The 2nd album as solo after his departure from The Commotions. This is orchestral and mostly very calm music with nice use of orchestra, accordion and harmonica but it gets way too boring for me. The singing isn't very uplifting either, with Cole's deep voice, but I suppose it fits the music. It rocks a bit sometimes but overall it's very dull, but anyway there are some decent melodies on this record. It has got some good reviews over the years.

Side A is played by an orchestra and side B by a band. The album reached nr.21 in the UK and nr.7 in Sweden.

1)Butterfly (6,0)

2)There for her (3,0)

3)Margo's waltz (2,0)

4)Half of everything (6,5)

5)Man enough (5,0)

6)What he doesn't know (3,0)

7)Tell your sister (6,5)

8)Weeping wine (6,0)

9)To the lions (6,0)

10)Pay for it (5,0)

11)The one you ever had (5,5)

12)She's a girl and I'm a man (6,0)

Score: 5,04

Lloyd Cole-vocals (b.1961)

Robert Quine-guitars

Matthew Sweet-bass

Fred Maher-drums

Britain's Uriah Heep's absolutely 1st album were recorded in 1969-early 1970 and consisted of guitarrist Mick Box and singer David Garrick, later re-named David Byron. They had formed a band called Spice and drummer Alex Napier and bassist Paul Newton of the band The Gods completed the line-up. During the recording of the 1st album Box who was a Vanilla Fudge-fan and got inspiration from their organ-playing, recruited another member; in came Ken Hensley who also came from The Gods. They changed their name to Uriah Heep and at the end of the recordings they replaced Napier with Nigel Olsson who in fact was recommended to Byron by Elton John of all people. Olsson played for Elton John at the time. Alex Napier never played proffesionally again after this.

The album was not well recieved among critics but looking back this is truly an very good example of the best of the era, with Heep mixing in progressive elements, soulful ballads, jazz, ultra-heavy hardrock and melody, like no other band. They created something unique and after all these years this album is still as good as ever, a must have!

The album-cover has it's story. It is a photo of singer Byron after that guitarrist Mick Box had covered Byron with cobwebs from a cobweb-making-machine. Byron was not amused since it took him weeks to get rid of all the web in his hairs! But it's a great cover!

1)Gypsy (9,0) Ultraheavy classic!
2)Walking in you shadow (8,0) Cool bassline in this simple and very good hardrocker.

3)Come away Melinda (8,0) Very 60's soul-psychadelic acoustic guitar-keyboard-song with a good refrain.

4)Lucy blues (7,5) Uriah Heep's only pure bluessong? But it's an ok one anyhow.

5)Dreammare (8,0) Quite messy and repetitive but good anyway!

6)Real turned on (7,5) A boogie-blues with noisy slideguitarwork.

7)I'll keep on trying (9,0) Fantastic simple organ-bass riff mixed with great singing and a shredding guitarsolo and tempochanges. Great stuff!

8)Wake up (set your sights) (8,5) A song with many moods, even a jazzy part, in fact the whole song is very jazzinfluenced.

Score: 8,19

David Byron (David Garrick) -vocals (1947-1985)

Mick Box-guitar (b.1947)

Paul Newton-bass (b.1945)

Alex Napier-drums (songs 1-3, 6-8)

Nigel Olsson-drums (songs 4 and 5) (b.1949)

Ken Hensley-keyboards, organ, guitars and mellotron (b.1945)

The 23rd album from the mighty Heep! This time they have really made an fantastic album that's full of vitality and life and really good melodic, hardrocking, progressive and sheer quality music that I enjoy every single second of! The only negative is that many of the songs tend to get too repetitive, making me feel that this album could have been even better than it already is. Uriah Heep have during the last 20 years or so done nothing but looking back at their 1970's roots and developing it into the new age with better sound, and this album is not any exception, and I am glad for that since they are among my favorite bands of all time. The organ that is the base in their music is much present here in a delicious way.

