Latest Reviews


	Graham Colton "Twenty Something" (Universal Records ,2009) Producer: Genre: Midwest Rock Format: Ep Website: www.GrahamColton.c... Reviewed by: Rickard Holmgren Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Graham Colton is a very talented artist and since I have always preferred his acoustic songs this Ep really appeals to me. I like his voice and I think that the songs on this Ep really lets it shine. My favorite track has to be Helen which is a very nice tune. The title track is also great and shows Colton's abilities as a song-writer. If you are a fan of his previous work, this Ep should be a solid buy. I'm looking forward to what Graham Colton has up his sleeve in the future. Judging by the material on Twenty Something, it will be something good.

	Christopher Jak "Leadfoot Lover EP" (440 Records,2009) Producer: Christopher Jak Genre: Midwest Rock Format: Ep Website: www.christopherjak... Reviewed by: Henrik Holmgren Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

One of my favorite folk artist Christopher Jak returns with a couple of new EPs. After his latest albums he spent time as a producer for bands as The Heyday and The Northern Way but now he is back and Leadfoot Lover EP is the first release with the FolK EP coming later this spring. On this EP, which is only available digitally Jak present us four songs, three new and an acoustic version of his biggest hit "Begin to Cry". First out is the title track and it is a song that could have been taken from his New Nostalgia album, a nice up-tempo song. Second out is "Strong Enough" and no, it is not a cover of Sheryl Crow or Cher either for that matter. This song has a slower tempo and is more acoustic but it is just as good. The third one, "Good Boy", is a mix of them both, acoustic but with a higher tempo. Last song out is the acoustic version of "Begin to Cry" and I really like it every time I get to hear a good song stripped down to the core. If you like that original song you will probably like this version as well. Somehow Jak manages to get really personal with his songs as they feel really intimate and interesting. If you like what he has done before you should "run" to your nearest digital store and get a copy asap. I rather listen to Mr. Jak than Mr. Mayer to be honest. Good to have you back!

	Gotthard "Live Klubben Fryshuset Stockholm 19/2- 2010 " (Independent,2010) Producer: Genre: AOR / Hard Rock Format: Concert Website: www.gotthard.com Reviewed by: Juha Harjula Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Swiss rockers Gotthard are on a tour here in Sweden and made a visit in Stockholm this cold Friday night. To warm up their show they got Fatal Smile from Sweden. I got there to late and I unfortunately missed their show. But I was there to see Gotthard and this would be my 5th time I get to see them live. I have seen them at twice at Sweden Rock Festival were they have delivered two fantastic shows. Klubben is a small club in Stockholm that had gathered couple of 100 Gotthard fans. In their home country Gotthard are huge and plays in arenas and sells a lot of records. So it�s hard to understand why they won�t fill bigger places here in Sweden. But it�s great to have them here and those that were there this night got to see a fantastic show and the band seem to have a good time on the stage. The whole band is very tight and you can see and hear that they are a professionals. To bad that the sound was not the best and did not reach the best result. Steve Lee is a fantastic front man and he knows how to entertain the crowed and he sings just outstanding. Both guitarists Leo Leoni and Freddy Scherer played faultless and delivered stunning riffs with both feeling and melodies. The rhythmsection Marc Lynn on bass and drummer Hena Habegger played tight. Gotthard has been around since their debut album from 1992 and has a lot of song to choose to their set-list. But almost every time I have seen them they have played strong sets and so was the case this night. There�s always song that you miss but Gotthard has so many great song to choose so it�s hard to fail. They opened up the show this night with Unspoken Words from their latest album Need To Believe (2009) and it�s a great starter. The show continued with Gone To Far that really got the crowed on fire, great song by the way. The only song from Human Zoo this night was Top Of The World and they could have played some more from that album but they took one of the better ones from that album. Everytime I have seen them they have delivered Hush and so was the case with this show. Gotthard makes a great cover version of this song and with the sing-a-long feel over this it�s a great live number. Right From Wrong from the new album is just brilliant and they nailed it. In the middle of the show Steve Lee and Leo Leoni got alone on the stage with just two chairs and a acoustic guitar. The did a Acoustic set with One Life, Let It Be and Heaven. The Oscar Goes To just got the crowed wild and this is a outstanding rocker with huge sound and with big hooklines a perfect live song. After that they were on fire and delivered the next big arena rocker Lift You Up from Lipservice that almost rocked the roof of from Klubben. The first encore they gave us Sister Moon and the magical Anytime Anywhere with pompish keyboards and that made my day. They left the stage after that song but came back with a 2nd encore and ended the show with Led Zeppelin cover Rock N'Roll. This was a fantastic night and hopefully they will return to Sweden soon and hopefully with bigger show. Even if I missed couple of songs in the set they had a strong set-list and the sound could have been better but otherwise this was brilliant. Set-list: Unspoken Words Gone To Far Top Of The World Need To Belive Hush I Know You Know Make My Day Right From Wrong Delay From Hell Unconditional Faith (Acoustic set) One Life, Let It Be & Heaven Shangri-La All We Are I Don't Mind The Oscar Goes To Lift You Up (Encore 1) Sister Moon Anytime Anywhere (Encore 2) Rock N'Roll (Led Zeppelin cover)

