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All reviews written by Alanna
| 1. Virgin Steele - Life Among the Ruins | Rating: 9.5/10
Most people know Virgin Steele as this impossibly grandiose power metal outfit that sometimes dabbles in hints of epic progressive. From the early 80s of the powerfully proud "Noble Savage" to their second coming in the 90s riding the acclaim of the Manowar-like triumphant opus, "Invictus", it was the clash of steel, the roar of the ....
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| 2. Def Leppard - Hysteria | Rating: 9.5/10
Since its debut nearly 20 years ago now, this album has been put through every critique possible for a disc. Wildly popular by any industry standards, it sold a ton of copies (something to the tune of 30 million) and spawned an incredible seven hit-out-of-the-ballpark singles, has been the focus of a VH-1 Special and been analyzed on a DVD th....
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| 3. Allen Lande - The Battle | Rating: 9.5/10
When you take two of the greatest vocalists to come out of the 90s and have them join forces, it could only result in something special. An album that is extraordinary. A disc that would blow your mind if only it was done properly. Thank the lucky stars, but Allen/Lande "The Battle" is an exercise in how to achieve superiority. It's a crushing....
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| 4. Whitesnake - Whitesnake | Rating: 9/10
Whitesnake's self titled album is likely one that is taking up space on your shelf but hasn't been dusted off for awhile. I would know, because my copy had largely suffered the same fate until recently. Every now and then then nostalgia bug bites and its time to resurrect a classic. After a good amount of time spent cozying up to WS's US relea....
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| 5. Vandenberg - The Definitive Collection | Rating: 9/10
"The Definitive Collection." To have a title of this magnitude, the release needs to be something special indeed, and thankfully this Vandenberg greatest hits CD fits the bill of being exceptional. It may (or may not) come as a surprise that Vandenberg is one of my favorite bands from the 1980s. In the space of time between 1982 and 1985 th....
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| 6. W.E.T. - W.E.T. | Rating: 9/10
Ready to get W.E.T.? How about just out and out drenched? W.E.T.'s "debut" album of sheer melodic rock bliss is made up of three main players who create the sound and forge the basis of the name. Songwriter Robert Sall from Work of Art for the W, Eclipse guitarist/songwriter/etc Erik Martensson....
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| 7. Ten - Return to Evermore | Rating: 9/10
Ten is one of those bands that for some - is just like magic. With each new album release there's high expectations, and it's almost become like an event. These days not too many bands continue to excite and up the ante with slight tweaks on every fresh disc, but frontman and leader Gary Hughes makes sure his band hums with the electricity o....
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| 8. Stan Bush - In This Life | Rating: 9/10
Many have heard Stan Bush, yet do not know it, as the singer for "The Touch" from the "Transformers: The Movie" theatrical animated film. So if the name seems dazedly familiar somehow, that is likely where you have touched base with his voice once before. This singer/songwriter solo artist's latest disc (and his tenth solo outing) is one tha....
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| 9. Sonata Arctica - The Days of Grays | Rating: 9/10
Sonata Arctica was once penned as a bubbly happy rival to country mates and fellow power pomp rockers, Stratovarius. Six albums later and the label is not so certain anymore. Actually, it fell completely off and someone stepped on it. This band has come light years away from that first debut di....
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| 10. Pride of Lions - The Destiny Stone | Rating: 9/10
So you thought it would be nice to have Survivor for the 2000's right? Well these guys have just answered your prayers and granted your wishes. Headed by one of the former driving forces of Survivor, Pride of Lions is Jim Peterik's baby and therefore is treated with the utmost patience, care and love. Each song is nutured by him to try and ....
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| 11. Place Vendome - Streets of Fire | Rating: 9/10
This may very well be "the" album you are looking for, if quality, talent and a knack for sticky melodies is your bread and butter while the love of all things rock boils yearningly in your blood. Place Vendome answers the call in your veins and puts the crowning butter on your toast too, all for the sheer joy of it. Crossing ....
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| 12. Luca Turilli's Dreamquest - Lost Horizons | Rating: 9/10
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to determine that this is Luca Turilli's personal work of art. An album that he invested alot of time and effort into that likely detracted from the inspiration spark for cobbling together the disc that many true metal fans were anxiously awaiting: "The Infinite Wonders of Creation", the not-so grand finale t....
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| 13. Kamelot - Ghost Opera | Rating: 9/10
It must be daunting to try and top or at least sustain the quality of your band after a watershed release such as "The Black Halo". There are very few bands out there that have released an album that had the emotional depth, musical intricacies, tightly wound song structures and catchy hooks such as contained in that "Halo" release. Kamelot ....
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| 14. House of Lords - World Upside Down | Rating: 9/10
House of Lords attempted a return a couple of years ago with the overly prehyped "The Power and the Myth". It largely had the same lineup as classic HOL, yet the sound was anything but. Gregg Giuffria, the keyboardist that originally put the band together back in the late 80s, jumped the rapidly sinking ship. It was apparent why he wouldn't wa....
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| 15. FM - Indiscreet | Rating: 9/10
The 1980s were most definitely the heyday for all things AOR. Stadium rockers Foriegner gone soft, a retooled Heart and the ever popular Journey ruled the early 80s and waiting in their wings were plenty more bands: Night Ranger, Mr. Mister, the delictable Icon and oh-so many others. Radio was flooded with song after song of U.S. AOR hopefuls ....
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| 16. Europe - Wings of Tomorrow | Rating: 9/10
It has been about seventeen years now since the first electric breeze of "Stormwind" blew through my cassette player and became responsible for igniting a passion that has lasted just as long as I've owned the record itself. "Wings of Tomorrow" was my formal introduction to the world of hard rock and heavy metal and looking b....
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| 17. Edge of Forever - Let the Demon Rock N Roll | Rating: 9/10
For the first several tracks on Edge of Forever's second outing, "Let the Demon Rock N Roll", you might just think you have found heavy metal heaven. This would, in theory, be a magical place where melodic rock and blazing riffs collide. And for awhile, this band achieves that, easily managing to rank themselves among the elite in one fail swo....
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| 18. Conception - Flow | Rating: 9/10
Rolling waves of sound, a high-tech progressive atmosphere, soul drifting vocals that weave in an out of your subconscious... this was the height of creative progressive metal, and the final release of the much beloved, but often forgotten band - Conception. This was Roy Khan's stomping grounds....
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| 19. Bob Catley - Immortal | Rating: 9/10
If there ever was an album that deserved the term "majestic", it would certainly be this one. Taking us back to the bardic medieval atmosphere of Magnum's "On A Storyteller's Night" and lavishly exploring this epic overall feeling, "Immortal" allows you free reign into a dangerous fantasy world of myth and magic, wonder and int....
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| 20. Allen Lande - The Revenge | Rating: 9/10
There are good albums and then there are great albums. Then there's this tiny little echelon of cds that fall into true masterpiece territory. Vocalists Russel Allen and Jorn Lande's collaboration with the brilliant songwriter/guitarist Magnus Karlsson was one of those rare discs that achieved such acclaim. Their feverishly awaited followup....
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| 21. Winger - Karma | Rating: 8.5/10
The band Winger has had several decades worth of ups and downs. From the quick commercial success of their bouncy AOR debut and the polished up followup, to the coming apart, and sinking popularity that followed the release of the decidedly un-hair metal-like "Pull". A decade plus went by and t....
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| 22. Whitesnake - Forevermore | Rating: 8.5/10
If the previous Whitesnake album, "Bad to be Good" was enough to please the fans, despite having lost it's hooks halfway between the writing and pressing phase, then the latest and greatest "Forevermore" should give every 'Snake fan a happy heartattack. It's a mashup of many Coverdale moments, as he seems to not be able to shake ....
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| 23. Tour De Force - World On Fire | Rating: 8.5/10
The story of Tour De Force is a depressed, confused one and a tale that is mystifying. Demos rumored to be the stuff of Scandi-AOR legend and a resulting album that was anything but. Then they slipped away, leaving little mark on the world of melodic rock, a world that should have been blown open by them, but was not. That one self titled dud ....
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| 24. Tony O'Hora - Escape Into the Sun | Rating: 8.5/10
Tony O'Hora was the vocalist that gave Praying Mantis their second lease on life. Or perhaps it was their third. Anyhow, it was a new birth for the band and with his fine pipes, they were able to capture a new appreciative audience with both Forever In Time and Nowhere To Hide. After he left the band should have folded since the mixed vocalist....
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| 25. Tony Harnell - Cinematic | Rating: 8.5/10
"Cinematic" is a surprisingly fantastic six song musical experience, given life and voice by Tony Harnell. It hits the sky like an exploding fireball and then goes dimmer upon escalating, soft and fading, leaving all the shades inbetween. Harnell's voice is golden and gorgeous and ....
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| 26. Sunstorm - House of Dreams | Rating: 8.5/10
There is no finer outlet to showcase Joe Lynn Turner's emotional versatility and nuanced depths than the Sunstorm releases. These focus his talents into the realm of AOR, that melodic rich subgenre that pinpoints the softer side, a sleek pop rock crossover. Joe Lynn Turner has held audiences in thrall for over thirty years in ....
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| 27. Sunstorm - Sunstorm | Rating: 8.5/10
If you weren't paying close attention, you likely missed it. Sunstorm is not an established name, but yet is another project that features Joe Lynn Turner behind the mic. And if you believe you have never heard anything sung by JOLT then you are likely wrong, since he has appeared everywhere. Turner has been the vocalist for Mother's Army, Rai....
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| 28. Street Talk - V | Rating: 8.5/10
Fredrik Burgh, the leader of Street Talk had considered letting the band go after nearly a decade to pursue other musical outlets. Thankfully something made him reconsider as the greatest hits type compilation "Destination" was anything but the final one. He and sidekick vocalist Goran Edman are giving it another go round and the results speak....
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| 29. Street Talk - Destination | Rating: 8.5/10
I have been following Street Talk since their very first release, "Collaboration", named such likely due to the fact it utilized not one, but three vocalists. The "other two", Kristian Andren (which can be heard here on "Destination") and Daniel Jonsson were simply outclassed by the focal point of the cd, the fabulous Goran Edman. That was b....
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| 30. Starbreaker - Starbreaker | Rating: 8.5/10
Starbreaker seems like a brand new outfit, and it is, but while the name might be new, don't let that fool you, the musicians within are very familiar in a warm and comforting way. Tony Harnell is by far the star of this show, his pipes bright and sometimes quite thick, a divergence from his usual delivery, but if you think Harnell can only h....
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| 31. Starbreaker - Love's Dying Wish | Rating: 8.5/10
The album's cover art says it all, as honest and open as it could possibly be. Dark and chaotic for the background created with splashes of blacks and greys. The showpiece being a single stark off-white dove, tear glistening from it's crying eye as its wings sweep it away, all while holding a blood dripping crimson heart in its beak, just as i....
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| 32. Spin Gallery - Embrace | Rating: 8.5/10
Putting a different spin on AOR is Spin Gallery's "Embrace", which is headed up by the prolific magic touch of Tommy Denander (who is everywhere you look these past few years), and painted around the vocals of sole singer Kristopher Lagerstrom. Their only other cd, from 2004 featured a trio of voices. That has been pared back to a ....
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| 33. Rough Silk - Roots of Hate | Rating: 8.5/10
This is a disc I've personally had a long history with and it comes as an oddity that up until now I have never written about it, despite the fact it has swerved in and out of my life for the past decade-plus. Rough Silk's "Roots of Hate" is a curiosity from a time when metal-type music was still being created ....
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| 34. Reingold - Universe | Rating: 8.5/10
Variety is the spice of life and bassist and ivory tickler Jonas Reingold's brainchild thrives on it. Many moods and emotions are given their due time as they swirl through a nice assortment of tunes inspired by many different metal sub-genres. One of the first steps of appreciating "Universe" (a fitting title since e....
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| 35. Radioactive - Taken | Rating: 8.5/10
This is a CD that forces you to kick back and marvel at the enormous amount of people that had to come together to create a single work of music. Radioactive has always been a showcase of snappy melodic tunes with a revolving guest list of vocalists to keep things shaken up, but neither of the previous duo of discs had quite this many musician....
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| 36. Pride of Lions - The Roaring of Dreams | Rating: 8.5/10
The sophomore disc from Pride of Lions has alot to live up to. The first disc was an excellence slice of AOR Survivor style and the followup, "The Destiny Stone" upped the ante by presenting the music in an even more bombastic and spine tingling form. It went overboard and then some with the theatrics, threatening huge heights that even Styx a....
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| 37. Pathfinder - Beyond the Space Beyond the Time | Rating: 8.5/10
Pathfinder has arrived from Poland and are playing power metal the classic way. Wicked fast riffing, thunderbound drumming, and a sound that takes epic to the highest levels. This is bombastic metal that thrashes through the blood and sets your heart afire. You can hear a glorious mixture of bands within their sound, including Labyrinth ("Retu....
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| 38. Northern Kings - Rethroned | Rating: 8.5/10
Northern Kings. The name implies so much. Mastery, rulership, the essence of being above all others. With "Rethroned", these 'kings' of metal have easily claimed such haughty ambitions and made them their own. A collaborative project between four of the hottest singers out of Finland, the first album "Reborn" was fant....
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| 39. Magnum - Princess Alice and the Broken Arrow | Rating: 8.5/10
Here's a band that needs little introduction. Magnum has been around since the 70s, changing their styles with every album, but keeping the signature core that makes an album, well, a Magnum album, intact and untarnished. They have shifted and changed during the years, the favorite period being the mid 80s that gave birth to a trilogy of highl....
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| 40. Magnum - Into the Valley of the Moonking | Rating: 8.5/10
"Into the Valley of the Moonking", Magnum's new opus, remembers what their previous post reunion efforts failed to recall. The resurrection of luxuriously slippery melodies, the fine knit meticulous inter weavings of high class musicianship and that signature sprinkle of magic. All is aliv....
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| 41. Kamelot - Poetry for the Poisoned | Rating: 8.5/10
"Poetry For the Poisoned" is a sweeping work of art, that is destined to come under fire for being not "power" enough for the metal majority. Kamelot continues to push the boundaries of what defines power metal, painting the walls with unexpected artistic touches, progressive moments, modern tendancies, and sheer thunderborn meta....
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| 42. Jorn - The Gathering | Rating: 8.5/10
A Greatest Hits package or an excuse to rerecord and fluff up a collection of songs that perhaps didn't quite get the exposure warranted the first time around? "The Gathering" is a little bit of both. Jorn enlisted the help of Tommy Hansen to beef up the production on some of his earlier solo works that needed a boost and the others w....
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| 43. Jorn - Lonely Are the Brave | Rating: 8.5/10
Lande's latest, "Lonely Are the Brave" plays pretty much like the previous Jorn albums. Just in the first handful of songs, you can clearly hear his influences shining through like a beacon of brazen light. Bits of "Stargazer" from Rainbow, "Holy Diver"-era Dio, "Neon Knights" by Black Sabbath, he twists through ....
