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This new issue includes reviews and interviews of Revolution Saints, Issa, Dracula, Eclipse, Uriah Heep, Blind Guardian, U.D.O, Ammunition, Care of Night, Level 10, Sweet & Lynch, Pat travers Band.… and more!
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CONTENTS04_Revolut ion Saints
06_Issa
07_Dracula
08_Eclipse
09_Uriah Heep
12_Reviews
14_Blind Guardian
15_U.D.O
16_Ammunit ion
17_Care of Night
19_Level 10
20_Sweet & Lynch
22_Pat Travers Band
Melodic Rock Fanzine
The official Frontiers Music s.r.l. magazine
Year #11 - Nr. 1 / Issue #66
Editor-in-chief: Elio Bordi
Concept, Graphics & Design: Elio Bordi
Writers: Bruce E.J. Atkinson, Duncan Jamieson, Barry McMinn, Vitale
Nocerino, Rob “Ezy” Bone, Primo Bonali.
Headquarters and general contacts:
Frontiers Records - Via Gonzaga 18
80125, Napoli - Italy
Tel: +39.081.2399340/7753
Fax: +39.081.2399794
E-mail: elio@frontiers.it
Website: www.frontiers.it
Facebook: facebook.com/frontiersmusicsrl
Twitter: twitter.com/FrontiersMusic1
Editor and publisher: Frontiers Records s.r.l.
Copyright©2015 Frontiers Records. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is pro-
hibited.
Printed in Italy.
Band: Revolution Saints
Interview with: Alessandro Del Vecchio
Interview by: Duncan Jamieson
MRF | 5
Quest ion: When and how did th is
project get o f f the ground?
A: I t a l l s tar ted thanks to Sera f ino
Pe rug i no . He a lway s d r eamed o f
hav i ng Deen Cas t r onovo do i ng a
so lo a lbum. He pu t me in touch wi th
Deen sugges t ing h im to work wi th
me and I s t a r t ed wr i t i ng d emos
which was what opened the doors to
the whole pro jec t . The mus ic d id the
ta lk ing . When f ina l i z ing the whole
th ing we thought i t might have been
cool to pu t Deen toge ther wi th some
fr iends and make a band ou t o f th i s .
That ' s when Jack Blades and Doug
A ld r i ch go t i n t h e p i c t u r e and I
go t t a s a y t h e f e e l i ng among t h e
work i ng t e am ha s b e en amaz i ng
s ince day one .
Q: How wel l d id you know each
o ther be fore Sera f ino sugge s t ed
this project?
A: Deen and Jack go a long way
back . I guess they have been f r iends
and worked toge ther for 25 years .
Deen me t Doug on a Jou rney /
Whi tesnake tour in the UK and a f ter
tha t they s tayed very c lose . Ac tua l ly
I was t he new k id on t he b lock !
Funny tha t Jack i s one o f my favor i te
producers and I ended up produc ing
him.
Q: I t ’ s def in i te ly got more of a
Journey v ibe ra ther than
Nigh tranger or Whi t e snake . D id
you d i s cu s s a d i r e c t i on f o r the
album beforehand?
A: Wel l , y e s . We wan t ed Dee t o
sh ine vocal ly f i r s t o f a l l . I t ' s a band
but i t ' s Deen ' s f i r s t band as a vocal -
i s t . As you might know, Deen i s a
g rea t f an o f S t e ve Pe r ry and we
wanted to showcase h i s na tura l way
of s ing ing which i s what we know
from h is l i ve shows wi th Journey . I
asked Deen , Jack and Doug to be
themse lves wi thout ru les or any k ind
of "we should sound l i ke tha t" th ing .
So apar t form the songwri t ing , what
you hear i s the band wi thout any
brake and on fu l l power . I wanted
th i s record to be a mus ic ians record
and to ge t the bes t voca l per form-
ance I cou ld f rom Deen . I a l so t r ied
to g ive the band a sor t o f harder
edge than Journey . B ig ba l lads fea-
t u r e bombas t i c d rums , t hunder ing
bass and b ig gu i tars anyway even i f
the formula would say to keep i t
l igh t .
Q: How did you come up wi th the
name of the band?
A: That was Jack . Sera f ino sugges t -
ed some k ind o f revo lu t ion name and
he came up wi th i t .
Q: Deen’s vocals are great . Do you
th ink some peop l e w i l l b e sur -
pr ised?
A: I guess so . Any Journey fan now
knows Deen i s a s te l lar s inger . The
f i r s t t ime I heard “Mother Father”
sung b y Deen I a lmos t c ou l dn ' t
brea the . I was l i t era l ly speech less .
But a l so a lo t o f people know h im as
a grea t drummer so for those who
are no t fami l iar wi th Journey th i s
could be a rea l surpr i se .
Q: Do you l i s t en t o the o ther s
music and bands?
A: Sure I do . I don ' t l i s t en to any
par t icu lar genre . I love the song-
wr i t ing and produc t ion cra f t so any
good song tha t ' s been dressed in a
good way could a t t rac t me . I have
my tas te , bu t I l i ke to keep the doors
open . Obvious ly I ' ve been ra i sed on
t h e mus i c you know f r om me .
Melodic and Class ic Rock bands l i ke
To to , J ou rney , Deep Pu rp l e ( and
fami ly ) , Fore igner and bands l i ke
tha t are what I have l i s tened for
whole my l i f e .
Q: How did the record take shape?
Did you have the songs a l ready
wr i t t en be fore everyone was on
board?
A: Record ings have been done in our
own s tud ios bu t we a l so ga thered to
work toge ther . I spen t a month do ing
record ing sess ions wi th the band in
the US. As I to ld you be fore Deen
knew me through a a song I wro te
f o r h im and a f t e r h i s b l e s s i ng I
wrote the en t i re a lbum wi th some
help f rom o ther songwri ters . When
Jack and Doug go t on board the
whole a lbum was a l ready wr i t t en .
That d idn ' t l imi t the poss ib i l i t y o f
changing a lo t o f s tu f f ge t t ing Jack
and Doug to be an ac t ive par t any-
way . Jack wrote some o f the lyr ics
wi th me indeed .
Q: Is there l ike ly to be a fo l low
up? What’s the l ike l ihood of you
be ing able to p lay th i s mater ia l
l ive?
A: Wel l , I guess a lo t might depend
on how th i s a lbum i s gonna be wel -
comed by the fans . We ' re de f in i t i ve ly
in for the long haul and we ' re work-
ing on pu t t ing the band on the road
and th ink about our fu ture moves .
One th ing I hope i s tha t schedules
and commi tments won ' t s top us f rom
being a l l toge ther in a room and
wri te the whole nex t a lbum as a un i t .
6 | MRF
Question: This is your fourth studio release, what
do you think makes this album different from your
previous three albums?
Answer: I think this album is maybe more instant.
There is more in the production as well, especially in
the backing vocals and keyboards. All my albums are
melodic rock so it’s hard to separate them as I love
them all. I think this album has more of a pop edge to
it, similar to what Roxette were doing in the 80's.
Q: You worked with the Martin brothers for 5
years, so why now release these songs on this album
and not your previous albums?
A: Well, on all my albums there has been songs written
with or by the Martin brothers. During our time togeth-
er so far there has been lots of songs written. Some have
gone to other band or acts and some has been kept as
a back catalogue. I remember being part of some songs
for the “Find Me” album and those where songs I real-
ly wanted to keep; I still play them sometimes, but some-
times you need to think that you can’t keep them all; I’m
saying that not all these songs are 5 years old, some are
quite recent, I think only “Raintown'”and '”Crossfire”
are that old and those songs were held back until now
as the right band or act for the songs was not there
AND I really wanted to release them myself. Tom and
James have a huge catalogue, so as I sang the demos
or wrote with them I started to get an idea of which
songs I wanted for myself. You can say I’m a little
spoiled in this department...
Q: Did you have more control over this music on
this album than the previous three albums?
A: Yes. I started recording my album with the Martin
Brothers with the view of presenting it to Frontiers, they
were a bit worried at first as they normally pick the
songs but thankfully they loved what we had recorded
and we were really happy with that. I think I just want-
ed to do my own thing this time, realising now how
much work it took to do it all yourself; I don’t know if I
would do it again, but it feels pretty amazing when
you’ve put so much time into an album. I remember
playing at Frontiers Rock Festival last year and this
was the first time I played any of the songs from the
album to Frontiers, you can say I was pretty nervous
about it all but it was nice to be there and see how it got
received. Frontiers Records is like my second family
and it means the World to me that they trusted me and
was behind me all the way with “Crossfire”.
