When you are talking hard rock bands of the 80’s, Dokken are right up there in the highest echelon with songs such as Dream Warriors, Lightning Strikes Again, Just Got Lucky, The Hunter, Unchain The Night undeniable classic anthems.  But that was then and 2012 is now with the Don Dokken led version releasing Dokken’s 11th studio album Broken Bones.  […]

The Swedish band with one of the more delightfully named frontmen in rock ‘Hell Hofer’ hit us with their now fourth album and first for monster German label, Nuclear Blast.  If you are familiar with Bullet from past outputs such as previous release Highway Pirates or Bite The Bullet then I’m sure you will have already decided whether you love […]

In 25 words of less: “I think The Dollyrots has just become my favourite “pop” album of 2012!” I always like to give credit, where credit is due and when it comes to The Dollyrots, I have to thank Bowling For Soup for putting me onto The Dollyrots as a result of their mutual association over the years touring together […]

In 25 words – “By Blood, By Heart definitely propels Less Than 4 to be amongst the leaders of the new generation of Swedish sleaze.” So here’s a quick quiz for you, what number is Less Than 4?  Well if you said 3, then you are correct and the relevance of this is that these cocky young whipper snappers from […]

Following hot on the heels of their EP release earlier this year, Melbourne four piece The Hiding return with a two track single/EP titled Lonely Diaries.  The bands first EP delivered an anthemic, textured style of pop rock and for fans of The Hiding, as I certainly am, you will be pleased to know that style hasn’t changed.  Lantern Lights […]

In summary: Say what you will about Hanson, but if you’re prepared to dismiss them simply for being Hanson then that’s fine, but you have just missed out on an amazing night of great songs, musicianship and harmonies. Standing outside The Enmore Theatre in Sydney tonight and watching the crowd enter was fun for me, as the predominantly female audience […]

As I learnt recently when interviewing Sydney singer/songwriter Wes Carr about his new musical endeavour, when Native American Indians used to dream of a Buffalo, it meant that they would return to their heritage and back to their roots again  Well after winning Australia Idol back in 2009, the years that have followed since have been about Wes Carr discovering […]

For those of you into your folk, viking, battle, pirate metal, I am sure Finnish five-piece “heroic metallers” Ensiferum are a band in which you are well familiar?  I mean how could you possibly miss them, with their overtly visual image and rousing anthems.  3 years since the release of previous album From Afar the band return with new album […]

CD reviews aren’t necessarily an easy thing to write, some flow immediately, others can be agonised over for what seems like hours.  I guess much like writing a song hey?  The irony of this is that the new release from OFF! whilst having 16 tracks, clocks in at around 17 minutes in total, for the whole CD.  Does that make […]

In 25 words or less: Last Of A Dyin’ Breed stoutly keeps the flag of everything Lynyrd Skynyrd represent, past, present and future flying loud and proud. I’m a 37yo who grew up in Melbourne, Australia on a diet of 80’s hard rock, you know, Poison, Europe, White Lion, Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Winger, Tesla, all that kind of awesome stuff […]

Whilst Perth, Australia may not be spoken of by us East Coast Aussies as having a thriving rock scene, with the tyranny of distance involved, I guess we have to put that down to perhaps our own ignorance and failure to explore what Perth has to offer as far as a rock scene.  I guess we can’t argue with the […]

In a career now spanning nearly 25 years and having made a huge impact on the rock scenes both in their native New Zealand and current home here in Australia, Shihad recognise this in pretty much the best way possible, with the release of a 38 song double disc titled The Meanest Hits and armed with a new single Right […]

In 25 words or less: “will hook in anyone with a love of the Kane Roberts, Chris Laney, Desmond Child and Mutt Lange style of bombastic rock anthems.” Hailing from the UK, Tommy Justice is not a name you are likely to have heard of before, unless you’ve already read our interview with him on the pages of May The […]

Back in 1996, before YouTube, before Facebook, before My Space and come to think of it, before the internet was what it is today, I stayed up for hours to hear a song on the radio, a song that half the time never got back announced, and all I knew was that the lyrics “Reach down your hand in your […]

It’s been over 23 ”ish” years since 1927 stormed the charts here in Australia in late 1988 with their 500,000 plus selling debut album …iSh.  Featuring smash hit singles That’s When I Think Of You, If I Could, You’ll Never Know and Compulsory Hero, ..iSH, remains one of the highest selling debut albums ever by an Australian band….and that’s a […]

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 […]

As the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney turned dark, and the stage immersed in purple lighting, the roar of the crowd was nothing short of deafening as the reformed Tea Party took the stage. Plain and simple, I’m pretty sure we’re in for something special tonight and as front man Jeff Martin opened his mouth for the first time the crowd […]

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 […]

I personally love getting new music, and I don’t mean ‘oh awesome the new Bon Jovi record is out!’ I’m talking about new bands I’ve never heard of, I get to make my own mind up, I have no preconceived ideas or notion of what they will sound like and I dig that.  Today, I get presented to me Fait […]

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 […]

Tonight I’m once again at the Sydney Opera House, an iconic venue I’ve been lucky enough to attend a number of concerts now, and every time the artists are more than ‘blown away’ (pun intended) by being able to have the opportunity to do play here. None more than tonight’s performer the gorgeous and extremely talented Carrie Underwood. With artists […]

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 […]