Some short reviews

Here's some short comments on some new releases. Longer reviews will follow.

THUNDERSTONE - "Dirt Metal" (SPV) - Great new album from this Finnish unit, reinforced with former Sanity/At Vance singer Rick Altzi. In my opinion their best album to date. Heavy and powerful metal!

STORMZONE - "Death Dealer" (SPV) - I've seen this Irish bunch of rockers a couple of times and they always deliver live. The new album has been quite a while in the making, but now it's finally here and it was worth waiting for. Classic melodic metal with great vocals from Harv Harbinson and great guitar work!

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE - "Fever" (Sony Music) - It took me a while to actually even check this band out as I wrote them off as "kiss-ass-nu-metal-popsters". Wrong was I. If you're into bands like Avenged Sevenfold, this should not be missed. Their previous album "Shoot Aim Kill" was very good, but this one really kicks ass! A bit heavier. Great guitarwork and SOLOS, yes indeed!

SCORPIONS - "Sting In The Tail" (Sony Music) - I can actually see why they leave off with this album. It's the best they have produced since their haydays. "Unbreakable" was a good step on the way, but here you get the full monty. This is the Scorps back in their best 80s suite. Great stuff!

Y&T - "Facebreaker" (Frontiers) - OK, my hopes may have been set a little bit too high. It's good, it is, but it does leave me a bit empty. There are some killer tracks here, but there are also some songs that I don't remember even after 4-5 listenings. I'll give it another shot, though, as I do love the band.