In 1973/4, in my late teens, one never-to-be-forgotten episode of the OGWT featured two new bands that totally wowed me to the extent that I rushed out and bought both debut albums the next day. One band was Sassafras, the legendary Welsh rockers, the other was a trio called Blue - the original, excellent proper..

Finnish band Craneium to release their third studio album on The Sign Records
Finnish fuzz-rock outfit Craneium are set to release their third studio full-length Unknown Heights in Autumn 2021. Blending dreamy, psychedelic soundscapes with crushingly heavy riffs and thick layers of fuzz, the new album offers a varied and dynamic take on desert rock. Unknown Heights follows Craneium's 2016 debut Explore the Void and 2018 follow-up The..

The Hawkins – Aftermath (The Sign Records)
Sweden’s high-flying garage rock outfit The Hawkins are set to release a new mini-album in autumn 2021. Following the release of 2020's Silence is a Bomb and its affiliated live-album Live in the Woods, The Hawkins decided to make something different. The result is Aftermath - a conceptual mini-album, dealing with the destructive aftermath of..

Second Sun – Kampen Går Vidare (Gaphals Records/The Sign Records)
Well, time for something of a first for me as this is the first ever NWOBHM inspired concept album sung entirely in Swedish that I have ever come across! Second Sun is a Stockholm based rock band with Kampen Går Vidare (The Struggle Continues) being the band's third album to date with their previous works..

Sealand Airlines – Sealand Airlines (The Sign Records)
The first thing you notice about the new rock band that is Sealand Airlines is that the sound, style and delivery is so quintessentially English and it therefore comes as quite a shock to discover that they are actually Ukrainian. This is the debut release by a talented team of musicians and I understand that..

Screamer – Highway Of Heroes (The Sign Records)
A second review this week of a Swedish old-school metal band – that speaks a lot, doesn’t it (including of the reviewer’s obsession with the genre)? This time it is Screamer we are talking about, who will be releasing their fourth full-length album on October 11th. Highway Of Heroes comes with a really vintage-looking cover..