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Viewing all article comments by Craig
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Power Quest - Blood Alliance
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Hahaha, damn yooouuuuuu, Jepsen!
Power Quest - Blood Alliance
Thursday, June 2, 2011
"enjoying their light, airy take on power metal."
There's an F missing from that sentence!
After Forever - Prison of Desire
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
This is a pretty good album, not by any means a classic but quite good. I actually think it works better if you think of it as an early Epica album rather than After Forever considering how much they changed their style after Jansen left.
Forbidden - Twisted into form
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
I think this album has a much better balance than the debut, but the debut has the better individual songs. Two excellent thrash albums though. The new songs they've released so far sound very promising too!
Pathfinder - Band Profile
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Namedropping Lost Horizon doesn't do anyone's credibility any harm in my book! Looking forward to hearing this album, eventually.
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (30th Anniversary Edition)
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
I don't listen to a lot of prog rock but this album is a masterpiece. The only part I don't love is the jam at the end of Moonchild which is too long and aimless.
Megadeth - Peace Sells...But Who´s Buying? - DVD Audio Edition
Friday, July 23, 2010
The lack of obvious structure to the songs is one of my favourite things about this album - the chaotic shifting between totally different riffs and tempos is all part of the paranoid atmosphere and shows how the band were both musically adventurous and out of their minds on drugs at the same time.
It's interesting to see the different directions bands were pulling in with thrash in it's formative days before it started to become more standardised.
Freedom Call - Legend Of The Shadowking.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
I don't think Freedom Call have ever really been the same since they left the Tanelorn story behind and started experimenting. I've liked the last two albums (haven't heard this one yet) but it's now been a crazy long time since they did a full album in their signature style.
Uriah Heep - Official Bootleg - Live at Sweden Rock festival 2009
Thursday, May 13, 2010
It was a really great show at SRF, I'm a little disappointed the full thing wasn't released. Maybe the recording quality wasn't good enough on the other songs?
Gamma Ray - Gamma Ray and special guests: Freedom Call - Live at Kulturbolaget, Malmö, Sweden - February 25th, 2010.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
As far as I know Dan is still a member of Freedom Call, I guess playing two shows a night is maybe just too much for him these days. The time I saw them it was definitely a little weird with no keyboard player onstage.
Rhapsody (of Fire) - The Frozen Tears of Angels
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
I've been looking forward to this since I heard Sea of Fate streaming a couple of months ago, the big guitar/keyboard battle gave me hope. I didn't listen to more than a couple of songs from Triumph or Agony and SOELII was a very big disappointment.
Its strange, a few years ago the idea of Rhapsody with a full orchestra was like a wet dream for me, now hearing they've toned it down a bit is what has me interested in this album.
Burzum - Belus
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Early impression after one listen is that it sounds a bit...I dunno, tame? Both in the vocals and the production. Songs still sounded good though, but a bit of the rawness is missing.
Various Artists - Playlist - February/March 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Anathema's take on Better Off Dead really is one of my favourite cover versions. It's amazing how the lyrics seem to work on a totally different level than they do in the original, from angry sarcasm to being played straight in an admittedly melodramatic way. Great stuff.
Strapping Young Lad - The New Black
Thursday, March 11, 2010
This album sounds more like a heavier Devin solo album than an SYL one, which might be why I listen to it more than any of the others. Definitely their most accesible, but not in a bad way.
Sons of Liberty - Brush-fires of The Mind
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Shite, I didn't realise there were so many guest musicians on this. Thanks a lot vaguery! Now I need to go rewrite my review...
Anathema - Judgement
Friday, February 26, 2010
This is one of the Anathema albums I've listened to the least even though many consider it their best.
My favourite is probably Eternity, there's plenty of Floyd influence there too. A bit heavier too, which is all good.
Various Artists - Nina's Albums Of The Year - 2009
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Cauldron really are nothing special live, so you didn't miss to much there. The vocalist isn't great on record but he's TERRIBLE live.
