Sometimes the name of a band can leave you under entirely the wrong impression about the material they actually purvey. Despite their superbly 'English' name, Hats Off Gentlemen It's Adequate may in all likelihood fall into that very category. The name immediately conjures up a quirky English eccentricity embodied by the likes of Kevin Ayers,..
Wobbler – Dwellers Of The Deep (Karisma)
Dramatic and evocative... Album Of The Year material There is cause for celebration in the land of Wobbler. The many-bearded quintet has emerged from their lair deep in the Norwegian woodland to deliver the follow-up to 2017's acclaimed From Silence To Somewhere. An even more robust and focused release, Dwellers Of The Deep marks the..
Kiss The Gun – We See You (KTG Records)
They did what all serious bands would do if they had the chance and the initiative, and hired an impressively hirsute, classically-trained trombonist... Kiss the gun are a melodic metal band based in Salisbury in Wiltshire, founded in 2016 by a duo of New Wave of Heavy Metal veterans, rhythm guitarist Graham Exton and bass..
Pain Of Salvation – Panther (InsideOut Music)
This is a very good album and will undoubtedly be ranked amongst the best progressive metal albums of the year. There is a fantastic soaring guitar solo that enters around the eight-minute mark on the closing track of this album, giving us a minute or so of pure Gilmouresque magic. But, remarkably, that is the..
ATTAXE – 20 Years The Hard Way (Pure Steel Records)
I guess Attaxe is a band that very few of us have heard of - and they seem to have had a history that makes the woes of Anvil seem like scaling the heights of rock stardom! Active from the mid-'80s to the early-'90s, Attaxe released numerous demos but that elusive record deal was always..
Ignea – The Realms Of Fire And Death (Kadabra Music)
Ignea is not a band I know, and a quick look at their website gives all of the expected detail on them but then they sum themselves up in one superbly succinct strapline stating that they are a 'Ukrainian melodic metal band with symphonic, electronic and Middle-Eastern influences'. Sounds a touch bizarre but it is..
Be Bop Deluxe – Axe Victim 2CD Edition (Esoteric)
If there ever was an album on which Bill Nelson allowed himself the luxury of being an ‘axe hero’, this would be the one. The latest installment of Esoteric Records' reissuing of the Be Bop Deluxe catalogue in deluxe editions (or should that be 'deluxe Deluxe editions) backtracks a little and alights upon the band's..
Jessica Wolff – Para Dice (Metapolis Records)
Jessica Wolff appears to be a rather busy young Finnish lady as she is a musician and actor (who does her own stunt work) and a Kung-Fu enthusiast as well, obviously not a woman to mess with. Para Dice is her third album following on from Renegade in 2014 and Grounded in 2017. Not an..
She Bites – Joyride (Pride & Joy Music)
She Bites is the rock vehicle put together in 2019 for Berlin based singer and actress Melanie Stahlkopf by the Lioncage and ex-Skyline guitarist Lars König with the band being completed by drummer Carsten Kohl (Three Wishes) and bassist Arvid Lucas (Lioncage). Together, they have produced Joy Ride, a thoroughly enjoyable pop/AOR album with hooks aplenty..
DYBLE LONGDON – Between A Breath And A Breath (English Electric Recordings)
Breath .. is a collaborative effort between Big Big Train’s David Longdon and ex-Fairport Convention and Trader Horne chanteuse Judy Dyble who happily, in recent years, emerged from what she referred to as her ‘thirty year career break’ to resume her singing career again, joining the Fairports at Cropredy for the band's thirtieth anniversary show..