RockReviews Music Blog - Recommended

Within Temptation & the Metropole Orchestra: Black Symphony [Super Deluxe Edition]

nospam@example.com (Markus [RockReviews]) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:59:27 -0500

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...

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Velvet Revolver: Libertad

nospam@example.com (Markus [RockReviews]) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 02:09:51 -0500

Three years after their successful debut album 'Contraband', Velver Revolver are back with a follow-up titled as Libertad. This time around the band has different production team consisting of Brendan O'Brien (mixing) and Bob Ludwig (mastering). Hence this record sounds better than their debut, but unfortunately some of the characteristics of the debut are missing... sure the music still is founded on vigorous riffs, pounding drums, and expressive choruses but some of the inventiveness and unexpectedness of the debut is missing. On the other hand, the material on Libertad is more consistent, and the album sounds rather solid.
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Chris Cornell: Carry On

nospam@example.com (Markus [RockReviews]) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 13:55:01 -0500

Chris Cornell has made quite a noteworthy career in rock with groups such as Soundgarden, Audioslave and Temple of the Dog, yet he still manages to surprise the listeners on his latest solo effort "Carry On". While I was expecting to hear a lot of tracks in the vein of Audioslave, it turned out this album relies on mellow material for the most part. Carry On is rather mature release in terms of music, which ranges from soulful blues to pop, rock and even country.

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Morian: Sentinels of the Sun

nospam@example.com (Markus [RockReviews]) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 01:43:40 -0500

The debut record of Finnish melodic rockers Morian is quite a positive surprise with its solid song material and the distinctive vocals of Janne Siekkinen that make it an enjoyable album to listen to. However, partially due to the production, none of the tracks really stand out in the longer run. Instead they sound rather similar. Regardless, for a debut "Sentinels of the Sun" is definitely a laudable effort.

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Night Kills the Day: The Study of Man... and the Developed Shadow

nospam@example.com (Markus [RockReviews]) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 23:24:00 -0500

A thought that strikes one's mind immediately while listening to the new pop/rock act Night Kills the Day for the first time, is the unique yet somewhat cold sounding voice of the vocalist Luke Brian. The music itself is somewhere between The Cure, Joy Division, Bauhaus and U2. Notably this New York based four-piece recorded this debut theirs under Joe Blaney's (Ramones, Keith Richards, Clash among others) guidance.

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Slipknot - Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) [Limited Edition]

nospam@example.com (Markus [RockReviews]) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 15:51:00 -0500

A reissue of Slipknot's third album "Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)" features a bonus disc with some rarities and previously unreleased material - mainly remixes and live tracks. Their second album IOWA never really caught my attention, but this third release is fortunately much more diverse than their previous attempts. The songs are still based on hard-hitting grooves coupled with attitudinal vocal lines... yet there are also couple of songs that are rather mellow in comparison, something in the vein of Stone Sour.

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