'Arrival' has arrived and is the long-awaited new JOURNEY CD with the new lead singer, Steve Augeri, formerly TALL STORIES vocalist. The album has already been released in Japan a few months ago and scored massive as it entered the top 10 charts over there and now the album has been officially released world-wide through SONY MUSIC. Good-old KEVIN SHIRLEY did the production, while Pat Thrall (ASIA and HUGHES/THRALL) did the additional editing and NIGHT RANGER leader JACK BLADES co-wrote 3 rockers on the album. The CD counts 15 tracks and has a playing time of almost 75 minutes, so what more do you need?

And then the big question, is Steve Augeri as good as Steve Perry? Well, the answer is yes! I actually found Augeri better than Perry, as Augeri is a real rocker and not really fond of those top 40 pop ballads that Perry loved to sing when he was with JOURNEY. Just compare this new record with 'Trial by fire', JOURNEY's previous record with Perry on vocals, and you will notice that this new CD 'Arrival' is much more AOR/Rock based than the ballad orientated 'Trial by fire'. 'Trial by fire' was a nice record and contained some good AOR songs and really sounded like JOURNEY, but it missed the magic of the old JOURNEY days. I can not say that 'Arrival' is really a JOURNEY record, because musically it is a bit different, but what I do know is the fact that the new album is really superb in all forms.

'Arrival' is probably the best record JOURNEY has done since the 'Escape' and 'Frontiers' days and that was 18-20 years ago! The album is filled with high-class AOR song that are full of catchy hooks and lovely melodic choruses that stick in your head just after hearing them for the first time. After the first time I listened to the CD, I was already singing the choruses of a bunch of songs and after hearing the CD a couple more times, then the whole CD stuck in my memory. It has been a long time that such a well-known band has released such an impressive album. OK, I have to admit that this album surely doesn't sound like the old JOURNEY, but on the other hand, it is a great new start for these legendary AOR rockers.

The first 3 songs on the CD bring you straight into AOR HEAVEN. The album's opener "Higher place" (co-written by Jack Blades) is a fantastic uptempo AOR rocker with a very driven upbeat rhythm and a catchy chorus. A great start and a perfect song to play loud and just have a good time! Things slow down on the next song "All the way", a lovely AOR ballad that sounds like a cross between old JOURNEY and BRYAN ADAMS (yes, the vocal and piano lines are pretty close to the ballads of the Canadian rocker). This AOR ballad could easily end up high in the charts worldwide as it sounds so perfect, but that will only happen if it got radio-airplay. Then we get to hear the best JOURNEY song since 'Separate ways". I am talking about the superb midtempo AOR song "Signs of life". To me, this is the perfect AOR song and one of the best ones I heard the past few years and I heard a lot, trust me! "Signs of life" definitely doesn't sound like JOURNEY at all, as it sounds very polished and has more in common with BAD ENGLISH and THE STORM, but it's just a wonderful true AOR song and that's what counts and not the fact it is doesn't sound like JOURNEY.

Following track "All the things" also has not much in common with JOURNEY, because it has a psychedelic/groovy approach. This slow rocksong is the first let down, but after hearing the rest of the CD, it is one of the few weaker songs, so just skip this track, or not, because it also has some nice vocal harmonies and good or not, it still caught my attention. Then we get to hear one of the softest songs on the album, namely the laid-back AOR ballad "Loved by you". A beautiful piano-led calm ballad that sounds like JOURNEY with Perry meets HUGO meets BRYAN ADAMS. Just when I thought the CD would sink to the bottom when hearing the 6th song "Livin' to do" (a bluesy semi AOR ballad affair), from track 7 on until the end of the CD, JOURNEY returned to a pure AOR/Rocksound and didn't leave the rocksound for a second on those last 9 tracks. 'Trial by fire' turned out to be just a nice album that had its finest moments at the start, but 'Arrival' has highlights at the start, in the middle and at the end, so the whole CD is a highlight! After hearing the slow bluesy tones of "Livin' to do", I didn't expect the band to completely return to AOR on the following track, but happily it did happen. The song is called "World gone wild" and some of you might even recognise this song as it was an unreleased demo song of the BAD ENGLISH sessions back in the late 80s. The JOURNEY version sounds very refreshing and turns out this uptempo AOR rocker into another winner of the CD.

"I got a reason" is a great midtempo AOR song that moves into a THE STORM/TWO FIRES direction, while "With your love" is a fantastic radio-polished early 80s JOURNEY typed AOR ballad. We're right back into AOR HEAVEN on the following song "Lifetime of dreams". This is a superb pure AOR ballad that sounds like a mix between BAD ENGLISH and THE STORM, although when comparing it to these bands, you may ask yourself if I am really talking about the new JOURNEY CD, because after all JOURNEY was the forerunner of bands like BAD ENGLISH, THE STORM and HUGO. But that's a point we need to discuss somewhere else, because we're here to talk about a great new AOR CD, and the fact it is a JOURNEY CD has more or less got nothing to do with it. Neal Schon's guitar really speaks on the next tune, "Live and breathe", a great semi AOR rocker with some very PERRY typed lead vocals of Augeri.

Next track "Nothin' comes close" is a fun uptempo 80s typed AOR/Melodic Rocker that has some 38 SPECIAL and BILLY SQUIER (!) references. Another surprise comes your way on the track "To be alive again". This song is a lovely classy 80s uptempo AOR with great keys by Jonathan Cain, who actually does a fine job on all songs with his stunning AOR keyboards. Together with "Signs of life" and "Lifetime of dreams", "To be alive again" is the third AOR highlight of the past few years and they all can be found on the new JOURNEY album! Even track 14 is quite sensational, because "Kiss me softly" is a beautiful tender laid-back semi AOR ballad. Closing track "We will meet again" starts promising, but this rocker turns out to be nothing special as the chorus lacks. I can not say that about the choruses of the other 14 songs as they really hit AOR bottom.