	Justin Levinson "Predetermined Fate" (Independent,2009) Producer: Justin Levinson Genre: Folk Rock Format: Album Website: http://www.justinl... Reviewed by: Henrik Holmgren Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Here is a little heads up for you guys who like folk rock with country influences. There are violins, handclaps and harmonicas and of course, slide guitars. There are some hints of Counting Crows at their most country moments and also some Ben�s Brother and Seven Mary Three. Too me it is a little bit too much country influences here and there and I am not a big fan of violins in my music. Sure there are many pleasant moments on here but that is when the country influences are toned down a bit. "Myra�s song" is a nice one, a low tempo song with piano, guitars and harmonica. "Groundhog Day" is another one. On the slower songs the western influences work better for me as it does not to turn into full blown country songs. However I do like the opening song, that one is good as it has a nice intro. The main problem with this album is that it does not grab my attention, like for instance Jamie Hartmann and his band does. It is all good and promising but I lack that special extra to boost the music and to make it great. It is not a bad album at all, it is just that everything has been done before. The competition among folk artists is very stiff and I just wonder if Mr. Levinson has got what it takes to make it. Hopefully he does as this album holds some strong songs and shows potential here and there. Investigate if folk rock is your cup of tea.

	Secret Smile "This Is Our Time Now " (Envision Records,2009) Producer: Genre: AOR / Hard Rock Format: Album Website: www.metalmayhem.com Reviewed by: Juha Harjula Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

This is Secret Smile�s fifth full-length album and it�s filled with nice melodic rock/Aor songs. Their sound is a mixture of White Lion, Poison, Enuff Z Nuff, Danger Danger and Ted Poleys solo albums. I wrote on my review of their The Road Less Travelled that singer T.J Gabriele had a tendency to sound glam and therefore the many of the songs gets to sound like the mentioned bands. This is a Ok album but the production takes down the grade because the album sounds more like a demo and I don�t know if they have failed when they did the mix of the album. Songs like Wasn�t Meant To Be is a nice Poison kind of rocker with great keyboards, Don�t Want To rocks like Ted Poley with great riffs, melodies and a good chorus and Heaven Only Knows is a great Danger Danger kind of rocker The Hardest Part is a Poison sounding rocker with a catchy chorus. These 4 songs are really good and there are couple of more nice songs but the weak production spoils the songs. It�s a shame because they have the songs and a good singer but the should get somebody else to produce their next album.


36 Crazyfists name was taken from the 1977 Jackie Chan film The 36 Crazy Fist.
	Hybrid Ice "Mind�s Eye " (Independent,2009) Producer: Genre: AOR / Pomp Format: Album Reviewed by: Juha Harjula Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