Q: The album sees you dueting with Mr Steve
Overland, how did Steve get involved on
“Raintown”?
A: I have always been a big FM fan and especially
Steve Overland's voice, he has an amazing voice and
very individual. When I recorded the album I wanted to
make the song “Fight Fire With Rain” into a duet- I
knew I wanted Steve Overland to sing it so I managed
to get his contact details from Steve Price at ARFM.
Steve Overland received “Fight Fire With Rain” and
loved the song so we planed the recording from there.
Now a few days later I got the mix of “Raintown” back
and it just hit me then. THIS is the song, it just wasn’t
enough with just me on it and I started immediately to
work on changes so this could be turned into the duet I
heard in my head. So after all this I had get back to
Steve and showed him “Raintown”. He loved the song
and shortly after we recorded the song as you hear it
today. Steve is not just an amazing singer but an amaz-
ing person to work with. I’m so happy with the result
and very proud of it too.
Q: Male artists dominate the world of Melodic
Rock so how has the scene reacted to you and your
music over the years?
A: Yes there is defiantly a majority of male acts and
bands in this scene and to be a woman in all this can be
a very different experience. I think it’s good and bad
sides to it, but mainly it’s all good. I met so many amaz-
ing people and fans over the time and thats when you
realize what a lucky person you really are. As a female
you stand out more in this scene, but as a female peo-
ple also expect more from you then with other bands
and acts. When I say expect I also mean in relation to
what clothes you wear and how you look and strange
enough some seem to think that you are less capable to
sing or perform for that reason. Saying all this thoughs
so many amazing and respectful people out there and
they overshadow all of those things, and in the end I’m
just very thankful for the support I get and that I can do
what I do because of that. So thank you!
Artist: Issa Interview with: Issa Interview by: Barry McmInn
Band: Dracula Interview with: Jorn Lande Interview by: Barry McMinn
Question: So how long have you been working on
this project as there were some extracts on
MySpace first back in 2009?
Answer: Yes, it was already a plan to do something
back then, and so a couple of song ideas were
demoed. But it wasn't till 2012/13 we started record-
ing what would end up on the actual album, it's been
a process working "on and off" inbetween live shows
and Jorn albums, that's why it took a few years to
complete it. Also, it's much more time consuming
when you have more complex arrangents than a nor-
mal rock/metal album, plus to avoid doing a typical
rock/metal opera concept, it took some time to find out
which direction to go with this. We eventually felt that
the most original approach was to create songs that
come more "straight to the point" without too many
long instrumental sections of music. And instead of
telling the story about where Dracula goes and what
he does like in the Bram Stoker book, we decided to
reflect more on Draculas inner battle and what goes
on in his mind rather then following every chapter of
the book. The result is a dr Jekyll mr hyde type of
Dracula character, who somewhere in the middle of
all his evil and darkness, is longing to be able to love
again. After centuries of walking the earth in thirst for
blood, he can still remember very well how it was like
when he was a human, about to get married to the
love of his life Mina. Tired and bored of watching gen-
eration after generation dying out he's experiencing
some kind of loneliness and developes an obssession
in finding the right bride to share eternal life with. In
other words the album can be described as a dark
demonic love story reflecting the inner shadows of the
man and myth.
Q: The album isn’t you normal Rock Opera, why
did you decide to go down a more Hard Rock
avenue for the album?
A: The Dracula story itself has many elements/moods
and it would have been a shame to limit the whole
thing by just making a straight forward metal album.
Also, after all these years in the business it's a bit more
interesting for both myself and Trond to take a step
out of the ordinary Box, and try something new and
challenging. We have brought some new modern ele-
ments into this album, as well as the roots of the
70's,80's musical influence that we grew up with. Also,
after all the rock and metal opera albums beeing
released over the last 15-20 years, we were both tired
of the storyteller, long intro's and instrumental sec-
tions, and so it was natural for us to think a bit differ-
ent for this album concept.
Q: The whole Vampire thing has been taken apart
by Hollywood over recent years, so how impor-
tant was it to go back to the original Bram Stoker
novel for the album?
A: Well, the TV and movie industry has invented tons
of new vampire concepts over the past decades, plus
that many bands/artists have tried to incorperate the
vampire element in their lyrics,videos and artwork,
especially in metal. I feel that the more recent vampire
trend has overshadowed the classic Bram Stoker
story a bit. So, even though the old story itself is noth-
ing really new, going back to basic, felt like a more
original thing to do these days. "Traditional"can
sometimes be a good thing.
Q: The album features Norwegian songstress
Lena Floitmoen Borresen, how did Lena get
involved on the album?
A: She sang on the first demoes and we thought what
she did was great. For a while we had an idea to make
an album of duets With several female singers, and
she was one of them. We even approached Doro
Pesch, Liv Kristine(leaves eyes), and also considered
Anette Olzon(ex Nightwish), but in the end we decide
that Dracula himself should be the main character to
front the album and dropped the idea. We rewrote
some of the songs Lena sang for the demos, to feature
Dracula more through out the album. Eventually, I
think we ended up with the right blend vocally,
between myself and Lena.
Q: Will you both be working on other projects
together in 2015?
A: We might rearrange some cover songs that we
consider to record later this year. There are some
older pop songs that I would have loved to hear with
a more heavy rock arrangement, but we will see. If we
do it, most of them will not be obvious song choices,
but something we can make our own and put a Jorn
stamp on. I'm also writing for a brand new original
Jorn album, to be recorded later this year.
MRF | 7
Band: Eclipse Interview with: Erik Martensson Interview by: Duncan Jamieson
Question: The new album picks up where
‘Bleed And Scream’ left off and is destined
to be one of the year’s best melodic rock
releases. How did the writing and recording
differ on this album from ‘Bleed And
Scream’?
Answer: This big difference is that this album
was written and recorded very fast. From start
to end it was just over two and a half month.
That is with the whole writing and recording
process. During the process my father sadly
passed away and that put even more pressure
on me and the whole sessions. So it was a very
special and emotional process to go through.
Q: Your voice just gets stronger and
stronger. Was there a lot of attention given
to getting the vocals right?
A: Not really, I'm very fast at recording vocals
and I'll just do my thing. Sometimes it's hard to
get the right feel for one song. When you
record a new song for the first time there are
no guide lines on how to sing it. It's not like
doing a cover version when there is a original
track to follow. But usually I have a pretty good
idea on what to do or I'll just make up lyrics
and melodies as I go along. If it doesn't sound
or feel right I re-write directly. I was changing
stuff even at the mixing stage. I always go for
a shoot from the hip approach when I write and
do music and I don't want to think too much.
Q: What tracks are you particularly proud
of on this record?
A: Sounds cliche but I like all tracks. If I didn't
like a song it wouldn't be on the album. But
“The Storm” is a special one for me but there
are several tracks that I really like. It was not
an easy job to choose the first single.
Q: We lost Jimi Jamison recently who Erik
wrote and produced his final album. What
do you remember about Jimi?
A: First of all he was a fantastic singer and a
great human being. I'm so proud of that album
and I'm honored to have had the chance to
work with him.
Q: Revolution Saints are doing a cover of
the Eclipse track “How To Mend A Broken
Heart” on their new album. How did that
come about?
A: This was Serafino or Mario's idea to let
them do a cover version of the Eclipse song. It's
also very cool as the guys in Revolution Saints
are our own musical heroes. And I have read
that both Jack Blades and Doug Aldrich think
it's their favorite song of the album!
Q: Has it been difficult to manage your out-
side song writing and production for other
artists as well working on Eclipse material?
A: Not really. When I write and have inspira-
tion I'm pretty quick and has a lot of energy. I
do music full time and I can't spend 365 days a
year just writing Eclipse songs! It's very inspi-
rational and a great learning experience to
work with others. Being a musician/writer/pro-
ducer is just like any other craft. you learn new
stuff and find new ways of doing it every day
and you never stop learning. I love it.
Q: So Magnus Ulfstedt, your old drummer,
is back in the band but as the bass player.
How did that come about?
