ZANDELLE „Twilight On Humanity”
With the opening chant “Warlords of Steel” you, the listener, knows you are in for a classic dosage of thundering power metal. That is precisely what you get, and Zandelle play their metal styled after Omen, Halloween and classic Warlord.
ZIRAS, THEODORE „Virtual Virtuosity”
The album pictured – VIRTUAL VIRTUOSITY – is from Theodore Ziras. This classically leaned instrumental work from the self-proclaimed neo-classical shredder was released in March of 2003 on the Greek label (The native country of Ziras) Secret Port Records.
WILD WEST „Second To None”
Wild West are a rough and ready bunch from France who released their debut CD entitled One for Brennus Music in 1998, but I'm going to hop the stagecoach with Second To None, their second offering from 2003. From the band name you can tell Wild West want some kind of southern rock element in their music, and believe me, it's present.
WILSON, RAY „Change”
I was checking into Ray Wilson through Allmusic.com as I’ve never heard of the guy before where I found out one time back in the mid- ‘90s a song featuring his vocals was used on a Levi jeans commercial. The group was Stiltskin and the song was ‘Inside’.
VIRGIN STEELE „Virgin Steele 1, 1981 & Guardians of the Flame, 1982”
Virgin Steele 1 (1981) and Guardians Of The Flame (1982) have become available for the first time on CD through Noise Records, making these rare releases from Virgin Steele, a New York City outfit, readily available to the metal masses. Guardians Of The Flame bleeds pure metal and it shows the essence of what classic 80s metal once stood for years ago! It's a pure classic, and it's great to have releases like this available on CD.
UNSCARED „Hell is Now”
Unscared present a 22 minute and 10 second demo-recording of typical underground death/thrash metal. Basically, a simplistic mastering process hampers their music.
SEVEN WITCHES „Passage To The Other Side”
Seven Witches are now on CD number four and their third vocalist overall. Original mouthpiece Bobby Lucas lasted through the debut Second War In Heaven and its successor City Of Lost Souls before joining with Overlorde and most recently Limb Music artist Exhibition.
SHADOWKEEP „A Chaos Theory”
Shadowkeep's A CHAOS THEORY hits you sounding like something from the past. Remember bands like Lethal with PROGRAMMED on Metal Blade Records, Crimson Glory with TRANSCENDENCE, Fates Warning with AWAKEN THE GUARDIAN and Queensryche's WARNING and RAGE FOR ORDER? Take those influences into the modern power metal world, and you should have a good idea of what you will hear on A CHAOS THEORY from England's Shadowkeep.
RAFFERTY RULES „Name Your God”
Rafferty Rules is a Hardcore/Thrash metal crossover act from Athens Greece with a 10-track CD. The band claims to have been influenced by California punk metal, but there is more than a fair share of thrash metal influences in the guitar and bass riffs and drumming technique.
RITUAL „Think Like A Mountain”
Ritual’s THINK LIKE A MOUNTAIN is a progressive rock creation from Inside Out Music. Interesting acoustic passages mix with fascinating keyboards and melodic Dream Theater styled vocals on the opening track ‘What Are You Waiting For’.
ROMISLOKUS „s/t”
Romislokus is a band out of Russia; an area not mentioned much in metal. But I have heard other bands from this country including Nordream, Specter, and various others.
RPWL „Stock”
The basic facts are that RPWL started out as a Pink Floyd tribute band back in 1997 and have since released GOD HAS FAILED (2000), TRYING TO KISS THE SUN (2002) and now STOCK (2003). There was also a pre-RPWL release titled VIOLET DISTRICT.
QUO VADIS „Krol”
Quo Vadis presents 13 songs on their latest album KROL, which translates to King in English. This is a really hard CD to review as Quo Vadis isn’t afraid of branching out their musical creativity into numerous, uncharted directions.
NUCLEAR ASSAULT „Alive Again”
Nuclear Assault came from the New York thrash scene, alongside Anthrax and Overkill. Bass player Dan Lilker formed Nuclear Assault with vocalist John Connelly after Lilker recorded with Anthrax on their 1984 Fistful Of Metal debut, which is perhaps the best release from Anthrax.
NAZCA „The White Wheel”
All I could think when I first put this disc in was WOW! This is great melodic rock! Nazca have a unique name for any rock band, and they actually hail from a small rock out in the Indian Ocean named Reunion Island. The songs are fairly diverse throughout, but never lacking key guitar elements.
MAGUS BEAST/AGGRESSOR „Say Your Prayers”
I'm listening to a release called SAY YOUR PRAYERS from Aggressor (1996) Before The Dawn Of Early Man, The Magus Beast Ruled The Land the opening track Magus Beast is where the New York metal assault Magus Beast (known as Aggressor prior to 2003) derived their namesake. SAY YOUR PRAYERS is clearly a classic slab of metal, taking cues from Deadly Blessing ASCEND FROM THE CAULDRON (New Renaissance Records 80s metal classic), Metal Church and Overkill.