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| 44. Jorn - Out to Every Nation | Rating: 8.5/10
Jorn Lande is one metal talent that requires no media press hype for me at all to become absolutely madly frothing at the mouth at the prospect of digging into the delectable glory that is one of his projects. Hopping aboard the fan boat sometime in 1998 with his appearance on Mundanus Imperium's "The Spectral Spheres Coronation" and featurin....
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| 45. Icon - Night Of Crime | Rating: 8.5/10
"Night of the Crime" was the one - and only time for Icon in the spotlight, in my eyes. They were a midwest band that received some minor attention for their self titled first release, and a little buzz for "Night of the Crime", which was their follow up. The depa....
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| 46. Harem Scarem - Hope | Rating: 8.5/10
Harem Scarem has had a long career as a band that has not been untouched by controversy. They are one of those bands that changes up their sound every album or so, thus spawning a fresh spew of new fan debate with each release. They even split up for awhile, performed under the name Rubber in a radically different musical styl....
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| 47. Harem Scarem - Mood Swings | Rating: 8.5/10
Harem Scarem seem to reinvent themselves every other album, going from the keyboard filled Def Leppard meets Honeymoon Suite debut and sliding all the way into the depths of nu-breed "modern" rock and then back to AOR again in recent years. But unlike other bands that seem to do this soul searching to try and discover the recipe of musical pe....
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| 48. Gary John Barden - Agony & The Xtasy | Rating: 8.5/10
After the colossal flop that was Gary John Barden's first solo cd, the dodgy remake album of dusty MSG classics titled "Past and Present", this follow up was met with seriously low expectations. Fortunately for those that have enjoyed the vocal stylings of Mr. Barden or gravitate towards blues tinged hard rock flavored by the fuel of the 80s, ....
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| 49. Edge of Forever - Feeding the Fire | Rating: 8.5/10
When I first received this CD for review, for some reason the music, with its heavily borrowed Yngwie Malmsteen neo-classical asthetics - be it from mood swings or the climate changes that was turning New England from a cool paradise to a hot sweltering desert and back again - just wasn't doing it for me. It was "hmm been here done that befor....
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| 50. Danzig - III: How the Gods Kill | Rating: 8.5/10
There is this weird quirk that people have that if you like some particular thing they believe you will get into anything having to do with it. This is the circumstances that lead me to owning "Danzig III". Since it was a well known fact that I liked metal, a relative decided to buy this for me for Christmas because obviously if I was into M....
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| 51. Danger Danger - Revolve | Rating: 8.5/10
The songs are strong, the entertainment value is completely evident yet the band has not lost track of the fact that it is not quite 1989 anymore and even give the feeling that they don't particular care either... Danger Danger's "Revolve" marks the 20th anniversary of the band's existance on the planet (in one....
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| 52. Crossfade - White On Blue | Rating: 8.5/10
Wow what an album! I've tried to hold back on this one for awhile and let the euphoria die down a little before throwing it against the wall and seeing what songs would "stick" in the long run and which ones would slide off into oblivion, but with Crossfade's "White On Blue", this simply is not happening. The music is completely spellbinding....
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| 53. Corin & Edman - Roc de Light | Rating: 8.5/10
Sunshine bleached sandy white beaches, palm trees stirring from the bay breeze, love drifting in on each aquamarine tide spray... yes this is the winding roads, carefree feel and romance of Westcoast. A dying breed of music which was delicately concocted by lush relaxed harmonies floating in on the ocean waves of the coastlines of California ....
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| 54. Blind Guardian - A Twist in the Myth | Rating: 8.5/10
Four years have passed and many wonder and ponder what path Blind Guardian will wander down next... "Night at the Opera" was at times, an overly complex affair. It brimmed with epic passages in pomp and length and presented a technical side buried in lavishly layered symphonic adventures. Due to the fact that this was the culmination of a mult....
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| 55. Blackmore´s Night - Winter Carols | Rating: 8.5/10
Blackmore's Night has been releasing discs of original and old material in a medieval "lite folksy rock" renassaince fair flair. Finally the team of Candice and Ritchie gives us their spin on "Winter Carols". This is such a treat simply for presenting these well known and beloved ....
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| 56. Bad Habit - Hear-Say | Rating: 8.5/10
Bad Habit have been kicking around since the mid 80s. In fact, this is their 20th year together. All those years have only produced enough albums to be counted on one hand and touring has been nearly non existent. In fact, the last time they were heard from was 1998's "Adult Orientation". Eight years is a long time to go without surfacing in t....
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| 57. Ambition - Ambition | Rating: 8.5/10
80s style, 2000 production. This is AOR done the right way. It slides down like ice cream on a hot summer day, and keeps you warm and cozy like beef stew on a winter night.
Three singers (including the Trillion vocalist Thom Griffin making a hyped return to the fold), great songwriters, the guitars of Tommy Denander (again?), and Frontiers....
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| 58. Yngwie Malmsteen - Eclipse | Rating: 8/10
"Eclipse" was different than anything that came before in the world of Malmsteen, and remains a strange entity when you look at everything that came after it. Yngwie gained respect and reputation for his genre shattering "Rising Force" album, catapulting him into shred superstardom. "March....
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| 59. Vision Divine - Stream of Consciousness | Rating: 8/10
When presented with a new Vision Divine CD, this wasn't exactly what I had expected. "VD" as they are commonly abbreviated to (all jokes about venereal disease, go ahead and get them out of your system now) was originally just a side project for Labyrinth guitarist Olaf Thorsen. My attention was brought to the band because at the time of the....
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| 60. Wildkard - Megalomania | Rating: 8/10
Songs penned at the opening of the 90s, lovely guitar riffs, gorgeous keyboards, a strong spellbinding voice to give life to it all... Wildkard is likely the best kept secret in melodic rock today. The music was written under The Zero Hour Project name as the 1990s first dawned. The music industry then was awash in the dirty carelessness of ....
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| 61. Whitesnake - Good to Be Bad | Rating: 8/10
Ten years and nothing recorded by Whitesnake. All of this is to change with 2008's studio recording, "Good to be Bad", an album that celebrates the naughty nice music of Whitesnake's past and a flash of Coverdale/Page, just to balance things in a more modern directional twist. Fans that have been begging and plea....
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| 62. Warrant - Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich | Rating: 8/10
It may be a leap of faith for the newer metal fans to believe that an album like this was once upon a time considered to be the hip "in thang". The music at this point had often become a stylized fashion extravaganza. Bands such as Cinderella had even complained that their mismatched selection of clothing often overshadowed their performances ....
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| 63. Valentine - The Most Beautiful Pain | Rating: 8/10
Robby Valentine was a huge success in the Netherlands and Japan at the beginning of the 90s with his first, self titled solo outing that produced the top five charting single (in Holland) "Over and Over Again". His style was more pop-AOR oriented during that period of time, his influences a combination of synthesizer driven melodic rock fused ....
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| 64. TNT - Transistor | Rating: 8/10
After the release of the dismal "Firefly" album, alot of hardcore TNT fans were more than just a little disappointed and sceptical about the band's next release. "Firefly" was another one of those albums where a metal band tries to go almost alternative it seems... either because they 'sold out' or as they claim, to go in the musical direction....
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| 65. The Murder of My Sweet - Divanity | Rating: 8/10
Daniel Flores (primarily drummer for Mind's Eye) has been at the center of quite a few interesting, and very different projects. Foremost in the mind is last year's underrated Crash the System disc "The Crowning" which was a roulette spin of vocalists set against a keyboard programmed heavy AOR atmosphere. The Murder of My Sweet project is ano....
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| 66. The LoveCrave - The Angel and the Rain | Rating: 8/10
For a debut album especially, The LoveCrave have offered up a fine slab of gothic rock here. One that will be a difficult juggernaut to topple. Alot of bands in this genre come across as cheesy, tongue and cheek, and lacking sincerity. You can tell they are painted up, leather chokers and all for the paycheck. Like outfitting at Hot Topic and ....
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| 67. The Gathering - Mandylion (re-release) | Rating: 8/10
I remember when I was first introduced to this band, I was floored by the level of maturity and casual elegance that emanated from their music. The female vocals paired with this swirling keyboard laden mixture of poppish progressive music with dark undertones was just unique and wonderful at the time. Ten years later, and the glow has still n....
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| 68. Ted Poley - Smile | Rating: 8/10
There's nothing quite like kicking back with a good cd that conjures up pretty sonic images like a pair of fuzzy warm slippers on a cold afternoon. That kind of warm, familiar air that keeps your blood running warm and your heart beating in a soothing rhythm . That's kind of the mind/body response that comes with Ted Poley's latest, <e....
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| 69. Stratovarius - Elysium | Rating: 8/10
This is the second album from Stratovarius without its previous heart and band founder, Timo Tolkki. There's no denying that the band had grown stagnant the last few years of Tolkki's reign, as interpersonal band relationships deteriorated and the music right along with it. The first disc with Tolkki dismissed, "Polaris", triumphed more on the....
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| 70. Steve Lukather - Ever Changing Times | Rating: 8/10
Steve Lukather likely needs no introduction. He's played on literally hundreds of albums, ranging from session work for wildly popular releases such as Michael Jackson's "Thriller" to being the guitarist for Toto. When one thinks of Lukather, the Toto sound is naturally what comes to mind. Following those expectations along th....
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| 71. State of Rock - A Point of Destiny | Rating: 8/10
What would happened if someone decided to cross wires between 1990s Frontline and 1980s Shy? And called themselves after the most important Frontline album, "State of Rock"? You don't have to question it any longer, because the resulting crossbreed is here to rock your AOR world. The musicians that made up Frontline have created a new band and....
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| 72. Shy - Sunset and Vine | Rating: 8/10
Shy is back with their second fresh full length effort since the latest reformation, which saw the return of original vocalist Tony Mills after a multi year and much missed absence. They came prepared with some great music and backed that up with killer performances and a polished production that brings their efforts into the spotlight. Thei....
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| 73. Seventh Key - Live in Atlanta | Rating: 8/10
I can't say that I have ever been a huge fan of live albums. It's not the same experience as seeing a band in person, and few live outputs ever seem to get the right balance between that "live" sound and being too raw. Just because it's the band exposed and in the rough doesn't mean I want to hear the singer flub his lines, the guitarist go on....
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| 74. Sanvoisen - Exotic Ways | Rating: 8/10
A fine example of progressive metal from the middle of the 1990s would be this 1994 disc by Sanvoisen. A double guitar attack band from Germany with a Greek singer, they only released a duo of discs before splitting apart in 2000. This "Exotic Ways" was their debut, and was a cleanly played, well crafted disc that while well reci....
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| 75. Royal Hunt - Collision Course - Paradox 2 | Rating: 8/10
Mark Boals has not done anything very impressive in quite a few years. His Ring of Fire projects have been atypical of the Euro-power genre, his second stint with Malmsteen largely unexciting - and so forth. It's a shame, because his voice always seemed to be so much better than the songs that attempted to fit with it. Royal H....
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| 76. Redemption - The Origins of Ruin | Rating: 8/10
Redemption's third album is truly their greatest. "The Origins of Ruin" represents all one would crave and desire from a metal minded progressive release. The songs are sharp and accessible yet very technical at their core. Its a labyrinth of instrumental excellence written by band member Nicolas van Dyk who also p....
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| 77. Rainbow - Bent Out of Shape | Rating: 8/10
There is very little AOR/hard rock from today that can stand against a true and tested classic, Rainbow's "Bent Out of Shape". That's right. Early 80s Rainbow. The band gets plenty of acclaim for the Ronnie James Dio trilogy mid to late 70s outings, but when Ritchie turned his Rainbow from a hard hitting metal band to a slick pop friendly r....
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| 78. Poisonblack - Lust Stained Despair | Rating: 8/10
The stake was shoved through the heart of Sentenced and from the band's blood another was reborn. Stronger and more wicked than ever before, Poisonblack rises from the ashes and takes the place of the former outfit. They once co-existed peacefully, Poisonblack being the sideproject and Sentenced the main focus of guitarist/vocalist Ville Laihi....
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| 79. Overland - Break Away | Rating: 8/10
It really can't be pinpointed if Steve Overland has ever lent his voice to anything quite as heavy as his solo album, "Break Away". However, that could just be a side effect of the Overland connection since his current works with FM and Shadowman are more laidback oriented.
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| 80. Over the Edge featuring Mickey Thomas - Over the edge | Rating: 8/10
I wanted to be subjective when reviewing this CD so I have held on to it a little longer than most, and by now most anyone that would potentially be interested in what it has to offer has already snapped it up and been enjoying it for a few months now. And those that aren't into AOR are likely not going to be converted with this. It is for t....
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| 81. Obsession - Carnival of Lies | Rating: 8/10
It may have taken them 20 years but Obsession is back and with a brand new album full of sizzling metal tunes. They truly have not skipped a beat since "Methods of Madness", as the new "Carnival of Lies" dishes up the same kind of screaming vocals and twin axe attack that made their 80s albums such cult favorites among the headbanging....
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| 82. Northern Kings - Reborn | Rating: 8/10
Northern King's "Reborn" is an album that most will overlook. It's a disc full of cover tracks, a niche of the metal release community that is usually more miss than hit. So many artists have pumped out tribute albums and many more have contributed to the "all star" tributes that usually boil down to a collection of d....
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| 83. Marcello-Vestry - Marcello-Vestry | Rating: 8/10
Stumbling upon Marcello-Vestry is akin to wandering a vast, featureless desert. Occasionally you trip over a pretty bit of desert brush here and there, but the way is mostly covered in mostly the same flat tones and endless dunes. Then bam, you slip and fall right into a welcoming paradise oasis. Ex....
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| 84. Magnum - Wings of Heaven Live | Rating: 8/10
A little Magnum history for you... They are a UK band that has been around since the 1970s, with a bit of a breakup during the 90s. Starting out as hard rock/progressive, as years marched on their music softened up until the British chartburner, the lofty "Wings of Heaven" was released. This album spawned quite a few hitmakers....
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| 85. Los Angeles - Los Angeles | Rating: 8/10
The voice behind Los Angeles may be frighteningly familiar to those who keep a keen eye trained on the world of power metal as well as the smoother grooves of AOR. Michele Luppi has been the pipes for Vision Divine, taking over the lead where Fabio (Rhapsody) left off. His voice is strong, and surprisingly tender here. Since screams and over-t....
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| 86. Leverage - Blind Fire | Rating: 8/10
Finland has been a hot spot for producing quality metal bands lately and Leverage is no exception to this new rule blown from the cold Scandinavian north. Their first album, entitled "Tides" was quite popular among critics and recently recieved a wider release from Frontiers Records. That re-releasing coincided with the unleashing of their sec....
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| 87. Lake of Tears - Black Brick Road | Rating: 8/10
Lake of Tears has truly covered all the bases here. "The Greymen" has this addiction synth rhythm that recalls the insanely playful "Devil's Diner", "Dystopia" has all the eerie rambunctious feel of "Demon You (Lily Anne)", "The Organ" is solemn and depressing and teems with exactly that whic....