A: We have had several great bass player in
the live band but this time we wanted a full time
and dedicated bass player that could be an
Eclipse brother to trust and work with in the
studio and on tour. We were starting to think of
different possibilities and just as a crazy idea
his name came up. I asked him if he could do as
I know he was really good at playing guitar. He
was all fired up when I asked him so he bor-
rowed one of my basses and spent a week at
learning and playing bass and then he called
me up and said "I think I can do it". We did one
rehearsal and it sounded absolutely fantastic.
So it's very funny that our old drummer is back
in the band on bass guitar.
8 | MRF
Question: Watching this new DVD package
certainly shows us why “Uriah Heep” are still
such an influence on the modern rock scene!
Did you ever imagine that you and the boys
would still be rocking as hard as you are in
the 21st century?
A: The thing is with being in a rock band is that
you never ever dwell on age or time... it’s a bit
like being in the Peter Pan business really.
Growing up and growing old is what “other
people” do in the outside world. Touring musi-
cians who tend to live out of suitcases, never
slow down enough to think of time in that sense,
so I guess the answer is YES, of course I just
assumed I’d still be singing with Heep and the
band still playing in excess of 100 shows a year
as we always have done ... and will continue to
do so... As long as we are selling tickets, we’ll be
around.
Q: This combination of your older material
with the newer music works so well and
on many levels…and it works so natu-
rally, can you take us through some of
the creative process—and has it
changed throughout the years?
A: We are very lucky that Heep had such a
distinctive sound and style back in the 70’s.
A trademark sound that set them apart
from all the rest of the Big Five (Zeppelin,
Purple, Sabbath, Tull and Heep). That
song writing chemistry still runs true with
Mick and Phil today and they still seem to
capture the magic in the melody and har-
mony that played such important part of
early Heep’s sound. Add the fact that we
still prefer to record all together in one
room at one time and you can’t help but get
the sound of the 70’s, amps on 10! Giving
it yer all!! That’s rock and roll at its basic
level. Include 5 guys that are all on the same
page musically, you can’t help but end up with a
great sounding album. True Heep, end to end.
Q: You last album “Outsider” is a most pow-
erful statement of the future of “Uriah Heep,
are you actually currently recording the fol-
low-up?
A: A follow up!!! It’s just been out for months!
We have an 18-month world tour booked to pro-
mote Outsider, give it a chance mate!
Band: Uriah Heep
Interview with: Bernie Shaw
Interview by: Bruce Atkinson
REVOLUTION SAINTS “S/T”
(Frontiers Music s.r.l.)This is a mouth-watering proposition asDeen Castronova, Jack Blades and DougAldrich of Journey, Nightranger andWhitesnake, respectively, team up on avery Journey sounding album. Initially, Iwas a little disappointed it wasn’t more anamalgam of all their bands. Although to befair on ‘Way To The Sun’ they do sound alot like Blades’ Damn Yankees. However,I’ve since succumbed to this record’scharms. The bulk of the songs are writtenand produced by keyboard whizzAlessandro Del Vecchio. Jack Blades playsbass and adds vocals to ‘Turn Back Time’and ‘Way To The Sun’ although I feel he’sa little underused on this disc. Doug Aldrichjettisons his hard bluesy rock riffs ofBurning Rain and Whitesnake for a moreAOR sound while the standout contributioncomes from Journey drummer Deen whohandles lead vocals. Sounding uncannilylike Steve Augeri, his voice is great. Ontracks like ‘Dream On’ and ‘Back on MyTrail’ he captures the uplifting joy ofJourney and indeed this disc could havemore mainstream rock appeal thanJourney’s last guitar drenched ‘Eclipse’record did (ironically, Neal Schon andArnel Pineda both guest). A real melodicrock crowd pleaser. (DJ 95/100)
ISSA “Crossfire”
(Frontiers Music s.r.l.)
“Crossfire” is the fourth album from
Norwegian songstress Issa and this time
around she has taken a stronger role on the
songwriting front, co-writing songs with the
Marin brothers especially picked for this
release. The album is without a doubt her
best album to date. The songs are more per-
sonal, not that the previous albums weren’t,
but this album just feels stronger. Those
familiar with the previous three albums
know what a stunning vocal talent Issa is
and this album goes further to cement that
fact, with great slices of melody rich rock
like the opener and title track “Crossfire”
and the excellent “Ghost Inside My Heart”,
across to the more modern rock of “Long
Time Coming”. But if you want to hear
Melodic Rock at its best then you’ll have to
check out “Raintown”, on which Issa duets
with Mr Melodic Rock himself Steve
Overland. The album has been described as
“a melodic rock fans wet dream” and I can’t
argue with that. If you’re looking for an
album to kick 2015 off in fine style then you
can’t get any better than this. (BM 94/100)
URIAH HEEP “Live at Koko”
(Frontiers Music s.r.l.)
One listen, or for that matter-one view-
ing of this new live CD/DVD produc-
tion from Uriah Heep will tell you why
this iconic group are still making an
impact! “Live at Koko” is a living testa-
ment of the high level of craftsmanship
and musicianship this group has. From
some of their earliest compositions to
their very latest creations: Uriah Heep’s
performances here are flawless! Join
their journey through four decades-and
then some-of stately progressive render-
ings delivered with the same energy that
we witnessed back in the ‘70’s! A fabu-
lous performance from an equally fabu-
lous band of musical gypsies, one can
be totally immersed in the sonic bril-
liance that is now and always was the
essence of Uriah Heep! A dazzling per-
formance from a long standing innova-
tive British super group, nothing more
needs to be said other than… Uriah
Heep “Live At Koko” is a “must-have”
release for all respecting Rockers!!
(BA 90/100)
ECLIPSE “Armageddonize”
(Frontiers Music s.r.l.)Erik Martensson is a star on the rise; hissongwriting chops have made him muchin demand in melodic rock circles. Thegood news is he hasn’t given all his bestsongs away as Eclipse’s fifth album ischock full of hi-energy melodic rocksongs. Their last record ‘Bleed AndScream’ was one of the best albums of2012 and this is on a par and time mayeven suggest it’s better. The triple assaultof ‘I Don’t Want To Say I’m Sorry’,‘Stand On Your Feet’ and ‘The Storm’that kick off the album leave you breath-less. There are the classic rock melodiesinspired by the best of the 80s(‘Breakdown’ even sounds like TattooRodeo!), the thunderous drum sound thatbrings a modern edge and thenMartensson’s voice which adds emotionalweight to the tunes. While some of ourfavourite classic rock singers’ voices arewaning, Martensson’s voice is getting bet-ter and better. The best of the rock soundfrom the past with modern energy andurgency, Eclipse capture what modernmelodic rock is all about. (DJ 96/100)
AMMUNITION
“Shanghaied”
(AOR Heaven)Wow! What am I listening to
here!? Is it Wigwam or something
heavier? Give Age Sten Nilsen
enough ammunition and he will
create a monster of an album!! And
“Shanghaied” is exactly what the
doctor ordered! Opening with the
anthemic “Silverback”, this debut
of Age’s new group sets the tempo
and tone of what is to come…
From this former Wigwam vocal-
ist! “Shanghaied” is full of hard
driving-smart melodic hard rock.
Combining Age’s creative song
smithing and equally strong vocals
with a stellar cast of musicians, this
debut is both loud and proud! So,
get ready to be Rocked to the hilt!
Pounding out the bass is none other
than Hal Patino, and backing him
up on drums is Robban Back. Jon
Pettersen is on guitar, along with
guest guitarist Eric Martensson.
Former Wigwam keyboardist
Lasse Finbrathen is also here,
ensuring an expansive and soaring
expression to this hard-hitting
effort! It is fantastic to hear Age
once again and his song writing
skills have progressed a notch or
two upwards! Not that they weren’t
fantastic to begin with! On this
record, Age displays a more mature
and intense approach to each num-
ber. We hear a greater depth in the
music, as well as the lyrical content.
The whole album is ballsier!
“Shanghaied” is one kick-ass
record! Just a great way to start a
new year! BA (90/100)
BLIND GUARDIAN
“Beyond the Red Mirror”
(Nuclear Blast)Some four years in the making
“Beyond the Red Mirror” is the
much-anticipated 10th studio
release from Germans kings of
storytelling metal Blind
Guardian. This is the follow up
to the bands “At the Edge of
Time” opus unites the band not
with one, but with three differ-
ent classical choirs. One from
Prague, one from Budapest and
finally Boston, plus two grand
orchestras, each with 90 musi-
cians! The result of which is
the band’s most grandiose
release of their career. This
albums story began back in
1995 with bands “Imaginations
from the Other Side” and now
the “Red Mirror” is the only
gate left between the worlds.
