From the category archives:

Music

I Treni All'Alba 2011 ADHere’s an engaging and entertaining band from Italy, I Treni All’Alba, playing some very fine acoustic guitar based instrumental melodic rock. You’ll have to bear with me, during this review, as the press/band information I have is in Italian. (Perhaps, conversely, and for a few laughs, the band and their Italian supporters will not understand my review.)

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Imminent Sonic Destruction - Recurring ThemesIf Imminent Sonic Destruction is upon you, then what should you expect? Some form of extreme metal, possibly death, black, or hardcore metal or, possibly some amalgam of all? Or not. The creation of Detroit guitar wizard Tony Piccoli, Imminent Sonic Destruction is a modern progressive metal band, which also features some of the Motor City’s finest musicians. Notable is former Tiles drummer Pat DeLeon.

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Zeroking Kings of Self DestructionIf you think the spit and swagger of classic American hard rock has been lost to the trends of emo, screamo, post-grunge, or hipsters wearing scarves and Clark Kent glasses, here’s West Virginia’s Zeroking. Kings of Self Destruction is hard rock as it was meant to be: below the belt and whiskey drenched, driven by a rock groove, powerful vocals and stinging guitars. Zeroking is the real deal. Think the best melodic hard rock of the late Eighties invigorated by a GnR strut.

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Wolfen’s Chapter IV: traditional heavy metal is alive and well in Germany

23 January 2012 Entertainment

German heavy metal is alive and well with Wolfen and their appropriately titled fourth full-length disc, Chapter IV. The genius of Wolfen is that they effortlessly combine elements of traditional heavy, power, and speed metal in a melodic wrapper. Yet, fundamentally, this is ‘true’ metal, with little compromise.

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The Old Man and the Spirit, ambitious progressive metal debut from Germany’s Beyond the Bridge

19 January 2012 Entertainment

Here’s a few words of first impression of Beyond the Bridge’s debut The Old Man and the Spirit: ambitious, grand, and sweeping. The work is a monolith, from concept to music, of progressive metal from this young German band. Be forewarned: several spins are required to grasp the scope of The Old Man and the [...]

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Persona Non Grata’s Quantum Leap: entertaining and intriguing progressive heavy metal from Greece

8 January 2012 American Culture

Possibly indicative of the album title, Greek progressives Persona Non Grata hoped to ‘up their game’ with their sophomore release, Quantum Leap. Released in December, this fine work of progressive metal could easily be added to the best of 2011, right along side their peers Symphony X and Dream Theater.

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Altered Symmetry’s Prologue: new progressive metal from South America

19 December 2011 Entertainment

Altered Symmetry is a promising young, but not inexperienced, progressive metal band from Bogota Columbia. Prior to this year’s full-length debut, Prologue, they cut three EPs, including a ‘cover’ album. This disc applied some prog nuances to the likes of Billy Idol (Rebel Yell), Aerosmith (Toys in the Attic), and Bon Jovi (Born to Be [...]

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Eclectic indie pop rock from The Loose Hinges, featuring Eliot Houser and vocalist Kris McCarthy

13 December 2011 Entertainment

Celebrating stylistic diversity and their unique process of creating a brilliant full length, indie recording, multi-instrumentalist Eliot Houser and lead vocalist Kris McCarthy came up with a clever moniker that captures their blissful lack of “pre-planning” and preference to “fly by the nape of their knickers” rather than blueprinting: The Loose Hinges. The Nashville based [...]

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Guitarist Patrick Hemer debuts first solo album, More Than Meets the Eye

12 December 2011 Entertainment

Probably best known for his work with Horizon, guitarist Patrick Hemer steps out on his own with his first solo album More Than Meets the Eye. The album, like most of its kind, is an platform for Hemer’s rather impressive neo-classical guitar style in a tradition melodic heavy/power, sometimes, progressive metal context. In this sense, [...]

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With ‘Show Me How to Live,’ Royal Hunt returns with D.C. Cooper and one fine album of epic melodic metal

5 December 2011 American Culture

The creation of keyboardist Andre Andersen, Royal Hunt has been going strong for better than 20 years. Their first mainstream success came in the mid-Nineties with Moving Target (1995) and Paradox (1997) with D.C. Cooper on lead vocals. Recently, following a reunion tour, Andersen asked Cooper to return to the Royal Hunt fold. The result [...]

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