Ostura - 'The Room' Album Review

OSTURA – THE ROOM

Six years is a long time between album releases. A lot can happen in that time, the biggest issue being the fan-base. In todays throwaway music era, where songs are disposed for having a 20 second intro by the ‘millennials’, but thankfully us rock fans are of a more discerning disposition and made of sterner stuff.  Six years is nothing in the scale of rock bands, but I had to admit that even I was a bit worried that this album would never see the light of day. It was written immediately after the debut ‘Ashes Of The Reborn) from 2013 up and through to 2016…..and here it is (finally) in 2018! Top marks to Ostura for not losing faith and getting ‘The Room’ out there. I for one am bloody glad that they have persevered.

They probably feel like a cat with 10 lives, as it has been picked up by Universal Music MENA, when it could have literally gone south and not got released at all.  There have been some Ostura casualties along the way. Gone are Tony Ghanem (vocals) and Chris Naimeh (drums), and in comes Alain Ibrahim (guitars), and Alexander Abi Chaker (drums – live, and additional percussions, and he wrote all the drum parts for The Room’). For the album, Thomas Lang is behind the kit and has quite an extensive CV and I have to say, IS ON FIRE here.  

The 12 songs were written in chronological order and work as a score for an equally cinematic storyline about a social recluse girl who takes refuge in a room. Locked in with her thoughts, fears and ambitions, the girl’s imagination turns the room into an endless universe where she is the creator. Soon after, the creation gains the ability to create and ask the right questions. The story tackles the notions of fear, perfection, social anxiety, ambitions, rage, power, and the struggle between the creator and the creation.

The Room is a massive production with performers from 12 countries, alongside the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and the core band.. The premise has a lot to live up to. So, do Ostura live up to this high bar they have set for themselves?

Emphatically, yes! Where the debut was more ‘Metal’, and a mix between something like Avantasia and Kamelot, ‘The Room’ is a different experience entirely. The sound now is more cinematic and falls partly on the side of Ayreon. The sound (track) is like that of a film, it’s filled out and sounds huge, partly due to the involvement of The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, a choir, string quartet, and an electric triangle. The whole concept has been so carefully constructed that the Orchestra and band are not overwhelming each other or jockeying for position. It’s a prefect balance of band and orchestra coming together for probably THE release of the year

After a very long wait, I can wholeheartedly, 100% state that ‘The Room’ is worth it, and then some! Opening track ‘The Room’ starts with this pulsating and growing riff that explodes into action. The contrast is vocals between Erosion (Monsef) and The Girl (Jreissata) that works a treat, then you have the roughness/industrial vs. the angelic, light vs. dark, and the melodic  vocals of Utopia (Michael Mills, Toehider). ‘Escape’ has hall the hallmarks of symphonic metal that you could wish for. Mills proves to be the Ace in the pack as his vocals are ear-splittingly phenomenal. The Room is more than just Within Temptation with a couple of extra sets of balls, as Ostura throw everything into the mix, both vocally and musically, there is even the daddy of them all, a Hammond organ.

In case you are worried, the three-pronged (trident) vocal assault that was seen on the debut is still here. Only this time, Monsef and Jreissata have seriously upped their game, and have in Mills a singer of the highest quality. The guy is immense, his vocals are up there with early Queesnryche’s Geoff Tate. Monsef glides from low to high with ease, and Jreissati is just simply divine.

‘Beyond’ is where the cinematic soundtrack comes to the fore.  Alan Ibrahim’s and Marco Sfogli’s guitar playing collides with the PSO – electric vs. an orchestra, industrial riffs dueling against violins  (An orchestra is just the heavy metal of the 1600s to the present day, without a Marshall), all coming together for this huge soundscape of noise.  ‘Erosion’ is one of those songs that I wish I could play through a PA. It’s a track that you just can’t play loud enough. It mixes the brutality of guitars that Dream Theater used to do so well, with a male baritone choir! Ostura have so much faith in what they are doing that the orchestra parts come to the fore and throw in a choir for good measure adding further to the already pomp-tastic sound.

