Passion is a new British hard rock band inspired by the ’80s and 90’s giants of the genre. The first single, “Trespass on Love” was actually the first song written for the album and the spark that ignited singer Lion Ravarez (a/k/a Dan Rossall) to start the band. “It was from here that I decided to go on and assemble PASSION as a band and produce our debut album,” says Lion. “The song is perhaps a little more mellow than the rest of the album, but it’s certainly rich with influences that hail from the melodic rock and AOR genres. We wanted our first music video to showcase PASSION’s attitude and sense of humor, it’s very tongue-in-cheek. We hope that anyone new who discovers us will understand that we just want to put a smile on their face. The music video was directed by Jay Hillyer and we shot the footage at Impossible Nightclub in Manchester, UK.”
The concept behind PASSION is simple: great musicianship, great songwriting, memorable melodies, and hooks, serve the song first. “In addition to this,” continues Lion “we wanted to create an act using fictional characters (hence the names) as we feel humor is positive after all this is the entertainment industry. Don’t let that confuse you though, we’re not a joke band. We’re deeply passionate about creating high-quality rock music and we’re also very enthusiastic about entertaining an audience.”
PASSION play straight up melodic hard rock, with bold and excitable hooks and alluring musicality. “We love soulful vocals with razor-sharp highs, memorable guitar riffs, and tasteful solos. If you like “songs”, then you’ll enjoy PASSION. I’m confident that we can make a mark on the rock and metal scenes the world over, it just takes time, but we’re gonna get there, I promise,” concludes Lion.
An absolute must for fans of AC/DC, Aerosmith, KISS, Danger Danger, Foreigner, Journey, Ratt, Van Halen, and the like.
Tracklist 1. Intensity 2. Trespass On Love 3. Too Bad For Baby 4. Lost In The Dark 5. Back 6. Victims Of Desire 7. We Do What We Want 8. Built To Please 9. She Bites Hard 10. Big Game
Line-up: Lion Ravarez – Vocals Chance Vanderlain – Guitar Weston James – Bass Bobby Laker – Drums
Mind Key was formed in Napoli some twenty years ago by in 1999 by Dario De Cicco (keyboards) and Emanuele Colella (guitars) who wanted to create a band that brought together Dream Theater, Symphony X, Evergrey, and Pain of Salvation with short direct hard rock numbers. They release their debut in 2004, played gigs with the likes of Dream Theater, Vision Divine, and Pendragon, before releasing their second album “Pulse for a Graveheart” in 2009. This saw them with a new singer, Aurelio Fierro, and they again toured with the likes of Edguy, Vanden Plas, Europe, and Hammerfall, but the band then went on an extended break.
Now they are back, bolstered by a new rhythm section of bassist Lucio Grilli (ex-Soul Secret) and drummer Mirko De Maio (The Flower Kings, Hangarvain), and one has to wonder why they have been away for so long as this is high octane from the start and never lets up. I can certainly see where the guys get their inspiration from, but I am a little surprised not to find classic Stratovarius in the list, as well as that style, is all over this. Prog Metal, melodic metal, call it what you will, this is class from start to finish. Aurelio Fierro has a great voice, with an edge that gives it additional breadth and quality, combined with a great range. Add that to a rhythm section who are never going to just sit back and play gently but instead are driving and adding to the melody, and a keyboard player and guitarist who are locked together swapping leads and one is transported.
Thankfully the production is up to the task, and the result is an album that fans of bands such as Alcatrazz will also enjoy, with Colella proving he can shred like Malmsteen when the need arises. For fans of great rock music, let’s hope we don’t have to wait nearly as long for the next one.
I thought I had managed to clear all my Christmas-released reviewing and then this arrived just before Christmas itself. Here we have five songs from L.A. Guns, the first of which starts with a somewhat rambling monologue from none other than William Shatner! I must admit, it is funny hearing him asking the band to play “Sex Action”. This then leads into “The Bills/Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You” (Billy Squier cover) which is followed by a down and dirty treatment of “Merry Xmas Everybody” which features harmony vocals, and a band obviously having fun. (Slade cover). “Dreidel” is just 9 seconds long and leads into “There Ain’t No Sanity Clause” (The Damned cover) before we finish up with “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)” (Ramones cover). 13 minutes of mayhem which actually comes off really well, as there is the impression that the guys just wanted to have a blast and that they certainly achieved.
Simply one of the greatest rock singers of our time, Jorn Lande returns with the second installment of covers of classics from artists and bands that have meant something special to him and helped forge this talented man’s own unique style.
Through Jorn’s extensive career, which includes more than 40 albums of mostly original songs, he recorded great versions of several rock classics from classic bands such as Thin Lizzy, UFO, Deep Purple and many more.
Every song JORN covers is treated with the utmost respect and “Jorn-ized” accordingly, just like the first “Heavy Rock Radio” album showed with amazing cover versions of evergress songs such as “I Know There’s Something Going On”, “Hotel California”, “You’re The Voice,” “Running Up That Hill” and several others. People and fans showed a lot of enthusiasm and interest in these versions, whose videos got millions of streams on Youtube.