W.A.S.P. - Live at Kulturbolaget, Malmö, Sweden - November 3rd, 2009.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
You'd probably be better off with no support band than who we got! The Gliteratti, eww. WASP have always had really poor (or no) support bands over the last few years though, not really sure what that's all about.
Good review, Nina! Looks like they played the exact same set as they did over here. Heaven's Hung in Black was just amazing, first time I'd ever seen in live.
Various Artists - Steen's Favorite Albums of 2009
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Well I haven't heard Horrorscope yet, but I've heard people saying this is the album they should have recorded as the follow-up to it. They've ditched all the groove stuff and are back to pure, epic thrash (hooray!).
Various Artists - Steen's Favorite Albums of 2009
Friday, January 8, 2010
Right, here goes:
1 Syth - The Reckoning
2 Stratovarius - Polaris
3 Dark Forest - Dark Forest (brilliant underground English trad metal, check them out!)
4 Wolf - Ravenous
5 Ensiferum - From Afar
6 Hospital of Death - Surge Kill Steal (like Dark Forest, except it's thrash, check them out!)
7 Cain's Offering - Gather the Faithful
8 Megadeth - Endgame
9 Alestorm - Black Sails at Midnight
10 Suidakra - Crogacht
With honourable mentions to:
Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know
Saxon - Into the Labyrinth
Gorgoroth - Quantos Possunt Ad Satanitatem Trahunt
Iroundbound by Overkill isn't offically released until later this month but I've been listening to the mp3s since last month - if it had been released earlier it may have been my album of the year.
I'm not 100% sure about the positions in the top 10, but the Syth album is the only one I gave more than 4/5 to in my reviews so I guess it gets the top spot.
Various Artists - Steen's Favorite Albums of 2009
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Love the Wolf album as well, easily in my top 10 for the year, probably top 5. Hail Caesar is my favourite track, amazing chorus.
Hibria - The Skull Collectors
Monday, December 21, 2009
Crikey, you haven't heard these guys yet, Steen? Get the first album while you're at it, it's even better. I can say without fear of hyperbole that the opening track on that album (Steel Lord on Wheels) is one of the best songs ever written.
Metalium - Grounded - Chapter Eight
Monday, December 21, 2009
Do eet! Do eet now! Demoniac are a band everyone should give a listen to. Its like DragonForce, except good.
Metalium I've never really listened to beyond a few songs, but this "soild/unspectacular" idea seems to be the general consensus. Mr Basse is an outstanding vocalist, though.
Cain's Offering - Gather The Faithful
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Good catch on the Taylor Dane comparison, Tommy. I won't lie, it helped my review a little. ;) I knew Elegantly Broken sounded like *something* - it was driving me crazy trying to figure it out!
Nightrage - Sweet Vengeance
Monday, November 9, 2009
Just revisited this one recently, actually. A few moments of overly melodic sweetness that I'm not keen on but on the whole a great album. A nice mix of blasting melodeath and more power metallish moments on the tracks where the drums are less intense.
"Hero" is a real melodeath classic for me, I actually think the big clean vocal section really works.
Bloodstock Open Air 2009 - Day 3 - Sabaton, Anathema, Europe
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Well I can finally read this whole thing now without fear of you contaminating my report. Good work!
http://www.rockontheweb.co.uk/livearticle.php?id=68
Enforcer - Into The Night
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Very good debut. I think the constant top-speed playing gets a little exhausting even if it is only 35 mintutes long, but a very energetic effort with some ridiculously fast parts and great vocals.
Europe - Last Look at Eden
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Hmmm after a few listens this album seems a bit up and down. Certainly some good songs but a few that leave me a bit cold. The title track and New Love in Town are great songs.
Iron Maiden - Brave New World
Friday, September 11, 2009
Nicko didn't write the lyrics to New Frontier, try again.
