Arjen Lucassen’s Supersonic Revolution - Golden Age Of Music (Album Review)

May 20, 2023 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, AOR, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Melodic Rock, Progressive Rock

When you think of progressive rock/metal concept albums, one name springs instantly to mind, Arjen Lucassen. It could have all been so different for Lucassen, as his 1993 solo album, released under the Anthony moniker, ‘Pools Of Sorrow, Waves Of Joy’ was met with indifference by the record-buying public (finding a copy thirty years later will be a long and expensive search). Seemingly undaunted and already a hard rock veteran after stints in Bodine and Vengeance, Lucassen pushed on regardless, his determination resulting in a slew of projects that played a crucial role in revitalising the progressive rock/metal scene via releases under the Ayreon, Ambeon, Guilt Machine and Star One banners while still finding time for guest appearances and contributions to albums by leading lights of the scene such as Within Temptation and Avantasia. For this project, Lucassen has put his little black book of names to one side (Lucassen has enlisted many performers on his star-studded albums, especially singers) and settled on a band project, it’s still essentially a concept record in the Lucassen tradition, but he looks to be out to have a little fun, and the results are glorious.

Envy Of None - Envy Of None (Album Review)

April 06, 2022 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, Alternative Rock, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Melodic Rock, Progressive Rock, Rock

As a founding member of legendary Canadian rockers Rush, Alex Lifeson sold millions of records and embarked on numerous world tours with bandmates Geddy Lee and Neil Peart. The trio played huge venues to a level of fan adoration that many of their contemporaries could only imagine. The only time I was lucky enough to catch the band was on their ‘Roll The Bones’ tour at London’s Wembley Arena. That night convinced me how special they could be, even if I wasn’t always totally convinced by their varied musical output. Rush played their last shows as a band in 2015, and with the sad passing of Neil Peart in 2020, the Rush story came to an understandable, albeit sad conclusion. This brings us to the question of what do you do when you have been there, done it and bought the t-shirt (and probably a very nice house)?

Creye - II (Album Review)

March 16, 2021 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, AOR, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Melodic Rock, Rock

Originally formed by guitarist Andreas Gullstrand back in 2015 Swedish melodic rockers Creye are back with (I’m gonna take a wild guess here) their second album. Since the release of their well-received debut in 2018, the band have gained a new singer in August Rauer and spent the majority of 2019 on the road honing their sound. The result is an impressive release that marries muscle with melody harking back to the likes of fellow Swedes Europe and Bad Habit while adding more than a hint of pop nous. RGM featured Creye late last year in our popular Hard Place feature and we thought a proper look at their latest album was well overdue.

Downes Braide Association (DBA) - Halcyon Hymns (Album Review)

February 04, 2021 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, AOR, Classic Rock, DVD, Melodic Rock, Pop, Progressive Rock, Rock

Downes Braide Association aka DBA originally started as a collaborative studio project in 2012 between Christopher Braide a Brit working in the USA writing and producing music for film scores, advertising campaigns and with a host of rock and pop artists (Sia, Lana Del Rey, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, Paloma Faith, Britney Spears, Marc Almond) and keyboardist Geoffrey Downes of YES, Buggles and Asia fame. Eight years later and the duo had three albums under their belt while tentative forays into live performance in 2018 (resulting in a live record) and again in 2020 had proved successful. After the live shows in early 2020, Braide found himself in a bit of a funk when Marc Almond called and suggested he look at the possibility of a new DBA record to get the creative juices flowing. Braide delved into some musical ideas from Downes and inspiration struck immediately. Compositional ideas and snatches of melody quickly began to take shape and resulted is Halcyon Hymns, a record that perfectly captures feelings and memories of a time and a place when everything seemed so much simpler.

