Reviews

PANIC ROOM..'VISIONARY POSITION'

(Voiceprint) Reviewed 30th March 2008

Panic Room is a new band featuring current and ex members of Karnataka, Mostly Autumn, and Fish's band, and although the music does have progressive elements, it will appeal to a wider audience I would have thought. Their debut cd 'Visionary Position' combines, rock, folk, jazz and world music influences, being another impressive release, that can be found at the softer end of the rock spectrum. And I like this! It kicks off with the 8+ minute ultra catchy 'Elektra City'. It even changes pace midway, to end with a nice bluesy piano interlude to captivate your musical taste buds even further. Anne-Marie Helder (ex Karnataka) is an awesome vocalist, and a lot of the music here could cross over into the mainstream if given the proper support. Okay, it is not metal, but this is good stuff to chill out after a hard day at the office. Second track in, 'Endgame (Speed Of Life)' is another awesome epic running in at over 10 mins. But this cd never becomes boring. We have 8 tracks on offer here, with a running time of 65 minutes. Other highlights are 'Reborn', 'Apocalypstick' and the beautifully titled and rather haunting ' I Wonder What's Keeping My Truelove Tonight'. Basically though, the whole album offers a true sonic experience, and is worthy of ones attention, more so for fans who prefer the softer end of the genre. There is a special edition of this album that can be found at the band's web site, www.panicroom.org.uk. We have posted some tour dates on our tour dates page aswell. But to summarise this release, just buy it! 8/10 (Reviewed by Dave)

PANIC ROOM..'SATELLITE'

(Firefly Music Ltd) Reviewed 1st January 2010

'Satellite' is the awesome new album from UK rock band Panic Room. Basically recorded over a two week 'live studio session' period, the album is full of great hooks and melodies, coupled of course with the powerful vocals of front lady Anne-Marie Helder. I was highly impressed with their debut album, 'Visionary Position' that was reviewed here back in March 2008, and the more commercial sounding 'Satellite' to me seems a step in the right direction. 'Freedom To Breathe' kicks off proceedings offering great vocals and great musicanship. 'Picking Up Knives' (one of my faves on the album) carries on the great work, and I do love Anne-Marie's vocals. Great stuff. 'I Am A Cat' is a little light hearted ditty me thinks, while in general, the album contains highlights a plenty - the funk metal sound on 'Black Noise', the catchy 'Into The Fire' and the anthemic sounding awesome title track as examples. I also like the rocky 'Dark Star' (great gothy church organ sound!). With the right promotion, 'Satellite' surely should break the band to a wider audience. The promotional copy kindly sent to me by Jonathan Edwards from the band, also has an additional EP, and that in itself makes this package even more worthwhile. All said and done, this is a cool release (over 80 mins of music with the EP) and what a great start to 2010. 'Satellite' gets released 25th January, but while you are waiting, check out www.myspace.com/panicroomuk. 9/10 (Reviewed by Dave)

PARAMORE..'BRAND NEW EYES'

(Atlantic Records) Reviewed 30th September 2009

One minute I am reviewing an album by established old hands Theatre of Tragedy, and then next by new kids on the block Paramore. Fronted by Hayley Williams, Paramore seem so young (probably cos I am getting old), but they are so professional. 'Brand New Eyes' sees the band following their tried and trusted formula - well if it ain't broken, why fix it? And to be honest, I quite like Hayley's vocals for some reason. Imagine a kinda Avril crossed with Kelly then given a little bit of umphhh! This record is a very good slab of punk/pop/rock. Me thinks that sums it up. Fave tracks. Well, that will be for you, the potential listener to decide. 'Brand New Eyes' can be bought at your typical high street cd store for under a tenner, so go and buy. This band have the world at their feet. Awesome...8.5/10 (Reviewed by Dave)

PASSIONWORKS..'BLUEPLAY'