‘Mourning Light’ is the first chance to catch your breath as its just The Girl, and a small accompaniment in comparison. We have just witnessed the beautiful calm and serenity of The Girl, you know there’s something sinister just around the corner.  It doesn’t half deliver with ‘Deathless’. It’s the kind of intro that you would see on a film like Godzilla, or Cloverfield, dark and looming with a sense of impending danger. The final third of ‘The Room’ has two of the biggest songs in both ‘Darker Shape Of Black’ and the other being a 12-minute magnum opus ‘Duality’.  The song has everything – huge riffs, against a Middle Eastern backdrop, and with the orchestra adding an overall massive sound. The filling in the middle of these two monsters is ‘The Surge’ and is solely a vehicle for ‘Erosion’/Monsef to take centre stage.

In fact I’m going to leave it right there. It would be a poor read if all I did was wax lyrical about every song in a similar manner. I blame both Danny Bou-Maroun and Elia Monsef. Its their bloody fault the ‘The Room’ is so damn good!

I simply cannot fully express in words how good ‘The Room’ is. If you’re a fan of Ayreon, and I know there are quite a few of you out there, you absolutely positively need this in your collection. There’s a lot to absorb here, as ‘The Room’ will require several listens as its like being bombarded with a wall of sound. The end result though is seriously worth the wait. In the world of cinematic rock, Ostura stand-alone, no one can touch them. Purely as an album it is up there with Ayreon’s ‘01011001’ and possibly Dream Theater’s ‘Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory’. I'm not kidding, folks!

Credit needs to go to Jens Bogren. Ostura have a hell of a lot going on here, and to get the production so ‘right’ has taken one huge effort. To mix the sound and multiple layers are not an easy task to make it sound as good as this, and he has done a superb job, where others could easily have failed.

Honestly, very few albums hit my inbox that are this good.  If anything peaks this in 2018 whether it be metal, prog, AOR and everything in between, I will be very surprised indeed. This is without doubt, awesome!

Score – Awesome!

Tracklisting –

The Room

Escape

Beyond (The New World)

Let There Be

Erosion

Mourning Light

Deathless

Darker Shade Of Black

The Surge

Duality

Exit The Room

Ostura

Youmna Jreissati – Vocals as ‘The Girl’

Elia Monsef – Vocals as ‘Erosion’ Charango, Additional Acoustic Guitar, Programming, Engineering, Media

Danny Bou-Maroun – Piano, Keyboards, Orchestration, Programming, Cubase Operation, Additional Percussions

Alain Ibrahim – Acoustic guitar, Rhythm Guitars, Guitar Co-arrangements

Alexander Abi Chaker –Additional percussions, Drums Co-arrangements on tracks (1,2,4,5,8)

Guest Musicians

Michael Mills – Vocals as ‘Utopia’

Thomas Lang – Drums

Dan Veall – Bass

Marco Sfogli – Lead Guitar on tracks (1.2.3.5.8.11)

Ōzgūr Abbak – Lead Guitar on Track 6

The City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra Conducted by Danny Bou-Maroun

The Lebanese Filmscoring  Ensemble – Choirs, String Quartet

Yamane Al Hage – Violin Solo on Tracks (3,8,9)

Jokine Solban – Violin Solo on Track 2

Nobuko Miyazaki – Flutes on Tracks (9,11)

Mohannad Nassar -  Oud on Tracks (5,10)

Roger Smith – Cello on Tracks (1,10,12)

Mixed, mastered and re-amped by Jens Bogren at fascination Street Studio, Sweden

Alexandre Moreira – Editing

All vocals, piano, violins, percussions, recorded at the Citadel, Dlebta, Lebanon

Twitter - @Ostruraband

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/osturaband/

Cassidy Paris - 'Talk About It' Single Review

Cassidy Paris – ‘Talk About It’

I must admit I don't normally do single reviews, but every now and then I come across an artiste that deserves a review, especially when its a promising debut such as this!

Cassidy Paris a 14 year old from Melbourne is a new artiste on the pop/rock scene. She comes from a musical family, her dad is Steve Janevski of The Radio Sun, and Black Majesty, but  she is purely trying to go it alone and on her own terms with no like to her dad.

Talk About It is her debut single, and I have to say that it shows a great deal of promise for what is hopefully lying ahead of her. You would possible think that she it trying to get to the teen market, but it’s a bit more complicated than that, as ‘TAI’ is a song that would more than catch the ear of many an adult who goes for a catchy tune. The more I play it, the more it gets under my skin, and isn’t that just what music is all about?