This CD belongs to the best AOR can offer right now and although praising albums of the likes of TWO FIRES, THE VU, THE SIGN, T'BELL, ALYSON AVENUE the past few months, it now is the new JOURNEY album that needs to be praised as it is one of the best AOR albums from the past few years. Cheers to JOURNEY for bringing back AOR where it belongs! Some may not want to call this JOURNEY album a new JOURNEY album, but understand that we now have a real AOR album and it really is good. There are no songs like "Separate ways" or "Anyway you want it" on this album, but still there are plenty of new good AOR killers on 'Arrival' and that's something we haven't heard for a long time on a JOURNEY album. Check my 'albums of the year' list at the end of 2001 to see 'Arrival' topping the charts and I think many more AOR fans will agree with me…

Rating: 9,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

This new project is built around the KANSAS bass player and second vocalist BILLY GREER. He also played in STREETS and has been a member of KANSAS since late 1984 after the break-up of STREETS. Last year he was also featured in the all star line-up of THE SIGN, another AOR band signed to FRONTIERS RECORDS. Now Billy has released his first own CD that has been named SEVENTH KEY. The guest list of musicians is very impressive, because guitarists like STEVE MORSE, MIKE SLAMER and people like Terry Brock (STRANGEWAYS, THE SIGN), Steve Walsh, Richard Williams, Phil Ehart (all from KANSAS) appear on the CD. Most of them also co-wrote the included songs on the album. Musically the album is filled with quality 80s typed AOR/Melodic Rock, not unlike STREET, 80s KANSAS, NIGHT RANGER and SURVIVOR.

Billy's vocals sound like a mixture between JACK BLADES (during his 80s years with NIGHT RANGER) and GARY HUGHES. All in all, the album sounds very impressive, not only due to the wonderful production by STREETS/STEELHOUSE LANE leader MIKE SLAMER, but also the appealing songs. The CD starts with the nice uptempo aor/melodic rocker "The kid could play" that has a lot of 80s NIGHT RANGER similarities. Next track "Only the brave" is mid 80s STREETS/KANSAS typed melodic rock with a huge harmonyvocals filled chorus. Then we're in AOR HEAVEN with the song "Missy". The beautiful piano/keyboards at the start remind me of the 80s power AOR ballads, while the song itself is a lovely semi AOR ballad in the veins of NIGHT RANGER's "Goodbye" and "Sister Christian" with some GARY HUGHES typed lead vocals. "Surrender" follows and contains a very catchy AOR chorus not unlike the 80s albums of SHOUT (the Christian act). Next track "When love is dying" is a fantastic semi AOR ballad that sounds very much like SURVIVOR, a HUGE song!

Uptempo AOR rock can be heard in the classy 80s KANSAS inspired "No man's land". "Every time it rains" is another fantastic uptempo 80s AOR rocker that sounds like a mix between early 80s NIGHT RANGER and SURVIVOR. Then comes the first and only weaker song of the whole album, namely the groovy song "Home" that still has a big melodic hard rock approach. "Forsake" brings us right back into pure AOR territory. This superb 80s Power AOR ballad is the best song of the whole CD and I am not quite sure, but I believe Steve Walsh sang on this track. Steve wrote the song and also the vocal lines are very similar to Steve's singing, so I think I could be right, but it isn't mentioned on the liner notes. Anyway, the CD continues with the melodic rocker "Prisoner of love".

Closing track is the lovely AOR ballad with huge powerful vocal lines and just like the earlier mentioned Steve Walsh song, this song may also have a different singer, none other than MARK SPIRO. He wrote the song and I believe he also sang it, but again I'm not sure. It's not that important if Billy sang all the songs, because after all we have to talk here about the album and I can guarantee you that this SEVENTH KEY album is a total must for all the fans of 80s AOR. If you count DRIVE SHE SAID, THE SIGN, JOURNEY, SURVIVOR to your favourite bands, then you really need to have this album in your collection. The album will be officially released through Frontiers Records on May the 14th.

Rating: 9/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

The third studio album of Canadian melodic rockers EMERALD RAIN is their best so far, because musically they present a great mix of melodic rockers, AOR ballads and heavy rockers. The influence of HAREM SCAREM is still present, but EMERALD RAIN now has a very diverse sound that only includes the harmonyvocals of their countrymen. My favourite tracks are the hookladen uptempo AOR/Melodic Rockers "Open up your eyes" and "You do it yourself" (both sounding like the first HAREM SCAREM), the AOR ballads "Wasted time" and "Just like anyone" and the melodic rocker "Is this love". These 5 mentioned tracks are really great and are the best songs EMERALD RAIN has put on record so far.

The band also has some heavier songs to offer such as the fast melodic heavy rockers "Numb" and "Live it all again". The only weak song among the included 10 tracks is "Until you're blind", but in general this is a good quality melodic rockalbum. You will not be
disappointed if you buy this album, a 'safe' melodic rockalbum for sure! This album will also be officially released through Frontiers Records on May the 14th.

Rating: 8,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

Remember the UK HardRock/Metal promoters/DJ's THE BAILEY BROTHERS who were very active in the 80s bringing 'real' rock'n'roll to Europe? Well, if you never heard of them, these two brothers (Mick and Dez) were Britain's Wildest Heavy Metal DJ's back in the 80s and brought American Rock'n'roll to the attention of the European people. Especially the time they co-produced MTV shows, they became quite well known and thanks to them, European fans could check out the latest American melodic rockbands. Now they have their own band called BAILEY'S COMET (not to be confused with FREHLEY'S COMET) and the band's first album has been released on FRONTIERS RECORDS.

The band is described as a mix of THIN LIZZY and WHITESNAKE with DEF LEPPARD typed vocals. My conclusion is that this CD is filled with good 80s typed American melodic rock orientated that sounds fine at every time of the day. Dez Bailey did most of the stuff, as
he produced, arranged, wrote and played guitar on all the songs. His brother Mick only sang backing vocals. Lead vocals are done by Alex Edwards, who I don't know actually, but his voice is quite acceptable and sounds pretty melodic. Former SAXON players Nigel Durham (drums) and Fasker Johnson (bass) fill in the rhythm section. Second guitarist John Hardman completes the line-up of THE BAILEY'S COMET, while Paul Ward does additional keys.