Sadly it's the last album to feature longtime member Trevor Bolder who died in 2013. I rembmber seeing Trevor with his long hair covering his face all the time during concert not having much of public contact at all but as important for the band anyhow after many years in the band. It's a great end for Bolder in Uriah Heep to sing in the song "Lost" on his last album.

This is an absolut must-have-album!!

1)Nail on the head (8,0)

2)I can see you (8,5)

3)Into the wild (9,0)

4)Money talk (7,0)

5)I'm ready (8,5)

6)Trail of diamonds (8,5)

7)Southern star (8,0)

8)Believe (8,5)

9)Lost (8,0)

10)T-bird angel (8,0)

11)Kiss of freedom (8,5)

Score: 8,23

Bernie Shaw-vocals (b.1956)

Mick Box-guitars (b.1947)

Trevor Bolder-bass (1950-2013)

Russel Gilbrook-drums (b.1964)

Phil Lanzon-keyboards (b.1950)

On Testament's 11th album they returned to their thrashroots of the 80's and 90's but updated it to a headcrushing good production of 2012. Powerful heavy and intense thrash with strong vocals. Some tracks are pretty good but as always the case with this band they lack something and the songs are all built up in the same way and I loose some of my interest after 4 tracks. Almost all tracks has the same tempo which is enervating and it's too much of the crushing heaviness all the time. They should pause sometimes to play calmer parts to make the tracks better and more variated. But "Cold embrace" is almost a ballad for 3 minutes and they vary the tempos in the songs quite a lot so it's not bad at all, I just mean that they could have done it even better. If I listen to the tracks one at a time they are really good. The whole album is just too much.

Testament's drummer Paul Bostaph were replaced by former Testament-drummer (the 1997 Demonic album) Gene Hoglan due to Bostaph getting some kind of injury. 

1)Rise up (8,5)

2)Native blood (8,0)

3)Dark roots of the earth (8,0)

4)True american hate (8,0)

5)A day in the death (7,5)

6)Cold embrace (7,0)

7)Man kills mankind (8,0)

8)Throne of thorns (6,5)

9)Last stand for independence (7,5)

Score: 7,67

Chuck Billy-vocals (b.1962)

Alex Skolnick-guitars (b.1968)

Eric Peterson-guitars (b.1964)

Greg Christian-bass (b.1966)

Gene Hoglan-drums (b.1967)

Powerful thrash metal right from the Bay Area in the 1980's? Could have been, but this is a new band of 19-20 year-olds from Norway and the year is 2012! Even the production is very 80's Testament-amateurish. I like the long instrumental parts not only bacause of the singers somewhat annoying but fitting scream-vocals. Heathen, Metallica and Vio-Lence are bands to compare Tantara with. They really know how to thrash like mad with full speed and changing tempos. I don't understand why they start with the least good song on the album. Fortunately it gets much much better than the titlesong that opens the album and they have long songs with much variation.

The band was formed in 2009 and they released and EP in 2010 called Human Mutation, by then they had recruited danish Bjarke Haakenstad but he left the band later and was replaced by Max Warnby from Skövde, Sweden who was in the band when they recorded the debutalbum, but he left in 2013 to focus on artwork.

This album is produced by Flemming Rasmussen of Metallica fame. A good name to start out their recording career with!

This is one of the best thrashalbums I have ever heard, buy it!

1)Based on evil (6,0)

2)Mass murder (8,0)

3)Neglible souls (8,5) 

4)The dabate (8,0)

5)Human mutation (8,0)

6)Trapped in bodies (8,0)

7)Prejudice of violence (8,5)

8)The killing of mother earth (8,5)

Score: 7,94

Fredrik Bjerkö-vocals and guitars

Per Semb-guitars

Max Warnby-bass

Stian Sannerud-drums

American death metallers released their 7th album, this time with only 3 members. Since the last album drummer Duane Timlin and guitarrist Mike Kimball had left the band being replaced with Trey Williams on drums.

