In 25 words or less: “A Top 10 album of the year…yep, I think this one will make the list without question!” Swedish hard rockers Eclipse are set to unleash upon the world today (August 24th which is when I write this) their highly anticipated new album Bleed and Scream, which follows on from their killer 2008 release Are You […]

In 25 words or less: “If you are entranced by the vocals of Kobra Paige, then you have 41 minutes of aural pleasure awaiting you…” In a metal world now dominated by virtually every sub-genre imaginable, on this, their self titled album, Canadian’s Kobra and the Lotus deliver 11 tracks of straight up heavy metal, simple as that.  Signed to […]

Loverboy – yes that’s right, the Canadian rock legends Loverboy have just released on August 24th, a new album titled Rock N Roll Revival.  With Working For The Weekend and Turn Me Loose being a couple of classic 80’s rock anthems, over their 30 plus years, the band has sold over 10 million albums worldwide.  Whilst the last 20 or […]

The undisputed queen of metal, Doro, marks her arrival on new record label Nuclear Blast (fellow Germans), with the release of this four track EP, Raise Your Fist In The Air.  With a new full length album due out in October set to contain the tracks on this EP, this release acts merely as a teaser for what is to […]

In Summary: It’s like The Darkness set out to make an ‘all killer no filler’ type album with ‘Hot Cakes’ and they’ve done exactly that in my opinion. The Darkness are back. Were they missed? I think totally. The void that they left of that fun throwback retro rock sound and image was missing for far too long, but now […]

In Summary: “If more bands could make albums of this calibre then the charts and the world would be in a much better place.” Already loving the previous works of The Gaslight Anthem, I was excited when this record was coming and finally released. This is the bands fourth effort and as you’ll read below, in my opinion by far […]

In 25 words or less: “When you find that album that connects on first listen well then I think you’ve got something pretty special.” Versus The World have just released their new album, seven years after their debut, which has gotta be some record somewhere ha ha.  The good thing is, this is new band to me, I dig that […]

In Summary:  “Will The Offspring ever change the world with their music?  No.  Is this album something that should be enjoyed by as many as possible though?  Hell yes.” I remember hearing The Offspring for the first time in 1994 when they asked us to ‘Come Out And Play’ and we had to ‘keep them separated… ‘and from there they’ve […]

In summary: “These guys have made a really good rock record that has something for everyone and here’s hoping that everyone will give it a chance. It deserves it.” Here in Australia, it’s easy to remember Saving Abel for one song, that one being ‘Addicted’ as really, that’s the only one that got any love down here, well for those […]

In summary: ‘This album is like someone has finally turned on the blender and made a Pantera, Mudvayne, Damage Plan and Nothingface cocktail, and called it a Hellyeah. This album kicks ass.’ It’s been two years since Hellyeah’s last release, being ‘Stampede’ and now they’re back, this time they’ve taken a turn, and by turn I mean the volume knobs […]

In 25 words or less: “I can see why they’ve been around for so long and will be for much longer.  Clockwork Angels, yeah, check it out.” Now this may shock a lot of people but this is in fact the first Rush album I’ve ever listened to. Yeah. I know right? So here’s me losing my virginity to their […]

In 25 words or less: ‘Invisible Stars’ is a welcome return after six years for Everclear and to a sound you instantly know that has been updated to suit today. Remember this one… “We can live beside the ocean, leave the fire behind.  Swim out past the breakers, watch the world die…” We first heard Everclear back in 1995 with […]

In 25 words or less: Rick Springfield rules! Tribute albums – now aren’t they always an interesting proposition, there sure have been some shockers released over the years, others just unnecessarily bastardise some true classic songs, then there’s the flip side….who are these albums for the listening pleasure of?  In the case of the cynical out there reading this, you […]

“Legacy is a high octane concoction of 80’s influenced hard rock, AOR, modern metal and New Wave Of British Heavy Metal…full of fist pumping whoaaaaaaa, whoooooaaaa’s” Well aren’t these boys from Essex, UK who call themselves The Morning After and deliver a totally 80’s influenced amalgam of hard rock, AOR, modern metal and New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, an […]

“When it comes to Hartmann it’s all about earthy melodic rock songs with a dollop of blues and modern rock elements” Hartmann – Balance, this being the fourth album now from the former At Vance frontman Oliver Hartmann.  More than just that claim to fame however, Oliver Hartmann possesses some mighty vocal chords which has seen him contribute them to […]