The album itself lives up the
Blind Guardian mantle of tow-
ering symphonic metal as it
opens up with the epic “Ninth
Gate”, which sets the bar for
the rest of the album to follow.
With the likes of heads down
metal of the “Twilight of the
Gods” interwoven with the
wondrous orchestral filled “At
The Edge of Time” and the
epic “The Throne”, this is one
Symphonic Metal magic carpet
ride you won’t want to get off.
BM (91/100)
U.D.O
“Decadent”
(AFM Records)Not so surprising that this musical
veteran has put together an album
such as “Decadent”. Not to be
taken lightly nor for the faint of
heart-Udo Dirkschneider pulls no
punches on this release! Take the
title track and really listen to what it
is, he’s singing about, not a nice
world!! Yet it is the world we live
in. Udo should be praised for what
he has done here, he has raised his
voice and rallied against what has
become normal behavior through-
out our society. His skills in song-
writing and musicianship also play
dominantly in this set of musical
warnings. Through the course of
this record, Udo strips naked the
imbalances of our society, lays bare
for all to see… The decaying
morals and decadent behavior of
those that seem to live a life of priv-
ilege and care not a lick for the rest
of us. He does this set to some of
his hardest driving music! Actually,
it is a beautiful thing to see and
hear, that after so many years of
crafting music, travelling the world
and meeting with success, that Udo
isn’t blinded by the folds of luxury,
that he still has a keen sense of what
is right and proper and that he is not
afraid of speaking up and singing
about the injustices of the world!
“Decadent” is a purposeful musical
statement, one that should resonant
with us all and perhaps this state-
ment will tear asunder the veil that
cloaks all of this decadence we can-
not easily see! BA (90/100)
CARE OF NIGHT
“Connected”
(AOR Heaven)When Seven Tears disband in
2009 members Kristofer von
Wachenfeldt (keys), Jonathan
Carlemar (guitars) and Fredrik
Lager (bass) weren’t about to
hang up their instruments, so out
of the ashes came new band Care
Of Night. Joining this trio in the
beginning were Linus Svensson
(drums) and Carl-Johan
Schönberg (vocals), who
rehearsed with the band way back
in 2010, with Linus eventually
becoming the band’s drummer
and Jens Andersson later joining
the band as vocalist. This first
reincarnation of the band saw
some changes in 2013 when
Fredrik and Jens both left the
band. Jonas Rosengren became
the new bass player and
Schönberg decided to join the
band on a permanent basis and a
EP was released in 2013. Now in
2015 the band return with a full
length album and their labours
have born fruits with a great slab
of Melodic Rock. Connected is a
great melody rich album and fits
in with recent plethora of talent
coming out of Sweden at the
moment thing with the likes of
Work Of Art, Eclipse and
Houston. With great songs like
opener “Cassandra”, the guitar
rich “Those Words” and the
excellent “Contact”, this band are
sure send ripples amongst the fans
of the genre. BM (85/100)
BATTLE BEAST
“Unholy Savior ”
(Nuclear Blast)Album number three for the
Finnish metallers finds them in
confident, bombastic form. It’s the
second album now with singer
Noora Louhimoo who handles the
melodies and screams impressive-
ly. They are happy to mix things
up a little. Sharing an ability to
mix pop hooks with muscle like
fellow Finnish rock acts such as
Lordi, Reckless Love or Devil I
Know. The result might leave
some power metal fans uncon-
vinced but for the more open
minded this is a great listen.
Rocking, anthemic battle cries like
‘Lionheart’ and the Powerwolf
sounding ‘Madness’ are com-
posed terrifically well. ‘Speed
And Danger’ is a terrific song that
makes you want to drive at speed
off a cliff with its breakneck guitar
riff and ultra-catchy keyboard solo
(the keyboards throughout add
bucket loads of melody). ‘I Want
The World… And Everything In
It’ could be UDO. ‘Touch in The
Night’ has a synthesised backing
sound that makes it sound like an
80s dancefloor filler which may be
a step too far from power metal for
some. The music has a certain
kitsch appeal (which has never
done the likes of Kiss or Alice
Cooper any harm) and it’s a huge-
ly enjoyable metal romp. DJ
(90/100)
LAST AUTUMN’S DREAM
“Level Eleven”
(AOR Heaven)Like clockwork, each year
starts with a new L.A.D
record. Eleven albums in near-
ly as many years makes L.A.D
not only one of the most pro-
lific but one of the most reli-
able melodic rock bands out
there. Mikael Erlandsson’s
distinctive voice leads from
the front on typical L.A.D
Scandi-rockers like ‘Kiss Me’,
‘Follow Your Heart’ and
‘Losing You’. It’s classic
melodic rock, with cleverly
arranged songs. Erlandsson’s
a fine songwriter. There’s
lovely melodious soloing from
Peter Söderström who joins as
the new guitarist and fits in
perfectly. As usual they throw
in a couple of numbers that
experiment with their formula
such as the 70s sounding
‘Fight The World’ which is
orchestrated and has a slight
Queen grandeur and ‘I’ll B
There 4 U’ which has backing
vocals that recall Supertramp.
With their records usually
released at the beginning of
the year, I sometimes feel that
by the year’s end people miss
them off their ‘Best of’ lists
which is a pity as this is a con-
sistently strong release that
pretty much any melodic rock
fan should enjoy. DJ (94/100)
eview
s
R
LEVEL 10 “Chapter 1”
(Frontiers Music s.r.l.)Put together by two authentic HeavyMetal-icons like US monster-singerRussell Allen (Symphony X, AdrenalineMob) and German bassist / producer/songwriter Mat Sinner , Level 10 was cre-ated with the purpose to melt the morecontemporary and aggressive sound ofAdrenaline Mob with the more traditionalEuropean Power Metal assault fromPrimal Fear. With such big names leadingthe machine – and a bunch of great musi-cians (Primal Fear's Randy Black ondrums and Alex Beyrodt on guitar, plus exHelloween Roland Grapow on lead guitarand Alessandro Del Vecchio on key-boards) asked to join them on this project –it shouldn't come as a surprise that thedebut-album, “Chapter 1”, results as a truedelight for all the Power and Heavy Metalfans. As songs like “Blasphemy”, “ScreamAnd Shout” and “Voice Of TheWilderness” are here to prove. On theother side, tracks like “Cry No More” (oh,what a Whitesnake “1987”-era guitarriff!), the epic “Soul Of A Warrior” and theanthemic “No Turning Back” and “OneWay Street” could also appeal to Classicand Melodic Hard-Rock fans, those whohave bands like Scorpions, RJ Dio andWhitesnake in their hearts. (PB 90/100)
DRACULA “Swing of Death”
(Frontiers Music s.r.l.)“Dracula - Swing Of Death” is the new RockOpera from two of Norway’s biggest namesin rock, Jorn Lande and Trond Holter (Teenyof Wig Wam), but this isn’t your usual RockOpera fodder, there isn’t a narrative runningthrough it nor are their subtle links betweenthe songs. This is more the song’s telling thestory and letting the listener paint visions intheir own mind. Taking it inspiration fromthe original Bram Stoker novel rather thanthe Hollywood vision of Vampires, this tellthe story of Count Vlad the III, Prince ofWallachia and venture to explore the innerstruggle of the man behind the legend. WithLande at the mike you know the rock isgoing to be massive. This album features afew duets where the Norseman is joined byLena Floitmoen Borresen, who plays the partof Vlad’s love interest Mina/Lucy from theBram Stoker book. So musically what is thisalbum about? Well with the concept behindthe album you’d be expecting some Gothicelements but as I said this is not your tradi-tional Rock Opera, this a Hard Rock Operafeaturing big melodies and big guitars. Thealbum flows beautifully, but you can takeany song from the album and play it on itsown and enjoy it just as much, such is thesplendour of the rock behind this concept.(BM 92/100)
PAT TRAVERS “Live at the Iridium”
