The End Machine was a new project/band put together by three ex-Dokken musicians in George Lynch (guitar), Jeff Pilson (bass) and drummer Mick Brown with former Lynch Mob and current Warrant vocalist Robert Mason. The idea behind the creation of the new team was to produce music with a strong '80s vibe that was cutting edge,..
LYNYRD SKYNYRD – Nothing Comes Easy 1991-2012 (HNE / Cherry Red)
...it may come as a surprise to some just how vital the best of this material is. God & Guns is essential, but Last Of A Dying Breed and The Last Rebel aren't too far behind. It's interesting that so many people still seem to think that Lynyrd Skynyrd ceased to be after the tragic..
Amigo The Devil – Born Against (Liars Club)
Amigo The Devil is the alter ego of American musician Danny Kiranos, a truly remarkable artist with a most distinctive style and penchant for songs of a gruesome and disturbing nature. His quite sublime debut, Everything Is Fine, was a deliciously dark slice of Americana and quite obviously showed that everything was, indeed, not fine!..
Ottone Pesante – Doomood (Aural Music)
Doomood certainly has to be one of the most outrageously original albums made in recent years. Imagine heavy rock music without guitars. No crunching chords. No guitar solos. Not even a thumping bass. You are probably thinking: what is left? Would it be John Bonham bashing away for fifteen minutes of Moby Dick? Luckily, there..
Peter Hammill – In Translation (Fie! Records)
I was once referred to as “the Shirley Bassey of the Underground”. Then and now I’m happy to live with that. Curious was the news that P.J.A. Hammill, esteemed and prolific British songsmith, had announced at the age of 72 that he was releasing an album consisting entirely of other people's compositions. What should not..
ARC OF LIFE – Arc Of Life (Frontiers)
Every new album which comes out has to be judged first and foremost on its own merits, it goes without saying. However, there are some releases whose significance make it impossible not to factor in to any assessment such things as how it is likely to appeal to the target audience, and how it fits..
School Disco – The Head’s Still There (Copper Feast Records)
School Disco are a young band hailing from Brighton, formed in 2016 and producing a nice blend of psych rock, indie rock, pop, post-punk and hard rock, pretty much on a DIY basis. The band are set to release their second album The Head's Still There, due out on 6 August 2021. This follows on..
GANDALF’S FIST – The (Re)Master And The Monkey (Nightkeeper Productions)
Now, a little context and historical placement before we launch into this strange and wonderful conceptual beast, being as it is neither entirely remaster nor new recording, but a rather unique hybrid of the two. Around a decade ago, when Gandalf's Fist were still essentially two men with a hobby and an oddball band name,..
BRUIT – The Machine is Burning and Now Everyone Knows It Could Happen Again (Elusive Sound)
So - this is something really quite different from yer average rock album, so stay with me as I explain! BRUIT ≤ are an elegant French ambient/neo-classical/post-rock band who originally emerged from the ashes of several pop bands, with a burning desire to do something different, turn their backs on the commercial recording industry and return to a process of musical creation without constraints. In fact, the initial plan was not to perform live at all, but to research and experiment with sound in a studio environment. No,..
Silent Winter – Empire Of Sins (Pride & Joy Music)
The beginnings of Silent Winter go back to the mid '90s when they formed in Volos, a coastal city on the Greek mainland, and released a couple of demo tapes (remember them?) and played a number of gigs but the band subsequently folded. Fast forward to 2018 and the band reformed but with an almost..