EZOO - Feeding The Beast (2017)

Genre - Hard Rock

Label - earMusic

Track listing:

01. You Are Your Wallet
02. The Flight of the Sapini
03. C'est la Vie
04. Guys from God
05. Feeding the Beast
06. Eyes of the World
07. Colder Than Cool
08. Too High to Be Falling
09. Motorbike
10. Since You Been Gone
11. Don't Look Back
12. Coda

EZOO is an exciting new project that see's to of hard rocks heavyweights combining forces to produce something completely new. Legendary lead vocalist Graham Bonnet (Rainbow / Alcatrazz / Graham Bonnet Band) teams up with renowned guitarist / songwriter / producer Dario Mollo (Crossbones / Mollo, Martin (with Tony Martin) / Voodoo Hill (with Glenn Hughes) / Noize Machine) to produce what has got to prove to be one of the best heavy rocks years of the year.
Drawing on the experience of these two rich Rock careers, the two leaders of EZOO obviously know how to craft a killer Hard Rock song or two.
The opening track is 'You are Your Wallet', a catchy, upbeat hard rocker, the perfect song to start the album. Mollo's riffs are to die for and Bonnet shines.
'C’est la Vie' is a killer, groovy heavy tune with lots of melody and superb solos, then the 'Guys from God' provides even more classic riffs and elaborated harmony vocal arrangements. Title track,  'Feeding the Beast', is a melodic song with strong guitar riffs, very much in the vein of Tony Martin solo album or track that might have appeared on one of the three Cage albums, with its different passages (some awesomely atmospheric) where Bonnet’s vocals are amazing.  'Motorbike', a punchy hard rocker plenty of magic, and Bonnet here simply kills. You would never know that he is almost in his 70's.
Also included on the album are two of Bonnet’s classic tracks he recorded with Rainbow; 'Eyes of the World', which is driven by a great rhythm, and the classic 'Since You Been Gone'. Here Mollo has provided his own musical spin to them, and Bonnet feels like fish in the water. His performance is as good in 2017 as he did in the originals.
Joining Bonnet and Mollo on this project are long time Mollo collaborators, Dario Patti, Guido Block (bass) and Roberto Gualdi (drums), and together they manage to pull off that real band sound, as opposed to just sounding like a studio project.

'Feeding The Beast' is a really strong album that more than surpasses an expectations a casual listener may have had prior to listening to it. Lets just hope that this doesn't turn out to be a one off project, because I would love to see what other magical gems these guys could come up with!



Rating: 10/10

DEEP PURPLE - Infinite (2017)

Genre - Hard Rock / Classic Rock

Label - earMUSIC

Track listing:

01. Time for Bedlam
02. Hip Boots
03. All I Got is You
04. One Night in Vegas
05. Get Me Outta Here
06. The Surprising
07. Johnny's Band
08. On Top of the World
09. Birds of Prey
10. Roadhouse Blues

British rock legends Deep Purple return with their latest release in the form of Infinite.
Starting out with the ‘quasi-religious computer voice’ of ‘Time For Bedlam’ you’re immediately plunged into recognisable ‘Purple’ territory, its all there from Gillan’s distinctive croon to the keyboard and guitar breaks that punctuate this swaggering rocker.
‘Hip Boots’ which follows is a rather direct bluesy rocker augmented by that distinctive Hammond sound. ‘All I Got It You’ is a track that manages to capture vintage sounds and past glories, then ‘One Night in Vegas’ has an assured, almost funky groove going on. ‘The Surprising’ is a dreamy, almost trancelike musing until two minutes in when the keys and drums fire up and we take a progressive ‘day trip’. ‘Johnny’s Band’ is more direct and guitar led, the tale of ‘Johnny Jones and his band’ and their rise to success and fall. ‘On Top of the World’, is another blues-infused story from Gillan, whilst ‘Birds of Prey’ has a little of the opener ‘Time For Bedlam’ about it, there’s that swagger, that vintage Deep Purple sound and fine performances by all.
The final word goes to a cover of the 47 year of ‘Roadhouse Blues’ by The Doors, it’s one of those landmarks songs, one of the greats in Rock’s pantheon and also one of those songs that’s deceptively simple in structure but so easy to get wrong. Deep Purple play it with a relatively straight bat, and seem to be having a lot of fun doing so. It’s a surprisingly great way to round out what has to be Purple’s finest hour in many a year.

Well worth checking out.