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| 88. Kotipelto - Serenity | Rating: 8/10
Timo Kotipelto has been known as "the voice" for the tremendously popular Finnish metal act Stratovarius. His voice is instantly recognizable as a soaring, twisting thing that conveys emotion as naturally as breathing. The "main band" Stratovarius has been silent for a few years now and Kotipelto has cycled through what is now a trio of solo....
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| 89. Kiske Somerville - Kiske Somerville | Rating: 8/10
It is a concept that looks fantastic on paper. Michael Kiske (former Helloween singer, and currently smooth coating Place Vendrome into AOR superstardom) and Amanda Somerville (most recognized from Kamelot's "The Haunting" track from "The Black Halo") teaming up for an entire album of duets. But not only would these be duets, these songs would....
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| 90. Kamelot - One Cold Winter´s Night | Rating: 8/10
Kamelot have released a second live album, and it is quite the trip indeed. Their first live offering was "The Expedition" back in 2000, so its been a few years since we have had the treat of hearing the band crank it live. Their set is pulled from mostly the past three releases, with the majority of the material being pulled from the fantasti....
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| 91. Jorn - The Duke | Rating: 8/10
Jorn Lande is something of a vocalist wonder in the metal world. No one is quite up to his caliber (in my opinion) and manage to be so prolific at the same time. It was apparent he was going to be a special singer from the very beginning with his adept performance with Vagabond. Then he proved he could not only do AOR but mimic David Coverdale....
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| 92. Joe Lynn Turner - The Usual Suspects | Rating: 8/10
I've been waiting for Joe Lynn Turner to do an album like this for...well... ages now. He teased us with the spectacular slab of AOR goodness back in the mid 80s in the form of "Rescue You", which was a rarity til a recent re-release and never really followed up on it. I mean, sure there were lots of great songs and projects since, his appea....
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| 93. Joe Lynn Turner - Second Hand Life | Rating: 8/10
Joe Lynn Turner is undeniably a familiar staple of melodic rock. Having fronted Rainbow, Mother's Army, Yngwie Malmsteen's band, Sunstorm, Hughes/Turner, Deep Purple, guested on quite a number of tribute discs and multi singer affairs (Brazen Abbot, Vitalij Kuprij), plus many others and a slew of solo albums, it would be a difficult task to b....
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| 94. Jaded Heart - Helluva Time | Rating: 8/10
Jaded Heart have actually overcome all odds and managed to deliver just what the title promises: a "Helluva Time". Honestly, this comes as a surprise since all hope had been abandoned for the band once Michael Bormann departed. Whether he was kicked out or left on his own devices remains to be seen, the only sure piece of info was that he was ....
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| 95. Human Temple - Insomnia | Rating: 8/10
Wow this album is flooring. After not expecting much from it (really, what is a Human Temple anyway and what does it have to do with AOR?) some of these songs simply have the power to blow one away. We are talking top tier melodic rock, the kind that easily can sit on a pedestal and lord over all the crappier songs under their reign. Seriou....
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| 96. House of Lords - Come to My Kingdom | Rating: 8/10
House of Lords, keyboardist Greg Giuffria's pet after he abandoned the band named after his own name - had three gigantic rock albums in the early 90s - then split apart. The original members reunited for the controversial "Power and the Myth", an album that was more modern clunker than the bombastic AOR masterpiece that was p....
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| 97. Hodson - This Strange World | Rating: 8/10
Who really keeps up with most keyboard players anyway? Despite the fact that this instrument is often extremely important to a band's overall sound, most fans finds ourselves tracking the careers of the singers and guitarists, even the drummers over the guys behind the keys. But there are exceptions of course, such as the one and only Jens J....
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| 98. Heart - Red Velvet Car | Rating: 8/10
Heart has delivered pretty much what they promised for "Red Velvet Car". It is throwback (waaaay back, to the 70's and "Dreamboat Annie"). It has a raw, in-your-face, "live" sound. It also features mountains of chingy, changy acoustic guitars and a stripped instrumental approach. Those that covet the plush 80s sound or the electr....
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| 99. Gotthard - Domino Effect | Rating: 8/10
Gotthard have been around for a small portion of forever...well atleast as long as the early 90s. Finally they have managed to secure a US release with "Domino Effect" and lucky for them, the dominoes seem to have fallen in all the right places. This is a monster of a hard rock album, that is honed to a definite mel....
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| 100. Giuntini Project - III | Rating: 8/10
Tony Martin has always been one of my favored vocalists but his last few projects have left me feeling cold inside. His solo album from last year was too monotonous and even the Rainbow influenced Rondinelli disc seemed uninspired. So this is great news for fans of Mr. Martin. The Giuntini Project gives him the material he deserves and lets hi....
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| 101. Fountain of Tears - Fate | Rating: 8/10
Fountain of Tears may have begun life as a Christian band, but "Fate" seems to have more in common with the progressive rock side of things. Their music is closely aligned with other femme fronted bands that lean on progressive but also mingle on gothic grounds, such as Lacuna Coil.
Swelling keyboards, buzzing electric guitars, mid tempo p....
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| 102. Dare - Arc of the Dawn | Rating: 8/10
Dare's "Arc of the Dawn" is midnight music. Grey day, raindrops pattering on your windowpane music. Softly sweeping like a gentle breeze. It's a horseback ride through the romance of European hills rolling, waves crashing upon emerald shores. Lovely and dreamy, "Arc" continues on the path that Dare set out on with "....
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| 103. Danger Danger - Return of the Great Gildersleeves | Rating: 8/10
There's always an album or two from a major band that seems to slip under the radar, despite critical acclaim and explosive buzz. Some ten years, after its initial rocking of the melodic rock world, "Return of the Great Gildersleeves" is that album for Danger Danger. Overshadowed by the their huge 80s debut and the comeback of th....
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| 104. Da Vinci - Back In Business | Rating: 8/10
Da Vinci's self titled was a good album. Rough around the edges, a tad simplistic, and even boring in places, it had its moments. The high regard for which it is held has more to do with the disc that came after it. For if you even liked Da Vinci just a bit from that first effort, then "Back In Business" will blow you clean away. Ever....
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| 105. Crash the System - The Crowning | Rating: 8/10
The very symphonic and immensely tight Crash the System album comes as a pleasant Scandanavian treat. Daniel Flores from Mind's Eye and Sören Kronqvist (songwriter for Michael Bormann and House of Lords and noted former Finnish 400 meter hurdle champion in 1989) collaborated to create the best AOR disc they could make. Enlisti....
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| 106. Chris Laney - Pure | Rating: 8/10
Chris Laney's solo outing "Pure" is shockingly 80s and compromises nothing. The songs are bold statements in themselves, drawing from a wealth of hand picked inspiration in the fields of glory days groove glam Ratt, the catchy melodic rock of Warrant, the raunchiness and sleaze of WASP and Motley Crue, a dash of ....
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| 107. Bruce Turgon - Outside Looking In | Rating: 8/10
Who is Bruce Turgon? It seems like we are asking ourselves who alot of people are that have popped up with solo albums that took us by surprise this year. Oliver Hartman and Philip Bardowell were the first two and this Turgon release completes a trilogy of discs that are super high quality but will likely go unnoticed due to the lack of star p....
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| 108. Bob Catley - Spirit of Man | Rating: 8/10
Bob Cat has been best known as the voice behind the British hard rock legends, Magnum. It wasn't until the mid 90s came around that he decided to offer up some albums that rode on his name only without the songwriting of Tony Clarkin to back him up. He didn't go it alone though, and managed to rope in Gary Hughes of Ten fame to write his music....
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| 109. Benedictum - Seasons of Tragedy | Rating: 8/10
Benedictum plays it hard and furious on their second album, "Seasons of Tragedy". They could be described as an old-school metal outfit that has been touched by the demons of today's high impact, glossy sound. The production is helmed by Jeff Pilson and he also guests his bass prowess on a couple of tracks. His p....
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| 110. Banshee - Race Against Time | Rating: 8/10
Banshee had their fingers in many pieces of heavy metal pie. There are eleven songs on this cd, and strangely enough, the sound is like a thick mixture of Y&T, Motley Crue and Europe's "Wings of Tomorrow" with VERY strong doses of "Somewhere in Time" era Iron Maiden. Tommy Lee Flood handles the vocal duties and is a truly ....
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| 111. Ayreon - 01011001 | Rating: 8/10
Calling Arjen Lucassen's latest Ayreon release "01011001", just an "album" is doing it a serious injustice. This is something more akin to a Broadway production. It's grand in scope, and one that actually flows and is fully completed. The story is easy to follow through the dialogues of 17 different vocalists as ....
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| 112. Asia - Phoenix | Rating: 8/10
Asia is much more than "Heat of the Moment" as they have proven with a multitude of album releases and a wealth of excellent material. This grab at reliving the glory, sees them return to their celebrated roots of glorious pomp AOR. The defining Asia sound that sweeps in grand anthems and luscious melodies. John Wetton is back on board behind ....
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| 113. Annihilator - Set the World On Fire | Rating: 8/10
Annihilator is known for their speed/thrash metal and their revolving door policy regarding vocalists and band members in general. Centered around guitar god Jeff Waters, who has influenced a large array of current guitar scene guitarists including Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom) and the guys from Trivium, and been invited to join Megadeth (an....
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| 114. Anderson Laine Readman - Three | Rating: 8/10
This album gallops by like a racehorse, never looking back. But wow, is it ever one hell of a ride. Royal Hunt's leader, keyboardist Andre Anderson flexes his writing skills by penning ten tracks - about forty minutes worth of music - that is straightforward, no frills, hard rock. He stripped out all the over-indulgent instrumental frilly stuf....
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| 115. Alexa - Alexa | Rating: 8/10
Another female vocalist that was looked over by the public, Alexa did manage to make a name for herself on the California club circuit, but didn't emerge far beyond that. Her voice is raspier, more in a Bonnie Tyler style than her contemporaries who all sounded more feminine. She also has that Lita Ford/Doro Pesch force and command to her pipe....
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| 116. Zeno - Runaway to the Gods | Rating: 7.5/10
Jaded Heart crossed with "Eclipse" Yngwie Malmsteen... this was the comparison I just could not shake from the head while dabbling in Zeno Roth's latest guitar extravaganza, "Runaway to the Gods". His guitar and influences are touched with the gift of neo-classic, giving these hard rockers a pleasant shine like Malmsteen and his follo....
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| 117. Yngwie Malmsteen - Perpetual Flame | Rating: 7.5/10
Being extremely split over this new Yngwie album, its difficult to know just how to approach it. "Perpetual Flame" is a proper title, as it illustrates Yngwie's fire and passion for music, and how that will always burn brightly. The throwback to the old "Marching Out" and "Trilogy" recipes for creating songs is intere....
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| 118. Voodoo Hill - Wild Seed of Mother Earth | Rating: 7.5/10
Over time I have quite grown to love guitarist Dario Mollo and his various projects. The first "The Cage" release was a tasty slice of bluesy hard rock that bordered on Whitesnake-y goodness, and the next release under the "Voodoo Hill" banner was a continuation on this theme but a little rougher around the edges and deploying classic rock cr....
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| 119. Vision Divine - 9 Degrees West of the Moon | Rating: 7.5/10
Vision Divine has had a long history, especially being the sideproject it was intended, and you can't help but feel that perhaps they are... regressing a bit. This new disc signals alot of changes, mainly the circling back to the beginning in regards to the singer. Michael Luppi is out and Fabio Lione is in. A more melodic dir....
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| 120. Vertigo - 2 | Rating: 7.5/10
Joseph Williams, former singer for Toto (well he did guest on the last album) is back for the melodic rock attack with the second Vertigo album, appropriately named "2". For those that don't know, one interesting tidbit about the singer is that Joseph happens to be the son of John Williams, the Hollywood composer for such iconic sound....
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| 121. Vengeance - Back in the Ring | Rating: 7.5/10
This comeback album from Vengeance is a power packed hard rock assault that heartly borrows from AC/DC. Even their lead singer, Leon Goewie sounds like a cross between Bon Scott and Brian Johnson. He was the original vocalist and still has what it takes to belt a great no-frills metal tune. He's got the rasp and the overall kick ass attitude d....
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| 122. Warrant - Rockaholic | Rating: 7.5/10
"Rockaholic" isn't a Warrant album in the pure sense for those that know "Cherry Pie" and nothing else. What is it, though, is a very solid hard rock album that has grit, flair, fire and above all, retro-80s slick swagger. A lot of this is contributed to the attitude thick delivery of new vocalist Robert Mason. He isn't ....
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| 123. Tony Harnell & The Mercury Train - Round Trip | Rating: 7.5/10
Tony Harnell assembled some musicians who are not exactly rockers and were largely unfamiliar with the songs here. He wanted them to reinvent them as they would after just listening, and this is the result of that little experiment. Tony Harnell's Mercury Train is born and "Round Trip" is the disc name. While acoustic based remak....
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| 124. Thunder - Bang! | Rating: 7.5/10
If you are looking to Thunder's latest "Bang!" for innovation you are not searching for the right band. Thunder nailed their sound way back two decades ago on "Backstreet Symphony" and haven't looked back since. It's been all blues-rock in a metallic twist with little to no deviation from their norm. Consistency is th....
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| 125. The Trophy - The Gift of Life | Rating: 7.5/10
The Trophy's "The Gift of Life" is far and away from a traditional AOR album. The only true ties to the genre are miniscule (and there nonetheless) and number all of...two. First is Michael Bormann himself. He's usually associated with AOR projects because his voice is such a natural fit for them. Secondly are ....
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| 126. Terra Nova - Best Of +5 | Rating: 7.5/10
There has likely never been a better timed release than this one. Terra Nova were a notable AOR force throughout the latter half of the 1990s but hung it up just as 2000 was about to ring in a new decade. Just recently, they have resurfaced with an all-new album, "Escape" that was unleashed earlier this year. Undoubtedly this has brought them ....
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| 127. Swedish Erotica - Too Daze Gone | Rating: 7.5/10
If you do a google search for Swedish Erotica, you turn up the Tera Patrick Ultimate Erotic Love Doll. If you are searching for reviews for *that* particular item, then I am sorry to inform you that none of that will be found here. Nope, not at all. This (being the rock band Swedish Erotica, not the love doll that shares the same monicker) is ....
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| 128. Stratovarius - Polaris | Rating: 7.5/10
"Polaris" marks its greatest achievement as simply being a good Stratovarius album. Nothing more, nothing less, but somehow, atleast for this disc in this point of time, that is saving grace enough. Stratovarius as a band has had a rocky several years. Going from "dead" status to "partiall....
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| 129. Silver - Gold | Rating: 7.5/10
Another year, another Silver disc. What many thought would be a one-off from a sorta super group has turned into an annual event. It's something that is simultaneously anticipated and dreaded. The debut was so fantastically good that the follow-ups just haven't approached the same kind of dedication to excellence. The last attempt, "Addiction"....
