Glenn Hughes - Resonate (2016)

Genre - Hard Rock

Label - Frontiers Music

Track listing:

01 - Heavy
02 - My Town
03 - Flow
04 - Let It Shine
05 - Steady
06 - God of Money
07 - How Long
08 - When I Fall
09 - Landmines
10 - Stumble & Go
11 - Long Time Gone

"Resonate" is the first GLENN HUGHES solo album in eight years, and is to be released via Frontiers Records.
To say that "Resonate" lives up to its name is to understate Glenn Hughes’ pivotal role in hard rock related music. Both his music and his stage performance has always been about the twin pillars of drama and dynamics and he reverts to type here.
From his constant rumbling bass and stratopheric vocal whoops that transform a heavy duty groove into something unexpected, to the bone crunching guitar lines of co-producer Soren Andersen, Hughes and his band move every last air molecule in the studio.
Given that this is his first solo album for 8 years, he works hard to re-confirm his hard rock credentials. There’s barely a tip of the hat to his mid 90′s jive ass funk and blue eyed soul, except for ‘Landmines’, which combines funk and a vocoder break, and the closing rock ballad ‘Long Time Gone’.
The title track ticks all the right boxes as his impassioned phrasing provides a sharp contrast to the booming rhythm track. His sudden vocal swoop into the hook announces that ‘The Voice of Rock’ is back.
‘Resonate’ reveals more with each play as there’s so much going on. From Chad Smith’s bombastic drums on the opening title track - albeit Pontus Engborg puts in the main shift on the album – through Hughes’s pulsating bass to Soren Andersen’s distorted (but clean) guitar lines and the album’s overall enveloping sound, this is hard rock as it was meant to be.
That said, it’s also an album that belatedly leaves the heavy rock template at the three- quarter mark, as it goes in search of other musical directions.
Indeed by the extended blow of ‘How Long’, the heavy approach seems to have run it’s course, as keyboard player Lachy Doley adds a mid-number keyboard break that compared to his impressive riffing on ‘Steady’ sounds like a filler solo.
But there’s plenty of good stuff leading up that point. Hughes adds a trademark vocal on both the booming title track and the hook of ‘My Town’.
He’s also at his most expansive on the catchy ‘Let It Shine’, the Deep Purple influenced ‘Steady’ and the soulful ‘When I Fall’. And it’s on these highlights that the band members complete a reverse arc from the opening bluster to later more restrained approach that allows them to broaden their musical palette.

Hughes vocal performance, which, just like his ripping bass lines, is the cornerstone of a big sounding album. He confidently brings his full range to bear on a wide variety of material that showcases his ability to rock as well as nuance some introspective emotive moments
On ‘Let It Shine’ we have to briefly plough through rumbling bass lines and distorted guitar tones before an uplifting hook resolution that stays long in the memory. Soren Andersen’s subsequent gnawing guitar break drags us over the coals.
This track is the moment when the band is in perfect synchronicity as it counterbalances Hughes’s hard rock credentials with his soulful style vocals.
"Resonate" certainly lives up to its name. It’s an album sculpted by layered parts and shaped by a huge wall of sound that accommodates every element of Glenn’s bristling persona. He’s an indefatigable performer who rocks, grooves and gets just as soulful in the studio as he does while treading the boards.
Ultimately Glenn Hughes imbues the hard rock template with sundry possibilities, but just like a stick of rock the end result comes stamped all the way through with his unique DNA.

An Essential Release!!!

Rating: 10/10

Dio - A Decade Of Dio: 1983-1993 [Box Set] (2016)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal

Label - Warner Bros.

Track listing:

Disc 1/6 (Holy Diver)

01. Stand Up and Shout 3:18
02. Holy Diver 5:54
03. Gypsy 3:40
04. Caught In The Middle 4:17
05. Don't Talk To Strangers 4:54
06. Straight Through The Heart 4:35
07. Invisible 5:26
08. Rainbow In The Dark 4:14
09. Shame On The Night 5:19

Disc 2/6 (Last In Line)

01. We Rock 4:34
02. The Last In Line 5:46
03. Breathless 4:08
04. I Speed At Night 3:22
05. One Night In The City 5:15
06. Evil Eyes 3:38
07. Mystery 3:55
08. Ear Your Heart Out 3:53
09. Egypt (The Chains Are On) 6:58

Disc 3/6 (Sacred Heart)

01. King Of Rock And Roll 3:45
02. Sacred Heart 6:24
03. Another Lie 3:50
04. Rock 'N' Roll Children 4:33
05. Hungry For Heaven 4:09
06. Like The Beat of A Heart 4:17
07. Just Another Day 3:23
08. Fallen Angels 3:52
09. Shoot Shoot 4:17

Disc 4/6 (Dream Evil)

01. Night People 4:06
02. Dream Evil 4:22
03. Sunset Superman 5:46
04. All The Fools Sailed Away 7:11
05. Naked In The Rain 5:10
06. Overlove 3:47
07. I Could Have Been A Dreamer 4:41
08. Faces In The Window 3:51
09. When A Woman Cries 4:34

Disc 5/6 (Lock Up The Wolves)

01. Wild One 4:05
02. Born On The Sun 5:36
03. Hey Angel 4:58
04. Between Two Hearts 6:30
05. Night Music 5:08
06. Lock Up The Wolves 8:32
07. Evil On Queen Street 6:03
08. Walk On Water 3:44
09. Twisted 4:45
10. Why Are They Watching Me 5:02
11. My Eyes 6:38

Disc 6/6 (Strange Highways)

01. Jesus, Mary & The Holy Ghost 4:11
02. Firehead 4:06
03. Strange Highways 6:51
04. Hollywood Black 5:08
05. Evilution 5:35
06. Pain 4:11
07. One Foot In The Grave 4:01
08. Give Her The Gun 5:59
09. Blood From A Stone 4:14
10. Here's To You 3:25
11. Bring Down The Rain 5:40

Warner Bros have released a fantastic 6CD Boxset featuring the re-mastered first 6 albums from heavy metal and hard rock legends. Now there has been already recent re-masters on these essential albums, deluxe editions with extra material, SHM-CD, etc, but believe me, this "A Decade of DIO 1983-1993 Boxset" is the definitive collection when it comes to sound quality. The re-mastering is superb, adding a little more punch but preserving the 'original feel' as it should be on every re-mastering job. Ronnie's voice sounds crystal clear, and if any tinkering has been done to the original mix, then maybe the vocals have been raised ever so slightly, but what the hey these albums sound fantastic, especially the first three, Holy Diver through Sacred Heart.

this set is well worth getting a hold of, if just to simply up-grade the sound quality of the original releases. The only negative is that there are no bonus tracks, I mean it would have been nice for Time To Burn or Hide In The Rainbow to have been added to the collection, and maybe some unreleased out-takes, but what the hey.

Check it out!

Rating - 9/10

VIOLET JANINE - Between Red And Blue (2016)

Genre - Melodic Rock

Label - Lionspride Music

Track listing:

01 - Heat Of The Highway
02 - Devil In Me
03 - Tell Me
04 - Everyday's A Fight
05 - Shut Up
06 - So Much More (feat. Tony Martin)
07 - Better This Than Nothing
08 - Story Of Your Life
09 - Down On My Knees (feat. Pontus Snibb)

###### First things first, the following review is not my own work, but I have chosen to reproduce it here as I agree entirely with its sentiments. All credit must go to the original reviewer #######

"Between Red And Blue" is the debut CD from Violet Janine, based around lead singer Janine Nyman and lead guitarist / songwriter / producer Daniel Palmquist, a guy that sure has been around the block of melodic rock.

