The four-piece Alaskan metal band is back. They released a new album last month entitled “Time And Trauma”. The band members actually originated from the remains of three local bands: Grin, Hessian, and Broke. JD Stuart played in Grin, Brock Lindow in Hessian, and Steve Holt and Ryan Brownell in Broke.
Venom was formed in 1979 in Newcastle Upon Tyne – UK.
Santa Cruz is a Finnish modern hard rock band formed on the hot summer of 2007 in Helsinki by Archie Kuosmanen and Johnny Parkkonen. With the mutualaspiration of playing their rear ends off and kicking people's derrieres the two teens shared the same goals and similar same passion for a band to be. Inspired by greats as Skid Row and Guns N' Roses, the name Santa Cruz was chosen as the title of their vision of a perfect hard rock band. In the beginning of the following year, Middy Toivonen joined in to play the bass.
When I put this CD on, I immediately thought I was listening to Nickelback, but with a harder edge. The voice of Andy Biersack sound like an exact copy of Chad Kroeger’s voice. Musically though this band has a sound that is close to Nickelback but is not an exact copy of it.
Tuomas Saukkonen is no stranger ! (BEFORE THE DAWN, BLACK SUN AEON) He unexpectedly laid both bands to rest and announced his intention to focus solely on a new act called WOLFHEART. I must say : there is some really good stuff here. “The Hunt” is a beautiful melodic opener. Also impressive is the somber and catchy “Witheout” which has a gobsmacking lead riff and a true Finnish winter vibe in the same vein as “Insomnium” and “Rapture”.
Why you’d call a CD with Christmas songs Ragnarok Juletide is a mystery to me. A Juletide – correct writing should be Yuletide by the way being a pre-Christian festival associated with Winter solstice, so the only link is that the period is around the time we Christians celebrate Christmas, and Ragnarok – correct spelling should be Ragnarök being a series of future events in Norse Mythology, including a great battle during which a fair number of important Norse gods, likeThor, Odin and Loki die.
Robert Stjärnström - vocals
Jonas Rörling - lead guitar
Andreas Gerdin – bass, guitar, keys
Niklas Karvonen – drums
Tomi Luoma - guitar
Finch is an American post-hardcore band from Temecula, California. Current members are; Nate Barcalow – lead vocals, Alex "Grizzly" Linares – rhythm guitar, Alex Pappas – drums, percussion, Randy "R2K" Strohmeyer – lead guitar, backing vocals, Daniel Wonacott – bass guitar, backing vocals.
“Godsmack” is an American alternative metal band from Lawrence, Massachusetts. Formed in 1995 Sully Erna. Current members for the moment are: Sully Erna – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, harmonica, drums, percussion (1995–present), Robbie Merrill – bass guitar (1995–present), Tony Rombola – lead guitar, backing vocals (1996–present), Shannon Larkin – drums, percussion (2002–present).
Finntroll must be one of the most unique bands ever. They formed about seventeen years ago and surprised our globe with a mostly amusing mix of Folk / Humppa and Death / Black Metal. Humppa is a Suomi-based variant on the better known Polka Music, for your information (but most amongst you do know that for sure). Their albums, and there are several of them done during the past one-and-a-half decade, were very successful, and the band was able to visit almost the whole planet to perform live on stage. And when it comes to the latter, it comes to this review as well.
