Sons Of Liberty - The Detail Is In The Devil (Album Review)

February 24, 2024 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Southern Rock

Sons Of Liberty are a bunch of old-school rockers who, somewhat surprisingly, hail from Bristol in the UK but are steeped in the harder-edged Southern rock rooted in the Southern states of the USA that came to prominence in the late 70s. The quintet made their recording debut in 2018 with a brace of EPs, ‘...Shinola’ followed by ‘Aged in Oak’. 'The Detail Is In The Devil' is their third full-length release and first with new singer Russ Grimmett.

Status Quo –Official Archive Series Vol.1 (Album Review)

August 01, 2023 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Rock

Status Quo might not instantly spring to mind as an artist you would expect to embark on a series of archive releases, but if Vol.1 – Live In Amsterdam is any guide to the quality of this new undertaking, fans are in for a treat. The band has joined the likes of Bob Dylan and Neil Young in delving deep into the vaults to unearth, spruce up, and release a live show recorded on October 19th 2010, at the Heineken Hall in Amsterdam for a limited numbered edition CD and LP release. This makes perfect sense; Status Quo live, there are few better, so what more do you need to know?

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.

Status Quo - Riffs 2CD Deluxe (Album Review)

September 29, 2022 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Rock

In 2003 fresh from the success of ‘Heavy Traffic’, which found a rejuvenated Quo recovering somewhat from a run of uninspired releases, things were seemingly on an upward curve. So, what do they do? They release another covers album…honestly guys, really? There’s been a trend in recent years, which isn’t particularly welcome, of bands rerecording their own songs or putting out cover albums of their “favourite” songs (usually the same “favourite” songs of every other band on the planet). The Quo did both on one album!

Status Quo - Heavy Traffic 3CD Deluxe (Album Review)

September 26, 2022 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Rock

I’ll always have a soft spot for Status Quo. Admittedly this is based on a hazy memory of a March 1981 show on the ‘Never Too Late tour. In those days, the Quo were a British institution as the classic line-up of Rossi, Parfitt, Lancaster and Coghlan were revered by fans and could be relied upon for no-nonsense hard rock of the highest order. It wasn’t overly complicated, but they had the songs; it was loud, it was sweaty, and that was good enough for me. Unfortunately, my love of all things Quo was brief as post ’82 Quo were a mere shadow of their former selves and had a string of pretty terrible records to prove it.

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.

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.

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.

K.K. Downing - Heavy Duty: Days and Nights in Judas Priest (Book Review)

September 24, 2018 by David Vousden in Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Book Review

In 1979, I was just discovering Heavy Metal in a big way. Usually, this involved one of my friends lending me their latest discovery (I was still at school and always short of cash). So The Scorpions, Van Halen, Aerosmith and Judas Priest circa ‘Killing Machine/British Steel’ were never far from my Ferguson Music Centre. Said stereo might not have been up to the hi-fi spec of today but if you turned it up loud enough... Priest had at this point in time developed the knack of penning hit singles so they’d turn up on BBC TV via Top of the Pops which was essential viewing back in the day, it was so cool to actually see Metal bands on TV. By 1983 I was lucky enough to catch a stunning show as Priest played the Hammersmith Odeon. This scenario would be repeated in the late 80’s with another great show and more great memories. My tastes might have changed over the years but I’ll still happily reach for a Priest album on occasion, with ‘Screaming’ probably my favourite, so I was very keen to read what K.K. Downing had to say about his ‘Heavy Duty’ time in the band.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Live In Atlantic City (Album Review)

September 20, 2018 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, Alternative Rock, Classic Rock, Country Rock, Hard Rock, Southern Rock, DVD, Blu-ray

Legendary Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd are currently playing shows on their ‘Last of the Street Survivors-Farewell Tour’ with dates booked into late October of 2018. The band has toured heavily since their 1987 reformation, but with sole surviving founding member Gary Rossington enduring his own health problems in recent times maybe it really is the end of the road for Skynyrd but who’d bet against the band coming around again? Skynyrd released their last studio album ‘Last of a Dyin’ Breed’ back in 2012 and any further studio records look increasingly unlikely but the void has been filled to some degree by a slew of interesting live archival releases to keep hard-core fans busy which brings us to ‘Live In Atlantic City’ released on the German earMUSIC label.

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.

Ultraphonix - Original Human Music (Album Review)

August 03, 2018 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, Rock, Funk, Progressive Rock, Hard Rock, Metal

Guitarist George Lynch recently claimed the following about Ultraphonix and their debut release ‘Original Human Music’ “The album sounds like a fusion of early Chili Peppers meets King Crimson meets Judas Priest! It’s a super fun band”. Throwing such an eclectic mix of names into your press release definitely creates interest, which is sure to increase when you find that the ex Dokken guitarist has partnered with Living Colour vocalist Corey Glover for this project. Add in a rhythm section that consists of bassist Pancho Tomaselli (War/PHILM) and drummer Chris Moore (Cry Wolf/Damage/DeathRiders) and you've got the majority of the musical genres hinted at covered. If the rhythm section looks familiar then you probably own the 2016 album by Project NfidelikAh a band that featured Lynch, Tomaselli, Moore and Fishbone singer Angelo Moore.