Heavy Star - Electric Overdrive review

Year : 2016
Genre : Heavy Metal with a Rock & Roll tint
Origin : Italy

Italy's Heavy Star brings a super-traditional method to the metal, through which a deep appreciation of the most classical and well-founded genre-tropes are observable.

Times are not seldom when the disc evokes feelings and sentiments reminiscent to those meticulously established by the original glam metal era of the '90s, only-, and THIS is a BIGASS only: there is a more eloquent definition of BALLS on display, and this consideration, luckily, is of key importance - both in the context of intensity and compositional techniques. As such, a good amount of the content will revolve around the longing for the quintessential woman. Which is perfectly valid, as there is not much else worth longing for while occupying a male body or two, anyway.

The songfract is everything in this style, and this time, it is channeled according to the strict-, yet imaginatively interpreted-, ingrained rules of the game. The band does not seek to re-invent the steel, as they are perfectly aware that it is working trustily, and they came merely to wield it. With a soberly paced flow optimized for 8 hefty declarations of elegantly concealed romance, Heavy Star is truly having a blast showcasing mature variations on this hilariously sexist - therefore fun - brand of metal, administering it with apt skills showcased in their collective acumen. Read on to know more.
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ARJUN - Gravity review

Year : 2016
Genre : Fusion Jazz
Label : Pheromone Records
Origin : United States
Official site: >here<

Arjun's latest full length release marks the completion of a massively improvisative fusion jazz trilogy that has started out with their 2013 outing "Space".

The ensemble has garnered considerable attention with their particular brand of polite harmonies and easily comprehensible rhythms, toppled by massively improvisative leads. The disc is a well balanced, introverted guided tour on sonic vistas that do not attempt to challenge the set of basic rules that will warrant a type of inevitable insant jazz fusion: the one which is immediately ready both to be played and to be listened to, once certain conditions are fulfilled.

As such, the music is joyful, riskless, and optimally naive in the sense that it does not attempt to demand the next to last trick of rampant musical imagination, instead, the album remains a stable, enjoyable guided tour on top of harmonies that reign relentlessly satisfied with their doubtless impressive anatomies, especially as they are courted with soloistic approaches that are equally quick to reveal the mechanics of thought and skills that summon them . Read on to know more.

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Charles Wright - Something to Make You Feel Good review

Year : 2016
Genre : Soul, R & B with a Funk flavor
Label : Miles High Productions
Origin : United States
Official site: >here<

R & B veteran Charles Wright invites you to an exquisite listening session characterized by undeniable authenticity and a lifetime of bluesfunk experience.

On the surface, the productin ethos of the effort openly and optimally embraces the best traditions of the Motown-school of music, yet the shape of the stimuli is uncompromising "sweet" blues at heart, spiced up by a moody breeze of excellent funk flavors. The disc is not here to bring you down, it is something to make you feel good.

With the efficient help of this inventive agenda, the full length finds itself in the highly beneficial position of harvesting AND exploiting the hidden irony in blues: with song titles like "Looking for an Ugly Woman", and "I got feelings, too" - I don't know if I ever heard badasser and more ironic titles for blues tracks, to be honest - you instinctly know that you are into something special, and Wright won't disappoint in delivering the goodies throughout the spin. Read on to know more.

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Angie and the Deserters - Country Radio track review

Year : 2016
Genre : Southern Rock
Origin : United States
Official site: >-here-<

Based on their single "Country Radio", Angie and the Deserters will bring you a full fledged southern rock release coated in the OH!, so sweet stench of gasoline, reeking the persistent mood of a trusty crowbar parking in a crocodile. The song bombards you with clear guitars that find tremendous joy rocking out on military-grade steroids, while the anatomy of the song emits tremendous charm as it finds inventive methods to accentuate its most prominent attributes.

Crude-, yet undeniable elegance also is a premiere component of this style, and frontlady Angie has all the traits and capacities in her acumen to deliver the message with flawless female road "paua", doing so without having to resort to limb marketing: her delivery is both gritty and, yes, you have guessed it right: impertinently sensual, yet, the promise of impending doom always lingers in her voice, as it should be Law in this style.

Fortunately the musical backdrop is exigent and well sculpted enough as to never mistake the classic southern tropes as the main avenue to explore during this stable statement, quite the contrary: although this single is a 101% ZZ Topesque guitar sizzler toppled by an amazon, the composition itself is strong enough as to warrant revisitations. This is the background music for immediate visions of an unfaithful guy being chased through the desert by a furious lady mounting a bike, armed either with a shotgun or a smile, so what's not to like?

Check out the song here.

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Srdjan Brankovic - Expedition Delta review

Year : 2016
Genre : Melodic Metal
Label : Perris Records
Origin : Serbia

Srdjan Brankovic is a renowned brand of the Serbian metal militia, and rightfully so: with its latest to date outing, the ensemble showcases apt readiness to channel energies from an intersection situated at the most prominent segments of massively romantic melodic metal and Iron Maiden-esque power metal affections.

The lead singer has a doubtless tremendous voice hyper-optimized to this type of silence massacre, packing an unusual amount of power even in the higher registers, on which he skims around with effortless grace and action-packed elegance.

The songcraft is pretty much everything in this genre, and the compositions have nothing to hide-, nor to modestly conceal: a clear understanding of melodic metal tropes are observable on a constant basis, paired up with the group's optimally enthusiastic drive to sculpt out unusually diverse and dynamic structures. This readiness is the premiere reason that the album is not "just" a melodic metal release, but a top tier one at that.

Normally, an everyday average band would write like 4 songs from these extremely well detailed sonic landscapes that are offered as a single galaxy per single effort herein. As a musician and critic, I only believe in clear, hefty intentions and hard work when it comes to music, and it is nice to see these sentiments being reflected in a delivery fueled by the exact same creative credo. Read on to know more.

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Sharon Knight - Portals review

Year : 2016
Genre : Massively Fantasy-Driven Soft Rock
Label : Independent
Origin : United States
Where to check it out: >here<

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Festival Favorites Sharon Knight and Winter are internationally touring musicians in the mythic-Celtic vein. Their penchant for combining fierce and gutsy bravado with ethereal beauty, a hearty dose of fantastical lyrics, and an obvious love of storytelling has inspired their own style, “Neofolk Romantique”. This often sound less Celtic and more “Folktales that ran away with the Faeries at the turn of the century and took cover in an old trunk bound for the circus, which was then commandeered by pirates.” This suits them fine.

Portals is a mature, undeniable, artistically ripe release that channels the charms of massively fantasy-driven escapism/romanticism with genuine creative grace, originality and musical aptness amidts its premiere acumen. The intention to deliver top tier songcraft, remains an unrelenting staple throughout this intoxicatingly ornamented sonic journey, and this is the central reason that the disc worsk so well. Read on to know more.

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Jack of None - Who's Listening to Van Gogh's Ear? review

Year : 2016
Genre : Experimental Poet Rock
Label: Independent
Origin : United States
Official site: > - here - <

Jack of None's full length debut LP comes to you as a massively abstract - is that an oxymoron? - auditory journey that inhales clear creative intents-, and exhales the well-tamed assumption of poetic justice in the most literal contexts possible.

As the respective ethos of the spoken/written word is of key importance for the central vocalist, - as she is a poet, first and foremost - the music chooses to deliberately bend to the will of these spoken messages: it willfully accepts the role of ornamenitc sonic tapestry.

The music is well sculpted, nevertheless, albeit polite. Never seeking to taunt the words, yet the valiant quality of a smartly varied dynamic range is cleary observable: something that is a rarity in today's production standars, where volume and loudness are assumed to be kings. Read on to know more.

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