BROKE-N-BLUE from Sweden is formed around multi- instrumentalist Lars Abrahamsson. Additional singers such as the female singer Eva Eggesjo do the lead vocals on the songs. There are 7 songs on the CD and I must admit that it made quite a big impression on me. It may not have a super production, still the featured songs are from a high quality and are sometimes pure AOR. We can easily add this BROKE-N-BLUE to the other recent Swedish AOR sensations such as STREET TALK, T'BELL, ALYSON AVENUE, TALK OF THE TOWN (all signed to AOR HEAVEN, so who knows what will happen to this band).

Anyway, the CD starts with "Big fat lie", a nice uptempo melodic rocker a la LEE AARON. Then comes the lovely midtempo AOR song "Back again", a la HEART, ALYSON AVENUE, THE STORM… This is definitely a must for fans of pure AOR, just listen to the wonderful vocals of Eva and the melodic sound created by Lars. "That's the way" follows, and this is a nice midtempo melodic poprocker a la PATTY SMYTH/SCANDAL… The following two songs feature the male vocals of Peter Gustavsson. "Heavenly beauty" is great midtempo AOR a la GARY HUGHES.

Then comes the fantastic uptempo AOR rocker "Needed to believe". The female vocals are back on "Heart2heart", a good midtempo melodic rocker a la WITNESS/HEART. The CD closes with "Heaven in my hands", a lovely semi AOR ballad a la BAD ENGLISH, MARK SPIRO… So, basically what you get hear is a quality AOR/Melodic Rock CD with the variation in lead vocals. AOR fans really need to check out this band at: www.mp3.com/broke-n-blue and e-mail them at: lazze_a@hotmail.com Pretty soon an interview with this sensational Swedish AOR band.

Rating: 8,5/10

385 NORTH from Oklahoma, USA is a really great new AOR/Melodic Rock outfit. The band has two vocalists, namely the female keyboardplayer Leslie Brown and the male bassist Marty Kaiser. Although there's only one song on their debut CD, still this band is very interesting to check out.

The song "Anyway" is a fantastic classy 80s cheerful uptempo melodic AOR rocker with a very cool guitarsolo by guitarist Dave Ging. I can't wait to hear more songs of this band, in the meantime check out their site at: http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/124/385_north.html and e-mail them at: Drummerlb@cs.com or martykai@ionet.net

Rating: 8/10

Swedish Melodic Hardrockers STORMWIND are back with their fourth CD entitled 'Resurrection'. The album continues where their previous CD 'Heaven can wait' stopped, so again we can enjoy some great Melodic Hardrock/Metal. Also again we can enjoy the wonderful lead vocals of Swedish best singer THOMAS VIKSTROM. His vocals are just so perfect and can make any musical style interesting. Anyway, there are 9 songs on the new CD and if you like the Classical Melodic (Hard) Rock of bands like TEN, ROYAL HUNT, BRAZEN ABOTT and PRETTY MAIDS, then you'll definitely have to check out this CD. The CD opens with "Phoenix rising", this is the intro to the real first song "Ship of salvation", a nice faster melodic metal tune.

Up next is "Souldance", a great uptempo melodic rocker with a very catchy melodic chorus. Then comes a lovely melodic AOR ballad titled "Seven seas". Another fast melodic metal song is "Passion". "Blinded eyes" follows, and this is a great midtempo melodic rocker with a wonderful chorus that is in the style of TALK OF THE TOWN. A very long instrumental follows, it's called "Synphonia millennialis" and is split up in 3 parts. Some heavy guitar riffs open up the next song "Samuraj", nevertheless also this is a good uptempo melodic rocker (sounding like a cross between PRAYING MANTIS and PRETTY MAIDS with some AXEL RUDI PELL styled guitarwork).

The CD closes very nicely with the fantastic midtempo melodic rocker "Holy land". This closing track also has some AOR influences and will please fans of TALK OF THE TOWN a lot. STORMWIND has released a great melodic album that will attract both melodic rock and metal fans because the combination of heavy melodic guitarwork and very melodic AORish lead vocals is working out great on 'Resurrection'. Check out the label's site at: http://www.massacre-records.com for any additional info you may want to know.

Rating: 8/10

SAPIENS come out of Guatamala and they sent me their debut CD 'Aureola gris'. Lead singer Fernando Scheel already has a career of his own, because he has released 3 solo records so far. SAPIENS is not a pure Rock outfit, because sometimes the band jumps over to a very pop orientated style. Nevertheless I would like to describe this CD as a nice mixture of progressive Pop and Rock with some elements of AOR and Melodic Rock. The band is singing in their own language, so SAPIENS is actually another Latin-Pop/Rock outfit. There are 14 songs on the album.