This sophomore “Heavy Rock Radio 2” album is not an ordinary album of cover songs, it is truly a songbook of hits. Featured – among others – are great versions of Pages “I Do Believe in You,” Foreigner’s “Night Life”, Don Henley’s “New York Minute,” Deep Purple’s “Bad Attitude,” a stunning Metal version of Peter Gabriel’s “The Rhythm of the Heat” and of course the unmissable Dio cover “Mystery”.
More “jukebox” type of covers include “Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)” originally recorded by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and already covered by Gotthard and Bob Dylan, Bryan Adams’ “Lonely Night” (also covered by Uriah Heep), The Searcher’s “Needles And Pins” (which was brought to success by Smokie and also covered by Cher, Ramones, and Tom Petty among others) and a very personal choice from the man himself, a Russ Ballard song “Winning” which was also recorded by Santana in 1980.
Jorn says: “The most important thing was to treat these songs with respect towards the original versions, my goal was always to think that the original artist would be honored and find my version relevant. At the same time my intention was never to try to compete with the original song and artist, but make it a strong alternative version to enjoy.”
Jorn’s catalog is getting too long to include in brief press statements, and his innovative and creative skills have led to him selling millions of albums worldwide and being a frequent entry on sales charts around the world including Billboard. Worth a mention is his years with German-based MasterPlan, whom he recorded three albums with. Claimed to be the biggest selling Norwegian musical export, since the pop band A-ha, Jorn continues his rock crusade, and there are no signs of him slowing down yet.
RELEASE DATE: January 24, 2020
Tracklist: Lonely Nights Winning New York Minute Needles And Pins Love I Do Believe In You Nightlife Bad Attitude Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn) Mystery The Rhythm Of The Heat
Line-up: Jorn Lande – vocals Alessandro Del Vecchio – keyboards Sid Ringsby – bass Tore Moren, Jgor Gianola – guitars Francesco Jovino – drums
Memphis, Tennessee hard rockers ROXY BLUE are back with their first album of new material, 25 years after their now legendary debut album, “Want Some”, which is a classic of the late ‘80s/early ’90s hard rock scene. Original members Todd Poole (vocals), Josh Weil (bass), and Scotty Trammell (drums) are now joined by new guitarist Jeffrey Wade Caughron. (Original guitarist Sid “Boogie” Fletcher has left the music business for a successful career in dentistry.)
Poole says: “ROXY BLUE fans can expect an explosive new album! I think the new record is definitely a different sound than the 1992 version of ROXY BLUE, but not unrecognizable. The new record is much heavier, but still has some cool ballads and hints of early ROXY in there. I feel that it’s a well-balanced record.”
He continues: “I have been writing songs for years for different projects I’ve been in, but when Frontiers called, I knew it was an opportunity to take a fresh approach to the ROXY BLUE sound. The excitement of having a new record deal actually inspired me to write the songs for the upcoming record from scratch.”
On the band’s legacy, Poole says: “For ‘Want Some’ to be recognized as one of the finest moments in the latter hard rock days is an honor. Especially being that there were so many good bands out at the time. We were just so proud to be a part of a great rock era.”
Formed in Memphis in late 1989 by Poole, Fletcher, Weil and Trammell, ROXY BLUE started out playing original music from the get-go, with their sights set on putting their music in front of a national and then global audience. Knowing that their dreams were not going to come easy, the guys put their all into step one of their journey, which was to get started playing every gig they could get and opening for every band they could, to get themselves noticed in the local Memphis music scene. Crammed in together in a studio apartment above Cotton Row Studios, the guys were constantly writing and recording new songs and living a 24-hour rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle miles and miles away for the Sunset Strip of Los Angeles. Quickly earning a name for themselves within the local Memphis music scene and selling out club shows, they soon created a buzz in the music industry. But it wasn’t until one night while playing a local bar they were approached by Jani Lane, the vocalist of WARRANT, that things really started to take off. Jani loved what he heard and wanted to help get ROXY BLUE’s career launched. Soon after, the labels started calling and eventually Geffen Records’ legendary A&R guru Tom Zutaut flew the band to Los Angeles to sign them. The next step was to find the right producer to record the band’s debut album. Mike Clink, who had produced GUNS N’ ROSES milestone “Appetite For Destruction” and, at the time, was finishing up GN’R’s “Use Your Illusion”, was ultimately chose for the job. Clink and ROXY BLUE were a perfect match and the result was the 1992 release of “Want Some”.
And a fun fact for fans of the Frontiers label: Poole is the son-in-law of the late, great Jimi Jamison, whom Frontiers had a great, longstanding working relationship with.
Tracklist:
‘Silver Lining
Rockstar Junkie
Scream
Collide
Outta The Blue
Blinders
Til The Well Runs Dry
Human Race
How Does It Feel
What It’s Like
Overdrive
Line-up:
Todd Poole – Vocals Scott Trammell – Drums Josh Weil – Bass Jeff Caughron – Guitar
LABEL: Frontiers Music s.r.l. RELEASE DATE: August 9, 2019
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