Latest Reviews


		Pearl "Little immaculate white fox" (Megaforce,2010) Producer: Joe Barresi Genre: Rock Format: Album Website: www.myspace.com/pe... Reviewed by: Kaj Roth Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Pearl was the nickname for Janis Joplin but also the real name for Meat Loaf´s daughter Pearl Aday, she worked hard as a touring backup singer for Meat Loaf and Motley Crue and also appeared as a background singer on the albums "Title of record" by Filter and "Anomaly" by Ace Frehley. But this time she gets to show her talents as a lead singer on her debut "Little immaculate white fox" where her husband Scott Ian (Anthrax guitarist) is helping out too, we also get to hear guest performances from Ted Nugent and Jerry Cantrell. This is a straight ahead non compromising hard rock album that should only be played LOUD! Pearl is a great singer and truly let those lungs work hard, I think she´s done a nice cover of Tina Turner´s "Nutbush city limits" but the original songs are better. Just listen to "Rock child" that will tear the roof off in no time or the electric "Check out Charlie" that is so raw and lovely. Imagine Janis Joplin jamming with Led Zeppelin and you´ll get "Broken white" and "Mama". So strong! Are you a fan of Heart´s 70´s hit "Barracuda"? Then you will love Pearl.

		Pragmatic "Voice of reason" (Independent,2010) Producer: Genre: NuMetal Format: Album Website: www.myspace.com/pr... Reviewed by: Kaj Roth Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Do they guys in the Indiana based band Pragmatic still think it´s 1999 with the numetal explosion just around the corner? They do sound like the first numetal bands I started listening to such as Sixgig, Professional Murder Music and 40 Below Summer. Perhaps I would´ve liked this album a lot more 10 years earlier but today it only feels like a release in the 2nd division of numetal. They are good musicians but not equally good songwriters I´m afraid. A decent piece of work.

		Fen "Trails out of gloom" (Ripple Music,2010) Producer: Genre: Alternative Metal Format: Album Website: www.fenmusic.ca Reviewed by: Kaj Roth Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Fen is a two man band from Vancouver Canada, they are Doug Harrison - Vocals/Guitar and Sam Levin - Guitar and they are backed up by different musicians on each album where "Trails out of gloom" is their 4th studio album. We´re talking suggestive and progressive alternative metal where the majority of the songs are acoustic based and laid back but still with the heavy distorted guitar waiting around the corner of each song. I think they remind a bit of 10 Years (the first album) and A Perfect Circle and sometimes also Opeth on their Damnation album. Highlights are the 8 minute long "End of the dream" and the mighty fine "Find the one". A grower!

		Kevin Gilbert "Welcome To Joytown - Live DVD" (KMG,2010) Producer: Jon Rubin Genre: Progressive Rock Format: DVD Website: www.kevingilbert.com Reviewed by: P�r Winberg Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Actually, some of the writers here at The Melodic Net should say that I would not have to write these reviews with Kevin Gilbert, who’s in my opinion is by far the best musical genius this world have ever seen. Thanks to his hungry and interested manager Jon Rubin, we’ll get new treasures from the archive from time to time… But back to the problem. How the HELL can I give these CDs and DVD nothing less than perfect scores – 5 stars. I can’t do anything else. And that is not because it’s printed Kevin Gilbert on the sleeves. It’s just because they’re just so fantastic. I will give four different items with Kevin 5 stars tonight. Yeah – it’s true. So therefore I can write the same review and put it into each review. All four will have five plus... Yeah – you may think I’m insane. But listen now folks. And watch the DVD! If we start with the CD’s "Nuts" and "Bolts”. They are two single CDs with odd recordings and if we starts with “Bolts” you’ll find some of his hits such as "Jenny Ledge" and Godness Gracious " in acoustic versions, but we’re also invited to a smorgasbord of 11 songs – mainly acoustic like the fantastic version of "Blank Page" with piano and acoustic guitar and the wonderful "God's Tapping My Phone" with Kevin and a piano. And what a fantastic text. It’s unbelievable good. "Nuts" is more a “band” album and less acoustic. We find names such as Nick D'Virgilo, Rush and Corky James Parrish playing on the album. This disc contains a treasure of truly wonderful songs that remind me of the Giraffe, Thud and Shaming Of The Truth-era. It’s completely awesome! And it ends up with an acoustic version of Joy Town and an alternative version of “Kashmir” from his EP. After that we’re into the DVD. Ha Ha Ha… A double DVD… With a fantastic livegig, odd Giraffe-clips and an interview with Kevin. The livegig is of course not filmed with 32 cameras and such stuff. It feels like a very good “live-bootleg” but it is really nice and what a gig… Geeh. It’s also very cool to see the Giraffe stuff. Sweet nice looking guys from the 80’s! Over to the last one and the latest release from the Gilbert-team in the US. It’s a very nice and beautiful packed livealbum from Roxy Los Angeles, recorded 1991 with Marc Bonilla on guitars, Anastasios Panos on drums, Spencer Campbell on bass, Sheryl Crow and keyboard and Tim Pierce as guest on “The Ballad Of Jenny Ledge”. When Kevin enters the stage he says that everything is played live and no samplers or anything like that are used. Fabulous is the word. The album sits on 10 tracks where one track is a fantastic rock’n’roll version of Elton John’s “Funeral For A Friend”. And well that says it all… Funeral for a friend. Kevin is no longer with us but his soul is and once again he proofs what a genius he was with these four releases. I t may look ridiculous when I give four albums 5 stars the same night. But I stand for it. They are masterpieces all four of them. Exactly what I expected actually. PS - there are just 1000 copies made of this DVD and each one is numbered so get one fast as long as they exist!