The best songs are the Progressive AOR tunes "Bajo el aqua", "Y me ire…", "Espejo" (80s typed melodic rock guitarsound), "Aureola gris, part 2" and "Mar abierto". These songs
show that this band is close to Melodic Rock, but some of the other songs show a different side of SAPIENS. Songs like "Mecanizame el perfli", "Busco", "Congelame si no" and "Control" are weaker and also much poppier.

Further I would like to mention opener "Sharalalala", a bit silly poprocker, but it has radio potential because it is quite simple to sing along. E-mail them at: SAPIENSAPIENS@HOTMAIL.COM or SAPIENS.BAND@USA.NET OR VISIT:
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/96/sapiens.html

Rating: 7/10

'Sinctuary' is the second album of SYMPHORCE, a German Melodic Power Metal band. The new CD was produced by ACHIM KOHLER (PRIMAL FEAR, SINNER, DC COOPER) who gave the band an updated hard Metal sound while still keeping a lot of melodies. I hear a lot of similarities to IRON MAIDEN. The best songs are "Until the last", "Blackened skies", "Insight", "Gone too far" and "Soulfly" (semi-ballad, best song of the whole CD). Heavy as hell, but also very melodic at times, a must for fans of Melodic Power Metal!

Rating: 7,5/10

PARADOX hail from Wisconsin, USA and their CD 'Groovy cozy kinda vibe here' was released earlier this year. The CD is split between cool melodic poprockers and 90s typed rock. It sounds a lot like the last couple of PETRA albums, yet less melodic. The best songs are "Finally over" (nice chorus with harmonies a la PETRA, CHARIZMA) and the uptempo melodic poprockers "Let me in" and "Fly high".

Songs I didn't like were "Apple candy girl" (depressing ballad), "Timeline" (90s based radio semi ballad a la CHILLI PEPPERS) and the closing track "Let it go" (60s typed DOORS pop/rock). Hopefully the band will concentrate on the earlier mentioned songstyle in the future. Anyway, check out their site at: http://www.paradoxlive.com and e-mail them at: roland@clmail.com

Rating: 6/10

The Californian Melodic Rockband 2 BIG sent me their two full-length CDs as well as a couple of their new CD-singles. They released their debut 'Like it too much' back in 1996. This album contains 14 songs and musically can be described as a nice melodic hardrockalbum with influences from the 70s and 80s. Sometimes they remind me of bands like STRANGER (USA), HEAD EAST, THE OUTLAWS… My favourite songs of that CD are "Temptation", "I think I like it too much", "Tonight" and "Stoned again".

The second full-length CD is titled 'Ansun' and actually this is a much better record than their debut. 'Ansun' is filled with a lot of classy 80s typed melodic rockers. The album contains 11 songs and what strikes me are the wonderful harmonies throughout this record, they sound very melodic and catchy. The best songs on 'Ansun' are "One in a million" (uptempo 80s melodic rocker with a very nice chorus that features lovely harmonies), "Rocker" (we're definitely back in time, this song is pure classy early 80s melodic rock), "Always you" (pretty good melodic rockballad) and "Hollywood" (a pure 80s melodic guitarsound can be heard in this song).

Their debut gets 7 points, while the second record gets 8 points, so a 7,5 in between. But the band also has released two new CD-singles. The first one features the songs "Motor city blues" (38 SPECIAL typed Southern Rocker) and "Complicated" (very cool early 80s uptempo AOR/Radiorocker a la BILLY SATELLITE, 80s 38 SPECIAL, early 80s RICK SPRINGFIELD…). The other CD-single consists of "Sound of the highway" (very much like the last 38 SPECIAL) and the fantastic AOR/Radiorocker "I keep knockin" (just listen to the classy guitarsound that reminds you of the fantastic early 80s rock).

2 BIG is a really cool band to check out, and I can really recommend it to fans of early 80s AOR/Melodic Rock a la 38 SPECIAL, HEAD EAST, STRANGER… Check them out at:
http://www.riverrox.com and e-mail them at: ingels@pacific.net

Rating: 7,5/10

DRIVEN is a band out of Florida playing a really cool mixture of pure 80s Melodic Rock and 90s typed pop/rock. DRIVEN was formed in 1998 and this is their first recording. They recorded the CD in five days and mixed it in two days. Although the production is not from a very high quality, still the album sounded pretty good to my ears. There are some very nice melodic rocktunes on the album. Especially at the beginning of the album you can hear great stuff such as "Enlighten me" (uptempo fun melodic rocker), "Letting go" (superb AOR/Radiorocker a la THE PROMISE with huge harmonies and a very catchy chorus,
definitely the best song on the whole CD), "These words" (cool semi melodic rockballad) and "I know" (another nice semi melodic rockballad).

