I’m the guy who comes up with the ideas, sees the big picture, and puts it all together... “I just love recording my various projects in the studio,” says Arjen Anthony Lucassen, mastermind behind the soaring series of concept albums set in the Ayreon universe, “but I’m not a live performer. I’m the guy who..
Son of Man – Interview
Son Of Man, led by George Jones (son of man legend Mickey) recently released the album State of Dystopia (see review posted 27 Feb 2020). Following the release of the album, I have the opportunity to sit down with George for Velvet Thunder, and discuss the latest news about the band and also the strange..
NOVENA – Eleventh Hour (Frontiers)
Mark the name, as these guys are going to be huge in the progressive rock universe! This is the debut album by this UK progressive metal band formed in 2013 and they already have an outstanding EP in their locker with the quite staggering 32-minute Secondary Genesis featuring three lengthy prog metal tracks - and..
Photo: Richard Bolwell
Joe Satriani reschedules UK & European Tour
Joe Satriani releases statement on rescheduling the Shapeshifting UK Tour “The current COVID-19 virus has now reached pandemic proportions and is making daily life for all of us very challenging. As always, my concern for the health and safety of my fans, my band and crew always take precedence when touring, and now is no..
Zucchero – The Italian king of the Blues
I went to live in Italy in 1990 and as well as being eager to enjoy the wonderful climate and delightful food I was curious to discover what the local music scene was like. Listening to the radio, I was not inspired by the general diet of soggy melodic pop but there was one song..
Script For A Bassist’s Tear: Pete Trewavas on the deluxe reissue of the classic Marillion debut album
The 1983 debut album from the Mad Marillos is the latest in the ongoing deluxe reissue series of the first eight albums for EMI, and it is a cracker of a set. Have a gander at the goodies included this time around: On the first disc, a sparkling new 2020 remix of the album -..
Harem Scarem – Change The World (Frontiers Music)
Formed in 1987 and still going strong, the melodic rock band Harem Scarem is one of Canada’s greatest exports with their superior and ever pleasing brand of AOR. They have a couple of blips behind them especially when they changed their name to Rubber for a couple of albums around the millennium but this was..
Semblant – Obscura (Frontiers Music)
I just knew that this was going to be a difficult album for me to review when I looked at the album publicity and saw the three words that were never meant to go together, melodic death metal! I’m quite a simple person and to me, there is quite a gulf between melodic metal and..
YES – REISSUES: Open Your Eyes / The Ladder (earMusic)
In the late '90s Yes seemed to be back on a little bit of a resurgence after the baffling skirmish between the so-called 'Yes-West' incarnation which recorded 90125, Big Generator and Talk, the absurdly named 'Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe' which appeared after Jon Anderson left the former, and the shambolic Union meeting which saw a..
Coffeinne – Requiem
Coffeinne show that they have the ability to write top class material...... Coffeinne is a fairly new four-piece Spanish metal band, formed in Madrid in 2015. And before you go and Google this, Coffeinne is not Spanish for “caffeine” (“cafeína” is). The word does not seem to exist in any language I’m aware of so..