Ossuary Records, Poland 45mins Mankind's Odyssey | Aquilla (bandcamp.com) https://aquilla.bandcamp.com/?fbclid=IwAR2YGuhos0br0pukYajJAsu4Aanhevxh-MQbaaHw6-7KE_M7Q5DRJUqoxYQ https://www.facebook.com/AquillaOfficial Rating 85/100 It certainly cannot be denied the...

France 32 mins Top Quality song based Pop/Prog https://www.remiorts.com/en/actualites/ https://www.facebook.com/remiortsproject Rating 85/100 It is always quite special when you come across an album that for some reason strikes a definite chord with you. An album that...

I can’t believe it is more than a year since I wrote about JP’s last album, Light Years, but it was and now here he is with the new single from the forthcoming third album, Patience Way. {Arrays} never sound like the work of just one man but always come across as a...

There are times when bands appear to decide to not record any more and instead concentrate on playing live gigs in front of adoring fans, and I am sure that many thought we had seen the last of new material from Oysterband given their most recent studio album was back...

This is a wonderful album, very New Zealand, but also very much classic singer-songwriter in a way which is not often heard these days. It took me a while to think who they remind me of, but in the end, I settled for English singer Talis Kimberly and Australian Maryen...

Norway Degaton Records and Apollon Records 60 mins https://www.facebook.com/majorparkinson https://majorparkinson.bandcamp.com/?fbclid=IwAR3oLveojZ-P5WpnJfcsWreUak8GHNC6YepHS3U0GlX67fxuwoqlpMGwkL4 Rating 80/100 Throughout the lengthy period of the Covid Pandemic,...

Progressive Rock Israel 52mins The album is self-produced and self-released and available on all streaming platforms. https://www.mentalfracture.com https://www.facebook.com/Mentalfracture/ Rating 90/100 It is always a great joy to come across a progressive rock...

You must give this Dunedin quartet plenty of kudos for their name, as I don’t think I have smiled so much on seeing one since I came across {Mice on Stilts} years back. This is the debut release from Jack Ringhand (vocals, guitar), Ayumu Kobayashi (bass, vocals), Tom...

Last month I was fortunate enough to see {South For Winter} play a few gigs while they were down here in Aotearoa, and I was blown away by Nick (acoustic guitar, vocals) and Dani (vocals, mandolin). Although Nick is from Christchurch and Dani from Colorado, they met...

I recently travelled up to Leigh Sawmill to see Looking For Alaska play a combined concert with Albi & The Wolves and before the gig I was chatting to a friend of mine who had gone up independently and I had asked him why he had not been at the Villainy/Dead...

Otts are a trio from the Taranaki, and this two-track EP is their fourth to date as they work towards their debut album. Formed in 2020, they have a sound which takes me back more than 40 years to the indie commercial punk style which came through in the second wave...

There are times when one is sent a song which oozes class from every pore, and that is exactly what we have here in one of the most delicious and delightful jazz numbers I have ever come across. {Goldsmith Baynes} is a musical partnership between singer Allana...

Here we have the second single from The Not Okays, following on from their cover of Bite Me which came out towards the end of last year. Noriel Wong (guitar), Aaron Prictor (guitar, vocals), Lauren Kate Borhani (vocals), Caitlin Clark (bass) and Bahador Borhani...

When it comes to describing the music of husband and wife Charles (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Te Ata, Te Ati Awa) and Emily Looker (nee Rice), I have long lost all rationality as I love what they do so very much indeed. I was devastated (as were they, to be honest)...

I first came across Lorenzo last year with his single Same Mistake, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but due to one or two lockdowns I had been unable to catch either him or his band, {Cut To The Bone}, in concert. Thankfully that was rectified last Saturday when he...

Ellery is back with the second single from his forthcoming album, Failure Thirty Minutes Deep, and I really wish he would hurry up and release that as it something I am really looking forward to, given just how different this is to the last single, No-one, which I...

Following on from last year’s Good Luck... You're Gonna Need It EP, Eurenza quartet are back with their next single. As with the EP, this is naïve thrash from the early days of the genre, with this being even more closely linked to the original NWOBHM scene. It...

Rene Black is best known as being the man behind the kit for {Cripple Mr Onion} and {His Masters Voice}, and these days can be found in premier NZ Sabbath tribute band {After Forever}, but anyone expecting a similar bombastic approach to the debut single from his solo...