		New York Summer "Ticking clocks and masquerades" (Independent,2010) Producer: Genre: Modern Rock (Soft) Format: Album Website: www.myspace.com/ne... Reviewed by: Kaj Roth Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Every popular genre has its era but some musical styles survives and continues to live into the next decade like modern rock that conquered the world in the late 90´s and still there are new bands sounding like the first successful ones Goo Goo Dolls, Vertical Horizon, Lifehouse, The Calling etc. Take Oklahoma City based New York Summer for example and their debut "Ticking clocks and masquerades" that in fact could´ve been released 1998. Yeah this album takes the listener back in the time machine to a year when I got into modern rock the first time, it´s a well performed album but I miss the hit that I want to return to more than one time. Comfy music anyhow.


Linkin Park is spelled that way because the band wanted to get the "dot com" and LincolnPark.com was already taken.
		Kevin Gilbert "Bolts" (KMG,2009) Producer: Kevin Gilbert Genre: Progressive Rock Format: Album Website: www.kevingilbert.com Reviewed by: P�r Winberg Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Actually, some of the writers here at The Melodic Net should say that I shouldn't write these reviews with Kevin Gilbert, who’s in my opinion is by far the best musical genius this world have ever seen. Thanks to his hungry and interested manager Jon Rubin, we’ll get new treasures from the archive from time to time… But back to the problem. How the HELL can I give these CDs and DVD nothing less than perfect scores – 5 stars. I can’t do anything else. And that is not because it’s printed Kevin Gilbert on the sleeves. It’s just because they’re just so fantastic. I will give four different items with Kevin 5 stars tonight. Yeah – it’s true. So therefore I can write the same review and put it into each review. All four will have five plus... Yeah – you may think I’m insane. But listen now folks. And watch the DVD! If we start with the CD’s "Nuts" and "Bolts”. They are two single CDs with odd recordings and if we starts with “Bolts” you’ll find some of his hits such as "Jenny Ledge" and Godness Gracious " in acoustic versions, but we’re also invited to a smorgasbord of 11 songs – mainly acoustic like the fantastic version of "Blank Page" with piano and acoustic guitar and the wonderful "God's Tapping My Phone" with Kevin and a piano. And what a fantastic text. It’s unbelievable good. "Nuts" is more a “band” album and less acoustic. We find names such as Nick D'Virgilo, Rush and Corky James Parrish playing on the album. This disc contains a treasure of truly wonderful songs that remind me of the Giraffe, Thud and Shaming Of The Truth-era. It’s completely awesome! And it ends up with an acoustic version of Joy Town and an alternative version of “Kashmir” from his EP. After that we’re into the DVD. Ha Ha Ha… A double DVD… With a fantastic livegig, odd Giraffe-clips and an interview with Kevin. The livegig is of course not filmed with 32 cameras and such stuff. It feels like a very good “live-bootleg” but it is really nice and what a gig… Geeh. It’s also very cool to see the Giraffe stuff. Sweet nice looking guys from the 80’s! Over to the last one and the latest release from the Gilbert-team in the US. It’s a very nice and beautiful packed livealbum from Roxy Los Angeles, recorded 1991 with Marc Bonilla on guitars, Anastasios Panos on drums, Spencer Campbell on bass, Sheryl Crow and keyboard and Tim Pierce as guest on “The Ballad Of Jenny Ledge”. When Kevin enters the stage he says that everything is played live and no samplers or anything like that are used. Fabulous is the word. The album sits on 10 tracks where one track is a fantastic rock’n’roll version of Elton John’s “Funeral For A Friend”. And well that says it all… Funeral for a friend. Kevin is no longer with us but his soul is and once again he proofs what a genius he was with these four releases. I t may look ridiculous when I give four albums 5 stars the same night. But I stand for it. They are masterpieces all four of them. Exactly what I expected.