THIN LIZZY/PHIL LYNOTT fans also might want to check out this album, as it contains a PHIL LYNOTT written song titled "Revolution" and a tribute song to Phil ("Wild one"). My favourite tracks however are the catchy 80s typed uptempo melodic rockers "Judgement day", "Spirit of toumahai", "Stealin' your lovin" (a la FIREHOUSE with very catchy hooks and harmonies), "Emerald isle" (with a cool break halfway that changes the song into a ballad for a few seconds) and "Good lovin' gone bad". But the best song of the whole CD is the fantastic midtempo AOR/Melodic Rocker "One love one life" that even sounds a bit like a heavier version of THE STORM. This is a very nice unexpected melodic rock release of the Bailey Brothers who became famous with other people's music but are now entering the scene with their own music. The album will be released next week.

Rating: 8,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

This tribute CD to TOTO is a very professional and interesting release. Guitarist/Producer Michael Riesenbeck from Holland organised the whole thing and I have to say that everything just sounds perfect and is really an addition to the TOTO collection. Michael didn't play on all songs, because 3 tracks were done by Swedish musicians and one by the American ED JAMES (of whom we did a great review of his solo and THE TRADE project). Most of the musicians on the songs are Dutch, except on 2 songs that feature the lead vocals of PHIL VINCENT and also the German guitarist Markus Riegler helped out Michael on the CD.

11 TOTO songs are covered, but even the fans of the band will be surprised to see the song "Hey little girl" being covered, because that TOTO song only has been played live and did not appear on any record. Phil Vincent's lead vocals on this tune make it a real great TOTO song. I also very much liked "Home of the brave", because this is a duet between a male (Gert Kraayenzang) and a female singer (Jose Bosschers) and not between two male singers like TOTO's original. That makes it a very interesting tune and especially the fantastic vocals of Jose (who is this girl, I would love to hear this girl sing more of such uptempo AOR rockers) were very enjoyable.

I also liked the versions of "I'll supply the love" (sounded like T'BELL, very Swedish typed harmonies), "Endless", "I will remember" and "White sister". In general, this Tribute stands like a rock and is one of the best ones I heard lately, a real fans tribute to TOTO, not for the money but for the fun. Therefore check out Michael's website for more info at: http://home.wanadoo.nl/michael.riesenbeck/ttcd and e-mail him at: m.riesenbeck@net.hcc.nl

Rating: 8/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

Are you looking for good-old time 80s typed Scandi Melodic Rock a la DAVINCI, TREAT, EUROPE… then look no further, because GRAND ILLUSION has to offer the best quality there is at the moment for this type of rock. Swedish rockers GRAND ILLUSION were first called PROMOTION and also released 2 great albums under that moniker (we reviewed both). Last year I already reviewed the band's upcoming third CD 'The book of how to make it', but because the band had switched their musicstyle from Westcoast Pop AOR into pure AOR/Melodic Rock, they changed their bandname into GRAND ILLUSION and signed to Escape Music. And here's the final result, a great classy 80s Scandi AOR/Melodic Rockalbum that will easily cheer up when you're feeling a little bit down.

The material ranges from uptempo AOR/FM-rock ("Feeling strangely fine", "Crazy from the heat" and "105 (and running)") to (semi) AOR ballads ("Accidentally on purpose" and "Parachute") and midtempo AOR/Melodic Rock ("Don't wait up" and "The book of how to make it"). A great 'safe' typical 80s Scandi AOR/Melodic Rock release that definitely brings some fun into your life, especially a must if you're a fan of ALIEN, SKAGARACK, TREAT, DAVINCI, BAD HABIT and the list goes on and on…

Rating: 9/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

Classic Bluesy Hard Rock band MOUNTAIN released this re-issued album in 1985 on Scotti Bros. The band released in the first part of the 70s about 7 albums and 'Go for your life' was a sort of comeback after they had call it a day for several years. Of course they didn't play pure Bluesy Hard Rock anymore, but the BAD COMPANY, CREM and FREE similarities were still present, although the band also added a lot of 80s typed keys/synths to their music to make it a bit radio-ready.

Opener "Hard times" was a good 70s typed BAD COMPANY typed rocker, but also one of the few real MOUNTAIN typed songs, because the rest is just more 80s based. Sometimes they sounded like the old BENNY MARDONES meets BILLY SQUIER. A few examples of how that sounded were "She loves her rock" (hello BILLY SQUIER), "Spark" (very 80s typed with it's synths/keys), "Shimmy on the footlights" and "Babe in the woods". These are also the best songs of the album, because on the other hand you also get to hear very average songs like "I love young girls" and "Makin' it in your car" that both are just pure Blues.

The French label AXE KILLER RECORDS has re-issued the 1985 album of MOUNTAIN for the first time on CD, so fans of the band will definitely want to have this CD, but there are no bonustracks added.

Rating: 7/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

I was quite surprised that this CD was re-issued by AXE KILLER RECORDS, because it was just one of those independent melodic heavy metal albums from the mid 80s, but then I checked who originally released the album of MOX NIX and guess what, it was AXE KILLER RECORDS. So, the French label re-issued one of their own back catalogue releases onto CD. MOX NIX was a Texan Hard Rock/Metal band that played in the style of Y AND T with some songs that more or less had a RIOT typed metal approach (particularly the fast drum style).

The songs of MOX NIX were pretty heavy and balanced between melodic heavy rock/metal and speed metal. They had well performed 80s typed Hard Rock songs a la KEEL and Y AND T ("Ready or not", "Lost Sierra" and "Make it") and faster uptempo melodic metal songs a la RIOT ("Fight back", "Reckless", "Never again" and "Steal the show"). My favourite track however is "Stand alone". This is a song that stars as a ballad, but turns out to a classy 80s uptempo melodic rocker a la DOKKEN. The re-issue comes with 2 bonustracks, namely "Lightning without thunder" and "Red planet", both nice melodic hardrocksongs like Y AND T. People who have looked for the LP, look no further, because MOX NIX is now available on CD.