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| 130. Shortino/Northrup - Afterlife | Rating: 7.5/10
Paul Shortino is one vocalist I'm always forgetting about. Sure, I enjoyed his work with Rough Cutt and Quiet Riot in the 80s but it's the kind of material that tends to be left forgotten after awhile, well besides Rough Cutt's video for "Piece of My Heart" which is so cheesy that it is simply unforgettable. But everytime I become reacquaint....
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| 131. Russell Allen's Atomic Soul - Atomic Soul | Rating: 7.5/10
Dude, it's not high art. This is rock n'roll. So goes what would be the unexpected for a solo album that is lead up by one of progressive metal's most versatile and recognizable voices. In fact, he's been the poster child for heavier proggy stuff since he first crooned on that seminal Symphony X album years ago back, known now to all as "The D....
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| 132. Ross The Boss - New Metal Leader | Rating: 7.5/10
Hot damn! It takes one unexpected surprise of a metal album to coax out exclamations like that and really mean it. Ross the Boss was known as one of the main components that made Manowar in the 80s but left the band after six albums. There was a long silence until a few years ago when he hooked....
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| 133. Rhapsody (of Fire) - Triumph or Agony | Rating: 7.5/10
There is an element to this band that is always imaginatively energizing no matter what title they fall under... Rhapsody or now the "new", expanded Rhapsody of Fire. After being around for about ten years you would think they would be allowed to keep their name, but some petty person somewhere decided to force them out of it. Ah well, the sli....
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| 134. Revolution Renaissance - New Era | Rating: 7.5/10
Stratovarius has been in sort of a deep freeze mode since "Infinite" in 2000. That's eight long years to be floundering in stagnant waters. Their releases have been steadily average, just good enough to placate the fanbase, but not entertaining enough to be worthy of mass praise as "Visions" and "Eclipse" were.
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| 135. Pretty Maids - Wake Up To The Real World | Rating: 7.5/10
Always a safe bet, if quality over quantity is concerned, the Danish darlings Pretty Maids made a substantial comeback for this 2006 effort. The Maids release albums that are vastly different in style from one another yet manage to share a common thread that is undeniably their own. "Wake Up to the Real World" is no different, but pops the mel....
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| 136. Poley/Rivera - Only Human | Rating: 7.5/10
A Ted Poley (Danger Danger, Melodica) and Vic Rivera (Adriangale) combination is going to naturally sound like some criss crossing of Danger Danger and Melodica, unsurprisingly featuring a hefty dose of Adriangale's slickness in the mix. Amazingly there are only two performers on the whole album. Poley is vocalist and Rivera handles everything....
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| 137. Platens - Between Two Horizons | Rating: 7.5/10
If you have never heard of Platens before, don't be alarmed, because frankly, no one else has heard of them yet either. "Between Two Horizons" is their debut, and I use the plural referring to multiple musicians lightly, since Platens is basically just Dario Grillo on most instruments and behind the mic, and Allessandro Grillo handling the sk....
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| 138. Places of Power - Now is the Hour | Rating: 7.5/10
Places of Power sounds like a failed Dream Theater wannabe prog band that ambled out of the mid 90s and disappeared just as silently and swiftly as they appeared. However, names are deceptive and this is something else entirely. First thoughts are how closely it sounds to Foreigner and that's the sticking point for the entire ....
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| 139. Philip Bardowell - In the Cut | Rating: 7.5/10
Philip Bardowell makes his solo renewal with this excellent album that is sure to please any fans of AOR in its purest form. This isn't the first Bardowell album, he had a solo one out a few years back called "In a Perfect World" after his stint with The Beach Boys (yep - he was the lead guitarist and vocalist for five years till he left to em....
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| 140. MyLand - No Man's Land | Rating: 7.5/10
Here we have a very fanciful album that is sheer indulgence. Myland is a band that is not just heavily influenced by Journey, but they could be considered an almost clone. Which is not at all a bad thing, considering that the Journey most people know and pine for died out in the midst of the 1980s, leaving a gap that many band....
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| 141. MSG - McAuley Schenker Group - MSG | Rating: 7.5/10
Michael Schenker's late 80s-to-dawn of the 90s hook up with the unmistakable light raspy pipes of ex-Grand Prix vocalist, Robin McAuley has often been brushed off as a sad commercial move to claim a piece of the metal popularity pie. In some ways, the skeptics are right, when compared to the strange and beautiful musings crafted under the firs....
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| 142. Metal Majesty - This Is Not a Drill | Rating: 7.5/10
Valensia has been around for awhile but has managed to fly under the radar for most of his career due to Japanese only releases, and a quirky sound. His albums basically fall under the heading of "experimental Queen" music, taking that classic rock band and twisting it up with some new flavors and influences that border on Euro techno at time....
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| 143. Mastedon - 3 | Rating: 7.5/10
Mastedon was born from those that left Kansas to find more spiritual AOR outlets and thus went forth and produced a duo of discs that garned quite a happy reception upon their release into this world. Many a year has passed since those albums were available, released in 1989 and 1990 respective....
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| 144. Magnum - Brand New Morning | Rating: 7.5/10
There are lots of groups and artists that often let me down, but one man that has been consistent is Bob Catley. He never disappoints, through many decades, bands and four terrific solo efforts. While his solo material is pompous and big Euro-rock that is quite enjoyable, nothing compares to the team of Catley and Clarkin when they are click....
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| 145. Magnum - Vigilante | Rating: 7.5/10
Born in the early 70s as a cover band, released a handful of grandiose fantasy themed discs with a very 70-ish rock flavor, then re-inventing themselves in the 80s as an AOR styled band with outside influences, and finally dying a slow death in the mid 90s, Magnum struggled through all three decades, sometimes on the fringe of success, but mor....
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| 146. Lana Lane - Red Planet Boulevard | Rating: 7.5/10
Lana Lane has been steadily getting heavier and more power/progressive as time moves on and albums change. Unfortunately its hard to tell the differences between these latest efforts, "Red Planet Boulevard" seeming much like "Lady McBeth" that came before it. If you were into that album, then there's not alot of variation ....
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| 147. Kip Winger - From the Moon to the Sun | Rating: 7.5/10
"From the Moon to the Sun" is Kip Winger's latest stab at artistic expression, in the form of a solo album. Sometimes sleepy, othertimes ghostly, a few Westcoast bleach washed moments and a couple of dark moody tracks to disturb the atmosphere now and then, this is a disc of variety and co....
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| 148. Journey - Revelation | Rating: 7.5/10
If Journey's "Revelation" teaches us nothing else, it does clearly get across the message that "no one is irreplaceable". Steve Perry, their most famous leadsinger who sang them into fame and fortune in the 80s, seemed to be the kind of vocalist that comes along once in a band's lifetime. Sure, you can replac....
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| 149. Jorn - Spirit Black | Rating: 7.5/10
"Spirit Black" is Jorn Lande's world compressed into nine tracks of powerfully focused energy and majestic might. He filters the best of both his favorite worlds - those of Whitesnake and 80s Ronnie James Dio. Lyrically its all mysticism and symbolism, making magic by swirling these themes around. Running with wolves, chasing rai....
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| 150. Jeff Scott Soto - Essential Ballads | Rating: 7.5/10
I never understood where the market for all these ballad albums are. How many people in the mostly male dominated fanbase for melodic rock are clamoring for an disc with nothing but romantic songs packed upon it? For the geriatric set, its understandable for crooners that are favorites with the older females. They can get away with it and make....
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| 151. James Christian - Meet the Man | Rating: 7.5/10
James Christian is currently experiencing a bit of a comeback, his voice featured on two major discs this year. The House of Lords return was not one of glory but rather bitter disappointment, with poor choruses and weak vocals from Christian. Apprehension and fear for the worst cast a shadow over the solo album though due months afterward. ....
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| 152. Iced Earth - The Crucible of Man, Something Wicked Pt. 2 | Rating: 7.5/10
Iced Earth led their ride into glory and metal immortality with the amazing power/thrash masterpiece, "Something Wicked This Way Comes". The disc put them on the map and instantly made them a major contender in the arena of all things hard and heavy. Their albums that came before were also fairly top notch, the best being a di....
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| 153. House of Shakira - First class | Rating: 7.5/10
After listening to this album a couple of dozen times, I'm still not 100% sure how to accurately portray it. House of Shakira has always produced solid albums that are released to great critical acclaim but fall through the cracks as their labels dissolve, suffer the fate of little to no promotion, and generally their discs are popped out, th....
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| 154. Hartmann - Out In The Cold | Rating: 7.5/10
My opinion was that no one in the world did ABBA covers quite like At Vance. Even if their "original" material borrowed from every other power metal band in and outside of Germany, the ABBA covers were worth the price of admission alone. Most of this was due to the delivery of their singer, Oliver Hartmann, whom seemed to have some penchant fo....
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| 155. From the Inside - Visions | Rating: 7.5/10
There have been few albums that have been quite as confounding as this one. From the Inside's second disc, "Visions" is a disc full of blustery tunes heavily dunked into the vat of melodic rockness. The main ancestral roots can be traced back to Jimi Jameson-era "Survivor", a slew of Night Ranger "lite", and a ....
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| 156. Foreigner - Can't Slow Down | Rating: 7.5/10
Foreigner's "Can't Slow Down" is a Wal-Mart exclusive and also features a NASCAR tie-in off of the first (and title) track. Not bad for a band that hasn't even put a glimmering beep on the radar since "Mr. Moonlight" over a decade ago (an excellent and underappreciated album in ....
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| 157. Evidence One - The Sky is the Limit | Rating: 7.5/10
Evidence One arrived on the scene several years back. The first disc was a great melodic rock stickler, the follow up called "Tatooed Heart" had slipped and fallen into mediocrity - give or take a song here and there. It was less catchy, more mediocre and saw the band trying to bridge an impossible gap that just yawned over a chasm that left....
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| 158. Evergrey - Torn | Rating: 7.5/10
Dark layers of atmospheric music wash over the speakers like a fine, rich vintage. Guitars are thick, rounding, but yet not corroding. The heaviness unfurls like black wings, spreading their deep pigment over the soundscape and punctuated by the feathery brushes of keyboards. A gorgeous, dramatic voice lends a sense of grounding, but encourage....
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| 159. Elegy - Labyrinth of Dreams (Reissue) | Rating: 7.5/10
Having sold more than a quarter of a million albums in their career, it often seems that the Netherlands prog band Elegy's first album, "Labyrinth of Dreams" is perhaps their most brilliant. Their sound was acclaimed for uniqueness, being a high pitched form of progressive that dares to be lightly technical and b....
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| 160. Edenbridge - The Grand Design | Rating: 7.5/10
Edenbridge have scented blood since the departure of Tarja from the most popular of the female fronted dramatic bands, Nightwish. They are the first of their contemporaries to pop out an album after the end of Nightwish as we know it. Hopefully they will find their way into the hearts of those that made the Finnish band so popular by striking ....
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| 161. Eclipse - Second to None | Rating: 7.5/10
The cover of this CD almost describes the sound contained within the little silver disc. Its art is of the bare minimal, an eclipse (of course) with sun flares depicted as sharp, metallic spikes, could this be a sly nod to their progressed sound? Those familiar with Eclipse's debut may be surprised to find what's going on inside these tunes ....
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| 162. Code - The Enemy Within | Rating: 7.5/10
For AOR with a twist, look no further than Code. "The Enemy Within" is a dreamy swirl of bands. You can hear the influences of Ten and Giant in the overall grandiose presentation, progressive touches and masterful instrumentation come from a base of Dream Theater's "Images and Words" (especially in guitar tone) and late 80s Magnum. Th....
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| 163. Circle II Circle - The Burden of Truth | Rating: 7.5/10
With Circle II Circle and Jon Oliva's Pain...who needs Savatage anymore? Many Sava fans will likely be echoing this sentiment after getting a double dose of Sava-inspired goodness in the form of JOP's "Maniacal Renderings" and Circle II Circle's third effort, "Burden of Truth". While JOP's newie evokes the haunted tortured spirit of "....
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| 164. Circle II Circle - Delusions of Grandeur | Rating: 7.5/10
Those that knew Savatage in its infancy likely developed a deep connection with their dark hallways, walls running with electricity, and the voice of a (seeming) madman echoing down the metallic corridors. However, it was not till their main leader (and then both keyboardist and vocalist) decided a singer was needed, that free....
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| 165. Chris Laney - Only Come Out at Night | Rating: 7.5/10
Like a thunderclap from the glam metal blue, Chris Laney's "Pure" came out of nowhere as one of the unexpected surprise must-have albums of 2009 that not enough people bought, but certainly should have. A blistering collection of perfectly produced 80s rock tracks that featured in turn, seething attitudes, bouncy infectious choruses and creamy....
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| 166. China Blue - Twilight of Destiny | Rating: 7.5/10
It may have taken a couple of decades to get here but now that is has arrived the wait seems as if it was worthwhile. China Blue's conception began in the late 80s as little more substance than a dream and some songwriting concepts. Keyboardist Eric Ragno (Takara, Danny Vaughn, Ted Poley, etc) wrote the music and his best friend and co-creator....
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| 167. Brazen Abbot - My Resurrection | Rating: 7.5/10
Brazen Abbot caught my fancy back in the late 90s around the time "Bad Religion" was a hot property. There was an online retailer which has long since faded from existence, that loaded up their website with tons of song clips, a practice that not many niche places consider doing anymore, but for me, this was an essential clincher in whether I ....
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| 168. Bowes & Morley - Mo´s Barbeque | Rating: 7.5/10
I came into this with a heap load of ignorance and low expectations. U.K. hard rock band, Thunder has always been one of those outfits that I really love when they are doing bluesy ballads such as "Love Walked In" and "Love Worth Dying For" but the rest usually gets the "skip" button hit and the songs soon fade from memory. Danny Bowes has a....
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| 169. Blackmore´s Night - The Romantic Collection | Rating: 7.5/10
Ritchie Blackmore is literally a living legend of hard rock, having been not only the key guitarist for Deep Purple and inventing one of the most recognizable riffs in music history ("Smoke on the Water") but also brought to life Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, that broke new grounds where metal was concerned. However his reign of rock guitar go....
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| 170. Axel Rudi Pell - Tales of the Crown | Rating: 7.5/10
Axel Rudi Pell has been pumping out the same kind of musical product for the past dozen or so years. He really refined the style over time, beginning in a more straight forward hard rock direction ("Wild Obsession" and "Nasty Reputation"), then bending more toward a Rainbow-esque vision after Jeff Scott Soto took the mic (all of which were hig....
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| 171. André Matos - Time to Be Free | Rating: 7.5/10
Produced by both Roy Z and Sascha Paeth (could you possibly get a more killer one-two punch than that duo of producers on your disc?) Andre Matos' first solo album is groomed to be a killer album from the get-go. Andre is best known as Angra's crooner during their salad days, and his voice was then, absolutely remarkable. The ....
