Ask any jazz lover what the most important album of all time is, and they will probably point to Miles Davis and ‘Kind of Blue’. A quick check of Rate Your Music and it is indeed the #1 rated album on that sit […]

There are times when one feels totally unprepared for reviewing something, and that is the case here as while this is an interesting album (more of that in a minute), the audio is only part of the experience and I […]

During the recording of her last album, ‘Strangers’, Jo Beth Young and violinist Helen Ross had booked a hall to record the violin. After they had finished, Jo Beth started playing the piano which was in a cor […]

Also due to play on Friday 21st August was Outside In, one of my favourite bands, and they were supporting Primacy and the release of their debut album, so it seemed right and proper to track it down and give it a […]

Ending these six reviews of Kiwi artists is the debut release by Rain, the pseudonym of Cathy Elizabeth, a Wellington-based singer and songwriter who previously fronted No Sudden Movements. This is the first of a […]

Apparently, the idea for this album started to germinate when bassist Bob Madsen wondered what it would sound like if you crossed Disturbed with Level 42 bass with a Sammy Hagar-style singer over the top of it. To […]

For me, just seeing the name Harem Scarem means one thing, classic melodic rock which always delivers, and yet again here is the proof. Founder members Harry Hess (lead and backing vocals, keyboards), Pete […]

This 2016 album was released some four years after the previous album ‘Balance’, and after Oliver Hartmann had been touring as part of Avantasia, Rock Meets Classic and Echoes. Providing vocals and guitars, the […]

To celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of their debut album, Hartmann have released an album containing five new songs, five cover versions and five live numbers recorded in concert, including some duets with his […]

Subtitled ‘The Music of Billy Strayhorn’, here pianist DiMartino is providing a tribute to Strayhorn (1915-1967) who will always be best remembered for his nearly three decades with Duke Ellington where he wor […]

Aural Music have always been a fascinating label, releasing music which is way out in left field, often with a very heavy base, but in all the years I have been listening to them I can honestly say it is the first […]

Here we have a split album between Midwestern black/shoegaze outfit Chrome Waves alongside one the most interesting bands around, New York City-area’s Gridfailure. The latter features David Brenner on his own, d […]

Between 2005 and 2010 singers Russell Allen (Symphony X, Adrenaline Mob) and Jørn Lande (Masterplan) worked with producer Magnus Karlsson (Primal Fear, Magnus Karlsson’s Free Fall) on three albums. There was a fu […]

PeacockSunrise Records (PSR) is an imprint of progressive rock label Melodic Revolution Records (MRR) based in Orlando, Florida, and their first release towards the end of 2019 was the solo album from […]

Sometimes referred to as V.S. Almanac or Victor Smolski’s Almanac, this is the band formed by ex-Rage guitarist Smolski. This 2016 was the debut release, and he brought in three singers in to help him out, n […]

Almanac in 2020 is a little different to those who appeared on the debut album, with Victor Smolski (guitars, cello, sitar, piano, keyboards) currently joined by singers Patrick Sühl and Jeannette Marchewka, bass […]

The Swiss ladies are back with their third album, the first full-length with new singer. Looking back at their last album I said “Burning Witches have returned with their second release with something that, at b […]

Back in 1990, pianist Mark Monts de Oca and drummer Jimmy Rivera formed a quartet at the Apple Jazz Club on Calle Loiza in Santurce, Puerto Rico, meeting bassist Tony Batista and guitarist Andre Avelino. Three […]

Here is another band I hadn’t realised were still at it, Cloven Hoof. I firmly remember them starting to make an impression just as the NWOBHM was starting to lose steam in the UK. There have been a few gaps o […]

According to Google Translate, the album title means ‘Darkness Is Needed’, which sounds somewhat apt as the Icelandic atmospheric black metal act are back with their fifth album. Although they were originally a d […]