Rating: 7,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

'Entrance' is the fourth album of Swedish melodic power metalsters LION'S SHARE. 5 years ago the band released their debut and back then I knew that this band was one of those acts that would stay for a long time on the scene. The debut was filled with classy melodic rock/metal that sounded like RAINBOW meets some modern power metalbands. The 2nd and 3rd album of the band however didn't impress me as much as their debut. However, their new CD is a real winner. The band has a new singer, namely Tony Niva, who has a wonderful melodic voice. Also new is the YNGWIE MALMSTEEN keyboardplayer Mats Olausson. The huge sound and catchy choruses are making this CD very pleasant to listen to. The only weaker song is the slow groovy track "War machine".

The other 9 songs are all very impressive and above all they are very melodic. My favourite tracks are the uptempo melodic heavy rockers "Mystery" (lovely bridge, hooks and chorus), "On and on", "Losing my head", "Shotgun messiah" and "Waiting", while also the semi melodic rockballad "Through the clouds" is a fantastic song. The best song of the whole CD has got to be "Believe". This song starts very calm, but then suddenly burst out into a superb AOR rocker that was a big surprise! Scandi melodic rock seems to conquer the world at the moment, and the new LION'S SHARE is yet another great CD from Northern Europe.

Rating: 8,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

'Acoustica' is the second CD of MELODICA, the band around vocalist Ted Poley (DANGER DANGER/ PROPHET) and the German guitarist Gerhard Pichler. Like the title of the CD predicts, this is indeed a CD with acoustic songs, but besides 10 acoustic tracks, there are also 5 electric songs.

The acoustic songs are played very well and are a combination of the excellent melodic vocals of Ted Poley and the impressive acoustic guitarplay of Gerhard Pichler. Songs like "Summer nights", "Broken promises", "Lovemetal" (new song)", "It's not enough" and "Best friend" are all a pleasure to listen to. The whole idea of this new CD reminds me a bit of the SAVANNAH record 'Salem's lot' and FRONTLINE's 'Two faced' that both also had a lot of acoustic material and lectric tunes. One of the new songs is not really new, as it is a cover of the old rocker "Firewoman".

The other 4 electric songs included are actually demo versions of songs that also appeared on the band's debut CD. Believe it or not, these demo versions sound better than the original versions on 'Long way from home'. The 4 songs include 2 great semi AOR ballads ("Out of my mind" and "Never let you go") and 2 fantastic uptempo 80s AOR rockers a la JOURNEY ("Hardest part of love" and "It's not enough").

All in all, this CD gives you 70 minutes of pleasure and is a real welcome for people who like to hear AOR/Melodic Rock with some great vocals and excellent (mostly acoustic) guitarplay. We can already look forward to the third CD of MELODICA that is due out later this year as the new tracks on the album are a sneak preview. I really can't wait for the new record! For more info, go to: http://www.tedpoley.com and e-mail them at:
TPGPMelodica@aol.com

Rating: 8,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

PRIMITIVE INSTINCT come out of the U.K. and believe it or not, they have already released 4 cassette albums and a CD ever since they started back in the late 80s. Musically they play well-balanced progressive/symphonic Rock with some poppy elements and even a few traces of 90s alternative pop can be heard. But most of the time, they are a calmer sympho band. The first track, "Break on through" is one of the best tracks, a great sympho/progressive song that sounds very melodic and relaxing and can be compared to JADIS.

The following 3 songs are slightly poppier and songs like "Finding my way" and "Hope" are poppy semi-ballad that are a bit too soft for the average rocker. Much better are the semi progressive ballad "Praying for the rain" and "All that I need" (a great sympho/progressive rocker a la JADIS again). One of the let downs is the 90s typed
"Freedom". PRIMITIVE INSTINCT is not as good as JADIS or IQ, but still they are a nice progressive band to check out. More info at: http://www.primitive-instinct.com and e-mail them at: nick@primitive-instinct.com

Rating: 7,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

'In too deep' is the new CD of Pennsylvania settled multi-instrumentalist Bill Everman. Musically we have to deal here with 80s typed aor/poprock that reminds me of TOM KIMMEL, BRIAN SPENCE, JOE ROBINSON, DANNY WILDE and that type of artists. The first couple of songs on the new record are not so convincing, because songs like "Anything means something" and "In too deep" are just nothing special. On the other hand, the second part of the CD contains some good tunes, such as "Body and blood" (uptempo poprocker with good vocals and a fine harmonic chorus), "Come the revolution" (good semi melodic AOR ballad), "Land of the free" (midtempo melodic rocker with a catchy chorus, very much like JOE ROBINSON) and "Thing". This last mentioned track is definitely the best song of the whole CD. "Thing" is a classy early 80s uptempo AOR/Radiorocker in the style of the old STEEL BREEZE/PREVIEW. Another notable song is the acoustic ballad "The table" on which Bill sings a duet with a female singer. Check out Bill's music at: http://www.billeverman.homepage.com and e-mail him at: beverman@icdc.com

Rating: 7,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

Well, Andy Sisk from Tennessee is actually working on a solo-CD, so this is just a demo and unfortunately only one song, but "Shadows in ice" already shows that this guy is very talented. The song is an instrumental creation of progressive melodic rock and sounds very impressive. Another interesting multi-instrumentalist of whom we can expect a lot in the future I hope. His main influences are FATES WARNING, DREAM THEATER, RACER X and CACOPHONY. He will soon release his debut CD entitled 'A winter's fugue' that will of course be reviewed over here. Andy is also playing in a band called GYPSY DOGS, pretty soon reviews of this band who are about to release their second CD. For now, check out Andy's work at: http://www.mp3.com/andysisk and e-mail him at: Melagaster2@cs.com

Rating: 7,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

Although this band is on the same label as MYSTERY and also play Progressive Rock, they sound totally different than their Canadian countrymen. HAMADRYAD takes influences from lots of different musicstyles and this all combined results in an own style that can be labelled as progressive rock, but certainly is more than just that. My favourite track is "Still they laugh" which is a short good sympho/progressive rocker. Also pretty nice is the progressive pomprocker "The Second Coming" that mixes YES with Metal. Yes, this band also has Metal influences that can clearly be heard on opener "Amora demonis", a very heavy song indeed. Very confusing are the progressive rock/metal songs "Shades of blue", "Action!" and "Nameless". This band is a must for people who want to hear a new refreshing band with influences that range from Pop, Rock, Progressive, Psychedelica and Metal. More info at: http://www.hamadryadmusic.com

