Category: All Exclusive

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2012, OZ has always been one of the bands that only the underground metal movement coveted and hailed with swords high, but they never really caught on to a more level playing field of recognition. They made a splash with their 1983 album FIRE IN THE BRAIN, a New Wave Of British Heavy Metal-flavored energetic metal affair that won over critics and fans alike. The subsequent albums, however, failed to elicit the same response, and the band faded from worldwide view. Now the band is back with their latest album BURNING LEATHER and a new compilation of songs taken from III WARNING and DECIBEL STORM albums, and TURN THE CROSS UPSIDE DOWN- EP entitled VINYL TRACKS.

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The Gin Act is the second shot for the Swedish sleaze band formed by singer John Elliot (their first being 2010’s Lights Out) and hell… this EP slips down well.
First on the rocks is “Divine 69” with its twin axe attack, gang vocals and contagious chorus. “Delightful Lies” opens with an ironically mournful riff before theMaidenesque “Flickorna Pa TV2” (surprisingly written by a member of Roxette!) makes life a little heavier, nastier and definitely darker. What hits me throughout The Gin Act is melody — and believe me it’s served up in double measures. Elliot‘s diction is perfect, his sleazy delivery definitely West Coast, whilst guitarists Daniel and Blomman trade spacey power chords and fills with restrained and beautifully constructed solos. The rhythm section is heavy but subtle, making these guys tight but loose — and I’m converted.

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01 Crush of Love
02 Train of Angels
03 Lotus Feet
04 Love Thing
05 If I Could Fly
06 Hand On Heart
07 Lights of Heaven
08 Whispering a Prayer
09 Blood and Glory
10 Liberty

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The band’s new CD, “Reflections from the Other Side” is going to be officially released worldwide on Tuesday, July 10, 2012 through InnerSphere Music! It will be available as a jewel case CD through various online merchants as well as your local metal CD retailer. It will also be available as a digital download through iTunes, Amazon MP3, Rhapsody, e.t.c.

We look forward to unleashing our latest effort as it contains the band’s darkest and and heaviest tunes to date! So get ready for some killer guitar and bass riffing, insane lead guitar shredding, and incredible singing and screaming!! And let’s not forget the double bass drumming, cause there is tons of it!!

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One can say that there are no surprises left for us in music. We seem to have heard everything and everyone in all possible combinations and styles. Modern music lovers are very well-versed and it’s not an easy thing to surprise them. We live in the age where no pure genres are allowed though the mastery of performance is valued more than ever, people tend to mix and blend everything, change styles, try to collect the most distinctive features of each and make something original and truly eclectic. We know many bands combining heavy-metal with electronic and synthetic sounding, experimenting with folk instruments and very often a band sticks to the one chosen. So TRI STATE CORNER displays the similar situation: a bouzouki, which sounds much like an acoustic guitar in the Spanish style defines the approach of the band and becomes “the feature”. But it does sound original and sophisticated and I wonder why no one played like that before.

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Ahh, the 80s. Gotta love the 80s. Musicians raised on a diet of Bruce Springsteen,Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Dire Straits…. you know the sort of thing.

AOR was how it was once described…

Anyway, fast forward 30 years and it’s interesting to see that those influences are alive and well… and living in Italy. Hard Times is the latest release from Canadian musician Max Navarro, 40 minutes of well executed and entirely inoffensive melodic AOR.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about Hard Times is how unsurprising it is. Everything feels comfortably familiar, and once you slip into the Max Navarro groove it is all pretty much exactly what you would expect.

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With their second album ‘Delirium‘ just released, 4Bitten have produced an album worthy of any Rock fans collection. Hard, Heavy, Melodic and totally ROCK from first note to last, Delirium should see these Greek Titans escalate to the top rung of the Rock ladder.
But who are 4Bitten? Well here is a little potted history: 4Bitten are a hard rock band from Athens, Greece. Influenced by some of the rock titans of the last 4 decades such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Janis Joplin, Alice In Chains & Metallica, 4Bitten manage to craft a sound where so many others fall short :- authentic, solid, blues-based hard rock, written & performed by musicians true to their values as life-long rock fans.

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The latest band of rock ‘n’ roll outlaws — complete with a pissed-off attitude — to emerge upon the crowded hard rock music scene are the Cincinnati Sinners. Mixing the ‘take-it or leave-it’ outlook of The Four Horsemen with some Southern sounds make these newcomers one to keep an eye on in the near future.
The Cincinnati Sinners barrel through the six songs on their debut 6Pak EP with all the aggression of an orneryFrank C. Starr. After opening with the boot-stompin’ “Thunder”, the band show exactly what they are capable of on “Cold Pussy Strut” — a mean and obnoxious slab of hard rock that begins slowly before shifting into overdrive. The sense of rhythm the band displays on this track is something that most groups can only dream of recreating and conjures up images of Circus Of Power in their prime.

Now!Great Instrumental Guitar!

Child prodigy develops into as serious guitar wizard could be the headline for Johan Randen’s very young career. At age 12, he played guitar with Sweden’s eclectic prog trio Freak Kitchen. At age 14 he cut his first album, at 17 a second. Along the journey Randen performed with the likes of Bronk (Staffan Astner, Per Lindvall, Sven Lindvall), Janne Schaffer, Simon Andersson (Pain Of Salvation), Andreas Brobjer (Lady Gaga), Jonas Reingold (Flower Kings, Karmakanic) and many more. Cripes! Did this kid ever take time to watch Power Rangers?

Even the most cursory listen to his third album Summary reveals Randen’s skill and genius. He’s not only an exceptional guitar player, echoing everybody from Steve Vai to Jeff Beck to Steve Morse, but also an excellent composer. Every song displays his skills in an attractive arrangement, offering a complete experience.

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2012, The sound of these five maniacs is typical for old German Heavy/Speed Metal-bands, like e. g. Steeler (STEELER and RULIN’ THE EARTH), old Stormwitch, Fact or Atlain. The guitar-sound is typically raw for that time. They all were simply-structured, but effective (the songs of the METAL OR WHAT???-demo for all senses!). But they never get boring or stupid! The vocals of their singer Thomas Bennecke sometimes sound a bit weird but never disharmonic, so this unique style is what true fans of that kind of music want to hear, because bands like Reaper still keep the underrated Metal-movement of the past alive. All the music was remastered by Sasch Menschl without losing the spirit of the old recordings.