H.E.A.T – Beg Beg Beg [CDs] (2010)
New H.E.A.T single!
From the forthcoming album to be released spring 2010.
Contains 2 tracks not available on the album to be released in the Nordic countries.
1/3 – Beg Beg Beg
2/3 – Tonight (bonus track)
3/3 – Living In A Memory (bonus track)
VBR
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GIANT – Promise Land (2010)
After recording two albums with christian rockers Whiteheart in the early 80’s and having made a name as session players in the Pop and Rock scene, guitarist / vocalist Dann Huff and his drummer brother David hooked up with Alan Pasqua, an experienced keyboards player which lent his talents to loads of Jazz and Rock artists and Nashville session bass player Mike Brignardello to form Giant.
They eventually signed with A&M Records and released 1989’s “Last of the Runaways”, featuring a classic, melodic hard rock sound, which yielded a top-twenty hit with “I’ll See You in My Dreams”.
Giant’s debut album is still regarded nowadays as one of the highest points in melodic hard rock of the end of the eighties.
After countless tours and live performances in the US and Europe, the band recorded the follow up album Time to Burn in 1991.
Slightly more aggressive than it’s predecessor, but still magnificent in the production and songwriting departments.
The vision of bringing back Giant as a living band unit with a recording and touring line-up and with of course the possibility to carry on the enormous legacy of the music produced so far with the same quality was raised a few times between the band mates.
But it became apparent that Dann Huff could not be a full part of this concept, even though he loved everything that Giant was.
Last year, drummer David Huff and bassist Mike Brignardello started an endless research for the right musicians that could be part of a renewed Giant line-up.
And in the end the choice fell on singer extraordinaire Terry Brock (Strangeways, Seventh Key) and on John Roth (Winger) on guitars.
Dann Huff in any case participated to the songwriting co-writing with the new line-up members “Our Love”, “Double Trouble”, “Plenty of Love”, “Save Me” and offering songs from his catalogue, such as the title track, “Through My Eyes” (both co-written with Mark Spiro) and “Two Worlds”.
He also contributed lead guitars on “Save Me” and “Believer (Redux)”, the latter being one of the 3 songs written by Erik Martensson and Robert Sall of W.E.T. with Miqael Persson (the other two “Never Surrender” and “Prisoner of Love” are a Martensson/Persson collaboration).
“Promise Land” was mixed by Ben Fowler (Van Zandt, Cher, Meat Loaf) and mastered by Joe Palmaccio (3 GRAMMY awards won) .
Giant and their legacy are back! They’re now here to stay !
1. Believer (Redux)
2. Promise Land
3. Never Surrender
4. Our Love
5. Prisoner of Love
6. Two Worlds
7. Plenty Of Love
8. Through My Eyes
9. I’ll Wait For You
10. Dying To See You
11. Double Trouble
12. Complicated Man (bonus track)
13. Save Me
Giant:
Terry Brock – vocals
John Roth – guitars
Mike Brignardello – bass
David L. Huff – drums
Featuring:
Dann Huff – lead guitars on “Believer (Redux)” and “Save Me”
Keyboards: Tim Lauer, Jack Holder
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A real pristine 320K – no skips
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STATE OF ROCK – A Point Of Destiny (2010)
FRONTLINE’s guitarist Bobby Boebel wrote a fantastic collection of melodic rock songs, thinking for a new project.
After recruiting his ex band mates Hutch Bauer (bass) and Rami Ali (drums), the only piece of the puzzle left to find was a voice capable of bringing the tracks to life.
Extraordinary vocalist Tony Mills (TNT, Shy) has found time to become involved, and was added to complete the line up.
Then, the band’s intention to create a sound that contained 75% Frontline and 25% Shy came to fruition.
It’s genuinely difficult to choose highlights when the overall quality is so consistently high. Boebel, Bauer and Ali never put a foot wrong and Mills is at the peak of his powers.
“Black & Blue”, “Freedom” and “Somewhere” are all perfect examples of classic up tempo melodic rockers.
Boebel’s guitar work is faultless and Mills sound so comfortable hitting notes that most singers can only hear in their dreams.
Looking for a little variation? Then blast out “Friction” with its Scorpions like spiralling riff, or the slower stomp of “A Point Of Destiny”.
If ballads are your style then there’s the TNT meets Whitesnake of “Don’t Make Me Cry” .
Put quite simply, this is a brilliant slice of melodic rock!
Fantastic CD from start to finish.
Highly Recommended.