Rating: 7/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

This Canadian outfit has released a very good laid-back instrumental soft progressive pop/rock album with some jazzy influences, kinda like TOTO without vocals. The influences of SPACED OUT come from ELP, FRANK ZAPPA and ALLAN HOLDSWORTH. My favourite tracks are "Green teeth" and "Pensestuax". This CD is very nice to listen to when you're laying in bed on a hot summernight and just want to relax and enjoy the warmth of the season. Anyway, fans of instrumental progressive rock/pop will enjoy this a lot, as SPACED OUT is a really good band. More info at: http://www.mp3.com/spacedout

Rating: 7/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

Although this German band is claiming that they are not that professional as most other bands, I still need to add that they have done a very good job on this CDR. The CDR cover looks pretty good and the songs are produced very well and the most important thing of everything, musically they also sound pretty good.

Included are 5 songs and two short instrumental parts. Especially the beginning is very nice, with good quality semi AOR/Melodic Rcokers such as "Knock me on the floor" and "Falling rain". Also very nice is the calmer progressive AOR song "Isolation" that sounds not unlike late 80s IQ/SAGA. The band moves into pure Sympho with the song "Dancing in your eyes", kinda like JADIS. The songs are very diverse and most of all melodic enough to keep the attention all the way through the album. I look foward to an official release in the future of this German band. For now, check them out for yourself at: http://www.strange-world.de and e-mail them at: UDODAUM@WEB.DE

Rating: 7,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

Californian Melodic Rockers VELOCITY return with an EP titled 'Activator'. They shocked the scene a few years ago with the fantastic debut CD 'Impact' that sold over 12,000 units worldwide, not bad at all for a new melodic rockband. We also got to hear a fantastic AOR solo CD by bandleader DAVID VICTOR on MTM in the late 90s, but after these releases it became pretty quiet until now. VELOCITY has just put out a new CD release and I am afraid to inform you that the band has changed their style a bit and it is definitely not as melodic rock orientated as their debut or David's solo CD.

The band received a lot of airplay in The States with their debut and I think they want to have airplay with this new record again, so they have updated their sound to more modern rock typed music. I am not saying every melodic rockfan should ignore now VELOCITY, because the quality of the music is pretty good. It's just that the pure melodic rock has almost vanished on VELOCITY's new record. Just listen to the first track "Stay" and you'll understand what I am saying here. This song has a slow dark rocksound with heavy guitars and modern influences, but happily the chorus is a bit melodic. I have to add that this song and in fact the whole CD is quite a change in style.

The other 4 songs are somewhat in the same style as the first track and only "You" is a bit reminding me of the glorious melodic rock VELOCITY made on their debut CD. The band is currently signed to the new melodic rocklabel DREAMSCAE RECORDS, situated in Arizona who are also releasing the debut CDs of PICTURE PERFECT and JOE ROBINSON. If you loved the debut CD of VELOCITY (like me), there might be a chance you don't like the new record that much. If you're focused on hearing an updated heavy melodic rocksound with a lot of groove and big guitars, then you can easily try out the new EP of VELOCITY. I had hoped for something as good as 'Impact', but this 'Activator' can not be compared with that album at all. http://www.egotripent.com and http://www.velocity.com

Rating: 7/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

The press release for this Tennesse based five-piece sound similar to Bad Company and Journey. Whilst there is some logic in the Bad Company references, I cannot really hear the smooth AOR and melodic rock that Journey creates expect for on a couple of songs.

What I do hear however is references especially on the vocals to Phil Collins and Genesis circa "Invisible Touch" meets bands like Mike And The Mechanics through to more modern 90’s indy pop bands such as Blur.

I really liked the song ‘My Love Is Real’ which is a keyboard sprinkled pop ballad similar to Phil Collins, whilst the piano led ‘Midweek Rendezvous’ is perhaps shows slight references to Journey.

This song is a lovely ballad with great harmony vocals from Freddy that combines together the best soulness of Phil Collins and Steve Perry with a touch of John Waite, but the real Perry/Journey giveway can be heard on the utterly fantastic ‘In The Twilight Zone’ which is the best song and sounds like pre "Escape" Journey meets Phil Collins and is a very dark piano led song.

The uptempo ‘Little Girl You Drive Me Crazy’ and ‘Rock Top’ are both favourite songs that are both very catchy pop/rock with great vocals, with the former offering a southern boogie shuffle.

I mentioned earlier references to Blur which can be heard on the albums opening tracks ‘Laughing All The Way’ and ‘To Love You’ which are not so sensational.

"All Good Rock ‘N’ Roll" has some good songs but could use a little polish in the production, sound.

However the album is not bad as the band don’t just stick to the AOR pop/rock formular and I have taken a bit of shining to the bands material.

So my final verict is of a band that defintly show potential and who are worth checking out.

www.mp3.com/releaf

Rating: 7/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

This band are trying to play sleeze rock and do it quite well until singer Wild Will puts his two penneth in and spoils what otherwise could have been a good fourteen track demo cdr.

Wild Will is more of a pussycat if compared to the lion’s roar of Michael Monroe and Sebastian Bach whom he tries to intimidate unsucessfully.

My advice to this band is ditch the singer, get a better production and then we’ll talk to again as the talent is defintly there – good guitars though.

Email : - rocker1011@excite.com

Rating: 5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

"Fast Guitars And Purple Guitars" is a home recording of instrumental and vocal material put together by muti- talented hard rock guitarist Joe Wentz who is from South Carolina.

What I have here is a collection of 23 songs, I have to say that I am very impressed with Joe’s playing which is overshadowed by the lacklustre recording quality, but as Joe said to me, if a label is willing to back him then he can put all that straight.

But you gotta hand it to the guy who is influenced by the likes of Eric Johnson, Paul Hanson, Joe Satriani, Van Halen and Firehouse.

I liked the song ‘Ridin The Fine Line’ which is a short piece a’la Joe Satriani.