Cats In Space - Atlantis (Album Review)

December 01, 2020 by Rich Barnard in Album Reviews, AOR, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Melodic Rock, Rock

UK rock sextet Cats In Space are back - in the biggest of ways - with their fourth studio album, Atlantis. Songwriter and guitarist Greg Hart promises that compared to previous outings, this LP “has more symphony” (a delightfully Spinal Tappian claim, making reference to the orchestrations by renowned arranger Mike Moran). While it remains a mystery as to whether or not it was recorded in Dobly, Atlantis is certainly the band’s most grandiose statement to date, as the band persist in indulging all the musical excesses of classic seventies rock (think Queen, think ELO), with no acknowledgement of the four full decades that have since passed. Of course, this sort of enterprise is the purest of love affairs and each of these songs has been crafted with the utmost care. Every guitar break, synth wig-out and quadruple-tracked vocal is era-perfect; this is the majesty of Rock, writ large.

The Defiants - Zokusho (Album Review)

September 23, 2019 by Rich Barnard in Album Reviews, AOR, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Melodic Rock

The Defiants’ 2016 debut (review link) was a safe but enjoyable outing that did plenty to satisfy Danger Danger fans in the absence of any new material since 2009’s reunion record Revolve. Alongside vocalist Paul Laine, The Defiants comprise almost three quarters of the current D2 line-up: Bruno Ravel, Rob Marcello and Steve West (The Defiants’ slightly-less-than-official fourth member). Something of a melodic rock legend in his own right, Laine was the perfect fit for Danger Danger when they parted company with Ted Poley in the ‘90s and Zokusho (it’s Japanese for ‘sequel’) proves that there’s still plenty of songwriting chemistry bubbling away between Laine and Ravel in 2019.

Unruly Child - Big Blue World (Album Review)

August 05, 2019 by Rich Barnard in Album Reviews, AOR, Classic Rock, Melodic Rock, Progressive Rock

Since reassembling their original five-piece line-up nearly ten years ago, Unruly Child have given us three top-notch slices of gently progressive AOR in the vein of their classic 1992 debut. Worlds Collide (2010) and Can’t Go Home (2017) were both put out by Frontiers while 2014’s Down The Rabbit Hole was independently released but all three albums showed a band that still has plenty to offer. Now, in their 27th year, the band return with Big Blue World. Marcie Free’s indestructible, made-for-rock voice has lost nothing and it’s this voice - along with Guy Allison’s upfront keys and Bruce Gowdy’s ability to fuse acoustic and electric guitar textures - that make Unruly Child so unmistakable.

Animal Drive - Back To The Roots EP (Album Review)

April 09, 2019 by Rich Barnard in Album Reviews, AOR, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Melodic Rock

I’ve had an extended break from reviewing hard rock, although as a genre it remains my first love. There is a cynicism that comes with age and I simply struggle to get excited about most new releases. I find myself shaking my head (like the old man I am) and coming to the predictable but inevitable conclusion that they just don’t make rock records like they used to. I suspect that a similar sentiment was the starting point for Animal Drive’s new covers EP Back to the Roots.

Cats In Space - Daytrip To Narnia (Album Review)

March 03, 2019 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, AOR, Classic Rock, Melodic Rock

The Cats In Space story is one of perseverance, refusing to give up in the face of adversity and sticking with what you know. The members of Cats In Space have been around, they’ve done the hard yards, put in the miles and it’s refreshing to see the acclaim that has been heaped on the band since they released their debut album ‘Too Many Gods’ in 2015. For their third studio album, the guys are refusing to rest on their laurels and seem intent on pushing the envelope. The result is ‘Daytrip To Narnia’ a record that should please longstanding Cats fans but might also leave a few scratching their heads.

Buckets Rebel Heart - 20 Good Summers (Album Review)

August 28, 2018 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, AOR, Blues, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Melodic Rock

Dave ‘Bucket’ Colwell might be a new name to some but the guitarist has played with plenty of notable names in a career that dates back to the 80’s. Colwell’s credits include being one of three guitarists in ASAP with Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden fame, key involvement as a songwriter/guitarist in the reformed Humble Pie on the 2002 ‘Back On Track’ album plus stints in many other acts including Samson, Urchin and The Entire Population Of Hackney.

