Blindstone - The Seventh Cycle of Eternity (CD)

Danish power trio Blindstone continue their relentless journey in the sign of the mighty riff on this their seventh musical journey. This time around the band has gone through a change in personnel, introducing drummer Sigurd Jønk Jensen, replacing Anders Hvidfeldt. Anders did an outstanding job, but it feels Sigurd is switching the Blindstone drum department up yet another notch. He actually gets to show his skills already in the thundering opening track Dead Man's Blues, a heavy blues rocker, true to the Blindstone trademark. Guitarist/singer Martin J Andersen lets his guitar speak loudly all over the track, riffing, soloing and filling every crack and crevice with a tasteful bit of wah-ornamented guitar magic. Rolling switches into low gear and offers some crude and fat bass riffing from Jesper Bunk. Man, this is one steamroller of a track! Rebel In Black offers some nice dynamics with a cool verse and slow pace riffing. The backbeat bluesy On My Way offers a change in pace and sound with some (I presume) neck pick-up Strat riffing. One thing I actually do feel has changed a bit, is I don't (so far) hear as much Frank Marino influences, apart from Martin's similar vocal range and style. Ok, Looking Back, a beautiful ballad, does have a touch of Marino mixed with Trower, which is top notch in my book. Martin also stays away from the wah in this one and the solos are just out of this world in tone, clarity, feel, presence and tastefulness. Frickin' outstanding! The oddly title By The Suns Of Warvan, You Shall Be Avenged is a cool heavy riff-oriented instrumental with a strong feel of early Satriani. Wish Satch, whom I'm truly a huge fan of, would record a song like this today. Multi-facetted, melodic and un-shredding, still with truly impressive guitar work. Thunder From The North continues with some heavy guitar chugging and a surprisingly hooky and melodic pre-chorus. A great track, indeed! A Love Manifesto continues in the vein of its predecessor, but still with a totally different approach. Heavy, break-filled verse leaving lots of space for highly personal Martin's low-key vocals that fit so well with this type of music. It also offers another dose of killer solos. Stonesnake opens with some busy drumming and continues in a up-tempo boogie:ish vein, suddenly switching down to half speed in the verse. Killer track! Once again the band moves into the grinding, steamroller heavy-as-lead territory with Once You See The Signs. A crusher! Another cool surprise now comes in the form of Hendrix penned Power of Soul, a heavy blues rocker that has been given the proper Blindstone treatment. All in all, yet another top notch release from the Danes. Seven albums and not a single let-down. Impressive!

Janne Stark

Label: Grooveyard

Year: 2016

Country: Denmark

Brett Ellis -The Warriors Before Me (CD)

This time ace guitarist Brett Ellis visits a bunch of tracks penned by others, a tribute album if you will. He starts off with the obvious choice of one James Marshall Hendrix and Ezy Rider. A highly flammable version with some explosive and impressive guitar work. Moving on to usual suspect #2: Robin Trower and yet another killer interpretation of Twice Removed From Yesterday. For me, personally, Brett's vocals have been the weak link, but damn, the cat has really improved. Killer vocals, indeed! Tryin' Anyway by Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush also gets the proper Ellis treatment. Stellar guitar work with the unmistakable Marino wah-vibe nicely in place. Love the jazzy piece in the middle! Next up, maybe not that obvious, but an outstanding sadly overlooked track by Uli era Scorpions, Living And Dying, sung by Rick Reed with Allison Smith handling the harmonies. Wow, Brett does hand us some outstanding un-obvious classics, clearly proven by his stellar version of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow's Self Portrait. Damn good job, I must say. Lovely guitar work and killer vocals (Graham Heath handles the harmony vocals on this one)! I always love me some funky Pat Travers, obviously Brett and I share a similar taste. It clearly shows in his explosive interpretation of Go All Night. Not that obvious, but it is also on my list of "awesome timeless classics"; Black Sabbath's Supernaut, here given a new dimension by killer female singer Allison Smith. Next up, a highly unexpected track! Outta Love Again by Van Halen! Didn't see that one coming! Any good? You betcha ass! Better drum sound than the original and Brett puts his own twist on the guitar solos, which I like! Oh yeah!! The next track I used to fiddle around with myself, trying to learn the intro solo, which Brett has done a great job with. He's also given the track the proper heaviness it deserves. Which track it is? Bad News, originally recorded by G-Force, the short lived side project of Gary Moore featuring ex-Truk/Captain Beyond, now ZoomLenz singer Willy Daffern. Graham Heath, who handles the lead vocals on this one, sure has a strong touch of Daffern. Elis also gives proper treatment to tracks by UFO, Johnny Winter, Foghat, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, but before finishing off I have to mention the brick heavy outstanding version of ZZ Top's Neighbour Neighbour. Damn, it ROCKS big time!

Janne Stark

Label: Grooveyard Records

Year: 2016

Country: USA

Dellacoma - South of Everything ( CD)

Australia has a way of delivering high quality bands one after another: Electric Mary, Tonk, Airbourne, Tracer, Toehider etc etc. Add Dellacoma to the list. This bunch I'd add to the same category as fellows Tonk and Electric Mary. Good time, melodic, energetic and edgy hard rock with great riffs and ballsy vocals. The album kicks off with the highly infectious Moving On To Something New which actually made me think of early Enuff Z'nuff. Walk The Plank continues in a similar almost early Crüe oriented vein, while Lessons Learned offers some chunky Aerosmith:ish funky riffing. The album is however not all party party party, which shows in heavy, almost doomy Time Falls Away. Change kicks off a bit reminiscent of Buckcherry, but actually better in my opinion. Good time rock n roll! Fjh (Get Me Out) continues in the same vein while Fameslavesgold offers some nice southern rock oriented riffing gone AC/DC. Killer track! A really good debut album indeed. Not at par with Electric Mary (not many are in my book) but clearly placing themselves in the upper mid-region.  The opening track promises a lot, but is never really challenged when it comes to hooks and catchiness. Interesting to see what the follow-up may offer.

Janne Stark

Country: Australia

Year: 2016

Label: private