There are a number of vocals songs throughout this album, like the fantastic ‘Where Has My Forever Gone’ a brilliant pop song with killer vocals and nice keyboards.

Pity it only lasted for a minute or so which is how long most of these songs last, so I think that what I’m listening to is perhaps incomplete songs.

You just have to check out the beautiful instrumental ballads ‘A Love That Never Dies’ and ‘When She Pushed My Heart Away’, which sound like instrumental versions of Journey songs and are so beautiful, nice piano parts and guitar playing, very smooth and very professionally played, only without the polished production of the pro’s - Neil Zaza and Joe Satriani eat your hearts out!!

Honest this ballad is like Journey and Satch’s own "Always With Me, Always With You".

This beautiful style is continued on ‘When The Night Gets Lonely’, give this song and also the heavier ‘Surviving The Odds’ to Phil Vincent and he’ll add vocals to it, and turn them into monster melodic rock songs.

‘When The Night’ just did it for me, it’s a piano ballad a’la Jonathan Caine of which I really want to hear a longer version of not just a minute, come on Joe surly you finish these songs up? You cannot let such great pieces go to waste like this buddy.

I mean how can you ignore songs like ‘Heartbreak In Paradise’ and ‘Fly By Night’, ‘Tear Drops’ which just send goose pimples down your spine?

I also really liked ‘Set me Free’ a typical hard rocker with vocals, now this is a full song that is very much in the Van Halen meets Velocity vein and is just killer, the guitars just burn man.

Next up is a session song recorded in 1993 which is pretty cool and as good as any of the guitar players out there today if not better.

What I like about this guy, is that his instrumentals are hard rock pieces and not neo-classical pieces, so you get the feeling that lyrics could easily be added to these songs which I would imagine would sound similar to bands like Velocity, Firehouse, Van Halen, Damn Yankees, Journey etc..

There are also many experimental songs such as ‘Where’s My Funk’, ‘Fantasy’ with strange vocal effects, and fun messing around tracks like ‘R & J Jam’ which is a jam of Van Halen material such as "Jaime’s Cryin’" etc..and ‘Joe-Joe Jam’ which teases the listener with the riff from the kids cartoon series "Inspector Gadget", a great track though played really well with dance beats and various other pieces that you’d expect someone like Steve Vai or Paul Hanson to come up with. Killer playing once again, another track that borrows tv and famous themes is ‘Looking For The Light’.

‘Centre Of Destiny’, ‘Running Out Of Time’, ‘Star Spangled Banner are a bit more rockier orientated. This guy is really somebody to keep your eyes on, watch out for an interview with Joe Wentz very soon. Somebody sign him and give him the money to back up these songs professionally for gods sake!!

www.mp3.com/thejoewentzproject or Email : - Jeanna1988@aol.com

Rating: 8/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

Following in the path of the new breed of melodic rock bands like SR-71, Neve, The Clarks, Marvelous 3 etc.. comes new pop/rock sensations Supermint. The great thing about this US four piece is that their music has a sense of originality, and just like Cheap Trick and Enuff Z' Nuff the songs are super cool and very creative. From the minute I heard the songs 'When You're Gone', 'Shouldn't It Feel Good', 'Everytime I Wake Up' and 'What's Going' On?' I knew immediatley that I was going to love this record, the songs/production are so fresh, ballsy, vibrant and full of life you'd have to be brain dead not to singalong to the pop rock coolness. This is one of those records that you just crank up to full volume whilst driving in your car. Really amazing musicanship and songs all round.
WWW.SUPERMINT.COM

Rating: 9/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

I have to say that I was a huge fan of this album when it originally surfaced a couple of years ago and I'm so glad that Frontiers/Now And Then records have picked "Fallen Angel" up as now the album has a chance to be heard by a much wider audience. And rightly so, as Iain's bluesy melodic guitar rock hasn't lost any of it's edge. Song's such as 'Distant Memories', 'Over My Head', 'License To Kill', 'No Stranager' and the excellent 'Tangled Web' still remain my favorites, and I have to point out that singer Dante Marchi really deserves much more recognotion, his vocals are very similar to Glenn Hughes and Coverdale. Marchi performs on three of the albums tracks, whilst popping up here and there are ex Quiet Riot/Rough Cutt vocalist Paul Shortino, and vocalist Mike Stone, with the best song from Stone being 'Into The Fire'. Hersey is a great musician and if your into vintage blusey melodic hard rock, then you will no doubt enjoy this album.

Rating: 8,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

There are some super AOR and melodic rock albums out there at the moment like the recent Elements Of Friction, Adriangale, Guild Of Ages and Prime Time releases. You can now add the new Kelly Keagy album to that list, hell it's only March and already the year has got off to a great start with more classy releases to follow. So could it be that Y2K1 could be a vintage year for the scene?

I have to say that this release equals/if not betters any of the last few Nightranger albums. There are eleven songs, which sound like Kelly had a lot of fun with putting together, they range from gutsy hard rockers, to pure AOR and power ballads like the excellent piano led 'Too Much To Ask' which reminds me of The Storm and Survivor, and should by rights be a hit single in chartsville and is easy to see why I marked The Strom and Survivor as influences as Kelly has teamed up with Jim Peterik and Kevin Chalfant to write this lovely song. Also joining the trio in the songwriting department is Kelly's long term army of friends who help him out throughout "Time Passes", they also include Nightranger buddies Jack Blades, Brad Gillis, Jeff Watson as well as Peterik, Chalfant, Tim Perice and Bruce Gaitsch, whilst for the most part Kelly handles the vocals some songs include Gary Moon, so it's really almost a Nightranger album. This could easily be the perfect follow up to the excellent but underrated "Feeding Off The Mojo" album.

Each song will immediatley suprise you, they have all the quality elements of Nightranger and you'll be singing along to each song after the second listen, it's that good folks, "Time Passes" just rocks from start to finish. Favorite songs for me are the excellent 'Too Close To The Sun' (Kelly on vocals, Brad Gillis on guitar),'The Journey' (Peterik on keys) and 'Wrong Again' which features Gary Moon on vocals. These songs reminded me of why I got into this type of music in the first place, the songs shine thanks to Kelly's vocals and the aforementioned artists classy songwriting. I also like the way that Kelly and Gary swap vocals during 'Wrong Again'.

