4/5

Pink Cream 69 (What does that meen after all?) has been around for a while now. I have always liked their non-"German" approach - the band has always delivered great quality albums. And "In10sity", their 10th album, continues out of that track. Pink Cream 69 nowadays (as almost always) features the talents of ace vocalist David Readman, guitarist Alfred Koffler, producer/basssist Dennis Ward, additional guitar player Uwe Reitenauer and drummer Kosta Zafiriou - and man it works! Wards sublime producing skills and perfect timing in the songs - Readmann's powerful vocals and Kofflers excellent fret work not to forget the thunderous drumming by Zafiriou. On this record Jochen Weiher appears as a guest piano man on the track "Last Train to Nowhere".
The record starts out with big "Children Of The Dawn". An opener that really leaves me hunger for more - and I get it! "No Way Out" is a powerful and fast track. But one of my favorites is "The New Religion", with its addictive chorus - and a blast of a guitar solo - who said jazz? The absolute highlight of the album is the dynamic duo of "Desert Land" (a short 90 second prelude which leads us further) and "Out Of This World". this track is almost conceptual. The bonus track" "My Darkest Hour" is once again a solid album track, a hard rocker with a good chorus. The album closes its magnificent gates with the ballad, "Last Train To Nowhere", which leaves me in a state of post orgasmic chill;-)
Pink Cream 69 has onece again proven that they are in the major league of melodic power metal. Dennis Ward is in a league of his own as a producer and Readman is definitely in top 3 among all my top raited vocalists! Great record;-) with a great band...

5/5

Night Ranger is one of my all time favorite melodic rock bands - i always can turn to some of their "classic" records and find comfort. And the band has always got the guts to evolve with every record. I have a Night Ranger record for every mood i'm in...
"Hole in the Sun" is the first record from this lot in 9-10 years - and Thank God for that! The band has manged to lift their approach and musical direction to new heights - very daring! The band (still) consists of the talent of vocalist/bassist Jack Blades, guitar maestro Jeff Watson, vocalist/drummer Kelly Keagy, guitar ace Brad Gillis and "new-comer" keyboard player Michael Lardie. And for this record they have a song that covers every mood, too;-)
I don't know which one of the 12 songs taht is my favorite - the modern sounding opener "Tell your Vision" with its aggressive guitars, the big power ballad "There is Life" (sigh), the rockier "Drama Queen", the nu-breed-ish "Rockstar" or the eminent melodic rock track "Whatever happened", the country-like "White Knuckle Ride" - achhhhhhh, i like the whole bunch. It is an incredible come back record!!! The whole concept is 5 elderly (sorry) men that had enough of the seroius business and really needed to kick some seroius butt, here! The classic double twin guitar by Watson/Gillis is outstanding and the aggressive drumming by Keagy is a blast - vocalwise i can't come up with another band that are that well covered. So this is one of the bast records yet - and i'm sure it will be at the top of my list when we're heading 2008;-) As we speak there is a rumour going on claiming that Jeff Watson has left the band! Lets hope its just a rumour as the band has promised a live DVD and a tour!

4/5

Martie Peters Group has been concidered as poor-mans White Lion for his records with Danish melodic band Push. But the latest records (including the debut under this moniker 2 years ago on MTM) as Martie Peters Group - featuring long time friend Martin Slott on all guitars, Jacob Schlein on drums and BJ on the bass really has shown that Peters developed as a songwriter as well as a singer/frontman - and with "Road to Salvation" they proves that they are standing on their own feet.
I really think that the opening track"Fallen" kickstarts the album as it is - a very modern sounding album. But it is getting better with "Chosen One" and "Shallow" which both are small masterpieces of pure melodic rock. You may want to check out the video for "Shallow" on the bands website. "The Clown" is probably the closest thing to Peters past in Sateria and Push - but the track has also been used as a soccer/football anthem for Lyngby football Club. "Wish" is very radio friendly nu-breed melodic rock track and I'm quite fond of the "For What It's Worth" too. But my favorite tracks got to be, the dynamic melodic duo of "Swimming In Your Blue Eyes" (great - i'm still humming along that one) and "Silence Sits At My Throne". But also "Wish" is a great up tempo rock song. And an old Push-favorite has also found its way to Peters new album "Waitin' in Line" is as great as I remembered it.
All in all there are a lot of great tracks here on "Road to Salvation" - the band has really found a sound that fits - modern sounding but with clear melodic roots. The musicianship is as always outstanding. The guitarsound of Slott is breathtaking - all his solo work is very passionate and Peters voice really has found the songs and the real expression. The album is produced by Peters himself and mixed by no one else than Tommy Hansen in the Jailhouse Studios. Let's hope that the melodic community will take a positive look on this one - it's a Danish neo-classic;-)