Palmquist has contributed to AOR bands such as Find Me, Norwegian singer Issa and melodic metal band The Murder Of My Sweet among others, so it’s an experienced musician. The rest of the band consists of lead guitarist Mano Lewys, bass player Basse Blyberg (House Of Shakira) and drummer Ian Brunnberg.
Apart of the guest appearance by Tony Martin (who also co-wrote the track where he duets with Janine), there's Pontus Snibb of Bonafide on the track 'Down On My Knees' as well.

'Heat Of The Highway' kicks off the album and the title really mirrors the music – yes, this is true American “on-the-road” music. It’s a melodic hard rock song with an '80s US vibe, guitar driven with a melodic but pretty kick-ass beat and both, verses & chorus are very catchy.
'Devil In Me' is a raunchy rocker, then in 'Tell Me' we get a more melodic oriented tune with a sticky chorus and a midtempo melody where Janine's lead vocal takes the central role.
'Everyday’s A Fight' is the kind of power ballad that writers like Desmond Child and Diane Warren would sell their mothers to write, a total hit in my book.

Returning to hard rockin' sounds, 'Shut Up' is in your face with a fistful of attitude and fits Janine’s raspy voice like a glove. A killer track that I bet will go down like a storm live.
Next there's 'So Much More' where Tony Martin guests and duets with Janine on this bluesy ballad. Martin and Nyman work together brilliantly and the song it's big on emotion and feel. Even though the melody isn’t the usual radio friendly “don’t bore us get to the chorus” thing, the whole tune is really solid where the verses / chorus works together at making the song a stand-out track.
'Better This Than Nothing' comes with a big groove, still with some major melodic rock '80s bound on top and great guitar work. Again, this is really damn good.

'Story Of Your Life' is a midtempo ballad with some Robin Beck on it. The groove makes it a mover and the melody is quite addictive.
Violet Janine close the album with 'Down On My Knees', a great Euro melodic rocker. Singer Pontus Snibb, originally with Swedish rockers Bonafide, duets with Janine on the track and the guy does a phenomenal job. It's a killer song, he chorus is really bulls-eye and the whole tune kicks up some dust and really rocks – what a great way to end this record.

The 9 tracks on Violet Janine's "Between Red And Blue" leaves you hungry for more. But I prefer quality over quantity, and all these are really solid melodic hard rock big on catchiness.
This band has attitude, heart, soul and a big love for the music they play and they do it with all the conviction in the world. Also, all musicians are top notch and Janine is such an amazing singer with a wide range, a brilliant vibrato and a sexy raspiness which makes her one of the best female rock vocalists recently appeared.
How to sum this album and it’s music is easy - one word easy - WOW!

Very, Highly Recommended.

Rating: 9/10

Violet Janine - So much more (ft. Tony Martin) (Coming Soon!) (2016)

Genre - Melodic Rock / Blues

Label -

Track listing:

01 - So Much More

Former BLACK SABBATH frontman Tony Martin makes a guest appearance on "So Much More", the new single from VIOLET JANINE, the project led by Swedish singer Janine Nyman.

The song was originally written for Tony Martins' debut solo album, Back Where I Belong way back in 1992 but was left unused. Pity as its a bloody great song.

This is the first that I had heard of Violet Janine, and believe me it sure wont be the last, with a voice reminiscent of a young Bonnie Tyler in places, this Woman is destined for greatness!

The song is a beautiful bluesy track, that works really well as a duet, with both vocalist voices really complimenting each other.

The song  feature the talents of the the following musicians:
Vocals: Tony Martin
Janine Nyman
Guitar: Daniel Palmqvist
Bas: Basse Blyberg
Drums: Ian Brunnberg

"So Much More" will be made available as a digital single on April 21. The song is one of nine tracks that will appear on VIOLET JANINE's debut album, "Between Red And Blue", due later in the year.

Very Very Highly Recommended!

Rating  - 10/10

Bill Ward (Black Sabbath) - Accountable Beasts (2015)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal

Label - Self Released (available through iTunes)

 

Track listing:

 

01 - Leaf Killers

02 - Accountable Beasts

03 - Katastrophic World

04 - D.O.T.H.

05 - First Day Back

06 - As It Is In Heaven

07 - Ashes

08 - Straws

09 - The Wall OF Death

So without warning or fanfare, Black Sabbath's legendary original drummer releases his third, and first in eighteen years!), solo album up on the world.
And to be honest, the album sounds exactly as you would expect, with a sound that fits somewhere in between that of his debut (Ward One - Along The Way) and its follow up (When The Bough Breaks).
Opener, Leaf Killers begins with a heavy chugging riff, before piano and orchestration kicks in. A great opener and more importantly a great song.
The albums title track follows, Accountable Beasts. This song really picks up the tempo, and has a loose feel to it, in fact the entire album has a raw garage feel to it, with Bill avoiding the trappings of over producing the tracks, which really brings out the quality of the songs.
Katrastrophic World follows with its menacing atmospheres and doomy riffs. This could have been worked up into a great Sabbath track had the reunion gone to plan!
D.O.T.H is a track that could have fitted well on Ward One - Along The Way. A great song in its own right, but in my opinion the weakest one so far into the album.
Next we have First Day Back, a song with a strange beginning to say the least, funky guitars and sound bites. A great if quirky (in places) song that again would have easily fitted on Ward One.
AS It Is In Heaven is I guess the albums ballad. Its a great song, but as with most tracks on Bill's solo albums, its not quite what you are expecting. I love this song!
Ashes follows with its chugging riffs, but slow melodic vocal. Another great song, that morphs through many tempos and changes before it reaches its conclusion.
Straws is a track that some fans may have heard previously, as I am sure it was made available a few years ago whilst Bill was working on his shelved Beyond Aston project (A project that I pray will one day see the light of day!). Still its a great if rather dark song, another of my favourites.
Finally we have the albums mighty closer, The Wall Of Death, which clocks in at around the ten minute mark. Its a monster, a really great song.
Despite all the recent claims about Bills health issues he plays drums on seven of the nine album tracks, playing alongside long time collaborators, guitarist-keyboardist Keith Lynch, bassist Paul Ill, drummers Ronnie Ciago and Walter Earl and a number of vocalists, including his daughter Emily.

This album proves that there is plenty of life in the Black Sabbath legend, along with vast amounts of creativity it would seem too.

Accountable Beasts is a good honest old Hard Rock album that is well worth checking out.

Vary Highly Recommended!!