The song was co-written with Paul Laine (Dark Horse, Danger Danger) and draws its influences from Avril Lavigne, Pink, and dare I say it, and the riff is something that could easily come from the hands of the great Rick Springfield.

The biggest complement I could give is that I could really imagine her dads band performing it as it comes from a very similar stable and style to The Radio Sun, ignoring the lyrics of boyfriends of course!!

For me, anyone who wears a Dokken ‘Back For The Attack’ t-shirt and has posters in her wall if Kiss, Halestorm, The Biters, and Bill & Ted immediately gets my vote!

The future is very bright for Cassidy Paris.

https://www.facebook.com/cassidyparisofficial/ 

Atlas - 'World In Motion' EP Review

Atlas – World In Motion EP

I really look forward to the days when either a friend (Michael K) recommends a band, or just a band themselves gets in contact, especially if it’s a gem of a release. In this instance it’s a UK melodic rock band from Manchester called Atlas. Just don’t confuse them with the other Atlas who is a metal Bengali band.

Atlas (UK) consists of Craig Wells (Vocals), Howie Little (Guitars), John Moss (Guitars), James Thorley (Keys/Percussion) and Christian Redfearn (Bass).

‘World In Motion’ is a four track EP that I’ve been waiting to hear since I heard a song of theirs a couple of months back. On early inspection vocalist Craig Wells is a mix of Tony Mills and Vince Neil. Guitarist John Moss has recently been added and his guitar work is exemplary. Just check out the Atlas FB page, which shows John jamming along to a couple of Work of Art tracks which, is no bad thing in my opinion.

Opening track ‘Change Of Heart’ sounds as if Tony Mills is fronting Vega. There’s some definite Vega-esque ‘Whoa’s’ and keyboard riffage along with some excellent guitar work from both Little and Moss. ‘Alexandria’ is the weakest of the four. It’s not bad, but Atlas has some good stuff going on for the rest of the EP. The pitch is high on the vocals for the early part, but settles into place once the chorus comes into play.

The stand out tracks by a country mile is the latter two. First is the rather excellent ‘Cross The Line’ a true melodic rock song in a 80s influenced style, everything about it is good.  (Bloody Good!) It brings in influences from Survivor, and sees Moss trading riffs with James Thorley’s keyboards. Exceeding it for brilliance is ‘Lost In The Moment’. There’s a lot more going on with this track, its more in line with something on the lighter side that Dream Theater would do, it ranges from complex, to acoustic and then technical, before finishing with a more West Coast vibe, this my dear reader is a damn good song.

If the first two songs were on a par with the last two, then Atlas would have an absolute pearler on their hands. As it stands its comfortably good. This is a very promising EP. The guitar work from John Moss is particularly of note, but when it is set amongst the mix of the other guys its taken up another notch as what could be some humdrum songs by others is given a kick up the arse and you just have to take notice.

I hope that some bands touring the UK (especially those from Sweden) would take Atlas under their wing and get them out to a decent audience. Also HRH, Rockingham SOS and JSY could do these guys a favour and get them on their bills.

80/100

Atlas

Craig Wells- Vocals

Howie Little – Guitars

John Moss – Guitars

James Thorley – Keys / Percussion

Christian Redfearn – Bass

Tracklisting

Change Of Heart

Alexandria

Cross The Line

Lost In The Moment

https://www.facebook.com/atlasprojectuk/

EP review can be heard here -  https://soundcloud.com/atlasprojectuk

Moritz - 'About Time Too' Album review

Well I thought if I was going to do a last review, it might as well be a good one! Moritz are back in the game, it’s been four years since SOS was released and a mighty 30 years since their first. In terms of Prog bands, Moritz are still pretty damn prolific by comparison!

There been some changes since the last album. Greg Hart has departed to form his ‘Cats In Space'. Hart was one of the main songwriters in Moritz, and you would think that his trip into space would affect the Moritz output. Well, you’re completely wrong, because ‘About Time Too’ sees Moritz ditch some of the pomp and go more rock than roll and added a bit of soul and blues without losing any of the melody that the AOR crowd love them for.

I was fortunate to be given the demoes to listen to a few months back, and they were a stellar set of songs before they were tweaked and polished. I can’t believe it was 10 months ago.

The band still consists of its core members Peter Scallan (Vox), Mike Nolan (guitars) and Ian Edwards (Bass/Keys). In comes long time cohort Kenny Evans (guitars) and John Tonks (drums). I add that for the ‘up and coming gigs’, Moritz will be joined by Chris Teeder (keys) and Russ Wilson (drums). Cool. Everyone’s got a mention.

