TEAZE – Live At Liege (CD)

TEAZE – Live At Liege

Back in 1980 when we started up my old heavy metal band Overdrive, I had a soft spot for Canadian hard rock. I was a big fan of bands like Rush, Triumph, Max Webster, Goddo, Mahogany Rush, and of course Teaze. So much that we even did a cover of Teaze’s “Rockin’ With The Music” as one of the first songs we played together. I then had the great pleasure of finally seeing the band live in 2023 and I was totally blown away by the power and vitality that flew off the stage! Before the show I saw in Sweden the band had also played at the Golden Age Rock festival in Belgium, and they had the good taste of recording the show. The live CD, entitled “Live At Liege” perfectly brings back the memories of seeing the band at the Time To Rock Festival in Sweden. The power is perfectly captured even on CD, with Brian Danter’s powerful vocals, the intense drumming from Mike Kozak and the biting guitar work from Marc Bradac and the band’s only new member Charlie Lambrick. It’s like time stood still. The song selection shows the band’s musical width ranging from classic rockers like “Gonna Have A Good Time Tonight”, “Back In Action”, “Young And reckless”, "On The Loose", “Come On, Hold On” to more melodic stuff like “I’m Not Gonna Cry Anymore”, “Roses And Chrome”, “Heartless World” and the perfect power ballad “Touch The Wind”. One of my favorites is the back-beat power rocker from the band’s self-titled debut album, “Flames Keep Growing”, a kick-ass tune, indeed.  A killer set-list and the mix is in your face, hot and powerful and makes me want to see the band live, again, like NOW! 

Country: Canada

Year: 2024

Label: Self-released

ANGELINE – Rhythm Of One (CD)

ANGELINE – Rhythm Of One (CD)

Swedish melodic rockers Angeline are something of an institution. I kinda compare them to House of Shakira. They do their thing, and they are dependable, they have a personal sound and touch, and the quality is always high. Both bands are musically quite close, too – classic high quality melodic hard rock/AOR. “Rhythm of Love” offers no unpleasant surprises, on the contrary, it’s, as usual, a high-class melodic rock product. Dynamic, powerful yet tight production. “Peace, Love & You”, I would have though was named “You live and you learn”, as this is how the chorus goes. Classic melodic rock, just as previously described. “Got Me Running” on the other hand offers some edgy and cool up-tempo riffing with a chorus that goes heavy. Great solos from Jan-Erik Arkengren. What I also like about singer Joachim Nilsson is that he has that typically bluesy British vibe that you hear in singers like Steve Overland or Pete Godfrey, which I really like. “Something’s Gotta Give” and “Now You See Me” are both a bit more traditional light-weight AOR, while ”Hope, Love & Everything” rocks it out a bit more with a great edgy vibe to it. It’s songs like this one I really appreciate with this band and stuff I think sets them apart a bit. This also applies to the title track with the rough edged neck pick-up Strat-intro and its cool hard rocking vibe with interesting rhythmical twists that I love when they do. A KILLER track, indeed! “Can’t Get Enough” is another heavier hard rocking track, with a classic 80s AC/DC-ish guitar riff. Phat and nice chorus choirs almost with a Def Leppard touch. “When We Were Young” takes us back to AOR land, with a strong vintage Bryan Adams vibe to it. “Heal” also offers up some solid hard edged melodic rock with great vocals from Joachim. Album closer “Til The Bitter End” is a straight-ahead, no frills party rocker. Nothing new under the sun, maybe, but when the sun shines, we do like it anyway. A solid album!

Country: Sweden

Label: private

Year: 2025

Eynomia – Sea Of Tears (CD)

Eynomia – Sea Of Tears (CD)