(Frontiers Music s.r.l.)The Canadian’s no nonsense, meat andpotato hard rock always sounds betterlive. Recorded last year in New York,Travers delivers his characteristic bluesrock with plenty of elbow grease andsweat. Stylistically little has changedsince the 70s. That’s not a criticism; it’sproof of a man who’s stuck to his gunswhen others have jumped on whateverbandwagon comes along. He fires outhis signature tunes “Rock ‘N’ RollSusie”, “Crash And Burn” and a terrific“Ask Me Baby” like a man whose natu-ral habitat is the stage. His husky voicehas an undemanding, blue-collar, every-man appeal about it while his guitarinterplay with Kirk McKim demon-strates real subtlety as well as ripepower chords. Four covers in succes-sion, “Red House”, “If I Had PossessionOver Judgement Day”, “Spoonful” and“Black Betty” that ends the perform-ance show he’s happiest when playingthe blues. There’s nothing here from hislast, rather good, “Can Do” recordwhich seems a missed opportunity butthis is a typical sturdy hard rockin’ set,with few surprises or left turns, but willappease all Travers’ fans (hammerheads) out there. (DJ 90/100)
SWEET & LYNCH “Only to Rise”
(Frontiers Music s.r.l.)One must hand it to Serafino Perugino forhis musical vision! The collaboration ofMichael Sweet and George Lynch is astroke of musical genius! Hopefully “OnlyTo Rise” is just the beginning of this mas-terful musical partnership. Micheal’svoice has opened up in these performanc-es, there is more depth, a wider gamut thatlays upon the music that is being producedby the guitar of the extraordinary GeorgeLynch! We hear a soulful cry coming fromMr. Lynch’s fret board! What with theaddition of Brian Tichy thundering alongon drums and James Lomemzo nailingthat bottom end, each piece is full of meatand just oozes that rocked out sound!These four absolutely shine on each andevery song and they seem to absorb eachones positive vibe! A collection of twelvetruly remarkable songs, slices of Rock thatare rhythmic, inspiring and passionate!“Only To Rise” can only do that. I have iton good authority that these four are plan-ning to take this on the road! Right now,it is amazing to hear such songs as“Rescue Me”, “The Wish”, “Dying Rose”,it will be simply incredible to be able tosee and hear these come alive on thatstage! “Only To Rise” will be on thestreets in January, and don’t be surprised ifthis gem of a record hits the top of thecharts at the same time!! (BA 95/100)
THE STORYTELLER
“Sacred Fire”
(Black Lodge Records)I still remember the time when I
first listened to The Storyteller
music, back in 2000; that was the
debut-album, and I was totally
blew away from their sound, total-
ly devoted to the mighty old
Maiden, but played with a typical
swedish flavor, which meant a lot
of double-bass drums parts and
some epic passages. The band
released three more albums
(“Crossroad” in 2002, “Tales of a
Holy Quest” in 2003 and
“Underworld” in 2005) before
deciding to stop any activity (live
and studio) and to put The
Storyteller on hold. Finally, after 7
years, the band reunited and
released their fifth album, “Dark
Legacy”, that did really prove that
their fans were still there. And
now it's time for the new studio
opus, “Sacred Fire”, 12 tracks of
Traditional Heavy / Melodic
Power Metal, played with passion
and fire, full of majestic har-
monies, epic choirs, killer guitar
riffs and catchy vocal parts. The
band has – during the years –
toured with the likes of
Helloween, Hammerfall, Blind
Guardian, Gamma Ray, Sonata
Arctica and Stratovarius, so I
guess you have the picture. A very
good effort, in the name of our
beloved Heavy Metal music.
Horns up! PB (85/100)
ENFORCER
“From Beyond”
(Nuclear Blast)Being an avid “old school” Metalfan, I loved Enforcer since thefirst minute of the first track I lis-tened to. That's why I was prettyanxious to listen to their newalbum, “From Beyond”, sched-uled for a release in March. Invocalist / guitar player OlofWikstrand's own words “FromBeyond is faster, heavier, louder,darker and more vicious all at thesame time without losing a tiny bitof what ENFORCER stand for.After a couple of listen to thewhole album, I can tell you any-way that if you liked their previ-ous albums and Enforcer's style,you'll like this new one as well.The songwriting has been – asalways – totally inspired by thegreat '80s Metal bands (IronMaiden, Tokyo Blade andMetallica "Kill'em All"-era, inprimis), with fiery guitars-duels,fast drums parts and screamingvocals everywhere, and the spiritof the “golden Era” up in the air(do you remember the time whenwe were buying a vinyl in arecord-store and we were playingit in our stereo??? ha, the good ol'times!!!). They've added here andthere only some slightly darkeratmospheres, which gives to sometunes (“Mask Of Red Death”,“Undying Evil”) a sinister andmelancholic vibe. Yet, the overallsound is still the usual amazingmix between Classic NWOBHMand early US Speed Metal. A verygood effort and another to-havealbum! PB (90/100)
SERIOUS BLACK
“As Daylight Breaks”
(AFM Records)With the dawning of the New
Year as a journalist you’re left
wondering if 2015 will continue
where 2014 left off and so far
from what I’ve heard of the
year’s early releases 2015, it
sure does look to be another
corker. Kicking off the new
year with an almighty bang are
Serious Black. The band is the
brainchild of Mario Lochert
when a conversation with
Roland Grapow started the ball
rolling. Dominik Sebastian,
Thomen Stauch and Jan Vacik
soon joined the pair, with the
vocals spot being filled by
Urban breed, so the band was
complete. I’ve underlined band
because this is what Serious
Black are, this is no studio proj-
ect, the band have already lined-
up live shows with Hammerfall
in early 2015. So does the sum
of the parts match the expecta-
tions? You better believe it
does, this band brings some of
the finest Melodic Metal you’ll
hear this side of Christmas, with
highlights like the epic “Temple
of the Sun”, the bombastic
opener “I Seek No Other Life”
and the superb “Trail Of
Murder”. This album is sure to
send shivers down the spine of
any fan of the genre .BM
(90/100)
ORDEN OGAN
“Ravenhead”
(AFM Records)I have to admit that I became a
fan of the band since the
moment I listened to their won-
derful 2010-“Easton Hope”
album and I've been happy to
recognize that the follow-up “To
The End” (2012) has been up to
all my expectations and – most
important – secured the band's
international breakthrough. Two
more years and the Germans are
back, with another powerful,
solid and dramatically epic
example of Classic Power
Metal. Slightly more focused on
the choruses and on the majestic
vocals, “Ravenhead” blends the
traditional sound of
Heavy/Power Metal with an up-
to-date, crystal clear and heavy
production. Think Blind
Guardian, with an heavier gui-
tar-sound, some Running Wild-
like epic choirs, a few cinematic
passages, and a lot of guitars-
dueling and double bass drums
parts. There are also a couple of
guests here: Grave Digger’s
Chris Boltendahl on “Here At
The End of the World” and
Hammerfall’s Joacim Cans on
the very melodic “Sorrow Is
Your Tale”, which represent the
“plus” (if ever needed) to this
great album. Well done, guys,
and glory to the brave! PB
(88/100)
DIABLO BLVD
“Follow the Deadlights”
(Nuclear Blast)A unique five piece out of
Belgium, Diablo Blvd produce
a groove centric form of Heavy
Metal that touches upon post-
modern Rock. “Follow The
Deadlights” is the group’s
third effort, and having
Nuclear Blast supporting them,
an international presence
seems to be just months away!
The music on this record is
worthy of such lofty ambi-
tions. What with their unique
musical signatures ensuring
them widespread attention.
Made up of a twin guitar attack
in Dave Hubrechts and
Andries Beckers, plus Tim
Bekaert on bass and Kris
Martens on drums; the four
create a solid bed of music for
vocalist Alex Agnew to
explore. His styling’s rising
from the depths to a husky
mid-range timbre that sets the
grooves and rhythms a-fire!
Each selection on this release
reveals different musical
flavours, yet all contained in
the musical signature of Metal.
Yet they push those very
boundaries and create a very
tasteful musical bed.