Towards the end of the CD, things get a little bit more 90s typed Rock and therefore weaker on songs like "Feel", "As if" and "Jackie Chan" (about the actor?). Hopefully the band throws in some more fun uptempo melodic rockers (a la "Letting go") on a future recording, because that is one-helluva catchy little tune. I'll bet with some good backing promotion a song like "Letting go" could turn out to a big hit, but it's all up to the radio stations to give a band like DRIVEN a chance for this to happen. Anyway, check out DRIVEN at: http://www.drivensweb.com and e-mail them at: drivenjaxfl@hotmail.com

Rating: 7,5/10

FLESHDEVILS is an English band playing good old 80s Melodic Hardrock. The CD contains 11 songs and it all sounds pretty good and also nicely produced by Andrew Brel and bandleader Jojo Flesh (guitarist). Although the guys don't look like a typical 80s typed Melodic Rockband, some of their songs can definitely be described as pure 80s melodic rockers. My favourite songs are "Just like the rain" (lovely classy 80s melodic rockballad), "Too late" (uptempo melodic rocker, a bit like WHITE LION), "Stay" (semi melodic rocker) and the melodic rockers "Sun comes in" and "Pink suit".

Songs like "Step into the whole", "Black sugar", "Kill heaven" and "Blood line" are the only weaker songs, so there's nothing wrong checking out this melodic rockband. More info at: http://www.fleshdevils.com and e-mail them at: kcd03@dial.pipex.com The CD is only
available from the following website: http://www.bridge-recordings.co.uk

Rating: 7,5/10

Crazy Little Sister were a keyboard driven AOR and melodic rock band from Wrexam UK. CLS disbanded almost six years ago, and if it wasn't for my friend and ex Hard Roxx scribe Rob Evans, I would have never heard these demos, so cheers mate for bringing this band to my attention.

This demo-tape features ten songs, I have no idea who the lead singer is, all I can tell you is that she is a great front-woman with lots of star potential, her warm coconut voice is easy to singlong to. The singers voice reminds me of Alexa, Lisa Dalbello, Sharon O'Neill, Witness, Pat Benatar and Romeo's Daughter. So if your into any of those bands, then I'm sure you'd like Crazy Little Sister.

The sound quality of the tape is not so good. I think that the songs could use a little more bite in the guitar department which is my only complaint, apart from that it's hard not to resist the musical charms of Crazy Little Sister ,one can only hope that somebody out there knows how to unearth C.L.S. as I'm pretty sure that a label like AOR HEAVEN would be very interested in this lot.

If any member of the band should happen to read this, (although I doubt it) then my advice to the band is to sharpen up your fixtures and fittings and get a cd released, most of the material is very catchy, the memorable chorus lines like on "I Don't Wanna Loose Ya" force the songs to lock into your head, so the potential is defintley there. I really like Crazy Little Sister's music, and I know that you will also be into their music to. I'll try and track them down and as soon as I can, I will let you know who the singer and the musicians are and what they are doing today. Until then sit tight and prey that someone out there knows
where the members of Crazy Little Sister currently reside. Crazy Little Sister were one of the best female fronted outfits to emerge out of the UK, it's just such a shame that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Demo Rating: 6,5/10
Song Writing and musicianship Rating: 8,5/10

(Review by Nicky Baldrian)

Hair Of The Dog are from the USA and recently signed with Spitfire Records, they are managed by Steve Vai's manager and these guys rock their souls out with gigantic riffs that would make AC/DC, VAN HALEN and MOTORHEAD quake in their cowboy boots. "Rise" has a HUGE production sound courtesy of Michael Wagner (White Lion, Extreme, Ozzy, Megadeth, Skid Row, Bonfire etc..) and the press releases that I have read in various publications state that Hair Of The Dog could be the next Van Halen, and you know they could be right, their music has enough power to make a strong and deadly impact that will
set Hair Of The Dog up for the rest of their lives, success is not to far away, this is just an awesome album, that every home should own, thirteen tracks of solid hard rock heaven, is what makes Hair Of The Dog so damn special, and is one of fave albums of this year.