The demoes didn’t need much polishing, but they have pulled out all the stops and raided both Auto Glym and Mr Sheene and its been polished to within an inch of its life (in an utterly good way). The change is fantastic.

Scallan has had his shackles unleashed and is like a different singer. The guy now has a  more bluesy raspiness to his tone. And the result on the opener ‘One More Beautiful Day’ is brilliant. Couple this with the sumptuous harmonies and the wonderous composition and starts to albums don’t get much better than this.

‘Moon And Back’ is like ear candy of the highest order. The chorus just infecting your lug’oles and embedding itself after just one listen. Its like something that the lapsed Rock God Michael Bolton would have done in his brief dalliance with AOR. ‘Chance of a Lifetime’ has a great 80s lyric, ‘walking on a thin line, between love and hate’. It’s a huge 80s influenced song. In fact, if it were 1986 we would all be shitting ourselves with excitement! I’m an old fart brought up on music like this, and I did let out a little excited fart if I’m honest, as it brings back a lot of great memories from so many great bands (and times). The melodic rock community will love this. ‘Dreamland’ is probably the only song on the album that keeps it all reined in. It shows a different side to Moritz. ‘Take it On The Chin’ (s) kicks off with Flight Lieutenant Mike Nolan (he of the flying V display troupe) who steps up and produces a face melting riff combined with Ian’s Hammond sound which also sees Peter Scallan catching his balls on razor wire and hitting a note that only dogs and teenagers can hear. Scallan sings, ‘Some you lose, some you win, you gotta take it on the chin.’ Well based on this selection, Moritz will undoubtedly be winners.

‘Run’ shows that its not all about pure pink fluffiness. The Moritz boys like to rock out occasionally and this is a prime example. A co-write with Ivan Gunn, it gets full marks as a soft/LOUD rocker; the best ones mix the tempo, and this one does it with flair, and has a cracking guitar solo. It will sound massive live. ‘Love Long Gone’ is the kind of song that bands tried to coax out of the ‘masters’ such as Diane Warren or Desmond Child back in the day, and it wants to make you dig out your bleached denims and leg-warmers, and buy a DeLorean and head back to the 80s. ‘Own Little World’ is ‘Styx-esque’ with layers upon layers of vocal harmonies. It is a ‘Part II’ companion piece of ‘Caught Between Life & The Light’ from SOS and is an absolute delight.

Next up is my outright favourite on ‘ATT’. The demo stood out like a baboon’s arse, and it does today even though I had to go looking for it as the title has changed to ‘You Don’t Know What Love Is’. Its Like Procul Harum, Percy Sledge, and Lorraine Ellison got down and dirty, and 9 months later it spawned ‘YDKWLI’ (it just rolls off the tongue)! The guitar solo from Mike Nolan is up there with some of the best. Moritz hit the final furlong full in their stride with ‘There’s Something About/Unwanted Man’, a moving synth intro (think Tarot Woman), before unleashing the beast. Fuck. Me. ‘Unwanted Man’ is huge. The opening riff is to die for, then it steps back to build its tempo to a crescendo and ‘that chorus’. Evans and Nolan trade licks like Robbo and Gorham back in the day. Wow! Its one of the best finishes to an album I’ve heard in quite some time.

Kids, there’s a bloody good reason why Moritz are so damn good. They have influences from a time when there were lots of great melodic rock bands around. They take snippets from the best and turn them into their own style. When other labels are turning out ‘average’ as being acceptable, its great to see some local boys leading the charge and showing the rest how it should be done.

I’ve loved ‘Undivided’, and ‘SOS’, but ‘About Time Too’ takes it all to a whole different level.

95/100

Moritz –

Peter Scallan – Lead & backing vocals

Mike Nolan – Electric & acoustic guitars, vocals

Ian Edwards – Bass, synthesizers, Hammond organ, vocals

Kenny Evans – Electric & acoustic 6 and 12 string guitars

John Tonks – Drums

Tracklisting –

About Time Too (Intro)

One More Beautiful Day

To The Moon and Back

Chance Of A Lifetime

Dreamland

Forever Is

Take It On The Chin

Run

Love Long Gone

Own Little World

You Don’t Know What Love Is

There’s Something About (Intro)

Unwanted Man

Walkway - 'WWIII' Album Review

Walkway – WWIII

Its bleedin’ criminal how a band like Walkway can go virtually unnoticed in the UK, especially when they are as good as they are. They opened up the HRH AOR festival back in March. I dug out a YouTube vid a couple of days before and was blown away as to how good they were. It turned out they were as good as I hoped they were going to be, probably, no, definitely even better than imagined.

