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HRH AOR VII – Preview

Here’s a bit of a preview of the upcoming HRH AOR VII which will be taking place for one year only at the Presthaven park in Prestatyn, North Wales from 14th – 16th March 2019. Having attended all of the HRH AOR events to date there and with this years event only around the corner is is exciting to look forward to seeing some new bands and of course the return of some firm favourites that have graced the HRH Stage previously.

So lets start with the opening evenings entertainment –

Thursday – always the day for settling in at the Festival, meeting up with friends old and new and having a bit of a Party night, this year should be kicking off with a wonderful atmosphere.

The New Breed

Opening the Festival this year and it will be the first time I get to see this band so really looking forward to checking them out and really they have quite a fresh sound, certainly different to most of the bands on the lineup this weekend.

Knock Out Kaine

It’s great to see these guys back on the scene, and returning once again to HRHAOR. Dean and the guys always put on a great performance and are sure to open the Festival in style. With a new album about to drop this should be a great set.

Dave Bickler

After finally making it to the UK in 2017 it’s great to see the former Survivor frontman returning, and hopefully we will get a set of classic Survivor tracks mixed with some of Dave’s solo material. His long awaited solo album “Darklight” was released last year so can’t wait to check out this set, with Jim Kirkpatrick (FM) on guitar this should certainly be an interesting show..

Tyketto

The love affair between the UK and Tyketto looks set to continue with the band returning to headline this years opening night. The Festival appearance comes in the middle of a run of UK Tour Dates and the guys are sure to be as fired up as ever. Some of their Festival appearances in recent years have been nothing short of unreal, power passion and the arena will be loud with the sound of a crowd singing every word It’s great to see the band selling out dates on this current tour and there’s no doubt that this set will be one of the highlights of the weekend, with the crowd wanting more..

Fridays Lineup sees among others –

Fahran

Another returning band, Fahran are no strangers to the AOR Festival, following a busy year in 2018 and a successful appearance at the Bloodstock Festival among others don’t forget to check out Matt Black and the guys it’s sure to be one of the days more memorable sets.

Haxan

Not their first time at HRH either Scottish three piece Haxan are a proper Rock ‘N Roll act, I’m sure they have heard far too many comparisons with fellow Scots three piece The Amorettes, but they have a very different sound and stand very much on their own merits.

The Radio Sun

We all like to see different bands at Festivals, but when a band performs so well and makes such a positive impact each year that they have played, even though it’s surprising, it says a lot about the bands themselves that they have been invited back for a fourth time in a row with Steve Janevski (Guitar) and Jason Old (Vocals), Gilbert Annese on Drums and Anthony Wong  on Bass. The bands wonderful harmonies are always something to look forward to every time we see them and long may their visits continue. During this years set we will no doubt get to hear some more tracks off last summers album release “Beautiful Strange”.

VEGA

The guys have been on top form recently, as usual, what you can expect is a full on energetic set, a band that always give 100%, always engage really well with the audience and have the arms up anthems that make people smile, sing and scream all at the same time. Such a solid band live, and with five albums under belt whatever we get on the day it’s going to be powerful and fun. Enjoy this band, they deliver.

Romeo’s Daughter

Always a pleasure to get to see Leigh and the guys, a really classy Hard Rock outfit with a great voice leading the way, whatever the make of the band the musicians are always massively talented. With a wonderful back catalogue and a band who’s more recent output has been really good. No doubt the HRH set will offer up some of the bands wonderful ballads like “I Cry Myself To Sleep At Night”, this band can pull on your heart strings just as easily as Rock you out, always worth checking out.

Blood Red Saints

BRS have stepped in as a late replacement at this years event, and on the back of the very recently released Pulse album it will be great to see the guys showcase some of the new songs in their set, always fun and great to see live, another set not to miss if you can get to it. It’s a shame they aren’t on the bigger stage, but I have no doubt they will absolutely nail it as they always do.

Wayward Sons

Toby Jepson will hit the HRH AOR stage for the firs time with the excellent Wayward Sons, the band are currently working on the follow up to their great debut album Ghosts Of Yet To Come, so hopefully we may get a sneak peak into how the new songs are coming along. Either way this one is bound to be a hell of a set.

