researched book on the mighty Thin Lizzy titled Are You Ready? Thin Lizzy: Album by Album by author Alan Byrne. Shortly after, I purchased Byrne’s biography on the vagabond of the Western world, i.e.…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://linktr.ee/officialshrike Shrike, who hail from the city of Preston in the UK, turned out to be a bit of a musical curve ball in the positive sense of the word. An intense listen in so many ways, this richly textured long-player of theirs defies any attempt at pigeonholing and can perhaps…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://thebreathingmethod.band/ From the windswept shores of glorious Scotland comes this grunge-flavored slice of hard and heavy rock courtesy of The Breathing Method. Entitled After Everything Else and containing eleven tracks that recall some of the darker and more sludgy material coming out of Seattle and New York City in the late…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.thinlizzyofficial.com Considering the evocative and heartfelt nature of the first three Thin Lizzy albums from the early seventies, the prospect of immersing oneself in acoustic renditions and re-workings of some of the very best compositions from those exciting days appeared highly intriguing and interesting to this scribe. So how does the…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://www.sonicbondpublishing.co.uk/other-books/phil-lynott-renegade It was with great joy that I received and opened a parcel in late December containing one of Sonicbond Publishing’s latest titles, namely this updated version of Alan Byrne’s Renegade, which is a study of (and a reflection on) the sadly missed Philip Lynott of Thin Lizzy fame. From his…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://www.dellanovaband.com/ This is a rather interesting British outfit that came about during the pandemic, and which falls somewhere between alt. rock and grunge with an original twist. Crafted and composed by main man Alex Bowmer, these eleven melodically strong compositions possess an experimental quality that sets them apart from much else…
VENUE: Troon Concert HallDATE: 29.11.2024 ORGANIZER: Plan BPHOTOGRAPHER: C. NepperPhotos copyrights belong to the photographer. No unauthorized usage allowed. Please contact photographer if you wish to reuse images in any context. An annual Christmas tradition of ours always includes a few days in the lovely little Scottish town known as Troon, and it just…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://www.dewolff.nu/#/news Just by listening to this joyous and uplifting record I could have sworn that these gentlemen originate from the Deep South of the US, but the fact is that Dewolff hail from the Netherlands. Nevertheless, such is the authenticity and conviction with which these chaps churn out their passionate tunes,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/kaasinmusic/ Bluesy hardrock and an epic story of a true hero of the West Single & video out November 22nd, 2024! Former Come Taste the Band guitarist, JO HENNING KAASIN, known for his collaboration with, among others, GLENN HUGHES (Deep Purple) and JOE LYNN TURNER (Rainbow) founded KAASIN together with bassist…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://wizrd.bandcamp.com/album/elements The musically gifted and delightfully adventurous Norwegian rockers named Wizrd released a stunning debut album titled Seasons back in 2022, and ever since then I have been looking forward to its follow- up. Elements will arrive in early December and let me tell you straight up that this could very…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://electrichigh.bandcamp.com/album/colorful-white-lies Apollon Records were kind enough to hand me a copy of this raw and raunchy debut offering by the Bergen-based hard rockers known as Electric High, and I am eternally grateful to them for that as this groove-laden, catchy, and energetic record ticks a lot of the boxes for me…