To emphasise how good, they were as tight as a very tight thing at HRH towers. Why? Ill tell you why….when this album was launched recently, Walkway performed their 1000th gig to launch this album. If you follow them on FB, it seems like it was their 1000^th gig just of 2017. If they have endorsements, a couple should be Dunlop Tyres, Kwik Fit, and Premier Inn, as these guys are away from home more than a Jehovah’s Witness.

Walkway doesn’t take any prisoners, whether it’s in the recording of the album (just 13 days at Sonic One Studio in Wales and mastered at Abbey Road), or the songs themselves. Walkway is based around the Ready brothers – Chris (guitar lead vocals) and James (lead guitar, backing vocals), and Andy Burlace (drums and backing vocals). The subsequent output from these guys in nothing short of memorable

I don’t have the first two albums to make that contrast, so it’s all on this one for analysis. I definitely wouldn’t class Walkway in the AOR bracket. They just happen to be a very good rock band with a knack for melody and hooks.  ‘Stutter’ has a big dirty riff, that’s up Nickleback’s street. Add in the chorus, and is a good a song as Kroeger can muster up. Its stadium rock at its finest. ‘Best I Ever Had’ again is to grab the listener by the ears and force-feed you with a giant riff and instantly memorable chorus. If this were an established US band like say Nickleback, then the radio play, and plaudits would be all over it. ‘Get A Grip’s’ chorus again is nothing short of ear candy. Add in James’ rolling guitar lick and its song that screams quality. Casey in particular takes some of its lead from Def Leppard’s ‘Pour Some Sugar…’ – especially the ‘Whoa’s!’ If you are going to nail your flag to the mast, it may as well be a good one. ‘Kiss Me Hard’ falls on the grittier side of their repertoire, such as ‘Stutter’ and ‘GAG’. ‘Holding On To Letting Go’ is Walkways ballad; all good bands should have one. ‘HOTLO’ builds up its pace and is in a similar vein to Skid Rows ‘I Remember You’. It is also included as an acoustical bonus track. Both stand tall in their own way.

The rawk returns for the frenetic ‘Leap Of Faith’ with James Ready letting rip in the soloing stakes and is as good as anyone I’ve heard in some time. ‘Something ‘Bout You’ falls on the heavy side, more Grunge than anything preceding this, and sees James making good use of his wah-wah!

There’s three bonus tracks to take on board….‘Rain’ a great Quo cover and tribute to the late Rick Parfitt, and features John Coghlan on drums, ‘Mission Impossible’, another Leppard-esque air punching anthem if ever I heard one, and finally the afore mentioned ‘HOTLO’

Chris has a bit of Robert Plant in him (oo-er), and is a front man of excellence. Couple this with James’ ability to rattle off huge riffs for breakfast and is in the style of some 80s classic guitarists, and it all makes for a sumptuous experience.

To be honest, this is a good a release as any band you’ll hear this year. The songs are great, performed with a swagger and an experience that only comes from experience and age, and constant touring. Walkway has two of these in abundance (age is on their side). See these guys live, as this is definitely where the magic happens. They tour that much, there’s a bloody good chance they will be hitting a town near you soon!

If there’s any justice, more festival appearances should be on the cards for Walkway, as they would play to many more I’m guessing than playing 3-5 gigs a week in pubs up and down the UK. It’s certainly honing their quality, but they truly deserve to play in front of bigger audiences. Walkway are going places, and its only in one direction….up!