Rating - 10/10

OZZY OSBOURNE - Memoirs Of A Madman (2014)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal

Label - Legacy

 

Track listing:

01 - Crazy Train
02 - Mr. Crowley
03 - Flying High Again
04 - Over The Mountain
05 - Bark At The Moon
06 - The Ultimate Sin
07 - Miracle Man
08 - No More Tears
09 - Mama, I'm Coming Home
10 - Road To Nowhere
11 - Perry Mason
12 - I Just Want You
13 - Gets Me Through
14 - Changes (feat. Kelly Osbourne)
15 - I Don't Wanna Stop
16 - Let Me Hear You Scream
17 - Paranoid (Live at The Roundhouse, London 2010)
(Previously unreleased)

"Memoirs Of A Madman" serves as a great reminder of Ozzy's career, spanning audio release featuring 17 of OZZY OSBOURNE's greatest hit singles remastered and compiled in one place for the first time in his career.
This set offers fans of the multi-platinum recording artist, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and three-time Grammy winning singer and songwriter the ultimate collection from Ozzy's distinguished solo career.
In 1979, after a ten-year journey, Ozzy and his band mates - hard rock/metal pioneers Black Sabbath - parted ways, which opened the book to an amazing new chapter as Ozzy embarked on an incredible solo career.
From the first notes of Ozzy's 1980's solo debut 'Blizzard Of Ozz' and follow-up 'Diary Of A Madman' to classic albums 'Bark At The Moon' and 'No More Tears', no hard rock / metal solo artist had quite the same reach as Ozzy, whose distinctive vocal delivery and larger than life onstage persona quickly endeared him to millions of rockers.
Ozzy's influence never stopped as the years went on, from the creation of the successful rock event Ozzfest to an unlikely turn as a television star on MTV's hit series The Osbournes.
For Ozzy, though, his heart remained in the music: his tenth studio album, 2010's 'Scream', debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard charts and featured the No. 1 Mainstream Rock smash "Let Me Hear You Scream", included here of course.
This is the audio only package with all songs sounding wonderfully remastered.
It is highly recommended to get as well the two-disc DVD set which includes classic music videos, along with unreleased and out-of-print live performances, plus interviews.
This is definitely a long-awaited collection of Ozzy's visual material that, up until this release, has never been available in one place and much less in digital media.
"Memoirs Of A Madman" is an almost perfect compilation, the only complain it's the omission of one of Ozzy's best songs ever; "Shot In The Dark".
Apart from that, this is a must have.
Rating - 9/10

WAMI (White Appice Mendoza Iggy) - Kill The King (2014)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy metal

Label - Metal Mind Productions 

Track listing:

01. The Rider

02. Young Blood

03. One More For Rock'n'roll

04. Guardian Of Your Heart

05. Transition

06. The Resistance

07. Exodus (The Red Sea Crossing)

08. Heart Of Steel

09. Wild Woman (You Oughta Know)

10. Get Out Of My Way

11. I Don't Wanna Lose You

WAMI are a brand new super-group featuring the talents of vocalist Doogie White (Rainbow, Schenker, Yngwie, La Paz), drummer Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, DIO) and bassist Marco Mendoza (Black Star Riders, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake) alongside 16-year-old Polish guitarist Iggy Gwadera, who are releasing their debut CD "Kill The King" today, May 13.
The whole idea for this project was started by Marco Mendoza two years ago. Performing in Poland, Thin Lizzy was supported at that time by the metal act Anti Tank Nun – and, as it seems, the extraordinary talent of the support act’s guitarist, Iggy Gwadera, left Mendoza enchanted.
The collaboration between the two followed and soon it evolved into a full star-studded project, involving Mendoza and Gwadera as well as shouter Doogie White and monster drummer Vinny Appice.
To make a perfect heavy metal fairy tale out of it, it should be added that the impressive Gwadera is only 16 now, the fact that can really restore one’s faith in the late ‘90s “generation Z” as they call it.
Of course, the fairy tale wouldn't be complete without the input of the Fairy Godmother(s), or, in this case, the producers’ team. Here we go as follows: Jarek ‘Chilek’ Chilkiewicz (a well-known Polish guitar player) as well as the album’s composers Wojtek and Piotr Cugowski (the two talented sons of Polish classic rock legend Krzysztof Cugowski who followed their father’s footsteps artistically).
The result of this multi-dimensional collaboration is "Kill The King".
Enough of the background – let the music do the talking.
WAMI’s first release is perfect balance between hard rock versus traditional metal, classic roots versus contemporary sound, aggressiveness versus melody.
“The Rider” is the dynamic opener featuring the dazzling guitar gallop, followed by the powerful, upbeat mid-tempo “Young Blood” where stellar vocal harmonies complement the melodious main riff.
The next song is a bit self-introductory, as White sings 'we are rock’n’roll believers' in his raspy but strong voice; it’s “One More For Rock’n’Roll”, a number with a Black Sabbath trademark style and psychedelic flavors.
Fourth track is the absolute highlight – the ballad “Guardian of Your Heart”, where Doogie White shares lead vocals with the above Piotr Cugowski. A result of their collaboration behind the microphone is the brilliant, emotionally laden performance, and the surprisingly perfect match of these two voices brings the song to a whole new level.
“Transition” is pretty heavy and straight-in-your-face with a bouncy rhythm, which precedes the mellow intro to “The Resistance”, but that's only seconds before the track evolves into a metallic killer stomper with muscular gun-machine riffs and feisty, aggressive vocals – but at the same time, still melodic. Interestingly enough, this song’s outro is an obvious reference to White’s Scottish heritage – check it out and you’ll have it loud and clear.
“Exodus (The Red Sea Crossing)” is driven with a slow, lumbering, early eighties metal British-esque atmosphere. Its follow-up “Heart Of Steel” is a groovy but melodic hard rock piece, driven by quite modern riff.
Some bluesy hard rock overtones are to be distinguished in “Wild Woman (You Oughta Know)”, a feisty and groovy hard rock piece (think early Whitesnake), in a contrast with “Get Out Of My Way” which develops into a fast-paced, dynamic hard rocker with aggressive dialogue between the lead and backing vocals.
The final cut “I Don’t Wanna Lose You” is a soaring acoustic ballad with cello part played by the guest musician Dorota Wozniak-Mocarska and a perfect melody to finalize the CD.
"Kill The King" above all, proves one undisputed fact – this international, intergenerational hard rock WAMI project really works. And even more, the sensational artistic collaboration between a group of talented Polish musicians and the three hard rock legends would be seriously unappreciated if referred to only as a curiosity in Appice’s or White’s vast discographies.
It’s so because of many reasons – not only the predictable quality of the performance by the legendary musicians of Rainbow, Dio or Whitesnake fame, but also well-crafted compositions penned by the creative duo of Cugowski brothers.
The true scene stealer is, however, guitarist Iggy Gwadera – being not even old enough to vote and still, capable of meeting such a challenge. His talent and prowess, surprising at such young age, really shines through the entire album, and it’s almost certain we’ll hear about this gifted young man in the future – perhaps mentioned again alongside big names of the music industry.
Let’s also hope Kill The King won’t be the last album under the WAMI moniker – although with the bar set so high with the first one, it’ll be hard to top it.
Strongly Recommended.

