RockReviews Music Blog

May 16th, 2010 brought sad news upon many hard rock and heavy metal fans as Ronnie James Dio (born Ronald James Padavona) passed away at the age of 67 due to stomach cancer.

Today my heart is broken, Ronnie passed away at 7:45am 16th May. Many, many friends and family were able to say their private good-byes before he peacefully passed away. Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all. We so appreciate the love and support that you have all given us. Please give us a few days of privacy to deal with this terrible loss. Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever.

- Wendy Dio

Frontiers Records announced the signing of the legendary rock band Whitesnake on February 19, 2010.

David Coverdale and band are gearing up for their latest endeavour. Whitesnake has already started composing new material that promises to deliver one of the finest chapters in Whitesnake's career. "We are off to a very good start, with the new songs taking positive shape. It feels good, fresh & exciting," explains Coverdale.

French "experimetalists" HYPNO5E have just announced that they will be co-headlining the 2nd month of the Metal as Art Tour with Metal Blade/Ironclad Recordings act Starring Janet Leigh. Special guests of the tour include melodic metallists Fallen Martyr from Maryland.

The Vital Might is a newcomer to the alternative rock scene hailing from Boston. Red Planet is their second full-length album displaying a wealth of ambiance, groovy beats, driving rhythms and soaring melodies. The songs are adventurous at times with nicely varying use of dynamics and should please most fans of indie rock.

Yesterday - on August 13th, 2009 - one of the most influencing figures in the rock scene passed away. Les Paul was 94 when he died of complications from pneumonia at White Plains Hospital. While he is best known for his tremendous effort developing solid body electric guitar in the 1930s and having a string of hit songs he has contributed to the development of novel recording techniques as well... namely multitrack recording and guitar effects.

To commemorate Michael Jackson's tremendous influence over modern pop music, tribute recordings have started surfacing all around the globe. As you probably have heard by now, Jackson suffered a cardiac arrest at his home on June 25th, 2009 (at age of 50). One of the most touching tribute recordings is "The Landing Beacon", a beautiful song written and performed by Buckethead for his digital release "A Song For Michael Jackson", which you can download and stream for free at Bucketheadland.

Europe, Sweden’s biggest selling hard rock band is pleased to announce the release of a special mini album 'Last Look at Eden EP' on 10th August. Released by Edel Entertainment's rock music record label earMUSIC, the mini album will feature five tracks and an exclusive promo video for the Last Look at Eden’s single.

The mini album coincides with the band’s headline appearance at this year’s Bloodstock Festival on 16th August and will precede the band's long awaited studio album "Last Look at Eden" on 14th September. The new album will be Europe's eighth studio album; their first since 2006's critically acclaimed "Secret Society".

Warner Music Entertainment is pleased to announce four live concert films, released on Blu-ray for the very first time on June 22nd. The titles selected for release are Green Day: “Bullet in a Bible”, Linkin Park: “Road to Revolution”, Michael Buble: “Caught in the Act”, and Josh Groban: “Awake Live”.

Sony Online Entertainment's latest online video game, the kid-friendly "Free Realms", features a theme song written exclusively for the game by Robbie Nevil and Matthew Gerrard. Southern California trio The Dares are very excited about this opportunity according to Ben Peterson.

To record the theme song for a video game with as much buzz as Free Realms is epic! Not only does this song fit in with our sound, but it also gets across the feeling that in Free Realms you can do what you want, when you want.
- Ben Peterson

Wild Eye Releasing is pleased to announce release of cult New York midnight movie GOTHKILL on DVD.

The film features the dark talents of Flambeaux, and FUSE favorite Mistress Juliya.

When Catholic Priest and Inquisitor Nicholas Dread finds out that innocents are being burned as witches he decides to do something about it. Unfortunately for him, his superiors don’t agree and he’s burned at the stake alongside two women he forced confessions from. While dying, Nick curses god and makes a pact with Satan to reign over his own kingdom someday at any cost.

NORWEGIANS RETURN WITH THEIR FIFTH ALBUM OF PROGRESSIVE, ATMOSPHERIC METAL

The region of Hedmark, in the eastern part of southern Norway, is a land of lakes and fields and dark fir forests, of golden, tranquil summers and snowy, silent winters. This landscape breeds stubborn, earthborn people. To an outsider, they may seem docile, but beneath the surface there's a will and a strength of heart that¹s just as unmovable as the hills. They will not show off, will not protest, but they will simply put their heads down and do exactly what they wanted to, in their own time and their own way.

This is the soil from which Madder Mortem springs. Both band and members are born and raised in Hedmark. The view from their rehearsal room is not concrete and streets, but fields and trees set against a quiet lake. There's nothing urban about Madder Mortem. Just like the land it stems from, the music is organic and earthy. It resounds with the sweat of hard work, and with the tongue-in-cheek view of life of those who know who they are and where they come from. It's caressing, it's chilling, it's outrageously cheeky and dead serious. It's groovy, it's melodic, it's clever and it's open-hearted, but most of all, it¹s music made for music¹s sake.

The Italian metal group Lacuna Coil has released a single "Not Enough" from their new and much anticipated album "Shallow Life". In addition, they have just uploaded their album in its entirety on their myspace profile, for you to stream freely for one week (April 9th-16th, 2009) so be sure not to miss out while it's still up there.

Nottingham's Evil Scarecrow now have a brand new website updated with new tracks, videos, merchandise, downloads, gallery and press area.

Check it out at:
http://www.evilscarecrow.co.uk/

My Dying Bride have announced the following European shows & festival appearances for the coming months in support of their newly released doom metal opus, "For Lies I Sire" - currently making waves across the metal world.

Within Temptation's latest live release "Black Symphony" captures perhaps the band's finest staging to date - a unique concert shot at Rotterdam's Ahoy Arena on February 7, 2008. It was sold out months in advance, and features the band accompanied by a 60-piece Metropole Orchestra and a 20-voice classical Pa'dam Choir performing to 10,000 fans. I spend literally days watching this over and over again, and the show simply doesn't get old - there's so much for one to see...