Time Machine is probably one the most influental Italian progressive bands. The have made the ground for several newcomers. The last twelve years they have produced nothing but interesting albums. "Reviviscence" is, as the title suggests, a breath of new life into an otherwise stagnant progressive metal scene. This is an album that showcases Italy's most experienced band in their right element; a world of beautiful melodies, huge soundscapes, breathtaking guitar solos, wonderfully crafted acoustic passages and an accented technicality that flows hand in hand with the songs. The album is the second of the "Eymerich trilogy" - the first was "Evil" from 2001.
Lyrically "Reviviscence" is an exciting tale of the evil walking among us, making our everyday filled with greed, war and corruption, while the young hopefuls of the world all the time are searching for something that can make this a better place to be. It's the ancient tale of good versus evil.
And just like the lyrical concept, the music of "Reviviscence" takes us, the listener, from the darkest corners of our minds with almost gothic-like parts, to the highest points of exalted happiness in symphonic outburst of pure heavy metal. An album capturing all that is metal - or should I say music in general? - in it's only one hour long playing time, yet making it all flow so well together, because of the band's understanding of the great song.
"Reviviscence" symbolizes a new era for progressive metal, yet stays true to the expectations of an album within the genre. Time Machine is a band that's been around for many years, and with this new album, they've just revived themselves with a new vocalist Marco Sivo, and made sure that once the history book on progressive metal is going to be completed, they've earned themselves a spot among the very best and most important of the bands included.

As it says in the following press material "Stan Bush truly is one of the Gods of melodic rock." Mr. Bush has been around for about 20 years by now - since his self-titled debut in 1983.
First time I remember Stan Bush classic hoarse rock voice was in Danish Radio around 1987 from the album "Stan Bush & Barrage" - and I later bought the album "Every Beat of my Heart" which I now like very much! After a pair of very successfull appearences at the Gods of Rock festival it seems like Stan Bush has found his musical muse again - this new album "Shine" sounds fresh, inspired and honest. Great melodies with power and soul packed in an excellent production by Curt Cuomo and delievered by some of the big ones in the bizz. On guitars he has recruited Tim Pierce, Matt Bissonette on bass, Curt Cuomo on keyboards and Kenny Aronoff on drums and Tommy Funderburke on backing vocals!
On this album there are absolutely no fillers - but I'm very hooked on tracks like "Say it ain't Love" with a great riff, a hummable chorus and a fierce guitar solo - absolutely outstanding! But also more mellow tracks like the balladeque "What you mean tonight" is a melodic gem. But also "Falling", "I'll be there" and the title track are all classic melodic rock treasures.
If you have decided to only buy one album this year (for some stupid reason) you might concider Stan Bush's "Shine" as THE one!

707 was an American band formed by guitarist/vocalist Kevin Russell, drummer Jim McClarty and bassist/vocalist Phil Bryant, but worked with different musicians ever after - like vocalist kevin Chalfant and Tod Howarth on keyboads.
The trademarks for 707 was tough, melodic radio rock with a good production. The vocals were in tune, the guitar parts were sharp - the keyboards were colorful and the drums tight and powerful - and the band even got more fierce and more pompous with each album. The band managed to release three albums: Their self titled debut from 1980, the "2nd album" from '81 and finally this "Mega Force" originally from '82 produced by Keith Olsen and contained the title track from the film of the same name. Not long after the release Phil Bryant left anf ex-Angel bassist Felix Robinson played the 4-string for short while until the band split up. Tod Howarth later on played with Frehley's Comet and Kevin Chalfant was already then very important on the melodic rock scene as he was with The Storm and Two Fires.
So far the original album was available on vinyl only. But German based label MTM Classix is now re-releasing this excellent album with 5 unreleased bonus tracks - among them several instrumentals - as well as a very energetic live version of "Mega Force".