Rating - 8/10

Full Line Up - 

Doogie White - vocals

Vinny Appice - drums

Marco Mendoza - bass

Iggy Gwadera - guitars

Additional musicians:

Jarek ‘Chilek’ Chilkiewicz – additional electric & acoustic guitars

Wojtek Cugowski – add. electric & acoustic guitars, backing vocals

Piotr Cugowski – guest lead vocals (track 4), backing vocals

Tomasz Golab – bass (track 5)

Szymek Synowka – drums (track 9)

Marek Trojanowicz – all keyboards

Dorota Wozniak-Mocarska – cello (track 11)

Eliza Cugowska, Krystyna Cugowska & Ewa Chilkiewicz – backing vocals

thanks to Alexandra Mrozowska

Schubert In Rock - Schubert In Rock (2013) Review

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal
Label -

Track listing:

01. Second King Of Darkness (feat. Tony Martin)
02. Heavy Metal Party (feat. Biff Byford)
03. Cavalry Of Evil (feat. Joe Lynn Turner)
04. Ready For The Action (feat. Marc Storace)
05. Good Morning Sir (feat. Doogie White)
06. Lady Of The Tower (feat. Doogie White-Joe Lynn Turner)
07. Black Jack Billy (feat. Joe Lynn Turner)
08. Young Free And Deadly (feat. Tony Martin)
09. Don On Fire (feat. Don Airey)
10. Stairway To Hell (feat. Doogie White)
11. Three Horned Dragon (feat. Biff Byford)
12. Perfect Body (feat. Marc Storace)
13. Davi (feat. Doogie White)
14. Holy Ground (feat. Bernie Marsden)

Schubert In Rock: A fusion of great Rock-musicians recording an album with Klaus Schubert from Austria. featuring a fantastic line up that includes: Klaus Schubert (Guitars) Bernie Marsden (Guitar) Nail Murray (Bass) Don Airey (Keyboard, Hammond) Vocals: Joe Lynn Turner (ex. Deep Purple, Rainbow) Tony Martin (ex.Black Sabbath) Doogie White (ex.Rainbow) Biff Byford (Saxon) Marc Storace (Krokus)

Ok so with such a prestigious gathering of rock music's top musicians you would expect this album to be something a little special, and it is. The musicianship is Divine,as you would expect from such a line up, buts so cohesive, almost as though these guys had been playing together in the same band for the last twenty years. The songs are solid and some of the vocal performances are simply awesome, from Tony Martin on "Young, Free and Deadly" to Biff Byford on "Heavy metal Party" to Doogie White on "Stairway To Hell" and the albums most standout track, "Davi"

"Schubert In Rock" is a great classic hard rock album that displays the talents of all those involved very well.

Well worth checking out!

Rating - 9/10

Bedlam - Live In Binghampton 1974 (2013)

Genre - Hard Rock / Classic Rock
Label - Angel Air Records

Track listing:
01. I Believe In You
02. The Beast
03. The Great Game
04. Set Me Free
05. Interview
06. The Fool

BONUS TRACK
07. The Beast (remix)

"BEDLAM were one of the hardest working rock bands of the early 70’s and they released one studio album, performed hundreds of gigs across UK and Europe and one USA tour from which this album was recorded in New York in 1974. The band was on the cusp of success but COZY POWELL’S success with his solo single “Dance With The Devil” effectively killed off the success the band had worked so hard for. DAVE BALL had left PROCOL HARUM where he replaced Robin Trower back in 1971 to form Bedlam. In the future FRANK AIELLO would work again with Cozy Powell in HAMMER. Included is a bonus track which is a newly remixed version of a track from the original Bedlam album."

Well first let me just say that considering the age of the live recording on offer here it is stunning!
Here Bedlam, a band that were truly on the verge of greatness, are captured at their absolute live best! Great songs that are on a par with anything released by their contemporaries such as Led Zepplin, Deep Purple, Cream, even the mighty Black Sabbath!
A truly remarkable recording presented with great linear notes by a lable that has a habit of un-erthing and releasing these lost gems!


Rating - 10/10

Black Sabbath - 13 (2013)

Genre - Heavy Metal / Hard Rock
Label - Vertigo / Universal

Track listing -

01 - End Of The Beginning
02 - God Is Dead?
03 - Loner
04 - Zeitgeist
05 - Age Of Reason
06 - Live Forever
07 - Damaged Soul
08 - Dear Father

09 - Methademic (Deluxe Version Bonus Track)
10 - Peace Of Mind (Deluxe Version Bonus Track)
11 - Pariah (Deluxe Version Bonus Track)

12 - Naivete In Black (Best Buy Deluxe Version Exclusive Bonus Track)


Black Sabbath return with (almost) their original line up and the first full studio album to feature Ozzy Osbourne on lead vocals in 35 years. (The last being 1978's Never Say Die.) In the absence of original drummer Bill Ward we see Rage Against The Machine drummer, Brad Wilk, joining the legends Tony Iommi (Guitars), Geezer Butler (Bass), and Ozzy Osbourne (Vocals).Production duties are handled by one Rick Rubin, a masterly producer whom has had a rather hit and miss track record as of late, but its good to say that he managed to pull off a great job here, capturing the original Sabbath sound rather well.
       On a side note, before I begin the review proper is warming to note that 13 has given Black Sabbath their first UK No1 album in 43 years (Paranoid being the last!) and their first ever No1 album on the US Bill board top 200!
        Now for the review!
The album opens with End of the Beginning. A brave choice for an album opener clocking in at a little over eight minute long, but it works well setting the tone for what is too follow! The song has a very understated epic feel it. Heavy in place with Ozzy providing a great melodic and slightly unsettling lead vocal whilst Iommi provides some great riffs throughout! A great opening song!
Next up we have the albums lead single, God Is Dead?. This song is a killer, and I can totally see why it was chosen as the albums lead single. Heavy, with lots of twists and turns with the closing sections bringing classics like Hole In The Sky to mind. A great song!
Loner follows, changing the pace and feel a little. The song comes across as a sort of mixture of Johnny Blade and N.I.B. A great song .
Next up we have the albums first gem and future classic, Zeitgeist. A mellow track that is very reminiscent of Planet Caravan. I love the atmosphere that this song creates with its simple and restrained structure! Love Iommis guitar work throughout and especially the solo. this song shows that Black Sabbath have lost non of their 70's magic.
Age Of Follows, changing the tempo a little. A heavy track that's guaranteed to get the crowd fired up in a live environment, with some great riffs.
Next up we have Live Forever. This songs sees Iommi and co pick up the pace. A great song in the veins of Children Of The Grave, Back Street Kids, and Hole In The Sky.
Following Live Forever we have the awesome Damaged Soul, a very heavy blues work out, and a guaranteed future classic. this track can holds its own along side ANY track from the bands legendary first six albums. The atmosphere, the riffs, Ozzy's harmonica, everything just slots perfectly into place with this one. A great song
Closing out the album proper we have Dear Father. A great song that deals with a rather dark subject matter lyrically. Another future classic! Plenty of tempo changes to drive the song along. It even ends with the thunderstorm and rain together with church bells reminiscent of the the debut albums title track Black Sabbath.

Next we have the three bonus tracks that come with the deluxe edition.
First up is Methademic. The song begins with a gentle acoustic opening section before exploding into an uptempo melodic rocker, that to me has a similar feel (musically) to I Witness. I have a feeling that Geezer was heavily involved in the writing of this one as certain sections remind me of his solo bands (GZR) Mysterons from the album Black Science. Guaranteed to become a live favourite!
Peace Of Mind follows, the shortest song of 13's entire tracklist, and despite a promising opening with some great lyrics, the song quickly becomes rather forgetable, almost Sabbath by numbers.
Pariah follows, another gem in my opinion. A melodic track that just works.