Various Artists - Playlist - May/June 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
"Cage - Die Glocke (I usually stop dead, mid-stroke just to enjoy the monster vocal lines)"
Hee hee hee.
Saxon - Live with Doro and Sweet Savage at The ABC in Glasgow - April 28th 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
My thoughts exactly, Tommy. I will never, ever get sick of seeing Saxon.
Primal Fear - 16.6 (Before the Devil Knows You're Dead)
Thursday, May 7, 2009
I never actually got round to listening to New Religion, but I really liked Seven Seals, thought that was a brilliant album.
Sounds like they're going in exactly the direction you'd expect from a band on Frontiers, expecially with Magnus Karlsson on board, but I'll maybe give this one a listen.
Kreator - Hordes of Chaos
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The depths of nihilism in S Club Party will never be fully mined...
Stratovarius - Polaris
Friday, April 24, 2009
The new Revolution Renaissance album is quite interesting, very different to Stratovarius but familar at the same time. I'll be very interested in this one, but I'm quite happy Kotipleto hasn't had much to do with writing the music.
Adrian Smith and Project (ASaP) - Silver and Gold
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Weirdest thing about this album is that it's got Zak Starkey on drums.
The first Psycho Motel album was pretty cool.
Sword - Metalized
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Great album - a few clunkers that I don't think much of (Stoned Again, for instance) but on the whole a real hidden gem.
Out of Control, FTW, Children of Heaven, all great tunes and a killer vocalist to boot.
Dream Evil - Interview with Snowy Shaw
Friday, April 10, 2009
I generally like the cut of Snowy's jib but he really comes across as a complete dick in this interview.
Edguy - My obsession with Edguy
Saturday, March 21, 2009
I haven't yet bothered to listen to Tinnitus Santus after the first single sounded exactly like I imagined it would.
I'm not exactly opposed to Edguy switching away from the more epic, ochestral material of the Vain Glory Opera era (my favourite of their albums) as they proved with Hellfire Cub that they could do it with integrity and still write amazing songs.
Rocket Ride was more or less the exact opposite, a power metal band doing the hard rock style in completely the wrong way, where most of the songs lacked any power and depth.
The middle-ish period of the band's career is still essential stuff for power metal fans though and no amount of disappointing newer material will change that.
Judas Priest - Jugulator
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Urk, noooo. 3/10.
Various Artists - Stuart's Highlights of the Year 2008
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
No Blitzkrieg/Intense in the top 10 gigs? Pssssh.
Arch Enemy - Tyrants of the Rising Sun: Live in Japan
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Oh nooooo it links to the Anthems of Rebellion review! Mustn't...click...mustn't click......
Northern Kings - Rethroned
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
At the risk of getting a bit side-tracked, Priest's take on Johnny B. Goode most definitely does NOT fit the parameters of a good cover as Stuart described it. How can you cover the quintessential rock 'n' roll tune and leave out the classic rock 'n' roll riff that is the whole basis of the song?
Northern Kings - Rethroned
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
^^ What he said.
Northern Kings - Rethroned
Monday, December 15, 2008
I'll jump in for magicred here. Like I said, the first album to me just sounded like the project of some producer at Universal and not a proper band. It all just sounded like a bunch of over-produced, underwritten metal songs with the lyrics to 80s pop hits over them. I personally don't see the point to a cover version that bears ne resemblance at all to the original (like Priest's massacre of Johnny B Goode, for instance).
Northern Kings - Rethroned
Friday, December 12, 2008
I wasn't a fan of the debut at all. I was really looking forward to it but in the end it felt like some producer's project that the four vocalists had just done session work on.
Turning Don't Stop Believing into some hollow symphonic metal song was a bad move. I don't get the point of a cover version if you don't even keep the original melody intact. Most of the album just felt like they had taken the lyrics to these songs and added them to some unimpressive metal songs.
So yeah I doubt I'll be checking this out.