Airrace - Untold Stories (Album Review)

August 09, 2018 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, AOR, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Melodic Rock, NWOBHM

Laurie Mansworth had already seen action with NWOBHM act More when in 1982 he decided on a more transatlantic musical approach for his next musical venture. The result was Airrace and a deal was quickly inked with Atco/Atlantic records for their debut album ‘Shaft Of Light’ produced by Beau Hill (Ratt, Streets, Kix). The 1984 release of the album was well received by press and fans alike, although the majority of the reviews did focus on teenage drummer Jason Bonham (Foreigner, Black Country Communion) for obvious reasons. This did the band a disservice as ‘Shaft Of Light’ had some fine tunes, a terrific singer in Keith Murrell (Mama’s Boys, Cliff Richard), Toby Sadler’s (GTS, Samson) tasteful keys and Mansworth’s punchy guitar contributions. The band toured with heavyweight acts such as Queen, Meat Loaf and AC/DC but by 1985 Airrace was over and the band members went their separate ways. In 2011 Mansworth, Murrell and bassist Jim Reid reformed as Airrace and signed a deal with Frontiers which resulted in ‘Back To The Start’ and a busy touring schedule before things again went a little quiet. Fast forward to 2018 and Airrace are back again with ‘Untold Stories’ as classy a piece of 70’s influenced AOR as you’ll hear this year.

FM - Atomic Generation (Album review)

March 26, 2018 by Rich Barnard in Album Reviews, AOR, Classic Rock, Melodic Rock

It’s not easy being a heritage act like FM. Your fans want a nostalgia hit but they also want new releases. You’re trapped. You may want to move on, but you don’t dare go too far. Despite lacking the international successes of Def Leppard or - to a lesser degree - Thunder, FM remain one of the UK’s best-loved melodic hard rock bands and their new record is an impressive balancing act between that rock and that hard place. They might just be the one band on the scene that can manage to please nearly all of the people… nearly all of the time.

Satin - It's About Time (Album Review)

November 22, 2017 by Rich Barnard in Album Reviews, AOR, Classic Rock, Melodic Rock

Every melodic rock fan with half a brain knows that there is no such thing as the perfect AOR album. From the late ‘70s through to the early ‘90s we were awash with perfect moments but, for the past two and a half decades, bands have matched the gems of that period with only very limited success. These days, making records is cheaper and faster; sonically sub-standard AOR albums arrive at an alarming rate and are all accompanied by unhelpful amounts of hype, so it’s no wonder that fans have become cynical about new releases. How refreshing it is, then, to come across an artist whose press makes no claim whatsoever and who has made an album that doesn’t sound as if it was cobbled together in a hurry. One-man freaky genius (he plays, sings, produces and mixes everything) Tom Satin quietly released his debut in 2014 and now the follow-up, It’s About Time, has arrived seemingly out of thin air. While it’s not perfect, I’d say it’s about as close as anyone has got in a very long time.

Riverdogs - California (Album Review)

July 06, 2017 by Rich Barnard in Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Melodic Rock

Melodic hard rock has had its time. There’s no denying that it still lives and, to some degree, thrives but its glory days are long, long gone. Its current state isn’t helped by fast-buck-making labels and a certain sort of purist fan that simply won’t allow any of these artists to move away from a hackneyed, formulaic sound. So, new releases from bands that have been plying their trade for thirty years more often fill me with a sense of sorrow than a sense of joy. Not so with the latest Riverdogs album, California. This is a record that might just be too good for the classic rock fraternity to properly deserve.