Score 85/100

Tracklisting

Stutter

Best I Ever Had

Get A Grip

Casey

Kiss Me Hard

Modern Day

Same Old Situation

Holding On To Letting Go

Leap Of faith

Something ‘Bout You

Rain (Bonus)

Mission Impossible (Bonus)

Holding On To Letting Go (Acoustic) (Bonus)

Walkway

Chris Ready – Lead Vocals, rhythm guitar, keys

James Ready – Lead Guitar, backing vocals

Andy Burlace – Drums, backing vocals

www.officialwalkway.com  

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialWalkway 

https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialWalkwayPage 

https://twitter.com/WalkwayRock 

https://www.instagram.com/walkwayofficial/ 

Dan Reed Network + Vega Live Review - The Live Rooms Chester, 4th March 2017

 

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Dan Reed Network + Vega – Live Rooms Chester, Sat 4^th March 2017

The two bands on stage tonight deserve/d to be huge. DNR had all the ducks lined up in the late 80s/ early 90s and were tugging on the coattails of the likes of Bon Jovi with their funk/rap/jazz/ soul infused hard rock edge with some pop overtones. They were fairly unique in their day, and is possibly, no, strike that, definitely why their record company did bugger all in spreading the word. So instead of tonight’s gig being at Wembley, it’s at the Chester Live Rooms. 

Vega on the other hand still deserve a shot at being huge. They’ve been around a while now (since 2009) and with every passing album and gig, there’s bigger and better performances coming from the guys.  Last night nudged my Vega viewing into double figures. One thing these lads do ever so well is, first and foremost, they hit you with a powerful melody. The first song ‘Stereo Messiah’ was missed due to visa issues (a Welshman travelling into England) so I entered to the anthemic ‘What The Hell’ and by this point in the place was rocking. Its also nice to see a Live Room gig attended by quite a few people for once, and Vega, whilst nowhere near the same type of band as DRN, they prove to be a perfect foil for them. When you have the Martin brothers shitting out melodies for fun, and then having this backed with the guitar prowess of Marcus Thurston, and a powerful and engaging front man like Nick Workman, it makes for a cracking nights entertainment. ‘Gonna Need Some Love Tonight’ is a prime example – infectious, and with an end line harmony that will melt the hearts of any a detractor. Apart from a minor potential electrocution, Vega was superb. New songs like 'Every Little Monster' (I cant type it without singing it) are potential future classics. All the songs are anthemic, and why set out your stall as being ‘average’ when you can write and perform songs like ‘Hands In The Air’, ‘White Flag’ and ‘Savin’ Grace’. I expect them to be one of the bands of the festival at HRH next weekend.

Dan Reed Network is a different band. They all seem relaxed; in fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen a happier looking band. Just don’t miss your cue, or set the monitors up correctly as Mr Reed, despite the smiles and political statements/and Trump jokes, is a consummate professional. After the lady jiggled some wires  (oo-er!) at the front of the sound desk, we were ready to be taken on a journey. Tonight (possibly others too) the set list is non-existent pretty much and the DRN is open up to offers….but more of that a little later.

Straight up from the debut is in force with DRN storming into ‘Ritual’. Despite being the wrong side of 50 (60+ for Brion James!), not just Dan, its all bar young Rob, they all prance about the stage just like it was 1988. The faithful were not to be disappointed, songs were played from all across the network, “seven Sisters Road” played with a frenetic ending, after which the floor was opened up by Dan, now taking requests….’Rainbow Child’ shouted a punter. The usual response for this said Dan was for every ‘Woo-hoo’, there’s a ‘fuck no!’ Thankfully the ‘fuck no’s’ were beaten down and they hammered it. ‘I’m So Sorry’ was up next. It sounded as if it hadn’t had an airing in quite some time, but this added to the whole enjoyment and spontaneity of the evening. I prefer to call it an ‘off the cuff’ performance.

‘Baby Now I’ segued into a medley of Kiss’ ‘I was Made For Lovin’ You’, ‘Enter Sandman’, ‘Relax’ ‘All Right’ (sung by Melvin, followed by a bass solo) and a smidge of ‘Highway To Hell’ Fantastic stuff indeed! A couple of new songs (Infected’ and  ‘Champion’) sandwiched ‘Under My Skin’ and some Bruce Lee 'Kung Fu' with added drum sound effects. Young pup Rob Daiker was given the chance to shine with one of his own songs, an excellent blues number ‘All For A Kiss’ first accompanied by Brion, then the rest of the Network joining in. This stripped down version with just a guitar was superb.

The last three songs were at hand with ‘Ritual’ being my fave of the evening. That much so, I still can’t stop singing it some 15 hours later. The staple ballad ‘Stronger Than Steel’ set the tone, finishing with a crescendo and ‘Tiger In A Dress’.