There are two songs which Kelly has wrote himself without outside help, these are 'Time Passes' (which he also sang) and 'The Moon'. The former posesses an acoustic/electric riff performed by Brian Bart similar to the riff of "Forever All Over Again". It's a great song as is 'The Moon', this track is very melodic with great vocal harmonies from Kelly. Jeff Watson pops up on the opening track 'Anything Goes' and does his thing, also present are Jack Blades and this is a great song where Kelly handles all the vocals, so in reflection 'Anything Goes' is pure Nightranger meets Damn Yankees and I just love the riffs.

'Acid Rain' is another class piece of hard rock in the "Man In Motion' vein, killer choruses etc.. quite a heavy song. Forget the Journey album, get this instead, this is a killer album in every sense of the word topped with a great production, hells bells you can just feel the Japanese market waiting to go crazy for 'Time Passess' which is so far my album of the year..Hard rock albums don't come better than this. ESSENTIAL!!!

Rating: 9/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

The last album I heard from Every Mother's Nightmare was the "Wake Up Screaming" album which came out about seven years and I honestly though the band had gone their seperate ways. Well fear not as Perris Records have bought the band into their healthy catalouge of classic American rock releases. The new album continues from where the debut left off, so what we get is twelve songs that are fist pumping American hard rock in the style of Skid Row, Motley Crue and LA Guns such as on 'Delta Voodoo', 'Push', 'Sympathy', 'On Display' and the great power ballad 'Somehow' all offer plenty of punch, whilst 'Garden', '#3' and 'Pray' show a dark melodic gothical side to the band a'la LA Guns circa '"Hollywood Vampires" and Motley Crue (John Corabi era).

The only weak song I can find is 'E34 (Unwritten Law)' which tries to mix southern style riffs with sleaze riffs, but with one weak song on offer it's hard to ignore the edge that "Smoking Delta Voodoo" has. Best songs though are towards the end of the album, I'm talking about the awesome 'Kerosene', 'Wire' and 'Wait' which are all fine hard rock songs in the same vein as Skid Row, Dangerous Toys and Bar 7, with 'Wait' being the most melodic of the three. Overall this is a nice and diverse album that offers a variety of styles to fans of melodic rock and sleazy bonk rock. Look out for an interview with Every Mother's Nightmare sometime soon. www.perrisrecords.com www.emnonline.net

Rating: 8,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

Better late than never. I've had this album for sometime, and have promised the band a review, but I needed to live with it as there was a few things about this record that I needed to spend with to get the review right. Now this band play eighties style pop/rock touched with a bit of southern boogie. The band feature two vocalists who share different songs. They are husband and wife team Nannnette Stephenson and JC Stephenson. The very first song 'Love's Hard To Find' is an instant killer that could have ended up on any eightie's movie, this song is pure pop/rock and I can just imagine this song being in a movie such as "Footloose" or "Top Gun". The song itself reminds me of Pat Benatar and Kenny Loggins massive hit "Footloose", thus the reason why I can imagine this song being in the movie. It's a killer song featruing a duet between Nannette and JC, the chorus and guitar hooks are very
catchy.

The next two tracks are not so senational, still above whta most bands though. These two songs 'Caveman' and 'Scenes From A 100 Acre wood' have a ZZ Top/Fee Waybill southern boogie edge with a touch of blues style riffs. A ballad is next. This song is called 'Take Me Me' and is a melodic piano led ballad sung perfectly by JC which is very early eighties sounding. Nannette has her turn on the ballads with 'No Surrender' which is in the vein of Patty Smyth, Donna Cristy and Fleetwood Mac.

Another great song is 'Kingshake', whilst 'Don't Cha Know' and the excellent 'You're In My Blood' rock things up like 'Love's Hard To Find'. The album finIshes off with a superb AOR song called 'Secret Love' which echos memories of Kate Bush and Scandal. Over all Snakes-N-Angels have a lot going for them, more songs in the vein of 'Love's Har To Find' next time could see the band gaining a record deal. In the meantime this is great album worth checking out. Email : snakes-n-angels@oocities.com or www.snakes-n-angels.com

Rating: 7,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

Experimental jazz fusion is what makes Derek Sherinian's new album so special and enjoyable, add to the fact the album includes an all star cast of Zakk Wylde, Steve Lukather and Tony Franklin makes this album even more appealing than your average guitar albums. Sherinian you may remember played keyboards on Dream Theater's "Falling Into Infinty" opus and has also been involved with many other projects.

Produced by Sherinian and Simon Phillips each track on this album is technically perfect and precise and hugely inspiring. I really haven't heard an instrumental album this good since Vai's "Passion And Warfare", each time you listen to "Inertia" you hear something different, which is really great and kept me sussing out the songs for hours From the heavy purring jam of "Evel Knievel" (with Zakk Wylde), and the superb 'Goodbye Porkpie Hat' (with Steve Lukather) to jazzy/progressive piano/guitar pieces such as 'La Pera Loca' and 'Rhapsody Intro' which all flow with exotic melodies reminding me of Jason Becker and Marty Friedman, especially 'Rhapsody Intro' which bursts into a great experimental piece that features Viril Donati from Planet X. This whole album is very inspirational, check out songs like 'Mata Hari" and 'What A Shame' which are just technically perfect, need I say any about this record? You know what do it and you know it makes sense, get it bought pronto. I'm biased!!

Rating: 9/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

Allen Crane are a pretty cool hard rock band from San Diego who to me sound very good and similar to say eighties bands such as Dokken, Cinderella, Bulletboys and bands of this style. The band is based around guitar player Mark Warner, joining Mark on this recording are Cinderella's Fred Courey, singer Glenn Ralph, bassist John Billings and keyboard player Steve Rossi who breifly had a stint with Peter Frampton. The album has a pretty good production sound that could use a polish, once this happens I'm pretty sure this band would gain an instant record deal, they have great potential and the songs are very catchy and memorable, sometimes reminding me of the first time I heard records by the the afforemtnioned bands.

