Tri State Corner is a rather intriguing heavy rock band made up by musicians from Greece, Poland and Germany and seems to be one of the few metal bands that incorporate the Bouzouki (Greek lute) in their armoury. Formed around 13 years ago, they have a number of albums to their name with Hero being..
BE BOP DELUXE – Live! In The Air Age (Esoteric / Cherry Red)
Be Bop Deluxe brought their relatively short but extremely notable career to an end only a year after this 1977 live recording, recorded during their UK tour earlier that year, disbanding after the following Drastic Plastic release. To the casual listener, and indeed to many fans who had not had the opportunity to see the..
Hookers & Blow – Hookers & Blow (Golden Robot Records)
Hookers & Blow is a rock and roll band put together in 2003 by Dizzy Reed of Guns N' Roses and Alex Grossi of Quiet Riot and was formed simply to be a fun band for them to experiment and play around with. The line-up has changed over the years to suit the prevailing moods..
Mentalist – A Journey Into The Unknown (Pride & Joy Music)
The hard melodic rock band Mentalist was formed in 2018 in Saarbrücken, Germany with A Journey Into The Unknown being the band's second album following on rapidly from the well received Freedom Of Speech which came out in 2020. The debut showed an exceptional band with a flair for songwriting and an aggressive power metal style..
Massacre – Resurgence (Nuclear Blast)
Massacre is a legendary name in death metal, with a history stretched as far back as 1986, so, believe it or not, the band celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. If you have followed their career, the conflicts, split-up, mud-throwing and drama between past and present band members have been almost a constant, and the..
Images Of Eden – Angel Born (Pavement Entertainment)
The American band that is Images Of Eden was formed in Pennsylvania by the singer and multi instrumentalist Gordon Tittsworth with the debut self-titled album coming out in 2001 and is an excellent and well rounded progressive metal delight. Tittsworth sang and played all instruments on the album which was a concept work about the..
Al Stewart – Time Passages (Esoteric / Cherry Red)
Last year I did an interview for Velvet Thunder with Eric Bloom and the conversation turned to Blue Oyster Cult’s most famous song, (Don’t Fear) The Reaper. Asking about its longevity, Bloom said that certain songs simply ‘have legs’ and they just keep on getting played and played until they burrow themselves into the public..
Lost In Grey – Under The Surface (Reaper Entertainment Europe)
Lost In Grey is a rather superior symphonic metal band from Finland which was formed in 2013 by the singer, keyboard player and song writer Harri Koskela (Thaurorod) and vocalist Anne Lill Rajala. They recruited well and hit the ground running with the excellently received debut The Grey Realms in 2017 with 2019's The Waste..
Intentional Trainwreck – Smokestack Of Souls (Independent Release)
The lottery of reviewing is that, for the most part, you do not know what is coming up next until you press play and the sound starts to hit you. Smetimes, the words come easy and at other times less so. Step forward Intentional Trainwreck a group that is ostensibly progressive metal but, in truth,..
Ministry – Moral Hygiene (Nuclear Blast)
It is impossible to know where to begin when talking about Ministry. With origins in the late 1970's, the band actually began some 40 years ago in 1981 as a synth-pop act before evolving into a pioneering industrial band that has influenced too many to name. With a revolving line up which has featured artists..