Dan still sounds pretty much identical as he did almost 30 years ago, and it makes for a terrific nights entertainment. Throw in James. Pred, Brannon Jr and Daiker, and the end result is one of the best gigs you’ll witness in 2017 or any other year. Most of the gigs are almost sold, so what are you waiting for….get your asses our to one of the best tickets in town. All this for a mere £9 a band and you can say hi afterward. No £50 meet n greet to be seen here folks! My only gripe…..no ‘Make It Easy’, ‘Slam’ or ‘Long Way To Go.’

That said Vega and Dan Reed Network provided one of the gigs of the year without a shadow of a doubt.

We had to catch the bus home as we absorbed that much drink via the alcohol soaked carpet by osmosis!

PICTURES COURTESY OF 'JEFF PRICE PHOTOGRAPHY'

You can still catch them on tour....

DRN March 2017 UK Tour with special guests VEGA

Mar 5: The Globe Cardiff
Mar 7: The Cluny Newcastle (Sold Out)
Mar 8: Òran Mór Glasgow
Mar 10: The 100 Club London (Sold Out)
Mar 11: The Local Authority Sheffield
Mar 12: The Robin 2 Bilston
Mar 14: The Ruby Lounge Manchester
Mar 15: Rescue Rooms Nottingham

Photo by Jeff Price. #DanReedNetwork

Mad Haven - 'Sound Of The Music' EP Review

Mad Haven – ‘Sound Of The Music’ EP

So far in 2017, my reviewing ears have been subjected to some tripe to say the least.  I was hoping for some relief, and thankfully I have found it

I’d heard on the local jungle drums that there was a (very) young North Wales band that’s been growing in reputation and getting some serious attention. So when a mate of mine posted a FB Live video of theirs over the Christmas period I was hooked like a salmon.

The band in question is a three piece called Mad Haven hailing from Penrhyn Bay and Trefiw. Not yet known for being a hotbed of metal, but I predict it soon will be. Mad Haven consist of brothers Tom Rogowski – 15 (Guitar & lead Vocals), Alex Rogowski - 17 (Drums & Backing Vocals), and Joe Fisher – 16 (Bass & Backing Vocals). They are that young, their combined aged is just 48, and that’s still younger than this reviewer! This proves that you’re never too young (or old) to kick ass and rock. Mad Haven have been around since 2011, so just let that sink in a minute.….I have gig tee-shirts older than these lads.

Their EP ‘Sound Of The Music’ is an impressive one for such young musicians, which can only bode well as they develop further. Not only that, its their 5^th EP which puts them in BCC territory! Straight off the bat, the intro leaves you in no doubt as to who they want to emulate – its kick-ass riffs straight out of the Aussie school of rock like AC/DC and Airbourne. ‘Running Far’ sees Tom channel his inner Lemmy for some throaty JD soaked vocals. God only knows what he will sound like when he is finally allowed to drink! The chorus immediately sinks in and requires no additional listen. The playing is as tight as a nut and if you closed your eyes the age does not come into his playing, as its mature, hits the spot and all down excellent. The rhythm section of Tom and Alex combine to make it one excellent intro into the world of Mad Haven.

Title track ‘Sound Of The Music’ leads you in a few directions before settling in. Its certainly straight out of the heavy metal songbook….’rock and roll is the sound of the music’. It leads itself to a 15 minute rocking live version I imagine as it allows the guys to go off in all directions. For me the best is kept until last. ‘Watcha’ Gonna’’ includes a line ‘all you think you want for tea tonight’. The song is lifted by a refrain/bridge/chorus that experienced professional bands would love to write. Its all about the melody and Mad Haven have this in abundance.

So, despite my ‘young’ remarks, MH are as professional as they come. DO NOT dismiss this band as they are going places. If you like your metal to be tight, rock hard, balls to the wall, and tinged with the Aussie influence then look no further than Mad Haven.

Mad Haven have an EP launch party at The Marine Hotel, Old Colwyn, Sat, 11^th Feb. £5 entry and you get a copy of the CD!!

Score 8/10

Mad Haven –

Tom Rogowski – Guitar & Lead Vocals

Joe Fisher – Bass Guitar & Backing Vocals

Alex Rogowski – Drums & Backing Vocals

Tracklisting –

Intro

Runnin’ Far

Sound Of The Music

Watcha’ Gonna’