US melodic metal band Eynomia released their debut album “Break Free” in 2018. Seven years later the follow-up is here. The album kicks off with “To The End” which I guess could be placed somewhere between power metal and prog metal. A cool and energetic up-tempo track with killer vocals from Phyllis Rutter. A great quirky guest solo from Michael Abdow. “Jekyll And Hyde” keeps the pace high and something I pointed out when I reviewed the band’s first album, is that I shall admit I’m not a huge fan of power metal, but this band manages to keep it on the right side of power metal, much more interesting and proggy enough to make me a believer and I’m also a big fan of Phyllis who has a raspy quality to her voice that sets her apart from most other female power metal singers, something I really like. Great guitar solo from Chris Bickley in this one, too! “Mask Of Vengeance” takes it down in tempo and adds a heavy melancholic touch that almost reminds me a bit of Evergrey, which I really like. Here they also add the guest vocal talents of Mike Vescera, which gives it a new dimension. I shall however point out I’m however not 100 % happy with the mix of the album. It sounds a bit dense, overpowering and compact and listening to the entire album in one go gets you a bit of auditory fatigue. The title track does offer a short bit of relief with its soft start. “Reborn” is another cool melodic proggy tune with stellar vocals from Phyllis. “The Demon Inside” is another killer track with a heavy vibe with a sort of medieval melodic touch to the chorus. “The One” takes it all in a different more straight-ahead melodic direction which offers a nice new vibe. This one I would actually label power metal with its sing-along chorus, but Eynomia still manage to keep it interesting. “Time Will Come” takes us back into the heavier melancholic sphere. A power number, indeed! The album finishes on an up-tempo note with “Set Back”, a proggy metal number with lots of cool twists and turns and Phyllis getting all bluesy and raw in the mid section – love it!. Conclusion – a splendid album that should attract fans of both melodic metal, power metal and more proggy stuff. Highly recommended!

Country: USA

Label: self-released

Year: 2025

Moon Dog - Time Is The Fire (LP/CD)

Moon Dog  - Time Is The Fire (LP/CD)

Danish hard rockers Moon Dog finally follows up their debut 7” single with a full album. The single showed much promise, and the album does not disappoint. Opening track “Jaguar” is a cool mix of classic seventies sounding hard rock with a touch of early Styx.  Styx really comes to mind also in the opening choir parts of next track “Beautiful Women”, while the riff part has a heavier vibe, but it changes pace 180 degrees into a soft jazzy vibe which really comes as a surprise. A really quirky and cool track with a ton of different flavors. Singer Fjeder Stavnstrup has a past in hard rockers Hero and he also sings in Glam Gang MooreLizzy, Stuff Upper Lip and previously fronted Queen tribute band Queen of Denmark. “War, The War” continues in a heavier and darker vibe and shows the versatility of the band. “Bitch” takes us on yet another journey. It almost has a hint of old classic melodic quirky rockers City Boy. Here Rikke Holst Johansen handles the lead vocals which gives the album yet another flavor. Cool guitar solo from Fjeder as well. “My Black Soul” starts out like a left over from Deep Purple’s “Perfect Strangers” with some distorted Hammond from Lars Rahbek, while the chorus has a progressive twist to it. A really cool track, indeed! “Sow A Letter” is another dark and quirky track with some really cool twists and turns, while next track “Escape” is a happier funky melodic rocker that even features a piano solo. I also must say I really like the dynamic, dry and in-your-face mix of the album. Side two of the vinyl finishes with the title track,  another cool and pretty heavy number with a touch of Deep Purple but a bit more soft-progressive, almost a bit Magnum-inspired it sounds like. A killer track to end the album! The CD-version (included with the vinyl) features four more non-vinyl tracks. Really nice looking artwork, great production and mastering and an album I’d highly recommend you to check out!

Country: Denmark

Label: Supersonic CPH

Year: 2025

Janne Stark's Top 13 of 2024

 

1. Thin Lizzy – 1976 – What a GRAND re-issue and respectful and interesting re-remixes. A quality packed gem indeed! 
2. The Watchers – Nyctophilia – Daring to take at least half a step outside of the Black Sabbath void was a solid choice. Still as heavy and solid but with a more personal touch!
3. Worshipper – One Way Trip – Here’s a band that manages to sound original in this day and age. Heavy, chunky, groovy, yet melodic heavy rock!
4. Black Country Communion – V – Back with a vengeance! In my opinion their best album!
5. Judas Priest – Invisible Shield – Another bunch of “oldies” that kick a lot of the newer bands’ butts to kingdom come!
6. Jupiter Cyclops – Age Of Ufonaut – If there’s such a thing as stoner heavy metal, this is it! Killer heavy riffage with a stoner touch.
7. KITSA – Dead By Dawn – If Black Sabbath and King’s X decided to get hitched and get a baby, this may have been it! 
8. Black Debbath – Bortkastet hardrock vol 1 – Can’t help but love these Norwegian heavy rock weirdos! They do know how to riff!
9. Deep Purple - =1 – They may be old but man, they still know how to write solid songs and make them sound great on record. Classic hard rock
10. Alunah – Fever Dream – A band I got into quite recently. Killer female fronted heavy rock!
11. Evergrey – Theories Of Emptiness – Heavy, melancholic, melodic, typical Evergrey, but still different. Their best album in a long time. Killer album!
12. F.K.Ü – The Horror And The Metal – I wouldn’t say I’m a huge thrash metal fan, but I do have a soft spot for F.K.Ü. Their explosive power, tightness, killer songs and tongue in cheek approach just makes me smile and bang! Love it!
13. Lydsyn – Højspænt – Power rock in Danish? Yup, it works! 