AOR/Pomp rockers Hybrid Ice are alive and kicking. It�s been 21 years since we heard anything new from this band. They released their debut album in 1982 with the song Magdalene that Tom Scholz Boston re-recorded for their 1994 album Walk On. Their follow up album entitled No Rules saw the light of day in 1988 and was filled with great songs and they did a cover of Bon Jovi's Secret Dreams on that. 4 of the original recording members Chris Alburger, Rusty Foulke, Rick Klinger and Robert Richardson are in the band with a new bass player named Mike Boarman. Mind�s Eye includes 9 tracks and the quality is really nice and some of the songs are damn fine pomp-rockers. The album starts with a rocker Fight Another Day that sounds like a mixture of 38 Special meets Styx, a nice song. Worth The Wait is a fantastic classy pompy AOR song with great hooklines and the chorus is brilliant with classy harmonies. Stop Searching starts with heavy riffs but turns out to a Boston sounding song in the chorus. Only The Lonely fools you first when it starts slow but turns out to a strong up-tempo AOR-song with pompish keyboards and with a great chorus a'la Kansas. Mind�s Eye is another pompy AOR-song with strong riffs and a powerful chorus, a song that reminds little of Streets. Shining Star is pure Styx style and the melodies are nothing but excellent and the chorus has impressive harmonies. They end the album with Faith Without Works that�s almost 10 minutes long. This is pure pomp and it never gets boring and you just wait for new great twist and turns, a great way to end this pompy album. A great comeback from Hybrid Ice and if your into those mentioned bands then don�t hesitate to check this great album and the production is superb. A nice pomp/AOR album that really surprised me.

	Night By Night "Can�t Walk Away" (Independent,2010) Producer: Genre: AOR Format: Ep Reviewed by: Juha Harjula Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Myspace is a wonderful place to find new great acts. Night By Night is new music sensation from London fronted by Sister Of Mercy guitarist Ben Christo. This four-piece act has released a awesome EP produced by Romesh Dodangoda of Funeral For A Friend, The Blackout and Bullet For My Valentine fame. The sound of their EP is just amazing and it�s filled with fantastic hooklines, melodies and huge rockers that blew me away. When I heard the first riffs from the first song Can�t Walk Away I was stunned by the quality. The song is just stunning with brilliant melodic riffs with big hooklines and a damn catchy chorus in the best Danger Danger, Hansel, Crazy Lixx style and some touches of Rick Springfield . The harmonies are just superb and yes this is prime time modern AOR mixed with classic 80s touch. The vocals from Ben Christo is powerful and he sounds outstanding with great feeling. It�s Not Faith is another fantastic powerful rocker with riff strong guitars and the chorus is catchy with powerful background vocals. The Moment leans more into modern rock but it�s still damn melodic and they know how to catch your attention with great hooks and a memorable chorus. This is a fantastic EP filled with first class songs and top-notch production . I hope they can deliver a full-length album with same quality and I can�t wait to hear more songs from this awesome band.

	Hard "Time Is Waiting For No One " (Escape Music ,2010) Producer: Genre: Hard Rock Format: Album Reviewed by: Juha Harjula Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Hungarian hard rockers Hard are back with a new album and joined forces with Baltimoore singer Bjorn Lodin. Hard's previous album Traveller was a nice surprise and I was looking forward to their new album. Beau Hill (Warrant, Winger, Ratt) fame producer got hooked by Hard's album and remixed some of the tunes. So I thought that he would produce their new album but no Hill on this album. Mr. Lodin has produced this album with nice result. Now that Bjorn Lodin is in the band they have changed the sound to more bluesy flavoured hardrock sound and leans more to Bjorn band Baltimoore. I think it�s a shame because their sound on Traveller was great keyboard driven melodic hardrock/AOR. The keyboards are almost gone and that�s a minus for the sound and the songs has lost the melodies and hooklines. Still this is a nice melodic hardrock album with nice songs but it I think it would have been stronger if they would have followed their sound from the previous album. The cover version of Baltimoore's My Kind Of Woman feels unnecessary. The title track is a nice way to open up the album, it�s a hardrock rocking song with strong melodies. The ballad Love Goes With Anything reminds of Tyketto, great song. A very solid hardrock album and if your into the early sound of Baltimoore then you will have a good time with this album.

	Impulsia "Expressions" (Riverside,2009) Producer: Marcus Jidell Genre: Hard Rock Format: Album Website: www.myspace.com/im... Reviewed by: Ola Gr�nshagen Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