Rating: 9/10

Thunder - Broken Mirror EP (2017)

Genre - Hard Rock / Classic Rock

Label - Ear-Music

Track listing:

01 - Fire On The Mountain

02 - Blue Eyed Girl

03 - Beyond The Stars

04 - I Will Return

Released exclusively through the bands website, Thunder's Broken Mirror EP is a four track affair set to accompany their brand spanking new album, Rip It Up.
Broken Mirror consists of four tracks that were written and recorded as part of the Rip It Up sessions, and to be honest, any one of them could have quite easily made the album.

The EP opens with the excellent 'Fire On The Mountain', that just has classic Thunder stamped all over it. Next up we have 'Blue Eyed Girl' a great fun little acoustic driven track with a southern blues flavour to it. 'Beyond The Stars' follows, a beautiful power ballad. 'I Will Return' closes out this four track EP, a melodic track. Another slab of genius.

Broken Mirror makes a fine addition to the Thunder back catalogue, with each of the tracks easily being more than good enough to qualify inclusion of the album proper.

Highly recommended!

Rating: - 10/10

Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) - We Are the Ones (2016)

Genre - Hard Rock

Label - Red River Entertainment / Ear Music.

Track listing:

01 - We Are the Ones
02 - Over Again
03 - Close to You
04 - Rule the World
05 - We're Not Gonna Take It (2016 version)
06 - Crazy for Nothing
07 - Believe
08 - Head Like a Hole
09 - Superhero
10 - So What

the legendary Dee Snider release's his third solo record titled "We Are The Ones" via Red River Entertainment / Ear Music.
Unlike his previous solo efforts, the rocker Never Let The Bastards Wear You Down or the easy listening lounge album Dee Does Broadway, the latest record is middle of the road. What I mean by that is that "We Are The Ones" rocks ‘less’ than Bastards but rocks ‘more’ than Broadway.
"We Are The Ones" is a some kind of a transformation from ‘rock and roller’ to ‘radio friendly’ or contemporary rocker.
One must approach this new Snider record without any preconceived notions because after all; it’s not a Twisted Sister, Widowmaker or a Dee solo effort like any other before it.
The production is punchy and there’s a lot of emphasis on the choruses and hooks.
Dee Snider himself sounds spectacular on this recording. There’s no question this is the handy work of Grammy Award winning Damon Ranger who serves as album producer & songwriter for the majority of the material on the album.
Ranger was the mastermind who pitched the idea to Snider to record a more ‘current’ sounding effort.
There’s two covers on We Are The Ones. The first is Twisted Sister’s 'We’re Not Gonna Take It' which is stripped down rendition of Dee singing along with a piano. This adds a brilliant twist to a classic song in my honest opinion.
The second is Nine Inch Nails’ 'Head Like A Hole' which is a great song penned by the mighty Trent Reznor but also very much overexposed. Aside from the intro to the song, it’s a ‘color by numbers’ or ‘karaoke’ rendition that you’d hear by a contestant on The Voice or The X Factor. It just doesn't work in my opinion.
Anyway, there are some of great moments — and I wish there would have been more — on the album. Title track 'We Are The Ones' rocks with good energy, the melodic rocker 'Over And Over Again' which boasts a huge chorus, upbeat tempo and excellent hook, and 'Believe',  which would seem to be a great tune to be played in a live setting. Together with the Bon Jovi Esque 'Rule The World'
The modern, acoustically based 'So What' is also quite brilliant, with its angry lyric attitude.
Unfortunately some of the other tracks seem to just fall short, especially 'Close To You' and 'Super Hero', together with the aforementioned 'Head Like Hole'.

Worth Checking Out and nice to see a genuine rock n roll legend continuing to release new music!

Rating: 8/10

Thunder - Wonder Days (2015)

Genre - Classic Rock / Bluesy Rock

Label - earMUSIC

Track listing:

01 - Wonder Days

02 - The Thing I Want

03 - The Rain

04 - Black Water

05 - The Prophet

06 - Resurrection Day

07 - Chasing Shadows

08 - Broken

09 - When The Music Played

10 - Serpentine

11 - I Love The Weekend

12 - Black Water (Acoustic) [iTunes exclusive bonus]

13 - Broken (Acoustic Guitar Version) [iTunes exclusive bonus]