Thanks to the knob twiddlers touch of Michael Wagner, Hair Of The Dog have that big ARENA rock sound, the first single off the album "Rise" is all over American radio, the song is slightly more contempory sounding then the rest of the album, but it's still a very simple rock song which I would say leans toward Metallica, Saigon Kick and Kings X.

Hair Of The Dog are a rock band in every sense of the word, and the biggest sounding band to come out of America in the last ten years. Check out songs like "The Almighty Strut", the party-ish "Five To Nine","Sometimes Is Enough" through to the awesome "You Are The One" (this song has huge melodies that are very melodic with touches of AOR) and "Mokur
Jahoobees", for proof of the bands racy energy and diversity. "You Are The One" is my fave song off the album, it's an uptempo ballad that glides along with great melodies that are just so catchy and irresistible, perfect for your in car stereo at maximum volume.

"Rescue Me" for example is a song built around simplistic lyrical ideas, whilst the guitar tone has a Richie Kotzen influence running though it. Singer /guitarist Ryan Cook amazingly has many influences in his voice, from Mark Slaughter and Lemmy through to Jimmy Barnes and Sebastian Bach. A suprise track is the cover of "I" which was orginally by Kiss, and sits well in amongst Hair Of The Dog's original material. Hair Of The Dog are a rollercoaster ride of fun, "Rise" is an AWESOME album -get it bought pronto.

Rating: 9/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

Never Never play AOR with an 80's pompy edge and have been together since 1997. The album has been two years in the making and the end result will find a heart with most of the AOR brigade. The band are influenced by Styx, Journey, Kansas, Saga, Artica, and possibly White Sister, which is easily identified as you listen to the songs on "Monologue"- for example "You"is a pompy/piano led piece with huge swelling vocals from Chris Monk which remind me of Dennis DeYoung and Timothy Lewis, whilst on "Heart Of Glass", Chris' vocals remind me of Goran Edman and Dennis DeYoung, this song is more commercial and guitar orientated, after several plays the chorus locks itself in your head and also reminds me of Artica and Street Talk and is my fave song, the help of female backing vocals gives the song added purity and passion.

"Over The Edge" is a poppy ballad a'la The Storm's "Love Isn't Easy" and Timothy Lewis' "Hold U Tonight". Never Never show alot of potential, my only complaint is that the guitars could have been heavier like on "Last Limit" which has a Heartland "Castles In The Sand" feel, but as it stands diversity and skill is the main focus point here, the band should have no
problems in linking themselves a label deal.Recommended.

For more info email Jeff Fountain @ nevernever@mindspring.com or www.mp3.com/nevernever or www.mindspring.com/~vasago

Rating: 8/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

Hobbit have been around since 1977 and they play superb fantasy inspired pompy/AOR , "Two Feet Tall" is the first release on cd for the Texas pompsters. Hobbit's songs are filled with lovely harmonies that sit alongside bands like Starcastle, Kansas, Roadmaster, Mystery, Angel, Queen, Styx, and other late seventies early eighties pomp bands.

There are thirteen songs on "Two Feet Tall" which span the bands career between 1979 and 1983, Hobbit stand proud with their skillful musicanship, the main musical factor being the heavy use of pompous keyboards and fantasy inspired lyrics based around such novelists as J.R.R. Tolkein for example.

The guitars are also well placed in the albums mix, songs like "Up And Down" from 1981 have an almost Jethro Tull meets early Queen influence, there are plenty of keyboards on this song, and the chorus is dead catchy!!

"Intensity" (1980) is quite heavy and intense (sorry) and doesn't sound dated at all, the songs neo-classical keys are a prominent part of the songs structure, thus the song comes across as a bit powerful and epic sounding, but my fave songs are "The Way We Are" 1981 and "Takin' Your Heart Away" 1980 and the ballad "Need Your Love" 1983.

Also worth a mention is "Puppets" from 1981, this song is very majestic and could easily be one of those songs suited for Dream Theater or Styx, some nice bass work on this track too. By and large "Two Feet Tall" serves as an introduction to the wonderful music of Hobbit, what happens now is anybody guess, but I've a gut feeling that a brand new album is just around the corner, can't wait!!Recommended.