Tamrah Aeryn is now signed to Massacre Records Swan Lake Label. Like an artist like Tori Amos and Alanis Morrisette she walks the fine line between real alternative rock, rock and folk rock. She is only 23 years old and hails from Minnesota USA.
At an early age she taught herself to play the guitar and shortly thereafter, started writing songs on the piano. She earned a piano scholarship and attended state collage in the American Midwest. But her original aspirations to be a cocert pianist eventually dissolved, however she realised that she had a talent to make a career out of her own singing and songwriting.
Tamrah Aeryn sings and plays piano, keyboards and acustic guitars and the musicians behind her are Chris Dale and Tony Richie on bass, Peter Southern on guitars and Lionel Hicks on drums, known from his role as skin basher in Balance of Power - he also produced the album.
This is only her debut album - and I sincerely hope that Tamrah Aeryn will continue writing song with a soul, pain and pleasure, like the 12 tracks on "Typical Gurl".

Kee Marcello is back with a whole now expression - and that goes for sound as well as for the visual gimmicks. The glam in the Easy Action days and the glory and fancy hair cuts of the Europe days are definitely gone! With the looks from partly Prodigy and partly Limb Bizkit Kee Marcello on guitar, keyboards and vocals, Klatuu ? on bass and Snowy Shaw on drums and percussion melt a surrealistic cocktail of melodic rock, industrial metal and grunge into a very special experience.
The album starts out with 4 tracks in the industrial vein - but then some heartland rock with an acustic intro turns up in the track "Epic" and the voice and the guitar sound is very essential in both kinds of expression. Kee started his own studio called GEM in Göteborg and this gave him the opportunity to do the entire production from demos to the final mix.
A very special release - when you take the background of this excellent guitarist (and vocalist) in mind, but backed up by very experienced musicians and with a clear mind of what sound he wanted the album "Melon Demon Divine" grows more and more in my concience.

We are now at the second episode of Daniele Liveranis rock opera "Genius".
The two main characters Genius sung by Mark Boals and Twinspirit # 32 sung by Daniel Gildenlöw is in a dangerous land trying to escape the Dream Legue soldies led by their commander sung by Russell Allan. They are also set to find where the Little Prince was kept in order to save him - and during their amsing time trip they run across King Oddyfer sung by Johnny Gioeli....
One again each of the characters is piece of history in hard rock and heavy metal history - as it says in the press material. Other singers int story ara: Edu Falashi from Angra, Rob Tyrant from albyrinth, Jeff Martin from Racer X, eric Martin from Mr. Big and Liv Kristine from Theatre Of Tragedy. As on the first episode Philip Bynoe from Vai/Ring Of Fire is the storyteller and the new vocalist in Liveranis Empty Tremor band Oliver Hartmann is conducting all choirs.
Besides Liverani himself on guitars, bass and keyboards Dario Ciccioni is taking care of the drums. The music style is very varied featuring a unique and spectacular blend of melodic rock, heavy metal and progressive metal.

Lionsheart is back with a very powerful release "Abyss" on a new record company with a new image and line-up.
Back on the right track after a couple of thoughtful years the mighty vocalist Steve Grimmett of Grim Reaper/Onslaught-fame has recruited Ian Nash on guitars, Eddie Marsh on bass and Steve Hales on drums and keyboards.
The album "Abyss" is the result of 3 years hard work for the four current members and its recorded in the Warehouse Studios in Oxford with Steve Watkins at the prduction helm. he gave the album an uncluttered, raw production whilst maintaining the melodic overtones.
A very powerful release that reveals a lot of energy - and some favorites are the dynamic opener "Screaming" and "All I got" but also the more soulful tracks like semi-acustic "I need Love" and "If you cut me" - Grimmett is more hes own on this one, where I used to compare him with acts like Coverdale, but on "Abyss" he is really on the right track. A great record!

Glen Burtnik is a man with an impressing CV. Not only has he made two of the most sought after albums - "Talking in code" and "Heroes and Zeroes" but he has also written songs for such prominent acts like Cindy Lauper, Randy Travis, Patty Smythe, Alias, John Waite and Don Henley. After a successfull intermezzo with Styx - replacing Tommy Shaw back in 1990 he is now 100% focused on his own solo career.
The prime thing with Mr. Burtnik is his gift to spand from the huge arrangement with bagpipes and stuff as on "The Muse" to the naked and barest production as on "All that's yet to come" with only Burtniks voice and a piano is hearable! As go for the musical style on the album - it covers claassic melodic hard rock over ballads to more Nu Breed/industrial expressions - but all in all Glen Burtnik as always has made an album worth listen to with lots of statements and with a meaning to every note and word! Highly recommended.