Finally we have the Best Buy Deluxe editon exclusive track, Naivety In Black. A fast tempo-ed track, with some autobiographical lyrics and some great driving riffs! Another gem worth tracking down!

So there we have it, Black Sabbath return with an album that has been along time in the making, bearing in mind that they originally reunited back in 1995, and ended up scrapping album plans to disband agin and continue with various other projects.
the band can rest assured that in 13 they have created an album that they can be proud of, an album that can stand shoulder to shoulder with any album from their illustrious back catalogue, now I for one am just hoping that this isn't their final album! With 13 they have proven that they have plenty of gas left in the tank! Sure I would have loved Bill Ward to have been a part of this, and if there is a follow up album I hope he can reconcile his differences with the rest of the guys.

Now in my dream world we have have a follow up album from Black Sabbath, and new solo albums from Iommi, Geezer, Ozzy (?) and Bill Ward!

A great album, well worth the wait!

Rating - 10/10

Giuntini Project - IV (2013)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal / Melodic Rock
Label - Escape

Track listing:

01. Perfect Sorrow

02. Born In The Underworld
03. Shadow Of The Stone
04. Cured
05. I Don't Believe In Fortune
06. If The Dream Comes True
07. The Rise And Fall Of Barry Lyndon (Instrumental)
08. Bring On The Night
09. Not The Jealous Kind
10. Saint Or Sinner
11. Your Love Is Killing Me (Japanese bonus track)
12. Last Station: Nightmare (Instrumental)
13. How The Story Ends
14. Truth Never Lies

Since he started the project twenty years ago, guitarist Aldo GIUNTINI has been releasing one consistent album after another, taking his time between them to polish the material and going over every fine detail. Yet it still seam's hard to believe that it has been over six years since part 3 of his Giuntini Project was put out!
One again, as on II and III lead vocals are handled by the one and only Tony Martin (Ex-Black Sabbath, Empire, Mollo/Martin, Rondinelli, Silver Horses, M3, and Solo artist) which bodes well for the projects stability and continuum. 
So how does project IV compare with its predecessors? Pretty darn well to be honest.
The album opens with Perfect Sorrow, a fairly fast tempo ed track that would have fit very well onto the previous album III. Born In The Underworld slows the tempo down a little next, with its dark almost grinding riff. This track would have sat comfortably along side the rest of the tracks on the classic Project II album, a really great song Shadow Of The Stone follows, and proceeds to tell the tale of what happened after the events of The Headless Cross. A slightly more melodic track with a mid tempo ed with a classic Rainbow feel to it, especially during Aldo's guitar solo's. (To my ears anyway!) Another great song.
Cured is up next. Another track that could have fitted well onto Project II, another mid tempo ed track with a kind of grinding riff that is driven by the venom in Tony Martins vocal delivery. One of my favourite songs so far. I Don't Believe In fortune follows, a great up tempo blues track that is quickly followed by If the Dream Comes True which is a great up tempo melodic rocker.
The Rise And Fall Of Barry Lyndon is up next, a four and a half minute instrumental that starts with some grandiose keyboards before the guitars come bursting in. A nice change of pace.
Bring On The Night follows, a great mid tempo ed rocker which sees Tony Martin sharing lead vocals with Liz Vandall for what makes a great duet!
Not the Jealous Kind, slows things down slightly, another favourite track, which sees Tony Martin deliver some great vocals, along with some terrific vocal harmonies.
Saint Or Sinner, sees the guys return to a blistering tempo, that has a few twists and turns along its journey. A great rocker that I imagine would go over really well in a live environment.
the albums second instrumental track is up next, the five minute and twenty second Last Station:Nightmare. A great atmospheric piece that showcases Aldo's ability as an instrumentalist.
How The Story Ends follows. A truly great song which seems to have a Megadeth feel to both its main riffage and the vocal melody. It has a brisk tempo and a bellyful of venom. This is definitely my favourite track on the album!

Truth never Lies closes out the album proper. A fast tempo ed track with a typical and familar Giuntini Project feel to it. Another great song!
Your Love Is Killing Me is included on the Japanese editions of the album as a bonus track. Its a strong song, maybe not as strong as the rest of the album, but a good track non the less, not the usual throw away track.
Theres not a single song that could be classed as a filler here. Aldo's guitar work is precise and toneful, the vocals, as you would expect from Tony Martin, shine. The keyboards add just the right amount of atmosphere and texture in the right place's and the rhythm section stands tall to serve the purpose providing a solid foundation for the songgs to spring from. When you match up musicians to their proper strengths, the outcome usually is compelling and this is the case with "IV".




The line up for the album includes:
Tony Martin: vocals

Aldo Giuntini: guitars
Fulvio Gaslini: bass
Fabiano Rizzi: drums
Roberto Gualdi: drums
Dario Patti: keyboards
Liz Vandall: vocals on 'Bring On The Night'


Very Very Highly Reconmended     Rating 10/10

Adrenaline Mob - Coverta EP (2013)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal / Classic Rock
Label -

Track listing -

01 - TNT (ACDC)
02 - Stand Up And Shout (DIO)
03 - Break On Through (The Doors)
04 - Romeo Delight (Van Halen)
05 - Barracuda (Heart)
06 - Kill The King (Rainbow)
07 - The Lemon Song (Led Zepplin)
08 - Mob Rules (Black Sabbath)


Adrenaline Mob return with what in all honesty can only be a stop gap covers album / EP. With Coverta they tackle eight varied all time classic from the likes of ACDC, Rainbow, Heart, Black Sabbath, Dio, The Doors, Led Zepplin and Van Halen. Interesting mix hey? Well interesting but these guys pull them off perfectly, and as varied as they are they sit together here just as though they were written specifically for this release.
Russ Allen pulls of the vocals perfectly and axemen Rich Ward and Mike Orlando do admirable jobs playing the riffs of such messers as Richie Blackmore, Tony Iommi, Agnus Young, Eddie Van Halen  and Jimmy Page.
Although this can only be a stop gap until the bands next studio release its well worth checking out just to hear how well they pull these classic off!

Highly reconmended!

Rating 9/10

Silver Horses - Silver Horses (2012)

Genre - Hard Rock / Classic Rock / Blues Rock
Label - 7Hard Records

Track listing -

01. Rub It On Me
02. Run
03. Life And Soul
04. Diamond Sky
05. Secret Service
06. Suddenly Lost
07. Me
08. Silver Horses
09. You re Breaking My Heart (Don t Do It)
10. You
11. Who s Holding On To You

Silver Horses are a brand new 70's style  Hard Rock band featuring the vocal talents of the awesome Tony Martin (ex Black Sabbath / Mollo Martin's Cage / Empire / M3 / Giuntini Project / solo). Tony Martin handled the vocal duties for Black Sabbath during the late 80's and early to mid 90's  on such albums as: The Eternal Idol , Headless Cross , Tyr , Cross Purposes , Forbidden , Cross Purposes Live and The Sabbath Stones.This Anglo-Italian band combine the classic style's of Led Zeppelin and Whitesnake and twist it a little by adding a modern touch. Now first off, are they any good? Well musically the band are as tight as you can get, and the songs are pretty darn strong to boot, well written and well executed, but does Martin's voice really suite the more bluesy direction of this collection of tunes? Well he's covered Dazed and Confused, Stormbringer (Cage albums), and a multitude of Whitesnake classics during his days with Cozy Powell's Hammer and M3, so although this music is a little different to his usual hard rock / metal output, yes his voice suites the songs well, especially on tracks like Suddenly Lost (the albums high point for me), Secret Service and title track Silver Horses, this album does show case Martins versatility really well.
There is plenty of variation here, from the uptempo(Rub It On Me) to the stompers (Secret Service) to the atmospheric ballads (Suddenly Lost) and the quality never drops at all throughout the album.
Now here's to hoping that these guys take this project out on the road, and for the love of god follow it up with another album!