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| 172. Adagio - Dominate | Rating: 7.5/10
Adagio stirred up a wasp's nest worth of controversy over the direction of their third and latest effort, "Dominate". The new additions and changes are really not that far fetched, but it has been enough to stir up the community that is into this sort of music. What we have here, like the previous installments, is finger smoking neo-c....
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| 173. 707 - Mega Force | Rating: 7.5/10
"Mega Force" was never before available on CD, and it's refreshing that finally it has been given a chance to shine. Tons of rare or previously unreleased on CD format albums have been blessed with a second lease on life lately such as 'lost' music by Axia, Waysted, Craaft and The Creek, a popular trend which I hope continues. This time the ....
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| 174. Y&T - Facemelter | Rating: 7/10
Y&T has not released anything since the mid 1990s and many thought it would be a cold day in hell before we got another studio album from them. It must be pretty chilly down under, because a brand new disc from Y&T has surfaced at last. The band was quite prolific in the late 70s and more notably the early 80s, cranking out hard rock c....
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| 175. Wolf - The Black Flame | Rating: 7/10
Trim the leather from the wolf and this is what you get - the simply titled Wolf. These metallic canines hail from Sweden and seem to have been locked in a cave there for the past twenty years. Upon release, they grabbed their guitars and began riffing away like no time ever passed them by. "The Black Flame" burns with the kind of int....
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| 176. Wizard - Goochan | Rating: 7/10
Wizard albums are about as innovative as their name suggests. They are a safely predictable power metal band that spins their own unique quirks for their albums. When you head to the record shop to pick up the latest Wizard release, you know pretty much what you are getting, just as any fan of Running Wild or Axel Rudi Pell knows. These bands ....
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| 177. Vitalij Kuprij - Glacial Inferno & Revenge | Rating: 7/10
This is probably more Vitalij Kuprij than any sane musical listener can handle. You get two full length albums for the price of one and a fourth (the double disc set does command a slightly higher sticker price, but still not as expensive as buying two individual discs. For fans of neo-classical metal, where song writing and sensible structuri....
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| 178. Wicked Sensation - Exceptional | Rating: 7/10
Ever since David Coverdale killed his band Whitesnake, there has been another act waiting in the wings to takeover where the Snake left off on one of their signature sounds, be it the bluesier based essence of their pre-American debut throughout the late 70s and earliest 80s, the rawness of "Slide it In" or the commercialized mainstream friend....
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| 179. Valensia - Queen tribute | Rating: 7/10
Tribute albums - just these two words send a music lover or a reviewer into a state of shock and embrace them with the cold touch of dread. Sure, they were cool ten years ago, I went so far as to purchase a couple including a Deep Purple one called "Smoke on the Water" (?) and who could forget Yngwie Malmsteen's "Inspiration", where he gave n....
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| 180. Thy Majestie - Dawn | Rating: 7/10
Thy Majestie has managed to hold together despite some damning lineup changes, and now a venture into an internal gutting that leads to a slight variation on their sound. They came out of their cocoon of changes as a prog infused Rhapsody influenced outfit. How exactly is that different from what they were before? Just check o....
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| 181. The Ladder - Sacred | Rating: 7/10
Steve Overland's voice is like a revelation. It's this shining angel rising above the murky waters below and unfurling its splendor in a manner in which no one would dare not take notice. Butter smooth relaxing, rich beyond decadent, his performance sends thrills down the spine and takes a great weight off of a heavy hardened heart. The mus....
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| 182. Terry Brock - Diamond Blue | Rating: 7/10
Terry Brock is a great singer, and this "Diamond Blue" has enough great songs to make it a solid recommendation for any AOR fan. A few too many ballads keeps it from achieving classic status, but a handful of the others will keep you coming back for more. Guitarist and producer Mike Slamer is on hand to put the finishing ultra sh....
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| 183. Takara - Eternity | Rating: 7/10
"Eternity" is a re-release of a greatest hits CD that was popped out shortly after the third and final Takara outing with Jeff Scott Soto on board in 1998. Afterwards the band jumped the shark by recruiting Michael Flatters for 2001's "Perception of Reality", it was a wild change from the versatile pipes of Soto to this fairly soulless soundi....
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| 184. Sun Caged - Artemisia | Rating: 7/10
"Artemisia". It's more of a state of mind than anything else. A place where we can fall into, mentally and analyze our dreams, those that are lost to us through death or changing natures and times. It is a place where there is freedom to find yourself, or lose yourself. This album gives us the moods of that imagin....
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| 185. Steevi Jaimz - My Private Hell | Rating: 7/10
Steevi Jaimz is best known for being the vocalist for TigerTailz and while most of these guys have moved on (or modernized as some cases would be), Steevi has done neither. His solo disc has the rough-round the edges (low production values) of a 1980s glam disc and all the spirit of such contained within j....
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| 186. Spin Gallery - Standing Tall | Rating: 7/10
Founder of Kerrang Magazine, Dave Reynolds exclaimed, "The best I've heard in ten years." when commenting on this CD. The best of what, we'll never know because that's the most of the quote I've been able to uncover, but even so, that's high praise indeed, we will assume since we don't know what "best" he's talking about. But still I wasn't ....
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| 187. Soul Secret - Flowing Portraits | Rating: 7/10
Italy's Soul Secret delivers a progressive metal experience that sounds straight from the 90s boom of prog excellency. There are a multitude of ideas here on "Flowing Portraits", woven elegantly through each song. Instruments and vocals mesh with one another, and create a musically intricate album that bursts w....
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| 188. Seven Wishes - Destination: Alive | Rating: 7/10
I really like Seven Wishes. Their sound is very 80s nostalgic and not a lot of modern twists, besides the benefit of production and some of the slicker studio tricks that are up musician's sleeves these days, but that's also part of the problem. There's not a great deal about them that makes them stick out, so their albums are always highly ....
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| 189. Robin Beck - Livin on A Dream | Rating: 7/10
Robin Beck has been around for awhile and put out an array of albums - some which impressed, such as her debut, and others which managed to squeak out a resounding "Meh" from the press such as "Do You Miss Me". That album was put as a question mark on her long absence from the recording spotlight and unfortunately the answer was "not....
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| 190. Ramos Hugo - The Dream | Rating: 7/10
One would think that the desire to listen to Journey would be small matter that is easily decided upon. However, as with all things, even this seemingly minor decision is not as simple as it seems. With bands inspired by Journey, or emulating Journey, Journey tribute bands and tribute albums, older *real* Journey discs, or new....
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| 191. Pulse - Worlds Apart | Rating: 7/10
A flurry of controversy has surrounded this band since the first self-titled debut that followed along the lines of the singer, Simon Abbots, abandoning the band, a new vocalist coming on board, then leaving, and the old singer returning to record the new album. Which is a good thing, since Abbots has a great voice that often brings to mind a....
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| 192. Poison - The Best of Poison - 20 Years of Rock | Rating: 7/10
Poison has had their fare share of greatest hits releases and there really is not alot special to set this apart from some of the others floating around on the market. On the plus side, it is stacked with what is arguably their best and most popular material including the big ballads, Life Goes On, Something to Believe....
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| 193. Nightwish - Dark Passion Play | Rating: 7/10
Nightwish is a strange conundrum. The band rose to popularity on the shoulders of its leading lady, the opera trained siren Tarja. They were originally often described as Stratovarius with a female vocalist, but as time wore on, and their albums progressed, that title was dropped and they forged their own identity. After a smattering of succes....
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| 194. Lake of Tears - Illwill | Rating: 7/10
Lake of Tears always seem to soar right under the radar, no matter how they package themselves. From their earlier, crushing heavy releases, the catchy proggy doom acid trip of "A Crimson Cosmos", the psyechedelic spinning of "The Neonai" or perhaps the autumnal somber sorrow of "Forever Autumn", their cds rarely get much publicity and are alw....
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| 195. Knight Area - Under a New Sign | Rating: 7/10
Knight Area is a progressive act that is seeking a larger audience... something that shouldn't be a hard goal to obtain with a high class album such as "Under a New Sign" under their wings. It's a turning point for them as they surely are under a new sign, bringing their staple sounds of ambient, rambling prog rock t....
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| 196. Kick Axe - Rock the World | Rating: 7/10
Kick Axe will forever be remembered as that Canuck hard rock band that gave us "Vices". Nevermind the fact that two other albums in the 80s came after it, one right after the other, or that a comeback disc was offered up almost two decades after disbanding. This was the band that gave us "Vices", a slice of hard rock out of the cold country th....
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| 197. Khymera - A New Promise | Rating: 7/10
This is the second album from Daniele Liverani under the Khymera name. The aim here is to resurrect unreleased or generally obscure AOR songs and bring them to life. They crank up the electricity and just let the songs flow. The material is taken from a variety of sources and the quality varies now and then but it all gels for the most part.
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| 198. Jorn - Unlocking the Past | Rating: 7/10
Jorn Lande has decided to issue some rarities and upgrades in the form of two simultaneously released cds. The Jorn originals are gathered for "The Gathering" and all the covers are put on "Unlocking the Past". Covers albums are a hit and miss thing, especially when its just a single artist paying tribute to many. Yngwie Malmsteen (in....
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| 199. Jorn - Starfire | Rating: 7/10
Jorn Lande's "Starfire" was the beginning of the now- legendary metal vocalist's solo career. Then he was known but not as well known as he would become, but the excitement over this release was still fever pitch for those who knew him. Eager to grasp at any freshly recorded material that featured his glorious vo....
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| 200. Jay Miles - 9 Hours | Rating: 7/10
When I first received this disc, I took one look at the cover and my first thought was "cheap" and "lame". It looks like some adult contemporary photo shoot opportunity, you know, those A/C artists that no one plays. anywhere, but yet they still pump out records that can literally stop your body from functioning just from the sheer slap happy....
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| 201. Invisogoth - Narcotica | Rating: 7/10
Schizophrenia. It's a very real disease and one that has seemed to infected "Narcotica" from Invisogoth. Although this infection seems to have benefited the band more than anything. Invisogoth is a unique band, and "Narcotica" an album that you will remember. Regardless of whethe....
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| 202. Iced Earth - Framing Armageddon, Something Wicked Pt. 1 | Rating: 7/10
So here we have Iced Earth's latest over achieving masterpiece. Truthfully, despite an undercurrent of underground popularity boom that has occurred on and off over the years, they haven't done much to shift the public's perception and acceptance of metal as much as many would have hoped. The 1998 brush with excellence in "Something Wicked T....
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| 203. House of Mirrors - Desolation | Rating: 7/10
Finland's House of Mirrors have managed to pop up with quite the surprise here in the form of "Desolation". Their previous cd was a trifle mediocre despite being likened to big AOR bands like Treat and Europe. Perhaps it was just too familiar and fell into monotony, but whatever the case, the band that was poised to be the next big Sc....
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| 204. Harem Scarem - Over:Load | Rating: 7/10
A lot of people are not going to agree with this, but the more time spent with "Over:Load", the more Pretty Maids comes to mind, especially the Scream/Spooked discs. It has that same kind of feel, a melodic rock recording with a very modern slant and crunchy guitars, but it is Harry Hess's vocals that really hit this comparison home, as they a....
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| 205. Hardline - Leaving the End Open | Rating: 7/10
Hardline's debut album came out in 1992 and now 17 years later they are finally up to their third release. This lineup neither has Neal Schon nor Johnny's brother Joey Gioeli on guitars, instead employing Josh Ramos on the axe, who is more than capable of filling anyone's shoes. Johnny Gioeli has been the voice of Axel Rudi Pe....
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| 206. Giuntini Project - II | Rating: 7/10
So you just got the delicious Guintini "Project III" disc and thought it was the greatest discovery since sliced bread. Yet, you hunger for more. What is the ravenous music listener to do? Well, Frontiers has the perfect solution for your dilemma. They just re-released Guintini's previous disc, "II". It has been about seven years sinc....
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| 207. Frederiksen/Denander - Baptism By Fire | Rating: 7/10
Does Tommy Denander really need an introduction anymore? Perhaps for those just getting in on AOR he does... Denander is a great guitarist and an even better songwriter. His projects are many (he claims over 1,000 album credits... amazing) and massive. Nothing is ever done on a small scale. It's all big bombastic melodic rock that often p....
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| 208. Finntroll - Jaktens Tid | Rating: 7/10
There was something kitschy cool about Finntroll and their ridiculous "Jaktens Tid". Released in 2001, this bizarre combination of blackish metal and Finnish polka, sung in Finnsvënska, was so far out and different that it became somewhat of an underground classic. The musicianship is amazingly tight, linking l....
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| 209. Faro - Angelost | Rating: 7/10
This is a neat, concise example of how fruitful it can be when various genres of rock are combined. For instance, here we have AOR but done with the progressive sensibilities of a 1990s prog outfit (and trust me, they do not make that music like they used to). The blending of these worlds creates something that is not only lovely to listen to,....
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| 210. Falconer - Northwind | Rating: 7/10
The eagle has landed, or should we say the Falcon? This is the third "restart" for power metallers Falconer. Their beginnings were humble. 2001's debut self titled outing was a pleasurable folksy twist to the power metal formula. It was quickly followed up with "Chapters From A Vale Forlorn" and "Scepters of Deception". Vocalist Mathias Blad d....
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| 211. Edu Falaschi - Almah | Rating: 7/10
Everyone's gotta go solo. It seems to be some unspoken rule. No band is ever a good enough outlet for the individual's artistic expression. So thus the market gets flooded with solo albums, which often are slight deviations from the old hat. Edu Flaschi's "Almah" is no exception to the iron clad rule, although he does....
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| 212. Dark Moor - Tarot | Rating: 7/10
Six (full length) albums in eight years of existence... Spanish power metallers Dark Moor are definitely not a new band. "Tarot" is their new cd and perhaps thanks to a label change, they are receiving more attention than ever. But is it deserved? Dark Moor might have been a little different in the past, but the current incarnation wi....
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| 213. Coldspell - Infinite Stargaze | Rating: 7/10
Coldspell is an all Swede band and "Infinite Stargaze" is their grand debut. The main attractions here are the vocals and the musical style itself. Niclas Swedentorp is the man behind the microphone and he shares an uncanny vocal resemblance to Robert Mason (ex-Lynch Mob, Silent Witness, currently Warrant). He ha....
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| 214. Blanc Faces - Falling From the Moon | Rating: 7/10
Here we have Blanc Faces and their latest album, the memorably titled "Falling From the Moon", and if you don't recall the brothers Le Blanc or their "Faces", then that is forgivable, as their only other notable output was the debut album. And that was quite a few years ago, and i....
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| 215. Blanc Faces - Blanc Faces | Rating: 7/10
I sit down to write this review and lo and behold, despite the hours I spent, in atleast a baker's dozen run through of listening to this album, I can only conjure to mind, four or five songs at best. The rest is like a lump of indistinguishable music that has hazy memories of being pleasant but beyond that, not even a chorus can be recalled.....