Over the Edge is the project that will re-launch former Starship vocalist Mickey Thomas as an artist - and what a launch. This is in fact his 3rd solo release, the first one back in 1977 and the second "Alive alone" in 1981, so you can say that it is about time!
The last time I heard from this excellent singer was back in 1998 when he guested Sammy Hagar's "Marching to Mars" - but according to the press material he also sang on Bobby Kimball's "All I ever wanted" and even provided the voice for the title character in the cartoon "The adventures of Kanga Roddy".
The album "Over the Edge" is a very fine collection of classic melodic rock songs written and partly performed by a whole lot of celebraties - like Neal schon, Jack Blades, Janathan Cain, Freddy Curci, Steve Lukather and Ritchie Kotzen. The album is produced arranged and mixed by Fabrizio Grossi and with that bunch it can't be that wrong.
The album starts out with a nice and positive Jack Blades penned melodic rocker "Over the Edge" and continues with the more mellow but beautiful "One World" with Blades and Schon. But the most exciting track on the whole album for me is the up tempo riff based "Surrender" - with the characteristic sound of Neal Schon. But the also the ballad "Eyes wide open" written by J. cain is a little masterpiece! And finally Lukather got to cranck the guitars up a bit on "Forest for the trees"
This is a triumphant return of one the most busy guys in rock history - covering a career of 30 years! This one is his most stabile and positive releases - even though I liked Starship's "Love among the Cannibals".

Paul Shortino and JK Northrup is only partly right - because there are two guest musicians on this rather splendid release. Former Foreigner vocalist Johnny Edward is doing the lead vocals on "Crazy Mind" and Mr. guitar Tommy Denander is doing the lead parts on "Feel again". Besides those musicians B. E. Haggard is on drums and Nir Averbuch from XYZ is on keybords.
The album is loaded with JK's good guitar figures and the significant hoarse voice of Paul Shortino - and the real scoop in this release is the varied guitar work from Northrup - sometimes he is hard and just afterwards he makes some bubbly guitar sound - but all in all its a good release. And should appeal to every lover of great guitar work and old school melodic rock hard rock with a cocky mix of high octane rockers added with sensitive ballads!
Highlights on the album is opener "Here I am" with a heavy intro riff and a melodic chorus - nice production. The quiet partly acustic "Like a Stone" is a great track, too - but be sure to listen to Denanders guitar on "Feel again", that is really 1st class!

Horizon is a project featuring the German born multiinstrumentalist and vocalist Patrick Hemer and the French drummer Krissy Friedrich. "Worlds apart" is their second album - the first "The sky's the limit" was released in 2003.
On their new album Horizon has put a great effort in releasing a quality product - a great production, a good record company in Massacre records and in Denmark a deal with Intromental Management - and when i sit with the album in my hands there a lot of candy for the eyes, too because of the great artwork by Mattias Norén at Progart.
The band presents themselves heavier and rougher than on the debut and Mr. Hemer is taking care of the vocals as well this time. Variety is a keyword to this album, starting out with a high speed track like "Burning Hunger and followed by the heavy "Always Stranger" but also has the radio friendly ballad "When the Night falls" launched on the beautiful piano by extra keyboarder Giam Giraldi. Hemers voice is as warm and smooth and has a wide range - and his guitar playing is as complicated and with the virtuos drumming by Krissy friedrich the band manages to fill the gab between melody and heaviness.
A surprisingly good album to me!