Rating 9/10

IAN GILLAN & TONY IOMMI - Who Cares 2CD (2012)

Genre - Hard Rock / Classic Rock / Heavy Metal

Track listing -

CD 1 :


01. WhoCares - Out Of My Mind (first time on an album) Featuring Jon Lord, Linde Lindström (HIM), Jason Newsted (Metallica), Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden)
02. Black Sabbath - Zero The Hero
03. Ian Gillan feat. Iommi, Ian Paice & Roger Glover - Trashed
04. M. Rakintzis feat. Ian Gillan - Get Away (first release on a Gillan album, only released in Greece before)
05. Tony Iommi feat. Glenn Hughes - Slip Away (Rare Track first time on CD)
06. Gillan - Don’t Hold Me Back
07. Ian Gillan - She Thinks It’s A Crime (Limited 7" vinyl B-Side, First Time on CD)
08. Repo Depo feat. Ian Gillan - Easy Come, Easy Go (previously unreleased)
09. Deep Purple feat. Ronnie J. Dio - Smoke On The Water" (live with the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra)

CD 2 :

01. WhoCares - Holy Water (first time on an album) Featuring Jon Lord, Linde Lindström (HIM), Jason Newsted (Metallica), Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden)
02. Black Sabbath - Anno Mundi
03. Tony Iommi feat. Glenn Hughes - Let it Down Easy (Rare Track first time on CD)
04. Ian Gillan - Hole in My Vest (7" vinyl single B-side, first time on CD)
05. Gillan & Glover feat. Dr. John - Can’t Believe You Wanna Leave Me
06. Ian Gillan & The Javelins - Can I Get A Witness (old recording)
07. Garth Rockett & The Moonshiners aka IG - No Laughing in Heaven (Rare Track)
08. Ian Gillan - When A Blind Man Cries (Live at Absolute Radio, previously unreleased)
09. Deep Purple - Dick Pimple (Previously Unreleased Studio Jam)




Deep Purple's IAN GILLAN and Black Sabbath's TONY IOMMI took everybody by surprise in 2011 by releasing a the 2-track single under the WHOCARES moniker. With these two legendary heavy weights of the rock circuit ot really having worked together since 1983's Black Sabbath album BORN AGAIN this was a real treat for rock fans the world over.For the occasion, the two rock legends called a few friends and were soon joined by the sadly recently deceased Jon Lord (Deep Purple) on keyboards, Jason Newsted (ex Metallica) on bass and Nicko McBrain (ex Iron Maiden) behind the drum kit.

Not only jamming together for the sheer fun of things, this new project has united for a cause — rebuilding and helping the music school in Gyumari, Armenia. The single was an inspired moment and a reminder of what these guys were easily capable of producing, and more impotantly it left the fans hunrgy for more!.
Gillan & Iommi have now decided to make "WhoCares" an album for their devoted fans. Classic songs, a lot of rarities and unreleased material in two CDs of fantastic rare music.

Among the tracks are the two original WhoCares songs; Deep Purple's unreleased studio jam "Dick Pimple" and a song from Repo Depo (a band Ian Gillan formed before the Deep Purple reunion which never released any material) We also find two previously hard to obtain songs from Tony Iommi featuring Glenn Hughes, that originally were only available as selected bonus tracks to the various formats of the FUSED release, obscure collaborations, B-sides lost on seven-inch vinyl and exclusive live versions recorded on radio.
The sound quality is truly outstanding, especially considering that these are mostly unreleased material or have not received previously a digital treatment.
"WhoCares 2CD" is much more than a compilation or a cash-in anthology, this is a real collector's item and a must have for every Ian Gillan, Tony Iommi, Purple, Sabbath - in short; Rock music fan.
the biggest gripe that I have with this release is that it feels a little one sided, with a lot of the tracks coming from Gillan and only 5 tracks (not including the WHO CARES single tracks) actually featuring Iommi, id have loved to have seen a few moew obsure Iommi tracks featured!
On the whol;e a really strong release, and well worth shelling out for as most people will have never have heard most of the tracks that are spread over these two discs.
Now if only Tony Iommi can make a full recovery and put out a full album of new material with Ian Gillan.......

Rating - 9/10

Bedlam - In Command 1973 (2012)

Genre - Hard Rock / Classic Rock
Label - Angel Air Records

Track listing:

TRACKLISTING

01. I Believe In You
02. Hot Lips
03. Putting On the Flesh
04. Sarah
05. Drum Solo / Seven Long Years
06. Mother in Law
07. The Fool
08. The Beast
09. Set Me Free
BONUS TRACKS
10.Dance With The Devil

MUSICIANS

DAVE BALL, COZY POWELL, DENNY BALL, FRANK AIELLO

"In 1973 COZY POWELL joined up with the Ball Brothers (DAVE and DENNY) (Dave had just left PROCOL HARUM) and Frank Aiello (TRUTH) to form BEDLAM (the ultimate rock band) whose debut album was released in 1973. The world was their oyster and they performed in Europe and USA to much critical acclaim. A review in Melody Maker from 12th May 1973 said "A perfect blend of big band experience and unquestionable talent are going to make the all-star British band Bedlam, very big indeed"

A highly successful tour of USA (with BLACK SABBATH), then the band crashed and burned. Ironically it was success that lead to the band breaking up. Cozy Powell had released a drum tune called "Dance With The Devil" which was released on Mickey Most's RAK label. Bedlam were offered a deal with the RAK label to produce pop music singles with Cozy fronting the band. This is not what Bedlam were designed for.

By 1974 the band split though following on from Cozy's UK number 3 Hit single "Dance With The Devil" which features as a bonus track on this release as the only known Bedlam recording of that song recorded for USA TV Show Midnight Special (recorded on 4th February 1974)

"Bedlam In Command 1973" was recorded live in front of an audience at Command Studios, London 22nd October 1973 principally as a promo recording for the USA."

This album captures the magic of what was Bedlam in full flight, an I for one are extremely grateful to Angel Air Records for releasing this album and allowing me to hear the majesty of this band, as I wasn't even born when it was recorded!

The album captures the sound of a band that were truly alive, in a gig that must have been amazing.
Well worth checking out!