There's a touch of innocence about the bands music which makes it fresh but also sometimes average, but hell I ain't gonna complain, for example take opening song 'Broken Promises' which is a cool hard rock song that sounds very eighties inspired Singer Glenn Ralph reminds me of a mix of David Lee Roth, Sebastian Bach and Marc Torien from the Bulletboys therefore he has an easily recognisable voice and many of the albums songs bring to mind these bands and other eighties bands like Heavens Edge, The Scream, Spread Eagle, Keel, Tesla early Lillian Axe, Roxy Blue and Danger Danger etc... I really enjoyed 'She Came To Me' which is very melodic and catchy and has a nice guitar melody. 'Hootie Hoo Hoo' is a fun bar room rocker, whilst 'Open Up Your Eyes' is not so sensational, although Ralph's voice is really good on this power ballad which features female background vocals just didn't cut it with me and 'Feelin' Better' is good hard rocker which I enjoyed because of it's Van Halen-ish vibe and Roth like husky vocals. The song is based around a simple riff and is very melodic and one of the albums highlights.

'Downtown Tokyo' is party rock a'la Poison and is very catchy whilst 'Bring Me Down' is the cut with the sting in it's tail. This song has a nice guitar part, a very slow melodic rock song, Ralph is joined on vocals by Shawna Pierce and together they swap vocal parts which makes this song really cool. Things rock harder on 'Little Miss Aim To Please' which is another of the albums highlights, again very much Cinderella, Bulletboys meets Van Halen etc.. Another ballad is next, and this one is much better and has a similar feel to Guns N' Roses, it's called 'The One' and is just superb. The final song 'Rock And Roll Clown' is yet another highlight and end's the album in a party rock instrumental mode and is superb crunchy song that is very infectious, but misses lyrics. Overall Allen Crane have got what it takes and I'm really into most of their material, as I said they need to make the production sharper, but apart from that a great album that bring back memories of hard rocks golden era. www.allencrane.com or Email : - allencrane@yahoo.com

Rating: 8/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

Hardly a year has gone by since this Swedish quartet's debut release and already the band are into the second installment of their career and are also gearing themselves up for the Z Rock fest in April. The band is based around the talents of guitar journeyman Tommy Denander who has briefly worked with Richard Marx and Toto amongst others. Prisoner II is pure Scandi melodic rock with touches of west coast AOR and big ballads such as the sexy 'Just To Think', 'Hold On' and 'I Am Right Here', whilst 'Jasmine' features lovely vocal harmonies and keyboard parping. In the space of a year the band have rapidly matured, the album sounds even more of a band effort than the debut, proof can be heard on the wonderous prog meets AOR heaviness of 'Woke Up Dead'.

Also check out 'Susan' and 'Return My Heart', both are golded guitar coated AOR songs. Geir Ronning sounds very much like Steve Perry and these songs could have easily been lifted off "Raised On Radio" and are easily my favorites . And the quality doesn't end there, fab songs like 'Prisoners', 'Standing On The Outside' (pure Survivor style harmonies) keep
the standards flowing with passiona nd melody. This album totally did it for me and proves that Prisoner are paving the way the furure of AOR and melodic rock. We need new bands like Prisoner to save the scene from dissapearing all together, so get this sucker now folks, you won't be dissapointed.

Rating: 9,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

Heavy and intense best describes this latest offering from US speed metallers Vicious Rumours. But hasn't this always been the case with these guys? As usual we get plenty of powerhosue drumming, thrashy speedy guitar riffs, screechy vocals etc.. I haven't heard much of these guys during the 90's, the last album I heard by them was 'Welcome To The Ball' but with this album I may well dig into their 90's back catalogue as this album reminds me of the earlier Vicious Rumours albums and there are some great old school metal songs to be heard through out this album such as the killer opening track 'Break' which is a comination of Loudness, Dr.Mastermind, Racer X and Megadeth. Morgan Thorns vocals are very powerful and remind me of Mike Vescera and this first song is simply metal madness and a great songs to mosh to.

'Sadistic Symphony' is noisy whilst 'March Of The Damned' is an interesting progressive song a'la Loudness, once again Geoff Thorpes dynamic riffs spill out all over the shop making this record a must have for guitar freaks. 'Blacklight' is heavy and melodic whilst, 'Puritian Demons' is another metal stomper with huge slabs of nail biting riffs and reminds me of 80's Megadeth and Racer X, great song. The next track 'Born Again Hard' suprised me with it's twin guitar parts and classic rock feel a'la Iron Maiden, another highlight. The Maiden factor is contnued on the next song 'Neodymium Man', whilst the excellent 'Elivator To Hell' once again pounds it's way through classic metal and is another strong song in the Loudness/Maiden vein.

'Cerebral Sea' is the albums standout track because this song is an acoustic melodic number that showcases Morgan's powerful voice that sounds like a mix of Jeff Scott Soto and Mike Vescera. 'Ascension' and 'Liquify' fade the album out in speed metal glory with the latter being the best of the two songs. Overall Vicious Rumours remain true to their craft and continue to excite listeners which can only mean that this band are getting better with age, and are defintley worth keeping your eyes on in the future. They certainly deserve it for all their years of hard graft.

Rating: 8,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

If you like Richard Marx then you may want to pick up this debut offering from singer/songwriter Bill Rogers who has a great knack for writing catchy pop songs in the Marx and Bryan Adams vein. Glossed with a nice production songs such as the excellent ballad 'Make It Better' instantly grab your attention thanks to Bill's expert songwriting and foortapping melodies and hooklines.

Check out 'You Make Me Feel Like A Man' which may reminds some listeners of Ed James and The Clarks whilst even better is 'Mornign Pain' which is one of my favourite songs. This track deserves to go top 40 and is very catchy and superbly arranged. 'City Skies' is another great song in the Richard Marx/Eric James Erskine and Henry Lee Summer vibe and has anice guitar tone whilst, 'It's Gotta Be With You' sits closely to Eric Martin. There are some song on the disc that go a bit countryish and spoil the albums feel, but for the most part this is just a nice cd worth tracking down if you like a mixture of pop/rock and country. www.mp3.com/billrogers

Rating: 7/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)