1. Black & Blue
2. Without My Love
3. Heartless Dreamer
4. Don’t Make Me Cry
5. Hanging In The Balance
6. Freedom
7. Count Me Out
8. A Point Of Destiny
9. Friction
10. Somewhere
Tony Mills : vocals
Bobby Boebel : guitars
Hutch Bauer : bass
Rami Ali : drums
320K
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MICHAEL ANGELO BATIO – Hands Without Shadows 2: Voices (2009)
“Hands Without Shadows 2 – Voices” is an all vocal CD of amazing renditions of some of Michael’s all time favorite songs and artists.
The album begins with “Tribute to Dimebag” . This version is so intense and ferocious, you would think that Dime himself played the rhythm guitar tracks.
Michael adds his signature lead guitar playing to every song making these renditions truly unique and all his own.
Virtuoso drummer Joe Babiak performed on the entire CD as well as new comer Warren Dunlevy, Jr. on vocals.
Warren is a truly great singer. When you listen to the record it is hard to imagine that just one singer sang all of the songs.
Warren’s voice seems to change to sound like a completely different singer on each song.
Some of his vocal highlights are “Symphony of Destruction” where you would swear that Dave Mustaine was singing, or “EVH” where Warren really captures the essence of David Lee Roth.
What Michael does on the arrangements is seamlessly weave many different songs of each Artist into one cohesive and unified track.
These are like “MAB style Mashups!” Special guests on “HWS 2 – Voices” include “Creed” and “Alter Bridge” guitarist Mark Tremonti, “UFO” guitarist Vinnie Moore, solo artist George Bellas, “Exit the Ride” guitarist Bill Peck and “DSG” guitarist David Shankle.
Michael has 3 Shrapnel Records alumni on this CD.
MAB, Vinnie Moore and George Bellas have all been on records released by Shrapnel and all 3 of them are featured on the song ”Symphony of Destruction!”
Triple the virtuosity on one track!
Michael has also added, as a bonus track, an instrumental song with solos performed by members of the MAB Forum!
MAB Forum member Maxwell Carlisle wrote and recorded the track.
“I feel that this is a great way to get the fans involved as well as feature new guitar talent” quotes MAB.
Michael performs the ending solo on the song.
A sincere thanks to Max and all of the MAB Forum members and MAB Forum “shredders” that are on the track.
01. Dial in that Frequency 0:24
02. Tribute to Dimebag 7:36
03. Clapton Is God 6:04
04. Metallica Rules (feat. Mark Tremonti and Bill Peck) 8:40
05. EVH 7:59
06. Symphony of Destruction (feat. Vinnie Moore and George Bellas) 6:43
07. For Jimi: All Along the Watchtower 5:40
08. Tribute to Randy 2: You Can’t Kill Rock and Roll 3:53
09. On The Double (feat. David Shankle) 3:31
10. MAB Forum Shreddathon 9:46
Michael Angelo Batio – Guitars, Bass
Warren Dunlevy, Jr. – Vocals
Joe Babiak – Drums
320K
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EDGE OF FOREVER – Another Paradise (2010)
Edge Of Forever is back stronger than ever!
The album has all that an AOR record needs: strong melodies and impressive backing vocals, sophisticated arrangements, power-house drums, stunning guitars and keyboards; bombastic production and big sing-along choruses.
The new line-up features EOF veteran keyboardist extraordinaire Alessandro Del Vecchio stepping up his game to take over the job of lead vocalist too.
And you wont be disappointed!
His intense interpretations and melodic vocal lines will capture any rock fans heart and quickly conquer their soul.
Comparisons with the likes of Jon Bon Jovi, James Christian, Russel Arcara and John Sykes are the bands confirmation that their crucial decision to make Del Vecchio lead vocalist was the right one!
The mastering was done by well-known award-winning German producer and engineer Michael Voss from Casanova, Bonfire, Mad Max and Voices Of Rock.
1. Distant Voices
2. Another Paradise
3. Lonely
4. Edge Of Life
5. I Wont Call You
6. My Revenge
7. What Ive Never Seen
8. What A Feeling
9. Eye Of The Storm
10. Against The Wall
Alessandro Del Vecchio – Vocals and Keyboards
Walter Caliaro – Guitars
Nik Mazzucconi – Bass
Francesco Jovino – Drums
Bob Harris – Backing Vocals (Axe, Frank Zappa, Steve Vai)
Roberto Tiranti – Backing Vocals (Labyrinth)
Jgor Gianola – Guitar Solo (U.D.O., Gotthard, Jorn)
Carsten (Lizard) Schulz – Backing Vocals (Evidence One, Domain)
VBR
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LIBERTY N JUSTICE – Light It Up (2010)
Founded by songwriter Justin Murr, Liberty N Justice’s ‘Light It Up’ is “melodic rock with a message.”
Liberty N Justice expands their all-star talent roster into a line-up that can be considered the best collection of hard rockers assembled to date.