UFO

Making their way through their 50th Anniversary and sadly final Tour, this is certainly one of the last opportunities to catch real Rock legends live. Any chance to hear Vinny Moore’s screaming guitar and the classic UFO songs is one not to miss. Lets all hope for one last hoorah on the big stage for these guys. With their wonderful back catalog there has to be more than enough to please even the more casual fan. From “Lights Out” to the magnificent “Doctor Doctor” this really could be one of those special moments, lets just say thank you to UFO.

Saturday Highlights –

Bai Bang – with the Swedes having played HRH Sleaze back in 2017 the guys will be raring to go again this year on the AOR Stage bringing their sleazy brand of Rock to AOR. Another band to really look forward to, no strangers to playing the UK but that should ensure a good crowd for their set. Unfortunately they are on Stage 2 which seems a little odd to me.

Kane’d

Currently out on tour with Tyketto, the girls and guys are really on top form at the moment, they sound great and the girls harmonies are off the charts, will be great to see the band on a bigger stage offering them the chance to move around more. This band deserves to go places, and all of their hard work is paying dividends in their sound.

Heavy Pettin’

A band that had some terrific Hard Rock songs back in the 80’s return with an updated lineup and will close out the main second stage and be the last band on of the Festival. Purely from a selfish point of view I’d love to hear “Heaven Sent” as it was a song that just went around my head for months back in 1987.

Midnite City

Midnite City have just kept on gaining momentum since they arrived on the scene a couple of years ago, with two bloody excellent albums under their belts the guys continue to Tour and get invited to a lot of Festivals, and the reason is they are excellent live, they create a great buzz and they rock damn hard, terrific melodic rock, awesome harmonies, and great musicians, what’s not to like, oh and they are great guys too – get to this set, you won’t regret it.

The Electric Boys

Having pulled out of last years event to complete recording of their recently released album The Ghost Ward Diaries, and sometimes that just happens but we don’t get to see the band next time around, so thanks to HRH and the guys for putting it all right this time around. The Swedish Rockers are bound to be a big draw and personally can’t wait to finally get to see them live.

Pretty Boy Floyd – another of the bands still producing new music, and signed to the Frontiers label, Pretty Boy Floyd are sure to power through their set of sleazy Glam with an attitude of balls out rock. Having come back hard with 2017’s Public Enemies the guys are sure to make this trip a spectacle to remember.

Ted Poley

The Enigmatic one, whenever this man plays, be it with Danger Danger, Tokyo Motor Fist, or solo you know that the Party is on and you are going to have a great set to end the evening, and in this case close out the Festival main stage. We will hopefully get a few tracks off the excellent recent release “Modern Art” alongside some of the other DD classics.

Being honest there are lots of other bands, up and coming bands playing on Stage 2 and I really would love to be able to get to see everyone, but with the timings it doesn’t look like that will be possible this time around. Once again the chance to see some bands that don’t make it over this way very often along, it will be great to see The Electric Boys finally hit the HRH Stage, for many it will be the last opportunity to say goodbye to UFO, and of course with Ted Poley closing the show we are sure to have an absolute blast. So roll on Thursday the party is once again about to start, different venue same fun

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Elles Bailey – Whelans (Upstairs), Dublin – 07-03-2019

Review: Stephen Brophy

Photography: Stephen Brophy

Over the last couple of years Elles Bailey has become a force to be reckoned with on the Blues/Roots circuit and following on from some very hard work promoting and Touring her debut album ‘Wildfire‘, she is making a trip to my home town, Dublin,  in order to promote the follow up, the superb ‘Road I Call Home‘ and play her first headlining Irish date.

Opening the show this evening is Northern Irish Blues singer/songwriter Dom Martin, who plays a really good and gritty set. Prior to Dom hitting the stage though we get another insight into Elles Bailey, it is not very often in this day and age you will see a Headline act introduce their support for the night to the crowd, a very classy thing to do and generates a really cool atmosphere to kick things off. The songs are really good and the guitar playing even better, just creating a very nice sound, although the crowd at this stage of the evening was small they were certainly enjoying Dom’s set and that was very understandable. With songs from last years ‘Easy Way Out‘ EP, and probably the highlight being ‘The Rain Game‘, he certainly picked up some new followers tonight. Tracks like ‘Mercy‘ sounded great in an all too short set, always a great sign when a set flies by and you want to hear more.

Then it was onto the main event of the evening, for me I’d first seen Elles supporting Jo Harman in the Jazz Club in London, and I was hooked, not just from the music and delivery, but there’s an extremely engaging persona on stage, and the between song banter makes you feel a lot more involved in the show than perhaps with other artists. The band are extremely good, and the sound is great for a small room. The majority of the new songs were written in Nashville, some with renowned songwriters likes Bobby Wood and Dan Auerbach, and the fruits of this process are once again evident when you hear these songs live, just take the new single ‘Little Piece Of Heaven‘, it’s a cracker of a song, and is uplifting live. Plenty of highlights in tonights set ‘Deeper‘, ‘What’s The Matter With You‘ and ‘Medicine Man‘ from the new album and the title track of the debut ‘Wildfire‘ wonderful stuff. The musicians in this band all play a significant part in the show, and gel so well, but special mention has to go to Will Edmunds on guitar, who although spending the entire set in almost total darkness played beautifully, had there been one more light directed in the right direction it would have made a big difference, but he still made his presence felt.

When reviewing Elles new album I had picked out the closing track ‘Light In The Distance‘ as being one of the highlights of the release, but at the time did not know the back story from it, and as Elles told the crowd it elevated the song even more, this particular track, one that was written closer to home has a very personal feel to it but when you hear Elles singing it you automatically associate with the sentiments, it’s a piece of beauty especially with the keyboards and vocal powering through.

As Elles star continues to shine brighter this . This was for me always going to be ones of those “wow, I was there nights” I don’t think we are likely to see this artist again in venues like this for long, and as good as it is to be so close up and personal, you know that her music deserves to be heard by a wider audience. Can’t wait to to see Elles again and the pieces of magic from the album are even more magical live, go see these shows if you can.

Setlist –

Wild Wild West

Miss Me When I’m Gone

Deeper

What’s The Matter With You

Little Piece Of Heaven

Wildfire

When I Go Away

Perfect Storm

Light In The Distance

Hell Or Highwater

Medicine Man

Woman Like Me

Help Somebody

Road I Call Home

Howlin Wolf

Encore

Girl Who Owned The Blues

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Review: Mike Tramp – Stray From The Flock

Target Group (Mar 1st 2019)

Reviewer: Stephen Brophy

Former White Lion and Freak Of Nature frontman Mike Tramp has continued to forge a recording and touring career in recent years, often with a one man acoustic show and more recently back with a full band, but whatever he has turned his hand to you can always be guaranteed honest heartfelt music.

‘Stray From The Flock‘ is the latest release that follows a similar creative vein to recent album releases, so if you are looking for a return to the 80’s/90’s then I’m afraid you are looking in the wrong place, this is a different era, a different artist who continues to prove he is a very strong songwriter, storyteller and live performer, that is more than enough for me. Besides Mike has been making Solo albums for 22 years now, far longer than the life of the other bands he played with.

Having witnessed a number of Mike’s shows over the last 6-7 years he has managed transform that feeling and power from the stage to the studio, and transformed the purely acoustic songs to a full band mix that works. What we get here are 10 stories, that feel like they are coming from personal experiences, and certainly nothing wrong with that, The duet on closing track ‘Die With A Smile On Your Face‘ drips raw emotion.

If there is one criticism I would have of this new release it is that perhaps there could have been a couple of changes in pace dotted around here and there certainly adding a rocker in the first few songs would help grab the attention of more casual listeners, that’s not to say everything cruises along morphing one track into the next, but perhaps there could have been another rocking track that breaks everything up a little.  But the quality of the songs stand for themselves and that’s what counts here. Musically everything fits, and with keyboards add a little bit more atmosphere here and there, certainly a well put together album, and again one that you pick up on different nuances on each listen.

Highlights include the excellent ‘Best Days Of My Life‘ which almost transports you to a fine summers day surrounded by friends and good times, sure we’ve heard this kind of story before, but it always depends on how it’s portrayed and this one works.  For this particular album a number of guitarists that Mike has worked with over the years have been brought in to guest, and there’s some terrific playing on this album, it doesn’t have to be blazing solos, sometimes it just has to fit the song, take ‘You Ain’t Free Anymore‘ for example, and it adds massively to the overall feel of that particular one. ‘One Last Mission‘ is a much more full on rock song, with almost a rasp in Mike’s vocal delivery, and it’s a powerful song.

Once again Mike Tramp has managed to create a piece of art, a rich tapestry of music and lyrics that intertwine and once again produce a very mature album. The direction that Mike’s music has taken in recent years has provided him with a fresh impetus it would seem and long may the creative juices flow. ‘Stray From The Flock‘ is another very good album and if you’ve been a fan of ‘Cobblestone Road‘ onwards dig in, if not or you haven’t heard any of these new recordings then set some time aside and drink it up. Mike will be on Tour in the UK in April so catch some of these songs live then.

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Review: 7HY-No Going Back

Lions Pride Music (March 2019)

Reviewer: Kelv Hellrazer

Alan Kelly, last time i saw him mid 90s Crazy Crazy , talking bout Chariot, near scuffle on crazy Crazy bus lol , but we go way back to 84, silly album covers, Walthamstow Royal Standard etc.

With his Limahl/ George Lynch hairdo lol, Shy were best AOR band in UK with the best guitarist and the songwriter Steve Harris was the secret weapon RIP ….but it was over without him.

Alan has come up trumps with US vocalist Shawn Pelata, good songs, good vocals, don’t like the name, it’s gonna be compared to Shy, no need for it, nothing like Shy.

‘Stay Gone‘ opens in fine style, kind of uptempo , Shawn’s a more AOR Hamie from Heavy Pettin’, great Bvs from Kelly kind of Bonjovi esque, great guitars.

‘Deep Dark Blue‘ great production nice chorus. ‘Still Falling‘ nice ballad, I can see the lighters now, great the way it starts rocking and the sax solo really works, I used to hate sax.

‘Your Reality‘ rocks out. Great chorus not yer usual AOR achmaltzy song strays away from banal lyrics.

‘Can’t Trust The Radio‘ is my kind of AOR , moody atmospheric nice takes me back glorious 80’s would have sold loads of this in Shades Records.

‘Can We Try‘ closes in fine style, very USA influenced Hyts Autograph, bands like that. Awesome guitar solo, Yngwie/ Joshua style from Danny Beardsley. Gone through their other 4 LP’s, I like the material.

Alan needs his old hair do back changed the name to Kelly Palata, maybe some fests in Europe as well for this UK /US collaboration, people would dig it as they ain’t your usual suspects. Bored shitless of Brit bands, and young guys getting it wrong, then big choruses, big production and 7HY is for you, they are wasted, need a new label and a fresh start!

 

 

 

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Review: Altitudes & Attitude – Get It Out

Megaforce Records (Jan 18th 2019)

Reviewer: Stephen Brophy

Altitudes & Attitude is a side project for Thrash Metal Bass legends Dave Elfson (Megadeth) and Frank Bello (Anthrax) that began life back in at the start of this decade. As opposed to the type of music they play in their main bands this is a much more Hard Rock/Alt Rock orientated project and their first full album release ‘Get It Out‘ also contains the tracks from their 2014 self titled EP.

Alongside Bello (Bass/Vocals) and Elfson (Guitar) we’ve got Jeff Friedl (Drums) from A Perfect Circle and the album is produced by Jay Ruston (Anthrax, Steel Panther, Stone Sour). This is an interesting piece of work and certainly gives the main protagonists an opportunity to showcase talents they don’t get the chance to with their main bands. Frank Bello’s vocals for example are really strong right through.  There will certainly be some comparisons to the likes of Foo Fighters on songs like the title track ‘Get It Out‘ which is a really powerful all out rocker and ‘Part Of Me‘ with that fuzzy tone to the underlying riff.

For me ‘Slip‘ is just a piece of of class, it is perhaps more in the vein of Alkaline Trio, this one holds the attention, has a different feel from the rest of the album and just feels right, the vibe is quite upbeat which in many ways contradicts the feeling the song generally give out. ‘Talk To Me‘ follows suit and keeps the mid section of the album flowing, sadly for me the instrumental ‘Leviathan‘ doesn’t really go anywhere, and feels a but out of synch here, perhaps it’s just a placing thing.

Littered throughout the album are guest guitar spots from the likes of Ace Frehley (KISS), Gus G (Ozzy, Firewind), Nita Strauss (Alice Cooper) and Satchel (Steel Panther), which adds a bit more depth to everything. Just take the screaming solo by GusG in ‘Here Again‘ as an example, just enhances that track so much. There are also moments of more aggressive riffing dotted around this release, ‘Here Again‘ the album closer certainly has a much heavier vibe in the chunky riffs and Thrashy interludes, while retaining a similar vocal delivery to the rest of the album..

This may not be a release that was on everyone’s radar, but it shouldn’t be just bypassed, certainly enough good stuff here to make it worth checking out and it’s always nice to hear something different from some well know musicians in their own field. Hopefully they we be able to schedule some more European dates following their recent run with Slash..

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Review: Elles Bailey – Road I Call Home

Release Date: (March 7th 2019)

Reviewer: Stephen Brophy

Elles Bailey has been a growing force in recent times and with the release of her second album ‘Road I Call Home‘ that’s definitely going to continue. Following on from the critically acclaimed and very successful debut album ‘Wildfire‘ which was released towards the end of 2017, Elles is set to capitalise on the momentum that a really good debut and some very hard work touring has built up.

The music on this release continues in the same vein as what we have heard previously, but there’s an assured confidence flowing through this release that just pushes the songs to new levels, although this may be a very personal group of songs there are themes that resonate with us all and it’s the execution that makes everything shine so well. Style wise we’ve got an amalgamation of Blues, Americana and Country dripping all over this one

This is most definitely an album you need to let seep into your pores, soak in it, breathe it in, tracks like ‘Deeper‘ just beg to be put on repeat and allow you to pick up on different nuances with each listen. As with it’s predecessor this was recorded in Nashville, and has been sympathetically produced by Brad Nowell and Steve Blackmon, which suits the style and delivery of the songs.

Of the eleven tracks on offer here you find it hard to look past any one track, there are so many reasons to keep listening and to come back for more. What raises this album above the rest is probably the fact that it so smoothly rolls from one style to another and yet neither loses focus nor the beautiful ebb and flow from song to song. ‘Help Somebody‘ stuck in my head from the first listen, a bluesy beast lifted by a Brass section that’s in no way overpowering, there are pieces of magic everywhere you turn, and the playing is exemplary whether from the special guests in Nashville or the UK musicians.

There’s an almost visible pain in ‘What’s The Matter With You‘, while ‘Little Piece Of Heaven‘ is another that wraps around your heart and pulls on the strings hard and is probably the most poppy track on offer while remaining very soulful at the same time, the writing credits are great to see but really mean very little without the excellent delivery of the stories. Then we come to the closing track ‘Light In The Distance‘ and just wow, a stunning performance in it’s simplicity, a vocal with piano accompaniment, but the vocal is so beautiful, like a winding river it meanders through a story, it’s a testament as to how far this young artist has come in a relatively short space of time.

This is a wonderful album, it’s full of depth, warmth and just really well put together songs that demand your attention. Keep your eyes and ears open for Elles Bailey, it’s a name that I’m sure you will hear a lot more of in the future. The Uk/Irl Tour starts at the beginning of March, don’t miss out on the opportunity to hear these songs live, it will be a great experience. The World better be ready for Elles because she is definitely coming for it.

 

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Review: Blood Red Saints – Pulse

AOR Heaven (Febuary 22nd 2019)

Reviewer: Stephen Brophy

It has been just over 12 months since Blood Red Saints released their last album ‘Love, Hate, Conspiracies‘ and the guys are back with the release of their third album ‘Pulse‘, and it’s a damn good album.

What we have grown to expect from this band is a more edgy style of AOR, well written songs, but strong riffs and the levels turned up a bit, certainly since the addition of second guitarist Neil Hibbs, and they have certainly found their groove. As always the main focal point of the band it Pete Godfrey’s wonderful voice alongside Lee Revill’s lead guitar.

Having listened to the album a lot over the last few weeks the whistling, and slightly haunting Into to the opening track ‘Believer‘ still grabs my attention, it’s unusual but somehow fits perfectly as a starting point for the song, and it is a really good song to kick the album off with, they have managed again on this album to blend some different styles and manage to sound different to most of the bands out there, it’s not synchronised  rock.

Of the eleven tracks on offer here you will be grabbed by the most of them in a slightly different way, for some reason after the intro when the chorus kicks in I just can’t shake the thoughts of Shinedown when listening to ‘Cross To Bear‘ but that’s not to say that it is in anyway sounding cloned, this is an  excellent track, that stands on it’s own merits. Pete’s vocals are exemplary throughout, but there is something about this one that keeps pulling me back over and over, with the faint orchestral accompaniment, or the strength of that chorus, this is certain for me to become a live favourite. There’s a real crunch and power to ‘Message To God‘ and it’s another one that sticks out on each listen, strong riff, pumping drums.

This time around the ballads ‘Crash Into Me‘ and the wonderful ‘Bring Me To Life‘ are once again beautifully executed, and I’m sure both will come across brilliantly in an acoustic or full band setting. ‘Bring Me To Life‘ in particular completes the album brilliantly, going from moving harmonic vocals to some screaming guitars in 5 seconds flat.

This is another excellent release from Blood Red Saints, again it sounds different to what’s out there already and still has that edge, it’s not perfect, what is in this day and age, one or two tracks didn’t quite do it for me, for example some days I really like the title track and others it’s not grabbing me, but it’s a damn fine album overall. Really look forward to hearing these new songs live and how powerful they will come across. Once again Blood Red Saints have shown that they are one of the better and more interesting Melodic Rock bands in the UK and this group of songs will hopefully just add to their legion of fans.

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Review: Departed – Tides

Independent (Feb 2nd 2019)

Reviewer: Dan Mann

South West UK rockers Departed have just released ‘Tides‘, their follow up EP to the band’s debut EP. It’s been nearly three years since that debut, an EP I still play, and it’s nice to finally get to listen to some new music from the band.

‘Tides‘ consists of five tracks, which have that ‘British Rock Band’ sound firmly stamped all over them. First off the block ‘Come On‘ does however have a certain Black Crowes vibe to it, fast paced, foot tapping goodness, it nicely sets the scene for what’s to follow.

‘Soul Shaker‘ ramps things up another notch, is there such a thing as a double foot tapper? Again catchy as hell, think car windows down, arm out, stereo blaring, it’s got that sort of vibe about it.

Next up is ‘All The Way‘ which has a deeper groove with a great riff throughout delivered with aplomb by guitarist Ben Brookland.

‘Let Her Down Easy‘ slows things down, again with a Black Crowes vibe, but with that British twist delivered by vocalist Mark Pascall, whose vocals slot very favorably into my personal musical tastes.

‘Remedy‘ is another slow number, with a wonderful guitar sound, and again brings thoughts of sunnier weather, lazing in a beer garden, sun on the face, you get the picture I’m painting! It brings the EP sadly to an end, but with a flourish.

These guys really need to give us a full album, with the types of response they’ve had from fans and media alike with their live performances, it would really help give them that final push.

All I can add is that ‘Tides‘ is highly recommended.

 

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Review: Collateral – The Black Heart, Camden, Feb 7th 2019

Reviewer / photographer – Dan Mann

The last twelve months has seen Collateral get a foot in the door to the next level of rock stardom.

Their appearance last night at The Black Heart, Camden certainly kicked off 2019 in style, introduced onstage by Planet Rock‘s Paul Anthony, the band launched into a set of original material in front of an enthusiastic sell out crowd who happily sang along to every song.

This was a showcase of how a hungry young rock band should perform, their enjoyment and enthusiasm clearly showing, as they stormed through their set, ending on their current single ‘Midnight Queen‘, a song that’s undergone a new mix by Romesh Dodangoda  and is currently on Planet Rock’s playlist.

If you’ve not yet seen Collateral play, then grab the chance now before they’re playing arenas!!

Set List:

1 – Calm Before The Storm

2 – When Faith Breaks

3 – You Were the Only One

4 – Going With The Wind *

5 – Coming Home

6 – Move On

7 – Just Waiting For You *

8 – Promise Land **

9 – Merry Go Round **

10 – Lullaby Encore **

11- Midnight Queen * + **

*Denotes songs from ‘4 Shots! EP‘ **Denotes songs from forthcoming debut album

all images copy-write© RPR Media UK

 

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Review: Gathering Of Kings – First Mission

RN Records (January 2019)

Reviewer: Dan Mann

Here we have another album I’ve been eagerly awaiting having bought four of the tracks from Amazon last year, so I had a pretty good understanding of what the album was going to be like.

‘First Mission‘ is a smörgåsbord of an album, combining a wealth of talent from other Scandi rock bands eg. Masterplan, Therion, The Night Flight Orchestra, Soilwork, Saffire, Pretty Maids, Spiritual Beggars, Corroded, Streamline etc. The end results are a melodic rock fans wet dream. Imagine someone sitting down to record the ultimate Scandi rock sampler, yes it’s that good!

They haven’t shurked on the number of tracks either, giving us twelve in total. And to pick a favorite? It would be easier to squeeze myself through a catflap, but if forced to pick the highlights as it were I’d have to go for ‘Forever and a Day‘, ‘Out of My Life‘ & ‘Saviour‘.

If you are a fan of melodic hard rock and Scandi rock then this really is a no brainer, purchase wise.

Get yourselves a copy and give it the beans!