Remember the “Diablo Blvd”
name, as it won’t be long that
their music will reach the cor-
ners of the globe. BA (88/100)
BLACK STAR RIDERS
“The Killer Instinct”
(Nuclear Blast)The debut-album, “All HellBreaks Loose” (2013), resulted asan incredible success for the band,which has been busy playingacross the globe for one year. Andnow it's already time for the newone, “The Killer Instinct”, that –in band's frontman RickyWarwick's words - “is the albumthat really defines BLACK STARRIDERS. We’ve gone to the nextlevel with this record!". Under theexpert guidance of producer NickRaskulinecz (Rush, Foo Fighters,Alice In Chains, Mastodon) at hisown "Rock Falcon Studios" inNashville, TN, BLACK STARRIDERS came out with a power-ful, genuine and truly authenticpiece of Rock. Thin Lizzy is in theDNA of the band and it willalways be there, so if you love thathistorical band you can't go wronghere. The first chords of“Soldierstown” clearly reveals theband's Irish roots, and tracks likethe title-track and “Through TheMotions” sound so close to theclassic Lizzy songwriting withthis twin-lead guitar sound and theunique vocals-lines, while a songlike “Finest Hour” has a slightlymore modern and melodicapproach, still remaining stronglyClassic Rock-rooted. With hun-dreds of live-shows and twoalbums under their belts now,BLACK STAR RIDERS is aClassic Rock band in its ownright, still retaining the spirit andthe soul of THIN LIZZY. 'nuffsaid. PB (90/100)
Question: The new album follows the
usual four year gap between albums, so
why the gap between albums?
Answer: This four year gap is nothing
that we intend to have between albums,
we just can't work faster. You have to see
that we spend half of this time on the
road, and while we are touring we don't
write any new material. Writing while
touring would lead to old ideas sneaking
into new songs, because you have the old
songs in your head all the time, and this
is something we definitely don't want to
happen. Only when we are done with
touring we get our heads free for new
ideas and start working on new songs. It
usually takes us about 18 months to fin-
ish the songwriting for a new album,
after this it takes another 6 months to
record everything and there you have
your four years between albums. Of
course we could speed things up, we
could write while touring, we could set
ourselves a timelimit of 6 months for
writing, but the quality of the songwrit-
ing would just not be the same, and this
is something we take very serious, we
don't compromise. We want to come up
with the best songs we can possibly write
and we take all the time we need to
achieve this.
Q: Do you approach each album differ-
ently or do you still write the albums
the way as when you first started out?
A: Compared to the early days writing is
completely different today, but our music
is very different as well. Back then we
wrote a lot during rehearsals, with the
four of us exchanging ideas and jamming
on them, but as our music became much
more complex over the years our way of
writing changed. Today we work on our
ideas in our own studios at home, when
we feel we have accomplished some cool
ideas we give our demos to Hansi and he
tries to find his vocal lines. If it works we
continue from there, if not we either have
to find a way to make those ideas work,
or we start from scratch. This method of
writing works perfectly fine for us, jam-
ming would just not be an option any-
more, we could not experiment with all
those guitar layers or the orchestration
while jamming in the rehearsal room.
Q: Does each band member input on
the songwriting process or do you have
set songwriters?
A: Andre and Hansi definitely are the
main songwriters in Blind Guardian, but
everybody can write as much as he wants
to, there is no rule saying that only those
two guys are allowed to write. Whenever
one of us has an interesting idea for a
song we work on it and see if we can
make it happen, independent of who had
the idea. And even if a song was only
written by one person, everybody else
still has his influence, after all we talk
about the songs, exchange opinions and
make suggestions, and also when it
comes to recording everybody has an
influence with his personal performance.
Q: What is the story behind the
album?
A: The story is based on two songs from
our “Imaginations from the other side”
album, “Bright Eyes” and “And the story
ends” to be precise. Those songs told the
story of a little boy, living in an isolated
world, that has the chance to step
through a portal in order to get from his
world into another one. But since he is
only a boy, he is too afraid to take this
step, which has desastrous consequences
for both worlds. Now, 20 years later, the
boy has become a man and tries to recov-
er his memory, he goes on a kind of quest
for the holy grail and to find a passage
into the other world in orde to make
things right again.
Band: Blind Guardian Interview with: Marcus Siepen Interview by: Barry McMinn
14 | MRF
Question: In the past you mainly chose album
titles that sounded very „metal“, like „Rev-
Raptor“, „Steelhammer“ and so on. Now you
chose „Decadent“ which sounds more like
glamrock...
Amswer: The whole idea about the name
“Decadent” was... I'm a guy, I watch every morn-
ing like on TV the news. And then many times I
saw an advertising on "Save the children". It was
like dying kids in Africa, they don't have something
to eat. You know, and then on the other hand you
saw rich people, stuff like that. And that was the
whole idea - that we are living in a decadent
world. It's like, a lot of people have a lot of money,
they're living really decadent, they have yachts,
they have villas, they have -I don't know - so many
things going on. Then on the other hand people,
they don't have nothing to eat.
Q: But hasn't that always been the case? Most
people think of the eighties when you think
about decadence...
A: Yeah, I mean, also music-wise. I mean, of
course, all the rockstars, it was really decedent in
a way. But, I mean, I was not thinking about this,
you know, the old days. That was for me really... I
don't know, it was - I have to do something! The
whole album "Decadent" is like, you know,
against political things and what would have hap-
pened if ... One song "Rebels of the night" is about
when we were touring on the last tour in Ukraine
when there were all those things happening in
Kiev. So the whole story of "Rebels of the night" is
(about) what happened in Ukraine, you know. But
we have so many things going on that I'm really a
little bit scared of what's going on with all these
bomb attacks and people dying and, you know, a
lot of political things. That they are really lying to
us. It's like one other song on this album "House
of fake". The "House of fake" is not only one
house, the "House of fake" is like, you know, all
the parliaments and stuff like that. They are talk-
ing a lot of bullshit and they do nothing. So that's
in a way the whole thing. That's why we called the
album "Decadent", you know.
Q: So it is a strong social commentary?
A: Definitely! And there are a lot of other things.
For example another song is called "Pain", how
much pain we can take. It was like, when you
watch the news on TV now, it hurts, you know.
There is not really something nice going on any-
more, you know. Always like bombs and attacks
and this and this and this. And that's the meaning
of it: how much pain we can take.
Q: You've been in the music business for 46
years now. How do you keep the passion and
the fire alive? Are you still "restless and wild"?
A: Yeah! I mean, in a way you can say that I'm
restless and wild. You know, I mean, for me it was
very important, you know, I don't want to end up
in drugs and alcohol. You know, I saw a lot of
musicians in this business and I always say: I don't
want to look (like) this or want to end up like this.
And, you know, in music, for me I like to be cre-
ative, you know. I mean, It was also like a dream
come true when I did this this year together with
the Bundeswehr Orchestra, you know, and doing
a lot of things. I like to make music. You know, I'm
always composing stuff. And already the new
album is old for me, I'm already thinking for the
next album, you know. And then also definitely
now with the two young guys, you know, there is
fresh blood in the band. And they really want to do
it, you know. They take you with you through the
whole thing, you know. Let's say, the most impor-
tant thing is: I will do this as long as I have fun!
Very important! This is very important!!
Q: Do you still enjoy playing the old Accept-
songs or is it just a favour to the fans?
A: That would be a lie to say: "Pah, I don't care!"
I mean, I was in... I'm still in the songs. You know,
it still has something to do with me, it's my history.
And I don't have any problems, I enjoy this to do
it. And it's still fun. The most interesting thing is
now, I mean, we have a lot of young people com-
ing to the concerts. And also they're singing along
with the old Accept-stuff, you know, and this is
very interesting.
MRF | 15
Band: U.D.O Interview with: Udo Dirkschneider Interview by: B. Atkinson
16 | MRF
Question: I would like to begin with the forma-
tion of Ammunition, it seems that you have sur-
passed your past efforts with Wig Wam…
would that be a fair statement?
Answer: Wig Wam was Wig Wam you know, and
I see Ammunition as a quite different animal. I
guess this is what I really wanted to achieve with
my former band. The songwriting, the sound, the
friendship, the dedication and the heart and the
soul put into this album and band formation is
everything I ever dreamed of. This is an album
written and recorded on the music’s premises.
Without any limitation in expression or time. So
yeah, I’ve never been happier or more proud.
Q: Being that “Shanghaied” is the first effort,
were you going in with with high expectations?
A: The songs and the formation of the band was
all art by accident, you know. But the expectations
grew as we started to realize the magic going on
between Erik and I when we started to write the
album. And when we realized how extremely well
everyone got along musically and private too. To
be honest, my only expectations when Erik and I
got together, was to cut some great demo’s for
Wig Wam’s fifth album, that hopefully would
make it on the album. Forming a band or even
making an album with Erik wasn’t part of the plan
at all. It just happened. And it wouldn’t have hap-
pened if my former band mates had been honest
with me. Then I would most likely have been wait-
ing for them while they did their own stuff. These
days I’m thankful for the way it all turned out. It
sure was an eye opener and a great turn for me.
