Ahamkara are the moniker behind a new UK-based duo, consisting of vocalist Steve Black and multi-instrumentalist Michael Blenkarn. You might know the latter from his collaboration with e.g. The Axis Of Perdition, Phaleg, Wodensthrone or Pulsefear.
Abysmal Growls Of Despair are a French outfit by a guy called Hangsvart, who formed this project in 2013. Hangsvart is a rather active musician / composer, for Abysmal Growls Of Despair have recorded several pieces in mean time, despite the young age of existence. But who am I to criticise this… I will not!
I’d call this an unlucky release by AOR Heaven, because the music this band brings has, as far as I’m concerned, nothing to do with AOR. Instead I’d call this pop music, Britpop, modern rock, although the rock element to me seems very distant.
This album contains tracks of the band’s previous US releases, being four EP’s released between 2007 and 2013. It sure is radio friendly, but it lacks energy.
If you ask me, this is not an album that should be reviewed for Concrete web, or any other metal site for that matter.
Sometimes you get confused for a reason you didn’t expect. This was the case, for my concern, when receiving a copy of Walk Through Fire’s Hope Is Misery. Reason? That crazy artwork, for Odin’s sake… I’m not sure if I like it (I think I am not truly a ‘fan’ of this kind of visuals), but it surely focuses on depression, pain, dejection, prostration and hopelessness (taken from the collected works of Cihat Aral).
My guess is, lots of visitors of this website weren’t even born when this band started out. After all, Uriah Heep have been around for over 4 decades, and should be named as one of the founding fathers of our beloved music genre, together with Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. And after all these years, the Heep still continue bringing out new albums, and relentlessly touring the earth.
Despite the fact that this is already their fourth album, I had never heard of this band before. They come from Madrid – Spain. It seems they have a fan base in Spain, and they have played most, if not all of the major Spanish festivals.
Thunder is one of these bands that seem to have been around since God knows when. Despite existing for some 25 years, this is only their tenth studio album. Of course there was a hiatus of some three years, since they split up in 2000, and reunited in 2002, and again disbanded in 2009, only to start playing together again in 2011.
The Nightstalker is an outfit by Sercati’s Steve Fabry, and Wolfshade Records did offer us both the new release (the review will follow soon) as well as this one, 2013’s Against The Anesthesist; and since I am so kind to take care of that older stuff too, please join me…
Against The Anesthesist has a total running time of almost forty minutes and it does not bring the stuff we’re used to – though some purists might notice this project’s grandiose raison d’être immediately.
Rock fans beware of this ! I’ve never been that keen on folk rock, with the exception of a few bands like Big Country or The Dropkick Murphys (although you can hardly say that they play folk rock in the traditional way).
And despite being around for some 27 years I’d never heard of this band, so I guess it’s not a band you hear frequently on the radio.
Steve Rothery is the guitarist, and longest running member of the band Marillion. This is his first solo-effort, despite being active in the music business for over thirty years (he started in Marillion in 1979).
