Helloween, the legendary German metal band with twenty-one gold and platinum awards and over ten million records sold, will release their highly anticipated new album ‘Giants & Monsters‘ this August. The album, now available for pre-order, follows their self-titled #1 2021 record and promises to be the most versatile and dynamic release of their career. […]

Review: Avantasia – Here Be Dragons Napalm Records (February 28th, 2025) Reviewer: Jason Hopper Tobias Sammet is back with his band Avantasia and they are on the cusp of celebrating a quarter century of perfecting symphonic and cinematic metal melodies with their latest release, ‘Here Be Dragons’. If you are reading this review, there is […]

Not many bands can lay claim to creating an entire genre, much less a movement that has continued to flourish for over four decades, but German heroes Helloween did exactly that. Combining the speed of thrash, the twin-guitar approach of NWOBHM, and the hymnal melodies of European folk music, Helloween paved their own path, creating […]

The rock anthem ‘A King Has Gone’, taken from MSG’s new album ‘Universal’, and its intro ‘Calling Baal’, also available on ‘Universal’, both have a special significance: The track, sung by Helloween frontman Michael Kiske, is a tribute to the immortal Ronnie James Dio, and in particular to his performance on the 1976 hard rock classic ‘Rainbow Rising‘. For this reason, Michael Schenker has brought together an original Rainbow rhythm section consisting […]

There are few rock guitarists on this planet who have had such a lasting influence on so many renowned musicians as Michael Schenker. With his outstandingly fluid style, inexhaustible wealth of ideas and instinctive feel for hooks and melodies, Michael Schenker is a living legend who, despite his longstanding and distinguished history, still impresses with his unflagging energy and […]