Anette Olzon: Rapture (2024)

Anette Olzon: Rapture (2024)

In some ways I have always felt a little sorry for Olzon, as she was the filler in the sandwich between Tarja Turunen and Floor Jansen, and people tend to forget that her two albums with Nightwish, ‘Dark Passion Play’ and ‘Imaginaerum’, are very fine indeed. But since...
Stray: About Time (2023)

Stray: About Time (2023)

I was more than a little surprised when I came across this release, as I remember Stray from years ago and had not realised they were still going. I did wonder if Del Bromham was still at the helm given he originally formed the band all the way back in 1966, but he is...
Pestilence: Levels of Perception (2024)

Pestilence: Levels of Perception (2024)

I must confess to have never seen an album so universally slammed as this one, and while I do understand where the reviewers are coming from, I do believe it has been somewhat over the top. Encyclopaedia Metallum has had 11 reviews for this album, average rating 0%. I...
Medicine Head: Heartwork (2024)

Medicine Head: Heartwork (2024)

Back in 1973, one programme I would never miss was Top of the Pops, as it was the best way to discover music at the time (at least through TV), and this was where I first came across the duo of John Fiddler (vocals, guitar, piano, drums) and Peter Hope-Evans...
Mazlyn Jones: Planet For $ale (2021)

Mazlyn Jones: Planet For $ale (2021)

Nigel contacted me via email recently and of course we started reminiscing about music and how long we had known each other (30 years), and it was only then that I discovered he had released an album of very different styles back in 2007. I always think of Nigel as...