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| 216. Blackmore´s Night - Secret Voyage | Rating: 7/10
Ritchie Blackmore is best known as master guitarist and axe slinging legend in black for both Deep Purple and Rainbow. His riff from "Smoke in the Water" is one of the most recognizable and enduring bits of rock history in our time, while his Rainbow "Rising" record has been the backbone inspirational staple for a legion of ba....
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| 217. Black Majesty - Silent Company | Rating: 7/10
The debut album in 2003 was tasty, but Black Majesty are back and ready to rumble again. They sound as vibrant and Nordic as any of their contemporaries but yet this is one power metal outfit that hails not from the lands of frozen tundras but instead from the Outback. They are Australian but no one would ever guess from the music being presen....
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| 218. Axel Rudi Pell - The Ballads III | Rating: 7/10
Once every couple of years, Axel Rudi Pell issues a "Ballads" CD that compiles nearly every ballad that has graced his last few discs, and packages it up with a couple of brand new tracks that have appeared nowhere else before to lure the fans into purchasing the newest compilation. For ravenous fans of the axemaster, this is like a mini even....
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| 219. Armageddon - The Money Mask | Rating: 7/10
An underground collector's item for quite some time, Armageddon's one and only has been unearthed and unleashed again after nearly 20 years lying dormant, dusty and totally forgotten. "The Money Mask" has been reissued and slapped together with a bonus disc of six more tracks that's basically demo material. ....
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| 220. Adam Lambert - For Your Entertainment | Rating: 7/10
Adam Lambert's big label debut may just be the guiltiest pleasure of the year, the album you put on to lift you up, and then hide when company comes over. "For Your Entertainment" is just what the title suggests, music tailored for pure popful pleasure. After seeing Lambert put ....
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| 221. Y&T - Down For the Count | Rating: 6.5/10
The controversial "Down for the Count" is the Y&T album that begin their transition from 70s guitar helmed arena rock to a more mainstream (for the time) direction. This means bigger choruses, waves of melody, tons of keyboards and a few cutesy songs. Sure, not everything is excellent, but they managed to c....
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| 222. Whitesnake - Snakebite | Rating: 6.5/10
For all of those that believe Whitesnake began life with the Americanized "Slide It In" or *gasp* even worse - with "1987", let's knock off the dust of the first true Whitesnake album and let the good times begin. "Snakebite" is arguably the first true release by Coverdale and his blanca serpentine musicians. To make things co....
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| 223. Whitecross - Ninteen Eighty Seven (2005 ReRecording) | Rating: 6.5/10
The whole Christian metal atmosphere is to me, a bit creepy. Xtian music is created for those that believe they may commit some sin from hearing regular, mass marketed music. So therefore their lyrics are "pure" and about loving God first and foremost and so forth. Atleast, the regular bands, there are exceptions to every rule....
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| 224. White Lion - Return of the Pride | Rating: 6.5/10
The name White Lion has caused quite a bit of controversy in the past few years. Alot of people viewed the band as being a collaboration between Vito Bratta and Mike Tramp, and the absence of Bratta is going to automatically be a strike against any album carrying the name "White Lion" but lacking his involvement. It's no mystery that he has be....
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| 225. UnSun - The End of Life | Rating: 6.5/10
UnSun is certainly nothing particularly original under the sun. They are yet another in the great, ever lengthening line of female fronted goth-ish bands that keep getting churned out. Some are hoisted off the assembly line awash in techno, pop, metal, techno, electronica, classical and other flavors to help distinguish them from one another. ....
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| 226. Time Requiem - Optical Illusion | Rating: 6.5/10
It certainly doesn't show, but it only took Richard Andersson a brief two months to compose the eight songs for the third Time Requiem album. This is another progressive/neo-classical outlet for prolific keyboardist Andersson, who also heads up the band Space Odyssey, an even more prog bent outfit. The CD is fast and furious and features some ....
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| 227. Terra Nova - Escape | Rating: 6.5/10
Unless you've been at the top of your AOR game for quite some time now, you likely have no idea who these guys are and probably don't even care. There has been such a glut of titles in this genre recently that it's easy to overlook unknowns, and Terra Nova has been out of the loop for so long that only the most diehards or else previous fans o....
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| 228. Stormzone - Caught in the Act | Rating: 6.5/10
Stormzone are another rock/AOR act doing the retro thing. Instead of pinpointing the saccharine sounds of mid 80s sticky sweet key candy, they are targeting a different niche. This is a deja vu back to the sounds before the synthesizers blew up all over the songs and the production was raw and not the slick over polished sound that helped defi....
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| 229. Sinner - Crash & Burn | Rating: 6.5/10
Sinner has been around for awhile (we're talking decades here) and they have delivered their latest release by the name of "Crash & Burn". This is very much straight forward metal minded hard rock. There are some catchy choruses here and the overall feel is something akin to the bluesy edge of Thin Lizzy, m....
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| 230. Silent Force - Walk the Earth | Rating: 6.5/10
When DC Cooper was ousted from Royal Hunt, a legion of prog metal fans felt nothing but sadness. It was a tragic day on the rock news wire. The announcement of DC creating a new collaborative project called Silent Force was met with much enthusiasm however. And upon the release of their first cd, most hearts sank at the music presented within.....
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| 231. Shannon - Angel In Disguise | Rating: 6.5/10
The best way to describe Shannon's "Angel in Disguise" is simply to say "80s rock" and move it along. Because that is essential what it is. A parade of every metal band that could be considered to have "hair" somewhere along its descriptive title from the me-decade, and just smashed up into one CD. A very good cd....
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| 232. Shakra - Infected | Rating: 6.5/10
Shakra is a band that owes a great deal to Gotthard. They are both Swiss outfits, and throughout their formation and existence on planet Earth, Shakra has done everything in their power to mimic the band they seem to idolize so. If imitation is the highest form of flattery then Gotthard must be blushing pretty damn red right now. <e....
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| 233. Saracen - Vox In Excelso | Rating: 6.5/10
Saracen have been around for 25 years but this is the first time I have actually heard of them. Their latest album is called "Vox in Excelso" and is based around the legend of the Knights of Templar. This was the basis of the story behind The Da Vinci Code book and movie and likely this link has garnered them more publicity than befor....
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| 234. Royal Hunt - Live 2006 | Rating: 6.5/10
How do you oneup one of the best live albums to ever be released? You don't, you just go with the flow and make the most of it. That is exactly what Royal Hunt have done for their simply titled "2006 Live". The disc does not manage to eclipse their first concert disc from 1996 in any way, despite the fact that a decade has passed sinc....
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| 235. Norway - Rising Up From the Ashes | Rating: 6.5/10
The American band Norway have been around for quite awhile but this is only the third disc to be found under their name. They play a strong version of AOR that puts the guitars and vocals in the forefront. "Night Dreams" came out in the late 1990s and was strong enough to land them a deal on a label. The following "Arrival" in 2000 was a much ....
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| 236. Mob Rules - Ethnolution A.D. | Rating: 6.5/10
The fifth disc in the Mob Rules catalogue, "Ethnolution A.D." is a nice progression from their past productions. Alot of power metal fans are like the fantasy book lovers. They want escapism. Fairies and unicorns, the princess being saved from the wizard to live gleefully ever happy. Spoonfed saccharine fairy tales where the conclusio....
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| 237. Metallica - Death Magnetic | Rating: 6.5/10
You either like Metallica or you hate Metallica, but there's an undercurrent to the situation as well. Some people prefer the older material, others only The Black album, and some contingencies cling to the "modern" new material. When a handful of clueless chart cha....
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| 238. Manowar - Gods of War | Rating: 6.5/10
Manowar by the most part, have been a pretty predictable band throughout the years. The brotherhood of true metal warriors triumphing over the nonbelievers has been a presistant theme. Mix in some epic battle scenes right out of a good sword and sorcery flick (think Conan), and you get material that doesn't shy away from the gore, grit, dirt....
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| 239. Lionsheart - Abyss | Rating: 6.5/10
I really liked the band Lionheart. Ever checked out "Hot Tonight"? It is often considered to be a forgotten AOR classic. Lionsheart however is a different matter entirely. Their first self-titled release was a take on Whitesnake long after the craze had died off. "Portrait" was a great song, but the rest were filler like material that nev....
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| 240. Last Autumn's Dream - Winter in Paradise | Rating: 6.5/10
Last Autumn's Dream was originally a supergroup of sorts, employing three musicians from Scandinavian powerhouse Europe and Mikael Erlandsson behind the mic. Wrapped up in some snappy AOR tunes, it was well received and the band was off to a good start. Then they lost the rhythm section and put out "II" minus those musicians from the big name ....
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| 241. Kee Marcello's K2 - Melon Demon Divine | Rating: 6.5/10
Kee Marcello's K2 "Melon Demon Divine" is another "classic" rocker gone modern record that I love to dread. These things usually turn out rather badly, as passive fans want something more true to previous form (in this case, they likely hope for something more like Europe), the die-hards defend it until the very end, and everyone else that al....
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| 242. Karo - Heavy Birthday | Rating: 6.5/10
The cover art screams "hard n heavy"! A slice right out of a cake made of metal, still one of the coolest images in metal LP art history. It conjures something very heavy hitting, like Accept or Iron Maiden perhaps if Eddie was depicted in the image chowing down on a piece. But instead, Karo's "Heavy Birthday" is more like...
Craaft. Anothe....
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| 243. Karmakanic - Who's the Boss in the Factory? | Rating: 6.5/10
When your disc has a running time of 55 minutes and the first song takes up over a fourth of that, coming in at under 20 minutes long, your band is just blatantly flaunting its pretentiousness. So it goes with Karmakanic's "Who's the Boss in the Factory" that does indeed have the balls to pull off the ridiculously len....
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| 244. Heavenly - Virus | Rating: 6.5/10
When thinking of power metal, France is not exactly the country you would pinpoint for bringing the goods, but Heavenly is out to change your mind and prove you wrong. This is their fourth disc, the first being "Coming From the Sky". That debut received a nice amount of buzz in the underground, and was highly applauded for being... not particu....
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| 245. Grand Design - Time Elevation | Rating: 6.5/10
Grand Design really know how to take band appreciation to the next level. "Time Elevation" is a fine album and all, but they are certainly not betting on their own sound to claw to recognition. Instead they have borrowed (stolen, lifted and snatched chunks of) "Pyromania". The "Pyromania" that saw Def Leppard go from breakout NWO....
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| 246. Gotthard - Need to Believe | Rating: 6.5/10
"Domino Effect" was a blow-your-mind hard rock extravaganza, and an "event" of 2007. Just saying it was an album that was released in that particular year, completely downplays its sheer "Awesomeness". A follow up was awaited with breathless intensity and instead Gotthard gave us... this. "Need to Believe" is b....
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| 247. Fair Warning - Brother´s Keeper | Rating: 6.5/10
After five years Fair Warning has returned to the fold with their first new album since "Four". "Brother's Keeper" wastes no time with introductions and kicks right in where the band left off. It has the similiar over produced, super slick sound that was the make it or break it factor for both "Four" and the previous "Go!" Compared to....
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| 248. Edguy - Tinnitus Sanctus | Rating: 6.5/10
Those that are shocked by the stylistic decisions that create Edguy's latest, "Tinnitus Sanctus", obviously have not been paying attention to their last few releases. "Rocket Ride" could be summed up as a hard rock album with some minor power metal tweakings. And while their catalogue has been scattered with silly, "p....
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| 249. Dokken - Lightning Strikes Again | Rating: 6.5/10
Might as well come right out and say it: there hasn't been a decent "Dokken" album since Don Dokken's "Up From the Ashes" solo album. Dokken (the band) broke up in the late 80s and then reformed again a few years later. This rebirth spawned some truly horrific offspring that had music that only a diehard fan could love. There ....
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| 250. Def Leppard - Songs From the Sparkle Lounge | Rating: 6.5/10
It's almost like a mini holiday on a Def Leppard album release date. Their albums are few and far between. Their fans are rabid and always have hope that the next one truly will be the worthy successor to the groundbreaking "Hysteria". However, the second rate rehash of "Hysteria" - the overly ....
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| 251. Dark Moor - Autumnal | Rating: 6.5/10
Dark Moor's previous disc "Tarot" played with the fortune telling cards, famous classical themes and a female singer, and came out with a good disc full of pomp and circumstance (and bloated tunes) all wrapped up into a neat power metal package. This seventh album, "Autumnal" takes everything to the next extreme. Grander, bolder, b....
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| 252. Broke[N]Blue - The Waiting | Rating: 6.5/10
Broke[N]Blue is retro-cool. This is breezy pop-AOR all the way that will instantly garner comparisons to Heart due to the usage of a female vocalist, one Eva Eggaesjo Abrahamsson, who does lead on multiple songs. Their other singer is Peter Gustavsson, who also doubletimes in a cover band that no one has heard of outside of Sweden most likely ....
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| 253. At Vance - VII | Rating: 6.5/10
At Vance... ah I remember when they first hit the market. Nothing particularly special stood out about this band, they were simply another in a long line of power oriented outfits that were being marched out at the time. Except, for one special little gimmick. While the albums themselves were alright, spirited affairs that mimicked all the fan....
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| 254. AOR - L.A. Attraction | Rating: 6.5/10
This is the fifth time around for Frederic Slama's AOR project, and features the usual. Lots of musicians, a rotating stable of vocalists, and ultra smooth music straight from the westcoast. "Dreaming of L.A." and "L.A. Reflection" were perhaps a tad more dreamy, but the latest, "L.A. Attraction" also sports some nice tuneage even if it seems ....
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| 255. Amberian Dawn - River of Tuoni | Rating: 6.5/10
Chick fronted symphonic metal is a dime a dozen these days, and Amberian Dawn is just another band in this vast ocean of similar sounding acts. Their biggest selling points are their sound - which is a stripped down guitar heavy version of Nightwish's decade gone humble beginnings ("Angels Fall....
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| 256. Aina - Living In A Boy´s World | Rating: 6.5/10
Aina's third outing, "Living in a Boy's World" was relegated to the Scandi countries and as a vinyl only release, until now. MTM Classix managed to contact the singer, now living as a photographer in the U.S., and secure the rights to pop this on compact disc for the first time. They even went through the trouble of doing a digital remastering....
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| 257. Voices of Rock - High and Mighty | Rating: 6/10
Voices of Rock II "High and Mighty" is a Michael Voss project that celebrates classic sounding rock music. And by classic, we mean the 1980s, and by celebration, simply great vocalists that may or may not be on the current radar. There are ten vocalists and ten tracks, each one tailored for that specific singer. The end result is that a few tr....
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| 258. Tommy Funderburk - Anything For You | Rating: 6/10
Fabrizio V.Zee Grossi seems to have been given the job of elevating somewhat obscure vocalists or those that have been out of the current loop. We have seen him bring back Starship's Mickey Thomas after several years of hiding in the background, ex-Tyketto's Danny Vaughan, and redeeming James Christian after the House of Lords reunion flop. T....
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| 259. Token - Punch | Rating: 6/10
This band is certainly not the same one that released "Tomorrowland". In name and even sharing the same musicians, it is, but in spirit and sound, this is another animal altogether. The frontman position has changed, but more disappointingly so has the sound. With Token's attempt at finding a new direction, AOR fans will be lost and most li....
