CD

What have we gotten here.  Magnus Karlsson, axe wielder with Primal Fear is pleasuring the world with his first solo album.  Musically this bridges a gap between hard rock, and symphonic heavy metal.

Despite being the frontmen of House Of Lords, James Christian has so far released two solo albums, the 1994 ‘Rude Awakening’ and the 2004 ‘Meet The Man’, he will now rejoice the world of AOR rockers with this opus ‘Lay It All On Me’, his third album. Of course with Mr. Christian you know you’re gonna get some good vocals, and that’s exactly what you get on this album.  As a matter of fact I think he has always been a bit underrated as a vocalist and I hope that this will change with this album.

Soulfly is an American and Brazilian based metal band formed in 1997 and is led by former Sepultura guitarist and front man, the one and only legendary Max Cavalera, who created the band after Sepultura splitted in 1996. Since than, the band has gone through numerous line-up changes, but the current line-up has been stable since 2004’s album “Prophecy” and consists of Max Cavalera, Marc Rizzo, Bobby Burns and Joe Nunez.

Some six years after their debut, the German/Greek collaboration between Redrum and former Jaded Heart, Rain and Bonfire singer Michael Bormann finally released a new album with ‘Victims of Circumstances’. It took maybe some time but then again the result is real piece of work. Just like their debut Redrum brings heavy melodic rock with a fine mix between great guitar riffs and symphonic keyboards. And although the songs have a much harder edge than Jaded Heart, it suits perfectly the soulful and slightly hoax vocals of Michael Bormann.

It’ll come as no surprise to anyone who’s familiar with Swedish vocalist Lord Chritus’ former bands Terra Firma, Count Raven, Saint Vitus  and Lord Vicar that Goatess are a stoner/ doom metal band. Goatess takes you all over the place with deep cut grooves, power jams and a true electrifying feeling that you are riding right along with Findus’ bass laden, heavily distorted wall of soundmachine in the slow to mid-tempo range.

What a treat to review UK based Earthling Society again. This band has been around since 2000 but in those years they've been quite busy, with 7 full lengths. This is their latest and one of their greatest, Zodiak. Their seventh studio album also skims the boundaries between progressive, kraut, space and psych rock while remaining in a territory all their own. Zodiak never stops surprising you throughout its entire running time and creates an extremely melodic yet bold and adventuresome musical tapestry.

I have in front of me a 5 song-CD that follows in the tradition of Alabama Thunder Pussy, Down, Crowbar and some Metallica added with just enough originality thrown in to make it interesting. The record is an assorted musical melding pot with ample amounts of hard-, southern- and 70’s rock and chugging metal all rolled into one.

It would seem that The Poet (Shakespeare, William...you know!) may have found the inspiration for his epic Romeo And Julia in actual life. Consider this : in the year 1504, the streets of the Italian town of Imola (situated some 32 km from Bologna along the old SS6 road in the direction of coastal town Rimini) were the scene of a bloody battle between noble families, involving also a forbidden love.

Formed in 2009 by brothers Andy & Dick Mattson, this quartet creates music in the true spirit of Heavy Metal. Or so this is the intention of Tungsten Axe. But releasing an album of traditional eighties heavy metal that’s full of clichés and with such a poor production is beyond me. Just listening to the sound of the drums made me sick. Add to that boring songs, cliché arrangements and a monotonous singer and you get the picture.

I have sat on this review for some time. Trouble was a long time favorite band of mine (unbelievable gigs at Dynamo Café, Dynamo Open Air and Lido), so I did not want to rush to severe judgement, writing a review without giving the new album enough time. Well, I've had enough time, and I have determined that the best days of the Trouble guys from Chicago are clearly over. Compared to the material that the band has written in the past, this material just isn't in the same bullseye league in terms of quality.