		Kevin Gilbert "Nuts" (KMG,2009) Producer: Kevin Gilbert Genre: Progressive Rock Format: Album Website: www.kevingilbert.com Reviewed by: P�r Winberg Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Actually, some of the writers here at The Melodic Net should say that I would not have to write these reviews with Kevin Gilbert, who’s in my opinion is by far the best musical genius this world have ever seen. Thanks to his hungry and interested manager Jon Rubin, we’ll get new treasures from the archive from time to time… But back to the problem. How the HELL can I give these CDs and DVD nothing less than perfect scores – 5 stars. I can’t do anything else. And that is not because it’s printed Kevin Gilbert on the sleeves. It’s just because they’re just so fantastic. I will give four different items with Kevin 5 stars tonight. Yeah – it’s true. So therefore I can write the same review and put it into each review. All four will have five plus... Yeah – you may think I’m insane. But listen now folks. And watch the DVD! If we start with the CD’s "Nuts" and "Bolts”. They are two single CDs with odd recordings and if we starts with “Bolts” you’ll find some of his hits such as "Jenny Ledge" and Godness Gracious " in acoustic versions, but we’re also invited to a smorgasbord of 11 songs – mainly acoustic like the fantastic version of "Blank Page" with piano and acoustic guitar and the wonderful "God's Tapping My Phone" with Kevin and a piano. And what a fantastic text. It’s unbelievable good. "Nuts" is more a “band” album and less acoustic. We find names such as Nick D'Virgilo, Rush and Corky James Parrish playing on the album. This disc contains a treasure of truly wonderful songs that remind me of the Giraffe, Thud and Shaming Of The Truth-era. It’s completely awesome! And it ends up with an acoustic version of Joy Town and an alternative version of “Kashmir” from his EP. After that we’re into the DVD. Ha Ha Ha… A double DVD… With a fantastic livegig, odd Giraffe-clips and an interview with Kevin. The livegig is of course not filmed with 32 cameras and such stuff. It feels like a very good “live-bootleg” but it is really nice and what a gig… Geeh. It’s also very cool to see the Giraffe stuff. Sweet nice looking guys from the 80’s! Over to the last one and the latest release from the Gilbert-team in the US. It’s a very nice and beautiful packed livealbum from Roxy Los Angeles, recorded 1991 with Marc Bonilla on guitars, Anastasios Panos on drums, Spencer Campbell on bass, Sheryl Crow and keyboard and Tim Pierce as guest on “The Ballad Of Jenny Ledge”. When Kevin enters the stage he says that everything is played live and no samplers or anything like that are used. Fabulous is the word. The album sits on 10 tracks where one track is a fantastic rock’n’roll version of Elton John’s “Funeral For A Friend”. And well that says it all… Funeral for a friend. Kevin is no longer with us but his soul is and once again he proofs what a genius he was with these four releases. I t may look ridiculous when I give four albums 5 stars the same night. But I stand for it. They are masterpieces all four of them. Exactly what I expected actually.

		Kevin Gilbert "Performs Toy Matinee Live" (KMG,2010) Producer: Kevin Gilbert Genre: Progressive Rock Format: Album Website: www.kevingilbert.com Reviewed by: P�r Winberg Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Actually, some of the writers here at The Melodic Net should say that I should not write these reviews with Kevin Gilbert, who’s in my opinion is by far the best musical genius this world have ever seen. Thanks to his hungry and interested manager Jon Rubin, we’ll get new treasures from the archive from time to time… But back to the problem. How the HELL can I give these CDs and DVD nothing less than perfect scores – 5 stars. I can’t do anything else. And that is not because it’s printed Kevin Gilbert on the sleeves. It’s just because they’re just so fantastic. I will give four different items with Kevin 5 stars tonight. Yeah – it’s true. So therefore I can write the same review and put it into each review. All four will have five plus... Yeah – you may think I’m insane. But listen now folks. And watch the DVD! If we start with the CD’s "Nuts" and "Bolts”. They are two single CDs with odd recordings and if we starts with “Bolts” you’ll find some of his hits such as "Jenny Ledge" and Godness Gracious " in acoustic versions, but we’re also invited to a smorgasbord of 11 songs – mainly acoustic like the fantastic version of "Blank Page" with piano and acoustic guitar and the wonderful "God's Tapping My Phone" with Kevin and a piano. And what a fantastic text. It’s unbelievable good. "Nuts" is more a “band” album and less acoustic. We find names such as Nick D'Virgilo, Rush and Corky James Parrish playing on the album. This disc contains a treasure of truly wonderful songs that remind me of the Giraffe, Thud and Shaming Of The Truth-era. It’s completely awesome! And it ends up with an acoustic version of Joy Town and an alternative version of “Kashmir” from his EP. After that we’re into the DVD. Ha Ha Ha… A double DVD… With a fantastic livegig, odd Giraffe-clips and an interview with Kevin. The livegig is of course not filmed with 32 cameras and such stuff. It feels like a very good “live-bootleg” but it is really nice and what a gig… Geeh. It’s also very cool to see the Giraffe stuff. Sweet nice looking guys from the 80’s! Over to the last one and the latest release from the Gilbert-team in the US. It’s a very nice and beautiful packed livealbum from Roxy Los Angeles, recorded 1991 with Marc Bonilla on guitars, Anastasios Panos on drums, Spencer Campbell on bass, Sheryl Crow and keyboard and Tim Pierce as guest on “The Ballad Of Jenny Ledge”. When Kevin enters the stage he says that everything is played live and no samplers or anything like that are used. Fabulous is the word. The album sits on 10 tracks where one track is a fantastic rock’n’roll version of Elton John’s “Funeral For A Friend”. And well that says it all… Funeral for a friend. Kevin is no longer with us but his soul is and once again he proofs what a genius he was with these four releases. I t may look ridiculous when I give four albums 5 stars the same night. But I stand for it. They are masterpieces all four of them. Exactly what I expected actually.

