Alkemyst. Through Painful Lanes
Secret Sphere singer Ramon Messina fits well into the more progressive and less accessible world of Alkemyst. There are plenty of technical twits and shifts in tempo to enjoy, but the memorable melodies are not frequently to be found.
 
Beardfish. Sleeping In Traffic: Part Two
This is some strange album, you could almost tell by the band name. Some of it is quite appealing, other parts drift too far off.
 
Bob Catley. Immortal
What a joy. The combination of Magnus Karlsson and Bob Catley just couldn't go wrong and after hearing this album god knows how many times I can honestly say that is one of the better releases this year. Where are talking melodic stardom both quantity and quality wise here.
 
Cog. Sharing Space
Progressive Rock with a large variety of sounds, moods and complex structuring. I can't help feel that a big portion of the album lacks memorable elements and some tracks focus. On the other hand some melodies and ideas are quite compelling and soothing.
 
Domine. Dragonlord (Tales Of The Noble Sword)
Haven't visited this piece for a long time. Great epic Power Metal with catchy melodies and a healthy amount of varied inputs.
 
Dream Theater. Chaos In Motion (2 DVD + 3 CD)
There are both raw footage and audio on this gigantic live release making it appear authentic and quite different, which is nice considering what appears to be and endless stream of live releases from the band.  
Take The Time filmed in Bangkok is simply thrilling, The Ministry Of Lost Souls nailed to unbelievable perfection and hearing Scarred live is simply moving.
The documentary clips in between songs works well and the 90 minutes insight into the life of DT is pretty interesting, these guys leave nothing to chance that's for sure.
 
Ephrat. No Ones Words
A complex and at times weird slice of Progressive Rock but it somehow makes good sense.
 
Helloween. Gambling With The Devil
Fast, catchy, humorous, yep it's Helloween all right and it's also very good.
 
Jag Panzer. Thane To The Throne
It's just such a nice CD to slip in and just sit back and enjoy as it unfolds with majestic grace. Outstanding musicians all around.
 
James LaBrie. Prime Cuts
A collection of songs from Mullmuzzler, Explorers Club, Leonardo: The Absolute Man and 2 covers makes up a quite strange disc. This Time This Way is especially brilliant and lights up among other decent but not fantastic tracks.
 
Meatloaf. Bat Out Of Hell Part III - The Monster Is Loose
I keep coming back to some of these songs, Seize The Night is stirringly brilliant.
 
Nuclear Valdez. I Am I
A special band with a spicy recipe for making Melodic Rock music with a twist.
I must admit that I only find a couple of songs to really rise above the overall good bar. It gets a bit too predictable a times but there's no denying these guys also have something very cool and deep felt to offer.
 
Pure Inc. Pure Inc.
Modern Rock with a direct and raw approach. A pretty cool album with an undeniable energy and some successful soulful songs as well.
 
Pure Inc. A New Day's Dawn
Also a solid disc, A New Dawn is intriguingly spellbinding. I somehow like their atmospheric ballads the most.
 
Silentrain. Wrong Way To Salvation
I'm not too impressed with the average singing, but a few songs succeed well in mixing melody with drive. An average Power/Heavy Metal album.
 
Stan Bush & Barrage. Stan Bush & Barrage
A great album packed with positive AOR. The Touch is a classic catchy rocker and What Is Love comes off beautifully heartfelt.
 
Steelheart. Steelheart
A delightful collecting of Melodic Hard Rock, a bit more coherency would have been nice but it's a charming and authentic disc.
 
UFO.  Lights Out
It has its moments and taking the release date into account there are some rather innovative stuff here. Solid piece of work.

Written by Tommy
Monday, October 27, 2008