Rating 10/10

Dario Mollo, Tony Martin - The Third Cage (2012)

Genre - Hard Rock / Melodic Rock / Metal
Label - Frontiers Records

Track listing:
01. Wicked World (4:28)
02. Cirque du Freak (4:11)
03. Oh My Soul (4:57)
04. One of the Few (3:59)
05. Still In Love With You (4:19)
06. Can’t Stay Here (4:05)
07. Wardance (5:56)
08. Don’t Know What It Is About You (4:51)
09. Blind Fury (5:02)
10. Violet Moon (7:34)

"Dario Mollo and Tony Martin first got together when the Italian guitar player/produced and composer needed the right singer after the put together a new set of songs in the late 90’s. The former Black Sabbath singer came about on a suggestion from producer Kit Woolven (UFO, Thin Lizzy) with whom Dario Mollo had been working during his Crossbones years. Tony Martin wrote lyrics and melodies for the amazing tracks that Dario had already assembled, and thus The Cage was born.

The first album, released independently in 1999, gained a great success among the Hard Rock fans and the critics and Dario started finally to make himself a reputation over the international markets. This debut was later followed by an equally acclaimed second album in 2002.
Mollo has been very busy since then, releasing one more album with the Voodoo Hill project with Glenn Hughes. He then toured Europe with Graham Bonnet and Don Airey. After Don became a permanent Deep Purple member, Dario and Graham Bonnet put up Elektric Zoo, touring Europe again, performing songs from Rainbow, Alcatrazz, Voodoo Hill and The Cage. In 2008 Dario released an album with the more alt-rock Italian band Noize Machine, before getting again to work on a new set of Hard Rocking songs for a new record with Tony Martin.
“As usual we are 50/50 partners”, explains Mollo. “I write all the music and Tony then contributes with the melodies and lyrics. We also try together different structures of the tracks and we rearrange them to better fit the vocal parts. Then I go ahead and take care of the entire production of the album, tracking, mixing and mastering”.
The songwriting, the sound and the video production of this new project are absolutely stunning and show the great skills that Mollo has developed in the past few years. All Hard Rock lovers should simply not miss this record which bravely melts several influences in a cutting edge release. “There are much better songs, performances and production on this album, plus we will finally bring this project live out there: we have a lot of great songs to perform to our loyal fans, we look forward to meet them” concludes Dario Mollo."

This the latest collaboration between Dario Mollo and Tony Martin on The Cage project opens with the bone crunching heavy riff and attitude driven Wicked World, which is also the lead single and video to be taken from the album. A contemporary sounding track showing that these guys know how to move with the times. Next up is the brilliant Cirque Du Freak, which Tony says was lyrically inspired by the movie the Vampires Apprentice. Again a heavy track with a modern edge with a great use of keyboards, a great song!

Oh My Soul follows, and is, in my honest opinion, one of the albums highlights. A great song that would have fitted comfortably upon any of the albums that Tony recorded back in his period with Sabbath. A track filled with atmosphere and emotion filled lyrics, a great song of epic proportions!
One Of The Few quickens up the pace a little, being more of a heavy melodic rock track, before the guys slow things down with the eastern flavored heavy Still In love With You, which is very similar in style to the song Al-Sirat from Empire's The Raven Ride album, again a great song! (Who said love songs cannot be heavy?)
Can’t Stay here is up next and to be honest, in my opinion, is the weakest track on the album. The song switches the tempo up a gear with almost a little funk feeling going on, it is a good melodic song, just feels a little out of place here. The guys redeem themselves with the next track, a quirky heavy song, Wardance. A Great track with some excellent lyrics, with a strong message without taking itself too seriously.
Don’t Know What It Is About You, is another great song, heavy, great tempo, yet melodic, before the leading into Blind Fury, A mid tempo heavy track. Once again, a great song. The album closes with Violet Moon, a trippy melodic song for which Tony apparently managed to come up with the lyrics in the studio, not even writing them down.

The Third cage really is a great album, full of variety and above all else, great songs. The guy’s are apparently considering taking this album out on the road, and hopefull they do as they have a wealth of material which deserves to be aired to a live audience.

I love this album, and bias aside, (I am a huge Tony Martin Fan and have been since 1989!) it’s a very strong album well deserving of recognition. To be honest this album only has one fault, and that being that its not longer!

Rating - 10/10





Line-up:

Tony Martin – Vocals (ex-Black Sabbath, Giuntini Project, Empire, Rondinelli, Phenomena, Tony Martin Band)
Dario Mollo – Guitars (Don Airey, Kit Woolven, Giuntini Project, Voodoo Hill)
Brian War/Dario Patti – Keyboards (Giuntini Project, Voodoo Hill)
Fulvio Gaslini – Bass (Giuntini Project, ex-Crossbones)
Roberto Gualdi – Drums (Voodoo Hill)

BLACK SABBATH's 'The Eternal Idol' Expanded Reissue To Include RAY GILLEN Recordings

This is huge news for Sabbath fans!
According to a posting on the BLACK SABBATH fan site Black-Sabbath.com, expanded reissues of SABBATH's "Seventh Star" (1986) and "Eternal Idol" (1987) albums — which featured Glenn Hughes (ex-DEEP PURPLE) and Tony Martin, respectively, on vocals — will be made available in the U.K. on October 25 via Sanctuary/Universal.


After just a handful of dates on the 1986 "Seventh Star" tour, Hughes was let go, and singer Ray Gillen was brought on board. Gillen finished the tour, and work began on the next SABBATH album, and it was mostly completed. Gillen left to form BADLANDS (with now-KISS drummer Eric Singer, who also previously played with SABBATH), and this left BLACK SABBATH with a mostly completed album, and no singer. Tony Martin was brought in and re-recorded all the vocals in two weeks. The album came out with Tony Martin, and the only remaining bit of the original Ray Gillen vocals was some laughter in the track "Nightmare".
The original Ray Gillen version of "The Eternal Idol" has been traded in bootleg circles for ages now.
The additional tracks on "The Eternal Idol" expanded reissue include "Some Kind Of Woman" and "Black Moon" (demo) on Disc 1. Disc 2 will comprise the entire Ray Gillen version of "The Eternal Idol" album!

"The Eternal Idol" expanded reissue track listing is:

Disc 1:
01. The Shining
02. Ancient Warrior
03. Hard Life To Love
04. Glory Ride
05. Born To Lose
06. Nightmare
07. Scarlet Pimpernel
08. Lost Forever
09. Eternal Idol
10. Black Moon (demo)
11. Some Kind Of Woman

Disc 2 (featuring Ray Gillen on vocals):
01. Glory Ride
02. Born To Lose
03. Lost Forever
04. Eternal Idol
05. The Shining
06. Hard Life To Love
07. Nightmare
08. Ancient Warrior

The first disc of the "Seventh Star" expanded reissue will include the album as well as the remixed version of "No Stranger to Love", which appears in the music video of the same. Disc 2 is a live concert recorded on June 2, 1986 and has Ray Gillen on vocals.

"Seventh Star" expanded reissue track listing:

Disc 1:
01. In For The Kill
02. No Stranger To Love
03. Turn To Stone
04. Sphinx (The Guardian)
05. Seventh Star
06. Danger Zone
07. Heart Like A Wheel
08. Angry Heart
09. In Memory
10. No Stranger To Love
11. No Stranger To Love (remix by Jeff Glixman)

Disc 2 - Recorded Live On June 2, 1986 (featuring Ray Gillen on vocals):
01. Mob Rules
02. Danger Zone
03. War Pigs
04. Seventh Star
05. Die Young
06. Black Sabbath
07. N.I.B.
08. Neon Knights
09. Paranoid

As I said this is huge!