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| 260. The Lou Gramm Band - The Lou Gramm Band | Rating: 6/10
The Lou Gramm Band is headed up by ex-Foreigner vocalist Lou Gramm, who has been quiet over the past few years. His last memorable appearance was on the fantastic "Mr. Moonlight" album that remains a curiously wonderful note in the band's legacy.
<SPAN style="mso-spaceru....
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| 261. Survivor - Reach | Rating: 6/10
After nearly 20 years, one of AOR's biggest names have thrown another disc into the market: Survivor. Hyped to the heavens, this has been a very awaited disc for melodic fans. Fond memories of "Eye of the Tiger" and "Is This Love" likely linger, but is the world ready for another once commercially viable AOR band to return? Well I think so,....
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| 262. Soul Doctor - For A Fistful of Dollars | Rating: 6/10
If you are wondering what happened to Fair Warning's vocalist Tommy Heart, well here he is. He migrated from a slick melodic outfit to this down n'dirty no frills band. Soul Doctor is straight up hard rock. They showcase Heart's voice, which has lost some of its accent over time, pounding rhythm section and full throttle guitars. They twist up....
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| 263. Signum Regis - Signum Regis | Rating: 6/10
Malmsteen's "Trilogy". Rainbow. Rhapsody. Glory. Signum Regis is a typical band/disc of its type. Neoclassical heavy metal alternating between heavy rock and power influences. Vocalist Goran Edman reflects more personality onto the music than otherwise would have been apparent had someone else been slotted in his place. Just b....
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| 264. Shadowman - Different Angles | Rating: 6/10
Shadowman's "Different Angles" is a typically smooth collection of AOR-esque tunes which flirt with the Westcoast sound. This is not an unexpected turn of events for the band since its core consists of the beautiful pipes of FM's Steve Overland and Heartplay's Steve Morris on guitars, both who are bent in the direction of softer music....
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| 265. Royal Hunt - Paper Blood | Rating: 6/10
This album has been sitting around waiting to be reviewed for awhile. I've taken my sweet, sweet time in hopes that with some aging that something special would eventually reveal itself. What I was waiting for? No idea, but it hasn't come out yet so therefore it's safe to assume that it won't. So here we go.
Royal Hunt had their peak in the ....
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| 266. Robin Beck - Do You Miss Me | Rating: 6/10
For those that don't know, Robin Beck had her fifteen seconds of fame with a 1988 jingle for a Coca Cola commercial. She became a hot property for a minute and the song hit number one in the U.K. After another rock album she sank into oblivion and dabbled with other types of music which no one cared about, to be honest with you. Most rock fans....
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| 267. Pretty Maids - Pandemonium | Rating: 6/10
Never a band to fall into the chasm of being pigeon holed, Pretty Maids have switched up their sound on nearly every release, dabbling in the progressive futuristic rock for "Future World", a splash of early power metal in "Red Hot and Heavy", streamlined heavy AOR for "Sin-Decade", modernistic sludginess in "Planet Panic". They can neve....
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| 268. Paul Sabu - Heartbreak | Rating: 6/10
This is one cd that AOR aficinado have been rubbing their collecting little hands together in anticipation for quite some time. Paul Sabu's "Heartbreak" is a love letter sent from the early 80s that has just arrived in our mailboxes for the 2000s. Lush harmonies, snappy pop sensibilities that make you crave wearing your sunglasses at night and....
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| 269. Mutiny Within - Mutiny Within | Rating: 6/10
Mutiny Within is being groomed to be the next big thing where pop(ular) metal is concerned. Atleast the advertising muscle and video game tie-ins seem to point that way (ie: spot on the new God of War 3 game soundtrack, and internet ads everywhere you care to look). However, does this debut live up to the hype? Can a band of ....
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| 270. Moonlight Agony - Silent Waters | Rating: 6/10
Moonlight Agony is a power metal act from Sweden. They popped up in 1999 but didn't get an album on the shelves until 2004 with "Echoes of a Nightmare". Straightaway they were nothing particularly special, just another power band taking up space and sharing the sounds of many that have come before. Comparisons to Thunderstone and Stratovarius ....
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| 271. Main Attraction - Keep On Coming Back | Rating: 6/10
Main Attraction is the musical equivalent of a giant bowl of Frosted Flakes. Nauseatingly sugar sweet if the mood isn't right, addictive as hell the rest of the time, and while other things might be tastier or better for you in general - you can't help going back and getting just one more tasty bowl. Just the right amount of crunch floating in....
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| 272. Lion´s Share - Emotional Coma | Rating: 6/10
Lion's Share's first two albums were staples in the prog/power community back during their 'reissued' phase in the latter part of the 90s. They were a hard rock band with a cold, progressive sound that turned away some that looked for more 'warmth' in their music, but excited others by presenting a fresh take on tired sounds. And of course the....
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| 273. Jorn - Dio | Rating: 6/10
As a tribute, there could perhaps be nothing finer. As an album, well... that is another story. Jorn Lande's "Dio" album has been in the works since last year, well before Ronnie James' heartbreaking death. The timing of the album is too perfect to be a cash cow milk fest, not to mention the fact that Dio was one of Jorn's pri....
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| 274. Iced Earth - Horror Show | Rating: 6/10
If you weren't around for the build up anticipation that shadowed "Horror Show", then you wouldn't truly understand the kind of disappointment fans of Iced Earth initially felt. Iced Earth, among all the other top tier bands that emerged into their own around the same time, stood out as being, perhaps, "the one" metal....
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| 275. House of Lords - Cartesian Dreams | Rating: 6/10
House of Lord's "Cartesian Dreams" is a step backward for a band that has just been hurdling forward over the past two albums. The lineup still includes a very tight sounding James Christian, and the blazing guitars of Jimi Bell. Yet the songwriting has taken a considerable nosedive into a more retro direction.....
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| 276. Hotwire - Devil In Disguise | Rating: 6/10
Bonfire, Firehouse, Def Leppard, Jaded Heart, Gotthard... all great bands by themselves. Mix them together and what would you get? I would imagine it would be something like this. So "Devil in Disguise" is nothing new under the sun, but it does deliver a hefty slab of German born hard rock. This is Hotwire's second disc with singer An....
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| 277. Highest Dream - Far Away From Here | Rating: 6/10
From myspace to an Escape record deal...that's Highest Dream's biggest success story so far. The music itself... well that's another story. They want desperately to be some Journey clone, but also shows off some Starship curves under the flourescent 1980s styled skirts. The music is big, grandiose AOR that has that "real" nostalgic sound. Ther....
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| 278. Headrush - Headrush | Rating: 6/10
Headrush is the latest outfit coming at you from Italy, a country that has produced not only a massive amount of classic art and architecture, but is now known in modern times as being a breeding ground for proggy power metal. Two superstars of the scene have come together here to deliver a pretty decent album that takes rock and turns it to ....
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| 279. Godyva - In Goood and Evil | Rating: 6/10
It is all about atmosphere. Godyva "In Good and Evil" prides itself on embracing the darkness and projecting a sweeping gothic vision. Every nuance of the music is simply there to play a supporting role, second to the lead frontvixen, Lady Godyva and her sultry voice. There are few instances where any particular instrument stands out,....
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| 280. Final Frontier - High Tension Wire | Rating: 6/10
Since this band is not exactly headliner status yet, a quick run down of their prior life before "High Tension Wire" is likely necessary. Final Frontier formed out of a friendship between the lead singer, Rob Moratti and guitarist/bassist/keyboardist simply known as Mladen. After over a decade of working apart on separate projects including ....
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| 281. Edenbridge - Shine | Rating: 6/10
Edenbridge has returned yet again with their fourth studio created disc in just as many years, their sixth disc overall if you count the live album that was released earlier in the year. For those that are just now being introduced to the band, whether you will like them or not depends completely on your tolerance for female vocals. If you c....
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| 282. Dragonslayer - EP (Demo) | Rating: 6/10
Dragonslayer, The EP.just these three words could ignite giddy-stupid excitement in me like no other. For those that do not know, a mere six or seven years ago, the unreleased EP made by the NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal - for all four of you who don't know) band Dragonslayer was the stuff internet legends are made of. Sure, it was....
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| 283. Dante Fox - Under the Seven Skies | Rating: 6/10
Dante Fox started out in 1989 as one woman's quest to create a quality female fronted rock band. It took another seven years before an album was released. 1996 saw their debut, "Under Suspecion" which received a bit of critical acclaim. This was quickly followed up with "The Fire Within" in 1998. Then they were *poof* just gone, and that s....
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| 284. Da Vinci - Da Vinci | Rating: 6/10
Sometime in the pit of the 80s a subgenre of a subgenre was born. A musical regional niche that flourished within its respective birthplace but floundered - or worse yet - went unreleased - elsewhere in the world. This was Scandanavian AOR. Denmark, Sweden and Finland (Germany had some too, I might add, even though its not considered part of S....
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| 285. Auras - New Generation | Rating: 6/10
Saying there are Journey sounding bands is like saying music exists. There are so many lurking out there, and in such varying qualities, that it begins to all flow into one big ball of Journey-ish sameness. The most recent of these attracting attention is the Brazilian band Auras, who apparently had the formula down so pat, that everyone and t....
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| 286. Asia - Omega | Rating: 6/10
Asia has been around the block and back and will likely forever be remember for the popular hit "Heat of the Moment" which is simply one facet to their sound. After several handfuls of albums across three decades, and a few lineup changes, the original core came back a few years ago, and this is their second stab at a full length record. Gazin....
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| 287. AOR - L.A. Concession | Rating: 6/10
Frederic Slama is responsible for bringing AOR to his native country of France. Being a musical journalist and establishing himself in the heart of the genre itself, Los Angeles, he was able to let France have a taste of the music he had such a passion for. The breezy songs from sunny shorelines and tracks perfect for corvette cruising on whit....
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| 288. Wetton/Downes - Rubicon | Rating: 5.5/10
This is a strange album to review. My first impressions were rather indifferent and as the disc dragged on, that turned into irritable boredom. On further playthroughs, the finer nuances were revealed and was thus able to come to appreciate facets of "Rubicon". The journey was a long one to endure and most tracks never recovered from ....
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| 289. The Richie Zito Project - Avalon | Rating: 5.5/10
Richie Zito is a well known producer and songwriter who has contributed to the success of such acts as Cheap Trick, Heart, Eddie Money and White Lion - to name just a handful. Cheap Trick especially benefited from the Zito touch with "Lap of Luxury", an album that put Trick back into the mainstream market. Anime fans can spot his work on the....
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| 290. The Codex - The Codex | Rating: 5.5/10
Mark Boals has been such a vocal staple in the metal scene the past decade or so that many might not have realized that he has failed to appear on a new project in a startling three years. Who knew he took such an absence? A reunion with Yngwie Malmsteen and some rapid fire Ring of Fire releases kept him in the public eye for awhile. But now h....
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| 291. Ten - The Twilight Chronicles | Rating: 5.5/10
'The Twilight Chronicles" is really, really... long, and even worse, it is quite boring in spots. Who knows what Gary Hughes was thinking when he cranked out this repetitive disc of drivel. Besides the double disc set of remakes pooped out last year, this is the worst thing Hughes has been involved in during his career t....
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| 292. Street Legal - Bite the Bullet | Rating: 5.5/10
It has been quite awhile since we've heard from the outfit Street Legal, but here they are, back with a new album. This one is tapping into that Thin Lizzy vein of blues hard rock, and tweaking the songs by introducing other elements, such as some seriously heavy riffage that seems down right thrash-like. The vocalist even has....
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| 293. Silver - Addiction | Rating: 5.5/10
"You better believe it's over now.over now." This quote comes from the last song of the album, "You Are Mine" and also fittingly applies to my long-standing love affair with Silver. With their fourth and latest album, "Addiction" it is truly over now. But where did things go wrong?
For those not knowing, Silver....
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| 294. Night Ranger - Hole in the Sun | Rating: 5.5/10
"Hole In the Sun" is the first Night Ranger album to come to fruition in a very long time, and it may very well be the last having the original lineup somewhat intact. Alot of people are awaiting this anxiously, and some may be disappointed. Make no mistake though, no matter what kind of slander this disc is wrung t....
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| 295. Michael Schenker Group - Tales of Rock N Roll - Twenty-Five Years Celebration | Rating: 5.5/10
Michael Schenker is back and this time he is celebrating a career of twenty five years in the music business. The album is a launching pad for his new vocalist, Jari Tiura, but more interesting is that all six past MSG singers have been brought back to tackle one song each. Why only one? Who knows. Out of a staggering nineteen songs I would ha....
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| 296. Imperia - Queen of Light | Rating: 5.5/10
Imperia is not just a sleepy city in Italy anymore. It's also the name of yet another gothic minded, female fronted band. There are a zillion of them out there and while a few years ago they were more unique, the genre is starting to become quite the cluttered one. "Queen of Light" doesn't help the situation much e....
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| 297. Honeymoon Suite - Clifton Hills | Rating: 5.5/10
The first thing noticeable about the new Honeymoon Suite album, "Clifton Hills" is the utter absence of keyboards. It's obvious they are trying to back pedal and come out with all nostalgic guns, cocked ready and prepared to blast us away back to 1984, or thereabouts. The album ....
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| 298. Darren Smith Band - Keep the Spirit Alive | Rating: 5.5/10
The Darren Smith Band's "Keep the Spirit Alive" is meant to do just as the title says, keep the rock n' roll spirit alive and kicking. The album is stuffed to the brim with songs that focus themselves on the lighter side of life, good times, love trysts and good ol rock n roll. There's also a bitter little piece in here too but it doesn't da....
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| 299. Danny Vaughn - Traveller | Rating: 5.5/10
"He's gone country, look at them boots." That lyric bit from country and western singer, Alan Jacksons' song "Gone Country" hasn't rung this true since Ron Keel decided to be a good ol boy and traded in his studded leather pants for a Stetson cowboy hat. With a hearty "Yeehaw!", Vaughn's latest solo album, <stro....
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| 300. Crown of Thorns - Faith | Rating: 5.5/10
Crown of Thorns "Faith" has been half a decade in the making. Unfortunately, all the time and hardwork doesn't particularly show. "Lost Cathedral" is remembered to be their grandest moment, and nothing after it has really managed to capture the feel of that one record. They are still trying. Jean Beauvoir was known be....
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| 301. 707 - The Bridge | Rating: 5.5/10
707 came out of the 70s but truly no one had really heard of them until they linked themselves with the dreadful science fiction movie, Megaforce, by creating an album with that name plus the theme song and a few other tunes for the flick. This gave them some radio play and the name kind of got out there, too bad the movie wasn't a better one....
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| 302. Ureas - The Naked Truth | Rating: 5/10
Ureas have turned out one disc that can be described as interesting. Beyond that its hard to tell how much pleasure can be derived from this murkiness. "The Naked Truth" has more than just one singer, there's the married pair of Heidi and Per Johansson. Yes, the very same Per that was and is fronting Fate. He gets pretty annoying here....