Maybe it was a sign.
Q: Tell us about the others in the group… It
seems you have surrounded yourself with some
of the finest!!
A: I must start with the one and only Erik
Martensson. The album and the band
wouldn’t have happened without him. After
all he is the one that suggested forming
this band. Erik is by far the best producer
I have ever worked with. And he is a multi
instrumentalist and a great singer too. And
just when you thought you’d seen the icing
on the cake, he proves to be the nicest per-
son in rock as well. And we just get along
so amazingly well. I guess we’re the
“chopstick twins” of rock ha ha. Robban
was suggested by Erik, as they both play in
Eclipse and W.E.T too. When Eclipse
opened for my side-project Nordic Beast in
Oslo, he really blew me away. Hal and I
had already got together as brothers in the
new band formation Nordic Beast, with
John Norum and Mic Michaelli from
Europe and Mikkey Dee from Motorhead.
His bass playing really belongs to the sev-
enties. Lots of improvisation and steady as
a rock. Jon and I have worked together for
almost 8 years with my Queen show “The
Show Must Go On”. I first met him back in
the late eighties, when we needed a new
guitar player for my band. And we had
heard a lot about this great guitar player
Jon Pettersen from Krakerøy. Jon joined
us, and we played in this band together for
about 3-4 years. He’s one of the finest gui-
tar players I’ve ever heard, and blends
great with Erik. Jon is more of a blues and
classic rock guitarist than Erik. Influenced
by Clapton and Page, and I can’t wait to
unleash him on stage around the globe.
Lasse comes from the progressive world,
but joined me on my “GLAMunition” gigs
in Norway and Japan in 2009. He later
joined Wigwam as touring member of the
band since the “Non Stop Rock’n Roll”
Tour. He’s such a musical genius, I tell
you. The band’s nerd too I may add ha ha,
since he’s extremely into gaming, comput-
ers and all the other stuff I don’t know a
shit about. But it’s fascinating. And he’s
become a very close friend of mine. Love
him to bits !
Band: Ammunition Interview with: Age Sten Nilsen Interview by: Bruce Atkinson
MRF | 17
Quest ion: The band rose from the
ashes of Seven Tears in 2009, so
why go down the Me lod i c /AOR
sound for the new band?
A: I th ink tha t everyone in the band
though t t ha t AOR was a b e t t e r
choice o f genre for us as a band.
Q: How long did i t take to record
the new album?
A: I t took about 1 year f rom s tar t to
f in i sh .
Q: Who had the idea to name the
band a f t er a poe try by Swedi sh
poe t Bruno K . O i j e r? Can you
ac tua l l y t e l l wha t the poe t ry i s
about?
A: Gui tar i s t Jonathan came up wi th
the idea , as he i s a b ig fan o f poe try .
c / o NIGHT is a dark co l lec t ion o f
poe tr ies , re leased in the mid-seven-
t ies . I haven’ t read i t myse l f ac tual -
ly , bu t I do fancy Oi jer , anyone co l -
l abo ra t i ng w i t h swed i sh band
Fleshquar te t cannot be tha t far out .
Al l in a l l , we th ink o f i t as a great
name that f i t s our mus ic wel l .
Q: The a lbum see you turn to Erik
and Anders Wige l ius to produce
the a lbum, were they the obvious
choice af ter they worked on the
2013 EP?
A: The Wigel ius bro thers were de f i -
n i te ly our f i r s t and only choice . As
soon as we got the record deal wi th
Aor Heaven , we immed ia te l y con-
tac ted the Wige l ius bro thers .
Q: One of my favouri te tracks i s
the bal ladesque “Dividing Lines”
that features some very nice saxo-
phone playing . Can you te l l us a
l i t t l e more abou t th i s s ong ,
please!?
A: Thank you . My song and a person-
a l favour i te o f mine as wel l . A pre t ty
moody song abou t b r eak ing up a
long- term re la t ionship – and a l l the
fee l ings tha t comes wi th tha t . The
lyr ics descr ibes the main charac ter
fee l ing sorry for h imse l f bu t a t the
same t ime wishes h is former lover
al l the bes t ; ”your eyes , they smi led
and t ha t ’ s a l l I n e ed t o know” .
Talk ing about dynamics , I t ru ly love
the de l ica te verses wi th only p iano
and vocals , then the bang wi th the
chorus . Lots o f emot ions behind th i s
song , and Johan Axe l s son p l ay s
superb saxophone , I go t goosebumps
the f i r s t t ime he wai led in the s tudio
– amazing mus ic ian .
Q: When did you f irs t rea l i se the
band was going to work?
A: I have never had any doubts in
re la t ion to whether the band would
work or not . However , i t was when I
heard the song Cassandra in the s tu-
d io t he f i r s t t ime tha t I ac tua l l y
real i zed how good the band and our
mater ia l was and that we had creat -
ed someth ing tha t could a t t rac t a
broader audience .
Q: What ' s the mos t impor tan t
thing to the band r ight now?
A: To ge t r ich and power fu l ! ! ! No!
But we want to ge t the record out to
a s many peop l e a s po s s i b l e , and
hopefu l ly p lay some l ive shows in the
fu ture . I f th i s record i s wel l rece ived
and success fu l i t wi l l g ive us the
poss ib i l i t y to fur ther deve lop as a
band and inves t in fu ture records
and mater ia ls .
Q: Do you have any plans to tour
in the 2015?
A: We don ' t have any th ing booked
r ight now. We have had fu l l focus on
the comp l e t i on o f t h e r e co rd .
However , d i scuss ions have been in i -
t ia ted and negot ia t ions are tak ing
place in re la t ion to a poten t ia l tour
as we speak .
Q: What are your hopes for the
band? This i s your debut but where
do you hope to go from here?
A: To p lay some l ive shows and to
s tar t p lanning the nex t a lbum.
Q: Give us one good reason why
the readers should go out and buy
your new album.
A: Because i t i s a k ick as a lbum wi th
great songs! I t i s the per fec t a lbum
to s tar t the year 2015 wi th .
Interview by: Barry McMinnInterview with: Calle SchonbergBand: Care of Night
Question: Hello guys! How are you doing?
So let's start from the beginning: when have
you started thinking putting together this
album and how did this project develop dur-
ing these years?
Answer: Two years ago, I’ve got a call from
Serafino, the boss of Frontiers Records asking
me if I was interested in writing and producing
an album together with Russell Allen. I love his
voice and his albums. For me he’s one of the
best singers today. Well, this was a cool chal-
lenge and worth to put all my energy into this
album. I’ve met Russell on some festivals dur-
ing the years and the chemistry was always
great and now it was time to record an album
together. I’ve asked some guys I could imagine
they would be cool to join the band and every-
body was htrilled about the idea. We’ve started
the songwriting and some months later we’ve
started the recordings and tracked the drums.
Q: Honestly speaking, I've been amazed,
since the first listen, by the great songwrit-
ing and the heavy yet very melodic sound of
the album. I read on the biography that – on
the songwriting-side – how did you manage
this process?
A: The target was to write an album which is
basically heavy-rock and different to Russell’s
bands and show him in a diversified way and
show his ability in singing traditional heavy
rock songs. Russell has a phenomenal voice
and the entire songwriting was based on this
idea! Most songs were written together with
Alex Beyrodt and Alessandro Del Vecchio, plus
fantastic contributions on the songs I wrote
together with Magnus Karlsson or Carsten
Schulz and a killer song by Amanda Somerville
& Sander Gommans (Blasphemy). Everybody
involved was very motivated and I’m really
proud of these guys and their attitude.
Q: Apart you (Mat Sinner and Russell
Allen), LEVEL 10 features Randy Black (on
drums), Alex Beyrodt and Roland Grapow
(on guitars) and Alessandro Del Vecchio (on
keyboards), all very known musicians and
busy with their own bands and projects;
how did you deal the recording-sessions with
them?
