Search results for 'infectious grooves'

Review

Time Machine

Everyone outside the U.S. is probably thinking we're smoking some high-grade Yankee crack over here at HQ right about now — after all, "Time Machine" was released in Europe in early 2004, and AXXIS has a new album coming out this month. What gives with the late review? Well, Locomotive Music is rele...

Review

Heralding: The Fireblade

A refreshing change of pace and a melodically pleasing experience, FALKENBACH's fourth album, "Heralding: The Fire Blade" proves yet again (to me anyway) how a folk music core can be so eloquently intertwined with metal when the right mind is put to work creating the combination. It is the mind of V...

Review

World of Lies

My last memory of Australia's THE BERZERKER is seeing them perform with ORIGIN, VADER, and IMMOLATION a couple of years ago. I recall being intrigued by the masked madmen, but not all that moved with the music itself, though I did find some redeeming value in the forceful, samples-laden approach. Ad...

Review

Alpha Males & Popular Girls

Known for releasing albums that not only challenge the listener, but also for giving new meaning to extreme music, Crucial Blast continues the pattern with SOIHADTOSHOOTHIM's "Alpha Males & Popular Girls". The debut full-length (after several splits and mini albums) from this New York/New Jersey...

Review

Sedimente

Here is an example of a band that understands how to take a grindcore and crust punk foundation and not only create interesting arrangements, but also deftly weave in elements of death metal and old school hardcore. "Sedimente" by Germany's WOJCZECH demonstrates how a band can stay true to its filth...

Review

Line of Fire

Yet another review in this weekend's batch in which JOURNEY is used as a point of comparison and this time the link is a direct one. North Carolina's LINE OF FIRE make no bones about its attempt to make music that mimics the Bay Area group, as well as bands like FOREIGNER and BOSTON, though ...

News

VAN HALEN Bassist, Ex-VINNIE VINCENT INVASION Drummer Guest On New NEIL ZAZA CD

VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony and former VINNIE VINCENT INVASION/current CARNIVAL OF SOULS drummer Bobby Rock recently joined forces with melodic instrumental guitarist Neil Zaza at a Los Angeles studio for Neil's upcoming solo release. "Michael has played on some of the most important records i...

Review

All the Way to the Sun

Norwegian-American band TNT have been proudly flying the flag of melodic hard rock for over 20 years (including a "break" before the 2002 reunion) and 2005 sees the release of the band's eight studio disc, "All The Way to the Sun". It seems I have probably encountered the band's music at some point...

Review

Give Me the Fear

Produced by the same guy who brought you THE DARKNESS, and already hyped to the rafters by the ever-fickle U.K. press, London denimboys TOKYO DRAGONS are yet another band pulling the mirrored shades, leather vests, and moustaches so ironic they hurt, all in the name of "real rock and roll". The thin...

News

OZZY OSBOURNE Defends His Love For Wife

Ireland Online is reporting that Ozzy Osbourne has slammed critics of his wife Sharon's look pre-plastic surgery, insisting he has always loved what's on her inside. Osbourne insists he had no desire for a sexy trophy wife because, when he met Sharon, he knew he had found his soulmate and he highlig...

Review

Upstairs

You just don't hear a lot about bands from Trinidad and Tobago. These guys are out to change that, and they've got friends in their corner as diverse as KANSAS frontman Phil Ehart and BLACK SABBATH producer Jeff Glixman. They're also touring the U.S. right now with YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, an odd but inter...

Review

Alive or Just Breathing (2-CD Special Edition)

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE's 2002 magnum opus "Alive or Just Breathing" is one special album. Its release marked a defining moment in metal. The album spawned an army of imitators that proceeded to take a formula consisting of growl-n-croon vocals, kick-drum/riff syncopation, and Swedish-influenced melodies...

Review

Their Rock Is Not Our Rock

I've never understood the big deal about FIREBALL MINISTRY. The quartet is a solid rock band with a decent sense of melody, but they aren't the saviors of rock and roll. Maybe I haven't been exposed to enough of the music on previous releases (though I did recently see a strong live performance from...

Review

Wet Animal

Nice name, eh? Formed in 1995 by TROUBLE guitarist Rick Wartell, the debut album from Chicago's WET ANIMAL now sees a 2005 release. Along with Shane Pasqualla (vocals/guitar),Jeff "Oly" Olson (drums),and Michael "Vito" Diprima (bass),the band has created a respectable hard rock album with cutting...

Review

Third Age of the Sun

They may look like a junior-league theater troupe at a parking-lot Renaissance faire, but BATTLELORE are all business when it comes to creating enchanting, Tolkien-inspired medieval metal with a groove. Similar in sound to (but less complex and mystical than) Holland's ORPHANAGE, BATTLELORE mix tast...