All of these albums allowed us the freedom - even though we were working in a narrative - to pick the bits that we felt really would be best conveyed in musical form, and that's what I loved about it - Oliver Wakeman It's probably fair to say that most fans of contemporary and classic..
The 5th Season: Resistor’s Steve Unruh talks life, death, and music
The 5th season is where someone's life lives on in the influence they've had in other people... There's an air of refinement to The 5th Season, the new album from American quartet Resistor. If previous albums displayed the band traversing well-worn paths of epics, zaniness, and plain ol' heavy rock riffage, this latest platter sees..
Interview with Geoff Tate (Sweet Oblivion, Operation:Mindcrime)
Love him or hate him, Geoff Tate is a legend. Nothing less. Having recorded 12 studio albums with progressive metal heavyweights Queensrÿche, at least five of which are immortal classics, 2012 was a turning point for Tate, who split with the band and started a new band, under the name of, hmm, Operation: Mindcrime. With..
Arielle
I have to admit to being a little surprised. In her opening salvo, the first track on the new album Analog Girl In A Digital World, Arielle rails against the world’s headlong rush into technology. She yearns for the old days, before the internet, when kids amused themselves with slingshots and puzzles and if they..
IAN ANDERSON – Jethro Tull: The A-Team And The A-Z Of Lyrics
Back in 1972, Ian Anderson sang ‘Spin me back down the years and the days of my youth’ (from Thick As a Brick) and it seems to me that this is exactly what Jethro Tull has been doing over the last decade for old-time Jethro Tull fans, with the incredibly rich series of 40th anniversary..
Andy Scott (Sweet)
I used to be 'Neil Young,' but I love digital these days! What a difference a year-and-a-bit can make. When we last encountered veteran glam-rockers Sweet on these pages in December 2019, they were in the midst of a UK tour and discussing the possibility of releasing their first album of new material after a..
T2 – Will things finally work out in Boomland?
T2, along with a few other late '60s/early '70s bands, enjoy the kudos of having released an album regarded by many as a gem, but which failed to elevate the band to the heights it was assumed they’d achieve. Few bands in rock history have ever released a debut album as good as T2 did,..
Kimono Drag Queens – Life Down Under
One of the most wonderful things about being a rock fan is that every now and then you are blown away by someone you've never heard of before, and your musical taste buds are revitalised as a result. Last Autumn I got to review an unusual looking album by a band with the fantastic name..
NAD SYLVAN – ‘Interview With The Vampirate’
Nad Sylvan... Hugh Erik Stewart to his parents... is an American-born Swedish vocalist and multi-instrumentalist who, despite his relatively recent high profile as the vocalist in Steve Hackett’s band, has actually been around for some considerable time. Born in LA in June, 1959, he’s been making music since the 1970s. At 16 he fronted a..
Interview with Karl Willets (Memoriam)
Back in 2016, one of the all-time greats of death metal, the mighty Bolt Thrower, announced they will no longer continue, after the tragic loss of their drummer, Martin “Kiddie” Kearns. Who would have thought that Martin’s passing could also be a trigger for a completely new band to be formed, in his memory, and..