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| 303. Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Night Castle | Rating: 5/10
"Night Castle" has been blathered about, anticipated, and tinkered with for nearly seven years. Now here it is, arriving with B movie level art and about as much excitement as a hedge. In winter. Perhaps even pruned. The ter....
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| 304. Ten - The Essential Collection 1995-2005 | Rating: 5/10
I still do not understand why this release is necessary. Even after listening to it a half dozen times or more, it seems completely frivolous. Not to say that this isn't an enjoyable double disc of Ten tunes, but why did Gary Hughes feel the need to re-record material that is, at the very most, ten years old? Oh wait... ten years of Ten... ha....
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| 305. Sacred Heart - Shake | Rating: 5/10
Sacred Heart's "Shake" is supposed to be a pretty great album. And I use the word "supposed" and "to be" following that up. It's an 80s tribute type cd, not in the sense of actually copying other artist's music, but rather attempting to recreate the sound.
Yet, unlike other bands that blend these elements sensibly ....
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| 306. Roger Staffelbach's Angel of Eden - The End of Never | Rating: 5/10
Roger Staffelbach's Angel of Eden "The End of Never" is one of the most long winded titles to come around in awhile. Just thinking about it makes your head spin. As does the music. "The End of Never" seems like a disc that will do just that. Never end. Ever. It's one speedy power metal-esque track a....
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| 307. Lunatica - Fables & Dreams | Rating: 5/10
Lunatica is on their second outing here, and showing improvements quite dramatically since their debut release. The songs are tighter, the production is much cleaner, no doubtedly helped out by the mixing and mastering in the hands of Sascha Paeth (Kamelot, Rhapsody, etc), in fact, all aspects are taken to the next level. It is a giant leap ....
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| 308. Journey - Generations | Rating: 5/10
Journey just hasn't been the same since Steve Perry split. He wasn't their first vocalist, but he was the iconic one, and once they went their "separate ways, worlds apart", it pretty much put the dagger into the heart of AOR's most successful and copied band.
The Journey incarnation of the 2000s has been a decent one. "Arrival" sounded li....
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| 309. Gypsy Rose - Gypsy Rose | Rating: 5/10
This CD has been kicking around for awhile in my review queue and it's time to put pen to paper (or key to keyboard as it would be) and get my thoughts out on this before it falls between the cracks to be forgotten. And don't mistake this for the other Gypsy Rose band that had an album out in the early 90s. This is a different outfit altoget....
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| 310. Eyes of Shiva - Eyes of the Soul | Rating: 5/10
If you aren't a card-carrying member of the Power Metal Fan Club then its probably best you leave this one alone. However if Helloween, Angra and their similar sounding brethren are your cup of tea, then read on, read on. Eyes of Shiva is yep, another power metal band and they sound pretty much like most everyone else out there, except going....
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| 311. Echoes of Eternity - The Forgotten Goddess | Rating: 5/10
Imagine a sweet female voice. Utterly feminine, gentle and blooming like the pristine, spotless white of a blushing virgin flower. A purity so honeyed that it seems almost prepubescent, singing in a sugary high pitch sameness. Then kickstart a wicked riff behind it, something deep rooted in the tattered crushing force of thrash, such as Megade....
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| 312. Doro - Classic Diamonds | Rating: 5/10
I was first introduced to Doro about five years ago with Warlock's "Triumph & Agony" and was quickly spoiled thereafter with her 2000 solo release, "Calling the Wild", a superb slab of metal mayhem and suffering ballads. After that I plowed through her entire back catalogue starting from the beginning and have been a steadfast admirer ever si....
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| 313. ClusterheaD - Times of No Trust | Rating: 5/10
Clusterhead is a four piece outfit that has been around since 2005, formed in Germany and boasts rather loudly about sounding something like Accept and Cage with a melodic vocalist. Only <SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-....
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| 314. Alien - Dark Eyes | Rating: 5/10
I was once a big fan of Alien's "Alien". Which one? It's hard to say. They had three albums that were so-called self titled and since it was years ago and given to me in a "here's a CDR - check this band out" kind of way I have no idea which of these I tested the waters in. Either way, it was good, solid AOR with alot of keyboard doodling. A b....
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| 315. TNT - The New Territory | Rating: 4.5/10
TNTs latest disc has been tagged lined by the band as "The New Territory", hey in fact, that's the name of the disc. It is so very different from TNT of old that brutal battles in online message forums are occurring at this moment. As you read this, heated arguments are blazing up everywhere that melodic rock is cov....
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| 316. Tempestt - Bring Em On | Rating: 4.5/10
Tempest "Bring Em On" is an album of morbid curiosity and a serious identity crisis. These guys can't decide whether to be heavy, progressive or melodically whatever. It's a mishmash that seems disjointed at times, clicks at others, and on a few choice songs, completely collapses into shambles. Tempestt was a cov....
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| 317. Rain - Stronger | Rating: 4.5/10
Michael Bormann was ousted from Jaded Heart and laid low for awhile. Now the "German Bon Jovi" is back with a vengeance by appearing on a whopping four discs in a very short time frame. Maybe a bit overkill? Just a little. However his voice is one of the saving graces of this cd, so Rain should count their blessings that they had him aboard. O....
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| 318. Mysterell - Sensational | Rating: 4.5/10
Unfortunately this one offers up nothing exceptional, the disc either sounds like modern Def Leppard (think "Euphoria" and "X") or it's a watered down ballad, and sometimes, it is a mixture of both! This is Mysterell and the album is far from "Sensational", yet they went ahead and tagged it that anyway. A little too much wishful thinking was....
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| 319. Lovechild - Soul Collector | Rating: 4.5/10
Lovechild may have been around a few years prior to this debut but the years of practice doesn't show in the final product. Its professional enough with a decent production and mixing. The songwriting is the main issue which is a big one that needs to be dealt with if further discs are in their future. Lovechild's "Soul Collector" is ....
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| 320. John West - Long Time...No Sing | Rating: 4.5/10
"Long Time...No Sing"? Could there possibly be a more misleading title for an album? John West has been positively all over the place for the last ten years or so. A staggering seven albums with progressive noodlers Artension, a couple of solo albums back in the 90s, a long stint with Royal Hunt that continues to this day, not to ment....
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| 321. Fatal Force - Fatal Force | Rating: 4.5/10
Torben's endeavors have always ceased to impress me. He might technically be a good guitarist but the material he chooses to showcase on has been lackluster at best. He is comparable to Lars Eric Mattsson in this regard as another axeslinger who may very well be adept at the instrument, or brilliant even, but what good is axenoodling if it is ....
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| 322. Emir Hot - Sevdah Metal | Rating: 4.5/10
Bosnian guitarist Emir Hot wishes he would transform into Yngwie Malmsteen or else find some mysterious document that blood-ties him to the Swedish guitarist in one way or another. That's pretty much all you need to know about Emir's not-so-hot debut. "Sevdah Metal" is neo-classical wankery at its most boring. ....
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| 323. Balance - Equilibrium | Rating: 4.5/10
The kindest thing that can be said about this disc is that it is un-Balanced. Balance's "Equilibrium" tries very hard to capture an 80s feel while frolicking around in new musical fields. It just does not work. First of all is their singer, Peppy Castro. He is alright, in the sense that he can sing, but the flat ....
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| 324. Mennen - Freakazoid | Rating: 4/10
The giant dump truck of suck pulls up to the cd player and unceremoniously dumps its steaming pile right into the drawer. That's what you can look forward to with Mennen's "Freakazoid", and its misfortunate series of songs. You really have to wonder what this band is going for. Their unfashionable "look" is of angsty teen punk rockers, but ....
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| 325. Kingdom Come - Perpetual | Rating: 4/10
A strange thing has happened with me regarding this disc. Usually I take one side or the other, deep dislike or ecstatic enthusiasm, but with Kingdom Come's latest, "Perpetual", the feelings harbored towards it are drifting somewhere inbetween. It's neither like or dislike, but rather just boredom and indifference that dominate. But what ma....
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| 326. Fate - V | Rating: 4/10
It is generally not a good sign when you listen to an album...and start laughing.
Fate were around for awhile in the 80s and had a few decent albums to boot. Most notable was "Matter of Attitude", an album that could be compared to Da Vinci, Treat and Dalton and featured a completely different singer than Fate of 2006. They had Jeff Limb....
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| 327. Emerald Sun - Escape From Twilight | Rating: 4/10
Emerald Sun is not a band that worries about any kind of comparisons that might be made or this "thing" called ah...innovation. Oh no. Right on their website they proclaim that their singer sounds *just like* Michael Kiske and flaunt their similarities to Helloween. Hell, the two bands are almost interchangeable. That is, if Helloween had ....
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| 328. Chalice - Shotgun Alley | Rating: 4/10
This is the fifth disc for Chalice but my virgin outing with the band. What I have discovered is that they are a German outfit that has been around for awhile and have also enlisted the expertise of Dennis Ward to provide a spankin fresh production that sounds quite nice. The music, however, is of the standard German hard rock mold, such as Ja....
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| 329. Takara - Invitation to Forever | Rating: 3.5/10
This invitation only seems to go on for forever... Takara's fifth studio album in twenty something years sports a change of direction and a new vocalist. They have changed from a cushy AOR outfit with Jeff Scott Soto breathing life into the music with his expressive and oftentimes soulful vocals - to a power/prog kind....
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| 330. Jim Peterik - Above the Storm | Rating: 3.5/10
Jim Peterik has found success post-Survivor by penning the material for Pride of Lions, an awesome pompous-AOR act that has released two great studio albums thus far. Those expecting a rehash of either Survivor or Pride will be really let down by this solo outing, however. If you go in hoping for something that can compete or even clash with t....
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| 331. House of Lords - The Power and the Myth | Rating: 3.5/10
Without a doubt, "The Power and the Myth" is one of the most highly anticipated AOR releases of 2004. House of Lords have become something of legend in the underground scene for their three fantastic albums that while all featured soaring choruses, bombastic arrangements and killer instrumentation, they still managed to never record the same ....
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| 332. Cosmo - Alien | Rating: 3.5/10
Cosmo claims to be a fresh listening take on rock but comes out to be as about as exciting as wheelchair racing at the nursing home. This album just never takes off to explore the cosmos as the misguided promotional workup would suggest. Sure, they are exploring some territory that is off the beaten path, but there's a reason that path hasn't ....
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| 333. Zion - Zion | Rating: 3/10
Its a shame this record is such a train wreck. Lying underneath the pathetic mess might be a good disc, but we'll never know, because the sound is so tragically bad. Vocalist Freddy Curci even puts in a nice delivery as the frontman, another aspect ruined by the amateurish production. Two monkeys in a basement could have engineered a better pr....
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| 334. Slavior - Slavior | Rating: 3/10
If you do not like the influences, how will you view the child of such disliked origins? This is the problem that reveals itself for Slavior. The members are all talented individuals, Fates Warning's Mark Zonder on drums, Wayne Findlay on bass, guitars and keys and Gregg Analla on vocals. But the well of influences they minded for this Slav....
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| 335. Glen Burtnik - Welcome to Hollywood | Rating: 3/10
Glen Burtnik's "Welcome to Hollywood", a sold-out CD of modern rock. If you like what rock radio plays, you will like this. Now move it along, nothing else to see here.
I guess you are expecting more of a review, and are going to make me listen to this thing again. Sigh. The torments we reviewers put ourselves through for our r....
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| 336. Dirt Mall - Got the Goat By the Horns | Rating: 3/10
Shitty vocals, a "raw" punk lite sound, and songs that are about as straightforward as you can get. This is Dirt Mall and their garage rock album "Got the Goat By the Horns". This album is just no frills-low skill dirty rock that relies on repetitive heavy grooves to push the album along. Sometimes this works, ....
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| 337. Trivium - The Crusade | Rating: 2.5/10
You won't find an album from 2006 that is more derivative than Trivium's "The Crusade". The band boldly promised that it would be a "Master of Puppets" for the 2000s, and they pretty much delivered on that promise (or was it a threat?) American radio - for some reason that only the gods know why - decided to hand pick this band as the....
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| 338. Silent Rage - Four Letter Word | Rating: 2/10
The HELL?! That was the first four letter word I thought about when first assaulted by the atrocity of Silent Rage's "Four Letter Word". Whoever was the bloke that penned this in a press release as being a "natural progression from their "Don't Touch Me There" CD" (barf) is either deaf, insane, or had ....
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| 339. Mennen - Planet Black | Rating: 2/10
Few discs have subjected the naive listener to the insurmountable level of suck that Mennen shoveled out on "Freakazoid". An album of poor taste, terrifyingly horrible lyrics, laughably distorted vocals and cookie cutter songs stuck in the "wannabe cool" grunge of 90s past. Yet it wasn't released in the 90s and thus showed it's age and the out....
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| 340. Meldrum - Blowin´ Up the Machine | Rating: 2/10
Meldrum "Blowing Up the Machine" is when female fronted rock goes bad. This disc is heavily influenced by the alternative scene, with thick sludgy guitars, distorted rhythms and in-your-face vibes. It may be chick sung music but what's here has balls. Unfortunately it's just not very interesting or catchy.
This....
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| 341. Forever Slave - Tales For Bad Girls | Rating: 2/10
Having ruminated over this disc for some time, the only conclusion that can be made, is that "Tales for Bad Girls" is a terrible album. Perhaps it was made to punish the bad girls that are mentioned in the title? Who knows. This is Forever Slave's second full length disc, the first being a strange mishmash of Dante's Inferno a....
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| 342. Beggar´s Pride - Boulevard of Broken Dreams | Rating: 2/10
Swiss producer Holggy Begg decided he should have his own project. Being the producer behind the Oni Logan solo disc wasn't enough. No, he had to subject the world to his artistic musings. The concept behind Beggar's Bride "Boulevard of Broken Hearts" is a good one...you can't really go wrong when dealing with human nature. These are ....
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| 343. Wyvern - The Red Flame of Pain | Rating: 1/10
In 1989 an album was born, as many albums were. An album so "special" that no one remembered it. The band was one of many named Wyvern. The cassette in question was from an independant label, and was titled "The Red Flame of Pain". Twenty years has gone by and someone thought that this was worthy enough to be re-mastered and re-r....
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Daily Spotlight
Cage - Science of Annihilation
 American Power Metal Kings... So the Science of Annihilation cover states and I am not one to argue, in fact I am more than i....
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Retro Reviews
(Tommy)
Dream Theater - Awake
 This is one of those albums that fits a certain state of mind nicely, for me this is when I'm feeling a bit melancholic and in need to drift off and get away form this stressing world for a while.
Th....
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(Michael)
Nazareth - Close Enough for Rock N' Roll/Play N' the Game
 "Close enough for Rock N' Roll" is album number seven from Nazareth released in March 1976. The album is a bit mellower compared to the predecessors, but it's a varied album with splendid....
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