** This info is reposted from Blabbermouth.net ***

Ronnie James Dio Tribute Concert Announced!

This has been taken from http://www.black-sabbath.com/ and I would just like to help spread the word!

Ronnie James Dio Tribute Concert Announced!

Today I'm proud to bring to you the details of the Ronnie James Dio tribute concert that have just been announced. Heaven & Hell have issued a press release (shown below) of the one off tribute show they're doing for Ronnie. It will be held on Saturday July 24, 2010 at the High Voltage Festival in London.

This actually was a gig that Heaven & Hell had planned to play with Ronnie, but it was canceled with the rest of the dates a few weeks before Ronnie died. It apparently has been revived, and there's some details available now as to what's going on for this gig. This will be billed as "Heaven & Hell", and the lineup will be:

Tony Iommi - Guitar
Geezer Butler - Bass
Vinny Appice - Drums
Glenn Hughes - Vocals
Jorn Lande - Vocals

First, while the press release doesn't mention it, I'd assume that Scott Warren will play keyboards. When I first read the press release, I wondered with a lot of fans who the heck "Jorn Lande" is. From the PR, "Norwegian Jorn Lande is best known in the UK as the vocalist for power metal band Masterplan, he has also released many solo albums including a tribute to Ronnie." I had never heard of him before, so I looked him up. Holy crap is this guy good. I saw him do some covers of old Dio era Sabbath tracks, as well as Dio tracks, and he nailed it. What's amazing is he can mimic other singers too. Heard him do Ian Gillan on Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers" - holy crap, he nailed it. I've included a few Youtube videos here with Jorn to check him out. I really dug what I heard from this guy today, made an immediate impact on me. You might also want to check out this link about Jorn, too. :)

If Black Sabbath/Heaven & Hell ever wants to give it a go with another singer, I vote for Jorn Lande. Wow.

Anyway, I have no information at the moment regarding tickets, whether there will be more sold, or it's just people who already had festival tickets or whatnot. Hopefully more info on that comes out soon, at which point I'll announce it too.
I'd love to be able to fly over there for that, but no way I can afford to. If you're going to be at the concert, you blimy bastard. :)
I'm also trying to find out if they're recording this. If it's a charity thing, I would think DVD & CD sales would be a way to benefit that too. But as of right now, I don't know for sure.

Here is the full press release as sent to me by Heaven & Hell. Enjoy!

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Heaven & Hell Announce One Off Show

A Tribute to Ronnie James Dio
At
High Voltage Festival, Saturday 24th July 2010

Proceeds to be donated to the
Ronnie James Dio "Stand Up And Shout" Cancer Fund

On the 16th May 2010 Ronnie James Dio passed away and the world of music mourned the loss of the greatest voice of heavy metal.
Dio was a truly iconic figure in music, whose work with Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and most recently Heaven & Hell defined a genre.
Heaven & Hell were set to be on the road in Europe this summer when news came through that despite the amazing progress he was making Ronnie wouldn't be well enough to tour and those shows were canceled. But now, remaining members Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice are set to play a one off show to celebrate his life and work. The band will be completed by Glenn Hughes and Jorn Lande who will both contribute vocals. Former Deep Purple / Black Sabbath star Glenn Hughes was a close friend of Ronnie's for many years and performed a musical tribute at Ronnie's funeral service in Los Angeles. Norwegian Jorn Lande is best known in the UK as the vocalist for power metal band Masterplan, he has also released many solo albums including a tribute to Ronnie. It promises to be a fitting celebration to a man that the metal scene owes so much.

"It's going to be a very emotional occasion. Ronnie loved his fans like no-one else I know - and they loved him. It will be a privilege doing a gig in honour of his memory, and to help towards his charity. Above all, I hope it encourages people to have regular check-ups for this disease. Early detection is vital, and greatly improves the chance of a cure. I know everyone has heard that a million times before, but seeing one of your best friends die because we all think we're immune from this disease, really brings it home. Do it for yourself, your family, your friends. Ronnie would be proud of you." Love & Peace, Geezer Butler

Tony Iommi says "Ronnie's passing has left a huge hole, we hadn't anywhere near finished what we set out to do as a band together. He was so looking forward to the European tour and we hope this appearance will go some way to fulfilling that."

The Ronnie James Dio "Stand Up And Shout" Cancer Fund Program Description
*The fund is committed to the early detection and prevention of cancer through facilitating access to medical screening and medical educational programs.
*The fund supports programs designed to integrate medical knowledge into local communities such as cancer screening programs, education on nutrition in cancer prevention, exercise and overall wellness."
*The goal of the fund is to reduce the risk of developing life threatening cancers by offering access to preventative medical services."
*Furthering the commitment for patients to access to quality medical care related to cancer, the fund seeks to assist families burdened by the cost of caring for loved ones with cancer."

For further information on the Fund and to make a donation please visit http://www.ronniejamesdio.com/

Tickets for High Voltage festival are priced £135 (for weekend tickets) and £75 (for day tickets). There is no booking fee for Classic Rock Presents High Voltage tickets. Other VIP packages available alongside standard tickets from www.highvoltagefestival.com or 24hr cc ticketline 0871 230 5582.

Please check the websites below for further updates
http://www.highvoltagefestival.com/
http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/





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Jorn - Dio

With the sad passing of a legend like Ronnie James Dio I guess it is inevitable the we'll get a flood of tribute albums, starting with this one by Jorn Lande, and to be honest, this is going to take some beating.

Opening with the only original track on the album, 'Song For Ronnie James', Jorn manages to set the perfect tone, with the aforementioned song being finely crafted very much in the Dio vein, and it fits well amongst the other 12 Dio classics.
The really smart thing here is that Jorn has not gone for the obvious song choices, instead choosing some of the more obscure album tracks.
'Invisible' follows 'Song For Ronnie James', with Jorn staying faithful to the original in both the arrangement and feel of the song. Jorn Lande's voice lends itself well to the songs too, with his Dio mixed with Coverdale vibe. An absolutely brilliant version of 'Shame On The Night' follows, and I have to say, I may even prefer this to the original!
'Push', originally from Killing The Dragon is up next, followed by a rawking version of 'Stand Up And Shout' A great version of the Dio classic 'Dint Talk To Strangers' is up next, again with Jorn putting in a stunning performance. 'Lord Of The Last Day', 'Night People' and 'Sacred Heart' follows before we get to possibly the albums highlight, 'Sunset Superman'. Here n and the guys really do find the heart and soul of the song, absolutely stunning!
A short Black Sabbath medley is up next, with Jorn managing to combine 'Lonely Is The Word', with 'Letters From earth' and the ending of 'Sign Of The Southern Cross', and by god, it works really well.
Next up is a breath taking version of Rainbows 'Kill The King', before the album closes out a live version of 'Straight Through The Heart'.

If ever Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler are considering a tribute concert of some kind for the late Ronnie James Dio then they simply have to ensure Jorn is involved in some way!
This is the very first tribute album for Dio, and will probably remain the best for some years to come!

website - http://www.myspace.com/realjorn
rating 10/10