It’s been interesting following the fortunes of Norway’s Wig Wam who initially blasted onto the scene back in 2005 with their entry into the Eurovision song contest with In My Dreams.  Similarly over in Sweden, there was The Poodles who followed a similar trajectory.  Both bands have struggled to shake their Eurovision moniker and quite frankly, also to be taken […]

“Delivers everything you would expect from an album featuring a Rambo like guitarist with a machine gun guitar.  There’s loads of gargantuan guitar work, some massive fist pumping anthems” Kane Roberts – for some he may be best known as probably one of the most identifiable members of Alice Cooper’s band, the hulk like guitarist with an arsenal of machine […]

“World Of Pain shows that Angel King are more than adept at delivering some pretty hot sleaze rock songs, but just not a whole albums worth.” Unfortunately, when you come from Sweden as Angel King do and when you have the tag of glam/sleaze rock, immediately the expectations of those from this corner of the world in Australia are sky high. […]

Eve 6, yes this is the same band that back in 1998 had a radio hit here in Australia with Inside Out, the song that saw the at the time teenagers “wanting to put their tender heart in a blender”.  For me, Eve 6 is best defined by their second album Horrorscope which in the year 2000 was as close […]

In 25 words or less: Millencolin fans out there, I’m sure most of you have already bought this already….if you haven’t, what the hell are you waiting for?  First things first, Happy 20th anniversary to Millencolin, you crazy Swedish punksters!  In celebration of their 20 years, the guys have just released The Melancholy Connection, which is essentially a follow on from the 1999 […]

“From seriously the most dependable artist in my entire collection, I applaud Richard Marx for yet another exceptional release.” Whilst this observation hasn’t been completely lost on me over the years, sitting down to write this review, I was reminded that when it comes to albums I’ve owned, Marx’s bazillion selling Repeat Offender album would sit somewhere amongst the first 10 […]

“Dominated by melodic rock right to the very end, this is the album that many Hardline fans have most likely been waiting for since Double Eclipse.” Whilst the lineup of Hardline has changed much over the course of the bands 20 odd year history and 4 albums, there has been one constant – the unmistakable vocals of Johnny Gioeli, surely […]

“I can’t explain why it only took the opening 10 seconds of Wishing Well for Daniel Pearson to have me completely hooked, but it did.” Isn’t music just a wonderful thing, or more specifically, aren’t our own personal reactions to music an even more wonderful thing?  Like I often do, do you often sit and wonder why sometimes your ears and […]

In 25 words or less: “It is the music of H.E.A.T that provides the soundtrack for the utopian world that I, Scott A Smith, Esquire lives, here in 2012.” When I first discovered Swedish melodic rockers H.E.A.T back in 2008 on the back of their self titled, debut release, there was something so magical for me personally in what H.E.A.T […]

In summary: Love them, hate them or just like them a little bit, Trixter make fun rock songs, so just listen to this and enjoy it for what it is, a cool rock record. Frontiers Records is renowned for reinventing artists and giving these 80’s and 90’s bands in essence a second shot at what they love, and that’s making […]

In 25 words or less: “A friendly, accessible, enjoyable album that is perfect to just relax to and zone out.” The newest album from Keane has just been released and only being familiar with previous hits I’ve never sat down and listened to a full album but I’m looking forward to doing so this time around if the opening track […]

In 25 words or less: ‘Prog, Metal, Thrash, Rock, Doom, take your pick, you’ve got it all here…’ In the what seems to be an ever growing list of bands we’ve not heard of contacting us, we give you Tribune and their new album ‘Elder Lore / The Dark Arts’, so let’s see what we’re in for. This band from […]

In summary: “It’s exciting to me to hear new music from a new band, regardless of who is in it and how they came together, this feels like a new band to me and one I hope that will continue to make albums down the road.” From the opening riff of the title track ‘Apocalyptic Love’ you hear that tone, […]

In 25 words or less: “Balls out rock, amazing ballads, modern rock songs, and balls out rock.  Yeah that’s right, said that twice, but it’s the truth.” It’s been three years since the release of Halestorm’s debut in 2009 and this new album has been a long time coming!  I’m happy to say that it was well worth the wait […]

If you are familiar with the name Ryan Roxie, then you probably fall into one of two categories.  Category one, you are familiar with his involvement as a guitarist with the likes of Slash’s Snakepit, or more prominently, spending a decade between the years 1996 and 2006 and now once again in 2012  as guitarist with Alice Cooper.  Category two, […]