Honorable mentions:

The Quill – Wheel Of Confusion

Trapeze – Lost Tapes Vol 2

Green Lung – This Heathen Land

Alicate – Heaven Tonight

Dug Pinnick – Thingamajigger

Freak Kitchen – Everyone Gets Bloody

Moggs Hotel – s/t

 Janne Stark’s Top 15 of 2023

So here’s my Top 15 of 2023 (with some extra honorary mentions). If you miss some stuff it may actually be because I actually haven’t heard it (or maybe it wasn’t to my liking enough to make the Top 15). 

Wytch Hazel – IV: Sacrament – Outstanding proggy hard rock, like a mix of classic Demon and heavy Jethro Tull with a NWoBHM touch.

Cloud Catcher – Return From The Cauldron – Ball busting US powerful riff rockers do it again! 

A.C.T – Falling – My favorite Swedish pop-progsters never disappoint! 

Blindstone – Scars To Remember – Martin sure knows how to riff!!

The Cold Stares – Voices – US blues rockers that deliver yet another killer album!

Dirty Honey – Can’t Find The Brakes – The 70s rules! Dirty Honey proves it!

Beastmaker – Body And Soul – Previously unreleased demos, yet, bloody great stuff! For fans of classic Black Sabbath.

Vandenberg – Sin – Mats Leven has sure brought a new touch to this excellent classic band!

Timechild – Blossom & Plague – The Danes manage to follow up their debut with an even better album! 

Prins Svart – Till vårt försvar – Mats Leven, again, delivers the goods with these excellent Swedish riff rockers!

Tania Kikidi – Wings Of Freedom – Tania has leather coated vocal cords, perfect for this bluesy metal album!

Ego Planet – Ego Planet – More outstanding heavy riff rock! A KILLER debut!

Bloody Dice – Bloody Dice – A new Danish power combo that shows that Danish Dynamite is still highly explosive!

Zhiva – Into The Eye Of The Storm – Excellent heavy melodic Swedish rockers!

Future Elephants? – The Past Was A Blast… - Just love these slightly quirky Swedish progy rockers!

Honorary mentions:

Care Of Night – Reconnected – Killer AOR!

Sour Cream – Sour Cream – More killer retro riffing!

Sass Jordan – Live In New York Ninety-Four – Sass rocks! What a killer live album!!

TANIA KIKIDI – Wings Of Freedom (CD)

Greek vocal powerhouse Tania Kikidi follows up the excellent 2021 album “Rock & Roll Paradise” with a new belter of an album. The album kicks of with the rockin’ “Rise” that almost touches on classic 80s metal and bands like Riot or Metal Church, but with a more 70s sounding chorus. All the instruments, mixing and mastering are handled by the multi-talented Stavros Papadopoulos who does a killer job sounding like a whole band of different musicians. The title track continues and again I have to say vintage Riot does come to mind, and that is in my book by no means a bad thing. On the contrary, the early discography of Riot are among my favorite records. This is definitely classic metal with a new touch. “Loud And Proud” touches on 70s heavy rock and made me think of bands like Rockicks and Hydra, with Tania taking the vocal department to a whole new level. A killer track! “Broken Dreams” is a cool up-tempo classic rocker keeping the pace up going into a kickin’ cover of Sass Jordan’s “High Road Easy”. Tania and Stavros do a great job with it, but it’s almost impossible to surpass the unearthly energy and power of Sass, Brian Tichy and Stevie Salas, but a great version, nonetheless! “Heart Painted Blue” is a cool, heavy bluesy number giving the album another touch of color. “Confession” takes us into a Dio:esque landscape with a touch of Sabbaths “Heaven And Hell”, while “Breaking It Down” kicks off with riff heaven. Heavy, funky and rockin’ with Tania’s voice as the icing on the cake. “Bleed” keeps the riff machine going, while “Pain” revvs up the metal machine again, going back into vintage Riot territory.”Foolish Lover” is a cool, bluesy ballad kicking off with a killer solo from Stavros. The album finishes with the beautiful acoustic ballad “Sea Of Tears”. A very nice ending to a kick-ass album! Killer vocals, awesome playing, killer production and a cool cover to match it! Get it! 

Janne Stark

Label: Grooveyard Records

Year: 2023

Country: Greece

Link: https://grooveyardrecords.com/