Tokyo Motor Fist - S.T. (Album Review)

February 24, 2017 by Rich Barnard in Album Reviews, AOR, Classic Rock, Melodic Rock

Tokyo Motor Fist is a melodic hard rock project fronted by the dream-team of vocalist Ted Poley and guitarist Steve Brown. Bass and drums come in the form of veterans Greg Smith (Rainbow) and Chuck Burgi (Red Dawn) respectively. I would normally be very wary of this sort of career vehicle but the blistering riff and infectious singalong chorus of the opening track are enough to make me think that this time, maybe - just maybe - I might be on to a bit of a winner.

Unruly Child - Can't Go Home (Album Review)

February 21, 2017 by Rich Barnard in Album Reviews, AOR, Classic Rock, Melodic Rock

Unruly Child released their debut in 1992 and, although not a commercial success at the time, it has since been held up as a melodic rock masterpiece. An inspired coupling of ex-World Trade members and vocalist Mark Free (formerly of AOR legends Signal), Unruly Child retained the loosely-held prog leanings of the former band but added the hit-worthy rock bombast of the latter. Free’s muscular vocal delivery in particular helped the band have greater appeal across the rock sub-genres and the debut has subsequently aged far better than many of its contemporaries. The album wasn’t without its faults but it remains one of the more interesting and inventive records under the hair-rock umbrella: it had big guitars, hooks, lashings of keyboards and stacked vocals but - more important than all that - it was chock full of unusual ideas and musical ambition. None of this sounded geeky, meandering or noodly, it just sounded, - to me at least - like top class hard rock… from the future.

FM - Indiscreet 30 (Album Review)

November 10, 2016 by Rich Barnard in Album Reviews, AOR, Classic Rock, Melodic Rock, Rock

Indiscreet was originally released in 1986 and is one of the finest AOR albums you’ll find from a British band of the period. Unsurprisingly then, it has come to be something of a sacred classic among fans of the genre, making it extremely risky business for FM to decide to release a full re-recorded version to celebrate its thirtieth birthday.

Kansas - The Prelude Implicit (Album Review)

September 19, 2016 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, AOR, Classic Rock, Melodic Rock, Progressive Rock

Sixteen years since their last studio album is an awfully long time but for Kansas, who can chart their history back to 1970 and released their debut album in 1974, it just feels like a small part of the overall plan. With a quite staggering 30,000,000+ album sales worldwide Kansas are one of the biggest acts of the classic rock era but for all such acts, Journey instantly spring to mind, longevity is a double edged sword as the sands of time can catch up with a band, members leave for a variety of reasons and the musical landscape is forever changing. Kansas have kept themselves busy as they still play around a hundred shows a year and recent releases have included a feature length documentary ‘Miracles Out Of Nowhere’ that charts their long career. Founder members Richard Williams (guitar) and drummer Phil Ehart don’t look to be retiring anytime soon and on the strength of ‘The Prelude Implicit’ it looks like the band are about to embark on an impressive new chapter in their illustrious career.

Treat - Ghost Of Graceland (Album Review)

April 10, 2016 by Rich Barnard in AOR, Classic Rock, Melodic Rock

I consider myself reasonably well-versed in the biggest of the big-hair hard rock acts but Treat are a band that have simply passed me by, in spite of their thirty-year pedigree as well-respected Swedish melodic rockers. A career that has seen them constantly in the shadow of the success of Europe might go some way to explaining how it happened, but Ghost of Graceland makes me think I may have seriously missed out.

The Defiants - The Defiants (Album Review)

April 10, 2016 by Rich Barnard in AOR, Classic Rock, Melodic Rock

The Defiants are Bruno Ravel: Danger Danger’s bassist, songwriter and co-founding father; Rob Marcello: longtime Danger Danger guitarist and Paul Laine: onetime lead vocalist for a band called... Danger Danger. So it's no surprise that this looks, smells and tastes a lot like a Danger Danger album. Recent shows in the US confirm that Danger Danger fronted by Ted Poley is still very much a going concern, hence the new moniker for this side project.