Shylock is back with their third and sofar strongest release - "Welcome to Illusion" is a study itself in classic German - on places even Scandinavian sounding - hard rock. Originally founded in 1998 in Würzburg by guitarist Johannes Löhr and vocalist Matthias Schenk and since their previous MTM release "Pyronized" from 2001 they have changed the "backing-group" to the present featuring Stefan Appel on guitar, Steven Wussow on bass, Helmuth Welther on drums and Matthias Appel on keyboards.
After "Pyronized" Shylock has toured intensively - supporting other German acts like Bonfire, jaded Heart, Axxis and Krokus (oops! they are from Switzerland) and it had an influence on their sound on two fronts. One Shylock seems very hooked on playing, as they are very tight, powerful and precise. And second they seem to have adapted this classic German hard rock sound which I like!
I also like the diversity of the album - as they cover the genre from the most powerful dark metal track like "Darkness" to a moody ballad like "Lose you" over the beautiful mid-tempo melodic rocker "But i like it" and the challenging "Tomorrow" with interesting keyboard structures.
Some key words to this album are great guitar playing, strong vocals, great melodies and a great production - all glued together with passion and joy for the music - the band sounds like they are enjoing every second of it.
I liked their previous album but I love this one!

I had a package sent the other day including two records with a unknown act, to me.
Double Eclipse is a band hailing from Rotherham, Engleand formed by the two twin brothers Alan Hackney (drums and backing vocals ) and Phillip Hackney (lead and backing vocals) formed Double Eclipse back in 1994. In 1995, following the recruitment of two local players, Double Eclipse performed their first gigs. At the end of the year they recorded D.E.E.P., a four track EP. The following year saw more gigs and positive reviews for the EP. The "track Can You Tell Me?" received radio airplay on several local radio stations.
With lead guitarist Mikael Johannesson on board, and Phil Abram in the engineer's chair, the twins independently recorded and released the debut Double Eclipse album "Have It Your Way" in March, 1999. Phillip played bass guitar on the album.
The twins released this second album "Freedom To Function" in 2003. Alongside Mikael Johannesson, Richie Spencer was brought in on lead guitar.David Gotteri played bass to allow Phillip to concentrate on vocals. Phil Abram was brought in to co-produce after having worked on their debut, too.
The over all impression with this splendid independent release (their debut is a fine piece of work, too) is that the twin brothers are walking the fine edge of playing powerful melodic metal with taht little touch of industrial and Nu Breed rock in the guitars and drums. There are several listenable tracks on this album - the grand "Reason why" is my personal favorite but also powerful opener "Burn" leaves an impressing impression!

It is always a very pleasant experience to be surprised! And the (to me) completely unknown band Jettison Eddy is indeed a very positive surprise.
The quintet is from USA and featuring the talents of main songwriter Jon Manitta on vocals and guitar, Rick Krusky on guitar, Neil G. Ives on bass, Dave Ingraham on drums and Ruly Hinojosa on percussion. All very capable of making great melodies, with excellent background choir with the straight forward drive to all the songs wether it is the powerful opener "Long Break", the more mellow (partly) acustic "You" and my favorite track the epic "Walk with me".
Jon Manitta is obviously THE man in Jettison Eddy - he writes all the songs, plays the guitar and sings. The musical style is melodic hard rock with several modern rock influences and the album is produced and engineered by the one and only Keith Olsen in the legendary Goodnight L.A. Studios in Los Angeles - it's been a long time since a saw this name on the back of an albumcover! But this man can create a musical landscape that allows every gene of the band to come to life! Great.
The band has a deal with the highly enthusiastic record company Nuerra Records and labelfounder Michael Phelan is listed as Executive producer and Artistic director! It was a very pleasant acquaintance, let's hope they get as successful as they deserve.

Guitarist/vocalist Michael Kammeyer originally started Pyramaze as he dropped out of his former band Damion - who only recorded two demo CD's. He was soon joined by local musicians Morten Gade (Sörensen) from Wuthering Heights on drums and Niels Kvist on bass. The next one to be enrolled in the band was American keyboard player Jonah Weingarten, who Michael met through the Internet.
In 2003 the quartet went in the studio with (in Denmark) wellknown producer and guitarist Jacob Hansen. One of the things that came with the signing to Intromental Management was the decision that instead of having Michael sing the vocals on the album, it would be wiser to find a suitable pro-singer. The man for this specific job was no one but American progressive vocalist Lance King - known from acts like Balance of Power, Gemini and Mattson.
And so Pyramaze became a unit that makes quite an impact on the melodic power/progressive scene with a unique blend of bands like Iced earth, kamelot and even Stratovarius - a talented quintet with the power of the young and the melody of the experinced forces of the band!