(Golden Core Import) Reviewed 28th Sept 2007

Passionworks is fronted by Harry (Harriet) Hagglund and come from Finland. And there is some very good stuff coming from that neck of the woods. And this cd is no exception. Harriet it seems is not just a pretty face. She is also involved in the songwriting, the production and even keyboards on some tracks too. This is a strong melodic release. I notice that this cd is being labelled as female fronted gothic rock. Okay, there are subtle similarities to a female fronted HIM in places. However, let's forget the word gothic here. Too many female fronted acts get shoved into the gothic stable, by virtue of the fact they are female fronted. I would call this cd female fronted melodic rock. And yep, I do like it, some good material here. Check out the tracks 'Flying', the title track 'Blue Play', 'The Swallow', 'Liar', the single 'Falling' and final track 'Sad' as proof of the pudding. This is a well recommended release. It took a time to reach us here, but it was worth the wait. 8/10 (Reviewed by Dave).

THE PENNIES..'THIS WORLD UNKNOWN'

(Independent Release) Reviewed 26th July 2007

This mini cd by The Pennies has taken me totally by storm. The story goes like this. I received a friends request on our myspace site from an unknown band (to me anyway) called The Pennies. I accept, go to their page at http://www.myspace.com/thepennies and listen to what they have on offer. I promptly order this cd. 5 tracks and nearly 30 mins of music. Penny sounds a little like Dido to my ears, particularly on 'Shine Within Sadness'. And that is not a bad thing. In-fact Penny has one hell of a voice. I like the whole of this cd. It's rock, laid back but not too laid back. I reckon given the right exposure, The Pennies would go down well here in the UK. Listening to the cd, I can imagine myself at a rain soaked Glastonbury, with The Pennies on stage. The independent music scene has some awesome artists if you look. PLEASE support this band. 9/10 (Reviewed by Dave).

KATY PERRY..'ONE OF THE BOYS'

(Capitol Records) Reviewed 19th January 2009

I knew little about Katy Perry until she put in a couple of appearances on UK television a few weeks ago. And I tell you what, she ain't bad - the music that is. Mind you, she is okay too, but I digress! 'One of the Boys' is possibly one for the Avril Lavigne or Pink fans, and full of potential hit singles. It's not metal I admit, but it is catchy, Katy does sorta rock, with the music being described (by myself) as playground music, appealing to the kids and teens out there. Anyhow, she has made it onto the Ravenheart Music site, so what about the music on offer. The title track is as catchy as hell, as is most of the stuff on offer here. Check out 'I Kissed A Girl', 'Waking Up In Vegas', 'Hot n Cold' and 'Self Inflicted'. And she can slow it down too with the awesome 'Thinking Of You' and the equally cool 'Lost'. My fellow Ravenheart Trooper Aimee has pulled my leg about reviewing this, but I quite like this release..not bad, not bad at all! 7.5/10 (Reviewed by Dave)

PERSEPHONE'S DREAM..'PAN, AN URBAN PASTORAL'

(Prog Rock Records) Reviewed 4th October 2010

This brand new album with the America outfit follows the premise of what would Pan, the Greek God of Nature, make of the mess we, the human race, have made of the planet. If the classic early 70’s Genesis prog line-up had never split up, they might have ended up doing an album like this. Their last album Pyre of Dreams was a collection of classic rock songs, but this one is made up of a series of brief musical passages linked together, some sung, but many purely instrumental. Keyboarder Jim Waugaman has a voice that veers from Peter Gabriel to Greg Lake in style, but sadly the lovely Ashley Peer is rather underused, you have to wait until the last few tracks before she gets a decent run out, even though she is supposed to be the lead singer. I must warn you dear reader that this is not easy to listen to, it flits back and forth between classic prog with strange time signatures, to delicate twinklings, to meanderings, to weirdness, with not a traditional verse chorus song in sight. This poor old reviewer had real trouble keeping track of where he was, I had to keep a beady eye on the song number, which made it a very disorienting listening experience, especially as some themes kept reoccurring. There is nothing wrong with creating a continuous piece of music, but it has to have direction and purpose, to take you on a musical journey, but at times this appeared to me aimless and confused, as if the engineer had dropped the tapes and had got them mixed up. Even the longer songs towards the end have problems, ‘The Tears of Serene’ starts promisingly enough with Ashley, but then it just wanders off without her, and the end of Erato’s Pulse is simply painful. Some of it even sounds like the backing tapes with the solo’s missing, it’s like one of those movies you keep watching expecting something to happen, but it never does. The album is either very brave or very foolhardy, depending on you viewpoint, and from chatting with prog pals the jury is still out. I would say approach with caution, do not expect Mostly Autumn, and have a very open mind. As this is not a specialist prog site, I have approached this review from the viewpoint of writing it for the benefit of readers who like their prog but are not aficionados, and this factor is reflected in the score. If you want something far easier on the ear, have a look at their previous effort. It is available from all decent prog outlets, a bewildered and bewildering 7.5/10 (Reviewed by Phil)