Contact: paulsal@gower.net

Rating: 7,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

For the uniniated this is not a brand new album from Californian mob Accomplice, the band orginally released this album a couple of years ago independentley, but have recently linked themselves a deal with Italian based Adrenaline Records, who have decided that "Accomplice" is far too good a record to be left on the dust shelf. So what they have done is added some bonus tracks and repackaged the cover artwork, and I'm so glad that this album has a chance to be heard properley, fans of Queensryche, T.N.T, Van Halen, Dream Theater, Nightranger, Triumph and Savatage will love this album that shows off a band with a huge amount of talent.

Singer Stephen Green is a deadringer for Geoff Tate, these days Queensryche fail to satisfy their fans with their last meaningfull album being "The Promised Land", so where Queensryche loose points,

Accomplice gain them with songs that do justice to the bands professional and skillful musicanship. It was only a matter of time before a label picked these guys up, check out "Fallin'" a huge ballad, this song reminds me of Mystery and Stephen sings with warming passion, give this track to either Queensryche, Journey or T.N.T. and they'd have a hit.

"Let The Show Begin" is a commercial rocker with lots of Steve Vai inspired guitar work and pompy Greg Giuffria inspired keyboards that turn this song into a mix of Journey and House Of Lords influenced melodies.

"Fight On" kicks open with some delicate spanish guitar playing from Gean Clegg. This is a kinda song that you would find Savatage or Jeff Scott Soto performing, the vocals are very impressive and after two minutes of the songs build up, the whole thing changes into progressive hard rock a'la Savatage, Virgin Steele and maybe even old chestnuts Manowar. Stephen's vocals throughout the album are superb and he could very well become a major force of influence on other bands in years to come.

Accomplice are a damn fine band who have fought long and hard for this record deal, check them out, progressive rocks stars of the future. Awesome.

Email: info@adrenaline.it or http://www.adrenaline.it

Rating: 9,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

ATTENTION !!! HOT NEW BAND ALERT!!!!Shang Hai KICK ARSE!!! BE AFRAID!!! These guys are big haired sons of Motley Crue, Skid Row, Firehouse, Xyz, Steve Stevens Atomic Playboys,and Fastway, Shang Hai have big spark flying guitars, big personality, and even BIGGER songs Shang Hai are probably one of the best bands of this style to have come out of the US in years.

SHANG HAI (great name) totally rock, there are loads of PLAY IT LOUD killer diller James Christian/Jeff Cannata produced songs like "Love Under Fire" a'la Bon Jovi/Firehouse, "Hot To The Touch" stomping hard rock a'la Steve Stevens, Kix, Stryper and Motley Crue."Shining Star" is a gentle Bon Jovi-ish power ballad and "Please Me Tease Me"is pure Motley Crue."Without Your Love" is a whoa, whoa, power ballad that could almost be Dare and Europe with one huge mid chorus screeeeeeeeam from frontman Jade.
Shang Hai are also doing well in the far east, the album has already been available over there for a while, and has so far made a big impact with a whopping 25,000 copies already sold which is a good sign. Kivel and Metal Mayhem have made this album available to the American and European market for the first time, so expect good things to happen for this band.Shang Hai are an exciting new band who are eager to show the world their power. Make sure you buy "Take Another Bite", (which is also a multimedia cd) and get ready to get Shang-haied dudes!!! Highly Recommended. HTTP://WWW.KIVELRECORDS.COM
HTTP://WWW.METALMAYHEM.COM

Rating: 9/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

The second tribute album dedicated to the legendary Queen gives the chance for lesser known bands to pay homeage to some of Queen's greatest songs including "We Will Rock You", "Killer Queen", "Save Me", "Another One Bites The Dust", "Innuendo", "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bohemian Rhapsody", which are performed by bands like Seasons Of The Wolf, Evil Wings, Avalanch, Aztec Jade, Marci Geller, and The Last Band On Earth to name a few.

What is good about this album is that the chosen songs are not direct copies of the originals, the bands show the integrity to add their own little twists into the music, this will obviosuly upset a few of Queen's die hard fans, but by and large it works quite well, especially "Bohemian Rhapsody" by a band called Mayebebop who add a rather compelling version of the old Queen chesnut. There's no music, just the vocals where each abnd member takes it in turns to sing parts of the song, a bit like that hidden track on the Eyes album which Jeff Scott Soto sung as complete vocal solo, it's quite funny as the band put on little munchkin voice here and there, you have to hear it to enjoy it, especially the mid chorus where they go solo vocal mad singing like pissed monks on helium gas!!!

As tribute albums go, this one gets the thumbs up and is worth checking out.

Email: info@adrenaline.it http://www.adrenaline.it

Rating: 7,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)