RockReviews Music Blog

After much anticipation, the stunning, inaugural solo effort, “Praises To The War Machine”, from Nevermore vocalist WARREL DANE will finally be released in Europe in April 2008. With this effort one of metal’s most defining and revolutionary vocalists further hones his craft to perfection.

Dane, who first shattered the boundaries of conventionality with the legendary Sanctuary and Nevermore, proves that he is one of metal’s most diverse frontmen with this solo effort as he unleashes a barrage of introspective and personal lyrics that are heartfelt and extremely powerful. All of this emotion backed with his soaring angelic and dynamic vocals provides all of the necessary elements for a savagely captivating, melodic assault that quickly hooks you in.

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.

A while back I heard from Daniel Flores, of progressive metal band Mind's Eye, about them having recently released a new video from their upcoming album "A Gentleman's Hurricane". According to Flores, the video is now getting high rates everywhere. However, having led a busy life and not noticing until today how the release date of the new Mind's Eye album is closing in, I finally checked their video out. I have to admit I'm favourably surprised by the work of Flores & co. and definitely looking forward to hearing the rest of their new songs. Interestingly the forthcoming album will be released as a triple pack containing CD, DVD and a comic book, and it marks Mind’s Eye’s sixth release following their critically acclaimed "Walking on H2O".

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.

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.

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.

There's a saying that a good song also works well unplugged... I, for one, concur with this statement, and hence I'm always interested in hearing groups perform acoustic renditions of their songs... this brings us to Korn's latest release consisting clever and intriguing acoustic arrangements of their best-known songs. Titled simply as MTV Unplugged, this is continuation to the series showcasing popular musical artists performing with acoustic instruments.

The Finnish rock group Suburban Tribe has been around for over 10 years already, initially being fronted by Jouni Markkanen, and the music being more on the mellow side. However, the millennium brought some changes, when the group signed with EMI and Markkanen was replaced by Ville Tuomi. From there on, Suburban Tribe got a heavier sound of their own coupled with Tuomi's distinctive voice.