A: If you are a busy musician there’s always a
little space left for something very special like
this project and I’ve spoken to the guys and
they were thrilled about the idea to play on this
album. Every tone was played with passion and
every note was sung with power and total
ambition - that’s why the result is not just
another project - this is a demanding album,
with 100% dedication. I’ve talked for a long
time with Roland for example in doing some-
thing together - now was the right time and the
right moment and I’m very happy to have him
on the album, like the other guys. Everybody
put a lot of passion in this album.
Q: LEVEL 10 sound has been described as a
mix between “the more contemporary and
aggressive sound of Adrenaline Mob with
the more traditional European Power Metal
assault from Primal Fear”. I think that this
album could appeal also to Melodic Hard-
Rock fans, as in your music I can hear influ-
ences from Classic Rock bands like
Whitesnake, Scorpions and UFO. Do you
agree with me?
A: For me it’s a traditional heavy rock album
with modern elements, a lot of great melodies,
hooks and classic rock influences. It doesn’t
make sense to compete for example with
Symphony X - they are are a killer band and it
makes no sense. We should let Russell’s voice
shine upon something different and he deliv-
ered a phemnomenal performance on the
album.
Q: Do you think you'll be able to play some
live shows as LEVEL 10 in the future?
A: That’s always a question of the fans - do
they love & buy the album, what’s the feedback
- it it makes sense, this band will go on tour and
record a second album!
Interview by: Primo BonaliInterview with: Mat SinnerBand: Level 10
MRF | 19
Band: Sweet & Lynch
Interview with: M.Sweet / G. Lynch
Interview by: Bruce Atkinson
Question: First , a couple of must
ask questions: Knowing that this
co l laborat ion was insp ired from
Seraf ino , the Pres ident o f
Frontiers Records. I’m curious as
to your f irst reaction to this con-
cept?
Michael Sweet : I was of course wil l -
ing and ready to do i t ! I suggested
producing i t and then bring George,
Br ian and James in to the mix .
Seraf ino agreed.
George Lynch: Some of the songs I
sent the guys were f inished arrange-
ments while others had al l the ele-
ments of the songs; intro, verse, pre
chorus, chorus, bridge, outro, e tc . . .
But I would leave the arrangement
open so micheal and the guys could
move the p ieces around they way
they saw f i t… I think in the case of
th i s par t i cu lar band the wr i t ing
process worked very we l l…
Somet imes when you ge t to many
people in a room you can lose focus
and direct ion. . .
Q: Upon l istening to some of the
tracks, I must say that i t sounds
l ike you two have been together
forever! Did you and George just
gel? Was i t an instant connection?
MS: I t real ly was. George sent me
guitar r i f f / ideas and I ran with
those and comple ted the songs .
every th ing jus t came toge ther so
smoothly and ef fort less .
GL: I t h ink the record embod ies
some o f the exc i t ing qua l i t i e s i
r emember f rom records i was
involved with in the 80.s… Big giant
hooks, micheals clear melodic voice
with a huge range, s terl ing produc-
t ion.
Q: Now, this isn’t just two fantas-
t ic musicians gett ing together for a
“one-off”, but a band of four fan-
tast ic musicans — Brian Tichy on
drums, and James Lomenzo on bass
— so, was the involvement of Brian
and James your idea, or was the
whole combination of the four from
Serafino?
MS: The concept was Seraf ino’s idea
and I put everything else together.
Seraf ino let me produce and wri te as
well . I think he trusts my judgement
and I trust his as wel l .
Q: Now, Michae l—back to the
a lbum, aga in , upon l i s t en ing to
some of the mus ic — i t sounds
quite inspiring and that you had an
intense t ime of creating… Almost
unbe l i evable that you weren’ t
actually in the same Studio!! Take
us through the recording process…
MS: George sent basic ideas, I then
went into the s tudio and arranged
and mapped al l songs out and then
f l ew Br ian and James ou t and
recorded al l the basics . I then went
to my home s tud io and recorded
vocals and then we sent everything
to George and he recorded h i s
tracks. Then he sent everything back
and we mixed. I t was qui te s imple.
Q: In the future are the four of you
going to be able to get together and
put something together for some
live performances?
MS: We’re working on that and def i -
ni te ly hope to do so. I think i t would
be a crime not to!
Q: “Only To Rise” is a fantast ic
beginning, and I’m aware of how
busy both you and George are with
other projects — however can we
expect more col laborations?
MS: I think so. I f this is a success
then I bel ieve we would al l agree
that i t would make sense to do more.
I look forward to i t !
Q: Do you feel that there have been
signif icant shifts in popular music
and the music business in the last
years that served as a more sup-
port ive env ironment for the ar t
you're making?
GL: Well , as a 60 year old legacy
musician known for work in the 80's
hair era i ts always a chal lenge to
break away from that s t igma and to
have my music be acknowledged and
understood by younger generat ions…
And I don' t think that can happen via
an ar t i s t s consc ience a t t empt to
make his or her sel f relevant . As far
as the current s tate of af fairs in the
biz I miss the fact that i could 've one
band working with one record com-
pany and have the consis tent rela-
t ionship that would last years , not
decades… Nowadays I have had to
diversi fy; I have had many musical
and other projects and vie had to
teach mysel f to become much more
nimble and adaptable… But I think
ul t imately that’s a heal thy thing that
makes me a bet ter musician… And
maybe even a bet ter person.
Q: I know musicians tend to stave
of f p ick ing favor i te songs or
albums for a variety of reasons but
is there any particular song or
album in al l of your projects/band
(Dokken, Lynch Mob, etc) that you
have fond memories of creating?
GL: I have great memories of the
process o f r ecord ing the KXM
record. . . Dug, Ray and I moved into
a house/s tudio up in the Cali fornia
moun ta ins for 10 days… We a te ,
s lept and breathed the music and
wrote and recorded the ent ire album
in that short but magnif icent 10 day
period… And we had a blast doing i t .
Q: Dur ing your career , you’ve
been invo lved in qu i te a broad
range of col laborations… Sweet &
Lynch is just one of those. Do you
think it 's important to the develop-
ment of your musicianship to be
involved in so many things?
GL: I just feel compelled to explore
mus ic tha t I en joy . . . Whe ther i t s
hard rock, blues, progressive, indus-
tr ial , ambient , whatever I love jam-
ming and when you jam with di f fer-
ent musicians you get al l these di f -
ferent chemistr ies… And you never
know what the outcome is going to
be. . .
Q: What aspect of making music
excites you the most right now?
GL: The mystery of not knowing what
new body of work or sonic landscape
I get have a hand in helping create .
MRF | 21
Question: First of all, congratulationf or the Live album, it is real-
ly an amazinf pieace of work and it reflects perfectly your real
vibe and mood on the stage...
Answer: Thanks! It means a lot to me. I think the live stage it my real
dimension and the goal is to express on the recording my emotions.
Q: In your musical life you have written tons fo amazing tunes
and should be always played on the radios and tvs, but nowdays
it is really hard to have it...
A: Yeah, it’s too bad. There was a time when FM radio ruled the way,
and even better than that, there were different areas. It wasn’t just one
song across the entire nation. They would play a different song in one
area, so it was interesting. But we have to do things differently today,
you know, find different ways. It’s still possible to have that. I assume
as soon as we get a cool video or something up on YouTube or do a
TV show or something, we’ll achieve the same thing.
Q: Today it is so easy to spread the music and release albums...
what it the difference with the past?
A: Absolutely, but I think it’s better. Because in the quote, unquote
“old days,” you had to have that major record deal and that was akin
to winning the lottery. Because it wasn’t fairly distributed; it didn’t
matter how good you were — and it’s still like that. But, with social
media and being able to promote yourself, not just regionally but
worldwide, it’s possible to build up a fan base, which is so much bet-
ter to have than just appearing out of nowhere. Then you can have a
career because once you’ve got a solid fan base, then when you’re up
you’re out, but when you’re down you’re still up, you know what I
mean? You’re not out. So I think it’s better. Then, of course, as you
start doing some big numbers on your social media, like you have a
YouTube video that’s getting a couple hundred thousand hits, some-
one’s gonna come snooping around anyway, you know, to see how
they can exploit you.
Q: Are you still in contact with Pat Thrall?
A: Yeah, Pat’s more than around. He was into digital recording with
pro tools way, way back in New York. And now he’s in Las Vegas at
the Palms Hotel recording studio. He’s been there several years. He’s
worked on some big albums as a producer and an engineer too.
Band: Pat Travers Band
Interview with: Pat Travers
Interview by: D. Jamieson
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