PETRA METAL QUEEN..'AMALGA'

(Independent Release) Reviewed 15th October 2009

I kinda know Petra and I have known about her musical prowess possibly as long as Ravenheart Music has been going. And she is actually based in Warwickshire in the heart of England, not too far from Ravenheart Towers. She has a Batchelor of Art Honours Degree from De Montford University, Master of Arts Degree from The University of Warwick, amongst others, so she ain't stupid. Apart from other musical projects in the past, she has also been involved with a Country Rock Band and an Industrial Metal Band, so she is very talented. She is also involved with various musical projects (four!) at this current moment in time. And it is an amalgamation of those musical projects that appear on this album. Hence the title 'Amalga'. I may be was a little concerned at first that this record may lack cohesion, being a mix of those aforementioned projects, but to be honest, those concerns soon evaporated away. I like this offering to be honest, being a mix of Gothic Metal, Symphonic Metal, together with a little Progressive and Power Metal thrown in for good measure. To my ears, the best track on this little opus is the opener 'Awake In Dreamland' which reminds me initially of Sharon Den Adel and features on this album as part of Petra's ATHENIA project. But this must not distract from the rest of this cd, as overall, I feel this is a very good effort. There are some good musicians involved aswell. Oh and I nearly forgot, a good cover of David Bowie's 'Heroes' as part of Petra's PETRALVAR project. To summarise. I admire Petra - she is a very hard working musician who has determination to succeed, and you know what, she will on this showing. I am not sure if the album is available at the moment, but I suggest that anybody into the aforementioned styles goes to cdbaby.com and picks up a copy when it becomes available and supports this lass. It will be worth it. Cool! 8.5/10 (Reviewed by Dave)

PICTORIAL WAND..'FACE OF OUR FATHERS'

(Unicorn) Reviewed 24th June 2010

This is the second opus from multi instrumentalist Mattis Sorum’s Pictorial Wand project, an album based on the theme on how new generations have to deal with the legacy of their forefathers. The debut ‘A Sleeper’s Awakening ‘ was a sprawling double album, ‘Face of Our Fathers’ is a more concise and focused single CD. This is very much in the mould of Ayreon, with touches of Mostly Autumn, Procol Harum, Greg Lake era King Crimson, Rick Wakeman, Wishbone Ash, Argent, Mike Oldfield and Jethro Tull. It features four singers whose characters weave their way through the highly emotive songs, with Gry Tronslien as Love, Julie Christensen as Reason, Peter Selliseth as Pride, and Tore Christer Storlid as Hope. Mattis uses a lot of vintage sounds; wah, flange and talk box guitars; Moogs, Taurus bass pedals, Hammond organ through a Leslie cabinet, Mellotron and breathy flute; in fact it sounds like a re-release of a classic English progrock album from 1975. All seven songs are multi faceted, a mix of mellower and rocking passages packed with wonderful melodies, delightful instrumental pieces, superb musicianship and excellent vocal performances. The Achilles heel is the slightly lacklustre production by contemporary standards, you might want to wallop the bass and treble up, that brings it to life. If you love Ayreon, 70’s melodic prog, or damn fine classic rock music then this is a must buy. Their website is http://www.pictorialwand.com/ and the album is available from all fine purveyors of classic and prog rock, a more than worthy 9/10 (Reviewed by Phil)