The music is incredibly heavy, fast and just... crushing. It's also technically difficult. I enjoy it here and there, in the more thrashy parts but the fast chaotic parts gets too much for me. Also the growling is hard for me to like.  Even if I have some difficulties with the music sometimes, I realize that these guys are extraordinary good at playing their instruments and that the complicity and variation in the songs are really good but the songs tend to sound very alike eachother. But the best of all is that THIS IS real death metal! Many "modern" death metal-bands should learn what death metal is before they call themselfs that! In Flames can throw themselfs in the wall.

1)Your treachery will die with you (6,5)

2)Shepherd's commandment (6,0)

3)Hopeless insurrection (5,5)

4)Concieved into enslavement (6,0)

5)Atrocious by nature (6,0)

6)Descend into depravity (6,5)

7)At what expense? (6,0)

8)Ethos of coercion (5,5)

Score: 6,00

John Gallagher-vocals and guitars

Sean Beasley-vocals and bass

Trey Williams-drums

Heep's 5th album and it's a damn good one! Since I bought the LP in Gothenburgh in 2000 I have listened to this one a lot. Some of the band's absolutely best songs are on it even if there's only 8 songs on the album, in fact very normal number of songs at the time. Heep continued, like on the last album only a half year before, creating progressive songs but also with very melodic parts in the songs, especially the refrains. The 10-minute progressive titlesong that ends the album could have been better though, there's something missing compared to earlier songs they recorded. The lineup is the classic one that gave Heep their biggest success. The album went to nr. 31 in the USA and to nr. 28 in the UK. Also nr. 1 in Finland and nr. 5 in Norway! This is an album every rocker should own.

1)Sunrise (9,0) A very good album-opener that builds up to a majestic and powerful song.

2)Spider woman (8,0) Good boogie-rocker.

3)Blind eye (7,0) Acoustic guitars in this energic rocker. Nice combination!

4)Echoes in the dark (9,0) UH at their best; melodic, heavy, progressive and pure quality.

5)Rain (8,5) Beautiful piano and vocal-ballad.

6)Sweet Lorraine (8,5) Midtempo rocker in true Heep-style with great basslines, psychotic keyboards and a catchy refrain.

7)Tales (8,5) Beautiful melody and singing by Byron in this slow great song!

8)The magician's birthday (7,0) Strange, both chaotic and melodic 10-minute track that sounds like there's 3-4 songs tied together.

Score: 8,19

David Byron (David Garrick) -vocals (1947-1985)

Mick Box-guitars (b.1947)

Gary Thain-bass (1948-1975)

Lee Kerslake-drums and kazoo (b.1947)

Ken Hensley-keyboards and guitars (b.1945)

3rd album from englishborn, now resident of the USA, living in Detroit, 26 year old rock guitarrist and singer Joanne Shaw Taylor. Her music is mostly connected with blues but there sure ain't much blues here, that's for sure. Her singing does not appeal to me, it sounds strained and not with much feeling. Maybe it matures with age? The songs are pretty boring, not much happenes and not much of nice melodies here. She needs some soulful singers to back her up, that would lift this album a bit. Her guitarplaying is very chaotic, I don't understand why she plays in such a messy way in her solos. I immediately skip to the next song when she begins playing that way.

No, I don't recommend this album. It was the same when I saw her live here at the local music-pub in Gävle, I lost interest after a while.

1)Soul station (5,0)

2)Beautifully broken (5,5)

3)You should stay, I should go (6,5)

4)Piece of the sky (6,0)

5)Army of one (6,5)

6)Jealousy (6,5)

7)Almost always never (3,5)

8)Tied and bound (6,5)

9)A hand in love (3,5)

10)Standing to fall (7,0)

11)Maybe tomorrow (4,5)

12)Lose myself to loving you (4,0)

Score: 5,42

Joanne Shaw Taylor-vocals and guitars (b.1986)

Billy White-bass and acoustic guitars

J.J Johnson-drums

David Garza-piano, hammond and mandolin