RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/InnerAxis/ The German heavy metal outfit known as Inner Axis recently unleashed this ten-track affair of theirs via Fastball Music, and just like the single releases and full-length LPs that preceded Midnight Forces it very much leans towards the classic variety of the genre, which is to say that your appetite…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1uDc5JEr1w The premise and idea of having Michael Sweet (Stryper, Sweet and Lynch, Sunbomb) and Alessandro Del Vecchio team up was an interesting one, and I was looking forward to Return Me to Light, but sadly, it turned out to be somewhat disappointing and lackluster. There is no denying the musical…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/falsememoriesband The Italian dark metal quintet known as False Memories have been keeping busy these past couple of years, and it feels like only yesterday that I reviewed their last opus, the gloomy The Last Night of Fall. Hybrid Ego System, which is their third full-length record, pretty much picks up…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7LDB2IlMsof4n8sxOexPz7 Featuring the three incredibly skilled vocalists Kent Hilli, Toby Hitchcock, and Robbie LaBlanc, T3nors is a melodic rock/AOR project by Frontiers Records that has been in the works for a few years. There is no shortage of quality musicianship here, and the slick and glossy production suits the song material…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022BAND URL: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7tibwgLd3lI7eXXPwIJ8sH This debut album by vocalist Nevena came out late last year via Frontiers and is in many ways a mixture of melodic hard rock and AOR. The Serbian singer has teamed up with songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist Michael Palace, which is a great move on paper, but while the two of them are…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/landfallofficial/ I was very fond of Landfall’s debut album titled The Turning Point (2020) as it boasted great songs with a sense of immediacy and youthful vigor to them, so naturally, I was curious as to how their latest offering, Elevate, would turn out. Sadly, it fails to capitalize on the…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://winter5.bandcamp.com/album/fire-rider I was quite taken with Winter’s atmospheric and moving Looking Back compilation CD, which was released earlier this year and consisted of reworked and re-recorded tunes, but this latest output, Fire Rider is a frustratingly mixed bag in terms of cohesiveness and quality. It incorporates ideas and influences from hard…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/henrikhydra/ This one nearly got away from my pile of stuff to review, so before that warped brain of mine forgets completely, I should probably write a few short and concise lines about this eleven-track effort, right? Melodic rockers Hydra from Sweden are a relatively new band and also a new…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/GenerationRadioBand/ With past and present members from such notable acts as Journey, Chicago, and Rascal Flatts in its ranks, this constellation of musicians looked quite interesting on paper. As is usually the case with these projects where skilled and prominent individuals have joined forces in order to churn out either AOR,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: http://jeffscottsoto.com/retribution/index.html The talented Jeff Scott Soto is a productive guy, and he is responsible for having crafted some excellent tunes both as a solo artist and as a member of other projects and ensembles, but I must admit that this latest effort of his is a letdown and a disappointment. There…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/semblantband The Brazilian outfit known as Semblant, which was conceived back in 2006, have returned with their fourth full-length assault and what we are served here is a basically a mixture of modern melodic metal, power metal, gothic metal, and arguably also subtle hint of prog metal. That the six members…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/PoisonRoseMusic/ Poison Rose is a brand-new project conceived by the Frontiers management team where vocalist and songwriter Marco Sivo (Time Machine) truly gets to shine, and there can be no doubt that the man is a hugely skilled singer with a knack for coming up with appealing melody lines and strong…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.annihilatormetal.com/ The renowned Canadian thrash/speed/groove metal mongers Annihilator, which is masterminded by the hugely skilled Jeff Waters, were one of the groups that I grew up listening to, but I must admit that I have found quite a few of their later albums to be patchy affairs. “Metal II” is essentially…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/nassonchile Checking out new bands and debut albums is always something that I am looking forward to, and this one by the Chilean melodic heavy metal trio known as Nasson was no different. Actually, Nasson himself is the main man behind this project as well as the primary songwriter here, and…
This Norwegian band is a new addition to the melodic rock scene and their self-titled debut effort is a rather slick and highly polished affair with roots firmly planted in 80s-inspired AOR. While these guys are obviously skilled musicians, the majority of songs on the disc are unfortunately somewhat forgettable and there is neither a…
I found the self-titled debut album (2018) by these melodic rockers an enjoyable listen full of hooks and earworms, and so I was looking forward to this crisp-sounding new LP of theirs. Is it as good and memorable as its predecessor then? Well, the insanely talented Steve Overland (FM) is always right on the money…
The US symphonic metallers known as Seven Spires released this lengthy opus of theirs via Frontiers not that long ago and its sixteen compositions are heavily influenced by bombastic black metal, gothic metal, and dark metal. In other words, this is a rather dynamic and musically varied piece of work in that it draws on…
The latest album by the Norwegian outfit known as Big City marks a change in that new vocalist Jørgen Bergersen has entered the fold while the style and sound of the group has also turned slightly more aggressive compared to earlier on. What we have here is an energetic mixture of hard rock and heavy…
"Cocked and Loaded Live" by renowned glam metal act L.A. Guns is one of those releases that I was truly looking forward to immersing myself in and reviewing because the fact is that these guys have made some great albums over the years and written countless tunes that work perfectly in a live setting and…
Icon of Sin is yet another project shaped and put together by Frontiers Records and that kind of thing usually goes one of two ways, as you can probably imagine. These skilled Brazilian musicians dabble in 80s-inspired heavy metal with plenty of hard rock references thrown into the mix, but sadly, this is just one…