This is an album consumed by a very spontaneous flow and this is largely attributed to Murr himself in choosing musicians who bring diverse amounts of variety to each and every song.
One look at the list of participants in this project should convince:
this album features, among others, members of: L.A. Guns, King Kobra, Bride, Vixen, Twisted Sister, Firehouse, Danger Danger, Bloodgood, Stryper, Dokken, Trixter, Fozzy, Def Leppard, Harem Scarem, Bulletboys, W.A.S.P., Warrant and XYZ.
WOW!
01. Light It Up (feat. Phil Lewis & JK Northrup)
02. The Other Thief (feat. Dale and Toy Thompson)
03. Blink (feat. Lynn Louise Lowrey & Eddie Ojeda)
04. Do What You Believe (feat. CJ Snare & Bill Leverty)
05. Man vs. Mother Nature (feat. Ted Poley & Vic Rivera)
06. Treading On Serpents (feat. Les Carlson & Oz Foz)
07. Uncle Sam (feat. Sheldon Tarsha & Jeff Pilson)
08. Every Reason To Believe (feat. Kelly Keeling & Kerri Kelli)
09. Wrestling With God (feat. Pete Loran & Steve Brown & Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal)
10. Best Time You Never Had (feat. Chris Jericho & Phil Collen)
11. Beautiful Decision (feat. Harry Hess & Pete Lesperance)
12. Drunk Dead Gorgeous (feat. Marq Torien & Chris Holmes)
13. Greed (feat. Robert Mason & Jerry Dixon)
14. For Better Or Worse (feat. Shawn Pelata & Stephen Chesney)
Personnel:
Phil Lewis (LA Guns)
JK Northrup
Lynn Louise Lowrey (Vixen)
Eddie Ojeda (Twisted Sister)
CJ Snare & Bill Leverty (Firehouse)
Ted Poley (Danger Danger)
Oz Fox (Stryper/Bloodgood)
Jeff Pilson (Dokken/Foreigner)
Kelly Keeling (Baton Rouge/TSO)
Pete Loran & Steve Brown (Trixter)
Phil Collen (Def Leppard)
Harry Hess & Pete Lesperance (Harem Scarem)
Marq Torien (BulletBoys)
Chris Holmes (WASP)
Robert Mason (Warrant/Lynch Mob)
Eric Rango, Terry llous (XYZ)
and more…
VBR
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STAGE DOLLS – Always (2010)
With a record market flooded with reunions and nostalgia, it would be fair that one of Norway’s best rock band in the 80’s, Stage Dolls, come on the pitch again.
Where other 80’s heroes like Bon Jovi and Guns N’Roses have tried to renew itself, Stage Dolls stays on the same old recipe, both melodies and production wise. Especially on ballads such as “Raining On A Sunny Day”.
And it is only on the more hard-hitting songs like “Saturday Night” and “Rollin” were we detect a hint of the new century.
Good comeback, well played and produced.
1. Always
2. Rainin’ On A Sunny Day
3. Rollin’
4. Highway’s Open
5. Eye Of My Heart
6. Better Of Pretty
7. Taillights
8. Saturday Night
9. Where The Blacktop Ends
10. My Strangest Friend
Torstein Flakne — Vocals, Guitars
Terje Storli — Bass
Morten Skogstad — Drums
VBR V0
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STILETTO (Canada) – Spin (1989-2009)
Stiletto was a melodic hard rock band from Vancouver, Canada.
This amazing album entitled Spin, is a fresh collection of melodic rock songs featuring both undiscovered gems recorded in the late 80s and 90s and re-mastered versions of a few songs already hits in the AOR world.
Stiletto features the superb vocals of David Steele, known for his harmony work on Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, The Cult, and Motley Crue and as lead vocalist for Double Dealer.
Virtuoso guitarist Kenny Geatros, also in Double Dealer as well as Renegade, co-wrote and co-produced and adds to the talented team on this album, which also features John Webster and Ken Lomas of Aerosmith production fame, Paul Dean from Loverboy, and Jim Buckshon from Renegade Sounds.
Backing musicians during the Stiletto days include Gary Koenig, John Dryden, Randy Booth (RIP), Jim Buckshon and Joey Alvaro on bass, Ronnie Baran, Rick Fedyk, Lorne Etkin, Burt Richardson, and Theo Thunder on drums, Paul Minshall, Darcy MacDonald, Bill Bressler and Kevin Williams on keyboards, and David Steele, Ronnie Baran, John Dryden, Paul Minshall, Paul Gaffney, and Sue Leonard on background vocals.
Carefully selected, tastefully put-together songs makes Spin an album that you will not want to miss!
1. Take This Love
2. Freedom
3. Out Of Harms Way
4. In My Arms Again
5. Fire In My Heart
6. Rock It In The Pocket
7. Heavens On Fire
8. Show Some Mercy
9. Surrender
10. Thinking Dirty
11. Live On Rock N Roll
12. Oh Yeah (bonus track)
David Steele (voclas, guitar)
Kenny Geatros (guitar)
Gary Koenig, John Dryden,Joey Alvaro (bass)
Darcy McDonald, Paul Minshall, Billy Blasser (keyboards)
Ronnie Baran, Rick Fedyk, Theo Thunder (drums)
VBR
LAST AUTUMN’S DREAM – A Touch Of Heaven (2010)
Swedish / German Melodic Rock band LAST AUTUMN’S DREAM are back once again with a brand new and exciting album.
This is their seventh studio album and they have proved time and time again they have what it takes to become top of the melodic rock genre.
The talented four-piece consists of singer Mikael Erlandsson, axeman Andy Malecek, drummer Jamie Borger and new member Nalley Pahlsson on bass.
Nalley has replaced original bass player Marcel Jacob, who sadly passed away earlier this year.
Mikael Erlandsson is one of the best singer/songwriters in Sweden today with a successful career as a solo artist, especially in Europe and Japan.
Andy Malecek, from the successful German Hard Rock band FAIR WARNING is a very talented guitarist, has a brilliant tone and a flair for putting guitar harmonies together.
The backbone rhythm section of Jamie Borger and Nalley Pahlsson is very tight, and they play together perfectly.
A Touch of Heaven continues where Dreamcatcher left off and sees the band hone their sound to a perfect and very professional structure.
The new songs they have to offer just come naturally, they are always fresh with new ideas but retain their “true roots” sound.
Songs like “Heaven and Earth” and “Top of the World” are fine examples of this and their ability to give beautiful choruses and fine melodies is undoubted.
This release is full of passionate guitars and plentiful keyboards, with the unmistakable voice of Mikael Erlandsson to top it all.
It is also nice to see Jeff Scott Soto contributing to backing vocals on the song “Last Mistake”.
Last Autumn’s Dream have given us an excellent seventh studio release and it is a joy to listen to such talented work from four guys that know how to write excellent songs.
This CD should please all their fans and attract a whole new audience, LAD are an inspiration to the genre of all melodic rock and set the standard for others to follow.
In Tribute To MARCEL JACOB (R.I.P. ex Talisman, Yngwie, etc.)
01 – Heaven and Earth (A Requiem To Marcel Jacob)
02 – Caught in between
03 – Top of the world
04 – Candle in the dark
05 – Come rain or shine
06 – Heartbreaker
07 – Last Mistake
08 – See my baby jive
09 – Renegade
11 – How Long
12 – Surrender
13 – Running on Like Water (Japan Bonus track)
14 – Jenny’s Eyes
Mikael Erlandsson (vocals, keyboards)
Andy Malecek (guitar)
Nalley Pahlsson (bass, vocals)
Jamie Borger (drums, vocals)
Jeff Scott Soto (backing vocals on “Last Mistake”)
320K
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VALENTINE (Robby) – Androgenius [reissue] (2009)
Holland’s Robby Valentine always had a lot more success in Japan than in his home country.
After gathering some of the best Dutch musicians available he did some gigs in The Netherlands and then recorded this double album, “Androgenius”.
This is sort of a “Best Of” and is divided in two parts.
“Future” contains tracks that were mainly found on either “The Most Beautiful Pain” (2006) or “Falling Down In Misanthropolis” (2007), mostly reworked.
“Past” features a mix of Japanese-only tracks as well as some newly recorded versions of classics plus some European bonus tracks.
Digi Pack reissue of the out of print 2008 release.
FUTURE CD 1:
1.Save myself
2.4th rate razorback
3.I should have known better
4.Over and over again
5.Falling down
6.Make way for the messenger
7.Piano Solo (Chopin, Tchaikovsky)
8.A new world
9.I’m going under
10.Fear of heights
11.Flick of the wrist
12.Exodus Elephantes
PAST CD 2:
1.Back to the future theme
2.The magic breeze ‘08
3.What in the world I’m waiting for
4.Over and over ‘08
5.No turning back ‘08
6.Dear dad
7.She
8.Just a dream
9.I believe in music
10.The cold and lonely lie
11.Visionairy victim
12.The way to get home
13.Believing is seeing
14.Rock me like a hurricane
15.I believe in you ‘08
16.Rise and shine
Robby Valentine: vocals, piano, guitars, bass, synthesizers
Cyrl Whistler: guitar, violtar, backing vocals
Liselotte Hegt: bass
Andre Borgman: drums
Johan Willems: backing vocals, keys
192 kbps
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