Who’s your favourite time traveller? Whoever it is, you’ll surely know about The Doctor’s TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space). Now, Dutch prog-meister Arjen Lucassen, he of Ayreon, Star One, and Guilt Machine, takes us back to the 1970s for some Tremendous Awesome Rock Delivering Intense Sensations! Well, sort of. Continue reading
Spring time on planet Earth. Flowers are blooming. The weather is heating up. New music is dropping. But what, dear readers, should you be blasting from your 8-tracks this season? Oh, you don’t have an 8-track? Well, never fear, Verdena shall provide you with an 8-track worthy tome in Volegio Magia (Capital Records Italy / Universal Music).
Grave Pleasures were one of those bands that had been stuck on my ‘must check out at some stage’ list, until now. In case you weren’t aware of the history, they originally formed as Beastmilk back in 2010 and put out debut Climax after which came the name change as well as a string of subsequent releases. Plagueboys is the band’s fourth full-length album overall and the follow-up to 2017’s Motherblood. Continue reading
Following the 2017 death of HIM and a brief hiatus, Ville Valo debuted his solo project VV in the spring of 2020. After surviving on drip-feeding of singles over the past few years, romantics and vampires everywhere can finally rejoice as we’ve been given a feast in Valo’s first full-length record in a decade, Neon Noir (Spinefarm).
Black Space Riders’ new album is entitled We’ve Been Here Before (Cargo Records). It’s got what you’ve come to expect from Black Space Riders: multi-layered sounds, a deep and grounded ambiance that gets you into feelings, amazing guitar and bass work, and best of all, it’s a cosmic assault to your senses. The alchemy that went into creating We’ve Been Here Before coalesced and oozed into something that is gob-smacking.
It’s been seven long years since Finnish power metal act Stratovarius released their previous studio album, Eternal. With so much happening in the world since then, it really does feel like an eternity. Although far from the Utopian dream, 2015 was just a much more pleasant place to live. Two hugely polarising world leaders/scandal enthusiasts were yet to come to power, pandemics only affected other people, and we still had David Bowie, Prince, and (for most of it anyway) Lemmy.
Bowie At 75 is a unique and beautifully produced celebration of the iconic rock star David Bowie, examining his extraordinary life through the lens of 75 significant career achievements and life events. Covering his entire recorded output in this lovingly expressive and collectible written by the dean of Rock and Heavy Metal journalism, Author Martin Popoff. The book arrives June 14th, 2022, and pre-orders are live now at the link below.
Mick Rock a.k.a. ’The Man Who Shot The 70s’ who created some of the most iconic shots of bands in music history, has died. He was 73. The news was broken by his family on social media. No cause of the death has been announced. In addition to a stint as David Bowie’s personal photographer, the native of Great Britain show iconic rock music acts such as Queen, T. Rex, Syd Barrett, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and The Stooges, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Joan Jett, Talking Heads, Roxy Music, Thin Lizzy, Geordie, Mötley Crüe, and Blondie. We send our sympathy out to his friends and family at this time. Read their statement about Mick’s passing and lifeswork below.
Sometimes, even for grumpy middle-aged metal fans, wishes can come true. So when it was announced in 2017 that former Helloween members Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen were to join the current incarnation of the band there was much, much rejoicing. The Pumpkins United (Nuclear Blast) single which followed swiftly dispelled any initial concerns about musical overcrowding, the band now consisting of seven members including three vocalists plus Hansen adding a third guitar, and the path to Helloween (Nuclear Blast) was clear.
To mark not only the birthday of Rock icon David Bowie, but five years since his untimely death from cancer, a legion of rock stars influences but the music giant will gather on January 8, 2021, for a concert. Mike Garson and producers Stacey Sher and Kerry Brown have joined forces with Rolling Live Studios to produce “A Bowie Celebration: Just For One Day!”, bringing together dozens of Bowie alumni band members spanning Bowie’s career from his 1969 self-titled album to his final album, “Blackstar”, along with many of the world’s most famous voices for a very special experience. The concert will feature performances from Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins), Bowie’s good friend and Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman, Gavin Rossdale (Bush), Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction), Joe Elliott (Def Leppard), Grammy-winning Singer Macy Gray, Ian Astbury (The Cult), Lzzy Hale (Halestorm), Gail Ann Dorsey (David Bowie, Lenny Kravitz), Bernard Fowler (The Rolling Stones), Corey Glover (Living Color), Tony-winning rocker Lena Hall, vocal phenom Judith Hill (Grammy winner for “20 Feet From Stardom”), and many more to be announced. Watch a trailer for the event here: