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Review: Collateral – 4 Shots! EP

Roulette Media Records (Nov 23rd 2018)

Reviewer: Dan Mann

I first came across Collateral a while back, forgot I’d liked them on Facebook (I know!) and re-discovered them just in time for them to be the opening act for last year’s Fibrofest. What I’ve witnessed in the time since is a band that has grown from strength to strength. After going through several band member changes, the band have now found an even more impressive footing during their live performances, but also when it comes to their recorded material.

The first song ‘Going with The Wind‘ I’d already listened to plenty of times when Collateral were original called the Angelo Tristan Band. Listening to it on this EP is almost re-discovering it. The production lifts it in terms of depth and soundscape.

Track two, ‘Midnight Queen‘ was the band’s first single, which has already helped garner the band new fans and shows them at a more commercial angle. A very catchy tune indeed.

‘Angels Crying‘ is another track I know from their previous incarnation and perfectly demonstrates what a fantastic voice Angelo Tristan has. Superb stuff.

And unfortunately we reach the forth and final track. ‘Just Waiting For You‘, again a track I’m already familiar with, shows a maturity of songwriting and is now given that final polish that will help propel the band onward.

Which leaves me with two thoughts….why aren’t Angelo and the boys already household names? And how will I last until next year’s full album?

Collateral will break through I have no doubt. If you don’t believe me then listen to this here EP and catch them live at your earliest opportunity.

 

 

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Since the release of Liv Sin‘s debut album Liv’s fan base has been faithful and grown even bigger with the new band who are now planning to release a new EP on May 25th through Despotz Records.

Liv Sin has been on a European tour in the UK, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Switzerland and a major tour in Spain. Liv’s fan base has been faithful and grown even bigger with the new band.

”With ‘Inverted‘ we wanted to take the opportunity to do something completely different and explore another side of the band. The idea at first was to do a stripped down acoustic EP, but the creative process took us somewhere else.” says front woman and lead singer Liv Jagrell.

The recording of the new EP, ‘Inverted‘ was the first time that Liv’s new band got to work together in a traditional sense, since the first album was mainly written by a few members before the line-up was complete. Working with Martin Sandvik from Hardcore Superstar as a producer really helped the band to find a crisp sound and groovy feeling to what was supposed to be an acoustic EP, but the creative process led to something new.

”I have to say that this was quite the challenge but when we found every songs own identity, they took on a new life and went in different directions. This is a completely new territory for us and we are very proud of this EP”

Last year Liv Sin released the album ‘Follow Me‘ that was co-produced by longtime ACCEPT and U.D.O. member Stefan Kaufmann and U.D.O. bassist Fitty Wienhold. The album shows the power and attitude that Liv is known for and also has featuring artists such as Schmier from Destruction and Jyrki 69 from The 69 Eyes.

About Liv Sin: 
From the gutters of southern Sweden, Liv Jagrell emerged as the major force and vocalist of the hard rock band Sister Sin. Throughout their 13-year career, Sister Sin sold thousands of records and toured the world with high-profile tours supporting the likes of Slayer and King Diamond on the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. Sister Sin toured relentlessly for over a decade across Europe and North America garnering an intensely loyal following of rockers that craved the band’s aggressive and melodic brand of hard rock.

When Sister Sin called it quits at the end of 2015, Liv knew that she had much more to offer the world and her fans. From this, Liv Sin was born in the spring of 2017.

Line up:

Liv Jagrell – Vocals
Patrick Ankemark – Guitar
Per Bjelovuk – Drums
Tommie Winther – Bass
Chris Bertzell – Guitar

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Finnish metallers Obscure have released a new EP ‘Zero Dawn‘. Obscure is 2015 founded metal act that combines on their music elements from various genres such as stoner rock and sludge metal.

True to its name the band mixes musical elements from different genres so fluently that it is not relevant to narrow the description of Obscure‘s music down to one genre.

Band’s guitar player E. Hämäläinen comments the new EP: “We started recording this EP during summer 2017 after doing few gigs around Finland. There was no real musical direction or style of what kind of music we wanted to write, we didn’t decide what “genre” we would want to represent or anything like that. We just wrote what we felt natural to us at the time so the final product is very honest and sounds just very much like us. All members of the band have their own favorite artists that we listen to and they of course influence the music that we want to hear ourselves playing, so some elements of Mastodon, Black Sabbath and Crowbar, to name a few, may be heard on this release.
Here it is, our debut EP that’s finally ready after couple of delays, few technical setbacks and a whole lot of blood sweat and tears proudly presented to you by the ugly bastards of Obscure.”

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‘The Extended Sessions‘ EP is the follow-up release to the extremely successful ‘The Four Seasons‘ album release by Vivaldi Metal Project which hit the shelves in Summer 2016 on CD & double vinyl on Pride & Joy Music. The album up to today is one of the label’s best sellers and now being continued with this valuable EP which will shorten the waiting time for the fans until the next full album!

The digital version of the EP will be available at the usual outlets; the physical edition  digipack is limited to 300 copies and will only be available at the band’s shows, at the label’s online shop and at selected mailorder.

Created and produced by Mistheria, Vivaldi Metal Project are currently working on bringing the project onto stage with full band, orchestra and choir. During Summer/Autumn 2017, the band played a series of unplugged shows in Finland, in Bulgaria and in Italy in advance which resulted in the idea to put some of the extraordinary material onto this EP! ‘The Extended Sessions‘ includes four tracks which are centered around the group’s performance at “Kitee International Music And Art Festival” which took place in Kitee (Finland) on July 13th, 2017. Arranged by Mistheria, the performance at the “Sleeping Sun” event featured Mistheria himself on piano and Tsena Stefanova on vocals. An epic video for this track will also be available soon online.

‘The Extended Sessions‘ EP opens with a newly recorded unplugged studio version of ‘The Four Seasons‘ medley which again was arranged by Mistheria who performed on this track on piano and was joined by vocalists Tsena Stefanova, Angel Wolf-Black and Dimitar Belchev plus Abigail Stahlschmidt on violin. Additionally to this track, the song ‘Vita‘ – one of the album’s single – is featured twice on the EP: once as exclusive “original vocal session” as recorded by Dimitar Belchev on the first demo version of this song which impressed Mistheria at the first listening, and once as instrumental “karaoke”. Both versions are delivered with a brand new mix by Ivan Moni Bidin at Artesonika studios.

‘Vita‘ was originally released with different singers on last year’s album. The track was arranged by Zhivko Koev and the line-up here includes Dimitar Belchev on vocals, Srdjan Brankovic on guitars, Chris Caffery (TSO, Savatage) with a guitar solo, Jeffrey Revet on keyboards, Royal Hunt’s Andreas Passmark on bass and Martijn Peters on drums.

Like the Vivaldi Metal Project‘s full length album ‘The Four Seasons‘, ‘The Extended Sessions‘ EP was mixed and mastered by Ivan Moni Bidin at Artesonika Studios in Italy and produced by Mistheria. Vivaldi Metal Project is currently booking more unplugged shows over Europe and USA. Dates will be announced soon!

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Dark Clarity is a melodic heavy rock band from Lahti, Finland. The band was formed in 2008. Their music is strongly influenced by -80´s heavy rock and hard rock accompanied with their own unique sound and melodic input. They have relied on kickass-attitude and strong feelings all throughout their music from the very beginning.

Their first official self titled EP was released October 28th by Inverse Records. Listen to the Dark Clarity EP on Spotify

Track list:
01. All Have Gone
02. False God

Line-Up:
Vocals: Jukka Tuomi
Guitar,backing voc: Marko Keskinen
Bass, Backing voc: Sami Tikkanen
Guitar: Osku Launonen
Drums: Mikael Leinonen (recorded songs: “All have gone” and “False god” drums played by: Tomi Oksanen)

dark-clarity

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illustr8ors

Wave goodbye to BlackWolf (2014 Classic Rock Magazine ‘Best New Band’ Award Nominees + Planet Rock Radio Tour Headliners) and say hello to illustr8ors and their stunning, self titled debut EP (out 14th October 2016).

Featuring four white hot songs, this forthcoming ep is sharp, drenched in groove, ladened with hooks and melody, whilst intelligent and a straight to the point collection of music. No messing about, no gimmicks…this is what rock music sounds like right NOW.

illustr8ors is a different animal to BlackWolf. Whilst the band line up remains the same; this young five piece from Bristol, UK have been on a musical journey of discovery, both as a band and as individuals. Simply put, this is illustr8ors.

In their previous guise illustr8ors scored tours and supports with the likes of The Temperance Movement, Winger, Blues Pills, Von Hertzen Brothers and The Answer to name a few; a nomination for Classic Rock Magazine’s ‘Best New Band’ roll of honour award, numerous playlist slots on major rock radio stations and a debut headline tour endorsed by Planet Rock Radio. However, it was time for a change. A time for a more decisive stride towards a definitive and individual sonic identity. A rebirth. That’s when illustr8ors were born.

 From the initial coffee shop conversations between new producer Toby Jepson (The Virginmarys) and frontman/singer Scott Sharp, right the way through to the numerous days of recording in the studio, the aim was simple. The band was in search of a new voice, one they could call their own and one that had something relevant and relative to say.

It didn’t take long before band and producer were shedding away the fat and cutting at the bare bones of what this band were: A slick, riff loving, funked-up (slightly off-centered) melting pot of sas-mouthed rock’n’roll. Growth came quickly and the new songs came out swinging. From the immediate soaring hooks of ‘Your Animal‘ to the foot-shuffling, popadelic declaration of identity that is ‘Shush Shush‘, the excitement between band and producer was tangible. The end result is a selection of songs that tell the story of a unique band striding confidently forward into a contemporary music world, whilst not forgetting what it was about rock’n’roll that set their hearts alight in the first place. No throw back gimmicks. No bullshit. Just rock music as this band hears it today.

 illustr8ors self titled debut EP is released 14th October 2016.

Lineup

Scott Sharp – Vocals

Jason Cronin – Rhythm Guitar

John Greenhill – Lead Guitar

Ben Webb – Bass Guitar

Thomas Lennox-Brown – Drums

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Departed

Review: Departed – Departed (EP)

2016

Reviewer: Dan Mann

It is really pleasing to see another young British rock band hitting the ground running, mind you they’ve already got a wealth of experience from previous bands.

With Ben Brookland, the former lead guitarist of The Treatment, Mark Pascall, lead singer of Empire Of Fools and guest drummer Chris Rivers from Heaven’s Basement, there is plenty of British talent to inject into this the band’s first release.

Kicking off with ‘Are You Ready‘ the influences from previous work is very much in evidence, not that this is a bad thing in any way, shape or form. Mark’s vocals have the right tonal qualities for my own tastes and if your already familiar with Ben’s guitar prowess then you won’t be disappointed. Moving onto ‘Dreaming‘ which is one of my favorites out of the seven tracks on offer. Great riffs and energy.

‘Pretty Little Thing‘ follows on nicely, up tempo with a catchy chorus. ‘Don’t Follow Me‘ starts off in a slightly different vein than the previous two tracks, a good track but for some reason it doesn’t gel with me the same as the others.

‘Superstitious‘ kicks off with a nod in Airbourne’s direction before leading into an absolute belter of a track, the only disappointment is it’s too short at under three minutes but hey I’m being picky. Penultimate track ‘Steel Your Crown‘ is the track the band are pushing for airplay, I can see why, being rockin’ but radio orientated. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but it’s airing on the safe side.

And so we reach ‘All I Want‘, a track I can see as being a popular rock club track, it’s got that vibe about it and it finishes off the EP rather nicely.

There’s no doubt that Departed are a band to keep an eye on, as they are most certainly helping this resurgence of British rock and hats off to them for it.

 

 

 

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Georgia Pine

Georgia Pine is the new 5-track EP by British rock band everyone is talking about – ‘Broken Witt Rebels’.  After delivering outstanding performances in 2015, the energetic, young four-piece who hail from Birmingham are now looking to win over new fans with their infectious blend of rock and soulful blues.  Georgia Pine is authentic, rootsy, and real, and has serious hit potential.  Similarly to the new generation of contemporary and distinctive soulful roots rock bands like Alabama Shakes and Black Keys, Broken Witt Rebels strike a chord.

BWR pay homage to the sounds of old blues and Stax guitarists. Their fresh approach to song-writing and recording gives the EP a fresh and modern authenticity that is entirely unique.  The EP was engineered and produced by Tom Gittins, who has worked on recent recordings by Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin). Gittins cites the Rebels’ lead singer, Danny Core, as an amazing vocal talent in the tradition of Steve Marriot and Joe Cocker – a distinctive heart-wrenching vocal style that’s steeped deep within the inner core of blues and soul.

Photo Credit: © Simon Davis
Photo Credit: © Simon Davis

The 5-track EP, released for worldwide distribution in April, is currently available for pre-order from the band’s official website brokenwittrebels.com. The first single, ‘Low‘, will be released as a music video with a Soundcloud link for free streaming on Friday 26 February.

April-May 2016 UK Tour
London Water Rats                                       Saturday 2 April
Birmingham Sunflower Lounge                   Friday 15 April
Sheffield Rocking Chair                                Saturday 16 April

Main Support on Brantley Gilbert’s May UK Tour
Glasgow Oran Mor                                        Thursday 5 May
Manchester Academy 2                                Friday 6 May
Birmingham O2 Institute                              Saturday 7 May
London Shepherds Bush Empire                  Sunday 8 May

Official Website

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