I'm constantly impressed by the amount of Scandinavian top class melodic hard rock and AOR bands that pop up from time to time. This time we're lookin' at IMPULSIA, which is to be considered as a studio project. The basis of the project is a group of three: Uno Sj�str�m (guitars), Johan Langquist (vocals, keyboards) and Marcus Jidell (guitars, keyboards). The style is classy melodic hard rock with some AOR but also hints of progressive elements. These guys have the good taste of inviting some very good musicians to contribute, like ROBIN BECK who's guesting on vocals. Just take the opener "Fly Away", with its slight similarity with KANSAS' "Carry on my wayward son" - it has got this progressive touch in an otherwise AOR and melodic hard rocking costume. Beck always gives her best, and she lifts this strong tune even higher. She's back in "Alone", where the beginning feels a bit like KATE BUSH. When the song really gets kickin' it's more like LANA LANE, though. And good it is! A rather surprising but almost as good guest is PANDORA with her vocals on "Oceans of love", seeing her sing melodic hard rock! Finally, I'd like to mention the awesome singer JOHAN LANGQUIST - yes, one of the three "real" Impulsians. His lead vocal is amazing! A lot like DAVID COVERDALE mixed with PHIL LYNNOT! There are very good songs here, and with voices like these people it's a sure buy if you really like QUALITY. I have listened many times to this CD and it will remain on my closest shelf for quite some time. This is solid melodic hard rock with AOR twists and the occasional progressive hint. A must have for all hard rock fans.

	Barefoot Truth "Threads" (Independent,2010) Producer: Scott Riebling Genre: Folk Rock Format: Album Website: www.barefoottruth.... Reviewed by: Rickard Holmgren Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Threads is the fifth album from folk roots rockers Barefoot Truth. It is the first one I have heard but now I feel kind of sorry that I have missed out totally on their previous albums. Because this is the story of a funky album. During 2008/2009 Barefoot Truth toured with Pete Francis, of Dispatch fame. If you can remember what that band sounded like you have a pretty good idea about the sound of this album. Mix some Dave Matthews Band into the mix and you are home! The album starts off with the song OK which is a perfect opening. Acoustic summer flavored music that has a really nice vibe to it. Singer Will Evans possesses a great voice that really fits to the music of the band. If you are a fan of Dispatch and say Jack Johnson and/or Ben Harper, this an album to check out. During the 13 songs of the album we are treated to folk, roots, reggae and even some jazz influenced rock. This makes an diverse and exciting sound of the album. Overall the quality is good and the album is well produced. Songs that stand out are, OK, Believe and All Good Reasons. To sum this up, a funky roots/folk album that will have you nodding your head and stamping your foot in no time.

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	Graham Colton "Twenty Something" (Midwest Rock)
	Christopher Jak "Leadfoot Lover EP" (Midwest Rock)
	Gotthard "Live Klubben Frys.." (AOR / Hard Rock)
	Justin Levinson "Predetermined Fat.." (Folk Rock)
	Secret Smile "This Is Our Time .." (AOR / Hard Rock)
	Hybrid Ice "Mind�s Eye " (AOR / Pomp)
	Night By Night "Can�t Walk Away" (AOR)
	Hard "Time Is Waiting F.." (Hard Rock)
	Impulsia "Expressions" (Hard Rock)
	Barefoot Truth "Threads" (Folk Rock)
	Jess Klein "Bound To Love" (Singer Songwriter..)
	Razer "Dark Devotion" (Metal)
	The Reggie Knighton Band "s/t" (AOR / Pomp)
	David Cloyd "Unhand Me, You Fi.." (Modern Singer/Son..)
	N.O.W "Force Of Nature " (AOR)
	H.E.A.T "Beg Beg Beg " (AOR)
	Trillion "s/t" (AOR / Pomp)
	Halo Stereo "The Invisible War" (Alternative Rock)
	Kris Allen "s/t" (Modern Pop)
	Jayce Landberg "Good Sleepless Ni.." (Hard Rock)

	Sweet Comfort Band "Perfect Timing " (AOR)
	Sweet Comfort Band "Cutting Edge " (AOR)
	Sweet Comfort Band "Hearts Of Fire " (AOR)
	Sweet Comfort Band "Hold On Tight " (AOR)
	Sweet Comfort Band "Breakin� The Ice " (AOR)

2010-03-16
	Raintime Psychromatic ()

	Tom McRae The Alphabet of Hurricanes ()

	Neon Trees Habits ()

	The Whigs In the Dark ()

	The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights ()

	Flobots Survival Story ()

	Jimi Hendrix Valleys of Neptune ()

2010-03-19
	Crazy Lixx New Religion (Frontiers Records)

2010-03-23
	Disturbed The Sickness 10th Anniversary Edition ()

	Saliva Moving Forward in Reverse: Greatest Hits ()

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