"One of the most popular and enduring British rock bands of the last 25 years, Thunder celebrate the release of their landmark tenth studio album, ‘Wonder Days’, by embarking on an arena tour in March 2015.
Since forming in 1989, the Londoners have established themselves among the genre’s most consistent attractions, notching up some twenty Top Fifty singles and cultivating a well deserved reputation as consummate live performers. Having been feted by W Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses and Whitesnake’s David Coverdale, their first two albums, ‘Back Street Symphony’ (1990) and ‘Laughing On Judgement Day’ (1992), both were certified Gold in the UK.
The group’s first studio album in six years, ‘Wonder Days’ reminds us why Thunder are now more popular than ever before. With a lineage dating back to the cream of hard rock – Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, The Who and Deep Purple – and song writing greats such as the Kinks, The Beatles and The Faces, the band’s sound is a timeless marriage of unforgettable melodies and sheer rock power.
Thunder’s legend has grown ever larger with the passing of time. In recent years they have rightly become recognised as show-stealers at such open air events as Download, Sonisphere, High Voltage and, earlier this summer, at the Calling Festival on London’s Clapham Common, where they received a reaction every bit as reverential as that of bill-toppers, Aerosmith.
The phrase ‘band of the people’ is overused, but in Thunder’s case it rings perfectly true. They’re back in our lives because people want to hear them, but also due to the sheer joy of playing music together."

Let us forget all about the bands bio and just concentrate on what we have here in "Wonder Days". For their 10th studio album, Thunder's focus seems to be on a blend of reminiscence and party time music, armed with a crystal clear production and a bunch of great songs in their timeless tradition, like a natural child of Bad Company playing their rooted Melodic Hard Rock enriched by many influences that are coming from the warm bluesy rock (“The Thing I Want” or “Black Water”) with an attractive pace, then shift to some hard rockin' infused songs (“Serpentine”) to some more acoustic stuff (“The Rain")
We have a typical Thunder ballad (the rather superb “Broken”), a few typical British Hard Rock anthems (“I Love The Weekend” or “Chasing Shadows” in the style of  early Whitesnake) but also heavier numbers such as the title track, “The Prophet”, that sounds like mid-Nineties UFO, or the last part of “When The Music Played” which is quite enjoyable and surprisingly strong.
“Resurrection Day” is another sublime and ambitious cut, another proof that Danny Bowes is a fantastic vocalist, indeed it's his voice with his soulful rendition and his faultless performance that uplift the whole album.
"Wonder Days" is a real return to form for a band that have almost become a British institution. I've only ever really heard them sound this good on two other occasions in the past, that being their stunning debut, "Back Street Symphony" and 2006's excellent "Robert Johnson's Tombstone".
Its good to have the guys back, lets just hope they decide to stick around for awhile to come now!

Very Highly Recommended!!

Rating - 10/10

Europe - Bag Of Bones (2012)

Genre - Hard Rock
Label - earMUSIC

Track listing -

01. Riches to Rags
02. Not Supposed to Sing the Blues
03. Firebox
04. Bag of Bones
05. Requiem
06. My Woman My Friend
07. Demon Head
08. Drink and A Smile
09. Doghouse
10. Mercy You Mercy Me
11. Bring It All Home
12. Beautiful Disaster (Japan Bonus Track)

"The thing that impresses me with this band is their ability to evolve with each album they release, and give the listener something that is genuinely different to the last offering. So many bands churn out album after album using the same tired old formula, but not these guys!

With bag of bones the band enlisted the expertise of producer Kevin Shirley ( Aerosmith, Dream Theater, Black Country Communion, Journey, The Black Crowes). The Result is a much more gritty sound than on Last look at Eden, and it certainly seems to suit the distinctly more bluesy vibe on this album. it sounds as if it could have been recorded live, a big part of which is down to he big open live drum sound that was common in a lot 70's production.
The song writing on this album is excellent, the lyrics are well crafted and full of emotion and soul, as is Joey's Vocal performance, which is probably his best on any of their albums since the reunion in 2003. John Norum's guitar playing, as ever, is excellent, but he really does shine on this album in partiuclar. It's obvoius that he is most comfortable when playing blues, and some of the solo work, particularly on the opener "rags to riches", is stunning."
I couldnt have said it better to be honest!
There are so many great tracks on this album, opener Riches To Rags, Not Supposed To Sing The Blues, title track, Bag Of Bones, Demon Head, Doghouse well the list goes on!
Europe are a great band that just continue to grow and evolve, Bag Of Bones has a great bluesy rock feel to it and it suite the band so well. This album is probably one of the best albums that the band have ever and will ever record!

Rating - 10/10