Toxic Holocaust - An Overdose Of Death
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Scuzzy guitars, minging vocals and green dugs...Cronos would be proud.
Kamelot - Dominion
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Pre-Khan Kamelot is very underrated. My favourite is Eternity, though. Siege Perilous sort of showed that they needed a change of style, I think.
Diphtheria - To Wait For Fire
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Decent album, but a bit too same-paced for me. I gave it 3/5. Apparently this might be their only album and, and some of the members have started a new band called Prodigal Earth.
Devin Townsend - Synchestra
Thursday, July 17, 2008
I do like this album but its one of my least favourites from Devin. I don't think the two Devin Townsend Band albums quite match up to the music just released as Devin Townsend.
Terria is where it's at.
Helloween - Gambling With The Devil
Saturday, February 2, 2008
I love this album, one of 2007's best for me. It took a bit of time to grow on me, probably due to the variety in the songs. I love the mix of symphonics in "As Long as I Fall" and "Fallen to Pieces" contrasting with the aggression of "Kill It" and "I.M.E."
Helloween are also the only power metal band that could possibly get away with writing an Andrew WK song ("Can Do It").
Gamma Ray - Land of The Free II
Monday, January 7, 2008
That much is certainly true.
Gamma Ray - Land of The Free II
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Mr Schlachter wrote Opportunity, get it up ye.
Various Artists - Playlist - December 2007/January 2008
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Machine Men...I haven't listened to them in a while, I quite liked their debut.
If Bruce Dickinson isn't going to keep doing solo albums at least there's another band out there that sound exactly the same.
Northern Kings - Reborn
Monday, December 17, 2007
'Jeff Scott Soto's version of Madonna's "Frozen"'
This I need to hear!
Nightwish - Dark Passion Play
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Having only listened to the album once I'd be inclined to agree with most of the review but leave myself open to change. Some truly pathetic, childish lyrics damage decent songs on occasion.
The middle of the album is a bit of a samey mush, and I'm disappointed Emppu's song isn't a bit more guitar-oriented. It's as if he wanted to play it safe when presenting Tuomas music to make sure he okay'd it going on the album.
I'm a bit torn on the new vocalist - she does what she does well, but has much less range, and it really comfirms the operatic power metal songs are more or less going to be ignored in a live environment form now on.
Also agree on how surprisingly strong the end of of the album is, and its either The Islander or Last of the Wilds for my favourite song.
Into Eternity - The Scattering of Ashes
Monday, December 4, 2006
They really need to drop the whiny emocore vocals. The guy can do a good Halford imitation, but doesn't do it often enough and the songs suffer for it.
Angra - Band Information
Thursday, November 30, 2006
!!!!!
Rhapsody (of Fire) - Triumph or Agony
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
It sounds like a continuation of the totally overblown previous album. I was looking forward to Rhapsody getting the full orchestral treatment, but it would seem that less is more where this band is concerned. I doubt they'll ever get close to the brilliant Power of the Dragonflame again.
Sabaton - Band Information
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Ha ha! I'm afraid the human Manowar jukebox was parked next to our tent all weekend. :-)
Sweden Rock Festival 2006 - Steen´s Festival Report
Friday, June 23, 2006
What Andrew fails to mention is that he somehow turned the 40 minute round trip for beer into a 2 hour odyssey! I guess that's what spending the wee hours of the morning on a beech learning to open cans with your teeth will do to you.
Great report as usual Steen, see you next year!
Hammerfall - Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken
Sunday, November 13, 2005
HammerFall's weakest album so far. Not exactly bad, but just not up to their own standards. They need to start writing with Jepser Stromblad again.
Freedom Call - The Circle Of Life
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Yeah, I really like this one. A change for sure, but a welcome one.
Sweden Rock Festival 2005 - Steen´s Sweden Rock 2005 Diary
Wednesday, July 6, 2005
Its freakish how accurate the Lana Lane report is. 'Mon the crazy Manowar singing Danish guy!
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