		Avenged Sevenfold "Nightmare" (Roadrunner Records ,2010) Producer: Mike Elizondo Genre: Alternative Metal Format: Advance album Website: www.avengedsevenfo... Reviewed by: Henrik Holmgren Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

Avenged Sevenfold finally returns with their new album, entitled Nightmare, their first one since the tragic death of their drummer Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan. A couple of things stand out from the first impression. This album is quite heavy. It is also a very angry one, just look at some of the titles on the album. There are also a lot of dark lyrics on here and I guess that is a natural thing after something like this. Still, if you are a fan of the band you will recognize the formula with heavy verses and melodic choruses. There are also some cool guitar solos thrown in there for good measure. First off we have the first single and title track. A fast paced havey riffing track that bare some resemblance to Metallica one more than one occasion. Another thing to notice about this album is that there is no more screaming from front man M. Shadows. I like it better when he sings so that is fine with me. The album is still aggressive and heavy without the screaming. There are some nice slower songs as usual songs that would do well on mainstream radio. I think that this album is much better than their previous, self-titled one which in all honesty did not leave any lasting impression with me. In the end, Avenged Sevenfold has come out of all this as a stronger, more focused band. There are some strong songs on here and this is their best album to date. This is both a nice tribute to “The Rev” and at the same time it shows that the band can get along without him. Fans of their previous work will soak this up as well. Me, I think it is a good record and that is it.

		Painkiller Hotel "Afterglow" (Severe Records,2010) Producer: Genre: Alternative Rock Format: Album Website: www.myspace.com/pa... Reviewed by: Kaj Roth Add to MySpace Add to Facebook

First day of the week, it´s monday evening and work is always hard right after a nice and welcome weekend but it gets much smoother once you get into the week. So what is better than to listen to a rootsy but laid back rock album with a warm sound?! A good thing then that I had Illinois based Painkiller Hotel´s new album "Afterglow" waiting for me this monday afternoon. Their previous album "Black rose" was released on Rock Ridge Music last year and now they deliver 10 new songs in the same vein as Collective Soul, Ours, Matchbox 20 and Live. I really like their style where the music is performed with lots of heart and soul, this is a strong album but if you should only pick one song for a mix - go for the opener "I understand". Yeah!

Go to: [ 1 ] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next �

	Pearl "Little immaculate.." (Rock)
	Pragmatic "Voice of reason" (NuMetal)
	Fen "Trails out of glo.." (Alternative Metal)
	Kevin Gilbert "Welcome To Joytow.." (Progressive Rock)
	New York Summer "Ticking clocks an.." (Modern Rock (Soft..)
	Kevin Gilbert "Bolts" (Progressive Rock)
	Kevin Gilbert "Nuts" (Progressive Rock)
	Kevin Gilbert "Performs Toy Mati.." (Progressive Rock)
	Avenged Sevenfold "Nightmare" (Alternative Metal)
	Painkiller Hotel "Afterglow" (Alternative Rock)
	Green River Ordinance "Wait a minute mor.." (Modern Rock)
	Goo Goo Dolls "Something For The.." (Modern Rock)
	Stilldown "The promise and t.." (Modern Rock (Toug..)
	Hour of Shame "Hour of Shame" (Grunge)
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	Stan Bush "Dream the dream" (AOR)
	Fee "Hope rising" (Modern Pop (Chri..)
	My Dear Addiction "New Blood" (Metal)
	Jason Masi "Balance and Pull" (Alternative Count..)

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2010-09-07
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2010-09-14
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